Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room 20130215

Tell me about this plea deal thats being filed apparently today. Well, the sun times is reporting at suntimes. Com that the plea deal is going to be made public today. We have a statement from the jackson lawyers where jackson says that he says he offers no excuses and takes responsibility for the improper decisions and mistakes ive made. We expect this document to be filed in the u. S. Attorney in washington d. C. And it has to do with the allegation over misuse of campaign funds. The investigation also takes in his wife sandy in chicago who served as his campaign manager. Lynn sweet, thank you very much. Much more coming up. Also, well hear from the president in chicago. Im brooke baldwin. Listen to jim acosta in for wolf in washington. Hey, jim. Thanks, brooke. Happening now, look up in the sky. A fireball and a shocking reminder that planet earth is spinning around in a very unpredictable neighborhood. Back on dry land and already heading to court, we have details of the first lawsuit filed by a passenger who says the cruise lines negligence turned their vacation into a nightmare. And the blade runner goes to court and cries uncontrollably. Wolf blitzer is off today. Im jim acosta. Youre in the situation room. We are starting in chicago where right now president obamas about to take the stage to talk about two of the Top Priorities from his state of the union speech, jobs and guns. We expect him to connect the need for jobs as a way to get young people off the streets and out of trouble. Right now youre looking at some video of cleopatra pendleton. Shes the mother of the young girl struck down by gunmen in chicago a few weeks ago, right around the time of the inauguration after she performed at president obamas inaugural. Shes one of the guests there for president obamas visit. Well be going there to chicago as soon as mr. Obama starts speaking. But first i want to bring in our chris cuomo who was in chicago right now. Hes going to tell us a little bit about what we should expect from the president and what hell be talking about. Obviously, chris, gun violence has been a major issue in chicago for many, many months now and the president has been called to this question, why hasnt he dealt with more forcibly in his remarks in a few moments, chris . Reporter thats right. It sets off in the 80s where he began his career as a community organizer. He would become a state legislator and u. S. Senator. The connection is great. He still has a home here. The 15yearold Hadiya Pendleton was killed a mile from where his job is. The connection is very real for him. The gun violence rate is one of the highest in the country. The poverty rate in the south side of chicago where he will be speaking today, where he was once a community organizer, one of the highest in the country. Weve been here a couple of days, talking to community organizers. They say the need has never been greater. So when the president comes here, politically the main thing is to give his message from the state of the union and put it on the ground where the people are and where the situations require it and, of course, south side of chicago is a place where urban violence is very much a foot. However, theres going to be the looming question, are you just giving your speech or are you going to make good on the promises here where you call home . A lot of people are so happy to see the president but they will be even more happy if these words turn into actions and help create opportunities for the kids they say will wind up killing themselves and others if theres no better way for them provided. Thats right, chris. And also joining us is our chief political analyst gloria borger. We heard the president on tuesday night, those words, they deserve a vote, talking about the parents of Hadiya Pendleton and talking about the people of nourn. And now were seeing the president make this plea in chicago. I guess realistically speaking from a political standpoint, how much do events like this accomplish . Does it help him make this point . As weve seen, and youve watched it up close, the president s strategy is to go directly to the American People. You cant go to the city of chicago, even though you want to talk about opportunities, social programs, Mental Health services, increase in the minimum wage and all of the rest, you cant go to a place like chicago and not talk about gun violence. So what hes trying to do, i think, is say, look, this is not a rural issue versus an urban issue. This is an american issue. Its just one more way that he understands what the political odds are in congress for a ban on assault weapons. He gets that. But this is just one way for him to make the case to the American People to pressure members of congress and lots of them, by the way, as you know are democrats who are in districts where it might not be so popular. Or states. Or states. Pressure members of congress with him at least in part of his gun proposals. Dan lothian is also taking a look at this. This has been a manl juror problem in the city of chicago. President obamas hometown. Heres dan with more on that. Reporter jim, the president is addressing some of the big problems plaguing distressed neighborhoods and talking about the struggle to get into the middle class. But in a city familiar with crime, the president is also focusing on gun violence. On the streets of chicago, another potential crime in progress. Its an all too familiar call. Last year, almost 2500 shootings in the windy city and more than 500 murders. Thats the backdrop as the president returned to his backyard. The president wants universal background checks and a ban on high capacity magazines but it was also about creating better conditions in tough neighborhoods to address high unemployment and crime. The spotlight on gun violence isnt fading in the wake of the newtown, connecticut massacre. Six sandy hook teachers and staff were honored with citizens medals. The president getting emotional during the ceremony. The courageous heart, the selfless spirit, the Inspiring Actions of extraordinary americans, extraordinary citizens. Reporter and theres the highprofile case of 15yearold Hadiya Pendleton gunned down near the president s home. Something is better than nothing, i will say. They need to do something. Reporter but the voices for tighter restrictions, like in this new tv ad. We need to stop guns from getting into the wrong hands. Reporter are being fiercely fought by nra. The president has taken the art of public deception and manipulation to a whole new level on this one. Reporter the group is launching a fullcourt press, aimed at protecting its Second Amendment rights, even as their defenders argue for the existing laws, not the creation of new ones. I do wish the cheerleading would stop eight prosecutions begin. Reporter lapierre with the nra is vowing to stand and fight, be accusing the white house of trying to ban every gun, tax every gun sold and register every gun owner. Jim . Dan lot thrhian at the white house, thank you. I want to go back to chris cuomo in the loop in chicago. You heard dan lothians report there. Obviously this is a subject on the minds of chicagoans on a daily basis. Have you run into that today on the ground in chicago . Reporter very much so, jim. I think dans piece was spot on with what were hearing here. When you talk about gun control and would a law help . Many of them are very reluctant. They say enforcement of laws when criminals use handguns, they are not punished the way that they are in new york city which has a comparably lower homicide rate. They dont know about gun laws. Know more about enforcement. So they have to figure out how to reprioritize. But one thing is for sure, this is the place, chicago, that is a real template for a place where we need to do better. You need to do better with poverty. You need to do better with opportunities for young people. You need to do better to do those things to stem the violence and theres a very strong feeling that a gun control law will not be the remedy. Opportunity, which is harder to provide than a gun control law, will what they think will really help. But, again, very tough. Easy to say. Tough to do. Right, jim . Thats right. Gloria, what conservatives say is that chicago has some of the strongest gun laws in the kousht. Pro gun advocates say if you go to northwest indiana, its not so difficult to buy firearms. Right. They said that universal background checks would not help because they are obtained illegally. But what you have mayor emanuel talking about is mandatory sentences, truth in sentencing which is that if youre convicted and serve for two years, sentenced to two years, you actually serve for two years. You dont get off after a bunch of months. Hes looking at it from the other end of the spectrum. But what the president is going to say is that its all the same puzzle. Its all part of a hole. You have to start with social programs and opportunity and Mental Health services and then youve got to look at it on the other end of the funnel when it comes to sentencing and being tough. It is a puzzle, indeed. A policy puzzle and a political puzzle. Were going to get back to chicago in just a few moments. Were expecting the president to start speaking very soon. He was supposed to start speaking almost a half an hour ago. So well get to that as soon as it gets started. In the meantime, today brought a scary, unprecedented event. A meteor exploded over a highly populated area. Least 1,000 people were hurt. Well have the amazing pictures coming up next. Hi. Hi. Im here to pick up some cacti. It should be under stephens. The verizon share everything plan for small business. Get a shareable pool of data. Got enough joshua trees . On up to 25 devices. So you can spend less time. Yea, the golden barrels. Managing wireless costs and technology and more time driving your business potential. Looks like were going to need to order more agaves. Ah oh ow . And more bandages. Thats powerful. Shareable data plus unlimited talk and text. Now save 50 on a droid razr maxx hd by motorola. Your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i cant stop eating em whats. That. On your head . Can curlers tomato basil, potato with bacon. Weve got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. Weve got a lot of empty cans. music throughout why turbo . Trust us. Its just better to be in front. The sonata turbo. From hyundai. So i used my Citi Thankyou card to pick up some accessories. A new belt. Some nylons. And what girl wouldnt need new shoes . And with all the points ive been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. Things are definitely looking up. [ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your Citi Thankyou points to travel whenever you want. Visit citi. Com thankyoucards to apply. All right. In just a few moments were going to be bripging you live coverage. President obama in chicago talking about two of his Top Priorities, jobs and guns. Obviously the subject of guns will be a big priority there. We are expecting the mayor of that city to introduce the president. Well be bringing that to all of you shortly. But in the meantime, theres news on the cruise ship carnival triumph. Already a passenger casey terry is describing the ship as a floating hell. The suit says she had to wade through human feces in order to receive food and only to receive rations of spoiled food. The suit continues that the plaintiff was forced to subcyst for days in a floating toilet, a pete tree dish, that is a direct quote and calls exemplary damages. The ship docked shortly before midnight. Most of the ships power and plumbing was wiped out. Most of the passengers are headed home, thank goodness. Buses took them to new orleans, galveston, and houston. From there theycattered to airports and their lawyers offices, apparently. Lets bring in legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin who is joining us live from new york. It was only a matter of time. Yes. And not a lot of time. Its been less than 24 hours since they docked and we can be sure there will be lot of lawsuits. This all starts, from a legal perspective, with the fine print on the back of the ticket which absolutely no one reads but it does define at least the broad outlines of what these lawsuits will look like. In other words, stuff happens . Is that maybe the legal cover that carnival has here . I would say its a little more elaborate than that but thats sort of the gist of it. The idea that carnival limits its damages. They dont you dont get punitive damages. All of the lawsuits have to be tried in miami, which is the hometown of carnival. Carnival has already made an offer to all of the passengers involving free tickets, 500, of course all of their money back. That is probably just a starting point for negotiations. But you can be sure carnival wants to i void reliving this experience in court because its of course, its been a Public Relations disaster for them. Could the cumulative effect of these lawsuits that are coming, could that endanger the company, do you think . Are we talking about that astronomical amount of money that might be sought in a variety of damages . I doubt it. Most lawsuits deal with people who have been seriously injured or died. This has been an unpleasant experience for these passengers and surely they deserve compensation but i cant see a court sustaining millions of dollars to individuals here. Yes, it was very inconvenient but not where people were paralyzed or died. Thats where the big money tends to be in lawsuits. This is a mostly a Public Relations problem for carnival. Who is going to want to go on one of these cruises. The lawsuits will do, as they do, drag on for some time and most of them will settle but i dont think the money is going to be something that endangers carnival as a business. All right. Our Jeffrey Toobin in new york for us. