know, gallagher's got a wife and kids, he shouldn't spend the rest of his life in prison. but the confession contradicts testimony by two other s.e.a.l.s who do still say gallagher is the one who killed the prisoner and posed for a picture with the corpse. gallagher is also accused at shooting at unarmed iraqi civilians. so what happens now? the navy says tonight the government is not going to drop premeditated murder charges against gallagher despite petty officer scott's testimony. their own witness says it wasn't him. they're still going forward and saying the credibility of a witness is for the jury to decide. but will a jury convict now? we'll stay on it and let you know. all right. thank you for watching. "cnn tonight" with d. lemon starts right now. i don't know if you got a chance to see, don, but we had greg meeks on. >> mmm-hmm. >> you know, the congressman, longtime congressman and, you know, him, the woman who is at the head of the cbc, the congressional black caucus,

clyburn, who is, of course, the democratic leader in the house, they all say biden doesn't have a problem. that they know him. they know his record. it kind of shifts the onus to cory booker, who we had a great interview with last night. is he just trying to play to advantage to try to get some wattage in that race? >> okay. so here's the thing. i understood what he was saying -- >> which one? >> i understood what, well, former senator, the vice president joe biden was trying to say. i understand it. he did it inartfully, and many times in conversations we do that. i did it the other night with you when we were talking about the whole, you know, who you give a platform to and when you look back in history, who do you want -- i brought in hitler. i didn't mean to compare hitler to the president, but it was inartful. i was trying to -- trying to speak about people who give misinformation and propaganda. and you tried to help me out.

you're like, that's an extreme example. that was inartful. i didn't mean in it that way and i think we have to -- sometimes people say things in a conversation and you get what i'm trying to say, but people turn it into something else. and i get what joe biden was trying to say in the same vein. and what he did was inartful by saying "boy," right? so if he didn't say "boy," i think it would have landed differently. what he was saying was i can work with these people who were terrible. they were, you know, beyond racist, right? they were beyond what we have in the senate and in the congress right now, and if i can work with them then i can definitely work with the folks there. so i think that, you know, as we said the other night, you and i, got to give people a little bit more leeway. we should be nicer. we should be kinder and figure that out. and if you say something that was inartful and something comes out of your mouth that's stupid which happens when you're live. you know that happens all the time. probably me more than you. you say that's not what i meant. >> that's one of the reasons your audience loves you.

you will open what you say and sometimes you'll stick to it if it's just that people don't like the opinion. if you decide that you didn't say it the right way, you own it, most people don't. you're also existing in a gotcha culture, my brother. that's a problem for us, too. people will take what they say -- they know where you were going with it, but you've given them a chance -- >> given them the ammo. but here's the thing that i'm going to say. i don't know if you use your mom, who by the way, i love so much. i use my mom as a barometer. my mom is -- is one of those moderate democrats, votes in every single election, is passionate about how she feels, and i said -- i called her up and i said, mom, what did you think? she said, i knew what joe biden was saying. he said it a little bit crazy, but i knew what he was saying. it's a tempest in a tea pot and she says democrats have to stop it because they're going to be so woke they're going to wake up

the day after election day and the person they don't want to be in the white house is going to be in the white house. now, that's her. those are the people who make up the bulk of the democratic party who show up at every single election are people like my mom and others who i spoke to, and they say the same thing. this election is not going to be had on twitter and who is going to be the wokest. and your concerns about joe biden and him using "boy," that was inartful, he should not have used that word, but your concerns about that, that's not the biggest issue that we face. joe biden may end up not being the nominee, but to kneecap someone because you disagree with one word or one thing that they said i think is cutting off your nose to spite your face. look at the totality of someone's record. realize who your actually allies are, and your allies aren't always right and perfect, but the person who has your back most of the time is your ally. the person who doesn't give a damn about you and calls you names and doesn't really care about your issues, that's not your ally. >> true.

>> try to work with your ally. >> true. but you have some practicalities at play here. there is a reason that cory booker and harris and beto and bernie said it in a way that you're not hearing from meeks and clyburn because they're not running. they're playing to advantage. >> they have to be careful. >> they can call him their friend all they want. >> listen, i respect everyone who is running, all the people who are running for, you know, 2020. great interview with cory booker. respect him a lot. he's done some great work. but they all have to be careful not to come off as opportunists. because there is a reason that kamala harris gets the respect that she gets, because of the work that she's done. there is a reason that cory booker gets respect that he gets, because of the work he's done. and there's a reason that joe biden gets the respect because of the work and his record that he's done. and i don't think there is any black person in america, especially in the voting public, who thinks that joe biden is an actual racist and who is putting a segregationist over someone

