shreds, making many homeless just as families get ready to celebrate christmas. let's get to meteorologist chad myers. what are you seeing today, chad? >> alisyn, we do get tornadoes in the united states in december. on average, 23 or 24 but not long-track major tornados like we saw yesterday. one of these storms may be 140 miles long on the ground. the weather service will be out to look at that today. >> holy [ bleep ]. >> reporter: this christmas eve morning, hundreds of people are waking up to utter devastation. >> holy mackerel! >> reporter: devastation cutting across the southwest and midwest. the tornado claimed lives including a 7-year-old boy. as residents desperately hid in their homes. >> every time i got out of the car, i had a tree that was in my windshield. >> reporter: in turn mississippi, this tornado tore through a busy highway. >> oh! >> reporter: watch as the

massive twister tosses this tractor trailer, as it barrels through traffic. watch from this angle from what appears to be the same semi. this driver, just feet away. the winds in southwestern tennessee roared up to 70 miles per hour as officials declared a state of emergency. >> the houses just exploded and they were burred in the rubble. >> reporter: two people were killed east of memphis, their bodies found under debris. >> we were in the house, we heard the wind picking up. we had 45 seconds and it just hit. we walked out of the storm shelter, everything was juan. >> reporter: in arkansas, an 18-year-old woman died when a tree toppled through her house. >> christmas is all about love and we're going to love through this. >> reporter: some residents clinging on to what they say matters most, after losing everything this holiday season. >> it wasn't about the house. it was about my family and the most important thing to me.

>> guys, the storms are not over. in fact a new tornado watch was just issued for alabama and georgia. there are tornadoes on the ground near culmer, alabama. take cover immediately. in atlanta area, no tornado warnings but there were damaging winds and hail. it will continue. it will not be the same day as we had yesterday with the f 3 and f-4 tornadoes on the ground. this is as we're looking at it today, at least severe weather a possibility all the way up to philadelphia. >> chad, thanks so much for those warnings. people need to keep it tuned here for more. meanwhile, nasty weather not the only thing duplicating holiday travel. new security measures from the tsa could have an impact. let's get to sara sidner live at laguardia's new york airport.

what are you seeing there? >> reporter: the good news, everything on the board, when it's blue and white, it's all good. thing are on time. people are getting out of here. there aren't many flights delayed. only a couple cancelled in arriving at the airport. let's talk about what may complicate things a bit. the transportation safety administration just in time for christmas, changed its rules when it comes to those full body scans. you know those ones where you put your hands up. people opting out of that, no, i don't want that, i want pat-down. the tsa says no, there are some passengers that must go through the body scanners. they're doing it because athey're in heightened security mode. they want to make sure they have the right amount of security and right type of security. and these body scans detect things that you may not be able to detect by a pat-down. so what you're hearing now is a little bit of confusion because critics say this is going to

confuse passengers where some people are allowed to say no to the body scans. and others are allowed to say no. it's a big ambiguous. security saying is this how it's go to be from now forward. chris. >> a good christmas eve to you. we have more news breaking overnight a warning from the american, british and french embassies in china concerning possible threats against westerners in beijing around christmas. we have cnn's alexandra field live in seoul with details. alexandra, what do we know? >> hey, chris, you can add now australians to the list. in total, fourth western embassies warning citizens in beijing and also government employees to be vigilant, to be cautious. and warning them of potential threats to westerners in a very popular shopping area in beijing. certainly a place you would expect to be crowded and full of westerners in the last hours before christmas. they're not specifying the nature of the threats.

they're not say wrgt intelligence comes from. or what type of intelligence they have. but at the same time, beijing has raised its alert level. they've deployed other police officers to sanlitan. in raising the alert level, they made no mention of the warnings sent out by the embassies. they say it was only in response to the large holiday crowds. but certainly, the sight of those armed officers is unusual in beijing, and certainly during most times of the year. turning to politics, hillary clinton still holds the lead but challenger bernie sanders gaining on her. we're hear from bernie sand ners just a moment. but first, let's bring in joe johns with more on the new poll numbers and a new warning from donald trump.

>> good morning, alisyn, on a key issue when we ask questions does hillary clinton holds a commanding lead when it comes to foreign policy, handling isis and gun policy. but speaking of the economy which bernie sanders has been hammering away at, eight points still trailing clinton by the same margin. in a head-to-head matchup, this is one of the most interesting things about the poll, saying hillary clinton running neck and neck with all three of the top republicans. squeaking past donald trump, running two or three ticks behind ted cruz and marco rubio. important to say all three match up within the margin of error. meanwhile, the back and forth between donald trump and the former secretary of state continuing. donald trump pushing back against mrs. clinton's allegations of sexism. tweeting hillary, when you complain about a penchant for sexism. who are you referring to? i have great respect for women. be careful. then there was this tweet from trump, hillary, i really deplore

the tone and inflammatory rhetoric of this campaign. i deplore the death and destruction she caused stupidity. more pushback from trump. >> no merry christmas in any of that joe johns. we appreciate it. you say you want more policy discussed. you want less insider sniping. so, we sat down by senator bernie sanders. we talked polls, problems, solutions, it was the senator who eventually raised donald trump. here's the first part of the discussion. >> senator sanders, thank you for joining us on "new day" as always. >> my pleasure. >> so, the santa claus of political polls has brought you a gift, the highest number you've reached so far in the new cnn poll. 34%. hillary down 8. you up 4. however, still a big gap. hillary getting 50% commanding lead. what do you make of it? >> well, chris, what i make of

it is, when we began this campaign, as you will recall, we were 3%, 5% in the polls. all of the pundits considered us a fringe candidacy. today, we're perhaps in the lead in new hampshire, where i think we're closing in here in iowa. and your poll seems to indicate we have national momentum. so, i think we have come a really long way in 7 1/2 months and we're feeling really good. we have a tremendous volunteer network all over this country. we are raising significant sums of money from small individual contributions. so at this point, i have to tell you, we're feeling good. >> from a poll, we can glean that the big issue that seems to be holding you back with those potential voters is foreign pose. that's where hillary clinton has her biggest advantage. there is a perception that you do not have the stomach or the head for what it takes to beat isis. your response, sir? >> well, let me assure all of

the people in our country, that i have the stomach, i have the head. i think we have the approach. not only to beat isis, but to crush isis and to destroy isis. and what my view is, is that we have got to learn a lesson from iraq. and that lesson is it's not good enough just to be tough. we have got to be smart. and what that means is, we cannot do it alone. we cannot and should not be involved in potential war fare in the middle east. what we need to do is bring together a grand coalition, led as king abdullah of jordan reminds us, by muslim troops on the ground. what we should do, along with the uk, france and russia and other major powers is give the muslim nations on the ground the support they need from the air. we should be training troops. we should be doing special forces when necessary. but ultimately, this war will be

won. and isis will be destroyed with our support and other great nations' support, taking on isis on the ground with muslim troops. >> pushback is this talk of coalition has gone nowhere. there's been years of democrats trying to do it. having gotten it done. what needs to be done here at home is protect the homeland. these refugees that you want to let in willy-nilly, they can hurt americans. they fuel americans' fears. you have to be tougher and put up more restrictions specifically on refugees because there are terrorists in their numbers. >> well, needless to say, i disagree with that assertion. what we want to do as we destroy isis, we do not want to give up the values that have made us the greatest country in the history of the world. which among other things has been a beacon of hope for people in deep distress. obviously, it goes without saying that there must be a

very, very strong vetting process. i think we have to do a better job at that. but i do not think that what america is about -- and i speak as somebody whose dad came to this country at the age of 17. i do not think what america is about is turning our backs on people in distress. >> donald trump says we must look twice at those coming across the southern border. there are bad people among them. his numbers go up. he says, we should think about banning all muslims, at least temporarily. his numbers go up. he points at people like you and hillary clinton and says they are weak insiders, and i am strong. and he is now the presumptive favorite in every poll and every metric we have. is america ready for someone like donald trump and not ready for someone like you? >> well i think that the more than the american people understand what trump stands for, which among other things is

his assertion that wages in america are too high. he wants to, quote/unquote, make america great. and here's a guy who's a billionaire who thinks that wages in america are too high. he thinks that we should not raise the minimum wage. he wants to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to his millionaire and billionaire friends. but i think creating and playing off the anxiety that the american people have, the fears about terrorism, the fears about our economy and becoming a demagogue about that, and then trying to get us to hate mex chance or to hate muslims, i think that is a strategy that is not what america is supposed to be about. what i believe, in contrast to mr. trump, is that we bring our people together to focus on the real issues which is the disappearing middle class, massive income inequality. a corrupt campaign finance system. the fact that we're not

effectively addressing the international crisis of climate change. the fact that our kids can't afford to go to college. and moms and dads can't afford child care. those are the issues that we have to focus on. we have to look at the greed. the greed of corporate america. the greed of wall street which has had such a terrible impact on our economy and millions of people. so, i'm trying to bring people together to take on the wealthy and powerful who have done so much to hurt the middle class. trump is trying to play on fears and divide us up. at the end of the day, i believe that our approach will win. >> now, we have a couple more parts of the interview. what the senator just said will be tested. because that only one perspective on what makes america better than the situation it's in right now. let's bring in our cnn political analysis maggie haberman political correspondent for "the new york times" and mr. john avalon editor of the daily

piece -- piece? that's certainly what it's not called. what's your early take? >> my early take on bernie sanders. we saw the poll numbers right before your interview with him. when you listen to him involving the crisis with isis when you listen to him about terrorism. he does not sound like he has a depth of knowledge about it. it all comes back to his economic argument. you saw him bring it back at the end. this is what we've seen debate after debate. look, hillary clinton is very knowledgeable on international fairs, foreign policy, international security. it's going to be tough for anybody to go against her, regarding of her problems with the record with libya and so sfortso forth. but bernie sanders has not yet crossed that bar with foreign policy. and i think that's still the case. >> the idea is he doesn't have a depth of knowledge, is that because he's not offering up specifics? >> he's going to be very tough, he's going to learn from the iraqi war by being tough and smart. what does that mean?

that's the kind of bumper stick policy that bernie sanders is not known for. especially in the wake of paris, as i think the frame of this election has shifted in many people's minds, hillary clinton's strength as a former secretary of state becomes clear. and that poll bears out the fact that there say confidence gap in national security in the united states. it makes sense in their resume. >> it's not about specifics right now on the war against isis. one of the frustrations in the gop debate, they say that the tone should be different. in terms of tactics, nobody is laying it out differently. >> that's right. but it's an impression. >> i think politics is more about feel than about fact. that's why it seemed like a punch in the nose question, the knock on bernie sanders is, you don't have the head or the stomach, that you don't want to fight, maggie. and that's where the american people's heads are right now, who's going to protect me. >> one of the things, you saw bernie sanders apologize on the

data breach that happened. he apologized, his aide the day before literally ripped the clinton campaign heads off. with the dnc. there's been this split in how far bernie sanders will say and do. looking at hillary clinton willing to take on a fight that has hurt bernie sanders over and over again. i think there is a degree to which he is unwilling to throw the punch. willing to take on your rival. should that be the bar on how we judge these things on whether you should president? maybe not. >> even if you daisagree with him, he's a decent man. i think the problem is no one is going to mistake the democratic socialist from vermont for general george patton. there are moments that you're looking for a patton in that

office. i think that's part of what trump is ripping at. >> it's important not to confuse the republican primary with the democratic primary. >> that's right. >> wait until the commercial break. >> stick around, guys, we're going to bring you back momentarily. >> we do have more with the senator, how would he make america? specifically, somewhat does he want to do, what regulations, what changes. what about the hacking with the information of the campaign? is it as simple as we thought it was? what is his other layer maggie was talking about. also, trump's latest warn aimed at hillary clinton. why is he saying such a, quote, be careful.

