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Counterterrorism Official Says More Attacks Planned; Manhunt in Brussels for Terror Suspect; US Presidential Candidates Talk about Security; European Commission President Calls for Database for Travelers in Europe; Mozambique Debris Reportedly Highly Likely from Missing Malaysian Flight. Aired Midnight-1a ET

Aired March 24, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:18] MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Max Foster; it is 5:00 a.m. here in Brussels and a major manhunt is under way as investigators looking into Tuesday's deadly bombings say this may just be the beginning.

Counterterrorism official says more attacks in Europe are imminent, and ISIS operatives may have already picked out their targets. Authorities now believe ISIS bomb maker Najim Laachraoui, on the left in this picture, was one of the two suicide bombers at the Brussels airport. They say the other man is the man in the middle, that's Ibrahim el Bakroui; and prosecutors say his brother Kalid, was the subway suicide bomber. Authorities don't know who the third man is in the surveillance picture but they're searching for him.

U.S. President, Barack Obama, traveling in Argentina say the bombings have only stiffened resolve to defeat ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The United States will continue to offer any assistance that we can to help investigate these attacks and bring attackers to justice. We will also continue to go after ISIL, aggressively, until it is removed from Syria and removed from Iraq and is finally destroyed. The world has to be united against terrorism, and we can, and we will defeat, those who threaten the safety and security, not only of our own people, but of people all around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, CNN has complete team coverage of the attacks here in Brussels. This hour we'll hear from Atika Shubert at the hospital, working to identify attack victims. Fred Pleitgen reports from the neighborhood where the attackers were hiding out, and we'll have reports from the rest of our team of correspondents throughout the next several hours.

Now, investigators say they believe Najim Laachraoui is the one who made the bombs used, not only in the Brussels attack but also in Paris in November. Tim Lister has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM LISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This man had become the most wanted in Europe, Najim Laachraoui. Now Belgian and French official says he was the second bomber killed at Brussels airport, the day after he was named as wanted in connection with the Paris attacks. Laachraoui had been caught on surveillance video at a Western Union office in Brussels back in November. He and another man sent money to the cousin of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, days before she and Abaaoud were both killed in the French police raid on an apartment in Paris where they were hiding, and planning another attack. But then he was named as Soufiane Kayal, an alias he used.

He's emerged as a key figure in the Paris plot. Traces of his DNA were found on the explosives used in the Paris attacks, according to French sources. Belgian prosecutors say Laachraoui's DNA was also found at an apartment in the Schaerbeek district of Brussels, where bomb making equipment was found in December, and in another property used by the Paris attackers in the Belgian town of Schalwar (ps), which he'd rented under a false name in October.

Investigators believe Laachraoui was a key figure in the Paris attacks, not only as the likely bomb maker, but coordinating the attacks on that Friday night in November.

Laachraoui was born in Morocco but brought up in Belgian. According to Belgian media he studied electrical mechanical engineering at a college in Brussels. He appears to have gone to Syria early in 2013, and that's where his skills may have been put to bomb making. It's not clear when Laachraoui came back to Europe, but he did travel through Austria and Hungary in September last year with Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member among the Paris attackers, who was arrested at this apartment in the Belgian capital last Friday.

Most troubling, Laachraoui at some point managed to re-enter Belgium undetected, even though there was an international arrest warrant for him, and to begin plotting the attacks that have shaken Europe.

Tim Lister, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: CNN International Correspondent Atika Shubert joins me now. She is here in Brussels. Atika, can we now assume that one network was responsible for both the Brussels attack, but also the Paris attacks at the end of last year?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, via satellite: Well, I think it's looking increasingly likely that these are two connected attacks. The question is how big is the network? We know for example, that they're looking for at least one suspect here, possibly more. And there could be a support network behind it.

I mean, of course, the big concern here is that even though they were able to arrest Salah Abdeslam, who engaged in the Paris attacks, just a few days ago, [00:05:01] clearly they weren't able to root out the entire network. It's not even known if they know of the entire network. So this is a big challenge for intelligence and security officials here.

