Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room 20130117

Why we cheat and not entirely unrelated to cheating you have former governor mark sanford sitting down with piers morgan tonight. Hes Just Announced hes running for congress. Dont miss it tonight. Thats it for me. Be back here at the same time tomorrow. Im brooke baldwin. Lets go to wolf blitzer in the situation room. Breaking news the fate of american captives in an engineer yeah clouded in chaos. An operation to free the foreign hostages has reportedly ended amid word that some were forced to wear explosive vests. A star Football Player says hes the victim of a sick joke but some taken in by the joke say manti teo has some explaining to do about his dead girlfriend who never existed. And president obama will take the oath of office on the same bible that Abraham Lincoln used. Well give you a close look at this extraordinary piece of american history. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Lets begin this hour with the breaking news. Algerias official news agency has Just Announced the end of a rescue operation aimed at freeing hostages including americans held by islamic militants. U. S. Government officials tell cnn that may not necessarily, though be the case. Lets get straight to our pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence working this story for us. Chris, be what is the very latest that youre hearing . Wolf, the latest that were getting from u. S. Officials is that some americans may have escaped but some may still be held by those hostage takers and they are still seeing signs perhaps of some intermittent fighting suggesting that perhaps this isnt over yet. As the hostage situation stretched to a second day, u. S. Officials scrambled to find a resolution and determine the state of the Americans Still in militant hands. This incident will be resolved, we hope with a minimum loss of life. But when you deal with these relentless terrorists, life is not in any way precious to them. Americans and other western workers were on as about when multiple militants attacked. The militants took hostage at this gas plant heavily armed with rocket grenades and forced some hostages to wear explosive vests. The militants may have tried to move their hostages. With the intention of leaving for a neighboring country, they would use the hostages as a means of blackmail with a criminal intent. Some hostages escaped, others were killed or wounded or unaccounted for. Translator there were a number of dead and injured. We dont have a final figure. But why did the algerians go in when they did . Former Homeland Security adviser Fran Townsend said the u. S. Would typically try to use surveillance and map the area in detail before launching a military assault. The western way is to collect as much intelligence as you can to engage in a potential negotiation to see if you can peacefully resolve it without putting the hostages at risk. But the algerians have fought a long, bloody battle with militants for years. They have little patience for terrorists and kidnappers of this kind and are going to want to nip it in the bud and a show of strength that this is not going to be tolerated. British Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that the british and his government would have liked to have been consulted before this assault by the algerian forces and indicated that the british were only told after the assault had already begun. As to the hostages heres what we know. An irish hostage has been freed. His family has been talking and the Irish Government has confirmed that. The algerian forces say they helped free two british hostages, a frenchman, and a kenyan but the ultimate fate of those americans, wolf, were still trying to determine. Do officials at the pentagon or elsewhere offering assessment about algeria special operations capabilities and undertaking a mission like this . Wolf, the algerians have been in a belong bloody battle and they have a Good Relationship with the algerians with the head of Africa Command carter ham had been to algeria a number of times and incapable because of all of the interactions and fights that they had with the militants but, again, u. S. Forces would have taken in the same situation but the u. S. Forces had to respect the fact that this happened on algerian soil. They ultimately make the call. Right near the libyan boshder. We dont know how close to the libyan border that proximity may have created for these terrorists to undertake an operation like this. Chris lawrence at the pentagon i know this is a fast moving story. Youll update us with information as it comes in. Meanwhile, jaws dropped across the country when people learned the heartbreaking and well publicized death of a College Football stars girlfriend. They learned that it never happened, that the girlfriend never even existed. Notre dames manti teo says he was the victim of a sick joke but as more details new emerge about this hoax more questions are now being asked. Cnns ted rowlands is joining us from notre dames campus. What is the latest, ted, that youre getting . Reporter well, wolf, frankly, there was a lot of anticipation that manti teo would break his silence and go public with his side of the story today. However, as far as we have heard now, he has said nothing. This Twitter Photo is manti teo at the img academy where he is training for the nfl draft and likely also taking refuge. Pressure continues to mount for teo to explain the inconsistencies between the very public death of his fake girlfriend and the statement that he never actually met her. During the football season, the story of this linebacker enduring the death of his girlfriend and grandmother on the same day transcended sports. People from around the world were touched by how in love teo seemed to be with lennay kekua, the girl he called his soulmate. I cried. I yelled. Never felt that way before. This is six hours ago i just found out my grandma passed away and you take, you know, the love of my life. Reporter on the day of his girlfriends supposed funeral, teo played football and after the game brian kelly actually awarded the game ball to the girl we now know doesnt exist. I want to award this game ball to lennay. And id like manti to have this ball to take back to hawaii. I am as confused as i think a lot of people are right now. Reporter Sports Reporter eric hansen has spent the last four years writing about manti teo. In october, he wrote this article detailing the couples first meeting after a Football Game against stanford. I would think if there was a mistake in the story they would have brought it to my attention. Reporter the story has romantic details of teo and his fictitious girlfriend catching his eye and making a connection. Hansen says he got the story from teos father. He still has a recording of the interview. Maybe manti, you know, being in an online relationship was a little embarrassed and embellished the story to his father a little bit and his father was telling what manti had told him. Reporter he allowed us to listen to the recording but wont allow us to broadcast it. Clearly, his father thinks his son met the girl friend in 2009 and spent considerable time with her after that. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt at this point and i want to hear from them before i form the last picture on this. Reporter wolf espn tweeted that they were about ready to sit down for an interview with manti teo. Then a few hours later he tweeted that the interview had been canceled. A lot of questions still from manti teo when and if he decides to come public. Even as we speak they are sticking by manti teo, is that right . Reporter absolutely. The Athletic Director here said he sat down with him for an hour and a half in one session and another hour the next day. He said after listening to this young man he absolutely believes that he was nothing more than a victim. What a story. Much more coming up in the situation room. Ted, thank you. A day after president obama announced his gun proposals the lines are drawn. Vice President Biden says hes under no illusions of what is going on. He met with many of americas mayors and made a very emotional call for action. Athena jones is joining us from the white house. Looks like a start of a Major Campaign to get gun control legislation through congress, athena. Reporter exactly. Its a Major Campaign and vice President Bidens speech before those mayors is to win public support for the gun proposals. Leading that task force to come up with some of the proposals that he talked about yesterday and so its really no surprise to see him out pushing this again today. Lets listen to a little bit about what he had to say to the mayors. If we speak for those we lost, we speak for our children and our families, if we have the courage to do what we know is the right thing to do then well have the most powerful voice. And we you, our citizens will change the nation. Ive been in this fight a long time. I have no illusions about the fight that is in front of us. I have no illusions about the distortions that will come from all sides. But i know full well the political obstacles that will be thrown up against us are not unpenetrate table. Reporter vice President Biden was highlighting something that the president himself brought up. He can take executive action on some of these, like requiring federal agencies to provide more information for background checks but hes going to need congressional things for things like banning highcapacity magazines or putting new restrictions on semiautomatic weapons. We know there is a lot of resistance, certainly from republicans in congress so far. And so part of this effort to try to win support in congress to get support on capitol hill, the white house is reaching out to supporters saying that they should speak out to the representatives about guns and the old Campaign Obama for america is going to kick off as well. Jim mess seen na is already emailing reporters asking can them to stand by him in this political fight. Wolf . Athena jones, thank you very much. Much more on this story also coming up. So how do you ban a weapon that may not even have a clearcut name or definition . Were taking a closer look at the confusion surrounding some of these gun control proposals and what tone will the president take in his second term inaugural address . Were going to hear from two former white house speechwriters. Stand by. Stress sweat. It can happen any time, to anyone stress sweat is different than ordinary sweat. It smells worse. Get 4x the protection against stress sweat. Introducing new secret clinical strength stress response scent. [ male announcer ] in blind taste tests, even ragu users chose prego. Prego . but ive bought ragu for years. [ thinking ] wonder what other questionable choices ive made . I choose date number 2 whooo [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. Choose prego. When it comes to the president s plan for controlling gun violence, the devils in the definitions. Aside from all of the political obstacles, how do you go about banning a weapon that may not have a clearcut name . Joe johns has been looking into this part of the story for us. Its getting a little complicated. So explain what youre finding out, joe. Wolf, its being called the biggest push in a generation on gun control but a lot of the ideas the president put forth yesterday has been kicked around since the 1990s and frankly in a lot of ways its not clear what the white house wants to do and how they want to do it. The president s gun safety proposals sound ambitious but policywise its difficult to assess without more details, starting with this. Restore a ban on militarystyle assault weapons and a tenround limit for magazines. Which would be illegal is impossible to know until the white house defines assault weapon. When a ban passed in 1994 it came down to what it looked like. For example, do they have folding or telescoping stocks and grips and so on. Officials admit it was far from perfect. It was hard to enforce it. As a result many people did that and, you know he have vaded the law. Will only manufacturers be banned from making them or will the distribution and ownership also be banned . Then theres this. Require a universal background check for anyone trying to buy a gun. It may be politically doable but problematic from a policy standpoint. Right now about two dozen states dont contribute to the federal Background Check Program on a regular basis and expanding to all private sales is a huge challenge, even if the government sets up an online application. To try and regulate that portion over the internet could be extremely difficult and complicated at best. Another can of worms is preventing the mentally ill from buying guns. Right now a court or a judge has to rule that a person is mentally defective before its reported to the background check system. The question is, whether a lot of people with serious issues who shouldnt qualify are still able to get guns. Many people do not go through the core process for any type of process for seeking Mental Health treatment or resources. Now you are relying on them to answer that question and they could tell you the truth or not tell you the truth. But changing the criteria could have unintended consequences like discouraging people from getting treatment. We want to make sure people who need help dont get treatment but also block them from getting the services they need for Mental Health. The president talked about only the tip of this iceberg. We will make sure Mental Health professionals know their options for reporting threats of violence. Senior Administration Officials told reporters they dont plan to go after existing guns and magazines, meaning anything owned before a ban is put in place would actually get grandfathered in. Everything is subject to change once negotiations start with congress. Dianne feinstein is expected to be introduced as early as next week. Wolf . Well see what happens in the senate, if it gets through the senate, and then what happens in the house. Thanks very much, joe for that. Lets see what happens next in the administrations push to crack down on violence. Gloria it looks like its almost a Political Campaign emerging on both sides. For example, jim messina, in charge of the Obama Reelection Campaign puts out a letter, among other things, saying take a look at the president s plan to reduce gun violence and stand with him in support. Wayne lapierre executive Vice President of the nra issues a fundraising letter saying this. I warned you this day was coming and now its here. Its