that'sal for us tonight. anderson cooper starts right now. good evening, everyone. tensions are rising on the ground in crimea, in some areas

and also a lot of efforts on the diplomatic front to tell you about. but first, i want to set the scene a little bit. this is one of the main roads going into independence square. as you can see, this is just one barricade of tires and there are many other barricades behind me. this is very much an active protest site. there are still many protesters who are here, who are camped out here determined to stay here until they see changes in the new government here in kiev. you can see some of the protesters right there, kind of manning the barricade in front of a fire. this is also very much a shrine to those who died here. more than 80 people were killed here, many more are missing. this is one of dozens if not more shrines that you see. people bring flowers, light candles, leave religious offerings. this is a spot where five people died, five people were shot to death. these are the face tofls five

who died right here on this spot. they have photographs, their names, some biographical information. and their photographs, these are riot shields used by protesters. people have draped rosaries on them. you can see children's illustrations over there. this is very much an active shrine where people come to pay their respects. you see people crying, you see people just staring at the photographs. people just want to come here and they want to be here and they want to remember what happened here and never, never forget. there are many late developments to tell you about tonight, breaking news. we can getting some early indications from inside sources about how spontaneous the russian incursion was. there's been a lot of questions about how preplanned it was. and also developments on the diplomatic front as i mentioned, counterthreats from moscow on the economic sanctions.

america's former top diplomat hillary clinton comparing putin to hitler, or at least strategies that vladamir putin is using strategies that hitler was using. the crisis in crimea spilled over into the states wednesday, a group of anti-russian protesters is attacked on this video on youtube. the ukrainian police eventually step in to keep the peace. tense and dangerous movements from the u.n. envoy, his convoy surrounded by pro russian gunman demanding he leave the region. he then seeks refuj in this coffee shop. >> i'm in the cafe waiting for someone to get me out of here. >> the gunmen surrounded the shop with serry inside. he was eventually given safe passage outside and abandon his

mission and head to the airport. and at sea near crimea's capital, the russian navy blocks two ships. with patience wearing thin, ukraine's active prime minister channels a cold war president, not from russia, but from the u.s. >> my key demand to russian president and russian government, immediately pull back your military. do not invade ukraine. my message to president putin is as follows. mr. putin, tear down this wall. >> meanwhile russia's foreign minister continued to post putin's message from yesterday. it's self-defense forces he says, not troops from russia controlling crimea. >> translator: self-defense forces created by the crimean residents don't take our command. as to the military of the black sea fleet, they are on their own bases. >> never mind the fact that only

days ago, russian's foreign ministry admitted troops were in crimea. and late in the day, secretary of state john king met with lavrov and brought along the foreign minister in the hopes he could get them both to the table. russia refused. >> russia made a choice and we have clearly stated that we believe it is the wrong choice to move troops into crimea, russia can now choose to deescalate this situation and we are committed to working with russia and together with our friends and allies in an effort to provide a way for this entire situation to find the road to deescalation. >> there is breaking news tonight. we're learning exactly how the russian invasion came together. just pieces of information starting to form a clearer picture, whether there was a lot of advanced planning or whether the plan was launched really on the fly by russia, implications for u.s. intelligence agencies which are being slammed in some quarters for being caught

off guard, joining me now is jim sciutto, bob bair. so jim, you're learning new information about when vladimir putin decided to move into crimea. what do you know? >> reporter: speaking to intelligence officials as well as other officials who read these reports last week, these intelligence assessments of what was going to happen and what was likely to happen, there are indications that there was not a vastly premeditated decision by vladimir putin to take action on the ground, that it was a relatively last-minute decision. that's one reason why it was difficult to predict. officials also say that he's an unpredictable character, he's done these sort of things before, last minute decisions, and that was a variable in there that made it difficult for them to say he was definitely going to act, when was he going to act, and indeed he did and caught many off guard.

