it is resilience here in washington, illinois. thank you so much. "the lead" the jake tapper starts right now. the stock market is reaching heights it's never seen before and my investment banker gordon gekko assures me nothing can go wrong. i'm jake tapper. this is "the lead." the money lead. unemployment still well over 7%. many americans still upside down on their mortgages and yet, the dow keeps breaking records day after day after day. are we sitting on another bubble? is it about to pop? the national lead. she hid with her family in a basement closet. her husband clinging to the door to keep it shut as a tornado roared overhead. when they emerged, nothing was left. one illinois wife and mother brings us her harrowing tale of survival. and the politics lead. it must be that time of year for the traditional airing of grievances. two sisters have a very public falling-out over same sex marriage. one is a lesbian, the other a tea party courting conservative and they both call vice president cheney dad.

good afternoon, everyone. welcome to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. we begin with the money lead. the closing bell at the new york stock exchange on a day the dow rose above the 16,000 mark for the first time ever. it didn't stay there, but this is still the latest in a year full of record-breaking days on wall street. imagine it's something like this in lower manhattan right now. scenes of glorious success, extravagant spending, guys yelling into phones, traders standing in "i am a god" poses like in images out of the trailer for "wolf of wall street"? yes, the market's riding higher than ever before if we don't count inflation. what could possibly, possibly go wrong? i want to bring in zain asher at the new york stock exchange. what is pushing the dow to such dizzying heights? >> reporter: well, largely it is the stimulus. we started off the day right at 16,000, right out of the gate, then we ran into some head winds. what typically happens when you reach a level like 16,000 is that investors naturally will start selling a little bit and

taking off some of the profits off the table. also, volume was low today so you're bound to see some volatility when volume is low. i did speak to my source and asked him listen, when can we actually see the dow close above 16,000. they said listen, you have two key events coming up. you have ben bernanke speaking, you also have the fed minutes coming out on wednesday. investors will be looking closely for any hints that stimulus is bound to continue. we know the fed has been holding the market's hand throughout the entire year. we know that we have hit three key milestones so far this year. we started off the year with the dow at 13,000 and in 11 months we have risen 3,000 points. i want to emphasize that these milestones are purely psychological. they do mean a lot more to day traders than they do to institutional investors. if anything, if anything, they do sort of emphasize the disconnect between what the market is doing and what the state of the economy generally is. we have the dow roughly around 16,000 right now. listen, there are still 11 million americans in this country still out of work. jake? >> zain asher, thank you so

much. i just want to add a quote from a famous economist. stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau. permanently high plateau. that was irving fisher days before the stock market crash of 1929 which belongs in a big book of wrong-handed quotations from the '20s along with who the hell wants to hear actors talk. with these record-breaking dow numbers, should we be worried about a bursting bubble? after all, the dow hit over 14,000 in october 2007 before the crash. i want to bring in peter schiff, ceo of euro pacific capital, who correctly predicted the housing market crash would overwhelm the financial system. he is also the author of "the real crash, america's coming bankruptcy, how to save yourself and your country." thanks for being here. so should we be happy that the dow's hitting 16,000 or should we be scared? >> not if you're concerned about the economy. you know, the rise in the stock market, it's not because of a good economy but because of bad monetary policy. what's driving the rally is the

fed pouring all this cheap money into the market, but if they ever do the right thing and turn those spigots off, the market's going to come crashing back down. >> how far down do you think it would come crashing, back to where we started the year at, 13,000? >> we will go a lot lower than that if the fed moves away the monetary props. the problem for the economy is what the fed is doing to goose the stock market and the housing market is actually hurting the real economy. it's preventing it from restructuring in a positive way that would produce genuine economic growth and prosperity that would be enjoyed by everyone. instead, the fed is enriching the few at the expense of the many. >> so for those who have their life savings in the market right now, should they be worried now, should they be worried when they hear more directly that there will be a tapering off of this stimulus, fed stimulus? >> to be honest, i don't think the fed's going to taper. i think the people who should be the most worried are the people who have cash in the bank. the people that own government

