>> she was a boy who identified as a girl and they accommodated her in that regard. >> no easy answer, and they need to come to an agreement, and go to 30 days to conform with the title nine requirements may ask of them. than you, joey and paul. thank you, everyone for watching. my colleague wolf starts right my colleague wolf starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello, i'm wolf blitzer, and it is 1:00 p.m. in washington and 2:00 a.m. in beijing, and wherever you are watching, thank you for joining us. we start with the breaking news of the crashing of the pas sen jer jet killing all 224 people on board, and now we are getting word that there is an uncharacteristic sound on the black box. also today, we are getting new

information captured by a u.s. military satellite and evidence of a mid-air flash. and we are joined by our correspondent barbara starr. what does this mean? >> well, this flying over sinai saw a heat signature, and this is a hot spot that is different from the natural heat in background environment. it is associated with the aircraft. it happened where the aircraft was flying, and it happened, they saw this signature of heat flash in midair. so it is not when the plane hit the ground. they saw the heat midair. this suggests that this catastrophic event did occur while the plane was in flight. so, item one, no indication of a missile launch, and that data would be available. no data to show that there is a missile launch. this midair reveevent, and what

caused it, some catastrophic failure of the aircraft due to engine and fuel line and we know that there is a problem of the tail in the past, and did the plane simply fall apart? maybe. this is what all of the data from the black box is, when they are recovered and analyzed should begin to show, but the other option is clearly that there was some sort of other type of catastrophic event in the passenger compartment, in the cargo hold or somewhere, and not associated perhaps with the equipment failure due to lack of maintenance or no. let's be blunt, the american government is looking at potentially a bomb on the plane. nothing is decided, and nothing is certain. no conclusion. but it is fair to say that the u.s. government is looking through the u.s. intelligence sources, and the u.s. military and all of this highly technical

data, and does any of it suggest that perhaps there was a bomb on board of the plane, and if there was, the key question, of course, wolf, who did it? the u.s. will want to find that out very quickly. wolf. >> barbara starr at the pentagon, and thank you very much, and let's get more on the crash investigation. new developments unfolding as we speak. pet peter goelz is joining us, and also our counter terrorism analyst phil mudd. and peter, let's talk about the flight data recorder of the cockpit voice recorder, and the fir first reports of what was found on the recorders, and talk about this uncharacteristic noise, non-standard emergencies, and what does that say to you as someone who has done a number of these investigations? >> well w it could be as simple as sounds of the plane coming p

apart, and if the that is the case, perhaps the sound of an explosion, and perhaps the sound of something else. there was not enough time to discuss it. not enough time to send out an emergency call. my guess is a that it is a very short segment of noise and if the investigators are skilled, they can trace in which direction that noise is coming from, and perhaps identify whether it was a high order explosion or something less like a tearing sound. >> evidence, phil, is pointing us away from the possibility off a surface to air missile or the shoulder-fired missile or for that matter, they are looking for a blast inside of the plane as we have been reporting, mechanical problems, sabotage, a bomb, and that is much more likely, right? >> >> i think it is. the likelihood in the past 24 hours that it is a missile is

declini declining. the the fact that there was a heat flash does not mean a missile was fired, but to my judgment, it is the airplane exploding in midair and these are satellites to pick up thermal signatures, and big instances of heat, and there is a lot of stuff going on now s, s wolf, to decide the if there is something inside of the plane. the first thing is the flight manifest, and secondly, whether there is chatter on the isis wire, and whether isis individuals are talking about it. it is odd to me if this were isis that the only claim is that out of a relatively small group out of the sinai. and then you have to look at things like conversations with the baggage handlers and the personnel who were on the ground and what they saw and what they said. >> i have checked, phil, with the israelis and they are right on the border, and if you put up a map where the crash occurred, it is not far from israel, and they have a very good missile system, and the patriot dome,

and they can detect a shoulder to air missile fired, and they have not seen anything along those lines in sinai. and so it is not looking like shoulder fired or surface to air missile or more something inside of the plane. peter, the debris scattered over the wide area, they will be looking through it to see if there is residue that could be telling. >> absolutely. the satellite images, it is not surprisi surprising. when twa crashed off of long island, we had an image from a u.s. government satellite that picked it up, but the wreckage that is most important in the investigation is the first wreckage aoff of the plane, and that is the wreckage two to three miles from the main body of the plane. the stuff that comes off first will tell you where the accident or the incident began, and what sort of incident it was. they can say if it was a high

