I find it hard to believe it was intentional if you want to know the truth. I think it could have been somebody who was loose and stupid that did it. The president calls off a retaliatory strike against iran. The iranians continue to push the envelope. The shootdown of an aircraft over International Air space is an act of war. Here is what iran needs to get ready for severe pain. In an exclusive telemundo interview President Trump claims his crackdown is supported by latino voters. They want me to do it. Mr. President , they do not. They do. Strong storms are battering parts of the midwest and the east coast. Rising flood waters sparking evacuations in southern new jersey. Its a little overwhelming. Roy moore says he is running for the senate again. His Previous Campaign was derailed by accusations of sexual misconduct. I would like to make more personal contact with people. A stunning admission in the trial against a navy s. E. A. L. Accused of murdering an isis prisoner. A key witness claims he killed the victim. A huge fire at an oil refinery in philadelphia. A massive explosion just rocked the area. All that spectacular another shutout for the red, white, and blue 20 over sweden. And all that matters. The first pick in the 2019 nba draft, the new Orleans Pelicans select Zion Williamson. Is there anything youd like to say to your new team and family in new orleans . On cbs this morning. This is iranian video which that country says shows the missile striking the u. S. Drone. Where it happened is in dispute. Iran says they shot down the drone because it was flying over their country. But america says it wasnt flying over iran. It was just flying very, very close. Yes. Im not touching you. Im not touching you. Im not touching you. Im not touching you. Mom iran hit me this mornings eye opener is presented by toyota, lets go places. Welcome to cbs this morning. A very unique way of putting things in perspective. He sure does. Lets talk about Zion Williamson. You know who is waking up doing the hula this morning, zion and everybody who loves him. So great. Them, too. Fashion fans as well. Very snappy. What he said about his mom. More on that later. Well begin with that as you wake up in the west. President trump says the military was, quote, his words, cocked and loaded to carry out air strikes against iran overnight when he suddenly decided not to do it. This morning Iranian State tv broadcast what it claimed are the first remnants of the american surveillance drone they shot down. The u. S. Says the aircraft with a wing span bigger than a 737 was flying over international waters. Iran says it has, quote, indisputable evidence the drone entered irans air space. The president said he called off retaliatory strikes because the estimated death toll of 150 people was too high. David martin at the pentagon, what do we know about this planned attack . Reporter good morning. The president s tweet describes what would have been a very limited strike against just three sites that were involved in the shootdown of the american drone. It was a go, one official said, and then it wasnt. Another official said simply, cold feet. The standdown came 24 hours after this. An iranian y, sending it corkscrewing down into the ocean. The shootdown was celebrated on Iranian State television with a video purportedly showing the missile on its way to the target. President trump seemed inclined to write it off as just an accident. I find it hard to believe it was intentional if you want to know the truth. I think it could have been somebody who was loose and stupid. That did it. That didnt sound right to cbs news analyst and retired admiral sandy winnefeld. I think it was premeditated and a great mistake on irans part. Reporter when asked about retaliatory strikes the president was noncommittal. Youll find out. Reporter at an afternoon briefing Democratic Congressional leaders warned the president of the unintended consequences of even a limited strike. The president may not intend to go to war here but were worried he and the Administration May bumble into a war. Reporter the u. S. Military spent much of the day declassifying intelligence to show the 110 million surveillance drone had not violated iranian air space as irans foreign minister claimed it had. The u. S. Called it an unprovoked attack, which raised the question, would the u. S. Be seen as weak if it did not retaliate against an attack on one of its aircraft . The administration is going to have to respond to this or lose a lot of credibility and standing in the region and around the rest of the world. Reporter republicans like senator Lindsey Graham agree iran cannot be allowed to attack a u. S. Aircraft without paying a price. Secretary of state pompeo is expected to visit saudi arabia and the United Arab Emirates to discuss what the u. S. Should do next. Anthony . David, thank you. This morning at least one american ally, germany, is applauding the decision not to attack. Irans ambassador to the u. N. Says iran does not seek war. Charlie datha Charlie Dagata is in the United Arab Emirates. Reporter irans revolutionary guard is now claiming there was a second aircraft this one with people onboard flying near that drone described as a p8 reconnaissance plane with 35 personnel. They say they could have shot it down but chose not to. Tehran continues to insist they have indisputable evidence the drone violated their air space. Theyve even retrieved part of its wreckage. State tv is showing images of the Republican Guard surveying jagged pieces of metal said to be debris from the drone recovered in their own territorial waters. That is important if true. There are also reports putting iranian officials that