pledge to isis. the man in the christmas market attack was killed in a shoot-out by italian police even as isis issues a warning as he vows terror. and nuclear articles race. russia's vladimir putin vows to keep one the u.s. in any new arms race. trump basically says, bring it on. and from russia will love. trump shares what he calls a very nice letter from putin in which the russia leader calls for steps to restore cooperation. trump says he hopes both sides can live up to those thoughts. wolf blitzer is off. this is "the situation room." >>> be on the lookout for suspicious activity saying isis sympathizers are calling for attacks on churches and holiday gatherers in the united states. the man wanted or the attacking a berlin christmas market has been shot dead in italy. at the same time, isis has released video of the attacker, vowing allegiance to the terror group and calling for attacks. that comes as german officials say he was considered one of the most dangerous in the country months before t

also there was a soldier directed by isis or a sympathizer inspired by isis? we know so little and the security services is absolutely locked down now on any information coming out. obviously because it is a live investigation and they probably feel they gave up too much information about the suspect they did have in custody who was pakistani asylum seeker and after a few hours of questioning turned out not to be the culprit in this case. they had to release him without charging him. >> max, what are people feeling in berlin right now? up until yesterday, germany hasn't seen the same sort of attacks as france and belgium. i'm sure they are concerned about the possibility of more attacks. >> ther. this was an attack on a christmas market which is a cultural phenomenon here. everyone would come to this particularly famous one in berlin to do christmas shopping. people are horribly unsettled by it and of course isis wants to urn settle people. that's the idea of terror. they want people to stop coming to events like this. as soon as it opens up, i think you will

to isis leader abu bakr al-baghdadi. there is no mention of the truck attack and it's not clear when or where this video was shot. cnn's nina dos santos is live for us in milan. erin mclaughlin is live in berlin, but in italy, that's where i want to begin, nina, with you. when he was caught, the italians were saying this was kind of an accident at the time. walk me through how they got him. >> it was kind of a bit of a random situation, really, brooke, because what i'm standing outside is the spot where he was gunned down behind me. there's still blood on the pavement if you get to the tarmac close enough to have a look. they stopped him as a routine security check here. we're not actually inside milan, we're in a non-descript industrial section that's known as the financial capital of italy. it's not known that he had links here. so the fact he turned up here raise mrs. questions than it answered even though this manhunt has come to an end. he was stopped by police, they said "show us your papers." instead he pulled out

or isis inspired? there's 12 people dead. we're looking at images of the clean-up. it's devastating. >> you're absolutely right. it doesn't matter at all whether isis did it, whether al qaeda did it, whether somebody was inspi inspired, you know, in many circumstances certainly in the united states, u.s. citizens carry out these attacks. same thing with people in europe. europe is no stranger to attacks. they have a long history of terrorist attacks. we've just seen this uptick of attacks in germany which could threaten the stability and certainly the power base of angela merkel, the german prime minister, who is now coming up to a tough re-election and we're seeing these attacks could weaken her base for support of immigration policies she put into place. isis is counting on that. and just today we saw a document, a tweet released by a german isis member who put up a picture of isis combatants in berlin that said, mission [ speaking foreign language ] right which is german for mission accomplished. if

let's fight isis. because a small fraction of their attacks have actually gone against terrorists in syria. if there is a turning point for russia, great. we'd love to see them put bombs on targets against actual terrorists. at the same time, our hearts go out to the ambassador's family. we taking in away from this. this is an opportunity for russia to join us in the fight. >> i want to talk about president-elect trump. because yesterday we saw a statement that he put out that called the attacker in turkey a radical islamic terrorist before we had any real details about the attacker and his motivations. what is your reaction to the timing of that? is that appropriate? >> well, he very well may be right. i don't think it's appropriate to put out that, especially -- it's one thing if you do it from a campaign. from a president-elect. but definitely when he is sworn in, before you know all the answers to it. the twitter, i think, will be a tool that donald trump uses. he can use it effectively but jumping

he said he will bomb isis.l he do so people are not susceptible to the messages they're getting overseas. the climate could shift very quick will if he's not careful. >> there was a state department warning that we saw. americans traveling in europe over the holiday season. is this attack, is there any link between that? or is this just in general a threat where something like this is happening in berlin, becomes, unfortunately, expected, although unexpected? >> there is a link. they knew at the time there is a lot of chatter going on. they were picking up lots of signs from other terrorist groups saying about activities that would step up around november, december. that's why the state department came out and made a pretty pointed warning. when you do that, that tells you that they have a level of information that concerns them, that might scare people away from going to the to have these areas. you say be careful about traveling to markets. this was a targeted market. that tells me the state department throug

