Assisted by drones. A sophisticated attack. The same source says theres a high probability they were launched from an iranian base near the iraqi border. U. S. Investigators in the middle east are working with the saudis to identify the missiles, the technology and hopefully find out who launched them. We have a team of experts, reporters around the world covering this story. Our International Diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is in riyadh, saudi arabia. Our Senior International correspondent Nick Paton Walsh joins us from tehran. Good morning to you both. Nic, lets begin with you and the reporting you are getting this morning. Many important details on where this attack was launched and with what. Yeah, poppy, what were learning from a source familiar with the investigation is that some of these missiles, these lowlevel Cruise Missiles that are sort of a hybrid of Cruise Missile and drone technology, that unlike the traditional Cruise Missile that the United States or other governments around the world might have, you know, fly with at quite a speed. But along a variable trajectory. These ones of capable at flying at lower speed, low altitude with the wingspan, the additional drone technology. And this all this information is coming because some of these missiles fell short of their targets. This is what were learning from the source familiar with the investigation. They fell short of their target, landed in the desert to the north of these Oil Production facilities in saudi arabia and, therefore, because they werent completely damaged and destroyed, has given investigators, and this is another thing were learning, both u. S. Military weapons investigators alongside saudi investigators working together in the field, giving them access to relatively undamaged parts of the missile system. Now saudi officials have said that these were iranianmade weapons systems. But what were learning from this source is that they additionally, additionally now, theres a high probability that both the u. S. And saudi investigators believe that the weapons were fired from iran from bases just inside iran, next to the border with iraq, flown over iraq, through kuwait and onto saudi arabia. So the unofficial word, if you will, would be that the weapons took off and were fired from iran. The official position is theyre still investigating that, and the saudis trying to Bring International support saying that they would welcome u. N. Investigators and International Experts to help in this investigation as they try to internationalize support for their support right now. And the president putting a lot of weight on the saudi intelligence in all of this. Asked if he believes it. Well see where this goes. Such important reporting. Nic robertson, thank you very much. To tehran with more on irans response. Nick paton walsh is there. Jim, poppy, iran has always denied any connection at all to these attacks inside of saudi arabia. Even as late as last night, president rouhani of iran saying that it was really the yemeni rebels behind this. An act of retribution. But many are looking for what the diplomatic off ramp may have been. Hopes high after the departure of john bolton from the white house. The main trump iranlomacy may h option. He didnt want conditions and confusion reigned there. But absolute certainty on the part of irans Supreme Leader ayatollah khamenei. Hes been clear there will not be negotiations with the americans going forward. Now he also referred to how this was the unanimous decision across government of the president , the foreign minister, everybody. And also how that people should not be fooled into these negotiations because he, and i paraphrase here, believed they were a trick. The maximum Pressure Campaign of the United States was designed to force iran to the table without sanctions being lifted against them. He goes on to say that sometimes the americans steam have no preconditions. Sometimes they seem to have 12 conditions, he said. And regardless, theyre not going to be talking. He held out the possibly humiliating circumstances nat donald trump apologizes, retract s his statements he may be part of multilateral talks, but iran at a time when the region is deeply concerned about what may actually come next, particularly given president trumps sort of vacillation around the use of military force, diplomacy on irans side certainly isnt an option right now. Nick paton walsh live for us in tehran. Lets go to the white house. Joe johns is there. Following up on reporting from Nic Robertson and Nick Paton Walsh, the white house is sending mixed messages here. You have the line from pompeo who will go to saudi soon, and then you have the president. Where do things stand this morning . Youre absolutely right. The white house keeps moving the goal post when it comes to iran. By the way, i did reach out to the white house today. So far no substantive response on the Nic Robertson reporting as to the likelihood that iran was responsible and the evidence that has been discovered suggesting that the Cruise Missiles came from iran. The other question, of course, is what the white house will do about it once