"msnbc live." "andrea mitchell reports" starts right now. >> thank you, ayman. and happy new year. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," boiling point. rising tensions following the worst attack on a u.s. embassy in years, escalating the administration's crisis with iran and weakening an already fragile government in iraq. from the pentagon, the secretary of defense joining us today. >> you know, enough is enough. this part of iran's malign behavior that they've been spreading across the region from africa to the middle east, into afghanistan now, for 40 years. >> coming up, more of my interview with defense secretary mark esper. undeterred. while tension flares in the middle east and the president wrestles with an historic impeachment in a reelection year here at home, north korea's dictator seizing an opening. >> kim jong un has played the president like a stradivarius violin. he has used the time and the photo ops to grain credibility

internationally while at the same time gaining time to continue to develop his weapons. and show me the money. with just over a month before the first votes take place in iowa, the money race heating up, topped so far by a huge haul from bernie sanders. >> you set the tone, you set the pace for this entire election system. and i have no doubt, no doubt, that with your support, we're going to win here in iowa. and good day, everyone. happy new year. i'm andrea mitchell in washington has the two-day siege of the u.s. embassy in baghdad is over, finally, after pro-iranian militants retreated for now. the big question is what will happen next between the united states and iran. the flashpoint over the holiday

centered around the assault against the u.s. embassy, only ending after a massive show of u.s. military force. apache helicopters firing flares from the sky. marines from kuwait dropping from ospreys to fortify the compound. nearly 700 more u.s. troops deploying from ft. bragg. the militants retaliating against u.s. forces who had killed militants in iraq for killing an american contractor. secretary of state mike pompeo postponed his trip to ukraine scheduled for tomorrow, a long-overdue show of support for the beleaguered president of ukraine. i spoke to secretary of defense mark esper from baghdad.

secretary, happy holidays to you. what is our situation at the embassy in baghdad? >> the station is stabilized. my latest information is that the iranian-sponsored militia groups onsite have retreated. as you know, we've reinforced the embassy to make sure it's secure and safe for all the personnel inside there. >> what is your damage assessment? i know they did not breach the walls but they did get to the perimeter area, to a guard post there, a staging area. we saw the torching of that building as well. >> yeah, there is some minor damage but i actually don't have those details. that's something secretary pompeo is looking at. our focus right now is making sure we can continue to protect our people and resume embassy operations as soon as possible. >> you have said that they will regret if they do anything more. what is your threat in terms of what will happen if these

iranian-sponsored militants come back? >> well, you have to look at the broader history here. so for several months now and particularly in the last couple, we've had these iranian-sponsored militia groups, in this case kataib hezbollah, that's been attacking our personnel and basis. the attack that resulted in the death of one american and the wounding of four soldiers was 31 rockets fired at the base. we've seen an uptick over the last two months, nearly a dozen attacks increasing in volume and the weapons used. so enough is enough. this is part of iran's malign behavior that they've been spreading across the region from africa across the middle east into afghanistan now, for 40 years. it's this type of bad behavior that simply needs to end. we have all the capabilities inherent in the united states military to either respond to further attacks or to take preemptive action if additional attacks are being prepared. >> you've sent in nearly 700

troops from the 82nd airborne. there were marines who came in on ospreys. how long will those forces remain there? is this an emergency situation that's still continuing at the embassy? >> well, we deployed those additional forces as what we think a prudent, precautionary measure to ensure the safety and security of folks in the embassy and in the region at large. they'll be arriving over the coming days and be available for deployment to ensure safety in the facilities across the region. we'll keep them there as long as necessary to make sure that mission is accomplished. >> taking a step back, there have been a series of incidents of iranian-backed incidents, including of course the massive attack in september against the saudi oil fields. the president had said at the time, the u.s. said, we're locked and loaded, yet we did

not take action then. an american contractor was killed, and this very large response in iraq, at the same time responding against iran, does that also weaken the fragile iraqi government which is so heavily influenced by tehran? >> i think the party that is weakening the iraqi government and the iraqi country is iran. they are exerting their influence throughout that country, through these she i can't shia militia groups, through politicians they control in whatever way, shape, or form. you see in the past few months thousands of iraqis, normal iraqis, in the streets protesting both corruption and iranian influence in their country. in fact as i recall they tornado the consulate, an iranian consulate in one of their provinces because they want iran out of their country. we are there of course as guests of iraq. we're there to ensure the enduring defeat the isis. we helped the iraqis do that.

