vallarta. >> he is 18 years old. he went missing after failing to keep a mandatory meeting with probation officers a week ago. couch was two years into a ten-year probation sentence for killing four people in a 2014 drunk driving crash. let's get to evan perez. >> reporter: they moved in yesterday to make the arrest and found the 18-year-old fugitive with his mother. breaking overnight, the so-called affluenza teen, ethan couch, captured in mexico, the state prosecutor's office releasing this photo to abc news, showing couch with noticeably darker hair, mustache and a beard. the manhunt ending when the mexican authorities nabbed the 18-year-old along with his

mother, tanya. detaining them both near the popular beach resort town of puerto vallarta. the mother and son duo on the lam for more than two weeks, leading u.s. marshals on a massive manhunt. couch went missing earlier this month and warrants were issued for his arrest after this video arose on social media. at the time of his conviction, viting probation meant up to ten years in prison. shortly after couch vanish, texas authorities placed his mother, tanya on a missing persons list as well. believing she might be helping her son. >> our hope is they will both be locked up for some time. >> reporter: couch first made headlines two years ago after only receiving ten years probation in a drunk driving crash that killed four people. >> we had over 180 years of life taken and two of those were my wife and daughter. >> reporter: couch's defense attorney argued that he suffered affluenza, meaning his wealthy

upbringing was to blame for his behavior. michaela, mexican authorities are expected to turn couch over to the u.s. marshals for his return to the u.s. that could happen as soon as later today. >> evan, thanks so much for that. i want to bring in cnn law enforcement analyst, tom fuentes. tom, we have a fugitive and his mother now in custody. i have to tell you, puerto vallarta, a lot of americans vacation there. you surprised they picked such a high-profile location to hide in plain sight? >> actually i was surprised, michaela. normally, we have hundreds, if not thousands of fugitives that flee to mexico. >> yes. >> and have been apprehended by mexican. they normally go to puerto vallarta, acapulco, cancun, a renowned resort area and get caught. the u.s. marshal service, the fbi included, have an outstanding relationship with the mexican authorities when it comes to getting fugitives.

it's interesting, we worry about the bad people, according to trump that come from mexico to the u.s. nobody pays attention to how many americans go there. >> an arrest warrant was issued for this guy and his mom on december 11th. some 18 days ago. the time line of this, did it surprise you that length of time it took or was this speedy in your estimation? >> i think probably about average. you know, it takes some time to try to get the investigative leads out there, to put the word out internationally, with his description and then conduct investigations that determined did he cents the land border driving since it was 1,000 miles, isn't insurmountable as a drive. or did they fly in and try to get the manifest records and passport control records and that type of thing. it's about average. >> they would have worked with mexican authorities, obviously they did. they are the ones that apprehended the suspect and his mother in mexico.

but in terms of getting over the border, are they going to be able to track back how they were able to do that? wouldn't they have been working with border authorities along the way through the course of the search? >> well, that's possibly how they led to this. the marshals leading the investigation, i'm sure started with the idea that they went nearby to either mexico or canada and possibly flew to europe or somewhere else. given that they had the financial means to go just about anywhere. yes, they would certainly be doing that. again, they weren't wanted at the time they fled. they turned up missing and were probably already there, probably already crossed the border without any problem because there were no warrants issued at the time they crossed. >> we have mug shots of the two of them after their apprehension. he's changed his appearance a little bit, grau a muew a musta beard. darkened his hair. we also saw a picture of the mother. i'm curious, what do you expect

will happen to this mother now? >> i don't know. i think in the short run, they're both going to be deported rather than go through the lengthy extradition process. the mexican authorities person either back to their - country of citizenship or the last country from which they entered, both in this case would be the united states. so they'll both be not wanted in mexico and immediately then turned over to the marshals to be brought back to california. so i think that that's going to happen to them. whether she's charged upon return will be a good question. >> you think that extradition/deportation process, the transfer, let's put it that way, the transfer, do you think that will be fairly speedy? should we anticipate his arrival back in the united states today? >> yes, that normally is within a day or two, they'll verify his identification. you know, the u.s. embassy in mexico city will get involved, verifying that they have the certificates of the arrest warrants and all the

documentation that says it's him. >> right. >> the mexican authorities can move very quickly and deport him. >> what now for that teenager? because he was on probation. he violated his probation by fleeing. we don't know if he violated his probation for drinking. there was a -- people suspected he might have because he was seen on video playing beer pong. we don't know if he was actually drunking at that said beer pong party. what happens to him now? >> that's a great question. i think if it goes back to the same judge, he could revoke his probation, get up to ten years in prison from the original sentence. given how he's been handled up till now by the judicial system down there, they might put him in a time-out and give hum a spanking. >> you don't seem to think he was given the right kind of sentence here. >> i didn't say that. i just said that he was handled very leniently. if that stays consistent, we don't know what's going to happen when he gets back.

>> what do you think should happen to him? >> i think he should go to prison. >> all right. tom fuentes, we will see. we appreciate you joining us today. again, he's in custody, now ethan couch and his mother, awaiting exchange with the u.s. authorities. he'll be back here to face his future. christine. authorities in belgium believe they have foiled a possible new year's terror plot in brussels. two people are under arrest. the city is raising its terror alert level for all police and military buildings. erin mclaughlin live for us this morning with breaking details. >> reporter: we're getting startling details of that potential terrorist plot thwarted in brussels. this morning, according to a statement released from the belgian federal prosecutor's office, authorities have uncovered, quote, a serious threat of an attack targeting several emblematic sites in brussels during the new year's celebration.

belgium media is reporting that one of the targets with the police station near the grand plaza in before usle. they are raising the threat level from a two to a three out of a possible four for military personnel and police in brussels, meaning that an attack is possible and likely. all of this following a series of raids that took place in brussels area as well as other parts of belgium, sunday into monday. during those raids, authorities say they found isis propaganda, military training outfits as well as computer equipment. though no guns, no explosives were found during those raids. they've arrested two individuals and charged them with terrorist related offenses. the identities of those individuals have not been disclosed as this investigation is very much ongoing. don? >> thank you very much for that. we want to turn now to the extreme weather that's blame for more than 40 deaths across the

country. residents in the northeast waking up to the season's first winter storm and snow and freezing rain pummeling the region. it may disrupt the travel throughout the day. let's go to boris sanchez live on i-95 in newtown, massachusetts. good morning, boris. >> good morning, don. the storm isn't really overwhelming for the northeast. it's only one through three inches of snow. as you noted what's really out of place here is the timing. it's almost december 30th and this is the first snowfall they're seeing in the northeast. this is an area that typically starts getting snow in early november. it's one through three inches. in the past hour or so it's transformed into a sleet mix. it's making conditions on the highway very dangerous. the massachusetts department of transportation, though, has things cover. they have more than 1,200 crews out, trying to make sure the snow and sleet is off the road. despite that, just a few hundred yards from where we're standing we actually saw an accident unfold this morning.

a driver lost control and slammed into a guardrail. rescue crews had to come out an help him. the same storm we're seeing here in massachusetts was in texas over the weekend, hitting dallas and other areas with very hard tornadoes. even as those tornadoes move out, recovery will be very difficult. because today they're seeing freezing temperatures in that area. as residentstry to move on from the storms, the weather isn't really helping them out. it's also slowing things down at airports. there are more than 30 cancellations right now. excuse me, more than 30 delays right now, more than 20 cancellations. they're concentrated in boston, detroit and chicago. that number, however, expected to continue to climb as the storm keeps moving eastward. michaela? >> it's that busy travel season right now. a lot of people still traveling for the holidays. best to check with the airlines before you head there. meanwhile, how much snow and freezing rain will the northeast see today?

and where will those travel delays be the worst specifically? jennifer grey is here with the forecast. >> temperatures are trying to get close to freezing but in new york, it is mainly rain. we have seen a little bit of a changeover in central park. new york city will primarily get rain. we will see delays anywhere from philly, new york, all the way up to boston. in fact, boston could pick up a couple of inches. they are getting a little bit of a wintry mix, though, with temperatures hovering around freezing. a closer look at the aid ar. you can see mainly snow inside boston. look at that, right on the outskirts we're getting that mix and eventually it will all change to rain. this moves out, the good news about this system, it's a fast mover. it's mainly going to be out of the big cities by this afternoon. we're looking at the ice, though, accumulation, anywhere from quarter inch to half an inch, places like albany, suburbs of boston could pick up some ice. we know it only takes a quarter

inch of ice to bring down trees and power lines. we could see power outages across portions of the northeast. the snow forecast, the big amounts will be in northern new england. we're looking at 8 to 12 inches possibly in portland, 2 to 4 inches across places like new hampshire, vermont. the heavier snowfall amounts will stay to the north. it look like wee a are finally kicking off the winter season in the northeast. >> jennifer grey, thank you for that. the new cnn/orc poll, how is obama's legacy taking shape? and did he deliver on his promise to bring about change? cnn's jim acosta live in honolulu with the vacationing first family. good morning, jim. >> reporter: good morning, christine. president obama is getting his end of the year grades kurt sieve our new cnn/orc poll. as you might expect, given some of the heated rhetoric, americans are outraged with the way the government is being run back in washington. take a look at this.

our poll shows three-quarters of americans are dissatisfied with their government and consider this one, 69% say they are either very angry or somewhat angry with washington. that's perhaps no surprise. when you listen to the rhetoric out there. despite the president's hope as a candidate back in 2008, to heal the bitter political divide in washington as you mentioned, christine, our poll finds most americans are pretty much split on what mr. obama has achieved in the oval office. in terms of significant change, most americans believe he has brought significant change to the country. but look at this, 37% say that change has been for the better. while the same number, 37%, say that change has been for the worst. pretty even divide there. our poll finds one bright spot for the president and that is on the economy. 52% say they like the way the president has handled the economy. 47% say they disapprove. that is likely one reason the president has higher

favorability numbers than congress which is barely into double digits in our cnn/orc poll. the president has the potential, don, for being remembered for his handling of the economy more than anything else. that's a potential upside to democrats heading into this campaign year. >> better favorability than congress. that is not saying much, jim acosta. thank you, jim. y y . the family of tamir rice after a grand jury decides not to indict in the shooting death of the 12-year-old. prosecutors said it was a perfect storm of human error, mistakes in communications by all involved and there was no criminal conduct by police. >> meanwhile, the chicago police officer charged with the murder of 17-year-old laquan mcdonald will be in court later this morning for his arraignment. jason van dyke is expected to plead not guilty.

in the meantime, the father of a 19-year-old shot and killed saturday by chicago police has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city. mayor rahm emanuel is cutting his vacation in cuba short to deal with all of this. he is expected back today. puerto rico's governor declared three days of mourning on the island after three officers were shot and killed at a police headquarters in the city of ponce. the suspect is one of their own colleagues. he is in custody. investigators say an argument preceded those shootings. we are following breaking news, two suspected terrorists in custody in belgium. latest details concerning their plot, next. ♪ (vo) some call it giving back. we call it share the love. during our share the love event, get a new subaru, and we'll donate $250 to those in need. bringing our total donations to over sixty-five million dollars.

