>> dickerson: today on "face the nation" presidential candidates are tough on terror. while the president will address the nation. latest on what motivated syed farook and tashfeen malik to go on shooting rampage. plus, we caught up with republican front runner donald trump and events in north carolina on friday. with less than 60 days to go before first votes are cast in iowa, can anyone stop him from getting the nomination? wants to get far more aggressive in tracking terror suspects. also hear from two other presidential candidates. new jersey governor chris christie and vermont senator bernie sanders and we'll have plenty of analysis on all the news. all ahead on "face the nation."

captioning sponsored by cbs good morning welcome to face the make i'm john dickerson. president obama will address the nation tonight at 8:00 p.m. on the san bernardino attacks. cbs news homeland security correspondent jeff is at the fbi with the latest on the investigation. >> john, there are hundreds of investigators around the world running down leads fbi director james comey met with the president on saturday to brief him on this case. one lead took invest gays for to riverside, california, home where friend of one of the suspects lives. a man who investigators believe may have provided two of the assault rice used in the attack. >> when i found out it was fbi that's when i thought this is serious. >> investigators are tracking syed farook and tashfeen malik's family, friends and associates overseas and in the u.s. to determine if the couple's shooting massacre was directed by isis. so far the fbi says there are

indications of radicalization and potential inspiration. sources say the attack on the regional center appears to have been blend. a workplace grudge that appeared to trigger the attack, coupled with malik's facebook post of allegiance before the attack to the isis leaders. federal officials say shooting now moved the global terrorist threat in the u.s. to a new phase. government official says we are going to see more attacks we can't stop. the fbi has about 900 cases across the country focusing on home grown isis sympathizers, these two suspects were not on their radar. john? >> dickerson: thanks. the san bernardino terror attack has already had a big impact on campaign 2016. democrats are pushing for stronger gun regulations. republicans are blaming president the saying they would

be tougher on terrorism. no one more so than donald trump. who we met up with in raleigh on friday. there are links between isis and terror attacks in san bernardino but no red flags. so, how do you stop this from happening again? >> i think there are red he flags. lot of people knew what was going on in that house or apartment and people were not wanting to call because they thought it would be inappropriate to call. >> dickerson: why? >> saying that it was -- that they would have been profiling. and a person said, we should have knew what was going on but don't want to profile. >> dickerson: should there be profiling? >> i think there can be profiling. >> dickerson: how would that work? >> something wrong with that group they saw what was happening, they didn't want to call the police because they didn't want to be profiling i think that's pretty bad. people are dead. lot of people are dead right now. everybody wants to be politically correct and that's part of the problem that we have with our country. >> dickerson: have people been too politically correct with muslims in america?

>> i think so. with maybe other things, too. but i think certainly so. as you know i came out with vigilance, whether it's mosques or whatever it has to be, but lot of bad things are happening. >> dickerson: whatever it has to be does that include, i know you -- where are you on the question of tracking citizens of america? >> look. we are having a problem with radicals in muslim group let's not kid ourselves. you can say it or don't have to say it. maybe you won't even want to, i've been saying it loud and strong. so, if you have people coming out of mosques with hatred and with death in their eyes and on their minds, we're going to have to do something john, we can't just say we're not going to look at it. i made that statement a number of weeks ago. it took a lot of whatever, lot of people were not exactly thrilled with it. now everybody seems to agree with me. >> dickerson: this idea of tracking muslims in america

where are you on that? >> you have people that have to be tracked. if they're muslim, they're muslims. people have to be tracked. i use the word vigilance we have show vigilance if we don't we're foolish people. we're being led by people that don't know what is happening when you have president obama talking about global warming as our biggest problem we have a president that is just not with it at all. >> dickerson: there are three million muslims in america. what should they feel about their police in american life now? >> look, we are having a tremendous problem with radical islamic terrorism. you can say it or you don't have to say it. we have a president that won't issue the term. he won't talk about it. we're having this tremendous radical islamic terrorism. lot of people don't want to even say it. not a lot of people. one person that i know of called president obama. until he admits this is a problem we're never going to solve the problem. he's only going to be there

