turkey who would have motive to kill the russian ambassador. >> we're in for a few nightmarish years here. this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning. welcome to your "new day." it is tuesday, december 20th. we're following breaking governme developments. attacks around the world. the latest in berlin. sources tell cnn the attacker a recent refugee from the afghanistan/pakistan region, killing at least 12 people, at latest count, dozens injured. >> earlier monday, a gunman shot and killed russia's ambassador to turkey, shouting "don't forget aleppo" as he did it. in the past 48 hours, there have also been attacks in switzerland and yemen. leaders around the world promising strength in the battle to end terrorism. we have complete coverage this morning, starting with cnn's senior international correspondent fredrik pleitgen live in berlin. what's the latest, fred? >> reporter: yeah, alisyn, we

literally got some information just a couple minutes ago from germany's interior minister. he gave a press conference where he now confirmed that the person who is in custody and being questioned over this appears to be an asylum seeker from pakistan. now he says that this man's asylum application was not finally decided on. that's something apparently still going on. he said a second man who was found dead in the cab of the truck suffered a gunshot wound and that so far the authorities have not been able to retrieve the gun that was used in that. of course, all of this sending shock waves through berlin and indeed through germany. here's what happened overnight. bodies strewn across the walkway, christmas market stalls in pieces. this is the immediate aftermath of yesterday's deadly attack in central berlin. investigators say around 8:00 p.m. this black semi truck steered deliberately into a crowd of holiday shoppers, hitting at least 60 people and flattening several structures

without slowing down. >> nobody knew what was happening. everybody just started scurrying and running. >> reporter: the truck, loaded with 25 tons of steel, dragging some pedestrians 50 to 80 feet before toppling a christmas tree and coming to a halt. >> some people were bleeding. there were people lying in the pavement. >> reporter: police have one man in custody. he was discovered about a mile and a half away from the scene. german police and intelligence officials tell cnn the suspect in custody in relation is a recent refugee from the afghanistan/pakistan region. another man, a polish national, found dead in the passenger seat. the owner of the polish company, to which the truck belongs, telling reporters he lost contact with his driver after he arrived in berlin from their work site about two hours away and suggesting that the truck may have been hijacked. the carnage eerily reminiscent of the july terrorist attack in nice, france, when a truck driver ran over and killed more than 80 people during bastille day celebrations. berlin's interior minister

saying, quote, our free society needs to be opened and celebrate christmas as the festival of the family of happiness. >> so from germany to turkey, seven people are now being questioned after the disturbing on-camera assassination of the russian ambassador to turkey. most of those detained are members of the shooter's own family. this as a russian team of experts heads to turkey to help investigate the brazen attack. we have cnn international diplomatic editor nic robertson live for us in ankara. nic? >> reporter: yeah, good morning, chris. literally in the last couple minutes that team of russian investigators have been inside the building behind me there. that's where the attack took place. that's where the russian ambassador was shot down in cold blood. it unfolded in front of the cameras. we have to warn you, some of these pictures are very

disturbing. leaders of turkey and russia are calling it a provocative terrorist act. the assassination of russia's ambassador to turkey caught on video. andray karlov shot multiple times in the back while giving a speech at an ankara art exhibit on monday night. the gunman shouting defiantly, god is greatest, and do not forget aleppo, do not forget syria. according to turkey's interior minister, the lone gunman is a 22-year-old police officer born in turkey. his body taken from the scene after he was shot and killed by security forces shortly after the attack. the brazen public assassination coming as many blame russia for its part in supporting syria's president in the civil war and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in aleppo. turkey and russia often at odds over the syrian civil war,

trying to put aside their differences this year. russian president vladimir putin vowing the assassination won't damage relations, pledging to step up the fight against terror and saying, quote, criminals will feel the heat. the president of turkey agreeing, calling the attack a provocation aimed at driving a wedge between the two countries. the u.s. state department condemning the attack. >> we stand ready to offer any assistance that may be required to russia and turkey as they investigate this despicable attack. >> reporter: just hours later, another frightening incident. this time outside the united states embassy in the same neighborhood where the ambassador was assassinated. turkish police arresting a man who fired into the air with a shotgun, yelling in turkish "i swear to god, don't play with us." well, the united states embassy

