♪ ♪ leland: and a fox news alert as there are no several reports that rockets hit an iraqi air base north of baghdad where u.s. troops are stationed on a regular basis. a u.s. army spokesman now says that rockets fired into the green zone, seen there, did not hit the embassy. there's a lot of other things in the green zone including the iraqi prime minister's residence there on the river in baghdad. no injuries have been reported. obviously, we are making calls, and our fixers on the ground are trying to learn more about exactly where these rockets hit and who fired them. ♪ ♪

>> as president, i will never hesitate to defend the safety of the american people, you. [cheers and applause] so let this be a warning to terrorists. if you value your own life, you will not threaten the lives of our citizens. leland: president trump touting the u.s. airstrike that killed general qassem soleimani while speaking at a megachurch in florida. church leaders also praying over the president, as you can see there, during that event. welcome to "america's news headquarters," 1 p.m. eastern here in washington which makes it saturday night now in baghdad where that attack happened. >> yeah. lots of moving pieces. interesting because we were hearing we thought it was going to be a quiet weekend when it came to -- leland: we haven't had a quiet weekend in a few years. gillian: great to be with you,

leland, i'm gillian turner. president trump insisting at this same event that the u.s. isn't looking for war with iran. tehran is promising retribution for the u.s. airstrike. lawmakers here in washington hugely divided over whether the killing over quds force leader sulemani do you wants an act of war. our own kevin corke is in west palm beach where president trump is this weekend with all the details on his latest thinking. kevin? >> reporter: afternoon, gillian. republicans call the president's decision decisive despite the risk, obviously, of retaliation. democrats, meanwhile, said it was a reckless escalation. but for his part, the president said simply that general soleimani was a terrorist who had to be stopped. >> qassem soleimani has been killed, and his bloody rampage is now forever gone. he was plotting attacks against americans, but now we've insured

that his atrocities have been stopped for good. they are stopped for good. >> reporter: the drone strike that took out sulemani also killed several of his senior cadre, a fitting end, said the president, for a man with the blood of hundreds of americans on his hands, but congressional democrats were furious that the operation was carried out without their knowledge, specifically without notifying the bipartisan gang of eight. speaker pelosi with a statement: the full congress must be if immediately briefed on this serious situation and on the next steps including the significant escalation of the deployment of additional troops to region. indeed, that process has begun, gillian, as select democrats including california's adam schiff are now being read in. >> the question is why the administration chose this moment, why this administration made the decision to remove him from the battlefield when other administrations of both parties

decided that would escalate the risks, not reduce them. >> reporter: chairman of the house intelligence committee there, adam schiff. no expected appearances by the president here today, but given what we've seen overseas, you can never quite be certain. if that changes, i promise to let you know. but for now, gillian, back to you. gillian: thanks for that, kevin. we will check back in next hour whether you hear anything else or not. thank you so much. >> reporter: you bet. leland: thousands have turned out in baghdad to attend a funeral procession for sulemani, and the pentagon has deployed nearly 3,000 additional troops to the middle east. benjamin hall live from oman, already saturday evening there. hi, benjamin. >> reporter: good evening, leland. yes, and, in fact, that anger has been spreading across the middle east. we've seen anger in remember gone, in gaza, of course, and clearly here and also iraq and

iran. these funeral processions have been huge in iraq. there's a real anger over the death of qassem soleimani, and there have been chants of death to america echoing across both iraq and iran. his body will be returned to iran tomorrow for an even bigger funeral to take place there. but significantly, the funeral in iraq was attended by iraqi prime minister. the attack has been heavily criticized by the iraqi prime minister, and tomorrow the iraqi parliament is going to meet to discuss the future of u.s. troops in iraq. and there are some suggestions that as a result of the attack, parliament might expel the 5,000 plus u.s. soldiers here. in iran all the leaders are talking about retaliation. on a visit to sulemani's house, prime minister rouhani promised his daughter that they would take revenge, they would spill blood. iran has also said they have 35 targets ready. one iranian general has even raised the prospect of attacking ships in the gulf, another of

attacking israel. amid all these tensions, as you point out, the u.s. has scaled back operations in iraq to boost security and defensive measures at bases and embassies and have dispatched another 3,000 the troops to kuwait as a precaution. a u.s. official has also said no more u.s. strikes were expected unless iran does something that warrants it. and just in the last few minutes, we're hearing that the prime minister of iraq has ordered all security services on sunday to pull 1,000 meters away from u.s. bases in the country. the significance of that we don't yet know but certainly, again, a distancing of iraqi and u.s. presence here in this country and the relationship between the two certainly will be critical in the coming days and weeks. leland? leland: not exactly like the iraqi security services were to be found when his militias were attacking the u.s. embassy either. benjamin hall in oman, thank you. gillian: joining us now with congressional reaction to the strike expect trump administration's broader middle east strategy, we've got

congresswoman iowa alyssa slot . she's a former cia analyst who's worked at the white house under both presidents w. bush and barack obama. she's also served multiple tours in iraq. congresswoman, you're the ideal, perfect guest for us to have on this topic today. hoping to lean some on your, not only your political thoughts here, but on your expertise based on your experience in the military and and in the intellie community. i want to first get your reaction to the news about these missile strikes near the u.s. embassy inside the green zone. what do you make of that? >> well, i mean, i think it was fairly predictable. i mean, the, you know, i served three tours in iraq, and it was, unfortunately, a regular part of life that we would have shia hill -- militias shooting off iranian-provided missiles and rockets. and i think after the strikes the past couple of days, most people thought that the easiest thing that we could see happen

in terms of retaliation is those same militias start shooting rockets and missiles at our bases is and areas where we operate, and we've seen it. that was the simplest reaction for them. i can imagine seeing more in the future, but i don't think iran actually just responds at a very traditional, similar metic way. they'll -- symmetric way. they'll come up with other ways to retaliate. gillian: well, the numbers, right, definitely aren't on their side in the sense that most military analysts tell us that iran isn't capable of taking on, you know, going toe to toe with the u.s. military in any kind of a ground war, so that option's kind of off the table. >> yeah. so they'll -- they're creative. i mean, that's one of the hallmarkings of the iranians. they may not respond immediately, but they will respond. and i think it's been part of the conversation in years past both under presidents bush and under obama why getting into a conflict with iran was something that we were trying to avoid, because they don't respond the

way we do, sort of let's go force on force. they come up with these really dangerous, shadowy ways of responding that we can't predict always. gillian: now tomorrow iraq's convening this emergency session of parliament. all signs point to they're going to have some kind of a vote to expel u.s. troops from the country. there's about 5,000 of them in iraq now. what's your take on that? >> well, listen, i, again, i think that the activities that have gone on in the past couple of weeks from the american side have violated the agreement that we had with iraqis which was we're going to put troops back in your country and focus on isis, we're going to focus on terrorists. and getting rid of those terrorists from your country. that's what we have authorization to do both from the iraqis and from here in congress. and so when we changed the mission in the past couple of weeks and have gone after shia militia leaders, gone after iranians on their soil, the iraqis are rightfully concerned about a real shift in the relationship.

