a defining moment of the trump presidency. iran's top general killed in a u.s. air strike. >> we took action last night to stop a war. we did not take action to start a war. >> this action may well have brought our nation closer to another endless war. >> with iran now vowing revenge, what's next as tensions escalate in the middle east. plus, loss then a month until iowa votes, will foreign policy now be a pivotal issue in the 2020 race? >> this is a guy who seems to be unmoored. he has no authority, no authority to strike iran without the informed consent of the

american people. and an impeachment impasse. >> this fantasy that the speaker of the house will design the proceedings in the senate a nonstarter. and still no date for the president trump trial. "inside politics," the biggest stories sourced by reporters now. welcome to "inside politics," i'm nia-malika henderson in for john king. thanks for sharing your sunday morning with us. a week that started with violent protests at the u.s. embassy in baghdad ended with the killing of the top general, a man the trump administration holds responsible for the deaths of hundreds of americans. president donald trump defended the action that shocked and surprised the world on friday by saying that qasem soleimani was planning imminent and sinister

attacks. >> my administration executed a flawless strike that killed the number one terrorist anywhere in the world. soleimani was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on american diplomats and military personnel. but we caught him in the act and term nated him. we took action last night to stop a war. we did not take action to start a war. >> and yet, tensions in the middle east and between the u.s. and iran keep growing with president hassan rouhani declaring that the u.s. had made a grave mistake and that retaliation is essential because quote if we remain silent against the u.s. it will become bolder and more aggressive. president trump then ratcheted up the rhetoric laying out in no uncertain terms what would happen if iran attacks

american's people or assets. let this serve as a warning that if iran strikes any americans or american assets we have targeted 52 iranian sites representing the 52 american hostages taken by iran many years ago. some at a very high level and important to iran and iranian culture and those targets and iran will be hit very fast and very hard. this comes amid new reporting that the decision to kill soleimani surprised his aides. the order followed december's killing of an american contractor in iraq and the embassy protests in baghdad. the u.s. blamed those events on iran and congressional source familiar with the administration's decision to strike says that the president felt they crossed his line. but as democratic members of congress questioned the motives behind the move, officials from the executive branch continue to insist the president ordered the strike on soleimani to head off an imminent attack.

>> i can tell you it was very solid intelligence. soleimani was traveling around the region working out of plan to attack americans with his proxy allies, with iran's proxy allies and syria and lebanon and in iraq. we had the intelligence. we knew, you know, that he was in the process of planning these attacks and we acted to defend american lives. >> joining me now with the reporting and their insight, josh dossi of "the washington post," politico's heather keagle and margaret of axios. let's start off with the president's tweets last night, being specific about what the u.s. would do, talking about the 52 sites that americans have identified in terms of targets in iran.

what did you make of his very aggressive tweet? essentially he set a bit of a red line in terms of what the united states would do. >> he did. i think in this case it's pretty safe to say we have set a line here. the 52 sites it's very unclear where that comes from. it's very unclear what they might be in specifics but generally i think we're talking surface-to-air missile sites, airfields. things that iran would probably use to carry out some sort of a further type of attack. the question i have is is the culture sites and what that means and whether or not that's legal is a much more gray issue. >> and we also see a bit of a disconnect between the president's ratcheted up rhetoric there and the rhetoric of his administration. they seem to be de-escalating and he very much, margaret, seems to be escalating the tensions and certainly escalating in terms of how he's attacking about this. >> it contradicts a bit what the

president said where he said they was about stopping the war, not starting a war. but it does seem that in the face of kind of the domestic questioning, some of the internal criticism he's faced as well as from some other allies abroad he's kind -- his instinct is to double down. to defend what he's done and that seems like what he's doing. it's possible that this 52 number is playing off of the 35 number that the iranians have said they have identified 35 targets including tel aviv that president trump says we have more. you have 35, we have 52. you're right. when you start tangling with geneva conventions you're in a whole different space. i think there is some internal dissent inside the white house about whether this is the right course of action to begin with and whether this is -- whether this is the right way to attempt a return to negotiations which i think completely -- >> which was the ultimate goal after pulling out of that

