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The Lead with Jake Tapper

At Least Two Dead, 68 Injured After Driver Plows Into Crowd At Christmas Market In Germany; House Vote To Prevent U.S. Government Shutdown Expected Next Hour. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired December 20, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:38]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We start with the breaking news. A tragedy unfolding right now in Germany, about two hours outside of Berlin. Police say at least one person has been killed and 60 to 80 are wounded or injured after a driver plowed his car through a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, about 90 miles southwest of Berlin.

Video shows the driver on the ground being arrested by police after the incident. Social media video that has been verified by CNN. But we're not going to show at this moment, shows the driver plowing directly into a crowd of people walking throughout the Christmas market. Some people run away from the car in panic. Others dive directly into the stalls to try to avoid it, and many are unfortunately hit by the car.

The scene is eerily similar to a 2016 terrorist attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, where an Islamist extremist killed 12 people and wounded dozens after driving his truck through the crowd.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is getting updates in from Berlin.

Fred, give us the latest new information in this horrific incident.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Jake.

Yeah, we're getting updates from the German authorities getting updates from German media as well. And the latest that we're getting is that apparently this incident, as the Germans put it, started at around 7:00 p.m. local time. That's about 1:00 p.m. your time, when that BMW plowed through that crowd in that Christmas market, a black BMW. Obviously, that place at that point in time, at 7:00 p.m. on a Friday, absolutely packed.

You can see on some of the surveillance camera video, people trying to jump out of the way. Unfortunately for many people, in vain because the market stalls on those Christmas markets very close to one another. The aisles are extremely narrow. And again at 7:00 p.m. on a Friday evening, that place would have been absolutely packed. It is also, by the way, one of the main Christmas markets in the city

of Magdeburg, which is itself the capital city of the state that it's situated in. So it was a very large Christmas market, the latest that we're getting from authorities there, speaking right now of one person having been killed, but at least 60 to 80 people having been injured, 15 people severely injured.

So definitely a mass casualty event that is going on for the hospitals and the emergency medical rescue crews in and around the Magdeburg area. It is actually quite a large urban area as well. The police are saying that they've cordoned the area off widely, that there are tents that are being set up to tend to some of the people who have been injured in all of this.

You already mentioned that the driver of the vehicle has been arrested. It's unclear whether or not the police are able to speak to him or her at this point in time. It is also right now unclear what exactly the motive for all of this might have been.

However, German authorities are speaking of an attack on that Christmas market. And you know, you mentioned it, Jake. There was a huge attack on a Christmas market here in Berlin in 2016.

And after that, the German authorities vowed to drastically increase safety and security around those Christmas markets, specifically to prevent things like cars and trucks plowing through those markets. So obviously, as you can imagine here in Germany, questions are already being asked about the security concept that was in place for this very Christmas market and how it was possible for a vehicle to be able to get onto the premises of the market and really speed through there -- obviously injuring a lot of people in its wake, Jake.

TAPPER: Yeah. And we should also note, "Politico" in earlier this month reported that German authorities foiled a potential terrorist attack on a Christmas market in Bavaria in Germany, after a tip off from a foreign intelligence agency. That was a 37 year old suspect from Iraq and sources said that suspect had disseminated posts on social media glorifying ISIS or the Islamic State. We do not know yet for sure the motivation of this attacker. But obviously, this is not the first such incident.

Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much.

Let's bring in former assistant secretary of homeland security, Juliette Kayyem, and former FBI deputy director, Andrew McCabe. Also with us, CNN's security correspondent, former FBI counterterrorism agent Josh Campbell.

Andy, to you first.

The sheer number of those hurt between 60 to 80 people. Obviously, as Fred noted, very evocative of the 2016 Berlin Christmas attack, where nearly 50 people were hospitalized, 12 killed when an Islamist terrorist drove a tractor trailer plowing through innocent civilians at a Christmas market.

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ANDY MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Absolutely, Jake.

You know, this just reconfirms for us. How prominent these Christmas markets are as an enduring target for extremists and for issues of violence. So in addition to the 2016, you had another attack in Germany in 2018, in Strasbourg, which same basic plan, driving a car into the crowd at the market killed five people. And then, of course, as you mentioned earlier this month, "Politico" reports another attempted plot against the markets was foiled when the authorities arrested an Iraqi refugee.

