wolf? >> brooke, thanks very much. happening now, president obama meets with the senate republican leader and makes a personal investment in a political fight over america's debt. this hour, the prospects for a deal to prevent the united states from being seen as a deadbeat nation. stand by. >>> republican michele bachmann tries to prove she's in it to win it. she launches her long shot campaign for the white house, showing new strength in iowa. >>> plus, blood and gore and free speech. the makers and sellers of violent video games score big in a brand-new u.s. supreme court ruling. but what about your children? >>> i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." >>> we begin with the standoff over the federal debt. lots at stake for all of us now. democrats and republicans agree on this much, something has got to give. this hour, right now, in fact, president obama sits down with the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. it is an attempt to try to break a political stalemate that could

wolf? >> any evidence that arab countries are helping bashir al assad? >> reporter: at this point, i don't think that any has directly emerged. we certainly haven't seen it. we don't have administration officials at least telling us about that. what they are watching is this iranian flow very carefully because, you know, if iran is backing various elements in concern that, when assad falls -- if he falls, i should say -- that they will still have influence inside of syria. that could make this whole situation even more unsettling, wolf. >> thank you very much, barbara starr, with that new information. let's get to the political battle in this country over libya. republican sources say house republican leaders are planning to hold votes this week to use their power of funding to limit the u.s. military mission. that's because president obama has failed to seek congressional approval for military action under the war powers act. he ignored a sunday deadline set by the house speaker john boehn

"the situation room" begins with wolf blitzer. wolf, to you. >>> happening now, a formal request for an ethics investigation of congressman anthony weiner. stand by for new details about his raunchy online contacts with women and whether he broke any house rules or laws. also, president obama insists he isn't worried that the koumpbt tree may be sliding back into a recession. but there's no evidence that the economy is a serious drag on his re-election campaign. one rival saying he needs economic rehab. and a glaring gap in the securities situation around the world. why millions of bogus or stolen passports are not being checked, documents that could be used by terrorists. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." all that can'ting up. first, the war of words over libya as nato bombs fell around tripoli, moammar gadhafi sounded as defiant as ever. president obama stood his ground against ga ddhafi with the germ chancellor at his side. brianna. >> reporter: wolf, today at the white house, president and obama and they lost o

wolf?> and do we know anything about his political views, his religious views? anything along those lines? his background? >> no, not yet, wolf. we're still digging into that. but, again, low-level marine, e-3, been in the marine reserve for coming up on four years. he did receive some medals early on, which suggests that at least for a time, you know, he was going to drill, he was participating in the marines. and then our source says at some point, you know, he sort of dropped off the radar. >> chris lawrence will stay on top of this story for us. i know it caused a huge scare earlier today. thank you. >>> a defiant moammar gadhafi insists his sources will defeat the united states and nato. in a new audio message that rang out over tripoli's green square, gadhafi called libyan rebels traders and cronies of the west, his words. four months after libya's rebel uprising began, libya is continue to carry out air strikes. france is certainly playing a very important role. our senior internatio

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the "situation room." >>> we begin with what just occurred, notorious fugitive back where he started right now. the accused mob boss james whitey bulger in court in boston. he and his girlfriend facing a slew of charges including murder. this arraignment day 16 long years in the making. let's go to the scene, cnn's deborah feyerick is following the crime story for us. she moments ago walked out of the courthouse. what happened in inside, deborah? >> reporter: wolf, whitey bulger returned to boston in shackles. he was surrounded by three armed u.s. marshals. when he spotted his younger brother, boston politician, billy bulger, in the second row, it was interesting, the interaction between them. the brother nodded down. whitey nodded up. both men smiled as if it was an inside joke. when one of the judge magistrates asked whether whitey bulger could afford his own lawyer, whitey bulger looked and said, quote, i could if you give me my money back, referring to $800,000 in cash s

