Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room 20140528

Doubts about the underwater pings that guided the hunt for flight 370. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. After more than a decade of conflict overseas, the president goes before graduating cadets at west point to lay out his vision of a postwar Foreign Policy. A day after outlie lioutlining , he doesnt vee military force as the key to American Leadership in the world. Ill speak with the president S National Security adviser, and our correspondents and analysts standing by to bring you the coverage only cnn can deliver, our senior white house correspondent, jim ka costa. President obama has wanted to answer his 0 Foreign Policy critics for weeks and today he did that, making the case that caution in the 21st century can be muscular, too. Reporter at the west Point Military academy, it was a 45minute lecture on the Obama Doctrine. As the president laid out his vision for u. S. Leadership, in a warweary world. Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail. Reporter taking note of the two wars hes ended all while killing bin laden, mr. Obama fired back at accusations hes been too hesitant on the global stage. Reminding his critics of the lessons of going it alone. Some of the most costly mistakes came not from our restraint but our willingness to rush into military adventures without thinking through the consequences. Reporter the president wants more international cooperation, proposing 5 billion fund to help other nations train and counter terrorisms and assistant for rebels in syrias civil war but short on details. I will work with congress to ramp up support to those who offer the best alternative to terrorists and brutal dictators. Reporter republicans argue it the president s syria policy at fault. He told the world they crossed a red line, the president set and then didnt do it, it reverberated throughout the world. Were unreliable and all of our allies and enemies believe that. Reporter but the president argued there are tools besides military might like the sanctions against russia after its invasion of ukraine. Our ability to shape World Opinion helped isolate russia right away. Reporter mr. Obama told the graduates they may never be called to fight in iraq and afghanistan, to a generation that hardly knows what peace looks like, that resonates. Weve been at war for a decade so far. Reporter the president recalled how he came to west point five years ago to announce a surge in afghanistan. Escalation that went on to claim the lives of four cadets who heard the speech. I believe americas security demanded those deployments. But i am haunted but those deaths. After days of hints from the white house that the president s ready to authorize military training for the Syrian Rebels, all aides will say at this point is that the assistance to rebels will continue and the u. S. Wants to start training rebels, theyll have to go through congress first. Wolf . Jim acosta, thanks. President obamaS National Security adviser, susan rice, joining us from the white house. Thanks very much for joining us. Lets talk about the president s speech at west point today. A lot of us expecting a dramatic announcement that the u. S. Was starting to train moderate Syrian Rebels opposed to al assads regime. I didnt hear that in the speech. Is he still planning on doing that . Wolf, this speech was a broad expli indication of u. S. Interests in the world and u. S. Foreign policy. What it said was that the United States must what must be and will remain in every instance the worlds number one leader. And well do what it takes to defend and advance our interests including whereas necessary to defend our core interests to use force unilaterally, if necessary, but that when it is not something that affects our fundamental National Security, our economic wellbeing or the security of our allies, that we want to work cooperatively with other nations to the greatest extent possible, to tackle global problems. Now, syrias such a global problem, where theres enormous humanitarian suffering, theres spillover affecting the regional states, and theres a growing terrorist concern which the president spoke at some length. He said he was going to work with congress to establish a new Counterterrorism Partnership fund up to 5 billion, and as part of that, he said we want to work with congress to increase our support for the moderate vetted opposition in syria, as well as syrias neighboring stated, our friends like jordan, like lebanon, turkey, and iraq. So, very much a part of our approach to syria has been support for the moderate opposition and were saying that we want to do more. That support as weve been very clear in saying has taken various forms including support for the armed opposition. We want to step that up in partnership with congress. Does that mean training them, providing weapons . Wolf, it means supporting them through the various means available to us, consistent with our law. I think you know that the United States has already made meaningful contributions of various forms to the moderate vetted Syrian Opposition. Were interested in working with congress to and the neighbors of syria who are partners to do that and more. When you say and more, i assume that means actually providing weapons and actually training them, am i right . Well, wolf to do that we will need the authority and the blessing of congress. And the resources of congress to do that through the Defense Department and other means. So, thats part of what the president said, we want to work with congress on that, and indeed theres legislation that has been introduced on the hill that we find attractive and were eager to work with congress to see if we can bring that to fruition. In the meantime, well continue to support that were providing and look for ways with countries in the region who are our partners, with our European Partners and with the syrians themselves to do more because our interest is twofold. One to see Bashar Al Assad stop killing his people and creating the worst humanitarian crisis in the world to today and secondly prevent syria from becoming an ever more serious safe haven for terrorists and extremists who threaten syrias neighbors and potentially threaten countries like the United States as well. We know the situation in syrias very, very complex. Hearing an american, a u. S. Person, as its called, was involved, carried out a suicide bombing in syria. What can you tell us about that . Wolf ivg seve seen those re i cant confirm independently. Were concerned about the flow of foreigners into syria from europe, from north africa, from the other parts of the arab world and indeed in some small numbers from the United States and canada. That inflow is part of what makes the syrian conflict increasingly dangerous and ever higher priority for the United States as the president articulated today. Reports youve seen, would that person be a u. S. Citizen, u. S. Resident, can you share that with us . I cant confirm those reports. I really ive read them in the press but i have no independent information to offer you to confirm those. Weve heard there are americans who have gone to syria, working with al qaedarelated terror organization. Do you have any idea how Many Americans are training inside syria . We dont know precisely, wolf. We done think