So this, you know, security at these markets at Christmas, it can't possibly be a higher priority than that for our German intelligence and law enforcement officials. We know they have a suspect in custody at this point. They are likely trying to render information from that suspect. Germany has the same sort of post-arrest laws that the United States does.

You have a right to remain silent. You have a right to an attorney, an interpreter, if you don't speak German, that sort of thing. So whether or not that person is cooperating with authorities is really the big question right now. I know it seems crazy that anyone would cooperate in these circumstances, but very often terrorists or extremists who are arrested after participating in an act like that want to talk to law enforcement. And basically they want the world to know what they did.

We don't know if that's the case here yet, but that's certainly what German authorities are focusing on, trying to suss out whether or not there is a similar attack, whether there are other attackers who are poised to do the same thing, trying to make those critical decisions about what sort of guidance they should give other cities, other towns in terms of protecting their own markets.

TAPPER: And, Juliette, public broadcaster MDR in Germany, reports that police suspect there could be an explosive device in the car that was used to plow through the crowd of innocent civilians shopping at this Christmas market about two hours, hour and a half or so outside Berlin.

How do you suspect police are going about investigating this?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So there will be a couple of pieces. Excuse me. I mean, one is, of course, the evacuation of the -- of that area, because if you do think or suspect that there could be a bomb, you're going to have to evacuate. Then they have to ensure that the -- that the car is safe, the car and the individual are both your sort of prime evidence at this stage.

So, a Deputy Director McCabe just talked about the person. The car is also going to give a lot of evidence who owned it. When was it acquired? BMW are obviously common in Germany. Was it under someone else's ownership? And then that would give you a sense of are there others that they have to be concerned about? I will say, knowing Germany, that that this is high alert throughout

the entire country right now. These are very common areas, common festivals. We are now just a few days out from Christmas.

They are clearly vulnerable. Hard to make them not vulnerable, just given the pedestrian aspects of it as well as the stalls, as we were saying, are very close. They're festive. There's beer, there's -- there's partying, there's shopping. But now you have an entire country that is going to be worried that that this would be followed up.

So it's a -- this is a horrific event. We hope the fatalities are kept low. But this will have an impact now for the next couple of days, on how Germans celebrate this -- this Christmas week.

TAPPER: Josh, local emergency services say as of now, this is an obviously an attack. They are not yet calling it a terrorist attack -- obviously waiting for the facts to come in in terms of the motive, in terms of the attacker. We, all of course, have our suspicions.

This is incredibly evocative of a terrorist attack that we saw in 2016, in Berlin. A Christmas massacre by and I believe it was an ISIS sympathizer, terrorist attack on on innocent people there.

What was your initial reaction after seeing the social media video where you see this, this driver plowing his car through the crowded Christmas market? It is absolutely horrific.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. You know, all of us who have been in the security space based our assessments on facts. And, you know, when it first kicked off, obviously everyone keeps an open mind. We have seen incidents involving accidents where someone is in medical distress, and then they go into a crowd.

But hearing authorities now calling it an attack means, quite simply, that they think that this was done on purpose, which obviously takes it to a whole new level.

[16:10:06]

And, you know, that assessment could come from various different aspects of what they're learning to include from this suspect, him or herself, who has actually been taken into custody. Did they readily admit that? Yes, this was something that they were intending to do? Perhaps for some type of ideological reason?

They also want to try to fully identify that individual, to see, is this someone who is a known or suspected terrorist or someone who was in the various criminal databases of Germanys security services that would help to try to determine, okay, what -- what type of ideology might this person adhere to?

It is worth pointing out, though, that you know, now, in the age of information sharing, international security services have robust sharing practices in place to include the U.S., FBI, CIA with German counterparts. So what typically happens when you have the identity of someone who was discovered? That may be a suspected terrorist? That information also gets shared with a wide network of international

partners to see if any of those nations that as well, might have some indication of who this individual might be. And then, as Juliette mentioned, the vehicle itself, you want to try to track that. Where did it come from? Try to see if there's anything in that vehicle that may help authorities. Again, try to get to some type of motive that might be behind this.

And then finally, we're all on the lookout now for some type of claim of responsibility. We have seen terrorist groups, organized terror groups in the past actually come out and make a claim of responsibility. They, they tend to discern whether this was something that they had actually, you know, did themselves or something that was that was inspired by them.

