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Breaking News: Pentagon Says U.S. Forces Targeted Jihadi John During Syrian Airstrike; Who Is Jihadi John?; On The Front Lines With Peshmerga Fighters; Donald Trump Maintains Hard Line On Illegal Immigration. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 13, 2015 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone, I'm Isha Sesay and you're watching CNN Newsroom live from Los Angelos, our breaking news. The Pentagon says U.S. forces targeted the alleged ISIS executioner known as Jihadi John during an airstrike on Raqqa, Syria.

He is the British foreign man believed to have been born in Kuwait, Mohammad Emwazi and he has been seen in videos, showing the murders of a number of ISIS hostages. It is not yet confirmed whether Jihadi John died in the airstrike.

Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr joins us now. Barbara, what more can you tell us about this operation?

BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Isha, what we now know is that the U.S. conducted an airstrike near Raqqa, Syria to target Mohammad Emwazi, also known to the world, of course, as Jihadi John, the notorious killer of American, British and Japanese hostages.

Those beheading videos certainly seared in the public consciousness. They had been tracking him for some days, we are told and when they saw the opportunity, they basically took the shot from the air.

Now, at this hour no absolute confirmation that it is him, but the officials are telling me they are very confident. They were tracking him, they knew it was him when they took the shot to get him.

Believed to be a drone strike or a fixed-wing aircraft, they have used both over Syria, but it was what they called persistent surveillance, in other words, they had been tracking him for some days and that is usually done with a drone, usually by Special Operations forces of the United States military.

They gather the intelligence, they find these guys and then they go after him. So to be clear, not absolute confirmation, but the Pentagon saying tonight that it's had an airstrike, it was targeting Jihadi John and they believe -- they do believe they got him.

SESAY: If indeed they have got him, they have killed Jihadi John, explain to our viewers just how significant such an achievement, if you will, is. I mean, what does that really mean in the broader fight against ISIS?

STARR: Well, this is a deeply emotional issue of course, for the families in the United States, Britain and Japan that he killed and the hostages that were managed to be released from his custody, from ISIS custody.

So, this is a great emotional victory to have some closure, some bringing to justice of this person. Does it change the war on ISIS? Perhaps not. By all accounts, he had been shuffled to the side a bit because of his notoriety and because of his violence.

He had brought a lot of heat on ISIS and you have not seen him out there in months. So, does it change the war? No. The leadership of ISIS, they are still going after them. They still hope to get Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the ISIS movement, but at least tonight they feel they have brought one person to justice.

SESAY: Yes, indeed, and Barbara, just so I'm clear, it's my understanding that this strike was conducted in Raqqa, of course, a stronghold of ISIS. Again, the U.S. making it clear in carrying out this strike that they have eyes over that area.

STARR: That's right. I mean, you know, if people might wonder and say, well, what's the message to ISIS here. The U.S. message to ISIS is we are watching, we'll find you. You can run, you can't hide, we will get you.

They have killed any number of top operatives in recent weeks and months. The intelligence picture, they say, is coming together. They are getting much better intelligence on where ISIS is, how it moves around and where these people are.

Part of their confidence at this hour is they were able to put together the intelligence picture on Jihadi John and take the shot. Still, looking for that absolute final confirmation.

SESAY: Yes, and Barbara, I don't know if you can answer this question, but in taking the shot was it Emwazi alone that was targeted or was he amongst a gathering? Do we know anything about conditions on the ground?

STARR: We do not. We have asked that question at this hour. We don't know that but this was a mission, we can say, according to several officials I have spoken to in recent hours, this was a mission very much, very specifically to target him,

SESAY: And family members, family members of the foreigners that were killed in such horrible ways with Emwazi, Jihadi John's involvement, have they been notified?

STARR: We do know that the American families were notified. We know that the British government was notified. I have to assume the Japanese government as well and others and, I mean, I think clearly, I think it will be left up to every government to notify the families of their citizens.

SESAY: Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, joining us tonight with this breaking news. We appreciate the reporting. Thank you, Barbara.

STARR: Sure.

SESAY: And joining us now, CNN military analyst, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona. He joins us live via Skype from La Quinta, California. Colonel Francona, good to speak to you again. Just how significant would the killing of Jihadi John actually be?

