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Gunman Holds Hostages in Chicago Bank; Vials of Nerve Gas Found at U.N.; GOP Colleagues Ask Larry Craig to Step Down; Report Says Virginia Tech Killings Preventable; Extortion Bomb Threats Traced to Portugal

Aired August 30, 2007 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: If only. Four and a half months after a deranged student killed 32 people, then himself at Virginia Tech, a state panel reveals what the university didn't do that may have made a difference.
Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Don Lemon is off. We're going to hear from Virginia Tech's president this afternoon in the CNN NEWSROOM.

First up, thought, we have a number of developing stories happening right now. First live to Chicago, Illinois. These pictures coming to us from WLS, our affiliate there.

Apparently, the FBI says they're trying to establish contact with a gunman who has barricaded himself inside this bank on Chicago's north side and may have hostages.

Apparently, it's still not clear yet how many people are inside the First Commercial Bank. This bank is in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, I'm told, for those of you that are familiar with that area. It's on North Clark Street.

So right now monitoring a situation on Chicago's north side. The FBI says they're trying to establish contact with a gunman who has barricaded himself inside this bank, the First Commercial Bank on Chicago's north side and apparently has hostages. We're not quite sure how many.

We don't want to give away the tactics of the tactical team that's there on the scene. We are monitoring this. We will bring you more.

Now, the other story that's happening right now out of New York City. We have learned that the United Nations, apparently vials of dangerous nerve gas have been found in that building.

Jim Acosta joins us now live from New York. He's been following this for us for the past 30 minutes or so.

Jim, what do we know?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, what I can tell you is that, fortunately, this was not found in the main U.N. building. This was found in the offices of the U.N. weapons inspectors that are located at 48th Street and 1st Avenue on the east side of Manhattan. So the good news is that at least this discovery was not made in the main U.N. building.

Now, to give you a little bit of a time line as to what happened. On August 24, last Friday, as UNMOVIC, as it's called, was going through its boxes, going through its files, they're in the process of closing down, according to the U.N. -- they stumbled upon containers that had in those containers an unknown substance.

It was not until yesterday that U.N. officials found the paperwork for those substances. And to their alarm, they discovered in that paperwork that this unknown substance that they stumbled upon was, in fact, a type of nerve gas, a type of nerve gas called phosgene. And this is an old weapons grade nerve gas that was used back during World War I. That is very dangerous.

Apparently, this container holding the substance hadn't been opened. It was about the size of a Coke can. And had it been opened, it could have been fatal. So had somebody stumbled upon this substance who is not a professional in this area, had they stumbled upon it, say a janitor or somebody like that, this could have been a very bad situation. Fortunately, that did not occur.

Apparently, according to the United Nations officials who have been commenting on this, they have contacted U.S. authorities, from what we heard the U.N. folks say. That contact to the United States authorities was not made until yesterday.

So just to set up a time line for you, this discovery was made last Friday, and U.S. officials were not told about this until yesterday. About a potentially dangerous substance that was on U.S. soil.

Now, people might be wondering, you know, where did this nerve gas come from? Apparently, it was found back in 1996 by U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq at a weapons facility that Saddam Hussein ran called Muthana, the Muthana weapons facility in Iraq.

PHILLIPS: OK.

ACOSTA: And if people are curious right now, OK, so 1996, where does that put us? That put us post Persian Gulf War I, and important to note, before the current conflict -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Jim Acosta will continue to monitor that. Thank you so much.

We're also monitoring the White House briefing right now. Tony Snow stepping up to the mic. We are waiting to see what the White House has to say about the senator, Larry Craig's, sex scandal. We're going to monitor this and bring it to you live once we see fit.

Well, he's already dealt with the legal consequences, but the political price that Senator Larry Craig will have to pay for his arrest in that sex sting could be much higher. Fellow Republican senators John McCain and Norm Coleman are calling on Craig to resign. Several house members and the state's largest newspaper agree, but we haven't heard from Craig since his news conference on Tuesday when he insisted, despite his guilty plea, that he had done nothing wrong.

Our congressional correspondent, Jessica Yellin, has more now from Capitol Hill.

Hi, Jessica.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Well, the pressure sure is mounting for Larry Craig to resign. The latest development, Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman has now given away $2,500 that Larry Craig's PAC donated to Coleman's campaign. Coleman now up for reelection. He gave that money away to charity.

