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ISIS Seizes American-Made Weapons in Iraq; Taking Back Mosul; Fallout from Rudy Giuliani's Remarks about President Obama; Shooting Victim Knew the Suspect; Auto Insurance Scheme; Government Warns of Right-Wing Extremists; Milky Way May Have Hundreds of Planets

Aired February 21, 2015 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again, everyone. And thanks so much for joining me, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

American-made weapons appear to be falling into the hands of ISIS fighters in Iraq. In a newly released video the militants apparently attacked an Iraqi military post in Anbar Province. They seized dozens of weapons, including heavy machine guns and even armored vehicles.

CNN has not confirmed when the video was shot, but this comes as the U.S. and Iraq plan a major offensive to take back the ISIS stronghold of Mosul.

New U.S. Defense Secretary, Ash Carter, arriving in Afghanistan this morning. And he talked about the plan to retake Mosul and the timetable that is being talked about publicly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASH CARTER, DEFENSE SECRETARY: That is one that will be Iraqi-led. And the U.S. supported. And it's important that it be launched at a time when it can succeed, and so I think the important thing is that it will -- it get done when it can be done successfully. And I -- even if I knew exactly when that was going to be, I wouldn't tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman, is in Irbil, Iraq.

So, Ben, even though we don't know when this video was shot, it is raising concerns about the ability of ISIS to get hands on the U.S.- made heavy artillery.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it certainly does. But this is really the latest installment going back to last July, when Mosul -- when ISIL -- ISIS took over the city of Mosul, and the Iraqi army simply threw down their arms, and left their tanks and Humvees and heavy artillery behind.

We have seen time after time ISIS forces have been able to drive the Iraqi army away, and pick up all this booty along the way. And, of course, if you look at that -- this latest video, and we do understand that an incident paralleling what you're seeing in that video took place in early February, they have got their hands on some very good- looking American-made M-16s.

I counted 35 piles of AK-47 assault rifles, mortars, ammunition, ammunition clips. Humvees and armored personnel carriers. And all of this clearly indicates that the Iraqi army, which is supposed to play the lead role in liberating Mosul from ISIS sometime in late April and early May, barely can hold its own territory, let alone retake any -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. All right. Very grim scenario.

Ben Wedeman, thank you so much from Irbil.

So the push for retaking Mosul was talked about openly in Washington this week. During a briefing for reporters, a government official said the total Iraqi force could reap 20,000 to 25,000, including five Iraqi army brigades that will be trained by the U.S.

CNN's Phil Black is outside Mosul and he talked to a Kurdish military commander who says they will need help from the Iraqi army to win this battle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MASROUR BARZANI, CHANCELLOR, KURDISTAN REGION SECURITY COUNCIL: So we have to drive them out of this entire region.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The head of Kurdistan Security Council says the Peshmerga have taken back almost all the ground they can until the new retrained Iraqi army is ready to take the field.

BARZANI: There is some limitations of how far we can go because we don't want to create any political sensitivities with the -- with the Arabs, and for the rest of the region, we need cooperation and the Iraqi army to participate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. So why would the Pentagon announce an attack before it actually happens?

Joining me right now from Washington is CNN global affairs analyst and contributing writer for the "Daily Beast," Kimberly Dozier.

All right, Kimberly. Good to see you. So customarily, the Pentagon doesn't want to announce operations before it happens. What might be the strategy here?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Customarily but it depends. This is straight out of the playbook for the battles of Fallujah in Iraq in 2004, when the U.S. was leading that fight. They did message ahead of time, we're going to be attacking. And one of the reasons they did was because it was pretty visible to the forces they'd be fighting that both the U.S. and at that point Iraqi partners, were massing for a fight. Again, here in this situation, you're talking about moving 20,000 to

25,000 Iraqi troops, plus Kurdish forces. This is going to be a big footprint. It's going to telegraph that they're on their way, way before anyone makes an official announcement. So from the point of U.S. commanders, why not announce it now. It's -- it becomes a bit of psychological operations, actually because they're also telling the fighters inside Mosul we're on our way. Right?

