let's continue this conversation, jim acosta, who -- was in that briefing and asked a question of theefore, to the white house, as is our chief political analyst, gloria borger, dana arwa. jim across tax you were there. i just want to begin with you. you know. the briefing or i should say the statement 45 minutes late. the president came out of the national security meeting, you know, and the headline clearly was 300 u.s. military adviser may be leaving open other options down the road. you asked the president in your follow-up if he had any regrets not leaving anyone -- team u.s. military team behind rs. what was his response to you? >> that's right, brooke. that really was follow-up question to the question i asked of the president, whether or not he is concerned about sending these military adviser in, 300 military adviser in, and whether or not that will turn into some sort of mission creep meaning that that force would not be enough poe ten down there the road and he will have to send more and more and more and get the united states involved in a civil war in iraq and that really

we begin with senior white house correspondent jim acosta. jim? >> reporter: jake, as you said, the president is expected to come into the briefing room in about 15 minutes to lay out his strategy for the next chapter for the united states in iraq. as you've been saying for the last 15, 20 minutes, this has been a difficult chapter for the united states because of the war that began back in 2003. the president's decision to end that war back in 2011, and now he's coming under heavy criticism from republicans up on capitol hill who are saying now that he made a mistake in not getting a forces agreement that would have left a residual force in iraq. it will be interesting, jake, because he's had a whole slew of questions thrown at him all week long as to which questions the president will choose to take. obviously he needs to lay out exactly what he wants to do. we expect him to do that coming out of this meeting with his national security team. but in addition to that, jake, there's also this question of iraq iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki. th

let's go now to senior white house correspondent jim acosta live in warsaw. m, any sense of how the white house will treat this issue today? >> reporter: well, i think one thing that has already caught them somewhat off guard, john, is this video release from the taliban of bowe bergdahl being set free by his captors, back into the hands of u.s. forces. and we do have a statement from the pentagon press secretary, rear admiral john kirby, who said -- and you've been talking about this as well, john -- it says "we are aware of the video allegedly released by the taliban showing the transfer into u.s. hands of sergeant bowe bergdahl. we have no reason to doubt the video's authenticity, but we are reviewing it regardless. we know the transfer was peaceful and successful and our focus remains on getting sergeant bergdahl the care that he needs." and that really echoes, before this video even came out, what i heard from a senior administration official yesterday, who was talking about the actual exchange, noting the fact that it did go down somewhat peacefully, tha

we'll be watching. >> jim acosta in warsaw. thanks, jim. >>> in bowe bergdahl's hometown, hailey, idaho, many say his release was an answer to their prayers. his friend and former roommate, shelly horton, tells anderson cooper everyone there is excited that bergdahl is finally heading home. >> about 11:00, 11:30 on saturday, the phone just started going crazy. and i picked it up, and one of my friends said, i just heard the craziest news on the radio, that bowe's been released. and of course, before i got super excited, because there's been so many talks and so many rumors about the talks and everything, i did call his family to confirm. and his mom answered the phone just super over-the-top excited. she was crying, and all she could get out for the first little bit was "it's true, it's true." so, it was, after that, kind of all sank in, and my whole house went crazy. and then everybody started kind of piling out of their houses and into town so that we could all kind of talk and celebrate. >> the town is planning a larger celeb

our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is live in warsaw. jim, what's the administration saying this morning about this bergdahl deal? >> reporter: well, john, you're right, the president just landed here in warsaw a few minutes ago. he's now shaking hands with u.s. and polish service members, also walking past some of those f-16s that were sent to poland to reassure nato allies in this region with respect to that russian incursion into ukraine that the united states was going to stand by its nato obligations and stand by its partners in this region. but you're right, john, here we have another foreign trip for this president that has a cloud hanging over it, questions about his foreign policy, and that is once again the case with this trip because of the release of bowe bergdahl in exchange for those taliban prisoners from guantanamo, and what the administration is saying right now is basically what they've been saying for the last 72 hours, and that is that there was a very small window of opportunity to secure bergdahl's release, and if th

congress saying he authorized a deployment of 275 troops to baghdad to secure the embassy there. >> jim acostathank you very much. jim at the white house and anderson cooper. anderson, stay safe. jim, thanks again. >>> as we have said, the insurgency is being led by the radical islamist group isis which is shorthand for "islamic state in iraq and syria." pamela brown takes a look at what's known about this extremely violent organization. >> reporter: publicized beheadings, targeted assassinations. a group so barbaric even al qaeda thinks it's too radical, though some are calling its leader the new osama bin laden. >> i ice has been among the most violent of any jihadist groups we've seen in the last several decades they do targeted assassination. they'll line up people and shoot them on the street. >> isis militants brutally taunt and execute iraqi soldiers on camera then publicize the bloody videos on social media. a new low in wartime propaganda these photos posted on jihadist web sites but not verified by cnn reportedly show mass executions all part of a fund-raising recruiting an advertisi

