this sunday, growing tensions. the u.s. kills a top iranian military commander, sparking fears of an all-out war. >> we took action last night to stop a war. we did not take action to start a war. >> the administration insists qasem soleimani was in the late statements of plan -- stages of planning attacks on americans. >> we needed to strike to make sure that the imminent attack that he was working active he was disrupted. >> tens of thousands across iran gathered to mourn soleimani as i'll talk to mike pompeo this

morning. and democrats applaud the killing of an american enemy but warn of the consequences. >> donald trump seems to have no plan. he seems to have no strategy. >> and take on each other. bernie sanders hits joe biden for his quote baggage and biden responds. >> not baggage. >> this morning i'll talk to elizabeth warren and an impeachment fight. the two leaders clash over the senate trial to come. >> they have done enough damage. it's the senate's turn now to render sober judgment as the framers envisioned. >> leader mcconnell has no intention to be impartial in this process. >> mark warner will be my guest. joining us is kasie hunt. former homeland security jeh johnson. betsy woodruff swan of the daily beast and the former republican governor of north carolina, pat

mccrory. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press.." >> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> well, a good sunday morning and a happy new year to everyone. president trump begins 2020 facing three challenges. impeachment, an emboldened north korea and of course most urgently iran and iranian militants laid siege to the u.sç embassy in baghdad ended with the u.s. killing general qasem soleimani. the immediate result has been the deepest crisis with iran since the seizure of 52 american hostages in 79. and iran has promised a harsh revenge and the u.s. is sending even more troops into the region. while urging american citizens to get out of iraq. and president trump is warning

that the u.s. has targeted 52 iranian sites in case iran does retaliate. u.s. officials are warning an attack in the homeland mayç co with little or no warning. less immediate is the impact in a number of other areas for president trump and in 2012 he accused then president obama of seeking war with iran as a way to help his re-election chances. well, thursday's strike could be seen as a way to help the president in november. we don't know. and the democratic race, could this now mean joe biden's foreign policy experience becomes a bigger asset or could bernie sanders benefit from his consistent opposition to overseas conflicts? and how will voters themselves react to president trump escalating tensions again in the middle east given that he as a candidate promised to pull america out of endless middle east conflicts. we begin our coverage in iraq with our chiefn irbil.

you're in iraq where the attack took place, but i want to go to the othide of from our reporting what you have gathered the mood in iran two weeks ago, they had domestic political issues. they were divided in that country. how divided do they seem today? >> well, a lot less divided. a couple of weeks ago there were violent protests on the streets of tehran with people saying that the government should change. should even be overthrown. now, young people in tehran, old people in tehran, are uniting behind the government in a way that they haven't been in a very long time. so if the u.s. wanted to isolate the regime, if president trump wanted to put the regime on the ropes, it seems to have done the opposite. >> the immediate impact could be in iraq. we know the parliament there in iraq is meeting today and the future of u.s. forces in iraq could be at stake here. is it possibleç that taking ou

soleimani while something that many american leaders have wanted to see happen is the cost going to be ame g it's possible. there are many particularly shiite leaders in this country who plan to ask for just that. they would say that the u.s. presence is no longer constructive, no longer helpful and it's time for the americans to leave. but that comes with an enormous cost. the last time the -- that iraq kicked out the united states and made it impossible for u.s. troops to stay here with status of the forces agreement, the country collapsed into civil war. >> based on your assessments, what does an iranian retaliation look like? is it conventional, is it asymmetr asymmet he's so popular in iran he built an outer layer of armor that protected the iranian homeland.

