Transcripts For CNNW Inside Politics 20190620

Inside the white house, the president has been downplaying all of these acts of aggression or attention seeking or whatever you want to call it from iran. But today the question is does this incident with the drone change the dynamic for the president . We dont know yet and we may not know until the president s aides have had a chance to really debrief him on all of whats going on here. But we do know that this is a president who is very resistant to this. He does not think that this is in his interests. But he has a lot of hawkish advisers. The secretary of state mike pompeo, his National Security advisor, john bolton. And then he has what seems to be a very big power vacuum over at the pentagon where there is so much turmoil in the senior leadership. So i think we are just waiting to see whether this is enough to change his mind. He has previously said that he would go to war with iran over nuclear weapons. On the other stuff, he called it a big question mark. This is the part that is a big question mark. As the Administration Takes on a more aggressive posture in response to all of this, the question always will come back to the commander in chief as the decider in this situation. Where does he come down on this . I think well finding out in the coming minutes and hours. He is at the moment meeting with the canadian Prime Minister on a slew of somewhat separate issues, but it could be our first opportunity to hear from him this morning, john. We will stay in touch throughout the hour. Again, were told this pentagon briefing being streamed in from Central Command headquarters will begin any minute now. As we wait, i want to go live to ryan brown. Forgive me if i have to interrupt you for this briefing. But the president says it is a very big mistake. The pentagon says there is no doubt in its view this drone was in International Airspace when it was shot down by surfacetoair missiles. What are we expecting from this briefing . Were being told that the commander of all air operations in the middle east will be briefing. Were told to expect information about where the drone was located. Were told altitude, distance from land, evidence the pentagon says that will clearly show that the aircraft was in International Airspace when it was shot down by this iranian missile. Now, the type of drone is worth noting. Its an rq4. Its one of the largest drones in the u. S. Fleet, its massive. You dont use this kind of thing to do clandestine operations, so it would be extremely unusual for it intentionally to have been sent into iranian airspace for some type of spying operation. So the u. S. Military feeling very confident this was in International Airspace. Iran taking credit for shooting it down, claiming that it had strayed into iranian airspace. The pentagon going to attempt to make its case this hour. Ryan, stand by as well. Were waiting for the briefing any second. Cnn is blessed to have fred peitgen live in tehran. Fred, we have had in past story, past instances, sometimes the revolution guard gets out over its skis. We have a revolutionary guard statement taking responsibility, saying this drone in its view crossed into iranian airspace. Are we hearing from other aspects and elements of the iranian government or is the revolutionary guard taking the lead here . Reporter hi, john. Well, the revolutionary guard took the lead very early on after this happened. It was quite interesting to see. The head of the revolutionary guard came out very early in the Morning Hours and confirmed that, yes, this drone had been shot down. Made quite a bellicose statement saying this was the way that iran deals with its enemies. But now as the day progresses, there are other elements of the iranian government that are making statements as well. It was quite interesting to see, because just a couple of minutes after President Trump made his or tweeted his First Response that iran had made a big mistake, irans foreign minister has now come out and tweeted a tweet of his own. He said, this is a quote, the u. S. Wages economic terrorism on iran. Thats the iranians referring to the u. S. Leaving the Nuclear Agreement and levying sanctions on iran. Has conducted covert action against us and now encroaches on our territory. We dont seek war, but will zealously defend our skies, land and waters. Well take this new aggression to the u. N. And show the u. S. Is lying about International Waters. So the iranians from their side at least are saying theyre also quite confident that they believe this drone was shot down over their territory. John, just another word from the iranians because they have some very, very Strong Language throughout the day. One of the things that the head of the revolutionary guard also said earlier today, he said while iran does not want war, he said the shooting down of this drone also makes very clear that iran is absolutely ready for war, john. Fred pleitgen live in tehran. Please stay with us as well. Were waiting for the Lieutenant General from Central Command to brief. It will be an audio briefing, not a video briefing but well bring you the details live when it starts to happen. Meanwhile lets discuss in the room here. Joining me to share their reporting and insights, kylie atwood, phil mattingly, retired rear admiral john kirby and Ileana Johnson with politico. Youve stood at that podium, youve been at the state department, put your pentagon hat on. If they have evidence that this drone was in International Airspace, then it is an unprovoked attack over International Airspace by iran. If youre sitting in a room and the president wants options, what would they be . From a military perspective, he would certainly be in his right, because this is a technically hostile act in International Airspace, to invoke article 51 of the u. N. Charter which is the right of selfdefense. Theres two things about that. It has to be of necessity, and i think they can prove the point theres a necessity for sel selfdefense and it has to be proportional. Thats where you get into all the difficulties. Shot with a surfacetoair missile. Do you take out a missile launcher . Heres the thing. They have proven they can shoot with accuracy and great range in this International Airspace. So anything within the range of International Air bases is contested airspace which is international. Kylie, this is a major, risky, dangerous escalation, iran shooting down a u. S. Drone. It comes at a time of enormous mistrust between the United States and