the number of americans are particularly high, but we have report theres are indeed some. But in even more vol lum us in are numbers from various European Countries and countries in the north africa and arab world. The inflow of foreign fighters, not only from pakistan and elsewhere, but from europe, from north america, is something that we are monitoring with grave concern and its one of the reasons why we are ramping up our efforts to counter the threat that is emanating from syria in the form of terrorism but also the threat that Bashar Al Assad poses because its his conflict that has created an environment in which terrorism can thrive. On ukraine, now that the administration has declared that the elections over the weekend were largely fair, does that mean no more sanctions imposed, at least for now, against russia . Well, first of all, wolf, as you well know, we have imposed already very significant sanctions on russia, in patter inship with our european allies, sanctions have targeted individuals, government officials, and companies, as well as elements of hightech Defense Sector that are very significant to russia, and those sanctions, we believe, have had an impact on russias Decision Making to date, including its readiness to accept the results of the election and perhaps the decision to pull back forces from the border, but weve also been very clear, were going to continue to monitor carefully what russias doing and should it take steps that we in our European Partners deem destabilizing or es calating th threat remains on the table. Finely, Edward Snowden, hes saying he was an undercover clandestine officer working as a highly trained spy for the United States. Is that true . No. What can you tell us what was he doing when he was overseas . Edward snowden was a contractor working for the nsa and other elements of the Intelligence Community. Obviously hes accused of sharing and disclosing illegally some of the most Sensitive Information of the United States government allegedly and our strong view is that rather than give television interviews, he ought to come home and have his day in court, where he will be treated with all of the protections and fairness that our judicial system allows. Susan rice, the president S National Security adviser. Susan, thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me, wolf. Next, well dig deeper on the new Obama Doctrine with our experts. Is this a shift for the United States . Also coming up stunning, new fallout in the Veterans Affairs scandal. Senator mccain tells me its now time for the v. A. Secretary, Eric Shinseki, to move on. Were moving our company to new york state. The numbers are impressive. Over 400,000 new private sector jobs. 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Personalized coverage and savings all the things humans need to make our world a little less imperfect. Call. And ask about all the ways you could save. Liberty Mutual Insurance responsibility. Whats your policy . His vision for a postwar Foreign Policy, joining us, our cnn politic the commentator, peter binen. Alece, your sources, what are they saying . Why wasnt the president specific on what the u. S. Will do to help those moderate Syrian Opposition rebels . Well, they say, wolf, theres a debate ongoing within the administration about the logistics of a mission, legality of such a mission, where it would take place, how it would go. But you did expect something from the president and also from the National Security adviser, wolf. I think its great anytime a cabinet secretary or National Security adviser is on our air, but i dont understand why they felt it was compelled to put these officials forward to make a defense of the speech when the speech itself was a defense of Foreign Policy. Look, wolf, the president treated syria as a counterterrorism issue mostly in the speech. He kind of glossed over the yearlong political efforts to bring the opposition and the regime to a negotiated settlement. I think thats one of the frustrations of the allies, not that the americans are weak, but that theyre unfocused and take their eye off the ball. Look at crisis like lika, where the u. S. Was involved military, iraq the first war the president brought to a close, the countries are in the throes of political chaos. While the u. S. Reduced the military footprint it hasnt accompanied that with the high level intense and sustained Political Engagement necessary to make sure these countries dont remain in conflict. I think thats where the president gave short shrift looking at countries through a counterterrorism defense. Peter, you wrote this is the new Obama Doctrine. Explain what you meant. In the postwar world of afghan war winding down, iraq war winding down, what kind of doctrine should we have in i think the president tried to square a circle, a natural tendency in america of national ice solationism and interventionism. He was trying to lay out something that made the best of both possible approaches, ignoring some of the weaknesses in both approaches. You know, its not something that is going to lend itself to a Bumper Sticker or easily to engage in emotional rhetoric about but it was a realistic assess. Of how the United States should proceed. Is it too early, fareed to assess how historians will view the president s Foreign Policy . No, i think you see the basic outlines. More than any other president , obama follows in Dwight Eisenhowers mode. Very restrained and disciplined about the use of force. Theres one line in that speech where he says, if you look back historically, the United States greatest errors in Foreign Policy have not been from an excessive use of restraint but from overreactions, i think hes thinking of vietnam or iraq, which get us into trouble and weaken our credibility and resolve. And that i think more than anything is his guiding idea, was be very careful, measure twice before you cut once, and if you look at iraq, you look at afghanistan, look at syria, even in libya, where he did intervene, these are all measured, restrained efforts. When you look at nonmilitary part, he would argue, theres been considerable political, diplomatic kind of intervention though alece is right, they wish that part was more turbo charged. I know people feel they love the idea of the pivot to asia but wish there were more nsh behind it. The overall idea is one of restraint and discipline. You know, peter, the president famously said a few weeks ago, when it comes to Foreign Policy, sometimes you hit singles, you hit doubles, sometimes a home run. What do you think he hit today . I think it was a single. It was in keeping with his general view of Foreign Policy, which i think fareed is right about. Barack obama is not interested in creating a heroic Foreign Policy. Barack obama is interested in a hippocratic Foreign Policy and the hippocratic oath, first, do no harm. Theres a lot to be said for that. A lot of the foreign policies discourse in washington pretends as if nothing before 20009 happened we were still trying to dig our way out of brutally harmful, disastrous wars and a financial crisis that has undermined for economic and political model in the world. I think barack obama, who said heat haunted by the deaths in iraq and afghanistan, keeps that front and center in a way that a lot of his critics dont. Earlier, after the killing of bin