wounded warrior project, chief executive officer, steven nardizzi, and chief operating officer al giordano were fired by the board of directors after a meeting this afternoon here in new york. >> with a gift of $19 a month you can join wounded warrior project. >> reporter: by appealing to america's generosity, wounded warriors project raised more than $1 billion in donations since 2003. $300 million in 2014 alone. but while the money was pouring in, it was also flowing out. on lavish employee conferences. in 2014, $26 million. >> let's get a mexican mariachi band in there, the logo, put them on every staff members desk, get it catered, have a big old party. eric millette was a staff sergeant when he took a job with wounded warriors as motivational speaker. >> i'll be damned if you will take hard working american's money, and drink it and waste it instead of helping brave men and women who gave you freedom. to walk this face of the earth. >> reporter: more than 40 former employees told cbs news that spending by the charity was out of control. these two former employees were so fearful of re

late thursday, the wounded warrior project fired ceo steve nardizzi and the ceo al giordano following an independent investigation, which found, according to a statement, some policies, procedures and controls are in need of strengthening. >> it's a culture that was created by these guys and i think that that culture is systemic and they are going to need to change a lot more. >> while the money was pouring in, it was also flowing out. >> reporter: that culture came to light in a cbs news investigation, which claimed the wounded warrior project spent lavishly on travel and overhead, allocated a little more than half of its donations to veterans programs. connie chapman worked there for two years and says she was fired in a restructuring. >> i went to new york for less than 24 hours for a meeting of one of the chief it was a lot, a lot of spending. >> reporter: the fired executives declined nbc news request for comment. the charity found that more than 80% of donations were spent on programming. >> i think it's damaging for all charities involved with veterans. people are just not goin

and radio host john gambling and dom giordano join us next to take up the issue whether rubio has enought across the line. stay with us. when it comes to small business, she's in the know. so strap yourselves in for action flo! small business edition. oh, no! i'm up to my neck in operating costs! i'll save the day! for plumbers and bakers and scapers of lawn, she's got insurance savvy you can count on. you chipped my birdbath! now you're gonna pay! not so fast! i cover more than just cars and trucks. ♪ action flo did somebody say "insurance"? children: flo! ♪ action flo cut! can i get a smoothie, please? ooh! they got smoothies? for me. >>> we want to bring you up to date. the count is slow coming out of kentucky. we are up to 7% now. trump still leading. it is narrowing, that lead, to about a little more than six points there in kentucky. that looks like it's going to be one of those -- this is going to be one of those nights in kentucky where it's going to be pitching back and forth. going to maine, ted cruz is holding the lead that he had, about 6 1/2 points. again, only 12% of the vo

steven nardizzi and al gee o -- gee giordano, the ceo and chief operating officer, were fired during a board meeting on thursday. the wounded warrior project has taken in more than a billion dollars worth of donations since 2003 but more than 40 former employees told cbs news the charity's spending was out of control, including millions of dollars on lavish conferences. the wounded warrior project released a statement calling some media reports on its conference spending inaccurate, but the charity says such events will be curtailed in the future. >>> coming up on the "morning news." prisoners on the run. an intense search is under way mexico. >>> later, take off trouble? a passenger opens the wrong door and claiming he just wanted a bit of fresh air. this is the "cbs morning news." >> announcer: this portion of cbs morning news is sponsored by seabond denture adhesive. no pasty ooze. adhesive. no pasty ooze! x with stronger, clean sea-bond. see me. see me. don't stare at me. see me. see me. see me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. i'm not contagious. see me to kn

cbs news reports that steven nature dizzy anal giordano were fired by the charity's board today amid criticism of how they spent more than $800 million raised over the past four years. cbs reports that in 2014 alone the organization spent more than $26 million on lavish employee conferences. the wounded warrior project has raised more than # build since 2003. one person is under arrest after allegedly hitting banks in montgomery and prince george's county this afternoon. the robbery spree included four locations. three of them were hit in a span of 15 minutes than of. en off duty sergeant spotted a of the suspect's car. he quickly called for backup and the man was taken into custody. police have not release the name of the suspect because they say charges are still pending. a newses conference about this matter is scheduled for tomorrow. a construction worker was killed by a falling tree in temple hills today. the man was working at the construction site on yorkville road. crews were ring moving trees when one of them fell and hit a workerment his name tonight has not been release. >

