united states. >> reporter: and the great thing is that the general election is still more than ten months away. and finally, number one, policing in the age of candid camera phone. it has dominated the headlines for more than a year. separating the vast majority of officers just doing their jobs from those who abuse their power. >> joe johns, thank you. thank you for being with me. "the lead" starts now. thank you you, brooke baldwin. mississippi river on the bring of swal loiilowing entire towns. "the lead" starts now. potentially historic flood emergency. cars floating away, more than a dozen killed as towns in the midwest brace for water higher than they've seen in maybe forever. so much for that trump being a clinton plant conspiracy theory. the two sides seemingly at war after donald trump goes after bill clinton's past again. is the affair fair game? plus --

>> i love you guys. >> the chilling 911 calls as boy scouts rush to save their scout master from a bear mauling. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> we begin "the lead" with breaking news. state of emergency, evacuations under way and deadly flooding across the midwest. massive floods, sweeping across the missouri, have claimed the lives of at least 13 people, including 4 international soldiers. and the worst may still be. coming. the mississippi, missouri, and the meramec rivers all rising after days of drenching rains. forecasters warn the mississippi could rise to near or even above record levels. let's go to alina in missouri near the center. people bracing for worst-case scenario? >> reporter: they are, jim. the mayor here of west alten has asked residents to leave, and

many are heeding his warnings and they've left their homes here. and this is why, many of the main roads that go in and out of town, roads lick this one, blocked off because of high water. even the volunteer fire department here has evacuated. they've moved their trucks to higher ground. now this town is positioned right between the mississippi and the missouri rivers so they've seen flooding before. but the mayor tells me they haven't seen the water rise just quite as quickly as they have this time around. just 70 miles from where we are, the town of union missouri, has already seen severe flooding several homes and businesses there, already under water. the sheriff says they had to rescue a couple today that got caught up in the rising floodwaters. thankfully they are okay. but as you mentioned, already at least 13 people have died in these floodwaters. many after trying to drive through them. listen to what the governor had to say about that.

>> vast majority of deaths, i can't stress this enough, people driving into water. especially driving into water at night. all of you, when talking to folks, especially with water still rising here, continue to express to your friends, neighbors, everything else, please don't do that. >> reporter: now that was missouri governor jay nixon, he has activated, by the way, the national guard today to help provide security in some of the evacuated areas, as well as to help direct traffic around blocked roads like this one, jim. >> thanks very much for being on the scene for us. i want to bring in meteorologist tom cedar. i know you're a local boy, you know st. louis well. give us the layout. not just talking about one river. it's several rivers coming together and all of the rain has to go somewhere. >> absolutely. talk about river flooding along the mississippi, it's in the spring, after the snow is melting. not, of course, heading into winter.

to know st. louis, you have to understand, as tornadoes raking across the south the stage was set for day in and day out of heavy rainfall, 6, 7, 8 inches. it rained tremendously all week. the watches from illinois back into areas of oklahoma, the arkansas river is going to have major problems north and south of the capital of little rock. to explain what's happening in st. louis, it is all about breaking down the major rivers and how they flow. the mississippi river, the benchmark here for flooding, thousands of homes and businesses flooded, was 1993. they're not going to see that level in the downtown area of st. louis but they're going to come just below that, in fact, five feet. the second highest level in history. but you have up to the north, you've got the missouri river coming through st. charles. in between the missouri and mississippi where they meet the town of west alton, flood prone area. evacuations taking place. alt tonight city in illinois will be fine. not only the missouri and mississippi, you've got i

merrimack river to the south of st. louis, to the southwest, where you saw pictures in union. the meramec river is going to experience levels never before recorded surpassing 1993. the problems in 1993 with the missouri and mississippi. but 1982, that's the status numbers we're watching surpassed with the flood. from union to pacific. high populated areas. to fenton, arnold, that makes its way into the mississippi river. the problem is the mississippi river is so high right now, it's keeping the flow of water from making its way in, draining southward. the communities along the merrimack, along the missouri, and those in the mississippi, are going to be inundated as levels continue to rise. on the mississippi south of st. louis town of chester could see historic levels possibly getting close, if not surpassing that of 1993, getting to around 50 feet. this is just beginning. we'll continue to watch this in the days ahead. it not just about the watches

