off for dealing with it. i hope you don't have to deal with it again. good to see you. thank you, everyone, for watching. it's been nice to have you here with us this hour but i'm going to turn things over to my colleague wolf blitzer who starts right now. hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington, 8:00 p.m. in cairo, 9:00 p.m. in moscow. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> let's get right to the breaking news. a new threat from isis, this time against russia. isis has just released a nearly 5-minute long video and auto statement saying it would attack russia, quote, very soon. the video is titled soon, very soon. the blood will spill like an ocean. that video's release comes at the same time as word that russia may be planning to retaliate for the crash of its metro jet airliner in egypt's

sinai peninsula killing all 224 people on board. intelligence agencies have come to believe isis in sinai's offshoot planted the bomb on that plane before takeoff. joining us live from sharm el sheikh, egypt, and jim sciutto here in washington. what more have we learned about this latest threat from isis directly to russia? >> well, wolf, this will only ramp up concerns expressed by u.s. officials all the way up to the secretary of state, ash carter, that with its involvement in the syria conflict, russia was opening itself up to threats by extremist groups and to extremist groups to carry out an act upon those threats. what most of those watching that video will have been looking for though will have been any stress firstcy regarding the metro jet crash and that didn't seem to be there. we went through the video.

a lot of it was very generic. didn't mention any involvement or any evidence of isis' broader involvement in the metro jet crash. that really plays into what we've been hearing from intelligence officials both here in cairo and the u.s. that this was very much a franchise job. that metro jet, if it is indeed proven to be an act of terror, was one that was carried out by the isis sinai offshoot and not from isis leadership in syria and iraq, wolf. >> stand by. jim, russia was already planning a move against isis before this new video was just released. what have you learned about russia's plans? when is it likely to strike? >> u.s. officials as well as lawmakers here on the hill who have been briefed on this believe that russia is going to have to react if it is determ e determined definitively it is isis and that's the most likely scenario from the u.s. point of view, isis brought this plane down. the u.s. is in touch with its

russia counterparts. russia is not telegraphing exactly what military moves it will take but i also echo nima's point that russia through its military activity in syria made itself more of a target to groups like this. which of course, to be fair, the u.s., through its military action, has as well. but the view here is that russian military response will be coming. and it will be a severe one, in part, because there will be pressure from the russia public if it's determined and announced this is an isis attack. >> do the u.s. officials believe russia will be a more helpful partner in this war against isis? >> the view from the administration is this, that is, in effect, russia's decision to make now, do they get more involved against isis. but to this point, they don't see any fundamental change in russia's priority in syria which is defending the regime of bashar al assad. we've seen that based on the majority, the vast majority of the air strikes they've carried

out in syria have been really on any challenge to bashar al assad and defending his shrinking area of control in the western part of the country. but they do see an opening through diplomatic channels, the talks that are going on in vienna, where both sides could get to a place. they see a possibility, i should say, where both sides could get to a place where they agree there's a political transition and if al assad is not leaving tomorrow or next month or next year, that at some point he is out of the picture when you have elections. while also you'll hear this from officials, conceding you don't necessarily want them out today because you've seen in other places what the collapse of the existing regime has been to the stability of libya, et cetera. >> as bad as gadhafi was, there are a lot of analysts who believe the situation there is a whole lot worse today. let's get to another major story. a vicious military assault on isis, operation free sinjar, is aimed at taking back the

strategic city. it's a massive offensive. thousands of kurdish perg mehera fighters are leading the charge. plumes of smoke blacken the skies as coalition bombs target from the air. the strategy is attack the city from three sides. our senior international correspondent nick paton walsh is on the ground for us in iraq. he's very near to this whole sinjar area, closely following what's going upon nick, describe what you have seen because i understand it is very dramatic. >> from the early hours this morning, wolf, we saw an enormous column of peshmerga we followed around towards the west of the city. that's key because it seems that's where much of the advance today were made by them. their main objective, the peshmerga want to retake sinjar, want to reverse what happened to the yazidi population that happened last year when isis

