some sacrifices. >> you are an inspiration, as it relates to college i think you'll be just fine. where do you want to go? >> columbia, my parents are colombian so i'll be a colombian at columbia. >> thank you so much. that wraps up this hour of "msnbc live." "andrea mitchell reports" starts right now. what did the president say in a call with foreign leader to prompt a whistleblower to file a complaint with the intelligence community's watchdog inspector gener general? the president just now tweeting, is anybody dumb enough to believe it? today the intelligence community inspector general was summoned to the house intelligence committee. did they get any answers? >> whatever this was, was of such a gravity that this person if he would compelled to come forward. a lot of people in this administration know things that

president trump has done or is doing that are deeply worrying. on the brink? iran's top diplomat threatening all-out war if iran is tacked while mike pompeo says the president wants a diplomatic solution. >> we're still striving to build a coalition. the foreign minister of iran is threatening all-out war and to fight to the last american. and oh, canada. prime minister justin trudeau facing a fire symptstorm over h face, admitting he darkened his skin at least twice while in costume. >> i shouldn't have done it. i should have known better. this is something that i didn't think was racist at the time but now i recognize it was something racist to do and i am deeply sorry. and good day, everyone, i'm andrea mitchell in washington where president trump is pushing back against some stunning new

reporting as high drama plays out on capitol hill today, a mystery house democrats are trying to solve in a closed door meeting as we speak with the intelligence community's inspector general. the committee is demanding answers about a whistleblower complaint which "the washington post" now reports involves a communication between the president and a foreign leader. a former u.s. intelligence official familiar with the matter tells nbc news the conversation under scrutiny was a phone call, "the post" noting the president had interaction with at least five foreign leaders in the five weeks before this complaint was filed. joseph maguire will testify about this in public next week. president trump tried to defuse the country on twitter saying, any time i speak on the phone to a foreign leader, i understand there may be many people listening from various u.s. agencies not to mention those from the other country itself. no problem. joining me now, nbc news correspondent ken dilanian, nbc

national security analyst ned price, and "washington post" national security reporter ellen nakashima. ellen, this breakthrough reporting by "the washington post" about what was involved in this whistleblower complaint, we've been talking about this complaint for the last few days back and forth, the refusal to testify, now the testimony as we speak by the inspector general of the intelligence community. but you and your team at "the washington post" have new reporting about what this involves. >> yes, we reported last night the substance of the complaint involved a phone call that president trump had with a foreign leader. and we don't know for sure yet just who that leader was or w t what -- he supposedly made a promise, trump did, to the leader and we're trying to report out what that promise was. it was concerning enough that an intelligence official reported

it to the inspector general of the intelligence community on august 12th. and that launched the series of events that we are now reporting on. >> now, ellen, i know we can't say exactly -- we don't know precisely who the foreign leader was, what call it was. but a lot of attention is being focused on a late july call with -- between the president and vladimir putin precisely because the readout from that -- from the kremlin initially was very different from what was me la -- belatedly acknowledged from the white house. the kremlin reported it first and after a series of calls from reporters here in washington, the white house acknowledged that the call had taken place but gave a very minimal description of what the issues were. >> right, that was a july 31st call initiated by the white house to putin. and the initial very cursory

readout by the white house was that it had something to do with trump expressing concerns about wildfires in siberia. but the readout given by the kremlin was much -- a little more forthcoming and indicated that trump had made an offer which the kremlin took as a signal that full bilateral relations, a relationship could one day be restored. so that is definitely something of interest here. and i just don't want to get too far ahead of the reporting but that is something one would be advised to look into, i think. >> ken dilanian, according to nbc's reporting, there were a number of other foreign leaders that were in contact with the president during that time frame, not just vladimir putin. >> that's right. the he mere emir of qatar, the the netherlands. what we do know is someone inside the white house, detailed to the nsc, an intelligence

