watson cnn, in vanuatu. >> our thanks to ivan watson. make sure to follow me on twitter, also have a facebook page. that's it for "the lead" today. i'm jake tapper. turning you over right now to one mr. wolf blitzer who is right next door in "the situation room." happening now, combat alert after a ten-day absence, russia's president putin reappears once again rattling his saber with more games like this. how close did he come to ordering a nuclear alert over ukraine? nuclear showdown. deadline is looming. urgent talks are under way. have senate republicans ruined the possibility of a deal with iran? why is the u.s. reportedly built a replica of an iranian nuclear site? i will ask senator angus king. tortured by jihadi john. a former hostage lived to tell the world all about it and is now giving the inside story of his nightmare at the hands of the notorious isis killer. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

our top story, after lying low for ten days vladimir putin has surfaced but so has an ominous comment from the russian leader. in a television interview he reveals that he was ready to put russia's nuclear forces on alert over last year's crisis in crimea and today, a key part of russia's military is on full combat alert a year after he watched these war games, putin once again orders a massive military exercise this time in a very dangerous part of the world. senator angus king of the intelligence and armed services committees. he's standing by along with our correspondents and analysts. let's start with our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. putin clearly re-emerged today but what do we know about where he was, what are we saying about his ten-day absence? >> reporter: from the russian point of view he was just working, perhaps working at home. when vladimir putin came out today in st. petersburg he made

some joke about, you know all the gossip about where he had been. i have to tell you, u.s. officials think that he had a really bad head cold or the flu. they say that's the information they have. there was no indication he had left russia at any point during this ten-day period. but look putin's movements obviously fairly secret not exactly publicly acknowledged. so still a lot of concern. what was he up to is there a possibility something else was going on here. were there political strains inside the kremlin that we don't know about, perhaps over the situation in ukraine, perhaps over that murder of his opponent boris nemtsov. is there something else going on. right now what the u.s. is acknowledging, they think he was sick but they do not really know if there might have been something else in play here. >> he is also announcing as you know new military exercises setting off alarm bells by bringing up the issue of nuclear readiness. what's going on here?

>> reporter: okay. so he has now announced again snap exercises, some 40,000 troops dozens of ships and aircraft exercising out of the northern fleet of russia into the arctic an area of some concern to the united states as the russians are making their moves up there to militarize the area. this coming as we are at the one-year anniversary essentially of the move into crimea. putin saying on state tv that a year ago, he was thinking about putting nuclear forces on alert over the crisis in crimea that if he had to have done it worst case scenario but he was thinking about it. what u.s. officials are saying is their assessment putin is in a constant state of trying to stir up military tension and stress. the thinking is he's not about to attack the united states. he's not about to attack into the center of europe. but that he is thriving and staying in power right now by

stirring up all this military stress. look at it this way. if he wanted to launch nuclear weapons, he could do that pretty much from wherever they are located at russian launch sites right now. the concern about crimea is that he's putting more aircraft into crimea that are dual use capable. they could carry nukes, they could carry conventional weapons and the u.s. might not be able to tell the difference. he is just thriving on stirring up this tension. wolf? >> dangerous situation indeed. barbara, thanks very much. the deadline also looming right now for a nuclear deal with iran. u.s. officials call it crunch time. secretary of state john kerry held marathon talks with his iranian counterpart once again today but this fresh fallout over a warning letter from republican senators to iran's leaders, could that letter actually torpedo these talks? let's go to our senior white house correspondent jim acosta. he has the latest. >> reporter: in a new excerpt from that interview with vice

the president says senator tom cotton's letter quote, damages our country. iranian negotiators did raise cotton's letter in those sensitive nuclear talks that are currently under way but u.s. officials are confident the letter will only be what they are calling a distraction. while iranian and u.s. officials try to make progress in their nuclear negotiations the talks in switzerland hit a speed bump, straight out of washington. as in the letter written by senator tom cotton and signed by 46 of his gop colleagues to iran's ruling clerics. u.s. officials say tehran's negotiators raised cotton's letter during the talks but there were no apologies from the secretary of state. >> i'm not going to apologize for an unconstitutional unthought out action by somebody who has been in the united states senate for 60 some days. >> reporter: despite tough talk from kerry and even the president -- >> it damages the country, it damages our standing. it's not productive.

>> reporter: -- the freshman senator isn't backing down. >> the congress stands ready to impose much more severe sanctions. >> reporter: but cotton is gaining critics who point out he once mocked the president's own communications with iran's leadership. >> like a love-struck teenager he has sent four secret letters to the ayatollah. >> reporter: still, the iran talks are becoming a new litmus test in the 2016 campaign with likely gop contender ted cruz saying candidates must repudiate the nuclear deal or else. >> any candidate in my view who will not say yes to that is not fit to serve as commander in chief of this country. >> reporter: over the weekend, white house chief of staff dennis mcdonough sent a letter to bob corker assuring him congress will have a role to play and will have to take a vote. but the white house conceded they would rather congress stay out of the process for months well beyond the march 31st deadline for a framework agreement. >> for all of the

hyperventilating we see on capitol hill there is no agreement that has been reached. >> reporter: press secretary josh earnest says the white house may want congress to hold off even longer even after a deal is concluded. that is not going to fly with republicans and even some democrats. >> jim acosta thanks very much. joining us now, senator angus king the main independent, member of the armed services and intelligence committees. thanks very much for joining us. you think there's going to be a deal with iran? >> well i think it's 50/50 right now. i have heard 60/40, 50/50. i think it's not done at all. what i think is kind of amazing is the way people are lining up. you heard senator ted cruz a few minutes ago saying you got to say no to this deal. there isn't a deal yet. we won't even know the framework for another week or two and then the details we won't know until june. so i kind of would like to keep my powder dry and see what it is that's going to come before us before deciding that it's not a good deal. >> based on what you know right now, you like it?

>> well there are some real questions. this is all about verification wolf. that's the real issue. ronald reagan's old line was trust but verify. in this case it's no trust and verify like hell. that's what really is going to make this deal either good or bad, is the level of verification that we can have on iranian compliance. so far, with the preliminary deal that's been in place for over a year now, the compliance has been actually quite good. surprisingly good. so that's really what is going to be the key for me and of course what the other terms are as well. i'm not ready to say it's a good deal or a bad deal. i want to see what they actually come up with. i like to have the facts before i shoot. >> that's not unreasonable at all. senator, you said that letter written by 47 republicans to the iranian leadership was in your words unthinkable, an unthinkable move. you said it was akin to if congress had written a letter to khruschev in the middle of the

cuban missile crisis. did this letter do permanent damage in your opinion? >> i think we have to see what the iranian reaction is going to be and whether it in fact undermines the talks. to me what's almost as shocking as the letter itself was that the author tom cotton a couple days later, said yeah my intention was to torpedo the talks, to undermine the talks. i don't get that. this is high stakes stuff, wolf. this is -- this is a very dangerous situation, by far the preferable solution will be a negotiated settlement to get the capability of the nuclear weapon away from the iranians and to do anything to undermine the current discussions, i just don't get. unhelpful is the mildest term i can think of. you mentioned, i said the other day it's like congress writing to khruschev saying don't listen to this kennedy guy. the president leads in foreign policy. that's the way the constitution is. that's the way the country has been run since the very beginning. congress will have a chance to weigh in and in fact i'm supporting bob corker's proposal