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breaking news for you. the new threat level being raised in brussels after authorities in belgium foiled a possible new year's terror attack. two people under arrest now. all this just weeks after brussels was shut down by a terror threat. let's bring in cnn's paul cruickshank, terrorism analyst and editor in chief of ctc sentinel. as i understand you have new reporting on this. what do you know? >> reporter: that's right, don. just being told by a senior belgian counterterrorism official that they believe that this plot was inspired by isis but not directed by isis. so the inspiration coming from the terrorist group in syria and iraq. but they've not seen the travel

flows back to syria and iraq that they saw in the paris plot. this is more like a san bernardino-type plot where the inspiration comes from isis. but the plot which they have uncovered and which they have thwarted was to attack a new year day celebrations here in brussels, iconic sites in brussels, tourist attractions in brussels. belgian media also now reporting that a police headquarters just off the central square, the grand place was also going to be a target. not clear how far advanced this plot was. the police did not find weapons or explosives. that suggests that they hadn't got to the final stages of planning, don. >> i want to the ask you this. i know you've been meeting with belgian counterterrorism officials on the threat and how seriously they take this. i'm wondering if they think it's connected. we were talking about vienna

yesterday and the larger, broader plot they believe is part of europe. how seriously are they taking that? and is it connected? >> reporter: there is no evidence at this point that there is any connection whatsoever to that alert several days ago that went out in vienna when a friendly intelligence service told austrian authorities there was some concern about a number of individuals who might be back in europe and who might pose a risk. that kind of chatter is constantly coming in to european intelligence services. much of it from the americans. it's difficult for them to evaluate but obviously post-paris they can't take any risk. but it may well be this is a separate threat which they thwarted here in belgium, more of a home grown threat inspired but not directed by isis. it comes at a time, don, where there's an unprecedented concern right across europe, including here in brussels about the terrorist threat to europe that

isis is pivoting towards launching attacks against the european countries that are targeting isis as part of the anti-sisco list. belgium is one of those countries, they're flying air sorties over iraq. isis have called for attacks against belgium and many other european countries. this comes a few weeks after this capital was essentially closed down for several days because of a terrorism alert that went out here. they went up to maximum alert. i'm also finding out why that happened. it was because there was a text message that was intercepted on that day, november 20, a week after the paris attacks. and that text message suggested that there was a possibility of a terrorist attack here in brussels within a day. they have a sense, back then, a few weeks ago, of a really imminent threat against the capital. eventually they were able to lower that threat level.

it's been ratcheted up against police headquarters now just in the last few hours with this new plot thwarted. everybody on high alert, everybody very worried here in europe about what happens next. >> as you know, many of the paris attackers are believed to have been based in belgium. there's particular concern about this. ever since those attacks, belgium has been on high alert there. and we're wondering about salah abdeslam. they still not have found him. what is his connection to that and his connection to belgium? >> i've spoken to multiple officials about this now. they all told me the same thing. the trail for salah abdeslam went totally cold at day after of paris attacks. he was last known to be back in brussels. a couple friends picked him up after the paris attacks, brought him back to brussels. he went to ground in scarbek, a district very dear to me here in

brussels. he may be hiding in a cellar here in the belgium capital. the belgian officials are shaking the tree, arresting a lot of his known associates and accomplices. they are trying to narrow the space he can operate in. because he'll be seeing on the associates, are being rounded up by the police, they're being questioned and so his world has become very, very small, that he can operate in right now. he may be in deep hiding somewhere, perhaps still here in brussels, perhaps somewhere else in a country nearby. i think there's some skepticism now he could have got to syria, don. >> pool cruickshank with the breaking news this morning about the alert in belgium and the larger alert in europe. thank you very much. we appreciate that. michaela, over to you. fighting word frsz tom the e minister of iraq. he's vowing to terminate isis in his country. he's putting a very tight focused time frame on that goal. we're live in iraq with the details for you, next.

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can't find you anywhere! don't settle for u-verse. x1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. 20 minutes past the hour. 28 minutes past the hour. defiant iraqi prime minister predicting isis will be dealt a fatal blow in 2016. he says the terror group will be pushed out of iraq next year on the heels of reclaiming ramadi. we go live to baghdad with the latest on strong words from the iraqi prime minister. >> reporter: there is absolutely no doubt that ramadi is incredibly strategic and a huge achievement post that humiliating defeat in may when iraqi forces fled an oncoming

isis contingent from that city. but we still do know that there are continuing isis fighters and isis -- pockets of isis fighters inside ramadi. we're seeing that reflected in the continuing intensive coalition strike. seven this morning alone, claiming to have hit five tactical units. the iraqis contend although the purge is ongoing, that what they've done in ramadi is create a blueprint that they believe they can replicate in fallujah and in mosul. one of the more -- most strategic isis cities. we're also getting reports on the ground that civilians are able at the moment while isis is currently in this state of disarray to move out of some of those isis territorial possessions in other parts of anbar province into the safety of that centrally held district in ramadi. while the americans are cautiously optimistic, not fight yet ready to call it fully liberated, there's definitely a sense here on the ground that

there are finally momentum in this fight against isis. back to you, christine. >> thanks for that. the fugitive affluenza teen captured at a popular resort town in mexico. will his next stop be to prison back in the u.s.? our legal experts weigh in next. it's hard to find time to keep up on my shows.

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more breaking news, the so-called affluenza teen captured in mexico after weeks on the run. ethan couch is his name, picked up by mexican authorities with his mother. is american prison the next stop for the duo? let's bring in cnn legal analysts, both of them criminal defense attorneys and evenly matched. the talk about both of these cases here. i want to ask you guys as defense attorneys, what's the defense for ethan couch after doing this? how do you defend what has happened? he has ten years probation and people were upset saying he should have gotten way more. >> let's start with the obvious, don. the obvious is he's got a bit of a problem. we know that. the fact is, whenever you run it demonstrates some type of consciousness of guilt, something you should never do. however, remember this, at the time he was sentenced he was a juvenile. the purpose of the proceedings are, we know the tenets of the criminal justice system, punishment, deterrent,

rehabilitation. 16 years old at the time of this horrific offense, four people dead. he's scared. doesn't know what to do. he's still a young guy. he'sunder the influence of his mother, his parents, i'm thinking. therefore, there should be mercy because there's a rehabilitation element that's present within him. he has a long way to go in life. he can be redeemed, effective member of society if given the tune. >> the a lot to unpack here, what he talked about, danny. in the commission in trying to get away, it was obvious he was hiding. take a look at the picks. this is what he looked like when they picked him up in mexico. changed his hair color. did his mom influence him to do this? what gives in this particular case? there is a lot to unpack. >> there's a lot to unpack. but this is not that different from any other probationer who violates his or her probation. whether you're in the juvenile system or the adult system, one

of the last things you want to do as a defendant on probation is go back before that judge that gave you the gift of probation in the first place and show that judge why that judge may have made a mistake. there's no angrier judge in the criminal justice system than a back judge on probation when you've violated probation. because what that judge can do is either reinstate probation or, more likely, revoke probation. that original probation, being allowed to stay outside under the law in that jurisdiction, ten years probation was the maximum number of years of probation he could have gotten under the law. if he was exceedingly lucky under the circumstances, he will not be so lucky once he goes back before the back judge. >> that was probation. people were saying he should have gotten ten years in jail, if not more. is this a continuation, though, of miscarriage of justice as

many people see? as i understand, the original judge is retired now. >> that's the bigger problem, don. the judge who gave him the gift of probation is no longer there. every judge has a wide degree of discretion in terms it of what they do and how they handle you. certainly if there was any opportunity now for a judge, you know, to met out justice in this case, to reverse what was thought of many that this was just an inappropriate sentence that had no relation to what he actually did, let's think about this. four people dead, 16 or not. another in your car who's brain dead and other one injured. if ever there was an opportunity for now the judge sitting there with the other judge gone, you know what, we gave you an opportunity the first time, we focused on rehabilitation. you blew it and now you're going to do the full measure of your sentence. let's add one last element. he was 16 at the time of the commission of the offense. he's an adult now. >> he's 18, 19 in april.

>> still, danny, when you're 18 or 19, not to excuse what he did, obviously it's horrible. the question is going to shall how much influence did his mother have over him as an 18-year-old, 17-year-old, 18-year-old, almost turning 19 now? what happens to the mom now? >> well, the mother faces all kinds of problems of her own. number one, in this jurisdiction, when a juvenile's placed on probation, a parent can be made a part of that probation order. so even under a juvenile's probation order, the parent may have obligations. after all, in many cases, the juvenile's living with the parent and the parent must enforce things like curfew and other rules. the other part, too, is separately as an offense, that parent may be harboring a fugitive. mom is going to have a number of questions to answer in court. whether under the original probation order if she had any obligations or as a new separate criminal offense. either way, this is not a good idea to take your son to mexico

to avoid his probation obligation if that's in fact what she did. >> a lot of legal experts said when this happened we'd be seeing him again, once he was sentenced we'd be seeing him again. guess what, sadly, we're seeing him again. i want to turn to tamir rice. are you surprised there were no indictments handed down? >> i'm not surprised but the process left a lot to be desired. as a prosecutor you have a wide degree of discretion in terms of how you handle the case. you're the judge, the jury, the executioner with the grand jury. the manner in which this occurred, i felt he should have potentially been recused from the outset and a special prosecutor placed there. when you're the local prosecutor and working closely with the police, working with them for your prosecutions, your arrests, it's difficult for you to sit in judgment of them. it goes against a notion of trust we have in the process and the system. and any prosecutor whoen watts an indictment an a conviction certainly gets one because you