and we remain there to train, advise, and assist them. we have full respect for iraq's sovereignty and what we want to see is an independent, secure, stable iraq. >> didn't the iraqi government fail to respond strongly enough? how did these militants get into the green zone, get that close to the embassy? doesn't that indicate some complicity and some ambivalence by the iraqi government under the influence of iran? >> i think that's part of what we have to look at now and understand. i think their performance was slow. it's in a much better posture now. we have iraqi security forces around the embassy. they need to remain there. it is the sovereign responsibility of the iraqi government to defend not just our embassy but all other embassies in that country. we've had friends and partners around the world condemn this protest by the shia militia groups. the iraqis have been largely good partners.

but they're under the influence of tehran in many ways. this is why the people of iraq are so upset with what's happening in their country, and they should be. >> there's iraqi nationalism to take into consideration now, and increasing pressure in the parliament in baghdad to get some 5,000 u.s. troops, all the u.s. troops, out of iraq. are we going to concede to that pressure and withdraw our troops? >> there is nothing on the table right now. again, we are there at the invitation of the iraqi government. we work closely with them. i was in that country a month or so ago and had good meetings with the defense minister and prime minister. they recognize the importance of our relationship to ensure the integrity of their country and make sure we professionalize their armed forces so they remain a sovereign state, the goal would be for them to be a country free of influences such as tehran. >> the president is saying on twitter, this is not a warning,

it's a threat. the iranians are saying there's nothing we can do, we can't do anything. is he right, that we can't do anything in this situation? >> the united states has a full range of capabilities whether it's on the military side which of course we have a good -- but it's further economic sanctions, it's diplomatic action. there's a lot we can do. it's important to not make this a united states versus iran issue. it's really iran versus the world. it's iranian bad behavior that's been going on now for nearly 40 years. again, it's the support of proxy groups from africa, lebanon, yemen, iraq, afghanistan. you go around the world and you'll find iran is either directing, resourcing, supporting, providing their own soldiers or special operators to do this type of bad behavior. and that's not to mention whether it's hostage-taking or ballistic missiles or the pursuit of nuclear weapons. iran needs to become a normal country. >> so far that hasn't worked.

let me turn to another part of the area, though, another part of the world, in asia, where obviously kim jong-un is making new threats of a new strategic weapon that he will break out of where he ever the moratorium was, he's already been violating that moratorium with short range tests. what is the response now, where after a year of diplomacy and embracing the friendship with kim jong-un, he is actually advancing his long range missiles, potentially even have a submarine launched missile? >> yes, well, it's important to step back. i will tell you when i entered the administration two years ago as secretary of the army in the fall of 2017, we were on the path to conflict. we were preparing for a likely war on the korean peninsula. through the president's diplomacy, his outreach, his initiative with kim jong-un, for two years now we haven't seen that. and we've seen a moratorium on both nuclear testing on long range missile testing. so that has been a good thing.

at this point in time we continue to urge the north koreans to get back to the diplomatic table. we believe a solution can be found. the best path forward with regard to making sure the korean peninsula is denuclearized is through a political agreement. my job as defense secretary is twofold. i need to make sure we're prepared and ready to fight if need be, and secondly, do whatever i can to enable our diplomats to be successful. that's my focus right now. i stay in constant contact with my commanders in the field and we remain at a high rate of readiness. >> john bolton, former national security adviser, says it's time to resume the joint military exercises that the president very suddenly suspended after the june 2017 first singapore summit with kim jong-un. is it time to now resume those military joint exercises with south korea? >> well, that's something we'll take a look at, certainly, depending on kim jong-un's next move. it is true that we did scale back exercises because we wanted

to keep the door open or open the door for diplomacy. i think that's the right way to proceed. in no way, shape, or form, did it affect our fundamental ability to fight and win against north korea. but those are things we would look at over the coming months as events unfold on the ground. >> now, secretary of state pompeo is also postponing his long-overdue trip to ukraine that was supposed to be taking place tomorrow because of the crisis in baghdad. you and others on the national security team argued not to suspend the military aid to ukraine back in august, according to all reports. what about the posture here of the ukrainian government against vladimir putin with pompeo not going and with that aid very publicly being withheld for 55 critical days? >> secretary pompeo obviously has to figure out his own travel plans. clearly with what's unfolding here in iraq right now --

