[Erin Burnett, Cnn Anchor:] Next, breaking news. A stunning victory for al Qaeda today. Plus, one of the biggest political upsets of all time. How did an unknown professor from Virginia take down the House majority leader? And Paula Deen's comeback after using the N-word. This is her savviest business move yet. Let's go OUTFRONT.
[Burnett:] Good evening, everyone. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, breaking news a stunning and deadly defeat in Iraq, and victory for al Qaeda. Al Qaeda-inspired militants from the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria have launched one of their most daring assaults, seizing a major city. This time, Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, the city overrun just a day after insurgents took control of Iraq's second biggest city, Mosul. Hundreds of thousands of residents are running from their homes. Police have been laying down their arms, trying to change into civilian clothes, all in an effort to escape the worst carnage to strike Iraq in nearly a decade. CNN's chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto is OUTFRONT. Jim, this is stunning to imagine when you think about the time, the money, the lives that were spent on Iraq, Iraqi and American. Where do things stand tonight?
[Jim Sciutto, Cnn Chief National Security Correspondent:] It is stunning. It's alarming, and particularly how quickly it has deteriorated. These are major cities. Mosul goes first, the second largest city in the country. Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown. Beiji, this is a city with a major oil refinery, and they're getting closer to the capital, Baghdad. And one of the big disappointments for U.S. officials, Iraqi officials is that the Iraqi security forces that the U.S. has been training at great expense for a number of years and really is the core of the U.S. strategy when it left Iraq was to leave the country's security in their hands, they have not performed. As you mentioned, deserting, clearly not up at this stage to fighting back against these militants who you'll remember are even more radical than al Qaeda. Now, U.S. response so far limited to military support. You know, in terms of training, supplying arms to Iraqi forces. They say they are considering other option. But I tell you, Erin, those options will not include American boots on the ground.
[Burnett:] Jim Sciutto, thank you very much, just a disturbing and deeply depressing development there in Iraq as they approach Baghdad. We are following breaking news out of the Pentagon tonight. We're learning the final travel plans to bring Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl back to the United States. An official says the transfer from a military hospital in Germany to one in San Antonio, Texas, could be incredibly soon, possibly just a day or two away. News of Bergdahl's recovery comes as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel went before Congress and aggressively was forced to defend the swap of five Taliban detainees for Bergdahl. Barbara Starr is OUTFRONT with more on a shocking revelation about Bergdahl's history in the military.
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Pentagon Correspondent:] CNN has confirmed Bowe Bergdahl served for less than a month in the coast guard before later joining the army. Military sources would only call it an administrative discharge. Tonight, his friends tell "The Washington Post" Bergdahl left the coast guard because he was psychologically troubled. CNN has not independently confirmed those accounts. But journals and e-mails friends gave to "The Post", "The Post" says appear to paint a picture of a fragile young man trying to maintain mental stability. Bergdahl apparently writing at one point, "I've spent a lot of my life thinking blackness was all I had in front of me."
[Starr:] On Capitol Hill today, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel angrily defended why Bergdahl is still in the hospital 12 days after being released from five years in Taliban captivity.
[Rep. Jeff Miller , Florida:] You're trying to tell me that he is being held in Landstuhl, Germany, because of his medical condition?
[Chuck Hagel, Defense Secretary:] Congressman, I hope you're not implying anything other than that. The fact
[Miller:] I'm just asking the question, Mr. Secretary.
[Hagel:] I'm going to give you an answer. I don't like the implication.
[Miller:] Answer it. Answer it.
[Starr:] Hagel offering one mea culpa to Congress.
[Hagel:] We could have done a better job. We could have done a better job of keeping you informed.
[Starr:] And defending against accusations about why Congress wasn't informed of the trade.
[Hagel:] By the way, I never said that I don't trust congress. That's your words.
[Rep. Mike Conaway , Texas:] Yes, you did. Yes, you have over and over.
[Conaway:] Mr. Secretary, Mr. Secretary.