at least for now that will give congress a chance to weigh in but you know i've got to be convinced that those 46 47 people that signed that letter are going to make the decision on the merits and not on some effort to embarrass the president or score points in a presidential primary. this is too serious. is there no issue that we can't turn into a partisan issue around here? come on. let's see what this really says and then make our decisions accordingly. >> but the white house says senator, that your role, congress' role the senate's role will be relatively limited. it's not going to be seen as a treaty where you have to vote up or down two-thirds vote. it's going to be seen as an executive agreement by the united states. in fact the administration seems to be ready to go to the united nations security council for an up or down vote long before it raises this issue before the united states senate. >> well i think we've got to do both. don't forget everybody talks about this deal as if it's the

u.s. and iran and in fact it's five other countries plus the u.s. that have imposed the sanctions and most of the sanctions that have had the most impact on iran are the ones that aren't coming from the u.s. they are coming from china, japan, india, germany, great britain, so they've got to be part of this deal. so involving them is absolutely part of it. but i think -- i disagree with the white house. i think congress does have a significant role and i think it's better for us to lay out what the sort of rules of the consideration of that role will be now rather than have it be a partisan free-for-all in a couple of months. that's why tim kaine and i and a group of other people that are not republicans are involved in the discussions with bob corker to try to come up with a policy not to derail the negotiations but to give congress a chance to take a responsible role in this. but i got to tell you, wolf my

support for that is contingent upon some evidence from the republicans that they are willing to consider this seriously and i think bob corker is but how many of his colleagues are and not just as an opportunity to embarrass the president or deny him a diplomatic breakthrough. if the president's able to pull this off, the whole world wins. we ought to be able to take a deep breath and say that's a good thing. >> bob corker of course chairman of the foreign relations committee. he did not sign that letter by the 47 republicans to the iranian leadership. senator, stand by. we have much more to talk about, including vladimir putin. what is he up to in russia right now?

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we're back with senator angus king the main independent, member of the armed services and intelligence committees. in russia vladimir putin has now admitted he was ready to put russia's nuclear forces on alert over the crisis a year ago over crimea. how big of a deal is this revelation? >> well i think it is a big deal. i think it's very disturbing that he was willing to even mention that in his rhetoric. you've got to remember that i think part of what's going on here is domestic politics in russia. when margaret thatcher the day before the faulklands war, margaret thach ertcherthatcher's approval rating was 23%. a week later it was 73%.

putin's approval rating is largely because of his adventurism abroad. he will be talking about these things and probing and sending aircraft along our coastline and that's why we've got to have a strong defense to deter any thought that he might have of doing something reckless. >> some are saying we are now on the verge of a new cold war. would you agree with that? >> well i'm not quite ready to go that far. i certainly think it's a lot colder or warmer if you will than it was just a few years ago. it's clear, he has said he thinks one of the great mistakes of the 20th century was the dissolution of the soviet empire. he would like to put it together again and then of course we have isis wanting to put the ottoman empire back together and we have iran who wants to put the persian empire back together. we are dealing with a lot of history here and i think putin is a guy that we've got to be exceedingly careful with and that's one of the reasons i have been one of the ones saying let's go slow on this business

of increasing our engagement in the ukraine, because you've got to think three and four steps ahead if you're playing chess with a russian. i think we need to be very careful about what the consequences might be. >> another issue on iran i want to just raise with you, some have suggested since iran opposes isis in iraq and syria, for that matter the u.s. opposes isis in iraq and syria, maybe it's time for the u.s. and iran to coordinate this war effort against isis. what do you think about that? >> well here's the problem, and there has been a lot of talk about that but let's take what's going on in tikrit right now which is essentially an effort to take tikrit back from isis exclusively with shia militia and iranian leadership and some qods force. that's dangerous because if this again is viewed in particularly northern and western iraq as a shia-led war, then that pushes

the sunnis back into the arms of isis. that's what made it so easy for isis to take this territory in the first place was the failure of the government in baghdad to be inclusive and include the sunnis and it worries me that we've got essentially a shia-led initiative in tikrit with iran in the background and the sunnis are going to say well wait a minute if this is what we're facing from baghdad, maybe we need to stay with these isis guys and try to work with them. very complicated situation but it's dangerous to have iran in the leadership up there on this. this should be a multi muslim army if you will involving the iraqi armed forces not just the shia militia. >> as i said before a lot of analysts have said to me the good news is that isis might be defeated in iraq. the bad news is the iranians and their shiite militia allies will do the heavy lifting and could emerge as the big winner in iraq

as well. let's talk a little about this los angeles times report that the united states has spent millions of dollars building replicas of iran's nuclear centrifuges in order to try to gauge iran's ability to convert uranium into bomb fuel. the administration according to this article may soon use the results to try to convince the american public that a deal with iran is in the best interest of the united states. first of all, are you aware of this program? have you been briefed on it? >> i have not been briefed on it. i have read the article and understand some of the background but i think it goes back to what we were talking about before. the key to this deal is going to be verification. i think the effort to build this model plant, if you will was in order to determine how they could cheat and what needed to be measured and where to look and where the inspectors should pay attention. i think it was a sensible thing to do looking toward a deal like this that is going to rise or fall on our ability to tell whether the iranians are living

up to it. >> you heard over the weekend secretary of state john kerry saying the u.s. should be willing to sit down negotiate with bashar al assad, the leader of syria, in order to come up with some sort of solution. 200,000 people have been killed in syria over the past few years in this civil war. what do you make of this statement by the secretary of state? >> well that's not exactly the way i would have phrased it but it's been our policy for a long time this situation is ultimately only going to be solved by negotiations. but those negotiations have to include the opposition the assad regime the russians and the iranians. frankly, the russians could solve this tomorrow if they stopped supplying him and i think they might have some interest in doing so now that isis has come out of this whole cauldron of violence over there. the other thing you have to remember is that the russians work very closely with us to get rid of assad's chemical weapons. so this foreign policy stuff is very complicated and sometimes

you have to be able to compartmentalize and say we are opposing over here but we can work together over there. i think what john kerry was really saying is this is going to have to be a negotiation involving the regime. i wouldn't have said we are going to negotiate with assad himself. but that's been the goal to try to get a stalemate on the ground and get us to some negotiation so that we can have a change in the government and get syria back to some semblance of normalcy. >> you may not know this but i will tell you if you don't. today, benjamin netanyahu, the elections in israel are tomorrow and he's fighting for his political life as you well know he says there will be no palestine, no independent palestinian state, no two-state solution if he's re-elected. what's your reaction to that? >> my first reaction is maybe we shouldn't pay too much attention to what the people say three days before an election. but that's too bad is the quote i heard, because four five years ago he supported a

two-state solution. if all he's saying is that the security situation at this moment isn't appropriate, okay, i can understand that. but if he's ruling it out, i don't know how they solve the problem. they've got palestinians in the west bank very proximate to jerusalem. they've got gaza and it's an unsustainable situation. they are going to have to come to some resolution one way or the other, and it sounds like i'm not a commentator on israeli politics but it sounds like the prime minister is trying to pick up votes on the right wing over there in order to ensure his re-election. he may get reelected but man, this is a problem, the issue of the palestinians and a two-state solution is something that eventually has to be resolved. it can't go on. i have been over there, been to the west bank and been to jerusalem. it can't go on like it is now indefinitely.

