A prior warning after they were tipped off about this missile strike from iran. Also breaking overnight, a passenger plane crashed minutes after takeoff from tehran. Several International Airlines are now avoiding iranian air space as a result of this. And obviously so many questions about the timing of this incident. We have yet to get any real answers this morning. We are digging. In the meantime, cnn covering every angle of all these breaking stories. We begin with arwa damon live in baghdad for the latest. It is daybreak in iraq right now. Theyve had a chance to assess the damage at these two air bases. What are you learning . Reporter this is really the first government response to this were getting. They received official verbal warning shortly past midnight and then communicated that to their commanders on the ground. Keeping in mind that these bases are joint bases. There are joint command centers that are shared among the iraqi, u. S. , and coalition forces. The attack happening just over an hour and a half after that initial message was delivered. Saying it would be against u. S. Military target. The ministry of defense is saying 22 strikes took place. Five of those against the erbil location. One for its attacks against u. S. Forces is that that was irans response. What we saw overnight, that was how tehran was responding to this. They are saying that going to be an iraqi response as well and that it will be in kind to the iranian one. After this, there were drones that the u. S. Launched as well in all of its locations. This is a still a region in high alert. That is still very much a country on high alert. Because lets not forget, you still have this demand coming from iraqi shia parliamentarians following that vote that took place to expel foreign forces. That American Forces are no longer welcome. That is such an important remind their this is not over. That there are all sorts of interests and people are calculating what to do next. Thank you for your reporting from the region. A televised address in iran says they gave the u. S. A, quote, slap in the face. Fred pleitgen is live with more in tehran. Reporter were also collecting a lot of information. Also collecting new video elements as well. We have video of missiles being fired early hours today. The iranians are making a major issue out of the fact that they used Ballistic Missiles to hit those targets in iraq. Essentially what the iranians are saying is it was the revolutionary guard corps and the missile troops that did this. Thats the same force that qassem soleimani, the general killed by the u. S. , was a part of. The iranians also using proxy forces to hit the u. S. In the middle east but also use their own conventional forces. Theyve long been making an issue out of the fact they spent a lot of effort, money in making their Ballistic Missile program more sophisticated and launching these attacks from iranian territory. Also, were getting new information from hasan rouhani. He tweeted and said the answer to Qassem Soleimanis death will be expelling the United States from the region. The Supreme Leader, by the way, who said the iranians gave the u. S. A slap in the face saying something similar. That iran cannot accept americas presence here in the middle east either. Now, the Iranian Foreign minister, hes also coming out and essentially what hes saying right now, i think this is important, that the iranians have done their retaliation and all of this at least this escalation can end right here. Hes saying the u. S. Needs to come to its senses and essentially saying that the ball now is in President Trumps court. Lets listen into what he had to say. We did not start this process of escalation, the United States waged an economic war against irani iran. The United States has to come to its senses. European can play a useful role by informing the United States of the serious error in their analysis. That they should stop listening to clowns. That they should base their policy based on realities and not some illusions of some clowns who have ambitions elsewhere. Reporter so there you have javad zarif with strong words for the Trump Administration and possibly mike pompeo as well. Theres been a war of roads between zarif and mike pompeo. The iranians are saying if the u. S. Does retaliate, that there is then going to be a massive retaliation from their side as well. As weve just said, they said the ball right now in the Trump Administrations court. We also heard this morning from Iranian Military heads saying that if the u. S. Retaliates, that they would be as they put it an even more crushing blow coming from their side. So still a very dangerous situation that were witnessing in the middle east. And fred, at the same time that all thats happening, what about this deadly passenger plane crash in tehran . I know you know that airport well. Yeah. I do know that airport very well. In fact, thats the airport we always fly in and out of when we go to iran and come from iran. That was one of the things that early this morning seemed almost out of this world. As we were reporting on these big hospitalities going on between the u. S. And iran. Then all of a sudden we got the message that there had been a major aviation incident, a major aviation disaster just a couple of miles down the road. We know this is a ukrainian airliner from ukrainian International Airlines. The plane itself, a boeing 737800 next generation jet is only about three and a half years old. We know that the plane took off from comkhomeini airport today. It only flew for about two minutes and crashed into an area