fortunately a little more than a year because the problem will get involved when he gets the hell out. >> dickerson: you mentioned political correctness about muslims. what the criticism of you is that you are playing on fears that people have. >> i'm -- common sense. i'm not playing on fears. i don't want to play on fears. i understand the whole world. i understand. i have muslim friends who are great people. by the way they tell me there's a big problem. i'm not playing on fears i'm playing on common sense. we have a problem. the world trade center came down. by the way speaking of coming down, they put their families on airplanes couple of days before, send them back to saudi arabia for the most part. those wives knew exactly what was going to happen. those wives went home to watch their husbands knock down the world trade center, the pentagon wherever the third plane was going except we had some very, very brave passengers, wherever that third plane was going. those wives knew exactly what

was happening. >> dickerson: you mention families go after families, what does that mean? >> well at least i would certainly go after the wives who absolutely knew what was happening and i guess your definition of what i do, i'm going to leave that to your imagination. but i will tell you i would be very tough on families because the families know what is happening. even in this last instance, i see everybody knew, so many people knew they thought that this man and this woman whether it was radicalized or how he became. they thought something was going on. why don't these people report it to the police? why wouldn't they report it to the police? they said it was profiling. they didn't want to profile. can you believe this? they thought something very bad was going to happen. >> dickerson: sister said she didn't know what was going on, she was crest fallen for the vic testimonies here. >> i probably don't believe the voice tim. >> dickerson: you'd go after her? >> a lot of people. find out whether or not they

knew. i'd be able to find out. i don't believe the sister. >> dickerson: do you worry about creating more terrorists? >> stop terrorists. only way to stop them in my opinion is that way. you know they say they don't mind dying i think they do mind dying. but i can tell you this, they want hire families left alone. they have to stop terrorism. >> dickerson: you don't think there's worry attention if you go too far that you end up creating morita are terrorists. >> what's too far. they're killing people. what we just saw in california or in paris. they're killing innocent people. people without guns. you look at paris no guns. nothing. you look at california, no guns. i can tell you one thing if i'm in there i had a gun we're going to knock them out. one way or the other. couple of guns are in that room, you talk about second amendment. which i'm a big believer in the second amendment. in paris they had no guns. in california they had no guns. only the bad guys had the guns. they were like sitting ducks

everyone of them. >> dickerson: should the good guys get guns? people carry? >> if they want to they should be able. to because it's going to be lot safer. look what's going on. going into these gun free areas how about the school few months ago. gun free school, gun free area you look what happened. it was a disgrace. if people had guns, how about the soldiers that were killed. six soldiers killed, champion marksmen, on military base, not allowed to carry their guns. a whack job walks in kills them. not right. so, i am a believer in the second amendment and bottom line is the bad guys are always going to have the guns. you better do something about it. paris is one of the toughest cities in the world for guns, right? can't get 'em. you had carnage. >> dickerson: why do you think people join isis in the united states? >> i think for one reason they're using the internet a lot better than we do.

they are brainwashing these kids. word is brainwashing. they are brainwashing young impressionable people. largely young. doing it with older people also. >> dickerson: how do you fight that? >> you fight it with intelligence. beating them at their own game. you fight it by not saying mastermind like you did like other people did. i see the word mastermind, the mastermind. i call them the guy with the dirty hat. the guy with the dirty filthy hat. these kids are watching the mastermind. i want to be a mastermind. the press is really hurting it. i will say that i was very strong about it last week and two weeks ago. with the paris knock out. and i think the press is making it -- glamourizing these people. these people are animals. these people are not masterminds. they're not even smart people i bet very low iq. they're not smart people. and the press is making them

in making them into robin hood and young people and other people are following. we have to stop their internet work they're doing -- we came up with the internet but they're using it better than we do. >> dickerson: in the moment on no fly list you can buy a firearm does that need to be fixed? >> i would take a very look at it. if you can't fly if you have some -- i'd look at that very hard. >> dickerson: also look into the shooters in this case amass great amount of ammunition, they had multiple weapons, should that in this new world brick people under suspicion if they are developing that kind of -- >> people can look at it. when people next door and other people say there's something strange, that's not people going hunting for deer. because they had bombs all sorts of pipe bombs a lot of things certainly you can take

