this time it's isis.s after fallujah fell, the president talked about the threat from the terror group in an interview with "the new yorker" magazine. >> he said, "the analogy we use around here sometimes. and i think is accurate, is if a jv team puts on lakers uniforms, that doesn't make them kobe bryant." >> i was disappointed. i was disappointed that he said that. i don't think he was well served. >> the need for intelligence surveillance. >> lieutenant general michael flynn had a front-row seat to the rise of isis. he led the defense intelligence agency until late last year. >> we failed to understand the enemy that we faced. >> flynn says intelligence officials had warned the administration that isis was growing more dangerous before the president made his infamous jv comment. but the president has said the intelligence on isis was inadequate. here he is on "60 minutes." >> how did they end up where they are in control of so much territory? was that a complete surprise to you? >> well, i think our he

this time it's isis. fell, the president talked about the threat from the terror group in an interview with "the new yorker" magazine. >> he said, "the analogy we use around here sometimes, and i think is accurate, is if a jv team puts on lakers uniforms, that doesn't make them kobe bryant." >> i was disappointed. i was disappointed that he said that. i don't think he was well served. >> the need for intelligence surveillance. >> lieutenant general michael flynn had a front-row seat to the rise of isis. he led the defense intelligence agency until late last year. >> we failed to understand the enemy that we faced. >> flynn says intelligence officials had warned the administration that isis was growing more dangerous before the president made his infamous jv comment. but the president has said the intelligence on isis was inadequate. here he is on "60 minutes." >> how did they end up where they are in control of so much territory? was that a complete surprise to you? >> well, i think our head of the intell

so entire villages go to isis before isis even gets there. this is the reason they've been able to take all this terrain. as far as the social media and propaganda is concerned, yes, they're very good at using twitter and facebook. actually, they even have platforms most people here haven't herald of. there's one that's an application you can put on a mobile device that allows you anywhere in the world to listen realtime to what clerics are promulgating from the caliphate. so isis clerics giving their friday sermons and prayers, you can listen to that on your cell phone. this is a process that goes back years. zarqawi, again, the founder of what we now call isis, his cell, his network really masterminded the use of process thelytyization, what we used to call agitationing of propaganda. we didn't have the term viral back in 2004 or '5, whenever it was, but that video essentially went viral. and in the west it's very difficult to understand. we watch these things and we're horrified by them. but a lot of people in the islamic world watch these

isis-inspired versus isis-directed? regardless, 14 people died. >> the distinction has become a little muddied over time as isis is in touch with them from syria and iraq, the so-called caliphate, to the united states. there's a little muddying of the waters about this distinction which used to exist more between a directed terrorist talk and an inspired terrorist attack. inspired terrorist attack means they haven't gone oversaes to syria or iraq, or places like libya to meet with senior isis figures who have given them training. and i think the nature of this attack, guns and pretty primitive bombs is consistent with more isis-inspired attacks. people who haven't got that training overseas because when they do, we see things like paris where you have more than 150 people killed. >> this is not just. as kate said, isis wants these to spring up organically all over the world. they have called for just such thing. >> they have called for just such thing. they say it's the religious duty of their followers. they have an al

this time it's isis.few days after fallujah fell, the president talked about the threat from the terror group in an interview with the new yorker magazine. he said the analogy we use around here sometimes, and i think is accurate, is if a jv team puts on lakers uniforms, that doesn't make them kobe bryant. >> i was disappointed. i was disappointed that he said that. i don't think he was well served. >> the need for intelligence surveillance. >> michael flynn had a front row seat to the rise of isis. he led the defense intelligence agency until late last year. >> we failed to understand the enemy that we faced. >> flynn says intelligence officials had warned the administration that isis was growing more dangerous before the president made his infamous jv comment. the president has said the intelligence on isis was inadequate. here he is on "60 minutes." >> how did they end up where they are in control of so much territory? was that a complete surprise to you? >> well, i think our head of the intelligence c

