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Don Lemon Tonight

Chilling New Video of Paris Terrorists; Bomb Fears Boost Security at U.S. Airports; Alleged Murder Plot against Speaker Boehner; Feds Stepping Up Airport Security; International Manhunt for Female Suspect in Paris Terror Attack; Women in Terrorism; New "Charlie Hebdo" Issue to Hit Stands in France

Aired January 13, 2015 - 22:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon.

Tonight, breaking news. Chilling new video. The Kouachi brothers confront police moments after they massacred 12 people at "Charlie Hebdo" magazine. Gunfire is heard. And one of the brothers shouts, "We have avenged the Prophet Mohammed."

What can we learn from this video. Answers straight ahead from our experts.

Security ramped up at U.S. airports due to new fears of terrorism. A magazine published by al Qaeda instructs followers how to build homemade bombs that it claims can get by security scanners.

The woman wanted in connection with the Paris attack. What drives her and other women to embrace radical Islam? We're going to hear from one young woman who nearly fell prey to that life.

And also this bit of breaking news tonight. An Ohio man is charged with planning to assassinate House Speaker John Boehner. A forward court is straight ahead here on this program.

We're going to begin with a chilling new video of the Kouachi brother on a Paris street. Want to go straight away to CNN International correspondent Isa Soares, she's in Paris with the very latest.

Isa, before we get started, I want to -- I want our viewers and for us to take to a look at this chilling new video that's filmed just moments after the slaughter inside the offices of "Charlie Hebdo." Let's look at it for a little bit.

Quite a bit of this video. What has been the reaction there?

ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. Good evening, Don. Well, I think the reaction is just really getting a sense of what happened, helping to reconstruction what happened on that tragic day. As you know, there is very little evidence from what happened on that day with between the Kouachi brothers and when they went inside and left the officers of "Charlie Hebdo." So really this offers some sort of insight and helps police put

together the piece of the puzzle of that day. Now if you remember, if we go back to that tragic Wednesday, many we're concerned, questioning the fact perhaps the Kouachi brothers had someone else working with them on that same day. You mow, what we can see here is both those men very, very calm and collected there just outside of their car. They're reloading their weapons. There is no rush.

You would never thought these two men, Don, actually had just killed 11 people.

LEMON: Yes.

SOARES: There is this calm, relaxed attitude between them. So that's one aspect. The second one, them raising their arms. Initially we didn't have any sound of that, so many people saying you know, were they signaling to someone, and in fact, now we know that they are saying we have avenged the Prophet Mohammed. So that's the second point. And I think very interestingly enough, it really shows just how badly outgunned the police were here.

You know, we -- obviously we knew that they were clearly had a lot of weapons with them, but really shows the police could not match them, and very importantly, we have said from day one, which is these guys are exceptional marksmen, you know, and the first time we saw those bullets on the police wind screen, they were so tight together that -- so close together we knew they must have been great marksmen.

And now we see them driving and shooting at the same time. All elements that no doubt the police will help the police to piece together what happened that day, and give some insight to really those two brothers -- Don.

LEMON: French authorities still scrambling to track down six possible accomplices. Where are they on that, Isa?

SOARES: Yes, indeed. I mean, we heard from the prime minister, Don, a couple of days ago saying that he believes when asked does he believe there are more accomplices to this, he said there must have been. He said it doesn't necessarily mean, it was, you know, a trigger person. Perhaps someone who helped fund or organize.

So at the moment -- well, at the moment what we're hearing is that perhaps looking between about six people were part of the bigger, wider terror cell. And this is what, you know -- and that includes Hayat Boumediene, the woman who's -- married to Coulibaly. She is the one that we've heard escaped to Syria. So it's a bigger cell that we're hearing, tracking her down, the person who went to her with Turkey, as well as people who were seen driving her car in Paris.

So it's pretty much, Don, a country still very much on high alert.

LEMON: Absolutely. Isa Soares, joining us from Paris. Thank you very much.

You know, that chilling new video is an important piece of the puzzle for investigators. Combined with video that's already been released we now have a profile of the brazen and murderous attackers who appear calm and fearless in carrying out their plan as we can see.

Here's CNN's Tom Foreman.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don. If you take a look at the original video we have from the "Charlie Hebdo" attack on the street when a camera captured the gunmen coming out of the "Charlie Hebdo" offices and shooting down this way, this was the first glimpse we had of them, and it looked fairly chaotic, but this new video from a new direction, the opposite direction, shows a very different circumstance.