inevitably there is going to be further violence. i think it's unfortunate the prime minister said that but like i say, maybe we ought to give him a bit of a pass a couple days before his election. >> the election is tomorrow. it's only one day before the election. we'll have more on that election later in "the situation room." senator king as usual, thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. good to talk to you. >> thank you. coming up new details about the terrifying world of isis. we are hearing from a former hostage who survived torture at the hands of the terrorist known as jihadi john. plus there's a new twist in the ferguson missouri story. after finally arresting a suspect in the shooting of two police officers police now are denying allegations of abusing the suspect.

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a group of teens apparently on their way to try to join terrorists in syria belonging to isis this time they were caught and they were shipped back home. brian todd has been looking into a growing, very troubling trend, teenagers heading over there. what are you learning? >> tonight, british officials are so worried about teenagers defecting to isis that they are appealing for help from parents in immigrant communities. we have new information tonight on how more teenagers are making their way to syria and how isis is helping them. a tense moment at the airport in istanbul. three teenaged boys from northwest london grabbed by turkish intelligence. they were moments away from trying to make their way to syria, the british say, to commit terror. >> it was fortunate that the families realized very quickly what had happened that we had time to understand and work out their travel route. >> reporter: it appears the boys

had help from someone turkish officials call suspicious. >> it's a very good chance that the individual is a fixer. they are known by the people who run the checkpoints on the road. that's what it comes down to. and you know a fee is of course passed off to the people on the check points and they are able to make their way. it happens all the time every day. >> reporter: in recent days turkish intelligence had apprehended this man who they said was a fixer for three british school girls who made it into syria to allegedly join isis. it turns out the man was a double agent, the turks say, also working for a coalition country fighting against isis. what attracts teenagers to this vicious murderous band of terrorists? analysts say for boys the lure is adventure and the jihadist ideology mixed with some grievance they may have in their home countries. >> for girls, increasingly we are seeing romance as a pathway, where they look at these fighters they make for a dashing figure and some of the girls have wanted to go over and

marry these warriors on the battlefield. >> the parents of these kids are often first generation immigrants. they don't really understand the internet that well and they certainly don't understand the ins and outs of youtube, facebook and twitter and all that. >> reporter: the flow of teenagers from britain is disturbing. today an 18-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of preparing to join isis. he was picked up before trying to leave his hometown of birmingham england. and there were the three teenaged girls seen at the turkish border in this new video who got from britain to syria without their parents' knowledge. british officials say in the past year 22 women and girls have been reported missing by families who fear they traveled to syria. >> the british definitely have a problem, and they have been trying to look at ways that you can find the danger signs. >> british officials would not comment when we asked about the idea that they may have a specific problem stopping teenagers from defecting to isis. but they are admitting they do need help from parents. police there have just launched

a radio and tv ad campaign targeting mothers in immigrant communities, pleading with them to talk to their children especially their daughters, about the dangers of traveling to syria. >> the dangers are enormous. they may get there, they may never leave. that's one of the big problems. thanks very much brian, for that. he was certainly tortured tortured by jihadi john and threatened over the time he was being tortured with beheading but a former isis hostage lived to tell the world all about it. he is now giving the inside story of his nightmare. let's go to our justice correspondent pamela brown, for more. >> this is the first time we are hearing from a former isis hostage about these gruesome details of daily physical and psychological torture at the hands of the man known as jihadi john. this former hostage is just now giving his bone-chilling account of his six months in captivity after being released by isis a year ago. reunited with his son in spain, javier espinosa finally saw the end of a hellish journey that led him face-to-face with jihadi john.

captured by isis in the fall of 2013 espinosa a journalist for el mundo, described the torture he suffered at the hands of jihadi john in an article he wrote for the sunday times in the uk. espinosa said at one point, the infamous masked terrorist held a sword to his neck and said feel it? cold isn't it. can you imagine the pain you'll feel when it cuts? unimaginable pain. espinosa seen here in an interview with el mundo says jihadi john relished scaring the hostages with gruesome details of how he would slaughter them telling him the first hit of the sword will sever your veins. the second blow opens your neck. you would make some amusing guttural sounds. i have seen it before. you squirm like animals, like pigs. the third blow will take off your head and put it on your back. when he was finished with the sword, espinosa says jihadi john put a pistol to his head pulling the trigger three times. >> javier espinosa wrote this as a decorated war correspondent

and explains why people haven't been talking. they were told by isis if they talked about their captivity, all of the remaining captives would be punished. there is essentially only one captive left and that's why javier wrote this piece and talked about it. >> reporter: espinosa was held with more than 20 other western hostages in syria, including americans james foley, steven sotloff and kayla mueller who are all now dead. espinosa says kassig told him of his own torture saying when they realized i was american and that i had been a soldier in iraq they went crazy. they hung me from the roof and started beating me. i thought they were going to execute me. sometime later, he was beheaded. the gruesome video posted on the internet. an isis defector who witnessed some of the beheadings also said during a separate interview with sky news that isis reveres jihadi john as the quote, big boss who is the only one in the group allowed to kill foreigners. wolf? >> pamela brown, thanks very much. joining us now, our cnn counter

terrorism analyst philip mudd. also joining us paul cruickshank and our national security analyst fran townsend she was the homeland security advisor to president george w. bush. i want all of you, stand by for a moment. we will take a quick break. when we come back there is lots to discuss about these teenagers heading over to try to hook up with isis. [ hoof beats ] i wish... please, please, please, please, please. [ male announcer ] the wish we wish above all...is health. so we quit selling cigarettes in our cvs pharmacies. expanded minuteclinic for walk-in medical care. and created programs that encourage people to take their medications regularly. introducing cvs health. a new purpose. a new promise... to help all those wishes come true. cvs health. because health is everything. meet the world's newest energy superpower. surprised? in fact, america is now the world's number one natural gas producer...

