>> kate snow with the report tonight to take us off the air. that is our broadcast for this wednesday evening. thank you so much for being here with us as always. and good night from our nbc news backing away from the brink of war, president trump appeared to seek a deescalation with iran following a missile attack on u.s. targets in iraq but trump is vowing to keep the pressure up promising new sanctions. plus, two republican lawmakers slam the trump administration's classified briefing on the killing of iran's top general. calling it insulting and demeaning. prince harry and meghan markle say they are stepping back as senior members of the royal family. good thursday morning,

everybody, it is january 9th. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin, we begin with president trump backing away from the brink of war with iran saying he will respond to teheran targeting u.s. forces in iraq with economic sanctions, and not military force. first reported by "the washington post," a senior administration official confirming to nbc news that when it became clear tuesday night that there were no casualties, the president told his top advisers in the situation room that he did not want to escalate the crisis. >> i'm pleased to inform you the american people should be extremely grateful and happy. no americans were harmed in last night's attack by the iranian regime. we suffered no casualties. all of our soldiers are safe. our great american forces are prepared for anything. iran appears to be standing

down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned. nations have tolerated iran's destructive and destabilizing behavior in the middle east and beyond. those days are over. iran has been the leading sponsor of terrorism in their pursuit of nuclear weapons threatens the civilized world. we will never let that happen. as we continue to evaluate options in response to iranian aggression, the united states will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the iranian regime. these powerful sanctions will remain until iran changes its behavior. >> the pentagon also disputing claims that iran intended to avoid american casualties, instead giving credit to an early warning system that gave troops enough time to get into bunkers and out of harm's way.

we're told iran fired 16 missiles from three separate locations, four of them failed. 11 hit al asad air base. here's a before and after photo showing the damage there. a defense secretary says damage was refined to tents, taxi ways, a parking lot, helicopter and nothing major. president trump's white house address lasted about ten minutes but included a number of inaccurate or misleading statements, the president tried to blame the obama administration for tuesday's attack, suggesting it help pay for the weapons used. >> the missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration. >> but as "the washington post" fact checker notes, trump is stretching the factual evidence to blame the missiles on the deal with the obama administration, experts say a claim is farfetched and the

intelligence tieing iran and the iran deal money directly to the missiles is highly unlikely. former obama national security adviser susan rice slammed trump for those claims. >> this is another series of despicable lies by president trump. the fact that 3 1/2 years after taking office he remains or three years after taking office, he remains obsessed with president obama just shows president trump's extreme weakness and insecurity. the facts about the iran nuclear deal are that it effectively halted and rolled back iran's nuclear program. >> trump said iran's provocations have increased since it signed on to the nuclear deal. >> iran's hostility substantially increased after the foolish iran nuclear deal was signed in 2013. and they were given $150 million not to mention $1.8 billion in

cash. >> not only did trump inaccurately state the deal was signed in 2013 rather than 2015, the agreement did not provide american money to iran but did release a hundred billion dollars in previously frozen iranian assets. a separate transfer of cash was to settle a decades long dispute, and agreed into parallel to the nuclear deal. and despite years of diminishing the importance of nato requested the alliance play a prominent role, in a call to secretary general of nato. >> the civilized world must send a clear and unified message to the iranian regime, your campaign of terror, murder, mayhem will not be tolerated any longer. it will not be allowed to go forward. today i am going to ask nato to

become much more involved in the middle east process. and yesterday two rockets fell inside baghdad's green zone, a heavily fortified area with government buildings and foreign embassies. but there were no casualties, according to the iraqi military. the source of the rockets was unclear since there was no immediate claim of responsibility. iraqi police sources told reuters that at least one of the rockets fell just about a hundred yards away from the u.s. embassy. and house speaker nancy pelosi announced yesterday that would house would vote on a war powers resolution to limit the presidential's military action regarding iran. in her statement, pelosi went on to say quote the president has made clear that he does not have a coherent strategy to keep the american people safe, and ensure stability in the region. the speaker stated that congress's concerns were not addressed by the president's insufficient war powers act notification and by the administration's briefing. in her statement, pelosi

