with me phil bronstein who broke and wrote the story. thank you so much for this.of questions as a journalist and about your trade craft here. how did you find this navy s.e.a.l.? how did you id him yourself, and how did you get him to talk? >> well, the finding him really happened through more of a social contact. we had some mutual friends. they talked to me before i ever met him, he and i had a number of phone conversations where i still didn't know who he was. i knew what he had done. and then gradually a trust developed, and we started talking more and more. i met him face-to-face. those kinds of meetings happened probably dozens of times. and then this really took place over a year and a quarter. >> how long did it take for him to open up and actually give you a narrative of killing bin laden? >> i would say that that really the first long narrative happened right after he got out of the service, which was beginning of september. beginning of september last year. >> and you also get confirmation from the point man. there is only two men up on the third floor.

for more on this story i'm joined by the article's author phil bronstein. he's the executive chairman of the center for investigative reporting. welcome to the program. >> thank you. thanks for having me. >> suarez: this is a man whose identity is secret. you can tell from the department of defense they don't want to say anything about anything. how did you determine to your own satisfaction that the shooter is who he says he is. >> this is a relationship that started about a year and a quarter ago through some mutual friends. he was introduced to me as "the guy," as they like to call him. long before i ever met him, these were people who had, for instance, there was a party of seals who had been on that mission in washington a week after the mission. and i wasn't there but he was there along with other fellow seals who were on the bin laden mission. there was a lot of conversation acknowledging that he was the shooter. and other members of his red team squad were clearly in agreement with that. i did speak with three different people who were at that dinne

he has phil bronstein the guy who got the interview and wrote the story with bin laden shooter. >> greghey go toe to toe. >> eric: eye to eye. he lost his toe. little back story on that. coming up on "the five," parody of paul harvey god may be a farmer ad that aired in the super bowl and it's called "god made me a liberal." god said i need someone willing to take a nap and borrow money, snorting bath salts. >> eric: where that came from? that is next on "the five." thoughts. here he is on "fox and friends." >> i'm not a republican or liberal. i'm independent. if there was a logic party, i'd be part of that. so many things are ideologically driven in washington, d.c. cades a million hits for that video. some people were upset that the setting was not appropriate. he took advantage of making the comments while the president and mrs. obama were sitting there. the president seemed unhappy. but no one is arguing the content. >> greg: he is plastic surgery, pediatric, and director of neurosurgery in john hopkins medical. no mention of community organizing. what a fraud. >> bob: political acu

phil bronstein spent many hours the the one-time navy s.e.a.l. e shooter is struggling financially, prompting bronstein to ask, is this how america treats its heroes? joining me now from san francisco, welcome. >> thanks, howie, for having me. >> how on earth did you find this guy, get access to him and convince him to talk to you? >> well, you know, howie, it started really as a social interaction. some mutual friends. i had been overseas correspondent for about nine years. i had gotten to know a lot of special operators in that time. i had been in war zones and that helped the connection. people connected me to a guy described in the story as the mentor who also former s.e.a.l. was in a s.e.a.l. team with the shooter and then went on to blackwater and the cia. i started speaking with him over the phone and didn't know who he was. we got comfortable with each other and he then made sure that i got in phone contact with the shooter. again, started anonymously. built up trust over a period of time and then i met him face-to-face and thus started a

he has phil bronstein the guy who got the interview and wrote the story with bin laden shooter. >> greghey go toe to toe. >> eric: eye to eye. he lost his toe. little back story on that. coming up on "the five," parody of paul harvey god may be a farmer ad that aired in the super bowl and it's called "god made me a liberal." god said i need someone willing to take a nap and borrow money, snorting bath salts. >> eric: where that came from? that is next on "the five." ♪ ♪ >> dana: two videos burning up the internet over the weekend. the first is dr. ben carson at the national prayer breakfast thursday and the second is political spoof from the god made a farmer super bowl ad. here are some of the comments that carson made that set the internet on fire. >> we spent a lot of money on healthcare. twice as much per capita as anyone else in the world. not very efficient. what can we do? my solution, when the person is born, give them birth certificate and electronic medical record and health savings account, to which money can be contributed pretax from the time you're born to time you die. if

