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Sanders, DNC Reach Voter Data Breach Deal Before Debate; Jeb Bush Calls Donald Trump a Jerk; Russia Ready to Use More Military Means in Syria; FBI, U.S. Marshals Searching for Affluenza Teen; Warning From Former Top Al Qaeda Recruiter; Three U.S. Men Charged with Attempting to Aid Terror Groups; Democrats Face Off in Third Debate Saturday; Star Wars Movie Shatters Box Office Records. Aired 1- 2p ET

Aired December 19, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:05] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good answer. Will Smith there.

All right. We have so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM right after this.

All right. Hello again, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

The third Democratic presidential debate is tonight, but the gloves have already come off. The party is in an uproar after the Sanders campaign filed a lawsuit against the DNC for barring Sanders' team from using a national voter database.

The DNC shut off access after a Sanders' team member admitted to browsing through Clinton's secret files on the database. All sides reached an 11th hour agreement last night, but the DNC chairwoman defended the party's action on CNN this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, CHAIR, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: We did reach an agreement with the campaign. They finally gave us the information that we'd been asking for so we could begin to assess the depth of the breach where their staff looked at inappropriately and were unauthorized material that was the proprietary information of the Clinton campaign.

And we've been asking them for that information for two days. They had refused not only to provide us with the answers to those questions, but also refused to participate or not agreed to participate in an independent audit so we could get to the bottom of how deep the breach was.

They have now done that. Unfortunately, when the Sanders campaign after this window opened through a glitch from our vendor, their staff took advantage of it in a sense, went into the unlocked door of the house and rummaged around, took things that didn't belong to them, and then, actually, accused the homeowner of violating the terms of an agreement when they had unauthorized access to the house and took things that didn't belong to them. It was pretty outrageous. But, like I said, I'm glad that we were able to reach an agreement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Athena Jones is at the debate site in New Hampshire.

So, Athena, what did the Sanders' team feel like they benefitted from this encroachment?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. Well, that's the essential question here. Just what did these staffers -- we understand it was more than one staffer by the campaign, by the Sanders' own account, that accessed this data. But the question is, was it inadvertent? Was there nefarious intent? The national digital -- the national data director for the Sanders' campaign who has now been fired for accessing the data said that he did so just to see what was the extent of the exposure of the Sanders' campaign voter files because of this security breach.

He said that the campaign reached no material gain from his actions. And yet two other sources, two Democratic sources who have spoken to CNN, people who are familiar with the program, familiar with the investigation, says that these Sanders' campaign staffers may have gleaned information that's key to the Clinton strategy.

We're talking about information including voter turnout projections in the key early states of Iowa and New Hampshire. We also understand this team of four staffers did searches involving other early states like Nevada, South Carolina, and about 10 states that vote in March. That's a big busy month for primaries, including Florida and Colorado.

Now going back to Iowa and New Hampshire, we understand that these -- the staffers did several searches to look for voter -- to measure voter enthusiasm and voter support. The Clinton campaign scores the voters they come into contact with by how likely they are to come out and caucus for Hillary on caucus night or cast a primary ballot for her. Those get high scores. Lower scoring voters are the ones who are more persuadable.

So this is the kind of information that could be very, very helpful to the Sanders' campaign if they were trying to figure out who to contact in these final weeks heading into those caucuses and those primaries.

I should tell you, though, Fredricka, the Sanders' campaign says that no modeling, no lists, no voter contact lists were exported. No material gain has been reaped here. So you've got two sides to this story here, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Athena Jones, thank you so much. Appreciate that.

So as the Democrats get ready for the big night tonight, the first poll taken since the CNN Republican debate is out. It's the first measurement of which candidate might have gained the most from the event. And in the poll from FOX News, Trump is still the big frontrunner, getting 39 percent support. Ted Cruz, second, with 18 percent. Marco Rubio, 11 percent. Ben Carson then with nine points. And everyone else is at 3 percentage points or less.

The survey largely syncs with other national surveys taken before the debate, showing Trump with a large double-digit lead over Cruz and the rest of the field lagging behind.

So several Republicans are also out on the campaign trail today, including Jeb Bush and Donald Trump. They've been going at it quite a bit ever since things got rather heated at this week's GOP debate. Bush is still lagging in the polls, and today, in New Hampshire, he called Trump a jerk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:05:07] JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Just one other thing, I've got to get this off my chest. Donald Trump is a jerk.

(LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)

BUSH: You can't -- you can't -- you cannot insult your way to the presidency. You can't disparage women, Hispanics, disabled people. Who is he kidding? This country is far better than that. And the idea that he's actually running for president and insulting people is deeply discouraging, to be honest with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Meanwhile, Ted Cruz spoke at a rally just outside of Savannah, Georgia, where he talked about how he thinks the country is in a crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're here this morning because our country is in a crisis. This is not a typical time in politics. We are bankrupting our kids and grandkids. Our constitutional rights are under assault each and every day. And America has receded from leadership of the world and has made the world a much more dangerous place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Let's go to CNN politics reporter, Jeremy Diamond. He is at the Donald Trump campaign event that will be taking place there in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

So Trump is expected to speak there at 3:00 Eastern Time.

So, Jeremy, we talked a little bit on the phone. It doesn't seem that he is really compelled to be silent about his willingness to get into a war of words with other candidates. How's that for diplomacy?

(LAUGHTER)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: That's right. You know, certainly, I think that we can expect to see Donald Trump hitting Jeb Bush again today. You know, he went on a little bit of a Twitter tirade yesterday against Jeb Bush. We've seen this whole week Jeb Bush has been going after Donald Trump. It's kind of a renewed effort from the Bush campaign to say, listen, we're tired of taking hits from Donald Trump, we're tired of just trying to ignore him. We're just going to go after him. And so that's what we're seeing from Jeb Bush.

Now I think he may be starting to get under Donald Trump's skin. You know, Donald Trump for a while had stopped going after Jeb Bush, saying that he had bigger fish to fry, essentially, and this week, you know, we're seeing Trump at it again. Jeb Bush, Donald Trump, the fight is back. So we'll have to see if it comes back here to Iowa today.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and I mean, Trump's showing, he's bristling, even during that, you know, debate, that he seems irritated. Yet we know this FOX poll puts Trump on top after the GOP debate. But Jeb Bush is only at 3 percent. So you really do have to wonder, why, you know, Donald Trump even feels compelled to criticize Bush, to counterpunch or throw the first punch, whichever way you want to look at it.

DIAMOND: Absolutely. I mean, you know, it's interesting, because the one candidate who's closest to Donald Trump in the polls is Ted Cruz. And Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have decided to kind of embrace each other, continuing their mutual detente here, where they're not attacking each other, they're kind of riding it out, and both rising in the polls as we've seen in this latest FOX News poll.

But I think that it goes to Donald Trump's brand. You know, he can't not hit back when somebody hits him. So Jeb Bush is going to attack him this week and Donald Trump, it's getting under his skin and he needs to hit back. You know, that's what his supporters like as well. So I think that we may see that again from him today.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jeremy Diamond in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, thanks so much.

All right. And this just into CNN. Russian president Vladimir Putin says he is ready to use, quote, "more military means in Syria if needed." Putin's remarks came during a gala reception at the Kremlin. He touted what he sees as progress in Russia's military campaign in Syria and indicated that Russia has even more military force it can unleash.

Former CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty joining me now on the phone from Moscow.

So, Jill, why did Vladimir Putin feel the need to say this, or what does he mean that there are more military means to unleash?

JILL DOUGHERTY, FORMER CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well, I think, you know, put it in context, it was a tough talk because he's talking to the security agency people. It was Security Agency Workers' Day, this gala reception, so of course he was going to come up with something that sounded very strong. And he did say, we're not using everything we have there. Our capabilities are not limited to this. And we have additional means and we'll use them if necessary. You know, they have been -- they already have a big operation, this

air operation in Syria, and they have brought in more defenses as time has gone on. They now have air defenses in there, they have missiles, the S-400 missiles, they have fighter planes, not just the bombers that they've been using to hit ISIS and other targets to help the Syrian army.

[13:10:06] So I think what he's saying is, you know, a bit of bravado, telling them that they're doing a good job and that our military is on the case and we can certainly bring in more. You know, they were caught pretty much a little off defense when the Turks shot down that Russian warplane and -- just back in November. And they realized that a lot of their planes were going out without fighter jets around them to protect them. So now they brought in -- they have the S-400, as I mentioned, and fighter jets.

