david mckenzie, cnn, democratic republic of congo. >> i'm erica hill, thanks for joining us today. "inside politics" with john king starts right now. thank you, erica. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. cocked and loaded. president trump says he pulled the plug after being told 150 iranians would die and deciding that was too many as punishment for iran's shootdown of an unmanned u.s. drone. plus joe biden huddles with lawmakers hoping to contain the damage about his bragging about getting things done back in the day with racist segregationist senate colleagues. and roy moore wants a

rematch, despite pleas by president trump and other republican leaders to please go away. >> once the mere mention of my name caused people just to get up in arms in washington, d.c. because i believe in god, in marriage, in morality in our country. i believe in the right of a baby in the womb. >> back to that story a bit later in the program. we begin the hour with a remarkable firsthand account from the commander in chief about a plan to bomb iran, and about his last-minute abort order. the targets were iranian missile batteries and raiders selected by the pentagon as a response to iranes shootdown of an air force drone. president trump revealing the play-by-play in a series of tweets saying, quote, we were cocked and loaded to retaliate last night on three different sites. when i asked how many would die, o 150 people, sir, was the response by a general. ten minutes later before the strike i stopped it, not

proportionate to shooting down a drone. what now is one big question. fred pleitgen joins us live from tehran, barbara starr is live at the pentagon. barbara, remarkable to get this firsthand account from the president right after the situation. how close were we to this and what now? >> well, i guess ten minutes if you believe what the president has to say. you know, it's a little mysterious here exactly what may have transpired because you have to logically believe the president, if he desired to have a full briefing on this potential strike, it would have happened a lot sooner than ten minutes before the missiles and bombs started flying. so he would know these things. the military would have offered him briefings, understanding discussions, analysis, all day long. hours before this was even taking place. he suddenly said he cancelled it ten minutes ahead of time. i'm not sure what the president's thinking is about

this. there were three sites, missile batteries, radars, that kind of thing. these are not isolated sites. there are military personnel who populate these sites. what could you possibly strike where there wouldn't be people there might be one question. of course there were going to be people there. if he was not willing to take that risk, that is one thing. we knew throughout the day that the president was making a number of statements that were sort of des todla torre. does iran now think it has a green light to possibly shoot down more drones? >> that is a good point. let's go straight to fred pleitgen in iran. how is this being viewed? is it viewed as the president of the united states trying to de-escalate? >> i think it was viewed as a pause.

iranians came out and said they themselves also held back from possibly killing americans. the iranian commander of the aerospace forces for the revolutionary guard came out earlier today and said aside from having that drone which they shot down in their sights, the iranians were thinking of targeting a anti-submarine plane that they say was flying in the exact same vicinity. they said they could have targeted that plane but did not. it seems they're obviously holding back from taking life but as disspelling that notion that president trump put out saying somehow the targeting of the drone may have been a mistake by some loose cannon commander. no. the iranians said absolutely what they're looking at, they know absolutely what they targeted. with shooting down the drone, they were sending a clear message to the united states as to what exactly their capabilities are. for the first time they actually displayed parts of what they said was that drone that they shot down. it was smaller parts of the

fuselage. they say these were all parts that fell into iranian territorial waters. they got that from the surface, so it's not all of it. they certainly maintain that this drone invaded their airspace or violated their airspace and they had every right to shoot it down. they said if there would have been a response from the united states, there would have been a crushing blacowblow, as they pu back. abby philip, retired rear admiral john kirby, kylie at to wood and aaron david miller. in a normal scenario the president is briefed throughout the day on his options. he's told on moment one here's a, here's b, here's c. if you do a, this is what will happen. we will blow up this and that. likely casualties will be this. was he told before and thought about it and it didn't settle in right? do we not know the answer to that question?

