Democratic republic of congo. You are watching cnn, im brooke baldwin, thank you for being here. We begin this hour with those internal conversations between the white house and the pentagon. The conversations that led the president to call off a pending military strike against iran, after a massive u. S. Drone was shot down in the region just one day ago. First, the president s own candid explanation on why he pulled the plug with only 10 minutes to spare. They came and said, sir, were ready to go, wed like a decision. I said i want to know something before you go. How many people will be killed . In this case, iranians. I said, how many people are going to be killed . Sir, id like to get back to you on that. Great people these generals. They said, came back, said, sir, approximately 150. And i thought about it for a second. I said, you know what, they shot down an unmanned drone, plane, whatever you want to call it, and here we are sitting with 150 dead people that would have taken p
And responses to what has been said, alexandria ocasciocortez spoke to the Washington Post, saying this in part, quote, its outright disrespectful. So is that what unity sounds like this morning . Does this threaten the democrats majority . We will soon found out. We will hear from nancy pelosi. We are watching two other moves from the white house. The president is expected to announce this afternoon executive action in the ongoing fight over the census and a Government Official confirming to cnn also that ice is planning mass raids to pick up and deport thousands of undocumented migrants this weekend. Two big moves, big moves that are both likely to be challenged in court. But theyre also big moves that arent just policy. They are also, too be clear, blatant political plays. Moves that play directly to the president s base, even if hes not successful. So lets get to all of this. First the census and the Citizenship Question about it all. Abby phillip is at the white house. Shes joinin
Flights be grounded until tensions with the u. S. Cooled off but irans military said that request was never carried out. Our reporters are covering all of the angles around the globe. Tell us about the blame game we are seeing playing out where you are. Yes, theres certainly some blame being thrown around and a lot of public anger in tehran. On one hand you had the revolutionary guard commander in charge of the air Defense Forces who said he did ask for flights to be grounded in the aftermath of iran shooting those Ballistic Missiles at the iraqi bases with u. S. Forces on it. He said that request was never relayed. He also says after finding out that one of their surface air missile batteries fired at an aircraft, they told authorities on wednesday already that that had been the case. However that only became Public Knowledge until early this morning, iran time late last night, u. S. Time. Iranians are saying essentially what happened they were on a heightened state of alert thinking
This is where the troops would sleep. One of the areas, almost nothing left that was salvageable. The crater itself impacted over here and it was one of ten impacts that happened. Being here is truly extraordinary how anyone managed to survive, that there were no casualties. You look at the destruction, hearing the stories of the close calls, of the heroics, what were now learning is there was advanced warning to a certain degree. They knew something was going to happen. They didnt know what. About 11 00 p. M. At night those that were able to go to the bunkers went to bunkers, but there were still troops out manning posts. Because of the security position they had to stay at. People will take shelter at 11 00 p. M. At 1 34, thats when the first impact happened. A lot of those we are talking to are saying that it was unlike anything theyve ever imagined. On one hand, the training does kick in. But at the end of the day, this is a terrifying experience. Thats arwa damon reporting from th
President Joe Biden is traveling to Baltimore today to survey damage from last week's collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and speak with local officials and families of the victims. Follow here for the latest live news updates.