laden, peter, there was a sense that al qaeda was dead, decimated and all of this. Today the president says number one National Security threat to the United States is terrorists. Yeah, i mean, thats still obviously a threat to the United States. I mean that may be a tribute to the fact there arent many threats to the United States. Its not like were going to have a conventional war with china or russia anytime soon. The president is rightly concerned about the security of the United States and possibility of al qaedainspired terrorist attacking the United States but it doesnt youre a massive military response. That requires other responses. I think that, you know, part of the debate that weve been having in washington about obamas foreign policies a debate about which direction history is moving. Are we in a world in which russias rising deep, dark aut tock kra si taking over parts of the neighborhood undermining the International System . Chinas doing the same. As a result, world order spiral or a Worldwide Movement toward more freedom, greater degree of economic openness, and yes, some rear guard actions and cautions we have to be concerned been i think obama very much feeled that historys on our side, if you look at the transformation of continents like latin america, africa, 30 years ago ruled by antiwestern dictators, now in a very different place. I think he feels like things are going generally well, dont screw things up, make sure you dont make big mistakes and deal with the real threats we face like terrorists. Peter, fareed, thanks to you. Peter and alece, guys, thanks very much. Fareed zakaria gps, sundays 10 00 a. M. Eastern, 1 00 p. M. Eastern sunday on cnn. Ahead, the growing scandal surrounding the v. A. And senator mccain weighs in on what he thinks should happen to the secretary of veteran affairs, Eric Shinseki. A stunning, new report released about the facility in the middle of the firestorm. 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And yet, theres someone around the office who hasnt had a Performance Review in a while. Someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. Im looking at you phone company dsl. Check your speed. See how fast your internet can be. Switch now and add voice and tv for 34. 90. Comcast business built for business. Dramatic, new fallout in the growing scandal surrounding the v. A. s treatment of veterans. John mccain for the first time in an interview with me calling for the veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to step down. I havent said this before but i think its time for general shinseki to move on. Sfort mccain went on to tell me he believes the fbi should get involved in the investigation as a criminal activity could be involved. All of this comes with the release of a disturbing report on the v. A. Facility in the middle of the entire firestorm. Cnn Senior Investigative correspondent drew griffin the first to report on the story. It gets worse and worse. Whats going on . It really does. This is the interim report, the quickie report theyve done in the last couple of weeks. Office of Inspector General identifies additional 1,700 veterans waiting for care, primary appointments but not on anybodiness list, wolf. 1,700 veterans waiting for care now. They think they have an appoi appointment, they dont. Big Sexual Harassment problems, four scheme dozen manipulate the numbers. The sampling of 200 phoenix veterans went through the administration there, they were reporting that these people were being seen within 24 days, thats what the administration was saying. In reality, 115 days were the wait times, and this report points out four different schemes, wolf, how they were manipulating the numbers. Confirmation of a nationwide problem, the office of Inspector General looking at 42 medical facilities. The bottom line, o. Ig has confirmation, inappropriate scheduling practices are systemic throughout the v. A. System. What do you hear about the deaths that have been tied to the delays . This is what i mentioned about the interim report. The oig says, look, woo need time to investigate, autopsies, medical records in the v. A. And private hospitals to determine if any of the delays in care, quite obvious now, actually led to the deaths. Weve been reporting it could be as many as 40, thats what our sources are still sticking with. But the oig saying we need more time to determine who died, why, and whether it was caused by a delay. Did the office of the Inspector General make any initial recommendations . The same recommendation that anybody reading this would say, and the president said through jay carney, let get these 1,700 guys doctor appointments right away, also calling for a National Review of every v. A. Scheduling policy. An explangs of what we know nobody a damning report. Democratic senator mark udall calling for shinseki to step down. All right, thanks. I know youll stay on top of the story for us. When we come back, one of most famous u. S. Spies outed weighing in on the white houses exposing of the cia station chief in afghanistan. My interview with Valerie Plame coming up next. [ male announcer ] great rates for great rides. Geico motorcycle, see how much you could save. [ male announcer ] great rates for great rides. Honestly, the offseason isnt ive got a lot to do. Thats why i got my surface. Its great for watching game film and drawing up plays. Its got onenote, so i can stay on top of my todo list, which has been absolutely absurd since the big game. With skype, its just really easy to stay in touch with the kids i work with. Alright, russell you are good to go alright, fellas. Alright, russ. Back to work the numbers are impressive. Over 400,000 new private sector jobs. Making new york state number two in the nation in new private sector job creation. With 10 Regional Development strategies to fit your business needs. And now its even better because theyve introduced startup new york. With the state creating dozens of taxfree zones where businesses pay no taxes for ten years. Become the next business to discover the new new york. [ male announcer ] see if your business qualifies. The white house is investigating the clumsy accidental outing of the krichlt a station chief in afghanistan whose cover was blown when president obamas visit. The fallout is considerable. Joe johns has been looking into that. What are you finding out . Tonight, the white house chief of staff asked the white House Counsel to look into what happened and make recommendations how the administration can make sure Something Like this does not happen again. Reporter sources say the review will focus on how, just after the president arrived at Bagram Air Force base in afghanistan, the system to protect the identity of the top spy broke down, allowing the name to be reported to a pool report somewhere 6,000 other journalists distributed by email. The cia operative is now a marked man and Foreign Intelligence Services are likely looking into his professional history to see who hes come into contact with. He served in other places presumably, europe, east asia, you dont know where, and served under cover. All of the cover positions he served under are blown. He might have one extension in an office and five other people are on it and theyre all blown, too. Reporter spy craft overseas extraordinarily dangerous work. 2009, seven cia agents