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Jerusalem Shooting Wounds Four; Republicans Dump Trump; Flooding from Hurricane Matthew. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired October 09, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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


[04:00:00]

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GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Welcome to our viewers around the world. We are following the breaking news out of Jerusalem. Police reports that they say at least three people have been wounded in a shooting attack there. Our Oren Liebermann is at the scene and now joins us live.

Oren, what's the latest that you understand from investigators?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest information is that we're looking at four injured, two civilians and two police officers. Let me walk you through what happened here.

This was a drive-by shooting that started in the direction over to my right, and then continued this direction and then back down this road here, that's the main Jerusalem police headquarters here. Police say an attacker in a car was driving, opened fire -- again, off to my right -- injured one woman there but kept driving in this direction.

Then police say he, the attacker, the perpetrator, opened fire and hit another woman. Then turned past the Jerusalem police headquarters here and turned into the neighborhood back there. That's Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

That's where police say he was identified and spotted by two motorcycle officers who followed him.

Police say the attacker stopped his car, got out and fired on those two police officers, critically injuring one and lightly injuring another. Border police officers at the scene shot and killed the attacker, according to police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. So that is the latest information we have here.

Again, two civilians, two women injured at the hospital, critically injured; one police officer critically injured as well as one lightly injured. But information is still coming in as this happened just a short while ago. You can see this main road here behind, which is also the light rail tracks, is closed.

You can see a number of police standing in the distance there, closing the road as the investigation here continues into this drive-by shooting that happened just a short while ago here in Jerusalem. HOWELL: Oren, what more can you tell us about where this happened at this intersection, in front of the police headquarters at Ammunition Hill?

What type of a neighborhood or area is this?

Were there a lot of people on the streets?

Just to give some context.

LIEBERMANN: This is effectively the green line here behind me, the light rail at this point follows the green line, which is the separating line or the border, if you will, between Jerusalem and East Jerusalem.

That is, again, police headquarters there. It is residential behind that. It is residential essentially on both sides of me here. This is an area that isn't specifically known for tension.

But let's talk for a moment about the timing. It is the Jewish high holidays here, and that is when you see an increase in tension around the Old City and larger Jerusalem in general.

Police attempted to preempt that or try to prevent that by putting a larger force around the area, around the Jewish New Year, which was last week and another Jewish holiday which is in just a couple of days.

For the most part, it seemed that it worked. Of course, until we saw this drive-by shooting here. Again, four people injured at this point. Two women critically injured, one police officer critically injured, as well as one lightly injured.

HOWELL: And, Oren, again, we're hearing from investigators, they aren't pointing this out as terrorism.

Do we have any more understanding about -- it's so very early in this, so I even hasten (sic) to ask this -- but any understanding of who could be behind this or anything to that nature?

LIEBERMANN: Not yet. That's all part of the investigation. Police are calling this a terrorist attack. And it follows the -- sort of the M.O. of other terrorist attacks. But, again, we don't have any information on who carried out this attack yet.

Right now we just know it was a perpetrator in this drive-by shooting who drove from East Jerusalem here toward the police station and then turned back in, where all of this ended, where border police officers, according to police, shot and killed the attacker.

HOWELL: Oren Liebermann, pointing out that this happened during the Jewish high holiday, pointing out the timing. But again, there are certainly questions about who could be behind it.

For our viewers who are just joining us, we'd like to reset just so that everyone can understand what's happening. Again, a shooting that happened in Jerusalem. We understand that four

people injured. Our Oren Liebermann is on the scene there, again, this happening near a light rail station near Ammunition Hill, this is just across from a police station headquarters there.

And let's bring Oren back in.

Oren, just for viewers who may be rejoining us, we want to reset the scene, just to give an understanding of the very latest that you know from those investigators there.

LIEBERMANN: According to police, this drive-by shooting happened a short time ago here. This is the main police headquarters here behind me in Jerusalem.

Police say the drive-by shooting started over in a neighborhood to my right, when the driver came essentially in this direction and opened fire, hitting a woman there, a civilian there.

The driver, police say, kept on going, kept on shooting to this light rail station behind me. This is one of the main light rail stations along the light rail that runs through Jerusalem. There, police say he opened fire again, hitting another woman.

There police say he kept going, kept going back in this direction behind me and turned into a residential neighborhood there. That's the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem. That's where motorcycle officers, who had been following this --

[04:05:00]

LIEBERMANN: -- stopped him.