>> hasn't it weakened president zelensky? >> not that i'm aware of, andrea. >> all right. we'll have to leave it there, but thank you very much, thank you for joining us on this first working day of the new year, we really appreciate it, with crises around the world. thanks very much, secretary of defense mark esper. >> thank you, andrea. >> joining me now, associated press white house reporter jonathan lemire from west palm beach and ali nassar, a former state department task force official for afghanistan, welcome, both. vali, first to you on iran, you heard the secretary of defense, but there are real questions about the way we have responded, not responding to some attacks from iran or iranian-backed forces, and responding inside iraq at a time when iraq's government is so fragile. >> i think the president had not really thought through that

pressure on iran will not necessarily bring it to the table, that the iranians may react in ways that he hadn't anticipated. so when they attacked oil faties and tankers, he almost was caught in a situation he hadn't thought about. do i escalate, do i hit hthem back, what will that mean, or do i let it go? he decided to let it go, no diplomacy followed. this time he decided it's time to hit back. except he didn't think about iraq itself. it's almost like this conflict with iran is happening in a vacuum. iraqis did not like the united states unilaterally acting in their territory. and that has now played into iran's hands. the strategy with iran has imploded, it's not working. it's not making it to the table, it's making iran more audacious and more risk-taking. >> jonathan lemire, we've both

covered this for such a long time. we've watched how the president and mike pompeo felt the economic pressure, maximum pressure against iran would collapse the regime. they say, not regime change, but they never expected ran to be this strong militarily and around the world through its proxies. >> andrea, you're exactly right. we've been watching this for a while. and it has sort of caught the white house and the state department somewhat off-guard, how iran has responded. as you say, maximum pressure has been the strategy here endorsed by this president and those around him. they of course, at least publicly, are still saying that way to go. but they were deeply concerned about what's happened in the last few days at the embassy in baghdad. the president of course is engaging, as he is wont to do, engaging in saber-rattling and tough talk towards iran when unnerved some watchers in global capitals, and also, as the

president is also often wont to do, mindful of the public perception at home and the politics of it and going out of his way to really stress that this was not going to be his benghazi, benghazi of course the consulate that was similarly raided a few years ago that was held at the feet of then-president obama and secretary of state hillary clinton when she launched her own presidential campaign in 2016. that was something we heard time and again on twitter and when he spoke to reporters at mar-a-lago for his new year's eve evening, ahead of his new year's eve party. and i want to point out, that was the last time we've seen the president. he's at the golf course, he was there yesterday and today. we may not get words directly from him until tomorrow night in miami when he's expected to address a group of evangelical supporters. >> it does seem, jonathan and vali, they're viewing this crisis, the assault against our embassy there, through the

benghazi filter, mike pompeo certainly, because he was on the committee that pilloried hillary clinton on it. so he is not on his watch going to have a u.s. embassy go down. >> that's true, but at the same time iranians have shown that they can pull a benghazi any day of the week. and the u.s. can fortify the embassy but if iran decides next time to bring a larger crowd, if other iraqis join in and if the u.s. has to use live ammunition against protesters, this can get a lot bigger. so in a way, the u.s. is in a very tight spot in iraq right now. >> and jonathan, very briefly, where does the president go next with this? he's threatened. does he carry out threats? he's now sending troops in rather than withdrawing troops, which is contradictory to his own impulses. >> that's right. we're seeing two different things here. sending troops despite promises to stay out of the middle east, these conflicts, this is something that we've seen him try to draw down american forces

elsewhere in the region. but we've also from this president, he is known for sort of the big talk and the bombastic tweets and the real incendiary rhetoric but he's been very reluctant to actually deploy military force. despite all the tough talk with north korea from a couple of years ago, that never escalated further, although we may be returning to a colder period of relations between the two country. and same with iran. we've had a couple of missiles strikes he's launched in syria, a few raids he gave approval for, including the one that killed baghdadi, the terror leader. but he's been reluctant to deploy military strikes. this is more tough talk for now, we'll have to wait and see if he's pushed into action. >> jonathan lemire, vali nasr, thanks to both of you. coming up, rudy giuliani

