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ISIS Claims San Bernardino Shooters Were Their Supporters; Trump Set To Speak In Davenport, Iowa; Man Killed By Law Enforcement Today In Miami; The Topic Of Terror In Op-Eds. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired December 05, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:17] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. Fast moving investigation into the shootings in San Bernardino. ISIS now claiming that the killers were their supporters. A message that confirms what investigators believe that one of the pair may have declared their allegiance to the terrorists. All of this coming on the heels of the FBI's announcement that this is now being investigated as an act of terrorism.

And the nation struggling to come to terms with another horrific act of violence. What could be done to prevent future attacks? We will talk all of it in the hour ahead.

It is 3:00 here in New York. It is noon San Bernardino, California. I'm Poppy Harlow. Thank you so much for being with me this Saturday. Those stories in a moment.

First politics. Candidates on the trail wasting no time appealing to voters desperate, desperate for answers in the wake of another mass shooting. The latest this week in San Bernardino, California where I spent time earlier this week in the wake of it. That attack as I said now being investigated as a terrorist attack, potentially inspired by ISIS but most mass shootings serve to turns the country's attention not to terrorism but ramp in gun violence. I will have the very latest on the gun debate in a moment.

But first to the politics behind the fight against ISIS. Any moment now Republican Donald Trump is set to speak in Davenport, Iowa where he is drawing sharp contrast as President Obama today. That is where we begin.

Our CNN politics reporter M.J. Lee is with us. Also CNN national correspondent Sunlen Serfaty.

Sunlen, let me begin with you. When you look at Trump and you see these rallies, we see big crowds. We also often see loud protests. What are you seeing in Davenport today?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly the crowd here Poppy in Davenport is ready to see Donald Trump. Many people started lining up hours before this event started at the Fair Grounds here in Davenport. And it was interesting to talk to many of the people here today. They specifically mentioned they want to hear Donald Trump speak about the San Bernardino shootings, speak about his plan to combat ISIS. So that really is fresh in a lot of these voters' minds here. Many people really echoing what the latest CNN/ORC poll shows, really backing up that evidence Donald Trump leading the pack of his other opponents, that he is the best candidates, the most trusted candidate to combat ISIS. So certainly people here echoing that. Many people also say - can really echoing what Donald Trump said earlier in the day on the campaign trail in Spencer, Iowa when he said that San Bernardino would have turned out a lot better if the people in the room had a chance to defend themselves if they were armed. A lot of people here echoing that comment saying that is a message that goes a long way with them here today -- Poppy.

HARLOW: But Sunlen, I think one thing that we haven't heard from Donald Trump time and time again is specifics on how he would battle ISIS. Right? I mean, he says he would bomb them much more et cetera but not a lot of specifics. Do the voters there, the supporters there want those specifics?

SERFATY: I think that some do. But I think that the poll numbers show that people broadly trust him, that he will bring this fight hard against ISIS and many of those voters and the same sort of answer of President Obama has not been strong against ISIS. So certainly, even though voters maybe not have heard those specifics and that is one of the chief criticisms of Donald Trump, that he sort of paints with broad strokes but doesn't offer details. It doesn't seem voters here, at least the ones that we spoke in to, are too bothered by that. But they certainly respond to the fierce rhetoric that he has been saying on the campaign trail and we do expect him to repeat that again here today in Davenport.

HARLOW: All right, Sunlen. Thank you very much.

And M.J. Lee to you. You know, it is interesting when you contrast Trump's words with President Obama. He said to CBS News this week just hours before the attack in California. ISIL will not pose an existential threat to the United States. Obviously, you have got Trump supporters who say that is not rhetoric that we want to hear. You know, with less than two months before those important Iowa caucuses where he is today, he has extended his lead significantly. We are talking about 20 points in the latest CNN poll. And I'm wondering if you have a sense of why that is. He is at 36 percent. Cruz is at 16 percent. But what shifted in the last month to give him a jump ahead?

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Well Poppy, Trump was in a great mood today and rightly so. As you mentioned in the new CNN poll this week Trump has his biggest lead yet at 36 percent. The person who is in second place is only at 16 percent. So that's right. Trump has a 20 percent point lead over the next rival.

Look, I think the poll numbers if we dig a little deeper in to them show that people really think he is the best person to handle issues like ISIS, terrorism. People -- most of the Republicans say they thought Trump was the best person to be commander in-chief. So again, we are seeing repeatedly in this pattern of Trump supporters not really caring if he doesn't have political experience, if he doesn't have military experience.