steven fardizzi and al giordano, spending on conferences and team building meetings, skyrocketed by more% after nardizzi took over, $250,000 spent on snacks and sodas. most charities spend about 90%. >>> a dangerous murder suspect on the run for more than a week shot and killed in mississippi. rafael mccloud broke out of jail last week threatening a guard with a homemade knife and stealing his clothes. been a fugitive until yesterday when he forced his way inside a home holding a man, his wife and 5-year-old son in the bathroom. the woman broke free and grabbed a gun and gave it to her husband who shot and >>> two sisters have been found nearly a year after they vanished. ky-lea and shaeleen fitch-fortner had not been seen since last april when they were waiting for a school bus. they were living with a foster family at the time of their disappearance. the woman charged with abducting them is said to be an acquaintance. >>> this week we dial the clocks ahead for daylight saving time. but with this year comes a reminder, health warning, in fact, researchers say there's mounting evidence t

but his anger has subsided now that the charity's top two officials, steven nardizzi and al giordano, have been fired. >> it feels good. it really does. and-- and i didn't do it for me. i did it for all the veterans that wounded warrior project claims to serve. >> reporter: for the first time in years, he's guardedly optimistic about the organization's future. but he also agrees with fred and dianne kane, who raised $325,000 for the charity with golf tournaments, that the ouster is only the first step. >> they need to change the culture, which, in my opinion, will require significant changes to the team, the executive team. i think they can right the ship, but it's going to take a lot of effort, and it's going to take a lot of effort to build up that >> reporter: also weighing in today, the melia family, which founded wounded warrior project in 2003. in a statement they, accusedinar diseasey of going so far as to remove any mention of the melia family from the w.w.p. web site and said doirns have every right to be angry about the lack of stewardship shown by the immediate past leaders

ceo steven nardizzi and coo al giordano, according to reports on tax forms, spending on conferences and team building meetings, skyrocketed by more than 150% after nardizzi took over, $250,000 a year spent on snacks and sodas. less than 60% of the charity's funds went to the charity. most charities spend about 90%. >>> a dangerous murder suspect on the run for more than a week shot and killed in mississippi. rafael mccloud broke out of jail last week threatening a guard with a homemade knife and stealing his clothes. yesterday when he forced his way inside a home holding a man, his wife and 5-year-old son hostage in their bathroom. eventually the woman broke free and grabbed a gun and gave it to her husband who shot and killed mccloud. >>> in upstate new york two sisters have been found nearly a year after they vanished. and a woman has been charged with kidnapping. ky-lea and shaeleen fortner had not been seen since last april when they were waiting for a school bus. the girls now 16 and 14 were living with a foster family at the time of their disappearance. the woman charged with abdu

wounded warriors' project and chief executive officer steven nardizzi and chief operating officer al giordano ed by the boferred directores after a meeting here this afternoon in new york. >> with a gift of $19 a month, you can join a wounded warrior h,oject. >> reporter: by appealing to america's generosity, wounded warrior project raised more than $1 billion in donations since 2003, $300 million in 2014 alone. but while the money was pouring in, it was also flowing out on cevish employee conferences. in 2014, $26 million. >> let's get a mexican mariachi band in there. let's get maracas made with the wounded warrior project logo, put it on every staff members' desk. let's get it catered. let's have a big old party. >> eric millette was a retired army staff sergeant when he took a job with wounded warriors as a motivational speaker, but after two years he quit. >> i'll be damned if you're going to take hard working americans' money and drink it and waste it. instead of helping those brave atn and women who gave you the freedom to watch the face of the earth. >> reporter: more than 40 former e

but his anger has subsided now that the charity's top two officials, nardizzi and giordano have been fired. i did it for veterans wounded warrior project claims to serve. >> he is guardedly optimist ache but the organization's future. he agrees with fred and diane cane who raised $325,000 for the charity with golf tournaments that the ouster is only the first step. awe they ned to changein need to change the culture which in my opinion will require significant changes to the team. the executive team. i think they can right the ship. but it's going to take a lot of effort and it's going to -- take a lot of effort to build up that goodwill again. >> reporter: also weighing in the melia family which founded wounded warrior project in 2003. in a statement they accused nardizzi going so far as to remove any mention of the melia family from the wwp website and said donors have every right to be angry about the lack of stewardship shown by the the charity's board of directors conceded in a statement that some policies procedures and controls at wwp have not kept pace with the organization's