iran, a thousand troops on their way. The pentagon saying theres no doubt, the secretary of state saying theres no doubt iran was responsible for the attacks on the tankers. But you do see when you call to traditional u. S. Allies, some skepticism, some doubt, we want to see more evidence. How important is it the pentagon clear up any doubt . Youre watching Justin Trudeau on the right with the president. The president of the United States, donald trump, going into a previously scheduled meeting at the white house. There is this trust deficit, so i find it interesting and of the moment that the pentagon sided so quickly to come forward and have this briefing where ryan brown says they want to lay out the ping data and show us this is why the iranians are lying. This has been escalating, these threats, these assaults from iran. First they went after commercial ships in the region. Then they went after some pipelines, Oil Pipelines going into saudi arabia. Then they went after oil tankers in the region. They have truly been escalating. But the u. S. , the Trump Administration has not been laying out their evidence quite explicitly as we expect that they could do today. Obviously we did see some evidence that they rolled out when it came to the attack on the oil tankers. But today theyre showing that when you go after a u. S. Asset, they are going to come forth and provide some evidence as to what they have seen and potentially how theyre going to react. We dont know how the president will react yet. We dont know. One of the thing the president sometimes like is this uncertainty, this debate, this unpredictability. And he likes, he says, the fact that theres wide disagreement sometimes between his advisers. At a moment like this hours after a drone has been shot out of the sky, that uncertainty and unpredictability can add to the confusion, calculations and miscalculations. Mike pompeo a hawk when it comes to iran. The president in several interviews recently trying to dial everybody back saying theres nothing to worry about, i dont want war. If they went nuclear, then there might be a war but i want to find something out. What do we make of i dont mean to trivialize this, but the whos on first aspect of this . The president himself has been the one pumping the brakes about responding to the three previous incidents. Administration officials have noted that but have also said that they are drawing the line at striking an american asset. Its interesting, they made the point that the iranians had been very careful up until today. But any attack on an American Ship or american citizen would demand a response. And so i think this is sort of trumps red line moment. Administration officials, though not the president himself, had drawn this red line. Iran seems to have crossed it. Now what will the president do . Hes been by far the most reluctant. The point of this briefing here is when the president is by his nature divisive, i think the point of this briefing here not conducted by the president himself but by a military official is to unite the country i think an attempt to unite the country in agreement about what happened and laying out the evidence of what happened. The question is the potential part. Hes getting a lot of advice from capitol hill. I think its important youve seen similar mechanisms kick into gear on capitol hill. Early on a lot of democrats were skeptical whether there was intelligence and whether it was good enough. Youve seen the administration take a very traditional path of briefings both classified, democrat and republican. What ive been struck by is even skeptical democrats who have seen the classified intel started to pull back a little bit. I want to take it straight over to the pentagon here. We have Lieutenant General joseph gesella who is the commander of u. S. Air forces Central Command. Hes calling us from the combined air Operations Center in qatar. Hes going to make a brief statement on last nights shootdown. Hes not going t take any questions but well hopefully come back with more information later today. Can we ask you why no questions . Hello. Hello, good afternoon. This is Lieutenant General Joseph Guastella. Im prepared to give a statement but wont be answering questions. A u. S. Navy rq4 was flying on a recent Surveillance Mission in International Airspace in the recent of ir gchgc maritime att when it was shot down from a surfacetoair missile. This was an unprovoked attack on the u. S. Surveillance asset that had not violated iranian airspace at any time during its mission. This attack is an attempt to disrupt our ability to monitor the area following recent threats to International Shipping and the free flow of commerce. Iranian reports that this aircraft was shot down over iran are categorically false. It was over the strait of hormuz and fell into International Waters. At the time of the intercept the rq4 was at high altitude, approximately 34 kilometers from the nearest point of land on the iranian coast. This dangerous ands today la torre attack was irresponsible and occurred in the vicinity of established air corridors between dubai, uae, and oman, possibly endangering innocent civilians. Thank you. Well have this available to download. Youre listening there to Lieutenant General Joseph Guastella speaking from a u. S. Military base in qatar. Awaiting to see if any pentagon officials come back out to add any more information. It does not look like that at the moment. Forgive me for this being a little rough. Barbara starr was in the room and will get back to us shortly. You have a Lieutenant General on the record saying this drone was in international space. He laid out the parameters with the map. You can see it here. But we dont have, and my question is do we need, because of the mistrust between the two governments, the United States and iran, because of the skepticism many of the allies have about this standoff with iran and we could have a broader conversation about the trump withdrawal from jcpoa, do we need more data or is this enough . I think they need more. That ma map is a fabricated map. For viewers who dont know, just think about your gps in your car, your gps in an airplane and multiply it by a thousand. They have ping data. They could show us a map that clearly proves, that shows us where this drone was every second of the mission. They could have shown the flight path a little better than this. I dont think this will satisfy international curiosity and concern. I think it was a mistake not to take questions. I