burning with many uncontained. p thousand army resources have been called up and the fire season is only beginning and experts say the dangerous conditions are likely to worsen. thanks for watching. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, massive failure, the pentagon now saying it not withdrawing troops from iraq after mistakingly releasing a draft letter suggesting that is exactly what the united states was doing. this is as the defense secretary of the united states contradicts his boss, the commander-in-chief on iran in a big way. plus john bolton is ready to talk so why don't republicans want to hear from the guy who was in the room on the calls and with the president? what are they afraid of? and iran and trump's impeachment up ending the race for 2020. let's go "outfront." and good evening, i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, a boiling point this hour between the u.s. and iran and a major blunder

from the trump administration creating chaos at a terrible time. this is what i'm talking about. look at this letter. the chairman of the chief of staff admitting the military made a mistake when it sent this letter. this letter notified iraq that american forces will be relocating to, quote, prepare for onward movement. so in english that is they are moving to withdraw. so u.s. troops, 5,000 u.s. troops in iraq preparing to withdraw. a move made, caving to the parliament which voted to evict u.s. troops. this would be a major and transformative move for the united states to take. in light of the iran chaos. but a short time later the military said, the letter is a mistake. mark milley said the letter was a draft and it was a mistake and unsigned it should not have been released. this is an incredible thing. you're talking about the greatest, mightiest military on

the face of the planet so the united states military said it was withdrawing from iraq, caving to iraqis when it is not true and they had a draft letter saying they were doing and they weren't doing it and then as the secretary of defense is now contradicting president trump when it comes to targeting the cultural sites. president trump saying just last night and i quote him, they're allowed to kill our people, they're allowed to torture and maim our people and use roadside bombs and blow up our people and we're not allowed to touch their cultural sites. it doesn't work that way. except it does when you are the united states of america and it would qualify as a war crime to blow up iran's priceless cultural sites. and secretary mark esper said, quoting, we'll follow the laws of armed conflicts and those laws would say you do not destroy cultural sites. so the president and the military that he commands are not on the same page. the secretary of the defense of

united states of america is taking on the commander-in-chief. this is not a small thing. this is a seismic thing. especially at a time when the stakes with iran could not be higher. tonight the united states is prepared to deploy b-52 bombers to the region to be on stand by should the u.s. need to strike iran. so these are fast-moving developments and i want to go to pamela brown out front in washington tonight. massive confusion to say the least from the administration tonight. >> there is certainly mixed signals and confusion emanating from the administration as the administration, erin, braces for potential counter attack from iran amid the fallout from a strike on soleimani. >> reporter: tonight as tensions with iran escalate, congressional democrats are demanding the white house declassify the formal notification sent to congress justifying the deadly drone strike against iranian military commander qassem soleimani. chuck schumer and bob menendez

sending a letter to trump saying it is critical that national security matters of such imimportant be shared with the american people in a timely manner and a notification is not appropriate in a democratic society. and nancy pelosi calling the white house's decision to classify the entire notification highly unusual. saying in a statement, the move suggests that congress and the american people are are being left in the dark about our national security. >> this is a bad guy. we took him from the battlefield. >> reporter: mike pompeo avoiding directly answering questions about the imminent threat the administration said soleimani posed in the region. >> we saw that he was platting further plans to take down americans in some cases many americans. >> when you say the attacks were imminent. how imminent? are we talking about days, are are we talking about weeks. >> if you're an american in the region, days and weeks --s this is not something that is relevant. we have to prepare. we have to be ready.

