Welcome back. A few quick notes, an exclusive about my first interview with liz wahl, the network has issued a response. We put it on line. And tomorrow night, well have my interview with the opposition leader. That does it for 360 from kiev. Erin Burnett Outfront starts now. Next, was u. S. Intelligence caught off guard in ukraine . Serious questions about when the United States knew about a russian invasion. Plus, a mother drives a van with three children inside into the atlantic ocean. Was it an accident . Well hear from witnesses. And we have new video of what happened that night. A surprising admission today at the Oscar Pistorius trial. A witness said the blade runner asked a friend to take the fall for another shooting that was weeks before he shot and killed his girlfriend. Lets go outfront. Good evening, everyone. Im erin burnett. Outfront tonight, america caught offguard. Serious questions about whether u. S. Intelligence failed to predict whats happening on the ground in ukraine. In a tense hearing on capitol hill, senator john mccain hammered defense secretary chuck hagel, questioning him on whether u. S. Intelligence was even aware of russias plan to invade crimea. Despite all the media reports, our intelligence sources predicted that lavrov would invade crimea . As i said, i dont get into the specifics in open hearing, but if you would like a briefing, your staff on the specifics of your question how about commenting on news reports . News reports are news reports, but thats thats not thats not intelligence, though. Okay. In other words, the fact is, mr. Secretary, it was not predicted by our intelligence and its already been well known, which is another massive failure because of our misreading, total misreading of the intentions of vladamir putin. Another massive failure. Well, the cia responded and were going to ask congressman peter king whether those were fair questions. But first, the pressure is rising tonight on vladamir putin. U. S. Secretary of state john king met facetoface with russias foreign minister lavrov, telling him its time for russia to deescalate the situation. Meanwhile, the situation on the ground in crimea remains tense. A u. N. Envoy was forced to leave the country. He was confronted by armed men, ordered into a car by gunman. He refused. A reporter tweeted this photo of him before Police Escorted him to the airport. This is just a snapshot how tense and on the verge of things are in crimea tonight. Our anna corn is there. Anna, what can you tell us about these armed militias on the ground . Reporter they are certainly everywhere here in crimea. Obviously we saw what happened to robert serry a little earlier this evening and it really caught everybody offguard. It demonstrates how volatile and dangerous the situation is. These thugs, if you like, are everywhere. Theyre dressed in black or in military fatigues. Theyre very suspicious of westerners. Every time we interviewed somebody, they approached us and listened in to what we were saying, if it was anything against this new government thats taken over here in crimea, which is obviously very pro russian. Then that was something that they would address. But these people are very visible. Theyre obviously in government buildings, theyre at the airport as youre trying in. On top of these thugs, these local militias, you have russian troops, some 16,000 that have surrounded or occupied military bases here in crimea. Erin, there are reports that perhaps more will be coming in, in the coming days. Anna coren, thank you very much, reporting there live. Its that kind of reporting that makes a difference, because its hard for anyone to know whats going on. The number of troops, is it 6,000 or 16,000 . Congressman peter king is on the house intelligence committee. Great to talk to you as always, sir. This issue about intelligence. John mccain obviously aggressively questioning secretary hagel today about what the u. S. Knew and what he calls another massive intelligence failure. The cia got really i think its fair to say pod about this. Their response, since the beginning of the political unrest in ukraine, the cia has updated policymakers to ensure they have a timely and accurate picture of the unfolding crisis. Any suggestion otherwise is flat wrong. Do you think john mccain went too far . Well, im on the intelligence committee. What i would say is that the invasion or the incursion was not predicted. However, it was among a list of possibilities. I think if ive spoken to chairman mike rogers. Were going to hold hearings, do an investigation as to if more intelligence could have been gathered or was the problem with the analysis . Now, the cia is right in that they did give that as a possibility. But they certainly didnt say it was going to happen. I cant go too much further other than to say we certainly were never told definitely or even probably there was going to be any type of incursion by the russians. The question is i have, whether or not there was enough intelligence or whether or not the analysis was done properly, or we just cant get inside putins head. But clearly, we were not anticipating this level of attack and incursion by the russians. That is something that as were going to have i believe an ongoing series of crises with the russians, we have to do better in the future. Obviously the cia was one of many things that were listed. So its not as if you knew point blank this is going to happen. But i also know thats how intelligence reports are done, theres various options and i understand that. What about john mccain in general . He has been incredibly critical here. Lindsey graham also. But john mccains called the president s Foreign Policy feckless. Lindsey graham went even further, linking the ukraine chris else to benghazi. I just want to play that for our viewers. Ive never seen an administration so incapable of following through with what they