order explosion or more fatigue related. met al ur gial u a metalurgists can tell you that. >> and now, over mount sinai, there is some incident over sinai a terror incident, there is a no fly, but that is smart in terms the of potentially cost morgue fuel? >> yes, it is smart. and wolf, there is a difference of what i can say after 30 years of experience in this and speculating on the fact that if there were no sensors pick d ed or that somebody saw a plume and the likelihood that something that hit this was near zero, and what i speculate and know is significant. if i'm an aircraft carrier and

somebody traveling over the area, my question is not what a counter terrorism thinks, but more of a what they know. so if i were there, i would be doing the same thing, avoiding the area. >> and philip mudd, and peter goelz, we will continue to stay on top of the story. the head of the u.s. intelligence agency says that he has not yet, and he has not ruled out terror in the particular explosion, the crash, and california congressman adam schiff is joining us. what are you hearing about the crash? >> well, you know, i was in the sinai a few months ago, and obviously, we have seen a real escalation of the violence there, but the likelihood that this plane was shot down from the ground is probably remote. it is not impossible, but give en the altitude, it is probably remote, and i think that it is more likely to have a problem on the aircraft, and whether that was a structural problem with

the aircraft that had problems in the past or whether that because a device planted, we don't know. we think that it is going to be taking some time to tell. >> if it were though some surface to air missile or the shoulder-fired missile, either the u.s. or the israelis who are close nearby not far from sinai, they would be able to detect that, right? >> well, i think that we would have a pretty good chance, and i'm not sure if it is infallible, but a pretty good chance of seeing something like that happen iing or one of the allies seeing something like that happening. but the likelihood of eisis to have manpower to reach an altitude like that is improbable, but at this point, the intelligence agencies are not ready to rule anything out sblchlt as you know, sinai in e recent years is destruck stif and not just isis establishing a foothold there, but other terror groups as well. so when you say that isis may not have the ability to launch

this strike, other terror groups whether it is al qaeda affiliate or related al qaeda, they cannot be ruled out either, can they? >> well, it is possible, wolf, but it is improbable for the radical groups to take the out an airplane at that altitude. but you are right, it is a real cesspool in terms of the militant activity in the sinai. a lot of it in the the wake of the crackdown by the egyptian government on the muslim brotherhood which provided fuel for the terrorist organizations to ramp up the operations. increasingly, we are seeing the problems there, and active participation in the region and the sinai as a a result of the peace accord with egypt where we and others in the european allies try to help monitor the peace along the border between israel and egypt, but now given the violence, we have had to

curtail a lot of the participation. >> congressman, don't go away. we have more to discuss. i want your take on what is going on inside of syria now with the u.s. beginning to deploy ground force, and at least 50 u.s. special operation forces in syria right now, and what is going on, on that front, and standby with the escalating u.s. military involvement, and plus on politics, the republicans mock the president about the upcoming debates, and we will have more on that as well. 40% of the streetlights in detroit, at one point, did not work. you had some blocks and you had major thoroughfares and corridors that were just totally pitch black. those things had to change.

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there is some confusion coming out of russia today on the government stance on the syrian president bashar al assad, and a foreign ministry spokesman said that it is not a matter of principle for russia, but tried to clear up the statement saying it is up to the syrian people to decide bashar al assad's fate. let's bring in the democratic congressman adam schiff who is

the ranking member of the house intelligence committee, and they were in lateral talks with all kind kinds of countries including iran and saudi arabia, and now syria and russia are calling for more talk, and next week in m moscow bringing in the syrian officials as well. is there some sort of diplomatic end to this that you could see congressman that would remove bashar al assad from power despite the objections of russia and iran? >> well, that is the hope, because i think that as a practical matter, until assad is gone, this civil war is going to churn on. millions of syrians who won't live under bashar al assad again. so his removal is necessary to put an end, and an end to isis. i don't think that russia and iran is ready yet, but we are already a month into the military intervention, and we are not seeing a change on the battlefield yet. the longer that you see russia and the resources sucked in, and

