and i believe in him for that. >> nicole hockley, i can't thank you enough for taking the time to speak with us. >> thank you. >> for our viewer, be sure to tune in tonight for this town hall with president obama on guns in america. we're going to be joined by republican congressman trey gowdy. thank you so much for watching. my colleague wolf blitzer starts my colleague wolf blitzer starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. in washington, 7:00 p.m. in paris, 7::00 a.m. friday in pyongyang, north korea. wherever you're watching around the world, thanks very much for joining us. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> we're following several breaking news stories across the globe. including the border tensions escalating on the korean peninsula. the south, about to strike back at the north, for claiming it tested a hydrogen bomb. and two suspected terror

attacks. a man with a meat cleaver and an isis flag symbol shot and killed in paris. plus, a truck bomb exploding in libya, killing dozens of young police officers. also in the middle east, the feud between saudi arabia and iran clearly heating up dramatically right now. iran, now claiming its embassy was targeted during saudi-led air strikes in yemen. we're covering all of this as only cnn can with our reporters across the globe from paris to pyongyang and beyond. i want to begin on the korean peninsula right now. where the south is just hours away from retaliating against the north for claiming it tested a hydrogen bomb. the south will switch on these loud speakers along the heavily armed border with north korea. the demilitarized zone, as it's called. and resume the propaganda broadcasts that pyongyang has considered an act of war in the past. the timing is clearly important here. the broadcasts starting up as

nr's unpredictable leader kim jong-un celebrates his 33rd birthday. cnn's will ripley is the only american reporter inside north korea right now. he followed this report for us from bepyongyang just a short time ago. >> reporter: if the south korea south korean government makes good on its threat, it will be a very significant development, that really has the potential to escalate the situation here on the peninsula, a situation that's already very tense. the reason for that is simple. today is the supreme leader kim jong-un's 33rd birthday. for the south to essentially blast its propaganda into north korean territory on a very important day for the north korean regime, well, we don't know exactly how they would react to that, but we do know how they reacted over the summer. that was the last time south korea south korturned on the lo

speakers. north korea responded with artillery fire and assembled troops at the border. things are very tense after north korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in the last 15 years in a test site in the northern part of the peninsula. the north koreans who i met with in pyongyang just a few hours ago told me the test was conducted deeper into the mountain than previous tests using new technology. technology that prevents radiation from spilling into the atmosphere in large quantities. that may explain why japan, china and south korea are all saying right now they're not detecting any significant change in radiation levels. even though some experts say it could take weeks for that radiation to turn up in the atmosphere. one more interesting note from my meeting with the north koreans, wolf, they said they're not afraid of sanctions as a result of their nuclear test. they say they have lived with crippling sanctions for so many years, they'll just tighten

their belts and continue to develop their nuclear program, no matter what the rest of the world says. wolf. >> will ripley, thank you very much. will ripley reporting for us from pyongyang in north korea. there's other breaking news we're following. out of paris. where a suspected terror attack on a police station is setting off alarms, just as the city marks the one-year anniversary since the charlie hebdo massacre. officers say they shot and killed a man who tried to enter the police station wielding a meat cleaver and shouting allahu akbar. he was also carrying an isis flag symbol. this comes as we learn new details about who was behind november's deadly attackings in paris. investigators now revealing the orders came from two senior operatives in belgium, both still at large. our terrorism analyst paul cruishank is joining us from paris. on the thwarted attack on the police station today, what's the

latest you're hearing? >> the latest is it appears the suspect's been identified, that's according to french media, that he was from the south coast of france. he was 20 years old. it seems at this point that it was an attempted terrorist attack. inspired by isis. he tried to launch this attack at exactly 11:30 a.m. this morning, which was the exact time a year ago that the kuachi brothers launched their deadly attack. he may be trying to attack himself to that cartoons cause. cartoons creating a lot of anger across the radicalized community, wolf. >> we've also learned, paul, you're an expert on all things terror related not only in france but belgium as well that two suspected terror operatives

