Irans current current president Hassan Rouhani is among leaders promising revenge for the generals death. We need to find out exactly what that revenge means. I want to bring in mustafa with the Washington Post qwest. Mustafa, you are on the ground. How bad is it now . How bad is it going to get . Right now the situation in baghdad is very tension. People in baghdad are nervous. The whole regime is about to be changed. Everybody knows that Something Big is going to happen. Iraq is between the u. S. And iran. The people always knew that this was about to happen, but it was only an assumption, but now after this strike and killing two Senior Leaders who are backed by iran and the people who are in the militia in iran and the whole region now it is a reality. All right. Mustafa, stay safe where you are. Lets take you back to the u. S. Lets take you back to hans nichols. He is traveling, and eamon mohadin. We knew his name, we knew his awful work, but very few people here actually know who general suleimani is, but in terms of the actual threat, Osama Bin Laden versus suleimani to the American People, how do they compare . Very different to be honest with you. Although they would make the argument that Qasem Suleimani would be considered a terrorist foreign. He is a member of a sovereign state and a member of the military force and a state actor, so to speak, but he did, no doubt have influence in a lot of nonstate actors in the region and that is where a lot of americans would be concerned about what he was doing in the region because through his paramilitary proxies in countries like lebanon, syria and iraq. Particularly in iraq throughout the American Invasion in the country, he led the Paramilitary Forces that were carrying out some of the these attacks against American Forces and killing them, but at the same time, just to give you a sense of how complex and complicated of a man he was. He also led those same Paramilitary Forces to fight the iraqi forces. Hes a person that led forces against america and also against americas enemies including isis and al qaeda. To simply brush him off and say hes been removed from the battlefield as mike pompeo has claimed this morning as a result of the imminent attack raises a whole lot of questions about the legality of the attack ask raises questions about the american strategy against the attack in the region moves it to a safer place or not. You are hearing the Trump Administration make the case that america is safer today as a result of this. A lot of people would say no, america and its allies as a result of this killing are probably not that much safer in the long run. What kind of a response do you expect from iran . So theres a few ways to look at it. In the short term, probably not much. Iran has demonstrated that theyre going to replace Qasem Suleimani within the quds force. To suggest it has the ability to replenish all of the leaders that the United States may begin to target or may say it is going after. So there is that aspect of it. The other point to this is what happens in the days and the decade ahead and here iran is unlikely to go to war with america. Theyve never wanted to go into a direct, symmetrical war against the United States. They are the rational actor and the assessment of the military government and they know they can go up against the military gun for gun or pound for pound, but they do know they have an advantage in the asymmetrical warfare. They can hit installations in the gulf which they have demonstrated they can. They can empower proxies to go after american citizen, american interests, diplomatic facilities as we saw this weekend. Our Baghdad Embassy was thought of as being impenetrable, our largest embassy in a hostile country. We thought we had it against strong, selfdefense capabilities and it was overrun in the course of one day as a result of the iranian being bahhed militias on the ground. We are vulnerable to the asymmetrical warfare especially if you consider cyber warfare and economical warfare. Keep in mind, iran has thought of itself as being at war with america now for the better part of 40 years, since 1979. But for the American People who dont consider it, what should we consider now . So america this morning has taken a step closer to engaging in this direct war with iran. Americans this morning are wake up saying on one hand, are we safer and the longterm answer is probably not. Not given where we were a couple of years ago and not the trajectory of what were going now with the escalation with iran. Hans nichols, i spoke last night with a former pentagon policy adviser in both the bush and Obama Administration who said its not a new idea to take out suleimani and Previous Administration quickly dismissed it given how complicated it is and the risks of retaliation. What do we know about what went into the president s decision to approve this air strike now . Reporter well, initially there had been an imminent threat in the region according to mike pompeo and we just heard from the president and he seems to be expanding the rationale for killing suleimani. This is partly retribution and retaliation for what suleimani did in the iraq war and hes being blamed for millions of deaths in iraq