shiite and militia groups like hezbollah and also alliances in syria. that outer network is now angry, mobilized and could be directed to carry out attacks. could those attacks be in the persian gulf against shipping lanes? already the uk is sending two more war ships to protect shipping interests in the persian gulf. so i think you would likely see some sort of asymmetrical attack through the proxies but the problem is the u.s. doesn't fight with proxies. the u.s. would likely see this kind of an attack and respond with conventional weapons and then we're in a shooting war. >> very quickly, you have done -- >> there's a lot of risk right now. iran responds -- >> yeah. you have covered a lot of risk in the middle east. how much deja vu are you w th82 airborne getting the packs and

heading back to the region and then a rocket attack and here on the rooftop talking about the troops coming to the thought, wow, we are back in 2007 at the peak of the violence here when the u.s. was fighting on multiple fronts against isiá% it was al qaeda and now it's isis and against shiia militias. who knew we wanted those days to come back? >> richard engel, thank you very much. and joining me now is the secretary of state, mike pompeo. welcome back to "meet the press," sir. >> good morning. good to be with you this morning. >> let me start with the shooting -- the strike against soleimani, the killing of him. he's been a threat to the united states, to u.s. interests, for years. why now? why was it urgent this week? >> well, chuck, you captured it. we have all known about qasem soleimani for a long time. he's been a terrorist. he's a designated terrorist. he's inflicted many deaths on

americans. in iraq and in countless other places and he was connected to beirut many years ago. you would know this, chuck. this different, we have seen the recent killing on december 27th, a strike, an operation connected by the kataib hezbollah and killed an american. we could see that he was continuing down this path. that there were in fact plots that he was working on that were aimed directly at significant harm to american interests throughout the region not only in iraq and president trump said this was the time to stop the reign of terror from the glue, who put this all together, who was the leader for a couple of decades and it would put so much pain and suffering on the american people. frankly, the people in the region too. hundreds of thousands of deaths in syria. millions displaced in syria. so he's a bad guy, time to take him out. >> why are you confident they his deputy, the

ayatollah has pumped this guy up, hisç replacement. why are you convinced if there's an imminent operational attack getting put together against american interests, why are you convinced that taking out soleimani has done anything to stop it? >> we would have been culpability negligent had we not taken this action. >> is it that imminent? is the threat -- is what the attacks he was putting together so imminent and so big it would have been seen as that kind of negligence? >> we made the right decision. you have seen some of the intelligence out in the public. the death of the american on december 27th. we had intelligence on the risk as well and the president made the rightç decision. we will reduce risk. i think general milley said is there riskf attack, of course. we're trying to take that down and protect american lives. when the president laid it out three years ago this is in the

dontext of a larger american a key element is taking down qasem soleimani who has been sun a destabilizing force in the region for so long. >> okay. so was the justification in that he's been the destabilizing force in the region for so long or was the justification this imminent threat? >> chuck, it's never one thing. you have been at this a long time, and the american people are smart too. it's a collective. it's a full situational awareness of risk and analysis. and i am confident and the intelligence community presented us a set of facts and made clear that the risk of doing nothing exceeded the risk of what action we took. and president trump said repeatedly and as he tweeted last night we'll continue to take all actions necessary to preserve and defend america. >> can you confidently say america is safer today? >> absolutely. >> how do you square that

statement with the fact that we're bringing your -- you're advising american citizens essentially to leave the region if -- particularly iraq. we have the homeland security department bracing americans for cyber attacks saying that, you know, we know the iranians have been through our infrastructure. it is likely to happen and there won't be a warning from it. it doesn't sound like we're safer today after this. >> yeah, chuck, we're definitely safer today. with 100% certainty that america is safer today. >> then why did we put out that warning after soleimani -- i mean, we expect retaliations against american citizens, right? >> you're concentrate on the second and the moment and president trump is focused on keeping americans over the long haul. preserving and protecting and did fending america is the mission that we have. it may that there's noise that the iranians make the choice to respond. i hope that they don't. president trump has made clear what we'll do in then our response will be decisive and vigorous, just as it has been so far.

