to us. >> sure. >> tim zimmerman is going to air "blackfish" saturday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern time, and watch the documentary this saturday. thank you for watching us, everyone. stay tuned. my colleague wolf blitzer is my colleague wolf blitzer is going to start right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it is 12:00 p.m. in milwaukee, wisconsin, and 1:00 p.m. in washington, and 8 :00 p.m. in jerusalem. wherever you are, thank you for joining us. we are just hours away from debate four from the republican presidential candidates, and the face-off tonight is critical for several of the candidates hoping to stop their fall in the polls, and stay within shouting distance of the two frontrunners, ben kcarson and donald trump are again doing be center stage of the prime time

portion as leaders. in all of the major polls, they are the leaders leading up to the debate. and now our reporter is joining us live from where the debate is going to be taking place, sun lynn serfaty. i take it that the first three are going to be same as the first three debates? >> yes, and starting with the candidates only eight candidates on the main debate stage which is down from 10. mike huckabee and chris christie did not qualify for the main debate, because of the low poll number, so they have been downgra downgraded so to speak to the undercard debate. you won't see senator lindsey graham or george pataki or bob gilmore. senator lindsey says he wants to get his commentary made on a

social app called sidewire. and the format changes to namely give the candidates more time to speak. the new rules are 90 seconds for candidates to respond to questions answered directly, and 60 seconds to respond to attacks made directly at them. >> for some of the candidate, it is going to be difficult especially jeb bush, because he has to show something in this debate ta e e didn't show the first three. >> yes, absolutely. jeb bush has a lot to prove. and admittedly, he says that the debates are not the forte, and in the time since the last debate, he has hired a media strategist, a nd somebody who will allegedly make him more comfortable up there on the debate stage, and coach him to be more aggressive and assertive, and jeb bush for the part plans to not think of it as a debate tonight, and he just wants to be himself, and talk about the issues.

w wolf? >> thank you, sunlin. >> let's bring in casey packer who is a political commentator as well as donna brazile. jeb bush has a new ad released in advance of the debate tonight. and katy, let me play a little bit of an excerpt. >> okay. >> it turns out that they can't handle a bunch of cnbc moderators, and i don't think that the chinese and the russians are going to be too worried about you. >> all right. clearly that is not the ad that is a different ad if you will, and that is the president of the united states, but he has an ad showing that he is a true con sser vative, and he is energetic, and he has lot of ideas, and i think that maybe we could cue it up correctly right now. let's listen. >> when i left there were $9

billion in reserves. we reduced the state government workforce by 13,000. the one thing that barack obama and i would say hillary clinton and the philosophy and the people of the ilk have proven is that the progressive agenda run amok has failed. what i proved as governor is that you can cut spending, and still prioritize towards the things that matter. >> what do you think? is that ad going to make an impact? >> well, it is an interesting ad for sure, and what jeb bush is trying to do is to reset the discussion and reset the debate and take it off of the subject of high energy, low energy, and are you cool enough or not, and he wants back to the discussion of who has an agenda, and conservative agenda in contraes of hillary clinton, and who can get the job done, and he believes that is his sweet spot. >> and there is a pro jeb super pac that you read about in "the new york times" going directly after the person they believe is the main threat and not donald

trump or ben carson, but marco rubio raising questions if he is going to be ready to be president. >> well, the bush campaign understands it is a two-lane highway and so he needs to get marco rubio out of the establishment lane. to do that, he needs to hit him, and hit him hard. he did not do a good job in the republican debate. he failed to have a good contrast with marco rubio. he is hoping tonight that he can get marco rubio to make a mistake, and are respond to e him rather than making jeb bush look so sad. >> presumably they wanted to spend $20 million this souper pc that supports jeb bush. is it going to be enough to turn it around? >> well, they telegraphed that marco rubio is too pro life. i am not sure if that is a message that works when you are fighting somebody in the republican primary, and it might be something that might help

