Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Friends and Families Search for Loved Ones; Belgium Becomes Major European Terror Hub; Mood in Brussels Districts Where Attackers Lived; Frightening Details on Bombs in Brussels Attacks; Controversial Presidential Candidates' Ideas on ISIS; Trump/Cruz Feud Drags in Wives; Obama Responds to Cruz Idea on Terrorism; Australian Debris Recovered in Mozambique Unlikely from MH370. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired March 24, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:21] MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN special coverage of the terror attacks in Brussels. I'm Max Foster.

Investigators say the more they learn about the bombings here on Tuesday, the more they're convinced these attacks won't be the last. Authorities now believe ISIS bomb maker, Najim Laachraoui, on the far left of this picture, was one of the suicide bombers at the Brussels airport. They say the other is the man in the middle, Ibrahim el- Bakraoui. Now prosecutors say his brother, Khalid, was the subway suicide bomber.

A major manhunt is underway for unidentified third man in the surveillance picture. Counterterrorism officials say they're very concerned about more terror attacks in Europe and that ISIS operatives have already picked out potential targets.

CNN has complete team coverage of the attack in Brussels. We'll hear from our team of correspondents throughout the next several hours including a report from Nick Paton Walsh on how sophisticated these bombs have become now.

CNN's senior international correspondent Atika Shubert joins me from here in Brussels. We are getting a much fuller picture, aren't we, Atika, about who was involved in the Brussels attack? But crucially how it has links with the same network that carried out the Paris attacks last year.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, exactly. I think that investigators, when they raided that apartment in Schaerbeek with after a tip-off by a taxi driver found these huge quantities of explosives of TATP and this is the exact kind of explosive that was also used in the Paris attacks. And so investigators believe now that yes, they are linked, yes, this is the same network. The question is, have they been able to identify all of the number -- all of the members of the network?

We know that at least one is on the run. Probably more. But how many more and are they capable of carrying out more attacks? This is a huge challenge for security and intelligence, not just here in Belgium but across Europe. People cross borders very easily here and there is a lot of concern that there could be multiple targets across the continent.

FOSTER: And yet the city is also still trying to come to terms with it. But for the families of those who were killed and for those who -- you know, more than 200 people injured, wasn't it? They're still -- you know, still being dealt with. Still got people unaccounted for.

SHUBERT: Absolutely. I mean, one of the toughest challenges here is that because of the nature of the attack, these massive bombs, they really just ripped through a lot of the bystanders that were there and that made it particularly hard to identify people and hospitals are finding that their hands are full, still days after the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT (voice-over): The day after twin terror attacks shattered the Belgian city of Brussels, the hospitals are still coping with the influx of victims.

(On camera): Now 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.

(Voice-over): 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 Vaes was among the first medics at the airport.

(On camera): What was the first thing that you saw when you got to the scene?

JAN VAES, BELGIAN DEFENSE MEDIC: Gas. Dust, gas, people shouting, crying. All people crossing, help here, over here. Plus for me, I've never seen it before. It was a -- this was a war zone.

SHUBERT (voice-over): For 20 years, he has served as military medic in places like Afghanistan. But he had never seen anything like this, a bomb that investigators believe was packed with nails and bolts.

VAES: I saw a lot of people with holes in their body. And the people were hit by pieces that flew around. I saw children with wounds, that penetrating wounds. So it has to be some explosion device. Things are flying around with a great power.

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

(On camera): Do you also have a picture of your girlfriend?

(Voice-over): Twenty-five-year-old Jonathan Selamani is searching for his girlfriend, 24-year-old Sabrina Esmael Fazal (PH). They have a 1- year-old son.

(On camera): What kind of a person is she?

JONATHAN SELAMANI, SEARCHING FOR GIRLFRIEND: She's very shy. She's short. And she's --

[01:05:05] SHUBERT: Strong.

SELAMANI: Strong, yes.

SHUBERT: She's a strong person.