look what's going on. again, the word vigilance. we have to be looking at a lot of different things. we can't do anything to hurt the second amendment. people need their weapons to protect themselves. you see that now more than ever before. >> dickerson: we'll have more of our interview with donald trump in the second half hour. also on "face the nation" website. we turn to new jersey governor chris christie who joins us from outside an ethanol plant in iowa. everyone is looking for a way to stop these kinds of attacks again, in this case you had a woman who dropped off her six month old child before going on this rampage how would you create system that could catch that kind of dedicated killer? >> well, john, it's very hard. this is what i say in the aftermath, by the way the first night of the coverage i watched it for about hour and half i turned to my wife said this is a terrorist attack. i knew that, because the experience i've had as u.s. attorney for seven years

investigating terrorists bringing those cases. i don't know why the president hesitates for so long to call it exactly what it is. but what i'll tell you if a developmentally disabled center in san bernardino, california, is a target, then every place in america is a target. that's why it was so wrong for congress and the president to pull back on our surveillance capability with the nsa so wrong to demoralize our intelligence community through the report they issued at the end of this last year. the fact is, that we need to strengthen our intelligence, strengthening our law enforcement community and just work as hard as we can to intercept this knowing that the society we're not going to ab able to stop every attack. >> dickerson: the surveillance capability, were grandfathered in until the end of november they were in place here, not any evidence that they missed something through. that. >> well, i don't know in san bernardino but certainly vis-a-vis paris. are pulling back, investing our resources on intelligence that the president has done created a

big problem. we're going to see that paris was intelligence failure. asking what best way to do it. i've been doing this for seven years before i was governor. only way to truly protect the homeland, john increase intelligence and increase law enforcement activity. that doesn't mean they're guarantees. but if you give these people the tools, they will act constitutional ly and prevent many more attacks that will get through. >> dickerson: drum suggests even stop worrying about profiling muslims in investigation and instead stop being so politically correct, your reaction? >> well, all i say that this is the difference between having the experience and understanding how you do this not having any experience. the fact is we don't need to be profiling. in order to be able to get the job done here, increase surveillance creating relationships with mosques and muslim american community across the country we did that after 9/11 and prevented attacks in new jersey and all across the country, which you need a president who has had the experience and know how to do this. not someone just going to talk

off the top of their head. >> dickerson: the attacks on 9/11 george w. bush and other republicans were quick to draw a real distinction between attackers and the muslim community and islamic faith. that doesn't happen so much any more. on the campaign trail why is that? >> well, i don't know. but i certainly have said it over and over again this is the problem with the president and with secretary clinton who provided leadership by euphemism. they won't say radical islamic jihaddist. when you say radical islamic jihaddist they understand, the rest of the muslim community understands folks who are peaceful, who attend mosques in peaceful way work in our country, raise their families, pay their taxes. they know they're natural of not radical islamic jihaddists that's why we need to use the words, it differentiates them from the law abiding muslims who don't want to see this conduct going on. >> dickerson: in saturday's "new york times" on the front page they have editorial, in which the editorial writers say, it is

a moral outrage that people can legally purchase weapons quote that kill with brutal speed and efficiency. what is your reaction to that? >> it's typical from the "new york times." fact is that what we need to be focused on here are two issues. thinking criminals who commit crimes with handguns and putting them in jail. and we have to work around mental health system in this country for doctors and caregivers to involuntarily commit folks who have mental health issues don't want to take their medication and help themselves. and this kind of sensationalism, remember the president and secretary before they even knew what was going on here ran out on the first moment after this attack said this was gun control issue. i don't know what gun control laws are going to stop terrorists from attacking us. this is the typical liberal approach the things. president said it, no crisis -- can no crisis worth wasting. they want to try to turn this awful tragedy into excuse that