>> reporter: ahead of an intelligence briefing from key administration officials set for wednesday, pelosi introducing a war powers resolution in the house aimed at limiting the president's powers with regard to iran going forward. on the way back to washington from the two-week mar-a-lago holiday the president toward reporters aboard air force one he may discuss releasing the intelligence but didn't commit to anything. as iran mourns the loss of soleimani, trump also renewing his threats to target any attacking cultural sites saying they're allowed to kill our people, they're allowed to torture and maim our people and use roadside bombs and blow up our people and we're not allowed to touch their cultural sights. it doesn't work that way. but mark esper saying the u.s. milt -- military will follow the laws of armed conflict which would not allow for such attacks. and i'm told president trump has been in close contact with his

national security team and being briefed multiple times a day on the latest regarding iran. >> pamela, thank you very much. and i want to go to chris van hollen and i appreciate your time. that is just a top leadership of the pentagon today defending the killing of soleimani saying there was an iminnocent -- imminent strike and saying they will stand by the intelligence they saw that it was compelling and imminent and clear in scale and scope. do you believe it? >> erin, i believe that we could only believe it when we see it. i think we learned the very hard way during the iraq war how administrations, political folks in administrations and others manipulate and corrupt intelligence to get the policy result they wanted. in this case, an excuse to go after soleimani.

and so it's very appropriate that we be asking for this evidence. after all the administration's story on this keeps shifting. the rationale keeps shifting and provided no evidence that there was an imminent threat. there was a staff briefing at the top secret level a few days ago about the senate reconvened and they didn't provide any information and evidence supporting that. so it is important that we get that. it is also important that we recognize that the overall goal of the administration had is really just blown up. you talked about this back and forth today in response to the iraqi parliament's vote to get rid of u.s. forces. look, whether or not in the end of the day all of our forces pull out or not, the reality is that soleimani's goal all along was to undermine our strategy and interest and influence in iraq and he seems to have

accomplished in death what he could not do in life because of this administration. >> so general milley said the letter was released by mistake and poorly worded and said that is not what is happening in terms of removing troops. he knows we can all read, the letter said we require to make sure the movement out of iraq. it is not poorly worded. it says what it says -- >> no, that is -- >> what do you think is happening here? >> well, i read the letter too. and it is clear on its face what it meant. i think this administration really, the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing. and what we're seeing as a result of that chaos. on the one hand they're going to send that letter to the iraqis or they did, on the other hand they say, no, we didn't really mean that. so this is a pretty dangerous situation. it has been from the start. it has been made more dangerous

by this administration's escalation. we're now closer to war with iran than we have been before. and so we should really be de-escalating this. instead you have this overly outrageous rhetoric from the president threatening war crimes and his administration secretary mark esper has to bring that back too. >> so let me just jump in that point. mark esper is contradicting the president saying the u.s. will abide by international law which is to -- would not be to bomb iranian cultural sites. i want to make sure, it is an important moment because i want to make sure you -- how you hear it. do you hear the secretary of defense of this country to say he would defy an order from theez of the united states to do so? >> i think secretary mark esper made the right statement, whether or not he had any consultation with the president before contradicting the

president, i don't know. i'm glad he made that statement. it was important that somebody do it. but we appear to have a president who is increasingly unhinged. he is tweeting out all of these things, including threatening war crimes, then he yesterday threatened the iraqi government with sanctions if they told us we had to remove our troops and today we have a letter from the commanding officer in iraq saying we are going to remove our troops. you have the president by tweet telling the congress that he has the right essentially to go to war in iran when the constitution gives the congress the power to authorize war. we are in a very dangerous moment with the president who does seem increasingly unhinged and i think that the congress really needs to come together now as one and assert our

constitutional responsibility. >> and obviously you're referring to this situation, this is in the context, though, of a pending, looming impeachment trial. whatever form it may take. on that senator, former national security adviser john bolton will testify at the senate trial if subpoenaed and we understand he has a lot to say and that he knows what happened. will we see john bolton testify in front of the senate? >> well, republican senators are out of all excuses for not calling these witnesses. especially now john bolton. the house was worried when they asked him. he said no. and they were worried about a long, drawn out legal proceeding to bring him to testify. but now he's made clear he will comply with a senate subpoena. so we should bring him down. i would also refer everybody back to december 3rd. president trump said he wanted mick mulvaney, his acting chief of staff, to testify at a senate trial.

that was what president trump said. why are we having any dispute over whether mick mulvaney should come down when president trump said he wanted him to testify. so i think every american understands in order to have a fair trial you need relevant witnesses and relevant documents and that is all we're asking for. >> i appreciate your time senator van hollen, thank you. and next mike pompeo briefing senators behind closed doors tonight. does he have credibility on this issue of the iranian imminent attack? plus john bolton said he's willing to talk about will mitch mcconnell let him testify before the senate? and if bolton testifies, could his testimony help or hurt democrats' case? i can. the two words whispered at the start of every race.