here, consulates across the country are closed. we have diplomatic relations ongoing in moscow, talking about the humanitarian situation in aleppo. meanwhile behind me, you have russian forensic teams going in with their protective footwear on, their protective jackets. at the same time, the ambassador's body being taken back to russia, driven just a few hours to the airport here in ankara to be flown back home. alisyn? >> nic, thank you very much. meanwhile, president-elect donald trump condemning the attacks in turkey and berlin, wasting no time pointing the finger. cnn political reporter sara murray is live in palm beach, florida, where mr. trump is holding his latest transition meetings.

>> reporter: good mortganing, alisyn. in a flurry of statements yesterday, donald trump offered up his concern but also condemnation for the killing of the russian ambassador to turkey and the attack on the berlin christmas market. he wasted no time in tying both of these attacks to radical islamic terrorism even though authorities are still investigating both of these instances. in one of the statements, donald trump was vowing to come together with any freedom loving partners who will work with the u.s. to help eradicate terrorism. in addition to putting out these statements, he also took to twitter to express his concern not just for the attack in berlin as well as the one in turkey but also for an attack in switzerland where a gunman opened fire at a mosque. on twitter, he said today there were terror attacks in turkey, switzerland, and germany. it is only getting worse. the civilized world must change thinking. now, donald trump will be here in mar-a-lago today. he's expected to have more transition meetings. we're asking his team for any more information about whether

he'll be getting updates throughout the day on these situations and who exactly will be briefing him. chris? >> sara, the president-elect learning there's no such thing as a vacation when you're president of the united states. we'll check back with you soon. joining us now is cnn counterterrorism analyst and former cia official philip mudd. cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank. and former state department official and u.s. ambassador to nato, nicholas burns. mr. mudd, we begin with you. if we look at this palette across the globe, you have switzerland, that was gunfire. turkey was gunfire, a targeted assassination. berlin a truck. these are all different methods, but they're all being lumped together by the president-elect as the same problem. is that the simple truth, or is this something missed in the subtlety? >> there's a couple things missed here. he's incorrect in lumping these together. i would agree with him

initially, although we don't know for sure, that turkey -- pardon me, germany is a radical islamist attack. that's in contrast to what we see in turkey. i think we'll find that has to do with turkish politics and disputes within turkey about how much turkey should be aligned with the russians, especially as the russians are responsible for part of the humanitarian disaster in syria. two very different situations that the president-elect is lumping together. let me say one more thing. when he tweets before you get the germans acknowledging what's happening in their own country, i hope he's willing to accept foreign leaders, when we get an event in the united states, intervening to say what they think has happened here before he determines the facts. this interveng overseas and commenting, even as he's not the president of the united states yet, in advance of what foreign officials are saying about their own events in their own countries, i think foreign officials are going to bristle at this. the u.s. president maybe should wait to see what foreigners say

before he comments on their situations. >> but paul, this is part of virtue to the supporters of the president-elect donald trump, that he calls it as he sees it and doesn't get caught up in all these niceties philip mudd is talking about and all this political bs. he sees it for what it is, that there are bad muslims in the world doing bad things and they need to be removed from the face of the earth. that's what he's been saying basically. what's the problem with that? >> well, the attack in switzerland was an attack on a mosque. so presumably not something carried out by muslims. we don't know yet the perpetrator of that attack. the turkey attack may have no ties to terrorist groups whatsoever, as phil was saying. in germany, officials are still trying to sort through all of this. the bottom line is this is an issue of the credibility of the united states. if you're going to have a president-elect or a president making calls and getting them

wrong, that is going to damage the credibility of the united states internationally. now, when it comes to the berlin attack, they are pointing towards an act of terrorism. but there are certainly a number of pointers in that direction. the sort of country of origin is perhaps a pointer. also, the fact that isis have been calling for exactly these kind of truck attacks. but it is very early on in this investigation. u.s. officials do need to be very careful, just like their counterparts in europe, about making these official determinations when they don't have the full facts. >> right. and nick, obviously i get the distinctions being made, but i'm telling you, the political state of play in the united states deserves some consideration right now. you have a president-elect that just did very well in the election by simply saying, look, what's our problem with terrorism? president obama won't call it what it is.