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we're back with cnn counter

terrorism analyst philip mudd our terrorism analyst paul cruickshank and national secure analyst fran townsend. paul has it become more or less difficult for these young western recruits of the united states or from europe to enter syria? >> it's become more difficult because the turks have been cracking down on this. they are saying they have to smuggle recruits across the border that sometimes these recruits are having to crawl under barbed wire. there has been improved intelligence sharing between western countries and turkey as evidenced by those arrests in istanbul of the three north london teens over the weekend. that intelligence sharing has led to more than 12,500 names being added to a do not enter turkey list but they are still concerned that significant numbers are managing to get into syria. of course turkey is a top travel destination for tourists

as one cnn senior counter terrorism official told me it's difficult to distinguish who is going to turkey for a beach vacation and who is going there to wage jihad in syria. >> let me ask phil to weigh in on that. explain what goes into identifying potentially stopping these young people from going into turkey and then sneaking cross the border into syria. >> well i agree with paul. this has gotten a lot more difficult. simple reason. back ten years ago, for example, you could look at a central node of recruitment, focus your sxwrenls intelligence on that recruitment, relatively small number of people. now when you talk about thousands in iraq and syria you don't have a central node so you have to look at the central media sites. that's a huge effort imperfect and increasingly really interesting, you are seeing security services, police services in places like australia, establish dedicated units in airports saying where's the 15 or 16-year-old with the one way cash ticket. let's talk to him.

>> fran is there any useful intelligence that can be gathered from these young recruits these teenagers, who may be stopped from -- once they're in syria, once they're aligned with isis hard to get out of there. before they get there, any useful intelligence that can be gathered? >> absolutely. in fact perhaps the most important thing that they can reveal is who helped them who facilitated it in the countries they were leaving. in the case of great britain, was it an imam, who gave you the money, who helped you get the travel documents, what flight who helped you make those flight arrangements. how did you know what to bring with you. there's a whole bunch of intelligence that not only helps you understand the pipeline they are in but it allows you then to go back and track to see did these people facilitate others who did you miss what kind of intelligence network is there in these source countries for these recruits. >> i know paul you have been looking into the number of young western women, american women, european women, who have actually been recruited by isis. what are you learning about

them? >> well there's growing concern about this, wolf. our viewers of course have seen that video of those british school girls going across over into syria and the worry is this has become the new normal according to western officials, more than 500 western women have traveled to join the jihad in syria and iraq. over there, up to about a fifth of all foreign jihadis are now women. women are traveling with their husbands there, they are traveling to find husbands there. they want to be the mothers of a new generation of jihadis over there. growing concern about this. >> amidst all of this the u.s. embassy in riyadh saudi arabia has now canceled all consular services they did yesterday, a normal working day, in saudi arabia today as well due to what they are calling heightened security concerns. this is in riyadh saudi arabia. what's going on? >> you know wolf people often forget it was years ago that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula,

the al qaeda group in yemen, launched a very sort of brazen attack on the u.s. consulate. they were actually able to breach it and raise an al qaeda flag. you've got the sort of traditional threat al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. you've got the saudis surrounded by shia militias to the north in iraq to the south in yemen, the houthi to the east in bahrain and to the west in syria. you have that added to the mix. then add to this the foreign fighters. we worry about foreign fighters coming back here. saudi has seen a good number of young men between the ages of 18 and 25 go to the fight and they have always been worried about their returning. remember there was a danish citizen shot by terrorists inside saudi arabia not that long ago. we have seen increasing presence on social media of isis flags being raised inside saudi arabia. so there are multiple threats. it shouldn't be surprising to anybody that the saudis are very concerned about this and taking it quite seriously. >> phil you spent a lot of time

in saudi arabia. what does it say to you? >> the saudis are not fighting the iranians. this is the sunnis fighting the shia. it goes back centuries. we have not only the surrounding, as fran said, of iranian activity we also have nuclear negotiations where saudi arabia is looking across the strait of hormuz the strait separating them from iran saying wow, if these negotiations continue we have the prospect from their optic, agree with it or not, of a nuclear capable iran across the strait. this is a remarkable time. >> you heard the saudi intelligence chief, he was the saudi ambassador here in washington telling the bbc that a nuclear program, if iran gets a nuclear program, saudi arabia's going to start enrich ing uranium as well. >> the problem is you can have a bad deal or you can have us back out and have no deal. the saudis are saying we don't want a bad deal. my question to them is what are you going to do what threat are

you going to make when there's no deal and the chinese, russians and iranians say they will go ahead with the program. >> i will read you the quote. if iran has the ability to enrich uranium to whatever level, it's not just saudi arabia that's going to ask for that. the whole world will be open -- will be an open door to go that route without any inhibition. that's a pretty ominous statement. >> that is. i think this is a fait accompli. the iranians have a huge scientific military establishment. we are trying to contain it. we will see where we are in the 20 years. the answer is already written. iran will be nuclear. >> let's hope not. phil thanks very much. fran thanks to you as well. paul cruickshank, as usual. up next police deny shocking allegations they beat the man arrested for shooting two officers during the ferguson demonstrations. right at the top of the hour vladimir putin resurfaces and makes startling claims about the dangerous risk he was willing to take to seize part of a neighboring country. hey, you forgot the milk!

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breaking now, an unexpected turn of events in ferguson missouri. st. louis county police strongly denied allegations that police beat the suspect accused shooting two police officers. live to cferguson. what do we know about the shooting of these two police officers? >> reporter: the suspect is 20-year-old jeffrey williams. he is being held in a jail on a $300,000 bond. he has been charged with a series of fellony charges, including first degree assault. williams according to the

prosecutor here in st. louis county has been inteararinteararear gated and he said he was involved in an alteration when the shooting took place. he is saying he wasn't trying to shoot at the police officers and that's why he wasn't charged with other charges more directly associated with the wounding of those officers. the good news is here hearing the officers have been released from the hospital and republicanare making a good recovery. >> what about this accusation that the suspects supposedly was mistreated while in police custody? >> reporter: this came from a bishop highly involved in the protest movement here over the last few months. excuse the ambulance. bishop told cnn who met with williams yesterday that he was severely beaten by police after

being taken into custody. we're told by st. louis county police officers in a statement earlier today saying that these allegations of will yaps being mistreated are completely false and that he had been interviewed on videotape and checked out by a nurse after he had been take noon custody. >> what do we know about the supposed argument the suspect was having that according to his own statement led him to start shooting? >> reporter: well that's what investigators say they don't have a good enough handle on. they are still trying to get into that. the prosecutor said that we don't necessarily buy this story at this point. but they say they want to talk to more witnesses who were there. we're told that williams was seen at that protest wednesday night, left the skoon and came back in the early morning hours of thursday morning. prosecutors say they're trying to track down more witnesses to learn more about what exactly that altercation was all about. >> ed we will check back with you. coming up after a ten-day absence, putin reappears once

