we are joined by two women who broke news on this story so far, fran townsend and foreign affairs correspondent, jill dougherty. fran serves on the recent advisory board and had traveled to libya and met with ambassador stevens. obviously mrs. smith is upset. you know, it's very understandable why she would be. what is the procedure though for keeping a family informed? she said we will let you know what happened? do they wait until the investigation is over? you would think somebody would be in contact with them. >> there is an office in the justice department. because this is now a criminal investigation, they responsible -- the office of victim/witness assistance. they are supposed to be the advocates inside the apparatus of the u.s. government to get updates, to make sure the families are kept apprised. but you also expect and every department has this. if it's an employee lost, or a member of one of our law enforcement or intelligence service, that agency takes ownership of making sure to shepherd the person through the system and around the system. in many respects, it's sort of incompreh

. >> want to bring in cnn national security correspondent fran townse townsend. she visited benghazi with her employer. explain how a month has passed and worry still trying to figure out what exactly happened in benghazi, the details of this, from the original compound to the annex pound, which involved a rush through traffic, being shot at with two flat tires, going the opposite way of the oncoming traffic to try to get everybody to safety and eventually evacuation is incredibly detailed and horrific and every single step of the way we've had from a lot of fronts this sort of confused narrative about what exactly happened. why is it taking so long? >> the initial -- it would be understandable that the initial story might be confused, right? there's utter chaos. and we often hear it from the military, the fog of battle. that kind of explains the first 48 hours. there is no good explanation for a month later. you have this hearing that begins this morning and just last night sources in the state department leak in advance of the hearing -- >> phone call. wasn't e

fran townsend, we appreciate it. now this. >>> this is i think paul's first debate. i may be wrong.high school, i don't know. >> that's not correct. why? i'll be speaking live with the very first congressional opponent paul ryan ever debated. i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. >>> the supreme court hears a case that could impact affirmative action all across the u.s. and at the center of it all, a white student. >>> plus, prepared for war. everything from body bags to billy clubs found in one passenger's luggage. >>> and -- >> the media lies. the media are for obama. >> i can't stand it. it is brutal. it is one sided. >> gary tuchman follows paul ryan on the trail and hears a lot of doubt about polls. ally bank. why they have a raise your rate cd. tonight our guest, thomas sargent. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally. these are sandra's "homemade" yummy, scrumpti

. >> i want to bring in fran townsend. fran, fran and arwa both have been breaking news on this story really from the beginning. as you know, fran was homeland security advisor during the george w. bush administration, as we often point out, she currently serves on the cia's external advisory committee and recently traveled to libya with her employer, mcandrews and forbes. she had actually met with ambassador stevens. what do you make of the pictures you see of what arwa's talking about? >> as i listen to arwa, it just reinforces what we said last week and we've said from the beginning. investigators have to go there, even if you didn't have all the physical evidence there that arwa just described to our viewers, you would want to know from the witness interviews, anderson, you would want to know measurements, you would want to be able to take people through it to really understand what the dynamic was. but then you see things like handprints and blood samples. one of the things, the first thing you would do, i'll give you

joining me, david kirkpatrick, bob baer on the phone, fran townsend. fran now serves on the cia external advisory committee and recently visited libya with her employer, mcandrews and forbes. fran, every white house relies on information from the intelligence community, getting the experts to help with what to say publicly. you also say there are times when mistakes happen, but you say you don't think this is a mistake. you think they knew more than they were publicly letting on. >> john, look, what we know is in that first 24 hours as americans were waking to this tragic news, that senior intelligence officials were in hourly contact updating the white house. as you pointed out, we don't know what was said in those conversations but i can tell you from having lived through these crises, you're getting a constant feed of what the intelligence community understands about what is currently going on and what has happened on the ground. they will caveat the information because of course in those first hours, there will be all sorts of information, some of

bob baer, as always, fran townsend as well. few in the senate have followed this story more closely than john mccain. he's been critical of security prior to the attack and the administration's handling of the aftermath. i spoke to him earlier today. >> cnn is now reporting that there were about 12 suspects with ties to al qaeda involved in this attack. have you heard anything more about it you can tell us? >> well, the thing i think of interesting news today is e-mails were going back to the state department and being distributed throughout the upper levels of government that this attack was taking place and it was probably by al qaeda. and so again, that brings into question, what did the president know and when did he know it and what did he do about it? both before, during, and after. that's why senator lindsey graham and kelly ayotte and i issued a letter today. the president needs to talk to the american people and tell them exactly what happened. there's huge confusion and contradictions. >> secretary clinton talked abou

we are joined now by fran you townsend and foreign affairs correspond spoent jill doughe y dougherty.an serves on the recent advisory board and had traveled to libya and met with ambassador stevens. obviously mrs. smith is upset. what is the procedure though for keeping a family informed. she said we will let you know what happened? you would think somebody would be in contact with her. >> there is an office in the justice department. the office of victim witness assistance. they are supposed to be the advocates, to get updates, to make sure the families are kept apprised. but you also expect and every department has this. if it is a member of our law enforcement or intelligence service that is agency makes sure to shepherd the person around the system. it is sort of incomprehensible to me these are people, the family members were identified and met with senior officials and it is not as though they don't know where she is. >> initially i thought maybe they were in contact with sean smith's wife who is i guess in the netherlands? >> that is right. with a family that has lost someone,