nuclear deal. dan and josh, you both had some reporting that looks at trump's motivations and why now with this particular strike. and this is what you wrote officials reminded trump after the iranians mind shoots down the drone and attacked a saudi oil facility he hadn't acted. acting now would show that donald trump was frustrated to call off the 2019 air strike had leaked out and he felt that he looked weak the officials said. trump had history on his mind. the president had long fixated on benghazi and felt the attack on the killing of an american contractor would make him look stronger compared to his predecessor. >> well, he was given a smorgasbord of options and it surprised a lot of the people close to him that he was willing

to do this. he has talked about disentangling from the middle east and taking a stark action makes that a more difficult thing to do. but confluence of actions that convinced he needed to do this. one, the iranians did several things but the main thing was the killing of the contractor in the president's mind. it wasn't the warships that b h botherred him or the drones. but the killing of the american contractor, lindsey graham who was at mar-a-lago this week said that was the president's red line. that was what something the president could not get over and what you saw this week, the embassy in benghazi it's under siege and he made a contrast against barack obama and how he handled the embassy. so it's a surprising decision from the president who is not then the first to use military.

>> he hasn't been hawkish. >> he hasn't been hawkish or wanting to start new strikes or new wars. this is a surprising turn in the presidency. >> more questions, dan, about how imminent this attack really was. you see folks in congress raising questions about this, people wanting to see the real evidence as to what is the definitions on ways of imminent. >> i saw a pretty big split in the way the state department described this. mike pompeo in particular. and the way that the pentagon described it. the pentagon last week was describing sort of an uptick in the campaign of violence. iran has been violent for decades. now you want to draw a line and say no more, that's one thing and i think you make that case. i think the pentagon is trying to make that case. >> and pelosi on capitol hill along with other democrats scrutinizing some of the language here in terms of how imminent this attack was. this is what she had to say. this classified war powers act

notification raises more questions than it answers. the highly unusual decision to classify this document in its entirety compounds or many concerns and suggests that the congress and the american people are being left in the dark about the national security. what sort of recourse does congress have to get this information to make it public or even to rein in what they see as president trump's reckless actions? >> it's a great question. we have often seen lawmakers on the hill bypass opportunities to rein in presidents on using the military force. the house had two defense bills, each one had various provisions on using the military force more broadly and on going to war with iran. when they were sent to the president's desk those provisions were stripped out. most don't want to take the

votes and then the votes come back to haunt them. what we're seeing from pelosi she's demanding a briefing next week for all members. she wants more information. we might see that. but in terms of lawmakers actually passing something to rein trump in that's so unlikely. >> and the fact that it's 2020 makes it a much more complicated situation for those folks up for re-election. up next, we'll go to a cnn exclusive, a top iranian military adviser talks about his country's next move. "inside politics" is brought to you by salon pass. tors for effective, non-addictive relief. salonpas lidocaine. patch, roll-on or cream. hisamitsu. i am totally blind. and non-24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do.

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iran earlier today. iranians are vowing revenge. already today we have seen members of iran's parliament chanting death to america during an emergency meeting. cnn's senior international correspondent frank pleitgen spoke with a military leader and fred, the iranians are threatening a military response. >> yeah, you're right, nia. one of the things that the iranians have been talking about, there will be a response, there will be retaliation, there will be revenge. and now for the first time, this is someone who's extremely close to the supreme leader and close to the power center here in iran he said that's a military response. it will be against military targets. but the iranians also want to avoid a larger war with the united states. here's what he had to say.