Here, we see the gunmen coming out into the street, and really quite taking their time. At least five times the driver yells out that they have avenged this slight to the Prophet Mohammed. Then as he heads back over toward the car, the other gunman, the passenger comes around the side. He apparently has something wrong with his gun, because the driver, who seems to be superior in the handling of these weapons, looks at it, adjusts it some for a moment or two.

You see a magazine for the gun lying on top of the car, at least it appears to be one, seems to be one of the 30-round clips that they used on Kalashnikovs and then they quite calmly get in. This is a 45- second period of time from when we see this video to when they finally start moving off down the road and then we get another look in this video as it moves forward. You see that they go just a very short distance before they encounter a police officer down here.

And again they step right out and start shooting again on either side looking very calm, placing about 15 shots right in the middle of the windshield of that car.

We're not sure if all those shots occur then or a little bit later because you see the police officer very quickly backs away, completely outgunned, and they pursue him down the street shooting some more as they pass before turning on to a much broader boulevard out there. And when they turn on to that broader boulevard, we get into the last piece of video which we have seen a great deal so far which is where they basically stalk and kill a single police officer.

The one thing you can see if you go through all this video, though, is that in every case, they have the police officers and everyone around them clearly outgunned and they seem absolutely fearless that anybody can take them on -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Tom Foreman, thank you very much.

Let's take a closer look at talk about what terrorism investigators will be looking for in this new piece of video.

I want to bring in now Paul Cruickshank, CNN terrorism analyst and co- author of "Agent Storm."

It's incredible video, isn't it? PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: It's a really quite

extraordinary video, and I think unfortunately it's going to electrify the global jihadist movement and encourage others to launch these kind of attacks.

LEMON: Let's talk more about that as we look at the video, this chilling new video, which is moments after the slaughter at the "Charlie Hebdo" offices. The first thing you're going to see, two masked terrorists yelling at each other out on the streets. Take a look.

So they're screaming, "We have avenged the Prophet Mohammed." What do you make of it?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, they view these cartoons as blasphemous, a grave insult to their religion. Radicals have felt this for some time ever since these cartoons were first published in 2005 in a Danish newspaper. Al Qaeda has been plotting to try and take out cartoonists for many years. So they see this as a big victory and they're proclaiming it to everybody around them.

LEMON: Look right here, Paul. He's got -- he's raising his finger in the air. What does that mean?

CRUICKSHANK: That is a jihadist gesture. The ISIS fighters have been using that a lot in Syria and Iraq, but also other jihadist groups have been using that as well. And that kind of means victory but it also means the oneness of that creed, of that religion, and only their way is the right way, and all other ways are the wrong way.

LEMON: All right. Let's continue on with the video now.

So you see the two Kouachi brothers there, and they're -- one is helping with the other. We have had military experts on saying that, one, looks like he has more training and the other one -- is he helping the other out? Are they reloading? Is there a problem with the gun? What's going on here?

CRUICKSHANK: Yes, one appears to be helping the other out. And it's now thought that perhaps just one brother went to Yemen in 2011 to get terrorist training with al Qaeda in Yemen. And the thinking now is that that one brother was actually Cherif Kouachi, and not his brother, that he might have used his brother's passport so they could travel to Yemen. Because actually Cherif Kouachi was under control order at the time so he wouldn't normally been able to use his own passport. That might be the reason why he has more expertise here, more knowledge.

LEMON: Our justice correspondent Pamela Brown is going to help us out in Washington with a bit of that breaking news coming up shortly here. Move on, let's take another look at the video. Let's --

You see them drive away here. And then they stopped and they get a confrontation -- in a confrontation with police. Police then retreat, Paul. The police are clearly outgunned. CRUICKSHANK: They are clearly outgunned. This is really quite

extraordinary. I mean, it's just playing out on the streets of the heart of a major European capital. These are fighters with Kalashnikovs. They also have rocket launchers, grenades. The police are having to retreat. These are the police who are very calm, very disciplined, very precise using these weapons.

All of those pointers suggest that at least one of them, perhaps even both of them, received training at a certain point at possibly in Yemen.

LEMON: And certainly, the last video is when we see the brothers encounter a French police officer and executing him on the sidewalk, and we have seen that video where they show no mercy at all.

CRUICKSHANK: No mercy at all that they would view a police officer as a representative of the French state. They would regard the French state as engaged in a war against Islam, and so no mercy with these kind of police officers.