Police say he then got out of his car and fired at those motorcycle officers, critically injuring one and lightly injuring another.

Border police officers responding, shot and killed the attacker. Police are calling this a terrorist attack. It is worth noting it's about four months since the attack in Tel Aviv, the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, at the market there.

And over the last four months, there's been a concerted crackdown from the idea of the Israeli military and security forces on illegal weapons' manufacturing in the West Bank. In fact, there was another arrest of illegal weapons just a couple of days ago.

So that all leads into this, it's been a concerted effort to crack down on the illegal manufacturing and the transfer of weapons here . We don't know what kind of weapons were used but we know security forces have been trying to crack down and to eliminate the use of illegal weapons in any sorts of attacks.

That's worth noting after a shooting attack like this, a drive-by shooting right near the police headquarters in Jerusalem. HOWELL: CNN international correspondent, Oren Liebermann, live in Jerusalem following this breaking news for us.

Oren, we'll break away with you for the moment. I know that you need to check with your sources to get more information. We'll be in touch with you shortly.

Let's now bring by -- bring in Israeli police -- Israeli national police spokesman, I should say, Micky Rosenfeld to give us more information on this breaking news.

First, Micky, let's talk about the situation at hand. We understand that this was a drive-by shooting, as our Oren Liebermann pointed out, in the area not known for tension. But again, he says the timing is interesting, happening during the Jewish high holiday.

The suspect tried to get away but was, as we understand, neutralized.

What more can you tell us?

MICKY ROSENFELD, POLICE SPOKESPERSON: I'm speaking to you here from the scene of the terrorist attack in Jerusalem. What we're talking about is the one terrorist who was driving a vehicle near the police headquarters, he opened fire at a woman that he saw in the street, who was injured critically.

Another man was also shot and injured lightly to moderately at the scene. He continued driving that vehicle into a nearby neighborhood. Police special patrol units on their motorbikes, who are fully armed, responded; gunshots were fired by the terrorist towards our police officers, who responded.

And then the terrorist was shot and killed at the scene. The area has been cordoned off where I am now as well as other parts of Jerusalem.

We're now looking into the identity of the terrorist who carried out the attack, where he came from, how he planned the attack and if he had anyone who had assisted him. But heightened security continues here at the moment in Jerusalem. Our main efforts are to prevent any further terrorist attacks from taking place whatsoever.

HOWELL: Micky Rosenfeld on the phone with us, again, the Israeli police national spokesperson there.

We're looking at these scenes, from -- these images from the scene, Micky. And you know, again, we understand four people injured.

Were police injured as well in this?

ROSENFELD: I can confirm that we have two officers that were injured. They're being treated at the moment in hospital in moderate to serious condition. We're talking about two different areas, one near the police headquarters and the second area, which is in fact in a nearby neighborhood.

So luckily, no innocent civilians that were walking around the streets were injured. Our police units responded quickly to the immediate threat that there was -- and at the moment what we know until is four people altogether have been taken to hospital injured, two of them in serious to critical condition. And heightened security continues here in Jerusalem.

HOWELL: Two officers and two civilians injured in this.

Again, for our viewers who are joining us around the world, we're looking at these images from Jerusalem. A drive-by shooting, where apparently the suspect tried to get away, but as we understand from investigators, that suspect was neutralized.

Micky Rosenfeld on the phone with us.

Micky, if you could also just give us some context about the timing of this. Oren Liebermann alluded to this. But this is an area that is not known for tensions.

So what more can you tell us about that area and also if there's any significance in the timing of when this happened?

ROSENFELD: Well, the situation in Jerusalem over the last few days has been relatively quiet. There hasn't been any terrorist attacks. We've dealt with general alerts and threats but nothing pinpointed or focused. There was no concrete intelligence of an attack that was going to take place this morning.

But at the same time, in terms of the Israeli national police, we're leading up to the festivals. There was a festival last week already. And there already another festival beginning just in the next few days.

And, therefore, our main priority is to prevent any further terrorist attacks. Our different units have been mobilized, both in Jerusalem, around the sensitive part, public places, as well as the holy areas, where people are coming in both for the Christian festivals but for the Jewish festivals in the Old City.

HOWELL: And I want to push forward on that just a bit.

