have breaking news we begin with. we are learning new details about a top isis leader killed during a special operations raid deep inside syria. officials say abu sayyaf is believed to have deep knowledge of isis hostage operations. the plan originally was to have him captured alive, but u.s. officials say he fought back and died during an intense firefight, that included hand-to-hand combat. his wife however, was captured by those u.s. special operations forces. she is being interrogated inside of iraq. the mission was led by the army's delta force and ordered directly from president obama. let's go straight to pentagon correspondent barbara starr. she broke the story. she's been getting more and more details throughout the day. barbara, defense secretary ash carter calling this a significant blow to the terror group. tell us about this man, abu sayyaf. who is he how critical is he. >> reporter: i have to tell you poppy, information is sketchy. he is not broadly known to those

who follow isis in the media, in the academic world, but clearly someone that u.s. intelligence and the u.s. military had known about and were tracking for some time. i think a lot more is likely to come to light. we can't assume we know everything at this hour. but officials familiar with the raid in syria have told cnn that he was for some time essentially the oil and gas emir the head of isis' oil and gas operations which had in the past been vital to them raising money. but recently had become something much more than that something very troubling. he had taken on an increasing role in isis operations planning commanding control and critical information here. the u.s. believes he may well have had some kind of communication with abu bakr al baghdadi, the leader of isis.

so you put this whole intelligence picture together plus his wife and her knowledge potentially of hostage operations that isis had been involved in and you see why the u.s. wanted to get him. this was supposed to be an intelligence operation. they were going to try and get both of them alive and interrogate them. even though he died in this operation, the wife is undergoing interrogation and we are told now that the u.s. special forces delta force, army delta forces captured a good deal of intelligence communications laptops cell phones that kind of thing. now they're going through it all. >> barbara, that's what i wanted to ask you because clearly this was from the top down. this came from president obama, he approved this putting american lives at risk. they thought this was a critical enough mission to do that, to send in these special operations forces. how much information do you understand they expect to be able to get from all of these computers, cell phones et cetera that they were able to

also get in this raid along with killing him? >> reporter: well what we have seen in past similar raids, even the osama bin laden mission, when special forces captured this kind of data they go through it. they make an initial pass at it very quickly to see what they have to see if there's anything that they might be able to take action on if you will very quickly. is there realtime intelligence that they can exploit and perhaps conduct another raid another mission, get better understanding of isis operations and organizational structure. so they will go through that very quickly and see essentially what they can do. i think a lot of people may have the question why is there so much information about this? >> right. >> reporter: they're not giving us the full story, the administration clearly, the white house, the pentagon telling us what they want us to know. what we don't know is is this a signal perhaps to other isis operatives. if there are isis operatives out

there, do they now scurry around. do they move do they change their e-mail passwords, do they go deeper underground. what else is u.s. intelligence watching for right now deep inside syria where we certainly thought there wasn't a very good intelligence picture, at least not until now. >> and we know the assad regime was not told about this but the iraqi government was aware. very quickly before i get to my guests do we know if the president will address it at all this weekend? >> reporter: we are told through our own cnn white house team at this point there is no expectation of president obama speaking about this publicly if and i think this would be the next thing to watch for as our own evan perez and jim sciutto have reported when you have delta force in an operation that involves trying to get intelligence about what happened to western hostages in syria, including potentially some of those american hostages if

information is developed on that the administration will come out and talk about that when they have that all tied up and they feel they can actually begin to reveal some of that to the public if that happens. >> barbara starr, thank you very much. joining me now cnn national security analyst, peter bergen. also former cia operative and security analyst bob baer. bob, let's begin with this because some are even doubting in the early stages if this mission and risking this much was worthwhile for this figure a figure sayyaf who many people hadn't heard of before. >> he wasn't that important. on the other hand poppy, with the battle for ramadi going on and apparently isis will take ramadi sooner rather than later,

probably we need to have this. this was an obvious target clearly well planned. they could send in a blocking force as well as the operators. but what it does tell me is that we're getting deeper into this war against i sessis than we had planned and air power alone won't do it. >> peter, you have called this unusual but not unprecedented. why is it unusual in your mind? >> well let's get to the unprecedented, the fact that it is unprecedented. we saw on july 3rd of last year to try to go into syria and try to rescue jim foley. unfortunately the intelligence that they had was kind of dated. the hostages had been moved. so we've seen it within the past year, another similar raid deep into syria. if you go back to the george w. bush administration we saw a raid against a high-level leader of al qaeda in iraq the parent organization of isis that took

place in 2008. so this has happened before. it's unusual, but it's not unprecedented. >> bob baer to you, we know that the national security council spoke and they are looking to see if they got any information related to any american hostages that may be held over there. it's going to be critical how successful they are in interrogating his wife who they have captured and taken over to iraq. do you think u.s. intelligence will be able to flip her? >> you know i don't -- it's a question how much she knows. she may have been not part of this at all. the sort of documents they got, the islamic state isn't known for keeping a lot of paper around. i don't think this is going to be some huge breakthrough. this is a long war of attrition. they're going to be looking now at al baghdadi for instance. the more they get accustomed to moving in these parts of iraq and syria, i think we'll see

more of these raids. frankly, again, i'll say we're not doing well against the islamic state. it's not dead. it is more vicious than ever. >> and the timing comes as you guys said just off the heels of it being pretty clear that we're going to lose -- the iraqi forces will lose ramadi to isis. peter, ash carter the defense secretary, used these words, a significant blow to isil. is that how you would assess it a significant blow? >> he's in a better position to make that judgment than i am. going back to the woman and what she can tell us about the hostages there was a female hostage, an american hostage held by isis who was killed. you know these people are -- have very firm views about women only dealing with women. so if she had any role in the hostage taking that would be the one area where she might have something to say. otherwise i agree completely with bob. i mean this is an organization that have encouraged women to

join them but they have no role when they get to iraq or syria, so the only place where you might find interesting information, if she has any, is the issue of the female hostages which included not only americans but italian females and others who were held by isis. some who were unfortunately murdered by isis and others who were let go because of ransom money that was exchanged. >> bob, we know that the -- as i said the assad regime did not know about this was not notified about it even though it happened inside syria. but iraq was fully aware. the iraqi forces iraqi government was aware. what does that tell us about the collaboration between the united states and the iraqi forces right now? >> well we clearly can't trust the syrians to any degree. they have gone back to using chemical weapons, probably sarin as well. they are the enemy as well as the islamic state. the iraqis we needed them for -- i'm sure there was a blocking in force. it wasn't just a simple jsoc team that went in there with a dozen guys so you need

coordination on the ground. you'd have to bring the iraqis in for air control and the rest of it. i mean that's a good sign. our best ally in this whole region is iraq. it's actually fighting. but they're not 100% reliable either. >> bob baer peter bergen, thank you very much. for all of you watching you're not going to want to miss this "blindsided." how isis shook the world, who is isis. fareed zakaria's special report sunday night at 7:00 p.m. eastern and pacific. this operation took out a top target with no american casualties whatsoever. that is what the u.s. government is saying. is it a perfect job by delta force? we'll talk more about the details and what we know so far ahead. ♪ (music plays throughout) ♪ the pursuit of healthier. it begins from the second we're born. after all, healthier doesn't happen all by itself. it needs to be earned... every day... from the smallest detail to the boldest leap.

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we're back with our breaking news. u.s. special operations conducting a raid deep in isis-controlled territory killing a senior isis figure and capturing his wife.

this development reported first right here on cnn could have huge implications for the u.s.-led war on isis. joining me to talk more jonathan gilliam, also lieutenant colonel james reese, a former delta force commander. gentlemen, thank you very much for being here. let me go to you first, if i can, colonel reese, you -- this was carried out by delta force operatives special forces. you were formerly delta force. what can you tell us about how textbook this operation was from the early indications? >> yeah from the early indications this is textbook jsoc operations. jsoc has been doing these type of operations and raids since 9/11 throughout afghanistan, iraq and other places throughout the middle east. and this is exactly what delta was formed to do over 35 years ago. it's a very intricate raid. the even they went in is because

their major task was to try to capture this guy but unfortunately it didn't happen. >> well it's interesting that they chose to do it this way. this was a helicopter used -- they used a helicopter in this operation. there was hand-to-hand combat we're told. why that route instead of a drone strike? >> well because, poppy, the thing that happened here they wanted to capture this guy for the intelligence. if all they wanted to do was kill him, they just would have done a drone strike because it was a cross border strike into syria, putting boots on the ground. a lot of people are saying it's high risk. it's risky, but for the jsoc forces it's literally a battle drill and a two-minute drill for them. they have been doing it for years. >> that's a very good point. what the u.s. government is saying is that they did get a lot of potential information, right? they got laptop computers, they got cell phones et cetera. to you, jonathan we have heard over and over there will be no

u.s. boots on the ground. this -- clearly there were in this operation, in and out, no lives lost. do you see this though as a shift in policy? >> i would hope so because if not just a shift in policy where they admit the fact that we have to have boots on the ground sometimes. i can't just say no boots on the ground. that's unrealistic statement. but i think this is something -- these strikes, we just showed despite the intel we can go to one of their most hardened targets and hit there. we can hit there and get out with no casualties. casualties though don't be surprised if eventually we do have casualties. it happens. but in this case we were able to get in and take the fight straight to them and get out. it was an intelligence gathering mission along with trying to grab these two individuals. so as the colonel was just saying there, you know sometimes you can't just go in and just destroy a site you actually have to go in and explore it. >> the drone program has come

under intense scrutiny largely for the amount of civilian casualties that have come with it. that's obviously part of a consideration. again, this was mainly for intelligence as we heard colonel reese say. what about his wife? we know that they have taken her into custodyost custody, they are interrogating her. what information do you think that they could glean from her? >> as your report earlier was saying females are not generally used in this misogynistic type of atmosphere by the leaders of these glupsroups but sometimes women are privy to stuff. if she was integral in moving or trafficking women, just that alone is a huge amount of information. just being in and around the events that are happening, she might be able to shed light on stuff. it's just how quick can they get to that and how willing is she going to be -- >> will she say anything? >> you'd be surprised. sometimes when somebody has never been in an environment when they have been taken hostage or never been inside a

site when it was exploited, they can open up very quickly if they're scared. otherwise if she's hardened then they have ways of interviewing her that maybe she'll over a period of time give out some information. >> jonathan gilliam, thank you very much. colonel reese, thank you. we'll have more from colonel reese a little later in the hour but we're going to switch gears here. when we come back we'll speak to a remarkable woman who i've gotten to know over the past year and a half. heather abbott is a survivor of the boston marathon bombing. she testified in the trial of dzhokhar tsarnaev. what does she think now of the verdict, that he will get the death penalty for his crimes. she'll join us next.

