report drives the white house and republicans into spin mode. senator rand paul is here to talk about it. i'll discuss it with him live. chris christie fighting back. issuing more denials as investigators finally get their hands on some key documents. and she hasn't even declared her candidacy but is hillary clinton all right peaking too soon? why some obama aides say that she's making the same mistakes that cauost her in 2008. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." republicans are calling it a bombshell of vindication of their claims that obamacare is harmful to the health of the u.s. economy. the congressional budget office reports the health care law could pull 2.5 million workers out of the labor force in the next decade. the white house says there's not necessarily anything wrong with that. suddenly, though, the fight over obamacare is raging once again.

let's go to brianna keilar. she's got the latest. brianna? >> reporter: wolf, the white house argues that this law will give americans more freedom to change jobs or, in the case of this report, to reduce their hours without the fear that they might lose their health insurance coverage. the report also plays into the hands of critics who have long claimed that obamacare is a drag on the economy. while president obama was out trying to sell his agenda -- >> i want america to now invest in you. >> reporter: the white house found itself playing defense. a new report estimating obamacare will cause americans to leave the workforce, emboldeneding republican claims that the law is a job killer. >> the c bchlbo report is certa not pretty if you're interested in creating jobs for america. >> reporter: more american also work fewer hours or not at all

or because they can now purchase insurance on the individual market rather than relying on an employer. the report says that will cause a reduction in the labor force equal to more than two million workers in 2017, 2.5 million by 2024. white house officials are calling the cbo calculations incomplete, saying they ignored job growth that the health care law will recreate. >> is that an admission that there are some winners and losers with regard to people who want to work in the workforce? >> we're not giving you -- that's not a negative thing. >> reporter: fewer people than expected will sign up for obamacare when the window closes. 6 million instead of the 7 million initially projected. but the white house is touting the report saying that the

deficit will fall to the lowest in years. an economist was asked if this reported information about the reduction in workforce isn't a net drag on the economy. he wouldn't answer about that, wolf, but white house officials are claiming what they see as the positive of this law that they feel is not included in this report. they say there will be more job mobile t mobility and more people will be able to strike it out on their own as entrepreneurs. >> let's get reaction. brianna, thanks very much. republicans clearly saying we told you so as they pounce on this later report. joining us to discuss this and more, republican send senator rand paul of kentucky. >> good evening, wolf. >> what do you think about people who don't have pre-existing conditions, if they don't have a job they can get

insurance, they can have more freedom, if you will. what do you think about the conclusion of this report? >> well, i think what we've always said is that obamacare adds a cost to employment and you will cause unemployment so 2 million people won't get their job because of obamacare, economists say 11 million people may be prevented from getting a job because we have to manage such an enormous debt. there's a lot of things going on that makes the economy weak and we've got 20 million people out of work. it's a disaster out there. and we need to decide, are the president's policies working or not working? >> i spoke earlier today with gene sperling, the economic council. after this report was released, listen to what he told me. >> people who are working more than they want to simply for health care, some of them will have the option of working a little less and in terms of what the overall impact on jobs will

be, i think you have to look at what the impact on productivity is because people are healthier, working harder, having less sick days. >> he's making the point that if you have health insurance you're going to be healthier because you'll be going to doctors. you're a physician. you understand that. >> it doesn't necessarily equate. now, good behavior, exercise, and diet may prevent illness. going to the doctor doesn't necessarily prevent illness. >> but it can prevent an illness if they can detect a serious illness in an early stage and deal with it, that's going to prolong your life. >> but if you look dollar per dollar and you spend more on health care, there are preventive illnesses but it's not dollar for dollar and often it isn't even correlated, to tell you the truth. healthier behavior causes healthier people but not necessarily spending more on health care. the real point is, obamacare is going to cost 2 million fewer people to have jobs. the huge advance and increase in

our debt also costs us another million and really we need the opposite. we need millions of new jobs created. instead, what we're seeing is obama economy with 12 million people searching for work. >> you like the fact that people can stay on their parents' health insurance plans until the age of 26. you don't have to borrworry abo pre-existing conditions anymore. you like the positive features of the affordable care act. >> it sounds good to keep your kid on to 26 until you find out how much it's going to cost. i have a 21-year-old and i found out it was going to cost me nearly $500 a month to keep him on. there was a report this morning or yesterday that came out of pennsylvania showing that some families were going from $700 a month to $1300 a month. so having those extra kids on your policy sounds good but they are extraordinarily expensive because obamacare charges you per individual whereas your old

