ask him a question. use the same handles. we may use one of yours. we're going to take a pause now for reset as some of our new viewers are joining us at the top of the hour. as you look live at the white house. in moment president obama will deliver a primetime address to the nation. in the wake of unspeakable terror strikes against a russian airliner and the city of paris, isis-inspired terrorism came here to america last week. 14 people were killed when a muslim couple attacked a holiday luncheon in san bernardino california. president obama has in the ensuing four days focused primarily on gun control, only reluctantly referencing terrorism, and never attributing it to radical islam. the president has only chosen the oval office for primetime address two times before. for this address, officials say the president is trying to convey seriousness on this

issue. chief white house correspondent ed henry is on the north lawn of the white house. >> it's interesting because he's going to start, we're told tonight with an update on that awful tragedy in california and then broaden it by saying this threat is evolving. remember one of the last times he reassured the country was the day before thanksgiving. he said here at the white house, no credible threat. one week later, 14 americans dead in california. your point about the oval office the last time he spoke in the oval office like this august 2010, pulling off troops out of iraq. that helped lead to the rise of isis. that may be one of the reasons tonight he'd rather talk more about guns than terror brett. >> ed thank you. from the oval office he has only delivered this as we mentioned, three times. here now, the president of the united states. >> on wednesday, 14 americans were killed as they came together to celebrate the holidays. they were taken from family and friends who loved them deeply. they were white and black, latino and asian, immigrants and

american born moms and dads daughters and sons. each of them served their fellow citizens and all of them were part of our american family. tonight i want to talk with you about this tragedy, the broader threat of terrorism, and how we can keep our country safe. the fbi is still gathering the facts about what happened in san bernardino but here's what we know. the victims were brutally murdered and injured by one of their and his wife. so far, we have no evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas or that they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home. but it is clear that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization embracing a perverted interpretation of islam that calls for war against america and the west. they had stockpiled assault weapons, ammunition and pipe bombs. so this was an act of terrorism

designed to kill innocent people. our nation has been at war with terrorists since al qaeda killed nearly 3,000 americans on 9/11. in the process, we've hardened our defenses from airports to financial centers to other critical infrastructure. intelligence and law enforcement agencies have disrupted countless plots here and overseas and worked around the clock to keep us safe. our military and counterterrorism professionals have relentlessly pursued terrorist networks overseas disrupting safe havens in several different countries, killing osama bin laden, and decimating al qaeda's leadership. over the last few years, however, the terrorist threat has evolved into a new phase. as we've become better at preventing complex, multifaceted attacks like 9/11 terrorists turn to less complicated acts of violation, like the mass shootings that are all too

common in our society. it is this type of attack that we saw at ft. hood in 2009 in chattanooga earlier this year and now in san bernardino. and as groups like isil grew stronger amidst the chaos of war in iraq and syria, and as the internet erases the distance between countries, we see growing efforts by terrorists to poison the minds of people like the boston marathon bombers and the san bernardino killers. for seven years, i have confronted this evolveing threat each and every morning in my intelligence briefing and since the day i took this office i have authorized u.s. forces to take out terrorists abroad precisely because i know how real the danger is. as commander in chief, i have no greater responsibility than the security of the american people. as a father to two young daughters who are the most precious part of my life, i know

that we see ourselves with friends and co-workers at a holiday party like the one in san bernardino. i know we see our kids in the faces of the young people killed in paris. and i know that after so much war, many americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure. well here's what i want you to know. the threat from terrorism is real but we will overcome it. we will destroy isil and any other organization that tries to harm us. our success won't depend on tough talk or abandoned our values or giving in to fear. that's what groups like isil are hoping for. instead, we will prevail by being strong and smart, resilient and relentless and by drawing upon every aspect of american power. here's how. first, our military will continue to hunt down terrorist plotters in any country where it

is necessary. in iraq and syria, air strikes are taking out isil leaders, heavy weapons, oil tankers, infrastructure. and since the attacks in paris, our closest allies including france germany, and the united kingdom, have ramped up their contributions to our military campaign which will help us accelerate our effort to destroy isil. second we will continue to provide training and equipment to tens of thousands of iraqi and syrian forces fighting isil on the ground so that we take away their safe havens. in both countries, we're deploying special operations forces who can accelerate that offensive. we've stepped up this effort since the attacks in paris, and we'll continue to invest more in approaches that are working on the ground. third, we're working with friends and allies to stop isil's operations to disrupt plots, cut off their finances and prevent them from recruiting more fighters.

