vigila vigilant, and that is including the citizens of our country, if they see something, say something, and that advice continues to be operative, and we encourage the local law enforcement, and the state officials to be vigilant as they are going about their basic business of protecting the american people. at the same time the president is resolute in the refusal to allow the country and the citizens to be terrorized. there are several things that the president is doing about it. obviously, the first is that we have engaged in the aggressive campaign to degrade and destroy isil, and that organization, and that is an indication, and should be an indication to you and the american public that the president and the federal government are cognizant of the risk and taking the appropriate steps to protect the american people, and that is after all the president's top priority,

and as the people go about their business, and go around the holiday routines that people rightly look forward to, that people can have confidence that our law enforcement professionals on duty 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week are actually doing the work that keeps us safe. they remain vigilant and continue the use every element of the power and authority of the greatest country in the world to protect our citizens. that is part of what should give people confidence that they can go about the holiday routine. >> one other topic. i wanted to get your reaction to the new saudi-led coalition that is going to be working against the islamic state. can you describe how that is going to work overlapping significantly with the u.s.-led coalition, and do you have any concern concerns about having saudi arabia heading that operation fueling the kind of sunni/shia

tension s th tensions that we have seen at play in iraq and elsewhere in the middle east? >> well, josh, the first thing that is important for people to understand is that the coalition announced by the saudis is not solely directed to isil, but to rather extreme itself threats that are threatening all of the members of the coalition, so it is broader than isil. the second thing is that you have heard me say a number of occasions as recently as yesterday that we believe that there are additional steps and greater investments that can be made by members of the anti-isil coalition to fight terrorism and speaking out. especially coming to countering isil's online radicalization efforts. i understand that based on the way it was can described by the saudis yesterday, it is a central part of this particular coalition's activities. i would finally point out that i think that the saudis went to great lengths to also make it clear that this is not a

substitute or a replacement for the 65-member ap tie isil coalition that is being built and led by the united states of america. they have made significant contributions to the evident, and we expect they will continue to do so. julia? >> sorry, christine, go ahead. >> and there are the report of t the -- all right. you are watching the white house press briefing that the president obama has been made aware and briefed on what is going on in los angeles. i'm brianna keilar live for you here at the venetian here ahead of the the debate, but we have the eyes focused on los angeles where a bomb threat at the l.a. unified school district, and one of the big nest the country, has students there, and obviously not at school today as the school district takes precautions. this is breaking news that we are following that goes to the heart of what tonight's debate is all about, and that is national security.

all public schools across los angeles, and not just the city, but the county are closed today after this district received an unspecified but concerning electronic threat. the superintendent says that the threat involved backpacks and other packages, and l.a. is the second largest school system in the country, and has more than 660,000 student, and police in the largest district in new york, they said they received an e-mail with the same threat, but they dismissed it as a hoax. there is a press conference now out of the school district. let's listen in. >> i want to welcome you. i want you to know that i made the decision to close the school s. that was after talking to the chief deputy superintendent. the chief of police of school police. and after they reviewed with me the information that had been

shared with them. based on past circumstances, i could not take the chance as it relates to one student or our staff that serve our students. it is important that in the last four hours, this the city, this community a has come together and on behalf of the students, our students that are in the reg you lar schools, our students that are in the charter schools that are author iized by this school board. we are taking all sorts of precautions. our plant managers are walking the campus with law enforcement people. our plant managers and principals with law enforcement are looking at all of the

schools, both large and small schools, et cetera. we have made sure that our parents are notified through connect ed messages, and we have repeted that time and time again. those students who walk to school, and especially the young children, and neighborhood children, we have had the principals meet and administrators to meet them at the gate of the school, and they were not dismissed until parents came to pick them up, a guardian, et cetera. we are doing everything possible to make sure that children are safe, but that also students and parents understand that the precautions that we are taking are done in a calming way, are done in a way that is in the

best interest of everybody many this particular city. not only is it the city of l.a., as you know the school district represents many independent cities, and we have reached out to them also. there are unincorporated areas in the school district that we have reached out to. i have reached out to the board of supervisors. i have reached out to the city council. i have notified the state superintendent of schools. i have notified the secretary of education. mainly because, there are no secrets. somebody has sent information that leads us to pause and make sure that we are safe, that our children and our staff are safe.