policy sometimes didn't cost you more if you had more children. >> if you were to redo the law, what would you keep from obamacare? >> the main thing you want to do that is different than obamacare, you have to expand choice and you want to expand health savings accounts and people ability to save for their insurance. we did the opposite. we limited health savings accounts and we contracted choice. we took away the freedom of choice. so really what i would say is you want people to have more choices, more competition and lower prices. and i would say obamacare does the opposite. less choices, more expense. so there's a lot of things you could do. you could create a market, even if we weren't able to repeal obamacare, which i would repeal it, you could simply expand choice by opening up health savings accounts. that in and of itself would be going a long way towards bringing prices down. >> let me go to critically important issues right now, including raising the debt

ceiling by the end of this month. jack lew says if you don't do that, if congress doesn't pass this legislation it will cause enormous harm to the u.s. credit rating, to the overall u.s. economy. are you ready to vote in favor of raising the nation's debt limit? >> well, the interesting thing is, in 2011 when we did raise the debt ceiling and added sequester budget caps, the s & p tried to downgrade it also. absolutely we should tie any increase in the debt ceiling to budgetary restraint and when the president says he won't negotiate with a gun to his head, he won't negotiate without a gun to his head or without a deadline. absolutely there needs to be budgetary restraint because it's

unconsensus nabl. >> you won't vote to raise the debt ceiling? >> i'm a minority of the minority. the recent ryan and murray budget gave up on the sequester so i jokingly said are you going to be able to stop the debt ceiling? i don't have any high hopes for republicans standing firm and saying we won't raise the debt ceiling. they've already been played. i mean, they've shown that they are unwilling to stand firm because we gave up the sequester. you think they are all of a sudden going to get a backbone and what are we going to ask for, the sequester back? the sequester slowed down the growth of spending but didn't even make any cuts and we gave up on that. i'm kind of encouraged how things are going in washington. >> it curtailed the forced spending cuts for the next two years, not for all of the next ten years but you voted against it. you hated it to begin with? >> well, the thing is, it was

the only thing believable in washington. the sequester was a ten-year plan and we adhered to that in ten years. i tell people in america, don't send your money to washington. they are not good with money. they are not to be trusted. so try to keep the money in your states and in your cities and in your pocket but don't send it to washington because they misspend it, misallocate it. we don't know where $100 billion is. we lost $100 billion last year and can't find it. don't send money to washington. >> two other issues before i let you go. you're ready to accept a compromise to extend unemployment benefits for at least three months for more than a million, maybe a million and a half workers out there. many of whom are in desperate need of that money? >> i'd like to give them jobs and so what i would like to do is let's do something to create jobs. i have an economic freedom zone package that would dramatically lower taxes in areas of high unemployment and areas of long-term unemployment and this

would be going at the source of the problem instead of trying to put a band-aid on the problem. the band-aids are not working and they are trapping people in long-term unemployment and then employers don't want to hire the long-term unemployed. they want to hire the guy that's been out of work two months, not two years. we have to be careful about it. even though i know people's motives are correct, they want to do the right thing, they want to help people, you don't want to trap people in an area where they can't get out of long-term unemployment and never get back into the workforce. that's the wrong resort. >> a three-month deal to help people over the next three months and then you can talk about the longer term issues, are you with those republicans and democrats who are ready to accept such a compromise? >> i think the deal ought to be part of this. if we're going to extend unemployment benefits, if we do something good to create jobs. i'll give you another example. there's $2 trillion overseas. it won't come home because we

tax it twice at 35% the second time. tax it at 5%. hundreds of billions of dollars will flow home kree creating jo home. why don't we bring some of that money home and create jobs. >> sometimes you need a band-aid, as you well know. you probably have band-aids in your medicine closet. stop the bleeding, shall we say. thank you, senator, for joining us. >> thank you. up next, while republicans are fired up over obamacare, what's the impact of this new report on president obama as he tries to move ahead with his agenda? and chris christie digs in his heels on the bridgegate scandal and investigators are armed with brand new information. that's coming up later. ♪

