chairman, as you point out and as the fbi director, robert mueller, points out, this could have been a movie thriller, if you will. it's got all that drama, all that intrigue, all that potential. we'll stay in close touch with you. mike rogers, the chairman of the house intelligence committee. thanks very much. >> i was just going to say this was a movie with a happy ending, though. >> i suspect the story is not over with yet. there's more going to come out so let's see what's going to happen in the days and weeks to come. thanks very much. >>> i want to alert our viewers in the united states and around the world, we're awaiting the secretary of state, hillary clinton, she's about to make a statement on what is next as far as u.s. retaliation against iran for this alleged plot. also the suspect, mansesor arbabsiar is expected in court. much more of the breaking news right after this. there's only one bottle left ! i've got to tell susie ! the vending machine on elm is almost empty. i'm on it, boss. new pony ? sorry ! we are open for business. let's reroute greg to fresno. growing bus

the white house continued to pressure fbi director robert mueller for answers. >> we met every day, and that was a subject that was a daily subject for months and months. >> you can imagine, the director of the fbi, bob mueller, comes in each time with a set number of things he plans to brief the president. and much to poor bob mueller's chagrin, president bush or the vice-president would say to bob, "so, how are we doing on the anthrax case?" and you could see poor bob mueller's shoulder's slump. he's like, "we're working on it." >> months go by. the case doesn't get immediately resolved because this is a stone-cold whodunit, and so the pressure starts to mount from outside. >> narrator: then, a columnist at "the new york times" entered the fray. >> "i think i know who sent out the anthrax last fall. he is an american insider, a man working in the military bio- weapons field." >> narrator: nicholas kristof began to insist the fbi pursue a man he thought could be the killer, a scientist he called "mr. z." >> he started running column after column, referring to z in various euphemistic w

director robert mueller so this case illustrates that we live in a world where borders and boundaries are increasingly irrelevant but it's not really the case and how long before we start hearing the bomb around ground of bomb iran crowd trying in here to and we can discuss it as jack rice former cia officer and criminal defense attorney i want to thank you for joining us tonight and i'm just wondering what your initial reaction was when you heard the story because robert mueller the f.b.i. director said that it reads like a hollywood script and if you think about it it really does you have the iranians working with the mexican drug cartels to carry out you know a bomb plot here on u.s. soil that has to do with their mortal enemy the saudi arabians you could make this stuff up. yeah it's very very clear and certain about this or you for obvious reasons you can go back and the road is a bit long standing connections with terrorist organizations around the world and we absolutely have established that and so that's one reason we have to be careful in this and yet at the same time he's d

our producers in washington tell us that attorney general eric holder and fbi director robert mueller holding a news conference in about 20 minutes, a fact we reported to you earlier. the topic we did not know, now we are getting these reports: that the plot reportedly involves iran and plans to bomb both the saudi and israeli embassies in washington, d.c. as well as to assassinate the saudi ambassador to the united states. the details as being reported by another news agency now suggest that the operation that our government conducted began in may when an iranian-american from texas approached a dea informant seeking his help to assassinate the saudi ambassador. again, a news conference on what we are being told was a foiled terror plot by iran targeting the continental united states and these embassies. in less than 20 minutes, right here. >>> another alert now as the news is breaking in missouri in the search for baby lisa. emergency crews at this moment are searching a well under a deck at a vacant home that is nearby the home in which this little girl lived. joining me now by pho

attorney general eric holder and fbi director robert mueller are having a joint press conference at 2nounce a significant national security enforcement action. we're still awaiting details. we'll bring them to you when we get them. stay with us. >>> in other headlines today topping the headlines, a scathing report from the united nations investigation accusing the afghan government are torturing suspects held in custody, including children. the 74 page report details brute will abuses, including electric shocks. accusation that is could complicate u.s. efforts to hand over security responsibility to afghanistan. >>> the trial of accused underwear bomber is under way in detroit. he is accused of trying to blow up a detroit bound flight on christmas day two years ago and is representing himself, but he did decide to have a lawyer make his opening statement. he faces life in prison if convicted. >>> in los angeles today, week three of the conrad murray trial. new details today from the doctor's police interview about how he told michael jackson's mother and his children that the pop star