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wolf?> thanks very much, mary, for that. >>> members of the president's own party, we're talking about democrats, they are now hammering him over america's role in the libya conconflict. you're going to hear barney frank, democrat of massachusetts, he's going to tell me why he thinks the president of the united states is guilty of "an embarrassing degree of invasion." that's barney frank. >>> and congress tries to figure out why they let drug cartels get ahold of weapons and start killing people. [ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into portuguese. by tomorrow. [ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business. ♪ [ male announcer ] what is the future of fuel? the debate is over. ♪ lexus hybrid drive technology is designed to optimize any fuel source on the planet. even those we don't u

let's go to wolf blitzer live in new hampshire. take it away. >>> just three hours from now, cnn's first republican presidential debate. should anthony weiner be forced to resign? and billions and billions of dollars air lifted by u.s. officials to iraq go missing. just ahead -- the disturbing details of what authorities now believe happened to all that money. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we're live here in manchester, new hampshire where last-minute preparations are now under way for cnn's first republican presidential debate. less than three hours from now, six run candidates and one potential white house hopeful will formally square off. here are the contenders, the former massachusetts governor mitt romney. he's considered the early front runner this race. former minnesota governor tim pawlenty who's expected to hit romney hard on his controversial health care plan. newt gingri newt gingrich whose stunning campaign implosion threw his entire candidacy into question. ron paul, making his third presidentialed

wolf? >> the chair of the dnc later here in "the situation room." we'll get her thoughts on that subject and others as well. kate, thank you very much. >>> before this controversy broke, weiner was known for his frequent media appearances, providing a feisty democratic voice on various issues. still, you may not necessarily know a lot about him. suzanne malveaux fills in the blanks. >> reporter: anthony weiner is new york to the core. born in brooklyn to a lawyer and school teacher. he aimed to be a tv weather man and when that didn't work he turned to politics and hanging out with good friend comedian jon stewart. six years after college, he mounted a long shot bid for new york city council. he turned his scrappy nature into votes and at age 27 became at the time the youngest person elected to the council. quickly, the coming up thorn in the side of fellow councilman and new york mayor david dickins weiner replaced him in the house. on capitol hill, weiner cemented his reputation as a libe

wolf?you. >>> al qaeda's long-time number two leader appearing in a new video with a poem eulogizing his late boss. he's also issuing new threats against the united states. jeanne meserve is tracking the story for us. >> reporter: the video is in large part a tribute to osama bin laden. >> translator: he went to his god martyred because he said no to america. >> reporter: ayman al zawahiri does not proclaim himself bin laden's successor, but with the tape he appears to be positioning himself. >> he wants to show to the al qaeda membership around the world that supporters, that he's the paramount leader of al qaeda. that he's the one that's delivering the eulogy for osama bin laden. >> reporter: in the video, zawahiri cheers the uprisings in libya, syria and yemen. >> translator: they need to continue their struggle, their rage, and their sacrifices. >> al qaeda doesn't like these movements but they recognize they have no option but to say if we want to be relevant we better stick with the p

wolf's tweet was sent on may 11th. yesterday, congressman wiener hoped to be able to put these questions to rest, and as you remember, he had a contentious encounter with cnn's dana bash. >> can you say why you haven't asked law enforcement to investigate what you are alleging is -- >> you know, dana, if i was giving a speech to 45,000 people and someone in the back of the room threw a pie or yelled out abinsult, would i spend the next two hours responding to that? no, i would get back -- >> this is not that situation, though. >> i would get back -- you want to do the briefing? >> answer the question, was it from you or not? >> sir, permit me -- do you want me to finish my answer? >> yes, this answer. did you send it or not? >> if i were giving a speech to 45,000 people -- >> did you follow her on twitter and if so, what was the reason? >> you know, i have i think said this in a couple of ways, i'm not going to permit myself to be distracted by this issue any longer. >> you said you were hacked. >> dana, i'm going to a