and parts of the midwest. but you can see amounts of rainfall. if i show you river gauges, jim, across areas to the south, from texas over to northern florida, the carolinas, up to the great lakes, we have over 443 river gauges experiencing plank flooding. the worst, part office st. louis to the west, making its way southward as those rivers continue to flow upward. the good news is the dry conditions will continue in parts of st. louis and missouri through the weekend. >> well explained, tom. as you're looking there, on that map you see how many populate the areas are all along those river basins. it seems like only thing you can do is evacuate those people particularly if there's more rain coming. >> yeah. 1993, jim, benchmark year, with thousands flooded, they did amazing work. mainly west of the metro area. interstate 70, a major thoroughway from st. louis runs north and east was close the down this weekend. eastbound flow and even west. now major interstate 44 out of

st. louis to the southwest may be closed as el and. it's going to cause tremendous headaches not just for the communities and homes but getting around town. things are going to be shut down for quite a few days. >> tom sater thanks very much. well explained. something we'll be watching closely with more rain on the way. joining me on the telephone, the emergency management director for the city of union missouri, one of the cities along the river there we've been talking about. mr. ross, thank you for joining. i know you've got a lot on your hands. tell us, if you can, how are residents in the area holding up and how quickly are you evacuating people? >> if evacuations are done, we're basically cut in two, our city is, by the river. it's about a 30-minute drive to go on routes around the river from west portion of town to eastern portion of town. >> so, as you -- that gets to how difficult it is to get out

of there you say evacuations are done. how far away from the river have you evacuated? is it a few blocks? is it a couple of miles? how far out do you have to do it to have a margin of safety. >> well, we have probably a mile square in our center of our town that had to be portions of it had to be evacuated and it seems that the people are eagerly standing along the edges, trying to get into their properties and start to recovery but we still have -- we expect our city to be cut in half by the floodwaters, at least through tomorrow. >> often a problem in situations like this, people want to get back into their homes. are you having difficulty getting some people to actually leave, to evacuate? >> no, we had -- we actually, because of some historical data, we were able to give the people about 14-hour heads up on what was going to occur, beyond what the national weather service

predicted, and those people had an additional period of time that they were able to react and know what this river will do. >> what's the toughest thing for you right now? what are you most in need of at this point. >> the toughest thing now is to get our sewer plant, inundated, the list station that pumps sewage to the plant getting that back and operational. we have to pump out 40 feet of water from it in order to get into it to even begin the repairs. we're expecting about a two-week period after the waters recede, another 15 before before we begin repairs. >> thank you, russell rost from a town literally cut off by the flooding. we hope to get back to you. moving ahead, the politics lead, donald trump pushing hillary clinton into a war of words. now bringing the name monica lewinsky into the fight. as he looks past the primary competition and look as the competition and look as the other 2016 front-runner.

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welcome back. politics lead. with the first votes less than five weeks donald trump is trying to take his lead in the polls and translate lead into wins in iowa and new hampshire. with trump, that means more insults and more tough talk. senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny joining me from council bluffs, iowa, donald trump will hold an event tonight. trump's latest target, he's not even running, but has run a

couple of times before, he's a former president. >> a few things that excite republicans or unify republicans more than going after the clintons. and that's exactly why donald trump is doing this. he's trying to fire up the republican base. but the question is, when bill clinton hits the campaign trail next week, will he take the bait? >> interrupt, trump. >> reporter: trump is opening up a new front in his war with the clintons, provireviving politic scandals. >> abusive women. look at whether it's monica lewinsky or paula jones or many of them, and that certainly will be fair game. >> thank you all so much! >> reporter: with bill clinton ready to hit the campaign trail, trump says everything is fair game in his outreach to women voters. even this -- >> certainly if they play the woman's card with respect to me, that will be fair game. >> reporter: in new hampshire today hillary clinton ignored

