19th to turn over e-mails and documents about who destroyed a secret waiting list at the phoenix va hospital. steven cooper was a doctor there and had stage four prostate cancer. the va said he had to wait four months. >> they should be held accountable because it is a crime. >> reporter: president obama spoke about the controversy last night. >> if we are serious about making sure that our veterans are properly cared for, then we have got to fix congress. >> reporter: congress, democrats and republicans, are backing va secretary eric shinseki, the american legion wants him to resign. >> i don't believe that just changing someone at the top is going to actually get to the solutions that many of us are looking for. >> we need good information before we start chopping people's heads off. >> reporter: the white house says the va's backlog of cases has been cut in half since last year. shinseki's ordered a review of all va hospitals. he testifies here this week. and that testimony we have learned is happening on thursday before the senate veterans affairs committee. a half committee that subpoen

is misconduct, it will be punished. >> my next guest is a physician who's worked attitude four va hospitalshat witnessed some mistreatment. groin me is dr. greenley. >> you have worked in a number of va facilities when you heard these stories, were surprised by this? >> well, at the beginning, i was a little bit surprised because of the fact that when i initially started my training and a va hospital in baltimore, i got some of the most superb training there. i am a veteran. but later on, when i started working as a contractor for some of the veteran hospitals i started to see some of the improprieties going on. and i guess when i treat patients i try to treat every patient like they're my own family member. if you do that, you can't get into problems however, it seemed as if in my own case, i would try to do top notch care. on some of my patients and my hands were tied because of the rules. and what went on there. >> why would there be rules? i don't understand that. >> it's not necessarily rules i believe that government workers because of the fact government insures these physicians and

wide band across all va hospitals but some were not up to standard of care even in prison hospitals i have to say our prisoners are treated well in texas. >> that is disturbing. i appreciate the story. i think all of us are outraged when they think it's happening one location but more outraged if we think it's a systemic problem. i know there are good people working in them. there is something wrong when this many veterans are not getting the care or the quality they have earned. thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. >> coming up, one grandson wants to honor a grandfather he never met z his fight to make sure the men he now back to "huckabee". >> air force presented pow medals to airmen nearly 70 years after they were held captive. it happened just weeks ago. >> there are a lot of reasons for why allies were victorious in world war ii. eight reasons are on the stage today >> the airmen carried out some of the dangerous missions of the war. chance of surviving without the shot down, captured or killed only one in four. >> think about the courage to step out of the briefing r

mainstream media ripping the obama administration for its bungling of the g gut-wrenching scandal at va hospitals. and outraged that the white house says the president learned about it from the press. >> it is lunacy to have shinseki, who is overseeing the va debacle, investigate anything. lunacy. >> and i think the president needs to step up. i think heads do need to roll at the va. >> the question is what on earth has taken everyone so long to address them? >> but were the media too slow to jump on these disclosures about secret waiting lists and patient deaths? and why has the story now gotten such traction when other scandals have faded? diane sawyer and robin roberts snagged the first interviews with hillary for her new book. but as the media machine cranks up could this kind of sort of candidate become overexposed? the new york tabloids calling the city's first lady a bad mom because she spoke candidly about the frustrations of child rearing. did mayor bill de blasio's wife deserve to be savaged? and the story we broke about the video sting against mariel ham hemingway and ed begley jr. inv

any adverse incident like this makes me as -- makes me mad as hell. >> reporter: it's alleged va hospitals in at least eight states were hiding veterans appointments on secret lists to improve hospital records on wait times, but shinseki played down the scope of the scandal. >> are people quote unquote cooking the books? >> i'm not aware, other than a number of isolated cases where there is evidence of that. >> reporter: it's reported that 40 veterans may have died while waiting for medical care. so far, the va inspector general investigated 17. >> i know 17, we didn't conclude so far that the delay caused the deaths. >> reporter: democrats and republicans alike raise serious doubts about va efforts to crack down on misconduct. >> this needs to be a wakeup call for the department. >> no one should be treated this way in a country as great as ours. >> reporter: shinseki stood his ground. >> we only have one mission, that's taking care of these veterans and not these veterans, i'm one of them. >> reporter: but his harshest critics claim shinseki has been missing in action. >> he's almost ent

