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San Bernardino Shooter Pledged Allegiance to ISIS Leader?; President Obama Weighs in California Shooting Rampage; Newly-Released Video of Chicago Police Shooting at Odds with Reports; FBI Investigates San Bernardino Attack as Act of Terrorism; Pakistani ID Card of Shooter Released; Donald Trump Talks Tough on ISIS; First Doctor on Scene Describes Training; Aired 1-2p ET

Aired December 05, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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


[13:00:01] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Described as quiet and soft spoken, the wife and mother is now at the center of a massive FBI terrorism investigation for gunning down 14 people with her husband in a commando-style assault.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: We are spending a tremendous amount of time, as you might imagine, over the last 48 hours, trying to understand the motives of these killers and trying to understand every detail of their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Plus, ISIS responding to the attack today calling the shooters supporters of its terrorist operation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't understand. How can a woman just deliver her baby like this and Google some crap like this?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: NEWSROOM starts now.

Hello, again, everyone. And thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

So police are closer to determining a possible motive in Wednesday's shooting rampage in San Bernardino, California. An ISIS radio station announcing this morning the two shooters were, quote, "supporters of the terrorist group." Tashfeen Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, killed 14 people and wounded 21 others by opening fire at the Inland Regional Center. They both died in a police shootout hours later. The FBI announced Friday they are investigating the massacre as an act of terrorism and that there was an -- there was evidence in extreme planning.

Let's go to Polo Sandoval who is live for us right now in Redlands, California. A worrisome night for the community. They are really not sure what to

think about all of this, are they?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely not, Fred. In fact with this new information that seems to surface, it suggests that there could be several possible ISIS links. People in this community are watching the story even closer now. And you go among the community, talk to people and folks are talking about the story. It is really all over the headlines. And you don't necessarily have to pick up the paper, simply go out for a walk. Especially past 53 North Center Street. And this is a reminder of what happened earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL (voice-over): San Bernardino on edge. Overnight, police evacuated a UPS facility and called in the bomb squad to investigate a package. It was addressed to the home of Syed Farook. It turned out to be safe, posing no threat. This comes as the FBI announces that the mass shooting is now being investigated as an act of terrorism.

COMEY: We are spending a tremendous amount of time, as you might imagine, over the last 48 hours trying to understand the motives of these killers and trying to understand every detail of their lives.

SANDOVAL: Another recent revelation about Tashfeen Malik, the female shooter in the Wednesday massacre that left 14 dead and 21 wounded, she posted a pledge of allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Facebook, while the shooting was happening.

The mass shooting may have been inspired by ISIS, but the terror group apparently did not district or order the attack. It may be a case of self-radicalization. The possibility that's left family members baffled.

SAIRA KHAN, SISTER OF SYED RIZWAN FAROOK: I've asked myself if I had called him that morning or the night before and asked him how he was doing, what he was up to, if I had any inclination, maybe I could have stopped it.

SANDOVAL: Meanwhile, police are downplaying the possibly that Farook appeared angry when he suddenly left the holiday luncheon at the Inland Regional Center, only to return heavily armed with his wife.

CHIEF JARROD BURGUAN, SAN BERNARDINO POLICE: We had initial information from a witness or some witnesses that left the party and provided information that it appears that he left upset or under some form of duress. There is also indication from other people that he was there. There was nothing out of the ordinary and then suddenly he was gone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And back at the doorstep where officials believe much of this was planned, people continue to make their way out here, Fred, which is interesting especially today many people are not working. So we have lost count of the number of individuals that have stopped by, with cameras or phones taking pictures. But at the same time, many people mentioned as well, including that UPS driver, as well, police saying he did the right thing when he -- instead of delivering that package, went back to the sorting facility.

WHITFIELD: All right. Polo Sandoval, thanks so much, in Redlands, California.

So the pictures and the videos from that horrific attack in San Bernardino paint a very tragic scene in just minutes. 14 people were killed, 21 others injured. Listening to the police scanners during the shooting gives you an idea of just how chaotic it was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, last seen in the alleyway headed towards school. Do we have a clothing description?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Male, dark-skinned is all I have on this frequency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can get that and --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In order to have them go there. We need more people here unless it's the SWART team. That's it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is your exact location?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're at San Bernardino and Shedden. San Bernardino and Shedden. We can see one guy down, one guy in the back of the car. And we need that bearcat.

