stallone shared this tribute to his long-time friend. >> he was magic and i was so fortunate to be part of his life. so apollo, keep punching. >> i should note, he found plenty of comic relief in his career in happy gilmore, adam sandler polled this message on instagram. that he certainly will. also tonight, as we were at break the story we started out with brand new video come from the pentagon tonight of those b-1 bombers taking off from texas for the strike tonight in the middle east.

cnn news night with abby phillips starts right now. >> america fires back, but the revenge comes with a risk. that's tonight on news night. good evening. president biden ordering strikes against iran's military and some of its affiliated militias which the u.s. blames for the death of three american troops in jordan. now, biden's green light comes after days of considering options and the reluctance to spark a whiteder regional conflict. here's what we know at this hour. the pentagon says the u.s. forces have hit more than 85 targets in iraq and syria from the air using long-range bombers. the president says this is just the beginning of a retaliation campaign and warnings of further

strikes. u.s. generals say the operations took about 30 minutes and likely result in some militant casualties but insist the targets were chosen specifically to avoid hitting civilians. this is coming after weeks of tension and provocation in the region by militias since the hamas attack on israel including the drone attack days ago on a u.s. outpost in jordan where three servicemembers you see here were killed, dozens hurt. president biden today attended the transfer of their remains at dover before the news of the strikes. let's get straight to ben wedeman in amman, jordan. you're on the ground. what will wider implications be of these strikes? >> well, certainly these strikes represent abby the closest united states has gotten to direct war with iran. certainly what we are seeing is

they are picking their targets carefully. certainly there's been plenty of fore warning this was going to happen and we understand that many of the iranian advisers in syria iraq as well as militia members evacuated many of these facilities before they struck but certainly it raises tension even further tensions that were already very high as a result of israel's war in gaza and it puts many of the governments in this part of the world in a difficult position. on one hand there's not one love lost between many of the pro-american regimes in the middle east and ran and they're sensitive to public opinion because many see the united states as a direct participant in israel's war in gaza because of its very generous military

and political support for israel. so they're walking a fine line along with the united states but the worry is that even though united states has made it clear it won't strike iran, the worry is that there could be a mistake, that some of these groups in syria and iraq don't take dictation from iran and oftentimes act independently and they could do things them could in fact draw the u.s. even further into basically what we are seeing is a need yup intensity regional war between the united states and iran, but fought through proxies. the worry is that the war could be a direct military confrontation between iran and the united states. >> yes, something it seems no one really wants ben wedeman in iran thank you very much. we are now at the magic wall with counterterrorism official

al hoax is give us insight what is happening in that region. alex we are just learning a little bit more about some of these locations where the strikes were carried out, this evening, and also where of course these u.s. troops were killed right here in jordan on the border with syria. what does it tell you we are talking about strikes inside of syria and iraq? >> it's a great question because it hits right on the main point and what ben was alluding to. the administration has been very clear the past week publicly privately they don't want war with iran, they want to make sure the irgc the iran quts force that has proxies is held accountable for arming and equipping troops to conduct the attack and want to start a war. so where do you do that? that would be iran and syria where irg officers are stationed. that's why we saw that today.

>> there's also the fact we are learning this strike was carried out with long-range bombers. we heard ben talking about it earlier, this is the b-1 lancer and it flew from the united states actually to the region. what does that tell you about the nature of this strike? >> so the nature of the strike itself with the b-1 it was designed originally to fly underneath russian radar but has a ceiling around 40,000 feet somewhere at one milwaukee 1.25 to .96 for speed but its real use is the weapons and the number of weapons it can hold compared to smaller aircraft so smaller number of aircraft necessary and messaging uncontrolled which should have been controlled if it weren't purposefulchy think is part of the messaging we don't want war with iran. these aircraft are going after targets are not going to be inside iran. >> these come after attacks on u.s. troops essentially.