wolf? >> the mistakes that were obvious, all the political observe others going after paul ryan, the chairman of the house budget committee, his medicare reform package just so popular with almost all republicans out there especially in the house of representatives, then word that the family had this half a million dollar credit account, if you will, at tiffany's, which they repaid, in new york. and then he announces for president and then within a matter of weeks goes on a two-week cruise a vacation in the mediterranean, to the greek isles and turkey. we discussed that yesterday. were those the factors that just convinced these senior professionals on his staff that this was a losing operation, it was time to move on? >> i think so wolf. look, the question was newt gingrich out of touch and were some of his actions showing that he was out of touch at this point with these senior staffers? now, what i'm told by one of these staffers is that there was a money flow issue, that he had not rais

i know wolf does.id who everyone feared had floated away in a flying saucer-shaped balloon. his parents were later charged in what turned out to be a hoax. now the family has moved to florida and they say they want to auction off that balloon to raise money for japanese tsunami victims. their suggested bid, $1 million. so they apparently, wolf, are still chasing the limelight. >> yeah, i remember falcon, the little boy, saying when i was filling in for leary kiater larg "who the hell is wolf?" >> that's the famous line, we all remember that. >> we wish the family the best. >>> let's get back to jack, he's got the cafferty file. >> that is priceless. question this hour, why do politicians think denying an allegation or changing the subject somehow means that it will just go away? paul in seattle says, because they're often write. deny, change the subject, tap dance. that's the game. politicos like anthony wiener, whether rightly or wrongly accused know in this hot 2011 news year they'll be bumped off pa

wolf? >> i think the pressure is mounting to stop all of those billions from going to afghanistan, considering the needs right here in the united states. jill, thanks very much for that. let's get more now on the president's teleconference with afghan president hamid karzai. brianna keilar is here to tell us what we know. what do we know about this conversation today, brianna? >> reporter: wolf, this is a scheduled conference that the president has with karzai. we know that they discussed transferring control of security from u.s. troops to afghan troops. but in terms of the numbers, as we await the president making his decision on the troop drawdown, they didn't talk specifics. they also talked about osama bin laden and how his death affects fighting terrorism in the region. but really we're waiting and will continue to do so for the next few weeks for those troop numbers. the president has not received formal recommendations from his advisers, like general petraeus and carney said there a

wolf? >> is he going to be spending a lot of time trying to sell this plan now or is he basically going to try to move on and deal with domestic economic issues? >> i think what you're seeing now is the president really trying to refocus his attention now on the economic situation, on job creation of the president after making those remarks in new york went to pennsylvania, pittsburgh, pennsylvania to talk about a new technology and the role that it's playing in manufacturing, creating jobs in the future. this is something the administration has been trying to do and focus on since january and now after being sort of having to focus on some foreign policy issues really trying to bring it home to some of the bread and butter issues that a lot of americans care about and certainly will be thinking about in the 2012 elections. >> dan lothian traveling with the president. thanks very much. let's dig deeper now on the afghan drawdown. joining us our chief political analyst gloria borger and cnn'

wolf?n rights activists are watching an important trial that started today in bahrain, a key u.s. ally in the middle east. case involves dozens of doctors and nurse whose may have been tortured to obtain information now being used against them. let's check in with our senior international correspondent nic robertson. he's on the scene for us in bahrain right now. what's the latest? what's going on, nic? >> reporter: well, wolf, i was in the military court today to see these doctors and nurses brought before the judge. 1 of them. -- 11 male doctors and five or six female doctors. males looked pathetic because their hair had all been shaven short. they looked tired, strepsed, nervous, anguish. you can see they haven't seen the sunshine for quite some time as well. that's why they look rather pathetic. but one of them challenged the judge saying that the confessioned they had aide been forced to sign had been given under torture. we heard in the courtroom there, i heard several of the lawyers

i'm wolf blitzer.n room." >>> after more than a week of vehement denials, democratic congressman anthony weiner of new york now admits that a lewd photo on his twitter account is of him and was actually sent by him. choking back tears, he went before reporters in a new york city hotel and confessed not only to that picture, but he revealed what he called inappropriate online communication with other women as well. the house democratic leader nancy pelosi has just called for a house ethics committee investigation of weiner. we're covering all angles of this story this hour. but first, his riveting statement and news conference. here's congressman anthony weiner in his own words. >> thank you very much for being here and good afternoon. i'd like to take this time to clear up some of the questions that have been raised over the past ten days or so and take full responsibility for my actions. at the outset i'd like to make it clear that i've made terribly mistakes that have hurt the people i care about the

