europe. you might remember in 2009 the u.s. tried to get him back in california but legal red tape got in the way. polanski has an oscar for "the pianist." he plans to direct a movie this spring. that's it for "the lead." be sure to tune in to the president's state of the union address. i now turn you over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room". hadppening now, ally under siege. hundreds of americans are at risk in yemen with u.s. warships prepared to evacuate them. how will al qaeda's most dangerous affiliate take advantage of the chaos? terror tape. a new isis video shows two hostages as a familiar figure delivers a chilling threat pay $200 million ransom or else. and we have new information on the last minutes of airasia flight 8501. it shows the airliner rose faster than a fighter jet before plunging into the sea.

were other passenger planes at risk? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." the breaking news a key u.s. ally in the war against al qaeda is under serious attack from within. a power shift could leave the terror group even stronger and much more dangerous. cremen's presidential palace has now been seized by the rebels and the country's information minister says a coup is now complete. amid the chaos, a very dangerous situation for hundreds of americans, if not more. the u.s. embassy says shots were fired at one of its vehicles and two u.s. navy warships are now in position to evacuate americans from the u.s. embassy in yemen if necessary. congressman jason chaffetz is standing by live along with correspondents and analysts. we have the only western tv reporter on the ground in yemen, nick paton walsh. let's begin with our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. barbara? >> tonight, wolf the u.s.

embassy in yemen remains open and operating, said to be a vital outpost to keeping an eye on al qaeda in yemen. the question of course is how long before it simply gets too dangerous to stay put? yemen under siege from iranian-backed shiite rebels attacking the presidential palace raising the possibility of an all-out coup against the sunni-led government. a national security crisis for the u.s. the immediate worry, the safety of several hundred american embassyworkers, an embassy vehicle already shot at. >> if the u.s. embassy is under threat and the u.s. military cannot guarantee the safety of its diplomats and other civilians at the embassy, it is time to go at least temporarily.

>> it's no longer clear the streets are safe enough for personnel to drive to the airport to levee area commercial air if the state department orders an evacuation. cnn has learned two u.s. navy warships moved into the red sea late monday ready to evacuate the americans if ordered. the uss iwo jima and uss ft. mchenry on standby. a u.s. official cautions if it comes to that it will be a difficult and dangerous military operation, given the uncertainty of the security situation on the ground. a longer term concern? the unraveling of yemen. next door saudi arabia worried about iran's power play in sue pouring the rebels. and the inability of the yemen government to take control if al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, aqap the local affiliate a dangerous advantage

just a week after laying claim to the paris attack. >> al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is under the least pressure we have ever seen it because the government is struggling to survive. frankly, it's losing that struggle right now. >> just months ago, president obama touting the u.s. partnership with yemen. >> the strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us while supporting partners on the front lines is one that we have successfully pursued in yemen and somalia for years. >> so why run the risk of staying in yemen? the u.s. diplomats staying put? u.s. officials say keeping an eye on al qaeda in yemen is vital. right now it is considered the top threat in terms of terrorist organizations that could reach out and attack the united states. wolf? >> we're beginning to see a clear pattern, as you know barbara, the u.s. obviously for good reason shut down its embassy in damascus syria suspended all embassy operations

in somalia, evacuated all americans from libya despite the massive u.s. effort to get rid of kadhafi and get a new regime there. it looks like only a matter of time before the same thing happens in yemen now. i assume two warships are in place, but they probably will need more assets. there are a lot of americans in yemen right now. >> well military officials, wolf will tell you that they do have everything in place to handle this if they are ordered. and, look, even if the diplomats were ordered out of yemen and they got in cars and drove to the airport to get commercial flights, the u.s. military will keep a very close eye on them as they go through those streets of sanaa. that is a very dangerous situation there right now. but wolf you just made a very critical point. there are so many places that the state department has basically had to shutter places that are vital to collecting intelligence on the war on terror. they are reluctant shutter any more of the places. the general feeling is the state

department would like to hang on. the pentagon is saying you've got to go before we can't get you out. >> there are a lot of military personnel in yemen right know the exact number classified. but there are a lot. they'd have to be evacuated presumably in addition to the diplomats and civilians and other americans there. thanks very much barbara, for that report. let's go to yemen right now. our senior international correspondent nick waitenpaton walsh, the only western tv correspondent on the ground there. what are you seeing there today? i understand a u.s. embassy vehicle was shot at with americans inside what is the latest you're seeing and hearing, nick? >> reporter: well the incident happened on monday night near the u.s. embassy. the black armored suvs, a couple of them seemed to be nearing the embassy and gunmen opened fire initially warning shots but then

shots aimed at the vehicle. it was an intent there quote. nobody was injured on the government side. that was followed today by the real power you've been talk being about, wolf. we've been seeing an extraordinary situation. the presidential administration was shelled over yesterday. today, the houthi rebel movement accused of being backed by iran they deny that they simply moved in during the end of some political talks aimed at keem kooeching the cease-fire going. there was gunfire outside of the president's residence itself. he of course stayed in there, is said to be safe. the question really now is we just heard the houthi leader on tv asking for changes to the new constitution, a greater share in power, perhaps a change in military operations and a key al qaeda area in yemen. we really are wondering quite who's in charge. are cabinet officials going to

come into work tomorrow? the minister seems to say that the president completely lost control when she spoke to me early on. the houthi leader still calls the president the president. he's not necessarily claiming a change in title. but the building the president is supposed to be in are crawling with his militia. there's an enormous power vacuum something that must be troubling washington here. they don't know who to ring here at the moment. if they did call the president, quite where is he and does he have any leads on power? >> there is a lot of uncertainty here in washington. i can tell you right now they don't believe the shiite rebels who seem to be taking charge, that they really want to go after americans but they fear that could change pretty quickly. they're worried about that even though they see no immediate indications that these houthi rebels are going to target americans. >> reporter: well one of the slogans the rebels have on their

post is death to america. i mean they very much ascribe to that sort of iranian revolution slogan which leads to iran backing or ideological systems, which they deny. at the moment in the country's capital, they seem to be initially when they first came in a source of calm. but they were eventually attacked by al qaeda and now we've seen them run into conflict with the government themselves. there's no immediate anti-american sentiment you see when you meet them but the leader's speech today it was clear it was critical of the u.n. the u.s. many western powers trying to impose in yemen, impose the new constitution which they thought would split the country into six different parts, certainly against the benefit of the houthis here. there's a definite concern of how this develops simply because of the sectarian divide. they're facing a lot of sunni tribes including al qaeda. as that tension builds as it has across the middle east, that

