hello. i'm wolf blitzer. 1:00 p.m. here in washington. 6:00 p.m. in london. 11:00 p.m. in islamabad. 5:00 a.m. wednesday in sydney. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. we start with a horrific attack in pakistan with militants on a suicide mission. they slaughtered more than 130 schoolchildren. mostly sons and daughters of military families in the area. our atika shubert has more on the coordinated terror attack and on the innocent victims.

>> translator: the men entered into the rooms one by one and started indiscriminately firing at the staff members and students. >> reporter: the militants carrying suicide vests scaled the walls of the school. they rounded up children and staff, killing many instantly. pakistan's education minister told cnn it was a planned effort by terrorists. >> they had a plot from the backyard of the school. they blew up a car and diverted attention and then crossed the wall and the security guards -- they managed to get inside. >> reporter: the pakistani taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack saying it was in retaliation for the military killing hundreds of tribesmen along the restive border with pakistan.

>> translator: we were doing our schoolwork. suddenly we heard firing and the teacher told us, don't be afr d afraid. maybe a drill has started. suddenly an army officer came and told us, you go out the school's back door. >> reporter: the military moved in and after a six-hour standoff had secured the site. all the gunmen were killed but the ordeal was not over. at the local hospital, chaotic scenes as the scale of the bloodshed became clearer, the death toll climbed. sorrow for some boiled over into anguish. the nation is in shock asking why so many innocent lives had to be lost. and for many parents, the realization that their children will never be coming home from school. atika shubert, cnn, london. >> the images are absolutely gut-wrenching.

young children carried away in ambulances, a teacher burned alive in front of the students, a house of learning turned into a house of unspeakable horror. and prime minister sharif said, these are my children, it is my loss. well, this morning, wherever you live, wherever you are, those are our children. >> that was the secretary of state john kerry earlier today in london responding to that brutal terror attack in pakistan. president obama also condemned the attack saying, quote, by targeting students and teachers in this heinous attack, terrorists have once again shown their depravity. we stand with the people of pakistan. let's bring in our guests, our cnn law enforcement analyst, the former fbi assistant director, tom fuentes. our chief national security correspondent, jim sciutto, cnn global affairs analyst, the managi, bobby gersch.

you're getting more information, jim. what are you learning? >> it's a sickening time for sure. new information from pakistani military officials the attack could have been worse. the military believes these tackers had ammunition and supplies, food and water to last days. the pakistani military believes had those commandos not killed the attackers that the siege of the school would have lasted much longer. the military says this was certainly a suicide operation, that the attackers came to kill and to die themselves and also the latest death toll, 132 children, nine teachers, including the school's principal. 141 total. puts it in a special category in pakistan where you already have attacks with the death tolls 80, 100 more in recent years. >> special because they're going after little schoolkids, not adults. bobby, tell us more about this pakistani taliban known as the t.t.r.

how powerful are they? why do they do these things? >> they've been around in different guises for several years now. elements of the pakistani military and the pakistani sky agency have encouraged them, have given them -- have supplied them. in the last two or three years, their wrath has been turned at the pakistani state. their grievances are quite complex. there are tribal grievances, ethnic grievances. they have this view of the world that we are now familiar with from islamic terrorist groups around the world, they want to return to this idea of pure islamic state as it existed during the time of the prophet muhammad 1,400 years ago. their views about modern education, about women and girls are very retrograde. and they have demonstrated over and over again they have no qualms about targeting children,

targeting school. they have in the past few years targeted over 1,000 different schools, many of them much, much smaller than this one. they don't want any schools at all. they don't want pakistani children to receive what they would regard as a modern, secular education. >> fran townsend is also joining us. tell us about the links between this terror group in pakistan and isis. are there links there? >> reporter: there are. some leaders have recently defected from the pakistani taliban to isis, including -- they just replaced their spokesman. the spokesman who took credit for today's attack was only there about a month because the prior spokesman had gone over to isis. this is a group, by the way, that has been somewhat of a threat to the united states. they claimed responsibility for the failed times square bombing.