jim sciutto, jim acosta. again, no decisions yesterday made by the white house in terms of ratcheting up any kind of u.s. involvement other than those 275 u.s. forces we talked about. >>> i want to bring you up to date on the latest on the violence in country in iraq. state television reporting the iraqi air force killed more than 200 militants today in its own air raids northwest of fallujah. impossible to independently verify that. they say they destroyed a convoy of vehicles carrying isis fighters. meanwhile, new images are coming to light from isis purporting to show the executions of iraqi security forces. we're going to have more on that later in this hour, incredibly disturbing videos. isis gained control of another city today, two more villages northeast of baghdad over the weekend and has threatened to march on baghdad in its bid to establish an islamic state stretching from iraq into northern syria. as we said, hay ear 50 or so miles from baghdad itself. our senior international correspondent has sp

jim acosta, thank you. jim sciutto as well. quick reminder. your dvr so you can watch "ac 360" whenever you want." we've been hearing reports about these tens of thousands of young men, old men in some cases volunteering after a call by grand ayatollah al sistani. i went to a center today where there were hundreds of young men signing up, volunteering to fight. most of them didn't have any military experience. we'll talk about that, ahead. hey, i heard you guys can help me with frog protection? yeah, we help with fraud protection. we monitor every purchase every day and alert you if anything looks unusual. wow! you're really looking out for us. we are. and if there are unauthorized purchases on your discover card, you're never held responsible. just to be clear, you are saying "frog protection" right? yeah, fraud protection. frog protection. fraud protection. frog. fraud. fro-g. frau-d. i think we're on the same page. we're totally on the same page. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. fraud protection. get it at discover.com how ca

we're joined now by senior white house correspondent jim acosta. jim, this video, this dramatic video released just a short time ago just the latest ingredient in this controversy that i'm not so sure that the white house expected, frankly. >> reporter: they didn't, john. i mean, they did expect that this release would spark a discussion, spark a discussion about how to wind down the war in afghanistan, how to close the prison at guantanamo, and the president wants to have those discussions, and the senior administration official that i spoke with said, now, they didn't go and complete this exchange for the expressed purpose of having this debate, but they knew it was coming. but one thing that we should point out, john, is that the department of defense has already responded to this release of bowe bergdahl that you see on video that was put out by the taliban earlier this morning, as you had been mentioning. the pentagon is not questioning the authenticity of it, but let me read you that statement from the pentagon press secretary, rear admiral jo

investigate later but bring them back regardless. >> this is jim acosta's interview today with susan rice. here's another excerpt. >> let me ask you about some comments you made last sunday on one of the sunday talk shows. you said bowe bergdahl served with honor and distinction. it's come out since then that some of his fellow soldiers say he was a deserter, he may have wandered off the post there in afghanistan. did you misspeak, did you get that wrong? i realize there's been controversy around this. i was speaking to the fact this was a young man who volunteered to serve his country in uniform at a time of war. that is itself a very honorable thing. >> but honor and distinction? >> jim, really, this is a young man who circumstances we are still going to learn about. he is, as all americans, innocent until proven guilty. >> all right, so what do you think? >> i think that's a point the president was making as well. one, innocent until proven guilty. as he was explaining his decision a couple days ago, he said, listen, i'm responsible for these guys. used the expression "i send them

so i think he's moving a quarter of an inch at a time. >> senior white house correspondent jim acosta at the white house. we are expecting the president to deliver a statement sometime in the next few minutes about the decision. what are you hearing, jim? >> reporter: one thing we are hearing, jake, at the moment is this statement has been delayed. we don't know how long. we don't know how long we'll be waiting here in the briefing room. just a moment ago one of the staffers at the white house informed us that this meeting that the president is having with his national security team and if you look at the list of participants in that meeting, it may explain why this is taking a little bit longer than expected. everybody from the secretary of state on down is right now behind closed doors with the president in the situation room. so we're waiting to find out exactly when the president is going to go out. but just to echo what jim and barbara and gloria have been saying, every indication that we are getting from the white house is that the president is not going to come out and announce