marco rubio. >> they said not help in the primary, but in the general election when he says no exemptions for the life of the mother or the rape or the incest. >> well, that is not what he said, but that is they are trying to the make. and the point is that jeb bush has to show who jeb bush is, because at the moment, there is no indication if they pull away from marco rubio that it will go to jeb bush. until they can demonstrate that jeb bushb is the best bet not taking down any of the candidate s is problem. >> he needs to stop trying to take somebody down and lift up his voters and let them know who he is. >> and this last poll has bish and carson tied -- has trump and carson tied at 24% and 23%, and

then everybody else under 10%. and if you look at the frontrunners, they are both frontrunners after all of these month, and doing amazingly well, katy. >> yes sh, it is something thate other candidates need to pay close attention to. what are these candidates tapping into, but there are twro candidates in the race clearly defined donald trump and jeb bu bush. and until jeb bush does something to change the narrative, he is not go oing the move. i don't believe that donald trump is going to be moving and having big gains, because he is clearly defined, too, and it is up to the other candidates to show that they have something to off the republican primary voters. >> and donald trump makes it clear, he is not shy about deliver i delivering a counter punch by some of the other candidates. he likes to say, he hits back ten times as hard. >> look, i was shocked when he yesterday went after ben carson in ways that i did not think that a front rrunner would treaa

colleague. donald trump is in front, and he se is the candidate to get out there to say something to make people look at him as a substantive policy person on the business and the economic issues. the seven kanscandidates and th in the jv card, they need to watch out, because it is going to be run, too. and i know the date of the next debate, because it is my birthday, and that is going to be the candidate to finish up the is season, but you have a few candidates who may drop the out in the next several weeks. >> wolf, people have been shopping and dating them, and they don't like them. they have met them, and it is not your turn, bobby. i don't like rick santorum, and it is not your turn. and for chris christie and governor huckabee who won the iowa caucuses seven years ago and to now be off of the big stage, why would you stay in it?

>> and it is interesting that donald trump and ben carson say, look seven or eight years ago there was michele bachmann or herman cain and at some points they were doing well, but only for a few weeks if that. these two leaders have been doing well for # 100 days. >> it is a scenario that you cannot compare so. and donald trump sort of has the e ceiling, and he has been sitting there at 23% or so, and people have made up their minds. he has a core of support that is not going anywherement, but i do believe that dr. carson is coming under new scrutiny and we will see if he has more staying power than others, but until they start to fall away, you won't see anybody getting up to the numbers. >> and i am told that it is going to be focusing on the key economic features on a fox business debate and focus on

finance and business as opposed to some orff of the more -- to some of the more personal stuff. >> we need to watch ted cruz. >> we will watch them all. >> and now, joining us live in 20 minutes, we will find out the assessment from milwaukee. >> and meanwhile, the crash of the airliner in egypt is causing a second look at the security that airport workers undergo.

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american airports. there are is some suspicion that the bomb was put on the metro jet flight by an insider of egyptian airport worker in sharm el sheikh where the aircraft made the final takeoff. our government correspondent rene marsh is join g ing us. we are talking about only a million workers here in the united states, and 450 airports, and what exactly are the tsa and homeland department concerns? >> well, wolf, with my conversations of the several people involved with the security, they are saying the same thank, this major concern is the insider threat, the individual who works at the airliner and has that unfettered secure access to the airport as well as the aircraft. i spoke with one congressman john catco who is the chairman of the senate transportation committee, and he said in his own words, we simply do not know

enough about the 1,200 airline workers across the nation. he is pushing for better vetting. and we heard in the earlier in the month, that tsa is telling congress that there is work to be done when it relates to the o outsider threat. one individual shared with us that the information it has collected,ped when it comes to vetting the airport workers is essentially the same sort of information this is claim ed an looking from passengers looking to get preclaim clearance from the security checkpoints, and some find it very disturbing. wolf, there is legislation that has been approved by the house, and now it is legislation that will call for the more physical screening of the airport workers when they arrive on scene at work. as well as recurring background checks. it has passed the house, but not the senate. >> thank you, rene. and joining to talk about the