in belgium now are believed to have actually ordered those attacks that happened in november in paris. what do you know about that? what does it mean for this investigation? which clearly continues? >> wolf, this is a stunning new development. i was told by senior belgium counterterrorism official that there are these two senior operatives still at large who they believe played a very senior role in the conspiracy, more senior than abdelhamid abaao abaaoud, the ring leader in paris, that they were issuing orders by phone before during and after the attacks. they were identified by the belgiums in terms of their pictures on december 4. they circulated those pictures to the public, to the media, to try to get ahold of them. they believe they know their real identities. before they just knew fake identities they were using. they used those fake identity, fake belgium identity cards, to

travel with salah abdeldlam to hunga hungary, and also to wire money to the female cousin of abdelhamid abaaoud so he could find lodgings in france. i'm also hearing new details with relation to a bomb factory in brussels, in the district of scarbeck. they have located that. they actually found a sewing machine that was used to stitch together the suicide vests which were then transported, wolf, to paris. all sorts of new information now coming out. >> paul kruickshank, thank you. we're also following breaking news out of libya where at least 50 people are dead after a truck bomb ripped through a police training center. officials say most of the officials are police officers who had gathered for an assembly. when suddenly that truck came plowing in. cnn's nick paton walsh is following these late breaking

developments. he's joining us live from beirut right now. nick, what are you hearing, what's the latest? >> well, this bears all the hallmarks of isis, but they haven't claimed responsibility for it. devastating destruction. targeting police recruits. the list of over 70 injured in nearby hospital. mostly in their 20s and 30s. sort of aspiring to bring law and order to anarcic libya here. 50 dead by essentially a fuel tanker laden with explosives driven by a suicide bomber. let's go to why we have isis able to wreak such havoc in libya. since colonel gadhafi left power, they split pretty much into two rival governments. some islamist in the capital and the rest to the east. there was hope they'd get their act together as a national unity government. what we have now is chaos isis has been exploiting over the past year. they used to be mostly in the

town of circ on the coast, very close to europe, but now they're expand to the east towards the oilfields. some of those, in fact, a source of libya's wealth, they're on fire as isis attacked. and they've moved west to the town here where the attack was. while libya is very close to europe, it starts to isis fallback position frankly. they're using territory, according to officials, in iraq and syria, and many think perhaps they're looking to libya as a place they run back to when life gets tougher for them in the place they began their so-called caliphate, wolf. >> you know this, you've been there, in iraq, isis, they've gained control of some of iraq's wealthy oil fields and they're making a lot of money selling that oil. are they trying to do the same thing in libya now? libya's got a ton of oil. are the isis terrorists there trying to do the same thing?

>> that is the con ten chun at the moment, yes. the attacks suggest they are moving to the al sidar oil fields there. attempts reports say of air forces flown by one of the two rival governments, the more internationally recognized one, to try and attack them as they do that. but as you say, oil is the key to libya's wealth. it used to be one of the wealthiest countries in northern africa. that has deteriorated. some of that money held by sanctions. some frankly just running out. if isis get their hands on that, they won't suddenly become part of the national oil trade but they can sell it on the black market. it's made them millions per day in iraq and syria. they could do the same thing in iraq and libya. that's still a fair stretch off though. libya is slightly less simple than iraq and isis, some might say. but they seem to be focusing their attention on it. boosting their numbers and expanding the amount of territory they hold. europe has the need to put isis

and libya in its sights for a while but they don't have the unity gov needed to achieve that. >> it's clearly the wealthiest terrorist organization in the world, isis, hundreds of millions of dollars they've stolen in oil, gold, banks. they have a lot, a lot of money to do damage. nick payton walsh in beirut, thank you. the pentagon here in washington, meanwhile, has identified the u.s. soldier killed this week in afghanistan. staff sergeant matthew mcclintock who was in operation freedom sentinel in afghanistan. he died from wounds when his unit was attacked with small arms fire. the guard describes mcclintock as, quote, the best of the best. the 30-year-old was from albuquerque, new mexico. he was a husband and a father. father of a baby boy. our deepest, deepest condolences to his family. now to the widening rift between saudi arabia and iran. in the latest incident, iran accuses the saudi-led coalition

