♪ big, big strong tornado. >> breaking overnight. deadly tornadoes rip through parts of texas, killing at least eight people, destroying buildings and tearing up neighborhoods. in chicago, another controversial police shooting. this time, the department is apologizing for accidentally killing a 55 yeverl-year-old wo >> she had nothing to do with this. she was just answering the door for the police. and new video this morning

showing iraq snipers on rooftops during an intense tattle against isis. the latest in the fight in ramadi. your "new day" starts now. this is cnn breaking news. breaking overnight, a deadly end to the holiday weekend in texas. storms and tornado ripping through the dallas area. look at this video. killing eight people. this is just one of many showing the power of these storms that we have been seeing. >> taking a look at this couple sitting down to dinner watching the storm. >> oh, my god! huge! >> oh, my god! >> just incredible. as you see here, a massive funnel cloud as it moves across the sky. this is in the town of rowland. >> in garland, the storm nearly

leveled this gas station. look at what is left here. one person said all they heard was reorganize when the storm blew through. we are always grateful for your company. i'm christi paul. >> i'm filling in for victor blackwell. it is 5:00 a.m. in dallas texas. residents are just now waking up to examine all of the devastation there. >> sara sidner is there. what are you learning? >> the death toll keeps rising in this storm. so destructive in the dallas area. look at that picture there. when you see those lights flash and you see that massive tornado coming at people, and some of the people who were killed were on the road. it's hard to get away from these things on i-30. a very big thoroughfare and freeway there, killed as they were in their cars trying to make it to safety. a deadlily night in north texas. >> oh, i see it! it's crossing the highway right

there! i can see it! >> yep, there it is. >> it is massive. >> reporter: storms and tornado swec swept through the city of dallas. it moved through the city of rodlet. at least five deaths were reported in garland, texas, after a tornado hit interstate 30. >> i actually looked at the twist. i was looking at it. >> reporter: describe it for me. >> it was just a dark funnel and a big roar. it was really scary. it scared me. i don't scare that easy but i was scared. >> reporter: several homes were destroyed. lawns littered with debris and cars to seed. >> reporter: your daughter's car? the back of the kitchen? >> yes. amy husband's car in the alley. >> it was terrifying. they were terrified. you know?

they didn't know if they was going to make it. >> reporter: the storms are all part of a severe weather system that devastated the south this holiday weekend with deaths in texas, arkansas, tennessee, and mississippi. residents assess the damage in glen heights. this man lost his home. >> it's a grace of god that i'm alive. i'm really grateful. my wife works not that hard from here. if i didn't call her, she would be here right now and my kids would be here too. a lot of faith. >> reporter: in sunny vale, texas, the front facade was ripped off of this house but larry and is just grateful he and his family weren't home. >> are you in your house, we got a call, we are looking for. neighbors came around to see if we were in the house and we weren't. so, you know, we waited for the weather to calm down and drove over and when we came up, our family and friends and church

was in the housecleaning things up. it's amazing how people in this community just take charge. >> reporter: as it becomes light there, we are about 3,000 or more people who are without power. really tough time as this is a holiday weekend. a lot of folks hanging out with family and getting ready to leave today and going through all of this just after christmas. >> so just to clarify. they are halting search and rescue until daylight hits? is that right? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. we are almost there. we are getting very, very close to the time when sort of day breaks. but the thing with the rescuers is that they want to make sure they don't get into trouble. very unsafe. when you look at those pictures and you see that tornado, you can't see it until the lightning strikes and then it is right up on you. that is a perfect example of how dangerous these storms are. they come at you. you can hear them off before you see them. and incredibly dangerous and has

proven to be deadly. >> can you imagine high frightening it would be in the dark and yet hear it? >> consider, sara, these things appear without warning and we haven't mentioned how unusual it is to have so many tornadoes. this hasn't been the only one. in the month of december. >> december. >> if you're out with your family hoping to get home or travel this weekend, you've really been hit by this out of the blue for many people, right, sara? >> absolutely, absolutely. it's just not normal, although these storms have been coming through for several days. texas being hit really hard. i used to live in texas for several years and i have heard that sound and seen the way the sky changes but at night you can't really see anything until, like i said it is up on you. it is absolutely terrifying and especially hard because this is the day people are trying to return home after having a nice time with family so a lot of people would have been on the road and why you're probably

seeing some of the deaths there on interstate 30. >> thank you, sara sidner. >> very big. oh, it's massive! >> woe! >> oh, my gosh, it's big! it's hitting stuff! >> my gosh. we want to share this video with you again. this tornado really talks to what sara was speaking about. so difficult to see at night until there is lightning that lights up the sky and you can get some perspective how monstrous this thing is. i can't imagine driving through this storm. cnn meteorologist allison chinchar with us from the severe weather center now. i know we are expecting more of this today? >> we are. as you were saying you feel for the people who have to drive through it and keep in mind the people who aren't familiar with the dallas area and driving in

the city to get to their families. if you're driving along the road and you see the tornado, it was very difficult to see. your only hope of seeing it when you had lightning flashes like this or when the tornado would hit power lines and you would get power flashes from it. it was the only thing it was truly visible. if you don't know the side streets and if you don't know a way to veer off you're not going to have a chance as the locals would to outrun or get away from the particular storm. what you can see in this image is the lights from the cars. again, you can see the flashes of light that are out there. but that's it. that's all these people had to know that the tornado was there. they do have some cities that have the sirens, a good alert for them but they also -- you just kind of had to rely on when the lightning would flash and when the tornado would pick things up and light up the sky. that's it. it's very rare this time of the year. we do get them in december and average about 24 but that is the lowest of any other month throughout the year.

as we mentioned earlier, we are going to be experiencing an equally severe threat for today. there is no no difference from what we had today from yesterday. the only difference is where the storms are moving and we will have more of an update of where they are expected to be coming up in the 7:00 hour. >> allison, thank you so much for the heads-up. we are talking to storm chasers too here in the next hour so do stick around for that. allison is going to be monitoring other storms across the nation that will likely impact millions of you today. so we will be having her on all morning and allison chin char, thank you very much. while parts of texas were hit by that tornado, other spots in the same state were dealing with a snowstorm. it was massive. take a look at the scene in el paso yesterday. washington state and miami played in the sun bowl. clearly not living up to its name. >> clearly. >> players and fans there had to endure delivered conditions. remember, this is in texas same place where we saw those tornadoes. washington state ended up winning 20-14.

in the meantime after days of torrential rain new fears in baum some rivers could ov-- ala rivers could reach their levees. more on that throughout the morning., more rivers could reach their levees. more on that throughout the morning., more rivers could reach their levees. more on that throughout the morning., more rivers could reach their levees. more on that throughout the morning.some -- alabama, more r could reach their levees. more on that throughout the morning.-- alabama, more rivers reach their levees. more on that throughout the morning.alabama, more rivers coh their levees. more on that throughout the morning. incredible scenes on the west coast as well. there you heard high winds fueling this raging wildfire. that fire still burning in the solimar beach area in california this morning. you can see some of the vantage points, the embers there. this is from camera crews in the middle of the flames. you can almost feel the heat. this hellish scene caused by a downed power line we are now finding out.

the good news here this morning is that the 101 or hollywood freeway is now reopened and evacuation orders have been lifted. of course, we are staying on top of this throughout the morning as well. look for an update and more of than incredible footage at the bottom of the hour. also this morning, another controversial shooting by the chicago police department. this time less than 24 hours after the shooting, police are apologizing for accidentally killing a woman. plus, donald trump versus the clintons. trump slams hillary clinton by citing her husband's history of infidelity and things are heating up. we will before you the latest. a scandal for peyton manning. an explosive report accuses the superstar quarterback of doping. he is denying the claims vehemently. sports is working this story for us later in the hour. stay close. the only person i know that says that is... lisa? julie?