control the flow of information. and if you look at for one second, if you pose this next to baltimore, where, you know, within weeks there was a criminal actual complaint against the officers and then an indictment, you look at, for example, south carolina with slager who shot, you know, michael scott in the back. within months there was an indictment. here, why did it take over a year, first of all, to go before the grand jury? and after that, there's no action. i'm one who says the process -- >> there needs to be more transparency in the process. when you look at his officer, danny, he was a trainee. here's what the prosecutor tim mcginty called the case, a perfect storm of human mistakes. when you look at the officer's record and the whole situation, where do the mistakes stop and the criminality begin? >> the supreme court addressed that very issue. unfortunately, the law remains somewhat unsettled. if you look at the facts of this

case, this is an officer who, yes, was sitting in the passenger's seat. his brother officer was the one driving the car that brought him so close to tamir rice in the first place. and that i think is part of why mcginty is calling this an unfortunate set of circumstances, because the shooting officer was not the one that brought him within seven feet of tamir rice. but even all of that aside, you know, i have to dissent respectfully with joey jackson when he says people are demanding a more transparent process. this is the grand jury system. it was never designed to be transparent. if we don't like that as a citizenry, we need to change it. but if we are disappointed in the grand jury process because it's not transparent, it was never designed to be. >> we're not talking -- >> >> as to whether or not we're surprised -- >> danny. >> joey. >> we're talking about the process of mcginty bringing the matter before the grand jury. the fact is that the local prosecutor should divorce himself from that so that the

citizens know that the presentation of the information is fair. that the flow of information is what the grand jury needs to see, needs to evaluate. when you have a local prosecutor who controls -- as a former prosecut prosecutor, i can tell you, the grand jury would do what i would want it to do. >> exactly. >> when an outside entity should have presented information to the grand jury to allow the commune to the have trust and faith and respect in the outcome. >> you two gentlemen can pick this up later. danny will be here in new york on cnn. we'll be discussing that. >> look forward to it. >> sorry, danny, we'll get you back in on cnn wean we'll discuss. coming up in the 8:00 hour, we'll talk to the family of tamir rice about the grand jury decision. americans seem to agree that the country has changed under president obama. is it for the better or for worse? we'll take a closer look at a brand new cnn poll coming up next.

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there have been 43 weather related deaths in the past week, sadly. there were blizzard conditions inple in nm. brand new cnn/orc poll just released this hour shows that americans are divided over president obama's legacy. but not on their anger with washington. 75% say they're not satisfied with the way that the nation is being governed. just 24% approve. as for whether the obama presidency has brought about significant change, 37% say yes for the better, 37% say yes for the worse. we'll crunch the numbers ahead on the show. >> what does it all mean? meantime, a federal judge is allowing a planned parenthood clinic in columbia, missouri, to keep its abortion license. the clinic cannot perform any abortions until it gets a doctor on staff with hospital privileges as required by state law. the previous doctor's privileges were discontinued december 1st. st. louis has the only legal abortion clinic in missouri.

be careful on that new hover board. consumer safety officials say the popular gift has sent at least 70 people to the emergency room in the last few days, don lemon. >> wow. >> mostly because they fell off or they slammed into something. many of the victims have been parents, not children. lower center of gravity, you know. amazon stopped sell something hover boards this month because of concerns they can catch fire. 20 incidents or more have been reported. that's the problem. we still think we have the balance we had when we were a kid. >> airlines will not allow them on the planes. you can't take them with you, you can't put them in a carry-on. >> give the child back his toy. >> i was. >> when you get to be our age, the hips are fragile and bones don't -- >> speak for yourself. >> how do americans really feel, michaela was just talking about

this, about president barack obama and the job he's done heading into the final year in office. the surprising takeaways from a brand new cnn poll. that's next. getting older shouldn't mean giving up all the things she loves to do. it should just mean, well, finding new ways to do them. right at home's professional team thoughtfully selects caregivers to provide help with personal care, housekeeping, and of course, meal preparation. oh, that smells so good. aw, and it tastes good, too. we can provide the right care, right at home.

president obama's legacy started to take shape with just a ye remaining in his second term, now in a brand new cnn poll americans are weighing in on just how the president is handling key issues, the economy, guns, climate change, so much more. so how does he fare? >> i can't believe it's been so long. we're talking about legacy. seem like we were just covering him being elected. here this morning is jackie kucinich and mr. errol louis.

>> it makes you wonder where he's been for the last eight years. >> asleep at this time of the morning. the public is evenly divided on whether president obama has brought negative or good change to the country. what is his legacy and how will this impact the 2016 election? >> how his legacy womill impact the 2016 election depends on hillary clinton. if hillary clinton starts to do well with the general population, you can't discount the fact that president obama is helping her get there. the most important issue still among americans according to gallop is in the economy. it will help things like senate races. that's another thing, the democrats have a high priority going into 2016 on. >> if you also look at the

dissatisfaction number of how the country is being governed, 75% of americans are unhappy and dissatisfied with the governing of the nation. that can't be solely placed on the president's lap. he also has to work with his congressional partners. >> well, try explaining that to an angry voter, right? i think what you have happening is people are greatly dissatisfy. if you go through the poll it looks like they're much more unhappy with congress than the president. on one level they don't quote, unquote, blame him but on the other hand, the frustration, it's an almost sieeething kind anger that comes through. we elected you to get things done, you said hope and change, here we are eight years, seven years later and there hasn't been enough change. >> i'm unhappy. >> somebody has to answer. >> the buck stops with him. he's president. he's going to take credit or blame for whatever happens as he has taken credit with what

happened with the economy. 52% approval rating when it comes to the economy. do you think he's getting the credit he deserves, jackie, for helping the economy to bounce back? >> hillary clinton as part of her stump speech says the president is not getting the credit he deserves. it all comes down to how people feel on election day. if they feel like the economy is doing better, democrats will probably be in better shape. >> let's take you to another big topic. this is one that it seems no president can really make -- he feels this is his biggest disappointment. he doesn't talk much about regret but this is one. the issue of gun control. 62% disapprove of his handling of that issue. he knows he wished he could have done more. what's interesting is on gun control laws we have another poll here, has barack obama gone too far? 39% -- 38% say that not gone far enough, 39% say he's gone too far. 20% say he's been about right.

>> gone too far how though? he hasn't made any changes. >> this is interesting. that sort of cracks it open, right? 62% don't like what he's done but it's evenly split between those who think he's done too much and those who think he hasn't done enough. we are in utter deadlock, actual deadlock. some people want their guns and like the things the way they are and want it to go further. there are those who say he should have done something radical like tell the pentagon you're going to stop buying certain guns from certain gunmakers if you don't change your policy. >> do you think we could see an executive order on gun control? >> i tend to doubt it. this is not a president who's ever favored sudden disruptive action if it was going to overturn everything. he went as far as he could on the affordable care act. even that took time. he's not giving in to those sudden aks. >> now to new hampshire.

donald trump, he has a lot of money, he says that, he's proud of it. but he also says he's not spending a lot of money on his campaign. now he says he's going to start. >> we're going to spend a lot of money over the next four weeks. we just don't want to take any chances. we're too close. >> how much will this shake up the race if he starts to spend money? >> it's been interesting to see donald trump do this campaign from the outside in. when talking to voters on the ground in new hampshire, we had a reporter there last night, they were telling them they hadn't been asked by the trump campaign to go knocking on doors. some of those fundamental, traditional things you see, particularly in the early states. so trump spending money and maybe getting out the vote, you know, maybe his poll numbers will rise again. you never know. >> you never know. we'll be watching. what's interesting that happened in new hampshire last night wasn't so much the fact that he didn't continue to attack the clintons but what he did do,

errol, he shifted his focus, focusing more on chris christie, on the new hampshire union leader, the paper he's had an ongoing tiff with. >> he hates that. >> he really does. i'm curious, what did you make of all of that? >> he hates the newspaper. the feeling seems to be mutual. >> they compared him to biff. >> they call him dishonest and hard to understand. >> the most serious charged leveled by the newspaper, the one he has to worry about is when they say he's not a serious conservative. he doesn't systematically thought through what he stands for so you can't attach principles to it. that's a serious indictment of somebody. it, frankly, reflects what donald trump has been all through this, which is somebody who's challenging a lot of the establish base of the republican party. the way that things go, he's got a populous surge coming, sort of from the outside. but the institutions of the republican party, the sort of

clusters, the organized caucuses within it, which the newspaper is an important part and always has been, they're not so comfortable with it. that's what this reflects. >> it's a bit like the weather, wait a minute, you'll see more from donald trump in the coming -- >> and the water in some places. >> jackie, errol, good to have i don't with us. >> thank you. >> we are following a whole lot of news this morning. i think it's time for us to get right to it. mexican authorities apprehended the so-called affluenza teen. >> this kid was 16 when he killed four people. he's only 18 now. he faces the possibility of up to ten years in jail. and for the victim's families, they say that's not enough time. >> there are reports that donald trump's campaign is going to put some money out there. >> trump tied with the pope as the second most admired man in america. >> trump has to demonstrate he's serious and not just appealing to the cameras.

