Thank you guys so much. And, of course, on the eve of super bowl xlvii, cnn is live in new orleans, the biggest sporting event in the country. How this game has become a cultural phenomenon. Much, much more. We welcome Rachel Nichols in the cnn Bleacher Report at 4 00 eastern saturday afternoon. Thats it for me. Now to washington to my friend wolf blitzer. A very tough day for defense secretary chuck hagel. Also, an unfolding scandal involving a United States senator denying allegations of prostitution and free plane trips. Eight New York Times reveals its been under attacks for months by someone in china. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. We were bracing for fireworks at todays confirmation hearing for defense secretary nominee chuck hagel but it actually turned out to be even a lot tougher than many of us expected. Republicans grilled hagel raising serious questions about his past statements and positions, especially about israel and iran. At times, hagel seemed to struggle to answer some of those tough questions and other times he gave answers he later had to clarify. Lets go to our chief White House CorrespondentJessica Yellin. Jessica, it was a tough, tough day for chuck hagel . Reporter so far it has been, wolf. Chuck was battered by republicans, forcing some stumbles and bruising. So far, no knockout blow but the day of questioning is not over yet. Former senator chuck hagel sat at the table alone fielding hostile questions, including onetime close friend, john mccain. I want to know if you were right or wrong. Thats a direct question. I expect a direct answer. Im not going to give you a yes or no answer on a lot of things. Reporter that exchange centered on hagels past opposition to the iraq surnl, a surge that mccain championed. No one individual vote, no one individual quote, no one individual statement defines me, my beliefs or my record. We must use all our tools of American Power to protect our citizens and our interests. Americans must engage in the world, not retreat from the world. Reporter for hours, one republican after another accused the former twoterm nebraska senator of shading his true beliefs. Among their concerns, past statements criticizing israel. Do you think its right that israel was committing a, quote, sickening slaughter as you said on the floor and senate. Reporter and intimidation about the pro israel lobby. Name one person, in your opinion, who is intimidated by the israel lobby in the United States senate. I didnt the use of intimidation, i should have used influence. Reporter more questions centered on this report he coauthored which supports the elimination of all nuclear weapons, even if the u. S. Goes first. He said he doesnt agree with all its findings. Why would you ever put your name on a report that is inherently inconsistent with what youre telling us today. Reporter and wolf, the biggest flash point now has to do with iran. At one point the former senator says he supports the president s policy of containment and later had to correct himself to say he meant the opposite, not containment. And then another premise of u. S. Policy, saying he believes iran is a legitimate and elected government. It took a democratic senator to follow up. Listen to this. I do not see iran or the iranian government a legitimate government and id like your thoughts on that. Thank you, senator. What i meant to say, should have said, its recognizable. Its been recognized, is recognized at the united nations. Most of our allies have embassies there. Thats what i should have said. Reporter now, democrats who are close to senator hagel call all of this a lot of gotya questions, wolf, and think that he will still prevail and its tough going and they are back after a lunch break for even more questions. Wolf . Jessica, is there any Immediate Reaction from the white house, from officials where you are right now to the first round of questioning about how hagel is doing . Reporter they have been very careful not to comment on the record only here officially they believe this is an important process. But again, what im saying is that people who are democrats who are close to senator hagel believe this is a lot of gochya and he will ultimately nothing that has happened so far today convinces them that he will nott not be confirmed at te end. Jessica, thank you very much. Joe manchin of West Virginia complained the hagel confirmation had become, and im quoting him now, a toxic process where there is once again quoting, guilt by conversation. Im joined by Gloria Borger up on capitol hill, dana bash. Gloria, it was a tough, tough day for chuck hagel and some people think he didnt necessarily help himself. No. I think he didnt quell any of the skepticism about him and in talking to a couple of republican senators on the hill, the response that i got was that he seemed unsteady in many of his answers, even on the most predictable questions, as jessica pointed out. He was clearly going to get a question from john mccain on the iraq surge. He didnt answer that to mccains liking. And later, you know, on that issue of iran, which we knew was going to be a flashpoint for him, he seemed to confuse the president s policy. Lets take a listen to that. I have just been handed a note that i misspoke and said i supported the president s position on containment. If i said that, it meant to say that i obvious cannily his position on containment we dont have a position on containment. Well, we do have a position on containment, as the chairman of the Armed Services committee carl levin had to point out and that is that we are opposed to containment. We are for the prevention of iran getting nuclear weapons. So that was the president himself says there will be no containing a nuclear iran or will be preventing iran from getting that nuclear capability. Basic question. Let me bring dana up on capitol hill. Whats been the reaction there . You were watching these several hours of hearings. Reporter thats