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New Details On The Hostage Situation In Colleyville, Texas; Livestream Captured Hostage-Taking Incident At Texas Synagogue; Colleyville, Texas PD Says Male Hostage Released Unhurt; Australian Immigration Minister Says Djokovic's Presence In Australia Could Cause Civil Unrest Due To Anti-Vax Stance; Nearly 74 Million Americans In Major Winter Storm's Path. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired January 15, 2022 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:34]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: It is the top of the hour. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York tonight in the seat for Pamela Brown. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM, and we are continuing to follow this breaking news out of Colleyville, Texas, this evening.

FBI negotiators say they remain in contact with the person holding at least four people hostage inside of a synagogue in Texas. All of the hostages, which may include the synagogue's rabbi, we're told, are at this point reported to be uninjured.

Two law enforcement officials are now telling CNN that investigators believe the hostage taker may have been motivated by a desire to free a woman by the name of Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year sentence at a prison in Texas. She was convicted in 2010 on seven charges, those included attempted murder and armed assault on U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.

Out of abundance of caution tonight, law enforcement agencies across the country have stepped up security at synagogues and other Jewish establishments.

Let's begin this hour with my colleague, Shimon Prokupecz, our crime and justice correspondent.

I mean, a lot of significant new reporting, Shimon, over the last hour including some good news that these individuals inside being held hostage are uninjured and that the FBI is still talking to the hostage taker.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Right, and that's certainly significant because that at least point seems that the FBI feels that the negotiations are going well and that they can continue the negotiations because people, of course, naturally are asking, well, why doesn't the FBI just go in and take this guy into custody? But there seems to be some good communication that's continuing. There have not been any injuries, and so that is why the FBI is still proceeding the way they are. And the other thing that we're hearing is, we're not even entirely

clear that the FBI and the police there have been able to identify this man. All they know is that he is claiming to be motivated by wanting this woman who is linked to terrorism, that was convicted here in New York City and serving that 86-year sentence in Texas, that he is doing this because he wants her freed.

In fact, I'm told by law enforcement officials that there was a rabbi here in New York City that spoke to him, that spoke to the hostage taker after he demanded to talk to her. The rabbi of the synagogue who is being held hostage, he asked him to call this rabbi here in New York City, she's a well-known rabbi, and again, in the conversation with this rabbi, he told her that he wanted Siddiqui freed, that Siddiqui was framed. And so she, after she spoke to him, called 911 and the FBI went to talk to her and that is what she relayed to the FBI.

So the FBI here obviously very concerned. Authorities all across the country very concerned with this possible link to terrorism, so that's why we're seeing all the stepped-up security. But this certainly for the FBI takes this investigation in a different direction because they're trying to figure out exactly what his connection is to this woman, to Siddiqui. That's going to be something that needs to be figured out and they don't know.

But it certainly escalates this because now you have this link to terrorism here. We don't know how he got to the synagogue. We don't know how he got inside.

HARLOW: Right.

PROKUPECZ: So there are still a lot of questions and I think it's really interesting that from everything we can tell, Poppy, both Evan Perez and I, that it doesn't seem like the FBI has identified him yet and they're still trying to work --

HARLOW: Oh, that's interesting.

PROKUPECZ: Yes. It does not seem. I mean, I've been asking, I know Evan has been asking.

HARLOW: Yes.

PROKUPECZ: So we still seem to think -- there are still some believe that they're having a hard time identifying him.

HARLOW: Right. And Shimon, we don't know, just quickly, if, I mean, do we know if this synagogue was just out of proximity to where, you know, she's being held or if this was specifically targeted?

PROKUPECZ: We don't know. We don't know how he got there.

HARLOW: OK.

PROKUPECZ: There are so many questions because this is something that, for the FBI, and from other people I know you've talked to, who will say to you that they've never seen anything like this here. Certainly, we've had shootings sadly, at synagogues, but this kind of situation is certainly not something that happens here, so there's a whole lot of things that are going on all across the country now to try and figure out exactly what's going on here.

HARLOW: Shimon, thank you so much for your reporting on this all night. Stay close, as you learn more.