President Trump gave a warning overnight via a third country that an attack on iran was imminent. However, an iranian official tells cbs news that communication never took place. Now, the downing of the drone and the possibility of retaliation has prompted the faa to ban all u. S. Carriers from flying over parts of iran. That has been followed up by as many as Six International carriers and counting. Charlie dagata for us in the United Arab Emirates, thank you very much. Doctors and attorneys say hundreds of young people are living under inhumane conditions at a texas Border Control station. They say they found about 250 babies, children, and teens without adequate food, water, and sanitation. Some of the children said theyd been detained there for weeks. Mireya villarreal has reported extensively from the border and joins us now. Where do they say this is happening . Okay, guys. This is actually happening just outside of el paso in a town called clint, texas, about 20 miles southeast of el paso. One researcher told us that more than a dozen children have the flu and some were in quarantine cells without adult supervision. There were young girls in this facility taking care of a sick 2yearold boy who was in filthy clothing without a diaper. The children said that they were fed uncooked, frozen food and had gone weeks without batimmig r montheyeen sayin fitie overwo weve en a lot of this in our reporting over the last year and a half. In may, the office of the Inspector General pointed to dangerous over crowding at the el paso facility, specifically, showing migrants packed into Holding Cells with children and adults. Now, according to current rules children should only be held in Border Patrol for 72 hours before being transferred to health and human services, which actually house migrant facilities. But weve spoken with Immigration Attorneys and advocates as well. They are telling us right now they are holding these children for longer but they are moving them to different detention facilities so they stay within the parameters of the flores guidelines. The more you hear about this story the worse it gets. A lot of people are concerned some of these kids will never be reunited with their families. That is heart breaking to think about that. It is a huge concern. Thinere hearing the federal government say that they cant find parents, still, some of them have been deported. That factors into this. On that point, the president just gave his first interview to a Spanish LanguageNetwork Telemundo and he was asked about child separations and his administrations zero tolerance policy. Take a look at that. When i became president , president obama had a separation policy. I didnt have it. He had it. I brought the families together. 2800 children were reunited with their parents in the last year after the zero tolerance policy. Excuse me. Because i pu them together. Thats because i put them together. Under obama you had separation. Under a court order, right . No. I put them together. Im the one that changed the plan. I inherited separation. Obama built the cages. I didnt build them. Obama built the cages. Thats number one. Obama separated. Im the one that did a president ial order bringing the parents together. All right. Youve got President Trump saying he inherited this separation policy and obama built the cages. What is the reality . During the Obama Administration and previous administrations there were separations of family. The biggest difference here is zero tolerance. The president last year with his administration implemented zero tolerance policy which basically means that if you cross the border illegally you did not go through the right asylum channels, you are going to be held in federal court and charged with a felony and you would absolutely be separated from your children. That was the absolute. That was the hugest difference. We know that because we were in the courts, we saw the courts back up. We knew exactly what was happening. For him to say that he wasnt separating children and he actually was reuniting them is just not the way things went down. Always more to the story. Thank you very much, mireya. Okay. A weekend political gathering will bring together the Largest Group yet of 2020 democratic president ial hopefuls. 22 of the 24 candidates will campaign in South Carolina this weekend. The democratic frontrunner former Vice President joe biden will arrive in the middle of growing scrutiny over race issues. Ed okeefe is in columbia, South Carolina with more on the story. Good morning, ed. How important is this weekend for all of the candidates especially joe biden . Reporter oh, gayle this is a big one because South Carolina has the largest contingency of africanamerican voters in early primary states and as you said it comes as joe biden and some of his opponents are sparring over issues regarding race. The former Vice President is scheduled to have meetings today with local africanamerican leaders to discuss some comments he made this week regarding his past work with the late segregationist Democratic SenatorsJames Eastland and herman talmadge. Biden sathough you might disagr them. Cbs news has learned theres been another attempt to ease the situation. Just hours after biden and his 2020 opponent new jersey senator cory booker sparred publicly over the matter the two spoke by phone late wednesday. Multiple people in both camps tell us the call went well and that the two men discussed privately what theyve been saying publicly. Biden clarified but didnt apologize for his remarks. Gayle . Voters in South Carolina responding to biden. What can you tell us about that . Reporter well, mixed views on the situation with him. Some