LEMON: Thank you, Paul. We appreciate that.

More now on the breaking news tonight. Sources tell CNN that Cherif Kouachi used his brother Said's passport to travel to Yemen in 2011.

Justice correspondent Pamela Brown joins me with more on this.

Pam, Paul mentioned that you have the details. Tell me about what you know.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Paul, Don, there is some confusion initially. There is belief that Said Kouachi actually went over to Yemen to train with AQAP. Now we're learning that a closer look it appears that Cherif Kouachi actually used his own brother's passport in order to gain entry into Yemen and it's believed that he did join up with AQAP and received some training over there in Yemen.

We know that Cherif Kouachi had several run-ins with the law, and so -- and his passport was revoked, according to a French reporter that we've been working with, Eric Pelletier. So his passport was revoked and he was presumably not able to leave the country, obviously, and so the question was, well, how can he make it to Yemen. Said's documents were on file there and so they put two and two together.

And it appears the working assumption at this point, Don, is that Cherif did use Said's documents to go over there, although I do want to make it clear. This doesn't mean that Said never went to Yemen. That is something investigators are still trying to figure out if they both made it over there or just one brother.

LEMON: OK. So obviously U.S. investigators will be looking at the video and this use of a passport as to what the threat level is here at home. What's happening there? What are you hearing?

BROWN: Well, I think there is a sort of heightened sense of concern, a heightened sense of vigilance in the wake of what we saw in Paris, Don, and then, of course, we have these ongoing calls by ISIS, renewed calls by ISIS, to, you know, take advantage of what happened in Paris. They are trying to capitalize on the momentum there, urging believers and followers to launch small scale attacks.

So all of this joined together and along with the ongoing threats from AQAP on targeting aviation, counterterrorism officials here in the U.S., Don, are concerned. They are looking to see if any Americans had any connections to the Paris suspects. That is an ongoing process. So far I'm told there's no connections but there's a lot of people to go through and a lot of different communications to go through.

It's going to take some time, but there is concern from law enforcement for their own safety and for the people that they are supposed to protect. There is sort of a sense especially in recent months -- Don.

LEMON: Yes. Pamela Brown, in Washington. Thank you, Pamela.

BROWN: Thank you.

LEMON: We've got a lot more to get to tonight.

An alleged murder plot against House Speaker John Boehner. A former bartender is accused of planning to poison Boehner's drink or shoot him. We've got the details next.

Also ahead, what drives young women like the suspect in the Paris attack to embrace radical Islam. We'll hear from a woman who nearly fell prey and see how jihadists use social media to recruit women. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: More breaking news tonight. An alleged plot to assassinate House Speaker John Boehner by poisoning his drinks. A former bartender is charged.

Want to turn now to our senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns. He has the very latest on this.

What's going on, Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Don. Michael Hoyt is charged with issuing a murder threat against a U.S. government official. He's being held pending a psychiatric evaluation.

According to court documents filed on the case, this all started in a 9/11 call Hoyt made on October 29th. He allegedly told authorities he'd been fired from his job as a bartender at the country club in Westchester, Ohio, before he had time to put something in Speaker Boehner's drink.

Boehner, according to the documents, is apparently a member of the country club. According to the complaint, Hoyt allegedly suggested he was going to kill Boehner because Boehner was mean to him at the country club and because he said Boehner was responsible for the Ebola virus. Hoyt allegedly said he had a Beretta 380 and the authorities found a gun, confiscated it for safekeeping.

The document also, quoting here, it said, "Hoyt has imagined and believes John Boehner is the devil and that he," meaning Hoyt, "believes he's Jesus Christ." Apparently after being questioned about some of the stuff, Hoyt later said he had no intention of doing harm to the speaker, and that while he often poured drinks for Boehner, it would have been very easy to slip something in his drink.

The complaint also said Hoyt recently e-mailed Boehner's wife, Debbie, at work and essentially told her he could have hurt the speaker but has not. According to the country club management, Hoyt was fired because he had a bad attitude and several members complained about him. The document said Hoyt had previously been treated for a psychotic episode two years ago -- Don.

LEMON: Clearly he has some issues and we will follow.

Thank you, Joe Johns, in Washington tonight.

There are new terror threats that have led to tighter security at U.S. airports. I'm joined now by Mike Rogers, CNN national security commentator and former congressman who was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Juliette Kayyem, CNN national security analyst and former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security.