Let me go now to our Ed Lavandera. He is on the scene in Colleyville.

Ed, you've got a lot of reporting on the ground there, including, you know, what you've heard from people who witnessed sort of his first hour of holding these hostages and the oscillation in his demeanor.

[19:05:13]

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, imagine the horrifying feeling that dozens, if not several hundred congregants were experiencing watching the livestream. We're told by one congregant that because of the COVID pandemic, the vast majority of the members of this synagogue here in Colleyville, Texas, have not been attending Sabbath services in person, instead opting to watch it online.

That's why there were so few people inside this synagogue when all of this unfolded. It's now been more than seven hours and the members describe it as heartbreaking and terrifying to watch and listen to the suspect inside the synagogue take the members of their congregation hostage. One member of the synagogue describing the situation as -- listening to the suspect as someone who was vacillating at times between extremely angry, screaming hysterically, and then oftentimes almost apologetic for the actions that he was taking.

We are just about -- a little more than a quarter mile away from this synagogue, actually in the parking lot of a nearby Catholic Church where services here are ending on this Saturday afternoon, and we spoke with also members of a nearby Muslim community. Everything we've heard here this afternoon, Poppy, about the rabbi at this church is that for years, he has been extending a hand out to members of other faiths, the Muslim community here in the northeast Tarrant County area.

Members of a nearby mosque came out here to us just a short while ago and talked about how meaningful the rabbi of this synagogue is to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAHZAD MAHMUD, FORMER PRESIDENT, ISLAMIC CENTER OF SOUTHLAKE: He has been instrumental in bringing all the three faiths together and somebody who is so helpful and something like this to happen to him, it's -- it's unbelievable.

We condemn all acts of aggression against anybody, and nobody has the right to take the law in their own hands. And our heart goes out to, and our community goes out to the rabbi and his family. We know them personally, too, and we want to make sure that the Jewish community knows that we stand with them as they always stand with us when we feel we are threatened or troubled by criminals.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: So, Poppy, here more than seven hours into this ordeal, everyone around here in this community, in this tight-knit community, around this synagogue, watching desperately what is unfolding here this afternoon -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Ed, thank you so much for all your reporting on the ground there. We'll get back to you very shortly.

Let me bring in now former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. He is a CNN senior law enforcement analyst.

And Andy, I'm always glad that we have you on the air, but especially on a night like tonight, because you know the case of Aafia Siddiqui inside and out. I mean, this is someone who was convicted in 2010 of trying to kill Americans, serving out an 86-year sentence in Texas right now. And apparently, our law enforcement sources say that it is believed that the motivation of the hostage taker tonight at that synagogue is to get her freed.

What can you tell us about her?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Poppy, I remember this one like it was yesterday. Particularly 2008, I was working counter terrorism issues in the FBI when she was arrested in Afghanistan. So, to back up a little bit, Aafia Siddiqui came to this country in 1990. She studied here, did incredibly well, she got her, I think her undergrad and Master's degrees at MIT. She later got a PhD.

She's a bio-scientist, very smart woman, but she also got involved with some questionable groups that had connections to extremists and terrorist figures overseas. After 9/11, left the country briefly and then came back in 2003. She allegedly had some connections to some pretty high level al Qaeda folks during those years, and then in 2003 went back to Pakistan and was not seen or heard from until 2008 when she was literally, local police officer in Ghazni Province in Afghanistan came across her on the street, took her into custody.

And she had documents about explosives, about creating explosives. She had glass jars and vials of substances. Two pounds of sodium cyanide on her person at the time, a very toxic chemical. So I remember specifically when we sent agents to participate in her interview the next day, so, two agents and two members of the U.S. Army conducting that interview, and Siddiqui took a firearm that was present in the room and tried to shoot the two U.S. Army and FBI agents.

[19:10:12]

She was -- she was disarmed and shot in that struggle and ultimately brought back to the United States and tried for attempted murder and assault, convicted and that's how she received that sentence. HARLOW: Right. And the judge, I remember reading some of the

sentencing memo earlier today, enhanced her sentence. It's why it's so long. A terrorism enhancement added on to her sentence, and that's part of why, Andy, right, there have been so many protests from some about her detainment there, as apparently a group named after her repeated efforts by terrorists groups to do prisoner swaps for her, including for American soldier Bowe Bergdahl, journalist James Foley. So there's a lot behind this story.