Given what happened here, there is a sense there that security will be heightened throughout the area.

ROSENFELD: Our security is heightened already in and around where we are at the moment, at the scene of the terrorist attack. We've also sent different units in and around the public train stations, bus stations --

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ROSENFELD: -- and the light railway which runs through Jerusalem.

Our main emphasis is to secure and make sure that there are no further terrorist attacks. Our units are located in all the different areas at the moment, including our bomb disposal experts, who are at the scene, examining the vehicle where the terrorist opened fire from. NEWTON: Israeli national police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, on the phone with us, to give us this information.

Micky, we appreciate your insight. We'll stay in touch. Oren Liebermann also was with us earlier.

Oren, thank you for your reporting.

A drive-by shooting that happened in Jerusalem. Four people injured, two of them police officers, two civilians. We'll continue following the breaking news here on CNN. Of course, we'll bring you updates as we get them. This is CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back after the break.

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HOWELL: In the U.S. presidential race, the Republican Party is in chaos. Many who once supported their presidential nominee are just saying that they're done now. The fallout continues after that video surfaced of Donald Trump making vulgar comments about women. It surfaced Friday.

And now party leaders are calling on --

[04:15:00]

HOWELL: -- Trump to leave the race. Still, though, many of his supporters, you see them here, they still came together, chanting outside Trump Tower on Saturday. And Trump says that he is not going anywhere.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you staying in the race?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 100 percent.

HOWELL (voice-over): Trump is accusing the media and the political establishment of trying to oust him because of that now-infamous video. We will play a clip of that video for you here but we do offer this fair warning that the content you're about to hear is vulgar and graphic.

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DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything.

BILLY BUSH, "ACCESS HOLLYWOOD": Do whatever you want.

TRUMP: Grab them by the (INAUDIBLE). Do anything.

BUSH: And the legs, all you see is the legs.

TRUMP: No, it looks good.

BUSH: Come on, shorty.

TRUMP: Oh, nice legs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: That's Donald Trump, talking to Billy Bush, who is the host of that show, "Access Hollywood," at the time in 2005.

The video is having a major impact on the election and the Republican Party as a whole. Our MJ Lee breaks down the controversy.

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MJ LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this has certainly been a tumultuous 24 hours for the Donald Trump campaign. The most surprising development was when Trump himself stepped out of Trump Tower to greet his fans that were waiting for him outside.

When he came out, a lot of his fans breaking out into cheers and applause.

But even on a day like today, when the Trump campaign is really in full crisis mode, Donald Trump showing that he is a TV celebrity and a showman at heart.

Now even though Donald Trump did put on a happy face, of course, this day has been a very tough day for Donald Trump and his campaign.

A ton of Republicans have pulled their support and endorsement for Donald Trump and some have even suggested that Donald Trump should leave the presidential race.

Now with all of this going on around him, Donald Trump has spent the entire day meeting with his advisers, trying to figure out what to do to move past this controversy.

I'm told by a source that Trump even got some debate prep in with some of his advisers to prepare for Sunday's debate against Hillary Clinton in St. Louis.

Now a little while ago, Rudy Giuliani was seen coming out of Trump Tower. He did take some questions from reporters and here's what he said.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER MAYOR OF NYC: There is nothing that is going to cause his dropping out. That's a wishful thinking of the Clinton campaign and those people who have opposed him for a long time. He's in the race to win and he is going to win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you make of so many fellow Republicans backing out from supporting him?

GIULIANI: They largely didn't support him in the first place. So it's not so much of a surprise.

If you look at it, they were all Republicans who opposed him and didn't support him in the past. And this was basically the insiders against the outsiders anyway.

Donald Trump is the populist candidate. Most of the people that have turned on him are members of the establishment. So I would see this as -- you want -- if you want change in Washington, you vote for Donald Trump. If you want to keep things the same, you vote for Hillary Clinton.

LEE: So after a very dramatic day, both Trump and his advisers showing no signs of caving in to the pressure.

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HOWELL: CNN Politics reporter MJ Lee in front of Trump Tower.

MJ, thank you.

Now a growing crowd of top Republicans are condemning Donald Trump's comments, including Arizona senator and former Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, who released this statement, quote, "Donald Trump's behavior this week, concluding with the disclosure of his demeaning comments about women and his boasts about sexual assaults, make it impossible to continue to offer even conditional support for his candidacy."

