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French Official: More Attackers Could Be At Large; Libya's ISIS Leader Killed Before Paris Attack; World Stands in Solidarity with France; New Details on Cal State University Student Killed in Paris; Cal State University, Long Beach, Press Conference; Paris Attacks Expected to Dominate Democratic Debate; Paris Attack Investigation Leads to Belgium Streets. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired November 14, 2015 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[17:00:46] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, good evening, everyone. It is 11:00 in the evening, Saturday night here in Paris. I'm Poppy Harlow joining you live with special coverage of the terror attacks that have shocked this nation, and, frankly, enraged the entire world.

We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the globe. Here's what we know at this hour. French officials warning that more attackers could still be at large right here in Paris after a wave of coordinated shootings and suicide bombings at six different locations took place in Paris on Friday night. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which took 129 lives, wounding 352 more individuals. One of those who was killed we now know is an American, an American college student from California. Today the investigation has moved far beyond the borders of Paris.

Belgian authorities making a number of arrests today after a car rented in Brussels was found right here in Paris near the site of one of the attacks. We're also learning more about the terrifying moments inside a concert hall that was the site of the worst carnage. Eighty nine lives taken there just behind me. Police say three attackers took audience members hostage inside of the concert hall venue and then right in front of the stage executed them at random. In all, 89 people lost their lives in the building that is just over my shoulders, the Bataclan concert hall. Those attackers killed either by gunfire from police or by activating their own suicide vests.

Joining me now, CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto, also our senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann. Jim, to begin with you, you've learned in the last hour from a French official that they are worried that there are more attackers on the loose, and this was a concern when they killed seven or seven were found dead, how big was the web?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That is still an open question. They don't know. The fact is, we have a very strong measure of that indication of just how on edge the city is. And how many questions still out there when you had a false alarm at the Hotel Pullman and around the Eiffel Tower, they had a big police force, a raid, they were searching room to room. That turned out to be a false alarm, but that's the level of threat right now. They are not going to leave anything to chance and that official's comment speaks volumes. The fact is they don't know.

And this could be out of an abundance of caution, but the truth is they don't know. All they know is that there are seven dead bodies. They believe that those seven attackers worked in three teams, but imagine that, that's an enormous amount of carnage for that small a number of attackers to carry out and it's the assumption of French investigators and the President has said this himself, President Hollande, that there was a larger circle around them that was providing them support to get them these Kalashnikovs rifle, to get them all the ammunition, to get them these explosives and to get the cars that took them to each of these locations for the attacks.

HARLOW: And let's not forget, there are 129 dead. There are 352 injured, 99 in critical condition. I spoke just earlier to a man whose niece just had part of her leg amputated. I mean, very serious, serious injuries. Just the acceleration of what this is, ISIS, they've claimed responsibility, of their ability and their coordination to fly completely under the radar.

SCIUTTO: This is a -- a failure, really, an intelligence failure into a country that was on very high alert ten months after the attack just five minutes down in this direction at "Charlie Hebdo," where we were reporting the very same kind of story, but this a factor of ten bigger in terms of the carnage. The city is on alert, the country is on alert for this kind of attack. They were looking for this kind of thing, and yet this group was able to carry it out with the automatic weapons, with the explosives, with the coordination.

HARLOW: With a French national involved.

SCIUTTO: When the French nationals, someone from the South of Paris. He is the one attacker the police have positively identified. They know him, they've identified him, police sources told me by fingerprints and, sadly, he was known to the police as being radicalized but not being involved in terrorism.

HARLOW: Just speak quickly to that, just to be radicalized certainly not enough for authorities to track you, so that fine line as they walk.

SCIUTTO: No question, there's an enormous gray area between those who carry out attacks and those who might be visiting Jihadi websites or going to a radical mosque, this kind of thing. Here's a number we know, 5,000 suspected Jihadist in this country. To monitor 5,000 you need a factor of ten or more, 50,000 operatives to follow them. You can't do that, and sadly sometimes they make mistakes, their judgment calls, the Kouachi brothers who carried out the Hebdo attack, another was under surveillance, they took them off, they carried out the attack. You have this one known to the police, but even more so, it is a European-wide network, it appears. You have these raids now in Belgium, you have an arrest in Germany, it speaks to the size of this web and the fact is that's why you have this false alarm and that's why you have that warning from the French official, they don't know the true extent of the web yet.