LIEUTENANT COLONEL RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it's significant in a symbolic sense, as Barbara said. It's not going to change the conduct of the war. It does not change his ISIS strength.

But it certainly, certainly is a symbolic victory for the United States, the coalition and our partners. and it does bring closure to those families. You know, Jihadi John had such a vicious reputation.

He murdered so many people, the victims need some sort of justice and whether or not it changes the conduct of the war, I think it was important that the coalition went after him and dealt him some justice.

SESAY: Colonel Francona, the U.S. has not confirmed whether they got Jihadi John, so give us some insight into the verification process, what will be happening behind the scenes right now.

FRANCONA: Yes, that will be very, very difficult and I don't think, we may not see verification right away, unless ISIS admits that it was him and that he was killed, they've done that in the past and they'll go into a period of mourning.

But if not, we'll have to use the intelligence assets that we have to verify this and that could take some time. We'll be looking at the, you know, the intercepts, the chatter going on, what's going on, on social media, what's going on, on the Web, internal communications.

But it could be a lengthy process and at some point, you may not know.

SESAY: At some point you may not know. Now you have in the past been critical of U.S. intelligence capabilities when it comes to the fight against ISIS. So let me ask you this, now that a strike like this has taken place, what does it represent to you, what does it say about where things stand now?

FRANCONA: Well, I think that over time, the United States and the allies have developed a much better intelligence. I remember, we were caught, I think, a little flatfooted when ISIS came out of Syria, moved in over and took the city of Mosul. We knew very little about them.

We knew a lot about Al-Qaeda in Iraq, but as they morphed into ISIS, changed their operations, it became clear that we really did not have a good handle on it and you could tell that from our initial operations against ISIS.

Even now, our pilots are returning to base with a lot of ordinance that they have not dropped. That tells me that we don't have the intelligence to develop the targets needed to successfully prosecute a war against ISIS. That may be changing. Going after individual targets like this tells me that we have either isolated their communications better, we've got better persistent surveillance, as Barbara said that usually means more drones over the area.

And I think being able to operate out of Turkey really has given us much better edge, especially over Syria. So, I will say that it appears that the intelligence is getting better.

SESAY: Do you fear that this killing, if confirmed, will result in retaliatory strikes by ISIS?

FRANCONA: Well, you know, you would think so and they may try, but my assessment is that ISIS is already doing everything they can. We saw what happened in the Sinai. If ISIS is proven to be responsible for bringing down the Russian jetliner, they are trying to do that in retaliation against the Russians.

We saw an operation possibly related to ISIS in Beirut today. That would have been ISIS going after a Hezbollah and the Lebanese Shia. So, they will try anything they can. If they see an opportunity to attack, either the United States, Great Britain, any of the partners, they would do it regardless of whether we had killed Jihadi John.

SESAY: Colonel Francona, it's always great to have you on the program. Thank you so much for your perspective this evening.

FRANCONA: Great to be with you Isha.

SESAY: So, who is Jihadi John and where did he come from? Atika Shubert went to London to find out more about the man behind the mask.

(BEGIN VIDEOPLAY)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an ordinary scene in a West London high school. Teenage boys goofing around with a basketball, one wearing a backpack shows off some fancy footwork, then someone calls out the name the match the now famous face.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Emwazi.

SHUBERT: Mohammad Emwazi, confirmed by U.S. officials to be Jihadi John, the masked murdered featured in ISIS videos. In this video you can see him throw a playful punch when a bottle is chucked at him, but in front of the camera, he covers his face.

"Emwazi was shy, but not a problem student," says his former head teacher, who identified him in this video. She describes the moment she heard her former student was the man behind the mask for ISIS.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE): He was reserved. He did not have a huge circle of friends, but he had a few good friends. Was bullied a little bit because he was quiet and he was reserved, but generally, he was fine.

MOHAMMED EMWAZI: Our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.

SHUBERT: It was his distinctive British voice that led to Emwazi being identified. Since then a fuller picture is emerging. He is described as being a polite, young man from a middle-class family.

Photographs as a student at London's Westminster University and more recently in Kuwait. A purported audio recording from 2009, released by British Muslim advocacy group, CAGE UK.

