0 would say in front of the cameras at pointing to a business or building that would suddenly by decree be under state control. he continued to enjoy strong support from venezuela's poor despite increasing street violence and one of the highest inflation rates in the world. when in good health he was a constant presence on state controlled television, doing hour long speeches that had to be carried on every channel. his absence creates a vacuum of power that opponents and supporters will no doubt try to claim. with divisions between the two sides so bitter whether any transition can be achieved peacefully. >> reporter: we've got the really unsure constitutional situation inside venezuela right now. you have a president who is dead. he was re-elected but he was never officially inaugurated. that means his old term ended but new term never officially begun. what is likely to happen is new venezuela. some cheers ongoing there on the streets. let's get official obama reaction. ed henry joins us with that part of the story. >> reporter: we're still waiting for a written statement by the white house. it should be coming out any moment. we've gotten from talking to officials in private is obviously great relief inside the white house behind me right up until the final moments. hugo chavez and his colleagues were trying to cause trouble for the obama admin u.s. right up until the end. just today his vice president charging that the u.s. government had given chavez cancer, something the u.s. state vehemently denies that chavez had in fact died. he called george bush the devil. earlier in the obama administration, there was u.s. has been getting ready for a long time. there it was inevitablely going to be a transition. >> bret: let's get perspective on what the chavez passing means his death means, congress ed royce joins us. thank you. your reaction to all this. >> its blow to socialism and potentially blow to iran because higo chavez used that position to help iran skirted sanctions. he used his position as dictator in venezuela. he essentially back dictator by scrapping the constitution, by seizing assets, by seizing the means of communication, but what is interesting now, even under this constitution, elections have to be held in 30 days. he lost narrowly to a very positive popular governor who will now charge his vice president which doesn't have the same persona has higo chavez has. >> bret: how much do you know about vice president maduro? >> he does not elicit the same level have enthusiasm on the street. as opposed to the marathon runner who is the governor who runs a state very well at a time when the rest of the economy is absolutely in a state of implosion. really is a stark contrast to those who feed on class hatred. i think offers a real optimism, a real hope and fact that he came so close in the last election despite the attempts to skew that election, i think really put in place in the next 30 days a real opportunity for venezuela. >> bret: there have been some bright spots in venezuela, economically. venezuela is not one of them. what do you think this means for u.s. venezuelan relationship potentially and also for the region, what it means strategically? >> a blow for ecuador and socialist government in bolivia and in cuba. a real possibility, a real possibility there can be a different model, a model based on what we see in colombia today where you see tremendous opportunity, economic growth, prosperity created. it is now, think, people in the absence of hugo chavez will compare their situation and how much ground they've lost compared to what they are seeing in their neighboring state in colombia. i think that that is perhaps the most hopeful thing in terms of a new direction in latin america. >> bret: steve mentioned it and ed mentioned it the country with the largest oil reserves in the world. secretary clinton when secretary of state called it dirty oil. it's not saudi arabia, it's venezuela, still it has a lot of power on the oil marketed. will this have an affect on any 2456? >> twad so badly managed over the last decade. if a competent government comes into power and if that oil so the world market instead of used for all of the chavez attempted to use it for, i think it will bring more abundance into the markets and fields will be far more productive without chavez there, without his micromanagement of what used to be a fairly efficient operation for oil fields. i think its positive all the way around. >> bret: we're going to check in live in venezuela. i would be remiss if i didn't ask you about the benghazi investigation. last time we had you here, the benghazi, libya committee hearings were ongoing. we're going to turn now to a story about that. where does that stand? where are you? are you still investigating? what has happened? >> we are doing exactly that. we have demanded a series of communications and records from the administration. our investigators are looking into that data. at the same time there is breaking news, there is an individual windyed in that attack who is here at walter reed and we're very interested in interviewing him. >> bret: quickly, our access to the people who are believed to be behind this, one of them is in egypt and we still haven't talked to him? >> exactly. that is absolutely unbelievable that we in the united states could not obtain access to those who participated in this, who had knowledge about it and it's being blocked. we want answers as to why we cannot obtain the facts and interview those who had a hand in this and why they are not brought to justice. >> bret: thank you. thank you very much for coming in. john kerry tells they are training anti-assad officials, it's the first acknowledgement and adds another element