say they will do, and were all paying a price. Dont tell the world youre going to go to the ends of the earth to get the people that killed our folks in libya if you do nothing about it at the end of the day. Do you agree with this criticism of the president at this time . Well, i have been critical of the president s policies. Im reluctant to say in a time of crisis. Having said that, as long as the issue is out there, i have in conversations with foreign leaders and diplomats, most of whom are allies with ours, said theyre very troubled by the feeling out there, the belief among too many foreign leaders that they cant count on the president to follow through. And syria is an example of that where he basically had countries in the middle east to agree to stand with them if the red line was crossed and then suddenly the president stopped back and brought putin in. Also i think going back to 2009, this whole idea they had of blaming president bush for the breakdown in relations with the russians was wrong. Having said, that it was putin that did it, not president obama. Lets be clear about it. As americans, we have to stand with the president now. Heres the question i have, its difficult for the president , i mean, big picture and little picture. Big picture, the American People are tired of war. They elected him to get out of wars. They dont want the president to go into syria. So hes in a tough spot. Its easy to be someone else and sit there and say oh, we should be doing this and that, hes feckless. But if youre in that spot, its a darn hard spot to be in. Now i wonder if you fear that the criticism of him is going to perhaps force him into doing something now that he shouldnt do . Because there doesnt seem to be in good option right now. This is a great time to throw stones and say this guy is doing a terrible job and thank god im not sitting there. Lets make it clear that im not throwing stones. But since the issue come up, i think the president s policy towards russia is one that we have to change over a period of time. The fact that the president , going back to 2009, was basically giving putin a clean bill of health and blaming george bush for the breakdown for relations with russia set the wrong tone. We should have made it clear that russia cannot be trusted and putin is capable of erratic behavior and aggressive behavior. I agree, the American People did not want to go into syria. I thought we should have launched an attack, but the president should not have said there is a red line that cant be crossed or that he was considering carrying out bombing raids in syria and back away. If he is going to have this policy, which i think to some extent is too is not strong enough, if he is going to have that policy, he shouldnt be laying out scenarios and laying out red lines. Congressman king, thank you very much. Erin, thank you. Still to come, aer haing on capitol hill turns ugly. This is a different hearing. Two congressman in a heated exchange. Something happened thats never happened before when you look at a whole new low in america. Then a pregnant mother drives a minivan with her kids into the ocean. Why did she do it . We have exclusive video of what happened. Plus, shocking testimony from the Oscar Pistorius trial. A friend reveals details of another gun incident involving the blade runner. He said, please take the gun from me. Just take the blame for me. 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[ male announcer ] well be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. I was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. And now ive got to take more pills. Yup. Another pill stop. Can i get my aleve back yet . For my pain, i want my aleve. [ male announcer ] look for the easyopen red arthritis cap. So i got the new nokia lumia icon. Its got 1080p video, three times zoom, and a twentymegapixel sensor. Its got the brightest display, so i can see what im shooting even outdoors, and 4 mics that capture incredible sound. Plus, it has apps like vine and free cloud storage. My new lumia icon is so great, even our wipeouts look amazing. Honestly, i want to see you be brave Hillary Clinton is you believed fire tonight after comparing russian president vladamir putin to adolf hitler. She tried to clarify but she didnt back down. What i said yesterday is that the claims by president putin and other russians that they had to go into crimea and maybe further into Eastern Ukraine because they had to protect the russian minorities. And that is reminiscent of claims that were made back in the 1930s when germany, under the nazis, kept talking about how they had to project german minorities in poland, in czechoslovakia, elsewhere throughout europe. So i want everybody to have a little historic perspective. Im not making a comparison certainly, but i am recommending that we perhaps can learn from this tactic that has been used before. Obviously, the day before she made a direct comparison, so she was trying there to back down but not really back down. Republican senator john mccain was very quick to agree with clintons initial direct comparison tweeting, shes right on this comparison and referenced Hillary Clinton compared putin actions in ukraine to hitlers in germany. Joining me now Michael Smirconish and david ignasius. Michael, finally, democrats and republicans agree on something, putin equals hitler. But hitler killed 11 Million People during world war ii. Handy capped people, gypsies and 60 Million People died in world war ii. All these people saying putin equals hitler. For real . For the reason you just articulated, its why i never make that analogy. I believe that hitler and nazis deserve a special place in history. While im no fan of vladamir putin and what hes done relative to ukraine and crimea, i wouldnt put him or anybody in that category, because i feel that it diminishes what really transpired relative to the