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(whistling) tonight secretary of state mike pompeo holding a closed door heating with the senators on iran. pompeo has been the face of the strike defending the decision to kill general soleimani. the question is, does pompeo have credibility on this claim? kaitlan collins is "outfront." and the president is particular about who speaks to him and he's stayed out of sight and mike pompeo has been outfront today.

>> reporter: he had him go on the six sunday shows to defend the move. the president was only on air during the address last friday when he talked about this and it is really pompeo who has essentially been the face of it. a lot of that has to do with pompeo being the one behind the scenes pushing for the option as the president was weighing which way he should go with all of this. and this comes in wake of past events when you've seen iran provoke the administration in the past and you've seen people like the secretary of state push for certain options in iran. the drone strikes, shooting down that drone comes to mind. that was certainly a key moment when the president called off that retaliation at the last minute and this is annin ste-- instance where he played a key role. and who could do the shows yesterday, mike pence or mark esper, those are figures who typically you could see in a situation like that. but instead it was the secretary of state on every single show.

now today could give you an indication of why you see what happens when people are asked about the president's threat to target these iranian cultural sites and people like pompeo were saying that is not what the president said. look at what he said closely though you could read in the president's remarks what he said about that and then see people like the defense secretary today saying no, we're not going to do that, we're going to follow the law and not going to go forward with the war crimes. so essentially you see the president moving forward. those statements and people like pompeo very close to the president and pushing options like this and that is why the president has had him be so public over this and hold such a public role. >> thank you very much. i appreciate it. now to mike rogers who was the chairman of the house intelligence committee and alsos with me jasmine elgammel former middle east adviser under president obama and now senior fellow at the atlantic council.

jasmine, let me start with you. today what we heard from the secretary of defense is no, we won't do what the president said, that he thought was fine to do. cultural sites targeting. the vice president has not been touching any of this. so it is pompeo yet again that we see again and again coming out and defending this so-called imminent strike. do you believe them, that this was imminent, that this was concerning and needed to be dealt with right now? >> well, i think that is a really important question. and one of the things that we need to talk about is how incredibly politicized and political and partisan the iran issue has always been. and it doesn't just start with this president. it was that way under the obama administration as well. and secretary pompeo has been very well known for a long time to have these incredibly hawkish views on iran and to always be pushing for further action against iran. so already he's coming in as

secretary of state with a lot of baggage when it comes to the issue. and so when the intelligence around the strike is so opaque and when the administration is not as forthcoming as it should be with the intelligence, it makes it very hard to kind of keep an open mind and give them the benefit of the doubt because you know the history and you know where they're coming from. which makes it all the more important for this administration to be even more forthcoming than any other one just because we know that members of this administration hve been pushing for these actions for a really long time. >> so chairman rodgers, look, part of this is the history of trusting an administration and ending up in a war. that is why we still have 5,000 troops in iraq today. listen to mike pompeo dodging questions about what this imminent threat was that the administration said justifies an air strike that kills soleimani that could lead to war. they know that. they're open about that. and they say it was worth it to

get him because of the imminent threat. listen. >> it the justification this imminent threat. >> it is never one thing. you've been at this for a long time. >> how imminent. are we talking about days, talking about weeks. >> if you're an american in the region, days and weeks, this is not something that is relevant. >> so iran could still carry out the specific threat you described as imminent? is it still imminent. >> we continue to prepare for whatever it is the iranian regime may put in front of us. >> chairman, do you believe they need to do better, they need to give the american people and certainly congress more details about exactly what it is that they say was so imminent and urgent. >> two things. general milley, chairman of the joints chiefs came out and denied it was him and -- he reiterated his position that the intelligence was good and i have faith in general milley and that separates it from the political figures out talking about it number one.