and iran. Up until this point, the president tweeted it had been about preemptive selfdefense. Thats a very defined legal doctrine under International Law which is clearly when you read closely what the pentagon was putting out, that was their argument. That was their justification. So you have slightly mixed messages coming out with the latest tweet from the president. I should note they just called in the White House Press corps a lunch lid. What that means we are unlikely to hear from the president until we hear from that rally in miami and he obviously has access to twitter. One other quick point and pompeo seems to be suggesting this is a discreet action and weve restored this balance of deterrence. The president with his earlier tweet talking about war seems to be expanding it and going in a different direction now. They may be using different channels to be sending different messages, but its not entirely consistent at this hour in the morning. Stephanie . Eamon, how do you read that tweet from the president. Iran has never won a war, and never i dont want to speculate whats in the president s heads. They are very proud people and very nationalistic, if there was ever a moment or sense that perhaps the United States was trying to exploit internal divisions within iran, moderate versus hardliner, some of this political unrest domestically, you can put all of that aside right now, because iran is very much rallying behind the country. There are massive funeral processions that will take place over the next couple of days and the count real unify behind its leadership in a way nobody could have designed except a killing of this magnitude. I dont know what in the world the president is talking about when he says iran has never has never won a war and never won a negotiation. We can kiss that goodbye. Theres no way what iran has gone through, economic starvation, economic war and having the general killed will say lets go back and talk about jcpoa. Lets bring in former assistant secretary of state under president obama and also the author of red line. American Foreign Policy at a time of failed states qwest. Elise labott has reported on Foreign Policy and currently a resident at Georgetown University of foreign service. Secretary pompeo was very clear this morning. He said the u. S. Reduced risk by killing the general. Do you agree . I dont agree. I certainly, from a military standpoint, if youre in a conflict attacking the military command structure of your opponent is legitimate objective, but but this certainly has to be seen as an escalation and we are clearly in danger of taking what has been an economic and political conflict with iran and moving it more actively into a shooting war. The question here is will iran retaliate at some point . It has to and then what does the United States do . Were moving up the ladder of escalation and theres no clear off ramp in sight. Elise, can you argue this will lessen irans influence in the region . No because the Iran Revolutionary guard corps is a very powerful figure not only in the Iranian Security establishment, but throughout the whole iranian economy, and so as the iranians said they will certainly replace suleimani. I mean, it is a significant blow to iran. Theres nobody in the middle east that has really shaped the landscape of the region like suleimani has over the last 20 years or so, but i dont necessarily, i think at this point iran has nothing to lose as ayman just said before, the idea of negotiation and cooling the temperatures is really a pipe dream and the question now is i spoke to officials this morning and they are expecting a response. I spoke to one official who said guaranteed there will be some type of response on american interests and facilities. I think the question is will the u. S. Absorb the blow, take the hit and say we are expecting a response or are we going to see this kind of cycle of escalation on this asymmetrical war, this proxy war in the region. Will it just be some kind of u. S. Diplomatic facility . Probably not. It could be where the u. S. Svrnt looking and it could be like saudi arabia, like uae and israel. If iranians shoot down a u. S. Dren thats one thing, but if more americans are killed, its a new day in the middle east and it will be a hot weekend and a couple of weeks ahead. P. J. , some are calling this an assassination. The department of defense calling it an act of selfdefense. What do you say . It probably is both. Certainly, as we know, he has american blood on his hands. Hes been an actor in the region for some time. Directly or indirectionallly. Hes responsible for the deaths of hundreds of americans and it is a terrorist organization and it means that their leadership is fair game. At the same time he is a figure. Hes a state figure as ayman was saying a minute ago and hes a state figure in a country with which we do not have a formal declaration of war. So its part of the actual complexity here, and it raises the question as to what the Trump Administration policy is. Its at odds with each other in the case that the president said many times he wants to get out of the middle east and at the same time this action, at least in the foreseeable future will lead to a deeper