are not our choice. women, 18 to 118, when it is time to vote, please do so in your own self-interest. it's what men have been doing for years which is why the world looks so much like them. don't forget we are the largest voting body in this country. let's make it look more like us. >> and she gets tonight's last word. hardball starts now. >> bolton ready to talk. let's play hardball. ♪ ♪ good evening. i'm chris mathews back in washington, a city exploding with the news now that donald trump's ex-national security advisor is ready to testify in the senate impeachment trial. and what about the president trump's ordering of the assassination of that top iranian general? well, trump's ordering of the

killing of soleimani edged the united states to regime change in teheran? well, the shocking about face for bolton comes days after he tweeted his enthusiastic support of president trump's strike on soleimani. in a statement today, however, bolton wrote, since my testimony is once again at issue, i have had to resolve the serious competing issues as best i could. based on careful consideration and study, i have concluded that if the senate issues a subpoena for my testimony, i am prepared to testify. well, former white house officials and people close to ambassador bolton tell "the new york times" that his testimony would likely be damning to mr. trump and put additional pressure on moderate republicans to consider convicting him. well, both house speaker nancy pelosi and senate minority leader chuck schumer used the news to ratchet up pressure on majority leader mitch mcconnell in the senate to allow witness testimony. >> given that mr. bolton's

lawyers have stated he has new and relevant information to share, if any senate republican opposes issuing subpoenas to the four witnesses and documents we have requested, they would make it absolutely clear they are participating in a cover-up. >> well, bolton was at the center of the house impeachment proceedings with several witnesses describing how he was, quote, disturbed, unquote, by the shadow campaign to get ukraine to investigate the bidens. bolton's top aide fiona hill, for example, testified bolton was so disturbed by the president's behavior that he called it a drug deal and directed his deputy to report it to their lawyers. >> the specific instruction was that i had to go to the lawyers, to john eisen berg, i was senior counsel for the national security council, to basically say you tell eisen berg ambassador bolton told me i am not part of this whatever drug deal that mulvaney and sondland

are cooking up. >> at the time bolton refused to appear voluntarily. in a letter his lawyer teased that bolton was personally involved in many of the events, meetings and conversations as well as many relevant meetings and conversations that have not yet been discussed in the testimonies thus far. so his lawyer is teasing about how great his testimony would be against the president. for weeks mcconnell and fellow senate republicans, however, balked at calling any witnesses. instead expressing their support for a quick trial that a quits the president. speaker explosive i has been holding on to the articles of impeachment, of course, until she receives assurances the senate trial is going to be a fair one. i'm joined by michael schmidt, "the new york times" washington correspondent, ben rhodes, former security advisor in the obama administration. what do you make of the bolton decision? he had a lawyer explain how things developed in another trial he was using as a model,

blah, blah, blah. here's a guy everybody thought might be hoarding the great stuff for a book a year from now. if they subpoena me, i'm talking. >> i think two things. the first is he needed the legal and political cover to do this. he did not want to be seen as someone that was running up there to rat on the president. i think that he has a desire to have a long future in the republican party. >> i'm so with you on that. >> and i think that in order to maintain that, he has to do that under the legal and political coffer cov cover chuck cooper -- >> that was a good way to explain not to testify. here he is agreeing to testify. what changed? >> i think history. he doesn't want to be in a place in history where he had information at a crucial juncture in american time and sat back and didn't say anything. because my guess is that some day we will know what john bolton knows. >> yes. >> and maybe we'll know it in a

few weeks or a few months, or maybe we'll know it in a few years. >> i want to get to the real personal calculation. i'm no fan of john bolton. i don't like his politics. he's a real hawk, a real neocon. his calculation was i have to hold this gold, my jewels, my crown jewels of information for a book at some point. that's the speculation maybe cynically, but that's what people think. but maybe he calculated, as michael just said. you know what, if a year from now i blow some great news because this president skated through trial, because i kept my secrets, i'm not going to look good and nobody will want to read my book. >> that's right, chris. the reality is, having been in the white house, everything runs through the national security advisor's office. so if there is any paper trail about efforts to withhold aid from ukraine, if there is any paper trail about trying to remove the sitting ambassador in ukraine because she wouldn't go along with this scheme, that will have john bolton at least

