Transcripts For CNNW CNN Tonight With Don Lemon 20151118

The on them during debates, now theyre worried about 3yearold orphans. That doesnt sound very tough to me. Mr. Obama talks about the battle against isis. We will have that coming up for you in this broadcast. We have pa whole lot to get there. Hello all of you. What are we learning about a ninth suspect at large tonight . Reporter well, this is someone who french authorities believe may have been at the scene of the attack. According to eyewitnesses, there were several attackers there, possibly three and in the video at the scene there appears to be possibly one other person driving the car on the outskirts of paris. Based on that, french authorities believe there may be another person on the run. Yesterday another car was found in the area. I was there, what is interesting is police fanned out in the area asking when it was found there. It turns out it was rented in the name of the other suspect still on the loose, Salah Abdeslam and whats particularly interesting is in isis claim of responsibility, they said there had been attacks. In fact, there was no on the 18th. But that is where the car was parked. So now police are looking at whether Salah Abdeslam was supposed to have done an attack there. Something went wrong. What more did we learn about the suspected mastermind, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, had authorities tried to target him before . Reporter they had, indeed, tried to target him before. He was a very successful recruiter but perhaps more importantly, he was somebody who had tried numerous plots against belgium targets. Now, this is somebody who went, authorities believe and an intelligence estimate put out in may, he faked his own death, possibly, even having his associates call back to his family saying he had died in syria to enable him to travel more freely to belgium and across to europe. So this is somebody they have been watching for some time. Because he had plotted so many times before, why they believe he may be the person behind these attacks. To drew griffin. Now. Where is the manhunt focusing tonight on Salah Abdeslam and how authorities are tracking him down . Reporter you know, that is a good question. The last time police knew where he was, was when he was being driven back from paris to brussels by two of his friends. Thats when Police Stopped the car. They had no reason to suspect them. So they let them go. Those two friends are now under arrest. They did tell police they did drive Abdelhamid Abaaoud back to brussels. But thats the last anybody as far as we are told in the press has seen of him. Judging by the many raids that have happened since then, don, particularly in this neighborhood he lived in, im thinking, looking right at his house where he lived, all those raids have come up dry, which leads me to believe that the police the not know where he is. Which is why belgium has raised its threat level, where there is a lot of presence of police on the street, why you are seeing a lot of ram shackle raids taking place, because police dont know where he is. Drew, as i understand, this family ran a bar until it was shut down and a drug raid just a couple weeks ago. That doesnt sound like an ob servant muslim. Reporter you know, this is very interesting, in several of these kind of plots that i reported on when we see the actual participants, a lot of them are, i would call them, stoners, petty criminals. This family certainly fit that. They were known, very well known to Law Enforcement because of their criminal dealings, their drug dealings, and the bar you mentioned, not very far from here, was being operated by ibrahim abdeslam. It was shut down by the city eight days before the terrorist attack in paris, shut down because they believed there was a lot of criminal activity going on there, drugs and various other things that happened in nightclubs. So you are absolutely right. There doesnt appear to be a very devout muslim who was running this particular establishment . Nor does the guy have a track record of being a very devout muslim, then again from a fraction of a second you have him trained, operating, proceeding himself up in paris. A lot of it doesnt make sense. A lot of it still has to be sorted out through authorities to figure out exactly how this happened and, don, how it happened so fast. Absolutely. Evan perez, you have been talking to your source about any cell phones recovered, have they been able to gather everyday from these phones . Well, thats what they are working at, don. Right now, we know they have recovered several cell phones, on those cell phones, they actually found encrypted apps. We dont know if they were used to plot this attack. Thats something investigators very much want to find out. Cell phones, even if you cant break into those apps, immediately, the cell phones are very valuable. They could provide information about who these people were talking to, in advance, where they have been. How long theyve had these cell phones, again, this is all information investigators are trying to put together. One of the interesting things, one of the phones had a message on it sent apparently before the attacks began. It said, simply, something to the effect of, okay. Wear ready, which indicates that perhaps this is the way these attackers were able to orchestrate and coordinate simultaneous attacks. Evan, is there an internal debate between investigators about how long this attack was really in the works . And what degree isis leaders in syria were involved in this. Well, you know, its partly because there is so much they dont know yet. There are some officials who believe that this was planned and carefully orchestrated from syria, with this cell that was living in belgium and came down to paris. There are other officials who think because you have eight guys, people who the more people have you in a conspiracy like this, the more a chance that officials will find out, that somebody might change his mind and back out. So they think it had to be done in brussels, or im sorry in belgium and then very quickly orchestrated in paris. So that is something that is very much on the minds of investigators as they work this case. Don. Also very concerning, evan, about the father of one of the attackers that may have traveled to the United States. What do you know about that . Thats right, don, the u. S. Has found indication, records of the father of ismael mostefai. He is one of the men who died in this attack. He was killed inside the xhiet club concert hall. Hes one of the ones that blew himself up. His father travels here several years ago, no indication yet that the father has anything to do with this. He and several other members of the family were, are taken into protective custody by the French Police and we know that the fbi right now is still trying to determine that person, where the father went, who he met. Theyre trying to put together a picture to make sure that nothing happened. Again, there is no indication that he was involved. The fbi very much wants to know everything about his business here. I want you to stand back. We need to get to breaking news. Thank you very much, everyone. This is just coming in. Im getting word of it. Bear with me. Its breaking news. Its an air France Flight from los angeles to paris, diverted to Salt Lake City. Heres a statement from the faa. It said it was diverted to Salt Lake City because of a security incident. You need to contact local authorities and tsa for more information. Again, this is breaking news concerning an air France Flight. Were working to get our reporters on the line to talk about this. Again, more from our breaking news, an air France Flight again the faa releasing a statement saying it was diverted on to Salt Lake City because of a security incident and that you into ed to contact local authorities and the tsa for more information. Again, this is concerning, of course, considering what happened in paris just on friday, just a couple of days ago. Now have you this flight being diverted because of security reasons and this flight on its way to paris. But again, lax through Charles De Gaulle, it was on its way diverted to Salt Lake City because of a security incident and that you need to contact local authorities and tsa for more information, especially if you think have you swomeone on that flight. Our sources are checking with faa and with air france and as well as at the airports, lax and Charles De Gaulle. One of our aviation correspondents on the phone now renee marsh joins us with more. What do you know . Reporter i just got off the phone with a government official. He tells me this was an air France Flight 65. It was traveling from la. It was i am told it left lax at some point and had to divert to Salt Lake City. Someone on the ground sold in this bomb threat, according to this source and then told us that the plane landed safely. That is all we know at this point. As you mentioned at the top there, of course, reaching out to Salt Lake City police. But again, i am told this is an air France Flight 65. And this is an airbus 380 and the issue here was a bomb threat that was called in to the airline, itself. They diverted to Salt Lake City. Renee, of course, it is utmost important this plane was traveling to paris. Right. I mean, weve seen throughout the day, really, a lot of these incidents in which you can call them midair scares. In the day, we had four people removed from a flight before he was preparing to take off. With ehad another issue midair on a flight that was leaving london and headed to boston, the faa, telling us a woman was trying to open the exit door. In the current climate. The fa industry, flight crew and other passengers on board, raelgly on edge. We are seeing a lot of that. So any incident is taken extremely seriously. Will you see hyper reaction in some cases. The two previous cases i did mention to you where those four people, they were checked. We have been seeing several of these people scared all throughout the day, now this evening, where this has been air francep flight, like we said, diverted to Salt Lake City and the initial information is this was a bomb threat phoned in. We do know these bomb threats unfortunately happen quite often in which theyre called in. They are checked out. They are taken seriously. Many times more than often they turn out to be nothing. But again in this climate, you have to check. You cannot take anything for granted and thats exactly what is likely happening here at this hour with this air France Flight. Absolutely, right, not taking anything for granted. Someone who traveled and security is extra tight at airports here in the United States. I was randomly checked for screening twice. Usually, renee, i have what is known as a pre check. You walk through, you dont sister to take off your clothes and your computer. I had to twice, even being a precheck passenger. So again security is very high. If you are just tuning in, renee