he says and we still don't have all the details of the he said ten minutes out he decided 150 people is too many, not proportionate and he pulled the plug. >> what i'm being told from sources is that he was told before. the question is did he internalize that information? was it at the forefront of his mind? or did he decide that that information was more important to him than it might have been earlier when he was initially told about it? that's the part that i think a lot of people close to the president don't really know in terms of his own decision-making. when he is told things, sometimes they penetrate at the level that they are supposed to. the casualty list for most people would be a very important piece of information. maybe he wasn't focused on it. i think my sources are kind of like we don't know whether or not he decided in those last ten minutes. actually, i don't believe that an unmanned drone is a one-for-one trade-off for 150 i ra

iranians or it could be that the president who in the context of briefings always internalizes things being told to him. it's not clear whether it was told to him or written down. i think for president trump that will matter a lot. >> or did he just use it as an excuse? i'm telling you, john, it's on the first powerpoint slide that the pentagon gives you. here's what it's going to cost you in terms of potential casualties. it's baked into the planning process of every tactical strike operation from the very, very beginning so i find it incredible for anybody to suggest that he wasn't told. >> it is a remarkable insight into the commander in chief, any commander in chief, but particularly this one. his reputation in town among his critics is he's impulsive, he's reflective, he's not nuanced, he doesn't do the either/ors. this was an either/or and he decided at the end, his advisers were unanimous. mr. president, you should do this. and he decided at the last minute i don't want to do this, i don't think it's proportionate. >> but those who were not

unanimous were members of congress that were speaking with him yesterday in the oval office. and i do think it's important to recognize that the argument that many of them made to him was you don't want to bumble into war here. and that's an argument that we know holds some significant weight for president trump, who said time and time again that he wants to be the one to get the u.s. out of wars. so when you're thinking about his thinking, you know, on the big stage, grand -- when he's out at campaign rallies and that kind of thing, if he can say he prevented war with iran, that's better for him than saying he bumbled himself into war. >> how will this be perceived in the neighborhood? we talked yesterday. we were on during the breaking news about where's the off-ramp, where's the circuit breaker, who steps forward, who's the third party? we don't know the answers to any of those questions. iran those it was prepared to strike and he decided not to do it. iran is saying we shot an unmanned drone. we also targeted a surveillance

aircraft that had people on it and decided not to shoot that one. are these signals everybody should step back or are we drawing lines where it's okay to shoot down drones and pabomb tankers but there's a line you cannot cross. >> i wish that were the case. i think the iranians want to see two new presidents in 2021. the supreme leader wants rouhani out and the iranians enclosucle wanting trump gone. if there were ground rules, i'd feel a lot better. i don't think that's the case. the issue on what changed the president's mind at the last minute is very intriguing. did he talk to somebody at the last minute who persuaded him? is there a piece of intel? the admiral and i were talking earlier. he made this comment the other day about loose and stupid. was that based on actual intelligence that he actually believed?

and is it in fact true that this could have been an untoward act by a commander who decided he wanted the iranian medal for bravery and the supreme leader isn't happy with this? you have a highly risk averse president here, john. i'm sure he thought through bad for the base, bad for oil and gas prices and bad for the commitment i made to get america out of bad wars. >> later in the program we'll talk about the political reaction but i want you to listen to liz cheney. her dad was dick cheney. she's a more hawkish member of the republican party. she says she gives the president the benefit of the doubt, that he stopped yesterday, decided to pull back but he's still debating the appropriate response. listen here as she says the united states here better not send the wrong message. >> if iran thinks that it can demonstrate to the world that somehow it's able to take advantage of the united states, that it's able to attack and

destroy one of our drones without any consequence or with the only consequence being that we now ask to speak to them, i think that that's very dangerous. >> again, she's trying to be polite there, but there better be consequence. wait a minute, why are we waiting to speak with them at this moment? >> she makes a good point. i think there does seem to be some sort of concerted response. you shouldn't be able to just shoot down a drone or mine tankers in the gulf of oman without having the united states respond in some way. but there's a whole menu, john, of options and ways to do that. he alluded to sanctions he's going to put on. there's other even military moves that you can make that are less provocative but also very demonstrable and visible, like escorting tankers or escorting reconnaissance aircraft with fighter aircraft. he's got options. now that he has a little time, he needs to think through them. >> we had rocket man fire and fury which led to the negotiations which have not gotten any agreements. we did see the response in syria