joining me now is jim acosta. let me start with jim shudo. >> this is what we know, over the weekend, teams totaling a number of 170 began arriving in baghdad. their role, one of the largest in the world, another 100 still outside of baghdad ready to go in if needed. their specialty is an air field security. why is that important? if a full organization is 23450eded, these are not combat troops, they're not there to fight the battles, they're there to provide security for many of the thousands of americans who are in baghdad. >> and jim, i understand that president obama is meeting with his national security team at the white house tonight? >> that's right, anderson, it's possible that that meeting has just wrapped up, in just the last several minutes, we have seen john kerry, secretary of defense chuck hagel, martin dempsey and the attorney general all leaving the west wing, within the last several minutes from what i snrs from talking to a white house official, the president is now down to what they're calling a

joining me now, cnn's jim acosta, senior white house correspondent. jim, we will get to your question of the president in just a moment. to be crystal clear, we are talking up to 300 military adviser. the president said advising iraqi iraqis. how exactly? >> it just so happens the administration officials are holding a background conference where they are lay thing out. i can give you some brand-new information on this. these officials on this conference call are saying that at first, they are going to be sending in several small teams of adviser about a dozen each to establish what they are calling these joint operation centers with iraqi forces. your heard the president mention joint operation centers during his remarks in the briefing room. at this stage, what they are going in to do is really advising and consulting with the iraqis. this is not a combat role. this is sort of, you know, getting a lay of the land, surveying the landscape militarily as to what the iraqis are up against with respect to those isis forces. we are at the preliminary zwraj

jim acosta is standing by live. ing significant in that, jim, he's been in close consultation with the iraqi government over the last year regarding their requests. the reality behind that is they've been requesting help, they've been requesting backup and drone strikes and air strikes and we have said no. why? >> reporter: that's right. one thing they've also been requesting is military equipment and hardware. i can tell you just last week, the iraqi government accepted a whole batch of f-16s that will be delivered to baghdad in a couple months. looking at what's happening on the outstanding grou ground right now, they can't wait a couple months. to the president's been on this footing to get the u.s. out of the middle east military on a variety of fronts he doesn't want to do air strikes unless he absolutely has to in iraq. what you heard the president say there was an indication of a lot of movement when it comes to that anti-depressioption, when might be short term immediate things that need to be done military,

jim acosta is our senior white house correspondent. jim, tell us what we learned.t and putin on the phone, that doesn't happen every day. >> reporter: it doesn't happen every day. we found out at white house press secretary josh ernest, the press secretary saying that earlier this morning president obama and vladimir putin spoke via telephone and talked about the crisis in ukraine, of course, talked about the separatists there. the president in that phone call, according to josh ernest, warned the russian president that there will be costs if moscow does not deescalate that crisis there, the president leaning very heavily on pout tin saying it's up to the russians to control those separatists, to send the message that they need to stop disrupting the scene in eastern ukraine. the president making it clear in this phone call, according to josh ernest, that the u.s. along with its g7 partners may move forward with some sort of sectoral sanction. we heard last friday, wolf, that they ma be more of a scalpel-type sanction that might be imposed as opposed to broad secto

>> thank you very much, jim acosta. obviously that is an additional very significant headline, that you're now not just talking about iraq but you're talking about another country, syria. joining me now retired u.s. army general mcgregor. and cnn military analyst retired army general jim spidermarks. this has become one of these -- i'm going to say it every single time to make sure people hear me, we're not returning to combat in iraq. they keep talking about no combat, no boots on the ground. when you hear about 300 american military personnel, it sounds like boots on the ground. what's the difference? >> well, it's a distinction without a difference. what you have with the special -- these are probably special forces advisers that are appropriately manned to get to different levels, different eshleens within the isf, the iraqi security forces to provide additional and primary function of intelligence targeting so that they can have better targets to go after. we have access, those forces will have access to the comple

jim acosta in brussels. thanks, jim. >> one person defending the efforts to find and free bowe bergdahl is retired army general stanley mcchrystal. the former commander of the u.s. war effort in afghanistan tells yahoo! news, he says they had to take sometimes risky steps to try and rescue the soldier and something he has no apologies for, this as even more of bergdahl's former comrades come forward to blast his actions, including a former squad leader who claims to "the lead" and to cnn that bergdahl was a deserter whose actions led to at least six deaths. now, that is a fact that the defense department denies. >> i can only say i blame bergdahl to the fullest extent, but if he wouldn't have deserted us, these soldiers very well could have been in a different place at a different time, rather than the place that the time took of their death. >> after sergeant bergdahl, then private bergdahl, came up missing, we did a huge number of operations to try to stop the taliban from being able to move him across the