WHITFIELD: And does it seem that they are, you know, shakeable? You know, that this kind of psychological ops would make an impact on a group of people that is already showing that they are, you know, relentless and quite heartless?

DOZIER: Well, when you look at the numbers, the U.S. military estimates that there are between 1 to 2,000 ISIS fighters inside Mosul. This means that they're having to consider facing a force that is 10 times their size, backed by the U.S. Air Force and other allied air forces. So that's a lot to consider.

They can either lay in their supplies and get ready for the fight, or they might think about a strategic defeat -- strategic retreat, as in Kobani. When ISIS really got hammered in Kobani, that town just inside the Syrian border, eventually they withdrew.

The other thing that's going on is that some of those fighters are beginning to suffer from irregular payments from the ISIS commanders. There have been some supply problems with the town of Mosul.

They'll be thinking about this over the next several weeks. Do we want to stay -- stand and fight against a superior force when ISIS commanders aren't keeping up with their side of the bargain, keeping us paid, and keeping us well-supplied with what we need to defeat this force.

WHITFIELD: And then, Kim, you know, remember when we would hear the U.S. military, and, you know, the administration at the time say, you know, winning the hearts and minds was really important, particularly in a war in that region. And does it seem that the U.S. is winning hearts and minds, or does it seem as though ISIS ends up -- gaining some advantage as it pertains to that?

DOZIER: Well, what you do have at this point is if you are a civilian inside Mosul, you are hearing from the largest power in the region that the U.S. is planning to back Iraq in retaking the city. So you might start to consider, well, should I reach out to Kurdish allies, should I try to reach out to U.S. or Iraqi intelligence and say, hey, we're in here. We're on your side. We'll fight with you.

So that's the kind of thing that U.S. intelligence will be watching for. The other thing they'll be watching is what is ISIS going to do? If Omar al-Baghdadi is anywhere inside the confines of Mosul, maybe he's going to move. Maybe they can catch him as he leaves.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kimberly Dozier, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

DOZIER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Back in this country, he was America's mayor. But Rudy Giuliani is now creating quite the mess for Republicans as he keeps doubling down on his controversial comments about President Barack Obama.

Will Ripley is joining us from New York -- Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, his storied legacy of strong leadership after 9/11 now in jeopardy, as Rudy Giuliani makes headlines yet again for more attacks on President Obama.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani, standing by his controversial comments that President Barack Obama doesn't love America, telling CNN, quote, "I don't regret making the statement, I believe it," end quote.

Giuliani made the remarks at a private political event this week. He was taking aim at the president's refusal to label the recent terror problem an Islamic extremism issue. Giuliani's comments triggered a firestorm of criticism, including from inside his own party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: I think it's a mistake to question people's motives. It is one thing to disagree on policy. And I think it's one reason why, like John Yarmuth and I get along. He's the Democratic congressman from Louisville but we have a good friendship, because I don't question his motives. We don't always -- always agree. We agree on some things, though, and we acknowledge our agreement.

But I don't question his motives and I try not to question the president's motives as being a good American or a bad American.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk more about CNN's Will Ripley.

So what is Giuliani's motivation or at least what is the thinking behind his motivation here as to why he keeps -- you know, iterating his view?

RIPLEY: A long-time Giuliani watchers say, first of all, this is a page out of his classic playbook where he does not back down and he is proving that in this case. And not only is he not backing down, Fred, but he's also amplifying his charges. This is the front page of the "New York Daily News," where it says there is a shocking new Rudy spin that Obama grew up a communist.

Now, these are, of course, references that are not new. Even as far back as when Obama was running for president in 2007, there was talk about his childhood in Indonesian, the fact that his grandfather introduced him to Frank Marshal Davis, who's a member of the communist party. Giuliani talked about that and he talked about other influences, including the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who as you know, the Obamas distanced themselves from him after some pretty divisive remarks that he made during the president -- leading up to -- in the years leading up to Obama's presidential run.