of fields. The area down there is not like what you see behind me, those mountains. It gets into flat line when you move into that area. Its a lot of farmland, small houses. Therefore the crash site accessible at this point in time. Not clear how this came down. The ukrainians say they think it wasnt a terror attack. Now they say its unclear what caused all of this. We know many people are dead including many iranians, many canadians as well. Fred pleitgen with terrific reporting this morning. Keep us posted. Meanwhile, were waiting to hear from President Trump this morning. He will address the nation following the Iranian Missile attack on the base housing u. S. Troops. Overnight all he wrote was, all is well. Barbara starr live at the pentagon. Barbara, youve been tracking this for hours. Again, we should tell people as of now, no known casualties on the u. S. Or iraqi side. One would think that would factor into how the president addresses this. It may well do that. Because there were no casualties that we know of at this point. And that may give President Trump a little bit of room for not immediately engaging in escalation. But we dont know that as we awade what he has to say about it. If this was a wrong slap in the face strategy, there is some thinking out there that they deliberately targeted portions of these bases where they knew there would not precisely be u. S. Forces. But not clear really about that. Because these missiles are not highly accurate. And nonetheless, they target u. S. Locations. The president s tweet a late last night was interesting. Let me read part of it to everything. He says, all is well. Missiles launched from iran at bases located in iraq. Assessment of casualty and damages being taken so far. So far so good. We have the best and well equipped military anywhere in the world. I will be making a statement tomorrow morning meaning this morning. Warning iran the u. S. Has an equipped military. But the president is looking for further escalation, that may put this on a road that may be difficult to get out of. The pentagon so far waiting to see what the president decides to do. John, alisyn . Barbara, thank you very much for all of your reporting. Joining us now we have jim sciutto. , David Gregory and general john kir kirby. What are the conversations being head . Well, im certain by now theyve got a good sense of the damage that was done to the base, the extent of it. And its probably being used to help refine whatever military options that the pentagon is and has been developing for the president. So right now, im guessing theyre very much in the education mode getting smart on what happened and making sure that a, theyre prepared for anything Going Forward should the president decide to act. Properly situated for whatever tensions could come. Its possible that this isnt the end of it. Even though iran says its the end of it, it could be shia militias that act out. Im sure its on their mind right now. Lets look at what we do know this morning. Number one, it appears we know there are no known casualties either on the american or iraqi side. We know the iranians tipped off the iraqis that this attack was coming before it hit. I have to believe they would think that the iraqis would then warn the United States and we have some reporting that there was that warning to the United States. Were also getting the language suggesting from iran a willingness to pause. What is all this to tell you taken collectively . Listen. Step back from the hyperbole in both directions, frankly. And realize that iran has the ability and has a history at times of calibrating responses like this. Thats not to diminish their aggressiveness, their capabilities, et cetera. But look at past attacks. For instance, when they attack in the gulf. If they wanted to sink them, they could have. They were demonstrating their ability to strike. Here again, you have something along those lines, it seems. Demonstrating their ability to strike, to threaten u. S. And iraqi forces there. And it seems and the pentagon has some proof of this there was a deliberate attempt not to hit u. S. Forces there. Again, calibrating that response to provide the opportunity for both sides to walk this down. And ill tell you last night speaking to people inside the pentagon, the pentagon position last night was to look to see is this the extent of iranian retaliation . And if it is, that gives the u. S. And the president more options to say, well, i dont have to. He may very well decide he could have an announcement this morning saying hes going to hit back. But it gives him the option of saying this is as far as they went. We established their strength and deterrence. They delivered their response. And we could leave it at that for now. That was at least the posture in the pentagon last night. And that is what would happen if President Trump were predictable or readable. But as we know, he sometimes doesnt do what the traditional route would be. What do you see politically . Well, no president would be entirely predictable in this moment. I think this president even more so, right . Even more unpredictable. But i think that john and jim are right. First of all, there may be more attacks coming. But if for now there is some breathing room, thats good on all sides. If the president i suspect the president is going to come out, hes not going to be soft on this. I think hell have a strong warning at the very least if hes not going to announce any additional action. But i think this question is what im really looking at. General petraeus said on the outset that perhaps the