the goal is that i intend to work with the veterans organizations and the veterans themselves to improve the v.a. health care. the immediate issue we have to do is that if you walked in, you get treated in a prompt way in all 50 states. there are ways we can do that. >> the president said he wanted shinseki to get back to him within a week. is there any kind of note in a week that you do not know now? >> we will probably know how expensive the allegations are, or the reality is regarding cooking the books. knowing whether there are hospitals around the country which in fact are not telling the truth in terms of the waiting time that it veterans re experiencing. >> what does that mean for you and your committee? >> we have to determine that that practice is unacceptable and anyone who engages in that should be punished. it is outrageous, and people do not stay in their jobs when they're lying. the second point, the more important point, they do not have the staff or resources to take care of our veterans. why is that? that is a very important question. it may be that with a significant in

a couple of months ago i worked on legislation with every ,ajor veterans organization almost every veterans group in america, we listen to what their concerns were. there are a lot of concerns within the veterans community. we passed contrary -- introduced comprehensive legislation. we had two republicans in the senate voted for it. expensive piece of legislation, $70 billion over a 10 year timeframe. peoplere going to send off to war you have to take care of them when they come home, do not tell me that $70 billion is too much to spend. we are working on that. republican colleagues want to come up with some money, we can figure out how to do that. that type of care by a large his irk spans of the care and -- at large is more expensive than the care in the v.a.. now, if v.a. does right you have a serious type of care that they are not able to deal with any certain for to the country you can go outside of the system. my republican friends are going to have to do with they have not been up to now and say we have some problems, we are going to have to spend some money. phoenixas it taken the f

so it was shinseki first that day of the hearing, then the veterans organizations. then later in the afternoon, the inspector general from the va. but as i say, it was kind of around lunchtime when the veterans groups themselves got to give their testimony on this issue. and senator richard burr got up and left while the veterans groups were talking. see with the arrow there? happened sort of quick. senator burr was not the only senator that left for some of that portion of the hearing. but he was gone for almost all of it. he really did not bother to be there to hear what the veterans groups had to say. see, there's his empty seat. when richard burr did return from wherever he was while the veterans groups were talking, did i mention it was lunchtime, senator burr had no questions at all when he returned for any of the veterans groups. he made one comment about something that another senator said at one point that day, but had no questions for the veterans groups. made one comment about something another senator said. then this was the only comment he made. this wa

that is the comprehensive legislation supported by virtually every veterans' organization in the country, millions of veterans and the american people and says, thank you, to the veterans who put their lives on the line to defend this country. we will be there for you. i would ask that this legislation be passed. i ask unanimous consent that that happens. madam president. >> objection is heard to the senator from the state of florida. affair objection. >> madam president. >> senator from florida. >> i want to address a couple of points. the first is on the issue of politicizing. for example, i have not come forward. sometimes in this process there are times when that is important. there are people who are clearly not doing their job. our job to step forward and say that. let's give the secretary of a chance to see what happened.

what is your response to those who are veterans who don't support other veterans organizations. >> welli don't think they realize the magnitude. we have a system for the last two years and we go to hospitals around the country and we do town hall meetings with veterans, we do reviews within the hospitals. and we see first hand what goes on in those hospitals. we talked to the patients and their caregivers and administrators. and i think what really is the whole gist of this is that when you have people that fail at their job and failed grossly, that they are not punished or fired, that they are getting sterling reviews and bonuses and promotions. it just does not equate. when you talk about veterans were 23 veterans losing their lives due to neglect, one death is tragic. but we have preventable deaths that are unforgettable and they covered up and that is unforgettable and unforgivable. >> are you also disappointed, that seems to be what's going on in washington dc. are you disappointed at the oversight provided by the house and the senate armed forces committee and the veterans affairs

you also have a number of people including senator john mccain, the veterans of foreign wars organization, not joining you in the call for his resignation. what is your response to mccain and others who are veterans who don't support the call to the vfw and other veterans organizations not supporting you? >> well, i don't think they realize the magnitude. we have what's called a system worth saving. for the last ten years, we go to v.a. hospitals around the country. we do town hall meetings with veterans. we do reviews within the hospitals. and we see firsthand what goes on in those hospitals. we talk to the patients. we talk to the caregivers and to the administrators. and what really, i think, is the whole gist of this is that when you have people that fail at their job and fail grossly, that they're not punished. that they're not fired. that they're giving sterling reviews. they're giving bonuses and promotions. it just doesn't equate. when you talk about veterans, when you talk about 23 veterans losing their lives due to neglect, one -- one death is tragic. but when you have preventab