would certainly assist al qaeda and make life very difficult for the west trying to pursue key targets with the u.s. drone campaign. >> we're showing our viewers some video you shot earlier today showing some of the devastation that has occurred the shelling, the fighting that's been going on. it's a pitifully poor country to begin with but it looks like a real disaster unfolding in yemen right now. is that what you see? >> reporter: well, the streets of sanaa everybody is terrified hiding indoors, staying away from the windows explaining to their children what's going on. then they're running around filling their cars are petrol. they're used to it conflict. >> nick paton walsh, be careful over there. we'll be in touch. nick the only western television reporter courageous enough from our perspective to be in yemen right now. we'll stay in close tough with him. the united states may no longer

have an anti-terror ally in yemen. hundreds of americans if not more are at risk right now, diplomats, military personnel, other civilians. joining us now a key voice on national security issues republican congressman jason chaffetz of utah. congressman, the yemen's capital, the presidential palace and other key places are in control of the rebels. how dangerous is this crumbling situation in yemen right now for the americans who are still there? >> well, it may be the most volatile situation on the face of the planet at the moment especially if you're an american. we're deeply concerned about the embassy personnel the military personnel, others there in that country, the houthis are making a strong push and as was pointed out in the report no friends of the united states of america. yet i worry that the president literally a short while ago is not only heaping praise on the success he called it in yemen. that is obviously not the situation. we have to get on top of it

because -- and we're good to have to bring in partners like saudi arabia and united arab of emirates emirates. >> that's in september when he was citing yemen and maybe somalia as a success story in the war on terror. since then the situation has unfolded. today you just heard nick report that a u.s. embassy armored car was fired at not far from the embassy. here's the question. is it time from your perspective, to get out of there to evacuate americans while the u.s. still can in. >> look i know we may be republicans and democrats, but we care deeply about the american personnel there. the state department and white house itself will have to make that decision. i'd like us to stay there as long as possible. i think engagement is an important part of the long-term future there. we want to have our embassy personnel there doing everything they can to build economic ties to that country. but at the same time safety comes first, and they're going to have to make that decision. i'll support them if they decide

to pull them out. >> congressman chaffetz stand by. we have a lot more to discuss including what's going on in the overall war on terror. the latest developments unfolding in europe right now. we'll take a quick break. much more right after this.

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the arabian peninsula base nd yemen, the chief bomb maker there is still very much at large, despite u.s. efforts to find him and target and kill him if possible in yemen. he's very much at large right now. the kouachi brothers the ones who killed all those people in paris the other day, they trained in yemen. is it just a matter of time before aqap strikes again? >> well that's the worry. we worry about the intelligence we're able to gather in that part of the world. certainly they have been expanding, they're attacking, going after the presidential palace. does that mean they can strike again in europe or heaven forbid into the united states or anywhere for that matter? that's the deep worry. so we don't have the type of intelligence gathering there that we need. >> we know that some of those isis terrorists are dispatching their fighters to specifically target westerners. mostly in the past we always assume isis was going after various locations in syria and iraq, maybe a few other places in the region.

but now there seems to be a new strategy. is that your understanding? >> that's what makes it so difficult to defend because it is widespread. you can do it with small groups of people. but certainly that message has been out there and been pervasive. you see there are calls for those types of terrorist type of activities and the world needs to come together a, let's identify what it is and let's go after and get it. it is radical islamic terrorism. let's call it what it is and let's go after it and get the job taken care of. i think the world is coming to that conclusion. we can't mess around with this. we have to go out and capture if not kill these people. >> we know that isis is now demanding japan pull its support for the u.s.-led coalition air strikes against isis in syria and iraq. they are demanding isis terrorists $200 million for the return, release of two japanese hostages. there you see some video, you cite two japanese hostages on their knees. they're being threatened with beheading within 72 hours unless

japan pays $200 million. what's your reaction when you see this? >> well that's what terrorists do. they try to inflict terror and they're doing it upon the japanese people and the rest of the civilized world. that's why you can have a no tolerance policy. you have to call it what it is. we're going to have to come up with a global strategy the united states inevitably is going to have to lead that strategy. we need the president more engaged on this to make sure that we bring along the coalition partners in all the corners of the world from the japanese to the saudi arabiaens to the united arab emirates. we're going to have to bring people together and correctively fight and defeat this. >> you've said the obama administration has done in your words a terrible job bringing in other countries in this fight against isis. what other countries are you talking about? what else do you want the u.s. to do? >> we can talk for instance about no fly zones and making sure we have air superiority, which we could clearly have and clearly do. but we also need to have the engagement of many of those in

the middle east who do not want to see the spread of isis who can come to our aid and are in a position not only financially -- you know it's great when they pony up and spend the dollars, but they're going to have to actually use people and personnel and intelligence. we need that help with the iranian influence and what you're seeing playing out in yemen. the saudi arraignabiarabias united arab of emirates. it takes leadership to fight and win this war. >> what countries specifically do you want to be brought into the u.s.-led coalition. >> we need everybody from -- every nato ally we can name we also need people from the middle east. we have fallen apart in libya. that is nowhere to be found. egypt is going to play an important part of this. saudi arabia specifically has a very vested interest that really needs to be in lockstep with us every step of the way. >> the suspected ringleader of this belgium terror plot is still at large.

how important is he that he be captured? >> well look you have some great counterterrorism efforts there between the french and those in belgium. i don't know where he is. if i did i couldn't say it anyway. there are a lot of good efforts to capture this one individual. it is a web. you want to understand who are they communicating with who are they interacting with? who else is maybe in support of what they were doing there? and so i know a lot of effort is being placed into that. i don't have an update for you. i wish i did, wolf. >> what would you like to hear from the president tonight in his state of the union address when it comes to the war on terror? >> look i think this is one thing that the president can bring republicans and democrats together on. i think the country is on edge. we've seen our friends and loved ones in paris and other places that have been on the receiving end of this terrorism. the president has the opportunity to draw us together. i can tell you i'm worried that the president can even identify what the problem is and call it what it is. i want him to demonstrate, not through just words in a speech

before the state of the union, but show us the action that he's going to take too bring this coalition in and defeat isis. i doubt anybody could repeat what it is we're going to do to defeat isis other than let's just defeat them. it takes more than that action leadership by the united states. i hope we hear that from the president tonight. >> you're not supporting what the u.s. did for more than a decade in iraq and afghanistan, send in tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of ground forces. >> i would leave every option on the table. but the president has got to lead a coalition and bring people together and get others who have a very vested interest right there in their backyard. that is not what we're seeing wolf. i'm not suggesting or advocating that we put tens of thousands of american troops boots on the ground. but what we could do in the intelligence with air superiority, what we could do in being a true leader and making sure turkey is fully engaged in this. those are the type of things the united states can and should and

