morning, and i'll be reporting with that tomorrow afternoon with you. >> sounds good, we will be continuing the conversation then. thank you so much, david soucie, we appreciate it. thank you for watching, great to have you with us. wolf starts right now. right now, six states, one of the busiest days in the primary kallcalendar. it equals high stakes, control of the united states senate. smoke fills the air and debris litters the streets, after the nigerian city is rocked by three deadly blasts. we'll get a live report. the man reportedly responsible for the 1983 bombing of the u.s. embassy in beirut may be living in the united states. not only that, there's a new book that says he may be protected right now by the cia. hello, i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. tea party versus the republican

establishment. two georgia races with some famous political name. those are just some of the story lines in today's primary elections. we're taking a look at five races from the west to the northeast to the south. we begin with the kentucky senate race. the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell facing tea party challenger matt bevette in the race for the republican nomination. our chief congressional correspondent is joining us from louisville right now. mcconnell was well financed. it looks like that might not be enough. what is the sense over there? how are things shaping up? >> senator mcconnell certainly appears confident, as does his campaign, about today's contest. they feel like they did what other senate republican incumbents didn't do in years pa past when they were tackled by tea party opponents, which is attack it early, with a lot of money. also, he had the help of his junior republican senator rand paul would signed on with

mcconnell. and he of course is a tea party darling. the drama is going to be how much republican support will mcconnell lose and whether or not that is going to affect his chances against the big challenge that he has, which is the democrat in the fall. >> because that's going to be -- assuming mcconnell does win today and the assumption is he will win, it's unclear by how much of a margin, he's going to have a major contest on his hands come the general election in november. >> no question about it. and he knows that. there has not been a public poll between mitch mcconnell and his likely democratic opponent, allison lender son grimes, that has not been within a margin of error. it is going to be the toughest challenge yet. she is running kind of the classic challenger campaign as somebody who's been in the senate for 30 years as mcconnell has. saying he is part of the problem, the big problem, with congress. i had a chance to ask mitch mcconnell about that yesterday.

your likely democratic opponent says you're exactly what's wrong with washington, you're the personification of gridlock. >> look, we'll get into the debate in the general election tomorrow. i think what kentuckians have to decide is what direction they want the country to take. do we want to go in a different direction? or do we want harry reid to continue to be the majority leader? do we want to vote for barack obama in a state that he carried 4 out of 120 counties? that's what's really at stake in the fall election. >> and, wolf, what's been fascinating in watching mcconnell's race and the strategy he has, is it's kind of really antithetical to what you would think for an entrenched incumbent. he's running on it. he's running on his influence and experience. something many of his colleagues ran away from in this tea party era. he said, look this is the big picture here, this is about making sure that republicans win the senate, and if they do, he personally would be the majority

leader and he would be able to combat the democrat's agenda. i asked his democratic opponent, likely democratic opponent, allison lunder son grimes about that, and about some of the big strategy he has against her. mitch mcconnell has made it clear he's not so much running against you, that his democratic candidate is beside the point, he's running against the idea of a democratic-controlled senate. >> well, this election, no matter who, you know, mitch mcconnell think he's running against, it's going to be about what has occur on his watch. this election is not a referendum on the president, nothing about this election is going to change who our president is, but we can actually finally change who is in washington, d.c. and put someone there who fights for the people of this state instead of just looking out for his own job. >> now, this is going to be the one to watch for so many reasons, wolf, obviously, just the personal drama, the story line of a 35-year-old woman who's never been to washington

running against a 72-year-old, 30-year incumbent like mitch mcconnell, and that obviously the basic idea that he is the guy who could, if the senate is taken by republicans, be the next majority leader. wolf. >> all right, we'll see what happens. they start closing polls during the 6:00 p.m. eastern hour in parts of kentucky so we'll start reporting results in "the situation room." later today. dana, thanks very much. how does the kentucky race play into the bigger picture? what are the other key races we're watching? our chief political analyst gloria borger is here with some answers. kentucky potentially could affect the majority in the united states senate. >> you heard what dana was saying. mitch mcconnell was running not only for re-election but he's running to be senate majority leader. the republicans need six seats. his seat is going to be a very close race . if he wins his primary today, we expect him to win his primary. i think what you'll see in his