moved in. the main route goes from mosul in iraq where isis have a key city to raqqah in syria which is the company apital of their self-declared caliphate. it seems today they now have the road. we left them there, with a series of bull dotzers digging in huge trenches, putting in a number of ramp, the aim being, cut it off permanently, prevent isis from moving. an extraordinarily paerilous da because they faced a lot of resistance from isis. they sent a number of car bombs towards the peshmerga forces. huge mushroom clouds across the sky. at one point three at the same time. the peshmerga did have one trick on their side, a new missile, which enables them to shoot the car bombs before they get too close. in fact, we saw how one of those almost melted a car in its tracks. also, a lot of coalition air power to hammering isis to the

far west of that sinjar town. a lot of damage, it seems, done in that particular direction. the peshmerga able to advance to west today and some to the east as well, largely because of the coalition, dozens of air strikes we saw overnight, lighting up the sky. dozens in the days beforehand. the question is, now they seem to have pushed isis back to the small urban center of sinjar. how long a fight will isis put up? are we in for hours, days of, brutal urban fighting or might they melt away? an important question because they need that road cleared to be able to ensure they've blocked isis from communicating between mosul and rp aaqqah, wo >> we know these kurdish fighters are leading the battle but any sign they're getting support on the ground from the iraqi military? this is, after all, iraq. >> no iraqi support we could see. this issue is really about what

kind of kurd is doing the fighting. the peshmerga from the kurdish regional government up in northern iraq, very clear they're leading this operation. we saw the occasional sign of all the kurdish groups somewhere in the area but not in evidence at all frankly. this was a peshmerga operation. it was always thought to be one. the americans who are clearly in the skies but according to them today when you talk to them on the ground, perhaps other western militaries too, advising this operation. they seem to be comfortable with the peshmerga because of their organization you get from them and certainly their ability to deliver on fielding large numbers of troops. enormous columns we saw piling down these main roads. not an unstoppable force but one that's pretty hard to argue with. clearly, the americans are comfortable with working alongside them and perhaps this, i think, is aimed at building some sense of momentum to perhaps ensure a quick victory in sinjar because raqqah and mosul, the real targets, are both east and west of there, maybe the beginning of something

larger but frankly it may be months away. >> remember the scenes we saw last year when isis attacked that whole sin jjar area and we saw these children basically being thrown into helicopters, yazidi children, the yazidis really assaulted by these forces. it's been a brutal situation. how important is this town sinjar in and of itself? >> sinjar in itself is important for a strategic region because it sits on a vital route for the coalition. they talked about the need to cut it off to prevent the flow of fighters and also the black oil trade which many say is key to isis financing but it's symbolic because of the brutality against the yazidis. remember, many of them put in captivity, slavery to some degree. tens of thousands living in mt. sinjar in the freezing cold now, close as they can be to sinjar, their hometown.

they want to go home and i think there's a feeling potentially amongst the peshmerga and the coalition backing them up that a swift and decisive victory here could perhaps turn the narrative curve of isis beginning to lose territory now. and maybe with the loss of the vial supply route -- and make no mistake, they don't have that road. they didn't have full control of it. maybe that might actually have a bigger symbolic impact against isis itself. wolf. >> i know you're very busy over there, it's a very dangerous situation. one final question. any indication these heroic kurdish fighters, the peshmerga who are closely supportive of the united states, very close to the united states, any indication they would actually take this battle, assuming they win where they are in iraq right now, around this area of sinjar, and actually move into syria itself, move towards raqqah, the so-called isis capital of that caliphate? >> there is no indication they want part of that fight.

