Transcripts For CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20160323

Torture to nuclear strikes. Are they Offering Solutions to the isis threat or just sewing fear . Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. The breaking news, an urgent manhunt is under way across belgium for a suspected bomber who got away from the scene of the bloody attack at the Brussels Airport. Police are hunting for other members of the terror cell tied to the bombings at the airport and at a subway station. The death toll now is up to 31. 270 people were wounded. Tonight investigators are attempting to unwind a complex plot involving multiple terrorists. Cnn has learned two of the suicide bombers have been identified as brothers. One set off a bomb at the airport, the other at the metro. Officials have now identified the third suicide bomber. They believe he built the bombs used in both the brussels and the paris attacks back in november and a fourth man seen in a white jacket and hat is now the focus of an ongoing search. He allegedly escaped the airport after placing a bomb at the scene. Was he the groups mastermind or a guide for th suicide bombers. Prosecutors say his device wheeled to the scene had the strongest explosives. What some experts now say was a hybrid of a suicide vest and a car bomb, a lethal new explosive thats portable and powerful. U. S. Officials say about a dozen americans were injured in the attacks and that some u. S. Citizens, including diplomats and their families, remain unaccounted for. With members of the terror cell at large and isis threatening more attacks, the state department has stepped up its warning to americans to be careful traveling throughout europe, not just to belgium. Ill speak with senators john mccain and tom cotton. They have been briefed on the threat. And our correspondents, analysts and guests, they will have full coverage of the days top stories. We begin with new information on the manhunt. The investigation and the continuing threat. Lets go to our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. What are you learning, barbara . Wolf, tonight there is growing concern across europe, are there more terrorists, are there more plots. Counterterrorism authorities are unraveling the network responsible for the bombings at the Brussels Airport and subway, a network now believed to have clear links to the november, 2015, attacks in paris. Investigators believe Salah Abdeslam arrested just days earlier in brussels for his alleged role in the paris attacks was likely going to be part of the attacks in belgium. Translator we are dealing with a terrorist organization. With its strong points, its resources hiding in our society. Other ties between the brussels and paris terror cells, one of the two brothers who carried out the brussels attack rented a safe house in brussels used by abdeslam after the paris attacks and later raided by police. Brothers khalid and Ibrahim Bakraoui are two of the suicide bombers. Ibrahim is the man in the middle of the airport Surveillance Video. His brother, khalid, is believed to have bombed the subway. The other two men captured in the airport video have not been publicly identified, but tonight multiple european officials tell cnn one of the two suicide bombers could be the alleged bomber, Najim Laachraoui. Authorities are checking against dna and fingerprint records. A key break came when a taxi driver led the police to the home where he picked up the three men he took to the airport. Investigators searched and found bombmaking materials, including acetone and hydrogen peroxide, also detonators, a suitcase full of nails and screws, and about 33 pounds of the explosive called tatp. Enough to make several suicide vests. Discovered in a brussels trash can on the street nearby, a laptop. On it, one of the bombers wills stating hes in a rush and if he takes too long, he will end up with him in jail. Belgian investigators believe he was referring to Salah Abdeslam. And another indication that once Salah Abdeslam was arrested, the cell rushed to strike. Abdeslams arrest helped them in the sense that it gave them an indication of what was about to happen. It also confirmed some of the suspicions that they had, but they didnt know the precise details. Investigators now searching frantically for anyone else connected to the network. Translator the third suspect wearing a light jacket and hat is on the run. He put down a large bag, then left before the explosion. His bag contained the largest explosive charge. And tonight he remains unidentified, whereabouts unknown. And tonight, wolf, security and Intelligence Services across europe struggling to stay one step ahead of whatever terrorists may bow out there. Wolf. All right, barbara, thanks very much. I want to bring in our justice correspondent, pamela brown. Shes also getting new information. What are you learning, pamela . Weve learned two of the suicide bombers were brothers and there were missed warning signs along the way. Weve learned from turkish authorities that one of the brothers, Ibrahim Bakraoui was at the airport, we saw him in that surveillance photo, that he was deported from turkey last year. In fact the turkish president reportedly said that they alerted belgium saying that he was a foreign fighter, but that belgium allegedly ignored their warnings. Then you have the other brother, Khalid Bakraoui who was at the metro stop and blew himself up there. He had an interpol Red Notice Issued for him just this year on terrorism charges. And now were learning, wolf, that another suspect was tied to the paris attacks. His dna was found on two of the suicide belts in the paris attacks. So the big question now, how was all of this missed. The belgian prosecutor today saying they were aware of the two brothers but they only knew about their ties to violent crime, not to terrorism. Right now investigators are going back trying to figure out how these men were able to operate under the radar following paris when the city and country was on such high alert and then launch these attacks in brussels yesterday morning. There were a lot of missed signals as they try to go back and learn from those mistakes. Pamela, thank you very much. Lets go live to brussels right now. Our Senior International correspondent, Clarissa Ward, is on the scene for us. Clarissa, whats the latest that youre hearing about this second suicide bomber at the airport . Reporter well, wolf, we can now say that that suicide bomber is Najim Laachraoui. If you look at that photograph of that Surveillance Video that weve been showing all day, he is the one on the left of the screen, on the far left. He is 24 years old. He was born in morocco. Certainly it will come as something of a relief now that we know he was killed in those explosions because he wasnt just responsible for these brussels attacks, wolf, he was actually very involved with the paris attacks, believed to have been the man actually putting together those bombs with those homemade improvised explosive tatp. This can be obtained by buying nail polish remover. Its a peroxide base. You can find it in hair bleach even. And this guy really a bad guy, wolf. We know that he traveled to syria in 2013. He was spotted and stopped at the austriahungary border last september with Salah Abdeslam, the other paris attacker who was arrested here last friday, and there was also an interpol red alert out for this man. He was wanted in conjunction with engineering of explosives and with terrorist activities. So certainly it will come to a relief to many here that he is now known to be dead. He was very much the focus of the manhunt because, of course, he is the one believed to have the expertise in forming these crudely made explosives. We know that he was very involved with the paris attacks as well as these brussels attacks, wolf. Clarissa, what else are you learning about that man on the run right now, seen in the lightcolored jacket in that airport surveillance image, the man all the way to the right with the hat on . Reporter well, wolf, we still dont know the identity of this man on the far right. We know that there is a major manhunt ongoing for him. Hes particularly distinctive not just because hes wearing a lightcolored jacket as well as glasses and a hat, potentially trying to disguise his identity, but hes the only one of the three who is not wearing one glove. Those gloves believed to have concealed the detonators that would have set off those explosives. Now, his suitcase contained the largest amount of explosives. We dont know whether he got cold feet, whether the bomb simply didnt go off, but certainly its fair to say, wolf, that belgian authorities are under a huge amount of pressure at the moment. They are keeping very quiet and very tight lipped, not telling the media anything for fear of interfering with their larger investigation. But what is becoming clearer and clearer, wolf, is that many of these men were well known to authorities both in a criminal capacity and in a terrorist capacity, and many people here are asking how they were able to slip under the radar and elude capture for so long, wolf. Clarissa ward on the scene for us in brussels. Thank you. Joining us now republican senator tom cotton of arkansas. He serves on the intelligence and Armed Services committee, hes a u. S. Army veteran, an officer that served both in iraq and afghanistan. Senator, thanks very much for coming in. Thank you, wolf. This man who has not yet been identified with the hat and light jacket, have you been told who he is, what they suspect . Wolf, i dont want to get into the details of the investigation as its ongoing. One thing thats increasingly