understand the pentagon is saying were just laying out the facts, we dont want to get into the politics of this thing. I think they should have taken questions and provided a little more context. Im disappointed it wasnt moe fullsome. I think this is a Defense Department map that they put up. If youre unfamiliar with the region or need to be refreshed, look at how crowded this is. Even if you took all the military ships out, think about the commercial traffic back and forth, largely oil back and forth. Then add the Iranian Military, add the u. S. Military, add other militaries in the neighborhood, then hadadd the recent escalati of recent days, its a remarkable tense time. The pentagon doesnt want to take questions, they just want to lay out their case that this was unprovoked and this drone had every right to be where it was. From your service, whats it like in that little narrow space . Back when i was a young officer a long, long time ago, i helped escort kuwaiti tankers in and out of that strait. Even then it was crowded and dangerous. Its ten times more so now because of the capabilities of militaries in the region, including iran, are far more sophisticated than they were. That they could shoot this down at that distance with that accuracy is not insignificant and is an escalation. Its a very dangerous time right now. What worries me, john, is the president s decision space gets further limited and smaller. Some of it is on his own doing in the fact his own team is not on the same page but also now the iranians are closing that decision space and pushing him into a corner. You have a test of wills. About the president s options, hes in a meeting as we speak with the Prime Minister of canada, Justin Trudeau. Abby philip is live at the white house. I understand this question, what are you going to do, mr. President , has come up . Reporter one of the reporters got a little question into the president. Are we going to war with iran . The president s answer as he often does is youll soon find out. So absolutely no details from the president , but hes clearly really stringing this along. He is not trying to tamp down the conversation about war, hes saying well let you know soon. But we also know that he just had a meeting with his National Security team. Vice president mike pence also attended that meeting. So the president is continuously getting this information about what is going on with the situation. The question is when is he going to let everyone know . Is he going to let capitol hill know, frankly, if war is in the future for this . But all he had to say to the reporter in response to that question, that very direct question was youll soon find out. The president is always one to leave it openended. I think hes doing that in this case on a very sensitive topic but not in any way trying to tamp down any talk of an escalation and tensions with iran as a result of this situation. Abby philip live at the white house. Lets go over to Barbara Starr at the pentagon. Barbara, you were in that briefing. You tried to get the pentagon official to stay and answer more questions. Lieutenant general guastella laying out the case that in his view this was an unprovoked iranian attack in airspace where the drone had every right to be. Does the pentagon feel pressure, barbara, to give us more . To give us more visible proof of where this drone was . Well, i think that they do, especially if the president were to make a decision to have some kind of military option to respond to this. They are going to want to demonstrate to the world, look, they would have the radar track, all the telemetry, if you will, all the electronic signals of where this drone was flying. The general making the case as ryan brown reported a short time ago, that it was 30 kilometers off the coast of iran which would have been proof it was in International Airspace. He talked a little bit about being in these established air corridors that other gulf nations use. And the shootdown put a lot of civilians at risk. You are talking about air corridors, maritime corridors of transit. Youre talking about cities along the coastal regions of the persian gulf. So look, the pentagon not prepared making it very clear theyre not prepared to answer any questions about this because they know just across the river, the president at this hour is talking and leaving that door open. What we know up until now is that the president has been very reluctant publicly to go down the path of a military option against iran. But the question on the table today is did this shootdown really change the calculation . The iranians shot down a u. S. Asset in International Airspace. Thankfully no pilot onboard, this was a drone. Thankfully it fell apparently into the sea, no one hurt. But they directly did challenge the United States this time. The question for the president now is to get some options, which we know hes getting from his military advisers, and decide what, if anything, he wants to do about it, john. Barbara, let me ask you as a followup. Hes getting those options where everyone knows the defense secretary is leaving to be replaced by a new acting defense secretary who was the secretary of the army. So theres been some turnover, some say chaos at the top of the pentagon, but obviously the military staff is an established career official staff. A, do we know anything about how would the military define proportional response . And b, does the personnel turnover at the top and uncertainty at the top have any impact on the quality and the speed with which the president will get that list of options . Lets start with that very question at the top. The acting defense secretary, patrick shanahan, leaves office at midnight on sunday. The new acting secretary, mark esper, we believe joined them at the white house today. He is within days of taking over. Hes an experienced hand. Hes been the army secretary. But once again, we have someone stepping onto the International Stage here for the Trump Administration at a time of military crisis. So we also know that the National Security advisor, john bolton, the secretary of state mike pompeo, have been very welcoming, shall we say, of the notion of a military option against iran. Its the president who perhaps has been listening to his military advisers such as the chairman of the joint chiefs, general dunford, who are saying, look, if you want to go against iran, you have to have a strategy. You have to have a policy and you have to fashion a military force to enact a military