military to destroy isis. mr. webster, my question is how would removing the ban on crude oil exports help reduce the world's risk to terrorism. mr. webster: by removing the ban, what it does is allow the u.s. producers to ensure that they do not get such a big discount compared to global prices. that essentially removes a policy discount. at this particular time, because of high refinery runs in the united states, and because of the low price and because we have lower production, you would not see a lot of barrels leave the country. however, it it is important still to change the policy because by changing this policy, it supports u.s. production growth in the future, rather than doing it when it suddenly becomes an emergency. it is an important policy for us because it allows us to increase u.s. production. by increasing u.s. production, as we all know, u.s. production is what i would argue is a safer place for production to come from, rather than other countries. that increases overall energy security, not just

isis brings to the battle.first in virginia, the line for independents. you.r: thank i think we give some legitimacy to the islamic state when we call them the islamic state. why can't we come up with another term? the organization is what some people call them in the middle east. it is a battle of words. when we use the islamic terror, there is a huge risk in our domestic politics. i would imagine people like being called islamic terrorists. i will take your answer off the air. in arabic there either called -- the islamic state organization. that is what al jazeera calls daesh.r they are called be careful about language but also have to be careful not to be afraid of your shadow. if the islamic state makes a -- you need to .hallenge them somebody needs to challenge them on that. sometimes see propaganda in the middle east and they will say things like, we don't understand why the islamic state did this. why did they bought these temples? well actually, there are ideas taken from islam which are the reason for

the isis side. i think they are generally anti-isis, although they occasionally bomb the kurds. but are actively supporting al qaeda. i think turkey has taken an extraordinarily dark turn. extraordinarily dark. one of the problems for us, for the u.s., looking at the leverage over turkey, we need the airbase. but, i think we boxed ourselves in by thinking that we need them more than they need us. it is a lot like pakistan during the afghan-soviet war. at the end of the day, turkey has a mess on their border. it will affect them a lot sooner than it will affect the united states. we have a lot more leverage than we believe. part of what i think we need to do in recalibrating our role in the region and trying to deal with some of these issues that have been highlighted, is to recognize where we have the leverage, and not allow ourselves to see the u.s. as being dependent. with a few changes in our outlook we could do a lot more to get concession or name and shame without feeling like we are shooting o

execution of what isis says is a russian spy. they show a confession of the vi victim admitting that he was working for the russian intelligence service. before killing the man, the executioner give as message to the russian president vladimir putin in russia, and we are j n joined from istanbul, turkey, ian lee. ian, what is the message to president pew thetin? >> wolf, after the roughly eight- eight-minute video, we will hear the confession of the man detailing how he was picked up by russian intelligence, and how they blamed him, and accused him of being a drug smuggle r and what the man said in the video plaque mailed him into going into syria, spying on isis, and how he was going to look for men who were planning on returning to russia to carry out attacks, and also people who would be of interest to the russian intelligence, and he said that he was then captured by isis security, internal security, but after, once he admits to all of this, and this is a man who knows what is coming. after this, you hear this jihadi behind h

the rise of isis. "what happenin' 1999 -- what happened in 1999 that led to the creation of isis. >> guest: there's a central character in the tale and his name is sarqwai you saw saw the movie "american sniper" this is the guy northwesterns were after that got us in some trouble. he got oust jail early in 1999 there was an amnesty in jordan. he had been a prisoner, serving 15-year prison sentence, supposed to be there until he was a relatively old man and is sprung and his entire group is sprung. they leave jordan, head off to afghanistan, and is is the beginning point of this long story that leads to us isis. >> host: who was abu al star car we before this time. >> our least likely person to lead a terrorist movement. started out as a nobody. a high school dropout, thug, a criminal, he hat tattoos, heavy drinker, not religious at all. >> host: lived in jordan. >> guest: lived in jordan, fairly moderate country and middle class home but gets radicalized by going off to fight. goes afghanistan to fight

isis is. -- to understand how adaptable isis is. it is a clear fact that they adapt strategies. and they continue to look at this as a resource. we need to act quickly as well. one of the most troubling realities of the situation is that the isis oil is being purchased by their enemy, the assad machine -- regime, either paying cash or other means. a u.s. treasurer sanctioned a u.s. individual for helping. instead of focusing on alleged oil smuggling in turkey, russia needs to use their influence to stop the assad regime from buying oil and gas from isis. i know that secretary kerry is traveling there today. maybe that is the conversation he can have. back to the larger area -- issue , for years, terrorist organizations have been funded through oil sales. the chairwoman mentioned a few of those incidents. in nigeria, the oil has fueled conflict since 2005. , the kidnapped 270 schoolgirls and killed over 10,000 people is likely funded through crude oil theft and sales. nearly 50% of u.s. oil dem