MCCABE: Yes, she is a cause celebre in some parts of the Islamic world. In fact a resolution was passed at one point demanding her return, prisoner swaps have been proposed officially to the U.S. government over the years, so she is someone who gets a lot of attention.

There's all kinds of myths about where she was during this period from 2003 to 2008. There are all kinds of crazy allegations against the U.S. government and other entities about having her secretly imprisoned during that time, all of which is false, certainly on the part of the U.S. government, but yes, she is a -- she is a person who inspires exactly this kind of extremist devotion.

So if this hostage taker is fixated on her, that is not something that will surprise the FBI. There's a long history behind her about attracting this kind of attention.

HARLOW: Can you -- can you help us understand how, given this, which is more than just a complexity added on to a very dangerous and complex hostage situation that's ongoing right now, how would who she is and, you know, what she represents to the world, play into how the negotiators are trying to deal with this hostage taker right now who, by the way, as Shimon just reported, his reporting, and Evan Perez is reporting, is they don't believe the feds know yet who this hostage taker is.

MCCABE: Yes, so, that's really troubling because that hinders what they can do in terms of research and investigation about his background.

HARLOW: Right.

MCCABE: Where is he from, who does he interact with, his social media, his communications devices, things of that nature. If they don't know who he is, they can't really move in that direction. But I can tell you, as a counterterrorism investigator, your first concern any time there is a crisis like this is where is the next one? Is there another person, another operative, another plan, another attack coming?

And so, just the -- the injection of the terrorist angle to this already, you know, heartbreaking crisis in Texas, really will push the FBI to be, you know, running down, as we said, checking all the traps, right? Running down every lead, trying to figure out, you know, could this be the first of many or could it just be the sort of action that inspires other people who are devoted to Aafia Siddiqui and drawn to her myth? So, it's -- it infinitely complicates what they have to work with right now. HARLOW: No question about it. Andrew McCabe, we so appreciate your

being here tonight and helping us really understand what's behind this. Thanks very, very much.

We are continuing to watch and follow the breaking news out of Colleyville, Texas, where an armed man right now is holding at least four people hostage inside of Beth Israel synagogue there. We'll have the latest for you next here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:18:05]

HARLOW: Back to our breaking news this evening out of Colleyville, Texas. Authorities say an FBI crisis negotiator is still speaking on the phone with the suspect, the hostage taker. Again, at least four people being held hostage at this moment. Authorities say they are uninjured and they also say that the man who is holding them hostage may have been motivated in part by a desire to try to gain freedom for a woman convicted of multiple accounts, who is serving an 86-year sentence at a Texas prison.

Congregants who were watching the services earlier today on a livestream on Facebook said that they saw this man ranting and raving, voicing angry anti-Jewish sentiment, but that he also at times would oscillate and apologize for what he was doing, saying that he was not a criminal. So, that sheds some light on the state of mind of the hostage taker.

Joining me right now with more is Rabbi Joseph Potasnik. He is the executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis.

Thank you, Rabbi, for being here. And I'm so sorry it's under these circumstances.

RABBI JOSEPH POTASNIK, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, NEW YORK BOARD OF RABBIS: Thank you, Poppy, for reaching out during this painful period.

HARLOW: Of course, again, a synagogue being under attack and Jewish people victimized, this began during the Sabbath, not the first time we have sadly seen this. What we have learned is that law enforcement agencies across the country are stepping up their surveillance and their protection of other synagogues and Jewish establishments tonight, and you actually just got a call from the governor's office, is that right?

POTASNIK: Yes, from the governor's office, just a call of assurance, saying that at the present time, security has informed them, police authorities have informed them that there's no credible threat. So that's somewhat calming, but we still are very -- living through a very agonizing period, because you've seen too many synagogues, too many houses of worship that have come under attack.