And yet nonetheless, the mayor continues to talk about this. And former Obama senior adviser David Axelrod speaking on CNN today says he believes this is at least partially motivated by really a deep- rooted racial divide in this country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID AXELROD, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: There's no doubt that race enters into some of the -- these criticisms. No other president has had his citizenship persistently challenged. No other president has had a man stand up in the House of Representatives, a member of the Congress, and shout, "you lie."

And I do think some of that is rooted in people's resistance to the notion that we're a more diverse country, and that there is a president, an African-American president named Barack Obama. Now whether that motivated Mayor Giuliani or whether he was simply pandering to that point of view, I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: So now, Fred, people are speculating, is this a push by Giuliani to stay in the headlines, to somehow stay relevant by becoming a far right essentially bulldog commentator? Certainly far different from his image that a lot of Americans held after 9/11 when they saw how he led New York through the crisis so well.

WHITFIELD: All right. Yes, we're going to explore all of that in the next hour. Thank you so much, Will Ripley, for joining us. I appreciate that.

All right. Still ahead, what that so-called Las Vegas road rage shooting suspect reportedly told his friends. Plus, some surprising new developments in that case.

Ana Cabrera joins us live now from Las Vegas.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. 19-year-old Erich Nowsch is still being held here at the Clark County Detention Center. He allegedly confided in a couple of friends after the shooting. So we're starting to get a better idea of how the events unfolded and why the suspect may have opened fire. I'll have the details right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just last month, 67-year-old Linda Garrett started her journey with the Fit Nation team. LINDA GARRETT, FIT NATION PARTICIPANT: It feels good.

GUPTA: Swimming, biking --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Watch your heart rate.

GUPTA: -- running, all to get ready for the Nautica Malibu Triathlon in September.

But now, just a few short weeks later, the first major hurdle for Linda to overcome.

GARRETT: This is a big one. Yes. Yes.

GUPTA: An old knee injury flared up and she needs surgery.

DR. CHRISTOPHER CAREY, ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON: So Miss Garrett had a tear of her medial meniscus, which is sort of the cushion pad on the inner side of the knee over there.

GUPTA: Dr. Carey was able to do arthroscopic surgery just a few days after he found the injury, and all went smoothly.

CAREY: Everything went very well. Pretty much everything we expected in there. Big meniscus tear which is what we're looking for because that's something that we can eliminate those symptoms right off the bat.

GUPTA: Recovery time says Carey?

CAREY: I usually start my patients pretty quickly with regards to range in motion, things like a stationary bike. She can start on that. In a few days, I usually try to hold everybody back from anything vigorous specifically for her running or anything for about six weeks or so after the procedure.

GUPTA: But overall, he says Linda will be as good as new.

CAREY: She'll do well. She had some arthritis but good looking knee over all.

GUPTA: As for Garrett herself, she says she's a little sore but also looking forward to getting back in the game.

GARRETT: I feel like I can catch up. Just a minor setback, it's a hiccup.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Checking our top stories now.

Millions of Americans continue to feel the wrath of a bitter winter that is blamed now for at least 23 deaths this week, 18 of them in Tennessee. The relentless ice, snow and bitter cold is enveloping huge sections of the country from the Midwest and southeast, all the way up to New England.

And in Massachusetts, several horses had to be rescued by overworked emergency crews after a structure collapsed under the weight of the heavy snow.

And take a look at Washington, D.C. right now, live, nearly whiteout conditions. That's, of course, the U.S. capitol building you can barely see. But the snow is really coming down. And guess what, it's very cold, too. 23 degrees with a wind chill making it feel like 11. So folks stay inside.

And these scary images of a fire in a skyscraper in Dubai it forced hundreds of people out of their homes overnight. Witnesses say flames appeared to start on the 50th floor of the luxury apartment building, and then quickly spread upward. Amazingly, no injuries or deaths were reported. And there is no word yet on the cause.