not about protecting your children. Its not about stopping crime. Its about banning your guns period. So what are we seeing here . A real Political Campaign. On the one side you have the Grassroots Organization that the obama for america team use. Now, they cant coordinate with the white house, wolf, on this, but they are using all of their apparatus to get out their grass root supporters because what they are trying to do is mobilize voters in much the same way that the nra has done over the years, which is make people who are for some kind of gun regulation, single issue voters and come out and pressure members of congress who may be wavering in gun states and say to them, you know, we want something done. On the other side is the nra which has a huge Grassroots Organization. They are trying to mobilize their own voters. You saw that email. We spoke yesterday about this provocative ad talking about the president s children are protected by people who bear arms. So you can be sure that the nra is going to continue to be just as aggressive as the obama supporters on all of this. You know, the reaction from republicans to what the president did yesterday, signing 23 executive orders if you will has been very intense. Rick perry, the republican governor of texas saying this. The Second Amendment to the constitution is a basic right of free people and cannot nor will it be abridged by the executive power of this or any other president. At least so far, were not seeing a whole lot of opportunity for real substantive negotiations. No. And, of course, rick perry is a governor that once suggested that texas secede from the union and ran for the presidency himself. Wolf whark were hearing is a lot of Second Amendment talk the president want to take away your guns. Theres also talk among republicans that an assault weapons ban will not be effective, that it would not have solved the are problem, for example n. Newtown. So theres talk of taking that off the table. Where there does seem to be some kind of coalescing is closing the gun show loophole, making universal background checks required for gun owners. If i had to guess, i would say that is the one area that you could see people come together on. When i interviewed david keene, the president of the nra dint see him show any flexibility on that specific issue. No. Because right now, wolf there is absolutely no meeting of the minds. These are these two bohemisis steaking out their positions and theres no reason to compromise until the end of the process. The president and Vice President have work to do with fellow democrats. They do. You look at harry reid from nevada, its clear hes not going to take the lead on this in the senate. He will leave that to his chief lieutenant. Today we had pat leahy come out and he said quote we will pass what we can get. That doesnt mean that sure doesnt sound to me like he believes the president s entire package is going to get through. There are also senators democrats up for reelection in gun states like montana louisiana, south dakota. So those are real issues for the president because, of course, they want to keep control of the senate and also there are western senators who are going to be looking for some middle ground. See, the key words, middle ground. If there is any. Gloria, thank you. One of the countrys Oldest Airlines now has a brand new look. Were going to show you how American Airlines is engaged in a major makeover. Plus, its not just 20s anymore. The big change that youll be seeing very soon at some atms. [ male announcer ] returns are easy with free pickup from the u. S. Postal service. Well even drop off boxes if you need them. Visit usps. Com pay, print and have it picked up for free. Any time of year. Nice sweater. Thank you. Iwcxc . Snzol 3b i u twyw . Wob the fbis directors wheel is up after a secret visit to libya. Lisa sylvester is monitoring that and other stories. What is going on . Wolf, cnn has learned that fbi director robert mull letter has left tripoli. He traveled there and he did not visit the compound where u. S. Ambassador chris sister stevens and three others were killed. Lance armstrongs fall from grace is not over yet. The ioc has stripped the champion of the bronze medal he won at the 2000 Olympic Games in sydney australia. This is ahead of word that he will be expected to admit to using performance enhancing drugs. And American Airlines has its first facelift in more than 40 years. The carrier unveiled a new red, white, and blue logo in an updated eagle motive. It is trading its polished exterior for a new red white and blue paint job. The new look will stay. Have you ever wanted a little cash from the atm but you couldnt get it because it only had big bills . Machines that pay to the dollar are popping up around the country. Chase rolled out up to 400 of these machines dispensing denominations as low as 1s and 5s over the past 18 months and pnc has switched out thousands of its atms and plans for all of the atms nationwide to be spitting out these smaller bills by the end of the summer. If you want 7, you can have 7. You dont have to have 20. Thats the future. Thats the way its going, wolf. Much more convenient for a lot of people. Yes. But you still have to watch those fees. Fewer than four days the president of the United States will deliver his second inaugural address. Two of washingtons former top speechwriters are here in the situation room with some advice. Paul begala and david frum are coming up. So. Howd it go . Well, dad, i spent my childhood living with monks learning the art of dealmaking. Youve mastered monkeystyle kung fu . No. Priceline is different now. You dont even have to bid. Master hahn taught you all that . 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Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. With copd, i thought id miss our family tradition. Now symbicort significantly improves my lung function starting within 5 minutes. And that makes a difference in my breathing. Today, were ready for whatever swims our way. Ask your doctor about symbicort. I got my first prescription free. Call or click to learn more. [ male announcer ] if you cant afford your medication astrazeneca may be able to help. Im wolf blitzer. Here are some of the stories were working on for our next hour behind the hoax. Were digging into the man who reportedly made up manti teos girlfriend. Also, the dreamliner grounded around the world. And one of the key causes of the trouble may end up on other planes as well. Also, a close look at the man some say will be the second most powerful person in washington. The new white house chief of staff. Stand by. Youre in the situation room. Next monday president obama will speak to the American People and to the world in his second inauguration speech. But after four very challenging years in office what tone should the president strike this time around . Joining us now democratic strategist paul begala and david frum, a former white house speechwriter for george h. W. Bush. Also author of why romney lost. Doing very well. Heres what the White House Press secretary said today about the president s speech preparation. Let me play the clip from jay carney. All i can tell you is the president in general when he works on a speech writes them long hand on a yellow pad and ive seen some yellow pads filled with writing of late around but i dont have any more details on the speech. Both of you are former speechwriters. Paul, you wrote this on the daily beast. President obamas task is much like the couple renewing their wedding vows after decades of tough but rewarding marriage. If the words are too ideal list, they will seem hollow or saccharine. If too shallow, why even bother . Take us inside those words. Tough task. This president loves an olympian detachment and theres a lot of good in that. We need a president to think of the big picture the only person who is supposed to be thinking for 100, 150 years where we need to be. At the same time, hes a participant in what is a small, petty political in this decade. If all he does is wine and complain that doesnt do us if hes too high hes one of the best writers and as good of a time that weve ever seen. Advice for important speech like this . Know exactly what youre going to say and dont say anything else. The second inaugurals are tough and for two reasons. The first is that if you become president , unless you do it in the harry trumman way where you find yourself losted into office, youve probably been thinking about your inaugural address for at least a year, maybe your whole life. The second not such a big wind up. President s have enormous staffs. And the bigger the staff, well as they say, when you listen to a really bad speech no individual could have written so bad a speech. That took a team of highly trained professionals. Should he speak in specific details, go into specific policy issues save that for a state of a Union Address . Just speaking lofty words in a second inaugral . More the grand notions and values. His first inaugural was quite a good speech. No details, nor should he he. In a few weeks hell give the state of the Union Address which is meaty, policy detail. This is much more, i think, spiritual. The very difficult thing is what david said. Having that one central thing. I have not been talking to obviously the president about his speech but i do think hell want to make an appeal to unity. Its a very difficult thing when the reality is we are bitterly divided and we will be every day for the next four years while hes leading us. Ive been going through the history preparing for monday, looking at some old second term inaugurals. There are only a few lines if we think about it that have really jumped out and stayed with us all these years later. You will always have in mind Abraham Lincolns. Mostly, they disappoint and they disappoint for the reasons ive given. I would urge avoid rhetoric for its own sake. Avoid the tendency to soar and loft. Did something jump out at you . The president set down some very bold markers about advancing democracy. He was immediately tested by one of americas most important undemocratic allies, egypt, which almost within days of the second innal gral put in jail the leading opponent, mubarak. It was a much more embarrassing than it would have have been in the absence of such a vaulting speech. You worked for clinton in the white house. His second inaugural, anything jump out at you . President clinton very much wanted to be a healer. In fact, he had his hand on the bible opened to the passage of the prophet and finished that inaugral address and within a couple of years the republicans impeached him. His highest goal was to try to unify the country and that didnt work. Thats just the times we live in. The president has to accept that and to manipulate that to the goals that he needs because hes not going to be able to change it. I hope the chief justice brings a note ward with the words this time around. You remember four years ago. He looked more nervous than president obama. He was nervous. That was an awkward moment, as we say. Lets talk for a brief moment on joe biden. Hes playing an increasingly more visible role. What does that say to you long term . Its very hard for me to imagine joe biden as a 2016 candidate. I find it hard to imagine. The country will be ready for something new. If you turn your head side ways and close one eye, it kind of looks like the seal for the Vice President that says president of the United States. Everybody in washington but certainly every senator and vice presidencies himself as Vice President. This Vice President , the task for in the middle class, implementation of the recovery act and now within the last few weeks the deal on the fiscal cliff and gun violence, gun safety, this president has entrusted him with enormous responsibility and i think frankly the Vice President has proven himself. I think when you do those high profile, its like working at a Nuclear Plant that measures how much radiation youve absorbed. When youve done enough of that task force, youre radioactive, too. The president has really relied on his Vice President. They work very well together. Well see what happens over the next four years. Guys, thanks very much. So where are the american hostages and who are the hostage takers . Were going to hear from an expert on the islamic militants who are now posing a very serious threat across all of north africa. Lets go. [ male announcer ] introducing the allnew cadillac xts. Another big night on the town eh . And the return of life lived large. Lets get back to the breaking news. Our top story the american hostages being held in north africa. Algeria staterun news service says a raid to free foreign hostages near the Syrian Border is over. They used tank to free the captives including americans, but their fate is still a mystery. Andrew studies and writes about islamic militants. Hes joining us from dakar in senegal. Andrew, thanks for coming in. Give us an explanation about these terrorists in algeria right now. What exactly is their connection to al qaeda . Well these terrorists were operating under a man named mokhtar belmokhtar. He was part of al qaeda and the islamic maghreb which formally merged with al qaeda in 2006 and took the new name in 2007. He was reportedly stripped of his command by aqim, though i think the circumstances are probably a bit more complex than that and hes still been operating in northern mali and now, of course, back in algeria. And hes a oneeyed algerian terrorist and hes got a group, among other things, called the brigade of the masked ones. Mokhtar belmokhtar. Does he take orders from the number one leader of al qaeda, zawihiri, or are they independently inspired by al qaeda . Well aqim and belmokhtar in particular has been very careful in public statements before and in interviews to pay hom marriage to al qaeda and be clear that he takes his orders from al qaeda central. The extent to which he does or doesnt is not as clear but he does make a very careful point of establishing that he is part of the broader al qaeda network. And hes is he go ahead. Hes claimed to have contact with al qaeda leadership going back decades. Again, these cant be confirmed but it is a part of his own personal story. This hostage takeover took place right near the libyan border. Whats the libyan connection in this event that going on . I think its too early to tell. They said that they originally came from northern mali so its possible that they took a route toll get to to get to the side of the attack. The other reports indicated that the hostage takers had algerian and