senate race down the road is this gauge of anti-washington sentiment. as dana says, he's not running away from being senior. he says he can do things for people in the state. if people hate washington and what's going on in washington, he won't win. but he's not running away from who he is and what he wants to be. >> we've seen a major development this election cycle. the republican establishment really going after the tea party. you see it in kentucky. >> the empire strikes back. >> the republican establishment, they think they have a chance of becoming the majority in the senate. they don't want these tea party guys to get elected. >> no, here's what happened, over the last couple of elections, the establishment saw, republicans saw, that they lost about a half dozen seats they could have won. if they had won those seats, they might have been more control. >> if a more moderate republican had been the nominee. >> today alone, the chamber of commerce has spent $4 million in races okay that you've probably never heard of. lots of small races, lots of big

ones. what they're trying to do is discount the challengers, number one, as completely unqualified. and the other reason they're succeeding is because they've adopted some of the tea party issues on their own, most notably, being anti-obamacare, okay. so the tea party issues and their issues are not that different. so they've kind of co-opted the issues. they've discounted the challengers. they're saying, you know what, these are the people we need to win control of the senate. keep your eye on the ball. forget about parity. >> michelle nun, the daughter of the former senator sam nunn, she's running are, for the democratic nomination. the grandson of president carter, he's running to be the next governor if you will, of georgia. >> funny how that works. >> what do you make of children, grandchildren? >> let's see, the bushes, maybe the clintons, maybe the nunns. you know, look, people in

america, we like to see we're for change, but we also like political lineage. we like celebrity. these people are people whose names we recognize. in the end, will a lot of the younger voters recall that jimmy carter was the governor of georgia or how he served as the governor of georgia before he was president of the united states or that senator sam nunn was an important senator in the united states senate? probably not. but these candidates are putting their more well-known relatives in their adds because they want to remind people of their family's history of public service. it won't hurt them, and it will help them in one big way, wolf, and that is raising money. these candidates will have a distinct advantage there. >> you'll be with us watching the races. important day in the world of elections. thanks very much for that. remember, the polls start closing around the time we're on the air in "the situation room" during the 6:00 p.m. eastern hour. we'll have special coverage of the races later tonight, 6:00

p.m. eastern, in "the situation room," of course, throughout the night, right here on cnn. the white house now responding to the growing scandal over long wait times for appointments at veterans hospitals. the white house press secretary jay carney saying president obama first learned of the problems at the phoenix v.a. hospital from cnn. our reports revealed efforts to cover up lengthy wait times. sources say some veterans actually died while waiting to receive critical care. let's go to the white house. our correspondent michelle kosinski. the president has not really commented publicly on this controversy over the past few weeks, but i'm hearing, i suppose you are as well, we should be hearing from him about this fairly soon, is that right? >> yeah, we thought maybe even today, because he was meeting with some business leaders. he did deliver some remarks. we thought maybe he would throw something in there about this scandal, growing by the day, but this just wasn't the time for it. the white house has said we should hear from president obama

soon. lately, it seems he'll come into the briefing room and he'll make some remarks when there's something happy to announce or something that's positive. we saw him giving news about the affordable care act self-weeks ago. we saw him announcing sanctions on russia. it's been tough to hear from the top on this matter. cnn has been trying to get an interview with the v.a. secretary eric shinseki for months i think. and president obama, the press has been asking to hear from him. the press secretary yesterday was hammered with questions on this. when are we going to hear from the president. why hasn't he spoken out on this. the answer we got was that soon we would hear from the president on this, wolf. >> so far, the president is voicing his vote of confidence in the secretary, is that right? >> yeah, i mean, that's been the white house's line on this, and they list his accomplishments.