copied on emails and memos and other documents. so he knows, as mike said, that this information is going to get out. and i think the question is quite simple. the two officials in the u.s. government who clearly would be in a position to know anything and everything about what happened are mick mulvaney, who is not just the chief of staff, but the head of omb, which was putting the hold on the aid to ukraine, and john bolton. and they have to make a decision about whether they're going to fall on the sword and go along with this cover up and whether senate republicans frankly let them do that by assuring this is not a fair trial. or whether they're going to come forward with information that's notable that bolton, the guy not currently in the administration, is the one putting himself forward while mulvaney, who is still sitting down the hall from trump is not. >> here's the question. will mitch mcconnell agree to this? late today he stood in the senate floor and said, i'm not going to do it . i'm only going to deep side on witnesses somewhere during the trial. i'm not committing to even let this star witness, this john dean power witness to testify.

how does that happen? i still wonder if mcconnell has 90% of republicans backing every senator who says no to any kind of real trial. isn't he still got the cards here? i hate to say it. >> i think we have to look to what happened during the kavanaugh nomination. in that case it was the moderate republicans who went to mcconnell and said, look, you kind of got to buy us some cover here. we need you to go back and do another week-long investigation and then take the vote. if those same people, the murkowskis, the collinses are saying to mcconnell, hey, as part of my politics, i need to show that we saw all the evidence and heard all the witnesses. i really need you to do this. if they can put that pressure on marc connell, they can do it. as we've seen with mcconnell, he's willing to take on a lot. >> let me tell you why i don't think he'll give. he doesn't want them to land on the beach and fight him on the beach. he wants to keep them off the beach, to use a german reference from world war ii, norman dee. he doesn't be want to go to the beach.

one half hour of bolton testimony, if handled right by adam schiff, i assume he's going to be the manager, blows the whole wall. >> he does? >> well, because he has the president making the deal. he called it a drug deal. what did you mean by drug deal right off the bat? >> you don't have that in the transcript. you don't have that in -- so what you're saying is that bolton's politics, his standing is so great -- >> as the super hawk and beloved for that reason by many on the right. he walks in that room -- i hate to say this implicitly, but the president of the united states is snake -- is a snake. he used our national security interests to buy him some cheap political dirt. >> so you still think there's something that can move public opinion on the president -- >> that's the only way to get the truth out. two senate republicans, you have reasonable skepticism, have concerns about mcconnell's resistance to a partial trial.

sue an murkowski of alaska. susan collins, they view it as potential defectors from the president. utah senator mitt romney is one. he flirts with greatness all the time. he told reporters he would like to hear from bolton, but left it up to the leaders of both parties to negotiate when and if that happens. here he goes, mitch mcconnell -- mitt romney. >> i'd love to hear what he has to say. he has firsthand information. and assuming that articles of impeachment do reach the senate, why, i'd like to hear what he knows. >> he's a quandary to me. he's a guy that many ways has presidential stature through his life, as governor of massachusetts, his family and everything. and yet he pulls back. there's a hedge. he says, i want to hear the two party leaders agree. mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer aren't agreeing on anything. we know that. >> yeah, i mean, to me saying that is a way of, frankly, dodging this. susan collins and mitt romney have been a bit like lucy with

the football with charlie brown. they indicate that they're going to be for what's right and then they pull back at the last moment. it's a pretty simple equation, chris. we've seen throughout this impeachment process that whenever new information documents or witnesses come to light, it is always incriminating for trump. there's never been a new piece of information that was exonerating. and it's a black or whitish yu. either you think there should be witnesses and documents that can shed more light on the situation for the senate's consideration, or you don't. and it seems like these senators are trying to have it both ways indicating they'd like this to be a fair trial, but they're deferring the decision to other people. they have a vote. they can force the issue. if you get four republican senators who want this to be a fair trial, it will be. either we'll have the witnesses and the documents necessary and all evidence to this point suggests that any additional information or voices would be incriminating for trump. or you don't think that should happen and you're running a cover-up for the president of the united states. it's pretty simple -- pretty black and white situation, which is not always the case in