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Our brian todd was in mobile, alabama, where hes been listening to some of the other passengers stories of these terrible conditions and their praise for the hardworking cruise. Lets listen to what brian todd has picked up from those passengers in just a few moments. First of all, we want to keep you posted on what is happening in chicago right now. We are waiting on president obama to start speaking. That is something were expecting in just a few moments. Lets take a quick break and hopefully well hear from the president on the other side of this break. With so much competition, finding the right job is never easy. But with the nations largest alumni network, including those in key hiring positions, university of phoenix can help connect you to a world of opportunity. Music make someone happy music make someone happy its so important to make someone happy. Its so important to make meone happy. Make just one someone happy and you will be happy too. Now to the days dramatic news. Cosmic earth dodged a bullet. This is actually a football fieldsized rock. It zipped past us and missed us by a whisker. Casey wian is tracking this. I guess the force was with us, casey. Is that right . Reporter thats right, jim. They have been tracking this asteroid for about a year now and just about two hours ago it came oh so close to planet earth. It may not look like much, a tinly blip screaming across the screen but it packs a powerful punch. Fortunately the punch missed. Scientists say an asteroid with a similar 1 50foot diameter. Its very rare. We think an asteroid of this size doesnt come close to the earth more than 40 years on average. This time it raced past the hemisphere missing earth by 17,000 miles. It came close enough to threaten satellites orbiting the earth but fears of a loss of telecommunication and cell phone signals apparently unfounded. Nasa is using radar and other technology to study how the asteroid behaves, including its rotation rate, its composition and how its impacted by the earths gravity. The idea is to learn enough to prevent cat as it sfroe fee from it threatening in the future. Were going to get a lot of information about the asteroid. Were interested in its future motion, whether or not it could come back, whether it threatens the earth. Reporter the odds are either this one or another will be back. An asteroid impact the earth about every 120 years on average. It will be visible in the rthernemisphere this evening if you have access to a telescope. For now its on its way away from the earth out into outer space harmlessly rotating or resolving excuse me. Harmlessly rotating i cant even think of the right word. Orbiting the sun. Harmlessly at least for now, jim. Casey, thanks very much. We appreciate it. . Or gal lat particular news, a meteor lit up the skies over eastern russia. The blinding light was followed by a series of deafening explosions. Listen to this. An expert tells cnn that the debt nation appears to be the equivalent of roughly 300 kilotons of tnt. That is about the same magnitude of a nuclear blast. The impact on Populated Areas is widespread and historic. The concussion shattered windows. At least 1,000 people are hurt and cnns mary snow is keeping track of it and theres a lot to keep track of. This is unbelievable, isnt it . It is. And frightening. You showed incredible video. More continues to come in. The scene was surreal has the meteor struck sending off mass confusion. Meteors scattered over three regions of russia with reports of damage to about 3,000 buildings. It came out of nowhere. The bright streak long enough to capture on camera as it lurched towards earth and exploded. A deafening boom followed over russia. The sonic boom shattered glass. At least 1,000 people in the bulls eye of the falling meteor were injured. Its a bombing, says this man. There were reports that a large chunk of it was found in a lake. As frightening as it was, Scientists Say its not all that rare to have meteors falling out of the sky. Whats not common is when they hit largely Populated Areas. Small bodies like that hit the earth regularly. Every year theres probably several, mostly over oceans. The curator of meteor rights at the American Museum of national history. His attention had been focused on the asteroid passing the earth and was stunned the meteor and asteroid both occurred within 24 hours of each other. Are they related in any way . As far as we know, they are not related. The gap in time between the two events was too wide to be related and then theres a matter of size. The size difference between the big one, 45 meters, and this little guy, which was maybe 3 meters that air bursted over russia is so larnl there would have to be more. We dont see that. It is a cosmic coincidence. He says the meteor that hit russia was too small to be detected but the cosmic coincidence has left him a bit unnerved. Yes, we can predict things. We know the laws of gravity and mass and so forth. We can predict whats going to happen down the road but the interplay of all of the celeste yell bodies together and the ones we dont know about is such to make it kind of scary in a way. Scary indeed. There was an asteroid in 1908 that entered the atmosphere, exploded over a remote area of siberia. It leveled trees over an area about twothirds the size of the state of rhode island and destroyed about 80 Million Trees. Jim . Incredible. In those pictures you, you watch them over and over again and it just incredible. To think that that happened earlier today and made that kind of explosive commotion there. I cant imagine what the people there living in those communities were thinking when that was happening. Absolutely. Not knowing what was going on, not knowing whether it was an airplane crash or what happened. Exactly. Mary snow, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Defense secretary leon panetta was supposed to be the former secretary today but because of the republicans are blocking the nomination of chuck hagel, panetta is still on the job. The latest coming up. Stop stop stop come back here humans we are beautifully imperfect creatures living in an imperfect world. Thats why Liberty Mutual insurance has your back with great ideas like our optional better car replacement. If your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. Call. And ask one of our Insurance Experts about it today. Hello . we believe our customers do their best out there in the world, and we do everything we can to be there for them when they need us. [car alarm blaring] call now and also ask about our 24 7 support and service. Call. And lock in your rate for 12 months today. Liberty mutual insurance. Responsibility. Whats your policy . [ male announcer ] engine light on . Come to meineke now for a free code scan read and youll say. My money. My choice. My meineke. Today was supposed to be chuck hagels first day as defense secretary but it did not work out that way. Defense secretary leon panetta is still on the job even though hes more than ready to leave washington. Lets go to pentagon correspondent barbara starr. She joins us live. He cant leave just yet, right, barbara . Well, jim, he made it as far as his home in california. The question is, is he really still defense secretary . This should have been leon panettas final appearance as secretary of defense. My office is packed up, sylvia is packing at home. Im ready to go. A ceremony for former secretary of state, hillary clinton, who already made it out the door. It is probably a good thing at this point in time that we have a chance to get some damn rest. But as panetta was saying goodbye on this vote, the yes are 58 and the nays are 62. Falling short of the votes needed to break a filibuster. Keeping panetta, for now, from his retirement. But not from his immediate plans. Panetta flew home to his california walnut farm as he does on many weekends. On tuesday, he comes back to washington and then on to brus brussels for a nato summit. On friday, he returns. But will he go back to work at the pentagon or go back home . Leon panetta is never fully checked out. Theres nothing going unsecure. Theres no lapse in power structure at the pentagon. Panetta still gets daily briefings, updates on the war in afghanistan and signs deployment orders but president obama wants the new guy. Im still presiding over a war in afghanistan and i need a secretary of defense. But if hagel gets confirmed, can he work with congress after the bruising nomination fight . He comes in to office lacking Political Capital and thats exactly what you need as a secretary of defense. So if panetta is confirmed, one of the first decisions he may have to make is how to deal with military spending cuts if there is no budget deal with congress and nothing upsets congress more than cuts in spending in their own home states. So the beginning of the bumpy ride for chuck hagel may happen as soon as hes confirmed, if he is confirmed. Jim . Barbara starr at the pentagon, thank you. And we now can take you out to chicago where president obama is Getting Started with his remarks. He is in his home city talking about the issue of guns and the economy and lets go ahead and listen to his remarks. It sounds like hes starting to thank some of the v. I. P. S in the audience but lets go ahead and listen. Attorney general and former seat made of mine when i was in the senate, lisa madigan. Tony in the house. And ive got i see a lot of clergy here, because if i miss one, im in trouble. They are all friends of mine. You know, some people may not know this but obviously this is my old neighborhood. I used to teach right around the corner. This is where michelle and i met, where we fell in love. This is where we raised our daughters in a house just about a mile away from here, less than a mile. And thats really what ive come here to talk about today, raising our kids. We love you i love you, too. I love you, too. Im here to make sure that we talk about and then work towards giving every child every chance in life. Building stronger opportunities and new ladders that they can climb in the middle class and beyond. And most importantly, keeping them safe from harm. Michelle was born and raised here, a proud daughter of the south side. Last weekend, she came home but it was to attend the funeral of Hadiya Pendleton. Hadiyas parents are here, by the way. I want to acknowledge them. They are just wonderful, wonderful people. And as you know, this week in my state of the union i talked about hadiya on tuesday night. And the fact that, unfortunately, what happened to hadiya is not unique. Its not unique to chicago. It not unique to this country. Too many of our children are being taken away from us. Two month ago, america mourned 26 innocent first graders and their educators in newtown and today i had the high honor of giving the highest civilian award i can give to the families of the educators who had been killed in newtown. And there was something profound and uniquely heartbreaking and tra tragic, obviously, about a group of 6yearolds being killed. But last year there were 443 murders with a firearm on the streets of this city. And 65 of those victims were 18 and under. So thats the equivalent of a newtown every four months. And thats precisely why the overwhelming majority of americans are asking for some commonsense proposals to make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun. And as i said on tuesday night, i recognize not everybody agrees with every issue. There are regional differences. The experience of gun ownership is different in urban areas than it is in rural areas. Different from upstate and downstate illinois. But these proposals deserve a vote in congress. They deserve a vote. They deserve a vote. And i want to thank those member of congress who are working together in a serious way to try to address this issue. But ive also said no law or set of laws can prevent every senseless act of violence in this country. When a child opens fire on another child, there is a hole in that childs heart that government cant fill, only community and parents and teachers and clergy can fill that hole. In too many neighborhoods today, whether in chicago or rural america, it can feel like for a lot of young people the future only extends to the next Street Corner or the outskirts of town, that no matter how much you work or how hard you try, your destiny was determined the moment you were born. There are entire neighborhoods where young people, they dont see an example of somebody succeeding. For a lot of young boys and young men in particular, they dont see an example of fathers or grandfathers, uncles who are in a position to support families and be held up and respected. And so that means that this is not just a gun issue. Its also an issue of the kinds of communities that were building and for that we all share a responsibility as citizens to fix it. We all share a responsibility to move this country closer to our founding vision that no matter who you are or where you come from, here in america you can decide your own destiny. You can succeed if you work hard and fulfill your responsibilities. That means weve got to grow our economy and create more good jobs. It means weve got to equip every american with the skill and training to fill those jobs and it means weve got to rebuild ladders of opportunity for everybody willing to climb it. Now, that starts at home. Theres no more important ingredient for success, nothing that would be more important for us reducing violence than strong, stable families, which means we should do more to promote marriage and encourage fatherhood. [ applause ] you know, dont get me wrong. As a son of a single mom who gave everything she had to raise me with the help of my gra grandparents, i turned out okay. But no. But so weve got single moms out here. They are heroic what they are doing and we are so proud of them. But at the same time, i wish i had had a father who was around and involved. Loving, supportive parents. And by the way, thats all kinds of parents. That includes foster parents and that includes grandparents and extended families. It includes gay or straight parents. Those parents supporting kids, thats the single most important thing. Unconditional love for your child. That makes a difference. If a child grows up with parents who have work and have some education and can be role models and can teach integrity and responsibility and discipline, delayed gratification can, all those things give a child the foundation that allows them to say, you know, my future i can make it what i want. And