he talked with cnn's national political correspondent jim acosta this evening. >> governor, thanks for joining us. let's talk first about this controversy over when you left bain capital. i'll put one of the documents in question up on screen. their sec filing stating that you were ceo at bain capital past 1999. when you say you left bain to run the olympics. why was your name still on these documents? and why didn't you clear this up sooner? >> well, i was the owner of an entity that is filing that information. but i had no role whatsoever in the management of bain capital after february of 1999. not that that would have been a problem to have said i was with the firm beyond that but i simply wasn't. i left to go out and run the olympics. i did that full-time. relinquished all management authority and role in bain capital after february 1999. >> how do you explain that discrepancy? you said publicly you left the firm in 1999. weren't you concerned at some point these filings might become public and people would see your name was still on these filings? >> well, there's nothing wrong with being associated with bain capital, of course. but the truth is that i left any role at bain capital in february of '99. that's known and said by the people at the firm. it's said by the documents, offering documents that the firm made subsequently about people investing in the firm. and i think anybody who knows that i was out full time running the olympics would understand that's where i was. i spent three years running the olympic games. and after that was over, we worked out our retirement program, our departure official program, for bain capital and hand the over the shares i had. there's a difference between being a shareholder, an owner, if you will, and being a person who's running an entity. and i had no role whatsoever in managing bain capital after february 1999. by the way, this is all an effort on the part of the president's campaign to divert attention from the fact that the president has been a failure when it comes to reigniting america's economy. we have had, now, 41 straight months with unemployment above 8%. and so he continues to try to find some way to attack me other than to talk about policy. and it's time to talk about what it will take to get america working again. >> you mentioned the president's campaign and what they've been saying about you. >> yeah, i mean, i know there's going to be every effort to try and find some ki of attack piece on the part of the obama campaign. but interestingly, every independent fact checker that's looked at this in depth, not just taken a quick interview, but look at it in great depth, has said that the president's claims are false, misleading, wrong headed. it got multiple pinocchios from one reviewer. what he's doing is doing everything in his power to try to divert attention from the fact that his policies have failed the american people. these kinds of attacks from his campaign are simply out of character, from what we'd expect from the president. it's beneath his dignity. >> as you know, president obama's deputy campaign manager stephanie cutter was very harsh on a conference call on thursday. listen to what she said. then we'll get your response afterwards. >> either mitt romney, through his own words and his own signature, was misrepresenting his position at bain to the sec, which is a felony. or, he was misrepresenting his position at bain to the american people to avoid responsibility for some of the consequences of his investments. >> miss cutter suggested you might be guilty of a felony, governor romney. what is your response to that? >> is that really what's expected from the campaign of the sitting president of the united states? of the republican nominee of his party? i mean, is this the level that the obama campaign is willing to stoop to? is this up to the standards expected of the presidency of the united states? i don't think the american people think so. i certainly don't think so. >> do you believe -- >> they announced early on -- one of their insiders said their campaign was going to be based on the strategy of "kill romney." that's what they're doing. it's disgusting. it's demeaning. i something i think the president should take responsibility for and stop. >> do you believe you're being swiftboated in this campaign? >> i hadn't heard that term but i'll give it some thought. i think what the president is doing is terribly destructive to the political process and beneath what the people of america expected from someone who said he was going to rise above partisan politics and bring a new era of change to washington. we're not seeing that in this campaign so far. >> because both campaigns on thursday, governor romney, were basically calling each other liars. is that the kind of campaign the american people should expect? and shouldn't your campaign take some responsibility for calling the president's campaign and their people liars? >> you know what, the president's campaign has done so far is run advertisement after advertisement. which is then shown by independent fact checkers to be wrong, false, misleading. and yet they keep running them. they hold press conferences continuing to speak about them. at some point, you have to respond. you can't just have the air waves covered with these adds day in and day out without saying, look those are