to the response of chemical weapons, more of a one-off -- >> twice. >> twice. you say risk averse. maggie haberman, the great reporter from "the new york times" tweeting this. a source told me that trump was pleased with his own performance last night. loved being in command by ordering the strikes and then by ordering the standdown. and the president just tweeted it. if you're a trump supporter, you're going to say strong president, good decision. >> you have to based on what trump just said, if you had transposed this onto barack obama we would be having a completely different conversation from the perspective of how this would be viewed from republicans. i think people would view this as the president blurring his own lines, creating a line and then blurring it himself. but trump -- i think maggie is right. trump likes the fact that this is his call. that he gets to decide whether

he goes and doesn't go. he also likes ramping up the rhetoric, ramping up the tensions in a particular situation and then being the one to turn the dial back down. so that's what he's doing here. but the question is, is there actually a strategy behind it. honestly, people say that the haphazard strategy is that there's a good cop/bad cop thing going on. trump gets to be the good cop saying come to the negotiating table and pompeo and bolton are the bad cop. that's not what they're planning, it's just what's happening. i have some questions about how much longer this can continue, because it's clear lly not workg with respect to iran. iran is not stopping what they're doing. they continue to up the ante. >> a diplomatic source said the united states has requested a closed door meeting of the security council. that is not something, the trump administration not a fan of the united nations. the trump administration saying

let's get behind closed doors to talk about this. >> you're not getting much help there. putin has adamant that the united states is acting irresponsibly. obviously maybe there will be some sense of turn-around, but the reality is we're going to get another -- you're going to get another bite at this, unfortunately, because the iranians are not going to remain stable. their economy is in trouble and they're ramping up low enriched uranium stockpiles. sooner or later the president will have another bite at the apple and an effort to decide this time what targets he wants to hit. >> you call it a bite at the apple. just the unanimity here, there is often a tug of war in the foreign policy in the trump administration. but this particular question, the vice president, the secretary of state, the national security advisor who don't always agree on everything, all said, we all think it's the right thing. he decided not to do it. number one, it reminds everybody the president makes the call.

whether it's donald trump, barack obama or george washington. >> i think there was probably domestic politics that factored into it. the pentagon also i'm sure was not urging him to do this. and maybe for once he finally listened to the generals. >> it also tells you he's surrounded by hawks. all of those individuals are people who are usually more bellicose on these issues. it's unusual for a president who ran on getting out of foreign wars to surround himself with so many people who are very much in favor of using u.s. force when they think it's necessary. >> we'll continue the conversation and watch what happens. up next for us here, back to domestic politics. joe biden's past continues to complicate his present. health is magnificent. so are the traits you love about your breed, but behind them are health needs you may not see. royal canin believes in tailored nutrition, to ensure his long back and playful spirit get the joint support they need. or to help this gentle giant keep her heart going strong. we've developed over 200 formulas

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were repugnant to him and that was in the way they talked. the vice president was frustrated that a story he has told many times was being taken out of context. the entire point is that sometimes you have to work with people who you vehemently disagree with or whose views you find repugnant. >> clyburn himself has defended biden, but clyburn acknowledging what rivals have said since wednesday, that biden's words don't belong in 2019. >> i was born and raised here in south carolina, as were you, and we know how charged that word is. but like anything else, what were your intentions in saying it. you work with people who you do not agree with in order to get things done for your constituents, and so i don't blame joe biden for that. but that's what we call in the world of tennis, although i'm an golfer, an unforced error.

>> joining our conversation, matt biser of "the washington post," matt and katherine lucy. i get why the biden campaign wants to say this is much ado about nothing and is being taken out of context. joe biden says there's not a racist bone in his body. nobody is questioning that, they're questioning his judgment. if you were asked a question how do you get things done when you have to work with difficult people, whether it's vladimir putin or some segregationist, racist jerk in the senate, that's one thing. he brings this up. that's a judgment question, it's not a racism question. >> no one was talking about jim eastland at the start of this week. joe biden introduced him into the conversation of the 2020 campaign. there's sort of two issues at play. the first is him bringing up to begin with and the second is ho. i think there's an element of him calling on cory booker to apologize to him that rubbed some people the wrong way.