, the fascists or isis.the president does have to be careful, but just one final point here. he has tried to divorce, wron y ly in my view, domestic policy from foreign policy. say we must empower moderate republicans to stand up and denounce isis, this is a religion of peace, this is all and good. when muslims are being gassed and bombed and the united states is acquiescing to this, the president said we're just fighting isis, the syrian people, the syrian opposition is fighting russia, iran and the assad regime. exactly. that's the problem. the united states has not taken up on their behalf. this is a radicalizing agent like no other on this. >> michael weiss, everybody else, stand by. a little more than a half hour or so from now the president will be in the oval office making an address outlining his plan to destroy isis. we'll take a quick break. we'll be right back. ♪ every insurance policy has a number. but not every insurance company understands the life behind it. for those who've served and the fam

that isis was the jv team. after this complacent disdain was exposed as wishful thinking, isis took a large city in 2015, the white house carried out measures in a piecemeal fashion. it initially committed security advisors to retrain the shattered iraqi army. gradually it's increased the number of these advisors to about 3,500. but the overall effort to combat isis remains underresourced. this ad hoc, incremental approach is no way to win a war. it didn't work in vietnam and it is not working in iraq and syria today. the administration also has launched a limited air campaign that has proceeded at a leisurely pace with up to three quarters of u.s. war planes at without dropping their bombs because of tight restrictions on targeting, also a lack of reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities. the administration's lack of a sense of urgency has breathtaking. the president even proclaimed that isis was contained the day before the paris terrorist attacks. it's all the more disturbing because the long string of i

clinton's comments about isis.meanwhile, on the republican side, a new fox poll showing where the and dats stand following their debate. guess what? donald trump is leading by a larger margin that before. at the same time, the candidates there are taking off the gloves going at each other, especially from jeb bush. chr kristin fisher has more. >> not only did bush call trump a jerk. he said it was liberating to attack trump. he showed a more introspective side. >> i hate thad. >> you hated being a front-runner? >> yes. i feel better being back here. >> why did you hate being a front-runner? >> i always felt there would be a high expectation for me and i totally get it. >> because? >> because i have a brother that was president and a father that was president. that higher expectation was important to realize. >> now trump's the clear front-runner in the republican primary but not so much in a hypothetical general matchup. according to a fox news poll out friday, clinton would now beat trump 49-38. a month ago trump

to end isis's reign of terror. iraq needs more help in defeating isis. a growingdy poses regional threat and a significant threat to the u.s. homeland if it is allowed to consolidate. tougher was very strategy needs to be wedded to a long-term political and ideological effort. it is important that the islamic state -- it is important to note that isis does not lead a monolithic insurgency, but there andlayers of ad hoc allies it has acquired them, including some of the remnants of saddam hussein's military. sunni tribal leaders who saw which way the wind was blowing, a marriage of convenience with isis. not for ideological reasons, but because they saw isis as a lever left -- lesser evil compared to unresponsive governments in baghdad and damascus. although it gets all of the headlines, isis relies on these allies. they need to be peeled away is isis will be defeated. theink we need to exploit fact that is extremism alienates all of the people forced to live under its rule. should bellies driving wedges between isis and less radical groups to siphon off