He is one of a number of people, as you said, who are calling for Larry Craig to step down, among them Senator John McCain, who said, "It's clear that it was disgraceful," what Senator Craig did.

Senator Coleman saying he's committed a crime involving conduct unbecoming a senator.

And the "Idaho Statesman", Craig's hometown newspaper, saying, "If Craig wishes to keep his secrets, he may do so as a former senator."

Representative Pete Hoekstra, who was the first elected official from Congress to call on Craig to step down, had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETE HOEKSTRA (R), MICHIGAN: He broke his trust, obviously, with the people of Idaho but also with his colleagues in the U.S. Senate and with his colleagues and friends in the Republican Party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Now, Senator Craig has agreed to step down from any leadership positions he holds on committees here in the Senate. And as we have reported, the ethics committee has been asked to look into his incident in the bathroom.

Senator Craig has said that he will announce his future plans, whether he'll run again. He'll make that announcement next month, but obviously, questions are swirling here whether that announcement might come sooner -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, Jessica, let me ask you about Coleman and the fact that he's taking his money back and giving it to charity. What can you tell us about the charity?

YELLIN: Yes, Senator Coleman is donating that money to a charity that's called Sharing and Caring Hands, ironically enough. We understand, though, that is a Minnesota charity that gives food and shelter to people in need -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: A little ironic there. All right. Jessica Yellin, live from the Hill. Appreciate it.

Well, a student's mental history, not widely shared warnings that took so long. A new report on the Virginia Tech massacre shows that if one of these things had been done differently, lives might have been saved, including that of a young man bent on murder and suicide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM KAINE, VIRGINIA: I have a strong feeling that the first time there was evidence of problem with Seung-Hui Cho there would have been a review of those records, and there would have been an awareness that we have a challenge here. We know that this student has some particular concerns, and we also can see that there are strategies that enable him to be successful.

But the absence of the record following the student compounded that second problem, the fact that the dots were not connected and signals were missed at Virginia Tech.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Our CNN's Brianna Keilar has been pouring over the several hundred page report commissioned by Virginia's governor.

What else have you learned, Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, this report gives the most comprehensive look to date into the very troubled mind of Seung- Hui Cho.

Cho wrote many violent stories that raised a lot of red flags for his professors at Virginia Tech. One was from a fiction workshop that Cho took his junior year, and it has eerie parallels to the massacre that Cho would carry out a year later.

Now I want to tell you there are some expletives in this. But a warning: if -- you may be offended by that, but again, these are Cho's words, not mine. So Cho wrote about a morning in the life of a person called Bud who usually -- "gets out of bed unusually early," he says, "puts on his black jeans, a strappy black vest with many pockets, a black hat, a large dark sunglasses and flimsy jacket."

Now, in the story, Bud goes to school. He sees people smiling and laughing, and then he has what appears to be an internal dialogue where he says, "I hate this. I hate all these frauds. I hate my life. This is it. This is when you damn people die with me."

But in the story, Bud, who has two handguns and a sawed-off shotgun, does not go through with the murders. Now, he eventually tells a girl, "I was not -- or I was going to kill every goddamn person in this damn school, swear to God I was but I couldn't. I just couldn't. Damn it, I hate myself." The professor of this course, like the professors of other courses where Cho wrote disturbing stories, contacted the then head of the English Department Lucinda Roy. This went up the chain at the university.

Eventually, the university's care team, which was supposed to identify and work with troubled students like Cho, was brought into the equation at one point. But after being informed that Cho had received some one-on-one tutoring from Roy, essentially considered this issue with Cho resolved, and that's really the end of it for them, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Brianna Keilar, thanks so much.

And the Virginia Tech report does shed new light on the gunman's mental history. It says that Seung-Hui Cho showed problems at an early age. By the time he reached high school he was suffering from a condition known as selective mutism. It's an anxiety disorder marked by inability to seek -- or speak, rather, in certain situations.

Now, the National Institutes of Health says it typically occurs in school or social settings. Other symptoms include shyness and a fear of people.

Elizabeth Cohen will explain more about this straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

And next hour, Virginia Tech responds to this report. We expect to hear from university president Charles Steger, among others, hear what they have to say 2:30 Eastern right here on CNN.