the same with iran, the more they may look to favor of a transition away from assad, but we are not there yet. >> and we are hearing that u.s. and russian aircraft successfully carried out what is called a communications test today to make sure that they avoid each other in the air strike, and accidentally knock off one of their respective a aircraft. what can you tell us about this? >> well, this is certainly in our interest and the russian's interest, because we don't want a direct confrontation that is a proxy confrontation in syria, but to have the american plane shot down or the russian one, and to have a plane hit by a cruise missile, because we have no idea of what the russians were doing, that would set off a potentially dangerous chain of events, and the communication is an improvement from the beginning of the russian military involvement, and they basically gave us an hour's notice and said that we will do what we are going to do, and we are not prepared to completely deconflict, because we are not

going the tell the russians where the moderate opposition is, because that turns out to be target number one for the russian air force, but nonetheless, the deconfliction is improving. >> the president authorized fewer than 50 opposition forces on the ground in syria, and does that really change this mission? is it too little too late or what is your assessment? >> well, my assessment is that the administration needs to do something, because the battlefield now has been static for a long period of time, and certainly static in iraq and apart from the small gains that the russians have made, pretty static in syria as well, and there is a realistic question about how much 50 special operators can do even among the most capable op erators in the world. they will make the kurdish forces, and the other forces in the region effective and to the degree they engage in more

operations like we saw targeted against abu saayaf to gather the intelligence is effective, but it is not effective in moving the needle much, so we have to keep an eye out if it is a continuing escalation, but the administration is responding both to the russian assertiveness as well as to the static nature of the battlefield. >> i want to be precise. you agree that you believe that the president should come to congress and seek for mall congressional authorization for the new phase in the war against isis? >> well, absolutely. i should say that not just for the new phase, but certainly the addition of the special operators making it more imperative than ever, because we will now have more pilots and people in harm's way, but this is something congress should have taken up over a year ago when the conflict began and the military participation of it began. i don't believe it is supported by the two pre-existing authorizations to use force.

the one against saddam hussein's iraq, and the other in the wake of 9/111 a 1 and the administra is on tenuous legal ground for this and the basis of the war going on in the last year. >> congressman adam schiff, thank you for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. presidential candidate donald trump is out campaigning, and he has a special message for his rivals when we come back. resolve to turn heads this holiday season. starting now with roc® retinol. it's up to two times stronger than imitators. try roc® retinol correxion® night cream... after 1 week, fine lines appear to fade, 1 month, deep wrinkles look smoother... and after one year, skin looks ageless. make you roc retinol resolution today and put your best face forward in 2016. high performance skincare only from roc®.

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>> "crippled america" which is the latest book written by presidential candidate donald trump. to help promote it, he held a press conference which led to the questions about the state of the race for the white house,

and trump had no shortage of answers. >> i predict that i am going to be winning the hispanic vote. >> [ inaudible ] >> yes, i am going to to get the nomination, and get the white house, and beating hillary clinton is going to be easy, because the record is so bad. do i think that it is time for some of the republicans in the race that are registering zero, and in a couple ofcations they have zero with the arrow pointing left, which i presume is a mistake, because that is less than zero, and do i believe that some of the republican candidates should drop out? y yes. it is too many people. >> and donald trump is speaking his mind and launch iing new attacks on the rivals as well as the democratic presidential frontrunner hillary clinton. let's bring in the guests republican strategist mercedes strep and angela rye who is

former director of the congressional black caucus. and mercedes, you heard him say flatly, he is going to win the hispanic vote, and you have done a number of polls and research, and what are you finding? >> i know that he touts that they sus port him in virginia, but when you look at florida and virginia, and the hispanics are not aligned with him, and the immigration rhetoric is very strong, and he has to do what i would call community building or nation building for the community to win them. >> and two republican candidates marco rubio and ted cruz -- >> well, jeb bush is de facto hispanic, and he is another one of the candidates who can reach out to that community, and

speaks directly in the language. >> and in is donald trump making fun of the -- excuse me, this is president obama speaking about the debates, and making fun of the republicans. >> have you noticed that every one of the candidates say, obama is weak. he's, you know, people -- putin is kicking sand in his face. and when i talk to putin -- [ laughter ] -- he going to straighten out. just looking at him. he is going to be -- [ laughter ] -- and then it turns out they can't handle a bunch of c nshnb moderators. i mean, let me tell you. [ applause ] if you can't handle -- [ laughter ] -- if you can't handle those the guy