homeland security and homeland security is our congressman who is also on the oversight committee, and congressman, thank you for joining us, and are you convinced it is a bomb, and either isis or some affiliate is responsible? >> well, it is difficult to say 100%, but it is a significant depart xhur from isis' techniques and tactics in the region, and the more reason that we should be focused on them and stopping them in syria and iraq. >> and the as sum sum shun is that they had an insider at the sharm el sheikh aircraft and that oit was a bomb. >> and i believe it is wone theory. we don't know the answers to it yet, and the tsa going to be look at it closely as well as

airports around the world. the important thing to look at what happens in an airport in sharm el sheikh, and whatps in washington, d.c., and somewhere else is very different. tsa is increasing their screening of luggage coming from key regions over seas and the house passed a legislation earlier in the year saying that every airport needs to go through and review the security access controls. you know, where can their workers get access ointo the sensitive areas of the airport. >> and almost always, a 900,000 workers at 450 airports in the united states. does more need to be done? >> well, we can always do more, and do more to protect the american people, and protecting against the insider threat is a difficult thing to do. additional screenings of the workers is important, and also making sure that we know where the workers have ak a cess to in the areas, and technical measures as well. >> fit were isis or some

isisf-affiliated group, why would they go after a russian airline where most of the passenger passengers were russian. why target russia? was the attack designed to hurt russia or egypt for xexample or send a broader message if >> the design was to hurt egypt i think more so than russians, but this is one of the areas where isis's information campaigns are significant. and nobody is talking about how isis is killing the innocent people. they are beating their chest on social media saying that they are taking the fight to the bad guys, but they are kill iing th innocent folk, and that message has to get out there to folks t trying to combat them. >> you spent nine years in the cia as a clandestine officer. you understand the intelligence and the whole social media, and these guys are e kruting isis and a lot more supporters now as a reare sult of the murder of 224 people which is hard for us to understand. why is this so attractive to them? >> look. we can't think of the problem

through our own mindset, and when i was chasing al qaeda, and in places of pakistan and afghanistan, a al qaeda would do something called the night letters and leave it on the doorsteps, and now they are hitling tens of millions of people per day. they say stop playing video game, and get off of the couch, and do the real thing. but if a young man is going to be igt fooing with isis and syria or iraq, they are more likely to have a bomb dropped on their head than they are to defeat isis. >> and has the u.s. and the allies stepped up to the plate? >> we have not and that is where we need to do a better job. department of homeland security has countering violent extremism division, but it can't be the u.s. government alone to do these things. i it ha -- it has to be a whole sunni partners in the region, and non-state actors have to be

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it has been a day plagued with violence in jerusalem and israeli spokesman says two palestinian boys 12 and 13 stabbed a security guard on a light rail train in jerusalem.

the guard shot back at them wounding the 12-year-old seer kwous seerously. and then later in israeli, police say they shot and killed a palestinian man who ran toward them with a knife. and then in a third incident, a man walked up to a chios akt the west bank and attempted to is the stab a border police there and the attacker was shot and killed. all of the incidents are happening while the prime minister benjamin netanyahu is here to discuss the peace process, and israel's relati relationship with the united states. israeli spokesman mark redgev is joining us. thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> and now, there had been a couple of weeks of no violence, but until today. >> well, this is going to no interest in the goals of the government to manage in a way to

de-escalate, and deal with the perpetrators at the same time, and still to encourage a positive momentum, a we want peace and quiet, a thantsdz nd e goal of everybody. >> and now, i want to get to the knowledge of the downed russian airliner from sharm el sheikh. there are reports that the israeli government shared secret ares uk and united states. >> well, i cannot tell you that, but we have passed it on to the relevant officials. >> do you with believe it was a bomb planted inside of that airplane that brought the plane down? >> yes, that is what we believe. >> and so, now, if in is the ramifications, sinai is a very dangerous sich isation. >> we have seen the islamist

groups establishing a presence, and threaten israel and egypt, and everyone that we saw on the attack on the plane. >> why did they go after the russian airliner? >> well, to israel's perspective, you see sinai and the radicals and north no group of hezbollah, and you can see syria and everything that is going on there, and we are in a dangerous neighborhood. >> you believe it is that group e isis and sinai that is responsible for the bombing? >> i won't go into the details of the perp tetrator, but it is not the same time. we have had rockets off sinai targeting southern israel, and situations of the groups there causing problems. once again dangerous for israel, and dangerous for egypt, too, and we have to fight them. >> we know 700 american soldiers in sinai since 1979 the signing of the israeli/egyptian peace treaty, and egypt wants them to remain, but does israel want