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it's not the first time he's demonstrated a, you know, penchant for sexism. so, i'm not sure, again, anybody's surprised. just keeping pushing the envelope. >> well the feud between hillary clinton and donald trump intensifying. clinton leveling charges of sexism against trump. and trump issuing an ominous warning for clinton. we're joined again by our cnn political analysts, maggie haberman and john avalon. trump started by saying what happened in the debate when hillary clinton had to take a bathroom break. by the way, the men take breaks during the debate as well.

he said it was disgusting. he didn't want to think about it. i mean, who knows what that was about. then he used a vulgar term. she there was responding. then he, donald trump issued this tweet. let me read it. it says, hillary when you complain about a penchant for sexism, who are you referring to. i have great respect for women. be careful in all caps. that appears to be a veiled threat for hillary clinton. >> does it? >> i think if donald trump wants to bring that up, then he should then we'll cover it. i think what donald trump wants to do is hint at it and hope that everyone else puts it in the ether. >> the surrogates have talked about it. >> they brought it up and asked specifically is this what you're referring to. >> jeffrey lord came on the show, alisyn clued me in what he was talking about. he's like, if we're going to

talk about is what that is, how what happened in the oval office in the next room. >> this is something when the candidates do not say it themselves but then you have the aides or surrogates say it. i think it has a larger megaphone when it's donald trump himself doing it. >> one of the things, the cycles taking to twitter directly. i mean, take a step back here for a second. it's almost like he didn't invite her to sit in the front roaf his third wedding. i mean, there say relationship between these two cats. >> but -- >> no, no. >> used to be mad love and now bad blood? >> something like that. we can do that with different states as they campaign. but that's just reality. to some extent this is all kabuki, right? this is business. it's not personal. but it's going to get personal, but that's what pollees do. let's just reality check the nature of this historically.

>> but is it fair game? >> yes, it's totally game if he's going to bring it up. that doesn't mean it's going to play well with voters. there's a different between voters and how they receive it. bill clinton remains a popular person at this point. bill clinton is interesting, you're seeing him a lot more on the trail next month. he's going to be used a lot in new hampshire. he's the campaign to donald trump. donald trump appeals to white working class men. that's who bill clinton will appeal to. >> you want to be careful about threats if there are any glass houses, that's the danger. >> except, he likes a full-throated battle, donald trump. here's my question, hillary is talking to the des moines register here. i'm assuming she knew it was going to be taped. maybe she was dealing with it as a print interview. the reason i bring that up is her tone.

she's very low energy there. >> oh, we're coining a phrase. >> she seems to be trying to deal with it but not really deal with it. that's my question. do you think she's concerned about doing this too soon with trump. hillary's been keeping a low profile. >> yes, it's christmas eve. the greatest christmas gift hillary has gotten in 2015 is donald trump. >> why? >> it's distracted and highlighted -- >> who doesn't know who she is? she's defined nationally. everybody has an opinion about her. >> the clintons have been blessed with people who overreach. >> let's look at the matchups. this is nationally, obviously things will change during the primaries. the matchup, hillary clinton against the leading gop rivals. only with trump at the moment is she victorious. she actually loses slightly to rubio and ted cruz. that's interesting to look at,

maggie, because trump so dominant in the gop field, yet he losing in the matchup. >> cringing and freakout from republican donors leaps every time donald trump says something has been going on for six months since he's been in the race. remember, the race began with the strange conversation between reince priebus and then told to tone it down about the spandex. and you saw lindsey graham with the cell phone on stage. this has been going on for a long time. that does have an effect on general election voters. look, we're not going to know what the matchup is going to be until the fall, once it's side by side. >> it's funny, john avalon, how many gop insider pollsters make the point that maggie did. you know, it's very early, we

have no idea who the nominee is. >> no, but it's december 24th. >> right. but once we go into the primaries we cover it differently. >> there's something about polls conducted in august. it's another thing to say on the eve of the new year that it's no longer relevant. and, look, if the quote/unquote elites are people who care about winning the general election, that's a fundamental misnote. the party is all about the base. you've got the trump faction takes almost two-thirds. you have to be real about what that means if you want to win a general election. >> maggie, john, merry christmas! >> you called clinton killington because you are going up north. >> did i? >> yes, you did. >> rerack that tape. >> when we're doing those national matchups it's interesting who does better than all of those guys than hillary clinton and donald trump, bernie

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breaking news overnight. israeli police say a palestinian man stabbed two security guards near an industrial park in the west bank. the vialing lens happening as christians converge in the holy land to mark christmas eve. cnn's oren liebermann is joining us live from bethlehem. oren. >> reporter: a very significant moment here in bethlehem. one of the most significant moments of this day. one of the most important places

for christianity. of course, all of this happens in the shadow of attacks and recent violence that we've seen in the last three months, just this morning, two security guards were attacked as you mentioned. this comes after two really were killed in an attack outside the city of jerusalem. the jafa gate that leads right into the corridor. obviously a busy place this time of year. two israelis were killed. one from stabbing wounds one from gunfire as israeli forces responded to the attack. both were shot and killed. that political tension hangs over this. now, the square has say festive feel to it right now. that's what they're hoping for, this can be a celebration day in bethlehem. that this can be a very merry christmas. chris. >> orren, thank you very much. please, keep us informed of what happens there. we're going to take a break. when we come back, donald trump knows how to get his message

out. he's a master at messaging. how much of that job are we doing for him? how much of that are we doing for him? bernie sanders brought this up in our discussion. you'll hear it right after the break. ♪ and then santa's workers zapped it, right to our house. and that's how they got it here. so, santa has a transporter? for the big stuff... and it's a teleporter.

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senator bernie sanders at his highest point yet in cnn's new polling. but still has a lot of room to make up against hillary clinton. he says he think he is will. i said, why? and that's where this begins. it is time to test senator bernie sanders on what he says the problem is with trump, the media and the solutions with the country. here's the next part of the interview. >> you started off this interview using donald trump as a point of contrast. his popularity at this point is inarguable. how he is becoming popular say source of argument and

criticism. the most recent volley, what he said about hillary clinton's break during the debate. what he said about how he characterized her loss to barack obama. you're a guy who grew up in brooklyn. you probably know the word that he used. maybe you never heard it used as a verb before. but why is it working so well for him? >> well, chris, you're going to have to ask the media precisely why. trump is a smart guy. he is a media guy. he ran -- he did a tv show. i'll give you one example, all right, recent study shows on abc evening news, trump over a period of time got 81 minutes of time. bernie sanders got 20 seconds. now, you tell me why. >> well -- >> and i think it has to do with the fact that trump is very smart. he knows that media is not so interested in the serious issues facing this country. they love, you know, bombastic remarks. they love suing remarks. if he says somebody is sweating,

my god that say major story. all of that silly business, the personal attacks that kind of work. so i think this is more an indictment of the media, actually, than it is of trump. >> i don't see it. look, do we cover him more? yes, why? he's number one in the poll. he's highly relevant. he drives the discussion. >> but, chris, chris, explain to me how he becomes number one. he boasts of the fact -- this is what he says, hey, i don't even have to pay for commercials. the media's going to put me on all of the time. explain to me, cnn has been different here. you've been very different to me. you complain how a major network in the evening news has 80 minutes of trump, 20 seconds of bernie sanders. does that make sense to anybody. >> well, look -- >> i think it's fiair to say -- go ahead. >> there's no question, if you weren't as charismatic as you

are, senator, maybe you wouldn't get the time. you can't wipe off that base with the gop. they're putting him first in the polls. they're saying they hate the media. they just love trump. >> chris, this is what i think is going on. i think that trump is very effectively playing to the fears and the invitees that millions of people in this country have legitimately so, we're all concerned about the possibility of a terrorist attack against this country, we're all concerned about isis. we're all concerned about a disappearing middle class. you have in this country people who don't understand why it is that with increased productivity and technology, they're working longer hours for low wages. they're worried to death about their kids. they're worried about the economy. and trump comes along and says i've got the solution. and what the violation is mexicans coming into this country. let's throw them all out. that will solve all of our problems.

it's muslims, we're all terrorists. we have to hate them. well that is not the solution to our problem. that is simply scapegoating minorities. playing one group against another. that's what demagogues have always done. what we've got to do as a people is come together and say why is it that the middle class is in fact superior. and it's going to 1%. let's talk about it. sometimes, chris, to be honest with you, it can't be done in a six-second sound bite. why is it that we have the most unequal distribution of wealth in income than any countr on earth? why is it that we have any country on earth. why is it that we're the only nation on earth that doesn't have health care for people as a right. these are the kind of rights that i would have to have. i would urge and debate the media to have that debate. and not just pick up on trump's one liners? >> senator sanders, that's what

we're doing, that's what "new day" is about. we always appreciate you being on the show. >> and i do know that, chris. chris, i know that and i appreciate the good work. >> you're not easy. i've got people hash tagging feel the bern. tell your people to lay off. >> all right. we will do our best to be with you. >> you're always welcome to talk about what matters on this show. senator, best to you and the family. thank you for being on "new day." >> a very merry christmas and happy holidays to everybody. >> appreciate it. interesting stuff, chris. he's really in his element. his strong suit is talking about economic issues, that's what resonates ands that why he's gotten as far as he has. has what we talked about in the previous segment, foreign politics, he talks less specifics. >> true, not known for, despite the experience in the senate. on the plus side, 2 million contributor, certainly a ground

swell of support on the left. he wants a clean campaign. what happened with that data breach? we asked him about that, you'll hear it later on on "new day." meanwhile, a muslim family denied access to a plane from the uk to the u.s.? was their religion in play? was there a background here. friends coming over?