greater condition goal what we need to greater intelligence which the president has taken away from this country. with the complicity of senators cruz and paul. and we need to make sure we back our law enforcement to take these criminals off the street. >> dickerson: on the question of the speed and efficiency of certain guns, you were once an opponent of to these kind of weapons called assault rifles. you have changed your view on that. why? >> well, first of all that was years ago john. yeah, i've grown up a bit and changed my view been educated on it and my views change once i became prosecutor. when i became a prosecutor saw watt the real problem that we need to give the tools to law enforcement to go on the streets take criminals off the streets. that is the real important thing that we need to do. need to empower our law enforcement. this administration hasn't done it the fbi director said, that there's a chill webbed blowing great deal because they don't have the political support of

this administration. when i'm president they will have that support. >> dickerson: governor chris christie thanks for being with us. >> john, thanks for having me today. have a great weekend. >> dickerson: we'll be back in one minute with democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders. this is the one place we're not afraid to fail. some of these experiments may not work. but a few might shape the future. like turning algae into biofuel... ...new technology for capturing co2 emissions... ...and cars twice as efficient as the average car today. ideas exxonmobil scientists are working on to make energy go further... ...no matter how many tries it takes. energy lives here.

>> dickerson: we're back with bald in vermont. the president is going to address the nation tonight, if you were president what would you say? >> i would say that we have got to be aggressive as we can in destroying isis. we have to learn the lessons of the past. that means we cannot do it alone. it must be international coalition in which the muslim nations are the troops on the ground, king abdullah of jordan who has been playing heroic role dealing with refugees and isis made the point that it is the muslim nation, is that are fighting for the soul of islam who have got to lead the effort

in questioning isis. the united states, the u.k., france russia, iran, other countries around the world have got to be supportive. but the troops on the ground have got to be muslim nations. i believe very strongly that we need to put that coalition together, we need to put it together as soon as possible. but i do believe we have got to learn the lessons from iraq. i hear a lot of tough talk coming from my republican components. they are tough guys. i heard that back in 2002 from george w. bush. he was wrong. invasion of iraq was one of the most foreign policy blunders in the history of this country and precipitated exactly where we are today. yes, we've got to be tough but we have got to be smart. that means international coalition with muslim troops on the ground supported by western democracies with air power and other military efforts. but the troops on the ground to

crush isis have got to be led by the muslim nations. >> dickerson: that's foreign policy piece. what was your message be about america and the threat in homeland security sphere of this conversation? >> obviously we have got to do everything that we can to protect the american people, that's a no brainer. that means much tougher screening policies than we have right now. i think secretary of homeland security johnson is right we should have more agents placed in other countries around the world. and not just muslim countries that we have to worry about. there are other countries as well that people can slip into this country. second of all i think we need to do much, much better work not only in our intelligence efforts but in coordinating international intelligence. i think clearly paris was an intelligence failure. we need to be tapping the intelligence information that is being asker is saned from

countries all over the world. >> dickerson: democrats will notice that you didn't list gun control in your responses. lot of democrats including the president will address it tonight think gun control is an answer to this. >> i was just at press conference the other day talking about the need for increased gun control. i don't think anybody believes it's a magic formula. clearly, though, there is an obvious common sense consensus john in this country. that guns should not be falling into the hands of people who should not be having them. and obviously that goes without saying, i don't think it's very hard to understand, but terrorists, potential terrorists should not have guns. people who are being barred from flying on airplanes should not have guns. i believe we must improve and expand instant background checks. i believe we have got to do away with this gun show loophole, about 40% of these guns are sold outside of the purview of the in

than background check process. i think we need, i agree with the "new york times," i think does not make sense to me that we have guns designed for military purposes that can kill enormous numbers of people in very short period of time being sold and distributed in the united states. i support a ban on assault weapons. we need do do away with the strong man provision so people can legally provide guns. and i think we need a revolution in mental health. that revolution is about making sure that the many thousands of people who are walking the streets of america today, suicidal or homicidal get the help they need and they get it now not too months from now. >> dickerson: we need to take a break right now but we'll ask you to stay with us we'll be back with senator sanders in a moment.

