Along with former cia officer bob baer. And youll hear as well from soern john mccain. You by want to start with the suspect and a 360 exclusive. Earlier reporting said access to the suspect was being blocked. Intelligence correspondent Suzanne Kelly has learned otherwise. She joins us now. What have you heard . Well, weve heard from a u. S. Government official that the u. S. Does fully intinned and expect to get access to this individual. Theres a little bit of negotiating going on. Theres a process in place. The fbi is expected to take the lead on this negotiation, though intelligence officials are also expected to be in the room when hes questioned. So its not clear so fbi will take the lead on interrogation or interviews, and cia, others, intelligence will be there . Thats whats expected. Exactly. Now, obviously, you understand how this works with Law Enforcement. With fbi taking the lead versus intelligence taking the lead. But were told right now fbi is expected to take the lead in this. So theyre gathering evidence for him that they would be able to down the road uphold in court, but the intelligence agencies will be there as well because they want to know who this guy knows, who he talked, to how many other people that they can link to this attack in benghazi. His name is alli hahzi, correct . Ali anri al harzi. We know he was posting details of the attack as it was happening on his social media website. As it was happening . As it was happening. Which is just spectacular detail. But although when you do Something Like that it makes it a lot easier for people to track you down and find you. We know he went from libya into turkey and that officials in turkey then detained him and turned him over to tunisia and now hes being held in tunisia by tunisian authorities. Cnn has also obtained an email that indicates that within eight hours of the attack on the main compound in benghazi a u. S. Official there was telling the state department and white house officials that the shelter location is under attack by mortar fire, presumably the second compound were talking about where the navy s. E. A. L. S were eventually killed. This appears to be more evidence the Administration Officials were in a position to know a lot about the attack in real time. You i think this raises a really interesting point. They did know there was mortars being used. So they knew there was a militarytype attack. However, if intelligence officials come out the day after the attack with a thread of information like that and thats only one piece of the picture and then they go public with it and two days later they find out theres more to it, it really puts intelligence officials in a position of having to go back and forth with every new bit of information they get and they dont like to operate that way. They like to get the big picture and come with an assessment, actually intelligence as opposed to streams of information. So i think thats one of the reasons why it didnt come out a lot earlier. Sqult thing i still dont understand, and we dont have an answer to this, is that i assume there were debriefings of those who survived the attacks. A number of people survived the attacks. In tripoli, maybe elsewhere where they were brought. And i assume those would have taken place within 24, 48 hours or so after the attacks with the survivo survivors. And why that information that in fact there wasnt a protest before the attacks, that did not get disseminated quickly. I dont think we know the answer to that. The u. S. Was at a huge disadvantage because they dont have its own people on the ground to actually interview these witnesses. So a lot of the information, i mean, cnn was on the ground before the fbi was. They were in benghazi and then taken to tripoli, the survivors of the attack. So you would think those people would have known there wasnt a protest. But again, we dont have the answer on that. Thats one of the frustrating things. Stay with us right now. I also want to bring in cnn krishtd bob baer, former directors of cia operations in the middle east. Also on the phone Fran Townsend, cnn contributor and member of the sigh yais external advisory committees. You know fran recently visited libya and actually met with ambassador stevens. What do you make of this email that was sent to a number of state Department Officials as well as the National Security council . Well, anderson, we shouldnt be surprised by this. Remember, we reported early on, Law Enforcement sources i had spoken to said the state department had real time access to the facts on the ground, because, of course, from the consulate, they called to the embassy in tripoli, that was patched through to state department headquarters. So we knew they had realtime access to information. It is true that in the early going there, is conflicting information, but as you point out, the very same Law Enforcement officials had interviewed at Ramstein Air Force base those individuals who survived the attack as they came out. Those officials confirming what they have heard from the reports on the ground as they one folding were confirmed very early on. And frankly we still dont know why is it that that information was what was communicated by ambassador susan rice to the u. N. , who went out the following sunday and suggested that this was the ruflt a protest. Right. Because the gathering of information within 24 or 48 hours, then the fog of war argument is harder to make because somebody at least in the pipeline had