FOSTER: And how is the reaction been here in Brussels? I know you're at the hospital, for example, that had to cope with this horrendous onslaught.

SHUBERT: Yes, I think it's still very much a city in shock. At the hospitals is really where you feel it the most. That's where so many of the victims have been brought, and where many of the families are

gathering, to try and find their loved ones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: The attack shattered the Belgian city of Brussels. The hospitals are still coping the influx of victims.

We're standing outside of the Royal Military Hospital, here in Brussels, and this is where at least 80 of the victims from the airport blast were brought to, suffering from multiple burns and shrapnel wounds.

The entrance was transformed into an emergency ward designed to be used in war or natural disaster. Many now have been transferred to the specialized burns unit, though the hospital is also working with investigators to identify the dead. Jan Veys was among the first medics at the airport.

What was the first thing that you saw when you got to the scene?

JAN VEYS, MEDIC: Dust, chaos; people shouting; crying; all people crossing; help here; over here. It was -- I'd never seen it before. It was a war zone.

SHUBERT: For 20 years he has served as a military medic in places like Afghanistan but he has never seen anything like this. A bomb that investigators believe was packed with nails and bolts.

VEYS: I saw a lot of people with holes in their body. The people were hit by pieces of -- I saw children with wounds that -- penetrating wounds. So it has to be explosion device. Things are flying around with great power.

SHUBERT: Outside the hospital, soldiers stand guard. The Belgian flag flies at half-staff.

Do you also have a picture of your girlfriend? 25-year-old Jonathan Salamani is searching for his girlfriend, 24-year-old Sabrina El Faisal. They have a 1-year-old son. What kind of a person is she?

JONATHAN SALAMANI, SEARCHING FOR GIRLFRIEND: She is very shy. She is short, and she is -

SHUBERT: Strong?

SALAMANI: Strong, yes.

SHUBERT: She's a strong person?

SALAMANI: Yes.

SHUBERT: Jonathan has set up a Facebook page for information. He says she was studying to be a botanist and on her way to school when the bomb ripped through the train car. Her last iPhone location was near the metro

station.

Are you worried that maybe she has been injured and maybe unconscious?

SALAMANI: I don't think. I don't think. I don't know what I think about this.

SHUBERT: At hospitals across Brussels, the heartbreaking search for answers continues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: Unfortunately, Max, because of the nature of the explosion, many of those killed have been very difficult to identify. Their bodies are simply -- have simply been dismembered by the blast and this is why it's taking so long for investigators to figure out who was killed and to notify

their families.

FOSTER: Okay, Atika, thank you. As Atika was saying, the more investigators dig, the more connections they're finding to those Paris attacks, last year in November; and there is a growing concern that more attacks are now in the works.

Joining me now from Los Angeles is CNN's Intelligence and Security Analyst, Bob Baer. Thank you for joining us, Bob. The reason people are thinking this is that the two sets of attacks were linked. We had no -- or the security services have no specific intelligence, they say, that the Brussels attacks were in the works. So we can therefore assume there will be more in the works right now.

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: I think it's almost inevitable and it won't be just Belgium. I think Britain is to follow, maybe more attacks in France. These communities of North African origin are very tight-knit. It's very difficult for the European services to get inside of them. They were ignored for so many years and a lot of people in those communities simply identify with the people dying in the wars in Iraq and Syria.

So, you know, getting sources inside these groups is nearly impossible. I know the Americans don't have them. We gave this to the Europeans. And I think the fact that they're finding so many bombs, and the more apartments they take down, I think they're shocked by the amount of armament and the number of followers and how big the network was, connected to Paris, and now Brussels. So I think they're right there, there will be more attacks.

FOSTER: So many resources went into the investigations following the Paris [00:10:02] attacks, resources from the U.S. as well as from across Europe. Surely they could have found some sort of connection with this later set of attacks. I know they didn't know these attacks were coming, but clearly there are overlapping networks here and the security services seem to have had no idea that they existed.