it's been really tough to get him to say something otherwise. we asked, just when you look at the way that this has all come out, i mean, through the press, and now the administration is saying president obama only learned of the extent of these allegations when reports came out on cnn. doesn't that in and of itself indicate a shortfall of leadership on the part of shinseki at least? but they wouldn't go so far. they just said we don't want to pass any judgment right now. and, in fact, when you ask the question repeatedly, i mean the question came up multiple times yesterday, asking the administration to just delineate, was robert peszel, he's the undersecretary who stepped down last week, was he fired, or did he retire? because he was set to retire anyway this year it and the administration wouldn't give any clarity on that at all. it's clear they don't want to say he was fired. but they say things like, well, he was someone who had been identified as someone the people who have an interest in this

would like to take responsibility for. so it's kind of a back way of saying it, but what they're really trying to say remain, a question, wolf. >> let us know if the president decides to make a statement. we'll of course have live coverage of that. michelle, thanks very much. up next, we're going live to nigeria. where now explosions are rocking busy market areas in a central city. that's coming up. also, a parent's anguish. the mother of a kidnapped nigerian girl is shown video posted by militants. >> this is the first time you've seen this video, yes? do you see your daughter here? i always wanted to design a bike that honored those who serve our country. and geico gave me that opportunity. now naturally, we wanted it to be powerful, innovative and we built this bike as a tribute to those who are serving,

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that corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. and yet, there's someone around the office who hasn't had a performance review in a while. someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone company dsl. check your speed. see how fast your internet can be. switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business built for business. let's go to nigeria now where three explosions rocked

the center. the first one was massive, leaving people screaming and running. our vladimir duthiers is gjoinig us from the capital abuja. tell us about the latest blast, what happened? >> reporter: we know this happened in three marketplaces in jos which is in central nigeria, now, not typically a hotbed of militant activity the way we've seen the past couple of years in northeastern nigeria. these explosions, dozens of people wounded. journalists on the ground showing people were being carted away in wheel barbaros, to mobie people to move them to the hospital. joinalists tell us they couldn't hear doctors talking because people were screaming, blood everywhere, bodies being carted into the hospital, along with many, many wounded, wolf. we've had some pictures, our viewers may be able to see them, but right now we're still getting detailed. i just received very strong

condemnation of those blasts from nigeria's president goodluck jonathan. >> it's an awful situation. the other huge story still ongoing in nigeria, no sign yet of approximately 200 nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the terror group boko haram. you had a chance, you spoke with the mother of one of those girls. she saw the video released by the terrorists. tell us about that. >> reporter: you know, wolf, as reporters, we try to stay above it all. we tend to look at stories and try to be as objective and as fair as we can. in this particular interview, interviewing this mother and looking into her eyes and not only seeing the fear, the terror that something may happen to her daughter, but also the absolute surprise when she saw her daughter in that video. it was -- you sort of get an emotional visceral reaction that is hard to contain. take a listen. this is the first time you're seeing this video, yes? do you see your daughter here?

mm. >> reporter: that's her? >> mm. this way. >> reporter: you think this is your daughter? >> mm. >> reporter: this is your daughter? >> mm. >> reporter: wow. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: describe for us your daughter that was kidnapped. what is she like? >> reporter: what is life like in chibok, what is it like to

live with the threat of boko haram? >> reporter: knowing that it's dangerous for girls to go to school because of the danger of boko haram, but you believe that your daughter should go to school. >> reporter: and your daughter was not afraid to go to school? when she comes back home to you, will you allow her to go to school again? if god brings her back to you, she'll go back to school? amen. wolf, we had to conceal this

mother's identity because she is in fear of her life on a daily basis in chibok and that of course of her daughter. behind the pain and the sorrow in her eyes, she was resolute, she will see her daughter again, and when her daughter comes home, she's going back to school. >> let's hope that happens. vald duthiers, in nigeria, thank you very much. if you would like to help there are various ways. cnn d cnn.com/impact. you will find reputable places to give your money, your time. hopefully these girls will be found. up next, china firing back over espionage allegations. i'll speak with our own christiane amanpour about the effects of all this. later, there's a new report out there that says there's a new danger in the skies. why taking a flight potentially could make you sick. [ man ] look how beautiful it is. ♪ honey, we need to talk.