[13:05:07] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just for the update, we have the suspect vehicle stopped. Please go ahead and extract it. We go stand by, wait for the bearcat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Copy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now we have one down outside the car. One down inside the car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Lieutenant Mike Madden was one of the first San Bernardino police officers to arrive. And he says what he saw was unspeakable. He also wants to remind people that most officers sign up for the job because they truly want to protect the public.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. MIKE MADDEN, SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA POLICE: The situation was surreal. It was something that I don't think again we prepare for. And they tried to -- an active shooting, we talk about sensory overload. They just try to throw everything at you to prepare you for dealing with that. What you are seeing, what you're hearing, what you're smelling and it was all of that and more. It was unspeakable. The carnage that we were seeing. The number of people who were injured and unfortunately already dead. And the pure panic on the face of those individuals that were still in need and needing to be safe.

The initial 50 people did not want to come to us. They were fearful. And they were in the back hallway area and that actually heightened my concern that -- and my fear that potentially, the suspects were in that hallway holding them hostage and waiting for us to enter into the hallway. We had to tell them several times, come to us, come to us. Ultimately, they did. Once that first person took the motions forward, it opened the floodgates and everybody wanted to come and get away from that as quickly as possible.

You know, we've taken a lot of hits lately. Some justified, much of it not justified. And it takes a toll. It takes a toll on all cops because it's hard being -- it's hard being labeled and hard being branded as, you know, being rogue, or, you know, and I guarantee you that no cop comes into this job with the mindset that, oh, great, now I have ultimate power to be corrupt and to violate people's rights.

There are cops who go astray. But overwhelmingly, the vast majority of officers, when I say vast majority, I'm talking 99.5 percent of the officers go out and they do the job to protect the public. And yesterday just reminded me of that and it just solidified that again in my heart and in my mindset. And for that, I'm -- for that I'm thankful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Incredible. Well, Lieutenant Madden grew up in San Bernardino and is a 24-year veteran of the police department.

All right. Coming up, one of the San Bernardino shooters apparently pledged allegiance to ISIS. We'll tell you what President Obama said about that and our safety here at home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:11:10] WHITFIELD: After the female shooter in the California massacre allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS, President Barack Obama says the U.S. is prepared for ISIS threats. And he says we have never, I'm quoting now, "never been more protective," end quote, here at home. Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, said today that the U.S. should call this what this is, quote, "a war."

CNN's Chris Frates is here to explain what both men are saying -- Chris.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred. So the news that the attacks may have been inspired by ISIS is fueling Republican criticism that President Obama's strategy to defeat the terrorist group has failed. Now Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, today called Obama's response to ISIS weak and ineffective and, along with other Republicans, continues to pound on Obama for not calling ISIS-related attacks radical Islamic terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a war. We're in a war. If we are not senator and if we're not really cunning, and if we don't beat them to the punch, it's going to be very ugly over here. It's going to be very bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: So on the day of the attacks but before the possible ISIS link was discovered, Obama again downplayed the danger, saying ISIS does not pose an existential threat to the United States. And today he talked about the threat of lone wolf terrorists who are incredibly difficult to track because they work in isolation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is entirely possible that these two attackers were radicalized to commit this act of terror. And if so, it underscores a threat we have been focused on for years, the danger of people succumbing to extremist ideologies. We know that ISIL and other terrorist groups are actively encouraging people around the world and in our country to commit terrible acts of violence. Oftentimes as lone wolf actors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: But even before the massacre in California, Americans were expressing doubts about Obama's strategy. A survey out last month found that more than half of those polled disapproved of how the president has handled the issue. And that's not a good sign for Obama as his administration comes to grips, Fred, with what could be the biggest terrorist attack in America since 9/11 -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Chris Frates in Washington, thank you.

FRATES: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, CNN has obtained police accounts of what happened the night Chicago teenager Laquan McDonald was fatally shot by a police officer. And there are discrepancies between the story and the video of that shooting, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:27] WHITFIELD: All right. New developments in the deadly shooting of Laquan McDonald, the teen shot 16 times by a Chicago police officer. CNN has obtained newly released police reports from the incident. They contain officer's accounts of the shooting that happened in 2014 and they are dramatically different than what the dashcam video shows.