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happening now, alive and armed. one year since seizing crimea putin reappeared. now he is putting russian troops

on alert and revealing he was ready to put nuclear weapons on standby. more from state department spokes women. under arrest police respond to allegations they beat a man who they say is admitting to shooting two police officers in ferguson missouri. was he actually aiming at the cops or someone else? no palestinian state. on this the eve of elections in israel elections he may lose benjamin netanyahu courts right wing votes vowing there won't be a two-state solution while he is prime minister. is he playing politics or rejecting the plan he once supported? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you are in "the situation room." we're following new developments in russia where 38,000 troops thousands of military vehicles and dozens of warships and planes are on full alert right

now. the country's northern fleet ordered into war games on the same day president putin made his first public appearance after not being seen for more than a week. and now he is revealing how close the conflict in cryimea came to a nuclear war. we're covering that with our correspondents and the state department spokeswoman. barbara starr has more. what are you picking up? >> reporter: maybe putin did have a head cold for the last ten days. but that's not stopping the questions about what is really going on behind kremlin walls. putin reappeared for the first time in ten days making light of his absence saying it would be boring without gossip. gossip that captured world attention not seen since cold war days when ousted soviet leaders suddenly failed to appear. did this russian leader have the

flu, back trouble? even reports he went to switzerland to be with his girlfriend for the birth of his baby. publically russia and the u.s. making light of it all. >> was the president policed to ed to see putin resurface? >> reporter: they believe he was ill but always in charge. not so fast say some experts. >> had had you this situation, they would have had a photo op. >> reporter: is putin always wanting to be seen as the strong man in a weakened political position? >> there may be something going on that we don't understand. >> reporter: putin has been under fire by protesters after the murder of his opponent boris nemtsov. there is more trouble as russians begin to realize they are losing troops in the battle for eastern ukraine.

according to a new report from britain's independent royal united services institute, some russian units are so decimated by casualties that new ad hock units are being formed in the field. they have sent in teams to keep russian solders from retreating. some russian conskriptss are being signed into signing long-term enlistment papers. u.s. military officials say he is sending increasing numbers of nuclear capable aircraft into cryimea though no nuclear weapons. he ordered snap military exercises of the northern fleet in the arctic according to state-run media involving some 40,000 troops. the pentagon warning the arcticitarizemilitarize. >> four will be in the arctic.

>> reporter: if you thought all of this wasn't enough in a new documentary seen on russian state tv says he thought about putting those nuclear forces on alert a year ago during the crimea crisis. that he thought about doing it. he referenced it as a worst case scenario. but another indication that putin is using his military to stir up tension and that is a huge concern, wolf. >> it certainly is understandably so. thanks barbara, very much. john kerry and his iranian counterpart plan to meet tomorrow in switzerland after five hours of talks today on containing iran's nuclear program. a source tells cnn the iranians are raising the issue of the letter from senators warning the deal could die when the obama administration ends. jim acosta is standing by. it sounds like this letter could be having an impact on the

negotiations. >> reporter: it's having an impact. the president is furious about it. senior administration officials say negotiationotion negotiators did raise the letter in the talks that are under way in switzerland. u.s. officials are confident the letter will only be what they are calling a distraction at this point. cotton is not backing down saying he has no regrets about the letter which was signed by 46 of his gop colleagues and complained about the negotiations to iran but the flare-up with republicans was enough for the white house chief of staff to send his own letter assuring congress will have a vote on the sanctions that would have to be loosened at part of any deal with iran. in a new excerpt, president obama said cotton's letter was damming to the nation. here is what he had to say. >> this is a good example, i think, of where the state of our politics that leads republicans to be more worried about a tea party primary than they are

about what ordinary folks are thinking. it damages the country. it daniels s damages our standing. it's not productive. in this day and age where we have such big issues, we can't afford it. >> reporter: josh earnest said they are missing a key point that there's no deal yet. ernest said the white house would rather congress hold off on any votes well beyond the end of march when a framework agreement must be reached and at least until june. that's the deadline for a final deal. wolf that's months and months of congress holding off on any legislation. it's doubtful that republicans will go along with that not even talking about democrats. they're likely to balk as well. >> thanks very much. let's get more on what's going on. jane joining us is the state department spokeswoman. what happens to this deal -- we don't know if there will be a deal. but if there is a deal, what happens if congress in a roll call vote rejects it?

>> first of all there isn't a vote that congress is going to have on an up or down vote on a deal. they will have a role. congress will continue to have a role. when it comes to a point in the process where they would roll back sanctions. that's always been the case. the letter reiterated the role that they would have. >> what if a vote to eliminate or he's up sanctions against sanctions they reject what the secretary is maybe promising the iranians as part of a deal that the u.s. will loosen the sanctions. >> we have been having this debate for some time in congress. the question is is what is your goal here? if we are reaching a deal where we can prevent iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon where we can roll back the steps they have taken forward, why would you need to put sanctions in place? sanctions are not a hard vote. nobody should forget that president obama and secretary kerry were the ones who led the fight to put sanctions in place. the whole point was to get the iranians to the table. they are at the table. now the point is to see if we

can come to a comprehensive deal. >> many members of congress not just republicans, but democrats say it was congress that put pressure on the administration to impose the sanctions against iran in the first place. >> well secretary kerry was chairman of the senate foreign relations committee at the time. he worked very closely with president obama. they felt that was the strong step and it was the right policy to move forward. they will lead the charge -- >> what if you have to ease sanctions. >> you know how i feel about hypotheticals. >> it's part of the deal. but congress doesn't approve it. >> congress doesn't approve easing sanctions as part of the deal? >> let's say that you make a commitment as part of the agreement with the other permanent members of the u.n. security council and germany. one feature is as part of iran living up to its commitments the u.s. will ease sanctions, sanctions imposed by congress which have to be eased by congress. what if they decide they don't want to do it? >> any member of congress will look at the totality of the deal as they should. what are the components that

lead to preventing iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon? what does it require from us. i would remind you that we have been briefing congress on this issue probably more than any other issue during this administration. they are very up to date on where things stand. there's no deal to brief them on. we will have a discussion at that point. but their role is some time from now. >> the three of the key u.s. allies in the region the government of israel usa well know the government of saudi arabia the government of united arab emirates they don't like the deal. they are worried about it. what do you say to the friends of the united states when they raise the alarm bells? >> secretary kerry went to saudi arabia to have this discussion not because they have shown the resistance to the deal or resistance to a deal that people seem to indicate but because they are part partners and countries we should be briefing. the fact is that they agree that iran having a nuclear weapon

would be detrimental to the region. they don't want iran to have a nuclear weapon. that's why we want to keep them up to date. >> the saudi prince the former intelligence chief, he was the ambassador here in washington he told the bbc, if any deal allows iran to continueenrich ing ing uranium, others will want to also. >> every component of the deal is vitally important. we will brief our partners on. the third piece here is that we're not opposed to peaceful 'nique yard pow nuclear power. that's something many aspire to. then certainly, they would be meeting requirements. it's about preventing them from taking this into a detrimental direction. >> the los angeles times is reporting that the u.s. in recent years built a replica of

iran's nuclear reactor to see how long it would build a bomb. is that true? >> i don't have any comment on that. the main point is that we want to get to a one-year breakout time. that gives us plenty of time more than enough time by most analysts to take any action if needed. >> stand by for a moment jen. much more including what's going on with putin. a quick break. more with the state department spokeswoman when we come back. the lexus command performance sales event has begun. command track-tested precision with the fastest-growing automotive luxury brand on the road. including the exhilarating is. powerful gs. and first-ever rc coupe. with more new models than ever there's never been a better time to experience lexus performance. during the command performance sales event. get great offers on our most dynamic models.

