Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room 20140220

Firebombs and grenades, a capital city turning into a combat zone. 100 people were killed today in kiev after a tentative truce quickly fell apart. Ukraine government blaming the protesters for trying to stage a coo. Ukraine sits at the crucial crossroads. A tug between the east and west making the stakes enormously high. We must caution you, some of the pictures that youre about to see are extremely graphic. Nick paton walsh is joining us from kiev with the very latest. Nick . Reporter wolf, as the protesters behind me grow in numbers, somber in the atmosphere, we heard a lot of massive prayers being said for the loss of nearly 100 people, according to act visits in the bloodshed. This morning, we are possibly seeing maybe the beginning of a solution. The polish president who is here with the french, german, and Dutch Foreign ministers have been in meetings with opposition leaders and the ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych. This may bring elections forward to this year and may perhaps result in a new cabinet government in the next ten days and perhaps could see a change in the constitution, a weakening of the power. Thats what people have come here to try to seek peace. We have not heard from him at all apparently from other messages hes given to diplomats. What weve heard from the government here, worrying messages from both the police and the military. The police say youve taken 67 of our men hostages and therefore were going to defend ourselves and the families. The military who stayed out of this until now and the chief of the army was replaced yesterday by Viktor Yanukovych, they issued a statement saying that they reserve the right to use arms and will do so to prevent the government from falling apart into a civil war. Right now, though, the police are pretty far away from the field of view of anybody. Very heavily reinforced barricades. We walked through the streets and there is organization among the protesters erecting barricades, and last night we saw fireworks fired at the police and they are being fired in the sky. Though, we are a long way off, wolf, from any kind of solution and remember i stood here just yesterday talking about how a truce could have been in the air. This morning we saw absolutely horrifying scenes of live fire being used in the streets here, wolf. 100 People Killed and 100 mo more injured. Were told by that joe biden happens to be the point man in handling the crisis right now. He just got off the phone with the president of ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych. We dont have a readout on that conversation but how much influence does the u. S. Have on what is happening on the streets of kiev . Reporter they have the capacity to make a fuss to embarrass the Ukrainian Government and maybe put putin in the slight of awkwardness. Remember, the u. S. moscow relationship is in tathers at the moment. President obama didnt even go to the opening games in sochi. They may make them feel like they have International Support but its so different from when the orange revolution associated their power out of their jobs and what many thought would be a prowestern era, then the Bush Administration was pushing hard for change. Now the u. S. Very much and the eu getting their game on to try to influence here and theyve been taking a back seat during the last few months of crisis, not pushing that hard because they dont have the money to bailout the ukrainian economy here. It will be interesting to see what this foreign pressure has done. I suspect many around yanukovych are wondering what his next game plan is, what his next steps could be. Weve seen the mayor of kiev say im leaving the city and im going to run this city away from the president. Thats a very clear sign of the top of the Ukrainian Administration here and yesterday yanukovych replaced the army chief. So theres clearly problems in his inner circle. The question is, is he leaving or trying to fight this out . Nick paton walsh, thank you very much. The white house says its outraged by the images of Ukrainian Security forces firing on protesters and the United States joining european nations to russia with some new sanctions. But what will russia do with all of this . Fareed zakaria is joining me. At what point, if there is such a point, do you envision assuming the violence escalates, the demonstrators seem to be getting some groove, if you will, the upper hand. At what point would putin send Russian Troops into the ukraine, fareed . Oh, i think that would be a complete disaster and i think putin knows it. What hes trying to do is exert his control and influence with very large offers of money. Remember, putin has up to this point offered 17 billion. When you think about, you know, a country the size of the ukraine, thats an awful lot of money. I think he knows that if he would have sent Russian Troops into the ukraine, it would mean the end in some ways of russia influence in the ukraine. Already there is a great danger that putin may have overplayed his hand. You know, imagine what the ukrainians are thinking right now about the way in which the russian government is supporting the president in his crackdown and you point out 100 dead, hundreds and hundreds more wounded. The president of the United States, president obama, as you know, has warned of, quote, consequences of people step over the line. His critics are saying thats an empty threat, if you will. The u. S. , the Obama Administration has made similar threats in syria, red line situations and didnt follow through when the red line was violated. Is this a hollow threat . It isnt a completely hallow threat. Remember, the ukraine is not syria. They think of themselves, at least in some ways as european. They want to be part of the modern world. They dont want to be a pariah state and if you were to talk about how officials, members of the military or police who want to take part in this crackdown would be held personally responsible, if we threaten that they would be put on some kind of a warcrimes list, i think that would have a very powerful effect. No ukrainian general will want to be declared a war criminal. So i think in that sense they have leverage. Look, were not going to send troops into the ukraine. The europeans are not going to send troops into the ukraine. Sanctions are a mixed bag because you would drive the ukrainians closer to the russians. There would be no u. N. Sanctions so you have a limited capacity. The crucial question is going to be what the Ukrainian Army does because there are signs, as nick was saying, that the gets into the civil war. It reminds me, potentially at least, if the Ukrainian Government doesnt have the support of the military, yesterday they replaced