someone along that has not allowed thorough vetting. >> i would say to my colleagues you're making yourselves look bad. >> this is new day. >> good morning and welcome to your new day. the white house beginning another day with diplomatic tension over a phone call on saturday between the president and the prime minister of australia. mr. trump also telling that country's president that he is doing a terrible job with tough hombres. >> tough talk for iran as well. the president's new national security advisor warned the iranians they're on notice for testing a ballistic missile. the white house not elaborating on how it will walk that talk but trump has been using the term this morning on twitter. all of this happening before rex tillerson begins his first day as secretary of state.

and it's been tested on the world stage and as we're learning that a series of curtesy call with our allies have now become confrontational. >> new tension between president trump and a major u.s. ally. sources say the president grew angry during a phone call with australia's prime minister last saturday. president trump calling the australian refugee agreement a very bad deal. that resettlement deal reached by the obama administration will transfer refugees living in detention centers on islands off australia to the u.s. >> i'm not going to comment on the conversation. >> the prime minister repeating to president trump that according to the deal nearly 1300 refugee versus to pass u.s. screening requirements but sources say mr. trump kept insisting it was a very bad

deal. remarking one of these refugees will be the next boston bomber. >> i always stand up to australia in every form. a source says trump president abruptly ended the call. notably the call showed no sign of a contentious meeting instead saying both leaders emphasized the enduring strength and closeness of the u.s. australia relationship as news that a contentious call broke on wednesday. mr. trump tweeted i will study this dumb deal in the same tweet calling the refugees illegal immigrants but the white house secretary confirming the deal will ultimately go through. >> the president in accordance with the deal to honor what had been agreed upon by the united states government in assuring the vetting will take place in the same manner we're doing it now will go forward. >> more on another diplomatic dust up with tuchlt s. ally after the mexican president cancelled their in person

meeting. cnn is learning that president trump offered to help the mexican president with drug cartels in mexico during their friday phone call. according to an excerpt of the transcript provided to cnn, mr. trump said you have pretty tough hombres in mexico we're willing to help with. they have to be knocked out but you have not done a good job knocking them out. meantime national security advisor michael flynn offering a stark warning to iran after their recent ballistic missile test launch. >> iran is now feeling embolden. as of today we're putting iran on notice. >> on notice has some lawmakers knowing it will dismantle the deal. >> i think that will be a great mistake but we'll have to wait and see what general flynn meant. >> as others call for a collaboration on policies. >> the trump administration needs to work with congress.

>> now the president today was scheduled to travel to wisconsin for a trip to talk about the economy and because of protests there the leaders of that company are coming here to the white house but in the next hour the president will be speaking at the national prayer breakfast here in washington. you can watch that live. he'll be talking to faith leaders from across the country. >> very early in his tenure president trump had to perform one of the most so let me and difficult duties for a president. he had to pay respects to a navy s.e.a.l. killed in yemen over the weekend. he made a surprise trip to greet the casket of chief petty officers william ryan owens. new details emerge about the deadly fire fight that targeted al qaeda. ryan brown is live in the pentagon with the latest. what do we know? >> this raid is what is calling a site exploitation operation. and now this complex operation was in the planning stages for

months during the obama administration but president trump was left with the task of green lighting the operation due to requirements that made the mission necessary after january 20th. one of those operational requirements was the absence of moonlight to help provide cover as the special forces moved in. unfortunately for them al qaeda was able to protect them coming in even without the moonlight and the fire fight broke out involving small armed fire or grenades. it's believed to have caused a significant number of causalities and a u.s. aircraft suffered some technical difficulties forcing it to conduct a hard landing and forcing the u.s. military to destroy it and prevent that technology falling into enemy hands. now the information including hard drives grabbed during the raid actually is already yielding valuable intelligence.