best scenario would be they would install some deterrence. Iran has been provocative over a long period of time and the United States has not responded. You could use a lot of adjectives against soleimani. But it may even the Playing Field a little bit. I dont know this is the end of it. The question is what two things. What message does the president want to send now . Does he feel he has breathing room. And what is the strategy . What are americans being asked to understand about the iranian thre threat . Perhaps sacrifice. Lets not forget a lot of u. S. Troops now moving back into the region. I want to tell you we just got word mark milley has arrived at the white house. Would expect that to happen given the president is about to address the nation shortly about what his response might be to this Iranian Missile attack. Look, the iranians said this is their proportionate response to the killing of general soleimani. And concluded. And concluded. That may cover the overt missile strikes from the regime itself. I think one would be naive to expect that it covers the next weeks, months, perhaps even years from the iranian proxies all over the world. Yeah. Thats right, john. I mean, look iran prop ser not monolithic in the way we sort of think about our government. I mean, the Supreme Leader and the revolutionary guard sort of are on their own timetable and to their own ends often at times with the elected government, the rouhani government. It seems to me that the soleimani strike has unified irans governors. Going forward in the days and weeks to come, its possible that the quds force could take action that is not fully in the government. And of course iran has a sophisticated cyber capability. I dont want to be doomsday here, but i think and i suspect that general milley is very aware of all of this. And part of his message to the president , im sure last night and this morning, is we still have to stay alert. We still have to stay vigilant. Even though tehran says this is the end, it doesnt mean it necessarily is. Im struck by what the question David Gregory raised which is what is the end game. If President Trump doesnt want them to have nuclear weapons. Got it. But we dont seem to be closer to that goal today. Further away. The president hasnt articulated what it is. Today as theyve now broken the agreement after the u. S. Withdrew from the agreement, theyre closer. Okay. As a bottom line here, is the u. S. Safer today . You can argue its less safe today. Where does the president want to go with this . Now, the president in recent months sent signals out hed be willing to talk to iran. Lets negotiate a new deal. Iran has rejected those claims. So is iran more or less likely to sit down at the table with the Trump Administration after the killing of soleimani. Your guess is as good as mine. Mr. President , if youre listening, what is the end game . And how does and crucially how do you plan to get from where we are today. Its confused at this point, david. Weve been getting mixed signals. The president wants to withdraw troops from iraq, were actually sending more. Lets go back to the end of the bush administration. They worked with russia to try to contain iran, to contain a nuclear program. There were hardliners including Vice President cheney and john bolton who was then ambassador to the u. N. Who actually wanted to bomb iran, who wanted to strike potential Nuclear Sites in iran. The president didnt want anything to do with it. You move forward. You have an Obama Administration that negotiates a deal. The president pulls out of that deal. Hes offered unconditional talks with iran. Its proxy force influence. To get to the negotiating table, it all goes to the question what is the strategy. As we know, were going to hear from the president shortly on this. Were going to listen to every word he says very carefully. Cnns coverage of the breaking news continues right after this. But one blows them all out of the water. Hydro boost with hyaluronic acid to plump skin cells so it bounces back. Neutrogena® and for body. Hydro boost body gel cream. This rounds on me. Eat. So it bounces back. Hey, can you spot me . Come on in. Find your place today, with silversneakers. Included in most Medicare Advantage plans. Enroll today by calling the number on your screen or visit getsilversneakers. Com and with the sXfinity Stream app, screen is your big screen. Which is free with your service, you can take a spin through on demand shows, or stream live tv. Download your dvrd shows and movies on the fly. Even record from right where you are. Whether youre travelling around the country or around the house, keep what you watch with you. Download the Xfinity Stream app and watch all the shows you love. All right. Were waiting to hear from President Trump. He will address the nation this morning after the Iranian Missile attack on bases housing u. S. Troops in iraq. Joining me now is michelle flourn flournoy. She was a principle adviser to secretaries gates and panetta. So youve been there assessing situations like this. You watched what happened overnight. You told us yesterday the iranians are pretty overt in the signals that they send to the world with their words and actions. So how do you read what happened last night . No known u. S. Casualtiies and te iranians did warn iraq this attack was coming. I think this was a calibrated move by iran. I think they had to save face by retaliating in some way for the strike against soleimani. But i think they were also very careful. And i dont think i think if they wanted to kill americans and iraqis last night, there