they were responsible for the murder of seven cia officers at camp chapman in afghanistan and have threatened directly the united states and british and u.s. interests. and they claimed they wanted to take revenge for the raid against -- that killed bin laden. this is a group, as jim sciutto has said to you, this is a group that really is not only quite radical but has directly challenged the pakistani government and the pakistani military in particular. >> tom fuentes, i can't tell you how many u.s. law enforcement intelligence -- national security officials have said to me just recently in the aftermath of just learning about what happened in pakistan today, if these terrorists are willing to commit such a heinous massacre against schoolkids, fellow muslims, if you will, you can imagine what they would do to americans if they were given a chance. i assume that motivates the u.s. national security community. >> that's true. but i think the community was

already well-motivated. these series of attacks go back more than a decade in pakistan where in the past they've killed hundreds at a time of police officers, hundreds at a time of military officers. and of course that's just business as usual. this time when they attack children, they know that they're getting to our hearts all over the world by killing young children. and it goes back to what bobby mentioned. they are against modern education. so if you don't have a school that's teaching hate of the west, hate of infidels, they don't want that education and are willing to skill children and shoot them in the head to prevent it if necessary. >> that's been the issue. the u.s. has been pressing pakistan to take on the pakistani taliban more aggressively. they've been doing that with a military operation up in the tribal areas. but the question is, what about the other things that fuel this kind of thinking in that part of the country? i've been up on those border areas. they are teaching a view of the world that helps turn young kids

into terrorists. >> bobby, if you're an american diplomat or any american in islamabad or karachi or someplace in pakistan, you have to wonder how safe it is over there. what do you say to folks who may be over there, not only americans but europeans and others? >> certainly very few foreigners dare to venture into peshawar anymore. i'm sure foreigners around the country are feeling that much more -- truth be told, all pakistanis now are feeling threatened. and any child -- any parent who's sending their kid to school, whether it's in karachi, lahore or islamabad, there's a fear factor there. but peshawar is -- you remember the sort of crucible in which modern islamist militancy was created. this is where the cia, the pakistani military recruited young men to go across the border of afghanistan and fight against the soviet union. that frankenstein's monster,

once it was released, has never brought back into control again. and peshawar has become unfortunately used to this kind of violence. only a year ago, there were a couple of suicide attacks on a single church. nearly 130 christians were killed. this number today breaks that horrific record. >> and, fran, i know there have been ups and downs in the u.s./pakistani relationship, the cooperation in terms of fighting terror. what is it like right now? how good or not so good is that relationship? >> well, the pakistani government has had its own sort of domestic political problems. and they're being attacked from their right flank, from extremists within pakistan. there has been an uptick in their willingness to confront the pakistani taliban. but i will tell you, what i worry most about is a tendency in national security circles to view this as an away problem. you remember the times when we heard about al qaeda in the arabian peninsula being only a

regional threat. i think too often people say, we're dealing with isis -- the pakistani taliban is more of a regional threat. well, they're not. they've said they're going to target the united states and they've taken credit for the failed times square bombing. so i think we have to remember, it's important to work through this counterterrorism relationship with the pakistanis because we have our own u.s. national security interest at stake here. >> tom, what is the fbi doing? what do they do about this? >> try to have the closest relation possible with the pakistani military police and isis, their security service. when i ran international operations, i traveled to islamabad where the fbi has an office. and i should add that the level of cooperation or the relationship has been a tricky one publicly with pakistan because there were many times they provided the coordinates of where the drone attack should be done. and after it was done by the united states turn around and

screamed in public, oh, our sovereignty been violated, we're against this, behind the scenes saying, congratulations, you killed some taliban members. so a lot of what they've said publicly is playing to their political audience in pakistan even though they know the taliban is a direct threat to all of pakistan. >> guys, we'll have much more on this developing story coming up later this hour. a horrific, horrific story. more than 130 schoolkids, schoolchildren slaughtered by these pakistani taliban terrorists. much more coming up. also, other news we're following, including the terror threat that hit home for australians. we'll have the latest on the aftermath of that deadly hostage standoff. and on a domestic political issue here, the brother of a president, the son of another president now says he is actively considering running for president himself. there he is, jeb bush, the former florida governor. he's getting ready to run for the white house. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 [ male announcer ] your love for trading never stops,

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the former florida governor

jeb bush now very, very close to running for president of the united states. he's about as close as you get without formally tossing his hat into the ring. bush announced today on social media, quote, i am excited to announce i will actively explore the possibility of running for president of the united states. on his facebook page, the former florida governor says he made the decision after talking it over with family during the thanksgiving holiday. just yesterday, jeb bush delivered the winter commencement address at the university of south carolina, one of the key early primary states. let's talk about what all this means, how bush's decision could impact the 2016 race. joining us, ryan lizza and our chief political analyst, gloria borger. gloria, he'd be hinting for days now. but all of us were surprised the announcement would come today.