. >> woodruff: ray suarez talks with journalist phil bronstein about his profile of the navy seal creditedith shooting osama bin laden. >> he talks about going in the room, rolling in the room as he puts it and being kind of shocked at how tall bin laden was and having to raise his gun up to shoot

>> well, you know, phil bronstein is a respected journalist. have been others out there on the team who talked. the book no easy day caused a huge kerfuffle and it is worth noting there is now a lot of competing versions about who killed bin laden in that upper floor of that compound. who exactly of three or four guys pulled the trigger that were the final bullets for bin laden's life. i think at the end of the day, probably doesn't make much of a difference, he's dead. >> andrew, we know this -- they call him the shooter, he left the military, left the s.e.a.l.s four years shy of his pension, 20 years, so, you know, i read his pension, had he staid all 20, would have been half his base pay, equivalent to a member of the navy choir. what needs to change in terms of money, employment, even just ptsd officials for men and women coming home? >> well, i think it highlights a pretty good point that, you know, we don't have necessarily the support system for a lot of our veterans when they come home. one in ten veterans are -- lack health insurance.

coming up at 6:30 on fox and friends the author of the esquire article phil bronstein talks about hisnterview with the navy seal team 6 member. >> 26 after the hour. still to come, image waking up with a gun to your head. the whole thing was caught on camera. >> you have seen this picture. look at that. is this a sign from a higher power or what? lightening strikes the vatican the same day that the president makes the big announcement. but first on this day in history back in 1809. look who was born president abraham lincoln in kentucky. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. >> i am patti ann browne. >> i am heather cheryleds. it is half past the top of the hour. a fox news alert a few hours from now the u.s. security council will hold an emergency meeting about north korea's latest nuclear test. >> it's the first test since 2006 it is drawing criti

then as you mentioned he told phil bronstein, he told phil that he just had enough. he had done hundreds of missions. his body was falling apart. he was tired of killing and he wanted to move on to the next part of his life. the military said rules are rules. you didn't do your 20 years. you get no pension. >> so let me understand that right. first of all he's supposed to get healthcare benefits, but he's not getting them because of the bureaucracy. and on the pension if you don't serve 20 years you get nothing? >> that's correct. that would be the same for anybody. this guy--i was talking to a colonel in the special ops command this afternoon. he said, look, when you sign up, these are the rules. you got to live by the rules. that's it. that's the end of it. that's the military culture for you. our system has made no allowances to say hey this is a great american hero. he shot and killed the terrorist mastermind of our era. let's maybe we should cut him a break. maybe we should do something a little bit special for him. but the systems that we have set up both milit

>>gretchen: phil bronstein joins us now.ting a lot of attention, the article in "esquire" magazine. you believe that you have been having frequent meetings, that you know the shooter of osama bin laden. why are you so sure that he was actually the shooter? >> the story itself progressed over a period of time. it started about a year, a little less than a year and a half ago with some phone calls, mutual friends, introductions and really developed over time into ao relationship where he trusted me throughout that relationship and we later met in person and have since had many, many more meetings in person, talked a lot on the phone. all along i was asking both him and people around him for verification. because when i originally met him, i was introduced to him as this is the guy. i talked to other seals. i talked to other retired seals, people who were on the mission. there was a dinner party in washington about a week after the mission with seals who were on the mission. he has a mentor who was in the seals and who went on

phil bronstein writes about in "esquire" magazine. >>> also ahead, a touching tribute to another american hero, chris kyle. [ anouncer ] ihop is in time square to compare new griddle-melts to your usual breakfast sandwich. a lot more flavor. [ anouncer ] ihop's new griddle melts... made fresh and hot! hand crafted just for you. it's like a sexy sandwich. [ anouncer ] compare new griddle melts yourself. just $4.99. it's an epic breakfast sandwich. s.e.a.l. who says he killed osama bin laden is going public in an exclusive interview with "esquire" magazine. it's the march headline with the title, "the man who killed osama bin laden is screwed." the article makes the case that the navy s.e.a.l. who served for 16 years is leaving the navy without any security, job prospects or insurance for his family. esquire contributor phil braunstein spent more than a year getting to know him. his name remains a secret for his own safety and his families. he was obviously a member of the s.e.a.l. team 6. after the bin laden mission, he retired to no pension, no benefits, and no security. phil braunstein j

