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People Shot Outside Empire State Building; Romney's Birth Certificate Joke; Revealing Romney
Aired August 24, 2012 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some will likely find refuge with relatives in nearby villages. Others may try to leave Syria altogether.
Children looked out from one of the trucks, clearly affected by all they had witnessed. The cameraman repeated again and again the world should see what is happening in Syria. The children have seen the ferocity of the fighting between the Free Syrian Army and government troops intent on a crackdown.
What they can't see clearly is what kind of a future they're going to have in their own country.
(on camera): It isn't only the refugees from that single town. It's an estimated two-and-a-half million Syrians who have been driven out of their homes. They remain desperately in need of aid. But there are no humanitarian corridors, no safe havens.
Clearly, President Bashar al-Assad's military is making a frontal assault on the opposition. And we can only expect the situation inside the country to grow more desperate in the hours and the days ahead -- Don.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jim Clancy, thank you very much.
Top of the hour. I'm Don Lemon in for Brooke today.
A bizarre moment on the campaign trail raising a lot of eyebrows and sparking immediate reaction from both sides. Just a short time ago, Mitt Romney appearing to make a birther joke while stumping in Michigan. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I love being home in this place where Ann and I were raised, where both of us were born. Ann was born in Henry Ford Hospital. I was born in Harper Hospital.
No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised. (END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Was this a joke? Well, you decide. And we played all of it for you. The birth certificate issue of course pretty sensitive, given all the controversy surrounding President Obama's birthplace. I will tell you what both sides are saying in moments.
But, first, a stunning shoot-out in front of a New York City landmark. Police say the gunman who opened fire today outside the Empire State Building does not appear to have a criminal record. But Mayor Michael Bloomberg says authorities are still double-checking Jeffrey Johnson's history.
Crowds of tourists were waiting to get into the world famous landmark when a gunman opened fire just after 9:00 a.m. New York City police reacted swiftly and killed the suspect, a man dressed in a business suit carrying a briefcase.
Police say the 58-year-old Johnson had already shot and killed a former co-worker. Eight others were wounded in that gunfire. A New Yorker saw the chaos when it erupted while she was walking to get a cup of coffee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REBECCA FOX, WITNESSED SHOOTING AFTERMATH: I was scared and shocked and literally shaking. Someone said there's been shots fired. Someone had -- a man had been chasing another man down the street and had shot him dead on the corner.
When I walked across the street, I saw a woman had been shot in the foot. And she was just in the shock sitting there. There were cop cars and ambulances literally in 30 seconds.
I normally walk across the street like nothing and I then see that there's blood on the corner. I saw a woman. Her foot was covered in blood on the corner there. And when I was actually -- I looked across and there was an ambulance and people were taking another woman in there, into the ambulance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the gunman intentionally went after police.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), MAYOR OF NEW YORK: The perpetrator pulled his gun out and tried to shoot at the cops, whether he got off any bullets or not, to be determined, how many he shot earlier to be determined. We do know that the cops fired back. The tape clearly shows the guy has the gun out and trying to kill the police officers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Let's go live now. CNN's Maggie Lake has been tracking the story for us from the very beginning.
Maggie, talk to us about Jeffrey Johnson. He got laid off from a women's accessories company about a year ago. What else do you know?
MAGGIE LAKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. He was a designer there.
We're starting to get a little bit more of the picture of him from neighbors that knew him. He seemed like a quiet, nice guy, nothing out of the ordinary, which makes it sort of even more extraordinary and shocking for the people who are on the street. He's not the type of person you would necessarily notice walking past you or feel afraid of.
He was dressed in a business suit carrying a briefcase which we now know from police was full of more ammunition, in addition to the .45-caliber arms that he had in his hand. Neighbors say that he loved animals. He was not very talkative. They didn't know a lot about him. He kept to himself.
But when they would see him when they were walking their dogs, he always stopped and had a nice word to say. What we know is in addition to being laid off, though, Johnson, Jeffrey Johnson allegedly had a history of a problem with this co-worker. They had exchanged allegations of harassment of some sort. We don't know the exact details.
So, there was a history of a problem with this particular co- worker that he decided to target this morning in the middle of what was otherwise a very ordinary rush hour time that people were heading to work -- Don.
LEMON: Maggie, we heard from the mayor and police commissioner that some people were caught in the crossfire. How are things now near the Empire State Building?
LAKE: That's right. We are starting to get back to normal.