trump's latest taunt. >> donald trump's comments -- >> reporter: her campaign issued a statement saying, hillary clinton won't be bullied or distracted by attacks he throws at her and former president clinton. the clintons, the picture of a big, happy family, seen here on a sunday stroll in new york. stark reminder of how much type has passed since this tense moment in the height of the monica lewinsky scandal raising the question of whether these old controversies still carry any weight. trump, once a golfing buddy with the former president, told cnn's wolf blitzer in 2008, clinton's impeachment was nonsense. >> look at trouble bill clinton got into with something that was totally unimimportant and tried to impeach him, which was nonsense. >> reporter: now trump is butting heads. trump's prim mary fight written all over it. few things rally republicans more than taking on the clintons. he tweeted remember that bill clinton was brought in to help

hill reagainst obama in 2008, he was terrible, failed badly, called a racist. the trump campaign retweeting a photo shopped picture of jeb bush picking his nose. a bush campaign spokeswoman fired back -- out on twitter, there rose a clatter, late night twitter drunk donald is back at it. marco rubio and chris christie in iowa, squeezing in hand shakes in 2015. in the new year trump will open his checkbook in the final month before the iowa caucuses. he gloated he spent less than any candidate saying, now i will spend big in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, he's fighting to stay out front. >> i demand the election be today. >> but the election is not today. and of course, that is one of the challenges facing donald trump. the iowa caucuses, which launched this 2016 road to the

white house actually in five weeks. so, with ted cruz rising here in iowa, donald trump is trying to maintain his lead, stay on top, spending so much money, coming to council bluffs, iowa, tone trying to squeeze in more support between the holidays. >> wise raising the volume as well. joining me trump campaign national spokesperson katrina pierson from dallas. thanks for taking time again today. >> thank you, jim. >> mr. trump attacking president clinton this morning for his affair with monica lewinsky, also mentioned paula jones. president clinton, though, not running for office, his wife is. why is that attack, why is that affair, fair game? >> i don't necessarily call it an attack. it's more of a response to hillary clinton bringing up sexism which is what she plans to do on any republican that's running against her in exyear. and i think it is fair game. talking about a previous president, a president that has many issues with women. hillary clinton wants to run

with this war on women tactic and calling mr. trump a sexist, he's going to defend himself. >> explain to me exactly how hillary clinton is playing the woman's card. we hear that from mr. trump all the time. explain to me what exactly he means by that. >> well, she called him a sexist outright, number one. number two, she did it to bernie sanders, when he talked about people yelling loudly, she says, when a woman speaks they call it yeley loudly. she's been playing the game since the beginning. >> why is that playing the women's card? he has made comments, as you know that many women have taken as offensive, whether talking about the comments about carly fiorina's face and others. why is that a politically motivated response? a lot of women who aren't politicians said the same thing. >> two reasons. the first reason is hillary clinton knows mr. trump, and knows that he's not a sexist or a racist or a bigot but yet still launches those attacks against him. but secondly, he hadn't been

sexist trying to silence women. he speaks his mind and speaks the truth. if she calls that sex itch, she has to defend her own reasons helping her husband hide blatant sexism. >> you say clinton knows trump well. buzzfeed news found this blog post from donald trump in 2008, we'll put that up on the screen, writing on his trump university site, quote, i know hillary and i think she'd make a great president or vice president. what's changed since 2008? >> well, i think a lot's changed since 2008. look at all of the obama supporters running away from the democrat party. time changes everything, jim. and that's why we're in this position today. we see people looking for alternatives on both sides of the aisle. >> what specifically changed in donald trump's appraisal of hillary clinton if he says in 2008 she'd make a great president and now, of course, saying something very different? >> if you look at what he's been

