Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20150217 : vimarsana.com
CNNW Wolf February 17, 2015
Christian laborers in libya. We have an exclusive report from their hometown. Today here in washington the obama administrations planning to submit planning to go forward with a summit on combatting what they call violent extremism. As many as 60 countries are taking part in the threeday summit. Part of the event will highlight how some u. S. Cities are successfully handling terror threats. President obama speaks at the summit tomorrow. Well go live to the white house for the very latest. Lets get to denmark right now. A jewish Radio Program has voluntarily gone silent due to security concerns. The countrys Domestic Intelligence service offered protection but also told the Radio Station that it was too dangerous to broadcast the show, at least for now. Lets get more on the investigation into the copenhagen denmark, shootings, the warnings about the man who shot and killed two people over the weekend, our Senior International correspondent, Nic Robertson, is joining us from copenhagen. Nic, what more have you learned about the shooter and what police now say they know about him before the shootings and any alleged ties he may have had to isis . Reporter well certainly the Prison Services thats whose custody he was in until two weeks before the shooting, he was released from jail only two weeks before the shooting on saturday. The Prison Services here had alerted the Intelligence Services to a change of behavior by the gunman. They believe that he was being perhaps radicalized inside jail thats certainly where the danish ambassador to the United States has told us. And that was a concern. But the Intelligence Services have come back today and said look, we were advised about him but we didnt believe he was an immediate and dangerous threat. What we do know about him is he had a very violent past. He was a member of a gang here in copenhagen that had been involved in violent crime. And thats why he was in jail. But what weve also learned is in the hours immediately before the attack on saturday he posted a pledge of support to isis leader al baghdadi. And this seems to be an indication of where his mindset was in the hours before the attack that he was supporting isis. He had never been there never been to iraq and syria according to officials here but what was driving him, it appears, was isis propaganda, wolf. Nic, stand by because were just getting this in to cnn, getting new information now on last months attacks in paris and the coordination between the two shootings in paris. Investigators telling the french newspaper that Sharif Kouachi and coulibaly were linked. The paper reports the two men talked face to face the morning of the Charlie Hebdo shooting and that the attack was almost called off because the other brother, said kouachi, has come down with the stomach flu. Lets bring in bobby ghosh, managing editor of quartz. What do you make of this new information le monde is putting out . Weve known for a while that coulibaly and at least one possibly both of the kouachi brothers knew each other for quite a while. There were some concerns about the gap between the two attacks. The Charlie Hebdo attack on wednesday, the coulibaly attack at the supermarket on friday, suggesting maybe they werent coordinated. But this new reports suggests quite clearly that they were. The two of them meet on the midnight before the attack. It would appear that coulibaly bought this cell phone, he had 13 cell phones that he bought this cell phone specifically for communicating with the kouachi brothers. So it does seem like a very carefully coordinated pair of attacks now. Yeah the fact that he had 13 cell phones that he was using some of them only specifically to pass on a message to potentially his partner in these two separate shootings that were going on in paris over a span of wednesday to friday that indicates a lot more coordination potentially than earlier thought, right . Yes, it does. It suggests they planned this thing together and that the Second Attack on the kosher supermarket was something they discussed before and a direct consequence of the first attack. Stand by for a moment. I want to get Nic Robertson to weigh in on this as well. Hes joining us from copenhagen right now. Nic, you got the news from le monde that it was obviously pretty coordinated, at least if you believe this report. We have no reason not to believe what le monde is reporting, that these two attacks in paris were pretty coordinated. Whats interesting is that the attacks in copenhagen that youre covering right now, one going after the news media, if you will the second one going after a jewish target very similar to what happened a month ago in paris. Reporter yeah and there are other similarities were seeing as well wolf this sort of pledge of allegiance that the gunman here had to isis, to the isis leader. We had that in paris. Coulibaly doing that before liz attack. So you have those similarities. And this is the concern for authorities here right now on a very high state of alert. There was a lockdown where we are early this morning, a suspect package found. Bomb squad came in. The allclear given later. But police right now are looking for other potential accomplices. Although hed only been out of jail for two weeks, the concern is there could have been a Broader Network of communication. One of many cell phones may have been