[Banfield:] We got some breaking news into CNN just minutes ago. Word that the two Western journalists, including an American, have been killed in Syria. The American is Marie Colvin, who reported from Syria for us actually, just hours ago, and Frenchmen Remi Ochlik. Syrian activists say they were killed during heavy shelling in the city of Homs. They are the latest to die in this slaughter. There are thousands of people who have killed in this battle. Opposition says 106 killed just yesterday alone. Last night on "A.C. 360," Marie Colvin talked about the murder that was happening in this city that very day.
[Marie Colvin, London Sunday Times:] This is the worst, Anderson, for many reasons. The last one, I think the last time we talked, when I was in Misrata. It's partly personal safety, I guess. There's nowhere to run. The Syrian army is holding the perimeter, and there's just far more ordinance being poured into this city, and there's no way of suggesting where it's going to land.
[Sambolin:] Nick Paton Walsh is live for us in Beirut. Nick, what can you tell us?
[Nick Paton Walsh, Cnn International Correspondent:] There's very little we can tell you about how this very tragic accident happened at the moment. The newspaper, "The Sunday Times," a British newspaper is saying simply that she's been reportedly killed in Homs, according to activists who they've spoken to. I can only say Marie Colvin was when I joined British newspapers 15 years ago, she was a legend then. And since then, she's literally in every major conflict or story, her name has been above some of the most eloquent reporting you could have imagined to have seen. We don't know how this happened. There has been, as you said, consistent shelling of the area where she was for the past 18, 19 days now. And that's really all we can say at this point, Ashleigh.
[Sambolin:] It's Zoraida, Nick. We're taking a look at pictures of her there. She's wearing an eye patch. What can you tell us about that?
[Walsh:] Well, she wore the eye patch since she was injured in Sri Lanka in 2001, again, bravely pursuing reporting, and she wore that eye patch ever since. I mean, she's been to every major conflict, from Kosovo to Chechnya to Iraq to Afghanistan. She's always had been there. We should point out today, also, another Western journalist appeared to have been killed, some others injured, and I'm sure Marie herself would want everybody to know that another nine people were killed in Homs today who were just civilians living there, killed by the shelling, too Zoraida.
[Sambolin:] And do we know if her family has been contacted?
[Walsh:] We understand that is the case. I think that's one of the reasons why the "Sunday Times" trying to be cautious about when they released news of her death to make sure her relatives were informed. So, yes, I believe that has now occurred, Zoraida.
[Sambolin:] All right. Nick Payton Walsh live for us in Beirut thank you for those details. We appreciate it.
[Banfield:] I worked with Marie Colvin overseas. And she's an amazing journalist. She was just an incredible, consummate foreign correspondent. And we are all better for the reporting that she's done. And it underscores what we have been saying on this program, any Western journalist, any journalist at all that tries to make their way into Syria is doing so at great risk to themselves and now, we have seen this borne out.
[Sambolin:] I was looking at reports of her online. They called her fearless, absolutely fearless.
[Banfield:] Yes.
[Sambolin:] All right. We need to move on here. It's 22 minutes past the hour.
[Banfield:] Monica Lewinsky, it was a scandal that made headlines when it broke 14 years ago, and it turns out it's creating another buzz again.
[Sambolin:] It's a two-part PBS documentary on the Clinton presidency that aired this week, and it focused on President Clinton's affair with the White House intern. Alina Cho is here with the details. And they got really mixed reviews also.
[Alina Cho, Cnn Correspondent:] It did. And supporters of Clinton say it was long on Lewinsky and very short on accomplishments. I mean, you know, it is fascinating to watch. You know, this was a four-hour documentary shown in two parts, covers the 42nd president from childhood until his last day in office. In some ways, it was a highlight reel. It showed the rise of then- House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the battle over the budget, and the eventual government shutdown. Also touched on President Clinton's response to crises at home and abroad, from the Oklahoma City bombing to the siege at Sarajevo. But 40 minutes of the documentary did focus on then-President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, the eventual impeachment. Now, one of the most riveting moments in the documentary is the interview with former Clinton advisor Dick Morris, who talks about the very night the scandal broke.