were actions they could have taken and didnt take. So i think the fact that there were no casualties gives President Trump the opportunity to throw the Circuit Breaker on this particular cycle of escalation. And to push the pause butt top and to create the breathing spate before he and stop the sort of risk of immediate conflict with iran. Were waiting to hear from President Trump himself. What does that look like here . Reiterate the basis for the tenderness but he also needs to lay out a strategy. What are we trying to achieve . Weve been using sanctions. Weve used military measures. But, you know, where is the diplomacy . Where is the engagement with iraq, with the alleys in the region with iran to achieve our fundamental objectives. What is the strategy as several of your commentators have shown . I also think its important time for this administration to up its game in the National Security Decision Making process. Do a better job of vetting the options that are presented to the president. Making sure he understands potential second and third order consequences and risks. So that any future tactical action he takes, hes fully aware of the strategic implications. Its not clear that was done in this recent move. No, we dont know it was done. But another way of looking at that, though is this is the ultimate iranian response to the u. S. Action. Its not that big of a cost. A missile attack with no u. S. Casualties, is that that big of a cost for taking out the second most powerful person in iran . It isnt. And thats why i think wed be wise to take advantage of this and throw that Circuit Breaker. But we should as others have said, this is not over yet. Iran has historically, you know, always been prepared to use covert deniable options, service attacks, proxies. And you can be sure theyre continuing with their attack planning looking at every u. S. Embassy in the region, every u. S. Ship in the region. Saying if we need to, how do we take action against those . So its not over. But in President Trumps court, he has an opportunity to create a moment of pause where we can get our ducks in the row. And i think he owes the American People a clear strategy. What do you think the objective should be with iran . Look. I think we need to try to reduce irans in the region. And ultimately contain their nuclear program. Those objectives have been quite clear. But we have to engage with them. We have to be able to put something on the table. They have to have an off ramp from the crippling sanctions theyve been experiencing in order to give up something, to accept some of the constraints were seeking. What is the negotiation strategy . So far theres been no plan, no diplomacy, no effort in that regard. And we have to bring our allies with us. Because this wont work if we try to do it on our own. Its been great having you on the show. Helping us understand this moment before our eyes. Thank you for being with us. Donald Trump Campaigned for office, youll remember, promising to run the u. S. Government like a business. Has he done that . Is this how a successful business would deal with iran . Everything your trip needs for everyone you love. Expedia. For everyone you love. You always want to be able to for your patients. F get them out of pain, get them out of pain fast. We have a new product out there sensodyne rapid relief. If you use it on monday, by thursday, youll be enjoying that Chocolate Ice Cream again. They can start it, and 3 days later, i know that theyre going to have the results they were looking for. If iran does anything they shouldnt be doing, theyre going to suffer consequences and strongly. That was President Trump yesterd yesterday. So how do voters feel about how theyve explain eed tharks acti . One wrote, almost every trump voter i met in 2016 said it is time to someone to run government like a business. The government is a mess. No ceo could keep their job amid such chronic dysfunction. Joining me now is tim alberta, the chief Political Correspondent for politico and author of american carnage on the front lines of the American Civil War and the rise of President Trump. When you wrote that tweet, you were responding to this pentagon memo or memo from a general saying the United States are suggesting theyll withdraw u. S. Troops from that country. Then the pentagon said it was a mistake. The president had to back track on targeting cultural sites in iran. Its that type of commenting you were talking about. But tell us more about what you see as the chronic turmoil and dysfunction. Yeah, john. Thats just the most recent example of it. I think obviously you go back to the opening days of this administration with, you know, infighting within the west wing over whether to respond to crowd size at the inauguration. And how that sort of produced these very memorable exchanges within the administration. Inner agency exchanges over who was tweeting out that president obama had larger crowd sizes and the president ultimately sending out his press secretary to lie to the American People. You go about a week later and the travel ban that was announced about the handful of majority muslim countries. And that executive order was signed by the president with no advanced notice, no interagency coordination with doj, dhs, state department. Nobody knew what was going on. You had the people who are in the highest ranking positions of the u. S. Government who are supposed to be handling and implementing and sort of dealing with the nuances of how you approach such a strategy, how you implement it effectively. How you can communicate between departments and make sure on the ground people understand what theyre doing. Instead, you have mass chaos, mass confusion. People stranded at airports and on airplanes all over the world. Nobody in the tsa knows what to do with any of these people. You go to health care a few months later with the president after the legislative failures to respond to the Affordable Care act sort of waving unilaterally signaling he might strip health care from millions of people. And obviously the situation at the southern border producing the longest shutdown in government history. 