marsh, cnn gotten word air France Flight 65. Im not sure what time it was supposed to leave lax. What time it left lax, renee, you can update us on that. It was headed to Charles De Gaulle airport in france. It was diverted. Renee marsh is recording there was a ground flight bomb could in. Air France Flight 65 airbus 380. We can put the response on the faa back up on the screen. An faa representative says it was diverted to Salt Lake City because of a security incident. You need to contact local authorities and tsa for more information. We have learned from renee, renee is reporting it was a bomb threat from the ground. Right. We dont have official word from the faa just yet. This information from a government source with knowledge of exactly what was going on. So were still waiting for an official statement from the faa, from tsa, from Salt Lake City police department. But again my government sources telling me that, indeed, this situation is a bomb threat, don and again no word of anything happening on board the flight. But, in fact, this was something called into the company and, of course, they diverted once they got that call. You are looking at flight trackers up on the screen right now, renee, to our viewers, again, we dont know if this is a legitimate, the this was legitimate, if there was something going on. The only official word is it was diverted because of some sort of incident and it did land safely at salt lake airport. It took off. It departed lax at 4 04 pacific time. Landed safely, 7 11 Mountain Time Salt Lake City. It was en route to Charles De Gaulle airport in paris. It had to be diverted. Okay, it is significant. This flight was headed to paris because of what happened in paris on friday. We all know the sad and deadly outcome of that. As renee has been reporting here, they are taking significant precautions now here in the u. S. And really all over. I want to bring in georgia Public Safety director, formerly the federal Security Director for the tsa at dallasft. Worth international airport. What do you make of this incident . Well, you know, in this climate, we again i think you know that the space is such as this, the faa made that decision once they got that information to divert the plane to the runway. What will occur once that plane is on the ground, those passengers will be released from that plane. There will be a thorough search and certainly a thorough investigation will ensue. So, this is just the climate were in right now when all pre kai cautions will be taken. There are incidents that happen, people call in bogus threats. Sometimes these are legit massachusetts how often does this happen in your estimation . Well, they dont happen quite often. We can only hope and pray they dont continue to happen very often as well. This is a very serious incident any time you call in that type of threat to a commercial aircraft anywhere on the face of this planet. So its going to be taken very, very seriously and no doubt theyre going to trace that call and theyll eventually find out who the perpetrators were behind it. It is very serious. It is something not to be taken likely in this climate. This airbus is the biggest of the passenger liner, commercial passenger liner. It is huge. That is a very huge aircraft. They can carry as many as 3, 400 passengers that, is a big aircraft. Juliette. We have been talking about this climate and having something called in like this, of course, the faa and Security Officials are going to take this seriously and treat it with the utmost importance. What do you make of this . Reporter so, exactly what your previous analyst said, everything is taking this more serious than otherwise. Normally, when bomb threats come in, there is a validation process. My guess is this diversion was triggered relatively early, the fact from los angeles to paris of all places, diversion of flights released sort of most t draconian response to a bomb threat. I think we take this seriously until we hear some explanation for the validity of the bomb threat. Right now, we know whats going on, oak, which is clearly a sweep of the airplane notification to the passengers of whats going on, allowing the passengers to contact family, and there is a protocol for dealing with this right now. Of course, the airport, renee marsh, would have to be a certain size tike an airbus 380, considering between lax and salt lake. Salt lake is one of those airplanes, there arent many airports in that area, i would imagine. They have to figure out which one theyre going to get this to quickly. Renee marsh, are you there . Yes, don, im here. Don, you cut out. If you can repeat that for me, please. We are talking about an airbus 380 is a large airplane with a significant number of passengers. And they would have to find an airport that is big enough. That has a big enough runway and handle security and screening of these passengers in order for it to land. Thats absolutely correct. At a point in which this bomb threat is called in, of course, the communications would begin from the ground to the pilot. The pilot would then discuss, both with air traffic controls, you know, the best route to, the best route and the airport as well. Closest airport in which they would be able to divert the aircraft. You know, i have spoken to several Law Enforcement officials as well as, you know, members of the tsa when we have many of these sort of issues of these bomb threats. Unfortunately, it happens more than people know, but, don, as you