wolf? >> thank you.ere staging that attack in kabul, the allies were attacking an american combat outpost twice within 24 hours. cnn was there and filed this exclusive report. >> everywhere you look here in afghanistan's eastern border, the choices are not good. if the americans leave, militants from pakistan will flow through the valley. if they stay, every few days this happens. >> it was long enough ago or panic. they are worried the taliban was preparing a big one. >>>. >> go, go, go, go. >> they ark range color from heavy machine guns. >> as soon as they go, drop it. the bullets are too close. locals scatter. just before huge american firepower has the last word. four massify air strikes and the taliban falls silent. they are not sure why it's staying. >> can we get a police call for brass? no? >> jets swoop in on the hills. a show of force for the taliban are now either gone or dead. at least five kill and the soldiers count. the next morning it starts again. mortars pound the base for the second t

wolf? >> good question, wolf.ou. >>> let's go to yemen where the new government is confirming 63 mill fants, all of them members of al qaeda, have suddenly broken out of prison. brian todd is here in "the situation room" monitoring these developments. what are you learning? >> well, these men escaped by digging a tunnel nearly 40 yards long and in the course of breaking out they killed a prison guard. this event has ominous implications for the security of the u.s. and its allies. after weeks of fighting and instability in yemen, signs that al qaeda is further destabilizing the key u.s. ally in the war on terror. in what appears to be a coordinated operation, dozens of al qaeda militants break out of a prison in the southern city while armed militants attacked the jail from the outside. when i spoke to an analyst. >> there's been a lot of fighting in the province. islamist what does it say about the control of the yemen knee government has this in region? >> they are losing control and the yemeni government instig

wolf?white house, dan, that if the unemployment number stays around 9%, a year from now, it could be politically very dangerous for his re-election be. >> well, look, clearly they're worried about it. it's not something that they're talking about publicly. they're saying right now, the president is focused on creating jobs for americans on lifting their situation, but clearly, i mean, when you look at the signs, it's very difficult for someone to win the white house when you're saddled by the deep economic woes. it did appear that the trend line was moving in the right direction. that thing were getting much better, were stabilizing, but this is a big setback for this white house. >> although one month does not necessarily mean a trend. we'll see what happens in the months to come. dan lothian, thanks very much. >>> a man drowns while firefighters and police watch from the shore with no attempt to rescue him. we're pressing officials to explain why. plus, jeanne moos with a different take o

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> right now the republicans hoping to oust president obama from office are making room for one more. john huntsman officially launched his white house bid today. the former u.s. ambassador to china, the form utah governor chose a rather patriotic backdrop to introduce voters to his resume, his family and the broad message of his campaign. cnn's jim acosta was there. jim, the fact of the matter is president obama strongly -- was very strong and effusive in his praise for the former utah governor when he nominated him to be his ambassador to china. >> that's right, wolf. that's not all good news for john huntsman. the fact of the matter is john huntsman's speech today was a warning to american voters that future generations are at stake in the 2012 campaign. the trick for huntsman is to convince those voters to forget about his past. john huntsman was out to show off his conservative side, stepping into the race with his family and standing in the shado

gen petraeus. >> absolutely, wolf. now it's becoming increasingly clear, president obama's decision on troop withdrawals had political and economic considerations, military considerations were far from the only factor. less than 24 hours after the announcement -- >> our troops will continue coming home at a steady pace. >> so the most senior advisers openingly acknowledging the president overruled their advice about the withdrawal of 33,000 surge troops from afghanistan by next summer. >> what i can tell you is the president's decisions are more aggressive and incur more risk than i was originally prepared to accept. >> the ultimate decision was a more aggressive formulation, if you will, in terms of the time line than what we had recommended. petraeus made clear he told the president what could happen if the troops were not there. is it a military problem? he suggests perhaps yes. >> there is always a process of assessing risk, and it's typically, in a case like this, as the charm put it today, risk at the margin. we'