>> thank you very much. rex tillerson is now secretary of state but battles still rage over other key cabinet posts. also preparing for a battle royale over his supreme court nominee. cnn is covering all of it for us on capitol hill. >> good morning to you. rex tillerson becoming the 6th official cabinet official in place but there's still many members of donald trump's potential cabinet still hanging in the balance up here on capitol hill. today will likely be another contentious day for them. we have democrats still continuing to dig in and really trying to throw down obstacles at every place they can to delay the process and the white house is really losing patience here labeling these moves by the democrats childish. >> in an unprecedented move republicans on the senate finance committee suspending committee rules.

advancing the nominations of treasury secretary and tom price as health and human services secretary. the extraordinary measure coming after democrats demanded additional information on the nominees and boycotted when they didn't get it. >> they chose to cower in the hallway and hold a press conference. >> i cannot participate in anyway possible with moving someone along who has not allowed a thorough vetting. >> they're doing their constituents in our country a service by resorting to the childish tactics. >> tensions front and center with tensions flairing ahead of the confirmation vote for the president's attorney general nominee senator jeff sessions. >> senator cruz misrepresented what happened. so i'd like to take this opportunity to set the record straight. >> i object to the senator

disparaging a fellow member of the committee here in his absence. >> lawmakers erupting in a bitter exchange over senator ted cruz and al franken's differing opinions. there's just one problem, cruz wasn't in the room. >> senator cruz did the very thing that he is akugz me of doing. in my absence he misrepresented me. he personally talked about my integrity. you didn't object then did you? >> a fight is brewing over neil gorsuch but they could cut democrats out all together. requiring 60 votes to confirm g gorsuch to 51 required votes. >> i would say if you can. >> the big thing education secretary nominee betsy devos. her nomination is on shaky

ground now that two republicans have come out and said they will not -- they will vote against her when she reaches the full senate. that means this will be a 50/50 tie with senator sessions casting his vote for her before he is voted on and confirmed as attorney general to all of this boilg down to the fact that it's very likely we will see vice president mike pence headed up here to capitol hill at some point to break the tie, cast his vote for betsy devos in his capacity as president of the senate. >> that assumes no other republican votes with the democrats against betsy devos. thank you very much. let's talk about the chairman of the national republican senatorial committee. it will be the first time he saw that since like 1925 when the

ruling party didn't get the president's choice. >> a lot of people are trying to make sure that they talk to their republican counter parts trying to get them to break off of mrs. devos. i don't think that will happen. i think the votes are there to confirm even if it's a 50/50 vote with the vice president coming in for a tie. >> do you think mitch mcconnell should use the constitutional question procedure if it needs to be done. >> let me just say this, one of the brightest legal minds in our country. our sterling reputation not only on the bench of the tenth circuit court where he served but among judges from around the country. i don't think the filibuster or nuclear option is something we have to deal with because he is going to get the votes we need to confirm him. >> he everything is scalia was and more in terms of a

conservative model of justice. do you believe you can make the case to democrats if they're wrong? >> if they believe he's such a bad judge today why did 11 of them vote for him ten years ago. he received unanimous approval ten years ago when placed on the tenth circuit court and then the u.s. senator from colorado praised him as impartial judge who could have the right temperament for the court. again this is somebody that has tremendous support across the aisle and i don't believe this. it's going to be carried out because he is going to have the support he needs. one way or another he's going to become the justice of the supreme court. >> it does serve to know that merit garland got the same support by democrats and republicans. >> there's the significance between them. whether it's the biden rule from his time in the senate and what chuck schumer laid out in new

york. >> let's move on to foreign policy here. the president has a call with the australian prime minister last weekend. the read out from the white house is remarkably different from what we now know took place on that call. it left the australian prime minister feeling that he was bullied and feeling that he may need to bully back. do you see this as a good thing to do to one of your best alabama lice. >> australia is a great ally. no doubt about that. we'll continue to be great allies going forward. a number of trade communities and security operations that we carrie out together so we'll always have a strong relationship with australia. i only know what i have seen. australia is a great ally and they will continue to be and we need to work hard to make sure that our allies whether it's australia or the united kingdom or other allies around the globe know the united states is going