since the attacks in paris, we've surged intelligence sharing with our european allayyies allies. we're working with turkey to seal its border with syria. and we're cooperating with muslim majority countries and our muslim communities here at home to counter the vicious ideology that isil promotes online. fourth with american leadership the international community has begun to establish a process and timeline to pursue cease-fires and a political resolution to the syrian war. doing so will allow the syrian people and every country, including our allies but also countries like russia to focus on the common goal of destroying isil. a group that threatens us all. this is our strategy to destroy isil. it is designed and supported by our military commanders and counterterrorism experts, together with 65 countries that have joined an american-led coalition.

and we constantly examine our strategy to determine when additional steps are needed to get the job done. that's why i've ordered the departments of state and homeland security to review the visa waiver program under which the female terrorist in san bernardino originally came to this country. and that's why i will urge high-tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice. now, here at home we have to work together to address the challenge. there are several steps congress should take right away. to begin with congress should act to make sure no one on a no-fly list is able to buy a gun. what could possibly be the argument for allowing a terror suspect to buy a semiautomatic weapon? this is a matter of national security. we also need to make it harder for people to buy powerful assault weapons like the ones that were used in san bernardino. i know there are some who reject

any gun safety measures but the fact is that our intelligence and law enforcement agencies no matter how effective they are, cannot identify every would-be mass shooter, whether that individual is motivated by isil or some other hateful ideology. what we can do and must do is make it harder for them to kill. next we should put in place stronger screening for those who come to america without a visa so that we can take a hard look at whether they've travelled to war zones. and we're working with members of both parties in congress to do exactly that. finally, if congress believes as i do that we are at war with isil it should go ahead and vote to authorize the continued use of military force against these terrorists. for over a year i have ordered our military to take thousands of air strikes against isil targets. i think it's time for congress to vote to demonstrate that the american people are united and

committed to this fight. my fellow americans, these are the steps that we can take together to defeat the terrorist threat. let me now say a word about what we should not do. we should not be drawn once more into a long and costly ground war in iraq or syria. that's what groups like isil want. they know they can't defeat us on the battlefield. isil fighters were part of the insurgency we faced in iraq, but they also know that if we occupy foreign lands, they can maintain insurgencies for years, killing thousands of our troops and draining our resources and using our presence to draw new recruits recruits. the strategy that we are using now, air strikes, special forces and working with local forces who are fighting to regain control of their own country, that is how we'll achieve a more sustainable

victory. and it won't require us sending a new generation of americans overseas to fight and die for another decade on foreign soil. here's what else we cannot do. we cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between america and islam. that too, is what groups like isil want. isil does not speak for islam. they're thugs and killers, part of a cult of death, and they account for a tiny fraction of more than a billion muslims around the world, including patriotic american-muslims who reject their hateful ideology. moreover the vast majority of terrorist victims around the world are muslim. if we're to succeed in defeating terrorism, we must enlist muslim communities as some of our strongest allies rather than push them away through suspicion

and hate. that does not mean denying the fact that an extremist ideology has spread within some muslim communities. this is a real problem that muslims must confront without excuse. muslim leaders here and around the globe have to continue working with us to decisively and une kwifly eject the hateful ideology that groups it like isil and al qaeda promote, to speak out against not just acts of violence but also those interpretations of islam that are incompatible with the values of religious tolerance, mutual respect, and human dignity. but just as it is the responsibility of muslims around the world to root out misguided ideas that lead to radicalization it is the responsibility of all americans of every faith to reject discrimination. it is our responsibility to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country. it's our responsibility to