used. Whats happening inside the jails here not just the radicalization but techniques for communicating, networks are being established for communicating between these radicalized individuals. So right now, the police have two accomplices in custody. Theyre going to be charged with being accomplices to murder and attempted murder here. But are there others . Thats what the police are looking for here and what were learning from paris now is just how, if you will devious and subtle and the lengths that these individuals will go to to communicate below the radar. So the authorities cant keep an eye on it. Thats what we heard here from the danish intelligence authorities today, saying they didnt anticipate an attack coming yet it did. The question is were these coordinated with potentially was there any coordination between paris and copenhagen simply copycat, maybe theres concerns about other copycats down the road . I want to bring in producer tim lister whos covering the story. This latest information were getting from le monde, what do you know about this . Whats your reaction . Im not surprised, wolf to be honest with you because i was in paris for those two weeks after the attacks. And it was clear to intelligence sources in france at that point that these attacks had been very closely coordinated. The association of coulibaly and the kouachi brothers went back many years. Theyd been in touch throughout that period. Theyd been involved in going to the same jails. Theyd been involved in associating with the same circle in paris. So really not surprising that there was some sort of coordination even to the point where they were wearing the same sort of clothes when they launched those attacks. And, remember the wife of coulibaly and of one of the kouachi brothers exchanged 500 phone calls in the Previous Year leading up to the attacks. And there was a lot of suspicion, tim, that the women werent actually using those two cell phones, the husbands were actually using those two cell phones that had the wives names attached to those cell phones right . Thats very true wolf because in french law, its very difficult to get permission from a judge to monitor all the devices that a suspect might have. You can get a warrant to listen in to a cell phone but not perhaps watch a computer. This is one of the weaknesses that the french Intelligence Services told us about throughout the investigation. They feel hamstrung, as if they have their hands tied behind their backs when it comes to investigating people like this. So its a big problem for them and its not surprising in a way since we found out that boumeddiene went immediately to syria afterwards. So it appears that she knew before the attacks were launching that this was in the offing. She was not a silent unwitting partner to these series of attacks in paris. Tim lister stand by bobby ghosh, stand by, Nic Robertson well continue to follow the breaking news. Were also following other important developments in this war on terror involving paying ransoms to free hostages. Thats causing some tension between the u. S. And some of its key allies. Well explain whats going on. Also cnn now has a brandnew poll were about to release new poll numbers on u. S. israeli relations, the upcoming visit to the u. S. Congress by Benjamin Netanyahu. The results of the American Public opinion poll, thats coming up. Two weeks later. Look, credit karma are you talking to websites again . This website says free credit scores. Oh, credit karma yeah its actually free. Look, you dont have to put in your credit card information. Whew credit karma. Really. Free. Now to the war against isis. Egypt says its warplanes have struck ten isis targets in libya. The raids were in retaliation for the savage killing of 21 egyptian christians who were living and working in libya. Egypt says its fighter jets carried out strikes based on what they call accurate intelligence and targets included isis training and storage locations. But an Umbrella Group of islamist militias tells a different story. That group claims women and children were killed when the egyptian air strikes hit civilian areas. Cnns not been able to independently verify the claims. The trigger for the air strikes was an isis video showing the apparent beheading of about a dozen egyptian christians. Egyptian says all 21 christians were killed by isis in libya. Our correspondent ian lee joins us from the egyptian town where some of those egyptian christians lived earlier. Ian, what are you learning about these men, who they were, why they traveled to libya . Reporter well wolf this is a very poor town. Its a closeknit town. Many People Living there are related. 