gloria borger and senior white house correspondent, jim acosta.ear about what the president might do. he actually said in that meeting in the oval office, all options, referring to military options, i assume, are on the table. what are you hearing? >> reporter: wolf, we can take one military option off the table even though the president said, while he was sitting there with the australian prime minister, he's not ruling any option out. i did talk to a senior administration official who said no boots on the ground. that is not being considered. but that the president, i've been told by a senior administration official in the last few minutes, is considering some sort of air support, some sort of air strikes to turn the tide against these isis militants in iraq. you heard the president sort of answer that. he wasn't specific about whether he would approve air strikes or not but i'm hearing from an administration official if you listen to what the president said he basically answered that question, so, yes, he is considering that. it does add some c

here's jim acosta. >> reporter: all of a sudden the u.s. have some unlikely helping hands in iraq. u.s. officials believe syria launched air strikes on isis military strong holds. adding the syrian air assault, iran is conducting drone surveillance over isis forces. with that kind of assistance from two longtime adversaries is not sitting well with the obama administration. >> we've made it clear to everyone in the region that we don't need anything to take place that might exacerbate the sectarian divisions that are already at a heightened level of tension. >> reporter: the problem, secretary of state john kerry, said after his trip to the region, is that iraq needs to take care of its own security. >> that's one of the reasons why government formation is so urgent so that the leaders of iraq can begin to make decisions necessary to protect iraq without outside forces moving to fill a vacuum. >> reporter: but syria and its embattled leader bashar al assad along with iran might have other plans. they have competing interests in iraq and the

she came out in this interview just yesterday with our jim acosta talking about the comments saying sergeantith honor. she is not stepping back on them. she is saying i'm talking about anyone that serves this country. it's an honorable thing to do. >> right. i think she's going to have to decide at some point if she is going to continue to step up and be public and facing the press and have a spokesperson kind of role in this area. if she is, i think it might be wise for her to be a little less defensive in how she answers some of the answers. >> more qualified? >> yeah, more qualified and being a little less reactive in responding and trying to explain her comments. but i also think, you know, from a brand perspective, it might make sense for her to stand back for a moment and take a deep breath and really understand, really get sharp understanding of how she is being perceived and why this is getting off track. because she is not a strong a brand add, say, a john kerry for instance who can make a mistake and his brand is so strong when he makes a mistake mentioning israeli and apartheid in

but as jim acosta reports: the commander- in-f wants to be associated with a differt >>> halfway into a second term, president barack obama is a lame duck with slow approval ratings but the commander in chief wants to be associated with the lame duck but a different animal. >> reporter: lost in the political wilderness for months. >> i am finding, lately, that i just want to say what is on my mind. so let me -- >> can't be regular, can not be routine. >> reporter: it is fair that he is dog more than working through some cabin fever these days. >> the bear is loose. >> reporter: now, the presidential bear sightings happen ever week. this creature of washington is hungry for more than coffee runs and fast food. and he told a town hall in minnesota, -- >> i am like a caged bear and every once in awhile i break loose. >> oh my god it is a bear. >> reporter: unlike the actual bear that tried to escape through the minnesota woods he wants to reconnect with the voters outside of the white house fence and beyond the beltway noise. >> critics, cynics in washington, they written me off more tim

he said "he's taking a nap," and then he stormed off. >> let's bring in our jim acosta. us are watching the situation unfolding in iraq, and it's getting quite dire. there's increased violence. it sounds like isis is make says its way towards baghdad. they're claiming they're going to overtake baghdad. and the question is what is the u.s. going to do? boehner has made it clear that he thinks the president needs to be engaged. >> reporter: absolutely. and you know, john just took the words out of my mouth. that struck me as being really, really heated, what the speaker there said just before he left the room when he said "the president's been taking a nap" when it comes to iraq. i can tell you from talking to administration officials all morning long that at this point, the white house is not looking at airstrikes. they are looking at a range of options. they always say they're looking at a range of options, but at this point they're really focusing on providing military assistance to the iraqis. and so, you know, there is a real reluctance on the part of this white house

>> jim acosta at the white house, thank you. let's bring in the host of cnn's sper connish.hink the president is trying to get out of that d.c. bubble? is that a political strategy? does he have cabin fever? what's your assessment? >> it's a combination of both. i buy into what i heard, donna talking about the political irp occasions puppet's good for a president whose approval is object 40% to get out there and mix. it's probably good for his mental health as well. he's five years no now. that is the ultimate bubble. you know what that environment is like. it's like living in a fishbowl. and you know, i'll bet he relish to do what i'm going to do after our conversation tonight, which is walk a couple of blocks in new york city, meet family members, have a cocktail, have dinner and interact with some real folks and call it a night. he doesn't get to have nights like that. >> let's shift gears. you have a major interview tomorrow with the gm whistle-blower. there have been a lot of recalls as all of our viewers know from gm. there's an investigation underway. he tried to aler