35 days during which nobody in government had any idea what was going to break this impasse. There was no real negotiation between the parties at the table. So this has been sort of an underlying theme of the entire administration which is that most of the folks, even folks in the west wing who are loyal to the president , at the end of the day they will tell you theyll leave work and say, geez, what just happened . We have no idea how to make sense of any of this. Our friend Ron Brownstein writes it may come from whether they look at all of this. It translates into everything youre talking about. Whether they view the president as impulsive or decisive. If its impulsive meaning he makes snap judgments without thinking it through, that could hurt him. Decisive, the opposite. How do you see it . As always, ron is a lot smarter than me. I think thats a good framing for it. To be clear, john, the president himself does not shy away from that labeling of impulsive. He owns the fact that he is impulsive. His bet is that people respect or at least in some cases some of our enemies, foreign enemies, that they are fearful of his impulsiveness. When you look at this showdown with iran, there is this theory in the white house that there is a certain level of deterrence achieved. Obviously when you get to domestic issues such as the president tweeting out that strans gender people will be banned from the military or whatever it might be, that impulsiveness has serious consequences. I think they could be adverse consequences for him politically. I think one of the underlying themes is the idea of exhaustion. That somehow voters will be exhausted with the Trump Presidency and could turn on the president. Bennett ran on this most overtly suggesting he would be boring. But i think the Biden Campaign to an extent is relying on that also. Do you see that as a theme and is that a concern inside the Trump Campaign . It is a bit of a theme. I dont think anyone has been as explicit as senator bennett was. He said, look. If you elect me president , you can rest assured that for a week or two at a time, you wont hear anything about the white house. Right . You wont even know im president half the time. Which is one way of putting it, obviously, but there are other democrats in the field who are sort of making that same argument. Like, look. Everybody just needs to take a nap and sort of chill out. This is too much happening on a daily basis. I think the more effective message for some of these democrats to our earlier conversation might just be this idea that, look. Whether you are a democrat or a republican, there is a issue of core competition here. Is the government being run in an effective, responsive, competent way . And its difficult for the president s staunchest defenders to say, yes, that is the case. When you look at historic amount of turnover within the administration, i mean, how many high ranking cabinet officials and chiefs of staff will leave in the first, you know, 36 months of an administration . Some of them going out the door and speaking, you know, retroactively about that dysfunction within the white house before voters finally take notice of it. The thing is, john, we havent heard democrats hitting on that theme specifically. I wonder if they will. Joe biden in the last 24 hours has begun to use the word incompetence. Itd be interesting to see how he leans on that. Tim, always an education when youre here. Thanks. All right, john. This afternoon congress will be briefed on the intelligence behind the missile strike that killed irans top general. How are the president ial candidates responding to the military action in the middle east . What i love most about being a scientist at 3m is that im part of a community of problem solvers. We make ideas grow. 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Five democratic president ial candidates will be briefed today by the white house on iran. One of them, senator elizabeth warren, held a rally in brooklyn yesterday. She was joined by former candidate Julian Castro and cnns m. J. Lee is here with more. Tell us what we need to know about this dynamic duo now. The Iowa Caucuses are just around the corner and Foreign Policy is suddenly front and center in the 2020 democratic primary. Several senators in the race will be in washington today where they will be briefed on iran. One of those Senators Elizabeth Warren was here last night. She was campaigning with Julian Castro the former housing secretary who endorsed warren just this week after ending his own white house campaign. Just moments before that event began last night in brooklyn, the news of the missile strike in iraq was breaking. Both castro and warren addressed the situation at the top of their remarks. Senator warren calling this a sober moment and offering prayers for u. S. Military personnel. Heres what she said. This is a reminder why we need to deescalate tension in the middle east. The American People do not want a war with iran. So theres no question that the situation in the middle east has injected some uncertainty into the 2020 race just as some voters are preparing to make some lastminute decisions on who to support for president. All right, thanks very much for that. Weve got some new cnn reporting in moments ago. There is now a growing sense within the pentagon that iran intentionally missed areas with u. S. Troops when they fired Ballistic Missiles at those bases inside iraq. So what will we hear from the president when he addresses this shortly . Stay with us. I thought i was managing my moderate to severe Crohns Disease. Then i realized something was missing. Me. My symptoms were keeping me from being there. So, i talked to my doctor and learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of Crohns Disease after trying other medications. 