weve got to make sure that every child has that. And in some cases, we may have to fill the gap and the void if children dont have it. So we should encourage marriage by removing the financial disincentives for couples who love one another but may find it financially disadvantage jous if they get married. We should get more men working and engaged with their children. And my administration will continue to work with the Faith Community and the private sector this year on a campaign to enkournl strong parenting and fatherhood because what makes you a man is not the ability to make a child, its the courage to raise one. [ applause ] we also know, though, theres no sure path to success in the middle class but a good education. And what we now know is that has to begin in the earliest years. Study after study shows that the earlier a child starts learning, the more likely they are to succeed. The more likely they are to do well at high park academy. The more likely they are to graduate. The more likely they are to get a good job. The more likely they are to form stable families and then be able to raise children themselves who get off to a good start. Chicago can already has a competition, thanks to what the mayor is doing, that rewards the best preschools in the city. So what ive also done is say, lets give every child across america access to highquality public preschool. Every child. Not just some. [ applause ] every dollar we put in Early Childhood education can save 7 down the road by increasing graduation rates, reducing violent crime, reducing the welfare roles, making sure that folks who have work, now they are paying taxes, all this stuff pays back huge dividends, if we make the investment. So lets make this happen. Lets make sure every child has the chance they deserve. As kids go through school, well recruit new math and science teachers to make sure that they have the skills that the future demands. Well help more people in lowincome neighborhoods get summer jobs. Well redesign our high schools and encourage kids to stay in high school so the diploma they get leads to a good job once they graduate. [ applause ] right here in chicago, five new schools have partnered with Community Colleges to prepare our kids with the skills that businesses are looking for right now and your college to Careers Program helps Community College students get access to the same kind of real world experience. So we know what works. Lets just do it in more places. Lets reach more young people. Lets give more kids a chance. So we know how important families are. We know how important education is. We recognize that government alone cannot solve the problems of violence and poverty, that everybody has to be involved. But we also have to remember that the broader economic environment of communities is critical as well. For example, we need to make sure that folks who are working now, often in the hardest jobs, see their work rewarded with wages that allow them to raise a family without falling nool poverty. So president obama there in chicago using some very emotional and personal terms to make his pitch for new gun control measures. At one point saying too many of our children are being taken away from us. He repeated his call for a vote on gun control saying they deserve a vote. He used those words during the state of the union speech on tuesday and then talked about the importance of families and raising children in these neighborhoods that are prone to vie len. At one point he said, i wish i had a father who was around and involved. Lets bring in our strategy session to talk about this. Democratic strategist hilary rosen and Ari Fleischer and gloria borger. Let me start with you, hilary, why do you suppose that the president was using those terms in chicago a few moments ago . The way were going to get this passed, the way that this is going to finally be different than years past is with president obama and other advocates on the bully pulpit all across the country. This is not an insiders game. This is convincing the country that this is possible to do. When you have a president committed and other leaders willing to talk about this to make it a priority, we really have a chance to do something. So im so grateful that the president is expending so much capital here. And when you go home to chicago, when you experience what they have with so many shootings, then it really does bring it home and people all across the country can relate to it really well. And ari, gun control is a heavy lift for democrats no matter how emotional the terms may be in terms of making these kinds of remarks. Do they help the president . Terms of getting something passed . I heard something very, very different in this speech. I think this was one of the best and most important speeches the president has ever given. When the president of the United States goes to chicago, a city that is plagued by gun violence and children die on the streets every day, when he talks about the importance of marriage and the importance of having dads in childrens lives, thats the heart of the matter. And whats so important now is for the president to stay at it. If the president will dedicate as much time and effort to those two themes and work to see what policies can be effective, nothing will make a bigger different in a childs life than to have two parents that raise that child, whether they are married, separated, divorced, whatever the case is, children will grow up stronger if you have two parent instead of one. Thats the heart. Thats the key. Thats the heart and thats what i heard. Ari, this is something that republicans want to hear. This obviously struck a nerve with you . Yes. Because its the core of things. Redistribution of income has done everything that its going to accomplish. We still have too Many Americans in poverty and crime. One of the reasons is the noneconomic causes of poverty and much of that is because kids dont have dads at home. Of course their life is going to be harder than for the white kid who has a mom and dad. Thats a crucial issue if you want to take on people who need help in our society. I dont think thats a new message from this president. I think hes been talking about it as part of his message all along. Today he said no law or set of laws can prevent every senseless act. It depends on a parents unconditional love and its not talking about the usefulness of social programs, Mental Health programs and tough gun laws. Gloria ari, and hilary, thank you. We appreciate it. Meanwhile, passengers aboard triumph call it a hell. Were in san francisco. Googles backyard for the bing it on challenge. [fight bell ding, ding] whats your preferred Search Engine . Search engine, uhh, probably google. If we do a side by side blind test comparison, and you end up choosing google, you get an xbox. Ill bet you the xbox, you bet me your son. Well lets look up what you need. Okay, i would do the left. Yeah . What . i am a daddy bing wins it bing won. Bing did win. People prefer bing over google for the webs top searches. Dont believe it . Go to bingiton. Com and see what youre missing. Lets go. [ male announcer ] introducing the allnew cadillac xts. Another big night on the town, eh . And the return of life lived large. Check for more well, i guess i can double check. My watch [ male announcer ] it pays to double check, with state farm. The carnival triumph is on its way to the shipyard for repairs. Brian todd has been speaking with passengers and joins us live from new orleans with more on this. Brian, i guess the shipyard is one place to put it. Reporter thats right, jim. Its still at the shipyard right now. Just moments ago, the last of the buses carrying passengers from the carnival triumph left this hotel where we are. They are headed back to the airport. Some of them directly back to texas by bus. Many of them clearly shaken by this experience. It wasnt until after she finally got off the carnival triumph, after riding on a bus from mobile, alabama, to new orleans, that the gravity of the ordeal really sat in with maria morales. We were just drifting. We were just out there. And now that i realize it, its like, oh, my god, you know, i cant believe that we were just there, just at the mercy of the wind, wherever it wanted to take us. Reporter from her wheelchair, 68yearold joyce said she didnt think shed make it out. What have you gone through . Well, i have congestive Heart Failure and diabetes and had to cut my medicine down in half because i only had it until monday. So then i had a heart condition and my lungs were filling up with fluid so we had to go clear down to the basement. Reporter thats where glover said she had to go for treatment where garbage was piled more than 30 feet high. Another passenger gave us these pictures from inside. Her bathroom where she says the sewage never stopped flowing. It came above the drain and in my shower stall. Reporter images of passengers sleeping on deck and food rationing. But she told us crew members worked heroically. Awesome. They were wonderful to us. They tried to clean our bathroom but without Running Water and electricity, its very hard to clean whatever that was in our bathroom. Reporter another crew member told cnn they took pride in helping passengers through this. We know how to do and carnival did the best and they do the best. Reporter how did passengers behave . We got account of the worst in human behavior. There was about three altercations and fights because either people were trying to get their phones charged or just pushing in lines for food while they were drunk. There were people that would hoard food, like you could say that they would take a big tray and have ten burgers on there and not try to share with other people. Reporter but better sides were also on display. What was the best thing you saw as far as people responded . Everybody helping each other, everybody pulling together. Sharing things. Sharing. We played poker with fruit loops. Thats what we used for poker chips. Reporter now, for these passengers, this experience isnt completely behind. Some of the passengers told us that as compensation carnival is offering a full refund for this trip, plus a free similar cruise of equal value and 500. They say they are going to have to weigh that offer of the possibility of taking legal action against carnival. Jim . Were glad the ordeal is over. Brian todd, thank you so much. Appreciate it. A tennessee congresswoman caught tweeting a beautiful young woman during the state of the union but its not what you think. The amazing story is just ahead. A new belt. Some nylons. And what girl wouldnt need new shoes . And with all the points ive been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. Things are definitely looking up. [ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your Citi Thankyou points to travel whenever you want. Visit citi. Com thankyoucards to apply. Well, dad, i spent my childhood living with monks learning the art of dealmaking. Youve mastered monkeystyle kung fu . No. Priceline is different now. You dont even have to bid. Master hahn taught you all that . Oh, and he says to say translated from cantonese you still owe him five bucks. Your accent needs a little work. Happening now, a massive blast as a meteor explodes with the force of an atomic bomb over russia, injuring at least 1,000 people. Also, heart attacks killing kids. In fact, its the number one killer of student athletes. Dr. Sanjay gupta has the facts parents need to know. And a lawmakers secret daughter revealed by a tweet. The child he didnt know existed for two decades. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf is off today. Im kate bolduan. Youre in the situation room. The sound of massive explosions over western russia as a meteor blasts apart with the force of an atomic weapon. The shock therewaves powerful enough to knock over walls and shatter windows. Some 3,000 buildings damaged and almost 1,000 people have been injured, many by flying gas. Emergency responders have been dispatched in the aftermath. Chad myers is looking closer into the disaster. Take a look at this. A stunning closeup view of a meteor as it moves quickly towards earth. Here it is from another angle just further away. So close it seems as if its just over this buildingss who have rooftop. This happened in the rural mountains of western russia. A picture worth a thousand words. But this story is just beginning to unfold as captivating as it was, it also caused a lot of damage. Here, evidence of the force of this meteor as the windows of an Office Building shattered. Russias interior Ministry Said 270 buildings sustained some type of damage, mostly from broken glass, the result of the shockwave caused by the blast. In this video, we can see and hear the moments as the meteor exploded. Translator the wounds that we received included people with many incised and contused wounds all due to windows and window frames breaking and flying around. And you see the result, how many people are here. Our chad myers is joining me now. Chad, the video is truly amazing. Ive watched it over and over again and clearly this doesnt happen every day but how unusual is an event like this . I just got off a call in with nasa. The last time weve had something this big was 1908. 1908. Over 100 years ago. This was an asteroid about 50 feet around that entered the earths atmosphere and exploded. It was a rocky asteroid. Meteors are typically known as metal and you find them on the ground. This was a rock that entered the atmosphere, heated up to probably 40,000 degrees, and then exploded 12 miles above the surface of the earth. There it comes. It gets hot. As it gets hot, it cant Stay Together anymore and it exploded. 