We want to remind our viewers the video and images of McDonald's shooting are graphic, but it is important to see how they compare to the police reports. So to go through these differences, I'm joined now by CNN's Rosa Flores.

So, Rosa, what stands out to you?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, several things stand out as we continue to go through the hundreds of pages that were released by the city of Chicago and the police department. First of all, in one of those sheets of paper, it says that Laquan McDonald actually injured Officer Jason Van Dyke. We had never heard that before. And it's not in his actual account of what happened either. So that's a discrepancy in it of itself.

But let me take you through this video because as we look at the video, which we should remind our viewers is disturbing to watch, and we review the account of Jason Van Dyke, the police officer who fired the shots, they just don't match. So let's take a look at the video. First of all you can see Laquan McDonald on the middle of the street walking. And you can see the responding police officers.

Now one of those officers is Jason Van Dyke. He's on the left hand side of the screen. You can see him with his gun drawn. His partner also has his gun drawn. Now we know that he started firing his shots six seconds after arriving on scene. Now here is what that police report says happened according to Jason Van Dyke. And I'm going to quote here. He said that, "McDonald was swinging the knife in an aggressive, exaggerated manner." Thereafter, it says McDonald raised the knife across his chest and over his shoulder, pointing the knife at Van Dyke and attempting to kill Van Dyke.

Now here is Van Dyke's reaction according to this account on the report. In defense of his life, Van Dyke backpedalled and fired his handgun at McDonald to stop the attack. Now McDonald fell to the ground, but continued to move and continue to grasp the knife, refusing to let it go. Now we know, based on that video, that after Laquan McDonald falls to the ground, the officer continues firing his weapon.

[13:20:07] Even though the angle of that camera changes, we know that he continues to fire his weapon and according to the coroner's report Laquan McDonald was hit 16 times. Now in the report, Van Dyke explains why he continued shooting. He says, McDonald appeared to be attempting to get up, all the while, continuing to point the knife at Van Dyke.

Now, Fred, one of the other things that really stands out is not only does Jason Van Dyke's account of what happened not match what the video shows, other officers on the scene also mentioned some of the same things that don't match with the video. I'm going to quote this one very quickly for you. It says, quote, that, "McDonald ignored the verbal direction." Now we know that there's no audio in this video. "But instead raised his right arm towards Officer Van Dyke as if to attack Van Dyke."

Now on top of that, there was a sergeant who collected all the video, reviewed the witness statements. But also says in that report, that this sergeant viewed all the videos and looked at the witness accounts and that everything was consistent -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then, Rosa, remind people, what was the alleged offense of McDonald? Why was he being pursued anyway?

FLORES: Now this is also in the police report and we had heard this from the state attorney's office as well. Now before these images, these 15 seconds when we see 16 shots being fired according to police records, Laquan McDonald had punctured a tire. He punctured the tire of a police cruiser. And there was these responding officers, now we know that there was about eight of them responding to the very scene where we see these -- these shots being fired.

Now that's what happened beforehand. Police were in pursuit of Laquan McDonald and then of course we know that those 16 shots were fired and according to the autopsy report, Laquan McDonald was hit 16 times -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then now there has been -- and then now there is this, you know, civil, you know, settlement in the millions. So how does that comport with what could be an ongoing investigation, criminal investigation about all the events that happened? How will that settlement impact the ongoing probes?

FLORES: Well, here is the chain of events. This shooting happened, the city of Chicago settled with the family for $5 million. There was no lawsuit filed. The settlement was made beforehand. Now the video was not released. The video was not released thereafter. It took a journalist filing a civil suit for that video to be released.

So here we are, more than a year later, that video is released through a civil court order. This judge said that through a Freedom of Information request, it was legal for this journalist to have this video and here we are more than a year later, looking at these images that don't match the police report accounts, not just from Jason Van Dyke, the officer who fired the shots, but other officers on scene and also a sergeant reviewing the witness accounts and the video.

Fred, it's a bit disturbing to see that a narrative in that police report is continuous. But it doesn't, doesn't agree with what we are watching in that video.

WHITFIELD: All right. All right. So it will be interesting to see what types of investigations do come from this on both the municipality level as well as the federal level.

Rosa Flores, thanks so much.

All right. Next, unspeakable carnage. That's how one of the officers first on the scene describes what he saw. His own words, out of California, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:25:50] WHITFIELD: All right. Mortgage rates fell for a third straight week. Here are the numbers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello, again, everyone, and thanks so much for joining me, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Let's get back to our top story this hour.