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Trump Administration Officials say there is a growing belief that irans missile strike on two iraqi air bases last night intentionally missed areas populated by u. S. Forces. That suggests the attack was meant to send a message to the u. S. But not cause casualties. Joining us is democratic senator joe manchin. Good morning. Good morning, alisyn. How are you . Im doing well. So Many Americans are waking up feeling rattled about what happened last night. How do you assess this Iranian Missile strike . Ive thought about this an awful lot. And its very concerning. Its very serious and its very dangerous whats happening right now. The world is very unstable. Not just the middle east but the entire world. Theyre looking for that leadership. Ive said this before. To be the only superpower in the world takes more than just super military might. Takes more than just super military or super financial promise, if you will. It takes super diplomatic responsibilities. This is when this has to kick in. The world is looking for this type of leadership. This type of stability and we are the ones theyve always turned to. Weve got to show that now. Weve got to be able to sit down, work through this and show through military might were serious. I think thats been shown. Does that mean that President Trump should do nothing today or should he retaliate somehow . Sdwhat it no, retaliation is not if they are sending a signal out that weve shown and weve saved face with what theyve done. Theres no american casualties, we knew there was going to be an imminent strike of some sort. We have no casualties, thank god for that. Think about the families and military people we have on the front lines right now. Should they not be our first and foremost because theyre in harms way immediately. Weve got to think about that also. But with that, we have to be determined not to leave that area and be run out of the area. We cant just turn tail and run. Thats for sure. The stability of iraq and the middle east depends on america having forces that basically can help direct, bring some calmness and some also some stability to that area. Us leaving is not going to do that. How do you want to see President Trump respond today to the missile attack last night . I think the president President Trump can say that were serious about this. Theres no doubt about soleimani. There is no mourning in america for soleimani. There should not be. This man was a horrible terrorist. He supported terrorists from his early days in 1979 being a College Student up to present. Worked his way up to the number two man in the iran regime, if you will. It showed the support that he has. It showed the massive outpouring and mourning that went on for his death. We should understand that, recognize that, but also we should be resolved enough now to start saying, we are serious about this. Were not going to allow people attacking and killing americans, plotting to kill. Im anxious to see the meeting today at 2 00 with the top brass, if you will, to find out what the imminent threat was knrp it was necessary to do what we did in such an open way, to send were we sending a message when we did it the first time to where we hit a strike such as this and then went on and took credit for it and bragged about it . I want to find bought it. Thats concerning. On that note, congresswoman jackie spear called that an epic Foreign Policy blunder. She said it was not persuadable. It was too vague. If you find if what you see today is not persuadable, what do you do then . Well, iran has never been on the front this is one of the first times theyve taken credit for it. Theyve always used proxies before and i assume they still have their proxies and there may be proxies they have no control over. If we think this is one and done, shame on us for not being prepared. Anything can happen now in any parts of that world and especially that part of the world and the middle east. So i would see something in syria, in iraq, in afghanistan or any of the areas troubled right now or the middle east as we know it. So im not prepared to say theyre one and done. Theyve sent their message and everything is hunkydory. I want to find out, what is the end game . What are we preparing for . What we are assuming might happen, and what are we prepared to do about it. Hopefully well find out today. Maybe youll find out today but for everything President Trump has said, do you know what the Trump Administration strategy is with iran . No. What do you think the end game is . No, i do not and we have not been told. We should be. We havent been. The thing ive said is the president has the responsibility to protect our country and every citizen in america. Everyone. Thats his responsibility. So if theres an imminent strike, he has