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one day after being hit with charges linked to industrial espionage, the chinese government is now fighting back. they've summoned the united states ambassador in beijing, the former senator max baux. they're demanding the charges against five senior officers be dropped. joining us, our chief international correspondent christiane amanpour. you had the chance to speak to the chinese ambassador to the united states. what's he telling you? >> well, as you can imagine, the line from beijing is a firm denial. as you said, demanding that these indictments be withdrawn. the ambassador told me in an exclusive interview that the

only way to get over all of this is by dialogue. but, as a condition, as a precondition, they demand that those indictments be withdrawn. that doesn't look like it's going to happen. he also said that the u.s. has no business telling china where to get off when it comes to cyber spying. listen ton wh what he said. >> amazing to see some people still believe they have the moral high grounds and credibility to accuse others, if we consider the snowden revelation and so on, so forth. it's a bit incredible. the fact is is china is a victim to such cyber attacks. there has been persistent and large-scale attacks on china's internet, on china's government institutions, schools, universities, companies and even

individuals. and these attacks originate from the united states. >> so the line from the ambassador was to counteraccuse the united states, as you see. when i read him the details of the indictment and the specific companies that are alleged to have been targeted by the chinese and also read him what the fbi director sort of challenged, if you accuse us of fabrication, than come here, avail yourself of the criminal justice system and lawyers and the judgment by a jury of 12 people, and we will put up, in other words. he responded by saying, maybe the united states officials should be tried in china. there was no give whatsoever. there was a feeling this has changed the tone of the relationship. that these talks that the u.s. and china used to have in this special joint group that was set up have now stopped, and the joint group has withbeen disban. we're waiting to see if there are any further retaliatory

measures by china. >> i assume there will be some retaliatory measures by china and the u.s./china relationship will further deteriorate. that's the assumption here. but what are you picking up? >> well, i've specifically asked him about that. he said in his diplomatic way what we do next depends on what the united states does next. i specifically asked him about what he told me before. that china could not afford to have a bad relationship with the world's great et power. he said it is in our interest, this is when i interviewed him months ago, to have a stable and healthy relationship. i asked him, does that still hold, and he said, well, it is very, very difficult now. you're right, the relationship is going through a very intense period right now, and not clear how this particular issue is going to be resolved. at the same time, the chinese are hosting vladimir putin who as you know is a major thorn in the side of the u.s. administration, hosting him to a very lavish state visit at the

moment. >> there's a serious deterioration not only in u.s./china relations at least potentially but u.s./russia relations right now as well. a lot to understand on both of those fronts. lots at stake. christia christiane, thanks very much. the malaysian government and a satellite company now say they're ready to release data from flight 370. our panel will tell us if any secrets could be revealed. later, as violence spreads in libya, the u.s. puts together a new plan. they put this plan in place to try to get americans out on short notice if necessary. ♪

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welcome back. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. it was an extremely close call been two planes nearly collided at newark liberty airport last month it the airliners were just about 150 feet apart. air traffic controllers directed a boeing jet to land seconds before a smaller jet was cleared for takeoff on an intersecting runway. the larger plane was almost atop the smaller one before aborting its landing attempt and circling the airport. listen to air traffic control. >> we'll put the nose down. yeah, real close. >> the ntsb now investigating and the final report expected to take several months. we're following important

developments in the search for missing malaysian flight 370. just days after a public back and forth, inmarsat, the company that detected the plane's so-called final pings, along with the malaysian government, now saying it will publicly reveal all flight data communication logs. and this be could come literally at any time. let's bring in our panel. matt danbrath is an aviation attorney. allen diehl is a former ntsb investigator and adviser to the u.s. air force, author of the book "air safety investigators." so, allen, let me ask you what do we expect to receive in this new data? how important potentially could it be? >> well, i think it's just going to reassure everybody that this was a very scientifically conducted exercise. i don't expect any smoking guns. i don't expect the data to change. it looks to me like it's been peer reviewed internally by the