clyburn is hinting at talk about this unforced error a little bit, vice president. illustrate a little bit your judgment in how you handled this, why did you misspeak. we haven't heard that from him. he's only had private fund-raisers. today is the first moment really for him to address these if he wants to, to answer a little bit and expound upon sort of why he introduced jim eastland -- >> at that point i want you to listen to barbara lee of california, one of the veteran members of the black caucus. one of the democrats maybe not publicly on record for biden but ready to support him if he's the candidate saying that an event like this, makes you think, hmm. >> but let me tell you, saying something to the effect that i was treated like a son and not a boy is quite offensive. he has supported and led on many civil rights issues. i don't think that's the issue. i think the issue is being tone deaf to what is offensive. >> yeah, i mean i think you're

also seeing a split within the cbc caucus. you have seen jim clyburn support biden. also cedric richmond have come out strongly and about a dozen members support biden. but that doesn't necessarily reflect the voters in the democratic party who are younger and more diverse. they want to see someone who's a torch bearer and i think biden will face a really serious test today in south carolina. not just how he handles the situation but how voters respond. we don't know whether this will impact him. right now he is leading with black voters. he's very popular. he has the benefit of name recognition in the state but he can't take that for granted. he has been skipping out on some events recently so he has a lot of work to do as he has candidates like elizabeth warren creeping up on him. >> we'll see a bigger test when he's on the debate stage. a week from now we'll be having the conversation how did joe biden handle it, how did this

play? he said cory booker should apologize to him and cory booker says huh-uh. >> i understood where his intentions were and his heart was. the fact is it's not about me or him, he said things that are hurtful and are harmful. i believe he should be apologizing to the american people and having this discussion with all of us. >> how big of a test for the front-runner? especially with a debate looming in six days. >> absolutely. biden has been loathe to apologize before this, the back and forth around the hyde amendment, with anita hill. one of the things we're seeing here is biden has been trying to pitch ahead to the general election. we've seen that throughout his campaign, he has tried to focus on president trump. w he's trying to make an argument he's more of a centrist option who is best able to take on the president. but he still actually has to get through this primary and this debate stage and this event in south carolina are really going

to be tests of how he can do that. >> there's also in my view a substantive problem with what biden said and his failure to address it. in addition to the "son" thing which is offensive to a lot of people, or the boy/son thing, he characterized that era of being one of civility. that's factually incorrect. if he's up willing to acknowledge that, i think that's substantively going to be a problem. segregationists like eastland were really the paragons of violent era of segregation and jim crow. that is not civility even if it felt like civility in the halls of congress. so biden has to address that. i think that this combative nature is going to be something that he's going to have to answer for because it might seem like a good idea to be trumpian in that way, but part of me believes the democrats are going to view that very differently. democrats actually don't necessarily want a trumpian type person to go up against trump.

so i think figuring out that balance is not something he's going to be able to dodge for much longer. >> you're absolutely right. the question is being raised about his instincts, his judgment, his tongue getting out ahead of his brain are questions that have come up before. when we come back, the president decides not to bomb iran. some democrats say yes. some republicans are worried. od thing they discovered gain flings with oxi boost and febreze odor remover. smelling is believing and gain flings can hiya karate stink too. gain flings. seriously good scent. and if you love gain flings, you've gotta try the dish soap. here are even more reasons to join t-mobile. 1. do you like netflix? sure you do. that's why it's on us.

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back to the showdown with iran now and reaction to the president's dramatic last-minute decision to call off planned air strikes. one democratic congressman, a veteran of the war in afghanistan, is praising the president's call, but adding a worry. >> look, i commend the president for taking a step back. what we need right now is clearly a policy of courageous restraint, one that is layered with strategy and defined objectives. what we do not need right now, i cannot emphasize this enough, is yet another john bolton war. >> there's a lot of lawmakers on edge today and uncertain as they wait for the next steps from the administration. this from the house republican leader, kevin mccarthy. i know the president knows this will not go unanswered. the timing is important and i leave it up to the president and those around him that are giving him the intel briefings to make that decision. rare praise from democrat, number one, staying step back.