BAER: Well, I think one problem is they depend so much on data mining. So they looked at the phones connected to the Paris attacks, and they didn't see those connects in Belgium, because these people are very good at hiding communications. They're not communicating at all. They're communicating with couriers or encrypted communication systems or whatever they're doing, apps, wicker, telegram and on and on and on; and they just can't get into them. Those messages erase right away. So there is no reconstructing the network based on the data mining. This is why they miss so many.

It's over-simplistic to say they're incompetent because it's not true. They've been really working hard at this. We had the same problems in Baghdad at the beginning of the war, 2004-2005. You know, running these networks down, but the United States essentially ended the momentum in Iraq by 2006 and '07 by using commando operations where you're kicking down doors. You've got drones everywhere. And are we prepared to turn Brussels and Paris into militarized cities in the same way Baghdad was? No. Listen, I mean, the Europeans are between a rock and a hard place.

FOSTER: But they could be using their resources better is the argument. They're not coordinating their resources, pooling their resources; and that's one of the issues here. If you actually got the UK resources together with the French and the Belgian resource, for example, you could use them more effectively and you could drill down in a more effective way.

BAER: A single database, exactly, Max. A single database would -- even the United States databases are not combined between the CIA, border protection, the FBI, and they have to hand-carry traces. That's the Europeans do and it's very inefficient and people fall between the cracks.

Yes; you're, absolutely right, but the Europeans right now are not inclined -- the Germans are not going share their databases with the French or the Belgians or anybody else, or the British. Nor is the United States going to let the Europeans into the National Security Agency, which has a lot of these names. I mean, they have to suspect somebody. They carry the name to the National Security Agency; they look it up. It's very time consuming and very inefficient.

FOSTER: Okay, Bob; thank you very much, indeed, for your analysis. Lots of questions being asked right now about how investigators are handling all of this and the follow-up, if any; how it plays into any future attacks, if they're imminent.

Investigators are finding valuable evidence in a northeastern Brussels neighborhood. They were first tipped off to Schaerbeek by a taxi driver who recognized the airport bombing suspects. Fred Pleitgen is there and has details of what the police found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: According to the authority, an apartment in this building in the district of Schaerbeek was used as the main bomb making factory, both for the attack on the Brussels airport and the one on the metro as well. The police say that they have recovered some 15 kilograms, or almost 40 pounds of the explosive TATP, as well as chemicals, screws which, of course, are often used to mix into explosive devices to make them even more deadly, and also an ISIS flag inside one of the apartments in that building.

Now we were able to speak to someone who says that he lived on the same floor as the alleged attackers, and he says he barely saw them around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, via translator: I've never seen them except within time I came across one that was skinny. I said hello and I greeted him. Bonjour, but he didn't respond, and I never saw them again, and I feel scared.

PLEITGEN: The raid here in Schaerbeek lasted several hours. It involved a lot of police officers and also police helicopters with what appeared to be police snipers glancing through an open door of the helicopter, and repeatedly pointing their rifles. Now afterwards forensic teams worked pretty much the entire night. They recovered a lot of things from this apartment building, but they also recovered something in a garbage can outside. A laptop that appeared to contain something like the will of one of the attackers, where he was apparently saying that he felt the police was on to him and that he felt that if they did not come through with this plot quickly, that maybe they would wind up going to jail just like Salah Abdeslam.

Authorities fear that people involved in both the Brussels attack and the Paris attack could still be at large and could still pose a threat to society here in Belgium, and possibly in other places in Europe. But they also hope that at least some of the things that they have recovered from this apartment complex here in Schaerbeek could be tracked down some of those people and bring them to justice.

[00:15:01] Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Brussels, Belgium.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Joining me now is Mirren Gidda, she's a reporter for "Newsweek," and she's reported extensively from Schaerbeek. You were there yesterday, weren't you? Horrendous situation for people trying to live normal lives there.

MIRREN GIDDA, REPORTER, "NEWSWEEK": Absolutely; and it was very, very interesting in Schaerbeek. All the shops were shuttered up. There was a school open, but lessons weren't running as normal and it was deserted. It was a very strange district to find yourself in. I spoke to a local grocery store owner. He was the only shop that had opened, and he said people were just very scared. And whether that is scared by the police reprisals or scared of further attacks wasn't quite clear. FOSTER: There's a great sense of despair there, isn't there; because

they have lost faith in the authorities; they have lost faith in some sort of members of the community who seem to be giving up on that sort of Belgian ideal? So they feel as if they got very little people looking after them and caring for them; is that right?