. >> as you said, all around the world, and global plot, and the director of the fbi robert mueller pointed this out himself. >> this case demonstrates that we live in a world where boundaries are increasingly irrelevant, a world where individuals from one country sought to conspire with a drug trafficking cartel in another country to assassinate a foreign official on united states soil. it reads like the pages of a hollywood script. the impact would have been very real, and many lives would have been lost. >> ok, the americans say they will hold iran responsible, not specify who in iran they are holding responsible. what is the reaction from the iranians tonight, adam? >> we have categorical denials, saying this is a baseless plot. we were told of five individuals in iran that they are holding accountable for this plot. they say they are sanctioning five individuals associated with the iran revolutionary guard corps, part of one unit. xp u.s. and iranian relations to be even further strained by this, and also expect the relationship between iran and saudi arabia to be under new, complex, a

director robert mueller. >> these individuals have no regard for hair intended victim, no regard for innocent citizens who might have been hurt or killed in this attempted assassination. >> reporter: federal prosecutors say the conspirators discussed killing the ambassador with a bombing at a washington restaurant and arbabsiar shows no concern over the potential deaths of innocent bystanders. now, sources say arbabsiar, who was arrested nearly two weeks ago, also talked about wanting to attack embassies of saudi arabia and israel and he also implicated by name one of those officials in the quds force. that man, gohlam shakuri, has now been charged in the case but he's still in iran so he's not in custody. u.s. officials, though, said they monitored numerous phone calls between arbabsiar and shakuri in recent weeks. just a week ago agents listened in as arbabsiar encouraged shakuri to move quickly with the plot saying "just do it, it's late." >> pelley: how did officials take arbabsiar into custody? >> it's a great story. he was tricked into going mexico last month to allegedly meet

director robert mueller described as a hollywood style script story goes like this a fifty six year old american citizen and used car salesmen who also hold an iranian passport working with them being funded by elements within the iranian regime trying to hire hit men from the set as mexican drug cartel to carry out an attack in washington d.c. and kill the saudi ambassador to the u.s. it turns out he was speaking to a da da informant in mexico and was arrested in september but only yesterday the justice department announced the allegedly foiled plot and charges against two men and this was no small announcement the u.s. brought out the big wigs maturity general eric holder to secretary of state hillary clinton and even vice president joe biden who said this today. you know the whole world and the moral of the separation of the arena actions show that whatever action ultimately is taken whether it's an additional sanctions some of which we've already taken and nothing has been taken off the table that the world is united. now other republican lawmakers have gone even further declaring t

director robert mueller talking today on this issue. these individuals had no regard for their intended victim no regard for innocent citizens who might have been hurt or killed in this attempted assassination they had no regard for the rule of law and with these charges we bring the full weight of that law to bear on those responsible and we send a clear message that any attempts on american soil will not be tolerated it is with ramifications of this foiled attack could be enormous here's what attorney general eric holder said about iran's connections to the attack. the plane alleges that his conspiracy was conceived was sponsored and was directed from iran and constitutes a flagrant violation of u.s. and international law including a convention that explicitly protects diplomats from being harmed in addition to holding these individual conspirators accountable for their alleged role in this plot the united states is committed to holding iran accountable for its actions or bodies or and already some republican congressmen are saying th