Now, a couple of developing stories that we're following for you right now, live out of Chicago, Illinois, WLS bringing us these pictures. We're actually going to show you new video. We're going to delay that live picture, because the SWAT Team has arrived there on the scene, and we've been communicating with the FBI.

They're apparently trying to establish contact with a gunman who has barricaded himself inside this bank on Chicago's north side and may have taken hostages. Still not clear how many people are inside that First Commercial Bank.

If you're familiar with the area, that bank is in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood on North Clark Street. But you can see police officers there trying to clear people from that area, evacuate them from the area. We are following that possible hostage situation out of Chicago, Illinois.

The other story that we've been following for you is from the U.N. Not the actual main U.N. building but an adjoining building where vials of a dangerous nerve gas were found.

Apparently, these were vials of a nerve gas called phosgene. Weapons inspectors had been keeping boxes of various sophisticated technology and substances in this building. They were going through it, because that building is going to be closed down. While going through those boxes, they came across these vials that were actually taken out of Iraq back in 1996. We're told it is not a threat right now. No toxic fumes have been emitted from those vials. An investigation taking place from the U.N.

Well, he just stopped talking in certain situations, and that should have raised a red flag about Seung-Hui Cho's mental state. Elizabeth Cohen has more on the condition we just talked about called selective mutism.

And the bomb threats were bogus, but they still netted thousands of dollars. Now the feds look overseas for the perp.

And disgraced Senator Larry Craig has already left his presidential campaign. What's candidate Mitt Romney saying about the story today? We'll tell you.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: More now out of the U.N. and this developing story that we've been following out of New York about weapons inspectors at the United Nations discovering six to eight vials of a dangerous nerve gas. It's called phosgene.

They were actually cleaning out offices next to that main building, U.N. building in New York -- these are the first ground shots that we've been getting outside of the U.N. -- when word got out that weapons inspectors found these nerve gas vials.

Apparently, according to our sources and our correspondents, it is not a threat. These are vials that were found in an adjacent building, vials of nerve gas that had been collected from Iraq back in 1996. It's not unusual for the U.N. to deal with sophisticated technology and substances like this and to have them in boxes due to investigations.

Getting word in from the FBI as well. The unit chief from the national press office telling us the FBI is aware of this ongoing situation now at the U.N. The FBI's hazardous materials response unit is coordinating with the New York Police Department and other partners in New York to facilitate the safe removal and disposal of this material.

There is no hazard to the people of New York from this incident.

We're going to go now to our U.N. correspondent, Richard Roth.

Richard, am I pretty much on target here with this recent statement from the FBI with regard to no immediate threat?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they would know better at this point. I don't have the -- the box in question. We're outside. And you wouldn't really know anything's going on on the streets of New York, where many crazy things happen at any moment on any corner. In fact, several diplomats and U.N. people are asking me, "What's the big story?" And when I tell them, they look a little concerned.

But you really can't tell that anything of a threat has been going on here at this corner, which is just a few steps away from the United Nations.

Behind me, police, journalists -- not sure yet if the FBI has really taken these suspicious containers and vials out of building yet. People are waiting to see if that occurs.

The site in question, the offices of UNMOVIC, the U.N. weapons inspection agency, which was going out of business, per the order of the U.N. Security Council, the bosses, the 15 countries who are -- who determine the fate of the organization.

UNMOVIC could not get into Iraq anymore. They had been inspecting what Saddam Hussein was allowing them to do in the year 2002 and early 2003. But their job had been judged to be completed.

And what was in their offices are the remnants of their investigations: gyroscopes, documents, boxes, containers. They were concerned about what was going to happen to all of this stuff. That was part of the debate internally at the Security Council when UNMOVIC was voted out of business.

So they were determining and going through their files to see what would happen, when this was discovered in a cabinet. And it was first revealed, at least publicly by the U.N., at the daily briefing for journalists, where traditionally the news is a bit more mundane or it's based upon news far away. This time a threat, you might say, just right on the doorsteps of the U.N.

But no evacuation, that I can tell, of the entire building, which is not exactly U.N. property. It's just filled with U.N. countries, diplomats and other agencies that can't fit in or have been asked to leave the U.N. headquarters, as UNMOVIC was asked to leave a few months ago as it was fading out of business.