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a congressional study warning that obamacare could reduce the overall workforce by over 2 million people. let's bring in our chief political analyst gloria borger and dana bash. you heard that rand paul and other republicans saying that this vindicates them. obamacare is a disaster. though, when you read the fine print of this study, it doesn't say you're losing all of these jobs. it's going to reduce the workforce, the number of workers which potentially could be good if obamacare gives them the opportunity to retire or do other stuff, not worry about getting health insurance. >> you can hear the republican ads, job killer, this costs 2 million jobs and they are saying it gives you a freedom to choose. if you can get health care

subsidies and then maybe you'll decide to work a little less. they say it's about freedom of choice. republicans say it's about lost jobs and, you know, where you stand depends on where you sit. it's that argument that we've heard over and over again. it's not a new argument. job killer versus job creator. >> you've been getting reaction on the hill. republicans are pouncing right now. democrats have been on the defense. >> i have to tell you a funny story. i just came from capitol hill. i was in the elevator with democratic congress people heading to the white house and i said, is there bugs on the floor of the new c bchlbo? they were talking tongue in cheek it speaks to where things are right now. not that congressional democrats trust the white house but they are relying on them to push back on what you said substantively. it's not about killing jobs. it's at least the way we're looking at it, the report says that it allows people to leave their jobs voluntarily.

a big difference. >> you heard gene sperling say this gives the average worker out there a lot more freedom. >> it's a little nuance. >> precisely. that speaks to some of the concern that democratic sources i'm speaking to say, look, we understand, this is never going to be a winning issue for us on its merits like that. >> one conservative is putting an ad out there and it's being seen a lot on tv these days going after obamacare, pretty strong. let me play you a clip, an excerpt from that. >> i voted for barack obama for president. i thought that obamacare was going to be a good thing. instead of helping me, obamacare has made my life almost impossible. >> that's a pretty tough ad. >> americans for prosperity spent over $25 million and we're not even into the height of the election season. they are going to keep pushing

on the obamacare issue not working for you. look, it's not popular in this country, right? obamacare hasn't gained its popularity back. so they believe it's a waiting issue and democrats say, be careful about being johnny one note. >> i didn't realize this, i was talking to a democratic source. all but one television ad that has been on the air in any of these states so far has been about obamacare. talk about johnny one note. we're talking about outside groups and campaigns. but what this democratic source says is what they are finding in their internal data is people are starting to feel fatigued about this fight. they don't want to hear about anymore. these are republican voters in red states, not just the persuadable or swing voter. that gives them a little bit of hope but they understand full well that democratic candidates have to be for changes, not -- >> right. what are you going to do to fix it? >> exactly. >> you try to repeal it.

we had the government shut down. that didn't work out so well. so what are you going to do to fix it? people don't like it but don't want it to disappear either. >> they like various parts of it. you can get insurance even though you have a pre-existing condition, your kids can be insured, that kind of stuff. here's john boehner on the keystone xl pipeline. the state department came out with a report, a recommendation that seemed to indicate that it should be a go for the president. he's not committing yet. listen to boehner. >> you think the keystone pipeline is complex? it's been under study for five years. we've built pipelines every day in america. do you realize there's over 200,000 miles of pipelines in the united states? and the only reason that the president is involved in the keystone pipeline is because it crosses an international boundary. listen, we can build it. there's nothing complex about the keystone pipeline. it's time to build it.

>> he's pretty adamant about that. the president has to finesse this. >> he's been finessing this for quite some time. a study came out last week that was not deposited one way or another. it was not a decision-making study. look, there are red state democrats that want to build. the president has got his base. who doesn't want that. >> which is what the context of that boehner sound bite was -- >> pointed to. >> yeah. but he was asked at least a question started about how they raised the debt ceiling, which is the fight and republicans can't figure it ut oout. one of two key leading items is the keystone pipeline but they are not sure they can get the republicans to pass it. >> the president has to make a decision by june or so. we'll see what he does. coming up, as chris christie

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did i authorize it, did i know about it? did i approve it, have any knowledge beforehand? and the answer is still the same. it's unequivocally no. >> as new jersey governor chris christie digs in, there's new developments in the bridgegate scandal. four people have been issued subpoena documents and four people are fighting the subpoena request. joining us is jeffrey toobin and

s.e. cupp and ryan lizza. what are you hearing about this latest developments, documents actually handed over? >> well, to be totally honest, there is not information leaking out about what is in the documents? but i think overall what has happened over the last week is the entire nuke clcleus of the christie campaign. the other piece of news today is that michael duham ece, who hast been subpoenaed, he's a top christie political adviser. he was supposed to be somebody important in 2016, he's hired counsel. he's hired a lawyer. because if he is subpoenaed, he wants to be able to act quickly. so this entire pivot that christie is making towards 2016 is being completely dominated and slowed down because of this investigation.