have been saying all tonight, you know, when you are in this climate where Airport Security is the top of mind, at a pointed where just today, we got confirmation that it was, indeed, an explosive planted on board a passenger plane, its a climate that has everyone tense from flight crew, to passengers, themselves. Everyone takes renee, i want you to stand by. I need you and the rest of our experts to weigh in on this. Again, im just getting this information. Also getting in from an air France Flight 55 from Dulles Airport to Charles De Gaulle also been diverted to halifax. Passengers and crew are safe. Again, there is another incident. The first is air France Flight 65 from lax to Charles De Gaulle, diverted to Salt Lake City, landed safely at 7eleven. There is an extensive screening process. Air france fright light 55 to c de gaulle, passengers and crew are safe. Renee marsh, continued with this new information. Renee, are you able to hear me . Okay. Renee is not there. Im continue to update you. Again, we are getting word of two passenger planes here, if you are just joining us, the information is just coming in. Both of them air France Flights air France Flight 55 from lax to Charles De Gaulle had to be diverted because of reporting from our correspondent renee marsh is that there was a bomb threat called from the ground, diverted to Salt Lake City, landing safely, 11 00 p. M. Mountain time. Now were getting word that air France Flight 55 from Dulles Airport to Charles De Gaulle also has been diverted to halifax, passengers and crew are safe on that one. Our correspondent renee marsh joins us, security analyst juliette cayenne and Cedric Alexander director of the regional tsa office joins us as well. Cedric alexander, now another flight diverted. Dulles to Charles De Gaulle. Well, this is of concern. Certainly its going to be a major concern to Homeland Security and federal Law Enforcement throughout the rest of the evening. Something certainly is taking place here. I think that were just going to have to wait very cautiously, don, and not draw too many conclusions on any of this until we gather information. But this should be of concern at this point to us when you have two major aircraft potentially traveling into france, having to be diverted. Its a clear indication that a dpralt amount of attention will be given to the flight going into tomorrow as well, too. Juliette, there is now a second flight we are reporting now. Flight 55 from bulls u dulles to Charles De Gaulle being diverted now to halifax airport. Obviously, we have been saying that there is a heightened alert. So deposit officials will be taking any threat seriously. They will take bomb threats on airplanes very, very seriously. Based on my experience and just what we know so far two bomb threats coming in is all actually oddly good news. It may mean. I dont know who the culprit is. It may be someone from abroad or domestically, but, you know, it has the smell and the taste right now of someone who is trying to mess with aviation, but from a phone. We will see what is on the airplanes and if these are real bomb threats, but, i will tell you if this is a hoax and its a, someone we can get our hands on, this is no joke and people need to understand that this stuff is real right now. People are very tense. But just based on my experience, you know, many years in this feel the second hoax, the second callin is making me feel better oddly enough. Stand by. Do we have the new image of this airplane . There is an image we are waiting of this air france plane diverted to Salt Lake City. We will get that up for you, once it is up, the number of security people, Emergency Personnel on the ground taking care of this plane at soolt lake airport. Admen, this is very serious, especially, you should never call in a hoax. There is that image if you can see it. Obviously, no one should ever call in a hoax. This is time of great sensitivity, not only in the country but in the world. This flight that you are looking at. This photo, air France Flight 65, Los Angeles International airport to paris de gaulle diverted over a phonedin bomb threat, an Airport Security officer is telling cnn. Everyone on board the flight is safe. The officer says the aircraft type again is an airbus 380. You are looking at again a picture of that plane on the ground at salt lake airport. Yes, so i just, if you look at the pick, just to explain to people, the picture you just had on, whats happening is or sort of well honed post911 protocols are going on here t. Plane is not near, it appears not to be, you know, near any of the buildings. You have both it looks like civilian and fire trucks approaching it. There will be Law Enforcement approaching the plane first. Making sure everything is okay. You will want an evacuation of the passengers, but you also need to make sure the passengers are not, are not anyone nefarious and then the pilot and the personnel on the plane will be interviewed. The plane will be searched. Anyone at the airport who is not on the plane is safe and distant from where we are. We are pretty far off from any of the terminals. So just to explain what that picture is. These are response trot cols. They come into place the second something happens. This is what people train for and its probably happening, you know, at any, for the other plane that left dulles as well. Mary schiavo is a secretary general for the United States transportation. She joins us now. Mary, we have two planes now, one diverted to halifax, flight 55, the second we learned of the first diverted to Salt Lake City, air France Flight 65. Both air france, one from dulles 55 on its way to charles ethe gall airport if paris. 