Back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Richard Roth, thanks so much. And we'll check in with you once the hazmat team, the FBI's hazmat team gets those vials out of there. We'll talk about it more. They're working on that right now.

It's 1:19 Eastern Time. Here's some other stories that we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.

An independent state panel says that Virginia Tech officials are partly to blame for last spring's campus carnage. Says the university did not connect the dots and missed disturbing signals regarding the gunman, and it should have warned students as soon as the shooting began.

Former North Carolina prosecutor Mike Nifong pleaded not guilty today. He's accused of hiding evidence that would have quickly cleared the defendants in the Duke University lacrosse team rape case.

And all of the South Korean hostages in Afghanistan are now free. Taliban insurgents released the last seven hostages following lengthy negotiations with the South Korean government today.

Well, it appears to be a scam, but it's putting people on edge across the country. Over the past week stores and businesses have received a series of bomb threats and demands.

CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve has the latest.

How does the scam break down, Jeanne?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the FBI believes that one person or one group is responsible for this extortion scam. And a source tells CNN that investigators are looking for a suspect in Portugal.

Over the past week, the FBI says banks and stores in 13 states are believed to have gotten phone calls saying there's a bomb on the premises which will be detonated if money isn't electronically moved into an account.

A law enforcement source says it has worked in some instances to the tune of about $13,000.

A grocery store in the small Maine town of Millinocket appears to have been the latest target. The local police chief says Wednesday 38 shoppers and employees were put in lockdown for at least three hours while police investigated the call.

And on Tuesday, a call to a Wal-Mart store in Newport, Rhode Island, demanded that $10,000 be wired to a location outside the United States. A federal law enforcement source says several thousand dollars were sent but not the $10,000 requested.

Local police say the employees were so afraid the would-be bomber was in their store, they wouldn't leave until the SWAT team arrived.

Police say the call was eventually traced to outside the U.S.

And in another incident, employees and shoppers at a Dillon's grocery store in Hutchinson, Kansas, were convinced the caller was watching them and some complied with the demand that they take off their clothes.

A source says the suspect in Portugal appears to have ties to the account number involved -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, has the scam worked in every instance?

MESERVE: No, it hasn't, the FBI says, but it has worked more than once. And now police say they're seeing copycat calls in some communities across the nation -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll keep tracking it. Jeanne Meserve, thanks so much.

MESERVE: You bet.

PHILLIPS: Will a sex -- sex sting scandal impact the Romney campaign? Coming up, our John King talks to the presidential candidate about a former Romney campaign official, Senator Larry Craig.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Labor unions and the Chamber of Commerce make for strange bedfellows. Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange to tell us what they're -- well, I guess, where they're finding common ground.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's immigration, Kyra, and President Bush's plan to crack down on immigration is bringing together the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as well as the AFL/CIO.

Both of them are concerned about how such a crackdown would affect the economy, such thing as work disruptions. They're concerned of disruptions to the work force and the economy as a whole.

Trade groups representing construction, farming, meat packing, restaurants, retail and housing are just some of the industries opposed to the plan. The groups have raised the possibility of plant closings and even disruption to the harvest this fall. So they are upset about it, and they are raising their voices -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So what will the crackdown do?

LISOVICZ: Well, President Bush is to begin writing to 140,000 employers regarding Social Security numbers that have raised concerns. The numbers used by nearly 9 million workers. The letters intended to pressure the businesses to fire illegal immigrants.

The AFL/CIO and Chamber of Commerce have asked a federal judge to step in and stop the mass mailing. And of course, we'll keep you posted on where this goes.

(STOCK REPORT)

LISOVICZ: Well, Kyra, we've seen an iPhone, an i-Mac and an iPod. Could the i-Car be next? I'll have the latest buzz about Apple in the next hour of NEWSROOM.

That was one of the -- that was one of the things I wanted to talk to you about the closing bell yesterday. Stock was just on fire yesterday.

PHILLIPS: The i-Car stock?

LISOVICZ: The Apple.

PHILLIPS: The Apple stock. OK. But i-Car is the next project?

LISOVICZ: Well, there's -- there's talk about it. There's talk about it.

PHILLIPS: All right. And you're going to give us details the next hour?

LISOVICZ: And I'm going to talk about it with you in the next hour.

PHILLIPS: OK. That sounds good. Susan, thanks a lot.