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at least seven people are dead after fierce storms slammed parts of the south and midwest. a 7-year-old is among the fatalities in mississippi killed in a car with his family. this tornado you that see tearing across the landscape in mississippi. two people killed across the state line in tennessee.

cars flipped on to their side, after a twister touched down there. my goodness, look at the aftermath. in arkansas a teenage girl died after a tree toppled into their home. we will stay tune to it. we also have news breaking overnight of a ninth arrest made in belgium in connection with last month's terror attack in paris. officials say he was in contact with the niece of the terrorist who officials say was the planner of that plot. this morning, members of a british muslim family are denied access after boarding a trip plane for a trip to los angeles for a trip. why was the family grounded? well cnn justice reporter evan greb is live.

>> nine members. family were denied access. they said their troubles began at london's airport last week. one of the norwegian airlines employees told the family they would not be able to fly to the u.s. for the disney holiday. they met all of the rumors when they bought the tickets. >> i wanted an explanation. and we're working class. we have our own business. we help everybody out. for me to be treated like that, i feel most uncomfortable and most devastated because i'm just like a normal person. >> the family says that they are out more than $13,000 because the airline won't refund their money. and the u.s. government won't explain what exactly happened. custom customs and border agency says, quote, the religious fate or

spiritual beliefs of an international traveler are not determining factors about his/her admissibility into the u.s. more than 60 different reasons for boarding including paperwork problems and health issues. >> well look, you don't have to be an investigative reporter like you to understand the obvious questions that this raises. we know you will stay on it, my friend. merry christmas to you. >> merry christmas. >> what do you think? am i obvious, is it just about paperwork? or do you think this is something that deserve morse review? you can tweet us at alisyn cammarata, with a y. >> i'm on to you chris cuomo -- cuomo. i do like to read your tweets. u.s. officials are discussing changes in rules of engagement for overseas. how will this affect the fight against isis?

we'll talk to military live in baghdad driving the fight -- next.

iraqi forces in a fierce battle to retake ramadi. now, the u.s. may be reconsidering its rules of engagement. colonel steven warren is a spokesperson for opposition resolve after the anti-isis coalition in iraq. colonel, nice to see you. we heard that iraqi forces are using the model of a boa

constrictor to choke off isis in ramadi. can you tell us how that's working? >> alisyn, good morning. the iraqi security force, over the last month or so, has slowly encircled the city of ramadi to isolate it from any possibility being supported by isil fighters that are outside of the city. so they've isolated the city on all points of compass. they've cut off the supply routes in and out of the city, so that this enemy is not able to reinforce themselves with equipment, weapons or manpower. and now, they're beginning to squeeze that noose around the city, slowly but surely. just two days ago, they were able to successfully cross the euphrates river in a combat bridging man user. first one we've seen in the middle east probably since the '70s. >> colonel, we know is this

incredibly harrowing work another soldiers, because isis has reportedly planted thousands of ieds, explosive devices, throughout the city. so, how are they managing that? >> the iraqis were in a fierce fight yesterday. i'll tell you. we watched a lot of it from the out-center. this enemy has set up defensive belts, so they use ieds, the very same ieds that we faced here in iraq years ago, but now they use them in clusters as if they were mine fields. they will rig entire houses to explode if you come near them. so the iraqis have to very deliberately probe this defensive area and find a weak spot. at the same time, american and coalition air powers overhead with b-1s in this fight, and when we find obstacles that we know we can hit, we'll strike them from the air as well. >> colonel, you can explain the transformation that you've seen in the iraqi army? because we all remember, back in

may, when the defense secretary ash carter said that they were not up for the fight. they in fact had retreated in the face of isis. so now the ferocity that we're seeing from them, let me just remind our viewers what defense secretary carter said back then and get to you comment. >> iraqi forces just showed no will to fight. they were not outnumbered. in fact, they vastly outnumbered the opposing force. and yet, they failed to fight. they with drew from the site. and that says to me, and i think to most of us that we have an issue with will. >> so, colonel, what's changed? how they are able to fight so ferociously now? >> i remember when secretary carter told your barbara starr that back in may. one of the things that changed,

alisyn, the americans, specifically the americans with the greatest coalition of our training partners. we've spent a year training the iraqi security forces. we've trained almost 16,000 iraqi soldiers now. and we've equipped them with modern equipment. this training and equipment program has absolutely brought their confidence level, their morale beginning to come up. we've also seen encouraging signs from the iraqi government to reduce sectarianism, to reduce the tension between the sunni and shia inside the government. so all of these things help. and, of course, there's nothing like winning. the iraqis have had good success, they've liberated baiji, they liberated part of the hadithah corridor on part of the euphrates river. so, with victory and success comes that. you have to be clear, alisyn, that we've still got a long way to go.

we've only trained 16,000 of them, and they have a lot of fighting ahead of them. >> colonel, let's talk about the discussions ongoing about changing the rules of engagement for the u.s. in iraqi and syria, particularly as it relates to air strikes. what is being considered? >> well it's a little soon to talk specifically about what's being considered. what we see is that as we apply additional pressures on the ground, as our iraqi and in the case of syria, some of our partner forces in syria, as they pressure this enemy, it forces isil -- isis, forces them to move. and when they move, they expose themselves, and able to bring some devastating air power against them. what's being talked about out there is how much tolerance we should have more civilian casualties. that's part of our american values, right? we say we bring our values to war with it. this is a difficult discussion.

there's always going to be tragedy in any war. that's why no one likes war. we have to find a balance between achieving military effects, and how much collateral damage we're willing to accept. >> yeah. >> this is a continuous discussion, alisyn. is this not a discussion that starts or stops. it's a daily thing. >> colonel, it's christmas eve, we're thinking of you and all of the soldiers and fighting men and women over there. how will you be celebrating christmas? >> well, alisyn, the good people of hollywood have donated a copy of "star wars" to us. >> wow. >> yeah, how about that. >> some of our guys have reduced from a we feel-hour shift down to an eight-hour shift to give themselves a little time to catch a movie and let their hair down for a second. i want to be clear, we'll continue to stand watch here. we want all of you to enjoy your christmas and know you're going to be safe because we're here. >> colonel steven warren, we so appreciate that. our thoughts and prayers are with you over there.

merry christmas to you. >> merry christmas to you. we're following a lot of news this morning. let's get right to it. >> back inside of house it was just there. >> people killed, storms pound the south and western. >> it's a near-death experience. >> nasty weather not the only thing complicating holiday travel. big changes in airports all across this country. >> you say you want a pat-down, the tsa now has the power to say you are not entitled to one. a dozen republicans ripping her to shreds pretty much every day. >> hillary clinton still holds a demanding lead. >> great middle class of this country has been appearing. >> sanders campaign is look at data it wasn't supposed to. >> we made a mistake. we dealt with that. >> announcer: is this "new day." good morning, everyone, welcome back to "new day" on this, our "new day," your new day on this christmas eve.

michaela is off today. we do have breaking news. the death toll rising overnight as wild weather slammed parts of the midwest and south. right now, nearly seven people were killed including a 7-year-old boy. states.l rains, hail battering >> lines of storms on the screen, complete devastation. remember those victimized especially during the christmas season. christmas just a day away. cnn meteorologist chad myers, you cannot give us the difficult of saying it's over, so let's at least get it straight. >> in fact, my wife in atlanta just texted and said no tornadoes for justius? i said, you know what, that chance not zero. 24 tornadoes on the ground not one of these may have been a long tracked tornado. but it may have been on the ground for 130 miles we don't know the weather service will be out to check the damage here.

>> holy [ bleep ] -- >> reporter: this christmas eve morning, hundreds of people are waking up to utter devastation. >> holy mackerel! >> reporter: the destruction caused by a deadly tornado coming from the south and west. the tornado claimed lives including a 7-year-old boy as residents desperately tried to hide in their cars and homes. >> every time i got out of the my car, i had a tree that was in my windshield. >> reporter: in northern mississippi this tornado tore through a busy highway. >> oh! >> reporter: watch as the massive twister tosses this tractor trailer as it barrels through traffic. watch from this angle what appears to be the same semi. this drive, just feet away. the winds in southwestern tennessee roared up to 75 miles per hour as officials declared a state of emergency. >> houses just exploded. and were burr flid tied in the .

>> reporter: two people killed east of memphis. their bodies found under the debris. >> we heard the noise. we felt the wind picking up and we had 45 seconds. that was it. we walked out of the storm shelter, everything was gone. >> reporter: in arkansas, an 18-year-old woman died when a tree toppled through her house. >> christmas is all about love and we're going to love through this. >> reporter: some residents in mississippi clinging on to what they say matters the most after losing almost everything this holiday season. >> it wasn't about the house. it was about my family and the most important thing to me. >> and the tornado watches continue this morning until 10:00 a.m. for macon almost to the gulf coast. severe weather headed to atlanta at this hour. if you're flying today, take some patience, because these storms are going to be approaching big cities, big airports and planes don't like to fly through big storms that could contain hail or wind or anything like. it's warm and muggy here in new york city. it will be almost 72 degrees

today. that's the severe weather threat all the way to new york city. i talked about philadelphia it will probably be the northern part, but it's close. the chance here for some severe weather. but i don't think we'll get the big tornadoes like we had yesterday. the mix isn't ready for today's severe weather like yesterday. yesterday, a very rare day. now, we do get tornados in december. but not that many and that big. alisyn. >> chad, thanks for keeping an eye on it for us. joining us by phone, sergeant ray hall, can you tell us what the situation is at this hour? >> yeah, we're actually waiting on our first light. we have officers rescuing throughout the night. continuing to search here in benton county. we still have residents that are unaccounted for. unfortunately, we believe that they may still be caught up in the storm, due to where they think they may have been living at the time.