And NASCAR champ, Kurt Busch, is scheduled to have an appeal hearing with NASCAR officials today. Busch filed the appeal after he was suspended indefinitely on Friday over accusations that he choked and beat his ex-girlfriend last fall. If Busch's appeal is unsuccessful, he will miss the Daytona 500 tomorrow, which is the official start of the racing season. Busch is the first NASCAR.

And right now a manhunt is under way in Minneapolis after a police officer was ambushed and then shot while in his patrol car. Officials say the incident happened earlier today around 6:00 a.m. Eastern. The wounded officer was one of two who had just finished responding to a reported burglary. He is now listed in stable condition.

And now to another shooting that we've been following. Police say the man accused of gunning down a Las Vegas mother in an apparent road rage incident bragged about the shooting. Friends telling police that he said, quote, "They were after me and I got them."

Police say 19-year-old Eric Milton Nowsch killed Tammy Meyers in front of her home last week after a confrontation while she was -- giving her daughter a driving lesson.

Ana Cabrera is live for us now in Las Vegas.

So, Ana, police say that until the arrest, they didn't even know that the suspect and the mother knew each other. How does that change the dynamic here?

CABRERA: Well, we don't really understand that aspect exactly. The timeline in terms of them finding out that Nowsch and Mrs. Meyers had some kind of a relationship. But I can tell you from the arrest report, the detective who wrote it, does mention that they were tipped to Nowsch early in the investigation without saying specifically who gave them Erich Nowsch's name.

Now on the day of the arrest, the father or the husband of the victim in this case, he came forward and he told the press that Nowsch was somebody his wife knew pretty well. That, in fact, she would go to a park to meet him, to give him money to give him food and offer advice. And that made this whole situation that much more heartbreaking or devastating for the family.

Police are still investigating exactly what happened in this so-called road rage incident that turned deadly. But we are learning a few more details from that police report. And apparently, Nowsch allegedly confided in a couple of friends after the shooting. He admitted to his involvement. He told them that he believed there were some people in a green car, Meyers' car, that were after him, they were following him.

And he says one of those people showed a gun and pointed it at him. And that's when he opened fire. He even allegedly showed these two friends the murder weapon, along with some additional ammunition. And, again, said they were after me, and I got them.

He is currently being held here at the Clark County Detention Center. He's facing a number of different charges, including murder and attempted murder. He'll have his first court hearing on Monday -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And are there other potential suspects?

CABRERA: That's right. Police say they are still looking for at least one more person who was involved. They won't say the identity or if they have even identified that individual. However, we know that Nowsch told his friends, according to the arrest report, that he was a passenger in the vehicle that was involved in the shooting. So presumably they may be looking for the driver -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. All right.

Ana Cabrera, keep us posted. Thank you so much.

All right. When you get your car fixed, how do you know if they're repairing it correctly, unless you're a mechanic, you probably don't. And now there are claims that some insurance companies are steering you toward body shops that skimp on repairs.

Drew Griffin investigates, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Mortgage rates are mostly up this week. Take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Hello, again. And thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

A CNN investigation led by our own Drew Griffin has landed on the desk of the U.S. attorney general. More than 500 auto body shops across the United States claim that some big insurance companies have long deliberately skimped when it comes to repairing damages on the vehicles. All so that the insurance companies can pad their profits.

The lawsuits allege that it's a scheme that cannot only lead to rushed and minimal repairs, but repairs that include using recycled, remanufactured or, as one lawyer puts it, junk parts to fix your car.

Connecticut's Democrat U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal has written a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, mentioning our report and asking him to take immediate federal action to investigate, saying this, quote, "I urge the Department of Justice, DOJ, to immediately investigate such practices by the auto insurance industry and act swiftly to protect the safety of consumers and preserve competition in the auto repair industry.

"Insurance steering not only undermines a basic consumer right, but can also compromise the safety of vehicles on our nation's roads, endangering motorists and their passengers," end quote.