LISOVICZ: You got it.

PHILLIPS: Here we go again: spinach being pulled from the stores. We're going to tell you what you need to know and what exactly you've got to pull out of your fridge.

Stay with us. More from the NEWSROOM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Happening right now in New York right there next to the U.N., actually in one of its side buildings, the FBI's Hazmat team is coordinating with New York police trying to figure out how to safely remove and dispose of these vials of dangerous nerve gas that were found in an adjoining building, a building that's about to be closed down. It was a building where the U.N.'s weapons inspectors would keep sophisticated technologies, substances from investigations they had done.

Apparently, these vials of phosgene were found when they were cleaning out the building. These were vials that were retrieved back in Iraq in 1996, obviously prior to the wars. And now eight years later, a lot of questions being asked to why they were being kept there and why now all of a sudden they're coming across these vials of dangerous nerve gas.

Elizabeth Cohen, our medical correspondent, has been following what exactly phosgene is. Educate us on how dangerous it can be and -- it's just surprising that even ...

ELIZABETH COHEN, MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

PHILLIPS: ...vials of nerve gas would be sitting in boxes for a number of years.

COHEN: It is so dangerous, I can't believe that it wasn't stored in such a way that it wouldn't come in contact with people. Phosgene is extremely dangerous. Even brief exposures can be fatal if the exposure is to a high enough concentration. But even if someone is exposed to a lower concentration, within hours, phosgene can cause severe lung problems and eventually cardiac failure.

Now, it's interesting that something that is so dangerous actually apparently smells pretty good. It smells like freshly mowed hay, but it's not good at all. In fact, it is responsible for more deaths in World War I than any other chemical weapon. So this was used in warfare and quite successfully. PHILLIPS: Is there an antidote?

COHEN: No, no anecdote -- antidote, rather, no antidote at all.

PHILLIPS: So, if indeed anybody would have been exposed, are you talking fatal ...

COHEN: Like if the folks at the U.N. had dropped that vial?

PHILLIPS: Right, exactly. There would have been toxic fumes?

COHEN: Absolutely, could have been fatal to them. And so what authorities say to do in that situation is you get out of that area, you try to get fresh air as quickly as possible. You remove your clothes as carefully and quickly as possible and wash up. That is really about all you can do.

PHILLIPS: Well, we're going to follow the Hazmat team. They are there on the scene trying to safely dispose of these and get them out of that building. So, let's hope it just stays that way, safe.

COHEN: Let's hope so, right.

PHILLIPS: OK, Elizabeth Cohen, thanks a lot.

COHEN: OK, thanks.

PHILLIPS: Well, he's been arrested, he's pleaded guilty and now members of his own party want him to resign. The question now, will Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig soon be out of a job? Washington lawmakers, including two senators, started to abandon Craig yesterday after news of his arrest in an airport restroom sex sting.

Craig pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct but insists he did nothing wrong, but he's already facing new pressure back home. Today's "Idaho Statesman" newspaper joined the calls for Craig to step aside.

In its words, "Craig may be one of the Senate's more senior Republicans, but he is contemplating a future that just doesn't exist. The longer it takes for him to face the facts, the longer the interests of Idaho are marginalized."

Bill Frist, who was once the top Senate Republican, tells CNN the people of Idaho have a decision to make.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL FRIST, (R) FMR. SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Having been a majority leader of the United States Senate, I'm not going to state specifically what I think or shouldn't -- or I really don't want to pre-judge. We've no reason for me to now that I'm a citizen.

Clearly, such actions, if they are true or if they are as has been painted are despicable. The sorts of issues that ultimately will impact whether or not somebody like Larry Craig or others would be re- elected. I think the people of Idaho, the people of the individual state, will have to just look at the facts as the facts really are and make that decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Craig stepped down yesterday from a senior position on several Senate committees. But a spokesperson says the senator is not preparing to resign from office.

He was the Republican governor of a Democratic state. Now Mitt Romney is trying to persuade his party to nominate him for president. Earlier today, Romney took a few minutes to talk with our own John King about the campaign, embattled Senator Larry Craig and other issues. John is with Romney in South Carolina.

John, what's his reaction to all this?