>> bob, over the last several days or so, there have been several members of congress who have been very critical of the cia asking why didn't the cia or the united states know that putin was going to responsibility militarily until he had already done it. did this last-minute decision explain why the u.s. didn't know what was going on or as you see this, was this a failure of intelligence? >> i see this as a failure of intelligence. pewter invaded georgia in 2008. he's threatened to protect russians in the near abroad as it's called. it was a perfectly logical act for him to take once the ukraine started to go under. i think that should have been predicted. i think there should have been a heads up to the state department as well as the white house. get somebody to moscow, talk him out of this. i think you can only look at this as a failure.

you look at the russians are insistent on protecting russians. and they will take action. as it deteriorated, we should have known what he was going to do. >> so bob, how do you see that? senator dianne feinstein saying the u.s. has got to deploy its resources better in terms of intelligence. do you agree with that? i mean there are those that say that u.s. intelligence capabilities toward russia have sort of atrophied since so much focus is now on fighting terror? >> i saw it myself atrophy as the wall came down in the '90s, we were told to lay off russia, it was an ally. it wasn't a threat. we were going to cooperate with the russians. i was in a station overseas, we unplugged the telephone taps and we stopped targeting russians. then comes 9/11 and we take all of our intelligence sources and put them in afghanistan and of course iraq. atrophy is not the word for

it. we more or less closed down moscow. i know the cia says yeah, we kept some people there, but not like during the cold war when we focused on this country. with putin clearly intending to reestablish the russian empire in some form, i think we're going to look at this as a mistake as this continues. >> wow, a it's really fascinating to hear that. i know the cia released a statement saying they had been updating policymakers with different scenarios, including one similar to one that's going on now in crimea. what else are officials saying? >> keep in mind this is happening as they're taking criticism from mike rogers, from dianne feinstein and others about this. what they're doing in response is releasing a fairly impressive amount of detail as to what was in those reports, those assessments coming through last week. i have been told by officials that those reports included multiple tools that putin had at

his disposal, including things that happened. for instance, taking troops out of crimea and deploying them inside sovereign territory and using some of these militias, some of these unofficial, ununiformed troops, some of those that you saw taking on the anti-russian demonstrations, basically groups of thugs, that sort of thing. but let me give you a public statement that just same from a spokesman there, pushing back saying on february 26, for example, the intelligence community warned that crimea was a flash point for return shank-ukraine military conflict, it clearly stated that the russian military was likely making preparations for contingency in crimea. i am told that they listed a number of these scenarios and among those listed were things like we've seen happen with the militias here and so on.

the question is, would they say when that would happen? and clearly they couldn't tell and could not accurately tell when it would happen. >> right, jim sciuto. stick around, we're going to come back to you shortly. i want to take a look at more of what motivates putin with steven hadley who has sat across the table from him on a number of occasions. right now let's bring in ben wedeman on the ground in crimea for us and has been since the start of the hour. and also with me is former cnn moscow bureau chief jill daughterty. ben, let me start off with you, in terms of what you saw on the ground today, what happened? >> we were outside, anderson, the headquarters of the ukrainian navy where really there's another one of these standoffs going on but we really saw the personal cost. we spoke to the wives of some of the men inside the navy

headquarters there, and they were trying to sneak food into the headquarters. it's surrounded by not only these men in green, russian forces, but also these irregulars, part of what they call themselves a civil defense group, civilians, pro russian civilians and it was really a game of cat and mouse all day long as women would try to sneak up to windows and shove food through it. others we saw one woman with, looked like her 2-year-old daughter who tried to go up to the front gate and who sort of shouted back, being called a provocateur. so really the standoff continues here and throughout the crimea at various military installations. and even though we didn't have incidents like yesterday where shots were fired in the air, a tense situation, and for many