[Hagel:] Congressman
[Starr:] Hagel revealing the administration's intelligence concluded the five Taliban, some tied to al Qaeda, don't pose a direct threat to the
[U.s. Hagel:] Their focus would almost certainly be on Taliban efforts inside Afghanistan. Not the homeland of the United States.
[Starr:] But there was a moment suggesting everyone take a deep breath.
[Rep. Jack Speier , California:] And I would just ask us to think for a moment how we would be responding if Bowe Bergdahl was our son. I really fear for his return to this country with the kind of rhetoric that is being spewed in this very room.
[Starr:] Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
[Burnett:] And Congressman Jackie Speier of California, you just heard her there expressing her concern about what is being said to describe Bergdahl, is OUTFRONT. And good to have you with us, Congresswoman. When you said you fear what might happen to him hen he comes back to the United States, what did you mean?
[Speier:] I'm very concerned that there will be efforts to try him in the court of public discussion as opposed to giving him all of the opportunities, all of the due process that he deserves and very much the health care. It's medical, it's psychological. He's been in captivity for five years. He appears to have been fragile even before then. We need to establish a little compassion here.
[Burnett:] It's obviously an important word, and I think meaningful when you said what if it was our son, you know, make people think about it that way. But, of course, you know, there are soldiers who said they served with Bergdahl. They have come forward. They called him a deserter. There are some who say that some of their sons, they believe lost their lives looking for Bergdahl. Do you don't you think they've had a right to say all these things?
[Speier:] I think that we are a country in which everyone is innocent until proven guilty for starters. I think that the jury is still out in terms of whether or not anyone, any military member lost their life in anticipation of locating Sergeant Bergdahl. And I think that we really need to take a step back and recognize that we have one very strong commitment, and that is to bring every single service member home. And that's what we're doing with Bowe Bergdahl. And we are have to give him the time and the space to recover.
[Burnett:] CNN has learned, Congresswoman, that Bergdahl served less than a month in the Coast Guard, and then he joined the Army. And according to "The Washington Post," he left the Coast Guard because he was psychologically troubled, used the word fragile. If that's true, how is it that someone who would be struggling psychologically and only served a month in another branch of the Armed Forces be able to actually join the Army?
[Speier:] I think that goes back to what was happening in 2008. There were many, many people that were allowed to join the military that had records that under other circumstances would have prevented them as being unfit, whether it was having sexual assault background or having been convicted of some minor offense. Under normal circumstances, they would not have been allowed to become members of the military. So, in this case, his situation was such that I think they waived him in.
[Burnett:] Congresswoman, I was just in Doha the day before yesterday. Everyone I spoke to there had no concern about the Taliban living there among them. They didn't present this in an anti-American way, but they had absolutely no problem with it. Secretary Hagel said that those five detainees are not a threat to the United States. But obviously there have been some in national security who said they are. Your colleague, Senator Joe Manchin, among them. He says he is concerned that they could be back in a position to do harm to Americans. Was this deal worth it?
[Speier:] I think when we take if we start weighing whether or not it's valuable to bring back one of our soldiers that has been held in captivity, who has been a
[Pow -- Burnett:] Even if these five cost more American lives in the future?
[Speier:] Well, I think what we've got to make sure, and that's what a classified briefing is going to provide us, which we haven't had yet is what steps are being taken to make sure that doesn't happen.
[Burnett:] All right, well, Congresswoman, thank you very much for taking the time tonight.
[Speier:] Thank you.
[Burnett:] Congresswoman Jackie Speier saying it was much too early to rush to judge, defending Bowe Bergdahl. Still to come, is gun violence really the norm? President Obama used those words. But we investigated. Do the numbers back that claim up? Plus, Paula Deen's comeback. It is now complete? A year after her N-word scandal, she has her sights set on an entirely new network. And every elevator passenger's worst nightmare coming true for this man. Tonight, if this happened to you, what to do.