Krar. They did have a bomb squad planted on the scene just in case there were in fact any suspicious devices. But as we say, after the building was checked they determined that it is now safe and for everyone to head former Deputy Director assistant director of the u. S. Marshals. Okay. I guess the problem a lot of people are having is were giving this guy who phoned in the bomb threat pretty much what he wanted, publicity. Is this what this guy wanted . He wanted the publicity for calling in this bomb threat. They generally do. But unfortunately in this day and age you have to react this way and nypd did exactly what they were supposed to do. Now, theyre telling us, Law Enforcements telling us that they think the call came down from the south somewhere, which leads me to believe they probably know exactly where this phone call came from. They had the bomb squad standing by. They brought in the pd, the Emergency Response unit, or ems, and generally they have canines with those units and they sbept the building fairly quickly considering the size of the Time Warner Center and surrounding buildings. Unfortunately, this is the day and age they live in. You say they know this call came from down south. Also coming from down south back in october, the bombs which were sent out to a number of addresses, former president s and former officials within the obama administration. And also cnn. I guess which is why there was so much heightened awareness or such a heightened reaction tule of this. Yeah, exactly. Unfortunately, our colleagues at cnn are very familiar with this in new york city. They went through this same round about a month ago where they had to evacuate the building due to pipe bombs actually showing up in the mailroom. Theyre not nypds not going to take any chances. Security at time warner was excellent. The minute they got the phone call they called it in and they were told to evacuate the buildi building. The fire alarm was pulled and they got out of there. Im just glad that don, shimon, and brian and samantha, everybodys okay there at the cnn building. Explain how this investigation would work because there are no longer payphones i guess. Youre lucky if you find a payphone out there. Someone has to call this in from a land line or a cell phone or somewhere. And that leaves some kind of fingerprint or clue behind for investigators. How do they pick it up from there to find out who may have done this . There is. There are still some coin booths around, payphones around in the u. S. , but the its very difficult to cover up this type of this type of call in anymore. So when they say its coming in from down south, im fairly sure the Law Enforcement has a pretty good idea of the location where it came from if not the exact location. So theyll have Law Enforcement out there right away looking to see, you know, was this a cell phone, was it one of the few payphones left in the u. S. . Was it made from a land line . So Law Enforcement is all over this. And nypd is just about the best at this in the world. I have no doubt theyre pretty much on to this. And they had the bomb squad standing by, which indicates to me they knew right up front lets dot search, if we come across a suspicious package then well bring the actual bomb unit in. Okay. We appreciate the insight you gave us there as far as the investigation and who may have been behind this and exactly what Law Enforcement could be doing at this hour. Art roderick there, cnn Law Enforcement analyst. Also former assistant director with the u. S. Marshals. Lets go back now to new york. Don lemon is back with us along with Shimon Prokupecz there in new york city. Don, its good to see you. Whats happening right now . Yeah. Its sadly, this is i fear that this has become or may become the new normal. Were Still Standing outside and waiting im waiting to get the all clear to be able to go back up if possible to my studio and control room. The folks are there. Because the people who were evacuated were evacuated from the posts that we need to get on the air. So we need to make sure i can get on the air properly before they send us back upstairs. Theres still some Police Presence out front but just a short time ago, maybe 10 minutes ago, maybe 15, we got the all clear to go back into the building. The bulk of the folks who work here at the Time Warner Center have been able to go back into the building. And just to give you an idea of how big this building is, its not just cnn in this building. There are a number of other different businesses including some of our sister businesses, true tv, tnt, tbs and all of that. But there are other businesses here as well. 55 floors in this building. 700 feet tall. Its quite a big building and it takes up an entire city block. Shimon prokupecz whos our crime and justice reporter, has been working with the nypd, his sources as well, getting information. They certainly took this serious ly as they always will. But they were in the building for quite some time. And in order for them to evacuate a Media Company like this that is a big undertaking for the nypd. Thats not a decision they made lightly because they had to know we were on the air here at the time that they were going to evacuate. But clearly there was something that concerned them greatly. To do this kind of an evacuation on just a phonedin bomb threat is not something the nypd takes its not a decision they take lightly. Clearly they were very concerned here. Given the climate, given the history, given what we have been through already with those other package bombs, the one that was mailed here to us in new york and also the one in atlanta. So that was all on their mind when they went ahead and made this decision to evacuate. Look, its not often that the c nypd evacuates buildings like this because of phonedin bomb threats. When you think about again, they say it came from the south. And and f. They had that information, they probably know specifically where it came from. Usually in these situations people