says he would love to testify at president trump's impeachment trial. and the 2020 race for the white house heats up. stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

it's a new year, but no discernible progress now in the impeachment negotiations, shall we call it, between mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer over whether or not republicans will permit witnesses from the president's inner circle to

testify at the pending senate impeachment trial. house speaker nancy pelosi still not sending the articles of impeachment to the senate. according to nbc's geoff bennett, in order to give schumer some room to negotiate. but pressure is on for bottom sides of the aisle from the senators to get the senate trial out of the way. democratic presidential candidates in the senate do not want this to be lapsing over into of course february, when the iowa caucuses take place. joining me now, former house democratic caucus chair joe crowley, and "usa today" washington bureau chief susan page, welcome, both, happy new year. >> happy new year. >> did nancy pelosi give herself an exit ramp for this insiste e insistence? because there are some moderates in the caucus that i'm hearing from who are not that happy with withholding the articles of impeachment. >> a couple of things to keep in mind. one is nancy pelosi went to this game knowing all the rules. she knew every aspect or any path it could policy take.

she always knew she had this in the back pocket. she worked it out and talked over different scenarios with her staff. she's also very mindful, very mindful, of the elections this year. she's mindful of maintaining control of the house of representatives. she looks after moderates, those in districts that democrats took from republicans. so i think she's keeping that all in mind. i think she's driving the president crazy, and at the same time she's trying to ensure that the process moving forward will be a fair process and one that's enlightening. i think it's already paid off. i think you see the exposure in "the new york times," the 80-plus days that this crisis was unfolded under. we're learning more information about what the president knew, what mulvaney knew, what bolton knew. and, you know, it calls for even more transparency and openness about what they knew and whether or not there should be witnesses. >> how long can she sit on the articles of impeachment, susan,

before sending them over? at some point they have to get this trial under way. >> i don't think she's going to hold on to them forever, but she is giving chuck schumer the gift of time. in the past hour we saw chuck schumer tweeting a link to unredacted articles from the pentagon expressing deep concern about the hold on aid to ukraine. each day that goes by, there's more opportunity for information to come out that bolsters schumer's case that you need witnesses and documents. this isn't going to go on forever. it's not like they were going to start the trial this week. but starting next week there will be increasing pressure to get this off the plate of house democrats and onto the plate of the senate. >> the defense secretary is walking around, not confirming it, but "the new york times" reporting that in fact mark esper, mike pompeo, they were all very concerned about

withholding that aid, which had been congressionally mandated. >> including bolton who was concerned about it, and mick mulvaney walking out of meetings between rudy giuliani and the president, not wanting to disrupt the attorney/client privilege issue. i think a lot more was known by mick mulvaney and others in the white house that's not been brought to light yet. that's why they're hoping at some point between the courts and the timing of all this, that the public really understands how much the white house does not want these men, these individuals to testify in any -- under any scenario. >> and how much does the white house, susan, want rudy giuliani to try the case? >> probably not. you know what the white house wants, they want the trial to happen, the vote to happen, they want the president to be able to say "i'm vindicated." as much as there are house moderates that don't like the delay, nobody likes it less than donald trump. >> indeed. we leave it there. thank you so much, susan, and

joe crowley, great to see you in the new year. up next, money talks. the democratic candidates announcing fundraising hauls including an eye popping number from bernie sanders. we'll be joined by presidential candidate cory booker, live from new hampshire. he's ready. he'll be right with you on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. mitchell reports" on msnbc. your orders are to deliver a message

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just a little over a month before the iowa caucuses, the money race is in full swing. senator bernie sanders topping the field so far, announcing he has hauled in a whopping $34.5 million during the fourth quarter of 2019. pete buttigieg, andrew yang, and tulsi gabbard follow. elizabeth warren and joe biden have yesterday to release their totals. but it's president trump who has beaten them all with a staggering $46 million in the final quarter of the year, a lot in the bank. this as julian castro, the only latino running, ends his campaign today, leaving the democrats even less diverse following the earlier departure of course of senator kamala harris. in quitting the race, castro tweeted, i'm going to keep