the commander of the ukrainian commander suggesting, as you and nick have been pointing out, some instability. If the military is unwilling to fight and kill fellow ukrainians, what happened in egypt to mubarak potentially could happen in the ukraine. Youre dpaexactly right, wol. It comes from the people and probably reflects the same divisions. The one interesting fact is that the Ukrainian Military tends to serve in the areas that they are drawn from, which means, for example, in cities like leviv and kiev, which are centers of opposition, the military, the soldiers are probably a lot like the people in kiev. That is to say, very antigovernment, very antiyanukovych. So they are probably extremely reluctant to fire on protesters and that might be what has been holding back the president because he knows that the troops in kiev are probably like the people in kiev. Mostly with the opposition. Remember, yanukovych lost the 2004 election in kiev 7525. Fareed zakaria, thank you for that analysis. Dont miss fareeds show every morning on sunday, 10 00 a. M. Eastern and 1 00 p. M. Up next, the disturbing new threats that has airlines and airports on alert and what role al qaedas master bombmaker may be planning. Plus, ill go oneonone with rick perry. What does he think about the comments by ted nugent whos been a favorite on the campaign trail in texas and elsewhere. Stay with us. Hey guys sorry were late. Did you run into traffic . No, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. You stopped by the house . Uhhuh. Yea. Alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. You leave the house in good shape . Yea. 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Official says its a credible threat tied to al qaeda which has never given up its intent to attack the u. S. Again. Theres no specific target but the assessment is al qaeda will try to place a shoe bomb on an airplane bound for the u. S. One suspect, al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, headquartered in yemen. Al qaeda and yemen have a master bombmaker Ibrahim Al Asiri who was involved for attempts on the aversan the af aviation. While some in the administration describe the threat as spir rational, a desire to attack this u. S. Official tells cnn the tsa would not have taken the steps to warn the airlines that the threat was real. The official telling cnn, this threat may represent a renewed effort and its not some flip comment on the part of the bad guy. One big worry, al qaeda may have developed a bomb hidden in shoes. Screening technology couldnt detect the explosives and the bomb might have little or no metal content. U. S. Officials also con firfirm there are a small number of americans with passports that could readily reenter the u. S. Now, fundamentally u. S. Officials are holding their cards very close to their vests about what is really going on here, offering very little detail. But it does come as there is growing concern about americans overseas fighting with al qaeda in places like yemen, somalia, pakistan, and syria. Wolf . Barbara starr, thanks very much. Theres some more breaking news coming into the situation room right now. The National Weather service has just issued a Tornado Warning from memphis, tennessee. Lets go straight to our meteorologist chad myers standing by at the cnn weather center. So what is the very latest, chad . Its going to be a bumpy afternoon and night for people all the way south of crack down to the gulf coast. Theres memphis, tennessee, right there. The big, red box, the watch box, which means sthat something is going on. Its moving ten miles to the southwest of memphis proper but this cell right there is rotating and will move into memphis in the next 15 minutes, maybe even less. Now, even if you dont get a tornado where you are and its likely that you dont because this one is fairly small, there is a large line of wind coming with the system as well. Those winds could be 60 to 70 Miles Per Hour so you need to get inside and take the pets inside. A Tornado Warning for memphis, tennessee, right now, wolf. Isnt this a little early in the tornado season . It is. We get tornadoes every month of the year but the ones in the wintery season are into southern louisiana and alabama or georgia. They are farther to the north, warm air, 70 something degrees in atlanta and snowing in des moines and its a clash of warm and cold and that right there is where the warm and cold is clashing right now. I know youre going to monitor the situation in memphis and elsewhere for us. Well check back with you, chad. Thank you. Coming up, an exclusive interview with republican senator ted cruz of texas. He speaks his mind on Global Warming and the incendiary comments by the rocker ted nugent. Also, ill go one on one with governor rick perry. Hes walking into the situation room right now. Governor, welcome. Weve got a lot to talk about, including whether or not you want to be president of the United States. What do you think of all the commotion with ted nugent in your state . Stand by and well discuss that in a moment. Most telephonely. [ male announcer ] there is no substitute for experience. For what reality teaches you firsthand. In the face of danger, and under the most demanding circumstances. Experience builds character. Experience builds confidence. And experience. Has built this. Introducing the 2014 glk. The engineering and the experience of mercedesbenz. See your authorized dealer for exceptional offers through mercedesbenz financial services. Cozy or cool meow or woof . 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And ask us all about our auto features, like guaranteed repairs, where if you get into an accident and use one of our certified repair shops, your repairs are guaranteed for life. So call. To talk with an Insurance Expert about everything that comes standard with our base auto policy. And if you switch, you could save up to 423. Liberty mutual insurance. Responsibility. Whats your policy . Happening now, oneonone with rick perry. The Texas Governor is here live in the situation room. Ill ask what he thinks of ted nugents vile comments and whether republicans in their state should be keeping the distance. Plus, weathering the storm. Chris christie talks sandy in his first town hall meeting since the bridge scandal broke. Did he manage to avoid the political storm hanging over his head . Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Senator ted cruz may be most outspoken member of the senate and hes been speaking his mind to our chief Congressional Correspondent dana bash in an interview in texas. They spoke about greg abbott, the republican candidate for governor. Hes taking serious heat for appearing with ted nugent who had vile things to say about president obama. Because were here in texas, i want to play you something thats been playing all over the airwaves, internationally and nationally. A communistraised, communisteducated subhuman mongrel, like the a. C. O. R. N. Community organizer Barack Hussein obama. Thats ted nugent and hes campaigning here with the leading republican candidate to be your next governor. Is that appropriate for them to Campaign Together . Look, i had not seen that video until you just played it. What do you think of it . I think it is a little curious to be questioning political folks about rock stars. Ive got to tell you, im not cool enough to hang out with any rock stars. Jayz jayz doesnt call the president a subhuman mongrel. I would be willing to bet that the president s hollywood friends have said some pretty extreme things. The reason why its an issue is because this week youre in texas, as i mentioned. He was invited to campaign with the man who may be your next governor in your party. Look, those sentiments, of course, i dont agree with such a thing. Ive never said such a thing and nor would i. People listen to ted nugent because hes been fighting passionately for Second Amendment rights. Im going to avoid engaging in hypotheticals. Joining us now, is the republican republican of governor, the former president ial candidate rick perry, welcome to washington, governor. Nice to see you. What do you think about this huge uproar . The comments are vile, right . They are tough words. I wouldnt have used those words. I know you wouldnt but to call the president of the United States a subhuman mongrel, that is disgusting. Thats pretty tough words. Thats disgusting. You can say its disgusting. We agree that that is not appropriate language to use of the United States president. Greg abbott went out there and embraced these words, they were campaigning together. Is that appropriate . Im not going to get into this side of whether its appropriate or not. There are people who say things all the time. The idea that ted nugent has said something thats outrageous shouldnt surprise anybody. But not like this. This is beyond the pale. He shouldnt have said Something Like that about the president of the United States. I would suggest to you that the job situation in texas and what a Republican Leadership has done there and greg abbott will continue to do is what people really care about. A comment by someone who has come in and endorsed him in the campaign, i will suggest to you, is not what this campaign is going to hinge upon. Its going to be on wendy davis very liberal record that is out of line, out but if he goes out there and campaigns throughout this the months leading up to the election with ted nugent, that would be idiotic, from abbotts point of view. Ill be real honest with you, i think this will be a news story or two and then well be back to focused on what the people in the state of texas really care about and that is, how are you going to make sure that my children have a good future, that i have a job, that we have an industry creating a lot of jobs. Thats what greg abbott is all about. You campaigned with ted nugent when you were running for elected office . I did. But he wasnt saying things like this then . Ted has said some pretty outrageous things. So you dont have a problem look, i have a problem calling the president a subhuman mongrel. Thats an inappropriate thing to say. Again, people were saying that all the time. If you run for president of the United States let me ask you something, wolf. You think bill meyer has ever said he gives a Million Dollars to and we see your program focusing in on that. Yes, we did. Good for you. Yes, we did. When democrats say sick, obnoxious things, we report that as well. Were not shy about that. Let me ask sarah palin yesterday wrote, check the box for another good conservative greg abbott for governor of office. If hes good enough for ted nugent, hes good enough for me. That doesnt surprise me. Thats sarahs sentiment. Again, i think the people of the state of texas youve got to remember, this is an election for the governorship of the state of the texas. Its not a national election. Thats an important job, being governor of texas. It is, indeed. And you set an example to everyone in texas and indeed around the nation. When youre governor, who appears with you after these kinds of comments . Unless nugent were to formally apologize. And he may do that. And if he were to say that these words were awful, i condemn them, i shouldnt have said them, i would like to hear him say that. I would put that responsibility on him to address that. I want to move on. But unless he does that, would you be willing to appear on the campaign trail with him, if you were ever again to run for any elected office . You know, again, ted and i have been on the stage together. He is a proud and a strong defender of the constitution of the United States. Weve all said things that we would like to reel back in. I suggest to you this is probably one of those for him. And he does that and i dont know, is that all things forgiven after he said that with you . If he were to formally apologize and say what i just said, i think that would go a long way in maybe perhaps rehabilitating him. He was a good rocker in his day. Still is. But hes gone way over the top on this. It gets me a little agitated, as you can tell. Governor christie came to texas, chairman of the republican governor anothers association. Youre the sitting governor of texas. You didnt show up when he was there, why . When im in new jersey, he doesnt show up where i am . No, its not tit for tat. We made our calls and what have you and well continue to. So i think theres way too much being made about, you didnt show up to an event he showed up to and somehow you dont like each other. Were on the same team. We have a goal of electing republican governors. And the reason thats important for america is when you look at where the job creation has been created in this country, its in the red states with republican governors and legislatures. Were on the same team and working together. But let me tell you something, hes a competitor and im going to go and compete against him. Im going to go and compete against rick scott, compete against bobby jindal, against nikki haley. Im going to compete against jerry brown and those guys are easier to compete against because of the policies they put into place. When you say a competitor, what do you for jobs, you mean . Im a big believer in the tenth amendment, that we ought to be working to promote tax policy. Because when i heard you say that governor christie is a competitor, i thought maybe for the republican president ial nomination you were talking about that . Those that focus past 2014 are making a huge mistake. 