military versus isis and then isis has won a huge, huge victory.ortray themselves as defending islam against russian aggression. the only way we win this war is if sunnis in iraq and syria and everywhere else that isis is wiped out and western force there, they pop it right back up. if they can credibly claim that russian aggression against muslims is what they are fighting against, we'll eliminate this group and another has to be popped up. it has to be led by the locals, by the sunnis and the arab states and we have to support that. if we send 30,000 troops in there, we may win in a month but the terrorism will continue. this has to be locally driven. >> the former head of the intelligence agency, retired general michael flynn, he spoke to our own jake tapper today and made a stunning charge that back in 2012, when the dia was offering assessments of how isis was growing, the president in the mid-sf of re-election campaign and simply ignored those warnings. listen to what he said. listen to this. >> i think that they add viced him incorrectly. th

it's the biggest prize isis has captured.inary video gives us a rare look into everyday life under isis. it brings to mind a writer's concept, the banality of evil. isis has its own license plates and traffic cops who give parking tickets. and there are friendly shopkeepers. >> completely brainwashed. i've never in my life met people like this. >> this, of course, is the mosul isis officials wanted todenhofer to see. they gave him written permission to come to the city and he believes they let him leave alive to make a point. >> they wanted to show me that they are a state and this state is working. it's not a perfect state, it's not like the united states. but it's a state. >> and it's getting bigger. todenhofer saw new recruits pouring in every day. >> in this recruitment center we had every day more than 50 new fighters. they can lose fighters. they don't care. the amazing thing is that they are completely enthusiastic. they think it's the time of their life. they think that they are part of a historical event. changing th

becauset well known isis is not as exposed as isis supporters. publicity. >> majority of the people do not like isis. i'm not talking about in the theater, where you have bloodthirsty revenge killings going on. eventually,ing is, when of the reasons al qaeda in iraq turned toxic on the population turned against it and their members were being killed. its brutality time from this symbol of strength to a symbol of how it is overplayed. part of it is ideological because the art -- argue would be -- bests clearly to her the early. the other would be a visceral reaction to see what happens to people who had been a part of crisis which would invalidate the aq process. >> we have a question up front here. thank you, mark from george mason university. thank you for such an interesting presentation. my question to you is, how many holes should we regard from this pledges allegiance to groups outside of syria and iraq? whether it is africa or the middle east? are they subordinating authority,to isil's or are they more technical submissions to the they get

it is not well known because isis is not as exposed as isis supporters. but it is there. >> or publicity. >> majority of the people do not like isis. you don't have dedicated people sending out stuff of isis getting killed. i'm not talking about in the theater, where you have bloodthirsty revenge killings going on. what i'm saying is, eventually, one of the reasons al qaeda in toxic, is because the population turned against it and their members were being killed. its brutality time from this symbol of strength to a symbol of how it is overplayed. part of it is ideological it was clearly too early. the other would be a visceral reaction to see what happens to people who had been a part of crisis which would invalidate the aq process. >> we have a question up front here. >> thank you, mark from george mason university. thank you for such an interesting presentation. my question to you is, how many holes should we regard from this pledge of allegiance to groups outside of syria and iraq? whether it is africa or the middle east? are they subordinating themsel

let's destroy isis. a question for you, how do you think removing the ban on crude oil exports will help reduce the world's risk to terrorism? >> so by removing the export ban on the u.s., what it does is it allows the u.s. producers to ensure that they don't get such a big discount compared to global prices. so that maximizes their price, or as i would call it essentially removes what has been in the past i termed a policy discount. now, this particular time, because of high refining runs in the united states, and because of the low price and because we have lower production, you probably actually wouldn't say see a lot of barrels leave if you had them today. however, it is important still to change this policy. by changing this policy it actually supports u.s. production growth in the future rather than doing it when it suddenly becomes an emergency. it's an important policy for us because it allows us to increase u.s. production. by increasing u.s. production, u.s. production is a much safer place for

and to protect its citizens and there was an evil empire just like isis, just like isis. >> trevor: i seerks he's describing another splinter group, italian isis. (laughter) you see, the great thing in this situation is that you don't even have to be a part of an organization to make a difference. anyone can step up to fight isis no matter how little you know about them or how racist you are. >> in texas over the weekend a group of protestors, some of them armed, lined up outside a mosque in irving. some of the demonstrators held signs reading stop the islamization of america. worshipers were urged to steer clear of the group. >> we are here protesting syrian refugees coming to america. protesting the islamization of america. >> trevor: wow. i feel so bad for these syrian refugees, can you imagine fleeing over 7,000 miles to get away from this guy and you finally make it to america and the first thing you see when you arrive at your new mosque is this guy. they must be a little bit like bugs bunny, no matter how far they travel there is always an idiot with a big gun trying to help th