nobody could be more interested in this city than our mayor. the mayor and his staff, and the staff has joined us early in morn, and the mayor is here now. i'd like to tirnt over to him. -- turn it over to him. >> thank you, mr. superintendent, and good morning, everybody. the decision to close the schools is not mine to make, but it is mine to support as mayor of the city of los angeles. since sran bernardino, we have seen whether it is the colleagues who have asked for the help of the los angeles police department as that shooting unfolded or this morning when lausd reached out for assistance. we are here because our first job is to ensure that the people are safe in this city. it is easy for people the to jump to conclusion, and i have been around long enough to know that what people think in the first few hours is is not necessarily how it will play out in later hours, and we will see the investigations unfold for a series of days, but decisions have to be made in a matter of

minut minutes. i have been immediately on the phone when we learned of this with phil washington, the ceo of mta to make sure that the students could travel free on the buses and the rail lines to ensure they get home safely and able to get through the city without having to worry, because we know that a lot of parents still have to continue to get to work, and can't even afford the miss one day. but we are here, chief beck and i with the local law en forcemet here through lapd's extensive training and leadership who connected the dots nationally on this. it is, was, of course, we have reached out and the school district reached out to the federal law enforcement officials who have been taxed in recent weeks since san bernardino to bring them into the inis vestigation, but it is also in talking to the counterparts in new york, and learning of other places, we realize that it is always a city to face that threat. we will continue to hope to think this is nothing and our children can be back at school

tomorrow. but as a parent, and a mayor, certainly, i am here to support this school district as it seex our help to ensure that we can look at each one of the campuses and make sure that they are safe for all of the children. in an abundance of caution is something that all of us who have children appreciate. we will be here, and continue to be here. and we have activated the city's emergency operation center at level one, but it is constant staffing to continue to share any information and work with the intelligence and work the federal law enforcement officials and do what the school needs us to do. my number one priority is to keep this city safe no matter who reaches out to us, because we have an incredibly well trained police force. and whether this is panned out as nothing, and definitively, i don't want people to say that sometimes because things don't

result in a shooting or the foiled plot to not speak up and not speak out. we need to continue to have people, if you see something say something. visit iwatchla.com, as we continue to learn how to be vigilant as we live here in los angeles and hold the values of our freedom and lib erty, we wat to be safe. [ speaking foreign language ] [ speaking foreign language ] thank you, all, very much. >> chief beck, i'd like the to call on you next. >> thank you, superintendent. very late last night, the los

angeles police department was contacted by lausd chief z zipperman about a very specific threat that had been delivered via e-mail to a number of the people on the school board. after reviewing that threat, we became very concerned, contacted the fbi, and began to work jointly through our joint terrorism task force to try to vet that threat, and to be able to give the school board and the superintendent our best a advice on moving forward. we were able to do that and the superintendent made a decision. we support his decision as does the mayor. i would say this to people who are critical. it is very easy in hindsight to criticize a decision based on results that the decider could have never known. it is also very easy to

criticize a decision when you have no responsibility for the outcome of that decision. the school district safeguards 3/4 of a million livess every day. when they make a decision, they have to take into account the safety of the children of los angeles. it is irresponsible based on facts that have yet to be determined to criticize that decision at this point. all of us make tough choices, and all of vus the same goal in mind, we want to keep the kids safe. these are tough times. these communities, our commu communities, southern california has been through a lot in the recent weeks. should we risk putting our children to the same? i'm also joined by my partner in law enforcement here, the other half of what keeps the region

safe, sheriff jim mcdonald and if it is okay with ray, i would like to have him say a few words. >> yes, sure. welcome. >> and so, just to be here to the add a note of reassurance that we are working closely together that once we became aware of the issue, we immediately were in contact, and colocated our representatives in the emergency operations scente, and from there strategically vetting the information and working with all of the partners at the federal, local level. and we are blessed that in this regio region, we have great relationships, and when we have a need, we all come together in a way that you can be proud of and although we cannot talk about it. and now, a lot of work is being done to work it to ground, a nd we are working together to ensure that the 700,000 young people who go to l.a. unified are safe, and that the we continue to move forward with that common goal in mind.