them to stay? it is a very dangerous spot there >> and right now, the peace treaty between egypt and israel is very, very important, and the american support for the peace treaty is very, very important. we'd lick to see it happen. we'd like the see the americans stay. obviously, if we have to have a better protection for the american forces, that has to be done as well. but it is important to know that the radicals are not going to be running away from us, because those extremists are going to follow us. so it is important to fight them and defeat them. my prime minister said last night, there is no substitute for a military victory over the extremists. we are seeing in the middle east crazy situation where states that have been there for a century are imploding, e syria, iraq, libya, yemen, and all of the countries are dissolving and into the cracks are the radical islamists whether it is the radical sunnis or the radical shia headed by iran, and it is

important that we stand up and fight these extremist, wolf. >> and we know that the president met in the ol' offivae with the prime minister yesterday. and the last time that the prime minister was here, he delivered the cop trntroversial speech. has that relationship been repaired? >> i can tell you that we were in the room yesterday, and it was a very good meeting, and we thought that the iran nuclear deal was a mistake, but we are looking ahead, and it is clear that now the goal has to be one, two prevent, and to the ensure that iran keeps its part of the deal which is not clear at all, and two, to check iranian aggression in the region. we know that iraq is active in many places, iraq, syria, lebanon, libya and yemen, and we have to check the aggression,

and thirdly, not talked about, iranian support for the t terrorism, and we have had terror cells in asia, africa, and even asia and this hemisphere. we have to check the aggression. >> and many people in israel are deeply irritated that the prime min easter no, ma'ister nominat the name of ron bartss who on the facebook page called the president of the united states an anti-semite, and he said that john kerry had the age of a 12-year-old, and ridiculed president riflen as well, but he is not fired. what is going on there? because it is a source of deep concern. >> he has not been employed, so he hasn't need to be fired. >> will he be the communication chief? >> well, the prime minister pub luckily totally dissociated with the remark, and he said that it is not the way they think or the policy of the government of

israel. and so he, himself, has apologize and said what he said is wrong. >> will he continue on as communications chief? >> well, he is going to talk to him to soo e what is going to happen, and i don't want to prejudge, but the following, this guy has criticized the president of israel, my prime minister and members of my government, and he has been out there on facebook, and who doesn't know somebody who has said something irresponsible on f facebook. >> and you don't want somebody who has called the president of the united states an anti-semite. >> when the name was put up there the prime minister was not aware of it. >> did he know that he ridiculed the president of the united states? >> i know ha he didn't. >> so he has a big reason to dissociate with him when he gets back. >> i don't want to prejudge. >> and the prime minister said he support as two-state solution, israel and palestine living side by side, but he

brought into the cabinet several key leader s a s and ministers e cabin cabinet, and those who oppose the two-state solution, and including nominating a new israeli ambassador to the u.n. who opposing a two-state solution. how do you balance that, because it seem as that he is sending the the conflicting messages. >> no, you have covered israeli politics for years and we have a coalition government. and you have differing opinions, but in the coalition, it is the prime minister who is among the equals, and his opinion that counts. and yesterday among the prime min ster, he firmly believes in a two-state, two-person solution. he wants to restart the peace talks with the palestinians without any preconditions whatsoever, and ready to move forward, but the problem on the palestinian side, is a failure to cone dem the terrorism, and

running away from the negotiating table. my prime minister has been in office for six years since he has been in office for 2009. only six hours of leadership, and ask you, wolf, how can you move forward in peace if one side refuses to talk. >> and let's hope that the peace process is going to get back on track. i congratulate, and when do you move to london? >> within the next few weeks. >> congratulations, mark revgev, the next ambassador. and n, joining us is reince e priebus, and you can see him there in milwaukee ahead of the republican debates. ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪

♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪

round four of the republican presidential debates only a few hours away, and take a closer look at what is at stake for the republican candidates. this is the first debate for jeb bush since he hired a media coach. that could help to deliver a stronger performance. and marco rubio may be under attack, and how will the junior senator from florida defend himself. and ben carson is under scrutiny with his details from the autothe biography and will that play out tonight if at all, and donald trump is facing a challenge from dr. carson who has a narrow lead among republican republicans. and last nite, trump ridiculed the neurosurgeon and the remarks of his violent past.