If you sort of look over my shoulder here, the people back in this area, this is one of the most crowded areas of Midtown Manhattan. The people were here throughout. But they had blocked off the whole city block. We are now finally starting to see traffic head through Fifth Avenue. Those that were wounded had no idea what happened.
We have seen coming into CNN witnesses that took video with their phone. And you could see that people were just absolutely shocked. We have heard from witnesses, some of them didn't even know what happened at first. Thankfully, all of those that were wounded, the eight wounded in local hospitals, none of them have life-threatening injuries, Don.
LEMON: Who wouldn't be shocked? Maggie Lake, thank you for your reporting. If there's one person who has been on a warpath urging stricter gun control laws, it's New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He was actually on the radio talking about gun control just before the shooting happened. It's no surprise that he slipped in a few words about the subject during his news conference today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLOOMBERG: New York City, as you know, is the safest big city in the country. We're on pace to have a record low number of murders this year. But we are not immune to the national problem of gun violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Today's shooting is one of at least three mass shootings we have seen this summer. After the movie theater massacre in Colorado, Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave his view on gun control to CNN's Piers Morgan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLOOMBERG: I think everybody wants to preserves the right of people who want to use guns for sports, hunting or target practice to have the right to do so. But that doesn't mean you have an assault weapon. That doesn't mean you have a rifle that's advertised as able to bring down a commercial airliner at a mile-and-a-half or bullets that are designed to go through bullet-resistant vests.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Mayor Bloomberg also heads a coalition of mayors against illegal guns.
Tropical Storm Isaac barrelling toward the U.S. And we're watching the massive storm -- the latest forecast from our weather team coming up.
And a live report from Haiti, where hundreds of thousands are bracing for impact.
Then, later, Mitt Romney stirring it up on the campaign trail today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: I was born in Harper Hospital.
No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Yes, the birth certificate controversy returns. Both sides are quick to respond -- all the details coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right, pay attention because it's getting closer. Within the past few hours, Tropical Storm Isaac started to lash Haiti. Isaac is likely to strike the U.S. mainland probably as a hurricane. That should happen around midweek.
CNN's Martin Savidge joins us again by telephone from Haiti's southern coast.
And, Martin, tell us what you're seeing there now.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, last hour when I talked to you, we had torrential rain coming down.
Now the skies have lightened and the rain has stopped. But as you from covering these storms that's just the typical pattern, that you get the bands that come in. You get torrential rain and then it stops for a while until eventually Isaac arrives with full intent.
Even with that slight rain -- and it came down pretty heavy for a while -- we have seen localized flooding in certain areas. This is a country that is so prone already to disaster, unfortunately. You have the devastating earthquake in 2010. You have hundreds of thousands of people in the capital of Port-au-Prince that are still living in tents and as a result very vulnerable not only to a tropical storm, but especially to the rain.
That's the biggest concern. We drove actually across the mountains and many people may not know this, but Haiti is extremely mountainous. And that's part of the problem. They are expecting anyway from maybe a foot or more of rain, maybe up to 20 inches depending on localized heavy downpours.
That rain comes just rocketing down the mountainsides and then into slams into the towns, Port-au-Prince being one, Jacmel, where I am, another one, and that's the real concern here, flooding. They have had flooding in the past, have lost lives in the past. They're worried it can happen again. So right now, we have a little reprieve from the last hour, but we know the worst is still to come, Don.
LEMON: Marty, before we let you go and talk to Chad Myers, I want to know are you able to get reports on the radio by any other means as to what may be happening in other parts of Haiti?
SAVIDGE: Well, we have driven all across from Port-au-Prince all the way to where we are. As the crow flies, it's probably only about 31 miles. But we pass through a number of towns.
In every one of them you get the sense that people just are not really that concerned. There have been announcements on the radio. It's on the newscasts. The government has been warning people to take precautions and stock up on food, be prepared.
We ran into Jacmel and there were loudspeakers being hauled through the streets where they were telling people. But still, many folks did not seem concerned and did not seem to be taking it seriously. That's a real worry for the emergency personnel here.
LEMON: It should be for everyone. Thank you, Marty. We appreciate it.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
LEMON: To the campaign trail now. Mitt Romney makes a birther joke while he's out on the stump. Just like that, the political conversation shifts from business to birth certificates -- what the Obama campaign is saying next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(FINANCIAL UPDATE)
LEMON: Mitt Romney attempted to make a joke during a campaign stop in his home state this afternoon, a birther joke. And here is him telling it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: I love being home in this place where Ann and I were raised, where both of us were born. Ann was born in Henry Ford Hospital. I was born in Harper Hospital.