300 kilotons was that explosion as it entered the earths atmosphere and exploded. People dont understand, i just want to get to this, if parts of this, if any of the rock actually hit the ground, those are called meteorrites, things you can pick up. The lingo is confusing in and of itself but we actually have two kind of space events going on today. Was this incident in russia, we can call it, connected in any way to the asteroid that passed by the earth just a few hours ago . You know, weve been talking about this event now for six months. A very big asteroid. As big as a 15story Apartment Building in new york came between us and our satellites. The earth here, the satellites that we use for communication for directv, dish, for you and i talking to each other, between us and out the other side, missed us by 17,000 miles. But the one that we missed that we knew was coming, that missed us, was coming from the south. The one that hit us from russia was coming from the north. So they are not related whatsoever. Theres a word conviction den and some people dont believe in coincidences but that was a big one. Well, im sure that conversation and the conspiracy theories on that will continue as well. Chad, thank very much. You bet. Here in washington, growing concerns about president obamas new cabinet with many key nominees still in limbo and the clock clearly ticking on political issues. Lets bring in Jessica Yellin for more on this. Its been a tough week for president obama and his nominees . Reporter yes, kate. The president said he is frustrated with the process but it doesnt matter for him because the nate is on recess and that means so is the effort to get his team in place. Up in the area, the future of the president s nominees for defense secretary. Cia director and treasury secretary, tim geithner, already left the job. The choice thats gotten the most attention is the president s pick for defense. Former senator chuck hagel. Good to see you. Good to see you. Hagel lost one vote in the senate and his next chance for a doover is one week away. The longer he hangs out there is the more problems that they have. Theres a lot of illwill towards senator hagel because when he was a republican he attacked president bush mercilessly. Reporter also in limbo is the president s pick for cia director, john brennan. The president said this there has never been a drone used on an american citizen on american soil. Reporter that critics warned might hold up brennan over Something Else. The talking points that Led Administration officials to say that the attack in benghazi was sparked by a protest. When brennan comes before the congress, were going to find out who changed those talking points or died trying. Reporter then theres treasury nominee jack lew. His confirmation was meant to be smooth sailing but republican senators tell cnn they plan to slow him down over questions about his work at citigroup to how the white house will overhaul medicare. There are a number of problems that could arise and may ripen. I believe that his nomination should not go forward until we get a response from the white house with regard to the medicare trigger. Reporter sources say the president is still making decisions on these posts, secretaries of commerce, labor, transportation, and energy, among others. The white house has been looking for women and minorities to fill those roles. And kate, im told that according to democrat close to the white house, the president could announce his nominees for those posts or others as early as tuesday or wednesday of next week but the esident is Still Deciding some of them. Now, i should point out that its not unusual for the president to have holds on his nominees when secretary clinton was nominated to be secretary of state, she had a hold for a day. Secretary holder, eric holder, the attorney general was held for a week and git near, secretary treasury took two month for him to be confirmed but they think its a moving target, republicans keep finding Different Reasons to hold up the pick that the president has already announced. And at least another week before we see any possible votes on these nominees. Reporter yes. Thanks, jessica. Lets talk more about the nomination fight with gloria borger. We were listening to jessicas piece and the reason republicans are giving for wanting more time. How much do you think Republicans Holding these nominations is more about republicans themselves or is there Something Else . You know, these things turn into proxy fights. For example, as jessica was pointing out, benghazi is one of those problexies. You have republicans not receiving information, so they say, about what occurred on the night of the attack on the American Embassy there and so they are holding up hagel and brennan as part of that. On the war in iraq, they dont like the way hagel behaved on the war in iraq. They dont think he testified very well. Thats about him. But do they like the president s Foreign Policy . No. So these things kind of blend but generally you could say that for National Security republicans, these two nominees, brennan on drones, for example, the use of drones, these nominees become proxies for policies they either question or they dont like. And moving forward, were moving into this second term and the kind of makeup of congress is relatively speaking the same. How much do you think this will impact this hold on nominees, impact the relationship between republicans and democrats . It it cant get much worse. The white house isnt happy over hagel. They believe its petty to hold him up when they believe hes going to eventually get confirmed. So they are not happy about it. Republicans need to work with the white house on issues like immigration, for example, will this make for bad blood . Yes. Will it hold up Immigration Reform if its in the interest of both parties to do it, probably not. I think the person who gets affected by this, quite honestly, is chuck hagel himself because hes got to go and lead the pentagon and the question of whether its an ability to lead this unwildly building to begin with. This could become a problem. And youre facing the automatic spending cuts and military budget. They have to sort of turn around and work together. Theres no doubt it makes it more difficult, particularly on military issues. And when we know that this becomes a nominations become proxy fights for other issues, do you think this could potentially backfire . Democrats believe it can. They say, bring on the fight. I had one top democrat say to me that the republicans looked what he called petty and vin dick be tif when it comes to all of these nominees. Theres a great sense that the president is entitled to the people he wants to have his cabinet, even if you disagree with them or dont think they are up to snuff. If you dont find any ethical trespasses, then give the president whom he want. There are a lot of people who believe that, including some republicans. I mean, talk about petty fights, thats all we see between the white house and congress at this point. Par for the course, i guess, unfortunately. Gloria, thank so much. Still ahead, carnival is slapped with the nightmare over the Carnival Cruise. A plaintiff calls it a floating hell. Plus, a lawmaker talked to us about the daughter he never knew he had and the tweet that took their story public. train horn vo wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. Norfolk southern. One line, infinite possibilities. Omnipotent of opportunity. You know how to mix business. With business. And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. You can even take a fullsize or above. And still pay the midsize price. I could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. Yes, you could. Go national. Go like a pro. Humans. Even when we cross our ts and dot our is, we still run into problems. Namely, other humans. At Liberty Mutual insurance, we understand. Thats why our auto policies come with accident forgiveness if you qualify, where your rates wont go up due to your first accident, and new car replacement, where, if you total your new car, we give you the money for a new one. Call. To talk to an Insurance Expert about Everything Else that comes standard with our base auto policy. And if you get into an accident and use one of our certified repair shops, your repairs are guaranteed for life. Call. To switch, and you could save hundreds. Born to make mistakes Liberty Mutual insurance. Responsibility. Whats your policy . As im sure you can only imagine, the carnival triumph is now facing a massive cleaning operation to remove the raw sewage that created a nightmare for some 3,000 passengers and a thousand crew members. One of them has just filed the first lawsuit, this being a passenger over that cruise that is described in court papers as, quote, a floating hell. The investigation into the fire that triggered the crisis is now under way. Sandra endo is in mobile, alabama. Sandra, whats the latest . Reporter kate, investigators are now sifting through the information they retrieved from the ships socalled black box, the voyage data recorder. They are trying to piece together exactly how that engine room started. The captain as well as passengers try to figure out a full account to what happened on board that vessel. The crippled carnival triumph received one more tow to undergo repairs and cleanup in mobile. Hours after passengers got off the ship headed anywhere but back to the stinking vessel where they were trapped for days. Investigators are trying to figure out how the engine fire started. The fire is hard to classify. All you need is one fire in the wrong location is he it could be as bad as a huge fire. Reporter carnival says the fire broke out last sunday in an engine room towards the rear of the ship containing several of the vessels six engines. I looked and saw smoke and i was like, oh, my god. It was an experience that most of us felt like we were going to die and i cant even describe how horrifying it was. Reporter the lead investigates are registered in nasa. U. S. Coast guards and ntsb are also working to figure out what went wrong. They are looking into the cause of the fire, crew response, engine maintenance, and safety procedures on board the ship. We spoke to a mare tea rhyme expert who has participated in these types of investigations which could result in minor safety changes to minor measures. There could be safety sanctions again the members of the crew and the officers and in the most extreme cases there could be sanctions against the owner of the ship. Reporter an engine fire in 2010 left another cruise ship stranded. Now, a senior coast guard investigator cnn spoke with today says that once the fire was put out and the power was shut off, the passengers were never in danger. Kate . Sandra, what else are you hearing from officials and investigators about that massive cleanup that has to happen on board this ship now . Reporter obviously its a huge undertaking and interesting to note that the investigator that we spoke to said there was a deck full of perishable food on board and obviously when the power went out, they were concerned about the smell and you would think that maybe they would just throw it overboard but instead in compliance of maritime rules, they shrinked wrap all of the perishable food to try to contain that smell. Sandra endo in mobile for us, thank you so much. You can hear more passengers really their Horror Stories and the conditions tonight on appears morgan special called triumph and tragedy on board. Thats here at 9 00 eastern only on cnn. Tiffany sues Discount Warehouse costco for millions of dollars. Find out why next. The usual, bob . Not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib Atrial Fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. I dont think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. But not anymore. Bobs doctor recommended a different option onceaday xarelto®. Xarelto® is the first and only onceaday prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem, that doesnt require routine blood monitoring. Like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce the risk of an afibrelated stroke. There is limited data on how these drugs compare when warfarin is well managed. No routine blood monitoring means bob can spend his extra time however he likes. New zealand xarelto® is just one pill a day, taken with the evening meal. 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For more information including cost support options, call 1888xarelto or visit goxarelto. Com. President obama takes his push for tougher gun control laws to his hometown of chicago, a city steeped in gun violence. Lisa sylvester is monitoring that and other stories. Whats going on . Hi, kate. The president just finished speaking at a high school among other things where he talked about Hadiya Pendleton who was gunned down in chicago after attending inaugural festivities in washington. Earlier today, the posthumously awards today. Jesse jackson jr. Admit he and his wife spent 750,000. The agreement calls for jackson to pay back hundreds and thousands of dollars. And the stormbattered town of seeside heights is making a comeback after superstorm sandy. It is rebuilding its iconic boardwalk. The milelong walkway should be completed by may 10th but amenities like railways, lighting, and ramps will come after that. Tiffany is suing costco for millions of dollars in damages, alleging the Warehouse Club was selling counterfeit versions of its diamond rings, selling rings they advertised as tiffany diamond engagement rings. The lawsuit filed with the u. S. District court is seeking damages to triple the amount of any profit costco made on the sale of the rings, some of which it says are being sold as much as 6400. Costco hasnt commented on the lawsuit. But im not sure, you know, i bet shoppers if they saw 6400, they were thinking, is that a real tiffany diamond or not . Sometimes its only in the box that matters. When you see that little box, thats all that matters. Thanks, lisa. A massive asteroid on a collision course with the earth when and if it happens, what can be done to prevent a catastrophe. Well take a closer look at this potential doomsday scenario. Here we go. [ birds chirping ] [ male announcer ] with the best lineup of vehicles ever, introducing the new chevrolet. 