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>> dickerson: some of our cbs stations are leaving us now for most of you we'll be right back with lot more facement nation much including more with senator bernie sanders and our political panel. stay with us. news reporters: it's a fish, but it's been changed. genetically altered by scientists. critics call the process creepy, and label it frankenfish. narrator: genetically engineered salmon was just approved by the fda - no labels required. disturbing, right? get this. if your state wants abto lel gmos, congress is trying a year-end sneak

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>> dickerson: we're back with democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders. senator sanders continue on with the conversation a little bit on gun control. so many democratic voters i've talked to in the wake of the san bernardino shootings are concerned about this. one of the questions they wanted to ask you whether you regret having voted to protect gun manufacturers, giving them that immunity. what is your feeling on that now? >> well, i come from a state that has no gun control at all. i think votes that i've cast over the last 25 years have been strong votes for protecting the american people from gun violence. that one particular vote, there were thing in it that make sense to me. there are things in it that do not make sense to me i've said many times i'm willing to rethink that piece of legislation and make it more effective. if a gun manufacturer understands and knows that the product that he is selling to a community is really getting out to criminal elements, that gun

manufacturer should be held liable for what the company is doing. >> dickerson: in retrospect was it a mistake that vote? >> there were elements in that vote back then that did make sense. in the sense that if a small gun shop owner in the state of vermont sells a product, a gun legally to somebody else who then goes out does something crazy do i think that's small gunshot owner should be held liable for legally selling the gun, no, i don't. bottom line we should be rethinking that legislation and doing everything that we can as a country to make sure that weapons do not get into the hands of people who should not have them. >> dickerson: because of your experience from a rural state and your understanding of that, you've talked about being a bridge builder between the democrats who would like to see gun control control and second amendment those who care about the second amendment. tell me how you would build that bridge in this instance, because when i talked to some conservatives they say, this is

a situation in which a man went and killed his co-workers and a mother dropped hof her 6 month old baby you're not going to stap those kind of premeditated killers with any gun control. >> let me answer it in two ways. for a start there's a political split on guns, everybody knows that. every poll indicates that. i think, john, there is a broad consensus of focusing on the reality that vast majority of the american people, not everybody, by the way but the vast majority understand that we have got to do everything that we can to prevent guns from falling into the hands of people who should not have them. who are those people. obviously criminal people. people who are in to domestic violence, people who kill other people, people who are mentally ill should not have those guns. vast majority of the american people believe. that and i believe that what we should be doing is improving and

expanding instant background checks. second of all, if you believe that, which most americans believe. that most americans also believe you don't want an obvious loophole that allows guns to be sold to people who are criminals or mentally ill. ending the gun show loophole, ending the strong man situation. i think there is a consensus john. >> dickerson: let's talk about climate change. that was important issue for democrats this week. you got new plan coming out carbon tax as part of it. might not that scare people? >> absolutely. dickerson: tell me about that? >> john, this is not plan for democrats. pope francis recently said something which i think is profound, he's right as he often is. what he said is, this plan set on a suicidal direction in terms of climate change. and it is beyond my comprehension that we can have a

republican party and republican candidates who are more concerned about getting huge campaign contributions from the koch brothers and exxon mobile and coal industry than they are about accepting the overwhelming majority of scientists are saying. that is, climate change is real, caused by human activity and already causing major and devastating problems in our country around the world. what the scientists are telling us, we are -- is that if we do not act boldly and aggressively now, which is what my legislation does massive cuts in carbon pollution f. we don't do it now the planet that we are going to be leaving to our children and grandchildren may very well be uninhabitable and much worse shape than plan set today. we are have moral obligation to move aggressively to transform our energies away from fossil fuel and sustainable energy that is what my legislation does. you want to talk about being frightened, i am about the planet that we'll leave our