>> we thought he might wait till after the new year. but we learned that he was releasing 250,000 e-mails from his time as governor, that he was going to pen an e-book, clear sign. and then today that he's established a leadership pack. six months ago i would have said to you, this man isn't running for the presidency. but i think he took a look at the field and he sees a place for himself in this field. and also he took a look at the democratic field and took a look at hillary clinton and said, i think this time maybe a bush can beat a clinton and that's why he's getting in. >> he also as a former florida governor, pretty popular in florida, speaks spanish, had a lot of hispanic support, florida is critical, if a republican wants to be elected president of the united states, he or she needs to carry florida because the democrat is probably going to carry new york and california. republicans will carry texas. but florida and ohio, that's where that decision could be directly impacted who's the

president. >> both in the primaries and the general election. so in the last few cycles, florida has come right after the three big states, iowa, new hampshire, south carolina. if you put it away in florida, you win the election. and the republicans need to steal one of the big states from the democrat. florida has been trending in the general elections more and more towards the democrats. and jeb bush is the one person running on the republican field that could actually win that state in a general election. >> i've heard in recent days as the speculation about jeb bush was growing and growing and growing to the point that today he's announcing he's creating this committee to explore the possibility, i've already heard a lot of speculation from republican insiders if jeb bush were to get the republican nomination, he would then go to ohio, like the governor, john kasich, somebody along those lines -- >> rob portman. >> ohio running mate, knowing that ohio is critical as well. >> he might be smart to do that. but first he has to get the

nomination. what he said last week -- he's been talking about this publicly. and what i'm told by his close advisers is what he's been saying publicly is what he's saying privately. he said publicly, sometimes you have to lose a primary in order to win the general election. what he's saying is that maybe he does lose a state like iowa but then he can go on to win a state like florida which of course rudy guiliani could not do when he ran. look, jeb bush is out of touch with a great part of the republican party right now. they don't like his positions on immigration. they don't like his positions on education, tea partiers don't have much use for him, he's a bush. they believe the bushes began the end of reaganism. so they don't like him. however, what he is saying is, you know what, these are the things i believe in. and they're going to have resonance with other republicans and with the general electorate. >> he realizes that the hard

right candidate has not won a republican nomination since barry goldwater. arguably, you could make the case for reagan. but when you have bob dole and george h.w. bush and mitt romney and john mccain, they were all candidates of the establishment seen skeptically by many of the right on certain issues. and jeb probably looks at it and says he's not that far out of the mainstream to win this election. immigration and education are two big issues -- >> common core principle as far as education is concerned. and immigration, he's got a much more moderate stance than many of the so-called tea party -- that base of the republican party. >> he's got to make an electability argument. he's married to a woman born in mexico, i speak spanish. i have a view of immigration that will enrich and grow the republican party. that's way to overcome that. >> i'm told there are a couple of reasons he's releasing all these records right now. one is the transparency issue, which is, okay, everybody else

in the republican field, chris christie, scott walker, you've got lots of e-mails -- pressure on those guys to be transparent. the other reason he's releasing these e-mails -- >> and hillary clinton, by the way. >> and hillary. the other reason he's releasing all this stuff is to remind people he's quite conservative and that he stood up for conservative issues, conservative causes when he was governor of the state of florida. and that's why he's writing his book to remind people that he's not just a so-called moderate. but he is actually conservative on an awful lot of social issues that he'd like to remind those voters and say, iowa and south carolina about. >> it's a major political announcement today. >> and one final thing, on hillary, i hear from a lot of hillary people, they want jeb to be the republican nominee. it takes away her big vulnerability. if it's bush versus clinton, they're both candidates of the past. >> but she looks more like change than he does.

because she's a woman and that's his problem. >> a lot of political news today. we'll see what happens. thanks very much. just ahead, other news we're following, including the day after that deadly hostage standoff in sydney, australia. new details emerging now about the victims and a look at how australia is now coping with the threat of terrorism.