reporter: she lost her father in law thomas breen to cancer last november and blames his death on the va hospital in phoenix. >> i'm sorry i'm shaking, but they were quick to dismiss my pop, right? >> reporter: she says when he went to the hospital for urgent care, the staff refused to treat him and told him to see his primary va doctor. he waited months but died before he could get an appointment. >> all the people that are a part of this, they should be held accountable because it's a crime. you know, delayed care is denied care, and it's just not fair. >> reporter: his death occurred during the same period when 40 other veterans died while waiting for medical treatment at the phoenix hospital. dr. samuel foot works for the va and was the first to allege in an effort to improve records, hospital officials kept a secret unofficial list of veterans that sought medical care. >> this was basically an elaborate scheme to coverup patient wait times and coverup patients that we didn't have providers for. the main problem was a huge demand and relatively limited supply of service. >> reporter: on capit

doctors know this, because the majority have trained or spent time as a medical student at the va hospitalsave about 30 seconds, but just briefly, is the solution here to close down the v.a. hospitals and then get those veterans a card that takes them into the -- allows them to go to private hospitals? >> i think so. i think that if you got the v.a. out of acute care, and converted the va hospitals into rehab facilities, mental health facilities, both of which the v.a. does pretty well, and long-term care facilities. and let the veterans have a card that enabled then to get their acute care in the community, i think that that would solve all of the problems. >> all right, doctor, very constructive suggestion. thank you for being with us. and thank you for writing for "the journal." one more break. when we come back, our hits and misses of the week. care what age you are. take it on the way you always have. live healthy and take one a day women's 50+. a complete multivitamin with 7 antioxidants to support cell health. age? who cares. [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powere

heather: as the senate holds hearings on the va hospital scandal we want to hear from you.n do you think secretary shinseki should be forced to answer about the treatment of our very rans? go to fox news/happeningnow. click on the "america's asking" tab. we will see you on the chat. a rn to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagin how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 3years or mor so maybe we need to approach things dferently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ dog: what's this? mattress discounters' what's this? mattress discounters' memorial day sale ending? but mattress discounters has the largest selection of memory foam mattresses under one "roof." comforpedic, icomfort, optimum, and wow, four years interest-free financing on the entire tempur-pedic cloud collection, even a queen size sealy gel memory foam mattress for just $497. the memorial day sale is ending soon. ♪ mattress discounters that co

new tonight, nbc news investigations has found complaints at other va hospitals where helman previously worked. former va social worker and now union rep tells nbc news back in 2011, fully three years before the current scandal surfaced, when helman was in charge there, records were falsified to make patient wait times appear shorter. >> this started when she was here and we're not surprised. it continues even after she has gone to arizona. >> reporter: she says employees were too afraid to speak up. >> there is a culture of fear of retaliation. employees don't speak up. they are very afraid. >> reporter: in washington state, at the va when helman was director there. kathryn was a psychiatric nurse who filed and settled a whistle blower retaliation complaint over wrongful termination. >> the level of intimidation among the staff was unbelievable. retaliation, intimidation was the name of the game. report in phoenix, nbc news attempted to reach helman but was turned away. she denied wrongdoing and declined to be interviewed. this retired doctor is a whistleblower who claims helman's pers

he's going to make a statement on the controversy swirling around va hospitals around the country at n meeting with va secretary eric shinseki. a lot of republicans are calling for shinseki's ouster because of these wait lists. secret wait lists at va hospitals across the country. supposedly patients waited so long for care that some of them died. the president will come out and make a statement on this controversy at 10:45 eastern time. >>> in other news this morning, more bad news for gm owners as we learn details of two more chevrolets now being recalled. the 2004 through 2008 chevrolet avio. they have a headlamp module that could overheat and cause a fire. 218,000 cars are now being recalled. gm says no one has been hurt in the fires. both cars were made in korea and imported to the united states. alison kosik is at the new york stocks exchange and we have the correspondent for "cnn money." tell us about this latest recall. it's insane the number of cars recalled for gm so far within the last couple of months. >> two out of three days this week to be specific just for this week. y