>> you stab somebody, and the newspapers say that you didn't do it, and you say, yes, i did it, i id dit it. no, you did. yes, i did. i stabbed him and it hit the belt, and they said that you d didn't do it. and if they said that i didn't do it, i would be so happy. this is the only election in history where you are better off if you have stabbed somebody. >> join g ing us is reince prie, the director of the republican party, and what are you anticipating tonight? >> well, look, forward to getting a good debate under our belt. we have a lot to look forward in the party. we have a young diverse party showing off here yet tonight, and because of the cnbc debate, obviously, it can't come soon enough. i have been telling people two things that we need, a good

debate tonight, and the other thing is the lions are playing the packers this sunday, and they need that, too. so we are kind of on the same page on that. >> i know that you are a big packers' fan, and from wisconsin, and you had a little influence in getting that debate in milwaukee. are you okay though with the way that the republican candidates are going after each other, because occasionally it gets ugly. >> and the clip that you are showing, it is not really ugly. there are jabs and elbows, and i agree that people should treat each other respectfully and the # 111th reagan candidate that you should not speak ill of each other, but even ronald reagan came through tough primaries. but it does not equate to losing. look at bill clinton, and barack obama and hillary clinton, and barack obama won easily, and so

the idea that the candidates are jabbing at each other, and really bad stuff is going to happen is isn't really true. >> the focus of tonight's debate acco according to the two moderators from the fox business channel is going to be the economy. and it is the economy obviously, issue number one for so many americans, but recently the economic numbers have been good under president obama, and 271,000 jobs added in october alone, an unemployment down to 5%, and that is the lowest in seven years and the dow jones has gone from 7,000 when he took office to 17,000 or 18,000 now, and so it is going to be harder for the republicans to gof the president's record on the econom economy? >> wolf, if you are out here, and i know you travel around the country, but people in milwaukee are not feeling better as they have in recent years.

not putting money in the bank, and college cost is out of control, and the president has promised an agenda that have not come to fruition, if you are female, it is not better, and the black or hispanic, it is not better, but tonight, it is a night to talk about the economy and you are right, that i believe that fox business is going to deliver on the promise, and candidates will have more time to answer and it is going to be a great night for everybody out there watching. >> i assume that the two moderators kneneil cavuto and ma bartiromo is going to press the candidates for specifics. isn't that right? >> well, i am not sure, and we will wait to see, because the candidates are preparing for that kind of debate, and the moderators will press the candidate, and by the way, we are not worried about the hard questions, and nobody is afraid

of pressing the moderators, but the issue is if it is respectful and appropriate, and i believe it will be tonight. obvious obviously, it is going to be a good time for us to turn the chapter on the last debate which is going to be great. >> and are you and the campaigns, and i know that there is a little bit of disagreement or tension or whatever you want to call it, ahead with all of the campaigns moving forward? >> sure. some of the campaigns wanted to mix it up, and some of the concerns were heard and addressed and obviously, moving forward here, and the republican national committee is moving on with the debate cal endar, but t is a team effort, and the campaigns have to be involved and feel like they are involved and talk to the networks. we are doing all of that and as your executives know at cnn they, too, talking to all of the campaigns moving forward into the next debates. so it is a team effort, and you learn as you go, and you will get better and that is what we are trying to do and that is what is going to happy to night. >> and one final question,

because i take it that you are talking to nbc with the debate of nbc that was suspended for february, and what is the latest than? >> well, the latest, i did have a good talk with andy lack, but it is something that i don't have to deal with now, because it is a debate at the end of february and obviously, get through tonight and december and then revisit nbc, but it is a matter of talking to the candidates and seeing what we can do or can't do, and making decisions. we will have a debate on that night. but the question is who is it with? fa is t that is the issue. again, i don't have to deal with that now, but deal with that later. >> we will watch the debate tonight, and hope it is a strong one, and the voters out there in the caucus states and the primaries will have a better idea of the candidates. tonight, you can watch a special report of "ac 360" and anderson cooper is going to fact check the candidates, and who came out ahead, and that is at 11:00 p.m.