libyan accents. Again, thats not necessarily determinative but the attackers themselves said that they started in northern mali. I want you to listen to what the secretary of state and White House Press secretary said about this today. Listen to this. Because of the fluidity and the fact that there is a lot of planning going on i cannot give you any further details at this time. We dont have at this point more details to provide to you. Were certainly concerned about loss of life and are seeking clarity from the government of algeria. So what, if any, indication does this give you . What hints do you get from these kinds of public statements from u. S. Officials . Obviously those kinds of statements are quite vague. They are waiting i think they are waiting for some sort of official statement from the algerian government. The government has not given full casualty numbers yet. They have only alluded to some hostages saved and some deaths among hostages and attackers. News reports have indicated various numbers throughout the afternoon. I think were going to have to just wait and see what the final casualty numbers are. We just got a statement in from bp, which was operating together with some local affiliates that facility, the Oil Gas Facility in eastern algeria and they have chartered a plane carrying bp employees from algeria expected to land in the uk around midnight local time. Bp would not confirm whether the employees include those who were at this facility, at this gas field. So apparently they are taking their people out. Its a very dangerous situation i assume. Youve studied this for a long time. I was surprised to hear that there were these bp employees there in that volatile situation but you know a lot more about this than i do. Well, there are large multinational corporations and gas corporations that work in southern algeria in conjunction with the Algerian National energy company. So that is not surprising. What was surprising about this attack was the choice of target. Aqim has targeted Energy Workers before most notably in 2010 when another aqim commander kidnapped seven employees of the of a subcontractor of the French Nuclear firm and this was surprising given the level of security that is generally present at oil and gas sites in algeria. Andrew joining us from senegal at the new america foundation, an expert on this subject. Well check back with you. Thank you very much for that information. And for the First Time Since the aurora massacre in colorado, the actual theater where it happened is now reopening, but not everyone is happy about it. At a dry cleaner we replaced people with a machine. What . Customers didnt like it. So why do banks do it . Hello . Hello . if your bank doesnt let you talk to a real person 24 7 you need an ally. Hello . Ally bank. Your money needs an ally. Hi dad. Many years from now when the subaru is theirs. Hey. You missed a spot. Ill look back on this day and laugh. Love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. Almost tastes like one of jacks cereals. Fiber one. Uh, forgot jacks cereal. [ jack ] whats for breakfast . Um. Try the number one yeah this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] over a third of a days fiber. Fiber one. Six months after a gunman opened fire at an aurora, colorado Movie Theater, the doors reopened today. Jim spellman is joining us now from colorado. Jim, how are the families of the victims responding to the reopening of the theater . Reporter its been a mixed response wolf. A large group of the Family Members have gotten together and they decided they are going to boycott the reopening ceremonies and also boycott the theater change altogether. They say that they are just out to make money and being callous and not looking out for the interests of the Family Members. A lot of people would like to see this Movie Theater torn down. Jessicas cousin was murded in the theater. Never once have offered their con condolences or sympathies and have truly shown their true colors that they are only in it for the money. Reporter they say if there was a memorial here or Something Like that, it would be more appropriate but to just reopen a commercial enterprise on the ground where their loved one was killed is too much. We know that other Family Members will come. They say that they need to move on with their lives. They cant let Something Like this dominate them. With this larger group of victims and families, its doubtful that they will ever get complete consensus. Wolf in. I understand the psychiatry who treated jam holmes may be facing a lawsuit. Whats going on with this front . Reporter yeah, were approaching a sixmonth filing deadline for people who want to file suit against the university and psychiatrist, dr. Lynn fenton. 14 people have filed suit. We could see hundreds or dozens more. They all say that she was negligent in treating him and not bringing him forward to the police. It would be interesting to see what happens with those lawsuits. There could be hundreds of them facing the psychiatrist and the university, wolf. Jim spellman, thanks. Five foreign hostages have been released from an algeria were going to hear from the son response nl for one of them. Also, the history of one of the two bibles that president obama will use at his swearing in on monday. This was the actual bible that president obama used in 2009 . Thats correct. And the same bible that Abraham Lincoln walked up to and put his hand on and sweared in with in 1861. To be the worlds best sport sedan. People noticed. The allnew cadillac ats 2013 north american car of the year. For a limited time take advantage of this exceptional offer on the allnew cadillac ats. If there was a pill to help protect your eye health as you age. Would you take it . Well, there is. [ male announcer ] its called ocuvite. A vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye care experts at bausch lomb. As you age eyes can lose vital nutrients. Ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. Ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. Now thats a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. Help protect your eye health. Heres a look at a special edition of inauguration prep hot shots. Check it out. In front of the u. S. Capitol building flags are hung as the venue is prepared. At a souvenir shop inauguration pins and swag selling like hotcakes. In front of the white house, the viewing stand is assembled for the Inauguration Day parade. And the committee gift shop yes, gift shop, commemorative Water Bottles are sold for a whopping 30. Hot shots, pictures coming in from washington, d. C. Its the key part of every u. S. President s swearing in. Lisa sylvester has been looking at the bible president obama will be using this time around and lisa is joining us. Share some details, lisa . Wolf, this is something i did not know. The library of congress has 1500 bibles and one of those bibles will be used. The lincoln bible. So much history in this small box. I was thinking this big bible but its actually pretty tiny. The monumental mentality of the moment has been confused with the size of the bible. Its a small family bible. 150 years ago, the president who freed the slave Abraham Lincoln, put his hand on this bible and swore to uphold the constitution. These are objects that seem to store the energy of a moment and they are physical objects that have traveled through time and culture to us. Mark is the chief of the rare books collection at the u. S. Library of congress. Lincolns Inauguration Day, march 4th, 1861. Theres this incredible moment where lincoln walking out on stage and gives this magnificent inaugural address and uses this bible to swear in in a moment when the country is so divided. A country so politically torn and on the verge of war, lincoln had to be mug geled in because of assassination threats. Lincoln didnt have his family bible with him so he borrowed one from Lincoln Thomas carol, a seal and a test that it was used at the lincoln inauguration. The man administering the oath was chief justice taun knee. You can imagine that the tension was palpable between the two of them. Taun knee was the justice that cast the deciding vote that put through the dread scott decision in essence, pushing it forward for many years. But change did come. Congratulations, mr. President. Americas first black president used the lincoln bible in 2009. President obama has again chosen the lincoln bible as one of those he will use to take the oath of office for his second inauguration. In is the actual bible that president obama used in 2009 . Thats correct. And the same bible that Abraham Lincoln walked up to and put his hand on to swear in in 1861. Its kind of neat the sense of history doesnt it . It has an electricity to it. It really does carry the meaning of the moment. The moment repeated on monday when president obama places his hand on this small bible that carries more than its weight of history. Now, president obama will actually use three different bibles as part of the inauguration events. On sunday for the official swearing in, he will use the Robinson Family bible. On monday then for the public inauguration, he will use the lincoln bible that you just saw and Martin Luther king jr. s traveling bible. The man responsible for freeing the slaves who fought for the rights of africanamericans is being used for the countrys first black president. Lisa thank you. The second inaugural spans two days. First, the official oath of office at a private ceremony on sunday over at the white house and then mondays the public ceremony at the u. S. Capitol. It all starts at 9 00 a. M. Eastern on both days. And youre in the situation room. Happening now, breaking news. The military option to free hostages is now over. But where are the americans held captive . Bizarre details emerging in the mysterious hoax surrounding a popular football star. Just ahead, what were learning about at least one person believed to be involved. And boeing dreamliner flights worldwide. They are now grounded for the First Time Since a deadly plane crash more than 30 years ago. This is going on with one airliner. Why it may all come down to one key component. Batteries. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. We begin with the breaking news. The military operation to free hostages seized in an attack at a gas facility in algeria is now over but the fate of the americans being held remains unknown. Any minute now were expecting a statement from bp. We know the company has chartered a plane carrying bp employees out of algeria but bp isnt confirming whether those employees include those at the plant in eastern algeria. Lets go straight to our foreign affair correspondent Jill Dougherty at the state department with more information. What else are you learning, jill . This is moving very fast and a lot of these numbers are changing but we do understand that there is a plane that is taking five freed hostages to london and also president obama has been on the phone with the british Prime Minister and kind of an ominous statement coming from the British Foreign officer, wolf, saying that some bad even though this is over, some bad and distressing news could follow. So obviously some people have been killed. Some people have been rescued. But the numbers are really all over the map at this point. Here at the state department, secretary clinton has been speaking with the Prime Minister of algeria. She came out and spoke with reporters, talking about a very fluid situation. Lets listen to what she said. This incident will be resolved with a minimum loss of life. But when you deal with these relentle terrorists, life is not in any way precious to them. But when this incident is finally over, we know we face a continuing ongoing problem and were going to do everything we can to work together. Remember this is connected we believe with mali and concerning mali, the United States is helping the french in that operation, intelligence, they are providing intelligence, air lift, and also trainers for the African Force supposed to be on the ground this weekend. Wolf . What other steps is the state Department Taking right now to try to protect other americans in the region . You know they are putting out the word secretary clinton nrk fact ordered her staff to take a look at the strategic lay of the land in the region for american citizens and for american business. So theyve been alerting them as they have been for quite some time that these terrorist groups could be expanding their efforts to take people hostage kidnap people, and so theres really a state of alert that they are putting out, that companies and americans in that region should be very very careful. Be prepared. Very careful indeed if they should be there at all. Jill, thanks very much. Lets go more now to the diplomatic that they have to play. Tom fuentes is here in the situation room. Whats your sense of what is going on right now. Its going to be very murky and difficult to get details for several hours if not some time tomorrow probably. So you have a situation which obviously the algerians are in charge of but they would seek assistance from their trusted partners, which would include the french, since they were formally very close, actually occupied by the friend and also the United States is offering assistance, including the fbi because when we have americans captured or killed overseas that violates u. S. Law, the fbi has jurisdiction to work with the host country government with our permission and partnership to try to solve that case and ensure the people that committed it are brought to justice. But in this case, there are so many difficulty in getting information because this plant was out in the middle of know where algerian government and some of the employees at the time and there are people who saw the attack or maybe on the other side of the plant that didnt see it. So you dont know who actually saw it what kind of information they had what the details are and especially if the algerians were taking the lead initially to try to free them. We dont know the details of that. You opened the fbi office in algeria. Was there then, i assume now in 2007 i met and met with the u. S. Ambassador and algerian authorities and whippere were responding to their invitation in al engineers to work for closely. Back during the iraq war we were fighting a jihadi pipeline from iraq to tunisia, libya up through iraq where they went to Terrorism School and made ieds and then would go back to their original countries. Then, of course, and what you have is weaponry from all over the world pouring in to assist