officer, was so concerned that they took the extraordinary step that no one i talked to ever heard of, of filing a whistleblower complaint about the president's conduct. we also know the trump administration is taking pains to withhold that complaint from congress. the inspector general is testifying behind closed doors to the house committee and is refusing to give more information to the committee, he's not allowed to by law, he's instructed by lawyers that this does not meet the definition in the whistleblower act. chairman schiff says he's obligated to tell the congress about it. >> ken, to nail this down, they are as far as we know still in session. they started at 9:00 a.m., it was supposed to be over by 11:00 a.m., it's still going on. so something is going on in that room beyond "i won't say" and "you have to say." there is a tug-of-war verbally

going on. >> the inspector general is an independent watchdog, appointed by donald trump but confirmed by the senate. michael atkinson, he's a line prosecutor, senior justice official for 14 years. he believed this complaint met the definition of an urgent concern, and that it should be passed to congress. it isn't just the whistleblower, it's this official. but he's been overruled by the dni. and our colleague julia ainsley reports that william barr was involved in that decision. >> to that point, ned price, you were a detailee to the national security council under president obama from the cia. so you were an intelligence officer working every day, you went to work at the white house, but your salary was paid, presumably, by the intelligence community. you reported to the white house, though, as your immediate supervisors. how does that work? and tell us what happens when the president makes a call to a foreign leader, as he's acknowledged today, people are listening in, there would have

been a cia or another nsc officer in the basement of the white house listening in, taking notes, maybe there's a transcript, and those notes would have been circulated in most white houses to senior members of the national security council. >> i think what's not widely understood, andrea, is the fact that the national security council staff, that is to say the nsc staff that we're talking about here, these are not political operatives. these are not political types. during the final years of the obama administration there were 180 national security council staffers. 90% of those were so-called detailees, people on loan to the white house from the state department, from the fbi, in my case from the cia. these are individuals who called the white house their office, who go to the white house every day. but they're paid by their home agencies. their career prospects are in the hands of their home agencies. and if and when they ever have a complaint on this level, they would go to their own home

offices. in this case their own inspector general. so this is the staff that supports the national security adviser and the president. it's also important that the staff be apprised and be able to fulfill their function of coordinating foreign policy on behalf of the president. they need to sknow when he pick up the phone to a foreign leader. they type up transcripts and would send those transcripts to the relevant directors and senior directors on the national security council staff. now, we know that the trump administration clamped down on the dissemination of those transcripts following some leaks early on in the administration. but it's still necessary, one would presume, pleaat least, toe those transcripts typed up and distribute them on at least a minimal basis to those who need to know. >> ellen, for a whistleblower, it's extraordinary, we've never

heard of this, it could have happened in secret and we wouldn't have known about it. but to take your career in your hands and complain about the president of the united states is an extraordinary act. in the statute itself that this can't just be a policy disagreement where you disagree that maybe putin should not be invited back into the g7. this has to be an issue of urgent concern to the national security of the united states. >> right. and i want to make two points. one is, i believe this whistleblower didn't make this complaint with an eye toward it ever becoming public. he did not expect that this would ever erupt into this maelstrom and likely is not eager to ever have their identity be disclosed. my understanding is the whistleblower felt this was their duty, they were following instructions, following the statute by taking the concern to the icig and then hope that the

process would take its course and, you know, let whoever needs to be held accountable be held accountable. this whistleblower did indeed feel there was enough of a concern that the inspector general should look into it, and the ig, as ken noted, did deem this complaint to be credible and found that it was something within -- that met the definition of intelligence activity and something that needed to be raised. in fact the ig then took this complaint to the dni, the director of national intelligence, which he was supposed to do by statute. and at that point the dni was supposed to, within seven days, send that complaint to the hill, to the congressional intelligence committees. and that's where the process got stuck and that's why we're in the situation we are today with atkinson testifying on the hill. >> because he turned it over to

the justice department to give him legal guidance, and that became -- >> because -- >> he consulted the justice department. >> the dni, joseph maguire, instead went to the -- or it might have been the white house who -- and advised maguire to go to the olc, the justice department, and get an opinion. atkinson, the ig, i don't believe went to the justice department. atkinson works for maguire. and atkinson is not -- was not authorized by law to divulge the complaint to the congressional committees on his own. and i think his hands are tied there. and to a certain extent, i think maguire feels his hands were tied, that he has, as we've reported, raised concerns about this issue with both the justice department and the white house. he's not doing what he's doing, you know, willingly. >> understood.