2014 is where we need to focus. Lots of governor races, the United States senate. Im not looking past 2014. After november the 6th, we can look into 2016. Because you ran last time. A lot of people think youre not going to run again. You cant run again for governor. I can. But you decided not to. Do you think you want to be president of the United States . Ill make that decision in about 18 months. Well get the governorship of texas over with. Well talk about red states versus blue states, which of these policies are working, why decentralization out of washington, d. C. , is the future of this country. Thats what im going to be spending my time on. A hypothetical, if you were to run for president of the United States and get the republican president ial nomination, could you beat Hillary Clinton . I have no idea. That is so hypothetical. Heres what we need to talk about, how are we going to create jobs and growth is how america goes forward. We have to have growth to create the wealth so we have a military that can be ready to stand up to what is going on in the world. We need to be sending a message to our foreign partners who have historically been our partners. We are going to truly be there for them. Should we raise the minimum wage . No. Thats a job killer. At a time when jobs are the real issue, the idea that government should be forcing Small Business men and women because whats going to happen, we know. There are going to be jobs that are lost. But the cbo says 900,000 families would have thats not the issue. Are you willing to tell people, listen, were going to allow these folks to hoff up a little and youre going to lose your job . Im not. What about extending Unemployment Benefits for longterm unemployed . Do you support that . No, sir. You have to we have to get the spending under control in this country. Thats the real issue. You know, thats what ted cruz although sometimes we dont always agree on tactics, his position of being a voice on getting spending under control and we have to make hard decisions. We did that in the state of texas. Governors have to do that. And i think if we dont have people willing to stand up and say, were going to make hard decisions and weve got to get the spending under control. What do you like about obamacare . I think the idea of being able to have a move between states makes sense. Weve been trying to do that for a long time. But the issue in finding one or two things about obamacare that i like, its that this thing is going to fail of its own weight, the idea that they are so missing the projections of how many people its going to take to make it work. Obamacare is going to fail. The president would be substantially farther ahead if he stood up and said, you know what, this is not working out like we thought it was going to. Were willing to sit down with congress and to find a solution and ill suggest to you that you go back to the states and you say, governors, legislators, you best know how to deliver health care in your states. Heres a and then youre the ones that heres one thing i suspect that you do like, if you have a preexisting condition you can still qualify for health insurance. You like that part . That is an acceptable part of this. But the issue is, you cant pick and choose which one of these you like because they are forcing us to accept the entire premise of obamacare. It is going to fail. The president knows its going to fail. The democrats know its going to fail. And if he truly cares about a legacy, he would stand up and say, ive got 2 1 2 years left as the president of the United States. Lets Work Together to fix this so it truly can be something that will work. And i will suggest to you the way you fix it is to do away with it and allow the states to we were never asked. Governors were never asked to be a part of this and you cannot deliver health care or education policy or, for that matter, infrastructure policy in one size that fits all. California and connecticut are different than oklahoma. Governor, i suspect that you and i will be seeing each other in iowa, new hampshire, a bunch of places. We will, indeed. Multiple Tornado Warnings across the southeast. Well get an update. Chad myers is standing by. bell rings they remind me so much of my grandkids. Wish i saw mine more often, but they live so far away. 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With the rotation by this doppler radar, theres a funnel or small tornado already on the ground headed your way in carbondale, illinois. Another place, shelbiville, the storm is to your southwest and moving to the northeast. Both of these are moving at 60 to 70 Miles Per Hour. If you hear or see a storm coming, get inside and stay there, please. Get the pets and kids inside. It will be coming and the whole problem is you cannot be out there being looking at this. They can take over in an instant how quickly they are moving from the southwest to the northeast. But these specific chad, you say get inside. Theres getting inside and getting inside. Wherein side do those folks have to get if they suspect of a tornado . You have a storm with a Tornado Warning on it, even if you dont, i need you away from windows. Windows will break and dont open them. Thats an wifes tail. The glass will break and hurt you. Get inside and get to the middle of your home. Get as many walls between you and the outside of the house as possible because in the middle theres one little room standing, especially in these storm tornadoes that we have here. These are not f5 tornadoes. They are small tornadoes but can still cause damage and break glass and can still hurt you. Chad, well check back with you. Were concerned about the breaking news. Tornado warnings happening across the area. Thank you very much. When we come barck, new Jersey Governor Chris Christie holds his first town hall meeting since the bridgegate scandal. Thats coming up. While its certainly affected me emotionally ar insurance. Everybody knows that. Well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no ones around, it does make a sound . Ohhh. Ugh. Geico. Little help here. I needthats my geico Digital Insurance id card gots all my pertinents on it and such. Works for me. Turn to the camera. Ah, actually i think my eyes might ha. Next Digital Insurance id cards. Just a tap away on the geico app. Did you run into traffic . No, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. You stopped by the house . Uhhuh. Yea. Alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. You leave the house in good shape . Yea. Yea, of course. [ sportscaster talking on tv ] lastsecond field go yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at t digital life. Personalized Home Security and automation. Get professionally monitored security for just 29. 