phil bronstein is the author.ming in. >> wolf, it's good to see you, thank you. >> we want to note that cnn has not independently verified that the shooter in this "esquire" article is, indeed, the man who killed osama bin laden. many details of the mission obviously remain highly, highly classified. our own pentagon correspondent chris lawrence is taking a closer look. he's investigating in his special report, in our next hour, chris lawrence at the pentagon. >>> president obama's state of the union address. just a little more than 24 hours away. will it help repair the growing divide in washington? or will it make things even worse? >>> plus, three days after a monster blizzard peraralyzed pas of the northeast, some people are still trapped in their homes. hi. hi. i'm here to pick up some cacti. it should be under stephens. the verizon share everything plan for small business. get a shareable pool of data... got enough joshua trees? ... on up to 25 devices. so you can spend less time... yea, the golden barrels..

joining me now, the man who interviewed the shooter, phil bronstein, executive chairman of the centeril, welcome. nice to see you. >> thanks for having me. >> let's get your reaction first of all the pentagon investigating the man you interviewed. are you surprised by that? >> the pentagon has its job to do. i think it came up at a press briefing where a spokesman for the bg was asked what they're doing about it. i think what they said is they're reviewing it to see if there were any problems. in fact, the special operations command which oversees special operations including s.e.a.l. team six has already said they don't really see much of a problem in there in term of classified information. and keep in mind, alex, there have been movies, there have been books, there have been other articles, there have been documentaries all about the raid. there's very little. it's passed into kind of american folklore at this point. there's really very little that's new. what's new in the esquire story was essentially this guy's perspective. >> was he saying to you when you were doing the intervie

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phil bronstein is here. >> thank you. >> sean: and in one part i've got to thank you and another part day. and i devoured this, it was fascinating. tell us about the shooter. >> one of the things he would probably like me to correct is the notion that it's about him. i think while it's his story and he humanizes these guys and of' read a lot of books by seals about seals and they're pretty matter of fact and portray them as rough people, which they are, they're also human beings. it's hard to do things for them and help them and support them and particularly when they get out of the service and don't see them as human beings. he was motivated by the idea of us presenting him in the story as a real human being. >> sean: i was interested when he actually was on the mission and they were about to get there. i think about an hour away, and he remembered george bush and he quoted in his mind over and over again george bush and what he said about the terrorist. >> defending freedom. >> sean: defending freedom. >> and he did say, he kind of 2000 and back. and a number of-- >> and that's ment

san francisco chronicle and now executive chairman of the center for investigative reporting phil bronsteinon of esquire, the former navy s.e.a.l. gives chilling details from counting back and forth to a thousand which he did during the 90 minute helicopter ride to abbottabad and then thinking about a quote from george bush's speech. then storming bin laden's compound and walking through the dark hallway to the third floor. the navy s.e.a.l. hayes, quote, he looked confuse nd and way taller than he was expecting. he's got a gun within reach and he's a threat. in that second i shot him in the forehead. bap, bap. the second time as he was going down. he crumple onto the floor in front of his bed and i hit him again bap. he talks about living in constant fear that his identity could be exposed. with children don't ever say the name, osama bin laden. >>> a couple questions as a journalist and about your trade craft here. how did you find this navy seal? how did you id him yourself and how did you get him to talk? >> well, chris, finding him really happened through more of a social contact. we h