[15:05:23] HARLOW: Actually, they have shown in the polls this election cycle that the experience is not the first or second thing that the voters want from their candidate. When you listen to what he said a few hours ago, he did speak about this couple, this married couple who carried out this heinous mass murder in San Bernardino, California and he talked about the shooters' mother and sister. What did he say?

LEE: That's right. The California shooting continues to be a hot button issue on the campaign trail. Donald Trump spoke to reporters prior to taking the stage behind me. He got a lot of questions, a lot of questions about how he is reacting to the shooting. And he has some striking language about the family members about the suspects in the shooting. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe that the sister of the killer, I watched her interviewed, I think she knew what was going on. Excuse me. I think his mother knew what was going on. She went into the apartment. Anybody that went into that house or that apartment knew what was going on. They didn't tell the authorities. They knew what was going on. The mother knew. I think the sister interviewed I think she knew. We better get a little tough and a little smart or we're in trouble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And Poppy, I should also point out Trump also was very critical of people who he said should have known about these shooters and their motives and that they, you know, apparently didn't go to the authorities because he thinks they were afraid of, you know, being accused of racial profiling. So those were interesting comments from Trump as well today.

HARLOW: All right, M.J. Thank you very much. Appreciate the reporting as always.

Tomorrow morning right here on CNN "STATE OF THE UNION," you will hear firsthand from the Republican frontrunner Donald Trump. Jake Tapper will interview him. That is 9:00 a.m. eastern only right here on CNN.

In San Bernardino investigators right now are sifting through a mountain of evidence left behind by a husband and wife who murdered 14 people. They wounded 21 others at this holiday event. President Obama was briefed on the investigation today by his national security team. So far there is no evidence that the couple was part of a larger terror cell. More on that in a moment.

But CNN has now obtained an image of the wife Tashfeen Malik's Pakistani identification card. The search for a motive is still on. They are looking at cell phones, travel records, computer records, whatever they can get their hands on, perhaps the best clue so far perhaps from ISIS. The terror group saying in a radio message today that Syed Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik were ISIS quote-unquote "supporters." They did not, though, call them ISIS members.

Stephanie Elam joins me now from Redlands, California. She is outside the home that you were in Stephanie yesterday. We got this remarkable look at where these killers lived with their 6-month-old daughter. What about this Pakistani ID card of Tashfeen Malik says, the woman, the 27-year old? What is so critical about that?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's one of the key things, Poppy, is that there was a discrepancy about her age because we didn't have any ID. She didn't drive. So we didn't have a driver's license for Malik. We didn't have anything here in the United States. What this does is this is the official ID she would have as a resident of Pakistan. And in this ID we see that she would have been 30 years old next July. So we do get her age. We also are able to identify that she was living there about 2013. And earlier which falls in line with the timeline of when she may have met Farook and they became engaged and moving here to the United States, Poppy.

HARLOW: When you spent time inside that condo, that townhouse yesterday Stephanie, I wonder what you saw that really stood out to you the most in terms of anything that could single -- harboring hatred towards this country.

ELAM: Yes. Walking around this townhome, the first thing you would see is the fact that at first glance it looked like a normal house. There was toys for the 6-month-old. There was a crib. There was normal things you would expect to see. Now, keep in mind the FBI had already cleared this unit. They had gone through. It was no longer a crime scene. It was no longer a point of investigation by the time that the media was allowed in by the landlord. So any evidence that they found they would have taken away. What you could see is that they had gone up into the attic, the crawl space to make sure that nothing was there. You could see that they had gone through things within the property.

But the biggest thing you did not see was any evidence that they may have been harboring hatred for the United States or the ways Americans or that there was any sort of terrorism type ideas there. And I think the biggest thing that that means is that this family may have been doing a better job of blending in with their young daughter into the American culture here in San Bernardino area - in the area here than people would have thought. If you were looking for some sort of clue they were thinking anything differently it may not been there readily for the eyes to see.

[15:10:20] HARLOW: And that's what so scary. I mean, you know, Stephanie. I was on the ground there with you earlier this week. Neighbors of theirs telling me one of them saying they were completely normal. The landlord even calling them timid having absolutely no idea they could carry something like this out.

Stephanie Elam, live for us there from Redlands. Thank you very much.

As we just mentioned President Obama was briefed today by his national security team on the Sane Bernardino mass shooting.