[17:05:38] HARLOW: Absolutely, Jim Sciutto, thank you very much for the reporting. Jim will be with us all evening.

Jim Bittermann to you in Paris, you were here when all the chaos broke out on Friday night, you live here. When you talk about, as Jim Sciutto said, the 5,000 that they are trying to track just here within the city confines of Paris, give me your reaction to what you heard from President Francois Hollande today saying this is an act of war and we will be ruthless. What does that mean on the streets of Paris?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think we're going to see, first, we're going to see an increased presence of police and army. I think there has to be a certain amount of reassurance as far as the general population is concerned and the tourists. I mean, there's a lot of people around here that don't live here, they don't understand what's going on around them, those being the tourists that are attracted here. So they've got to do a lot to reassure people. On a practical level, I think we're going to see an awful lot more of internet surveillance, a lot more drilling down on the various internet sites and the things like that to kind of contacts that go on between people, because the intelligence services here have already been monitoring some of these sites pretty closely and they have failed to spot the people that were involved in these attacks.

And as Jim Sciutto was saying, there were three teams involved, had to have a lot of back-up support. There had to be a lot of communications back and forth to coordinate this, and yet none of it was spotted. So, I think there's going to be a lot more draconian measures taken in order to find out how these guys operated and how they were able to pull this off, Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Jim Bittermann live for us also here in Paris with me. Jim, thank you very much. We'll get back to you shortly. Let's talk more about this with two experts in the field.

National security analyst Peter Bergen, former Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Juliette Kayyem. Juliette, to you first. I mean, what we just heard there from Jim Sciutto. This was an intelligence failure, the fact that five minutes from here ten months ago. "Charlie Hebdo" was carried out and now this. And you have so many more causalities in this attack. What does France need? Is it outside help, is it more assistance to track down those that have been radicalized and take that radicalization to the extreme?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY ASSISTANT SECRETARY: It's going to be a combination of all of them. So this is now a resource issue, and France is going to have to commit the resources to track those who might have been radicalized in a much more concerted and serious fashion than we've seen in the past. Now, what you have to remember is these European laws differ across the European Union about privacy rights, about internet surveillance, and about immigration --

HARLOW: Right. KAYYEM: So the challenge is that there's no unified Europe in this regard, but the terrorists view it as a unified Europe. So that's going to be the first challenge. Of course, there's going to be the military option for France at this stage, and then, you know, we, the United States lost a U.S. citizen, this lovely woman from California, it will mean also the United States actually has jurisdiction. I know that sounds like technical legal mumbo jumbo, it is not. With the U.S. having jurisdiction, it means that the FBI will be also authorized to assist this investigation in a very real way because we did lose a citizen, unlike in the Russian airline attack.

HARLOW: Right. I mean, that's fascinating, Juliette, that's the first time that I've heard that, but the fact that now the FBI has this authority and, certainly, desire and wherewithal to become very involved.

Peter Bergen, to you, how much do you think that that changes things just on the investigation front here, but then also on the how do we prevent this from happening in Paris again?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, the investigation the same thing happened in Mumbai, you may recall probably that there were six American citizens that were killed in the Mumbai attack and the FBI was actually very, very helpful to the Indian authorities about tracking down, for instance, the GPS that was used in the attack that was dropped by one of the attackers, the FBI was able to establish the GPS showed that these guys had originated in Pakistan and even find, even where the boat was manufacturer that the Indian attackers -- the Pakistani attackers used in the Mumbai attack.

So, you know, I mean, yes, the FBI is the world's most pre-imminent law enforcement organization, it's obviously going to help. But I want to go back briefly to the discretion of the TATP. Because I think that, you know, the bomb factory, it's not a factory in the conventional sense, but to build these bombs you need a commercial grade refrigerator to keep the very unstable ingredients together, you would as Juliette earlier mentioned, you'd need to test these. I mean, there would be a whole process that is traceable and also, by the way, you'd have to buy very large amounts of hydrogen peroxide and you'd be looking at stores that are selling this, and suspicious levels of purchases of this material in an effort to kind of determine how this went down.

[17:10:45] HARLOW: Peter, I'd like your take on the fact that, you know, we know that France itself under Francois Hollande has stepped up its attacks against ISIS, its strikes within Syria. Starting just in September. Do you see this as in any way connected to that?