65 on its way to Charles De Gaulle landing safely in Salt Lake City. The other landing safely 55 in halifax. What do you make of this . Well, unfortunately, we seen this before. A few years back there was a space where people were targeting senior airlines. There were several bomb threats called in on a single day. Here it was targeting air france. It certainly does seem to be related to the horrible tragedy in france. But i am recalling, as an inspector general, we worked another attack on air france, which involved a cyber attack, which involved someone or people systemattically booking the seats on air france, so they would have a terrible financial loss as well. There are a lot of ways to attack an airline. Air france has seen it before where its not isis or some kind of an isisrelated terrorism, but whenever you are attacking an airline, whether its a bomb threat or economic threat. Its terrific. Just a different kind. But sadly, i suspect its possible its not over. There will be others called in. Mary, let me give you this information. We are being told that a passenger on board the halifax flight, flight 55 air france, not the one you are looking at now t. One that lanned in halifax. It was en route to paris says an official said it was some kind of Security Threat, mary. Well, yeah, a Security Threat can be everything from a bomb threat to a passenger saying odd things on the plane. I mean, have had situations in the past where passengers, you know, make a comment and somebody else hears it. It can be misinterpreted or people can be, you know, foolish enough. They may not be isisrelated. In the past we had people make comments on planes and it has caused the plane to be grounded. You know, in this day and age making any kind of comment is foolish. At this point its hard to tell if it is associated with terrorism or people are just being, you know, sensitive on the plane. But, obviously, a bomb threat is a crime, but its gotten tougher and tougher to find them in years passed you pretty much always find the bomb threat. The person making the bomb threat. Now with the ability to use disposable phones and hide the source of your call, its harder to find them. For those of you just tuning in, you see two air France Flights have been diverted. Both to paris, to other airports both because of Security Threats. Two air France Flights en route to Charles De Gaulle airport in paris diverted to other airports because of Security Threats. We are also getting reports in from officials from the faa saying one of them is possibly diverted because of a bomb threat called in from the ground. The first one we got news of was flight 65. It was from slaevenlths it had to be diverted to salt lake to the salt lake airport. There is a picture. An image on the ground, on the tarmac. The second one we gotward of was air France Flight 55. This one was from dulles. Lets get the video. There is the video of flight 65. Oh, this is a halifax video. Flight 55. Air France Flight 55. This is from dulles. Which is supposed to go to paris. Charles de gaulle, landing at halifax airport. There we go. Rom it. It is on the ground. This is courtesy of ctv our affiliate in canada. And there you see that plane on the ground. It is air France Flight 55. It is a boeing 777. In is the information from Charles De Gaulle airport in paris, sent to nova scotia airport tuesday night. Airport Vice President confirmed to cnn. You also told us that he could not say whether the flight was diverted but confirmed the flight landed safely at 10 00 p. M. Local time. Which is 9 15 eastern time and 298 passengers and crew were being transported from the aircraft to the terminal at this time. Again air France Flight 55 which is a boeing 777, diverted to halifax airport, 2 fact passengers on board. They landed safely. You are looking at new video just into cnn. This is one of two flights that had to be diverted. Because of a, because of Security Threats. The other flight was air France Flight 65 from lax to Charles De Gaulle in paris. There is an image of that plane on the tarmac diverted to Salt Lake City airport. And there were, it is an airbus 380. No word of how many people were on board that flight. Joining us now, well, thats a video now, this is Salt Lake City. Are you now looking at video of Salt Lake City. This is air France Flight 65 and again this plane had to be diverted to Salt Lake City as it was en route to Charles De Gaulle airport. Not exactly sure what was going on here, because of the heightened sense of security and heightened nervousness because of what happened in paris, obviously, officials are taking every precaution to make sure all flights and passengers and everyone is safe. Again, this is new video you are looking at now from Salt Lake City airport. We have several of aviation officials on the phone now, mary schiavo who is formerly with the department of transportation. Juliette cayenne a security expert. Considering the few information, mary, what do you have to say . Well, you know, it does appear that obviously somebody was targeting air france. The question is at this point we have to wait for the facts to come out. Were they both bomb threats or Something Else happening on one of the planes . We heard of a bomb threat on one of them. It will be interesting to see