goal. This is the problem all the time. Whether its north korea or venezuela or today its iran, what do you want to use military force to accomplish . And i can tell you that very senior military people today in the pentagon are concerned about this because they dont they cant predict what irans response would be, what the regime and the Iranian Revolutionary guard corps response would be if the u. S. Conducted what it thought was a proportional strike to answer back on this drone shootdown. How would the iranians react . What would they do . Are u. S. Forces in the region well protected enough at this hour if there was to be a military response . And if you start down the road of military action against iran and you want to ultimately make them get rid of their nuclear program, there is a very strong view at the highest levels of the u. S. Military that you are going down the road of regime change in iran. That that is what some of the top political appointees of the Trump Administration ultimately want, regime change, and the u. S. Military will tell you chapter and verse they have lived through afghanistan, they have lived through iraq, syria, isis, al qaeda, the taliban, they are very familiar. Regime change comes at a steep human cost. It can take decades. And after decades at war, there is still so much uncertainty in the wars were in. The president knows hes headed into a political campaign. He has run on the notion of getting out of wars. We know he does not want to make a large troop commitment overseas. Right now the president has an interesting decision to make. Can he feel confident enough to engage in some kind of limited military strike against iran for the drone shootdown and not risk a wider confrontation with tehran. John . Barbara starr live at the pentagon. The president says youll soon find out. Lets check back in with Fred Pleitgen who is in tehran. It was just a week or so, ten days ago, maybe a little longer than that that the president was saying i wish theyd call, urging the iranian leadership to pick up the phone and call. Now the pentagon briefer saying iran was lying, this drone was in International Airspace and the president of the United States saying youll finding out soon what he decides to do about options. How is that going to play in iran . Reporter well, i think the iranians, john, have been saying for a while they dont want this to escalate but theyre ready for any escalation. Theres a lot of things that are really interesting in that play right now. I was just listening to Barbara Starr who laid it out perfectly. One of the things that barbara said is absolutely correct. The u. S. At this point does not know whats going to happen if they do strike back. Ive been speaking to commanders of the revolutionary guard, ive been speaking to former highlevel commanders of the revolutionary guard. The one thing they kept telling me again and again gaenand agaie americans need to understand if it comes to a shooting war between iran and the United States, it would also involve Iranian Proxy Forces around the middle east. Theres one statement from one former commander that keeps ringing, and he said the americans need to understand that next to almost every American Military base in the greater middle eastern region, there is a proiranian proxy force that could very well then destabilize the situation or endanger u. S. Forces in that region. Thats certainly something that needs to be calculated. At the same time, the iranians also today went to great pains to try and prove their point, to try and say they believe this drone was indeed in their airspace. We just saw that map the pentagon put up. The iranians put out a similar map that had one single dot on it as well showing where they said that this drone had landed and where it was shot down. Now they say they want to take all of this to the United Nations and make their own case. So theyre probably speaking to their own audience here at home, but at the same time trying to drum up support for their side of things. But i think both sides are pretty clear about the fact that if this does get out of control, there is a war between the u. S. And iran. Its going to be a very, very messy affair and thats something the iranians have been saying again and again. The revolutionary guard commander said it as well, this is maybe a technologically more as far as the military technology is concerned nation. The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike group probably has more combat ready jets than the entire Iranian Air Force but the iranians have Ground Forces and have shown that their antiaircraft systems at least work. They also say they have this Ballistic Missile program which they say has gotten a lot more advanced as well. So those would all be considerations that would have to feed into how the pentagon or how the u. S. Is going respond to all of this. The iranians are saying theyre ready. Finally, john, the iranians essentially are saying, look, the Trump Administration is in this situation because of themselves. Theyre the ones that left the Nuclear Agreement. I think it was about a week ago, the Prime Minister of japan was here in tehran and he brought that message from President Trump asking for talks with the iranian leadership and the iranian leadership said absolutely not. We had a deal with the United States, we had a deal with the obama administration. The u. S. Left that deal and now iran is not willing to speak, despite the fact that the sanctions that have been levied against iran are very detrimental to the countrys economy. A lot of people have lost their jobs. The civilian population has lost a great deal. People have been telling me how difficult it is for them. Despite that, the iranians say we are not going to talk to this president because he left the Iran Nuclear Deal and brought america and brought himself into this situation. Fred pleitgen live for us and were very lucky in tehran. Fred, come back if theres any response to the president or the pentagon. Lets come back into the room. We could have for months and weeks and more an argument about pulling out of the jcpoa. Whether the Trump Administration increased tensions. But we are in the here and now and the Administration Says whatever the reason, that it has proof iran blew up those tankers. The Administration Says and iran admits it shot down that drone. Whether youre mad at President Trump for pulling out of an agreement doesnt give you the right to blow up tankers and shoot drones out of the