are familiar with it. Others are not. The best way to gauge this, lets play a bit of this conversation with some folks at a Baptist Church here in columbia. Youre talking to a group of folks who only but 50 years ago had to deal with segregation and jim crow laws. Vice President Biden seems to be genuine in everything that hes done in his political career but he does have a few hiccups. I think his statement was very insensitive and he does need to make some type of Public Statement that really backs up not only just his personal feelings buty, y know what . I didnt mean it this way. If he was speaking in a sense of im able to work with others who share different opinions and beliefs with me in order to get things done for American People and for the voters, i dont see a problem with that. Maybe just say that he may have he was just being a little insensitive and express what he meant to say. This weekend 22 of the 24 president ial contenders will be here for events. One of the more interesting stops on the campaign trail tonight is congressman jim clyburns selfdescribed, world famous fish fry. Organizers have spent the last few days preparing 4400 pounds of fish. 4400 pounds of fish. And 6400 slices of bread to feed thousands of Democratic Party activists set to show up. Gayle, it promises to be a hot and tasty evening. Fish fry, healing food. Thank you very much. Not mad at that at all. Thank you very much. Our digital streaming channel will have complete coverage of the fish fry a little later today. Beginning at 4 00 pacifme iludi special red and blue and interviews with the candidates and their campaigns. Fish fry and bread. Fish fry special. I love it. Dont forget the hot sauce. Find this at cbsnews. Com or the app. Powerful storms are posing a dangerous threat to the central u. S. More than half a dozen states are in the path of Severe Weather this weekend. Flash flooding hit parts of the east coast hard yesterday. In new jersey dozens of people had to be rescued from their homes. Chief weather caster lonnie quinn is here. What is the biggest storm threat going on this weekend . I think it is going to be the Southern Plains, texas, oklahoma, maybe arkansas. Places like that. That is the biggest threat. Right now you take a look at what the country is serving up weather wise, you talk about the new jersey storm, the flash flooding yesterday. Good news is that system gets out of here today. A beautiful weekend for the northeast. You look at places like montana, colorado, right now snow is falling in some spots out there. Toughest weather though omaha to kansas city. This pushes to the east. Its going to drop down a bit to the south. Thats why im watching the Southern Plains states for the weekend. Were talking a lot of rain. If you look at how much theyve already picked up if you think, okay. Youre at your house thinking ive had so much rain. What about everybody else . Everybody has had rain. Over twothirds of the country anywhere from 0. 5 inch to some folks seeing 4 to 6 inches in texarkana this weekend with already 4 to 8 inches, pick up another 3 to 4 over the next five days. Tony, over to you. Ill take it, lonnie. Thanks. The war crimes trial of a navy s. E. A. L. In san diego took a sharp turn with a shocking admission by a key witness. Navy s. E. A. L. Chief edward gail ber is charged with the 2017 stabbing death of an isis prisoner. Yesterday another s. E. A. L. Told the courtmartial he killed the prisoner. Carter evans looks at the surprise confession that threatens to upset this controversial case. My husband will be exonerated and his innocence known to everybody after way too long. Reporter the wife of accused navy s. E. A. L. Chief Edward Gallagher says her husband has been vindicated after another s. E. A. L. Claimed responsibility for a teenage isis fighters death. Prosecution witness and s. E. A. L. Medic corey scott told the court the boy was sedated and breathing through a tube when gail ber stabb gallagher stabbed him in the neck but said the injuries werent life threatening. He claimed he was the one who killed the teen by holding his thumb over his tracheal tube until he quit breathing. He said he did it to spare him from torture by iraqi forces. Gallaghers defense team has claimed he only treated the prisonr for a collapsed lung and that the murder accusations are false. The trial is certainly going to continue but i expect that at the end of this there will be a not guilty verdict. Reporter this video shows the teen, injured in an air strike before his capture. He told an iraqi news crew his father threatened to kill him if he didnt join isis. Scott was iunitym criminal prosecution this week and prosecutors accused him of lying to protect gallagher. His testimony contradicted his previous statements as well as the testimony of other s. E. A. L. S. One said gallagher posed in front of the corpse and prosecutors say he texted a photo saying, good story behind this, got him with my hunting knife. The impact of scotts testimony will ultimately be up to the military jury. This guy who had a front row seat to what chief gallagher did said very clearly he established a captive in the neck and then left. The fact that the medic a few minutes later made a mercy killing i dont know if that exonerates their client. Reporter gallagher is also accused of randomly shooting at iraqi civilians and threatening to retaliate against members of his team who reported him. For cbs this morning, carter evans. Prosecutors say this does not change anything and they will not drop the premeditated murder charges. They say the credibility of a witness is for the jury to decide. State aims to m good friday morning to you on this First Official