13 men of the videobeheadings in that video lived there. There arent Job Opportunities for them here in egypt. They seek better wages in libya to bring it back and start families. Many of the people we talked to were talking about either supporting their children or trying to start a family. Thats why they were going to libya. I talked to one man who was actually with those 13 that were kidnapped when it actually happened he ran into isis himself. He tells me that when the isis militants stormed their apartment complex, there was a man a local man at gunpoint pointing out where the christians were staying. He said he didnt answer his door when the militants knocked. But his nephews and his cousin opened their door. Right next door he said there was a crack in the wall that he could see the militants walking into the room grabbing them and taking them away. He said if it werent for the fact that this created a lot of commotion, more christians from this apartment complex would have been taken away though he does feel a lot of guilt, his family he felt like he has needed to protect these boys. But he says he really couldnt be a hero. He would have just been another victim if he had been. He said the one thing that does give him comfort is he knows the name of god was on their lips when they died, wolf. Egyptian Officials Say theyll continue these air strikes, pounding isis targets in libya. Ian lee, thanks very much. At the white house right now, theyre talking about fighting terrorism before it takes root. Some 60 nations are sending highlevel representatives to a threeday white house summit. This new poll by the way, shows most americans say congress should give president obama the Legal Authority to wage war against isis. The cnn orc poll shows nearly four out of five people in the United States want lawmakers to give the president the power to use military force. That shows a slight decline in support since december. Our senior White House Correspondent jim acosta is joining us now. When it comes to the use of Ground Combat troops against isis, this new poll shows the American Public is largely divided. Reporter thats right. That is no surprise wolf after a decade of war in iraq and afghanistan, the public is not in the mood to get back into a huge ground war in the middle east. But lets put these numbers up on screen because there is Something Interesting to point out, wolf. While you do mention, yes, the public largely against this it says 47 in favor, 50 opposed. Look at the number in november 43 in favor, 55 oppose. So you do see a movement in the direction of perhaps favoring the use of Ground Forces in iraq to fight isis. And i think that is interesting to see that kind of movement. You mentioned the summit thats being held over here at the white house to counter violent extremism, that is the other side of the coin here for this administration. They believe very strongly that when this war against isis that youre basically going to have to do more than drop bombs on targets in iraq and in syria, youre going to have to attack this problem at the root. And that means going after these communities with a different kind of message. Were going to be hearing more about that over the next several days. The Vice President is speaking today. President obama will be speaking tomorrow and the next day. And the reason why theyre doing that is because the president feels very strongly that this is not a war against radical islam. Hes gotten in some hot water over that. A lot of republicans disagree with that message. But thats the message were going to be hearing about all week. Well be covering it. Well see what the Vice President says today. And well cover what the president has to say tomorrow. Thanks jim. When we come back our new poll, for the first time were releasing new numbers on the Prime Minister of israels expected visit to the United States on march 3rd to address a joint meeting of the u. S. Congress. Did the Republican Leadership john boehner, the speaker of the house, do the right thing by inviting the Prime Minister to washington without getting that cleared by the president of the United States in advance . We have new poll numbers on how the American Public feels. This is jim. A man who doesnt stand still. But jim has afib, Atrial Fibrillation an irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. That puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. For years, jims medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. But now, with onceaday xarelto®, jims on the move. Jims doctor recommended xarelto®. Like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce afibrelated stroke risk. 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Inviting the israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to washington to speak before a joint meeting of the u. S. Congress without notifying president obama was the wrong thing to do thats what 63 of americans said in a brandnew exclusive cnn orc poll. Only 33 thought it was the right thing to do. Those numbers only add to the current tension between the u. S. And israel. Joining us now to discuss these new poll numbers, cnns political director David Chalian and aaron david miller. These numbers showing most americans, decisive majority 63 , think the speaker of the house shouldnt have done this without going through the white house, which is the normal protocol, theyre not happy about the way it was done. Thats right. And the key is the process, not giving the headsup to president obama is what is part of this question and is offensive to most americans. However, remember the context of when Speaker Boehner rolled out this invitation. It was the day after the state of the union, the president was on a high coming out of the state of the union. And this was a play to the hometown crowd for republicans. When you look at the Party Breakdown in these numbers, a small majority of republicans actually thought it was the right thing to do. Independents democrats definitely the wrong thing to do. Thats why you get that number overall 63 . But for republicans, they thought it was the right thing to do. Thats why you saw Speaker Boehner do this the afterday after the state of the union. Has an israeli leader ever