wolf blitzer will join us also.y with us. >>> we begin this hour with breaking news from capitol hill. our dana bash breaking the news for us. disgraced congressman anthony weiner has decided to resign. we're told an announcement could come anytime. as you know, he's been embroiled in this sexting scandal. remember when he actually came forward and shocked us all with this personal mountains take that he talked about. >> it's just not something that can be treated away. this is my own personal mistake. >> a mistake, wolf blitzer, that just got more and more dramatic. it was several photos. as we saw mary snow report yesterday, now it's turned into thinks conversations, one even involving a porn actress. wolf, what do you think will happen today? >> i think it's going to be official. dana's sources are good. it's unclean whether it will be made personally or the form or speaker, nancy pelosi. she has a news conference this hour, maybe she'll make the announcement on his behave. but clearly he made the decision togeth

the latest on that lone wolf behind the bomb scare that brought washington to a standstill. and new revelations about a jihadi hit list. al qaeda's new target for terror. >>> firestorm, scorching temperatures and devastating droughts fueled wildfires from arizona to florida. hundreds are evacuated as flames jump state lines and put more homes in danger. >>> fighting for a front-row seat. the biggest battle in the casey anthony trial is taking place outside of the courtroom. spectators actually trading punches to get in to watch the proceedings. the new plan to keep the crowd in line this morning. >>> and news that will make you flip your wig, or throw it away completely. a new discovery that could make going gray and going bald things of the past. we get to the root of the issue. >>> well, if that tease does not get people out of bed and waking up this morning, i don't know what it takes. that is pretty amazing news. they've discovered potentially the cure to baldness and gray hair. they've identified the protein that causes gray hair and could eventually prevent baldness. >

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wolf? >> thanks very much. i want to bring in nick roberts. you've been to kabul onka several occasions. tell us your experiences at the intercontinental in kabul. >> security has been tight for several years, wolf. there's a highway that passes close to the hotel. there's a ridge overlooking a ridge. that road has a checkpoint. there's another much tough er checkpoint towards that 100-meter stretch of road. there's a small circle, cars pull up. if they were able to get in with suicide bombers through security checkpoints, that will be very surprising. the ground b close to the hotel is quite possible. it's possible to come in through the service entrance below the hotel. tt ground floor, the restaurants off their book shop area before they sit down. long hall with rooms on either side. the gunman looking for werners. last year, attacking in the north of the country, being used by an aid organization, suicide bombers that breach the walls and go in with gunmen, attacking a u.n. guest house.

>> there's a lot going on there, wolf.the prime minister of greece is fighting for his job, as the public shows its frustration with angry protests. the op 7gs isn't satisfied and wants early elections. greece is trying to rein in spending. a failure to do so could cause a catastrophe for financial markets in europe. >>> tunisia may conjure up images of upheaval, but tourism officials want you to speak about beautiful beaches. it's an unorthodox ad campaign, one is heavy-handed treatment while showing one woman having a massage. the ad company says it wants to show that things have changed in tunisia by using a little humor. >>>le ka cal's governor is drawing a line in the sand. jerry brown today vetoed a budget, saying it doesn't aunds the state's crisis. saying it contains legally questionable maneuvers. and snow leopard triplets. triplets are making their due abu. the cubs were born eight weeks ago, part of a zoo breeding program for the endangered leopards. the species has been pushed to the brink of stings by poachers

wolf? >> lisa, thank you. >>> the gop presidential candidates all hitting president obama hard on issue number one. just how vulnerable is the president when it comes to the economy. plus, billions of dollars airlifted to iraq goes missing. ahead, some very disturbing details on what authorities believe happened to all that cash. a cnn reporter gets inside syria after months of being denied access. her first-end account of what's happening to civilians amidst a very brutal government crackdown. stay with us. you are in "the situation room." the debate is over. ♪ lexus hybrid drive technology is designed to optimize any fuel source on the planet. even those we don't use yet. because when you pursue perfection, you don't just engineer a future-proof hybrid system. you engineer amazing. ♪ a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural comm