and that resonated very strongly through most of this country. what diplomatic problems are created by this blunt reality approach? >> well, i agree with phil and paul that you've got to get your facts straight. he didn't on this switzerland case. we have a tradition and a law in this country, one president at a time. i think it will be more effective for donald trump if he just tried to run his transition, form his government. he's going to be responsible as of noon, january 20th. but president obama is the president of the united states. just as we saw, chris, with the underwater drone seized by the chinese in the south china sea, to have the president-elect intervening, making statements, making suggestions, we have a president, president obama. i think it will be more effective for donald trump just to lie low, learn, dig into his briefing books, and then be ready to go on january 20th. it is confusing, i think, for foreigners to be hearing two

different voices from washington, that of our current government and that of the president-elect. >> does the president-elect lose in that analysis at home, philip mudd? because the optics certainly in the base that elected him is that the foreigners aren't getting it done, they're weak, they're losing, they need the united states. the united states deserves to have a voice whenever it wants it. >> no way he loses at home. i think there's a difference between what we're talking about, which is sort of in some ways an inside the beltway, inside washington conversation, which you referred to inappropriately as political bs, and what we've seen happen over the previous few months at his victory rallies where tens of thousands or at least thousands of people are showing up, supporting the man they just voted for and a twitter campaign by the president-elect that mirrors what he did during the campaign so successfully. so we can talk about -- and i completely agree, we have one president at a time. but a man who just won an election based on partly a twitter campaign that was so successful, i don't see why we

should anticipate not only that he will stop that but that it won't be equally successful when he becomes president on january 20th. there's a difference between what diplomatic people say he should do and what he learned was successful on the campaign trail. and that difference is stark. >> paul, let's talk about the larger problem here, which is we just saw play out in realtime the conflict in syria. this attack, if it's taken on its face by what was said by the assassin when he took out the russian ambassador, you know, remember aleppo. this was not a guy -- yes, he was saying god is greatest when he did this shooting, but that's being suggested as somewhat of a distraction here, that this is more about sectarian concerns and syrian-specific concerns, political concerns about russia's intervention in syria than simple islamic jihad. how so? >> well, we'll see what the motivation was in that attack, but make no mistake that the brutal russian assad regime

intervention in aleppo is going to super charge the global jihadi movement. it's going to radicalize people in syria. it's going to radicalize people across the sunni world. and it's going to play into the hands of isis and al qaeda recruiters who are going to make the argument that the sunnis are under attack by some alleged global conspiracy. it's also going to play into the hands of those who would want to say that the united states is somehow complicit in some of this because of the warming relations between russia and the united states, sort of the jihadis in their attempts to try and lump in this sort of global conspiracy against islam. so we're entering a very dangerous period indeed, where this brutal crackdown against the rebels in aleppo is really going to energize the global jihadi movement. it's going to make the sectarian problems so much worse in the

middle east on which these terrorist groups thrive. so a lot of really severe challenges now for the trump administration moving forward. >> nick, let's take one last beat here on a discussion of something we may not like, but you have to give voice to. here we are five days away from celebrating the birth of christ for christians, and this war of us versus them is more and more in the united states becoming shaped by the idea of the west, which is being reckoned as the christian base of the world, versus the muslim base of the world. what do you see as the risks of that type of paradigm? >> there's a great danger here for the american political leadership. both president george w. bush and president barack obama were very clear over the last 16 years that we are not at war with muslims. obviously, we're in a war against violent islamic radical groups, terrorist groups in the middle east. i think you've grot ot to make