been invited to address a joint meeting of the u. S. Congress without going through the white house, without a president of the United States at least signing off on that . I think you know the answer to that one. No, this is unprecedented. Its far beyond a matter of protocol. What it reflects is the lack of trust and confidence. The notion that this is a month before the israeli elections frankly is irrelevant. Bill clinton had perez in the oval april 30 literally a month before the before his election runoff with Benjamin Netanyahu. This shows, i think, the profound suspicion, lack of trust and the other reality is that the endgame on iran is coming. Thats whats driving this. The suspicion and the lack of unanimity that exists between the president and the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister delivers the speech on march 3rd the elections in israel, march 17th. Pretty close. Other numbers we have in our new exclusive poll in the middle east conflict should the u. S. Side with israel . 29 of the American Public says that. Palestinians 2 . Neither, 66 . But that number is fairly consistent over the last ten years. It is. Longer than ten years, we looked at numbers all the way back to 1998 i dont think that number of 66 , americans not its not been lower than 63 all the way back to 1998. Americans do not want to get involved in other peoples conflict. However, as you can see, theres a huge disparity when you ask those that would get involved and want to choose a side, overwhelmingly they choose israel. Are you surprised by the numbers . Not at all. Gallups gallups run these numbers since 01 and the disparity, support for israel or the Palestinian Authority frankly any arab country is huge. The question is is this a headline or is this a trendline . Does this reflect the fact that more americans are being exposed to this soap operalike relationship between netanyahu and the president and is it taking its poll on the bipartisan character of support for israel . As important as israels concerns about a potential Iran Nuclear Weapon are, they are deeply concerned about having a very Good Relationship with the United States. This president still in office for almost two more years. And if there is a sense that u. S. israeli relations at a time when israel is being isolated all over the world right now are deteriorating, that potentially could hurt netanyahus efforts to get himself reelected. I think thats true. And beyond the nature of the u. S. israeli relationship. The fact is wolf youve got a situation where the United States basically could probably survive with an iran as a Nuclear Weapon threshold state. If theres an agreement that is reached and Benjamin Netanyahu is reelected, then youre going to see a lot more tension that exists now. This is all about the domestic israeli politics too, with barack obama so deeply unpopular there, Benjamin Netanyahu sees a potential political advantage by picking this, by coming to congress and using barack obama as a foil he hopes to his political advantage. May help him politically in his effort to get reelected but in terms of deteriorating the u. S. israel relationship thats a serious problem the israelis have if in fact that occurs. And given the ans noimosity that occurs this is a problem the leaders will have. Is it situationally driven or is it greater . My argument is unlike Lehman Brothers the u. S. israeli relationship is too big to fail. Values interest and primarily whats happening in the middle east now, beheadings of americans, egyptian copts on a libyan beach its not just the deterioration in the relationship between the Prime Minister of israel and the white house and the president of the United States, but there are a lot of democrats in the house and the senate right now, youre hearing things said about netanyahu that ive never heard before from supporters of israel and theyve got a real problem, the israelis unless they fix this very quickly. I think thats right. Its not just the white house. A lot of democrats as well. It is. Were seeing a partisan divide here at home. Thats developing as a result of the way this was handled, coordinated, obviously a serious problem. Thanks very much. To see all of the cnn latest polling, make sure to follow cnnpolitics on facebook and twitter. Coming up we have new details on last months attacks in paris and the coordination between the shootings and the shooters that was apparently a lot more sophisticated than we originally thought. Youre driving along, having a perfectly nice day, when out of nowhere a pickup truck slams into your brand new car. One second it wasnt there and the next second. Boom youve had your first accident. Now you have to make your first claim. So you talk to your Insurance Company and. Boom youre blindsided for a second time. They wont give you enough money to replace your brand new car. Dont those people know youre already shaken up . Liberty mutuals new car replacement will pay for the entire value of your car plus depreciation. Call and for drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch to Liberty Mutual insurance and you could save up to 423 dollars. Call Liberty Mutual for a free quote today at see Car Insurance in a whole new light. Liberty mutual insurance. Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world, im wolf blitzer reporting from washington. Breaking this hour we have new developments in the investigation into last months paris terror attacks. Frances leading newspaper le monde quoting nrts who say the attacks, one at the office of the Charlie Hebdo magazine and the second at a jewish kosher supermarket were coordinated. Joining us now on the phone is our Law Enforcement analyst, a former fbi assistant director, tom fuentes. Tom, Significant Development that is le monde is now reporting, 13 separate cell phones were used by the terrorists involved in these two attacks, one on a wednesday at the magazine, one on friday at that kosher supermarket. Your reaction to this new information . I would have expected that the diligent investigation on the part of the french would eventually find this kind of information if it existed. They would do an Exhaustive Research of the french phone companies trying to look at phone numbers and phone accounts that could be attributed to either one. And in this case they determined that Amedy Coulibaly obtained 13 phone numbers and the investigation discovered that it seemed like they were dedicated for use for these attacks. They had six Text Messages that were exchanged between coulibaly and Sharif Kouachi. And it appears they met the night before the Charlie Hebdo attack and exchanged a text message in the morning one hour before the attack. So obviously we had known the wives had exchanged some phone conversations, supposedly although there was a lot of suspicion their cell phones were being used by their respective husbands the kouachis and the coulibalys. But in any case it seems a lot more coordinated now not necessarily simply some sort of inspired lone wolf, right . No thats true. It looks much more coordinated, especially the fact that they would have met in person near kouachis in the suburb that he lives in the night before the attack or actually a few hours 12 hours before the attack. So the fact that they would have actually met in person and then the next morning, one final Exchange Text message exchanged between them. And then an hour later, 11 30 a. M. The attack begins at Charlie Hebdo. It certainly appears the two of them conspired together to make sure the attack plans were coordinated for both locations, the other location being the kosher market two days later. What does it say to you that the targets of the two attacks in copenhagen over the weekend were very similar to the two attacks in paris, one going after a magazine if you will trying to promote free speech a second going after a synagogue in copenhagen . It does. It shows that the original attack or the main target is going to be the magazines or the cartoonists themselves that have generated the cartoons of the prophet muhammad. But while theyre at it and while theyre roaming around on the streets with guns, go ahead and attack synagogues or jewish markets or other jewish locations. And i think thats what you have obviously in both locations. And in the case in copenhagen the attack on the synagogue occurs ten hours after the original attack going after lars vilks and the other members of that meeting. Fortunately for the synagogue they had after hearing about the attack earlier in the day, they had requested police protection. They asked for more security at the event they were holding, a bar mitzvah at this location. And the police did put a couple of extra security people out there. And then you had when the shooter showed up the police were able to shoot at him and keep him from overtaking the place and killing more people. Unfortunately he was able to kill a person at each location the original meeting location and ten hours later, someone an innocent civilian at the synagogue and wound five Police Officers in total before the third encounter with the police where they were able to finally kill him. Yeah. And so the lessons from both paris and copenhagen are now being learned by a Law Enforcement National Security personnel, not only in europe but i would suspect here in the United States as well. Tom fuentes, well have much more on this story coming up throughout the day here on cnn. Another story were following, the ceasefire in eastern ukraine. Is it now crumbling . Well go live to donetsk. Our Nick Paton Walsh is on the ground there. Well show you the latest of whats going on. Ive been called a control freak. I like to think of myself as more of a control. Enthusiast. Mmm, a perfect 177degrees. And thats why this road warrior rents from national. I can bypass the counter and go straight to my car. And i dont have to talk to any humans, unless i want to. And i dont. And national lets me choose any car in the aisle. Control. Its so, whats the word . Sexy. Go national. Go like a pro. Eastern ukraine certainly looks like that ceasefire may be in deep trouble, may actually be crumbling. Look at this spectacular video of an attack on a pipeline as fighting erupts once more between rebel groups and ukrainian forces. Authorities say at least ten soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire went into effect on saturday. Our Senior International correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, is in donetsk, eastern ukraine, right in the middle of of all of this. Nick we just saw that video of that pipeline going up in flames. Whats the significance of that attack and what are you seeing on the ground right now . Reporter that shows there is significant shelling on the road. Weve been there our ourselves. Thats a gas pipeline to the left of that particular road exploding into flame. The point being, heavy