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a new video from isis shows two hostages a very familiar voice delivers a chilling threat pay $200 million ransom or else. brian todd is looking into this story for us. 's here. he it's very very worrisome. >> it is. the japanese are getting now less than three days from isis to pay that ransom or they're going to kill those two men.

but tonight we're also asking u.s. and british officials some very tough question bz the murderous jihadist in the video still being allowed to taunt the west. his voice, posture and his threats are menacingly familiar. the isis militant believed to be a british national nicknamed jihadi john gives japan an ultimatum ultimatum. >> you have 72 hours to pay $200 million to save the lives of your citizens. otherwise, this knife will become your nightmare. >> an apparent reference to the amount of money japan's prime minister has mrenlpledged for humanitarian assistance in the fight for isis. some believe they know jihadi john's identity. they haven't disclosed it. why not? >> they can put pressure on his family, his friends. however, if you publicly tell

everybody his real identity maybe he'll go underground and disappear. >> in the meantime jihadi john has now made at least six videos insulting the co-litigation, overseeing beheadings. while isis may be suffering set backs on the battlefield -- >> isis is capturing the pr war, at least using this individual. all these months later, he certainly is the boogeyman that scares the west. he's articulate, scary looking. you can't see anything about him besides the knife and his eyes. >> and he says his appearance in the videos amplifies the coalition's limitations on the battlefield. five months and about 2,000 air strikes after the beheading of american hostage james foley, why hasn't jihadi john been captured or killed? we asked u.s. and many british military officials. they won't comment. tony schaefer says it's because the coalition can't insert commandos into syria to get him.

>> because of certain events which happened that the administration is worried about, the attempt to rescue mr. foley, is one of the things which has now made the white house reluctant to act aggressively. >> a reference to the special operation mission near raka last summer when they went in looking for foley and he was hoff moved. responding to schaefer's comment, the u.s. government says they are actively pursuing justice for the murders. that they're not in a position to discuss in detail what they're doing but they will hold the terrorists accountable. >> you would think that the u.s. with all of its capabilities could at least shut down the capability of isis to post these beheading videos out there. >> right. >> if they really wanted to. what are you hearing about that? >> if you can't stop the actual killing, at least stop the videos. we've asked the cia officer, former officer, who is an expert

on the videos. he says it's much more difficult than you may think. isis has multiple ways to upload the videos and have a lot of outlets who want to help them. so far the coalition has not been able to stop the videos. that's a frustration as well. >> isis is good at taking advantage of social media. a lot more sophisticated than these other terrorists. rocked by terrorism, european authorities are scrambling to stay ahead of the threat. there were new anti-terror raids overnight. we have new video of an alleged ringleader of a belgian cell linked to isis. let's bring in paul cruickshank. paul what are you learning about the status of the investigation? >> the investigation continues into this terrorist plot in belgium. the suspected ringleader in that plot is still believed at large at his last known location in

greece. you can see him on the video right here. that was shot in the last year somewhere on the isis front lines in syria or iran. but he traveled from there to greece to direct this terrorist cell in belgium who were plotting a terror spectacular according to belgian officials. they had the chemicals necessary to make high explosive. they had police uniforms suggesting they wanted to gain access to sensitive sites. in the video, you see here on the screen the leader says that he gets pleasure from seeing the blood of the disbelievers flow. so you get some insight into his world view. he's a highly motivated individual very dangerous, still on the run. the cia are chasing him many of the world's intelligence agencies trying to figure out where he is. but they've not yet been able to locate him, wolf. >> presumably he's changing his appearance. he's one of the most wanted men in the world right now. would he go so far, for example, to put on casual garb shave his

beard, get a whole new look to try to rey vaid all those trying to find him? >> that's exactly the kind of thing he'll be doing, dressing differently, looking differently, hanging out in some area that people wouldn't suspect that he could be. the last known location was greece. we know there are a lot of islands. you can sort of jump on a ferry, get around to pretty remote places easily. you can get over to turkey and then across to syria. he may already be back in syria for all we know. but this was a sophisticated plot from isis the belgians believe the senior leadership of isis signed off on. they believe isis is pivoting toward attacking europe the west putting their considerable resources into doing that. across europe there's concerns about groups of young men who have returned from syria and iraq and who are now back in europe that they could go operational at a certain point because that's what isis has encouraged. overall, more than 500 european

extremist whoz fought in syria and iraq back in europe. >> i want you to stand by paul. paul cruickshank helping us understand what's going on. coming up an alleged terror plot in america. and later, the clearest evidence so far as to what led up to the airasia jet crash. if you have copd, ask your doctor about once-daily anoro ellipta. it helps people with copd breathe better for a full 24hours. anoro ellipta is the first fda-approved product containing two long-acting bronchodilators in one inhaler. anoro is not for asthma. anoro contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. it is not known if this risk is increased in copd. anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden copd symptoms

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the bloody power struggle in yemen can only benefit

al qaeda's most dangerous affiliate. that concern is underscored by the justice department. the two yemeni men have been charged with conspireing to murder americans. pamela brown is joining us from paris. pamela update us on what's going on. >> reporter: wolf according to newly unsealed department of justice documents that were unsealed today, we've learned that the two yemeni nationals were on a mission to kill americans abroad under the direction of al qaeda. they allegedly took part in several battles against u.s. forces and one in particular a u.s. army ranger was killed according to these documents. they also helped recruit an american to join al qaeda. that american recruit turned into a cooperating witness and helped the fbi find these two yemeni nationals. they were actually arrested in audi arabia and then brought to the u.s. recently and they appeared before a new york judge today facing these charges of

conspiracy to kill americans abroad abroad. wolf? >> that's a dangerous situation pamela. we'll get back to you shortly. i want to goo in depth with our national security analyst peter bergen our law enforcement analyst tom fuentes and james reese a former army delta force officer. peter, you heard brian todd's report. the u.s. has already spent, what $1.2 billion launching about 2,000 air strikes against various isis targets in syria and iraq. 1.2$1.2 billion. is that money well spent? i don't see isis disappearing anytime soon. >> i mean, there's a huge amount of attrition particularly in iraq. it's an iraq first policy in syria, there's been reliable reporting of isis expanding of late. i think it's been more successful in iraq which is the obama administration approach. we don't have an alliance with the syrian government. we do with the iraqi government. it's easier for the united states to operate there.