>> the search and rescue efforts, what form have those taken? >> well, methodsically just going through the county taking each county road, each city street. just one road at a time. going door to door. house to house. the houses that are damaged, the houses that are completely destroyed, trying to comb through the debris, a search/rescue just to make sure we're not missing anyone. >> i know you said you do believe there are still two people missing at this hour. we understood that this is the last report that we got, perhaps you can update us, four people killed in mississippi. 40 people injured. are those numbers holding at this hour? >> actually, during the night, we had another confirmed death here. we had a married couple in one of the homes that was destroyed. the wife unfortunately had died when the tornado passed. her husband died a few hours

later at the hospital. so, actually here in benton county, we have three dead. and i think on the other side, on the other side of our state, we have two confirmed fatalities. so that should be around five. >> this is just so terrible, hearing these stories. in terms of the injuries. are most people being injured in -- look, we're looking at the aftermath right now where you can just see shards of piles of what used to be houses yesterday. are most of the injured, were they in their homes or were they on the highways? >> well, the residential areas, with debris flying, things like that, that's where we had the injuries in benton county. many of those were taken to local hospitals and treated with emergency. they were treated with minor injuries. the devastation, just being here, christmas, we're all pulling together as a community. we're going to help our

community out. >> we know you are. what are you telling residents to do and to prepare for today? >> well of course, as first light comes -- the main thing, if you're not part of the search and rescue, we're asking people to stay out of the those areas because it only congests them. and it makes the emergency rescues that much more difficult to try to maneuver and get into the areas. we're asking everybody to be patient. i think we're trying ing ting coordinate efforts with the american red cross to try to set up resources for those affected. >> sergeant ray hall, you and your community are in our prayers today. best of luck as you get first light there. >> thank you, you have a merry christmas. >> you too. thank you. >> just damnable time for those people down there. chad is telling us, as you hear from the first responder there. it's not over. please keep them in your mind. and weather is not the only thing that's going to hamper the

holidays specifically from a travel perspective, we have security changes that the tsa has made. we have cnn sara sidner live at laguardia airport with more, sara? >> chris, yeah, there's a time just in time for the holidays. basically, the change may not affect everyone. you know when people go off and say, hey, i do not want to go through the scanner, i want a pat-down instead. it used to be that anyone could do that and the tsa would oblige. now the tsa is saying no, we're not going to oblige everyone. there are some passengers who absolutely have to go through the scanners. that is the change. it won't be to everyone. but there will be passengers that awon't be able to do that. i do want to talk a little bit about what may also cause delays here, that happened is when we're talking about the number of people traveling, there are expected to be a number of people -- 100 million people traveling this holiday. 50 miles or more from their house. and that includes about 91.3

million will take cars. but a lot of them, the 5 million, will fly. there's going to be a lot of folks out here. it's the biggest number ever that they've had in this christmas new year's holiday season. so there's a lot of people just piled up trying to get where they want to go. then you have the issue of weather. of course, we don't have any issue of snow here in the new york area, but you have storms. and we're seeing so far about 135 cancellations across the country. not here on laguardia alone. and 451 flights that have been delayed. but we're doing much better than europe and asia pacific. asia has 5,000 flights that have been delayed. and europe has 1,000. so we're doing quite well with only 450 at this time, chris. >> sara, 100 million people in the country traveling? chris and i were just saying how amazing that number is. so, thanks so much of the warning of what they might encounter at the airport. let's turn to politics now. the democratic race getting more interesting.

hillary clinton still leading the democratic race for president but a newly released cnn /orc poll has donald trump winning. >> good morning, on the key issue points when we ask questions about hillary clinton still holds a demanding lead with foreign policy and prices. speaking of the economy which bernie sanders has gained some ground on, in the head to head matchup against republicans, this is the most interesting thing about the poll showing hillary clinton almost running neck and neck with all three top republicans, squeaking past donald trump and running two or three ticks behind ted cruz or marco rubio. important to say all three match up within the margin of error. meanwhile, the backlash between

donald trump and former secretary of state, trump pushing back, trump tweeting, hillary when you complain about a penchant for sexism, who are you referring to? i have great respect for women, be careful. then there was this tweet from trump hillary, i really deplore the tone and inflammatory rhetoric of his campaign. i deplore the death and destruction she caused. stupidity. more pushback from trump. we're also following breaking news out of israel. police say a palestinian man stabbed two security guards in the west bank. the attacker was killed. it happens as christians converge on the holy land to mark christmas eve and it comes a day after two people were killed after a stabbing attack at the jaffa gate in jerusalem's old city. disrupting operations at minneapolis/st. paul airport.

more than 100 people blocked the gates causing some delays, a protest caused the mall to shut down, the mall of america, at one. busiest days. 15 people were arrested. video you've got to see, a helicopter trying to land in egypt, okay? strong winds -- >> oh, okay. >> oh, my gosh. >> just let it go for a second. move your hands away from your eyes. >> i don't like this. >> it looks like the man throttled up, right? not what happened, they deal with wind in a very specific way, a helicopter, they're very vulnerable, even at the point of touchdown. now, it's not that the pilot made a mistake, he actually made a great save. the chopper did hit that tree before crashing next to a pool. we are told all seven on board, including the pilot, not hurt. >> incredible. incredible. helicopters, they are -- they make no aerodynamic sense. >> tell it to da vinci.

>> all right. >> he came up with the model. >> get da vinci on the phone for me. >> i can't but i can get you bernie sanders. he says he's going to help the middle class. he said it's all about greed. what would he do and would it make it better? we talked about the date a brea and when it's as simple as it sounds.

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socialist, that's the one word albatross hanging around bernie sanders' neck for many different voters. he says, first of all, it's democratic socialist. is that different? let's look at it terms of what he says needs to happen to mick risch and poor better and the explanation of the data breach. here it is. there are many who see what you're suggesting right now as an assault on the american dream, that you want to burden those who have been successful, even though they already pay 80% of the taxes in this country with a burden of paying for all of these free goodies that you want to give people. and that's not what america is about. in a capitalist society, you make money if you're good, and

you don't if you're not good enough. everybody has the right to succeed or fail on their own merits. why burden those with the needs of everybody else? >> well, chris, let's talk about reality. the reality is in the last 30 years, the great middle class of this country is disappearing. trillions of dollars of wealth have gone from the working families to the top 1% whose percentage they now own has doublinged. so, what we are see also is a situation where the averag american is working longer hours for low wages. 51% of all incomes going to the top one percent. we have a pamassive difference wealth and income in the country. it's i want to change that. i great middle class. not billionaires receiving all

the income. yes, i believe colleges and universities should be tuition-free. we pay for that by a tax on wall street speculation. yes, i do believe that we should rebuild the tumbling infrastructure, create 13 million new jobs, rebuilding our bridges and our roads. we pay for that by doing away with all of these huge tax breaks which allow corporate america to put their money in the cayman islands and bermuda and in a given year not end up paying a nickel in taxes. and yes, i do believe that the wealthiest people in the largest corporations in america who are doing phenomenally well while the middle class continues to disappear, yes, i do believe they're going to have to pay their fair share of taxing. >> but they say they do pay their fair share, whatever you want do do with dodd-frank, they say you want to regulate them and tax them out of existence. and at the same time, you want to force them to lend to people that are risky, which is how we

got into the mess back in 2008 in the first place. >> well, chris, that is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. this is the reality. either we are going to be say nation in which we have a strong middle class. or we are going to be a nation which moves ton an society where a handful of families control the country. today, let the american people make the decision, the top one-tenth of own more. 20 of the top wealth than the bottom 50%. that is not what america is supposed to be about. that is not an economy that works for working families. that is a rigged economy. so the bottom line, chris, rich becoming much richer. most americans becoming poorer. the gap is growing wider.

i intend to do something about it, whether corporate america or the billionaire class likes it or not. >> one political point. headlines were made about this data breach. the firewall goes down. the sanders campaign winds up looking at data it wasn't supposed to. the campaign expert, you get rid of somebody, you suspend some other people. why doesn't it just end there? why does this call for a broader explanation and wanting the clinton campaign involved? it sounds like a smoke screen. >> look, chris, i hope we can resolve this. i hope the dnc understands, i hope the clinton campaign understands, we made a mistake. and we want to get on with it. >> what's all of this other stuff about a broader investigation and seeing what happened? why that distraction? why don't you own what happened? >> we did own what happened, chris. here's what happened, everybody has got to understand, there has not only been one breach

recently, there was another breach. and in that breach, we also ended up with information from the clinton campaign. and people went running to the dnc saying what is going on here, you've got a problem. so, i want to make sure we understand what's happened in the past and that it does not happen again. it serves nobody's purpose. let's end it. >> that's just the only piece i don't understand. what else do you think might have happened? what have you heard or what do you think you can show that adds to the understanding? >> well, what we believe, what we know has happened is this is at least a second breach. there was another breach a couple months ago. our campaign ended up with information from clinton's campaign, and we went to the dnc right away. nobody looked at it. well if there's a breach, it's a breach as a whole that you get from both sides. we would like to take a look at that. we're not making any accusations. but i think it's fair to understand why the breaches occur and what the dnc is going to do to make sure that they do not happen again.

>> now, i kept pushing him about it because, i don't get it, you made a mistake, you own it. move on. don't make it sound like there's a broader thing, he says without making any accusations there say broader thing. so, what do you think? let's bring in our commentators, time warner news whether errol lou louis. and ron brownstein. gentlemen, happy christmas eve. good morning. i'm pushing bernie sanders why he's make morgue of this data breach. i said st, is that a smoke scre or tactics or might there be something there? >> i think there's something more that might be there. every time something goes in whether a high level or low level it's all recorded. as if bernie sanders suggests they went to the dnc saying

you've got a problem here, we're exposed to information we weren't supposed to have. what did the dnc do? did they talk to their vendor, fix the problem? or then bernie sanders thought maybe some of their data went wayward and that the clinton campaign had some advantage at some point in the past. they don't have the information to conclude that one way or the other. but it does make sense. i think we should all want this to be cleared up because this is not something that is supposed to be happening. and there's a lot at stake, including the privacy and personal political preferences of a lot of people who have tried to participate in the process. >> ron, beyond that, what did you take away from bernie sanders? >> i'm just struck -- happy holidays to you. i'm just struck by the different world of which republicans and democrats are offering at this point. when you listen to the democrats, the divide that they want to kind of impose on the

voters is an economic divide. it's kind of looking at the income ladder, kind of us against them, against the 1%. and arguing with a great deal of statistical evidence that the middle class has lost ground in the past generation while wealth has moved upward on the ladder. the republicans have a very different us and then. particularly donald trump who is dividing along cultural and ethnic and even racial lines you see fundamental different lines. who is the coalition? when you look at the modern day coalition it's actually not agency dependent on the working class as it once was. it's a coalition of millennials, and more upscale, educated whites whereas, donald trump dominating among the white working class who is offering those cultural arguments so it's really as if they're running for presidencies of different countries at this point. >> riddle me this, errol. i'm getting beat up by the #feelingthe bern.

they don't like to see their people questioned. ron brownstein just said, why is senator bernie sanders doing better against the gop field when he's a starker contrast than hillary clinton is against the gop field, even though she has a yawning lead on sanders? >> well, there's a fair amount of leftover antipathy. and if ron is right, i think he might be at least for a big part of the electorate, you look at what's going on in a place like iowa where they have a serious child poverty problem. there's a lot that still remember that nafta didn't work out so well for industry in iowa. you look at the fact that they have a $7.25 minimum wage and bernie sanders wants to more than double that, as well as provide free tuition.