CNN's Chris Frates in the investigative unit has more from Washington.

And Chris, if you look at the investigators, what they have determined about Facebook and the sort of affiliation if you will or sympathy with ISIS versus a larger terror network, what is that telling us?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a couple things it is telling us, Poppy. And you know, most interesting news we got from this White House briefing today was that there are several pieces of information that point to the attackers' radicalization.

Now, we already know about one piece of evidence suggesting that radicalization which you're talking about which is, this Facebook post by the female shooter pledging allegiance to the leader of ISIS. Now, officials know of more information pointing to radicalization and that's noteworthy because it could offer additional evidence that the attacks were indeed an act of terrorism.

And Obama hit this in his weekly address today to the nation. He talked about the possibility that the attackers had been radicalized and he was pointing out that it's a threat that the government has been focused on for many years now.

Now, during the White House briefing in the situation room, it included FBI director James Comey, attorney general Loretta Lynch and homeland security secretary Jeh Johnson. The White House tells officials reiterated this idea that there's no evidence yet that the killers were part of a larger terrorist cell.

Director Comey told the president that the FBI is using all resources available to chase every lead in their terrorism investigation. And the White House says the president told his advisers to take all necessary measures to protect the public, Poppy.

HARLOW: All right, Chris Frates. Thank you very much. I appreciate the reporting.

Coming up next, breaking news involving a deadly police shooting in Miami. The controversial video and very latest, live report next.

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[15:00:56] HARLOW: Breaking news just into us here at CNN. A man killed by police today. It is all caught on camera. Our CNN affiliate reporting the man was an alleged bank robber. A warning before we show you this video. It is graphic. Our Nick Valencia has been going through it frame by frame. He is with us to describe what took place and what we are looking at -- Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, we want to start by saying that we don't have very many details. Limited information about this. Miami Beach police only confirming to CNN that they shot and killed this man. Something that we could see with our own eyes on this tape that we're about to show you.

Much details and information that is emerging coming to us from our local affiliates there in Miami WPLG reporting that this man was an alleged bang robber. That he tried to rob a bank earlier in the morning. He slipped a note to a teller saying that he was armed with an explosive. He would later emerge at a nearby barber shop.

Now, according to WPLG, that man did emerge from the barber shop holding a straight razor. And in that video that we showed you that is extremely graphic and disturbing video shows the moments, the ten second clip showing the moments that man was shot and killed.

Now, we did reach out to the man who shot the video posting it on Instagram. That clip has gone viral. He did say that police were negotiating with that man for about five minutes before the shooting happened. And that witness did tell us that he did himself see a sharp object in the suspect's hand. Also, according to local affiliate reports, about 40 to 50 people saw this clip live as it happened of them -- Poppy.

HARLOW: And I think, look, Nick, very hard to watch. He is standing there in front of police. It doesn't appear from that vantage point that he is rushing towards police. But again that's only one angle. We don't have the other angles and I'm sure more video will emerge. What are the Miami police saying?

VALENCIA: Well, it is Miami Beach police to be more specific here. They haven't said much. They do tell us that they will update the media sometime later this afternoon. We are expecting more information to surface from that. But again, the majority of this information, that we are reporting coming to us from our local affiliates, Miami Beach police only confirming to CNN they shot and killed this man -- Poppy.

HARLOW: All right. Nick, thank you very much for that.

I want to bring in CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Gilliam. He is a former police officer also former FBI special agent.

You have seen the video multiple times. You have watched it, Jonathan. Did police act accordingly in your opinion?

JONATHAN GILLIAM, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (on the phone): Well, Poppy, it's really extremely hard to tell just from that video because we don't know what led up right to that particular moment. You know, the report that I just heard that he robbed a bank, saying he had a bomb on him throws this into another kind of ballpark. But just with the fact that he had a lethal weapon in his hands, it's just hard to tell because he is -- the view of him is blocked by the one officer.

The only thing I see that I can even remotely start to guess from that video is that I thought I heard the pop of a taser almost just like a fraction of a second before the shots are fired. And, you know, I don't want to quarterback this yet but I'm not clear on why this perimeter was so tight by law enforcement and why if they're going to use a taser, why immediately they shots ring out. I tried to zoom in on that. I though I saw the wires from a taser. But again, that's me kind of arm chair quarterbacking this a little bit. And I think it's still too early to get a full picture of exactly what happened leading up to that. HARLOW: And isn't it important, Jonathan, to wait for subsequent

video? We would think it would come out like police dash cam video, there were officers all around. This is one video from one vantage point from one cell phone.