clear from the reports we just heard from pamela and clarissa is these were not unknown terrorists. This is not a sleeper cell. These slipped through the grasp of belgian authorities. Known to whom . The belgian authorities its very clear based on the reporting weve just heard. How long have they known about these individuals . At least going back to the paris attacks in november. And they couldnt find them . They couldnt arrest these individuals . Well, no, obviously not. What does that say to you . Well, it says that there are some gaps in the belgian authorities capabilities but also europes capabilities. Ultimately it says you cant win the war on terror playing a prevent defense. You have to go on offense. To expect to be able to stop every terrorist that rolls a piece of lug annugage to an air is like trying to stop an nfl team trying to get to the end zone from the 3. But there are hundreds of supposedly hundreds of these terrorist sleeper cells, if you will, already not only in belgium but throughout europe. Well, again, i wouldnt even say theyre sleeper cells if theyre well known to the belgian authorities. Abdeslam was caught on friday. Who was involved in the paris attacks, he was on the run for four months but he was hiding in plain sight. Yeah. It would be like if people were looking for me in the streets where i grew up and no one was willing to turn me over. Thats a real problem that belgian and european authorities have. Is there a code of silence among these individuals, people in the muslim community, for example, in brussels, because thats what has been widely suspected. I think you have to really ask serious questions about the kind of work that the European Countries have done to integrate muslim immigrants into their cultures. And in places like molenbeek or some of the suburbs around paris, its pretty clear they havent done a very good job. Certainly not the job weve done here in america. The other individual that was blown up, Najim Laachraoui, on the surveillance photo hes all the way to the left. Normally the bomb makers, they dont want to kill them because they need bomb makers for future terror attacks. Why do you think he agreed to blow himself up if he was a master bomb maker . Youre right, woclf, its vey unusual for a bomb maker you cant just mix things up in your apartment in belgium and learn that. Thats why in part he was in syria for two years and he came back to europe its believed in the flow of migrants from the middle east and north africa. Its possible that they felt the plot might be compromised by the capture of Salah Abdeslam on friday and they accelerated the attack. Because Salah Abdeslam was finally captured and there were reports out that he was talking, he was cooperating, if you will, although he wasnt cooperating enough to advise them that this attack at the airport and at the metro station was about to take place, that they decided, you know what, its over, lets go kill ourselves . Thats certainly one possibility. Its hard to get into the minds and the head of someone who would blow himself up and kill innocent civilians. But also i get back to the root of the problem which is the growing safe haven the Islamic State has across Northern Africa and the middle east. Again, you cant just learn how to make bombs in your sink. You have to go somewhere and have training and have the safe space that you can find in places like iraq and syria. The working assumption is that there is a direct link between the november paris attacks and what happened this week in brussels. Is that your assumption . Similar individuals, all working with the same, shall we say, leader, if you will, the same operatives . Same leaders or same operatives. The bomb maker whos now been reported wasnt one of the suicide bombers, his dna was on some of the bombs in paris as well so theres increasingly strong links to these attacks. Its been four months since the paris attacks and the belgian authorities werent able to stop this attack which raises real questions about our European Partners capabilities. Specifically belgium. The cooperation between various elements in europe not what it should be by all accounts and youre well briefed on this. The state department issued a pretty rare, i shall say, extraordinary warning to americans thinking of traveling not just to belgium but to all of europe to be alert for what they call near term attacks. Near term attacks means almost imminent. Its pretty extraordinary what theyre saying. Be careful when you go to a restaurant, be careful when you go to tourist attractions, be careful when you go to sporting events in europe. That basic aem is saying to me if im thinking of going, maybe its not a good time to go to europe. I think all americans should heed that warning. As time progresses and the intelligence improves and we take stock of different countries, there may be more granular warnings. For instance, london and dublin arent in the visafree travel zone. Or norway is a small and homogeneous country so you might expect some finer gradations on this warning. But almost every country in europe is facing a migrant crisis, some of whom have been involved in the attacks in paris and brussels. When they say near term attacks, is there specific and credible information that there will be more attacks in the coming days and weeks that they know about plots that are under way . Wolf, i dont want to get into that sensitive intelligence, but i do think that the American People should have concerns and they should heed this warning that went out from the state department. If your constituents in arkansas call you and say is it a good time for me to go to paris or rome or brussels . You might want to reconsider. If you do go, heed the advice about safe places to go and times to go to those places. Stand by. We have more to discuss. I know youre well briefed on all of this. Well take a brief break. Much more with senator cotton when we come back. You premium like clockwork. Month after month. Year after year. Then one night, you hydroplane into a ditch. Yeah. Surprise. Your Insurance Company tells you to pay up again. Why pay for insurance if you have to pay even more for using it . If you have Liberty Mutual deductible fund™, you could pay no deductible at all. Sign up to immediately lower your deductible by 100. 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As we said earlier, hiding in plain sight in brussels. He was picked up the other day supposedly weve been told he was going to be part of this new effort with these other individuals to blow up various places inside brussels. So the question is, he is now under arrest. Hes being questioned. Supposedly hes cooperating. Would it be wise to do to him what donald trump has recommended, basically torture him to get more information, because clearly he knows a lot. Well, wolf, america doesnt torture. We never have tortured. Its a violation of our laws and International Norms as well. What about waterboarding, is that torture . I dont think its torture. Would you support waterboarding . Yes. Its not something youd do for fun but if experienced and expert interrogators say this is a ticking time bomb situation and this is information that will help stop the attack, yes, thats a tough call. If you dont want to make tough calls, you shouldnt seek that job. But its important to know that american soldiers volunteer to be waterboarded as a part of their training. We dont torture our own personnel in our military. Under the law now it is consider editor tour, waterboarding. So techniques are limited to the Army Field Manual which is widely available online. When you served, never did waterboarding, that was left to civilians at the cia. It was only done in the intelligence agencies in a very limited set of circumstances. The leadership said that it did elicit useful information. Now, there is a practical debate. You can say it may not be effective or counterproductive but i dont think that something our soldiers volunteer to undergo is torture. Did waterboarding provide useful, valuable information . Senior cia officials have said it did. They were there, they were present, i was not. I trust their judgment. As far as enhanced interrogation techniques, thats what the play phrase what some call torture, donald trump says he would go further than waterboarding, he would use torture in this war against isis. Would you . Again, the United States does not torture nor have we ever tortured. But there are techniques beyond just asking politely like sleep deprivation and playing loud music every now and then. I dont think most americans will object to those things. Nor do i think we should rule out of bounds techniques that our military personnel willingly volunteer to undergo in a situation like you saw here. On friday morning the belgian authorities captured a terrorist operative. On tuesday morning, his cohorts killed over 30 people in belgium. If that happened in the United States, the American People would rightly ask a lot of tough questions about the kind of interrogation techniques that were used in that 96hour period. And theyd want to know if more plots are in the works right now and is this individual talking about them. If not, what else can be done. Youre saying enhanced interrogation techniques might be useful. If the experts who have been interrogating terrorists for decades say we need to deprive this person of sleep or use other techniques that are not torture, then i would say as the president , yes, you should do that. Its a tough job. Youve got to make tough calls sometimes. There are reports that isis has trained at least 400 fighters to target europe right now and