. >> reporter: the story was written by phil bronstein from the san francisco chronicle and the navy seal, the details into two minutes that changed history. the shooter says when they were given the mission they were told that bin laden was 100% on the third floor of the compound in abbottabad, pakistan. and when he and the rest of seal team six was there, it was done in 15 seconds. i thought in the first instance how skinny and how tall and short his beard was all at once. he was holding his wife in front of him, maybe as a shield, i don't know. for me it was a snapshot of had a target i.d. definitely him. if this was repetition and muscle memory, that's him, boom, done. in that second, i shot him two times in the forehead bap, bap. the second time as he's going down he crumbled down on the floor in front of his bed and i hit him again, bap. same place. his forehead was gruesome, it was split open in the shape of a v. the american public does not want to see what it looks like and i watched him breathe the last part of air i thought is this the best thing i've ever done or the wors

. >> alisyn: what an expose' on so many levels, this guy, phil bronstein says he checked and rechecked is the shooter of usama bin laden. how can this hero go without a pension, go without benefits, go without health care? how is that possible? >> well, his story is very powerfulfully exemplifies many dysfunctions and difficulties our warriors are facing when they come off the battlefield. in the transition process sometimes happens in a matter of days with little information as he powerfully demonstrated and also in the va system which while it may be caring for him isn't always able it to care for his loved ones and also, it's just a bloated bureaucracy that doesn't meet the needs for 21st veterans. it's a pencil and paper bureaucracy growing in scope that has to be dragged into the digital aid to meet the unseen injuries that required mental health specialists. we don't have enough of them and the va isn't meeting these needs. >> alisyn: speaking of these injuries, let me layout the laundry list that he details of what he has acquired in the past 16 years that he had been doing thes

. >> phil bronstein, he has written this article with the man who says he was the one who shot osama >> thanks for having me. >> you can read more about this on esquire.com. the issue hits newsstands february 19th. >>> nfl cheerleader taking a stand against cyber bullying after she was ridiculed by fans of a rival team. >>> we'll switch gears dramatically and talk about what happened at the grammys last night. more after this. s, or tall. it's not all about who sparkles the most. or who is the best dressed. what nature really cares about is what you have to offer. like the stevia plant. small and humble with a surprising secret to share... sweetness. truvia sweetener. zero-calorie sweetness, born from the stevia leaf. from nature, for sweetness. have been masters of jewelry design for centuries." this levian collection is amazing! maybe it's time to start your own. [ female announcer ] kay presents today's levian... with exclusive levian chocolate diamonds. ♪ every kiss begins with kay [ male announcer ] make your escape... twice as rewarding. earn double points or double miles on al

spoke to journalist phil bronstein who sat down with anderson cooper last night.the conversation. >> it's possible his name could come out. there was a book, within days his name was on a jihadi web site. all he told the shooter, we have a witness protection program, that we could institute. it's not there yet. but if you want to drive a beer truck in milwaukee, we can arrange that. you just have to cut all ties to the rest of your family. and basically disappear yourself. >> in terms of what he told you about the raid, what surprised you most? >> i think that he -- i think the fact that it happened so fast, but that he had certain images in his mind. you know, particularly the shooting of bin laden, i mean, he -- there was one moment when he said i had to raise my gun, because i really didn't expect -- he was really tall. >> he was surprised at how tall he was. >> yes. i think that was sort of -- that was sort of my most enlightening moment for me. >> bronstein also says the retired s.e.a.l. has no pension, no health care and no protection for his family. >>> foo

here is phil bronstein. >> what was recognized in the offices on capitol hill by every single memberd of service wasn't anticipated. when you join -- he joined initially thought he would stay a few years. then he thought he would stay 30 years because he enjoyed the work so much. he was so good at it. he had so many close friends. but you get 16 years in or 15 years in and you're going on constant deployment, constant combat deployment since 9-11, longest war wars in our history. you start suffering and you start want to go have a family life. a and a life outside of hunting people down and killing them. >> brian: do you believe special forces should get special compensation? >> i talked to a lot of my friends after the article hit. i was outraged at the person who killed the terror mastermind, who killed so many of us was being mal treated because he didn't do the 20 years. he only did 16 years, did not qualify for his pension and according to the article, had no access to health care and i have a couple of observations. first, is i wish he had taken some kind of limited duty. they