and i do think -- they're credibility with congress is bad. congress's credibility with the white house is bad. congress's credibility with each other is bad. all of that spells trouble for a serious national security event like we just saw. and yes, i do think they'll have to be better. not necessarily come out and tell you all -- here is the hundred things that we had and human intelligence and we had foreign intelligence shared and signals intelligence, we had phone intercepts or data. i don't think this is the point to do that. they should do that in the classified setting in congress. so that they could get a good picture. so here is where we have to be careful. i think it was -- general milley, as i said, a lot of faith. it was justified, i think clearly, just the way obama went after alongy in yemen and i supported the president at that time and i was still chairman and i think it was justified now you have to answer the question was it wise to do it and were you prepared for what comes next? those are very legitimate

questions to happen in the days and weeks ahead. >> and jasmine, they have not answered the question as to whether they are prepared for what comes next but the president is willing to respond and thinks it is unfair he could not bomb iranian cultural sites. >> absolutely. i couldn't agree more with what was just said. there has been no proper explanation of why we're doing what we're doing and to what end. so in the clip that you just played, secretary pompeo said that the timing is not relevant. it is incredibly relevant because the administration has so far outlined in the middle east two main goals in terms of why u.s. troops are there and what we're doing, right. the first one is to counter iranian influence in the region and the second one is to defeat isis. but when you look at every single action the administration has taken so far, both in iraq and syria, none of them actually seem to address the two goals. in fact, they seem to be aggravating the tensions and

making them worse. so they definitely do need to provide an explanation of why they're doing what they're doing. >> appreciate you both taking the time very much as we all try to understand what is happening here and obviously time is of the essence to know more. what we are going to know. next john bolton said he wants to talk and tonight former white house officials reportedly believe his testimony will be damning to the president. or would be if he is subpoenaed. and iran military is massive and well trained. so this is a strange question to actually be asking, but nonetheless we are because it is now relevant, what would a war with iran look like?

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new tonight, john bolton said he wants to talk. the president's former national security adviser wants to appear before the senate and the american people and president trump's impeachment trial. it is the most important witness to what president trump did with ukraine. sos -- so john bolton knows wh happened he was in the room

during the call and we heard others how he felt. >> ambassador bolton told me he's not pair of whatever drug deal they are cooking up. >> did your boss -- ambassador bolton tell you that giuliani was, quote, a hand grenade. >> he did, yes. >> reporter: and according to tim morrison under oath, bolton told him to bring concerns about trump's behavior to the lawyers. not to blowing it off, go to the lawyers. bolton avoided testifying in the house and said he's letting the courts resolve the issue of whether he should appear but today he said since mis testimony is at issue i've had to resolve the serious competing issues as best i could based on careful consideration and study and i have concluded that if the senate issues a subpoena for my testimony, i am prepared to testify. and there are republicans who want to hear from bolton. john cornyn said i have no

objection to him testifying and mitt romney saying i would like to hear what he has to say. but let's be clear. you need four of them to vote for a subpoena for one to be issued. bolton's testimony is crucial. anyone who wants the full truth should want to hear it, period, full shortstop. no eating around that bush. these are are the facts. but here is another fact. bolton is free to do an interview and he could come on this program tomorrow night and speak with us for the hour and talk and tell his entire story and no subpoena required, i hope, mr. bolton, you will do that. manu raju is live on capitol hill. and senator resisted any one to testify now and now bolton said he will honor a subpoena and say everything he knows. how much pressure does this put on mcconnell to allow bolton to testify? >> well he'll only face pressure if he faces defection in the ranks and those deflections are

limited. most are in line with the strategy to deal with witnesses later and deal with with documents later and the republicans increasingly making the argument that it was the house's job that -- the democrats over there should have subpoenaed john bolton and went to court to fight to bring john bolton forward. they are saying it is not the senate's job. one republican, including marco rubio of florida told me today he would vote against a subpoena from john bolton. something that was echoed by a number of republicans i spoke to today. >> would you vote to subpoena john bolton? >> i won't because i think in my view the -- our inquiry should be on the articles of impeachment and we should be constrained by the information that those articles were based on. >> reporter: but, erin, the key is whether or not there are four republicans who will break ranks. some of those vulnerable republicans in difficult races who are not answering questions tonight, including cory gardner of colorado who told me that we

