smith. we love him so much and tomorrow we will make fun of him with highlights of him and have another competition. we will tell him how much we love him. >> let this be a warning to terrorists. if you value your own life you will not threaten the lives of our citizens. neil: the warning now, the nervous waiting, iran's response to the killing of qasem soleimani but where, when? so much we don't know. here is the latest we do. thousands of mourners chanting death to america, and as iranian president rouhani warns a grave

mistake americans will take the consequences. nato suspends training activity and iraq. they don't want another showdown like the one that triggered a 444 day hostage crisis. kevin rivers it well. the youngest hostages back then is looking to make sure it doesn't happen now. and the chairman says it won't. and the democratic chairman of the house armed services committee says the president is doing a right. tell it to investors because the markets may be shaken but hardly stirred. the guys who but with their money are not convinced of the price just yet. a month ahead of the iowa

caucus, why following the democratic candidates who pounds and pound and pound. i am neil cavuto and thanks to david asman for filling in for me last week. never a crisis no one talked about last week but is all anyone is talking about around the globe this week. we begin in oman, jordan where tensions are rising in the region. >> reporter: thousands of people took to the streets for the funeral of qasem soleimani who was killed on thursday by an american drone strike outside baghdad international airport. qasem soleimani's body will be taken to tehran following a procession in iraq as tensions continue to rise. security on the ground is of high concern to americans in the region. iran at ambassador said us

strikes outside baghdad international airport were open to declare war. new video shows the impact outside the airport of the drone strike. iran of supreme leader ayatollah khameini and palestinian factions backed by the iranian's in different morning tents across the city. we saw hamas and islamic jihad, they do receive weapons and money from the iranian regime speaking out about the american straight. listen to what one member of islamic jihad had to say. >> translator: the crime has escalated the battle in the region and this battle will continue until the end of us presence in the region. >> reporter: the united states preparing for possible retaliation, donald trump

sending an additional 3000 troops, beefing up security at embassies across the region. if you look at where this began last year after the united states pulled out of the iran nuclear deal, i your of tension between west and iran as they targeted the oil infrastructure and tankers in the gulf, a major concern of us forces and allies, they are taking extra precautions. neil: the president continuing to put pressure on iran. kevin cork in west palm beach, florida. >> reporter: republicans called the strike decisive despite the risk of retaliation. democrats call a reckless escalation. the president said that qasem soleimani was a terrorist who had to be stopped. >> qasem soleimani has been killed and his buddy rampage is

now forever gone. he was plotting attacks against americans but we have insured his atrocities have been stopped for good. they are stopped for good. >> the drone strike the checkout qasem soleimani took out several of his senior cadre, a fitting end for men with the blood of hundreds of americans on his hands. >> let this be a warning for terrorists. if you value your own life you will not threaten the lives of our citizens. americans have many blessings but the greatest among them is the blessing of being protected by the most exceptional and virtuous military on the face of god's earth. >> reporter: on capitol hill democrats were furious the operation was executed without consultation of the gang of 8 or

any input from democrats whatsoever. a statement from nancy policy, the fool congress must be briefed on this serious situation, next steps into consideration by the administration including escalation of the deployment of additional troops to the region. you heard just a moment ago we are talking thousands more making their way into the theater in kuwait and elsewhere. we will keep an eye on that. neil: iran says the strike was an act of war. the president says it was an effort to prevent war. what happens next? good to have you. what do you think? >> what i think happens next is there will be a lot more rhetoric coming out of iran and they don't want to go to war and i don't think we are on the brink of war because iran has everything to lose.

they cannot defeat the americans and there is so much unrest in iran already. people are rising up against the supreme council, against the mullahs and the irg see. there is no universal support for qasem soleimani. everything is staged. what is next is more rhetoric, maybe some low-level things the iranian's will try to do but the key is baghdad. is baghdad going to take a vote to ask americans to remain with certain caveats or are they going to ask us to leave, which pushes us across the border into kuwait. that is the big thing right now. neil: the 3500 making their way to kuwait or points north, what

will their role be? >> they will be in a position in kuwait, to continue to hammer shia militia terrorist targets like hezbollah which is a huge problem. they will launch drone strikes, direct action strikes and then they will be in a position to move out of the persian gulf region or the middle east where problems might crop up associated with the iranian attends to go after american targets. they can reinforce our embassy in oman, jordan and other places in the world. neil: it seems weird to see protests going on in baghdad

sympathetic to the cause of the iranian's. we expend a lot of blood money in this region and it just seems unusual that they seem to be saying get out. >> let's look at the whole picture. the protest started on the eighth of october. what have they been about? they have been about rejecting iranian influence in iraq, wanting a corrupt government in baghdad to step down. they have been more pro-american than has been reported because they see america as the only stabilizing force. a lot of what we are seeing is propaganda, particularly those things that show a lot of support for the morning factions for qasem soleimani's death.

>> a huge gathering sympathetic to what happened here. i am beginning to wonder, free passage in and out of the region. just to show that he could. what do we do with the constant presence to put us on the spot? >> we have got to work with the iraqi government. they are the key, our allies, we help to write a constitution. and the shias gained more control, a 60% shia majority in iraq, saddam hussein with a 20%

sunni minority, to control that part of the world. we need to help them to find a leader that can step to establish law and order in iraq. there is an objective assessment, the objectives that we set out for america or american foreign policy, and what long-term objectives are. neil: in iraq, a protest and large gathering of mourners to protest the us airstrikes 24 hours ago. the question, how iran responds to all of this sometimes they

try not to leave obvious fingerprints and the source of agitation in any provocative action where they usually deny it, cyberattacks, so many times they have done this to us banks, they might repeat the same behavior this go around. how do we respond to that? >> we have to trust our intelligence community. great kudos to the american intelligence community for being able to target not only qasem soleimani but muhandis who was just as bad and they were both killed. we have got to rely on and trust our intelligence which our intelligence people have got to be able to tell us not only what is happening but what the intentions of our adversaries are. they do that primarily through a human intelligence network. they are the key to us knowing

what adversaries are up to and what they plan to do. when we strike a target and iranian's say we were not in any way involved in that, or responsible, we know that is not the case because our intelligence has been quite reliable in the last couple years. one of the things donald trump has done his brought us a certain integrity back to the analytical process in the intelligence community. we need to trust him and go after the targets they have a direct link, for support and funding. neil: crazy times we live in. guy rosenthaler knows the region very well. what does he think goes on their? it's time to sell or trade in your car.