that some of these terrorists may actually have been trained in whats called the former soviet bloc. Youre well briefed. What can you share with us. It was run in large part by the kgb so theyre well trained in interrogation techniques and how to resist them. Our techniques are limited to whats in the Army Field Manual and thats widely available online. Were some of these terrorists on large plotting terrorist operations in europe trained in the former soviet bloc. If you mean by countries. By individual countries, in what was once the soviet union its certainly possible that you have citizens of those countries receiving training either in those countries or in syria or iraq. Thats a possibility. There are a large number of citizens of almost every european country in the former or in the west and in the former war saw pact nations. Let me move on and play this little clip. This is the president of the United States. He had very tough words for senator cruz today. I want to play this clip for you. As far as the notion of having surveillance of neighborhoods where muslims are present, i just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance. Which, by the way, the father of senator cruz escaped for america. The point being that cruz has proposed Law Enforcement patrolling what he described as muslim neighborhoods. The president says thats a bad idea. You say . Senator cruz can speak for himself. I will say here in the United States, weve always done a better job of integrating immigrants from all around the world, including immigrants from muslim lands. We have a high degree of cooperation assistance with our muslim citizens. We need to make sure that continues so they arent subject to radicalization attempts. But i would say about barack obama, yesterday in the middle of a terrorist attack, when americans were missing and maimed, he went to a baseball game in havana with raul castro and did the wave and did an interview on espn wearing sunglasses comparing himself to big papi. If he were to have cancel those activities, dont the terrorists win . No. Hes the president of the United States. It is his job to help keep americans safe. If other americans are in florida for spring training to take their kids to a baseball game, then they should go forward with that. The president should have simply gone to our embassy in havana and made sure that every element of the United States government was working to assist the belgian and european authorities to prevent a terrorist attack. You were at a small meeting this week with donald trump and other lawmakers. Were you impressed by what you heard from the republican frontrunner and are you ready to endorse him . No, im not endorsing anyone in the race. It was a private meeting, i dont want to characterize it. It wasnt much different than much of what mr. Trump has said in public. What do you think of his Foreign Policy views . What he said publicly. Forget about what he told you privately. Like any of the candidates, i have my agreements and i have disagreements as well. Whats your biggest concern about him . Well, i think donald has taken some positions on Foreign Policy that i would not go as far on. For example, he said that were spending way too much on nato. I dont think the problem is that the u. S. Spends too much on nato, i think the problem is that europe doesnt spend enough. In the cold war it was a 5050 divide. Its now a 7030 divide. Rather than reducing our sper expenditures on nato, we need to encourage europe to spend enough on nato to stop the kind of terrorist attacks weve seen this week. And nato should get more involved in this war against isis. Senator cotton, thanks for coming in. Thank you, wolf. Well get another perspective when we come back. Senator john mccain is standing by live. There he is. Well get his thoughts of whats going on in the aftermath of the brussels attacks when we come back. T predict market. But ugh good times and bad. At t. Rowe price. Weve helped our investors stay confident for over 75 years. Call us or your advisor. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. Your body is a finely tuned instrument. Diarrhea can throw it out of rhythm. Imodium multi symptom relief is the only product that combines two powerful ingredients to relieve diarrhea faster than any other otc medicine. It also eases gas, cramps, and bloating. Imodium multi symptom relief. Restore rhythm to your digestive system. Our breaking news, an urgent manhunt under way right now for a suspected bomber in the brussels attacks and other possible terror cell members at large right now. Joining us now the chairman of the senate Armed Services committee, republican senator john mccain of arizona. Senator, thanks as usual for joining us. I guess the simple question is this, do you know whether this latest terror attack in brussels was either isisinspired or, as a lot of us suspect, directly ordered by the isis leadership in raqqah, syria, where theyre headquartered . No, i dont know the answer to that, but it the sophistication of the operation, the capabilities that they have shown, in fact the extent that this operation has been operating in two countries clearly indicates an operational level that it would certainly be logical to assume that the inspiration and perhaps a significant degree of the planning came from raqqah, syria. Could i go ahead, senator. Finish your thought. I think we know, we know for sure that they are training young men to go into the refugee flow and for the exact purpose of committing acts of terror. We know that for sure. And of course thats logic. And that brings us back to this root cause, which is our failure to take out raqqah and mosul because as long as they have a geographic base to export terrorism, then theyre going to do it, including we have information, Public Information that they are established a chemical weapons factory there in raqqah. So it goes back to our failure to address the issue seriously of the Islamic State having a geographic base. But the u. S. Knows theres a chemical weapons factory there in raqqah, why not simply drop a bomb on it . Well, im not sure they know where it is. As we found out when we took when we have regained some territory that they are capable of digging underground and protecting themselves, as you know. So its not so easy to take it out from the air. Air power alone does not win conflicts. Youre going to have to have boots on the ground. And some of those boots, like 10,000 out of 100,000 person military would have to be american boots on the ground. Youre going to have to go in on the ground to take them out. Where are the other 90,000 going to come from . From sunni arab countries ranging from turkey to saudi arabia to others. And right now thats very difficult because there is a failure and a vacuum of American Leadership. If there was American Leadership, we could lead these other countries into what is clearly their interest and that is to destroy isis at their headquarters. Donald trump says in order to destroy isis, he would go beyond waterboarding, which is now illegal, other enhanced interrogation techniques. He would actually engage in what he even describes as torture to get information from these terrorists who are prisoners. You were a prisoner of war for five years in vietnam. Do you agree with him that these kinds of torture techniques should be used against these isis terrorists, especially if theyre plotting some sort of attack . Wolf, it would be a violation of the geneva convention, which we are largely the authors of. Ive forgotten how many nations, 50 or 100 nations are signatories to. It would be in violation of the law which we passed 933 on the Defense Authorization bill that prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, which waterboarding fits into. I might remind you at the end of world war ii, we hung tried and hung japanese war criminals who had inflicted this kind of torture on american prisoners, and one of the charges was that they had waterboarded. Also the point is, i think anybody who has been engaged in this firsthand will tell you that you dont get good information. You only get what the person who is being tortured thinks will make the torture stop. And that is the fact. But if you do this, if you do this, what about the people that do it . What does it do to them . And then what does it say about us . How are we then different from the people that we dislike and hate so much that are doing such terrible things . If after hearing what donald trump has said about waterboarding and torture, could you see yourself actually supporting him if he were the republican president ial nominee . Ive said many times that i will support the nominee of the party. I have disagreed with other nominees on specific issues. I will do the best that i can to help any president as we are facing the greatest crises since the end of world war ii. That doesnt come from john mccain, that comes from the director of national intelligence, who testified before the senate Armed Services committee, general clapper, just a couple of weeks ago. I have to work with any president to try to prevent attacks further attacks on the United States of america, which i will tell you right now is probably going to happen, most likely going to happen because of a failure of this president s leadership in allowing all of this to happen beginning with withdrawing everybody from iraq. Why isnt nato as an organization involved in this war to destroy isis . Again, one is American Leadership, again, but the other, of course, is that these nations are not doing well. I mean they are they are not cohesive, they havent spent as much time on defense