but we'll take all actions necessary. not only in iraq, but throughout the region to protect americans, american citizens as well asç diplomats and service members who are serving overseas. w'[e always going to do the right thing to protect american and i'm confident that the decision we make to -- made to take down this terrorist, this designated terrorist who had inflicted so much harm over an such an extended period was the right course of action to reduce risk to america. >> during the state department briefing on friday, the aides that were not put on -- not named but there was a lot of confidence being expressed that the iranians they likely won't retaliate. why do you think they won't? why do you have this potential confidence that they may not retaliate? >> chuck, we are prepared for everything. i can't get into the game of re. we have good observation of what's taking place. what we're doing is preparing for all courses of actions that the iranian regime may take and we are driving, we are driving a

strategy that we have had in place now for three years. diplomatic, economic, now military. to convince the iranian regime to behave like a normal nation and raise the cost when they inflict harm on america if they don't. >> you outlined the maximum pressure campaign. you went through what we have been going through in the last three years and the fact that you have had to go to military doesn't that tell you that sanctions haven't worked and this the maximum pressure campaign is not working? >> just the opposite, chuck. we suffered from eight years of iranian support from america. we gave them billions of dollars. we gave them resources. we allowed countries to trade with them, to build up their economy. what we are now having to correct for iranian nuclear deal that president p it has taken a little bit of time and it will continue to take time. but we're going to restore deterrents. we have seen hundreds of

thousands of people killed and millions have to depart the region. we have seen lebanese hezbollah, hamas, the pij in the gaza strip, the shiia militias, the militias that we are challenged to push back today underwritten by the american policy and the obama administration. we have flipped the switch, we're going to keep the american people safe. >> i'm curious, how do we get out of a cycle of escalating violence? the president said yesterday, we haveç targeted 52 iranian site representing he said the 52 american hostages taken in 1989 and it will hit very fast and very hard and there are cultural sites being targeted. is that being lined up at the pentagon? we have our response ready for whatever iran, we have target sites here t 52 target sites.

can you confirm this? >> we are ready and our responses areç lawful and the president will take every action to respond should iran decide to escalate. we hope they don't. we have communicated clearly and briskly to them with respect to what we have as an expectation. and we have communicated what we'll do in response if they choose another path. we hope they won't, but we're prepared in the event they choose to do so. >> finally, what do you tell the families -- there are some americans being helds who tamm by this -- hostage by this iranian regime. what do you tell americans right now who i know they have been working with you at the state department. those families who probably look at this and think, okay, whatever progress we're making no more progress. is that what these families have to prepare for? that maybe their loved ones are going to be there longer not shorter? >> i love these families. they are suffering greatly. they're suffering from the iranian regime we are seeking to counter. most of the folks were taken

during the previous administration. it was a policy that was designed to guarantee that the iranian regime would have power, authority to take americans and other westerners too. those families should know we built out a coalition we're patrolling the straits of hormuz and an air defense strategy attached and we have multiple country to sanction them. we have built out a strategy that will ultimately put america in place and they won't threaten the american hostages and we have worked diligently to get those held in iran back. we had one returned just within the last several weeks. we continue to work on that progress to get heavy america held anywhere in the worldinclud theocrats in iran to return the american hostages and we'll never give up. >> if targeting soleimani is not regime change what are we advocating if not regime change? >> as i said before, chuck, we

clearlyç stated our straefrj f three years, the leadership in irall the iranian people. we saw the protests. i'm confident we will continue to see protests. they weren't protesting against america. they weren't protesting and saying death to america. they were demanding that the iranian leadership behave in a way that takes care of the iranian people and i'm confident that the american support we provide to that and support provided from countries around the world will continue to support the iranian people in their quest for freedom. >> secretary pompeo, i have to leave it there. i appreciate it. and joining me now is the vice chair of the senate intelligence committee, mark warner of virginia. you're one of the few democratic lawmakers who's at least been briefed after the fact. >> after the fact. >> nobody -- apparently nobody other than lindsey graham may have gotten a briefing before the fact. i want to focus on this threat

that -- and you heard what the secretary of state said there. is the threat any different than whatç soleimani has been doing over the last decade? >> i accept the notion there was a real threat. the question of how imminent is something that i need more information on. let's step back for a moment and look at what's happened. america always has to be strong, but also smart. strong in the sense we need to protect our people and our interests and soleimani was a bad guy. there's no question about that. but we also have to be smart and there's three things that i didn't hear from the secretary and i have not heard from the administration. first, over the last month, we have seen across the region great pushback not only in iran and protesting against the regime and lebanon where people were on the streets saying too much iranian influence. in iraq, where people were protesting against the iranian backed militias. that anti-iranian effort seems to have transformed