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condemned to death for his role in the boston marathon bombings a federal jury's unanimous decision that dzhokhar tsarnaev should pay with his life for the 2013 terror attack. the pressure cooker bombs planted at the marathon killed three people injured some 240 others. 17 people lost limbs. including my next guest, heather abbott. she lost her left leg below the knee. i reported on her recovery and had the privilege of getting to know her over the past two years. her spirit throughout has been absolutely remarkable. she helps other amputees obtain

prosthetics through her foundation the heather abbott foundation. you can find it online at heatherabbottfoundation.org. heather, thanks for being here. >> hi poppy. thank you. >> you testified at this trial. i wonder what the moment was like yesterday afternoon when you heard the verdict? >> i was definitely anxious to hear it and then it was -- i guess i was expecting i would feel some sort of emotion, but it was really just signed of sad. it didn't feel like something to celebrate. >> you posted on facebook that the verdict does not bring you peace and that it makes you sad. you say the verdict, regardless of which one it turned out to be does not bring me peace. you found peace and closure long before this. >> i did. i think i had been looking for something else throughout the process of this trial, but i

didn't -- i didn't get any answers. i don't think i ever will. so i think when i look back over the last two years -- >> have you been talking to some of the other survivors? i know you guys are really a close-knit community. i wonder if you've spoken to them since the verdict came down and what the feeling is? >> i have. we've talked but nobody really expressed their opinion of the verdict. it was more just expressions of support for each other. >> you gave a commencement address yesterday. i know i spoke to you on the phone right after that and you were driving home. but tell me a little bit about what that -- leaving that commencement speech and then hearing the verdict brought to your mind considering dzhokhar tsarnaev's age, college student. you just finished speaking with these college students. >> yeah. i couldn't help but think that he would be in the same shoes as

a lot of those students i spoke with last night. you know how excited they were about their future all that they had to look forward to. you know it sounds like at one point he was a very likeable person and very intelligent and i just wonder why he threw all those opportunities away and what went wrong. >> we were showing some images i think we can pull them up again, but some recent images of you at the launch of your foundation. i know the headlines today are with the verdict and tsarnaev but the focus needs to be on you and other survivors. the frankly the work you're doing is incredible. i couldn't imagine what i'd do if what happened to you happened to me. you've channelled it in a really incredible way. tell me about the foundation what you're doing, what your goal is. >> well when i became an amputee, i was -- became vastly apair of the extremely high costs of prosthetic devices and

the lack of insurance that covers them. i couldn't help but think what if the whole world didn't know about me? what if i didn't lose my leg in the boston marathon bombing and everyone wasn't reaching out to help. i bet there's a lot of people that are in that situation. so the foundation is to help people obtain prosthetic devices that insurance doesn't typically cover like sports devices, high heel devices and hopefully that will help other people the same way that i was able to. >> it's amazing work that you guys are doing, heather abbott. i know you and i were joking about maybe running a 5k together. do you think we should do that still? >> i do. i think we should. >> okay. i will come up and we'll do it in newport, rhode island. heather, thank you so much. i appreciate it. i'm just so impressed with your resilience and all you're doing for others. thanks a lot, heather. >> thank you. >> all right.

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five days after eight people were killed in a horrific amtrak train derailment 21 people remain in the hospital some of them critically injured. today the federal railroad administration is demanding urgent changes. this afternoon it ordered amtrak to make several immediate modifications to its trains to prevent a similar tragedy. erin mclaughlin has the details. >> reporter: poppy, we're just hearing from the federal railroad administration that they are instructing amtrak to take a number of steps to improve safety along that very busy northeast corridor. it says that the following will be formalized with an emergency order in the coming days including ordering amtrak to install technology to control speeds along that northeast corridor including automatic train control, which detects when a train is above the speed limit and automatically applies train brakes. they want it in the area of the

crash immediately. they also are ordering amtrak to assess risk at all curves along the northeast corridor and they also want increased speed limit signage. amtrak must increase they say, its wayside signage alerting engineers of maximum authorized speeds throughout the northeast corridor. it's described these as initial steps. we are still waiting to hear from amtrak. poppy. >> erin thank you very much. and at the same time one of the engineers interviewed by the ntsb yesterday says that the locomotive engineer aboard this train reported his windshield had been struck by an object. passengers aboard the acela train and a septa train on the same corridor that same night reported something had happened to their trains. you see all three images. it looks like something had hit the windshield of all three of those separate trains. because of this, the fbi has joined the investigation. let's bring in our next guest, president of rail power,

incorporated which is a licensed locomotive engineer. thanks for being with me paul i appreciate it. >> yes, how are you doing? >> i'm well thank you, sir. it looks like when you look at these images like appearance a rock or something came up and hit the windshield. when you think about a train going this fast outside for hundreds of miles, you think that that could easily happen. is it odd to you to see something like this? >> well it is unusual, but it does happen. in fact it's the reason why the federal railroad administration implemented regulations requiring a type of window glazing called type 223 glazing, which is used on all locomotives and passenger cars. and the reason for this glazing is to keep objects that could be thrown at the train or fall off from overpasses or through tunnels from impairing the locomotive engineer or injuring passengers. so when you see an impact as you

see on the locomotive number 601 that was on the amtrak train, and the septa lead passenger car, you see that there is significant impact damage to those windshields which would indicate that something significant was hurled at the front of the train and prior septa train. >> something significant. it would indicate you say something significant hit that windshield whether it was hurled or not, no one knows. that's why this is being investigated. would a rock do that? >> i think a rock would cause some chipping but i'm not an expert on what the impact results look like. but i can tell you that what it looks like it looks like something fairly large. obviously the person or persons that caused this on both trains were focusing on the locomotive engineers in both cases. they were on that side of the cab, they were aware enough to throw objects, it looks like a

couple of objects at the amtrak train and the same thing with the septa train. obviously there's other factors to be considered and one needs to keep an open mind about what caused something like this to happen but it looks as though from what we've seen so far, this is a plausible explanation for why there was disruption in the cab and locomotive. >> the ntsb is saying that 65 seconds before the crash, the train accelerated, from 70 miles an hour to over 100. actually to 106 miles per hour before it barrelled into that curve and derailed. you're a locomotive engineer. is there any way that this train could have accelerated on its own? could there be a malfunction that caused it to accelerate on its own or is that not plausible? >> i think it's -- i guess it's possible. i've never experienced it or heard of that happening. i think a more realistic explanation well could be that

the engineer was accelerating as he would, into the piece of track that he was operating on to get up to track speed, which prior to this curve i think was 70 or 80 miles an hour. so when you move the throttle on the locomotive it's not spring loaded so it will stay wherever you place it. there's typically eight notches. on this particular locomotive i assume it's the same case. so this engineer was most likely advancing the power to get the train up to speed. and if all of a sudden there was a large object that hit the windshield of this locomotive at 60 70 80 miles an hour he well could have been stunned, he could have fainted, he could have panicked. people react differently, obviously. you can imagine if you're driving your car down the highway and just relaxed on a piece of road you're used to driving along and having a large object hit your windshield from an overpass or some other place, you'd be startled. and it's very plausible that

this happened and that this engineer was put into a situation where he was out of control, let's say, or out of control of the train and unconscious perhaps for a very brief period of time. and this engine is a very powerful high horsepower locomotive designed to accelerate passenger trains very quickly. so it may seem difficult for people to comprehend that this could happen so quickly but if he was unconscious even a minute this locomotive could have accelerated the train to a speed of 100 plus miles an hour and by the time he came to got his wits about imh and realized where he was, it may have been too late and i think that's what may have been what happened here as the engineer claims not to know what happened. >> we appreciate it. we'll stay on this and bring our viewers the developments as we have answers, as they're clearly investigating this trying to figure out how this could have happened. thanks so much paul appreciate

it. still ahead, more on the secret u.s. raid that killed a top isis commander. also major developments involving the battle for a key iraqi city ramadi but first this. tomorrow night parts unknown, anthony bourdain is in madagascar for two distinct views of the country. sights, people and of course food. >> i asked darren who directed such films as "pie," if he could go anywhere on earth, where would you like to go? and he said madagascar.

