. >> satellite groups that the pentagon pointed out one of them was this ansar al sharia. he question i was going to ask. you you believe an share al sharia does have contact with al qaeda and you don't believe it was the videotape that ignited this violence. it was a well thought out attack against the baments and the american compound? >> well, if the intelligence community says there were contacts between ansar al sharia and al qaeda i believe them over the "new york times." >> the pentagon issued the report. >> yes but it comes within the intelligence community of the pentagon. but, bill, even if there was no contact, no direct contact with al qaeda, they were still carrying al qaeda's ideology; whether it was al qaeda card carrying al qaeda, it doesn't matter. under obama, the spread of jihadism, a violent islam in all these groups, ansar al sharia, islamic state of iraq and syria, core al qaeda, new al qaeda, call it what you will. >> there is no doubt about it? >> they are haters. >> decided to fracture out and do operations that way because because bin laden is dead

al qaeda attack. >> what are the relations between sharia and al qaeda? >> ansar al sharia of benghazi -- >> i think we're having some problems with skype. david kirkpatrick is joining us. let's try to reconnect with david because we were just getting to the really important questions, questions that erases in that "new york times" article. we'll try to reconnect with david. hopefully that's what happens -- hopefully we'll be able to do that and update you on what we know. clearly, major developments on the whole benghazi investigation right now. stand by. we'll continue this conversation if we can reconnect with david. >>> just ahead, does hillary clinton have a hidden problem in iowa? why she needs to be careful of stumbling out of the gate, even if she's not yet in the race? >>> and can chris christie keep his white house hopes alive? he says mistakes were made in the scandal but will he clear up the controversy? when it comes to good nutrition...i'm no expert. that would be my daughter -- hi dad. she's a dietitian. and back when i wasn't eating right, she got

the department is designating the darnah and benghazi branches of ansar al-sharia in libya and a thirdnch in tunisia as foreign terrorist organizations. it also designated militants including sufian bin qumu , leader of the darnah branch released from guantanamo bay in 2007. >>mark:new this morning out of egypt where voting is underway for the country's new constitution, but not without some violence. shortly before the polls opened, an explosive device went off outside a courthouse in cairo. damaging the front of the building. no one was killed. security is tight at polling stations today to protect voters against attacks by militants loyal to president mohammed morsi. today's vote is a big blow to the muslim brotherhood's campaign to reinstate morsi. it also paves the way for a presidential run by the nation's top general. we're keeping a close eye on the forecast this morning. and red flag warning north and east bay hills. top stories on weather and traffic coming up in just a few minutes as a kron4 morning news continues. 'm er t hill. my by doesn'work the way . pa my prime? 'm er

it was the banner of ansar al sharia, al qaeda affiliate. to my friends at the "new york times," journalism has died at this paper. do you really believe this wasn't a prehe planned terrorist attack -- preplanned terrorist attack with al qaeda affiliates in charge? the general said it was a coordinated military attack and they were lucky to have survived. who started this? who planned this? the man's name is como, the former gitmo detainee. i can't say his last name but i think it is kumi. the man who started ansar al sharia came from gitmo, a former gitmo detainee, a libyan who went back to libya, started this group, the "60 minutes" report identified him and a mr. cat -- khatallah as the organizers of this attack. all i can tell you is there is no mystery about who planned this. it was an al qaeda affiliate in libya and 16 august a cable is sent back from chris stevens to washington at the state department saying we can't defend the consolate because al qaeda ten training camps of al qaeda exist in benghazi. the al qaeda flag is flying. an

the statement department is the day after our four fellow americans were murdered said it was ansar al shariafrom beth jones to patrick kennedy, to cheryl mills to jake sullivan. they admitted that it was a terrorist-linked organizers the day after benghazi. so i don't know why, after a year and a half, they are finally catching up with the rest of the world. >> here's what else i don't get the state department is very specific today. they said that while it was these two terrorist groups, it was not al qaeda. as though that is supposed to make us feel so much better. i mean, does it really make a difference which terrorist cell it is, what name it is? we know it wasn't a video that summoned a bunch of random people there all of a sudden what difference does it make it's not al qaeda and two other terrorist groups? can you explain that to me? >> it makes no difference whatsoever. whether it's al qaeda holding company or limiting partner in fact, they also happened to be wrong, the name mentioned and cited by the state department today was linked to al qaeda back before benghazi al qaeda in li