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therngs a chicago woman shot to death by police and they call it a tragic accident. family members call it recklessness and say it could have been prevented. police say 55-year-old betty jones was caught in the crossfire. it happened when chicago police answered a 911 call early saturday morning. father of a 19-year-old college student said his son was threatening him with a baseball bat. his family says quinntonio la gear had a mental illness. >> he would get loud but not

violent. i was just with my son on christmas. i mean, i talked to him. i told him that he had to control his temper but he wasn't violent. >> reporter: lagear's father asked betty jones their downstairs neighbor and mother of five to open the door for police. when she did, witnesses say lagrier came charging down the stairs with a bat. when he did, police opened fire and both were killed. >> the police were trigger happy. i went to the hospital. my son has seven -- seven bullet wounds in him. >> reporter: chicago police apologized for jones death saying in a statement, quote, upon arrival, officers were confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharge of the officer's weapon which fatally wounded two individuals. the 55-year-old woman victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed. the department extend its

deepest condolences to the victim's family and friends. the police department is holding a press conference at 11:00 a.m. and cnn will be there. with us to talk about the situation is tom fuentes, cnn law enforcement analyst. i think it will be difficult to find out what was reported in the 911 call, what they knew going into this but help us understand what it's like when you get a call like this from the police perspective. >> it's interesting, christi, this is the one situation you know is so dangerous. when you make a traffic stop and i made, i think, about a thousand when i was a police officer, you don't know what is going to be the situation. most of the time it's not going to be a problem. but when you get the call to go to a domestic disturbance you know you have a problem. it's only a degree of whether they are just shouting at each other or violent with each other. and the other thing, most people don't royealize, the holiday season is a joyous time for most people but also a time of

extreme stress. people with mental illness or problems besides normal financial problems, you know, are liable to become violent during that. i went to many and often on christmas day, families throwing chairs at each other and all types of things. when those officers arrived and the witnesses say this lagrier was coming down the stairs with a baseball bat, you know, it's really their worst expectation realized being attacked by somebody with a bat. they admit it was an unfortunate accident to shoot betty jones and kill her in the process and that is really a tragedy that both were killed. but still from a police perspective this is a highly charged and very difficult and very dangerous call to get. >> i want to talk about betty jones in a moment. but congressman bobby rush from chicago said a taser should have been used or deescalation tactics instead. why are those tactics not

employed more often? >> well, the problem with that is that is easy to say on the outside to second-guess the police officers from, you know, you're comfortable office space but when you're responding to this, sometimes in a split second, things go bad and you don't have time to do something like that. tasers aren't always reliable when you shoot somebody. everybody thinks they are a miracle cure, but they are not. i can tell you, i went on the call where we saved a woman whose husband was just beating her. we could see it through the front window as we went through the door and the second we laid hands on him to pull him off, unbeknown as to us, she grabbed a fireplace poker and struck my sergeant in the back and broke three ribs. here we were trying to save her. so you just don't know how bad it can go and how fast it can go bad. >> tom, i have a couple of more questions for you. we are going to save that next hour here so do stick with us and thank you so much as always. >> you're welcome. >> of course. coming up here, the u.s.

isn't alone in experiencing severe weather. parts of england are under a state of emergency this morning. the worst flooding they have seen there in decade. thousands of people forced to flee from their homes. also in europe, several cities are being warned about possible terror attacks involving explosives or guns. the time frame between christmas and new year's eve, we will bring that story to you after this short break. no matter who shows up. [cricket sound] richard. didn't think you were going to make it. hey sorry about last weekend, i don't know what got into me. well forgive and forget... kind of. i don't think so! do you like nuts? this holiday season, gewhat's in the trunk? nothing. romance. 18 inch alloys. you remembered.

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in australia, residents are returning home today and assessing the damage after a bush fire south of melbourne destroyed more than a hundred homes on christmas day. . one town, a third of homes were completely destroyed. firefighters say the immediate threat to the towns is over but warn the situation is still potentially dangerous because there are still many hot spots. flooding is a major problem right now across northern england. that is what you're looking at here. a month's worth of rain has fallen in just days. causing rivers to burst and severely flooding and damaging several villages you see here. my goodness. hundreds of people have been evacuated and thousands left without power. forecasters say the rain should ease within the next few days. we certainly hope so for. five days from now it is official. couples in china will be allowed

to have two children. chinese lawmakers rubber stamped the new legislation during a meeting today. china is changing this policy due to its aging population. the country is trying to have a younger and more productive work force. the move effectively ends the country's one child policy the last three decades. the last sunday of the year. in vatican city, pope francis celebrating the feast of the holy family. the pope delivered a message about the importance of family and praying to the. we are going to have a live report for you from rome in the next hour. space nerds like myself, get near your television right now. nasa releasing this stunning image appearing to show the earth rising over the moon. images composed of a series of shots taken by nasa's spacecraft in october. ahead, our breaking news coverage continues on the deadly tornadoes that have slammed through parts of texas, as

people are waking up here soon and wondering how extensive the damage is going to be. we are just waiting for the sun to come up. we knew this was coming. donald trump versus the clintons. overnight trump slams hillary clinton by citing her husband's history of marriage infidelity and we will bring you the latest on this escalating feud. iraqi forces in a firefight against isis. snipers scene on rooftops and we will take you through it with a military expert. first, we are looking a man reuniting families throug a unique movement on the internet. it's this week's "giving in focus." when i see a homeless person i think about who they are, where they are from and who

misses them. i don't get rich doing what i'm doing. i feel happy doing good things for people. it gets really cold up here. i think a lot of people don't understand how cold it can get. it must be a scary feeling to be cold and not having a place to go. i created the facebook group forget me not ak.org to help reconnect homeless people to their families. when i approach someone to see if they want to be a part of the group, i usually have a gift for them. hey, here is something for you. do you mind if we talk for a little bit? till them a group and do you have any messages to send out to family or friends aends lastly do you have a wish for anything. sometimes it's i wish i could go back home. when i thought about this concept for this facebook group i feel what we are doing is we are creating a community of people that want to do good things. >> beans cafe is a day time homeless kitchen and soup

kitchen here in anchorage. he wanted to come down and see the clients. he is one pretty regular guy that brings a lot of life and a lot of love and a lot of happiness to our clients. >> it's very simple and it doesn't cost money at all. when you see someone that is homeless, treat them like a human being. don't just give them your change. give them your heart.