EMWAZI: What'd you think of 9/11, Alfi? I told them this is a wrong thing. What happened was wrong.

SHUBERT: But for the people who knew him, it is difficult to fathom that the football loving teenager they knew as Mohammad Emwazi has emerged as the man behind the mask. Atika Shubert, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOPLAY)

SESAY: Well, we will have much more on U.S. forces targeting Jihadi John in a drone strike in Syria.

Also ahead on the program, twin suicide blasts killed more than 40 people in Lebanon. What one would-be suicide bomber who survived the attack is saying, next. Plus, Kurdish forces are battling to take a key Iraqi city from ISIS.

We'll head to the frontlines with the latest on the battle for Sinjar. Just stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Welcome back everyone. Our breaking news. The Pentagon says, U.S. Forces targeted the alleged ISIS executioner known as Jihadi John during an airstrike in Raqqa, Syria.

He is the British citizen believed to have been born in Kuwait, Mohammad Emwazi and he has been seen in horrific videos, showing the murders of a number of ISIS hostages. It has not yet been confirmed whether Jihadi John died in the airstrike.

But an CNN U.S. Official said, they knew they had Jihadi John in their sights when they launched the airstrike.

Now a would-be suicide bomber claims he was sent to Beirut by ISIS along with three other attackers, and according to a Lebanese security source, that's just one of many details the suspect has revealed to investigators.

A pair of suicide blasts killed more than 40 people and wounded at least 200 at a busy marketin Beirut Thursday. The surviving bomber is a Lebanese national. It appears the other three were killed.

A reported ISIS statement claimed responsibility for the blast. CNN has not confirmed its authenticity.

Well new footage into CNN appears to show the surviving attacker being pulled away from the rubble. But CNN cannot independently confirm that. We must warn you, some of the footage you're about to see is graphic. CNN, Jim Sciutto has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The explosion struck during the height of rush hour. On an open market just south of Beirut. Coordinated, powerful, and deadly.

First, one suicide blast draws a crowd of onlookers. Then a second blast strikes that crowd maximizing casualties. A third bomber killed by the blast before he could detonate his own explosives

But a fourth, Lebanese government sources tell CNN, was allegedly captured. Seen here taken away as security forces fire into the air to clear the crowd. This man said he was praying when the blast blew a door right over his head.

The victims carried by bystanders over rubble from damaged buildings and rushed to nearby hospitals.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE): It's a bomb, the ten suicide bombing went off. The area is mostly empty. It's been cordoned off by the army. So, otherwise, there's a lot of shattered glass on the street, a lot of blood and it's really just a scene of chaos and carnage.

SCIUTTO: Within hours, ISIS claimed responsibility. This neighborhood is a stronghold of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia fighting alongside Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria. ISIS' sworn enemy there.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): ISIL doesn't think of itself as having borders. Let's remember while you say ISIS, I say ISIL, they say IS, the Islamic State. And they see themselves as trying to establish a caliphate which means an Islamic government covering all the areas where Muslims live today in the world.

And so Lebanon is just going to be seen as another battlefield.

SCIUTTO: The footage of the capture of the alleged fourth suicide bomber was shown on Lebanese television. CNN could not confirm its authenticity, although sources have told CNN of that arrest.

And this additional detail that the captured alleged fourth bomber said that they were dispatched from Syria by ISIS to carry out this attack. Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Well, CNN's Ian Lee joins me now from Cairo. Ian, this was a horrific twin bombing. What's the latest?

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest at this hour is they're still investigating to figure out exactly how this was carried out, where these guys come from. Two of the suicide bombers believed to be from a nearby Palestinian

refugee camp. One of the bombers is from Tripoli in northern part of Lebanon. They are trying to figure out how these men were able to get into Lebanon.

As we heard they were dispatched from Syria, how they got these weapons. But officials say, this is early in the investigation to figure out how they also were able to get in this area past the security checkpoints that were set up, not only by the army but also by Hezbollah down there in the south.

SESAY: Yes. And as you mentioned, those checkpoints and the army patrols in Beirut's southern suburbs, I mean generally speaking how tight is security in that part of Beirut?

