President Obama Confirms ISIS Executioner Jihadi John Was Killed In U.S.-Led Air Strike Last Month
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama is now confirming what had been suspected all along here. That ISIS executioner jihadi John was killed in a U.S.-led airstrike last month. Jihadi John is that British national seen on camera wielding that knife beheading western hostages including Americans. President Obama made the announcement at the Pentagon earlier today after meeting with his national security team with regard to ISIS. The president says his administration's strategy to d destroy ISIS is quote-unquote "moving forward."</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are hitting ISIL harder than ever. Coalition aircraft, our fighters, bombers, and drones have increasing the pace of airstrikes. Nearly 9,000 as of today. Last month in November we dropped more bombs on ISIL targets than any other month since this campaign started. We are also taking out ISIL leaders, commanders and killers one by one. The point is ISIL leaders cannot hide and our next message to them is simple. You are next.</s>BALDWIN: Let's go to our chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto who is live in Washington who, of course, watched the president earlier today. Hitting ISIS harder than ever. Will that be enough to satisfy his critics?</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: In a word, no, really. And his critics that you hear in Washington, some of them frankly in both parties, not just Republican but Democrats are looking for more assertive military moves. Now, the disagreement among them is what that is from a large ground force to perhaps more greater use of U.S. Special Forces, more airstrikes, et cetera. But what you heard from the president today was really almost a defense and a progress report on his current strategy. You know, the one concession he made is he said that, you know, progress has to come faster than it already is, but then he made the case that progress is coming. He said that ISIS is losing ground in Iraq. It's losing thousands of square miles in Syria and then he listed, as you heard him there, the number of Isis leaders who have been killed or senior figures such as jihadi John, but also Abu Sayyaf, another leader in Libya, et cetera, to say, you know, in effect the strategy is working. Now that's an argument, frankly, that's not satisfying to a lot of folks in Washington, but that was the president - it seems to be the president's message today.</s>BALDWIN: That was the president there. Let me pivot you to Bowe Bergdahl, Jim. We were just talking last week how we sort of hearing for the first time that the podcast right with regard to Bowe Bergdahl and the reason to leave his post. And now today, we are learning about how he is, what, being referred to the general court-martial. Tell me more about that.</s>SCIUTTO: That's right. So in effect, his case is going to trial. And he is going to go to court-martial on two charges. Ones we heard about for some time, one is desertion. That carries a sentence, maximum sentence of five years. But the other one more serious and that is putting his unit in danger, putting his fellow service members in danger. That conceivably carries a life sentence. It doesn't mean he's going to be charged with both of those or get that sentence, but that's the outer limit. And clearly they have decided they have to go to court to decide if there's substance there. You may remember that a few weeks ago the chief military investigator in this case, he doesn't really argue for one side, but he did make the case that Bergdahl was being honest and doesn't believe he has nefarious intentions. That said there are others who believe differently. And it was interesting as we heard that podcast last week, he was giving in effect his public defense perhaps of what you might hear in ha that courtroom if you were there to say that he went out. He wanted to expose wrong doing, bad, dangerous leadership in his unit there, you know. That's his case and a judge and his peers are going to have to decide what they believe.</s>BALDWIN: All right. Going to trial. Jim Sciutto, thank you so much in Washington. I want to turn our attention now to the investigation into the Paris terror attacks. Stunning new details out today suggesting the ring leader Abdelhamid Abaaoud apparently directed the Bataclan theater attacks by phone blocks away in real-time. This is according to a French terrorism expert. A witness told investigators they actually saw him standing on this doorway screaming on his phone for about an hour and appearing in a word, agitated. So let me bring in our Paris-based journalist and correspondent Stefan De Vries. And Stefan, I mean, first it was the bomb shell he had gone back to the theater as investigators were still there and it was this gruesome scene. Now to learn that he was this close proximity calling the attacks over a cell phone.</s>STEFAN DE VRIES, PARIS-BASED CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. That's what this magazine today published. Allegedly, he was in front of the theater basically conducting the attacks while they were going on inside the music venue. There was already known that he went to a western suburb. He parked his car and took the subway to the area of the Bataclan. And so he may have been giving instructions while the terrorists were acting out the massacre inside the music venue. A police source have told French media this is not sure. It is sure he was in the surroundings. And another detail is that Francois Hollande, the France's president, he was at the same spot around - well, maybe at the same time as the terrorist, which is of course incredible information. But it's not clear whether Abdelhamid Abaaoud was giving instructions directly. It is clear, however, that he must have been in the direct neighborhood of the music venue.</s>BALDWIN: As we talk about Paris and what happened there, and of course, sitting here in Las Vegas, this is a day ahead of our, you know, final primary debate among Republican candidates for president at the end of this year. And I'm just wondering, you know, from more of a global perspective there from your perch in Paris, how this candidates, how this race thus far is being perceived from your point of view.</s>DE VRIES: Of course, in Europe, we have been following the ascend of Donald Trump and especially all his remarks about Muslims, for instance, last week. Actually we make the comparison with a lot of European politicians like Marie Le Pen, the leader of the right wing party here in France but also in other countries like the Netherlands or in Hungary. There are people who like -- that can be compared to Donald Trump. Very harsh talk, very anti-immigrant, anti-immigration. Well, no nonsense rhetoric, something that pleases with the electorate. We have, of course, here yesterday elections in France regional elections. Marie Le Pen did now win any region. But nevertheless, she got over almost 30 percent of the votes and that's something completely new. France was a bipartisan country with socialists and now basically it's a country of three parties and it brings the traditional parties huge difficulties because Marie Le Pen wants become France's next president. In 18 months from now, there will be a presidential election in May 2017 and she has very good chances. There are two rounds in France of what a presidential election. She will most likely win the first round very easy, but it will be very difficult to become the next president. But it shows that everywhere in Europe, just like in the U.S., populist politicians are gaining ground and, well, they can have a lot of success.</s>BALDWIN: It also goes to show what happens here on the stage in Las Vegas tomorrow night. The world will indeed be watching. Stefan de Vries, thank you very much live from Paris. As the world watches who is most likely to succeed tomorrow night here in Las Vegas on that arena stage. How about who is most likely to fail or surprise us? We will have our predictions live from Las Vegas. We will be right back.