so i thank you for your understanding, and for working with us as we deal with this very difficult issue. >> thank you. >> thank you. i want you to meet the chief of school police, mr. zipperman, and then i will turn it over to the board president to introduce the board. >> good afternoon. i just want to say again to all of the law enforcement colleagues, sheriff mcdonald and chief beck and honorable mayor, as indicated before, sometimes with we have to make tough decisions, as already been stated. i assure you that our number one priority is the safety and the security of not only the students, but the staff as well. we go based on the information that we have, and we collaborate with the other law enforcement partners, and lapd now has taken the lead on this as a result of the threat as normal protocol. i assure you as chief of police of this school district that

while our campuses are being a walk through as we speak. nup of the schools will be reopened until not only i feel that we have been give n the information through those folks that are out there in the field right now checking each e location, and the information they will receive based on lapd's continued investigation, based on the collaboration and communication with sheriff mcdonald, chief beck and including our federal partners and finally the briefing and concurrence with the superintendent and the board of education at this time when we will make a decision and open up the schools, and we will not do that until we are kcompletely satisfied that we have taken every measure possible to ensure the safety of our students. thank you. >> board president. >> good morning. i'm brianna keilar, and you are watching a news conference coming to us from los angeles

where a number of l.a. officials, including the head of the school district, and the head of the law law enforcement and the police department and the mayor's office are updating us on the threat. i want to bring in ashleigh banfield, and mike rogers who is an expert here on c nshnn and a form former congressman. i wanted to ask you, because they were acting about how they almost seemed to have been overreacting, and they said that they wanted to err on the side caution, and they have not ascertained to this point if it is a hoax. >> it is hard to go back to be the monday morning quarterback,

and they are dealing with san bernardino, and still the impacts of, that and remember the information they had on those individuals was none. so they are going into the situation, and get it late at night, and they have to make a call, and you have 750,000 people heading to that spot in the morning, and you have a window ta to make that decision. it is hard to go become to do that and when you hear the contents of the e-mail, sounded suspicious to me, and not right for the jihadist intent, and they don't tend to give you a head's up, because they do it in a surrepetitious way, but they didn't have the luxury of time to go through all of that and including calling new york city to see what they would do, so i am cautious about going after these folks for a difficult situation and decision. they know it imkt pas more than 700,000 people, and not just from the terrorist threat, but the parents scrambling around, but imagine if they had waited and then decide it is

credibility and then you have to get the kids out of the building. >> really, you would not have been able to do it, and it would have been impossible. >> and you spoke, ashleigh, to congressman brad sherman, and this is not the way that it would go down, but there is a feeling that all bets rough, and you don't know what the m.o. is, and maybe there is not an m.o. anymore, and that is part of the feeling that certainly, definitely feeling in southern california that what the congressman said what he saw was alarming of the letter? >> yes, and every school district gets prang e-mails and trying to get out of the midterm exams and all sorts of stuffs that flies through the school officials, and this is different and causing the action and now we are learning why, because congressman sherman got a look at the e-mail, and let me tell you about all of the alarming things that were insooide of th e-mail. number one, the person who wrote the e-mail claimed to been an

extremist jihadi muslim, and also what was odd to the congressman, it had one pornographic reference to a body part which would not correlate to a extreme muslim, and the tex thet did not indicate a understanding of the muslim in that allah did not have ap cal ta a which is odd, and then specifically to the actions threatened. there was a threat of 32 accomplice s s to help to carryt various different actions, and those various brianna, and that they would carry out terrible a actions today, and that is the words of the congressman, and arabic name acco according to the congressman sherman, and e reference to the unified school district of l.a. adds well. so those were things that were specific enough to give this district enough pause to say,

this is different. >> and you cannot -- and i'm from southern california, and you cannot underestimate the effects of what happened in san bernardino. this is a neighboring community and it is an hour and a half drive from los angeles. i think it is something that is permeating the consciousness, and that it is hitting them very close to home as they are making the decisions as well. ashleigh, and mike, thank you so much. i know that we will go to jeff zeleny, and christina, can you tell me where we are headed? all right. ok okay. we are going to jeff zeleny, and he is our senior washington correspondent, and he just spoke to mike huckabee, and obviously a republican presidential candidate who is going to be here tonight for the cnn debate for the undercard debate. jeff, what did you lerp? >> well, i think it is going to be an interesting evening to be sure. >> how is your leg going in.