confrontation with iran. Elise, i want to play a part of what secretary pompeo said this morning on cnn on how he believe it is the people of the region are going to react. We have every expectation the people not only in iraq, but in iran will view the American Action as giving them freedom. Freedom to have the opportunity for success and prosperity for their nations and while the Political Leadership may not want that, the people in these nations will demand it. Do you agree with him . I think that it reflects a lack of understanding not only of secretary pompeo, but of the administration and irans influence in the region. I dont think anybody could argue that its not a good thing that suleimani is gone, that hes dead, but the question is what happens to the region now . There are the saudis, the uae and everyone is calling the u. S. And saying whats going to happen now . The u. N. Envoy to yemen Martin Griffiths called up the administration this morning and saying how is this going to affect yemen . There will be these tectonic shifts in the region. I think people might say that he was a dangerous figure, but i dont think they are celebrating right now today, and certainly theyre wondering about how this is going to affect them next. When pompeo says we expect that nations will salute us. Thats the message that theyre sending to the allies this morning according to officials, but i think it will be very interesting to see who comes out and applauds the United States. When that attack happened on the u. S. Embassy, one of the closest allies, uae has not even condemned it yet. Everyone is quaking in their boots right now. P. J. , you definitely have a view on this. Secretary pompeo said its essentially too dangerous to do nothing. Previous president s are in worst shape because they didnt take this guy out. The Trump Administration and the president himself has prided himself on a number of occasions prided himself in taking steps that others havent in the region. The real question is have we thought through the broader implications of this. In the short term we may lose influence with a very difficult and uncertain political situation in iraq. Weve now taken two actions that i think are clearly going to be unpopular. Saudi arabia may well salute us, israel may well salute us, but to the extent that the broader policy of the United States is to confront iran, but also bring iran back to the table its hard to see how this action in and of itself makes that challenge easier. It actually in the short to midterm makes that challenge much harder. P. J. , and elise, thank you so much. Well take a quick break. When we come back, iran has promised to respond to the killing of Qasem Suleimani. What could be their next target . What do we have in the region at risk . Arget . What do we have in the region at risk uleimani. Im steve me rule. We are continuing our coverage of breaking news out of the middle east. General Qasem Soleimani, irans top intelligence commander who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of americans over the last 20 years. This morning the big question on the minds of millions of americans who are waking up to this news, what now . What does it mean us to . Courtney joins me now from the pentagon. Courtney, we are waiting to see irans next move, but what do we know about the United States next steps in the region . Right now the u. S. Military and intelligence are scouring various threat streams. This is the way they gather intelligence to see where iran or iranian proxies may be looking to lash out. Theyre focusing on three main things. Number one, u. S. Military installations in diplomatic posts overseas in the region and beyond, are they strengthened . Are they hardened and are there new and specific threats against any of them. Number two, cyber. Iran has a very advanced and capable cyber capability that the u. S. Has already been victim to in many ways. Theyre looking to see if theyre trying to attack in any way u. S. Infrastructure, allies, anything in the cyber realm and the third is the commercial threat. Iran has shown an ability and a desire to attack commercial locations in the region in tankers in the gulf and the strait of hormuz, the large attack on saudi aramco only several months ago and those are the three main areas they are focusing on now, steph. Stay in the region. What American Properties or places are there that could be targeted . Theres a number of them and they are large installations. So if we look at just the military assets, there is an enormous base at al udid in qatar, its where most of the u. S. Operations are run out of. Pretty much all of them are run out of there. The u. S. Has an enormous naval presence in manama. The u. S. Fleet is there. There are a number of installations that iran can strike from inside iran against the u. S. Right now. Theyve had that capability and now the question is is the killing of Qasem Soleimani and another iranianbocked proxy forces, is that the trigger that will lead them to strike some of these locations. There are a number of them in the region, syria, iraq, all throughout, steph. Thank you, Courtney Kube. I want to bring in the Washington Post reporter, and the Vice President for