we asked all the veterans organizations. we said, once you access, once you access va health care, is the care good? what they said is it was good to excellent. the problem that we're dealing with, which is a serious problem, is waiting lists, is access. >> well, two things. first of all, among younger veterans, iraq veterans and afghanistan veterans, i think 59% say it's bad to poor. only 38% say that it's excellent or good. so there's a big difference generationally. second, you've had cases now where you have people who couldn't get a colonoscopy, not a problem of getting registered, and they die. isn't anybody worried about that? >> worried about it? it's a tragedy. it's a tragedy. who could argue that? people have died because of bad care within the va, but newt, this is a scientific american article of a year ago. you know what it says? in hospitals in america, not the va, in hospitals in america, you've seen that study, between 200 and 400 americans die because of poor treatments in hospital, infections, getting wrong

the american legion is the nation's largest veterans organization. and thanks for being with us and calling for the resignation of the secretary of the v.a. what moved you to that decision? >> well, we've seen quite a large amount of issues that come forth. since 2011, really. and it just seems like lately things have just gotten worse within the v.a. system. we had legionella which killed 6 veterans and killed over 20 in pittsburgh. we've had issues in georgia, mississippi, and now phoenix. phoenix, arizona, where they're running ghost lists or hidden lists of appointments that aren't made. so we thought it was essential at this time that we step forward in the nation's largest veterans organization and ask for his resignation due to failed leadership and poor oversight. >> as the commander of the american legion, you folks are awfully careful about the issues in which you engage politically and in support always of veterans. you also have a number of people including senator john mccain, the veterans of foreign wars orgaganization, not joining youn

this was according to the veterans organizations the most comprehensive veterans legislation introduced in decades, legislation that addressed health care, dental care, education, employment, the family needs of veterans back home. it was a bill that had the support of every single major veterans organizations and when we brought it to the floor, we had every democrat supporting it and we only had two senators, two republican senators on board, senator heller and senator moran, and we could not get -- we could not overcome the republican filibuster and get the 60 votes that we needed. we were only able to get 56. >> only two republicans, this is amazing, and this was a bill that would help give expanded health care to veterans that they're now out claiming to be so concerned about. >> right. here's what's troubling to me, al. if you listen to the remarks made by the republican senators, what they were saying is this is an expensive piece of legislation, and the answer the is to some degree it is. and my response has been and always will be, if you are not prepared to take care of the me

sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, candy, and if you speak to veterans and if you speak to the veterans' organizationsnow what they will tell you? they will tell you by and large the quality of care that veterans receive at va hospitals and clinics around this country is good to excellent. i had a hearing a week ago thursday, and that's what the veterans organizations say. >> sure, but if you can't get in, it doesn't do any good that it's great care. >> that is quite right. i think one of the concerns is the va has established a self-imposed goal of getting people into the system in 14 days. that's pretty ambitious, more ambitious in general than the private sector. i think there are places around the country where they simply do not have the resources to accommodate the fact that 2 million more people have come into the situation stem in recent years. i think some people may be cooking the books to make it look like they're accommodating the 14 days. >> congressman, i wanted to ask you about, let's assume people in the va, particularly those in administrative positions are there because they care abo

and most recently operating 2 hundred units for veterans organization. we have about one hundred beds around transitional housing on treasure island and near city college we engaged with the va we've rapidly housed 3 hundred vets and have a legal department of lawyers 5 lawyers that help with coming for the va powerful is the number one reason for homelessness commonality so the issues how to address it income assistance through the pen revision california does a poor job in terms of the veterans in the state of california that receive coming and pen if the federal government. can i have a minute beyond my time >> did he ingress. >> okay. i barrel got into this we do jobs so it's been good for san francisco primarily we the evidence will then show all the private and government resources. >> what's going on because we're on it we're aware of the other issues around vets we've brought a lot of resources to bear for veterans the city has been good we've gotten opportunity like the presidio and treasure island and otis street but not possible woody allen wi

says, i hear that he objects to passing legislation which has the support of virtually every veterans organizationn the country which represents millions of veterans, i hear him objecting to legislation which has the support of 57 members of the united states senate, and i hear him objecting to what i believe is legislation that has the support of the vast majority of the american people who do believe we should do right by our veterans. very easy to send people off to war, a lot harder to take care of them when they come home. so, madam president, what i would simply say is i look forward to sitting down with my colleague from louisiana and other republican colleagues. and we're doing that right now. but specifically, with my colleague from louisiana, senator vitter, and see where we can agree and how we can create system significant legislation to address -- some significant legislation addressing the serious problems facing the veterans community. >> madam president? >> the senator from louisiana. >> madam president are, just to briefly repeat, i did object on behalf of myself and 43 other sena