And he notes a little bit of a shot over the bow, I'd say, to Turkey, as they continue their really bad relationship right now with Turkey. And just, basically, a little chest thumping and saying, we've got more where that came from.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jill Dougherty, thank you so much from Moscow, appreciate it.

All right. Coming up, a teenager who killed four people in a DUI crash had vanished. He had argued that he suffered from affluenza, brought up with wealth with no limits. Now he and his mom are missing. That story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. Right now the FBI and U.S. Marshals are broadening their search for the Texas affluenza teen, Ethan Couch. Couch is believed to be on the run with his mother and they may be carrying their passports, which are also missing.

The teen got 10 years probation, no jail time, for killing four people in a drunken driving crash in 2013. The case made national headlines when this rich kid was described in court of having affluenza.

Nick Valencia is with us now more on this. Any leads on their whereabouts?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, last we heard from authorities they believe that Couch and his mother may have left the country, as you were talking about. The father telling Reuters media outlet that both the passports of Ethan Couch, that 18-year-old, and his mother are missing.

[13:15:07] As I mentioned, Couch is suspected of being on the run with his mom, and as it seems, he's willing to do just about anything to avoid jail time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (voice-over): It's this video that eventually led to the manhunt posted on social media this month. The clip seems to show a group of college-aged kids partying while playing beer pong. Among them appears to be Texas teen Ethan Couch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need some ambulances. It's bad. We flipped and, oh, God.

VALENCIA: Two years ago, Couch, then just 16 years old, was sentenced to 10 years probation after killing four people while drunk driving.

ERIC BOYLES, LOST WIFE AND DAUGHTER IN CRASH: And two of those were my wife and daughter.

VALENCIA: His blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit. As part of a deal, Couch agreed to stay away from alcohol or end up going to jail. In a bizarre defense, Couch's attorney convinced the judge that Couch was a victim of affluenza, the product of wealth and privilege with parents who never taught him the difference between right and wrong.

Listen to what Couch's mother said during a deposition from one of the victim's civil suits against her son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When's the last time you recall disciplining Ethan for anything?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't remember.

VALENCIA: Now the teen and his mother have gone missing. Couch apparently fled shortly after this video was made public, apparently to avoid violating the probation deal. According to Reuters, the teen's father told law enforcement the passports of both Couch and his mother are also gone.

SHERIFF DEE ANDERSON, TARRANT COUNTY, TEXAS: I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.

VALENCIA: County Sheriff Dee Anderson tried to lock up Couch two years ago.

ANDERSON: I think this was planned. And I believe that they planned to get away. And I believe they're going to run far and try to hide.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: Authorities were tipped that Couch was missing after he failed to show up to a meeting with his parole officer. As I mentioned, it was shortly after that video was released. We heard from the U.S. Marshal Service yesterday, they are offering up to $5,000 for information leading to Couch's whereabouts -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And so, obviously, authorities have talked to the father.

VALENCIA: Yes.

WHITFIELD: He said the passports are missing. Did he at least from the viewpoint of law enforcement seem to know anything? VALENCIA: Well, that's something that's a great point. We were

trying to get in touch with the father. We have been trying to get in touch with the father. He's only given that one interview to Reuters. So we don't really know, you know, what else he has to say. We do know, though, that he was also caught up in his own criminal past, even impersonating a police officer. He was fined about $2500 for that.

But he -- excuse me, he's been very quiet throughout this whole time. You know, this case happened two years ago, 2013. Two years into this 10-year probation, where Couch says, I will stay away from alcohol. I won't have any alcohol either, I won't participate in that. That video comes out and he takes off. So his probation was for 10 years and he only got two years into that. So now they're looking for him.

WHITFIELD: All right. And now potentially facing something much more serious.

All right, thanks so much, Nick Valencia. Appreciate that.

VALENCIA: You got it, Fred. All right.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk politics, straight ahead. All week, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have been going at it on where they stand on immigration.

Is that the right approach to win over voters? We'll discuss, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:21:30] WHITFIELD: All right. We're a little more than a month away from the Iowa caucus and Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Texas Senator Ted Cruz are out on the campaign trail today, jockeying to become the Republican alternative to frontrunner Donald Trump.