and money on defense. They have not had American Leadership there and theyre not pulling their own weight. We all know that. But to but the answer is not to withdraw from natnato, its strengthen nato. Maybe after these attacks, you will see much more cohesion. By the way, general breedlove said that Vladimir Putin is using the refugees to dismantle the European Union. Senator mccain, weve got to unfortunately leave it there. Lets resume this conversation in the days ahead. John mccain joining us. Thank you. Thank you. Coming up, well have more on the breaking news were following. A suspected bomber now on the run after escaping from the brussels terror attacks. Is he an isis mastermind and is he now planning future attacks . Heres the plan. You want a family and a career, but most of the time you feel like youre trying to wrangle a hurricane. The rest of the time, theyre asleep. Then one day, hr schedules a meeting with you out of the blue. And its the worst 19 minutes of your career. But you dont sweat it because you and your advisor have prepared for this. And when the best offer means youre moving to the middle of nowhere, the boys say they hate the idea. But you pretend its not so bad. And years later at thanksgiving, when one of them says what hes thankful for most, is this house, you realize you didnt plan for any of this you wouldnt have done it any other way. With the right financial partner, progress is possible. Just into the situation room, were getting exclusive reaction to the terror attacks in belgium from the defense secretary, ashton carter. Cnns Carol Costello just wrapped up an interview with the secretary. Carol, whats he saying to you about the efforts to fight isis right now . Lots of interesting things, wolf. I sat down with ash carter at west point where he spoke with the future leaders of our military. He told me europe needs to accelerate its efforts to defeat isis along with the United States. Its not enough for europe to protect its borders. It has to join the United States efforts in earnest in iraq, in syria, actually wherever isis exists. Its not enough that we defeat them in iraq and syria. What brussels tells us is that they have sympathizers, people who are belgians or french who live there already and, therefore, an important part of the fight is also going to be a Homeland Security and intelligence and a Law Enforcement fight. Now, thats not what the department of defense does, but thats important as well. The other thing i think that the brussels event is going to further signify to europeans is that they, as we have been accelerating our campaign to defeat isil in syria and iraq and elsewhere, they need to accelerate their efforts and join us. Some suggest that we should revisit the subject of torture to get information faster. Is that a good idea . All of our military and Intelligence Leaders have spoken on this. We in the department of defense follow the Army Field Manual. It does not allow torture. America conducts itself in accordance with its values does torture work . The experts there who have laid down our policy in that area have agreed for both effectiveness reasons and for reasons of reflecting our own values that were not going to do that sort of thing. Okay. So no torture and no carpet bombing. Ash carter says it goes again american policy and expertise. As for, you know, how america is accelerating its efforts to defeat isis, he brought up mosul, right. Mosul, the second largest city within iraq. He said that the United States military will begin helping Iraqi Forces Retake that city from isis in earnest. He said the United States will also focus in raqqah, syria, which is isis de facto capital. As for how europe can step up its efforts to help the United States, secretary carter says he understands europe doesnt have the military capability that we have and thats fine, but it can do other things like help rebuild cities destroyed by isis, help locals govern themselves, and of course europe can help with money, as in funding those things, wolf. Good ideas. Thanks very much, carol, for that. Lets take a quick break. Much more news right after this. [ male announcer ] this saturday isnt like last saturday. [ indistinct shouting ] bulk from boxed wont only save you money, it will save saturday. [ pop, screech, doorbell rings ] boxed bulksize shopping delivered easy with no membership fees. Were following breaking news. A massive manhunt under way for a suspected bomber who escaped after the attacks in brussels. Meanwhile, here in the United States, the candidates for president are doing their best to respond to the disturbing developments in europe. Phil mattingly reports. Reporter terror and politics once again linked. Its not about patrolling neighborhoods. Its not about shutting our borders down. Reporter twin bombings in brussels like the attacks in paris and San Bernardino shining a spotlight on the candidates. Donald trump saying when it comes to Foreign Policy, he will keep u. S. Enemies guessing. We need unpredictability. We have enemy. Isis is an enemy. I frankly dont want the enemy to know how im thinking. Reporter going all in on the use of terror. I think we have to change our law on the waterboarding thing where they can chop off heads and they can drown people in cages and heavy steel cages, and we cant waterboard. Reporter and considering the use of a Nuclear Weapon against isis. Im never going to rule anything out. Reporter ted cruz under pressure from new York City Police officials. The statements he made today is why hes not going to become president of this country. Reporter dhfgsd own proposals to increase u. S. Police patrols in u. S. Muslim neighborhoods. Its that ostrich head in the sand Political Correctness thats made america so vulnerable. Reporter Hillary Clinton challenging both in a sweeping Foreign Policy speech in california today. We cant let fear stop us from doing whats necessary to keep us safe. Nor can we let it push us into reckless actions that end up making us less safe. Reporter each candidate fighting for position in the wake of the western tuesday contest. A day that saw Hillary Clinton come closer to lock up the democratic nomination. Im very proud to have won arizona tonight. Reporter a delegate split in the gop. Ted cruz winning utah and donald trump dominating in arizona. Another primary night raising questions about the effectiveness of the stop trump efforts. Cruz securing the endorsement of jeb bush pointing to it as another sign the party is coalescing behind his candidacy. What were seeing across the country is the momentum is with us. One of the things that shows that is this morning jeb bush endorsed our campaign. Reporter all coming after a night punctuated by a Twitter Exchange introducing a traditionally offlimits element into the campaign, candidates spouses sparked by an antitrump superpac facebook ad showing an old modeling photo of his wife melania. Donald trump defending his wife. You want a character to debate bob, you better stick with me because sydney alan wade is way out of your league. Reporter if donald wants to get in the character fight, hes better off sticking with me because heidi is way out of his league. Reporter highs heidi cruz wg in on the matter. Most of the things donald trump says have no basis in reality so were not worried in the least. Were focussing on our campaign. Reporter now, wolf, ted cruz and his campaign have looked to move beyond last nights twitter dustup. Donald trump rolling out a string of attacks on ted cruz recently including one that says not unlike how cruz tries to steal from Donald Trumps Foreign Policy. He steals movie lines from michael douglas. Thanks, phil mattingly. More on the search for the suspected bomber who escaped from the scene of the Brussels Airport. Show me movies with explosions. Show me more like this. Show me previously watched. Whats recommended for me. X1 makes it easy to find what blows you away. Call or go onliand switch to x1. Only with xfinity. Happening now. The manhunt. A frantic search under way for the surviving terrorist behind the triple bombing that left dozens dead, hundreds more wounded in brussels tonight, concern that there could be more terror cells planning more carnage across the west. The plot. New details about the coordinated attacks. Bombers setting off explosives in two locations at near both nearby at nearly the same time. Was the plan directed by isis in syria . And did the terrorists move up what was supposed to be an Easter Holiday attack because they feared police were closing in . The bombmaker. Cnn has learned the man behind the brussels explosions may also have built the suicide vests used in the paris attacks in november. Now theres deep concern the bombs built for this attack packed in suitcases may represent a frighteningly lethal and new powerful and portable bomb. And the warge. The state department issuing blunt and stern advice to americans planning trips to europe. What to avoid, where not to go as the u. S. Says it fears new terror attacks may be in the pipeline. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. This is cnn breaking news. Were following the breaking news. New details about the brussels terror attacks. And new confusion about how many isis terrorists remain on the loose right now and how they fit into the groups power structure. Sources tell cnn the man in the light jacket and dark hat in this surveillance picture most likely got away. Whats not clear is if he was the terror cells master mind or simply a guide for the suicide bombers. Also new information about the suspected bombmaker and the alarming possibility isis could be capable of building more sophisticated, more portable and potentially deadlier bombs. Some experts now saying the bomb used in brussels was a hib rid of a suicide vest and a car bomb. All of this as the u. S. State Department Warning americans that traveling to europe right now is risky because of what the u. S. Government is calling a threat of, quote, nearterm terror attacks. Ill ask congressman adam schiff, a top member of the House Intelligence Committee, what he can tell us about the briefings hes received. And or correspondents, analysts and guests are all on top of all of the breaking news. Lets begin wither justice correspondent pamela brown. Pamela, youve been working your own sources and keeping up with the investigation. What are you learning about the suicide bombers and their possible accomplices . Were learning about missed signs. Turkish Authorities Say one of the brothers at the airport was deported back to belgium last year for his ties to terrorism. And the other brother had an interpol Red Notice Issued this year for terrorism charges. Yet both of them were able to wreak havoc in brussels yesterday morning along with a man connected to the bombs used in the paris attacks. Tonight cnn has learned the alleged paris bombmaker, 24yearold Najim Laachraoui was one of the suicide attackers. A belgium counterterrorism official says investigators believe hes seen here on the left in this surveillance image from the Brussels Airport. Authorities say Belgian National Ibrahim El Bakraoui was the second suicide bomber. The unidentified man on the right is still on the run. And investigators say he dropped off a large bafg explosives before fleeing. His bag had the sfrongest explosives. A few moments after the bomb squad arrived at the scene, the bag exploded. Fortunately, no one was hurt by that bomb. Reporter el bakraouis brother khalid detonated his own bomb at a metro station an hour after the airport attack. The taxi driver who drove the three attackers to the airport led police to the brussels residence where he picked them up. Inside, investigators found bombmaking materials, including acetone and hydrogen peroxide, also detonators, a suitcase full of nails and screws and about 33 pounds of the explosive called tatp, enough to make multiple bombs. In a trash can on the street nearby, investigators found a laptop. On it messages from ibrahim before the attack stating he was, kwoetd, in a rush and if he takes too long, he will end up with him in jail. Belgian investigators believe he was referring to Salah Abdeslam, one of the ring leaders of the november paris attacks who was captured last week. Investigators believe abdeslam was likely supposed to take part in the brussels attack and after his arrest the cell accelerated their plans. As the manhunt continues for additional suspects, officials warn the threat is not over. A war has been waged against us and we must be totally determined in fighting this scourge. The ccern among intelligence officials tonight is that there are others who are part of this Network Still on the loose in europe and plotting right now to launch more attacks in the near future. Pamela, thank you. The toll of the brussels attack is up to 31 dead and 270 people wounded. In addition to searching for the plotters, police in brussels are collecting more evidencekillers. Clarissa ward is in brussels for us. Tell us whats you are learning about the man believed to be the bombmaker. Wolf, what were trying to ascertain at this stage is was he the sole bombmaker, the man responsible for putting together the explosives both in the paris attacks and here in these brussels attacks . Or is he one of several bombmakers . Are these bombmaking skills now more readily available to these young isis recruits . But heres what we know about Najim Laachraoui. 24 years old. Born in morocco. Known to have traveled to syria, wolf, in 2013, meaning he was definitely on the radar of authorities. There was an interpol red alert out for him in that red alert, it details he was believed to have involvement with terrorist organizations, that he was believed to have expertise in terms of dealing with explosives. And we know he was very closely involved with the paris attacks because his dna was found at the scene of one of these bombmaking factories. In addition to that, we know that he was wiring money at a Western Union to Abdelhamid Abaaoud who was the ringleader of the paris attacks. There will definitely be a sense of relief here in belgium knowing he is dead, he is now confirmed to be the other suicide attacker in those airport bombings. But certainly there are a lot of questions as well as to how he was able to elude capture for so long when authorities when he was so well known to authorities, wolf. Its very disturbing. Ive got to tell you. Clarissa, what are you learning about the man on the run seen in the light colored jacket and airport surveillance image . The one with the hat on . What are you hearing about him . Well, wolf, authorities are being extremely tightlipped at the moemment. Thats been a common theme. Theres a sense here they dont want the media to get wind on any of their leads because they dont want it to spread and contaminate one of the sites or tip off one of the terrorists. What we do know is he is the primary focus of this manhunt. Youve seen this image now so many times. He looks very distinctive next to the two men in black. Hes wearing a lighter jacket. Glasses and a cap. Fo tentially an attempt to disguise his face. Perhaps whats most noticeable is unlike the other two men who are both wearing one glove each, those gloves likely used to conceal a detonator, he is not wearing any gloves. That could be a sign that he was never intended to act as a suicide bomber. We know in his suitcase there was the largest amount of most powerful explosives. What we dont know yet is did he get cold feet . Did the bomb just not detonate and perhaps most importantly, wolf, where is he now . We heard belgiums prosecutor earlier on saying there is still a number of wanted people, potentially armed and dangerous at large. This is very much still an unfolding and ongoing situation, wolf. Certainly is, Clarissa Ward in brussels for us. Lets get some insight. Congressman adam schiff of california is joining us, the top democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman, thanks for joining us. You bet. Youre well briefed. What can you tell us about this third suspect, the guy with the hat, the white jacket. Hes at large right now. Obviously an intensive manhunt for him. Were trying to do everything to support the belgian efforts. When theyre able to identify people, when theyre able to produce selectors, phone numbers or whatnot, we run them through our system to try to find out are there any leads we can help supply. Were doing everything we can. Its important to know while the manhunt is focused on this one person, theres a broad concern there may be a great many other facilitators hundreds of others . Potentially throughout europe. I dont know there are hundreds throughout belgium. All isis related . Isis members, if you will . Organized by isis, not just what they call lone wolves . These would include foreign fight whoerers who have returne and those like involved in the brussels attack that have been afltd with isis, have made contact with foreign fighters, may have had some communication with isis in raqqah. What about the bombmaker, Najim Laachraoui. Normally you dont want to see them dead because isis wants their i dont have confirmation the bombmaker is dead. Thats what they are saying. But i think the materials, frankly, are quite readily available. And isis is doing its best to disseminate the skills necessary to make these bombs. So if this bombmaker blew himself up, as you say the belgians are confirming, there are many others to take his place. And this is why this effort has to be so intensive. They demonstrated that capacity to resupply, they had people obviously in paris that detonated themselves. And there are more that are willing to do the same. The timing of this terror attack in brussels, did it occur, because the other day they rested one of the suspects, one of the terrorists from the paris terror attacks Salah Abdeslam and thought he was talking and thought we better do this before we get rounded up . I think it accelerated the plot but that plot had to be already in the works. Too sophisticated with multiple targets and multiple parties abdeslam, was he going to be part of these additional plots based on what you are hearing . Certainly if the reports are accurate about whats found on that laptop, it looks like he was going to be part of these plots. What his role may have been, i dont know. Whether he would have tried to live another day to organize yet another plot, still to be determined. Is he cooperating and sharing Important Information . Thats not something im able to speak to today. And i think part of the concern frankly is that may have led to the acceleration of the last plot, the belief by others that he was talking. And i just cant confirm whether thats accurate. Congressman, we have more to discuss, including this pretty extraordinary state Department Travel alert issued warning americans maybe this is not a good time to go to europe because of nearterm terror attacks. Much more with congressman adam schiff when we come back. And during this event, you can get a great deal on this jetta. It drives great. Volkswagen believes safety is very important so all eleven models come standard with an intelligent crash response system. Hmm. And seven stabilityenhancing systems. Hmm. For more confidence. On road trips. Hmmfff. Hmm. For those who take safety seriously. Like we do. The Volkswagen Safety in numbers event. Hurry in and get a 1,000 volkswagen reward card when you purchase or lease select new 2015 or 2016 volkswagen models. 