bonds. i actually think you're better off being in the stock market, even though the rally is phony, it's probably going to continue because the fed doesn't have the integrity to do the right thing. >> what do you think about those who wonder if there's a janet yellen effect, the pending fed chair? do you think that investors possibly are feeling comfortable about her, that she will become the fed reserve chair, she won't immediately scale back the stimulus program you're talking about, that that might be some of the reason here? >> well, she's going to increase, she's going to crank it up. she's going to do more stimulus and remember, janet yellen, despite the way the media tries to redefine her, was just as clueless as everybody else. she never warned about anything with respect to the housing market or the financial crisis. in fact, she dismissed the warnings other people were making. she said there was no bubble. she thought real estate prices would keep on rising and she thought that even if they went down, which would have surprised her, it wouldn't hurt the economy. that's how little she understood about the economy or real estate market. so i think it's very dangerous

to have janet yellen as the fed chairman. it is going to be more of the same. that's why the economy's going to continue to get worse. >> peter schiff, thank you for your views. we appreciate it. >> thank you. turning now to the national lead, the shock still hanging in the air across the midwest after a rash of tornadoes blasted entire neighborhoods to splinters. >> our father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. >> that's a prayer from an ireporter as he watches this spin outside his window. this is in one of the hardest-hit towns, washington, illinois. the national weather service says the tornado that hit there was an ef-4 with winds up to 190 miles per hour. this is what the town looks like the day after. authorities now say that seven people are dead, six in illinois, one in michigan. as many as 200 people are hurt in illinois, where governor pat quinn has declared seven counties disaster areas. our own brooke baldwin is standing by live in washington, illinois. brooke, what have the survivors been telling you?

>> reporter: you know, it's incredible. you have covered fatal tornadoes as well and when you walk in these homes, i was in this one woman's home today about 90 miles from where i'm standing, whole home full of insulation, it's a sort of odd sad irony when you walk in this home and you see the utter devastation. we're talking total loss and you look up and where there should be ceiling, where there should be roof, it is this beautiful blue sky. they are grateful, they are alive, some of them like we've seen out here all behind me, total loss, 400 homes gone and i'm standing here with a ski because these are the items that have flown. in some cases, i talked to one couple who had just gotten married, she told me she lost everything in a home behind me. she somehow got a phone call that one of her wedding pictures was found in a town about 150 miles away outside of chicago. that speaks to the winds. this was an ef-4 tornado. i want to tell you about this

woman, danielle, because she had a tough time riding out the storm with her three children and her husband in the basement. thank goodness she and the kids are okay but it was the feeling of having to tell her 9-year-old it's going to be okay when deep down, she wasn't actually sure. take a listen. does it feel real? >> i'm numb. numb. i have breakdowns every time i walk in here. there's no words. i mean, it's complete devastation. just trying to keep yourself okay for your kids, because your kids, you have no idea what they're thinking. i knew what was coming. you're trying to say it's going to be okay, we're going to be okay. i don't know. >> i keep thinking i'm going to wake up and it's just a bad dream. this stuff doesn't happen to us. it happens to other people. not me. not that i wish that on anybody else but i just never thought it would ever, ever happen to me.

>> reporter: that is what we keep hearing, jake tapper. it's november. people here in illinois, they can do winter, they can do wind, but tornadoes? this is not something they know at all. so many of them are grateful for those tornado sirens. the woman you just heard from, she is just sad she lost her home before the holidays. she was about to host 30 people for thanksgiving and now she is just sitting there wondering what to do. jake? >> brooke baldwin in washington, illinois. thanks. stay warm. we'll take a quick break but stay on this story. next on "the lead" i'll talk to one tornado survivor who hid in a basement closet with her 2-year-old grandson as her house was literally ripped to pieces above her. plus, as his city council plans to vote to strip him of his power, mayor rob ford is busy preparing for the debut of his new television show tonight. first, he's talking to us. our interview ahead. [ female announcer ] ladies and gentlemen

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welcome back to "the lead." continuing our national lead and the destruction left by dozens of tornadoes across the midwest, six are dead in illinois, hundreds are injured. seven counties in illinois are

declared disaster areas and i want to bring in the governor of illinois, pat quinn, who was out touring the damage. he joins me by phone from diamond, illinois. governor, thanks so much for joining us. give us the latest on your state, on the land of lincoln. how many were killed, how many injured, how many homes destroyed, how many without power? >> well, we have six fatalities. we ask god to bless their souls. hundreds of injuries that are still being accounted for. we've had tornadoes in five different places in our state. one called washington near peoria, tremendous property damage and only one fatality there. i was there earlier this morning, i'm leaving diamond now which was hammered with extensive property damage. another town called gifford which is in champaign county, then a deep southern illinois, brookport, lost three people and extensive damage. so what we have to do is band