sky. So what now . Theres no Circuit Breaker that any of us can see. Whos a third party to intervene and calm things down. Theres a thousand troops on their way. What is the u. S. Military footprint there right now . I assume everybody is on a higher alert now than the high alert they were on just hours ago . I have no doubt that they are. Tens of thousands of troops in the region. These extra thousand are really just to support Reconnaissance Aircraft and enforce protection needs, so theyre not really offensive in nature. But i think the other thing we should be asking, john, is what about the europeans . The iranians may have overplayed their hand by going after a sovereign u. S. Military aircraft in International Airspace. Europeans were not inclined to want to side with trump in this economic battle. The iranians are making it harder on the europeans to stay on their side and keep the deal in place. I also wondering the degree to which the revolutionary guard is out in front of the civil state government. If you read the tweet, hes trying to pull it back and saying were going to go to the u. N. , were going to complain. This is all about economic warfare. I think theres divisions inside iran we also need to be careful about in terms of the potential escalation and miscalculation going forward. This is a uniquely personal singular decision for the commander in chief who as we talked earlier often gets debating advice. Nothing wrong with that. But this one is on him. So does he decide this is an opportunity to maybe rebuild those relationships with the europeans on this issue to your point saying we have proof they shot down our drone. Whatever you think about what i did last week, last month, last year, were in a moment of crisis, you need to stand with the United States. Increase sanctions, do something diplomatically or does the president listen, hell hear from Lindsey Graham, tom cotton, they shot down a drone. We need to take something out to prove this is a test of wills and you need to show them youre tough. It doesnt have to be either or. I think theres an opening here for the Trump Administration to maybe get some of the International Partners onboard after what iran has done in the last week. It doesnt have to be either or. You come along with us for more economic and diplomatic pressure or well conduct a military strike. There are military options that are not provocative, not offensive but demonstrable enough to deter iran. So far they have been unsuccessful but there are other things they havent done but they could do. Over the next week we have brian hook, the special representative to iran from the state department heading to the middle east. Hes going to meet with the uae, bahrain and saudi arabia to talk to them about this. Then we also have john bolton on sunday going to israel, and hes going to be meeting with his israeli counterpart and his russian counterpart. So we dont see any proactive outreach to the europeans, at least at this point. However, both of these trips were planned before this attack happened. It just reinforces again, you can peel this onion for decades that its an incredibly complicated neighborhood thats more complicated. Whether were talking about tensions in the neighborhood, whether were talking about the khashoggi murder. Sam, just from your perspective, this military confrontation at an already complicated time in the region, a little perspective from your ending a and more if e citizens of the United States and hear iran shot down a drone and the president saying youll finding out soon if there will be a u. S. Military response, more perspective on the u. S. Military footprint there. Reporter well, john, first in terms of the regional reaction, there is great enthusiasm for the trump policy towards iran in the uae here in the emirates where i am, in saudi arabia, in bahrain, obviously in israel. But as fred was pointing out, there are a great number of vulnerabilities in terms of particularly the sheer population that is spread through iraq and syria in particular and into south lebanon. On top of that, there is deep cynicism whichever side of the islamic sunni shia divide, on the popular level over the actions of the United States of america anywhere in the middle east. So the downing of a drone will be seen as the death of a robot, not of an individual. It will not be seen in the broader middle east as an act of war, it will be seen as an act of defiance. I think that there will probably be a degree of directed at the americans even by the enemies of iran. Little iran striking a bit of a blow an downing a very expensive hightech piece of equipment with technology that is homegrown. So i think thats something that will play very significantly on the minds of the leaderships, even in these authoritarian gulf monarchies. On the wider issue, the extent of military capability. Again, as fred was indicating, but it really is important to get this across, the iranians have a capacity to absorb pain that is really quite terrifying. Remember, a Million People altogether died in the iran iraq war with wave upon wave upon wave of almost unarmed in some cases iranian fighters hitting the iraqis. You had at that time the backing of the west. Theyll also recall, john, that the downing of an iranian airliner by the uss vincent over the straits of hormuz did not result in a conflict between the United States and iran. Sam, im sorry, i need to interrupt. We need to take you to the oval office. The president of the United States with the canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Iran made a big mistake. This drone was in International Waters clearly, we have it all documented. Its documented scientifically, not just words. And they made a very bad mistake. Mr. President , how will you respond . Youll findi out. Are you going to war . Youll find out. Obviously obviously, obviously you know were not going to be talking too much about it. Youre going to find out. They made a very big mistake. What are your concerns about chi china its one of the concerns well discuss with justin. The fed made for change to the interest rate. He should have done it sooner. You cant win it all. Eventually hell do whats right perhaps. Lets see what he does. [ overlapping speakers ] will you ask china to release the canadian . Obviously were very concerned about the escalation by iran recently. We have significant presence in the area, including a nato mission in baghdad and iraq. We look forward to discussing with our closest ally their