is a lot of fraud in everything. >> no -- >> with all due respect, many years i have toured the va hospital, and -- >> that means you know everything about the va. >> do you work there? >> we all know people that work somewhere. >> you can't say the entire va is -- just fraud. >> if you talk to doctors, and -- >> the nsa -- va is broken. >> the administration is protecting the idea that ultimately the government should be in charge of health care. if somehow they were going to have a mea culpa, let's offshore this to the private sector, maybe that hits to the heart of the ideology, and maybe you have to protect a broken system -- >> if you are going to put more money and continue to operate it, they have to go in and change the way the finances are spread. >> regardless of how you feel about the va, fair skies the way the government or anything treats soldiers, how do you think it's going to affect the health care? it's going to control us. >>> not many people seeing this, but at least nancy is. >> it's intact and beautiful. be on at&t's network for $175 dollars a month? yup. all five of yo

following reports after up to 40 veterans died waiting for care at a va hospital. i'll talk to patrick murphy, former congressman and a rothmore vet about the broken veterans health care system. >>> making draft day history. will any team make a bid on michael sam, the first openly gay football player? >>> the nigerian government said it's doing everything it can to find the missing girls being kidnapped by boko haram. there's still no word of any progress in the search. meanwhile, offers of international help are increasing. the u.s., britain, china, now france have stepped up to offer assistance. nigerian president goodluck jonathan who has been heavily criticized for taking action only after the international uproar began, thanked leaders at the world economic forum in nigeria's capital today. >> i believe that the kidnapping of these girls will be the end of terror in nigeria. >> here in the u.s., days of protests fueled by nigerian activists bring back our girls movement show no signs of letting up. first lady michelle obama tweeted her support saying, our pra

as many as 40 veterans reportedly died while waiting for medical care at the va hospital in phoenix. >> i am angry. >> reporter: in a rare television interview, he told nbc news he was surprised that the allegations but promised a full investigation. are you willing as secretary of veterans affairs to accept full responsibility? >> i am. i have and that's the reason the ig is down there doing the investigation. >> reporter: hospital whistle-blowers claim in an effort to improve performance records, administrators ordered thousands of appointment requests be diverted to a secret unofficial list, not to be reported. if they died, their names would disappear. one veteran said it took 18 months of combatting the system to get an appointment. >> you have to break through or basically do a full assault to get an appointment. >> reporter: veterans groups have exploded in outrage. the american legion has demanded his resignation. >> these are unacceptable things that have come about that led us to this decision. >> reporter: but he indicated today he's going nowhere. they want you to resign

that's good news there. >>> new allegations about deadly wait lists at va hospitals. first this phoenix hospital and now a whistle blowing doctor says veterans with serious heart conditions brain tumors waited months for care at the albuquerque va hospital. we'll speak live to our own investigative reporter who was the first to expose wait list fraud at va hospitals. >>> still ahead, the buzz over the billboard awards. michael jackson stealing the show with a performance of his latest single. that sounds crazy, right? he's been dead for five years. how did this all work? we'll show you. ♪ huh, 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know that game show hosts should only host game shows? samantha, do you take kevin as your lawfully wedded husband... or would you rather have a new caaaaaar!!!! say hello to the season's hottest convertible... ohhh....and say goodbye to samantha. [ male announcer ] geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more. >>> the white house says president obama is madder than hell about reports of t

. >>> the heat reaching the white house on the va hospital scandal. new questions and nuances what president obama knew. >>> the spear fischerman that never bhe in -- never bargained on this. >> the nba commission is working on stripping donald sterling from the team

that after reports at va hospitals delaying medical care to treat veterans.here are allegations some vets are dying because of poor care. american league gone says they are calling for them to resign. the secretary hadz dedicated his life to federal veterans and nobody is committed to what lies ahead. another doctor claim the the medical center administration ordered the staff to erase the evidence of any misconduct. >> the inspector general investigation, things are usually covered up. it wouldn't be unusual. >> they are also claiming some patients in need of care were delayed for a year before even seeing a doctor. >> i know that there was a delay between the time the patient requested an appointment and the time they were peÑ on the electronic waiting list. >> the white house is moving forward stating it wants a full investigation. the president stating the veterans discerned and earned every right imaginable. >> kelly wright joining us live with the latest. thank you, kelly. >>> condoleezza rice and her replacement is now in. tom keene will be the new com