LEE: Well, security is always been fairly tight. They've had these checkpoints for quite some time but when you look at the timing of this incident that really is telling. It happened at 6:00 p.m. local time during rush hour when a lot of people are out and about shopping.

There's a large crowds in the street. People are buying fruit and getting ready for dinner that evening. And so these suicide bombers were able to slip through and be able to mask themselves in the crowd.

And that's when these blasts took place. About 150 meters away from each other, the two bombs went off, although one suicide bomber tried to enter a mosque but was unable to. It will cause for a security review right now in Lebanon.

But right now this is a country and city in mourning. Today is declared an official day of mourning.

SESAY: Yes. And Ian, the big question in all of this is what the fallout will be for Lebanon as a whole, Lebanon as a nation, a country with a very fragile hold on stability at best. That's the question, that's what we're all looking at now in the days ahead.

LEE: That's right. Lebanon has been described as the stable instability. There's the different factions that have been held in relative peace. But the one thing that's interesting when you look at this incident is that all factions have come out and condemned it.

It's almost every faction, all the factions are against ISIS. They're against ISIS meddling in Lebanon. And so you are seeing a bit of unity in the fallout of this incident.

SESAY: Ian Lee joining us there from Cairo. Ian, appreciate it. Thank you.

Well, Kurdish officials say Peshmerga fighters have seized control of a significant stretch of a main road that leads from ISIS stronghold to Sinjar, Iraq. They're trying to retake the key city from the militants and cut their supply lines.

The Kurds say they've taken more than 150 square kilometers so far. Reclaiming Sinjar is a big step to breaking up the caliphate ISIS says it's creating.

CNN's senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is on the frontlines with the fighters and has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT : The sun broke bringing with it a vast trail of Peshmerga pushing for a new dawn of their own against ISIS.

Crawling around the back of Mt. Sinjar their advance long expected and aimed here at Sinjar's western flank. ISIS beaten back by dozens of coalition airstrikes, barely a local vehicle left standing.

They've asked for new weapons, but used what they had facing booby- traps all around. Their mortars and continued airstrikes had one key target -- the highway that runs through Sinjar. And just after noon they took it, starving ISIS' east of supplies from Syria.

ISIS are just 500 meters potentially in that direction, but also down this road, where also lies Raqqa, the caliphate's self-declared capital. This is why this road is so vital to the Peshmerga and the coalition.

They need to seize it, to keep it, to separate the ISIS part of Iraq and their part of Syria.

ISIS weren't giving up the town, though, without burning it first. Once home to thousands of Yazidis they persecuted, it's being retaken by Kurds. Some suspicious of the other local group, the Sunni Arabs there.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): (FOREIGN LANGUAGE SPOKEN) "The local Arabs here are all with ISIS," this local commander says.

Throughout the day one mushroom cloud after another. ISIS car bombs. Some beaten back by a new Peshmerga weapon from the West, the Milan missile, which stops the suicide bombers in their tracks.

This is what one did to an ISIS car, melting this pistol flat. Sinjar's urban sprawl, too, could be flattened if ISIS choose to fight in it. The first day's bravado taking the Kurds far, but not to victory.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Sinjar.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Well, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told our Fareed Zakaria that he's confident Sinjar will fall from the hands of ISIS but he's reluctant to speculate on when.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm convinced that Sinjar will be liberated as we have liberated Tikrit and currently the Iraqi forces are moving on Ramadi. I mean, there is a concerted strategy here, Fareed.

You know, I keep hearing people say, well, what's the strategy? The strategy is clear. President Obama in the very beginning said, we're going to degrade and defeat ISIL. We're going to stabilize the countries in the region, Jordan, Lebanon, work with Turkey, and we are going to seek a political settlement.

That is exactly the strategy today and it is working to a degree, not as fast as we would like perhaps, but we are making gains.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Secretary of State John Kerry there speaking to our own Fareed Zakaria.

We are following breaking news as the U.S. announces an airstrike targeting ISIS' executioner, Jihad John. We will have the latest for you just ahead.

Plus, U.S. president Barack Obama lashes out against Donald Trump's immigration plan. But see why Trump is not backing down.

Also ahead here, what U.S. presidential candidates are saying about a college campus rocked by racial tension.

Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello, everyone. Our breaking news this hour. The Pentagon says U.S. forces targeted the alleged ISIS executioner known as Jihadi John during an airstrike in Raqqa, Syria. He terrified the world from behind a mask, appearing in videos showing him brutally murdering ISIS hostages.

His real name is Mohammed Emwazi. A British citizen believed to have been born in Kuwait. Well, a senior U.S. official says they knew they had Jihadi John in their sights when they launched the drone strike.

But the Pentagon is still trying to determine whether he actually died in the air raid. Jihadi John's path to radicalization and alleged murder has been a few years in the making. And the first time authorities got ahold of him was more than five years ago.

Jim Sciutto reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EMWAZI: You now have 72 hours.

SCIUTTO: He's been the voice of some of ISIS' most brutal terror videos. Calm, ruthless, and with a distinct and surprising British accent.

EMWAZI: Our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people. SCIUTTO: Now U.K. authorities have identified the terrorist known as Jihadi John as Mohammed Emwazi, a 26-year-old British national, born in Kuwait but raised in London. Though U.S. officials would not publicly discuss his suspected identity, the White House said "Jihadi John" is a top terror target.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, PRESS SECRETARY, WHITE HOUSE: In the mind of the President, he ranks highly on the list because that individual is responsible for the murder of innocent Americans and the President is determined to bring him to justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Emwazi illustrates ISIS' alarmingly broad appeal. From a well-off family, earning a college degree in technology at the University of Westminster and, until his travel to Syria in 2012, enjoying a life of privilege.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was a diligent, hard-working, lovely young man; responsible, polite, quiet. He was everything you would want a student to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: His friends said they never saw signs of his future as a terrorist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASIM QUERSHI, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, CAGE: He was such a beautiful young man. Really, you know, it is hard to understand the trajectory, but it's not a trajectory that's unfamiliar with us -- for us.

SCIUTTO: Emwazi's friends say his path to radicalization may have started in 2009, when he traveled to Tanzania to go on a safari, a graduation present from his parents, but he was detained on arrival, held overnight, then deported to the U.K.

Authorities suspecting his true intention was to travel to Somalia. In 2010, he was detained again by counterterrorism officials in Britain. Just two years later, Emwazi is believed to have traveled to Syria, where he joined ISIS.

His friends claim mistreatment by British authorities set him on a path to terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUERSHI: Our entire national security strategy over the last 13 years has only increased alienation, has only increased people feeling like they don't belong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Our thanks to Jim Sciutto for that report.

Well, Russia is trying to authenticate an alleged ISIS video that threatens attacks inside the country "very soon." The five-minute video released on Thursday. It shows Russians cities, with chants in Russian, promising that "blood will spill like an ocean."

We have not independently verified the video. It comes two weeks after an ISIS affiliate claims to have brought down a Russian jetliner in the Sinai Peninsula. The video does not mention the plane.

All right, let's talk politics, shall we? U.S. President Obama is weighing in, for the first time, on Donald Trump's controversial plan to enlist a deportation force to deport undocumented immigrants. He describes it as unfeasible and contrary to U.S. values.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Imagine the images on the screen flashed around the world as we were dragging parents away from their children and putting them in detention centers and then systemically sending them out.

Nobody thinks that is realistic, but more importantly that's not who we are as Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, U.S. Secretary Of State John Kerry went further. He says Trump's plan to build a wall along the border with Mexico to keep illegal immigrants out of the U.S. will never happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mr. Secretary, you have negotiated with the Mexicans a great deal, so I have to ask you, do you believe that the Mexican government would, under any circumstances, pay for a wall across the entire border of the United States and Mexico to keep Mexican -- undocumented aliens out of the United States?

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: Mexico itself pay?

ZAKARIA: This is Mr. Trump's proposal.

KERRY: Yeah, I know. I know. You're trying -- I knew you were trying to drag me right into the middle of presidential politics. I think it's a foregone conclusion that Mexico is not going to build that wall.

ZAKARIA: Or pay for it?