this is what isis wants. want to invite our viewers to join me in a brand-new movement, hashtag drive isis crazy, go to church on christmas. that's the best response to this threat, i think. liz: you know what we're seeing here in new york city, we see military in camouflage outside churches. i mean, there's a fear there, right? i hear what you're saying but they don't want to feel vulnerable going to christmas services, right? >> again, this is what isis wants and i don't think that means we don't use common sense. at our church we have armed policemen, armed security guards at every service and we don't allow backpacks into our sanctuary. we tell our parishioners to always notice what's happening around them. that's not succumbing to fear, that's common sense and it's a reality of the world we live in, but we can't give isis what they want. liz: you know, it seems pastor, that you've been such an astute observer are what the obama administration is saying, don't call it sonic islamic terrorism, it will only

>> they are no longer frightened by isis? >> why were they frightened in isis?a psychological element, a lack of community in the iraqi army. the issue change, international support. psychologically people see beyond isis and it no longer frightens us. a key issue. >> the point you're making, isis is clearly losing in iraq but not necessarily in neighboring syria? what you're saying? >> i have to say i haven't yet seen a clear -- in syria, to be comfortable. the fighting of isis in syria is winnable and lasting. >> what is the difference between what's happening in iraq and happening in syria? just this week, isis took over palmyra, an ancient, beautiful city wilt a lot of archaeological treasures there. fear they will just blow it up? >> already done it in mosul and other areas of iraq. here, irreparable damage to the history. key difference as to why, i think in iraq people know that terrorism is -- people politically, prime minister and others are working together. you don't have that in syria. people still don't know if they should have two syria or one syri

could isis be to blame?ld blood, a russian diplomat gunned down on foreign soil, the shooting caught on video. tonight, moscow is calling it an act of terror, and vladamir putin is promising to hit back. >>> done deal, the electoral college seals donald trump's victory. his opponents venting their anger but failing to derail his presidency. will there be a

isis is now claiming responsibility. also the central question to all those watching in this country, is america any less safe days before christmas and how will the president-elect deal with the threat at home and abroad when it comes to foreign policy. is he taking a page from the mick son playbook? "the 11th hour" begins now. >>> good evening. one month remains until the inauguration of our next president. right now in berlin, the manhunt continues for the person who drove a truck into a christmas market killing 12 people. a pakistani man who was arrested as a suspect has been released and german investigators say they didn't have enough evidence to place him behind the driver's seat of that tractor-trailer. authorities say they have received over 500 leads in this case but you'll note no imagery, no suspect to tell people to be on the lookout for. meanwhile, the isis affiliated news agency says a soldier for the islamic state carried out the attack but provided by no evidence of that. more on that in a moment. in thi

what are his ties to isis? and a rare move by britain's queen is raising questions tonight, are there worries about the security of the royal family? the holidays at verizon, and the best deals are on the best network. with no surprise overages, you can use your data worry free and even carry over the data you don't use. and right now get four lines and 20 gigs for only $40 per line. you'll even get the iphone 7, the samsung galaxy s7, the pixel phone by google, or the motoz droid for only $10 per month. no trade-in required. hurry, these offers end soon. get the best deals and the best network, only on verizon. hi, we(laughter)lford quads. we're in 8th grade. technology is the only thing that really entertains us. i'm gonna use this picture on sketchbook, and i'm going to draw mustaches on you all. using the pen instead of fingers, it just feels more comfortable for me. be like, boop! it's gone. i like that only i can get into it and that it recognizes my fingerprint. our old tablet couldn't do that. it kind o

and the fact that in the last few days, you've seen isis, pro isis websites encouraging supporters to churches. look, out of an abundance of caution, there's no credible threat than they've seen so far. and there has been kind of a quiet threat scenario going into the holidays. after berlin, they noticed there was a lot more threat streams coming in. it's right on schedule. at the end of the year is where they see a lot of this stuff and they're seeing it, obviously we still have the inauguration coming up, which is going to generate its own level of address. >> graham, is this a shift in targets for isis? it sort of feels new to us that we're talking about religious targets, churches, holiday events, that sort of thing. obviously this is in response to what happened in berlin. are we going to be seeing more of this to come, do you think? >> isis for a long time has been attacking mostly muslims, but they've never played nice with christians and always said they viewed christians fighting against them as legitimate targets. but the thing about this new threat is that it's isis capital