i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." "john king usa" starts right now. >> thanks for joining us. john king is off tonight. i'm jessica yellin. new york congressman anthony wiener says with a name like his, pranks and jokes go with the territory. and sometimes, quote, a prank is a prank. well, weiner's sticking to his story he did not send a lewd photo posted to his twitter account last weekend. he says he has hired a firm to get to the bottom of this. he continues to insist his twitter account was hacked. the congressman says he does not want to make a federal case out of it. the congressman sat down with cnn's wolf blitzer this afternoon. >> did you send that picture to that college student in washington state? >> i did not. she says she never got it and doesn't know me. i certainly don't know her. this seems like it was a prank to make fun of my name. when you're named weiner, that happens. got 40,000-some-odd twitter followers. this seems like a prank that has an enormous amount of attention. >> this is the picture. i

>> well, wolf, i think you said it well when you compare yemen with afghanistan. i mean, look, yemen is wafg a coastline. it's the most dangerous country in the region. if you talk to saudi officials, wolf, they tell you there's two things they are concerned about, egypt and prospect for egypt and yemen. so the stakes in yemen are very huge and i think we, the american presence in yemen is, i think, unprepared for the games that are being played. saleh has played the americans and gulf states for a fool. he has promised he'll relinquish power. he in tends to do nothing of the kind. >> here's what concerns me. we saw opportune snartunisia. a little violent. similar in egypt. since then we've seen violence in libya, bahrain, yemen. these leaders have decided to fight to the bitter end. >> you're absolutely right. there's a document leaked out from syria from syria intelligence. what they end up saying is the lesson of egypt and tunisia is never to relinquish power it's to use the armed forces to hunker down and kill as many people as you can and so, in fact, you're

let me make one point very clear here, wolf.a prohibition on ground troops is not only not appropriate, but it's unconstitutional. i believe that if the republicans continue to push such a thing, it could be viewed as partisanship in my view. no one believes that we are going to send ground troops in to libya. to have a prohibition for that could only mean that we're somehow taking shots at the president. i would hope that we would in a resolution, approve of the president's policy which is not to send ground troops into libya. see my point? >> of course i understand your point, but are you expecting the white house to remedy the issue in the coming days or weeks and get that kind of resolution before you? >> my understanding is that the white house will be sending over a report and lots of information about what we have done and although it's very late, we are going to send over, i understand detailed information. i think it would be perfectly fine if we move forward with a resolution. i can assure you, it will be much more dif

to talk about the political and personal implications, wolf blitser, christiane amanpour, wolf, let me start. but you conducted the interview which he lied through his back teeth, another way of putting it. what was your reaction today when he finally resigned? >> pretty sad. obviously he is an intelligent guy, a smart guy. but ealso a stupid guy. he made a horrible mistake and he's paying the price for it. not only politically but personally. he's been married less than a year. his wife is pregnant. we know his wife, she's lovely. she works for the secretary of state hillary clinton. and it is a tragic story. a fall from power, a fall from grace. he's been humiliated and it is sad all around to see what's happened. having said all that, i wouldn't necessarily rule out the possibility that at some point down the road, maybe a year, five years, who knows, he'll try for a political comeback. i will sense it is almost in his dna. he would like to do it. we'll see how he cope with the personal problems first though. >> his speech was carefully crafted. it was quite political. it was almost

wolf, the president obviously also talked about praising the efforts made by u.s.ops over the years in afghanistan and praise which is important because when you spend time there you go out with marines or with the army and military and the conditions they are operating under in afghanistan are extraordinarily difficult. the landscape and climate is an extraordinary effort they are putting in. >> doing amazing work under awful circumstances. one other point i want to bring out, the president did reach out and i thought it was fascinating tonight directly to the taliban when he said the united states is supporting initiatives that reconcile the afghan people including the taliban. he didn't put a condition on bringing the taliban into these negotiations. he said they have to abide by the afghan constitution. now, a lot of spertexperts have pointed out the taliban will never abide by the afghan constitution calling for equal rights for women. we know where the taliban stands on the issue of women and a lot of critics already suggesting that these indirect talks if yo

