these kinds of habits of cooperati cooperation, and ingrain them in our various agencies, the better off we're going to be. i want everybody to be very clear, mexico has been a consistent, strong partner with us on these issues. and if they had not been, we would have had much bigger problems on our borders, and the benefit of a cooperative mexico -- by the way, a mexico that has a healthy economy, a mexico that can help us build stability and security in central america -- that's going to do a lot more to solve any migration crisis, or drug trafficking problem than a wall.

and it will be much more reflective of the kind of relationship that we should have with our neighbors. mr. president, thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> the president of the united states and the president of mexico wrapping up a one-hour news conference. the president challenging the vision of america, laid out last night by donald trump and the republicans. at this news conference, with the mexican president, president obama was forceful in insisting the u.s. today is in much better shape than it was a few years ago, unlike what we heard last night from donald trump. he said what we heard from donald trump at the republican convention simply does not jive with the facts. he cited crime as one example. >> the crime rate in america has been lower during my presidency.

and anytime in the last three, four decades. and although it is true that we've seen an uptick in murders and violent crime in some cities this year, the fact of the matter is that the murder rate today, the violence rate today is far lower than it was when ronald reagan was president. >> let's get more on the president's important remarks today. i want to bring in our white house correspondent michelle kosinski over at the white house. the president said he didn't listen to donald trump's speech last night, acceptance speech of the republican presidential nomination, but he read some of the transcripts, and he simply suggested that trump was way wrong on several important issues. what did he say about that? >> the president wanted to launch right into this. and wanted to counter that rhetoric that we've been hearing at the convention all week.

the first thing he started talking about was the relationship between the u.s. and mexico. but he wanted to mention the rhetoric that we've been hearing right off the bat. and in talking specifically about this speech last night, he wanted to pick it apart for some of the fears that he said have no basis in fact. some of what we've heard. in fact, he used pieces of -- he mentioned crime and violence, that in the president's view don't jive with most people's experiences. he cited some statistics. this is stuff we've been hearing from the white house lately, that overall, even though we have seen an uptick in murders and violent crime in certain cities recently, that overall the violent crime rate in america has been down. and is at its lowest rate than what we've seen in the last couple of decades. also, the number of border crossers has been down. he wanted to be careful to compare today's numbers on both of those counts with prior

republican administrations. the white house likes to do that as much as possible. so as far as countering the rhetoric to the point that people are listening to what the president says, versus what listening to what donald trump says last night, that remains to be seen. we'll see in the democratic convention next week. but you know that the president wanted to get this out there, even though he himself did not see it last night, wolf. >> michelle, stand by over at the white house. i want to bring in our panel to discuss what we just heard from the president of the united states, our chief political analyst gloria borger is us, and dana bash and john king, the anchor of inside politics. he said donald trump was wrong when he comes to the crime statistics. also on the whole issue of illegal immigration, he insists that trump was wrong. >> border crossings are down, from the '08s, down from the

'90s, and when george bush was president. he's at an official event with visiting head of state. he consistently boom, boom, boom, donald trump, you're wrong about the wall, wrong about the crime rate, the border crossings. both leaders did say they think donald trump is wrong on trade. nafta, and the proposed transpacific partnership. something hillary clinton has backed away from. they're both going through the fact that, no, maybe we need to study these things, but trade is good for all the economies, all the players involved. very interesting, though, as the president made his case against donald trump. the president of mexico, president enrique pena nieto backed off. he compared donald trump a couple of months ago to hitler and mouussolinimussolini. the consulate told the government back home, donald trump might win. donald trump might win. so president pena nieto said i have the greatest respect to

both of them. he did make the case on trade. he just pulled back completely from comparing trump to mussolini, saying he would work with whoever wins the leks. >> the relationship transcends political leaders in mexico or the united states. it is firm, it is strong and it's going to remain that way irrespective whoever is elected president of the united states. >> to john's point, what choice does he have? you know, he's got to -- if he is antagonistic toward donald trump at this point who, you know, certainly as john said may actually win, it gets him nowhere with his ultimate goal, which is to keep relations the way they are, to keep the trade going. never mind the whole discussion about the wall. this was just the basic nuts and bolts economics, which are so vital to the country of mexico. >> gloria, listen to what donald trump said about the wall last night. >> we are going to build a great