amid allegations that some veterans have been ignored, neglected, undertreated and mistreated at va hospitals sometimes with fatal consequences. let's get right to nbc's tracie potts in washington. tracie, good morning. shinseki is indicating he's not going anywhere. so what is he doing about these allegations? >> reporter: well, right now he's waiting to see what the inspector general has to say. keep in mind shinseki himself is a decorated veteran, a four star general before he took over at veterans affairs. and even though veterans say they respect his patriotism, his sacrifice for the country, the largest veterans group in this country wants him out. whistle-blowers claim thousands of appointment requests were diverted to a secret list to improve performance and as investigators were closing in, some of the records were destroyed. >> i am angry. >> reporter: but he's not giving up his job, not yet. >> general shinseki's time as secretary of veterans of affairs has come to an end and needs to step down. >> reporter: he says he'll await results of an internal investigation. >> will you resi

he's refusing to resign over allegations that treatment delays at va hospitals led to veterans deaths. the acting inspector general for the va says so far there is no evidence that anyone died as a result of waiting for care. nbc news and the pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski has details. >> reporter: as a former army general, this is not exactly secretary eric shinseki's idea of taking the hill. shinseki appeared before the senate veterans affairs committee to answer questions and take the heat over the growing scandal at va hospitals. >> any adverse incident like this makes me as -- makes me mad as hell. >> reporter: it is alleged that va hospitals in at least eight states were hiding veterans appointments on secret lists to improve hospital records on wait times. shinseki played down the scope of the scandal. >> are people quote/unquote cooking the books? >> i'm not aware and other than a number of isolated cases where there is evidence of that. >> reporter: it is reported that 40 veteran has i have dmay have waiting for medical care. so for the inspector general investigated

phoenix, arizona where as many as 40 veterans died at this va hospital while waiting up to 21 months to see a doctor. >> they never came in the door. we never saw them. >> reporter: dr. sam foote retired from that veterans administration hospital this year but not before exposing what he says is system attic fraud. dr. foote claims his superiors lied about the delays to qualify for bonuses. >> we realized patients were dying because of it. that's the point where we said we can't take this anymore. >> phoenix veteran raffle my castro died after waiting months for a specialist visit to diagnose a lump found on his neck after a routine checkup. he kept this journal documenting the calls he made for 15 months trying to schedule a va visit that never came. >> i am a purple heart vietnam vet and should be receiving proper treatment. >> making calls again to the va. >> reporter: it's not just phoenix. the office of veteran affairs investigating 23 other deaths at 13 virginia hospitals nationwide. the veterans administration announcing it will conduct a face to face visit at every va hospital

damage control, both congress and the white house are taking some steps to deal with the growing va hospital scandal. congress has moved to sympathy va officials while president obama sent his deputy chief of staff to the phoenix va hospital at the center of the investigation into alleged long waits and preventable deaths. tracie potts is in washington, d.c. good morning, tracie, on this friday. there are new calls for the va secretary to resign. what are you seeing? >> reporter: yeah, they're hitting the campaign trail now. the president still standing by him, on capitol hill. there are democrats standing by him as well. but, still, a lot of questions about what happened in phoenix. neighbors coming back to brief the president on all those meetings he had with vets and patients and staff out there yesterday. but now we're learning it is not just in phoenix. allegations of misconduct are popping up at va hospitals all over the country now. in new mexico, a whistle-blower claims vets were assigned to doctors who didn't even work there. >> doctors who are either in administration or gone. >> n

. >> system failure, a report of widespread misconduct to hide long delays for veterans ats va hospitals across the country, leading to a bipartisan call now for eric shinseki to fall on his sword. >> it's time for secretary shinseki to step down. and if secretary shinseki does not step down voluntarily, then i call on the president of the united states to relief him of his duties, to fire him. >> collision course, today's white house summit tackles the growing risks of head injuries in young athletes, a serious concern that hits close to home for all parents, including president obama. >> sports are important to our life as a family, jst like they are for families all across the country. the reason we're here today though is all across the country, parents are also having more troubling conversation and that