them in their effort to overthrow the dictator. Well, the war is over they win. The new government goes in that is not used to governing, does not have the skill set and is faced with the population that is armed to the treat and has 18 months of on the job training of not just shooting machine guns and rpgs but mortars. That was one of the concerns of the fbi. And all of those borders in north africa from egypt, libya, tunisia, algeria, they are pretty porous. Hold on for one moment. All right. Were getting some new information in. The United States is now increasing its role in the mali conflict in africa. Our pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence is getting new information. What are you learning chris . We are now learning that the u. S. Has agreed to help the french air lift more troops, more supplies, more heavy equipment into mali for their offensive against the militants there. This had been under consideration yesterday. Today that request was accepted and now im told by defense officials that military planners are in deep discussion with the french to go over specifically what they are going to bring in and where they are going to bring it. One defense official that i spoke with said that it could be the equivalent of the entire mek mek cannized battalion and might take up to 30 flights to get all of that in there for the french. In the end rkt the french would reinvert the u. S. For the cost of those cargo flights. There was a separate request for some u. S. Surveillance as well as refueling and u. S. Planes could pull up to the french jets, refuel them in the air, thats another request thats still under consideration but that part has not been decided, wolf. Thats stepping up the military role in mali. Thats a significant is headline. Let me bring tom fuentes back in. Are you surprised that france is helping deal with this crisis in mali . Im not surprised to not let the al qaeda affiliates in mali and other countries become more powerful, to gain a foothold in those countries. Were under a lot of pressure. You hear from our own political leaders advocating that the u. S. Get involved and do something strong. The other consideration, though, is that it does play into some of these political aims of the islamic groups to say, here, look, here is the u. S. Looking for a way to get in our country or region and exert their power. So there is a little bit of difficulty. You have the french trying to establish a coalition and get assistance from countries much like the u. S. Wanted assistance in the original gulf war and then also in the iraq and afghanistan to say that this is not a unilateral action on the part of one country but a coalition. Hold on for a moment. Paul kruk shake is joining us right now. What do you make of the latest information were getting, paul, coming out of algeria where these americans and others . A lot of europeans were being held hostage. We dont know the fate of those who were held. We know that the algerian military has completed some sort of rescue operation. We dont know if they are dead or alive in the process of that socalled rescue operation. Well, wolf there seems to be a significant death toll, a lot of hostages seem to have been killed and this is the most significant hostage taking event since 2008 in mum buy that we all covered a few years ago. So a very significant attack. It appears that these jihadists came across the border from libya into algeria to conduct this operation wolf. And weve been learning from some trusted sources that a number of jihadists Training Camps are present in the region in libya near to where this algerian gas facility is and these Training Camps are actually linked to Mokhtar Mokhtar belmokhtar, the commander who masterminded this attack. As tom fuentes was just explaining to us, paul, they were actually trained by al qaeda in iraq during the height of that war . Absolutely. But not only trained by al qaeda in iraq they are being trained in other areas as well including southern libya, including northern mali. This terrorist is based to be based in northern mali. So different parts of the region where these Training Camps now are. Its a more complex threat in many ways than ever before wolf. A lot of us thought with the arab spring in north africa, these horrendous stories were history and it seems to be getting worse right now. Whats going on . Well, a number of these jihadist groups have taken advantage of the political turmoil to expand their safe havens in the region to boost the number of people who are joining their groups. We have seen that in libya where there really is a lot of political chaos in the country, where significant areas in the country which are not really under government control and so the militias in libya have really been able to establish quasi safe hafhavens in certain parts of the country and its possible that they were able to launch this attack into algeria wolf. And once again were standing by for a statement from bp where these hostages, including the americans were taken. Paul cruickshank thank you. Among those freed from a hostage, an irish man. A young son talked about his dads release. I feel over the moon. Just really he can cited. I just cant wait for him to get home. [ crying ] hes coming home . Yes hes coming home. I just cant wait. Ill never let him go back there. And whats the first thing youll do when you see him . Give him a big hug. And i wont let go. Cant blame that young boy for being so happy. His dads getting out of algeria and the kid said he never wants his dad to go back there again. Were going to continue to watch this developing story out of algeria, bring you updates here in the situation room as soon as we get them. Were wondering whats going on with those hostages being held, the americans and the others. Meanwhile, other news were following, some very bizarre details emerging in the mysterious hoax surrounding a popular College Football star. Just ahead, what were learning about at least one person believed to be involved. E name your price tool. You tell us the price you want to pay, and we give you a range of options to choose from. Careful, though that kind of power can go to your head. That explains a lot. Yo, buddy i got this. Gimme one, gimme one gimme one the power of the name your price tool. Only from progressive. Lets go. [ male announcer ] introducing the allnew cadillac xts. Another big night on the town eh . And the return of life lived large. The mysterious bizarre hoax involving manti teo seems to be getting more difficult to piece together at the center of it all, the woman he called, quote, the love of my life who apparently never existed. Her supposed death in september along with the death of his grandmother around that same time is what teo said inspired to lead his team to victory in a critical game. He tweeted this about her. Let me read it. I may not hear your voice anymore but i do feel your presence. According to notre dame, on september 6th teo received a phone call from her number saying she wasnt dead. On december 26th he said to have notified the school of the situation. Notre dame launched an investigation and yesterday deadspin. Com published the story for the first time revealing the hoax. Lets go straight to our own brian todd who has been Digging Deeper into whats going on. Brian, you are getting more information . We are. Deadspin named one man who they say is behind this. He is based in southern california. With our teams here in washington and los angeles and atlanta, we did get information on him but its not clear at the moment if he knows manti teo or not. It was a hoax made all the more believable by his hushed mournful interviews, like the one he gave espn. I cried. I yelled. Never felt that way before. This is six hours ago i just found out my grandma passed away and you take, you know the love of my life. Last thing she said to me was, i love you. But manti teos girlfriend lennay kekua who reportedly died of luke be keem yeah never existed. Who perpetrated it . Deadspin. Com. Pointing to a young man. Cnn obtained a yearbook photo of him from 2008 when he was a senior in lancaster, california. Deadspin, siting friends and relatives of his, says he created the girlfriend and spread the myth online. They told us that he has been doing this fake online profile for several years and that hes caught other people in its trap but that they caught on way earlier than manti teo did. Cnn cannot confirm his involvement. We went to his addresses for Ronaiah Tuiasosopo and caught up with his father. He wouldnt speak on camera but told us the truth will all come out, god knows our character. Ronaiahs hundred kell who gave us these pictures of him as a child say that he is religious and plays at a band at his fathers church. Its hard for me because i know the kid all his life and this is the first time ive heard Something Like this. Dead spin said that they know each other. Notre dames Athletic Director was asked if they are cousins or Family Friends . Their characterization does not square with my information but ill let the teos address it. Tuiasosopo is a former player himself. Hes got relatives who play college and pro football. I spoke on the phone with marcus can tuiasosopo. Marcus said hes a distant cousin of ronaiah. He said he didnt want to tape an interview and cant say anything about this story, doesnt know ronaiah well but that he he and his family know the teo family whochlt is depicted in the photos as the girlfriend . A woman we contacted whose name were not airing realized her picture had been used for a fake Facebook Page for teos girlfriend. That woman told cnn she knows Ronaiah Tuiasosopo from church but is surprised that hes involved in this. And a current Football Player says he knewhe nonexistent girlfriend . Yes. A fullback for the Arizona Cardinals told espn that shes a real person and that they became friends. We have tried to call we have called reagan and he has not returned our phone calls. Strange indeed. A lot of people are talking about it. Brian, thanks very much. Much more on the bizarre story coming up, including a Panel Discussion on the medias role in this whole thing. Thats just ahead. Well continue to monitor also the other breaking news story were following, a very fluid situation under way. Americans being held hostage in algeria. Theres a military maneuver under way. Well update you. That and more coming up. Lets face it. Everyone has their own way of doing things. At university of phoenix we know learning is no different. So we offer personalized tools and support, that let our students tackle the challenge of going back to school, like they do anything else. Their way. [ male announcer ] some day, your life will flash before your eyes. Make it worth watching. Introducing the 2013 lexus ls. An entirely new pursuit. Almost tastes like one of jacks cereals. Fiber one. Uh, forgot jacks cereal. [ jack ] whats for breakfast . Um. Try the number one yeah this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] over a third of a days fiber. Fiber one. I finally found the secret to losing weight. Surprise. Its eating less. Im hungry just thinking about it. Thank goodness for new slimful. One delicious, 90calorie slimful and a glass of water like before dinner, helps keep me satisfied for hours. So instead of this much, i only need this much. And slimful tastes so good. I dont even miss dessert. Slimful and a glass of water. Eating less is a beautiful thing. Aviation authorities from japan to india to ethiopia are joining the faa and are taking a dramatic step with the dreamliner aircraft. The move is so rare the faa hasnt done it in 30 years grounding the entire fleet of 787s. Its not even waiting for a safety review to be completed. Well breakdown what all of this means for the dreamliner with miles obrien who is standing by. But cnns sandra endo reports, the issue comes down to one key component. Batteries. Reporter wolf, safety concerns surroundingle 787 batteries canceled dreamliner flights around the world and disrupted travel plans for thousands of passengers and who knows how long boeings plane of the future will remain out of the sky. Grounded indefinitely. All 50 boeing dreamliners worldwide were parked on tarmacs thursday. This, after the faa ordered u. S. 787s to stop flying until theres proof their lithium ion batteries are safe. In terms of historical con text this doesnt happen that often . No its not that often at all. Reporter the plane debued in 2011 after years of delay. The company is defending its aircraft saying we are confident the 787 is safe and we stand behind its overall integrity. But two incidents involving the planes batteries in ten days have left the faa with no choice but to ground the dreamliner while they analyze the charred evidence from last weeks 787 fire. Lithium batteries are smaller and more powerful but can over heat. When they are used normally and energy released slowly, as its supposed to batteries have a very good Safety Record but if that same energy is released very rapidly, the battery cells will vent, release their content, and have the potential both for fire and explosion. Reporter boeing needed special faa approval to allow the dreamliner to use leet yes, maam batteries for key Electrical Systems. They have narrowed it down to the battery system on this aircraft. Weve had two events and so therefore they are now going to be able to look at it more in detail and figure out whats going on. Reporter boeings european rival airbus uses lithium bat he batteries in their emergency lighting. It relies on them more heavily. The company says there are no plans to change the electrical design. Both regarding the batteries, the safety means. Reporter there are still 800 dreamliners on order and its unclear at this point if these safety concerns will affect the purchases. Each aircraft costs 200 million. Wolf . Sandy endo what does all of this mean for the future of the dreamliner . Miles obrien is a pilot and correspondent on pbs and an old friend. Is it safe to fly, you think, these dreamliners . Did the faa do the right thing . Zf well well, you know, its better to error on the side of the caution. Theres no dreamliners in the sky so whether its safe or not doesnt matter to you or i. I guess by definition its unsafe because the faa has taken this very unusual action of grounding a whole fleet of airplanes. This happened with a dc10 in 1989 after killing everyone on board. That was a maintenance issue, but the dc10 aircraft ultimately never recovered its reputation. If these batteries are overheating, would that be enough to actually bring