All week, the two have been feuding about their immigration positions and Rubio's Senate attendance record. Cruz producing this ad, in fact.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: Securing our borders and stopping illegal immigration is a matter of national security. That's why I fought so hard to defeat President Obama and the Republican establishment's Gang of Eight amnesty plan. Their misguided plan would have given Obama the authority to admit Syrian refugees, including ISIS terrorists. That's just wrong.

When it comes to radical Islamic terrorism, I think we need to rediscover Ronald Reagan's strategy. We win, they lose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So what Cruz didn't say in the ad is that he offered an amendment that would have given the undocumented illegal immigrants legal status, but no voting rights. Larry Sabato joining me now. He is the director at the Center of

Politics at the University of Virginia.

So, Larry, is this battle over immigration something that will resonate? I mean, Marco Rubio, in fact, was, you know, accusing Ted Cruz of kind of changing his story on immigration during the debate.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: It's important, Fred. It really is, because after all, Donald Trump was originally powered like a rocket by the immigration issue. And Ted Cruz, in particular, has been trying to position himself to inherit voters from both Carson -- Ben Carson and Donald Trump, if Trump ever fades. So this is an important debate.

The truth is, both of them, that is, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, have evolved over time. And I know that's a shock to people, that politicians would change their positions. But they both have evolved. And they've become tougher on immigration as the Republican base has become tougher.

WHITFIELD: Hmm. And speaking of evolution, while there was this, you know, a little bit of duking out between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, now there's this, you know, kind of bromance that's being described, you know. And that's kind of strange. And it's also weird that today, Ted Cruz actually called Marco Rubio a friend after, you know, that kind of strange exchange of words in recent, what, 48, 72 hours as well? So what's going on here?

SABATO: A lot of yin and yang, Fred. And the truth is, again, they are competitors, but they're also hoping that something will happen to cause the other candidate or candidates to get out and they want to be able to inherit those voters. And so if they're too hot, they're too critical, then their voters won't go to them.

WHITFIELD: All right. So Ted Cruz, he reacted also to this FOX News poll today, showing Trump with a very sizable lead. Cruz called it irrelevant, because, he says, we're still a year away from the general election. So is he right? What's with the power of the polls or is there no power?

SABATO: Well, that's a national poll. Most of the polls we've been seeing are national polls. And they're interesting and they tell you a lot, except for one thing. We have a state-by-state system, and as we all know, from election cycle after election cycle, it's Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina, really, that at least set the table. They caused some winnowing in the field, wore some candidate out.

[13:25:04] And Ted Cruz is doing much better in Iowa. In fact, in some polls, he's leading Donald Trump. That's what Ted Cruz is really referring to.

WHITFIELD: OK. And then, just hours away from the debate this evening, the Democratic debate, and, you know, what is the logic behind these Saturday debates, the next one being on Sunday? You've got some of the candidates who say, you know, this gives Hillary Clinton an unfair advantage and that the DNC was thinking about that when they created this, yet at the same time, you know, the DNC will say, all of the camps agreed to this scheduling. So what gives? To whose advantage are Saturday night or Sunday night debates?

SABATO: Well, maybe millions of Americans, Fred, are canceling their holiday parties this evening.

WHITFIELD: Yes --

SABATO: To watch the Democratic debate, but I kind of doubt that's occurring. Look, the assumption was that this plan was put forward by the DNC, whether they ever admit it or not, to help Hillary Clinton.

I don't know that it does. I think in the long run, she may regret or the DNC may regret hiding these debates because it's important that voters see the candidates, all the way along in the campaign. It helps a candidate in the fall, eventually in the real debates, the tough, general election debates.

WHITFIELD: All right. Larry Sabato, thank you so much. Good to see you. Appreciate it.

SABATO: Nice to see you. Nice to see you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Excellent.

All right. Straight ahead, an urgent message from a former al Qaeda recruiter. An American who says Washington needs to make changes fast to compete with these often grisly ISIS propaganda videos that draw people to its ranks. His advice in a CNN exclusive, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. After the Fed raised short-term interest rates, mortgage rates inched higher this week. Here's a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:30:29] WHITFIELD: All right. Hello, and welcome back.

President Obama met privately with the families of the San Bernardino victims. His visit comes 2 1/2 weeks after 14 people were murdered and 17 others injured. The president says he was moved by the strength of those families.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you met some of these folks, despite the pain and the heartache that they're feeling, they could not have been more inspiring. And more proud of their loved ones and more insistent that something good comes out of this tragedy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. The president is now in Hawaii for his holiday vacation. He landed in Honolulu early this morning. Investigators say the California killers were ISIS sympathizers and

it's still unclear how they were radicalized, but often it happens online.