allegations surfaced scheduling clerks at the va hospital in san antonio may have cooked the books to cover up long wait lines. well, embattled va secretary eric shinseki is expected to testify before a senate committee thursday amid growing calls for his resignation now. for a closer look, retired air force captain darin sellnik joins us now, via skype from oceanside, california. senior veterans affairs adviser, concerned veterans for america. good to see you. so you just heard our new information that we just received, new acting director for the phoenix va. is that a start, in your view? >> well, it certainly is a start. thanks for having me on your show, and thanks, cnn, for all the great work. you guys have really blown this wide open and we really needed it. it's a start. obviously, a temporary person, but they should have put on administrative leave, the director who has to be involved somehow. yes, you need a whole new team there and hopefully that team is a good team, but it's just a start. vha under secretary dr. petzel, he's always announced his retirement. that's effect lu

wide band across all va hospitals but some were not up to standard of care even in prison hospitals iave to say our prisoners are treated well in texas. >> that is disturbing. i appreciate the story. i think all of us are outraged when they think it's happening one location but more outraged if we think it's a systemic problem. i know there are good people working in them. there is something wrong when this many veterans are not getting the care or the quality they have earned. thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. >> coming up, one grandson wants to honor a grandfather he never met z his fight to make sure the met z his fight to make sure the men he at afraud could meanuld blower credit scores. and higher mortgage rates. it's a problem waiting to happen. check your credit score, check your credit report at experian.com. can you start tomorrow? yes sir. alright. let's share the news tomorrow. today we failrly busy. tomorrow we're booked solid. we close on the house tomorrow. i want one of these opened up. because tomorow we go live... it's a day full of promise. and often,

patients died while waiting for care. >> reporter: troy burmish is a veteran of iraq and former va hospital worker in phoenix. he said thousands of veterans have waited over a year for care but that hospital superiors have used the system of secret lists to hide those delays. >> now because they want to look good for d.c. or their supervises or whatever the case may be -- supervisors or whatever the case may be, we've lost the lives of 40 veterans because they wanted to have a good report. >> reporter: whistle blowers or investigators at three other va hospitals or clinics have also charged officials kept off the books secret lists of veterans made to wait longer than the goal of 14 days. secretary of veterans affairs eric shinseki tomorrow us because of those claims the national audit will study how every va clinic schedules its parishes and handles delays. -- patients and handles delays. >> reporter: does this suggest a pattern to you? >> there's 1,700 points of care and about of one of them does scheduling. we'll take a good hard look here. >> the secretary of veterans affairs has been c

after allegations of delayed care and preventable deaths at va hospitals across the nation, susan mcginnis reports, members of congress will question the head of the va today about what went wrong. >>> reporter: veterans affairs secretary eric shinseki heads to capitol hill today to meet with senator dick durbin about issues at va medical facilities that some claim cost vets their lives. >> i will not stand for it. >> reporter: president obama says he wants to know exactly what happened and he wants the problem fixed. the president expressed support for shinseki and had this to say when reporters asked if the secretary should step down. >> if he thinks he let our veterans down then i'm sure he is not going to be interested in continuing to serve. >> reporter: many in congress are calling for the former army general to resign. >> i respect his sacrifice. i respect what he did. but it's under his watch that we are in this situation in the hospitals! out in the western part of this country! >> reporter: as many as 40 veterans may have died waiting for care at the phoenix va hospital. it's amo

announcing senior leaders at the phoenix va hospital at the center of the scandal will be fired. all 1700 vets waiting for appointment there will be helped immediately while all bonus yes bonuses for senior va officials this year will be cancelled. >> i said we wouldn't tolerate misconduct and we will not. we have to do better and we will. >> president obama said the promise of wait long time the and secret waiting list took him by sprays. >> this was not something that we were hearing when i was traveling around the country the particular issue of scheduling. >>reporter: over a year ago the chairman of the house veterans affair committee warned the white house about quote management failure, deception and look of accountability permeating va health care system. adding in a letter to the president you are direct involvement in leadership is required. white house never responded. >> january thon karl reporting. resignation of general took a lot of veteran by surprise. here in the bay area many call him a visionary with commitment to homeless vet run. 7 news reporter has that aspect