An act of terrorism confirmation from the FBI that they are now investigating the deadly massacre in San Bernardino, California, as a terror attack. And an ISIS radio station announcing this morning the two shooters were, quote, "supporters" of the terrorist group. Officials close to the investigation are also telling CNN that the female attacker, Tashfeen Malik, pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Facebook while the massacre was unfolding.

I want to bring in former CIA covert operations officer Mike Baker.

Mike, good to see you.

MIKE BAKER, FORMER CIA COVERT OPERATIONS OFFICER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: So we have not yet heard if Malik's social media accounts were being monitored before the attack. But how does the CIA and the FBI decide whose Internet activity they should track, keep a close watch of?

BAKER: Well, yes, it's a difficult and laborious process as you might imagine. And there are upwards of 900 plus active investigations going on around the country right now. In terms of the monitoring of social media, part of it is, you know, do they meet a certain threshold? Are they in contact with known supporters or terrorist suspects overseas? Is there indications of radicalization that meet a certain threshold? And if that's the case, then they go through the legal process with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to get approval to do this.

But it is an incredible heavy lift when you think about the potential, you know, pool of recruits. Not just here in the U.S. but around the world in terms of sharing, identifying, starting to monitor, starting to do the surveillance and coordinating all of that with the various, not just here in the U.S., local and state and federal authorities, but overseas with our liaison partners.

WHITFIELD: And if there isn't that kind of track record that you just spelled out that makes it all the more difficult to try to, you know, watch someone's, you know, social media or, you know, activity or see if they have a digital, you know, footprint, until after virtually something happens. Is that indeed the case?

[13:30:01] BAKER: That is. Exactly right. And we may well find in this case, with the two shooters here, that, you know, they just -- they didn't surface. There were certain indicators. One of the things that the FBI has done that's very smart from a logistical, from an operational perspective is going forward and saying look, certain indicators here match a terrorism act. And so we need to push it into a terrorism investigation. That allows certain resources and intel capabilities during the course of this investigation.

But, I mean, look, this was not -- if this was just a workplace violence issue, the facts don't add up. Syed abruptly stopped going to his mosque about three weeks before the attack. When prior to that he had been -- becoming increasingly religious, attending the mosque every day. And that doesn't make sense. You know, growing out a beard. Making efforts days before the attack to erase their electronic -- fingerprints.

So there's things here that the bureau can look at and say, all right, this crosses the threshold. This is -- I mean, it's clear, if it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, you know, it's probably a terrorist.

WHITFIELD: But the bureau would not be looking if not for someone in the community to be vigilant to say or put two and two together that, hmm, it's unusual, he hasn't been to the mosque in three weeks after being, you know, somebody who was very committed to attending or that the beard was being, you know, grown. I mean, it would mean a very astute member of the community to say, I find this strange and then it would mean being very receptive from the bureau or anywhere else to that kind of observation from someone. Is that really realistic?

BAKER: No, you're absolutely correct. You have actually hit on probably the most important aspect of all of this, which is, the bureau, you know, law enforcement anywhere, Scotland Yard in the UK, they will tell you the most effective, efficient way to identify someone who's crossing over, who's becoming radicalized, who is becoming alarming in their behavior is from the immediate family, a mother, a father, a brother, a sister.

Now you can imagine that, as you pointed out, or alluded to, is a very heavy lift. And it requires an increasing effort for community policing within the Muslim communities. Again, here in the U.S. and elsewhere. Because you've got to be able to create that ability to get that dialogue back and forth. Now the good news is the FBI is working extremely hard to try to create that level of ability, that level of trust within the communities that says if you do see something within your family, if you see one of your -- I mean, I know, this sounds, you know, like an impossible task.

But if you see your son or your daughter and they're changing abruptly like this or they appear to be concerning, you've got to say something. Because ultimately, that's the way to do it. But imagine getting -- convincing a mother or a father to drop a dime on their kid.

WHITFIELD: Right. That is hard for any parent to do.

All right. Mike Baker, thank you so much, appreciate it.