GIDDA: I think there is a feeling across Belgium, perhaps, that police and security forces haven't done as much as they could have. I think in Schaerbeek and Molenbeek as well, the feeling is that they are going to continue to be targeted by the police, that there will be continued raids. I think there's very much a sense of uncertainty and suspicion now towards authority figures.

FOSTER: Well, there is going to be a bigger crackdown there, surely? the security services from around the world are now looking at that one neighborhood thinking we've got a problem there.

GIDDA: Yes; and yesterday, of course, there were raids going on in Schaerbeek. I mean, I went into a cafe and the men said five minutes down the road a house was raided. So certainly they will be focused on it but I think a focus across Europe as well, because as we saw with Paris, these attackers moved across countries. They had a wide spread-out cell. it's perhaps not -- perhaps the focus on France as well as Belgium as well.

FOSTER: And how do you rebuild those connections with the community, if you are the Belgian security services, and you desperately need to find out what people are thinking there?

GIDDA: I mean, that's a very difficult question. I think fundamentally if the community sees you as their enemy or feel that you aren't looking out for them, the trust there is gone.

FOSTER: But that's how a lot of the youth feel there, right?

GIDDA: Well I think talking about Molenbeek in particular, it has youth unemployment of 40-percent. I think certainly, as is the case in cities across the world, where you have low income, unemployed people, there is normally a rift between them and the authority figures.

FOSTER: I think what is really shown itself in that neighborhood, which is a European problem, and you see the same in the UK, where security services can't tap into those grassroots networks, of how they're communicating with Syria, for example, or with ISIS. That's the real problem here, isn't it; that they're not tapping into a level of community where they need to get information?

GIDDA: I think it's very, very difficult. From what we've heard, Molenbeek, for example, where Salah Abdeslam was found, he was there for four or five days and no one in the community would give him up. It's a very close-knit community.

I was speaking to a taxi driver who lives there. He says everyone knows everyone. So getting into the grassroots network you talked about is very, very difficult. FOSTER: But even the families within the network don't seem to know

what is going on. We keep endlessly hearing about mothers who are trying to spot radicalization in their kids and they often don't.

GIDDA: No, and I think it's very much the case that Islamic extremism is always hidden. You know, your average person in the community wouldn't nobody it. Someone said it goes around in whispers and it goes around underground and certainly it's not being shouted from the rooftops at mosques. Where it is preached and talked about is often in people's houses, in ordinary front room.

FOSTER: On their phones.

GIDDA: Yes, exactly. So how can a parent always keep track of that?

FOSTER: Okay; thank you very much. I know you're going to be doing a lot more reporting from here, as are we. We're going to turn now to the airport and look at the frightening scene inside, after the bombs exploded.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:23:04] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm here to support all the Belgians against the terrorists that have already - as a Syrian I have already suffered for (inaudible). It's a Syrian hug.

FOSTER: A free hug from a Syrian refugee. Support is pouring in from everywhere for Brussels after attacks shocked the Belgian capital and beyond. As people around the city, though, mourn their loved ones and pray for the wounded, we're getting a firsthand look at the devastation inside the airport, just after the bombing went off. A taxi driver shot the video as he ran inside to find his son. John Berman has more, and we must warn you that these images are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The first thing you hear are the screams.

[Screaming]

BERMAN: Presumably the wounded crying for help. Debris is everywhere, making it hard for rescue workers to get around. Fires still burning from the blast, bodies buried under the rubble, and this --

[baby crying]

BERMAN: -- a baby in the middle of the wreckage, on the floor next to his mother, who appeared to be dead. The horror doesn't end here.

[00:25:09] Frightened bystanders still try to make it out of the building.

[Screaming] BERMAN: The taxi driver who shot this video reaches the food stand where his son worked, only to find it deserted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Philip?