CNN's senior investigative correspondent, Drew Griffin, reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To see what's really going on, you've got to do something you probably can't do at home. Lift what you think is your repaired car, get out something called a baroscope, and check inside the car, inside the frame to see if the auto body shop actually fixed it. The auto body shop your insurance company most likely recommended.

BILL BYRNE, AUTO REPAIR EXPERT: There is the rift in the rail right here.

GRIFFIN: Bill Byrne, a national auto repair expert, testifies in court about bad repairs and this he says is one of them. The result of a system designed to save money for insurance companies.

BYRNE: What they did was they replaced the new end cap on there, and the end cap actually covers that, so the consumer would never see this. That is unsafe.

GRIFFIN (on camera): And yet they put it back on the road.

BYRNE: Correct.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Byrne is now part of a major lawsuit involving more than 500 auto body shops in 36 states, all suing dozens of insurance companies across the country.

The shops believe the insurance industry is involved in a deliberate system to send you and your car to shops that are preselected by insurers to do the absolute bare minimum to fix it, even telling body shops to use used or recycled parts, because they're cheaper.

Matt Parker is an auto shop owner in Monroe, Louisiana, who says he sees the same problem. He says State Farm told him to use a remanufactured headlight in a Toyota Tacoma. This is what he got.

MATT PARKER, PARKER AUTO BODY: So it's got a hole in here. And then you can see where they screwed this bracket back on the vehicle. Now you can see here, where all these parts where these were knocked off and glued back together. You can also see here, where the top corner and the lens is busted. And this part of the headlight is broken.

GRIFFIN (on camera): This came out of a box wrapped like it was supposed to be --

PARKER: Absolutely. It's supposed to be like a new part. The insurance company wants us to put this stuff on their car. Now if we refuse to put it on the car, then they label us as a shop not willing to go along with their program. And then they try to steer their business -- steer our business away from us.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Attorneys general Jim Hood of Mississippi and Buddy Caldwell of Louisiana, they believe it, too. Mississippi is preparing a lawsuit. Louisiana has filed, claiming State Farm's practice is putting drivers in danger.

(On camera): And what is the practice? What's being put in their cars?

BUDDY CALDWELL, LOUISIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, after-market parts, junkyard parts. And all of this without any communication with the consumer. And that's the main issue. The safety issues and the knowledge that their product is being devalued by the practices of the insurance company.

I mean, Buddy has found numerous cases here in Louisiana. We found them in Mississippi. But they would force a body shop to, you know, put junk parts and weld and patch.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): And when auto shops don't go along, Mississippi's attorney general says those auto shops business gets cut. It's called steering. Insurance companies steering business elsewhere.

CALDWELL: And they're going to say we're going to blackball you. We won't put you on our select service list. And we're going to make you send us select service list. And we're going to make you send us estimates for five different times, just to aggravate you. That's what they do. They use their economic power to grind down working people.

GRIFFIN: U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, who used to be Connecticut's attorney general, says not only is there a potential for small businesses to be hurt, he too believes cars repaired through insurance companies' preferred service centers pose a safety risk, and he's asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT: Salvaged parts. Inferior or even counterfeit parts certainly raise safety concerns and often, those kinds of parts are involved in this practice of steering. And that's why I have been concerned for years about it. And why I think the Department of Justice should be investigating.

GRIFFIN: Louisiana's attorney general chose to sue State Farm Insurance because State Farm is the biggest insurer in his state. In legal filings, the company denies all the allegations, including the allegation that State Farm mandates using after-market parts. And State Farm would not grant an interview, but sent a statement

instead. It says, "Our customers choose where their vehicles are going to be repaired. We provide information about our select service program, while at the same time making it clear they can select which shop will do the work."

State Farm told us to bring our specific questions to Neil Aldredge with the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies.

NEIL ALDREDGE, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANIES: But it's just not in the economic interest of the insurer to have a car go in and out of an auto body shop three or four times to get it right.