>> yes. >> that occurred sunday these deadly attacks we were discussing on the border. this is a region that is basically a tinderbox but a message needs to be sent to iran that much the united states has made clear s. this enough to do that with reaction? >> i think the initial set of strikes are unlikely to be able to do that bailsth on what we have seen to date so the attack we saw the three u.s. troops that were killed 40 wounded we saw statements made there was confusion between jordan and syria because it's on the border of the base into syria and we saw previous strikes with f16s bombing warehouses so it's clear more is going to be needed and we are going to see more strikes in coming days as the president said. >> alex thank you very much for that. i'm joined by cnn national security analyst james clapper former director of national intelligence. director clapper thanks for being here. these strikes according to our

reporting appeared to target essentially supply lines used by iranian backed militias. is that in your view sending a strong enough message to iran to cut this out? >> i doubt it. abby, i think if the approach is going to be to just punish the militia the proxies in syria iraq yemen et cetera and lebanon is going to have to be a lot more of these kinds of strikes that's going to have to take out a lot more of the militia infrastructure when the ultimate objective here is to change the attitude and the behavior of the iranians, who are calling the shots with these proxies. so, if the approach is going -- and we've stated we are not going to strike in iran. i kind of wish in a way we left if iranians wondering what we

might do there but if we are going to limit our attacks only to the militia, then we need to be prepared for a long haul, a long slog to take out sufficient infrastructure to get them to change their behavior. so i understand the approach. we are trying to thread a needle here to change a behavior but not to induce a wider war. that's a tough thing to do. >> it is for sure a tough call but you're raising an interesting point. there have been some decisions made. there was a decision to wait about 5 days before responding to this and as you pointed out senior administration official ruling out there there would be strikes inside iran. what do you make of the decision of this administration to telegraph those to make those decisions to wait and to

telegraph that? >> well, you know i'm i'm an outside observer with no responsibility but i will say had i been a part of the discussion i would recommend we not telegraph the fact that we are not going to apparently do anything against iran directly at least right now. i had previously suggested that perhaps we consider some cyber attacks on a very selective basis, very careful, against iran. but that's not the approach the administration has taken right now. so, i would, i think this is a preliminary first step. i think the use of the b-1 conveys a message in a sense, using a bomber a long range

inter continental bomber for this mission which an indicator we are going -- we are in it for the long haul. >> what do you think iran is going to do in response to all of this? the administration is particularly concerned about escalation and retaliation from iran. >> well, i think in large measure iran considers the proxy militias as expendable cannon fodder so tlunl are iranian advisors or liaison people that are connected with these militias who themselves are killed we then induce pain on the iranians even though they're outside iran, that may have some effect. i don't know. but i think ultimately the infrastructure and the

decision-making mechanisms in iran are the ultimate target. i will say big picture comment why is all this going on? the reason of course is the war in gaza. that is what is haunting us, so i'll just reinforce a point i made before this issue is not solable by military airstrikes alone there. has to be a political solution first to end fighting the gaza and ultimately some sort of arrangement to accommodate some sort after two-stage solution for the palestinians. that in a big picture sense is ultimately what has to be done to change the situation in the mideast. >> it's an important point and one that we will get to later in

this show director james clapper thank you very much. >> thanks abby for having me. >> and next, the former idf spokesman joins me live on how these strikes impact a cease-fire deal and whether israel will see retaliation plus a major development in donald trump's legal jeopardy perhaps the most serious case against him will now be delayed. but what about the election? this is news night.