saying about her now, she's been an absolute disaster. she's proven she can't handle her job as secretary of state. that was -- that was a failure on a number of issues. but she doesn't have anything that she can run on as an accomplishment. she wants to run on old policy, she didn't want to talk about anything new or anything that she personally had to deal with. on top of the fact she's under investigation by the fbi for sharing national secrets. this is absurd. a lot of things have changed since 2008. >> let's talk about where donald trump has been directing his attention in the last week or so. we here have noticed a change where hillary clinton has popped up more and more often. in fact, i'll show you this. we did a word cloud of his tweets just in the last week. bigger words are the ones he's used most commonly. what do you see? hillary but jeb bush, not to mention thank and poll and great. >> and cnn. >> there you go. we get our plug. two biggest, jeb bush and hillary clinton, why the focus

on them right now? >> well, ooh you think both -- for the last few years we've all been told this is going to be a clinton/bush matchup all over again. turns out that's not going to be the case. jeb bush was the one out there to beat at the beginning. donald trump came in and smacked him down and now it's up against hillary clinton. we feel very confident mr. trump is going to be the nominee and he wants to focus on the tfutur. >> why focus on jeb bush if he's not a player. >> most is responding. before trump entered the race it was all about jeb bush. people in the party telling him to get out of the race. >> talk about spending now. we heard donald trump moments ago saying he's going to spend big in iowa, new hampshire, his own money, something he hasn't done much of so far in this campaign. can you tell us anything specific about his spending plans? for instance, has he bought -- has the campaign bought air

time? >> i don't know if they've done it yet but definitely planning to spend money in iowa. this is normaler. we're going into the caucus. mr. trump really wants to get his vision out there. but more importantly, mr. trump's support is solid. this is more to talk to people who are still undecided. a lot of people in iowa don't make that decision until they get to that caucus. and so that's really a play for the people that haven't commit the yet. >> you know the perception out there, and this is the last one we'll have time for, the reason he's spending now is he's worried, ted cruz's numbers will rising in iowa, he wants to maintain the lead. how do you respond to that. >> no, absolutely not. mr. trump is not worried at all in iowa. we do have significant support in iowa and a great team in iowa. mr. trump is only going to spend money there to get last-minute voters because iowa is known for people not voting until they get to the caucus. this is a play to all of 0 the people undecided because his support is solid. >> katrina pierson, thanks

again. >> good to see you, jim. despite bold approach, donald trump speaks to anger and dissatisfaction many americans have now with washington. the nation, mostly republicans, fed up with government leadership. but could their disapproval help democrats going forward? and the confrontation outside a chicago courthouse as a police officer faces murder charges for shooting a black teen 16 times. moderate to severe crohn's disease is tough,

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>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. welcome back to "the lead." back to our national lead, the

breaking news, severe flooding on three rivers in the midwest, mississippi, missouri, meramec, threatening several populated areas along the rivers there. evacuations under way, there are buildings and homes inundated. missouri governor jay nixon spoke moments ago about the devastating flooding in the region. let's have a listen to what he had to say. >> it's very clear that the missouri is in the midst of a very historic and dangerous flooding event. the amount of rain we've received at some places in excess of a foot has caused rival levels not own to rise rapidly but to foe to places they've never been before. over the weekend, missouri experienced widespread and deadly flash flooding. and just this morning, we were informed of additional three flood-related deaths. this brings the total number of fatalities to the storm to 13, 12 of which were caused by vehicles being swept from flooded roadways. now the rhine has moved out, the