input from the veterans organizations as well as veterans at the particular facility. and iould agree with that would also, as we pointed out, recommend there be an independent third-party expert involved. it would alleviate a lot of the questions that were raised about the audit. i think it would help everyone be assured that these audits were being done properly and everything was being looked at. >> what do you mean by an independent third-party? >> i do not have the expertise to determine are the people cooking the books, are veterans theyng timely care, are spending sufficient time or too much time with the doctors? there needs to be someone who is an expert in time management and accessing medical care that can be there to make a determination , are they asking the right questions and are the answers sufficient to address this problem. suggest also, if they are going to do a thorough audit, it would take more than a couple of weeks. a thorough audit would be an examination of the entire system. that might involve clinicians, nurses, whatever that may be. audit th

in my view -- and i think in the view of virtually every veterans organization -- the v.a. does provide good-quality health care to those people who access the v.a. system. but there are very serious problems in terms of access. there are serious problems with regard waiting lists. there are serious problems regarding the possibility of hospitals keeping two sets of books. and we're going to get to the root of those issues. but one thing that we do not want to do, madam president, is politicize the well-being of america's heroes. let knee quote to yo me quote tn editorial in "the washington post" today. "the men and women who have served their country in uniform deserve better than delay or denial of the medical care they need and have earned. so it is crucial to get to the bottom of allegations of misconduct at the nation's veterans hospitals. america's veterans also deserve not to be treated as so many pawns in election-year gamesmanship. but that sadly is approving to b--but that sadly is proving toe the case in congress's hyperbolic response. that the extent of wrongdoi

i want to ask you, pete about leadership in the va and veterans organizations across the country because a veteran. do you feel like you are represented by shinseki. do you feel the people chosen to lead are like you? >> some are, some aren't. there are great va hospitals, there are poor v aft hospitals. regardless that manager is not held accountable. no one is fired for preventable deaths in phoenix or colorado. takes act of congress to get fired. two negative reviews over three years. it is bureaucracy. joe klein, and i rarely agree with joe klein called va worst bureaucracy in government. it is like the dead wood everywhere throughout the system that prevents reform and actual dynamism. >> what is next? you're the authority. you talk to veterans every single day. you have a feeling for what is going on here. what should be done the legion saying that the white house has been silent on this. president obama is standing by shinseki. what do you feel needs to be done now. >> leadership matters. shinseki has got to go. from there you have to put tools in the hands of next va secretary to

>> i know that there is a concerted effort across the united states with homeless veteran organizations like ours to help women veterans. we know that in the past, there has not been enough facilities for them and the fact that everyone is pushing towards getting more, i think, is great thing. just really eliminating homelessness, eliminating veteran homelessness period. >> janet on facebook writes no one knows why they are fighting other than it's for their family and friends. it's expected of them. right, wrong, win or lose, it doesn't matter. it's the poor souls that have to live with the memories. francois, you have the benefit of history. you know the past, the present and, hopefully, you can give us foresight for the fufrt. whatever some of theture. whatever some of the roadblocks that exist and how can we help improve impediments? >> we think of women being very much in traditional roles, and they have been. they have been since 1775. but at the same time, regardless, they have also found themselves oftentimes in peril. and as we go through history and experience of women in worl

midst of a terrible depression during the hoover administration and a group of world war war veterans organize themselves to lobby for their bonus this was the bonus army. they camped out to lobby congress very peaceful the profits of lazy and set up a camp for these were the families that were the poorest of the pork. remember the great depression. the army chief of staff and they decided the best thing to do would be to reduce first s effectively as possible, the bonus army. so secretary of foresaid to get troops together and escort the bonus army out of town. it was a catastrophe. macarthur returned to a and had clashes with the boldness are mae and dismissed by many. one child died one was succeeded and macarthur was criticized for his actions as he said i told the son of a not to go down there. [laughter] and roosevelt but with the headlines with the news of what macarthur had done. roosevelt as the nominee put together a group of debris entrusted one of the leading people was a an economist. as you want to study a great unknown american a columbia economist when roosevelt was running for