british and of course the company itself. excuse me. >> let me ask mark, what do you think we're going to learn, anything substantially as a result of all this data to be released? >> i think what we'll see is a tidal wave of speculation that starts other again. i think the people who look at this, the third party experts, experts out there, are going to come out with conclusions all other the board. so i'm not necessarily confident that we're going to see a complete agreement with whatever conclusions have been reached so far. >> would it have made any difference if they had released this information early on? >> i think we would have had that speculation, just earlier on, and people would have been criticizing wherever they searched. i think now the criticism in terms of the search area is just going to follow the release of this data, assuming we can interpret the data in terms of what the analysis process is. >> allen, based on everything you know, do you think they're even looking in the right place right now? >> yes, i do. my understanding is they've also tried to validate the data,

using another 777, flying the route the data predicted, and that revealed the data from the satellite was predictive. so if that is true, and i'd love to have the malaysian government confirm that, this is probably a very good localization. although it's still a big area. >> because -- >> from what we know now. >> a lot of people have suggested they do another flight with the 777 to see if they can recreate all those pings, all those handshakes, waver yhateve want to call them, that inmarsat found. are you saying you know for sure they did do a flight like that, because i hadn't heard that yet. >> no, i'm not, wolf, i've been told they have done it, i don't know that. obviously, having done investigations, that would be a very logical thing to do in this case. no, i don't know that they've done it. i've heard it said that they have done it. >> what have you heard, if

anything, about that? it is a very logical thing. miles o'brien, a lot of our other aviation experts, have said they should do this, but i haven't heard they actually did do it. >> i don't think they've done it. i think the most they've done is gone into the simulator and attempted to recreate certain aspects of the flight. i suspect one could take an airplane out there and fly it for five, six, seven hours, but i'm not sure we'd be recreating anything. i think it might be even more misleading than some of the information we already have. >> i'm told, allen, correct me if i'm wrong, in the past, you said we may never find this plane. you still believe that? >> well, it's very possible. we know about air france, taking two years. there was a south african 747 that disappeared for two years. of course, there are several airliners that have never been found. but i think -- i have fair confidence that this inmarsat data is in -- at least pointing to the right neighborhood.

it's still a big haystack. i think they will finally find this. i imagine it will be months though or longer. >> what do you think? >> i think we just found the santa maria several years later, so i don't have a whole lot of confidence, to be honest are you. >> mark donbroff, allen diehl, thanks very much. general motors announcing almost 2.5 million vehicles will be affected, it includes seedens, suvs, pickup trucks. gm is concerned seat belts may actually separate in a crash. the problem serious enough that the company is telling its dealers not to sell any new or used affected models. they got to fix that. let's do a quick check of the markets. there you see the dow jones down about 139 points. the troubles at general motors haven't weighed too heavily on the markets, we're told, instead, investors have been much more concerned about retailers. stocks of dick sporting goods,

staples, under pressure in early trading today. >> up next, u.s. marines on alert, ready to fly into libya at a moment's notice, as the pentagon looks to avoid another benghazi. later, potentially deadly bacteria trapped on airlines. there's new information now on how long those germs actually last. predicting the future is a pretty difficult thing to do. but, manufacturing in the united states means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs. siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done.

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the white house press secretary jay carney was questioned by our own white house correspondent jim acosta about when the president knew about the latest serious problems at v.a. hospitals in phoenix and elsewhere across the country. listen to what carney just said. >> let me be clear, because there was a misunderstanding and a lot of misrobeeporting about s topic. when the president learned about the specific allegation, what i understood your question to be,