indicated that two other resolutions may also be voted on. one would repeal a 2002 measure authorizing forces in iraq, and bar funding for military action against iran without specific congressional approval. joining us now white house reporter for axios, elena, great to have you with us. president trump's decision not to escalate the military conflict with iran mean for the administration's next steps in the region, do you think? >> the president clearly was taking his foot off the gas in the live address to the nation yesterday and shortly after his statement, people within the administration had begun already pointing to that, and pointing to the response from iran following the attack last week as a big deescalation effort and saying that, look, we're not going into a military war with iran. there was an imminent threat posed by general soleimani that we had taken care of and that

looking forward we're not -- the situation there is not going to be enough that we're heading into war, and so it was an appropriate attack. of course people in congress, people on the hill, disagree with that. republicans and democrats included. they argue that this was not -- they still do not have enough information to show that general soleimani did pose an imminent threat as they claim, and so a lot of people still aren't buying that argument, but they are pointing to the deescalation now, and like the president pulling his foot off the gas and showing that he really doesn't want a military war with iran as justification moving forward. >> so let's stick with that for a moment as you were bringing up some senators and members of the republican party, their dissatisfaction with intel briefing with regards to the reasons in which they decided to kill general soleimani, some republican senators were heard calling this insulting. the intel briefing. could this benefit the democrats push here to reign in the

president's war powers? >> oh, completely. and we have already seen people, i've spoken with a ton of democrats on the hill and including several people on nancy pelosi's team about this, and they say, look, people like senator mike lee, one of the president's fiercest defenders came out giving really a stunning rebuke of the trump administration's top intelligence officials of that briefing yesterday calling it the worst military briefing he has ever received and saying they do not have enough information, and remember, these briefings they were given, both the house and senate were in a classified setting in a skiff with members of congress. they're saying we needed way more information to justify this incredible action on the part of the administration, and they don't believe they got that, and so speaker pelosi as well as several other democrats are saying even republicans, these defenders of the president are saying that they don't have

enough information to justify the attack, and giving them what they think is the justification to move forward with that resolution. >> i got to say, it was stunning to hear senator mike lee voice his dissatisfaction with that intel briefing, someone who does not often do that sort of thing. >> we're going to have that sound bite from mike lee coming up in a little bit. >> elena train, thanks. the trump administration is getting ready for the upcoming senate impeachment trial. we're going to dig into new reporting about the president's strategy heading into the proceedings. plus we're going live to teheran as tensions deescalate for now. those stories and a check of weather when we come right back. weather when we come right back. [ sigh ]

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so come ask, shop, discover at your local xfinity store today. welcome back as the trump administration gears up for the senate impeachment trial, president trump's lead attorney with president trump's personal lawyer helping out on the defense team, a person familiar with the matter tells nbc news.

it is unlikely that rudy giuliani will play a formal role but remains part of the overall legal team. meanwhile, according to "the washington post" there is a turf war raging behind the scenes among congressional republicans over who should defend the president in the upcoming trial. among those under consideration are some of trump's most aggressive defenders, such as jim jordan, john ratcliffe, mike johnson, and doug collins. also under consideration is alan dershowitz. no final decisions have been made, and could this be the next season of the apprentice, find out who gets to represent. >> is that the music. >> there was supposed to be music but there was no music. >> we're both fired. hey, danny. >> danny se val, should we do i public voting like the nba all star style. >> not a bad idea. could have a little flair to this thing.

>> it's an interesting selection but no surprises in so far as white house council, white house, jay sekulow, an effective communicator, and experienced, accomplished attorney. now we get to the attorney i would love to see for the show of it, and that's rudy giuliani. i would absolutely love to see him on the senate floor doing what rudy does, but we're not going to see that. even if president trump makes an impulsive decision, it won't be to add rudy giuliani. >> an advisory role. >> i don't know that trump is going to need it. alan dershowitz is an intriguing choice. he wrote an entire book for the constitutional reason that president trump should not be impeached. he is a constitutional scholar. he would be a very interesting addition to the team, but now we get into the house members that are being considered to be added

to the legal team and the real answer to whether or not to add folks like jim jordan and john ratcliffe, what are the president's roles. if he wants a great show that will appeal to his base, he should add them. they are effective advocates in that they know the case inside out. that is one of the most important things in any trial is someone who knows the facts inside and out. on the other hand if you want to win, then your audience is a very limited audience. it is senators like susan collins, moderates who could go either way. and if you want to avoid irritating them with the show of house members, house republicans arguing fervently on the senate floor, then maybe that isn't the best choice for this particular trial. >> i'm getting a sense, though, the president is going to want some fireworks in all of this, and jim jordan set off fireworks in the house testimony. >> this is at the end of the day, a televised event and the