We have an exclusive look now at how that often plays out from an American who inspired others who wage jihad.

Here's Elizabeth Cohen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He admits he was once one of the most effective al Qaeda recruiters in the United States.

ABU HURRIYA, FORMER AL QAEDA RECRUITER: I went to prison for propagandizing on behalf of a terrorist organization.

COHEN: For his personal safety, we've disguised his voice. We can't use his real name or show his face or even say where he is. But now Abu Huriya, a U.S. citizen, regrets what he did and wants to use his expertise to keep others from being recruited.

HURRIYA: I hurt so many people. These are couple of individuals that I influenced are now dead. And I have to walk around with that for the rest of my life.

COHEN: He has a message for the United States government -- if you want to stop terrorists from radicalizing young people online, get your act together and fast.

HURRIYA: This looks like it was done on, like, Windows Movie Maker.

COHEN: Because videos like this one from the State Department --

HURRIYA: This is low-level production quality.

COHEN: -- can't compete with videos like this one from ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are the soldiers of Allah, their honor is in jihad.

COHEN: So what's so powerful about this video?

HURRIYA: Look at the moving imagery, the animation, the fast movement. It's done with computer generated graphics. You see the movement, the very good graphic design skills. This is not done by amateurs. It's far superior to what is being done on the other side.

COHEN: He says ISIS knows its target audience. It's the gaming generation. So just like in games, ISIS uses a lot of symbols.

HURRIYA: The notion is that the entire world community, the United Nations, the U.S. government, its primary leaders, and even the soldiers on the ground are in one grand conspiracy.

COHEN: He says the U.S. campaign on the other hand is preachy.

(On camera): Is this going to dissuade a young girl from joining?

HURRIYA: No, she'd consider it government propaganda. Again, it would actually prove probably counter effectual. The help that story that -- you know, that narrative that the U.S. is at war with Islam.

COHEN (voice-over): Another thing about the terrorist target audience, he says, is that they're lost souls like he used to be.

HURRIYA: Early in life I came from a traumatized and very dysfunctional family. The online community was very warm and welcoming. And then as I got engaged more and more I met the people that have similar story that were very kind, very, very, very giving.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Abu Muslim. I am your brother in Islam here in Syria.

HURRIYA: And now he has joined this movement and every day he's able to hold a coalition standing in front of black flag, pray with his brothers that are like-minded. It sends a sense of community. It's a very powerful narrative.

COHEN (on camera): And it also basically looks like sort of a brotherhood.

HURRIYA: It is a brotherhood, yes. For them it is a brotherhood.

COHEN (voice-over): This State Department video portraying a former ISIS captive isn't nearly as emotional, he says. The main character looks cartoonish and you never actually see him talk.

(On camera): He doesn't look real.

HURRIYA: Yes. They would just believe that's an actor.

COHEN (voice-over): Alberto Fernandez used to run the State Department's campaign to fight ISIS propaganda.

ALBERTO FERNANDEZ, MIDDLE EAST RESEARCH INSTITUTE: It was a small operation against a colossus of messaging from the Islamic State.

COHEN (on camera): Did you feel like the White House was committed to the mission? To what you were trying to do?

FERNANDEZ: It depends on what day you talk to them.

COHEN: What does that mean?

FERNANDEZ: It means that they varied according to the circumstances, you know. If there was criticism in the media, if, you know, John Oliver made a joke about the work of our operation, it kind of, you know, caused them to get flustered. So it depended on the day, on the event, on what happened.

[13:35:02] COHEN: So one joke on a comedy show would make them anxious?

FERNANDEZ: Yes.

COHEN (voice-over): The State Department says they beefed up their staff for anti-ISIS messaging. At a talk this week, State Department Undersecretary Richard Stengel said he knows his department has work to do.

RICHARD STENGEL, STATE DEPARTMENT UNDERSECRETARY: It is a big challenge. And it is a difficult challenge for government because government doesn't always move rapidly and nimbly.

COHEN: Abu Hurriya says if we don't want any more attacks like in San Bernardino, Chattanooga, Boston, the government must learn to catch up to the terrorists online. No more videos that look like this.