GILLIAM: Sure. And you know, the only reason I'm bringing the other stuff up is I'm trying to forward think what is going to be the questions that people ask. Because now, you know, these videos are coming out more and more and as we have seen the videos paint a different picture than what law enforcement is seeing a lot of the times when they are that close. And what people perceive from these videos is often in conflict with the feelings that the law enforcement officers had at the time they used deadly force. So I foresee a lot of questions coming out because of this. And so, I think you're right. There's a lot to be looked at before we get a clear picture on this.

HARLOW: Jonathan Gilliam, thank you very much for that. Appreciate it.

Coming up next, politics, President Obama meeting today with his top security advisers regarding the shooting in San Bernardino. But is this administration doing enough to defend the country from the threat of ISIS in America? We will debate ahead.

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[15:24:30] HARLOW: A pledge of allegiance to the most brutal terrorists on earth may have just led to one of the deadliest massacres in American history. The FBI finding a Facebook post they say was posted by Tashfeen Malik, the wife of Syed Rizwan Farook pledging support to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. And in turn, ISIS claiming that the couple were supporters of theirs.

Kimberly Dozier, CNN global affairs analyst with me now.

Kimberly, I want you to listen to what President Obama said to CBS the day of the San Bernardino attack. Remember (INAUDIBLE) was interviewing him sort of just when news of the attack came in. Let's listen to part of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:25:10] BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ISIL is not going to post an existential threat to us. They are a dangerous organization like Al-Qaeda was. But we have hardened our defenses. Our homeland has never been more protected by more effective intelligence and law enforcement professionals at every level than they are now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So he just also appointed a new senior adviser, someone named Robert Mali. And he is going to focus solely on the fight against ISIS. Look. This is a president who has taken a lot of criticism for the words her has chosen around ISIS for those who don't support him. You have seen a complete reversal and rhetoric if you compare what he said to what say Donald Trump has said. What role should this new adviser take? What do we need to be hearing from the president?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, the president has already tasked the Pentagon and intelligence agencies to keep both giving him new options for stepping up the fight against ISIS and also for new and other ways that could get them more of the information they need to prosecute this fight.

And just to drill down on the words. He was saying ISIS will never present an existential threat to the United States. In other words, it won't cause this country to be destroyed ala a nuclear war with Russia. But it can cause constant low-grade trouble or even I guess shootings like this can't be called low grade.

HARLOW: No.

DOZIER: But sort of a criminal element that is hard to eradicate. So, you know, his words, he is going, you know, at one end he is saying it won't be this extreme problem but he is avoiding the fact they haven't figured out how to spot couples like Farook and Malik.

HARLOW: Right. Because remember, Farook had no criminal history, no red flags, not on the watch list in United States or by the way in Saudi Arabia where his wife was living and came from. Now the FBI says, look, we are investigating this as an act of terror. Then you have ISIS official radio program today coming out and saying these two were is supporter supporters.

A, how can you know for sure and think ISIS isn't just jumping on the band wagon here to take credit? And does it matter in the investigative part of this what ISIS says on this radio program?

DOZIER: Well, the scary thing is it seems that this couple may have learned from all the media coverage of previous attacks, from the mistakes of other people. The fact they weren't vocal and out there with their neighbors, they weren't giving their neighbors anything to report, even the people that he prayed with at the mosque say that he never spoke out loud about these types of feelings. And they didn't have a social media footprint. Seems the FBI is finding this afterwards. They weren't following this couple. So they have learned how to stay hidden.

On the ISIS side of things, I think what we are seeing is the evolution of exactly what Al-Qaeda had also tried to inspire telling people out there who might be followers, stay where you are, learn off the Internet and cause havoc wherever you live. They sort of do the same thing on the battlefield. U.S. military officials have told me about how ISIS commanders have a lot of autonomy. They have been empowered by their bosses to, you know, this is your area. Do what you think you have to do. That way if any one of those people gets taken out along the chain, officials say even if Baghdadi gets taken out, the organization can continue to march forward because it doesn't defend on leadership. Everyone is essentially their own boss in creating violence.

HARLOW: Kimberly Dozier, thank you very much. As always, appreciate the expertise.