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we want to update you on a major u.s. operation within syria. the pentagon is calling it a significant blow to isis. abu sayyaf a top isis commander who helped the group manage its black market sales of oil and gas is now dead. this follows a u.s. raid by special operations forces near syria's biggest oil field. sayyaf's wife was captured. she is currently being interrogated in iraq. u.s. officials also recovered reams of data on how isis operates operates communicates and how it funds its operations. the mission had been in the planning stages since march and this operation comes amid a fierce battle for the key iraqi city of ramadi. sources telling us here at cnn now that iraqi troops supported by coalition air forces have managed to push isis militants out of parts of the city regaining control of a mosque police headquarters and a government building. let's bring in bob baer the

author of "the perfect kill." bob, earlier this hour as you and i were speaking, we had said that it appears ramadi will fall to isis. within the last five minutes we've gotten this update from iraqi government -- that iraqi government forces have retaken part of ramadi. how significant is that to see that shift? >> well i'm not sure i trust the iraqi government poppy. they have said that yesterday they had moved into big parts of the city and were taking it back. that's been denied by reports on the ground. it's pretty much a seesaw battle for ramadi. but the point is that the islamic state has about three-quarters of ramadi. there are a couple of government outposts there that are holding on. the shia militias are not moving into ramadi for political reasons, so whether the army can actually take back the center of the city is still very much up in the air. we'll just have to wait over the next couple days. >> what's the strategic

importance and significance of ramadi? >> well what the sunnis want with ramadi is to make it their capital of the province as a separate state, separate from baghdad. this is a sunni dream. if the government is forced out of baghdad -- i mean forced out of ramadi it will look like that a lot more that they're getting what they want so it's a huge significance for the sunnis and huge significance for the islamic state because they did lose tikrit. and you have to take ramadi before you can move on to mosul and retake that. >> can we talk about the wife who was captured here his wife's name umm sayyaf. they managed to capture her, they're interrogating her right now. do we have any idea how significant is the information that she may have how significant that is and if you think they'll be able to get any of it out of her? >> you know whether she flips or not, i can't tell you.

she may know some things. she can certainly identify the leadership of the islamic state. since they moved into mosul last year the islamic state has pretty much been a blank slate for us. the best intelligence is collected now by the joint special operations command for these raids. this is how we won the war, the surge in afghanistan and in iraq. that's when you take these positions back. you land forces on the ground you grab people you grab documents and the rest of it. so we're going to get something out of this. it's not going to turn the battle. it's not going to change the nature of the organization because they have the ability, something like the islamic state, to regenerate leadership. but it's still a significant victory. >> bob baer thanks very much. we'll continue to follow this breaking news of this key mission inside syria by u.s. special operations forces. bob, thank you. also presidential politics. jeb bush is in iowa today trying to put the iraq discussion that

dogged him all last week in the past. we're going to take you live to iowa city and we're also going to talk about it with our political commentators ben ferguson and mark lamont hill. that's next. d over r. she claims he's a cruel underwaterer. with miracle-gro moisture control potting mix, plants only get water when they need it. fight ended. or shifted? miracle-gro. life starts here. big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern. ♪ ♪

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jeb bush is in iowa this hour making rounds trying to regain his political footing after quite a week a week

spent. mostly talking about the invasion of iraq. he's making several stops at a number of different events in iowa. tonight he joins ten other white house hopefuls in des moines for the state party's dinner. sara joins us from iowa city. and let's talk about this. jeb bush first said he would, then said he would not have invaded iraq given what we know now. it took him most of the week to come out with a clear stance to recover from the stumble. why did e he fumble it? >> reporter: you know his advisers said he knew this question would be coming at some point. he practiced his answers and just misheard it. he messed up. he was very honest about that as he's been campaigning in iowa this morning. he good asked about it by a voter. let's take a look at that. >> we got to watch you the other

night during the interview. we did not see the misstep, i'm sorry, that created -- >> i obviously didn't either. but i misstepped for sure. i answered a question that wasn't asked. >> reporter: that point where he says he obviously didn't either, that is a sign that he and his campaign were just not ready to clean up this mess once it happens. they are being really honest about that. they are saying look we flubbed the messaging. we let a story that should have happened over one day stretch into the entire week and this is a learning moment when you make a gaffe like that you have to mop it up quickly. >> but some have said that you know maybe there should be a bit of concern over the fact that he hasn't really been on the campaign trail for ten years and when you have to get a lot of money and a lot of backing behind you, i wonder who your

sources are telling you about how concerned they are about this if they think this is an indication of what is to come with him on the campaign trail potentially, or if this is a one off? >> reporter: i think people are concerned because they thought that jeb bush would be more camera ready. i think they figured even though he's been off the trail for about a decade his dad was president, his brother president, he should know how these things go. but they said they are concerned about his taf. they didn't know how to fix the miss more quickly. jeb bush was just asked about this by press here in iowa. he's clearly not able to leave these questions behind. he said look candidates make mistakes. if you want to find a candidate who doesn't make mistake, you'll have to go back 2,000 years. >> i think that's probably true. it humanizes him to hear him say, yes, i misstepped. it's like okay that's a human answer. not a political answer. sara good to have you on.

coming up a u.s. delta force operation taking out a top isis leader. the story breaking today. all the details still coming in. also this leader's wife who could have crucial information about isis hostages is now being interrogated by u.s. forces in iraq. we'll have more details about that operation, next. dee. i've had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis most of my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling. my doctor told me about stelara® it helps keep my skin clearer. with only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses... ...stelara® helps me be in season. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. some serious infections require hospitalization. before starting stelara® your doctor should test for tuberculosis. stelara® may increase your risk of cancer. always tell your doctor if you have any sign of infection have had cancer, or if you develop any new skin growths. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to stelara® or any of its ingredients. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems.

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this week's cnn hero. his name is robert lee. he quit his job on wall street so he could fight food waste and hunger in america. here's how he did it. >> a club i was involved in in college brought leftover dining hall food from campus to a homeless shelter. i just thought that the concept could be applyied outside the borders of nyu. today we will be going to a cafe in manhattan. there's 100,000 restaurants along here. our strategy is to work with as many restaurants as possible and get that food waste to people

who need it. our group has no minimum food requirement. we pick up any amount of food no matter how small it is. that small amount can feed someone. >> let's do this. >> volunteers can sign up on our website. it's easy to do after work. >> i like going to the shelters and helping someone have a a meal today. >> it takes about half an hour to an hour of your time on any given day. >> after we drop it off, we always get the weight of the food. >> this is so heavy. >> that's how we actually measure our impact. >> he makes it so easy for us. >> every little bit counts. that's one person's life you just changed. >> you see the line now going in for dinner and all the food we

really appreciate it. since we started we have rescued over 100,000 pounds of food. it's just the beginning. >> the need is so great. there's so much demand. >> with more restaurants, who knows how much more we can do. >> if you know someone who should be a cnn e hero, go. online to nominate them at cnnheroes.com. 4:00 eastern here in the cnn newsroom. i'm poppy harlow, we begin with this. more than 100 u.s. special operations forces involved in a raid that ended in the death of an isis commander in syria. a u.s. official telling cnn a fire fight broke out almost immediately as troops moved in for this raid with isis fighters using women and children as human shields. u.s. special forces able to kill those isis fighters without harming women or children or any other casualties there on the

ground outside of isis fighters. the main target is abu sayyaf a chief financial officer, the top money man running the oil and gas fields and selling them on the black market. more recently he took on a bigger role and may have knowledge of the hostage operation operations, possibly even directly communicating with isis's top leader. special ops forces managing to capture sayyaf's wife along with reams of data laptops, cell phones of information, they hope to glean on how isis operates. nick paton walsh has more on the mission. >> reporter: abu sayyaf, not well known. in terms of isis leadership circles. a name who the united states says was behind the money, behind the oil, which used to make so much of its money and was increasingly involved in their military operations.

we don't know his real name. it just means the father, and his wife who was captured, he was killed in this raid. so more details, people will be looking for the u.s. to provide exactly why this man was so important because they endured an e enormous risk in going to get him. this was a capture mission shs not a kill mission. they could simply have used a drone if it was just a kill mission. they were after intelligence and the thing he is knew and the things his computers and phones had on them as well. very complex, indeed that they decided to take this risk because they flew into one of the most dangerous parts of isis-held territory in syria. the oil field known to be an isis military base. airstrikes witnesses speaking to us softening there beforehand. delta forces came in hand to hand fighting and extraordinarily a vicious fight for this man who they hoped to

capture alive despite the history of isis leadership. a complex task for u.s. commanders here and one that leaves them with they say, substantial intelligence about how isis works and this e detainee. but 19 isis fighters killed in this. some of them said to be foreign and questions being asked as to why the u.s. is willing to endure this substantial risk. a difficult operation to explain to the american public had it gone wrong given the promises barack obama made that he won't put boots on the ground. perhaps we are seeing maybe a higher risk tolerance from the white house in what they are willing to do when going after isis leadership. but it's a stark intervention that was successful in killing a man they hoped to capture. still many questions as to what was entirely in the u.s. cross hairs during this raid. nick paton walsh, cnn, beirut.