together as a family to recover and whthat's what i'm doing tod, working with first responders who did a heroic job. they're exhausted and we thank them for their great effort. we literally have hundreds and hundreds of people volunteering to help folks get back on their feet. >> governor, what sort of resources do you have in place to help and do you have everything you need? >> yes, we do. i received a call from the president earlier today and we work with the federal government and our federal emergency management agency. they have been in touch with me as well. our illinois emergency management agency is an elite agency. it's been used all over the country to help people recover from natural disasters. so we fully have deployed everyone and it's important that we do that. this is a time where people have to come together as a family and that's what we believe in in our state, that we help our neighbor when they need a helping hand. >> the residents of your state

have enough warning? the warnings for these tornadoes, did they come soon enough, quick enough, for people to take shelter? >> yeah. even on saturday afternoon we knew there could be trouble on sunday so we were prepared ahead of time. the sirens went off and alerted many, many people. that's how we avoided even more fatalities, i think. there is a little boy in washington, illinois, only 6 years old, heard the siren, told his mom they better get to the basement. she said well, wait a minute, i'll be down in a minute. he said no, come right away, and she brought his other brother and they got to the basement, and it was good that he did, because the tornado took the top of their house off. he saved the lives of his family and he deserves high credit. he's a real hero. >> governor, are there parts of the state that citizens there should avoid so that first

responders and clean-up and repair crews can get there? >> well, washington, illinois, we have a lot of work to be done. we try to encourage people to avoid getting into the traffic there. there's quite a few folks that are there. other places are not as traffic-focused. it really is inspiring to see so many volunteers who have come forward, including some of our companies. i want to thank walmart and coca cola and blue cross blue shield. they all stepped forward when we really need them and it makes a big difference. >> illinois governor pat quinn, thank you so much for your time. good luck with your clean-up efforts. >> thank you. take care. >> let's bring in someone who survived one of the most severe tornadoes, an ef-4, to be exact. one that tore through washington, illinois with winds up to 190 miles per hour. barb clark was hiding in the closet of her basement with her family when the tornado destroyed her home. she joins me now by phone.

thanks for joining us. we're so grateful that you are okay. tell us what happened when that tornado came through. what was it like to go through? >> well, my daughter and i had just gotten home from church. we weren't home 15 minutes, the emergency broadcast came on through the tv telling us that we were in a tornado warning. as usual, you always think well, it's probably just another warning that won't amount to anything. when the hail started, my husband sent me and my 2-year-old grandson and my 18-year-old daughter to the basement, and then he actually stayed upstairs and kept an eye out and saw the tornado actually coming towards the house. tried to get the dogs downstairs. my grandson's mother which is basically my daughter-in-law, got to our house and in the basement within minutes of our house being destroyed on top of us.

we're thankful to have everyone alive. >> and your 2-year-old grandson was with you. he had to have been terrified. is he okay? >> he's doing good. he was playing like nothing last night. i don't know that anything really affected him much. we kind of surrounded and huddled over him to protect him in case any debris did fall down on top of us. i don't really know at 2 years old that he understood anything. >> i just want to make sure, because i'm sure people will want to know, your family is all fine. how about your neighbors? how did they do? >> my neighbors, i'm not sure. the neighbor to the west of us, i'm not sure if they were home or not. both cars were in the garage but i haven't heard. i know that -- i believe that they were not in the one fatality that i've heard happened. then the neighbors to the east of us were actually all still at

church in morton, illinois. >> we're showing a before and after picture of your house, and it is unbelievable. barb clark, we are so glad that you and your family are all right. thank you so much. good luck. >> thank you. coming up next, sister versus sister. what is driving dick cheney's daughters apart in a very public feud? later, they have been accused of not paying their employees enough and now one walmart is asking its workers to donate food to other employees. we'll tell you how walmart is defending itself against some outrage from this. [ female announcer ] it's time for the annual shareholders meeting.