i would not be surprised --al although i think it's a problem strategically -- but i would not be surprised if in the next couple of days they vote to kick us out -- gillian: you, you know, you say that the u.s. changed the mission. presumably you're saying the trump administration violated the term of our agreement by murdering sulemani, but there was an attack on the american embassy in baghdad. >> uh-huh. gillian: that certainly do you wants a violation of the agreement, the security agreement that the united states has with iraq. that came first. >> well, listen, we always have the right to self-defense, and i think the contractor, the american contractor who lost his life and some other service members who were injured because of a rocket attack, we will always reserve the right for self-defense. but the decision to go after mr. sulemani was a much bigger decision than to go after some guys who were organizing a very localized attack. it was the equivalent to a four-star -- gillian: attack on the american

embassy inside baghdad that most people are in agreement was sponsored by the, was at least -- whether explicitly or implicitly supported by iran's regime. >> yeah. gillian: you know -- >> sure, sure. gillian: don't you say that constitutes an act of war in and of itself? >> you could say that. anyone who's served in iraq we've faced, frankly, far worse in our time there. again, it's not like other administrations, both the bush administration and the obama administration, hadn't thought about going after mr. sulemani and hadn't thought about what his deeply problematic organization, his quds force constituted. but it was always kind of is the juice worth the squeeze. what does it do to start, potentially, a protracted war with iran, and is it worth it to us. and i think that calculus was different for the trump administration -- gillian: but what is the alternative? you know, if the united states only steps back in fear about escalating a situation, what does that really buy us? it seems that we're making americans less safe in the

region, we're making, we're making muslims less safe in the region for every hundred americans that sulani killed, there were thousands of muslims in the region that died. >> yeah. i just think that this has been going on for a long time. this is a long game. there's a very shadowy war that's been going on kind of under the radar for many, many people. but when you're talking about taking out a commander, you have just got to have had some sort of strategic conversation on what comes next, and i hope very much that the administration has had that really thorough review. i hope very much they're going to share their strategy with congress because it's quick to be the suns and daughters -- to be the sons and daughters in all of our states and districts who are going to be sent to that region. so we have a responsibility to say, yes, i know that this is an escalation, but i was willing to do it because of x, y and z, and that's what he hasn't yet provided at least to congress. gillian: all right. congresswoman, thank you for your service. we'll is you back -- we'll have

you back soon. our own chris wallace will sit down with secretary of state mike pompeo, what it all means for the trump administration going into 2020. check your local time and listings there. also look out for howard kurtz, he'll take a look at how these events are being covered by the press tomorrow on "mediabuzz," that's at 11 a.m. eastern. leland: all right. as we just heard, the rocket attacks in baghdad, the u.s. and its allies are on high alert amid iran's threats to avenge the killing of its top military commander. that the u.s. strike also took out the leader of the iranian proxy militia in iraq, and it's sparked fears, perhaps even a strike at israel. garrett tenney is with us for a special look on iran's network of proxies and who they can call upon to do their dirty work for them. >> reporter: these forces are spread across the middle east, and for the last 30 years they have been a central part of

iran's strategy to exert its influence on the region. you can see some of the larger playerses in this web of influence on this map showing the groups that iran spends more than a billion dollars a year supporting with funding, training and weapons. finish the largest and most powerful of those groups is hezbollah which relied on tehran for weapons during its war with israel back in 2006 and more recently tens of thousands of hezbollah soldiers fought in syria's civil war and succeeded in keeping bashar al assad in power. hezbollah has also trained fighters for other iranian proxies such as the houthi rebels in yemen. late last year the houthis claimed responsibility for a drone attack on saudis' oil fields even though u.s. officials say iran was ultimately responsible. the largest of tehran's proxies is the shia militia's in iraq which u.s. officials have blamed for 11 attacks on bases in the last two months alone including a missile attack just last week that killed an american

contractor and injured dozens of others. and then there's hamas which has received as much as $300 million a year from iran to help counter israel. the advantage of these proxy forces for iran have been they can carry out attacks, and tehran can claim they weren't directly involved or responsible, but the trump administration has changed that calculus saying iran will be held responsible for any attack by its proxies on u.s. forces or u.s. interests in the region. leland? leland: yeah. noteworthy hezbollah's struck in the western hemisphere as well at times. garrett tenny, thank you. a little bit more on the u.s. military strategy in the region now. retired army general vinnie bold, good to see you, sir, appreciate it as always. get your thoughts first on the breaking news out of baghdad. you can look at these rocket attacks now both on conceivably targeting the u.s. embassy and this airfield as the nurse of the response -- first of the response, but you can also say almost 48 hours since sulemani

was killed, and this is all the iranians got? >> well, it's not unexpected, leland. one of the things that we can do is we have a thing called a fire finder radar that'll allow us to determine where those attacks came from. the problem we have is the iranians or the militias there will put them in populated areas knowing we won't attack them. that's all they've done for now, but the enemy gets a vote in this, and i know our intelligence network is out there very vigilant. leland: what do you make of the massive deployment of u.s. forces to the middle east, at least 1,000 troops we're hearing to kuwait. if you watch the conga line of c-17s, c-5 galaxies, tanker aircraft all headed to the middle east, it certainly seems as though the u.s. is preparing for the possibility of a pretty massive either retaliation or need to project force. >> well, this is what we do. the first deployment we had was the marine response force to get to the embassy. then we brought in the soldiers

of the 504th parachute infantry, and now we've brought the brigade from fort brag, north carolina, that's part of our ready response force. they'll be there for about 60 days to see how the situation develops and move from there. this is what they're trained to do, and they are our response force around the world. leland: we're going to put up a map here of both the green zone and the embassy just so people get an idea of, as you said, the civilian populations that surround the u.s. forces and the u.s. installations there inside of baghdad. the one thing that president trump said from the very beginning here is this will not be another benghazi. implicit in that is this will not be another 1979 tehran hostage crisis. are you confident based on what you've seen that the u.s. forces in the middle east now have the strength of numbers and the assets, a, to defend themselves and, b, to evacuate if they have to? >> yes. this is a red line.

when you read bowden's book about the 1979 takeover of the embassy by the iranians, one of the critical points was the iranians didn't expect to even get in, and once they got in, they looked around and said now what do we do. if we had pushed back very aggressively at the initiation of that, they would have retreated. so we're in a position now where we're not going to allow that to happen this time. they will be met with an overwhelming force. and don't forget also we have significant missile assets, aviation assets to deter them as they're trying to get close to the embassy. leland: yeah. we saw an apache flying over it a couple of days ago during the initial wave, and there was a quote that said the next protesters over the wall will be met with the force of a buzz saw, so take from that what you will. wanted to get your thought on this: robin wright's tweet, who writes for the new yorker, was the assassination of general soleimani an act of war? if an epic turn of events in the

world's most volatile region. few things as we break that down. one, we're pretty much already at war with the iranian militias. and if we weren't, an attack on our embassy is, number one. and number two, this is a guy who has been fomenting death and destruction not only of americans, but of thousands, if not tens of thousands of other muslims throughout the region. so is that really anything new, or is this just another data point in the continuation of this low grade warfare against iran? >> i think what it's a result of is the fact that the iraqi people are seeing the depravity that's going on in their nation expect economic challenges their having, and they're not seeing iran helping them with that. you remember back in november, less than 60 days ago, shia from iraq went to the iranian consulate and set it afire.