perspectives on this and how we can move forward as an international community. What will you discuss with xi jinping i dont know that hes trying to meet. Weve got a lot of things to discuss. Otherwise ill represent him well. I will tell you, we have a meeting set up with president xi and its obviously on the big transaction that were talking about and negotiating. Our people are actually speaking now. Well see what happens with that. But anything i can do to help canada, i will be doing. [ overlapping speakers ] excuse me . Are you going to bring it up with president xi. At justins request i absolutely well. When it is ratified dont say when because so far i have to get the democrats to approve it, all right . I like your positive thinking, but if. And the if is really subject to the democrats. Lets see what happens. But i really believe that nancy pelosi and the house will approve it. I think the senate will approve it rapidly. Its going to be very bipartisan. Its great for the farmers, manufacturers, its really great for everybody. And unions, its great for unions. We have tremendous Union Support too. It shows a partnership between three countries. Its sort of three countries in a trade sense were competing with the european union, were competing with china. It gives us a bigger dialogue, it gives us a much bigger platform. Its really good for all three. Its something thats very popular. I hope politically they can do what they have to do. Now, a day after the election, it would win with tremendous support. We have an election coming up. But i think nancy pelosi will do the right thing. Will that be the end of tariffs on canada and mexico . Well, well see. They have to do what they have to do. We understand that. We cant have big tremendous shipments of certain products. We understand that very well. We were very pleased with the lifting of tariffs on steel and aluminum. They have been lifted, as you know. There wont be transshipping. If there is, ill call justin hell take care of him. Ill probably call him a second time and if he doesnt, well have to talk. But i think that situation is very well taken care of. Very important for both countries and for all three countries, the farmers. Very, very important. More so in that case from us and canada. But the farmers are really happy with it. The manufacturers are very happy. Mexico is thrilled. You saw the vote, it was a very lopsided in a positive way vote. A great vote. An i think its going to be something very special. Again, its the largest trades deal by far ever entered into. And were very close to having it finalized. It means a lot of jobs for our country, a lot of wealth for all three countries. Were really competing against the world. Were not competing with each other so much. This brings us into a position where were not competing with each other, were competing against the world. And thats what we are doing. Were competing against big sections of the world, including asia and including other areas. I think its going to be very special. I think it will be a very important deal, but the biggest ever made. Are you going to invite the raptors to the white house . Will you invite the Toronto Raptors to the white house . Well, we thought about that. Thats an interesting question. They played phenomenal basketball. I watched a little bit of it. They were really terrific. Congratulations, by the way. That was a great job by a great team. So well think about that. If theyd like to do it, well think about that. We have a lot of other folks coming. And the president ial medal i just spoke to him, were going to be presenting the president ial medal of freedom to roger pinski. He is a great gentleman who has won 18 indianapolis 500s. Hes won just one daytona. He won the daytona, he won indianapolis, he won probably more than anybody in the history of racing. I cant imagine anybody ever being close. But roger penske will be getting the medal of freedom and hes very thrilled to be getting it. That will be announced over the next little while but actually im pretty much announcing it now. But hell be putting something out in a little while. Hes very deserving. Hes a great gentleman. Ive known him a long time. A very brilliant guy. When you think of all the countries that want to win indianapolis and daytona and they fight and they spend, even canada, they spend a lot of money. And when a man wins indianapolis, when he wins it 18 times and he just won the daytona. He won many things over the course of years and hes become a very successful man. We talked about electric cars today. I think nobody knows more about that subject in terms of common sense than roger penske. So roger penske will be getting and receiving the president ial medal of freedom. Mr. President , you said iran is a different country. Do you still hold that opinion . Oh, absolutely. When i came here, iran was in 14 to different sites of kwli confliction. They were extremely hostile. Screaming death to america. I think probably iran made a mistake. I would imagine it was a general or somebody that made a mistake in shooting that drone down. Fortunately, that drone was unarmed it was not there was no man in it. It was just it was over International Waters, clearly over International Waters, but we didnt have a man or woman in the drone. We had nobody in the drone. It would have made a big difference, let me tell you. It would have made a big, big difference. But i have a feeling, i may be wrong and i may be right, but im right a lot. I have a feeling that it was a mistake made by somebody that shouldnt have been doing what they did. Who do you think did that . Im not just talking the country made a mistake, i think somebody under the command of that country made a mistake. Are you talking to eirans leadership . Lets just see what happens. Its all going to work out. Are you saying you think it wasnt intentional to strike the drone . I dont know. I find it hard to believe it was intentional, if you want to know the truth. I think that it could have been somebody who was loose and stupid that did it. Well be able to report back and youll understand exactly what happened. But it was a very foolish move, that i can tell you. Are there members of your administration trying to push you into conflict with iran . No, not at all. In fact in many cases its the opposite. Look, i said i want to get out of these endless wars. I campaigned on that. Weve been in afghanistan for 19 years. As you know weve reduced very substantially in afghanistan. We beat the caliphate, took back 100 caliphate. When it was 99 , i said were going to get out and start peeling back and everybody went crazy because it was 99. So we finished it up, we got 100 . So were pulling a lot of people back but this is a new wreinkle. This is a new fly in the ointment what happened shooting down the drone. This country will not stand for it, that i can tell you. Thank you very much. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, guys. [ overlapping speakers ] lets go. Press, lets go. Thank you. Press, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. A very important conversation between the president of the United States, the Prime Minister of canada and reporters in the oval office discussing many big issues. Relationships with china, the prospects for the u. S. , mexico, canada trade agreement. Im going to set that aside to talk about the moment of war and peace that dominated the discussions there. President trump saying, and this is very important, he thinks somebody made a mistake, a general or somebody else made a mistake in iran in shooting down an american drone. The president saying it would have made a big difference had that been a manned aircraft and hes saying somebody was loose and stupid in iran. The president there even though he also said well see if there is a u. S. Military response seeming to deescalate if you will, not directly blaming the iranian government, not escalating his rhetoric there. Our cnns Kaitlin Collins is live at the white house. He seemed to be saying that what he believes and one assumes he has been briefed by intelligence officials is that the revolutionary guard, forgive the term, got out over its skis here and did something that surprised even its own government. Yeah, i was in the room and asked the president what does that intelligence show . That was the president making news saying he thinks this is an actual mistake by someone in the iranian government shoot down this u. S. Drone. Of course he didnt say how the u. S. Is going to respond but that was in respond to my question do you think iran is a different country. Thats a statement the president has made several times saying he believes they have changed their behavior since he got in office. But that was news, he thinks it was a mistake, it was some general that made the decision to shoot this drone down saying they were loose and stupid. So the question is will that change how the president responds to this. They have been pretty clear based on what centcom has said about shooting down that drone that it was the iranians, that it was over International Waters which the president did tell reporters there in the oval office that is clearly documented. But every time we asked what is going to be your next action, the president would not telegraph that because he said he didnt think that would be a smart decision. He only said that we will see. But a big deal that the president is saying he thinks it might have been an actual mistake that iran shot down that u. S. Military drone. Times change his tone and emphasis. Very important there, the president of the United States trying to create a little bit more space for himself and perhaps the iranian government as they try to work this out. The pentagon releasing what it says is more evidence about what happened. Barbara starr is live at the pentagon. Barbara, a video. What are we talking about . We have a very short video clip to show the viewers, john, and well try and keep playing it. The pentagon releasing this blackandwhite video a short time ago that it says shows the smoke trail of the u. S. Military drone being shot down over the strait of hormuz. Youll see that black smoke trail come into view. Very short, very brief video clip. Not the best quality the pentagon knows but they are adamant this is the shootdown of the u. S. Military drone over the strait of hormuz. Lets unpack a little more of what the president had to say. He is saying this could be a mistake. How could the president of the United States reasonably know that . You would have to have either perhaps intercepts, eavesdropping of conversations between iranian commanders and government officials that would tell you its a mistake. You would have to have some understanding that the launch point on the coast of iran was not under government control, that it might have been the revolutionary guard corps acting on its own. You would have to come to an awful lot of conclusions. You would have to have the assessment that the government does not control the revolutionary guard corps and in some cases they dont fully. This is a proxy, very militant wing of the Iranian Security forces and they often go out on their own. So if this is all true that its a mistake, it becomes even more dangerous because the u. S. Has to make the calculation of what part of the Iranian Regime is behind any incident that it sees and how to respond to it. And that may be exactly what you mentioned a moment ago. The president creating some space to make some decisions, to get some advice here about what to do. We know the president is looking at the possibility of military options. Its exactly what you would expect him to do. His advisers are there today at the white house. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff arrived a short time ago. He weighs in when there are discussions of military options obviously. But the president also trying to really, you know, dampen this down a bit, give himself some space, not taking on the Iranian Military directly at this point. We will have to see. We just simply dont know what hes going to decide. This attack is somewhat different. This is a direct attack on a u. S. Asset in International Airspace. But as the president said, it wasnt an attack on u. S. Troops. This was an unmanned drone collecting intelligence on iran. No u. S. Troops involved in this. If it went to that next step, perhaps a different outcome. John. Barbara starr live at the pentagon for us. Admiral kirby, you have experience in the state department and the pentagon. Do you agree the president was trying to create some space for himself. Even if you think this is a loose cannon or loose unit or provocative element of the revolutionary guard, which has happened before in history, they still shot a u. S. Military drone down so one assumes there will be some response. Ill add lastly i dont expect even if the iranian government right now is trying to figure out what happened. Theyre not going to raise their han and say sorry. Thats not the way they