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shoe to drop in the middle east. senior military official threatened an attack on 30 american targets, would include the likes of destroyers near the persian gulf, seeking revenge for the killing of qasem soleimani. this is something that has come to us on foxnews.com. what do you make of the other -- outlining of potential response plans looking at upwards of 35 american parties. >> iran has been hostile to us since 1979, we had 40 years of escalating tensions. they have taken out one of our drones, they fired rockets in us

controlled bases in iraq. this is nothing new. they escalated the tension and we are responding to their aggression making sure when we draw a redline the red line is enforced. neil: what with a redline the? if you threaten or take out any americans, mike pompeo in mid-december this would be the consequence, he all but telegraphed that but i wonder if the response is something more vague like a cyber attack that might not clearly or unequivocally have their fingerprints on it. then what do we do? >> i was in the navy stationed in iraq. we have contingency plans for everything the iranian's could have thought of. the us military will not be caught flat-footed. our response, no one wants a

large-scale war with iran especially the iranian's. they will not win a ground war with the united states but we had a lot of other options, cyberoptions where we could degrade their military capability, we could hit them economically by taking out refineries, hit them in their pocketbooks, more sanctions. we take out refineries but they will not have revenue to not only stay in power internally and domestically but won't have the police to fund terrorist groups like hezbollah and houthi rebels in yemen. we could limit their economic power in the region by taking a few moves. neil: you are a former navy jag, you are seeing what is happening in iraq with these rallies and warning moments in baghdad, the near raid in baghdad.

is this the same country you left? >> i give the iraqis more credit. a week ago the iraqis were having protests against the influence of iran. they are fearful of becoming iran. neil: you wouldn't know it, large gathering sympathetic to the killing of a guy who butchered plenty of iraqis. >> a lot is propaganda from iran - the of things remember 60% of the iraqi population are shia arabs so they have that tie with iran. let's not forget sunni and shia were protesting the iraqi government for being too pro iran and pushing back the

influence over the country so i have hope for the iraqis. it is a tough situation where we could do -- make sure we are supporting pro-western elements in iraq, standing behind our allies in iraq and making sure when a terrorist - we can take that person out and neutralize that. neil: thank you for your service to the country. folks wanting to be the next commander-in-chief not liking what they see out of the current commander-in-chief. is that fair? is that right? >> trump talked a lot in his campaign for the presidency and even since he has been in office how he wants to end forever wars but his actions tell a different story. cheerio! esurance is built to save you dollars. and when they save dollars, you save dollars. so get a quote. when insurance is affordable,

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>> trump promised to end endless wars. tragically his actions now put us on the path to another war. >> follows a string of dubious actions donald trump has taken the drastically increase the prospect and risk of war with iran and danger to americans. neil: if you knew the whereabouts of someone who took out thousands of americans and thousands of iraqis and had him in your sites, and it was too risky when he has done some risky horrific things it is a tough argument to make the too early to judge. the republican strategists, the wall street journal editorial

board member mary oh grady, this idea that democrats have been leading the charge to say listen to your intelligence officers, respect them, he'd their advice, they are all over it. >> it is 2020, we're in an election campaign. what are they going to say? he took them out surgically, the guy who directed this operation against the us embassy in baghdad, what was he doing in baghdad? he has operated with impunity. what trump did was so perfect in so many ways, what are the democrats going to say? good job 10 months before the election? neil: months later, turns out he takes out a lot of americans.

>> since when have we decided we are going to go after someone or not because of what they might do to was? we have to put national security and us interests first. they are going to respond, no question. we need to be prepared for the response and that is a risk trump takes in an election year but the best the democrats can do is the nonsense joe biden and bernie sanders are spouting without any suggestion. neil: mike pompeo warned in mid-december the us would respond decisively and the red line was crossed when the has built a militia, they already said they would. >> if you look iran has tested a new person in power, liquid

obama did in response. but i think this shows we are not going to be messed with. we are going to take these lying down. neil: you think i will be a tacit player in this, but i didn't respond to the attacks with attacks on oil tankers and saudi oil facilities i don't want you to think i will pass that. >> don't think he thought that much about it. he didn't go to congress. there are consequences. not just one person. >> did you feel the same way when barack obama didn't go to congress? >> usama bin laden was discussed during the bush administration. neil: there related.

neil: on capitol hill would you have gone ahead, republicans or democrats? >> it was agreed after 9/11 we were going to go after al qaeda. we went to afghanistan. neil: targeting bin laden and not getting conversation with congress versus targeting this guy. >> there was no mistake this had to be done. neil: two other administrations had a chance to go after this guy. >> this guy helped with outside and send a lot of information on al qaeda. neil: do we have a double standard here? >> the wall street journal editorial knows that this week, chris murphy, a democrat, tweeted that trump has rendered america impotent in the middle east. that was earlier this week.

now all of a sudden this is terrible and in that tweet he says no one fears us. democrats are complaining that trump didn't want to do anything and now they are complaining he didn't go to congress or get permission. legally we are allowed to do what we did because we can fight terrorism. neil: the boys waited, the danger of responding, taking out a guy who is certainly no saint, you make the situation worse, the president, took this action to stop a war, we did not take this action to start one. >> depends which side you are looking at. if you are a democrat you will use this point and say trump said he was against war and now look like he is provoking. neil: democrats also say consult your intelligence experts, they said it was a mistake to pull out of syria, the same intelligence saying go after this guy, we know where he is,

take him out. he is faulted for not doing that in syria and ripped a new one on this. >> they are not going to give him any credit and to your point it is an election year. anything trump does, the republicans will love his actions and justify the actions and say this is the right thing to do, the president had an opportunity to take them out and didn't taken out and he did, democrats are going to use this against him saying he is provoking, in dangerous waters now. neil: protests going on with all these mourners, americans, didn't we help these guys? your argument might be ginny, they will say this is not worth it to be involved in this region. >> americans don't want to be at war with the middle east translate had a big headline they are at war with iran. we are at war with the middle east was americans don't want to be at war.