of an air strike on its embassy in yemen's capital of sanaa. several guards reportedly were wounded. for more on this, i'm joined by cnn's global affairs analyst bobby goh. she's also the monitoring editor of kotz. the saudis are denying they hit the embassy in emweren. the iranians are insisting it was hit. what are you hearing? >> the ap reported that -- reported citing eyewitnesses at the compound where the embassy is does not look like it was hit at all that some bombs fell maybe 500 yards away, even further out. it's a little hard to know because they're not that many journalists on the ground who can travel freely. the fact is that sanaa has been targeted repeatedly for air strikes since the beginning of the year, since that cease-fire broke down. we're not going to know for certain i suspect until tomorrow, until the dust has cleared a little bit and we get live pictures or at least photographs from the scene to be

able to judge whether this actually happened. but the fact is, it almost doesn't matter. the iranians were quick to announce that they had been hit, they were quick to denounce this. this came from the foreign ministry. it speaks to the escalating tensions between these two countries. the two superpowers if you like, the two great powers of the muslim world. >> there's no doubt they're fighting a proxy war in yemen now that has that huge border with saudi arabia. >> well, yes, and in yemen actually, it's not really a proxy war so much because of saudi arabia -- saudi actually has some boots on the ground and it does have this coalition that it leads that is striking against targets. the targets are mainly shiite targets. there's a shiite group of rebels called the houthis who are supported to some degree by iran. so iran has a proxy in yemen, but saudi is directly committed

to a substantial degree. >> you know, it's interesting, and you understand the region as well as anyone, bobby, that the saudis obviously severed diplomatic relationings with iran after the iranians or at least elements in tehran burnt and ransacked the saudi embassy there, sudan followed suit, other sunni arab countries have now gone ahead and downgraded the relationship with iran, the united arab emirates, kuwait, qatar. i'm surprised about kuwait and qatar. explain how significant this was. because they were always trying to have a relationship with both sides. >> yes, kuwait is closer to saudi arabia in terms of its political and religious leanings, but it is very close to the border with iraq of course and very close to a very large shiite population on that side of the border with iraq. and the kuwaitis have tried to keep good relationings with iran throughout. there was that entire period during the iraq/iran war when

the principal of my enemy's enemy was applied. qatar on the other hand typically has taken a completely independent foreign policy. the fact both of these are now lining u behind saudi arabia, that's got to worry iran. that now seems much more like a sunni versus shia thing because that's the only thing these three countries have in common, vis-a-vis iran, that there are three sunni-led nations, qatar, saudi and kuwait. >> the fact that qatar has aligned itself with saudi arabia and there's often been tensions between qatar and saudi arabia over these years, that is very, very significant. sends a powerful message to iran at the same time. bobby gosh, thanks very much. it's been the worst start to the trading year since 2008 and it doesn't look like it's getting better any time soon. the dow here in the united states dropped 300 points shortly after the start of today's trading session. right now, it's down about 300 points. there, you can see it. our business correspondent

alison kosik is joining us from new york. what's rattling the markets now several days into the new year? >> this is all about china, wolf. we are seeing those losses accelerate just a bill right now. that's despite a major about-face from chinese authorities on how they're handling their stock markets. what happened was this week china introduced circuit breakers and those were meant to tame drastic fluctuations in their markets but they wound up doing the opposite, they caused more trading to the point where trading was suspended. the government took the breakers away. it's not just the wild drop in chinese swaps that's spooking the marketings. here in the u.s. the chinese government is in the process of trying to destimulate its economy to try to make the exports cheaper. the way investors see it is china could be in much worse shape than we realize. the reason you are seeing investors hit the sell button today. >> alison kosik in new york, thank you.

coming up -- >> how do you run against the democrat, whoever it may be, and you have this hanging over your head if they bring a lawsuit? >> trump doubling down about his claims about ted cruz's citizenship. my interview with donald trump. plus, in just a few hours, president will join our anderson cooper for an exclusive live town hall on gun control here in the united states. my next guest is critical of the president's plans. congressman trey gowdy it he's standing buying to join us live. we'll discuss when we come back. cough if you can hear me. don't even think about it. i took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. yeah...but what about mike? it works on his cough too. cough! it works on his cough too. mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs for 12 hours. let's end this. hey pal? you ready? can you pick me up at 6:30? ah... (boy) i'm here! i'm here! (cop) too late. i was gone for five minutes! ugh!

