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Trump Defends Plan for Muslim Ban; Investigators: Farook Plan Attacks in 2012; Iraq Military Fighting to Retake Ramadi; Confusion in Bombing Killing Syrian Soldiers; Trump Continues Doing Business in Muslim Countries; Congress Voting to Overhaul Visa Waiver Program; Better Picture of San Bernardino Shooters Emerging; 3rd Gunman in Paris Attack Identified; Lobster Industry in Maine Booming. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired December 09, 2015 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(HEADLINES)
[02:00:37] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church.
ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Errol Barnett. Our two-hour block starts now. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
U.S. presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has no apology for his proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States.
CHURCH: Despite 24 hours of condemnation from fellow politicians and world leaders, Trump is not backing down.
He spoke with Barbara Walters of ABC News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA WALTERS, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Do you regret your ban on Muslims, which some people think is un-American?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not at all. We have to do the right thing. Somebody in this country has to say what is right. I have great respect and love. I have people that I have tremendous relationships with. They're Muslim. And, Barbara, they agree with me 100 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Trump has been called a fascist, demagogue, unhinged and reprehensible.
BARNETT: But as Jeff Zeleny reports, that is not changing his position.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CHEERING)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (V0): Defiance today from Donald Trump.
TRUMP (voice-over): We need intelligence in this country. We need a certain toughness in this country or we're going to end up like a lot of other places and we're not going to have a country left.
ZELENY: In the face of unrelenting political backlash, Trump defended his proposal on CNN "New Day" seeking to go block Muslims from coming to the United States.
TRUMP: Because you're going to have many more World Trade Centers if you don't solve it, many, many more, and probably beyond.
ZELENY: An overheated campaign season suddenly even hotter with Republicans rushing to join Democrats in condemning Trump.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: This is not conservativism. What was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for and, more importantly, it's not what this country stands for.
ZELENY: Trump said his ban on Muslims would be temporary. He called it a modern-day version of FDR's action towards the Japanese in World War II.
He announced his proposal last night on the deck of the "USS Yorktown," a battleship from that war.
TRUMP: Donald J. Trump is calling for a complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.
(CHEERING)
ZELENY: His comments drew instant fire from GOP rivals.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's a race- baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. He doesn't representatives my party, he doesn't represent the values the men and women wearing the uniform are fighting for.
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we shouldn't do is to just say all Muslims are not coming into our country. It's not about the blowhards out there just saying stuff. That's not a program. That's not a plan. This is serious business.
ZELENY: Former Vice President Dick Cheney also weighed in, calling it a violation of religious freedom.
DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This whole notion that somehow we can just say no more Muslims, just ban a whole religion, goes against everything we stand for and believe in.
ZELENY: And the White House, called Trump's comments not only misguided, but dangerous.
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The fact is that what Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president.
ZELENY: Trump brushed aside the criticism during a round of interviews today, saying his supporters are tired of political correctness.
TRUMP (on camera): And it got standing ovations as soon as this was mentioned.
ZELENY (on camera): Now, there were standing ovations on Monday night in South Carolina. I was in the crowd and talked to many voters. Some say they didn't know the full extent of Trump's proposal, and bristled at his ideas. But others said something must be done and they supported his plan. They're frightened, angry and believe the current administration isn't doing enough.
The condemnations are still coming in, but there is little reason to believe this will hurt Trump in the Republican primary. So far, nothing he said has.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: CNN's senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein, joins us now to talk more about the impact of Donald Trump's comments.
Thank you so much for talking with us.
Trump's anti-Muslim comments and then the rejection of them by the Republican Party establishment only appears to have helped solidify his support as the front-runner. How do you explain that?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Solidify is a good word. I think the picture is more complex than it's usually presented. There is no question that for the portion of the party that is attracted to Trump, the more outrageous he gets, in many ways, the more deeply connected they feel to him. I think Trump is appealing primarily, his strongest support in a month non-college Republicans who are probably the group in American society most alienated from the direction of the country, who feel in many ways the country they have known is slipping away from them. And the more outrageous he gets, the more he will show them he will do whatever it takes to try to reverse the trends in growing diversity in what they feel is threats against the outside world that they find so unsettling. But there's also another part of the Republican Party and when you look at Trump support among the white collar part of the Republican Party, it's much more limited and the polling shows greater doubts about his fitness to be president above all. So while this, I think, solidify is a great word because that is what it's doing, it may be narrowing. He could be deepening and narrowing his support on the course that he is on.