so the iranians realize their hold on iraq is tenuous as well with the population. so that's why they very quickly want to get a vote in the iraqi legislature now, because if this thing goes on, nothing clears your head like a threat. and this threat will give the rack keys a chance to -- iraqis a chance to clear hair the head and see what they're getting themselves into, also the iranians a chance to clear their head and let cooler heads prevail. the most important thing in this region of the world is the day after the day after. so the more time we have, the cooler heads will prevail. leland: it has been a volatile and destabilized region for the past 1300 years or so. doesn't look like it's going to change tomorrow or the day after the day after. >> all of my professional life. thank you. leland: thank you. gillian? gillian: strong winds, sering temperatures now working against thousands of firefighters who are right now battling what is australia's worst wildfire in history. our own jeff paul's on the ground in station view,

australia. jeff? >> reporter: yeah, gillian. 12 million acres burned so far, and it might only get worse as the weather takes a dangerous turn. more on that coming up after the break. ♪ ce 2000, the buying power of the dollar has dropped by over 31% - that means the dollar is only worth about 68¢ now compared to 2000. had you owned gold, your value would have increased over 400% and owning gold is easy... with rosland capital - a trusted leader in helping people acquire precious metals. gold bullion, lady liberty gold and silver proofs, and our premium coins, can help you preserve your wealth. call rosland capital at 800-630-8900 to receive your free rosland guide to gold, gold & precious metals ira and silver brochures. with rosland, there are no hassles, no gimmicks, and we have the fastest shipping around. dollar down.

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♪ ♪ gillian: turning now to the wildfires raging in australia, we're learning today two more people have now perished in the blazes. this is australian prime minister scott morrison announces he's mobilizing more help sent to battle those fires. our own jeff paul is live in station view, australia. jeff, what are you seeing? >> reporter: yeah, gillian, that death toll now stands at 23 people. australia's prime minister announced two more people were killed as a result of these devastating bush fires, and that concern is only getting greater as this weather takes a very dangerous turn. temperatures out here expected to increase. the winds are getting stronger, and they're not expecting any rain in the forecast anytime soon. and we saw that shift in weather firsthand. the gusts moved in, huge plumes of smoke and ash from the fires which created this sort of red and orange haze throughout the sky that could be seen for miles

and miles. the looming fire threat alone has caused thousands and thousands to already are evacuate through australia, and much of these fires continue to burn out of control. the flames getting even closer, emergency officials warn that for some communities if they wait too long, they might not be able to get out. >> it's been an experience. that's for sure. but, i mean, i'm so blessed that we still have a place to go to, and they're so, you know, i feel very lucky in a lot of respects considering some people have lost are everything and some people have even lost their lives. >> reporter: the fire has already destroyed some 1500 homes throughout australia. some wildlife experts estimate 500 million animals have died as a result of these bush fires x that danger will only get worse.

firefighters saying at times there is no controlling this fire, all they can do really is divert it around some of the homes and communities that are out here in australia. leland: hey, scott -- hey, jeff, leland here. real quick for you with, the prime minister there has caught a lot of flak, because he was on vacation in hawaii when this happened. didn't cut his vacation short quick enough. some of the firefighters wouldn't even shake his hand when he came to visit them as they were taking a break from their work, and he now says i deeply regret any offense caused by my taking leave at this time. are australians buying that apology, or do they want more? >> reporter: i think from where we are right now the main concern isn't what some guy is saying or what he did, it's what they can do for their community. their focus is on helping these fire fiters who are working around the clock and also getting out and watching the weather. that's where we are at least. i can't speak for the entire country, but for the people here, they are just watching the

winds, they are making sure they have their provisions in place because at any moment they're going to have to leave and maybe come back to no homes. leland: yeah. we saw a lot of people being evacuated off the beach by navy boats. jeff paul, thank you very much. almost sunrise there, so we'll get a sense of what the damage looks like and how far the fires have spread overnight in the next couple of hours. gillian: let's queue over something jeff just said in his reporting which is that half a billion wild animals have died in this fire. that's a shocking -- i mean, that's an animal holocaust. you talk about invisible, unseen, unheard suffering, i mean, it's a truly bone-chilling number. lee -- leland: yeah, there's a photo -- gillian: anna kooiman's been out covering this for the network. that photo says a lot. leland: we got this photo also of a thirsty koala bear that had been rescued, it found a person

and was finally getting some water. it goes to the point though that you mentioned that people can get out and the amount of resources that are expended to airlift people out by helicopter, by boats, etc., but it's these animals that have to be saved one by one. you see a biker there, and this is video of people going up into the trees to get koalas out before the fire comes. gillian: they're an endangered species now. i know australia has this national policy of trying to help them whenever they can, they've trained rescue dogs to go in and find injured, wounded koalas and help try and save them. it's incredible. but again, half a billion animals dying in this single wildfire, it's horrible. leland: and it seems as though from jeff's reporting the worst could very much still be to come. keep an eye on that as sunrise begins in australia. meantime, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says it will be business as usual, whatever that means, as impeachment efforts are still underway but at a standstill. what he says has to happen

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usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa gillian: fox news alert, now iraqi media reporting several rockets targeted the air base where u.s. troops are stationed on a regular basis. one u.s. army spokesman in baghdad saying the rockets fired into the green zone didn't hit the embassies. fortunately, no injured reported yet at this time, but we'll keep you updated as we learn more details this afternoon. leland: we'll watch that. ♪ ♪ leland: senate minority leader chuck schumer says he and mitch mcconnell are starting off 2020 in a stalemate as they grapple over the rules for president trump's impeachment trial. mark meredith joins us now. the stalemate -- 2019 ended in stalemate too.

not a lot has changed. >> reporter: no. plenty of coverage though, and it's unclear if and when the president will take up impeachment even though the house approved two articles against president trump last month. house speaker nancy pelosi surprised many people back in december when she declined to immediately send impeachment articles to the senate. the speaker has said democrats need assurances the trial won't be one-sided. senate republicans say pelosi has no right to dictate the senate's behavior. >> the prosecutors began to develop cold feet. instead of sending the articles to the senate, they flinched. they flinched. that's right. >> i think nancy pelosi needs to realize that the u.s. constitution gives her no ability to try to direct the activities of the u.s. senate. and we are not going to take up anything until they send it to us. >> reporter: senate democrats so far appear to be standing behind pelosi's decision.

they want leverage to entice republicans to support allowing testimony from four current and former white house officials including the former national security adviser john bolton and the acting white house chief of staff. >> if we don't get a commitment up front that the house managers will be able to call witnesses as part of their case, the senate will act as little more than a nationally-televised meeting of the mock trial club. >> reporter: it's unclear when a decision on whether to allow witnesses or not will be reached. meantime, one democratic congresswoman appears to be implieding the president launched airstrikes against the iranian general because of impeachment. congresswoman ilhan omar tweeted, quote: what if trump wants war, needs the distraction? republicans are brushing off those accusations saying the strikes had nothing to do with politics but everything to do with national security. leland, we'll be watching to see what happens the next couple of days. leland: yeah. and the republicans made sort of

similar overtures back during 1998 when then-president clinton actually struck iraq as well. so something happened 20 years ago about the same. all right, thank you. gillian? gillian: well, a florida woman in major hot water, now in trouble with the law after allegedly taking advantage of an elderly woman that she had long cared for. what she has to say about the accusations coming up after the break. >> are you hannah? i wanted to ask you about the million dollar theft? ma'am, did you steal a million dollars from a 94-year-old woman? >> no. >> you've been charged with it. >> that's not true. good-bye. ♪ ♪ attentions veterans with va loans,