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just want to update you on our discussion we just had on jeb bush, the former florida governor announcing the creation of an exploratory committee to consider a run for the white house in 2016. we just learned from a source close to the florida senator marco rubio that rubio himself is on track to run for president in 2016. this source saying even if jeb bush jumps into the race. that's a source close to senator rubio. this is from our chief congressional correspondent dana bash and eric bradner from cnn. we're following this part of the story. the political scene here in the united states heating up dramatically as everyone gets

ready for the race for the white house now that the midterms are history. other news we're following, it's just before 5:30 a.m. wednesday morning in sydney, australia. people there will be waking up to the aftermath of that deadly hostage standoff. authorities are investigating what happened during that nearly 17-hour siege that left two hostages and the gunman dead. reports say the victims, a prominent attorney and the cafe manager, died while trying to protect others inside. we get more now on the standoff, the victims and a country in mourning from cnn's andrew stevens. >> reporter: a bed of hundreds of flowers blanket martin place, the site of a deadly police standoff that claimed the lives of two hostages. each bouquet a tribute to the bravery here. >> this has has been an absolutely appalling and ugly incident. that's the only way to describe it. >> reporter: we're learning about the harrowing story amidst

this terrifying ordeal. after a firestorm of gunshots rang out in the heart of downtown sydney, authorities still piecing together what set off the chain of events, forcing heavily armed police to storm the lindt chocolate cafe freeing the hostages inside. >> they made the call because they believed at that time if they didn't enter, there would have been many more lives lost. >> reporter: some have has t said 34-year-old tori johnson, the cafe manager, may have grabbed the hostage-taker's gun but authorities wouldn't comment on these accounts. shots were heard from the street. during the struggle, johnson was killed. 38 year katrina dawson, a lawyer and mother of three, also died. johnson tees family said in a statement, we are so proud of our beautiful boy, tori, gone from this earth but forever in our memories as the most amazing life partner, son and brother we could ever wish for. for nearly 17 hours before the crisis ended, hostages remained on edge, visible through the

cafe's windows, forced to hold a black flag with arabic writing. some held at gunpoint managing to escape, their mad dash to safety captured on local news. a fuel investigation into the mind and motives of the gunman, a self-proclaimed muslim cleric, is under way. fearing a potential backlash, fellow australians are showing support to the muslim community online. under the hashtag, i'll ride with you, australian twitter showing solidarity, offering to accompany muslims wearing religious clothes on public transport as sydney works to return to normalcy. andrew stevens, cnn, sydney. >> certainly was a shocking, shocking 17 hours, hostage drama in the heart of sydney, australia. its prime minister says it sends shock waves across the country and indeed around the world. >> this is an incident which has echoed around the world.

not only millions of people here in australia but also tens if not hundreds of millions of people around the world have been focused on the city of sydney which has been touched by terrorism for the first time in more than 35 years. >> emma dalimore is a reporter and joins us from los angeles. we spoke yesterday as well. we heard the prime minister say australia has been touched by terrorism. has there been a sense in your country, australia, over these years because of its geography, it really was removed from that terror threat which clearly has affected europe and the united states? >> well, wolf, we certainly had hoped that that was the case. fears certainly had substantially grown over the past years and the past months where we've seen the islamic state beheadings, we've seen americans, brits. and our prime minister warned us and kept us briefed that no

country was immune, certainly australians feared that one day it would come to our shores. but our muslim community makes up 2% of australia's population. the vast majority live in the state of new south wales. so around that city of sydney that we've sadly been watching for the past 48 hours or so, i should say that australia is not an overtly religious country. and there have been at times a perception or a reputation that we are not particularly inclusi inclusive. there have been some race and religious incidents in the past. in 2005, we had what were known as race riots around sydney between young white australians and young middle eastern australians. but our muslim leaders were some of the first people down there at martin place after this incident finished, not only expressing their sorrow but denouncing in the strongest possible terms what had taken place, saying that this person, this individual has no right to

use the word islam, let alone proclaim that he had some role in that community. >> as you know, emma, this incident came a few months back in september, australia actually raised its terror threat level, the government there passed tougher anti-terror laws. police carried out several raids targeting terror suspects, supposedly they were going to go out there and behead some australians. so there were warnings, right, that there could be these so-called lone wolf attacks? >> very much so, wolf. we had seen terror raids, not just in sydney but in other major capital cities around australia. and again, we had been warned over and over by our prime minister that we may not be immune. we watched what unfolds here in america with great interest and of course attacks in other countries like canada. again, everyone had prayed it would never come to our shores. but for the muslim community in australia much like the community here in the united

states, it now feels like for them there is that perceived need for them to get out into the community and separate themselves again from the actions of one lone wolf, be it that he is an extremist or mentally unwell person. but some of the members of that community are certainly fearful of what comes next. police do confirm to us that during this siege and in the aftermath that there have been some broad threats made against the members of the muslim community. they take all of those threats seriously. but at this stage, they do say there's nothing to suggest that there's any legitimate plan to harm anyone. and we heard in your package before this about that hashtag, i'll ride with you, certainly that is australia's way of trying to make sure that there is some message of unity and peace that comes out of this and not one of hatred that follows this siege. >> emma, thanks very much. appreciate it.