>> hezbollah is all over south america and the western hemisphere, iran is aggressively exporting terrorism. we have to do something about it. neil: iran's response and what they are looking at, a lot of possibilities. our trashy back ribs? oh, that sounds great... everything is locally harvested, farm to dumpster to table. uhhh, what do you... what else do you got? (stammering) w-we have a melon rind stew. comes with a pork and bean reduction. yeah, we're going to just do a lap and we'll come back. okay. well, we'll be here. man! why isn't this working? my mouth is watering. i think that's just your rabies flaring up. with geico, the savings keep on going. just like this sequel. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. we got gristle pot pies!

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neil: we are not unaware of other stories captivating the world particularly down under in australia where they are battling wildfires the size of manhattan, 110 degree temperatures, a situation that is getting worse, not better. here's the latest from sydney. >> several of those out-of-control fires are crossing state borders and merging together causing bigger infernos which terrible conditions in australia. we are in new south wales which is in a weeklong state of emergency declared by the premier here. 23 people are dead, dozens missing, more than 1000 homes have been destroyed. all of this comes as thousands of people have abandoned their homes and businesses in an effort to escape the flames. among the dead, two men recently found in a burned-out car on kangaroo island was a well-known bush pilot and his son. the prime minister just announced several thousand

events for service being called in to help these fire victims, the first time they have been called to do so. military boats are helping with the evacuation, some charter boats turning into makeshift shelters ready to head to see if the flames creep too close. suggested highways, extensive lines running low on grocery stores. here is the prime minister. >> an entirely new level. it is unprecedented but the ferocity and absence bringing a season like this is nowhere in sight. >> these bushfires have burned 12,000,000 acres. the air quality is impacting all sorts of areas even parts

australian communities that are not suffering these wildfires, we are getting strong winds, erie sunrises and sunsets, orange skies and smoke, folks choosing to wear masks, the air quality in a lot of places and the animals, half 1,000,000,000 animals set to prepare, these are unique animals for unique echo systems. neil: great reporting in the middle of all that in australia. if you look what is going on in iran and iraq, this started with growing frustrations outside the us embassies in baghdad. that had a lot of people thinking could this have happened 40 years ago? former hostage on that who hopes we avoid repeating any of that. , get your credit cards right by consolidating your credit card debt into one monthly payment. and get your interest rate right so you can save big. get a no-fee personal loan

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protests in iraq and in baghdad, thousands of mourners are gathering, the shooting of qasem soleimani and muhandis. the united states has worn out its welcome in the region. these could be ginny to protest, choreographed and organized but might be eerily familiar to our next guest, hostage from 1979-1980, 20 years old at the time. very good to have you. when i followed your story i remember following it closely. we are about the same age, you just look younger and i remember what it was like and how surreal it was, the whole period you feared for your life and the christmas gathering but it went

wildly out of control. what started as protests outside the embassy turned into something else. how do you police something like that? you were a marine guard at the time, there was no way you would know the government would do that. a lot of people looking at what is going on in baghdad. >> the same thing could happen again unless we have the support of the host government. in iran it was clear very quickly the iranian government was going to participate in not only taking the american hostage but sanctioning it to end the actions of what were at the time young students, 20 years old, my age, young people who decided to gather in the compound, initially tried to have a sit in but they definitely had an action sanctioned by the government, the iranian military participated. the government fell and the

ayatollkhayatollaayatollamayatin opportunity to face the problems in his islamic republic around the hostage crisis. neil: i remember when this was dragging in the days and weeks and months of the year i felt that he liked the distraction because the economy was going nowhere fast. obviously getting angry but this was a welcome distraction. i remember if you see any similar ingredients, no government participation or support toward the embassy but there wasn't then either for a while. >> you are right.

the ayatollah did see the hostage crisis, holding of americans for the entire 144 days, a way to distract the attention of the iranian people who were hoping for a big change and by that i mean it wasn't all the iranian people. perhaps may be 20% at the top end of the iranian people support the mullahs and the ayatollah and what you are going to see coming out of this situation, the killing of qasem soleimani, there could be protests reared themselves in iran, not for the funeral that is going to be taking place that is staged by the mullahs, the ayatollah but by the common iranian person who is going to see that the ayatollahs and the powers that be that are so strong after all is my biggest hope, i have a lot of confidence in mike pompeo, very educated man, very accomplished in his own right. he is preparing for the possibility of a post is like

revolutionary iran and we can see the iranian people rise up to the yoke of this totalitarian regime off their shoulders. neil: we have been waiting for that even dating back to your time as a young man in tehran. you have made it a point to recognize those who were part of the military rescue for you guys, eight had died in the desert mission jimmy carter pushed, three marines, five airmen and you don't want people to forget what was sacrificed to bring you guys home safe and sound. you got home safe and sound but it was scary. >> next year it will be the fortieth anniversary of the sacrifice these men made on our behalf. they didn't succeed in getting us out but what they did succeed in doing and i had the privilege

of sharing this message with others who were fortunate to come home from that rescue mission and in some cases badly injured and emotionally starved having lost eight of their fellow countrymen during that operation. once we learned the rescue mission had occurred, that gave us hope for the next eight month. they gave us the emotional support. neil: the day of ronald reagan's inauguration, the iranian's didn't know what they were dealing with internet want to risk inviting his wrath. do you think the same applies to donald trump today? this unexpected reaction to take out this guy is meant to send a signal, do not come to conclusions about him?