CHURCH: And, Ron, a new CNN/WMWR poll among Republican voters in New Hampshire show Donald Trump leading by 18 points, way ahead of Marco Rubio and the other presidential candidates.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Right.
CHURCH: Now, this was taken just before his anti-Muslim comments. What do you think his comments will likely have on his lead?
BROWNSTEIN: We'll have to see. But I think the New Hampshire poll is really indicative of the nightmare of the Republican establishment. Donald Trump is, as you say, at 32 percent. When you look at the four or five candidates splitting the center right vote that they're hoping will eventually consolidate against him, you have Marco Rubio, John Kasich, Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina, all with some support but dividing that more white collar part of the party. If you look inside that poll, he's at 43 percent among New Hampshire Republicans with a high school degree or less, only 30 percent in the college graduates, 21 percent in the post graduates. The problem for the party is that white collar part of the party that is more resistant or more skeptical of Trump has not consolidated around an alternative. And you're seeing in that poll the potential that kind of fragmentation that allowed Trump to win New Hampshire, which would be an earthquake in this race.
CHURCH: You talk about fragmentation, because Trump's views have been rejected by the Republican Party machine, including Dick Cheney, Paul Ryan. And Trump responded through a Facebook saying, and I'll read it out. He says, "A new poll indicates that 68 percent of my supporters would vote for me if I departed the GOP and ran as an Independent." So what is the likely scenario if he opts for a third party run, which is possible?
BROWNSTEIN: If he does that, it will make it difficult for the Republicans to win. His support is concentrated mostly among blue collar whites and they have been voting over 60 percent Republicans in recent elections. He would peel enough way for the Republican nominee to win. We will be going through this every few day for the next many months, especially if Trump does not appear to be marching towards the nomination next spring. He will hold this possibility over the head of the party, unrelentingly in the coming months and use this as leverage, both in the way he is treated and also to kind of intimidate the other candidates into not going too far against him out of fear that he might, in fact, take this third party route and damage the party's ability in the general election.
CHURCH: Ron Brownstein, thank you very much for joining us.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.
CHURCH: We really appreciate it.
BARNETT:Donald Trump's proposal is also being used by his main Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, as a way to call attention to political differences.
CHURCH: While speaking to supporters in New Hampshire, she took Trump and his fellow Republicans to task.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is both a shameless and a dangerous idea. Some of his Republican candidates are saying that his latest comments have gone too far. But the truth of it is many of them have said extreme things about Muslims. Their language may be more veiled than Trumps, but their ideas are not so different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And London Mayor Boris Johnson has thrown down the gauntlet to Donald Trump. He's challenging him to visit the capital city after Trump claimed there were areas police can't go because of radicalization. Calling Trump misinformed, Johnson said in a statement -- I'm quoting here -- "Crime has been falling steadily both in London and in New York. And the only reason I wouldn't go to some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump."
BARNETT: In the U.S., Philadelphia's mayor, Michael Nutter, had harsh words for Trump and his foreign policy. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[02:10:07] MICHAEL NUTTER, (D), PHILADELPHIA MAYOR: He's a (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I mean, how can I take seriously any foreign policy idea from someone like him? I mean, it's just -- it's impossible. So he has no idea what he's talking about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: Nutter also said no group is safe from Trump's ignorance and rhetoric. CHURCH: And when we return, new revelations about the couple who
massacred 14 people in California.
BARNETT: And also coming up, Iraq forces regain over half of a key city after an attack on ISIS. Details coming up after this.
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CHURCH: One of the murderers in the California massacre last week may have plotted an earlier attack. An investigator tells CNN Syed Rezwan Farook conspired to attack a specific target in 2012.
BARNETT: It's not clear what that target was or how thorough that plan might have been, but the official says Farook and an accomplice stopped the plot after they got spooked after a round of terror- related arrests.
Investigators say Farook took out a bank loan in November for more than $28,000 and gave about half the money to his mother.
[02:15:16] CHURCH: Investigators now believe both attackers had become radical jihadis years ago, but their loved ones say they never knew.
BARNETT: It's the latest of several revelations about the killers.
Our Pamela Brown has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The radicalization for this couple began long before they committed mass murder in San Bernardino according to the FBI. In fact officials tell CNN there are indications their transformation into jihadis began even before ISIS emerged on to the world stage in June 2014, making it difficult to determine exactly who inspires them and who may have helped them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Had this couple carried out this attack a year ago or two years ago, they must have glommed on to another organization. But ISIS is the biggest, baddest on the block, so they carried out in their name. Whether they were part of that, it's unclear.