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united states on high alert. our own jacqui heinrich is tracking how cities here in the u.s. are now beefing up their security in anticipation of reprisal attacks from iran's regime. >> reporter: well, national security sources are saying tehran's revenge could come in the form of cyber attacks since the country doesn't have the ability to take on the u.s. military. secretary of state mike pompeo said iranians have deep cyber capability, but the u.s. is aware of the risks. some of the targets could be the u.s. power grid, banks and classified government systems, and some cities across the country are changing counterterrorism deployments because of it. here in new york police added patrols to high-risk areas, and governor cuomo deployed the national guard to new york city airports also telling all electric, natural gas, phone and water utilities to increase awareness for cyber and physical security. the office of information technology carries out checks on all cybersecurity details. the state has set up a

counterterrorism briefing bulletin to keep all the pertinent agencies updated. new york city mayor bill de blasio saying in part: we will have to be vigilant against this threat for a long time to come. lawmakers on both sides are concerned about how to respond to any retaliation that happens. >> so the proportionate response, when it's on in any interests in the middle east or in the cyber domain, needs to be definitive and appropriate. >> and if we are truly committed to deescalation, then we have to have a man. and lastly, we have to make a point about separation of powers. >> reporter: meantime in washington, d.c. and in new york, anti-war rallies protesting any further escalations, some people even calling to withdraw all u.s. troops in the middle east. others though are calling for the trump administration to seek congressional approval for any responses to iran's promised retaliation. gillian? gillian: thanks for that, jacqui heinrich. also finding out late last night that arlington national cemetery

where tens of thousands of american service members are laid to rest is also on high alert throughout the weekend. leland: a little bit more about how people here at home are responding to the strike. talk show host from louisville, kentucky, leland conway. good to see you, as always, my friend. we'll put this tweet up, we got this from rose mcgowan yesterday. dear iran, the usa has disrespected your country, your flag, your people. 52% of us humbly apologize. we want peace with your nation. we're being held hostage by a terrorist regime. please do not kill us, hashtag sulemani. she has since walked that back, as one might imagine, with this reported by the daily mail. quote: i had a flashback to being at the united nations cafeteria with my friend if who was a lawyer there for the u.n., and it was the same day that colin powell was delivering his fake wmd testimony at the u.n. this is what she told the ap.

how those two are related or explains the tweet, i don't know. can you figure it out? [laughter] >> no. i mean, seriously, i turn to hollywood for all of my political commentary these days. what do they actually know about what average americans are facing? better yet, i come from a state who has 302,000 veterans out of 4 million people, almost 10% have been in the military and are the ones that have actually served in the iraq and afghanistan war and have faced this situation. i always love it when celebrities like to weigh in on things like politics because, clearly, she has a good grasp of how americans react. i was rushing to try to write apologies to iran for everything we have done to them over the years, it's ridiculous. leland: fort campbell, kentucky, among a lot of other -- >> fort knox. leland: -- u.s. military insulations. your listeners, reasonable people can disagree on foreign policy decisions. was there a lot of disagreement you were getting on the air yesterday? >> no. i think, i think, you know, when

you listen to senator rand paul and congressman thomas massie from kentucky speak, they represent a pretty wide portion of the people in the state and also in my listener base. there's actually a recognition that president trump just responded to iran crossing a red line. there's a recognition of that, and there's a sense of relief that we have a president now who's actually going to do what he says he's going to do. but there's also trepidation, and that is that because we do have so many veterans in our state, so many people in our state who have sacrificed, so many who have actually given the ultimate sacrifice, there's a question about what's the plan going forward. and you hear senate rand paul talking about that and congressman massie, and he brought up to me yesterday on my show, congressman massey did, that our embassy in iraq is a billion dollars. does that look like the kind of embassy that isn't going to be there very long in terms of just the size, the scope and scale -- leland: and rand paul saying, essentially, that diplomacy's dead because of this strike. it's important. now we look forward to 20 and

whoever is going to be -- 2020 and whoever is going to be the democratic nominee will probably be talking about just this issue in terms of foreign policy and whether or not president trump kept his promises or not. here was our peter doocy questioning joe biden yesterday on the trail about whether he would have given the same order. take a listen. >> as commander in chief if you were ever handed a piece of intelligence that said you can stop an imminent attack on americans but you have to use an airstrike to take out a terror leader, would you pull the trigger? >> well, we did. the guy's name's osama bin laden. >> didn't you tell president obama not to go out -- >> [inaudible] leland: and now we will run the tape from 2012 that peter was basing that question with off of. take a listen. >> mr. president, my suggestion is don't go. we have to do two more things to see if he's there. leland: that was biden talking about the decision process into the bin laden raid.

does these moves by president trump in sending 3,000 plus troops now to the region open him up to attacks from bind or from -- biden or anybody else saying you said you were going to get us out of endless wars, and you just put, made a major move in the middle east of potentially starting one with iran. >> i think what's interesting is looking at what the democrats have done in response to this. and biden may be in a little bit different situation having been vice president of the united states when president obama made particular types of strikes. but when i hear the democrats jumping up and down and saying, you know, we want, we want proof or we want the authority and all of this, the democrats in a sense have been a big part -- congress itself, both republicans and democrats -- have given the president the authority to do stuff that they now can stand back and sort of cheer from the gallery or jeer from the gallery. they're kind of like those old men from the muppets, there's no danger to them, you know what i mean in. [laughter]

it's interesting to see that back and forth with the democrats now throwing pot shots at the president when he's essentially just backing up what he said. they crossed a red line, and he's following up on it. leland: strikes on iran to muppets in only four minutes. good to see you, my friend. >> awesome. thanks for your time. leland: good to see you. gillian? gillian: shots ringing out at the entrance to this florida bar you're looking at right now. why police say this man opened fire, coming up next. ♪ that's why i've got the power of 1, 2, 3 medicines with trelegy. the only fda-approved once-daily 3-in-1 copd treatment. ♪ trelegy ♪ the power of 1,2,3 ♪ trelegy ♪ 1,2,3 ♪ trelegy woman: with trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3, i'm breathing better. trelegy works three ways to open airways, keep them open and reduce inflammation, for 24 hours of better breathing. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler

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leland: florida police are asking for hp identifying the men, you can see there in the surveillance video, one of them fired a pistol through the entrance of a florida bar while the other is armed, you can see there, with a machete walking in. police say they were kicked out of the bar two days before christmas because of a fight, and then they came back with the weapons. it happened down in broward county down near miami. you can call the sheriff's department there, 954-321-4547 with who these two are. gillian: and a florida woman has been charged now with stealing money from the elderly woman she was caring for. police say anna bollinger took over a million dollars from