99 a month. With limited availability in select markets. Starts with freshlymade pasta, and 100 real cheddar cheese. But what makes Stouffers Mac n cheese best of all. That moment you enjoy it at home. Stouffers. Made with care for you or your family. We asked people a question, how much money do you think youll need when you retire . 500,000. Maybe halfmillion. Say a Million Dollars. [ dan ] then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. I was trying to like pull it a little further. You know, i was trying to stretch it a little bit more. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. Im going to have to rethink this thing. [ man ] i looked around at everybody else and i was like, are you kidding me . [ dan ] its just human nature to focus on the here and now. So its hard to imagine how much well need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. So maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie held his first town hall meeting today since the bridge scandal broke and for most of the people there the focus remained on superstorm sandy, not the scandal hanging over his administrations head. Chris frates was monitoring what is going on and has details. Chris . Reporter you wouldnt have known that this was the first town hall meeting since bridgegate exploded all over new jersey. There was not one question on the widening scandal. In a town hit hard by superstorm sandy, traffic problems in ft. Lee seemed a world away from residents here. Whats your name . Nicole. Nicole, how old are you . 3. Excellent. Do you have a question for me . Yeah. Okay. Fix my house. My house is still broken. Your house is still broken . Were going to try and see if we can get your home fixed, okay . Reporter and then there was this, christie opening up about obama for refusing to help those with homes still destroyed from the homes. I went to him and said se secondary homes need to be included. Reporter the only the process will be as follows. Back in trenton, the state legislative Committee Investigating the George Washington bridge lane closures is still trying to get documents from two christie aides. The two aides, Bridget Kelly and bill steppian argue that it discriminates against their right to incrimination. Theyve apologized to motorists snarled in the traffic caused by the lane closures. While he said he was sorry, he didnt take responsibility for the closures. Ft. Lee also released 220 pages of documents requested by christies lawyer. Wolf, todays town hall was the second time christie fielded questions from the public. He did a callin radio show. And again new jersey voters show they dont care about the controversies fueling the National Political media. Thats a good sign for christie and he continues to work to rebuild a brand thats been a little tarnished by scandal. Chris frates thank you very much. Lets discuss with Gloria Borger and ryan lizza, the washington correspondent for the new yorker magazine. I think people care about the recovery effort from sandy. This is part of the governors brand. He made a point of telling people there that he still spends 40 of his time on sandy issues. Thats 15 months after the storm. And he was masterful, i thought, during this up to hall today because he was charming. He was responsive. And he also reminded people that, while hes been doing his job, the feds, hes had some problems with the federal government. Never kind of a bad thing to rap the federal government. He did all of that in a masterful way and acted as a governor should act which is to say i care about your problems and im dealing with them. I dont know if ryan can still hear me. If you can still hear me, lets talk about this a little bit. Chris christie, hes the new chairman of the republican governors association. He raised about 7 million in the month of january. So what does it say to you, is he on a rebound right now . Is this simply a National Story or is it not much of a story at all, whats going on with the bridge . Yeah, it shows hes still got some strength, still. Hes not politically dead. He has constituents that care about other things, and he proved that today at this town hall. Hes political everyones you dont know exactly who shows up or they they get there, what questions are screened. But people whose homes are devastated that care a lot more about that than bridgegate. And the fundraising numbers are still strong. He has the donor class of the Republican Party sticking with him i think because theres not a lot of alternatives. I wouldnt call this a comeback just yet. This is in a lot of ways out of his hands. The democrats in the legislature, i happen to be interviewing Loretta Weinberg today, one of the democrats leading the investigation. She said whats with the lull in this story . She said, well, were waiting for all the documents on the subpoenas. He has to fear that. He has to fear all the information that the democrats are gathering via subpoena. And that means that the story is not in his control even if he has politically a good day like today once in a while. Hes got to proceed on two different tracks, right, wolf . One of the tracks is that im a governor of the state of new jersey. I can get things done, thats his brand. Sandy recovery. The second track is that he does have this congressional i mean, this state legislative Committee Investigating him. Hes got two former staffers who are not cooperating with the committee. So hes still going to have to be talking about this at some point, just now he just wants to be the governor. All three of us, weve covered politics for a long time. Lets say hypothetically at that town hall meeting today where heden asked some specific question about bridgegate and he came out of it and said, what a lot of politicians often do. There are multiple investigations under way. Im not going to comment on this any more. Let all the investigators do their work and lets move on to the issues that really affect the people of new jersey. Next question. What if he were to respond with an answer like that, ryan . How would that be received . It depends on the crowd. In a crowd like today where really the focus was on folks who are having trouble getting the assistance they need, this might not be the most important issue in the world. And rightfully so. If he were to do a town hall, lets say, in ft. Lee or emails and other documents come out. So i would say, the truth is were at the beginning of this investigation. Were not even at the middle yet, wolf. If youre a powerful governor and youre working to help people, youre using your power to help people as in sandy recovery, thats one thing. The question for Chris Christie is was he abusing his power and hurting these people in the gw bridge scandal . Ryan, weve got to go, gloria, weve got to go, were up against the clock. But this storys not going away. Coming up new information on the mysterious deaths of two former u. S. Navy s. E. A. L. S on board the container ship made famous by the hit film captain phillips. Carnage in kiev. This is interesting. 