but the mccarthy part is interesting in the sense that we talked about liz cheney earlier in the program with the other group, more republican hawks are saying wait a minute, there has to be something. you cannot let iran bomb tankers with mines, shoot an american drone down without some sort of response. mccarthy being the good republican leader saying i trust the president, but also adding there has to be an answer. >> right. with mccarthy, he's one of trump's top allies on capitol hill, but trump is surrounded by a bunch of hawks and is being pushed closer and closer and closer to this response. obviously he pulled back on this. it's a question of who he is actually listening to? he doesn't even have a defense secretary right now. everyone on capitol hill is trying to get in the president's ear. you saw mccarthy put out this statement. so you're just seeing them try to direct the president towards de-escalation but the republicans want to see some sort of response. >> and it comes in the middle of a very heated presidential

campaign. the democratic base is anti-war. the democratic base is also anti-trump. if trump is for apple pie, the democrats have to be against it. that's just the way it is in democratic politics. it's interesting to watch the men and women who want to be the commander in chief, who want to be in the oval office at a moment like this. bernie sanders tweeting a war with iran would be a disaster and lead to endless conflict in the region. congress must assert its constitutional authority and stop trump from going to war. tulsi gabbard, war is likely unless he returns to the nuclear agreement he tore up. i'm afraid he won't put the interests of the country ahead of his own pride and personal political interests. jay inslee saying this is governori governing by chaos. you can see more of these tweets. my question here is you can make the intellectual argument as the

democrats do, trump caused the turmoil by pulling out of the jcpoa. however, even if trump is to blame for the uncertainty, that doesn't excuse iran from shooting down a drone if it in fact was in international airspace and from attaching mines to tankers to disrupt oil traffic. what would -- the democrats have not answered what would they do about it? >> and they're in a fix about it about how to answer that. so you're right, they're just criticizing trump and his response and his pulling out of the iran deal. but it's like immigration too. they criticize what he's doing but without necessarily offering an alternative about what they might do. this opens up some old wounds within the party. joe biden, of course, supported the iraq war initially and criticized president bush for how he handled it. bernie sanders did not. did not support that war. so i think this issue of turmoil in the middle east is going to flare a little bit more in the party and cause on a debate stage or in these other events where they're answering

questions, questions about what they would do to iran. shouldn't there be some response and what kind of response. >> you can debate in politics how we got here. when you're president, you have to deal with the tough choices of being there. you can't relitigate the decisions of the past. it will be interesting to see if it does come up. the house speaker, nancy pelosi, was at the white house for those briefings yesterday. she said she left those briefings, a, worried about the administration response, but b, convinced from the intelligence that the drone was in international airspace when it was targeted by iran. she said it was a clear violation. here's the speaker just moments ago. >> were you informed at all last night about the president's decision about the strike? >> no. i just put out a statement and perhaps we'll have time later to chat. >> thank you, ma'am. >> the speaker there being very careful in what she says, not saying much. it's an interesting moment of are there any bipartisan moments in this administration?

>> i think this is a pretty important one. there have been some questions about the evidence that the administration is putting forward to justify them blaming iran for a lot of this provocation in the region. and in some cases, in this particular last week on the oil tanker case, the administration put out a lot of evidence showing why they are saying publicly that iran was behind this. it's important that democrats believe that evidence. i think that there is justifiable skepticism when people make claims about who's responsible for what in international affairs. it's important that there is bipartisan agreement about the idea that the evidence supports what the claims are being made. so if in fact nancy pelosi believes that the administration is on solid ground on that, i think that does in fact matter. that will help the administration as they try to build global support for their position that iran is actually spiraling into really provocative actions in that region. >> it also matters that the president did actually confer

with congress yesterday, that he brought people to the white house. that seems like perhaps a thing that would always happen, but as tensions have risen it isn't always the case so that is also something. >> that's a great point. they handled this. we'll see what the action is. in terms of bringing people in and getting the intel, they handled it just right. hope hicks didn't say much in her closed door session. why democrats think her refusal to answer questions actually helps them. just between us, you know what's better than mopping? anything!