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we are following disturbing news from russia. putin revealing on state russian tv that he considered putting his nuclear weapons on alert as russian forces were annexing crimea from ukraine. back with the state department spokeswoman jen psaki. are you worried are you, the united states government about what's going on with putin right now? >> certainly, this is one of the countries that we watch very closely. i think if we step back for a moment here wolf it's hard to believe that with their economy in tatters and going into the toilet he would spend two hours on a documentary or more time about himself. that does tell you something about what's happening in russia and the propaganda machine at work there. >> it seems to be making him more popular despite the collapse of the economy and oil is on a low point, the sanctions

have been having an impact. his numbers go up and up and up. >> unlike in the united states there's no situation room in russia. there's no free media that's prevalent in russia. i think they get what they are fed, which is a little bit different. >> are we on the verge of another cold war? >> i certainly would not put it in those terms. there's no question we're deeply concerned about the actions and the rhetoric of russia. the actions they have taken in ukraine over the last year were just about the one-year anniversary which is what the documentary was about. since then we have seen the detainment death, suffering of many many people in ukraine, a sovereign country. that certainly is of big concern to the united states. >> was the secretary of john kerry, your boss did he make a mistake, did he misspeak when he said over the weekend that the u.s. is willing to negotiate some sort of settlement with the syrian leader? >> well first i think people forget because this process has been on hold for so long that it

has always been the plan that members of the opposition would talk to members of the regime. sure he was shorthanding but it was representatives of the regime. it would be be mutual consent. both 150id both sides would agree who is at the table. that's consistently been our position. the opposition could talk to themselves and that wouldn't produce an outcome that would bring an end to the suffering of the syrian people. >> as you know in syria, the last few years, more than 200,000 syrians have been killed in this brutal civil war that's been going on. let me play a clip. this is two years ago, susan rice the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. she's now the president's national security adviser, she was on my show. we spoke about her message, what she would say. >> your days are numbered and it is time and pastime for you to

transfer power responsibly. the more damage you do in hanging on. >> that was three years ago, february 7, 2012. he is still hanging on. >> yes, he is. unfortunately, there have been an influx of outside support and outside help. we have been talking about foreign fighters. there's been the help of iran hezbollah. that has impacted and boosted up the support. i spent a lot of time with secretary kerry. he feels the same way. there's no place for assad in the future of syria. he is a brutal dictator who killed tens of thousands of his people people. >> just to be clear, it made it sound like he was willing to negotiate. >> i think it's important for people to understand what we believe a political negotiation that would require both sides at the table is the way to bring an end to the suffering. it's not a military solution. that's consistently been our position. >> the israeli elections are tomorrow.

today the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu says if he is re-elected there will be no two-state solution. what do you say to that? >> i'm going to be very careful. we have been very careful not to engage in or insert ourselves into the israeli elections. they are tomorrow. a lot of things are said leading up to an election even here in the united states. we will see what happens after the election and certainly our belief is that a two-state solution is the only way to bring peace and stability to the region. >> the u.s. supports israel living alongside a new state of palestine. let's say he gets re-elected, that would undermine the relations. >> let's see what happens. >> what happens in the election tomorrow. it's going to be very close. we will have special coverage on the election coming up. what's going on in saudi arabia? the u.s. embassy, we're told services yesterday and today have been shut down because of

heightened security concerns in saudi arabia. what's going on there? >> one of the things the state department does is inform american citizens and people around the world when there is a credible threat when there's a threat that people need to have information about. so what we did here is we put information up publically over the weekend, our embassy services have been shut down for two days. i don't have an update when they will reopen. we take every precaution to protect american citizens. >> this is a major u.s. embassy. there are a lot of americans working there. are those americans and their families -- they are there as well. are they in danger right now? >> we have not changed our staffing. we have not changed anything in that regard. obviously, we take every precaution as it relates to security. but we also have a responsibility to provide information we have access to. that was the case here. >> i'm going to end with this video. i will show it to you and our viewers. this is john kerry. he is there. he is riding his bike in

switzerland, getting exercise. he is in the middle over there you can see him in the dark jersey. he is in pretty good shape, isn't he? >> he is. he is a renaissance man. i can promise you for the record, i was not involved in the biking event. >> he is on the phone there. he is taking -- is he speaking to you? was he calling you to ask what's going on? >> no. he spends more time on the phone with his interlockers around the world than any predecessors. >> i assume that's secure right? >> he doesn't have to do every phone call secure. co-have been talking to his daughter. >> could have been having a private conversation. >> could have been. >> thanks for joining us. the outgoing spokeswoman. good luck in your new job. just ahead, new details of the man police say admitting to shooting two police officers in ferguson missouri. was he aiming for someone else? police responding to an

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police in ferguson missouri, are denying an allegation that the man suspected of shooting two police officers was beaten in custody. now we're learning details of the shooting which has sent tension soaring. what's the latest you are seeing over there, ed? >> reporter: wolf last week some law enforcement officials here in the st. louis area described the shooting as an ambush of two police officers. now prosecutors are saying that the suspect in this case might not have been shooting at the police officers at all.

the gunfire set off a frenzy of fear just outside the ferguson police department. now police say jeffrey williams admits he fired the shots that wounded two police officers during protests last week but the 20-year-old insists he wasn't aiming at officers. prosecutors say williams might have been shooting at someone else in the crowd. bishop derek robinson spoke with williams. he said williams is remorseful about his actions. >> he told me he was -- he had been robbed and he was self-defending himself and wished that he could replay that all over again. he was very hurtful for what happened and that he was very apologetic. he told me he said that's not the way he is. >> reporter: prosecutors have charged williams with two counts of first degree assault and for firing a weapon from a vehicle as well as three counts of armed criminal activity. williams was already on probation on a charge stemming from receiving stolen property. the st. louis county prosecutor is skeptical of williams' story.