BERGEN: I mean, I think the short answer is, of course. You know, on the question of the intelligence failure, every time there's a big attack like this, there's always an intelligence failure. The British police knew that the leader of the 7/7 attackers, the July 7th, 2005, he was on their radar screen, they dropped him for the reasons that Juliette has outlined, they didn't just have enough manpower and they didn't think he was important enough to keep following. Just think about, you know, the Boston bombings, which Juliette knows so well. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was the subject of an FBI at least in assessment, not in investigation. You know, Major Nidal Hasan in this country, the FBI knew that he was in contact with al-Qaeda in Yemen multiple times. You always going to see this. In fact, it's almost -- what's unusual, Poppy, is when an attack or a failed attack happens and there isn't some kind of, you know, somebody in the investigation hasn't come to the attention of law enforcement authorities. It's very unusual, you know, that that happens.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Peter Bergen, stay with me. Juliette Kayyem stay with me, as well. I do want to show our viewers this, because you are looking at some images, live images from Washington's Lafayette Square that is right next to the White House. Some pretty beautiful images there, you see the sign that the world is coming together grieving with Paris for Paris in the wake of this horrible attack claiming 129 lives. We will be back, more of our special coverage live from Paris right after this.

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[17:15:58] HARLOW: You are looking at live pictures, and I want to show you a moment just a few moments ago, actually, where the French ambassador to the United States, Gerard Araud, led a moment of silence there at Lafayette Square, right next to the White House in our nation's capital. Just another sign that the world, the United States, standing with Paris. Just hours before the coordinated attacks in Paris, the Pentagon says a U.S. air strike killed the senior leader of ISIS in Libya. This happening just hours ago before these attacks yesterday. Authorities say that Abou Nabil was establishing an Islamic state base and ISIS base in Libya, he may have been responsible for mass executions.

Joining me now to talk about this in the broader scope of things, CNN military analyst Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, CNN global affairs analyst David Rohde. When you look at this, and I want to get to the significance of Libya and ISIS in Libya in just a moment, but when you look at this, it is astonishing what we've seen, the fact that ISIS has claimed responsibility for downing that Russian jetliner in Sharm el Sheikh Egypt, that you saw the coordinated attacks in Beirut with 43 people dead. Six coordinated attacks now, here Colonel Rick Francona here in Paris on Friday night across this city, and my question to you, is this centralized? Do you believe all being executed or led by a mastermind or group of masterminds, or are these different groups with the same mission?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), FORMER U.S. MILITARY ATTACHE IN SYRIA: I think we've got to reassess how we've looked at them. I think many of us thought they didn't have this kind of capability to coordinate these kind of attacks all over the region, and now in Europe. We've known they've been able to coordinate attacks up and down Iraq, all up and down the valley, but for them to actually conduct these operations in Europe, I think, we really were surprised. But there's got to be some centralized direction to this, because it's just too organized.

HARLOW: But how centralized? I mean, David Rohde, to you, pick up on that, how centralized are we talking about? Because it is, when you look at this series, you know, the fact that if ISIS did bring down that Russian jetliner, that they were capable of doing that, an al Qaeda-type attack, and then look at the bombings in Beirut killing 43 and then look at this. How centralized are we talking about, one mastermind?

DAVID ROHDE, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, ROHDE: Well, what we're talking about is centralized training, and this is the problem and this is why we can no longer ignore Syria. A very sophisticated bomb brought down that Russian airliner. It was either a time or altitude device. As Peter and Juliette talked about earlier, you know, of some kind of bomb factory, these are volatile chemicals used in the Paris attack. Whoever is carrying out these attacks is getting lots of training in Syria and then able to send these units out and have them execute, you know, very well in Egypt, in Beirut, and now in Paris. And that's the danger here. Clearly, they are training people and sending teams out and I agree, we have to look at this threat in a new way and it's a very stark moment.

HARLOW: Colonel Rick Francona, what about the significance of what I just told our viewers about that broke today, the news that U.S. forces have killed the senior ISIS leader in Libya. This is significant, because it's not the first time that there have been strikes against terrorists in Libya, but it is the first time that the U.S. has been able to take out an ISIL leader in Libya.

FRANCONA: I think it points to much better intelligence. If you look at what we're doing, you know, in Iraq with Sinjar, if you look at some of the air strikes we're doing in Syria, we're getting much better intelligence now. It's taken us a long time, but the fact that we're able to isolate this guy in Libya, track him down and kill him, I think shows that we're really upping our game, and that's a good thing. It also indicates that we're willing to do this. There's been a reluctance to engage some of these targets. One of the complaints we hear from the U.S. forces is the fact that they know the targets are there, but they can't get through this cumbersome command and control process, and we seem to have broken through that hurdle, so that's a good thing. And I think it sends a message to ISIS that we're willing to find them and take them out.