including the chief of base, Jennifer Matthews killed by a suicide bomber after allowed to meet with agents on base. In pakistan, 2010, 2011, and again last year, three cia station chiefs had identities revealed. In perhaps the most public case, Valerie Plame, undercover cia operative during the Bush Administration, was intentionally outed, her name leaked to newspaper reporter business members of the administration unhapp happhappy diplomat husband. Her career as a spy was ruined. While circumstances in this case may be different, the latest disclosure will likely end with similar results. The effect is, you know, to destroy a career basically. Valerie plame left the cia. This guy is going to be put out into past tur into management. Reporter no comment from the government about the status of the station chief, whether hes being recalled or reassigned. The administration has sent the message on and off the record that concerns for this officials safety are getting the highest priority. It treated as a serious mistake. Wolf . Joe, thanks very much. Valerie plame, the former cia officer, the author of blow back here in the situation rwih us now. When you heard the name of the cia station chief was disclosed, what went through your mind . Well, it was colossally stupid, of course, what an error of huge proportions with tremendous consequences. But no way is it equivalent to what happened to me. Why is that . Its a false equivalency put out there. It all comes down to intent. What happened with me, my name was intended to be leaked in retaliation against my husband, who was a fierce critic of the Bush Administration and the iraq war. When richard armitage, he initially leaked your name, the deputy secretary of state. Was he deliberately wanted to blow your cover . He wasnt the only one. He wasnt the only one. But he was the first . Yes, he was. He apologized publicly, saying it was very foolish for him to have done so. Hes been around washington long enough to completely understand implications of even if you dont know someones cover status, if theyre affiliated with the cia, its best not gossip about it with other journalists. That was a blunder. Here, there was a blunder, too, apparently lowlevel either military or diplomatic officials put the name down on this list that was given to a reporter, submitted as a pool reporter. Thats right. From what the reporting is, from what i understand, it was on a list drawn up by the military, im sure everyone was breathless with the president coming, it was a surprise visit for memorial day, and it was just a really stupid error. We know the white house legal counsels investigating now to see if any crimes were committed. If anyone should be fired, what do you think . I dont know what his investigation will show but i think it will show it was an error. Lets talk about spy craft for a moment. You were a clandestine officer, you worked undercover, you went out to try to recruit spies to help the United States. Thats different than a station chief, a cia station chief, who is known to the host Country Intelligence chief who works with them on a daily basis, right. Correct. The chief of station is head of all intelligence operations in any given country, and he is declared to what we say liaison. The Afghan Government would know that this is the cia station chief . Correct. But take the Afghan Government is as we know, been eroded and infiltrated by those who seek us to do us harm. And so, the consequences in this case are pretty severe. I doubt he had a his family with him in country because it is so dangerous. But the implications of having his name out there, plenty of al qaeda and taliban supporters happy to see him killed. Your recommendation that is this guy get out of there . I hope he was on air force one going back to the states with the president. Because if he stayed in country, that would be covert career, as mine was, finished. What if he comes back here, is his covert career finished in can he go any place else now that so many know his identity . Not in any covert capacity. I dont know what his career plans are. I dont know the name of the chief of station except that he will have to figure out does he want to stay . For me, i thought i had the best job the world. I loved what i did. When i can no longer are that covert cover to travel around the world, i worked especially on nuclear counterproliferation issues, i didnt want to stay. Do you think his life is now in danger, even if he leaves afghanistan, comes back to the United States . Listen, anytime youre a poster child for the cia, there are a lot of people either have ideological or mentally imbalanced that are going to try to find you and perhaps cause you harm. Any way to prevent these kinds of disclosures down the road . Well, it speaks to a broader issue. I think what happened in the case of the u. S. Was really just stupid. But the broader issue of how many people have security clearances. Ive heard up to a million have top secret clearances in the country and 5 Million People have some sort of clearance. When you have that many, is it any wonder that you have whats happened with snowden or any of the or leaks . Im surprised we havent had more. The case of ryan fogle, you remember that case, accused by the russians working for the cia, they had video of him disguised in a wig and glasses, what was that all about . The more changes have to be more . That looked sort of ridiculous. Amateurish . Yeah. You know, the cia, as usual, has been termed, its been highly politicized since the iraq war. President s cant help but realize once they get into office gee, they have this entire Intelligence Service at their disposal and how it can be used. Right now, i think that there are serious reformed that need to be put in place across the board starting with the director of national intelligence. Theres too many stupid things that are happening. You believe Edward Snowden when he says he was really a covert operative, clandestine officer, trained by the cia, trained by the nsa, the dia, he was really working under cover, they gave him a false name as he was overseas . This is what hes suggesting. What little i have seen of his interview, he said he was trained as a spy. Anyone who goes overseas in any sort of undercover capacity does have some basic training. He was not an operations officer, he did not work in human, human intelligence as i did. His training in that regard i think probably superficial, how to maintain his cover how to move around, that sort of thing. His claim, i think, are a little beyond what the reality is. You worked in the Intelligence Community for a long time. How much damage do you think he did to the news. I have no way of knowing, but i dont like it when the Conversation Centers on him and you get into the didactic of traitor or patriot because thats going down a rabbit hole. What he has done is brought up significant issues in how robust and substantial the nsas warrantless surveillance has been and is it in direct conflict with our Constitutional Values . Those are issues we need to continue to discuss. Hows life after the cia . I miss my job, but im hard at work on my second spy thriller called burned it will come out in october. You can take some of the stories and fascinating characters i met along the way and fictionalize them and thats what im working on now. I