weapons are being used to the north of that town. It is in circles by the separatists. There are stories about how the fight is continuing inside that town. I say a fight. Supposed too often a have been a ceasefire. Its a ceasefire with the exception of one city, if the contingent of ukrainian troops are coming under that kind of fire you have to doubt whether this is a truce. We are hearing the ukrainian side of the story in the last few minutes. They accept they have lost part of control of the city they accept some of their troops have been captured. Theyve been under sustained fire in the bouts of during much of the day and im afraid a lot of that information echoes what the separatists have said. They claim they have 80 of the area and that potentially they have hundreds of ukrainian soldiers taken prisoner during this offensive. It is going to be a bloody situation unless somehow politically a solution comes forwards. Bear in mind this is one of the bloodiest episodes in the war so far and playing out under an alleged ceasefire that nobodys called yet. The separatist group says they held a News Conference a little while ago. What was their main point . Reporter the main point in that was they appealed to ukrainian troops to give themselves up. They consistently suggest that those prisoners of war were treated well looked after. They will not be allowed to be in a situation where they say the ukrainian will give themselves up this is propaganda war going on here. Its been happening for months noholdsbarred when it comes to that. Very hard to work out whats really happening. But we are getting real clarity. Its changing hands. Ukrainian soldiers are being captured and many are dying, too. Its an extraordinarily hellish place to be stuck in right now. Certainly is. Nick be careful over there, Nick Paton Walsh, on the ground for us in eastern ukraine. Should countries pay ransom to get hostages back from isis or other terror groups . The death of the american aid worker, kayla mueller, put the issue back in the spotlight. Well tell you why the u. S. And at least some of its allies seriously disagree on this issue. The real question that needs to be asked is what is it that we can do that is impactful . What the cloud enables is computing to empower cancer researchers. It used to take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome; with the microsoft cloud we can analyze 100 per day. Whatever i can do to help compute a cure for cancer, thats what id like to do. Meet the worlds newest Energy Superpower. Surprised . In fact, america is now the worlds number one natural gas producer. And we could soon become number one in oil. Because Hydraulic Fracturing Technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. Supporting millions of new jobs. Billions in tax revenue. And a new century of American Energy security. The new Energy Superpower . Its red, white and blue. Log on to learn more. The death of u. S. Hostages at the hands of isis militants has raised serious questions about ransom demands and whether to pay for them. Following the death of the u. S. Aid worker kayla mueller, president obama said the u. S. Uses all the research it can to get the hostages released but the one thing that we have held to is a policy of not paying ransoms with an organization like isil. And the reason is is that once we start doing that not only are we financing their slaughter of innocent people and strengthening their organization but were actually making americans even greater targets for future kidnappings. Our chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto is here with me. Has this u. S. Policy caused some friction with some key allies who are willing from time to time to pay ransom . It has. The u. S. Is in lockstep with countries such as the uk. I spoke with a british diplomat last week who said like the u. S. The uk considers paying ransom Terror Financing as if you or i were writing a check to isis to promote them which is a crime in this country. And this british diplomat said to me the uk has in her words very frank discussions with close european allies who do pay ransoms. You have the u. S. And european allies flying Bombing Missions against isis in the middle east but they have a big difference on this issue. Its one that within that family nato allies that they disagree very sharply in private. What do they say when the u. S. Points out you pay ransom thats going to encourage more citizens to be taken because they want the cash . What they say is the heads of state have a personal obligation to bring these people home alive. So do american and british heads of state. But they say they have a legal obligation to protect the lives of their citizens to any obligation to obey Terror Financing laws. You can understand that. Arguably you have a disagreement within our own country when we look at the experience of james foley and his parents. His mother said publicly when they were talking ability the possibility of paying ransom to save their sons live they were told if you do you might be prosecuted. Thats the position. They stick to that position but theres some inside the country that question that but on the flip side as the president said there its a u. S. Position and british position but you encourage more hostages to be taken. Ive heard from french and other European Countries that are willing to make an exchange to pay ransom for their hostages that the u. S. Is being hypocritical because