to end isis's reign of terror. iraq needs more help in defeating isis. that already poses a growing regional threat and a significant threat to the u.s. homeland if it is allowed to consolidate. a tougher was very strategy needs to be wedded to a long-term political and ideological effort. it is important that the islamic state -- it is important to note that isis does not lead a monolithic insurgency, but there are layers of ad hoc allies and it has acquired them, including some of the remnants of saddam hussein's military. sunni tribal leaders who saw which way the wind was blowing, and pursued a marriage of convenience with isis. not for ideological reasons, but because they saw isis as a lever left -- lesser evil compared to unresponsive governments in baghdad and damascus. although it gets all of the headlines, isis relies on these allies. they need to be peeled away is isis will be defeated. i think we need to exploit the fact that is extremism alienates all of the people forced to live under its rule. u.s. and allies should be driving wedges betwe

you destroy the emotional psychological spirit of isis. the power of isis declining. it will then become more worried about getting a way from our allies rather than plotting overseas. who knows. i have heard estimates 10- 10-20,000. not all americans could surround the city. >> general, thank you very much. >> nothing again specific from president hollande and last night speech. we did hear him advising americans not to let this cause a backlash against muslims in this country. >> they are our friends and neighbors. our coworkers. our sports heroes. yes, they are our men and women in uniform willing to die in defense of our country. we have to remember that. >> firing back saying the president's response is just not enough. listen to this. >> a growing sense that we have a president that is completely overwhelmed by this. nothing happened in the speech tonight that will employ people's fears. >> i think he was told he had to do it because people were anxious. he spent more time talking about what we shouldn't do versus what we should be aired. >> we were attacked yes

they are turning them over to isis and isis bringing them into the country. my problem is when you have a jokester like the white house spokesman this little jerky kid when he is on tv saying how they have all of this intelligence, he is telling a lie. it's a dam lie. they interviewed him over the other side and they let him into america with the visa with their passport. half of the passports we don't know how they are real. it could dam we will be isis. >> it is horrible. >> they are telling us isis has a plan they are getting in. they confirmed all of this there's no way to vet everybody. why not put a pause to protect the safety and security of the american people and not gamble with their lives temporarily until we get a raise. >> if we don't put a pause of some sort they put it to their risk. they put 25,000 syrian refugees on what they call a syrian program they are letting them in before all this. many may have the false passports. we talk about the southern border this creates a whole new problem for us in our judgment. >> 70 percent view isis as a m

isis has long been operating in yemen. a company racked by civil war but other groups like al qaeda have been the prominent actors in yemen for the past few years and so this is a pretty big attack, a significant attack by isis there. isis, of course, promising more attacks not only in yemen but really around the world in the future. >> sadly, we've had these type of terrorists attacks here and as of now it seems that they are continuing. thank you. >>> that's why the president, president obama, getting ready for a rare oval office address tonight aimed at reassuring the nation after the san bernardino shootings. what lawmakers on capitol hill hope to hear from our commander in chief. >>> and speaking of terrorism, there's a major rally at ground zero today. why protesters are urging congress to take the side of those heroes who gave their all after those towers came down. >> they came from every state in the country. they did their duty. they looked for survivors and then they looked for remains. it's not about how we're

they are every bit as brutal as isis and they were as brutal as isis before isis existed.terms of the kind of attack they conducted. i worry most about them because if they wanted to engage in terrorism outside of nigeria and the geographic area around it, if they wanted to do that, the nigerian dias brought -- diaspora around the world is so large that they could blend in and take advantage. if they ever wanted to develop an external attack capability, that would help them do that. charlie rose: what is your assessment of our intelligence capabilities? on one hand we did not see paris coming or cannot make the connection even though those names that come up within the system at one place or another. mike: i year-and-a-half ago isis becomes a big deal and takes all this territory. the united states goes to war against isis. at that point i'm sure the intelligence community was asked to make ice is a key focus of isis a keyd to make focus of their efforts. you cannot just flip a switch and start developing the intelligence you need. it takes a lot of time. charlie rose: how