recommend blow back excellent, excellent read. Thanks for coming in. Thank you. Coming up, new information about the underwater pings believed to be coming from the missing plane. Why is a u. S. Senator running away from our own dana bash . Find out. Tomorrow night, 9 00 p. M. Eastern, premiere of cnns the sixties look at this sixties minute. Something happening here so many things happened in the 60s. On the life of president kennedy. The president has been hit. And everyone was dropping out and doing god knows what else, and i wasnt. They were legends in their own time. One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. So there was tremendous anxiety and fear. Whatever must be done. Whatever the president does he risks nuclear war. 330 americans were killed in combat last week in vietnam. Let freedom ring. The entire culture changed. The sixties tomorrow at 9 00 on cnn. Were moving our company to new york state. The numbers are impressive. Over 400,000 new private sector jobs. Making new york state number two in the nation in new private sector job creation. With 10 Regional Development strategies to fit your business needs. And now its even better because theyve introduced startup new york. With the state creating dozens of taxfree zones where businesses pay no taxes for ten years. Become the next business to discover the new new york. [ male announcer ] see if your business qualifies. Become the next business to discover the new new york. Humans. Even when we cross our ts and dot our is, we still run into problems. Thats why Liberty Mutual insurance offers accident forgiveness with our auto policies. If you qualify, your rates wont go up due to your first accident. Because making mistakes is only human, and so are we. We also offer new car replacement, so if you total your new car, well give you the money for a new one. Call Liberty Mutual insurance at. 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, the 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 . Trwith secure wifie for your business. It also comes with public wifi for your customers. Not so with internet from the phone company. I would email the phone company to inquire as to why they have shortchanged these customers. But that would require wifi. Switch to comcast Business Internet and get two Wifi Networks included. Comcast business built for business. Turning now to the political battle for 2014 and whats quickly becoming the nastiest senate race this year. It involves allegations of breaking and entering at a nursing home facility and innuendo about one candidates longtime female aide. Heres cnns chief Congressional Correspondent dana bash. Reporter a conservative blogger is in jail. Arrested for breaking into this mississippi nursing home to photograph u. S. Senator Thad Cochrans ailing wife suffering from dementia. Its the worst. Reporter in a new ad, cochrans Campaign Points fingers at his gop challenger, Chris Mcdaniel. Posting video of senator chad cochrans wife in a nursing home, is that enough . Reporter and it gets even deeper in the mississippi mud. Cochran supporters argue the reason the blogger took his wifes picture was to feed questions about cochran and longtime aide, kay weber, whos traveled extensively with the senator on the taxpayer dime. Cochrans Campaign Calls it part of her job and suggestions of anything untoward sexist. This republican primary was supposed to be about the struggle of ideas within the gop. Chris mcdaniels. Reporter a young tea party backed upstart challenging a fellow republican for being out of touch and too entrenched in washington after 36 years in the senate. Dana bash. Reporter now Chris Mcdaniel is fending off questions about whether his campaign had anything to do with photographing his opponents sick wife. Our campaign had absolutely no connection to that whatsoe r whatsoever. Reporter you personally, when did you find out about the break in . Were going to focus on his record right now. God bless the tea party. Reporter mcdaniel would like to be the senates next ted cruz, stick to principle, compromise be damned. Im not going to washington, d. C. , to be a member of a cocktail circuit or make backroom deals. Im going up there to fight and defend the constitution. Reporter talk to Mississippi Democrats and republicans who say, come on, thad cochran has been there a long time and helps people in mississippi. Name one fight senator cochran has led against barack obama, one time he raised his voice in defense of conservative. Reporter for the Tea Party Movement after a string of primary losses this year, mcdaniel has been their best hope of toppling an establishment republican in 2014 especially after this cochran stumble. Its something i dont really know a lot about. Reporter millions of dollars pouring in to mississippi against cochran come from a whos who of Tea Party Groups nationwide. Mcdaniels says hes a lifelong republican. Reporter like other republican incumbents this year, cochran and allies are fighting back painting mcdaniel as extreme and inconsistent. Chris mcdaniel, he says one thing, his record says something else. Reporter at this point cochran is trying to avoid errors, going to head scratching extremes to avoid talking to us. We tried talking to him after this event but when an aide came out and saw us, they did a bait and switch. The car they told us cochran was getting in screeched away without him while he snuck out another door, leaving reporters like us in the dust unable to talk to the senator. Dana, you know, its not every day you see a senator running away from you. Getting a lot of publicity back in mississippi, isnt it . It is. You know, one of the big local papers talked about the fact that, you know, it was sort of odd that he didnt not only talk to me but went to such lengths for him to not get anywhere near our camera. That was on monday. And the fact that that has gotten so much attention back home just maybe six days, five days before the primary, clearly struck a nerve with the Cochran Campaign because wouldnt you know it today we were coming back here to washington. He had a short press conference with reporters back home and didnt ask anything that we wouldnt ask. Questions about why he feels he is right to come back after 36 years in office. Questions about his reaction to all of the scandal that we just explained in the piece. Things like that. But they were so emphatic, clearly, about getting out there that he is talking to the press now. Not only did they have this press conference, they tweeted pictures of it from his twitter account. There you see one of him talking to local reporters and one of him talking to our friend, dan balls of the Washington Post who was down there. Talking to local reporters, national reporters, but, look, the fact that, you know, we dont take it personally when politicians dont talk to us, the fact hes not talking to us is a strategy. They dont want to do anything at all to change the narrative which i think is hurting his republican challenger and they dont want to do anything to rock the boat to change anything at all. Well see what happens in this republican primary next week. All right, dana, thanks very much. Excellent work as usual. Coming up, were getting stunning new information from the u. S. Navy and its raising fresh doubts about the underwater pings that guided the hunt for flight 370. train horn vo wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. Norfolk southern. One line, infinite possibilities. But with less energy, moodiness, and a low sex drive, i had to do something. 