the National Program at third way and john gantz from the university of pennsylvanias perry world house Global Policy center and auth offer white house warriors. Mr. Gantz, to you first. What are you watching for in the region in the coming days . I think weve just seen a big event. So what you will see now is that nobody could have predicted where we would be a week ago and i dont think anyone can predict where well be a week from now. We can see changes in iran and conflicts in syria, yemen and elsewhere and we can see other actors taking action. So i think what we worry about in these situations in these high, unknown situations is that the president has got to digest a tremendous amount of information and a tremendous number of evolutions and make sort of solid decisions and thats something that President Trump has struggled to do in part because hes undermined some of the things that help president s sleep at night, whether its the credibility of american alliances. Whether its america backing treaties and International Law and even the credibility and morale of american troops and american bureaucrats in his war against the deep state. The things that should help us sleep at night in one of these highly unknown, highrisk situations is that president has taken steps to undermine. Thats what i want to try to understand. Mr. Hudson, the state department is putting out a warning urging all u. S. Citizens to depart iraq immediately. How dig of a deal is that . Well, its a very big deal. As you can see by the wording, it is a very urgent warning, its saying if you cant make it to the airport in time then get out of the country by land. It is absolutely in a onedge situation over there and the big question many people are asking, is there going to be a full Evacuation Order of the embassy. Ive been talking to diplomats for the last 24 hours, some of whom are very worried about the situation in baghdad. They are a really soft target at this point, and so the u. S. Is making every sign and the state department is making every sign to make clear that this is a situation where personnel, our diplomatic personnel and military personnel in iraq specifically, but across the region are in an extremely grave situation and thats why theres such a high alert going on as courtney said, the analysis is going on so officials can be on top of any potential attack that may be in the offing. Mika, some experts are saying throw out the history books. Richard haas says this could be a different kind of war. Any war with iran will not look like the 1993 gulf war or the 2003 gulf wars. It will be fought throughout the region with a wide range of tools versus a wide range of civilian, economic and military targets. The region and possibly the world will be the battlefield. Thats an overwhelming statement. I think it would be a mistake to underestimate irans capabilities and what they can do. People may remember the samsam cyber attack that crippled the city of atlanta. That was iranian in origin. So its not just americans in the region that are at risk and it is possible that iran can use its cyber capability in ways that actually impact americans here at home. Iran certainly feels the need to do Something Big and dramatic in response to this, given how influential soleimani was within its government. John gantz, as you said, we dont know what the future could hold, but given how grave this is, given the response from iran and what a figure soleimani was, how should the u. S. Be preparing. Im sure the militarys doing which is hardening its targets, as mika just made clear, the cyber threat is significant. Theyve affected military systems, as well, including the navy systems and previous attacks and its one of those things where this is a sort of one of these new types of threats and to a degree of multidimensional threat that the United States has to sort of think about and the question right now, i think, everybody is looking at is how much did those third, fourth, fifth order consequences get through before the attack was launched and one would assume that iran would escalate in kind and maybe in a different way. I want to share a bit more of what secretary pompeo said this morning speaking out on fox news about the strike. Lets watch. The risk of doing nothing was enormous. Enormous in the short term, in terms of the imminent attack that Qasem Soleimani was plotting, but also highly risky and doing nothing in the region is showing weakness and emboldens iran. Mika, do you agree with that assessment . Doing nothing and taking out soleimani, theres a wide range between the two. There is a wide range between the two and the u. S. Was doing a lot to arm allies in iraq who could actually counter iransponsored militias inside iraq. We were fighting a proxy war with i rabe where each of us were arming people on our side, but by striking soleimani weve dispensed with the proxies and now its the potential of going head to head to the countries and it is a big escalation in this conflict. What do you think . Imagine what would happen if the United States suffered the loss and the assassination of a fourstar general . This is uncharted territory to some extent. Weve talked a lot about the different means