KERRY: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SESAY: Well Donald Trump, a frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, has been surging in the polls, partly because of his hardline stand on illegal immigration. During an interview with Erin Burnett he didn't back down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But they are not going to want to leave. You are going to have to hire a lot of people to find them and get them over the border, right?

DONALD TRUMP, R-NY, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: First of all, they're here illegally. If a person comes across the border and you send them right back, the border patrol sends them right back, there's not a big court situation. They send them back, they're here illegally.

BURNETT: Yes, but what about the guy already living in Detroit?

TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me. What's the difference between someone that comes over the border for two days, he gets caught and they bring him back, and somebody that comes over the border, he's here for a year and you bring him back? There is no difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, let's bring in CNN's Senior Political Analyst, Ron Brownstein. He joins us now live via Skype, from San Diego, California. Ron, always great to speak to you.

The mind boggles here a little bit that Donald Trump is doubling down on his harsh immigration line, given that it may gain traction with the Republican base but come the fall, in the national vote, you clearly need Hispanics to win. So what's the calculation here?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well I don't think he is looking that far yet, and if he is, he's counting -- if he wins the nomination, he is counting on transforming demographic trends that have been driving American politics for over three decades.

I mean, this is just another extraordinary day on the campaign trail that really underscores how much this campaign is being driven by questions of America's identity at a moment of profound demographic change.

I mean, the issues that are driving this campaign, taxes, regulation, those kinds of questions, they're all in the background. This is all, really, within -- first of all, within the Republican primary.

And then, thinking more broadly toward the general election, about how we all live together or not at a moment when the country is growing rapidly more diverse. We see it coming up on immigration.

We see it with the "Black Lives Matter". We see it with the Republican candidates' response to the situation in Missouri. All of these issues are evolving around the same core question of how do we coexist at a moment of rapid demographic change? SESAY: Yeah, indeed. And with the Iowa caucuses less than 100 days away, Donald Trump is stepping up the attacks on his nearest challenger. He took aim at Ben Carson, Ron, in a way we never heard before. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: When he said he stabbed somebody with a knife but it hit a belt buckle, I know a lot about knives and belt buckles. Belt buckles aren't going to stop because they're going to turn. They're going to twist.

They're going to -- you know, they are not solid, especially if somebody's got a couple of extra pounds on. You know, they move; there's a lot of movement. So the chances of somebody going like that, hitting a belt buckle where it doesn't slide off and go in to the --

BURNETT: So you're not satisfied yet?

TRUMP: Well I just don't know, but when someone says that he's pathological, you'll have to ask him that question. I haven't seen it. I know it's in the book, that he's got a pathological temper, or temperament. That's a big problem because you don't cure that.

That's like, you know, I could say -- they say you don't cure, as an example, child molester. You don't cure these people. You don't cure a child molester. There's no cure for it. Pathological, there's no cure for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Wow. Well Carson's team responded to Trump's comments. Ron, I've got to share this with you and our viewers. This is what we got from the Carson camp that Trump was not comparing Carson to a to a child molester -- this is a quote, and that "he was as usual rambling".

All right, the Carson camp maybe brushing it off but let me ask you about what Trump's attack mean for Carson, broadly -- broadly speaking? I mean, he has an evangelical base, Carson that is, and they like him.

They like him a lot. Will Trump's strategy on taking him on so directly, even using language like a child molester, will that gain traction?

BROWNSTEIN: Well Trump, first of all, it matters a lot to both of them. Trump, first of all, is showing that the line between unplugged and unhinged is a slippery one. You know, he's got a lot of mileage about saying things that others won't say, about seeming to be candid and someone will come in and not kind of mind all of the diplomatic niceties.

But at the same time, that same kind of volatile language and performance that is endeared him to big part of the blue collar conservative base in the Republican party, as we've talked about before, has raised enormous doubts about his fitness and his temperament among white collar Republicans, and I think ultimately bounded his support.

I think Ben Carson is in a somewhat similar position among evangelical Christians who are a significant portion of the vote, particularly in Iowa. He has struck a chord but he has struck a chord through his personal story, I think, more than his positions on issues or any kind of sense of his personal fitness as president.

I think he has basic -- both of them have the same problem, they have a base, but beyond that base I think doubts about their suitability to do the job is growing and I think Trump's lashing out at so many candidates, while I think maybe being kind of reaffirming for some of his supporters, really does tend to limit his potential to grow.