SELAMANI: Yes, she's a strong person. Yes.

SHUBERT (voice-over): 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.

(On camera): Are you worried that maybe she's been injured and may be unconscious?

SELAMANI: I don't think. I don't want to think about it.

SHUBERT (voice-over): At hospitals across Brussels, the heartbreaking search for answers continues.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT: Now, as you heard there from many family members, they don't want to imagine the worst. They are providing, however, DNA samples, dental records, anything that might be able to identify loved ones that may have been caught up in the blast. But it is a painful and heartbreaking thing to do, Max.

FOSTER: Atika, thank you.

Well, the attacks confirmed a disturbing reality really. That Brussels is now a major hub for jihadists. As we saw in November the threat of ISIS has spread from the Middle East to Paris and beyond and now it is permeating parts of Belgium.

Deborah Feyerick reports on the expansion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Salah Abdeslam, captured in Brussels following extensive raids in homes across Belgium and France. Authorities there admitting the scope of the extremist network was bigger and more sophisticated than ever imagined.

With Belgium, a logistical capital and base of operations for some Muslim extremists to launch their attacks.

SAJJAN GOHEL, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY DIRECTOR, ASIA-PACIFIC FOUNDATION: It illustrates that Belgium, being a central hub for ISIS, is also the de facto capital of the European Union on the other hand. And it's very worrying and sobering.

FEYERICK: Belgium is a small, predominantly Catholic country of 11 million people in the heart of Europe. About 6 percent of the population is Muslim, many originally from Morocco. More than any other European country per capita, the highest number of fighters to ISIS have come from Belgium. Some 500 men and women believed to have traveled to Syria and Iraq, many were inspired by the once powerful jihadi group called Sharia for Belgium, which gained prominence in 2010 and was disbanded five years later. Its leaders targeted a vulnerable and disenfranchised community with rampant crime and unemployment.

TIM LISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There were two or three men who were really critical in Sharia for Belgium in the recruitment process, in the fundraising and in getting the channels organized to send people overseas. The Belgian authorities did not take Sharia for Belgium seriously until it was too late. The damage had been done.

FEYERICK: Prosecutors say hundreds in France and Belgium have been arrested or detained since November's Paris attacks. The most notable Belgium-linked terrorists include the high-speed train gunman, Paris attack ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, Paris attack operatives Salah Abdeslam and his brother, and all three of the Brussels suicide bombers.

Abdeslam was found in Brussels' Molenbeek neighborhood, a hotbed of radicalization and jihadi activity, the scope of which blindsided law enforcement.

WILLIAM BRANIFF, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, START CONSORTIUM: They don't have enough law enforcement officers. And they haven't been able to ramp up at the same rate as foreign fighter recruitment has ramped up.

FEYERICK: Those fighters are well-funded, well-protected, and intent on destroying the West.

(On camera): Authorities have been investing heavily in counterterrorism and they're taking steps to improve intelligence. Still the community remains insulated. That means police have a long way to go to fight what is largely an invisible army.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Mirren Gidda with me now, she's a reporter for "Newsweek," has reported extensively from the neighborhood where some of the suspects lived.

You went back there yesterday. What was -- what was the feeling compared with other visits to that area?

MIRREN GIDDA, NEWSWEEK REPORTER: Well, Schaerbeek was very, very strange. It was all boarded up. No shops or cafes were open. And one man who was basically -- who run a grocery store there said there was a predominant sense of fear within the neighborhood. I mean, obviously police raids had been going on there. And I suspect perhaps the community worried about reprisals.

Molenbeek, by contrast, was very busy, open for business as usual, a lot of people on the streets, and I don't know if that's because Molenbeek is no longer the real focus of police attention. It's very much been on Schaerbeek or simply because Molenbeek, having being focused on raids since November, is just also used to --

FOSTER: It is almost normal. Do they feel that the police are on their side?