politics. >> thanks so much. i agree with you completely. i also agree with michael schmidt's skepticism about anything turning the miebds nds those 90% republicans constituency. thank you. a sign of how challenging it will be to get republicans to back up motion to support witnesses in the senate trial, ten republicans signed onto a new senate resolution today introduced by senator josh howie of missouri that would dismiss the house articles of impeachment altogether. i'm joined by amy klobuchar from minnesota running for president, of course. senator, it's great to have you on as always. >> it's great. >> i wish you well. you are moving up in the numbers in iowa. >> i am. >> mitch mcconnell stands at the door, holding the door close so no truth will get to the american people. he sees now that john bolton is ready to answer to a subpoena, is he going to get away with keeping the big truth from the

american people about the president? >> it is not going to just be about him as your guest just pointed out, chris. this is going to be about every single republican in that chamber. and i was heartened when i heard mitt romney said he wanted to hear from bolton. i want to add two things to what your guests said. number one, we don't really know what happened in the rooms between john bolton and the president unless we hear from bolton. they had private meetings at times. number two, we know -- and this has n't be hasn't been discussed much in the testimony. i looked it over. morrison who was an aide to john bolton, he reported in august after the president had made that call and the aid had been withheld. we know mulvaney and duffy's involvement. after that bolton went in on a mission to try to convince the president to lift it. guess what? that didn't happen. so the question is this.

what happened in that meeting? what happened in so many other meetings? and i think he's a key witness, along, of course, with mick mulvaney and duffy who sent all those emails as well as blair. this is only four witnesses, chris. this is not a fishing expedition. this is basically a mission to get to the truth. and if richard nixon, as you have pointed out, let all the men testify, all the president's men, what is donald trump so afraid of? >> that's the question, of course. i want to ask you about this confluence of reality here. i've never seen so much news buffeting us in one couple of days. i mean, i was over in vietnam for the last week-and-a-half and i was working with the university over there and i have to tell you that it all looks like it's happening again. you know, zm was assassinated. we took over the war in vietnam. we lost all those men and women. and we all did it because we basically knocked off a leader. we had a hand in that.

the generals did it, but we had a hand in it. here we are in the assassination business again. i'm sorry, this is a top general. he wasn't operational. he was a leader. we killed this guy. a president of the united states, they used to hide from assassination responsibility. this president is bragging about it. pompeo is bragging about it. is there a new deviancy of political murder? it shocks me. >> we all know it's outrageous. let's add this to the targeting of cultural sites. >> right. >> things that isis has done. that's why i have demanded a briefing, as have many other people. we're getting this briefing this week, and these are the questions that must be asked. but one other thing on this is that if you remember back to that original -- the very first debate on the presidential stage when there were tons of candidates, now we're down to five in this next debate -- >> and you're one of them.

>> right, i'm one of them. well, there we go. we were asked what are the biggest threats out there internationally. i said china for the economy, but i was the only one on the stage that said iran, and i would never have said that when barack obama was president and made the agreement and the nuclear agreement. i said it, as i pointed out, because i was afraid of the escalation of donald trump. you trace this back, when he got us out of that international agreement, all of this, i'm sad to say, was pretty predictable. we see escalation. we see a fraying with our allies. and now without an authorization of military force, he's sending troops over. and so, of course, i support authorization of military force if he's actually serious about us getsing inting into an escal contact. >> i want to ask you about something that jumped at me -- >> let me make clear i support a vote on that. i'm not saying i support it.