No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, the comment drew a quick response from the Obama camp.
And it says: "Throughout this campaign, Governor Romney has embraced the most strident voices in his party, instead of standing up to them. It's one thing to give the stage in Tampa to Donald Trump, Sheriff Arpaio, and Kris Kobach. But Governor Romney's decision to directly enlist himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across America."
And there you go. The latest round comes just three days before the start of the GOP Convention in Tampa. It's there that Mitt Romney formally picks up the torch for the Republican Party.
Sunday, CNN is going to air a 90-minute documentary on the life, the politics the mission of Mitt Romney. It was put together by none other than CNN's chief political analyst, Gloria Borger.
And here is a sneak preview before we get to Gloria.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Two years into Romney's term as governor of Massachusetts, he sets his sights on something bigger, something that would mean a legacy, health care. SCOTT HELMAN, "THE REAL ROMNEY": He'd not had a major achievement that he could point to as some big political success in a future campaign. He needed something to say, I had done this and it was a big deal.
BORGER: Romney decided to push for health care to cover everyone in the state, but that meant mandating most residents to buy health insurance.
ERIC FEHRNSTROM, SENIOR ROMNEY CAMPAIGN ADVISER: The government that felt it would be wrong for the economy and wrong for our business sector to impose a mandate on employers, to require them to provide insurance for their employees. But he felt it very important that people take responsibility for their own health care.
BORGER: It was Romney's big moment, but now a liability. Republicans bitterly oppose any kind of mandate.
HELMAN: I think the politics of it have been so complicated that it's ironic that the biggest thing he achieved is something he almost never talks about.
BORGER: No less complicated, the politics of abortion. While Romney was personally opposed to abortion, he ran for governor supporting abortion rights.
But once in office and presented with stem cell legislation that would, in Romney's view, have the potential of destroying embryos, ' he changed his mind.
ROMNEY: And I realized that what sounded good in a campaign, when I actually became the governor and was going to be the person who would sign a piece of legislation which could take human life, I simply couldn't do that.
BORGER: Democrats say it was about ambition.
TAD DEVINE, POLITICAL CONSULTANT: He wanted to run for president of the United States. And he understood that White House the Republican nominating process, somebody who was pro-choice or pro-gay rights or anything in terms of a progressive stance would lose.
BETH MYERS, ROMNEY CAMPAIGN ADVISER: I didn't ever see it as a flip-flop. I think that what you saw was the tension between personal beliefs and a public persona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Gloria joins me now.
Gloria, that looks great.
BORGER: Thank you.
LEMON: It looks great.
The issue of flip-flopping, it's a major contention for Romney even to this day, dogs him to this day.
BORGER: Well, it does. And it not only dogs him from the left, as you saw with Tad Devine, the Democrat, but it also dogs him from the right.
We saw that during the primaries, because if you are a social conservative and you're ardently against abortion, then you look at Mitt Romney and you go, you know what, I don't really know what you believe because what you were saying in Massachusetts was quite different from what I see now on the campaign trail.
You saw him explain it there, why he changed his mind. Some people will never believe it was out of conviction. Some people will always say, you know what, it was because it was politically opportune.
LEMON: When I interview people when they are doing -- Soledad, you, whenever we do documentaries on people, there's always an aha moment.
Was there anything that caught you, that struck you about the man himself, his family and his politics?
BORGER: Well, I discovered an awful lot about Mitt Romney in reporting this documentary.
And I discovered things about him I didn't know because he rarely talks about them. And we were lucky enough to have him talk to us about them, first of all, his Mormon faith. The fear is that in a campaign, as you know this, being a Mormon is going to be a liability.
That's why he had to give a speech on faith when he ran last time around in 2007. And when we sat down with him, it was interesting to me how natural, at ease and how comfortable he was in talking about his faith.
And what I learned was that he had been the pastor of his church, the head of his congregation, when he was in Massachusetts at the age of 34 because Mormons don't have any clergy. So, you have members of the congregation who actually volunteer and serve. So, Romney for an extended period, was the person ministering to the people in his congregation. And this is something about Mitt Romney that I don't think a lot of us knew. I certainly didn't.
LEMON: Ah, very interesting.