false. >> so is the president lying about your record -- >> -- is doing is false. >> is the president lying about your record then, governor romney? >> there's no question but that his campaign is putting out information which is false and deceptive and dishonest and they know it and they ought to stop. >> they've called on you to release more of your tax returns. you've released your 2010 tax return. bill clinton was on the "today" show today saying you should release more. during the republican primary, newt gingrich, rick santorum and rick perry all called on you to release your taxes. those are leaders from both parties saying you should release more taxes. when are you going to release more of your taxes and how many years? >> i've indicated that -- well, first of all, we've colied with the law. the law requires us to put out a full financial disclosure. that i've done. in addition to that, i've already put out one year tax returns. we'll put out the next year of tax returns as soon as the accountants have that ready. i know there will always be calls for more. people always want to get more. we're putting out what is required, plus more that is not required. and those are the two years that people are going to have. that's all that's necessary for people to understand something about my finances. and, look, if people believe this should be a campaign about attacking one another on a personal basis and go back to the kinds of attacks that were suggested in some campaigns in the past, i don't want to go there. i want this to be a campaign about the direction for america. and about who can get america working again. and who can rein in the excessive deficits that you're seeing in washington. >> all right, governor romney, thanks very much for your time, we appreciate it. >> thanks, guys. >> cnn's jim acosta, who conducted that interview, joins me. along with cnn's chief political analyst gloria borger. there's clearly a strategy here. your interview, other network interviews as well, part of the strategy by the romney campaign. would you say the takeaway is that the campaign is very worried about this bain story and how it's unfolding? >> i think so, soledad. we got very late notice about this interview possibility. heard about it, about 1:00 this afternoon, and found out the governor was doing a round robin of interviews. because of the fact he said almost the same thing to all of us is an indication that, yes, they were working on this message and they wanted to get it out there. >> gloria, you were in boston. you just got back from the romney headquarters in boston. give us a sense of how the campaign is handling this and what changing they're making to deal with some of this. >> i can tell you, as jim said, that romney was outraged, the campaign was pretty outraged. it's clear, though, they believe, by setting up all these interviews today, they had not put this story to rest yesterday. and so, you know, bain has been an issue that dogged them in their senate race in 1994. again when he ran for governor in 2002. what they're trying to do here is essentially turn the tables on the obama campaign and say this is beneath the dignity of the president's office, to have someone in his campaign use the word "felony" and their charge is that you should understand that president obama is willing to say or do anything to become president. and so that is a line that you're going to be hearing over and over again. and they are clearly using it in this particular case. >> would you say, jim, that the campaign seems particularly tense? i mean, obviously you spent a lot of time covering this campaign. how would you describe it? >> oh, yes. yesterday, when both campaigns were going back and forth calling each other liars, i mean, that is not something we've seen so far in the course of the general election campaign. it sort of went on during the primaries but not to this level of tension. i do think -- and i try to ask mitt romney about that because he was leveling these charges against the president. i went back to mitt romney and said, wait, your campaign is calling the president's campaign and your people liars. he basically directed his comments back to the president. so i think he realizes that this is how the game is played and how this election is going to play out. >> so gloria, do you think this series of interviews that mitt romney has now done will end it, put the issue to rest, everybody will move on? >> no, i don't think it will. i think this is part of a real strategy by the obama campaign to paint a portrait of mitt romney as somebody who's sort of a mystery, who's out of touch, who's secretive. so bain fits into that narrative very well. because he's very secretive about what happened. was he working for bain from 1999 on or was he really at the olympics? why won't he release his tax returns? this is a man of great wealth and he's not like you. so i think this fits into their whole strategy of the portrait they're painting of mitt romney. and then in the fall, they're going to start talking about social security and medicare. and it's really going to get nasty, soledad. >> yeah. can't wait for that. jim, let me you a question which i thought was a really interesting moment in your interview. you talked to him about swiftboating. and he sort of stopped and said he hadn't heard that term before. i