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welcome back to "the lead." the politics lead now. it's a family dispute but not uncommon in this era with americans hardly unanimous on whether same sex marriage should be legal. 56% are in support, 36% opposed according to a recent poll. now that rift is on public display. for one of the highest profile families in the nation. the cheneys. dad, of course, you may have heard of him, was vice president.

daughter mary was for a time one of the best-known openly gay republicans in the country. now daughter liz is running for senate in wyoming. her public statement yesterday that she disagrees with her sister's right to marry her long time partner is putting a family spat in the national spotlight. >> i, richard bruce cheney, do solemnly swear -- >> sure, dad is one of the most controversial vice presidents in american history but today it's the cheney daughters, mary and liz, who are causing a stir. in one corner, mary, who in the 1990s did outreach to the gay and lesbian community and married her long-time partner in 2012 in washington, d.c. they have two children. in the other corner, liz, the older sister. a former state department official and current contender in a senate race who recently announced her opposition to same sex marriage. i asked their dad about the possible tension three weeks ago. >> is that going to be an awkward christmas table conversation? >> well, my position on that issue is well known.

i think we ought to do everything we can to tolerate and accommodate whatever kind of relationships people want to enter into. >> it hasn't changed. i will let my daughters speak for themselves. >> and boy, are they. sunday afternoon on fox news, liz cheney states her position. >> i do believe in the traditional definition of marriage. i love mary very much. i love her family very much. this is just an issue on which we disagree. >> larter, mary's wife responds saying when we got married in 2012, liz didn't hesitate to tell us how happy she was for us. to hear her say she doesn't support our right to marry now is offensive, to say the least. heather even took a shot at what opponents describe as liz's carpetbagger status in wyoming. i can't help but wonder how liz would feel if as she moved from state to state, she discovered that her family was protected in one but not the other. almost immediately after heather's posts, mary jumps in

for some facebook feather ruffling, writing couldn't have said it better myself. liz, this isn't just an issue on which we disagree. you're just wrong. and on the wrong side of history. it should be noted that liz by opposing a federal marriage amendment has a more liberal point of view on this than the one george w. bush held in 2000 and 2004 when mary worked on those campaigns. bush/cheney 2004 was a campaign criticized by gay and lesbian rights groups for using opposition to same sex marriage as a way to rally conservative voters to the polls. mary explained to david letterman in 2006 that was tough for her. >> i actually came very close to quitting the campaign in 2004 over this very issue. my position was as a campaign staffer, and quite frankly, i think it's inappropriate for campaign staffers to be issuing their own public policy statements. >> though apparently not tough enough. >> the important thing in 2004, the important issue, was national security. >> i reached out to liz cheney this morning and she told me quote, i love my sister and her

family and have always tried to be compassionate toward them. i believe that is the christian way to behave. the former vice president and mrs. cheney released the following statement on the family rift this afternoon. this is an issue we have dealt with privately for many years and we are pained to see it become public. since it has one thing should be clear. liz has always believed in the traditional definition of marriage. she has also always treated her sister and her sister's family with love and respect, exactly as she should have done. compassion is called for even when there is disagreement about such a fundamental matter and liz's many kindnesses shouldn't be used to distort her position. let's bring in our political panel. co-host of cnn's "crossfire" van jones. washington based reporter for the "new york times" ashley parker and cnn political commentator and republican strategist, kevin madden. ashley, you think this is more than a family struggle. this is a party struggle, the republican party is going through this? >> yeah. what we're seeing at the cheney dinner table sort of playing out, we are also seeing in the party, sort of this debate between a more progressive, more establishment strain of the

republican party and a more hardcore conservative strain and it's played out in this huge fascinating political powerhouse of a family. >> i mean, it's really painful to watch. you can imagine being a parent and watching this sort of thing happening around normal thanksgiving table now it's happening now in public. ordinarily, the republican party have got this far right wing. when candidates play to that, they hurt themselves in the general election. they don't hurt themselves in their family. the republicans have to figure out how to get this thing resolved, get on the right side of history. you're tearing apart families, tearing apart the country, making people unelectable. >> to be fair, liz's position is not hard right. she's against the federal marriage amendment. she said this in the same interview yesterday. she's against the federal marriage amendment. she supports rights for same sex couples. >> she's not a hateful bigot but she doesn't believe in equal rights and the country is moving in the direction of saying -- >> i'm not defending.