>> more now on our breaking news. the u.s. conducting airstrikes against iranian backs militia in iraq and syria after the deaths of three u.s. soldiers and we are getting video of b-1 bombers that made to it their targets in a nonstop flight and these strikes come after negotiations over a possible cease-fire and hostage deal between israel and hamas. with is us former idf spokesperson jonathan at the defense for democracy. good to see you in the united states the last few months. i think the last few months

viewers became familiar with you in israel as the spokesperson but now we are talking about what really amounts to an escalation offshoot of this conflict in gaza. three american soldiers killed and retaliatory strikes from the u.s. is the message the administration is sending tonight going to be enough to deter iran? >> good evening. thank you for having me. i'm not sure that it is an offshoot. i would rather look at the situation in the middle east as one country that supports and exports terror in the region, iran, which has proxies around israel, hamas being one of them and you're engaged in war the last 3 months against hamas and soon israel will defeat hamas but on the other happen iran has other proxies in the region and they unfortunately were able to kill three u.s. servicemen and the u.s. is retaliating.

the common odometer is the enemy but it's not necessary threw same conflicts and i'm not sure the sad and unfortunate death of three american servicemembers is related to the fighting in gaza other than the fact that iran wants to dominate the region and has proxies that do their dirty work for them. >> i should point out these groups many of them see the united states as a party in israel's war in gaza and have escalated their attacks because of that but is israel concerned as the united states seems to be in general the situation in the middle east is so volatile it could amount to a broader conflict in the region? >> for israel we are already at war. we have more than 1500 casualties and we have more than 5,000 soldiers killed and 1200 civilians killed so for us it is

really is bad and we have almost 200,000 israeli civilians evacuated from their homes into there's bad and worse. >> correct and it can get worse if the biggest iranian proxy in the region hezbollah in lebanon which is far more powerful than other iranian proxies in syria iraq even hamas and islamic jihad in gaza if the situation escalates there and hezbollah is told by the iranian masters to launch a war against israel then yes, we could find ourselves in a very dangerous regional escalation one that israel is trying to prevent and i think the u.s. is trying to prevent that with diplomatic means and get hezbollah away from the israeli border so israelis can go home without use of force. >> you heard james clapper say he believes ends of the day what needs to happen is a political

solution to this war and then to end the fighting and path to two state solution but in recent weeks prime minister netanyahu has polled on x: and this is contrary to a palestinian state. i wonder, how does denying a palestinian state make israel safer in the long run? >> you know, i respect the director but i think statements about it, they're a but tone-deaf and people should really come to israel, see the reality, understand the enemies that israel faces, understand their charter when you say in the same sentence there needs to be an end to the fighting defeat hamas and end to the fighting in gaza and in the same sentence you say two-state solution you don't take into account what

hamas. hamas is an organization whether they say occupation they don't mean gaza they people tel aviv and haifa. >> a two state solution is more about what happens to the palestinian people and do they get to govern themselves, so i'll ask again, how is it that israel could be safer by denying palestinians a sovereign state? >> definitely i think that the aim here whether we look ahead, like all conflicts in history, they're eventually ended with political agreements where both sides compromise and you find some kind of formula which is liveable for both sides. >> is it right for netanyahu to take it off the table at this stage? >> i think two-stage solution as people have talked about the oslo accords and entire

palestinian state i think at this time it's very tone-deaf. you have to listen to what the palestinian authority is saying. they're very insistent on not recognizing israel not recognizing israel's right to exist, not even condemning hamas attacks on october 7th. the leader of the palestinian authority who allegedly is the more rational player in palestinian politics, he hasn't found it correct to condemn it. >> what is the the solution to this political problem that would allow palestinians to govern themselves and allow israel to be secure? do you see one at all, put aside hamas put aside the palestinian authority. do you see one at all that involves palestinians governing themselves. >> definitely. that is the end of the conflict. >> that's the two-state solution. why take it off the table? >> at this stage when a

palestinian authority is sponsoring and paying salaries to terrorists, including hamas terrorists that went into israel and butchered women and raped and murdered on the seventh of october, they're getting salaries by law from the palestinian authority that isn't an authority i think is inclined to a peaceful solution. it starts with recognizing that you're standing next to someone else and both parties have a right to exist and live within recognized borders. when the palestinians recognize whether it's the palestinian north, and they have not, and definitely not hamas which is genocideal and wants to kill all jews once they recognize that four offers have been made by different israeli prime ministers to end the conflict to hand over significant parts of terrain and end the conflict. all those four offers were rejected by the palestinians. >> can i ask you one last thing?