And just two days before the convention, it appears, I could be wrong, that they're trying to show the American people...
BORGER: You're right.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: ... a different side of Mitt Romney.
BORGER: Sure. Sure. LEMON: Yes?
BORGER: They are.
And -- and what's interesting to me is we have been talking to the campaign about doing this interview for quite some time.
LEMON: Right.
BORGER: And it was very difficult to get because we said we want to talk about who Mitt Romney is as a man and discuss his faith.
Now I think, heading into the convention, there's a real sense that people are not going to vote for someone for president unless they trust you and feel like they know who you are.
LEMON: Yes. And they can relate -- and they can relate to you, that you're relatable, right.
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: You know, Alex Castellanos said to me in this piece, he said, voters kind of -- they are happy to give you the keys to the car, but they want to make sure you can get them there safely.
(LAUGHTER)
BORGER: OK.
And so I think you get to this point in a campaign and you're at the convention, and the convention is their moment for them to tell Mitt Romney's story. So, I would venture to say that you're going to see a different kind of Romney from the one we have seen on the campaign trail. Hopefully, you will get a real glimpse of that Romney in our piece, because he was different from the way I usually see him on the campaign.
LEMON: I remember 18 months back talking to you when we were out and doing...
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: Wherever.
LEMON: Yes, Iowa and all over.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: And the question would be, are people excited about this? And I would say, it's 18 months out.
But this is when people start to pay attention now. I believe this is a moment, when the convention starts.
BORGER: Right. And the convention is the moment for the campaign to try and control their message and say, these are the people we want to put on Monday night.
LEMON: Right.
BORGER: These are the people we want to put on Tuesday night. These are the people we want to be the character witnesses for our candidate.
LEMON: Yes.
BORGER: You're going to see that from the Republicans. You're going to see that from the Democrats.
LEMON: It's the pep rally time, rah-rah-rah.
BORGER: It is.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Go team.
BORGER: We will see. Yes.
LEMON: Yes.
LEMON: Thank you.
BORGER: Sure.
LEMON: It looks fascinating, this documentary, "Romney Revealed: Family, Faith, and the Road to Power," this Sunday night 8:00 Eastern on CNN.
And make sure you watch Gloria and Wolf every evening, 7:00 Eastern for complete RNC coverage.
And a reminder, my colleague Brooke Baldwin will be at the Republican Convention. She will be anchoring this show from there live from Tampa. It kicks off on Monday right here on CNN.
And speaking of Tampa, the city along with the rest of Florida on alert, as Isaac comes barrelling north. But, tonight, it's Haiti that's right in the bullseye. We will show you the storm's latest path.
Plus, as police fired at the gunman outside the Empire State Building, we're told they also hit bystanders. You're about to hear the police perspective about the confusion during these types of shootings.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The governor of Florida, Rick Scott, assuring nervous Republicans that their national convention in Tampa won't be derailed by a soon-to-be hurricane named Isaac.
Scott said this afternoon that Tampa might get a little wind and some rain. That said, though, Tampa officials are not letting down their guard and we're going to talk to one now, Chauncia Willis of the Tampa Office of Emergency Management.
Thank you, Chauncia, for joining us. Despite what the governor says and despite what the forecast indicates, how are you preparing for this hurricane?
CHAUNCIA WILLIS, TAMPA OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT (via telephone): Good afternoon, Don. Thank you.
Well, the city of Tampa has activated the emergency operation center. So, members from our local community, as well as state and federal agencies, are currently staffed in the emergency operation center and we are preparing, we're working together and we're collaborating around the clock for this potential weather event.
LEMON: Miss Willis, our meteorologist, Chad Myers, is here, as well.
By the time anything gets to Tampa, what are we looking at? Do we know what the winds are that they -- should be in store for them?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, the storm is going to be a 75-mile-per-hour minimal hurricane to the west of Tampa. That's the current forecast.
What bothers me about all of this, Don, is that every single computer program looking for it makes a turn to the right, north of Florida into Georgia.
Now, what if that turn is 100 miles farther south or the storm slows down a little bit, but all of the sudden you have all of these people there?
They have all these backup plans and, obviously, everybody that walks into a Tampa hotel this weekend should have a little notice -- if this, then this. There should be a little thing, a little placard that everybody does and I'm sure that that'll probably ...
LEMON: Hey, Chauncia, is that happening? Are you prepared for that? Are you telling people, people will be advised when they go into hotel rooms and when they come into the city of what they should do?