threat has changed. but it is notany means over, especially for communities along the rising mississippi river and its tributaries in the st. louis region. water levelled in some locations are predicted to exceed the historic crest during the great flood of 1993 which caused significant and widespread devastation. >> we spoke earlier with cnn meteorologist tom sater who said the trouble here is there may be more rain on the way, a story we're following closely in the coming days. stay with cnn throughout the evening for the latest on flooding from the midwest. now, back to our politics lead. heading into the new year, anyway you slice it, people in this country are mad as hell at washington. according to a new poll, 75% of americans say they are dissatisfied with the way our leaders are running our government. most or at least somewhat angry with the way things are going in the u.s. republicans, most likely to feel that way especially, almost unanimously, at 97% if they

support donald trump. cnn's senior white house correspondent jim acosta traveling with the president in hawaii. jim, the public is divided over whether president obama has delivered on his promise for change, either positive or negative change. how is the white house responding? >> reporter: yeah. clearly, looking at this poll, jim, not feeling the aloha spirit about what is taking place in washington. president obama is heading into his final year in office, facing a an angry public. given the heated campaign rhetoric interest the cam taj trail, that's what the white house thinks this is about, americans are outraged with the way america is being run in washington. 69% say they are either very angry or somewhat angry with the direction of the country and despite the president's hope, as a candidate back in 2008 to heal

the bitter political divide in washington, americans are split on what mr. obama has achieved in the oval office. look at this, 37% say that change has been for the better while the exact same number, 37%, say that change has been for the worst. now, poll did find one area where the public is optimistic, feeling good about the president's handling, 52% like the way the president has handled the economy. 47% disapprove. all in all, heading into his final year in office, president has potential to be remembered for his handling of the economy more than anything else. as we all know americans vote with their wallet. this is a potential boost for democrats heading into 2016 despite all of the anger which is palpable and present in our new poll. >> i don't know if this qualifies as silver lining but there is someone who americans are more disapproving of or many people, the americans are more disapproving of, and that's

congress. >> that's right. the white house can always count on congress being more unpopular than president obama that's the case throughout his seven, now eight years in the oval office. look at these numbers. the approval rating for congress satisfaction with congress is barely into the double digits. that is way below where the president is now. but you know, to the credit of paul ryan, he is trying to change that in recent weeks talking about making the republican party the proposition party not the opposition party and priding himself on getting things done like the budget, avoiding a government shutdown, those sorts of things. so paul ryan and other like-minded house republicans, perhaps not that conservative caucus that john boehner had so much trouble with but the ryanites you might call them on capitol hill have trying to change things for the republican party and that might change things for republicans on capitol hill and overall approval rating. you look at the last two, the two most popular presidents from

the last 50 years, bill clinton, reagan what did they have in common? handling of the economy. though the president doesn't have sky-high numbers in every category, this handling of the economy number has potential to aid democrats heading into the campaign stretch here. >> no question, jim acosta, from waikiki, thanks for joining us. in the national lead, chicago police officer charged with the murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old laquan mcdonald was back in cord today entering a not guilty plea to charges of first-degree murder and misconduct. officer jason van dyke met with protesters as he made his way into the building. >> couldn't wait to shoot an unarmed black man. people, make a hole. >> who cares about him? like the holes he made in that boy? what are you talking about? >> make a hole but let him through. >> like the 16 holes he put in that boy. >> van dyke, who is out of jail

on bond now, remained silent throughout the protest. the shooting sparked protests calling for mayor rahm emanuel to step down. rahm emanuel returns to chicago today, cutting short his family vacation to cuba. now, to a major break in today's world lead. the pentagon says that an isis terrorist closely connected to the paris attacks was among those killed in coalition air strikes. a key figure taken out but a long way from destroying isis. we'll discuss that right after this.