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Visit one of our 425 stores for the the largest closeout event of the year with 50 savings on Innovation Limited edition beds. Know better sleep with sleep number. Heres a look at some of the other stories were working in the the situation room. Police have identified two former navy s. E. A. L. S found dead on the maersk container ship. The seychelles Officials Say that traces of narcotics and needles were found with their bodies suggesting a drug overdose. The maersk was hijacked by so maly pirates and is the inspiration for the hit film captain phillips. A huge surge on wall street today. The dow closing just above 16,000, the s p closing within ten point of its alltime high. The news comes despite the latest batch of weak economic numbers. Happening now, breaking news, on the new shoe bomb alert, we have new details on a likely link to al qaeda and fears that the Terror Networks master bombmaker is now at work. And outrageous carnage. Desperate new measures to end the bloodshed in ukraine. Were live at the center of the crisis for this breaking story. Weve been getting in remarkable video of the fighting from a filmmaker on the scene. Hes standing by live to bring us the brand new and exclusive images. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Were learning more about the newest terror warnings. U. S. Official tells cnn the alert for a possible airline shoe bomber is tied to al qaeda and its based on a credible threat. Now authorities are zeroing in on one likely suspect. The Terror Networks master bombmaker. Brian todd is here with all the information for us. What are you learning . Reporter wolf, u. S. Intelligence officials are very concerned about the capabilities of this man, Ibrahim Al Asiri. Hes able to get bombs on airplanes and this current threat could well bear his signature. U. S. Officials say the latest intelligence indicates al qaeda terrorists have been working on new shoebomb designs. Thats what prompted the department of Homeland Security to warn airlines to be on the lookout. While theres no specific target, the warning pertains to flights from at least 25 cities overseas into the u. S. Johannesburg, paris, london, cairo, cities in the middle east are on the list. This is not believed to be connected to the recent warning about toothpaste bombs like this one. But theres one man, a 31yearold College Dropout named ibrahim alasiri. This is the kind of device hes built in the past. Reporter u. S. Intelligence officials tell cnn that hes the best bombmaker we know of in any al qaeda affiliate. They believe hes hiding in yemen operating in the shadows working with the group al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, a al asiri ziped the bomb that failed to detonate. Demonstrations of those types of bombs showed they could have brought down airliners. While those plots were foiled, in each case, al asiri displayed a frightening ability to get bombs past security. And experts say hes learned from his mistakes. How determined is he to kill americans and their allies . This is a very cold customer, this is a guy recruited a brother to go and do a Suicide Attack using an underwear bomb to kill a leading saudi prince. Reporter the saudi terror chief survived that attack. Al asiris brother was killed. This video shows them embracing just before the mission. Theyre hunting for him but even if he is taken out, he is now training other recruits in the art of making these very sophisticated explosive devices which can bypass normal airport security. Reporter and al asiri has likely had access to military quality explosives and chemical. Analysts say when al qaeda capture a lot of territory in yemen in 2011 it also overran some military bases. Some of them have since been taken back, but experts say that he likely had access to labs and other facilities which would have enhanced his capabilities, wolf, and thats what scares u. S. Officials. Obviously a dangerous guy. Thanks, brian todd for that. The other breaking story were following, the deadly crisis in ukraine and fears the situation could explode again tonight after the worst carnage yet. Right now urgent new moves are under way to end the fighting with Security Forces and antigovernment protesters. The opposition says at least 100 people were killed in intense clashes a that broke out when a tentative truce fell apart. Our Senior Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is joining us from kiev. Whats the latest, nick . Reporter wolf, we are hearing of Diplomatic Initiatives. The polish president suggesting maybe Viktor Yanukovych, the ukrainian president is open to new elections to his cabinet, lessening president ial powers. But the protests are very somber, grieving the loss of perhaps as many as 100 to live fire this morning and scenes that we saw, which i should say contain distressing images in the report youre about to see. This is what a truce looks like. Protesters carried away from police lines, dead, wounded, gathered inside the lobby of a hotel under the sheets, head wounds, most here hit by bullets. The dead, the number rising. Today with disbelief and rage. Outside this makeshift morgue and hospital live fire whizzed around. Eight hours earlier, the president agreed on a truce and something changed. Police suddenly withdrew and protesters moved forward. Its unclir why. This man said he fire a shotgun at police once protesters have been fired upon by a sniper. He didnt want his face shown. This man said stun grenades have injured protesters causing them to surge forward. Opposition leaders blame the provocation and the debris of what was once peaceful protests shotgun pellets, the tips of live rounds, on the road to parliament, police and protesters facetoface. Barricades being reinforced as many fear an escalation is ahead. Are you ready, one protester asks a young man behind his riot shield. He may not be. Ukraine may not be. For what comes next. Now, we know we have this Diplomatic Initiative to calm things ahead, but we have not heard from Viktor Yanukovych at all today. Only from other politicians suggesting how he might be reacting to things. Thats concerning. The mayor of kiev distanced himself from him today leaving the ruling party saying hed run the city here by himself. Clear signs of problems at the top here of yanukovychs administration. We just have to wait and see whether his Security Forces will escalate in turn. Wolf . Nick paton walsh in kiev, thank you. The Russian Ambassador to ukraine is accusing ro testers are attempting a, quote, violent coup against the government in kiev. The u. S. Says