Many, and i hope it means a lot to you as well. You are our best and for good reason. All right, everybody. Im chris cuomo. Welcome to primetime. Heres the proposition. If its clear to the u. S. Military that briefed the president that iran intentionally shot down a u. S. Drone then why is this president saying he thinks it was a mistake . What is the truth . The house intelligence chairman is with us tonight. He was just at a classified briefing with the president hours ago about this incident. We need him for that. And to make sense of the just received full hope hicks transcript that is now in our hands. The stonewalling is clear 155 times over. Does yesterdays fiasco change chairman schiffs reckoning of what needs to happen next . And does joe biden have a problem in his party or not . Were going to ask a long time member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Theres a lot to figure out tonight so lets get after it. All right. So this president says that the United States will not stand for the downing of one of our drones over international waters, but hes also apparently choosing to describe what happened as a mistake. Well, which is it, and is the difference relevant to the response . House intel chair adam schiff was among the senior members of congress briefed today in the white house situation room. He joins us now. Chairman, its great to have you on primetime tonight with such pressing news matters before us all. You had an important briefing today. Coming out of this, do you have any question as to whether or not iran intentionally shot down a u. S. Drone . Well, iran certainly shot down the drone. Whether this was an intentional act by the top leadership or not is not something that i can really comment on. But i can say that we need to be working with our allies. Theres been an attack now on an american aircraft. Theres been an attack on international shipping. There have been multiple provocative and dangerous acts by iran, so we should be working with our allies to deescalate the situation, to deter this conduct, yes, but also to make sure that this doesnt end up in an unintentional conflict and escalation. So we need to figure out a strategy to deescalate, to deter this kind of conduct, to protect shipping, to protect our aircraft. And i think most significant as this is an attack on many nations, it ought to be an International Response. We shouldnt allow iran to drive us away from our allies. Do you think that iran knew what it was shooting at . The reason i ask is there were a couple of different messages from the iranian authorities. One of them said basically we did it. They came into our space, so we did it. Were going to go to the u. N. And prove the u. S. Is lying about where it was. All right, so thats an admission as far as im concerned and that it wasnt a mistake. It was intentional. And then you have another iranian official whos saying we communicated with the aircraft, we told it where it was. It almost suggests as if they thought there might be somebody in this, that it wasnt a drone, and that might be a very different proposition. Yeah, i dont know whether we have great clarity on whether iran knew what it was shooting at in terms of whether it was a manned or unmanned aircraft. I dont know the answer to that question, but, you know, certainly this is a provocation by iran, an attack on our aircraft, an attack on shipping belonging to other nations. And i think theres no question that iran has chosen these acts of belligerence partly to divide us from our allies, partly to get out from under economic pressure and lash out at the United States in particular but also to drive up oil prices. And it does call for us to think strategically about this, not to take actions that play into iranian hands but at the same time that we protect the right of navigation. So what do you make of the president s response saying that, well, maybe it was a mistake and indicating hes in no rush to return fire in this situation . Do you think thats the right call . What do you think the way is forward . Well, look, we dont want war here. I dont think iran wants war here, and the big risk that neither nation wanting a war nonetheless ends up in a war because of miscalculations. So its very important that our response, the International Response be a cohesive one and that we take whatever steps have the least risk of escalating the situation. So i hope thats the approach that the white house takes. There have been indications that the white house has been at odds with itself, that the president , for example, is reported to have tried to do a diplomatic approach through the japanese Prime Minister to reenter negotiations, but at precisely that moment it appears that bolton was announcing new sanctions on iran. Now, thats a conflicting message that i think would leave anyone confused. What are you really trying here . Are you making diplomatic overture, or are you trying to put the screws to us . So i think we need a more coherent policy out of the administration. But first and foremost we need one that deescalates the situation. And of course pulling out the iran deal blows up the coalition you did have. Chris, thats exactly right. We cant ignore the fact the situation were in now was imminently predictable. If we caused other nations to once again impose sanctions on iran, we shouldnt be surprised iran is going to leave the deal and go back to enriching or get these increased tensions or likelihood of conflict. That step plus the designation of the rgc as a terrorist group is predictable, that iran would lash out on that decision as well. Under the guise of ratcheting up conflicts and tension we get to what happened yesterday which i call a fiasco because it seems to be a pretty clear indication of where this is headed in this particular procedural method, that youve got 155 times the lawyer said she couldnt answer. You had a smatter of i dont recalls that were keenly germane in terms of revealing anything that might have been damaging. Did it change anything you heard in that hearing yesterday, your reckoning of what the best way is forward . You know, chris, we had hope hicks before the Intel Committee about a year or so ago. She came before the Judiciary Committee so i wasnt there for the hearing today or the interview i guess yesterday. Im not surprised i dont think anyone is surprised the white house is stonewalling in such a comprehensive fashion. Theyre going to lose in court. They have no leg to stand upon, and the cases that have gone to court so far theyve been losing. But clearly they trying to draw this out as long as possible. I think frankly hope hicks gives us a really good test case because their stonewalling has been so dramatic and so unsupported by law. So, you know, we have to take this first step to see if we can get answers under subpoena, and if we cant, then we go forward and we prosecute the case in court. So i think its necessary, and yes, its i think frustrating, and it is also dangerous in terms of a system of checks of balances that the administration would take us down this path. But congress is really left with no choice except to litigate to make sure we get answers. Or to start an impeachment inquiry, maximize your powers and see where it goes from there. We could start an impeachment inquiry. That doesnt get us to court quicker. It does improve our argument i think respecting grand jury material to some degree. I dont know thats much of an issue in terms of hope hicks testimony. But again whether its part of an impeachment