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Common side effects include skin redness or irritation where applied, increased red blood cell count, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, and increase in psa. Ask your doctor about axiron. The ambulance racing by you. The ambulance chaser. Chasing the ambulance. A rollerblader with headphones whos oblivious to everything. The cab driver whos checking out the rollerblader. Its 360 degrees of chaos out there. But with driverassist technology, including a blind spot system and a rearview camera, the ford fusion will help tell you when its coming. Happening now, breaking news. A stunning setback in the search for Malaysia Flight 370. Some officials are now rethinking one of the strongest clues as the massive operation been scouring the wrong part of the indian ocean this entire time . Donald sterling vows to fight. The disgraced clippers owner denying nba charges and promising a battle, quote, to the bloody end to keep his team even as a deadline nears for bids to buy it. American suicide bomber. Insurgents say a u. S. Man carried out a deadly attack in syria for a group with ties to al qaeda. What will other americans fighting in the war bring home this kind of deadly tactic . Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. This is cnn breaking news. Lets get right to the breaking news. Very disturbing new information about the search for Malaysia Flight 370. What was believed to be the best hope of finding the missing plane is now being called a false hope. Some experts are now saying flatly that underwater signals picked up in the early weeks of the search were not from the planes black boxes. Our aviation correspondent rene marsh mass been working this story for us. Rene, what are you finding out . Wolf, it all boils down to this. For 7 1 2 weeks we were searching or they were searching for something that was not there. The u. S. Navy is on camera and talking to cnn tonight. Were told the black boxes werent in the search zone and most likely neither is the plane. It was the most promising lead, and now we know its false. New information the u. S. Navy has concluded these four underwater signals were not from the missing planes black boxes. From the u. S. Navy standpoint, these sounds were most likely not from the black boxes. Yes, id have to say at this point based on all of the imagery data weve collected and looked at, if that block box were nearby, we would have picked it up. Reporter when detected in april, the pings boosted confidence the plane would be found. The four signals previously acquired taken together constitute the most promising lead. Reporter but now the navy says the sounds could have been from the search ship, itself, or other electronics. We may very well have been in the wrong place, but, again, at the end of 30 days, there was nothing else to listen for. Reporter after searching 329 square miles of ocean floor, the bluefin21s mission is over. The search continues in august when private Companies Take over. Meantime, a new potential lead. Cnn has learned a sound that could have been the plane crashing was detected by underwater microphones. Our analysis is designed to detect Nuclear Events and earthquakes. My understanding, yes, the university are looking at the data specifically with a view to finding if theres any evidence, any impact from the malaysian aircraft. Reporter the United Nations nuclear test band organization has a network of is 11 hydrophone stations that pick up many sounds including ice breaking thousands of miles away in antarctica. But could it hear a plane hitting the water . Its possible, but the circumstances that would allow it would have to be very particular. Well, this is a long shot because the data from the signal detected appears to be inconsistent with other data about the position of the plane, but scientists continue to analyze it. This just goes to show they are following up on every possible lead. They tell us they hope to have a decision as far as their findings go in the near future. Stand by, rene, because this is a very significant reporting that youve done. Lets get some more now. Swro joining us, aviation analyst, peter goelz, former managing director of the ntsb. And arativiation correspondent, richard quest. The four pings were not from the malaysian airline. Its devastating but not surprising. Remember, the frequencies were wrong and we had the one outlier ping that was 20 miles away from the first two. But still, this is a devastating announcement. What do you think, richard . Because it looks like if, in fact, the u. S. Navy is right, those four pings were not from the socalled black boxes. They may have been looking in the wrong place. Absolutely. And peter has summed it up. Its devastating. Let me remind you exactly why everybody was so optimistic that it was from it. As rene pointed out in here report, Angus Houston said, described it as a very stable, distinct, clear signal not of natural origin believe to be consistent with the description of a flight data recorder. So its not as if everyone was on a frolic of their own here. It was very much based on what was being said, but theres no question, if they now, as they sound, do not believe that this is the black box recording, then they have to go back to the only bit of information that they still believe in, which is the inmarsat handshakes and track of the aircraft and where it went down, where they say it went down, and that means a much bigger, much more detailed and a much longer search. Rene, i remember at the time there were suggestions that maybe those pings werent from these black boxes but were really from some other device including from the ship, itself. But they seem to reject that at the time. Thats right. And you know, when you look back at things now, its almost as if we wanted it so badly or at least the australians wanted it so badly to be from the black boxes because we knew that the frequency wasnt the exact frequency that it needed to be. It was slightly off. And the reasoning behind that was, oh, well perhaps its the pressure of it being so deep down in the water and on the ocean floor. And then we also knew that they werent able to pick up the detections again. They picked it up once and couldnt reacquire it. Well, if it was from the black boxes, they should have been able to reacquire it. Its almost as if they wanted to or they wanted to believe it was truly from the black boxes and they thought of reasons as to why maybe we saw these irregularities, but essentially now were hearing that, you know, doesnt seem like they were from the black boxes es at all. Peter, think of the false hope this gave. First of all, a lot of money, time, and effort that was simply wasted if in fact those pings were not from the black boxes. This means the investigation is going to go on for many months, probably years. The swath of ocean theyre going to have to search is tremendous. And, you know, it goes back to the sensitivity of the devices. I remember when we searched for twa800 which was not at all as difficult as this one. We had to clear the area of all vessels. We had to make sure that