[17:20:20] HARLOW: But what message does it send to ISIS when they are, you know, emboldened to carry out successfully six attacks here in Paris, completely under the radar of intelligence here as we saw on Friday night. I want you both to look at this. Let's pull up this map, because what it shows you is the Islamic State has been expanding as we know far beyond the base, if you will, in Iraq and Syria. You've got ISIS conducting regular military operations in the countries in orange, they have declared provinces in the regions in yellow. We've also marked the areas, including those in the United States, Canada, and Australia, where attacks have been linked to or inspired by ISIS. As you see this, David Rohde to you, your take on how nations across the globe, the United States, France, the UK, Germany, can take on what appears to be a new phase of ISIS?

ROHDE: It's an enormous challenge. I mean, you look at this map and, you know, I sort of hate to say these words, I don't want to put in these terms, but in a sense ISIS is winning. Yes, the killing of Jihadi John was, you know, a setback. HARLOW: Really?

ROHDE: I do. I mean, they are spreading in terms of these different countries, you know, if you look at them even a year ago they weren't a very large presence, you know, really in Afghanistan and Yemen. You know, the "Charlie Hebdo" attack even earlier this year, this was, you know, you know, the number of victims was in the teens. So these are coordinated attacks they are carrying out. They are gaining local recruits and now they're carrying out more sophisticated attacks around the world. So, I don't think they are going to, you know, be taking over, you know, large parts of other countries.

HARLOW: David, on that point, what allowed them to win? And I'm not asking you to point fingers at one person or one nation, but to figure out how you turn the tide, you have to figure out where the tipping point was that they began to, in your words, win.

ROHDE: I think it's the safe haven in Syria. I think the people that carried out these attacks in all three countries will be traced back to training in Syria. There was a step forward today, there were some diplomatic progress in Vienna about possibly a cease-fire there. But, you know, and they've lost -- there's been some gains by the Kurdish forces, but as long as they have that territory, they'll be able to train people and carry out these attacks. It's a very difficult problem, there's no easy solution here, but that's the problem, this very large chunk of territory they control in Syria and Iraq. It helps them with recruitment, it helps them with training. And it's got to be addressed.

HARLOW: Well, let's not forget today what U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry came out, along with Russian's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and said that there has been somewhat of an agreement, a diplomatic agreement on what they hope to see the road ahead for Syria to be, you know, in six months to have free elections there and to see a path potentially without Bashar al-Assad. We'll see if that can be any way a reality in Syria, because many have said, this will not end until the situation in Syria improves dramatically.

Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, thank you, David Rohde, thank you, as well.

As Paris grieves, the world mourns and watches. We all stand with the people of France. Everyone asking, how could this happen? A coordinated attack in six places across this city last night, ten months after the "Charlie Hebdo" attack. How can it be prevented from happening again, you just heard two experts weigh in. We'll have much more on that next live from Paris.

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[17:27:45] HARLOW: Landmarks around the globe lit up in the colors of the French flag in the aftermath of the attacks across Paris last night.

Our own Diana Magnay has the latest on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the early hours of a long and awful night, landmarks the world over lit for France. Social media filled with symbols of solidarity under the hashtags "Peace for Paris", "Pray for Paris." Tears shed for a nation in shock. The U.S. president briefed as the attack was unfolding expressed his outrage and pledged his support.

PRES. BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES: This is an attack not just on Paris, it's an attack not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share.

MAGNAY: Russian's President Vladimir Putin still reeling from the plane crash in Egypt's Sinai which killed so many of his own sent his condolences in the very early hours. And as the true horror of what happened here became clear, Europe's leaders coming out one by one, united in sympathy, determined not to let the terrorists win.

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through a translator): We are crying with you. We will join you in the fight against those who did something so unfathomable to you.

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER (through a translator): We stand with you, united.

MARIANO RAJOY, SPANISH PRIME MINISTER (through a translator): Today, we are all France. We are all together in this fight, and we are going to win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, stand up and let's pray.

MAGNAY: A moment of silence at the G-20 Summit in Turkey, and prayers for the families from Pope Francis.