>> let's discuss more about how this happened with a retired army former commanding general for europe and the 7th army. thank you for being we many i appreciate it. >> good to be with you. >> so wanted to tell you new details we learned here at cnn. we just learned from a u.s. official familiar with this operation that isis tried to use women and children as shields. they placed women and children in front of them as human shields. apparently the u.s. government is saying they were able to kill a dozen isis fighters and carry out this operation without killing any of those women and children. take us inside of what something like this would look like. >> first of all, it was an excellently executed mission by the special operations command, joint special operations command. any kind of target like this you would expect to run into potentially civilians, although

i'm sure they had a great deal of information. you always do with a force before they go in. i would suggest that they have probably been watching this target and collecting intelligence on this target for days weeks and perhaps even months. they know there's going to be civilians in this kind of area. you know that when you plan on operation. there are going to be key targets, individuals, abu sayyaf may have been one, but the important part is collect inging the intelligence associated with these kind of targets. as nick said the cell phones papers and those things. you go into a military calls kill/capture target you know you're going into danger but you do want to bring them out as prisoners if you can for further interrogation. >> we're also told this happened at a multistory building that was pretty heavily defended by isis fighters inside and outside. how well equipped is the isis

army? >> well they are very well equipped but in these kind of operations, they will practice and rehearse these kind of operations. they know the target buildings. delta force uses something called task force 160, the night stalkers, which is a group of helicopters. they also use some ost prees in this mission as well. they know they have to be in and out quickly. they probably landed somewhere on the roof of the building, some on the base of the building. this is a significant hit and it appears like there's a great deal of intelligence gained from it. >> that's the thing that's so remarkable if there is a great deal of intelligence gathered from it. how did they have time while they were carrying this out to gather up what sounds like a significant number of laptops, cell phones given the fact that

all indications showed they didn't kill all of the fighters that were surrounding this building. >> well they know for the most part they know what's there when they are going in. i had the opportunity when i was commanding forces in northern iraq to go along with a special operations raid. we used to have anywhere from 5 to 15 of them every night in our area. we worked very closely with some of the teams they had. it's fascinating to watch the things that they do. it's such a well-trained team. there will be some that are targeted on the individuals. they know what they have to do to engage targets, but there are some who have as part of their mission to collect data. sometimes it's called pocket litter. sometimes it's as big as a computer or file cabinet, but they know based on the target and the intelligence they have what exactly is going to be there, how much stuff they are going to be carrying out. there are certainly surprises, but for the most part they know what they are trying to get

based on overhead imagery, signals intelligence human intelligence people on the ground giving information, a series of these kind of things are all coming together whenever you conduct these kind of raids. >> general thank you very much appreciate it. for all of you do not miss blind side how isis shook the world. a special report sunday night at 7:00 p.m. eastern and pacific only here on cnn. also want to bring you this. for a lot of people in a large part of the central united states, right now, there's a tornado watch in effect for the next few hours. pedram joins us in the weather center. what are we talking about specifically? >> very similar to what we saw last weekend when it comes to the large scale threat across the country. 24 million people area indicated in the red. a moderate risk for severe weather issued. you think about a moderate to slight threat.

on a scale of 1 to 5, a moderate is a 4. a pretty expansive area for severe weather. a trio of weather threats, large hail damaging winds, and tornadoes. long track tornadoes in some of these regions, the main threats around oklahoma city moore, evening and afternoon hours. we're watching that carefully. we have the cold and dry air beginning to shift out of the north and west clashing with the warm and moist area. the area of interest is right there. and the pattern really expected to continue not only just through tonight but potentially into later on sunday afternoon as well for even a wider area. but here are the tornado watches. over 570,000 people impacted by this around amarillo. the storms at this hour, tornadoes are favorable across the region. this expires at 8:00 p.m. local time.

kansas kansas 200,000 people under the watch there. we have had multiple reports of tornadoes over the past hour or so. at this point, tornado warning there across collinsworth county. if you're in that area, best time to get to the lowest point of your home. get away from windows. radar-indicated tornado in that region. one of those nights where we'll be on top of the storms as they progress. >> pedram, thank you. coming up next new regulations after an amtrak train derails. we'll talk about the changes, next. [car engine] [car engine] ♪ introducing the first-ever 306-horsepower lexus rc coupe with available all-wheel drive.

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amtrak beef up technology by installing circuits to control speeds along the northeast corridor. trains must be equipped with a safety feature that automatically applies the brakes when a train is exceeding certain speeds. we know this train was going 106 miles per hour at that turn. ntsb investigators believe the safety features would have prevented the crash on tuesday. the ceo of amtrak also saying they would. a short time ago amtrak issued this response. amtrak's overarching goal is to provide safe u and secure rail passenger travel. we will immediately implement the federal railroad draektives to improve safety along the northeast corridor. in the meantime investigators have made a stunning discovery about tuesday's derailment. one of the three engineers interviewed said the locomotive engineer on board that train reportedly had his windshield struck by some sort of object.

passengers aboard a separate train called septa had similar things happen. you see them on the screen. eight people lost their lives, more than 200 people were injured. amtrak has been hit with one lawsuit. more are likely to follow. let's talk about this with our criminal defense attorney. thank you for being here. >> great to be back with you, poppy. >> we know that the engineer here has been cooperate inging with the ntsb. he's been very cooperative. they also say he cannot recall anything about the crash. if he is sued and his memory does not come back would he be able to use a lack of recollection as a defense in court? >> well yes, he would be able to use lack of recollection because he genuinely can't recall what happened leading up to the train derailing. and i think that would defeat

any type of criminal prosecution as well. remember you have a civil aspect of this and then a potential criminal prosecution for manslaughter. the fact he can't remember what happened would be devastating to the prosecution trying to charge him with manslaughter. then you have the issue of the positive track control. i don't think they can prosecute this engineer because his argument would be in a criminal case, hey, but for the fact that positive traffic control was not implemented, this accident would have never happened. >> just so our viewers know what you're talking about, that's something that's implemented on some parts of the rail line not here and it's something that automatically can slow down trains and actually it is mandated to be implemented by 2020. it just hasn't happened yet. you have said brian, that one of the really critical things you think is not getting enough attention is who owns this portion of the track. why is that so key? >> right nobody is looking at this issue, poppy.

this goes to potential civil liability because as it stands right now, there's a $200 million cap on a single train disaster. so here we have eight folk who is have died countless, 180 other folk who is have been injured. $200 million is not going to come close to compensating these individuals. now if this track was owned by a private freight company such as union pacific or a company named csx, then the claimants could sue in addition to amtrak the private freight company and, guess what there's an agreement in place between a.m.mtrak and all these private freight companies where amtrak would absorb all the financial liability. >> which means the taxpayer? >> absolutely. what that means is there would not be a $200 million cap if this curve where the derailment happened was owned by a private

company, there is no $200 million cap. amtrak would be on the hook for the entire amount. >> if a person did throw something at this train, because one of my experts last hour was saying a rock flying up from the ground doesn't dent a windshield like this. it has a special glaze over it. if someone threw something on this train, what does that do to the liability of amtrak? >> well i think that's a good question and the other guest you talked to the engineer he made a good point about if you look at the glass that's cracked there, and i have dealt with cases dealing with bullets, if that's just a rock i don't think you're going to get that deep of a fracture in the windshield. i think there was something else. i don't know if it was a gun you would retrieve the bullet. but the issue is that amtrak would still be liable for this

incident. there would be an argument made by amtrak there's an intervening cause. they would argue it wasn't the engineer's fault here. it was an intervening act that really caused the train to derail. but i think that would be a weak argument because you still have to explain how the speed increased so quickly and then the best argument is to defeat amtrak using that as a defense is look you have known for 20 years about positive train control, which you have talked about where the brakes would have automatically come on once the speed goes too high. that truly was the cause of this incident. in other words, had they been in place, this accident still does not happen. so i think amtrak would be liable civilly with or without this rock or bullet. >> a.m.mtrak's own ceo said if it had been in place, that wouldn't have happen. pretty astonishing it hasn't been mandated. we're out of time.

hold your thought. thanks for being on. coming up next fierce fighting in the battle for the iraqi city of ramadi. the fight has forced the united states to rush weapons to the battlefield. now the tide may be turning. we're live from iraq, next.

the u.s. is rushing heavy weapons and ammunition to iraq to aid forces as they battle to retake ramadi from isis fighters. it unfolded on thursday. iraqi forces were pushed back as isis fighters poured into the center of the city behind a wave of armored bulldozers and suicide car bombers. the militants have since abandoned some of the gains in anticipation of the airstrikes and melted into nearby neighborhoods. ramadi is the capital of anbar province. the advance is troubling saying i remain gravely concerned by the assault on ramadi that threatens iraq. journalists covers iraq and

isis. thank you for being with me. what can you tell me in terms of what you're hearing on the ground there? >> what we found today is the iraqi government came out with a strongly worded announcement that it was dispatched in three remments to ramadi a couple day after they were asked for them in order to try to retake the city. we have reports that after taking over the government's go p compound that sits in the center of ramadi, we saw the footage of the flag those positions have been abandoned as the fighters have moved into residential neighborhoods to prevent u.s. airstrikes from hitting them. >> interesting, your assessment is you believe that the isis forces there in ramadi have chosen to withdraw from some of the bigger target buildings and sort of melted into nearby

neighborhood neighborhoods. why do you believe that's their strategy right now? >> well because first off, it's an iraqi government building. so they don't really care about it of the symbolism falling has been made apparent in the media. their concern is taking over the city of ramadi which is the largest population center inbar province which is almost completely controlled by the islamic state. they have their eye on not a symbolic prize, but the substantiative one, which is taking over a city of 900,000 people and resisting a counterattack. >> if the iraqi forces are successful in concurring and retaking ramadi i wonder how long that is sustainable. it seems like in the key cities that it's sort of back and forth. isis takes over a big chunk. iraqi forces take it over. do you believe the iraqi forces

are on the ground and strong enough to take ramadi and secure it for good? >> absolutely not. at this stage, the iraqi military which we saw last summer more or less completely collapsed as mosul fell and the islamic state pushed to the gates of baghdad. what we found is as they have tried to train units, there are about 5 to 10,000 well-trained iraqi special forces units that are capable of fighting. they worked closely with the americans and they are quite good in the field. there's only between 5 and 10,000 of them. they are exhausted. they have been moved all over basically being pushed all over the country. they are starting to wear thin. the average, typical iraqi infantry unit is capable of manning check points and basically standing around and waiting for car bombs, which is going to make it difficult for them to hold any territory in anbar. >> a difficult kind of fighting

they have to do now. thank you so much appreciate it. one official calling the isis figure killed by the u.s. a cfo, a chief financial officer for the terror group. how big a blow is this to isis and their multimillion-dollar money machine? we'll talk about it, next. together since 2012. dinner is absolutely our favorite time together. i do notice that sometimes i eat better than her. i get my healthy bowl of beneful, and she eats a cheese stick and a cracker. that's what she ate last night. cheese stick and a cracker. can you believe what some people put in their bodies? (vo) beneful original is a healthy blend... ...your dog will love. with whole grains real beef and accents of vegetables. beneful. healthy with a side of happy. i'm caridee. i've had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis most of my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling. my doctor told me about stelara® it helps keep my skin clearer. with only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses... ...stelara® helps me be in season.