was trying to figure out, did he mean he hadn't heard the term swiftboating or did he mean in the context of his campaign? >> i think what he said was he hadn't thought about that term in the context of what's happening now in this campaign. later on in the interview, he sort of went back to that train of thought and said, well, if we're going to go back to the way campaigns were waged in years past, i don't want to go there, is what mitt romney had to say. and so i think that's -- i think that is something that he does worry about and that his campaign worried about. and we're not the first ones to draw this analogy. people have been saying that this is what the obama campaign is up to, that this is a skiptboating of mitt romney. not on a vietnam war record, but on a swift boat record. >> we're on facebook and twitter, @ac360. coming up next, the raw politics of obama's offensive. plus, we're keeping them honest. all this talk about bain may be much ado about nothing. she loves to shop online with her debit card, and so does bill, an identity thief who stole mary's identity, took over her bank accounts and stole her hard-earned money. now meet jack. after 40 years, he finally saved enough to enjoy retirement. angie, the waitress at jack's favorite diner, is also enjoying his retirement. with just a little information, she's opened up a credit line, draining the equity in jack's home. unfortunately, millions of americans just like you learn all it may take is a little misplaced information to wreak havoc on your life. this is identity theft, and no one helps stop it better than lifelock. see, ordinary credit monitoring services tell you after your identity has been stolen. they may take up to 60 days to alert you-- too late for jack. lifelock has the most comprehensive identity theft protection available. if mary had lifelock's bank account alertsshe may have been notified in time to help stop it. if jack had lifelock's 24/7 proactive protection, he could have been alerted by phone or e-mail as soon as they noticed an attack on their network, before it was too late. lifelock has the most comprehensive identity theft protection available, guarding your social security number, your money, your credit, even the equity in your home. while identity theft can't be completely stopped, no one works harder to protect you than lifelock. you even get a $1 million service guarantee. that's security no one can beat. you have so much to protect and nothing to lose when you call lifelock right now and get 60 days of identity theft protection risk free-- that's right, 60 days risk free-- use promo code "not me". order now and get this document shredder to keep sensitive documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 value, free. [click-click] [♪...] keeping them honest tonight. more on the battle over bain. mitt romney launching a counterattack. a full-fledged media blitz tonight. trying to stop the obama camp from controlling the message. it's been rough. as we said, team obama is accusing team romney of lying. and even criminal action. it all has to do with questions about when romney left bain capital. democrats say romney should release more of his tax records to clarify his departure. mr. romney figured it would get this ugly. again, here's what he told cnn's jim acosta just a short time ago. >> they announced early on, one of their insiders said their campaign was going to be based upon the strategy of, quote, kill romney, end of quote. that's what they're doing. it's disgusting. it's demeaning. it's something which i think the president should take responsibility for and stop. >> well, insiders say don't expect that anytime soon. in just a moment, we're going to take a look at how president obama's offensive is right out a powerful political play book. first, keeping them honest, obama's pushback on bain may be all about nothing. cnn's john king spoke with four sources, all who have firsthand knowledge of bain's operations after february of 1999 when romney insists he left the firm. all four told king that romney is telling the truth. including steve pacluca, a bain executive who's also a democrat. he says mitt romney left bain capital in february 1999 to run the olympics. and has had absolutely no involvement with the management or investment activities of the firm or any of its portfolio companies since the day of his departure. now, to the raw politics of this all. the obama offensive. the rhetoric. nothing new. it's out a familiar political playbook. with that, here's tom foreman. >> reporter: when a president doesn't tell the truth, how can we trust him to lead? >> romney's companies were pioneers of shipping u.s. jobs overseas. >> reporter: even in the flood of negative ads pouring out of each side of this race, democrats are hitting one target again and again and again. >> bain capital. >> bain capital. >> bain capital. >> bain capital. >> bain capital. >> bain capital walked away with a lot of money that they made off of this plant. >> reporter: the white house clearly wants to portray mitt romney's time at the helm of bain capital as a weak spot. in ad after ad, democrats are suggesting romney is a fat cat job outsourcer. an opportunistic financial predator. keep in mind that many of those claims appear to be backed with little or no evidence. >> the obama campaign is absolutely doubling down