else. that's just real talk. i know that people are going to be mad at me. the woke twitter culture is going to come after me, but it doesn't matter, i'm speaking the truth to them. republicans fall in line. none of the republicans up on that stage with donald trump in 2016 liked him. >> right. they said it then. >> they all hit him hard and said he was terrible. he didn't deserve to be in the white house. >> not now. >> he's an awful person. guess what? when he became the nominee, they all fell in line. >> right. >> at the convention they were screaming trump, trump, trump, build the wall. at the democratic convention, there were hordes of people screaming bernie, bernie, bernie, and we were like what is going on here? that is the difference. democrats have a litmus and a purity test for their candidates. republicans say this is the best person we have to carry our agenda forward. we're going to fall in line and support that person. >> an interesting thing happens if you want to put this into a category of political correctness and how they play out differently in the two parties. >> yeah. >> i easily see this president using the attacks of cory booker against joe biden if biden gets the ticket. >> absolutely.

>> i know people are saying, what are you talking about? it would be so hypocritical. no, the right will attack the left for political correctness. look what they're doing with aoc about her descriptions of things. they don't like them. they do have a good fight on sensitivity so they'll attack her. they'll never attack their own that way. >> never, ever. >> they will attack you. so if the left motivates those same attacks, they will wind up, as you say, risk kneecapping one of their own who makes it to the next level, especially if it's joe biden. >> yeah, well, they got big decisions to make. i'm just going to report it and give it -- call it like i see it. thank you -- by the way, i have some news. i know they want us to go on. so, listen, i spoke to some folks about the phone call. they said booker was right -- this is a source with the biden campaign. booker was right. the phone call was sincere. it was heartfelt. again, there were no apologies. and also, i think you can expect to see the former vice president say he misspoke. because as we -- as we talked about it, he has told the story

numerous times, but used -- he didn't use the "boy". he said he called me "son" because he didn't respect me -- >> instead of senator. >> -- as a senator. i think you can look to, especially when he's in south carolina this weekend, doing interviews and so on. i know he's got an interview with reverend sharpton, that he spoke. >> i got to tell you one other thing. no apologies, no apologies. apologies are seen as weakness now and i think it's such a mistake. somebody said something to me about i had tweeted. i don't think we should talk about the holocaust this way. that word's used all the time. look, i apologize if you took it the wrong way. they, like, looked at me -- now, i knew i'd still get savaged for having said it. that's this toxic twitter culture. it is what it is, but in real life it's starting to bleed through and people see apologizes as weakness. and i think they're almost always strength. >> it's not. it's not. i remember when i first started

this show, a producer -- a producer told me something and usually they were afraid maybe that someone would take it the wrong way. i said, you know what, you're absolutely right, i'm sorry. they looked at me like i had three heads. who are you? that's what grown people do. >> that's right. >> you admit you're wrong and you move on. guess what? i got to move on now. >> go ahead, brother. i'll be watching the show. >> they've been yelling at me no the last five minutes. >> you've got a guest on with one of the best names i've ever heard, by the way. >> oh, wait until you meet marijuana pepsi. not tonight. she's going to be on a different night. >> oh, a different night? >> maybe you're talking about john kasich. >> the alien? >> the alien. bye, chris. i'll see you this weekend. >> see you later. >> i'm off tomorrow so i'll see you on saturday. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. we have lots to talk about. the united states may be closer to military conflict with iran than at any time since president trump took office 2 1/2 years ago. this development after iran shot down a u.s. navy drone with a missile. the pentagon releasing this -- it's a grainy video.

there it is right there. of the drone falling on to the strait of hormuz. but here's the catch. and i want to show this to you on a map. take a look at this map. iran calls the drone -- claims, excuse me, the drone violated iranian airspace and was spying over iranian territory. u.s. military officials call the claim categorically false, insisting the drone was operating over the strait of hormuz and fell into international waters. at the white house today, president trump saying this. >> iran made a big mistake. this drone was in international waters, clearly. we have it all documented. it's documented scientifically, not just words. and they made a very bad mistake. okay? >> how will you respond? >> you'll find out. >> are you willing to go to war with iran? >> you'll find out. you'll find out. >> but then cryptically the president looked like he was walking back his threat to take action. listen. >> i have a feeling that it was

a mistake made by somebody that shouldn't have been doing what they did. >> who do you think did it? >> i think they made a mistake. i'm not just talking the country made a mistake, i think that somebody under the command of that country made a big mistake. i find it hard to believe it was intentional, if you want to know the truth. i think it could have been somebody who was loose and stupid. >> look, we don't know what to believe when it comes to this president, quite frankly, and what he says. he's lost credibility with the american people. telling almost 11,000 false or misleading claims since he took office. that's according to "the washington post" fact checker. remember when he said he'll build a wall and mexico will pay for it? it's not and they aren't. 3 to 5 million illegal votes cost him the popular vote. they didn't. his inaugural crowd was bigger than president obama's. it wasn't. windmills cause cancer. they don't. president obama wiretapped him. he did not. the american people need to be able to believe their leader when crisis flares up.

