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that's it for us. "ac 360" starts right now. >> piers, thanks. good evening. it's 10:00 in the east coast. we begin with allegations the white house is leaking state secrets, supplying information for political gain. john mccain is leading the charge and has bipartisan support. mccain claims the white house orchestrated leaks to boost president obama's national security reputation heading into the election. the reports include classified data on a computer virus attack on iran, as well as cia drone strikes. >> the release of the information in these articles harms our national security and puts in danger the lives of the men and women who are sworn to protect it. the only conceivable motive for such damaging and classified leaks of information is that it makes the president look good. >> we'll talk to senator mccain in a moment. the white house are flatly denying the charges. jay carney told reporters any suggestion that this administration has authorized intentional leaks of classified information for political gain is grossly irresponsible. i'll have senator mccain respond to that in a moment. all this outrage stems from a wave of news reports of secret operations overseas including an article about u.s. cyberattacks on the computers iran uses to run the nuclear facilities. the reporter david sanger comes out and says his scoop is, quote, based on interviews with current and former officials involved in the program. now some of the information came from current officials working on the program. listen to how sanger refers to the source. quote, he was deep into every step in slowing the iranian program, the diplomacy, the sanctions, every major decision a senior administration official said. a senior administration official. that wasn't the only one. in at least three other recent stories having to do with national security, the source, sources cited were administration officials. one of things that mccain is angry about, they're ignoring the leaks that make them look good. the justice department has prosecuted since cases under the espionage act. that's twice as many as all previous administrations combined. all of them. as far as the news -- new leaks are concerned there are no calls at all from the white house for an investigation to find the source of the leaks. senator mccain however is calling for a special investigator to be appointed. david axelrod, the chief strategist for the re-election campaign said we'll welcome anybody to look at anything. i spoke earlier with senator mccain about the issue. senator, the white house now says that any claim that these leaks are for political gain, which you and others have said, they said it's grossly irresponsible to make that claim. how do you respond? >> who benefits? who's benefited from these leaks? that's what you always look for. obviously, the portrayal of the president as a strong and courageous leader throughout this narrative is what it's all about. and the second aspect of course is that this administration has been blatantly political on all national security issues that i have been observing of. so i think it's very clear that these leaks came from the white house, people within the white house itself. and these people are very politically oriented. >> do you believe that they are authorized by the president, by his inner circle? i mean, do you think this is a plan or do you think this is individuals taking it upon themselves to leak information for whatever reason? >> i have no idea, but i don't think there's any doubt that this is one of the most egregious breaches of national security in recent memory. the director of national intelligence, general clapper said, he's been in it for 30 or 40 years, whatever, he says it's the worst he has ever seen. so this is very serious. so it seems to me why wouldn't -- if it's as egregious and a terrible breach as the director of national intelligence says, why isn't the president calling for a special prosecutor on this? i mean, there should be an investigation and i think it cries out for a special council. >> do you think this is somebody that the -- something that the fbi can investigate on its own? >> i do not. i think it needs a special council, because in the view of me, this is the most egregious breach we have had in recent memory. >> you don't trust that that'll do this? >> i don't know if it's trust. a special counsel has his or her own team, they have the investigative powers that are necessary. i think it rises to that level of concern. >> it is kind of perplexing because on the one hand the obama administration has gone after low-level leaker, whistle-blowers who have released information i guess that doesn't portray the administration well or that they are upset about. and yet, there have been a number of high-level leaks. do you see a double standard here? >> well, i think you could draw that conclusion particularly when you have a private manning who was a private in the army who they're going after full bore as they should for the wikileaks issue and they have gone after low-level cia employee. and yet i have heard no real reaction from the administration. the president has been silent about this. by the way, he has about massacres in syria. but it seems to me that every member of the administration, vice president and president, should be saying, look, this is a terrible breach of the national security and we have to take every step necessary to find those people who are guilty of it and make sure it doesn't happen again. >> so how does -- i mean, what's the next step? how does that actually happen? >> well, it would require the appointment by the president, may require some authorization from congress. we're talking about a sense of the senate resolution calling for it. but, you know, you can -- it's a matter of some mechanics, but you can get it done. >> you mentioned syria. i want to ask you briefly, reports of another massacre happened there, 78 people killed. you and i have talked about this a lot over the last 15 months. people said after the massacre in houla, the killing of dozens of children, more than 108 in total, that was a turning point. do you think that was a turning point looking back on it now or do you think it's -- nobody is really doing anything about it still? >> to be frank with you, i think you and i and others had hoped that it would be a turning point. just yesterday, the president spokesperson, mr. carnie, said he didn't want to militarize the conflict. he didn't want to militarize the conflict with the massacres going on and the president says nothing. the president of the united states says nothing. it's just -- it's just shameful. i can't tell you how disappointed i am. you and i have been over there. i wish more people could have had the same experiences that we have had. the rape and torture and murder go on and it just doesn't seem to matt tore this administration. >> senator mccain, i appreciate your time. thank you. well, senator mccain outraged over the situation in syria. but does the united states have a responsibility to do something about the fighting there? a poll found 33% of americans say yes. it's up from 25% in february while 61% say no. it's down 12 percentage points over the same time period. let us know what you think, follow me on twitter right now. former president bill clinton is apologizing for what he said about the bush tax cuts, which president obama has promised to let expire. not the only thing that he's said that raised some eyebrows. real politics on that ahead. for three hours a week, i'm a coach. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco. in raw politic, bill clinton gave republicans an unexpected gift during a recent interview with cnbc. he talked about how they'll put off the budget desinces until early next year to avoid putting pressure on the economy. and then he said this about the bush tax cuts. >> does it mean extending the tax cuts? >> i think what it means they have to extend -- they will probably have to put everything off until early next year. that's probably the best thing to do right now. but the republicans don't want to do that unless he agrees to extend the tax cuts permanently including for upper income people and i don't think the president should do that. that's going -- that's what they're fighting about. i don't have a problem with extending all of it now. including the government spending levels. they're still pretty low, the government spending levels, but i think they look high because there's a recession. >> well, the bush tax cuts for the wealthiest americans expire in january. the republicans seized on president clinton's comments, putting him at odds with president obama's position. in an interview today with our wolf blitzer, president clinton clarified what he meant. >> i'm very sorry about what happened yesterday. what i thought something had to be done on the fiscal cliff before the election. apparently, nothing has to be done until the 1st of the year. i think he should stick with his position and then negotiate with the republicans when possible. >> well, the timing of clinton's comments is awkward to say the least for the obama campaign. and it also comes on the heels of him praising mitt romney's business. ari fleischer and cornell is here. there are those kind of conspiracy theorists who say this is president clinton getting back at president obama in some way, that they haven't always had the warmest of relationships. do you think these off message statements are deliberate or is it just things that come out in conversation? >> i think the president -- i think president clinton cleared up what he was saying today in the situation room and doubled down on the ideal that in fact the wealthy will have to contribute to long-term bringing down the debt. i think this is much ado about nothing. i know the press loves president clinton. he's incredibly popular. i think your cnn poll has him at 66%. which is an incredible number for any politician these days. i think democrats are all in on that, because let's talk about what clinton actually did. he raised taxes on the wealthy. and he built the economy from the middle out. and guess what happened when he built the economy from the middle out? all boats raised. wall street did well and middle america did well. the same sort of policies that president obama is trying to put in place right now. so we're all in on republicans looking back at president clinton and talking about president clinton because that's the conversation we want to have. >> ari, cornell mentioned that poll. he's right about that poll, two-thirds of the country really like former president bill clinton more than any other living ex-president in the poll. is there any question that having him out there on the stump for president obama is a good thing? >> oh, i think it's a good thing for president obama. he is popular. he has an appeal still to the independents. but you know, anderson, all these issues are kind of the notable, enjoyable side shows of politics. bill clinton said it, i think he meant it, and then he realized he had to realize he couldn't mean it. there's not a chance in the world he thought those tax cuts expire before the election. he knows how the tax codes works. he knew it expired december 31. give him points for creative fiction and crawling back. when rick perry called mitt romney part of vulture capitalism, this is a democrat saying that mitt romney had a stellar business record which he's not taken back. i think he committed the foul of speaking the truth and then the obama campaign punished him for speaking the truth. >> ahead previously said stuff on cnn about mitt romney. and then he kind of walked it back on cnn and he said a romney presidency would be calamitous. is he off message? >> no, he's not off message. you have to take it -- i mean, the president -- president clinton has been fairly clear. mitt romney is not -- has not been a job creator. he's created an awful lot of wealth for himself, but he's not been a job creator. if the republicans want to focus on bill clinton i think the democrats are all in. the same sort of policies of having the wealthy pay their fair share in order to bring down this debt and growing the economy from the middle out and not the top down is what we saw bill clinton do in the '90s. people look back on it and sort of favorability, any incumbent, any politician would kill for a 66% favorable rating right now. there's a reason why voters are still in love with bill clinton, because of the policies that he put in place that grew our economy and grew income for everyone. >> i want to play that sound bite that i referenced. >> the other issue that caused the obama folks some heart burn was when you told harvey weinstein that mitt romney had a sterling reputation as head of bain capital, that he was qualified to be president. this coming after all of their ads, the obama campaign ads, going after him on his record at bain capital. >> but that's two different things. you can be a successful business person. and if you're governor of a state, and you're 35 years old and you're born in america, you're by definition qualified to be president. >> you're suggesting his qualifications were good as a governor? >> yes, but in the same sentence i said he shouldn't be elected because the ideas and policies i don't think they're good for america. >> and then you later said it would be calamitous if he were elected. that's going pretty far. >> if he were elected and if he implemented the policies that he's advocated. >> how does it work when you have somebody out, whether they' they're a surrogate or a supporter, do they get a call after the interview if someone at the white house doesn't like or mitt romney doesn't like? >> it works awkwardly. you bet they get a phone call. i used to make a couple of them myself. yeah, because part of the whole operation of running for the white house is message discipline. you want the surrogates to support it. any time they go off message it's embarrassing, its can create controversy. in this case when we have to deal with the tax cuts in november and december, president clinton's words are going to be fondly remembered by many other republicans and democrats too. but the reason, anderson, i said this is a notable side show, people base on the basis of the president. they don't vote for the surrogates. the surrogates can be helpful, but it comes down to the candidates and that's why i think president obama is in trouble because popularity is not transferable that's why he's in such deep trouble because of the state of the economy. but you never want these things to happen. i'm sure as soon as the president said it, chicago was on the phone and calling. paul begala and james carville and others who are close to the president, maybe even somebody called the president himself. president clinton is very clever. he's smart. he knew he had to rein himself back in because he was making trouble for the campaign he supports. >> all right. a freshman congressman says that president gives special waivers to muslims to avoid tsa screenings. not true. we're keeping them honest, next. 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