it is wearing out, but i am making great progress. >> are you going to be up there with the cane? >> i only need it with long walks. but i are will be fine. >> okay. good luck. >> thank you. and jeff zeleny just spoke to mike huckabee. >> thank you, that is former arkansas governor mike huckabee who just arrived for the debate, and he has leg surgery in recent weeks, and walking with the cane, and we asked him about that, and he said that he is in good spirits and one of the four candidates in the undercard debate that will begin with the main stage of the nine candidate debate, and this afternoon throughout the course of the afternoon here, all of the candidates will be coming through for a little bit of the walk through for the stage and the lay of the land here, and this is a critical time for all of the candidates, and governor huckabee included.

he has been on the main stage for some of the debates, but this time, he did not make the cut because of the polling. so it is a critical moment for governor huckabee and all of the candidates tonight, brianna. >> thank you, jeff zeleny, inside of the venetian, and we are gearing up for the debate, the final debate, republican presidential debate of 2015. i want to look at the live pictures there, and that is mike huckabee, a former arkansas governor and somebody who just lost his communications drirectr which has left a lot of speculation ongoing about what that means for the future of the campaign. especially as he is going to be participate manage the undercard debate, and he struggled to get himself to the main stage. i want to go now to sarah murray who is inside of, and she is there inside of the auditorium there in the venetian where these walk-throughs, the candidates are having a chance of a little bit of the lay of the land for what is a huge

night for them. sarah, what are you seeing? >> well, that is right, brianna, and you can see mike huckabee in here, and look, it is a stressful night nfor the candidates. they are coming up here, and it is an audience, and a big platform, so they don't want to take any chances, so they go to reconfirming how the debate rules work, and even to looking at the light that warns you to where the restrooms r and they want to go over this area for a while. we saw marco rubio here, and he asked a number of questions. but for some candidates, you want to skip it all together, because you don't want to psyche yourself out of such a big moment. but mike huckabee is going over

a number of things there with the staff here in the debate hall. >> and part of it, they are learning the cues for when the time is going to run out so they can sort of make sure that they fluidly are able to deliver the answers, but also to talk to us about mike huckabee, sara, because he is someone that people are wondering, are we going to be seeing him for much longer? will we see him in the debates ahead of the final one of 2015? h >> that is a reasonable question. when you talk to the staff, they say that he is in and no reason to drop out before iowa, a state that he won in 2008, but it is a big loss that he lost the communications director. she was a key part of the campaign. i think that if you are mike k huckabee, i don't see a reason to get out before iowa, especially given how much the polls have changed just in the last week or so, and there is a lot of jostling that happens in the last couple of weeks leading up to this, and if you are mike

huckabee or even a rick santorum, and somebody who has won the state before, you might say, hey, look, this could break for me at the end, and if people decide to abandon trump for instance, and carson is slipping, maybe that is ultimately that is something that could benefit me, and if you are mike huckabee, that is what you are having run through your head that the core evangelical base may show up at the the last minute. >> and thank you, sara. i want to bring in jeff zeleny, and show the pictures from a moment ago of senator marco rubio doing his walk through there in the auditorium here at the venetian here in las vegas. jeff, can you talk a little bit about marco rubio, a really what is at stake for him tonight? he is trying to draw some contrast between himself and ted cruz who is surge manage the polls. he is trying to draw some contrast on the national securit

