jim accosta is at the white house with more on this.ng. >> reporter: good morning, carol. we should point out, this is a legally required document that the president is scheduled to deliver. basically every year. so this is something that is coming out today. of course the timing is very interesting. because there are so many questions right now about this president's national security strategy. what is he going to do about ukraine and russia's aggression in eastern ukraine? what is he going to do about isis. there are not many major policy announcements in this national security document that's been put out by the white house today. susan rice will be offering up a stout defense of the president's national security in the speech later on here in washington. i want to point out interesting things in this document that's been put out by the white house today. i'm holding it right here. in the introduction to this document which sort of lays out the president's national security strategy there is an opening letter or message from the pres

jim accosta was listening very carefully to what the president said. we have a statement that he submitted to congress earlier, proposed legislation and now televised remarks. give us your analysis of what we just heard, jim. >> reporter: i've been noticing this over the last several days the talk coming from this president has been amped up considerably. when you heard the president say at the start of his remarks our coalition is on the offensive. isis is on the defensive. isis is going to lose. you know he's not been speaking in that sort of stark terms i don't think for some time. he may have been taking a tip from david cameron who was talking like that when he came to washington a couple weeks ago. wolf i think more notable than anything was the president's acknowledgement to nervous democrats at the end of his comments saying that this new authorization would not bring about what he called endless war. that is almost off liberal bumper stickers that may be driving around in support of the obama campaigns of '08 democrats don't want endless war a

jim accosta explains why. >> reporter: the concern, and we've hear this repeatedly from inside the white house, is they don't want to provide an incentive for isis or other terrorist groups to take more hostages. the other big reason we've gotten grievings on this is -- gotten briefings on this is the payment by other countries to release hostages helps fund terrorist organizations. the president acknowledged that the rescue operation was aimed at freeing kayla mueller and other hostages being held inside of syria. here's more of what the president had to. >> the one thing that we have held to is a policy of not paying ransoms with an organization like isil. the reason is that once we start doing that, not only are we financing their slaughter of innocent people and strengthen their organization we're making americans even greater targets for future kidnappings. so it's -- it's as tough as anything that i do having a conversation with parents who understandably want by any means necessary for their children to be safe. and we will do everything we can short of providing an incentive for

our senior white house correspondent jim accosta live at the white house with more on this. e should point out defense secretary nominee ash carter is expected to be confirmed. a good sign of that was the fact that former democratic senator joe lieberman who is a friend of the chairman of the senate armed services committee john mccain introduced ash carter. we're not expecting ash carter to get tripped up today unless he does so on his own. in some testimony he did make some news. he talked about how he is inclined to support setnding defensive weapons to ukrainians in the battle against pro-russia rebels and he won't speed up guantanamo detainee transfers under pressure from the administration and will take those case by case. obviously with what happened yesterday, the release of the video of that jordanian pilot being burned to death by isis has a lot of members of that committee quizzing the expected next defense secretary about the administration's plans for dealing with the islamic state. at one point during an exchange carter talked about -- i think he set an expectat

our senior white house correspondent jim accosta is already there in the east room of the white house getting ready for this news conference. i'll get to all of you in a moment. i want to go to the region. our senior international correspondent nick paton walsh is joining us now from a brutalized area in donetsk. as bad as is it there, what you saw earlier in another town not very far away is simply awful. >> reporter: the kind of wreckage i haven't seen in the former soviet union since the russian region of chechnya's capital was bombed twice in the '90s. this town to the northeast of where i am standing on the outskirts of donetsk was caught in the crossfire as they moved quickly toward another key town they're trying to get hold of. this is key to the peace talks and discussions happening inside the white house, wolf. there's reality on the ground of separatists well equipped. the u.s. nato and ukraine say by russian military who also have personnel here too. they are moving through territory. they have broad ambitions. they want all of the donetsk region back. much of it they did

jim accosta, live from the white house. thank you so much.rough american airports to fight in syria. mall of america is threatened by terrorists. and we're talking about partially shutting down the department of homeland security. that means tsa agents men and women in charge of airport security will are required to show up for work but they will not get paid. while the vast majority of tsa employees will show up consider this from stacy, who works at the newark international airport. she was quoted on npr, "if i'm not being paid stacy won't be at newark airport. i mean we're in america. nobody works for free." james lloyd is a former tsa administrate. welcome, sir. >> thank you, carol. >> why can't lawmakers act like grown-ups? >> that's a question on the mind of a lot of citizens and very much on the mind of the people at homeland security and those agencies charged with responsibilities from preventing bad things from happening and dealing request consequences if they do. i understand the use of the budget process as part of the brinksmans