BAKER: Sure. Thank you. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. So what could have motivated this couple with a new baby to carry out an attack in San Bernardino? Coming up next, we hear from a man who knew one of the killers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

[13:36:43] WHITFIELD: All right. This breaking news CNN has obtained from a senior Pakistani intelligence source, a photocopy of San Bernardino attacker Tashfeen Malik's Pakistani national identification card.

Let's go to CNN's Stephanie Elam who is live for us in Redlands, California, outside of the unit where Malik lived.

Stephanie, what more are you learning?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Fred. Yes, this is something that we've been looking, more pictures identifying Tashfeen Malik so we could see what she looked like, where she may have been living prior to her entry into the United States. And this ID which is basically a country given ID in the country of Pakistan shows that she looks around 2013 and before that was living in Pakistan.

It also gives us a clue about her age because it has here what we have been trying to match up based on her marriage certificate and it looks to be a match here that she would have been 30 next year. So just another image here we're showing of the woman, this female in this duo who pulled off this massacre here in San Bernardino a couple of days ago. So just learning more about this couple and about this woman at the heart of this travesty here in San Bernardino -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then, Stephanie, in your reporting, what are neighbors saying? I know that people have been so thrown off guard because they thought that this couple looked like any other couple with a 6-month- old. But in hindsight now, are people now reflecting on some subtle changes that perhaps they overlooked and now they are rethinking?

ELAM: Yes, there -- we've heard from some neighbors who are saying, you know, perhaps this was a case of, you know, I didn't want to say anything because I did see some odd activity. There was a friend of a neighbor who has said that. Other people saying that everything looked normal, they really didn't see anything, that they just kept to themselves.

But I think what is interesting here, and especially after we got that look inside of the house yesterday, where these killers were living, is that a lot that you would see there -- I guess if people were looking for something that says right out now that these are people that would pull off, you know, a massive event like this and just terrorize a neighborhood in the way that they did, there were no clues I you look inside the house that was like that.

You saw baby toys, you saw things that were just very standard operating procedure for a young family. And so if anything, that may be the scarier part of this, is that they blended in so well on the outside -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Stephanie Elam, thank you so much.

All right. A new CNN poll shows Donald Trump is dominating the GOP race for president as he continues tough talk about fighting ISIS. Hear what he had to say about the shooting in San Bernardino, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:43:33] WHITFIELD: All right. The road to the White House, Donald Trump not mincing words in Iowa today about the shooting in San Bernardino, California. He's speaking right now in Iowa. And here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If somebody thinks bad things are going on, you have to report it. That should not be racial profiling. And they thought something bad was going on and they didn't report it. Not good. OK?

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: But can you elaborate a little bit on your comments about racial profiling?

TRUMP: No, there's nothing to elaborate. I think you are in the way of your camera, by the way. You OK? Trying to make him look good. Right? No. The story was --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Our political panel is here, Nomiki Konst is a Democratic strategist and Kayleigh McEneny is a Republican strategist.

All right, ladies, good to see you. So, Kayleigh, you first. Trump, you know, giving up this tough talk on ISIS and also criticizing President Obama. So is this resonating with his base and if so what about those undecided voters?

KAYLEIGH MCENENY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Sure. It's resonating with his base but more than that it's resonating with the American people at large. You know, you look at the president who, just the day of the attack, said that ISIS is not an existential threat. And in that very same day, we had the worst -- the second worst terrorist attack since 9/11.

You know, he's out of touch. He's not pervading the strength that people want to see. And they look to Donald Trump and they see just the opposite. They see someone who does not mince words. They see someone who is strong, someone who's willing to go after ISIS and not make any hesitation and calling this what it is, which is Islamic terrorism.

[13:45:10] He is rising in the polls and he's doing so because he's the perfect juxtaposition to Barack Obama who is a helpless president, sitting in the White House doing nothing to protect the American people.

WHITFIELD: Nomiki?

NOMIKI KONST, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I know they're pretty bold statements to make for Barack Obama who by all means has more foreign policy experience and legislative experience than Donald Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

KONST: Well, nowhere in history has -- if you are going to talk about primary states and winning, nowhere in history, modern history, has a nonelected official with no electoral experience, won in primaries. So yes, he might be rising in the polls, but he's rising with a very certain demographic. It happens to be uneducated and -- I mean, meaning they don't have college or even high school degrees.