security. >> he sure is, brianna. he has had a very good consistent performers here through the fall, but the stakes are higher tonight. and he has been drawing contrast with ted cruz specifically on the senate voting record, and the national security and the nsa surveillance program, and so with the sparring we talk about donald trump and ted cruz, but the two people i am watching more than that is marco rubio and ted cruz. they are from the same generation, and freshmen senators, antiare occupying a little bit of the same space here, and the rise of ted cruz in iowa and across the country nationally in polls has taken a little bit of thunder from marco rubio, and tonight is the night for senator rubio to try to gain some of that back, and gain some of the credibility. and marco rubio occupies in the establishment lane, but he is trying to tell the voters that he is in the outsider lane here, but i think that marco rubio

here tonight is preparing to again told that he is going to be ready to be the president, and also drawing some distinctions with senator cruz. >> i also want to bring in athena jones who is following the pre-debate drama as the candidates are coming into the venetian. you are outside where they have been driving up. what have you seen, athena? >> hi, briannna, and we are seen some bush staffers coming to do the walk-through, and i asked marco how he felt going into the room, and he said good. very quick there. and when i saw him come back out i asked him how he plans to perform, and the aide s as are saying that going into the night, why try to fix something that is not broken. certa certainly, they are hoping for another strong night. i asked the senator, himself,

how important it is is to do well, and he said that i am looking forward to the night. it will be great. so he seems to be feeling confident, but as you heard from jeff and sara, it is a huge night. it is stressful, and that is why it is so important for the candidates to come in to get a look at the lay of the land, and rubio is standing between carly fiorina and ben carson and to get a sense of how things are going to go tonight. we are waiting to see who else arrives via this route. brianna. >> thank you, athena. obviously, we have all angles covered here as the candidates are coming into the venetian. and we are about 4 1/2 hours out of the last republican presidential debate, and very much coming in the pivotal moment of two terrorist attacks here, and one in the u.s. we will have much more as we watch the candidates getting the bearings here at the venetian

ahead of the debate. back in a moment.

i'm brie glan . i'm brianna keilar, and the candidates have been doing the walk throughs of the auditorium where the debates will take place tonight and trying to get the bearings ahead of what is a big night. talking about national security at a pivotal time in the world, and in our country. s center stage tonight is going to be donald trump, and obviously, i think that there is going to be a lot of focus on him, and both from the candidates who are next to him as well as people who are watching at home, and here in the auditorium. i want to bring in katrina

pearson who is a spokesperson for the trump campaign. thanks so much for being with us, and what is the goal of donald trump tonight, and how specific will he get on national securit security? >> well, the goal tonight is for mr. trump to continue leading on the issues that he is leading on since he entered the race which is immigration, and national security and the economy. mr. trump has really been the one leading the thenarrative fo all of the presidential candidates, including on the democrat side, because we have issues in the country that have not been addressed for at least the last 15 years since 9/11 and we are finally having the honest discussion discussions. >> i want to ask you about the washington post/nbc news poand there is something startling what they found about how people would feel, and really, the comfort level with donald trump. 7 of 10 said they would feel anxious about donald trump as president, and 5 of 10 of them said they would feel strongly

so. what do you say to that when you are hearing the numbers like that? >> well shgs, i think they ever is in the comfort zone. so for so long the general public has been conditioned not the talk about certain thing, and have a sense of the political correctness out there, and people are seeing somebody who is shaking up the paradigm, and so it is going to make people feel differently when we are talking about issues that we are not talking about issues that we have not talked about, but talking about the comfort level of leading, they still say donald trump. >> so you are saying that the discomfort with donald trump is not a bad thing? >> right. i don't think it is a bad thing, and people are internalizing what is happening in the country, and we get to make a decision on that, and people are in a comfort zone that has been control b controlled by the political class and the media of the back-down mentally when it comes

to american values? >> wouldn't you feel better if people were comfortable with him, and the idea of bringing a different idea, and it is the idea of being comfortable with what he brings? >> well, i believe we will get there. and after tonight, and other candidates go out there to say this is my plan or talk about the things they want to do which is really not in the best interest of the american citizen, they will be more comfortable with him, because what we have seen the policies out there are very much constitutional and very much in protecting the sovereignty of the americans, and people will realize that. >> and some have questioned the constitutionally of the proposals and specifically this idea of a temporary ban of muslims, and you are here saying, no, this is constitutional and yet, he is catching flack from informed observers who are saying it is n not. >> and other legal scholars have