But even the latter, you know, a so-called lone wolf, as we've seen in so many of these incidents, could be very dangerous, someone who perhaps has been radicalized. And then they go conduct some type of attack in the name of a terrorist group, no less deadly. And because they're not part of a coordinated group, often it's often much more difficult for authorities to try to detect that individual on the front end before a tragedy like this happens. So a lot we don't know yet, but having authorities now calling this attack certainly escalates things.

TAPPER: And, Andy, how -- yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, Julia.

KAYYEM: I'm sorry to interrupt. I'm sorry. I just wanted to add to that quickly because we don't know. It's just worth saying because we didn't cover it in the opening. You know, Germany's government did collapse a few days ago. They have heightened, let's just say energy in the political space in Germany right now, including the potential, you know, that that you would have right wing elements as well as left wing.

So I just wanted to add that to Josh's litany, correct litany that you're looking at both foreign, but also this wasn't a normal week in German politics either. And so they will be looking at that as well.

TAPPER: Andy McCabe, how common is it for attacks like this to happen in populated areas during the holidays.

MCCABE: Well, well, even just in Germany, Jake, it's been common. We've got multiple instances of essentially the same attack vector. We've seen similar style attacks all across the world. If the UK is no stranger to vehicle attacks, vehicle attacks followed by incidents where the operators of the vehicle jumped out of the vehicles and then started to stab people.

So it is a kind of a go-to approach for terrorist organizations to advise their members or just their followers, individuals like Josh mentioned who are inspired by them. Vehicles are easy to acquire, bladed weapons are easy to acquire. And so, you know, you can go back all the way to AQAP who used to put out "Inspire Magazine". It was a primary propaganda tool in the early 2000s, and one of their issues, they actually advocated for their followers to buy trucks and vans and attach bladed implements to them and drive them into crowds.

So this -- this is something we have seen in extremist groups, a technique used by extremist groups for many years. And it's predominantly in places like Germany and other places where weapons and things like explosives are hard to acquire, vehicles are easy to acquire completely unprepared. Well, I shouldn't say completely unprotected, but soft targets like large public gatherings in places like markets and open sporting events and things like that, they present themselves as very opportune targets for people with vehicles.

TAPPER: All right. Everyone, stick by. We have some -- an update on the breaking news. We now have the count, the death toll is two now, two dead after a driver plowed through a Christmas market in Germany. Local officials saying that up to 80 people are injured. There are also additional concerns of a possible explosive device in the car of the suspect who committed this atrocity.

We're going to continue to follow every new development in this investigation. Stay with us.

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TAPPER: And we're following the breaking news in our world lead. At least two people have been killed and at least 68 injured after a driver rammed his car through a busy outdoor Christmas market in Germany, plowing through innocent people. This is about an hour and a half outside of Berlin.

CNN's Matthew Chance is monitoring developments from CNN's European headquarters in London.

Matthew, what's the latest?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well, its pretty, pretty horrific scenes. You're looking at images there of the German rescue teams, the emergency workers who have appeared in force. As you can imagine, at that Christmas market in Magdeburg, which is a short distance from the German capital, the west of to the west of Berlin.

But it's been the scene of absolute horror and carnage. There's video of the moment, a black vehicle plows at high speed into that crowded market. Were not showing the actual moment of impact because its simply too horrible to watch.

But people are running in panic. There are bodies in the aftermath scattered all over the road. It's absolute carnage just five days before Christmas.

[16:20:05]

Now, the death toll is creeping up. It was one initially. Now it's been confirmed by German emergency services. That's increased to two. There are at least 68 people who have been injured, and the expectation is the fear, I suppose I should say, is that the death toll will rise because some of those injuries are believed to be very serious indeed.

The driver of the vehicle is in police custody, and within the past few minutes he has been identified as a Saudi national, a doctor apparently from Saudi Arabia. That's according to local German officials. In fact, the head of the local government, where this appalling attack took place.

There are also unconfirmed reports and this has been all over Russian -- sorry, all over German media that the may have been some kind of explosive device found inside the car. Now, that explosive device, if that report is accurate, it obviously hasn't detonated, but it is something that the German police are now obviously looking at. Bomb disposal experts on their way, if not there already, to prevent what would have been or to defuse a, you know, something that would have could have caused a much, a much greater loss of life.

But again, terrible scenes at west of the German capital, Berlin tonight, Jake.