i'm saying to be clear on her position, i mean, it doesn't seem really to me to be all that different from what barack obama's position was in 2008. >> which he's moved away from and so has the rest of the country. i think that what you hear in that painful facebook post is the anguish of a sister feeling completely disrespected by her own family member. it's tough enough to be lesbian and gay and trying to raise a family. to have your own family member diss you publicly, it must be horrible. i just wish that the right wing of the republican party would let its candidates out of this prison of having to be so mean-spirited toward a fellow american. we believe in equal rights in this country. the problem in america is not that too many people want to get married. that's not the problem. >> you have done some work for the enzi campaign, who liz cheney is running against, the republican senator, the incumbent. i'm not going to ask you about the specific issue or the specific debate. but republican support for same sex marriage is a mirror reflection of what it is

nationally. republicans oppose same sex marriage, majority of them. when van says i wish the right wing wouldn't let the rest of the republican party, is that accurate? it seems to me a majority of republicans oppose same sex marriage. they oppose 58%, support 36%. >> i think there is a lot of truth in both what van said as far as how people look at whether or not the party ought to be dictating some personal preferences of individual candidates and i think there's also a lot of truth in what ashley said which is that this debate is going on within the republican party. i think one of the interesting things is that in many ways, more and more republicans are finding it easier or somewhat easier than it was in the past to make the conservative argument, the state's rights argument, in favor of gay marriage. and that is not a debate that's tipped i don't think any one way or the other entirely yet. there are many people within the party struggling with it. what's interesting about this particular debate is that i don't know if it's so much about policy as it is exposing sort of

the raw nerves inside a family and their personal debate with this issue. it's a very tough issue for many people. >> the one thing in addition to liz or to mary feeling attacked by liz is that mary has also called into question not just liz on policy but sort of her character and kind of implying her stance may not be so much of a hardcore conviction and more of a political play. i think that's what you saw dick cheney coming out today and trying to say, whatever liz thinks, she really believes this. >> right. she did not go to mary cheney's wedding. >> one quick point, this goes to where i would disagree with van, which is that many republicans in the party believe that this is an issue that has to be defined by what we're for, not by what we're against. meaning that we're anti-gay marriage. instead, there are people who have a substantive agreement for believing that we have to support the traditional institution of marriage and traditional definition of marriage. >> all right. thank you all so much. great discussion. when we come back, a shooting spree in the heart of paris leads to a manhunt.

that's next. disturbing surveillance video of this man police are searching for. plus, apparently he feels he hasn't given "saturday night live" enough material. new video of toronto mayor rob ford. we will show you what happens when you get in his way. ya know, with new fedex one rate you can fill that box and pay one flat rate. how naughty was he? oh boy... [ male announcer ] fedex one rate.

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welcome back to "the lead." the buried lead now, stories we think are not getting enough attention. it's a military creed, you do not leave your battle buddies behind. but in many ways, the u.s. government is doing just that. thousands of iraqi and afghan interpreters who helped the u.s. military in those respective wars not only translating but serving as eyes and ears for troops have been left behind and in some cases, they have been killed. those trying to avoid this fate by pursuing visas to come to this country have been trapped in a maze of u.s. bureaucracy weighed down by post-9/11 security. the "washington post" last week wrote in an editorial we find it incomprehensible that the state department is dragging its feet in providing these interpreters with u.s. visas. here is one such story. >> okay. >> reporter: for years, former army captain brian larson has

been waging a battle, not in iraq where he served from 2006 to 2008, but here against the state department bureaucracy and red tape. captain larson says his job in iraq would have been impossible without the critical help of this iraqi interpreter. for security reasons, we will call him sam. >> he was part of our team. it feels like you left one of your soldiers behind. >> reporter: it's because he helped captain larson that sam's life is now at real risk. every day, larson worries that he will get that tragic call telling him that sam is dead. the u.s. promised interpreters like sam that they could come to the u.s. on special immigration visas if they're persecuted for having helped u.s. service men and women. congress approved up to 7500 such visas for afghans and 25,000 for iraqis, but only a fraction have been given out and in the meantime, on this facebook page for afghan interpreters seeking visas, you

can see moustafa. a few weeks ago, the taliban kidnapped and killed him. larson is terrified that sam might face the same fate. >> without getting him out of there it's a broken promise. and it's a daily threat. the threat to his life would not exist if we hadn't been there and he hadn't chosen to serve with us. >> reporter: buried in red tape, larson has been working with sam and his family to bring them to the united states. >> i got a phone call today. >> you did? >> the guys i got an issue with. they said the time is coming soon. >> reporter: they're relying on the generosity of others, essentially, to hide him and help provide for his family on a day-to-day basis. at one point, sam's visa application lapsed when officials repeatedly failed to reach him. it turns out he had been shot and was in a hospital, larson says. >> the united states is not making good -- >> reporter: senators john