GRIFFIN (on camera): Why would insurance companies require or recommend used parts, fixed parts, off-market?

ALDREDGE: Sure. Most companies don't require this. Most companies offer a choice to consumer. Most of the -- any sort of after-market part that you might hear about is -- are usually cosmetic parts. So there's nothing related to the safety, the mechanical parts of the -- of the operation of the vehicle.

There are laws in almost every state that require consumers to be told that they're -- you know, if after-market parts are going to be used and what those parts are.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): We found that notice on page 4 of this estimate on page 6 of this one.

ALDREDGE: In many cases, these parts are -- they're no different. They're made on the same -- in the same factories. One just comes out with an auto manufacturer's name on it and others don't.

GRIFFIN (on camera): Well, you know, that's not true.

ALDREDGE: Oh, it is true.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): It certainly isn't true in the case of this replacement hood for a Honda. It's made in Taiwan, but already coming apart. This after-market bumper straight out of the box not only doesn't fit, but the fasteners have been glued back together, and then there's the question about that broken and repaired Toyota Tacoma head lamp.

(On camera): It's obviously a repurposed part from a junkyard and if you'll look closely you'll see how it was glued together, snapped together, in some cases even welded and screwed together. And this is the -- this is what the insurer told the preferred body shop to put on a car.

I mean, look at this. You wouldn't want that in your car. I wouldn't want that in my car.

ALDREDGE: Yes, I really don't know the circumstances of the picture. So I really can't comment on it. GRIFFIN: So are the attorneys general wrong in saying that the

insurance industry in a whole, State Farm in particular, is steering their customers to preferred body shops, preferred because they save the insurance company money, not the consumer?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, next you will hear from the insurance company representative, and we'll talk to Drew Griffin about how you can protect yourself when you need a car repair.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Our CNN investigative report on auto body shops allegedly being forced by auto insurers to install used and repaired parts and rushing repairs, just to save money has brought swift pushback from the insurance companies.

State Farm denies the allegations, but there is no denying more and more auto body shops say insurers are demanding they fix your cars with remanufactured or recycled parts, instead of new ones.

CNN's senior investigative correspondent, Drew Griffin, picks up his report by asking why auto insurers want you to go to their preferred auto body shops when you get into an accident.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN (on camera): So are the attorneys general wrong in saying that the insurance industry in a whole, State Farm in particular, is steering their customers to preferred body shops, preferred because they save the insurance company money, not the consumer?

ALDREDGE: The insurance company may provide a list of auto body shops, and the customer can say no, I want to go to Joe's body shop around the corner. And that's their choice.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): That is certainly what Progressive Insurance told us happened for this car. Remember, it's the car we told you about earlier. With the ripped tail frame that you could only spot with the baroscope. It was hit from behind. Repaired at a preferred insurance company shop, and sent back on the road with a ripped and hidden tail frame. It turns out the ripped tail frame isn't all that wasn't repaired. Three of four tire rims are still damaged.

The undercarriage of the car has been pushed in, according to auto expert Bill Byrne, and outside the paint job is filled with pock marks. Progressive Insurance says they didn't choose the body shop, the owner did.

Well, this is the owner, Eugenia Randle, a single mom, who needs the car to carry around her 2-year-old son Roman. And she remembers the conversation with Progressive much differently.

EUGENIA RANDLE, OWNER OF CAR: They didn't give me a choice as to where I wanted to take it. They just told me to take it to their preferred body shop.

GRIFFIN: Randall says she thought because it was a preferred shop, it would actually be repaired to a higher standard. But when she picked it up, she immediately knew something wasn't right.

RANDLE: Well, cosmetically to me it looked fine, but once I got in and got down the street it just started driving really crazy and I immediately took it back.

GRIFFIN: So how crazy was Randle's car driving? I decided to find out for myself by getting behind the wheel.

(On camera): Anything over 50 miles per hour, this thing just shakes like a leaf. All right. This baby is really shaking now.