jim accosta, thank you. panel, jump in. s.c. you're first up to bad. you could come forward and say -- i'm not saying this is you -- anyone could say president obama is the worst president in the history of this country, but the comments that rudy giuliani made were outrageous. do you not agree? >> yeah. look i've been highly critical of the president when it comes to his rhetoric on terrorism. i thought the speech yesterday where he condemned western attitudes for fermenting extreme extremism was disturbing. however -- however, i don't think it's appropriate for rudy giuliani, someone with his stature someone who is so admired by so many in this country, i'm a former new yorker who lived across 9/11 that's a real feeling. i don't think it's appropriate for him to psychologize under president obama and declare he doesn't love the country or that he wasn't raised like the rest of us. that's not appropriate. that's sort of beneath i think the national discourse that we all -- we all want to have. and i think people are rightly criticizing him. now, does

elizabeth cohen, brianna keilar and jim accosta. >> a day care worker is called operation wipeout. she's on a mission to keep her facility safe from measles one antiseptic white after another. >>> french police say they've arrested eight people accused of being linked to the recruitment of young jihadists and deploying them to syria for a holy war. for now there is no suspected link to the january attacks, but you may remember the kouachi brothers. they too, were french jihadists and also suspected of having ties to syria. cnn's fred pleitken is following the story. >> reporter: good morning. after that attack in paris last month the french authorities are continuing to crack down on jihadism there in france. they have more than 160 cases that they're investigating right now including 500 people and they've made more than 160 arrestness total. clearly they're taking this very very seriously. also there will be a decree coming out tomorrow by the french government. that has to do with antiterror measures mainly focused on stopping internet recruitment, jihadism and the glory if i ca

congress may want better answers than that. >> jim accosta there reporting from the white house. the u.s. of course is already fighting isis from the air. despite several months of coalition air strikes, isis still controls vast territory in syria and iraq. >> which is staggering when you consider that they industrial this much space. we have it broken down on the map. it will showplaces still under isis control. it's huge. you see stretches from aleppo syria, to areas around baghdad. >> the red areas, you see on the map, show isis' direct control, the yellow zones, areas where isis has support of top u.s. -- support. a top u.s. official says it's believed some 20,000 foreign fighters now on the the battle field. >>> new details about the latest american killed in isis captivity. while kayla mueller's family and friends mourn her death, officials are talking about what she may have gone through in her long months of captivity. pamela brown has more. >> reporter: intelligence suggests 26-year-old cale mueller of begin to an isis fighter possibly as a bride after she was kidnapped

i'm jim accosta. following breaking news from denmark which is reeling from a terror attack.n opened fire saturday at a cafe near a synagogue in copenhagen leaving two people dead. the gunman may have been inspired by the paris attacks. let's go to cnn's nic robertson who is in copenhagen. nic, are police confide

i'm jim accosta. following breaking news from denmark which is reeling from a terror attack. a gunman opened fire saturday at a cafe near a synagogue in copenhagen leaving two people dead. the gunman may have been inspired by the paris attacks. let's go to cnn's nic robertson who is in copenhagen.

i'm jim accosta. following breaking news from denmark which is reeling from a terror attack. a gunman opened fire saturday at a cafe near a synagogue in copenhagen leaving two people dead. the gunman may have been inspired by the paris attacks. let's go to cnn's nic robertson who is in copenhagen. nic, are police confident these two attacks are linked? >> reporter: they are. they show the gunman coming back to this apartment between the attacks. they waited for him. that's when he returned home at about 4:50 in the morning. they challenged him. he shot back at them. they shot at him killing him. what they say they've discovered is when they shot him he had pistols on him. what they know about the first attack was that it was an attack with an automatic weapon possibly a machine pistol or a small machine gun. when they went into his apartment today they discovered that longer weapon that may be consistent with the weapon that was used in the first part of the attack. they've also discovered clothing in his apartment consistent with what they believe the first gunman was wearin

. >>> and you're in the cnn newsroom i'm jim accosta, we are in denmark, two menmented in a deadly attackg hours ago at a free speech event. witnesses say the gunmen stormed the meeting firing as many as 30 or 40 shots, a 40 -year-old killed, and three police officers wounded. the possible target of the attack was a cartoonist lars vilks, stirring up controversy with cartoons of the profit mohammed and they ran into a storage room together and held hands until being rescued by the police. vilks' life has been in dangerous for years. in 2013, he was pictured on a wanted dead or alive al qaeda magazine and the danish prime minister issued a statement that reads in part denmark today has been hit by a cynical violent attack everything points to that the shooting in oesterbro was a political assassination and therefore a terror attack.