wide band across all va hospitals but some were not up to standard of care even in prison hospitals iour prisoners are treated well in texas. >> that is disturbing. i appreciate the story. i think all of us are outraged when they think it's happening one location but more outraged if we think it's a systemic problem. i know there are good people working in them. there is something wrong when this many veterans are not getting the care or the quality they have earned. thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. >> coming up, one grandson wants to honor a grandfather he never met z his fight to make sure the men he serves with get the honor they deserve. hey! [squeals] ♪ [ewh!] [baby crying] the great thing about a subaru is you don't have to put up with that new car smell for long. the versatile, 2015 subaru forester. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. add brand new belongings from nationwide insurance... ...and we'll replace destroyed or stolen items with brand-new versions. we put members first. join the nation. ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ [ doorbell rings ] stall them

next a take on health care at va hospitals. suicide attack in syria. the man carrying the bomb is american. cleaner air. the obama administration is about to cut pollution at coal plants. what impact it will have on the price of electricity. plus: >> is that the chattanooga choo choo? >> three women head to normandy to mark an anniversary with song. we begin with the sudden decision by the head of the veterans affairs department to resign. the pressure was intense from both parties and just a couple of days after the disturbing new revelations about the va, eric shinseki, retired general, quit. so now, how does the government make sure veterans get the health care they need? our white house correspond, mike viqueria, that is story. mike. >> picking up steam over the last are 48 hours. the problems at the veterans affairs department are decades old, they are systemic but today they cost president obama his one and only veterans affairs secretary, eric shinseki, his ten you a has come to an end. with growing evidence of malfeasance and deception at veter

claims that va hospitals are making vets wait months to get care.e keeping secret waiting lists hidden from the public in va headquarters in washington as well and that veterans are dying while they just wait to see a doctor. senior investigative correspondent drew griffin has been keeping them honest from the beginning. he joins me now live from washington. so, drew, what's the latest on this? >> reporter: well, the chorus is growing here in washington, anderson, especially from republican senators who want eric shinseki, the secretary of veteran affairs, to resign. even the senate minority leader, mitch mcconnell, weighed in today. here's what he had to say. >> i wish the white house instead of traveling around the country talking about the urgency of climate change would talk with equal urgency about this failure of leadership and incompetence at the va. >> obviously a change in leadership might be a good step in the right direction. >> today i am demanding accountability and true transformation within the va system and its culture from top to bo

wide band across all va hospitals but some were not up to standard of care even in prison hospitals iy our prisoners are treated well in texas. >> that is disturbing. i appreciate the story. i think all of us are outraged when they think it's happening one location but more outraged if we think it's a systemic problem. i know there are good people working in them. there is something wrong when this many veterans are not getting the care or the quality they have earned. thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. >> coming up, one grandson wants to honor a grandfather he never met z his fight to make sure the met z his fight to make sure the men we're moving our company to new york state. the numbers are impressive. over 400,000 new private sector jobs... making new york state number two in the nation in new private sector job creation... with 10 regional development strategies to fit your business needs. and now it's even better because they've introduced startup new york... with the state creating dozens of tax-free zones where businesses pay no taxes for ten years. become the n

. >> the president is in coopertown, new york, celebrating the baseball hall of fame, as the va hospital controversy gets uglier and more infamous. to republican senator john mccain who says the president is dropping the optic ball and much more on this. welcome everybody, i'm neil cavuto. before we ghetto republican senator, listen to what a member of the president0s own party had to say. >> the was no urgency. mr. president, we need-under generals si. we need you to roll up our sleeves and get into the hospitals. >> to arizona republican senator john mccain who agrees. what is making this scandal resonate is that it's getting bipartisan bashing, including that democratic congressman who says this is inexcusable. how big do you think this is? >> i think it's a centipede with lots of shoes yet to drop. we're hearing of 26 different va hospitals around the country with allegations to varying degree of failure to meet the needs of the veterans, and coverups, and it's a scandal that is not going to go away, my friend. >> now, the argument for these delays, the president touched on it yester