(Voice-over): Not only was the tail section ripped and unrepaired, three of four tire rims were damaged. And as I drove, the steering wheel was shaking so violently I had to grip down to keep the car from veering to the right. The front left tire was just wobbling.

I carefully drove this shaking car right back to the insurance company's preferred auto body shop where the general manager promptly told us to leave.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do me a favor, don't turn that on without Service King's permission, if you don't mind.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Drew Griffin with me now in the NEWSROOM.

So what did the body shop have to say?

GRIFFIN: The body shop is a national chain Service King. They said they fixed that car just the way the insurance company told them to, their repairs, lifetime warranty. And they claim they had no idea there was anything wrong with that car.

WHITFIELD: Huh. So then what's the advice to, you know, most people who own a car and have insurance? Does it mean you have to challenge your insurance company, place demands on where you get your car be repaired?

GRIFFIN: You know, the best thing to do is check your insurance policy before you need it, ask your insurance agent what the rules are and what you can do to get out of these contracts where you basically are going to be stuck with used, recycled or repaired parts.

Now Senator Blumenthal is renewing his request for a national investigation on this. We'll see where it goes. But really, you have to open communication with your insurance company.

WHITFIELD: All right. Drew Griffin, thanks so much.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Checking our top stories now.

A labor dispute among West Coast dock workers could finally be over. The workers have reached a tentative five-year deal. But it still has to be approved by union members. The dispute caused a serious disruption in shipping at 29 U.S. ports. And if the deal is approved, it could take up to eight weeks for things to return to normal.

And sources tell CNN that Bobbi Kristina Brown has had her breathing tube removed. But that's not necessarily good news. The daughter of the late singer, Whitney Houston, will now be ventilated through a hole in her throat. We're told she is still fighting for her life in a suburban Atlanta hospital.

An 18-year-old man is now under 24-hour surveillance at a Los Angeles hospital. He is one of seven patients infected with a super bug at UCLA Medical Center. Two of the seven have died. The hospital says the deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria was embedded on two medical scopes, even after disinfection procedures were carried out.

Reuters is reporting the FDA has known for more than five years that approved sterilization procedures for the medical scopes are not adequate, but the agency failed to recommend any new safety recommendations.

And a new government intelligence report warns of armed extremists in the U.S. ready to attack police, and go after government buildings. But the danger has nothing to do with foreign terror groups. Rather the concern is over more attacks like one at a courthouse north of Atlanta last year.

Take a look at this map from the Department of Homeland Security. There had been at least 24 of these attacks in the U.S. since 2010. And some federal and local law enforcement groups view the threats as equal to and in some cases greater than ISIS and al Qaeda.

CNN's Nick Valencia is here.

So, Nick, you covered that deadly shooting taking place at that courthouse. These domestic terrorists that the Homeland Security speaks of, how prevalent are they?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's 24 incidents in the last five years so, you know, take that for what it's worth. But this report is very concerning for the federal government. They're saying they're looking at people that subscribe to militia ideologies, anarchist ideologies and really overall hate.

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI did this report together and they say right now on the United States soil, there may be hundreds of thousands of these so-called sovereign citizens.

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VALENCIA (voice-over): From California to Florida, all across the United States, sporadic attacks on law enforcement by sovereign citizen extremists. A new intelligence estimate circulated this month at the Department of Homeland Security puts a focus on domestic terror threats.

MICHAEL STEINBACH, FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Unfortunately, there's a number of those throughout the United States that we have to be concerned about.

VALENCIA: Deadly plots like this one last year in Cumming, Georgia. Armed with several explosives, smoke grenades and plenty of ammunition, police said Dennis Marks showed up ready to kill. Deputies eventually shot and killed Marks after he tried to drive his SUV inside the courthouse.

The FBI's assistant director tells CNN there may be thousands of others out there like Marks ready to attack.

STEINBACH: We've been talking about the international terrorism threat, but there's also domestic groups that are just as concerning that we worry about here in the United States.