activities. >> so soleimani came to -- >> a rallying force not only in iran, but as we may hear later today even in iraq where we maybe now will be asked to leave. >> by the way, there's breaking news. the prime minister of iran is recommending that. >> which again, how does that make us stronger? secondly, there is usually a congressionalç consulting process. it's both constitutionally required but it's also important because one, you potentially get members of congress to buy in ahead of time and two, they may ask that hard question that's not asked in an insular group and three, you consult your allies. because we don't want to go this alone and what we have already seen by not consulting particularly with our nato allies we have seen that the nato forces in iraq have topped training the iraqi troops. that does not make us stronger. >> how do we get out of this now? the reason i say this, you know, sort of the -- what i called to -- soleimani has been killed. the iranians are going to

retaliate. can you imagine us not retaliating against that retaliation and would that be prudent? >> well, again, soleimani taking him out was a big thing. this is one of the top three leaders in iran. and thinking through all of those consequences, if you take this action that he's what i want to hear from the administration that i have not heard so far. i know the secretary of state is trying in his own words to de-escalate. i'm not sure the president by his kind of taunting tweets necessarily is trying to de-escalate. i'm not sure how we will be seen as both stronger and smarter if we have our iraqi allies asking us to leave, if the nato allies don't feel like they'll be informed before we take this action and frankly if the people in the region that were against the iranian regime all across the region are now rallying against america. >> let's say there's a democratic president coming next. how does the next administrat n administration m-ç iran won't

deal with a presidential election for a while. they won't trust anything. so it feels like we'll get backed into the military conflict whether we like it or not. >> i hope that's not the case, but how we are going to path off of this in a way to bring the american people, you can bring allies. you can bring people in the region. those are the questions that i think we all democrats and republicans need to ask the administration this week. >> i know diplomacy is -- there's never supposed to be to be never too late for diplomacy, but with this iranian regime is it? >> well, there was a reason why under regime -- under administrations, democratic and republican alike inç the past, president obama, both president bushs, president clinton, you go through consulting with congress. you don't always get itbutou tr and smart. taking out soleimani it may have some short tell benefit but the

smartness in terms of in the region with our allies in bringing along the american people i think the jury is really out on that. >> all right, let me ask you a question that many viewers are wondering for any of the senators, there's supposed to be an impeachment trial at some point. we have the situation with iran. what should be the focus of congress right now? >> i think congress has to do both of our constitutional responsibilities. one, protect the american people and being coequal with the administration to keep americans safe and take on the responsibility of what's going to come over at some point from the house and that's to conduct a full and fair trial. >> you said at some point. should speaker pelosi send these over tomorrow? >> i think i still have hopes that as we all step up and take that oath to be impartial jurors that there can be agreement amongst the senators. all of our colleagues that we ought to make sure we get the

facts and part of the facts ought to be let's make sure we hear from people with direct knowledge of what happened in the case of the situation with ukraine. we have seen where information has trickled out with additional documents. why wouldn't we want that information before we hear? this could actually exonerate the president but you have to be able to have that information of the individuals come forward. >> right. i guess do you still advice -- do you think the speaker should withhold the articles until she gets an assurance on what it should look like? >> i think the responsibility -- that we'll find a path to get the information we need. just to have that full and fair trial. i want to get this behind us, but we have to have the information. >> you didn't directly answer this question. do you think this is a good strategy by her or not? >> i'm going to let the speaker decide. i'm going to say though that i think the seriousness of this particularly when we've got these issues involving iran and

protection of americans at happy new year. when we come back, the rising tensions with iran have added a new wrinkle to the presidential race. up next, elizabeth warren. ♪ limu emu & doug hour 36 in the stakeout. as soon as the homeowners arrive, we'll inform them that liberty mutual customizes home insurance, so they'll only pay for what they need. your turn to keep watch, limu. wake me up if you see anything. [ snoring ] [ loud squawking and siren blaring ] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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welcome back. perhaps no one has had a more up and down run for the democratic nomination than elizabeth warren. the senator from massachusetts started the race in single digits. after strong debate performances, she's near the top of some national polls. since then warren has slipped a bit into third place nationally behind biden and sanders, though not very far behind. after coming under attack for how realistic her plans are.