isis recruits pledge of allegiance to the leader of isis, secondly, aleppo, although it's extremely importantnd a symbol of muslim suffering, that's a place where al qaeda has a foot hold, not so much isis. >> as we head into the holiday season, one of the things that was striking about the berlin attack, it seems like this is maybe the third in a series of attacks in germany that were mostly thwarted attacks, i went in, it specifically happened on christmas market. a couple other attacks targeting christmas markets were caught by authorities. is that the sort of thing where that's just happenstance or those are targets of opportunity picked by locally radicalized folks, or is that the same sort of thing that indicated a direction from above? >> when you see three back-to-back, you think there is some planning. that was seven men in the cities of strasburg and mass eilles. they were getting training directly from isis. >> they were going to attack a major market in strasburg? >> we don't know for sewer. they have a major christmas market. >> that drawsless of people. in germany, you have just

although there have been isis attacks in that country, in general, isis does not claim them. there's a number of reasons why. turkey is sort of their rear base, and that's an attack if isis was behind it, we very much might see a situation where they don't claim it at all. however, i've been watching the chatter on the telegram groups that are allied with isis and al qaeda, and there's a lot more chatter on the al qaeda groups than the isis ones. and that's possibly because of references to aleppo. aleppo is a place where al nusiya, an al qaeda affiliate in syria has control. >> brooke, just back from another assignment in iraq, thanks for stopping in. >>> we want to bring in a democratic congressman from california who sits on the house permanent select committee on intelligence. congressman, we have these two attacks today, very different, though, maybe some connective tissue. given your committee seat, were you briefed on either or both and can you add anything to the discussion you just heard? >> thank you, brian. and these types of attacks are becoming all too familiar.

take care of isis. it's only just the beginning. >> there are very few foreign governments when it coming to this attack on the russian ambassador. who was killed by a gunman in turkey who has said, this is someone who is radicalized, but we do now know that state-run media in turkey is saying police found terrorism propaganda inside of his house. my question for you is, yesterday we saw donald trump tweet something that went further than the white house had. in addition to condemning the attack agency the white house did, donald trump attributed it to radicalized islamic terror. my question is -- is that him knowing something that at that point we didn't know? or is that him jump, the gun, and if so, is that a concern? >> well, i'm just responsible for my own actions. i try and confine my comments to what i currently know and advise noib take that approach. >> if he's not doing that, is that cause for concern to you? >> again what we know is that, you know, isis is inspiring lone wolves and these terro

americans, i think, many just think isis. isis attack. why is it important to figure out if it was inspired? if it was directed? if it was some other terror group. >> if it was coordinated or direct this guy had contacts with people, operatives trained up in syria. that's a new threat level. that means people returning from the battlefield in the middle east and getting back into germany and this is a huge concern for european security forces. 900 people have gone off to join isis. isis has deployed, get this from isis defectors they deployed thousands of sleeper agents all through the continent and now these guys are at a premium because the border has been int intradicted so sending more is impossible. these guys are lining in wait. if this guy was inspired he wasn't an agent of isis. again i keep coming back -- the level of sophistication, not in the methods used. a truck anyone can get. he hijacks a truck. kills the driver. drives four hours into a crowded marketplace. kills a dozen people. now i'm seeing on news reports that there's

isis, whenever there's an attack, isis is watching cnn. they're trying to figure out did somebody do that in your claim. they're going to see what they've done in that area, see what kind of information they pushed out. lately they've been pushing out information on truck attacks. they looked at it. they probably are saying on the basis of everything we know, this was probably us. or people doing this in our name. therefore, we're going to consider it inspired by us. >> thank you for talking with us. >>> 12 minutes past 11:00 on the west coast. time for a break. when we come back, we'll learn more about the police officer who assassinated a huge fireworks market has been reduced to rubble. a series of explosions tore through the crowded market on tuesday causing a dash as people ran for their lives. cnn reports. >> reporter: the video images of the fireworks explosion in the town in mexico north of mexico city are staggering and horrifying to watch. the video images showing the area where these explosions and a series of explosions went on