mccain of arizona and jean shaheen are working to hold the united states accountable. >> there are bureaucratic delays which are absolutely unacceptable. hopefully our legislative action agreed to by every member of congress will move both the department of homeland security and the state department to act in a much more rapid and efficient fashion. >> how can we refuse to let these people come to the united states after what they did to help americans? it's just not fair. and it's not acceptable. >> reporter: the republican and democrat are proposing a time limit of nine months on the application process, and greater transparency on visa decisions for interpreters. the obama administration argues that they inherited a flawed system and they have worked hard to improve it. >> we have a responsibility to the american people to make sure we have a proper vetting process that any of this goes through. >> reporter: state department spokeswoman jen psaki points out that last year saw the biggest

increase in the number of interpreters and their families granted these visas. >> all of this is being done with the important balance in mind of helping people who help u.s. men and women serving around the world while also having the proper vetting process in place to ensure we're not bringing anyone into the united states that would do american citizens harm. >> reporter: brian larson hopes the state department will get its act together in time for the battle buddy he says was left behind. >> he's more than earned this. everybody gets to come home from war. >> some possible good news in all this. since cnn began asking questions about sam's situation, there has been some movement on the case. we will keep you updated on any progress. the search is on for a man who began a terrifying crime spree by opening fire on a paris newspaper office. investigators say he stormed the building wielding a rifle and shot a 27-year-old photographer's assistant in the arm and abdomen. that victim is being treated in the icu. police say the man then continued his rampage by firing

shots into a bank in a paris suburb. he is suspected of taking a driver hostage a few hours later before letting him go unharmed. this all comes days after a frightening incident at a paris tv station. this surveillance video shows a man who police say matches the description of today's suspect entering the tv station lobby. witnesses say he threatened journalists with a rifle, vowed to return, then took off. no one was hurt in that incident. paris police have now beefed up security at media offices around the city. coming up next, he smoked crack and admits at times he's had a bit too much to drink but rob ford tells us he's the best father around. oh, my, did you not realize he has children? our interview with the mayor coming up next. [ male announcer ] this is jim,

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just another way we put members first. because we don't have shareholders. join the nation. ♪ baby... ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ welcome back to "the lead." i'm jake tapper. now the world lead. toronto mayor rob ford says yes, he smoked crack but he's not a crack addict and yes, he does stupid things when he's drunk, but he hasn't had a drink in

weeks, so he can't begin to understand why city leaders are still trying to strip him of his remaining powers. he's calling the council's actions today a coup d' etat, a place used to describe events in egypt, not city council. in between shouting matches during today's meeting, council members plan to vote on removing the limited authority ford has left. the mayor himself showed up at one point and engaged in a bizarre run-in with a female council member. the incident was captured by canadian station rodgers tv and quickly made its way to the internet. >> so what is happening -- yeah. we've got some angry exchanges going on. while this meeting was going on, the mayor -- >> because the one thing the story was missing was weird pseudo-wrestling moves. during the meeting, ford's brother took to the mike, accusing the council of trampling on the rights of the people by trying to remove the mayor from office.

>> has he showed up to work every day and fulfilled his job? >> counselor, those inquiries belong to one of the accountability officers to be reviewing if there's an issue. >> i'm glad you said that. thank you for answering the question. because the complaint should be filed through the city's integrity commissioner rather than this kangaroo court. do you not agree? >> mayor ford is also speaking out on his own behalf, repeating his vow not to step down. his tv show, of course he was going to get a tv show, "ford nation" airs on canadian television tonight. before then, he tried to set the record straight with cnn's bill weir. bill joins us now live from new york with some of the highlights of that conversation. bill? >> good to see you, jake. if you think they're amazing on television, you should see the live show. >> does he get that people are not just upset about the fact he smoked crack but that he lied about it for weeks? >> sure. and that he demonized the

reporters who broke the story and yeah, there's a lot of different flavors of anger at rob ford. but we were curious about what his true believers think. normally you try to avoid any sort of political dog and pony show where they want to take you around in a stage managed thing but when big brother doug invited me to come to the heart of ford nation which is actually a housing project, interestingly enough, these are fiscal conservatives but big social liberals, we had to go check it out. i was curious if mayor ford was aware that he is just such rich prime material for comedians across the western world. so i asked him about that. >> do you realize how you're perceived around the rest of the country, around the rest of the continent? have you seen the late night comics at all? >> they can make fun of me. the people here, you know, they can laugh at me all they want. they don't know rob ford. these people know me. they've known me, i was born and