>> translator: the response for sure would be military and against military sites. let me tell you one thing. our leadership has officially announced that we have never been seeking more and we lot no be seeking war. it was america that has started the war. therefore, they should accept appropriate reactions to the actions the and the only thing that can end it is for the americans to receive a blow that is equal to the blow they have inflicted. afterwards, they should not seek a new cycle. >> so the iranians are saying they're going to retaliate militarily but they wanted to end after that. they don't want this to escalate any further and essentially become a shooting war between the u.s. and iran. one of the things, by the way, nia, that the adviser took extreme issue with was the fact that president trump overnight tweeted that the u.s. had apparently designated 52 sites including sites as he put it important to iranian culture. if that's the case, the 52 sites are hit, they would hit 300

sites. in other words, the iranians are saying that if more sites are targeted the gloves would come off from the iranian side as well. >> so escalation there. fred, iran's foreign minister is tweeting about the trump tweet and warning that the end of u.s. maligned presence in west asia has begun. what has this meant for the u.s. standing in the region? >> one of the things that the iranians have been long saying is they want the u.s. to leave the region. they want the ierntss -- the iranians keep saying it's the u.s. who's destabilizing the region. very interesting that you bring up that tweet from javad zarif. the leader of the revolutionary guard corps said in response to the assassination of qasem soleimani that there would be what he calls strategic

retaliation and he said that strategic retaliation would spell the beginning of the end of america's presence in this region. so they obviously believe that the killing of qasem soleimani some of the protests you're seeing, some of the mourning processes you're seeing not only in iran but of course in iraq and other middle eastern countries as well could lead to the end of the united states presence here in this region. whether or not that's the case, it doesn't look that way at the moment but there was supposed to be a session of the iraqi par eliminate where they wanted to decide on the future of american troops in iraq that's definitely something key to the iranians and of course all of that now has gotten more momentum with the killing of qasem soleimani. >> fred, thanks so much for that report from tehran on a very complex situation that's involving by -- evolving by the minute. how the president found

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a superpower understands that caution and restraint are really truly signs of strength. >> that was a 2016 flash back to a campaign version of donald trump pledging restraint on the world stage. fast forward almost four years later to the start of donald trump's second campaign. this time as commander in chief and things look quite different. this from the main page of the drudge report at the end of this week. tehran vows revenge. 2020 begins with a bang. and the hash tag that trended this friday #world war 3. a friday rally with evangelicals in miami, trump said he doesn't want war or regime change in tehran, but warned terrorists to watch out. >> we do not seek war, we do not seek nation building or regime change. but as president i will never hesitate to defend the safety of

the american people. you. [ applause ] so let this be a warning to terrorists. if you value your own life you will not threaten the lives of our citizens. >> and joining us now, cnn's abby phillip who covered the campaign and you cover the white house. let's go, margaret, to what this tells us about a foreign -- about donald trump's tolerance for risk. if you look, this was in many ways if you look at the array of options he had this is the most risky. this is what the a.p. is reporting. a range of national security matters has cast aside the same warnings that gave his predecessors in both parties pause. at times he's been willing to embrace more risk in other moments he has questioned the validity of the warnings altogether. even from experts within his own

administration. he has publicly taken pride in doing so. >> yeah. i mean, this is interesting on so many levels. one is while it's true that president trump has on the campaign trail and in the presidency been averse to deepening entanglements in the middle east iran is one of the few exceptions where he has taken a decidedly more aggressive stance. more threatening stance than president obama did. and sought to undo the policies of the obama administration. so i think from john bolton to mike pompeo to trump himself, that's been a pretty consistent threat and while i don't think that we'd be talking about this, if not for the death of that u.s. contractor, i also think rally with evangelicals pretty much says it all. this what have real resonance with some republican jewish voters and many evangelical voters who support a more

aggressive stance toward iran. or such a crucial -- >> a crucial part of the evangelicals cheering many of his moves. you mentioned john bolton. here was his tweet, congratulations to all involved in eliminating qasem soleimani. long in the making, this was a decisive blow against iran's maligned quds force activities worldwide. i hope this is first step to regime change in tehran. john bolton sort of pushed out, right? who knows what he has to say in terms of the ukraine scandal but here he is congratulating his former boss. >> yeah. what kind of relationship does bolton have with his former boss and he's getting a much more aggressive trump when it comes to iran. it's something that clearly, you know, bolton is trying to encourage the president even after leaving the white house. if you look at his teasing

tweets in the last several weeks and months they have been all toward pushing trump toward more bellicose actions in a lot of different conflicts around the world. this is no different. so as you mentioned impeachment is such a big thing. john bolton still hasn't spoken and there are big questions about whether he will. i think right now, donald trump is being the president john bolton wants him to be. i think that that leads to some real questions about whether bolton is going to take any steps to undermine him in this ongoing impeachment inquiry. >> there's a trump tweet, and here he was talking about poem a few years ago. >> our president will start a war with iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. he's weak and he's ineffective. we have a real problem in the white house. so i believe that he will attack iran some time prior to the election because he thinks that's the only way he can get elected. isn't it pathetic?