they were willing to release five taliban prisoners in exchange for getting Sergeant Bergdahl released from captivity. You can go back to the 80s, the deal with iran with arms to release hostages held at lebanon. So our history is not clean either but you can say its more consistent in recent years than others have been. Heres the pressure. Thats the time frame british diplomat was describing to me was collapsing. In the 80s youd have several years of the hostages being held. The time line was as short as 24 hours. That leaves less leeway to find a way out short of a rescue attempt or paying money. Youll have a lot more on this coming up later in the situation room as well. Thanks for that reporting. Up next a set back for Immigration Reform here in the United States. President obamas executive orders now being put on hold as a texas judge sides with more than two dozen states. Well get a closer look at whats next for the white house strategy. Lets get to the huge debate here in the United States over immigration repost mortem. Immigration reform. The court is blocking provisions of the executive order the president unveiled in november. Republicans in congress had vowed to stop the actions. The original lawsuit was brought on behalf of these 26 states. You see them there. 24 of which have republican governors. One of the provisions of the executive action was set to go into effect this week. It would have expanded the program that allows undocumented immigrants here in the United States that are born in the United States to legally work and remain in the country. Were getting conflicted reports, seemingly conflicting reports on the administrations response. Moments ago the attorney general of the United States said the Justice Department is now considering whether to pursue a stay on the judges order. Earlier the department of Homeland Security said it would comply with this court injunction. Lets talk about where all of this goes. Joining us is our Supreme Court reporter. You have been studying the documents, the legal parts of this. This is a major set back for the legal position of the president of the United States. It is but the ruling wasnt on the constitutional issue. The judge said two things. He said texas has the right to bring this case. Thats called standing and it was important because a lot of the Immigration Groups said texas wont be able to show it had an injury. This judge said that it could and it did and the second thing the judge said is look the administration didnt proceed in the way that it should. It should have given more notice and it violated that aspect. So not a big constitutional issue but the impact is this nationwide preliminary injunction that blocks these programs are going into effect. It could effect Illegal Immigrants were being told dont worry. Youll be allowed to stay. You have kids that were allowed to stay and well take care of you. Now all of a sudden thats up in the air. The Immigration Group said last night to these immigrants that were hoping to take advantage of one of these programs set to start tomorrow get your papers together. But in fact they wont be able to go forward because this judge has issued this injunction. Now lets go to a court of appeals. It could wind up before the United States Supreme Court what the president has done. Well thats true and we havent gotten to the trial or the merit. This was a preliminary injunction. But the white house said this morning that doj plans to appeal with the fifth Circuit Court of appeals and that would probably be the next step. Again the administration said we had Broad Authority to do this and they said this lower court got it wrong. But thats where we are now. The judge in texas that ruled against the president of the United States he cited, correct me if im wrong, in his arguments, all the times the president said 20 or 25 times over the years he didnt have the Legal Authority to take this kind of action to protect these Illegal Immigrants. Well he certainly without making a broad ruling he did make hints and immigration lawyers were worried about this judge. He was appointed to the bench by george w. Bush and they were concerned a ruling like this might come out. What about the court of appeal with the fifth circuit. Thats many new orleans. How does that shape up . It depends on the panel and its based in texas. So that tells you something. Texas was the leader here with 26 other states that followed it and the attorney general there was thrilled with this decision that came out late last night. Youve only been with us for a few days. Welcome to cnn. Thank you so much. Good to have you here on our team. Thats it for me. Thanks very much for watching. Ill be back 5 00 p. M. Eastern in the situation room for our international viewers. She starts coming up at the top of the hours for our viewers here in north america. Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin starts right now. Hi will. Youre watching cnn. Breaking developments in two terror attacks in paris that left 17 people dead last month. Heres what were learning. This report coming from the french newspaper indicates these attacks were coordinated. Courses were telling the french newspaper hah one of the brothers behind the massacre at the offices was in communication with the gunman that got that a little later. Sources say a text from the younger of the brothers went to one of the 13 cell phones used by him. He was the one that shot and