JOHN KING, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, Mitt Romney has some stake in the whole Larry Craig scandal because Larry Craig was the chairman of the Romney Campaign in the state of Idaho. And the campaign moved quickly to force him out of that position once the guilty plea became known. The campaign severed its ties with Senator Craig immediately.

But it's quite interesting, Senator John McCain in an interview with us yesterday was emphatic, saying he believes that Larry Craig should resign and resign as soon as possible. But we spoke to Governor Romney today, and while he was harshly critical of the senator's behavior, he would not go as far as to say step down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think at this stage, the right course is for him to make this decision looking at his own conscience, talking to the people of Idaho, meeting with his colleagues in the Senate. I'm not one of those. I'm going to let him make that decision.

KING: You do, though, want to be the leader of the Republican party. You're campaigning for the Republican nomination, which would make you the leader of the Republican party. Is conduct like that welcome in Mitt Romney's Republican party?

ROMNEY: Well, there's no question but that I and other leaders of this country and parents across this country are disappointed and find conduct like that, which is alleged here, as being disgraceful. And we've seen disappointment from the White House. We've seen it from -- and I'm not talking about during President Bush's term but prior presidents, from the White House, from the Senate, from the House, and it's disgraceful.

It's something I hope we can end. And I certainly would work in my party to make sure people understand that we've got to live by a higher standard once we get elected to an office of great respect.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: So a somewhat cautious stance there from Governor Romney. Again, Senator Craig was his state chairman in Idaho. The campaign has severed its ties with him.

Kyra, you get the impression when you talk to Governor Romney, though, and other politicians who have been critical but not quite demanding that Senator Craig resign is that they don't think they need to push him because they think he'll make that decision himself and make it soon, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: But it's interesting, he's being cautious, he's not coming forward and saying, he should step down. Do you think there is some type of friendship there where he is still somehow wanting to help him, support him? Because they did work closely together.

KING: I think the best calculation to put it is that it's not about Senator Craig. It is about Governor Romney's support in Idaho and the impression that he does not want to rush to judgment, that he wants to give this man the time to reflect with his family and reflect with himself about the course he should take.

As Governor Romney put it, I'm not one of his Senate colleagues. So he's trying to say I don't have a direct stake in this, I'm not in the United States Senate, so I will be harshly critical of the conduct and give the man a little bit of time. Perhaps then, those in Idaho who support Governor Romney will say, he didn't push our guy out the door.

But again, especially in private conversations with anyone in the campaign, they say they moved quickly to sever ties, they moved quickly to take down a video testimonial Senator Craig had made for Governor Romney from their YouTube Web site and they expect him -- they expect him in private conversations, to make this decision himself, Kyra, and again, to make it very soon.

PHILLIPS: All right, John King, thanks so much.

And you can see John's full interview there with Mitt Romney coming up in "THE SITUATION ROOM," 4:00 p.m. Eastern time with Wolf Blitzer.

Thanks, John.

Well, the Pentagon is blasting another government office that's grading the progress in Iraq. The Government Accountability Office is preparing a classified report on Iraqi security and politics. The Pentagon has seen a draft of the report and its bleak findings and wants changes made. A Pentagon spokesperson says the GAO set its sights too high.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEOFF MORRELL, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: The standard the GAO has set is far more stringent, some might argue it's impossible to meet. And that is, I think they have to sort of say definitively whether a benchmark has been met or not. Whereas, as you saw in July, with our interim benchmarks report from the president, we're able to say whether there's been satisfactory progress towards meeting the goal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, he's talking about the 18 benchmarks, the list of goals set by Congress to gauge the success or failure of the Iraq mission.

Straight ahead, here we go again. Spinach being pulled from stores. We're going to tell you what you need to pull out of your fridge. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Two developing stories happening right now.

The first, via our affiliate WGN of Chicago, Illinois. We don't have any new details at this point to how many hostages are being held in this bank, but what we can tell you, that the FBI is trying to establish contact with a gunman who's barricaded himself inside this bank on Chicago's north side.

It's not clear how many people are inside. This is the First Commercial Bank on Chicago's north side. It's in the Rogers Park neighborhood. Police right now have surrounded the bank, trying to talk with that gunman and bring this to a safe resolution. We're following that for you.