HURRIYA: If we juxtapose that against some of the propaganda of ISIS, we find that it can't compete.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's talk more about this with CNN law enforcement and military analyst, Jonathan Gilliam.

So, Jonathan, hearing that, how alarming is it to you that this person is saying, you know, the U.S. is outdated in its video production quality and that is key in recruitment and that's the upper hand that ISIS has?

JONATHAN GILLIAM, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT AND MILITARY ANALYST: Well, I think that was probably one of the best interviews and overall segments I've seen explaining how the breakdown from experts that we have running these different agencies, how big this breakdown is when you get to what's actually effective on the ground. I mean, the individual that was being interviewed there, is somebody who should actually be, you know, telling -- or his advice should be taken by these -- I'm almost speechless after watching that, because the two people from the State Department, you know, I think his name was Rodriguez and then -- I don't even know the other two guys' names.

But I know they're not Arabic names. So that tells me that the two people that were in charge of those areas don't know that community. So it doesn't mean anything to me. I mean, they should be looking for people that know that community to effectively stop the recruitment.

WHITFIELD: Well, I guess that's part of the -- that's been an obstacle, has it not? I mean, that no one has been able to -- unless you've been a part of, you know, this mission of recruitment, it's difficult to know the tactics that have been used. So it's a bit of an enigma for everyone, and this kind of really highlights even more so, perhaps for the government. If you don't know your enemy, right? Then it's difficult to know how to best be equipped to take it on.

So now this has been revealed in a way that perhaps has been enlightening for a lot of people, not just you and me. What, now, does the State Department or does national security do with this kind of information, to then say, you know, an investment has to be made within the U.S. government to better counteract this kind of message that's going out on the Internet, these video game-like recruitment tactics?

GILLIAM: Well, they need to stop paying attention to what "The Daily Show" is saying and how people are reacting there and they need to start looking at really millennials and seeing how do millennials react to things, and then, basing their -- you know, our counter propaganda on how, you know, these millennials react to this stuff, because that's who's getting recruited over there. You're not seeing people my age that are getting recruited over there. It's the very young individuals who are trying to find themselves, generally. And that's who needs to be targeted.

I don't -- you know, Fred, there's just a huge breakdown between what is operationally correct, and what executives in the government think is correct. And that's the case across the board. That seriously needs to be looked at.

WHITFIELD: And in that interview, we also heard, you know, he even admitted that he kind of felt, you know, like his family life was a mess. He felt like he was a mess. And so he was looking for a place, a group that would help correct him. And that's part of the recruiting tool.

GILLIAM: Well, that -- and that's the recruiting tool for everything. You know, military recruiters in the United States, they go and they try to recruit young people who don't really maybe have a direction when they get out of high school. Do they go to college, you know, do they get a job? And they're perfect candidates for the military. The same thing goes here.

They're looking for people inside the Islamic community that are lost or that their lives aren't fulfilled or they're looking for direction. And then they inspire them with these -- you know, these videos that are similar to a video game and heroes that they can present to them that are battle-heartened.

I mean, this is a very simple thing for us to get ahead of. We just have to look at what's effective. I mean, they could talk to the media any day of the week and figure out what's effective at reaching millennials.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jonathan Gilliam, thanks so much. Good to see you.

GILLIAM: You got it, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. The third Democratic presidential debate is tonight, but the gloves have already come off. The Clinton camp accusing the Sanders' camp of stealing Clinton's voter data and Sanders' camp filing a lawsuit against his own party, the DNC.

[13:40:08] The new details, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Three men in the U.S. are being charged with separate attempts to support terror groups. One in California, another in Pennsylvania and a third near Washington.

CNN's Polo Sandoval says authorities confiscated ammunition and untangling a rat's nest of social media accounts used to communicate with the terrorist organizations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We have to remain vigilant here at home.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Newly unsealed court documents paint a clearer picture of the government's efforts to catch potential terrorists before they strike.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm literally shocked.

SANDOVAL: People in Fremont, California, are stunned over allegations made against Adam Shafi. The 22-year-old man was stopped by the feds as he tried boarding a flight from San Francisco to Turkey last summer. Wiretaps reveal Shafi believed America is the enemy, and he said to a friend, "I am content to die with them," referring to the terror group al-Nusra Front.