And then there was this from the former U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, calling for Trump to withdraw, saying, quote, "Enough! Donald Trump should not be president. He should withdraw. As a Republican, I hope to support someone who has the dignity and stature to run for the highest office in the greatest democracy on Earth."

And Trump's own running mate, Mike Pence, also calling on Trump -- calling his remarks indefensible.

"As a husband and father, I was offended by the words and actions described by Donald Trump in the 11-year-old video."

He went on to say, "I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them."

The 2005 footage is threatening to derail the Trump campaign altogether. CNN Politics reporter Eugene Scott is live with us this hour in New York via Skype.

Eugene, it's always a pleasure to have you. Let's talk about this list of prominent Republicans -- John McCain, one of them -- who were saying that they can no longer back Donald Trump.

How significant an impact could this have at a time when it seemed that the party was coalescing around their nominee?

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: I think it could have a very significant impact with voters, who got on the Trump train because their local elected officials were guiding them there.

Yesterday evening, we saw at least 10 senators speak out against Trump, presenting (sic) their support. We saw 12 governors and other high-ranking elected officials, saying that they were --

[04:20:00]

SCOTT: -- backing someone else this November.

HOWELL: And also talking about that, when it comes to shifting resources, shifting importance to those down ballot races, are we seeing the Republican Party do more of that?

Is there talk about that, given what happened to their nominee?

SCOTT: There's been talk about that for a while, even before Donald Trump was officially made the nominee. But we've seen over the past couple of days conversations about shifting focuses, and even resources, increase, some of them from insiders, much of it from activists hoping that the Republican Party can be victorious with the Senate and down party races if they are not with the national presidential race.

HOWELL: Many of those Republicans hoping obviously that they can keep the Senate, the Senate in danger, even if they don't get the presidency.

There's also been discussion about, you know, whether they can drop Trump before Election Day. Are Republicans stuck with Donald Trump?

SCOTT: Legally that's what it's looking like right now. We had an RNC committee member tell CNN that it looks both unrealistic and politically risky. That is because many ballots have already been cast.

And there are rules that have prevented people from changing state laws, deadlines have passed that would have allowed for a new candidate to emerge. There's been some talk amongst some people in the RNC, pressure to have Mike Pence even drop out, with the thought that if he left, that Trump would leave.

HOWELL: Eugene Scott, live for us in New York via Skype.

Eugene, we always appreciate the insight. We'll stay in touch with you as I'm sure there will be plenty to talk about as we get ready to watch the debate. Thank you, Eugene.

SCOTT: Thanks, George.

HOWELL: This is the political climate as those two presidential candidates face off on Sunday. Their second debate, it is a town hall format at Washington University in St. Louis, moderated by our own Anderson Cooper and ABC's Martha Raddatz.

That debate is set for 9:00 am Monday in Hong Kong, only here on CNN.

Officials in Haiti warn that the death toll from Hurricane Matthew will likely rise as aid workers reach the worst-hit areas. That hurricane flooded entire villages, it wiped out crops and livestock and it cut off big parts of that island.

Our senior international correspondent Ivan Watson has more on the immense damage from this massive storm.

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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what the path of a hurricane looks like from the air. The storm left trees scattered like matchsticks on the hills.

WATSON (on camera): Look at how these trees are just stripped of foliage here. You can actually see the roofs of homes on the hilltops. The roof just blown away.

WATSON (voice-over): Hurricane Matthew killed hundreds of people and left tens of thousands homeless. We are flying over Haiti's southwestern peninsula, one of the most isolated parts of the country.

WATSON (on camera): This is the only real way that we can get a sense of the scale of the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew because Haiti does not have a great network of roads. And there are a series of islands of Haiti's coast like Ile-a-Vache -- what we're looking at right now.

WATSON (voice-over): Six years ago, this region was largely untouched by the earthquake that shattered the Haitian capital. But this time, the people here weren't so lucky.

WATSON (on camera): How is your house?

RAOUL ROA, SURVIVOR: My house go down. Everything (INAUDIBLE).

WATSON: Everything's gone?

Yes?

ROA: All the trees were going down, electrical pole was down.

WATSON (voice-over): Since the storm, residents of Port-Salut cleaned most of the debris off the roads. But at night, they sleep outside their shattered homes, in the dark.