down a plane . You bet. Fire on an airplane is one of the scariest things you can imagine. Weve seen a couple of crashes in recent years involving fires from airplanes. Of course, you remember value jet outside of miami. You remember the swiss air crash off the coast of maine a few years ago and both of those cases fire was the root cause. When theres something burning on an airplane, you want to get it on the ground as quickly as possible. They have been testing this plane for many years. It was late in production. You would have thought that if there was a problem it would have come up a long time ago. Well you know, theres some things you can do in testing and some things youre only going to find out by flying an aircraft. Some of this could be related to the number of cycles, for example. In testing, youre not going to fly an airliner like you fly it on the lines, so to speak, with passengers, takeoffs, and landings charges and discharges of the batteries in this case. So maybe a problem is coming to light after a number of cycles, a number of uses. The fact is that the airplanes that are involved, japanese airplanes are the first to go into service. That could be one thing. Another issue is what about the types of battery used . Boeing switched the type of battery. Is it a different batch . Is it a different manufacturer . Parts are made all over the world. Its part of a marketing strategy, frankly, to ensure that the 787 is purchased by airlines all over the world but it also is potentially fraught with peril as we saw in the development of the 787. It was slow to market because of that heavily outsourced idea. You probably know this and i was just told, these same lithium ion type batteries on the dreamliner are about to go on some airbus airliners as well. Is the technology for these lithium ion batteries too risky right now . Well, we know lithium ion batteries can get hot and burn. Weve seen it in laptops. This is the first time weve seen lithium ion batteries used like this in airlines ever. So this is pushing technology. This is new and theres a lot of new things happening. Boeing has relied heavily on batteries and Electrical Systems as a way of making the aircraft more efficient and lighter. It uses 20 less fuel and that has made it a very popular airplane as far as orders go. Its the most impressive initial orders batch of initial orders that boeing has ever had. But when you push a lot of technologies simultaneously, which is what is happening here with the 787, inevitably youre going to find things that arent just exactly as you hoped they would be. What a nightmare for boeing, the manufacturer of this 787. Miles, good engs pla nation. Thank you very much for coming in. Youre welcome, wolf. So why did it sake to long for the hoax surrounding manti teo to come out . Were going to talk about the medias role in all of this. Thats next. Built the cadillac ats from the ground up to be the worlds best sport sedan. People noticed. The allnew cadillac ats 2013 north american car of the year. 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Read and consider it carefully before investing. Risk includes possible loss of principal. The bizarre hoax involving manti teo. Listen to this. I think as manti tells the story, youll see the same thing that i saw, that it does fully line up. Lets talk about it with howard kurtz. Also joining us the editorinchief of the dailydownload. Com, lauren ashburn. Theres a problem here because for months and month and months the media bought this story apparently without checking who this woman was. This was a feel good story even though it involved a death and it was false. A basic few phone calls would have found no record of her death or birth and no one wanted to make that minimal effort. It was a beautiful warm story that people just said, great, lets go with it. Media, journalism 101, fail. As howie said, people didnt check the facts. Especially when there had been previous accounts and you could go back and say, gosh, she died this day . No, she died here. All you had to look was at the evidence. And whats really critical here wolf, is that the twitter accounts and facebook accounts, had someone been reporting social media reporting deadspin eventually did. We would have figured this out a long time ago. Somebody sent him an email saying, you should take a look at this and it didnt take very long for them to figure out this woman who didnt exist. The reporter who wrote the story for Sports Illustrated, wolf, has a number of red flags. And he couldnt find the database search basic facts that existed and reporting on the story said let me read, lauren, a line or two from the article of sports ill straighted october 1st, 2012 teo dated lennay lennay kekua 22, for nearly a year. Two months after the accident as she began to recover from her injuries, doctors discovered that she had leukemia and sent her to a new hospital. Her relatives told him that at her lower points, as she fought to emerge from a coma, her breathing rate would increase at the sound of his voice. Now, thats pretty detailed stuff in there. It is. And theres a lot of detail excruciating detail. It seems to me that you would have to think that manti would have to be involved or know something about this. It just doesnt added a up. Hes having all of these nighttime phone call conversations with a woman who he now knows doesnt exist and notre dame Officials Say on their own account they knew about this december 26th. They allowed other media accounts to go forward as notre dame went into the bowl game. That is shameful. A full investigation before they released the public information. They wanted to make sure that there was nothing he did that could be because they were standing completely behind this football star. It smells to me like notre dame was pro tikting its backside. But the bottom line in this is that we are all rushing to get things on the air, to get things into newspapers and i think that journalists rely a lot on what is already printed, what is already in and on the internet. And if it was vetted by new york sometimes or Sports Illustrated, it must be true. Let me put this up on the screen. This is from writer. When i checked lexis nexis to find out more about lennay i couldnt find anything out about her and nor on her twin brother koa. I was unable to track down any obituaries or Funeral Services and that might be explained by the fact that she had three recent places she called home. He was rationalizing about the fact that Sports Illustrated published a coverage story. You didnt need a bob woodruff story here. Basic reporting. He did check with stanford and they said we dont have any record. He took stanford out. He did. Others didnt. It was a collective failure on the part of the media that liked this story and now everybody looks bad. He put out a statement, a written statement. Were waiting for him to go before cameras, either in an interview or News Conference to explain whats going on. What do you think the bottom line is going to be . My gut on this, you look at all of the evidence and you look at how its all presented all of the differences and in opinion and time and who she was and all of the twitter and yeah. It seems to me that there is something bigger going on here. To think that he was solely the victim of a hoax and maybe well find out differently but right now it is hard to give him the benefit of the doubt. Guys, thanks very much for coming in. Thank you. Were just getting this in. I want to be precise in what were learning. Were learning that some americans have now been freed in algeria. Others are still unaccounted for in the ongoing hostage situation in algeria. This according to our Foreign Affairs reporter elise labott. She is citing u. S. Officials. They are not providing other details other than some americans who were taken hostage in algeria at this gas facility have been freed. Were going to get more information from elise, from Chris Lawrence at the pentagon, from all of our reporters. But that is good to know that at least some have been freed. Weve also just heard from the president of bp in london addressing the overall situation in algeria. Heres a clip. 100 on the safety and welfare of those people and their families and were now beginning a staged and planned reduction of the nonessential workforce, temporary basis pulling them out of the country. Earlier we learned that bp chartered a plane carrying its employees out of algeria but the company wouldnt confirm whether those employees include those at the specific plant that was attacked. Meanwhile, another Company Involved statoil released this statement. The whole of statoil is strongly affected by the situation in amenas. The situation is still unresolved. Uncertain and very serious. In an unresolved situation, it is important for us to be handson with those who are most affected. Well stay on top of this story for you. Get more information. Well take a quick break. Well be right back. Transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. So you see everything the way its meant to be seen. Maybe even a little better. Visit your eyecare professional today to ask about our newest lenses, transitions vantage and transitions xtractive lenses. Experience life well lit. Ask which transitions adaptive lens is best for you. Almost everything the presidencies and hears goes through his white house chief of staff. Sources say president obamas about to name one of his most trusted advisers to that post. Cnns athena jones reports. Dennis mcdonough has been a trusted adviser to president obama, counseling him on foreign advisory issues and later as Deputy National adviser. He was in the situation room during the historic raid that killed osama bin laden. It was quite a team effort. Now the president is poised to name mcdonough as chief of staff. Its a key role that requires the right fit as captured by the popular tv show, the west wing. Youve got a best friend . Yez. Would you trust him with your life . Yes, sir. One of 11 children in what hes described as a catholic family. Hes kept a low profile in the administration a man of integrity. Former obama aide was chief domestic policy adviser. Dennis traveled extensively with the president. When you spend day in and day out with someone in a high stakes, very stressful set of circumstances, you get to know them well. I think they think very similarly but at the same time they are very straightforward and honest with each other. Dennis isnt afraid to challenge the president. Barns said that while m mcdonough is known for his Foreign Policy shops, he will be able to handle the issues. And he knows how capitol hill works. Something that will be crucial in the coming fiscal fights. Now, the suspected announcement comes as the president is criticized for a lack of diversity among to have staffers. His choices for secretary of defense, secretary of defense, secretary of treasury and cia director are all men. Wolf . Athena jones at the white house with the latest on that, an important position indeed. Thank you. Mondays inauguration is a big day for president obama. Historic day for the entire country. Its also a big day for some young iowans. When we come back practicing to march in the inaugural parade. From a mile away. While going shoeless and metalfree in seconds. And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. You can even take a fullsize or above and still pay the midsize price. Now this. Will work. [ male announcer ] just like you, business pro. Just like you. Go national. Go like a pro. Aig . We said we were going to turn it around, and we did. Woman were helping joplin, missouri, come back from a devastating tornado. Man and now were helping the east coast recover from hurricane sandy. Were a leading Global Insurance company, based right here in america. Were now leaner, and focused on what we do best. Weve repaid every dollar america lent us. Everything plus a profit of more than 22 billion. For the American People. Aig, we turned it around. Thank you, america. Thank you, america. Thank you, america for the freedom to insure a brighter future. When we make guarantees for peoples lifetimes we have to act as a company that will make sure we are here for their lifetimes. We made a commitment to repay and we did and gave america a profit. Pretty proud of that. Helping people recover and rebuild thats what we do. Now lets bring on tomorrow. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to come to washington, d. C. For president obamas second inauguration. Most of them will be here to watch him be sworn in and to hear his inaugural address. But a lucky few are traveling a very long way to be part of the inaugural parade. Cnns Emily Schmidt is joining us right now. Emily, theres one young group coming in from iowa. Wolf you are exactly right. You know the president ial inaugural Committee Says more than 2,800 groups applied for the chance to be in this years inaugural parade. So far, only 96 have earned an invitation. That manes only the top 3 are going to get to perform in front of president obama. And as youll see getting the invitation is only the first step in getting to washington. In the first hours of Barack Obamas presidency these iowa kids gave marching orders even the new commander in chief couldnt resist. A cadence so catchy it swept up the first family. They met the isiserettes drum and drill core during the caucuses. Four years later its time for an encore. The isiserettes are coming back for mondays inaugural parade. This is like a pretty big opportunity to do this stuff. Reporter the 50 members who range in age from 7 to 18 are about to have a once in a lifetime experience again. To be able to do it a second time, that means that he understood us on a personal like way, and its just, its mesmerizing. Reporter its 1,000 miles from des moines to the nations capital. For this nonprofit group, the road looked much longer. What does it take to get from where you are to where i am . Its extremely difficult for us. Reporter Cory Williams leads the isiserettes. We dont have boosters. We basically have the state of iowa our community, our local churches, our family and friends. Reporter theyve raised about twothirds of the trips 12,500 cost so far. The price tag would be four times greater almost insurmountable, without help from one of washingtons most exclusive schools. Theyll roll in here on saturday night and theyll set up camp in here and theyll have a ball. Reporter tom is sidwell friends head of school. He met the isiserettes in 2009 and this year, hes making the gymnasium their weekend home. It saves about 50,000 in