about 800 cases linked to isis. think of those tens of thousands of cases of people on the radar screen in europe, you get a sense of the much greater scale of the threat. of course of the continent which really just -- people can travel back over land from syria and iraq. >> thank you very much. elise lav it as well. >>> straight ahead, more of our coverage on the deadly crash. also coming up, the assassination of russia's ambassador to turkey caught on video, russia's foreign ministry calling the murder a terror attack. at jared... ...we turn feelings... ...into jewelry. jewelry that tells her she's the best thing that's ever happened to you. in a way that goes beyond words. it could be a piece jewelry designers created just for jared. or a piece we custom made... ...just for you. because we're more than a store that sells beautiful jewelry. we are jewelers. the one, unique gift... ...that tells her exactly how you feel. that's why he went to jared. >>> first the russian ambassador was assassinated in turkey, then

are isis operatives standing by to strike? >>> i am wolf blitzer. you are in "the situation room." >>> president-elect donald trump is on the road this hour. he will be heading to des moines, iowa, where he'll hold his latest so-called thank you rally later tonight. first a visit to ohio state university where the president-elect has asked to meet with victims of that isis-inspired terror attack as well as first responders. and we're learning more right now about new additions to his administration. trump has picked fast-food ceo andrew puzder to be labor secretary. puzder opposes a higher minimum wage and broader overtime pay. trump has named oklahoma attorney general scott pruitt to head the environmental protection agency. pruitt does not believe in climate change and he has sued the epa multiple times over power play plant regulations. >>> new tonight, a disturbing warning about new terror tactics being adopted by isis. a european report says as forces lose ground in syria and iraq they're become being expert in using car bombs which they could

in fact, he was identified by a guy who went so syria, joined isis, then denounced isis and repudiatedhe organization and came back and said this is the number one isis recruiter in all of germany. he was arrested as part of a five-man ring in november. so it was a very near thing they didn't catch this particular guy. in fact, there were two people who were part of abu wala's network that were responsible for recruiting the berlin attacker. one of them was a german serb called boban es who ran out of his apartment a kind of islamic center and offering to send people to syria to join isis. this guy apparently gave the attacker a choice. either you can make hisra, immigration to syria and join isis, or you can conduct a terror operation on german soil. and abu wala, the chief german for isis, personally signed off on that choice. >> would you think, chris -- can we say that the one like this that you don't catch that there are many more they do catch and do stop? is that so? >> well, i'm not so sure if that's true in europe in general. i think it's true here in the united states. i thin

they want to build an empire. >> they've been the ones fighting isis allied with assad and against isis. the president-elect seems to like that just fine. >> these are tactical decisions. we had a tikhonoval decision in '41 whether to sign on with stalin against hitler and we did. it was good we did. sometimes you have to ally temporarily with a bad guy in order to defeat another bad guy. it's happened throughout american arn world history.

estimates there are 12,000 to 15,000 isis personnel, a dramatic decline in 2014 when isis has amassed000 fighters in iraq and syria. and syria. it's had always been able to replace its ranks, moving people across the turkish border into syria. but no more. >> isis now has no access to international border and this has significantly impacted the overall campaign because they are now a very isolated entity. >> estimates from nearly 17,000 coalition strike, the u.s. believes 50,000 isis fighters in total have been killed over the last two years. its ranks slashed nearly 75%. the top coalition commander says that is only part of the story. >> we've taken back over half of the land that iraq, for example lost to isil in 2014. i think that is a measure of the progress. >> reporter: now the top priority, get isis out of its self-declared capital in raqqah, syria. >> we also know they are plotting attacks on the west. and we know that central to external operations plotting is the city of raqqah. and that is why we need to get down there and isolate that city as fast as we can. >> u.s. specia

obviously the head of isis. it's not clear when this was filmed and there was no direct mention of the christmas market attack. what does this tell you at this point? now you have this video where this attacker is saying i am basically a soldier of isis? >> yeah, this video was put out just a few minutes ago by the news agency affiliated with isis. they put it out on their official telegram page. and a video in which the attacker pledges allegiance to abu bakr al baghdadi the head of isis. the strong presumption is this was nymph filmed before the att because on the video he makes no mention of the attack. he may not have known whether he would survive the attack. and, so everything points at this point to this being prerecorded. and then uploaded to isis in syria, at some point. and it may well be that isis actually have this for quite a few hours, even though, because, the timing of this release was right after there was a confirmation by the italians that he had been killed in a shoot-out in milan. so it may