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Like in rochester, with worldclass botox. And in buffalo, where medicine meets the future. Let us help grow your companys tomorrow today at business. Ny. Gov were back with the top democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. We follow all the breaking news of the isis terror attacks. A state Department Spokesman tells me about a dozen americans were hurt in the terror attacks. Some u. S. Citizens, including diplomats and family members right now remain unaccounted for. Also breaking now, an extraordinary state Department Warning to americans about travel to europe. Not just belgium but to europe. Lets get more from our Global Affairs correspondent elise labott. It talks about nearterm attacks. Does it get more specific . No, wolf. They definitely think there are attacks throughout europe but Nothing Specific to any country or place. Its a big deal. The state department doesnt issue a caution of this nature lightly, particularly ahead of europes busiest tourist season. With about a dozen americans injured in the attack and many more miss, officials are warning isis attacks could be coming in europe and americans need to be extremely vigilant. With officials warning isis is on the loose and a massive manhunt under way, the state department is taking the rare step of urging americans to think twice about traveling to europe. Warning that terrorists, quote, continue to plan nearterm attacks throughout europe. Targeting sporting events, tourist sites, restaurants and transportation. A dire assessment ahead of the Summer Travel season. A former house intelligence chair says such a dramatic warning is likely the result of alarming intel pointing to the possibility of more terror. Whats they know is that probably brussels was not the only target set. Paris was not the only target set. There are likely other target sets in europe. Reporter isis fighters, many trained on the battlefields of syria, are returning home to carry out their jihad in the weflt. Sometimes infiltrating the flux of migrants fleeing the violence. Brussels, the headquarters of the European Union and nato has important symbolic value and has emerged as a hub for jihadis planning attacks. The paris attackers capitalizing on lax security crossed into france from brussels. And the weapons used in the Charlie Hebdo attack last january were also smuggled from across theorder. Steps to shore up security not coming fast enough. Brussels indeed as a capital of europe is centrally located. And that means that it is perhaps a platform where people come, meet, arrange, plan and that kind of thing. Reporter intel experts say belgium remains ill equipped to tackle the problem. Nine Different Police districts. Some of them dont speak the same language. A hard time sharing. There are signals, intelligence is very old. Reporter the European Union with no common defense or intelligence body has failed to share vital intel with belgium and the u. S. Were likely to have more plots. That doesnt mean they would succeed. We need to scale up extremely quickly european response. Reporter and the state Department Just announced that secretary of state john kerry will be traveling to brussels on friday. In addition to offering condolences for the belgian people in the wake of the attack hell meet with belgian and European Union officials to talk about the investigation and efforts to fight isis, including how the u. S. And eu can better Work Together to share intel on these threats, wolf. Certainly a lot of work needs to be done. Thanks, elise. Lets bring back congressman adam schiff, top democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. What are you hearing about the state Department Warning of nearterm attacks and americans should be very cautious about going to various locations in europe right now . This is extraordinary for the state department to be warning travelers about something as broad as europe. Usually its very country specific. But its reflective of the fact the Intelligence Community does have information, that there are plots and great number of people unaccounted for, different targets within europe so the state department evidently decided to be extraordinarily prudent and provide these warnings. I assume you agree with mike rogers they wouldnt issue a warning like this unless there was hard intelligence of nearterm attacks. I dont think theyd do it without considerable intelligence that there were attacks potentially in several european capitals or other cities. This happened to be a very weighty decision. Imagine the impact on europe. Already reeling from the attacks and now they potentially could be reeling from the economic consequences. Its a big step for the state department to undertake Something Like this. The state Department Says about a dozen americans were injured in these two terror attacks. Three bombings in brussels. And that others remain missing right now including some diplomats and family members. What, if anything, can you tell us about that . I dont have any more specific information on that but its extraordinary if you can account for all your people because thats the first thing that happens after a terrorist attack is our embassies will reach out to our people. Theyll try and make sure they get in contact, they know where people are. So anyone who is not accounted for is subject of great concern. Have you heard any indication that americans were specifically targeted in these attacks . I have not heard that. Now we have seen public reports that the location of some of these bombs may have been near some of the american carriers. Its also, i think, pretty evident, though, in terms of the metro that was an attack on the whole fabric of europe. Many european institutions. They were, i think, as much a target if not more than we were certainly in terms of the metro. U. S. Officials have told cnn, congressman, that there were warning signs out there what they call nonspecific chatter in the weeks leading up to these terror attacks in brussels. Heres the question. Could it have been prevented . I dont know. Certainly could have been prevented perhaps if belgium had greater capacity but could have been prevented in the sense we have intelligence . Were there dots we didnt connect . I dont think thats the case. We have been aware there were ongoing plots against cities in europe. There were concerns about brussels but there have been concerns about paris and berlin and many other cities as well. We often get a lot of information about the general timing and the general location but we generally dont get very specific about on this date theyre going after these targets. Whats worrisome is these terrorists were well known to belgian authorities. Interpol had what they call a red notice on one of the suicide bombers. Yet they were moving around in daylight, if you will. And no one was picking them up. It looks like a major security failure. It was certainly that. When you consider the fact that Salah Abdeslam was in molenbeek, i was in molenbeek just a few weeks ago. He was one of the paris bombers on the loose for four months, hiding in plain sight in his hometown. Right in that molenbeek neighborhood. When i was there the police were quite active in the neighborhood. There have been arrests on a weekly basis if not more. But the fact that it could continue to serve as a logistical hub for additional attacks even when the belgians were pressing the way they were, state of heightened vigilance. That says that really the Belgian Services dont have the capacity to deal with the magnitude of the problem both from foreign fighters as well as belgians who are radicalized at home. There are now reports that isis has trained at least 400 fighters to target europe. Can you confirm that . I cant confirm the number but there is a large number of people hundreds . Potentially hundreds. If you include foreign fighters that have returned from the fight as well as people that didnt leave for the fight but in communication with isis, it could well reach those kind of numbers. Congressman adam schiff, thanks for coming in. Well have more on the manhunt for the surviving bomber and if possible accomplices are at large. Also the frightening new bomb used in the brussels attack. Some experts believe its a hybrid of a suicide belt and a car bomb. Were getting more details about the alleged isis bombmaker and a frightening new type of explosive used. Brian todd has been looking into all of this for us. New information tonight from investigators about the three suspects at the airport. A belgi counterterrorism official tells our paul kr cruickshank this man on the left is likely Najim Laachraoui. They believe he blew himself up at the Brussels Airport yesterday. Also new tonight, concerns from terrorism experts that the kinds of bombs these men used are newer, more portable, more lethal devices than weve seen in the past. This man on the right, a suspect on the run. Still unidentified tonight. Considered one of the most dangerous men in europe. Hes believed to have been a leader of the suicide bombers at the Brussels Airport, tasked with making sure the others carried out their attacks. Belgian investigators say the same terrorist cell masterminded the paris and brussels attacks. And tonight experts worry the brussels bombings have revealed a disturbing hybrid terrorist capability. Combining the portability of a suicide vest with a more powerful explosive in a