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as we have been reporting, u.s. officials say they are almost certain a bomb took down that russian passenger jet in egypt killing 224 people on board. there's also suspicion that the bomb may have been planted by someone inside the sharm airport where the airplane took off. security officials are looking to address vulnerabilities involving the vetting process of the workers at american airports. russian officials said just a little while ago that russian flights to egypt will be

suspended for months at least. let's bring in our panel. paul, if this was a bomb, is it within reach of isis or affiliates to undertake more of these kinds of attacks? >> that's a big concern right now that isis and affiliates may have other insiders at other airports in the middle east. i think that's one of the reasons why the department of homeland security has imposed coming from some middle eastern airports into the united states, notably kentuccairo, kuwait and. if you look at the countries where isis has a significant presence right now, that includes places in north africa, there are going to be additional opportunities for them to recruit insiders at airports.

the isis affiliate in sinai. has had a good track record recruiting insiders. so certainly within its capabilities to pay off someone at the airport. >> what needs to be done at airports here in the united states? >> i think one of the most important things to do right now is close those loopholes on the security on the persons working at the airport. we don't have to guess whether isis, al qaeda and other terrorists are coming for us. there's been at least a dozen convictions of persons who had worked at or had ties with airports for terrorist activities or supporting al qaeda or isis. so we already know they have made that education link to people who worked at the airport and then recruit them for isis. so we also know from september 11th the investigation that they very carefully cased the airports. they went through and knew the as a result neshlts. if we know the vulnerabilities,

isis is working to exploit them. it's too easy to do with what they did with low tech bombs planted on planes. >> the russians have suspended flights from cairo international airport. the u.s. to uk still have flights into cairo. is this a mistake? >> i think it is. because we can't be sure of the kind of security we're getting there. and we also don't know their vetting, unless they have shared it with homeland security and the faa, but because you can't say that remember one of the worst terrorist plots in history that fortunately was foil ed wa going to plant the bombs on the planes before they made it to u.s. soil. they were going to put them in the life vests urnder the seat.

i think it's a mistake to fly there. >> i heard earlier this hour, paul, from a member of the house homeland security committee. he thinks that it isis or whatever isis affiliate was responsible for this bombing really their target was mainly egypt. not necessarily the russians themselves. what do you think? >> i think it was probably both t egypt and the russians. the affiliate in sinai has been targeting egyptian security forces. they want to bring down the regime in cairo. and this attack could decimate the egyptian tourism sector and lead to more unemployment in egypt. if it is them, they will be hopeful this could help to destabilize the regime in cairo. but i think if it was isis in the sinai, they would be looking to go off to the russians because the russians have been launching some airstrikes against m group in syria and iraq. also this attack at a time when

this huge anger in the sunni world would tur bo charge the popularity in the movement and leads to more recruits, more fundraising, more successes in the future for the group. and more recruitment for this group in. sinai. they may be hoping that the russians launch strikes because that would create more anger and recruitment opportunities. >> how much coordination is there? because there's a whole bunch of them, do they work together? >> there are several groups operating in egypt. but this group does dominate the scene within the sinai peninsula. many of those have associations with al qaeda. the groups are not working together so much at this point.

>> thank you both very much. that's it for me. thank you for watching. the news continues right after a quick break. diabetes, steady is exciting. only glucerna has carbsteady, clinically proven to help minimize blood sugar spikes. so you stay steady ahead.

i'm brianna keilar in for brooke baldwin. just a few hours, eight republican candidates will take the main stage for the next big test. a national debate, the first one since the candidates and republican national committee lashed out over supposed gotcha questions that cnbc moderators asked. jeb bush has so much on the line tonight. will he focus on the issues and risk coming off as wongy and low energy? or is he going to try to come off as a more natural attack dog than he did last time? ahead of the