to stand strong with them and that we have their backs. >> howell do they know that if the president of the united states hangs up on them during a phone call. >> i don't speak for the white house. you'd have to ask the white house but we will continue to strengthen our relationship with australia as we do with allies around the globe unlike the past 8 years where we saw tremendous weakness in u.s. leadership. >> i know that i can speak to the white house about it. they just gave us a read out that was different than what happened on the actual call. >> were you on the call chris? >> no, i wasn't. >> but we have the actual verbatim of the call and those excerpts give a very different picture and reflect very clearly the way that the australian prime minister came out of it and his reaction is being reported in australia. so i'm asking how do you feel about the fact that who you're calling a great ally was just hung up on in the middle of a phone call. >> you weren't on the phone call, i wasn't on the phone call. the fact is australia is a great ally. we will continue to work with them on trade agreements and national security issues making

sure that we're matching and meeting the threat of isis throughout the region whether it's indonesia or other countries that have the growing threat of isis so the fact is this chris. you have to talk to the white house. i don't speak to the white house about this phone call but i'm going to continue to work hard to make sure that australia knows how important it is to this country. >> what you have seen from this administration is saying maybe a refugee policy that doesn't vet clearly enough is important to make sure that we have that vetting in place. this is a different administration. we have to remember that the past 8 years, there was an election. it's over. the past 8 years of leading from behind that's over. that's what we have to make sure that our alabama lice

understand. >> i don't understand what on notice means. >> be treated with respect. global leaders expect to be treated with respect and that's important. >> if it's important and it didn't happen in the australian prime minister. how do you feel about that. >> again our leaders, their leaders, leaders around the globe deserve to be treated with respect. i don't treat for the president or the white house and i wasn't on the call and i would expect the president of the united states to treat every leader around the globe with dignity and respect. >> senator i appreciate you being on the show. >> all right. up next, what democrats are saying about president trump's diplomatic dust ups. we'll find out next. have conquered highways, mountains, and racetracks. and now much of that same advanced technology is found in the audi a4. with one notable difference... ♪ the highly advanced audi a4, with available traffic jam assist. ♪

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>> and adversaries like iran. let's talk about what president trump is doing with democratic congressman from tennessee. good morning, congressman. >> good morning. good to be on cnn. >> thank you for being here. let's start with australia. it has been reported that there was a tense call between australia's prime minister and president trump. president trump did not want to honor a deal that president

obama put into place to take 1250 refugees who are currently languishing on an island off of australia. >> what we're talking about is a peaceful transition of power. it seems to flow seamlessly from administration to administration. we're part of the process. it's regime change and that is not what the american electoral system and political system is

there and mr. trump was elected on saying he was going to crack down on outsideers and make the u.s. safe. what do you think the upshot of having this argument with the australian prime minister would be. >> he's not making the united states safe. just like the muslim ban does not make it safe because it's isis material for jihadists and gives other people like in iraq war fighting with him to defeat isis and he puts our soldiers in jeopardy and it's against one of the best allies and it's not what you should do. i don't think he got elected on that. refugees are not war prisoners and they certainly can be better and should be better. president obama was vetted and our country vetted everybody that's coming in from syria at least two years with intense vetting, extreme vetting, huge vetting. what is going on?

>> what's going on with mexico. we understand there's another tense phone call between president trump and the president of mexico. we, cnn obtained a read out, like a transcript of that phone call so let me just read a portion of it to you. mr. trump reportedly told him you have some pretty tough hombres in mexico that you may need help with. we are willing to help with that big league but they have to be knocked out and you have not done a good job of knocking them out. what do you think of that relationship? >> i like the nuisanced words this administration uses. big league and hombres and notice. you know, with president bush we knew the axis of evil was north korea and iraq and iran. with president obama we knew we were going after al qaeda and with this group we're going after australia, mexico and chicago. the good news is elementary

school students can learn more about geography now and every country say possible enemy. just depends on the day. >> i'm picking up on your sarcasm but here let's talk about what some people think is the deadly serious interactions with iran. so yesterday general flynn came out and said iran is officially on notice. this morning president trump has tweeted this. iran has been formally put on notice for firing a ballistic missile. should have been thank you for the terrible deal the u.s. made with them. well, they did violate a u.n. agreement by firing a missile. isn't it time for the u.s. to say something in no uncertain terms to iran. >> well it may be but there may be better ways to say it. saying things directly to iran may be more effective than tweeting or making that