[Dick Morris, Former Clinton Advisor:] When the Lewinsky scandal broke, the president paged me, and I returned the call. And he said, ever since I got here to the White House, I've had to shut my body down, sexually, I mean, but I screwed up with this girl. I didn't do what they said I did, but I may have done so much that I can't prove my innocence. And I said to him the problem the presidents have is not the sin, it's the cover-up. And you should explore it, just telling the American people the truth.
[Cho:] You know what we don't hear in that bit of sound that we hear from Dick Morris is that he goes on to say, you know, let me do a poll. Let me see what the American people feel about this and what he found was that, yes, his hunch was right. The American people will forgive adultery, but they have a harder time forgiving the lying. And so
[Banfield:] Just ask Newt Gingrich, right? Going into South Carolina after that debate. Amazing.
[Cho:] Right.
[Banfield:] So, one of the things I look at those pictures of Dick Morris, and I think, boy, what a difference a decade can make. He's now prominent on FOX News Channel, very critical of Democrats. And I'm sort of curious of the inner workings of the White House staff at this time and how they were trying to come to grips with how they're going to cope with all of this news.
[Cho:] Well, I think it's safe to say now they were all caught off guard. You look at when the scandal broke, the day the day the scandal broke, perhaps the day after, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at the time saying, essentially, I believe the allegations are false. The rest of the cabinet essentially saying, I second that. But perhaps most interesting and many people don't know this was the day after President Clinton was forced to answer questions from independent counsel Ken Starr and his speech to America admitting the affair. Remember this, the Clintons were scheduled to leave for their annual summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard, and the White House staff had no idea how to handle the walk. Do you remember this? The first family's very public walk across the White House lawn to the waiting helicopter. Watch.
[Unidentified Male:] They decided they can't do anything. They can't orchestrate it. They can't spin it. They're powerless to affect it. And in the end, it falls to Chelsea Clinton, a teenager, to take both of their hands on her own initiative, take her father's hand in one, her mother's hand in another, and walk across the lawn, literally the bridge between her parents at this moment of crisis between them.
[Cho:] I mean, I think that image is seared in the memory of many.
[Sambolin:] I remember that. They put their daughter in the middle, which makes sense.
[Cho:] One of the most memorable images from that whole scandal. It's that moment that you wondered, are they going to come out? And are Hillary and Bill Clinton going to be hand in hand? It turns out Chelsea was literally and figuratively a buffer at that moment in time.
[Banfield:] I wonder if they put her there or if it happened that way, if it was strategic.
[Cho:] We'll never know.
[Sambolin:] I'd say it was probably strategic.
[Banfield:] I don't know about that.
[Sambolin:] This is a tough time to be president with all of the scandal. How are you able to deal with the duties of being the president?
[Cho:] It obviously goes without saying, huge, huge distraction. Former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said the affair consumed the president and his staff for nearly three years, from the very time the scandal broke to his impeachment in the Senate. And, of course, now all these years later, 14 years later, this documentary. Now, coming up in the next hour, we're going to hear about one of those events when the White House first confronts, at the time, a very little known Islamic terrorist group called al Qaeda. Of course, all these years later, there are still people who believe that the Lewinsky scandal sort of clouded President Clinton's vision, didn't allow him to focus on al Qaeda and their growing threat of al Qaeda. Remember, this was three years before 911.
[Banfield:] They say legacy takes a long time to foment. It will be interesting.
[Sambolin:] Thank you, Alina.
[Banfield:] Still ahead, just hours before a critical debate, they're tied in the polls. Rick Santorum is facing questions about his thoughts on Satan and the United States. You heard it right, Satan and the United States. What is he saying? You're watching EARLY START. You'll find out.