what has got to be said about that, if you ask the veterans organizations, if you ask veterans all over the country, as i have, if you look at independent surveys, the truth is that once people get in to the va system, the care that they are getting is pretty high quality. most veterans are pretty happy with the care that they're getting. the difficulty that we have right now is that as a result of the wars in iraq and afghanistan, in recent years, we have seen two million more veterans getting in to the system. and the question that we have to ask is, does the va have the resources, have the doctors, have the nurses, to provide timely, quality care to all of the people who are now in the system. and by the way,le many of the new people who are coming in to the system are dealing with ptsd, tbi, very difficult health issues. so that's the most important issue that we have got to deal with. we're working on legislation right now that will begin to address some of these issues. >> i want to ask you about a letter from senator richard burr, your republican committee member, criticizing vet

the american legion, one of the nation's most prominent veteran's organization called for the v.a. secretary to resign. >> we are again requesting an interview with general shinseki. >> all of our reporting and six months of asking, general shinseki refused to talk with cnn and instead earlier this month told the senate veteran's affairs committee the problems were not widespread. >> 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 is evidence in a couple of cases behooves us to go and take a thorough look. >> and the president stood by him. >> he has been a great public servant and great warrior on behalf of the united states of america. we're going to work with him to solve the problem. >> then more whistle-blowers. clerks who told us in texas, in colorado, they, too, had been directed to manipulate wait times and delay care. and more grieving people like priscilla valdez who told us people like her dad, who fought in

what every veteran's organization testified to when asked by many, whether or not v.a.alth care is good, what they said, it is good to excellent. the problem that we are having now is having to do with access. and that has a lot to do with the fact that in the last four to five years, 4 million new veterans have come into the v.a. health care system. because they perceive it to be a good system. and in my view, there are areas of the country, of the southwest, phoenix, the south, other areas that have experienced a huge increase of new veterans, of older veterans, of the vietnam war era, and the crises that the v.a. has not stood up and said, you know what, we need more resources to take care of veterans if we're going to provide them with quality health care in a timely manner. something that every veteran in this country deserves and must receive. >> let me ask you about one specific element in the inspector general's interim report today. which i found sort of blood curdling. and it was about 1,700 veterans at phoenix, who are not on the list. who are not on the wait

we were all meeting at the veterans service organizations with mr. neighbor. pretty much they gave us the plan on how they going to go out to different veterans administration hospitals, review what's going on, talk to patients. >> hang on a second. wait a second. where's the urgency? we have vets dying. inside, i would send an emergency team in. get a list of every vet that's in danger of dying that needs attention. did they bring that up? >> i think the fact they're sending a deputy chief of staff from the white house is their sense of urgency. >> do you think that's the appropriate response when vets are dying? >> we don't know veterans have died because they're on a waiting list. >> excuse me, i believe we do. with all due respect, i sent ainsley earhardt. she spoke to the families. >> i believe they were on a waiting list. >> no, they died while waiting. >> i understand that. >> i interviewed one last night where a father-in-law was urinating blood and they didn't care. it's already come out. 40 vets died while waiting for care. >> i happen to know the iag

. >> reporter: but the american religion, the country's largest veteran organization, is calling for shinseki to resign. craig boswell, capitol hill. >>> former nfl star aaron hernandez has been indicted on two new murder charges. prosecutors say hernandez shot and killed two men he met at a boston nightclub. he allegedly followed them in a car and ambushed them at a red light nearly two years ago. hernandez is already awaiting trial for the shooting death of another man last june. coming up on "the morning news" a solemn ceremony. president obama remembers the victims in the dedication of long awaited september 11th memorial museum. this is "cbs morning news." comes litter re-invented. (woman) hey! toss me that litter! (announcer) tidy cats lightweight. all the strength, half the weight. if it doesn't work fast... you're on to the next thing. clinically proven neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. it targets fine lines and wrinkles with the fastest retinol formula available. you'll see younger looking skin in just one week. one week? this one's a keeper. rapid wrinkle repair. and for da

and we created consistency through advanced appropriations so that veterans organizations knew their money would be there regardless of political wrangling in washington. we made v.a. benefits available to more than two million veterans who did not have it before, delivering disability pay to more vietnam vets exposed to agent orange, making it easier for veterans with posttraumatic stress and mental health issues and traumatic brain injury to get treatment. and improving care for women's veterans. because of these steps and the influx of new veterans requiring services added in many cases to wait times, we launched an all-out war on the disability claims backlog. and in just the past year alone we have slashed that backlog by half. of course we are not going to let up because it's still too high. we are going to keep at it until we eliminate the backlog once and for all. meanwhile, we are also reducing homelessness among our veterans. we are helping veterans and their families, more than a million so far, pursue their education under the post-9/11 g.i. bill. 678 we are stepping up ou