BROWN: A law enforcement official tells CNN Syed Farook at one point reached out to al Qaeda affiliate al Nusra and al Shabaab.
(CHANTING)
BROWN: A Facebook post on an account associated with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, pledged allegiance to ISIS and used the word "we," indicating it represented both attackers.
Just days before they killed 14 people, Farook went to this firing range in Riverside, California. A firearms instructor says Farook brought his own A.R.-15 to practice.
UNIDENTIFIED FIREARMS INSTRUCTOR: You can tell who comes to the range. He presented what appears to be a valid idea and came in and acted the way normal people do.
BROWN: And the FBI is now reviewing surveillance video from the gun range and also looking into this man, Enrico Marquez, Farook's former neighbor and friend. Investigators say the weapons used in the attack traced back to Marquez. He has not been charged with any crime.
JOHN D'ANGELO, AGENT IN CHARGE, ATF: Right now, our major concern is determining how those firearms and the rifle in particular got from Marquez to Farook and Malik.
BROWN: U.S. officials believe Malik received some formal training.
The couple's family maintains they have no idea the couple had become jihadis, even though Farook's mother lived within the house investigators called a bomb-making lab.
DAVID CHESLEY, ATTORNEY FOR FAROOK FAMILY: Syed and Tashfeen were very isolated and, honestly, the family was completely surprised and devastated, but no one had any knowledge. If anybody would have, they definitely would have done something to stop it. BROWN: Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: And coming up this hour on CNN NEWSROOM, we'll look into the influences of the woman at the center of the massacre, Tashfeen Malik.
CHURCH: And Iraqi forces say they have retaken a critical city from ISIS months after an embarrassing retreat. Find out how they succeeded, coming up.
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[02:21:36] BARNETT: Iraq's military says it's recaptured 60 percent of Ramadi after a day-long attack on ISIS.
CHURCH: In May, the terror group took over the city just 120 kilometers west of Baghdad. The military says troops attacked ISIS from three sides with help from U.S.-led air strikes.
BARNETT: Lieutenant General Mark Hertling joins us now from Orlando to speak about all of this. He's our CNN military analyst and always gives us unique insight into what's happening.
General, back in May, it was Iraqi forces who embarrassingly fled the fight against ISIS and Ramadi. This time around, there's a much different outcome. What's changed?
LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, they certainly did retreat in May and I think there was massive confusion at the time and perhaps some poor leadership, Errol. Since then, you have a retrained force, some replacement of leaders and some different politicians that are leading the fight in that area. So I think you've had a combination of a couple of things. First of all, some increase in coalition air power, which is critical in the desert. You now have about five additional new brigades and a brigade in the Iraqi Army in the 16th division is anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 new fighters. They have been imbued with a new will and a sense to fight over some very improved leadership. All of that makes a difference on the battlefield.
BARNETT: And Iraqi forces intend to move quickly to take the entire city because of the risk to civilians there. How fast will they need to move to protect the people living in Ramadi?
HERTLING: Yeah, that will be the tough part, Errol. What you're going to see is the intel estimate says there's between 600 and 1,000 ISIS fighters remain in the city. That's versus about 10,000 Iraqi security forces. So the average person would say, hey, those are pretty good odds. But you remember ISIS has been in this town for several months now. They have reinforced it with all kinds of improvised explosive devices not only along the roads but when I was in Iraq, a lot of houses and buildings were trapped with these weapons systems, which means every single force has to go in and clear houses one by one. Remember, Ramadi is -- when it was populated, was about 400,000 strong. That's about the same size of the U.S. cities of Tucson or Portland or Nashville. So these are pretty big cities. And when you're talking about clearinghouse by house, it's going to take a long time.
BARNETT: Let's talk about what's happening next door in Syria. Russia's defense ministry now reporting a massive increase in the intensity of its strikes from the sea and air, but we had a bit of confusion on Monday when Russia blamed the U.S. and vice versa for a bombing in which three Syrian soldiers were killed. Have the Russians shown to be effective in diminishing ISIS in Syria?