contained first, i believe, in a cnn report about the phoenix facility. the president, as we all know, we discussed it here, has been talking about the issues and challenges facing v.a. since he was a candidate. and it was precisely those problems that had been identified and were discussed in 2006, 2007, 2008, that he spoke about as a candidate. and it led him to commit to increased resources available to the v.a., so we can better serve our veterans, and to deliver on that every year since he's been president. >> we'll continue to stay on top of this story as we have now for months and months, what's going on at some of those v.a. hospitals across the country nap clarification just in from the white house press secretary jay carney. let's go to libya. battles over the country's future have put the united states military once again on high alert. our pentagon correspondent barbara starr has more on the new plans to try to speed up evacuation of americans in libya, if they get the order to

flee. >> reporter: as libya's interim parliament is attacked and smoke rises across the capital where there has been fierce fighting here and in benghazi, the obama administration is taking no chances. the pentagon has put troops and firepower in place to get some 200 american diplomats, security personnel and the military security contingent out of harm's way if the state department orders an evacuation. >> security of american citizens and u.s. personnel overseas is our highest priority. the president and secretary have both been receiving regular updates. >> reporter: just across the mediterranean at the u.s. naval air station in siginia italy, everything is set. aircraft in the air within two hours if it comes to that. the evacuation team includes 250 heavily armed marines, 8 v-22

aircraft that can carry 24 passengers each, and 3 additional aircraft for midair refueling along the way. at the same time, u.s. intelligence agencies and the pentagon have been looking at overhead imagery for days. scouting opposition forces, figuring out the best airfields for landing. it's a far cry from september 11st, 2012, when the u.s. compound in benghazi came under attack and the ambassador and three other americans were killed. there were no u.s. military forces nearby to get there in time for a rescue. >> barbara's joining us now from the pentagon. barbara, do we know what exactly would trigger the evacuation plan? >> well, wolf, i think it's fair to say it is partially a political question for the white house. the shadow of benghazi looms

large. that big disaster there. they don't want any chance of a repeat. so if the embassy situation were to become too dangerous, if they felt lives were at risk, direct risk, the general thinking is, then, that the state department and the white house would order an evacuation. diplomatically, they hope to stay. because once you leave a u.s. embassy overseas, even in dangerous situations when it eventually calms down, it becomes difficult to go back and reopen. they want to make the effort to stay but we're being told they will take no chances. >> do we know how many americans are in libya? >> well, about 200 americans officially we're told attached to the embassy in any number of diplomatic and security functions, along with the regular marine security contingent that operates out of the embassy. as for other americans living and working in libya, there is some considerable number we're told. they are always advised to be

careful of their security and keep in touch with the state department in case an evacuation is ordered. the big question for them is whether the airports would be open at all times, would they be able to get commercial aviation flights out of the country if they chose to leave. >> barbara starr with the latest at the pentagon, a very worrisome story developing over there. thanks very much. up next, why the most dangerous place on an airplane may be the very seat you are in. what's going on? also coming up, is the united states government now protecting this man, blamed for the deaths of several americans at a bombing at a u.s. embarrassed more than 30 years ago? you and your brother? ♪ ♪ ♪

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new study says flying can be a lot more dangerous than we thought, because deadly bacteria cannot only linger on planes, it can stick around for up to a week. a new study from auburn university found dangerous germs like mersa and e. coli can exist everywhere. elizabeth cohen joining us from los angeles has the details. what are some of the surfaces that the researchers looked at? tell us what we've learned. >> you know, wolf, they set out to test surfaces that are sort of high traffic. a lot of us touch them, you touch them, the passenger before you, the passenger next to you. and here's what they found. i was actually on a flight last

night from atlanta to l.a. so i had five hours to think about this. so for example, the window shade, you put it down, put it up. mersa, an antibiotic resistant bacteria, can last for five days, and regular antibiotics don't work against this bug. the leather seats that you sit on, mersa can last for six days. that tray table that you're eating off of, mrsa can last for five days, and e. coli, the bad kind, can last for three days. we know these bugs are all sort of around, they were trying to figure out how long can they last. i guess we got the answer, even though it's not very pleasant. >> some people, they get in their seats, the first thing they do is take out sanitizer and start spraying and cleaning the tray tables, seats, everything else. is that a good idea? >> you know, i've sat next to people like that. and i think, oh, my gosh, they're being so paranoid.