american public will see this, and regardless of whether or not you say it's three or four votes, they are going into an election season, and this impeachment and this trial will certainly define this upcoming year regardless of how it plays out. it's going to be on tv for hundreds of millions of americans to see. >> and more and more we are realizing as viewers, really being an effective trial attorney isn't a skill you need in an impeachment. it is a political process, one of oration, speeches, there's little cross-examination of witnesses that's going to go on. considering adding folks like jim jordan who has been effective advocates for president trump may continue to be a good decision. >> and someone known to the people. >> exactly. >> we'll find out who gets the rose next week. >> you didn't get a call? >> i'm open. i'm open. >> danny cevallos, thank you as always. let's get a check of your

weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. we have a wild storm system, severe weather, tornadoes, record highs, we're going to have some ice, we're going to have some snow. this is going to have it all. almost like a march like storm. and it's going to feel like it in in areas. snow squalls throughout the northeast yesterday, now it's cold. i'm not going to say cold a lot. this ises this is as cold as it's going to get. teens in the great lakes, single digits and negative numbers in northern new england. it is a chilly morning. it won't last long. for today, no real problems in the southeast, we warm up a little bit this afternoon in the areas of the northeast. we start to get late day thunderstorms in texas. today is not the real big problem. tomorrow is. we have a chance of even a severe weather outbreak friday into saturday. 28 million people at risk. and then those storms will head through houston, louisiana, arkansas, also and then by the time we get to saturday those storms continue to roll through

the south from new orleans to birmingham to montgomery, and eventually late saturday heading into areas like north georgia, and besides that, we have a flash flood watch for 5 million people in areas of the northern ohio valley including st. louis in the midwest, and that's where we could get significant rainfall and ton ton top of all, chicago to milwaukee, 9 to 12 inches. our friends in kansas city too. we will set dozens of record highs including in new york city. i'll give you those details coming up. still ahead, we're going to go live to london to get a report on prince harry and meghan markle's unexpected announcement that they are stepping back as senior royals. we're going to talk about how the rest of the royal family is reacting this morning. we're back in a moment. ly is reacting this morning. we're back in a moment ♪the beat goes on it looks like jonathan on a date with his wife. ♪la-di-la-di-di entresto is a heart failure medicine that helps your heart, so you can keep on doing what you love.

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welcome back, prince harry and meghan markle, the duke and duchess of sussex say they will be taking a step back from being senior members of the royal family. the couple made the announcement in post on instagram yesterday writing in part this after many months of reflection and internal discussions we have chosen to make a transition this year in starting to carve out a progressive new role within the institution. we intend to step back as senior members of the royal family and work to become financially independent while continuing to fully support her imagine majes queen. they will split their time between the uk and north america in order to raise their son

archie in an appreciation with royal tradition by providing the family space to focus on their next chapter. buckle ham palace responded to the surprise announcement in a statement writing this, discussions with the duke and duchess are at an early stage. we understand their desire to take a different approach but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through. the decision comes after the royal couple who has been intensely scrutinized in british tabloids discussed in a recent documentary, the pressures they have been facing as well as family rifs. over the holidays they took an extended break from royal duties spending christmas in canada. >> joining us over the phone from london, senior international correspondent keir simmons, good to have you. there's a lot of important messaging behind it as well. do we know how the royal family is responding to this news and what are you hearing in london from a public reaction point of view? what does the ordinary public think about these iconic figures deciding to step back a little bit from royal life.

>> reporter: hey, manuel, i'm on the phone because i'm on my way to windsor castle. it is significant. look frankly the royal family haven't seen a split like this since princess diana. there's no coincidence, harry being princess diana's son. we know how he's trying to walk in her foot steps. frankly, i think he's trying to live her life in a sense. and you can see in the way, in the statement from harry and meghan, the same kind of critical eye about the royal family that princess diana had in harry's own mind. we have spoken off air in the past about just how divided the royal family has become in recent years. the rift between harry and william frankly, this is all set out, laid out. there are massive questions, and i do think it's not too much to describe this as a crisis for

the royal family, frankly, because you've got to remember that harry is the second most popular member of the royals, next to the queen. for the royal family to be losing this couple, this star couple, these global i cons they have become in this way, is potentially seriously damaging and the questions are huge. let me just give you one, just to describe, you know, how do we do this, the issues involved, who's going to provide protection for this couple. is the british taxpayer going to provide that, even while they're living overseas for some of the time, and remember that princess diana after her split from the royal family no longer had royal protection, and we know some years after that, she was involved in that fatal car crash and there were those who said that if she had had royal protection, that might not have happened, so i mean, that statement from buckingham palace