Good evening to both of you.

Congressman, so what are your thoughts on these threats on U.S. airports?

MIKE ROGERS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMENTATOR: Well, we've seen something pretty interesting, Don, over a period of time over months, where Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula had actually been working with al Qaeda affiliates on the ground in Syria. All of which were planning at least Western attacks in some sort. And we know that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has been fixated on airplanes. So obviously this is concerning.

It means that they have come into fresh information that would allow them to warrant raising their concerns at airports.

LEMON: Juliette, your reaction?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think it's -- that's exactly right. And what you're seeing in response is what we call the layered defense. So there's going to be a sharing of intelligence, what do we know, what do other countries know, are we sharing intelligence about who is getting on planes.

And then there's going to be this more defensive actions like what we're seeing on TV right now with the TSA and making sure that people getting on airplanes are who they say they are. And then of course the part we can never forget which is engaging the

public to make sure that they are aware of what's going on, that they are cognizant of who other passengers on. Remember some of the major attempted attacks on airplanes were thwarted in air by other passengers like the December 25th one, and so always engaging the public is also part of that layered defense.

LEMON: All right. So, Congressman, the White House will be hosting a summit on countering violent extremism. It's going to happen in February. Yesterday Josh Earnest was asked about the omission of the word Islam in the title of the summit. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why isn't it the summit on countering Islamic extremism?

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Because violent extremism is something that we want to be focused on. And it's not just -- it's not just Islamic violent extremism that we want to counter. There are other forms --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Paris, Australia, and Canada, isn't the thread through them that it's Islamic extremism?

EARNEST: Well, certainly those -- all the examples that you cite are examples of individuals who had cited Islam as they carried out acts of violence. There's no arguing that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Congressman, is the White House correct not to put the focus on any one group or religion?

ROGERS: Well, we have to be honest with what's going on here. You know, ISIS' formation and the raping and pillaging and domination in Iraq and Syria is radical Islam in its practice. And they use that in its practice.

Boko Haram that slaughtered as many as 2,000 people -- 2,000 people, strapped bombs on a 10-year-old girl and sent her into a market to kill another 20 people, that is based in radical Islam. And so if you can't at least recognize the problem, it's pretty hard to get to a solution.

I think there is a way through this, but you can't just say and wish away what it is. This isn't an isolated incident. This isn't a few people who have embraced a violent ideology. There are lots of people who are doing this, and it is becoming a growing problem. So I think you have to call it what it is. It doesn't mean that you can't use the more moderate influences of Islam to push back on this, but you're never going to get to that conclusion unless you call it for what it is.

LEMON: Juliette, I want to get your reaction. Does it matter what the White House calls extremism? Does singling out one group pose a threat?

KAYYEM: I think in some ways this is just sort of a side debate because, you know, given everything that's going on, the most important thing is that we stop terrorism and violent extremism.

I completely understand why the White House did this because the countering the violent extremism initiative which isn't really ours, we're sort of following the British lead and the European lead is about engaging communities of interest, whether it is Muslim, whether it is Islamic, whether it is Christian, whether it is black, white, Asian, whatever it is. And so if you call it Islamic terrorism, people who are Muslim are going to feel very, very much like their religion is not reflected in this initiative.

And so I completely understand that if the initiative is about engaging these communities, targeting it as Islamic terrorism seems like a bad way to start. It seems like a bad way to make those overtures and to engage these communities who are predominantly peaceful and understand that it's the bad elements within their own communities, whether it is here or abroad, that really undermine their peaceful religion.

LEMON: Congressman, I want to talk to you a little bit more about France, because an al Qaeda-linked group has promised more new attacks in France. How seriously are the French taking this latest threat?

ROGERS: I think they're taking it very seriously. And just one point of difference here, it's not Islamic terrorism, it's radical Islamic extremism. There's a huge difference and I think that's part of the problem. If we don't start targeting the problem, we're never going to get to a solution.

LEMON: Before you get to the France answer, let me read to you what the group said and then you can respond. It says, "France pays the cost of its violence on Muslim countries and the violation of their sanctity. As long as its soldiers occupy countries such as Mali and Central Africa and bombard our people in Syria and Iraq, as long as its lame media continues to undermine our prophet, France will expose itself to the worst and more."