many people anxious on a personal level as they try to keep in touch with their loved ones inside these military installations but can't get through. we saw as a representative of the red cross try to get into the navy headquarters with medicine, with food, with water and they were stopped, anderson. >> and then the newly installed pro russian prime minister of crimea told cnn today that the descriptions on the ground in crimea have been overblown and the people of crimea are controlling the situation themselves. you're there. are the people of crimea controlling the situation them selves? is there truth to that? >> i have to say it's not a situation of chaos or disorder. in fact, outside of those areas around the military bases, it's amazing how normal life appears to be. people are going out, restaurants, bars, life really

does appear to be normal, except around these military installations. we were at another navy installation by the sea not far from here, and there were russians right across the street from the main gate of that navy base, but they were sort of hidden away. so if you drove up you wouldn't realize that there was a contingent of men in green, russians, whatever you want to call them, right across the street. meanwhile, however families were coming up, wives were coming up with food, with cigarettes, with drinks for their loved ones inside. so there are real pockets of tension. >> ben wedeman, be careful. thanks for joining us tonight. i want to dig deeper into how these negotiations play out with jill dougherty. also a kind of counterpart to

russian's foreign minister. also joining us is former u.n. ambassador bill richardson. ambassador, thanks very much for being with us. i'm here on the ground with jill dougherty. in his meeting with foreign ministers around the world, including russia, secretary of state john kerry emphasized the importance of resolving this through dialogue. he said he saw that as a positive sign that all sides agreed on the importance of dialogue. do you believe that dialogue and diplomacy will work in russia? and is that a positive sign or did not much actually get accomplished today? >> it's a positive sign, the fact that you had all the foreign ministers in one room, especially ukraine and russia, although russia refused to talk directly with a ukrainian. it's a good move. because i think what needs to happen is for the russians to see, for lavrov to see, who is extremely skillful, that germany is behind our effort, that france, especially the members of the security council, france,

germany, the united states, that they're united, that this is a real coordinated effort. but getting people together in a room to diffuse tension is important. so i think it was an important step, especially if the germans were there, because they're the strongest economic country in europe and they're the country with the most natural gas energy ties to russia. so if they start slipping away and not join the sanctions or the pressure, then russia is almost home free when it comes to europe. >> ambassador richardson, you've done a lot of negotiating, obviously. as you look at this situation, do you feel that there's a planned strategic approach or is there more of an ad hoc -- an impression of an ad hoc nature on the decision making by putin? >> i think, jill, because putin is so unpredictable, because the

russians are so all over the place on their intentions, it has to almost be ad hoc. one of the bad sides of today is the u.n. envoy literally being expelled, pushed out of crimea, if a solution is going to involve human rights monitors and observers, that's not a good sign and it sort of throws away the argument that the russian military there is self-defense forces. they're serious military people, and somebody must have told them to go hard on that u.n. enjoy. i don't think it was high officials like putin, but that's not a good sign. so it has to be ad hoc. i think the goals have to be clear, deescalate the conflict. get ukraine and russia to talk to each other. find ways to put some monitors

and human rights observers there. but most importantly, put the pressure on putin that the sanctions are going to happen, that there's going to be diplomatic isolation. otherwise he's going to call our bluff and be more aggressive. >> jill, secretary kerry today said he had had no intentions that lavrov the russian foreign minister would meet with the ukrainian foreign minister. but clearly, they had flown the ukrainian foreign minister there specifically for these meetings. there must have been some hope that they would actually meet. >> yeah. but they're still not. they're saying that they will not talk to them and that's one of the key problems because they still say that this is an illegitimate regime and therefore they can't do anything, so you have to find a way of breaking through. now, i noticed that kerry and lavrov, i believe are going to meet again tomorrow. lavrov goes back, he has to talk to putin.