HERTLING: Any kind of propaganda that they're giving that they are fighting ISIS is flatly untrue. They claim they were going after terrorists and they are using that word, terrorist. A terrorist to the Assad regime is anyone that counters the regime itself. Those could be free Syrian fighters, members of the population, they could be ISIS, but we have not seen and intelligent has shown that Russia has not specifically targeted ISIS locations, even though they claim to still be targeting terrorists.
BARNETT: We appreciate you giving us a detailed breakdown on where the battle or battles stand right now. CNN military analyst, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, thanks for your time.
HERTLING: Thank you, Errol.
[02:25:20] CHURCH: We turn now to the dysfunction on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrials dropped more than 160 points on Tuesday amid weak trade data from China. The blue chip index has moved up or town by triple digits the past six days.
BARNETT: Renew word about China's economy and falling commodity prices are contributing to that volatility. Oil fell below $37 a barrel but is now up just above $38.
CHURCH: But one industry not seeing a decline is the gun business. Smith & Wesson stock has surged 116 percent this year. The gun maker just reported quarterly sales of $143 million, up 32 percent on last year. The FBI says it is on track to process a record number of background checks this year.
BARNETT: Now, he stood an intense debate over terrorism and radical Islam. Still to come, one of our own squares off again Donald Trump.
CHURCH: Plus, a major visa vote in the United States. The changes lawmakers passed that will impact millions of voters.
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[02:30:14] CHURCH: Hello to our viewers in the United States, and a warm welcome back to our viewers from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.
BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett.
Here are the top stories we're following right now.
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CHURCH: No matter how heated the rhetoric is in response to Trump's anticipates Muslim ban proposal, the candidate himself is unmoved.
BARNETT: And for good reason.
Dana Bash reports his voter support remains strong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CHEERING)
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Thank you very much, everybody. This is great.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump is not only on top in a new CNN/WMUR New Hampshire poll. His 32 percent support in the first primary state is more than Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, and Jeb Bush combined.
(CHEERING)
BASH: With six in 10 New Hampshire Republicans predicting Trump is the most likely to win their crucial primary.
TRUMP: A total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.
BASH: A new show of strength that new Trump plan ignites bipartisan furry, from Republican House speaker --
REP. PAUL RYAN, (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Normally, I do not comment on what's going on in the presidential election. I will take an exception today. This is not conservatism.
BASH: -- to former Vice President Dick Cheney, revered by conservatives for pushing tough tactics to keep Americans safe after 9/11.
DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This whole notion that somehow we can say no more Muslims, just ban a whole religion. Goes against everything we stand for and believe in.
BASH: Voters in today's New Hampshire poll say Trump is the best candidate to take on ISIS, just like Monday's CNN/ORC poll in Iowa.
On CNN's "New Day," he was eager to defend his new plan.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CO-ANCHOR, NEW DAY: This isn't about being politically correct.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP (voice-over): -- and we can solve it because you can have much more World Trade Centers if you don't solve it, many, many more, and probably beyond. I'm talking about a temporary situation until our country's
representatives can figure out what the hell is going on here.
BASH: Even Republican Party chair, Reince Priebus, who tries to stay out of the presidential fight, weighed in, saying, "I don't agree. We need to aggressively take on radical Islamic terrorism but not at the expense of our American values."
That, months after Priebus convinced all of Trump's supporters to pledge to support him if he's the nominee, making it awkward if they slam him now.
JEB BUSH, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: It's not about the blowhards out there just saying stuff. That's not a program. That's not a plan. This is serious business.
CARLY FIORINA, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER CEO, HEWLETT- PACKARD: Donald Trump always plays on everyone's worst instincts and fears.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R), SOUTH CAROLINA & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell.
BASH: And the president's spokesman piled on.
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The Trump campaign for months now has had a dust bin of history like quality, from the vacuous slogan hearings to the outright lies, even the fake hair.
What Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president. And for Republican candidates for president to stand by their support pledge Mr. Trump, that in and of itself is disqualifying.
BASH (on camera): President Obama's spokesman may have been making a policy statement there but he is clearly stirring the pot politically for Republicans, many of whom are worried about damage Trump may do to the party. As for Trump, he's making noises again about a GOP nightmare scenario, an Independent Trump candidacy. He tweeted that if he launched a third-party bid, the vast majority of his supporters would back him and not the GOP nominee.
Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: Now, the top Republican in the U.S. Senate has condemned Trump's comments.