as well as fran townsend and bob bayer.ased by the boy scouts of america, leaders banned from the organization. scout leaders dubbed these records this perversion files. gary tuckman went looking for answers. we'll also bring you the latest poll results from florida. it's all at the top of the hour. >> all right. see you in just a few moments. and now, questions tonight from a rising star in the democratic party. san antonio has awarded a contract worth several hundred million dollars to a solar power company. not in the united states, where as we've reported, some of those that have been subsidized recently have gone bankrupt. no, one in south korea, beating out those american companies on their own home turf. critics say this deal does not add up. >> the american dream -- >> his keynote address at the democratic national convention, julian castro talked about investing in the american people. but his city, the home of the alamo and the river walk, has decided to send hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from a 25-ye

. >> susan kelly, appreciate, bob bair, fran townsend. few in the senate have followed this story more closely than john mccain. i spoke to him earlier today. cnn is reporting there were about 12 suspects with ties to al qaeda involved in this attack, have you heard anything more about this that you can tell us? >> well, the thing i think that is interesting news today, e-mails were going back to the state department and being distributed throughout the upper levels of government, in this attack was taking place and it was probably by al qaeda. and so again, that brings into question, what did the president know? when did he know it? what did he do about it? both before, during and after? that's why senator lindsbehin l graham, we entered a letter. the president needs to talk to the american people and tell them exactly what happened. huge confusion and contradict n contradictions. >> i want to play what hillary clinton had to say. >> the independent building accountability review board is looking, not cherry picking one story here, one k

. >> fran townsend is joining us, this is the first time hillary clinton said anything about this. do you think this is the end of the story? will this work as far as taking pressure off of president obama in the debate? >> her taking responsibility is the right thing. she says she is responsible and then deflects over to the security professionals who made the decision. security professionals asked for more security in libya. i think this is the beginning of the conversation. she talks about her harrowing night. what congress and others ought to be asking the state department is for are there tapes? are there tables? what are all the documents, all of the things that led up to this night. then she acknowledges that harrowing night and the state department, they were on the phone through the embassy in tripoli, to the consulate in bengahzi with the security officer there. we ought to want to know what did they know? if they're on the phone they probably now it wasn't from a protest. and how did that whole thing, that misunderstanding early on get had? i think this ought to be the b

. >> fran townsend, thanks very much. >>> let's turn to syria right now.rbing grainy video that surfaced online purportedly showing an american freelance journalist who's been missing for weeks. in it the former u.s. marine appears blindfolded and distr s distressed surrounded by men armed with machine guns. our pentagon correspondent chris lawrence is joining us now with the latest. chris, why do u.s. officials suggest this video may have been staged? >> reporter: well, wolf, our sources tell us there are several reasons, not the least of which is the fact these so-called syrian rebels appear to be wearing afghan style clothing, not the kind we normally see in syria. now, u.s. officials say they cannot say with 100% certainty but they say it's somewhat likely that the american in this video is austin tykes. he's a former marine and had been working overseas as a journalist when he disappeared about six weeks ago. in fact, some of our sources say this video someone looked at clips of jihadists and sort of made up this video. they say normally you would thi

fran townsend. a tremendous master of ceremonies this evening.board is because she is bright, capable, and dedicated. she is a straight talker. she knows what she is talking about. she is dedicated to this country. in a room of a lot of ugly and old guys, she is not bad to look at. [laughter] general, thank you for your leadership as well and for your distinguished service to this country. i am honored to be with you this evening. we gather in the middle of a very important national contest. it is one that will continue to play out over the coming weeks in unpredictable ways before a final decision is reached. i want to be clear about where my loyalties lie in this contest. i have always been and will be for the new york yankees. [cheers and applause] i think the score is 1-1. in all seriousness, i really do appreciate opportunity to come back to this great city. new york is a special place to me. i am the son of italian immigrants. both my parents came through new york. that made this a special place for me. i also have the opportunity to be her

laughter] [applause] i also want to thank frank townsend, great friend, and obviously, tremendous master of ceremonies this evening, and the reason i asked fran to serve on the board is because she is bright, she is capable, she's dedicated, she's a straight talker, she knows what she's talking about, dedicated to the country, and in a room of a lot of ugly old guys, she's not bad to look at. [laughter] general, thank you for your leadership as well and for your distinguished service to this country. i am truly honored # to be with you this evening. we gather in the midst of a very important national contest. it's one that will continue to play out over the coming weeks in unpredictable ways before a final decision is reached. in fact, some of the key players are dualing tonight so i want to be very clear about where my loyalties lie in this contest. i have always been and always will be for the new york yankees. [cheers and applause] i think the score is 1-1; right? [laughter] in all seriousness -- [laughter] i really do appreciate the opportunity to come back to this great city. this is -- new york is a special place for me. i'll tell you w