let's get back to jill dougherty. i do want to ask you if you know anything about when they might be coming back or any new details that are coming out of this. i also want to ask you about why this country continues to act in a rogue manner? >> well, on the first question, rick, you would presume that now that they have been pardoned that they can leave. so i guess we can presume they would be on that plane with president bill clinton and could be coming back to the united states very quickly. that was his mission, was to free them. that's what he was supposed to do. apparently, he has done it. they should be able to come back. >> on the other question we were talking about evan about. why do they, as an american, who watches this from the outside, why do they continue to ablth like a rogue nation? >> i have been to north korea. it seems to me like when you try to put yourself in their shoes, you understand some of the paranoia that they have. they are pretty much paranoid about the outside world. they believe that o

a former cnn senior asia correspondent, he's been to north korea 14 times, and in washington, jill dougherty, cnn's veteran foreign affairs correspondent. dan, on a personal note, close member of the lee family told me early this morning that they knew this was a done deal when clinton was on the way there. does that surprise you? >> no. because you don't move a big asset diplomatically such as bill clinton without it being clearly settled in advance that he's going to get what he's coming for. so that doesn't surprise me at all, larry. >> larry: do you think there was a quid pro quo here, dan? >> i don't know, larry, i think this could be a turning point in resuming some kind of dialogue with the north koreans. certainly i say this based on my own reporting, they certainly hope that it will be. as you noted and cnn has been reporting, the white house and the state department are keeping very mum about this whole thing. however, it could be a turning point in the dialogue. the north koreans almost, they badly wanted respect, and this shows respect. i'm told that when the conversations first

jill dougherty, cnn, the state department. >> and brooke baldwin has an update on other stories thate are following tonight. brooke, what do you have for us? >> lisa, i want to start with pop star chris brown who was sentenced today to five years of probation for assaulting his girlfriend singer, rihanna. brown was arrested in february after that incident that took place in a rented lamborghini. brown reportedly punched and choked rihanna. along with probation, he will have to complete domestic violence counseling. >>> michael jackson's doctor today, coming forward sp dismissing claims made about jackson's last few hours of life. in a statement, dr. murray's lawyers said, quote, much of which was in the search warrant affidavit is factual. however, unfortunately, much is police theory. most egregiously, the time line reported by law enforcement was not obtained through interviews with dr. murray, as was implied by the affidavit. now, the time line dr. murray's lawyer is referring to shows different drugs given to jackson in his final hours. and according to the l.a. county coroner's

cnn's foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty live from washington with the latest on this. jill, good morning. >> good morning, heidi. it's high profile, it's -- you could say high stakes, as well, although you'd have to think that the former president setting off for pyongyang did expect he'd come back not empty handed. but it's unpredictable in the north. we have two american journalists there, they were shooting on the border of china and north korea, arrested march 17th, and then in june sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. so the mission for president clinton is try to secure their release. the statement that was released just in the past couple of hours by the white house spokesman robert gibbs says while this solely private mission to secure the release of two americans is on the ground, we will have no comment. we do not want to jeopardize the success of former president clinton's mission. and note the wording there is solely private mission. they are saying that this is not a negotiating representative of the united states. and it's important to note that because a

jill dougherty is tracking things from her post at the state department this morning. e. take a look at that schedule by secretary clinton today. it's amazing. it begins with that meeting with nelson mandela. then she goes on to a speech, a business, an industrial group. then she has events connected with health and women's issues. it's a very good indication that the breadth of issues that secretary clinton is highlighting on this trip to africa. >> i see africa as a fundamental part of our interconnected world, as partners with america on behalf of the future we want for all of our children. >> >> reporter: three weeks after president barack obama's trip to africa, his chief diplomat is back, striking many of the same themes. >> many parts of africa are rising to 21st century challenges and turning it to a road map that will turn to a regional and global hub for progress and prosperity. >> parts of the continent are racked with violence. but it's not claiming to long-held stereotypes of it as a basket case, but as a potential bread basket. >> we believe in africa's pr