(POPE FRANCIS SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(Subtitles): I am very close to the well-loved French people. I am close to the families of the victims. And I am praying for all of them.

MAGNAY: For those fleeing Syria, a painful association with the terror they've left behind and a feeling that they must defend themselves and their religion in the wake of this attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've been embarrassed for Syria, for America, for Germany, anywhere, not allowed to do that. Even the God, he didn't say to Islam to kill the people, it's not Islam, not our Islam.

MAGNAY: Scenes in a land where they may have hoped to find refuge similar to the carnage they fled. An act of war, France's president says, on European soil.

Diana Magnay, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Poppy Harlow, joining you from Paris for our continuing live coverage.

It is just a bit before midnight here, and we are learning more now about the American college student who was killed in the coordinated terror attacks last night. She was a 23 year old, her name, Nohemi Gonzalez. She was a student at the California State University of Long Beach. She was a junior. She was in Paris doing what so many college students do, and she took a semester abroad here. She was among 17 Cal State Long Beach students studying in France. All of the other students from that school are reported to be safe after the attacks.

We are standing by for a live press conference from the president of that university. As soon as we get that, we will bring it to you. Just over 24 hours ago, the people of Paris learned that their city was under siege yet again. This is ten months since that horrific attack on the office of the satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo." This time, the attack far more deadly.

What we know at this hour, 129 people were killed in six coordinated attacks across this city last night. We've also learned today that those injured is far worse than we had believed at first. 352 people have been injured, 99 of them are in critical condition.

I spoke earlier today with a man who just visited his niece at the hospital not far from here. She was shot three times, having a celebratory birthday dinner with her friends last night, and she had part of her leg amputated earlier today.

[17:35:04] Candles, flowers, notes of sympathy showing the world stands with Paris, are filling the streets here, memorials to the dead and the wounded in the attack. ISIS now claiming responsibility. They say they carried out this horrific attack.

Parisians also lined up in droves at local hospitals today donating blood. Some waited for hours. Some hospitals asked those in lines to return later there were so many people waiting to help.

Everywhere you look today, police and soldiers line the streets here and the highways of Paris. The country's border is really clamped down after France has declared a state of emergency, the first time this nation has officially declared a state of emergency in many decades. Large gatherings for now are banned.

I want to take you live to a press conference at Long Beach, California. We're going to listen in to Jane Close Conoley, she is the president of Cal State, Long Beach, talking about the 23-year-old American victim of this attack.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure. OK, Hi. Thank you, everybody, for coming. Today, it's a sad day, and I can say without a doubt that the university is in mourning as a result of the tragic terrorist attack in Paris and as it relates to our law student Nohemi Gonzalez. So let me just sort of briefly go over the program, and how we're

going to proceed. So President Jane Close Conoley is going to begin with a few remarks. When she's done, she's going to turn the microphone over to Long Beach mayor Robert Garcia, who will also say a few remarks. Robert speaks in Spanish and English, so if we have Spanish-language media, he's your guy. After Mayor Garcia speaks, he will turn the microphone over to one of our distinguished faculty, Michael la Forte. Michael is very familiar with our students who are traveling abroad, and Nohemi specifically. Also joining us here today, our Long Beach Promise Education partners. We have Long Beach City College President Eloy Ortiz Oakley, and we have Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent Christopher J. Steinhauser. So we're very grateful to have our education partners with us today, as we strive to move through this grieving process.

So, please hold your questions until after everybody has had a chance to comment. Once they are finished commenting, I will come back up and we will go ahead and do what we can do to resolve your questions.

Please know that this is a minute-by-minute process. We can only share with you the details that we know and have confirmed. If we have information that is not confirmed, we will not comment. So please know that. And we think that that's very important and it's really in respect to the process and to the families involved.

So with that, I'm going to give you a few facts off the top and then I'm going to turn it over to President Conoley.

So just to confirm a few of the facts, we did lose a student, Nohemi Gonzalez. She is aged 23. She is a U.S. citizen, a student of Long Beach State, and a participant in our semester abroad program.

And with that, I'm going to turn it over to President Jane Close Conoley.

JANE CLOSE CONOLEY, PRESIDENT, CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LONG BEACH: C-O-N-O-L-E-Y. I am Jane Close Conoley, president of Long Beach State University. Let me begin by saying that I and the entire campus are heartbroken to share this terrible news.