wolfe came home to a death watch. his brother was lying in a sick room upstairs while his family waited for what they feared was inevitable. wolfe went upstairs to the gray-sh--to the gray-shaded light of the room where ben lay al--where ben lay'--i'm sorry--'and he saw, in that moment a searing recognition, that his beloved 26-year-old brother was dying.' now here's the 'quote of how he died. "ben's long, thin body lay three-quarters covered by the bedding. its gaunt outline was bitterly twisted below the covers in an attitude of struggle and torture. it seemed not to belong to him. it was somehow distorted and detached, as if it belonged to a beheaded criminal, and the sallow yellow of his face had turned gray. out of this ground a tint of death lit by two red flags of fever. the stiff, black furs of a three-day beard was growing. the beard was somehow horrible. it recalled the corrupt vitality of hair, which can grow from a rotting corpse. and ben's thin lips were lifted in a constant grimace of torture and strangu

wolf was one of the folks that he spoke to.s wolf and congressman weiner from last week. >> did you send that picture to that college student in washington state? >> i did not. she says she never got it and doesn't know me. i certainly don't know her. this seems like it was a prank to make fun of my name. when you're named weiner, that happens a lot. i have 45,000 twitter followers. this seems like a prank that has gotten an enormous amount of attention. >> have you ever taken a picture like that of yourself? >> i can tell you this. i have photographs. i don't know what photographs are out there in the world of me. i don't know what has been manipulated and doctored. we're going to try to find out what happened. but the most important reason that i want to find out what happened is that so that it doesn't happen again. someone got access to my account. that's bad. touche, you got me. at the time it happened, i tweeted right away that i got the joke and continued on with my life and i think, frankly, that's what i would encourag

she doesn't deserve this. >> thanks very much, wolf. we also have tonight, by coincidence coincidence, an interview with mitt romney, who is probably, at the moment, from what we know, the squeakiest, cleanest man in american politics. that's going to be fascinating. have you ever drunk alcohol? >> no. >> have you ever taken drugs? >> no, no. >> presumably, you've never had an affair, because you couldn't have -- >> of course not. >> you can say that with total non-schwarzenegger certainty? >> yes. i have tested alcohol, on one experience, but drugs, never. >> this is one of your trump cards. when you look at all these politicians, whether it's anthony weiner or john edwards or arnold schwarzenegger, the one thing we don't have to worry about in america, if you're elected president, is anything tumbling out of the cupboard, right? >> better not. no, he's -- we have a very, very close relationship and devoted to each other and we've been through some hard times together too. >> revealing stuff there from mitt romney and more of that comi

and i'll get rid of the wolf,

wolf blitzer, rush order, 9 x 12 giant glossy of a [bleep].tomer name blitzer, first initial w, wolf blitzer. i won't have the posters until the weekend. (laughter) i can tell you something, man, this whole story is a drag. i really, i like this guy, i respect this guy. i don't want to give this the full daily show treatment. >> then don't do it, jon. >> jon: who's that? >> it's me, your friend tom brokaw. nbc nightly news. >> jon: yeah. >> don't be distracted by juveniles gossip. stick to the romney story. (laughter) >> jon: you're right news angel tom brokaw. >> hey, snoopy, don't listen to that knuckle head. you're a comic. it's a story about a guy name add weiner's weener. once in a lifetime. >> jon: dammit comedy rickems true. but he is my friend. >> comedians don't have friends. they have ex-wifes and irritable bowel syndrome. >> remember the core, facts, truth and -- >> weiner's weaner. >> fact, true, just. >> weiner's weaner. >> facts-- truth, justice. >> weiner's weaner. >> jon: let's do this. all right, fine. ♪ oh yeah, yeah, yeah ♪