reject proposals that muslim-americans should somehow be treated differently. because when we travel down that road we lose. that kind of divisiveness, that betrayal of our values plays into the hands of groups like isil. muslim-americans are our friends and our neighbors, our co-workers our sports heroes and yes, they are our men and women in uniform who are willing to die in defense of our country. we have to remember that. my fellow americans, i am confident we will succeed in this mission because we are on the right side of history. we were founded upon a belief in human dignity, that no matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or what religion you practice you're equal in the eyes of god and equal in the eyes of the

law. even in this political season even as we properly debate what steps i and future presidents must take to keep our country safe let's make sure we never forget what makes us exceptional. let's not forget that freedom is more powerful than fear. that we have always met challenges whether war or depression natural disasters, or terrorist attacks by coming together around our common ideals as one nation and one people. so long as we stay true to that tradition, i have no doubt that america will prevail. thank you. god bless you. and may god bless the united states of america. >> president obama from the oval office saying definitively for the first time that the san bernardino massacre was an act of terrorism. the president speaking for about 13 minutes from a podium in front of the resolute desk in

the oval office saying that the threat from terrorists has evolved while laying out the changing threat and insisting his military strategy against isis is re-examined all the time. he quickly then turned to preventing anyone on a no-fly list from getting a gun in the u.s. he said congress should also prevent people from getting assault weapons as well. just a clarification, the president and his administration called the islamic state isil, or. most of the media uses isis. the president then talked at length about rejecting discrimination in the wake of this new terrorist threat. he finished by saying america is on the right side of history and therefore will succeed. he said freedom is more powerful than fear. let's bring in our panel once again. charles, thoughts? >> woody allen said showing up

is 80% of life. in that sense, he showed up. finally appeared to address the issue. i think that counts for something. as to the substance and tone it's a complete failure. the substance, he announced nothing new on strategy on the ground. he argued against ground troops which is a political point, but as to anything he's adding to his strategy there was nothing to encourage any sense that we're going to do any better. this idea that this distraction into gun control is really cynical. the idea that the no-fly zone is an important issue. look anything that will keep a gun out of the hands of steve hayes i think is useful. but these two assailants were not on any list. they were completely under the radar. they live in the state with the strongest gun control probably in the country.

assault weapon bans magazine limits and universal background checks. and they were entirely undetected. this is a way to change the subject, and i think he continued in that vein. what he said about muslim-americans i think that's a good thing to do. george bush did that after 9/11. at the same time he launched a real war against al qaeda in afghanistan. >> we should reference the steve hayes comment. he was on a no-fly list at one point for a one-way trip to turkey. i'll come to you in a second. a.b. your thoughts on the speech? >> well, i think charles is right in that he knows how serious it is and he was somber but there were no what now. americans watching tonight were not assuaged there's going to be

a battle against encryption and dark spaces where these people can communicate overseas without detection, a way that our law enforcement system the way it's set up now can respond anew with resources to these kinds of evolving threats from lone wolves anywhere in any supermarket parking lot. gun control is an appropriate topic because people who expect that -- majority polling in this country that we should have background checks if we're going to vet refugees more intensive intensively. we can certainly vet gun sales. but that's not going to be enough to calm people's nerves tonight. his phrasing was, we constantly re-examine our strategy but he didn't come up with anything new. i don't really know why -- as steve said it was more defense than it was, you know, resolve and a new plan. >> but it's important to put in context that a lot of americans don't pay attention to the every day, day-to-day nuance of what the president says on every

issue much like we do here on the panel or maybe special report viewers do. and he's touching a much broader audience tonight with an ask for all the networks to take this. i talked to one democrat who described it as a mulligan for this president, a golf term to get another shot at delivering this message. did he do it tonight? >> i think he did. i think it was a successful speech. exactly as a mulligan given the failure of the press conference in turkey where he seemed to be out of touch with the degree of fear in the united states after the paris attack. again, we go back to the polls. it's amped up not only after paris but after san bernardino. coming back to a point that you were making about speaking to the wide primetime audience tonight, he laid out for that audience exactly what we're doing. i mean to me when he talks about getting turkey to seal the border he's talking news. when he's talking about cutting off their finances going after their oil infrastructure when