raised here. i'm 44 years old. born and raised, went to school here, i know everybody. there's no phoniness. i am what i am. i'm sincere. am i polished, not polished? >> can you hear almost like a response in that room as fans sticking up for him. his supporters there, his brother calls him the best retail politician in north america, and it's hard to argue when you see there he hands out his card in little refrigerator magnets with his home number on it and all of them say at some point they have called him for everything from broken heaters to eviction notices. but not so much downtown and for the rest of toronto. >> i wonder when he says the best retail politician, i wonder how literally we're supposed to take that in terms of the purchasing he might be doing. be that as it may, his brother sticking with it, the people in

ford nation and that housing project sticking with him, but he is at some point going to have to face voters. does he have any political support beyond this housing project? >> no. no. he doesn't. i'll play a little -- well, actually, he does. it's an interesting rainbow coalition. this ward that he's from is both some of the richest citizens in canada live near the projects, there are malls and a horse track, it's near the airport. it's really diverse, lot of blue collar folks who are fashipassi about him as well. what's going to sink him, a lot of people think he's leaving office in handcuffs or on a stretcher. the former seems more likely, given all of the investigations going on. project brazen is what the police are doing, year-long investigation. i wanted to know why he came out and said yes, i did smoke crack after angrily denying it for almost six months. here was his reaction to that.

>> why did you -- folks, please. why did you decide to finally admit that you had smoked? >> why? i'm not going to run around and be phony and lie and i'm not going to have someone try to blackmail me, say they have videos of this, hold it over my head. the "toronto star" says i beat up kids. that's what they said. they make all these accusations about me. so how you going to trust the "toronto star" when these guys went out there, they lied, they outright lied. so as soon as you hear something from the "toronto star" 90% of it's lies. they hate me with a passion. they went out, i beat their candidate in the election. they went crazy. if someone comes up, you know you hate -- they hate you, and

says oh, we got something on you, what are you going to say? you going to say that's true? of course not. i thought about it and you know what, i didn't tell anyone. and i was the one who went out. i was the one who went out and said ask that question again. what did you ask me a few months ago? >> then it got heated as we got into an argument over semantics. he said they asked the wrong questions, not did you ever smoke crack but are you a crack addict. he had been asked the right questions all that time. but if we were looking for a moment of contrition, we weren't going to get it then. >> bill, we will go live right now. thank you so much. if you want to see the full interview that bill had with the mayor, turn to "ac 360" at 8:00. we will go live to mayor ford, who is speaking in toronto at the city council. >> got in trouble drinking and driving. and who was the first person to stand beside them and say don't worry about it, i'm here to help you, let's move on.

it was rob ford. it was rob ford. everybody's had their say, the critics, the media, the opposition. i want people to listen to me tonight from 8:00 to 9:00 on sun news. you will get my side of the story. okay? unfiltered. this, folks, reminds me of when i was watching with my brother when sudan attacked kuwait and president bush said i warn you, i warn you, i warn you, do not.

well, folks, if you think americans style politics is nasty, you guys have just attacked kuwait and you will never, you will never see something, mark my words, friends, this is going to be outright war in the next election. and i'm going to do everything in my power -- >> mayor ford, your time's up. >> everything in my power to beat you guys. >> thank you, mayor ford. >> what you're doing today is kicking me out of my office and it's the worst thing that you can do. i was elected by the people. every one of you guys have sinned. >> mayor ford, your time is up. >> it is absolutely the worst thing you can do for democracy. >> thank you. >> in the city of toronto. >> thank you. >> what goes around, comes around, friends. remember what i'm saying. thank you. >> okay. if we can ring the bells.

>> mayor rob ford saying what goes around, comes around. saying that removing his powers is one of the single worst things you can do for democracy. bill weir joining us for these last few seconds. your special airs tonight at 8:00. >> yeah, we have so much with him and more on that, his brother vowed they will use their own candidates to take out everybody on the toronto city council. unbelievable. >> that airs in a couple hours. thanks. welcome aboard. that's it for "the lead." i'll be back at 6:00 p.m. eastern to anchor "the situation room." for now, i turn you over to jim sciutto filling in for wolf blitzer. happening now, death and destruction in the heartland. we'll talk with a tornado survivor who never stopped praying even as he captured images of the storm that leveled his neighborhood. we'll go into the midwest disaster zone. george zimmerman busted again. we'll take you live to florida where police talk about his latest brush with the law after his acquittal in the shooting death of teenager trayvon martin. medical news youd