distinction. sometimes it doesn't come out on twitter. that's why it's so important to be careful in public statements. we're not as war with islam. we're going to see two things happen. the majority sunni community in syria has been assaulted by the offensive by president assad and the russians and others. that's going to metastasize not just in syria but outside of syria. as you psee the decline of the islamic state, if mosul falls, if raqqah falls in northern syria, they're likely to report to these kind of terrorist attack. we're going to have to expect, unfortunately, more of this. we're going to have to be smart in how we fight it. >> there is something satisfying about simplicity, but the war that is being fought against terror is anything but that. gentlemen, thank you for giving us the truth of the situation. appreciate it. alisyn? coming up, we're going to speak to two people at the christmas market who witnessed the attack in berlin, germany.

following news of the worst kind. german officials investigating a horrific crash as an act of terror. the driver of a tractor trailer

barrelling through a christmas market, killing at least 12, injuring at least 50. this coming just hours after a gunman assassinated the russian ambassador to turkey. president-elect donald trump labeling both attacks radical islamic terrorism. let's bring in senator angus king of maine. he serves on the senate armed services committee. there's satisfaction in the simple. when the president-elect says, look, let's call these things what they are, they're muslims trying to kill everybody else, islamic radical terror, it is satisfying to the american people. we just saw it play out in the election. what is your problem with him defining both of these events the same way? >> well, the problem is, chris, that simple answers to complicated questions are usually wrong. in this case, it appears that, number one, we don't really know the facts. it's premature to come to a conclusion. but number two, it appears that the attack in turkey on the

russian ambassador wasn't a religious attack but was a political one, revenge for what's going on in aleppo, which by the way is going to generate a generation of hatred and resentment and probably violence. it's one of the great war crimes that's been committed in our lifetime. so to say they're both islamic jihadist attacks, i just don't think is correct factually. the one in berlin, yes, that appears to be. the one in zurich was an attack on a mosque. so that's a -- it's a complicated situation. just to say it's all islamic terrorism, i think, is, a, not the correct answer, as i said, and, b, will only enflame tensions and could conceivably make them worse. >> give me another step on why. to many ears, sounds like semantics. this is political correctness. this is trying to play it safe. whether the turkish 22-year-old

killed the russian ambassador for religious or for political reasons, it was still a muslim killing somebody who's not a muslim because they're angry. that's the same thing in berlin, whether the guy's a refugee from afghanistan or he isn't, he was a muslim and tried to kill people who aren't. that's the problem. deal with it on its face. >> well, i think number one, again, going back to the attack in turkey, it doesn't appear anyway now -- and again, we don't really know the facts, but it doesn't appear it was a religious attack. it was a political one. it was revenge for something that's going on in aleppo. but the larger question i think your prior panel really hit very well -- >> yeah, they did. >> and that is, do we really want to have a war of half the world against the other half the world. 1.6 billion muslims. in the u.s., i've met with officials from the fbi and our intelligence agencies. most of the tips and the help that we get in dealing with

these problems, in thwarting these problems here in the u.s. come from people within the muslim community. do we really want to radicalize all of those people and make this a world conflagration? i just don't think it's in our best interest. yes, we have to go after the bad guys and the ones that are using these incidents to enflame the population, but to spread it -- and i'm not being soft hearted here. i'm just being practical. if we radicalize the more moderate members of this community, and there are many of them around the world, millions and millions, probably over a billion, then we've just made the problem that much worse. >> thank you for making the case on that point. let me ask you about something else. the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says he does not endorse a bipartisan committee hearing on the involvement of putin and the kremlin in the hacks during the election. he says we can take care of this