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tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern, president obama joins anderson cooper and a live audience for a prime-time event, guns in america. an emotional appearance earlier

this week. the president unveiled his initiative to curb gun violence here in the united states through a series of executive actions which will bypass congress. i'm joined now by the republican congressman trey gowdy of south carolina, he's the chairman of the house select committee on benghazi. thanks very much for joining us. i want to get a question or two about benghazi in there but let's talk about the president's plans now to do away with the enormous deaths here in the united states, 30,000 people a year die from gun violence in the united states. is there any part of the president's new strategy you would support? >> sure. what i would advise the president, having spent 16 years prosecuting gun violence, is we need to do a much better job of prosecuting current gun violators. gun prosecutions are down over the past ten years. if you look at the current background check denials, in 2012, the last numbers i saw were 80,000 background check

denials. there were less than 500 prosecutions. so before you ask for new weapons and the war on crime, it is fair for me to say how are you doing with your current weapons? there's a very small percentage of our fellow citizens who are criminally inclined. very small. so if you can put them in jail for a gun violation before they commit murder, before they commit a mass killing, why is that not a better strategy? >> are you suggesting, mr. chairman, that those 80,000 or so who were denied an opportunity because of their background checks to purchase a gun should be prosecuted? >> absolutely. it's against the law to lie in an application for a firearm. it is against the law to seek a firearm if you're a convicted felon. there are large categories of people who cannot possess or purchase firearms. our prosecution levels are anemic and declining in those

areas. >> when you ask the administration why they're not prosecuting these individuals, what's the answer you get? >> well, i have asked both attorney general holder and attorney general lynch and i am biased towards prosecutors, i admit that up front. they tell me these cases lack jury appeal. nobody gets that better than i do. i've stood in front of lots of juries and didn't have the appealing case. murder is appealing to a jury but your objective is to prevent the murder. whether it be a background check, whether it be a felon in possession. whether it be you've been court-martialed and you're in possession of a firearm. you probably know this, if you're not in the country legally, you can't possess a firearm. if you've overstayed a visa, you can't possess a firearm. so how are you doing with the current laws? >> are you going to support the deal for half a million dollars to increase the issue of mental

health, to make sure that people who don't have proper mental health can't go out there and buy a gun? >> well, i am supportive of the concept of people having access to mental health. you don't know this and there's no reason for you to know this, i had a gun pulled on me outside of church a couple years ago by a woman who was adjudicated unfit to stand trial. she was criminally irresponsible. so i have lived coming face-to-face with somebody who does not know the difference between right and wrong. so i support the notion of getting people access to mental health. but it's already against the law for anyone who's been adjudicated mentally ill or mentally deficient to access a firearm. so it would be fair i think for anderson tonight to say, mr. president, out of those people who currently are violating the law by accessing guns, what are your prosecution levels? i can tell you, wolf, they are anemic for people who currently have been adjudicated mentally

ill and cannot possession firearms and yet have tried to do so. >> let me get your thoughts on your investigation into happened in benghazi libya. all of us remember the 191 hours of testimony hillary clinton provided in opposition. you're now having closed door meetings with others who were involved. the former cia director general petraeus testified. leon panetta, the former defense secretary, will testify. are you making any new headway about what may have happened? >> yes, sir, we're actually doing an interview today with a witness named charlene lamb. we are up to our 66th witness interview. the overwhelming majority of which have never been talked to by any congressional committee before. you're right, secretary clinton was in public. but it's the only one that's been in public and it's the only one that's going to be in public because the private transcribed interviews with so much more effective for gathering information than a public spectacle. all the rest of them are going

to be in private. all the rest of them will be productive. >> trey gowdy of south carolina, mr. chairman, thanks very much for joining us. we'll be anxious to get that report. when do you think that report is going to be ready, by the way? >> well, boy, if you could help me speed up the administration to get me documents, i'd be grateful. i want to wrap up tomorrow but i've got a dozen more witnesses and i've got three departments that haven't given me my documents. i want to get it done as soon as possible. maybe they'll listen to you. they're not listening to me right now. >> we'll stay in close touch with you. we'll be anxious to read that report. mr. chairman, thanks very much. >> yes, sir, thank you. tonight, president obama, once again, will join anderson cooper for an exclusive one hour live town hall on gun control. that's coming up later tonight, 8:00 p.m. eastern, only here on cnn. and coming up here, my interview with donald trump. the republican presidential front-runner tells me why he

continues to question the citizenship issue involving senator ted cruz, his main rival, in iowa right now. the surprising gop leader joining us. we'll discuss. stay with us.