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More than 1,000 people were injured, many by flying glass and some 3,000 buildings were damaged. Hours later, an asteroid half the length of a football field came within 17,000 miles of earth. Sounds far but its kind of close. Star gazers in australia, asia, and Eastern Europe could see this view with the aid of a telescope or binoculars. Tom foreman is here with more of these events that we came in contact with. Tom, breakdown for our viewers what happened in russia. Its an amazing day in space. The people in russia got a very rude awakening on the way to work. This explosion happened right over the top of the globe up there. This was a really big explosive event. This meteor came streaking into the atmosphere. Lets talk about the size of this thing because its fascinating to think about. It was about ten tons, only about ten feet across. This isnt very big but it was going 33,000 miles an hour. Thats why it exploded. When these things come out of space, they have gases in them, things like that, as they heat up and thats superheated friction of our atmosphere, they blow apart. Actually, about 30 miles above the earth, thats how strong the sho shockwave was. 270 buildings damaged. This is not linked, however, not linked in any way to 2012 da14. I keep having trouble with that name. That was the asteroid that we were talking about all day. We always think about the earth as being close to the moon. Thats how we talk about. Heres the earth, the moon, and its close but not really close to the moon. The moon is actually about a quarter million miles away from the earth. What is close to the earth . Satellites are close to the earth. We have them at all different levels. The furthest ones out are 22,000 miles away from us and this asteroid came streaking past the Southern Hemisphere and cut partially through that very group. If you look at the earth over here and satellite, it really was pretty close in those terms. Now, it wasnt a big threat because pretty close is pretty far away in space terms and earth terms and it wasnt really that big. When you think about it, this thing was only about 50 yards long. It was traveling about 18,000 miles an hour. If it had hit earth, it would have exploded with more than two million tons of dynamite. But there is no real chance that it was going to do that. Scientists are watching it closely. Kate. When you talk about the two million tons of two million tons. What kind of damage would that have done if it had been heading towards earth . You know, its interesting when you talk about that because we actually have an example of what that would do. Many, many, many years ago there was a meteor right meteorite. Its a fascinating site to see. The meteor right that struck in this crater was about the same side as the asteroid that passed today but it was about twice as heavy because this was largely made of nickel and iron. This one was a pretty heavy one, they believe, though they never found much of it. The bottom line is, this crater, if you started Walking Around the edge there, thats more than threequarters of a mile to walk around it. You can imagine the force that it would to explode out that way. That would have killed anything in the immediate vicinity. I mean many, many miles and it probably would have knocked down trees in hundreds of miles in all directions. Its not really an earthending event from an asteroid this size but bear many mind this wasnt a particularly big asteroid. This was only about half the length of a football field and they can be a whole lot bigger than that. Fascinating stuff. Thanks, tom. You always put a very unique spin on it all. Tom foreman, thank you. You can imagine the devastation if the asteroid or meteor had actually impacted earth. But what can be done if there was one that we can see hurdling towards us . Lisa sylvester is joining us. Kate, Scientists Say there are so many space rocks, meteors and asteroids out there and the vast majority of them we dont even know about. Destroying an asteroid headed towards earth, its been done in Science Fiction movies but its never been done in real life. It was something that came out of the blue. You can be hear the frightening sounds. A bright streak across the sky, an explosion and a loud bang. A meteor exploding over russia. The russian interior Ministry Said 1,000 people suffered injuries, mostly from broken glass. Scientists were rehashing what happened even as they kept their eye on another cosmic event, an asteroid passing only about 17,000 miles from earth, closer than our weather and tv satellites in space. Melissa is a scientist at the university of maryland where they keep a database of asteroids and comics that could pose a problem for earth. We want to get an idea of how many objects are out there and each size of the objects out there and were finding that the really big ones are rare which is great but the small ones are more common like what passed over russia. Doing something about it is the tricky part. In theory, nasa would be able to knock a threatening incoming asteroid off orbit so it misses earth but theres very little precedent for that. The only thing that comes close was a 2005 mission where nasa steered a probe about the size of a coffee table into an oncoming comic. That was on a much smaller scale. In principle, it should work because the strategy is a very straightforward strategy of just hitting an asteroid with an object. With all of the physics theory we have, it should work just fine. Certainly there would be a lot of details in launching a massive object into space, making sure that we guide it correctly so it knocks it appropriately off course. Scientists say these events, the meteor in russia and asteroids close call should be a wakeup call. If it had impacted washington, d. C. , it would have been devastating. The impact itself would not be that big but the effects from the shockwave and heat from the impact would be enough to wipe out everything within the beltway around d. C. Scientists would not only need to identify that an asteroid was headed towards earth but also have to have enough time to do something about it and they say that they would need at least a couple of years to be able to work on a strategy for intercepting or diverting one but the good news is, kate, that the technology is out there. Years. They need a lot of planning time. Yes, they would at least need a couple of years. This has never been done before. You see in the movies that they will send out a space team. Right. But the lodge jis particulars, the science is there but actually putting it all together, thats actually never been done before, kate. Lets hope that they dont ever have to be tested. Lisa, thank you so much. More on the doomsday scenario on our website. Go to cnn. Com. Check it out. All good stuff. Still ahead a. Tweet reveals a lawmakers secret daughter, a child he wasnt aware of for two decades. Congressman steve cohen is here to tell us his story. While going shoeless and metalfree in seconds. And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. You can even take a fullsize or above, and still pay the midsize price. Now this. Will work. [ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. Just like you. Go national. Go like a pro. The twitter verse was buzzing during the state of the union speech this week but one tweet in particular drew quite a lot of attention. It was from congressman steve cohen, married tennessee democrat, whose district includes much of memphis and it was this and this is the tweet that raised eyebrows to a woman named victoria brink. Nice to know you were watching the state of the union. Happy valentines girl, i love you. It sparked so many questions. Who is the woman cohen was communicating with so intimately . It turns out it was his daughter. A woman he didnt even know existed until just a few years ago. Congressman steve cohen is joining me from capitol hill. Thanks so much for joining me. This really created quite a bit of buzz. So tell us the story. How did you find out that victoria was your daughter . Shes now 24 years old. Well, i knew her mother a long time ago and had been to an event where i thought about her mother. I liked her mother. I googled her one night and saw that she had given birth to a beautiful young lady and kind of went back to nine months before and that was the time when we were involved. So it kind of made me think and there were some other factors that were thrown in and then i googled her and i facebooked victoria and she friended me, which was news to me. I did not know too much about facebook or twitter either. My staff people looked at her pictures and they said, i think shes your daughter. This seems something straight out of a movie. Im sure you thought the same thing yourself. What kind of shock were you in when you found out this was your daughter . Well, its a wonderful thing but at the time i was just kind of amazed and then just happy and i contacted the mother and then i contacted victoria first by letter and later we were able to meet in houston and have an opportunity to first meet each other and then weve met on several other occasions and more and more time weve spent together and hopefully weve kind of reached this point well be able to spend a considerable amount of time for the rest of my life. What was that like the first time . I know so many people would be wondering, what was it like when you were first able to meet with your daughter victoria for the first time . Well, it was nice to see her but it was pretty strange because shes an adult so you dont usually meet people as adults that are your child but it was just a wonderful moment that ill never forget. And we have some additional tweets between you and your daughter. Lets put one of them up on the screen. This one from victoria saying, i hope your trip was fun and amazing and then you responded saying, miss you. Will call you later. Give me a good time on the Mississippi River with coast guard now. Love you. Its kind of obviously a little uncomfortable but everything is seeing your relationship grow on twitter. How has your relationship changed and built since youve finally met each other . Well, in the three years weve had chances to visit in houston on three occasions and a few occasions in washington and she was able to come to memphis this past january and spend time in my hometown. Its been gradual that weve had more time to spend together. Its a slow process. All of my friends who talked about it said youve just got to give it time. And im not real good at giving time. I like to do things now. Im kind of a control person and a happening now person. So it was very difficult for me to sit back and tell me, because id get frustrated at times when i wouldnt hear back from her, a call or text or whatever and the people say, youve got to give it time and i thought, i know time is the most precious commodity that we all have and at 63 ive got less time than somebody that is less than 63. I want to have as much time that i can with her. Its something that has kind of bothered me but were doing better and yesterday she was very brave and very im proud of her for being able to do what she was able to do, the man who has been her father all these years, he was a great provider and im sure he loves her and its difficult on him and hopefully she will allow both of us to share in her life and thats what i think thats going to happen. And you are a public figure. Youre a longtime member of congress. You learned about this, you learned about victoria some three years ago. Why did you want to keep it private until it was kind of forced into the public . Because her father didnt know and i didnt want to upset him and hurt him in any way at all and it just came to point, i guess, that it was necessary to let him know and thats what happened. It wouldnt have been fair to her or him. Thats where the situation was very difficult for me because while these the National Republican campaign committee, the Tennessee Republican party were preparing me to Anthony Weiner, people suggesting that it was a romance going on between the two of us. Steve martin has a wife that is 41 and just had a child, whatever, they were making it like it was something that was perverted and disgusting to her and i didnt like it either and it was just you know, it was just wrong and they did that and it was necessary to clear that up. I couldnt say anything about it because i couldnt say anything without her permission and that would involve her father and we couldnt do that until we felt like it was necessary. Or she did. So it was almost like the movie absence of malice and the media didnt understand the situation, sally fields was putting paul newman in. I couldnt hurt the third party and call me Anthony Weiner but they all owe her an apology. The press was wrongdoing what they did. Clearly looking for scandal and it turned out to be something quite sweet and wonderful. Congratulations. Good luck to you. Talk to you soon. Thank you so much. Thank you. Still ahead, americans might accept an aircraft in afghanistan but in our backyards or hovering over our air spaces, how to handle the idea of eyes in the sky. This is for real this time. Step seven point two one two. Verify and lock. Command is locked. Five seconds. Three, two, one. Standing by for capture. The most Innovative Software on the planet. Dragon is captured. Is connecting todays leading companies to places beyond it. Siemens. Answers. With the bing it on challenge to show google users what theyve been missing on bing. Lets bing it on. [fight bell ding, ding] how many here are google users . What if i was to tell you that you would actually like bing way more than google when it came to the results . Prove it. Lets look up some taco places. I like the left side. Yeah . 