jim acosta is traveling with the president in france right now. resident obama saluted the epic battle that began 70 years ago on d day he came face to face with an adversary of his own, vladimir putin. landing on the shores of normandy, president obama paid tribute to a sea of heroes. the fallen world war ii soldiers whose graves grace the sacred ground and the survivors in the twilight of their lives. >> gentlemen, we are truly humbled by your presence here today. >> reporter: the president seized on the lessons from this 70th anniversary of d day. >> this was democracy's beach. and our victory in that war decided not just a century but shaped the security and wellbeing of all posterity. >> reporter: tieing the struggle for freedom from one generation to the sacrifices of another. >> this generation, this 9/11 generation of service members, they, too, felt something. they answered some call. they said, i will go. >> reporter: during world war ii, america and the soviet union were allies, but on this day the u.s. and russian leaders went toe to to

susan rice in speaking with jim acosta last week tried to clean that up a little. >> what i was referring to is this is a young man who volunteered to serve his country in uniform at a time of war. that is itself a very honorable thing. >> there are some who say they shouldn't put her out anyway because she's such a polarizing figure. when you've not sure about what happened here, then why say that? why use those words. >> if you don't have all the facts yet about the circumstances which we certainly don't, why do you go out there and really wound a lot of military families who had soldiers who did not come back? this obviously created a ripple effect across america where now the administration has to deal with and clean up. >> they turned this deal down essentially, pretty much the same deal. they turned it down before. a lot of people are saying that's when the president had what i'll call team caution. leon panetta at the cia. the republican hold over bob gates, you had hillary clinton at state. a lot of people look at this team when they say, no, it's not worth doing, not tough enough

cnn's jim acosta is traveling with the president in brussels. what more are you learning, jim. >> reporter: the white house expected the release of bowe bergdahl would stir up controversy but what they never saw coming was the personal attacks aimed at bergdahl even his family and all of it become a political football democrats say to damage the president. with the president in europe, the administration officials are playing defense over what they thought would be a feel good story. the release of p.o.p. bowe bergda bergdahl. agents to the president say they expected some controversy but surprised on the attacks of his family and a further effort to damage the president. >> it's very interesting to me that they with be willing to release five extraordinarily dangerous taliban members in exchange for this soldier who apparently left his post. we don't know all of the details. >> reporter: conservative critics have accused bergdahl's father of looking like a muslim. >> i understand that bowe bergdahl's father looks like a muslim is that he looks l

is the big frustration on capitol hill, wolf. >> let's bring in our white house correspondent, jim acostaaveling with the president. are you getting any sense at all, jim, that the president or his top advisers regret that decision saturday night to go into the rose garden with bowe bergdahl's parents and make the announcement? obviously the president making the announcement that bowe bergdahl had been released and exchanged for these five taliban detainees? was that a smart move according to what you're hearing from officials traveling with the president? >> reporter: wolf, i think the president, i think his top advisers would do it all over again. i've been talking with several top white house officials over the last several days, and they do feel like it was a smart decision to have bowe bergdahl's parents there in the white house rose garden. they felt like it really sent the message home to families all across the country, military families that they think this is about bringing a soldier home, that you don't leave a soldier on the battlefield. and as joe was saying, i've also been h

first, a break with jim acosta at the house. jim, how many troops are we talking about tonight? >> less than 300, aaron. the white house released a letter called a war powers resolution letter from the president to house speaker john boehner about an hour ago. the letter notifies congress that president authorized deployment of 275 troops to iraq, with secure personnel and the letter goes on to say that forces will remain in iraq until the security situation there improves and white house officials are pointing out erin that these troops are coming in with the consent of the iraqi government. >> which is obviously crucial. given that there's been a failure between the two governments to agree on status of forces that would allow more troops. but jim, i know the president's meeting with his advisors tonight and they've been working all weekend to come with him with a list of here are your options. what kind of decision might we get tonight. >>cy thi i think what you will reviewing ogs options. the president is concerned with the isis threat and he has chuck hagel's secretary of s

jim acosta joining us live. >>> the atlantic hurricane season began two days ago, but the eastern pacific season, that began weeks ago and is underway. >> it's all happening. meteorologist alexandra steel is joining us from the international weather center with the details of what we can expect. >> things are quiet on the front here but in the east a high probability. it is a tropical depression, it is 2e. you can see where it is. here's mexico, the gulf of mexico and the bay of campichi. you'll see this move north. this thing has some issues. you'll see it move very slowly. only moving at 3 miles per hour. what that means, slow moving systems are major rain dumpers. and the thing with hurricanes, what you see, the biggest threat and the biggest death toll comes from the water. you're supposed to run from the wind but you certainly need to hide from the water and get out of it and run away from it because that is the biggest killer. the biggest issue with this because it's so slow moving, it will dump an awful l