fighting for an america where everyone counts. joining me, candidate and senator cory booker. happy new year to you, senator. this news that julian castro is dropping out certainly indicates that as of now there are going to be five white candidates on the next debate stage. is that sustainable for the democratic party after having had the most diverse, large field when we started out? >> i hear this from voters black and white, latino and white. there's a sense of just frustration that you're excluding people from a debate stage because they don't have the money that often billionaires do to get on those stages. and for our campaign, i literally just came out of iowa where people are just angry. iowa starting line, it was point out, i'm the number three candidate in popularity, net favorability, in the whole state. we have the most endorsements from local leaders. iowans are making their choices known in popularity, in endorsements, and even the kind

of surge we're seeing, i'm the number one campaign for iowa women contributing to. there has not been an early state poll since early november. there has not been a poll to even know where things stand at this point. eig it's kind of ridiculous that these are the measures we're putting up. instead of iowans choosing, they're being dictated to by washington, d.c. dnc leaders. it makes no sense. we've had our best fundraising quarter in the campaign. we're hoping more people will go to corybooker.com and help us continue the surge to keep my voice in the race even though other diverse voices unfortunately have had to leave. >> the dnc says they needed to do bsomething to narrow the field, with so many democrats on the stage they weren't getting voices heard and a real debate going up against donald trump with his fundraising juggernaut. what do you say to the dnc?

>> look, i absolutely agree, we should narrow the field. but not to do it in a way that benefits billionaires and not unequivocally one of strongest campaigns going on in iowa now. we have ten days to make the stage. we're asking people, if you want my voice on that stage, go to corybooker.com. by every metric that has proven to upset iowa before, kerry and edwards falling at 4 and 2%, go on to become one and two in iowa. barack obama, national polls had him 15, 20 points behind hillary clinton. the polls have never been predictive of who would go on to be president or the nominee from our party. right now the indices of our campaign, top in endorsements of local leaders, the number three in net favorability in the state, our organizing team has been called one of the two best organizing teams on the ground. we're running a grassroots

campaign that is poised to upset the race in iowa. but to not let us on the stage in a debate in iowa makes no sense whatsoever. we're up in ads because of a surge in online giving. we want to continue to do things in this ten-day period that should there even be a poll, because again, the fact that there's been no early state poll since kamala 2kr0dropped out, s bullock dropped out, since this race shifted so much in the last two months, is just unfair. should there be polling refuse we want to make sure we're on tv to capitalize on that. >> when are you going to release your fundraising numbers? we've seen incredible numbers from bernie sanders, numbers from pete buttigieg, from andrew yang, 15.5 million, that's more than biden got in the third quarter. are you preparing to release your numbers? >> yeah, we're preparing. we've already announced we've had our best fundraising quarter

yet really with a surge over the last couple of months of people who want my voice in this race. january is another record breaking month for us. we'll release our numbers. we're very excited about the momentum of our campaign, as local folks have been saying to us, radio hosts and others, that we seem to be the team that's doing what usually happens in iowa, big upsets, people overcoming expectations, and that's what we're going to do. >> as a juror in the impeachment trial coming up, how hamstrung are you by the speaker 2kw4r0 d withholding articles of impeachment and a delay in the start of the trial? >> let's be clear, i'll do my job, i'll be there with the senate, it is that obligation, a sacred obligation we all have to uphold the ideals of the constitution. in terms of how it will affect our campaign, it will have a real affect. we're not running a campaign that you see with billionaires dominating tv ads and things

like that. our campaign, and the same way i beat the political machine in newark, our campaign thrives in the grassroots. the events i had coming out of iowa were incredible, packed rooms, standing ovations, more endorsements from county chairs, state reps. when i'm in a room and connect with people directly, i'm able to pull them over to support our campaign. not to be there for a week or two weeks makes it even more difficult. that's why we're relying on people to help us compete with the big money campaigns by going to corybooker.com. it's what we have to do, find other ways to show my presence there even though i won't be able to be there physically. >> senator cory booker, we'll be seeing you on the campaign trail and in the senate at a trial in both places at the same time. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thanks for being with us. and coming up, new year, new weapon. kim jong-un warning north korea has a new strategic weapon and threatening to renew nuclear

testing as well. stay with us, "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. msnbc.