hotel costs and pays priceless dividends. Its a privilege for us to show hospitality to a group coming a long way and making the sacrifice to be part of this national event. Reporter the isiserettes say they feel like theyll be playing for friends on monday. Weve always had that kind of kinship with the first family. We work hard. Were dedicated to what we do. And i think they recognize that in our kids. Reporter getting a second term off on a right foot, which cant help but move to the beat. The bands going to spend about 30 hours on the bus planning to arrive saturday evening, after the parade, then on monday, they get back on the bus for the return trip. It is more time traveling than theyre going to spend in washington, but the isiserettes say, its time well spent. Theyll never forget this moment in their lives, to be sure. Thanks very much for that. Dont miss cnns special coverage of the president ial inauguration sunday and monday mornings. Our special coverage begins each day, sunday and monday, 9 00 a. M. Eastern. Lisa sylvester is monitoring some of the other top stories here in the situation room right now, including what a positive trend in the fight against cancer. Whats going on . Yeah wolf this is always good news to hear. The American Cancer Society says the death rate from cancer is down dramatically over the past two decades, thanks largely to a reduction in smoking. According to a new report the decline is is a whopping 20 . And stronger than expected data on new housing fueled a rally on wall street today. The Dow Jones Industrial average closed up 84 points at 13,596 and thats near a fiveyear high. The s p 500 did end at a fiveyear high at 1,480. The nasdaq posted healthy gains as well closing at 3136. And heres one way to get out for some fresh air. A thousand or so people in the Florida Everglades are hunting pythons for the 2013 python challenge this week. Senator bill nelson initiated the effort to rid the everglades of the nonindigenous snakes which have damaged the delicate ecosystem and he joined the hate this day. That is not for the squeamish, not for those who dont like snakes. Thanks very much for that. So was mantei taios girlfriend whats known as a cat fish, a fake online persona created to deceive someone. Were Digging Deeper with the producer of mtvs catfish. Thats coming up. [ mrs. Hutchison ] friday night has always been all fun and games here at the hutchison household. But one dark stormy evening. She needed a good meal and a good family. So we gave her purina cat chow complete. Its the best because it has something for all of our cats and after a couple of weeks she was part of the family. Were so lucky that lucy picked us. [ female announcer ] purina cat chow complete. And for a delicious way to help maintain a healthy weight try new purina cat chow healthy weight. [ ryon ] eating shrimp at red lobster is a fantastic experience. 30 shrimp for 11. 99. I cant imagine anything better. Youre getting a ton of shrimp and it tastes really good [ male announcer ] hurry in to red lobsters 30 shrimp for just 11. 99 choose any two of five savory shrimp selections, like mango jalapeno shrimp and parmesan crunch shrimp. Two delicious shrimp selections on one plate all with salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits. 30 shrimp, just 11. 99 for a limited time. Wow, thats a lot of shrimp. Im ryon stewart, im the ultimate shrimp lover and i sea food differently. Whoa looks like youre in a pickle. Yeah. Can you get me out of it . Just so happens i know a chap. Book any flight and hotel together and get access to our free personal concierge service. Any need, any question were on call 24 7. This is america. We dont let frequent heartburn come between us and what we love. So if youre one of them people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day. Block the acid with prilosec otc and dont get heartburn in the first place [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. Happening now, breaking news. Were getting new details about the fate of american hostages in nigeria. The alleged hoax swirling around a College Football star. We have new information about who may have duped manteii teo. And the global feet of dreamliners is grounded. And from Abraham Lincoln to president obama, a small bible is about to make outsized history once again. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Were following breaking news right now in a very fastchanging story. A rescue raid in algeria ending the hostage crisis that began yesterday when islamic militants seized dozens of International Gas field workers including americans. U. S. Officials tell cnn some americans have been freed, but others are unaccounted for. A plane carrying some of them expected to arrive in britain very soon but that countrys Foreign Office is warning of what it calls distressing news to come in the wake of the raid. Cnn pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence is working the story for us. Chris, whats the latest youre hearing . Well, as you mentioned, wolf, some mixed news tonight. The fact that some americans have been freed but others still remain unaccounted for. Were not going into any specific numbers, in order not to jeopardize the safety of any americans who may still be out there, but i can tell you, it has been very tough for u. S. Officials to get good information on whats going on today. In fact, weve learned now that neither the u. S. Nor british officials were even informed that the algerians were going in, until after that assault had already started. Even as the algerians announced their operation to free the hostages had ended the u. S. Scrambled to determine the fate of the americans held by the kidnappers. This incident will be resolved, we hope with a minimum loss of life. But when you deal with these relentless terrorists, life is not, in any way, precious to them. Reporter americans and other western workers were on a bus wednesday, when multiple militant fighters attacked. The militants took hostages a this gas plant. Heavily armed with rocketpropel rocketpropelled grenade launchers. They also had suicide vests which they forced some hostages to wear. Officials say what happened next was chaotic but the militants may have tried to move their hostages. Translator with the intention of leaving for neighboring country, they would use the hostages as a means of blackmail with a criminal intent. Reporter that launched the algerian forces into an assault on the militants. Some hostages escaped, others were killed or wounded or unaccounted for. Translator there were a number of dead and injured. We dont have a final figure. Reporter but why did the algerians go in when they did . Former Homeland Security adviser, Fran Townsend says the u. S. Would typically try to use more electronic surveillance and map the area in detail before launching a military assault. The western way is to collect as much intelligence as you can, to engage in a potential negotiation, to see if you can peacefully resolve it, without putting the hostages at risk. Reporter but the algerians have fought a long, bloody battle with militants for years. They have very little patience for terrorists and kidnappers of this kind and are really going to want to nip it in the bud and kind of a show of strength, that this is not going to be tolerated. The thing is, the algerians for the most part have kind of sat on the sidelines when it comes to mali. A big question is, once this incident is over, does it make them stay on the sidelines or does it bring them more into the conflict helping the french, british, and now u. S. Battling al qaeda there across the border in mali . Wolf . Obviously a fastmoving story. Well check back with you, chris, for more details. Chris lawrence is over at the pentagon. Kate balduan is here. Shes watching one of the sports stories, kate that everyone in the country seems to be talking about. Everyones talking about that, except for the football star himself manti teo. Absolutely, he is silent so far on this very, the only thing we can call it, is a bizarre mystery at this point, surrounding his alleged dead girlfriend a woman that we now know never existed. The school says he was the victim of an elaborate hoax. He calls it a sick joke. But many are wondering if theres more to this story. Cnns ted rowlands is in south bend indiana, home to notre dame. Ted, what are you picking up there . Its hard to even sum up where this story has taken us. Reporter yeah. And the next step is manti teo coming out and giving his side of the story. There was a lot of anticipation kate, that that would happen some time today, but so far, it hasnt. This Twitter Photo is manti teo at the img academy in bradenton, florida, where hes training for the nfl draft, and likely also taking refuge. Pressure continues to mount for teo to explain the inconsistencies of the very public love story between his fake girlfriend and the statement claiming hed never actually met her. During the football season the story of the star linebacker enduring the death of his girlfriend and grandmother on the same day transcended sports. People from around the world were touched by how in love teo seemed to be with the girl he called his soul mate. I cried, i yelled. I never felt that way before. This is six hours ago, i just found out grandma passed away, and you take, you know, the love of my life. Reporter on the day of his girlfriends supposed funeral, te teo played football and after the game the football coach actually awarded the game ball to the girl we now know doesnt exist. I want to award this game ball to lynnette. And i would like mantei to have this ball to take back to hawaii. Well, im as confused as i think, a lot of people are right now. Reporter Sports Reporter eric hanson has spent the last four years writing about manti teo for the south bend tribune. In october, he wrote this article, detailing the couples first meeting after a Football Game against stanford. Well i would think if there was a mistake in the story they would have brought it to my attention. Reporter the story has romantic details of teo and his fictitious girlfriend catching each others eye and making a connection. Hanson says he got the story from teos father. He still has a recording of the interview. Maybe mantei being an online relationship maybe was a little embarrassed and embellished the story to his father a little bit and his father was telling what mantei had told him. Reporter he allowed us to listen to the recording, but wont allow us to broadcast it. Clearly, the father thinks his son met his girlfriend face to face in 2009 and spent considerable time with her, face to face after that. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt at this point. And i want to hear from them before i form the last picture on this. Reporter a lot of people would like to talk to manti teo. At one point today, kate espn tweeted out that they were ready to sit down for an interview. A few hours later, they tweeted that the interview had been canceled. I know this is just sad allaround. Im just not quite sure yet who it is sad for. I think we need some more information before we can decide all of that. Ted rowlands in south bend for us. Thanks so much, ted. Much more on this story coming up. Were learning a little bit more about who may may be behind the hoax. And well dig deeper into the phenomenon of creating fake online personas known as catfishing. I still dont understand that name, though. Well find out a lot more about that. Thank you. Other news were following including a crisis for boeing. The entire fleet of its new 787 dreamliner has been grounded. Worldwide, a series of incidents involving the planes batteries have now raised very serious safety questions and prompting the faa to issue this very rare order. Cnns sandra endo has the latest. Reporter wolf, safety concerns surrounding the 787s batteries canceled dreamliner flights around the world and disrupted travel plans for thousands of passengers. And who knows how long boeings plane of the future will remain out of the sky. Grounded indefinitely. All 50 boeing dreamliners worldwide were parked on tarmacs thursday. This after the faa ordered u. S. 787s to stop flying until theres proof their lithium ion batteries are safe. In terms of historical context, though this doesnt happen that often . No it doesnt happen that often at all. The last one was about 34 years ago, with the d. C. 10 accident in chicago. Reporter its a major black eye for boeings marquee plane which debuted in 2011 after years of delay. The company is defending its aircraft saying that we are confident the 787 is safe and we stand behind its overall integrity. But two incidents involving the planes batteries in ten days have left the faa with no choice but to ground the dreamliner, while the ntsb analyzes the charred evidence from last weeks 787 fire. Lithium batteries are smaller and more powerful, but can overheat. When theyre used normally, and the energy is released slowly as its supposed to batteries have a very good Safety Record. But if that same energy is released very rapidly, the battery cells will vent release their contents and have the potential both for fire and explosion. Reporter boeing needed special faa approval to allow the dreamliner to use lithium batteries for key Electrical Systems. They have narrowed it down to the battery system on this aircraft. Weve had two events and so therefore, theyre going to now be able to look at it a little bit more in detail and figure out whats going on. Boeings european archrival, airbus uses lithium batteries only for emergency lighting in their air380. But airbus plane of the future, the air350 due out by the end of next year, relies on them more heavily. The company says there are no plans to change its electrical design. Regarding the batteries, its architecture the safety. Reporter there are still 800 dreamliners on order, and its unclear at this point if the safety concerns will affect the purchases. Each aircraft costs 200 million. Wolf . A lot of money involved. A nightmare for boeing right now. Sandy endo reporting from Reagan National airport. This story is going to be big. I know, its so many airplanes. Still ahead so, the question i asked before im going to ask it again. What is catfishing and is manti teos most highprofile victim. Well talk to the man behind the acclaimed documentary and mtv reality show that puts a spotlight on these complex online hoaxes. Lets go. [ male announcer ] introducing the allnew cadillac xts. Another big night on the town eh . And the return of life lived large. [ male announcer ] this