he's talking about the coalition growing and increasing the intensity of the attacks on isis taking out their leadership when he goes into specifics in all these ways including the potential of a cease-fire in terms of the syrian civil war, i think you're talking about a president that's demonstrating some command. >> there are words and then there's the reality of what people see happening. >> i think most americans don't know this stuff because we don't -- you know even tonight when you said, you know this is the first time we've heard him say this was a terrorist attack and the like. we tend to get involved in those kind of discussions. people don't pay attention to exactly what is the u.s. strategy does the u.s. have a strategy we don't hear about it. tonight he laid out a strategy. >> steve? >> what a low bar it is that we act that the president of the united states has called a terrorist attack a terrorist attack. he should have been doing this all along. what you saw tonight was a speech where the president proposed political solutions to national security problems. that's what he's done for seven years now.

and it comes amidst increasing accusations from members of the intelligence community and others that this president has set aside the intelligence he doesn't like to see. you have this growing intelligence scandal, isis intelligence scandal down at central command where there's an inspector general investigation of that at the pentagon. you also have claims from, you know, not slouches, people with serious credentials like mike flynn, the president's former top military intelligence official saying the president manipulated intelligence before the 2012 elections. president obama said he sees the threat every day because it's in his presidential daily brief. flynn told me not long ago that these threats were in the president's daily brief, and he simply ignored them. that's a huge problem. i think this -- what you expected from this president was a change of strategy. you didn't see any change of strategy whatsoever. what you saw were attempts to distract and attempts to defend his failing record. >> there were two distinctive parts of this speech. one was laying out the case the

administration's case against isis calming fears perhaps of increased threats at home. the other was to say the country cannot be discriminating against muslims. he spent a lot of time on that charles. >> i thought it was rather disproportionate. we're not exactly in a wave of attacks on muslims around the world. in fact the way america has acted in the last 15 years since the attack on 9/11 has been unbelievely respectful and restrained starting with the speech made in the local mosque in washington. so our record on that has been exemplary. for obama to act as if there's this wave of islamic -- anti-islamic rage in the country, i think, is really overstating it. and it's a part of his defensiveness. his own attorney general said to days ago her biggest fear is that we are going to turn to

anti-islamic rhetoric. is that actually the biggest problem, the biggest threat to america today? again, the tone deafness of this is astonishing. when obama laid out his case at the beginning of the speech about what he actually is doing, you have to ask yourself we are 16 months into this air war, and we're still talking about hitting their oil infrastructure. this isn't saudi arabia under isis control. apparently we haven't hit them because we did not want to cause environmental damage. that's lunacy. and we have 80% who have returned without dropping because obama has imposed rules of engagement. no civilian is to have a hair touched on his head which is impossible in war, and which has made the air campaign utterly ineffective. >> although the defense secretary said last week they're considering changing those rules of engagement.

let's turn to 2016 and the implications here. obviously republicans have their line against the president, the administration, how they're waging the war against isis at home and abroad. for hillary clinton, it is an interesting walk. you're starting to see the likely democratic nominee start to push a little bit against the administration. >> but she doesn't really know how because she still doesn't want to call it a war against isis. she says we're in a conflict with them. she doesn't want to call it a war. any new strategy proposals? nope. she wants to get the distance she needs from obama to say what we're doing with isis isn't working, but when you ask her what she wants to do she doesn't want to do anything new. the gift to hillary clinton that protects her always is the fact that all the news cycles are focused on donald trump's rhetoric and the republican race and never what she's doing. in a primary race she's safe to say we don't need a new war strategy or i can't imagine a scenario i can't conceive a scenario in which i'd send