we'll stay in close touch with you. still ahead, we return to our top story. gunmen stalk a school shooting children in cold blood. the pakistan taliban claims responsibility. can they be stopped? i'll speak with the former pakistani ambassador to the united states who's standing by live. i've had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis most my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling. my doctor told me about stelara®. it helps keep my skin clearer.

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welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. let's get back to our top story. slaughter in pakistan. after one of pakistan's bloodiest days, there are defiant pledges to strike back against terrorism. but we must remember, this is a country that has been gripped by an insurgency now for more than a decade. the pakistan taliban, other terror groups, they've killed tens of thousands since pakistan joined the united states in the war on terror. we're joined now by the former pakistan ambassador to the united states, husain haqqani. he's also the director for south and central asia at the hudson institute here in washington think tank. ambassador, thanks for coming in. who are these terrorists, these savages that can go into a school and say, if you're below puberty, you're not going to

die, but if you're 13, 14, 15, you're dead? why would these people do that to young schoolkids? >> we've already seen boko haram in nigeria which does the same thing. they're all chips off the same block. they all believe in just wanting to overrun the countries where they are trying to wage wars and they want basically no one to learn anything that is modern. and they want their own way of life as they see it to be imposed on everyone by force. so they are savages. the issue is how do we deal with it? >> how? what's the answer? >> what we need essentially is that there is a lot of sadness today and there's a lot of outrage in my country, pakistan. and i share it. but we need to transform it into resolve. pakistan has seen these attacks for many, many years. we've lost at least 20,000 civilians and more than 6,000, 7,000 soldiers fighting the menace. but unless and until we decide

that all terrorists need to be eliminated and that their ideology needs to be delegitimized instead of saying they have some legitimate grievances against the west, basically no grievance actually allows something like what happened in peshawar. >> they don't want any education, certainly not for girls, right? >> they don't want education for girls, they don't want western education. they want a specific type of education. but this was about retaliation for the pakistani army's belated but effort to keep them from having a safe haven in pakistan. but unfortunately pakistan's problem has been, as hillary clinton put it, that you can't have snakes in your backyard in the hope that they will only bite the neighbors. today these snakes of course are biting pakistanis and pakistan needs to have a comprehensive strategy against all jihadi groups. >> these children, 130 out of 141 people who were killed, 130 at least schoolkids, they're

children of pakistan military officers -- >> not all of them. a lot of them are civilians. but every child is your child, every child is my child. and if their father is in the pakistani military, that's something for them to be proud of us and for us to be proud of. the real issue here is it confused society where some political leaders for their own objectives, many media leaders have told the people of pakistan that somehow this extremism is an outgrowth, a product of just politics. it's not. it's a mindset. and that mindset needs to be fought and competed with. and it hasn't been done. that's why we are having these attacks. >> what is the connection between the pakistan taliban and isis, al qaeda, al shabaab? >> they all share a similar ideology. most of them were borne out of the war against the soviets. that's when they got military training. but since then, they've all gone on their own.

there are elements within the pakistani taliban who actually have pledged some kind of allegiance or support for isis. there are others, there are factions. the problem is that this cannot be seen as like a company having another spin-off. these are people with a shared world view, but with different organizations who operate. and all of them, all of them are a problem for the whole world and for pakistan. >> how good or bad is u.s./pakistan cooperation in the war on terror right now? >> well, the u.s. and pakistan have continued to struggle in having cooperation. the biggest problem is that pakistan has not made the decision to treat all terrorist groups as equally bad. the consequence of that is for example only a few days ago, a terrorist group, believed by the americans, by the indians, by the rest of the world as being

responsible for the mumbai attacks just a few years ago, that group openly held its convention in the pakistani city of lahore. that annoys the americans. but the question is, will pakistan be able to transfer its grief and anger into serious policy which basically delegitimizes all jihadi extremists, all taliban, all factions of militant groups that are operating in pakistan. >> ambassador haqqani, thanks for joining us. >> pleasure being here. >> the former pakistani ambassador to the united states. other news we're following, a film about the aas nation of its leader isn't going over very well in north korea. we'll take a look at the geopolitical mess the film has stirred up and whether it could be connected to one of the biggest cyberattacks ever on a major corporation. hello... i'm an idaho potato farmer and our big idaho potato truck is still missing.