we appreciate it, jim acosta speaking with the president's national security adviser susan rice.e student put his own life on the line to save fellow classmates, tackling a man who opened fire on a seattle college campus. one student was shot dead while three others were hurt. right now we know the 26-year-old suspect was not a student at the school. so what could have been his motivation? why would he have done something like that? dan simon is live in seattle. >> reporter: good morning, kate. police at this point had not been able to establish a connection between the alleged shooter and the university or any of the victims. thanks to a very quick thinking student here, this situation could have been a whole lot worse. >> reporter: it's happened once again. >> we heard a shot. we thought it was an experiment at first. then we heard screaming. >> reporter: this time a school shooting hitting seattle pacific university in washington state. >> we had a young male enter otto miller hall on the seattle pacific university campus armed with a shotgun. >> reporter: it was around 3:20 i

chief white house correspondent jim acosta joins us now. he yogi bear, smoky bear, even the care bears but obama the bear? >> that's right, jim. we should point out the national zoo is actually a few miles up the road. there is a self-described bear in captivity here at the white house that's feeling the urge to break out of his cage. lost in the political wilderness for months -- >> i'm finding lately that i just want to say what's on my mind. so let me -- >> can't be routine. >> it's fair to say president obama is doing more than working through some cabin fever these days. >> the bear is loose. >> now these presidential bear sightings happen every week. but this creature of washington is hungering for more than coffee runs and fast food. as he told a town hall in minnesota. >> i'm like a caged bear and every once in an awhile i break loose. >> oh, my god, it's a bear. >> unlike the actual bear that tried to escape to the minnesota woods, mr. obama wants to reconnect with the voters outside the white house fence and beyond the beltway nois

we want to bring our white house correspondent jim acosta with reaction from the obama administration. certainly a blow to the administration, jim. is. >> absolutely. i mean this is probably the biggest victory for opponents of the affordable care act since it was signed into law. keep in mind that this was -- up held at the supreme court just a couple of shorts years ago and ever since then, conservatives have been looking for that symbolic victory and they got it today, even though it's not going to undermine or greatly damage the law, it's certainly a victory they have been seek being cht the president right now is meeting with the president of chile in the oval office. there's a pool spray as we call it at the white house. a limited number of reporters have been allowed in to get the president's comments. sometimes he has asked questions about news of the day in these circumstances. he will respond. i don't think that will be the case. i don't think he will respond to the hobby lobby case and we'll wait and see. at the bottom of the hour, the white house briefing will be taking pl

jim acosta has the latest and resa reports from tehran. let's begin with arwa. curdish forces in the north appear to be standing their own ground against these isis militants. what can you tell us about the very latest? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. the front lines are moving closer to baghdad with the fight seeming to focus on areas about an hour to the north of the capital. there are fairly significant battles under way between most and the syrian border. as isis was moving throughout this territory launching that massive offensive there really was one force that stood up to them. we can barely see beyond the tree line. they are ready should isi circumstancisis try to advance. the iraqi army abandoned this and other positions even before isis arrived. it's contesting the resolve. they have attacked and we pushed them back. up to 200 fighters armed with the welcomes and vehicles be iraq army used to have. we try to ask people if they saw isis down the road. the first two cars say there's nothing. it's hard to tell if people are afraid. the family in this car

so let's go to the white house to our senior white house correspondent, jim acosta, with this news. hat are you hearing? >> reporter: brooke, we just heard from the incoming press secretary, josh earnest, who is talking to reporters on board air force one, as the president is making his way back from the weekend trip in california that the president will be meeting with his national security team here at the white house later on this evening to review options for a potential military strike against those isis militants in iraq. we should caution, the president, from what we understand, has not made a final decision. but i am hearing, brooke, from a white house official that he has a fundamental set of options before him that includes military options, military action. at this point, though, those options i'm being told could be tweaked or changed somewhat. so we're in the middle of the process, not at the end of the process and that's why the president is meeting with his team tonight. >> jim acosta, thank you so much. bob baer, national security analyst and former cia operative, let

his health was in danger, his life was in danger, and jim acosta's reporting that in fact the senatorsere told yesterday when briefed if word had gotten out, that they were threatening to kill bergdahl and that may have been one of the reasons that they didn't notify or consult with the congress in the timely fashion, which is what congress is so upset about. i think what they need to do at a certain point is start declassifying some of this information who these prisoners are, about the discussions that were had, what occurred so that the american public can understand and lift the veil on how these kind of decisions are made and why they're made. the president said, we don't leave anyone behind, i don't think anybody quarrels with than i think the question is, how do you make this decision, why did you make this decision, and what can we learn from it? >> does it make any difference if in fact he had willingly deserted his unit or not, is that an issue at all in a very difficult, complex decision making process. there's a line you write in your column, at least they're consistent, mi