maybe there is now lavrov going directly back to putin quickly and making some decisions. it has to come from putin. >> is that how it works, ambassador? you've dealt with the russian foreign minister, lavrov. he now has conversations with putin. what do you anticipate the next step being? >> the next step is, yes, i think jill is right, he has to get an okay from putin. but lavrov is very skillful. by the way, he is english is impeccable. i dealt with him when i was the u.n. ambassador. he was the russian representative. he's detail oriented, he's tough, he knows america well, he knows when we're serious and i think the fact that there is a very strong reaction in the american government lavrov knows and hopefully he will tell putin, hey, we can't go too far on this, we have to deescalate. so in a way i'm pleased with that. but at the same time, i think

it's a very dense situation and we have to keep the pressure on. and i think in europe, germany is the key. france and britain following with germany, taking a stronger lead i think is really very important. >> tense indeed. ambassador richardson, glad to have you on the program. next, do putin's intentions include restoring russia to its former glory? and one american anchor made a dramatic stand by resigning. that's when our coverage continues. this is mike. his long race day starts with back pain... ...and a choice. take 4 advil in a day which is 2 aleve... ...for all day relief. "start your engines"

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welcome back to our coverage of the crisis in ukraine. coming to you live from kiev's independence square. a dramatic move today by an

anchor, she's an american who works in the russian today america's washington bureau. she accused her employer of glossing over the actions of vladamir puten in crimea and on the air she quit. take a look. >> i cannot be part of a network funded by the russian government that whitewashes the actions of putin. i'm proud to be an american and believe in disseminating the truth and that is why after this newscast, i'm resigning. >> liz wahl joins us now. this is her first interview since quitting. liz, it's good to have you on the program. obviously your announcement stunned a lot of people. why did you decide to resign during your news cast? you've been working there for 2 1/2 years, clearly you're familiar with the perspective of r.t. america, and the kind of stories they put on the air. so why today? >> why today?

that's a good question. i think the coverage, as we're in this diplomatic standoff and during the escalation of this crisis in crimea, i think the propaganda nature of r.t. came out in full force. today, for example, i had an interview with ron paul. the only question that i asked, i asked many questions, i asked about the russian intervention, you know, he has a very anti-intervention approach. i asked him in the wake of escalation by the russian military how long, you know, how should we respond to this, how should the u.s. respond to this? and that question was cut out of the interview. there was another segment today, it was a news package from one of our correspondents that painted the opposition over there in the ukraine as having

neo nazi elements. i think that's dangerous when you have a new government instability over there and i'm sure there are in fact neo nazi elements, but to portray the entire opposition as being part of this right wing extremist group is going along with the narrative. that vladimir putin wants to go along with. >> was this something you had always felt pressure? i mean how does it work in r.t.? i mean where do directions come from? >> the direction comes from management and i think there's a lot of young people that work there, some people inexperienced and i think they're eager to please management. there's a form of self-censorship that you learn, eventually you learn what management likes, what management dislikes. today, especially with the

heightened situation in crimea, overtly questions are being written, very, very loaded questions, questions basically to paint the picture and to present the putin perspective in all of this. and i just think, i mean i would hope as a reporter and in life, you should always seek the truth, spread the truth, disseminate the truth and what's clear is what's happening right now amid this crisis is that r.t. is not about the truth. it's about promoting a putinist agenda, and i can tell you firsthand, it's also about bashing america and i kind of cited some of my background, where i came from and why i am proud to be an american. in recent days, i have been suffering from a lot of cognitive dissidence and felt that i could no longer work here and go on television and tell

the american people that this is what's happening and how to pose as news. it's just something i don't feel comfortable with. >> i want to bring in jill who's at harvard's kennedy school of government. i know you wanted to talk to liz. >> liz, i just wanted to ask, what is happening right now with you? have there been repercussions and how is r.t. going to explain this? because there was a previous woman who said some things about the conflict, abby martin and r.t. said, all anchors can express their views freely. have you had any reaction from the management? >> well, it's all happening very quickly. this happened just a couple of hours ago. i haven't seen the official response, i kind of saw on twitter before i went on today that they said that i'm doing this as a -- for personal gain, which couldn't be farther from