that iran has in terms of different forms of asymmetrical warfare, but thats something that the United States has dealt with iran for a long time. We know theyve had Cyber Capabilities and weve known they had proxy forces in the region. In this case, were talking about direct lethality with iranian officials. In this case, extremely Senior Iranian official and when it comes to preparations you have to consider anything is on the table at this point and thats what makes this situation so dangerous. Mr. Gantz, youre right. It is entering interest a New Territory and people are right to assume that iran will step things up. This is one where weve seen this tit for tat with iran and its the trump Foreign Policy. What makes this interesting is the timing because leaders in tehran know and read the newspaper just like everybody else and the president s facing not only a heady and strong reelection challenge heading into 2020. Hes facing trial and impeachment in the senate so its a very interesting time and one that sort of iranians hold a lot of power to try and make life more difficult and make those two situations both reelection and impeachment more challenging for President Trump. Mika, do you agree with that . I do. I think part of the challenge with our divided politics is even if america had decided that it was worth taking out soleimani, this president has a very hard time pulling together the National Consensus so people are prepared for and willing to accept the consequences here. Soleimani was certainly a threat to the troops in the region, but he cant build the consensus he needs not only among the American People, but among our allies who hes alienated at almost every turn. John hudson, john gantz, thank you all so much. Another place the strike is hitting are the markets. The markets are open right now. Moments ago we heard the bell ring down at the New York Stock Exchange where i want to bring in my friend and colleague don chu from cnbc headquarters. We know oil is spiking, but walk us through it soup to nuts. Soup to nuts, its extensive and your last panel emphasized just how important this is. Many experts say that Qasem Soleimani is the number two guy in all of iran. With this killing, markets have entered a new stage of uncertainty into 2020 amidst Everything Else thats uncertain right now. So like you said, oil prices front and center. Whats curious about the oil price argument right now is oil prices, by many measures might be even higher. Remember, when the saudi facilities for aramco were attacked in September Brent crude prices jumped by 18 before settling down. When you assassinate the number two guy in iran, why are not oil prices doing more . The other thing were watching is defense contractors. Oftentimes when there is a high specter not just in the middle east, but around the world youll see Companies Like general dynamics, lockheed martin, Northrop Grumman all rise in prices and theyre doing that again this morning. The opposite of that is the safety trade. When there is the specter of more military conflict especially in the middle east people tend to flock towards assets they perceive as safe. Were talking about gold. Gold prices are higher. They flock towards the safety of u. S. Government bonds so treasury prices are rising, Interest Rates are falling. All of those ripple effects are playing out right now. Like i said, the curious part, though is we see a dow thats down 340, 350 points to start for the day. A lot of folks would have said why arent the markets down even more given the fact that the iran element in this whole geopolitical risk is very much heightened. We dont know what the retaliation is going to be and there is no doubt that the Qasem Soleimani was the architect of a lot of Foreign Policy and hegemony in the region going back 30 years. The markets are trying to figure out what the next steps are. The real question is who has the bigger tightrope to walk here . Is it the Trump Administration or is it the ayatollah and top brass in iran. We dont know and thats why the markets are down as much as they are right now. Don, for oil prices for a moment. For people not invested in the marks they care about oil prices. As you said they are up. Give us more insight if this conflict escalates where could oil price guess. The risk right now is to the upside. If you have more geopolitical tension in the middle east and oilproducing regions. Oil prices on any retaliation if they were to be won would send oil prices higher. That obviously is felt by consumers out there, not just in the u. S. , but around the world, because it means gas and fuel prices will rise. Especially in, in, given the retaliation assel ems of what will happen in iran. Will they tolerate higher oil prices. This is benefiting Oil Producers in the u. S. Look at the companies that extract, drill and process in shale regions. Well have to watch that, too, steph. Don chu joining us from cnbc. Coming up, we have news on the 2020 front. Brand new totals released moments ago. What the candidates huge hauls say about the landscape of the democratic field. The landscape e democratic field do you have concerns about mild memory loss related to aging . Prevagen is the number one pharmacistrecommended memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Set yourself free with fleet. Gentle constipation relief in minutes. Little fleet. Big relief. Try it. Feel it. Feel that fleet feeling. We are exactly one month away from the iowa caucus and this morning weve got brandnew fundraising numbers from some of the top democratic contenders. Elizabeth warrens campaign announcing it raised just over 21 million in the last quarter while Amy Klobuchar capped off the year with an 11. 