ROGERS: Yes, I mean, this is a very consistent theme with those who embrace radical Islam and participate in violent jihad. And so that is a very consistent theme. What we're seeing here is that we saw this very interesting thing, Don. We saw that ISIS has been saying that they want to conduct Western style attack -- excuse me, attacks in Western countries, and we also have seen that al Qaeda has been expressing an interest in ramping up its game to have those attacks in Western countries.

So that propaganda in which you read is -- is to induce and encourage violence, and they have -- they reinforce that through social media, through they're recruiting, through radicalization, all of this as a layered effort that is representative of radical Islam that results in the attacks that you saw in France.

LEMON: I've got to run. Thank you, Congressman.

ROGERS: Yes. Thank you.

LEMON: Thank you, Juliette.

The Kouachi brothers appeared both calm and confident in the chilling new video. Boldly reloading their weapons on a Paris street.

Are the terrorists winning their war against Western values? And where do the U.S. and its allies stand in this battle?

We're going to get some answers. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Are terrorists winning the war against the West?

I'm joined now by David Gomez, a retired FBI counterterrorism expert. Jeff Price is an aviation security expert and author of "Practical Aviation Security." Mubin Shaikh is a jihadist turned undercover counterterrorism operative and author of "Undercover Jihadi."

Mubin, I want you to take another look at this video. It is really extraordinary. The killers just moments after they unleashed an attack that killed 12 at "Charlie Hebdo."

As a former jihadist, what's your reaction to this?

MUBIN SHAIKH, FORMER JIHADIST: Well, first of all, I don't -- I fail to see how they avenged the Prophet, Alayhi al-Salam, by making more cartoons be broadcast and bringing Muslim population under more siege. But for them as far as they were concerned at that moment you could see when they stopped and got out to shoot at the cop -- at the police officer, I think they were actually looking to go down, suicide by cop. And because he reversed out, I would have just gunned it and slammed into them, but because he reversed out, they kept going and tried to get away against which he did.

LEMON: Jeff, let's talk about what the feds are telling airports, they're saying step up security in reaction to an article that the -- that Al-Qaeda, a publication Inspire magazine explaining how to construct homemade bombs and they claims can get through airport security, our airport safe right now?

JEFF PRICE, AUTHOR, PRACTICAL AVIATION SECURITY: Well, airports are much safer than anywhere many, many years ago. And the fact that airports have now been specifically targeted, yet again, because we are such a frequent target, that just rises our level of awareness, and raises that up. So, airports will step up certain procedures, it will start different random types of procedures. Random screenings, you'll see probably more dogs at checkpoints, you'll probably see more random type of searches of individuals coming through the checkpoint. So, it puts everybody just on a higher state of alert.

LEMON: Jeff, so we -- all remember the -- the underwear bomber. He made it on the plane. What steps are the governments taking to thwart these types of plots?

PRICE: One of the things to remember about the underwear bomber, we did not have a lot of the body imaging technology deployed at that time. So, the metal detector they do what it says on the box that detects metal, doesn't detect explosives. Today, we have a lot more of the body imagining technology which will detect the explosives and a lot of the other contraband and the prohibited items coming through the checkpoint. Additionally, we didn't have the canine at the checkpoint doing the bomb-sniffing dogs, now we've got far more and we got behavior detection programs in place along with airport employees, airport staff and just individuals now aware that there is a threat. So, were we woken back up.

LEMON: Even at the small airports?

PRICE: Some of the smaller airports don't have the body imagining technology, yet sometimes it's a space issue. But, remember there are other layers of security in place as well. A lot of times more canine at the checkpoint, and really one of the biggest layer of security is completely unseen by the public at the airport and those of the layers of intelligence. And in this case, they've come right down and say, here's what we are planning on building, so be sure to go look for this when you are coming through the checkpoints in those areas.

LEMON: So that, from planes now to trains, everyone is jumpy now, David. So, I want to get -- David, I want to get your reaction to this, something that happened yesterday. A woman died another 84 was hospitalized after D.C. metro station and train filled up with smoke caused by an electrical malfunction. Many describe the scene as chaotic and -- do people are asking how vulnerable are we to more serious threats. How ready are we as well?

DAVID GOMEZ, FORMER FBI COUNTERTERRORISM EXPERT: Well, I think you are seeing the unprecedented level of cooperation between the FBI, local law enforcement, and overseas with the Parisian authorities and the French. That's one way that the United States is trying to bring down the threat level. But I think one of the important things to note is that, we are seeing an evolution in the terrorism tactics. For the first time we are seeing French citizens attacking a French business on French soil, as part of the transnational terrorism plot. Normally, we would call that domestic terrorism and we're kind of moving away from the Lone wolf, or global Lone wolf terrorism towards more of a clandestine. Self structure where people lay low for a number of years that been taking the direction from an overseas group.