have to wait for the articles to be sent over before we decide and martha mcsally of arizona in a difficult race and would not answer whether or not she wants to subpoena john bolton saying that we'll work through this and decided to -- declined to kblent -- to comment further. >> thank you very much. i want to david gergen and constitutional law professor cory retchner. let me start with you. there are things to get to basic facts. i want to start with reporting from "the new york times." they are saying people close to bolton are indicating his testimony would likely be damning to trump. and that his testimony would put pressure on moderate democrats -- republicans, i'm sorry, to consider convicting him. which in the senate is what matters. removing him from office. how big do you think bolton's testimony could be? >> i think it is a big deal. because he has firsthand knowledge of a lot of what happened. he called this a drug deal, of

course. and the metaphor here was everyone knew there was an illegal act by the president and everybody knew it was happening and illegal and likely knew it was a high crime and misdemeanor and hearing that from somebody there firsthand and who is a conservative and far from the left gives it credibility. it could be the equivalent of what sondland did. >> and he came in and said it was a quid pro quo and clear about that. i mean, david, here is what president trump has had to say previously about bolton testifying when this issue comes up because this is an issue all the way along. here is president trump. >> do you want john bolton to testify, sir, and if so -- >> it is up to him and the lawyers. it is really up to the lawyers. i like john bolton. i always got along with him. but that is up to the lawyers. >> of course, david, it it wasn't and it isn't up to the lawyers that john bolton does not work for the white house.

he's a private citizen. he could appear any time he chooses and tell his story. he doesn't need a subpoena to do so. but there is a very basic issue here. which is that in any diagram about what you see what happened in ukraine, he's at the center of the overlapping circles so if you care to know what the president said and did, you want to hear from john bolton. how could anybody -- how could anybody say they don't want to hear testify? >> erin, i must say that is what is mystifying me all day. as soon as i heard bolton want to testify, the republicans have no choice, they have to allow him to testify. if this were a court of law, regular court of law, you would have an indictment, by a grand jury just as the house did. but then before trial, if new evidence came in, of course you would admit that evidence. of course you would consider it. it would be brought up and discussed at the trial. and to say, no, we're not going to bring john bolton, it makes it very clear that for a lot of

republicans this is not a search for truth, it is a search for way to hide things. to prevent the public from hearing. i think it is very bad political choice as well as just in terms of country, i think it violates the norms of of this country. but i think it is a bad political choice for the republicans to be in this position because it is so brazen. the whole idea of blocking this right from the beginning and repeatedly stopping people, i think 70% of the american people want people to -- additional witnesses to come before the senate and that was before we heard about john bolton. >> and this is the person who knows everything there is to be known. if you're not afraid of the truth, then have the guy testify. so cornyn said and he's very important senator, he said that he would want to hear what he had to say. but he says much of what bolton has to say could be blocked by executive privilege. so i just made the point that you don't need a subpoena if you are john bolton because you

don't work for the white house nor when the congressional trial was going on but does cornyn have any -- and is he right or no? >> no. executive privilege exists to some extent, u.s. very nixon said it is an absolute and the the president and his lawyers have been arguing they have an absolute right to not be investigated. which is absurd. the congress could use the power to seek the truth and find out what happened. there is no national security issue. there is thought immunity for the executive branch when it comes to high crimes and misdemeanors. in fact keer talking about a core power of congress to find out what happened. the senators are are all going to take an oath administers by the chief justice, the presiding officer to be impartial. and what that means is to seek truth and find out what happened and the idea there is a national security concern is just wrong. >> and of course we've heard others testify about what bolton said and did so we know about that so it wouldn't make sense either. thank you very much.

next the house intelligence committee chairman does not rule out issuing a subpoena to john bolton. the house. so could we get it that way. plus the president defends the strike on general soleimani. >> we had a shot at it and we took him out. and we're a lot safer now because of it. >> are we? the chairman of the homeland security committee is "outfront." if you listen to the political debate in this country,