and this all happened before he even came into office. to the president saying does anyone think i'm dumb enough to say something sensitive when i know people are listening, i just want to show everyone what happened at the border wall. this was a very political photo opportunity to try to show people that there is a wall being built, even though it's a repair of a wall that was already there, but in any case, this is what he said and how he was challenged by the border patrol officer who was right there. take a look. >> one thing we haven't mentioned is technology. they're wired so that we will know if somebody's trying to break through. you may want to discuss that a little, general. >> there could be some benefit to not discussing that. >> okay. i like that. that was a great answer. >> so clearly, ken dilanian, the president was talking about something sensitive, how they're monitoring possible breaches of the wall and that's not

something he should have been talking about in public. >> and andrea, you and i have been cautioned by officials, it's possible this whistleblower misunderstood something they overheard. but look, these people are sophisticated, they're career staffers, as ned knows, it's not their job to complain when they disagree or they think the president is doing something stupid. it's only an issue when they see that national security is implicated, intelligence matters are being improperly disclosed. they know the definition of that and they were concerned enough to file a written complaint. >> ken dilanian, and ned, we have yet to see whether the congressional oversight will work as the whistleblower law says it should. thank you very much. to be continued. ned price, ellen nakashima, thank you for your reporting, we know how busy you are, and ken dilanian as well. meanwhile, catastrophic flooding in eastern texas, prompting evacuation orders for

residents. tropical storm imelda dumping several feet of rain in some cities. authorities say significant and life-threatening flash flooding could stretch across to western louisiana as well. nbc news correspondent gabe gutierrez is in hampshire, texas. gabe, this is a terribly dangerous, threatening situation. >> reporter: absolutely, andrea. the rain just won't stop. now, right here, ongoing water rescues are under way. just so i can show you where we are, this is an intersection pretty much surrounded at this point almost entirely by water. we just saw a rescue boat bring a man from that neighborhood. he said that he had water up to his chest. we also saw another family being brought out earlier as well. now, this road is just off i-10, 73 here in chambers county. that's cars behind me got stuck in this overnight. it was incredible to see how many cars decided -- some abandoned their vehicles, others

are waiting for any way to get out. joe, if we can come over here and look, look how much water, andrea, extends all of the way in that direction. we just saw another air boat come and rescue more people over there. authorities say they got more than a thousand calls for rescue overnight. there was a hospital that had to be evacuated, several patients were rushed to a nearby nursing home. this is an ongoing situation. we have been seeing rain here pretty much throughout the morning. thankfully the lightning has let up. some of the more severe weather has let up. this is now a steady rain and more rain is forecast throughout the evening. there's a lot of concern here, for example, in beaumont, that has gotten 30 inches or so of rain. that's approaching hurricane harvey levels, andrea. and indeed some of the residents that we have spoken with here, they were hit hard by harvey. but they say in this particular location it was worse than that. andrea? >> gabe gutierrez, my gosh, what

a terrible situation there. thank you so much for that report. meanwhile, tensions with tehran, iran threatening all-out war in the event of u.s. military retaliation. later, controversy in canada. the reelection campaign of prime minister justin trudeau thrown into turmoil over at least two incidents of him wearing face-baface face-darkening makeup. face-darkening makeup. hout) humira patients, you inspire us.

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iran is escalating its war of words today after the secretary of state called the bombing of the saudi oil refineries an act of war. the foreign minister, zarif, says his country is prepared for the worst. >> what would be the consequence of an american or saudi military strike on iran now? >> an all-out war. i'm making a very serious statement. we don't want war. we don't want to engage in a military confrontation. we won't blink to defend our territory. >> secretary of state pompeo in abu dhabi today saying that diplomacy is still the policy. >> we're still striving to build out a coalition. we're in active diplomacy while the foreign minister of iran is talking about all-out war, we're