but after seeing this, it does make some sense. what you want to do is use a wipe. you don't want to spray, because you could send everything up in the air. use an alcohol-based wipe. wipe down these surfaces. after you get off the plane, you can sanitize your hands as well. it really is quite simple to ki8 these bugs. >> what is the worst surface based on the research that this study gave up? >> you know, the worst surface was surprising to me. it was the cloth seat back in front of you. when you sit down and they have the emergency information in the seat back in front of you. bad bacteria can survive there for seven days, for a full week. but the bacteria gets absorbed into the cloth because it's a porous material. so actually you're not so, so likely to get it from those pockets. so i suppose that's good news. especially because those are hard to wipe off. now, we got in contact with various airlines, wolf, and we heard back from delta. delta said, look, we wipe down

these surfaces thoroughly every day. they also said, we are so concerned about this, that we actually gave seat backs and pockets and armrests and all of that kind of thing to these auburn researchers. we wanted them to find this out. >> let's hope people take advantage of this, and learn from it, and that we all remain healthy after a long flight, or a short flight for that matter. elizabeth, thank you very much. useful information. startling allegations in a new book just out today. is the u.s. protecting an iranian spy who actually may have been behind a bombing in leb oh none 30 years ago that killed many americans, including cia officers at the usa embassy in beirut? stand by.

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the story sounds as if it's straight out of a movie plot. a new book making startling allegations about a bombing in lebanon three decades ago. 63 people died in the blast in beirut, 17 of them were americans, including several high-ranking cia officers. now a book by a pulitzer prize-winning author claiming that the u.s. is protecting an iranian intelligence officer who oversaw the bombing of the u.s. embassy in beirut back in 1983. brian todd is here. a complex story. i'll be speaking later today with the author of the new book. but give us the gist of what's going on here. >> wolf, this new book called "the good spy" alleges the

iranian operative, he according to this book, was a key person for the union yans, responsible for organizing the 1983 embassy bombing in beirut which killed 63 people, including several americans, as well as possibly having a hand in the marine barracks bombing. >> that killed 200-some marines. >> yes. >> he said this guy was also responsible for the killing of the marines six months after blowing up the u.s. embassy in beirut. >> that's right. what the essential assertion in this book is regarding this man is he defected to the united states in 2007, got help getting to the united states, and was settled and is being protected by the cia in exchange for information about iran's nuclear program, that he told the americans about iran's facility, and other things. and in exchange for that valuable information, he was given protection and is being put up and protected by the cia. we spoke to the cia this afternoon, and we got a flat-out

denial that they had a hand in this. here's a statement from the cia. we can categorically state that the assertion that cia arranged for the defection of ali reza asgari to the united states is false. that is from the cia. >> they're not denying other u.s. agencies, intelligence agencies had a hand in the defection. he went through turkey apparently. that's where he defected, and later brought to the united states. are they saying that the fbi, the other intelligence agencies had no role in bringing this guy to the united states? or are they just saying the cia? >> they're saying the cia had nothing to do with it. i pressed them on if other agencies have done this. i haven't gotten an answer yet. i'm working with them throughout the day to get some of these answers to these questions. they're saying right now that they had no role in this. >> we'll speak to the author of this book. we'll speak to others, including a lawyer representing families

later in "the situation room." so we'll go in-depth on this story later today. lots of families potentially going to be very, very upset. >> right. >> about this. brian, thanks very much. that's it for me. see you at 5:00 p.m. in "the situation room." newsroom with brooke baldwin starts right now. here we go. top of the hour, great to be with you. i'm brooke baldwin. let's begin with news just in at cnn. have you heard about the explosive allegations being leveled against the nfl by some of its former players? well-known names. you know about the concussion claims. we have covered that here on cnn extensively. but a new lawsuit alleges that nfl teams and their doctors knowingly gave players an array of prescription drugs, and painkillers, for years and years without any regard for the long-term damage. the question, who is making these claims? here's the answer.