we must have a vote and a decision made by congress. what were you asking, chris? i'm sorry. >> i want to ask you about this whole thing about cultural. it's like trump trolls the democrats. he trolls the iranians. he goes, you know what, take off the liberals, the moderates out there, the reasonable people. i'm going after cultural sites because this is per that,sia. this exists like china. do you think he's trolling? do you think what he's trying to do is get the liberals all mad to get the iranians upset because he's trying to play wag the dog here? what he really wants to do is create an explosion of media focus, and even a war -- even a war, a bite-sized war he thinks -- to distract from his impeachment threat? is he up to this? >> i hope not for our country's sake that he would put thousands of men and women's lives at risk

because of that. but you look at the pattern here where he has continually done this, a tweet saying he's invited the taliban to camp david when there was no agreement on afghanistan. the summit he hastily called with kim jong-un when actually there was no result, and they're still launching missiles. you look at all of his patterns. so often he does things to distract. i just hope it's not true. but regardless of what the truth is, we must prevent an escalation of the conflict. and as commander in chief, i wouldn't have gotten us there. i will bring us back into that iranian agreement. but for right now we must work with our allies to de-escalate this. we must keep americans safe that are over in iraq, and we must work with our allies to try to stop him from bringing us to the brink of war. >> i don't think you're an a sass tin. thank you very much. thank you, senator amy

klobuchar. coming up. >> thank you. >> trump, the tough guy. this is the moment his opponents were afraid of, having an unstable impulsive president threatening to launch a major conflict. plus a double jeopardy now, iran and impeachment. does the unfolding of the iran crisis upstage the impeachment? should the american government be in the assassination business. i just got back from vietnam where assassinations don't prevent wars, they start them. we have much more to get to tonight. stay with us. marie could only imagine enjoying freshly squeezed orange juice. now no fruit is forbidden. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? (honk!) i hear you sister. that's why i'm partnering with cigna to remind you to go in for your annual check-up, and be open with your doctor about anything you feel - physically and emotionally. but now cigna has a plan

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welcome back to "hardball." by killing iran's general soleimani, president trump has raised serious questions about his own motive and the possible consequence of what he's been doing here. rather than cool tensions in the wake of that strike, it appears trump is lurching toward catastrophe, threatening on saturday to hit iran's cultural

sites if they retaliate. well, the outpouring of support for the regime at soleimani's funeral today indicates that they view the strike as an attack on the iranian people. trump's action also risks destabilizing the region as the government of iraq -- iraq -- takes steps towards expelling us, u.s. tloopz from their country. after all that war, the blood shell and the courage of our troops and they're telling us to leave because of what trump did on thursday. in response, the president threatened iraq, too, saying if they do ask us to leave, we will charge them sanctions like they have never seen before. as peter baker writes in "the new york times," trump's committee writes, those known for impulsive action might overreach with dangerous consequence. now trump confronts the decisive moment that will test whether those critics are right. i'm joined by michele, former defense secretary under president obama, and political reporter with washington post.

robert, you are a trump watcher nonparel. here's the question. is this a march toward oura la john bolton? in other words, assassinate people go to a regime change, i don't care, if they're ready to fight, i'm ready to fight. is that stepping back from the brinks man ship strategy, you push them hard thinking they will buckle, or is it all p.r., what's trump up to? >> chris, based on my calls today around the president's inner circle, the white house and capitol hill, it's clear that president trump is telling his confidants that he doesn't want to put boots on the ground in iraq or in iran. at the same time he wants to be seen as very tough on foreign policy, especially in the middle east as he heads toward his 2020 reelection campaign this year. so he's trying to balance being a non-interventionist, but also being militaristic. that's a tough play politically and on policy. and democrats and republicans today say the fallout of all of

this is very unpredictable as much as the president wants to control it in his way. >> here's the question. you know, we've seen through all growing up, things like the human missile i.c.e. icrisis, or has to talk to another leader, done cleverly, what is he saying to the ayatollah? i'm taking over your country, i call the shots over there, you don't? >> i think he's sending a very dangerous message. what he was trying to do was retaliate for the loss of the life of the american contractor from the attacks. >> right. >> but he should have been doing something with an eye to restore deterrence which had broken down after a series of provocations. what he's done is put fuel on the fire. he has introduced escalation. he put iran and their leadership in a position where they have to retaliate. they have to do something stupendous. and so every single proxy group across the region that iran supports is now looking for --