LEMON: The question is though, what would keep people from act -- acting with you know, from complete fear when something like these goes wrong, you got things go wrong on subways, airplanes, you know, all of the time. But because of what happened in Paris, and because of what we are seeing around the world, people may -- may panic, you know even if it's not terrorism related. How do you keep people from doing that?

GOMEZ: You know that's, that's really a difficult question for me to answer, Don. You know, it -- people need to realize that the percentage, the probabilities of being -- a target and involved in a terrorist attack, very -- actually very, very small. You're more likely to be involved in the accident like what occurred in the metro, the D.C. metro, where an electrical fire sparks smoke and then panic as opposed to an actual terrorism attack in the United States. So, I mean -- I guess people need to have certain amount of confidence in their emergency management...

LEMON: And their abilities, yeah.

GOMEZ: And first responders to be able to protect them, right.

LEMON: Yeah.

GOMEZ: And the ability to protect us.

LEMON: So moving, the terrorists think that they have already won against the west?

SHAIKH: As far as they are concerned, they are winning, and the more that the public and the west especially, engage in us versus them narratives. And inadvertently becoming recruiting sergeants for these extremist, they will continue to proceed that they've won. You know, just to answer if I could a little bit resiliency narratives, in terms of what should people do. People should need to understand -- you know, like your guest said that the probability of being in such an attack is very low, and if you are in such an attack, you need to try to help out, if you can.

LEMON: All right. Jeff, Mubin, thank you. David, we'll see you a little bit later on. Coming up, Hayat Boumediene, Lone female suspect in the terrorist attacks, still on the run, is there a new trend of jihadist recruiting women into terrorism, more on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: There's an international manhunt for Hayat Boumediene, the female suspect in the Paris terror attack. But, she's not the first woman to get caught up in terrorism. CNN's Ana Cabrera has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She is among the most dangerous woman in the world, just 26-year-old, Hayat Boumediene. Camera's catching her writing at the Istanbul airport on January 2nd. Authorities now believe she's somewhere in Syria. Her boyfriend Amedy Coulibaly, pledging a legion to ISIS before, allegedly was taking the lives of four people inside of a kosher food store in Paris last week, along with a policewoman. His lawyer claims Boumediene is even more radical than her boyfriend. Authority says Boumediene and also has ties to the Kouachi brothers, who stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo. They say she exchange about 500 phone calls with the wife of Cherif Kouachi in 2014. So how did this western Muslim woman become one of the most wanted? That's unclear.

ZUNERA MAZHAR, MUSLIM WOMAN: It's that sense of belonging and unfortunately a lot of times this sense of belonging is coming from -- you know, seeking a higher purpose. CABRERA: Zunera Mazhar knows how easily it can be to foul play (ph) to a radical ideology. It almost happened to her after 9/11.

MAZHAR: I really had a struggle to find my place in the society. I started getting on the blogs, getting on the forums. I saw this extreme version of Islam. I was 18 at the time.

CABRERA: 19-year-old Shannon Conley family says that something similar happened to their daughter. The Colorado teen is set to be sentenced later this month. After admitting, she tries to go to Syria to marry an ISIS fighter and become a nurse in an ISIS camp. Her lawyer claims she went online to learn more about Islam, but got trapped in the web of an internet savvy jihadist organization with sophisticated marketing.

So what it is about their messaging? Do you think that's connecting with women?

DR. ANDREA STANTON, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ISLAMIC STUDIES AND UNDERGRADUATE ADVISER, UNIVERSITY OF DENVER: I think first and foremost, there's now an appeal being made to women. ISIS is under really good job of suggesting precisely that. That -- hey, look, you know you have a role here too, women. It's not -- this is, you know, extremism is not just for men.

CABRERA: Religious studies scholar Dr. Andrea Stanton, suggest bringing women into the ranks is a new phenomenon.

STANTON: I think that it would appeal particularly to, women who grow up in a western European or a North American context, because they expect more equitable treatment.

CABRERA: Look, no further than yet another case, three Denver area high schoolers, just 15, 16 and 17 years old. The girls ran away from home in October and made it halfway to Syria before they were stopped by authorities in Germany. A group that tracks international terrorists analyzed the girl's social media activity and discovered they have been in communication with female recruiters, so-called ISIS sisters.