CHURCH: Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday that Trump's proposal would never work and would have serious political ramifications.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R-KY), SENATOR MAJORITY LEADER: To show how completely and totally unworkable it would be, King Abdullah of Jordan, a great friend and ally of ours, would presumably not be able to come to the United States. How about the President Ghani of Afghanistan, a great friend and ally of ours, who would not be able to come to the United States? So this suggestion is completely and totally inconsistent with American values.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:35:19] CHURCH: And it's worth noting Trump has not shied away from doing business in majority Muslim countries.
BARNETT: For example, the Trump International Golf Club that's about to be completed in the UAE, the United Arab Emirates.
Our John Defterios is there with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: It is not surprising that Donald Trump has not focused his business development here in the UAE, the center of entertainment and golf here in the Middle East. His highest-profile project is with well-known developer Dumac (ph) Properties of Dubai. It's called Aqouia Oxygen (ph) with hotels, villas, the Trump golf course, and a mosque as well on the property.
A spokesman for Dumac (ph) tried to deflect controversy, indicating it is staying with the Trump group. "We would like to stress that our agreement is with the Trump organization," he said, "as one of the premier golf course operators in the world, and as such, we would not comment further on Mr. Trump's personal or political agenda nor comment on the internal American political debate scene."
One property strategist said they want to try and stay neutral in case Trump makes it into the White House in 2016.
Another Trump development announced in 2008 for Dubai's Palm Dumara (ph), was hit by the global property downturn in 2010 and never broke ground. Just last May, his daughter, Ivanka Trump, while in Dubai, talked of potential expansion in more conservative Muslim countries, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
But the most high-profile about-face in the region on Donald Trump came even before this latest controversy. UAE developer, Halaf a la Tour (ph), supported the presidential candidate just in August, saying he was a breath of fresh air. But that abruptly changed in late November. "I believe and still do that America's lacking strong leadership," he said, "but when strength is partnered with ignorance and deceit, presenting a toxic mix threatening the United States and our world."
We might hear more of that tone after Donald Trump's latest comments.
John Defterios, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: And it turns out Donald Trump is losing some business in the UAE. A big retailer based in Dubai called Lifestyle is suspending the sale of Trump-branded products in its stores. The CEO says, "In light of the recent statements made by the presidential candidate in the U.S. media, we have suspended sell of all products from the Trump home decor range." Lifestyle has 195 stores across the Middle East, North Africa Pakistan and Tanzania.
BARNETT: The U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday to overhaul the federal Visa Waiver Program, barring people from Iraq, Syria, Iran and Sudan and recent visitors to those countries from entering the U.S. without a visa.
BARNETT: The waiver program currently allows some travelers to stay in the U.S. for 90 days without obtaining a visa.
House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, says it was time for a change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, (R-CA), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: The biggest fear that I have and so many in this conference on both sides of the aisle is that you have more than 5,000 individuals that have Western passports in this program that have gone to Iraq or Syria in the last five years. Those are gaps that we need to fix.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: President Barack Obama called on Congress to revise the Visa Waiver Program during his Oval Office address about fighting ISIS.
Investigators are piecing together a better picture of the couple who massacred 14 people last week in California.
BARNETT: The attackers kept to themselves in the United States, but in Pakistan, where one of the killers studied, classmates remember an engaging student.
CNN's Saima Mohsin met some of those who knew Tashfeen Malik.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At a women's institute that teaches its own conservative and ultra orthodox version of Islam. And San Bernardino, shooting suspect, Tashfeen Malik, studied here.
A spokeswoman for the institute gave me a telephone interview.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was just reading the Koran and that means understanding of the text.
MOHSIN: But she didn't complete the course. In April of last year, she said announced she had to leave, that she would be getting married in two months' time.
(on camera): Teachers here weren't willing to appear on camera, but they given a statement, describing Malik as a hard working individual, obedient and Positive-minded student. They said that no one here could ever have imagined that she could be behind what they describe as a horrible act that's 100 percent against Islamic teachings and the teachings of the institution.
[02:40:21] She never raised any suspicions that she might be --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no, no, not at all. Not at all. Not at all.
MOHSIN: You didn't see any idea that she was, perhaps, developing --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no, no. Nobody would even think about her that way. She was a -- (INAUDIBLE).
MOHSIN (voice-over): But critics and former students of the institute say the ultra conservative values promote an arrogant and isolationist viewpoint. Could this be a stepping stone to radicalization?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What they learn in these classes is that there is one interpretation of Islam. In that sense, the world view that these women are learning, that could be intolerant and judgmental. But nowhere in the curriculum is there any sort of space for anything which condones let alone advocates militancy.