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this comes as iraqi troops are going door-to-door in ramadi trying to clear the western iraqi city of remaining islamic state fighters. the iraqi prime minister visited ramadi to congratulate soldiers on their victory, even hoisted the country's flag there. the body is vowing the mosul, capital of the isis caliphate in iraq, will be next. alece lab got, you look at the list of leaders, how significant are they? how significant a blow to isis? >> we don't know how senior any of them are but the fact that they had direct ties to the paris attacks, some of them, make at least one of the killings symbolic. today the coalition made a direct link between the killing of the isis leaders to the losses the group is suffering on the battlefield. >> reporter: as iraqi forces evacuated civilians from ramadi city center, and swept for explosives left behind by the

militants, pockets of resistance remain. tribal leaders charged withholding ramadi tell cnn, isis still controls a quarter of the city. now, mostly in ruins. still, the u.s.-led coalition said it was confident the iraqis would hold the area. >> we don't think the remaining enemy has the oomph to push the iraqi security forces off of their positions. >> reporter: iraq's prime minister arrived in ramadi under heavy guard, a day after the army declared the city liberated. today he saluted troops, promising to take the fight to mosul and push isis out of iraq entirely by the end of next year. today, the coalition boasted ten isis leaders have been killed in recent air strikes. including charaffe al mouadan, who had direct contacts with the suspected ring leaders of the paris attacks days before the siege. and was believed to be planning more attacks against the west.

>> that leader to facilitate activities, your ability to conduct activities goes down. we haven't severed the head of the snake yet and it's still got fangs. we have to be clear about that. >> much more fighting to do. >> in syria the coalition helped secure a hydroelectric dam from isis grip. located near the eastern city, it chokes off a key supply route from isis headquarters in raqqah. despite the battlefield losses, one retired general warns, rice sis is growing as a worldwide threat. >> they may not be doing ground military offensives, they're controlling the social media, still attracting a significant number of recruits, and i think their new strategy for inspiring attacks worldwide is proven effective for them. >> u.s. battle for the narrative

over whether the strategy against isis is working has been coming under fire. a blog by the state department spokesman that mentions, quote, bringing peace and security to syria, has raised eyebrows. the state department says it is providing assistance to syrian people and trying get a peace process to get president assad out of office but aacknowledges the conflict is not resolved. bringing the peace to syria, as trying to bring. >> with new year's eve two days away, cities across the globe on alert for possible terror attacks. in new york, bill bratton said under cover officers will be patrolling times square thursday but made clear there is no credible threat to the celebrations at this point. u.s. embassy in bangladesh the latest to warn u.s. citizens attacks there, possibly timed to new year's eve. belgium, two men arrested in an

isis-inspired plot targeting landmarks across brussels, again, timed to new year's eve. investigators seized military-style training outfits as well as isis propaganda material. i want to bring in cnn's counterterrorism analyst live in belgium where that plot was targeting. paul, big question here, because we know there was a nexus to belgium to the paris attacks, the latest men arrested there, did they have connections to the paris attacks as well? >> no connections at all to the paris attackers, jim. with the paris attackers being isis recruits dispatched to europe, france to carry out those attacks. in this case, this was an isis-inspired plot, you didn't see that travel in this case. they also didn't feel that the plot was massively imminent because they hadn't yet acquired explosives or weapons.

but they had learned these two men had been discussing the idea of launching an attack in the center of brussels and crowded spaces or other areas of the capital and became alarm the when they heard of this because these two men had links to robberies in the past and part of a muslim biker gang, and so they were concerned that they might have easy access to weapons and being able to quickly mount an attack here in the capital brussels over the new year period. they'd also discussed going after police stations, military facilities. so the hope here is now in brussels this threat has been neutralized with the two men now in custody. but i'm told by belgian officials they were part of a wider group of 30 radical, some of which in the biker gang, so the threat persists in terms of people potentially becoming

radicalized to violence. >> when covering the paris attacks, there was a lot of criticism of belin authorities as to whether they had a handle on a very big threat there. they've got so many jihadys, lots of folks going to iraq and syria to fight, lots coming back, as you've watched this one, do you have a sense they have a better handle on identifying these groups, clearly here as a success, got them before they carried something out? >> jim, the bell belin security service had a bad press. they didn't need to raise the alert level to maximum because they had a handle on this group. remember, also belgian, a major isis gun and bomb plot, they have had some success this year. clearly also some failures as

well. jim? >> paul, thanks very much. sporting a different 'do but too rich or too dumb to tell right from wrong. the so cawed affluenza teen who killed four people in a drunk driving crash and did not go to prison he was partying up to until capture. desperate calls for help released after a big black bear went after a group of boy scouts.