cnn investigation a few days ago found out that the idf had destroyed at least 16 cemeteries around gaza during the course of the war. the "new york times" reports about the destruction of buildings apartments homes essentially. my question is, as someone who was in the idf until recently was a spokesperson is not anymore, bit do you think that this is ultimately tactically necessary to carry out the war? because it seems to have the effect of really inflaming the arab world. even if you could argue gaza is one of the most densely populated places in the world. >> yes. >> you could make a case there's hamas on every square inch of gaza but does that justify bull dozing cemeteries? >> yes, so i agree that the on particulars are not good. when i saw the optics myself i

said this doesn't look good but i know what israeli troops are doing. they're looking for bodies of israeli hostages. >> in the grave yards? >> in grave yards. they're opening, they have been opening areas where there are fresh graves in order to look for bodies of israeli hostages. that is how low israeli troops have to go in order to try to find israeli hostages. there are still 136 hostages in gaza some of them or half presumed dead and it is the job of the idf to find live hostages and if not then dead. i agree the on particulars are not pretty. war never is. it's our duty to get the israeli military duty to get people back and the duty of the military to make sure an october 7th never happens again. >> just to be clear the idf had said that they bull dozed these cemeteries because there were hamas tunnels underneath. we weren't able to independently

verify that despite visiting the site of these purported tunnels and you're saying there's a different objective here and it's to find the bodies of hostages. >> i'll tell you, even insides the hospital which i visited personally with israeli troops israeli soldiers had to go in the morgue and look for israeli bodies because there was intelligence suggesting hamas had taken israelis and kept them at that time hospital in storage and we had to go in and look for bodies and do dna test egg. that is something i think no israeli soldier thought that he would have to do but that is what is necessary when you gaoel an enemy like hamas when they go so low as to barter with bodies and deal in bodies then at the end of the day the idf needs to get them back. hopefully they'll be able to get them back through negotiations and some kind of deal but if that doesn't work but at the end

of the day these people need to be burr and i buried properly back home and if it means bad on particulars and finding where bodies are i think israel has the obligation. >> jonathan enriques thanks for joining us. good to have us on set and up next, a win for donald trump's legal team today. what will it mean for the case and the very complicated legal schedule that he is heading into in this election? plus, fulton county district attorney fani willis is under fire admitting she had a personal relationship with the lead prosecutor in that georgia election case. that's ahead.

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>> some surprising news tonight. perhaps the most serious case that donald trump is facing has now been delayed. a federal judge has postponed the trial date for his d.c. election interference case that was supposed to begin march 4th but the judge delayed the trial

filed the case on trump's claims of presidential immunity. that is a win for the former president's team which has been working to push these trials past the presidential election in november. joining now is nick ackerman former assistant special watergate attorney. this is what trump's team has wanted all along and the strategy of pushing even a presidential immunity case thereof sort was about delaying in it the court. >> it has nothing to do with the merits of the case. >> what does it mean? >> not going to mean a hell of a lot because another's case is going to come in front of that, the case in new york which is the election interference case brought by new york that relates to the 2016 election. so there's just going to be another case put in its placement that case will probably last 2-3 weeks and nopefully by then the d.c. circuit had sorted out this presidential immunity issue and

that case will move ahead after the new york case. >> speaking of that case the washington post ran a headline they called it the runt of the trump cases because a lot of people believe in the the weakest case. >> absolutely incorrect. i take issue with that. this case involves donald trump basically defrauding the voters in the 2016 election. that's what it says right up front in the statement of facts for that indictment. >> do you think this is a strong case? because the issue is that even people who do not like donald trump at all worry that this case on its merits the one in new york with alvin bragg is not as strong as others. >> i think it's strong as the other cases and you have two accomplice wits michael cohen and david peck former the