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>> dickerson: the former number two at cia senior security michael morell. and former homeland security advisor to george w. bush fran townsend. i want to start with you. what are the homeland security situation. >> we understand that finding someone a home grown self

radicalized individual is very very difficult. especially director comey on friday said, this individual had minimal contacts. he didn't say what that meant. minimal contacts with known counter terrorism investigations, but that will be very important to understand for the fbi. were those direct contacts such as phone calls or was that sort of indirect like social media or they were followed by other individuals so this is going to become very important. we know it's hard 20 identify these people, anything we can learn about these individuals what contacts they had will be very important to understanding the future how to identify these people. >> dickerson: minimal contact mean perhaps though just that they followed them on facebook if that's the case then that seems like pool is huge of people that could have those minimal kinds of contacts. >> that's right. so, kip i cannily for the fbi those sort of minimal contacts didn't cross are threshold for preliminary investigation. the question is now, if that is

all you've got if that's all you've got to go on do they need to re-evaluate your domestic investigation operational guidelines to permit them to make a judgment that in some cases that may be enough. >> dickerson: what do you think about these attacks what do they tell you? >> stepping back a little bit right? a couple of thing, one is isis is on a roll here, in the last five weeks to put it in baseball terms they have hit for the cycle. they have major attack that they can see and directed from paris. attack that one of their affiliates has done, that's the russian airliner in the sinai. they have had inspired attack in homeland security that is san bernardino right? second, while those three attacks have our attention, it's the tip of the iceberg in terms of what they're doing across africa and middle east. 25 attacks in the last five weeks killing 250 people. in the last point i'd make, john, is that in order to deal with this, you have to have a

home game, plan defense which fran was talking about. and you have to have away game. taking fight to them on offense in iraq and syria. >> dickerson: what you describe, talk about the relationship between that and inspiring these kinds of attacks, because there is a link, right? >> absolutely there's a link. the perception that isis is winning, the perception that isis is doing well creates more followers. >> dickerson: let me talk about possible ways to stop this, president will talk to the nation tonight will talk about gun control again. the argue system that terrorists who use what the president sees as lacks gun control in america to gain weaponry what do you think about from purely homeland security standpoint? >> well, to be fair, john, in western europe they have most strictest gun laws we saw what happened in the paris attacks with the use of lots of weaponry. here in the united states, we know that in 2011, very close to bin laden issued videotape calling for followers those who

might be inspired to take advantage of the west gun laws. specifically here in the united states to obtain weapons. i think over time we're going to have to look at this. do people, do civilians need to have assault weapons. and all this sort of related issues we've heard a lot about should we tie it to the terror watch list that was legislation that didn't pass the senate this week. there's argument to be made that people on the terror watch list should not be able to get guns. the problem with that is, the terror watch lists are hugely expansive. hundreds of thousands of americans mistakenly put on it. i think you want to rely that you have to clean up the terror watch list. >> dickerson: mike, that's the home game. the away game. administering has picked up their efforts what do you make of the new efforts to fight isis overseas? >> the most significant thing we've seen so far is creation of a task force special operations task force that i will with be stationed in iraq to go after the leadership of isis. i think that's very important. it can become self sustaining, a

little bit of intelligence to start once you start capturing these guys generate additional intelligence that allows you to go back get more. that's very important intensification, amplification i think we need to see more. >> dickerson: what do you make of the london attack, the knife attack in london? >> same thing. undoubtedly inspired by isis. one of the attacks that i referenced earlier in this broader array of attacks either directing or inspiring. >> dickerson: frank, drum mentioned this question of profiling, what do you think of that? >> there is always some role. based on what your experience, what you know about past bad guys, right? but that's limiting. it's a tool. one of the tools you use but you have to have ongoing and current intelligence to direct your efforts. by the way the minute the bad guys get a sense that you have a profile they work around it. >> dickerson: fran, mike, we'll be right back with our political panel, stay with us.

announcer: you taught him how to hit a baseball.

>> dickerson: we're brach to talk how this sim he pacting the campaign in 2016. gwen ifill and coanchor of the

"newshour." jerry sire is the washington bureau chief for and ben domenech and ed o'keefe covers for "washington post." before back to the bad news there's a little good news breaking from the atlanta journal and constitution, good news for jimmy carter he announced to sunday school class that he's cancer free. sunday school classy ripped in applause. general, i want to start with you about news this week how as it change the the race? >> argument about safety. about personal security and domestic security. it changes the race. right now that leaves democrats we saw come out talk instantly about gun control and president even started to in his interview with norah o'donnell he pulled back when he got to get more information about what happened in san bernardino. the republicans, it's going to be variation of what we've seen so far which is how can we be