The FBI believes he was headed to join the organization when he was stopped. Shafi's legal team denies those allegations, saying their client was simply on a humanitarian mission. In a statement, his attorney says Adam is innocent and he sought to assist Syrian refugees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty crazy, you know, when it's right here at home. It's a different story.

SANDOVAL: People in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, are reacting to the arrest of their 19-year-old neighbor Jalil Aziz. He is believed to have spread ISIS rhetoric on social media using at least 57 individual Twitter accounts. Prosecutors alleged the young man also shared the names and addresses of U.S. service members calling for violence against him.

High capacity magazines, ammunition, and a survival kit were found in Aziz's home last month. Investigators say it is all evidence he planned to launch an attack in the U.S.

[13:45:05] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was quiet. You never would have known.

SANDOVAL: About an hour from the nation's capital, Mohammed al Elshinawy is believed to have received almost $9,000 to finance a terror attack on U.S. soil. The 30-year-old Maryland man reportedly took to social media pledging his allegiance to ISIS. He allegedly told a childhood friend he was a soldier of the state.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Paolo Sandoval, thanks so much for that reporting. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Ahead of tonight's Democratic presidential debate, a last-minute agreement between Bernie Sanders and the Democratic National Committee. Allowing the Sanders campaign to regain access to crucial voter files.

The DNC cut off Sanders from a voter database saying the campaign wrongly accessed private data that belonged to Hillary Clinton's campaign. Sanders' campaign filed a lawsuit last night claiming the DNC was handing out a death penalty by revoking access. That access has now been restored.

All right. Jennifer Palmieri is the director of communications for the Hillary Clinton campaign. Joining us now from Manchester, New Hampshire, the site of tonight's debate.

Good to see you.

JENNIFER PALMIERI, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN: Nice to be with you. Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: So, Jennifer, how huge of a distraction is this now heading into tonight's debate?

PALMIERI: Well, I guess I would say that we're glad that the issue was somewhat resolved in that the DNC and Sanders campaign has come to an agreement. And that the Sanders campaign has agreed to an independent audit of the matter. There was a lot of -- we would like to know, for example, what was the data virus that they actually took, and stored, and so we'd like to know that. And other questions. So it's great that that has been agreed to.

What Hillary Clinton would like to talk about in the debate is not this, but, you know, she has put forward a lot of plans in terms of how we're going to deal with ISIS, keep the country safe, and even moreover, we know families in New Hampshire are going to want to hear about how you're going to address their economic troubles from affording college to rising health care costs. So that is what she's hoping to be able to talk about tonight.

[13:50:22] WHITFIELD: OK. And so I wonder, you know, you said while you're still trying to figure out the how and the why, what kind the Bernie Sanders camp may have gained from this, argue, are you happy with the fact that this is a case that did, you know, mean a federal court had to weigh in, and -- or at least the filing was made and that the DNC has now said, OK, you can, you know, regain access to the database even though it doesn't mean reaching into the Hillary Clinton files?

PALMIERI: Yes, we want -- we think that campaigns should have access to their voter files. We wanted to make sure they didn't have access to our voter files. And, you know, we think that the independent audit is the right way to go here because, frankly, the Sanders campaign misrepresented a lot of facts yesterday. They said that this was a mistake done by a low-level staffer.

But what we've learned, what the logs of the vendor from the voter files show is that it wasn't one person. It was four people. It wasn't inadvertent, they did 25 targeted searches to take our data. And they didn't -- they actually stored the data. They stored it in their file. And they even tried to export it. They tried to put it -- they tried to put in Excel sheet and e-mail it to themselves. So --

WHITFIELD: So do you --

PALMIERI: We feel like it's a lot more complicated and troubling than the Sanders campaign has said in the last two days. And we think that they still have a lot to account for. And we hope that they will do that. Certainly the independent audit should get at that.

WHITFIELD: OK. So from one person to four people, do you think it goes as far up as Bernie Sanders? How much do you think he knew about this or even advocated, participated in this kind of breach?