well, the veterans service organizations, the object of burr's ire are not so happy with him, preferringunch cheap political attacks. veterans of foreign wars writing, quote, your allegations are ugly and mean-spirited in every sense of the word, are profoundly wrong, quite frankly, senator, you should be ashamed. and the most brutal takedown coming from paralyzed veterans of america. quote, perhaps you should have shared with all veterans in your open letter that you cared so much about their health care that you were not actually present during the testimony that the veterans service organization representatives provided, and you did not ask a single question to gauge your recommendations about how to fix problems the v.a. health care system is fact. of course, a problem for the republicans at the heart of v.a. story are two basic truths. one, health care and wait times in the private health care market, well, they're not that great. and two, the extent of the mismatch between the capacity of the v.a. and the demand for care has a lot to do with 14 years of open-ended war. well, the pr

funding to record levels, and we created consistency through advanced appropriations so that veterans organizations knew their money would be there regardless of political rangeling in washington. we had va benefits available to more than 2 million veterans who did not have it before delivering disability pay to more vietnam vets exposed to agent orange. making it easier for veterans with post-traumatic stress and mental health issues and traumatic brain injury to get treatment and improving care for women's veterans. because of these steps and the influx of new veterans requiring services added in many cases to wait times, we launched an all-out war on the disability claims backlog. in just the past year alone, we slashed that backlog by half. of course, we're not going to let up, because it's still too high. we're fw to keep at it until we eliminate the backlog once and for all. meanwhile, we're reducing homelessness among our veterans and helping veterans and their families, more than a million so far, pursue their education under the post-9/11 g.i. bill. we're stepping up our efforts to help th

on right now. >> joe violante, the national legislative director of the disabled american veterans organization. joe, hope very much. let's hope watt president just announced will help, because there's really nothing more important than making sure the veterans of this country get the treatment, the health care they deserve and need. i'll be back in one hour with much more coverage. in the meantime, ashleigh banfield picks up our coverage on "legal view." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> hello, everyone, with our continuing breaking news, it was just apparently a little too much, too much to handle, even for a five-star general to survive. er eric shinseki has resigned. all of this, amidst a growing scandal first revealed right here on cnn. we got the news straight from the president himself, as he announced it to the country just a short time ago. have a look. >> this morning, i think some of you heard rick take a truly remarkable action in public remarks, he took respoib

veterans health care. this panel includes leaders of the organizations. they testified that the quality of the veterans health care is strong but access to care is a problem along with funding and accountability. >> a >> of the va is different than other agencies because while we serve and represent all of the people in the country we have a very special constituency and that is the men and women that put their lives on the line to defend their country. there are people that utilize the everyday. and today we are very pleased to have their representatives for many of the major veterans organizations here with us and i think them all very much for being here. we are all interested to hear about your experiences. you know more about it will. i look forward to hearing your suggestions and criticisms. i would like to remind each of you to keep your presentation to five minutes into the statement will be printed in the record of the hearing will. our guests today are daniel who is the commander of the american legion, joseph, the national legislative correct or

we were all meeting there, the veterans service organization with mr. nabor and they gave us the plan on how they are going to go out to different veterans administration hospitals, review what's going on, talk to patients. >> wait. hang on a second. wait a minute. where is the urgency? we have vets dying. where is the urgency here? in other words, i would send an emergency team in, get the list of every vet that's in danger of dying that needs immediate attention. did they bring that up. is there any sense of urgency from them? >> i think the fact that they are sending a deputy chief of staff from the white house is their sense of urgency. >> do you think that's appropriate response when vets are dying? >> i think that, if i may suggest, we don't know that veterans have died because they are on a waiting list. >> excuse me, i think we do. i sent aimsly earhart. she spoke the families. >> i believe they were on a waiting list. >> no they died while waiting. i interviewed a woman last night. her father-in-law was literally, was urinating blood, quarts of