joining me now from dubuque, iowa, is elizabeth warren. senator warren, what are we, 29 days from caucus day, right? >> that's çright. everyone counts. >> everyone counts and every hour and second counts. before i get to the campaign, i want to ask you about the situation in iran, what the secretary of state claimed. he said not acting, not taking soleimani out, that it -- the consequences would have been worse than not acting. so far from what you've learned, what do you believe was the right call here? >> look, we are not safer because donald trump had soleimani killed. we are much closer to the edge of war. the question is why now? why not a month ago? why not a month from now? and the administration simply can't keep its story straight. it points in all different directions. the last time we saw this was

this past summer over ukraine. when people started asking questions about what had happened on the phone call between donald trump and the president of ukraine and why aid to ukraine had been stopped, the administration did the same thing, they pointed in all different directions and give a whole lot of different answers. of course what it turned out to be is that donald trump was doing what donald trump does, and that is he wasç advancing s own personal political interests. and i think -- >> do you think that's happening here? >> i think the question people reasonably ask is next week donald trump faces the start potentially of impeachment trial. and why now? i think people are starting to ask why now did he do this? why not delay and why this one is so dangerous is that he is truly taking us right to the edge of war.

and that is something that puts us at risk, it puts the middle east at risk, it puts the entire world at risk. >> look, you brought up the impeachment trial. you're right, two weeks ago if you'd asked me what would this show have been about, i would assume we would have within previewing that trial that might have been starting tomorrow or tuesday. it is not now. it sounds like you believe you want to investigate and find out if this is a motivation? >> well, i think that people are asking why this moment? you know, as i said, the administration can't keep its story straight, and in the case of ukraine, it was atrum's skin. we know that donald trump was very upset about this upcoming impeachment trial. but look what he's doing now. he is taking us to the edge of war. we've been at war for 20 years in the middle east. and now he's talking about expanding that war. this has been something that has cost thousands of american

lives. it has cost us enormously in many ways, both at home and around the world.ç and at the same time look what it's done to the middle east. millions of people who have been killed, who have been injured, who have been displaced. the job of the president is to keep us safer. the job of the president is not to move us to the edge of war. >> let me turn to the campaign. you came out in favor, surprised some people, you came out in favor, somewhat reluctantly in the way you put it out there, for usmca, nafta 2.0. here's what you said about it a year ago. let me play that. >> trump's deal won't stop the serious and ongoing harm nafta causes american workers. it won't stop outsourcing. it won't raise wages, and it won't createç jobs. >> what changed in your mind? >> the deal. democrats got in and negotiated a very different deal than we had a year ago.

i really want to credit to people like jan schakowsky who got the whole giveaway to the drug industry pulled out and rosa delaura, sherrod brown, who made sure we had worker protection in the deal. this is not a great arrangement, it's a better -- it's an improvement over where nafta stands right now. look at the box the president has put us in with farmers. farmers have just had their legs taken out from under them in one trade war after another that donald trump has initiated on his own. farmers need help, they are in real trouble and they get some help from this same thing with workers. workers are in trouble, they need some help. >> as you know, senator sanders still is against this rhetoric have. let me ask it this way, you have

backed off a bit on your medicare for all plans, meaning you want to let the public sort of get traction on it first. you've reversed course a bit here on nafta from where you were to where you are now. what should voters take away from this about you? >> i want to be practical on the trade deal. if we can get some improvement for our farmers who are suffering, if we can get some improvement in enforcement for our workers, then i want to see us do that. and then as president i want to see us negotiate very different kind of trade deal. and the kind of trade deal that we should be negotiating is one that starts with the fact that everybody wants access to america's market. that means we should be using that leverage to raise environmental standards all world, to raise labor standards around the world. we should negotiate for a better deal, not just to back out of this box, but we should also provide relief right now to the farmers who are suffering, to