WATSON (on camera): When do you think you'll get electricity here again?

ROA: Nobody know when.

WATSON: This is a close up view of some of the damage that we could see from the sky, just one home that was ripped apart by the hurricane winds that made a mess of people's meager belongings and hurt a lot of people here too who had to wait days for emergency medical care.

WATSON (voice-over): These people survived the most powerful hurricane their country has seen in a generation, a grim reminder of the fury and power of Mother Nature -- Ivan Watson, CNN, Port-Salut, Haiti.

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HOWELL: Let's get the latest now on Matthew's location and strength. Our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam, is live in the International Weather Center with more on that -- Derek.

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VAN DAM: We do have tropical storm force winds across North Carolina as we speak and there's the projected path as the storm system finally exits the region. And, wow, not a moment too sooner, not too soon. All right, George. Back to you.

HOWELL: Yes. Just get on out of here.

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HOWELL: It's caused a great deal of damage, especially there in Haiti. The death toll still climbing, as crews try to get to those hard-to-reach areas. Derek Van Dam live in the International Weather Center.

Derek, thank you.

In Yemen, more than 100 people are dead after a funeral was bombed. Saudi Arabia is being blamed and now the U.S. is re-evaluating its support for the Saudi-led coalition. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers around the world.

We continue following the breaking news out of Jerusalem. Police report at least four people have been wounded in a shooting attack, a drive-by shooting, in fact, our Oren Liebermann on the scene following the story for us live.

Oren, what's the latest that you've heard from investigators?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Police have already reopened the scene here, reopened the roads and the light rail in all directions. This drive-by shooting happening not long ago, not even 90 minutes ago at this point.

But the drive-by shooting started in a residential neighborhood off to my right where police say a driver, an attacker, came and opened fire, hitting a woman there in that residential neighborhood.

Then police say the driver continued in this direction, opening fire here right behind me at this light rail station, right across the street from the police headquarters, that is the main police headquarters in Jerusalem. There police say another woman was injured.

Then police say the driver, the attacker here, turned in to a neighborhood behind the police station. The neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

At this point, two motorcycle officers were tailing the driver, stopped the driver. Police say the driver stepped out of his car and opened fire, critically injuring one of those motorcycle officers and lightly injuring another.

Police say border police officers near the scene shot and killed the attacker in this case. We are learning more information about the attacker. Police saying this is a terrorist attack. They say the attacker is a 39-year-old from the neighborhood of Silwan. That is a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem just south of the Old City. A neighborhood that is known for being somewhat tense.

But police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says up until this attack there was no specific intelligence or specific information of an impending attack. He said it has generally been quiet in Jerusalem the last few days.

It is a time of increased tension. It is the Jewish high holiday, which is an increased time -- time of Increased tension, not only in the Old City of Jerusalem but also in Jerusalem in general.

But again, police saying that there was no specific intelligence of a threat, of an attack, leading up to this one.

Again, at this point, police say the latest information we have is that two civilians were injured, two women, as well as two police officers, one critically and one lightly injured in this drive-by shooting. Police say the attacker was shot and killed just behind the police headquarters in the neighborhood in Sheikh Jarrah -- George.

HOWELL: CNN international correspondent Oren Liebermann, live in this area near Ammunition Hill, the site where breaking news we're following, this shooting, drive-by shooting that happened.

Oren, thank you for your reporting. We'll stay in touch with you.

The Saudi-led coalition says that it will investigate reports that its warplanes were responsible for deadly airstrikes on a funeral in Yemen. At least 155 people were killed in that attack. It happened Saturday in the capital of Sanaa. The coalition had earlier denied any responsibility for the bombings. Mourners were at a wake for the father of the rebel government's interior minister when those bombs hit the funeral hall. The U.S. says that it is now re-evaluating its support for Saudi Arabia's coalition in the fight in Yemen.

A U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at halting Syrian government airstrikes in Aleppo has failed. On Saturday, Russia used its veto to block that measure, which also called for access to humanitarian aid. The veto was expected due to Moscow's support of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.

A Russian counter-resolution that didn't call for a halt to airstrikes failed to get enough votes to pass. Russia's U.N. ambassador was critical, following the failed resolutions. Listen --

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VITALY CHURKIN, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. (through translator): We are participating in one of the strangest spectacles in the history of the Security Council. We have to vote on two draft resolutions of the council while we are all well aware that neither will be adopted.