authorities in belgium believe they have foiled a possible new year's terror plot in brussels. targeting several emblematic sites. police were hovering military style uniforms and isis propaganda materials. this is cnn breaking news. >> good morning. welcome back to your "new day." chris and alisyn are off today. don lemon and christine romans join us. we begin with breaking news at this hour. afl several weeks on the run, ethan couch, the so-calld affluenza teen is now in custody. mexican authorities picking him up along with his mother in the resort town of puerto vallarta. they are now awaiting extradition to the united states. >> the 18-year-old went missing after skipping a mandatory meeting with his probation officer. couch is two years into a ten-year probation sense for killing four people in a drunk driving crash in 2013. let's get right to cnn's justice reporter evan perez who broke the story. he has the latest for us this

morning. >> reporter: the u.s. marshal service in recent days alettered mexican authorities that they had tracked down ethan couch. police near puerto vallarta moved in yesterday to make that arrest. they found the 18-year-old fugitive with his mother. breaking overnight, the so-called affluenza teen, ethan couch, captured in mexico, the state prosecutor's office releasing this photo to abc news, showing couch with noticeably darker hair, mustache and a beard. the manhunt ending when mexican authorities nabbed the 18-year-old along with his mother, tanya. nearly 1,000 miles from their hometown, detaining them both near the popular beach resort town of puerto vallarta. the mother and son duo on the lam for more than two weeks, leading u.s. marshals on a massive manhunt. couch went missing earlier this month and officers issued a warrant for his arrest after this video surfaced on social media. appearing to show couch playing

beer pong at a party, a violation of his probation. at the time of his conviction, violating probation meant up to ten years in prison. shortly after couch vanished, texas authorities placed his mother, tanya on a missing persons list as well. believing she might be helping her son. >> our hope is they will both be locked up for some time. >> reporter: couch first made headlines two years ago after only receiving ten years probation in a drunk driving crash that killed four people. >> we had over 180 years of life taken and two of those were my wife and daughter. >> reporter: couch's defense attorney argued that he suffered affluenza, meaning his wealthy upbringing was to blame for his behavior. don, mexican authorities are expected to turn couch over to u.s. marshals for his return to the u.s. that could happen as soon as later today. >> i want to bring in jonathan gilliam. he's a law enforcement analyst

with experience as a navy s.e.a.l. as well. >> they'll maneuver to get them back over into the united states. i'm sure they'll be held, not released right now. because they've kind of taken on another aura of who they might have been before as a kid, the judge i guess who thought had issues psychologically. now we see criminal -- real criminal behavior as though there was a criminal behavior there before. >> how did they get this kid and his mom? it doesn't seem like they were not gone very long. was this relatively easy, relatively easy to get? >> i'm not privy to the intel. i don't know if they had homes down there or if they knew people. i would have to say that it was probably one of two things. they either knew somebody down there and so authorities were kind of alerted that they might be in that area or, you know, it became such a public image that he was easily identifiable. >> i was going to say, it's all

over the media. >> right. >> he escaped 600 miles. how did he get down below the border? how did he get there? why pick a place like puerto vallarta where there's so many people who might recognize him? and there you see he changed his appearance as well. >> his appearance looks exactly the same. he just has darker hair. if you're going to change your appearance, you have to go all out. i haven't seen this individual as being extremely bright from the beginning. he just got a huge break from a judge who should be held accountable for allowing somebody to, you know, kind of slide on this thing that -- this affluenza. i think that was a stretch to begin with. >> back before we start talking about his original sentence of probation, you thought it would be relatively easy, i remember talking to you about this, these are people not used to being on the run, they're not professional escape artists so to speak. >> right. anytime somebody has to go on the run, things start to change. even if you have money, you still are not going to be able

to reach back into the pockets you normally are able to reach into to get your money. once you start going on the run, things have to change. if you're used to living an affluent life and you're not used to changing or altering things, you'll make big mistakes. i think that's probably part of what happened here. >> when you're looking at what you do as part of law enforcement and what lawyers do and defense attorneys, many people are upset, right, prosecutors at least are upset because you mentioned the kind of sentence that he got. but does this make your job even harder when someone gets a defense like affluenza that there will be someone who flees? >> as a law enforcement officer it doesn't makemy job harder. i'm going to go after people for what they've done. in this case, the gng of this whole thing was four people were killed because of an accident that he was involved with. now he's a fugitive. so from a law enforcement

perspective, this kid is a bad apple and he continues to go down the road of crime. so it's not going to change my image of him and my job. the legal system, though, we talked to joey jackson, that's going to be a completely different story. >> what do you think should happen to this teen next? and what should happen to his mother? because, again, he's still a teenager. he's an adult, he's 18, will be 19 in april. what should happen to him an his mother who probably had a great influence on him? >> the full force of the law should come down on him. it should be made an example, not only to other people but to the judge who handed down the original sentence saying that him being rich was to blame for all this. self-responsibility is a huge thing. the public needs to realize this. since this started, it appears to me that this kid has taken -- well, young man has taken no responsibility. and he hasn't changed his ways. so i think the full force of the law needs to come down on him

when they get him back. >> i asked you this a bill earlier and didn't get a specific answer. are you surprised they went so close, to puerto vallarta. when people are not being on the run they make mistakes. are you surprised they chose that particular place. >> when i heard it, i kind of chuckled. they didn't go into the woods or desert to disappear. they went to a holiday retreat. >> maybe they thought hiding in plain sight would be the best thing. >> maybe. unless you're going to change your image completely and you show up places, i've been all over the world, cnn is on in all these places. their faces are going to be plastered all over the place. that's the exact same guy, just with a dark beard. >> i have a friend vacationing in mexico, watching cnn and the show right now. you're right. that is a rookie mistake to think you within change your hair color and look exactly the same. >> i have a feeling that his behavior stands out. if i had to look at him from a behavioral standpoint, he seems

that he's one of those guys that never retreats into the shadows. he's always out there. >> he can't help himself, like being at the beer pong game, he can't help himself. >> exactly. two people under arrest in belgium after a terror attack planned for new year's in brussels was thwarted. we're now learning the plan was inspired by isis. cnn's erin mclaughlin is in london with the breaking details. >> reporter: that's right. startling details out of brussels morning. the target emget attic si-- emblematic sites in brussels. they say this may have been isis inspired but not isis directed. belgian media saying one of the target was a police station near the grand place in brussels.

authorities there this morning have raised the threat level for police and military personnel from a two to a three out of a possible four, meaning that an attack is possible and likely. now, all of this following a series of raids that took place throughout belgium sunday and monday. during those raids authorities say they fond isis propaganda, military training outfits as well as computer equipment. though no weapons, no explosives have been found. two people were arrested, charged with terrorism related offenses. their identities have yet to be released as this investigation is very much ongoing. michaela? >> because it's ongoing, we will stick with it. thank you so much for that. we turn back home here, state side, snow and freezing rain slamming parts of new england, making for an extremely messy commute this morning. it's the first significant winter storm to hit the northeast this season, late in the season, in fact.

boris sanchez, a little late in the season to be donning the cold weather gear. >> typically this area gets snow starting in november. we're now at december 29th. this storm is expected to drop 1 to 3 inches of snow. at about 6:00 a.m. it switched to this snow/sleet mix. it is expected to continue raining into the evening before it becomes snow again at night. right now, conditions on the road are really not that bad. we've seen dozens of snowplows coming through this area. this is southbound i-95. and even though the road is somewhat clear, it's still very dangerous, about 300 yards from where we're standing earlier today, a driver lost control and slammed into a guardrail. emergency crews had to come out to help him. the same storm that's hitting massachusetts right now is the storm that hit texas over the weekend withes s ddozens dead.

unfortunately in dallas today, they'll be dealing with friesen temperatures. even as those residents try to come out from under the storm, they're dealing with more severe weather from mother nature. another aspect of travel that is dealing with this storm, air travel. several airports already dealing with cancellations and delays. the focus of them in boston and detroit and chicago were yesterday there were about 1,600 cancellations and delays because of severe weather. so this storm as it continues moving east, causing a lot more damage in its wake. don? >> boris sanchez, i feel sa bo for you out there. thank you so much. how much snow and freezing will will the northeast see today? how much and where will travel delays be the worst? we have the great news for you. fortunately for me i don't have to deliver it but jennifer grey does. what is the forecast. >> just the messenger, don.

we are going to see a little bit of a changeover, already changing over to rain in new york city. they did get a little bit. a wintry mix around central park a couple hours ago. we are seeing most of the snow staying in northern new england. we're getting icy conditions around the boston area. this will be a fast mover, changing to rain and moving out of here by this afternoon. we'll see a quarter inch to half inch of ice in upstate new york, also the new hampshire/vermont area, less than quarter of an inch. we could see power outages around some of those areas. the higher amounts of snow, 8 to 12 inches, that's going to be in maine. we are going to see possibility of 2 to 4 inches around the boston area. we are late on the winter season. it's finally here, though. it looks like this will be a slow start to the winter season

because these snowfall totals aren't very high. i guess we'll take it because travel will be trouble today no matter what, guys. >> jennifer grey, thank you so much for that. a lot of flight cancellations and delays. please check before you go to the airport. the family of tamir rice not mincing words after an ohio grand jury decided not to indict officers who shot and killed the 12-year-old in 2013. they are accusing prosecutors of sabotaging that case. martin savidge in cleveland with more. >> reporter: this case has been controversial, of course, from the beginning. obviously why. you have the death of a 12-year-old little boy shot and killed by cleveland police. there's been a lot of criticism that has been thrown against the prosecutor, tim mcginty, one, because of how long this has taken. it's been over a year. the grand jury has been meeting for several months. the announcement had been anticipated. here's the way it was delivered by the prosecutor. >> given this perfect storm of

human error, mistakes and miscommunication, by all involved that day, the evidence did not indicate criminal conduct by police. >> so there you have it. what is obviously a devastating blow to tamir rice's mother and the family. they believe and still believe and have said they believe their son was murdered by the cleveland police, they don't feel the shooting was justifiable. the biggest criticism had been that the officers acted so quickly after responding to the scene. the shooting taking place in one to two seconds after the officers pulled up. they had been told of a suspect with a gun. they had not been told that the caller also said it was probably a juvenile and the gun probably not real. there are now questions being asked about the police operators and the 911 operators. that investigation just beginning. >> i'll take it here, martin. the family attorney will join us

live next hour. we'll get his reaction to all of this. meanwhile, a pennsylvania woman is facing conspiracy charges after her brother escaped from prison over the weekend. authorities say vanessa hamlin got a call from her brother, whalen, asking her to pick him up when he broke out of prison. she drove near the prison but turned away only to see her brother show up at her home where she allowed him in to change his clothes. police are still looking now for the escapee and another sibling who drove off with the convict. i want you to take close attention. this is popular, like those hover boards. there was a bit of a scare forever the president's motorcade during his vacation in hawaii. a drone started flying along the motorcade for a few seconds. secret service agents quickly approached the man praoperatinge drone. >> interesting challenge for

secret service. because -- >> poor guy. he must have begun scared to death. secret service guys coming to say, is that your drone? >> how did he not know the president was vacationing in hawaii? everybody talks about it. you know traffic gets tied up. >> keep your drone at home, michaela. >> they're so chilled. not everybody is out driving. they just hang out. >> no charges filed. it was a simple accident. >> what are you trying to say about the people in hawaii? take that back. >> what are you talking about? >> it's hawaii. >> on with the news. >> you know that. >> we apologize. >> zip it, lock it, put it in your pock pet. >> that's a mother speaking right there. >> yes, ma'am. the country ready to retake mosul from isis and drive the terror group from iraq next year. we speak to an official on the