TAPPER: Matthew Chance, thank you so much.

Let's go to CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen, who's been covering terrorism for decades.

Peter, the suspect drove his car, apparently deliberately, through the crowd at high speed. Police suspect an explosive device could be in that car. The suspect has been arrested.

Obviously, we are waiting for facts to come in about the driver and the -- and his motive, but this is obviously very suggestive of -- of other similar terrorist attacks.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST (via telephone): It is, Jake. I mean, the one that comes to mind most quickly is the attack in Berlin on a Christmas market in 2016, which killed a dozen people and injured 56 more, again, using a vehicle.

Also, we've seen ISIS-inspired terrorists in the United States conduct vehicle rammings. For instance, in the fall of 2017, an Uzbek-American inspired by ISIS killed six people in Manhattan using a vehicle as a weapon and, you know, this is -- it's a very easy tactic to do. You don't really need any training.

Obviously, it's not like I'm carrying out some kind of sophisticated truck bomb attack. It is something that groups like ISIS and al Qaeda in Yemen have called for in the West. We've seen fewer terrorist attacks from Islamists of late, in Germany. We don't know the motive of the person here.

Matthew Chance is reporting it based on local media. It could be a German, a Saudi doctor, which would be quite interesting. We had a Saudi national, a Saudi military officer carry out a terrorist bombing in the United States in 2019 at the Pensacola naval air base, killing three American sailors. But we still don't know enough to have a, you know, a precise determination here, Jake.

TAPPER: Given that previous criminals, terrorists have driven cars into Christmas markets before, do you think that this incident amounts to a security failure, or is it just more reflective of the fact that we can't just put barriers and walls everywhere? We still in western societies have to be able to live our lives.

You know, I think the latter I mean, you know, in a place like New York City where you're sitting, you know, an event like the Macy's parade is very, very well-policed. Times Square and years eve is very well-policed, and that for good reason, because Times Square has been the target of potential terrorist attacks in the past. The Germans do have a history of these markets being attacked.

But that said, you know, this is a relatively obscure town in Germany, and, you know, if indeed this turns out to be Islamist terrorism or any other form of terrorism, people can radicalize online, they don't have to be part of a group. And as I said, you know, the easiest form of a terrorist attack is a vehicle ramming. You just acquire a car and you slam it into a place, you know, it's crowded. It requires no special training.

So, you know, is it a security failure? Well learn more, but --

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Well, let me tell you, we have an update for you, Peter.

We had just -- the officials are saying now that the driver is Saudi -- from Saudi Arabia.

[16:25:03]

He's a doctor, and he has been in Germany since 2006.

BERGEN: Yeah, well, that changes the flavor of things. Again, we can't exactly know his ideology, but, you know, we've seen Saudi citizens on 9/11, 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. The Saudi military officer who killed three American sailors at Pensacola naval air station in 2019.

Unfortunately, you know, Saudi Arabia has had its own problems with terrorism and al Qaeda, not only, you know, originated by a Saudi Osama bin Laden, but al Qaeda mounted a very, you know, sophisticated terrorist campaign in Saudi Arabia about two decades ago, which killed a lot of people. That campaign was, you know, the Saudis reacted very strongly and, al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia basically moved to Yemen as a result. But, I mean, that's a very interesting detail.

TAPPER: Obviously, Josh Campbell, your thoughts as we learned that the driver here is a Saudi doctor. He's been in Germany since 2006. This is according to officials in Germany.

CAMPBELL: Well, most obviously it tells us that they've identified him. If they have those kind of details, which as I was mentioning earlier, that then allows them to go back within their holdings. Both the German security service as well as their global allies, to see if they have any what's called derog -- derogatory information on this individual. And various countries, including the U.S., what they have, and oftentimes these terrorist databases are not just the identities of individuals, but also the so-called one, two, three hops out their associates, people that they may have been in contact with.

Again, I'm talking about the intelligence side of the house, not the law enforcement side of the house. And that then allows the authorities to see is this someone who had some type of connection to a known or suspected terrorist, which would obviously be important, but as we've been discussing, oftentimes we see the so-called lone wolf, the person that is self-radicalized. And as authorities continue to tell us, this is their greatest concern because authorities can surveil a group of individuals that provides a greater opportunity, you know, that may be one of them will slip up or there will be some type of vector into the communications of that group in order to identify a particular plot.