committed to achieving peace. president trump wants me to work to achieve that and i hope the islamic republican of iran sees it the same way. >> joining me now, nbc white house correspondent kristen welker, jonathan lemire, and retired four-star u.s. army general barry mccaffrey, an nbc military analyst. welcome, all. kristen, there are some lower level national security meetings today to come up with more options. they're talking about sanctions. there will be a full national security meeting with the president tomorrow, as we understand it, and what pompeo is talking about is assembling a coalition, assembling evidence against iran, as they see it, to present to the united nations next week. what do we know? >> we know that the pentagon continues to prepare military actions for president trump including measured military strikes. this is a president, andrea, who despite the tweeting out that

the united states is locked and loaded, who has been tamping down the rhetoric, if you will, in the days since he tweeted that. and as we know, this is a president who has an america first foreign policy, who has walked up to the brink of military action in the past and then walked back from it, including a recent provocation by iran when it struck down an unmanned u.s. drone in june. you'll recall that president trump was getting pressure from some of his top advisers, then national security adviser john bolton, to retaliate. president trump saying that he didn't feel as though a military retaliation was the appropriate course of action. so as you point out, president trump will get briefed tomorrow during that full national security council meeting, and then he heads to the u.n. next week. and that is when the united states is really going to seek to build a coalition in terms of its response, which already

includes sanctions. the question is what if any further action does the united states want to take, andrea. >> and general mccaffrey, when we talk to military leaders such as yourself, retired military, admiral mccraven was here yesterday, saying the saudis don't want war, iran doesn't want war, and the u.s. doesn't want war. war with iran would be catastrophic and saudi would say vulnerable, they weren't even able to spot these incoming cruise missiles and drones attacking their own oil refinery. >> one thing we have to keep in mind, the iranians are very tough people. they fought the iraqis for eight years. there were a half million killed on each side. right now they're in a box, and economic constraints are strangling them, they think

they've got to act. i don't believe they're going to cave in public to u.s. demands. so we're in a position where saudi arabia, you're right, just suffered the equivalent of a pearl harbor attack, knocked out half their production with a fairly cheap, modest cruise missile rvp attack on them. where is it all going to go? the republican revolutionary guard may want war. they may think the confrontation is worth it. so we're in a difficult situation. the u.s. fifth fleet, u.s. navy, and u.s. air force air power in the region, can use standoff weapons to devastate the iranians, their submarines, their aircraft, the air defense system. but in the process, it's likely that would turn into a very intense regional war. no one seems to think that that's a good outcome, certainly to include mr. trump. >> and we understand that there

is a recommendation from general mackenzie for more troops into the region. obviously some would be sea-based as well. jonathan lemire, we have a new national security adviser who is probably chairing a meeting today on some of these options to present to the president tomorrow. he is robert o'brien, as you well know, former hostage negotiator, a lawyer, without a whole range of foreign policy experience. but apparently well-liked and certainly a big contrast with john bolton who has also made some very controversial comments against the president. >> right. the new national security adviser has the full support of mike pompeo, secretary of state. mike pompeo has certainly consolidated the foreign policy apparatus of the administration. o'brien is seen as a smoother operator than john bolton. he is perhaps more hawkish than

the president right now who is in a little bit of a bind now, as you were just discussing. he uses bellicose rhetoric and threatens american adversaries across the world but doesn't seem to want to follow through. he's someone with very few pieces of fixed ideology, this president. but one of them is a real commitment to not be involved in and be entangled in lengthy overseas conflicts. although he briefly supported the iraq war, he became one of its most vocal critics. he campaigned on ending american involvement in both iraq and afghanistan. we've seen him, whether it's iran, north korea, or other places, not wanting to commit, not wanting to get into a shooting war. but he may have painted himself into a bit of a corner, at a certain point you have to back up that talk or if not, observers wonder, will america's adversaries be goemboldened and want to push the boundaries

further. according to our reporting, the president has no problem undermining his subordinates, but more than that, he like the idea of sowing confusion and doubt in global capitals, thinking that keeps iran in this case off balance. >> but that can be very dangerous as well. accidents can happen. barry mccaffrey, kristen welker, jonathan let mlemire, thank you much. coming up, trudeau in trouble, apologizing for darkening his skin as part of a costume for 2001 gala. will he survive his upcoming elections next month? this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. >> i'll be asking canadians to forgive me for what i did. canado forgive me for what i did. woman: my reputation was trashed online.