And you know, for everyone watching, in just the last two weeks, we have been unfortunately on the site of two tragic mass shootings. I was in Paris and I was in San Bernardino and these are horrific and unpredictable events. But next I'm going to talk to someone who has written extensively about the steps that you can take to increase your chances of survival should you be caught in a mass shooting next.

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[15:32:33] HARLOW: San Bernardino, Colorado Springs, Roseburg, Oregon for all of the mass shootings we have covered this year alone, there is one chilling common factor in case after case survivors say they didn't know what to do in those chaotic moments. Of course, how could they imagine they would be stuck in the middle of all of that? I want you to listen to two women who hid during the San Bernardino massacre this week sharing their experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: How did you know what to do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We didn't. It was just chaos. You know, there was just rumors that it was -- the active shooter training. It was just chaotic. We really didn't know what to do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Everybody was -- people were crying and then I just felt like I couldn't sit there because I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I needed to know if the shooter was still in the building. I needed to know from myself so I broke away with the crowd with two other gentleman and we ran to a farther office and that's when we were able to see SWAT getting there and then we could see the bodies being pulled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Joining me now is John Matthews. He is the author of "Mass Shootings, the Six Steps of survival." He is also a former Dallas police officer.

Thank you for being with me. Unfortunately, it is once again under tragic circumstances. Another mass shooting in this country. You have studied them. You studied dozens of them. When you look at the lessons from survivors, they often tell you that it's a lot more than just the fight or flight. What stands out to you?

JOHN MATTHEWS, AUTHOR, MASS SHOOTINGS, THE SIX STEP OF SURVIVAL: Well, it really is, Poppy. And we have been trying to get the message out for a couple of years now working with businesses, working with law enforcement and schools. The top three things that you can do is to first thing exit that area. As soon as you hear the gun shots and we heard comments like we thought it was a drill or we thought it was an active shooter drill. You can't think like that. You have got to be mentality prepared. You hear the gun shots. You hear the explosions, you have got to exit as quickly as you can and get as far away from that as possible. If you can't exit, then you have got to find cover. And cover in an office building can be behind a copier, a vending machine. Turning over a table or behind tables and chairs. Cover will protect you from the bullets.

HARLOW: But what about the fact that in a lot of mass shootings it is very rare to have two shooters. But in San Bernardino that's exactly what there was, two shooters armed with these assault rifles. How do you know you're not running into a second shooter?

[15:35:06] MATTHEWS: It's extremely rare that there's two shooters. We only have that as the third time since 1980 in all of the shootings that we have had two shooters. What you want to do, though, with these shootings is these happen very quickly. The people noticed there were more than one gunman in a room. It only took about 30 seconds to get all the rounds off.

If you can't get out you, need to find cover or to conceal yourself. And many times a very successful technique has been to lay behind other bodies or other people. Remember, these shooters aren't there doing an execution style or shooting pointing a gun at individual's heads. They are firing into a crowd. And many times we even have heard the shooters ask people did I shoot you. They are not sure who they have shot yet. It's a very fast and dynamic situation.

HARLOW: What you have said also is that, you know, what makes this case that we saw in San Bernardino, California that is so unusual is these shooters had an escape plan. Why is that unusual?

MATTHEWS: Because most mass shooters don't have an escape plan. As soon as the shooting started I started doing interviews and getting information. And from the very onset I said this is not a typical mass shooting. They had an escape plan. They had a vehicle. Over 60 percent of our mass shooters commit suicide before they were engaged by law enforcement. A little less than 30 percent die when they're engaged. And the others are arrested. So to have an escape plan, a vehicle and to calmly walk out of there is very, very atypical of a mass shooting in this country, much more indicative of a terrorist event.

HARLOW: All right. Thank you so much, John Matthews. I appreciate you being with us for your expertise. Thank you, sir.

MATTHEWS: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: Coming up next, my next guest an American Muslim who has spent his life fighting terror insisting that it is all in the hands of Americans to not make the massacre this week in San Bernardino a victory for ISIS. He explained it in "The New York Times" op-ed. He is with me live next. Keep it right here.

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[15:40:39] HARLOW: An op-ed in this week's "New York Times" warns that if the attacks in San Bernardino caused Americans to turn against Muslims in this country then ISIS wins. ISIS has already won. That's what it argues. Haider Ali Hussein Mullick joins me now. He writes the Islamic state wants every American-Muslim to feel

alienated. It is false utopia rests on the warped dream that the estimated three million American-Muslims will believe they can no longer live, thrive and worship in peace in America. We must not let that happen even while we remain vigilant. But the few American Muslims who wish us harm.