there's a lot to like there and the polls are picking up on that. >> ron, let's talk about the battle between hillary clinton and donald trump. it started with donald trump calling hillary clinton's restroom break during the debate disgusting. hillary clinton countered saying donald trump has a penchant for sexism. then trump sweeted when you campaign about a penchant for sexism, who are you referring to? i have great respect for women. be careful. christian and i have been discussing what that be careful means. how do you interpret it? >> it might be a reference to bill clinton and the monica lewinsky story. hard to know. what i do know say couple things, first, the degree of cross-party interaction and engagement really is at a higher level than i've ever seen this early in the primary, candidates going into crossing over into

the other primary. it's polarized how our politics have become. each side is looking for a warrior. the view of the other party so n negative in the coalition, part of the job of being a nominee is you can be a worrier. the other thing i would point out, aside from being a boon for tv rating anywhere, you wouldn't have a task of competing theories on how you win the presidency. there are a lot of republicans who argue that the party does not have to reach out to improve its vote among millennials and minorities, but the fact that he's turning out more working class whites. no one has done that better than donald trump. and when you look at hillary clinton no one provides a better foil when you look at the polls minorities, millennials, college educated white women, he's in that territory. you would have an enormous task

of what it takes to build a majority in this very fractious modern america. >> the prospect of head-up, when hillary clinton wins or donald trump, you have nothing to talk about. that campaign would be completely obsessive about things that ultimately won't make a difference. >> and that will be our challenge. >> errol, let me ask you this, kids in politics. obviously, sensitive subject. for me, i grew up in it, hate it, that's why i'm lucky if i vote and involved in the process. >> really. >> i'll tell you. is it out of bounds what happened with cruz's kids. it's one thing that he wants to use them in a campaign, we usually stay away from that stuff. >> what happened there was completely inappropriate. look, cartoonists are supposed to offend people and that cartoonist sure did that. her editors should have stopped

that from ever seeing the light of day. that is out of bounds. it doesn't shed any light on anything. it's vicious in the way that it actually hurts the child. >> yeah. >> that has no political meaning that has no cultural commentary that the rest of us need to see. somebody needs to pull the plug on that before it ever came out. completely out of bounds. >> all right. ron, errol, thank you. merry christmas. >> merry christmas. the tsa say it will now use full body scans more often. how will that help fend off terror attacks that a pat-down won't? >> i like a full pat-down. s

traveling by air this christmas. and now the tsa is offering its screening policies demanding passengers get a full body scan even if they request a pat-down. instead. joining us now is former "today" administrator john crystal. he's now president of anderson university in indiana. good morning. thanks so much for being here. >> good morning, alisyn. >> why is the tsa changing their policy about pat-down?

>> yeah, i think this is something that most people would think as being prudent or appropriate to address a potential vulnerability, especially in this heightened 38 environment that we're in right now. so the past practice has been that anybody decided to opt out, if you will, of the advanced technology, the body scan, they can do that. what this is simply clarifying is that tsa can still require somebody, if there's reason to believe that they may be, let's say, a person who should have that advanced image technology of the body scan done. i think the best example probably, since tomorrow is the six-year anniversary of the christmas day underwear bomber, where he had that device in his underwear, coming from amsterdam into detroit, if he had received a pat-down, it may have missed that because of concealment. whereas, a body scan should pick

that up. so the net effect of all of this it that it will actually affect very few people. i think there's been some misreporting about that. it only affects a small amount of people. and the bottom line is if they don't want to go through that, then they don't fly. >> we know that you were actively involved in the investigation into the underwear bomber. in terms of going through the screeners, what i hear people say, sometimes, they're worried about the radiation levels. that's why they opt for the pat-down. >> right. and that was the case for some people, up until several years ago. i believe was 2013, when tsa removed all of those type of machines. there were two different types. one that emitted a tiny bit of radiation. those machines we all -- we took out. and replaced with the different type of technology that emit no, sir emits no radiation. that may have outdated concerns.

so if that is the case, people should have full confidence in going through. because there is no radiation. >> that's good to know. just to be clear, it's now at the tsa's discretion whether or not everybody can go through the machine or everybody must go through the machine? >> oh, no, it's a very few number of people, again, the issue was, if they wanted to opt out and they wanted to do a pat-down, that was their prerogative. what tsa is clarifying now, through simple a an update of a privacy assessment that got published and got people's attention, was that for certain individuals, and there would be, again, a very small number, that it's almost certainly not at the discretion -- not the individual tsa officer at the checkpoint, but somebody has been flagged, for example, for additional scrutiny. then that person cannot demand that they opt out of the -- and

they have go through the advanced imaging technology. >> mr. pistole, i want to ask you about this muslim trying to fly into los angeles to disneyland. and they were not allowed to board the plane and they weren't really given much explanation. what do you think is going on there? >> well, without knowing or commenting on the specifics of this situation, typically, what happens in this type of situation is that when there's a group traveling, if there's somebody, for example, on a watch list or something in that group, that person would be barred from traveling to the u.s., if they're on the -- let's just say a no-fly list. again, i don't know the specifics in this instance. then the question becomes, is the whole group barred? or does the group decide because one or two or may be several out of the group are not allowed to

travel, do they still travel without them. and often what happens, most typically what happens, is that the group decides -- especially if going for the holidays or something like that we don't want to go with our husband, father, whomever it may be -- >> right. >> -- so they decide as a group not to travel. >> yes, but it sounds as though this family wasn't given many details about why they're not allowed to board. if somebody is on a watch list, are they told? >> not at the time. they can seek that information through a process called redress. saying, i wasn't allowed to travel, why is that? of course, the government wouldn't say that publicly because they don't want, you know, privacy information. saying this person is not allowed to fly because they're on a watch list. and so what they do, they can seek that information through this question for redress. and then they probably wouldn't be told the underlying intelligence, if you will.

but they could say a, yes, you are on a watch list. and then you could petition to be removed from that watch list, if you believe that you were inappropriately identified. or a name similarity, to somebody on a watch list or something like that. >> right. it sounds like we need more information about what went on there. john pistole, thanks so much for being on "new day." >> thanks alisyn. >> to chris. we're going to dig deeper on this alisyn because of what's coming up on the interview that you just had there. and the circumstances of this muslim family banned from a flight to l.a. what do they know about this family? either there's something there, terror is something there and it's not a good thing. we have a columnist joining us with his take, when we come back.

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here's the scenario. you and the kids and the husband, you're getting ready to get on a flight. and they say you're banned from getting onboard. you'd want to know, right? and if you are a muslim, you really want to know why it is. the u.s. denies that what happened, banning this uk family from getting on a plane to come here to considalifornia, had ang

to do eye with being muslim. but they also won't tell us what it's about because of privacy laws. let's discuss with daily beast contributor and host of his own radio show on sirius xm, dean abdallah. dean, the confusion here, we can't tell you why we do this. there's an appeals process for the family to go through, but that being unknown fuelling suspicion. what are yours? >> my view, if their not a muslim family, they're in disney world, they're on pirates of the caribbean, having the time of their life. >> to be honest, i don't think it's a ban. i think it's scrutiny. i think the subtle. someone said maybe we haven't crossed every "t" and dotted over "i," let's just say no. >> but it's more complicated than that.

there has to be some source that there's in facebook post or facebook account where the name, there was the same or similar to one who had a connection to al qaeda, in other words, are you dismissing all of that? sore is that possible? >> well, here's the reality, if there's any credible evidence if anyone's a threat, i don't care muslim, buddhist or whatever, don't let them in the country, the facebook post actually was broken by cnn. dhs didn't release that. there was a brother -- >> a son. >> a son. the family said that's not our son, he lives in london. and it was a joke facebook post. someone posted i'm a supervisor and head of al qaeda. >> how do you know if it's a joke? obviously there is scrutiny. >> for a kid to post something that's funny. that's not the kid's account. that's not dhs telling us that.

in fact, u.s. citizens, on a no-fly list, we're not even told why they're on it until a court says you got to review your procedures. for foreigners, they're stuck. >> here's the problem, you're both right. both perspectives are right. a facebook account that mentions anything about al qaeda, especially with what happened in san bernardino, what was missed for good or bad reason. the problem is what do you when taken seriously. what does it mean for the family? >> are you saying it went too far or what has to happen right now? >> we're all speculating. we don't know what evidence the government had. david cameron, prime minister of the uk yesterday announced he's going to look into it. wants to know why the u.s. government banned them. i have no idea. if there they were scary or involved with terrorism. the cameron administration would

never have gotten into it. i'm more confident this was a mistake by the u.s. if it was a mistake, pay their damages and let them enjoy your visit to disney world. >> beyond this, are you seeing more animosity and aggression towards muslims? >> absolutely. i'm go to be blunt. i've never been more concerned for my muslim family, my muslim friends than the last few weeks. first in paris and san bernardino. adding to that, i'm going to be blunt, donald trump fuelling up the campaign trail saying they hate us saying muslims want to kill you in this country, we can't let them in the country. if we close down their morphs it legitimizes it. >> there are more attacks against jews than muslims. and the other thing is muslims

do want to gill americans, it's which muslim? the statement winds up being correct, how do you address this? >> i think the reality is using about 12 hate crimes against muslims is about 35 or 36 in the last weeks alone. a recent muslim cab driver was shot. and mosques, various mosques, one in philadelphia attacked rhetoric up there. i've gotten spite and hate mail for years. believe me, they're not as american, they don't have the same rights or privileges the rest of us have. and that's what's wrong. donald trump is solely responsible for the rhetoric. i think he inspired a man who was planning on building a bomb to kill muslims. >> it's hard to hold people responsible. people act on their own act.

>> it's like sa trump speech. anti-muslim, anti-semitic. they can legitimize hate and inspire violence. some do horrible things to our country that destroy the values, bombings in churches in the south, black activists. this is where we're going. >> well we hope not. this is a step maybe in that direction. it's a long road. hopefully, we never get there. >> dean, thanks so much. ted cruz not happy that his kids were used in a "washington post" cartoon. are politicians ever fair game? we're going to take a look at how different political families have handled this situation.