and in an online statement an isis representative has said the two were isis members. meanwhile, yesterday fbi agents raided the home of the neighbor of the two terrorists, enrique marquez, a childhood friend. we don't know for certain but he may have bought the assault rifles for him. not charged with any crime yet, eric. >> questions raised today about the fiancee visa program that tashfeen used to get into the country and this could have been a long time terrorist plan used to get her in here. >> reporter: former ambassador john bolton said tad the visa program and many others like it is riddled with loopholes. he indicated fears as terrorists masquerading as syrian refugees -- >> 2% of all the refugees going into europe from the nearest were gee jihadis. >> loretta lynch getting big time criminal for her remarks that any anti-muslim comments that edge towards violence wibl dealt with aggressively. congressman joe walsh said if they're not going to learn to assimilate i don't want them in this country. got a problem, loretta lynch with me saying that? then throw me

isis ousted. iraqi troops raising their flag and proclaiming victory after retaking a key city from terrorist forces. will iraq's second largest city be the next to be liberated from isis? >>> new terror threat, multiple major cities warned of possible attacks involving explosives or guns between christmas and new year's eve. is another paris style massacre imminent? >>> trump's targets. the republican presidential front-runner accuses hillary clinton of playing what he calls the woman's card and declares bill clinton fair game as he campaigns for his wife. is trump playing with fire as he accuses the former president of sexism? >>> no charges. a grand jury decides not to indict two police officers who shot and killed a 12-year-old boy carrying a toy gun. will outrage boil over on to the streets? >>> wolf blitzer is off today. i'm brianna keilar. you're in "the situation room." >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> we are following breaking news. u.s.-trained iraqi soldiers liberating the city of rama

it is not well known because isis is not as exposed as isis supporters. but it is there. >> or publicity. >> majority of the people do not like isis. you don't have dedicated people sending out stuff of isis getting killed. i'm not talking about in the theater, where you have bloodthirsty revenge killings going on. what i'm saying is, eventually, one of the reasons al qaeda in iraq turned toxic, is because the population turned against it and their members were being killed. its brutality time from this symbol of strength to a symbol -- its brutality time from this symbol of strength to a symbol of how it is overplayed. part of it is ideological because it was clearly too early. the other would be a visceral reaction to see what happens to people who had been a part of crisis which would invalidate the aq process. >> we have a question up front here. >> thank you, mark from george mason university. thank you for such an interesting presentation. my question to you is, how many holes should we regard from this pledge of allegiance to groups outside of syri

and wipe out isis. they don't care how, they believe he can do it and he's the man for the job, anderson. >> randi, thank you. >>> jeb bush calls it quote unhinged. chris christie says it's a ridiculous position, his words and carly fiorina calls it dangerous over reaction and ben carson thinks all foreign visitors should be registered and monitored and temporarily blocking visitors and immigrants from nations with known radical immigrants and to ted cruz adding trump's proposal is not his policy, perspective from maggie haberman, presidential core sprespondent for "the new times" and van is a former senior advisor to president obama. maggie, i mean, obviously, donald trump said controversial things before, things people said look that's beyond the pail. this is ridiculous. opponents, the words they are using they used for similar things in the past before. is this different? >> if you're a trump supporter and stuck with him as reported from south carolina a second ago, you're not going to see people sa

we can't be fighting isis and fighting assad, assad is fighting isis, russia is fighting now, isis, andg at a time. i watched lindsey graham, he said i have been here ten years fighting. he will be there with that thinking another 50 years. he won't be able to solve the problem. we have to get rid of isis first. after we get rid of isis we'll start thinking about it. but we can't fight assad and when you fight assad you are fighting russia and a lot of different groups. >> governor christie, is he right? because if we step back, iran goes nuclear. is donald trump right? >> i think we have to focus on what the priorities are. and to me what i've always said is that the president has set up an awful situation through his deal with iran. because what his deal with iran has done is empower them and enrich them. and that's the way isis has been created and formed here. isis is created and formed because of the abuse that assad and his iranian sponsors have rained down on the sunnis in syria. when we empower iran that's why this president -- and when hillary clinton says her theory against is