come out to identify the scope and the precedent for something like that. title eight gives the president of the united states the explicit authority to stop, pause, halt, any time he deems necessary any class of alien citizen that he deems a threat to the united states. it is in title eight and in code section 11182, and a lot of people throw in religious freedom, but a that is in regards to article 6. >> and something else that we have seen from time to time protests at donald trump's rallies, but it seemed a lot of tings at -- a lot of tension at the one he had last night in las vegas, and obviously, protesters to disrupt the rally, and they were taken out by security, and it is unclear how involved the police or the security was at the event, but there were a lot, and i will say several supporters yelling unsavory things that we can't repeat here

on the air. what does that say sort of, and some people are looking at this and wonder if the that is representative of the tenor of sort of what is happening and the anger that donald trump is tapping into. >> well, we also know that there is a lot of plants at some of the rallies to make it look as if there are supporters saying and doing bad things, so i will leave it there. >> and you actually think that some of the people yelling, and you think that they were pretending to be supporters, and misbehaving. >> but i am saying that i don't know, and we have seen it happen a number of times, and even in the the grass roots movement of the tea parties, they would put up plants with racist signs and people would literally say, this is not with us, and with have experienced it over time with the grass roots movement, but i will say that there is a point of contention and for the first time in a long time we have opposition to the status quo, and i expect people to engage in the political process. >> can i talk to you about ted cruz? >> sure. >> and it seems that the audio

that is revealed of ted cruz, he thinks that the donald trump campaign is going to peter out, and revealing of his strategy, that he wants to be the guy who is there when it does. donald trump, donald trump -- hold on katrina, standby with me, because i want to go to jeff zeleny who has a candidate who is arriving. hold on one minute. >> i feel great. i feel the stress of the country and seeing what happened with the l.a. schools today and knowing that too many americans are frightened in their own communities because we have not combatted radical islam like we should have, but it is unfortunate and democracy continues and the debate will be fun and hopefully a lot of people will watch. >> so much is focused on the top of the ticket, and donald trump obviously and ted cruz, and is this a different moment for v e voters as we are six weeks out of the decision? >> yes, we are getting to the

point where they say, we understand the anger, and understand expressing that we dissatisfied but we need somebody who can unite america and lead us. a strong leader who will bring us together to confront the problems like radical islam. this is not the time for petty partisanship, and not the time for personal political gran dizmendiz me -- aggrandizement, but it is is time for us to come together. >> thank you, governor. >> jeff, i hope that you can hear me, but you have former new york governor george pataki, and it is interest, because he is someone who a lot of people are looking at him, and wondering is this campaign really going to be around that long, and you can address and that also, some republicans who have said that there are too many people on the stage, and too many people in the mix.

actually, they feel not giving advantage to some of the frontrunners, and they would like to see them actually be able to have a little bit more time, and what do you think? >> sure, brianna, and that is one of the first questions for george pataki, because he got in to be someone leading the conversation, and the so-called adult in the room, and he said issues in substance only. and i think that george pataki is not expecting to win the iowa caucuses or the new hampshire primary and not in this campaign for that much longer, but it begs the question that perhaps he is not crowding anyone else out here. and he is not taking any support from anyone, but it does beg the question of how long we will have 13 candidates in the race. i think that after this debate going into the iowa caucuses, would not be surprised at all if a couple of the candidates would

see the writing on the wall, and decide to sort of save face, if you will, and decide to drop out. we don't know if it is george pataki or someone else. on this one, he has nothing to lose obviously, by staying in the race. but as we are closer to picking a president, as they say, the some candidates are simply not moving up in the polls, and not gaining support, and that is a tough decision for all of them to make, briana. >> yes. thank you. it is unclear who is going to be going first. jeff zeleny is monitoring the candidates coming inside of the venetian on the way through the walk-through in the debate hall. in the debate hall we have sara murray who is watching from the inside. and sara, what are you seeing and also the idea of the undercard debate that someone like governor pataki is a part of. and the question is how much longer are these going to be going on, and we have seen chris christie who is at one point

