a man chewed off the face of his victim. let's go "outfront." i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, tipping point. the latest syrian pictures of 49 murdered children in syria have made people ask whether america must step in. the uprising has left more than 12,000 syrians dead. with the rest of the world watching from the sidelines. today the only response was symbolic. eight countries including the united states expelling syrian diplomats. in the year when the president is running on his foreign policy victories syria is becoming a lightning rod. >> this administration has a feckless foreign policy which abandons american leadership. i know because i visit with these people that they are ready to help these people and they are helping them some. it cries out for american leadership. >> and today mitt romney said the president's quote lack of leadership has resulted in a policy of paralysis and we should work with partners to arm the opposition. now, that is something a lot of people -- that's a lightning rod in itself. and the obama administration is holding firm on its stance of no military action. >> no military action is always an option. and we haven't in this case removed options from the table. we do not believe that militarization for the situation in syria at this point is the right course of action. we believe it would lead to greater chaos and greater carnage. >> but will american intervention stop blood shed? that is the key question. let's look at the last time. it was a year ago in libya the united states spent more than a billion dollars on air strikes with nato. today the weak transitional government says it has to delay elections and tribes are fighting and al qaeda and islamists say they created their own country. which will be the sixth biggest in africa. getting rid of gadhafi had a lot of unintended consequences which can blow back on america. but there is another country that has the influence to stop the massacre. vladimir putin's russia is bashar al assad's arms dealer. assad bought nearly $5 million of weapons in five years, that's 10% of the arms exports in the past decade. reuters reported a russian ship was expected to arrive this weekend. russia signed a deal to sell fighter jets to syria which already flies 555 russian mig fighter jets. russia has nearly 5,000 tanks including the t-72 which has a 125 millimeter gun, with a range of about 6,000 feet. it's russian. add the 4,000 plus surface to air missiles syria's military is one of the largest in the region thanks to russia. here now jamie rubin, former assistant secretary of state to form affairs. and andrew tabler. let me start with you, jamie. russia has -- there is a means question and a will question. let's talk about the will because sure they have come around to condemning the massacre of children. but they still seem to be with a ship going in reportedly now with weapons very much still supporting bashar al assad. >> i don't see a lot of evidence that the russians feel pressure from the world, from these crises and the massacres on the ground to suddenly do what i know washington and some of our allies in europe are hoping which is to engage and convince the leadership in syria they need to change assad and move him out. what they are calling the yemen option where the united states was able to do in yemen was to help with the saudi arabian involvement to get that leader out and that calmed a civil unrest. i don't see russia having what you mentioned the will to do this. they have as you said a good military relationship with the syrians. they don't feel the pressure that we feel when they see people being killed. they blame both sides. >> they have repeatedly blamed both sides, andrew. what about the means? it's one thing to sell and be reliant on syria for 10% of your weapons sales. that is a powerful incentive to keep doing what you've been doing all along. even if they stop what means does russia have to stop what is happening in syria? >> the theory is russians have assets inside the syrian military to convince the generals who run the military to oust the assad family and eject them from the country. that would be similar to the yemen plan. the problem with that though is yemen wasn't a minority dominated regime. they were dominated by the sect from the regime that the generals hail. they hang together especially when under pressure. i agree with jamie. i don't think we see any sign that the russians intend to do that. that is the hope. that plan, that yemen option is an old plan. it was recently respun in the newspapers. it goes back six to nine months. it's hardly something new. most of it has been discredited. >> what will the obama administration then end up doing? this puts them in a tough spot. it looks like they can't force russia to do it or get russia to do it with them. or whatever it might be. as these images continue to come in it does continue to put pressure on the president or does it not? >> i think it does and it doesn't. it does in the sense that syria has been going on for a year now. now there are over 10,000 people dead. this is a pretty dramatic uprising in the region. the part that i think people haven't begun to focus on is what i would call the major difference between this and libya. which you mentioned. >> right. >> libya served a moral purpose. we helped the people avoid a massacre. after gadhafi was gone the middle east didn't change. if assad goes, however, if we were to contribute to the overthrow of assad that would be a dramatic plus for the west, because assad and syria is iran's only entry point into the middle east. that would go away instantly with the end of the assad regime. >> if we knew who was coming in afterwards. >> almost anyone afterwards would not have the