think theyre being funny and they can theyll get away with it. This is a federal crime. This is a federal crime. And they usually get caught. Look, there have been many stories of people doing these kinds of things from other parts of the world. There was a guy nirlz doing bomb threats causing all sorts of disruptions and that person was captured. Remember the schools getting threats. These kinds of things the fbi will investigate. And will try and prosecute people. Once they figure out whos behind this. Because it causes panic. It causes concern. It creates fear in people. Especially given what our staff, our fellow employees here, our coworkers have been through already when they had that first evacuation and they found that bomb in the mail room. Just right through these doors here. This is going to be an investigation. I know the nypd intelligence, their analysts are on this, the Intelligence Division is working this and probably the fbi. Youre seeing more Police Officers coming out now. And so, you know, theyre essentially over for now this is over but the investigation is going to just begin. Well, the evacuation part is over but the investigation part as you said will continue on. Can you imagine what this does to the people who work in this building . And again you think, oh, this is cnn and there may be some people at home going its great, cnn was but its not just cnn. Its a number of people who work in this building. People who live in the area, people who will be concerned about their safety. The disruption on the street, right . Its not even that. Its as we were leaving the building im sure whats going through everyones head was what was going through mine, what am i going to do, what happens if a bomb actually goes off and im in this building, what am i going to tell my family . Whats going to happen with my family . Who do i need to call first . What do i need to tell them . Those are all real issues, and again i fear that this is going to become the new normal. Well, and especially when you have this kind of response and youre seeing the person who called this in is getting exactly the response that they wanted, is getting the reaction. You were forced off the air, don. Your staff was forced out of the control room. Folks were forced to leave the building. We had to go off the air. We had to go into programming. You know, theres a lot that this and taxpayers are paying for this. And also the businesses here and the Time Warner Center right next door. This is the third or fourth time probably in the last two months theyve been evacuated. Probably hundreds of thousands of dollars to these businesses. There are restaurants in this building. People were out for dinner who probably had to leave their tables in the middle of dinner because of Something Like this. Its a hoax, right . But it causes a lot of problems. We walked into a restaurant and there were people there, some of them the people that were there had to stay, the other people who wanted to go into the restaurant and have dinner, maybe they had reservations, maybe they were here for an event, they couldnt get to it. Because the Police Closed off the street and wouldnt let anyone in. We couldnt leave the street because if we left the street then we couldnt get back in. So there was a lot of concern by the police here. Look, they did what they had to do here, and it could be the new norm, youre right. Its scary. Im so glad that i had you here with me but again were smiling now and we can. For the longest time we werent able to smile. Im not even sure exactly what time it is now. So its almost been two hours. So, listen, on the other side of the break were going to report more on this. Maybe youll see me here on the street. Maybe ill be back in my studio. But again, a bomb threat called in to cnn in new york, and we were forced to evacuate the building, taken off the air. And here we are two hours into it. And well find out whats going on after this break. Dont go anywhere. Im don lemon live in new york with shimon. Well be right back right after this. When you buy one of the latest sumsung phones you get a free 50 samsung 4k tv. Seriously, no [announcer]seriously tmobile is giving you a free 50 tv. You gotta be kidding me. This deal wont last long. So get your free samsung tv at tmobile store today. Woooo pop pop pop youll make my morning, buty the price ruin my day. Ou . Complicated relationship with milk . Pour on the lactaid, 100 real milk, just without that annoying lactose. Mmm, thats good. And im the founder of ugmonk. Before shipstation it was crazy. Its great when you see a hundred orders come in, a hundred orders come in, but then you realize ive got a hundred orders i have to ship out. Shipstation streamlined that wh the order data, the weights of , everything is seamlessly put into shipstation, so when we print the shipping ll everythings pretty much done. Its so much easier so now, were ready, bring on t. Shipstation. The number one ch of online sellers. Go to shipstation. Com tv and get two months free. I couldnt catch my breath. It was the last song of the night. It felt like my heart was skipping beats. They said i had afib. Whats afib . I knew that meant i was at a greater risk of stroke. I needed answers. My doctor and i chose xarelto® to help keep me protected from a stroke. Oncedaily xarelto®, a latestgeneration blood thinner significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. Warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your bodys natural bloodclotting factors. Xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. For afib patients well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® compares in reducing the risk of stroke. Dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. While taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. Xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. It may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. Learn all you can to help protect yourself from a stroke. Talk to your doctor about xarelto®. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. And we are back. Im don lemon. Thank you for joining us. This is our breaking news tonight, new York City Police have given us the all clear after a bomb threat was phoned into cnn 9 47 p. M. Eastern time. 9 47 p. M. Eastern time. Bomb threat phoned into cnn. Our studio in the Time Warner Center and the surrounding buildings here in new yorks Columbus Circle evacuated moments after the threat was received. The threat came when a caller said there were five devices in the building. Thats according to a Law Enforcement source. Again, five devices in the building. Now were back. Weve been given the all clear. Lets get back to business now. We have some more breaking news to tell you about right now. Kevin hart has stepped down from hosting this years oscars. He put out a statement on twitter tonight saying i have made the choice to step down from hosting this years oscars. This is because i do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the lgbtq for my insensitive words from the past. My goal is to bring us together, not tear us apart. Much love and appreciation to the academy. I hope we can meet again. Brian stelter is our senior media correspondent, and brian joins us right now chief media anchor, i should say. Were back where we belong, don. Back to the news. You know, i have not seen this happen in the history of the oscars. A host was announced just two days ago and now that host is saying sorry, i dont want to be a part of this. If you dont want me, im leaving. It was actually kind of hard for the academy to find a host for the oscars this year. There was a lot of buzz in the entertainment world how nobody wanted to host the oscars anymore. Its a nowin job. But kevin hart said, hey, ive wanted to do this all my life, all my career, im on board for this and he announced on instagram this week he was going to be the host of the most important night in hollywood. Of course thats a few months from now. But hes said hes no longer going to be participating. Hes backed out. And the reason is because of concern and outrage on twitter, on facebook, on other social networks about homophobic things that hes posted in the past. And theres no doubt about it, don. Hart did post a number of homophobic slurs and other offensive comments back via twitter and other sites back in 2009, 2010, 2011. There were a number of really ugly posts in his past. Now, he has apologized for that in the past. Hes also said some of this was just trying to be funny. He is a comedian after all. But there was some understandable concern from some groups saying this is inappropriate. So what happened . Well, the academy that runs the oscars, they asked him to apologize. They asked him to come out and say something. What kevin hart is saying tonight is he doesnt want to have to apom joologize in the p hes addressed this in the past. He says he doesnt want to let the internet trolls to win, he doesnt want to reward them and so hes backing out of the oscars. Ive never seen anything like it. Heres what he did earlier. Well get the video. He posted video on instagram and he also said earlier, listen, if you want to search my history or past and anger yourselves with what you nineday, that is fine with me. Im almost 40 years old and im in love with the man that i am becoming. And then he went onto say this. Heres the video. I swear, man, our world is becoming beyond crazy. Im not going to let the craziness frustrate me or anger me, especially when i worked hard to get the mental space that i am at now. My team calls me, oh, my god, the world is upset about tweets you did years ago. Oh, my god. Guys, im almost 40 years old. If you dont believe people change, grow, evolve as they get older, i dont know what to tell you. If you want to hold people in a position where they always have to justify or explain their past then do you. Im the wrong guy, man. Im in a great place, a great mature place where all i do is spread positivity. If youre not doing that, youre not on my page. Okay, so then there you go. Heres the thing, brian, the response that he put out just now was the appropriate response. And i dont mean the stepping down part. But i am really sorry if i have caused hurt and pain, i needed to be educated about something, i am evolving. That was the proper response to do initially. And again, people do evolve on issues. We should give people leeway in that. But was that the right way to respond initially through that video . Right, to try to talk through it, to try to explain and also but blaming it on internet trolls and people looking for outrage. Yes, we live in an outrage culture right now, but is that really the issue when it comes to this . I think you are onto something really important. What he said in this brand new statement was point blank no ifs or buts, i sincerely apologize, i am sorry that i hurt people. But youre right. In that earlier video it was different. Look, going back to 2010, 2011, kevin hart said things like if i can prevent my son from being gay i will. Those are deeply offensive comments. And you cant explain it away by saying he was joking. I dont think he was always joking in those comments. As you said, people are always evolving. People have to be given the space to evolve. And i think his Statement Today was very strong. Hes saying the right things by saying he sincerely apologizes. And notice the end of the statement he said i hope we can meet again. Maybe hes leaving a little wiggle room to try to remain on the oscars. But he officially said hes stepping down. That doesnt happen in the academy. This is a big job. Its a big deal to get to host the oscars in front of 40, 50 million people. And hes backing away even though just two days ago his appointment, his hiring was a huge deal, celebrate bid comedians like jimmy kim ol who were thrilled to see him in the job. So im really curious, don, to see what happens now. Will he really go . Will the academy really let him walk