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the bleacher report brought to you by tissot, official time keeper of the nba. this is a good one. the intersection of sports and society, the nba is going to have a huge center stage on christmas day. they have a great lineup of games. but this year they're going to use their platform to speak out about an issue they think is important about as a league, which is gun violence. tell us about it. >> reporter: good morning, chris. a lot of people watch the nba on

christmas day. and this year many of the stars have partnered to put together a public service announcement by gun violence. the nba stars will speak about their experiences along with people affected by gun violence. take a listen to a portion of it. >> i heard about a shooting involving a 3-year-old girl over the summer. my daughter rylie is that age. >> we are americans, we don't have to live like that. we can all make a difference. >> in the united states, people are impacted by gun violence every day. >> and president obama tweeted saying he's proud of the nba for standing up against gun violence. you can see more of the in-depth interviews on the website, everytown.org. odell beckham jr.'s one-game suspension was upheld yesterday. he was banned from a game for his helmet-to-helmet contact.

he'll miss the game on sunday. the jets will be hosting the new england patriots. i hear all you asked for christmas is a big jets win over the patriots. is that right? >> well, now you have made it much more tantalizing. i would never strain santa with such a heavy wish. i'll just stick to world peace. >> easier. >> merry christmas, guys. >> thank you so much. kids on the campaign trail. of course it can be a delicate subject as we saw when "the washington post" used ted cruz's children in cartoons. but cruz and others have not been shy about letting their kids play a role in the campaign trail. we'll take a look. >> reporter: they smiled a lot and waved a lot but barely spoke. that was the norm on the obama campaign trail for his two daughters. but in those rare moments, they did speak, it was priceless. >> love my daddy!

>> reporter: remember this from the 2012 democratic convention. >> daddy, what city are you in? >> reporter: still, not all candidates subscribe to that rarely heard rule when it comes to children on the campaign trail. remember, it was donald trump's daughter ivanka who introduced her dad. >> reporter: i have the honor of introducing a man who needs no introduction. >> reporter: on the trail she's been reaching out to her father. >> he would be incredible for women in this country. >> reporter: another candidate's daughter, meghan mccain was a keeper for her dad's campaign. she appeared on larry king just weeks before the election. >> i've had a great election with my dad. my mom calls me john mccain in a dress. >> reporter: she was reportedly banished from the campaign trail shortly before the election. the blog she hoped to widen her

father's appeal among a younger generation was mocked instead. jon huntsman's daughter also made a big push for her dad. in this campaign they poked fun at herman cain's campaign ad. >> we strongly believe our dad has the experience and campaign record to revive the economy and create jobs. >> reporter: mitt romney had the support of five sons during two presidential campaigns. in 2012 his son craig was the standout, fluent in spanish and often heard appealing to latino voters. >> mi padre -- >> reporter: his ad put out by the cruz campaign inspired the

washington post cartoon. the 90-second spot shows the family reading from a fictional children's book and one of cruz's daughters slamming hillary clinton. >> i know just what i'll do she said with a snicker, i'll use my own server and no one will be the wiser. >> reporter: running for office, truly a family affair. randi kaye, cnn, new york. >> you must have strong feelings on this one. >> it's a dicy proposition if you put your kids in there, you're asking for it. >> even if your kids are 7 and -- >> are you asking for it? >> huntsman did that with his girls. one is in the media, but you're asking for it. don't push the media too hard to be decent because it's not an instinct that comes that easily to the media. but as a rule, you leave the kids alone. >> is there a difference between a 5-year-old and a 20-year-old? >> big difference. i think it's a sliding scale. but what happened with cruz's

kids was really wrong and i'm happy we have not slipped up to show the cartoon. we have shown plenty worse things on tv, but you don't want to encourage it. leave the kids alone, especially the young ones. we have a lot of news this morning so let's get to it. >> oh! >> storms are moving too fast to really manage. >> everything was moving sideways and i jumped and ran. >> we made it out just in time. we didn't have a minute to get out of that house. >> christmas is all about love. we are going to love through this. hillary clinton still holds a commanding lead in the democratic lead for president. >> trump is trying to play on fears. at the end of the day, i believe our approach will win. >> is america ready for someone like donald trump and not ready for someone like you? we are no threat to anybody. >> the british-muslim family denied boarding to california. >> for me to be treated that way, i feel most uncomfortable. >> the family says they have not

been told why. this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. good morning to you, it is 8:00 in the east. we start with hard news for too many. the death toll climbing this morning, the threat still on the table of tornadoes and very severe weather. all through the south and midwest, so far eight people have lost their lives including a 7-year-old boy. >> heavy rain, gusty winds and hail pounding several states leaving behind complete destruction as you can see on the screen and many people homeless just as they get ready to celebrate christmas. we'll go right to cnn's meteorologist chad myers with the very latest for us. i'm still seeing storms that could make tornadoes throughout the day. not as many as yesterday, which was 24. 24 tornadoes on the ground. and one of these tornadoes may have been on the ground for 140

miles. maybe straight 140 miles on the ground. we have 24 tornadoes on the ground on average, but this was a big day. this christmas eve morning hundreds of people are waking up to devastation. a tornado caused a deadly outbreak cutting across the south and the midwest. this tornado claimed multiple lives including a 7-year-old boy as residents tried to hide in their cars and homes. >> by the time i got out of my car, i had a tree that was in my windshield. >> in northern mississippi, this tornado tore through a busy highway. >> oh! >> watch as the massive twister tosses this tractor-trailer as it barrels through traffic. watch from this angle what appears to be the same semi, this driver just feet away.

the winds in southwestern tennessee roared up to 75 miles per hour as officials declared a state of emergency. >> the houses just exploded. they were buried in the rubble. >> two people were killed east of memphis. their bodies found under debris. >> we were in the house, we heard the wind picking up, we had 45 seconds and it just hit. we walked out to the storm shelter and everything was gone. >> in arkansas an 18-year-old woman died when a tree fell through her house. toppled by the high winds and heavy rain. >> christmas is all about love. and we're going to love through this. >> some residents in mississippi clinging on to what they say matters most, after losing nearly everything this holiday season. >> it wasn't about the house. it was about my family, that was the most important thing to me. >> not sure you can actually hear that, but this studio just got hit by a lightning bolt and a pretty big rumble of thunder.

right now i assume planes are circling and won't land in this type of weather for a while. if you are flying, take some patience. because this morning weather is going to last throughout the day. there's a risk of severe weather all the way up to philadelphia because it is warm, it is spring-like. it feels like spring all the way from new york down to d.c., philadelphia and down to atlanta where the storms are right now. now there's not as big of a risk as yesterday. i've been talking to producers all day because they all want to know, what is going to happen today. yesterday there was a 20% chance of a tornado within 100 miles of any spot. today the number is two to three. so a lot less than yesterday, but the heat is still here. it's just all those other things that made all the tornadoes, all those ingredients to make the soup not together today like yesterday. and that's the good news. but still, if you're going to be traveling today, lots of heavy rainfall and slow airplanes. big interstates covered with water. watch out for all of this. >> as you've made it clear, my friend, it's already been too much for too many. we know you'll stay on it throughout the day. we don't have to remind you at

home to do the right thing, the cnn audience, it's amazing how you step up. but the need is going to be very great. we'll tell you how to help those around the holidays. and it turns out weather is not the only thing to slow down travel this year. yeah, you have to watch for storms on the east/southeast part, but there are new security measures from the tsa now in place. why the late change? what do they mean? we'll go to cnn's sara sidner at laguardia airport with more. sara? >> reporter: good morning, chris. things are going pretty well here this morning but there's a little concern about the new rules that were put in place just in time for the holiday by the tsa. basically what they mean is you cannot opt out of going through the body scanner. a lot of people did that because they were concerned about radiation, although studies show it does not affect the human body going through these scanners, very, very small amount of radiation. but the tsa decided because of a climate they were in today because of the heightened awareness of terrorism and

worry, there could be more attacks on the u.s. soil and they have decided that some people will not be able to opt out of going through those scanners and asking for somebody to pat them down. what they are saying is this may not apply to everybody, but there are some people they pick out to say, you know what? sorry, you have to go to the scanner, you will not be able to ask for somebody to do the pat-down. that's the change there. but we should talk a little bit about the numbers of people who are traveling this holiday season. aaa estimates 100 million people are going to be going more than 50 miles from their home this christmas and new year's. the majority of folks will be on the road, so don't get road rage. it's going to be crazy out there. 5.8 million people are expected to be in the air, coming through the airport. and that's a really, really big number for this time of the year. so they are kind of telling everybody, take that extra time because while there is no snow here, no delays, in new york, there are delays and elsewhere because of the weather.

and there's just a heck of a lot of people out there traveling. >> wow, those numbers are staggering, sara. thank you for all of those warnings. let's talk politics. now a new cnn poll shows how democratic voters feel heading into 2016. hillary clinton still leading nationwide and with a big advantage on some key issues, though our poll shows bernie sanders climbing. senior washington correspondent joe johns has more on the numbers along with a new warning from donald trump. good morning, joe. >> reporter: good morning, alisyn. hillary clinton holding a commanding lead when it comes to foreign policy, handling isis and gun control. but speaking of the economy, which bernie sanders has really been hammering away on, you have seen that this morning. he has gained some ground, about eight points, yet he's still trailing clinton by about the same margin. in the head-to-head match-up against republicans, it's fascinating. it's one of the things we see in this poll, hillary clinton almost running neck and neck

with all three of the top republicans. she squeaks past donald trump but runs two or three ticks behind both ted cruz and marco rubio. all three match-ups within the margin of error. meanwhile, the back and forth between donald trump and the former secretary of state continuing. trump pushing back against mrs. clinton's allegation of sexism. trump tweeting hillary, when you complain about a pension for sexism, who are you referring to? i have great respect for women. be careful! then there was this tweet from trump, quote, hillary said i really deplore the tone and inflammatory rhetoric of his campaign. i defloor the death and destruction of the caused stupidity. back to you. >> bernie sanders just got his best gift in this election, he got a big bump in the polls. but he's got to go a lot further, especially on foreign

policy. we saw that in the poll and also see it in what he has as a message. we'll go to david challian and patricia. we'll show you the interview and then talk about it. senator sanders, thank you for joining us on "new day" as always. >> my pleasure. >> so the santa claus of political polls has brought you a gift, the highest number you have reached so far in the new cnn poll. 34%. hillary down eight. you up four. however, still a big gap. hillary getting 50%, commanding lead, what do you make of it? >> well, chris, what i make of it is when we began this campaign, as you will recall, we were 3%, 5% in the polls, but the goal of the pundits sent us a fringe candidacy. today we perhaps are in the lead in new hampshire where, i think, we are closing in here in iowa. and your poll seems to indicate we have national momentum.

so i think we have come a really long way in 7 1/2 months and we are feeling really good. we have a tremendous volunteer network all over this country. we are raising a significant sum of money from small individual contributions. so at this point, i have to tell you, we're feeling good. >> from the poll, we can gleam that the big issue that seems to be holding you back with those potential voters is foreign policy. that's where hillary clinton has her biggest advantage. there's her perception that you do not have the stomach or the head for isis. what is your respons? >> let me assure all the people in our country that i have the stomach, i have the head, i think we have the approach, not only to beat isis, but to crush isis and to destroy isis. and what my view is is that we have got to learn a lesson from iraq. and that lesson is, it's not god enough just to be tough.