VALENCIA: A recent survey of state and local law enforcement officers listed sovereign citizen terrorists ahead of foreign Islamic terror groups like ISIS and domestic militia groups as the top domestic threat.

Mark Potok from the Southern Poverty Law Center says by some estimates there are 300,000 sovereign citizens in the United States today.

MARK POTOK, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: Their beliefs go back about 20, 25 years or even further, and essentially they believe that the federal government has no jurisdiction over them.

VALENCIA: The latest DHS report counted 24 violent sovereign citizen- related attacks since 2010 with law enforcement officers as the primary target.

POTOK: They have no basis in reality. They often basically are telling people they can get something for nothing. They don't have to pay their taxes. They don't have to pay their credit card debt. You know, so there's that kind of teaching going on all around the country and that's what's really driving this movement.

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VALENCIA: And it's not just violence authorities are worried about either according to Mark Potok with the Southern Poverty Law Center. It's also so-called paper terrorism, which is the process of burying court officials with nonsensical filings. Many of these court officials are required by a matter of law to file those documents and track them even though they may have no idea what they're looking at -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: So it's very time consuming and costly.

VALENCIA: Yes. And also -- there's also reports if you go against something with what the sovereign citizens say, they put you into court. They file liens against your homes. It's -- it's this so- called paper terrorism that bogs down the court systems. WHITFIELD: All right. Nick Valencia, thank you so much, appreciate

it.

VALENCIA: You got it. Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are getting ready for a few guests over the next few years. A Turkey mission that's happening right now, and we'll tell you what they are doing next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN SPURLOCK, CNN HOST, "INSIDE MAN": A meeting with Bea Johnson, an author and proponent of something known as the zero waste lifestyle. The aim of the zero waste lifestyle is to reduce as much solid waste as possible and send little to no trash at the end of the day to landfills or incinerators.

Since 2008, Bea and her family have been living the philosophy by sticking to the five R's. Refuse that's anything that they don't need. Reduce the amount of things they actually need. Reuse everything. That means zero disposable items. Recycle, and finally, to rot, as in compost.

Since adopting the five R's, this is the amount of waste her family of four sends to a landfill. In an entire year.

Bea and I are heading to my local grocery store in Brooklyn so that she can teach me how to shop for our lunch in the zero waste way. I'm a bit skeptical, but I'll give it a try.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Interesting. Watch Morgan Spurlock try to live the zero waste life.

"INSIDE MAN" airs Thursday night 9:00 Eastern only on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Right now, two NASA astronauts are in the middle of a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. They are working to fit the docking port with special parts and wiring and allow private space taxis to dock. NASA plans to use private spacecraft to fly astronauts to and from the station beginning in 2017.

All right. Middle school science taught all of us that there are nine planets in our solar system. But CNN's Rachel Crane says now scientists are taking another look at the Milky Way.

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RACHEL CRANE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: If you are still thinking that there are nine planets in our solar system, think again. NASA's solar system page currently lists dwarf planets, including Pluto and Ceres.

The planet you've probably never heard of, NASA's Dawn spacecraft was launched back in 2007, and it'll soon start orbiting Ceres. But it's already sending back crisp, clean pictures. Newly released images were taken when Dawn was 52,000 miles from Ceres. The images show craters and what NASA calls mysterious bright spots.

Ceres is the largest body between Jupiter and Mars in the main asteroid belt and it has a diameter of about 590 miles.

Ceres is not a new discovery. In fact, it was found in 1801, 129 years before Pluto was found. Originally, it was called a planet, then an asteroid and now a dwarf planet. I mean that will trigger an identity crisis.

The mission director calls Ceres a giant mystery. Some scientists think it used to have a sub-surface ocean and that it may still have liquid water beneath its icy surface. Scientists say they hope to solve that mystery and others when the tractor-trailer-sized spacecraft moves in.

So how many planets are we up to now? NASA says there may be hundreds more worlds in our own solar system.

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