work, so what happens now . In the way he has created a little maneuver room for himself but in another way its closed down around him because the revolutionary guard is not accountable to the state government. And they were also accountable for those tanker attacks. So is this part of a pattern of the iranian revolution guard trying to provoke a confrontation . Remember, they are the hardliners. Nobody hated the iran deal more than them than maybe trump. Just a month ago or so a revolutionary guard commander was calling for regime change in his own country. So to a degree, yes, hes giving himself a little bit of space but hes also im sure mindful that these guys operate on their own timetable and according to their own precepts. Theyre still a very dangerous force that has to be dealt with. If you strike them, you have to remember that they also have outposts and proxies in iraq and elsewhere that can do great damage to u. S. Forces and assets elsewhere outside of iran. From your experience, the top advisor to the president right now would be either john bolton or the secretary of state. There is no theres an acting defense secretary. The one whos leaving, the president hasnt loved to begin with. The one whos coming in is new to the job. Where is pompeos head at this moment when the president is asking for his options . Secretary pompeo has been suspiciously quiet this morning. We heard him at the state department rolling out a report of human trafficking. He didnt say anything when it came to iran. We havent seen him tweet. We know he was in the meeting at the white house on this today. But that was alongside the other officials. But it is his voice that we have seen sort of muted over the past few days. Over the weekend he said a military option was on the table. Then when he visited centcom down in florida, he didnt say that so explicitly. That was after we saw President Trump saying he doesnt want to go to war with iran. So we know pompeo and bolton are both iran hawks. But the question is are they willing to voice that opinion so openly at the risk of receiving the ire of the president. The one thing i would note is that unlike john bolton, who makes his views very clear, secretary pompeo is very careful never to get out in front of the president. Thats why youre not hearing him right now. Even just yesterday tweeting again the president does not want war. I was going to say not only are there cross currents inside the administration but you made a good point earlier that the president polls people on a regular basis. He spoke to Lindsey Graham this morning. He speaks to tom cotton regularly. They are calling for a robust response, a military strike. Theyre not necessarily unified in the republican conference. Hes hearing from people inside the Republican Party on capitol hill calling for more restraint. So its on several levels people taking different views on this. As weve said repeatedly its the president s decision and hes going to have to define what proportional is and how far hes willing to go. You mentioned the republicans. The top democrat in the United States, speaker nancy pelosi, telling cnn we need to deescalate. Aaron david miller joins us live from the wilson center. Youve worked for several secretaries of state, done negotiations in this delicate region. Connect the dots of today. E iran acknowledges it shot down a drone. Iran says it was in iranian airspace, the pentagon says that is a lie. The president thinks it was a loose and stupid act. Now what . Maybe the intel shows that it was, that these operations are not centrally coordinated. You have a risk averse president and right now i think an Iranian Regime that is actually quite risk ready. The administration has put enormous stock in this question of deterrence. They have deployed military assets. They dont want war but they want to deter. And now even if this was a loose cannon act by an Iranian Revolutionary guard corps unit, you have the problem that a 150 million drone, no one was killed and maybe that impressed the president as well. I suspect and the way the president has been talking, youll see, youll see, its a big mistake, its a big mistake, that at some point either today or tomorrow theres going to be a response. Second point, i dont see the offramp here. If in fact we were hours or days away from a deconfliction channel, some space jaw to jaw rather than war as church ill would say, i dont see a margin for extrication. If you remember when our sailors were taken, they were in two patrol boats and strayed into iranian waters, secretary kerry was able to get on the phone and was able to get not just the sailors but the boats back because we had a channel of communication. This administration has blown that up and the only channel of communications is back channel and theyre not the most effective. They have limited themselves in an effect to have an offramp. Who or what might one be . Even if we were ready to jaw, the real question is whether the Supreme Leader and the iranians are ready without first demonstrating that theyre under tremendous pressure and pain and they need to demonstrate this event was widely televised and announced within the islamic republic. So its clear they have set an escalation frame here. It would take both sides and a lot of will right now in the middle of this thing to create some sort of deescalation. I think its going to get worse, john, before it gets worse. I just want to say on something separate, i was just told that the white house has invited congressional leaders and Key Committee chairs and ranking members to the white house for a situation room briefing on iran this afternoon. So this is continuing to move forward and they are continuing to try to loop in capitol hill which is a shift. Just a fraction of that sentence tells you what you need to know. Situation room briefing on iran at the white house. Thanks for joining us. Our coverage continues in just a moment. Breaking news here in the United States. For those here in the United States, Brianna Keilar will be here in just a minute. Have a great day. Enjoy your stay. Thanks very much. Find calm in over 1,000 airport lounges worldwide. Its another way weve got your back. 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Just moments ago President Trump was asked if the u. S. And iran are headed to war after iran shot down a u. S. Drone and Unmanned Aircraft near the persian gulf. Heres what the president said about the incident that has increased tensions in what was already a