. >> the state department also designated ansar al sharia in tunisia blamed for this attack on an embassy in 2012, and in libya, blamed for the benghazi assault three days later as terrorist groups. the designation comes 15 months after fox news first reported the al qaeda ties, and the connection between both terrorist attacks. when questioned by a fox producer about its own press release, the state department spokeswoman tried to play down the designation's broader implication. >> you said it has idealogical ties to al qaeda and ties to its affiliates. is that an administratission by administration, the state department, that terrorism is on the rise? >> i would refute that. >> a short time ago, they condemned the violence in iraq. as one analyst noted an all-out offensive by the government could mean higher civilian casualties and further drive the modera moderates to side with al qaeda. it's testing the obama administration's remaining leverage in the region. >> rebel on rebel fighting reportedly has left nearly 500 people dead in the past week in northern syria. activists say battles

an ambitious effort but it left out the pentagon's assessment that the local extremist group ansar al sharia had terrorist ties. on that score the story backed obama administration officials who blame the attack largely on reaction to an american-made video denigrating islam. but a curious thing happened this week when the "washington post" reported that u.s. officials suspect a former detainee at guantanamo bay played a role in the beingsy attack and that they planned to designate his group, part of the same ansar outfit described at length in "the times" as a foreign terrorist organization but a media establishment that pounced on the "new york times" investigation showed little interest in this information. there were few mentions in other news outlets. fox news, which has aggressively pursued the benghazi story, identified the former gitmo prisoner as a suspect 16 months ago. >> the terrorist designation further weakens the reporting of the "new york times" which concluded no evidence of al qaeda involvement. >> reporter: even "the times" had to report today that the administration will

now, we're learning that the administration is ready to designate him and ansar al sharia a terroristth about that today. >> there's no indication at this point that core al qaeda was involved or planned these attacks and these are not official affiliates of al qaeda. >> he has ties to bin laden. he trained with him and in camps in pakistan in 1993. doesn't that give him ties to al qaeda? if you're an aluminous of al qaeda, doesn't that give you ties? to al qaeda? i'm just curious what it ta takes -- what does it take to have ties to al qaeda? is it an e-mail? is it a certificate of completed training? i'm just curious what it takes to have ties to al qaeda. >> they don't give out t-shirs s or membership cards as you know. >> he was identified as an al qaeda member receiving a monthly stipend for his family. >> steve, you and tom johnson have done a lot of reporting on this. it seems to fly in the face of the "new york times" piece that was pretty extensive. >> it certainly does. this reporting invalidates the "new york times" piece. they said there were no ties to al qaeda. no eviden

terrorist groups were involved in the onslaught including two al qaeda affiliates and ansar al shariart says. it shoots down the unsubstantiated allegation the military could have saved the lives of the four americans killed but had been told to stand down. sadly, security conditions on the ground in benghazi remain in tatters. the report notes disturbingly that 15 individuals supporting the fbi's investigation have been killed in libya since the attacks, though it's not clear that's why they were killed. in separate statements at the end of the report the democrats on the committee assail others for misinformed speculation and accusations long after the basic facts of the attack have been determined. republicans on the committee are going after the obama administration for refusing or being unable to attain accountability from the attackers themselves and from those u.s. government officials who made four management decisions relating to the benghazi facilities. singling out for ultimate criticism former secretary of state and potential 2016 presidential candidate hillary clinton. >>

, this is page 10, july 2012, the dia produced a report that discussed rather the founding of ansar al sharianot worthy here this section if you come back to me one second, this section of the senate report is heavily redacted which means it remains classified. right below that it describes how in july 2012 the cia produced a report, entitled, libya, al qaeda establishing a sanctuary. this is on back of our reporting on fox news there was also a report prior to the attack by the library of congress that was declassified talked about al qaeda establishing that presence in libya. most importantly that the likely new face of al qaeda in libya was the former guantanamo detain see, sufina bin qumu who is referred in the report to a primary suspect in the attack. secondly, this is also important that it shows in this report that benghazi had a significant amount of premeditation. the attack on the consulate, the cia annex and there was a failed ambush of the cia rescue team trying to lure them to the hospital where senator stevens had died. martha: so much to the story. catherine, thank you very mu