>> but the iraqis themselves say it's not the u.s. doing the work fighting isis. it's the rainians in iraq. they're doing the work and becoming even more closely aligned with iran right now, the u.s. sort of secondary. >> we do have 3500 american soldiers who are providing all sorts of support to the iraqi army. it was 300 just about a year ago. i expect that number will grow over time. >> but the iranians are the big winners so far in terms of their influence in iraq moving to syria. the bashar al assad scheme. we'll discuss that later. tom, we have obtained video of the guy who attacked the kosher supermarket and his partner hayat boumeddiene, she was seen scoping out a jewish institution in paris. did law enforcement, the intelligence community, the security services of france miss golden opportunities here? >> in hindsight, of course wolf. at the time they were investigating it they hid in plain sight, adopted western

clothing. all the other pictures you've seen of her she's fully covered. you barely see her eyes. i've seen pictures online of her that you see this one here where she's scantily clad. i've seen pictures of her in a bikini in paris. obviously they were trying to do what they did to blend in and not look suspicious. so probably later they go back to security cameras and see them walking around looking like this. but at the time after all those months and years, the french authorities just thought, well maybe they're just blending in, not so much bad after all. >> they stopped the surveillance on both of them. >> if they stopped surveilling this crew who were they surveilling they thought were worse? there are people out there even worse yet, or they wouldn't have stopped the surveillance on them. >> good point. colonel reese, let's talk about yemen right now. take us behind the scenes. i'm worried about the hundreds if not more americans, most of them u.s. military personnel still there. there are diplomats to be sure, but there are a lot of military personnel on the ground in

yemen. what's going on in terms of getting ready for a contingency plan to evacuate these men and women. >> well, wolf seven com and the marines on the ground and the float organization in the gulf are continuing to make plans. they're looking to contingencies, tesh ary plans of what to do. as soon as the state department gives the word that we want to now evacuate we'll go into that evacuation plan. what d.o.d. is trying to get the state department do is hopefully not make that decision too late if need be that we're now into a forced entry aspect for a noncombatant evacuation. >> because there are two warships, the ft. mchenry ewa jima. they have helicopters, b-22 ospreys. as the fighting escalates it will become more difficult, right? >> well it is. that's why i say if we wait until the last moment to make a

decision that becomes a forced entry. now we're going to have to put air cover in there. it's really just complicates things. but again we want the political aspects to continue so it's a fine line. it's the art of the science and art of this aspect. >> as this rebellion goes on in yemen, peter, it opens up new opportunities for al qaeda in the arabian peninsula based in yemen. >> much the defend er defenders. >> you can only imagine tom, you worked at the fbi, if americans start getting killed in yemen right now, the uproar that will develop and people will start asking, why didn't you get them out? you knew this was happening. aren't american lives more important than maybe trying to make our point you've got to keep some americans there? >> i don't think they're there

to make a point, wolf. i think they're there doing important work. if they leave, that work will stop. the attempts to do the drone strikes and take out al qaeda leadership over the years have come from the great partnership on the ground there, not only with the yemeni authorities, with the saudi intelligence on the ground in yemen. there's a close working relationship there between the cia, the fbi, the u.s. military and our counterparts from the government of yemen. so to pull out of there, we pay a huge price and then people will say, well why didn't you stay and gather intelligence? you left and you don't know what's going on. >> colonel reese, the u.s. already pulled out of somalia, no u.s. embassy in mogadishu, obviously out of libya, no u.s. embassy in tripoli, obviously pulling out of syria, no u.s. embassy in damascus. i see a pattern unfolding. what about you? >> wolf unfortunately, you're right. these failed states we're trying to hang on to because we know if yemen goes it just continues

to let aqap have a bigger and bag bigger safe haven. there could be a silver lining in this piece. if we can figure out a way to get the houthis to make look at helping us if this collapse continues and this coup continues in effect maybe -- and i say maybe -- they will help with counterterrorism against aqap. but again, that goes back to i think we need to start looking at having some discussion was the iranians. >> we'll pick up that thought. i want everybody to stand by. coming up we have the clearest evidence so far about the moments leading up to the airasia jet crash. we'll update you. that and all the day's other news coming up. (son) oh no... can you fix it, dad? yeah, i can fix that. (dad) i wanted a car that could handle anything. i fixed it! (dad) that's why i got a subaru legacy.

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. there is startling new information about the final moments of the airasia jet that crashed into the java sea last month. it killed all 162 people on board. now there's new important clues about what happened. suzanne malveaux is working the story. what are you learning suzanne? >> we have new information about what might have caused flight 8501 to crash. investigators are looking at the moments just before the plane crashed. the plane climbed so fast it wouldn't have been able to keep flying. indonesian's transportation minister says flight 8501 was climbing at 6,000 feet per minute just seconds before it stalled and crashed into the java sea. >> right away there would have been warnings going off. there would have been overspeed

warnings engine warnings altitudes and pitch alert. >> reporter: a big problem, because the airbus a-320 is designed to climb 1 to 2,000 feet per minute less than half the speed that the doomed aircraft was apparently ascending. when a plane goes up so dramatically it can lose lift and go crashing back to the ground. >> the way to recover is to put the nose down or in the case of an airbus flying on autopilot, let the autopilot take over but i suspect that was not an option here because there was so much going on. >> reporter: investigators have been pouring over the cockpit voice and flight data recorders which collect information on the plane's speed and altitude. indonesian authorities say the recorders did not pick up sounds of gunfire or an explosion. for the moment ruling out the most sinister scenario. >> translator: the voice from the cockpit does not show any signs of a terrorist attack.

only the pilot sounding very busy. >> reporter: the pilot asked for permission to increase altitude in order to avoid severe thunderstorms. meanwhile, the painstaking search for bodies continues. only 53 of the 162 have been recovered. the largest piece of the wreckage the fuselage remains at the bottom of the ocean, where investigators suspect many of the bodies could be. the head of the national search and rescue agency says the search for victims will not stop. >> translator: after we close, we will continue our daily search and rescue effort. we will fulfill their hopes with our best effort. >> the problem has been the current which has prevented divers from reaching the bottom and at this point, sadly, the remains are decomposing. as for the investigation, we're told the transcript of the pilot's conversation is about halfway complete. that's going to be used along with all of the data from the recorders to come up with a preliminary report. we suspect, wolf that will be

released within days. >> thanks very much, suzanne malveaux reporting for us. a video of one of the paris gunmen and his girlfriend carrying out surveillance of a potential target. and the fall of an american ally as rebels gain control of yemen's capital. how isis will take advantage of the chaos. that would be my daughter -- hi dad. she's a dietitian. and back when i wasn't eating right, she got me drinking boost. it's got a great taste and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. helping me stay more like me. [ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste. grandpa! [ female announcer ] stay strong, stay active with boost. who cares what it holds, if it can't hold your gaze? who cares how tight it can turn, if it can't turn heads?