[19:20:01]

And it is sad that a house of worship that is supposed to be sacred and safe for people to enter, come closer to God and community, is something that has to worry about safety and security. This is not who we should be.

HARLOW: What is your reaction to this ongoing hostage situation at Beth Israel synagogue tonight in Texas? I mean, I just wonder what you thought when you read the first headline or turned the TV on this afternoon and saw this.

POTASNIK: You know, one of the things that I find reassuring is that we are blessed with many friends in the interfaith community, so I received calls from people of all different denominations expressing their concern, their compassion, hoping for a peaceful resolution. We're all praying for the hostages, also for the rescuers.

We want to see this come to a constructive end for all. But we are surrounded by people who care, because you know very well that the person who hates me today is going to hate you tomorrow, so it may start with Jews, it doesn't stop with Jews.

HARLOW: We also have reporting that just came in in the last hour or so that a rabbi based here in New York received a phone call from this hostage taker earlier today. Apparently, the hostage taker told the rabbi who is also being held at this synagogue to call this rabbi and then she reported it to the authorities in New York. Have you had any conversations with her? Do you know anything more about that given your presence within the community here in New York?

POTASNIK: I've only heard that recent report but what it does say to me is that the person who is the hostage taker seems to be familiar with some of the landscape of the Jewish community. That this is not someone who just selected one congregation in Texas, but seems to know the location of other congregations in the country, so the person might have been surveilling, you know, various communities, but it is frightening to think that.

You know, one of the things, Poppy, what I want to mention to you is --

HARLOW: Yes.

POTASNIK: Tomorrow there is a funeral in New York for 15 victims of fire. All of the victims are Muslim and I'm attending that funeral because the message is that we may be of different faiths, but we are one family. This is Martin Luther King weekend. It's that message again that we can believe in our different traditions, but we have to belong to that one human family. We have that similar birth certificate as children from God and yet here's a person who seeks to separate us from one another.

I think one of the messages we convey is, we will come even closer to one another. We're not going to allow people to terrorize us and to prevent us from being who we want to be and need to be as children of God.

HARLOW: Well, Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, thank you very much for joining me tonight and obviously our thoughts are with the entire Beth Israel community there, and thank you so much.

POTASNIK: Thank you. We continue to pray. Thank you.

HARLOW: Absolutely.

Last hour, I spoke with Ellen Smith, she attends the Congregation Beth Israel. Her family has belonged since she was just a young girl. Listen to what she told me.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELLEN SMITH, ATTENDS CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL (via phone): It's incredibly shocking and horrifying.

HARLOW: Can you tell me what you -- I mean, have you heard anything from relatives of people who may be held hostage right now? Is there anything that you can share with us?

SMITH: I don't think there's much new on our end. I mean, like, I was watching the livestream for about an hour and a half before it got shut down and I have no idea who is in there or what's happening. We're all even members of the congregation just watching and holding our breath and hoping for the best outcome.

HARLOW: It is such a tight-knit community from all that I've heard, and I believe 157 member families of the congregation, the first Jewish congregation in this county, and incredibly close, as you mentioned. What are your experiences has been there?

SMITH: I could not have asked for a better community to grow up in. It's incredibly tight. The members of the community come together when times are tough. My dad got really sick when I was about 11 years old and the community and the rabbi were just incredibly close and supportive of my father and my family in a really difficult time for the community. And that's how they are with everyone.

There's, like, in my confirmation class, there were two people and the entire community showed up for our confirmation service. It's a wonderful, wonderful community full of light and hope that I am just grateful to be part of.

HARLOW: A wonderful community full of light and hope. One thing that I, you know, am just realizing is that if it's the Sabbath and therefore, for many people and potentially many members of your community, they may not have been looking at their phone or had their television on today until sundown, right, and so for many, they may just be learning of this.

[19:25:19]

SMITH: I think that for some that might be the case. We are like a pretty reformed synagogue, and from what I can tell, most folks have heard the news, especially since so many folks are attending virtually during this time.

HARLOW: Yes. What can you tell us about the rabbi? I mean, you've described this as a community of light and hope for your family, how it came together for you when your father was so ill when you were just a little girl. I've heard just remarkable things about the rabbi, as well.