in the race for the white house, donald trump has some advice for senator ted cruz, go to federal court and prove you're eligible to be president of the united states. the latest in the so-called birther battle between the republican rivals. i asked trump about that and a whole lot more when i sat down with him for a one on one

interview. let's talk about another issue. senator ted cruz, he's your main rival in iowa according to all the polls. this whole issue, the fact he was born in canada, has come up. whether or not he's a natural born citizen. you know the constitution says no person except a natural born citizen shall be eligible to the office of president. do you believe senator ted cruz is a natural born citizen? >> i don't know to be honest. and i like him a lot. i don't like the issue. i don't like even bringing it up. you know, it wasn't me that brought it up, it was "the washington post" doing an interview -- >> they asked you a question. >> one the questions they asked me was this question. you know, they went with it. i wasn't very aggressive with the answer. except one thing. you can't have somebody running if the democrats are going to at some point, and one of them threaten to bring a suit a long time ago. how can you have a nominee running, you know, against a democrat, whoever it may be, probably hillary clinton, because she'll probably escape the e-mail problem, which is

disgusting that she's able to, because other people for doing far less have had very, very major consequences. it's been terrible. but it's probably going to be hillary. how do you run against the democrat, whoever it may be, and you have this hanging over your head if they bring a lawsuit? a lawsuit will take two, three years -- >> he says he's a natural born sit step because his mother was u.s. born, a u.s. citizen, as a result, he's a natural born citizen. >> i hope he's right. i want to win this thing fair and square. i don't want to win on this point. what the democrats are saying is he had a passport. >> he says he didn't have a passport. he may have been eligible for a canadian passport. >> i think it would be wonderful if he didn't. everybody tells me he had a joint passport. >> he had a canadian birth certificate because he was born in canada. >> here's what i think. what i think i'd do. i'd go and seek a declarer to judgment if i was ted. >> what does that mean? >> it means you go to court. >> which court? >> you go to federal court to ask for what's called a

declaretory judgment. you seek the judgment of the court. without a court case. you go right in. you go before a judge. you do it quickly. it can go quickly. i've used it on numerous occasions. so when there's a doubt -- because there's a doubt. what ted doesn't want to happen is he doesn't want to be in there, i mean, i think i'm going to win. i'm leading in either poll by a lot. but i have a lot of friends in the republican party. i have a lot of friends all over the place, all right. if ted should eke it out, and i hope that doesn't happen, and he's got this cloud over his head, i don't think it's going to be possible for him to do very well. i don't think it's possible for the republicans to let it happen. because he'll have this cloud. what you do, you go in immediately, like tomorrow, this afternoon. you go to federal court. you ask for a declaretory judgment. and once the court rules, you have your decision. >> that could take a long time. i don't think the supreme court has ever really ruled on what is

a natural born citizen. >> that's the problem. there's this doubt. people have doubt. again, this was not my suggestion. i didn't bring this up. a reporter asked me the question. but the democrats have brought it up. and you had somebody, a congressman, say no matter what happened, we're going to be suing on this matter. that's a tough matter for ted. again, i didn't bring it up, wolf, this is brought up and this was asked of me as a question. it's not the first time it's been asked but it's being asked by a lot of different people to a lot of different people that are running. >> because you know your critics are saying you're doing to ted cruz what you tried to do to president obama, where he -- >> who knows about obama. >> his mother was a u.s. citizen, born in kansas. was he a natural born citizen? >> who knows? who cares right now. we're talking about something else, okay. i have my own theory on obama. some day i'll give -- i'll write a book. i'll do another book. it will do very successfully. look, with ted, she should have for a declaretory judgment.