>> what do you smell? you've been in the business of national defense. is it something like we're going to go knock somebody off? we're going to assassinate somebody? >> we don't know. >> we're like lord mont batten, the i.r.a. did it, kill somebody with lots of badges on them. >> any embassy with vulnerability, any u.s. bases, forces transiting are vulnerable. and now having assassinated soleimani, any american official, security official who shows up in the region. why? it's the pandora's box is now open. why wouldn't they feel licensed to assassinate that person? so they're going to be looking for lots of opportunities. they're going to take their time and pick the targets of their choosing. but this is going to escalate. and given this president, then what is he going to do? so the risk of stumbling into a conflict neither side actually wants is now very, very real

because of the actions the president took. >> saying people's families shouldn't be off limits, they should be fair game, when he says things like we're going after their cultural treasures, religious treasures, of course, as well, does he know that he's poking them? not to give in, but to fight? >> i asked a white house advisor today about that, one of the president's top political aides. i said, does he get it? and they compared his comment about iran to how he handled north korea early on in his administration, using the phrase fire and fury, threatening action there. they said it was bellicose language. but what's different now, foreign policy experts say that you have thousands, if not more than -- tens of thousands of people marching on the streets of teheran and elsewhere in iran furious about the president's action, calling it an assassination. it's not an isolated hermit kingdom like north korea. you have a major middle eastern power that's now thinking

through its own reaction and taking his language very seriously. >> do you think the people in the white house, this crowd, including pompeo, they get the fact that iran is a real country? it may well be at some point in the future the most powerful country beyond even israel in terms of its economic power in that region. we know from the iranians living in this country how serious and impressive a people they are. did he understand it was a nationalism thing that he sparked, that they took this as an attack on their people, not just on their government and military, this assassination, as they call it? >> pompeo, the secretary of state, wants to be out front on this, according to his associates. he wants to be the face. he also is working closely with vice-president pence. these two hawks on the president's shoulder advising him to move ahead, and their advice to him, i'm told, is that targeting iran in this way reassures u.s. allies in the region. and that's part of the whole

strategy here, moving the president away from withdrawing u.s. troops from iraq, trying to reassure u.s. allies that the u.s. is not going to be moving away from the middle east. >> well, it seems to be frightening to me. it is frightening because i think this religious attitude that mike pence is involved with and throwing it in with the political ambitions of pompeo, my god, this is a fire coming. michele, thank you very much. robert cost a. the soleimani strike, the assassination changed the political equal calculus on impeachment. and also the coming election, this stuff is all coming together, one big niagara falls of news. when a retaliatory strike, by the way, of iran change it even more? who knows where they're going to hit us. you're watching "hardball." l. let obamacare implode. nurse: these wild attacks on healthcare hurt the patients i care for. i've been a nurse in new york for thirty years. i know the difference leadership

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welcome back to "hardball." congress returns this week to a political landscaped upended by president trump's decision to authorize the killing of iran's general soleimani. as the status of the senate impeachment trial remains, let's say unclear, speaker nancy pelosi continues to hold on to those two articles of impeachment passed by the house until, she says, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell provides details of how the senate will try the president. axios reports or quotes a leadership aide saying no decision has been made about when to send the articles of impeachment. that's someone speaking for pelosi.