jill dougherty, cnn, washington. >>> i'm trying to follow that.n twitter right now trying to follow her, but there's so many hillary clintons and i don't think any of them are her. >> will the real one please stand up? >>> storms forecast in the midwest this morning and this afternoon. we've got some severe weather across the nation. how about the thunderstorms yesterday in new york around noontime. rob has the travel forecast coming up. stay with us. >>> rob marciano tracking the weather across the country for us. we had that clear air turbulence down there that forced the plane to come in for an emergency landing. we had thunderstorms up and down the mid-atlantic coast and into new england today. >> well, a bit of a break for new england today, but fairly rapid procession of fronts coming across the u.s. this next one we've highlighted in red across the western great lakes and parts of the corn belt have the potential of seeing some thunderstorms that could be on the nasty side, and already this morning, we're seeing a lit bit of that heading no

jill dougherty is live in washington. selma gutierrez is in burbank, california awaiting their aprooirival. we're also going to talk to christiane amanpour. we're hearing new details from the white house on how this thing came to pass. it took a number of weeks to put it together. >>> it's a fascinating back story to all of this and the details are beginning to come out, starting with the most immediate thing. the senior administration officials are saying that president obama did call the parents of laura ling and euna lee between 8:30 and 9:30 last night. they congratulated them. the good news is that they are in good health. also, in north korea, it turns out wanted bill clinton right from the beginning. and we're told that north korea told these women -- and they were actually able to call their parents while they were there from time to time, they told their parents that north korea was willing to grant them amnesty and release them if an envoy in the person of president clinton would come to pyongyang and make the c

we have jill dougherty with more on the situation. to just secure the release of hostages, or will north korea's nuclear ambitions come up? what do we know about what may or may not be happening in the talks? >> at the airport, the president one of the people who greeted them was the chief nuclear negotiator, which was quite interesting. the whole thing is played out -- it's a gamble. it's played out with extraordinary diplomatic and personal stakes. look at it. you have the fate of the two journalists, who, after all, were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. so the question is, will they get out? will bill clinton have them on the plane coming back to the united states? then you have the standoff on the nuclear program of north korea. the administration has tried to keep that separate, two different tracks. but that's happening at the same time. look at the personal side. bill clinton's former president, husband, of course, of hillary clinton, the secretary of state, who is the person who has been really out front leading the diplom

jill dougherty. i know you're following that for us. >>> and we just want to give you a quick look at how we got here. laura ling and euna lee were arrested march 17th after allegedly crossing into north korea from china. they were working on a story on human trafficking for al gore's startup media venture, current tv. then in june the pair was convicted of illegal entry and so-called hostile acts. in a close trial they were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. now, let's go ahead and chart the clinton connection. you've got ling and lee and they work for current tv which is owned, of course, by al gore. and then al gore was clinton's vp, the former president, married to secretary of state, hillary clinton, now in africa. no role, by the way, in bill's private mention. so, you can see the connection to all the players going on right now in this. so, is this just one big photo-op or a turning point in one of the world's more dangerous disputes? let's ask our international security analyst, nuclear wea

let's turn to cnn foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty. can only complicate this really bad situation. >> reporter: absolutely, suzanne. you know, it things already were delicate enough between the united states and iran. and now add to the mix that unpredictable element of those tourists who may have strayed over the boarder into tehran. it couldn't happen at a worse time. iran's supreme leader officially endorses mahmoud ahmadinejad for a new term as president. but the postelection turmoil is complicating u.s. efforts to free three american tourists hiking near the iranian border now believed to be detained in that country. >> we want this matter brought to a resolution as soon as possible. and we call on the iranian government to help us determine the whereabouts of the three missing americans and return them as quickly as possible. >> reporter: with no diplomatic relations between tehran and washington, the u.s. has to rely on the swiss ambassador as the go-between. while dealing with the fate of those americans, the obama administrati

i want to bring in our foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty to ask a question of you, governor if i may. jill? >> governor richardson, you know, you were talking about whether other subjects they might get into. and i'm just reading the statement by kcna. they say they had a can debt, in-depth discussion on pending issues between the dprk and the u.s. and reached a consensus of views on seeking a negotiated settlement of them. what do you think that means? how far do you think that former president clinton went, because he was supposed to be talking merely about the journalists? >> no well, jill, you know that is diplomatic language. you know, whenever two leaders sit together, you always say you had discussions on a wide variety of subjects. president clinton there was to negotiate the release of the journalists and he probably made that appeal to kim jong-il and kim jong-il responded and then they go and talk about other issues. basically, i would say that kim jong-il is talking to president clinton saying, you know this is the view of my country. and this is our position on