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sanctions gangster-like and protesting any resumption of joint military exercises with south korea, this as north korea state tv releases more images of kim on horseback. choi joining me now, victor cha, welcome. the message from kim jong-un certainly indicated a certainty about a strategic weapon. >> i think it's pretty clear, he's been sending signals basically all year, but very clear about this end of the year deadline. and in the new year's speech saying clearly they're going to demonstrate some new strategic women unless the united states does x, y, and z. i think that's been pretty clear what he wants to do and i think we have to take the threats seriously, i don't think it's just bluster. >> the talks stalemated, the

walkout at hanoi and the symbolic walk across the dmz, but no progress. the real progress during the so-called moratorium was north korea has developing its missile capability. >> yes, i think that's right. unfortunately, since the summit in hanoi in february of last year, north korea has shown dramatic increases in their short, medium range ballistic missiles, as well as in the type of fuel they use for these weapons and possibly sea-launched weapons which you asked the defense secretary about. meanwhile, at the same time there is now an effort to loosen sanctions by the chinese, the russians, and the south koreans. so we are losing our leverage at the same time they're gaining their weapons capability. >> the president keeps talking about how much he and kim like each other. so the president seems to be relying on personal diplomacy, which doesn't seem to be

working. >> no. i give him credit for it in the sense that no other president has tried this and there's only one person in north korea who makes a decision, which is the north korean leader, so you have to talk to him. so he's done that. but all of these meetings thus far, if you talk to administration officials, they're trying to figure out what the definition of "denuclearization" is. we're not even talking about actually getting to the weapons, just what the definition is. and those definitions have been agreed upon in the past three agreements. >> and in fact, the north koreans agreed in june of 2017 in singapore to disclose what their weapons inventory is. they have not even done that. >> no. >> so where do we go from here, when you look forward, if there is a new long range strategic missile, doesn't the president have to do something? >> i think they'll clearly do something, whether an icbm test, sea large, or some capability they'll demonstrate, we're going to see it. then the question becomes do we then move into the fire and fury track we were on in 2017,

sanctions exercises, or do we make a decision to try one last effort at diplomacy? i think we have about until the end of february to make a decision. i think kim -- maybe we have until the end of february. but the big question is whether we're going to loosen sanctions or tighten them in response to the next test. >> what about resuming joint military exercises which the president precipitously ended without even notifying his defense secretary at the time? >> usually in march we have the big major military exercise with the south koreans. the north koreans clearly said they don't want to see that happen. that's another important position point because it affects readiness of the alliance on the peninsula in terms of deterring north korea. >> all of this happening in an election year. >> yep. >> tough times to come. victor, i think we'll be talking a lot in the new year. thank you very much. after the break, war of words. iran's supreme leader taunting president trump on twitter as tensions escalate there. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc.

reports" only on msnbc

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♪ the sun is risin' ♪ ♪ as the day begins ♪ time for reflectin' on family and friends ♪ ♪ and hey, we got somethin' ♪ ♪ just for you (sniffing) ♪ it's a cup of your favori-i-i-ite... ♪ (loud splashing) (high-pitched laughter) dang woodchucks! with geico, the savings keep on going. just like this sequel. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. tensions are still slati escalating in the middle east after the assault on the u.s.

embassy in baghdad. the secretary of defense told me a few moments ago that enough is enough. what does that mean? senator chris coons joins year on the foreign policy front. let's talk about what happened in baghdad. how ominous is it, and what are the u.s. options against iran? >> andrea, happy new year to you. and let's hope that 2020 is better for all of us than 2019, but it certainly dawns with two foreign policy crises facing president trump and our nation, in north korea and in iraq because of repeated attacks by iranian-backed militias. look, i do support the president taking action against iranian militias following the death of an american contractor and the wounding of four american troops, and secretary esper, who was on earlier in your show, certainly has the responsibility to protect our thousands of troops that are scattered

throughout the region. but i think what's going on here is that president trump is seeing the limitations, or i'd say even the failures, of his personal approach to international diplomacy. he thought he could charm kim jong-un in north korea into giving up his nuclear weapons, and he thought he could isolate iran. and in both cases, he abandoned traditional diplomacy. he abandoned the very broad deal that was reached by the obama administration that brought in our european allies and china and russia to get an inspections regime in place with iran. he walked away from that and has instead launched a unilateral maximum pressure campaign that has produced some real difficulties, some real pressure on the iranians, but they've been responding by shooting down a drone, by attacking saudi arabia, and now by taking these steps. we need a real strategy. president trump needs a real strategy that relies on our allies and traditional diplomacy