i think it would be probably confusing, given their at times complex fighting relationship with the other groups, particularly the syrian kurds who fought for kobani, in evidence in the northeast of syria. they're the ones focused on raqqah for the potential fight ahead. you see the peshmerga blocking any attempt for isis to move back into iraq, if they're successful in holding this part of the highway. we saw limited retaliation and defense from isis, maybe because they're waiting for a better time, maybe because they're weak, maybe because they don't want to fight for this particular town, but they still could have a say in whether or not the peshmerga get to hold that vital route 47, wolf. >> nick paton walsh, amazing job as always. please, please be careful over there as this war is continuing. you just had an exclusive interview with the now former chief u.s. military adviser to

the president, retired general john allen, who's been helping in terms of this war against isis, an exit interview as we like to call it. what does he say about the war going on, the latest development at sinjar? >> it's interesting when we sat down about a year ago, we were talking about the rescue of these yazidis from sinjar mountain and we talked about how the battle is going back to where it began. but this time, it's the kurds that are becoming among the most reliable partners in this fight against isis. take a listen. today, kurdish forces are retaking sinjar with u.s. air strike assistance. tell us about that. >> again, another one of those moments a year later that's really important to take stock of what's happened. you'll recall about this time last year we were all facing the horror of what was happening in the vicinity of sinjar and to the yazidi people. a year later, kurdish forces, some number of thousands of them, have launched into the

attack to push daish out of that area and push route 47, which is the principal east/west running mode of communication between raqqah and that's an important development. it continues to indicate how with american air power, coalition advice, partners like the peshmerga and other elements within those four nationings are able to make real ground. >> it seems as if the peshmerga right now are your most re reliable. the kurds are your most reliable partners now. why are we not arming them directly? >> well, they are being armed. >> not directly by the u.s. >> well, they're being -- they have been armed. 14 nations have been providing support to them. one of the reasons we came to iraq, one of the reasons we committed ourselves, was to restore the territorial integrity of iraq and the sovereignty of the iraqi government over all of iraq. and so we may not be directly providing them assistance, the

idea that the assistance flows through baghdad where it goes through a very quick customs check and moves very quickly to the krg, is something that has both provided for the support to the kurds but also has reinforced the sovereignty of the iraqi government. that's inherently the reason. >> elise, what it did he tell y about a no-fly zone? so far the president, president obama, has opposed a u.s.-led no-fly zone even over parts of syria. former secretary of state hillary clinton supports a no-fly zone. how does general allen feel? >> a lot of the republicans candidates as well. we did talk about that. it's clear they have been looking into it, the administration, but it doesn't seem that it's in the cards right now. take a listen to general allen. >> we should consider all the measures. >> including -- >> well, we should consider them. now, whether we would ultimately

adopt them or not. it's not just a no-fly zone -- whether it's on the air, the ground, it's a matter of timing as well. i have to tell you because we have looked at this, that the intricacies and the complexities and the cost frankly in terms of resources, additional resources of a no-fly zone or a safe zone are not insignificant. the question is what do we want to accomplish with them and if the conditionings are not suitable now, then now not the time to seriously consider it. >> we also talked about the train and equip program, wolf, this now defunct program, canceled. i asked him why it failed. he said one of the main reasons is the u.s. was looking to the syrian opposition to fight isis but didn't want them to go after assad and that presented a lot of challenges. we also talked about how isis has really morphed into a global

terror group with obviously concerns about what happened in the sinai. now we'll be talking about that much more today on "the situation room." >> no longer the jc team as they say. we'll have more on that in "the situation room." thank you very much. even if the troops win this battle battle, isis fighters will keep fighting for this important strategic town. our panel of experts standing by live. we stop arthritis pain, so you don't have to stop. tylenol® 8hr arthritis pain has two layers of pain relief. the first is fast. the second lasts all day. we give you your day back. what you do with it is up to you. tylenol®. why pause to take a pill