director robert mueller asked for more information. >> timing issue just is too much of a coincidence to be a reality. >> why was it 2002, f.b.i. agents to allow anwar al-awlaki into the u.s. and there was still an active warrant for his arrest. >> i'm not familiar with the facts you are raising. i would have to get back to you on that. again, i'd have to look into it. we have to get back to you. >> reporter: a former senator investigator told fox he believed anwar al-awlaki's arrest warrant was never provided to them. he says it will take subpoena power to see everything from government agencies. >> i want to see everything in the time frame. >> and that is for congress to do? >> yes. >> reporter: ray has worked for 28 years in public service, he says he is proud of work that he and other agents did pursuing it. >> i had a, serve with great people and we did a lot of great cases. certainly anwar al-awlaki is a sour note on all of that. i want to be done with this person. he a black spot my sional basketball for 12 years. today i own 165 wendy's restaurants. and i get my financing fro

director robert mueller seeking information in guns involve in border patrol agent's murder. but adam shift demanded an end to what he called politically motivated attacks. they asked stephen chu to reconsider the refusal to allow a staffer to testify. they want to question the chief could believe for lone program officer in transcribed interview and say they agreed to interview but without a transcript or under oath. >>> after the break, mitt romney trying to knock herman cain off the top of the polls in iowa. [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. isn't some optional pursuit. a privilege for the ultra-wealthy. it's a necessity. i find investments with e-trade's top 5 lists. quickly. easily. i use pre-defined screeners and insightful trading ideas to dig deeper. work smarter. not harder. i depend on myself the one person i do trust to take charge of my financial future. [ bell dinging ] ♪ we're centurylink... a new kind of broadband company co

director robert mueller seeking information in guns involve in border patrol agent's murder. but adam shift demanded an end to what he called politically motivated attacks. they asked stephen chu to reconsider the refusal to allow a staffer to testify. they want to question the chief could believe for lone program officer in transcribed interview and say they agreed to interview but without a transcript or under oath. >>> after the break, mitt romney trying to knock herman cain off the top of the polls in >> chris: despite his qualify support for the occupy wall street movement, president obama reportedly raised more money from the banking and financial industries than the republican opponents. the "washington post" writes the president has brought in $15.6 million. that is more than all the g.o.p. candidates combined have raised. $12 million of the obama money went to the democratic party. mitt romney is one of the top fundraisers among republicans so far, but no one is sure how much of his money and time he will spend in the state where the nation's first voting traditional

robert mueller described the alleged plot cooked up by iran to kill the saudi arabian ambassador to thenited states. they say it's made up and this is the quote cnn received from the iranian government. "this is a child's story. from our perspective, this is a fabrication." former assistant secretary of state from the clinton administration joins us now. cnn national security contributor and former adviser to president bush is with us. we want to start with a fundamental question of whether senior government official this is iran knew what was going on. i know there's complexity here. the government says no. iran expert came out front earlier. here's what he said. >> iran gains nothing and certainly can't afford open confrontation with the united states. so the accusation that this alleged plot can be traced directly to the highest levels of iran's government i think deserves a good bit of skepticism. >> what do you think, jamie. doesn't go to the top, iran gains nothing? >> i think one shouldn't be skeptical the way reez a says. this high level special forces group has been responsible

. >> fbi director robert mueller says the attacks were planed to kill as many people as possible. mary, back to you. >> all right, vic. thank you. wjz will continue to update you on this breaking story throughout the night. >>> another security scare. when fighter jets intercept the plane and force it to land in baltimore. the aircraft had flown into restricted air space. weijia jiang explains what happened. weijia? >> reporter: kai, as you said, fighter jets were launched very quickly to get that plane out of the sky. the government says it is cases exactly like this one that keeps the whole country on high alert and ready to respond. >> reporter: 6:30, monday night. a civilian plane enters restricted air space, above the nation's capital. >> although 9/11 happened 10 years ago, we still, first and foremost in our minds. and it's scary. >> reporter: the air force scrambles to send two fighter jets to escort the plane out of the area, forcing a landing at bwi thurgood marshall. authorities describe it as a general aviation aircraft that was out of communication. >> you are a train

