What is driving this rally and when will the almostfree ride end . Hello everyone. Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. Start with our politics lead, isis terrorists, they are evil, maniacal, remorseless, twisted murderers. Theyre also quite good at propaganda. And Hillary Clinton says donald trump has provided isis with plenty of new material. National Security Experts they do tend to agree with that estimation, but then clinton on saturday night went far beyond that saying, on the debate stage, that isis recruiters have been affirmatively going around showing videos of trump to inspire people to join their terrorist cause. That is a claim that no one can verify. And that fact has trump demanding that the democratic frontrunner apologize. Cnn senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny is here with me. Jeff, where does the Clinton Campaign say this claim came from . It seems false on its face. Well, jake, its a good question. Where did she get evidence for that claim. I dont have an answer for you. There is no evidence. In fact, our cnn Fact Checking team could not find any videos where trump has been used as a recruitment tool by isis. The Clinton Campaign says its his rhetoric thats been di visive and could inspire hatred of america. That could be true with his plan to block muslims from entering the u. S. But there have been no videos as clinton says, at least not yet. Trump with exaggerations of his own and misstatements, has kept this years Fact Checkers busy. Locked in a new brawl of their own tonight, hes demanding an apology for this. We also need to make sure that the really discriminatory messages that trump is sending around the world dont fall on receptive ears. He is becoming isis best recruiter. Reporter at the weekend democratic debate, clinton said trumps plan to block muslims from entering the u. S. Has emboldened isis fighters. They are going to people showing videos of donald trump insulting islam and muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists. So i want to explain why this is not in americas interest to react with this kind of fear and respond to this sort of bigotry. Reporter but theres no evidence to back up her assertion trumps rhetoric has been a recruiting tool for isis. So far isis recruiters have used american president s, her husband, president bush and president obama in recruiting videos. The accusation set trump off. He fired back on twitter, its the democrats total weakness and incompetence that gave rise to isis. Not a tape of donald trump. That was an admitted hillary lie. On the today show he demanded an apology. She should apologize. She lies about emails, she lies about whitewater, she lies about everything. Hardly the only one talking about a video that doesnt seem to exist. For weeks trump has failed to back up claims he saw video of thousands cheering in new jersey as the World Trade Center crumbled on 9 11. He defended it again today. There is proof because many people saw that happen. Reporter and Carly Fiorinas claims about a planned parenthood video went too far. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table its heartbeating the skirmish between trump and clinton as the gop field got a little smaller. Senator Lindsey Graham left the race telling cnns kate baldwin he would get behind one of his rivals. Ive hit a wall here. My campaign has come to a point where i need to think about getting out and helping somebody else. Reporter today in New Hampshire the campaign trail was filled with republicans who could use help in their battle to be an alternative to trump and ted cruz. Well, look, i want everybodys support, anyone i can get to jump on board. Reporter marco rubio, chris christie, jeb bush and john kasich all trying to sweez in lastminute campaigning before christmas. Everyone here in New Hampshire is so incredibly warm and welcoming. Reporter speaking of christmas, the Clinton Campaign tried to change the subject with a little help from the grinch. But the grinches in gopville it seems they do not. Together they shout with great grinch zeal that on health care their plan is repeal, repeal, repeal, repeal. Now, that clash between trump and clinton could be good politics for both front runners. But as for the apology the Trump Campaign is demanding, dont look for it any time soon. A short time ago a spokesman for the Clinton Campaign said, hell no, Hillary Clinton will not be apologizing to donald trump for clearly pointing out how his hateful rhetoric only helps inspire isis recruit more terrorists. There you have it, jake. A major thing this campaign season. Well have a showing later, triple of the videos that dont exist. Jeff, thanks so much. Joining me now president ial candidate and retire ed pediatr neurosurgeon, dr. Ben carson. Thank you for joining us. Absolutely. Dr. Carson, the democrats were focused on one republican candidate at their debate. Donald trump, hes been the frontrunner for months. Isnt it logical to think that he will probably win the republican nomination . Well, interestingly enough if you look back over history you can see that theres a lot of fluctuation that occurs particularly in the last few weeks. So logical i dont know if thats the word i would use, but it certainly wouldnt be surprising. You were ahead in the polls in some states, in iowa and a strong second a few weeks ago, youve explained your tumble in the polls today by suggesting that its possible that there are voters out there who might think youre too nice to be a strong leader on issues like foreign policy. How do you plan on fixing that . Well, i hope to get people to understand that strength is not denoted by the volume with which you speak or the ga sticklations that you make but rather the accomplishments of ones life. And, you know, i want people to actually look back at the things that ive had to overcome. Look at the fact that when i became the director of pediatric neurosurgery, pediatric