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north korea's calling it an act of war worthy of a merciless response. a film produced by sony pictures that portrays the assassination of the north korean leader kim jong-un. so was that response the orchestration of the massive cyberattack on a tokyo-based sony pictures corporation? whatever the answer is, one thing is certainly for sure, controversy over the film has

sparked a geopolitical crisis out there. here's cnn's will ripley. >> reporter: that cyberattack is causing huge problems for sony pictures entertainment's parent company, sony, here in tokyo. in just one week, their stocks plummeted 10%. there are also fears here in japan that the growing controversy could derail sensitive talks. hackers calling themselves guardians of peace leaked embarrassing, sensitive insider information, promising more to be released on christmas day. >> you want us to kill the leader of north korea? >> reporter: the comedy is about two journalists killing kim jong-un, north korea's supreme leader reportedly infuriated, his top officials call the movie an act of war. >> obviously pyongyang is very upset with this movie depicting the assassination of their leader and the fact that the ceo of sony was directly involved. >> reporter: temple university asian studies professor jeff

kingston says what may be a joke to some is deadly serious to north korea. i was in their capital, pyongyang, a few months ago. pictures of their leaders are everywhere, almost like gods, they're worshipped and honored. here in asia, defending honor is everything. so there's rampant speculation that north korea orchestrated the cyberattack on sony to take revenge. >> they're denying that they are directly involved. we all suspect they were. >> reporter: if sony suspects anything, they're not saying it publicly. a spokesman acknowledged growing speculation but would only say the investigation is ongoing. this professor says to understand why sony may be hesitant to point the finger at north korea, you need to know the geopolitics at play. do you think any japanese lawmakers would ask sony not to criticize north korea? >> maybe. >> reporter: north korea still maintains this unofficial embassy in tokyo, while the nations have no formal

diplomatic ties, pyongyang does have some influence through political and business back channels. >> they want to stop the movie. >> reporter: while north korea may seem distant to most of the world, its military routinely launches projectiles into the sea of japan. pyongyang also admitted to kidnapping japanese citizens in the '70s and '80s, forcing the abductees to train north korean spies. >> the abductee issue is extremely politically sensitive in japan. >> reporter: tokyo and pyongyang are in the middle of sensitive talks that japan hopes will lead to more reunions like these from 2002 when north korea let five japanese abductees come home. some fear it could all fall apart if the sony hacking controversy escalates. you won't see the interview playing in movie theaters here in tokyo. sony has decided not to release the film in japan. the hackers are insisting that sony cancel the release altogether or they say the worst may be yet to come.

>> thanks very much, will. just ahead, it's not the first time the officer at the center of the eric garner case has been in trouble before. we're taking a closer look at daniel pantaleo's past. here's a question for you: as nations develop over the next 25 years, the world will have almost twice as many cars. how much fuel will be needed to power them? about the same as today? 50% more? 100% more? the answer is... about the same as today. by 2040, advances in fuels and vehicles could enable about 75% better fuel economy than today. take the energy quiz -- round 2. energy lives here. i've had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis most my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling. my doctor told me about stelara®. it helps keep my skin clearer. with only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses... ... stelara® helps me be in season. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections

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the new york city police officer became nationally recognized after a federal grand jury decided not to indict him in the death of eric garner. that was in new york city grand

jury, i should point out. he was captured on video taking down garner in what appeared to be a choke hold. a medical examiner said that garner's july death was a homicide caused in part by the choke hold. but this isn't the first time pantaleo found himself in trouble. he has been sued before for prior misconduct. brian todd talked to one of the victims who won a settlement against the officer. joining us from staten island. what happened in this incident, brian? >> reporter: wolf, we spoke to a man named tommy rice. he says in 2012, right about at this spot on staten island on jersey street, he, his brother-in-law, and another man were pulled over by officer pantaleo. he says he got him out of the car right here, they strip searched he and his brother-in-law right here in the middle of the street in midday. and that they humiliated him for really a lack of good evidence they had drugs in his car as the police suspected. they said -- he said that the

officer pantaleo at the time did go too far in humiliating him. here's part of our conversation. >> well, he pulled my boxers down, he went up, like upward motion, boom. i told him, you hit me in my t s testicles. he told me to shut up and does it on the right hand side and does it again. and this at that point, he takes my shoes off, and then searched, and put me back in the van. put my pants back up and put me back in the van. >> how are you feeling at this point? >> very violated as a man. very disrespectful. he was aggressive. he -- he just -- i just felt like as a man, i just felt bad. because i knew at that point i was powerless at that point. >> we try to get response to our interview with tommy rice from officer pantaleo through the

attorney. we have not heard back. we've also not been able to get comment on this from the new york police department. but the top police union in new york calls tommy rice's lawsuit against pantaleo baseless and frivolous. they set wld the city for $15,000 each. and pantaleo denied the imclas. in the lawsuit, he denied the claims he strip searched tommy rice and inappropriately touched him. wolf? >> and tommy rice's critics, they say he has a criminal record of his own, right? >> reporter: that's right right. and the court documents support that, wolf. he pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in 1996. he pleaded guilty in 2000. so he's no angel. but he says he takes responsibility for those actions in those incidents. he says, in this particular incident in 2012, there were drugs in the car, but the drugs in the car were not his. he didn't have any drugs on him. >> all right, brian's going to

have more on this story coming up later in the "situation room," thank you. drivers have a good reason to smile when they fill up these days. prices at the pumps, they keep dropping and dropping, but the story is not necessarily the same for those who prefer to fly. we're going to tell you what's going on.

oil prices plunged once

again today. the price of oil now down, get this, down more than $50 a barrel since hitting its peak back in june. gas prices are also down more than $1 per gallon since peaking in april. one place consumers are not seeing relief, however, is up in the skies. in the air as airline prices continue to climb despite the downward trend of oil prices. let's get some more now, aviation and government correspondent renee marsh is with us here now. what's going on? because the price of gas of oil is going down. we haven't seen any relief when we were buying tickets to fly. >> and you fly a lot. i know you got back from l.a. listen, as far as the airlines go, they're doing really well this year. they're expected to make nearly $20 billion in profit this year, and next year, the prediction $25 billion. one of the main expenses for airlines is jet fuel. and oil prices are down 40% in the last six months. but this year, the cost of a

ticket for an airline, that is up 3% according to an airline trade group, and 31% since 2009. so the question is, with the record profits soaring stocks, billions in baggage fees and low oil prices, why is it the cost of a plane ticket getting cheaper? well, an airline trade group says, the cost of a ticket, and this is from 2013, they say there is more to it than just fuel. they say there's taxes, labor and other expenses make up large portions of that ticket when you buy an airline ticket. and they say they only get a sliver of profit. instead of lowering the prices, airlines say what they are doing with this extra money is they're reinvesting it into new planes, on board technology, other perks for passengers, which, by the way, some of those perks will come with a price tag. but airlines say they don't buy fuel the way drivers do. they have long-term contracts, so the prices are locked in.

airlines in the u.s. compared to 2001, we saw that there were ten major airlines, now we only have four. so a lot of consumer advocates are saying they are blaming those megamergers, essentially. there's less competition. advocates say there's less chance for people to get a bargain. that's what the advocates are saying. >> that's what the airline industry, the lobbyists here in washington, the trade association is saying. but, you know, a lot of people are very angry at the airlines right now, cut the prices. and i suspect that's going to put pressure on lawmakers to increase airline regulation. >> well, we've already seen senator schumer just this weekend. he came out saying he's calling for an investigation by doj, department of justice as well as the department of transportation. because he wants to know if the oil prices are going down, why are these ticket prices so high? >> renee, thanks very much. we'll continue to follow this story. that's it for me, i'll be back

5:00 p.m. eastern in the "situation room." for our international viewers, amanpour is coming up next. for our viewers in north america, "newsroom with brooke baldwin" starts right now. all right. here we go. you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. thank you so much for being with me. i want to begin with this picture here. young boys, young girls sitting in their classes today, wearing crisp, white shirts, sweaters, got their ties. and in a moment, their lives change forever. >> oh, the