border wall to stop illegal immigration. to stop the gangs and the violence and to stop the drugs from pouring into our communities. >> you were there. we were all there inside the q, as they call it, the quickenaar >> he didn't say mexico would pay for it, last night, he just said, we're going to build a wall. last night's speech played to the base, one of the most popular issues he had, one that started this entire campaign was immigration, and building a wall. the other one was trade which he also spoke about. you know, redoing nafta, and if he couldn't work it out, withdrawing from nafta. against the tpp. and so these are sort of the two basic tennants of the trump campaign. he's going to continue talking

about it. and, you know, there's obviously no backing down from that. it's very simple, people get it, and it worked for him. the only problem is, if you want to broaden your base and get hispanic voters, it's not going to help. >> it's not just doubling down on his base, it's the corner of the republican base that he has really come alive, which is the populous, the people who think that the party leadership abandoned them a long time ago, and that he's finally somebody who speaks to them. but he really didn't do anything to unify people beyond that room, and beyond people who were willing to come to that room. i'm talking about within the republican party, never mind independents. he might not need them. >> the conversation is very interesting this morning. a lot of people said trump was too angry, too dour, or too dark. >> hold on, we're going to talk about what trump said this morning. he was very, very forceful, once again, this morning, speaking

about ted cruz. but there's breaking news out of munich i want to get to right now. munich, germany, police say there's been a shooting spree at a major shopping center. police say the shooting is over, but they're offering few other details at this time. a cnn affiliate in germany is reporting that at least one person is dead. ten others are injured. it's unknown if the shooter or shooters is among them. our will ripley is monitoring the situation from london right now. will, what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, we know, wolf, that the police in munich are urging people to stay away from the olympia shopping center, one of the largest shopping centers in munich. they do not believe they have the situation contained or under control at this moment, but they did say that the shooting itself is over. and our cnn affiliate ntv is reporting at least one person dead, ten people injured. this is obviously a very frightening time for many people in europe. it was just three days ago that an afghan refugee was swinging

an ax. they later found an isis flag and isis propaganda videos, suspected of featuring the teenager. while it's certainly too soon to say what the motive is in this particular mall shooting, weapons are very difficult to obtain in germany. and elsewhere in europe. so those were able to get their hands on them have to go through an extensive amount of effort to obtain them. we're also on the heels of that horrific terror attack in nice. i just arrived from there yesterday. where 84 people were killed and more than 200 injured in an isis-inspired act. we're going to see a ramped up number of these attacks all over europe, as isis, jihadists, whether they were trained or just inspired, are determined to attack as many people and take as many lives as possible. >> what you're hearing, will, is that the police say this incident is not yet over with? they're still on the scene, they're still concerned? >> it's a very large police operation under way right now.

we've seen videos coming in over social media of people running away from the mall area. there's a very large police presence. at this point we do not believe that a shooter is in custody. that is the information that we're getting. so at this moment, police are telling people, stay away from the mall area. this is an active, ongoing situation that hasn't been resolved yet. >> i want to bring in our senior law enforcement analyst tom francis. he's joining us on the phone. he's former assistant director of the fbi. so, tom, of the shooting incident at a major shopping mall in munich, the olympia mall, which is a very important mall in the munich area. you can see the video coming in. people running away. police have told everybody, this is an ongoing incident right now. what do you do if someone shows up at a mall, shooter or shooters with a weapon and starts shooting? >> reporter: well, the problem is that malls are very soft targets and will continue to be. especially many of these malls

have more than a dozen entrances and exits. they can't easily block them or set up security to them. so someone can go in there and start shooting. and it's very difficult to stop it. most of the malls that i go in here in the u.s., the security walking around aren't even armed. if you have someone come in with firearms or machetes or something like that, it's a very difficult situation and the public is vulnerable if that happens. >> i know at some malls in europe, i know at malls in israel, for example, you go through metal detectors before you go into those malls. precisely because they see those malls as very, very vulnerable, soft targets, if you will. i know there's been a concern here in the united states of that as well. but so far we haven't seen anything along those lines. >> reporter: well, we haven't. if you stop and think of how many malls we have, how many strip malls, how many movie theaters, that the cost of doing something like that, the companies that make