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. let's talk about all of this, the breaking developments with an authority on isis. his book "inside the army of terror" delves deep into terror. michael, let's begin with you. you said it's unlikely you don't think that this man, abu sayyaf was the intended target of the raid. >> there's been a little reporting to corroborate that. the daily beast had a piece includeing a senior u.s. official said there were other targets they were after. i'm keen to find out those targets. >> that's not been confirmed by us here at cnn. >> the reason i suspect this is the following. up until now, a lot of people myself included hadn't had much of a profile. we're talking about him as a senior figure and high ranking official in the organization. it wasn't in the list of ten

names that the u.s. government put out two weeks ago offering millions of dollars in bounty on their heads. . according to reporting president obama planned this raid or conceived of it after the killing of the last american hostage who was killed. there's been a lot of discussion that he might have had a key role if her personal abduction and captivity, but also in the hostage ring at large. i'm waiting to see what more comes out on the story. >> let's bring bob baer in this. do you agree that perhaps abu sayyaf was not the intended target of the raid or if you think he was? because our justice reporter citing his sources was in the u.s. government who say that this isis fighter and his wife had deep knowledge of their hostage operations. >> a deep knowledge, look, the problem with the islamic state

is our intelligence is awful. these guys have encrypted communications they use mobile wifi they clearly when they are captured don't talk if you can even capture them alive. we don't have operatives anywhere in their areas. this is called a denied area. intelligence is always iffy. if you do a raid like this there are probably other targets and they put this guy forward. at the same time if indeed he was in charge of finances the big question hanging out there is where's the funding coming to the islamic state? there are rumors that turks are sending them money, saudis you have to go through the treasure-trove of what they captured on the hard drives and the rest of it to see whether this raid, what it's going to produce at this point. >> do you think the u.s. could get significant intelligence

from these computers? >> without a drought. . when there's activity like this to capture an isis fighter, the treasure-trove of intelligence that is confiscated tends to out marshal the value of that target. we got loads of evidence and documents showing how jihadis were coming into iraq from various countries. i think if indeed his role in the financing of isis is as profound as the pentagon says, they can then walk back howists i, particularly in the wake of the degradation of the oil infrastructure this is the other aspect of the story. if isis has lost so much money through the oil trade which has been diminished thanks to airstrikes why go after this guy now? >> the pentagon did come out in february and say isis's ability to get a lot of funding from these oil feemds has been

diminished. >> e he may know what the alternative revenue streams have become in the last six months in the wake of the loss of oil money. >> that's a good point. bob baer when you talk about his wife they have her. these u.s. forces have her. they are interrogating her. is there any precedent to show if we think she will be able to flipped? if she is how much information she would have even been privy to? >> well, poppy, that's a good question. in the arab world, a lot of times women play behind the curtains very important role. they advise their husbands they actually plan. they are not always completely subservient to the husbands. a lot of times women play a part in this. the question is whether she did or not or whether she was completely separate from these operations. and i don't think we know that once you sit down and she starts talking, which i hope she does we'll know a lot more.

whatever she has to say will be of interest to start building databases against the islamic state, just as we did in pakistan. this is the intelligence you need to destroy one of these organizations. it takes a long time years and years. >> especially if she does have that critical information about the isis hostage program and is willing to turn it over. bob baer michael, thank you. this just into it here at cnn. that tornado watch we told you about in texas and oklahoma also now includes western kansas. pedram javaheri is with us now in the weather center. what's the latest? have things gotten more ominous? >> it looks like. the short-term models here indicating that inside the next couple hours and last week we talked about e severe storms occurring this time of year between 6:00 p.m. and into the afternoon and evening hours. you can see the storms really beginning to blossom there across eastern portions of texas working into western oklahoma. really around the panhandle

where more than half a million people under the tornado watch meaning conditions are favorable for tornadoes to develop across this region. the concern is this storm has a history of producing tornadoes. 35 and 45 miles south of a.m. ril low, two tornado reports. this line is moving off to the east. we think around 5:00 local time western oklahoma the severe weather begins to move and and 7:30 and beyond that into oklahoma city high probability for some very active thunderstorms to move through. tornado warning right now has been issued around wheeler county. this is on the texas and oklahoma state line out there. this expires at 3:45 central time. this storm has a history of producing tornadoes. that's a major threat across the region as we watch it go north of i-40. so a major interstate as well dealing with the active weather. you talked about the 500,000 being around texas, but on into western kansas, in line here about a quarter million people

dealing with this. the possibility of sparking a few tornadoes, that expires at 9:00 p.m. watch the clock. we take you through tonight. storms become organized around oklahoma city by 9:00 p.m. eastern. follow that line around wichita, kansas city dallas texas, into the overnight hours. one of those nights we think some of those storms could happen around sunset maybe after sunset, which make s it a dangerous scenario for 24 million people. >> we'll keep a close eye on it. coming up next a doctor who was one of the first on the scene to help the victims of the boston marathon bombing will join me live with her reaction to dzhokhar tsarnaev being sentenced to death.

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he wanted to go to hell and he's going to get there early. >> very strong reaxction from michael ward, an off duty firefighter who rushed to help the victims of the boston marathon bombing. he was speaking yesterday right after a federal jury imposed the death sentence on dzhokhar tsarnaev for his role in that terror attack that killed 3 people and injured 240 others as well as taking limbs from 17 people. dr. natalie ran the race that day. she was also one of the first

responders who helped so many. people on the ground there. she was named bostonian of the year. thank you for being with us doctor. >> thank you for having me. >> i remember rushing up to boston right after this happened. being at the press conference right outside mass general when the doctors were frantically trying to save lives and save limbs. you were one of the people responsible for helping save so many. after two years and this trial and heartbreaking testimony, what's your reaction to this verdict? >> you know, i think it's been a really emotional 24 hours for the city of boston. it was so shocking yesterday, at least for me when the verdict and the sentencing came out. i actually found myself checking multiple news sources saying is this really it? has this what we have come to? and i got to say, the emotions

have been so mixed here in boston. we have people very happy with this result and we have other people saying that this just isn't the way to go. >> what about you? >> i was incredibly shocked. i would say there are multiple layers to my emotions right now. being there and witnessing it and seeing the horror that happened there are many many days in the past few years where i have wished him dead, where i wished something had happened to him and something happened to the bombers before they even could do this to our community. and yesterday i went through shock and then sadness and then for a moment i felt happy and then i felt guilty for feeling happy and then i felt sad again.

i think simultaneously a weight was lifted for all of us because e we finally have something and a weight was now put on everyone because the question is now what does the future hold which we know is actually highly uncertain? >> you're right, because he can appeal. he can appeal this and the family of martin richard that beautiful young 8-year-old boy who was murdered in this horrific terror attack wrote that op-ed saying we don't want the death sentence because we don't want this to drag out for years and years over appeal. now that's likely what will happen. >> i know and that's really hard to stomach. i think right now the community here in boston is really trying to regardless of what people's opinions are the community that was affected so greatly is trying to come together and say it is what it is. so now what and how do we

continue to move forward together and stay positive together and heal together. we have come this far. it can't stop us. >> it can't and isn't it important to focus on the survivors? i had heather abbott on last hour a woman who lost her leg in the attack and has done so much to help other amputees. how important is it that we remain focused on those people and not dzhokhar tsarnaev in spite of appeals that may come? >> it's the most important thing. it's the most important thing that we focus on the community and the survivors and the people who have dedicated their life to kindness and moving forward. i think so much good has been shown in the aftermath. that is what we focus on and that is how we help each other. i personally am not an advocate

of the death penalty, and so it will be hard. it will be hard for a lot of us going forward with this but we have to know that we have each other and that we will be there for each other. >> you have your great city the great city of boston and the great people of boston. >> e yes, wonderful place. >> thank you so much and thank you for all you did that day. >> thank you for having me. where does dzhokhar tsarnaev go now? one possibility is a federal super max prison. it's reserved for the worst of the worst. our alexander field has a look inside. >> a supermax is a life after death. it adds punishment to the crime. >> the supermax the country's only federal supermax. it's known as the alcatraz of the rockies. >> there's 420 inmates.

they have killed staff, they have killed guards they have earned the right to go. to the supermax. you're looking at people like the 1993 world trade bomber, timothy mcveigh was there, the yun bomber you can go on and on. >> soon this could be home to the marathon bomber. it's closed off to the rest of the world inside the most dangerous inmates are sealed off. >> it's designed so the inmates can't see the sky. what really hits you isn looking at the beauty of the rocky mountains, when you get inside that's the last time you'll ever see it. as you're pulling up to the complex with shotguns in plain view .9 millimeters, they are going by 12 gun towers. that's before you even say hello to anyone. you'll be in a belly chain, handcuffs, and passing hundreds

hundreds of cameras. it's almost all concrete. you're going to be in that box, these 84 square feet of room most likely for the rest of your life. his life if he goes there, is pa pathetic no matter how you spin it. it's, in my opinion, far worse than death. i've smoked a lot and quit a lot but ended up nowhere. now i use this. the nicoderm cq patch, with unique extended release technology helps prevent the urge to smoke all day. i want this time to be my last time. that's why i choose nicoderm cq. i'm caridee. i've had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis most of my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling.