when you look at this, knowing limited information, do you think isis, isis-inspired, al qaeda? >> sure, if you look at this, the first thought that comes to mind is what happened in nice. the bastille day attack that obviously was isis and was so dramatic. but there are some important points to make here. number one, we're not sure whether or not we have the right suspect. we don't really know who did this or why. it certainly looks like it was intentional, looks like terrorism, but we don't know why. what's more important is there has been no statement from isis. neither a claim of responsibility, a news report, isis has had absolutely nothing about this incident. and isis, the media wing of isis, even under the amount of stress and pressure they're under right now inside of iraq and syria, they more than have the capability to talk about this if they wanted to. the question is why not? are they waiting for more details? are they trying to protect the identity of the person that carried this out? or perhaps they weren't behind this at all. perhaps this was just isis-inspired.

isis now a worldwide ideology. you know, the fighting may have changed in iraq and syria, they may get baghdadi some day, but isis still has the ability to inspire a certain number of people to engage in violent activity and that will be the toughest thing to eradicate and something has could take generations. >> michael what does all of this mean for the incoming president? what's the first big question that the president-elect is going to face on the fight against isis? >> he's going to realize. he claimed he wanted to bomb the hell out of isis. he's realize it's not that easy or simple. factors on the ground, dropping bombs from the sky is not going to return mosul. they've turned mosul into essentially a boobytrap. entire blocks rippinged to blow when iraqi force s come in. and how they've stalled. the golden division is doing the heavy lifting in the fight and estimates sustained something like 50% casualties. could be impact ineffective within a month if that keeps up, and guess what? iraqi doss nes not have

of isis, which to them means inspired by isis.st how do we know it is authentic? second, is there a downside to them making a claim that might turn out to be true? >> sure. if he's an agent of al qaeda or some random crazy person although that suspicious is kind of cast aside. given the elaborate nature. a hijacking, a murder. driving an hour two with a dead body. he was turning this into a battering ram. seemed like the intention here was to commit mass murder. soldier of isis would be many things. he could be an operative. it's has dispatched hundreds if not thousands of sleeper operatives throughout europe. a lot have come in through the refugee waves. there were two supposed to be part of the paris attack ring who actually got stopped and interned in a refugee camp in greece for a spell. so we don't know how many come from raqqah or mosul are running around the continent. it could easily be the case the german police spent 24 hours interrogating the wrong man. if you are isis you are waiting for him to get away clean and make

department has match up with the reporting that it seems to be isis-inspired but not isis-directed? >> we don't have enough information to back up the claims by isis that they inspired or directed or were in any way involved in this. we think it's prudent for the germans to treat this as a plausible terrorist attack. that makes sense. as you have heard yourself, there is no direct evidence. clearly, though, jake, it bears the hallmarks of what happened in nice in july. we think it's prudent, obviously, to go forward with that, at least being one plausible explanation. we don't have any more information, certainly, than the germans do, and nothing that we've seen on our side tells us that the isis claims of responsibility are backed up right now. >> john, as you know, the state department on november 21st, issued a blanket travel warning for americans traveling in europe saying, quote, credible information indicates that isis, al qaeda and the afailiates continue to planterries attacks in europe with a focus on the upcoming holiday season and associated events. the warning also said

that is they being isis. i suspect it's isis.recently about how this effort by isis to weaponize people and technology is not lone wolf. it's actually an organized effort. this is a technique. so we have to understand that they tried it once. it worked well. they tried it again. i think you could be looking -- we need to be looking for the potential use of this technique here. we have three key events coming up. we have christmas. we have new year's and the inauguration right here. it will be about 500 meters from where i'm sitting. we have to recognize that isis is finding folks who are willing to literally go on these suicide missions. you don't have to have a bomb, a gun. you have to have something that will kill people. they are learning an ining and o be worried about that. >> who do you distinguish between those who have rightful protests at inauguration, as they always do and some bigger than others. this one we're told quite a few. and those who are -- have more sinister intentions? >> first, we saw today what the attack

the assessment of isis as being a jv team. so i think -- >> intelligence has made mistakes in the past, it's never perfect. but you know as well as me, you know far more than me having been chair han of the intelligence community, that the intelligence community does not often go public with their assessments unless they have evidence to back it up. >> yeah, i've been very, very concerned about exactly what you've pointed out, is that the intelligence community has gone public with some of these assessments and hasn't really provided the backup for the detail in terms of exactly how they got there, and i think that's something that donald trump and his people are going to dig into. it's something that the senate has said they are going to dig into. and i think it's a question that the american people want to have answered. >> let me ask you this. let's separate from the russia issue specifically, and just the larger issue of the relationship between the president, the executive, and his or her intelligence agencies, because he