is karen and jeremiah. They dont know it yet but theyre gonna fall in love get married have a couple of kids [ children laughing ] move to the country and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, theyll find some retirement people who are paid on salary not commission. Theyll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other which isnt rocket science. Its just common sense. From td ameritrade. Lets get a little bit more on the alleged hoax and the mystery surrounding the notre dame football star manti teo. The University Says hes the victim of an online phenomenon in which someone creates a fake social media profile. Listen. I would refer all of you, if youre not already familiar with it with both the documentary called catfish, the mtv show, which is a derivative of that documentary, and the sort of associated things youll find online and otherwise about catfish or catfishing. All right. Lets get some more right now with the executive producer of mtvs catfish, Ariel Schulman is joining us. Ariel, thanks very much for coming in. First of all explain to our viewers what catfishing is, what catfish is all about, how you got this name. I mean, its amazing to me that its becoming such a used term at this point. It didnt mean anything before the documentary. Theres a character who uses it in reference to an old parable about cod fish being transported around the world in vats and going steal. And at some point, someone realized if theyd put catfish in the vat, the catfish would chase the cod around and keep them agile and moist and they would sort of taste better. So he was making a reference to people and how there are certain people like catfish. The title in the documentary, which was entitled catfish, was that. And its become basically synonymous with internet deception. Its someone that creates a fake profile. Your brother was the subject, the victim in this documentary that youre talking about. And you document in your movie and now on your show, as victims, others that are victims on your mtv show. So how common have you found catfishing has become . It seems, honestly before this i had never heard of it. Its shockingly prevalent. When it happened to my brother, that was the first time id ever heard of it in terms of wholesale identity deception. I mean, she had created 15 different profiles he had fallen in love with one of them and had interactions with 14 others. All very deep and personal relationships. As soon as the movie came out, he started getting an influgsx of hundreds of emails a day, thousands after a year from other kids, from other people, around the world who had experienced the exact same thing. And thats when we started developing the tv show and casting it has been a lot easier than youd think. I mean its happening all over the place. I know your brothers been trying to investigate a little bit what happened in this particular case. Hes been speaking to some of the players involved. What can you share with us . Well, it turns out wolf that a couple of the players in the mantei situation had actually reached out to him through his catfish Gmail Account a couple months ago and it sort of got buried and didnt realize it until now. But hes looking back and realizes a couple of the character that lennay the lennay character, it wasnt just mantei, she was catfishing a couple other guys but one of those guys had become suspicious and sought my brothers help in getting to the bottom of it. So he finally reached out to that guy and they started to sort of retrace her steps or whoever lennay really is and found a few other characters involved in the saga. In all of your research have you found that there is a certain type of person thats susceptible to becoming a victim of a scam like this . Does manti teo, from what you know of him, fit that type . You know its funny, there is a certain type, and manti, based on what the Athletic Director from notre dame was saying about him, he kind of reminds me of my brother. Yeah, he could date someone in real life. I mean this guy is a football superstar. My brother is, you know, a new york guy hes pretty goodlooking, he could ask someone out. But hes so naive and sort of a hopeless romantic and an optimist that if the right girl attracts him, theres something sort of beautiful and innocent about it being online and not being face to face you can sort of be someone else, and sort of start from scratch. And it seems like this guy, manti, has a really big heart and was just sort of looking for love. And may have been naive, if you will if you believe his side of the story at least what he told officials at notre dame university. But i just want to, you know, elaborate, if you can. You say your brothers been corresponding now with at least one individual who may be may have been involved in this catfish operation . Yeah i dont have the specifics. Hopefully well get them from nev a little later. I hope yo uh g etu get to talk to him. Theres a guy named j. R. Who was, i guess, friends online with lennay, and he says that or one of his friends was lack looking to date her. And every time they tried to meet up, she would suddenly pull out at the last second which is a classic sort of catfish maneuver. There would be a car accident or an illness or something happened at home. And instead of her showing up, someone else kept showing up in her place and that someone else was the ranai character. I hope im pronouncing his name right. So he started growing suspicious that he could never meet lennay yet this other guy kept showing up. So he publicly tweeted, and you could probably find this on this guy r. J. s feed, that he sort of made one of the early accusations that lennay was a fake, and instantly he was dealing with a whole, like suicide threat scandal. I mean it gets really complicated, and to try to describe this stuff is impossible, wolf. And its very bizarre and intriguing because of the timeline that is coming out. And were getting all these inconsistencies. For example, notre dame the Athletic Director said last night that teo received a phone call on december 6th from the woman saying it was his girlfriend, that she was alive that it was a hoax. But two days later two days later, he said this and ill play it. I really got, you know, hit with cancer. I mean, i dont like cancer at all. I lost both my grandparents and my girlfriend to cancer. He says he lost his grandparents and girlfriend to cancer. So what do you think about these allegations, these suggestions that teo may have been involved in all of this, may have known a lot more than he apparently let on . Um i understand, because its so bizarre, and those are the same sort of accusations that we faced after the documentary came out. The world hadnt really seen a scandal like this. I mean, weve seen deception, weve seen huge Business Ceos faking law degrees, but weve never seen wholesale identity deception, on a public scale, until this. But wed seen it with my brother. And a lot of people didnt believe it. But once you go into the timeline and you talk to the guy, whether its manti or my brother, you emotionally understand that he was he wanted to believe. And when you want to fall in love when you want it to be real, youre willing to ignore so many red flags. And my heart kind of goes out to him. Im on his side. I really think that hes innocent. And that he was deceived. Ariel schulman is the executive producer of mtvs catfish. Ariel, well stay, obviously, in close touch with you. Thank you. Thanks so much. A pleasure. We will have more on this ahead. 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The International Olympic committee is asking armstrong to return the bronze medal he won in the 2000 games in sydney, australia. Its the latest fallout from doping allegations, which cost him his seven Tour De France titles. Armstrong is expected to admit to using performance enhancing drugs in a twopart interview with Oprah Winfrey starting tonight. Other news were watching on wall street the s p 500 closed at a fiveyear high today, while the dow came close but fell short at the end of the day. The gains were fueled by positive economic news. The Labor Department reports that firsttime jobless claims dropped to a fiveyear low last week and the Census Bureau says construction of new homes surged 12 in january. Youve got to see this. A firefighter in siberia had a close call today a real close call. Watch this. He was climbing to reach people trapped by a fire on the fourth floor when a huge chunk of snow fell sending him tumbling. The good news, were happy to tell you, he hung on. His fellow firemen rushed to help him. One of them continued to climb and rescued a child from the apartment window. That is scary, scary scary timing, but good that theyre okay. Very gad. New information emerging about an elaborate hoax that has sports journalists scratching their heads all across the country. The notre dame linebacker, manti teo, says he was the victim of a sick joke involving a phantom girlfriend. Just ahead, were digging deep for details about the young man suspected of creating her. So now i can be in the scene. Advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. Unlike most copd medications advair contains both an antiinflammatory and a longacting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. Advair wont replace fastacting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. People with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. Advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking advair. If youre still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. Get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd. Com. More now on the hoax that notre dame football star mantei taio ensnared him. Ensnared him. I dont want know how to pronounce it. Were Digging Deeper into the online persona that teo says was his girlfriend and the young man who may have been behind it. Get us up to speed because im lost. Well do the best we can here. Deadspin did name one man in particular who it says is behind this. That man is based in southern california. Now, with our teams here in washington, in los angeles, and in atlanta, we did get some information on him but it is not clear at the moment if he actually knows manti teo or not. It was a hoax made all the more believable by his hushed, mournful interviews, like the one he gave espn. I cried i yelled. I never felt that way before. This is six hours ago, i just found out that grandma passed away, and you take, you know the love of my life. Last thing she said to me was i love you. Reporter but manti teos supposed girlfriend lennay kekua, who reportedly died of leukemia, never existed. Who perpetrated this hoax . Deadspin. Com points to a young man. Cnn obtained a yearbook photo of him from 2008, when he was a senior in lancaster california. Deadspin citing friends and relatives of his says he created the girlfriend and spread the myth online. They told us that he has been doing the lennay kekua fake online profile for several years. And that hes caught other people in its trap. But that they caught on way earlier than manti teo did. Cnn cannot confirm his involvement. We went to addresses, called numbers in southern california, listed for him, and could not reach him. We caught up with his father, titus, a former Football Player at usc, now a pastor at a place called the Oasis Christian Church of the antelope. Hes seen here on facebook. He wouldnt speak on camera, but told us the truth will all come out. God knows our character. His uncle, who gave us these pictures of him as a child tells us hes religious and playing in band at his fathers church. Its hard for me because i know the kid all his life and this is the first time ive heard sympathetic lake that. Reporter deadspin says they know each other. Notre dames Athletic Director who hired investigators in this case, was asked if theyre cousins or Family Friends . That characterization does not square with my information, but ill let the teos address it. Reporter we could not reach manti teo, his parents or his agent for comment. I spoke on the phone with marcus tuisopo, a quarterback for the Oakland Raiders and the jets. Marcus says hes a distant cousin of ranai. Marcus didnt want to tape an interview. He said he cant say anything about this story doesnt know ranai well, but marcus did say that he and his family know the teo family. Whos the woman depicted in social media photos as teos girlfriend. A woman says she realized her picture had been used for a fake Facebook Page for teos girlfriend. That woman says she knows ranai through church but is shocked to find out that he might be involved in this. Theres a current Football Player who says he actually knows this nonexistent girlfriend . Yes. He is currently a fullback for the Arizona Cardinals with an free agent now apparently. He told espn that lennay kekua is a real person, that he met her before she knew manti teo, and that they became friends. We tried to reach reagan mawya ourselves, and he did not return our calls. This is obviously weird. Very weird. Its beginning to defy logic a little bit. Brian thanks very much. Brian thank you so much. Lets get more on al of this with john coblan, with deadspin magazine who first broke this story. Thanks so much for coming in, john. First off, i would like to know what your reporting is and what you have learned about ranai and his connection to this story. What we have discovered is that, we are almost 100 certain that he is behind the twitter feed of the girlfriend, the girlfriend that we now know that is not real. We know this because of reporting that we just heard, something that we reported at deadspin. Com, which is a High School Classmate of the guy, the photo that was used was not of any girlfriend, was not of teos girlfriend, but it turns out that it was, in fact, somebody else who identified ranai as the person who wound up she wound up sending him a photo. So we know that for sure, that he is behind it. How well does he know teo . We know that theyve spoken on twitter together. We know that they also have, that the ranais family also went to usc and they did meet in person. How well do they know each or beyond that, we dont know . So youre not saying they were Close Friends or had a long history. Thats still unclear. A source told us that they are extremely close but beyond that and how well they knew each other, we cant confirm right now. So whats dead spins reporting at this point on whether or not manti teo was himself involved with making up this story making up this persona, making up this girlfriend . We believe that he certainly had