>> jill dougherty with that story. >> it'll be an interesting fight, won't it?rs are going to standby and say, oh, we failed. >> the rabbi seems pretty incensed about the whole thing. 54 1/2 minutes after the hour. what are we waiting for? the flowers are blooming. the air is sweet. and zyrtec® starts... relieving my allergies... 2 hours faster than claritin®. my worst symptoms feel better, indoors and outdoors. with zyrtec®, the fastest... 24-hour allergy medicine, i promise not to wait as long to go for our ride. zyrtec® works fast, so i can love the air™. welcome to the now network. population: 49 million. right now 1.2 million people are on sprint mobile broadband. 31 are streaming a sales conference from the road. eight are wearing bathrobes. two... less. - 154 people are tracking shipments on a train. - ( train whistles ) 33 are im'ing on a ferry. and 1300 are secretly checking email... - on a vacation. - hmm? ( groans ) that's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network. bringing you the first and only wireless 4g network. sprint. the now network.

jill dougherty is at the state department now with more on this diplomatic effort. this was clandestined to the public, obviously, jill, but if they're sending bill clinton there, they have a pretty good idea that he can be successful. >> reporter: yes, you know, yes on all of those points. after all, this according to the information that we're getting, in fact, our producer spoke with a source intimately familiar with the attempts to free these journalists and that source says if you go back after the time that these two journalists were sentenced to 12 years at hard labor, the discussion about sending a special envoy began and there were several candidates, bill richardson, the governor, you also had al gore, who happens to be the head of the media organization for which these journalists work. you had kerry, john kerry, the senator and then finally bill clinton. and it was determined by the white house, we are told, that bill clinton would be the best candidate. and one of the reasons was he now does not have an official government position. and what this adminis

let's go to our foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty. ll, they're going to be trying to answer lots of questions. >> yes, it's really fascinating what they could find out and what president clinton could know. but, you know, before he left for north korea, former president clinton was briefed by members of the national security council, and now that he is back, the debriefings are going to be taking place. and they are a crucial way of getting information on a country that very few americans, let alone former presidents, have visited. oh, to be a fly on the wall at bill clinton's meeting with kim jong-il. a gold mine of observations about the ailing north korean leader. and experts in the u.s. government are eager to analyze it as they debrief the former president. >> how does he snoouf does he move freely? does he have use of his extremities? does he look good in does he look bad? are there stutters in his speech? sort of a physical assessment. he'll also be able to make a mental assessment. >> reporter: m.i.t.'s jim walsh has visited no

our cnn foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty joins us now.nderstand the backlash has already started. >> reporter: right. well, suzanne, bill clinton did what he set out to do -- come back with the journalists -- but could he, should he, be packing his bags again for another, similar mission? >> when we walked in through the doors, we saw standing before us president bill clinton. >> an emotional laura ling sings the praises of the former president who helped free her and her fellow journalist, euna lee, from captivity. so, now that he's got his high-profile face time with mr. clinton, does that mean kim jong-il will agree to negotiate an end to north korea's nuclear program? >> now maybe there's a chance to sit down to those six-party talks and really make some progress. >> reporter: but critics say mr. clinton's mission is setting a dangerous precedent. former u.n. ambassador john bolton, a fierce critic of talks with the north, charges -- it comes perilously close to negotiating with terrorists. what happens, bolton asks, if iran, believer

cnn's foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty joins us now live from washington. boy, it's a he said/she said already. >> i want to see the original korean. i'm serious. because you know, heidi, in some of these things when you get a translation in a word like "apologize" and "regret," they're very close. but they're very different in connotation. i think it is a good idea that some of our korean speakers at cnn -- and we have a number of them -- should check out what they said in korean. but you do have at least in the translation the north koreans saying that he did apologize and secretary of state hillary clinton saying, he did not. >> then there's also the question of apologiapologize, f? did the journalists cross the border or that they committed hostile acts. all of those are very important in context, too. >> absolutely. but the united states government is not going to apologize for the actions of its citizens if it had nothing to do with it. that's the basic point. one would doubt that the president apologized in that sense. he could, and this is all specu