MOHSIN: The institute have condemned the attack and says it key be held for a student's individual acts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not allowed in Islam.
MOHSIN: The teachings at the institute don't seem to be enough to complete the picture of Tashfeen Malik's alleged radicalization. This is only one piece of a very complicated jigsaw puzzle that has pieces here in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Saima Mohsin, CNN, Pakistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The United Nations Refugee Agency is urging Jordan to take in 12,000 Syrians stranded at its border. They say these people are camping in unsanitary conditions. There were disease outbreaks and among children signs of malnutrition.
BARNETT: The agency is offering to help to reinforce security at registration points in Jordan. Many of those people are fleeing escalating air strikes and violence from ISIS militants in Syria.
CHURCH: It is the economic heart of the U.S. state of Maine. Coming up, a close look at the lobster industry and what it means to get the main lobster experience.
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[02:46:33] BARNETT: Breaking news for you just in to CNN. French Prime Minister Emanuel Valls has now identified another suspect in the Paris terror attacks. The 23-year-old is the third gunman who stormed the Bataclan concert venue last month. This is all emerging in the past few minutes.
Let's bring in our Jim Bittermann who joins us live in the Paris venue.
Jim, what more do we know about this third Paris attacker?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, his name is Fuad Muhamad (ph) and he was identified a few minutes ago. And there's a lot of reporting about this in the various media here in morning. Apparently, he's 23 years old, from Strasburg on the east side of France.
And his -- he had a known association with a gentleman named Moran Forez, who is known to be a terrorist recruiter here in France. A guy himself that was fairly well known to the Strasburg police as a juvenile delinquent. He left the Strasburg area in 2013 and was there in probably that was probably part of his radicalization process.
Apparently, authorities have known about his identity for about two weeks now, according to reports, and they have not been disclosing it because it's part of their investigation. They thought it would be better not to disclose it.
Last night, we are told according to some reports that authorities searched the apartment of Mr. Fuad (ph), his mother's apartment in the town near Strasburg. So that's about all we know at the moment.
Of course, this plays right into what is the greatest French fears about the radicalized generation here, these young people that grew up in France with French identification, with French -- knowledge of France and French passports, hope he ratifies it and comes back and carries out attacks in France.
BARNETT: And, Jim, I know we don't have much information as this is just emerging now, but why, then, would officials have this information for the past few weeks and announce it today? Might it have any to go with the third attacker is still at large?
BITTERMANN: Well, yes, that could have something to do with it. It also could be the fact that he didn't want to tip off his mother and other people involved in the investigation that the police wanted to get to first, if it's true that they, in fact, searched the apartment just last night of the mother. And, perhaps, it had something to do with that, as well.
There's a number of things we don't know. Maybe it will become clear as the day wears on. In any case, the identity probably wasn't that important that we know exactly who this young man is. It's not necessarily very important to the news media. So I think that's probably why it withheld the information -- Errol?
BARNETT: Jim Bittermann, live from Paris for us. Just past 8:50 with that news. The third Paris attacker is identified.
And we'll check in with you in the hours ahead. Jim, thanks very much.
CHURCH: For the second day in a row, the northwestern U.S. is soaked with record rains and some snow.
And we turn to Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri who joins us now with more.
Let's talk about these rains. And some of the skiers will be happy about the snow.
[02:49:58] PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. It's about time. We're getting some significant snow coming in on the order of several feet. Here is the perspective across the eastern Pacific Ocean. I want to show you what's happening across the northwestern U.S., give you a scale of where we are. Go back about 5,000 miles back towards the Western Pacific into areas of the Philippines. That's where the moisture source for this next round of wet weather is coming in. You can easily pick out the moisture as it trails and stretches back out towards the West. But the moisture is certainly there. The next couple of days, additional rainfall. Some areas could see well over a foot of rainfall in the next seven days. As we get through this, we talk about significant accumulations, as well. Some of the pockets here, very impressive. 10 to 12 inches around northern California, western Washington, and western Oregon could be looking for the potential of 4 to 6 inches of rainfall inside the next seven days. Impressive flooding taking place there, as well. Look at the significant snowfall accumulations, about 18 percent of normal across the sierras. Fast forward through the first week of December in 2015, doubling 36 percent of snow coverage across the Sierras. Great news when it comes to snow melt across that region. Rainfall and the seven-day forecast across Portland, as you would expect. As you talk about significant accumulations, how about this? Mt. Rainier near Seattle, the snowfall forecast has anywhere from 142 to 182 inches over the next few nights. No one lives across the area at those elevations. When it comes to that much snowfall, to get that 4.5 meters that would be taller than a double-decker bus, the depth of the snow coming down across this portion of Washington State. And we'll leave you with rainfall, and incredible flooding that has taken place across parts of Norway. In fact, Scandinavia, incredible footage where we know over 100 mudslides reported over this region. Hundreds of homes damaged, as well. It's been about 7 inches or 170 millimeters in the last several days in that part of the world, as well -- Guys?