on the bain attack, no doubt about it. if the word triple down existed, they would be doing that as well. >> reporter: this political media analyst believes president obama was at one point looking to steal a page from reagan's playbook. planning an optimistic positive re-election campaign. till economic troubles and weak poll numbers hit hard. >> i think the obama folks were hoping to run a campaign like "morning in america" in 1984. but the campaign i think they're look at is much more the george w. bush campaign in 2004. >> the accusations that john kerry -- >> reporter: he's talking about the swiftboat campaign. in which john kerry was demonized over what his campaign considered an attribute. his decorated service as a soldier in vietnam. the swiftboat ads, backed by a group of pro-bush veterans, questioned the democratic challenger's conduct in the war, his anti-war activities later and his patriotism. kerry was slow to respond and never very effective in refuting their claims. even though his critics offered little in the way of proof. he lost the election of course. for many democrats, swiftboating became a catch-all term for any unfair, untrue, personal assault on a candidate. >> romney's companies -- >> reporter: but if the president is troubled by the comparison of his bain attacks to the republican swiftboating, he's not showing it. >> when you're president, everything is called into question. >> reporter: romney has been spurred to hit back fast. >> as much as a presidential election is a referendum on the incumbent, the cllenger still needs to reach that threshold level of credibility. >> i need you guys to work. >> reporter: if he doesn't, some republican analysts fear mitt romney could become the second politician from massachusetts swiftboated out of the presidency. tom foreman, cnn, washington. >> time to dig deeper. two of our political contributors. ari fleisher, former white house press secretary for president george w. bush. paul begala is a democratic strategist and adviser to a pro-obama super pac. paul, let's begin with you. as you've heard, the obama campaign was basically saying mitt romney is either a criminal or he's a liar. and romney's campaign is calling on the obama campaign to apologize. saying it's demeaning to the office of the president. do you think, in fact, an apology is necessary, paul? >> no, toughen up, mitt. this is campaigns. this is politics. politics ain't bean bag. here's what thomas jefferson campaign said about john adams. they called him a hideous character that has not the sensibility of a woman. if you're not tough enough to stand up to stephanie cutter, how are you going to stand up to vladimir putin? i mean, come on. >> even if it turns out to be completely untrue, what they say. >> no, this is completely true. there are signed documents that list him as the ceo. there are other documents that he signed that are sworn that said he had nothing to do with the company at the time. his public financial disclosure documents. one of them is wrong. either he was the ceo and running it as the sec documents say. or he had nothing to do with bain capital, which is what his personal financi disclosures say. they both can't be true. i think cutter has sort of an inarguably good case that one of those two statements is false. >> ari, you were helping the bush campaign in 2004. of course you remember the swifolt ads used the strength of john kerry really against him. called the strength of his service in vietnam against him. some have said this is what's happening. he's a bush adviser, as you well know. this is what we're seeing happen right now to mitt romney. he's being swiftboated. would you say that's true? >> look, i'm sort of in paul's camp on this. in this instance, i think the obama campaign went too far. it's not a surrogate. it's not a third party. calling your opponent a felon crosses the line. i remember the 1992 campaign. george h.w. bush at the end of the campaign called barack obama -- called bill clinton a bozo. and it really hurt then president bush. because people thought it did not represent the dignity that should be the office of the presidency. calling your opponent a felon. president obama does need to rein in his staff when it comes to that. i'd say, you have to go negative against mitt romney. there's nothing wrong with that. especially when you have the record the president has. he needs to define mitt romney in a negative way. but calling your opponent a felon. that is way beyond the boundaries of acceptable political behavior. you know, it's just that is exactly what people are so tired of and that is exactly what barack obama ran against in 2008. >> the former pennsylvania governor ed rendell would agree with ari there. he was talking to msnbc today. he said, i'm going to quote him, all this attack may be hurting the president's brand a little bit. meaning, you know, you to the point of calling someone a potential felon, i think is a better way to put it. or possibly a felon. could chip away at the person or the team that's actually doing the name calling. you think that's a possibility? >> i've been in campaigning with and against ed rendell and he said a lot worse than that so spare me ed's sanctimony on this. he's a good -- well, he's not that good a democrat but he's a democrat and he ran a big state and he ran it well. give me a