We're also following a story out of New York, right next to the main U.N. building. It's actually attached to the main U.N. building there in New York. Apparently, a dangerous chemical agent has been found, a number of vials, six to eight vials of this chemical agent. It had been stored away. It was found in Iraq back in 1996. Weapons inspectors there at the U.N. had been keeping various technology, substances they have collected during their investigations in boxes.

And according to our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, this could have been a very dangerous situation if indeed this chemical agent could have been released from these vials. Luckily, that has not happened at this time and we're told that the FBI does have its Hazmat team on the ground coordinating with New York police, trying to remove and dispose of these vials safely. We're going to follow that for you.

Now, I want to take you back to Chicago, Illinois as we look at these pictures coming to us from our affiliate on this possible hostage situation at a bank on Chicago's north side.

On the phone with me now, Bob Simon with -- Tom Simon, I apologize, with the FBI out of Chicago.

Tom, we're trying to confirm if indeed this gunman is holding hostages inside this bank. What do you know?

VOICE OF TOM SIMON, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: The latest information we have here at the FBI field office, which keep in mind is different than the crime scene itself, is that a number of hostages have been released over the course of the past hour. The hostages are currently being debriefed by investigators on the scene to establish if any hostages remain as well as the sequence of events that led up to the standoff.

PHILLIPS: Was this a burglary attempt?

SIMON: I thought (ph) it was a bank robbery attempt, First Commercial Bank on the north side of Chicago around 9:42 this morning. Something went wrong with the bank robbery and it quickly became a hostage situation.

PHILLIPS: Do you know anything about the suspect?

SIMON: We know that it's a single person at this point. We have no information about a second bank robber. And we know that he's armed.

PHILLIPS: How many -- and he's armed at this time. Is he holding any hostages at this time? You said some have been released. How many more inside that bank?

SIMON: You know, we're trying to establish that right now. At the beginning of the hostage situation, there were about six, maybe a few more hostages comprised of bank employees and customers. Several have been released over the course of the past hour. And a debriefing of those witnesses is happening as we speak right now, so I'm not privy to the information that they're telling investigators.

PHILLIPS: So Tom, no one's been injured at this point?

SIMON: At this point, we have no information about injuries.

PHILLIPS: And just to educate our viewers, I mean this is a good sign that negotiators are at least able to correspond with the gunman and some of these hostages have been released. That is definitely a good sign, yes?

SIMON: Absolutely, yes. FBI and Chicago police hostage negotiators are trying to make contact with the bank robber, do effective safe release of any remaining hostages and the subsequent surrender of the bank robber himself so no one gets hurt.

PHILLIPS: Is the bank robber making any demands?

SIMON: At this point, we're not releasing any information about that.

PHILLIPS: All right, FBI representative Tom Simon there from the office in Chicago. Appreciate it, Tom.

SIMON: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: We'll stay in touch with you.

Well, a new reason to check through your refrigerator today. More food is being recalled. Here's CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta with all the details.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It does seem that we've been talking about food recalls quite a bit over the last year, the most recent one involves again spinach. Spinach considered a health food obviously, but the subject of yet another recall.

Specifically talking about Metz Fresh spinach. It's a small spinach grower located in King City, California. That's in the Salinas Valley, an area sort of considered the salad bowl of the country. They make a lot of our spinach, a lot of our lettuce. The specific bags of concern here are 10 and 14 ounce -- I'm sorry, 10 and 16 ounce bags and cartons containing four 2.5 pound bags and four pound cartons.

They also have specific tracking codes that they're making available. You can see them, they're on your screen. We'll also put that on our Web site. And there's a phone number to call as well if you're unsure about all of this.

Sources say thousands of bags have been potentially contaminated. The way that this happens often is that animals and produce come in contact and some of the bacteria actually gets on the small swaths of the spinach. The way that it is harvested, the way that it is distributed, all of the spinach is sort of mixed together and oftentimes what may have been a small infection can suddenly spread to thousands of bags which are subsequently distributed all over the country, so this becomes a nationwide recall.

Now, most people who get a salmonella infection may not even know they get it. They'll have nausea, they'll have vomiting, maybe they'll have a few bad days, but it may be hard to trace back to the specific spinach. If you have these symptoms and they're getting worse and you've eaten spinach, certainly talk to your doctor about it and try and keep that spinach around to try and match up those lot numbers.