i'm doing this for the good of ted. i like him. we have a good relationship. go into court. ask for a judgment. the judge will rule. and once a judge rules that he's okay, then the democrats can't bring a lawsuit later on. >> he also says he's tougher on illegal immigration in the united states than you are. you say you will deport all the undocumented immigrants in the united states. 11 million, 12 million, as many as there are. but the good ones you say can come back to the united states. he says he's not letting any of these immigrants come back to the united states. >> ted was in favor of amnesty. him and marco rubio have been fighting about who's weaker. now all of a sudden -- and i was watching ted the other day and it was very interesting. he said, and we must build a wall. okay. and my wife said, darling, he just said build a wall. that's the first person who said build a wall. i've been saying it for five years. but he said, and we will build a wall. so now he's taking my idea for the wall. i'm glad he's taking it.

i think it's the right thing to do. the problem is i'll build a wall. it will be the right wall. politicians don't know how to build walls. and i'll have mexico pay for the wall. all of a sudden, they're trying to come over into my territory. no, we will get people out. the people that come back will come back legally. they will come back legally. we'll have a country again. we're going to have strong borders. border patrol people are fantastic. i got to know them very well. but we're going to have a wall. i heard just the other day ted said he never said about a wall before. all of a sudden, he's talking about a wall. >> he says he's not going to let any of those illegal immigrants come back to the united states. >> i think you should come back if they're very good people. let them come back legally. i want people to come back. i'm building a wall but i want people to come in. i want immigrants to come in but they have to come in legally. i want a lot of people to in. i want to have really smart people, really good people, really hard workers come back in. but they have to come in legally. so i want people to come back in

to the country. >> let's talk a little bit about the wall you want to build. how long would it take to build that wall? >> it will go very quickly. i would get the environmental impacts. part of the reason the wall wasn't built, they couldn't get an environmental impact statement approved. can you believe it? the environmental impact statement for a wall. we're looking for, you know, almost you could say military purposes. as an example, in the south china sea, china building islands. massive islands. military bases. they're taking out and they're drenching the sea. they're dredging the ocean. they don't go about -- >> you say mexico's going to pay for the wall? >> mexico's going to pay. >> eventually you'll send bail, how will they do that? >> i'll charge them a tariff. look, mexico, i'm very friendly with mexico. i employ thousands of people that, you know, mexicans, they're great people. they like me. i'm doing very well by the way with the hispanics and you saw in nevada i'm leading in the polls with hispanics.

because i create jobs. i'm going to take jobs back from china. i create jobs. here's the thing. mexico's making a fortune. look at the trade deficit we have with mexico. they're making a fortune. ford's going to build a $2.5 billion plant in mexico. nabisco is moving their big plant, their big plant, from chicago to mexico. >> how do you get them to pay for a wall? because they say they're not paying for a wall. >> then we'll start taxing their goods coming into this country and they'll pay. they're making a fortune. i no, the wall is peanuts compared to the kind of money they're making. that's why i say they're going to pay. when i say that to politicians, they don't know what i'm talking about. i'm a really good business guy. when i say to politicians that mexico is going to pay for the wall, they all smile. they think i'm kidding. i'm not kidding. mexico's going to pay. the reason they're going to pay is they're making a fortune off of the united states. far more than the cost of the wall. they'll pay. >> i also asked the republican presidential front-runner about president obama's executive actions on gun control. the global unrest right now that's gripping the middle east

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republican presidential front-runner donald trump says the terrorist attacks in paris and san bernardino california might not have been as bad if more people had been arm. i asked trump about his views on gun control, his approach to north korea, the middle east, other global hot spots. here's more of my one-on-one interview. i've heard everything you've said on foreign policy over these past several months. there seems to be, correct me if i'm wrong, an emerging, let's call it a trump doctrine. you want china to take care of north korea. you want russia to take care of syria. you want germany to take care of ukraine. basically, you're outsource --

you want to outsource all of these sensitive issues. >> well, i want help. the united states, we're like the policeman the world. we're involved with ukraine but germany doesn't care. germany should care a lot more. why are we always the ones that's out there? putin said very nice things about me. he understands i get it, okay, i get it. most people don't get it. but you look at what's going on in the world. we're the policeman of the world. we owe $19 trillion. we just made a ridiculous, you know, omnibus that just got approved in like 15 seconds. who would ever believe a budget like that gets approved so quickly? i mean, the only thing obama negotiates well with, frankly, are the republicans. he always seems to come out on top with the republicans. iran beats him. everybody beats him. we're the laughingstock all over the world. but the only one he beats are the republicans. and the republicans should be ashamed of themselves for allowing that budget to pass. so now we're at $19 trillion plus. we're going to be at $21 trillion right now.