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let's get back to our top story. the operation under way right now to try to free the critically important town of sinjar in iraq. thousands of kurdish forces are trying to retake that strategic city from isis. the major objective is to cut off the strategic highway there that's called highway 47. it's a vital artery which passes through sinjar, links the militants two biggest strong holds, raqqah in syria and mosul

in iraq. let's bring in retired military analyst mark hurtling. kim, how quickly, based on what you're hearing, can this military offensive, led why by the kurds, how quickly can it be wrapped up? >> it will probably take a few weeks unless isis decides to just disappear as it's done before. it's the actual recapturing of the town, figuring out what parts of the town are safe for civilians to return to. that's the part that's going to be a painstaking and several weeks long process. you look at other towns that iraqi forces have retaken from isis, like tikrit, that took several weeks to clear it out. then it took six months to a we're before they got all the services turned back on. so while this might be a military victory and you might see some civilians return, i really think this is going to stay a contested military base

of sorts and a point on the map where they can build from to go to mosul and push towards the syrian border. >> this is a critically important supply route, general, as you well know. mosul is the second largest city in iraq, a city of nearly 2 million people. almost two years now it's been under control of isis, the iraqi military abandoned that city. it was an awful situation. raqqah and syria, the capital of the so-called isis caliphate, if you will. they want to disrupt traffic between raqqah and mosul and that would be significant, right? >> that has been the aim of the operation. there has been some contention about the retaking of sinjar. it is a kurdish town. it is in the kurdish regional government area. there have been some back and forth between which kurdish peshmerga force should take the

town over the last six months or so. this operation going after from three sides critically important but the cutting of highway 47 and i've been on that road all the way from mosul to the syrian border several times in my last tour there, is critically important to stop the supplies from raqqah to mosul. the point of this operation is to choke off mosul in several areas. and all the points between raqqah and mosul. if they can do that, it definitely advances the operational aim. >> we heard nick paton walsh there on the scene with those peshmerga kurdish fighters watching what's going on. he makes a couple of points. the peshmerga have no interest in leaving iraq and taking this fight towards raqqah and syria but he sees no evidence the iraqi military is at all involved in helping the peshmer peshmerga, even though these kurds, they're fighting inside iraq. why is the iraqi military still missing in action?

>> the iraqi military is really tied up around the ramadi area, the baiji area. they are splitting the territory within iraq as per their greatest concentration of forces. they're trying to build greater cooperation and coordination. the iraqi ambassador here says they're going to set up a point man, a military chief who would be talking to the coalition and representing the iraqi army, the kurds, and the sunni fighting forces. but we haven't seen that yet. so it's a forcing function. this fight for territory that's going to make them cooperate but so far they haven't demonstrated real coordinated cooperation in an effective way on the battlefield. >> that's so frustrating, as you know, to u.s. officials because when the u.s. left iraq, they supposedly left an iraqi military, security forces of about 300,000 troops. so many of them have simply abandoned their positions. right now, there's no signs i see -- maybe you can update us

if you have better information that they're gearing up to retake the second largest city in their country mosul. >> i think they are actually, wolf. you have to look at it from two directions. if you draw a straight line between raqqah and mosul, that's one line of operations and it goes through the kurdish regions. the reason you don't see the iraqi army in sinjar is because that's part of the kurdish regional government. let's draw another line from baghdad to mosul from south to north. there are a lot of iraqi security forces fighting in ramadi, in baiji, mr. al abadi was just in baiji a few weeks ago and they are having extreme difficulty in those towns. they also have to capture the towns in that south to north area. they're choking isis from several different directions to attempt to get back to mosul. but this is, as we've said many times, is going to be a long slog. what kimberly said earlier about the fight for sinjar, i think

it's going to take longer. it's going to be like kobani was, a lot of bombardment. isis will not give this town up easily. even if they are destroyed, when the kurdish forces get into the town, they're going to find a lot of booby trapped buildings. they're going to continue to attack with vehicle-born ieds. this is going to be a tough fight. they cannot lose this route to mosul. >> general, thank you. kim, thanks to you as well. we'll continue to watch the breaking news. much more on that coming up. we're following the breaking news also out of beirut, lebanon, where dozens of people have just been killed, nearly 200 people have been injured in a suicide bomb attack. we're getting new information. we'll have the details when we come back. diabetes, steady is exciting. only glucerna has carbsteady, clinically proven to help minimize blood sugar spikes.