WILLIS (via telephone): Definitely. We've been working with the RNC host committee and the committee on arrangements to provide visitors with as much information as possible.
We've been getting the word out and letting everyone know that, should something like a severe weather event happen, that we're prepared and we're very optimistic that everything will go extremely well.
But if it does not, then we're prepared for that, as well.
LEMON: Yeah, but you're not to the point where you're setting up shelters and all of that, are you?
WILLIS (via telephone): Not here in the city of Tampa or Hillsborough County. Right now, it's looking like a poorly organized system. And it has a lot of land to go over and that's going to hopefully decrease its intensity.
And what we're hoping is that it does not directly impact this event or Tampa Bay.
LEMON: You're hoping that and a whole lot of other people, as well, right, Chad?
MYERS: That's right.
You know, the thing, Don, is there actually could be more of a small tornado threat than a hurricane threat in Tamp because some of these times these hurricanes will spawn little tomatoes.
People just need to be out of - know where to go and get out of the way. Always have plan.
If you're going to Tampa this weekend, don't go without a plan.
LEMON: All right, thank you, Chad, and thank you, Chauncia Willis from the Tampa Department of Emergency Management. We appreciate it.
We're moving on now and we're getting in exclusive new video of the shooting outside the Empire State Building. It's giving us a better idea of what went down exactly. It's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right, right out of the gate, here, a warning - graphic video coming, OK? CNN has obtained some graphic video from today's shooting rampage at the Empire State Building shooting.
Two people were killed, including the gunman, eight others wounded. Police say gunman Jeffrey Johnson killed a former co-worker before New York police shot and killed him.
Again, I warn you the video shows people who were shot during the battle. If you don't want to see it, you should turn away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa. People on the street, everywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
All right, so, law enforcement analyst Mike Brooks joins us now. Mike, that video is just unbelievable to watch. You see the chaos and what's going on there. MIKE BROOKS, LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It is and you see that person who was in the gray suit? That could have been the gunman.
From what has been described as two officers, who were there in front of the Empire State Building on, basically, anti-terrorism patrol, on duty there, was notified by a construction worker who witnessed the shooting, the initial shooting, and then they confronted the man.
He pulled a weapon on them first and then they fired on him, but it was all on tape, apparently.
LEMON: OK, a little more. Again, another warning. A little bit more of that video now. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK, so, you saw two people laying there. The question is, why? I mean, disgruntled? That's no reason. What are you finding out about this guy?
BROOKS: Well, you know, it's interesting, though. Apparently, he was laid off a year ago. But what has been going on in that year, Don, that's what I want to know as an investigator.
What has been going on between Hazan Import company which is right there on that Number 10 West 33rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue, just right around the corner from the Empire State Building?
Has this been an ongoing dispute between Jeffrey Johnson and this company and maybe this one employee who was killed today? What has been doing on? Was there any indication?
These are things that investigators are going to be looking into to find out, OK, has he been coming down to the store? Has he been calling you? Has he been sending -- has he been writing you?
What has been going on and could this have possibly been prevented because did they have any indication this could happen?
LEMON: Let's talk a little bit more about the investigation. Fourteen rounds, right? Officers fired 14 rounds and some of the bullets may have grazed bystanders. The mayor said it in his press conference.
BROOKS: You know, it's tough because I've been involved in situations where someone has pulled a gun on me and, you know, it's -- you are trained to draw your weapon and return fire.
He apparently pointed his .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun at officers first, Don, and they fired upon him a number of times. You always - you shoot at the threat until it's not a threat anymore, until the person's down.
We saw officers standing over what we believe is the gunman with guns drawn, still two officers there.
Could this happen again and other people get hit? Yes. You try to concentrate your shots at the person you're shooting at, but you're standing out there in the open yourself and you're trying to ...
LEMON: New York City is so crowded.
BROOKS: It's so compact. You know how it is down there.
LEMON: I was just at the Empire State Building probably about a month ago.
BROOKS: Yeah.
LEMON: I lived in New York for a long time. I wouldn't normally go. I had a friend who'd never been, said let's go to the Empire State Building.
So, I went up. Beautiful, right?
BROOKS: Absolutely.
LEMON: I mean, it is so packed you can barely move because it's such a huge tourist attraction and, if you're trying to shoot at someone ...
BROOKS: Right.
LEMON: ... it's crowded.