announcement. and ways to give notice but not cause people to get to the brink. i'm concerned about us going to the brink and i'm concerned about peace and safety of american servicemen all over the globe. >> i think that everyone will agree with you but you're arguing for style over substance. and understood that's your opinion. >> not style over substance. style and substance can go together. i don't think you have to be a macho guy and act like you're some tv star to deal with other countries and give a strong message that we object to and

your conduct. i think you can do both. >> congressman, what's going on on capitol hill. >> well, i'm not a member of the senate so i don't know the strategy but i believe that democratic senators are showing their constituents if they object to cabinet picks i think there should be at least one republican that joins the two ladies and opposes education secretary. women judges stopped president trump. it's republican senators refusing to go along with this not competent education secretary and the men are just going loong with the program. >> why not -- congressman why not show your disapproval and express your disapproval with the no vote. >> well, i think that senator schumer has a strategy. i believe it's a good strategy

and i believe they need to have unity in poegz these nominations. there's never been so many nominations of people not aware of the job they are about to undertake and have shown lack of knowledge and education secretary is the worst. >> we'll leave it there. thank you very much. >> thank you allison. give chris my best. >> here i am. >> congressman is sending his best regards to you. >> return the favor. >> i'll do that. >> so the big story of the morning is president trump was in a heated exchange with australia's leader. that's not the read out of the call between the two men that we got from the white house. so what really happened? excerpts of transcripts of the actual call are now out and we're going to speak with an australian journalist about what they are hearing about the exchange from their prime minister, next. nice tells you what you want to hear. but kind is honest. this bar is made with cranberries and almonds.

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>> on the agreement entered into with the obama administration with respect to refugee resettlement. >> that was the australian prime minister confident that president donald trump will honor former president obama's refugee deal. this as president trump hinted possible pull out via twitter. he agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from australia? why? i will study this dumb deal. how is all of this playing in australia? he's the political and international editor. thank you for being here. what is your information on how this call, this phone call unfolded. >> well, the version that we heard from the washington post was that it was a angry and

argumentive phone call where we now hear that although the australian prime minister had said that donald trump had agreed to one of the deals and the spokesman had confirmed as much we then hear from the washington post that trump had complained about it and called it in the phone call with the australian prime minister worst deal. when this leaked version was reported. president trump followed up with the tweet you just read out which seems to suggest he is still been hanging by a thread. this is being read as an embarrassment here. and not on the temperament of the u.s. president either. >> let me read for our viewers some of the headlines in your newspaper as we understand it this morning. do you believe it? trump vents on twitter after call. white house gang of four. who leaked phone call? exposing mad king. donald's bullying does prime

minister a favor. worst deal ever. trump hung up in first call with turnbull. so what is the impression of what the relationship is now between the u.s. and australia. >> well, up until now australia has been one of the few u.s. allies to feel the wrath of donald trump. the australian prime minister has gone to lengths to reassure the public that the alliance is rock solid. it's already 65 years old will continue for generations to come and yet, the sort of behavior we see from donald trump suggests in the views of many observers and experts here that this is a president that doesn't really seem to care so much about the alliance or relationship and

it's not so much about the deal itself whether the deal is going ahead or not it seems to be more concern about the way donald trump is conducting himself, treating his alliance partner which is not exactly with a lot of respect in a relationship where we have been conditioned to expect, you know, mutual respect. >> if we can get into the details of it i think that the white house would say why do i have to honor a deal with president obama when i don't agree with president obama and furthermore i think that mr. trump will say why do i have to take the 1250 refugees when australia won't take them. what's the response. >> nobody argue with donald trump's right to make the decision. he is, in fact, as you know, cancelled the tpp negotiation which the u.s. conducted with australia and ten other countries. so nobody to