director robert mueller described it this way, "over a period of time we have been successful in obtaining intelligence not just on day one but on day two, day three, day four, day five, and down the road. and let me remind you, mr. abdulmutallab is associated with al qaeda, the very type of terrorist that would be precluded from an f.b.i. investigation and an article 3 court prosecution by the ayotte amendment. how did this happen? you know how if happened? instead of using coercive tech negs, the obama administration convinced abdulmutallab's family to come to the united states. and his family set down with him and told him, why don't you cooperate with the f.b.i., and he did. that's a very different approach from what we saw in previous administrations when course of techniques are used. -- when coercive techniques were used. but it is not like the tv program "24." here's what we learned during the bush administration. in real life, people will say mig to make the pain stop. they will lie and fabricate and go on and babble as long as necessary to stop the pain of the torture. they often

that's how fbi director robert mueller described the plot.ut when iran spoke they said just like a movie it is made up and this is the quote cnn received from the iranian government." this is a child's story. from our perspective, this is a fabrication. jamie rubin is former assistant secretary of state. and francis townsend and former homeland security adviser to president bush is with us. we want to start with the question of whether senior government officials in iran knew what was going on. i know there is some complexity. iran said. >> iran gains nothing and cannot afford an open confrontation with the united states. so the accusation that this alleged plot can be traced directly to the highest levels of iran's government i think deserves a good bit of skepticism. >> what do you think? i iran gains nothing, doesn't go to the top? >> i don't think that one shouldn't be skeptical, the way reza suggested but one should work on the assumption that this high-level forces group that's been responsible for terrorist attacks in iraq against u.s.

that's how fbi director robert mueller described the plot. a movie it is made up and this is the quote cnn received from the iranian government." this is a child's story. from our perspective, this is a fabrication. jamie rubin is former assistant secretary of state. and francis townsend and former homeland security adviser to president bush is with us. we want to start with the question of whether senior government officials in iran knew what was going on. i know there is some complexity. iran said. >> iran gains nothing and cannot afford an open confrontation with the united states. so the accusation that this alleged plot can be traced directly to the highest levels of iran's government i think deserves a good bit of skepticism. >> what do you think? i iran gains nothing, doesn't go to the top? >> i don't think that one shouldn't be skeptical, the way reza suggested but one should work on the assumption that this high-level forces group that's been responsible for terrorist attacks in iraq against u.s. forces, back against u.s. forces in s

robert mueller said there was no fabrication.nts of the iranian government were ready to spend $1.5 million to hire what they believed was a drug cartel hit squad for mexico. >> this case illustrates that we live in a world where borders and boundaries are increasingly irrelevant. a world where individuals from country sought to conspire with a drug trafficking cartel in another country to assassinate a foreign official on united states soil. it reads like the pages of a hollywood script, the impact would have been very real, and many lives would have been lost. >> this new fallout just this hour, congressman king, the chairman of the house homeland security commit see says iran with was planning an act of war on u.s. soil and chairman king says everybody should be left on the table, everything. as for the saudi response, they released this statement, the royal embassy of saudi arabia would like to express its appreciation to the responsibility agencies of the united states government for preventing a criminal act from taking pla

another point that i would make is that robert mueller believes that -- they are alleging that these men who wanted to plot had other plots in mind against other people here in the united states. not a lot of details on that. but that would also be very significant. this, you can say, is really huge. again, all allegations at this point but the allegations are enormously serious on many different levels. the relationship between the u.s. and iran, the relationship between the united states and saudi arabia. the relationship, the entity between saudi arabia and iran. and then this amazing wrinkle of using allegedly a mexican hit man or -- >> right. >> -- or mexicans to carry out the plot. it's just as mueller said, it's a hollywood script. >> it's a hollywood script he said with very serious implications and if i remember his phraseology, this would have just been an opening act. >> right. precisely. >> and the saudi embassy, right there neat the potomac and near the kennedy center, you see it each and every day. we don't know -- we know the intended target was obviously a saudi ambas