the south. i actually didn't speak on this for a while for fear of repercussion. i don't know how they intend to retaliate against me. or what actions are going to be taken against me. i can say that it's comforting that on social media, i've gotten an explosive response, really encouraging. people appreciating me coming forward with this. that's been comforting for me. in terms of how they're going to deal with this, i don't know. >> i'm sorry, there's a delay, so i don't mean to be talking over you. just very briefly. you talked about management and pressure from management and even self-censorship. who is management? i know there are a lot of young americans who work there and r.t. bills itself as questioning authority, which is clearly their marketing strategy. but is management, are they russian? >> management is russian, yes. middle management, they are

american and their role is to make sure -- it's kind of part of that censorship role to make sure we're in line, to make sure ultimately the narrative that the russian, you know, the guy calling the shots ultimately, we're based in moscow, funded by the russian government. they kind of make sure that the narrative is delivered. in one way or another. >> right. well, liz, i appreciate you speaking on the program tonight. thank you very much. i know it's probably been a surreal and a fast moving day for you. i appreciate your time. as jill mentioned, her former colleague abby martin also spoke out on the air, she is on piers morgan live at the top of the hour. so hope you tune in for that, as well. just ahead tonight, where do crimea and ukraine fit into vladamir putin's long-term vision of russia? we'll take a look at that ahead.

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was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century. >> that was nearly nine years ago. the question is what are his ambitions now geographically? steven hadley saw from the white house saw mr. putin bring a piece of soviet georgia back into the russian sphere. good to have you back on the program again. there's this belief among some, yourself included that what's happening in ukraine is part of a larger attempt by president vladamir putin to rebuild the russian empire, to dig in against the west. you and jim are at the map. tell us exactly what you're talking about and why. how do you see it? >> he's trying to build a series of institutions that in some sense mirror the institutions in the west. he's got a thing called the eurasian union. it's got a customs union attached. he's got a security organization sort of mirrored on nato. so he's trying to build a set of institutions to rebuild, if you

will, a russian empire. and you can see how far he's gone so far. >> we put those in red. so you have here three countries. kazakhstan, russia itself, and belarus. we were talking earlier about how he's pulling armenia here, and kyrgyzstan closer, they're not in it yet, but they're coming closer. >> they're putting a lot of pressure on it. armenia had an association agreement with the eu. after three and a half hours in moscow, the president said we're going to go with the euroasian union. >> there's diplomatic pressure, there's financial pressure. >> but the key to making this work is ukraine. with ukraine, because of its historical ties to russia, because of its industry, because of its population, with ukraine this begins to look like a convincing empire.

without it, it's never really going to rival the west. >> i learned a word today that ukraine means buffer. and in effect, it is a buffer, literally and physically. this gives them a buffer against all these nato allies here. >> he would like to have ukraine join this union. there's no question about it. he's misplayed it. his man in ukraine did not deliver and the ukrainians have made it clear they want to go west. so what is his tallback strategy? take kramia. what does that do? it creates a territorial dispute between ukraine and russia. this is something jill dougherty mentioned last night. because of that territorial dispute, the european countries will be reluctant to take into the eu, to take into a nato, a

country that has a territorial dispute with russia. so it freezes these countries between east and west, buys him time so over the long-term, he can continue his persuasion and his blackmail to try to bring them east rather than west. >> i'm glad you brought countries with territorial disputes. so here's another one, georgia, bring up the map there, so you can see that in clear markings georgia, the last country he invaded in 2008. you have these two provinces which are now under russian control. it makes it harder for georgia to become a nato-eu member. >> exactly. >> mr. hadley, do you think mr. putin sees this as a zero sum game? >> he does see it as a zero sum game and that is part of the problem. we not headed, i don't think for a new cold war. but we also do not want to be headed for a re-division of europe.