the workers who are suffering. that's how i see it. i see the same kind of thing on health care. we need toç make improvement. you know what i'll do on day one as president? i'll defend the affordable care f the efend the affordable care trump administration and i'll reduce the cost of prescription drugs that have been jacked up by the pharmaceutical industry. i'll reduce the cost of epipens and insulin and hiv/aids drugs. the president has the authority to do that all by herself. doesn't need congress. that's what i'm going to do. i want to get as much relief to as many people as quickly as we can. i think that ought to be the job of the president of the united states. >> senator elizabeth warren, democrat from massachusetts coming to us from iowa, thanks for coming on and sharing your views. stay safe on the trail. >> thank you for having me here. >> you got it. when we come back, the growing tensions with iran,

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xeljanz for ra can increase risk of death. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. as have tears in the stomach or intestines, serious allergic reactions, and changes in lab results. tell your doctor if you've been somewhere fungal infections are common, or if you've had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. don't let another morning go by without asking your doctor about xeljanz xr. ♪ welcome back. the panel is here. former homeland security secretary jeh johnson, betsy woodruff swan, host of kasie

d.c., casey huntikasie hunt, yo appearance since having a child. >> thanks for having me. >> and the former governor of north carolina, pat mccrory. i'm going to start with a little campaign rhetoric from candidate donald trump. take a listen. >> the current strategy of toppling regimes with no plan for what to do the day after only produces power vacuums that are filled simply by terrorists. enough endless war, it's time to have a real plan for victory. they have dragged us into foreign wars that make us less safe. >> all right. i want to get into the substance in a minute. pat mccrory, i'll start with that political -- does the president have a potential long-term political box he may be in now with iran and that he may have -- he may end up in a war, whether he likes it or not? >> well, any president dealing

with the middle east is put itf this situation throughout my lifetime. but the fact of the matter is there's a lot of hypocrisy. one u.s. senator just two weeks ago called the president and our country impotent because of not responding to the attack against our embassy. and yet when the president killed a terrorist who was hiding behind the iranian flag but he was really a terrorist who was only 15 miles away from our embassy, he's then called by democratic leaders incompetent, unstable, act of war, terrorist. just verbal attacks by our democratic leaders. and that's making him more weak because i think the democrats at this point in time went too far in their rhetoric in making our country weaker in responding now to the counterattack. >> are you implying that the president overresponded because of these democratic attacks? >> no. no, i'm saying the president

when he did respond, now the democratsç have made these ver personal attacks. in fact they could almost be speaking points for the iranian regime. we can't make our president the villain in this. we can disagree with our president. i have no problem with that. but i think the democrats are playing this wrong at the same time. >> what's the appetite on capitol hill here, both sides of the aisle? >> well, i think for the republicans, the challenge here is they do not want to be seen not defending this president, so even if they have reservations, they are holding back those reservations. the republicans i've talked to behind the scenes are focused on making the argument that this was legal, that this was a lawful - that this manas perspective. was this person an actor of the iranian state. >> the secretary of state kept saying the word terrorist, terrorist, terrorist over again and that wasn't an accident. we've got a counselor over here. >> you heard this from mark warner, this is a tricky line to

walk. you know, they have to see the intelligence, most of them haven't. i thought the fact that warner was willing to acknowledge that there was a threat. he said, okay, i buy that, is telling. now, the question, of course, is it imminent or not. but for this president from a political perspective, i mean do you want democrats a month out from iowa to be talking about how we shouldn't be going afterç iran? >> betsy, it did seem as if the secretary of state did back off a little bit on how imminent this threat was. >> that's right. what he didn't say but what's important to know in the context of how the administration thinks about iran is the way the presi advisers who supported this iran move are making the case for it behind the scenes. they're saying, look, obviously it's not proportional to kill a military commander in response to the killing of a u.s. civilian. they know they're vaulting multiple steps upthes la torre