magnetometers could not possibly fill the orders if we started doing that. they couldn't keep up with the demand in the next few years. it's easier said than done. you have to maintain the equipment, train the individuals that watch it. and what that would do essentially is put malls as we know them out of business. they wouldn't be able to sustain that level of security, and at the current level of convenience that most people want to jump in their cars, go to the mall, spend a half hour shopping, get back in the car, go home. if you start putting that kind of security, that's really going to put a damper on business. >> i'm sure the people in germany must be alarmed right now, given the incident the other day where a young afghan who is living in germany gets out there with a hatchet and starts whacking away, going after people before he is stopped. claiming apparently responsibility from isis. isis-inspired material. we do not know if this incident

at this mall in munich, the olympia mall, if there's any connection to isis or any other terror organization. but it does cause a lot of alarm. >> reporter: it sure does. given the fact that no country in europe let more refugees come in than germany. they've really opened their doors and they've had some incidents where there's been public backlash that has created an increasingly strong right-wing faction politically in germany to reject immigration, refugees and all of that, going back to the attack on women on new year's eve. and now this most recent attack on the trains this week. many people have been wondering why all the attacks have been centered in france and belgium, even spain, but not so much in germany. but maybe now that trend is going to change with two attacks in a week. >> i think we have our cnn military analyst, lieutenant

general retired mark hertling joining us right now. general, can you hear me? >> i can, wolf. >> i assume you know, you used to be in charge of u.s. forces over there in europe, in germany. you know munich. you know this area. i don't know if you're familiar with the olympia, it's called the central shopping mall in munich. it's a major mall. you hear about a report like this. the u.s. as you know, you still have about 50,000, 60,000 troops in germany. >> we have about 30,000 u.s. army troops over there, wolf. yes, i know this shopping mall very well, which is in the northwestern part of the town. it's a very large shopping center. as many are throughout the german territory. and they do have your -- your conversation with tom just a few minutes ago was exactly right, they do have private security guards in most of the shopping centers that are extremely well trained.

like many of the tradesmen and craftsmen throughout europe. but this mall, in the northwest part of munich, is very well populated. the area around this particular town. you know, it's part of the central region of munich itself. i was just over, wolf, in munich last month, as a matter of fact. i was down south in garnish for a conference and came up to munich with some of my old soldier friends there. what i noticed over some trips over the last few years to germany, is they have taken in close to 1.5 million syrian refugees over the last two years. the atmosphere has changed throughout the various cities and the towns, even the small burgs of germany, with a lot of new immigrants to the cities. and that's causing some backlash you were just talking about. but they are very visible. a lot of women in burkas, and ha

jibs, and the atmosphere of the town has changed. as tom just said, there's a lot of blowback from many of the citizens within germany that mrs. merkel has taken in as many refugees as she has. in various cities throughout germany, you will have decisions by the local policy maker to either disperse the immigrants and refugees into various parts of the towns, or you will see them in one specific section of each one of the towns. and depending on what happens, you'll see a lot of combined immigrants that are obvious because of the clothes they wear, trying to immigrate within the german society, and it's proven difficult over the last few months. >> one of our affiliates in germany reporting several people are dead. we're going to continue to monitor the breaking news out of munich at this shopping mall, the olympia shopping mall in munich. there have been a shooting

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hey, baby, make it your first word! sfx: baby speak not even close. reach for the orange, it's 100% shmorange! once again we're following breaking news out of munich, germany. a shooting spree under way, we're told, according to ntv, our german affiliate. several people reportedly dead. we're going to continue to monitor that situation. no indication yet, any motive, or the shooter or shooters. we'll watch this unfold. but this is taking place at a major mall in munich, olympia shopping mall in munich. we'll watch this closely. and we'll update you when we get more information. right now i want to get back to

politics here in the united states. the republican show is over. now it's time for the democrats to take center stage. their convention starts on monday. today, the first big question to be answered, who will be hillary clinton's vice presidential running mate. the race seems to be coming down to two choices, virginia senator tim kaine and tom vilsack. jeff zell any is joining us right now. has hillary clinton made her choice? when will we know when the official announcement will come forward? >> reporter: she made her choice, she's finalized her choice yesterday. but of course, this is something that she has been known in her head i'm told for a while. she's expected to make the announcement in a text message to her supporters. that could come as early as this afternoon. she is not going to appear on stage with her new partner until tomorrow. that is scheduled for a rally here in miami on saturday afternoon. of course, they're trying to build anticipation and drama for that convention, as you said,