to find a way forward with iran. similarly with north korea, andrea, although president trump took bold and unprecedented action in meeting with kim jong-un individually, that so far hasn't produced any real positive outcomes. we haven't even seen an inventory of north korea's nuclear facilities and weapons, and i think we're now on the precipice of a north korea demonstrating testing a new strategic weapon. this is going to be a very challenging period. and in both cases, i think re-engaging our allies and re-engaging with traditional diplomacy is the critical piece that's missing in the trump administration's strategy. >> should the u.s. withdraw u.s. troops from iraq under pressure from the iraqi parliament because of growing anti-american sentiment? we didn't even warn the iraqis that we were going to take those raids against the iranian militias. >> well, i do think that engaging regularly with prime minister mahdi and our iraqi

partners is going to be critical if we're going to be secure and sustain our work in the general area. the major reason that we had gone back into iraq was to defeat isis. isis is not defeated. a recent report suggests that isis is regaining strength and regaining their footholds in eastern syria and in central and northern iraq. and frankly, that's a result of president trump's bankrupt and ill-considered decision to betray our kurdish allies in syria and pull our troops largely out of syria. so, should we pull our troops out of iraq? no, we should be doing the things that we need to do to strengthen our relationship with iraq so that when we leave, what we can possibly leave behind is an independent country, not a country that is largely run by iran and iranian influence. >> should secretary of state pompeo still have gone to ukraine for this promised and many would say long overdue meeting in kiev tomorrow?

he's canceled it, but he says because of baghdad. >> yes. i think it is important to continue to show strong support for ukraine. i'll remind you, as you well know, andrea, that ukraine is an ally of the united states -- is a country that the united states has supported in their long-running fight against russian-backed separatists in the dunbus and in the face of russia's illegal annexation of crimea. i think it's important that we show our continued, strong support for ukraine and for president zelensky. the impeachment trial of our president that's about to begin and is centrally about president trump shaking down president zelensky, withholding badly needed military aid in order to try and get ukraine's government to gin up dirt on his most prominent political opponent for 2020, former vice president joe biden, that means the world is going to be focused on that series of incidents. if we want to make it clear that

the united states continues to carry forward our foreign policy, regardless of what's going on in congress, then our secretary of state should be in ukraine. >> so he should not have canceled that trip or postponed it? >> look, you know, frankly, the secretary of state has a lot he's got to juggle. i don't know everything on his plate. but given what i know, he should have continued with that meeting with the leader of ukraine, yes. >> and a quick question about joe biden. we've seen some staggering numbers from bernie sanders and some of the other candidates. joe biden has fallen way behind the others on fund-raising. do you have any expectations that he's going to be able to match this competition? >> andrea, i don't know what his fund-raising numbers will be for this quarter. i am going out to iowa this weekend. he has recently gotten some interesting, strong, positive endorsements. abby finkenaur, the congresswoman from the area i am going to has endorsed hem and i expect other significant

endorsements. the former vice president remains the number one democrat nationally in poll after poll. i think partly because of america's concern about our place in the world. what we just finished talking about -- iraq and iran and north korea -- joe biden, our former vice president, a senator for 36 years, would command the world stage on his first day as president. he wouldn't be learning on the job. he'd be able to re-engage with our allies and restore our place on the world stage and get us back to a place of normalcy and then begin to deliver on trump's broken promises to america's middle class. i'm less concerned with how much money he's able to raise than how many americans he's able to speak to, listen to, and mobilize and inspire for these elections. >> senator coons, thank you so much. thanks for being with us. safe travels. >> thank you, andrea. >> and more coming up. we'll be right back. , andrea. >> and more coming up. we'll be right back. when i got my dna results, it opened up so many doors.

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giving you more choice and control compared to other top wireless carriers. save up to $400 a year when you switch. plus, unwrap $250 off a new samsung phone. click, call or visit a store today. thanks for joining us today, and here is ali velshi and stephanie ruhle. happy new year. >> happy new year to you, andrea. see you later on. thank you. hi, everybody! it is january 2nd, a thursday. coming up this hour on "velshi and ruhle," fund-raising numbers are out with 32 days until the iowa caucuses. senator bernie sanders is giving president trump a run for his money, literally. plus, tracking president trump's growing conflicts of interest. how his known business dealings and personal interests may be impeding