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the latest charter school scandals are piling up. leaders of one san diego charter network? indicted for conspiracy and grand theft. thankfully, the governor's charter school policy task force just made important recommendations for reform: more accountability on charter school spending. and giving local school districts more control

over the authorization of charter schools. reforms we need to pass now. so call your state senator. ask them to support ab 1505 and ab 1507. a no-show today at the house intelligence committee. the former trump business associating felix sader through

his lawyer cites health reasons. the intel committee is issuing a subpoena to compel his testimony. the judiciary committee chairman says he believes another star witness helps democrats make their case that the white house is being far too extreme in asserting privilege to block questions. hope hicks. a transcript shows trump administration lawyers repeatedly blocking her from answers questions, 155 questions. the transcript also revealed conduct by the democratic majority that is questionable, to say the least. let's start with what the democrats say is unreasonable over the line of obstruction. i want to read you a little piece of the transcript here. this is chairman jerry nadler. is the special counsel's report accurate to your knowledge? lawyer, objection. chairman nadler, is the special counsel's report inaccurate. objection. did you tell the truth to the special counsel? objection. did you perjure yourself.

objection. the democrats are saying that helps them. they think they can go before a judge and say this is ridiculous, move the line. >> that's exactly right. they think this is somewhat of a blessing in disguise. they're trying to spin it that way. jerry nadler sat down with some of my colleagues at politico and said we're going to make this legal case that the white house obstructionism is so absurd we can't get anything and they are going to file a lawsuit very soon against don mcgahn to try to bring him in. he was a star witness in the mueller report. they want to get his testimony. they don't think they can move forward on impeachment until they hear from him. so they think hicks' and behind door testimony can help them. >> so help me about the conduct of the democratic majority. nancy pelosi said we're going to investigate in a whole bunch of committees. we believe we have every right. she said they would be serious, credible and prepared. mr. chairman, i think there are a number of people taking pictures here. i just want to say i think it's

making the witness uncomfort al. i would very much appreciate as a courtesy if nothing else if we could -- >> chairman nadler, that's fine if people will refrain from taking pictures. a, why are congress people taking pictures of a witness in a -- if you're having a serious, prepared, thorough investigation. what is that all about? and b, for the conversation, chairman nadler himself, who called off the picture taking there repeatedly referred to her as miss lewandowski. corey lewandowski was the campaign manager. miss lewandowski -- her name is hope hicks. he fought to get her testimony. he knows her name is hope hicks. at one point she said my name is miss hicks, mr. chairman. if you're going to make the case to the american people that you're conducting serious, credible investigations and you're prepared, why be amateur and offensive? >> it definitely undermines the case. it's clearly unprofessional for people to be taking pictures in a closed hearing. kind of unbelievable that they

would do that. on the lewandowski thing, there's a big debate about whether it was an intentional slip of the tongue, whatever. either way, any woman being called something other than their name, being called miss some other man's name is -- it's offensive. hope hicks would be right to be a little shaken by that. i think that it's an unforced error on nadler's part. he probably at this point ought to apologize to her because now that it's out there, it's becoming this source of criticism among hicks' defenders who say this is proof that the democrats aren't being serious, that they won't even be respectful to a woman in this context. i don't know what was in his mind, but he should probably explain it to people. >> at one point he said he was preoccupied. he said i'm sorry, i'm preoccupied. you're the chairman of the committee and have in hope hicks, someone who knows so much. someone around president trump all the time. she is important if they are

conducting a credible, serious investigation. you would think he would not be preoccupied. >> and it undermines their case to not show her respect. she is important. she was one of the closest people to president trump throughout crucial periods of time. to call her names that are not her name or not afford her the respect by calling her mrs. hicks, that undermines the whole case that she's important and deserves respect. >> and what are the democrats doing with their majority? if you're a democrat elected in one of these swing districts who took a seat from a republican, you want to go back and show people that you've been doing something. this eclipses a lot of other things right now. >> the speaker set a high bar. it shouldn't be hard to meet. we'll be right back. (ding) hey, who are you? oh, hey jeff, i'm a car thief... what?! i'm here to steal your car because, well, that's my job. what? what?? what?! (laughing) what?? what?! what?! [crash] what?! haha, it happens. and if you've got cut-rate car insurance,

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just moments ago nbc releasing a clip from an interview it conducted this morning. president trump is a guess on "meet the press." he discussed his dramatic decision first to ordera air strikes on iran and then ten minutes before that aborted the mission. >> i said i want to know something before you go. how many people will be killed? in this case iranians. i said how many people are going to be killed? sir, i'd like to get back to you on that. great people, these generals. they said -- came back and said, sir, approximately 150.