>> we have to remember this guy, the head of the quts force, it was supposed to be a 5 month stint in 1980 and he ended up serving the entirety of the iran iraq eight year war and became a charismatic military. neil: did that justify, would you justify that? >> long overdue and done in a defense if way. it is a sad day in america any time a us president has to commit american force. our troops were well trained and prepared. there was a drone strike. doesn't mean we have men and women on the ground for this particular action that story quite a lot of training and commitment and dedication and ability to keep a secret. that played a big role. in 1988 when president reagan

sunk one third of the iranian navy because they were planting mines in the strait of hormuz to disrupt international oil tankers there was a lot of fear after the president sank the iranian navy that the iranian government will take action and thousands of americans die. i suppose this could have happened but there was nothing like that that happened because the iranian government, the ayatollahs, they realized president reagan was serious and wasn't going to take serious action when american lives or international commerce would be disrupted. neil: they don't want to push it. >> i'm surprised if we don't see a response at all. i am hopeful and believe the iranian people might see this as their chance to bring about

change in their country. it was qasem soleimani who went to khatami during the big revolution, the big protest that happened over there under mock mood ahmadinejad and it appeared we would see some change in the country and qasem soleimani went to the ayatollah and said if he didn't put down the student protest the iranian military was going to have a coup and even the ayatollah himself would no longer be in power. there were a lot of things at risk and a great opportunity. neil: good reminders all. glad you came out okay. kevin herman, a former iranian hostage, 20 years old at the time. ♪

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neil: we were not down much, half a%. why is that the goal of this world war iii talk and all the craziness going on. it doesn't make sense. >> it does make sense. the market is not anticipating an escalation into world war iii. there may be some attacks here and there. saudi oil may be a target for the iranian's but i don't think the iranian's are coming after us. neil: at their core you don't follow through. there history is provocative.

>> they will continue to be provocative but the economy has been strong thanks to the us consumer. if there are smaller attacks against americans, classified computer systems, make people afraid to go places that could hurt the consumer and hurt economic growth. they will be very provocative. we are a net producer and exporter of oil, the strait of hormuz is the limit to get oil out of the middle east by see. neil: you have been telling me, bulletproof the consumers, everything thrown at her. what is going on? >> it is about the economy and the way the consumer spends. they barely flinched. if you look at the market, the

market is at the lowest point since 2019. we are looking at -- barely even moved. neil: the first reaction was a substantial drop not only in asia but in europe. >> we saw a spike in oil, $70 a barrel but that was a knee-jerk reaction. neil: it is getting worse. >> i hope not. we saw airline stocks drop a little bit and looking at futures, i don't think that -- there are two points of view, the academic point of view, world war iii, the traders point of view, that is what we saw in the market. i am getting all confused but a huge rally on the first day of the new year.

neil: thank you, the republican chairman of the senate foreign relations committee and the democratic chairman of the house armed services committee, adam smith and 2020 president of candidate senator michael bennet who is probably going to bridge that gap, probably not. the newday va streamline refi is the reason why. it lets you shortcut the loan process and refinance with no income verification, no appraisal, and no out of pocket costs. one call can save you $2000 every year. call my team at newday usa right now. ...

>> all right. everyone's wondering, what's iran going to do? we're getting word whether there would be an air strike that killed one of its top generals and maybe identify upwards of three dozen potential u.s. targets. trey is in ahman shg, junior do with the latest. >> we're getting new information from the iranians, and where they might choose targets in the middle east. top iranian generals say they have 30 different targets as well the israel city of tel aviv, all of this extremely concerning as iran's u.n. ambassador said today his

country is prepared for a military war that he says president trump waged by killing this top iranian general, qasem soleimani. now, soleimani's funeral did take place today in baghdad as thousands of people took to the streets there to participate in this procession. later on his body will be flown to tehran where there will be a separate funeral in the coming days and again, overnight we've received more threats about what possibly could be targeted in the region. this coming as iran's president rouhani and the ali khamenei says they'll take revenge on his death outside of the baghdad airport when the united states targeted the convoy he was in with a drone strike. and i want you to listen to what president rouhani talked about. >> they talked about trouble if he was martyred. they made a mistake. i mean, that's exactly a

strategic mistake they have made. they will see that more difficult days are awaiting t m them. >> you make a great point about the uncertainty of this entire situation. you go back the past year, there's been a number of provocative actions of the iranians against the strait of hormuz and the persian gulf and all of this is concerning to the americans because you hit the nail on the head here. no one whose what's next. american forces preparing for a number of possibilities and ensuring there are forces in the region to secure american embassies and president trump appointing additional 3,000 troops to the military in kwait kuwait. it's not a question of if iran will respond, it's when. >> and 2020 presidential candidates not wasting any time slapping the president on his handling of this crisis or whatever you want to call it. ellison barber covering those

candidates right now in iowa where the caucus is believe it or not, a month away, if that. ellison. >> yeah, neil, 2020 candidates are warning against war with iran. many say they believe soleimani was a bad actor, but they're not sure if this administration thought of the consequences when they decided to take him out. former vice-president joe biden says the u.s. could be on the brink of a new kind of conflict in the middle east. and senators elizabeth warren and bernie sanders are calling soleimani's death an assassination. mayor pete buttigieg, a veteran who served in afghanistan, says this is one of the most provocative things the u.s. could do short of an outright invasion. listen here. >> unfortunately, trump ignored the advice of his own security officials, ignored the advice of his own security officials and listened to right wing

extremists, some of whom were exactly the same people who got us into the war in iraq in the first place. >> the next democratic primary debate is in des moines and so far policy has not been a central issue on the campaign trail or on the debate stage. with this, that could change. the iowa caucuses are february 3rd. the new hampshire primaries just eight days after that. neil. neil: all right, ellison, thank you, very very much. lawmakers in general criticizing the president for not consulting them for taking this military action. they're the same folks who said that it was okay for president obama at the time not to necessarily consult with congress over taking out osama bin laden. what about this argument, should have consulted, should have

consulted, should have consulted? >> of course not, they can't be trusted. and biden opposed the bin laden raid even though he says he's for it, and he is on record of opposing it on c-span. what we have is this knee jerk reaction to oppose anything president trump does, actually undermines the national security. this president actually has -- you cannot look at this in isolation. what we've got is the president has worked very hard to depoliticize the intelligence committee and in so doing, the veracity of our intelligence has improved greatly the last couple of years and what we've seen over the last year is iran ramping up its efforts to death by a thousand cuts. you know, they took a drone down over the persian gulf. they attacked our embassy and attacked saudi oil fields and all of this talk about reprisals, i'm thinking as opposed to what?