break eddie. this is politics. none of this who have happened if romney had simply told the truth. i don't know what the truth is. either he was part time at bain capital while he was running the olympics. which is no crime. or he was gone completely. he was clearly not full time at bain capital. he did run the olympics. we know that. i don't know why he can't get his story straight. i think it's because the record is conflicted. he had these securities and exchange commission documents on the one hand. this is what the press was reporting at the time. the boston herald, when he left to run the olympics. ran a story that said this. romney says he will stay on as a part timer with bain, providing input on key investment and personnel decisions. the guy can't get his story straight. you overlay that with the really enormous problem he's got in not wanting to release his tax returns. he told our jim acosta that earlier this evening. he'll release one more year. that's it. which will be the lowest standard of disclosure in modern time. this really causes i think a problem with romney in the eyes a lot of middle-class voters. >> it brings up an interesting question. do you think that is problematic, if mitt romney is not going to release his taxes, do you think that more than -- you know, his answer is i've done what i have to do under the law. which sounds, i think to anyone hearing it, like a bit of a dodge. problematic? >> soledad, i think everybody sees through this tactic. if he released five years, they say, why beyond you release six? there's no end in sight. and what the obama campaign needs to do is invent a new excuse every day for voters not to focus on how high unemployment is. every other topic under the political sun, they will try to invent. but they will not run on the economy. they know in the obama campaign if the issues focus on the things that matter most to the voters, the president cannot win re-election. it's just going to be a shifting series of things. mitt romney is working his hardest to keep the focus on job creation. that's where this election is going to be won and lost. unless mitt romney is foolish enough to take the bait and chase the democrat attacks. he should keep the focus on the economy. >> obviously, keep watching it. ari fleisher and paul begala. some new details tonight about the latest alleged massacre by bashar al assad's forces in syria. what we're learning is simply horrifying. more than 200 people reportedly killed. hundreds more wounded in a single village. that's coming up next on "360." sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering so, i'm walking down the street, sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering just you know walking, sfx: sounds of marching bandnd and crowd cheering and i found myself in the middle of this paradeeet, sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering honoring america's troops. sfx: sounds of marching bandnd and crowd cheering which is actually in tquite fitting becauseadeeet, sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering geico has been serving e military for over 75 years. aawh no, look, i know this is about the troops and not about me. right, but i don't look like that. who can i write a letter to about this? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. a teenager's terrifying under water battle with a 10-foot alligator. what he did to save himself will amaze you. that's ahead on "360." tonight, some horrifying details about the reported massacre in the syrian village of tremsa. we warn you, the images are very disturbing, and as always, cnn cannot independently verify them. witnesses say president bashar al assad's forces launched a full-scale attack against the opposition syrian army. it's believed more than 200 people were killed. hundreds more are said to be wounded. activists told cnn assad's forces shelled the village nonstop from 5:00 in the morning till noon yesterday. many people who fled their houses were reportedly shot to death by pro-regime forces. kofi annan, special forces envoy to syria, said he was shocked and appalled by the slaughter. we've heard those very same words before. just three days before the attack, annan met with al assad and afterward called their talks positive and constructive. today, the u.n. organization that coordinates aide to syria said they have run out of language to describe how bad things are. what's left to say, it wondered, after appalling, desperate and deplorable. 287 people in all were killed in syria yesterday. possibly the deadliest day since the uprising began. at least 80 more deaths were reported today. i spoke earlier today with the syrian activist zedun. zedun, we're seeing reports that the massacre yesterday was the worse since the fighting began. is that what you would say? what are you hearing about what happened there? >> this was the worst massacre since the start of the revolution. in terms of the number of casualties. we lost 200 people. over 200 people, in fact. we are told about 220 people were killed using knives as well as shelling, and, of course, bullets. this was a very typical one because we have now used the regime's massacres. slaughtering kids. shooting people. entire families. what can i tell you? i mean -- >> so there are reports on syrian state media saying the people in the town begged the army