Haider Ali Hussein Mullick joins me now. He is a United States naval reserve officer with (INAUDIBLE). He teaches graduate seminars in combating terrorism at the Naval War College. Thank you so much for joining me.

HAIDER ALI HUSSEIN MULLICK, LECTURER, THE NAVAL POST GRADUATE SCHOOL: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: You wrote in this fascinating op-ed that certainly has a lot of people talking. You wrote Islam-phobia will be the worse outcome for American effort to defeat the Islamic State. Why do you think that plays right into the hands of what ISIS wants?

MULLICK: Poppy, let me just start by saying as a father of a 13- month-old. I care deeply about what's happening in our country right now. And I am directly involved in the fight against ISIS. And what I tried to say in this op-ed is that you certainly want to go after the bad guys. But you don't want to ostracize an entire community especially when so many members of the community are vital for our fight in defeating ISIS. These are community leaders, civic leaders, Muslim serving in the United States military, in the intelligence community, folks in neighborhoods that have come out and talked to FBI agents and told them about their children that may be at risk, that may be joining ISIS. So it's very unfortunate what has happened.

But what we don't hear about is hundreds of plots that have been prevented. So that's what I tried to -- the main point of my op-ed was to try to enter this debate and talk about how important the mass majority of American-Muslims are.

HARLOW: You know, what stood out to me a lot is when you wrote in here, you know, some are sending the message, be American or be a Muslim and that you can't be both. For you, I mean, what have you experienced?

MULLICK: Listen, for somebody who wears very proudly the uniform of the United States Navy, I welcome those kind of comments and criticisms. I want them to come to my face and say this and try to convince me that I'm not patriotic. That I don't love this country. That my family doesn't love this country. And the mass majority of Muslims don't love this country. I want them to convince me with numbers, not a few incidents. I'm the first one to admit there is a cancer, a small cancer that is very deadly within the Islamic community of extremism and we all need to get together and kick that out and destroy that cancer.

But what is important is that we should never forget who we are. And we're Americans. We are loyal to the constitution of the United States. That guarantees freedom of religion among others. And I have sworn an oath to defend that constitution. And I am proud to say that so many letters I have received after this article and my experience in working at the highest levels of the U.S. government advising as a United States naval officer, I've never faced any kind of discrimination. And this is one of the best things about this country. I am so proud of it.

But I also know that many of my, you know, members of the Muslim community are afraid. And it's very important for us as Americans to come together to be united at this time. Don't let fear guide us.

HARLOW: I want you to listen to a comment today from Republican presidential primary frontrunner Donald Trump talking about reports that one of the neighbors of these shooters in San Bernardino did not report suspicious activity for fear of being called a racist.

(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. The story was that they didn't want to racially profile. In the meantime, a lot of people got killed. We have to use commonsense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:45:17] HARLOW: What's your reaction to that?

MULLICK: I agree. I agree with him in the sense that if you see something, say something. And that's actually the bedrock of the FBI's community outreach program which has been phenomenally successful in areas like Minnesota where we had issues of Somali- Americans. Some of them joining al-Shabaab, if you recall. And you have this program all over the country now. It's very important for the community.

But I think it's less about feeling racially profiled if you come out and say, hey, my neighbor is acting differently or in a way that is going to, you know, lead somewhere very dangerous. What's important is that we need to have a dialogue. Mosques have to be opened. Muslims have to be welcoming in the sense they are able to educate the rest of the Americans about their religion. And Americans, on the other hand, have to have a very open mind. Go out there, talk to them. Instead of ostracizing them or putting them in this kind of large category, being you know, distrustful of them.

So I absolutely agree that community members have to come out and talk about what is going on. And frankly, some of the really, really bad terrorist attacks that have been prevented are precisely because community members came out. So these Muslim Americans are truly the work against groups like ISIS. So it's very important to have that constant dialogue between the community, the non-Muslim community and of course law enforcement.

HARLOW: Haider Ali Hussein Mullick, thank you very much for joining me. Thank you for your service to this country. I appreciate it.