>> isn't it pathetic? josh, you have the president there talking about going to war as a sign of strength as well as something that would bolster the former president's re-election campaign. >> it was quite a sound bite. you know the president is torn between -- you have heard him talk about the iraq war and the george bush's decisions in the middle east that he thought were disastrous. even calling for george bush to be impeached because of the war in middle east and he mocks barack obama for feckless and for weak. and being a guy who does not enforce the red line in the sand. who does not take on military folks. this is a president who doesn't have a defined policy. >> there's no trump doctrine. >> he hits obama for not doing much. it's situational in many ways and what you see in the clip is him saying obama is not tough enough, but look at other clips

he said that bush was too aggressive and he shouldn't have gone into the other countries and trying to figure out what motivates his decisions every time can be a difficult, but interesting puzzle. >> very unpredictable. >> he is motivated by doing whatever is the opposite of obama did. >> he is being compared to obama in terms of what happened and within benghazi. dan, you heard fred pleitgen talking about the threat from the iranians that if president trump follows through on hitting the 52 iranian targets they will respond by attacking 300 american targets. this is bluster obviously. or is it a sign of de-escalation? i don't think we know. >> whether it's 300 or not, i mean, certainly they're pointing toward increased attacks, more aggression. we don't have anything suggesting a large u.s. ground war. they have not moved the sort of firm of troops that would be required. they haven't done anything along the lines but what we're

starting to look at if this continues to go in the direction it is is missile attacks. air strikes. and where that puts you ultimately and what that spills us into at the end of the day is very unclear. >> and if you think about a couple of conflicts that have come up recently not only with iran, but also with north korea, two very unorthodox approaches that this president has taken. this is what richard haass had to say after three years of no international crises, mr. trump is facing one with iran because he's rejected diplomacy and another with north korea because he's asked too much of diplomacy. in neither case has trump embraced traditional diplomacy putting forward a partial or interim pact in which a degree of restraint would be met with a degree of sanctions, a lot for this president going into the re-election year. >> yeah, but at the same time, as you're going to the

re-election year if americans truly believe that the nation is under some sort of a threat that's a tendency to rally around a commander in chief. i think president trump understands that. i think before he was president when he was preemptively attacking president obama for simultaneously being too weak and wanting to attack iran for leverage he understood that this is a potential tool for leverage. whether or not it's warranted, whether or not it's the right policy move, there are political implications to redirecting americans' attention to feel they're under attack and that's a moment to empower the incup bipt. >> we'll see how long the moment will last. we don't know what happens on the ground. up next, new year, same drama as the house and the senate remain locked in a stalemate over impeachment. t only extremely durable, but also quite flexible.

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and as mayor, mike bloomberg always championed reproductive health for women. so when you hear mike bloomberg on health care... mrb: this is america. we can certainly afford to make sure that everybody that needs to see a doctor can see a doctor, everybody that needs medicines to stay healthy can get those medicines. nurse: you should know, he did it as mayor, he'll get it done as president. mrb: i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message. the impeachment standoff between the house and the senate is showing no signs of letting up. nearly three weeks after the house approved impeachment articles against president trump. speaker nancy pelosi has yet to turn them over to the senate. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says that if democrats are trying to use those articles as leverage for the senate trial, they are very much wasting their time. >> this fantasy that the speaker of the house will get to hand

design the trial proceedings in the senate that's obviously a nonstarter. they have done enough damage. it's the senate's turn now to render sober judgment as the framers envisioned. but we can't hold a trial without the articles so for now we're content to continue the ordinary business of the senate. while house democrats continue to flounder. >> so the same drama we left the last year with, continues in this new year of 2020. apparently mcconnell and schumer did not really talk over the holidays. what's next? when does this impasse break? >> so you're right, they didn't talk over the holidays, they had a floor chat on friday. >> dueling chats. >> right. so people on the hill expect pelosi to send the articles next