next week. this is all indicated by outside events, shootings and other things like the one we're following here, wolf. so the timing could be indicated by that as well. we know she has made her decision. and we do believe it is down to those two leading contenders. all signs throughout the democratic party and the clinton orbit point to tim kaine, the senator from virginia, the former governor from virginia. he has been on this hot seat once before back in 2008. of course, he was not picked at that point. he was just a governor. now, of course, the senator has more experience. we're told he is the certainly leading contender. also, tom vilsack, i'm told not to rule out tom vilsack because of his loyalty and connection to hillary clinton. >> just reading on the tea leaves, she's doing this event in miami, where there are a lot of spanish speaking americans, of course. we know governor kaine is fluent in spanish. is that an indication he may be the vice presidential running

mate? >> it certainly is one of them, wolf. you would not seem to pick a rally in miami at florida international university where some 60% of the student body is hispanic, if you were going to announce tom vilsack, a former iowa governor, native of pittsburgh as your running mate. of course, florida is so important in so many ways. she is picking florida as a battleground, really as a way to turn the page and the conversation here from the republican convention. democrats believe they have a big opportunity here. they're trying to rebuild the obama coalition, if you will, but particularly hispanic voters who are so enraged by and large by donald trump's assertions to build a wall and other things. so that is why, once again, ground zero in politics, presidential politics right here in florida. >> jeff, as soon as you get word, of course, you'll let us know. jeff's already in miami for us. let's talk about the expected running mate announcement, and the potential choice for hillary clinton. once again, gloria borger is

with us, dana bash, and chief national correspondent john king. in philadelphia, ahead of next week -- already in philadelphia, ahead of next week's democratic convention, mark preston. gloria, last friday, donald trump sends out a tweet just before 11:00 a.m. eastern, announcing who his vice presidential running mate is. on saturday, he and mike pence, the governor of indiana, they meet together. then they do a 60-minute interview sunday night. we could see a similar rollout on the part of hillary clinton. >> we could hear as early as this afternoon. and she's got events in florida later today. and also tomorrow. so it could be a similar type of rollout. the thing about donald trump's rollout was that once he announced it, it kind of stopped. it would seem to me that pence went back to indiana alone,

which was kind of shocking to all of us who have covered politics for a long time, and it seems to me that the clinton campaign will be a lot more traditional about it. i guarantee you, no matter who it is, that there's going to be a bunch of joint events with the two of them together, showing what a great team they are, and it will start in florida and then it will continue probably to the battleground states. i think it will be a different kind of a rollout. >> the clinton campaign is as data driven as most traditional modern campaigns are. i'm not going to say with her gut or who she's comfortable with. the reason i bring up data, if she does go with tim kaine, who is a more moderate democrat, to me it shows that they feel they are in a better place than you would have thought, with bernie sanders nipping at her heels from the left, then a little while ago with the liberal base. some of them are not going to be

happy, because tim kaine is on the conservative side of the democratic spectrum. but what jeff was just talking about, even though he's a white guy from virginia, he does speak fluent spanish and they're hoping to appeal to that portion of the democratic coalition. i think which tells you a lot about where they think the voters are or aren't yet. >> i was speaking to a longtime clinton associate yesterday, to dana's point about liberals, they feel better. after the convention last night they were incredibly encouraged during the convention bernie sanders was tweeting at donald trump, no, my voters are not going to be for you. they also think elizabeth warren, even though she's not going to get the pick we're told, she is onboard with the clinton campaign. i'm told that in this process, she remembers the dysfunction between al gore and bill clinton. and al gore and hillary clinton. when hillary clinton was the first lady, she was not a traditional first lady. she had a policy power center.