MULLICK: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: For nearly two decades the centers for disease control, the CDC has not been able to research the plague of gun violence that has stunned this nation. You might argue, well, should they? Is that their roll? Some say yes and some say no, but there's a ban from Congress that was enacted about 20 years ago and now some want to see that overturned. Our next guest went to Capitol Hill this week to ask Congress to do just that. She joins me in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:51:07] HARLOW: Just a few hours before news broke of the horrific mass shooting in San Bernardino, a group of doctors filed into the U.S. capitol on a mission to get lawmakers to lift a decades-old ban that bans funding on gun violence research at the CDC. They presented a petition signed by more than 2,000 physicians from around the country, as well as an argument insisting gun violence is a public health epidemic. It needs to be studied just like any other disease.

One of those doctors, Alice Chen, is with me now. She is executive doctors of Doctors for America. Thank you for being with me.

It was interesting to see all of you there on the hill this week. At the same time we heard from former congressman Jay Dickey who pushed that funding ban through 20 years ago. And here is part of what he said. He said, the problem was that the research that we were looking at was designed with the agenda of gun control, not the agenda of gun violence. What I regret is we didn't go forward and say we do need research, but we need research with integrity. What's your reaction to that?

DR. ALICE CHEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DOCTORS FOR AMERICA: Well, I'm so happy representative Dickey decided that while he was the author of this amendment 20 years ago, that it was a bad idea and that we really do need to research gun violence. Because over 32,000 people a year are dying in this country because of gun violence. As doctors, nurses, we see this every day in our hospitals. It's time for us to do something.

HARLOW: So -- a lot of people watching would say, what can the CDC do? How can you study gun violence like a disease? Can you walk us through that?

CHEN: Sure. Well, one of the things that the CDC is very good at in researching is injuries. Injuries are in some ways similar to diseases. They happen for particular reasons and there are particular ways we can prevent them. So, for example, when we look at gun violence, if you look at all of the suicides that are happening because of guns, we don't know what are the best ways to -- to prevent those suicides from happening, what are the different ways that we can prevent, what is the relative efficacy of those and those are questions the CDC is suited to answer.

HARLOW: I want you to listen to what former house speaker John Boehner had to say about this, explaining why many Republicans do believe that this ban should still stay in place. Let's play that. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Listen, the CDC is there to look at diseases that need to be dealt with to protect the public health. I'm sorry, but a gun is not a disease. And guns don't kill people, people do. And when people use weapons and in a horrible way, we should condemn the actions of the individual. Not blame the action on some weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: He says guns don't kill people, people kill people. Your response?

CHEN: This does not make any sense. If you go into an emergency room where doctors and nurses are working on a patient who has been shot, it is absolutely a health issue. I'm a doctor. I have taken care of people in the hospital who were shot. This is an issue that is - there is no way of disconnecting it from health.

And if you look at it, you could use the same argument to say cars don't kill people, why do we even worry about child seats, about airbags, it's not the car's problem, it's the person's problem. That doesn't make any sense.

HARLOW: Alice Chen, thank you very much for joining me today. An important discussion to have and keep having. I appreciate it.

CHEN: Thank you so much for having me.

HARLOW: All right. Coming up next a new report shines a light on the threat from ISIS in this country. ISIS in America, hundreds of suspected sympathizers, at least one open case in all 50 states, and a new threat made even more troubling by the mass shooting in San Bernardino this week. That is next.

But first, tomorrow night at 8:00 eastern here on CNN, "CNN Heroes, an all-start tribute" salutes ten people who put others first all year long. Here's a look at what's in store.

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[15:55:10] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER (voice-over): It is a night of glitz, glamour, and giving. "CNN Heroes, an all-start tribute" hosted by Anderson Cooper puts ten everyday people in the spotlight, saluting them for their work helping others.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, CNN HEROES: It's a great night, and it's nice that people who don't ordinarily get this kind of attention, you know, get this kind of attention.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: On this special night, the stars turn out to honor them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we can celebrate heroes and heroic actions, that's the right thing to do. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a real honor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: This year's amazing honorees include a surgeon who served Chicago's poorest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The biggest, boldest, bad ass doctor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: And a woman who turned her home into a sanctuary for sloths.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A woman that proves sloth is a virtue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: It is a night of passion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The work that I do, it's like the air that I breathe, so I can't stop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: Laughter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Were you scared of Sharon Stone? I feel like you are a little scared of her.

COOPER: I love Sharon stone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know, but you are scared --.

COOPER: I'm scared of you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: And inspiration. It's a celebration of humanity with a little help from a special guest that ends with one life changing moment.

COOPER: The 2015 CNN hero of the year --

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