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oh, my god! >> can you imagine? this is a scene captured at a dinner by a couple last night, as that massive tornado, and you only see it there when it lights up the sky, this tornado rips through rowlett, texas. >> eight people are dead in yesterday's devastating storms.

as many as five may have been killed in their cars as the tornado struck them. this serious if you are traveling this weekend. the national weather service has warnings for snow and flash flood in several parts of texas. and we will have much more on this breaking story at the top of the hour. isis is being battered from iraq and syria. from iraq, we have new video to show you of the deadly street fighting in ramadi. government forces are 550 yards from an isis-held government compound and hope to retake that key city within the next few days. new pictures from syria. rebel groups have seized a dam near raqqa.

he tells them to, quote be patient because god is with you. cnn did not verify the authenticity of that message but we want to bring in cnn correspondent robin quil and lieutenant general mark hertling. mark, we know they are 550 yards from this compound. do we know, based on that, how close iraqi forces are to retaking ramadi as a whole? >> it does sound like in terms of distance, christi, that they are close, however, the issues they are facing on the ground such as boobytraps and sniper fire and the threat of injuring civilians in this fight that could be caught in the cross-fire is what is slowing them down so much. we do know that they have captured a high-level member of isis on the ground and not to be diffused with the leader of isis, baghdadi. according to officials he is providing information how many fighters are left inside.

we did understand from the information that there were 300 to 500 fighters. we know he is a foreign fighter and not iraqi so we are not sure where he is from and iraqi official haven't said but we understand a number of those fighting to the death is foreign fighters in ramadi. >> general heltling, i wanted to ask you about the rebel groups in syria who have seized this dam. is it better in the rebel group's hand than in isis and what do we know about this group, i guess, is the question. >> absolutely. this is a combination of both the ypg from the syrian kurdish forces and as well as some of the syrian arab fighters that which is very fascinating. they have taken this dam which will not only effect the water supply to raqqa, the key city that isis is call their caliphate. this will shut down that city and indicate more problems and indicators to the fighters in the town that they are, in fact,

on the wrong end of some of the fighting. so a combination of both the ramadi fight, which is interesting because it's mostly sunni forces, not only in the iraqi security forces, but tribes fighting against isis in ramadi. you also have syrian sunnis and syrian kurds fighting isis near the dam. both of them are tremendous defeats for the isis fighters. >> is there a sense, robyn, is th -- isis is losing ground in this fight? i don't mean the geography of it. i mean, do we have any indication that their forces are actually weakening? >> i guess i couldn't say as to whether they are being weakened but i know in ramadi, this would be a huge propaganda loss for isis because it was such a propaganda gain when they took the city back in may. it was a huge humiliation for

the iraqi defense forces and a real blow as well to the u.s. who had spent billions of dars training the iraqis and equipping them. ash carter said it looked like they had lost the will to fight. they say they ran out of ammunition and didn't have the support of baghdad and the united states and a lot of back and forth back then. in terms of isis gains, this will likely be a propaganda blow and they will also lose a number of key fighters who will likely die in this fight, the 300 to 5:00 left and foreign fighters as well and we understand they are calling for reinforcements but because the iraqi defense forces and u.s.-led air strikes have been pounding that -- the city and really strangling from all angles and it is also surrounded by canals and bridges, that isis themselves had blown up. that they will not be able to get those reinforcements very easily. >> general, i want to go to you now.

about this 24-minute clip that was released on isis social media accounts by baghdadi. one of the things he said was interesting to me, he mocks the u.s.-led coalition and says western countries wouldn't dare send ground troops to isis strongholds because of previous failures in iraq and afghanistan. we have heard from analysts that isis wants u.s. ground troops in there and they want to face them. do you think he is taunting the u.s.? >> oh, absolutely. and we don't know when this tape was made, if it was recent or long ago. he does not make mention of some of the things that have occurred in the last several weeks, the bombing of the russian jetliner out of egypt, some of the attacks in other places. but, yes, he is certainly attempting to convincing western forces to come in. he wants them there and he wants to prove this is east versus west and christianity versus islam. truthfully the strategy so far has been counter to that, striking them from the air and

now we are seeing -- and that is why i mentioned it earlier -- sunni religions. the same belief as isis on the far extreme of that and in an islamist way and fighting against them and trying to claim back islam for those who believe. so that is all critically important. >> general, a second. i want to ask you do you think there is any chance that -- okay, i'm told we are to go. we will talk about it. i have one other question about whether this might actually strengthen isis because the recruiting has been so strong, if you have supporters who are seeing that they might be faltering, might this bring in more supporters? we will try to talk about that the next hour. thank you both. appreciate it. new information into cnn this morning. police across europe, they are on a high alert and ramped up security measures. vienna police have found a

warning that cities could be attacked between christmas and new year's eve. let's call on our cnn law enforcement analyst tom fuentes once again. holiday season, times of mass public transportation are more popular for people to make threats but this specific warning coming from a friendly source. what exactly does that mean and what difference does that make? >> the problem it's not all that specific of a warning. the intelligence services received the warning before christmas saying that there might be an attack in a european capital sometimes during the week between christmas and new year and that it would involve explosives and our firearms. that is so vague. that threat where that kind of warning has already been standing ever since the attacks in paris, you know, the encounters with the police in both paris and brussels against these groups recently. that threat level has already been issued and already been there. in a way, it's more of the same and the difficulty is now that

we are in the middle of winter, you know, especially in europe, it's a little bit cold than the east coast of the united states. people are out with heavy coats, jackets, you know, can easily hide a suicide vest or firearms under winter clothing. it makes it more difficult. but the warnings have already been out there. >> the fact that the official there in vienna, they have investigated names of potential attackers and they have come up with nothing. what does that tell us? >> it tells us that it might just be a hoax. it might be, you know, something that someone decided to call in or phone in. you know, a particular threat naming names which, in the beginning, would lend it credibility until they find out that maybe the names aren't real and then it makes you woned about the whole threat in the first place. >> so it's very vague. it could very well be a hoax and we will stay on top of this. tom fuentes, thanks very much.

>> you're welcome. ahead, we continue to get new pictures in of the raging fire in southern california. it is something to see, isn't it here? you'll see a news kru in tcrew thick of it. >> peyton manning, an explosive report accuses the superstar quarterback of doping. he is denying those claims. sports working this story for us and update for you is coming up. are you completely prepared for retirement? okay, mostly prepared? could you save 1% more of your income? it doesn't sound like much, but saving an additional 1% now, could make a big difference over time. i'm going to be even better about saving. you can do it, it helps in the long run. prudential bring your challenges (vo) wit runs on optimism.un on? it's what sparks ideas. moves the world forward.