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happening now exclusive video. one of the paris terrorists and now fugitive girlfriend are seen scoping potential targets. tonight, new arrests, new information all across europe.

plus under siege. a critical u.s. ally losing its grip on power and evacuation plans are ready to go. and the president's challenge. new details about the speech to the nation tonight as he faces new terror threats resurging. economy and congress with more power to stand in his way. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." officials inside yemen say the president has no control there and his palace has been taken over by rebel forces. the united states has charged two suspects from yemen with conspireing to murder americans abroad and new arrests in the

triggered by the attacks in paris. the president's senior adviser, dan pfeiffer he's standing by live along with our correspondents analysts and they are all covering the breaking news. first, let's go to our justice correspondent pamela brown in paris. new details on terror arrests and the exclusive new video that has surfaced. pamela? >> that's right. providing important new clues in the investigation and apparently shows one of the paris suspects and his wife serving jewish sites in the city in the months leading up to the attacks here. this exclusive surveillance video obtained by cnn shows amedy coulibaly and his partner hayat boumeddiene last summer outside of a jewish institution in paris. the duo was trying to blend in and scope out potential jewish targets. months before coulibaly eventually launched a siege on a

kosher grocery store where he killed four people. the paris attack set off terror-related arrests across europe amid fears of other plots. today in france authorities charged four men in connection with the paris attacks. the first since the "charlie hebdo" massacre shocked the city. one of the suspects' dna was allegedly found on a car used to transport coulibaly to the grocery store. this as we learned that bulgaria will extradite this frenchman who was friends with the kouachi brothers. >> we're dealing with very complex networks. we need to be very cautious of what we're doing and in our analysis of what is going on. >> reporter: and belgian counterterrorism sources say isis directed a plot that may have including killing police officers. several suspects are in custody

but a manhunt is still on for one of the ringleaders abdelhamid abaaoud. he may have been in contact with isis leadership from greece. police in holland raided the home of a suspect allegedly associated with that belgian cell. they confiscated laptops and cell phones and the man's passport was found last week in that belgian's raid. and back here in france the prosecutor will be releasing new details about the investigation and the four suspects now under formal criminal investigation. also the french government tomorrow is expected to release new details on anti-terrorism measures being taken as they try to figure out how to combat this growing problem of highly franchised terrorism in paris. wolf? >> pamela brown, thank you.

a power struggle could give the terror network more opportunity to plot attacks, including attacks against americans. let's go to our senior international cropped nick paton walsh, the only western tv journalist in yemen right now. this has been one of the tumultuous historic days in yemen. the presidential palace now under control of the shiite houthi rebels? >> reporter: absolutely. but still no real sign of who is in charge. the houthi leader appearing on television but still calling the president and the president in his residence not able to leave because of threats of gunfire in the streets outside. a really troubling day for a key ally to the united states in battling al qaeda. america's biggest ally against the threat al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. rebels would later storm these walls and the presidential administration. we drove cautiously around the streets avoiding both government soldiers and houthi rebels still

squaring up. when you drive around here it's clear that it's vital and the presidential administration most yemeni officials will tell you, if you control that you effectively control the country. was it a coup? american diplomats targeted that night. nobody hurt but there were attempts to kill. the u.s. was on heightened alert because of their drone campaign against aqap leadership which it's not clear who would turn up for work tomorrow. the rebels sounding like they are in charge without actually

declaring it a nightmare and a key ally. >> do you believe that the president is still in control with the country and is safe? >> do you think he should step down and flee the country. >> i'm not sure about the country. >> what is it? >> it's a coup. >> by the houthis? >> yes. >> reporter: unclear who is in control, if anyone tonight or maybe still tomorrow. we heard from the houthi leader. he has a desire to change the constitution and he's not calling himself the president, even though his men are all over the presidential administration. that's the key worry here wolf.

we have a country so vital in hunting down al qaeda that was already struggling. nobody seems to be in charge and nobody seems to know what the timetable is and the u.s. embassy not far from where i am standing on high alert. that's going to make relationships even harder as they try to piece together who really runs it. wolf? >> nick paton walsh, thank you. the u.s. military is taking action to be ready, if necessary, to evacuate the american embassy in yemen at a moment's notice. let's go to barbara starr. what are you learning barbara? >> wolf here's where things stand. it would be the state department that has to make the decision to evacuate the embassy. the state department is always reluctant to do that. it's important to keep the diplomatics open and now we know that they moved into the red sea just off yemen.

the "uss hirojima" and the "uss mchenry." that would be the most dire of circumstances because in an embassy evacuation the hope is that people could get in their cars and board commercial flights out of the country but with the events of today gunfire in the streets and the streets of sanaa would be safe enough for that type of evacuation via a commercial airport so the military tonight says everything is in place there waiting for the order if it comes. it will be ready to go. wolf? >> barbara starr at the pentagon thank you.

let's bring in dan pfeiffer joining us from the white house. thanks very much for joining us. >> thanks for having me, wolf. >> i know the president is getting ready. he's basically done with his speech for the state of the union address tonight. did he make revisions, as far as you know in light of these late-breaking developments in yemen? >> reporter: no. we haven't made specific recisions to reflect this but the situation happening in the middle east is part of the context for the foreign policy part of the speech. >> how worried is the president about the americans -- and there are a lot of them apparently still in yemen right now. >> reporter: there's no higher priority for the president in than protecting our people abroad so he's monitoring this very closely and being kept up to date. if a decision is made that we have to evacuate we'll be prepared to do that as barbara starr mentioned. >> do you have a ball mark estimate how many americans diplomats, civilians may be in

yemen? >> reporter: i don't have one right now but we'll be accounting for that if we need to move those people. >> aqap is based there in yemen. they've got bomb makers they've got terrorists. that's the big al qaeda threat to the u.s. right now, isn't it? >> al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is something that the president has been focused on for a very long time. we've taken a lot of action to degrade their abilities and we're going to continue to do that. we're monitoring what is going on in yemen to make sure that we can still continue to take action and keep al qaeda at bay. >> i assume in the president's address before the joint session of congress tonight there will be an extensive section, not just on yemen but overall in terms of national security the war on terrorism, what's going on in syria, what's going on in iraq what's going on elsewhere in the region right? >> absolutely. it's an important part of the speech. we'll be discussing the progress

we made abroad the challenges that we main and how we protect our national security around the world. >> i assume we'll have some words about what happened in paris in recent days and in belgium for that matter as well. >> i'm not going to get too far into the specifics of the speech but i'm sure it will be in there, wolf. >> and the solidarity with the people of france and belgium? >> i think he'll speak to the people of france and the people around the world who confront al qaeda, isil terrorist groups like that. he will certainly speak to that. >> i assume you've actually read the speech right? >> more times than i can kound. >> dan pfeiffer stand by. the president of the united states is getting ready and leaving the white house in a couple of hours to drive up to capitol hill to deliver his state of the union address. we'll have our extensive special