ground troops. she knows once there's a republican nominee, she can become a bigger hawk. for now, the focus is not on her. >> juan you buy that about hillary clinton? perhaps she's tacking a little more hawkish. >> see, you're tacking more hawkish, i think. i think she said she wants a no-fly zone which the president has not bought into yet, even in tonight's remarks. she's saying she would put in additional special ops, which the american people in polling haven't quite bought that yet. she's looking to run a general election in which she's tougher than obama. i don't think she's anywhere near the republicans though. >> quickly. >> i think if you watched her halting performance on the sunday shows, she has no idea what to say because she's making political calculations. she's stopping to think about what are the political costs in the democratic primary if i acknowledge that they're at war with us? so instead, she says we are clearly in conflict with them. it reminds me of overseas contingency operations.

it reminds me of one-off attacks. she's following president obama's lead on this question of the global jihadist movement. it's a bad place to go. >> still ahead, florida senator republican presidential candidate marco rubio with a live exclues i have reaction to the president's address. first, we'll go live to southern california for brand new details on the still-expanding terror investigation there. the best of everything is even better during red lobster's ultimate seafood celebration. with jazzed up new dishes like the decadent grand seafood feast and the ultimate wood-grilled feast why wait to celebrate? so hurry in, it ends soon. ♪ (vo) some call it giving back.

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we have breaking news about new information in the investigation of wednesday's terror attack in san bernardino california. senior correspondent adam housely is live in redlands california tonight. >> reporter: good evening. as we reported over the last couple days thousands of agents are literally doing everything they cannot only here locally but around the country and across the globe. fox news has learned they've gotten significant tips about the international connection possibly to training as well as money. we know and learned tonight there's a digital footprint, as we reported but also federal agents have made some significant headway when it comes to the banking footprint. as it's explained to me within hours of the attack i'm told federal agents contacted the major banking institutions in this country with a subpoena of sorts. i asked for more clarity. they say it's a request. all we can tell you, it's a subpoena of sorts that basically asks for information in regards to these two suspects. i'm told that's where significant evidence in regards to the money train has come

from. there's still much to know that was a quote, i'm told but many of these security experts at these major u.s. banking institutions are former federal agents. so they know the protocol and what to look for. i'm told this request of sorts went out. it explains why the last couple of days agents have told us of had growing connection to possible training overseas as well as money overseas. >> adam thank you. there is evidence tonight isis is growing even bolder in yemen. it's claiming responsibility for the assassination of a provincial governor along with six of his bodyguards. tonight national security correspondent jennifer griffin looks at where the global fight against isis stands right now and where it's headed. >> reporter: the u.s. has led the fight against isil since august 2014 when it began air strikes in iraq. a month later, those strikes were extended to isis headquarters in syria. since then the u.s. air force has dropped more than 20,000 missiles and bombs on isis

targets, carrying out more than 8,600 air strikes. an estimated 23,000 isis supporters have been killed 3,000 in the last month alone. the "uss harry truman" is headed to the gulf and expected on station in the coming days. 3,500 american troops are currently on the ground in iraq. defense secretary ash carter announced last week he was sending a new special operations task force to erbil. >> we have the long reach that no one else has, and it puts everybody on notice in syria. you don't know at night who's going to be coming in the window. >> reporter: the u.s. has carried out nearly 80% of the air strikes over iraq and syria. in the wake of paris attacks, france sent its only aircraft carrier to the eastern mediterranean where three dozen war planes are now flying missions over syria. french president francois hollande visited the carrier on friday a day after the british parliament voted to allow

british war planes to begin striking syria. >> and do we go after these terrorists in their heartlands from where they are plotting to kill british people or do we sit back and wait for them to attack us? >> reporter: the german parliament followed suit voting to send 1200 german troops to the middle east and a frigate to sail. meantime, russia has expanded its military operations in syria, setting up a second air baste, claiming to fight isis though most russian air strikes target anti-assad forces including some u.s.-backed rebels. until now, the fight against isis has been focused on iraq and syria, but soon they may need to combat in libya. >> jennifer griffin at the pentagon. thank you. when we come back exclusive live reaction to the president's speech from florida senator republican presidential candidate marco rubio. it's here, the first gummy multivitamin... ...from centrum. a complete, and tasty way to support...