backstabbing at times. she is shaped by the idea, i want a partner i can work with. she's comfortable with both kaine and vilsack. he may be a white guy from virginia, but if you can take virginia off the map and take the 29 electoral votes in florida off the map, take florida's 29, virginia off the map, donald trump has almost an impossible map. >> they think if they win virginia, they've got it basically. charging folks in the clinton campaign. they believe the map would be -- would give them the electoral votes they need. she's ahead in virginia, by the way, but not by enough. she needs to get further ahead. kaine is very popular. by the way, he's younger, too. 57? younger. >> mark preston, you look at these polls very, very closely. virginia, florida, some of the other states like pennsylvania, michigan, so-called rust belt

states. you know, hillary clinton may be slightly ahead in those polls that we've seen so far. but it's by no means a crushing lead. it's pretty competitive in all those places, isn't it? >> it is. 13 electoral votes on the table in virginia. what's interesting about tim kaine, if she does choose him, he is from the richmond area, which is a mix of democratic and republican voters down there. so that could help them win that state. if you look at virginia as a whole, northern virginia is really the stronghold and more voters are living up in there, which is outside of washington, d.c. but these voters tend to be democrat, and they're trending that way. in the last two elections, wolf, we saw barack obama win virginia. you have to go back to 1964 when lyndon johnson beat wallace in virginia. all that time in between, it was a republican lockhold. if you look at tom vilsack in iowa, only six electoral votes

on the table for that state. so yes, it's all very close. and as gloria was saying, a lot of people are thinking in the democratic party, if you take virginia off the table, then donald trump has a near impossible path to the presidency. >> very important information. everyone, we're going to get back to you. there's more politics coming up. we also, i want to remind our viewers, we're following the breaking news out of munich, germany, right now where there has been a deadly shooting spree in a shopping center. several people are dead. we'll update you on that, and much more, right after this. they think that it's sad.

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we're continuing to follow the breaking news out of munich, germany. there's been a deadly shooting at one of the city's largest shopping centers. police say the scene is still active. ntv in germany is now reporting that several people are dead. many others have been wounded. unknown right now if there was one shooter or multiple shooters. this shopping center is located very close to the olympic stadium. police in munich are telling people to stay off the streets, especially to stay away from that entire area around the shopping center. our own will ripley is

monitoring the situation from london right now. very disturbing information coming in, will. what else can you tell us? >> reporter: very disturbing videos on social media from the area around the olympia-einkaufszentrum shopping center in munich. i just watched the video of a gunman leaving a mcdonald's restaurant across the street. eyewitnesses are telling us there were shots fired at this mcdonald's. and he was wearing a vest. had what appeared to be not an automatic weapon, but a rapid fire handgun of some kind, and started shooting at people who were walking on the sidewalk. they started running away. german media is reporting there may actually be multiple shooting locations. we have the information confirmed from german police that there are multiple people killed, multiple injuries. and they do not know if this is one shooter, if there are multiple shooters. all of this information still coming in right now. they are telling people in munich to stay in their homes, and to avoid all public areas.

so they're no longer telling people to avoid the area near the shopping mall, they're saying citywide, people need to remain inside on a friday evening. instead of going to their restaurant or movie plans, people in munich are in their homes watching television and the internet, fearful perhaps for those who haven't made it to a safe spot yet. police say they are actively searching right now for one or more shooters. this comes just three days after an isis inspired hatchet attack on a train in germany. it comes a week after an isis-inspired attack in nice, france, that killed 84 people. this is perhaps what we're seeing a new frightening era for people who live in europe, wolf. >> 7:30 p.m. in munich, germany, right now. palm crookshank, is joining us on the phone right now. are you getting more information whether this was some sort of terror inspired attack? >> reporter: it's too early at the moment, wolf. they do not yet know whether there's a link to islamic

extremism at this point. but clearly, there's a lot of concern in germany right now, just on monday there was an ax attack on a commuter train in southern germany by an afghan refugee who was by all accounts inspired by isis. injuring people in that attack on monday. and german intelligence has really increasingly concerned about the possibility of isis directed and isis inspired attacks in germany. that more than 800 german residents who traveled to syria, about a third of them have come back. many of them joining isis over there. they've also been indicating just in the past few days of isis ratcheting up its attempts to get its followers in germany to launch attacks. because they feel under pressure in syria, and iraq and libya. and they feel that if their followers are able to launch