during the ordinary course of business within your own committee. what do you think of that? >> well, let's not mischaracterize what mitch has said. the intelligence committee is a bipartisan committee. it's a select committee. it's members of both parties, the chairman of armed services, the ranking member of the armed services, the majority leader, and the democratic leader are on that committee. so i'm not taking a position as to whether it should be a new committee set up just for this purpose or whether the intelligence committee can handle it, but the intelligence committee is, as i say, a bipartisan committee that we've already been working on this subject for the better part of six months. so i think, chris, what you're going to end up with is probably a couple of different investigations. john mccain at the armed services committee and lindsay graham want to go forward with something there. there may be a special subcommittee there. but i think the important thing for the american people is there is going to be an investigation

of this, and we're going to get to bottom of it. most importantly to me, we need to make public what we learn. the point subpoena to not relitigate this past election but to be sure that this doesn't happen in the future, and the best defense is if the american people know when the russians are trying to mess around with our politics. >> you know, one of the interesting bases of skepticism in this situation is, you know, everybody's wringing their hands now in our government, saying it was putin, it was the kremlin, this is bad, they do it all the time, they keep doing it, they're doing it right now. where was that during the election? where was that out of the white house when they learned as far back in july? where was that after clapper came forward in october with his statement saying this -- how come you guys weren't up in arms then? >> well, i think the public statement of the director of national intelligence that you mentioned, jim clapper, in october was a big deal. it was a very affirmative, unequivocal statement that the

russians were involved, that they were trying to interfere in our elections, that it went to the highest level of the russian government. the problem is it just got lost in the noise of the campaign. >> but there were no calls for a special committee. mccain wasn't jumping up and down there. lindsay graham wasn't doing it then. it seems like it smacks a little bit of political opportunism. >> no, i don't think so. i don't think you can accuse two republicans of being politically opportune. john mccain was just re-elected. he's just being john mccain, which is somebody who takes these things very seriously. he has a very clear-eyed view as russia as our adversary. >> right. but why would you complain about something more after the period of urgency had passed? if you knew about hacking during the thing that you didn't want hacked, during that event, why weren't you loud and proud then? why would you wait until after it's over? that's the question. >> well, i think a lot of people

did raise it. i remember saying every time i heard those podesta e-mails, that the reporting should have been brought to you by the russians. but it just got lost, as i say, in the noise. i think people were upset and concerned about it. more and more information started to come out. that statement in october was extraordinary, but it just didn't -- it didn't get picked up to the extent that it should have. >> senator angus king, always a pleasure to get your clear-eyed perspective on situations. the best to you and your family for christmas. >> same to you, chris. thank you. >> all right. alisyn? chris, this deadly attack with dozens of witnesses standing by, watching in horror, what they say and what the u.s. is doing now to make sure a similar attack on a holiday market does not happen here. that's next. it's the holidays at verizon, and the best deals are on the best network. with no surprise overages, you can use your data worry free and even carry over the data you don't use. and right now get four lines and 20 gigs

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we are getting a first-hand account of what it was like minutes after that truck slammed into a berlin christmas market. cnn international anchor john voss spoke with eyewitnesses.

>> it actually looked like he jumped the curb and was going out of control, lost control of the truck and swerved into the crowded market. it came -- it went so fast. it sort of jumped the curb and went sideways from where i was at. people just started running and dropping things and started screaming and running and yelling things in german. i'm an american. i've only lived here three months. i don't know much german, but i knew enough to run. i just ran in the other direction. there's not much cover in these markets. there's really no place to run. you sort of have to hide behind a stall or just keep running. i heard some popping and thought maybe there's a guy with a gun. you know, we see it a lot in america with these people going on a rampage with guns. i just tried to duck and cover and hid behind a stall with a

bur bunch of other people until we thought it was safe to come out. >> do you remember seeing much security at the market before the truck went into the crowd? >> there's always security around these markets and around berlin. they're not as obvious as what you see in the u.s. with the guys in the army fatigues and the guns. they're kind of a little hidden. they're not so obvious. but they're always there, and they're always looking around. but this is a very, very free society. it's a very open society. it's not like it's in your face so people can come and go as they please, which they like to do at the christmas markets because it is a tradition here in germany. people really, really love christmas here in germany. >> do you remember how long all of this lasted before the truck actually stopped? >> it felt like ten hours, but