MAZHAR: I know we need more Muslim wife (ph) says who can go out there and to wait -- this is not Islam.

CABRERA: Compelled to speak out after what has happened in Paris, Mazhar posted this I-report on cnn.com. Hoping to start an educated conversation about Islam, which she believes saved her when she was drifting towards radicalization.

MAZHAR: I was able to get out of it as I read about more open-minded scholars, it allowed me to kind of come back, revert from that and really realize that the meaning of Islam just like any other religion is, is oneness.

CABRERA: A message she wants to teach her 6-year-old daughter, and the rest of the world.

Ana Cabrera, CNN Denver.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Fascinating. Let's talk now with Zainab Salbi, she's the founder of Women for Women International and author of Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam. I am so grateful to have you here tonight, and I can't wait to talk to you. So, we've -- let's talk about Hayat Boumediene, how important is she now to terrorist groups?

ZAINAB SALBI, FOUNDER OF WOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL: She's...

LEMON: She's the most wanted woman in the world.

SALBI: She's very important. You know, the terrorist organizations whether ISIS, Al-Qaeda or particularly ISIS are appealing to women. They are giving them a sense of purpose, they're telling them you can belong to us and you have -- you know, we will honor you and we will take you, and you can be part of our mission. They're not telling them that, you know, you will be a sex slave once you enter, we expect you to cook and clean and we out -- we expect you to operate as a very in a very shackled norms of women. But the appeal from the outside, come join the fight, they have sense of purpose. And here they have a woman who's having the image that she's escaping, and she has -- she's part of this organization, it's an appeal, it's not a rejected image and it is very dangerous actually sensationalize her, the way we are.

LEMON: You said careful with -- you know, reporting -- the reporting on her because...

SALBI: Well, because...

LEMON: Of sensationalism is the reason?

SALBI: Right. Because if you are a young woman in the Middle East or if you're young women in the Muslim world -- I mean, in the European world and you're living with a conservative family, you feel discriminated against by the society outside of you. They are telling you, you are a Muslim you are this, you are this, you are this, you feel disenfranchise, marginalize. You know, your family inside is restricting, you cannot do this, you cannot have a boyfriend, you cannot do that and all of it's gonna be. An image of a woman who is in a sense liberated by going on her own, and fighting and being part of this operation, there's a senses -- sensationalization of her, and it is dangerous that we actually allow that figure to grow.

LEMON: You said all of this, the male jihadist, the women. This is more about emotion and psychology than it is about anything else.

SALBI: Absolutely. So for Muslim, the -- merits of why ISIS is appealing for Islam for the -- you know, and it's recruiting as much youth as if's -- as possible and the scaring everyone actually. Is because they are addressing an emotional point, they're telling them that the west have failed you, the west have failed us in democracy and freedom and prosperity. Our own government, Middle Eastern governments has also failed us in -- delivering on prosperity and all of that. So we, are gonna take ourselves to the era of Islam where it is once upon time a golden religion, a religion where there is creativity and art and science. We're gonna take us back to that moment, for all Muslims, including myself, we all studied the same history...

LEMON: Yeah.

SALBI: That was the glorious thing that we've always a proud of. There's taking the history and they're making it into, with they -- they're promising it for the future...

LEMON: Yeah.

SALBI: And that's the appeal for a lot of people.

LEMON: You say that you are deeply concerned about the images -- about what happened obviously, but the images that are being portrayed on television that it's gonna inspire many more of these attack, that's what you've been talking about a lot?

SALBI: I am very scared actually, what we need to do is create another alternative image that is more attractive and is appeal to young Muslim women all over the world be in the Middle East or in Europe. And that image is you can be a Muslim and you can be hip and you can be cool and educated and liberal and all of these things. And you can fulfill your full potential and will accept you and honor you and you don't have to join this group. So the opposite image of this woman is not existing in the media, you see, if the terrorist is existing, her image is there, is package all of that, but the image -- the alternative is not, and we have to create the alternative.

LEMON: Yeah. Zainab Salbi, I've been interviewed you by satellite. It's such an honor to meet you in person...

SALBI: It's my honor, thank you.

LEMON: I always found you fascinating, and I love speaking with you all through all evening, please come back.

SALBI: Thank you.

LEMON: Thank you very much.

Any minute now, the new issue of Charlie Hebdo will hit the newsstands in France and despite the deadly attack, the magazines unapologetic and controversial. That's next.