in response was stone cold, wasn't it, but at the same time, when they say there's lots of issues to be figured out, there really are. >> yeah, i think keir simmons, thank you very much for that report. i was going to say really quickly, it's surprising how quickly it came into the open. we have been hearing about this, the royal family is guarded, usually you don't see this rift but the fact that they came out with the statement on social media, and the palace responded with their own statement saying this still needs to be worked out is telling. >> i can only wonder how long it has been in the making as we brought up the docuseries, they were forthcoming with regards to their life styles and the difficulties they face, and it was incredibly refreshing to hear from meghan speak honestly about the pressures of being a new mother under the spotlight and the royal family and the responsibilities she holds. we'll have to wait and see how this develops amidst all of this. still ahead, we continue to follow the latest on the u.s. iran conflict. president trump is stepping away

from military action, vowing increased sanctions, we're going to get a live report next. two republicans will side with democrats to limit president trump's ability to wage war with iran. those new comments coming up next. those new comments coming up next every day. benefiber is a 100% natural prebiotic fiber. good morning mrs. johnson. benefiber. trust your gut.

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welcome back, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian, and we begin this half hour with what appears to be a deescalation in the u.s. conflict with iran, opting to respond to the attacks aimed at u.s. forces with economic

sanctions and not military force the president saying that iran appears to be standing down. with the very latest we go to nbc news ali arouzi in teheran, great to have you with us on thursday morning. the president as we said is framing this as iran backing down in the face of the u.s. he told americans that we should be very happy that no one was injured or hurt or killed in the attack on the air base. what are you hearing from iran, how is the iranian government reacting to the developments of the last couple of hours? >> reporter: hey, ayman, good to be with you. there's still a lot of tough talk coming out of teheran. the man that replaced soleimani made a statement today saying that he's going to strongly follow soleimani's path, and those rocket attacks that night are just the beginning of expelling u.s. forces from this region, and that remains iran's

goal. but i think there's also a sigh of relief here amongst the ruling establishment that iran didn't get attacked directly by the united states. and i think now that the dust has settled somewhat, it appears that those attacks by iran were more symbolic than anything else, partly designed for domestic consumption, to show strength, to reply to the outrage by iranian people that qassem soleimani was killed and a message to the united states that iran does have the capabilities if they need to, to strike u.s. assets in this region. but in reality ayman, i don't think much has changed other than qassem soleimani dying, the status quo remains between america and iran. the tensions are still there. president trump is going to pile more sanctions on iran, which obviously isn't going to go down

well here. it's not going to draw them back to the negotiating table, and i think iran is going to pursue its course of fighting america in the shadows through proxies, through cyber attacks, which is where they are more comfortable fighting america. that's where their expertise lies in asymmetrical warfare, we revert to pre-soleimani killing times, and that's the course iran is going to follow. interestingly, i was going through iranian social media here, and there were a lot of comments here by iranians in iran that this wasn't really retaliation for kasim so soleimani's killing -- qassem soleimani's killing, it wasn't eye for an eye, the guy that had designed all of these militias and iran's strategy in the area, and america didn't really suffer

any damage. >> nbc's ali arouzi in teheran with that update. fascinating as always, thank you so much. trump administration officials held two classified briefings yesterday on last week's drone strike that killed general soleimani, and lawmakers came away with vastly different conclusions. democrats expressed frustration with administration officials. they were joined by two republican senators, mike lee of utah, and rand paul of kentucky who were both sharply critical about what they heard from officials. >> probably the worst briefing i have seen, at least on a military issue in the nine years i've served in the united states senate. one of the messages we received from the briefers was do not debate. do not discuss the issue of the appropriateness of further military intervention against iran. and that if you do, you'll be emboldening iran. i find it insulting. and i find it demeaning to the constitution of the united states to which we have all sworn an oath. they had to leave after 75