week. her sitting in the trump districts are asking why are you playing games with impeachment. that's the last thing she wants for mcconnell he says he's not facing pressure but the long their this drags out, the more potential evidence could come out. we saw up redacted emails that were reported. the more things that come out, the more pressure he could face to give in to the democrats' demands to call witnesses orie quest documents. i think they both want to try to wrap this up soon. we should see articlesp with the next two weeks i would say. >> and pelosi had a statement here, today leader mcconnell made clear he will feebly comply with president trump's cover-up of his abuses of power and be an accomplice to that cover-up. the american people deserve the truth. every senator faces a choice to be the -- to be loyal to the president or to the constitution. an by, that was nancy pelosi

there and heather mentioned the idea that some democrats are sort of nervous about the foot dragging essentially. where does pelosi go here and it does seem like there might be some leverage that democrats have gotten because of some of the stories that have come out. i heard her mention the emails and "the new york times" had that long piece on what happened with the ukraine scandal. talking about mulvaney's role and pompeo's role as well. >> there's a fine line for both democrats and republicans in terms of timing. all of this information has come out recently. the question is is it actually moving anybody in the senate? i don't know that that answer is particularly clear. i mean, you know, if you're nancy pelosi, yes, you might want as much information out as possible but only if there's a reasonable chance it can change the outcome in your favor. i still think that's very much up in the air. we still haven't heard enough from some of these moderate republicans and republicans perhaps who are not running for

re-election about what they want, what they're willing to stand up for. that's the test, so maybe in a couple of weeks and as the members are faced with questions we'll get insight into what that is. >> and a great column in your paper, josh. the democrats have to make a choice, do they want to squander weeks or do they want to make the strongest case for removing trump from office so that the people who might do it the voters the impeachment i believer iftive both on practical and substantive grounds is for them to move on. >> well, the argument you're seeing them making, you said he's such a national history risk a problem and now you're holding the articles and saying that's not that much of an

urgent risk. it's hard to imagine short of some explosive bombshell that you would have many republicans in the senate move to impeaching the president. in fact you have several democrats like joe manchin who may not impeach. it's unclear if they'd have the number of votes to impeach the president. it's what the stream is keeping for this going, going, more evidence is coming out. more emails are coming out. but at the end of the day i don't think much will move them pushing the majority where they need to remove him from out of. >> in the new dynamic of course is what's doing on with this conflict with iran. does that complicate things to any degree? a piece in "the washington post," mark meadows argued that the democrats were playing politics with impeachment while trump was taking out a general

who has blern blood stains on his hand and whip steve khalis said that trump was focussed on defending the country amid democratic harassment. >> yeah, i think republicans have start using the iran issue to hit nancy pelosi in a different way on this. but we saw her respond last night with that statement after trump sent the notification justifying the attack. she said it was unurge, it was classified and in her statement said she said wait a minute now. you know, she said wait a minute now. the timing and the manner and the justification for this were called into question. she is insinuating that trump is the one to be questioning about why did you do this now in the middle of everything going on, both abroad and here. >> yeah. important week coming up in terms of what happens out of the house with these impeachment articles. next, how the rising tension with iran is affecting the democratic race for president. fl site and you'll experience

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the democratic presidential candidates are sounding off on president trump's surprise strike on iran's top general and expressing concern that his administration is not prepared for what comes next. >> i think we have seen from this administration over the past three years suggests that they're prepared to deal with the very real risk we now confront. >> trump promised to end endless wars. tragically, his actions now put us on the path to another war. >> if we have learned nothing else, from the middle east in the last 20 years, it's that taking out a bad guy is not a good idea unless you're ready for what comes next. >> after largely focusing on