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LEMON: Normal circulation of Charlie Hebdo magazine, about 60,000 copies and any minute now, as it is expected that 3 million copies of the new edition of Charlie Hebdo will hit newsstands. So joining me now is Brian Stelter, CNN's senior media correspondent of course of post of reliable sources. The next issue is about to hit newsstands, what do you know about this new issue and who put it together, Brian? BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that's 8-

pages long and it has come from the hardest place for a journalist, for any media maker, and that is the place of grief and mourning for their fallen colleagues. But the magazine is not filled with blank pages, it's not filled with obituaries, and it's rational sense of the work. Instead, it is filled with the work, some of the previously unpublished work of some of the slain cartoonists. It is filled with references of the attack. It says that Charlie has made many new friends this week, which really is true, Don. And we were talking about the magazine that -- on a good week, may have reached 30,000 or 40,000 people in this country. Now as you said it, expected to reach millions of people here and in other countries as well, another who's interest (ph) back home in United States. Among some people getting copies there and I think we will even see it come out French translated in English form in the U.S. in the days to come.

LEMON: You know, this newest cover is just as controversial -- you know as staff of Charlie Hebdo before -- the massacre. Are they concerned about more violence, Brian?

STELTER: They are hiding those concerns very well. We talk today to the editor of (inaudible) the left-wing French newspaper that lent office space to the magazine as they got back on its feet. They said they are not concerned by any, by any threats or any dangers that are post by publishing in the depictions of the prophet Muhammad. But this is not a theoretical risk, it's a real risk Don, as you know, there have been sporadic acts of violence against news (inaudible) it used to show cartoon depiction of the prophet Muhammad. I am a curious today the coming hours as, as newsstands here in this country put the newspaper -- put the magazine on sale...

LEMON: Right.

STELTER: If any of you are doing that with a little bit of trepidation, I think we'll find out, later today.

LEMON: We will see. Brian Stelter will be watching you. Thank you very much. I want to turn out to the story of Molly Norris, Molly Norris. An American cartoonist in fear for her life and it has been that way since 2010 now. Norris proposed an everyday Draw Muhammad Day. Then their son threats are safety, she went to hiding to this day. So back with me now, he's with us earlier is David Gomez. So you were the FBI assistant special agent in charge of the Molly Norris case, what did you first think when you heard that Islamic militant that Anwar al- Awlaki issued a fatwa calling for her death.

GOMEZ: Well, the first things that happen at the FBI office in Seattle was, there -- there was a debate among the supervisors and executive management as to what our role, our proper role should be. Did we have a responsibility to -- to the protect Molly, and that argument was made at the FBI headquarters and of course, it came back, and said absolutely. Nobody in Seattle wanted to be the first field office in the United States where an American citizen was victimized for exercising her first amendment rights.

LEMON: So, Molly was forced -- then she was forced to change her identity, to leave her family and her friends and going to hiding. She's has not able to work, so years after, she is still underground -- here.

GOMEZ: Well, let me be the one thing clear, she wasn't forced. She was given the option. We presented a number of options towards her, we provide her with a certain amount of expertise in regards to personal security and the recommendation as it was...

LEMON: The threat was credible enough though.

GOMEZ: Absolutely, we believed that the threat to be credible, and now 4 1/2 years later, I think the credibility of that threat has been shown.

LEMON: So let's have -- let's see what happened here. Her name -- everyone thought that it will - some people thought that maybe, you know, that it would go away, but her name has been mentioned in Inspire magazine, they keep talking about her. What is this horrific attack in Paris, the Charlie Hebdo told you about the case of Molly Norris?

GOMEZ: Well, one of the sad features is that, this is a revictimization of all of the people on the death list that came out. I think it was last year. There is argument to be made that renewed publicity actually --increases her risk.

LEMON: Yeah.

GOMEZ: I don't know what to be done to avoid that, I hope that she's continuing to follow the recommendations of the FBI...

LEMON: OK.

GOMEZ: And has lower her profile and remains anonymous.

LEMON: All right, David Gomez. Thank you very much, retired FBI counterterrorism expert, we appreciate you coming on. We'll be right back.

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LEMON: New video just out today shows the horror of the moments right after the Charlie Hebdo attack, investigators will be combing through the video frame by frame.

I'm Don Lemon, thanks for watching us. I'll see you back here tomorrow night. "AC360" starts right now.