and i thought about it for a second. i said you know what, they shot down an unmanned drone, plane, whatever you want to call it, and here we are sitting with 150 dead people that would have taken place probably within a half an hour after i said go ahead. i didn't like it. i didn't think it was -- i didn't think it was proportionate. >> that's the first time we see the president. that tracks pretty much what he tweeted this morning. to see him talking about it, his facial expressions, his language. there are parts of this that don't add up in the sense that he asked the generals how many people are likely to die and they said we'll get back to you and they came back to him. that would be incredibly unusual. admiral kirby saying he's part of these and it's the first slide of the powerpoint. this is what we're going to hit, this is the expected casualty of it. so it's odd. >> he's suggesting that he ordered a strike without knowing

what the consequences of that strike were going to be, which is kind of striking and probably runs counter to what the military typically does, as admiral kirby highlighted earlier in the program. that's the first thing you tell them. >> and you were talking about this earlier. that it could well be, and the president has every right to do this, that he was told, mulled it over, was thinking about things and then circled back to it. >> yeah. he did sort of indicate -- he said i thought about it for a while. how long was a while? i don't know. but it's possible that the president could take that same information that he was told, revisit it and say, you know what, i don't think this is worth doing. we don't know. and i hope we get a little bit more on that from this interview, but that's really important. it also will beg the question, obviously, if you're told the first time it's 150 people, i mean that should register. that's actually a fairly large number, i would think if you're trying to sort of understand

whether or not an unmanned drone attack is worth that. and so it would be curious as well, even if the president decided at a later date, you know what, actually that's too many people for me. it would be interesting to me if the first time he heard it he didn't think that number was particularly high and was willing to go forward with the attack. >> and to go back to yesterday, some of the curious pieces is the president sitting in the oval office yesterday said he thought this was essentially a loose cannon, he said someboy loose and stupid. does he have intel? we'll finding out when we see more of the interview. does he discuss this? does he believe this is someone who went out over their skis over their authority and did this and the president is trying to dial back. the other issue is that's the president's call. you heard him explain it. it was his call and only his call. you do start to hear the rumblings from the hawkish members of his own party saying there has to be some response. you cannot let iran blow up tankers and shoot a drone out of

the sky without some slap back. >> there question is if there's some response that he views more appropriate and that's something to unfold in the coming days. but certainly he has long been concerned about new military intervention, starting new wars. i think part of what you're seeing here is him coming back to that belief. >> and he can change his mind because he's not an ideological republican. he is consistent on certain issues, especially trade issues, immigration issues. we'll take a quick break. when we come back, roy moore is back. does that mean republicans have a problem in alabama?

roy moore is back to the great dismay of president trump and most of his fellow republicans. the former alabama state supreme court chief justice says he's running for senate in 2020, hoping to get a rematch against the democrat who beat him back in 2017. that would be senator doug jones. that race, you see it there, was

close. jones winning by fewer than 22,000 votes. moore was damaged by accounts of how he pursued teenage girls when he was a prosecutor in his 30s. he says he was railroaded and now he says he can win with or without the party's support. >> i beat the establishment candidate, and it very angered many people in washington, d.c. and republican staff, they're still against me. >> one of those individuals, mitch mcconnell, who just yesterday said, quote, we'll be opposing roy moore vigorously. >> he also in april of last year told the senators who were running in 2020 to distance themself from president trump. mitch mcconnell has no voice in who elect -- who is elected from alabama as united states senator. he shouldn't have. >> it's going to be one of the interesting primaries now that roy moore is in. we'll keep an eye on it. thanks for joining us "inside politics." hope to see you sunday morning.

brianna keilar starts right now. have a great day. i'm brianna keilar live from cnn's washington headquarters. under way right now, cocked and loaded but not worth it. a blunt explanation from the president on why he called off striking eiran with just ten minutes to spare. are democrats really getting anywhere in their pursuit of the president? plus, a young child forced to take care of a toddler. no soap, limited showers and far too few beds. heart-breaking conscience inside u.s. immigration facilities. and a navy s.e.a.l. admits he was the one who killed an isis prisoner, not his fellow s.e.a.l. who is on trial for murder. we start with the strike on iran that did not happen. president trump tweeting today that the u.s. was, quote, cocked and loaded last night on three