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new tonight, house intel chief adam schiff said the senate must let john bolton testify but leaves unclear whether he would subpoena bolton if mcconnell fails to act. schiff telling manu raju we continue our investigation in the house so we aren't taking anything off the table but it makes sense for bolton to testify for the senate. "outfront" now bennie thomas of mississippi. boltons comments today were about the senate but do you believe he'll comply with the subpoena if issued by the house? >> well, i do. he has firsthand information. it would be important to what we're dealing with. and i think he should step

forward. >> so john cornyn, the republican leadership in the senate, said this today about the bolton potential testimony, obviously in front of him in the senate. here he is. >> well i think its entirely likely that his testimony would be helpful to the president. >> "the new york times" of course reporting on the other hand that former white house officials say bolton's testimony would likely be damning to trump. what do you think? there is the rick here th-- the risk that nobody knows what bolton will say but we heard from others what he said to them. >> and that is even more the reason to offer it. if he has information one way or the other, i think the senate should have the opportunity to hear it. so if he's offering it, he'll be under oath. obviously i would hope he would not perjure himself. >> and obviously he doesn't need a subpoena to tell his story. do you think that if he is indeed genuine about his

decision to speak that he will do so? even if mitch mcconnell does not subpoena him, whether he does a television interview or a press conference or anything else? >> well, he could do that anyway. he's a public citizen. he could do it at any opportunity. he doesn't have to do it before the senate. but i think the public in this instance has a right to know if basically this president conspired against a united states citizen, with a foreign government and he has information to that fact, we should know it. >> i wan to ask you about our other top story tonight because obviously chairman, you are the chairman of the homeland security committee. the president was asked about the risk to america after the air strike against general soleimani and i want to play for you again what president trump said, chairman. >> he should have been taken out a long time ago and we had a

shot at him and he took it out and we're a lot safer now because of it. >> is he right? america is a lot safer because of what he did? >> well, i think a lot of members of congress would want to know, as you know the president nor his administration has put any information before congress to justify the actions of last week. so i think it is important for us, members of congress, especially on the house side, we'll be coming back tomorrow, if the president and his administration can give us what was considered to make them decide to take this gentleman out, we need to see it. what were the other options? did we talk to any of our allies around the world to see if this made sense to them? so there are a lot of questions that are unanswered and you really can't talk to congress on

a tweet. everyone is an adult. if you've taken a position then you should be straightforward and come and let us know and obviously we need to ask the questions. a lot of questions are unanswered. >> from what you have seen thus far do you believe there was an iminnocent threat from iran against americans? >> all i know is what is being said. again, we have a classified briefing tomorrow night to get some of the information. not all. but everything here is in the public domain. there is nothing from a sensitive nature that we've been informed. so i think i would want to believe our leaders, but i need to see the information. i have constituents calling my office wanting to know if it is safe to travel in that region of the world. what should i do? i have family in that region of the world. what should i tell them.

so there are a lot of things that we need to do. and the president needs to come forward and share that information. >> chairman thompson, i appreciate your time as always. thank you, sir. >> thank you. next, iran vows revenge. but how much of a threat is iran to the united states? we have a special report on iran's military capabilities. plus the growing tensions with iran having a major effect on the race for 2020. >> we don't need more war. the american people don't want more war. when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. try pepto liquicaps for fast relief and ultra-coating. nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. get powerful relief with pepto bismol liquicaps.

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♪ ♪ everything your trip needs, for everyone you love. expedia. tonight, republican senator lindsey graham telling president trump not to attack iranian cultural sites saying, quote, we're not in a war with iranian culture. but as trump continues to threaten military action, the question is, what would a war with iran actually look like. tom foreman is "outfront". >> a robust missile program, an experienced army. if the u.s. engages in a military clash with iran, it

could be costly. >> this will not be like our, our actions in iraq, in afghanistan, or in syria. this is a conflict on an entirely different scale with a highly sophisticated, well-trained and well-armed adversary. >> an adversary that would almost certainly turn to guerilla tactics early on. military analysts say iran could stage attacks such as those last year on tankers in the strait of hormuz and saudi oil fields. the u.s. blamed iran for those hits, iran denied it, but world oil markets were briefly rocked nonetheless, and bigger attacks could undeniably create larger shocks. or iran could call on its many allies in the region to carry its fight against america. shia militias, hezbollah, hamas, the houthis, groups that could use iranian intelligence, logistics, weapons, and more to launch terror strikes on u.s. allies, embassies, military