overseas. that's why the truth is so important. because as we have said, if you lie about everything, you'll lie about anything. or if you lie about anything, you'll lie about everything. it can be said both ways. the administration may be telling the truth, but their record on that is about as bad as it could be. and the president also has squandered his credibility with many american allies around the world and -- anymore -- not much credibility. when it comes to iran he is standing alone. he unilaterally pulled the u.s. out of the iran nuclear deal and tightened sanctions on iran. really ticking off european allies. nicolas kristof of "the new york times" who will join us in just a bit said it is sad how distrustful how allies have become about the u.s., including its approach toward iran. but that's not all. trump has questioned the viability of nato, angering allies but not doubt putting a giant smile on vladimir putin's face. he despises nato.

and speaking of, they're not happy with the way trump has cozied up to russia's strongman president and allies are perplexed at trump's moves to have a friendship with north korea's horrible dictator kim jong-un. >> then we fell in love, okay? no, really. he wrote me beautiful letters. >> america's longtime allies want to feel some of that love from trump. instead, he usually slaps them around. when general james mattis stepped down as defense secretary at the end of last year, his resignation letter was a rebuke to trump's approach to america's allies. reading in part, "while the u.s. remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies." he went on to say, "we must do everything possible to advance an international order that is most conducive to our security,

our prosperity and values and we are strengthened in the effort by the solidarity of our alliances." we have a lot more tonight on the growing danger and the dangerous situation with iran. also tonight, a big development in the controversy surrounding joe biden and the remarks he made about how well he worked in the senate with avid segregationists when he was a young senator in the 1970s. senator cory booker, a rival for the democratic nomination, called biden out for his comments and the two got into a verbal scuffle last night. well, it turns out biden later called booker, an aide to booker saying that the call was direct and respectful. but no apologies were exchanged. is this incident a stumble for joe biden? one of his campaign themes is how well he can work with people. people he disagrees with. and he was describing his relationship with former mississippi senator james o. eastland, who was not only a segregationist, but a major opponent of civil rights. saying this. "i was in a caucus with james o. eastland. he never called me "boy."

he always called me "son." well, guess what? at least there was some civility. we got things done. we didn't agree on much of anything. we got things done. we got it finished. but today you look at the other side and you're the enemy. not the opposition, the enemy. we don't talk to each other anymore. booker immediately rebuked biden by saying this. you don't joke about calling black men "boys." men like james o. eastland used words likes that and the racist policies to strip black americans of our very humanity. and calling on biden to apologize. biden reacted like this -- >> are you going to apologize? >> thanks, guys. >> like cory booker has called for. >> apologize for what? >> cory booker's called for it. >> cory should apologize. he knows better. there's not a racist bone in my body. i've been involved in civil rights my whole career. >> well, here in studio with me last night, booker responded this way -- >> i was raised to speak truth

to power. and that i will never apologize for doing that. and vice president biden shouldn't need this lesson. >> mmm-hmm. so that phone call, by the way, came after that interview here last night. i have to ask, and we're going to get some answers to these questions tonight. biden no doubt means well, but he now has to deal with how primary voters view these comments. is he out of step with the democratic party of 2019? there's a lot to talk about tonight. the biden incident. the escalating tensions with iran and president trump's surprising response when asked if he needs to expand his base going into 2020, the 2020 election. ohio's former republican governor john kasich joins me next. on to the next job. the next challenge. the next place.

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u.s. on the verge of a major conflict or even war with iran. that is the question many are asking tonight. is it? well, are we? iran shot down an american surveillance drone saying it was in its airspace, but the u.s. disputes that claim. now the world is waiting to see how america is going to respond. i want to discuss now with former ohio governor john kasich. governor, thank you so much. i appreciate it. i know this is a very serious situation. >> don, look, no, it is. but before we get to that serious subject. i want you to know i'm not an alien, although you can beam me up here from columbus, ohio, you and cuomo. all right.

let's talk about iran. >> you got it. >> here's the problem -- >> let me just give you a little. you sat on the house foreign affairs committee for 18 years. that's why i want to know how you feel about this escalation, possible escalation. are you concerned? >> sure. yeah, i'm very concerned and i'm concerned, though, that we have missed an opportunity. on the debate stage, i was the