GIDDA: I think that's hard to say. What I would say in these kinds of neighborhoods where you have a lot of people from immigrant backgrounds, low income with a high unemployment rate, and Molenbeek's youth unemployment of course often there is a rift between them and authority figures is common in I think cities across the world.

[01:10:11] FOSTER: What we keep hearing is that the security services just have to get across these communities to even identify people before they've been radicalized. But they just don't have the connections or intelligence coming out of them, do they? How do they improve there?

GIDDA: I think again that's a very, very difficult question. It's going to be matter of more staff. The Belgium Intelligence Services have been saying that they are chronically understaffed. And I think also it is about having people from those background and from those areas on your team and on your staff. That's probably the best way to get integrated within the community.

FOSTER: So what sort of people are being make up with police and security services trying to tackle an area lie Molenbeek where, you know, typical Belgian can stand out, right?

GIDDA: Yes, absolutely. And I think what's lacking is people from those communities within the police force. The other thing is with Molenbeek in particular it's a very tight-knit community. And in speaking to one taxi driver who's from there, he said everyone knows everyone. Some people have implied that maybe the people in Molenbeek did know that Salah Abdeslam was sheltering there and decided not to tell the police.

FOSTER: Turning a blind eye. So not necessarily supporting him but not one to get involved because they don't necessarily feel the police were on their side.

GIDDA: Yes, exactly. And when I was in Schaerbeek I went to a house that was raided in December and they found traces -- I think they found Abdeslam's fingerprints there. And everyone I spoke to said they saw and heard nothing and they knew nothing, and I definitely got the sense that they didn't want to open up, unless they perhaps be targeted by the police.

FOSTER: How do you think the police can encourage people to go to them if they have a small suspicion?

GIDDA: Well, I think it's -- all European police forces have made it very clear that you can report the problem if you notice it and certainly there have been instances of parents saying that they feel their children are maybe becoming more radicalized. But I think fundamentally you've got to win the trust of communities. And that is very, very difficult. It requires, as I said, a vast amount of staff which I don't think they have at the moment.

FOSTER: Did you feel safe there when you wandered around?

GIDDA: I did actually. I felt very safe. I would say that when I was in Paris in November, going into the banlieue, the suburbs that ring Paris, I felt a little less safe. But the interesting thing about Molenbeek and Schaerbeek is they're right next to the center of Brussels. As you know, there is a mixture of high-income housing, low-income housing, there's mixture of ethnicities. I mean., it's very similar to neighborhoods to where I live in London.

So, yes, I did feel safe and it's -- there are interesting places to visit because you know that there is a problem with extremism there. But it's certainly not visible when you visit.

FOSTER: Migration crisis obviously plays into this as well in several ways. You know, extreme politicians at extreme end to the spectrum suggesting that, you know, having open borders means we are less secure. But at the same time, people feeling, you know, not these suburbs you're talking about, like the banlieue, a lot of the immigrants, refugees, are going to those areas. And perhaps the solution is to have a more integrated approach to bringing migrants in. So do you embrace migration or do you stop it to make people safer?

GIDDA: I mean, that's definitely a question for the government. What I would say is everyone in Europe is talking about a more integrated Europe in terms of intelligence sharing. And that's something that could really help with the problem if the different intelligence agencies across, say, France, Belgium, and the UK.

FOSTER: Plus this idea of the a shared data base, it's never going to happen, is it? If you're MI5, are you going to share your details, your entire data base, with the French security services? It's never going to happen, is it?

GIDDA: Perhaps not a shared data base but some form of intelligence sharing. I mean, a lot of law officials are talking for a more integrated Europe. And they say the problem is not so much the internal borders but the external borders. The people perhaps coming back from Syria, they're saying that that maybe needs better policing. But it's not a question of stopping migration. It's not a question of raising borders.

FOSTER: Can you just explain to people from what you've learned how we get in a situation where people are going to Syria, no one seems to be aware of it in the authorities and then they're coming back and they're not being tagged?