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just super intense. you can barely see. >> embers everywhere in this incredible video that shows the hell scene of the solimar wildfire in california. we covered this as breaking news yesterday. the good news is firefighters are gaining the upper hand and containing about 60% of the

wildfires so far. a spark from a downed power line started this fire near the 101 freeway. the good news it's reopened now. cnn affiliate keyt takes us to the middle of what the emergency crews have been fighting throughout the night. it's riveting. take a look. >> brutal. look at this. listen to this. >> reporter: a volcano like eruption lit up the hills near solimar beach in ventura county on the eve of christmas day. 40 to 50-mile-an-hour winds shot ember and flames across the 101 and drivers racing to escape. our news crew were in the thick of the fire zone. >> i'm going to head back to my car and park along the side of the freeway. you can see just ashes flowing everywhere. it's super intense.

can you barely see. >> reporter: despite the intense winds, helicopters made water drops in thick smoke under the cover of darkness. so we got two helicopters here right now. in fact, stand by. we are going to get hit with the water here. and they are going to come back around here. here he comes again. >> reporter: solimar beach residents packed up and left as they stared down an inferno inching closer to their homes. >> there is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of us now. probably head to santa barbara. i think our house will be okay. it was built not too long ago. i don't think there has been a fire here. i'm 29 years old. i don't think there has ever been a fire at this hiledside here. >> reporter: in fact, this area

hasn't burned since the 1970s, with a nearly five-year drought, feeding the flames. >> my goodness. thank you so much to our affiliate there keyt. authorities we understand have lifted the mandatory evacuations in the area and 500 firefighters are trying to cover that fire. >> very strong firefighters. still to come this hour, in politics, as bill clinton appears to hit the campaign trail for hillary, donald trump unleashes a flurry of nasty comments about the couple's marriage infidelity. what does the feud escalation do to both campaigns? we will talk about that coming up. keep an eye on the aftermath of the tornado in texas. we have a live report for you as the sun will start to come up soon and we will see what it left. >> what is this over here behind us?

48 minutes past of the hour.

new this morning in the race for the white house, republican front-runner donald trump is escalating the war of words between him and hillary clinton. trump slamming clinton by citing her husband's history of marriage infidelity and alleged misconduct. take a look at what trump tweeted overnight. quote, hillary clinton has announced she is letting her husband out to campaign but he's demonstrated a penchant for sexism, so inappropriate. we will talk more about this tweet and the feud in a moment. first, cnn senior washington correspondent joe johns has more on the clintons hitting the campaign trail together. >> reporter: bill clinton's role in his wife's campaign has at least, so far, than mostly low key. unlike back in 2008 when he was front and center all the way into the south carolina primary. and now he is expected to head back out on the campaign trail, again, trying to become the first presidential spouse who

once held the office himself. >> starting? january i will have my not so secret weapon. >> reporter: when bill clinton was a candidate running for the white house, he told voters you get two for the price of one. now the only former president shove a spouse running for office is getting ready to join her as she makes her second run. >> i have noticed, and in my studies of history, i have noticed that most successful presidents are those who get elected as a time that they are -- >> yes! >> and she's the best qualified person for -- >> she sure is. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: but the last time the former president stumped for his wife, the results were mixed. >> i highly recommend her. >> reporter: in 2008 amid a tight race with barack obama, bill clinton made a prominent role and campaigning for hillary in key early primary states. >> thank you. >> reporter: but along large and

enthusiastic crowds, same a kers of verbal miscues including a harsh assessment of obama. >> give me a break. this whole thing is the biggest fairy tale i've ever seen. >> reporter: days later, an-the-cuff comment in south carolina suggesting that skin color was a key factor in winning the primary there. >> jesse jackson won south carolina twice in '84 and '88. >> reporter: questions arose whether mr. clinton was doing more harm than good. although he remained on the trail in the early primaries, he was tightly guarded and kept on script and away from the media but how do you say no to the man who is revered among democrats? popular among all americans, and whose penchant for delivering a memorable line cannot be understated. >> what new idea do we bring to washington? i always bring a one-word answer. arithmetic. >> reporter: at although has changed since bill clinton's

successful run two decade ago when hillary was credited for standing by her man as questions of infidelity dogged him. this time, hillary is the candidate and bill is the spouse and chelsea is a mom. while bill clinton has not been invisible during his wife's run, he has attended a handful of campaign events and he's been quietly raising money for the campaign. but now, as we enter the final stretch to iowa and the primaries you can expect to see the former president back in the spotlight. >> joe, thank you so much. how does, then, former president bill clinton either help or hurt hillary clinton? let's talk about it with cnn political commentator errol louis. is he a help, a hindrance? what do you say? >> i think he is a great help just for the raw political skills. it's tlig just to see some of the footage that you showed and thinking back to the 2012 campaign when president obama looked like he was in a little bit of a trouble, who did he

bring in at the convention? it was electrifying in the arena that night to see bill clinton take the stage. the numbers all show that, not just democrats but americans of all political per situations like and revere and respect the guy. and so he is just an asset, you know, just pure and simple. somebody on the campaign trail who knows what he is doing. >> i want to get back to this tweet from donald trump overnight who said hillary clinton has announced she is letting her husband out to campaign but he has demonstrated a penchant for sexism and so inappropriate. let's get real here. the line goes back to a line hillary clinton gave to the "des moines register" earlier using those very words to describe trump for a term he used in talking about her regarding her 2008 loss to barack obama. he is essentially using her own words against her. what do you make of the tweet? >> it's an answer. as he likes to think, donald trump thinks of himself as a

counterpuncher. you say something bad about him, he'll turn around and insult you. it doesn't make any sense at all. the words came out of his mouth the crude vulgar statements he has made over and over again about women in particular for him to reach back and say you're married to a guy who was involved in a sex scandal or two. i'm not sure what the connection is or what it is supposed to mean to voters. it has donald trump taking responsibility for a change the words that come out of his own mouth, many are crude and -- >> what about spouses? are spouses off the hook when it comes to candidates? and who they partner with? especially with bill clinton, because he has been the president. does that make him more vulnerable? >> bill clinton is never off the hook. bill clinton is a known quantity. he is probably one of the best known people in the whole world. he'll never be off limits. i think the question is what --

look. christi, in republican circles and talk radio enbill clinton has a punch line that doesn't need any explanation. they say his name and that just means something bad having to do with sex, ha, ha, ha. for the rest of the world, though, this is a generation ago and whatever went on during the impeachment it was sort of litigated politically and judicially and it's over and done behind us for many, voters and maybe a majority of voters at this point. i think donald trump may be tapping into a dry well at this point by trying to use these old slams to impugn the clintons and hillary clinton in particular. >> thank you, errol. take you to next hour. from one errol to another. >> great to hear from errol there. still to come this hour, the chicago police department expressed condolences for fatally shooting a 55-year-old woman. does this set the groundwork for

a legal case against them? plus, nfl star peyton manning under the microscope this morning. a new documentary about a doping scandal with him as the focus. we will tell you what is behind it next. we have over 15,000 activities that you can book on our app to make sure your little animal, enjoys her first trip to the kingdom. expedia, technology connecting you to what matters. .