to intervene after they came under attack by what they called a terrorist gang. what do you say about that? >> the only terrorist gang in this country is the regime itself. these lies continue from the regime. these lies never change. they have become so ugly. is there anybody who can believe these lies? of course not. this is just -- i mean, just full lies. nothing, nothing like that at all. >> i know the demonstrations have slogans. today there was a demonstration with the slogan topple annan, the servant of assad and iran. is there faith in what kofi annan is doing? is there faith in his peace plan ever potentially working? >> well, the demonstrations, in fact, against annan, this is just symbolic. because the chants are in fact against the international community. who is keeping silent. watching us. pretending to meet and having conferences. out of which nothing has come. now, there is no faith unfortunately in any of annan's initiatives. >> i know you feel abandoned by the international community. what do you want them to know? >> just listen to this. who is supporting our regime? iran? north korea? china and russia? only dictatorship. and the rest of the world -- are not just doing enough. if you don't want to help us more, send us -- people are angry. people are dying because of shortages. is that possible? i mean, is this humanity? is that possible? 15 or 16 months, being killed? and nothing can be done? just -- the regime has committed this massacre only a few hours before the security council summit. simply because it knows there is a veto from russia. okay, fine, we can just survive with this massacre. kill 250 syrian people. who would care? >> i appreciate your updates. hopefully, we can get that message out to people. we thank you for talking with us. he is a syrian opposition activist talking by phone today. >> thank you very much and i'm sorry if i was a bit angry but the situation here is really awful. >> i fully understand your anger. thank you for talking with us. >> thank you. >> just three days before the massacre, kofi annan met with the syrian president bashar al assad in damascus. annan has admitted the peace plan he brokered in april has failed. photo journalist robert king has been covering this for months. he's seen upclose how the assad regime has violated the brokered peace plan. >> do you buy any of that? does it seem real to you at all? >> no, he didn't support it while it was supposed to take hold in the country. i don't know why he would come back to the table and try to convince kofi annan that he would continue. >> you saw that with your own i'm eyes, his violation of the cease fire? >> repeatedly. indiscriminate shelling of civilians. massacres. the massacre was before the six-point peace plan was initiated. in the homs region while i was there for 58 days, just continual shelling. lots of wounded civilians. children. >> have you ever seen so many children be targeted? be casualties in a war? >> no, never. you know, rwanda was -- there were a lot of nonaccompanied children. a lot of children were slaughtered in rwanda. but for me, i wasn't there at that time. my time was in another area where i saw numerous children being brought in with horrific wounds. whether their intestines were hanging out. whether their arms were dangling on their -- you know, off their shoulder. to mothers crying out for where their children are. to babies crying for their mothers. it was -- i don't know how to explain, you know, other than try to visually illustrate that type of indiscriminate shelling that was taking place while i was there. and it's still going on. >> the makeshift clinic where you are, they actually got hit as well while you were there. >> yes, they were hit by two rockets. not direct hits. and wounded two or three of the medical personnel. and killed two or three patients that were out in the courtyard. >> i'm just looking at this picture that you took. i mean, you've spent a lot of time in war zones for a long, long time. what sticks with you? it's been -- you've been out now. you're back home. what -- >> i think it's the conviction that the doctor had for the hippocratic oath. and his willingness to, despite the dangers that he and other people having to avoid in order to continue doing their work. it's their commitment and their courage that stuck with me the most. >> you're hoping to go back. >> yes. >> you're trying to raise money on kick starter? >> yes, kick starter. i've started a project. it's titled witness to the suffering of ordinary syrians. it's a bit long-winded. you can just google my name and in the kick starter search engine and it will pull up that -- >> so it's kickstarter.com? >> kickstarter.com. >> okay. well, i hope you're able to continue the work. >> thank you so much for all your support and willingness to keep this story alive on your show. >> we're following several other stories tonight. isha sesay has a "360" bulletin. >> u.s. olympic committee is defending ralph lauren's uniforms for team usa. u.s. athletes will be wearing clothing made in china. the ralph lauren corporation released a statement saying it's committed to making the uniforms in the u.s. for the 2014 winter games. three americans died today in a plane crash in france. they were crew members aboard a private jet which crashed at the end of a runway in southern france. no other people