director fbi robert mueller acknowledged the case against ivins was almost entirely circumstantial it have any direct physical evans tieing ivins to the attack. this letter called the quantico letter may be the missing link in that case. sent in the fall of 2001, the same time frame as the anthrax letters and warned of a bioterror attack by a arab scientist. quote. this guy is potential terrorist. this guy has access to many dangerous biological poisons. >> i showed them, statement by statement how they are similar and how they might be coming from the same source. >> scientist dr. assad was cleared by the fbi in the anthrax case. asked about the quantico letter and asked whether it was sent by the same person who sent the anthrax, the quantico letter was thoroughly investigated. the person mentioned in the letter did not mail the anthrax and we were unable to determine who sent the anonymous quantico letter. congressman holts wants a special committee to investigate why the fbi pursued the wrong leads for so long including scientist steven hatfield who reached a $6 million settlement

now the fbi director robert mueller says the case reads like a hollywood script but the brazen scheme many wondering why iran would take such a p provocative action on u.s. soil and how high up in the iranian government does the plot go? joining me to assess fallout is chairman of the house intelligence question mike rogers and david sanger of "the new york times" who has written a lot about these issues. how far up do you believe this goes? was this directed by the top leadership of iran? >> there is evidence and intelligence. evidence is very good that senior elements of quds force clearly knew and sanctioned this particularly activity and what we know about the quds force and how its command and control operates, the closeness of the sxhander of the quds force, that would have to have senior level approve halve something that didn't happen in basement. >> doesn't the united states have to respond? how will it do so beyond sanctions? >> we should respond. you should never, ever allow nation to believe they can commit an act of political assassination on u.s. soil. so, there is a lot

director robert mueller himself, like a "hollywood script." the planners are alleged to have engaged in a "murder for hire" scheme with members of a mexican drug cartel, who turned to be sources of the u.s. drug enforcement agency. joining us now with more: charles savage, domestic correspondent for the "new york times." and abbas milani, director of the iranian studies program at stanford university. charlie savage, fill in the picture a bit. what's known about these two men and how they intended to assassinate the saudi ambassador. >> there are two men charged today. one is at large. he remains in iran. the other whom you mentioned was arrested at j.f.k. airport as he was attempting to fly from mexico city back overseas late last month. he's a naturalized american citizen. he had been living in corpus christi texas working as a used car salesman. apparently this spring his cousin was a member of the kuds force, supposedly, approached him and asked him to recruit a mexican drug dealer who could both kidnap-- which was the plot at the time, la

fbi director robert mueller today said it read like a hollywood script, an alleged iranian plot to hiresins from a mexican drug cartel to assassinate the saudi arabian ambassador here in washington. two men have been charged with the plot and one is a dual american/iranian citizen. the other man, who has not been apprehended, is a member of quds force, iran's special operations unit. there are still a lot of questions about this, not the least of which is how high up in the iranian government this plot goes. to help us understand what's going on, we're joined by nbc national investigative correspondent, michael isikoff, best in the business. michael, what do we know about this plot? it involved the restaurant here in town, almost like a gangland style assassination attempt. like you do in the mob days. >> look, the restaurant is something that was the fbi informant's suggestion. it was a fictional restaurant. there was no real restaurant. and that's one of the problems in sorting out this case. clearly, there was something real there. and this is a wild case, you know, from the mexican

it was click has not been held as a material witness because, in fact, i believe it was robert muellereport to congress he said the fbi had great success in arresting terrorists, and abdullah al kidd was one of them. it was perfectly clear he has not been arrested because they wanted his testimony. it been arrested because they thought he was a terrorist and didn't have the evidence to arrest him because they didn't have probable cause. >> host: after 16 days he was released. >> guest: he was released on a number of stringent conditions. he was not allowed to travel around a certain raise. he couldn't can continue his studies in saudi arabia. he had problems getting a job. his family falls apart. he was traumatized by the experience. never called to testify in the. as time went on he kept having nightmares. just horribly upsetting experience and he was never charged with anything. never any evidence that he had evidently thing wrong. so he finally decided to bring a lawsuit against john ashcroft for using the material witness statute for arresting him. it ended up, that case ended up,