as for iran, speaker pelosi announced the house will vote this week on a war powers resolution limiting the president's military actions over there. pelosi argued that last week's strike, the assassination, was done without consultation with congress. but president trump wrote on twitter, these media posts will serve as notification to the united states congress that should iran strike any u.s. person or target, the united states will quickly and fully strike back and perhaps in a disproportionate manner. in other words, he's tweeting congress. that's how he's notifying them. today senate majority leader mitch mcconnell argued both iran and impeachment demand serious treatment from congress. here he goes. >> the house may have been content to scrap their own norms to hurt president trump, but that is not the senate. even with a process this constitutionally serious, even with tensions rising in the middle east, house democrats are

treating impeachment like a political toy, like a political toy. treating their own effort to remove our commander in chief like some frivolous game. >> well, as senator mcconnell went on to call impeachment efforts a bizarre stunt, while senator lindsey graham tells the senate to get rolling on the trial and not even wait for nancy pelosi toy send over the articles. he says just go ahead and do it, hold the trial. that's all next. you're watching "hardball." doin, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it - with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa

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welcome back to "hardball." as escalating tensions with iran threaten to change the political calculus, calculations surrounding impeachment, a top republican says he wants the senate to take matters into its own hands. here he goes. lindsey graham told fox news that senators should just change the rules to bypass speaker pelosi and start a trial without those articles in hand and read

them in the paper and move on, i guess. here he goes. >> the founders never envisioned you'd have a speaker do something like this, withhold the articles demanding the senate bend to her will. it's not going to happen. so i hope she sends them over soon so we can get on with the trial. if she does not, i would urge senate mcconnell with my colleagues to change the rules of the senate so that we could proceed -- proceed to the trial without nancy pelosi being involved. my goal is to start this trial in the next coming days, not let nancy pelosi take over the senate. >> well, white house official told nbc news that the president's team is holding off on making any strategic moves until the senate receives the articles from the speaker. we're joined by susan page, washington bureau chief of usa today. david, senator editor at the atlantic, and former george w. bush speech writer. let's talk about something big here. you put the two stories beside each other. assassination or killing of a

general, an act of war with a company we have problems with, belligerent trump. and we have an impeachment trial supposed to begin today or tomorrow. it's supposed to begin now. what's going on in iran? who lost iraq has to be a story soon. looks like we're going to get kicked out of there. does that help to push for impeachment and conviction of this president? >> it intensifies the emotions. it gives senate republicans a rally around the flag argument. >> against him? >> we have to because the president of the united states can't be fettered by these petty considerations. i think the deadline everyone is working to, the real date, is february 4th, state of the union. the republicans want this over, but before february 4th. the democrats want it to go past february 4th because everybody knows that if trump is still under impeachment february 4th, he will deliver a state of the union under such blithering insanity. the world will never forget it. >> i never thought about that. try to protect us again from

him. >> they're trying to protect -- because they have to sit there. [ applause ] >> by the way, the speaker said that day, she set it fairly early. >> in negotiations with the white house. the alternative is if we have the impeachment trial in the senate at the point of the state of the union on february 4th, the president will make the case he's been vindicated and that the impeachment -- >> acquittal. >> yes, he's been acquitted. he's been vindicated, it was ridiculous. he'll try to do something -- >> they want it over by january 4th. >> they have a weak hand in terms of controlling or affecting the rules of the senate. they have to delay -- it's put a spotlight on questions about the fairness of the senate trial and the likely rules. and you've had things happen like bolton happening. i mean, that does put pressure on republicans. why don't they want to hear from john bolton? won't he have something that will be worth hearing? >> president trump repeated his threat to attack iranian cultural sites. he returned from his holiday inn

florida at mar-a-lago. when he was asked by reporters aboard air force one about fears of retaliation, he said if it happens, it happens. if they do anything, there will be a major retaliation. he's very calm. maybe because he doesn't know what he's doing. but he's very calm in this setting. you have a real country over there, iran -- >> do you think he's calm? i think he sounds nuts. >> speak to that. >> trump exists in the moment. one of the questions, what is the president thinking about. the answer is he's got -- pekingese dogs have more attention. he doesn't remember what he said in the past. he doesn't feel bound by the future. there is no plan. there's just a series of impulsive statements designed to make him look good in his own mental mirror. >> as a private citizen trump repeatedly criticized president

obama's iran policy in 2011. he argued president obama would start a war with iran to help him win reelection in 2012. here he goes. >> our president will start a war with iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. he's weak and he's ineffective. so the only way he figures that he's going to get reelected and as sure as you're sitting there is start a war with iran. unfortunately we have a president that doesn't know the first thing about negotiation. we have a real problem in the white house. so i believe that he will attack iran sometime prior to the election because he thinks that's the only way he can get elected. isn't it pathetic? >> it's also not true. of course. has he got an obsession with obama? >> he does have an obsession with president obama. we see that on policies ranging -- >> is he trying to out macho him in this whole thing? he