they continue to continue to employ the death by a thousand cuts and soleimani was a key architect. >> general, i'm sorry, why didn't other presidents take him on. the argument was raised with me at least, well, him as a martyr is a lot more dangerous than him alive. fact is he killed hundreds if not thousands of u.s. troops and countless iraqis, not a nice guy. you know, better dead than alive. so i'm wondering what the frustration is of democrats who would have probably gone all over the president if he had advanced information on this guy's whereabouts and refused to take him out and then god forbid there was an attack on american soldiers. damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. >> clearly, that's what the democrats are hoping for is another benghazi so they can have something on president trump. president trump made a bold, decisive move and that's the

difference he's a bold decisive decision maker. neil: secretary pompeo telegraphed i'm quoting should harm come, the u.s. could respond decisively. we had the rocket attack that killed an american contractor. you talk about a quid pro quo, that's what the president warned about, right? >> well, clearly what has been happening under president obama and even under president bush wasn't working and so, you know, i have served for a long time in the middle east and strength matters, power matters and decisiveness matters and president trump employed all of those facets to make a bold decision here and try to change the game in the middle east. and you cannot just accept the status quo. soleimani moved around, you know, in a brazen fashion and because he believed that there-- nothing would happen and that was his final undoing, that and

president trump having a red line and actually living up to responding to the crossing of a red line. and so, from my point of view, president trump made a good decision to do this and it's -- we have a very clear strategy. it's the czech-- it's to protect the american and property in the shipping lanes to the economy. neil: thank you very much, my good friend. good to see you. >> good to see you. neil: and to the general's point, whether you like president obama or president trump. if you think they have consequences and when we state red lines, live up and follow through on that. and then you've got to be consistent and this is wild ly inconsistent. and senator, good to have you. >> neil, thank you very clear. very clear thoughts coming from the general and yourself this morning. >> you know, i'm wondering, i

guess next week the administration is going to outline the evidence or proof that they had, you know, on what soleimani was planning to do. what do you think will be presented to you folks? >> actually i know what will be presented to us, but i can't talk about it here today. neil: you have no no doubt that it's justified, right? >> i have absolutely no doubt this was justified. a lot of people have been talking about how bad a guy this was. look, that's all true, he was horrible, a murderer, set that aside. this president had information that was good intelligence information that more attacks were planned. now, remember, this didn't happen in a vacuum. they had been ratcheting up the series of attacks that you just outlined a few minutes ago, culminating with a dozen attacks against our men and women in iraq over the last 60 days. the redline, which the president had telegraphed to them and i and many others told them, you

can't hurt or kill american citizens. about a week ago. they crossed that red line and killed one of the americans with those attacks and injured four american servicemen. now, that was a red line and they knew what was going to happen if they did that. soleimani is the man who was responsible for that, and he orchestrated that and he paid the price for it. they were warned. this isn't just something that happened out of the blue. this was a reaction to a series of very provocative events on the part of the iranians, culminating in a point where they crossed the red line. in addition to that, there was solid information that soleimani was in the process of orchestrating and going to commit additional atrocities against americans. now, can you imagine if that had happened. he had that information, he sat on his hand and did nothing, and then soleimani was able to finish it? and then the democrats found out that the president had that information?

can you imagine what these press conferences would be like? bless the president for what he did. he drew a red line, he said if you cross it this is going to happen and he did that. look, if these people continue this and pointed out previously, they're notorious for these continuous provocative acts, if they continue that-- >> what do you think they'll do now? there's talk of coming forward in a foxnews.com, the 35 iranian targets and what do you think they'll do? a former home during the iranian crisis was telling me that sometimes they can be a lot of bluff and they won't follow through, but other times they can be very provocative. what do you think? >> well, that's true. whatever happens they're always full of a lot of bluff and they may follow through with some provocative actions, but if they've crossed the red lines the president has set. they're going to have a very, very bad day one day, and they need to listen to this

president. he is a strong president. he did use, in my judgment, very reasonable forebearance when the drove situation happened on the saudi oil fields where we had 100 americans working, he did not respond to those, but told them there was a red line and they crossed it and they paid the price for it and this president doesn't like doing-- i was in the room when he made the decision on the drone thing and he does not like using kinetic action, but you get him at a point where he has made a promise that there's a red line. he will follow through. he's not going to bluff on it and if the iranians make the mistake and they're notorious for doing that, they're going to have a very, very bad day. >> senator, talking to you, i'm assuming you could be wrong and this could be around for major general soleimani could also be

masadda, but we do know that large crowd gathered and i'm wondering whether this is orchestrated? what's your sense of that? >> well, probably. you know, it's not a whole lot different than the political things we do here in america when we have rallies where people come out. the government and the parties or in this case the religious sects they belong to whether they're sunni or shia, can generate a crowd quickly and easily and get them fired up easily. so, look, that's -- there's nothing, there's absolutely nothing surprising about that at all. >> all right. thank you for taking the time. we appreciate it. >> thank you so much, appreciate it. >> all right. fair and balanced now and the head of the armed services committee sees things differently. next. he did a lot of living before i knew him. bring your family history to life like never before.