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i have worked all my life to try and create opportunities for people, to fight against racism and intolerance, and i can just stand here and say that i made a mistake when i was younger and i should have known better then, but i didn't, and i did it, and i am deeply sorry for it. >> reporter: was this photo racist in your opinion? >> yes. yes. i didn't consider it a racist

action at the time, but now we know better. it's something that was unacceptable. >> canada's prime minister justin trudeau facing big controversy over a photograph that surfaced of him wearing brownface makeup at a party in 2001 when he was a teacher at a private school. the newly discovered photograph obtained by "time" magazine shows trudeau, then 29 years old, wearing a turban, robes, and dark makeup as part of an arabian nights themed party when he was teaching in vancouver. trudeau admits there was a second incident involving blackface. his reelection, a month away, is now in jeopardy. ron allen has more on this story. ron, it's hard to understand how this happens, especially because it goes so much against his whole -- his whole life's values and what we know from justin trudeau as an inclusive politician. >> exactly, very much against the brand, the image, what we think of him. it may get worse, andrea, we

have reports that there might be a third incident, a piece of videotape that hasn't been verified by us as yet, but another incident of him dressing in blackface or brownface, unclear what that circumstance was. apparently like the other two instances in his past, one 18 years ago, the other when he was in high school. the election there, as you know, is neck and neck. he won four years ago. his liberal party, for the first time in ten years. conservatives are very strong up there and they are of course pouncing on this as an example of him being inauthentic, they're calling this reprehensible. they're saying he's not fit for office. and they're zeroing in as well on this notion that he's not telling the whole truth about these incidents because as i said before, there might be more. at this point the polls are neck and neck, the election is obtain october 21st, and we hope to hear more from him today at some point. he's been very contrite and straightforward.

he has sounded apologetic. but it's unclear how that will play with the canadian voters. issues of race, diversity, multiculturalism are a little different up there than here, but the bottom line is this is a big challenge for him, and suggested, one that's unexpected given the brand, who he's said he is, andrea. >> fascinating political controversy to our north. ron allen, thank you so much. coming up, tough talk. what speaker pelosi had to say about former trump campaign manager corey lewandowski's testimony on capitol hill. later, congressman eric swalwell who just was briefed about the intelligence community whistleblower, joining us right here on andrea mitchell reports. . what's the hesitation? eh, it just feels too complicated, you know? well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that. jj, will you break it down for this gentleman? hey, ian. you know, at td ameritrade, we can walk you through your options trades step by step until you're comfortable. i could be up for that. that's taking options trading from wall st. to main st.

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we are legislating, investigating, and litigating. and i trust the work of the committees as they go forward to do that. i answered, i trust the committee and the path that they are on. >> nancy pelosi just now not answering questions about what is widely viewed as a disastrous judiciary committee showdown with foreign trump campaign manager corey lewandowski. reportedly pelosi chewed out committee staffers saying she would have held lewandowski in contempt right then and there for stonewalling and mocking committee members. joining me is a former aide to democratic senate leader harry reid. joe, pelosi apparently,

according to politico and "the washington post," said after this dressing down of the staff members, "and you can leak this right now," so she was very clear that she was not happy with the way jerry nadler conducted that hearing. >> yeah, she wanted to put some distance between the management of that hearing. in terms of her overall impeachment pushback strategy, i actually think this does her some favors, it demonstrates she wants to be tough on the people around the president who aren't being honest but i think it also reflects that her entire thought about impeachment from early on has really actually, you know, been confirmed and been affirmed by the lewandowski hearing and about some of the other things around the mueller report that did not necessarily go the way of the democrats. i've actually reached out to some folks from pelosi's office to get feedback as to what happened. i haven't heard anything from them yet. but what i have heard is a lot of chatter on capitol hill about maybe some discontentment with