a connection with ranai. And beyond that, there are a lot of red flags. I mean, the fact that, you know you know the fact that renai and teo, they, a know each other, and b what wound up happening, is we have teo who wound up teo wound up, excuse me teo wound up im sorry, could you repeat the question one more time. Im sorry about that. I was just asking how much you think that teo was involved in makinge inging up this girlfriend . Yes, the fact that there is plenty of evidence. There is some evidence, insofar as the fact that teo, first of all, they wind up they absolutely do know each other, and we also know that teo has he has come out and called it a hoax so he wound up denying it, but beyond that not entirely sure. And well wait to hear a statement from manti teo an actual statement, instead of a written statement, and well see where that takes us next. Thanks very much, john for coming in. Thank you so much. John coblan is with deadspin. Com. Weve got some breaking news about the americans taken hostage in algeria. Cnn has now confirmed that a texas man was among those being held by the terrorists. Lets bring in david mattingly. Hes in houston right now. David, i understand you spoke to a relative of the man who was being held hostage . What are you finding out . Reporter thats right, wolf. Not a lot we can tell you right now, but i did confirm from a Family Member that a texas man was among the americans taken hostage there in algeria. He says the family got that information early yesterday morning. And since then its been a very painful, agonizing wait as very Little Information since has come in about his status and his safety. So right now just for an abundance of caution were not reporting his name. Were not reporting what he does or actually who he works for just as a precaution because we just dont know what the status of him might be still over there. And right now, the Family Members are waiting as well. Weve talked to the governors office. They dont know anything here. Weve talked to the fbi. Theyre not releasing any information. Weve been in touch with bp multiple times today. Theyre referring all questions to their Global Office in london. But for right now we can confirm, through a Family Member, that a texas man is among those who were taken hostage. Wolf . David mattingly is watching the story for us and well continue to stay in close touch with you. Thank you. Other nazi were following, the history behind one of the bibles the president will use at his inauguration next week. So this is the actual bible that president obama used in 2009 . Thats correct. And the same bible that Abraham Lincoln walked up to and put his hand on to swear in in 1861. [ male announcer ] dont just reject convention. Drown it out. Introducing the allnew 2013 lexus ls f sport. An entirely new pursuit. So, we all set . Ive got two tickets to paradise pack your bags, well leave tonight. Uhh, its next month actually. Eddie continues singing two tickets to. Paradiiiiiise no four. Remember . Whoooa whooaa whooo you know ronny, folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. And how happy are they jimmy . Happier than eddie money running a travel agency. Get happy. Get geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. With another dangerous cliff looming here in washington, the House Republican leadership apparently talking to the rank and file about a shortterm extension of the nations debt ceiling. It might be brief, authorization the nations Borrowing Authority for a couple of months at the republican retreat in williamsburg, virginia right now. The House Budget Committee chairman, paul ryan says it might offer a better chance of getting the Democraticcontrolled Senate and white house involved in talks without a deal by march. Drastic spending cuts could kick in and the government could face a possible shutdown. There seems to be kate a Little Movement on that. Well see how far it goes. When they all get back. A key part of every u. S. President s swearing in is of course the bible that he has placed, that he places his hand on when placing the oath of office. Cnns Lisa Sylvester had a pretty rare look and was able to actually look and touch the bible. Touched it yourself. Ive got to say, this was a pretty cool assignment. Its very unique and a really neat part of the inauguration. This is something that i learned. The library of Congress Actually has 1,500 bibles in its collection. And one of those bibles will be used during president obamas second inauguration. The lincoln bible, which is steeped in history. So much history in the small box. I was thinking this big bible, but its actually really tiny. I think the monoumenty of the moment has been confused with the size of the bible. Its a small family bible. Reporter the president who freed the slaves Abraham Lincoln, put his hand on this bible and swore to uphold the constitution. These are objects that seem to store the energy of a moment. And theyre physical objects that have traveled through time and culture to us. Reporter Mark Dimunation is with the library of congress. Theres in incredible moment when lincoln walks out on stage and as reports have it, the clouds part and he gives this magnificent inaugural address and uses this bible to swear in, in a moment in which the country is incredibly divided. A country so politically torn and on the verge of war that lincoln had to be essentially smuggled into washington ahead of inauguration because of assassination threats. Lincoln didnt have his family bible with him, so he borrowed one from the clerk of the supreme court, William Thomas carroll. A seal in the back of the bible attests that it was used in the lincoln inauguration. A man administering the oath of office was chief Justice Roger towny, who did not share lincolns views on slavery. You can imagine that the tension was probably palpable between the two of them. Tanny was the justice who cast the vote who pushed slavery forward for many years. But change did come. So help me god. Congratulations, mr. President. Reporter americas first black president used the lincoln bible in 2009. President obama has again chosen the lincoln bible as one of those he will use to take the oath of office for his second inauguration. This is the actual bible that president obama used in 2009. Thats correct. And the same bible that Abraham Lincoln walked up to and put his hand on to swear in in 1861. Its kind of neat, a sense of history, doesnt it . It has a kind of electricity to it. It really does carry the meaning of the moment. Reporter the moment repeated on monday, when president obama places his hand on this small bible that carries more than its weight of history. President obama will actually use three different bibles as part of the inauguration. On sunday for the official swearing in he will use the Robinson Family bible. On monday, for the public inauguration, he will use the lincoln bible, as we mentioned and the Martin Luther king jr. s traveling bible. Of course, monday marks plaurt ss Martin Luther king day. So the man whos responsible for freeing the slaves and the man who fought for civil rights for africanamericans, their bibles are both being used by the countrys first black president. A lot of symbolism. I love covering history. Love this kind of stuff. When i was holding the bible that was the other piece. Its not just history of the past, but its history of the future. This is the bible that will be used in the inauguration in a few coming days. Did you put your hand on it . I did. I did. Its a moment. No other way to describe it. I was in awe. Excellent work. Thanks lisa. Today is first Lady Michelle obamas 49th birthday. Im sure she loves were all talking about that. Its not clear what her and the president s plans are, but our Brianna Keilar had this exchange with White House Press secretary, jay carney. And finally its the first ladys birthday today, i believe. It is. Can you tell us anything about how the president and the first family are celebrating her birthday . I dont want to ruin the surprise. Anything that may have already happened . No, you know hes not waiting until the very end of the day to acknowledge you know, thats a personal thing. I dont have anything for that on you on that for you. We do know that mrs. Obama launched a new twitter account today, flotu. And wolfs favorite breaking news of the day, and she tweeted out a photo, revealing a new look, get this bangs, everybody so the first lady celebrating her birthday with a new hairdo and of course happy birthday. Very happy birthday to the flotus, the first lady of the United States, as opposed to the potus, the president of the United States. Any more acronyms for us . No. But i like the bangs. Me too. She was famous for decades of sage advice combined with pithy oneliners. Well remember the mentor the advice columnist to millions, dear abby. Stay with us. Transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. So you see everything the way its meant to be seen. Maybe even a little better. Visit your eyecare professional today to ask about our newest lenses, transitions vantage and transitions xtractive lenses. Experience life well lit. Ask which transitions adaptive lens is best for you. For millions of people over the decades, they read her advice column. Today, word that the woman known as dear abby as died. I was among those millions reading her column every day. Mary snow is joining us now with more details. What a columnist dear abby was, mary. Yeah an amazing woman. The columnist died today at the age of 94 after a long battle with alzheimers disease. She leaves behind a syndicated column that boasts a daily readership of more than 110 million. And it all started because she had too much time on her hands. Her real name was Pauline Phillips, but she was best known as dear abby. As a 30something housewife in california, she told the editor at the San Francisco chronicle she was better than the advice columnist they had. She credits her flip saucy onelarnone oneliners for getting the job. Abigail van buren became her pen name. As her dear abby column grew she competed in the advice field with her identical twin sister ann landers. In 1990, she told Cnns Larry King what it takes to be a good columnist. You have to feel for people. You have to want to help people. And i that is the best part of being dear abby. I love being able to help people, when somebody writes and says abby you changed my life, you did something for me that nobody else could do. Reporter she wrote about the angry letters she received from readers following her Public Acceptance of homosexuality at a time when there wasnt much tolerance. And there were times when shed reach out personally to people who were troubled. Phillips was known for her sometimes pithy responses like the time ted asked her, what inspires you most to write. And she answered, the bureau of internal revenues. Kira phillips of cnns sister station, hln, says money was far from the goal. She met Pauline Phillips whos not related, when she was in college, and the dear abby columnist became a mentor. This was not fake. This was not a shtick. It wasnt a, hmm, what can i do to make a lot of money. This was real. She went to school for journalism but she had no formal training. But she loved people, she loved helping those that were less fortunate than she was. She always had a heart for people. And thats what made her so great. Pauline phillips was diagnosed with alzheimers disease in 2002. That same year, her daughter, genie, took over the column full time. While she remembers her mothers legacy she says her mothers direct style is captured in a famous swedish toast, fear less, hope more. Eat less chew more. Talk less, say more. Hate less love more. She wrote a book called the best of dear anbbeyabbeynbbyabby. I asked kira phillips, what was the best advice she got from dear abby, and she said that advice was to be yourself. Great advice. Mary thanks very much. I remember reading dear abby almost every day growing up. And like most people, i loved reading her column. Heres an example of a letter she would get. Dear abby when you are being introduced, is it all right to say, ive heard a lot about you . Thats from rita. Her answer, dear rita it depends on what youve heard. That is perfect advice. Erin burnett is at the top of the hour, as always. Erin, what do you have coming up . I dont know, sometimes you like to hear, ive heard a lot about you, and have them wonder, whether it was thats right just let it linger out there. Thats right. At the top of the hour, well be getting the very latest on the hostage situation in nighalgeria. Its been incredible covering this story. We are going to be joined by david mattingly, whos been chasing down the family of one of the american hostages. Hes going to join us tonight. That family from texas. Were going to hear about that coming up at the top of the hour. Back to you. A lot of news today. Erin burnett, see you at top of the hour. Still ahead, hall of fame hoaxes. Thex. Wlp [ male announcer ] how do you make 70,000 trades a second. Reach one customer at a time . Or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information. Into a fifth anniversary of remission . Whatever your business challenge dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. Officemax has exactly the ink. Your business needs. At prices that keep you. Out of the red. This week get a bonus 15 itunes gift card with any qualifying 75 ink purchase. Find thousands of big deals now. At officemax. [ male announcer ] break the grip of back or arthritis pain with odor free aspercreme. Powerful medicine relieves pain fast with no odor. So all you notice is relief. Aspercreme. The manti teo hoax is already one for the record books. Heres cnns jeanne moos. Reporter 2013 is barely underway, and already we have our first big hoax. The weirdest story of the year. This reads like a bad lifetime movie. Reporter just be glad it isnt your life. Within hours of the new manti teo story broke teoing was the new tebowing. That is proposing to an imaginary girlfriend. The medias preoccupation with the mantei taio story. Two georgians claim they discovered the body of bigfoot and displayed it in a freezer, that turned out to be a costume stuffed with roadkill. Remember paul is dead. Of course, Paul Mccartney is still dead, but that doesnt stop us from getting turned on by listening to revolution nine backwards and hear turn me on dead man. Taco bell announced it was buying the liberty bell and renaming it taco liberty bell. And talking about telling ging a whopper, there was the april fools hoax involving the