and took down a passenger jet carrying 295 people. all 295 are confirmed dead. now, to find out who did it. and make them pay. ed henry is our chief white house correspondent and live for us there this afternoon. ed? >> reporter: good to see you, shep. bottom line, you've heard from the president earlier today in delaware. he was at an event pushing more highway funding. now landed in new york city a short time ago, going ahead with a couple of fund-raisers there tonight. democratic fund-raisers. vice president biden was giving a speech to a liberal organization in detroit and he topped off his remarks as well about the situation. he had just gotten off the phone with the new ukrainian president and said that the u.s. is pledging assistance. that's a broad statement obviously. what does that mean specifically. i think one thing that is interesting is that the vice president said the u.s. is sending its own law enforcement team that's headed to the region now, to help determine the facts about exactly how this plane was