that authority and responsibility to do so. He did what he thought, i guess what he thought, was right and the way to handle that. He does not have the right to take us to war. Thats congress. And any administration, any president that believes they can do that oversteps their boundary. Its not in the constitution. Its not who we are as a country. Were all in this together, democrats, republicans. Its not about politics. Its about our country. I like my president , but i love my country. And thats what were talking about. Senator, i want to ask you about whats happening with the Senate Impeachment trial. You have called for a fair and impartial trial in the senate. Thats what you want to see. Is that what you think you are going to get . Well, alisyn, the president has been very open in saying that, hey, i cant get a fair trial in the house. Controlled by the democrats so im not going to get a fair trial. I want a fair trial. Im going to make sure he gets a fair trial in the senate. How do you expect us to have a trial . How do you expect me to make a decision and to be able to vote one way or the other if i dont have witnesses and if i dont have any evidence at all. Theyre trying to say whatever the house did, well work with that. The president just said thats not fair. Make sure if we have a person such as john bolton had firsthand information that wants to testify and i cant see how anybody, democrat or republican, cannot vote to have john bolton testify, whether a deposition, whatever, under oath so that we have the evidence firsthand, thats what i want to see. If we dont get that, then its a sham of a trial. If you dont hear from john bolton, it will not be a fair trial . I dont see how it can be. The person next to the president , a person close and personal that has firsthand information. Everything up till now has been pretty circumstantial. I know in a court of law basically in a trial, if you will, an impeachment, weve heard prosecutors say they could, you know, have a ham sandwich and be indicted. Well, this is not a ham sandwich. This is the most serious thing any of us can do. If you dont take this responsibility, if its not serious, then shame on all of us. If you dont want to see the evidence to make an intelligent, informed decision, then you dont intend to have a trial whatsoever. Do you think nancy pelosi should withhold the articles of impeachment until shes guaranteed there will be witnesses . I dont think no, now i dont. I would never secondguess what Speaker Pelosi her intent and what shes doing. I think shes working in the most prudent manner she possibly can, but i think now that john bolton has come forward, if that has helped this to happen, then we should move on. I think its time to turn the articles over. Lets see where the senate can take it and hopefully we will have a trial with witnesses. And they want to go through their first step and that first step is saying that were going to handle this the way the clinton impeachment was handled. This is completely different. We never sat down as a group right now. Weve not gone in to the Old Senate Chambers and sat down as 100 members of colleagues as americans. Not democrats and republicans teaming up and picking sides. Weve not done that to find out how we conduct ourselves in the most civil manner. So thats not been done. If youre comparing this to what they did in 1999, completely different. If you want to go there first and then we have the vote on, okay, now do we hear from john bolton and whoever else had firsthand knowledge to make sure the president said hes innocent . Lets find out and make sure we do it the right way. If there were a vote today in the senate to acquit or convict President Trump from what youve heard, thus far, from what came out of the hour, how would you vote . I dont know how you could even take a vote today with what we have right now. How you could take a vote and not having the witnesses and evidence in front of us. I think its a sham of a thing. I think its basically just where the public is saying, see, i told you it was all about politics. Lets do it and do it right. Let the public have transparency. Be the rule of the day. Thats what really should happen. It would be speculating to say any more on those lines until i see the facts. Senator joe manchin, we appreciate you coming on and covering all these topics. Good to be with you. Our breaking news continues right now. This is cnn breaking news. Good morning. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is new day. Its wednesday, january 8th, 8 00 in the east. We begin with major breaking news. President trump is set to address the nation this morning after iran fired Ballistic Missiles at two bases housing u. S. Troops in iraq. This is new video from iranian media supposedly showing a launch of those missiles from western iran. At this time, there are no known casualties. No known casualties. And just in to cnn, multiple officials in the administration tell cnn that there is a growing belief within the pentagon that iran intentionally missed areas populated by americans. They missed on purpose, these officials say. They are floating the idea that iran may have chosen to send a message and not provoke a major u. S. Military response. A short time ago, irans Supreme Leader addressed his nation saying they gave the United States, quote, a slap in the face. Irans foreign minister insists its now up to the u. S. To come to its senses. Were waiting to see how the president responds this morning. Also breaking overnight, a ukrainianng
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