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now to the race to the white house. they are taking a hard look at a run for president. many have seen their approval rating take a hit in their home states if they look for support on a national level. this is a delicate act. this is a balancing act for anyone running a state and a budget and thinking about or actually running for president. they have to keep the interests of the nation in mind and their specific interests of their states. what are we seeing in terms of these three governors? >> you're absolutely right, it's always tricky for governors to run for president. at the same time having to keep their business at home in order. but i do think the level of how

much their popularity has take an a hit is remarkable for christie and jindal. their numbers have hit rock bottom. >> christie, 38%. >> it's a couple things for christie. the fiscal situation in new jersey is very bad. under his watch, moody's downgraded the credit rating a couple times. not to mention bridgegate has been bad for his popularity. it's clouded the way voters and folks nationwide view christie as a political candidate. for jindal louisiana has a host of economic problems. it was fascinating i spoke to the state's lieutenant governor, who is a republican. he told e me, look, the governor is spending quite a lot of time in states like iowa and new hampshire being a presidential candidate, but we have serious problems at home. >> does it help jeb bush that he's not a sitting governor? >> that absolutely helps

candidates who have not been in office for a long time and in some ways they don't have a record that they have to defend. they have some distance from that. i think when someone like christie and jindal or walker their popularities are falling, it's a boost for some of the other folks in the field. >> quickly before i go governor o'malley baltimore hit him. >> when the riots happened, he found himself in a tricky situation of having to defend his record both as mayor of baltimore and governor of maryland. i think he actually handled it quite well given just how controversial and devisive the situation was. we are expecting an announcement from governor o'malley in the next couple weeks. >> we'll see. >> probably will. >> thank you so much. fascinating piece on cnn politics. ahead next hour an operation by delta forces. more details on that, next. also we're keeping a close eye on a tornado watch over

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hi everyone i'm poppy

harlow. joining me new york, we begin with breaking news. dramatic new details about a u.s. special operations mission that took down a top isis commander deep inside syria. a u.s. official telling us at cnn that troops with the delta force moved into the area on black hawk helicopters. a fire fight broke out almost immediately on the ground who were using women and children as human shields. u.s. troops were on a mission to capture abu sayyaf someone with possibly deep knowledge of the capture and movement of isis hostages. however, sayyaf fought back and was killed during hand to hand combat with coalition troops. his wife was captured and is being interrogated about any potential knowledge of host ajs. let's get straight to the pentagon and barbara starr who broke this story. officials say they were able to seize multiple computers, mobile

phones communication devices in this raid and it was not intended to be a raid that killed him but capture sayyaf. what do they hope to find? >> that's right, poppy, this was all about intelligence gathering. hoping to capture both of them alive and interrogate them for intelligence they would have. the wife a lot of indication she may know about hostage taking. him as well but the sense they have of him, the assessment on him is he was involved in the oil and gas operations but also increasingly had taken a role in isis command and control in planning. they had been in contact with the leader so they want to look at all the electronic gear all the communications gear that the troops got before they left that area, go through it all, see what they can learn. >> i think it's really important to focus, barbara, on what sort

of knowledge his wife who they do have and are interrogate. ing her, how much knowledge she might have about the hostages. give us a sense of what they hope to glean from her and tell us some of the americans and europeans still being held hostage by isis. >> well publicly i don't believe there's any indication that any additional americans are being held. if there are, that has not come to light. there's a british man being held. he's appeared in a number of isis videos speaking obviously, believed to be under some level of duress because he is in their captivity. let's keep in mind isis has untold perhaps numbers of hostages from the region people who live in that region and countries that they capture and abuse terribly. what she might know about all of that the u.s. wants to find out,

but they also want to find out if she, her husband or any of the information they have might lead them to any other tips any other information about what happened when american hostages were being held by isis. it's a delicate business. american families may be watching this. there's no information yet about specifically what they knew, but there is an assessment if you will that these people may have known a good deal about the fate of at least some of the american hostages. >> this green light for this it mission came directly from president obama. i believe that part of the reason right barbara, that he did approve this is there was very little risk for civilian casualty casualties, is that right? >> the feeling that the military had when they went to the president is they could deal with it. they talked to the president,

any president always will ask civilians in the area civilian casualties how are you going to hand l it what are you going to do? so clearly, they gave him enough reassurance they could deal with it. what we're learning now is when the commanders got to their target site, it was heavily defended by isis fighters perhaps a dozen or more of them killed. a number of women and children there, we are told officially by our sources none of the women or children were hurt. we cannot independently confirm that and they were able to sort of separate out, go after the targets, the fighters that they wanted to go after who were shooting at them but do everything they could to make sure the women and children did not get. hurt. >> barbara, thank you. let's talk about the developments, what we know so far and what we're still trying to find out with michael woois,

thank you for being. here. you are doubtful that this mission was intended to kill or to capture abu sayyaf. >> he might have been one of many targets. the story i heard from an iraqi specialist who covers isis and briefs the cia and u.s. intelligence was that abu sayyaf is close to the official spokesperson for isis. also said to be one of the top contenders to take over in the event that the leader is killed. it would make more sense to me to send in a delta force mission, risk american lives boots on the ground to kill somebody of his stature. that said, i've been talking to military officials who say mid-level guys they tend to rank him a little lower than what the pentagon is ranking him, mid-level guys are valuable because of the intelligence they have on them. so indeed if abu sayyaf's role

in the financing of the operations is as profound and senior as we're told it was, he will have on him gigabytes of data to show how they get their money and also what the alternative revenue streams have been in the last several months since the oil infrastructure has been degraded there coalition airstrikes. . so the result of this will lead to more kills and captures of other possibly higher officials. >> he has been equated to the cfo, the main money man for isis who oversaw the sale of oil on the black market from the oil fields that they took over but at the same time in february the pentagon came out and sadistist isn't making as much money from the oil and this isn't a driver of the fund inging for isis as much as it was. so does that play into the significance of this or lack of significance? >> i would add to that two weeks ago the u.s. government came out with a list of the top ten guys

in isis with bounties on their heads. e he wasn't one of them. if the chief financial officer isn't said by the government to be worthy millions of dollars, that puts a damper on that. it's great to the extent to which it's true or operationally it matters as much within the organization. >> at the same time, look how much our men and women in the u.s. forces risked in this. our thanks to them for this but doesn't it also show the ability to carry out what looks like a textbook perfect delta force operation? >> this isn't the first time we have gone into syria. i don't just mean the attempt to rescue james foley and other hostages. the joint special operations went into the same province as sayyaf's killing to try to capture or kill a guy on the border of syria and iraq hosted

with the syrian government to run jihadis from syria into. iraq who blew up american soldiers. we have done this before in this part of the country. it's not the first time. these guys are well trained and know what they are doing. >> we're able to get in and out and able to e get what could be valuable information in those computers. mike michael, thank you, appreciate it. we're going to keep following this story. also we're going to talk about the severe weather across multiple states. tornado warnings in effect, you see the ominous skies in texas and oklahoma. we're going to have a report on that, straight ahead. i'm caridee. i've had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis most of my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling. my doctor told me about stelara® it helps keep my skin clearer. with only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses... ...stelara® helps me be in season. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. some serious infections require hospitalization. before starting stelara®

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stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a free 30-tablet trial. ortho bug b gon gives you season-long control of all these types of bugs. spectracide gives you season-long control... of just ants. their label says so. bugged by more than ants? get ortho bug b gon. the label tells the story. ortho home defense gives you year long control of all these household bugs - roaches, ants, and spiders. spectracide gives you year long control... of just roaches. their label says so. got more than roaches moving in? get home defense. the label tells the story. developments in the amtrak derailment. the train that derailed along with two other trains on that

same corridor that same night were all struck by objects. also amtrak is being ordered to make immediate safety changes along that route. we are live in philadelphia. it's remarkable when you look at the three images all together. three different trains, three different windshields, all cracked in a similar way. what are we learning about what happened that night? >> reporter: well, poppy, this new information that's coming from this assistant conductor that was on board amtrak train 188 is really deepening the mystery here as far as what caused this deadly derailment. let's reset. we know the septa train minutes before the e derailment reported that its windshield had been struck or perhaps shot at. we just obtained some audio as police responded to that incident involving that septa train train.