And what that means is that when he's winning 40 percent of the uneducated voters, what that means is they respond to language like us versus them, good versus evil, rather than real diligent plants. When he says things like, I'm going to bring back waterboarding, well guess what, the CIA said that didn't work. So they got rid of that. The people who are aware of these facts and what works versus what is just fear-mongering are going to turn to the polls and vote against him.

MCENENY: That's patronizing to call half of the Republican Party uneducated who's supporting Trump. That's a very patronizing --

(CROSSTALK)

KONST: You don't have to agree. That's just a fact. That's uneducated.

MCENENY: But, Nomiki, Nomiki --

KONST: I'm not saying that they're not smart. It's just saying they don't have college degrees.

WHITFIELD: OK. But let's stick to -- because we really don't know what makes up the supporters or what makes up the base for Donald Trump. And so we don't really need to go there. But we do need to try to understand what Donald Trump is and is not saying, and how his rhetoric on ISIS or the safety of this nation, how it might be translating into greater support or diminishing support.

And right now, Kayleigh, we are seeing his support is growing. He's not holding back. And even when MJ was asking him the question about, you know, profiling, this is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If somebody thinks bad things are going on, you have to report it. That should not be racial profiling. And they thought something bad was going on and they didn't report it. Not good. OK?

LEE: But can you elaborate a little bit on your comments about racial profiling?

TRUMP: No, there's nothing to elaborate. I think you're in the way of your camera, by the way. You OK? Trying to make him look good, right? No, the story was that they didn't want to racially profile. In the meantime, a lot of people got killed. We have to use common sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, Kayleigh, is that a little misleading? Because he says, you know, there were stuff that, you know, people knew about them and no one said anything. But that isn't something that we've really heard any kind of corroboration with, but then he goes back to, you know, it is OK to profile if it benefits you. So what's happening here with his messaging?

MCENENY: You know, it's common sense. You look at the facts of what happened in San Bernardino, and you see a neighbor who did not report these men out of fear of being called a racist even though she had suspicions. A man working in the Redlands area was suspicious of a half-dozen Muslim men walking into this house, but he didn't report it out of fear of political correctness.

You know, we can sit here and we cannot call Islamic terrorism what it is, it's in fact Islamic. We can do that, but it costs American blood. It cost 14 people their lives this week. And it's going to cost American blood. So we can pretend that this is not Islamic terrorism. But it's doing no one favors and Donald Trump saying this message, people are ready for a change. People are ready for strength. And that is what Donald Trump is doing. And he's not mincing his words.

WHITFIELD: Nomiki?

KONST: Semantics are not going to solve the problem of ISIS. Having a debate over semantics and whether or not it's Islamic terrorism or someone making off-color joke, that's not real. And that's not what lawmakers do when they try to decide, you know, what the plans are to go after ISIS, whether or not they should work with tech companies to target ISIS accounts, whether they should shut down these accounts or whether they should keep --

(CROSSTALK)

MCENENY: It's not semantics.

KONST: So we can monitor them. These are real issues that we're facing. This is what the FBI is facing, the CIA is dealing with, this is what the president is deliberating over. He is not talking about semantics like what is PC and not PC.

MCENENY: The FBI is facing a situation where people are not reporting things because they are afraid of being labeled a racist, they're afraid of being labeled --

KONST: One person said that. One person said that. That's not an epidemic of people not reporting things. You now, and you have to say to yourself, well, racial profiling in countries where there's racial profiling, these are people that have been trained in a certain way of profiling. And it's not necessarily racial. It's -- if you see something, say something. If there's something that is --

WHITFIELD: Unusual behavior.

KONST: Unusual behavior. Exactly.

WHITFIELD: Or alarming behavior. KONST: And so if you leave that to a citizen who is being told that

all Muslims should be shipped out, or that all Syrians are dangerous to people, then they're going to start think, OK, well --

(CROSSTALK)

MCENENY: Nomiki, Nomiki --

WHITFIELD: So then I wonder, ladies, right now as we, you know, encroach upon CNNs next, you know, debate and the first primary and caucus now just weeks away, I wonder if you're going to see that any or all of the candidates need to be more specific about their language, about their intention, about how they see the landscape on the nation, fighting terrorism because right now it's very broad- brushed.

[13:50:18] But here we have this most recent incident which really does scream some specificity coming from some of these candidates.

Kayleigh, are any of these candidates going to rise to that occasion to be specific about how they see the landscape and what they propose they would do if president?