SMITH: The rabbi is genuinely the best human I think anyone could ever meet. He was the one that went and sat with my dad, who is not Jewish. My family is an interfaith family. But the rabbi still took time out of his day to drive down, we're live 45 minutes from the synagogue. He drove down to see my dad in the hospital.

I went on a trip with the rabbi when I was 15 for my confirmation, and it was just me and the other kid in my class and the rabbi and he just told us inside jokes. He was the coolest person to hang out with. He was so supportive and interested.

And every single person. Like even with that few member families, it's still a lot of people to keep up with and care about and every single person he cared about all of us. And he just was really big about doing what's right for the world and using Jewish values of compassion and justice to make the world a better place. He's just the best.

HARLOW: You talk about values of compassion and justice and, again, there's so much we don't know, right. We don't know the motive here, we don't have the name of the hostage taker. However, once again, in America, you have Jewish people being victimized in, you know, in their holiest place, in a place of worship, and coming at a time when we continue to see an increase in anti-Semitism across this country.

For you, what is it like to see an attack on Jewish people again in America?

SMITH: It's unlike the fact that I think the shocking part was that it was my community.

HARLOW: Right.

SMITH: It's not shocking that it was a Jewish community. It's -- it's awful, but -- the cases of anti-Semitism have risen lately, but since Jews were first walking the earth, like we have been persecuted and it's just -- it feels almost hopeless. Without knowing that it's my community, I could see that it would feel like just another attack on the Jewish community and everyone hurts, but in every single attack, it's painful, but it is almost inevitable that it will happen again.

HARLOW: Ellen Smith, I'm so, so sorry that this has happened to your community and we are all tonight hoping, holding out hope for the very best. We'll keep everyone posted and obviously if you learn anything else, feel free to get in touch with us again and we're thinking of all of you.

SMITH: Thank you so much. Have a good day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Our thanks to Ellen again for that. CNN is staying on top of this has tang standoff inside of the

synagogue, Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, right near Fort Worth.

We're also following two other breaking news stories right now. Lawyers are in court debating the fate of Novak Djokovic's visa, as the world waits to see if the number one tennis player will be allowed to stay in the country and compete at the Australian Open. We're live in Melbourne.

Plus, nearly 74 million Americans tonight under a winter weather alert.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:33:36]

HARLOW: We are following breaking news from the scene of a hostage situation at a Texas synagogue. Our Ed Lavandera is on the ground in Colleyville, Texas and Ed, there's been a significant development. What can you tell us?

LAVANDERA: A police here in Colleyville, Texas say that one hostage has been released from the synagogue and that that was a person who came out and is in the process of being reunited with his family.

The police also say that the gentleman does not need medical attention, that he was unhurt. Major news here developing now, one hostage released. Now, we understand that we believe that there are now three hostages still inside including the Rabbi of the synagogue.

But the breaking news here just now is that one hostage released and this comes as welcome news, as so many members of this congregation have been watching desperately for more than seven hours now, almost eight hours hoping for any sliver of good news to emerge from inside the synagogue.

This at least for the time being the best news they've heard throughout much of the day -- Poppy.

HARLOW: A huge relief for I believe, it is a male, right, Ed who was released just a little over an hour ago. A huge relief for his family, and such good news that he is uninjured.

I know it's early but I just -- have they learned anything from him about the situation inside, the condition of the other victims?

I know it's early, but I just have they learned anything from him about the situation inside of the condition of the other victims.

[19:35:09]

LAVANDERA: We have not heard exactly what kind of details this gentleman might be offering to F.B.I. negotiators who are at the scene just down the road from where we are here in Colleyville. We suspect that that would be part of the process as soon as this gentleman was to emerge from the synagogue, to get a debrief of some kind, to gather as much information from inside the synagogue that would be any kind of sliver of information that would help negotiators moving forward here as they continue the process of trying to get the three remaining hostages released unharmed as well.

So I would imagine that's part of the process, but any kind of details like that is not something that investigators or police here are sharing at this moment.

HARLOW: Okay, Ed Lavandera, thank you very much for the reporting. We'll get back to you very, very soon.