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block from us here. protests and anti-war rallies, with some steam in midtown manhattan and heralding the start of a new year, obviously, that of course was then and right now, there's escalating protests, and escalating tensions in the middle east and whether the president has contributed to them. democratic congressman adam smith is the chairman of armed services committee, was nice enough to join us today. chairman, thank you for coming. >> thanks, neil. i appreciate the chance. >> all right. so, these protests, a lot of them are saying this was sort of like -- and some democrats, almost like a wag the dog moment here where much as republicans criticized bill clinton for iraq attacks in the middle of an impeachment saga. this president did the same. do you agree with that? >> that's not my focus and donald trump himself in 2012 kept attacking president obama saying he would start a war in iran to get reelected.

that's not my focus. >> and do you believe that that's the case? >> i don't see any evidence that that's the case, no. >> so the focus is on the policy and i think what's really concerning here. president trump has spoken quite articulately about the fact that we are overengaged in the world militarily. why are we in all of these forever wars? you know, i've heard him say when i was in the white house on a couple of occasions, we don't have the interest in the middle east that we used to. why are we fighting there. but this is how we get into it. one small step at a time and i'm really concerned that the president is walking down the same path of entanglement here and doesn't know what the consequences are going to be and we're going to wind up with an open conflict with iran that's not in our best interest and put american lives at stake, at risk i should say. neil: this is a provocative act, on the part of this president in the region. if anything, he's disentangled

us, for many republicans i should point out. >> correct. >> here he drew the line on the killing of an american contractor, and all said this would be the response if it happened. what do you think? >> well, i guess, the thing is that the bombing that took place a week ago now, where we targeted five hezbollah sites in syria and iraq, that was the response to the rocket attacks that killed an american contractor and wounded four service members. that at the time-- i think that was a proportional response, killing the second most powerful person in iran, a uniformed iranian general is an escalation that goes way beyond that, but if whatever think-- ments if you were president and you're a measured man on these things, you don't do crazy on the left or right about this, if you knew this guy's whereabouts and you knew he was responsible for the killing of hundreds of thousands of americans and thousands of iraqis and could take him out, knowing that he was possibly threatening to do

it all over again at a higher scale, you would just let it go? >> under the scenario that you just described, yes, i would not kill him because what's going to happen next? do we want to escalated war with iran? this guy is a bad guy, there's no question about it. if he had dropped dead of a heart attack, it would not have been a bad thing, no question about it, but the response-- >> let me finish. but more americans-- >> let me finish. do you think iran doesn't have any other generals? okay? do you think that they don't have any -- if that's what iran is going to do then taking out one guy isn't going to change that, but taking out this guy definitely ratchets of the-- >> you can say about the same about osama bin laden because like cockroaches, other villains rise to the fore. >> it's different when you're going after someone part of a country than part of a group and

let me-- >> how do you distinguish? >> i'll distinguish in the following way, we have a conflict with iran. iran is not putting every last resource that they have towards killing as many of us as possible. al-qaeda is. that's all they exist for. iran is a country. we're engaged in all-- in fact, not too long ago when we were trying to get rid of isis from iraq and syria, we shared that with iran. this is a step that has massive consequences for u.s. for putting us at risk throughout the region and i'm really worried where it's going to take us and where does it go from here? because you have to acknowledge iran's going to respond and then we're going to have to respond by your scenario. i guess my question is, where does it stop? what is the end-game? what is the off-ramp that the president envisions for this conflict? i'm very worried about where this goes. neil: chairman, fair enough. thank you for joining us. >> thanks for the chance. neil: and 2020 democrats are

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herpecín l. it does more for a cold sore. >> all right. i want to show you something here. this is the money raised by the prominent democratic presidential candidates and as you can see, bernie sanders at 34 and a half million and on we go to the former vice-president, close to 23 million. and my cavuto theory, the more money the guys are raising and the more they can stay in the race longer and more likely someone doesn't win on the first ballot. if you don't buy that, then just deal with it because that's the focus of the segment. we've got catalina publisher,

and wall street journal opinion columnist, mary anastasia o'grady. mary, my point was, all kidding aside, you've been with proportionate voting and delegate voting all that, keep more in the race longer and deny someone a first ballot victory if this keeps up. >> undoubtedly and i think what we have to keep in mind is that money is a necessary, but not sufficient condition to win, right? so if you start, i mean, the best way to use -- to look at this money is, if you start losing traction in fund raising, then it's a reflection of the fact that people are no longer thinking that you can go the distance and i think that's where elizabeth warren kind of has a flashing yellow light here because her fund raising went down in the fourth quarter. neil: that's right. >> and she's also losing popularity in some of those local races, in particular in iowa. >> medicare for all didn't help.

>> exactly. and it has a kind of snowball effect, right? the more she goes down, the less she will fund raise and the more she fund raises the less she goes down. >> what happens if you don't get it on the first ballot and then the super delegates come into play and then the future ballots. who would that benefit? >> well, we're not even talking about bloomberg though at all, who is not even on the stage at all. neil: well, he moved up to third. >> right, and he has all the money in the world and in politics-- >> would super delegates be more inclined to support a guy like him? >> that's the question. we haven't seen someone like a bloomberg, that isn't anywhere, we're not listing the funds because he has unlimited funds. >> do you think they would gravitate to him? >> i think so. look at him climbing. i think that bloomberg is going to come from behind. he's got oxygen, and so much

oxygen in his tank and others do not. they're going to fall like flies. neil: i remember covering abraham lincoln and he was not expected to win on the first ballot. [laughter] >> i'm kidding to make the point because we've gotten used to someone winning on the first ballot. is this something going to be the year it happens? >> maybe. you know-- . i need you to be more-- >> well, my expertise is mainly with the fund raising side of this and one of the things that, you know, i looked at before we were doing the segment is the fact that bernie sanders is still hanging on, just like he did the last cycle against hillary clinton. >> he's doing more than hanging on. the thing to look at with him. if you look at where he's getting his money, it's not bundlers, it's common, everyday folk. and it's to be more of a

momentum, more of a movement and you look at other cats raising money in there and they've got more of the high net worth individuals. they're got more, more of the traditional fund raising push. the thing that i looked at between warren and sanders is the fact that-- and largely, i think it had to do with the comment that you directed to kathy was the fact that buttigieg pretty much called her out on the medicaid, you know, medicare for all. >> she's not saying that anymore is she. >> well, the thing is, the thing is that it's just raising money, having the most money got you anywhere, i mean, the yankees would win the pennant every year. neil: or the reds. >> bloomberg will have a lot of money, but that's not necessarily going to do it for him. ang i think in the case of sanders, he's doing well raising money, but he seems to have a cap. he cannot get beyond this first 20% number. >>, but warren shot herself in