." >>> isis suspect on the run. a reward for the man suspected in the berlin christmas market attack. he is linked to a pro-isis network. can an urgent man hunt prevent another slaughter. >>> moscow tests an apparent satellite weapon and may have deployed satellites. that comes as the kremlin says the u.s.-russian dialogue is frozen. >>> pro and conflict. donald trump's sons are removed as directors of a non-profit after a report linking them to a plan to auction off access to the president-elect. is trump himself now focused on global crisis or, as his tweets suggested, is he still obsessed with the election results. >>> activity at a chemical weapons plant as kim jong un overseas a night drill by fighter jet pilots. wolf blitzer is off and i'm brianna keilar. you are in "the situation room." >>> breaking news. germany puts out a warrant and a cash bounty for a 24-year-old tunisian who prosecutors say is under suspicion in the attack. he's been linked to a pro isis network operating in germany. he had been refused

we know the number of isis supporters are high enough. we are dealing with over 100 individuals that have already been charged and many others that are under surveillance. this is why they put out those lists. they are hoping for somebody to attack. >> they are hoping for somebody to attack but americans are being told, here is what you have to look out for. how effective are these bulletins when it comes to perhaps thwarting an attack. we are on to you. we are going to be looking for it. >> it is better to do it this way as opposed to we know there is a threat. we don't tell the public. god forbid something does happen. it is going to be, why didn't you let the public know? knowledge is power to understand what is happening and having the assistance of the public. the public are on the front line so to speak. they are the eyes and ears. when they say, if you see something, say something. you know when you are looking at somebody suspicious. they are looking around, very shifty, trying to see whether there are cameras, trying to disguise

isis used it for an almost blitz-like attack. right now, they're binding most of their troops in that battle for aleppo. isis made quick advances and apparently made it into the city limits of palmyra and very close to the ancient city there. apparently, it's cleared up. the russian air force resumed air strikes. they've conducted some 64 air strikes overnight pushing isis back. at this point in time, it's first of all, unclear how far they've pushed them back. but also what the damage is on both sides. how many were killed and wounded. that's being assessed. it does seem as though isis did launch that surprise attack but has been repelled, george. >> i want to ask you about the situation with so many people trying to escape the city. do we have any new estimates or figures on how many people have been able to escape. how many people may still be trapped there? >> george, i was on the frontline in southern aleppo just yesterday. i can tell you it was literally an avalanche or a tsunami of people that came across. very difficult f

the border patrol just let ten isis fighters come -- what are you -- really? the guy blowing greta's mind with that insanity is a sitting congressman from california who insisted to her, who insisted that the united states had picked up a whole slew of isis fighters on the border. picked up a whole bunch of them. five of them or like ten of them or maybe it was more than ten of them. it was a lot, it was a ton. and it was weird to just have that dropped into a normal interview on fox news on like a tuesday or whatever, right? you would think that would be the kind of thing that we would hear about as a country. if the united states government picked up ten isis fighters who were invading, who were crossing over the border into the united states and we have these fighters in custody, there would be a lot of attention to that. right? there would be a lot of questions raised. like where are we holding them? are they being held in some local facility at the border? are they being moved to a high security prison? are there some people in politics who want them move

friendly, this pro isis website that has initially called on some of its supporters and isis sympathizers top launch attacks or carry out attacks at churches or houses of worship across the country. the reason this is being issued, to answer your second question is because they noticed on a website, on this pro isis web page we mentioned, it lays out a list of several of these churches and places of worship. so as a result they are being proactive, officials are. then there is that lingering question this is not like anyone else we've seen. typically they're directed more toward law enforcement or military targets. these are the softer targets. the question is why. we heard this morning, a republican who sits on the house homeland security committee, offering his take why we could be seeing this kind of threat. >> isis wants to spread fear, primarily by inspiring homegrown terrorism through the internet, through the dark spaces of the internet and get people to rise up and create attacks of terrorism when fr possible. we saw at the pulse nightclub for example, they're doing it now with re