4 million haul. These latest numbers paint a clear picture of how the field is stacking up at least when it comes to raising money with Bernie Sanders at the tippy top and Elizabeth Warren the only candidate whose numbers went down in the last quarter of 2019. Joining me to discuss joel payne, he worked on Hillary Clintons campaign and Charlie Sikes. We got these fundraising numbers from the candidates. What are your thoughts . These numbers are strong across the board and theyre also strong if you bind them and compare them to donald trump. I know theres been trump that while trump has been raising this money and hes able to run this, and look at the democratic side. Im talking 80 million amongst the top democratic contenders versus the 46 million of president bush and theres Progressive Energy thats good for democrats. Also, i think that all of these numbers reflect that all of these leading candidates could be competitive in their own ways. Bernie sanders certainly flexed his muscle, but Elizabeth Warren has enough money to run a competitive race and Amy Klobuchar for the kind of race hes raised a lot of money. These are Strong Quarter 4 numbers for democrats. Charlie, tell us what reflects the real voter. Theres the twitter democrat and the democrat writing a check and the democrat going out and voting in the primary. Do these numbers echo the sentiment on the ground . Well, see, thats an interesting question because if money reflected what was actually happening in politics Mike Bloomberg would be running away with this race and tom steyer would be one of the frontrunners and you have to take all of this with a grain of salt. Look, were one month away from the iowa caucus and i do think that what youre saying is twitter politics does not reflect reallife politics, and i continue to be struck by the fact that joe biden just keeps hanging in there, that he had one bad month after the other and one negative spin and all of the attacks and yet hes still positioned as the front run are in this race at least nationally and you look at these numbers and whats happening on the ground and this may filter out to be a joe biden versus Bernie Sanders race which is extraordinary in so many ways given the diversity of the democratic field that you have these two old white guys who are going to be the last men standing. Two old white guys, one who started the last quarter with a heart attack and im talking Bernie Sanders, but that guy is out there swinging. I want to share, joel, what bernie had to say yesterday going on offense, not against trump and specifically there against joe biden where he says its just a lot of baggage that joe takes into the campaign which isnt going to create energy and excitement. He brings into this campaign a record which is so weak that it just cannot create the kind of excitement and energy that is going to be needed to defeat donald trump. What is your reaction . I mean, Bernie Sanders is clearly not taking the adVice President obama put forth last month saying lets not kill each other here. I think what president obama was saying was something a little bit different. This is Bernie Sanders trying to cordon off a oneonone matchup with him and joe biden and very similar to what pete but the gej would do, and and theyll break this down to a oneonone race so they can focus their supporters and potentially new supporters from other campaigns on the type of matchup that theyd like the voters to envision. So i think thats what this is. Just real quick on charlies point about numbers. Bloombergs money and this money are completely different. Mike bloombergs money that hes raised from hard work in the private sector is different than money thats made from democratic activists and by regular folks averaging 18, 20 per campaign and thats a very different fundraising call. What does that mean . That means that this reflects energy. This is not a billionaire dumping 100 million into the race. This is raising hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars which democrats have over the course of the first nine to 12 months of this campaign. Every dollar bernie is getting is definitely a vote. Thank you so much. Well leave it there. Coming up next, how Police Forces here in the u. S. Are preparing for any possible retaliation from iran. Ation fro. This morning americans are watching to see how iran will respond to the assassination of one of the top leaders. The country vowing there will be revenge. I want to bring in nbc news invest galg investigations correspondent tom winter with us. The security concerns at home. If iran is saying we are going to retaliate, what are we doing on american soil to prepare . I think thats a great question because iran and the terrorist