PALMIERI: Well, that's not something -- that's not what I'm going to speculate about. I know that -- I know that, apparently, Senator Sanders didn't even know about it until Thursday night when he learned -- he didn't learn about it from his staff. He learned about it from Congressman Wasserman-Schultz. But we just want -- those are questions for the independent audit to look at. But it's clear that the Sanders campaign has misrepresented what this was. It was very intentional, it was very targeted. These people knew what they were doing, they knew the value of the stat, these stats that our campaign and our volunteers have worked very hard to compile, to put together an organization and, you know, they -- we hope that -- we don't know how much they actually were able to see and gained access and advantage from. But hopefully, we will find that out in the audit.

WHITFIELD: And then -- and then what is the Hillary Clinton campaign saying? How is it responding to the fact that whether it be Bernie Sanders or even Martin O'Malley saying that the DNC is showing in many different ways, including these debates happening on a Saturday night and then eventually on a Sunday, that they're showing some deference to Hillary Clinton? What's your response to that?

PALMIERI: So I don't know why people would think that Hillary Clinton doesn't want to debate -- doesn't want a lot of people to see the debates. We loved it that the CNN debate that you all sponsored had a record number of viewership. As you may have noted, when Hillary Clinton debates, her numbers go up and her opponents' numbers go down. This is a great platform for her. She does terrific in it.

Perhaps the television networks are not as interested as the cable news network is in broadcasting a television debate on a primetime slot, like you all are interested. And they want to do it on the weekends. That's a decision up to them. We really hope a lot of people tune into this. They did in the last two debates. And as big of an audience that Hillary Clinton can have for these debates, we hope -- you know, we are happy, we want to get -- make sure as many eyeballs are able to see and hear from her.

WHITFIELD: So these are strictly network decisions, not DNC decisions with the endorsement coming from each individual campaign?

PALMIERI: No, it's a decision -- you know, it's a decision by the television networks what night they prefer to do it. Like I said, CNN did it on a weekday. It got you all -- your first debate that you all hosted had a record number of viewers of any Democratic primary debate, even those from 2008, we thought that was terrific. She is -- the debate stage is probably the best platform for Hillary Clinton. She is able to talk about issues, it's so clear that she's got plans for what she wants to do.

WHITFIELD: OK.

PALMIERI: And we would -- so we hope that even though it's a Saturday night that a lot of people are tuning in.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, all of us in the news community will be, of course.

Jennifer Palmieri, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Good to see you. Appreciate it.

All right. Make sure you do tune in.

PALMIERI: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Because tonight on CNN, while we may not be hosting the debate, we are talking about it afterwards with our own Wolf Blitzer and the best political team on television. This special Democratic debate coverage and analysis beginning at 10:30 tonight right here on CNN.

We'll be right back.

[13:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: OK. It would seem the biggest thing on earth right now is from a galaxy far, far away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's stories about what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: You knew where I was going with this. The "Force Awakens" is shattering box office records, taking down Harry Potter's latest film on opening night, making more than $120 million.

It's such a big deal that storm troopers and droids took over the White House briefing on Friday. And President Obama ended his last news conference of the year with this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: OK, everybody. I've got to get to "Star Wars."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Something tells me he had a private screening right there on Air Force One on his way to Hawaii.

All right. Joining me right now to talk about all of this is CNN Money reporter Frank Pallota.

Frank, no, this cannot be true. You've already seen it. Not once, but twice?

FRANK PALLOTA, CNN MONEY REPORTER: And I'm probably going to go tonight, again, to see it in 3D.

WHITFIELD: You're kidding. What? What did you miss?

PALLOTA: Fredricka, I don't have a life. This is my life right now.

WHITFIELD: Clearly.

PALLOTA: This is. It's a great life, though. It's so much fun.

WHITFIELD: That's pretty nice to have all that free time. I admire that. OK.

PALLOTA: When I'm not here, I'm at a theater for "Star Wars."

WHITFIELD: OK. That's all right. That's not a bad gig at all.

All right. So explain these box office numbers. I mean, clearly, if you're about to see it the third time, then you agree with everyone else who says this is a huge hit.

PALLOTA: These numbers, as Darth Vader would say, are impressive. Most impressive. It's unchartered territory. Not only did it make $120 million, it beat, as you said, Harry Potter, the original record, by nearly $30 million. And it's projected to beat "Jurassic World's" record for biggest weekend by a big margin, too. And they're projecting around $220 million, but some analysts have it going as high as maybe $250 million, maybe even higher than that. This is incredible. There's no other way to say it.

WHITFIELD: It is incredible. I am going to check it out.