another aide on friday, we talked about this this week, resigned on friday and two of his former aides are taking a fifth. >> three if you include david wildstein. all three associates, deputy chief of staff, campaign manager, wildstein taking the fifth. and now some are saying they don't want to hand over documents either saying this would violate their constitutional rights. >> right. this is a customary fight that prosecutors and subjects have during an investigation, which is, do you have a fifth amendment right not to produce documents? it's quite clear you have a fifth amendment right not to answer questions before a grand jury or to investigators but the documents are sometimes a separate question. i think the short answer is, yes, you do have a fifth amendment right not to produce it. however, prosecutors or investigators can go to other sources. they can go to the recipients of the e-mail, the other side of the e-mail and see if they will produce the documents. but these are the kinds of

issues that slow down the investigation. >> bridget kelly, i believe, have said that these e-mails are personal, have nothing to do with any bridges like that, deals with her personal life. she's not going to release it and even one suggestion she might cite the fourth amendment, which would be unlawful search and seizure. >> i think she does have a good fifth amendment, self-indiscrimination right. but all of this suggests how slow this process is going to be because the legislature might have to go to court over these issues. the u.s. attorney who was subpoenaing many of the same documents may have to go to court. once you go to court, things grind to if not a stop something very slow. and so the three key figures here, david wildstein, miss cally, and bill stepien have

pleaded the fifth. >> are you surprised that they have pleaded the fifth? >> it's a bargaining opportunity. it's not rare that people in these situations are lawyering up, feeling removed by a few degrees from the heart of the situation because when a federal investigation is opened, you get a lawyer. that's just what happens. jeffrey's right. this is going to be very slow. so chris christie's opponents need to slow their roll a little bit and wait for the investigation to sort of come to its conclusion. but i think -- i think the good news for chris christie is -- and i'm just speculating -- >> let me offer it up. i think the good news for chris christie is, if folks like bridget kelly and david wildstein and bill stepien had information casting the blame away from themselves and on to someone else, i.e., chris christie, you better believe they'd be offering it up and maybe they will and maybe they are. but the fact that they are right now, anyway, saying i'm not

going to talk, i'm not going to cooperate, i'm not going to hand over the subpoenaed evidence to me suggests maybe there isn't any linking chris christie to that. again, total speculation. >> what othone other point in c christie's favor, there was a question about how much he was going to cooperate with the legislature and maybe he's going to fight these subpoenas. last night on this radio show, this call-in show in new jersey, he said he was going to cooperate with the legislature and they are going to hand over the documents. if there was something incredibly incriminating, wouldn't he fight it? >> i want to read from your blog that you put up today, you're "new yorker" blog. "events are now firmly out of his control. all christie wants to do is put this whole matter behind him. it will be increasingly apparent

that he has a long road ahead of him." >> yep. >> on the radio yesterday i thought christie said the right thing. all i can do is my job as governor of new jersey. i think that's right. his people made a mistake with this ridiculous attack of david wildstein being a bad kid in high school. christie did smartly not get pulled into that and he says he's just going to do his job because that's all he can do. this process is going to grind forward. >> okay. all right. i don't really care -- >> he was -- guys, guys, like i said, i don't care if david wildstein had cooties just like i didn't care about rand paul's fraternity or sarah palin's heels, all of which were democratic attacks during those campaigns. so every politician uses this, you know, digging up totally irrelevant personal information on their opponent to try and

create a narrative. let's not pretend we are all so shocked and disturbed by chris christie. >> democrats have nothing to do with it. >> it's one thing for bloggers to point out something like that. an e-mail coming from the groern's office saying his high school teacher -- >> i don't think it was a good tactic and i appreciate your concern, but honestly, this kind of thing has happened in much too much worse degrees. >> we'll see you at 6:30 p.m. eastern time on "cross-fire." >> oh, please don't. no, no, no. >> maybe jeffrey toobin, too. he was a first row teacher. >> up next, from chris christie to hillary clinton, the other name creating massive 2016 buzz. but is she piquing a little too