attacks in europe, that will help their cause, wolf. but no indication yet of an islamic terrorist connection. but the backdrop here is of rising concern in germany. that they'll be the next country to be attacked by isis. >> our affiliate saying that -- telling us, ntv in germany, that several people are dead. i want to bring in our intelligence and security analyst, bob bair. bob, we're bracing for the worst. the worst information as far as deaths, casualties, killed and injured. once again, we don't know if this was isis inspired or something else. but how do you deal with a situation, a shopping center, a shopping mall, this is a major shopping mall in munich, which is a very, very soft target. >> well, wolf, exactly. there is no way to protect these places. you can't put metal detectors on all the doors. there would be lines outside. they can be attacked. of course, one of the biggest

problems in europe now, it's become very clear after nice, is these criminal groups from the balkans bringing weapons in. there's a nexus between them and the islamic state. we don't know this was the islamic state, but, you know, attacks like this, personal attacks, psychopaths, is very rare in germany. and attacks with guns as well. here we are, hallmarks of the islamic state, wait for the germans to tell us. but germany is under serious, serious threat. large refugee population. they cannot keep track of everybody. and then there's a lot of home-grown fundamentalists there which are capable of doing this. but like you said, wolf, we'll wait to see what the germans have to say. >> we're just getting this word in from the press spokeswoman for munich police, who just told cnn, that the shooting actually happened at a mcdonald's inside that olympia shopping mall. there could be several dead.

she couldn't confirm the exact number. and one or several shooters are on the loose. the spokeswoman from munich police said the situation is still unclear. very disturbing information. i want to also bring in the ambassador, nicholas byrnes, the u.s. ambassador to greece, also to nato, also a former u.s. undersecretary in the state department. you know this area well, nick. you know germany. you know the problems they've had, not just in germany, but france, belgium, elsewhere in europe, with those who might be inspired by isis to go on some sort of terror attack. this is a very disturbing development. i want to get your thoughts. >> well, wolf, thank you. indeed if is a tragic day in germany. i was in berlin a few weeks ago, and the germans were bracing for the possibility of an attack, because they had seen what happened around them. in belgium, of course, that terrible attack at brussels

airport, two major terror attacks before nice in france itself. and of course, the terrorist attacks in turkey. and the germans obviously were prepared, as they should have been, for what might happen in their country. there is a very tough-minded leader of germany, as you know, wolf, angela merkel, and i think she will respond to this with a great deal of experience. i imagine president obama will call and offer whatever support the united states can give. of course, it's too early to know who's responsible. but it does fit a pattern at a time when the islamic state is suffering quite severe setbacks on the battlefield in syria, and iraq. they seem to be encouraging them to strike out in single attacks in europe. and of course, given the refugee situation there, they're very exposed there. >> nick, we've seen this pattern in europe, whether france, belgium, we saw what happened in nice a couple of weeks ago, in germany, as we pointed out, some

young afghan refugee goes on a rampage with a hatchet, starts hacking people, claiming he's doing it for isis. is it your assessment, and you know this situation well, and i don't want to necessarily say what's happening now at this mall in munich is isis related, because we simply don't know that, but it does appear and u.s. intelligence officials have suggested openly that as isis loses ground inside iraq and syria, they may step up their attacks outside, especially in europe. >> well, that appears to be happening. because they're going to lose in syria and iraq. it's only a matter of time when they lose completely their territory there. wolf, you know they've gone into libya and they've set up a base of operation there is on the mediterranean coast, the northern coast of italy. but they have been calling publicly, isis, for their supporters in europe to strike out indiscriminately. that may have been the case in

nice. the french authorities have yet to establish exactly what motivated that depraved young man. we'll see what the german authorities say here. having been in europe, in brussels, berlin, athens, just a couple of weeks ago. i can tell you that the europeans feel they're on a knife's edge. they feel very exposed. the europeans have a long history with terrorism, going all the way back in germany to the 1970s. the red brigades in italy. but they understood how to combat those groups because those were organized groups. these are lonely individuals. it's almost impossible to prevent these types of attacks. what has to happen is the united states and europe need to come together for intelligence cooperation, through judicial cooperation, that's what we can do to help the europeans. i think it just demonstrates the value of a nato alliance to the united states that we have these long-lasting ties with germany. >> is it your sense, when the