were on board. the crash is under investigation. egyptian officials said two american tourists and their guide was kidnapped in egypt. they wanted authorities to release a relative being held on drug charges. where's the rain? 26 states are experiencing drought conditions this year. farmers across the country are losing crops due to the lack of water. two guns who once belonged to infamous gangsters bonnie and clydare going up for auction. one gun was found in clyde's waistband. the other strapped to bonnie's leg when they were gunned down in 1934. each weapon is expected to be sold for more than $100,000. some people say this is the best bonnie and clyde collection you will ever sea. >> wow. all right, isha, thanks. a summer swim on a sweltering day. after an alligator attacks him and he's forced to make a horrifying choice. could you do what he did? >> i got a breath of air and he drug me back down. he done a death roll and broke all the bones in my arm. so then i took my feet and put it on his mouth to try and break my arm off because i knew it's either going to be my arm or my life. this video has gone viral for a reason. a suspected drunk driver. slams into the median and then, see that, it went airborne. why police put the video on the net ahead. it is certainly not the how i spent my summer vacation story anybody would choose if they had a choice but 17-year-old kaleb langdale didn't. the alligator that almost killed him four days ago wasn't asking for any opinions. the florida teenager lost the lower half of his right arm but survived the attack thanks to his own quick thinking. and a 911 call by a friend just moments after kaleb was attacked. listen. >> 911, what's your emergency? >> hello? >> yes, this is 911. >> a gator just got my friend. he's in the water. >> kaleb gave himself first aid to try to stop his bleeding. he was eventually airlifted to a hospital. authorities later caughtnd killed the alligator. they were able to retrieve kaleb's arm but it was too late to reattach it. this isn't how he planned to start his senior year of high school in the fall. considering what happened in the terrifying moments underwater, it's remarkable he's alive. we had a chance to speak earlier. >> so, fred, it's been a week, pretty amazing week for you. how you doing? >> pretty good. >> yeah, yeah. are you in a lot of pain? what kind of things have you been doing to try to deal with now what's a massive loss, your arm? >> just texting people. that's all i can do in this hospital bed. >> you're stuck in bed for a little bit. what have doctors told you about your prognosis? >> they said i should be able to go home in the next week or two. and whenever they first brought me in, that my arm was pretty clean, and whenever they went to clean it again, there wasn't that much to clean. so all they had to do is close it up. >> i know you told a bunch of people this story a bunch of times. but it's just crazy. i want you to walk me through one more time what happened. i kn you were swimming across the river with your friends. >> yes, ma'am. i was about maybe 30 feet away from the side of the bank. abraham started yelling "gator." i was like, really, you're going to fool me like that? i looked and lo and behold there's a gator there. i stopped and tried to get eye level with the water. i was hoping maybe he would lose track of me. but he just kept on coming at me. and whenever he got about a foot away from me, i grabbed the bottom skin -- or the -- yeah, the bottom skin under his jaw. but it didn't work. so i wrapped my legs around him. and he dove. and i had him pretty good. till he death rolled and knock me off. i kicked off with my feet. trying to make a break for the bank. i was trying to swim. and i threw my right arm back. trying to come back again. trying to catch another thing of water. that's when he got my arm. and i got a breath of air. and he drug me back down. he done a death roll and broke all the bones in my arm. so then i took my feet. and put it on his mouth to try and break my arm off. because i knew it's either going to be the arm or my life. so i was like, eh, forget the arm. >> oh, my gosh. so the death roll is when they start doing that sort of spin and you know that that's when they're -- the gator's trying to take you under? that's really where they kill their prey? >> yes, ma'am, that's when they normally drown them. >> you decided if it was between your life and your arm, you were going to give up your arm and not your life? >> yes, ma'am. >> were you panicking in you sound so calm when you describe it. >> i panicked. i always heard, attacked, do not panic. my adrenaline was running so fast, i didn't have time to panic or get scared or anything like that. >> so the gator got your arm. and you were able to make it to shore. what happened then? >> i started climbing up the bank. and fell into some cacti. i still got them in my legs. yan i can't get them all out. there was a tree that had a whole bunch of spider webs on it. i grabbed the spider webs and tried to put them on my arm. whenever i was in the wood, my mom and dad were like, if you ever get a bad cut. it will stop bleeding. there's something in there. so i grabbed that and put it on my arm. and i sat down by the road. i put my arm between my legs and squeezed to keep pressure on it. to stop the blood. and it worked. >> wow. so i've