>> wants a >> he wants to undo anything obama did on health care and iran. does starting a war with iran help you if you're a president running for reelection? especially a president like donald trump who campaigned on getti getting us out of endless wars. >> people will die. wars are costly and p.r. is cheap. wars are not. we have learned a lot of lessons in the last 50 or 60 years. vietnam, iraq, we've all learned the lessons together in different ways. trump hasn't if he takes us to war. thank you, susan bates, thank you, david fromm. in 2012 president trump predicted president obama would start a war with iran to get reelected. how are trump's actions playing with voters out there? and which candidate is in the best position to use this?

bernie can use it -- i'll get to it now. bernie can use it because he's one guy sharply against this thing. biden can use the prestige thing. buttigieg can say i've been in uniform. you're watching "hardball." all. >> man: what's my safelite story? my truck...is my livelihood. so when my windshield cracked... the experts at safelite autoglass came right to me. >> tech: hi, i'm adrian. >> man: thanks for coming. ...with service i could trust. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ when youyou spend lessfair, and get way more. so you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one.

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donald trump had soleimani killed. we are much closer to the edge of war. >> the strength of the united states is to bring people together to resolve their differences without killing each other. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was just a few of the democratic presidential candidates. there's only a few left right now, reacting to president trump's handing of iran. with exactly four weeks to go before the iowa caucuses, foreign policy is front and center, came out of nowhere, there it is. could that change how voters look at the field of candidates? a new cbsu.gov poll. have you seen that, three guys 23%. bernie, buttigieg, biden. all three at 23 on the nail. you have elizabeth warren still in contention clearly at 18 or 16 is it. and as i said earlier in the show, we have klobuchar hanging in there at 7. in fact, she's growing. no other candidate receives more than two points in that poll.

we're joined by jason johnson, politics editor of the root, howard fineman, contributor. jason, i want to ask you the same question. follow each other seriatum here. the question is who wins? in this four weeks who is going to pop? they're one of the caucuses voice now? >> it's all about organization in iowa. you look at who has organization, it's bernie sanders. >> he got the votes last time. >> exactly. he goes in with an advantage. but if you're talking about somebody who could pop at the last minute, it's probably mayor pete. if there is a feeling at the end -- >> are you hedging your bets? >> i'm not hedging my bets. i think it's going to be one of those two. i don't think joe biden is going to win in iowa. i don't think elizabeth warren is going to win in iowa. i think it's going to come down to bernie sanders or mayor pete. if it comes down to twitter, it's something mayor pete can talk about.

he's a millennial. his whole life we've been at war. >> i know what bernie is. >> he's the young technocratic answer. i don't know if there is. i'm thinking gymnasiums in the schools and caucus sites i've covered since 19 -- >> 72. >> '84. and the last-mini motion ute em when you pullover, remember the jacob soboroff he pulled off. >> yes. >> okay, right now, they're going out there every weekend and hitting the gyms and the high school field houses and they're getting like 200 people, 300 people. in those rooms, who is exploding now? >> what i was about to say is to agree with you, which is that bernie, i think because of the war -- chris, in an odd and erie way, i've been through this movie before starting out in journalism school. >> who is nixon? >> trump is nixon and bernie is