it was probably like ten seconds. i was texting on my phone. i had stopped to respond to a text. if i hadn't responded, i might have been hit because it was only 20 feet away at that time. i looked up and people just started running and scurrying and screaming. i saw this big, you know, it looked like a gigantic u.p.s. truck coming towards us. i just ran. it probably didn't last very long, but it felt like i was in slow motion trying to get away from it. very surreal. >> so again, a terrorist using a truck as a weapon. what is being done to stop attacks like this here in the u.s.? joining us again is cnn counterterrorism analyst and former cia official phillip mudd. thanks for sticking around. we've seen it here in berlin now. we saw it so horrifically in nice. we saw it three weeks ago at ohio state university. we understand this was a directive from isis, that people should begin using their

vehicles to mow down infidels. what can law enforcement and counterterrorism officials do about this? >> boy, i don't think there's much they can do. if you look at major events, we just had the thanksgiving day parade in new york. if you think about what happens in this country, for example the rose bowl in california, in contrast to when we started down this counterterror campaign 15 years ago. back then you had a defined space. you had to protect a cockpit. you had to have people go through new scanners at airports. but that's a small space where you can control access by people. think about those huge spaces we're talking about in places like california, florida during their parades, and new york. how do you prevent vehicles in a multimile area from entering that space? i suppose you could put up concrete barriers, limit access the day before to only pedestrians. i think as we look at this, what isis is trying to tell followers is to access locations that simply can't be secured by

federal officials unless you shut down a city. i don't think that's possible across america. >> look, i marvel every day at new york and how the law enforcement officers here keep things going. there's something like 8 million people who ride the subway. it's remarkable, this melting pot of new york and that things have been safe virtually here. in fact, as we speak, there's a christmas market, a holiday market set up right across the street from us. look, these are soft targets. there's lots of these things. so how have u.s. officials thus far done it so successfully? it's more than just luck. >> there's a lot more than luck. i think if you look at the past few years, there's three basic ideas you have to prevent incidents from happening. number one, take out terrorists before they get here in places like afghanistan and syria. that's why the conversation about what we do with russians potentially under a new presidency to cooperate, to shut

down isis is so important. stop them overseas. if you can't stop them overseas, have new processes at the border. biometric passports, for example. hardening of cockpit doors. finally, when they get here, you look at programs like the nypd ensure that you have an intelligence process to identify people before they do something. i think securing locations is not going to be efficient. this is not about locations. this is about people. you've got to find people before they do this because you just can't secure everything. >> phil, is it also about timing in terms of do law enforcement and counterterrorism officials expect things to spike around holidays? >> i think that conversation about timing is not -- does not match what i saw when i was a practitioner. we talk about timing. for example, christmas marks. if you look at what's happened in the united states over the past year in san bernardino and orlando, i don't think trying to synchronize security responses

to particular events or particular dates is effective. again, you've got to go back to this question about how do you balance civil liberties, looking at americans, looking at american social media footprint, who's talking about isis, and ensuring you protect america by saying we can't wait to try to secure something as big as the macy's parade. we've got to find the guy getting in the truck. one quick comment, alisyn. i think that's one of the frustrations about what we'll see in berlin. that is, this individual evidently, by the early reporting, has been in germany for about a year. i doubt he was fully radicalized by the time he got to germany. how do you find a refugee like that when he's not even radicalized when he comes in your country? it's either keep everybody out or assume there's going to be some risk to accepting refugees in your country. >> phil, one quick note of caution. at cnn, we are getting a little breaking news. berlin police president says suspect in custody may not be the driver. the berlin president has just

held a press conference regarding monday's truck attack saying we have not finished with our investigation yet. we cannot confirm this suspect in custody is the driver. we'll all hold off until we get more information throughout the program on this. phil, thank you very much for all of your expertise. it's always nice to talk to you. thank you. so families who lost loved ones in the pulse nightclub shooting are now suing social media giants. we're going to explain why they say that facebook, google, and twitter helped in that attack. ♪