>> he may have had a dispute with some other individuals or felt some dispute. we're not sure we completely buy that part of it. >> reporter: the prosecutors said investigators are trying to interview witnesses and learn about the altercation which led to the shots being fired. bishop robinson also accuses law enforcement officials of mistreating williams since he was arrested saturday night. >> he was brutally beaten by the police. and he was sore still had bruises around his neck his back and his entire body. also was denies medical attention. he was placed in isolation when he asked for medical attention. >> reporter: monday the police department called those allegations completely false and added in a statement that every person who enters justice services is seen by a nurse who evaluates each inmate to see if they are fit for confinement. the nurse released him as fit for confinement.

wolf a slice of good news. the two police officers that were wounded last week we are told they are making a good recovery. >> good to hear that. thanks very much. let's dig deeper right now with don lemon, john gaskin antonio french and tom fuentes. take a look at this video. this was the scuffle right before the two police officers were shot in ferguson. the suspect, jeffrey williams says he wasn't aiming at the police but opened fire he acknowledges after a dispute with other individuals. what was going on here? >> well there was a fight earlier. i'm not sure if that was mr. wilson -- williams or if that was someone else. regardless what apparently this suspect did was irresponsible, dangerous, a criminal act. it harmed two law enforcement officers and it also harmed the efforts of protesters out there and put their lives in danger as

well. he won't get much sympathy from me. >> do you believe he was beating up by police while in custody? >> i don't know. i haven't seen any evidence to that. if he has been mistreated or his civil rights have been violated that's something we should look into. but i haven't seen any credible evidence to that. i'm sure he will attain an attorney very soon and we will hear from his attorney. >> tom, you were there in ferguson on friday. we remember your reports walking up and down the hill outside the ferguson police station. does this story that he is telling of being in a car, not aiming at the police but shooting at somebody does it make sense to you? >> no. no wolf. i think that the fact that those officers were standing side by side when they were hit just sounds like if he is up the street 100 yards away plus having a scuffle with somebody, fires four shots and they happen to hit two officers standing side by side that sounds a little bit hard to believe for me. >> civilians protesting had moved away from the area making

it very -- a straight line from atop the hill. presumably he was in the vehicle shooting. it was obviously going to hit the police. >> right. >> i can tell you -- >> go ahead, don. >> when i was there, i spoke to several witnesses. we talked about that video that you have of the altercation. apparently -- this is according to them. there was a young lady in the crowd. she had her child with her. some of the protesters were questioning the hour and whether it was appropriate for her to have that child with her. the child had a toy gun with him. they were questioning that. they went back and forth about that. who do you think you are talking to, this is my child. that's when the altercation happened. the reason the officers don't get involved is because they are on high alert about civil rights being accused of that. so if it's an altercation or something like that that does not involve them they are not being directly threatened then they may not -- they probably won't get involved in it

because, again, they don't want to start a bigger commotion. they are told to stand down pretty much unless it affects you. the officers out there all know most of the protesters. they have seen them because they are there almost every day. they know what's going on in the crowd. >> they also say most of them that this jeffrey williams the suspect in the shooting of the two police officers was not one of the usual protesters who would show up. john gaskin i want you to look at facebook posts. we believe these are from the suspect jeffrey williams' page. in one post he references the looting and in another he expresses disdain for police. he shared a re-enactment video of the michael brown shooting. was he just out there that night to cause trouble? this wasn't necessarily an outside agitator. he is from the st. louis area right? >> that's what we are hearing. you know i don't flow this particular gentleman. i've never seen him before. but what i will say is this. i have to agree with antonio

100% on this a protester or not to have a firearm out there with that many people around not only did he put other civilians at risk, but he obviously hurt two law enforcement officers. so i don't think there's very much sympathy to be had for this situation here. what i do hope is that he will receive an impartial process and they will get to the bottom of what happened and who injured those two officers. because a great number of people were put in harm's way that evening. >> they certainly were. antonio, do you know where this suspect got that gun? did he legally have it? did he steal it? did somebody give it to you? do you have any idea? >> i don't know. i haven't heard any details on the specific weapon. in st. louis and in missouri it's very easy to get a gun. missouri gun laws are very lax and so it's easy. many people have them. protest site is not a place to bring them. definitely not to fire into a

crowd. >> tom do you have any idea where he got the gun? >> no i don't. one of the concerns the police have here -- much has been made of whether he was a protest heer or not. they don't want him to show that protests were inclined to be violent. if he's not a protester, here is your typical 19-year-old kid with a loaded gun, gets in an altercation. claims he had been robbed. does that mean that neighborhood is so violent in maybe? maybe that's why the police are concerned for their safety. >> look at this picture. it's a smiling darren wilson the police officer who shot and killed michael brown. a picture reported at a fund-raiser held for him by st. louis area law enforcement legal support group entitled hunt for justice. what do you make of this? >> well you know it's tough. some people say it's not appropriate for him to be out. i have to say in the -- to the

investigations that played out and the grand jury and the department of justice, which showed that he -- there was no reason to indict him, i think if you are innocent and -- you go on and live your life. he can judge whether it's appropriate or not. i think considering the findings that it is -- i'm sure he wants to move on with his life. if people are helping him out and he's having financial issues because he's no longer with the police department that's america. he is found not guilty. >> let me ask antonio french what do you think? >> people have a right to support who they want to support and help who they want to help. i know just a few weeks from the shooting even before the grand jury came back he had already raised over half a million dollars by some estimates that amount has grown to over a million dollars now. you know his supporters have a right to support him. it does anger and really irritate people who have been

supportive of the brown family and recognize a young man died. it's distasteful in their eyes for somebody to profit from that. >> give me a quick thought, john gaskin. >> well, don is right. it's his right. now, i certainly would not be boasting about that or promoteing that via social media. that's my opinion. but it's his right, a very unfortunate situation. >> he will have legal expenses because there's a civil lawsuit, wrongful death lawsuit that's going to be filed. >> wilson said his only childhood dream was to be a police officer. he probably never will be able to do that again. we don't know how he is going to earn a living in the future and pay legal expenses. he is bound to get sued civil soon. he will have financial costs with no real means of getting it other than this support. >> tom, antonio, john don -- don will be back later tonight with more on this. all the day's important news "cnn tonight" 10:00 p.m.

tonight. don will interview trinidad james, 10:00 p.m. eastern. we will watch. just ahead, a shocking turnaround by israel's prime minister. is it a desperate move hours before a very close election? hello. i am here to offer sophisticated investing strategies. my technology can help you choose the right portfolio. monitor it. and automatically rebalance it. all without charging advisory fees, account service fees or commissions. that may be hard to compute. but i'm a computer. so trust me. it computes. say hello at intelligent.schwab.com

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just over six hours until voting begins in israel on an election that poles indicate could unseat the prime minister

benjamin netanyahu. now he is making a last minute bid for right wing votes. the prime minister showing real vulnerability vulnerability. what are the chances he could lose his job? >> reporter: it's possible wolf. he is down four seats in the polls behind herzog. some of the other left wing parties are also doing very well. it's possible that netanyahu does not have enough support to form a government. but there are more right wing voters and right seats out there than the left. if they come out in big numbers, netanyahu can turn it around with support from the center right, the far right parties. that's what he has been doing last few days making statements about not supporting a palestinian state. he is trying to energize the right to come out and vote. there's some evidence he is starting to turn it around. the israeli channels tonight saying he is closing the gap.

everyone says don't call out netanyahu. >> it's going to be a close election i'm sure. we won't get results until tomorrow night. the last statements that he has been making about no withdrawal from the west bank no concessions to the palestinians no longer supporting what's called a two-state solution israel alongside a new state of palestine. he has supported that over the past few years even though the peace process hasn't gone anywhere. why is he doing this? >> reporter: well you know the left would simply argue he is showing his true colors that's why herzog has pledged to restart the peace process. voters weren't going to vote for him anyway. it's not clear whether the right, who he is trying to get out and vote by giving these statements that the right wants to hear really believes him. i have heard a lot of people don't believe the promises that he makes, particularly on the palestinian issue.

but, wolf, he is distancing himself from the positions that he supported a two-state solution. if he is re-elected this is really going to further complicate relations with the obama administration. kerry -- secretary of state john kerry would like to take another go at this. if netanyahu is re-elected i'm not sure he will be very successful. >> you heard what jen psaki said earlier this hour in "the situation room." she said politicians say a lot of stuff before an election. let's see what happens after an election. it's a close election. he may or may not get re-elected. we will find out soon. thanks very much. we will have much more news right after this. i bring the gift of the name your price tool to help you find a price that fits your budget. uh-oh. the name your price tool. she's not to be trusted.