take a listen. >> an unknown object with that train shattering the windshield. we do not have an update on any injuries. it is a train that has had a foreign object in contact shattering the windshield. >> reporter: okay, so after all of that played out with that s e epta train minutes later, amtrak 188 jumped the tracks. that's the time line of events. so this assistant conductor, who spoke with ntsb investigators just yesterday, said that while the train was traveling, amtrak train 188, she overheard that engineer report that the windshield had been struck. and she also believed she heard the engineer of the amtrak train saying the same thing happened to him. so now the fbi has been called

in. they are analyzing the windshield of this amtrak train. they are specifically looking at a circular shatter pattern. it will undergo lots of lab analysis. they will be looking to determine if something did indeed strike amtrak's windshield and perhaps what angle it came from but as you pointed out off the top, if this is true, if train 188 was also struck, that means three trains in the same vicinity within minutes of each other being struck by some object. >> and i know they just this afternoon the federal railroad administration ordered amtrak to improve its safety technology on the trains and to do so immediately. what's going to change? >> reporter: right, so the federal railroad administration made this order just a short time ago. it involves three orders aimed at amtrak and specifically the

northeast corridor. they are ordering that they install technology that would control train speed on the tracks so that you don't have an issue that we saw here where there's no technology in place to slow a speeding train down. they also ordered that amtrak do a risk assessment of all of the curves along the northeast corridor. lastly they instructed amtrak to increase speed limit signage. so essentially putting it in clear language what is the speed limit along the northeast corridor corridor. if amtrak refuses to do this they could be subject o to civil penalties. we did hear from amtrak and in a statement in part they essentially said they plan on implementing the changes. >> thank you so much appreciate it. coming up next we'll talk about the verdict, the jury unanimously deciding that dzhokhar tsarnaev should be put to death for the crimes he committed at the boston marathon murdering 3 people injuring 200 others. but a long and painful appeals

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appeal the sentence. let's talk about it with mel robins. when you're looking at an appeal how quickly do they have to file that? >> well, actually the appeal in a death penalty case is automatic. it's automatically filed because of the high stakes and one other point that a lot of people don't realize is that while his attorneys are going to be doing presentencing motions and a lot of legal stuff to be taken care of, on the appeal, he'll get a brand new team of attorneys that specialize in death penalty appeals. the reason being you deserve a fresh, he may not deserve it but under the law you deserve fresh eyes to review the case. so that's what will happen. >> when you look at this this verdict marks the first time in the post 9/11 era that prosecutors have won the death penalty in a terrorism case. what do you think swayed the jury most? >> i know exactly what swayed

the jury most and let me lay it out for you. there were 17 counts, poppy, that carried the death penalty as a possible sentence. they found him guilty for the death penalty on 6 of those. what is in common about all six of those? they all pertain to the 8-year-old martin richard, who was standing just feet away from dzhokhar tsarnaev when e he put his backpack down behind the family. and if you read the closing arguments, one of the most riveting moments during the closing arguments was a moment when the prosecutor put up the photo of dzhokhar showed how close he was to martin richards' family and then the prosecutor went silent. he went silent in that courtroom. you could hear a pin drop for 20 seconds. when he finally started speaking again. he said dzhokhar stood behind martin's family 12 times longer

than i stood here quiet before you. he knew exact lyly what he was doing. when i see the verdict return and they have sentenced him to death on all six counts pertaining to that young boy, i say in my gut, that's what swayed them. that's what tipped the scales and of course the prosecution also closed with just tremendous video and photographic evidence that put those jurors right at the scene of the carnage, the horror of this terrorist attack, poppy. >> mel, it is the family the parents of that little boy who wrote that op-ed in "the boston globe" saying they did not want to see the death penalty handed down because of the painful, painful years of appeals it would bring. >> poppy, that is exactly the question that so many bostonians are talking about. for those that don't know what we're talking about, it's martin richards' family that said in a

huge opinion piece that went viral that they don't want the death penalty because they don't want to be dragged into court for appeals and him keep appearing in the news. they want to move on. the jury was not allowed to read any media. they probably weren't even aware that that's what martin rid chars' family wanted and as much as i feel a sense of heaviness about the fact that this verdict is not what they wanted they weren't the only victims. and boston is pretty divided. there are people that really agree with this and then there are people like me that think this is the easy way out and i would have rather seen him rot away and be forgotten. >> mel, thank you so much appreciate it. coming up a u.s. delta force operation takes out a top isis leader. they have also captured his wife. they are interrogating her and she could have crucial information about isis hostages. we'll have details about that operation, next.

across america, people are taking charge of their type 2 diabetes... ...with non-insulin victoza. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza. he said victoza works differently than pills and comes in a pen. victoza is proven to lower blood sugar and a1c. it's taken once a day, any time. and the needle is thin. victoza is not for weight loss but it may help you lose some weight. victoza is an injectable prescription medicine that may improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. it is not recommended as the first medication to treat diabetes and should not be used in people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis.

victoza has not been studied with mealtime insulin. victoza is not insulin. do not take victoza if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to victoza or any of its ingredients. symptoms of a serious allergic reaction may include swelling of face lips, tongue or throat fainting or dizziness, very rapid heartbeat problems breathing or swallowing, severe rash or itching. tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. serious side effects may happen in people who take victoza including inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis) which may be fatal. stop taking victoza and call your doctor right away if you have signs of pancreatitis, such as severe pain that will not go away in your abdomen or from your abdomen to your back with or without vomiting. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you have any medical conditions. taking victoza with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. the most common side effects are nausea,

diarrhea, and headache. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. if your pill isn't giving you the control you need... ask your doctor about non-insulin victoza. it's covered by most health plans. breaking news here on cnn, a united states special operations force raided a terrorist base in syria, killed a dozen isis fighters including a top commander. that commander was one who was in charge of the group's oil and gas operations, basically the master mind of how isis finances himself. this is where it happened about half way between the isis stronghold of raqqa in syria and the border. sources saying two dozen special operations troops went in by

helicopter intending to capture abu sayyaf and instead he resisted. he was killed. we have more from the white house. >> reporter: this was a call made directly by president obama, signing off on this mission. we're told according to the national security council that the decision was made after a unanimous recommendation from his national security team. after they developed significant intelligence that this mission could be carried out successfully. what senior administration officials say the purpose of the mission was to. capture sayyaf but he was killed after he engaged with u.s. forces on the ground in syria. a white house official says president obama was kept briefed by his national security team as this mission was carried out. and we're already starting to get some reaction from capitol hill. speaker of the house john boehner said that he called today's mission a good news but he also noted that isis right now is bringing the fight to the

iraqi city of ramadi. saying quote, i remain gravely concerned by isil's assault on ramadi that threatens iraq which is vital to america's interests. and adam schiff, a top democrat on the house intel committee, also poured a little cold water on the significance of this it mission saying in a statement released today, quote, while sa yaf was a significant figure it is a setback for isis we should be under no illusion about the long-term impacts of any particular operation. this terror group, like al qaeda, has pruchb adepth at e replacing commanders and we need to keep up the pressure on its leadership and financing. and he called for more congressional briefings this week, which will be especially important as this debate over the risk versus the e reward of this mission is evaluated. poppy? >> thank you very much.

you're going to want to watch this. this special report on sunday here on cnn. we're keeping a close eye on weather, more on that later this hour. also to presidential politics where jeb bush is in iowa trying to put aside the iraq war discussion that dogged him all week. we'll talk about it, next. and when you bundle your home and auto insurance through progressive, you'll save a bundle! [ laughs ] jamie. right. make a bad bundle joke a buck goes in the jar. i guess that's just how the cookie bundles. now, you're gonna have two bundles of joy! i'm not pregnant. i'm gonna go. [ tapping, cash register dings ] there you go. [ buzzing ] bundle bee coming! it was worth it! saving you a bundle when you bundle -- now, that's progressive.

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presidential politics, jeb bush and the week e he wishes he could do over. today he's in iowa making the rounds trying to move on after several days of trying to explain a stumble he e made many an interview. he told an interviewer he would have invaded iraq in 2003 like his brother. lirt he said he misunderstood the question. then he held a town hall and didn't address it directly and on thursday he tackled it head on and said no he would not have invaded iraq if he knew then what he knows now. let's bring in our political commentators to talk about it. ben ferguson. and mark lamont hill thank you, guys for being here. ben, let's start with you. jeb bush had a long time years in fact to get ready for that question. his team even said that they have been practicing it. why do you think he fumbled?

>> i think he honestly thought he was answering a question about would he have done his brother did at the time. that's why he said hillary clinton would have done the same thing. and for him, he probably was trying to be preemptive. a lot of people do that in interviews. sometimes they are too comfortable when doing it and didn't pay attention. that's really all it was. and the main thing is it did not hurt him with many republicans or conservatives because when they saw his answer saying hillary clinton would have done the same thing, they obviously realized he thought he was answering a question different than how it was posed to him. i think others are making a big. er deal out of it. it's not going to hurt his campaign. i don't think it's going to hurt his chances in the primary at all. i don't think it hurt his chances with gop voters. >> mark, when you talk about jeb bush he talks a lot about his family. i want you to listen to some of what he said on thursday. >> my brothers and sister are different than me but i'm not

going to go out of my way to say that my brother did this wrong or daed did this wrong. it's not going to happen. i have a hard time with that. i love my family a lot. >> mark do you think family loyalty is going to be a tough hurdle for jeb bush? >> yeah, and by the way, that was the wrong answer. i mean he shouldn't go out of his way to criticize his brother, but it's not about going out of your way to criticize the brother, but it's criticizing the president. that's the issue here. if let's say your brother engineered the biggest unforced foreign policy era in american history, like a war in iraq. you should be prepared to answer that question. and i think he was prepared. i agree with ben. he just heard something different. he probably had a prepped answer for a different question. but what concerns me is in the days after the mistake, an honest mistake, he didn't have a clear and concise answer. he was trying to walk that tight rope of saying yes, iraq was

bad, but at the same time not wanting to criticize his brother. he points out what works. he points out that the world is better without saddam hussein. he start s tos to echo bush era arguments and raises questions about whether or not he can balance those two things. >> but ben, do you think perhaps he's being held to a higher standard than other republican candidates or potential candidates in terms of addressing the iraq war and his brothers' actions and if so is that really fair? >> not only is he being held to a higher standard but even than to hillary clinton on things that she is separating herself from from her own husband's policies when he was president. there are several things -- people don't force her to denounce bill clinton and don't ask don't tell is a perfect example of this. his foreign policy in the middle