proceeding or oversight were doing now, either way we end up in court and either way theyre going to try to run the clock. And were going to try to press this as fast as we possibly can. So chairman, you have a proposed bill that is really straightforward, that the Campaign Committees and different agents within the different campaigns need to sign on that they understand in as broad a definition of understanding as possible, you cant let foreign powers interfere in the election and in your campaign. Its pretty straightforward. Its something you would think everybody agrees with. You change one definition to just include parenthetically that its anything that could be used for political advantage in terms of what defines value. Whats the chance you get any buyin from republicans on this bill as simple as it is . I think the reality is with many bills like this, were already looking at our postwatergate reforms. Were putting forward bills. I introduced one earlier to curb the abuse of the pardon power. And this bill would curb the use of getting foreign assistance. There arent Many Americans willing to put their name out there, risk an angry tweet or being criticized by fox prime time, but they will support these probably once donald trump is out of the oval office because i think they understand as we do that what the president did in the last election, what he threatens to do in the next one is so destructive of our democracy to be inviting foreign intervention this way. So i dont know how much support, bipartisan support well get today. But i think we will see these kind of bills pass when its no longer a risk to members to support them, that President Trump is going to come down on them. It is amazing how the fear of consequences overwhelming good conscience in congress right now. Chairman, so important to you have you on the show in these important moments. Great to be on, chris. Thank you. Hopefully everybodys on the same page that the situation with iran does not get any worse for our country. But even if there is no war, this conflict could wind up being a real problem for this president. In fact, it could do more than the Mueller Report ever even threatened. Ill lay out why next. Calling all sunscreen haters. Youre gonna love this. New coppertone sport clear. Not thick, not hot, not messy, just clear, cool, protected. Coppertone sport clear. Proven to protect. Fits skin tone and texture. Maybelline new york. In 2 finishes matte and poreless and dewy and smooth. 64 fits. Fit me foundation. Only from maybelline new york. Available at walmart. The first survivor of ais out there. Sease and the Alzheimers Association is going to make it happen. But we wont get there without you. Visit alz. Org to join the fight. But allstate actually helps you drive safely. With drivewise. It lets you know when you go too fast. And brake too hard. With feedback to help you drive safer. 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Ask your doctor about oncedaily trelegy and the power of 1 2 3. Trelegy 123 save at trelegy. Com with huge savings like bass pro flag chairs for under 10 each. And this stars and stripes tailgate toss game for under 30. Now with free 2 day shipping. The president by all indications does not seem to want war with iran. Good. But this situation which is largely of his own making could pose the biggest threat to a second term for him. What were living now is exactly why people warned him not to play politics with the iran deal. But he did it anyway, and he did it to prove a political point. The United States will withdraw from the iran nuclear deal. This disastrous deal, a great embarrassment to me as a citizen. This horrible onesided deal. He got to flex his tough, snub obama and play up his fictional dealmaking powers. Now it is all coming back to haunt him in more ways than he may realize or be able to handle. Heres how. The tanker ship attacks, the drone hit, its all going down near the strait of hormuz, okay . More than a quarter of the worlds liquefied natural gas and almost 20 of oil goes through there. So now theres instability, you know whats going to happen, right . Crude oil prices, just jumping 5. 8 just from that. Trump likes to take credit for lower gas prices, right . Well, iran could force him now to own a spike. And no economic metric resonates like gas prices. A chance of a spike is even higher because of the china tariff trade gamble. So we heard the fed chair say he already has concerns because of that. A spike in oil prices could roil markets, and gas prices could boil voters blood. And the combination could shake economic stability what potus is going to lean on, and iran also poses a challenge to the second main measure of stability for this president , existence of a threat abroad. In this case iran could easily be argued as a situation this president created when he didnt have to. He alienated allies we now need. He had no Diplomatic Team that could handle it, and it all shines a light on perceived ineptitude. Secretary of state mike pompeo a smart guy. But not that tied into the players in this region. The National Security advisor bolton is a known hawk. Trump doesnt cotton to that. The generals around him that gave so many people comfort are all gone. Iran also makes the fact its been almost seven months since we had a Senate Confirmed secretary of defense or a u. N. Ambassador. That all now looms larger. But i sort of like acting. Gives me more flexibility. Do you understand that . I like acting. Now, he likes acting. Now the question is going to be has he been acting as somebody who can handle a situation like this . It puts the president of a position of undoing his own damage with them and the rest of us when it comes to getting us to trust what he says and what the Intel Community says. Remember hes been saying for so long they cant be trusted. This is the moment he was warned about. Everyone says we need an International Response. The team that did the iran deal was basically spat on by this allies no,w presents a problem. Many said to not trust and frankly not like this president. And it will all go back to the move he made against the advice of allies and those who knew better dont get out of the iran deal without a plan b. A promise of a selfproclaimed master dealmaker has utterly failed to even get started. God forbid the situation moves beyond saber rattling. I dont know why anybody would want to see that. I dont get why his friends on fox are screaming for him to muscle up against iran. It shows a real dysfunction of their political thinking. But in times of trouble americans do look to the oval office if not for wild strength, a steady hand, smarts, stability, strategy. Ingredients in short supply in this administration, and thats why iran presents a bigger threat on more levels than mueller ever did. So in that thicket of whatifs, i planted the seeds of what our next guests can feed for us. We need to get the military and political options and risks at play right now. We have two people who have lived this situation for many years. Well be right back with that. On a john deere x300 series mower. Because Seasons Change but true character doesnt. Wow, youve outdone yourself this time. Hey, whatre neighbors for . Its beautiful. Run with us. Search john deere x300 for more. Yesss, im doing it all. The water. The exercise. The fiber. Month after month, and i still have belly pain and recurring constipation. So i asked my doctor what else i could do, and i said yesss to linzess. 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