the foot when she made raising money so evil. the wine cave. she made it so evil with mayor pete. neil: that's a very good point. >> very disgusting and evil. >> she had a wine cave? >> no, she had a wine vault. and i wrote an opinion page those with wine vaults should not throw stones at those with wine caves. neil: and wine caves also hold box wine. >> apparently for $3,000. neil: and i guess, you know, now you've got this strong economy, you've got the markets and yesterday notwithstanding, hitting a record and the escalating tensions with iran, doesn't that normally benefit the incumbent president or rally around the chief, so to speak? >> yeah, but the uncertainty is also what has a lot of people nervous, so, it's everything -- as i-- >> didn't help jimmy carter, that disintegrated on him. but it's way too early to say

that here. >> with the iranian hostages, where it gets this president, a lot of people are preparing him to that situation. and we're much more energy independent and-- . >> totally, totally. and you know, if you're looking at fund raising as a whole back to back. you'll see where trump playing on the good economy-- >> he raised more money in the quarter than any of these guys. more than two million cash on hand. >> and back to your original point where he said if you raise more money, you can stay in the game longer because you can advertise. if you have-- you know, if the public perception of you is going down, you have a chance with money to change the narrative by putting out ads and putting out a message na can possibly push you back up. >> but trump underspent as a candidate. he made less than the others when he was a candidate. >> you're right. >> but he won at the media game and messaging, so he didn't have to buy the ads because there's nothing to stop him.

>> there's nothing to compare with trump campaign. neil: and in the meantime, the president ensnarled in the middle east, is that something his predecessors learned all too well? boomerangs after this. ♪ ♪ everything your trip needs for everyone you love. expedia.

>> all right, he was taken out for a reason. the president says that top general was planning an imminent attack with militia and terrorists. and garrett tenney has been

looking into the so-called proxies and had some revealing details. sir. >> well, neil, over the last 20 years, general soleimani played a key role in expanding the size, capabilities and influence of the proxies throughout the middle east. the largest and most powerful is hezbollah in lebanon. the shiite paramilitary group receives 700 million in support from iran according to the u.s. government and grown into a military and political force in lebanon. and they used to train and equip fighters across the region. recently hezbollah's estimated 45,000 fighters played a key role in syria's civil war by pushing back western backed forces trying to remove assad from power. the largest of the iranian proxies is the shia,and the to issue have blamed for 11 attacks in the last two months,

including a missile attack that killed an american contractor in northern iraq just last week. with the fighters and experience fighting in iraq, the irer iran have political in those as well. they've supported the houthi rebels fighting the saudis and paramilitary groups. they span the middle east and provide iran with plenty of opportunities to strike either u.s. or the allies. the president is in the middle of a middle east mess. if it sounds like a familiar theme for u.s. presidents it is, jamie carter, failed during his campaign and what does history show the presidents should or should not be doing. and too early to telegraph what happens here, but i do notice

some very, very big differences, not the least of which is the much stronger economy in the country. much less reliance on this country in iranian or any other countries with oil, what do you think? >> i think that's exactly right. in fact, i'd go further and say that presidents who have a strong economy, as president trump does, in large part because of his own-- his corporate tax cuts, often have much more latitude in foreign policy and seem to be more successful. in the case of president carter, he had a terrible economy, double digit inflation, high unemployment and you project weakness and president carter was very unsuccessful in the hostage crisis in 1979. >> there were a lot of factors at play there. what's interesting, too, this president is very savvy when it comes to knowing the history of getting, you know, bagged down in the middle east. 's been a critic of republican and democratic predecessors who have done so. he's obviously aware of the

concern of even being evidence of protests in manhattan today, who are very concerned we're going to get knee deep in something else again. how does he sort of say this is just a one-off here, that i'm not trying to start a war, i'm trying to end it? how does that resonate? >> i think he did so when he said we're not trying to start a war and he said this is not about regime change. you know, and in kennedy's case with the cuban missile crisis and before that, the bay of pigs, it was all about regime change and getting castro out. in the case of the iran hostage crisis, certainly, the united states did better under the shah than under khamenei. and here president trump made clear, hey, this is not about regime change. this is about eliminating a worldwide terrorist who's already killed many hundreds of americans. neil: you're the professor and a darn good historian.

there's a value sometimes being unpredictable. ronald reagan discovered with the iranians holding our hostages at the time they'd be better suited to release the hostages and they did. and this president, hands off in the middle east and lo and behold takes out their second highest ranking figure, the general, now has them wondering what are we dealing with here? can that help your cause? >> absolutely. if you recall, carter and his surrogates in the campaign against reagan were portraying him as a wild cowboy out of control and reagan was careful not to really deny a lot of that and that left the iranians, what in the world is going to happen when he gets into power and they ended up giving back homes when he came into power. >> just don't let him pull your

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>> all right, these protests in midtown manhattan around the block from us, just around the block. they are protesting what's going on in iraq and iran and right now, the president is getting knee deep into, you know, a conflict that has no end. back with me now, lauren simonetti, lauren, this has not been a huge issue for the markets thus far. as we've said earlier, we have a bit of a-- a lot of that, a lot of worries last year, too, and the market climbed them all nicely. high expectations persist, don't they? >> wall street always wants to

worry about something. i'd make the argument that trade impacts the market more than what we're seeing now. this bull market has been long, it's been strong and people look at what ends it, who knows? sometimes you can't predict that, but i'll quote sam stoval here, good years follow great years. last year was following great year one in six. and 29%, things are really good. we'll return to volatility this year. there will be different uncertainties and we'll see single digit growth. >> you know, presidential years can get us and take us, 2000, 2008, problematic for different reasons, do you worry about that? does the consumer come into play on all of this? >> when you think about when donald trump was elected. the market dropped 600 points and rebounded right after that. >> overnight. >> overnight. >> and the reaction was-- . exactly, so i don't think the election will necessarily have an impact on the markets. >> what if he's not reelected would that jar the markets?