the search vessels, everything was shut down. Im not sure that they werent in a rush. Richard, im, you know, people are going to look back and start making some get involved in the blame game, if you will. Whos going to be blamed for this blunder . Oh, everybody. Ourselves included, no doubt. And everybodys going to be blamed. Australians for wanting it to be the Acoustic Center in aust rail wr australia. The searchers. Its unfair to heap too much blame on the australians. They were racie ining lets a moment of sobriety here. They were racing against a clock. They had a 30day window. The area was believed to be the right area by the endurance of the aircraft, by where the handshakes said it should be. So everything pointed to being in that particular area, and then they suddenly start to get the pings. Now, perhaps with hindsight, civilians should have been more skeptical, but at the time, that was the best they had to go with. And they were working their damndest going up and down the ocean in that area because they had nowhere else to search, wolf. They were searching there because thats where the evidence pointed they should be. U. S. Navy now on the record of those pings. Were not from the black boxes. All right, guys, thanks very much. Rene, thanks for your reporting. Peter goelz, richard quest, thanks to you as well. Up next, more breaking news. Donald sterling responding defensively, defiantly to the nba fighting to clean the l. A. Clippers. Plus, chilling new details of an alleged american suicide bomber. Were getting more information on the deadly attack and why u. S. Officials are so concerned. Mine was earned in korea in 1953. Afghanistan, in 2009. Orbiting the moon in 1971. [ male announcer ] once its earned, usaa Auto Insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. Because it offers a superior level of protection. And because usaas commitment to serve current and former military members and their families is without equal. Begin your legacy. Get an Auto Insurance quote. Usaa. 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Clippers owner Donald Sterling vowing to fight to keep the team. The league wants to force him to sell the team because of racist remarks he made. Cnns obtained sterlings new response to the nba in which he denies charges against him. Our own brian todd is working the story for us. Whats the latest . What are you finding out . This 26page document from Donald Sterling is combative and cites examples of bad behavior in the nba hinting strongly hes going to air other dirty laundry if the league goes through with its attempt to throw him out. We learned Donald Sterling made a dramatic turnaround and no longer wants his estranged wife to deal with the sale of the l. A. Clippers. A stunning reversal. Days after agree to let his estranged wife, shelly, handle the sale of the l. A. Clippers Donald Sterling is apparently disavowing that deal, his lawyer telling espn hes pledging instead to night to the bloody end to keep the team. The back and forth with his wife is frankly insane. Its not becoming of an nba owner, and it is a blemish on the nba, itself. This back and forth is silly. Donald, do you think its fair . Reporter apparently not silly to Donald Sterling. The crux of it is a letter obtained by cnns Rachel Nichols sent to a sterling attorney last week. It says the 80yearold owner authorizes his estranged wife, Michelle Sterling to negotiate with the National Basketball association regarding all issues in connection to the sale. Today a different lawyer for Donald Sterling told cnn in an email its now Donald Sterlings view that the letter does not authorize Shelly Sterling to finalize a sale of the team without donalds permission, setting up yet another he said she said for the sterilin sterlings. The idea he can rescind it because he doesnt want to do it anymore says more about him as a person than it does about his ability to rescind this agreement. Reporter tonight, Donald Sterling is fighting back hard against the sale on another front. In a blistering 26page denial of the nbas charges against him. Saying he should retain ownership of the clippers. And that a jealous rant to a lover never intended to be published cannot offend the nba rules. Sterling cites others in the nba being given lesser punishments than him for speechrelated conduct including lakers star kobe bryant called on tv calling a referee an expletive in an antigay slur and another owner supporting a ban on gay marriage and criticizing people with aids. The tone of the document and response is, look, if this is something that would destroy my life, a situation, it can happen to any one of us, so, therefore, we need to make sure that all of us understand that. Neither that other owner nor kobe bryant or the lakers would comment on Donald Sterlings references to him in the document. The nba in this release we got told us tonight its advisory and finance committee met today and reviewed the responses shelly and Donald Sterlings lawyers admitted. The board of governors is still going to neat meet on june 3rd vote. Shelly sterling is still Going Forward with her efforts to sell the team. Apparently so. Shelly sterling and her advisers were looking to get the first round of formal bids for the team either today or tomorrow. Could happen very soon. Lets dig deeper with senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin, cnns Rachel Nichols, the host of unguarded with Rachel Nichols and cnn anchor, don lemon. Can we clear up how much sway it actually has . All right. Heres the situation with the letter. The letter gave Shelly Sterling some currency, some authority. It allowed her to go to the bank of america and have them set up the bid process which, by the way, is complicated and not something they would have done just on her say so. It also allowed all these billionaires floating around who want the clippers to say, hey, she has some authority to vet these bids and take some offers on the team. Heres what it does do. It doesnt give her the authority to sell the team. Weve been saying on the show over and over again the clippers are not private property. The clippers are a membership in an association. It is the nba who grants anybody the authority to say who are going to be members in that association. It also grants the nba the authority to say who is the controlling owner . Donald sterling is the controlling owner. And that is not something he can just sign away in a letter. No matter how valid that letter is, he cant sign away controlling ownership to her. The nba board of governors would have to approve her as the controlling owner before she would be allowed to sell anything on her own. The bottom line here is Donald Sterling remains the controlling owner of the team. He would have to sign off on any ownership transfer no matter what that letter said. And from right now with what were seeing from his filing to the nba and what his lawyer is saying he wouldnt sign off on the transfer. Shelly can take bids and solicit, which is a smart move for the sterlings to see what they can get. They cant physically sell the team unless Donald Sterling signs off on. These guys change their story every day. If i were the nba, id want and shurns the nba isnt going to get sued by the sterlings down the road. That would be necessary for a, quote, voluntary sale. The nba wants a voluntary