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welcome back. during the commercial break, we were discussing broncos quarterback peyton manning who is strongly denying a bombshell report. >> yeah, this reported alleges he is involved in a performance-enhancing drug scandal. andy scholes is here with this. andy was saying a lot of these reports have credence, this one? >> i'm not sure i'm buying this for sure. peyton has come out and said this report is complete garbage. he is one of several athletes named in an al jazeera documentary set to air tonight. according to the report manning was allegedly given a supply of human growth hormone in 2011 while he was recovering from his neck surgery. a former employee claims the hgh was sent to the future hall of famer under his wife's name ashley manning.

cnn sports received a statement from manning released by the denver broncos that reads, quote, the allegation that i would do something like that is complete garbage and is totally made up. it never happened. never. i really can't believe somebody would put something like this on air. whoever said this is making stuff up. now, the nfl did not begin testing for hgh until last year. so far, guys, no players have ever tested positive for hgh. >> interesting. andy scholes, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> we appreciate it. thank you so much for starting your morning with us here. >> next hour of "new day" starts now. it's very big. >> oh, it's massive! would y wow! >> deadly tornadoes tearing through the dallas area and killing eight people and destroying buildings. we are going to talk to the

storm chasers who shot these riveting images. >> another shooting in chicago by police. this time a woman was accidentally shot and killed when officers responded to a domestic disturbance call. you're seeing here the sounds and the images of ground fighting in ramadi. isis losing ground overnight as iraqi military forces gain the upper hand, at least for now. "new day" starts right now. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> we are grateful for your company and make sure you know that. i'm christi paul. >> i'm errol barnett in here this weekend for victory black blackwell. >> the dallas area is slammed by tornadoes last night. as we said, at least eight people have died. look at some of this video here. search and rescue operations we understand beginning at day

break trying to make sure everyone is all right. when you see that flash of light, that is when you get a really good idea of what they were dealing with, of what this tornado looked like. the storm hit under the cover of night, which makes it especially dangerous obviously for drivers. they can't see anything until it's up on top of them. it wasn't just tornadoes either. hail rained down on drivers. you can hear it hitting the car and windshield in some place and continue to play this for you. w are talking to one of the storm chasers who intermediate all of this video we showed you in a few minutes. we bring in our sara sidner, tracking storms from new york. what have you learned? >> reporter: basically, it's 6:00 a.m. so they are behind eastern standard time so it's dark and rescue operations have halted really while it's dark. it's very dangerous for the rescuers to go in and try to find people in rubble and try to deal with this when they, too, can't see exactly what is coming at them. devastating storms.

not just in texas but across the country we have seen alabama getting hit with tornadoes, mississippi getting hit as well. this has been a really rough holiday for a lot of folks. a deadly night in north texas. so destructive in the dallas area. a very big thoroughfare and freeway there, killed as they were in their cars trying to make it to safety. a deadly night in north texas. >> oh, i see it! it's crossing the highway right there! i can see it! >> yep, there it is. >> it is massive. >> reporter: storms and tornado swept through the city of dallas. it moved through the city of

rowlett. at least five deaths were reported in garland, texas, after a tornado hit interstate 30. >> i actually looked at the twist. i was looking at it. >> reporter: describe it for me. >> it was just a dark funnel and a big roar. it was really scary. it scared me. i don't scare that easy but i was scared. >> reporter: several homes were destroyed. lawns littered with debris and cars to seed. >> reporter: your daughter's car? the back of the kitchen? >> yes. amy husband's car in the alley. >> it was terrifying. they were terrified. you know? they didn't know if they was going to make it. >> this man hid under a mattress and prayed. >> deaths in texas, arkansas, tennessee, and mississippi. residents assess the damage in glen heights. this man lost his home. >> it's a grace of god that i'm alive. i'm really grateful. my wife works not that hard from here. if i didn't call her, she would be here right now and my kids would be here too. a lot of faith. >> reporter: in sunny vale, texas, the front facade was ripped off of this house but

larry allen is just grateful he and his family weren't home. >> we got a call. are you in your house, we got a call, we are looking for. neighbors came around to see if we were in the house and we weren't. so, you know, we waited for the weather to calm down and drove over and when we came up, our family and friends and church were in the house, cleaning stuff up. it's amazing how people in this community just take charge. >> reporter: some great communities there and neighbors checking on neighbors. right now, it's still dark. i want to talk a little bit about i-30 and what may have happened there. i-30 runds throus through garla rowlett and ft. worth and straight shot to dallas. a straight people for people visiting family straight to wherever they are going to texas. you can see the traffic there, a very popular roadway and really devastating this tornado ended up hitting right there as people start going home because of the holidays and sort of getting stuck in traffic there.

really scary images. i want to talk a little bit about the video you're seeing of the tornadoes. some of the flashes are transformers being blown up. you also see lightning flashes every now and then. that is basically the only way that you get a good vision of this tornado. otherwise, you're probably hearing it, but when you're in your car, a lot harder to hear so you may not have even known that it was right on top of you. >> wow. i didn't realize transformers were blowing too. sara sidner, thank you very much. we want to talk about the incredible scenes we are getting from scott pete who is a storm chaser and he's on the phone with us from plano, texas. scott, glad you're okay. have you ever, in your career, seen anything like what you saw yesterday? >> not quite like this. definitely not in december in a highly populated area. it was not something you usually

see. >> can you help us understand what it felt like to drive through what you drove through? >> well, i have to say it was a very heart breaking watching the tornado go through residential neighborhoods and seeing all of the destruction as we were going east on interstate 30 while we were following the tornado. >> so a lot of people watch this and they think why do you continue to drive towards this thing? do you not does she are you not in fear at some point? includes getting as much footage as we can, and also to report it to the national weather service. any damage we see, we try to report that in to the weather service and help track the tornado so the weather service has a better idea of where the tornado is going. >> okay. so what exactly -- help me

through exactly what you saw. you saw the devastation. was it hailing on you? were you having a hard time seeing the thing? when you first saw this thing, what did you think? >> i thought, well, oh, my gosh, here we go. it's going to be a major tornado. and when we were driving right behind the tornado, we had a piece of insulation and shingles falling from the sky, and along with seeing multiple power flashes as the tornado was going through right across interstate 30 and along lake hubbard. >> well, like i said in the beginning here, we are just grateful you're okay. >> thank you. >> thank you so much for sharing these pictures with us. are you working again today? >> we are going to leave here in about an hour and they are about to issue another tornado watch for eastern part of texas

momentarily so we will be heading out shortly. >> safety to you and, scott, thank you for sharing this video. it's something to see. we appreciate it. >> thank you so much. >> sure. take good care. a lot of young guys and girls like scott out to gather data, but the fact of the matter is they have risking their lives to do it. it is dangerous out there. the threat of severe weather is far from over and this is with the holiday weekend nearing a close. still potential nightmare for travelers. our meteorologist allison chinchar joins us from the severe weather center. any update what the storm chasers told us about an upcoming tornado warning for eastern texas? >> it's a tornado watch. we expect several today east of where we had the tornado last night. the red shareded area is where we expect our severe weather today. rain in general will stretch from texas to new england.

warm humid air coming up from the gulf and cold dry air coming down from canada. this is where we have the greatest threat for severe weather today. orange area you see here, that is our enhanced threat for isolated tornadoes and also damaging winds. but you'll have severe weather anywhere from san antonio up to paducah down into new orleans today and that is where our target area is going to be. it's a huge differences. look at the warm out ahead of the front. 74 in shreveport and 33 in wichita falls. that is how strong this storm is. we have flood watches out ahead of this system. likely to get some tornado watches out ahead of this testimony as we go through the morning. then we have all of our winter watches and warning, including blizzard warnings for parts of texas and oklahoma where we can expect up to 15 to 20 inches of snow. that is once the system moves through. texas dealing with the tornadoes and severe weather on the front end and then they will be dealing with the snow and even

some ice on the back end. it's got a little bit of some going through for texas the next couple of days and then that system pushes into the northeast monday and tuesday. >> we got a few viewers watching in east texas right now, so if you're listening to allison, you'll want to hunker down. severe weather expected there the next few hours. allison, continue to check in with you throughout the morning. oot ahead another controversial shooting by the chicago police department and this time, they have already expressed condolences for accidentally killing a 55 yeverled woman. plus, there are new terror threats in europe this morning. police warn of a possible attack involving explosives or guns and this is to happen during the holiday season. donald trump versus the clintons. what is behind trump's sexual accusation against bill clinton as the former president prepares to campaign for his wife.