guys, you know, then i don't think that the chinese and the russians are going to be too worried about you. that is an effective line that he just had. >> fantastic. >> and he is making fun of the republicans, and it is as if he wanted the do the debates hosted by the republicans, and he didn't want to do a debate with fox news when he was running for president in 2007 and 2008, and so he has his own history there as well. >> sure. they have the opportunity to decline this debate before it happened, and the fact that they spent most of the time talking about the questions being unfair, i think that some of them were a little tough, and they should be able to handle that, because when you are going in to negotiate with the other foreign leaders, it is not a fair debate criteria that you negotiate ahead of time. >> well, angela, it is clear that the washington post and the "huffington post" and all sides of the media all basically said the i same thing that the biggest losers were the cnbc moderators with the weak questions that were -- >> i think that it was great,

because they have cleaning up to do on behalf of the party. >> she is talking about reince priebus, the chairman of the national republican party. >> and to the kred dishgts he was trying to make sure that the republicans didn't go through 23 debates like four years ago which he felt hurt mitt romney when all said and done. >> when you think of cnbc you think of business channel, and we would have talked about the economy or the trade being 1/6 of the economy and none of that was touched on and when you look at the response, cnbc was being criticized by all of the media on all sides. >> well, you can understand the president's point. >> well, they have blown off the fox news, and you know them, and they would give a thorough d debate for the democrats. >> and in that first debate, they asked tough questions as well. megyn kelly didn't like the questions that was asked of him in the first debate. and talk briefly about hillary

clinton in the new monmouth university poll in new hampshire, and she is now in front of bernie sanders and back in september she was behind but now she is ahead within the margin of error, and she is doing better. and looking at women n september, 42% to bernie sanders at 48% over sanders at 45%. and older voters vote better than younger people, and now she is ahead after being behind, and so she has come through as a a result of the presidential debate, on the benghazi testimony, and biden not running, and doing well in neighboring vermont, new hampshire. >> and also picked up on one of the weakest points with the democrats, and that is the gun control issue. she is also playing that as a

wedge issue, and worked it up very, very welsh and in fact, yesterday, she was meeting with the families who lost their kids a african-american families who lost their kids. >> you think that she is the nomine nominee? >> i the think that she is strongly positioned to be the nominee. when you looked at the field, everybody was weak compared to hillary clinton. >> and donald trump said he is going to be the nominee and looks forward to beating her, and we will watch it obviously very close. thank you for coming in. >> thank you. >> and the debate controversy coming up, and my next guest says that debates should be serious discussions, and he does not want moderators, and he is rand paul up there on capitol hill, and we will talk about, that and talk about what is going on in syria, and other issues. my interview with rand paul when we come back.

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better eggs. president obama trying to clarify the decision to deploy forces to fight opposition forces of isis. in the first comments the president said that the deployment decision is not a violation of the 2013 promise not the put boots on the ground. >> well, keep in mind that we have run special ops already. really, this is an extension the of what we are continuing the do. we are not putting u.s. troops on the front lines fighting firefights with isil. >> and all right. let's discuss this other topic s with the republican presidential candidate senator rand paul of kentucky. senator, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> the u.s. and its allies are continuing air strikes against

the islamic state isis targets and in iraq and syria, and if you were elected president, would you continue to participate in those air strikes? >> well sh, the first thing i wd do is to obey the constitution. what president obama is doing is unconstitutional, and our founding fathers were clear that the initiation of war, and the beginning of war and the declaration of war should be from the people's house, from congress. and so even president obama agreed with this when he ran for office in 2007 saying that no president should unilaterally go to war without the approval of congress, and he doesn't believe that much anymore, but i believe that it should be a debate and approval in congress. >> would you seek such authorization? >> i am against sending boots on the ground. i am against sending the sons and daughters of americans there. and the last war was more chaotic, and less safe. if we want to be safer as a country and people, i don't believe sending 500,000 troops back into there is a good idea

nor 50 is. so if you are going to war, sending 50 people to war at a time is a recipe for being surrounded and somehow having a di s disaster on your hands. so i would never put underwhelming force if we went to war, and there was a declaration of war, i would put overwhelming force and not mess around. >> and now, president obama says he is going to order federal employers to ban the boxes, which is the box that the asks job applicants if they have a felony job application, because he says it makes it too difficult for prisoners who have served their time, and want to the start over to get a job with the federal government. are you with him on that? >> i'm with him on a lot of of the criminal justice reform, and on individual companies advising them the do it voluntarily, and yes, i'm for that, but for the federal government doing it, mostly yes. there can always be an exception to the rule, but obviously,