its the Ukrainian Government thats mostly to blame for all the unrest. This crisis is driving an even bigger wedge between moscow and washington and between president s obama and putin. Lets bring in our chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto. He has more. One thing thats very clear is that russia and the u. S. And the west have vastly different views of this crisis. The west sees ukraine increasingly as part of europe, russia sees it very much in its sphere of influence, even different views of the protesters. Many here see them fighting for their democratic rights. In ukraine, the russian government will call them terrorists, extremists, thugs, that sort of thing. But one thing thats very clear is that russia has a key involvement in ukraine and has for some time. Political support, Financial Support and on the ground even stories of russian Security Forces fighting the protesters. Today it is kiev in flames and ukrainian protesters under fire. U. S. Officials are increasingly watching russia. Our approach as the United States is not to see these as some cold war chessboard in which were in competition with russia. Our goal is to make sure the people of ukraine are able to make decisions for themselves about their future. Reporter russian president vladimir putin, the ukraine began governments primary backer, may truly hold ukraines future had his hands. And for some, the outlook is grave. Putin and the kremlin, yanukovych in the presidency of ukraine are kind of rewriting history and theyre rewriting it in blood. Reporter strobe talbott, deputy secretary of state under bill clinton said the same is true in syria where russias providing both weapons and diplomatic cover for the assad regime and beyond. Putin is in a very profound sense a throwback to what was worst about the soviet union and that is a reliance on force above anything else. Reporter Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has rejected the argument saying, quote, western politicians accuse russia of trying to resovietize the postsoviet world, but this would be fut ill. And he said any impartial observer knows this. For any russian the mantra is never again. It will never allow it to disappear as it did in the former soviet union, first in the republics then in eastern europe. I spoke with bill richardson. I believe president putin is very pragmatic. Theyll see that its not in their interests for this violence to erupt so openly and for russia to be basically backing and keeping alive the current Ukrainian Government. Reporter recently russian officials feel they were bamboozled into supporting regime change in libya, another russian ally. They dont want to see that happen again, but theres a potential for a positive role as well. We heard today that the russians are sending an envoy to the ukraine to play the role of mediator, hopefully having a peaceful influence, a calming influence on the violence there. But the question is would the opposition accept or trust a russian mediator . 24 hours ago we thought there was a truce. That didnt work out. Lets hope, though. Were standing by with more exclusive images like these from ukraine. A filmmaker is getting ready to share his view of the capital under siege. Hes standing by to join us live. And the violence takes a toll on ukraines olympic team. Well hear exclusively from the head of the countrys olympic committee. Hey guys sorry were late. Did you run into traffic . No, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. You stopped by the house . Uhhuh. Yea. Alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. You leave the house in good shape . Yea. Yea, of course. [ sportscaster talking on tv ] lastsecond field go yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at t digital life. Personalized Home Security and automation. Get professionally monitored security for just 29. 99 a month. With limited availability in select markets. [ chainsaw whirring ] humans sometimes life trips us up. Sometimes we trip ourselves up. And although the mistakes may seem to just keep coming at you, so do the solutions. 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Hundreds have been injured in the heart of the ukrainian capital. The unrest is certainly taking its toll. Take a look at the dramatic before and after photos from Independence Square in kiev, thats right in the center of the fighting right now. Lets discuss all of this with the New York Times columnist nicholas christophe. Nick, thanks very much for joining us. My pleasure. I remember a column you wrote back in 2004 while you were in kiev during the orange revolution, and the column was entitled let my people go. Remind our viewers, for you this is personal. Thats right. My father grew up in what is now southwestern ukraine. My grandmother came from lavov in the west and now to watch these scenes in ukraine of a country that seemed to be evolving, moving a little more toward the west, to see a hundred People Killed there, the thing that maybe got me more than anything else was the young women and volunteer medic who was shot in the neck and tweeted that she was dying. I mean, its just so painful to watch this happening in ukraine today. Ten years ago, you wrote that the protesters at that time, they would deliberately ask young beautiful women to go to the front of the lines so that the military would be reluctant to go ahead and fight them and shoot them. I suspect similar thins are happening right now. Yeah, and yet it seems that the snipers, today in particular, were shooting to kill and were shooting anybody, women as well. The on and off restraint completely evaporated today. And what i fear is that ukraine is at a knife edge. There are some signs that yanukovych could move toward elections, towards stepping back, there are other signs that he could decide the only way to resolve this is to call in the military and crush it militarily and in that case hell get a lot worse. We have these two roads lying ahead. We dont know which one yanukovych will take. Are we on the eve of another cold war between the u. S. And russia . Well, i mean, its sort of astonishing to have talk today about whether putin will send in troops to help ukraine crush an opposition. You know, this is a reminder of czechoslovakia in 1968, of hungary in 56. The idea that this would be happening in 2014 would have been astonishing. Putin, of course, is not only ukraine, you have something similar happening without the violence in moldova. You have it with the violence in syria. You have so many areas where the u. S. And putin seem to be completely at odds. I think putin is playing a very dangerous game, but i think he cares deeply about ukraine. I think hes going to be unwilling to see it go off lightly toward the west, which is i think his fear. You