national enquirerer who are going to corroborate each other the scheme to try to pay off women to keep them from telling their stories before the 2016 election. the whole point was after the access hollywood tape donald trump could not afford to have other people coming out and basically saying the same thing he said on tape so this case is extremely important. they're corroborated by a tape between michael cohen and donald trump where donald trump is on tape actually directing michael cohen to make a check to carrie mcdougall the other woman they're paying off and you've documents and witnesses that are going to corroborate each of those witnesses. >> but the core of what might come in all those other cases we were just showing the timetable here. >> right. >> it is like a minefield of legal cases for donald trump but at the heart of it might very well be this presidential immunity case and how quickly do

you think the supreme court should and could make a final ruling on that issue? >> i don't think they're going to take i. i don't think they're going to need to. they're up to their eyeballs with this case on the 14th amendment. that is probably more than they want to bite off at this point. there's no reason to take this immunity case the d.c. circuit is basically going to find that there is no presidential immunity under these circumstances and donald trump will try and appeal to it the supreme court but they're note going to take it. >> nick ackerman, thanks for joining us tonight. >> thank. >> and the fulton county district attorney fani will assist acknowledgeing a quote personal relationship with the brothers cure that she put in charge of the georgia 2020 subversion case and spaceing a subpoena from the house judiciary committee. we will ask democratic congresswoman madeleine dean about that next.

>>. >> i tonight, fulton county d.a. fani willis acknowledging a personal relationship with the lead prosecutor in the trump georgia criminal case and on capitol hill the judiciary committee is issuing a subpoena part of a broader investigation that focuses on her use of federal funds and willis has yet to confirm she will comply with that order. i bring in democratic congresswoman madeleine dean a member of the judiciary committee. thanks for being here. on the subpoena from your republican colleagues do you think there are valid concerns about fani willis used federal money for that matter state money given her admission of this personal relationship? >> thanks for having me on and

i'm a member of the judiciary committee but i think this is a misuse of our authority. mr. jordan is in the wrong lane. and he's strangely in the wrong lane because as you well know, mr. jordan is 631 days under subpoena that he has never responded to. so here he is issuing a subpoena against the d.a. in a [indistinct] case. it's not our lane. we are not the prosecutors dpl that case and a sad upset for the prosecution in that case will certainly if there is an interoffice affair in this setting it takes away from the work that all the good people there are doing but we don't know the facts of that. and mr. jordan doesn't know the facts of that. and he's carrying the water of donald trump to try to deflect, deflect, deflect, to be a part of the shadow government that is donald trump. as i said it's a very sad thing.

>> take off your judiciary committee hat just a moment you just mentioned it is a sad thing. are you worry they had could overshadow the validity of a very important case that is at the heart of what happened in 2020? >> it's an extraordinarily important case. i was impeachment manager in the second impeachment of donald trump and we looked at the georgia case so i doing think it will in tend overshadow. i do low that people do the right thing step aside from the roles that they have been assigned to and get recognition of what is in the best interest. >> how do you think should step aside? should it be fani will snis. >> certainly i think the gentleman appointed should be should step aside. i have not made any decision to fani willis but i want to go back to mr. jordan.

at the time of the the insurrection i was taken out rushed out ordered to wear a gas mask and i thought that very day or any day after any one of us who knew anything, 1100 days ago anyone who knew anything about the planning for that insurrection incited by the former president has to come forward. how could you not sn you're an american citizen. capitol police were attacked with american flags with trump flags. mr. jordan should have come forward 1100 days ago. mr. jordan is 631 days by my count beyond list own espn that he could have given voluntarily so all of that it's nonsense. it's a distraction from the extraordinary wrongdoing of a former president. >> i want to get your take on some other trump legal news. the federal judge in the election interference case has canceled the march 4 start date