GIDDA: I mean, I think the sheer number of people going to Syria makes it very difficult to follow. And what you have to remember is, Syria is not that far. It's quite easy to get to Turkey and then slip over the border to Syria. And the Islamic State, ISIS, groups like that, they know how to sort of anonymize people and protect people. So I think it is difficult for security services to monitor each and every person who goes there simply because they are going in very large numbers.

FOSTER: And finally, just describe the complexities of these areas where jihadists are from because what you often find is there's a complete disconnect between the older generation and the younger generation where the problem is, right? Because the older generation obviously wants to do as much as they can. They actually feel quite integrated in Belgian society, right? and they want to help but they don't know what's going on with the younger generation.

[01:15:01] GIDDA: Yes. I mean, I think it goes both ways. But we have heard that some of the younger generation feel their parents aren't integrated enough and then they sort of blame them for their own feelings with alienation. I think it's sort of too difficult to distinguish the two groups like that because obviously there have been reports that the older generation, you know, radicalizing the younger generation as well. But certainly I think in Belgium as in many cities and countries across Europe, there is a big problem of integrating people from immigrant backgrounds.

FOSTER: OK. Thank you very much indeed for joining us with all your analysis.

GIDDA: Thank you.

FOSTER: It's been a very painful wait of course for the relatives of all the victims here. The people missing, particularly in the attacks in Brussels and those who died.

Next you will hear from the families anxiously still holding on to hope.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: We are learning more about the harrowing moments right after the blasts at the Brussels airport. Taxi driver, Francisco Izquierdo, was parked outside the airport when it happened. He went inside to search for his son. And here's his incredible story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Ultimately though a positive story for him. We're learning more about the victims of the devastating terror takes in Brussels, though. The pain is unbearable for the families of the more than 200 people injured and the 31 people killed including this woman, the first fatality to be identified. She is Adele Marina Tapia Ruiz, a Peruvian, who'd been living in Belgium for six years. She was at the airport with her husband and twin 3-year-old daughters waiting to board a plane. Her children and husband did thankfully at least survive.

In the Maelbeek metro station in Brussels, this man was killed. Oliver Delespesse worked for a government organization. He was on his morning commute when the explosion went off.

It's been an agonizing wait for the families, for the people missing since the awful attacks. Every minute, every second, relatives are hoping to receive a call or just a message, simply any signal that they have not forever lost the people that they love.

Here is our John Berman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Alexander Pinczowski was at the airport with his sister Sascha waiting to fly back to New York. Alexander was on the phone with their mother when the bombs went off. The phone line dropped. They haven't been heard from since.

Friends and relatives have flooded social media with pleas for information. "We love you. Let us know you're safe," one post reads. Another says, "We still have the hope they might be with somebody."

Andre Adams was also at the airport with his wife Danielle. They were waiting for a flight to Miami. Both were missing after the blast. Their daughter Gigi pleaded on Facebook for any news. "Every tweet, ping, gold ring has us trembling just in case," she wrote, then she posted this. "My mother is found in hospital in Flanders, still no news of my father." 79-year-old Andre is still missing.

Bart Migham texted his girlfriend Emily Eisenman on the way to the airport. He was on his way to visit her in Georgia and was supposed to text her a picture of his boarding pass. But Emily never heard from him. When she calls his phone, there's no answer.

EMILY EISENMAN, BOYFRIEND MISSING AFTER BELGIAN ATTACKS: These last two days have been something I never thought I would feel. It's been the worst days of my life. I just -- I guess I didn't know how much one person can love another until you just don't know where they're at. I'm just hoping for a sign of some sort that he's OK.

BERMAN: Bart is a marketing student in Belgium. He's 21 years old.

David Dixon texted his aunt to tell her he was safe after the explosions at the airport. But then commuted to work on the metro and hasn't been heard from since. Friends and family have been desperately trying to find him. They fear he was caught in the second attack. His partner has been driving from hospital to hospital trying to locate him.