94-year-old peggy nardone, stealing money even after the woman had passed away. take a listen. >> it is shocking, and the only reason they found out about it is because the last check that she wrote was the day after the victim died, and she wrote it for $90,000. gillian: bollinger also accused of transferring a $650,000 trust belonging to the victim's late husband into her own daughter's bank account. bollinger's currently out on bail. she says the accusations against her aren't true. ♪ ♪ leland: there's a new proposal now that could bring a major change to the united methodist church after years of disagreement on lgbtq issues. christina coleman has more on this proposed separation plan. hi, christina. >> reporter: hi, leland. leaders from around the world worked on this plan and just announced unanimous support of it yesterday. it would be a huge change for a

lot of people considering the united methodist church is the second largest protestant denomination in the u.s. and has about 13 million members globally. this new agreement would split the church by creating a new traditionalist denomination that would continue to ban same-sex marriage. it's a possible resolution to the decades-long fight within the church. under this proposal the church would formally split, creating at least one new denomination that would continue to ban same-sex marriage and churches that choose to remain in the existing united methodist church could remove current prohibitions against lgbtq people. this move preempts stricter punishments that were set to take effect on the 1st of this year against pastors who perform same-sex marriage. some pastors say this proposal is a painful, yet necessary step for the faith to move forward. >> of them are my friends, people i care about.

we have shared a mission in ministry, for some of them said i can't stay in the church if that's where you're going. >> reporter: the united methodist church dates back to the early '1700s and has split many times before including over slavery. this will have to be approved in minneapolis this may. leland: we wait for may then. christina, thanks so much. gillian? gillian: the u.s. on high alert this weekend, tensions ratcheting up half a world away with iran and iraq. what president trump is saying in the wake of the strike that killed tehran's top general, next. ♪ ♪ so will we. no we won't. use your 2020 vision insurance on your first pair and get 50% off a second pair. visionworks. see the difference. but how do i know if i'm i'm getting a good deal? i tell truecar my zip

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gillian: you are looking at line pictures from washington, d.c., lafayette park, that's right out front of the white house at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. leland: that looks like the trump hotel a few blocks away. gillian: sorry, guys. you are looking at the trump hotel. leland: it's not far from the white house. gillian: it's not far from the white house. you're looking at folks that are calling themselves the no war with iran protesters. they're demonstrating there, among them, an actress, jane fonda, who also spoke at the event earlier this morning. this is just one of many protests like this taking place across the united states in the wake of air strikes in iraq

today. ♪ gillian: president trump continuing his evangelical outreach, speaking and praying at a florida mega church yesterday. one of the things mentioned in that speech, the u.s. air strike that killed top iranian general qasem soleimani, welcome to the second hour of america's news headquarters. we're here in washington, d.c. leland, it's great to be with you. leland: nice to be with you at home, nice to be with you. president trump says that the strike was not an act of aggression, that the u.s. does not want war. the logic of that is -- it begs some questions in dc. lawmakers are questioning what steps come after this. kevin cork live in west palm beach where the president is finishing up his winter vacation. hi, kevin. >> reporter: the president made it clear the operation to take out general soleimani saved american lives because it

eliminated an absolute butcher who had the blood of americans on his hands. >> qasem soleimani has been killed and his bloody rampage is now forever gone. he was plotting attacks against americans but now we've ensured that his atrocities have been stopped for good. they are stopped for good. we do not seek war. we do not seek nation building. we do not seek regime change. but as president i will never hesitate to defend the safety of the american people. >> reporter: soleimani as you know was killed by a drone strike. it also took out out several members of his senior cadre. on cap l toll hill there's been consistent -- capitol hill there was consternation that the operation was conducted without the knowledge of democrats beforehand. one leading republican thinks that was a very good idea. >> the. last group of people you want to

talk about this is democrats in congress, republicans in congress. all those democrats who are criticizing the president, i was aware of what his options were. they were about to unleash holy hell on our people in rubbing and throughout the region -- in iraq and throughout the region and the president took action. >> reporter: meanwhile, the president's evangelical outreach continued on frida friday in fl, in miami at the nation's largest hispanic evidenc evangelical co. >> a nation without faith cannot endure. justice cannot prevail without the glory of all mighty god. you know that very well. you know that very well. >> reporter: this is a major element to his re-election strategy. keep in mind back in 2016, there was a bit of luke warm reception among some evangelicals. there was very strong support but to really get them to turn

out in 2020 is a key element to his re-election strategy and that event in miami, if it's any indication, he would appear to be off to a he very strong start. leland: a big part of the strategy is talking about the federal judges he's appointed as well and two supreme court justices. kevin cork, we'll hear back from kevin if the president has anything to say. thank you, sir. gillian. gillian: breaking now, new reporting out of iraq that multiple rockets struck baghdad's green zone where the u.s. embassy is located as well as an iraqi air base north of the city where u.s.-led he coalition forces are stationed. iraq and u.s. officials say no casualties reported yet tid. benjamin hall joins us from oman, jordan with the latest on this developing story. ben. >> reporter: hi, gillian. in the last hour we heard that a hezbollah commander said his forces will start tar getting

u.s. bases in iraq on sunday evening. we don't know who is responsible for the rockets in the last hour or so but the strong suspicion is it is also iranian backed militias here. no one hurt there. this coming after funerals in iraq for qasem soleimani as well as the other people who were killed in that attack the other day. and with those funerals we heard the chants p repeated, death to america, america is the great satan, again and again. there really is anger brewing among his supporters and they expect revenge. significantly. that funeral was attended by iraq's prime minister. he heavily criticized the attack that killed qasem soleimani. as a result of the afact, the te iraqi parrelment wil parliaments the few you chur future of u.s.n iraq. on a visit to qasem soleimani's

house, the prime minister promised his daughter they would take revenge, they would spill blood. iran said they have 35 targets ready. there may be attacks on ships in the gulf and perhaps attacks on israel. the u.s. has scaled back of operations in iraq to, quote, boast security, boost security and defensive measures at the embassy. they dispatched another 3,000 troops to kuwait as a precaution. from a u.s. perspective, one official has said there will be no more u.s. strikes, they're not expected in iraq unless iran does something that warrants it. the big question is what does iran do to retaliate. there is one line of thinking that iran has spent the last 10, 15 years building up their influence in the region, becoming a real player here and they're not going to throw it away in a military confrontation with the u.s. that they can't win. they're looking for some kind of action that will allow them to save face, bloody the nose of the u.s. but not invite a full-scale military response.

the ball firmly at this point is in iran's court. waiting for their move. gillian. gillian: benjamin hall with some great analysis at the end of that piece for us, benjamin, thank you for your great reporting. joining us now to discuss the diplomatic fallout in the weak e of the air strikes is douglas soleman. he served in baghdad from 2016 through last year. he's now the president of the arab gulf states institute. ambassador, you heard what benjamin hall reported from jordan. he said the u.s. -- the iranian military is not capable of going toe to toe with the u.s. military and so the ground war option for them is off the table. does that square with you? >> what i would say is the way that the international press is characterizing president trump's decision to strike qasem soleimani is either a complete and total failure or unmitigated success. i see it rather as an

opportunity. what you have right now is an opportunity to go back to using some traditional deploy massey to try to -- diplomacy to try to deescalate the situation. president trump in his remarks yesterday was very clear that he did not want regime change in iran, that he didn't want to cause a war. secretary pompeo in his conversation with the iraqi president yesterday also agreed that the situation should be calmed and deescalated and saudi arabia issued statements saying it is now time to figure out how to move forward without continuing use of violence. the he question now is how can the united states exercise its di blodiplomatic strength, the relationship with the close alleys in the region and in europe to prevent iran from taking the next violent step he was talking about in the report. gillian: it's interesting you say you think there's an opportunity for diplomacy here. you becaus.because somebody whot think there's an opportunity for diplomacy is senator rand paul.

