President Obama talks to French President about San Bernardino shootings

San Bernardino, Calif. & Washington, D.C.  (KTVU and wires) -- President Obama spent hours Saturday discussing the San Bernardino mass shootings.

He spoke with French President Francois Hollande, who offered condolences for the attack.

From the White House: Readout of the President’s Call with President Francois Hollande of France

"President Obama spoke today by phone with President Francois Hollande of France about the horrific shootings in San Bernardino, California.  On behalf of the American people, the President accepted President Hollande’s condolences for the loss of life in the attack.  The President briefed President Hollande on what we know about the attack and steps our intelligence and law enforcement agencies are taking to investigate.  The two leaders pledged continued cooperation between our two governments and with those of our allies and friends to fight terrorism, both abroad and at home.  President Obama and President Hollande also discussed progress being made at the COP21 climate conference in Paris and agreed to continue to stay in close touch as the conference continues."

President Obama also received a briefing Saturday, updtaing him on the terror investigation. He spoke with FBI Director James Comey, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch. The intelligence team told the President that federal investigators have not found any evidence the couple suspected in the attack, was part of a larger and more organized terror group or cell.

From The White House: Readout of the President’s Update on the Investigation into the San Bernardino Shootings

"The President this morning received an update from FBI Director Comey, Attorney General Lynch, Secretary of Homeland Security Johnson, and his intelligence community leadership on the ongoing investigation into the horrific shootings in San Bernardino, California. The President was briefed on the latest details of the investigation. The President's team highlighted several pieces of information that point to the perpetrators being radicalized to violence to commit these heinous attacks. The President's team also affirmed that they had as of yet uncovered no indication the killers were part of an organized group or formed part of a broader terrorist cell. The FBI added that, in coordination with local authorities, they are utilizing all necessary resources to pursue any and all leads in their terrorism investigation. The President directed his team to take all measures necessary to continue to protect the American people, which remains his highest priority."

The FBI declared Friday that the mass shooting had turned into a federal terrorism investigation.

One challenge for investigators is that the suspects appeared to be an ordinary, law-abiding couple, who blended into the community, and paid their rent on time.        

FBI officials say the have conflicting information on the two people.

"The investigation so far has developed indications of radicalization by the killers, and of a potential inspiration by foreign terrorist organizations," said FBI director James Comey.

Comey emphasized that there is no evidence to date that the married couple, Tashfeen Malik and Syed Farook, were part of an organized terror group.

A Facebook official, however, stated that Malik used an alias to declare allegiance to ISIS and its leader. The Facebook official says the social media post appeared at 11 a.m. Wednesday, when the shooters attacked Farook's coworkers at a holiday party. The post was taken down Thursday when the social media company discovered it and alerted authorities.

"None of the family members had any idea that this was going to take place, they were completely shocked," said David Chesley, an attorney representing Farook's mother, two sisters, brother and brother-in-law.

Chesley said the connection is tenuous and asked the public not to jump to conclusions.

"If the most evidence they have to any affiliation is a Facebook account under another person's name that supposedly visited some site then that's hardly anything at all," Chesley said at a news conference.

The FBI says it is tracking down hundreds of leads. Law enforcement sources told some news media that the couple's garage was set up as a bomb-making facility with materials recommended by an online al-Qaeda magazine.

The FBI also says they are getting data from two cell phones believed to have belonged to the couple.

"They attempted to destroy their digital fingerprints. We found two cell phones in a nearby trash can. Those cell phones were actually crushed," said David Bowdich, the FBI Los Angeles Office Assistant Director.

Friends say the couple accused in Wednesday's massacre had met online.

Farook was an American, born in Chicago to Pakistani parents. He grew up in Southern California. Records show he attended Cal State Fullerton.

The U.S. State department is investigating Farook's history of overseas travel to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Friends described Farook as a soft-spoken man who prayed daily at a local mosque.

His wife Malik was Pakistani who grew up in Saudi Arabia with her family before moving back to Pakistan.

She came to the U.S. on a fiance visa and the State Department said she went through an extensive background check.

The couple left behind a 6-month-old baby with the child's grandmother who lived with the couple in an upstairs room.

The couple had no criminal record and did not appear to fit neatly into any terrorist profile.

"This raises one of the real vexing challenges of profiling, which is that there often isn't a valid profile of what a perpetrator is going to be like," said Jack Glaser, Associate Dean at the UC Goldman School Public Policy.

Professor Glaser specializes in terrorism and racial profiling. He discussed the challenges for law enforcement officers and the public to determine who poses a terror threat.

"To the extent that terrorists or aspiring terrorists are changing their MO or changing their behavior to try to circumvent a profile, the profile is going to be of limited value," Glaser said.

The FBI and local law enforcement officers have touted the "See something, say something" motto since the 9/11 attacks as a way to encourage citizens to be alert and notify authorities of possible threats.

Glaser says the difficulty and the danger is that the motto is vague about what constitutes "seeing" something suspicious. He urges the public to focus on people's actions, such as placing a bag someplace and then leaving, instead of people's appearance of ethnic or religious identity.