right. They actually took a break for an hour and during that break senators were on the floor voting and as senators like to do, they were gossiping. I talked to many of them and what they were saying is that it was all the buzz on the floor. That they were very surprised that senator hagel is simply not doing as well as many people thought he would. In fact, one senator told me that it is all the talk, i mean, all the talk that the senators are shocked about how ill prepared he is on some of the most basic controversial comments that he made that he and everyone knew would be asked about. Supporting hagel, sort of shaking his head in disbelief says hes surprised hes not more forceful and another undecided senator on this Committee Said that he had three different ways to answer the question on the surge, that he simply got into it on john mccain. So simply put, there is, as i said, disbelief. Primarily not just because as jessica reported he had three murder board but because he knows how this works and so thats why theres a lot of people who were perplexed here. The obvious next question, wolf, is what will that mean for his confirmation because those senators on the floor, they hold his fate in their hands. The answer is unclear. There are still a number of undecided republicans, most importantly, and if somebody actually does block this filibuster, five republicans are going to have to join democrats, assuming they all vote for him. Gloria, what are you hearing . Right now there are 50 democrats, 45 republicans. If there is a filibuster, you need 60 to break a filibuster. What are you hearing about that . If they decide to filibuster, if one republican senator decided to filibuster, one republican senator said to me today, that would be a declaration of war on this president and this senator said its one thing to vote no and another to block a nomination. Susan rice was forced to withdraw her nomination because of the republican nomination. Will the republicans do that again . Does the president have a presumption that he gets his nominees, except in the most extreme circumstances . If they did it once, would they try and do it again . Dont forget, they have to work with this president on an issue like immigration, for example. I think at this point its very hard to know. Yeah. Well, well watch very closely. I was pretty surprised, i must say, watching senator mccain grill hagel and lindsey graham, grill hagel, how tough they were on a former republican colleague in the senate. I knew there would be tough questions. It got pretty tough. Democrats ask tough questions, too. Gloria, thanks very much. Much more on this story coming up later in the situation room. Were also following a scandal that may engulf a powerful senate democrat. Robert menendez denying allegations that he dealt with prostitutes or took free plane trips. Well have the latest on the investigation and the political fallout. And al gore is right now on the spot. train horn vo wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. Norfolk southern. One line, infinite possibilities. And youll dump your old broom. But dont worry, hell find someone else. Whos that lady . Whos that lady . Sexy lady whos that lady . [ female announcer ] swiffer sweepers electrostatic dry cloths attract and lock dirt, dust, and hair on contact to clean 50 more than a broom. Its a difference you can feel. Swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning. And now swiffer wet and dry refills are available with the fresh scent of gain. And now swiffer wet and dry refills. Tax time can ofbe. Well. Taxing. So right now well give you. 10 off any turbo tax deluxe Level Software or higher find thousands of big deals now. At officemax. Delicious. But say i press a few out flat. Add some beef sloppy joe sauce. And cheese fold it all up and boom i just made an unbeatable unsloppy Joe Pillsbury grands biscuits. Let the making begin. Lets see what you got. Rv covered. Why would you pay for a hotel . I never do. Motorcycles check. Atv. I ride those. Do you . No. Boat. House. Hello, dear. Hello. Hello. Oh check it [ loud r b on car radio ] im going on break the more you bundle, the more you save. Now, thats progressive. Ooh baby, can i do for you today . [ female announcer ] need help keeping your digestive balance . Align can help. Only align has bifantis, a patented probiotic that naturally helps maintain your digestive balance. Try align to help retain a balanced digestive system. Try the 1 gastroenterologist recommended probiotic. Align. A scandal involving an fbi investigation and a u. S. Senator may have some huge political repercussions. Today the white house and harry reid are sort of distancing themselves from democratic senator Robert Menendez of new jersey. Jim acosta is following this story here in washington. Our National CorrespondentSusan Candiotti is following the investigation in new york. Susan, lets go to you first. Whats going on . Wolf, senator menendez acknowledges taking three trips on the prif eight jet of his friend. Two for personal reasons in 2010 and one for business. He paid back the Doctors Corporation for the two personal trips to the tune of more than 58,000. That check was written a few weeks ago. More than two years after the trips took place and two months after an Ethics Committee complaint was submitted. Why the delay . Menendezs office calls it a, quote, oversight, but the story, wolf, goes deeper than that. A florida eye doctor and Menendez Campaign contributor with whom the senator stayed is now under scrutiny by the fbi. The west palm beach, floridas office was raided this week. Agents carried out several books of material. The fbi will only say it was conducting, quote, Law Enforcement activity. Melgans attorney says, quote, the government has not informed dr. Melgan what concerns it may have. We are confident that dr. Melgen has acted appropriately at all times. Hes flown on the jet, a 13seater similar to this one. The doctor has a