chairman nadler and his handling of these and other issues. i think it's a pretty well-known open secret that she's not a fan of how he's been handling his business on capitol hill. >> there's been criticism online, on cable. last night we saw on brian williams' show, on lawrence o'donnell's show, this was a disastrous showdown. corey lewandowski for five of the 5 1/2 hours just made a mockery of them and she apparently, according to "the washington post," said not only would i have held him in contempt right then and there but she said in meetings with these democratic staff members and lawmakers, that it was, you know, just ridiculous. they do have to have a vote on contempt so they couldn't have frog marched him out of the committee meeting, technically, i don't think. but for him to have gone on like that, why they didn't have rules. they have the gavel. why they didn't have rules to go right away to questioning by

barry berke, the counsel. >> you're right, barry berke, you had the staff counsel to ask some very searing questions of lewandowski that actually pulled out some answers that i think democrats feel like will only aid and boost their case for xweef impeachment, but i think it also reflects the fissure between leadership and rank and file democrats, just about the entire impeachment strategy. this is frankly why pelosi has been very dubious about being so heavily reliant on an impeachment strategy or diving head first into impeachment. i think that while she's frustrated with what happened this week, i actually think this is exhibit "a" for why she feels like this is fraught with uncertainty for democrats. >> we'll be talking to a member of that committee momentarily. joel king, thank you very much. coming up, silenced. congressman eric swalwell is here with his reaction to the inspector general's briefing about that whistleblower report

and why it's being withheld from congress. stay with us. withheld from congress stay with us shrimp yeah!

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reach the inspector general's desk. california democratic congressman eric swalwell was in that committee session this morning. he stepped out to join us, we thank you very much for that. i know you can't talk about the substance of what was said in there, but was there any cooperation at all from the inspector general or did you get a complete stonewall in there? >> well, he's testifying, you know, before us, but he's limited in what he can say because of the acting director of national intelligence. i'm going to let mr. schiff characterize the meeting, i think he'll be doing that shortly. but andrea, just to kind of give a reset here, the intelligence community has an inspector general to receive whistleblower complaints. when an employee sees something that is lawless. this is not a policy disagreement like you see someone do something that you just don't agree with on the policy. this is something that is lawless. you have a channel to report that so that you're not retaliated against. and congress is to be notified within seven days after the

inspector general sends that report back over to the acting or the director of national intelligence. that didn't happen. the director of national intelligence did not send that to congress. it's not optional, it's not voluntary, you're not allowed to consider or weigh whether congress should see it. you have to. all we know is that the concern is urgent and it's credible. >> now, does the acting intelligence director, director of national intelligence, joe maguire, is he constrained by the white house counsel or the attorney general or his subordinates telling him that he does not have the authority to pass this on to congress? >> it's unprecedented that they would even be involved, the department of justice and the white house. again, the law is very clear that once the inspector general sends -- he has 14 days. so an individual says their complaint is urgent and credible. the inspector general has 14 days to investigate that and say

yes it's urgent and credible or no, it's not urgent and credible. in this case he said yes, it's urgent and credible. once that happens, it's sent to congress. there's no discretion or involvement of outside agencies. it would be completely lawless to direct the director of national intelligence from sending that to congress. >> the president tweeted today that people shouldn't think he's dumb enough not to know that people are listening in by practice, national security teams, including detailees from the cia and other intelligence agencies are listening and monitoring all of these foreign calls, making notes, doing, you know, readouts of those notes to the top policymakers, that he wouldn't say something stupid or something sensitive on such a call. >> that tweet was so telling in that the president's essentially saying of course i know that people are listening on our side and on the other side when i talk to foreign leaders.

i would prefer that the president had said i would never say something to a foreign leader or make an illicit offer to a foreign leader. instead he's saying i'm not dumb enough to get caught. again, whether this involves the president or type of mob-like behavior he is often involved in. >> the underlying issue is classified and sechbs differencdifferenc sensitive, but the president seems to be confirm thagt underlying issue does involve his conversation with a foreign leader. >> i wish we knew what the "washington post" know, but that is not the case right now because director of national intelligence is ordering the inspector general to not tell us. and so in this case -- and let me just back up. the reason you have this channel is so that whistleblowers don't go outside this channel and start leaking to the press because they don't feel like the proper channels are working. and in this case someone has gone outside the proper channels