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the so-called affluenza teen is on his way back to the united states after captured on the run in mexico. ethan couch disappeared this month, violating the terms of his probation after he killed four people in a drunk driving accident. authorities say the 18-year-old and his mother tanya couch carefully planned their trip to mexico, held a going away party before disappearing, even disguised themselves to help them lie low. let's go to cnn correspondent ed lavandera in ft. worth, texas. the mother/son pair on the run for some time. how did mexican authorities capture them? >> reporter: well, the authorities here in the u.s. and mexican side being cautious with the way they describe exactly what led them to ethan couch and his mother there in the mexican resort town of puerto vallarta. but they will be coming home to a very angry situation here in ft. worth.

>> after 11 days of u.s. marshall service tracking down ethan couch, we can finally say he's in custody. >> reporter: 18-year-old ethan couch and his mother were arrested monday night by mexican authorities in the resort town of puerto vallarta. police believe ethan fled the country with the help of his mother, driving his pickup truck from ft. worth, texas, to puerto vallarta. official tells cnn u.s. marshalls tracked couch using his cell phone and other electronic surveillance. >> what we suspected all along had happened, that they had planned to disappear, that they even had something that was almost akin to a going away party before they left town, our suspicion that his mother was assisting him and helping him has proven true. >> reporter: couch apparently dropped off the radar when this video surfaced which allegedly shows him playing beer pong at a party, drinking alcohol is a

violation of his probation. known as so-called affluenza teen, couch received ten years' probation for 2013 drunk driving crash that killed four people. his trial drew national attention, and outrage, when his lawyers used the affluenza defense, arguing his privileged upbringing did not teach him responsibility for his behavior. >> i wasn't surprised that they were found together, i'm not surprised she helped him. there's just no -- no chance that she will ever think he needs to be punished or held accountable. >> reporter: u.s. marshalls are working to get ethan and his mother back to the u.s., where tanya will be arrested for hindering an apprehension and faces up to ten years. ethan will return to juvenile custody since he was only 16 when he committed his crime. prosecutors are trying to get him transferred to the adult system. >> if he stays in juvenile court the maximum sentence he could receive is incarceration in a juvenile facility until he turns

19, which is april 11th of 2016. that is not enough. >> reporter: the sheriff, prosecutors and victims' families have been vocal in their belief that justice was not served. >> anger's a temporary emotion and you know, i try not hang on to that but i do feel like accountability hasn't been demonstrated yet and i would like to have accountability. >> jim, ethan couch's mother faces a charge of hindering apprehension of a fugitive. she could face up to ten years in prison. and in the meantime, prosecutors, as we mentioned in the report, trying to get ethan couch's case moved from juvenile system in texas to adult system and there's a hearing scheduled on that for january 19th of next year. >> ed lavandera, thanks very much. i want to talk to an attorney for the families of the victims who ethan couch killed in that drunk driving accident. thank you, todd, for joining us today.

i know you have spoken to the remind our viewers, boyles family lost a mother and daughter, holly and shelby, and mcconnell family lost a family member as well. how do the family members respond to what looks like ethan couch going on the run? >> well, initially, it was another victimization. i mean, you know, this kid should have been behind bars as a result of killing four people. he ends up going on probation, and then goes on the lam, particularly during holidays. these families have been vick timized multiple times, both with initial deaths, then the probation, then you know this kid running. and so you know, i managed to speak with eric boyles seconds after the apprehension was announced on cnn, and you know, there was a great deal of relief. there was a great deal of gratefulness to all of the people in america as well as officers that apprehended him.