Given that the crisis in Syria is at a critical stage when it is --

[04:35:00]

CHURKIN (through translator): -- particularly important there be a coordination of the political efforts of the international community, this waste of time is inadmissible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: And now to the fight against ISIS. It is expected to heat up soon in Northern Iraq and families there, they are desperate to flee that area. They describe brutal conditions under ISIS rule and they are risking their lives to try to escape it all. Our Ben Wedeman has more from Kirkuk province.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They walked 17 hours through the night to reach this ridge, the edge of Kurdish-controlled territory south of Kirkuk.

An officer gives 10-year-old Amal (ph) a kiss and then a thorough search. With ISIS often inserting suicide bombers among fleeing civilians, everyone is suspect.

"The journey," says Amal, "was tiring."

And all the while she was afraid of daish, a derogatory term for ISIS.

"Hundreds, thousands want to escape," says Mahmoud (ph), "but daish is waiting to catch people trying to leave. Twice they caught me. This time I succeeded."

During the night, Mahmoud (ph), his wife and five children hid in an irrigation canal to evade detection.

WEDEMAN: Every day people come to this point, fleeing ISIS control. But it's a long and dangerous journey. Along the way, there are booby traps, there are IEDs and, according to the soldiers here, in the last month, nine people have been killed trying to reach this point.

WEDEMAN (voice-over): It's a terrifying trek but worth all the risks to escape ISIS.

"If you do something small, they jail and beat you. Anything serious and it's off with your head," says Ladif (ph).

Bashir (ph), a farmer, had only one run-in with ISIS.

"They arrested me," he recalls, "for a pack of cigarettes, fined me 100,000 dinars" -- about $85 -- "and gave me 10 lashes."

Food is expensive and scarce; medical care and education, non- existent.

"The children have missed two years of school," says Samira (ph), "and I don't know if any school will take them now."

Here they're given food and water -- and a bit of comfort -- and a cursory interrogation. Intelligence officers will question them further, checking names against a database of ISIS members and sympathizers, and then truck them to camps.

WEDEMAN: This group of people is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to the hundreds of thousands of people, who are expected to flee as the offensive against ISIS continues -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, south of Kirkuk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Ben Wedeman, thank you.

Now on to Eastern Germany. Authorities there are looking for a Syrian national suspected of planning a terror attack. CNN's Isa Soares has the very latest on the search.

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ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the man suspected of planning a bomb attack on German soil. His name is Jaber al-Bakr. He's 22 years of age, from Damascus in Syria. Police raided his apartment after receiving a tipoff from the domestic intelligence service. Within hours, they found an explosive mix of substances.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We can announce that we have found considerable amounts of explosives in the apartment, several hundred grams. In fact, it's a very dangerous explosive material. So we have to take extreme precautions, which is done at this moment.

SOARES (voice-over): These substances were so volatile that police dug holes outside the apartment and set off controlled explosions. SOARES: At this stage police don't know whether the man on the run is

himself carrying any explosives or whether he is armed. They also don't know the where, the when or, indeed, the why. So you can indeed imagine they're not taking any chances.

SOARES (voice-over): They have been cordoning off key areas and have evacuated more than 80 people while they comb through some parts of Chemnitz. Police wouldn't say how long the suspect has been in Germany or whether he was a recent arrival from Syria.

Germany remains on high alert following two attacks this summer, both carried out by refugees in the name of ISIS -- Isa Soares, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Isa, thank you.

Fair to say it has been a tough week for Donald Trump, already dealing with the fallout of one video from 2005. And now, he faces more of his own words. His comments about women, specifically the conversations that he had with radio host Howard Stern. That story is next.

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HOWELL: America's choice 2016: the U.S. Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, is facing quite a bit of backlash from his own party after vulgar comments that he made about women that surfaced on Friday.

And now, more than 24 top party leaders, they are pulling their support for Trump. And many are calling for him to withdraw altogether.

Trump, though, says he will not do anything of the sort. But he may have a little more explaining to do after making his first apology for his comments, the first apology of his political career on Saturday.

CNN has compiled a series of audio clips of Trump on shock jock Howard Stern's radio program over nearly two decades ago. The conversations include discussions of his daughter, Ivanka's, body and the impact his fame has had on his sex life.