BERMAN: Outside the terminal, survivors wait for help. Those who are able lend comfort to the wounded, though many inside did not survive. Amid the wreckage and debris, a single flower; perhaps a welcome home for an arriving passenger now buried among the shattered remains of this terror attack.

John Berman, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Really brings it home. By the way, the taxi driver who recorded that video was eventually able to find his son who is safe. We'll be right back with more live from Brussels after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:30:31] MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: You are watching CNN's special coverage of the terror attacks here in Brussels.

There is an urgent manhunt here for an airport bombing suspect and other terrorists. Officials are concerned that Tuesday's terror is part of a much bigger plot. A federal prosecutor says the man on the right, left his suitcase bomb behind the airport on Tuesday. He says it was the heaviest, but also very unstable. Several intelligence officials believe ISIS bomb maker Najim Laachraoui blew himself up at the airport. Authorities previously identified him as a suspect in last year's Paris attacks.

Meanwhile, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker wants quick approval on an EU database for all passengers traveling through Europe. Serge Stroobants is here with me; he is the Brussels representative for the Institute for Economics and Peace. Thank you for joining us.

SERGE STROOBANTS, BRUSSELS REPRESENTATIVE, INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMICS AND PEACE: Good morning.

FOSTER: What big questions do you think the authorities need to be looking at in order for this not to happen again?

STROOBANTS: I think we need to look at causes and consequence. The first time, the first place causes, so why do our young people, even Belgium and even Europe radicalize. So you need to make sure that you target those who are not radicalized yet and make sure that you can identify those who are already radicalized and take (inaudible) process, you know, to reintegrate society. So this is the first thing to do.

There are consequences then to the attacks. You need to make sure that this is not going to happen in the future, or at least limit the risk for this to happen again in the future. And then ask Jean-Claude Juncker as announced yesterday, you need to come up with better policies with better -- I would say more European Union to exchange information, to exchange intelligence, and to exchange data about passengers. So you need to reinforce your system.

FOSTER: We're hearing this a lot, but all of those things you're asking for have huge challenges, not the least finding people before they're radicalized and working with them because, from what we understand, the communities here, where these attackers have been living, don't have good relations with the security services or the police. So they're not getting any information from them.

STROOBANTS: No. The problem, is when you look at the causes of radicalization, both internal and external, this is very difficult to tackle because, of course, when you look at certain causes of radicalization you have those young people not identifying with society, blaming their own family for not having succeeded in the integration process after migration. This is very, very difficult to tackle because you have to review your entire society.

FOSTER: How do you build up those connections and get that intelligence?

STROOBANTS: I mean, through local workers. I mean, this is going on here. We have radicalization units at the Department of Home Affairs, within the City of Brussels. They're work on a daily basis on the --

FOSTER: We're told that about Paris as well.

STROOBANTS: Yes, but this is a very difficult process. I mean, radicalization is a process that can be very quick. I mean, we saw this with Salah Abdeslam and other people from Brussels. In fact, started radicalizing last year and committed to the Paris attacks in November already; but you know, this is a very easy process to recruiters. It's very easy to radicalize.

You know, to go and target the hearts with the religion, Islam as an instrument; but to de-radicalize, to identify and bring them back within society, this is a work that is much longer to do. Every time we do efforts, we in spite of the efforts, it takes one message from a recruiter to destroy this entire work.

FOSTER: The other point you're making is the agencies across Europe need to work more closely together. We were told that was going to happen after Paris. Clearly that's not working either.

STROOBANTS: No; I mean, after Paris, I remember the Belgian prime minister coming out of EU meeting really stressed, really nerved and really disappointed what has been said within the meeting. So there is an urgent need to cooperate. There is an urgent need to more Europe. But what do we see to the contrary here in Europe is that I would say the other extreme, the other radicalization that I would call populism and nationalism is rising up, and I think this is a mistake.

FOSTER: Exactly; and that discourages countries working together.

STROOBANTS: Exactly.

FOSTER: Okay, thank you very much, indeed, for joining us with your analysis.

STROOBANTS: Thank you.