heard you have a policy for anybody who visits you at the hospital? >> yes. >> what's the policy? >> don't come in here if you're going to cry. just go ahead and walk on out till you get your stuff together. >> you're not taking anybody who's crying. >> no, but i have to make an exception for my art teacher. because she sent me a thing on facebook. make an exception. so you can come in here crying. i'll put up with you like how you put up with me in class. >> one exception but that's it. kaleb, it's great to hear you sounding so well and hearing you'll get out of the hospital pretty soon. that's an amazing story. i know you've told it to lots folks. an incredible story. thank you for being with us this evening. we certainly appreciate it. >> all right, anytime. >> kaleb, i should mention, goes by the nickname fred. his family has set up a fund-raising website to get him a prosthetic arm. you can go to www.gofundme.com. houston's being inundated with rn one year after its hottest, driest summer on record. today, we saw flash floods and some dramatic rescues. we've got the latest just ahead. >> an obama staffer collapsed at uh-oh. [ male announcer ] when diarrhea hits, kaopectate stops it fast. powerful liquid relief speeds to the source. fast. [ male announcer ] stop the uh-oh fast with kaopectate. >> an obama staffer collapsed at the campaign chicago headquarters and later died at a hospital. he worked on obama's 2008 presidential campaign and his 2004 senate bid. he was 29. mitt romney acknowledged his death in a tweet, writing ann and i were deeply saddened to learn of the death of alex okrent. prayers are alex's loved ones and the entire obama campaign team. david axelrod responded with this tweet. thank you, governor. alex was a beloved member of our team. it's been a very emotional day. in houston, severe thunderstorms dumped at least three inches of rain in just an hour today, amid days of heavy rain. flash flooding left drivers stranded and several neighborhoods are completely cut off. george zimmerman charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of florida teen trayvon martin. wants the second judge assigned to his case to recuse himself. zimmerman's defense team says he can't get a fair trial because the judge is biassed against him. a new jersey team released this footage to show what happens when a speeding car blows through an intersection. the driver suffered only minor injuries and amazingly no one else was hurt. jennifer lopez says she is leaving "american idol." the 42-year-old actress, singer and mom of twins told host ryan seacrest that she had to take something off her plate. judge steven tyler announced he was leaving yesterday. >> all right, time for tonight's shot. and the next generation of american service dogs. look at these adorable golden retriever puppies. they're three weeks old. already helping recovering service members at walter reid through the warrior/canine connection. will help socialize and then train the dogs who will one day serve disabled veterans. you can watch these little puppies grow up. of course there's a service puppy live cam. they're so cute. i would actually do that. >> i'm sure they'll be an app for that soon as well. >> but of course. if there's not one already. we'll be back in just a moment. turning your life upside down in a matter of seconds. >> hi. >> hi. you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. >> you just read my mind. >> announcer: just one little piece of information and they can open bogus accounts, stealing your credit, your money and ruining your reputation. that's why you need lifelock. lifelock is the leader in identity theft protection, relentlessly protecting your personal information to help stop the crooks in their tracks before your identity is attacked, protecting your social security number, your bank accounts, even the equity in your home. >> i didn't know how serious identity theft was... until i lost my credit and eventually i lost my home. >> announcer: credit monitoring alone is not enough to protect your identity, and only tells you after the fact, sometimes as much as 60 days later. with lifelock, as soon as we spot a threat to your identity within our network, our advanced lifelock i.d. alert system directly notifies you, protecting your identity before you become a victim. >> identity theft was a huge, huge problem for me and it's gone away because of lifelock. >> announcer: while no one can stop all identity theft, if the criminals do manage to steal your information, lifelock is there to help fix it, with our $1 million service guarantee. that's right, a $1 million service guarantee. don't wait until you become the next victim. call now to try lifelock risk-free for two full months. that's right, 60 days risk-free. use promo code: norisk. if you're not completely satisfied, notify lifelock and you won't pay a cent. order now and also get this document shredder to keep your personal documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 dollar value, free. get the protection you need right now. call or go to lifelock.com to try lifelock risk-free for a full 60 days. use promo code: norisk. plus get this document shredr free, but only if you act right now. call now! lifelock service guarantee cannot be offered to residents of new york.

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