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not have been the driver who plowed through a crowd, killing 12 people. cnn senior international correspondent fred pleitgen joins us live in berlin with the latest details. fred, the question is, are they saying this because the man in custody denies doing anything or for some other reason? what can you tell at this point? >> reporter: well, chris, it seems as though they're interrogating the man they have in custody. obviously, they're saying he denies all of, this but this certainly is a major development. i want to read for you from the statement from the chief of the berlin police. he said, we've not finished our investigations yet. we cannot confirm this person, this suspect in custody, is the driver. we have many statements from witnesses. the truck is still being searched. the berlin police have just come out with a tweet a couple seconds kaago, saying that the n in custody denies everything and they're warning the population here to be alert. and if they say something

suspicious to follow it up themselves but to notify the police instead. so certainly they certainly believe there could be someone out there. we also have to keep in mind in all of this, chris, that the man who was on the passenger seat of that truck, the man who was found shot dead, that weapon was never retrieved. certainly if there is still someone out there, if the police do, in fact, have the wrong person in custody, there may indeed be an armed individual running around berlin, who obviously is very dangerous, if indeed it is the same person who plowed through this christmas market with that truck. so certainly the police cautioning them, saying they're not absolutely certain the man they have in custody, this 23-year-old man from the afghanistan/pakistan region, is the person who plowed through this christmas market. it is a major development, the police telling people essentially be very, very careful here on the streets of berlin and certainly if you see something suspicious, notify the cops but don't try to do anything yourselves.

>> okay, fred. this is a critical development. please bring us any breaking details you have, and we'll report them out. thank you for that. on to another terror attack, the one that was in orlando, florida. the families of three of the pulse nightclub shooting victims are taking three social media companies to court. they're suing facebook, google, and twitter for, quote, making it too easy for isis to spread its message. cnn's national correspondent deborah feyerick is here with us. >> basically they're alleging material support. the families of three men killed inside the pulse nightclub say twitter, google, and facebook knowingly and recklessly provided isis with accounts, which isis then used to spread extremist propaganda, raise money. the law says this amounts to material support of terrorism and accuses the social media giants for helping isis expand its reach by recruiting 250 americans believed to have joined isis. among them, pulse nightclub

shooter omar mateen, who pledged allegiance to the terror group while he was inside that nightclub during the rampage and massacre. the lawsuit says, quote, without defendants, twitter, facebook, and google, the ploex elsive growth of isis over the last few years would not be possible. lawyers representing the families have sue the these giants once before, to no avail. twitter has made an effort in the past to shut down known isis accounts. >> that's a fascinating development, deb. thank you very much. all right. so the most recent attacks bringing new urgency to the global battle against terror. what can world leaders do to make good on their promise to be strong against this threat? we discus next. .

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through a christmas market in berlin on monday killing 12 people and injuring 48. that crash is being investigated as terrorism. that was just one of several attacks shaking many countries over the past 48 hours. joining us now is our old friend, editor-in-chief of hindued stand times. great to have you with us in studios. sorry it's under these circumstances. >> it's always under these circumstances. just once i would like to come on and talk about puppies. >> first give us the global view on what's happening. let's go through it. in the past 24 hours there was an attack on a mosque in switzerland. a truck attack in berlin. russian ambassador assassinated in ankara, turkey. sue died bomber that killed 50 people in yemen. are we looking for a connection that doesn't exist or are they kmeted? >> we look for a connection because this is where we're living now. the politicians and people on

social media were seeking these connections. there are no pressing connections except to a say that the atmosphere of fear, distrust and hatred is what you have in common across the board. what's going on in yemen is completely different from what's happening in what happened in berlin last night but there is an atmosphere that connects the two. and as we -- there's also more. this is also taking place in the backdrop of syria. there was a terrorist attack earlier today, in the early hours of this morning in jordan where isis attacked a small town and maybe 15 people were killed. this stuff is now coming at us so fast that you have to look for patterns even when they don't exist. >> you've been out of the country for a while. we just had the election that was very much on the issue of terror decided by then candidate now president-elect donald trump saying enough with the