they had a choice between maliki and isis. most of them chose isis. we saw them drop their weapons ul because they did not want to fight. the refugee problem is a symptom of that. we were briefed earlier this week by the intelligence community -- and i do not want to get into specifics to protect fact,rces -- that, in syrians, isis members in syria have attempted to exploit to get into the united states. for was very courageous them to come forward and tell me about this personally, given the political debate on the hill with the syrian refugee bill, by think it demonstrates why the bill is so important. we now have direct evidence and intelligence that they not only infiltrate europe, which is easier to do, but have infiltrated to get into the united states. to me, that is very disturbing. we will not resolve the problem of the refugee crisis until we the -- when i talked to arab nations and investors, they want to know we have a strategy. they say, we will put a ground force in -- the turks, jordanians, saudi's -- but they want assurance that we hav

he said isis no s. for the united states. >> this is not an organization that can destroy the united states. this is not a huge industrial power that can pose great risks to us. institutionally or on a systematic way president was also asked if domestic terrorists were a greater threat to the united states than international groups like al qaeda or isis. >> non-islamic, non-foreign motivated terrorist actions have killed at least as many americansen american soil as those who are promoted by jihadiists. >> however, the president did admit that because of social media isis has evolved and may even inspire more attacks. joining us now from washington, david, a former obama state department official and nile gardner. director of the margaret thatcher center for freedom at the heritage foundation. david, i'm going to start with you. every time i hear president obama down playing the threat of domestic terror of isis, i shake my head going why? why would you do this? you are inspiring the more angst. well, i

let's destroy isis. a question for you, how do you think removing the ban on crude oil exports will help reduce the world's risk to terrorism? >> so by removing the export ban on the u.s., what it does is it allows the u.s. producers to ensure that they don't get such a big discount compared to global prices. so that maximizes their price, or as i would call it essentially removes what has been in the past i termed a policy discount. now, this particular time, because of high refining runs in the united states, and because of the low price and because we have lower production, you probably actually wouldn't say see a lot of barrels leave if you had them today. however, it is important still to change this policy. by changing this policy it actually supports u.s. production growth in the future rather than doing it when it suddenly becomes an emergency. it's an important policy for us because it allows us to increase u.s. production. by increasing u.s. production, u.s. production is a much safer place for

i assess that most of the oil produced in isis territory is consumed in isis territory. there are more than 5 million people living in that territory. there is certainly ample local demand to consume virtually all of that production. that said, there is clearly some smuggling. sales to the assad regime are actually probably more natural gas and crude oil. -- actually more natural gas than crude oil. there is also ample evidence of smuggling into the kurdish autonomous regions of iraq, and potentially jordan as well. i assess most of that oil smuggled out is consumed locally in those countries and is not entering, in a meaningful way, global oil markets. what can the u.s. and our partners due to further attack this revenue? i think the most important step the u.s. government can take is to continue to escalate military targeting of isil oil installations and the distributional network. the fact is the oil is being sold in isis territory. it is being sold for cash. there is not a lot of leverage international sanctions can have on those operations within their the -- that

one that takes on isis. one that destroys isis. but one that does not get us involved in perpetual warfare in the quagmire of the middle east. >> isil videos, isil training videos are telling lone wolves the easiest way to buy a combat assault weapon in america is the gun show. it's because of the political approach of washington that both of my two colleagues on this stage have represented there for the last 40 years. >> whoa, whoa. >> we need common sense -- >> let's calm down, martin. >> let's tell the truth, martin. >> i am telling the truth. >> should corporate america love hillary clinton? >> everybody should. >> ceos of large multinationals may like hillary. they ain't going to like me, and wall street is going to like me even less. >> tonight, we'll separate the facts from the spin, the talking points from the moment of truth. ed, first, that elephant in the room. >> good evening, shannon. what's interesting is this turned out to be the same old script. we had a lot of hype before this third democratic debate, the gloves mi