FOSTER: The Belgian attacks have got the U.S. presidential candidates, as well, talking about all of this, and how they'd respond to a terror attack. and we'll have that story for you just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:37:56] [Chanting]

FOSTER: United they stand. Love and support are permeating through Brussels. Hundreds of people gather and chanted in the Belgian capital on Wednesday to honor those killed, wounded, and still missing after the attacks.

We'll have much more from Brussels in just a moment, but now I want to turn to Isha Sesay who is in Los Angeles at a look, Isha, at how the attack is entering the U.S. presidential race as well.

ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Max, thank you. Yes, as investigators in Europe search for suspects tied to the deadly terror attacks, U.S. presidential candidates are responding to the developing situation with their thoughts on how should it be handled. CNN's Phil Mattingly reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Terror and politics once again inextricably linked.

JOHN KASICH (R-OH) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not about patrolling neighborhoods. It's not about shutting our borders down.

MATTINGLY: Twin bombings in Brussels, like the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, shining a spotlight on the 2016 candidates. GOP front-runner Donald Trump saying when it comes to foreign policy, he will keep U.S. enemies guessing.

DONALD TRUMP (R) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, we need unpredictability. The enemy, we have enemies. ISIS is an enemy, and I, frankly, don't want the enemy to know how I'm thinking.

MATTINGLY: Going all in on the use of torture.

TRUMP, via telephone: I think we have to change our law on the waterboarding thing, where they can chop off heads and they can drown people in cages and heavy steel cages, and we can't waterboard.

MATTINGLY: And considering the use of a nuclear weapon against ISIS.

TRUMP: I'm never going to rule anything out.

MATTINGLY: Ted Cruz under pressure from New York City Police officials.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The statements he made today is why he is not going to become president of this country.

MATTINGLY: Defending his own proposal to increase police patrols in U.S. Muslim neighborhoods.

TED CRUZ (R-TX) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, it is that ostrich head in your sand political correctness that has made America so vulnerable.

MATTINGLY: Hillary Clinton challenging both in a sweeping foreign policy speech in California today.

HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can't let fear [00:40:02] stop us from doing what is necessary to keep us safe. Nor can we let it push us into reckless actions that end up making us less safe.

MATTINGLY: Each candidate fighting for position in the wake of the Western Tuesday contest, a day that saw Hillary Clinton come closer to locking up the democratic nomination.

CLINTON: I'm also very proud to have won Arizona tonight.

[Cheering]

MATTINGLY: The delegate split in the GOP, Ted Cruz winning Utah and Donald Trump dominating in Arizona. Another primary night raising questions about the effectiveness of the #stopTrump efforts. Cruz securing the endorsement of former GOP candidate Jeb Bush, pointing to it as another sign the party is coalescing behind his candidacy.

CRUZ: What we're saying all across the country is the momentum is with us. And I'll tell you one of the things that shows that is, this morning, Jeb Bush endorsed our campaign.

MATTINGLY: All coming after a night punctuated by a Twitter exchange, introducing a traditionally off-limits element into the campaign, candidates' spouses, sparked by an anti-Trump Super PAC Facebook ad showing an old modeling photo of his wife Melania. Ted Cruz defending his wife just like a scene in "the American President".

MICHAEL DOUGLAS, ACTOR, "THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT": You want a character to debate, Bob; you better stick with me, because Sydney Ellen Wade is way out of your league.

CRUZ: And if Donald wants to get in a character fight, he is better off sticking with me because Heidi is way out of his league.

MATTINGLY: Heidi Cruz even weighing in on the matter herself.

HEIDI CRUZ, WIFE of TED CRUZ: You probably know by now that most of the things Donald Trump says have no basis in reality. So we are not worried in the least. We are focusing on our campaign. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: That was Phil Mattingly reporting there. Let's bring in Dylan Byers to talk more about the Brussels attack and its impact on U.S. politics. He is CNN's Senior Reporter for Media and Politics. Dylan, always great to have you with us.

Political analysts have long said the way to win elections is to prey on people's fears and go negative. So let me ask you, how is the U.S. public? How are they responding to these comments by Trump and Cruz?

DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER FOR MEDIA AND POLITICS: Well, certainly for the members of both the Trump base and the Cruz base, I think they're responding to this in a big way, which is to say that every single time a terrorist attack like this happens, whether it's Brussels, whether it's Paris, what have you, the fear among the American public kicks up. They believe they could be next. They believe they could have another San Bernardino. So they sort of rally behind those tough statements; and, you know, unfortunately, in 2016 with the rhetoric being sort of as dramatic as it is, we're seeing some really aggressive rhetoric towards the Muslim population in general but for a lot of Americans, they're scared. They're scared of another San Bernardino happening. They're scared that Paris or Brussels could happen here and they're rallying to that.

SESAY: Hillary Clinton, on the democratic side, is trying to make this an argument about temperament, and saying that these comments made by the Republicans show a lack of appropriate temperament for being commander-in-chief; but that's the line that democrats have to walk, right? That of trying to be the grown-ups in the room without sounding weak on --

BYERS: Exactly. So what Hillary Clinton has always tried to do, throughout the 2016 primary, is be the grown-up in the room. The fact that she is running on the other side of the aisle from the likes of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, who happen to be the only horses left in that race, makes her job very easy.

When it comes to matters of terrorism, when it comes to matters of national security, it gets a little harder. She has to seem to simultaneously sound tough, while at the same time upholding what I think many people would agree are the sort of Democratic values that most American citizens stand for. So what she has to do is simultaneously sound like she is experienced, she has been Secretary of State, but she can't -- she can't drift into that sort of rhetoric that the Republicans can so easily drift into, which really does sort of prey upon the fears of many Americans and resonate with them.

SESAY: President Obama is among those who have criticized Ted Cruz for the comments he made about securing and patrolling Muslim communities. I want you take a listen to what he had to say and then give me your thoughts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance, which by the way the father of Senator Cruz escaped, for America. It's contrary to who we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: The president saying it's contrary to who we are, taking a stand again, trying to be a grown-up in all of this. (A) what do you make of what he said, but coupled with that, the optics that have emerged in the last day or so, in fact, the last couple of hours? President Obama as commander-in-chief, in Cuba attending a baseball game, doing the tango on the trip to Argentina. Does it undercut the criticism?

BYERS: Those optics do matter; and look, going to a baseball game, dancing a tango at the time when there is a national security crisis or a global [00:45:02] crisis, that doesn't look great. It wouldn't look great if George W. Bush were doing it eight years ago. That said, the message coming forward from both Obama and Hillary Clinton is one that is consistent with American values going back for a very long time.

The message coming forth from the likes of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, when you talk about monitoring neighborhoods of Muslims, things like that, sounds much more similar to Weimar, Germany. So, at the end of the day, yes, the optics of dancing the Tango and going to baseball games don't look good, but they sort of pale in comparison, I would say, to what's coming out of the Republicans mouths.

SESAY: Dylan, it's great to speak to you. Thank you.

BYERS: Thank you.

SESAY: Appreciate it. All right, we want to turn now to another developing story at this hour. We're hearing from an Australian government official about that plane debris recovered from Mozambique recently, which many were speculating came from MH 370. Matt Rivers joins me from Beijing with the latest. Matt, is the debris from MH 370? What are we learning?

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to the Australian Transportation Ministry that debris found last month in Mozambique, two separate pieces of debris, is "highly likely" to have come from MH

370. That is the word we are getting out of Australia. Those two pieces of debris found last month by two separate individuals were transported from Mozambique to Australia for analysis, and it was today that Australian officials issued this statement saying it's highly likely.

It was shortly after that that we heard a statement from Malaysian transportation officials. In giving a little bit more detail, they say that this debris has the same dimensions, materials, and construction that conformed to the specifications of a Boeing 777 aircraft. And furthermore, the paint and the stenciling on both parts of these pieces of debris are those used by Malaysia Airlines.

So some pretty conclusive evidence there that the debris that was found could be from the missing plane. So, as you might imagine, that kind of news reverberating among the families of those who were on board that plane. We've spoken to two separate families here in China, over the phone, this morning. Here is some of what they have to say.