neurosurgery wasnt even on the map and we had to build it to the point whereby 2008 u. S. News world report said it was number one in the nation. Look at the fact that, you know, people of accomplishment who are not weak frequently are awarded with the highest award a university gives, an honorary doctorate degree. And if youre really good, you might get two or three, or maybe even five. I have 67. You go on and on ot the library of congress, maybe one of 89 Living Legends at the occasion of its 200th anniversary, i could go on for quite some time. The point being is it accomplishment in ones life that is important, or is it the volume with which one proclaims everything . Hillary clinton over the weekend claimed isis is recru recruiting by showing a video of donald trump. There is as you probably know no evidence according to national Security Experts of any such video. Donald trump is demanding an apology from Hillary Clinton. Her Campaign Said in response, quote, hell no. What do you make of this all . I see it as much to do about nothing. You know, we have some really important things to talk about. And, you know, whether there are things that are used and that you can prove that they are things that are used, theres no question that they use anything that they can against us. They use anything that they can possibly get their hands onto try to make their case. And particularly to go after the disaffected people of the world. And what we need to be thinking about is how do we give them a different message, the disaffected ones, so that they wont be so attracted to those kinds of messages. As a matter of the campaign, this is to my count the third nonexistent video that president ial candidates have described. You had first Carly Fiorina erroneously describing what she thought she saw but didnt really in an undercover video purporting to be about planned parenthood. Then donald trump said he saw on tv thousands and thousands of muslims celebrating in new jersey city, again, video does not exist. Now we have this from clinton. Are we in a posttruth era now . Well, you know, certainly i think we maybe tend to rely too much on videos. What we really ought to be talking about is what are the real issues. Are there people in this country who are muslims who celebrate things like that . And if there are, why is that the case . And what are we doing about it . That probably is a more important question. Are we saying and doing things that inflame the muslim communities all over the world . And if the answer is yes, should we be talking about those things and should we be trying to cut back on those things and send a different message . Im a big picture type of person. Lets look at the real issues and go after those rather than fanning the flames of, you know, things that really dont matter that much. Im really interested in your view on comments made by president obama in an interview with National Public radio that were broadcast today in which he said donald trump is exploiting the anxieties of white Blue Collar Workers and the fact that hes the first black president thats why donald trump is doing s well by exploiting these fears of white noncollege educated men. Youre out there among voters all the time. What do you think about what president obama has to say . I really dont think its necessary to bring race into it. I know that there are a lot of people out there who are incredibly frustrated with whats going on. And they dont see anything being done about it. This is particularly true, you know, amongst conservatives. You know, you look at the omnibus bill that was passed just recently and you have, you know, a republican congress. And yet there is Climate Change and resettlement of refugees and obamacare and planned parenthood and sanctuary cities and on and on it goes. And they say nobody represents us. And then at least, you know, you have somebody who maybe bombastic and maybe its 100 accurate but at least they say its different. I think thats whats drawing people. I hope that those same people over the course of time will start listening very carefully to whats being said by all of the candidates and make a very appropriate choice. Dr. Ben carson, stick around. We have more questions for you. President ial candidates got the full saturday night live treatment this weekend including ben carson. As a surgeon, i had to tell people things they didnt want to hear. Not that they had to have brain surgery, that it would be it would be performed by me, a man who they believe to be asleep. Dr. Carson will tell me what he thinks of the parody coming up next. We danced in a german dance group. I wore lederhosen. Man. When i first got on ancestry i was really surprised that i wasnt finding all of these germans in my tree. I decided to have my dna tested through ancestry dna. The big surprise was were not german at all. 52 of my dna comes from scotland and ireland. So, i traded in my lederhosen for a kilt. Ancestry has many paths to discovering your story. Get started for free at ancestry. Com. Some of these experimentsere notmay not work. Il. But a few might shape the future. Like turning algae into biofuel. New technology for capturing co2 emissions. And cars twice as efficient as the average car today. Ideas exxonmobil scientists are working on to make energy go further. No matter how many tries it takes. Energy lives here. train horn vo wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. Norfolk southern. One line, infinite possibilities. Nchtsz welcome to the lead. Christmas is friday. Its the time of the year when soldiers send their loved ones back home video messages since they cannot be with their families to celebrate. Unfortunately, six more families will not get those messages this year. The United States longest war claimed even more lives today with news that six american troops were killed just outside the safe perimeter of Bagram Air Force base killed by a suicide bomber. Cnns