Aline Bastin was also traveling on the metro during Tuesday's attack. 29-years-old the Brussels resident has been missing since then.

"We are desperately looking for her," posted a friend. "Should you had any news, please give a sign." Twenty-four-year-old nursing student Sabrina Fazal's phone was found

near the Maelbeek station after the terror attack. Friends told the BBC, she has a 1-year-old son who is staying with his grandmother as they search for her.

[01:25:06] John Berman, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, migrants in a makeshift camp on the Greek-Macedonian border can sympathize with the victims of terror attacks like the ones here in Brussels. Many are using makeshift signs to show their solidarity with the people of Belgium. This little boy holds one that reads, "Belgium, Syria, the same pain."

Many refugees fear the terror attacks will hurt their chances of reaching of a European countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happened today in Belgium is so bad for us especially, maybe they will be more afraid of us. They will make things harder for people here. People here have nothing to lose. They can't come back. They stay here. They will stay here and they have no choice but to stay here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, more than 12,000 migrants, would you believe, remain in camps along Greece's border with Macedonia there.

We're learning more about the bombs from Tuesday's attacks here. And they have the global intelligence community extremely worried.

Up next, why clues point to a deadlier more possible ISIS explosive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: You're watching CNN's special coverage of the terror attacks here in Brussels. I'm Max Foster. Thank you for joining us.

Belgian authorities were on a massive manhunt for a suspect in Tuesday's airport bombings, and say these attacks may be part of a wider plot.

[01:30:04] They say the man in the lighter-colored jacket left a bomb at the airport and is on the run. Police believe one of the suicide bombers was an ISIS bomb maker, previously named as a suspect in the attacks in Paris in November.

And we have new frightening details about the bombs used in the attacks. Some experts say they are hybrids of a suicide belt in a car bomb.

Brian Todd has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This man on the right, a suspect on the run, still unidentified, considered one of the most dangerous men in Europe. He is believed to have been a leader in the bombing at the Brussels airport. Making sure others carried out their attacks.

(SHOUTING)

TODD: Belgian investigators say the same cell masterminded the Paris and Brussels attacks. And now experts worry the Brussels bombings revealed a disturbing hybrid terrorist capability, combining portability after suicide vest with a more powerful explosive in a suitcase.

(on camera): What kind of flexibility does it give them to be able to pack something maybe with the explosive power after car bomb into this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This gives them a lot of flexibility.

TODD (voice-over): This shows the throw men pushing suitcases on carts. Two of them wearing one glove each. Investigators telling CNN they think it is possible that each man's glove hid a detonator.

What kind of explosive did they use? One possible clue is what police later found in an apartment raid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 15 kilograms of explosives, TAPT, 150 liters of acetone, 30 leaders of hydrogen peroxide, detonators.

TODD (voice-over): TATP, a peroxide based, very unstable explosive that packs a nasty punch.

This video shows TATP combusting just from a tiny film canister.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: TATP is one of the most sensitive explosives known to the bomb community and it takes very little initiation to set it off.

TODD: It is so delicate, experts say, that just trying to make a bomb with TATP can be deadly but if a terrorist is successful in making one he has another advantage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It can be more dangerous because it is difficult to detect.

TODD: Bombs that are difficult to detect, easy to make, combining massive explosive power with enough maneuverability to navigate through a crowded airport. A tactic so effective experts worry it will be repeated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Certainly, something that we will see quite a lot in the future. The number of casualties is usually high. And the effect the terrorist want to achieve as a result is also very high. TODD (on camera): Does this kind of bomb, these kinds of tactics,