federal child care and things like that, and there have to be more stringent rules on who has to be hired, but a guy who smoked pot or sold marijuana when they were 20 years old deserve as seco ves a second chm a big believer in is second chances, so if we want to allow them to expunged and let them go away and particularly in non-violent crime. >> did the president do the right thing to the release several thousand prisoners who had sentences because of drug sales or drug a abuse or whatever, or do you agree with bill brattin, the new york city police commissioner that releasing all of the prisoners poses a danger to the public? >> well, i generally favorite it, and i don't know every instance of everyone who got released, and i don't want to be responsible for that, but in general, yes, they should be. many of these people are

minorities and aftera can americans who got sentences two, three, four times longer than the white counterparts, because there is a disparity of sentencing in crack-cocaine and powder cocaine. there are people in the prisons who are black primarily and given sentences of 10 and 15 years where as a white kid going to college and using the powder cocaine got six months and probation. it is still not fair, and the fact that the president is correcting some of that, i commend him and would support that, but i do not want to support every incident, because i didn't have the file to look at each one. >> and there is a video posted of your fill bibuster to stop t budget going through, but you failed because the final vote was 65-5 and you need 65 to braeak na filibuster, but what would you have done with the debt? would the u.s. have defaulted on those debts potentially

undermining the credit rating which would have cost the american public a lot. >> one of the things that is extraordinary about the internet, i filibustered about the senate hearing, and my friend saw this snippet which is more than people who watched the last republican debate, and so it is amazing that you can stand up, and make your stand at 2:00b in the morning and yet 21 people saw it with no news coverage. so i would not raise the debt ceiling, and balance the budget and spend what comes in. we have $250 billion coming in every month and the interest payment is 30 and 60 billion a month, and we have money for the interest, a on the other hand reason to default. in fact, i have a bill that specifically says that we should pay the interest, and pay medica medicare, social security and soldiers' salaries and veterans affairs as a priority, and then

a long drawn out debate of whether to reform the government. but it is irresponsible to raise the debt ceiling and the spending caps. we went exactly the wrong direction and i have been traveling the country and i have not met a republican yet who wants to raise the debt ceiling and the spending at the same time. >> and 24 million people saw the last republican debate on cnn and 25 million saw the first republican debate, and the 21 million who saw the viral tape is not the same. >> we are still going. >> and maybe after this interview more people will take a closer look at that as well. >> yes. >> and ben carson is now ahead in the second national poll of donald trump, and this new "wall street journal" shows trump trailing carson by six point, and marco rubio and then ted cruz and jeb bush, and you are down there, but struggling right

now, and why are you still struggling in. >> well, i think it is still early believe it or not. and we have been talking about it for a year or more, but it is early in the decision-making process. every one of the polls that you are cited 2/3 are undecided and the pollster will say, who are you leaning towards? and so it is still not there, and if we are here in the third week of january, then we will be worried, but there is a great deal of movement to have. many don't believe that the ben carson or donald trump are the nominee, and we believe there is a reshuffling of the deck. we have a lot of support amongst the students and a lot of support among the independents. we don't believe they are showing up or underrepresented in the polls, because i have yet to meet a college kid whoever answered a presidential poll. so we have a chance, and we are working very hard with the student, and also, i represent a position that is not represented by anyone else in the field that

i am not going to be sending us back to war in iraq, and i'm the only republican saying we won't go back the war in iraq, and i'm the only republican who says if you are a fiscal conservative, you have to save the money on the military side and the domestic welfare side. >> and we are almost out of time, but is it true that you don't want a moderator at the presidential debates? >> well, not exactly true, but i suggested it as an alternative, because it could be interesting debate to put five candidates around the table, and then another five candidate, and let them have an hour long discussion, but speak their mind. for example, we all have tax plan, and hay had to bully my way in to get 30 seconds to present my tax plan, and i was the first one out there with the flat tax to get rid of the entire tax code and gets rid of the irs. i want to be a part of the discussion, and because we do too many gotcha questions, we don't get a chance for the full discussion of the issues. >> rand paul, thank you for

joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> senator rand paul from kentucky. and today, jeb bush is going to sit down with our jamie gangell neshgs "the situation room," and also, we will air that at 5:00 p.m. eastern, and also at 9:00 p.m. with anderson cooper. ute buttons equal danger. ...that sound good? not being on this phone call sounds good. it's not muted. was that you jason? it was geoffrey! it was jason. it could've been brenda. big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac.