mcgovern for historical reference. >> historical reference. >> it's an antiwar vote. >> the democratic party can be helpful, a real lefty. it always helps during a war. >> here's the catch. if you look further down in the ugov poll, ask vote nerz iowa who has the best chance of beating trump, it's joe biden. he beats everybody else. he beats bernie, he beats buttigieg, he beats warren 10 to 12 points among voters who can beat trump. if it comes down to i want trump to be out of office, he may not win iowa -- >> when is the last time voters voted like that strategically? >> strategically african americans almost always vote that way. if you are facing an unprecedented right wing president like we have now -- >> iowa is a place that has almost no military installations whatsoever. it's a pacific in that sense state. young people matter as

organization tools, as bernie knows. if the war talk is big, this mobilizes, i think gives more emotion to younger voters who already are for bernie, and that's going to make sure that they turn out and they organize to a fairly well and drag people -- candidates who don't get 15%, they're out in the caucuses. those people are going to get dragged to the bernie camp if the war talk is big. >> let's look at this, cbsu.gov poll, they're enthusiastic. 67% of supporters are enthusiastically supporting sanders. that compared to 49% -- i'm for biden, but not enthusiastically. the former vice-president leads with iowa voters on another key question. 53% call biden safe. in other words, he's going to win in the general. 30 points higher than any other candidate. to make your point, he's the best bet right now against trump. >> right. >> but in terms of enthusiastic

human emotion -- >> iowa isn't always predictive, by the way -- >> exactly. >> it isn't always predictive -- >> the democrats -- >> well -- >> they're neighborhood guys. >> the thing is that bernie is probably going to be just as strong in new hampshire the week following. >> i agree. >> if he pulls out of water in nevada and -- >> i agree with you on biden. yes, he has the experience and so forth. he has history -- >> he voted for the iraq war. >> and that's an easy line for the bernie bros to use in iowa at the caucuses. >> if you're biden what do you do to get some excitement about you? >> base you say you want this guy out of office? go after me. you want to see the person that's going to make him sweat, go after me. you want the person to fight go after me. that's been joe biden's argument. >> you know what i say to women and men -- woke men. if trump wins again, get ready

for a 7/2 supreme court the rest of your life. give it up on those human rights. thank you, jason johnson. thank you, howard fineman. up next, assassination is not historically the best way to prevent a war. you're watching "hardball." (whistling)

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ever since christmas i've been over in vietnam. it brought back to me the horror and irony of what they over there call the american war.

the horror is the loss of 58,000 american lives. the irony is how that horror could have been averted. in the fall of 1963, south vietnam president was believed to be plotting a way to end that war that was dividing his country to reach some form of agreement with the rebellious viet cong. they a great to a coup. it had a terrifying consequence. it was now our war. by getting rid of him, we made ourselves the deciders of south vietnam's future. the decision to assassinate general soleimani last week gave hope to john bolton that trump will now push for regime change over in teheran. the assassination has already triggered the iraqi parliament's vote to oust us from that country. it has triggered iran's decision

to move forward with the nuclear program and has already succeeded, you can see there in the crowd, in uniting the iranian people against us. so it's all happening again. the way in which assassination drives us toward war and its consequence. again, back to vietnam. today the courtyard of the couldn continental hotel remains. so does the hotel where they gave their late afternoon briefing ands body counts of the notorious 5:00 follies. many here still call in that country, still call ho chi minh city saigon, just as the 30 or so starbucks in that city, the many high-rise buildings and bustling economy make you wonder what the war was about. the war we fought with such courage and took so many american lives after taking it over from the south vietnam president we had dumped and left to be killed. assassination is a nasty word because it's a nasty business.

it is not a means to avoid war. it is a trigger to war. a step toward regime change on which the neocons like john bolton set their hearts. it's to do it all over again. that's what they're after in iran. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now. >> tonight on all in. >> john is known as a tough guy. he got us into iraq. >> a key impeachment witness now says he's willing to testify. >> would you vote to subpoena john bolton? >> tonight, why john bolton says he's now willing to talk. new pressure on republicans in the senate to act. and will house democrats subpoena bolton if mitch mcconnell won't? then the pentagon scrambles to clarify a mistake letter announcing withdrawal from iraq. new alarms over the president's threat of war crimes. >> the tail the