You are already seeing him facing those limits in the polls.

SESAY: Fascinating insight. Always great to speak to you, Ron Brownstein. Ron Brownstein, CNN Senior Political Analyst. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you.

And now some breaking news from Myanmar's landmark election. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy has won an absolute majority in the country's parliament. The United Nations issued a statement congratulating the people of Myanmar for their "peaceful, dignified and enthusiastic participation in the historic elections."

Sunday's vote was hailed as the freest elections in decades. We're going to have a live report for you on that. It's coming up in the next hour. So do stay with us for more details from this history win from Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar.

When we come back, the U.S. announces air strike targeting ISIS executioner, "Jihadi John". We will have the latest just ahead.

And Russian athletes could be on the brink of suspension in the wake of a doping scandal. Officials will decide in the coming hours whether to ban athletes from world games.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Our breaking news, the Pentagon says U.S. forces targeted the notorious "Jihadi John" during an air strike in Raqqah, Syria. Mohammed Emwazi became the face of ISIS while hiding behind the mask.

He appeared in horrific videos showing him allegedly murdering ISIS hostages. His victims include journalists and aide workers from the U.S., Japan and the U.K. Emwazi is a British citizen, believed to have been born in Kuwait.

A senior U.S. official says authorities are confident he was killed, although the Pentagon would not publicly confirm that.

To other news now, when Russian athletes and coaches could learn their fate in the coming day, following doping allegations involving their country. The world governing body for track and field, headed by Sebastian Coe will consider whether to ban them from the 2016 Olympics.

Russia says it has submitted a report addressing the allegations. Earlier this week the World Anti-Doping Agency says there is a deeply rooted culture in Russia of widespread cheating and cover-ups. Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has vowed an internal investigation.

Well we have seen a number of cheating scandals and corruption scandals in sports, from football to cycling and now track and field. Two of the biggest international sports federations are embroiled in crises right now. Our own Don Riddel breaks it down for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON RIDDEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Olympics and the World Cup are the pinnacle of global sports event. They're glamorous and aspirational and they're worth billions of dollars. But the headlines aren't being made at the track or on the field anymore.

The players are in business suits, and the action is out of view, in the shadows, in the gutter. Cheating athletes and corrupt administrators are nothing new but it's never been this big and this bad before.

Sepp Blatter is the suspended head of World Football, and although he insists he's clean, he's under criminal investigation. Lamine Diack was the head of World Athletics, and he's also under criminal investigation.

Football and Athletics are the two biggest international sports federations, and they are in decay. Rumored for years that world cup bids were corrupt, now the chickens are coming home to roost. Bribery is suspected in the victorious bids for Russia and Qatar.

Previous tournaments in Germany and South Africa are also under the microscope. Some of the sport's most influential power brokers are in jail or awaiting extradition. FIFA's very future couldn't be any more precarious.

It's not the occasional errant track star; it is athletes, coaches, trainers, doctors, a state-sponsored doping program in Russia according to the World Anti-Doping Agency's independent commission.

Russia is a global sport superpower, bankrolled by the government. It spent a reported $50 billion hosting the last Winter Olympics in Sochi and it's staging the next World Cup in 2018, but now Russian athletes could be banned from the Summer Games in Rio.

World sport is on the road to moral ruin. Athletes are cheating. Administrators are crooked. The fans don't know what to believe and there's too much money at stake for the sponsors and the broadcasters to walk away.

So who is going to clean it up? Everywhere you look there are potential conflicts of interest. The International Center for Sport Security, which bills itself as a bastion of integrity, is largely funded by Qatar, whose successful World Cup bid is under criminal investigation.

The IAAF's new president, Seb Coe, is a brand ambassador for Nike, a major sport sponsor. The World Anti-Doping Agency receives 50% of its funding from national governments, so the regulator is dependent on the regulated.

And all of this is only what we know now. Which other sports are involved? How many other countries? As the world anti-doping agency so chillingly put it, this is probably just the tip of the iceberg.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Don Riddell reporting there. When we come back, we will be joined by Olympic track medalist who lost the gold in 2012 to a Russian competitor. Her take on the doping scandal coming up. Brigetta, welcome.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Welcome back, everyone. We are following the doping scandal involving Russia. The country could find out Friday whether its track and field athletes will be banned from next year's Olympics.