do that. the question is, whether he will commit to this deal or not and the way he seems to be toying with the australian prime minister in the process. so it was the leaking of the conversation which appears to be a leak from the u.s. side followed up and hammered home really with that tweet from the president that's really created a breach of trust and raise the question here about whether donald trump can be a reliable ally. so it's not so much the deal itself. it's really the conduct and way in which trump appears to be toying with the decision and with the australian prime minister. >> we will follow it on this end as we know you will on the sidney morning herald. thank you very much for being on new day. >> the trump team is trying to course correct after the immigration executive order or travel ban. we're going to take a look at this alleged shake up behind the scenes, next. >> and we're waiting for the

president to take the stage at the national prayer breakfast. you can see the live shot there. when he speaks we will bring it to you.

>> maybe a shake up happening at the white house. cnn learned the trump administration is changing the way it does business. >> it's fantastic. on his supreme court the president has reason to be, to use a faf rit term,

bragadocious. >> the podium, sir is yours. >> choreographing a tighting scripted event with gop lawmakers to applaud and shepparding his team across capitol hill. >> a star contrast to the clumsy way team trump managed the president's executive order on travel restrictions. sources tells cnn the president expressed anger to aids in the way that's handled. the fall out still sullying his new administration. high profile gop criticism still coming in. >> it's confusing in the way it's rolled out and they deserve to give more clarity to the american people on a big decision like this. >> cnn has learned that the white house is taking steps to try to avoid such confusion and even the appearance of incompetence in the future. chief of staff will now take more control of systems dealing with basic functions like executive orders. in his authority he already

technically had but was not able to fully exert given that power is splintered among several strong players. from trump's son-in-law to counselor to the president steve bannon. one senior administration official blames the roll out in part to irrational exuberance at trump aid's eager to keep campaign promises but lacking experience to get it done right. >> trump aid's say one of the biggest systems failures was with fundamental communication. preparing not just the agencies that would execute travel restrictions but are main alabama lice and advocate with talking points on how to defend it. >> message strategy is usually the job of white house communications director but team trump doesn't really have one. sean spicer does double duty. to remedy that cnn is told that trump senior advise sor kellyanne conway will take on more of the responsibilities. they are trying to course correct.

organize the white house more traditionally or at least as traditional as possible when the president who himself often guides message or better or worse on twitter. >> both political and diplomatic missteps are why the white house is looking to shake things up. let's talk to someone that's been inside the white house for some perspective on what could be going on. he's the former director of the office of management and budget under president reagan and also the author of trumped. a nation on the brink of ruin and how to bring it back. i hope i sold that title as intended with the right punctuation you had there. so you have been on the inside. politics is often action and adjustment. they don't like the way this went out. the messaging has been bad. they didn't consult with the agencies the right way. what might be done about it. >> it's more than messaging. this is a giant misfire because trump was elected because fly over america's hurting

economically. the voters over wisconsin and pennsylvania are in peril and threatened not because of refugees coming here or visa holders from the 7 countries but because their real wages and living standards and jobs have all been disappearing for decades and the problem is far more the federal reserve, janet yellen, the bubbles created on wall street. the enormous casino gambling. >> people care about this too. there's fear of terror. there's fear that fuelled this executive order. >> but the worst thing to do is actually fuel that fear. the fact is between 911 which was a fluke and san bernardino 14 years, there was 425 people killed in america from lightning. there were six killed civilians on american soil by terrorists if you don't count the military bases which most people don't go

to so we need perspective. he didn't mean to do this. this whole idea of hit the ground running, ready, fire, aim, is going to cause enormous trouble. they need to get back on the economic issue as someone famously said in 1993 in the clinton era it's the economy. that's how trump got elected. he needs to refocus on that and curtail this whole agenda of steve bannon and what i call the nationalist combative culture right they're trying to stir up the country and use the agencies of government to build a political coalition. not to drain the swamp. >> because there's another element that you're leaving out and it is that -- have spoken to scores of trump supporters and panels. they don't like the old guard. they are ready to shake it up. they think that washington has