to the press and this just shows the breakdown in law and order that this president and his administration continues to contribute to. >> since clearly you were not told what the underlying issue is, i have to ask you about a reported call between the president and vladimir putin, it was acknowledged by the white house hours after the congress acknowledged it and there was a real discrepancy between the way moscow described the subs stance of the call and what the white house only under pressure from reporters' questions acknowledged that night. >> this president continues to not be straight with us as it relates to his dealings with -- >> do you want to know more about that call in particular? >> yes. and our committee working with the foreign affairs committee is position working on the helsinki exchange with vladimir putin. so, yes, we just are highly skeptical about any calls that this president has with vladimir putin considering that russia's behavior has not changed since they invaded crimea, since their

human rights abuses in syria, since they interfered in our election and it seems counter to our interests that we would engage the way this president does. >> congressman, thank you so much. i know this is all in progress. coming up, mixed messages. military veteran and republican congressman mike gallagher joining us to respond to the president's rhetoric on iran. on and i recently had hi, ia heart attack. it changed my life. but i'm a survivor.

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a typical bully. these guys are thugs, religious nazis. they only survive when people bend to their intimidation. they shoot their own people. they are weak. they know what would happen if they got in a war with the united states. i know what would happen and i know this, if we give them a pass on this, the worst is yet to come. >> tough talk fromreacting to t comments that an attack would result in all out war. joining me now congressman mike gallagher, a former marine. thank you very much, congressman. what would you say about the options right now? national security council is preparing options for the president. so far the president says he wants sanction, not military action. >> i would say on the question of options, there are a lot of options that lie between doing nothing on the one hand and all

out warfare on the other and my hope is that the new national security adviser robert o'brien who is an excellent pick will present a robust set of options. we are right to suggest the increased economic pressure. at a bare minimum regardless of how you feel about the joint comprehensive plan of action, we should all agree that iran should not benefit financially from this act of economic terrorism. that should be a foundational starting point for thinking that we do going forward and i believe this is an opportunity for us to convince a lot of our european allies to get on board with the maximum pressure campaign. >> lindsey graham says that is not enough, that that will only encourage iran to do something again. >> he is likely right. i think we do need to figure out ways to restore deterrence and that could involve a more robust response. the administration does have enormous latitude in the cyber

domain to disrupt the iranian military, their communications in particular. and i would urge them to explore everything responsible in the cyber domain. whether we want to go beyond that and in a kinetic strike, certainly something proportion allege seems warranted, but congress should not be a passive spectator. we should have robust debate. >> are you concerned that the drones were able to get right past our defenses, the patriot missile batteries, how vulnerable is saudi arabia to another strike? >> i'm incredibly concerned. what we've seen on the question of energy infrastructure, even our own, there are enormous cyber vulnerabilities. it is one of the things that myself and senator angus are looking at as part of the commission. so i do think that as we know we are entering a unique and new period of warfare, so-called gray zone warfare, these types

of attacks that are below the threshold of all out military conflict will become more and more common. so we need to improve and modernize our defenses on we are not caught unaware. >> and should we be concerned good this about this unprecedented whistle blower complaint that involves the president's communication with a foreign leader, possibly according to the inspector general of the intelligence community concerning national security? >> well, i haven't seen the report. i don't know what is in the report. i hesitate to speculate. but certainly i'm in favor of maximum transparency between the branches. now, that is not always possible particularly when you can conducting diplomacy and the president retains the right to have conversations with foreign leaders, even those that are our enemies like vladimir putin. you always want to maintain some sort of diplomatic option.

but i look forward to seeing what is in it and hopefully i'll be able to comment more intelligently at that point. >> congressman mike gallagher, great to speak to you. thank you very much for being with us today. >> thank you. and that does it for andrea mitchell reports. here is stephanie ruhle. >> thank you so much. a busy day. hello, everyone. it is thursday, september 19, ali velshi is at the msnbc 2020 climate forum in washington, d.c. we'll be hearing from him in a few minutes along with some of the democratic candidates there with him today. a lot going on. right there on your screen is maryann williamson who you see also will be coming up during this hour. and plus our own chris hayes just spoke with vice president al gore on climate change. what he thinks we need to do about this crisis right now. plus a whistle blower files a complaint about president trump. what could the president have said to a foreign