holocaust and world war ii. David, whats amazing to me, people are using the hitlernazi analogy in the vernacular in a very disturbing way. But two weeks ago, victor yanukovych, the guy thats been kicked out of ukraine, said were seeing a repetition of the nazi overthrow of the 1930s in germany. I, like michael, dont like hitler analogies. This is a unique level of evil that shouldnt be diminished by frequent comparisons. The Washington Post had a summary today of all the people who have invoked hitler analogies in recent years. There was a very long list, and it was embarrassing to read. Frankly, i thought secretary clintons comment was really unfortunate. The fact that john mccain jumped on it shouldnt really give secretary clinton a lot of comfort. Yes, its true, obviously that putin has used the same defense that hes trying to protect russian speaking minorities that hitler used in trying to protect german speakers. But beyond that, it just seems really inappropriate. David, you spoke yesterday with the former defense secretary robert gates. First, i want to play something peter king just said about red linings and criticizing the president , because it goes directly to the conversation you had with robert gates. Heres peter king. If he is going to have this policy, which i think to some extent is too is not strong enough. But if he is going to have that policy, he shouldnt be laying out scenarios and laying out red lines. Hes got to be consistent. That was obviously criticizing the president , but john mccain using the words feckle feckless, Lindsay Graham being even more aggressive. Robert gates, a republican, told you, urged gop senators to tone down their criticism. And try to be supportive of the president , that this is a time when you need to do that. What do you think is going to happen here . Well, i called bob gates yesterday because i was troubled by the level of intense criticism of the president from senator mccain and senator graham in the middle of what probably is the biggest Foreign Policy crisis of obamas presidency. I wanted to reach out to somebody who has served both republican and democratic administrations. Bob gates has been secretary of defense in both, and ask him what he thought. And not to my surprise, because gates really is, at the end of the day, a pretty balanced, level headed person. He said, this is a time in which criticism of the sort that we were hearing from mccain and graham, it just troubles him. As he said, it shouldnt be that speaking with one american voice in a time of crisis, these days seems like a quaint idea. He said, i find that truly discouraging, and i share that feeling. I thought gates expressed it well and hes a pretty good perp to say that. Michael, as david is saying, obviously you have mccain and lindsey graham, but it wasnt just them. Mitch mcconnell and john boehner also jumped in. We just play those and give you a chance to say, is anyone going to listen to robert gates . When it comes to the president s Foreign Policy, can you think of any place that were better off now before he came into office . With regard to ukraine, with regard to steps that have not been taken over the last three or four years, allowed putin to believe that he could do what hes doing without any reaction from us. What do you think, michael . I wish that they would listen to secretary gates and what david wrote this morning in the charge instead of charges like feckless and weak coming from senate leaders. The charge here is that the president is having sand kicked in his face by vladamir putin. Hes a weakling is what theyre saying and has brought on these world events. Do they believe by criticizing our president on a world stage at a time hes playing role as commander in chief is going to make us more safe. Im almost wishing someone from the white house would make that observation. Seems like they want him to seem weak, even though they say thats the opposite of what they want. Exactly. Thanks to both of you. We appreciate it. Georgia inching closer to legalize medical marijuana. It was sparked by our dr. Sanjay gupta. He changed his stance on the drug last year and in a new oped out tonight, hes doubling down. Sanjay, you used to be on the other side of this. You came out, said i looked at the science and we need to legalize this. I think that ive concluded its irresponsible for the medical community not to be looking at this as a viable option. We prescribe so many different medications for Different Things out there. I gave the example of a child who had epilepsy that was not treatable by modern medicine. Shes on seven different medications at one time or another, any of which could have been so toxic, it didnt work. And then they tried this nonpsycho active cbd cannabis oil. Its not something that gets her high, but its an oil and it relieves her of her seizure. So yeah, i think thats irresponsible and part of the doubling down. Whats amazing, you go in the hospital and something is wrong with you and there, according to the federal regulations, you could be prescribed meth, cocaine, they could use that to help you. But they cant use marijuana . Cocaine and meth are less restricted than marijuana. I tried hard to not inject a moral equivalency in this. People say marijuana and alcohol, drawing those comparisons, those are fair comparisons. But heres the truth. Is it on its own merits . Marijuana as a medication stands alone, and again, you look at the u. S. Research. It may not be that compelling. Why . Because its illegal here. Hard to do research on an illegal substance. In israel and many other countries around the world, you see some compelling research. Big hospitals in jerusalem where people are take thing as a medicine in the hospital. So we have to look around the world and look in smaller labs and make sure we paint not a distorted picture. Sanjay, thank you very much. It is pretty amazing. And sanj