investigation into allegations of a secret waiting list and delayed care at a gainesville, florida va hospitalnd as the va scandal expands yet again we can't forget though who are falling victim to this widespread neglect. my next guest both lost family members as a result of va's negligence. guys, thank you for being on the program. kim, i'll start with you. you believe that your father treated at that hospital right behind you and, again, there's been reports now that at least 40 people died as a result of neglect, delayed care and et cetera. you believe he died prematurely because of why? >> well, he had been in the hospital for 33 days before he passed away, and there's just, throughout those days he had a blood infection which is why he was there so long. there's a series of events that just kept steam rolling until he got to the point where he got transferred up to the fourth floor and he pulled his temporary feeding tube out and the doctor just did not want to put it back in. basically was kind of giving up on him. >> all right. there was one point, and i read this story about your fath

you were visiting a va hospital on site. what did you learn?rlier this afternoon. i was talking to them about tissue of wait times for patients, our veterans, and, of course, you would expect the answer that i got from them, there's no dual lists and their wait times are well within the margins that va would expect. >> okay. so we heard the president referred to stream lining the system, going paperless, finding ways the backlogs and problems don't happen again yet we hear from people inside these va hospital, we have former and current employees stepping up, going on the record saying that these lists existed, at least in some locations. you know, what can the president do? he can't personally go to every va hospitals and check for these lists. what do you want to see from him? what do you think he needs to do in the middle of this crisis? >> while the president may not go to every single va hospital he's the person that has ultimate authority over the department of veterans affairs. i've asked him to appoint a bipartisan commission to look in

remind you what the va secretary eric shinseki told the senate last week about the allegations that va hospitalsnder his control in hiding the true wait times of veterans waiting for care. the allegation that the va is cooking the books. >> in your judgment, based on what you know, are people quote-unquote cooking the books? is that, in fact, a problem within the health care system? >> i'm not aware other than a number of isolated cases where there is evidence of that. but the fact that there's evidence in a couple of cases behooves us to take a thorough work. >> there are inspector general investigations and/or allegations of manipulating wait times in at least ten states. the latest albuquerque, new mexico and now gainesville, florida where cnn has confirmed three more health officials have been placed on administrative leave and inspector general investigation is under way. we had several whistle blowers worked in the va as clerks. they were told hide wait times. that may be why general shinseki thinks this is isolated but to a lot of people it's looking more and more systemic and the problem

new allegations this morning the va hospital's leaving their patients suffering, waiting for appointments and then covering it up. this morning, the embattled va secretary back on capitol hill as president obama vows to fix veterans' health care problems. >>> severe storms barreling across the country this morning. tornadoes destroying homes, floods just inundating streets and hail as big as baseballs, sending many running for cover. we're tracking the areas hardest hit and who is in the storm crosshairs today. >>> finally free. a 15-year-old girl kidnapped from her home ten years ago is found alive this morning. she's alive, finally back with her family. good morning, i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman. it's thursday, may 22nd, 4:00 a.m. in the east. and we begin with the shocking, new allegations this morning that the va may be mistreating some of the veterans most in need of medical care. in a story first seen right here on cnn, a doctor at the phoenix va says injured veterans of wars in iraq and afghanistan are not being given priority appointments, despite a national mandate th

joined by a whistleblower who says he was removed in his position as chief of psychiatry at the va hospitalst. louis after reporting unethical workplace conduct. matthew said he was demoted to the hospital's basement where he now works on compensation and pension exams. in new york we're goin joined by and inyer ariel solomon san francisco, we're joined by aaron glantz. is author of three books, most recently, "the war comes home: washington's battle against america's veterans." he also wrote an article about dr. mathews ordeal. aaron glantz, let's start with you. why shinseki had to testify. >> he had to go before congress because news organizations have reported there were as many as 40 veterans who died waiting for care at the va hospital in phoenix, arizona and that while there were waiting, the v.a. was simultaneously falsifying the official record of how long veterans were waiting and keeping a secret list. they had two list. one represented how long veterans were actually waiting, and that was secret, and the other list represented everything being absolutely fine and honest everyone