some of the information. Bob, the suspect, this guy you say its significant that the suspect is a tunisian. Hes in tunisian custody, but hes also of tunisian descent. Why is that significant to you . Well, it indicates to me that were dealing with a regional organization. Theres certain information that puts him inside al qaeda in the maghreb. So what were talking about here, in fact he is a true tunisian based out of tunisia. He shows up in libya, participates in a military assault on the u. S. Embassy. We are talking about a militarylike terrorist Group Operating in north africa. And the significance of that is of course that al qaeda in a sense moved from pakistan to yemen and from yemen to north africa. So we have al qaeda is spreading rather than, you know, being destroyed in another part of the world. So its going to be interesting to talk to this guy. If, in fact, he gives up details if he admits to being a member of al qaeda in the maghreb. What do you make of whether the fbi or cia is the one whos interrogating or questioning this person . Oh, i think its a good idea. The fbi is good at this. They you prefer the fbi do it . Much better. I mean, i just i think that the renditions and interrogation tactics, rough interrogation tactics ultimately didnt work. I disagree with a lot of my colleagues. The fbi does a good job on this. Theyve always taken priems mac investigations like this. American citizens were killed. Under american law theyre the ones that should be doing it. U. S. Intelligence agencies now also believe another Al Qaeda Affiliated group had a role in this. What have you learned . One we havent heard of yet and thats al qaeda in iraq. And that would be significant, anderson. We havent heard of them involved in this attack prior to this. In this attack. Exactly. We know theyre a core group of about a dozen of those people who launched the first attack. The bigger group is between 35 and 40 people. We know about 12 of those had some sort of al qaeda affiliation. And for for a long time weve been hearing as bob mentioned they were affiliated with al qaeda and the islamic maghreb. However, were now hearing they may have affiliation with al qaeda in iraq. Thats significant too because if you remember over the weekend there was an attack in amman, jordan which they believe al qaeda in iraq was responsible for that. One of the targets in that attack was the u. S. Embassy. Would that again, i dont want to say what we dont know. But we know that a large number of the people who foreigner fighters who went to iraq to fight and kill americans and iraqis were from libya, particularly eastern libya, east of benghazi and that region. Are those people who just returned home people involved in this attack, do we know have they just returned home and are now living in libya with this foreign terrorist experience or did they purposely come to libya for this attack . We dont know. Its very possible we dont know, but its very possible they went home, and it kind of fits in with what were hearing from intelligence officials, that they believe this was kind of a group of loosely band people with different loyalties and different affiliations. You know, sometimes your cousin may be a member of al qaeda in iraq, for example, and theyll pick up on that through phone calls or social media conversations or Something Like that. Its very possible that they just went home and that they then got together and found out, you know, hey, september 11th and said heres a great opportunity for us, lets go do it. Fran, what do you make of the fact that or the report that its libyans with al qaeda experience from al qaeda in iraq that are involved . Anderson, when i was still in the white house and traveling, i had gone to libya and met with gadhafi and the internal Security Service at the time, and it was one of our chief concerns. We were approaching them to say to them, were concerned about this foreign fighter pipeline that you referred to. And the fear there is not only at the time are you fighting these people that theyre allowing to travel into the war zone that are, you know, harming our troops, but you worry about the bleedoff, that after the conflict these people will go back to their home countries. And it wasnt just libya, mind you. It was all across north africa. Yes, maamen a yemen and throughout the middle east. And this is sort of coming home to roost, that original problem that we saw that foreign fighter pipeline into iraq years earlier. And so while unfortunate its not surprising. These guys returned to their Home Communities with this sort of sense of prestige, having fought in a foreign conflict, they come home and they really take on these leadership roles in local extremist communities. And so in that respect its not entirely surprising but very unfortunate. And bob, weve seen this time and again. Fighters who were trained in chechnya ending up in bosnia during the war there. Now its folks who were trained on the battleground in iraq ending up in libya and elsewhere. Well, anderson, keep in mind these guys are getting military training in combat zones. Its the only place they can get it. Whether its iraq or afghanistan or pakistan, it doesnt matter. They need to pass through the crucible of combat. They get very good. Learn how to lay mortars, learn how to fire rocketpropelled grenades. They know how to ambush an embassy. These people are Getting Better and better all the time. I think what the intelligence communitys problem