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understanding the mood of the country. people are really scared and worried. last night i ran into a couple that often travels abroad or to other parts of the country for new year's eve. for the first time in a decade, they're not traveling anywhere because they're so scared. i ran into someone else who said they're avoiding malls and stadiums this holiday season because they're scared. they're scared because of the growing sense we have a president that's completely overwhelmed by them. this is the president that called them the jv when they first emerged. just on the eve of the paris attacks, said they were being contained. said it was just a setback instead of a widespread problem. after paris, by the way, the only emotion the president ever showed on his overseas trips is when he was attacking the gop on the debates we were having here about what to do with the syrian refugee program. nothing that happened in the speech tonight is going to assuage people's fears. we heard tonight the strategy that's brought us to

this point is the strategy he's going to continue with. he honestly believes there's a coalition fighting against isis. this is absurd. there's no such coalition. a lot of country have put their names on a piece of paper but we continue to conduct very limited air assaults. and you can't just defeat them from an air perspective. beyond that tonight, he announced nothing new other than we need gun control, even though it would have done nothing to prevent the attack in california. we need to prevent people on the no-fly list from buying these weapons, even though there are people that work for dhs that are on the no-fly list. by the way, these individuals that conducted this attack would not have been prevented from accessing their weapons. and then the cynicism the cynicism tonight to spend a significant amount of time talking about discrimination against muslims. where is there widespread evidence that we have a problem in america with discrimination against muslims and the refusal to call this what it is a war on radical islam. very disappointing tonight. i think not only did the president not make things better

tonight, i fear he may have made things worse in the minds of many americans. >> senator, the president finished his address by saying that freedom is more powerful than fear. and specifically what would a president rubio do differently than what president obama is doing and laid out tonight? >> well first, we would be straight forward and honest with the american people. isis is a growing, significant, and serious threat. they're not contained. they're growing ever more present in multiple places. they have a substantial presence not just in iraq and in syria. they now have substantial presence in libya, a growing presence in afghanistan. they're actively planning in places like kuwait bahrain, jordan. they'll target american troops in places like turkey. they're actively trying to use the refugee crisis to infiltrate fighters into europe canada here into the homeland. they're a very real threat. we are at war with a radical jihadist group, more capable than any terrorist group this nation has ever confronted.

we can defeat them. if we employ the power of the united states in a true coalition with others around the world, we can defeat this group. but it will take a combination of things. it will take a substantial ground force to which the primary bulk of it must be made up of local sunni arabs, but there will be the necessity to significantly increase the number of u.s. special operators embedded alongside them. >> do you have a number? >> i think that's why you ask military officers to design a strategy a plan. those plans and tactics are going to drive the number of people you need to implement. whatever number it takes. by the way, the president tonight talked about we're not going to have an iraq-style war again. no one is calling for an invasion of 100,000 american troops. we don't need 100,000 troops from anywhere to defeat isis but it will take a substantial ground army that needs to be made up primarily of sunni arabs from the region, but they will need american special operators, a significant increase in air support, and we will have to beef up our intelligence

programs. i wish the president tonight would have been honest with the american people. in order to prevent and disrupt these attacks in the future we are going to need to be able to gather more intelligence not less intelligence and as president, he has supported measures and in fact implemented measures that have weakened our intelligence gathering capability capability. we do these things we will defeat them. they will not be easy. it will take time. but we will defeat them. it starts by acknowledging to the american people that indeed we are at war. we're at war with rad camical islamic jihadists. >> senator, obviously the president did talk about the terrorist threat evolving. as we saw in san bernardino, there may be more incidents where terrorists are inspired but not directed. we don't know all the details yet, obviously. we ask people to write in on social media. karen on twitter wrote in a question for you. what is radicalization and how would you fight it within america? >> well radicalization is the