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a very disturbing breaking news coming out of lebanon. an official with the lebanese red cross says at least 37 people are dead, dozens more wounded, following a pair of suicide bombings in beirut. the lebanese capital. journalist is joining us on the phone right now from beirut. you're there on the scene of the bombings. first of all, tell us where they are and what happened. i think we've lost contact. we're going to try to reconnect. let me update you. a lebanese official telling cnn the death toll clearly is mounting. at least 37 people dead, 181 wounded. those numbers could go up. this bombing struck a shiite suburb in southern beirut. we're told by the lebanese red cross that the explosions hit only minutes apart in this area.

it's called burj al barajneh. no claiming of responsibility by anyone yet. it is a stronghold of lebanon's hezbollah group who's fighting in syria alongside the government there of bashar al assad and the iranians. this area has been hit in the past. sunni militant groups have threatened to carry out more such attacks. as of right now, as of right now, we have no direct claim of responsibility for what happened. once again, 37 people dead. 181 wounded in beirut. i think we're trying to reconnect. with the journalist who's there. are you there, can you hear me? >> yes, i can hear you. >> tell us where you are and what you've seen. >> i am now in the southern suburb of beirut near the scene of the twin bombings that happened just over two hours ago. i'm actually near a school which is just 15 meters away from the

bombing. from where the bombings i should say happened. there's a lot of chaos. a lot of army has been deployed to the street. there's blood on the streets. and yeah, it's just a devastating scene. >> as of now, we've been reporting no one has claimed responsibility for these twin bombings. >> no. >> are you hearing anything new? >> yeah, i spoke to a member from hezbollah. as you know, this area is considered to be a stronghold of hezbollah. and they are unwilling to name a suspected group but they, you know, one thing i should say really is this is a popular neighborhood, this particular

neighborhood isn't associated with the group hezbollah. it's mixed sunni/shia neighborhood on the outskirts of a major palestinian camp in beirut. >> this area we'll been saying is the burj al barajneh area, is that right? >> yes, just on the fringe of the refugee camp. it's a mix of sunni and shia. >> it's a mixed area. we're going to stay in close touch with you and get more information. obviously, a horrendous situation happening. at least 37 dead, 181 wounded. but those numbers could go up. we'll have much more on this story coming up throughout the day. also coming up, an issue that's front and center in the race for the white house here in the united states. could the growing rift over how to handle 11 million undocumented ingrants in the united states hurt the republican party's chances against the democrats? our political panel standing by to weigh in. mariecan make any occasion feel more special.

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let's get to presidential politics and the race for the white house. the rift among republicans right now over immigration reform seems to be very evident. trump's rivals have criticized his plan. trump was pressed to explain how he would do it. listen to what he said. >> you're going to have a deportation force. you're going to do it humanely. you're going to bring the country -- and frankly, the people -- because you have some excellent wonderful people. some fantastic people that have been le been here for a long period. don't forget, you have millions of people waiting online to come into this country.

they're waiting to come in legally. >> trump yesterday. let's bring in our commentators. s.e. cupp. how much of a problem, the different rhetoric we're hearing? >> i think what trump is saying is a gift to the rest of the field. i don't know a single person, say fork trump, who looks back at operation wet back with fondness. >> eisenhower administration when the u.s. deported a couple million mexicans. >> just under a million. a lot of them died. it was deeply inhumane. trump should be the first to point out not effective. illegal immigration is still a problem. even during operation wet back it didn't stem the tide of illegal immigration. so i think this gives the other candidates, namely jeb bush, namely marco rubio, namely john kasich and carly fiorina, if they take it, an opportunity to really distinguish themselves and say, look, a pathway to