minutes, while they're in the process of telling us that we need to be good little boys and girls and run along and not debate this in public. i find that absolutely insane. i walked into that briefing undecided as to whether to support a resolution under the war powers act introduced by senator kaine, that briefing is what changed my mind. that briefing is what brought me on board together with the amendments that senator kaine has agreed to make. i'm now going to support it. >> i join senator lee in making the decision to also support the war powers resolution. i wanted to hear the intelligence first. what i hear was less than satisfying. i see no way in the world you could logically argue that an authorization to have war with saddam hussein has anything to do with having war with people currently in iraq. >> hearing that, senator lindsey graham hit back after senators paul and lee made those

comments, arguing they are quote empowering the enemy. senator lee later responded on fox news. >> i think they're overreacting, quite frankly. go debate all you want to. i'm going to debate you, trust me, i'm going to let people know that it at this moment in time to play this game with war powers act which i think is unconstitutional is whether you mean to or not, you're empowering the enemy. >> he says you're empowering the enemy. >> that is fundamentally antithetical to the constitution. i love lindsey graham, he's a fantastic guy. we worked closely together on a lot of issues. he's dead wrong in suggesting this is playing a game. mr. graham, the constitution of the united states is not a game. >> wow. there is a growing chorus of senate democrats who say it is time for house speaker nancy pelosi to transmit the articles of impeachment against president trump to the senate. >> we are reaching a point where the articles of impeachment

should be sent. >> the sooner we receive this, the sooner we can find out if we're going to have a real trial or not. >> and senator diane feinstein told politico yesterday the longer it goes on, the less urgent it becomes. two sources on the hill tell nbc news that senators feel optimistic that the articles which the house aprovered last month will be sent sooner rather than later and potentially as early as today, however, pelosi continues to stand by her decision not to transmit the articles until the senate process is explicitly laid out. >> are the articles going to be transmitted tonight? >> no. >> anytime soon? >> do you listen when i speak? i said when we saw what the agreement is that we would be sending them, then we would send over the articles. we haven't seen that. so i don't know how many more times i have to say that, and how many more times you want to ask me, but when we see, we will

then be prepared to send articles. >> joining us again from washington, white house reporter for axios, alayna treene. it seems as if they are at a political impasse for house and senate leaders in regards to moving forward with the articles of impeachment. where do the conversations go from here? >> well, like you said, there definitely is an impasse, and i have spoken with house democrats as well who have been discussing with speaker pelosi what the timing of the transmitting of these articles will look like, and they do recognize that a ton of senate democrats are pushing her to send the articles sooner rather than later so they can begin the senate trial. again, though, and i've spoken with a ton of people on pelosi's team, and they say, listen, she still is standing by what she said even prior to the holiday

recess was we need to see exactly what the senate rules will look like, exactly what arena, the word that she keeps using, will look like for a trial before she can name house managers. i have also spoken with people close to mcconnell, or to leader mcconnell, he's not really planning to lay out totally specifically what this will look like. he thinks he has been very clear especially in thhis statement tt he made earlier this week, they will move forward without negotiating with democrats to move forward on a vote to establish the rules for the trial. really going back to the clinton precedent that was set in '99, and so they both are disagreeing on what these rules and what the details look like, and it's unclear really what the speaker needs to see before she's ready to send them. >> let's talk about another big development on the capitol hill, what do you make of the republicans's varied reactions on the briefings. some of the accounts had been razor thin, and now folks like

rand paul and mike lee breaking rank with the republican talking points. >> i have to say, i very much appreciate senator mike lee and senator rand paul for saying this so colorfully. a lot of times we struggle on the hill because you hear these rebukes of the president and others as, you know, behind the scenes or on background, and i appreciate that they came out forwardly and on the record, made these statements, but again, we did see people like senator lindsey graham calling senator mike lee's comments as potentially empowering the enemy is what senator graham said, and so there is this division and i think that when it comes to national security interests especially when it relates to overseas and escalating conflicts that could potentially lead to war, that's where you start to see republicans really begin to rebuke the president and the administration where often they are very hesitant to

do, so i think that looking forward, it will be interesting to watch these divisions continue, and i think it does bolster democrats' case for the war powers resolution. >> speaker pelosi, you know she says what she means, means what she says, she held off until she felt like she was ready. i feel like the same thing is going to happen here. the mystery of what brought down a passenger plane hours after iran's attack on the bases in iraq. that story and a check on your weather when we return. your first look at "morning joe." back in a moment. back in a moment

welcome back, now a follow up on the deadly plane crash that killed all 176 passengers on board in teheran. preliminary satellite data showed nothing was unusual about the plane's take off or assent but now investigators are looking to see if the accident was mechanical or if it was