. >> reporter: despite the break with the american legion, almost every other veterans organization stillupports eric shinseki for managing the explosive growth of the v.a. shinseki got his strongest endorsement where it counts, scott, full backing from the president. >> pelley: wyatt, thanks very much. in an emergency order today, the transportation department told railroads that haul crude oil from the bakken oil fields in north dakota that they must inform states before those trains pass through. there is a lot of concern after several serious accidents, and transportation correspondent jeff pegues has been following this for us. jeff, how is this order going to help? >> reporter: well, scott, bakken crude oil has transported along 140,000 miles of rain rale in this country and it's going through cities and towns. this emergency order is designed to help first responders prepare for any potential derailments. >> pelley: and what's the concern over the bakken oil in particular? >> reporter: well, scott, bakken crude comes from parts of north dakota and montana. it is considered highly v

that is why this bill has been endorsed by a number of veterans service organizations, including the american legion, veterans of foreign war, the disabled american veterans, the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, the military officers association of america, and the association of the united states navy. i'd like to thank these v.s.o.'s for their support and for collaborating with the working group to develop solutions that will fix this problem. time and again we've asked our men and women in uniform to answer the call of duty, and they do so without hesitation. ensuring veterans receive disability benefits, quality v.a. medical care in a timely manner is the least we can do to thank them for their service. as a member of the senate veterans' affairs committee, it is my role and responsibility to get answers for nevada's veterans, and i will uphold the commitment to oversight. in the coming weeks i will be watching the v.a. closely for changes and improvement to mitigate the very serious lapse in care and services that have occurred. if the v.a. continues on the course it is

lou: country's largest veterans organization calls for resignation of veteran affair secretary-general eric. the va is under investigation itself after allegations that veterans died while waiting months for appointments and treatment. my next guest is a physician. an iraq war veteran, and we're joined by congressman brad wenstrup. congressman, your thoughts on the call for shin sakey's resignation. >> i am pleased an inspector general has been appointed to look at things, i am a member of the american legion, they are forthright and thoughtful in what they bridge forward, and so they feel there is a great need, they work with our veterans each day. i would like to see what inspector jenin general has to t no doubt there needs to be a shake up, as a doctor, i have been pleading with this, we have too many people in place that never been in a private sector or in a situation why they need to pro dice and be appreciate -- produce and be appreciate. lou: amongst those i respect, a number of retired generals who have views on shinsake and veteran's affairs, they have not been eager to call

the system, the healthcare itself that they are receiving has gotten high marks from veterans service organizations and the veterans themselves. so it's important to keep in mind that what the review indicates, so far at least, is that there have been great strides made in the actual care provided to veterans, and the challenge is getting veterans in the door, particularly for the first appointment in some cabses, where they don't have an established relationship with the doctor, and they're not in the system. part of that is technology, and part of that is management. but as rick shinseki himself indicated, there's a need for culture in the vha. and perhaps the va as a whole, to make sure that bad news gets surfaced quickly so things can be fixed. and i know that was the attitude of secretary shinseki and what he communicated to folks under him that they didn't execute. and that's the problem. christie parsons, last question. >> reporter: you said it was a judgment that made the decision to you here. and if i remember correctly, secretary sebelius offered you her resignation for healthcare.gov, an

that this needs to change now. >> reporter: another veterans organization, iraq/afghanistan veterans of america, has created an anonymous web site where whistle blowers can report incidents of fraud. the white house said shinseki has the president's full confidence. >> and jill abramson broke her silence moments ago. she was the commencement speaker at wake forest university. it was abramson's first public appearance since she was unexpectedly dismissed from the "new york times" on wednesday. >> reporter: good morning. good morning to our viewers in the west. abramson began speaking just a few minutes ago. her firing has become a cultural firestorm and many are wondering if she'll say anything about her departure from the "new york times." >> the only real news here today is your graduation from this great university. >> reporter: wake forest never thought twice about revoking its invitation to have jill abramson speak to nearly 2,000 graduates, even though she had just been publicly fired. >> i'm impressed that your achievements have attracted so much media attention. >> reporter: h

organizations. it was the veterans of foreign wars and others.id senator, this is clearly one of the most dishonorable and grossly inappropriate acts that we have witnessed. your allegations are ugly and mane-spirited in every sense of the word. going after the veteran's groups, how is that resonating on capitol hill? >> you know i don't think it's resonating at all. i talked to several veterans last week when this story was bubbling up. the president obama of course came out on wednesday. they had a wait and see opportunity. with these hospitals for many, many years. and may have seen some of the problems up close and in their own lives. so at this point, a lot of them are waiting and seeing what comes out of these reports and seeing what kinds of actions the president takes as a result. but i do think what will be interesting to watch is the republicans on one hand will score points on this. i think one of the things that will be most interesting to watch is what some of these democrats do. you see democrats and senate races. people like charli