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eliminate isis from its territory in that time frame? colonel steven warren is the spokesman for the anti-sisco -- anti-isis coalition in iraq. i want to talk about what the prime minister said about isis. he went on television saying 2016 will be the year of the big and final victory when isis's presence in iraq will be terminated. we are coming to liberate mosul and it will be the fatal and final blow to isis. is that the kind of momentum you're seeing for 2016. >> thanks for having me, christine. good to be here. i think we have started to see momentum build. this action in ramadi over the last couple days have been a great sign. that's a tall order. we certainly hope that the iraqis are able to eliminate isil here out of iraq once and for all by the end of 2016.

that's what we're here to hope them do. the army does get a vote. >> let's talk about the successes. what went right in ramadi? you had months of training of the iraqi military, coalition air strikes, training of sunni tribal fighters. is this a model for fallujah were for mosul, other cities? >> this really is a model. this is what we have been working for since the beginning, frankly. it takes time to train an army. the army we left behind before the mid-2000s was a counterinsurgency army. it had been trained to do things like checkpoints and road clearance. isil, this enemy is fighting as a conventional army. this iraqi army needed to be train ed trained in operational tactics. it's taken some time. we've given them fresh, modern equipment, sophisticated, cutting edge training and of course we're providing them with devastating air power. these three things combined are

beginning to show progress. it's starting to take hold. >> our sources on the ground saying there was more air power, more coalition strikes today as you're trying to route out the seven and eight-man teams within the city. are you worried about an insurgency, are you worried about having trouble holding on to that city. >> there are pockets of resistance, maybe they have an rpg, a machine gun. maybe they can plan an ied, a roadside bomb. we don't know assess this enemy has enough strength left to knock the iraqi army out of its positions in ramadi. again, the enemy always has the opportunity to try and fight back. but the combination of really we've done about 600 air strikes since july, each one of those air strikes, several kinetic events, over 2,000 bombs dropped. we've helped the iraqi army keep this enemy suppressed. we're confident they'll be able to hold and clear the remaining

neighborhoods inside of ramadi. >> when you look at isis territory lost in iraq and syria over the past year, you're talking about 40% of their territory lost. is isis on its heels? is it caliphate shrinking? >> isil is in a defensive crouch now. their caliphate is shrinking. you've said it. they've lost 40% of the territory they once held here in iraq. that's significant. isil depends on holing territories. that's what's different about them. they're not just terrorists. they want to hold ground. that's also vulnerability and something we've been attacking. >> what about in syria? >> well, in syria, too, we have less of a relationship with the ground forces there in syria. so they've lost, the estimates vary somewhere between 10% and 20% of the territory they once held in syria. but the estimates are a little bit tougher to get our hands around. we're starring to build

partnerships with the syrian democratic forces. the syrian arab coalition and others to begin to build up a coalition of forces that we can work with to, again, eliminate isil threat. >> you hear the iraqi prime minister saying he hopes there will be a final and decisive victory against isis, isil, daesh in the next year. you hear analysts say this is a multidecade routing of an ideology, not just, you know, a ground situation. what do you think about the longer term strategy of the neighbors in the region? do we need to see more involvement of the neighbors of iraq and syria in this fight? >> we've often said we're not going to kill our way out of this problem. we're not going to bomb our way out of this problem. this is a problem that needs to be solved through the political and the diplomatic process. and prime minister abbadi here in iraq, he's showed us some good signs about reconciliation.

we know we need to get rid of bashar al assad in syria in order for peace to begin flourishing there. we heard our own secretary of defense say he'd like to see our gulf nation partners continue to contribute even more. >> colonel steve warren, thanks for joining us this morning from baghdad. new cnn poll numbers out this morning show that folks sure are not happy with the government. how much will president obama's legacy suffer as a result? we'll crunch those numbers with our experts, coming up next. 79o score, thanks to experian.com. kaboom... get your credit swagger on. go to experian.com. become a member of experian credit tracker and take charge of your score.

breaking news, affluenza teen ethan couch was nabbed in mexico with his mother after weeks on the run. he is now expected to be turned over to the u.s. marshal service. the mother and son vanishing earlier this month right after a video clip surfaced on social media appearing to show couch at a party playing beer pong. he was two years into a ten-year probation sentence for killing four people in a 2013 drunk driving crash. it is a messy morning commute in the northeast. you're looking at live pictures

now. this is i-95, just outside of boston. that area is getting its first real taste of winter with snow and freezing rain. and then there's also chicago. chicago o'hare international airport suffering as well. lots of delays. there have been at least 43 weather-related deaths in the past week. the storm system spawned tornadoes in texas and record flooding in missouri. again, check with your carrier. there's lots of delays when it comes to the airport. >> a lot of delays and cancellations. to chicago now, the police officer charged with the murder of 17-year-old laquan mcdonald will be in court for his arraignment. jason van dyke is expected to plead not guilty. the father of a 19-year-old shot and killed saturday by chicago police filed a wrongful death suit against the city. mayor rahm emanuel cuttin his vacation short to deal with all of this. he's expected back in chicago today. all right. new cnn polling out this morning, painting a clearer picture of how voters feel about government.

it's not pretty, don. >> it is not. >> three in four americans saying they're not satisfied with how the united states is being govern. here now, sara murray good morning. and nia-malika henderson. good to have you here. let's start with sort of an umbrella conversation about the public opinion of obama's tenure and how he's governed the country. how is that actually going to influence the 2016 race? >> i think it will be a really big factor come 2016 and when this race gets under way. republicans will run as the anti-obama. you saw that, of course, in 2008 with obama running as the anti-bush. and really resonating with voters. i think you'll see the same thing on the republican side. as for the democratic side, a tough race, whoever emerges, it looks like hillary clinton is the favorite right now. whoever emerges as the democratic nominee, they're going to have to walk a tight

rope between on the one hand embracing obama and therefore his coalition, but also in some ways trying to separate themselves. clinton, prince, has said she would be obama plus. what part of obama she would be and what would the plus be, she's going to have to kind of figure that out if she emerges as a nominee. >> yes, she'll have to make it not seem that she's not running for a third obama term, correct? >> yes. >> it's a delicate dance there. sara, let's talk about the republicans now. you were at a trump rally in new hampshire just last night announcing his campaign is essentially entering a new stage where he's going to start spending more money. do you think this will shake up the republican side heading into the primaries now? >> that's a great question. donald trump has been hinting at, maybe threatening his rivals saying he will spend money. we know he's very rich. he has a lot of money to spend. so far he's held off on that. that's the kind of thing that could potentially mack a

difference. you kind of wonder if trump's on tv all the time anyway, will buying more ads, spending money in that fashion work? the place he could be spending money is on the ground in a ground game. we know he's sharing a voter file with the rnc. in places like iowa, new hampshire, you see the wintry weather that's happening right now. you need to convince voters to come out in iowa, especially, stand around and caucus. that takes work on the ground. you really need to solidify that effort if you want to be sure you're going to win. >> is it about ad spending or about getting out and meeting people, caucusing on the ground? >> i think that depends on who you ask. we've seen a lot of people spend a lot of money on ads so far. jeb bush is a great example of this. it really hasn't moved his numbers. would traditional ads be that helpful to donald trump. you wonder. there are other ways you can target voters. do direct mail. that's one of those things where

the voter files help. it gives you a sense of what issue these particular households care about so you can ensure that you talk to them about the one thing they care about. >> trump in his usual style found targets last night at that rally, taking aim at chris christie, taking aim at the new hampshire union ledger, nia. the paper that's been in a tiff with him, equating trump to biff from "back to the future." listen from sound last night. >> put yourself in a common sense mode. you are with your cabinet, you're with them all the time. they're closing the biggest bridge in the united states, the most traveled on bridge, one of them in the world and most traveled on in the united states. you're doing that and you're not telling the governor. does anybody believe that? honestly? >> no! >> no. is there 1% chance? >> so really bringing up

bridgegate again for christie. how much do you think this will hurt him overall, nia? >> the thing about chris christie, he's running a very different campaign than donald trump. he's been on the ground there. he's very much in new hampshire doing the traditional town halls and house parties and resonating with voters there. you see donald trump really making the move now to try to crush chris christie's momentum there. we'll see if it works. the thing about this attack, it's not new. everyone, this is baked into the cake. whatever you know about chris christie, you know there was this bridgegate episode that he seems to not have any knowledge of and hasn't been tied to directly. his aides, of course, have. it's not probably the best attack. i think what we see from donald trump often is he'll do these trial balloon attacks and see if they work. so i think that's in some ways what he's doing there. it's not fight clear to me yet if this will be the thing he'll be able to nail to chris christie and impact him

negatively. >> the thing he's hoping that's going to stick when it comes to hillary clinton is, he wants to take away, as he said, the woman's card, right? as michaela said, is this really a card in the clinton campaign responded. though donald trump has pushed around all fellow republicans, hillary clinton won't be bullied or distracted by attacks he throws at her and former president clinton, donald trump's words are demeaning and policies just as destructive. do you think he'll continue to attack? you were at that rally last night, sara he didn't continue with his attacks on hillary clinton or the former president. >> he's so much more bombastic when he does call-in interviews than when he's on the stump in front of voters. he puts thee attacks out in the harshest possible ways in interviews and walks it back when he's campaigning. i don't think there's any sign that he is going to pull back from this. i think this is his way of

sending a signal to the clinton campaign, look, when you're running against donald trump, nothing is off the table. if you are hillary clinton and her people, there is baggage that comes along with bill clinton. there will be a number of vote her look at that and say why should hillary clinton be punished because her husband made mistakes? >> sara murray, nia-malika henderson, thank you. give us a tweet, "new day." also on facebook, facebook.com/newday. a church obliterated by a powerful ef-4 tornado. we'll talk to the pastor of the church who was inside the at time and survived. he'll join us live, next. my sister raves about her toothpaste

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communities across texas are picking up the pieces in the wake of several deadly tornadoes that tore through that state. each day we are learning more and more harrowing survival stories. look at this. this is what remains of the ellis county church destroyed by a powerful f-4 tornado.