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. tonight, an exclusive new poll by cnn and orc shows the controversy over hillary clinton's using private e-mail may be taking a toll as she seems to be moving towards running for president. our brianna keilar is here in "the situation room." what's the concern? >> about a quarter of democrats think she did something wrong by using only personal e-mail to conduct government business while secretary of state but a majority of americans view her in a favorable light even though her favorability is down from a year ago.

today at the hall of fame luncheon hillary clinton tried to keep the focus on promoting women. >> where women are involved and therefore the work of peace permeates down to the kitchen table and the backyard there's a much better chance that the agreement will hold. >> reporter: a new cnn/orc poll shows that clinton is taking a small hit in favorability. her favorable rating dropped 6 points since last november. still, at 53%, it's a number that many politicians would envy. 50% of those surveyed say that clinton is honest and trustworthy. >> i thought it would be easier to carry one device for my work and personal e-mails instead of two. >> reporter: republicans, claiming clinton was trying to hide e-mails with the account,

have taken aim. trey gowdy, chairman of the house committee investigating the attack in benghazi, has subpoenaed clinton's e-mails relating to the attack on the u.s. consulate. jason chaffetz is considering doing the same thing. >> there was nothing to hide. >> but now, jeb bush one of clinton's potential rivals who has knocked clinton's e-mail practices practices is facing criticisms from democrats. after he was governor of florida, bush submitted it280,000 of his e-mails to be archived. he posted them all on a public website earlier this year. >> we've now made all of my e-mails long before mrs. clinton's issues came up we made them public for you to see. so it's totally different. >> a spokesman for jeb bush

makes the point that bush's documents are on a website and posted there before clinton under pressure asked the state department to release hers. these concerns about bush's e-mails are not garnering the same level of scrutiny that clinton's have and, wolf there's a point that many are making that being a governor is a very different position than secretary of state, which is obviously one of the top positions in the federal government. >> don't go far away. we have a lot to discuss. also i want to bring in john king and chief political analyst gloria borger and jeff zellany. are the e-mails likely to be a big issue in the campaign? >> i think it's an issue in the precampaign. the burden is clearly higher for those in the public life the longest. for right now, transparency is an issue.

at the end of the day, the elections are about the future and what they are going to do for the future. i think this will blow over as we go on. >> as you noticed, gloria hillary clinton has taken a six-point hit on flavor built since last november. what is going on? >> i think it comes with the territory, wolf when people start regarding you as a politician again and hillary clinton has played a couple of different roles. take a look at this -- we put this together from our polling, this little graph here which i love. june 2008 when hillary clinton just as she ended her candidacy, you see her favorable opinion at 53%. that's exactly where it is right now, wolf again. she was regarded as a politician. if you look at september 2011 her favorable is hugely high 69%. secretary of state, took herself out of the political realm, traveling the world on behalf of

the united states of america, not in the world of politics her popularity was high. so these back to where she was as a politician. again, 53%, there are lots of politicians who would take that number i might add. president obama being first among them. >> look at this number john. has clinton done enough on e-mail? these are democrats. 68% say yes. 30% of democrats say no. >> so you can read that to say, wow, there's an opening. there's an opening. it's a potential opening. the same number say they think she's done something wrong. however, to exploit that opening, you would want to have to cease it. mark o'malley says i don't want to talk about this. bernie sanders says i don't want to talk about this. if there were a credible democratic challenger who would want to go after her, there's a potential opening. democrats see that and say she's taking a hit, she's got some work to do. she's taking a short-term hit

here. the bigger question the reason the poll would be so valuable to us in two or three months from now, lasting damage can she improve the honesty and trustworthy numbers. >> and about half of independent voters say it's a problem. so if it continues to be something that's harped on. >> you've been following the clinton campaign. we can call it a clinton campaign. how worried are they about this? >> i don't think they are terribly worried. you can lock atok at the numbers. yes, she took a hit on favorability and trustworthiness. she's still nine points net favorable. that's not bad. 53-44. and then also when you look at some of the questions in this poll do you believe what hillary clinton says? a majority of people say yes.

and also 57% say that they would be proud to have her as president. that's actually up from 50%. >> let me move on jeff and get your thoughts on this health insurance. obamacare has been in business now for several years. 16.4 million people now have health insurance. republicans are still fighting obviously, to try to repeal it. the law has a major challenge coming up presumably before the united states supreme court. as we know that could be a major challenge. how is this playing out politically right now? >> it's a strong number for the administration. that is the highest point it's ever been. it shows that the republicans could have a problem on their hands. this could be taking something away from all of these people. and there's not much of a backup plan. are the beginning early signs of them in the house and the senate if the supreme court would sort of change that law but it shows that the burden is on republicans but it shows that it's working. yes, some premiums have gone up and it's not totally popular. it's definitely coming along.

>> the supreme court has to decide whether the subsidy states -- if that goes away that could potentially kill the whole program. >> well it could kill a significant part of the program. if you look at these numbers, more than 2 million of the people covered are kids who are under the age of 26 who remain insured through their parents. it's hard to take something away from people politically and that they are enjoying like no pre-existing conditions that people are glad -- >> you can have republicans saying repeal and replace. >> right. >> smart republicans say we need to start talking about fixing and changing not repealing. it's hard to take something away. republicans have problem with nonwhite voters. the percentage of african-americans who have insurance has been cut in half. >> and republicans are hoping to cut into and gain big time here with their uninsured rate falling by over 12%. >> very quickly, loretta lynch.

nominee to be the next attorney general, what's the status of her confirmation? >> well it's all tied up in this piece of legislation that republicans have said that they want to tie her to. and i think that the american public it's why they are sick of politicians and i think they don't want to see it tied up in riggamarole. it's going to be tight. joe biden will have to brake the tie. >> trafficking legislation. >> all right. guys thanks very much. remember you can always follow us on twitter. please tweet me @wolfblitzer. be sure to join us once again tomorrow watch us live or dvr the so you won't miss a moment. thanks very much for watching. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. next, breaking news iran

confronts the u.s. as president obama speaks out against republicans trying to derail the nuclear talks. and breaking news in the case of new york real estate case robert durst caught with cash and marijuana and caught on tape that he killed them all. is he a serial killer. a mega church pastor asking his congregation to donate towards a private jet. is this really god's will? let's go "outfront." good ev