and i think there's some amount of satisfaction. now, we're hearing some issues about how long ethan is actually going to serve here. but i think it's really important to note that, from the very outset of this, the parents were blamed, in fact at the very beginning of the criminal trial they said ethan was a for of profoundly dysfunctional parenting that enabled this behavior. well, there was no way to really hold those responsible for that behavior up until now. i think it's particularly satisfying to families that indeed it appears that his mother, tanya, may have committed a crime and may finally be held accountable as well. >> todd, i don't want to profess to say that there's a way for the families to be satisfied, no one will satisfy losing a loved one, nothing will satisfy that. but what do the families need, want to see here, to feel that jut has been served? >> i think they want to see the system work. they want to see that indeed

there be consequences for profoundly bad behavior. and i think they want to not be seen as victims of this affluenza. i think, you know, that is something that these families have carried around for all this time. i think they want to now be able to grieve, now be able to heal and not have this open wound that keeps opening and opening as it's continued to do so for the last 2 1/2 years. >> the disappearance, it did not seem to be spontaneous, seemed to be carefully planned. you have ethan appearing to change his appearance, right, dyeing his beard, different color, that kind of inc., and they had a going away party, so they were telling people they were going. how do the families react to that? >> without any surprise whatsoever. remember, the initial thing is, ethan is a product of profoundly dysfunctional parenting that enables his behavior.

what happened here? the exact same thing. there aren't consequences for ethan, and that's why this has been repeated again and again. remember, what the twitter that has -- that sparked this fleeing, he was playing beer pong. guess what he was doing the night he killed four people. he was playing beer pong at the couch's second home. >> incredible. incredible to just compare toes two moments. thank you for taking time to join us. >> my pleasure. new 911 calls released give us a riveting view inside the already amazing story of the three boy scouts, their troop leader and, yes, a bear. their troop leader mauled by the animal. the calls for help came after the group ventured into a cave in northern new jersey during a walk last week. little do they know that that cave was a bear den. and they lookly woke up. an animal hibernating for the winter. cnn's deborah feyerick walks

through the rescue. >> talk about real life boy scout training. the leader was in the woods with three boy scouts, one his own son. he was lowinger himself into a crevice within he stumble upon a bear. the bear getting ready to hibernate was not happy, and he attacked 3509-year-old new jersey man biting him on the legs, shoulders and head, using a cell phone, the boys, all, 12, called 911. listen to what happens next. >> 911, where is the emergency? >> we're in split rock reservoir on a trail. me and two other scouts were hiking, my scoutmaster went into a cave and a bear's in the cave. >> on top of him. >> u think so. >> one of the scouts i putting food in the cave. >> we'll make a lot of smoke. >> guys, if we don't make it out

of this alike, i love you guyed. >> it was pretty frightening, but the boys, very brave, stayed helped. this could have been more serious but the quick thinking scoutmaster hit the bear with a hammer, taking his shirt, pulling it over his head, curling into the fetal position. with the threat gone, the bear lost interest. the scouts were able to call 911, put down food to lure the bear out and all took 80 harrowing minute mz the scoutmaster treated and released, the boys are fine. listen one more time. >> if we don't make this out of this alike, i love you, dad. >> a happy ending to a scary story. >> did the boy scouts proud. follow me on facebook or twitter. that's it for "the lead" today. i'm jim sciutto in for jake tapper. brianna keilar up next filling in for wolf blitzer in "the situation room."

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happening now, new year's eve plot. a planned terror attack thwarted. the alleged target, holiday celebrations in an historic square. learning new details of the two people arrested. what is their connection to isis? trump's new attack. donald trump goes after the husband of his main democratic rival invoking the sexual scandals that dogged bill clinton's presidency, declaring monica lewinsky and paula jones fair game. how will hillary clinton's campaign react? breaking news, historic flooding, millions of people in the path of rising water that could reach unprecedented levels. the national guard called in as the death toll climbs. we're covering all of this live. wolf blitzer's off today. i'm brianna keilar. you're in "the situation room."