ladder. whether or not that bet pays off is very much up in the air, we don't know. but it's a dramatic change from the prior administration. >> jeh, before you were homeland security secretary you were counselor at the defense department. >> right. >> explain for viewers why does mike pompeo keep saying terrorist? there is a legal reason he keeps saying terrorist, isn't it? >> no, not necessarily. >> okay. >> if you believe everything that our government is saying about general soleimani, he was a lawful and m the president under his constitutional authority as commander in chief had ple domestic legal authority to take him out without an additional congressional authorization. whether he was a terrorist or a general in a military force that was engaged in armed attacks against our people, he was a lawful military objective, but that's not the only questionb here. for a very long time the bush

administration, the obama administration had been engaged in what we refer to now as shadow warfare with the iranian government. last thursday night was what we refer to as a decapitation strike where we've taken out a very high-profile member of the iranian government. that is a provocative, in your face act, where you kill a senior member of the iranian government and say, yes, i did it. i hope this administration has carefully considered the second and third effects of that. one very plain second order effect which any foreign officer could predict is the reaction in iraq with the growing shia political influence in that country. >> right. >> we face the very real prospect that theç iraqi government will wanting us out the country. >> one piece of feedback i got at the charlotte airport last night from some citizens is what took us so long. this guy was only 15 miles, only

15 miles from the embassy that was attacked just days earlier. and i think people are now going, wait a minute, this guy was -- they keep using the term proxy. this guy was running proxy. now, that means he was running terrorist groups under, again, being protected by the flag of iran. and i think he was walk -- this general was walking a fine line and a argant line. >> nobody is arguing that this man was a good actor on the world stage. >> no, i'm arguing that he wasn't just iranian. >> was the risk of taking him out worth it for americans? >> what are the implications. >> that's a fair question and we don't know the answer to that and won't know for maybe a long time. >> we might know pretty fast, though, because the response from the iraqis is currently under way in parliament in baghdad. it's front of minds to american intel and defense officials exactly what's happening in this 24-hour period. when they gave a briefing classified behind closed doors to senate staff on friday, there was an extensive discussion, according to my sources familiar

with the briefing, specifically about how the iraqi parliament was responding and how to dissuade them from voting to push out u.s. troops. >> jeh johnson, very quickly, your former department put out a very alarming alert last night. >> it was very candid. >> the iranians' ability to cyber attack us. could they temporarily cripple cities? >> we have to prepare for that very distinct possibility. the national threat advisory put out last night said that the iranian government could strike with little or no notice on a moment's notice, and that hezbollah has demonstrated the capability and intent to strike the homeland. that's a very candid statement. >> and they put that statement out after the soleimani attack. when we come back, the 2020 census gets to determine which states gain or lose house seats and, therefore, electoral i'm your mother in law. and i like to question your every move. like this left turn. it's the next one. you always drive this slow? how did you make someone i love?

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mrb: this is america. we can certainly afford to make sure that everybody that needs to see a doctor can see a doctor, everybody that needs medicines to stay healthy can get those medicines. nurse: you should know, he did it as mayor, he'll get it done as president. mrb: i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message. welcome back. data download time. 2020 isn't just a presidential election year, it's also a census year. 'd this is what is goin determine how many electoral votes each state gets. we already have a pretty good sense of where things are headed. first, the losers. the firm election data services

found these ten states are likely to lose a house seat and, therefore, an electoral college vote after 2020. five states that went republican in 2016 and five that went democratic. all right, tie game so far. there are some clear winners here. all of these states are gaining one electoral vote after the census is done. three of them are red straits in 2016, two of them blue. but the biggest winners, perennial battleground state florida, will get two electoral voters. they'll be sitting at 31. and then there's texas gaining the most with three. that means texas will have a whopping 41 electoral votes in 2024. a huge development in a red state where democratic changes are inching it toward swing state status. 72 electoral votes just for florida and texas. throw in california and you get the picture. if texas is in play, it would mean not a whole new map but a my psoriatic arthritis pain? i had enough!