That's a lot more difficult if you have an individual who is not communicating in advance what they are about to do, not telegraphing their particular attack plans.

I think that you mentioned that this individual was a doctor. I think it's worth pointing out, and obviously Peter knows this better than anyone, as far as you know, his terrorism expertise, there's kind of this misnomer that a lot of people have that, you know, terrorists are destitute and impoverished. We've seen oftentimes that people can be well educated but still get radicalized and go on to conduct violence. And so still a lot to be learned about this individual, Jake.

TAPPER: Yeah. No. Nidal Hasan, the terrorist shooter at Fort Hood in 2009 who killed 13 people and injured 32. He was -- he was a physician. It is obviously not solely the provenance of the poor to commit these horrific acts of terror.

CAMPBELL: Exactly.

TAPPER: Peter Bergen, Josh Campbell, others, thank you so much.

The latest from this horrific situation in Germany that we're bringing you: two people confirmed killed. This new information just in -- we're just learning that the victims. The victims are an adult and a toddler. The two dead.

Police reportedly suspect an explosive in the car used in this attack at a Christmas market. We're going to have much more from Germany as we learn it. We're also monitoring different breaking news here in the United States, the federal government nearing a government shutdown at midnight tonight. We'll bring you the latest on Capitol Hill next.

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[16:32:44]

TAPPER: We continue to follow the horrific breaking news out of Germany. A driver, a Saudi, has plowed a car through a crowded Christmas market in the town of Magdeburg. It's about two hours outside Berlin.

Local media reports that two people were killed. One was an adult and one was a toddler. Officials say at least 68 other innocent people were injured or wounded in the attack. The regional prime minister says that the suspect in custody is a doctor from Saudi Arabia, who has lived in Germany since 2006.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is now headed to the scene, and we will bring you new details as we get them, until we have new details, though.

Let us turn to the breaking news on Capitol Hill. The United States of America is less than eight hours away from a federal government shutdown -- unless one of two things happens in the next four hours.

One, Speaker Johnson puts forward a Republican bill legislation to fund the government that can get enough Republican votes to pass. His effort last night to do so, which was endorsed by President-elect Trump failed to get enough votes to pass.

The second option is that Speaker Johnson puts forward a compromise bill, a compromise government funding legislation that Republicans and Democrats will vote for without Trump and Elon Musk blocking speaker Johnson from doing so, that was also a problem this week. There was a bill that did have the votes, apparently to pass, but the Trump and Musk did not want that bill to be introduced. So it was not.

Let's go to CNN's Manu Raju on Capitol Hill.

Manu, what are you hearing from members about this plan C? Is there a deal that will pass before midnight? Or are we going to have a federal government shutdown?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, after days of frantic negotiations, including all day long to try to appease Donald Trump's late demands and try to win over enough Democrats to get it out of the narrowly divided Congress, it appears that they are moving forward and votes in the House for this last ditch effort to stave off a government shutdown at midnight tonight.

Just moments ago, the house announced that it does plan to have votes on this new approach at 5:00 p.m. Eastern tonight.

Now, this new approach would include a three-month extension of current government funding that would lead it to about mid-March until this round of funding would expire.

[16:35:02]

They had to pass another funding bill in the first 100 days of Donald Trump's term. Also would have about $100 billion in disaster relief for communities hit hard by natural disasters, in addition $10 billion in aid to farmers.

Now, what it does not have is raising the national debt limit. Donald Trump had demanded that that be included as part of the deal. That's what scuttled a bipartisan deal to avert a government shutdown to begin with. But his 11th hour demand created major complications. This does not address that.

In fact, they have an agreement among Republicans to try and talk about that next year when Republicans are in control. So that's a problem that Donald Trump will have to confront. And is Donald Trump okay with punting on this issue until next year, despite his demands that they act on this? Now, that is one big question.

Another big question, Jake, will Democrats get on board behind this? Because they will need two thirds of the House to support this at the moment. Jeffries -- Hakeem Jeffries has not taken a position on this yet, but the support of his caucus will be essential to getting this across the finish line -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Manu Raju, thanks so much.

Joining us now, New York Republican Congressman Mike Lawler.

Congressman, where do plans stand right now? Is there going to be a government shutdown?