more than last guy. chris christie talking about it. at the same time taking a little jab at other candidates. we saw of course donald trump talking about political correctness at the root of all evil. once you move discussion that way instead of what can you do about it when you ask donald trump, basically you wait and see. >> dickerson: what do you think? >> i think it was interesting to see the reaction this week from the "new york times" running that front page editorial as they did going after the gun issue. i think that there's a real gap between what the president is saying and what people understand is the reality of this situation. not going to defeat these elements of radicalized islam with gun control measures that was not going to be something that would have prevented what happened in san bernardino any more than you are going to defeat isis with a conference about the weather. this is not something that you are going to be able to achieve and i think that the president is addressed tonight probably speak to these issues further but republicans actually i think

have the wind at their backs when they are running this criticism that basically the president is out of touch with reality. that this gun control measure any gun control measure not the real solution. >> dickerson: where do you see the debate going? >> i agree. by and large if security is top issue that probably tilts the dialogue a little bit toward republicans. we'll see how hillary handles it she's go trying to sound a little tougher than the president on all these issues, syria, isis, she'll continue to do that i think. couple of the facts i think. ben carson continued, you don't want to look as if you're too soft spoken or inexperienced he's both. that doesn't work to his benefit. chris christie i think found a voice and moment. he talked about seven years experience in the prosecutor handling terrorism cases this is a tailor made moment for. that we'll see how far he can take. that bernie sanders had problem to focus. >> dickerson: gone away to the set of issues that aren't greats for bernie sanders.

what you this did i about safety issue. donald trump said when this thing happens my poll numbers go up. >> they d. they continue to. every time we one of these things happens the general consensus immediately that he's going to drop, instead just climbs or sustains his popularity. it's terribly frustrating to everyone else and growing concern to democrats. chatter in the last few days among congressional democrats, had to say something to sort of set the mood acknowledge that this was everyone's worst fears realized try to move things forward. the problem is absent anything specific either on information from this investigation or his plans to do something. only going to amplify republican attacks against him that he continues to have no strategy that democrats are going to lead the country to more attacks. absent any more aggressive military response. >> and trump sounds a note of toughness and strength which is a completely varied, has been real -- >> how many times john asked him

about whether it's -- four times at least and each time he didn't answer the question. also at the same time suggesting strength he's also stirring up a lot of continuing to stir up lot of unhappiness about a subset of people. >> trump is selling attitude not 'general d. tough guy on immigrants. tough guy on the press. tough guy on isis, whatever it takes. the problem is some point you're right. it's become an issue that there's no substance or there are no details behind the toughness. right now, not yet. but eventually probably so. >> i will say this i was in iowa this week with jeb bush and spent more time than usual asking people to show up, why bother. increasingly it was because i'm getting sick and tired of what i'm hearing from donald trump. it's not specific. it's inflammatory. it's irresponsible. the party will lose because of him. maybe there is something brewing that will cause republicans -- >> not the polls. >> indicators. it was evidence this week

suggest that perhaps in the coming weeks a little bit of a shift. >> dickerson: ben, you did interviews at the beginning of the trump campaign, by labor day he'll fade. then by beginning of december. now it's well after the holidays. >> i will believe that trump has peaked when he has peaked, not before. i think you have to see it happen before anything else. that may be the point where people actually have to show up in iowa and vote for him. i think right now he speaks to lot of people who are concerned that they don't trust the elites in washington at all. to be able to tell good muslims from bad. don't trust them to be able to manage any of the crises that we've seen overseas or any of the domestic crisis. trump speaks to that over and over again. as things break down, as people become concerned they look for outsider voices. >> who they do trust person when asked directly what would you do about this as i'll leave that to your imagination.

that's the typical answer. >> interesting piece in the journal yesterday and saturday that took look all the polling who are the front voters. he creates his own lane. he's singular. there is more down scale economically, lesser educated, new kind of republican voters they're not concerned about values social conservative values. not concerned about issues but leadership. he's got group of, how big that group ultimately is hard to say. not like they're going to go away to somebody else. because they are there because of him. >> dickerson: i want to ask about the where else they might go all those other. before we move off trump a policy question. general, you talked to secretary of defense, let's listen to what donald trump said about women in the military. >> women in the military. you said in 2013 you said, 26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military only 238 convictions what are these geniuses ex sect when they put men and women together. how the pentagon opened up all combat to women. who what do you think? >> zits very tricky subject.