bumped down to the kiddie table, and then able to get back on to the main stage, but is there a sense that anybody else can ascend in a way that chris christie is going to do? >> well, i think that lindsey graham would hope that he is one of the candidates, and anybody on the stage in the undercard debate would hope to have a moment to bring them up to the main stage, but i do think that at a certain point, you lose the value of the undercard debate. i don't know if it happens though before any state votes so that is why you will see george pataki, and other candidates who want to stay in the race through iowa and new hampshire, because they want to hear it from the voters, whether or not they can get enough people to support the candidacy, and they don't necessarily want it decided by a debate stage. once you get through iowa, that is the point where you will see more people looking at the campaigns, and saying, maybe we don't have the support here to keep on going. >> it will be a tough decision for many of them.

and sara murray inside of the debate hall. and we are going to continue covering the candidates coming in for the walk-through. and we will have more live pictures of our own wolf blitzer there, after the break.

>> it will be a tough decisio

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cash from the equity in your home and here's the best part... you still own your home. take control of your retirement today! >> i'm brianna keilar and you are watching live coverage on cnn ahead of the the republican presidential debate. the cnn-hosted debate here at the venetian here in las vegas, and right now, you are watching live pictures of the former new york governor george pataki inside of the debate hall getting the lay of the land, and these are the walk-throughs that candidates do with the cnn folks who have been working for months and months on this debate. you can see that he is sort of looking out into the audience and getting a sense of certainly, the countdown clock which is very, very important.

and of course, there are many important thing s s to talk abo ahead of the national security-focused debate. and here with us, we have cnn political commentator anna navarro who is also a republican strategist and supporter of jeb bush and adviser to other candidate, and we have the national journal executive ron brownstein, and also jennifer granholm, a former michigan g governor, senior adviser and surrogate to "correct the record" which is a pro hillary clinton pact, and also political commentator jeffrey lord who is a supporter of donald trump. and certainly, an interesting scene unfolding here in los angeles before what is a presidential debate e focused on national security, and what do you believe is going to happen? >> well, in the view of most

republicans, it is surprising that it is in favor of trump. >> why do you say that? >> because it is the nexus of immigration and terror that has benefited him. trump the core of trump's rise was the focus on immigration, and appeal ing ing to the repub voters who are feeling economically and demographic cli threatened by the changes, but when you add to the addition al mix of the terror and the question of whether or not the world is bringing threats to the homeland, i think that is what is allowing him to take off, and you will see, i think that the other candidates are surprised by the reaction in the polling for xexample to his call for a muslim ban which is unpopular with the public overall, but popular with the republican base. >> yes, his numbers are certainly not hurting from that. and come to us at the perspective of someone who s supports jeb bush, and really, just i think that as a member of the republican party about when you are looking at the poll n b numbers jump for donald trump following this, what does it mean for the party and for candidates like jeb bush who are

more moderate? >> well, look, i think that the reason that donald trump is >> i think the reason donald trump is where he is and why he's so popular and why he's winning on this issue of national security when republicans get polled is because of the frustration that republicans have after seven years of president obama, somebody that they see as meek, as weak, as mild, conciliatory language, deliberative, kind of vacillates on his strategy or lack thereof and republicans are very frustrated, fed up, and frankly concerned with what's going on. they like the bluster, the leadership, the strength, the obnoxio obnoxiousness, if you like, of donald trump. what it means for the rest of the party, though, is they can't compete with that so they have to stick with what they know, which is specifics, which is policy. i think what you're going to see from jeb bush and some of the other candidates is pull out their record, pull out their proposals. jeb bush was the first one that came out with a proposal on how to fight isis.