bases, american officials, or even private citizens abroad or at home. >> there is a network of iranian elements within the united states that the fbi is watching. >> in terms of sheer firepower, iran is no match for the u.s., which has more warships, planes, helicopters, tanks, and active troops. >> they know if we go all the way up the escalation ladders, our capabilities are air force, our naval capabilities will destroy theirs. they're much happier playing at a lower level, the asymmetric level. >> but when and how and aimed at which targets? all we know for sure is that the iranians are promising a response to the killing of that top-level military leader. >> there will be a harsh event. iran will act based on its own choosing. >> and the white house? >> we will respond with great force and great vigor, if the iranian leadership makes a bad decision. >> analysts widely believe

neither side really wants a full-fledged war, but neither side wants to blink, either. and that's what has diplomats so worried. >> thank you so much, tom. that's what's caused wars before. thank you. and next, how iran is changing the 2020 race. ♪ ♪ ♪ well i'm standing here, looking at you, what do i see? ♪ there's a booking for every resolution . book yours at booking.com this one's for you. there's a booking for every resolution . the heroes who won't let your disease hold you back. you inspired us to make your humira experience even better with humira citrate-free. it has the same effectiveness you know and trust,

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tonight, the 2020 race upended by iran and impeachment. abby phillip is "outfront." >> reporter: 2020 democratic candidates tonight are gearing up for a new challenge. foreign policy. >> we don't need more war. the american people don't want more war. >> reporter: the candidates facing a fresh commander in chief test, as they respond to president trump's decision to kill a top iranian military official, qassem soleimani. >> and what we need, in my humble opinion, is a president

who can provide steady leem leadership on day one when they're elected. >> reporter: five candidates still in the race who serve in the u.s. senate already preparing for an impeachment trial that could throw a wrench into their plans to go all in in iowa. now the debate over what powers the president has to go to war could become very real for those senators. >> he never consulted with the leaders of congress. he never consulted with speaker pelosi. >> reporter: senator cory booker even canceling some iowa events this week to attend an iran briefing on capitol hill. the possibility of a direct confrontation with iran also reviving an old debate about the 2002 vote to authorize military force in iraq. senator bernie sanders, who voted against authorizing that war, arguing that vice president joe biden got it wrong. >> 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. >> biden now saying he made the wrong call. >> i did make a bad judgment trusting the president. >> reporter: but defending himself against sanders' criticism. >> it's not to suggest that i haven't made mistakes in my career, but i will put my record against anyone in public life in terms of foreign policy. >> reporter: pete buttigieg, who was still in college at the time of that vote, says his experience serving in the military in afghanistan gives him a different perspective. >> i'll say a presidential candidate who has served has a personal understanding of what we're dealing with. this is not a show. this is affecting lives. >> and despite the criticism of his iraq war vote, joe biden is doubling down on his experience argument. in fact, he's planning to give a foreign policy speech on iran and on foreign policy judgment in new york tomorrow. erin? >> all right. thank you very much, abby. and thanks very much to all of you for joining us.

our coverage tonight continues with "a.c. 360" and anderson cooper. see you tomorrow. good evening. there's breaking news out of the pentagon, or maybe it's out of iraq, or possibly the white house. at this point, we're not exactly sure. and that's kind of the point. someone late this afternoon sent out an official letter notifying the iraqi government that u.s. troops there would begin repositioning in what would appear to be the first step in leaving the country outright. then a few hours later, secretary of defense, mark esper, said that the letter was sent in error. actually saying his staff was, quote, trying to figure out, unquote, what the memo is. which left everyone trying to figure out just what's going on. and the frightening answer is about the letter and just about every other thing that's happened since the u.s. killed the iranian general, we simply do not know. that's where the last three days that the united states and iran, trading threats and mobilizing forces suggest we are. that's where the last three days, developments and seemingly