This morning, we confirmed that our student, Nohemi, Gonzalez was killed in the Paris attacks yesterday. Nohemi was in Paris participating in a study abroad program. She was at a restaurant with other students, including Long Beach State students, when she was wounded. We have been in close contact throughout the night with students and families and have confirmed that 16 other Long Beach State students studying in Paris are safe. We have also reached out to our 80 French students currently on campus in international exchange programs.

Today, we mourn the loss of Nohemi and all the other victims of the tragic attacks. Tomorrow, there will be a vigil at 4:00 p.m. at Friendship Walk in front of the Student Union where we currently stand.

Thank you. [17:40:28] ROBERT GARCIA, MAYOR OF LONG BEACH: My name is Robert

Garcia. I'm the mayor of Long Beach.

The entire city of Long Beach and our community mourn the loss of Nohemi Gonzalez. She was a member of our community. She had friends here. She enjoyed Long Beach. She, obviously, loved this university and her classmates.

We, as a city, cannot be more heartbroken at her loss and as well as the loss that the other students here of our community are going through and are experiencing today and will in the coming weeks.

As a city, we're committed to supporting, obviously, Cal State Long Beach, we're committed to supporting her family, her friends, the students that are here, and ensure we honor her memory in many ways we can in the course of the coming days and the coming weeks. We're also committed to ensuring that her family is taken care of and supported and we know that here in Long Beach there's a lot of interest to do that.

I also just want to add that as a nation, I think it's important that in the coming days and weeks we come together to support a strong ally in the French people and, of course, in Paris. I know that we stand for justice, we stand against the fight against hate and, most importantly, we support the people of Paris during this tough and horrible time.

I'll also make some comments now in Spanish. I know there's some Spanish press here, so I'll make those in Spanish.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

HARLOW: All right, there you have it, comments from the mayor, Robert Garcia, of Long Beach, along with the president of the university there, identifying and confirming that the one American victim in this attack that we know of so far, Nohemi Gonzalez, a 23-year-old design student, who was killed, brutally murdered, while she was having dinner with her friends from the university last night. The university also saying the other university students studying abroad here in Paris did survive the attack. They are all right.

We're going to get a quick break in. And as we get a break, I want to show you these images, live pictures from Paris tonight just before midnight. Also live pictures from London and Washington, D.C.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:46:24] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Pamela Brown, in Washington. And our live coverage continues from Paris in just a few moments.

But first, the big political story here in America, the Democratic presidential candidates are about to take the debate stage tonight in Des Moines, Iowa, and there's little doubt the attacks in Paris will dominate the conversation tonight.

For that, I want to bring in Brianna Keilar in Des Moines, Iowa.

For tonight's debate, Brianna, it is likely to be a different debate than a lot of folks were expecting, right?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Pamela. It's definitely going to be a very different debate. It was yesterday when the "CBS News" debate team was doing a rehearsal for this debate tonight when news broke of these attacks in Paris, and it has really changed the game for them. They've said this, they are going to focus now more on issues of national security and terrorism and foreign policy.

Keeping in mind as this second Democratic debate is happening, you've seen Hillary Clinton, because Joe Biden isn't running, really sort of widen her lead nationally in the polls over Bernie Sanders. She is having the best few weeks that she has had in her entire campaign since launching in April, so this is a night where Bernie Sanders was trying to create a moment, try to pull back some of the momentum from Hillary Clinton. These attacks, the changes in the topics in the debate are going to make that much more difficult for him. Talking to Clinton campaign officials, they feel really comfortable with her talking about these issues, that she'll be able to capitalize on her experience as secretary of state. Certainly, you know, Republicans will look at that experience and say it's not really an asset for her. But if you talk to Democratic voters, caucus goers who participate in the primary and certainly the Iowa caucus, they think it's very much an asset, so this will be a chance for her to show she's very fluent in these topics in this debate tonight.

We're keeping in mind three lecterns now, down from five last time, Martin O'Malley, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders tonight.

BROWN: Of course, the attacks in Paris affect America's vote for president because he or she will have to deal with events like this potentially as president. What else do you think in terms of how the candidates will handle the question of homeland security, what types of questions do you think they'll face tonight?

KEILAR: I think the questions that they'll be facing will essentially be putting them in the real time of dealing with something like we have seen in Paris unfolding here in the last 24 hours. This is really, I think, the goal of the moderators, will be to say this has happened, if you are president, you would be dealing with this, how are you going to deal with it in a way to -- in a way that voters can ask themselves, are they comfortable with this person or this person or this person being in the White House dealing with the situation like this.