only the frame of the church is left standing. inside that church, the pastor survived unscathed. he joins me now. pastor kevin taylor of harvest of praise ministry. i think there's a whole lot of people giving praise to their god above for the fact that you're sitting here with us this morning. how are you, first of all? >> i'm doing wonderful, i'm giving god praise, thanking him for bringing us out alive. >> looking at that aerial view, we are shocked that anyone was able to survive that. is it something for you to look at it now, given what you went through? >> yes. you know, when you ride around and go back and look at it, i'm %-p. with the testimony to say that god is keeping us in the storm even when he allows to go through our storms. >> what a beautiful metaphor. you were with your wife on saturday, your wife was in the

truck. you popped into the church for just a minute and literally that's when the storm hit? >> yes. we had just made it in from vacation, got something to eat and someone needed something from the church. i went there to retrieve those items for that particular person. and in that quick minute, everything changed. she was sitting in the truck and when i went in and turned the alarm off, to turn around and hear a noise, i noticed that the doors of the church were imploding inward. i'm thinking this is not supposed to happen. >> no. >> i began to yell at her, stay in the truck. stay in the truck. i was standing in front of the glass. my instincts kicked in, told me to get from in front of the glass. within i turned to run, everything went dark. >> you must have known -- you knew there was inclement weather, stuff going on in the atmosphere. you weren't concerned that it was something else. you were able to snap some of these pictures unside.

where did you end up finding shelter inside that church? >> in the front foyer of the church i turned and ran and was trying to make it down a hallway that's on the north side of the building. i had a table down there, a pretty hefty table. i wanted to make it to the table to shield myself. something and hit me and knock me to the ground which i later discovered was debris. i didn't make it that far. however, god is still good. i'm here to tell the story that god will keep you if you keep your mind on him. >> did you get battered and bruised? are you a little beat up this morning? >> i walked out with not a scratch anywhere on me. >> oh, my goodness. >> my wife had a few cuts. >> let's talk about your wife. your wife was in the truck. you were able to shout to her to stay in the truck. that would have been frightening as well if the tornado is coming right at the church, she must have been worried about debris.

>> she was because bricks were falling, the church walls itself was falling on top of the truck. the windshield of the truck were blowing out, the door came open and pushed backward to the front of the truck where she was. and all she could do was take shelter on the floor of the truck. >> oh, my goodness. >> she got a few cuts on her hand, nothing major, no scratches. both of us, i in particular, i didn't get anything out of it. i'm grateful. >> the two of you were in separate locations under debris. how did you get out and figure out that your wife was okay? >> well, fortunately enough when it all stopped, i wasn't pinned in. i was just covered up. >> okay. >> so i stood up and began to get all the debris and dirt off of me and began to shout for her. for a moment she didn't answer for a minute or two. >> your heart must have stopped. >> she came back and shouted -- yes, i thought the tornado has taken her.

final lly she shouted out, kevi i'm okay. that gave me time to get out of the panic mode i was about to go in. >> nobody would have faulted you for that. >> i stood up to see the damage. i didn't see the full extent of the damage that night because it was so dark. it wasn't until sunday morning when we went back and met there for prayer, let the body of believers that look at what happened. i was able to look at it and say, wow. i drove around the backside a couple streets over and it hit me again the magnitude of the damage that had happened there and that we made it out alive. >> we know you've got a parishioners of about 200 people or so looking to find a place to have their service this weekend. i'm sure you'll find another gymnasium or facility. you are working that out right now. really quickly, you have a lot of people in your community that are grieving and struggling with the fact they've lost lives of loved ones, lost property, homes, buildings, businesses.

what's your message for them? >> my message will be right now that god will get us through this. we have a great mayor, mayor tate. we have a wonderful city council in glenn heights. they're working overnight trying to bring things back together. but this is a lesson that we all americans need to learn, never take it for granted. we've got to get back to god, get back to understanding what god wants from us. and god has his way of getting everybody's attention. somebody asked me, you know, is this a remark towards the church? no, this is a remark towards everybody that god is getting our attention. >> he certainly got our attention, so did you, sir. my goodness. we're glad to see you well. police pass along our best to your wife an church who are working to see if you can rebuild that church soon with the help of your insurance. pre appreciate you joining us on "new day." >> thank you so much. >> don, over to you.

>> i think they'll be successful. chicago mayor rahm emanuel cutting his vacation short after the latest deadly police shooting in his city. can he turn the tide and fix the embattled police department there? we're going to examine that, next.

welcome back now. lots to talk about here. the latest chicago police shooting forcing the city's mayor to cut short a family vacation to cuba. all eyes on rahm emanuel to see how he handles the growing calls for his resignation.

here to address the chief for the chicago sun times and the op ed columnist for the "new york times." good morning both of you. lin, the families is officer shot their son, didn't provide any medical attention. what do you think this will do for the city of chicago? >> this is just part of a bigger story of the turmoil that the city is in now because of the lack of trust of police and just the crisis that mayor emanuel is facing when he gets back if he gets in weather permitting? >> is this too little too late? >> well it is the worst crisis of his career because of the laquan mcdonald shooting, that

was of the 17-year-old who was shot 16 times by a chicago police officer charged with murder. than rahm emanuel goes to cuba. the two killings we're talking about today, a 55-year-old grandmother, an innocent bystander and a 19-year-old college student. the city hall is expected to maybe announce more measures today to try and deal with police behavior and use of force. but a lot of this comes -- i don't know you ask is it too little too late? i know it is late. >> it is late. details on the cuba trip? >> cuba, we're steel dealing with a new era of tourism since the thaw. when rahm there, city hall was pretty secretive about the trip. but when the shootings happened rahm emanuel tried to get back.

there are no regular scheduled airline service as if you can just fly from miami to chicago or washington or new york so he was in effect stranded there, delayed there. he couldn't come back immediately. >> this comes as we've been talking about the deaths of black people for a year, two years now on cnn. it's e been happening a lot longer than this but now we're providing more context. what does this mean to that picture now? what happened in chicago? what the mayor is dealing with? what the families are dealing with? >> like lynn said it is part of a bigger picture, right? in terms of what the families and what the people, what citizens are dealing with particularly in urban and western centers the places to which black people migrated during the first and second waves of the great migration. you saw in the beginning people looked at the south and said

this is horrible the way they are treating in the south but they didn't have that many black people to deal with themselves. when people started to show up in their neighborhoods they did not respond in a way that was really effective and many in fact they started to use police forces in much the same way that people in the south had used them. which is to control and confine these new arriving black populations and that legacy, decades, old legacy is what is showing up on video. it is just that we didn't have video of it before. >> yeah. see this is very personal to you. you spent the one year anniversary with tamir's mom. you stood at the place he was shot. why is it so personal. >> because i i can't make sense of it. and i have black children. even if you believe, if you accept the person calls 911 and says i believe it is a kid and i believe it is a gun and doesn't

think it is a kid -- just put that down sun. even if you accept that the officers would race to that scene across a park filled with children, putting themselves in danger, up to the person they believe has the gun, even if you accept they believe they are about to be shot and shoot him, help me to understand what would make you not render aid to that child once you realize it is a child? the sister runs out and is screaming you shot my little brother and you still don't supply aid to that child when his older brother shows up. and you still -- you tackle the sister, put her in the back of the police car. you threaten to arrest the brother. when the mother shows up a minute later. you threaten to arrest her. and no one supplies aid to that child. and i'm putting myself in the

body of the child. what do you mean? you shot me. i don't know why you shot me. and now you won't let the people who love me comfort me. and the only person who came to that child's aid was an fbi agent who had medical training who was on the scene. and he showed up. and the mother about the same same as the ems. they still would not let her comfortable that child. she made her ride in the front seat of that balance. she did not see that child until early in the morning he died a few hours of that. >> the issue with this -- obviously there is an issue with race. but the over riding issue is training among police officers. >> it is not only that. >> it is not. no but the over riding issue is that. how to deal with children. how to deal with people who may have mental issues. applying medical attention. >> there is training. but there is also just a culture that exists.

the system is working basically the way it has been invented to work and the way it's been tweaked to work. if you don't have enough empathy after that child is shot to give him any aide, what makes me believe that you had any empathy and, and you telling me you -- the moment he was shot and you refused to supply him any aide until the ems showed up? that is unbelievable. it is strange credulity. >> thank you for coming in. and lynn, thank you so much for coming in this morning as well. both of these stories are resonating in ohio and in illinois as well and around the country. thanks to both of you. we're following a lot of news. let's get to it right here on cnn. >> to called affluenza teen he

and his mother are now in custody. >> this is a mother that needs to be held accountable for her actions as well. can -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning and welcome back to your "new day." it is tuesday december 29th, 8:00 in the's. don lemon and christine romans are with me this morning. no longer on the run, is so called affluenza fugitive captured. ethan couch and his mother were

apprehended in mexico. now waiting extradition to the united states. >> skipped a meeting with his probation officer. in his second year of a ten year probation sense after killing four people in a drunk driving crash. >> the u.s. marshals were tracking a cell phone and they alerted authorities they had tracked down couch. police in the region near puerta vallarta nooumoved in yesterday make the arrest and found the 18-year-old fugitive with his mother. ethan couch captured in mexico. releasing this photo to abc news showing couch with noticeably darker hair, mustache and a beard.

detained both near the popular beach resort town of puerta vallarta. couch went missing earlier this month and officers issued a warrant for his arrest after this video surfaced on social video. appearing to show couch playing beer pong at a party. a violation of his probation. at the time of his conviction, violation meant up to ten years in prison. shortly after texas authorities placed his mother tonya on the missing persons list as well. couch first made head lines two years ago after only receiving probation in a drunk driving crash that killed four people. >> we had over 180 years of life taken. and two of those were my wife and daughter. >> couch's defense attorney argued he suffered affluenza.