there is, if you will, conclusive evidence that iran was responsible. The president made it clear within the last 48 hours in a tweet suggesting that the United States is locked and loaded, waiting on instructions, if you will, from saudi arabia. And this is just one example of many in which the United States has sent conflicting and often contradictory messages when it comes to dealing with iran and its behavior. Listen. I dont want war with anybody, but were prepared more than anybody. The United States is more prepared than any country in the history of in any history if we have to go that way. As to whether or not we go that way, well see. Im not looking to get into new conflict. But sometimes you have to. So how much of the mixed messaging is intentional and how much of it is accidental. Certainly only the president of the United States knows for sure, but what we do know is that the president has high confidence in his own negotiating skills and has suggested, he believes, iran wants to come to the negotiating table. Also clear, iran is not going to come to the negotiating table, they say, until those sanctions are lifted that are strangling the country. Back to you. And thats not happening any time soon. Joe johns, thank you very much. Joining us to discuss all of this, cnn military analyst colonel cedric lleyton. Colonel, great to have you on. You were an Intelligence Officer in the simplest terms is the u. S. On the brink of war now with iran . Well, jim, good morning. You know, it is certainly closer to the possibility of some type of conflict than we were before saturday when these attacks occurred. It is one of those times when you have so many different factors at play. And in many ways the United States and saudi arabia are going to have to make some kind of a response to this very brazen attack. The nature of that response, of course is whats up in the air. If we dont make a response, then iran will feel very empowered to go ahead and do other things of this type that could be even worse for not only for saudi arabia but for the rest of the persian gulf region. Colonel leighton, lets listen to democratic congresswoman from minnesota, representative ilhan omar. She was on Erin Burnett Outfront last night. Heres a point she made. I wonder if you agree. I think we need to make sure that the American People understand that thiS Administration that lies about weather maps or crowd sizes cannot be trusted to give us the full information we need to be able to make a decision whether we should be going to war or not with iran. A critical decision, of course. And cnns reporting is that the u. S. Has told at least one of our allies in the middle east that it has intelligence showing the weapons launch likely came from staging grounds in iran but has not shared that intelligence yet. Does she make a point on the intelligence front and what the American People should believe . Absolutely, she does. And unfortunately, when anybody has a credibility problem with any aspect of their program or their conduct, its going to be a problem when things are actually happening and they really need peoples help. So the history of the administration, you know, talking about things and obfuscating the truth, to be kind, that gets to be a real difficulty when it comes to international diplomacy. You kind of have the rule, you know, the other guy can lie, but you better not be the one lying. And thats what were dealing with here. We have the contradiction. The administration dismissed intelligence and now sharing intelligence assessments that iran is responsible for this attack. There are u. S. Forces based in the region and in iraq just across the border. Iran has proxy forces in iraq, as we well know. What is the threat to u. S. Forces in the region . Its increasing. Its a very, you know, very big threat environment for not only the u. S. Forces in iraq but the forces around the entire persian gulf. We have troops and sailors and airmen in places like qatar, in the united arab emirates, in bahrain and also a few in saudi arabia. So this is a very difficult time and certainly the force protection posture as its called in the business has to be increased, if it hasnt been already. Colonel cedric leighton, we appreciate you being here with your expertise. Thank you very much. You berkts pt, poppy. This just in. The Defense Department confirmed a green beret has been killed in combat in afghanistan. Sergeant 1st class Jeremy Griffin was killed by small arms fire on monday. He is the 17th Service Member to die in combat in afghanistan just this year. More than 2400 Service Members have died in combat since the war in afghanistan began october 2001, nearly 18 years ago. Still to come, the House Judiciary Committee will hold its first highprofile impeachment hearing since, of course, the special Counsel Robert Mueller testified. The president s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, will appear. We know the white house has moved to limit what he can talk about. What should we really expect to hear today . Plus, senator Elizabeth Warren drawing huge crowds to her rally last night in new york city. We are just learning the