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hillary clinton was out in public once again today, this time in new york's harlem neighborhood. she hasn't declared her candidacy for 2016 but our new poll shows a turnaround in a hypothetical 2016 matchup with chris christie. she now led 55% to 39%. but is hillary clinton already

too soon that cost her back in 2008? that's the conclusion of some former and current obama aides in an article by buzz feed editor-in-chief, ben smith. joining us is also amy. guys, thanks very much for coming in. amy, as our viewers will remember, wrote the controversial cover story because of the cover, not the article so much in "the new york times" last weekend. ben, let me get to you first. some of these current and former obama aides think this is early for all of the buzz about hillary clinton. >> i think they are less concerned about the chatter, which is pretty inevitable. she's the obvious front-runner. than they are people who are associated with her infrastructure around her, a group to raise large amounts of

money and a group to do grassroot responses. what happened in 2007, she built this big machine and it's happening now and it's the structure that gets ahead of what -- and i don't think anybody has really answered the question which is if she was going to run for president, why would she do that? >> have you seen a message or some sort of structure out there already developing from her supporters, amy? >> well, i think you mentioned the event today. they would really like us to focus on those events that she's doing. she health an event with bill de blasio and talking about income inequality, a big buzz word for democrats. she's probably wishing that those were getting the attention instead of some of the polls out there. >> over the years, ben, it's never too early, you can't -- you've got to get to this process of especially a presidential election, you've got to get in there early and you've got to work literally every day until the election.

>> you know, there's a bit of damned if you do and damned if you don't. if there was no infrastructure, people would say why aren't you creating shadow groups to organize on your behalf. perhaps the reason people are belly aching is obama aides are going on the record to take shots at her organization now. >> are they concerned that maybe she's getting too much exposure, amy? >> i thought that. and i thought ben's story was really interesting in terms of willing to go on record. i thought it was a way to give her operation a lesson but also might be some obama democrats are hoping to see some challenger and to have a debate about what they stand for, looking at someone like elizabeth warren, someone on the left to challenge her. >> there's a real ambivolence among the people who beat hillary clinton in 2007, 2008, whether they want obama to be the president between two

clintons. obama himself doesn't care that much. he didn't get to be president by devoting to carrying about other people's campaigns. but i think -- but i think at some point, you know, if she's the nominee, it will kick in, that she can secure his legacy if she's the nominee do eventually get on board, there's a lot of ambivalence around obama now. >> were you surprised that she gives a speech before a trade association or something like that, those are closed doors to the media but then after she opened it up to q & a. were you a surprised about that, amy? >> it's really the first time that she addressed benghazi, said it was her biggest regret. i think that got a lot of attention. also opening it up to press. most of her paid speeches are not opened to press. >> ben, you have a quote in

there from one of her top aides who says this -- and i'll put it up on the screen -- "hillary clinton is not a candidate unless and until she is i won't comment on it. i respect ben la bolt but i think many on the president's team would say doing so anyone would say doing so this far out wouldn't make sense. do you see any difference between the obama camp and the hillary team? >> there are supporters of clinton who think they are getting out too early and supporters of obama working for these new clinton institutions. it's the democratic party. it's going to be messy. >> if for some reason, amy, she decides not to run and it's not for sure that she will run, she may decide she doesn't want to go through it again, it's a wide open field for the democrats, isn't it? >> there was a good story in "the washington post" about martin o'malley laying the

ground work to a potential run. >> he's the governor of maryland. >> future secretary of health and human services. >> a lot of people outside of maryland probably don't know who he is. ben, walk us through that wide open field. >> there's not so much there. i think the smartest thing anyone has done is elizabeth warren. she's a real policy person with a real policy agenda. she's been pushing her whole career. also, hillary clinton's strongest base of support, the reason she could be a strong candidate, is among women and elizabeth warren could also say -- it no longer becomes, i could be the first woman president in the primary. the smartest thing elizabeth warren did was say i'm not running for president. everybody is leaving her alone. doesn't mean she can't change

her mind. >> amy, i'm not hearing joe biden's name. >> there's a lot of what about joe biden, especially among his top supporters. you saw jim mecina supporting a potential clinton candidacy. i think there is a lot of what about me in terms of biden. >> we'll see what happens. it's still obviously very early. ben, good article. thank you for joining us. amy, loved the cover story in the sunday "new york times" magazine as well. >> thanks a lot. mitt romney is joining us, by the way, here in "the situation room." i'll speak with him live and ask him the big question that's been on the mind of some voters. is it possible, is it realistic to run a third time in 2016? also, what does he think about security in sochi? mitt romney here in "the situation room" tomorrow, 5:00 p.m. eastern. just ahead, the worst month for flight cancellations in years. a new storm is coming in the days ahead and that could mean