The first, Steve Weng, whose mother was on board says, "Personally I think all this information is useful for us in finding the plane. What family members have found so far is close to nothing. I think all information on the missing plane is crucial as long as it is carefully studied and proven." We're also hearing from Jiang Hua whose mother was on board. He says, "Finding the plane debris does not equal to finding our loved ones." So some very emotional times here as more information continues to comes in about this missing plane.

SESAY: Yes, understandably it is an emotional time for people who just want some definitive answers. Matt Rivers joining us there from Beijing. Appreciate it; thank you so much.

And let's get back to Brussels now with Max Foster; Max?

FOSTER: Isha, we're learning more about the victims of the Brussels terror attacks. Next, we've got stories of lives forever lost or changed. Plus, the search for those who are still missing.

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[00:52:20] FOSTER: Two people taking in the scene here at the memorial, and we're learn more about the victims of the heinous terror attacks here in Brussels.

The past two days have been brutal for the families of the 31 people killed and the more than 200 people injured. Those who have relatives and friends missing are desperately holding on to hope. Here is Zain Asher.

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ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The stories are heartbreaking. This was supposed to be an ordinary Tuesday morning: people traveling, going to work, to school, but it turned out to be far from ordinary.

The first fatality to be identified Adelma Marina Tapia Ruiz. She was a Peruvian who had been living in Brussels for six years. Adelma was 36 years old. She was at the airport with her twin daughters on her way to New York to visit relatives for Easter. Suddenly, a blast near the check-in counter. Her children and her husband had walked away. They survived, Adelma did not.

Another victim was Leopold Hecht, a law student from Belgium. he was studying at University San Luis, and was killed during the metro station attack. Fellow students say his death was unjust. They described Hecht as both brilliant and kind.

A third victim of yesterday's attack Olivier Delespesse. He died at the metro station and worked for government organization. He was on his morning commute through the Malevich metro station when that fateful explosion went off.

This is also a story of the missing. Two siblings from New York have not been heard from since the attack. Sascha and Alexander Pinczowski were at the Brussels Airport getting ready to fly home when the explosions happened. U.S. State Department officials tell CNN that approximately a dozen Americans were hurt in the Brussels attack, and that several U.S. citizens are still unaccounted for.

21-year-old Bart Mignon was on his way to Brussels Airport on Tuesday for a trip to the United States. His girlfriend and his family have not heard from him since. His girlfriend says she calls his cell phone regularly, but there is still no answer.

And in terms of the injured, professional basketball player Sebastian Bellin was seriously wounded in the attack. He was in line at the check-in desk during the explosions and is currently in intensive care.

A group of American Mormon missionaries survived the blast at the Brussels Airport. one of those missionaries has a particularly gripping story. Mason Wells is 19-years-old, and this was the third terror attack he had experienced. In 2013, Mason and his father were at the scene of the Boston [00:55:03] Marathon bombings and they were this the Paris area during

the November terror attacks.

CHAD WELLS, BRUSSELS VICTIM'S FATHER: I think two is enough for a lifetime now. I am -- I'm just dumbfounded, to be honest.

ASHER: a CNN crew was at the Wells home when finally, after hours of waiting by the phone, hoping to hear their son's voice, the phone rang and Mason was on the other end.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay. and tell me about your head, honey.

WELLS: Mason, I'm going catch a flight over to Paris.

ASHER: What was it like to finally hear his voice?

WELLS: It was amazing relief; pure joy to hear Mason's voice; to know he is alive; that he's okay.

ASHER: If you're concerned about concerned ones in Brussels you haven't heard from, go to CNN.com/impact.

Zain Asher, CNN, Atlanta.

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FOSTER: I'm Max Foster, live in Brussels, in a square which was an extraordinary scene yesterday. You had thousands of people gathering for the minute of silence and this time in the morning, about coming up 6:00, it's a lot quieter, but there are people gathering, taking in the scene. It's pretty extraordinary as people try to come to terms with everything that has happened here; lighting those candles; laying flowers has become the focal point of the grieving. I'll be right back with CNN's continuing coverage of the Belgium terror attacks.

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