i want you to have you take a listen to what he said and get your reaction. >> it's hard to imagine the iranians are going to shrink now and say you killed our leading general and we're going to do nothing? i also think with the death had of soleimani, you have the death of diplomacy. i don't think there's any chance iran will speak to us again on diplomacy. gillian: the death of diplomacy, he says. >> as an american diplomat for 35 years, i have to believe that diplomacy is never dead and there's always a solution as an alternate to the use of violence. the concern is how do we convince the iranians that their best path forward is not to increase violence. they made so many promises to an angry iranian people that see only red right now, that they may feel they have to do something as benjamin noted in his report from oman to justify the statements they made. the he reality is, however, we need to be working behind the

scenes and i assume that secretary pompeo, the state department, the defense department are talking to our allies in kuwait, oman, in qatar, in europe. people have different relationship with the iranian regime. and while many people don't like the strikes that killed qasem soleimani this past week, what it has done is restored a measure of detense o on -- deterrence on iranian actions. iran was emboldened because through most of 2009, through strikes on oil tankers, strikes on saudi arabia's civilian infrastructure and strikes on the oil processing facility, the united states took little acti action. gillian: they're continuing to hold pres prisoners in violatiof international law. >> it's been clear for the past year and-a-half that in iraq and with regard to iran's actions

and iranian proxy actions, an american casualty was this administration's red line. that was met on december 27th when a r barrage of 31 rockets seemed to me to have been meant to cause a casualty and cross that american red line. having tried for the past year to goad the united states into what iran hoped would be an overreaction. then the strike or the attack on the embassy and the strike on soleimani, those are the four biggest he's claes craigslistins in the -- escalating events. they are trying to find ways to cool down the situation, use our friends in the region like the saudis, kuwaitis, omanys and maybe the qataris to message to iran and make sure they understand their actions taken in the next coming days will be

met with similar american amerit we do -- actions but we do not want an escalation. leland: garrett tenney with us for a closer look at iran's influence in the region and also exactly what that ambassador was talking about when it comes to iran's proxies and where they are and what their ability to project force is. hi, garrett. >> reporter: these proxy forces get a huge amount of support from iran, not only financially with more than a billion dollars a year but through training, weapons, and protection. as a result, the iran influence stretches across the middle east with a fighting force of up to 230,000 soldiers that it controls to vair i didding degrees -- varying degrees. the largest of the proxies are the shiite militias in iraq who drove out the islamic state. in the last two months, u.s. officials blamed the militias

for 11 attacks on military bases including missile attack last week that killed one american contractor and injured dozens of others. in terms of power and influence, though, iran's most important proxy is hezbollah. that group has grown into a military and political force in len p non since its war with israel back in 2006 which iran provided it with weapons for. more recently, tens of thousands of hezbollah fighters fought in syria's civil war and succeeded in he keeping bashar al-assad in power. hezbollah trains fighters for other iranian problems ayes, such as the houthi rebels in yemen. in addition, iran sends as much as $300 million a year to hamas and other palestinian militias to help counter israel. with all of those potential threats to u.s. interests,

defense secretary mark esper stressed this week that iran will be held responsible for any attacks by its proxies. >> if anybody challenges us, they will be met with a severe response, a strong response by u.s. forces. people know we have vast capability to do any number of things. we will act in response to aca acactions by iran or its proxies. >> reporter: u.s. officials stressed that iran and proxies could respond in many ways. there's a lot of possibilities. u.s. officials say they're prepared for whatever comes next. lee. lelandleland.leland: thank your that. for more on this we turn to fox news contributor, former cia chief of the middle east division, dan hoffman who spent a little bit of time in this region with bad people and 3w5dd places. iranians are known for their bluster.

there's what they're saying publicly and privately and what they're saying to their military and the proxies. how much do we know from signals, intelligence 57bd human intelligence of what the iranians are thinking and planning. >> right now there's no higher priority for our intelligence community than collecting intelligence on iran's plans and intentions. it goes beyond that. it's proxy militias like the lebanese hezbollah which may decide to operate object on their own and make decisions about targeting u.s. positions in lebanon without necessarily receiving approval from the center in tehran. leland: or hitting israel or launching attacks as they did in argentina against jewish interests there. look at what the new york times said about soleimani, it was effectively ran all the proxies, the guy who sort of traveled around the middle east and that's what he was doing when he got killed. he moved around quite freely in a number of countries. he traveled with an air of impunity.

they continue, one former senior american commander recalled once parking his military jet next to general soleimani's plane in northern iraq. the new york times continues with this, quote, if we have it. there it is. he soleimani felt untouchable particularly in iraq. he took selfies of himself on the battlefield and openly taunted the u.s. because he felt safe in doing so. with him gone, are the proxies kind of on their own as you noted hezbollah might say the chief's gone, we can do whatever we want. >> there is that element. the command and control issue was -- if i were in the intelligence community i would be asking, what's the command and control right now from lebanese hezbollah or for some of those iraqi, iranian -- iraqi based, iranian proxy militias. are they going to ask permission? maybe not. one of the things that iran is looking at of course is rel tall yatesing -- rel tall yatesing rt

us. the man they would have chosen to implement it is dead. that's going to make it challenging for the iranians. they have the ability to launch aussia similar symmetric agai. leland: how many people are there who view themselves as untouchable who now realize that they are very touchable. >> i think he was special underto himself. -- onto himself. he was aware he put himself in a place where we could have targeted him. leland: we didn't for so many years. >> that led him to believe that we wouldn't. when he flies into the baghdad international airport, which is a choke point, he put himself at great risk and didn't think much of it at the time. the others heads of proxy militias, some are members of parliament in iraq. the head of the corps leads the

second largest faction in the iraqi parliament. case kazali, a member of parliament. they move freely and they're accessible. leland: what about you said a name that i spent a lot of time reporting on in lebanon is nazrala. does he view himself as invinceable right now? >> i think he does to some extent. there's a lot of concern in lebanon to speak of that country about finite resources and people and money being diverted for soleimani's adventures in syria. a lot of -- leland: hezbollah had taken pay cuts and had real issues. >> a lot of them had been killed in jerry. the people are suffering through great economic turmoil. we saw this in iraq with brave iraqis protesting and torching iranian consistent se consolate. there's a lot of unrest.

leland: is there a chance iranian's decide to lick their wounds for a while, the guy that was going to plan this is dead and they decide we may not want to test the americans for a little while. >> i think they're going to target us. let's be clear, when they seek to target us they need to put a plan together for the site they're going to hit and how they're going to do it. i don't know that they want to be hiding their hand as they might in a cyber attack. i think it's all about their credibility. the ayatollah has said they will exact revenge on behalf of soleimani. leland: we've seen rocket attacks towards the u.s. embassy in the green zone and towards an air base as well. dan, appreciate your insights as always. thank you. >> pleasure. gillian: wall street is also reacting to soleimani's death. some analysts calling it a wild card for the markets. all three major indices losing some stream by friday's closing bell after making several record-breaking gains across 2019. the dow dropping over 233 points, the s&p falling 23 points, marking an end to its

five-week winning streak. the nasdaq closing down more than 71 points. in commodities, u.s. crude oil prices jumping 3.1%. the price of gold rising $24.70. and silver up 10-cents. lastly, copper falling by three cents. leland: that is a big issue on the campaign trail, as is the murder of soleimani. joe biden hitting the ground in vinton iowa today. we're waiting for him to take the stage. one of many many presidential hopefuls on the trail today. allison barber is tracking they'll all. hi, allison. >> reporter: hey, leland. climate change, health care and beating president trump in a general election have been central issues in the democratic primary. now, foreign policy seems like it could take center stage. more in just a minute. america is experiencing a strong economy... ...that is certain.