citizenship, that's immoral. if you come here illegally, you shouldn't be rewarded with citizenship. but we need to do something. humane. politically prudent and pragmatic with the 11 million people still here. >> they're all saying the same thing, secure the borders first. dr. carson himself is saying six months, let them register, see what they can do, maybe have a guest worker status. jeb bush is the most critical of donald trump's plan. >> i've heard his views that he believes you can round up half a million people a month. just assume for a moment that there would be due process. a half a million people basically i think would double the number of people processed through our judicial system. it's not possible. >> i guess a lot of reports that the hillary clinton campaign, they're high-fiving every time this issue comes up because they think maybe not in a republican contest, primary caucus, but in

a general election this is going to hurt. >> it absolutely will. political kryptonite for any candidate who emerges. the reason is because everything trump is saying democrats are going to be able to paint the whole republican field. not because they necessarily believe in operation wet back and i hope that every single republican does come out to slam trump on it because of the inhumaneness that it was. he's absolutely wrong on the fact that it worked and on the fact it was humane. it was completely the opposite on both those two facts. but what he's given democrat s chance to do is paint the whole republican field. marco rubio turned his back on his own legislation he supported in the senate, the gang of eight. the latino community and frankly allies and americans who believe that comprehensive immigration reform is the solution that includes a pathway to citizenship are going to see this as political ex-petency. i've heard from many latino republicans in florida who say

there's no way they would vote for rubio. >> there seems to be a split between rubio, cruz. arguably number three and number four in all the national polls among the republicans. >> yes, and, you know, it just shows how complicated immigration issue is politically. it's complicated politically for democrats as well. but if they're smart, instead of going at each other, they would unite and say what trump wants to do, even if you're ted cruz and you see everything as amnesty. what trump wants to do is impractical. if trump wants to round up 11 million people, needs to tell us exactly how he's going to yank 11 million people out of their communities, their churches, their schools, their jobs. i want details from a person who is very reluctant to give details elsewhere. we deserve that. >> what do you say to those who criticiitriticize obama on his deportations? some have called him deporter in chief.

i.c.e. immigration points out 2 million people have been deported since he took office. >> what you say is clearly he did that in an effort to try to get republicans on board for what the overall solution is which is comprehensive immigration reform. let's remember, when he realized republicans were going to be so deep rooted in their not wanting to do comprehensive immigration reform, that's when he went to giving docu, the deferred action for undocumented immigrants who came here when they were little, and when he talked about doing executive action. >> -- when obama had total democratic control and did nothing on immigration so let's not herald the obama administration as the savior for i graimmigration reform. >> he had to rescue the economy, you know, we could go into that. >> let's continue this discussion in the coming days. this story is not going away. you won't want to miss donald trump right here tonight.

he's erin burnett's special guest. 7:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. we'll be right back. 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. ♪ 800,000 hours of supercomputing time, 3 million lines of code, 40,000 sets of eyes, or a million sleepless nights. whether it's building the world's most advanced satellite, the space station, or the next leap in unmanned systems. at boeing, one thing never changes. our passion to make it real.

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there have been a growing number of racial incidents at college campuses across the united states and some of these universities still remain on some sort of heightened alert. the fbi contacted howard university in washington, d.c. about a possible threat made online against students at the historically black university in washington. our justice reporter evan perez has details. what do we know about the threat to the students at howard? >> reporter: this was a threat made on the website and the fbi

called howard university because this was a threat that made a racial slur and made reference to a specific metro station that's next to howard university. it threatened harm against students. so we have a statement from howard and the way they reacted. they said this is an ongoing investigation, in an abundance of caution the university has increased security on campus and met e row stations. the fbi said we are aware of the online threat and made appropriate note few indications. they asked anyone with information to come forward to police here in washington and to the fbi. we should put this in context a little bit. these threats are not uncommon. they threget a lot of them. there's been a lot in light of the tensions at missouri. that said the fbi streets this seriously because you never know when one of these will come to pass. so right now we know that the threat specifically said 10:00.