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that she saw them connected. >> the wag the dog allegations are not a surprise but it's still significant for her to suggest that the president engaged in this strike for sort of underhanded political motives. one thing that warren's rivals notice flagged this to me was that she basically put out two different statements on the death of soleimani. first she said soleimani, terrible person. then the next day followed up with a tweet calling it an assassination, a term that in this case has significant legal weight. her rival campaigns are pointing to that and saying it's an example of her struggling to try to keep both ends of the democratic party happy. >> i want to put up an example here. bernie is going on the attack a little bit. he went on the attack on biden and on foreign policy. he said it's a lot of baggage that joe takes into a campaign. theç baggage he's referring tos the iraq war vote, kasie hunt, and he yesterday went after pete buttigieg in a fund-raising email. i do want to focus on sanders v.

biden here because i do think the op presents an interesting contrast. we don't know if voters will look at this and say steady hand joe biden or how about the guy who was always against the interventions here. i don't think we know how democratic voters will react. >> i was talking to some sources about this very question yesterday inside the campaigns. i think it really depends on who you're trying to talk to. if you're joe biden, you're thinking a lot about swing voters, about voters who like the strong posture. the arguments they're making are essentially that you go with a guy that's a steady hand. that is the entire argument behind their whole campaign right now. a return to a more normal version of this. i think the question is going to be how much do the base voters remember and think through iraq as a motivating factor. i mean that was whatç swept oba into office in 2008. i think the question is are people past that? are they seeing that in this kind of a context and are

willing to make a bet on bernie sanders over it? >> jeh, the establishment of the democratic party is not popular with the base of the democratic party either. biden's positions and bernie's positions are different for a reason. >> yes, and foreign policy, as you know, does not typically loom large in an election -- in a primary debate, but it did in '07-08 because of that iraq war vote and obama was on record opposing the iraq war at the time. democratic primary voters, as i think kasie has said, basically focus on who's going to be stable, who's going to be thoughtful, versus somebody who is completely dovish. who's going to be careful about getting us into another armed conflict. and it's not who's the most bullish and who's the biggest sabre rattler. >> pat, the hit of -- the wag the dog hit on the president here, how concerned should he be about that perception? you have the country, we're pretty split. half the country doesn't believe what comes out of the

president's mouth. >> i'm more concerned about not the politics of it but our country. at this time i think our country has to have one voice on foreign policy. i don't mind the criticism, it's the type of criticism and accusations so shortly -- >> isn't this on the president? didn't he bring it on himself because he doesn't choose to speak with one voice? by the way, there's always a tweet. let me put up some old tweets here of donald trump, citizen donald trump. in 2012 this is what he said about iran and barack obama. he said watch out, i predict president obama will at some point attack iran in order to save face. the point being there's always a tweet. there's always a way where this candidate trump behaved in a way that he's now upset people behave against him. >> and today we have presidential candidates on the democratic side signing pledges they'll never get into aç long-term war. this always happens in every political campaign. until you get to office you don't know what you're going to confronting. two names in the democrats we're not talking about that i saw millions of dollars of ads for

during the nfl games last night, steyer and bloomberg. he's showing pictures of him growing up. i don't know where he's going. bloomberg was very interesting seeing his ads. he's bringing up the issue of ut health care in new york city. i foundi that very interesting. >> i'm glad you brought that up because i was struck too. what? tom steyer? and bloomberg, i don't know how voters will wonder about this in a month. >> i will say i came back to a presidential field after four months of being away that looks considerably different than the one that we had in september. i will say that when you look at the actual process and, chuck, you know this better than anybody, there have been campaigns in the past that have tried to skip the first four states, gotten in really late. rudy giuliani knows this better than anybody. >> former new york city mayor. >> and people will say you look at how you can win a democratic

nomination. there are not very many bloomberg/biden districts out there. >> that's the part of this i've never understood for bloomberg. how does he win. that's all we have for today. what a way to kick off 2020. thank you for watching. we'll be back next week. this is going to be an incredibly important month, let alone year in american politics, because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press."

this week inside the world of crisper. gene-editing that could change the world. plus, can you make money doing

the right thing? we take a look at venture capitol investment in the environment as part of nbc's climate in crisis. how pharmaceutical start up convinced men to pay more through marketing. our reporters, kristen b. brown from bloomberg and our business insider, aaron broadway, this week on "press:here." >> good morning everyone, i am scott mcgrew. we are all aware