meaning his wealthy up bribring was to blame for his behavior. >> reporter: and his return to the united states could happen as soon as later today. >> thank you so much. i want to turn to former assistant director of the u.s. marshals office. good to have you with us, art. we're learning here at cnn that u.s. marshals, the folks you used to work with, are the one whose tipped off mexican authorities where they were leading to the arrest. can you give us insight into how that would have worked? >> sure michaela, good morning. yeah, the marshal service, just like most of the other federal law enforcement agencies here in the u.s. have very close working relationships and actually have offices not only in mexico city but spread out around the country in mexico. they work very close i with the

police and as has happened in past cases when you look at where these individuals were, obviously the best prlace for them to go to try to hide out would have been texas. so immediately when this warrant was issued they contacted the northern texas fugitive task force. and the u.s. marshal started assisting them. >> we learned through evan's reporting they used a cell phone to track him. is it common for fugitives like this to make such an amateur mistake? >> exactly. that is exactly what we were expecting. what the marshals were expecting was that they would make this type of mistake. they are not career criminals. career criminals a lot of times

will get caught using communication devices whether it is cell phone, laptop. but this was the key part. and obviously being able to locate where they were and eventually apprehending them. >> and add to that they darkened their hair slightly. as you mentioned those are not career criminals but they were able to allude capture. i think the arrest warrant was first issued on december 11th. so they were on the lamb for a couple of weeks. >> yeah and we'll piece this whole thing together now. or terra county and the marshals are piece the whole thing together to figure out the exact time line of when they left. i'm sure they entered mexico illegally which means he can immediately be expelled instead of the regular extradition

process so it will be interesting to see how quickly question get both of them back here. >> what would be that time line be like. >> it might already be happening as we speak right now. if he's being expelled and marshals are already down there working with the state police then he could have been on an aircraft this morning sometime and on his way back now. >> the fact that this mother and son, again they only released a missing person's case on the mom but this young man was considered a fugitive. the fact that they had resources, did that further complicate the search for them? >> not only complicated the search for them but then being close enough to the mexican boarder and having some time to get from there to the mexican border was the key in this whole case.

in this case they got across the boarder and it is going to be interesting to see how they did it that. >> yeah. and i found surprising, maybe not to you but the fact they were found in puerta vallarta. all the americans that who cnn and news stations and headlines and pictures over their cell phones when they travel. they travel there to get sun and margaritas. do you think they thought that hiding in plain sight was the better option? >> i think they probably thought just being in mexico itself would provide them some type of cover. obviously they were living in a resort area. they had resources to hide out. i don't know if they had another plan to move further south or central or south america. but it will be interesting to see if they are going to cooperate and at least let us

know not only what their initial plans were but what their future plans were. >> i suppose u.s. marshals really count on the fact that you have time on your side. these aren't people that you are concerned necessarily are going to be violent. you believe they are on the run and just trying to elude capture. but you have time on your side in the u.s. marshal service. you can be meticulous and be very careful in your search, where is you know they are likely -- especially not being career criminals, they are more likely to make a mistake. >> exactly. and i'm surprised it actually took this long. but, you know, this kid committed a horrendous crime. and, you know, watching the families during their interviews was heart wrenching and i'm glad we were able to bring this to a fairly quick conclusion. >> you don't get to bring back

the family members but you can bring some measure of justice by capturing this guy. >> thank you so much art. >> thanks michaela. >> also breaking this morning, belgian authorities thwarting a new year's terror plot. two under arrest. cnn learning the plan inspired by isis. what was the target? cnn's erin mcglaughlin live with the details. >> well the alleged target emblematic sites in brussels during new year's celebrations. belgian media ratheporting one the targets was this area which is a key tourist attraction. and authorities have raised the threat level to a four there as

from a two according to authorities as well. follows a series of raids sunday and monday in various parts of belgium. they found uniforms and training equipment as well as isis propaganda. it is believed that attacks were inspired by isis but not directed. so it would seem there is no direct link from this alleged plot to isis militants in syria. they also say they did not find weapons and they did not find explosives during those raids. so it is not clear what stage this plot was on. but they have arrested two individuals and charged them with terrorism related offenses. >> thank you for that report. snow and freezing rain pummelling parts of new england

this morning making a headache for travelers today. this is the first significant winter storm to slam the northeast this season. live just outside of boston with more for us. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. you know one two three inches of snowfall isn't that uncommon for new england. what is uncommon is the timing of all of this. we're only about three days from the new year, from january. and this is the first snowfall they have seen here this far. typically it's starts in early november so this is out of place and right now the roads are somewhat clear. that's because there have been hundreds of workers from the massachusetts department of transportation who have been out all mortgage wining making sure roads clean. despite that it is still very dangerous. earlier today here there was an

accident a driver lost control and slammed into a guardrail. so officials certainly want people to be cautious and prepared as this sleet transforms into the rain and then later tonight back to snow. this is the same storm that swept through texas this weekend killing dozens of people with tornados in that area and this is important to know the recovery effort there is going to be stunted in that area because of freezing temperatures. so mother nature not relenting. also very difficult to move around and airports, we know of dozens of cancellations and delays. boston a main focus, as well as detroit and in chicago as well. that city's two airports dealt with more than 1600 cancellations over the weekend. and problems will continue as the storm keeps moving east. >> build in a little extra time if you are planning on any extra

travel in that area where the cold snap is hitting. thanks for that. how to americans feel about the job president obama is doing? a new poll out this morning suggests americans are divided. live in honolulu -- tough assignment -- traveling with the president. i suppose this is not unusual at this part of the presidency. >> reporter: that's right. and president obama is getting his end of the years grades and almost end of term grades. as you might expect, americans are outraged with the way the government is being run back in washington, our poll shows three quarters of americans are dissatisfied with their government. and look at this, 69% say they are either very angry or somewhat angry with the direction of the country. and despite the president's hope as a candidate to heal the

bitter divide in washington, our pollers are split right down the middle. most americans believe he has brought significant change to the country. 37% say it's been for the better. while the same number, 37% say that change has been for the worse. our poll did find one area that was optimistic. 52% like the way the president has handled the economy. 47% say they have disapproved. much better numbers than congress has these days. and as we all know guy, americans vote with their wallets. so that is a potential boost for democrats heading into the 2016. the family of tamir rice going directly after the prosecutor after an ohio grand jury decided not to indict the

officers who shot and killed the 12-year-old back in 2014. they are accusing prosecutors of sabotaging the case. how are prosecutors justifying? live in cleveland with more. >> reporter: the families as you say say they are absolutely devastated by the announcement. they also say they are not surprised. what is clear is that a lot of other people seem to have been surprised. especially and that includes the prosecutors office. and this announcement comes the monday after christmas. and even though it was anticipated there would be a ruling at some point. at this particular time it's surprised. here is how county prosecutor tim mckinney announced the news. >> given this perfect storm of human error, mistakes and miscommunications by all involved that day, the evidence did not indicate criminal conduct by police.

>> so those two officers are not going to be charged criminally as result of the shooting of 12-year-old tamir rice. the family believes that is not justifiable. they have a civil suit that's been filed. it is going to be moving forward but there is not going to be any criminal prosecution of the two officers. it is interesting to note that the line the prosecutor used, perfect storm of errors, almost sounds like it would be the opening statement made by the tamir family attorneys in their lawsuit. it appears they could have a great deal of justifiable evidence for their civil case and that is in federal court. christine. >> >> every step has been not resolution just more sadness quite frankly. iran shipping more than 25,000 pounds of low enriched uranium to russia.

part of the landmark muk lar deal reached over the summer. iran still has to finish taking apart centrifuges and disabling a reactor among other steps to back off its program. and crying foul over graffiti used to promote bieber's new album done with permanent spray paint on city sidewalks. city employees have tried to scrub off as much as they can. the city attorney causes it a visual blight and city officials are demanding to know it wwho w involved. >> is it just some over zealous fan? >> are you a believer? >> no i'm not a believer but i do -- that is the only justin bieber song i like. >> you're a believer.

>> no i'm not. and blelieve that. we're talking about more next. your credit is in pretty good shape. chuck, i know i have a 798 fico score, thanks to experian.com. kaboom... get your credit swagger on. go to experian.com. become a member of experian credit tracker and take charge of your score.

well that means it's time for politics. the promise of major change swept barack obama into his presidency years ago but in a new poll americans believe they got change but not all of it positive. how this will impact the president's legacy with 2016 less than a year away? let's bring in a former senior advisor to president obama david axelrod. good morning sir. you doing okay?

>> i'm doing fine. good to see you, hours later from the last time i saw you. >> i know. just two hours ago it seemts like. let's talk this poll. the public mr. axelrod seems evenly divided. 37% on whether obama has brought positive or negative change to the country. it splits along party lines obviously. what is his legacy? and is this going to impact the race for the white house for 2016? >> yeah you know it was interesting about the poll was that three quarters of those who responded said they thought he had a significant impact. and as you point out they were split on whether it was a positive or a negative impact. and they were split almost precisely along party lines with democrats going way one and republicans the other and they were split down the middle and that's the nature of the politics nowadays.

we have a very polarized electorate. and particularly when they were evaluating obama those partisan predilections pretty much respond to questions.going to - that said, on the issue of the economy he got pretty good grades, which given the partisan bent of the electorate was good news for him. >> let's put these numbers up up. i think he got 50% approval for handle of his economy. do you think he's getting the credit he deserves for turning the economy around? which quite honestly was in the tank when he took office? >> i think when histone ry historians look at it, i think the first think they are going to judge is he came to office and led the country through the

cataclysm and we've had 6 and a half years of positive job growth and the economy has stabilized. what hasn't been done is increase in wage and that's really part of what's aggravating te electorate and i think the president himself probably would acknowledge it's been a problem that's been nagging at our economy for several decades. >> and if people were making more money, one would think that those numbers would be higher than 52%. and i'm glad you mentioned gun control. he's said that is his biggest disappointment by his own admission. gun control, 62% disapprove of his handling on the issue. again he said he could have done more. do you think it was a no win situation? not many if any president has been able to really make a dent when it comes to gun control? >> when it's obviously been exacerbated by the fact that we've had these very visible

large scale attacks with guns. often with semi-automatic weapons. but you look at this poll and what a's interesting about it is that he's getting it sort of from both ends. the gun owners are negative on the president's efforts trying to pass safety laws and the proponents of those rules and laws are unhappy that he hasn't gone -- been able to accomplish more. so i think that, you know, with this number reflects is dissatisfaction on both ends of the debate. there have been some rumblings reported on this and elsewhere. that we will take steps to increase background checks or other aspectes of gun safety laws in the coming weeks or months. >> do you think he'll do it with executive order? >> i think that clearly he's

been very candid about that he's exploring his options. obviously there is a limit to what he can do through executive action. and the challenge with executive action is that the next president can come and undo a lot of the steps that you have taken. and so it's always preferable to move on a legislative front. but clearly the gun lobby has enormous influence. when the country, 90% of the country favors background checks and congress won't even take it up. that tells you how difficult it is to move these kind of measures through the congress. so the president has signalled that he's going to try and do it with the authority that he has. he's been exploring that and we'll see what happens. >> let's talk about that beautiful city in the backdrop there as you look at the wrigley building and the chicago river there behind you. you're friends with mayor emanuel, on vacation now