see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern.

new. concerns are being raised by a government watchdog agency here in washington over the effectiveness of screening methods at american airports. the new report says the ntsb and tsa hasn't properly assessed if

their airport security and technology methods are actually effective. that includes the agency's terror watch list and technology used at the check points. a hearing on capitol hill a congressman said the tsa has become bloated and has lost its focus. >> you need to get out of the personnel business is and back into the security business. turning tsa back into doing the things that will save us, the intelligence gathering, setting the parameters for someone else, you're not a very good personnel agency, nor will you be. the recruitment is horrible, the retention is horrible. it just goes on and on. >> let's bring in our aviation correspondent. what's the tsa saying? >> they are pushing back, but they say they will increase training and improve training. the government watchdog group that we're talking about is the

government accountability office. they testified this morning on capitol hill and they have been highlighting some shortcomings that they found with the agency. they say tsa has not evaluated effectiveness of new screening technologies. they also say that the tsa has no consistent performance measures for their flight programs that matches passenger's needs against the terror watch list. and it also says that tsa has failed to use data to identify opportunities for improvement. as you know, since september 11th, billions of dollars have been spent on aviation security, but the gao is saying bottom line that many of tsa's screening methods are being propped up as effective, but they don't have a measure of effectiveness so how do you know that it works if you haven't truly tested or analyzed it. the tsa is pushing back. we want to be fair to them 37

the head of the tsa saying they have retrained their whole front line work office and they are continuing to increase and enhance training for new hires. >> thank you very much. as local iraqi fighters prepare to launch an offensive tro retake their homes, their families brace for another type of threat as they hide out on a mountain overlooking their town. we have the incredible story, when we come back. plaque psoriasis... ...isn't it time to let the... ...real you shine... ...through? introducing otezla, apremilast. otezla is not an injection, or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. some people who took otezla saw 75% clearer skin after 4 months. and otezla's prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you are allergic to any of its ingredients.

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they have been stranded near mount sinjar for over a year but fighters are preparing for an offensive against isis. >> reporter: mount sinjar, these slopes claimed the lives of dozens of children last winter. this year they are bracing themselves for the worst.

the mountain is so cold. you can see there's nothing up here. she and her nine daughters escaped isis last year. this year she says she worries it will be the mountain winter that kills them. 17 of them live in this tiny tent and everything that you see here, the clothing that they are wearing, the pots, the pans, this is it. this is all they have in the world and they are facing another incredibly brutal winter up here on the mountain. smoke plumes rise over sinjar. coalition airstrikes intensifying as preparations begin to push to retake the town. sinjar and the mountain that looms over it are at the heart of the homeland of the minority. in the mountain's foothills, men

are training for the fight ahead. the mountain is the holiest shrine. it also falls along a crucial isis supply route linking isis strongholds in iraq and syria. last year the world watched as thousands of ya see dees were massacred. hundreds of guards are still held by isis fighters as slaves. her sister and two teenage nieces are among the captives. every moment in her day no matter the task, she told us is spent thinking about them. as the offensive draws nearer, she worries they are still in the town below. >> translator: who are they? will they be caught in the fighting? >> reporter: below the soldiers are standing guard.

many of the fighters here have families up on the mountain slopes above. today a local folk singer has come to rally. but they know too well what they are fighting for, their very existence. poorly supplied, the commander tells us they need all the help they can get. >> we need traditional support and heavy weaponry, especially now. we stood against isis with nothing but machine guns. we stood strong. we need your help. >> for now they are clinging on desperate to stay within sight of their abandoned homes. zero hour is approaching. they are getting ready. everyone hope this is will finally be over and soon. even as they prepare themselves for what awaits them in the town

below. cnn, mount sinjar. >> that's it for me. i'll be back at 5:00 p.m. in the situation room. for our viewers in north america, "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right now. thank you so much, great to be with you on this tuesday, i'm brooke baldwin. you're watching cnn. three little words, classic donald trump, at a press conference awhile ago today to push his new book. there was a lot of talking. not a ton of talking about the book necessarily, but a lot about everyone and everything else. >> every country, no matter what country, pick a a name out of a hat, they are beating us in trade. i think i'm going to win the hispanic vote. i think i'm going to get the nomination and i will win the white house.