Brigetta Barrett joins me now. She won a silver medal for the U.S. in the High Jump at the 2012 Olympics. Brigetta, welcome; thank you for joining us. What went through your mind when you first heard the news of these allegations?

BRIGETTA BARRETT, SILVER MEDALIST, 2012 OLYMPICS: My first thought, I hope it is not true. I hope there is not another reason for a fan to walk away from the sport of track and field.

I hope there isn't another athlete that was deprived or not able to feed their family or not able to afford the cost of training because of something so deeply devastating. I think -- when I think about Langston Hughes, when he says what happens to a dream deferred, I don't think I would want anybody to figure out what that actually feels like.

I think now there's a lot of people know what that feels like.

SESAY: And let's be clear for our viewers, you actually lost the gold medal in 2012 to a Russian athlete.

BARRETT: Yes.

SESAY: And you said to me that the feeling you have now is almost of a mourning.

BARRETT: Yeah.

SESAY: Explain that to me. BARRETT: Well, I'm the type of person, first of all, that believes people are innocent until proven guilty. And so, hypothetically speaking, if these allegations are true, I feel like my dreams, everything that I worked really hard for -- I was a junior in college when I went to my first Olympic Games.

And dreaming about that day and dreaming about the possibility of winning a gold medal and being able to stand on the podium and getting the opportunity to possibly singing the national anthem, my national anthem, representing country, my god, my family.

My mother just went through breast cancer and so mourning that moment that might have been stolen for me, mourning the gold medal that I do not have, seeing the silver medal every day and having to work four hard, long years, make four years' worth of sacrifices just for another opportunity at getting a gold medal.

If those allegations are true I have a lot to mourn and there are a lot of athletes that have a lot to mourn.

SESAY: And for American athletes, I know that you are saving your own opinion to form it yourself.

BARRETT: Yes.

SESAY: -- but is this something everyone is talking about?

BARRETT: Yes.

SESAY: Is this -- how has this changed the way all of you feel about the 2012 Olympics?

BARRETT: Yes, there are a lot of athletes, not just about the Olympics, but world championships as well, that -- American athletes that are looking and thinking, like, oh, shoot, that directly affected me.

Like, when you look at the scandal you see the fact that it affects not just one specific discipline --

SESAY: The ripple effect.

BARRETT: It affects distance, fields, throws. It could affect all of track and field. We're not just talking about one athlete. We're talking about an entire sport of athletics that -- yeah.

SESAY: Do you think they should be banned if they can't provide sufficient answers to these questions posed in this report? Do you want to see them banned if they cannot?

BARRETT: Yes. My opinion is that anybody that is found intentionally doping, for performance enhancing, that they should be banned. I don't think that, for example, if I get sick and accidentally take the wrong cough syrup medicine overseas I could technically be found positive. I don't think that people that make simple mistakes like that should be banned for life, but I think people that are intentionally using drugs to get ahead of the competition should be banned.

SESAY: Well, Brigetta Barrett, we appreciate you coming in and sharing your thoughts.

BARRETT: Thank you.

SESAY: Wish you the best with your future career.

BARRETT: Thank you very much.

SESAY: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: And, back to our breaking news, the Pentagon says U.S. forces targeted "Jihadi John", the face of ISIS, during an air strike on Raqqah, Syria. Mohammed Emwazi terrified the world from behind a mask, appearing in videos showing the brutal murders of ISIS hostages.

It's not confirmed whether "Jihadi John" died in the air raid. We are going to have much more on this breaking news story for you at the top of the hour. So do stay with CNN for that.

Thank you for watching "CNN Newsroom", live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. I will be back with more news around the world in a few minutes. You are watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: This is "CNN Newsroom", live from Los Angeles. Breaking news, the ISIS militant known as "Jihadi John" has been targeted in a U.S. airstrike, but we don't know if he is dead or alive.

Plus, more than 40 people killed in suicide bombings in Lebanon. A suspect says he was sent by ISIS.