jim accosta has more. >> reporter: with the isis cancer spreading quick three denmark where a gunman's rampage was allegedly inspired by the islamic state and to libya where ejipg christians were beheaded the white house is cram belling to counter a potent terrorist message. >> we need answers that go beyond a military answer. we need answers that go beyond force. >> reporter: vice president biden opened up this week's summit on countering violent extremism talking with u.s. city leaders about the root causes of radicalism with the u.s.-led coalition carrying out air strikes on isis. the summit's goals are aimed at the homefront. identifying vulnerable communities, brainstorming ways to counter extremist propaganda, and sharing those techniques globally. while it's not singling out isis, the obama administration is ramping up tortes to combat the group on social media, adding staffers to the state department's center for strategic counterterrorism communications. a u.s. propaganda outfit spreading the campaign think again turn away on facebook and twitter. and on youtube with videos bo

details on that and washington's reaction to the aid worker's death, senior white house correspondent jim accosta reports. >> reporter: it was the sad confirmation of what was widely feared -- that american hostage kayla mueller, once held captive by isis is dead. the president said in a statement no matter how long it takes, the united states will find and bring to justice the terrorists who are responsible for kayla's captivity and death. an emotional arizona senator, john mccain, whose state mueller called home, choked up as he paid tribute to the fallen aid worker. >> she will never be forgotten. >> reporter: the white house rejected claims from isis that mueller was killed in last week's air strikes that came after the terrorist group burned to death a jordanian pilot. >> the information we have is that there's no evidence of civilians in the target area prior to the coalition strike taking place. >> reporter: with mueller's death adding pressure on the white house to strike back the president is expected to officially ask congress as soon as tomorrow to back a measure to authorize the war o

jim accosta, cnn senior white house correspondent is with me now. will that be enough for congress? >> reporter: no i don't think so brooke. it won't be enough for congress. you know you would think that the battle for this white house ahead is convincing republicans but democrats are already saying that this language is too fuzzy. that phrase during offensive combat operations that is specified in this aumf you have democrats scratching their heads asking what does this mean? when i asked the press secretary, josh earnest earlier this afternoon, what does this mean? what is this language? is this fuzzy? josh earnest replied very candidly this language is intentionally fuzzy. so the white house is saying is the reason why it is fuzzy is because they want to give the president the latitude to conduct this campaign against isis the way he sees fit but as you mention, there are limitations and that's what the white house is trying to convey to democrats. there are limitations. three year sunset built into the language. that sort of ties the hands of a future president, clinton or whoev

. >> in an interview with cnn's jim accosta giuliani said quote, i don't regret making that statementbelieve it. the republican party's presidential candidates were left holding the bag. this is supposed to be the new gop. the party that cares about these things. >> the stickiness of poverty is a huge challenge. >> if we can get immigration right we have a good chance of winning in 2016. >> when you have great economic success you need to share it with those who live in the shadows. >> evolve adapt or die. i think the party has to change. >> this week that party was blindsided by one of its most elite members, and joining me now to talk about all of this and the future of the party is quite an elite group. tom ridge, former pennsylvania governor and an adviser to jeb bush. george pataki who was governor of new york on 9/11. he's thinking about a presidential run. congressman darrell issa a leading member of the house republican conservative caucus. thanks so much to all of you for being here with me. i'm going to go first to governor pataki because you were rudy giuliani's post 9/11 p

let's go straight to the senior white house correspondent jim accosta. what's the latest jim?t night the white house was not responding to the hangings but i can tell you in the last few minutes the white house says it will have a response to the hangings in jordan at the white house briefing. in response to the latest brutal terrorist killing, it will back fire on isis. the administration believes this horrific video will strengthen the resolve of the jordanians. that's a pretty clear indication that jordan is likely to step up its efforts against -- in this anti-isis coalition. last night we know the president met with jordan's king abdullah before he quickly raced back to his country to meet with his military forces. we're going to hear more about the administration's plans for taking on this terrorist group later on this morning when the president's nominee has a hearing on the hill. ash carter was asked what the president means when he says the u.s. will defeat isis carter responded that that means the isis group will no longer be a threat to iraq the region, the united s

let's go to jim accosta with that part of the story. jim, what do we know?isyn. all appearances are that the president is getting ready to make a decision on that and give aid to the ukrainians in their fight against pro russian rebels. white house officials say there is deepened engagement on this issue at the national security level inside this administration. one key thing i want to point out. you recall earlier this week when the defense secretary nominee ash carter testified that he's inclined to support that proposal for defensive military aid to ukraine, i talked to a senior administration official last night who said that that position is not all that different from where the white house is right now. so that is an indication that the white house may be moving in that direction. also want to point out what this official told me and that is the flurry of activity that is underway right now. john kerry and ukraine yesterday, vice president biden in brussels today, the president meeting with angela merkel the german chancellor on monday. this official n

let's bring in cnn's senior white house correspondent jim accosta.a cold day in washington when they'll let this government shut down. oh yeah reality is starting to set in and the clock is ticking. the president, the white house, the department of homeland security they're all warning congress that if the department of homeland security does not have funding by this friday that department will shut down. let's show you the impact and what that will mean. some 30,000 workers in dhs will be furloughed. they will not be allowed to report to work. more than 100,000 will have to work with no pay. they won't be happy about that. the impacts are across the department border security tsa, secret service who protect the president will all be impacted. the president said yesterday to the governors who were in town for a big meeting that there could be an economic impact as well. here's what he had to say. >> unless congress acts one week from now more than 100,000 dhs employees, border patrol port inspectors tsa agents will show up to work without getting pai