what was going on, on the plane. Unfortunately, when we return person if they are calling in a bomb threat, you know, it can be anywhere. Can you cause an awful lot of damage to the airline even though it lands safely. There is a moouj huge economic blow if it keeps up for air france, obviously, the intent could be to drive people away from air france as i mentioned, it was spotlighted many years ago, it certainly wasnt i suspect then. But there are lots of ways to disrupt and cause damage, particularly as we head into a holiday season. So i guess i would, ill wait to see if there are additional flights like that, and if someone intentionally is trying to disrupt air france or trying to disrupt, basically, travel to and from the United States. Well, never a dull moment. Its always something, if this is anyone trying to get their jollys, its never the right time to do it. This considering what happened in paris and the lives that were lost and people dealing with now, the absolute wrong thing to do. We will continue to follow this breaking news on cnn. Two air France Flights diverted because of security scarce. We are back in a moment right after this quick break. This is brad. His day of coaching begins with knee pain, when. Breaking news on cnn. Two air France Flights having to be diverted because of security concerns in dulles and washington, d. C. , had to be diverted to halifax, nova scotia. All the passengers are said to be off that plane, they are doing screening. The other flight, flight 65 from los angeles, have to be diverted from, to the Salt Lake City airport. It was headed to paris as well. Hundreds of passengers on board that flight, we are getting new information and updates. There is also breaking news to tell you about that concerns the president. Speaking a short time ago in the philippines talking about the battle with isis and hitting back at critics of his program to resettle Syrian Refugees here in the United States. Our senior White House Correspondent jim acosta is with the president. He joins us now. Jim, the president just spoke out. He has new comments on the fight against isis. What can you tell us . Reporter thats right, don, the president is not having any second thoughts about his strategy for dealing with isis. You will recall that became under tough criticism for the president at that press conference on monday, earlier today here in manila during this trip in southeast asia, the president said the public has not served at all when the debate descends into fear and panic. He warned against that when it comes to dealing with this terrorist threat. He also offered some welcoming praise for Vladmir Putin, russias involvement in conducting those airstrikes about isis targets in syria. He says he wants to see more of that. He wants to make sure those airstrikes are targeting isis and not those moderate Syrian Rebels in the effort to prop up syrias leader Bashar Alassad. He also went after republicans on the refugee crisis. First, lets play a little of what the president had to say, welcoming putins involvement in syria, something we havent heard much out of this white house lately. Heres more of what the president had to say. Ive had repeated discussions, first in new york at the United Nations general assembly, most recently in turkey, with president putin, that if, in fact, he shifts his focus and the focus of his military to what is the principle threat, which is isil, then that is something that we very much want to see. Thats not how they have been operating over the last several weeks. It may be now having seen isil take down one of their airliners in a horrific accident that reorientation continues. And, john, the president s comments are very important because the president and Vladmir Putin can somehow get over this disagreement with Bashar Alassad in jury i syria, can potentially join forces, you hear them forming this global coalition. There are a lot of people around the world believe that this large global coils might have the capability of taking out isis. It seems a little too early in the process. You get a sense of his body lange. He doesnt completely trust Vladmir Putin just yet. The president remains aggressive in taking on critics, including the 2350i9 at home right now between the administration of republicans for the most part who say that we should refuse syrian refug s refugees. Reporter thats right. This is propped up as perhaps the oddest domestic political issue. Its been injected into the 2016 campaign. You have several republican campaigns going after the president. Some like jeb bush and ted cruz are saying we should let in Syrian Refugees who say theyre christian not the muslim refugees. The president went right after those critics today and really slammed members of the Republican Party who he said are more concerned about tough questions at debates than they should be about letting 3yearold orphans into the country. Theyre more afraid of those tough questions than these 3yearold orphans coming into the country. Listen how the president characterized this in manila. If there are concrete actual questions to enhance this extraordinary screening process thats already in place, were welcome, were open to hearing actual ideas. But thats not really whats been going on in this debate. When candidates say, we wouldnt admit 3yearold orphans, thats political posturing. When individuals say that we should have a religious test and that only christians, proven christians, should be admitted, thats