russian troop movements and whether or not the white house knew six years ago about problems at the va hospitals. that's the indication. you'll be hearing more about what jay carney has to said in the hour ahead. thanks for joining us. "the real story" with gretchen carlson starts now. >>> thanks, guys. we start with a fox news alert today because this is being billed as the fbi's biggest global cyber operation ever with law enforcement launching raids now. 19 countries i'm talking about. i'm gretchen carlson. welcome to "the real story" for a monday. these raids are all linked to a malicious software called black shades. that allows users to hijack computers remotely, even turning on computer web cams. it is used for everything from extortion to bank fraud and so far more than 100 people have been arrested in an operation that's over two years in the making. eric, this sounds like it is a worldwide operation. explain it for us. >> it is an unbelievable story, an invasion of privacy, say officials. this thing is called r.a.t. for remote access tool. allegedly it was sold by an organization calle

this time at the va hospital in durham, north carolina. that's the fourth va hospital where workers are accused of manipulating wait lists so that it appeared that vets were getting appointments much quicker than they actually were. it's va policy that vets are supposed to get appointments within 14 days, but a cnn investigation showed some vets were dying waiting months for appointments. >>> another story developing this morning, "american idol" alum clay aiken will likely be declared the winner in a democratic congressional primary in north carolina after his opponent suddenly died. 71-year-old keith crisco reportedly suffered a fall at his home monday. a primary race between aiken and crisco was too close to call. aiken led by just 369 votes. state election officials are expected to clarify the results and certify them today. and aiken says he's suspending all campaign activities to pray for crisco's family. >>> happening now, severe spring storms barreling through the country, millions in their path this morning. what you can expect to

mainstream media ripping the obama administration for its bungling of the g gut-wrenching scandal at va hospitals and outraged that the white house says the president learned about it from the press. >> it is lunacy to have shinseki, who is overseeing the va debacle, investigate anything. lunacy. >> and i think the president needs to step up. i think heads do need to roll at the va. >> the question is what on earth has taken everyone so long to address them? >> but were the media too slow to jump on these disclosures about secret waiting lists and patient deaths? and why has the story now gotten such tractio

the fallout in the coverups at a va hospital in phoenix.ployees on leave after claims veterans died while waiting for treatment and the hospital hid the delay. h elizabeth the hospital denying evidence of a coverup and now the suspensions? >> we heard from hospital officials are denying not all of a secret list. there's no evidence of patient deaths due to delayed care. they read the statement which reads in part we take the allegations very seriously and in the interest of the ability to conduct a thorough and timely review of the phoenix va healthcare system i have directed that director sharon mill man lance robinson and a third employee be placed on administrative leave until further notice. these off officials going on leave not long after at least one whistleblower says more than 40 patients died at the facility. lawmakers are threatening a subpoena if the department of veteran affairs does not explain why the list of medical employment at the hospital has been destroyed or missing. one of the first to come forward spent decades worki

the access to va care and that is quite different from when the veterans are in the care of the va hospitalse have to see, is this some bad gangrenous limbs of the va system? and other parts of it are doing well and the vets like it, that's something that we ought to investigate and find out about, and we ought to determine if this is survivable. from the looks of it, four years of this sort of thing going on, there's a lot of people saying let's throw it out. maybe throw the baby out with the bathwater. >> it's early in the process, but this goes on. thank you gentlemen very much. in the meantime, michael bloomberg doesn't strike me as some raging conservative, but he did raise a point about liberal bias on college campuses. >> worldwatch education must not be an education in the art offu. i was late for everything. i would forget really important information my friends told me. i didn't see my peers having the same difficulties that i did. and when my professor approached me about my constant lateness, i knew i had to do something. so i talked to my doctor. and it turns out, i have adhd. a

charged political environment, president obama responded with outrage to the growing scandal at va hospitals, calling allegations of misconduct that left seriously ill veterans waiting for care dishonorable and promising those found guilty will be held accountable. the president spoke after meeting with the va secretary and a day after the va inspector general's office acknowledged that the number of hospitals under investigation has expanded to 26. our political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd starts us off here tonight with more. chuck? >> reporter: good evening, lester. amid the growing political pressure over allegations involving falsifications of patient wait times at va medical centers, the president displayed annoyance and frustration as he finally addressed the scandal, but for many, his words of outrage were not enough. >> today, i want every veteran to know, we are going to fix whatever is wrong. >> reporter: following his close-door meeting with eric shinseki, the president tried to reassure veterans. >> if these allegations turn out to be true, it is dish