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14 minutes past the hour. a chicago woman is shot to death by police. they call it a tragic accident. family members call it recklessness. and say it could have easily been prevented.

police say 55-year-old betty jones was caught in the cross-fire. it happened when chicago police answered a 911 call early saturday morning. the father of a 19-year-old college student said his son was threatening him with a baseball bat. his family says quinntonio lagrier had a mental illness. >> he would get loud but not violent. i was just with my son on christmas. i mean, i talked to him. i told him that he had to control his temper, but he wasn't violent. >> reporter: lagrier's father asked betty jones their downstairs neighbor and mother of five to open the door for police. when she did, witnesses say lagrier came charging down the stairs with a bat. police opened fire and both people were killed. >> an innocent lady got shot as well because the police just was trigger happy. i went to the hospital.

my son has seven -- seven bullet wounds in him. >> reporter: chicago police apologized for jones' death saying in a statement, quote, upon arrival, officers were confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharge of the officer's weapon which fatally wounded two individuals. the 55-year-old woman victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed. the department extends its deepest condolences to the victim's family and friends. i want to let you know the family is going to be holding a press conference today at 11:00 a.m. central time and cnn will be there. let's talk about joey jackson and tom fuentes. tom, i want to start with you, because last hour, you talked about how the christmas holiday can bring more tension to situations like this to domestic situations. how honor is what was said and conveyed in the 911 call to this situation in general? >> well, it's very important,

you know, when a call comes in like that, you have this call coming from the father. as you heard in the piece the mother had talked to the son a couple of days ago on christmas and tried to tell him to control his temper and now the father is unable to, and the father is being threatened by lagrier with a baseball bat and calls the police. so the police go knowing that this is a difficult situation and upon arrival, if he charges them with a baseball bat, that pretty well confirms what they had said and if the father can't calm him down and the mother can't calm him down, there is really not much the police are going to be able to do verbally with a mentally ill person who is already charged up and threatening people with a bat. >> jo joey, chicago congressman bobby rush a taser should have been used instead of going for your gun. tom, you had last hour, they

don't necessarily work. how plausible do you think that is the main focus of this? >> good morning to you, christi and to you, tom. it is a major focus and what you're looking at. police have a very difficult job and they need to go home to their families at the end of the day. however, whenever you look and assess a police situation you look at a number of things. one, you look at the immediacy of the threat and would that threat represent such a danger to your life, the life of others, your partner, anyone around you that you have to use that force. number two, christi, the proportionality of the force used. do you need to shoot somebody coming to you with a baseball bat or is there some less lethal way to contain the situation? of course, number three, is it reasonable? so, yes, we understand officers are in danger every day. we respect the work that they do. we are proud of the work that they do.

however, should lethal force be the first alternative as opposed to the last alternative and did the officer act responsibly in this situation to preserve a life rather than take one and then kill someone by accident and all of that needs to be evaluated. >> tom, he brings up a good point. does it matter what the weapon is? does it differ? do you have a protocol? >> it only in terms of the proximity required for a weapon to injure you. you have it would be two or three feet within someone to harm them with a bat. if you go into somebody's home and at the father's request and if, in fact, lagrier was charging the police a baseball bat they have a tenth of a second to trite to neutralize

him and in some says it's not enough time but joey is absolutely right. they will look at this and see if there was an alternative and when they do the crime scene, how far was lagrier from the police officer and where was the woman betty jones that was accidentally tragically shot, all that will come into play during the investigation. i think the problem here is going to be politically, people on the outside from the comfort of their offices automatically criticize the police and say they should have done something different. >> the police came out quickly acknowledging this and apologizing for it and calling it an accident. what does that do for any possible civil action for betty jones' family? >> christi, we will see civil action, there is no question about it. to be clear sometimes police act and when they act it could be criminal as we have seen so many times and other times, it's civil and it's a tragic accident

and civil means the reawarding of some money. there has to be some type of continuum type of force. i know that is hard to say and police are in dangerous circumstances and that is where training comes into play and so important to do. as a former prosecutor you do a ride-along to appreciate what the police go through and you go to the fun house where people pop up and you shoot, do you not shoot? it's a tough job and you don't want to put yourself in their situation but you have to explore. is there a way to deescalate? if it's a baseball bat are you going to die? could you preserve a life as opposed to taking one? i think we will see a civil case. whether a criminal case here will depend upon what the independent review agency has to say about it. >> tom, what do you have to say to the mother there who says she believes police were trigger happy. >> again, the mother herself

said he had mental problems and difficulty controlling his temper and warned him about that and the father called the police and actually was being threatened to the extent he felt his life was in danger and he needed to call the police and couldn't handle lagrier by himself. i think, to me, what she said indicates what the problem was for the police dealing with him. >> okay. >> everybody thinks you you can deescalate a mentally ill person and i've handled many of these situations. the fact they are mentally ill makes it hard to deescalate a person when you only have a tenth of a second. >> but do you need to kill them? that is the point. >> tom fuentes and joey jackson, thank you for your insight. >> thank you. when we come back to "new day," we will get you to california. it's 4:22 in the morning there right now. that brush fire we have been telling you about, it appears

that authorities are starting to get a handle on it but before it burned 1,200 acres and 600 firefighters are fighting this fire. europe under threat at this hour. authorities have new information on what they believe could be planned attacks to be carried out during the holidays. we will have more on that for you after this. on our app to make sure your little animal, enjoys her first trip to the kingdom. expedia, technology connecting you to what matters. but i think women would agree... watching football together is great... huddling with their man after the game is nice too. the thing is, about half of men over 40 have some degree of erectile dysfunction. well, viagra helps guys with ed get and keep an erection. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain

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can you imagine driving through this? the high winds there fueling this massive wildfire in southern california. what you're looking at is a vantage point of this family driving past that fire last night. you saw the sparks and the embers hitting their windshield. fortunately, firefighters have stopped the fire from spreading. it's now at 60% containment. fire officials say the fire was caused by downed power lines. >> fire is doing damage in australia. residents returning to their homes today assessing what happened after a brush fire south of medically burn destroyed a hundred homes on christmas day. homes have been obliterated and you see what is left. firefighters say the immediate fire threat to towns is over but

they warn the situation is still potentially dangerous, as they are still many hot spots. new this morning. police across europe are on high alert and have ramped up security measures. they say they have received a warning from a friendly intelligence service that key cities could be attacked between christmas and new year's eve. let's bring in david tafori, a former foreign policy adviser. thanks for being with us, david, this morning. there is always heightened nervousness ahead of new year's eve when it comes to safe places to celebrate. how do you determine if this threat in europe is unique, if it's dangerous or more like a hoax, considering the time of year? >> to determine. the reports say there will be attacks between christmas and new year's and they will use n guns or explosives which most of these terrorist attacks do use

so it's difficult to prepare for these terrorist attacks. we have to assume that isis intends to do more attacks, especially in europe. i just got back from iraq last week. the forces on the ground tell me that european forces are participating more in the battle against isis, especially the french forces, and you have to assume that isis is aware of that and they want to retaliate where they can retaliate. in europe they probably do still have more cells and they probably do intend to do attacks, so we have to be vigilant. the french police made is clear many more police forces are on the ground and they are recruiting more police forces. i understand the other countries like austria are doing the same. it's hard for a person to decide how to, you know, engage or not engage as a result of this warning. we just have to be aware that during this week and next week, and the foreseeable future there could be attacks, especially in europe. >> so we are sharing this information and with the paris

attacks, so happening so recently, of course, we understand why people get nervous. but these warnings are vague. should we really be hyperventilating about this? because at the end of the day, aren't terrorists trying to limit the freedoms that all of us enjoy in the west? the threat is vague. what can security officials even do? what measures can they even take? >> there is really not a lot they can do, other than putting more police on the ground and in places where they think attacks might happen. that especially means in places where people congregate. i think what the european police forces are doing. other than that and other than this vigilant about the surveillance they do, not a lot we can do. we are to assume isis will attack when it can attack and that means especially in europe to retaliate for the greater participation by the european countries and by the fight

against isis and the u.s. too. i think we will see over the next few months whether isis hat capability. i assume they do and they will attempt to activate it. >> playing devil's advocate here, what happened in the pair res attacks, more nations sharing more intelligence and looking through terror watch list names and connecting dots where perhaps they wouldn't have before. considering that, isis knows that. will they plan something so soon again in europe? >> isis is very clever. so they will -- whatever their next attack will be, they will do it in a way, in an attempt to evade detection. the surprise is a big element of their attack, so perhaps they will try to attack a country that, you know, authorities don't expect will be attacked. perhaps they will attack somewhere else, not in europe or in the u.s., but against european or u.s. interests.

they will probably be wise and clever and doing everything they can to evade detection through surveillance, maybe not using electronics as much many time and some aspect of surprise to the attack and that is why it will be successful, if it is successful. >> the news there is information coming from a friendly source that there may be an attack in europe sometime between now and new year's. david tafori, thank you. the message people should still enjoy themselves. a tornado killed eight people in texas. entire neighborhoods are leveled. look at the pictures coming in here. and there is a threat for more of this today. >> there is also scandal this morning for one of the nfl's biggest names. peyton manning, an explosive report accuses the superstar quarterback of doping. he is pushing back hard and

denying those claims. we will bring the story to you next. we are seeing it now. donald trump versus the clintons. overnight, trump slams hillary clinton by citing her husband's history of marriage infidelity and alleged sexual misconduct. we will have the latest on this escalating feud. olay regenerist

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oh, my god. it's huge. >> >> look at that massive funnel cloud ripping through the dallas, texas, area. this was last night. it killed eight people and left destruction all over the place. >> just frightening to watch. a gas station was nearly leveled, as other homes were

completely destroyed. one man said all he could hear was the roar of the winds. listen. >> i actually looked at the twister. i was looking at it. >> reporter: describe it for me. >> it was just a dark d it was a dark funnel and it was just a big roar. it was really scary. it scared me! i mean, i don't scare that easy but i was scared. >> search and rescue operations scheduled to begin at day break just to make sure everyone is accounted for. right now, there are no tornado watches or warnings in the area. but we do understand severe weather is on the way today so we will keep you informed, obviously. new this morning in the race for the white house, donald trump slamming hillary clinton by citing her husband's history of marital infidelity and alleged sexual misconduct. overnight, trump tweeted hillary clinton is letting her husband out to campaign but he has

demonstrated a penchant for sexism, so inappropriate. the feud between trump and the clintons has been building all week starting with trump making this swipe about hillary's failed 2008 run. >> everything involved in hillary clinton is losses. take a look at. even the race for obama. she was going to beat obama. i don't know who would be worse. i don't know. how does it get worse? she was favored to win and she got -- she lost. >> it's not the first time he has demonstrated a penchant for sexism so you get where his comment came from. let's talk with ben ferguson and errol louis. thank you, gentlemen, so much and good to have you with us. >> good morning. >> good morning to you too. ben, what do you make of trump's language in this tweet? essentially the fact i don't know if you noticed it but he said she is letting her husband out. >> yeah. >> there is some hidden verbiage

here, i think with some swipes attached. do you agree? >> donald trump going for, you know, the nice shot betwehind t knee. not surprising. this is his campaign and how he is. he is not going to change. and he, obviously, is going to go after any vulnerable that he sees. i think when you see hillary clinton attack him for being sexist, he says, hey, you might want to look at your own husband, for goodness sakes. let me tell you this. he is going to keep this up. this is not going away. he does not think this is out of bounds in any way and if you come after donald trump hard, whether you're republican or democrat, he will go after you in any way possible and any vulnerable and this is just another xaexample of that. >> errol louis, is bill clinton a vulnerability to her? >> i think ben is right. you're going to see donald trump attack and attack and attack. on this point, i think it's a little misguided gause the actions of a candidate like donald trump, if he is accused of sexism, there is a record

there. not only in his hiring practices but in the words to come out of his mouth. for hillary clinton to say, well, you're married to a guy who did certain things in private that, you know, some people didn't like that some people think were disrespectful to women is not really the same thing at all. i think trump may end up regretting going down that path. i think some of this is coming from, christi, some advisers, roger stone in particular an adviser to donald trump who wrote a book called "the clintons war on women." this has been a conservative talking point and sore point for many years, and people think that what bill clinton did in the 1990s amounted to disrespect for women and he has not properly been held accountable for it. >> trump's spokeswoman katrina pierson said they expect to make mr. clinton's history a real issue here. listen to this. >> hillary clinton has some nerve to talk about the war on

women and the bigotry on women when she has a serious problem in her husband. i could think of quite a few women bullied by hillary clinton to hide her husband's secrets. we could go there? the thing about hillary she does need to be very careful. >> ben, what is your reaction? >> again, i'm not surprised at all. i think what you're seeing from donald trump's campaign, what you heard there from katrina is very simple -- if you're going to go out there and you're going to act like you're some warrior for women and you're going to go after donald trump and claim that he's got some sexism problem, yet you're going to also, at the very same time, put your husband out there with his record with women and with people that were interns at the white house and monica lewinsky, this is not a campaign you want to go after. you might want to do something else. i think donald trump will probably play the entire campaign because bill cinton is probably the best surrogate you could have on the democratic side. he is loved by democratic voters and they are going to try to

take away part of that love fest. some people say people who love bill clinton more than hillary clinton. so if that is your biggest asset they will try to tear him down as much as they can to make it more of a, hey, who do you think you are kind of campaign. >> errol, if spouses are fair game, do trump's three marriages do you think ever come into play here? >> ha, ha. >> i'm curious. i'm not pointing fingers. i'm just curious. >> it's interesting. i laugh because bill and hillary clinton, in fact, were honored guests at donald trump's third wedding. >> it's a complicated relationship, isn't it! they are best friends and come to each other's wedding and now going after each other and infidelity and going after each other. >> we are going to go at each other. i don't see how either gets any advantage from any of mathis. it is sadder parts of american

politics and turns people off. with the problems we are facing with beheadings by isis and faulty economy and black lives matter movement and all of the different issues out there if this is what the campaign turns into it, it will be a very sad day for us. >> it will be sad and interesting to see how many people stick with it at that point too. ben ferguson and errol louis, thank you both. >> thank you. listen. we have new images of intense fighting in ramadi. take a look at this. iraqi forces making gains to try to take back this city from isis. later this hour, peyton manning is the subject of a new documentary that claims he is part of a human growth doping ring. he is denying that but we will bring you more of his reaction next. i wanna see, i wanna see. longing. serendipity. what are the...