I do want to go to another story developing and a breaking story right now out of Australia where a Federal Court is right now hearing tennis star, Novak Djokovic's appeal of his visa cancellation, the back and forth over whether the world's number one tennis player would be allowed to stay in the country and play in the Australian Open this week. It has been going on for more than a week.

Our Phil Black is in Melbourne, where it is mid-morning and you have Djokovic's lawyer fighting back against claims from Australia's Immigration Minister that Djokovic could quote, "foster anti- vaccination sentiment in the country."

So what is Djokovic's legal argument counter to that right now?

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Poppy.

All of this hinges on the Immigration Minister's personal reasons for him using his personal powers and canceling the visa. And that is, as you just say, this belief that his presence here could somehow fuel a vaccine sentiment could result in public unrest, could create greater community transmission through protests and disorder, and could encourage fewer people to get vaccinated.

Djokovic's lawyers are saying really logically, all of the opposite of that is true that in fact, by using the heavy powers of the state by canceling his visa, by putting him into detention, by threatening him with deportation, that is more likely to and in fact, if anything, there is evidence that that has already fired up the anti-vax community in this country.

So that is the core grounds on which Djokovic's lawyers are arguing this here today. They're about to wrap up their oral submissions, we will then hear from the government lawyer in defending the Minister's decision. And then it is possible that later today, we will get a ruling from this.

It's a full court, three Judges are listening to this. Djokovic's lawyers and Djokovic only need to convince two of those Judges that the visa cancellation should be overturned.

If that happens, and it happens quickly enough, then yes, Novak Djokovic can still play in the opening round of the Australian Open tomorrow. If he gets a quick answer, but the decision is no, the cancellation stands, then he will be deported. If the decision takes longer, and it looks like it will take longer than or it won't come before the start of the Australian Open, then you have to think under those circumstances it is likely that Djokovic without any incentive to stay in the country any longer would choose to remove himself and just head home, which is a choice that he's had available to him at any time.

So we're really in the crunch moment, I think, of this what has been a long ongoing saga now and we should get some sort of resolution in the coming hours -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Phil Black, well, we're glad you're there watching closely. Please bring us that when you hear more. Thanks very, very much.

Now, back to the breaking news we're following out of Colleyville. Texas tonight. A significant development. In just the past few minutes, we've learned that a hostage has been released from the synagogue. Investigators believe three people are still being held inside, the latest, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:43:43]

HARLOW: Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. We are continuing to follow breaking news tonight out of Colleyville, Texas. One hostage has been released uninjured. The other three are being held still inside of the Congregation Beth Israel Synagogue. The Rabbi is believed to be among those still being held.

The F.B.I. is continuing to speak on the phone right now with the hostage taker. There are currently no injuries.

The suspect is assumed to be motivated by a desire to free a woman by the name of Aafia Siddiqui, you see her on your screen. She is a prisoner being held in a prison in Texas right now, linked to terrorism, who is currently serving an 86-year sentence.

Let me bring in on the phone Stacey Silverman. She is a congregation member at Beth Israel. She was actually watching the Facebook livestream as this situation unfolded, as the hostage taker came in the building and took her fellow congregants hostage.

Stacey, I'm so sorry, and thank you for calling in.

STACEY SILVERMAN, MEMBER, CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL (via phone): Thank you for having me.

HARLOW: So what did you hear?

SILVERMAN: I joined the livestream because my mother called and told me that there was a hostage situation going on at our synagogue, which is almost unbelievable. And so I dialed into the livestream and I heard the perpetrator speaking you know, he alternates between English and his native tongue. [19:45:10]

SILVERMAN: And very, you know, just hateful, hateful rhetoric. You know. He hates the Jews. He talked about Israel and Palestine.

He blames the Jews, you know, for everything that's going on in the world and just hateful, hateful language. He said he was the brother of an ISIS terrorist who is apparently incarcerated in a Federal Prison in Fort Worth, and indicated that he chose our synagogue because he flew in. He said, he flew in 5,000 miles and that ours is the closest to DFW International Airport. So that's why he appeared at our synagogue.