And again, we warn you, as we play these clips, the following content that you're about to hear is graphic and disturbing.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My daughter's beautiful, Ivanka. She -- HOWARD STERN, RADIO HOST: By the way, your daughter --

TRUMP: She's beautiful.

STERN: Can I say this, a piece of ass.

TRUMP: Yes.

The last couple of years I go out with somebody, and she's like 21. And she's talking about, you know, what are you doing?

She's studying algebra.

STERN: For what?

TRUMP: And it's like it was always embarrassing for me to walk in. It's too young. Thirty is like a perfect age.

STERN: Absolutely. She has enough life experience.

TRUMP: Until she's 35.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

STERN: Too much life experience.

TRUMP: What is it at 35, Howard?

It's called checkout time.

STERN: And you're probably, I would say, the greatest judge of beauty on this planet. In fact, I would create a TV show for you where all you did was just judge women.

TRUMP: Now that may be the best idea of all.

STERN: So it's a simple thing. It's a half hour and we strip it out all over the country.

TRUMP: I would say I'm the all-time judge.

STERN: You're on the pageant, you go over, you look. You're meeting the girls and stuff.

One of them comes up to you and says, "Mr. Trump, you're a very sexy man."

TRUMP: You're a beautiful man, you have fantastic hair."

STERN: You're a powerful man --

[04:45:00]

STERN: -- right? TRUMP: Right.

STERN: I want to sleep with you. And you're not the type that would say no.

TRUMP: I don't want to hurt their feelings.

STERN: Right. No. I mean, you see a beautiful woman, you want to -- you want to have that. You --

(CROSSTALK)

STERN: You're a man who likes to have everything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, couldn't that be construed, however, as a --

STERN: Conflict?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

STERN: I don't -- I don't see it as a conflict.

TRUMP: It could be a conflict of interest. But you know, it's the kind of thing you worry about later.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I see.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: You tend to think about the conflict a little bit later on.

The question is, how can it not be construed?

STERN: Oh, I mean, some of these foreign girls, you know, Mr. Trump, in my country, we say hello with vagina.

TRUMP: Well, you could also say, as the owner of the pageant, it's your obligation to do that.

STERN: So you have done that?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, I'll tell you the funniest is that I'll go backstage before a show and everyone's getting dressed and ready and everything else and, you know, no men are anywhere and I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant. And therefore I'm "inspecting" it, you know, I'm inspecting; I want to make sure, like a doctor.

STERN: You're there --

TRUMP: Yes, the dress is -- is everyone OK?

You know, they're standing there with no --

Is everybody OK?

And you see these incredible looking women. And so I sort of get away with things like that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Donald Trump in his own words, speaking to radio host Howard Stern.

CNN's Andrew Kaczynski broke that story, digging, again, through 17 years of Howard Stern's tapes. And earlier he spoke to my colleague, Poppy Harlow, about what else he discovered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW KACZYNSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Besides that clip, there's all sorts of other stuff. There's this really gross, nasty conversation about Tiger Woods, which -- I don't even think we can mention on air.

There is him talking about Paula Jones, who Bill Clinton famously -- who, you know, has accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.

And he says she should have run faster from Bill in the context of a celebrity boxing match.

There are clips where he talks about -- Stern talks about Trump, saying that he was shocked that Trump was faithful. So there's really just all sorts of these comments, which, you know, when you look at them in the context of the 2005 clip, you find that he's making these public comments that are very much the same as his private comments.

What's very shocking that I found was sort of that Donald Trump talked about women in this way for just -- I mean, going back, you know, like two decades. So we see Donald Trump talking the same about women in the 1990s, where he says crude things, up until -- the latest clips in our article were 2010.

And it's interesting to a lot of people because Trump has blamed these comments, saying that he was just doing entertainment. But a lot of the Trump's comments came before "The Apprentice," which he has very publicly said, you know, these comments were a part of his persona.

So this playboy persona that he was blaming for these comments he had way back in the '90s.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Andrew Kaczynski there, the reporter who broke this story.

Earlier this week, Trump spoke with CNN affiliate KSNV and he blamed the entertainment business for his past controversial comments about women.