suitcase. What flexibility does it give them to pack something, maybe with the explosive power of a car bomb into this . This certainly gives them a lot of flexibility. Reporter this photo shows the three men pushing suitcases on carts. Two men are wearing only one glove each. They think its possible each mans glove hid a detonator. One possible clue is what police later found in an apartment raid. Fiend kilograms of explosives, tatp, acetone, 30 theaters are hydrogen peroxide, detonators. Reporter tatp, a peroxide based very unstable explosive that packs a nasty punch. This video shows tatp combusting just from a tiny film canister. Tatp is one of the most sensitive explosives known to the bomb tech community. It takes very little initiation to set it up. Reporter its so delicate that just trying to make a bomb with tatp can be deadly. If a terrorist is successful in making one, he has another advantage. It can be more dangerous because its difficult to detect. Reporter bombs that are difficult to detect, easy to make, combining massive explosive power with enough maneuverability to navigate through a crowded airport. A tactic soeffective, experts worry it will be repeated. Something well see quite a lot in the future. The number of casualties is usually high, and the effect the terrorists want to achieve as a result is also very high. Reporter does this kind of bomb, do these tactics mean thats passengers are going to be screened at the entrances now to airports . Terrorism expert rafi ron says that would create long lines of passengers at the curb. They might be exposed to bombings or driveby shootings. No easy answer to this. Absolutely right. What kinds of measures, brian, can help thwart this kind of an attack at airports . What this may require, wolf, is more Law Enforcement officers roving near the entrances and near ticket counters using detection dogs, behavioral screening methods and other measures. But that may not prevent attacks like the ones we saw in brussels. Nothing is perfect, i guess. Lets get more insight from our experts. I want to bring in cnn terrorism analyst paul cruickshank, justice reporter evan perez and former cia official, cnn counterterrorism analyst phil mudd. Is it a surprise thathis new kind of bomb hadnt been used before . Well, wolf, its quite similar to other things weve seen. Tatp has been used by richard reid, azazi tried to use this with some subway bombings. What isis has been trying to do and their operatives in europe are trying to do is test new ways. Theyve been knGetting Better, more sophisticated. Some of their early attempts failed miserably. Theyre Getting Better at trying to do this. It seems so much more deadly this hybrid bomb. You dont just wear it on your vest. Its a curious evolution. For years weve been talking about skilled bombmakers who want to get bombs into enclosed spaces secretly like aircraft, backpacks into trains. Here you van evolution not necessarily in the bombing material, tatp, but in the conception of the attack. Forget about trying to be secret. Well go into a public place with a massive device where you are suggesting the casualties could be greater. Certainly could be. Paul, youve been doing a lot of reporting on this bombmaker. What have you learned about him . Najim laachraoui, they dont know yet for absolutely sure that he was the bombmaker but they found his dna at the paris attacks bomb factory in brussels. He was either handling the devices or making the devices. They believe he was possibly the bombmaker. They need to come up with a conclusive evidence of that. Still, hes believed to have gone to syria in 2013 from belgium. The belgian authorities were aware of this. He was even convicted in absentia in a trial in belgium but managed to slip back into europe. He was possibly picked up by salah abdesbam laws he was in a car with him as it crossed the hungary austria border. He then came back in to belgium. And during the night of the paris attacks he was coordinating the attacks in realtime from brussels in touch with those three attack teams in paris, wolf. And then was part of that network that helped abdeslam hide after the paris attacks. And, obviously, then planned this followon attack in brussels. Ushlgly, phil, they dont want these terror organizations, the master bombmaker with a lot of skills to be a suicide bomber because those skills then disappear. They want to keep the bombmaker for future operations. What does this is a if hes the master bombmaker and blew himself up, hes gone now . First, youre right. In a lot of situations, al qaeda in yemen, the bombmakers are so hard to come by you dont want to sacrifice them because its not easy to build these devices. This signals a couple of things. You have a commitment to conduct an attack by the bombmaker. He wants to participate. Also that noose is closing. Weve seen in the last day or two one of the individuals saying i thought i was going down. Weve got to do something. He might have figured i dont have any time left. Ive got to go. Whats the fbi role right now, evan . In this investigation and the concern Something Like that could happen here . I think its somewhat what phil is getting at. The fbi is there partly because they are interested in the bomb and how it was made, and really one of the interesting things thats been happening is this idea that perhaps theres a master bombmaker who is teaching these guys in syria and sending his graduates to europe. So perhaps this bombmaker was someone who, you know, just one of many they have that theyve sent to europe. So thats the reason why they were willing to let him go and have him blow himself up. The fbi is very interested in the device, wolf. They know this device was made from a lot of homemade components, things you can get at Beauty Stores in the United States if you are going to buy large supplies of beauty supplies, you are going to trip wires for the fbi. The fbi is going to come knocking on your door. Stand by. Well take a quick break. A lot more information coming in. There were about a dozen americans injured in these terror attacks. And other americans right now including u. S. Diplomatic personnel and their families are unaccounted for. They are missing right now. Heres the question, were americans targeted . Much more when we come back. These are the hands, the hands that drive commerce, that build business across borders. These are the hands of pitney bowes, the craftsmen of commerce. These are the hands that sew the seeds of business growth, that weave the data, and find the perfect spot to thrive. These are the hands of pitney bowes, the craftsmen of commerce. Perfect driving record. Perfect. No tickets. No accidents. That is until one of you clips a food truck, ruining your perfect record. Yup. Now, you would think your Insurance Company would cut you some slack, right . No. Your insurance rates go through the roof. Your perfect record doesnt get you anything. Anything. Perfect for drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. 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Following todays breaking news, the manhunt for the suspected bomber and another terrorist involved in the brussel terrorist attacks. About a dozen aricans were involved and a whole bunch of Americans Still missing right now, unaccounted for, including some diplomats, family members. The fear is maybe these americans were targeted by these terror attacks. What do you think . I dont buy that. What we have are classic terrorism branding. Since 9 11 weve had the attacks in madrid a decade ago, attacks in london, al qaeda tried to take down an aircraft over detroit. This is isis saying were going to go back to the same locations, same vulnerabilities, and you cant stop us. Paul cruickshank, is there any evidence, do you think, these terrorists were deliberately looking for americans . Well, we havent heard any evidence of that so far. But we know during the bataclan attack in paris, they were asking where is that american rock band, the eagles of death metal because they wanted to target americans. And the reason they said that was because both america and france targeting isis in syria and iraq. So i think it is certainly possible that they would have been on the lookout for americans. They would have hoped americans would be at Brussels International airport. Many americans travel through that airport, wolf. Evan, what are you hearing . They think its probably the opposite. Just the location of this explosion was closer to actually a belgian airline. There was an American Airline a u. S. Airline near, but the cluster of people that were injured was largely Belgian Nationals, peoe who are traveling on a belgian iairline not a u. S. Carrier. If you are going to carry out an attack in belgium, youre going to hit a lot of americans, uks is the, people from all over europe because it is the center of europe. Some of these terrorists had lengthy criminal records, well known to prosecutors, well known to Law Enforcement. Yet they were free if you will, and they could plot a terror attack like this. Sometimes i cant figure it out. The intel in Law Enforcement business you have a phrase we use, Case Management. In Case Management you are always sitting on risk. Who are the players . Do they have access to weapons and explosives . Where have they traveled . If you have four months and people named in red notices, a couple of days i get. I dont understand how Case Management is working here. These guys should have gone done. Paul cruickshank, you heard adam schiff, the top democrat of the House Intelligence Committee say that he thinks its probably true there are probably hundreds of isis terrorists roaming around europe right now involved in these plots. What are you hearing . Well, heres the arithmetic. 