spokeswoman for munich police, claudia kuntzel, to say that the shooting occurred at a mcdonald's inside this shopping mall in munich, that that would just be a coincidence, or that a fear that a lot of people would have that the shooter or shooters deliberately targeted a u.s. business in effect to make some sort of point against the united states? >> well, of course, it's impossible to know right now. this is just pure speculation. but if it does turn out that this was a terrorist attack by an isis supporter, then, of course, the choice of the attack, the location of the attack, mcdonald's restaurant, i don't think that would be accidental. because in the past, isis has attached great importance, as al qaeda did, as well, to symbolic targets. of course, the united states is a target of the islamic state as well as germany. and the islamic state, wolf, has said publicly time and again that it will seek retribution

against those countries that are battling the islamic state in iraq and syria. of course, the united states is leading the coalition. and germany quite gravely has joined that coalition. we'll have to wait to see what the germany authorities say. this is a deeply disturbing event. i think obviously, we're such close friends with germany, you'll see a great outpouring of support from our government, i'm sure, to the german people and german authorities. >> nic, stand by for a moment. i want to bring in tom fuentes, a former assistant director from the fbi, joining us on the phone. if this is a terror attack, if this is a terror incident, the fbi has representatives, agents in germany who will be available, to help the germans come to grips to find out exactly what happened, right? >> yeah, that's true, wolf. the fbi office in berlin, and other offices in germany, have worked very closely with the germans for many, many years, actually decades.

and of course, in the aftermath of 9/11, we had the financing of 9/11 come from an al qaeda cell in hamburg, germany. and we had dozens of fbi agents in several cities of germany working after 9/11 to try to make sure that the terrorist financing of al qaeda, the international financial network, was shut down. and it was successfully shut down. a little bit too late, obviously, after 9/11. but yes, the fbi throughout europe has worked very closely for decades with officers in the 12 capitals in western europe, and 12 more in eastern europe. the fbi has a heavy commitment there, as well as agents at interpol headquarters at the hague as well. >> will ripley is monitoring the situation from london from our bureau in london. will, what else are you learning? >> reporter: we're monitoring social media at this point. we are not yet on the ground in

munich. but we're also talking to eyewitnesses. there are a couple of important things. one, the mcdonald's where the shooting occurred is across the street from the olympia-einkaufszentrum shopping center. there are photographs appearing to be inside the mall, graphic photos of people lying op the ground inside the mall. there's also video from a parking garage, attached to the mall from the rooftop of that parking garage. all of these videos come in, we have a process we go through to authenticate them before we put them on the air. what this indicates is that this shooter, or perhaps multiple shooters, because police say they don't know, frankly, how many people they're looking for, they would have hit perhaps different locations in the area around the shopping complex, and you have the police in munich telling everybody in the city to avoid all public places right now. it is a friday evening. people getting off work that might have had plans to head out for the evening are being told to stay inside, stay in their

homes, and monitor the internet and television and radio for information. because they do not have whoever's responsible for this in custody. and so this is still an ongoing situation. even though the shots at the mall ended, police don't have the person or people who committed this, wolf. still no word on a motive or claim of responsibility. but when you're talking about another isis inspired terror attack, in fact, directly connected to isis, a terror attack in germany with an ax on a train just three days ago, and one week ago the terror attack in nice, france, that killed 84 people and injured more than 200, to have munich, germany, in lockdown on a friday evening, and police looking for one or more shooters, this is a very troubling scenario. very frightening for people living in europe. >> when you get more information, we'll get right back to you, will. paul is still with us on the phone. paul, munich police are -- this is interesting -- are asking people to avoid posting pictures

or video of police operations online following the shooting at the shopping mall in munich. munich police said in their official twitter account, quote, please do not post photos online. do not help the perpetrator." this is a new development, isn't it, when they're really worried that, if it is still an ongoing operation, an ongoing shooting spree, if you will, and the perpetrator or perpetrators are at large, they don't want anything to be done that could help them. >> that's right, wolf. they don't want further loss of life. and terrorist attackers these days, they've got smartphones, they can get on to social media. they can see everything that's being posted. that may reveal details about police operations which could obviously be useful to them, may allow them to survive longer to kill more people. we don't, of course, know yet whether there is one individual or multiple individuals in this case. the german authorities have not