i think you're going to hear him talk about all the endorsements he has from medal of honor winners, from flag officers. i think you'll see marco rubio talk about his experience in the foreign affairs committee. i think you'll hear chris christie talk about his experience as u.s. attorney on 9/11. they'll all try to lay a claim to this. trump has got to bluster because he's got no record, he's got no substance and bluster is working for him. >> what is your candidate looking at this and thinking? is she loving this? it sounds like a lot of democrats say this is great, they love this fight that's going on. >> first of all, she gave a speech earlier at that. >> talking about isis. >> about homeland security and how to rout it out at home. she's given speeches at the b k brookings institute and council of foreign relations. it's the reason she beats donald trump and ted cruz by nine points on who would you rather have in charge on defeating

isis. people trust that she's got a plan. what kills me about this is the bluster of donald trump, is not only is it dangerous because it makes him the key recruiter as everybody has said, but he is going after muslims in a way that prevents him or anybody from being able to effectively recruit our allies. you can't be dissing the whole muslim population and then expect our arab allies to be enlisted with us in the fight. so he's making it dangerous in recruiting and he's making it impossible to make sure that we have good allies who have boots on the ground. >> let me ask you about this, though, because there certainly is -- there's a lot of angst i think in the country when it comes to where foreign policy is right now, where national security is. there's a lot of dissatisfaction with president obama, rhetorically, substantively as well. i was at the speech hillary clinton gave at brookings on the

iran deal. certainly she has this experience, but she's going to get hammered at this debate tonight. she's not on the stage but she's going to be someone that republicans are really taking aim at. inevitably, she will be seen as somewhat of an extension of president obama on foreign policy and -- >> but here's the kicker on this. they all want to see more air strikes. what's president obama doing? more air strikes. 9,000 last month. she supports that too. many of them want to see a no-fly zone, not all of them. she supports that. many of them want safe zones. she supports that. there's very -- the biggest differences between what she has put on the table and what the republican field has put on the table is that most of them want to put boots on the ground and she has said that would be counterproductive because you need to have allies on the ground. and they have alienated the muslim population, and that's counterproductive. so you saw jeb bush -- some of you saw jeb bush after he was -- after she was interviewed on

another channel on sunday and he was asked what is he going to put on the table that's different than what she has. he couldn't come up with anything. >> i do want to get jeffrey in here before we wrap this up. your guy, center stage tonight. >> right. >> is he going to be about the rhetoric? is he going to be about the substance? a lot of folks have taken aim at donald trump and said he's not delivering on specifics. >> he'll be about the message. >> what is the message? what does that mean? >> i think the message is strength and decisiveness in dealing with isis and national security issues. this is, i think -- >> how will he set himself apart from what we heard president obama outlining yesterday on the pentagon. >> by standing on the stage. i think anna is correct. here is president obama in terms of perception and here is the perception of donald trump over here. it is 100% different. it is based to a large degree on not only his own persona, but the weaknesses of president obama for the last eight years. and the fact that he seems to be meandering around and can't

quite get a grip on this. >> but it's all just words and wl bluster. >> you're not going to hear substance or policy from donald trump but it hasn't harmed him in the past. >> jennifer, i mean i would point out this was not only said about ronald reagan when he was running for president, this was said about ronald reagan after he was president for four years. they were saying this. what is the policy? he doesn't understand substance. he doesn't know arms control. he doesn't know this. he ended the cold war, for heaven sakes, because he had a strong message, he left the details to others. >> donald trump is no ronald reagan. >> what makes this really complicated is to game out how -- >> hillary clinton is no margaret thatcher. >> there we go. >> i'm not sure she's shooting for that either. >> what makes this complicated how it may game out in a general election, most americans do believe president obama's approach to the mideast is not working but they also felt that way about george w. bush's approach. the velvet glove hasn't worked, the iron fist hasn't worked. so each side doesn't have a lot

to fall back on in terms of having confidence that they have an answer to a problem that americans increasingly wonder anyone has an answer to. >> i do think we're going to be seeing a very exciting debate tonight and a very important debate tonight on national security. thank you so much to all of you. that is it for me. for our international viewers, amanpower is next and brook baldwin in the newsroom is after this.

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and here we go, top of the hour. so great to be with you again here on a huge day in las vegas. you're looking at live pictures here inside where the action will all begin in checking countdown clock, now less than four hours officially. i'm brooke baldwin. an