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after rewards. office depot & officemax. gear up for great. we're back with president obama's senior adviser dan pfeiffer. he's joining us from the white house. we're talking about the terror threats and other challenges that the president faces. he's getting ready to address the nation before a joint session of congress in the state of the union address in a few hours. you saw, dan, that horrible video of this isis jihadi john as he's called holding these two japanese hostages threatening to behead them if japan doesn't pay $200 million in ransom. isis seems to be moving along in

terms of their social media, in terms of their other capabilities without stock. >> it's important to recognize the necessary see efforts in iraq and syria today. isis' momentum has been stopped, we've degraded a lot of their capabilities their demand and control and their ability to amass and move equipment and in iraq in particular we've seen they have lost ground like mt. sinjar and other towns. there's a lot more work to do. this is a long-term project. we've got keep working at it. >> they'vei think you're right as far as iraq is concerned, the situation seems to have stabilized a bit. i haven't seen a lot of progress against isis in syria, have you? >> well we're making progress. there's more work to do. you've seen them around kobani where isis' momentum has been

stopped. we're not going to solve this problem overnight. it's a continued coalition working together to defeat isil. >> let's talk about the president's speech tonight. we're told -- and correct me if i'm wrong -- he's going to make the case for some additional tax increases for very wealthy people for big financial institutions to provide some tax credits and other benefits for the middle class. the republicans, as you well know say the so-called robinhood tax plan take from the rich give to the middle class, is a nonstarter as far as they are concerned. they've got the majority in the house and the senate. here's the question. why is the president doing this if he knows it's not going to go anywhere? >> wolf let me make a couple points here. first, there's elements of our plan that come directly from republicans. our tax credits for higher education are similar to a bill that passed the house last year. the fee on large financial institutions you referred to is very similar to a provision in dave camp's tax plan of last

year. there should be elements of bipartisan here. we have a big debate in this country between middle class economics and trickle down economics. the president believes the middle class needs a raise and we can help them. we just have to ask the wealthy and the republicans to pay a little more. the republicans believe we should have larger tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations and hope that the benefits trickle down to everyone else. we've tried that in a past and it hasn't worked. the president will stand there with the american economy in one of the best places that it's been since the 1990s. there's proof that middle class economics works and we should not go back to the philosophy that got us into that mess in the first place. >> the republicans say to take the tax breaks for the middle class but don't pay for it by raising taxes on rich people or banks. they say to find ways to cut government spending to pay for those benefits. >> look we have made historic

cuts in government spending. probably too far in some areas where we could use additional investment. the question is it's a simple values question. do the republicans think that there are loopholes in the tax code that benefit the corporations the wealthy that should stay there. for every loophole that benefits the super wealthy trust funds, that is money that cannot be spent on the middle class. >> if the president can't get this proposal this tax proposal through congress and get votes in the house and the senate is he already taking a look and seeing what he can do unilaterally through so-called executive action? >> well across not just the economics plan but across the entire breadth of our agenda we have legislative compromise and that's going to be hard where the president is going to work hard on that double-down on it tonight, executive action. we're always looking for that. last week the president announced a plan that will save

new borrowers, the average borrower around $900 and then we're also going to use the bully pulpit the phone, if you will and make the case to the american people to try to get states communities, companies to embrace the initiatives. the president called for the state of the union and 17 states and the district of columbia have put more money in the pockets of millions of americans across the country. >> i assume the president knows he's not going to get the tax increases through. where does he think he can realistically work with the republican majority in the congress in the next two years and get stuff done? >> i think first, wolf the republicans said they are interested in tax reform. his principle is that tax reform benefits the middle class. that's a tax reform plan he can sign. his tax reform plan makes life easier for the corporations and the wealthy, that doesn't make any sense to him. maybe we can get some stuff done there.

infrastructure is something that republicans and democrats alike are interested in et going done. we've talked about trade. there's a number of initiatives big and small that we can get done if people are willing, as the president is to put aside the things that we disagree on. >> in so many areas in the last six years, millions of jobs have been created, certainly the dow jones industrial was 7,000 when he took office. it's about 18,000 approaching that on record highs. the deficit has been cut by two-thirds. these are very positive numbers, as you well know. but the president doesn't seem to get a lot of credit for that. why is that? >> i think he's getting more credit every day as the economy grows stronger. we're not focused on credit. we're focused on results, how we got out of this mess and then what are we going to do now that america is positioned better than anyone else in our world? what are we going to do to

tackle the wealth stagnation and declined economic mobility? the president has a plan for that that focuses on the middle class. >> the president's objective, the main objective he has tonight is what? >> the main objective is to tell a story to the country about where this country has been and the progress we've made through the hard work of the american people and the american businesses and american workers and paint a vision for where we can go if we adopt a set of commonsense historically bipartisan ideas that focus on the middle class. >> one final question. since the midterm elections, the president has really been enthusiastic. he's going out executive action and making decisions on cuba or china or immigration. has he changed his attitude? does he feel -- is he feeling a little em boldboldened liberated, since someone else can worry about the elections in 2016?

>> i don't know about liberated. what he offers refers to a fierce urgency of now. we have two years left. as he says, the greatest opportunity we'll ever have in our lives to do the most good for the most people and he wants to take advantage of every minute of every day. he's going to go out there and do what he thinks is right and if he can find a bipartisan compromise to move the ball even more he will do that. >> dan pfeiffer joining us as i said since the midterm elections. he seems to be pretty enthusiastic on what he is doing right now as opposed to the months leading up to the midterm election. dan, thanks very much. >> thank you wolf. just ahead, much more on the exclusive video we've been showing you, one of the paris terrorists and his girlfriend surveilling potential targets. and president obama is making final preparations. we're going to get details of what he's preparing to tell the