mean that the passengers will be screened at the entrances to airports? That would create other security risks, like long lines of passengers at the curb, and they might be exposed to bombings or drive-by shootings. What this will require, he says, is more law enforcement officers roaming near the entrances and near ticket counts, using detention dogs, behavioral screening and other measures. And even that may not prevent attacks like the ones we saw in Brussels.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Earlier, I spoke with CNN intelligence and security analyst, Bob Baer, about how investigators missed the Belgian terror network after the recent attacks in Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: These people are very good at hiding communications. They are not communicating at all. They are communicating with couriers or encrypted communication systems or whatever they are doing. Apps, wicker, telegram and on and on and on. They just can't get into the messages erased right away so those there is no reconstructing the network based on the data mining. This is why they miss so many. It is over simplistic to say they are incompetent, because that's not true. They have been working hard. We had the same problems in Baghdad at the beginning of the war in 2004, 2005. You know, running these networks down. And the United States essentially ended the momentum in Iraq by 2006 and '07 by using commando operations, kicking down doors, drones everywhere. Are we prepared to turn Brussels and Paris into militarized cities in the same way Baghdad was? No. Europeans are between a rock and a hard place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: We're going to bring in "Politico's" senior E.U. correspondent, Ryan Heath, on this.

What you are hearing from the agencies and the government is the language you heard after the Paris attacks. It happened again.

RYAN HEATH, SENIOR E.U. CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: Yes.

FOSTER: What did you think changed or improved since the Paris attacks?

HEATH: What they have certainly realized that they lack resources to get on top of the game. So I think they've been scrambling. But when you don't have the skills, capacity and sometimes sheer numbers of people to really get on top of this very deep, very dense, very well organized cell, there is only so much can you do. I think that the Belgians are feeling the pressure right now. They know essentially that they haven't committed enough resources. You capitol just magic them up out of thin air in the space of 24, 48 hours. At the same time you have to keep trying to do long-term forward planning. But you have to stick a band-aid on the situation now and hunt down this guy and you have to roll out a 5 and 10-year strategy because this is so deeply imbedded in several districts in Brussels that it's not going to go away even if you suck in the French and American resources now. That's why you are seeing a lot of leaning on talks of an E.U. security union, things like that. And also still a little bit of denial when pushing things away. Because I think it must be very threatening and frustrating it realize that the sort of strategic errors made three or four months back now.

[01:35:00] FOSTER: It is about intelligence, isn't it, from community where the threat is emerging. And not just in the communities, within the communities within the communities. Right?

HEATH: Yes.

FOSTER: And they haven't got those links now.

HEATH: No.

FOSTER: Otherwise, we would have some indication this is happening.

HEATH: When you see the zigzagging and inability to pin things down that's when you see people get more alienated. Everybody feels targeted. Everyone must be targeted to make up for the fact you can't sort of apply that fine filter because you didn't do the leg work three or four months ago and three or four years ago so it gets to the stage where everything gets messy.

FOSTER: In terms of more plots expected, more imminent is, that we hear all the time, is that because we had a plot we didn't know was imminent and there must be others found and is there anything specific regarding intelligence?

HEATH: I don't have sources tell me about anything specific. If you wined the clock back a little bit, they thought the brothers were drug runners, then Paris happens. After Paris, OK, everyone is gone but the ringleader. He is effectively hobbled. He can't do anything. Once we get the ringleader, it's done. Now we get the ringleader, he is in jail, and Brussels attack happened. They think they found the bomb maker and bombs, that's all good signs. But when you have potentially up to 90 people operating in this sort of network, you can't be sure. Maybe something else is out there. And that's when you can't really live beyond the fears. You have to take all the precautions you can otherwise you can't have egg on your face three times.

FOSTER: Frightening environment we're living in.

HEATH: Isn't it?

FOSTER: Thank you very much, indeed

The Belgian terror attacks have the U.S. presidential candidates talking about the threats and how they would respond to a terror attack. That story just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:41:25] FOSTER: It's coming up to a quarter to 7:00 in the morning here. Nearly 48 hours since the attacks on the airport, which devastated the city and, of course, by the attacks on the metro as well. People still looking at flowers. They lit candles, trying to work out what happened. What it means to them. Whether or not Belgians learned anything or if Parisians learned anything after the pair ISIS attacks.