so yeah, i want other countries to get involved. >> let's talk about some other tensions. as bad as the middle east is, it's getting worse right now. there's tensions between saudi arabia and iran. the execution of the shiite cleric in saudi arabia. the ransacking and burning of the saudi embassy in tehran. first of all, would you condemn saudi arabia for the beheadings of these clerics and these terrorists? >> i don't like it. they're supposed to be our great ally. i don't like to see it, you know, they executed all of these people. who knows. i mean, here in this country, if we execute like one person a year it's a major event. they do it like routinely. nevertheless, saudi arabia is sort of the one we picked and we are there. i have many friends from saudi arabia. very good people. but saudi arabia's got to pay. if we're going to protect them from iran, which we made a superpower, you know, we gave them $150 billion, we essentially gave them the right to make nuke because that's what they're going to do and if they don't make them, they'll just buy them because they have so

much money. you know, they'll be doing -- >> you know, the saudis hated this nuclear deal with iran. >> i hated it more than them. >> i know you hated it. >> israel hated it. >> they all hated it. are you concerned the saudis, now given this tension with iran, saudi arabia may decide, you know what, we're going to go buy a nuclear bomb maybe from pakistan or some place like that? the nuclear proliferation issue is really serious. >>cy i said that that deal, i said it to cnn, to anybody that will listen, is going to lead to great nuclear proliferation and that's what's happening. >> because the saudi foreign minister al jubier, he told me last year he wasn't ruling out the possibility saudi arabia could go ahead and develop or maybe even buy a nuclear bomb. >> well, they have plenty of money, believe me. we i see yemen with that long border along saudi arabia and i saw the event the other day where, you know, with the -- in iran, which was caused, in my

opinion, by government of iran, as an excuse -- because they want to take over saudi arabia. they want to get the oil. they want to take over saudi arabia. and the only reason they wanted yemen in my opinion is because now they have a nice long border. it's perfect feeder right into saudi arabia. and, you know, at some point we have to be embarrassed. we actually pay rent, you know, in saudi arabia where we have a base, we pay rent. we pay rent. we're protecting them. why are we paying rent? they have to pay up. south korea has to pay up. germany. we protect germany. you know that, right? we protect so many different countries. we get nothing. >> about 40,000 u.s. troops in germany right now, 70 years after world war ii. >> they pay us practically nothing. they are a behemoth economically. they have tremendous money. one of the things i'd do very early, i want to protect a lot of people but they have to help us. they have to help us economically. we are becoming a third world country. we are a debtor nation. $19 trillion.

the new very dumb budget that was approved by everybody two weeks ago, that's going to add at least another $2 trillion. so we're at $21 trillion. >> you heard the president of the united states, 30,000 americans die each year from gun violence, about half suicides. what would you do right now to prevent that kind of slaughter? >> okay. the first thing i'd do is protect the second amendment. the second thing i'd do is i wouldn't use executive orders to do this. you got to get people. you know, our country was founded on the basis that you're supposed to negotiation back and forth with different members of different parties and you come to a conclusion through negotiation and compromise. you don't go and just keep signing orders. all he's doing is taking chunks out of the second amendment. that won't happen. you know, if -- >> -- convicted felons or mentally ill people to be able to go to a gun -- a gun -- any place, online or waver -- >> well, when you say any

access, we have strong laws on the books but the federal government -- >> can i show this for example? you don't want bad people to get access to guns. >> when you get into the gun show, it's a slippery slope. that stops a father from giving his child a gun. >> what about online purchases? >> let me go a step further -- >> because background checks make sense, right? >> we have to protect the second amendment. we have no choice. we have to do that. it's very important. i believe it in from a safety standpoint. and hillary is a desatter. hillary wants to take the guns away frommer. hilla hillary's going to be worse than obama. hillary, i can't imagine this, she wants to take the guns. you know, it's interesting, in california, when you had the two people, those two horrible people, shoot people that gave them a wedding party. these people that got killed gave them a wedding party. anyway, they went in, they shot. if a couple of people in that room had guns or if a couple of people in paris had guns, you wouldn't have had 130 people or