BROWN: Yeah, it's certainly expected to be a central part of the debate.

Brianna Keilar, thank you so much.

BROWN: And back to Poppy Harlow in Paris right after this break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:53:35] HARLOW: Welcome back. I'm Poppy Harlow, in Paris with continuing live coverage in the wake of the terror attacks. It took 129 lives here. Just over 24 hours ago, the people of Paris learned their city was under siege yet again. It is not even -- it hasn't even been a year. It has been 10 month since the attack at "Charlie Hebdo." This attack, more deadly. As I said, 129 people killed, 352 wounded.

The investigation following the attacks led police to the streets of Belgium today.

Let's talk about all of that with CNN's Deborah Feyerick. She is working her sources in New York and around the World; former CNN counterterrorism analyst, Bud Sexton, also with us.

Deb, let me being with you.

When many people woke up this morning, the central focus on Paris. Quickly, this afternoon, escalated to Brussels, in suburbs, because of a rental car that was found near the scene of one of the attacks yesterday. Tell us what led police to Brussels.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that could be a critical piece of the information for investigators. What we do know, there were two cars found at the scene of the attacks. One was a black Saat, the other a black V.W. Polo. Both were registered in Belgium, both used in the terror attacks. The black V.W. Polo was found at concert hall. It was rented by a French national who was living in Belgium. His DNA inside the vehicle.

[17:55:02] Early this morning, French prosecutors went -- according to the French prosecutor, Belgium authorities conducted raids on several homes in that Brussels suburb and one of the homes was identified as connected directly to the attacks. Now, the man, the French national, he was stopped early this morning at the Belgium border trying to leave with two other men. We know about the French national. He had a criminal record, radicalized in 2010. But the two other men in that car, according to the French prosecutor, were not known to Belgium authorities. And it's the identity of the individuals and who they may have been meeting with is crucial in terms of trying to staunch what investigators really believe could be part of something much larger. The challenge, looking at ages of some of those who were involved. One of them, described by an eyewitness, very young, 18, 19 years old, who opened fire on people in that concert hall. The other, the Syrian passport, we know that the passport itself, Poppy, is legitimate, but what investigators don't know is whether, in fact, it is directly tied to the identity of the bombers or whether it's more like a calling card with the bombers leaving that, because one of the big things that all officials and all security agents have been talking about is that ISIS could use this massive humanitarian crisis to slip in to other countries and carry out these attacks.

HARLOW: Right. FEYERICK: So that is very crucial. That really ramps up the degree

of the threat.

HARLOW: Absolutely.

Deb Feyerick, thank you for the reporting. Stay with us.

Bud Sexton, to you.

Looking at this in a much bigger picture, two and a half weeks ago, a Russian airliner blown out of the sky, 224 people dead, ISIS claims responsibility. Earlier this week, twin bombings in Beirut. ISIS says, "It was us." Yesterday, six-prong massacre across Paris, ISIS takes responsibility. Do you believe this is a centralized group or a series of terror groups that are all, once they carry out their terror, saying and pledging allegiance to ISIS?

BUD SEXTON, FORMER CIA INTELLIGENCE OFFICER & FORMER CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Poppy, it's both. It's a centralized group but also a group that has franchised out an ideology that has affiliate groups that take direct orders from it or act on their own. They are under a broad umbrella of a global jihad. They have an ideology that they share. In some cases, there's direct commander and control and in others it is just an exhortation that could come from something as simple as Twitter accounts or a social media base. So, this is what part -- this is ISIS' plan they have. In the immediate sense, they're trying to expand their actual physical caliphate. They're also using affiliate groups to expand smaller caliphates elsewhere, places like North Africa and Afghanistan, and then they also hope for attacks in the West.

Think of what you might see here, by the way. And this is what the evidence is point to right now, is that you have some French nationals, one French national, somebody who was -- somebody who was a French citizen, who joined perhaps with people from Syria who had been there, and you had in the immigrant flow, you had somebody with the training, expertise, knowledge to pull off this type of attack, meeting up with somebody with on-the-ground knowledge inside of France. That's a possibility now based on what we've seen from the -- most of the reporting so far.

HARLOW: It's a terrifying reality playing out across this globe at this point in time.

Bud Sexton, thank you very much.

Deborah Feyerick, excellent reporting, as always. Thank you.

Quick break. We're back at top of hour with much more live news from Paris.

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