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more snow and ice forecast for the northeast tonight and a major winter storm could follow this weekend. for air travelerers it will mean more cancelled and delayed flights coming on the heels of one of the worst months for air travel in years but it turns out as frustrating as they are some could be good for passengers.

renee marsh is joining us just outside of washington, d.c. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: i can tell you today so far more than 1,500 flight cancellations and for tomorrow seeing nearly 400. if you have been trying to get to your destination and you think you have been hearing the c word a lot, cancellation chances are because we have been seeing it a lot. analysts say this has been one of the worst months when you look at recent years. >> been cancelled until 6:00 a.m. in the morning. >> this isn't our first rodeo. we'll get through it. >> reporter: this season cancelled flights have become synonymous with the wicked winter weather. airline data company says nearly 50,000 u.s. flights were cancelled last month alone, about four times more than the past two years.

that's a sizable spike and analysts say there is a reason for it. >> this is probably the worst start to winterer that we have seen in several years. and it doesn't look like it is about to end. >> reporter: so what is behind so many cancellations? airlines just don't want to fly in bad weather. it risks planes or passengers getting stuck or snowed in. some also blame federal rules. >> there are some unintended consequences, the new rest rule for pilots. they have to have more rest between flights. >> as of january 4 all pilots are required more rest time between flights. >> we are trying to get to chicago. our flights are a couple of hours delayed. >> reporter: more airlines are canceling flights earlier but some say that could be a good thing. >> in past years what happened is people would be stuck on the tarmac for three, four, six, eight hours. personally i would rather be stuck at home ratherer than on

the run way or tarmac. >> but getting rebooked isn't always easy these days. analysts say consolidation in the airline industry means fewer available seats own planes already packed. >> limited the size and quantity of items. >> reporter: i spoke with several people on capitol hill who they supported rules like the tarmac rule and they say at this point it benefits passengers anyone saying the rules are to blame for the cancellations they say is simply an excuse. >> thanks very much. ♪ a well deserved super bowl surge for bruno mars. billboard reporting sales of the latest album soared 164% after

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happening now new olympic threats. two athletes are targeted while u.s. officials say they have specific reasons to worry about security before the games begin. plus putin's pet project. the russian president arrives and poses for photos. and cnn reveals the results

of our new independent analysis in west virginia as the feds investigate whether a major spill was a crime. we talk about all of that when real life erin brockovich. erin standing by to join us live. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." in russia authorities are investigating a letter threatening two members of austria's olympic team. it is a first test of security in sochi where thousands of troops and police are now on guard for the possibility of a terror attack. top officials here in the united states are revealing more about the olympic threats and just how serious they may be. our senior international correspondent is in sochi with more of the threatening letterer. first let's go to our appellant

gone correspondent barbara starr. >> state department security and intelligence personnel have been on the ground in russia for the last several weeks. today as count down yet another meeting at the white house making sure the u.s. is ready if there is an attack and russia asks for help. as the world awaits the sochi olympics the obama administration is racing towards its own finish line. >> we are very focused on threats to the olympic games. >> a full court effort is on to do everything the white house can to be ready if there is an attack against u.s. athletes or americans attending the games. the u.s. counter terrorism chief does not dismiss the possibility. >> there are a number of specific threats of varying degrees of credibility that we

are tracking. we are working closely with the russians and other partners to monitor any threats we see. >> president obama telling cnn's jake tapper russia has shared security plans. >> i think we have a good sense of the security that they are putting in place to protect not only the athletes themselves but also visitors there. >> reporter: the u.s. insists it will only step in if russia asks but top counter terrorism officials met tuesday at the white house to review plans by the state department and defense secretary chuck hagel and chairman of the joint chiefs to be ready just in case. by wednesday two u.s. navy warships will be in the black sea on stand by. c 17 aircraft with medical personnel on board will be ready to fly to sochi within six hours of receiving orders to evacuate americans if needed.