offensive and contrary to american values. I cannot think of a more potent recruitment tool for isil than some of the rhetoric thats been coming out of here during the course of this debate. Isil secretary of state to explo it the idea that there is a war between islam and the west. And when you start seeing individuals in positions of responsibility suggesting that christians are more worthy of protection than muslims are, in a war torn land, that feeds the isil narrative. Its counterproductive. And it needs to stop. And i would add, by the way, these are the folks oftentimes who suggest theyre so tough that just talking to putin or staring down isil or using additional rhetoric will solve the problems out there. Apparently, theyre scared of widows and or fans coming into the United States of america as a part of our tradition of compassi compassion. Now first they were worried about the press being too tough on them during debates, now theyre worried about 3yearold orphans. That doesnt sound very tough to m me. And just to underline how the white house really views this as a potent political issue, theyve started a social media campaign, don, called refugeeswelcome. And basically they have been putting out pictures of various refugees who have come into the country, madeleine all bright, founder of google. People that says came in as refugees and made valuable contributions to american society, trying to make this point that you have to be careful about who you dont want to let into this country. But, don, you add that to what the president said earlier today and the fact that they had a Conference Call with some 34 governors that lasted 90 minutes. This was conducted by the white house chief of staff, Denis Mcdonough earlier today. They realize, fully realize inside the white house this is a very prickly, thorny issue, its one that will be waiting on them when they get back to washington. Cnns jim acosta. Thank you very much. I want to update you about these two air France Flights en route to paris. Heres an fbi statement on flight 65 bound for paris from los angeles and diverted to Salt Lake City t. Statement reads, as you may have heard, an aircraft was diverted and safely landed this evening. The fbi and islam authorities respond accordingly. Several Law Enforcement agencies are working in concert following established protocol to determine the nature of the threats which caused the aircraft to divert. At this time we have no further information. Questi we will update to the extent possible as that information is gathered. That information is in from the fbi if cnn. I want to bring in rick francona, attache in syria. Lt. Col. First, lets talk about these flights. Many people believe it is a hoax. But you can fought be too sure at this time. Well, i tend to agree the fact that we got two what we believe to be bomb hoaxs, against air france, its just smackings of a hoax. This is very effective tech intoic to strike a blow economically at air france and it disrupts travelers. This sends a real message to the west we are vulnerable for these attacks. Analyst and former commanding general in europe. We thank you for joining us. First lets talk about this breaking news, these two flights. You want to weigh in on this . Well, i this i, dorn, that this is exactly what were talking about in needing to adapt the fight. Isis is certainly doing that. They have been hit and they have been hit hard and there are some indicators. They are suffering in iraq and syria. So they have now gone outside that country, attacking aircraft, conducting the operations in paris, doing some other things that are bringing in some of their affiliates, so what, i see as happening is they are adapting their methods to a new attempt at bringing terror in other situations. So we have to adapt as well. It is more of a desire to not just bomb, continuing to drop bombs in syria. Although, we will be doing that. Thats what everybody leaps to as soon as nations are attacked or we have the kind of terrorist action that took place in paris. But we have to be careful this is an adapted enemy. They are doing other things now. We have to prepare for them in multiple fronts. Lets talk about the political angle here, general, if any of the politicians offering their opinions on isis came to you for advice on how to defeat them, what would you say . I would say what i just said, first of all, we have to continue the strikes in iraq and syria. We are going to gain more spell jens because we have better engagements with some of the troops on the ground. Especially the syrian troops. I think you will see an expansion of the target list in the next couple weeks. We have already started to see that, as Nick Peyton Walsh reported earlier in sinjar, i was surprised there was not a large fight there after the peshmurga game into that town. We have to continue to support mr. Abade in iraq. We have to continue to slow the turkish border. Thats improved. Mr. Erdowan has stopped most of the flow. It las to go both ways. We haveco completely stop foreign fighters through turkey into syria. We got to continue to go after the financial elements that isis is using. And that is in all areas. Not just from their seam of oal. I think we have to start adapting for more Homeland Security measures. This is a fight that cant stay in that part of the world. We have to continue to take the fight to the enemy there with our partners on the ground. The indigenous partners. But we have to beef up our Homeland