As far as we know now, there have been no deaths in any way linked to this particular spinach recall. In fact, the spinach company, Metz, says they're actually going to destroy the bags themselves, but again, if any of these bags have made it into the grocery store or into your homes, make sure to just take them and throw it away. Don't try and wash the spinach again because you'll get the spinach on your hands and possibly cross contaminate the house.

More details will be coming forward. We'll bring those to you as we get them.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: And we continue to follow that chemical agent that was found at that -- at the building next to the main U.N. building in New York. This is what we can tell you at this point. About six to eight vials of a dangerous chemical agent were discovered in an adjoining building to the main U.N. building there.

Apparently, United Nations weapons inspectors had collected these vials years back. They found them in Iraq back in 1996. They had been stored in this building. They're closing down that building. As they were going through boxes, they came across this chemical agent. It could have been pretty disastrous if indeed one was broken or if this agent -- this chemical agent was released from these vials.

So, once it was discovered, the FBI responded. The Hazmat team is on the scene. They're trying to coordinate with New York police there and facilitate a way to safely remove and dispose of those vials. We'll keep you posted.

Well, Phoenix blistered by record heat. Twenty-nine days at 100 degrees or higher. Remember, that's a dry heat, too. Live at the CNN weather center straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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PHILLIPS: Fire breaks are giving folks in Ketchum, Idaho a bit of a break. Firefighters have been at it all night and all day trying to hold back this flames from the resort town and Sun Valley ski area. Huge fire was sparked by lightening two weeks ago. Almost 45,000 acres have burned and about 2,000 homes have been evacuated.

Another rainy day for parts of southeast Texas, another day of flood warnings. This was the day yesterday in Houston. Slow moving storms dumped as much as three inches of rain, more than enough to make a mess of the roads. And, if you've lived there, you know this is not out of the ordinary.

Well, it's cooling off, in a manner of speaking, in Phoenix, Arizona. Yesterday the city hit 113 degrees. That set a record 29 days with temps over 110 degrees. Downright miserable, even if it is a dry heat. Today the forecast calls for a relatively milder 105. Record heat, flooding rains, wildfires, anything else you want to talk about, Chad Myers?

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, we're continuing to monitor that standoff at a bank in Chicago. The good news is some hostages have been released. The bad news is, there is still a gunman inside that bank. We're following the details for you.

And drama on an Ohio highway. A crash, police gunfire and a passenger lives through it all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought I was a gonner for sure. Especially when the bullets started flying. I don't know how on this earth I missed all that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Buckle up and hold on for the incredible pictures.

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PHILLIPS: Well, you never know what you might find in the U.N. file cabinet. Vials of poison gas more than a decade old turn up the other day. The U.N. and FBI insist there is no risk to the public, but they're not taking any chances either.

We're going to talk more about that in just a minute. But let's move on and talk about that high speed police chase. It was a fatal finish and it was all caught on camera by the police officers that were involved. We've got details now from reporter Chris Shaw of CNN affiliate WXIX in Cincinnati.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS SHAW, REPORTER, WXIX: Four different dash cams, caught four different sometimes spectacular angles. But no one saw it like this man.

DARYL BLACK, TAKEN ON CAR CHASE: It's like being shot in a rocket. OK on a skateboard. OK. And not trying to crash into buildings that are everywhere.

SHAW: Daryl Black was able to walk away from this car. Here he is being loaded into an ambulance just minutes after the most terrifying ride of his life. He says his neighbor, Charles Bennett was taking him to Walgreens early Monday morning, when a police officer caught them making an illegal turn. Police say Bernet, who was driving a stolen car refused to stop, and the chase was on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) I just had a vehicle tried to ram me.

SHAW: Black says Bennett drove as fast as 130 miles an hour sometimes erratically, like here when he turned around in the middle of the road. Black says the entire time Bennett never said a word.

BLACK: During this I'm screaming at him stop the f'ing car, get me out of this car.

SHAW: But police say nothing, not even this crash, would stop him. Even after that police say Bennett tried to run over this officer who had to jump on the hood of the car and open fire to protect himself.

BLACK: I thought I was a gonner for sure. Especially when the bullets started flying. I don't know how on this earth I missed all that.

SHAW: A total of three officers shot at Bennett. The department says their actions were justified. BLACK: Police probably followed procedure, but they shouldn't have shot in the car especially with a passenger and I think that needs to be looked at.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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