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Its back, but not for long. [ woman ] our guests go crazy for lobsterfest. My favorite entree is the lobster lovers dream. Whats yours . Come celebrate lobsterfest and sea food differently. Drones used to be for wars far from the United States. But theyre popping up in our own skies much more often. Thats a challenge for authorities who are playing catchup when it comes to technology and all this. Cnns a cnns athena jones is here with more. The faa says there will be up to 10,000 drones in the u. S. Skies in the next five years, used by police trying to fight crime, by Oil Companies trying to monitor pipelines. Todays announcement is a step in that direction. The skies across america could soon be welcoming more drones. The faa is seeking proposals from cities, states and universities to create six test sites for Unmanned Aircraft systems. The sites will help officials develop Safety Standards that will allow the government to fully integrate drones into the National Airspace by 2015. The Drone Industry says they make good economic sense. In the next three years after the faa has figured out integration, we could see as many as 70,000 jobs be created in this new industry. Reporter the coast guard uses drones for surveillance on ice sheets in alaska and local authorities in north dakota once used a Border Patrol drone during a dispute over cattle. Drone makers predict theyll eventually been used by Energy Company to monitor pipelines and by farmers to monitor crops. New uses will require new government rules to protect privacy. We dont want drones to become eyes in the sky, constantly spying on us. We need control so that drones are only used when we believe that a crime is happening or were trying to fight a forest fire or find a missing child, Something Like that. If we put those in controls in place, well have a powerful technology that has appropriate controls. Reporter in seattle earlier this month, the mayor ended a Police Department Drone Program over privacy concerns. And the Virginia Legislature is at work on bills that would temporarily ban drones there. Now, the faa is asking for a public input on its proposed privacy requirements for these tests. And this privacy issue isnt going away. Just this week, two house members, a republican and a democrat, introduced a bill that would require Law Enforcement to get search warrants before using drones. This continues. Definitely will. That fine line between Helpful Technology and big brother. Exactly. Still ahead, it is the number one killer of student athletes. Up next, our dr. Sanjay gupta with what parents need to know to prevent your children from suffering from a sudden heart attack. Hi. Hi. Im here to pick up some cacti. It should be under stephens. The verizon share everything plan for small business. Get a shareable pool of data. Got enough joshua trees . On up to 25 devices. 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Cardiac arrest is the number one killer of student athletes, even more so than concussions. The good news is most of these conditions are detectable and treatable if caught early. Yet a lot of parents know their youngsters are at risk. They dont know the signs to look for and that their children can be tested. One family is trying to change that by turning their tragedy into educating others. Darren and phyllis had a happy family life until their 3monthold son simon was found dead in his crib. In the midst of their shock, their pediatrician told them, get tested. They said go get your heart checked. Reporter they were in for another shock. Phyllis was diagnosed with a hair heart problem. It could have caused her heart to stop. She had none of the usual symptoms like unexplained fainting but she unknowingly passed it on to simon. Once i was diagnosed with the syndrome, it can easily be treated. Reporter after their tragedy, they started simons fund to pay for free heart screenings in and near philadelphia. The fund estimates that sudden cardiac arrest is responsible for up to 15 of sudden infant deaths. Its also the number one killer of student athletes. Every time we do a screening, were potentially preventing that devastation from happening again and again and again. Reporter last year with the help of the sudmans, pennsylvania became the first state to require education on sudden cardiac arrest. For coaches, trainers, student athletes and their parents. To know that every coach in this state now has to behave a little differently, now has to know a little bit more about the health of their student athletes. Reporter since then, five other states have introduced similar bills. It gives us tools to screen and assist the athletic training and athletic medical staffs to be able to detect those types of problems. Reporter right now, testing is only required for kids with symptoms. And the big reason is cost. An average screening run anywhere from 200 to 1,000 depending on where you live. But the sudmans think its worth every penny. Simons found, they work closely with the Childrens Hospital of philadelphia, identifying groups of children who are at high risk for cardiac arrest. Although babies like simon do die of cardiac arrest, the sudmans choose to target older children since theyre a highrisk group specifically. In the future, they want all atrisk children screened, though. Kate . Sanjay, thank you so much. An important story for parents to see. And you can see much more of sanjays reporting this weekend saturday afternoon, 4 30 eastern and sunday morning at 6 30 eastern only here on cnn. Happening now, the shock and fear of seeing an exploding fireball from outer space. Well talk to a man who experienced todays damaging meteor blast. An olympic runner charged with murder sobs in court. Well hear from someone who knew his dead girlfriend. And the navy s. E. A. L. Who shot and killed Osama Bin Laden in a new battle with the u. S. Military. And now that passengers have finally escaped their cruise nightmare, the legal action, not surprisingly, begins. Im kate bolduan along with jim acosta. Youre in the situation room. It began with a mysterious streak of light coming out of nowhere. Then a fireball and a groundrattling blast. When it was all over, at least 1,000 people were hurt and many more clearly shaken. Scientists say that meteor explosion over russia was far more powerful than north Koreas Nuclear test this week and it came as a complete surprise even though nasa was on the lookout for another asteroid that brushed by the earth a few short hours ago. Lets begin with the blast in russia and mary snow. Reporter it was so frightening. Weve been seeing this incredible video thats been coming out. More continues to come in. The scene was surreal as the meteor struck, setting off mass confusion. The meteor weighed about ten tons. It struck with no warning around 9 20 in the morning leek l tioc just as people were starting their day. It came out of nowhere, the bright streak in the sky, up long enough for people to capture it on camera and it lurched toward earth and exploded. A deafening boom followed as fragments rained down over a region in russia. At least 1,000 people in the bullseye of the falling meteor were injured. Its a bombing, says this man, people didnt know what to make of it. Meteorites are reported to have scattered across three regions of russia and theres one report of a chunk smashing a hole in a frozen lake. As frightening as it was, Scientists Say its not all that rare to have meteors falling out of the sky. Whats not common is when they hit largely Populated Areas. Small bodies like that hit the earth regularly. Every year, theres probably several, mostly over oceans. If it happened over the pacific ocean, maybe a ship might have seen it. Reporter he says the fact this meteor struck is same day as an asteroid had a Close Encounter with the earth is not related and only a cosmic coincidence. While the asteroid was closely tracked, he says the meteor in russia was too small to be detected and has left him a bit unnerved. Yes. We can predict things. We know the laws of gravity and the masses of the planets and so forth. We can predict whats going to happen down the road. But the interplay of all these celestial bodies together and the ones we dont know about is such to make it kind of scary in a way. Reporter the last time that something of this size happened that is known was back in 1908, also in russia. An asteroid entered the atmosphere, exploded over a remote part of siberia. It leveled, get this, about 80 Million Trees over an area about the that would have been twothirds the state of rhode island. Really amazing. Mary snow, thank you so much. Later on this hour, well talk to a man who was in russia when the meteor exploded. He describes what he saw, how he felt and what it looks like now. Jim acosta is here. Hi. Crazy stuff going on. Meteor and an asteroid. I would say the force was with us today, kate. We were never really in danger of being hit by that asteroid. But it came unusually close. Cnns casey wian is at nasas jet Propulsion Lab in pasadena, california. Casey . Reporter here at jpl, theyve been tracking that asteroid for a year. And just about 3 1 2 hours ago, it came oh, so close to planet earth. It may not look like much, a tiny blip speeding across the screen, but asteroid 2012da14 packs a powerful punch. Fortunately, the punch missed. Scientists say an asteroid with a similar 150foot diameter collided with earth 50,000 years ago in arizona creating this crater and obliterating everything in a 50mile radius. This is a rare opportunity to see a small asteroid up close. Its very rare. An asteroid of this size doesnt come close to the earth more than once every 40 years on average. Reporter the asteroid raced past and missing earth by 17,000 miles. It came close to threatening satellites close to the earth. Nasa is using radar and other technology to study how the asteroid behaves, including its rotation rate, its composition and how its impacted by the earths gravity. The idea is to learn enough to prevent catastrophe from an asteroid directly threatening the planet someday in the future. Were going to get a lot of information about the asteroid. We are also interested in its future motion, whether or not it could come back. Reporter the odds are, either this one or another will be back, an asteroid impacts the earth once about every 1,200 years on average. Thats asteroid being tracked no over spain as it heads back out to space to continue its orbit around the sun harmlessly for now. A busy day in our galaxy. Now to the nightmare cruise and the lawsuit we all saw coming. Only hours after passengers finally got off, the first legal complaint has been filed by a passenger. It accuses carnival of negligence, fraud and injury and claims casey terry was forced to subcyst for days in a floating toilet, a floating petri dish and a floating hell. Brian todd is there where many passengers were taken after docking in alabama. But not all the passengers have these horrible stories to tell. Some say the crew did a pretty good job. Reporter right, jim and kate. The crew is coming in for very high praise from just about every passenger you speak to. Roughly twothirds of the passengers on board the carnival triumph tame through this hotel today, many clearly shaken by that experience. It wasnt until after she finally got off the cavern triumph after riding on a bus from mobile, alabama, to new orleans that the gravity of the ordeal really set in with maria morales. We were just drifting. We were just out there. Like i said, now that i realize it, its like, oh, my god, i cant believe that we were just there just at the mercy of the wind, wherever it wanted to take us. Reporter from her wheelchair, 68yearold joyce glover told us that at certain points, she didnt think shed make it out. What have you gone through . Well, ive got congestive Heart Failure and diabetes and i had to cut my medicine down in half because i only had it through monday. Then i had a heart condition when my lungs were filling up with fluid. So we had to go clear down to the basement. Reporter that was where glover says she had to go for medical treatment where she says garbage was piled more than 30 feet high. One passenger gave us these pictures from inside. Murky water in a hallway. Her bathroom where she says the sewage never stopped flowing. It came up out of the drain in my shower stall, commode overflowing. Reporter and an image of passengers sleeping on deck and food rationing. But she and many others told us, crew members worked heroically. Awesome. They were wonderful to us. They were really wonderful to us. They tried to clean our bathroom. But without Running Water and electricity, its very hard to clean whatever that was in our bathroom. Reporter this crew member told cnn they took pride in helping passengers through this. Its about our job. We are experienced guys. We know how to do it. And carnival is the best. And they give the best services to guests. Reporter how did passengers behave . We got accounts of the worst in hume opinion behavior. There was about three altercations and fights because either people were trying to get their phones charged or just pushing in lines for food while they were drunk. There were people that would hoard food. You could see they would take a big tray and have ten burgers on there and not try to share with other people. Reporter but better sides were also on display. What was the best thing you saw as far as the way people responded . Everybody helping each other. Everybody pulled together. Sharing things. Sharing. We played poker with froot loops. Thats what we used for poker chips. Reporter this experience isnt over for all of the passengers. Virtually all of them still have decisions to make regarding this cruise. Several passengers we spoke to told us as compensation, carnival is offering a full refund for this trip plus a free similar cruise of equal value and 500. They say theyre going to have to weigh that offer against the possibility of taking legal action against carnival. Jim and kate . Brian todd, thank you. The triumphs slow and agonizing trip back to port look longer because of a tug line snapping. Take a look. Oh, no oh, my gosh this weekend repair and cleanup crews will be working on the triumph. Another big story weve been watching today, president obamas trying to keep the pressure on congress to take a vote, have a vote on gun control. We spoke about the issue just a short while ago in a place where really his home, chicago. Cnns ted rowlands is there. The president spoke very emotionally today. Reporter yeah, he obviously talked about gun violatience he in his hometown. He even brought up his own childhood growing up without a father. Hey, chicago reporter the president spoke just a few miles from his chicago home and from where 15yearold Hadiya Pendleton who he talked about in his state of the union was murdered. What happened to hadiya is not unique. Its not unique to chicago. Its not unique to this country. Too many of our children are being taken away from us. Reporter the president said stopping violence in chicago and other urban areas could be helped by economic opportunity, education and the family, fathers, he said, had to be more involved in their childrens lives. I wish id had a father who was around and involved. This right here should be an eyeopener for all parents. Reporter we spoke with two aunts of michael ward, one of two men charged with hadiyas murder. Wards family says they are in shock, describing the 18yearold as a good, funny kid who they hope is not responsible for hadiyas death. I cant even begin to understand or imagine how her mom and her dad or her brother, her whole family feels. We all have been hurt. All of us have been hurt by this. Its two families being devastated. Reporter wards family, like so many others in this city whose lives have been affected by violence, say enough is enough. Like the president , they say their own community has to step up. Stand up and say, lets get together and walk the streets, lets walk the block. Not, were going to have this candle burning. Thats not it. Lets have a conversation with these kids. Reporter before the president spoke, he actually did have a conversation with a lot of kids. About 20 kids growing up in these areas prone to violence. Spoke to them for quite a while. In fact, he delayed his speech as much as an hour talking to these kids. We talked to several of them afterwards. One of them said the president told him to just keep focused on his future. That piece really shows its not politics for folks in chicago. Its really personal for so many people there. Ted rowlands, great piece. Thanks so much. Chicago already has some of the strictest laws in the country when it comes to guns, of course. And yet there were more than 00 killings reported there last year. An increase of 15 from 2011. We compared those numbers to other cities with tough gun laws as well. In philadelphia, the homicide rate also went up last year. But not as much. A total of 331 killings were reported, a 2 increase. But look at the trend in new york city where deadly crime went down dramatically. 