uss, that they are also wary of our collection efforts, intercepts and the rest of it. And so were seeing a tougher enemy after ten years after 9 11. These guys are theyre good. Suzanne kelly, appreciate your reporting. Bob baer, as always, Fran Townsend as well. Few in the senate have followed this story more closely than john mccain. Hes been critical of security prior to the attack and the administrations 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 emails 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. Thats 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. Theres huge confusion and contradictions. Secretary clinton talked about this today. I just want to play what she had to say. The independent accountability review board is already hard at work looking at everything, not cherrypicking, you know, one story here or one document there but looking at everything, which i highly recommend as the appropriate approach to something as complex as an attack like this. You know, posting something on facebook is not in and of itself evidence. And shes referencing that in one of these emails, one of the personnel in libya said this group Ansar Al Sharia was claiming responsibility on facebook and on twitter and later on they went on to deny responsibility. So your response to what she said. Well, first of all, on that particular issue it is very clear that that organization, which is Al Qaeda Affiliated, were the orchestrators of attack. My only response is facts are stubborn things. There are certain facts we know. We know there were attacks on the consulate in april and june. We know the British Ambassador was attacked. We know the british consulate was closed. We know there were warnings and requests for additional security. Didnt the president know those things . And then of course the days after, the days after the attack, when the u. N. Ambassador kept coming out and saying it was a hatefilled video that inspired the demonstrations. There was no demonstrations. In other words, facts are stubborn things. Everybody knows now there was no demonstration. So im all for a thorough and complete investigation, but certain facts are known and there continues to be contradictions within the government. And we now find out, we members of congress, rather than being briefed, we find out from the news media. We went to a briefing, and with all due respect, im a great admirer of the secretary of state. As you know, before we went out of session. And they told us nothing, absolutely nothing. And the very next day the ticktock of the attack, which by the way lasted seven hours, was in both the wall street journal and the new york times. So theyre not telling members of congress, who have some oversight responsibilities. And again, there are certain facts which are indisputable. And so for us to all wait and reserve judgment is frankly and i will right now, and sorer bet you a dollar to a donut that the results of this review board will not be made public, they will not be able to complete their assigned task until after november 6th. What do you bet . Do you see this as an intelligence failure . Do you see it as a willful misleading of the American Public . Do you see it as both or neither . I think its either willfully misleading the American People, to interrupt the narrative we got bin laden and al qaedas on the run by the way, al qaeda is not on the run. They are all over north africa and northern mali. Theyre doubled in iraq, et cetera. So it interfered with that rhetoric. So theyre either misleading or the degree of incompetence and lack of acting on existing information such as the previous attacks on the consulate in benghazi, for example, is absolute total incompetence. Senator mccain, i appreciate your time. Thank you. Always good to be with you. Were also going to talk to senator mccain in a little bit about Indiana RepublicanSenate Candidates comments on rape a abortion that have caused a lot of controversy. Let you nose what you think. Follow me on twitte twitter andersoncooper. Im tweeting tonight. The attack has become a campaign issue, of course. Seems to have resurfaced over and over. So have inflammatory statements regarding abortion and rape i just mentioned. Another candidate sets off a storm with his words. Well talk about that. And we have raw politics ahead. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods first day of work. And his new boss told him two things cook what you love, and save your money. 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Another male Senate Candidate making waves at precisely the moment when the president ial race has become a fight to win female votes. So with that as the backdrop, heres what indiana Senate CandidateRichard Mourdock said during a debate last night. I struggled with it myself for a long time, but i came to realize life is a gift from god and i think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that it is something that god intended to happen. Just moments later the story went national. By today both Political Parties were fully involved on a president ial level, and republicans, mr. Mourdock included, were trying to do damage control. However, he himself was not backing down. I believe that life itself is the greatest gift that god can give us. And i know because polling shows it at least 80 of all americans, and im sure at least that many hoosiers think that god is the author of all life. And i stand firmly on that belief. He went on to say that those