relationship that assad has developed with the iranians. >> thanks very much to both of you. we appreciate it. andrew and jamie. it's a tough one. a moral and financial and military conundrum for the u.s. still outfront, two americans held in the death of a foreign national. and what in the world is holding up the john edwards verdict? this has been going on and on. updates every day. they're breaking for lunch, they want this. and apparently all kinds of bizarre stuff is going on. the judge made an unusual warning. we have it and then this -- >> i think if you look at the birth certificate and you tell me really -- you analyze the birth certificate. there are many people that don't agree with that birth certificate. they don't think it's authentic, wolf. >> when you say many people don't agree -- >> many people. >> give me a name of an authority who says it. give me a name. >> there are many people. i don't give names. >> donald trump doubling down on the birther issue just before taking the stage with the presumptive gop nominee tonight. the romney campaign, donald danger? for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. in here, great food demands a great presentation. so at&t showed corporate caterers how to better collaborate by using a mobile solution, in a whole new way. using real-time photo sharing abilities, they can create and maintain high standards, from kitchen to table. this technology allows us to collaborate with our drivers to make a better experience for our customers. 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>> a lot of people do not think it was an authentic certificate. >> how can you say that -- >> many people do not think it was authentic. his mother was not in the hospital. there are many other things that came out. >> after that cnn contributor, david frum took to twitter writing that was a big steaming plate of blank spaghetti. trump just delivered on cnn for his friend, mitt romney. what does mitt romney gain by having trump with him tonight? john avlon, reihan salam and jamal simmons is with me right now. mitt romney probably pretty upset right now. >> as well he should be. you remember the pitch for the dinner with trump and romney was the idea of reaching out to donors or making donations as small as $3. >> right. you win a dinner or something like that. >> who knows what would be served at this dinner. some trump stew perhaps. you are looking at $3 donations and mitt romney has not attracted small dollar donations. the reason the donations are important is partly because those are voters who say i buy into this campaign. i'm vested in the campaign. and then you have a list of people who are more active and engaged supporters. you can use that list for a variety of reasons. is donald trump the best way to gin up and active and engaged voters? >> he's not. that was theory is that he would help raise money for the campaign. these low dollar donors. here is the point. donald trump made himself completely radioactive to the romney campaign. he's stepping all over his story. a guy whose name used to be synonymous with success. maybe he is better at building a brand. he is a clownish conspiracy theorist who lit his hair on fire hours ago on cnn again. >> make a hair joke about donald trump. >> i will do it again. here's the point. he wouldn't be doing more damage to the romney campaign if he was a secret double agent for the obama campaign. he is their best friend right now because he's so totally out of control and making a fool of himself on this totally settled issue. >> jamal, to make it very clear for those watching where romney stands on this, his campaign put out a statement saying mitt romney said he believes president obama was born in the united states. the democrats can talk about donald trump all they want. mitt romney is going to talk about jobs. mitt romney has said he doesn't agree with all the people who support him. does he need to come out himself personally and vocally and say something about this, jamal? >> he does need to come out personally and say something about this. but he needs to in general start standing up for common sense. he wouldn't stand up to rush limbaugh when he called that law student a slut and wouldn't stand up to rick santorum and he said the president was a snob because he wanted kids to go to college. now won't stand up to donald trump when he says the president is not born in the united states. at some point he has to put the loo loos back in the cage and tell them i would love to have your support but not under these circumstances. meanwhile the president of the united states spent the day with madeleine albright and toni morrison and bestowing these medals on them. and mitt romney is with donald trump. it is a great contrast for the obama people. >> here is an ad the obama campaign is playing about this issue. here it is. >> good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. >> we're scared of an obama presidency. >> i have to tell you he's a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared as president of the united states. >> i have read about him. he's an arab. >> no ma'am. no, ma'am. he's a decent family man, citizen that i just happen to have disagreements with. >> i've got to say one thing that frustrates me is that there are decent family men who are arabs. that is a different issue. that is a whole separate issue. here's the thing. when you are running a campaign it totally makes sense let's make mitt romney apologize for everyone who seems vaguely connected with conservatism in some broad sense rather than mitt romney allow him to make this case based on the state of the economy regarding whether or not president obama should be re-elected. i think that similarly in 2008 there were folks to make