capabilities that they have as a nation state are wildly different than say if an al qaeda leader was hit with a drone strike or an isis leader was hit with a drone straight. Explain. Theyre married to the message not necessarily married to the leader. What iran is they have a statesponsored terrorist arm hezbollah and hezbollah is active in the United States. Just in the past couple of months a person who was called a sleeper agent for hezbollah was sentenced to 40 years in jail. He tried to go to china to procure explosive components for the potential to carry out an attack here or at least have the capability to do so. Traditionally Law Enforcement sources have told us that hezbollah their agents here in the United States has been focused on fundraising and they didnt want to do anything that would cross the legal threshold. The police departments, nypd, lapd and the Boston Police department in the last several minutes, those major cities and were talking to federal partners and theres always a Police Presence outside the israeli consulate or ground zero. The real action is occurring behind the scenes and its occurring in the joint terrorism tank force of the major cities in conjunction of the fbi and theyre looking at all of their hezbollah cases that they have currently and is there anybody they need to be concerned about and theyre talking about sources and communities and is there anything that they want to act out and on top of that theyll look at prior cases that they have and say hey, is there anybody that we used to be looking at that we need to look at again and is there anything that might have gone abroad that might be in a position to attack american interests abroad, embassies, american tourists and that type of thing. Thats where the real action is taking place today and thats what we need to be paying attention to. Tom, thank you so much. Joining me now is david drucker, Senior Correspondent for vanity fair, and Charlie Sikes back with me. Give me a bit of a history lesson. Speaker esper only briefed nancy pelosi after the assassination in a 13minute phone call and the gang of eight not warned in advance. Does that make sense given that were in the middle of an impeachment or should it raise an alarm in terms of protocol . Well, i think impeachment or not, the gang of eight is usually applies with matters like this and there obviously will be disagreements and we need a full briefing from the administration to congress. We need to see what members of Congress Really think about this when theyre able to absorb more information and are briefed more on the intelligence that secretary pompeo has alluded to in saying that there were imminent threats against the United States and against american interests and that that led to some of the that led to the strikes. I think the larger question that members of congress on both sides of the aisle are going want to understand as what the larger strategy is here. I dont think they actually at the end of the day will be argument in taking out soleimani who has been escalating against the United States for years. Our response here has been for years tempered. Now were striking back, but the iranians have been the escalators and so we finally took action. I think what members of congress will want to know in advance is how this plays a part into a larger a part in a larger strategy. One last thing i would say is that over the years, since 9 11, congress under both parties has been very hesitant to want to get involved in a debate, much less reauthorization or new authorization for a use of force. They have shied away from it politically. They complain most of the time, but they dont actually want to do much about it outside of a few republicans and democrats who have been consistent on this. Charlie, on capitol hill we are not seeing a unified front. Sort of true to form of 2020, lawmakers are in their corners. Democrat chris murphy put out this. He writes did america just assassinate without any congressional authorization, the second most powerful person in iran, knowingly setting off a potential massive regional war . Republican ben sass responded to the tweet calling it simply drunk partisanship. He then applauded the president for killing the bastard. When osama bin ladin was killed, there was a unified front. What is different here, charlie . Well, donald trump is different here. Look, donald trump is different here. And the reality is this is a victory for the United States. Its a defeat. The world is probably a better place without the general. But we have so many unknown unknowns here and donald trump faces unique challenges as a leader. This is a moment when we need allies and need to have a strategy and have the American People understand what is about to happen and i dont think those things are in place. So yes, this is a defensible decision to do this, but do we have a strategy . Donald trump doesnt play chess. And so the question is not what is the end game, but what happens next . What is our response . Do we have a plan . Has donald trump thought through all of those next steps . And the real danger is one of miss calculation. We know that one assassination in an unstable region can change the shape of the