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xfinity customer service simple, easy, awesome. not my thing. leland: it is the first weekend of the 2020 year which makes the iowa caucuses less than a month aa way. allison barber live in parma, iowa, trackerring it all and by it -- tracking it all and by it all we mean a couple candidates on the road.

hi, allison. >> reporter: if you can believe it, the iowa caucus is just 30 days away. we don't have a ton of recent polls for this state but in the ones that we do have, mayor pete buttigieg is leading the pack, followed by senators elizabeth warren, then former vice president joe biden, and senator bernie sanders. the next primary debate is scheduled for january 14th in des moines, iowa. so far, foreign policy has not been a key issue on the campaign trail or the debate stage but now the pentagon confirmed the u.s. killed iran's top general at the direction of president trump, foreign policy is positioned to become a central issue in the coming weeks. you won't find any candidate on the trail defending soleimani but there is a lot of criticism for president trump and a lot of concern that neither the president nor his add administn thought about the potential ramifications when they ordered the killing. listen here. >> trump promised to end endless

wars. tragically, his actions now put us on the path to another war. >> taking out a bad guy is not a good idea unless you are ready for what comes next. >> this is and was a an enormous escalation and it follows a string of dubious actions that president trump has taken what that have drastically increased the prospects and the risk of war with iran and danger to americans. >> you know what he did? he talked to lindsey graham because they were on a golf trip together. >> reporter: seven candidates are in iowa today. leland. leland: this sparked a little debate here on the desk,al son, you can clear this up. is it tama or tamma, iowa that you're in? >> reporter: i'm going to let our viewers tell us. [ laughter ] >> reporter: we've had that debate here too and we're not 1,000 percent just yet.

leland: at allison barber, at leland vittert. >> reporter: you can say it instead of me. leland: nicely played. enjoy the rest of the weekend. we'll talk to you soon. gillian: congressional leaders are knocking heads over impeachment of course, with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell saying the senate can't begin a trial if house speaker nancy pelosi doesn't send over the articles of impeachment. our own mark meredith has all the breaking details on this. mark, lay it out for us. >> reporter: gillian, it's going to be a busy month in january but mitch mcconnell says he doesn't know when the senate will take up impeachment because house speaker nancy pelosi hasn't said when she'll send over the impeachment arrest kells that the house approved last month. the house approved the two articles back in december. the house passed those articles without any bipartisan support but it's mcconnell who is facing crist conside criticism h public support of the president before the trial and for making it clear he won't be an

impartial juror. pelosi put out a statement. she says the american people deserve the truth. the gop senate must immediately proceed in a manner worthy of the constitution and in light of the gravity of the president's unprecedented abuses, no one is above the law. not even the president. now, democrats want republicans held to compel four performer and current white house officials to testify in a senate trial. some senate republicans say the stalemate over impeachment is proof the last you fe few monthe been about nothing else but politics. >> nancy pelosi is not a senator. the house did their action. i think the house was wrong in impeaching the president. there was absolutely no proof. every one of their star witnesses when asked under oath to name an impeachable offense, asked if there was any bribery, said no. there a was no crime, yet they still moved forward.

>> reporter: josh holly says he plans to introduce a measure to dismiss impeachment. he calls the charges bogus. we'll be looking for how lawmakers react to this. gillian: some say they could go forward and do a trial without the articles. seems like it's a grab bag, whatever you want to make of it, impeachment is yours. thanks so much. leland: australia is being ravaged by deadly wildfires. jeff paul south of sydney in baseenview australia as battle to gain control is very much underway. hi, jeff. >> reporter: hey there, lee hand. all eyes on what could happen over the next 24 hours as the weather is expected to take a dangerous turn. a look at what firefighters are doing to battle back against these ever-growing flames of the bush fire, coming you up after - coming up after the break. as a struggling actor, i need all the breaks that i can get. at liberty butchumal- cut. liberty biberty- cut. we'll dub it.

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leland: the australian prime minister is calling up 3,000 army reserveists to help firefighters tackle what have become relentless wildfires ravaging that country. jeff paul is on the ground in baseenview australia where some of the fires have burt so hot, they've melted fire trucks. hi, jeff. >> reporter: hey there, leland. officials are sealing off several of the main roads to not only keep people away from the growing bush fires, but also to ease up traffic to allow some of those people who are close to the flames to escape and they're also telling those people that if they're warned to leave, to do that now, because their window is closing or in some cases it might already have closed to get to safety. australia's prime minister announcing the death of two more people, bringing the death total now to 23. the fear at the moment is over what could happen during the next 24 hours. at times, the winds will get stronger, pushing huge clouds of smoke and ash into the air,

creating sort of a blood red sky. those gusts combined with the hot and dry weather are only making things worse for those who live near the fires or having to leave their homes. some business owners are doing whatever they can right now to help those who have had to leave everything behind. >> it's really just helping out whatever way we can. it's not about us. it's about getting through as a community, it's pretty tough, people have lost their houses. so it's a tough time for all. >> reporter: 1500 homes so far destroyed in these bush fires but it's not just people who are being impacted by the flames. something that is very you unique to australia and is treasured by the people in australia, the wildlife. experts estimate close to half a billion animals have been killed so far and with the weather conditions only getting worse, they expect the numbers to get

worse. leland devastating number of animals parishing there. want to ask you what it's like breathing the air there. because we're looking at you. it looks a little like it might be smoggy. can you tell us what your experience is like? >> reporter: well, to tell you, right now it's 6:36 a.m. on sunday just south of sydney where we are in baseenview and it should be sunny out. the sun should be on my face. it's not a cloud over us of what you would normally see in weather patterns. this is actually smoke and ash, a combination all that. it fools you what time it is. you can taste it in the air. you can see particles of ash going every which way in every different direction. gillian: wow, wow. leland: jeff and his crew down there, stay safe in every sense of the word, thanks, buddy. gillian: thanks, jeff. leland: this what is pink

tweeted out, i'm totally devastated washing what's happening in australia right now. i'm pledging a donation of $500,000 directly to the local fire services that are battling the front line. my heart goes out to friends and family. you talk about the firefighters that are exhausted, it's incredible the time and hours they've put in, if in these conditions. they were so mad at the australian prime minister because he was on vacation in hawaii during the wildfires, they were so mad at him that when he came back home to visit and thank them, they wouldn't stand up and shake his hand. gillian: it's an understandable reaction to v you have thousands of men and women out there risking their lives every day with each passing hour. leland: even the navy evidence evacuating people off of beaches. gillianbeaches. gillian: he's nowhere to be found. leland: we're going to watch

that. jeff paul is down there with his crew. we'll move on now to the video we showed you earlier, more charges filed against a man suspected in the hanukkah tapping. what he is -- stabbing. what he is facing 57bd how jewish communities around the country are ramping security because of the rise of anti-semetic attacks. i don't keep track of regrets.