418 killings were recorded last year, an 18 decrease from the year before. In fact, thats the lowest homicide rate in 50 years when new york began keeping the records. Just thought you should know. The olympic sprinter known as the blade runner breaks down in court. Hear what hes saying about his girlfriends death and well talk to one of her friends. And the jolt from a powerful meteor blast, a hockey player who saw it, felt it and couldnt believe his eyes. He shares his story coming up. She keeps you guessing. Its part of what you love about her. But your erectile dysfunction you know, that could be a question of blood flow. Cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be Ready Anytime the moments right. You can be more confident in your ability to be ready. 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Some nylons. And what girl wouldnt need new shoes . And with all the points ive been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. Things are definitely looking up. [ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your Citi Thankyou points to travel whenever you want. Visit citi. Com thankyoucards to apply. An olympic hero fell apart today sobbing as he stood in court and faced murder charges. The blade runner, os pcar pistorius, is behind bars. His girlfriend is dead and people around the world are following this case and really astonished as how its all turned out. Robin is in south africa and joins us now. This is an amazing story. Reporter absolutely. Talk about falling from grace, off the pedestal. Oscar pistorius was fated as an olymp olympian, a man with no legs, the blade runner. You remember he ran in the olympics last year, beating men with legs. This is an athlete who wasnt just admired in south africa for his sporting abilities but as a role model to people for what could be achieved. To see him in court today, a broken man, a man accused of murder, emotional scenes indeed. Take a look at the story. A journey from a prison flanked by police to a court to face murder charges. Within 48 hours, Oscar Pistorius went from olympic hero to an accused murderer. Outside the court, newspaper sellers have been doing a brisk trade. Headlines that point to a bloody valentines day murder. Police police say pistorius shot dead his model girlfriend, that it was a premeditated murder that could put him behind bars for as long as 25 years. The court overflowing with journalists and family, pistorius broke down repeatedly, crying, his body shaking uncontrollab uncontrollably. He sat with his face in his hands for much of the hearing which ended with no decision on bail. The case has been postponed to tuesday to give the prosecution to meet with the defense to prepare for the case. Reporter until then, the star athlete and double amputee will not be training for a scheduled race in march, but instead, hell be behind bars. His agent telling cnn, though, that oscar refutes the murder charges in the strongest possible terms and that he sends his condolences to the family of reeva steenkamp, the woman police say he shot. And in a sad twist, reevas tv debut this week will be aired on South African screens. A reminder of just how quickly life can change. If you turned on the televisions here tomorrow in in south africa, people will be able to watch reeva, alert, happy, fun, say the producers. The embodiment of the young, beautiful woman she was and also an example of the career that she was just about to have. This was her tv debut. Many people thought that she would go on to greater things in the acting world and that sort of thing. Instead, there will be a Memorial Service for her on tuesday. And, robyn, youve interviewed Oscar Pistorius on a number of occasions. How prized were you by all this, especially when you see that man crying in his hands in the courtroom today . Reporter i think theres a lot of conflicting emotions. As a journalist, you think lets just look at the facts. It doesnt appear good for him. I a pears the police have a strong case, that he shot and killed his girlfriend. But from a personal and emotional point of view, like you said, ive known oscar for many years. From my point of view and i think from many people who have met oscar across the world, the athletes, the sponsors, the other journalists have seen it as nothing but a kind, generous, openhearted, friendly, gregarious, really good guy. So it seems totally out of character for many of us. I think were all still trying to sort of fit this in. How does this example of what happened on valentines day match with the man that we all thought we knew . The big question is, did he have a dark side . Did he hide it from all of us who knew him so well . Or did something go tragically, horribly wrong . We still dont know the real details of what took place in his home. But either way, i think the implications for oscar are really career limiting. Either way, he either faces perhaps 25 years around there in jail or if he gets off, its going to be a very long trial. I really dont see him taking to the track anytime soon. It seems just the story of two completely different people but of course, as you said, we have to wait and see all the details unfold. Robyn, thank you so much. Its such a sad story. It happened on valentines day. These are two Beautiful People who really seemed to have everything going for them. Absolutely. They were the picture of a perfect couple. And for the people of south africa, what a shock to the system. This was such a source of pride for them, this mans story. It really just captured everybodys attention during the summer olympic games. I remember i followed that story as well. It was just a remarkable story of courage on his part to be able to get up there and compete at that level. And now well have to wait and see what happens with this trial. A lot of people interested in how this goes. Reeva steenkamps family and trends are shocked and heartbroken by her death. Joining us by phone right now is sarah tomlinson, the publicist for reeva steenkamp. Show joins us over the phone from johannesburg, south africa. Thank you for joining us. Appreciate your time under the circumstances. Thank you. Let me ask you first. You knew ms. Steenkamp well. What do you think happened . How do you think this happened to her . At this moment in time, theres a lot of speculation and no one really knows exactly the details of what happened. Unfortunately i cannot comment on what happened. I dont know what happened. So i would prefer not to speculate at this moment in time. And weve been showing some pictures of reeva during the segment. Obviously she was a beautiful woman. Her modeling career appeared to be on the rise. Yes. What was she like . What should people know about her . She was honestly the kindest, sweetest human being. She was passionate. She was responsible. She had a good head on her shoulders. But the one thing that everyone if you had to meet her, anyone that meets her would always say, she was just genuinely an angel. She was kind. Anyone that had met her would just say, what a downtoearth, endearing girl. That was reeva, with her looks and all. And what is her family going through right now, i cant imagine. Have you spoken with them . How are they doing . I have spoken to them. Weve been in contact. Theyve lost a daughter. Theyve lost a sister. Theyve lost a niece. They are broken. Theres no words to describe what they are feeling right now. Its devastating. Its tragic. And there was so much pride when it came to the story of Oscar Pistorius coming from your country. What is the reaction to this right now . It just must be a total shock, i would imagine. Pretty much the same all over the world. Everyone is in shock, you said it. Everyone is in absolute shock. And where do you think this story is going to take us . Are you concerned that the allegations that have been said so far in this case, that that might be what happened to her . Look, right now, its in the hands of the law. I dont want to comment on it. Id prefer not to. And it will take its course the way it needs to. All right. Sarit tomlinson, the publicist for reeva steenkamp, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it. Very sorry for you loss. Thank you. Still ahead in the situation room, a hockey player had just hit the Snooze Button when the earth started shaking and pieces of meteor fell to earth injuring hundreds. 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Risk includes possible loss of principal. Happening now, the navy s. E. A. L. Who shot and killed Osama Bin Laden says the u. S. Military has abandoned him. Now the s. E. A. L. S are fighting back. 9. You could wind up waiting longer at the airport if president obama and republicans dont stop automatic spending cuts. And the zombies are coming . One country is making sure its ready. Wolf blitzer is off. Im jim acosta. And im kate bolduan. Youre in the situation room. It sounded like an explosion, it felt like an earthquake. There were streaks in the sky, shattered glass and a whole lot of confusion. We now know it was a meteor blowing up in pieces over russia. Joining us now, michael garnett, a professional hockey player living in russia. Michael, you live in chelyabinsk, russia, where many of these injuries occurred. What did you experience . What did you see . What did you hear . I was laying in bed. My alarm went off. I hit the snooze bar like i always do for a couple of more minutes to sleep. And i rolled over and i really got a wakeup call about two minutes later when my entire apartment started shaking and there was a huge boom. I was jolted out of bed. I got up and the light fixtures were shaking. A vent was blown off the wall. There was debris on the ground. And i was just terrified. I had no idea what was happening. Were looking at some of the video weve seen of how this all kind of played out and when that initial impact really happened. What was the first thing that came to your mind . Im sure it was a combination of fear and absolute confusion. Yeah. I had no idea. I just knew that there was what felt like a giant explosion and i thought it was happening right at my building. It was terrifying. Im on the 23rd floor and it was shaking. I immediately went to the window to try and see what was going on. I opened the blinds and i saw this giant streak going across the sky. I had no idea never seen anything like that before in my life. What did you see when you left your apartment . What did you see on the road . What did it look like . Well, i got out i immediately wanted to get down to the ground level so that i didnt know where my building was safe or not. So i started driving it to go to practice. And on the way to the rink, i didnt really know what was going on. I was looking at twitter and saw tweets flying by. Everyone was speculating. Even at that point i had no idea until i got to the ripg and started talking to some of the other guys. Did you see damage when you were driving into practice . Yeah. I wasnt really paying attention to it too much because i was looking at my phone, looking at twitter. But once i found out on the way back from practice to my apartment, it was just incredible. I looked at almost every single building, probably 25 of the windows were blown out. And these are old soviet era fivestory concrete Apartment Buildings that have old windows in them. And it was just incredible to see the damage that just the sound of this meteor could cause. What is it like there now . How are people acting after what has been truly an amazing day . I think a lot of people are just in shock. For me, its such an incredible display of power and completely unexpected that i dont really know what to think. You look up at the sky differently now. I kind of feel like this was completely unpredicted and it could happen at any time. So its confusing and terrifying kind of all at the same time. And what are the stories youre hearing from other people. You said youve spoken to some of your teammates. Do they have the same story that you do . Yeah. Most of them or a lot of them actually saw this happened. They saw a giant fireball going through the sky, blinding bright light shooting followed by an incredibly loud bang and explosion. A lot of them had terrifying experiences. That video is just