that's why isis seeks to divide society. >> one of the things that's been said about isis and isis says itself, they want to eliminate the gray zone. take away, basically, the middle ground there. what does that mean? >> the middle ground is this kind of conversation where i won't assume your cultural or religious background, but i'm a british pakistani muslim. i happen to be many other things as well. many other things. but that part of my identity, the fact that i've couched it among many other forms of identity, british, liberal, maybe a father, being comfortable with popularism. and what isis these when they say we want to eliminate the gray zone, they want me to reduce my identity first and foremost, only to being a muslim. and have my life dictated primarily by that identity alone. and that leads to the form of governance that we know as theocra theocracy. likewise, they would want someone like you to reduce your identity to just be saying, white, or whatever so you have a form of governance that just represents you. see, how do they benefit from that? of course, any fascism, any

at our christmas parties. >> -- rather than enflaming isis -- >> don't enflame isis? really? i think they're highly enflamed noatter what we do. i have to leave it right there. let's do something we haven't done in a while. let's do "cashin trending." i'll comment back. a very powerful army is back. >>> coming up, why is ♪ this holiday, the real gift isn't what's inside the box... it's what's inside the person who opens it. give your loved ones ancestrydna, the simple dna test that can tell them where they came from -by revealing their ethnic mix. you'll save 10%-and they'll have a new story to tell. order now at ancestrydna.com and save 10%. as it turns out, we have very similar personalities. and this cat makes me make art, because he's always motivating me to take pictures of him, to draw pictures of him. he just is motivating artistically. it's just that simple. well, he's my best friend, but a lot of people know him as keyboard cat. [playing upbeat tune] >>> donald trump is ready to walk away from our new relationship with cuba, following the death of fidel castro. the p

at our christmas parties. >> -- rather than enflaming isis -- >> don't enflame isis? really? i think they're highly enflamed no matter what we do. i have to leave it right there. let's do something we haven't done in a while. let's do "cashin trending." i'll comment back. a very powerful army is back. >>> coming up, why is i have asthma... ...one of many pieces in my life. so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine. i talked to my doctor and found a miing piece in my asthma treatment with breo. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, l

about the nature of al qaeda and isis. it has been discussed a lot that al qaeda was much more difficult to penetrate because of relationships and networks, and isis you have this humongous influx of foreign fighters and kids who are playing a video game. do you think that it has -- isis has penetrated by human than al qaeda, given the opportunity to -- because it feels like it's easier -- would be easier to penetrate than it was to penetrate al qaeda. and if that penetration has happened, do you anticipate the results of that human, culminating sometime in the near future. >> a good point. al qaeda was hard to penetrate because they were much more careful about their vetting. baghdadi was hoping up the gates, come to the caliphate. there's pros and cons to each side. al qaeda has a lot longer to develop. had almost a decade, with very little harassment from us or anyone else. so it could afford to be a little more careful. isis developed very quickly, and decided to be very ambitious, jerry early -- very early on so they'

and isis and muslims, most of those that are killed are muslims. isis kills them.t we don't want to do is become a propaganda tool for isis by making this a clash of civilizations between christians and muslims and isis. >> i do see what you are saying that this extreme rhetoric you believe leads to terrorist ryu criewght more effectively but i would argue that president obama by twistin twisting himself into pretzels and not labeling it islamic extreme by basically emptying out gitmo saying that is the way to tamp down on recruiting has not work because sis has ranks under president obama's historical aproposal wouldn't you agree with that. >> i think, jessie, what is the difference between ohm's holy and trump? they poet wants to destroy isis. >> i think president obama wanted to contain isis. i haven't heard president obama and seen president obama troop try to destroy isis. >> i think the worry that i have it can't be a military solution. >> i agree. wrote need to bomb them military palms and need germany hear probably one of the strongest military powers in eu

isis claiming to have inspired attack. suspect or suspects still at large and armed and considered dangerous. as investigators released man arrested after the attack. captured an cell phone video, immediate aftermath of the tack that left 12 dead and more than 45 injured. truck with polish registration loaded with steel plowed in the market. dragging some pedestrians 80 meters stopping only after knocking over krois tree. >> jumped the curb and took wrong turn and barrelled throughout crowd. >> reporter: inside was the driver, appears to have been shot to death. not at the wheel. truck company's owner says appeared to have fought with the attackers. within an hour arrested a pakistany immigrant and somber angela merkel addressing a stunned nation on the suspect's nationality. >> we must assume this is a terrorist attack. would be especially hard to bear for us if it was to be confirmed person committed this act given asylum in germany. would be disgusting. >> reporter: but released the man after not linked to the truck or