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all right. we've got some breaking news. we're just getting our first look at what president obama will actually say tonight in his state of the union address. let's bring in our senior white house correspondent jim acosta. he's got a preview of what the president is getting ready to tell the nation indeed the world. jim, tell us what you've got. >> reporter: wolf we know from

talking to officials here at the white house that the state of the union speech that the president will deliver tonight to what will be a republican congress that will be in charge this is his second to last of the union speech. this is going to be very much about the middle class. middle class economics is the theme of the speech and the white house has been saying for the last couple of weeks that they are rolling out these proposals that the president -- something that we'll lay out tonight but really this is not going to be about a speech with lots of policy proposals. it's going to be thematic and talking about where americans have been in the financial crisis that they are now coming out of and the recovery that the white house feels is moving full steam ahead. i want to share a couple of ex erpt excerpts that have been released. he says on middle class economics, that is what middle-class economics is the idea that this country does best when everyone gets their fair shot everyone does their fair

share and everyone plays by the same set of rules. the president will propose raising taxes on the wealthy and extend credits to middle class families and provide free community college to scores of americans around the country. now, a big part of the speech will be devoted to isis and counterterrorism. you've been talking with dan pfeiffer about this earlier today. the president is going to devote even perhaps a third of this speech to foreign policy we're told. and the president, i'm told will make a stout defense of his foreign policy doctrine of his efforts to take on terrorists around the world. so this is what he will say about the war on isis. this effort will take time. it will require focus but we will succeed and tonight i call on this congress to show the world that we are united in this mission by passing a resolution to authorize the use of force against isil. we've been hearing about this for weeks and now know it's going to be in the speech

tonight. the president is going to call on congress to back him up on this war against isis. it's going to be very different than the use of force authorized by congress in the months after 9/11. and finally tonight, wolf from talking to officials over here i can tell you, this is not a speech from a president who had his clock cleaned back in november. he may be a lame duck but he's not quacking like one tonight. >> he seems really enthusiastic about what he's doing and willing to take actions, including unilateral executive action and we've seen that with cuba. stand by jim. i want to get back to you shortly. president obama will call on congress to pass as jim just said a use of force resolution authorizing the u.s. military operations in iraq and syria even though he doesn't really believe it's necessary. he believes he already has that authority. let's discuss what is going on.

joining us is paul cruickshank, our counterterrorism analyst phil mudd tom fuentes, former fbi assistant and mark hertling. general hertling what do you want to hear from the president? what does he need to say to the american people? >> well what jim just mentioned is critically important, the authorization for use of force is very important and gets everyone on his side. that will drive appropriations. wolf as you know we're all over the world right now. it's more intense now for our military than it's been in two decades. so i think the importance of pulling the team together and saying we're continuing to fight this terrorism while upholding our promises around the world is very important. >> phil mudd our correspondent pamela brown just reported that

amedy coulibaly and his partner hayat boumeddiene were surveilling the area months before the kosher terrorist attack. it sounds like to me there was some sort of intelligence failure. what do you sense? >> look you've got to look at it from two perspectives and we've obama been focused on one. we've been looking at the potential hundreds of people in europe that might have gone to places like iraq and syria and gotten training and once they returned the security services are good enough to have enough resources to follow them. there's a different way to look at this wolf that we haven't talked about. think of this isis training as the spider in the midst of a spider web. if we can't determine who the leadership is in iraq and syria who is training people to go out and eliminate that leadership it's sort of awlaki eliminated

by drone strikes a few years ago. there might have been intelligence failure but you're not going to follow hundreds of people around if you can't get to the center of the spider web and get to the leadership that inspires and trains them. >> phil what do you want to hear from the president tonight? >> first, this ought to be somber. 2011 we had the arab spring and a great sense of hope. let's look four years later. libya, syria, yemen, complete disasters. i agree, isis has been blunted in iraq not an arab spring state and isis is holding its crown. i think we have to have a conversation about how long the americans are going to be at this. one final thing, wolf. i heard the word success when jim acosta was talking about this. we will not, america, succeed against this adversary. this is for the iraqis yemenis and so far they have not come to the plate. >> he'll say this in his speech,

according to the excerpts that they released. in iraq and syria, american leadership including armed military power, is stopping isil's advance instead of getting drug into a ground war in the middle east we're going to defy this group. >> i don't. this is a civil war. we are not ourselves defining our engagement in terms of leading a civil war in iraq. we're in a support role. we are supporting. we are not the supported army leading this fight against isis. we need the iraqi army to step up. they've done so episodically. we're not going to invade again. >> paul cruickshank, we're getting new video that the suspected ringleader of that failed belgian plot, abdelhamid

abaaoud, news that you broke here in "the situation room" yesterday, how important is this guy, how important is it that he be found and captured? >> i think it is key to capture these kinds of operatives these linked people back to isis. you can understand the people in the senior leadership of isis who are now directing these plots and who are encouraging these young men to return to europe to launch attacks. so they will be desperate to try and find him. he's obviously a dangerous operative, a very determined operative. but he may also have critical information about the scope of this plot the scope of the plot in belgium but also in europe that isis could be putting into action. real concern by the european intelligence services that isis has pivoted towards launching attacks in europe. and i think the president is going to talk about how it's going to take time in syria and iraq and how much time does

europe have until one of these major plots get through? in belgium, that was a major plot they were about to launch. it was isis-directed. how much time does the west have even under the best case of scenarios, we're talking about a terrorist safe haven. one, two, three, perhaps four years. it's not just isis but the khorasan group as well which is trying to plot attacks against western aviation and against europe. this is a huge problem. i think a lot of people want to see more urgency from the white house. >> tom fuentes, on top of everything else isis releases a new video of so-called jihadi john holding a knife threatening to behead two japanese hostages unless japan hands over $200 million to them within 72 hours. >> right. and we don't know that jopapan won't pay. other european countries have been helping isis to get the funding to carry out this global

attack that we are seeing now. they have done it with oil and mosul and now they have the continuous hostage taking where other countries are paying and japan may pay. we don't know that yet. >> let's see if they do or don't. general hertling you were once in charge of the army in europe. there are dozens of americans who have trained in syria. how do you stop these individuals? they obviously are u.s. citizens. they have american passports and can come back. what do you do about that? >> i echo what both paul and phil have just said wolf. you can't attack the cells. you can't attack individuals. you can track them but then you fight for intelligence. that's one of the biggest things we learn in the military is you have to fight for intelligence to defeat a network. you can't defeat cells because there's just too many of these guys. so i think some of the other ones that are popping up now, the individual in greece the individual in bulgaria those

individuals may not be the ringleaders, as paul earlier reported but they are certainly critical to the network and they are alive. so we have to interrogate. we have to find more intelligence that will allow us to go after the network, not the individual people. >> good point. guys stand by. we have much more coming up and the growing terror threat sweeping out of the middle east and across europe. are americans now at greater risk? and we're going live to capitol hill where lawmakers are beginning to gather are to the president's state of the union address. they challenge us. they take us to worlds full of heroes and titans. for respawn, building the best interactive entertainment begins with the cloud. this is "titanfall," the first multi-player game built and run on microsoft azure. empowering gamers around the world to interact in ways they never thought possible. this cloud turns data into excitement. this is the microsoft cloud.