and hagel has established around the clock communications with the russian military for the duration of the games. private security firms are also in sochi. tiger swan made up of former military personnel is giving tracking devices to olympic clients. it has worked before to get people out of danger. >> our clients have trusted the panic button as we are getting emergency assistance teams into position. the police are there and we let them know we have personnel inside that police security ring. >> reporter: and the intelligence community and u.s. officials will tell you that one of the major worries is an attack outside of the olympic venues in sochi or the immediate surrounding areas. the venues are said to be heavily protected but outside that may be something that nobody can protect against. >> barbara starr at the pentagon

thank you. the russian president arrived today shortly before news broke of the letter threatening two athletes. nick paton walsh is in sochi. >> wolf, we have barely three days before the opening ceremony here and still the background noise is about security. no matter how relaxed, environmentally friendly vladimir putin tried to look when he arrived for the games. despite new serious threats to athletes includinging two austrians the image was soft and furry tuesday. vladimir putin and a snow leopard, the mascot of the world's most expensive games along side their creator unafraid of one of nature's most savage. still the staft threats wouldn't stop. this time two athletes threatened by a letter in german. >> we have two security people

here. and if they -- if the threat is confirmed we will give additional security to the athletes. >> reporter: putin always the strong man ad home in the wild and at least kept his shirt on today has pledged to keep everyone safe here. this will be a spectacle indeed. you would have to hope the games would be for $51 billion. >> translator: the olympic games in sochi will be clearly grandiose project. >> last minute holes still despite the price tag both for russian taxpayers and tourists here. >> i am happy to inform you that all of the media hotels are open. >> reporter: open isn't ready. they did apologize for any inconvenience. with three days to go the torch arrives in sochi wednesday but was where the soviet glory putin

seeks to restore to russia was there in this hero of labor. pledged the olympics mean the harvest here but break all records. now, the boss is in town, helicopters and fireworks practices in the olympic night, power and glory. perhaps just the way putin wants it. those helicopters we heard in the afternoon don't exactly put you at ease. in truth the sheer volume of resources not just russia and the united states and austria have pulled in resources to the venue to try to secure safety will probably keep most of the athletes and tourists safe. i cannot say the same for the rest of southern russia. the kremlin hoping the eyes switch towards the ceremony here

and state tv is suggesting that maybe half the world's population will, in fact, watch the opening ceremony on friday evening. >> good point nick paton walsh in soech aempt. still ahead we are following up on an environmental disaster that effected 300,000 people. stand by for the results of the tap water in west virginia. is it toxic weeks after a spill. erin brockovich joins us. she will join us live coming up here on "the situation room." ♪ ♪

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cnn learned a criminal investigation has been launched into a chemical spill in west virginia. 300,000 people have been affected. we have conducted our own new and independent test of the water supply. we have the results. consumer advocate erin brockovich is standing by to talk about the situation in west virginia. she was just there. separate investigation, several underway. let's go to drew griffin joining us with the newest information. what are you learning? >> a federal grand jury has been seated and begun to subpoena people and to look into possible criminal charges in this spill and in the after math. we learned that today. the other thing is that in our own tests, our own water tests

cnn can confirm at least in trace amounts that the chemical, mchm is flowing through the homes in west virginia. >> sources say the federal investigation will focus on the leak of the coal cleaning chemical from the tank of the shores in the elk river. cnn commissioned an environmental testing company to gauge the level of harmful chemicals in the homes. the tests show trace amounts of the chemical mchm remain in the water samples. the two women whose water was tested say they aren't using tap water and may never again. there is not enough information about this. we don't know what the long term effects are going to be. it may not kill us but i'm

concerned about my kids 20 years from now. >> we are concerned about what is in it. we heard about by products of the original chemical. we still smell it occasionally. >> reporter: despite assurances that the tap water is fine to drink last night an overflow crowd packed the house of delegates chambers, all with the same worries. do the people testing the water really know and why are 300,000 people afraid they are living in what one person called chemical valley. the ceo of the west virginia american water company also appeared in public for the first time since a few days after the spill. jeff mcintire told the house committee the testing shows the levels of harmful chemicals were below dangerous levels and that his company was putting, quote, good quality water into people's homes and businesses. >> i'm using it, my wife is

using it. many people are using it. >> only a few miles away the head of the county health department said only a handful of people are actually drinking the tap water. in two surveys dr. gupta said barely one percent said they are using tap water, everybody else relying on bottled water. >> i have drank the water and my wife who is also a physician told me i better not be drinking the water. >> reporter: this chemical was never meant to be ingested. it may take months before people think it is safe to drink the water again. >> we did contact the west virginia american water company about our fiechndings. a spokesperson told us these levels are so low they have no impact and insist that the water

is safe to drink. >> thanks very much. let's bring in the consumer advocate, environmental activist erin brockovich. thanks for joining us. i know you have just been there. you were on the ground in west virginia. what is your bottom line? >> well, my bottom line is what the people are reporting and how they feel. they are in a situation where they are very concerned and in a situation where they absolutely do not trust what they are being told. most of the restaurants advertise using bottled water. we are not using the tap. the residents are still complaining that off and on they smell things. they are still complaining that when they use the water they are noticing burns on their hands, rashes on their scalp, sore throat, headache and yet they are continuing to be told it is safe to drink the water. many will errr on the side of caution. >> you saw the report that a