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): Look, I've been very clear from the very beginning of my time in Congress, we cannot shut the government down. And that's why today, we met as a conference and agreed to put a continuing resolution on the floor with a one-year farm extension, farm bill extension, as well as disaster relief and aid to our farmers who are struggling, you know, in the post-pandemic world.

So we have to get this across the finish line today and keep the government open. It would be the height of stupidity to shut the government down right before Christmas and heading into a new Congress. And so that's why I will absolutely vote in favor. And I encourage all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do so.

Look, there are provisions that were removed from the original proposed CR to this one, including health care funding for 9/11 first responders, that I was 100 percent in favor of, as well as PBM reform and outbound controls on China. But those are issues that we're going to have to deal with in a new Congress and get them across the finish line.

What cannot happen is that we shut the government down, and so folks can be upset about, you know, particular issues that they wanted addressed, not being in this new version, but to shut the government down is wrong.

And I would just point out, Jake, as you know, a lot of the focus has been on obviously, President Trump weighing in and he rightly should weigh in, but where is Joe Biden? He's the sitting president of the United States. Nobody has heard a word from Joe Biden or the White House, and we're eight hours away from a government shutdown.

You know, this is why Washington is so broken. You talk about the fact that we got to this point of a government shutdown, go down the hall in the Senate. Chuck Schumer passed exactly zero appropriations bills through the Senate floor this year. Zero. So there is a lot of work ahead of us. TAPPER: Yeah, it's interesting.

LAWLER: We cannot shut the government down at this moment.

TAPPER: I certainly understand what you're saying. But at the same time, with all due respect, sir, you're going after the top Democrat in the Senate and a lame duck Democratic president.

Your conference, the House Republican conference, and we go through this every single time. Republicans control the House. You guys can't pass legislation. You can't govern.

LAWLER: Respectfully, Jake, we've actually passed a lot of --

TAPPER: Spending legislation, government funding legislation. I'm talking about government funding.

LAWLER: We've passed a lot of legislation that has languished down the hall in the Senate.

TAPPER: Government funding legislation. Every time we go through this, every time we go through this.

LAWLER: Again, we have passed -- respectfully, respectfully, we passed a number of appropriations bills through the House floor. We passed all 12 through committee. We couldn't even get to a conference committee because Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats again passed exactly zero bills.

So, yes, I get the frustration. I'm as frustrated as anybody. We have a tight majority, a majority in the House right now. We are currently still in a divided government.

Senate Democrats are in control in the Senate, and Joe Biden is in control of the White House.

And by the way, again, I reiterate, where is Joe Biden? Why has he not weighed in at all on this --

TAPPER: I'm not disagreeing -- I'm not disagreeing with that point at all. And I'm not disagreeing with the point you're making about the Senate not passing any of your appropriations bills. But I also suspect that next year, when your party controls the house, the Senate and the White House, we're still going to have this problem when it comes to government funding bills. Do you disagree?

LAWLER: Well, I -- look, I've been very vocal within my own conference that everybody needs to recognize they are not going to get everything they want. And if they stomp their feet and vote no every time, they don't get 100 percent of what they want, they will get nothing.

You know, Ed Koch famously said, if you agree with me on nine out of 12 things, vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 things, go have your head examined. The same applies to legislation. We're not going to agree on every little detail, but you have to find compromise. And I agree, many in my conference at times have been unwilling to do

that. But we are going to have complete control in Washington next year, and they're going to have to, whether they like it or not, or they will get nothing.

TAPPER: All right. Congressman Mike Lawler, if I don't see you, have a merry Christmas, sir. Good to see you.

LAWLER: Thanks, Jake. Happy Hanukkah.

TAPPER: We want to get back to the breaking news in Germany. A deadly attack at a Christmas market about 90 miles southwest of Berlin. At least two people have been killed. We learned just moments ago that the victims are an adult and a toddler, just an awful situation.

Much more ahead. Stay with us.

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[16:45:18]

TAPPER: And we are back with the breaking news in our world lead. At least two people have been killed. At least 68 are injured after a driver, a Saudi physician, plowed his car through a Christmas market in Germany. Authorities there say the suspected driver, the physician from Saudi Arabia, has been in Germany since 2006. There are additional concerns that there may be explosives in the suspect's car.

Let's go to CNN's Matthew Chance.

Matthew, what more are we learning about the suspect who was taken alive, arrested? What more are we learning about the victims?