He said, quote, "A lot of that was done for the purpose of entertainment. There is nobody that has more respect for women than I do." There's an Oscar-winning star who has some choice words for the Republican candidate. It was released in a video on Friday. The actor, Robert De Niro, denouncing Donald Trump, referring to him as "an embarrassment."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT DE NIRO, ACTOR: It makes me so angry that this country has gotten to this point that this fool, this bozo has wound up where he has. He talks how he wants to punch people in the face. Well, I'd like to punch him in the face.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Robert De Niro there.

Now another player may have upstaged V.P. candidate Tim Kaine and Mike Pence at that debate. And who was that?

Well, there it is. It's Tim Kaine's eyebrows. Coming up, what many on social media are calling the real star of the V.P. debate. Stay with us.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:50:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

HOWELL: Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM, I'm George Howell.

Well, no surprise, Donald Trump's Tapegate apology, well, it got the full treatment from "Saturday Night Live" here in the United States, with actor Alec Baldwin once again portraying the Republican presidential candidate. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR, "DONALD TRUMP": I deeply appligize.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you trying to say apologize?

"TRUMP" No, I would never do that. What I am doing is appligizing to all the people who were offended by my statements.

But more importantly, to the people who were turned on by my hair, it's really 50-50.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We now go live to Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters, where they've just received news of the leak.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOWELL: That is the "SNL" treatment.

While the latest controversy surrounding Donald Trump has done a lot more than raise eyebrows, we couldn't keep our eyes off another candidate. Jeanne Moos reports on the ups and downs of Tim Kaine's eyebrows. I'm sure you caught this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You could say Tim Kaine browbeat his opponent.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D), VA: Slobs --

MOOS (voice-over): -- with his eyebrows.

KAINE: As he said, "That makes me smart."

MOOS (voice-over): The debate was best summed up by the Grinch.

THE GRINCH, CARTOON CHARACTER: It's a wonderful night for eyebrows.

MOOS (voice-over): From the first word Tim Kaine uttered, his eyebrows rose to the occasion.

KAINE: With that passion throughout their life.

MOOS (voice-over): His left brow in particular.

KAINE: Twitter war with Miss Universe.

MOOS (voice-over): In the political universe, Kaine is famous for his levitating brows.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tim Kaine, of course, is the people's eyebrow.

MOOS (voice-over): The brows first came to national attention back in 2006.

KAINE: My fellow Americans...

MOOS (voice-over): As Kaine gave the Democratic response to the State of the Union.

KAINE: -- from huge surpluses...

MOOS (voice-over): The state of his brows was up.

KAINE: -- when we work together.

MOOS (voice-over): Though the left brow seemed to work separately.

KAINE: We must.

MOOS (voice-over): Tim Kaine's eyebrow must have its own Twitter --

[04:55:00]

MOOS (voice-over): -- account, clear eyes, full brows, can't lose.

By the time he was nominated for V.P. --

KAINE: Do you really believe him?

MOOS (voice-over): -- Kaine seems to have tamed his brows a bit. They were no longer the furry caterpillars of a decade ago.

KAINE: And it's an honor tonight.

MOOS (voice-over): But even the more buttoned-down brows of Tuesday's debate launched GIFs and tweets, speculation that Kaine prepped for the debate by lifting weights with his eyebrows.

Can we all be honest and admit that this V.P. debate is really about eyebrows versus no eyebrows?

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), IND.: Play by the rules.

MOOS (voice-over): "Fun fact: Mike Pence doesn't have eyebrows," read another tweet.

MOOS: The Democrats definitely don't think Kaine's eyebrows are lowbrow.

MOOS (voice-over): They flaunt them on T-shirts, Kaine himself Instagrammed a pumpkin with an arched brow last Halloween.

KAINE: I have an uncontrollable left eyebrow?

MOOS (voice-over): He once gave Jon Stewart a button. An eyebrow- raising debate may be a distraction.

But how bad can it be being compared to Spock and The Rock?

KAINE: He trash talks the --

MOOS (voice-over): Jeanne Moos...

KAINE: Hard work --

MOOS (voice-over): -- CNN...

KAINE: There's a better way.

MOOS (voice-over): -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Maybe we're being too hard on the guy with the eyebrow thing. I don't know.

Comparing him to Spock? We thank you for being with us. I'm George Howell at the CNN Center in Atlanta. We're back after the break with more news and the breaking news that we're following out of Jerusalem.

Again, four people injured after a drive-by shooting that happened near light rail near Ammunition Hill. The suspect, as we understand, neutralized. CNN NEWSROOM returns after the break.