criminal investigation is underway. is that justified? should there be this kind of investigation? >> i absolutely think that there absolutely should be. there has got to become a time where we wake up and start holding whoever did this accountable for what has happened. 300,000 people were rendered no water. we don't know the future outcome of them or their health. it is a trespass. you are on the street and you assault somebody you get filed criminal charges and go to jail. it is way past time that we step up to the plate and hold people accountable and criminal charges absolutely should be looked at. >> do you trust the centers for disease control suggesting that based on their tests some going back 20 years that the water is safe in west virginia? >> you know, for me i think that is risky business. i say that from my experience of being out there for 20 years

involved in different chemicals. and finding out way too late we were wrong. that level was too high. and the damage is already done. i really think cdc and these agencies need to err on the side of caution and protect the health and welfare of people first. what you don't know what trace amount can and can't harm a child and wait to find out it is too late. >> the cdc tests were on rats and not apes. clearly that is not good enough for you and a lot of folks who have to deal with this on a very day to day thing. is it just drinking the water? what about taking a shower? >> that's something that is very concerning to us. we have clearly shared with people especially a hot shower, it gets steamy. inhalation factor we encouraged them to take short showers. if they are washing in hot water

to keep the house open and clearly continue to use caution about whether they drink it or not. inhalation is always a factor. we have expressed our concern and share that with most of the folks. >> you wouldn't use the water to do your laundry in a washing machine? >> a lot of people are reporting that their clothes are falling apart. they are stained. they have an oily substance on them that when they use the washing machine and hot water that they can smell it. a common precaution would be if you smell it and you are observing that, wash in cold water, take quick showers. i had reports of people who aren't taking showers at all saying we are going on four weeks of this and report the water looks funny. for them it is like i don't care what the trace amount is. it should be zero. we do not have the assurance that our water is safe. and they are still sending children to school with bottled

water and taking every precaution and i would do the same. >> how do we fix this to make sure it never happens again? >> there is a lot that we have to do. i mean, it is 2014 and the united states of america is not prepared for a situation like this. i think there needs to be a overhaul and greater oversight. regulations are already on the book. if we don't start enforcing these regulations our conversation is pointless and this will continue to happen. so we have to have people on the ground that go out and oversee these tank farms above ground, below ground. if we are going to set new regulations we need to be prepared to enforce them so this type of problem does not continue to happen. i think we have learned here that it takes very little water to damage a whole lot of people and that will have another crisis on our hands. so we have to have better oversight and we have new regulations on the books. we need to be prepared to follow

through with that and enforce what we have just put into place or otherwise it is useless. >> thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> just ahead we have chilling new details of philip seymour hoffman's final days and clues about his state of mind.

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authorities are piecing together the final hours of the actor philip seymour hoffman before his apparent drug overdose. >> the fallout from philip seymour hoffman's death has reached the senate floor.

today majority leaderer said heroin use is ascourge in the united states. january 18 about two weeks before his death philip seymour hoffman has a chance encounter in utah. hoffman makes small talk with magazine writer john arundle at a night club. >> i said what do you do. and at that point he took off his hat and said i'm a heroin addict. >> he said that to you. >> was he joking? >> didn't look like he was. he seemed like he was having one of those coming to god moments where it just struck him as this is the revolution moment. >> reporter: hoffman was seent at this coffee shop in manhattan. his personalal assistant spoke to him that afternoon.

a couple hours later paul said he and his sister spotted he and his sisterer walking in manhattan. >> my sister said he dichdn't lk good. >> reporter: later hoffman with drew $1,200 from this atm in six different transactions between 8:00 p.m. and 9 p.m. a witness told investigators he saw hoffman at the supermarket atm. >> probably going to look at the cctv to see if there is anybody in the background if the transactions were made by hoffman or somebody else who had access to his debit card, if somebody was in the background were they aiding hoffman in a transaction or supplying drugs. >> reporter: we are told investigators have interviewed hoffman's personal assistant, two law enforcement officials say neither the assistant nor

david cats have been able to provide information about his alleged drug use. >> thanks very much. that's it for me. thanks for watching. "cross fire" starts right now. tonight a devastating new report