east other examples of this. so i think that people are hoping that there's going to be some jeb bush and w. war on issues of iraq and foreign policies in general and jeb's point is look there's not going to be a big point here. yes, i'm my own man but also my own brother. most voters on the republican side which is what really matters to him, are going to like that and respect him more for doing that. >> i hope jeb bush cares about all citizens and all voters. but it's not a higher standard that he's being held to. in 2008 every person on the left and the right was asked to e denounce george wush. whether it was john mccain or huckabee, they all responded. it's not that he's being asked to do something different. the difference to what hillary clinton and her husband did,

there are moments where jeb bush says yes, i have listened to or i will listen to george bush as a policy adviser. if you say he's your policy adviser, i'm going to ask you -- let me finish. >> let's deal with hillary clinton. >> let me finish. >> i'll deal with it after i finish talking. hillary clinton, jeb bush connected himself to george bush so it's reasonable. similarly, there were moments in domestic policy where hillary clinton tied herself to bill clinton. that's why when she gave the criminal speech, she said the crime bill didn't work and she pushed away from clinton. that's a reasonable question for hillary. >> i think that's a lot of what jeb has done on some issues. i just think that people want a fight here and they are not going to get it. the same they away hillary clinton is not going to denounce her husband on don't ask don't tell in a direct way.

you're not expecting that from her. >> i am. i'm expecting her to say three strikes doesn't work. it was a bad idea. crime bill was a bad idea. >> i would love to see it happen but you know it's not going to. >> that's not the question. you said i didn't expect it from her. i'm holding hillary clinton to the fire. not because it's her husband, but because he was a democratic president that she stood next to. i want her to do the same with barack obama. i want to know where it was obama's mission and where it was her ideas. she's going to run from all the bad news but i need to hold everybody accountable. not just jeb or hillary but everybody. >> perfect segue for the next block. we're going to tab this. jeb bush not running for president yesterday, but he is in iowa. where is hillary clinton? why isn't she taking more questions from reporters? we'll talk about it next. but we want to introduce you to this week's cnn heero.

he quit his job to fight food waste and hunger in america. here's how he did it. >> a club i was involved in in college brought leftover dining hall food from campus and the homeless shelter. the concept could be applied outside the borders o of nyu. welcome. thank you for coming. today we'll be going to the cafe in manhattan. there's 100,000 restaurants. our strategy is to work with as many restaurant z as possible and get that food waste to people who need it. >> this looks really good. >> no minimum food requirement. we pick up any amount no matter how small it is. that small amount can feed someone. >> let's do this. >> volunteers can sign up on our website. it's easy to do after work. >> i like going to the shelters and helping someone have a meal today. >> it just takes half an hour to

an hour of your time on any given day. >> after we drop it off, we always get the weight of the food. that's how we actually measure our impact. >> leftovers, it makes it so easy for us. >> every little bit counts. that's one person's life that you just changed. >> to see the line going in for dinner we appreciate all the help. >> since we started, we rescued over 100,000 pounds of food. it's just the beginning. >> the need is so great and there's so much demand. with more restaurants, who knows how much more we can do.

so, what brings you to jersey? well, geico's the #1 auto insurer in new jersey, new york and connecticut. so i just came by to say "thanks." #1, huh? that's great. here you go. a little token of appreciation. oh, that's... that's... that's great... now i'd say you probably need a large. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. mark and alissa anderson recently signed a 30-year mortgage on this home. they must be confident about the future. are you? buy in. quickenloans/home buy. refi. power. sunday dinners at my house... it's a full day for me, and i love it. but when i started having back pain my sister had to come help. i don't like asking for help. i took tylenol but i had to take six pills to get through the day. so my daughter brought over some aleve.

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we just talked about the potential republican front runner with the famous last name if he does run. the famous democrat is also making news not for what she said but for what she's not saying. hillary clinton has stayed silent as jeb bush wrestled with the legacy of his brother's iraq

policies and she's had little to say about the democrat's trade policy in the impending trade act with asia. let's bring back ben and mark. mark let's begin with you. it's very early, but hillary clinton has taken just 13 count them 13 reporter questions since she became a candidate. how long can she keep this up? >> i'm sure she'd like to keep it up to the convention. at some point, you have to answer questions. one thing you have to consider is hillary clinton has answered questions long before the other candidates on either side of the candidates. she answered questions before she was an official candidate. she's answered questions about e-mail benghazi probably not to ben's satisfaction, but she's answered lots of questions. what she's trying to do now is have a carefully crafted, disciplined campaign. at some point the questions will come and she will answer them the way clintons do. would it be good to hear her talk, yes. but like normal with the

clintons, they are trying to figure out what the popular answer is not what the principled answer is. that's why you don't see a response. >> to be fair here she has been taking a lot of questions from the people, the voters on sort of this road trip whether it's in new hampshire or iowa. is it a good strategy? >> look it's a brilliant strategy by her team. they realize there are too many questions out there that are just going to be too big of a liability. i think there's still a lot of reporters out there that want to ask her questions about the unning out the clock and tough luck, because we don't have to deal with you right now, because we are the front-runner but it also shows how weak of a candidate she can be. and this is part of what the controlled world around her got her in trouble when she lost to barack obama. >> and i disagree. >>. >> and if i'm a democrat willing to write big checks know ing

that she cannot withstand the big fire in the campaign without anybody against her, i am a little concerned about that. >> no, i think that hillary clinton learned about the mistakes of the last campaign. >> well not talking to the media is a mistake. >> well you said to jeb bush you said that it is tauklking to the democratic voters and in the argument you made to jeb bush is that it is republican voter, and in 2008 people didn't like her and feel connected to her, and -- >> i agree with you on that point. >> and the point is that right now she is correcting that error by talking to the voters and it is snobbish of us, and condescending not to -- >> it is snopsis snobbish not to talk to the media when you are asking citizens to vote for you. >> and she wants to talk to the

voters. >> and i want to jump in here, because i want to get the question in, because what we know from the financial disclosure forms is that bill and hillary clinton made $130 million over the last financial disclosure, and that makes hillary clinton one of the most richest presidential candidates if not the richest candidate, and how hard for her to rein in and focus in on the income inequality for her to talk about, you know, the the bottom falling out of the middle-class? >> well, it is getting to be very tough, but they misplayed it from the beginning, and they should have looked at mitt romney the second time and admit that you are doing very well and you are very good at what you do, and get paid very well for what you do, and not try to say, well we were dead broke when we left the white

house, and bill clinton saying well, i have the foundation and the speaking foundations that i speak at, because i have to pay the bills. bill clinton could never work another day in his life and they would be financially just fine, but it is a bad move for them to say that they are just trying to pay the bills and admit that they are successful and they can pay their bill ss. >> you just said that bill clinton said he made a lot of money making the speeches. >> and he said that he has to pay the bills and he has six figures and don't act like you v have to pay the cable bill at a convention when you are making $1 million. >> and i want to make the point uninterrupted, sir. the point is that the clintons understand that they have a lot of money, and everybody in the world reads them as having money, and the truth is that all of the presidential candidates with have money, and can any of

them identify with the poor and the fact is no. president obama is the only one and he has the opportunity to make millions after office. and if you believe that the clintons are poor, then you deserve what you get. george bush tried to run as a good ol' boy who you could have a beer with and not somebody who had intergenerational wealth and owned sports teams, and the fact is that none of them are average joes none of them are. >> thank you, gentlemen. and coming up we have a close eye on the ominous weather across texas and oklahoma and kansas. we will have a live report next. i've smoked a lot and quit a lot but ended up nowhere.

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now it's easier than ever to manage your account. get started at xfinity.com/myaccount -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com all right. we are keeping an eye on the severe weather for you right now across three states under a tornado watch. and p.j. joining us from the weather center, and what are you looking at this point? >> well the atmosphere is destabilizing meaning that conditions are favorable here for torn the does, and also an ak aktive line of thunderstorms that can produce large hail and strong wind ss. you are thinking of a saturday night in a populated region with over 24 million people impacted by this. it is going to be a big story developing over the region but talk about this, because we vhave

the cool dry air coming in from the west, and the humid air from the south, and the prime region across tornado alley in the arena you would see nearly 300 foreign does in the month of may is lining up from western oklahoma to the kansas and the northern texas panhandle, but notice the large area of rotation there. and i want to take you in for the closer perspective. you can see it in arizona, it is firing up right there across the texas panhandle, and that is the area of interest where there is over 2 million people and 2 million people right here under this tornado watch. so conditions are favorable for the tornado to develop. and for oklahoma city it is going to go for 1.5 million people, and farther back, two reports of tornados in the texas panhandle in the last two hours, and the lightning strikes and you think of this and ice in the atmosphere e and the separation of the charges. so it is a dangerous scenario of the storms moving on the

oklahoma. and then for western kansas from hayes to goodland to dodge city, the tornado watch there for 8:00 p.m. and now from this time we have radar indication of the radar algorithm showing the potential of the tornadoes from east attorney eastern oklahoma and this is eric right on i-40, and we are watching all of these as the evening progresses. >> pedram, thank you very much. >> yes. 6:00 eastern here on the cnn newsroom, i'm poppy harlow in new york and it is the top of the hour and we begin with breaking news. u.s. special force ss have fought hand to hand with the most brutal terrorists on earth, and they go deep into the t