returning from cuba, cutting his holiday vacation short. you have written and you told me yesterday you don't think he should resign even amid many calls and you think part is political. >> there is no doubt part is political. look, the question is not about him. it is about the problem. the problem that's been with us as we've discussed before for generations. and it is a problem that plagued cities around the country. and it is how do you have strong effective policing and still respect the rights of your residents and your citizens and that is something that, you know, i've been here for over 40 years, i've seen seven mayors wrestle with it. none of them have been able to solve that problem completely. and what you want to do is make sure that you do it in concert with the police and the

community. the community needs good policing. 80% of the police officers in this town have few or no complaints against them. there are some who clearly have overstepped their bounds. and the question is how do you detect that early. how do you prevent that. how do you keep situations that shouldn't rise to the use of lethal force from doing that. there are a lot of questions that have to be tackled. what i believe is that no one has a greater impetus at this point than rahm emanuel to help solve that problem and -- >> and he certainly -- >> [ inaudible ]. >> as you said you have watched several mayors grapple with this and he's the one that at least as you said has the impetus now to try to deal with it. thank you very much. tamir rice's family is furious over a grand jury's decision not to indict the officer whose shot and killed

the 12-year-old last year. where does that family go from here? their attorney will join us next. (vo) some call it giving back. we call it share the love. during our share the love event, get a new subaru, and we'll donate $250 to those in need. bringing our total donations to over sixty-five million dollars. and bringing love where it's needed most. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

the family of 12-year-old tamir rice say they are devastated after an ohio grand jury decide not to diindict the officers involved in his killing. thank you for joining us and please send our condolences and comfort to the family. were they entirely shocked? how did they react to the news yesterday? >> well the reaction was one of tremendous and extreme disappointment, disillusionment, demoralization but it was not thorough lay surprisly a surpri. we saw this unfortunately coming many, many months ago. it was clear to us from interaction with the prosecutor that this entire process was being distorted and corrupted and directed in a way that would

engineer a no indictment. >> the family said in a statement they believe the prosecutor in the case deliberately somebody t-- sabotaged the proceedings. those are strong words. >> very strong words. and no one takes pleasure in admitting a failure or compromise in a case of this sort. but we looked at very close range and it's very clear to us that there was an abuse of the process and this prosecutor wholly abandoned his obligation to be an advocate for the crime victim and became actually a defense lawyer for police. and that is extremely upsetting not just to the family but should be upsetting to the cleveland community and the nation as a whole. it is not going to stop until people are held accountable

ands -- >> we know the city of cleveland is under a consent decree which means federal oversight in the department. and there is also ongoing federal review by the department of justice. is the family at all hopeful any of this could provide some measure of justice or closure for them? or do they plan on pursuing other avenues? >> well the family does retain some degree of hope. we have asked for the federal government through the department of justice to intervene in this case. the federal government and the department of justice are there precisely for these kind of circumstances when there is a failure on the part of local law enforcement o of this sort. the federal government is there as the backstop. so the family is hopeful that the federal government is going to sbchb in the same way it is intervening now in chicago. we say the conduct here was egregious and so misguided that

it warrants federal intervention and we're also pursuing a federal civil rights lawsuit. so we're determined and the family is determined to obtain some measure of justice in this case. it is a horrible tragedy. 12-year-old child shot for no reason. completely unjustified. completely unreasonable. >> you know, i was listening to the prosecutor tim mcginty. he called the case a perfect storm of human mistakes. how do you react to that is this. >> well we're supposed to live in a democracy, not in a police state. in a police state where officers are judge, jury and executioner with impunity. this case at a minimum is criminally negligent or criminally reckless homicide. at a minimum. it is the definition of the criminally negligent or criminal negligent homicide. and in fact the ohio legislature passed a specific provision in its criminal code allowing for aggravated murder charge where is the victim is less than 13

years old. so the idea that this is some accident or a perfect storm to us is ludicrous. and unnecessary apology for police officers who should be held accountable to the same rule of law that we all are. the fact that you carry a badge and wear a uniform doesn't give you free pass. you are supposed to be subjected to the same laws that we are all subjected to. i find those comments by the prosecutor to be very disturbing. >> do you question the grand jury process? do you have doubts about it? do you wonder if it is the wrong way to pursue justice? >> well the grand jury process is a secretive, highly discretionary process. there is a very famous saying that a prosecutor could dietinda ham sandwich if he or she wanted. no other lawyers are allowed in there. it takes place in secret.

the reality is it is all in the way that the case is presented by a prosecutor. and in this case this prosecutor took a year. and during that year he was engineering -- it is very clear to us. he was engineering a very particular result. so what i would say to you is the grand jury process is a highly imperfect process and it is subject to tremendous manipulation and influence. and unfortunately that manipulation and influence frequently gets exercised in favor of the police in an unfair way when they are being investigated by prosecutors. >> thank you so much for joining us. again, i can't imagine what that family is going think right now. iraqi forces wresly ramadi from isis. could taking back that city be so crucial it might change the

course of the fight against the terror group?

why is ramadi so key?

our distinguished scholar can. they are feeling like this is a blueprint for going into the mosul and trying to keep isis on its heels. is this ramadi victory for the iraqi government so notable in your opinion? >> the question is whether this is the head line or a trend line. if it is a head line, if this is a one off and the iraqi government is back to its usual antics of alienating sunnis and inclusive ity and exclusivity tn it is if the government has learned from this and learning to

empower sunnis locally and at the national level then i think you at the root of what i think feeds isis and could be considered a turning point. >> the police and sunni tribal fighters will maintain control and peace in ramadi but you say the victory will be short lived. unless you say iran is contained and -- >> no. and it hasn't happened for quite a while. and that is the key. the question is whether ramadi has fallen to a government in which most sunnis perceive it to be drivenly exclusivity. if that is the perception then we are headed for a train wreck. if that can be transformed then in fact ramadi can be a key to

improving the situation in iraq but containing the islamic state as well. containing it perhaps degrading to the point where it is truly diminished in terms of its ability to projects its power. >> isis is in a defensive crouch. isis has lost 40% of its land mass, territory in iraq and syria. but that is the military footprint. that is that picture. when you go up to 30 thousand feet it is really complicated. keeping isis on the defense. >> it is because what you have seen in the last decade is the collapse of state authority and the rise of these trans national actors. let me remind us that we're now 14 years after 9/11. killed osama bin laden and --.

three attacks in recent months. and not carried out about isis operatives but isis inspiration and muslim whose inspire to identify with the islamic state. so no. this is the long war. but degrading, undermining, taking back territory from the caliphate >> you have yemen collapse, internal chaos in libya. sinai now on the control of the egyptian government. i would argue this is really the long war.

we have to be patient and we have to find the right balance between risk readiness and risk aversion and that is something this administration has struggled with. deadly tornado, first snowfall in the northeast and summer like temps in december. what is going on with the weather? the extremes. we're going to explore why all this is happening. that is next. i am about to embark on a long and dangerous journey. i'm in search for the elusive...affordable 2 bedroom apartment. you know what you should do before you start? what's that?

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i was almost gonna read your line. >> that's okay. you can read. deadly tornados, wild weather -- what is behind the extreme weather we're seeing -- [ laughter ] >> just keep breathing. jennifer gray, here to ignore and explain us to. >> yes. what caused this violent outbreak and month. >> warm up coming from the south, pumping a lot of moisture, the cold air to the north and west basically collided with that and we saw almost 70 tornado reports which is basically well above normal for the month of december. normally on average we see about 25 tornados for the month of december. almost 70 over the past week. any given year texas would see the most number of tornados. on average about five during the

month of december. >> here in the northeast we had a really really mild winter so far. what can you say is the explanation behind all that? >> we really have had a mild winter. in fact we normally would see snowfall before now in the month of december. remember last year, buffalo stole the show during the month of november. epic lake effect snow vent around 7 feet of snow. boston today received more snow in the month of december than last year. they got started in january with snow storms every single weekend. record breaking snowfall. but that doesn't mean they will this year. in a typical el nino pattern you have a little less snow in january in the winter. >> there's been intense flooding

in the midwest and southeast so far. so is this el nino? >> yeah this is really another typical el nino pattern with beat wetter than normal across the south. but this year has really been unprecedented. back in the spring. the south carolina floods in early october. and now look we had a lot of flooding in texas during last week. epic rainfall once again in st. louis. they have broken records. the mississippi river is overfilling its banks in some places. mississippi/alabama once again seeing flooding so this is going to be one of the years for the record books. >> you have been telling us the storm system is movinge ining e. are we going to see more regular temperatures returning then? >> hopefully. during an el nino year, the

northeast will see warmer temperatures in the winter months but for the month of december alone, if you can believe it, we have set over 4 thousand record high temperatures. in fact central park today ties the record for most consecutive days above freezing. temperatures have been incredibly springlike. temperatures 25, 30 degrees above normal. hopefully in the coming months we'll get back to normal but typically the northeast will see slightly warmer than normal and the southeast will see slightly cooler than normal. >> all right. thank you very much jennifer. appreciate it. >> all right. do you want to live a little longer? give a hug. a new report finds more than 40% of what we do each day is due to habit. so little tweaks don.

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friends after this day we've had we need a little good stuff. police in tanner, michigan. they are on the hunt. >> we got a broken wind shield. >> they gave officers a thousand

dollars each and instead of tickets they are handing out $100 bills. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> is that going to come in handy. >> yes. a nice present for my daughter for one would be nice. >> this is the stuff that ends me. this community service. because officers say this is more than just about the money. >> a lot of people don't see the police as positive sometimes. so this is a good chance for us to show that we really care about the community. >> there is your good stuff. our dear colleague poppy harlow, thankfully she's okay. this is the first thing you can blame on your baby daughter. >> you're right. some people said i could show her the link one day. but christine romans, to you, i know you can't hear my friend but -- >> yeah we can. >> you were the one who stepped

in and took over the show with absolute grace like a dear friend and colleague. so thank you so much. don and michaela called me immediately. >> we got your back. >> -- the outpouring of support. i am just amazed, stunned. thank you to everyone. the baby, little girl. rocking and rolling. she is just fine. i'm fine. and thank you all. happening now in the newsroom, the fugitive affluenza teen arrested in mexico. >> we're not threw with ethan couch. >> so what's next for the drunk driving teen who killed four people and never went to prison? >> also the chicago officer who shot and killed