notion that an individual doesn't just convert to islam or becomes active in islamic faith but actually becomes active in the interpretation of the islamic faith that calls on jihad. in the case of isis it's about the belief that they are an army that's going to trigger an apocalyptic showdown with the west. that's why they have a publication monthly. it's a city in syria they believe will be the site of a final armed confrontation. these people becoming radicalized are being inspired to join the army to win that fight and usher in a global caliphate. by the way, the threat of a homegrown violent extremist is the most significant and dangerous development in this entire war on terror because they become undetectable. in essence, you're talking about individuals that were on no databases. no one had any reason to be concerned about them apparently until the day of this attack. these are very difficult plots to disrupt. sometimes they involve family relationships, as in the case of the boston marathon. obviously in the case of the attack in california. we need better intelligence

gathering capabilities to try to disrupt them and more importantly in this particular case what i'm most interested in, is where do they get $30,000 to $40,000, which is what it would have cost to assemble the arsenal they had. based on what he earned working as a health inspector, there's no way he paid for this. they may have been inspired is, but somebody funded this. >> senator, you were completely dismissive of the president's talk about preventing someone on the no-fly list from getting a gun. obviously "the new york times" in an unusual move since the 1920s put a "new york times" editorial on want front page saying recently it is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency. america's elected leaders offer prayers for gun victims and then callously and without fear of consequence reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of mass killings.

they distract us with arguments about the word terrorism. let's be clear, these spree killings are in air own ways acts of terrorism. your reaction? >> certainly they're all horrible tragedies, but there's a difference -- not that one is worse or better than the other. in the case of radical islam, we're battling an ideology that goes much deeper than just a grievance someone has or a domestic issue or mental illness. these are people that know exactly what they are doing. they're being motivated by their interpretation of their faith that calls for global jihad, the defeat of all non-sunni radicals and the establishment of a global caliphate. that is what is motivating them to take these attacks. in the case of no-fly list it's populated with a substantial number of americans that are nothing close to being terrorists. they're on that list by mistake because they share a name with someone else and the notion that a radical jihadist who is on the no-fly list is going to walk into a local gun shop to purchase a gun is absurd. that's not how they're going to

purchase weapons or any of the elements they need for a pipe bomb for that matter. this is nothing but an effort to use this issue of terrorism as another way to try to push their agenda that they've been dying to push for the longest amount of time and that's gun control. >> to the 2016 race and your race for the republican primary nomination you have been on the attack against several of your opponents, including senator ted cruz about their vote against the metadata program, the nsa program. today on "meet the press," senator rand paul also on the other side of that issue, said this about you. >> senator rubio were doing his job and in congress more he might know the program continues. it's been ongoing for the last six months so the paris tragedy, this tragedy happened while we were still doing bulk collection all bulk collection. also in france they have a program a thousand-fold more invasive collecting all of the

data of all the french. yet, they still weren't able to see this coming. >> how do you answer senator paul? >> well first, there was an error here in this country two to three years ago where because of the disclosures of a traitor like edward snowden and other things in the media, misrepresentations by elected officials, americans came to believe they were being spy pd on by the government. if someone in our government is unlawfully accessing the private information of americans, they should be fired and prosecuted. the bottom line is presidential directors and this usa patriot act that pass earlier this year we have taken out an important component of this plan. here's the reality of the metadata collection. there are large and significant number of companies that either said we are not going to collect records at all, we're not going to have any records if you come asking for them or we're only going to keep them on average of 18 months. when the intelligence community or law enforcement comes knocking and subpoenas those records, in many cases there won't be any records because some of these companies already said they're not going to hold

these records. and the result is that we will not be able in many cases to put together the full puzzle the full picture of some of these individuals. in the case of these individuals that conducted this attack we cannot see any phone records for the first three years in which -- you can only see them up to three years. you'll not be able to see the full five-year picture. maybe it provides some information, maybe it doesn't, but we need every tool at our disposal. we're fighting an enemy here in radical islam and homegrown extremists. this is not a time for ideological silliness. this is a time for serious action because the future security of our country is at stake. >> quickly, senator, in a gop primary electorate that appears very skeptical of the government overall, do you think this is a winning issue for you? >> i think it's the right position to take for the future of our country. it's the most important obligation of our federal government to provide for our national security. and i will continue to support anything that provides for our national security and i believe we can provide for it without