domestic issues for past year, democrats find themselves grappling with a new renewed focus on foreign policy as a major election issue and with four weeks to go until the first votes are cast, that shift in focus could potentially benefit one candidate in particular. in a cnn poll in november, the last time this question was actually asked, 48% of democrats said that joe biden was the best candidate on foreign policy issues and that's more than a 30 point lead over his nearest rival. i want to talk to you, abby, sort of for the big picture look at this. how does foreign policy being at the forefront at least right now for the foreseeable future, a couple of weeks or so, how does that shake up the 2020 race for the democrats? >> it's surprising to your point this hasn't been a huge part of this race up until this point. but now you're seeing candidates like bernie sanders really using this as a way to bring up again the issue of joe biden's

judgment actually. i mean, those numbers in the poll they think that joe biden has the best experience for this, but bernie sanders said he made a catastrophic decision to support the iraq war and buttigieg is bringing that up as well. you're seeing both bog in that direction. i think it will bring up for democrats it's less now about whether or not you have the experience to be commander in chief and more about whether you have the judgment. i think that's the argument that this -- there's the wedge that these democratic candidates are trying to make with candidates right now. do you have the judgment to make the right decision at the right time and not make the same kind of mistakes. >> and sanders here's what he had to say about his past record on these issues. >> i am deeply concerned that president trump's actions represent a dangerous escalation that brings us closer to yet another disastrous war in the

middle east. similar to my concerns that i raised way back in 2002 regarding the war in iraq. a new war with iran could cost thousands of lives. >> this was a potent issue in 2008 in that the contest between hillary clinton and barack obama. it was an issue in 2016 as well with sanders and clinton. how potent could it be for sanders in 2020? >> well, i think as abby said, he's using this as a way to not only hit biden but to differentiate himself from the other candidates and kind of lead the way on this. we saw him talking about i don't want to get into another endless war. we saw elizabeth warren who changed her statement after getting criticism for first then saying i too don't want to get into another endless war. for biden he can get down into the mud and hit back at bernie sanders and buttigieg or go the

other way and do what we saw him do at the beginning of the candidacy where he ignored the other democratic presidential candidates and took on trump. you know, he could position himself as the front-runner and contrast himself, trump is unpredictable, i'm a steady hand. >> that seems to be what he's doing. he tweeted -- retweeting the 52 sites tweet, he said the more the walls close in on this guy, the more irrational he becomes. that's an argument of course about temperament. biden saying he has the steady hand and the experience in a way that trump doesn't. >> that's right. and for biden, you know, his play -- the most obvious play is to act like the incumbent from the democratic side rather than to be punching back at his rivals. i think for buttigieg because he has military experience this is a potential moment for him to shine. this certainly reframes the debate inside the democratic

contest. it's been about health care and medical for all one of the defining issues for which you pick. this will move that away and bring foreign policy and your interests capacity and views on interventionism. military responses into the debate. >> you mentioned buttigieg, margaret. you are covering pete buttigieg and he's doing what you said. he has the boots on the ground military experience in a way that others in this field do not. >> we have heard him talk a lot more about that in the last several days talking a about what patriotism understands what, what it means to be deployed to the war zone. i think we'll hear a lot more from him on that because it is a differentiating characteristic. only he and tulsi can sort of claim military experience in that way. and it's going to be -- it's for

buttigieg a contrast with trump who avoided as we know military service during the vietnam era. and now has tried to run as a noninterventionist and we see his actions in iran. this is a key point of contrast for buttigieg and others. >> and trump is willing to make the tough decisions that other administrations -- meaning the obama administration weren't willing to make? >> well, that's correct. the baghdadi raid where he killed the other isis leader, the president is clearly banking this argument that the american public will rally behind him in these decisions and will see them as in the national security interests. you saw that with the democratic statements. most of those that came out, well, soleimani deserved this and then, then, then. now you're seeing more of the attacks. the democrats realized that and the popularity of this with the public is probably going to be

fairly high. >> yeah. foreign policy now front and center. and with the iowa caucuses a month ago the democratic presidential candidates begin their final appeals to voters in the hawkeye state. i am totally blind. and non-24 can make me show up too early... or too late. or make me feel like i'm not really "there." talk to your doctor, and call 844-234-2424.