CHANCE: Well, in terms of the suspect, police have confirmed that this is a man from Saudi Arabia who's been in Germany since 2006. We're told he is a doctor and works in the area where this attack took place. He's also in police custody.

And so there's obviously an interrogation underway right now to try and get some get some clear picture of, you know, what was the motivation behind this absolutely appalling attack, and make no mistake, this was a nightmare before Christmas. Five days before Christmas day, this car plowing into a crowded Christmas market just a short distance from the Berlin -- you know, from the German capital, Berlin, in a small sort of town to the west of the German capital.

The images are absolutely horrific. You know, the car plowing through this crowded market, people running in panic, the aftermath on the road, bodies strewn all over the tarmac. We're not showing that video because its so horrific. But, you know, really a really appalling picture. There's -- there's reports as well which have not been confirmed yet by the police at the moment, by the police of an explosive device that may have been found inside the vehicle as well.

Again, that's not confirmed, but its being sort of widely reported inside Germany. And certainly there is an investigation underway and bomb disposal teams at the scene to try and determine, you know, the -- you know, the veracity of that of that report. And so we'll bring you the latest on that as soon as we can. The casualty figures, just very briefly, Jake, absolutely horrific. Two confirmed dead at the moment 68 injured. The fear is that the death toll could get much, much higher -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Matthew Chance, thanks so much.

We're going to have much more of the breaking news in just a moment. Stay with us.

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[16:51:50]

TAPPER: And we continue with the tragic breaking news. A driver, a Saudi doctor, plowed his car through a crowded Christmas -- Christmas market in Germany. At this moment, authorities say he killed two people, one an adult, the other a toddler, 68 others are believed to be injured and the suspected driver identified, as I said by authorities, is a Saudi doctor who has lived in Germany since 2006.

We turn now to David Sanger of "The New York Times", who is also a CNN national security analyst.

David, what do you make of the details of this tragic attack?

DAVID SANGER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Jake, the first thing is there's a lot clearly, we don't know here, but as things come out sure looks like a terrorist attack. Looks like a deliberate act. There are reports in Germany which we have not yet separately confirmed that there were explosives in the car, or suspected explosives.

If that turns out to be right, and first reports frequently are not, then that would suggest both that this could be a lot worse and was an act of terrorism.

But the fact that the doctor had lived in Germany for nearly 20 years tells you that, you know, in modern Germany, he would be considered a German, right?

And that he was, you know, part of the community. And so it's not immediately clear whether he might have been radicalized or may have had some more, you know, local grudge that had very little to do with a radical ideology.

TAPPER: This comes as Germany is in a moment of real political turmoil.

SANGER: It sure does. I mean, the government has essentially fallen, Jake, as you as you've seen, there are new elections set for February and it's unclear whether or not that had any relationship to this attack. You'll remember there was a very major attack in 2016 that was ultimately attributed to ISIS, or an ISIS follower. But, in this case, we don't know whether the local political situation

or a radicalization issue is what was at work here. What is interesting about the political turmoil is it may step in the way of how the Germans react to this. I mean, there's a criminal matter. They could go do it if they had a political motivation or an ordered attack. It might be a little bit tricky for this government as its trying to head toward elections that will almost certainly result in a different -- different chancellor.

TAPPER: All right. David Sanger, thanks to you.

Much more on this Christmas market attack ahead.

We're also tracking more breaking news here in the United States on Capitol Hill. The federal government is just hours from a federal government shutdown. And we've just learned that house lawmakers were just told to stand by for votes in the next hour. You will recall they were told that last night and the vote to fund the government failed.

[16:55:01]

We're going to be taking you more to Capitol Hill next.

Stay with us.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper, and we are following two major breaking news stories this evening.

The clock is ticking and the federal government is just hours away from shutting down. Sources say the House of Representatives is expected to vote this hour on a series of bills, in an attempt to avoid the shutdown, but it remains unclear if there are the votes to get the bill across the finish line. Our teams are spread across the capital getting new updates every minute.

The other big breaking story comes to us from Germany, where a driver plowed his car through a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, which is about 90 miles southwest of Berlin. At least two people were killed, an adult and a toddler. At least 68 others are injured.

Authorities say the suspected driver seen here on the ground being detained by police, is a physician from Saudi Arabia who works in the area where the attack took place.