BARNETT: Horrific flooding there, but a glimpse of, Pedram, the giant --
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK) BARNETT: -- bigger than a double-decker bus.
JAVAHERI: Yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
BARNETT: Thanks, Pedram. We'll see you next hour.
JAVAHERI: Thanks, guys.
CHURCH: The fishing industry in the U.S. state of Maine is dominated by one catch above all the others, Lobster.
BARNETT: That's right. The shellfish accounts for three quarters of the state's revenue from fishing and is considered by many to be the state's economic heart.
Claire Sebastian looks at why the industry is booming.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLAIRE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even at the end of a long day at sea, these lobster men take their time. Each fresh specimen must be carefully unloaded. For the state of Maine, there's a lot riding on these spindly frames.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People come to Maine, they want to eat a lobster, send a post card. We're more than that. We've got 5,000 lobster licenses in the state of main and that's 5,000 small businesses scattered from one end of the coast to the other.
SEBASTIAN: Those 5,000 businesses have had a very good year. In 2014, lobstering in Maine brought in a record $145 million, almost 25 percent more than the previous year. Rising demand coupled with an unusually cold winter which delayed the start of the lobster season pushed up the price per pound.
Even so, he says they are not attempted to overfish.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On a typical day, I throw 10 to 20 times as many back overboard than I keep. I think that's very good thing. We built a buffer into our fishery to accommodate changes in the environment.
SEBASTIAN: From the lobster men to the restaurants that sell their catches, this is an economic success story.
(on camera): DeMillo's Restaurant is an institution here in Portland, Maine. At peak season, they sell more than 200 of these every day.
(voice-over): At $55 each to the largest, daily revenues can run into the thousands.
It's a simple business model for a rather complicated eating experience.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see we've got here a bowl for your shells. SEBASTIAN (on camera): OK.
(voice-over): Luckily, I'm getting a crash course.
(on camera): Got my bib.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got your bib on.
SEBASTIAN: I'm ready.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And from the body, with the tail, I like to give it a little twist. Comes right apart like so.
SEBASTIAN: And what's the trick to this, is it you have to be patient?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little bit. Some people like to just take a fork and a knife and open it up, eat it piece by piece. I prefer to see the entire tail.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): The trick, of course, is to get your hands dirty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Part of the Maine lobster experience is opening one up yourself.
SEBASTIAN: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perfect.
SEBASTIAN: Victory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perfect.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Victory, indeed, for the first-time diner and a real Maine experience to remember.
For those working the lobster boats off of Portland, hoping for another banner year, thoughts have already turned to the next catch.
Claire Sebastian, CNN, in Portland, Maine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[02:55:17] CHURCH: Love a good lobster. A bit of melted butter.
(CROSSTALK)
BARNETT: Now, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" debuts in nine days, but some fans have so excited, you know what they're doing? They're camping out at theaters. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: That's a fun party.
(LAUGHTER)
BARNETT: Dozens of people lined up at the TCL Chinese Theater in L.A. on Tuesday. They're trying to secure a spot for an advanced screening on December 17th. Still need to practice their singing skills. And they can a day before the official launch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I came out first, then I did it again for episode two and episode three. Now we're like family. We're all friends and family and it's like a reunion. And this is what we do. So it's -- I couldn't not be here for this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: That is what they do.
One of the most reviled characters in the series, Jar-Jar Binks, is definitely not in the latest episode, according to the film's producer.
BARNETT: Thank goodness.
CHURCH: I would never camp out for anything. Is there something wrong with me?
BARNETT: Perhaps, but not for that reason.
(LAUGHTER)
CHURCH: Well, thank you.
(LAUGHTER)
And remember, you can always follow us on social media anytime.
We will have more from the CNN NEWSROOM after this very quick break.
BARNETT: Top stories from all around the world. Please do stay with CNN.
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