become way too bloated and bureaucratic and they don't like the old guard. >> a agree, 100%. that's what my book is all about. >> there you go. >> they like these shake ups. >> i'm all for shake ups but i want to drain the swamp. i don't want to just fill it with other creatures that are going to build up homeland security, border control. more money for defense more money for spying on national security. frankly this going on now with australia i think is a good thing. everybody's about how they're our greatest ally. i think they're the stupidest alabama liechlt every time in the last 15 years washington has called a war and invited them to

come, they have come. and maybe they're offended and if others are offended this is the silver lining but maybe the world will start pushing back every time washington wants to have a war. >> but you have to be careful. >> we have too many wars. that's the problem. and you have to be careful. you need these people even if sometimes the decisions aren't in the u.s.'s best interests. you don't want to alienate them all together. people are angry at washington and for good reason. like wise, the mexican border

and bad hombres, that's the war on drugs. the problem is the policy. get rid of the war on drugs. he wouldn't have half the problem or most of the problem you have on the border today but if it's all going to be just more dollars, more military, more huffing and puffing like they did yesterday at the iranians. the best thing that obama did was make the nuclear deal and bring the iranians back into the nations. what do they have to do ten days into their administration by drawing red lines. this is heading in the wrong direction. they need to get back. america first, our economy needs fixing. the fed needs to be brought under control. we need to have a house cleaning there and not all of these digressions and diversions that they're in. >> your the author of trumped. great to get your perspective.

>> the white house putting iran on notice for test firing this ballistic missile. what does on notice mean? we'll ask our military and expert panel next. >> all right this is a live picture of a podium. this is the national prayer breakfast in washington. eventually we'll have president trump at that podium. supposed to happen at about the top of the hour. he has a lot to address. how he does that just as important as what he says. we'll bring it to you, next. a flight to athens, georgia. with travelocity, there's no fee to cancel or rebook most flights within 24 hours. travelocity® wander wisely™ companies across the state are york sgrowing the economy,otion. with the help of the lowest taxes in decades, a talented workforce, and world-class innovations. like in plattsburgh, where the most advanced transportation is already en route. and in corning,

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tough talk from the white house following iran's ballistic missile test. national security adviser michael flynn calling it a, quote, provocative breach of a un resolution, what is behind the threat of, quote, putting iran on notice. we have cnn military analyst, retired general mark hert ling, phil mud, and cnn senior international correspondent fred pleitgen who was just in iran. fred, let me start with you. you were there talking to hard liners, where was their head about trump as a non-conventional person and what do you think this means? >> i think it pours cold water on a lot of the thinking that

the iranians, es special the hard liners where they say we're not sure whether some of what we heard from donald trump on the campaign trail actually translate into policies. he was always very negative towards iran and the nuclear agreement. they thought because he's what they think is an unconventional politician that they were maybe even able to do deals with donald trump. one of the things the deputy oil minister told me, we have a lot of oil to offer, huge investments that iran has to make not just in the oil sector but other sectors as well. perhaps american companies can benefit from that. now i think they're seeing is the reality could be very different. certainly those statements by the national security adviser last night will be something that will cause a lot of headaches in tehran, have already caused backlash with the grand ayatollah or his adviser saying it's useless to threaten iran and that donald trump is someone who is a novice politician. so certainly it really looks as

though there could be a pretty big conflict in the next couple years. >> you've got the political and the military aspects of th. phil, let's start with you. you've been in the room when people decide how to speak to another country about what's going on, how to be tough. i heard you making a face when we're hearing about the ayatollah's representative's response. what is the plus-minus on tough talk? >> i think the difficulty here is, when you look at what options the iranians have, for example, confrontation with the u.s. navy in the persian gulf, you have words out of the white house from general flynn, and the iranians have to interpret those seriously. they have options themselves. i would be concerned if i were talking in the state department today as the new secretary of state, rex tillerson, about the implications, not just for the white house about whether they back up their words but about whether iran takes steps particularly in the persian gulf that are more provocative and that the white house doesn't appear to have a plan what to do