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44 minutes past of the hour. new to cnn this morning, isis is being batted in both

iraq and in syria. from iraq, we have new video to show you of the deadly street fighting in ramadi. government forces are just 550 yards away from an isis-held government compound there and hope to retake the key city within the next few days. plus, we are getting these images out of syria where u.s.-backed rebel groups have seized a strategic dam north of raqqa, an isis stronghold. baghdadi released this message. he tells them to be patient, quote, because god is with you. cnn cannot verify the authenticity of that message. let's bring in cnn military analyst lieutenant general mark hertling, a regular here on cnn "new day" and other cnn programs. what is your general assessment of the overall u.s.-led

anti-isis effort? where are we in the plan to bring them down here? >> you have to consider the advances in the iraqi-led anti-isis campaign. that is growing in momentum over the last several months. they have trained a new group of fighters and replaced some of the iraqi security force leaders which is causing some tactical victories, truthfully. you're seeing in iraq, the cutting of supply lines to mosul by kurdish forces and iraqi security forces with the recent victories in sinjar and talafar. you see what is a growing capability of in anbar with the enlistment of the sunni tribal members, both into the security forces and into local militias. you're seeing the government actually reaching out to both of the sunnis and the kurd, something that mr. maliki didn't do in the past. at the same time, in syria you're seeing advances by both

the free syrian army and ypg, the north kurdish elements of syria. all of that is affecting isis on the ground, while the air campaign is being actually achieving some momentum as well. there is more targeting coming in through better intelligence. all of those things are pointing to a little bit of a momentum. i won't say we are about to spike the ball. it's still a long fight in front of us but it's looking relatively better in the last several weeks. >> the u.s. had always said the air strikes only provide a little bit of breathing room for the forces on the ground to do their thing. so positive developments with the iraqi forces and rebels in syria. talk to us more about the dam that is 14 miles north of raqqa, a place isis has declared as its called capital. why is that significant now that it's under rebel control? >> it is so close to the town of raqqa and it has been seized by both the kurdish and the arab

forces. but also because of what it affects in the city of raqqa. it's not only going to affect the water supply but, most importantly, the electricity. when you're in a situation you can cut off power to a town and you can control the amount of power in a government source, that causes an uprising in the citizens as we saw so frequently in iraq when i was there in combat operations. the very fact they can shut that down to the power of the town means they can affect the transfer of oil supplies, gasoline, the pumping of gas, heating, cooking, all of those sorts of things and it will make the citizens of that town rise up even faster against isis and cause them to have problems with their governing capabilities. >> you mentioned forces are about to spike the ball on isis but after disappointing events this year, it's certainly positive developments. lieutenant general mark hertling, thank you for your insight. we appreciate it. >> thank you, errol.

very busy year for pope francis who just celebrated his last mass of the year. what can we expect from him in 2016? we will talk about that. torrential rain has parts of england under states of emergency this morning. [cricket sound] . . ! do you like nuts?

new this morning thousands gather to hear pope francis speak at st. peters basilica. it's his last mass of 2015 and the pope spoke of the importance

of keeping the family together and the joy of forgiveness. let's bring in cnn vatican analyst john allen. what stood out to you? >> hi. well the family has been an extraordinarily important theme for francis throughout this year. in october he presided over a summit of catholic bishops that debated issues of communion for divorced couples, right kind of language for lesbian and gay relationships. he's expected sometime next year in early 2016 to bring out a major document drawing conclusions. what we saw today was another exclamation point from the pope just how important it is he feels family is. let's not lose faith in the family he says. he told those families gathered with him at st. peter's basilica the church and world need you more now than ever. so is this a pope who has the family on his mind.

>> is there particular significance to the pope's last mass of the year? >> well, technically this isn't his last mass because the pope says mass every day but his last sunday mass. this is the traditional feast of the holy family meaning joseph, mary and jesus. if you have to pick the single issue more important to pope francis in 2015 and likely to do on top of his to-do list in 2016 certainly would be the family. >> when we talk about what's happening around the world and these new terror threats across europe wondering if you noticed any difference in security measures at the vatican. >> oh, absolutely. i mean in particular in the wake of the paris terrorist attacks the vatican certainly stepped up security. you notice far more vatican offcials, security officials and vatican police patrolling the area around the vatican,

particularly st. peter's square. the scanning process to get into the basilica has become much more stringent which has had the effect to lengthen the lines. while they are willing to take reasonable precautions the pope won't be slowed down or paralyzed by fear and we've seen evidence of that in recent days. at the end of november the pope took a trip in africa that took a stop in central republic of africa, the first time a pope set foot in a war zone. he told the pilot look if you don't feel it's safe to land give me a parachute. this is a pope that's aware of the realities in the world and is willing to try to take steps to keep him and the people around him safe. this is also a pope that's made

it clear he won't be slowed down. >> john allen, appreciate it very much. thank you. coming up next hour amazing new images of a raging wildfire in southern california. you'll see a news crew right in the middle of all of this. plus a new documentary claims nfl star paton manning is part of a human growth doping ring. manning is speaking up and denying that report. that's straight ahead. right now,

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. flooding is a major problem across northern england. that's what you're looking at. a month's worth of rain has fallen in just days. rivers are bursting. severely flooding damaging several villages. hundreds of people have been evacuated. thousands don't have power. the rain should ease in the next few days. >> the earth seems pretty calm from a distance. take a look. nasa releasing a stunning image showing the earth rising over the moon. untilage is composed of a series

of shots taken by nasa spacecraft in november. >> paton manning strongy denying what some are saying are a bomb shell report. it alleges his involvement in using a performance-enhancing drug. he completely denies it. >> pat paton manning was given supply of human growth in 2011 while recovering from neck surgery. a former employee in indianapolis said the hgh was sent to the hall of famer under his wife's name. the pharmacist recanted his story to al jazeera and espn. cnn sports received a statement, the allegation that i would do something like that is complete garbage and is totally made up.

it never happened. never. i really can't believe somebody would put something like this on air. whoever said this is making stuff up. nfl did not begin testing for hgh until last year. so far no players have ever tested positive for it. >> andy shoals, always good to see you. thank you so much for starting your morning with us. >> your "new day" continues right now. >> it's very big. >> it's massive. >> oh, my gosh it's big. it's hitting -- >> a few deadly tornadoes ripping through parts of texas overnight destroying building, tearing up neighborhoods. we're monitoring the devastating aftermath. this incredible video is from a news crew in the middle of wildfires in southern