you're in there, you are fighting, sitting next to a woman. they want to be politically correct, they want to do it. but there are major proas you know there are many people that think they shouldn't be done as high level level of general. i think that it's a very tricky situation. but on fox today they had a woman who was a pilot top level, very good. really indicating that this is really something that is not going to work out. i can say this, the numbers of rapes in the military are through the roof. through the roof. >> dickerson: general, gwen, the marine coming out not in -- >> if he happens to be joint chief of staff who was not in favor of this. but given that reasoning i'm the only woman at this table i should feel very insecure, right?

but this is my point, that's the reasoning here. the point that ashton carter made secretary of defendant is that this means that women can compete for these roles. they can compete to be rangers they can compete within navy seals. no guarantee they will be that just like you can't guarantee that man would be able to do these things. what they're doing is opening up women have been already been in combat roles ground forces. this is expanding it, there's some disagreement as would you expect at the pentagon. >> dickerson: there are problems, military wide, with reporting sexual assault, that has been the case no matter what. there are plenty women serve can in uniform who for whatever reason are not comfortable reporting it. last time a big social change was the repeople of don't ask don't tell. marines expressed concerns. we've seen no real documented concerns of issues. carter and others feel okay. >> dickerson: ted cruz is -- had

basically assumed donald trump would fall, he hasn't is there a coming cruz-trump donny brook? >> i'm not sure. i think that right now ted cruz certainly sounded a note of real challenge to marco rubio this week, went after him compared his policies on libya to hillary clinton's very unfavorable way. i think we're at the beginning what might be interesting period of debate about the foreign policy of the nation. actually helps ted cruz to have donald trump sounding sort of similar notes on the outskirts to be the more reasonable looking presidential candidate. sort of situation where you have to pick your pow he son for establishment ted cruz's resume looks more like a presidential candidate than donald trump's. >> what ted cruz has done very cleverley. he has voice in the evangelical community. also realized that there's a big set of primaries on march 1 in the south where evangelical vote where he's going to do well.

he does well in iowa then carry that into the south. early in the calendar not late this year. not bad position. but i agree with ben real fight between ted cruz and marco rubio interestingly enough because they decided they're in the same space. >> dickerson: another element to that fight. marco rubio focused on the fact that ted cruz was supportive of legislation tattooing away to get telephone records. what did we learn yesterday? right now investigators can't get to the telephone records of the two people who committed this atrocity in california. but doesn't matter that's argument that rubio has been trying to make now he has proof. jeb bush is making that argue. it will be vulnerability to explain why he was for that now if he wants to be so tough -- >> i don't agree with. that i think that cruz is actually well positioned on that front allows, one of the reasons he's been able to steal some of rand paul's voters away by being libertarian on these. and these phone records, they're after action things.

not -- more figuring out what happened in the lead up to this as opposed to preventing the actual deaths. >> dickerson: thanks so much. gwen, thank you. and ed i want to thank all of our panelists we'll be back in a moment. this holiday season, get ready for mystery. what's in the trunk? nothing. romance. 18 inch alloys. you remembered. family fun. everybody squeeze in. don't block anyone. and non-stop action. noooooooo! it's the event you don't want to miss. it's teahe sson of audi sales event. get up to a $2,500 bonus for highly qualified lessees on select audi models. hi watson. annabelle, your birthday is tomorrow. i'm turning seven. what did you ask for? a princess. and a pony. you like things that begin with p. i like pink frosting too. will you have a cake? yeah. i was too sick to have one last year. the data your doctor shared shows you are healthy.

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>> dickerson: but before we go we want to remember the 14 victims of wednesday's massacre.

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they score on this drive. it is dallas week and washington is ready for their time in the spotlight. the burgundy and gold atop the nfc east for the first time since 1999. >> i'm kristen berset. thank you for joining us for game on. plenty to talk about as we look ahead to tomorrow night's showdown at fedex field.