MCENENY: Well, it's not about specificity. We have a president who laid out very specifically what he wanted to do in the realm of foreign policy and the Middle East is burning, ISIS is operating openly in two countries, operating a vast swath of territory. So he gave us specifics and what we got in return was ISIS dominating a region. What we need to see is strength. We need to see people who say yes, we need to racial profile because it works. El Al Airlines in Israel racial profiles, they have not had a hijacking on their airlines in 30 years.

KONST: These are trained.

MCENENY: This is not -- Nomiki, it's not experience. It's resolve.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll leave it there. Nomiki, last response on that?

KONST: All I have to say is it's really easy to say these things but in actuality it marginalizes the community and the marginalizing o the Muslim community is exactly what ISIS wants. They feed off of that. And so you're actually feeding into ISIS' goals which is separating a community so that they can recruit.

WHITFIELD: All right. Leave it right there, ladies. Nomiki Konst, Kayleigh McEneny, thank you so much, ladies, appreciate it.

MCENENY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:56:23] WHITFIELD: All right. Getting back to our coverage of the tragic shooting in San Bernardino, California. We're learning more about the moment medical first responders arrived. These doctors, many of them, arriving before SWAT teams. Faced with the threat of possibly having to defend themselves against the shooters on the run.

Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, the man you're about to meet is one of the first to arrive on the scene in San Bernardino. A doctor, a new kind of doctor. And Fred, as you're about to see an increasingly necessary kind of doctor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): Before any other member of his SWAT team arrived on the scene of Wednesday's bloody massacre, Dr. Michael Neeki was already there just minutes after the shooting began.

DR. MICHAEL NEEKI, ARROWHEAD REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: From airway to quickest stapling of the ruin in the field, to Israeli bandage, which is a compression dressing.

GUPTA: He's a new kind of first responder, a hybrid of healer and soldier, a doctor and a member of the SWAT team, ready to defend as well as save lives.

NEEKI: A good guy should be able to defend himself and also help everybody else.

GUPTA: In order to do that, not only does he need to carry his medical equipment, but he has to carry a gun as well. A gun much like the one used by the shooters.

NEEKI: Well, you know, I don't want to get hurt. If somebody really have an intention like that yesterday, where he was coming and indiscriminately shooting everybody, and I'm the first one that gets there as the active shooter response, I want to be able to defend myself and, you know, those civilians on there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooter's ready?

NEEKI: Ready, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move.

GUPTA: That's Dr. Neeki on the right.

Today, just one day after the shooting, we followed Dr. Neeki to this training facility.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shooter's ready?

NEEKI: Ready, sir.

GUPTA (on camera): And this is another part of being a brand-new sort of doctor, going through training like this, with other members of the SWAT team to try and make sure that he can defend himself in situations where he is taking care of other patients.

NEEKI: We are now going to this assault rifle injury-type pattern, which rips and shreds apart organs in your body, tissues in the body, vessels as they're going through.

Even our tactics are changing right now for law enforcement. Rather than going sideways, now we go to the front to expose less organ injuries rather than you know --

GUPTA: It's interesting. So instead of going like this --

NEEKI: So if you go through sideway and a bullet comes through, it goes through both lung and heart basically and come to the other side. Whereas if you would go from the front, now you have a plate that protects your heart and if it hits one of the lungs or the other, you could still be functional.

GUPTA: That's fascinating because you always see people approaching in the lower profile.

(Voice-over): Dr. Neeki grew up in Iran and served in the military there. So guns and combat aren't new to him. But he never thought he'd have to use those skills in America.

(On camera): Did you ever think that your experiences in the Middle East were going to be useful here in San Bernardino?

NEEKI: I never in a million years. But now that I'm here, you know, this is one of my duties. I mean, when you sign -- it's a privilege to work here and it's a privilege to be a part of this team to serve the community out there. It's the least I could do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Fred, I should point out that Dr. Neeki actually knew one of the victims here in San Bernardino. A fellow citizen from Iran, someone who has three children who have the same ages as his children. He cried when he heard this news, Fred, and he told that he wished that he could have gotten there even sooner.

Fred, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. That's an incredible story. Thank you so much. Incredible profile, Sanjay.

All right. The next hour CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.

[14:00:08] All right. Hello, again. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We have breaking news in the investigation into the deadly shooting rampage in --

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