listen to what he says that isis has this plan to infiltrate this population. >> isis has said in their own words, they want to exploit the refugee process. to infiltrate the west and they did exactly that to attack paris. i can reveal today that the united states government has information to indicate that individuals tied to terrorist groups in syria have already attempted to gain access to our can country through the u.s. refugee program. >> that means americans will die. that's how i interpret that. >> absolutely. >> again, i.c.e. agent called me, didn't want their name to be known, if they say i'm afraid to go back to my country, that is the signal, that's the magic word. i'm afraid to go back to my country, well, welcome to america, but who are you? he said it a little bit over the top, every muslim. i don't agree with that. what we should do is put a pause until we know who the hell is coming into this country. this is getting real scary and i don't want to frighten people, but it's serious, real serious. >> the other problem is that we don't hear them anymore. in the past, there

these are self-radicalized isis-inspired rather than isis directed. isis land is much the same. these were two supporters of ours. they weren't fully fledged fighters. so we're starting to get perhaps a sense of the scope of this, which were two individuals acting on behalf of the islamic state. not people who got training necessarily overseas, but perhaps learned how to make these primitive pipe bombs over the internet. we all know how easy it is in the united states to buy extraordinarily powerful weapons. >> to steal a phrase from our colleague, they were free lansing. it's extraordinary to point out, when you think of al qaeda, it was terrorism 1.0. you have to train in a place like yemen or other countries and carry out these very precise attacks. here with this terrorism 2.0 and isis, it's either we're going to give you this direction and you do this or if you feel inspired by our crazy ideology, go out and kill people, which is precisely what happened in california it sounds like. >> that's right. but don't discount terrorism 1.0 because we jus

an isis link.tell nbc news tashfeen malik pledged allegiance to isis jufts before she and her husband launched their fatal attack. this as san bernardino mourns the victims. >> every single person in there mattered. a child doesn't have their mother today. the sadness, the overwhelming feeling of being overwhelmed and the frustration with it because it's senseless. it makes no sense at all. >> police have released pictures of the killers' weapons. lester holt explores what now looks like terror with syed farook's brother-in-law. >> was he a very political person? >> no. not at all. >> strongly religious person? >> he was a good religious person, yes, just like normal anybody would be. but nothing, nothing that i can see that he could do that. >> nothing that would fit the term radicalized as we have heard? >> no. not that i can comment on. not the person i know. >> and good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington with this mystery. we are following the breaking news, the first information connecting

of course, this is an isis attack. let's get this political corr t correctness, jetson right now, if you're swearing by us, swearing allegiance to the head of isis as your new emperor, i don't care if isis was sending detailed constructions to these pair of mass murderers, this is an isis attack because it is following their ideology and their intent to destroy the infidel on u.s. soil. it's really that simple, sean. >> there was a poll out that said 16% of french citizens supported isis and had an immigration system. this woman was cleared and got a visa and green card. the president wants to take in 10,000 syrian refgugee, our intelligence is saying we can't properly vet them and i'm arguing we can't possibly vet them in light of what happened in france and the refugee population infiltrated by isis, how big a risk do you see as th this? >> it's enormous, sean. my parents were refugees. let's take the emotion out of it. when they escaped communist hungary they had to sit in a refugee camp for weeks and some relatives

and last week, the president said america was safe from isis and safe from an isis attack. the same morning, the san bernardino terrorists conducted their massacre. i've had enough. we cannot be blind to the threat before us. isis is not contained. it is expanding at great cost to the free world. in november, the group managed to conduct three major terrorist attacks on three separate continents in just three weeks. this is not a terrorist group on the run. it is a terrorist group on the march. and their ability to conduct external operations is growing. isis has been linked to more than 60 terror plots or attacks against western targets. it has established a presence in is the countries and it has recruited operatives from more than 100 nation, creating the largest global convergence of jihadists in world history. isis is now more dangerous than al qaeda ever was under osama bin laden. and its tentacles have spread into the west includes into the united states. yet the president's national security strategy released this year outlines a doctrine of strategic patience for c