if that happens or if someone asks the question, what does that mean when general flynn says you're on notice. is that no cookies and milk after dinner? >> general, let's bring you in here. it's estimated 20% of the world's oil goes through the strait or hormuz which iran obviously controls. what do you see on the menu of what "on notice" can mean for the u.s. and what potential responses are from iran? >> got me, chris. i don't know. i'm on phil's camp on this one. i don't know what the definition of on notice is. and i don't know what will happen if something occurs today, what our reaction might be. i think it was truman that said the definition of diplomacy is telling someone to go to hell and making them look forward to the trip. i don't think this plays a role

in this. this is just language that no one really understands. it's not building our respect not only in iran but around the world. we are being scene -- mr. trump and his administration and especially general flynn are being seen as loose cannons without an idea of the effect. if something happens today, what are we going to do? are we going to go to war with iran if another attack comes against a ship? are we going to have a war start on that? are we going to try to do some diplomatic action to prevent a war? i don't know. >> general, let's stay with you and talk about what happened in yemen. we mourn the loss of one of our own that we know about. we know there were civilian casualties as well. we are told this is an operation scheduled and planned under the obama administration but was pushed over on scheduling reasons and, in part, to let the new administration make the call. is that your understanding? >> i'm not sure it was pushed over to let the new administration make a call.

i think it was a delayed action for a variety of things. for a guy who has been in the field a lot and have to make tough calls, you don't make calls necessarily with only the politics in mind. you have an indicator of that. if i'm the special operations commander or the central command commander, i'm not going to say, hmm, i'm going to wait until trump gets in office so he can make one call on an attack. there were a whole lot of other factors involved in this. i saw much of the reporting yesterday blaming trump for not having the right kind of approach to this. i don't buy any of that. this was a tough mission and special operations command does tough missions all the time. sometimes they go awry because oftentimes the enemy gets a vote. >> you use the word awry, general. is that your sense of this, that this is what could happen when you're dealing with violence in conflict? or is there any indication that something was done wrong here? >> no, not at all. this is all about combat.

nothing was planned incorrectly or decisions not made too haste tilly. this was a tough mission, a sensitive site exploitation mission, an sse. whenever you do that, instead of just firing missiles from drones, you put american forces on the ground, and no plan survives first contact with the enemy. bad things can happen, and they did in this case, where an extreme fire fight went on. you've got to plan for those kind of things, too. i think the special ops guys did a very good job in this. >> phil, last question to you. your perspective of being in the room and knowing what it's like to deal with ally in other states not pulling their weight. the expectation is donald trump would come in and do what he said he would do, i'm going to tell everybody else, america is carrying too much weight, people need to step it up. that's what he's doing when he's talking to the australian prime minister, when he's talking to the president of merks co-. what is your take on that?

>> the next day people like me around the world are talking to their counterparts over a drink, dinner, lunch, saying calm down here, you've got serious people coming into cabinet offices, people in my world who are highly regarded, tillerson at state, general mattis at the pentagon, cia director pompeo. i think people like me overseas and in washington saying we're 13 days in, we can't take four years of this. this might calm down with the guys moving into cabinet positions. >> fred, thanks for the great information from the ground, phil, as always. the president is going to speak at a national prayer breakfast in just minutes. what will he say? you'll know. we'll bring it to you live. let's get to it. >> this is cnn breaking news. good morning and welcome to your new day. it is thursday, february 2nd, 8:00 in the east or just before. in just moments president trump is expected to take the stage at the national prayer breakfast. we'll go there live to hear his speech.

meantime, the president triggering riffs with two staunch american allies, ramping up tensions with a long-time adversary. relations with australia now said to be strained over a heated phone call last weekend with the aussie prime minister. mr. trump creating tension with mexico's president saying he wasn't doing a good job knocking out, quote, tough ombres. >> the trump administration calling out iran for testing a ballistic missile. michael flynn, quote, putting tehran on notice. no word on what that means. our coverage begins with jeff zeleny life at the white house. what's the latest, jeff? >> president trump's tough talk on the campaign trail is getting its test on the world stage. some of the first calls with foreign leaders intended to be courtesy calls are actually confrontational. new tension between president trump and a major u.s. ally. sources say the president grew angry during a phone call wh