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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 streamline benefit now. gillian: the male suspect in the new york hanukkah stabbing, his name is grafton thomas, now been indicted on six counts of attempted murder and multiple other charges. these in addition to the federal hate crimes charges he's also facing. that stabbing which injured at least six people is the latest in a slew of horrifying anti-semetic attacks. according to the anti-defamation league, over 1300 incidents targeting jews in the united states last year alone.

joining us for more on this and how communities you cross the country are now coming together, trying to work together to protect themselves is the ceo, national director of secure community network, michael masters. michael, thanks for being withs us today. happy new year to you of. i want to ask you a big picture question first, which is there's a major uptick in attacks across the united states, targeting jewish communities. what do you think is behind that? what do you think is driving it? is there something particular to this time, this moment? >> the reality is for better pur part of 3,000 years the jewish community has faced threats. anti-semitism and violence against the jewish community is as old as our faith. the reality is not thinking about the motivation of the offenders but how do we prevent more victims. that's a proactive position

we're taking as a community, working with law enforcement, working with the ad administrat. gillian: there is definitely a move afoot within the trump administration to increasingly treat and address anti-semetic attacks as law enforcement matters, meaning stripping away like what you're talking about, stripping away some of the emotions surrounding these issues, stripping away some -- addressing questions about why and motivations, they're looking at treating these events as serious you law enforcement matters. do you think that's the right way to go? >> i think that we have a -- there's a comprehensive approach to dealing with these issues and it involves law enforcement, it involves public officials, it involves organizations like ours at secure community network and elected officials and local, state and federal law enforcement at all levels. if we look at the law enforcement piece, close to 1

you thousand domestic terrorism investigations undertaken by the fbi with the recent charge an offender in muncey. at the federal level, definitely a dedicated engagement, just looking at the funding that is being made available to nonprofits and faith-based organizations across the country, the single largest increase passed by congress several weeks ago, signed by the president, $90 million and increasing that so it's available to organizations in cities and rural areas is a real statement of the commitment of our elected leadership across the board and law enforcement to address these issues. gillian: when you talk to your organizations, members and constituents, what's their feeling about how president trump is doing when it comes to protecting jewish americans' interests, protecting their safety and security? are you getting good responses

or are you getting not good responses? tell me about what they're saying? >> so at the end of the day, i'm a security expert. i look at policy, not politics. and so when we he see that we have coordination with law enforcement, we have coordination with the administration which has been occurring since our organization existed, was created in 2003, 2004, that existence of the relationship has been a reality for the jewish community, but i want to stress, this is broader than a jewish community problem. last week we saw the attack in moncie new york, less than 24 hours later the attack in white settlement, texas. moncie was the 13th anti-semetic inches dent in neww york in three weeks. this is a problem and an issue that affects all americans, all people of faith, regardless of administration or law enforce

machine. that we need to stand together and address and i think we're doing that in 2020, effectively and to the best of our ability. gillian: it's something secretary mike pompeo talked about a few days ago when we was addressing these hate crimes. he said it's not just anti-judaism attacks on the rise, there's yo attacks targetg muslims and christians. attacks have been on the uptick. an attack against one community is really an attack against all communities. michael masters, thank you for joining us today, sharing your organization's perspective. we appreciate it. >> thank you. gillian: leland. leland: iran is vowing t total yates for the -- to retaliate for the air strike that killed qasem soleimani. officials are warning it could come in the form of a cyber attack. what that means for you when we come back. about things i did and wondering if that was the last time i was going to do that thing.

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gillian: police departments across the country bolstering security now as iran's regime is promising retribution for the u.s. air strike that killed their top general, qasem soleimani. experts, though, are warning retaliation could instead come in cyberspace. cyber security officials saying iranian backed hackers could

potentially target transit systems, power grids, even u.s. banks in the united states, other private sector interests as well. leland: so many of these are soft targets. as you talk to your sources about this, great reporting by the way in real-time as the u.s. is trying to evaluate how the iranians were going to respond, what does that mean? does this mean the u.s. government is starting to talk to banks and you power companies? does this mean there's some way to turn off the internet in iran and prevent it? >> gillian: the reality is, a lot of folks are keying into this issue for the first time now. the iranian regime has been what the u.s. has considered a sophisticated cyber threat for about a decade. it's not an emerging threat, it's not new. it's something the u.s. should have confronted a decade ago. the federal government is trying to play catch-up with its systems. there's not a lot you can do in terms of setting up cyber defenses to the best extent you

can and maybe a couple strategic -- leland: they were able to go actively against the iranians. we put up a map of the middle east, in terms of where the iranians can project power out towards israel, obviously, from both the west bank and gaza, down through the houthi rebels who have choke points down through the suez canal, through the strait of hormuz as well. why a cyber attack, why does the u.s. feel this is such a vulnerability, rather than iran using force. gillian: the iranian military doesn't have the capability to take on the united states on the ground. it's not an arena in which they could he compete. they're left with a whole range of what we could call asymmetric attacks. not to be political sciencey, but cyber attacks like these, attacks on oil supplies, that

kind of thing, that's what we're left with. leland: we've seen he' hezbolln argentina. there's other things you point out they can do. moving on to this right now, rainy day in the nation's capital, millions of americans are planning to head back home from the holiday week. we're going to check that travel forecast when we come back. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. i wish i could shake your hand. granted. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

leland: all right. air ports along the east coast are seeing delays. rain, fog, snow some placing snarling travel plans for those making their way back home from the holidays. meteorologist adam klotz in the extreme weather center. two weeks, buddy and we kind of got away with things being all right and today, whammy. >> looking more like a mess out there, leland. we're tracking a couple systems, one ton east coast, another on the west coast. this one running in the pacific northwest, snow in higher elevations, that's something folks out there will have to deal with. a larger system, rain covering large portions of the east coast, stretching to the midwest. on the backside of this system, a little bit of snow. temperatures are cooler. this what is it looks like across the country. it's mild up and down the east coast, 50 degrees in new york city. you fall behind that line, suddenly back down into the 30s and that is enough to cause a little bit of a snow problem, at least for some places, you run farther upstate

portions of upstate michigan or new england, those areas are getting 3 to 6 inches of snow. the thing as we continue on the next couple days, doesn't look like it's going to last. pretty mild temperatures saturday into sunday, the same is the case for the next couple days. that one big system, i think that will wrap up later today. leland: adam, thanks so much. gillian: now for something completely different. the british monarchy releasing a historic image this weekends. the portrait shows four generations of royal heirs, prince william, prince george, the queen, this is the second photo of all four generations of the monarch eavy together. it's quite a nice photo. leland: when the e-mail went out this morning with the photos, gillian replied she could do the entire show about just those two photographs.

we've now spent about 35 seconds on them but i believe you could have gone two hours. gillian: i could have. big fan of the british royal family. leland: it shows. gillian: thank you for being with us. we will see you tomorrow. paul.paul: welcome to the jourl editorial report. i'm paul gigot. a new year, a new set of challenges for president trump, both at home and abroad. we begin in the middle east with the pentagon confirming thursday night that the powerful commander of iran's revolutionary guard corps, general qasem soleimani was killed in a u.s. drone strike near baghdad airport. mike pompeo telling fox on friday that president trump made a necessary decision. >> there was an imminent attack, the orang orange orangee for the attack was qasem soleimani. what was sitting before us was his travels throughout the