BROOKS: And here it was, 9:00 in the morning, people out getting their coffee. We heard from some of the eyewitnesses who were out getting coffee right nearby and who witnessed everything.
And they saw people who were shot in the foot, in the leg, in the buttocks, but none seriously shot by police by some stray rounds.
LEMON: That was the good news.
BROOKS: And that's the very good news.
LEMON: The mayor said he didn't believe anybody else was going to ...
BROOKS: Right.
LEMON: ... unfortunately lose their lives over this.
BROOKS: Exactly.
LEMON: Thank you, Mike Brooks.
BROOKS: Thank you, Don Lemon. LEMON: Appreciate it.
A hospital smack in the middle of a warzone, desperately trying to keep men, women and children alive. We'll have an exclusive report from inside the emergency room.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: For more than a year we've been showing you images out of Syria, always with the warning that they are graphic and disturbing. Now, a different perspective, but just as graphic and just as disturbing.
A count this week of all the Syrians killed, activists say. by a government, a government that refuses to give up power. On Monday, 168 people killed. On Tuesday, 230 people killed. Wednesday, 184 people. Thursday, 200 people dead.
Today, the death toll so far, 146. We know at least 25 of today's victims are children. Look at the totals. And it's like an airliner going down every day this week.
Right now, there's no sign of the bloodshed ending. CNN's Jim Clancy got inside the hospital, one hospital in the largest city of Aleppo. Here's his exclusive interview, his exclusive video and, again, a warning to you - what he's about to show you may disturb you.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JIM CLANCY, ANCHOR, CNN INTERNATIONAL: Screams of pain, pleas for help and prayers inundate an emergency room in Aleppo, Syria.
A bomb exploded as these civilians waited in line to buy bread. Now, sprawled on the floor, they wait for someone to treat their wounds, to save their lives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe 10 and the cars are going to bring more. There's many - there's many wounded people.
CLANCY: In the heart of this chaos, the doctors and staff are beacons of calm. Take note of that as you watch these images because, if any of them are arrested, they know they will be executed almost immediately by the regime.
It's going to be another record day for the Al-Shar Hospital. Men, women and children of every age suffering from every kind of wound imaginable come here for help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One-hundred-fifty.
CLANCY: They are keeping score here. Each patient treated is another small victory in a war where innocent civilians are the targets.
Some will be quickly patched up and sent home. Others will undergo major surgery that will mean the difference between life and death.
Spanish journalist Ricardo Garcia spent 20 days documenting the real-life drama as the medical staff fights to keep this hospital open. People are depending on them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): Why all this? What's with this bad president? Aren't we his people?
CLANCY: On Aleppo's littered streets atop shattered homes, Syrians denounce Bashar al-Assad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): Where does he think he's bombing? Tel Aviv, Israel?
CLANCY: Residents say they sleep in shelters, wait for the next bombing in this, their living nightmare.
Others stand and fight, but there are times when even Al-Shar Hospital cannot save them.
Near the hospital entrance, Free Syrian Army fighters bid farewell to a comrade-in-arms. He's gone to paradise, the fighters shout. He's gone to paradise.
There's nothing here. These doctors and their assistants face risks ever bit as dangerous as fighting on the frontlines. If captured, execution and they know well the regime is out to get them.
Doctors recount how military intelligence agents came to the hospital to kill them. The Free Syrian Army thwarted that assassination, but nothing stops falling bombs. A near miss with a 500-pounder shattered the windows.
Jets later scored multiple rocket hits on the third and fourth floors.
But they are all here at work in Aleppo's Al-Shar Hospital and grimly preparing to treat the next victims of Syria's bloody civil war.
Jim Clancy, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Jim Clancy there reporting and the person who got inside, Ricardo Vilanova, from CNN International.
We're back in a moment with an announcement that you want to hear.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We are just a few minutes away from the top of the hours and that means our very own Wolf Blitzer. Wolf is here.
Wolf, it's going to happen live in your show, none other, Todd Akin in Missouri, who made those comments about legitimate rape, holding a press conference. You'll be carrying it live?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": I don't think we will carry it live because Peter Hamby, our excellent political reporter, has just told us he's staying in the race.
If he were to announce he's dropping out of this race, that would be huge news, obviously. Then you set the stage for Claire McCaskill, the Democratic incumbent senator, would presumably have a much fiercer opponent, someone more likely put her on the ropes, if you will. She was on the ropes, earlier.