amazing to see as were watching it once again. Michael garnett, thank you so much for joining me. Hopefully not as eventful of a day for you tomorrow. Thank you. My pleasure. Great interview. Thanks, kate. Now to a story about a man who would probably be considered a hero. Hes now in a fight with the u. S. Military. Coming up, u the navy s. E. A. L. Who killed Osama Bin Laden is being accused by some as being a whiner. Plus, a major announcement by facebook about a cyber attack. Created the luxury crosr and kept turning the page, writing the next chapter for the rx and lexus. This is the pursuit of perfection. Writing the next chapter for the rx and lexus. With the bing it on challenge to show google users what theyve been missing on bing. Lets bing it on. [fight bell ding, ding] how many here are google users . What if i was to tell you that you would actually like bing way more than google when it came to the results . Prove it. Lets look up some taco places. I like the left side. Yeah . Okay, do we need to find out what the waves are like down at the beach . What side do you like better . I like the results on the right. Im gonna go with the one on the left. Oh bing won people prefer bing over google for the webs top searches. Dont believe it . Go to bingiton. Com and see what youre missing. All right thats a fifthfloor probleok. Not in my house ha ha ha ha ha ha no no no not today ha ha ha ha ha ha jimmy how happy are folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico . Happier than Dikembe Mutumbo blocking a shot. Get happy. Get geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Heres a look at some of the other top stories coming in to the situation room this hour. The people at facebook say theyve been hacked. Facebooks announcement today says theres no evidence any user data has been compromised in what it called a sophisticated attack. It happened when some facebook employees visits a Developers Website and picked up malware there. Facebook says the infected machines are now fixed and they began what theyre calling a, quote, significant investigation. You can be sure of that. Also, new pictures showing venezuelan president hugo chavez smiling as you see there and very much alive. We havent seen any images of him since before his cancer surgery in cuba on december 11th. Doctors there say chavez is having trouble speaking because of a tube that helps him breathe. The women you see there with him right there are his daughters. And a onetime rising star in the Democratic Party admits he and his wife illegally spent Campaign Money on personal luxuries like furs and Michael Jackson memorabilia. Former congressman jesse jackson, jr. , admits to a felony in a plea deal filed just today. Hes agreed to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars. It will be up to a judge to decide on his prison time. Times are clearly changing in new york. Starting next month, getting busted with a small amount of marijuana will not automatically mean spending a night in jail waiting to be arraigned. Instead, people are clean records will get a ticket ordering them to appear in court at a later date. Marijuana stays illegal. He is the s. E. A. L. Who took out Osama Bin Laden. Now hes in a battle no one would have predicted with the s. E. A. L. S themselves. When we built the cadillac ats from the ground up to be the worlds best sport sedan. People noticed. The allnew cadillac ats 2013 north american car of the year. For a limited time, take advantage of this exceptional offer on the allnew cadillac ats. Shimmy, shimmy chocolate. Shimmy, shimmy chocolate. We, we chocolate cross over. Yeah, we chocolate cross over. [ male announcer ] introducing fiber one 80 calorie chocolate cereal. Chocolate. I took my son fishing every year. We had a great spot, not easy to find, but worth it. 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[ male announcer ] if you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. [ male announcer ] if you cant afford your medication, on beautyrest and posturepedic. Financing and save up to 500 get a sealy queen set for just 399. Even get 3 years interestfree financing on tempurpedic. But only through president s day at sleep train. Navy s. E. A. L. S are prepared for almost any kind of battle. But one former s. E. A. L. Is now in a fight he never expected. Hes the s. E. A. L. Who took out Osama Bin Laden and hes now locked in a fight with the u. S. Military. Cnns pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence is working this story for us. Chris, its a story weve been following all week. Whats the latest . Reporter yeah, kate, this is something we almost never see. But this memo that was shown to cnn is really giving us a rare look inside this internal dispute among the navy s. E. A. L. S. Theyve endured hot, cold, and deadly conditions. And pushed past unbelievable levels of pain. A navy s. E. A. L. Would break his leg and never let you know. Reporter so some former s. E. A. L. S are shocked to hear one of their own being accused of, well, whining. Already immortalized on film, theres an anonymous s. E. A. L. Team 6 member who, by some accounts, fired the shots that killed Osama Bin Laden. But that s. E. A. L. Told esquire magazine the military has abandoned him. This shooter served 16 years. Went on hundreds of missions and he gets out four years early. He gets no pension, zero pension. Reporter the commander of all navy s. E. A. L. S is now firing back. Quote, this former s. E. A. L. Made a deliberate and informed decision to leave the navy several years short of retirement status. A military official showed that memo to cnn, but it was never meant for the public. The commander sent it to the s. E. A. L. Community. In response to the shooters accusations that he had arthritis, eye damage and blown discs but no health care or pension. The s. E. A. L. Commander says he voluntarily left the Service Despite the option to stay in. Quote, claims to the contrary are false. That goes against everything were taught. We dont complain. Reporter john mcguire says everyone knows going in, barring catastrophic injury, you must do 20 years for a pension. Its rare someone gets out at 16. But i have a lot of respect for someone who knows when theyre done. Reporter the shooter is wrong on at least one account, and that is health care. Hes going to get at least five years of health care from the v. A. , like everyone whos served in iraq or afghanistan. The navy is also promising to help him with the transition. But the commander really reserved some of his harshest words for this idea of going public, taking these complaints public. Not only in this case, but the books that have been written about the navy s. E. A. L. S recently, all the publicity, saying most of our former s. E. A. L. S find a suitable second career without compromising the ideals that they had during their act of service. Pretty tough words coming from the top man at the navy s. E. A. L. S. You have to sense this fight is not one that is over quite yet. Chris lawrence at the pentagon for us. Thanks, chris. If you already hate Airport Security lines, a bitter standoff in congress could make you wait much longer. L changed you got to bring it in. If your tires need to be rotated, you have to get that done as well. Jackie, tell me why somebody should bring theyre car here to the ford dealership for service instead of any one of those other places out there. They are going to take care of my car because this is where it came from. Price is right no problem, they make you feel like youre a family. Get a Synthetic Blend Oil change, tire rotation and much more, 29. 95 after 10. 00 rebate. If you take care of your car your car will take care of you. If you thought the fiscal cliff was the end of washingtons manufactured crises, guess again. Just two weeks from now, more than 1 trillion in automatic spending cuts are scheduled to kick in. Folks here in washington have a big, cumbersome word for it. Its the sequester. And if it happens, folks on both sides say its going to hurt. If youre not a if youre not a fan of security lines at the airport, listen up. The sequester could make them longer. Perhaps hours longer. I just think that our politicians need to get together and figure out what theyre doing. Reporter countdown to mar 1 when sequester kicks in the. Congress and the president agreed to it all as a way to escape the debt ceiling crisis of 2011. Serious cuts at air ports, seaports. Reporter at a hearing a slew of president obamas cabinet secretaries warned whats coming. The damage here would be irreparable. I wish i had a magic wand to wave, i simply dont have that. Reporter in addition to tsa cuts creating longer Airport Security lines, the department of Homeland Security may have to lose the equivalent of 5,000 agents at border and slice 1 billion from fema. Education cuts, 70,000 children could be kicked out of head start problems for lowincome families. The pentagon may have to furlough thousands of defense workers. We might as well just pack up and go home. Because if were just going to have across the board cuts what is the point of our being here . Reporter while democrats and moderate republicans want to slam on the sequester brakes, some conservative lawmakers are cheering on the cuts. Not only should the sequester stand, many pundits say the sec questions administers far short. That we need 4 trillion in cuts. Reporter congress and the white house were able to postpone the sequester as part of the deal to postpone the fiscal cliff. But dont expect another delay. There wont be easy offramps on this one. The days of 11th hour negotiations are over. Reporter House Speaker john boehner said if democrats soar worried they should come up with a solution. The sequester is there because the president insisted that it be there. Reporter it was washingtons version of a valentines day greeting sealed with a kiss. Yesterday afternoon, Senate Democrats came up with a proposal to replace the sequester but republicans dont like it because it includes new tax increases. Both sides have some time to work something out but once again it is a game of budget beat the clock. I talked to a leadership aide who said, unless the president wants to accept major cuts in spending, this is likely to happen. Its the same arguments at its core that weve been dealing with. Its not a flashy, fun topic to be talking about but it really does hit at all levels if this sets in. And the items that we mentioned in that piece, that is just scratching the surface. Were talking about meat inspectors who might be tossed aside as a result of this sequester. Its just going to add up. Another fight up to the deadline, maybe. Awesome. Cant wait. I hope you can sense my sarcasm. Would you know, heres a good question, if you know what you do in the event of a Zombie Apocalypse . You cant sequester them. Jeanne moos is going to answer that question next. Portu. You know how to mix business. With business. And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. You can even take a fullsize or above. And still pay the midsize price. I could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. Yes, you could. Go national. Go like a pro. Theres nothing like our grilled lobster and lobster tacos. The bar harbor bake is really worth trying. [ male announcer ] get more during red lobsters lobsterfest. With the years Largest Selection of mouthwatering lobster entrees. 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A hairline fracture to the mandible and contusions to the metacarpus. What do you see . Um, i see a duck. Be more specific. I see the aflac duck. I see the aflac duck out of work and not making any money. I see him moving in with his parents and selling bootleg dvds out of the back of a van. Dude, thats your life. Remember, aflac will give him cash to help cover his rent, car payments and keep everything as normal as possible. I see lunch. [ monitor beeping ] lets move on. [ male announcer ] find out what a hospital stay could really cost you at aflac. Com. [ male announcer ] icy hot arthritis lotion. Powerful encapsulated menthol gets icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. Power past pain. Erin burnett is going outfront with more on the cruise ship triumph and the first lawsuit filed. You knew this was coming. Absolutely. It only took about 24 hours. We have the first lawsuit filed against Carnival Cruise lines. And also, get to the heart of the investigation which matters not just to the 4,000 people who were on board the carnival triumph but the 10 million americans that cruise every year. And that is, kate, how bad was this fire . If it was a bad fire, thats a very serious thing. Fit wasnt bad, how come it was still able to take out five of the six generators, each of which are the size of a bus . On this ship . Both of these questions are very troubling. Were going to be talking about that, about that lawsuit, and get some answers on that coming up at the top of the hour. Back to you. A lot of questions still remaining in that investigation. Erin burnett out front at the top of the hour. Heres a very different story. Maybe you have a disaster kit, bottled water, canned food, flashlights. But do you know what you would do in the event of zombie apocalyp apocalypse . Jeanne moos reports its a question americas neighbor toth the north are having a little fun with. Reporter is there a zombie in the house . The house of commons you need to tell you, mr. Speaker, zombies dont recognize border. Reporter this isnt the latest episode of the walking dead. You could argue some politicians fit that description. This is actually canadas parliament. I want to ask the minister of foreign affairs, working with his american counterparts to enact an international zombie strategy so a zombie invasion does not turn into a Zombie Apocalypse. Reporter its clear these guys arent brain dead, they know how to joke. The minister reciprocate with a pun that was deadon. I want to assure this member and all canadians that i am deadicated to assuring this never happens. Reporter the zombie issue came up because quebec was supposed to hold a mock zombie disaster training exercise. Zombie drills are not that unusual. This one took place in ohio. The idea is to have emergency planners think