violating the civil liberties of americans. we are going to need programs like this in order to be identify people before they can attack us to identify cells and break them up before they can conduct attacks, even with the existence of these programs these homegrown violent extremists have been able to carry out attacks. imagine without them. i know this, if god forbid there's an attack tomorrow morning on another major u.s. city, the first question everyone is going to have is why didn't we know about them and how come we didn't stop it. the answer better not be because a tool we once had that could have allowed us to identify them is no longer available to us. and there are members of my party that by siding with isolationists and people that hold on to these theories that are false have potentially put our nation in a position where we can't gather in information any longer. >> senator rubio thanks for the time tonight away from your family. we appreciate it. >> thank you, brett. >> we'll get reaction to the senator's comments with the panel when withe come back.

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>> let's bring back our panel reaction to senator rubio and final thoughts on the speech. >> i think senator rubio's comments really highlighted the opportunities that president obama admits tonight, senator rubio acknowledged far more how fearful americans are than the competence he has about prevailing and being on the right side of history. he acknowledged people's fears and that's important. the second thing is he talked specifically about intelligence gathering data, the hin remember reinces we have to encrypt -- hindrances we have to increpted data. we want to show the challenges

and how we are going to get around: president obama says we have to face the muslim community straight on. he spent more time talkling about not discriminating against them. it is time to find people in their families who actually showed no signs or ed they were stockpiling bombs. it was a different mess sablg from senator rubio. >> rubio gave the presidential speech and gave a plan that was more plausible than obama's, continue what we are doing. his emphasis was exactly right. obama is a man who came into office and abolished the term global war on terror. he gave a speech a couple of years ago at the war college saying we cannot continue this war because of the damage it is doing to the fabric of america. he could unilaterally end a war. obviously he can't. the global war on terror came home to america with a vengeance. this week in bernardino the

president was not prepared to deal with it. why? >> senator rubio looks strong. he comes across as someone who really i think is speaking to the republican electorate effectively. let me say obviously we have seen in the recent days down numbers go up in the most recent polls. he's in the mid 30's. my goodness. he is stepping away from the field at this moment of anxiety. rubio was locked in a feud with senator cruz. that's why he is talking about intelligence gathering with the patriot act verses the freedom act. when you play a sound bite from senator paul which rubio has been absent. you can see the kind of infighting going on there. when it came to specifics i didn't hear anything from him calling for more special ops, more air sports more entell against. anything different than what the president has been wanting. >> no-fly zone would be p trues on the ground. when you say how many troops on

the ground, whatever it takes. we are not calling for 10,000 or 100,000. that was a nonanswer in bymy book. >> he would call on troops there are 3500 americans over there now refuses to call them boots on the ground. he would take that obligation seriously. the big question coming in tonight is whether president obama would change the strategy. we have had the same strategy for certain years. it has failed. he said the threat is evolving. he's viet east evolving. it's growing. you would expect to hear from the commander-in-chief there would be some recognition of that fact and he has some plan to combat that. he didn't have that. in 2012 the cia director said we may be done with the threat of al qaeda by the end of the decade. he is wrong then and the president is wrong today. >> eastbound oh showed up. he was awol on this. that is i think is a plus for him. everything else i felt was lacking. no strategy and no passion on

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>> senator obama had a historic prime time address on terrorism just a short while ago. hello and welcome to "justice" a special two-hour edition. i am june jeanine pirro. thanks for being with us. ahead tonight we will be joined live by some of the republican candidates running for president with their reaction to the address. but first let's hear a few of tonight's highlights. >> the fbi is still gathering the facts about what happened at san bernardino. here's what we know the victims were brutally injured by one of their co-workers and his wife. we have no evidence the killers were directed b