planning on heading over there . Oh, i wish i was there right now. Ive got another obligation here in the next few days in the u. S. , but i see these images, and i just want to be there both as a reporter and somebody of ukrainian origin. Heartbreaking. We have more dramatic images coming up. Nick kristof, as usual, thank you for joining us. Hes right in the middle of the conflict. Hell join us live from kiev. Honestly . I wanted a smartphone that shoots great video. So i got the new nokia lumia icon. Its got 1080p video, three times zoom, and a twentymegapixel sensor. Its got the brightest display, so i can see what im shooting even outdoors, and 4 mics that capture incredible sound. Plus, it has apps like vine and free cloud storage. My new lumia icon is so great, even our wipeouts look amazing. Honestly, i want to see you be brave honestly, i want to see you be brave here in philadelphia you can access a philly cheesesteak anytime, day or night. Just like you can access geico anytime, day or night. There is only one way to celebrate this unique similarity. Witness the cheesesteak shuffle. Cheesesteak, cheesesteak its the cheesesteak shuffle huh every day, all day, cheesesteak, cheesesteak every night, all night cheesesteak, cheesesteak 9 a. M. Cheesesteak 2 p. M. Cheesesteak 4 a. M. Cheesesteak any time ruh geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Members of the Ukrainian Olympic Team are struggling to deal with the violence happening in their homeland right now. They held a moment of silence today for the victims. The head of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee spoke exclusively to cnn about the teams reaction. He revealed that the skier Bogdana Matsotska and her coach, who is also the father, are pulling out of the competition because of whats going on back home. They said it will be very difficult for her psychologically to continue competition, and this is personal decision to stop competition and rest of the team, they also coach and bogdana support the team who will continue to compete and wish them to bring the medal. Now, an exclusive look inside the crisis in ukraine. Were joined by a documentary filmmaker who has been in kiev and hes been getting remarkable video of the unrest. Thanks very much for joining us. You have new video. I want to show it to our viewers right now. Its graphic. It shows injured protesters, a man shot in the neck. Tell us about these images were showing our viewers. Yeah, well, i was walking up a hill in maiden square and they were carrying this wounded man that had been hit with a sniper bullet in the neck. And they have like a surgery that theyve built up here in the hotel. And they were trying to keep him alive. You also showed us some video from last night, one of the protesters, his feet were on fire. It was pretty dramatic. Ill play that video. There it is right there. Tell us about this. What was going on . Theyre singing behind me. Its hard to hear. I think its the video of the second barricade when the riot police put the protesters to the second barricade and they had an Armored Vehicle that was hitting the barricades and people were flying all around the place and molotov cocktails and stun grenades. Yeah, it was just total mayhem. What are the protesters telling you . Well, of course, you have private sector main activist group here, i talked to two of them. And they told me that, you know, theyre tired the of a couple of o ofoof o o la garks owning the wealth of the country and they want that returned to the people. Thank you for sharing your video. Be careful over there. We appreciate what youre doing to show our viewers in the United States whats going on. I want to check in with chad myers. Tornado threats. Whats the latest specifically in memphis . We have tornadoes that are close to the ground. Memphis in the clear now, but nashville back in play, paducah in play as the line of storms rolls through your area. Very hot air, very muggy air in the east. That cold air pushes the warm air up, the cold front and we have a couple of tornado possibilities. A couple of Tornado Warnings, the most significant up to mcleansboro here. Close to carbondale, the same storm they continue to develop tonight. It will be a violent night for some people here in the central plains. As it gets dark, it will get cooler and that will help cool things down and settle things down but for now a couple more hours of severe weather. Two more hours is that what youre saying people have to be on alert for . The air cools down and you dont have that lift. The lift is like hot air balloon. When you have warmth, the air goes up and you have bigger storms. Chad myers, well monitor over the next couple hours and see what happens. Thanks very much. You can follow us on twitter, tweet me wolf blitzer. Thats it for me. Thanks for watching. Crossfire with special guest ralph nader and Stephen Moore starts right now. Tonight on crossfire is it time millions of americans got a raise . All the president s men say yes. Its the right thing to do for our economy. For companies, i think they should support this. But will your boss say, i cant afford it, youre fired. On the left, van jones. On the right, Newt Gingrich. In the crossfire ralph nader, a longtime consumer advocate, and Stephen Moore, a conservative economist. Will raising the minimum wage help the economy or cost jobs . Tonight on crossfire. Welcome to crossfire. Im Newt Gingrich on the right. And im van jones on the left. In the crossfire tonight we have a consumer advocate and a conservative economist. Now you would thing that everybody would be happy about 25 million americans potentially getting a raise, especially if youre one of them. Thats why president obama wants to raise the minimum wage to 10. 10 an hour. Look, thats just keeping up with inflation, folks. But that plan would also lift about a Million People out of poverty. So whats stopping us from doing this . The republicans. They never like the minimum wage in the first place. And now they are happy they can hide behind this report that came out this week. The report said the minimum wage might, might cost 500,000 jobs, might maybe. But then again the same report also said that it might cost zero jobs. Now, the republicans wont tell you that part because, as usual, theyd rather scare you than help you. Now, newt, america deserves a raise. America does deserve a raise, and if america had a president who was committed to a good economy, america would be getting a raise. But this is going to be a very interesting and very bold crossfire because im going to start with something you thought i wouldnt do. Yes. If you take all the countries of europe, the ones that have a minimum wage on average have twice the unemployment level of the ones that dont. And when the ones tt