you're either on one side or the other. and i think the trick in ukraine is, one, we need to help the ukraine new government succeed, stabilize it economically, have it be able to bring a secure, positive future for their people. we have got to take steps to deter putin from trying to run this play again. but thirdly, what would be really the optimal outcome is the ukrainian people are free to choose to come into the eu, free to come into nato, free to move west, but not in a way that severs the economic and historical ties with russia. try to turn what russia sees as a zero sum game to a game that ukraine can move west without having to sever its ties to the east. that's a big challenge for our diplomacy but where we should be heading. >> and that's certainly something that secretary of state kerry when he was here in ukraine kept trying to emphasize, the relationship between the ukraine and russia, the historic ties there, ties that according to kerry will

continue, to kind of mollify russia on that front. steven hadley, great to have you on the program. jim sciutto, as well. up next, hillary clinton clarifying her comments comparing what vladimir putin to what hitler did as a justification for invading countries before world war ii. and a closer look at just who vladamir putin is. stick around. [ doctor ] and in a clinical trial versus lipitor,

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former secretary of state hillary clinton compares vladamir putin's actions to hitler's in the run-up to world war ii in comments at a private fund-raiser yesterday in long beach, california. hillary clinton said putin is using the same type of justification for invading neighboring counties. listen. >> today putin basically said in a long press conference is that a, you know, all i want to do is protect the rights of the minorities, namely russian speakers, and he's been on a campaign to get everybody who has any russian connection in crimea, he's given them all russian passports. now if this sounds familiar, this is what hitler did back in the '30s. >> ucla today, clinton clarified and said she's not necessarily making a comparison between the two. but putin's claims of protecting russians are reminiscent of hitler's actions

in that he's trying to protect the minorities. marsha, hillary clinton's comparison of actions taken by vlade peer putin, his strategy of hitler, what do you make of it, is that an apt comparison? >> i don't know if those comparisons are particularly useful. then we get into a conversation about what the important distinctions are between putin and hitler. i think it's more useful to look at what putin has done. what putin has done is he's built an authoritarian regime over the course of the last 15 years. that regime is veering into totalitari totalitarianism. he's in the midst of executing a huge political crackdown on his country and now he's encroached on another country, violating

it's sovereignty. those are pretty hideous things on their own. we can point to other awful things he has done, scapegoat my forties in his own country. systematically violating international law. i think that's enough. >> she also said that he was a tough guy with thin skin, those were her words, that's a direct quote. i know you said that he's a playground bully. what do you mean? >> what i mean is that's the way he acts. he dominates, his goal is to dominate. when he's confronted, he obscures and that's exactly what he was doing yesterday at his press conference in moscow, he didn't step away for a second from what he is doing in crimea. what he did was what everybody expected him to sort of step up and create a great mobilization effort and call in the russians to invade ukraine. instead he acted like a playground bully who said that wasn't me, i didn't break that glass and he's not my friend

any way. while doing exactly what he's been doing and we know what he's been doing. >> i know you've met with putin as many as ten times with various groups. you said his training as an intelligence officer, plays into how he looks at everyone around him, he takes stock of the people he's with, of the people he's playing against. explain that. >> putin among other things was a recruiter. he was trained to deal with human assets. when you're dealing with a human asset, you assess the person who's in front of you, you predict his or her behavior. and he took a look at the team who's playing against him who he considers russian enemies. so he's looking at the team, but he's looking at president obama, he's looking at merkel, he's looking at cameron. he decides i'm bigger, i'm tougher, i'm strong ever. i can kick their political behind. >> do you think vladimir putin is planning long-term, that he has a long-term view of the

horizon or his actions are more instinctual? >> i think his planned horizon is nonexistent. he acts on instincts. he's actually fairly consistent. but he have seen he has no ability to plan for the future. >> i disagree. >> aerial, explain that. why do you disagree? there is a strategy to his actions in crimea and elsewhere. >> marsha, you wrote a book on putin, you know that he said in 2005 that the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century was the collapse of the soviet union. his lifetime project now is the eurasian union for the 21st century, which is his afernlt to rectify this alleged historic injustice to russia. and in order to do that, he needs to go and take territory that he considers as historic russian territory. such as crimea. it is a ukrainian territory.