6,000 or more european extremists have gone to syria and iraq, joined up with groups like isis. Most of them perhaps joining isis. At least 1,500 have come back. Many of those people experienced in killing. And so theres a very grave concern about the terrorist threat that isis poses. Isis has created an external Operations Division dedicating to hitting europe, dedicated to hitting the west. That report is up to the top leadership of isis. So they are ratcheting up the international attack. They have all these extremists in their ranks who they can train and then send back. So it is an alarming time for European Security officials, wolf. Guys, stand by. Were going to move on. I want to get to some other Important News with their latest primary contest overshadowed by the terror attacks in brussels, donald trump and ted cruz have been talking very tough, suggesting everything from mass surveillance to torture to nuclear strikes, if necessary. Cnns Sunlen Serfaty has been looking into all of this. A lot of fallout from their remarks. Whats the latest . That tough talk from both donald trump and ted cruz is receiving a lot of heat today in what could be a preview of a potential general election argument, Hillary Clinton going right after both of them today calling their response to the terror attacks wrong and dangerous. Tonight the terror attacks in brussels are reverberating through the president ial campaign. We need unpredictability. Reporter gop frontrunner donald trump saying he would potentially use Nuclear Weapons to stop isis. Im never going to rule anything out because at a minimum, i want them to think maybe we would use them. Reporter trump also telling wolf that he would support waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods. They can chop off heads and they can drown people in cages and heavy steel cages and we cant waterboard. So we have to change our laws and we have to be able to fight at least on an almost equal basis. Reporter democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton is outlining a contrasting counterterrorism agenda. We cant let fear stop us from doing whats necessary to keep us safe. Nor can we let it push us into reckless actions that end up making us less safe. Reporter taking aim not just at trump but ted cruz who is calling for stepped up policing of muslim communities in the u. S. It is that ostrich head in your hand Political Correctness that has made america so vulnerable. Reporter cruz was rebuked by new york city officials for his comments, including the police commissioner. Doesnt know what the hell hes talking about. Reporter and the mayor. I just have to say its reprehensible. His comments are not about safety and security. Its demagoguery. Reporter cruz in new york today pushed back. And the mayors response is essentially, who are these terrorists of which you speak . Reporter this on the heels of a split decision in tuesdays Western State contest. And a new endorsement from former rival jeb bush. Whats were seeing all across the country is the momentum is with us. Ill tell you one of the things that shows that is this morning, jeb bush endorsed our campaign. Reporter and as the trump cruz feud intensifies, their wives are now being drawn into the fight. Sparked by an antitrump superpac facebook ad showing an old modeling photo of trumps wife melania. Trump blaming cruz for the ad tweeting be careful or ill spill the beans on your wife. Cruz denies his campaign had anything to do with the ad. That should be beneath donald. Reporter heidi cruz is also weighing in. There are a lot of things that donald trump and his campaign say that have no basis in reality. Reporter her husband using a line from the american president to punch back at his rival. You want a character to debate, bob, you better stick with me because if donald wants to get into a character fight, hes better off sticking with me because heidi is way out of his league. Reporter donald trump doubling down today sweeting, quote, lying ted cruz steals Foreign Policy from me and lines from michael douglas. Just another dishonest politician. Cruz today called this gutter politics, a new low, he says, for donald trump. Sunlen, thanks very much. Well have more on the breaking news coming up right after this. Look out honey. Because im using technology. Aint got time to make no apologies. Soul radiation in the dead of night. Love in the middle of a fire fight. Honey gotta strike me blind. Somebody gotta save my soul. Baby penetrates my mind. [cheering] and im the worlds forgotten boy. The one whos searchin. Searchin to destroy. And honey im the worlds forgotten boy. We believe in the power of active management. 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Lets bring in our senior Political Correspondent brianna keilar, who is following Hillary Clintons speech, and Gloria Borger and rebecca burg. Gloria, how is the path for the republican nomination looking for donald trump . I think hes chugging right along there, wolf. You know, the interesting thing about donald trump is the unease with which conservatives still regard him and his frontrunner status. You can see that cruz won last night and got all the delegates in utah. You see conservatives trying to rally other conservatives around cruz like jeb bush, for example, today. Usually at this point in a race where you have somebody who is such a frontrunner, the party usually tries to coalesce and gather around this person and prop them up. At this point, just the opposite is really occurring, which is the party is continuing to split and fracture and will continue perhaps until the convention. Brianna, Hillary Clinton, she hit both trump and cruz today in ore speech on counterterrorism. Will those hits be effective . Reporter you know, thats a very good question. Republicans, wolf, would actually see this as a vulnerability for Hillary Clinton because she was secretary of state during the rise of isis, but Hillary Clinton and her campaign feel like theyre in a really good place to show that she has a broad base of knowledge on Foreign Policy. She said theyre in over their heads, loose cannon was one way she described donald trump, dangerous and wrong, cowering in fear and hiding behind walls. Shes trying to paint these republican frontrunners as not knowing what theyre talking about and not having the temperament to deal with foreign and the safety of americans. This is something Hillary Clinton is not always comfortable with personality politics and selling herself, but this was a clearly an area where she was much more comfortable. What do you make of the escalating fight between cruz and trump . It certainly is escalating today, wolf, with the fight over their wives of all things. These are the two heavyweights in the republican race. John kasich obviously still running. He says he intends to keep this fight going into the convention, but hes not racking up delegates. He didnt win yesterday. In arizona, he came in behind marco rubio, who is no longer in the race. Really its a race now between ted cruz and donald trump. At least at this point. Whats really interesting about the race at there stage is republican elites, so mitt romney, jeb bush, are rallying behind ted cruz because theyre seeing him as the best chance to take out donald trump. Pretty amazing these Republican Leaders are now saying ted cruz is the guy. They loathe ted cruz. They cannot believe it themselves, but when they take a look at donald trump and they believe like Hillary Clinton in many ways that he is too erratic, that he is not dependable, and they dont know what theyre going to get with them, at least with ted cruz, whom they dont like, and by the way whom say to me they consider him dangerous, at least they figure they know where he stands. I think right now, wolf, theres talk about a third party. If there is one, its only because they want to save their candidates down ticket, down ballot who are running for the senate and give them an alternative because they say may say, you know what, we cant endorse trump in a president ial race. President obama today going after ted cruz on carpet bombing. Listen to this. When i hear somebody saying we should carpet bomb iraq or syria, not only is that inhumane, not only is that contrary to our values, but that would likely be an extraordinary mechanism for isil to recruit more people willing to die and explode bombs in an airport. Looks like hes really stepping into the even though he is in argentina, hes getting increasingly involved in politics. Reporter he certainly is. Hes clearly concerned about his legacy. Today, Hillary Clinton was quoting the new York Police Commissioner bill bratton when he said that senator cruz doesnt know what the hell hes talking about. She said that ted cru saying this doesnt show hes tough. It shows that hes in over his head. Both of them trying to work it, labeling ted cruz as well as donald trump. Thanks very much. Were going to stay on top of all the political news, the race for the white house. Thats it for me. Im wolf blitzer. Thanks very much for watching. Next, live from brussels where the breaking news tonight. Cnn obtaining exclusive new video from inside the airport moments after the blasts. Plus, the explosive known as the mother of satan found in one of the suspects apartments. Ted cruz says patrol muslim neighborhoods. Donald trump says waterboard. Hillary clinton says theyre both dead wrong. Lets go outfront. Good evening. Im erin burnett. And i live in brussels tonight. Outfront, the breaking news. The exclusive new video, terrifying