senator took some 4,000 selfies with supporters last night. Well get into why this speech was so noteworthy. And day two of the United Auto Workers strike. Now a source says the nearly 50,000 striking workers are demanding that gm bring manufacturing jobs back from mexico. How long could this strike go on . dramatic orchestra performance comes in lots of flavors. Theres the ampedup, overtuned, feedingfrenzyof sheetmetalkind. And then theres performance that just leaves you feeling better as a result. Thats the kind lincolns about. Run with us on a john deere 1 series tractor. Beacuse changing your attachments, should be as easy as. What about this . Changing your plans. Yeah. Run with us. Search john deere 1 series for more. Thanks to priceline working with top airlines to turn their unsold seats into amazing deals, sports fans are seeing more away games. 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You got a problem with that . Oorah oorah Navy Federal Credit union. Our members, are the mission. music plays throughout welcome back. In just a few hours, the House Judiciary Committee will hold its First Official hearing in what the committee is now calling an impeachment investigation into the president. Two former members of the president S Administration have been subpoenaed to testify. Rob porter and rick dearborn. Theyre not going to show up. The white house sent letters to the committee saying they have immunity due to executive privilege. Corey lewandowski, Trump Former Campaign manager is expected to testify about obstruction allegations contained in the Mueller Report. Although he never worked in the administration, the white house is still claiming the quite expansive right to assert executive privilege. Lauren fox is on capitol hill. So, lauren, how will these letters impact the hearing today . In a big way, jim. This is just the latest tug of war between democrats on capitol hill in the Trump Administration as they are trying to get infor investigation, specifically about this impeachment inquiry that the House Judiciary Committee is undergoing. So one thing that we are going to be watching for is specifically what Corey Lewandowski will be willing to talk about. Just his time on the campaign trail . Will he be willing to answer democratic questions about those allegations in the Mueller Report . That is a key question this morning. Obviously, those letters loom large as democrats prepare to go into this hearing. One thing that i want to flag is that jerry nadler, the chairman of this committee, said, look, these letters, this executive privilege assertion is unprecedented. He said the president would have us believe that he can willfully engage in criminal activity and prevent witnesses from testifying before congress, even if they did not actually work for him or hiS Administration. Now Corey Lewandowski tweeted about his testimony. He said, excited to remind the American People today there was no collusion, no obstruction and he reminded everyone to tune in. Expect some fireworks today in the House Judiciary Committee. Jim and poppy . The last time he testified before house intel was fiery, but behind closed doors. Totally different ball game and different committee. Lauren, thanks very much. Lets talk about this more with our legal analyst, jennifer rogers. So you asked jerry nadler who chairs the committee and he says this is a shocking and dangerous use of executive privilege. You ask the white House Counsel and he says, look, nothing to see here. These folks are protected from disclosure by longsettled principles protecting the executive branch and confidentiality. Legally, all politics aside, who is right . Well, you know, the interesting thing is there have been really broad assertions over the years. I think the answer is its not clearly as broad as sipilone says but its never gone to the courts. We dont have an answer yet. Somebody has got to litigate this question weve gotten closer now than weve ever gotten before to having that actually settled by the court. Eventually i think well get the answer to that question, but we dont know yet. Regardless of how broad it is, it does not cover discussions of criminal wrongdoing, does it . Would it extend if and is the essential allegation very good point. Was lewandowski told by the president to tell Jeff Sessions to limit the russia investigation, which is mueller listed as a possible instance of obstruction of justice, right . Yes, but it likely could cover criminal conversations. The executive privilege is in theory very broad but only where its properly applied. Where it definitely shouldnt go is to someone who wasnt even part of the administration. You kant claim executive privilege with someone who is not part of the even if its during because i think the way theyre viewing it is, even if its during the time that he was president , right . Because to say that would mean he has executive privilege over any person he has a conversation with while president of the United States. Stand by for that argument in court. Thats beyond the pale of where its gone and i think theyll lose in court. Understood. I find it remarkable that in theory it would