is >> i want you to be able to respond to that. >> you're quite right. he sees it as his historic mission to collect the lands back together that he sees as russian. that mission predates his 2005 statement about the greatest geopolitical catastrophe. it doesn't mean he has a strategy, but he has a mission that he acts day to day. >> thank you for being my guest. >> thank you. up next, republican senator lindsay gram who links what's haping in ukraine and crimea to president bush's response to the benghazi attacks. dana bash caught up with senator graham on that. we'll be right back. can go 795 highway miles on a single tank. huh... so you could drive from los angeles all the way philadelphia with just three stops for fuel.

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welcome back, live from kiev. as woe reported last night, senator lindsay graham lit up twitter with a series of tweets in which he blamed the crisis in ukraine on u.s. foreign policy. he wrote this. it started with benghazi. when you kill americans and nobody pays a price, you invite this type of aggression. that comment he made and others have some crying foul. dana bash asked senator graham about his remarks. dana, you talked to senator

graham what, did he have to say? >> lindsay graham is a republican who actually worked with the democratic president on national security issues in the past. today he told me he has, in his words, gone way too long without speaking bluntly without the president's foreign policy. he was eager to explain his criticism to me. senator, one of the tweets that you sent that's getting a lot of eyebrows is about benghazi, about the situation in the ukraine, it really in many ways started with benghazi when our consulate was overrun and our first ambassador was killed. how on earth is what's happenings in the ukraine a result of what happened in benghazi? >> it's not just about ukraine, it's about our standing in the world. would you agree that snowden is a hero or a traitor? when our president tells them don't give him asylum or there will be consequences and nothing happens, that hurts us. when you tell the egyptian military, don't put morsi and

his crowd in jail, you challenge them to turn control back over to civilians, and nothing happens, that hurts us. when you draw a red line and you tell assad, if you use chemical weapons on your own people, that will be a red line, and you flinch. you tell the people we're going to find the people who killed four americans in libya and you do nothing about it. whether you agree with this policy in syria or egypt, whether you agree with his policies, when he tells people there are going to be consequences and there are none, it sets in motion exactly what you see. >> it just seems like a stretch to talk about the u.s., a u.s. ambassador and three other americans killed, to take that to vladimir putin. >> it's a narrative. i didn't say putin basically ignored obama because of benghazi alone. >> i printed out a series of tweets and it was sort of rapid

fire mean tweeting at the president. really personal. >> it is personal. >> calling him weak and indecisive no fewer than three times. >> i think he is. >> but by saying these things, aren't you making him weaker in the eyes of putin by someone like you with your stature calling him weak and indecisive? >> during the iraq war, did senator obama criticize bush's policies? did people go on the floor and say that bush lied to us about weapons of mass destruction. didn't harry reid go on the floor and say that the iraq war was lost? the point i'm trying to make is that there's been too many times in the last six months where the president has told people, if you don't do what i say, there will be consequences and nothing's happened. >> you are in the middle of a republican primary, back in your state? >> exactly. >> you say the word benghazi, it is red meat for the republican base. you know that.

>> republicans and independents want it no more. >> this isn't about primary politics back home? >> everything i have done has been about what i think is best for the country. i think it's best to find the truth about benghazi. when my primary is over and i'm going to win, i'm going to still be on benghazi. >> now, what is fascinating is that despite the partisan divide you just heard there which is very deep over the crisis in krairn, there's a surprising similarly among democrats and republicans over what to do about it now. boycotting the g-8 meeting in russia, freezing russian assets and there a anonymity about what is not an option, and that is military. >> i spoke to senator marko rubio last night who was very much in favor of what the white house has done. dana, appreciate the reporting. thanks. >> thank you.

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