>> again, that's hard to tell, it looks like a lot of this rally has been because he has been president, but who knows? we've also seen companies with incredible growth. now, their earnings have been year over year and just, you know, blowing it out of the water. and apple, for example, earnings better than the last quarter and look at the retail index, it's up 25% year over year and i don't think it necessarily has to do with the president. it has to do with the people feel better about the economy and they go out and feel better about the economy. >> i worry, you know, oh, half empty glass, if the glass were half empty i'd be looking at the half full. jennifer griffin is reporting right now that the u.s. it not carry out air strikes in baghdad last night and that the reports were wrong. is this a development, black swan development that we've got

to watch out for? we've had the unexpected developments, lehman out of the blue happened-- seemingly out of the blue and we were not prepared. >> if we knew about them they wouldn't be black swan. neil: a tad condescending. >> sometimes you have to stand up to the host. if we look at 2019, the big issues, neil, china trade and interest rate. going into 2020, those issues, i don't think are going to be quite as big. i think the fed is going to be on the side line for the most part and i think we have phase one for china, we have a shot at phase two and we'll see how that plays out. neil: and you heard lauren, trade is going to dictate a lot of things here. >> i think that the markets will start to react if they're sensing that trump is vulnerable, if something changes. >> when we know who the democratic nominee is, whenever that is, that's when i think the markets could take a dip. >> that could be very, very late in the game because we could be

going to the convention with this one. neil: and here is what you think about, wall street is not about red or whether you, conservative. they're about green. they like to make money, made a lot of money under bill clinton and doing fine under barack obama, they don't like to change horses in the middle of a profitable stream. >> with the exception of the recession we've seen an upward trajectory of the market. neil: and you see that continuing? >> of course, it's been that way since 1922. neil: you're being a little condescending. >> i'm not-- >> there's a trend here. >> i don't think that the consumer is going to necessarily flinch either. when you see the trade or have the china deal that may or may not go through, consumers have historically not really paid attention to it. you've seen a lot of noise on social media. >> and this is noise right now? >> and i think that national security was put on the ballot for 2020 and that you could make the argument strengthens president trump and you question whoever the democratic nominee is, can they handle the middle

east. neil: all right. i don't want to take time away from dan who has to deal with the crowds at times square to get out of the building. >> i appreciate that, neil. i've got to high tail it out of here. neil: and including the democratic presidential candidates, senator michael bennet. stay with us. what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it - with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa you get more than yourfree shipping.ir, you get everything you need for your home at a great price, the way it works best for you, i'll take that. wait honey, no. when you want it.

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>> all right. these protesters in manhattan and times square, we're told they want to spread this out nationwide here on the top of the protests throughout the middle east and taking out soleimani. for democrats it's been a galvanizing issue, and i have-- the democratic presidential candidate michael bennet joins us. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. neil: what do you make of this

iranian issue or iraqi issue, seems to be galvanizing the key candidates on the stump today? >> well, i think the first task of any president is to be an effective commander-in-chief, to protect americans here and abroad and we'll see whether what the president has done will do that. i have my doubts. i think that his policy in the middle east has been utterly incoherent and i think he's been the weakest foreign policy president there's been in my lifetime. if you look at what he's done with respect to iran, north korea, china, russia and i think the american people are going to hold him to account for it. neil: all right. you know, i'm a little surprised by that because he's done a lot of things that a lot of democrats traditionally in the past have supported, that is not digging heels in the middle east, not adding to endless wars as he said. so, how does that not jibe with what has typically been a democratic view? >> i think he is adding to the

endless wars. i mean, if you look at what happened the last 20 years, we fought a war in afghanistan, we fought a war in iraq, we borrowed 5.6 trillion from the chinese and basically after the first six months in afghanistan, achieved none of our objectives. neil: he's not done anything approaching those levels. if anything, he gets criticism for in the digging in more. what do you think? >> well, we'll see what happens with iran. i think he's learned all the wrong lessons in the middle east. neil: what's your-- >> neil, no president in my lifetime would have abandoned the kurds in northern syria. no president in my lifetime after we have put isis in a box, we lost six guys over five years, which is a tragedy. the kurds lost 10,000 people and because donald trump couldn't stand up to erdogan, he fled northern syria and left it to the russians and left it to the iranians. neil: and a lot of

intelligence-- i just want to be clear. a lot of intelligence at the time said it would be a mistake for the president to pull out of syria to the degree he did and democrats, i don't know about you, sir, criticized him for in the listening to intelligence. the same intelligence officials were telling him soleimani, go get him. this is the time, go do it. he's damned if it does, damned if it doesn't. >> no he's not. i'm on the intelligence committee and i can't tell you specifically what i learned. but for three years made it his to disregard the intelligence agency. neil: if you were president and i came up to you and said, mr. president we know where he is, we could take him out. are you telling me a president bennet wouldn't try to take him out? >> i'm telling you it would depend on my assessment whether that would keep americans more safe or less safe. neil: the intelligence official says he's going to kill more

people, would a president bennet, no, i don't care. >> neil, i didn't say i wouldn't care. would it make americans more safe or left safe. neil: would you take him out? >> it would depend whether americans are more and less safe. you're behaving as if donald trump has a grand plan. neil: he know, i'm not. i don't know his plan. how do we respond to the threats in the middle east? just ignore them? >> no, you certainly don't need to ignore them, but you don't want to make the iranians stronger than they are. the iranians have become stronger in the three years that donald trump has been there, the north koreans pursued weapons, i'm in love with kim, kim is in love with me and the americans -- that's a lie. and 2016, the president stood

next to-- >> and seen on this front, right? no, i think it's been disgraceful. i don't know any preceding republican president or democratic senator would have been as weak as-- >> all right. and once you refinance, the savings are automatic. thanks to your va streamline refi benefit, at newday there's no income verification, no appraisal, and no out of pocket costs. activate your va benefit now. one call can save you $2000 every year.

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>> good afternoon, we begin with a fox news alert. americans are on high alert in the homeland and around the globe after the killing of general qasem soleimani. i'm ed henry. much of the world is holding its breath. president trump says the air strike was necessary after targeting americans in middle east cities. >> he was plotting attacks against americans, but now we've assured that his atrocities have been stopped for good. they are stopped for good. so let this be a warning to