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"shot sh "hot shots" pictures from around the world. follow the show @cnnsitroom. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >> "outfront" next breaking news we now know how u.s. intelligence officials discovered a possible al qaeda attack on american embassies. they cracked their code. that news top of the hour. plus, senator rand paul comes "outfront." we'll talk birthers and sarah palin and a comment about tapping your phone that will probably surprise you. and a serial killer goes on a cross-country murder spree, and tonight the terrifying chilling video "outfront." let's go "outfront." good evening, everyone, i'm erin burnett, "outfront" we begin with the breaking news. cnn reports that u.s. intelligence officials intercepted communications that signaled an imminent terrorist attack on americans. those intercepts led to the unprecedented closing of 19 u.s. embassies and consulates around the world. barbasrbara starr broke the newd she's at the pentagon tonight. barbara, what more can you tell us? >> good evening, they are not only intercepts but those intercepts by all accounts now contain code words that signaled an attack might be imminent, this according to a u.s. sos who has an understanding and access to the latest intelligence about all of this. code words that signaled an attack might be imminent, but they didn't have an exact time, date, place. they didn't know what u.s. installation might be hit, so that is what led to the closing of some 22 embassies and consulates across the middle east and north africa until they could narrow it down to yemen. now we see that focus on yemen. we've seen a number of drone strikes in recent days going after suspected al qaeda terrorists, but it all began with these intercepted communications and, of course, there's the irony, it was intercept conducted by the national security agency, which is under so much criticism from so many quarters now. erin? >> all right, barbara starr, thank you very much for that breaking news. i want to bring in now texas senator rand paul. he has a new book called "government bullies, how everyday americans are being harassed and abused and imprisoned by the feds." senator rand paul, thank you so much. >> glad to be with you, erin. >> you just heard barbara starr talking about, now reporting they clearly say there were interrucepted communications th helped stop a possible plot on u.s. embassies. does that make the nsa surveillance program worth it? >> the thing is, i don't think there's been any evidence that anything intercepted from the program of spying or collecting american data has ever uniquely been used to stop any terrorism. you know, they had a discussion with senator leahy and the committee and they talked about 50 plots and then it got down to 15 and 4 and 1. >> how many had been explicitly stopped. >> i'm not against tapping phones of people you suspect to be terrorists. all i'm for is calling a judge first. i'm not for looking at all american's records, but if an american is involved, call a judge. it's not that hard to get a twarnt. we fought a revolution over separating the powers, not letting police get warrants, you have to call a judge. >> what the united states did in response is close the embassies and there's been this unprecedented spate of drone attacks that happened in the last week, ten days. a lot of people have been killed and only a couple of terrorists. and you can read into that what you will what that might do to the united states. you've said before me you are against drone strikes unless there's an imminent threat against americans. if we intercepted communications that there was a possible plot. is that an imminent threat? does it justify the drone attacks? >> it's not technology i'm opposed to. using drones in warfare against our enemies to save our soldiers, doing it to disrupt a plot, i think there are uses and i'm not opposed to using drones. i am opposed to and think that using large-scale drone use against non-combatants ultimately may not be good for the country because it may ultimately lead to more enmity that it cures. >> sarah palin was asked about something else, not about drones, about the feud. the feud. i'll just use that word for fun here. >> i am from kentucky so we are used to feuding. we can hold a grudge for a long time but i'm kind of wanting to get rid of the grudge now. i want to make up. >> make up with chris christie. >> that's right. i've offered him a beer. we can have a beer summit. i know he's busy. i could even come to new jersey for him. and i might buy the beer and i'm notoriously very cheap. and i would offer to buy the beer. >> offer to buy the beer for chris christie. he might like that. he's got some vacation coming up. i want to play something that sarah palin said. because this puts you in an interesting spot. here is miss palin. >> i'm on team rand. rand paul understands, he gets the whole notion of don't tread on me, government. whereas chris christie is for big government and, you know, trying to go along to get along in so many respects. >> i love an endorsement by sarah palin. what's not to love? >> all right, so you're happy. you're happy she's on team rand. >> absolutely. team rand, you know, whatever that means can include a lot of people. what i've been telling people is that i want to grow the republican party. and that means that some of the libtarian ideas of respecting people's privacy, respecting the fourth amendment, not spying on americans, i think that appeals to a lot of young people and will bring new people into our party if we become the party of privacy. it's hurt the president significantly. >> you know, it's interesting when you say that, though, as a libertarian you've got a tough issue because one of the things that defines the republican party is social issues where the government intrudes or has decisions about what people do. that's exactly the kind of thing that a big-tent republican party might not be able to hold on to to keep winning a national election. right? i'm talking about let's just throw it out there about gay marriage, for example. what are you going to do for gay marriage? to win the general you might need to be for it. to win the primary, you may have to be against it. >> do i have to do something? >> at some point in the primary debate you're going to be forced to answer it. >> part of the republican party being bigger is we agree to disagree. maybe in new york they have a different point of view but maybe we agree to disagree as a union. some of that sort of our ideas of federalism that different states can have different definitions on maybe some of the cultural things that affect our country that we don't always agree on is so that we agree to disagree and then maybe we can become a big party. i'm not one that sort of -- >> you might, look, president paul, i'm not going to take a stand on there, i'll leave it to the states. >> that's where i am. i don't think there should be a connection of marriage to the federal government. >> we're three years away from the federal election. you are talking to your family and making your final decision. senator ted cruz made two trips to iowa. he was born in canada to a mother who was from delaware, a natural born american. a father born in cuba at the time. so, the law, we looked into it, says he should be eligible to run for president. do you agree? >> you won't find me questioning his eligibility. i decided a long time ago i wouldn't be a birther. i'm not a birther for democrats. i'm not a birther for republicans. i'm staying out of that. >> that's a smart move. >> i'm saying out of that one. >> there's nothing good about being a birther. senator paul, thank you so much. always good to see you and finally here on our set in new york. >> glad to be here. still to come explosive new details about san diego mayor bob filner tonight, cnn has discovered that come of his activities may have been funded by taxpayers. and a murderer's cross-country spree. the doj blocking a proposed merger between american and us airways. what does the deal specifically mean for the cost of your next flight? and winners of the power ball jackpot have finally come forward. >> we're happy bunch of group. we're very happy, happy, happy as some of my friends would say. this man is about to be the millionth customer. would you mind if i go ahead of you? instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fifty thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. nobody likes to miss out. that's why ally treats all their customers the same. whether you're the first or the millionth. if your bank doesn't think you're special anymore, you need an ally. ally bank. your money needs an ally. the beach on your tv is much closer than it appears. dive into labor day with up to 50% off hotels at travelocity.