for this trial. a new date hasn't been set but what impact do you think this could have on the election to have this case perhaps indefinitely postponed? >> well, i'm somebody who doesn't believe that delaying adds to the american public's best interests. i do know that donald trump wall owes in delay. it's what he's done in decades of litigation. he searches for and delay is not in the best interest of this country or our democracy our freedoms and what happens in this future election. it's something i care an awful lot about today. do you mind if i positive on the to it? -- pivot to it? >> sure. >> all of there is important. donald trump enjoys this chaos

and the nature he wall owes in. the president and the first lady was a part of the extraordinary solemn, i don't know a more solemn thing to do which is the dignified transfer of deceased military members who were brought home by way of dover military base, sergeant william jerome rivers, specialist brianna alexandra moffett specialist kenley sanders, these are the people we should be focusing on and the servicemembers who have honor billy served our country. i don't want to focus often dishonor that was donald trump. i never want to focus on that. >> we appreciate you speaking their names on this solemn day. congressman madeleine dean of pennsylvania thank you very much for joining us tonight.

>> thank you. >> up next, congresswoman nancy mays dramatically turning on nikki haley after lying on -- relying on her endorsement, plus the u.s. striking militias in retaliation for the deaths of three u.s. soldiers.

>> just like the tides on myrtle

beach nancy mays' loyalty comes and goes. she recruited nikki haley in 2022 when donald trump backed her primary opponent. trump called mace crazy and terrible. fast forward to now. >> nikki haley is china's favorite governor. [booing]. >> and she's her way. south carolina would be manufacturing spy balloons right here in our state. [applause] >> she rolled out the red carpet for communist china when she was governor. governor haley went from doing taxes to raising them. >> what a difference a year and some political wins make when mace used to be all over charleston about haley's

credentials. >> nikki, we love you. the world loves you. >> the only candidate on the stage that talked about how we should protect them and not demonize threat is nikki haley. >> she's done some tremendous work on the national stage, also the golden stage. right now she's the leadership of this world. >> i also want to say former south carolina governor and u.n. ambassador nikki haley. she is a rockstar. she's been on the campaign trail with us the last couple of days. she's become a good friend a good mentor. she's a great leader. she lives in the lowcountry. >> i'm proud nancy mace is our congresswoman. i hope you'll join me voting for her. i'm nancy mace and i approve this message. >> back in a moment. .

>> before we go, there was a blockbuster jobs report today the economy added more than 350,000 jobs in the month of january following good reports on consumer confidence wages and of course there's the stock market and even though president biden and democrats haven't yet been able to sell the bright spots to americans here's an interesting mea culpa from larry kudlow. >> i was wrong about the slow down in the recession. >> i don't think you were wrong. the feds everyone was wrong.

>> sure, many predicted a present says but kudlow went the extra mile. week after week after week. >> it is a big huge recession warning for 2024. but i'm just looking at the actual facts and i'm suggesting that there's a very high risk probably 65 percent or better of a recession next year despite what wall street may or may not think. that's the fed frenzy spending policies manic regulatory policies and his war against fossil fuels. >> right now what you're seeing business investment is down business new orders are down. these are very big warning signs and once again i think mainstream america may be a lot smarter than the not only exprofession. so almost surely the economy is heading for a significant slump. it suffered inflammationry recession in the first half of

2022, maybe meting to deflationary recession next year 2024. polls so biden's economy is rating at just 21% with 78 percent saying it's in bad shape. now, president biden is blaming the media, ha ha ha bud shut blame his own policies. >> let this be a lesson, it's never too late to say you're sorry. "laura coates live" is now. >> ha ha ha has to be a miami in the universe. i don't know where i'll use it but i'll be using. >> i'll by waiting. have a great show. >> have a great weekend. all right. breaking news tonight, u.s. airstrikes on targets in iraq and also syria. president biden says it's not over yet. tonight on "laura coates live"