barack obama apologize. for example, the whole notion that lipstick on a pill was an insult to sarah palin. >> there's a fair analogy, but he's choosing to campaign with him, appear with him. he is using the good things about trump then you are morally obligated that what this person is saying is ridiculous. if he was. campaigning with him, i could hear you. >> absolutely. that's the key point. if this was a random -- >> i will say that donald trump is not the ideal choice. also, look. there are a lot of people who are going to be surrogates. who are in the mix here. do i think romney made a bad call by campaigning? i think they might be thinking the same thing. see what they have to say about it. >> this is not a self appointed surrogate. roaming the airwaves. this is somebody who the campaign and candidate has chosen to embrace. at some point, it is a measure of leadership to say that is too far. that is appealing to the worst instincts. that does not represent me and therefore he will not represent me. >> having said that he opposes the -- >> wow, reihan, so good, i thought you were going to finish your sentence. thanks to all three of you. now everybody knows how we go in. a brutal attack. a naked man tried to chew off another man's face. this is horrific. it is not science fiction. it happened in florida. the doctor on the case thinks there was a new drug that could have caused the attack for a specific reason. and then later post cards from richard branson's memorial day wish. iles more than 50 times a day? so brighten your smile a healthy way with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only rinse that makes your teeth two shades whiter and two times stronger. ♪ listerine® whitening... power to your mouth. gives you a 50% annual bonus. and who doesn't want 50% more cash? 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[ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? ha ha. ♪ [ woman ] it's like a magnet. pulling us together for different reasons. music. games. photos. shows. we share stories, laugh... and truly engage. it brings us closer and that is my happy place. ♪ [ male announcer ] the best family moments happen in an instant. capture them with internet explorer and a powerful dell pc. our third story outfront tonight, drugs known as bath salts being blamed for a gruesome scene in miami. this is a naked man gnawing off another man's face. obviously, that sounds horrific and it is. i want to warn you that the pictures with we're about to show you are very disturbing. 31-year-old rudy eugene was described to be in a zombie-like state when caught by police. armando aguilar, president of the miami fraternal order of the police believes he wasn't der the influence of bath salts. when he was found what he had done to this man's face victim was 65 years old. apparently all that is left is his goatee. his eye balls were gone. charles sophy is here. doctor, have you heard of anything like this? it is awful to talk about some of the things i just said that this man did to this victim's face. >> absolutely. there are many reactions that your brain can have with a substance like this. these are very cocaine-like substances. it will have a very aggressive reaction in your brain. the behavior that comes out of it could be aggression to ripping off someone's face. severe, severe reactions. they are not able to be tested. these drugs. we are putting substances in the our bodies that we don't know what is going to happen when we do that. >> so when we use the name bath salts which i guess is the street name. you said cocaine-like. what would be in it? does it vary every single concoction? what is in quote/unquote bath salts? >> that is a really great question. the bottom line, these are not substances that have been properly studies. so we don't really know what's in them. we just see the kinds of reactions and can kind of guess what chemicals in the brain they are reacting with. then hence, the behavior. that is why the studies need to be done. and then we can make the testing that needs to be in place to be able to see if people have taken these or not. when they're behaving this way. right now we could do a test and not know that they have taken them. >> my understanding is that eugene had been at a music festival and the police said these bath salts were something people were doing. is this something that is spreading, that you're hearing more and more about? i'm thinking back to the days when meth and meth heads was an occasional story you heard out of the midwest and then became a national crisis. >> absolutely. over the past year we have heard more and more i have had more and more patients with this type of issue. they are out there. i think there is going to be a ban if there isn't already in the availability of them until studies and tests can be developed. we are hearing more about it. >> where do people usually get them? the drug. >> most of the time they are sold at head shops under various names. they were available over the counter until recently. >> one of the side effects that appeared in this case was the man was naked, the perpetrator. is this something that would go along with that? what in the drug would cause him to do that? and he was growling. he was growling like he was some sort of a dog as he was eating the man. >> what is happening is you are putting substances into your brain and moving brain chemicals around and then there's going to be behaviors that come from that, anything from growling to animalistic aggressive behaviors. to convulsions. you could be looking zombie-like. you are in a trance and not in control of your own body. >> thank you very much. truly bizarre and horrific story. an irish national found strangled to death after a concert in japan. two amer