we don't know if that meant 10:00 a.m. or 10:00 p.m. that's something the fbi is keeping an eye on. >> joining us is the president of howard university. he's with us here at cnn. thanks very much for joining us. so what have you been told by the fbi, the department of homeland security, how concerned should the students be? >> the fbi contacted us late last night and have been coordinating with our chief of police on information for a social media posting that suggested that someone using racial slurs in their posting was going to bring harm to students. and also they would potentially take that threat into metro station as well. >> how unusual is this? you've been the president for about a year now. how unusual is it to get a call like this from the fbi? >> certainly highly unusual. we believe it's a threat that has to be taken seriously and that's what the fbi have been doing. we have an increased security campus. it's a a security on cam russ

right now as well as at the metro stations around the cam russ. there's a lot of vigilance that no one would be harmed on our campus. it's something we take very seriously and something we denounce heavily as well. the language that was used and the rhetoric around hatred that we think is inappropriate. >> it was really ugly the words in the threat that's been posted and repeated use of the "n" word. an awful situation like that. do you see this as part of a bigger nationwide problem, this latest threat against the students at howard university to what's going on elsewhere around the country like the university of missouri? >> most definitely. our students are very active and stood in support of the students at missouri university, which we also support. we do see this as a growing national problem. >> what's the problem from your perspective? >> i think the problem is a problem of a making sure that the environments across the nation are one in which students

can feel comfortable participating in higher education in their various environments. it led to the integration of schools is one that can simply be a law that we live actively. as times change, we have to have contemporary environments and teachings that allow students to feel comfortable so they can excel. that has to happen across the country. i can't speak specifically to every single campus, but it is a growing frustration of students of color as to how they are being treated on campuses and we're seeing that. >> you're a president of a major. university. what's your advice to colleagues, other presidents of universities right now? what do they need to do? the president of the university of missouri was forced to step down. >> one of the things we're going to do at howard is try to lead on this issue. i'm going to invite major university presidents around the country to howard's campus for a

national dialogue on this issue. we will invite students in as well to give feedback, first and foremost, as to what they are experiencing and why. and then i think we collectively have to come up with solutions to ensure that this works as best as it can because we have to make sure campuses are safe. >> good luck to you and all the students and faculty, everyone at howard university. i have an honorary degree, i'm proud to say, from howard university. you'll keep us informed on what's going on. >> absolutely. >> thank you so much for joining us. coming up, he tackled the suicide bomber saving countless lives. the e emotional ceremony held today for retired army captain for unforgettable act of heroism. (vo) what's your dog food's first ingredient? corn? wheat? in new purina one true instinct grain free, real chicken is always #1. no corn, wheat or soy.

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a very grateful nation honors an american with its highest military honor. president obama presented the medal of honor to the now retired u.s. army captain, who was badly wounded in afghanistan in 2012 when he tackled a suicide bomber seconds before the detonation. four fellow soldiers were killed in subsequent bombings, but because of his heroism many more lives were saved. >> he didn't know it at the time, that explosion also caused a second unseen bomb to detonate before it was in place. had both bombs gone off as planned, who knows how many could have been killed. those are the lives he helped to save. . we are honored that many of them are here today. >> with today's ceremony, he becomes the 10th survivor of the afghanistan war to receive the medal of honor and the first from the state of maryland.

that's it for me. thank you for watching. i'll be back at 5:00 eastern in the situation room. for our international viewers, aym amanpour is up next. "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right now. thank you so much. i'm brooke baldwin. . you're watching cnn. we have breaking news we want to get right to you. russia responding to a threat from isis releasing a five-minute long video saying it's on the verge of attacking russia and soon, very soon the blood will spill like an ocean. this vud owe's release happening that russia may be planning to retaliate for the crash of its passenger plane in egypt. intelligence suggesting that an isis offshoot