Those questions are being asked, Isha, and we try to continue to get the answers. It feels different this time. It feels we are constantly under threat.

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is a time for Europe to take stock of so many issues. Open borders, integration, policing, intelligence, much to consider in days and weeks ahead.

Max, appreciate it. Thank you.

Well as investigators in Europe search for suspects tied to terror attacks, U.S. presidential candidates are responding to the situation. And some of their ideas and how to deal with terrorists are generating controversy.

Sunlen Serfaty reports.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, terror attacks in Brussels are reverberating through the presidential campaign.

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: We need unpredictability.

SERFATY: GOP front runner, Donald Trump, saying he would potentially use nuclear weapons to stop is.

TRUMP: I'm never going it rule anything out because at a minimum, I want them to think maybe we would use it, OK?

SERFATY: Trump also telling Wolf that he would support waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods.

TRUMP (voice-over): They can chop off heads and drown people and in cages, heavy steel cages, and we can't waterboard. So we have to change our laws and fight at least on an almost equal basis.

SERFATY: Democratic front, runner Hillary Clinton, is outlining a contrasting counterterrorism agenda.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: We can't let fear stop us from doing what's necessary it keep us safe. Nor can we let it push us into reckless actions that end up making us less safe.

SERFATY: Taking aim not just at Trump, but Ted Cruz, who is calling for stepped up policing of Muslim communities in the U.S.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is that "ostrich head in your sand" political correctness that has made America so vulnerable.

SERFATY: Cruz was rebuked by New York City officials for his comments, including the police commissioner --

BILL BRATTON, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: Doesn't know what the hell he is talking about.

SERFATY: And the mayor.

BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: I just have to say it is reprehensible. His comments are not about safety and security. It is demagoguery.

SERFATY: Cruz today pushing back.

CRUZ: The mayor's response is, essentially, who are these terrorists of which you speak?

SERFATY: This on the heels of a split decision in Tuesday's western state contest. And a new endorsement from former rival, Jeb Bush.

CRUZ: What we're seeing 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.

SERFATY: And as the Trump-Cruz feud intensifies, their wives are now drawn into the fight, sparked by an anti-Trump super PAC Facebook ad showing an old modeling photo of Trump's wife, Melania. Trump blaming Cruz for the ad tweeting, "Be careful or I will spill the beans on your wife." Cruz denies that his campaign had anything to do with the ad.

CRUZ: That that should be beneath Donald.

HEIDI CRUZ, WIFE OF TED CRUZ: The most important thing --

SERFATY: Heidi Cruz is also weighing in.

HEIDI CRUZ: There are a lot of things that Donald Trump and his campaign say that have no basis in reality.

SERFATY: Her husband using a line from the American president to punch back at his rival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL DOUGLAS, ACTOR: You want a character debate, Bob, you better stick with me. Because Sydney Wade is way out of your league.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

SERFATY: Sunlen Serfaty, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:45:23] SESAY: Well, we also heard what U.S. President Barack Obama had to say about Ted Cruz's plans to combat terror. Mr. Obama is in Argentina following his historic trip to Cuba. President opening a news conference on Wednesday by addressing the terror attacks in Brussels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As far as the notion of having surveillance of neighborhoods where Muslims are present, 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, the land of the free. The notion that we would start down that slippery slope makes absolutely no sense. It's contrary to who we are. And it's not going to help us defeat ISIL.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, Mr. Obama is a trip cementing ties with Cuba and Latin- America as a whole.

Let's bring in Dylan Byers, to talk more about the Brussels attacks and impact on U.S. politics, CNN senior reporter for media and politics.

Dylan, good to have you with us again.

We heard the president there slamming Ted Cruz for you know his comments about securing and patrolling Muslims communities. But there are those who are slamming the president himself the images that emerged in the last couple of days, hours, him attending that baseball game in Cuba and doing the tango in Argentina. Do the optics undercut his message? Does it matter?

DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER FOR MEDIA & POLITICS: Optics matter so far as we are living in a media age, reality TV age. It doesn't look good to be going to baseball games and dancing the tango right now. But fundamentally, what Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are saying on the Republican side, what Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are saying on the Democratic side. And what you are seeing, two things are going on. On the one thing Philosophical difference. Republicans say there is a clear and present danger. That danger is Islam. And we have become too sensitive and politically correct to address that problem head-on. What the Democrats are saying is look that's not who we are and what you are talking about sounds a lot more like Nazi Germany than it does like the United States of America. I don't think the two sides are ever going it line up there. But secondly, there's a tactical difference here and the tactical difference is that the Republicans say we need to do something about it and your policy of us just being a melting pot of us being a country that contains multitudes doesn't address Paris, Brussels, San Bernardino, London. But what the Democrats are saying is look, at the end of the day, vast majority of Muslims not only are they not terrorists, not only do they not harbor ill will towards the United States of America, they are the first and best line of defense against these terrorist organizations. At the end of the day I think that's where this whole debate, that's what this is all about.

SESAY: We have a backdrop of Paris, Brussels, with the realities. Does it put Hillary Clinton in the tougher position of the two sides and in a sense that Democrats have to walk this line especially Hillary Clinton in this race trying to seem the grown up in the room when we have comments from Trump and Cruz but at the same time not seem weak.

BYERS: The gut instinct is always look when things go bad when there are terrorist attacks, people gravitate towards the strong man, towards the tough words that sort of John Wayne bravado that a candidate like Donald Trump provides. There is a counter point here though and it will be interesting to see how it plays out which is do people want stability? Do people want that steady hand at the wheel that Hillary Clinton keeps talking about and do they want a grown-up in the room? We just played this clip of Donald Trump talking about spilling the beans on his rival's wife. Is that the guy that you want really? Is that the sort of temperament that you want to stand up against global terrorism?

SESAY: And Ted Cruz just putting out a tweet and I'm paraphrasing, real men don't attack women. Melania is lovely and there it is on the screen. Donald, real men don't attack women. Melania is lovely and Heidi is the love of my life. All lines have been crossed in this campaign.

BYERS: All lines have been crossed. Watching the general election, whether Hillary is running against Ted Cruz or Donald Trump, watch when they try to go after Bill Clinton's of extra marital affairs, and watch her say, when Brussels happened, when this terrorist incident happened, you guys were bickering about each other's wives. Watch that to happen. I wouldn't be surprised.

[01:50:10] SESAY: There have been so many twist and turns in this, and really most of them going downwards. We will see what happens in the next stage.

Dylan Byers, a pleasure.

BYERS: Thank you so much.

SESAY: Thank you.

New information linked to missing flight MH370 to share with you. Investigators reveal what they discovered after analyzing plane debris found in Mozambique. What they uncovered. And what families are saying. Do stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello, everyone. The Australian debris recovered in Mozambique is unlikely to be from flight MH370.

Let's bring in our Matt Rivers for the latest, joining us from Beijing.

Matt, what more can you tell us of what we're hearing from Australian officials?

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There was information from Australian transportation officials today, local time. They confirmed what you just mentioned. Highly likely that two pieces of debris discovered last month on the island of Mozambique were from that missing plane. Their exact words were both pieces of debris are consistent with panels from Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft. Shortly after that, we heard from Malaysian transportation officials giving us more detail saying the paint and stenciling match. While both aren't saying a hundred percent certain that the pieces aren't from the plane, families are reacting saying personally I think all of 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. While the search goes on, clearly some progress in this investigation -- Isha?

[01:55:55] SESAY: It is all so very, very distressing.

Matt Rivers, joining us there from Beijing. Appreciate it. Matt, thank you.

You have been watching newsroom, from L.A. With my colleague, Max Foster, in Brussels, I'm Isha Sesay.

Our coverage on the terror attacks in Brussels continues next with Max Foster. Stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)