complexity. these muslims are trying to kill us. there's a problem within islam. they have to deal with it but we have to deal with the outcome. and there's a division in this country where suggesting those arguments to our experts, we'll get the political left to blame me for owning those arguments. that's the reality in this country right now. how does that play internationally? how does that compare to what you're dealing with in india? >> the zbeernlly is that america may take an all too simplistic view of these things. this is an incredibly complex set of situations, not even one complex problem, there are multiple complex problems around the world and i'm not suggesting politicians in india are naturally better at doing this but they had to deal with this for a longer period of time. they've had more practice. so whether you agree or disagree with that political position, you know that they are applying some thought that is informed by experience. what you have in the u.s. now is

thought that is not formed by experience and formed much more in the case of president-elect trump by a desire to simplify, to cut through what he would regard as complexities. let's be simple here. this is not a time for simplicity. the world has never been more complicated than now. and looking back home from abroad is this desire for simplicity. it's not simple. let's not make it simple. sitcom pleks. embrace the complexity. trying to simplify things is not always the best way. >> we see exhibit a in syria and how complicated that is. complication leads to paralysis and complication can lead to not knowing how to solve it. part of the reason that i think simplicity is satisfying is that in some ways these different hot spots, they are being perpetrated by one person at a time. the war is one person at a time.

one person wreaks havoc in berlin. one person wreaks havoc on a mosque. so it feels somehow simple to say safrp them out. >> the war is the battles are with one person at a time. the war is about the war of ideas. the war of ideologies. there's one ideologies that's attacking everybody. let's remind ourselves muslims are being killed by an enormous margin by any others in the country. >> in switzerland there was an attack on a mosque. >> that's right. so the vast number, vast majority of people, the 98% of people killed by terrorists are muslims. you asked the question before we went to break, what should world leaders do? angela merkel did a couple of things write in her first speech today which is you first try to protect the weakest and most innocent and the most vulnerable which includes the minorities.

secondly very important, very, very important, you protect your ovals. if you allow your ovals values overtaken there's a stretch to say you lost but you're going down that path. if you can't hold on to your values then you're losing an ideological battle. that's what crucial. that's what smart leaders around the world are beginning to understand. you can allow yourself to succumb to the rage, to succumb to the desire for simplicity and go out there and beat somebody up. >> that said german police aren't sure who was driving that truck in this murderous act. if it turns out the guy they go, a refugee from afghanistan and pakistan, angela merkel will have to deal with it. >> the right in germany are attacking her. she allowed nearly 900,000 refugees in. remember how much we celebrated. i was in the studios when she

did that. we called her -- that was a states woman thing to do. it was. that was the right expression off liberal german values. if at this point she comes under pressure and abandon those values, then germany has lost something far, far more important than we can fathom right now. >> great to see you. thanks so much to be here. come to be here any time. following a lot of breaking news for you this morning. so let's get right to it. >> the truck came barrelling through. >> christmas lights are being torn down. >> the person they have in custody may not have been the driver. >> german authorities are investigating this as a paris attack. >> it didn't feel like it was an accident. the assassination of russia's ambassador to turkey -- >> the attacker quite clearly says we must remember alepp jobs we must remember syria. >> the gunman identified as a 22-year-old turkish police officer. >> with the rise of isis and

catastrophe in syria we're going to see attacks like this all throughout the world. this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning. welcome to your "new day". it's tuesday, december 20th, 8:00 in the east. there are developments on the attacks in europe and the middle east. berlin's police president now says they cannot confirm that the man they have in custody is the driver who plowed through the crowd at a holiday market. >> part of that is because he supposedly denying involvement. another part they picked him up a mile and a half from the scene. they are warning maybe there could be an armed gunman still on the loose. we have complete coverage starting this morning with fred plantkin live in berlin. >> reporter: one of the reasons why police are warning people to be careful they believe if someone is still out there, if the person