we have got to be smart. and what that means is, we cannot do it alone. we cannot and should not be involved in perpetual warfare in the middle east. what we need to do is bring together a grand coalition led as king abdullah of jordan reminds us by muslim troops on the ground. what we should do along with the u.k., fast and russia and other major powers is give the muslim nations on the ground the support they need from the air, we should be training troops, we should be doing special forces when necessary. but ultimately, this war will be won and isis will be destroyed with our support and other great nations' support taking on isis on the ground with muslim troops. >> the push-back is this talk of coalition has gone nowhere. there's been years of democrats trying to do it, haven't gotten it done. what needs to be done here at

home is protect the homeland. these refugees you want to let in, they can hurt americans, they increase american fears, and there are terrorists in those numbers. >> needless to say, i disagree with that assertion. what we want to do as we destroy isis, we do not want to give up the values that have made us the greatest country in the history of the world. which among other things has been a beacon of hope for people in deep distress. obviously, it goes without saying that there must be a very, very strong vetting process. i think we have to do a better job at that. but i do not think that what america is about, and i speak as somebody whose dad came to this country at the age of 17, i do not think what america is about is turning our backs on people in distress. >> donald trump says we must

look twice at those coming across the southern border. there are bad people among them. his numbers go up. he says we should think about banning all muslims, at least temporarily. his numbers go up. he points at people like you and hillary clinton and says they are weak insiders and i'm in strong. and he is now the presumptive favorite in every poll in every metric we have. is america ready for someone like donald trump and not ready for someone like you? >> well, i think that the more the american people understand what trump stands for, which among other things is his assertion that wages in america are too high, he wants to quote/unquote make america great. and here's a guy who is a billionaire who thinks that wages in america are too high. he thinks we should not raise the minimum wage. he wants to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to his millionaire and billionaire friends.

but i think creating and playing off the anxiety and the fears that the american people have, the fears about terrorism, the fears about our economy and becoming a demagogue about that and then trying to get us to hate mexicans or to hate muslims, i think that is the strategy that is not what america is supposed to be about. what i believe in contrast to mr. trump is that we bring our people together to focus on the real issues, which is the disappearing middle class, massive income and wealth inequality, a corrupt campaign finance system. the fact that we're not effectively addressing the international crisis of climate change, the fact that our kids can't afford to go to college and moms and dads can't afford childcare, those are the issues we have to focus on. and we have to look at the greed of corporate america, the greed of wall street, which has had such a terrible impact on our economy and on millions of

people. so i'm trying to bring people together to take on the wealthy and the powerful who have done so much to hurt the middle class. trump is trying to play on fears and divide us up. at the end of the day, i belive that our approach will win. >> now the question becomes, well, is that its own form of division, the rich versus everybody else? let's discuss, cnn political director david challion and mary murphy. mr. challion, bernie sanders outspoken in this interview, full-throated, but offering the solutions and alternatives to help him catch clinton. >> yeah, that's a good question, chris. you heard, he took your question about trump and muslims and trump's approach to a whole range of issues right now and brought it right back to his message. i think bernie sanders has been one of the most on-message

candidates throughout the campaign, but what happens and we saw this in the democratic debate last week, help wanted to take every question about isis and turn it back to his economic message. i think that's why our poll shows hillary clinton doing much better when we interview people after the debate than before because isis and terror and foreign policy front and center, and as you saw in the numbers, those are her strong suits. and although bernie sanders clearly has a resonate message with a third of the democratic base. i think by being so tied to that prevents him from broad anything the reach. >> in that interview, was he able to relay any message that he can fight isis. is that what americans want to hear? >> i don't think that's the answer to get to your average

american listening to what bernie sanders is going to do to make sure there's not a paris-style attack in their hometowns or not another repeat of san bernardino in their hometowns. it was sort of a very, as a relatively wonkish answer to a question visceral to some people. i was surprised personally if you asked if he had the stomach for this. he did vote for the afghanistan war and is certainly capable of going into countries with american boots on the ground, but he didn't really talk about that. and to david's point, he does love to bring it back to the economic message. but after paris i think we have seen this become a national security debate for even democrats, people are really worried about what is going on in their hometowns. when you bring it back to the billionaires and billionaires, that's missing the mark. his economic message is where it needs to be. but when you have a dynamic campaign, you need to have a dynamic candidate and he doesn't seem to be that right now. >> i like what you said it

depends on where it needs to be, it could be its own form of division. you want to blame trump for that, what do you say? bernie sanders keeps seeming to people, david chalian, for you to say it's unfair, bernie sanders is kind of the donald trump of the left, not in terms of tone but in terms of making this a very specific us versus them and appealing to have a very die-hard portion of his party. fair comparison? >> certainly bernie sanders does have an us versus them. he's very clear about that. he's the billionaire class versus the rest of the country in bernie sanders' world view. i get that that appeals to a slice of the democratic electorate in a visceral way, i just don't know how it broadens beyond that. let me give you an example, chris, of what a senior campaign adviser said to me about framing hillary clinton against bernie sanders. they say she's the one they are

trying to present her as the one that can take care of the issues to keep you up at night, the economic issues, but also take care of the issues you read about in the morning papers, such as isis and foreign policy. that's the frame of their recent advertising, the frame of what they are trying to do. and the contrast with bernie sanders who is not pivoting in any way. i do think you raise a point, he is trump in the sense that he is the outsider in the democratic race the way trump has dominated as being the outsider in the republican race. i just don't know he's quite as divisive within the electorate as jump may prove to be. >> patricia, david, stick around. we are going to have more of chris' discussion with senator sanders ahead. what does he think of the coverage of donald trump and the coverage of his own campaign? you'll find out later this hour. meanwhile, iraqi troops closing in on isis in the battle to retake the key city of ramadi. this as u.s. officials discuss changes to how the u.s. governs air strikes over iraq and syria.

the so-called rules of engagement. barbara starr has the latest for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the u.s. military by the hour keeping an eye on the situation in ramadi as iraqi forces continue very slowly to turn and advance to the city's center. they are running into what they knew they would run into, barricades, bobby troops, ieds, bombs, whole buildings wired to blow up. this was very well-known to them. the u.s. has been providing months of training on how to deal with the obstacles. so it is still very slow going for them to get into the center of ramadi. and the question we talked about all week, if they can get ramadi back, will they be able to hold on to it over the long-term? it's a real test of iraqi forces and, of course, u.s. strategy to combat isis in iraq and syria. and as for u.s. strategy, we now know there is indeed a very quiet conversation going on amongst the national security

agencies, the pentagon, the state department, the white house about whether to loosen the rules of engagement. the rules that govern when air strikes can be launched. u.s. officials are insistent it's not about increased risk to hitting civilians inadvertently in the air strikes, but they want to see if they can keep the pressure up on isis from the air, if there is a way to adjust some of the roles, the need for intelligence, the coordination, to continue to have increased air strikes, increased pressure on isis. chris? >> thank you very much, appreciate the reporting on this. let us know what else develops, obviously, if. also, breaking overnight, a warning from the american, british and french embassies in china. all three received information of possible threats against westerners visiting a popular beijing shopping district around christmas. now, we also have heard that a

woman was killed at a shopping complex in this district in august. the embassies sent out warnings to staff and are urging extra vigilance. an early christmas present for beatles' fans. their music at long last streaming online after years of holding out. 17 of the band's original compilations began streaming just after midnight on spotify, apple music and google play. the news coming with a press release reading, can you do a liverpool accent? happy krimble from us to you. quoting the big john legend. >> are you a beatles fan? >> some songs i love. not the entire collection, but i'm happy we have access to it now. presidential front-runners clashing. surprise! donald trump responding to new accusations of sexism, but how he did it, was it a shot across the bow across hillary clinton?

the latest, ahead.

donald trump firing warning shots against hillary clinton after she says trump had a pension for sexism. trump responded with a not-so-subtle warning for clinton. >> i really haven't gone after hillary yet and there's a lot to go after. she's very susceptible i think to, look at the job he's done, it's horrible. you don't get worse. so i think that's going to be, frankly, easier in some cases than some of the people i'm currently running against. the last person, and i know this for a fact, the last person that she wants to be running against is me. >> we are joined again by david chalian and patricia murphy. patricia, let me start with you.

he says i haven't gone after her yet and there's a lot to go after. that's a warning for hillary to say, you better not talk about me or else. >> i don't know a lot of people who say, you better not do it hillary or else. i don't think she's going to shrink to threats from donald trump, but it does point out the fact that donald trump has very high negatives among women and independent voters in head-to-head match-ups. he's a little behind her if not up there with her. he is a wild card. he'll say and do a lot of things that more polite candidates haven't said or done against hillary clinton yet or bill clinton. and there's probably a lot of air there. and how would voters respond to that? i think what he does right now is obviously working with the republican base, would it work with a general electorate? i don't really think so, but it is a big unknown for hillary clinton going into it. she feels very strong running against him. democrats would love to run

against donald trump. but there is a significant wild card factor there that you have to factor into it if you're going to run against trump in the very end. >> murphy, thank you for that propositional gift. the suggestion is raised, mr. chalian, you can now answer it. this notion that what works for trump in the early polling, in potential primaries will not only not work in the general but will hurt him. why? how do we know that? >> i'm not so convinced that's true, chris. let me just pick up on the wild card factor that patricia was talking about there, because i think what we normally see in general elections, if you will, is that the candidates try not to be solely with the direct attacks. they leave that to operatives. they have their opposition research shop around stories to reporters and say, hey, dig into this candidate's past here, dig into this candidate's past here. donald trump is going to deliver all the opposition research if he's the nominee and hillary clinton is the nominee directly to her on camera every single

day. and bill clinton, too, whether it's clinton donations to the clinton foundation or her record as secretary of state. whatever the area he's going to find, bill clinton's past with monica lewinsky or others, that's something donald trump is not going to be afraid to talk about all the time. that is not something that the clintons have dealt with before. it's usually far more sort of under the radar passing around these kinds of attacks. >> and patricia, would hillary clinton respond to this and dive into donald trump's past? is that what we have in store? >> i don't know. in terms of hand-to-hand combat, hillary clinton has done best when she is under fire, when she's behind. but she has never been directly attacked to david's point. it's very hard to know how it would play. we know exactly what he looks like when he goes negative. what does hillary clinton, especially as a female candidate, what does she look

like if she gets real mean and nasty going up against donald trump? it's a very delicate line that she would have to walk with that. and i don't know exactly how it would play out. i've talked to a lot of voters who, even if they like what trump is saying, they don't like the way he says it. if he does it against hillary clinton, i personally think it would backfire on him, but all we know about donald trump is we don't know what is going to happen with donald trump. >> we'll play out one more step. what did we see with fiorina? she overwhelmed people, in my opinion, with her intellectual tools. but she also smacked him around and put him in a position where he said things that if he didn't regret it, he should have regretted them. is that at all gender-role based? if he goes into it with hillary, for instance, if in a debate, he would have said, who is talking, me or you? if he had the mistake and ca calculus of saying something like that, is there an automatic