Security. Leiutenant general francona, there is a lot of activity in the skies over raqqa. Is it coordinated . It has to be. You cant have aircraft without some coordination. Probably not coordination, what we in the military is decon flict shun. You have bare areas coordinating. You have language problems, issue, different systems, different reaction times, but, you know, following up what general hertling said, when you are talking about this coordination or decon fliction in syria, we are holding fast we want to degrapd and defeat isis and removal of the assad government. Have you on the other side, the access supporting the assad government. That compriseds iran, iraq, hezbollah and now the russians. We have to decide what is our goal . Are we going to come to an agreement with the russians that we all join up and go after isis . Which is the real common threat. Correct. Or are we going to continue cross purposes. Fortunately, general, we have limited time. I apologize. Thank you very much. What more needs to be done to defeat isis up next military experts will join you. Some cash back cards love to overcomplicate things. Like limiting where you earn bonus cash back. Why put up with that . But the quicksilver card from capital one likes to keep it simple. Real simple. Im talking easy likea walkinthepark, nothingtoworryabout, manthatfeelsgood simple. Quicksilver earns you unlimited 1. 5 cash back on every purchase, everywhere. Its a simple question. Whats in your wallet . You are looking at air france 65 this is at Salt Lake City international airport. That plane was diverted from lax earlier en route to paris him charles defall airport in paris. All the passengers we believe have been taken off the plane. The plane is being searched and now officials are checking on this to see whats real and whats not. This is the second plane that had to be diverted this evening. We will keep you updated on both. The other breaking news, isis threatening more terror up on the u. S. In europe. Are they rallying the world . Johning me is Neil Ferguson history professor, author of sisinger volume 1, 1963 to 1988, the idealist let me read this to you from oliver roy a professor in florence. He wrote an op ed in the new york times. The attacks in paris reveal the strategic limits of isis. In it he writes, specifically, much with al qaeda the success amount to its grabbing headlines and the attention of social media. The isis system has already hit its limits. Isis is at its own, isis is its own worst enemy. Is he right . Have we reached peak isis . Wouldnt that be nice, it would be comforting to think they will selfdestruct for us. The reason im not convinced by that is we have been bombing islamic states for more than a year. We have intensified the airstrikes since the paris atrocities. It doesnt seem to be working. Its not working clearly, its hard to achieve success from the air if you dont have intelligence on the ground to tell you exactly what it is you should be hitting. So im skeptical about this notion. Its clear that theyre under pressure. There are people fighting islamic state. The kurds, for example, are putting them under pressure. This is not a completely simple story. One reason they may have decided to go global to start attacking western targets may reflect the fact that their projects at the caliphate in iraq and syria is coming under some pressure. I think to imagine theyre going to go away under the present circumstances is unlikely. Id see this differently, don. I think we are seeing a kind of ripple effect. This huge escalating conflict right across north africa in the middle east. Islamic state is part of it. Not all of it. That conflict has begun to make itself through europe and migration and terrorism and now we feel it in the United States. Make no mistake, this conflict is not going away. Its escalating t. Volume is way up relative to last year. Speaking of that. The president just respondt. Our White House Correspondent is in manila, philippines, basically saying we are not well served in response to a terrorist attack. We devend to fear and panic. Basically saying the debate here at home, especially with the republican president ial candidates amounts to nothing but hysteria. I deplore those who say we should not have any refugees coming into the United States. A number of refugees coming into the United States is really small, compared with the numbers that are coming into europe. We have clear procedures for dealing with refugees to make sure the bad people dont come into the United States. So this shouldnt be a discussion. Id like to condemn something that was said by a member of his administration today, which i thought was equally deplorable. When john kerry seemed to imply there was something intelligible, remember, that seems to me just as dreadful. I think we all have to take a big step back here. Is that just the gap . I dont think. Was there some meaning in there . I think, unfortunately, very many people since january, since the Charlie Hebdo justified, this was offensive. It crossed a line. Maybe we can understand why people were offended. As if that would somehow justify a massacre. At least we begin to see more clearly as compared with january that incident people are innocent people, it doesnt matter how you use your freedom, to publish a concert or a satire cal magazine, you shouldnt be prey to terrorist attacks. Gaffes are made on both side. We need to look at whats going on here. Because of the breaking