with the iowa caucuses less than a month away, the candidates faced a real world test of the popularity with a certain type of voter, those who click the all-important contribute button. the 2020 hopefuls unveiled the fourth quarter fund-raising hauls with bernie sanders leading the pack with an eye-popping $34.5 million. sanders is not the only one enjoying the strong fourth-quarter fund-raising. senator amy klobuchar saw a surge in her fund-raising numbers as she more than doubled her previous haul from $4 million to more than $11.4 million and her message to supporters is to go for it. >> i wanted to thank you for turning out in a big way. this is it. and we are 30 days away and i know that you like to say, you are in the top three or the top two, and just go for it.

go for it. it is a new year. >> a month ago and abbey, you have been out there on the campaign trail, and bernie sanders' supporters have said all along that he is underrate and coming out with the big fund-raising number, and do we see the numbers meaning that he is expanding the base of voters and support? >> well, that is a good question. bernie sanders is probably stronger now than he has been in several months in this race, and particularly after he had that heart attack. i think that his supporters are even more fervent now than they have ever been, and they are giving more and more committed to him and more willing to stick with him as the top contender. you know, i think that there are a lot of voters this past weekend that i spent time with in new hampshire, and they are more ideologically moderate, and interested in bernie sanders and the strength in the polls, and the strength in the financing is

the biggest strength in the race, and so, you know, some of the people who are the more pragmatic democrats who want somebody who can win, and bernie sanders is looking good right now because of the numbers like that, 34 million, and totally changing the game in terms of the grass roots fund-raising. >> he is trying to change the conversation in terms of who is electable, and he is giving an interview to the paper, josh, where he is talking about biden, and this is what he says about biden who is winning the electability game, and he brings into the game a record that is so weak that he cannot create the excitement and the energy needed to defeat donald trump, and the support of the free trade including the north american free trade agreement is going to make him vulnerable in the midwest where trump struck victories. >> yes, he is going to have a milquetoast candidate who can energy the base and not only beat donald trump, but you have seen bernie sanders doing that

for a while. for a while, the candidates did not attack each other, but attacked trump, and played nice and now a stretch into iowa caucuses, and new hampshire and nobody is going to be playing nice, and only one winner, so you have to take the gloves off and swing. >> and the voters are coming down to the wire to decide who to vote on, and here is a voter trying to decide who the vote for between biden and sanders. >> i am leaning towards biden, but sanders is the second choice. biden is the first choice, because he is highly experienced, and he has good relationships internationally, but i also believe that senator sanders carries a lot of passion in the arguments. i think that'll bring a lot of young people out, and that is important to the turnout. >> is it a tough decision? >> yes, sir, it is. >> and jump ball in iowa and this guy deciding between two guys that are very ideologically

different. >> yes, and it is demonstrating the bi-polarity of the dual instincts of the democratic voters in iowa, but also reminds everybody that there is a thing about bernie sanders that we saw in 2016 which is like will his, the ferocity of the ideological convictions end up hurting the nominee if he is not that nominee, you know. you saw a dam penn enthusiasm for clinton and had the effect, and if bernie sanders is not the nominee, and then are the things that he is saying now going to come back to depress the enthusiasm for the eventual nominee, and that is not his concern. he wants to blow it out of the water and surprise everybody and take it tone new hampshire. that is fine and clearly his right, but bernie sanders is complicated for that reason. >> and iowa is a last-minute choice nor voters, and we can tell that they are trying to make up their minds. that it is for "inside politics"

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is the escalating threats. president trump warns that the u.s. is targeting dozens of iranian sites and would quote hit very hard in response to any attack. what is the u.s. strategy? >> we took action last night to stop a war. we did not take action to start a war. >> secretary of state mike pompeo joins me to discuss in moments. and foreign focus and new questions on the 2020 campaign trail about what it makes to be commander in chief. >> we need to stop this endless war. >> and this is not a game and lives are on the line. >> and now a month to iowa and who do the democratic voters want on the job? i will speak to presidential candidates elizabeth warren and former mayor pete buttigieg, and holding the line as the senate is awaiting articles of impeachment, the democrats are