yet connected this to islamic extremism. the context in germany is one of a threat environment when there is growing concern over the isis threat to germany and the isis-inspired threats to germany. germany is involved in training and supporting kurdish peshmerga in northern iraq against isis. it's involved in some air reconnaissance missions in syria. isis very much sees germany as part of the anti-isis coalition, and the rhetoric from isis leaders, from germans in isis, has really been ratcheting up in recent weeks. just a few days ago we saw an ax attack on a train in southern germany. and the concern here today is this could be some kind of attack inspired by what we saw play out earlier in the week. >> munich police, by the way, they're just advising everyone

around the area of this olympia shopping mall in munich to stay in their homes. leave the street. they're tweeting this out, this information right now. our intelligence and security analyst, when you hear this shooting took place, according to munich police, at a mcdonald's in munich at this shopping mall, coincidence, bob, or a deliberate statement they're trying to make to go after some sort of u.s. target? >> well, wolf, the more i hear about this attack, the more it x looks like it was organized terrorist attack, probably islamic. we'll wait to see, but the mcdonald's is an obvious target. what is also disturbing is the munich police saying do not tweet out pictures which tells me they're getting ready for a takedown. the s.w.a.t. squads are coming and they may have hostages or they may have done all the damage they did. but the point is the police are preparing for an operation and they don't want to give away their plans, which of course people taking pictures by phones

of arrests would be able to see this. and so this sounds like a pretty serious situation. some of the german papers reporting many deaths. but it is active and we're going to have to wait to see. >> multiple deaths according to several german reports now. nick burns, you were the u.s. ambassador to nato. we've just heard donald trump suggest the u.s. has to rethink that whole relationship. nato may be obsolete because they're not willing to get engaged in this war against isis directly, and not willing as an organization to fight terror directly. you've heard what the republican presidential nominee said. when you hear that from donald trump, what goes through your mind as a former u.s. ambassador to nato? >> this is no time for politics, obviously. but wolf, i must say, we are strong in the world in large part because of our alliances, particularly the nato alliance. the american people should not want to shoulder the burden of any of these big challenges alone, and we have a great ally

in germany. wolf, i was ambassador to nato on 9/11. i was, of course, there was nato invoked article 5 when all the european allies, led by germany, said they would come to our defense. they're still in afghanistan with us. every single one of them. so when something like this happens to a great and trusted ally and friend, of course the united states should respond. and our allies strengthen us. they don't weaken us. at a time like this, i know of course the american people want to support the german people, but it does point out that every president since harry truman -- republican and democrat -- have thought that germany is vital to the united states, that britain is vital, that france is vital. and today's despicable terrorist attack proves that we are one western democratic community. i think you'll see that from president obama. he understands the value of a nato alliance. wolf, one more note. you asked about location of this attack. the mcdonald's. it is a cruel irony that it

appears this attack is in the same neighborhood as the first modern major terrorist attack, the 1972 terrorist attack at the olympics, against the israeli olympic team by palestinian terrorists. this is a long running battle of terrorism. it goes all the way back to the 19d 1960s and '70s. and we're all in it with our allies. so if the germans are attacked today, we are attacked. that's what all of us who believe in nato i think are feeling today. the shopping mall is right near the olympic stadium, of the 1972 olympic games in germany where that terror attack against those israeli athletes took place. we are getting more disturbing information right now. munich police just saying this, that the perpetrators -- and they use the word, plural, the perpetrators -- they don't know where the perpetrators are. a statement says, currently we know not where the perpetrators

are. please stay safe. and as we've said before, avoid public places. that statement just issued by munich police. we're going to stay on top of the breaking news. that's it for me this hour. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." the breaking news coverage of these shootings in munich these shootings in munich continues in just a moment. rd. these shootings in munich continues in just a moment. until one of you clips a food truck. then your rates go through the roof. perfect. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. and if you do have an accident, our claims centers are available to assist you twenty-four seven. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

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here we go, top of the hour. you're watching cnn, i'm brooke bald are in. we begin in munich, germany where we are getting reports of gunfire at a mcdonald's at a munich shopping mall. we have pictures of what appears to be a suspected gunman opening fire. we'll play just a short clip for you but obviously this is disturbing to look at.