gregg: doug, if bin qumu, and ansar al sharia, his group, are in fact designated as terrorist organizationsthe benghazi attack, does that pretty much discredit "the new york times" long investigation which said, oh, there's no al qaeda involvement here? >> well, i would think so. i read "the new york times" article and i was frankly a bit flabbergasted, gregg because it seemed to white wash the entire issue to suggest no al qaeda. the film had more impact than we would have ever thought according to them and goodness, gracious, reading the reports this morning, even in "the new york times," gregg, about what the state department is likely to do friday rebuts the central thesis of their argument. gregg: yeah. and a survivor was there and saw everything. >> correct. gregg: told lindsey graham there was no protest out there. >> correct. gregg: more to come i would think. doug, brad, good to see you both. >> thank you, gregg. martha: one of the faithful gets the ride of his life. pope francis picking up a passenger in st. peter's square going for a spin in the pope mobile. gregg: what fun, huh?

. >> reporter: the designation after ansar al sharia and historic ties of ben kumu in pakistan further of "the new york times" investigation which concluded that the attack was solely the work of local extremists, jon. jon: what should we be waiting to hear at the state department briefing today? >> that brief something scheduled to begin about 15 minutes from now. the key whether the state department designation includes his historic ties to usama bin laden which are documented in this guantanamo file released by wikileaks. when the white house was first asked about the former guantanamo detainee and his roles nine days after the attack in 2012, jay carney said, quote, it is i think self-evident that what happened in benghazi was a terrorist attack. our embassy was attacked violently and the result was four deaths of american officials and it is worth noting that was the first time that carney had ever referred to benghazi as a terrorist assault, jon. jon: catherine herridge in washington. our national security correspondent, thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome. jenna: a deadly car

al qaeda in the islamic mao greg and ansar al sharia.d them about this security situation was trending negatively and -- jenna: talk about your experience then as you served in the cia. because what's also coming out of this report there was little to know communication between departments. one part of the report said communications between security agencies was so poor the africa command did not even know there was a cia annex in benghazi. would that be typical, peter? is that part of the way that we operate overseas? >> well you have to, information-sharing is so critical but there is also this overlying sort of, overarching principle about need to know. do people need to know everything? because you're worried about certain operations being leaked or disclosed unnecessarily. now like i said, i think there were problems here with information-sharing and obviously our previous example of that was 9/11. jenna: right. >> where we talked about stovepipes among the different security agencies. jenna: ironic here we are back at another terro

we knew that aqim, aqap, the mohammed jamal network, ansar al sharia, founded by a former detainee released by this administration were all involved. this just raises more questions. why were there no contingency plans in place? we had actionable intelligence. the british left. the red cross left. there certainly were no flags flying in benghazi by any western nation. and the consolate had already been attacked. why didn't we deploy immediately with the assumption that there would be follow-on attacks? why were those who paid the ultimate sacrifice left to their own devices that day on september 11 that anyone could anticipate would bring trouble? our generals have testified that the united states was not even looking at libya, but rather tunesia, egypt and the sudden dan. less than -- and the sudan. less than one year after qadhafi, and no one was concerned about safety in libya? does anyone believe this assessment? given the turmoil and danger, did the state department really believe that we could -- quote -- "normalize libya" that the country was stable? this has been an incredible examp

ansar al sharia and the al jamal group. what was "the new york times" up to when they tried to put out that whitewash? was it to help hillary? i'm not in the mind of the reporter but we know according to this bipartisan report, it was al qaeda related and it could have been prevented. >> when you hear even dianne feinstein yesterday saying there's adequate intelligence for a warrant on the attack on benghazi. much too late the admission is coming. there is no expiration date for truth but it should have been demanded and given much earlier. we're going to head over to heather nauert. >> hi, gang. got headlines to bring you. we begin at this hour with a fox news alert. a shooting at a grocery store in indiana leaving three people dead. this happened last night around 10:00 p.m. inside martin's super market in elkhart. police say the gunman who was in his 20's walked in the store and shot a customer. he then walked 12 aisles down and shot a worker. when police arrived, they found him pointing a gun at another employee. he the