14 people in california with more to follow because you have so many people so badly wounded. if people in paris as an example, which is the toughest gun control place on earth they say, paris and france, you can't -- if you're a bad guy, you can have a gun. if area a good guy, you can't. if they had guns right here on their ankle and those guys walked in there and started shooting, it would have been a much different story. so and, you know, it's very interesting, so many people that believe in the gun control, when we have these debates, they always use the debate to me and then i call them up the next day. so how do you feel about it? well, i still haven't changed my mind. i don't know what it is. we need the second amendment. but if it is going to be changed, it's got to be done through a process, not through executive orders. >> donald trump speaking with me. remember, later tonight, president obama will join anderson cooper for an exclusive one-hour live town hall on gun control.

you just heard what donald trump had to say about that. you're going to hear from the president of the united states. he's going to take questions from anderson, take questions from the live audience. 8:00 p.m. eastern, only here on cnn. come on in pop pop.

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i will take brilinta today. tomorrow. and every day for as long as my doctor tells me. don't miss a day of brilinta. ted cruz says donald trump's questions about his citizenship are a nonissue. trump is stirring up the so-called birther issue. because senator cruz was born in canada may not be eligible to serve as president of the united states. let's bring in dana bash who is in storm lake, iowa, for us. also gloria borger here with me in washington. dana, you had this one-on-one interview with ted cruz. how is he respond iing on what

should do? >> reporter: well, he was trying to laugh it it up making pop culture reference saying it was a non-issue. but the bottom line is that it's been three days now and donald trump isn't letting it go so i asked him about the legal basis for why hes he thinks he's okay. >> you're a constitutional scholar. you have argued before the supreme court. why do you think on the legal basis he's wrong? >> the legal issue is is straight forward. the son of a u.s. citizen born abroad is a natural born citizen. >> but it's never. been tested. you have done it on other issues. >> the constitution and laws of the united states are straight forward. the very first congress defined the child of a u.s. citizen born abroad as a natural born citizen. many of the members of the first congress were framers at the constitutional convention. at the end of the day, this is a nonissue. >> so he's say iing it's a a nonissue because his mother was

and is a u.s. born citizen and he was born to her even though he wasn't born in the united states. the other thing i talked to him about was what you discussed with donald trump. the whole question of whether ted cruz ever had a a canadian passport. he insisted he did not. he does not. i said have you asked your mother or father. he said yes, so he hopes at least that part of this is put to bed. >> dana in snowy iowa, thanks very much. gloria is with me here in a much warmer studio here in washington. >> i love the hat. >> john mccain, the republican presidential nominee back in 2008, he's also raising questions about ted cruz's eligibility according to the constitution to serve as president. >> imagine how much john mccain does not like donald trump. donald trump was the man who said, if you recall not too long ago, that john mccain was not a war hero. because he was a p.o.w.

. john mccain was actually born in panama canal zone and people raised questions about john mccain and whether he was eligible to become president and that became a nonissue. now he is saying about ted cruz, wait a minute, maybe we ought to look a at that. this this gives you a sense of the kind of welcome of respect that mccain has r for ted cruz and the way he dislikes him like a lot of other members of the senate feel the same way, wolf. >> john mccain has no great love for ted cruz or donald trump either. >> exactly, but. if he had to choose, look whose pseu side he took. >> i can only imagine they will continue to be raised not just by democrats, but others are raising it as well. >> i do think cruz is doing the right thing. his interview with dana he's trying to deflect it, say it's a nonissue and dismiss it.

i don't think he needs to get into a fight with donald trump. >> see what happens on that front. thank you for that. that's it for me. i'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." the news continues on cnn, right after a quick break. ♪ while you're watching this, i'm hacking your company. grabbing your data. stealing your customers' secrets. there's an army of us. relentlessly unpicking your patchwork of security. think you'll spot us? ♪ you haven't so far. the next wave of the internet requires the next wave of security. we're ready. are you?

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hello there, i'm brooke baldwin. you're watching cnn. we are live today at george mason university in fairfax, virginia, where hours from now president obama will face critics and supporters of his executive actions just this week on guns. it will happen during a town hall right here in this very bulding live tonight on cnn. but let me add this. both the nra and gun owners of america have declined cnn's invitation to take part