sale. They dont want to force their owners out but want that to come together for a voluntary sale before they would back off on this june 3rd taking the team way. Jeffrey, what do you say on the legal part of this . You said this letter suggests theres a twotrack strategy. Right. I think these two approaches are less contradictory than they seem. Shelly is the good cop, says i want to sell the team, lets make a deal. Don is the bad cop. He says, no way im going to sell. Shelly can go to a prospective buyer an say i need another 100 million to get don because don is impossible, don is terrible, hes crazy. Please dont call him don. Call him donald, please. Just, you know, it makes me a little weird. I apologize. I never confuse the two of you actually, but if you want that, thats okay. All of it is designed, i think, to get a higher price. Thats what they want because this thing is going to be sold before june 3rd or after june 3rd. What do you think, don . Wolf, you know, i think theyre working in cahoots but quite honestly, im confused. I have letters from every single day it seems like between the sterlings, between Donald Sterling, Shelly Sterling, the nba. Im like, where are we now . I think they are working in cahoots and working in tandem. I dont know exactly ha their strategy is. Jeffrey may be right its all about getting the highest bid. Frankly, im a little bit confused as to what is going on. Are they going to sell . Are they not going to sell . I think the best explanation that we have gotten for the viewers is just what rachel said which many of us have been trying to explain to people saying, how can you just take someones personal property away because of a conversation they had . It was illegally its not personal property. It is a membership into a club like belonging to a country club. If you do something wrong in that country club, regardless of how much you have paid to get in, they can kick you out. They have the right to do it. I think all indications are, rachel, that next week, june 3rd, the nba board of governors, all the owners are going to meet 29, 29 other owners. If you get 23 vote to expel Donald Sterling, its over. First, i love don lemons use of the word cahoots. I feel like im in a 40s crime caper here. This is good stuff. I have to tell you, whats happening next here is, yes, theyll have this june 3rd board of governors hearing. Whats very interesting in looking at this document that brian todd was referencing, this is a speech on Donald Sterlings part to the other owners. Notice at the end of buy wrriab report, hey, this is a private conversation. Could happen to any one of you. He specifically mentions the own i of the Orlando Magic saying, rich, youve made statements that are going to be controversial. This is the tact we expected the steri sterlings to take, buddying up to other owners saying this could happen to you. Heres the catch about that and expect the nba to say. The nba is going to say, first of all, this is no longer a private conversation. This has been broadcast around the world. What may or may not stand up in a court of law has nothing to do with this. Rachel hold on, guys. This in real life could be broadcast anywhere and has real life implications, real life damage, sponsors threatening to boycott. Thats point one. Point two, this idea you could Say Something and have opinions and remain an nba owner. The nba has been clear and adam silver has been clear, you can not be a bigot and be an owner of an nba team. Don, you have more on this tonight when you anchor our special, 10 00 p. M. Eastern, cnn later tonight. Weve run out of time right now, guys, as usual. Thanks very much. When we come back, were following more breaking news. We have more details of a suicide bomb attack allegedly carried out by an american. Now theres growing concern he was not the only one. We cannot let the fans down. Dont worry the United States Postal Service will get it there on time with Priority Mail flat rate shipping. Our priority has always been saving the day. Because our priority. Amazing . Is you the amazing spiderman 2 delivered by the United States Postal Service. Does your dog food have . 18 percent . 20 . Purina one true instinct has 30. Active dogs crave nutrientdense food. 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And right now all beds are on sale starting at just 649. 99. Hurry in, sale ends sunday know better sleep with sleep number. Theres breaking news out of syria. Where insurgents with ties to al qaeda say a deadly suicide bombing at a government checkpoint was carried out by an american man. Cnns Mohammed Jamjoom is working the story for us. What are you finding out, mohammed . A lot of new disturbing details weve been getting in the last few minutes. Insurgents in syria, many of them with links to al qaeda, claiming that an american citizen has now become the First American suicide bomber in syria. That he carried out a suicide operation on sunday. You see video there, this is a still thats been making the round on jihadist forums. This allegedly is a picture of the american. There you see him holding a cat. Theres a video thats also been posted on many jihadist forums that alleges to show the operation as it happened. It was a massive explosion. A truck that allegedly was packed with at least 17 tons of explosives. Here, youre seeing another portion of the video where these insurgents are packing artillery shells into one of the trucks that we believe was part of this operation that targeted a government checkpoint in idlib, sere wra, this past sunday. Later on in the video, you see one of the trucks approaching the check point, then a massive explosion occurs. There you go. Theres the video. Huge shockwaves. Now, american officials, one Law Enforcement official telling cnn this was a u. S. Person. Theyre not going as far as to call this person a u. S. Citizen. Theyre saying possibly it was a u. S. Resident. Theyre saying theyre not going to be able to know until they can conduct dna tests, but frankly seeing the size of that explosion, its unlikely there will be remains theyll be able to test and confirm this is who the jihadists are saying it is. Very disturbing information. Mohammed, thanks very much for that report. Well leave you on a very, very different note. One of the most remarkable acclaimed women in america has died. Maya angelou, a poet, mother, writer, activist among many other things. She arose from a brutal childhood that included sexual abuse to become a literary force who counted among her friends, Martin Luther king jr. , bill clinton, who asked her to read a poem for his first inauguration. President obama awarded her the president ial medal of freedom in 20 1 2011, the highest civilian honor. She died this morning at her home in north carolina. Maya angelou was 86 years old. Thats it for me. Thanks very much for watching. Im wolf blitzer in the situation room. Lets step into the crossfire with Stephanie Cutter and newt gingrich. President obama described his pragmatic vision for overseas. Not that it will satisfy all its critics. Actually it was a good explanation of a policy thats very unrealistic. The debate starts right now. Tonight on crossfire, president obama fires back at his Foreign Policy critics. Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail. Is america safer with this commander in chief