in syria's brutal civil war. james rosen talked one on one with the new secretary of state today. >> if one issue dominated the agenda on this trip, it was the civil war in syria. [ gun shots ] >> kerry organized a conference in rome to steer more non-lethal aid, but he appeared to confirm alleging a more direct role. >> the u.s. has begun off-site training for some forces in that conflict. what is your hope for how that will help contribute to a speedy exit from assad and do you see it expanding in the future? >> i think what president obama is hoping to build on what has already happened. now, the president has ratcheted up through the meeting in rome which we brought about inviting countries to come in order to send the signal that we are determined to change president assad's calculation. that is one part of it, but other nations are doing other things. >> reporter: later a senior state official said he was referring to the totality of effort at rome. he dises closed for firgh time efforts he has made as secretary to acquire a better you can of the benghazi attack. >> why have we not heard from any of the benghazi survivors? >> well, i can't tell you the answer to that. i can tell you i have visited with one of the survivors at bethesda hospital who is doing very, very well. >> will we hear from them? >> i don't know what the circumstances are of any questions to talk to him. >> reporter: president obama vowed that the perpetrators would be brought to justice, it's been six months. will we see justice brought to those perpetrators? >> i hope we will. i know the president is committed to try to do so. i have personally talked to the f.b.i. director to get a brief on exactly where we stand in that process. >> reporter: what did he tell you? >> he told me literally on the eve of his departure to go to tripoli in order to talk with people that they are doing everything they can within the f.b.i. to conduct their investigation and to lay the groundwork in order to be able to bring justice. >> reporter: we are six months out? >> justice sometimes takes a while when you operated by high standards and when you need the levels of evidence that we do. we are working at it and continue to work at it. >> reporter: as the tenth anniversary of the iraq war nears, i asked him if he still believes it was a mistake? >> i believe that getting our troops out of iraq which is what the president did was right thing to do. if you talk to almost anybody here in the region as i have in the last days, turning the region up side down in a way that that did has created serious security challenges for people throughout this region. think we can be proud of what we achieved. i think our troops did a stunning job. >> and president bush? >> he deserves for troops going in but different issues about the choice going in, but they have given the iraqis to have a democracy that hopefully can work. it's up to them to make it work and we are still struggling with that. >> reporter: in the nine foreign capitals he visited he met close to 40 world leaders. now, he heads back to the oval office to talk to what he calls the guy calling the shots, president obama. senate intelligence committee has approved john been in an as c.i.a. director. before that the administration greased the wheels by providing some documents. senators had demand order the administration's drone program and the terrorist attack in benghazi libya. there are still questions as you've heard about those. the benghazi investigation appears to be stifled elsewhere. katherine has that story. >> at a bipartisan committee, voted 12-3. pick to run to run c.i.a. got the nod of approval. >> this is an agency that most of us think needs oversight and needs direction and needs a director. so i believe that the majority leader will be likely moving cloture shortly. >> reporter: the administration just released the email traffic on the talking points and demonstration for the 911 attack. >> john brennan's ought to be considered on his qualifications, not on disputes on an issue that did not involve john brennan's nomination to be the c.i.a. director. >> reporter: in a letter secretary kerry, frank wolf joins other republicans pressing for the number of benghazi survivors, their injuries and why congressional access to them has been blocked. >> the thought that american citizens have been wounded protecting the annex and nobody even acknowledges their service is incredible. >> reporter: on the investigation, egyptian authorities are still denying direct u.s. access to a man that allegedly set up camps in eastern libya where some of the suspects may have been trained. he tried to raise the access with egyptian president morsi. >> for them not to allow us to interview a person that may have information on the death of an american ambassador and three other people that were killed and others that were wounded is unacceptable. >> beyond benghazi in a move to ease brennan's passage, they provided the legal memos that justified the use of drones for the targeted killing of american terrorists overseas. >> we have worked with the committee to provide information about legal advice and what the president believes is a unique situation and to in doing so help expedite confirmation. >> reporter: the acl sum claims the administration is still withholding drone documents from congress. >> it's unacceptable in a system of checks and balances for congress to only get five of 11 legal opinions. >> reporter: full vote could come as early as tuesday. eric holder will on the hoyle wednesday where they are expected to raise the drone issue and whether they have been blocking congressional oversight. >> bret: up next, pulling back the welcome mat from the people's house.