If he's staying in the race, if that's all he's doing, just to announce that he's determined to stay in the race, we'll listen to it. We'll monitor what he has to say. If there's anything newsworthy, we'll, of course, report that to our viewers, but we're not going to take it live in "The Situation Room" if he's doing a routine news conference with no news just to say what he's been saying over the past few days.
You know why? Because we believe - we believe the news comes first and if there's no news, then we're not going to be interested in what he has to say.
If he were to announce, if we got word that he's about to announce he's dropping out of this Senate race, that would be huge news. The Republican establishment, the tea party movement, all of the leaders, Romney, Paul Ryan, they'd be thrilled if he were to listen to what they've been telling him for the past several days, get out of the race.
But, if he's just staying in the race, not worthy of taking it live, to put it bluntly.
LEMON: For something he's already said he's going to do, Wolf.
BLITZER: Many times.
LEMON: Very well said. Thank you, Wolf. We'll be watching and, of course, Wolf and all those guys will be monitoring the news conference happening at 5:15 in "The Situation Room" in just a few minutes.
Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong says he is giving up the fight, but what does this mean for his legacy?
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LEMON: Cycling legend Lance Armstrong may be closer to losing his seven Tour de France titles. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said today it will move to have Armstrong stripped of all seven titles, this after Armstrong said, enough is enough and decided to end his battle against the doping charges.
Armstrong says he is innocent of all doping allegations, but he's not going to fight it anymore.
Jon Wertheim, "Sports Illustrated," joins us from New York. Hey, Jon, good to see you.
Lance Armstrong, is he trying to have it both ways? He says he's innocent of all doping charges, but he's dropping his fight against those same charges.
If he didn't take the drugs, why not keep fighting?
JON WERTHEIM, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": You do wonder that. And I think this is a very sort of cleverly spun tact he's taking where he's not going to pursue this. He's not going to try and go through arbitration.
He has not made an admission of guilt, either, and he sort of leaves it out there. And, basically, his tact is, hey, believe what you want to believe.
He knows that he has a lot of people who are firmly in his corner and I think this is a way of saying - you know, the battle lines have been drawn. If you think I doped, I doped and, if you think I don't, I don't.
And sort of he's bowed out of this without real determination, one way or the other.
LEMON: Is he kind of thumbing his nose at - because he has a strong personality and he's not the warmest of guys. But is he sort of thumbing his nose at the people who are going after him?
WERTHEIM: Oh, absolutely. I mean, even his statement yesterday wasn't contrite at all and using words like "witch hunt."
And I think he sort of knows the reality of the situation, which is, he has a lot of supporters out there. I think mostly because of his work with cancers and also he's sort of done a good job with the foundation.
He's done a good job also of sort of these are agenda-driven - you know, sort of -- the terminology he's using - these are, you know, these are agenda-driven bureaucrats. And he knows that he still has his staunch group of supporters.
LEMON: Hey, Jon, it's a turning point in a turf war between sports agencies. Another group says the USADA doesn't have the authorities to strip Armstrong's titles. Who else may weigh in before this Armstrong thing is resolved?
WERTHEIM: Yeah, I mean, I think this could end up back in the courts. I mean, just to be clear, USADA is not - this is not a legal body. These are not criminal charges.
But I think it's pretty clear and this has already been before one judge that they do have the authority to do this.
And I think that we'll see how deep-pocketed Armstrong -- we'll see if we're done staying out of the courts.
But basically, the way it is now, Armstrong has basically said, look, do what you want to do. I'm out. This is my white flag.
And we'll see if this is actually going to stick.
LEMON: Yeah. Last night, I tweeted, what happens to the yellow arm-bands, in all seriousness, because Lance Armstrong has a fitness empire. He raises millions for cancer research with his charity.
How could losing his title affect him financially and affect Livestrong?
WERTHEIM: Yeah, I think that's a really good question because usually, when scandal hits, we talk about marketability in terms of endorsements. Here, there's a whole other angle with the fundraising.
And I think that, look, some people are probably going to pull their funding from Livestrong, but I think also there's going to be some backlash where people say, I support Lance. I do think he was a victim of this witch hunt.
I'm not so sure this is going to injure Livestrong as much as other people seem to think.
LEMON: All right, Jon Wertheim, "Sports Illustrated." Thank you, Jon. We appreciate it.
That's it for me. Have a great Friday.
Here's Mr. Wolf Blitzer in "The Situation Room."