here's cnn's jim acosta. >> reporter: lost in the political wilderness for months -- >> i'm finding lately that i just want to say what's on my mine. so let me -- >> can't be regular. can't be routine. >> reporter: it's fair to say president obama is doing more than working through some cabin fever these days. >> the bear's loose. >> reporter: now, these presidential bear sightings happen every week. but this creature of washington is hungrying for more than coffee runs and fast food as he told a town hall in minnesota. >> i'm like a caged bear and every once in a while i brack loose. >> oh my god, it's a bear. >> reporter: unlike the minnesota bear, he wants to reconnect outside the white house fence and beyond the beltway noise. >> critics and cynics in washington, you know, they've written me off more times than i can count. >> reporter: now the white house is making these getan aways part of the schedule spending more time with every day americans. this week it was rebecca's turn. she is a minnesota mom who wrote a letter to the president about her struggles making ends meet. >> i got

our cnn senior correspondent jim acosta is live in normandy. >> reporter: jake, we wanted to ask susan rice about the reports coming out of capitol hill, that they had to keep the mission to free bergdahl secret or his life was in jeopardy. we also talked to her about the comments that she made last sunday saying that bergdahl served with distinction. >> jim, we were very concerned about the well-being of bowe bergdahl. he had been in captivity for five years. we had indications that his health may be fragile. and so there was a real sense of urgency to obtain his freedom. the president had an opportunity to do so and it was an opportunity that well could have been neating and he chose to take it. he feels very strongly that it was the right decision. all of us on the national security team were unanimous in supporting that he take this opportunity. >> let me ask you about some comments that you made last sunday on one of the sunday talk shows. you said that bowe bergdahl served with honor and distinction. it's come out since then that some of his fellow soldiers say he was a deserter.

jim acosta is on omaha beach. you've been watching the ceremony all morning long. ve us a little flavor, jim. >> that's right, carol. we've been standing here in normandy at the normandy american cemetery and memorial all morning long. i have to tell you i've had a chance to walk among these gravestones. it's really an inspiring and moving experience. but one thing that we did hear this morning and i think you touched on it a few moments ago is the president's tribute to the d-day veterans who were on hand here today and his tribute to what happened here at normandy 70 years ago, the president describing this place as democracy's beach head. carol, it was really striking because all morning long we've just seen veteran after veteran come through here along with their families, family members of the fallen who are here. some 9300 americans buried here in normandy. it's been a tremendous experience all morning long. as you mentioned, the president has been attending to other ceremonies here. he had the heads of state lunch up the coast at sword beach. and one thing we

and then on friday cnn reporter jim acosta was able to get a brief interview with her, asked about that. she had a chance to back off. here's what happened. >> he is, as all americans, innocent until proven guilty. he's now being tried in the court of public opinion after having gone through an enormously traumatic five years of captivity. >> why such a focus on this phrase "honor and distinction"? >> because she seems to like it. and look, i think it seems to the tin ear of the contemporary democratic party for patriotic issues. they just don't have a sense for the military culture. this is not the fdr democratic party that won us wars and executed deserters. >> you don't think the media are making too much of it? >> i don't. i think lauren's right. the soldiers, his colleagues, every one of them, i mean, it's not even close. now, "the new york times" is doing its best to smear the unit by running articles saying they're sloppy and raggedy and so on. and the "new york times" editorial page has finally found an american soldier they like in bergdahl. but listen, the average soldier, the

this morning, national security adviser susan rice spoke with senior white house correspondent jim acosta and she defended bergdahl against the accusations that he may have been a deserter of the u.s. military. >> i want to start off with bowe bergdahl. let's just jump right into it. i guess yesterday there were congressional sources telling reporters that had word leaked out about the deal to free bowe bergdahl, that he would have been killed. did the administration explain that to lawmakers? and is that the reason why the administration did not notify congress before this exchange took place? >> jim, we're very concerned about the well being of bowe bergdahl. he'd been in captivity for five years. we had indications that his health may be fragile. and so there was a real sense of urgency to obtaining his freedom. the president had the opportunity to do so. and it was an opportunity that could well have been fleeting. and he chose to take it. and he feels very strongly that was the right decision. all of us on the national security team were unanimous in supporting and recommending that