HARLOW: Wow. I mean, there's so much you just said that I'm hearing for the first time, and that I think our viewers are hearing for the first time in terms of what he said about the reason that he was there.

Did he say anything about violence, about taking hostages, about his demands?

SILVERMAN: Yes. He said he had a gun. He said he had a bomb. He said, you know, he wouldn't let people go until his sister was released from this prison.

He was, you know, adamant. He was adamant, and then he would vacillate and say, he is not a bad person. He doesn't want to hurt anyone, but his sister is not a terrorist.

I mean, I was on this for about like two hours. It was horrifying. Anti-Semitism has been on the rise in this country the past few years, both on the left and on the right and it has been a very scary time.

And, you know, we all kind of knew after what happened at Tree of Life, that it could happen anywhere or San Diego, the Chabad Poway Community. But this Rabbi is beloved, and I wanted to say that Rabbi Charlie is respected and beloved in his community, and has spent his entire tenure, over 13 years at the synagogue.

He has spent building bridges. We have a very small Jewish community in this area. We're in between Dallas and Fort Worth in these cities, but there's a very, very large Muslim community and Rabbi Charlie has reached out. We have Ramadan with the Muslim community, we have Iftar dinner.

We have a strong community. We have strong relations with our neighbors, our Christian neighbors, and our Muslim neighbors. So for this to happen is just horrifying.

We just want Rabbi Charlie released and our congregants safe, who are there. Because of COVID and because our county has 40 percent positivity rate, most people Zoom in for these services.

You know, a lot of people aren't actually there. So that's why there weren't so many. But any hostages one too many, and we just want them safe. We just want them to walk out of this safe. It is very static. HARLOW: Of course, we all do. And thank goodness, one, at least has

been released, physically uninjured at least is what we've heard.

I should note and thank you for sharing all this information with us because you know -- we have not -- we did not see the livestream and we do not -- have not yet -- CNN has not yet confirmed or corroborated those comments that he made.

Obviously, we are in the middle of fact-checking all of that, but I appreciate you sharing that with us. And I'm so sorry. I know this has been your home for 13 years, so we are wishing for the best for you and your entire community tonight. Stacey, thank you for calling in.

SILVERMAN: Thank you so much, Poppy.

HARLOW: Of course, CNN -- our teams are on the ground there at the scene of this hostage standoff in Colleyville, Texas right near Fort Worth, an armed man holding several people hostage inside of the synagogue. We will have more details after the break.

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HARLOW: Some more winter weather coming many of your way. Seventy four million people tonight under winter weather alerts as a storm barrels down on the Southeast. People in the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Georgia could all see snow and ice.

Our meteorologist Gene Norman joins me now from the CNN Weather Center. And the problem is, Gene, they are not as equipped to deal with it there as they are in my home of Minnesota and it causes all sorts of chaos. So what is coming? What is coming?

GENE NORMAN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Well, Poppy, here it is. Who gets what?

If you're in the blue, you're getting snow; the pink, you're getting I.C.E.; the green you're getting rain, so let's break it down and show you where the storm is right now.

Already snowing in portions of Arkansas -- Little Rock back to Tulsa. Ahead of it, it is rain and that is the problem because when we get to tomorrow, that rain is going to change to ice.

Twenty states are under some kind of winter weather alert that includes the District of Columbia and again that all important ice storm warning for portions of South Carolina. So watch what happens.

Tomorrow morning, Charlotte, Atlanta, you wake up and you say it's raining, where's the snow? The problem is the temperature at the ground will be below freezing. So whatever falls out of the sky as rain is going to ice up, then it will change over to snow and then this system races up to the north heading into sections of Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and northern New England.

Now if you're on the East Side, Philly, D.C., New York you're just going to get rain. It is going to be a mess tomorrow -- Poppy.

HARLOW: I want the snow at least for my kids. Alright, thank you very much. We appreciate it, Gene.

We are watching and very closely following this breaking news situation ongoing in Colleyville, Texas tonight where an armed man is holding several people hostage inside of a synagogue. One hostage just in the last hour has been released. We'll have more details next year.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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