Vacation Home at casa de campo. The Ethics Committee was sent this complaint from a new jersey state senator asking for an investigation into those caribbean trips. The complaint questions whether men nen necklace violated the ethics code by repeatedly flying on a private jet to the Dominican Republic and other locations and soliciting prostitution. After being unable to substantiate the claims, the group referred the allegation to the fbi. More recently, a conservative blog, the the daily caller, published links to videos of alleged prostitutes. It also shows emails that suggest the fbi is investigating but the fbi isnt commenting. The senator says, quote, any allegations of engaging with prostitutes are manufactured by a politically motivated rightwing blog and are false. Susan, what else do we know about this relationship between senator menendez and dr. Melgan . Wolf, senator menendez issued a statement calling the doctor a friend and supporter. Federal election documents indicate that he and his family have contributed 30,000 to senator menendez alone. They are not required to disclose those trips. Susan candiotti, thanks very much. Lets consider the political fallout. Our National Political correspondent jim acosta is here in the situation room. Did you find him . He showed up a couple of times on the senate floor, wolf, but he was very difficult to track down. It appears he did not show up for a policy lunch with Vice President biden earlier this afternoon. He appears to be keeping a low profile these days and thats about it. Those two appearances on the senate floor. The political fallout swirling around senator menendez is unclear at this point. It appears that both ends of pennsylvania, at least for the moment, are backing away from the man who is now the next chairman of the Senate Foreign relations committee. Harry reid cautioned reporters to be wary of the menendez story because of the source of where these allegations came from. However, that was before a menendez spokesperson confirmed late last night that the new jersey senator had reimbursed florida eye doctor 58,000 for those charter flights down to the Dominican Republic back in 2010. I asked senator reid if he knew about those reimbursements and heres what he had to say. First of all, bob menendez is my friend. Hes an outstanding senator. Hes now the new chair of the Foreign Relations committee. Any questions in this regard directing him, i dont know anything about it. And so thats all he had to say there. Cnn has learned that senator reid was aware of those reimbursements when he made that statement. Meanwhile, dick durbin had little to say when asked about the impact that they might have on immigration reform, as menendez is part of the gang of eight working on the issue at the white house. Wolf, there is also no comment. The press secretary jay carney was pressed a couple of times on this, did not have a comment on it. Obviously all of this stems from a story published in the conservative blog, the dale look caller. Wolf, hi a chance to talk with folks at the citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington. They learned about this before this story was published in the daily caller. They learned about these allegations last july, turned them over to the fbi. I talked to the director of crew earlier this afternoon. More on that at 6 00. She does believe that its possible that senator menendez violated Senate Ethics rules by taking these trips and making these reimbursements so late in the day. At the same time, she cautions that you have to be careful about these allegations because they first came out in the daily caller in november just before the election last fall when senator menendez was up for reelection. As you know, he was reelected. Yes, he was. Well look forward to your report at 6 00 p. M. Eastern in the situation room. Jim acosta, thank you. As politicians seek to end school shootings, we have to absorb a new incident. This time at a middle school in atlanta. Thats straight ahead here in the situation room. The senate has just followed the house of representatives in the past legislation extending the nations debt ceiling, this time at least until may 19th. But for practical purposes, probably a few months longer than that. The vote in the senate, 6434. The bill passed the house next week and will sign it into law. There will be an increase in the nations debt limit, at least for the next few months. They will battle over this later down the road. Other news were following, three stories involving highprofile shootings at a time when the nation is struggling with the issue of guns. Lisa sylvester is monitoring that. Some of the other top stories in the situation room. Lisa, whats the latest . At least one person has been shot at a middle school in atlanta. The victim was conscious and breathing when taken to a local hospital. The suspected gunman is believed to be a student and is in custody. Police outside of dallas are investigating the shooting of a prosecutor. District attorney mark haas was gunned down this morning outside the county courthouse. Police arent sure whether haas was targeted or not. And in mesa, arizona, police have south the body of arthur harmon. He appears to have suffered a selfinflicted gunshot wound. And a Chain Reaction accident unfolded this morning on the rouge river bridge. The salt doesnt always work when its windy. At least 15 people were hurt in the accident. It was snowing at the time of the crash but Officials Say that it was a typical winter morning. And in other news, David Beckham is moving back to paris, signing with the soccer club in the french capital. He will donate his wages to a paris childrens charity. He spent six years in the u. S. Winning two titles while playing major league soccer. And ive got to admit, every time i hear his name, i think of that movie. Good movie. Thank you. Thanks very much, lisa, for that. Safe to say, new jerseys senate race could be the most watched