. >> joining us now, jim acosta, christiane amanpour, and arwa damon. she's in the it northenorthern country. the president says he's considering various options but what exactly is on the table based on all the information we're hearing? >> the information we're hearing is that the president is considering air strikes either through u.s. warplanes or drone strike. but he wants his national security team over the next several days to draw up these options and that the decision won't come overnight, it will take a few days. he wants to send a message to the iraqis that they need it get their act together. he wants the government, nuri al hal al maliki, to start unifying the country. he doesn't want to throw good money after bat noting iraqi security forces are melting away in the face of the militant fighters with isis. but at the same time, i thought what was very striking is is that the president taking questions before hopping on marine one with mrs. obama. at one point he was asked whether he feels reluctant to get involved in iraq. and the president

part of the rationale for doing this deal with the taliban, and in an exclusive interview with our jim acostay adviser susan rice brought it up again. here it is. >> we don't leave anybody on the battlefield. regardless of the conditions of their capture, and as a prisoner of war, bowe bergdahl deserved and we had the obligation and the commander in chief had the obligates to do what was necessary to bring him home. >> all right. spider, talk about the military policy here. are there ever any exceptions to what extent do you go to get a service member out, who's in trouble? >> fredricka, if i understand your question, to get a service member out of the service? who's in trouble, or -- >> no. a service member in trouble, such is the case as bowe bergdahl, in the hands of the taliban to what extent does u.s. military go you know? whether it was your mistake or whether it was desertion, for whatever reason you fell into the hands of something else to what extent does the military say we will leave no one left behind? is that a written or unwritten appeals? >> as described, the conditions of his

rice spoke exclusively with our jim acosta. >> we're very concerned about the well-being of bowe bergdahl had been in captivity for five years. he had indications that his health may be fragile. and so there was a real sense of urgency to obtaining his freedom. >> reporter: in our exclusive interview with susan rice, we asked the white house national security adviser about reports that the administration kept secret the mission to free bowe bergdahl out of fear that leaks to the public could have gotten him killed. was that the reason why you didn't notify congress? because there was this threat on his life if word had leaked out? >> we had reason to be concerned about his life, but we also had reason to be concerned that the 30-day period that would normally be honored was too long. that had we waited that long, we may well have missed what general dempsey has called the last best opportunity to bring him back. we don't leave anybody on the battlefield, regardless of the conditions of their capture. and as a prisoner of war, bowe bergdahl deserved and we had the obligation, and the comma

with me is jim acosta, george washington university law professor, jonathan turley, david broady and rana ruhar and gloria borger. i want to start with you jonathan turley a decision has been made. everybody is talking about some sort of compromise or narrow ruling. will it come down to what the chief justice john roberts kind of decided? >> chief justice roberts is the one that snatched defeat away from the act last time. he was the deciding vote that decided the question for the individual mandate, something that he remains very controversial about with conservatives. the question is whether he's going to do that again here. the difference is that this really isn't a lethal threat to the aca, but it would cause great complications in the management of that act. the other one to watch is justice kennedy who remains the ultimate swing voter. >> let's see if that is the case. what is the decision, jeffrey? >> let me be honest. i have not read through the decision yet. i'm getting the gist of it so far. it is a 5-4 decision in favor of ll. hobby lobby does not have to pay for the dispu

our senior correspondent jim acosta. seems to be more than just a little bit of cabin fever for the president. what is he trying to do here? >> absolutely, wolf. we saw this a few weeks ago when the president decide to go on this impromptu walk from the white house to the interior department for an event. he uttered the words "the bear is loose." he's been breaking loose from the white house grounds to make starbucks runs, to go to chipotle earlier this week, where the photographer caught him leaning over the sneeze guard, trying to interact with people in the restaurant. the president wants to reconnect to voters. he's feeling a little bit isolated in the presidential bubble. we heard a bit of this yesterday, when the president was holding a town hall in minnesota, when he talked about feeling like a caged bear again. here's what he had to say. >> i've been really looking forward to getting out of d.c. but i've also been looking forward to spending a couple days here in the twin cities. our agenda's still a little loose

assault and by the way when the state department is asked about it they send out a woman named jim acosta scour the scotty p s a k. who always says we have absolutely no concerns about this that the ukrainian government has the right to restore law and order in this country and the russians are responsible for all these activities you know what happens the russians show this woman smirking and condescending on television every night she's the greatest propaganda tool the kremlin has putin has influence in southeastern ukraine but he doesn't control these people these people live there it's their land they have their own families and demands and political desires you sit down and you negotiate. it's we have we have just two minutes left. president pro shank oh poroshenko is said to be talking to mr putin trying to work out something on the other hand i read in the new york times just in an hour and a half ago that there was there were reports that tanks were coming from russia into ukraine then there was a counter report that said but those tanks are the ones that the russian army no longe