Barbara Starr is at the pentagon. Barbara, this attack one would think would have to be fairly sophisticated in order to kill so many u. S. Service members so close to a major u. S. Base. You know, at least preplanned they were watching, they knew the americans might be there. I think thats what many people assume. The word were getting is this was essentially a joint patrol by both u. S. And afghan forces. They were going outside the base we believe to attend a meeting. They were outside of their vehicle when the motorcycle approached and detonated that suicide bomb. As you said, jake, its just very, very difficult news. Six americans killed, two injured. A contractor also injured. Difficult news, the worst for their families at this time of year. But it does underscore the rising taliban violence in afghanistan from the north all the way down to heldman province in southern afghanistan. In the terms of isis there seems to be an operation rose colored glasses going on. We heard Hillary Clinton over the weekend saying, quote, we are now finally are where we need to be in the fight against isis. President obama too telling npr that the plans good, the only problem has been that the messaging has been a little off and the media has been overhyping the threat of isis. Is the fight on the ground against isis . Is it going well . Well, there is one place that everybody is really taking a look at, a place where there has been disaster in the past but now the u. S. Hopes the iraqis will have some success. [ gunfire ] all eyes are now on ramadi. Iraqi Officials Say their troops are launching a major offensive to retake the city center. Residents have been warned to leave in advance of expected heavy fighting. 10,000 iraqi troops surround the city and are already fighting in outer neighborhoods, but now they are moving towards the center where officials believe up to 500 isis fighters are dug in. Its going to be very difficult because isis has defended that city, placed roadside bombs, houseborn explosives. Its going to be boobytrapped. Reporter defense secretary ash carter questioned the iraqi militarys will to fight in an exclusive cnn interview after ramadi fell. This time hes offering iraq apache helicopters and u. S. Advisers. We do want to help you build on your success in ramadi. Reporter but so far Prime Minister abadi has turned him down. Theres real doubt iraqi forces will be able to hold onto ramadi, even if they get it back. The military person in me says that their ability to take and hold ramadi is questionable at best. Reporter ramadi is a badly needed success for the u. S. Effort. A senior military official tells cnn the pentagon has been told by the white house to better communicate to the public about the war against isis. The president hinting in an interview with npr. We havent, you know, on a regular basis, i think, described all the work that weve been doing for more than a year now to defeat isil. Reporter but also taking a swipe. If youve been watching television for the last month, all youve been seeing, all youve been hearing about is these guys with masks or black flags who are potentially coming to get you. Reporter so has the isis war not been reported accurately . Look, the media is pursuing ratings reporter or does there need to be more success . The white house always touts the amount of territory that has been retaken by antiisis forces. Thats good, but it needs to be even better. Reporter so what are we really talking about here . Many Administration Officials now suddenly saying they have to get better at delivering the message about the war against isis. But many will tell you if youre going to have a better message, you have to have some better substance, jake. Thats exactly it. Every president thinks the problem is communications. Barbara starr, thanks so much. Back with me again republican president ial candidate dr. Ben carson. Dr. Carson, just this morning in New Hampshire you said isis, quote, will destroy us if we dont destroy them first. Thats a very different take on the isis situation than president obama who told npr that he feels fears about isis in the United States may be overhyped by the media and that isis does not pose an existential threat to the United States. You think that isis does pose a threat to the existence of the country . Absolutely. I think its rather naive to believe that they are the jayvee and that we have nothing to worry about. Because we live in a different era. You know, he talked about them not being a Big Industrial power. Were not in the era now where you send, you know, big armies to fight, or you know air forces. Were in a place where you use a jet plane as a missile to knock down buildings, where dirty bombs can be used to extinguish large numbers of people. There are lots of different techniques that can be used, Cyber Attacks, attacking our electrical grid. You know, these are things that are all well within their capabilities. And particularly when they use them in tandem. Theres a lot of things that could happen in this country. And we need to be planning for those things. We cannot take a wait and see and react type of attitude. We got to be forward thinking very quickly to protect the american people. Lets just have one lighter moment in this interview if we can. Saturday night live did a parody of the republican debate. Take a look at jay farrow, the comedian, his version of dr. Ben carson. Of course i can be tough. As a surgeon i had to tell people things they didnt want to hear. Not that they had to have brain surgery, that it would be that it would be performed by me, a man who they believe to be asleep. Im not asleep. Im amped. Im jacked and im ready to throw down. Its all part of the process, i guess, getting mocked by saturday night live. What was your take . Hey, if we cant laugh at ourselves, were in really serious shape. I have no problem with that at all. All right. Dr. Ben carson, Merry Christmas and hope you g