>> this is right out of the playbook for kinds * and isis and -- for al qaeda and isis and other radicalups. they have a playbook telling people how to do it. if you can't use a 2.5 ton truck, use a smaller truck. i just noticed when i was coming up to fox. the commissioner has surrounds the park. when the enemy says this twice we are trying to do, you have got to pave attention. in berlin they have this park set up, and didn't security in the way they should have probably. charles: 's a shame we continue to counter punch on this. people who may be one or two individuals who are inspired -- >> you are going to have a major problem in germany. they brought in a half million syrian refugees the last 2 1/2, 3 years. it's hard to track these people. they don't know where they came from. they can't vet them properly. that's one of the problems i had with opening up the sir yanl immigration influx to the u.s. i think the primary way to attack stuff here is intelligence. knowing who's here, what they are doing here. what their motives are and what their thinking is. they use our dreams against

isis didn't exist in 2011. it was formed in 2003.zation president obama recently announced the authorization is going to be expanded to allow the use of military action against the terrorist group to t be sure they didn't begin until 2007. so the original authorization that was very specific to allow action against the perpetrators of the attacks are now being used all over the globe against the organizations that didn't occurr occurred. the 2001 authorization has been cited by president bush andn obama in at least 37 instances to justify sending the forces to the 14 nations and attacking to send the militar a military for4 nations. the nations where we've currently justified military action pursuant to the authorization to the perpetrators of the attack we've authorized action in the bush and obama administrations and turkey, georgia, iraq, afghanistan, yemen, ethiopia,thn djibouti and the philippines as well as the military activity in cuba at guantÁnamo to maintain detainees. just in the last week the times

isis is -- is uber islamic.mic and it's time it's said. >> the next time a bombing or beheading occurs and god knows it will, the first thing you will hear from the mouth of a so-called moderate muslim is, oh, no, no, no, no. please, don't misunderstand. islam has nothing to do with this. that's simply not true, because most of the people doing these bombings and beheadings say they are doing it in the name of allah, and they actually cite verses from the koran. >> we are men honored with islam who climbed its peaks to perform jihad. >> reporter: the controversial question triggered a shouting match on bill maher's program. >> the motherload of bad ideas. >> jesus. how about more than a billion people who don't punish women, just want to go to school -- >> wait a second. you're saying all muslims. >> wait a second. >> you're stereotyping. >> take bad things and paint the whole religion with -- >> let's get down to who has the right answer here. a billion people. all of these billion people don't hold any of thos

or he may be or they may be isis inspired. we've seen that, of course, across the continent in the past. actually, a bit on the back foot, obobviously, because they thought they had their man in this case. they released that man without charge and now we've got a situation where potential killers are on the loose here in berlin or they may have gone further. a serious situation here, don. >> what do police know about him at this point and what are they doing specifically to capture him? >> reporter: they're being very quiet about any information they have, simply because they're trying to make what connections they have. i think they certainly feel somewhat awkward about the fact that they were giving information about a potential asylum seeker from pakistan before they realized he had nothing at all to do with this. that was the initial suspect, of course. the u.s. embassy are asking people to be vigilant, maintain a low profile in berlin at this time. the police being very careful to try not to sort of fall for isis' doctrin

but we don't know right now whether this is someone directed by isis, someone who was inspired by isis, and the language issued by isis was not clear or definitive to that element either about whether or not this was a lone wolf who was simply inspired by isis calls to action or he was being directed by someone inside of syria or iraq. we haven't really seen that yet. but it is disturbing, the idea there might be someone who is either in contact with isis or being specifically directed by isis right now who is on the lam somewhere inside of germany. >> but also possible this attack happens and isis sees it and sees the world attention on it and says, okay, we're going to go ahead and claim this one? >> it's certainly possible. however, generally speaking when isis issues these type of communiques, it will turn out that the individual behind it was in contact with isis or isis had some reason or evidence to suspect this person was acting, you know, in support of them. maybe not directed by them, certainly inspired by them. but we'll have to see what else comes out, whether or not there'