for it? when rick chalian walked across the stage to hillary and she was like, why are you walking at me? and it effectively crushed her. >> i was going to bring up the example, i don't think what we have seen with donald trump is that i don't think the old rules apply necessarily. you just described the donald trump and carly fiorina reaction, but he only e merged from that whole thing not damaged but the stronger candidate of the two. i do not think that what we have seen in the past about how male candidates have had to deal with female candidates and the rick lazio moment is the perfect example of that. this creates a calculus in their mind of how to do that posting up against hillary clinton. i don't get the sense that that is donald trump's calculus, to be afraid of that. >> although he came up stronger with republican primary voters. with general election voters, that has hurt him in some ways. so i don't know that keeping or

taking the gloves off against hillary clinton is going to help him across the aisle. >> let's talk about what is going on with ben carson. a few things to talk about, the poll of cnn shows what has happened to his numbers while donald trump has gone up, while ted cruz has gone up, ben carson just from last month went from 14% down to 10%. and now today word of there could be some sort of shake-up in his campaign, letting go of some people, and the wall street journal has a report out that his team raised $8.8 million last month. sorry, in october. they spent $9.5 million. david, that math doesn't add up. >> that's right. you don't want to spend more than you take in. that is true. clearly ben carson is not happy with the finance report that you see there. i think you have three things going on here, the policy and sort of character problem that is the cause of the poll slide for ben carson. republican primary voters just don't see him as commander in

chief in these very trying times. and there were all these questions about his biography raised. that was the cause of the poll slide. but you also have disorganization with the campaign. and even in the 24 hours where he sort of foreshadowed the shakeup in his campaign, within moments he was on don lemon's show saying, that was overwritten. it's not going to be a shakeup, everything is on the table. just as some of his allies were saying, hey, this is great, ben carson taking control of his campaign again, sort of letting dr. carson be dr. carson. and not run by the ad visors. but then he walked that back. so i think there's just a lack of a clear structure messaging organization in the mechanics of campaigning that the carson operation needs to clean up there. >> patricia, david, we have to leave it there. thank you so much. merry christmas to both of you. >> merry christmas. >> thank you, you, too. so there is a question that deserves another step. everybody has to look at donald trump and say, the poll numbers

are what they are. why he is so popular brings up a lot of disagreement. senator bernie sanders brought up donald trump, i did not, but it's why he brought it up and what he said about him that wound up becoming a bone of contention. we'll show it to you in a second.

time now for the five things to know for your new day. eight people dead after a tornado outbreak cut through the south. a 7-year-old boy belongs to the victims. and the latest poll shows hillary clinton leading the race. bernie sanders has made a gain in the last month. and two security guards were stab stabbed in the west bank. this happened as many gathered in the holy land to celebrate christmas eve. and a family says they were pulled off a u.s.-bound flight because they were american-muslim. but the officials say that's not the case. and 17 of the beatles'

albums hit streaming services eight hours ago. the beatles' music was among the last hold-out from the new era. go to cnn.com for all of the latest. all right. so we have 2016 democratic contender senator we are no sanders. he brought up donald trump and said trump is a metaphor for something you need to know. he'll tell you right after the break. it's what sparks ideas. moves the world forward. invest with those who see the world as unstoppable. who have the curiosity to look beyond the expected and the conviction to be in it for the long term. oppenheimerfunds believes that's the right way to invest... ...in this big, bold, beautiful world.

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bernie sanders likes to talk policy but also wanted to bring up donald trump. and not just this throw mud back and forth. he says that he thinks trump has a message to all the voters out there and hopes that they hear it from him. you started off this interview using donald trump has a point of contrast. his popularity at this point is inarguable. how he's becoming popular is a source of a lot of argument and criticism. the most recent volley, what he said about hillary clinton's time during the debate, you grew up in brooklyn, you know the word he used, maybe not as a

very verb, but why do you think he's doing so well? >> trump is a media guy, he ran a tv show. i'll give you one example. a recent study shows on "abc evening news," trump over a period of time got 81 minutes of time. bernie sanders got 20 seconds. now you tell me why. and i think it has to do with the fact that trump is very smart. he knows the media is not so interested in the serious issues facing this country. they love bombastic remarks. they love silly remarks. if he says that somebody is sweating, that's a major story and all that silly business, the personal attacks, that kind of works. so i think this is more of the indictment of the media actually than it is of trump. >> yeah, i don't see it. look, do we cover him more? yes. why? he's number one in the polls,

he's highly relevant and drives the discussion. >> but chris, explain to me how he becomes number one. he boasted the fact, this is what he said, hey, i don't even have to pay for commercials. the media's got to put me on all of the time. explain to me, and maybe cnn is different here, and you have been generous to me, but you explain how a network has 80 minutes of trump and 20 seconds of sanders? is that fair? >> it's no question that trump drives ratings, and that's an influence in everything that we do. if you weren't as handsome and charismatic that you are, maybe you wouldn't get the time. but you can't wipe out the popularity he has in a growing base of the gop. they are putting him first in the polls, not because of the media because they hate the media. they just love trump. >> chris, this is what i think is going on. i think that trump is very

effectively playing to the fears and the anxieties that millions of people in this country have. and have legitimately so. we're all concerned about the possibility of a terrorist attack against this country. we are all concerned about isis. we're all concerned about a disappearing middle class you have in this country, people who don't understand why it is that with increased productivity and technology they're working longer hours for lower wages. they are worried to death about their kids. they are worried about the economy. and trump comes along, he says, i've got the solution. and what the solution is is mexicans coming into this country. let's throw them all out. that will solve all our problems. it's muslims, they are all terrorists, we have to hate them. well, that's not the solution to our problems. that is simply scapegoating minorities, playing one group off against another. it's what demagogues have always done. but what we have got to do is as

a people come together and say, why is it that the middle class is almost disappearing and the income is going to the top 1%? let's talk about it. sometimes, to be honest with you, it can't be done the in a six-second soundbyte. why do we have the most unequal distribution of income on earth? why do we have more people in jail than any other country on earth? why is it we're the only nation on earth that doesn't have health care for all people? these are the kinds of debates we have to have. and i would urge the media to have the debate and not just pick up on trump's one-liners. >> well, senator sanders, that's what we are doing right now. that's what "new day" is about. we appreciate you being on the show. >> and i do know that. chris, i do know that and appreciate the work you're doing. >> you're not ease to get. i have people coming on me to say you don't have bernie

sanders on enough. you're too busy. tell your people to layoff. senator, best to you and the family. thank you for being on "new day." >> a happy -- merry christmas to you and a happy holidays. he makes a lot of compelling points to dive into, particularly on the economic imbalance. he's gone a long way with the inequities in the country. >> but he has to fix it by not overburdening a certain part of the population. >> where we could take issue is the reason trump is in the media a lot is because people are interested. viewers tune in. we get ratings. he's also available in a way some of the other candidates aren't. that ducktails and there you have why we cover him a lot. >> that's true. i missed the subtlety in that. i let people distinguish the ratings themselves. you are the ones watching, so obviously you're interested. smart point. meanwhile, the presidential race making for fantastic late

night punch lines in 2015. which moments were most memorable? that's next. >> do they involve us? >> very possible.

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presidential candidates, and it's all about the late night tv. we were certainly watching the laughs during late night. one, in particular, "snl" are the king at impressions. watch this one. >> the field of republicans out there is so messed up, i figured it makes you miss me, doesn't it? that's saying a lot. >> i'm the only candidate up here who's not a billionaire. i don't have a super-pac, i don't even have a backpack. i carry my stuff around loose in my arms like a professor. >> he's so good. >> i love it when they make fun of themselves. and i don't know, did you catch the one where trump hosted the show? i liked him in the drake video. >> that was the highlight. >> so jon stewart retired but had to get one last dig in for trump. in fact, this was the day trump announced he was running for president. >> thank you, donald trump, for

making my last six weeks my best six weeks. no! he's putting me in some kind of comedy hospice. we're all getting straight morphine. >> i do miss him. another one that was really memorable, obama. actually, this one was really good. i was talking about impersonations. fallon, forget about it. then trump mirroring himself. >> fan lollon is a lightweight. the only one qualified to interview me is me. >> me interviewing me, that's what i call a great idea. >> of course it's a great idea. we thought of it. >> that's awesome.

okay, so that's funny because donald trump, you can't tell from his face, does he think it's funny? or does he think it's true? >> i think it's a little of each. and it's not just presidential candidates, it's sitting presidents as well. obama doing the old mean tweaking. >> coors light is $23 now at sun stop. thanks obama. how do you make obama's eyes light up? shine a flashlight in his ears. that's pretty good. >> that was pretty good. that was jimmy kimmel's mean tweet. he took it on the chin. he can also laugh. we like to laugh at politicians, don't we? >> they are so good. that was memorable. >> can you imagine if trump is elected what kind of fun we'll have? >> sure. and, i mean, look at hillary clinton up there. she also provides ample material. >> absolutely. i agree. >> i don't know if these are the best barometers for a potential

process. give me one more. what do you like up here? >> i think all the gifts have been opened. >> what about colbert? >> watch this. >> okay. shall we begin? >> please. >> all right. >> momma always said life is like a box of chocolates. >> you never know what you're going to get. ♪ the space goes downtown baby, down by the roller coaster notice ♪ i met a girlfriend a triscuit ♪ >> what is funny is nowadays they have to be able to sing and do these routines. it is not just cracking jokes anymore. >> super entertaining. >> what is funny is colbert.

he seems to be grabbing the mantle in a funny way. no audio needed. >> no audio needed. >> making my point. >> he looks like a christmas ornament. wow. it's all such good stuff. and conan has been really funny as well. there you go. allison, thank you for reminding us of this. merry christmas. >> merry christmas. >> have a merry christmas, everyone. thank you so much for joining us today. have a wonderful holiday. carol costello is up after this short break. >> merry christmas! ...in bed all day... ...you need the power of... new theraflu expressmax. new theraflu expressmax. the power to feel better.

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happening now in the newsroom -- deadly storms rip across the south and midwest. >> it cut trees in half. and i don't know why i'm still standing here talking to you. >> tornadoes, giant hail, whipping winds. even this tractor-trailer can't stay upright. plus -- terror fears up. now the tsa is beefing up airport security. why not everyone can opt out of those body scans? also, clinton dominating in a new cnn poll. that's not getting bernie down. >> we're feeling good. your poll seems to indicate we have nna