world and we may be about to find that out again. Charlie, david, thank you so much. Thats not the only thing happening today. In just over two hours the senate will initially gavel back in for the new year and theyre return to go a bombshell headline on their desk. Exclusive reporting from just security, out of New York University school of law, got their hands on an unredacted set of documents, emails between the pentagon and the White House Office of management and budget that draw a very clear line between the president and direction to withhold aid from ukraine. We should note nbc news has not yet independently verified these documents. I want to bring in former u. S. Attorney, former assistant director for the office of Congressional Affairs at the fbi under james comey. I want to share one exchange, the Defense Department warned that holding the aid might actually be illegal, and the omb said the direction is coming from the president. Given that exchange, how big a deal are these new unredacted emails . Could they change any republicans point of view . Well, stephanie, the answer to the first part of your question is i think they are a big deal, although they confirm what i think everybody paying close attention has assumed all along. Whether they can change minds remains to be seen. But this new information is important because it clearly shows, again, that which has been assumed, which is that the president was involved, indeed directed the scheme, if you will. Secondly, that lawyers and budget officials at dod were concerned about the legality of this scheme. And third, i think it reveals that theres been an attempt to cover up these facts, because they obviously are not good for the white house narrative that has been put out there. And so while so far the democrats have been content with their willingness to accept what we might call in the law an adverse inference from the white houses obstruction with respect to producing witnesses and documents, now it seems that senator schumer is beginning to signal that maybe theyre not so happy with just drawing the adverse inference and they want these documents made part of the record and they want these witnesses. And i think increasingly, stephanie, republican senators are going to look bad if they continue to appear to be not interested in knowing exactly what is in these documents and what these witnesses have to say. But look to whom . Mitch mcconnell has made it clear hes working with the white house, standing in line with the president. How could you say this information is important, seeing that republicans, for the most part, across the board arent there to hear it . That i think is the political problem that republicans, at least internally im sure are starting to talk about amongst themselves, wondering how it can be that the American People will stand for this apparent effort at not even wanting to know the facts on the part of republican senators. And so that is the intriguing sort of inside baseball conversation that i assume is happening. With what result, we just dont know yet. Greg, thank you so much. Greg brower or joining me on this busy morning. Coming up, the highest ranking democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be here on the fallout from last nights air strike that killed a top iranian commander. When it comes to using data, everyone is different. Which is why Xfinity Mobile is a different kind of Wireless Network that lets you design your own data. Choose unlimited, shared data, or mix lines of each and switch any line, anytime. Giving you more choice and control compared to other top wireless carriers. Save up to 400 a year when you switch. Plus, unwrap 250 off a new samsung phone. Click, call or visit a store today. That wraps up this important hour. Im stephanie ruhl. Be sure to check us out on twitter and instagram and i hand you off to my friend and colleague, hallie jackson, with more news from palm beach, florida. A big and busy hour for you, steph, and one for us as well. As we come on the air, a new defense from the president and his allies after the attack in baghdad on irans top general, a man blamed for the deaths of hundreds of americans in the region. The risk of doing nothing was enormous. This was a defensive strike to neutralize future attacks. But democrats today are demanding a briefing on the details after calling the strike reckless. With the president here in south florida, where im on assignment covering him, my sources telling me he huddled at maralago overnight with top advisers, today tweeting general soleimani should have been killed years ago. Our show is powered by the reporting of our nbc news team overseas and at home. Im also talking live with the top democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. First, what will the president say publicly on camera about this . What about congress and the fallout here at home . And what about breaking developments, new regional reaction in the middle east . Here with me now, nbc news chief Foreign Correspondent richard engel, and Courtney Kube at the pentagon. Hans is traveling with the president. Im also joined by Andrea Mitchell and garrett haa
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