we're following the breaking news in tonight's state of the union address, president obama will focus on what he's calling middle-class economics but also ask lawmakers to pass a new resolution a use of force resolution to fight isis. dana bash is on capitol hill. how will this play with congress? >> reporter: pretty well. this has bipartisan support. in fact, we've heard a lot of republicans and democrats calling on the president to ask congress to authorize -- formally authorize the force. it's already going on against isis months ago. it didn't happen for political reasons. i know that's really shocking before the election in november but now the president is asking for in a bipartisan way. it's probably going to happen and we understand that the

actual text of this is going to be sent from the white house to congress in the next couple of weeks, wolf. >> set the scene for us because the president addresses a different chamber tonight, a majority not only in the house of representatives of republicans but a majority in the senate as well. >> reporter: very different kind of vibe. there's no question about it. because for the first six years of his presidency he had democrats in control of at least one chamber. now, as you said it's complete republican control here on capitol hill. and, you know what i'm hearing from republicans in the hallways here is frustration that the president, from their perspective, doesn't get that. that he is still going to push forward on raising taxes, that he is even today, hours before he comes and faces congress is saying that he's going to veto some of the things that republicans have already promised to do to roll back some regulations that he's put in and immigration executive order and things like that. so he's coming here with his

party in the minority but obviously he's got the economy doing better which helps him, it gives him power, gives any president power, and he also has the sense of better poll numbers, which also gives any president power. and those are two things that he clearly is using and republicans are saying you know what we won pretty handedly in november and we're not giving that up easily. you're going to see a lot of rhetoric on both sides and republicans behind the scenes do they feel such pressure to govern that they will have some compromise. >> stand by dana bash. i want to bring in ron brownstein and gloria borger. he does have better poll numbers in part because americans think that the economy is improving. >> yes. and there's less pessimism in the country. when there's less pessimism in the country, people benefit.

people go to the gas pump and see that the prices are lower and wages are starting to tick up a little bit. this as dana was saying becomes a political moment forivotal moment for the president. he has two years left. one in which he can try and get things done. he can set the agenda not only for his legacy to a great degree this middle class economics about his legacy but also about the democratic agenda heading into the 2016 election. as they say, they want to turn the page. the recession is not hanging over their head anymore. they want to turn the page go on offense and do what they wanted to do years ago. >> interesting added point on the economy, i put out numbers today from the last poll last week and overall people are more optimistic about the economy. if you look at who is more optimistic about the economy, white collar whites

college-educated voters benefiting from the stock market. blue collar whites are at the center of the republican gains are much more pessimistic about where they are today. big majority believe they are losing ground with the economy. in the next two years, economic recession between the groups leaning towards the democratic coalition and the cornerstone of the moderate republican coalition. >> the president clearly believes you take a little more money from the rich from the banks, give that money to the middle class and that's going to resonate. >> you know, that's very popular, obviously. you talk about -- >> a lot of republicans -- >> well it's very popular with the american public. you talk about inheritance taxes, capital gains taxes which affects the very wealthy. people in this country aren't against wealth.

they are for fairness. and i think this is the argument that the president is going to continue to makeover and over again. now, the republicans will say, this is not fairness okay? that the wealthy paid most of the taxes in this country and why are you doing that to the wealthy. so i think it's a fight the president is itching to have right now. >> hold on for a moment. we have more to assess as we get ready to hear the president of the united states in his state

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back the breaking news. gloria and ron are still here with us. let's go to jim accostosta with what the president will say. >> reporter: the white house has been briefing democratic operatives for the last couple of weeks about this speech. according to one source the president is going to essentially, acknowledge this is the first state of the union speech he's been able to deliver without a major financial crisis hanging over the heads of americans across the country. the president understands the wages are not moving fast enough. they're not moving fast enough. that's a key reason why the president will be talking about this thing. the whole notion of trading raising taxes on the wealthy in exchange for lowering taxes and providing credits to the middle

class. when i asked eric sabout this today, he said we'll have that debate debate. if republicans want to argue in favor of tax breaks for the wealthy, the white house welcomes that debate. there's still plenty of partisanship to go around. >> more jobs were created last year than any time since 1999 when bill clinton was president. there's a risk if you do too much of a victory. >> president obama is not somebody who likes to gloat and do victory laps. what they want to say is we've turned the page. we don't have a financial crisis sort of hanging over our heads and now we can take advantage and foe issues on the systemic challenges that we have and can take advantage of the fact we're not suffering in a recession anymore. i think what we'll have to figure out is whether everyone

can walk and chew gum at the same time. there's going to be division on the question of the tax increases. the question is whether the republicans will believe it's in their own self interest to get something done on trade, infra infrastructure and tax reform even though they will oppose him. >> compare it to six years ago, the economy is so much better right now. all of the i understandndicators are better. why has it taken so long for the president to get credit. >> it's a lag. it's not unique to this president. the reality is despite the overall improvement, the big except is median income is still lower than it was in 2000. almost unprecedented in american history to go 14 15 years without the living standard of average families increasing. that's the big challenge out there.

you hear more republicans talking about it jeb bush and mitt romney. i think the president will be talking about it quite a bit tonight. this speech is a reverse. we've gotten a lot of the the policy details. now, i think they're going to try to encompass it in a broader theme. >> i think what they're going to do is throw it throughout and say this is what we've got. let's see what you've got. we want to raise wages in this country. we know that's a huge problem. here is what we want to do to raise wages and for community colleges. tell me what do you have? who do you got? they're going to try to force republicans to say this is our approach. some of the things that are suggested is republican support. they're doing a mix there. they want to force the republicans out of the corners

here. >> clinton and the newt gingrich congress, the assumption about what they might agree on is so much lower than 15 years ago. if you look at the things the republicans passed near one is otherriented with finding common ground. it's about trying to win unified control. >> if you have a public that believes we're starting to get more on the right track. if you have a public that's less pessimistic, i would argue it's is your own self-interest as a member of congress because don't forget you have 2016 around the corner. it's in your own self-interest to get a few things done or the public will be much more possess messiah pessimistic about you as you head into the election. >> fascinating night for all of us political news junkies. you can follow us on twitter. tweet me at wolf blitzer.

be sure to join us tomorrow right here in the"the situation room" and watch us live. thanks for watching. cnn special coverage of president obama's state of the union address begins with erin burnett outfront. that starts right now. we're live from capitol hill. we begin with breaking news. the president calling on congress to authorize the use of force against isis. is this united states going to war? this is new isis video surfaces. terrorists threatening to kill two hostages if they don't get $200 million in ransom. cnn has video of the paris shooter and his wife scoping out targets for attack. we have a lot to get to. let's go