something else. nbc's tom costello has the story. >> reporter: in the predawn darkness in teheran, the flaming wreckage of a passenger plane, could an iranian fired missile have brought it down. it left teheran airport at 6:12 a.m. local time. less than two mince into flight, the plane suddenly disappeared from radar at 7,900 feet. cell phone video shared by a news agency run by iranian students not confirmed by nbc appears to show the plane on fire shedding pieces as it streaked across the sky, then exploding and crashing to the ground. among the dead, 82 iranians and 63 canadians. >> whatever happened happened suddenly and cat stastrophicall not leaving time for communication. >> reporter: suggesting a technical failure had caused the crash, ruling out a missile

strike. telling reporters, we will demand that this investigation is kconducted as transparently s possible. both black boxes had been recovered but insists they will not go to the u.s. for review. the plane was a 3-year-old boeing 737 800, not a 737 max. while boeing and the ntsb would normally assist in an investigation, u.s. investigators say that is highly unlikely given the recent hostilities and sanctions on iran. boeing said its heartfelt thoughts are with the crew, passengers and their families. among the questions, why were commercial planes allowed to fly just hours after iran fired its missiles, and why didn't the ukrainian airline keep its plane grounded. among the victims, 82 iranians, 63 canadians, but listen to this, 138 of the people on board the plane were headed to canada, many after a wedding in iran, shaping up to be one of the

worst aviation disaster to affect canada. the u.s. issued a notice to all u.s. pilots, reiterating instructions to avoid the airspace in the region, iraq and iran, the persian gulf, the gulf of oman, not only are u.s. pilots doing that but international carriers are now doing the same, avoiding the region as much as possible. yasmin, back to you. >> that's an incredible strategy. >> heartbreaking story, a lot of suffering for all the families involved in the tragedy. >> absolutely. our thanks to tom costello for that report. let's switch gears and get a quick check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. weather is making news in the day ahead. where is winter, it's going to feel like spring, and we're going to have problems with spring like conditions. we will see dozens of record highs over the next couple of days. humidity levels you don't usually see in january, as far north as the great lakes. chicago gets up to 50 degrees. by friday, we start to see the warmth building, nashville, 68. raleigh, 64, new york jumps into the 50s and by the time we get

to saturday, we're almost near 70 as far north as pittsburgh. as far as the severe weather, friday we're concerned with east texas, friday night, shifts into louisiana and saturday we're concerned with severe storms in areas of alabama, mississippi, and louisiana. we may see the possibility, guys of tornadoes with this. it will feel like spring, even as far north as new york city, it will feel like almost april. >> i always joke around that i prefer warmer weather but i always kind of feel very awkward that it is in the middle of yan and it is this -- january and it is this warm with 71 degrees in atlanta. >> and we may be warm again next week. >> thanks, bill, appreciate it. >> thank you, bill. nissan's former chairman is denying all charges against him, what the new fugitive is saying about his secretive escape from japan. this is straight out of a hollywood script. the story is driving your business day, next. business day, next tom: my mom always told me

actions speak louder than words. she was a school teacher. my dad joined the navy and helped prosecute the nazis in nuremberg. their values are why i walked away from my business, took the giving pledge to give my money to good causes, and why i spent the last ten years fighting corporate insiders who put profits over people. i'm tom steyer, and i approve this message. because, right now, america needs more than words. we need action.

welcome back, everyone. more on the u.s. and iran backing away from all-out war. that's good news all around, but especially for iran's economy. for more on that part of this story we turn to cnbc's will mashes in london for us. walk us through the numbers you've been following in this crisis. >> well, it may be good news in terms of there not be further military action, but it's important to note president trump did say he would like to impose fresh economic sanctions on iran. their economy has always been struggling over the last decade or so, but particularly the last

18 months, because of this policy of maximum pressure from the trump administration that involves economic sanctions. it's had a massive impact on their ability to generate revenue from oil. we look at the actual production and export of iranian crude oil over the last year or so, the predictions for this year, they've fallen very, very steeply. that's important because that's where a lot of their budget comes from when they want to spend money on government services. although they are spending more money on government services and their revenues are under huge amounts of pressure, that disparity means they're having to borrow more money and as they keep borrowing that loan from the international community from banks, wherever it comes from, gets more and more expensive as well. they're servicing a lot of debt at the moment as they expand that difference between spending and revenue. another big business story in the region we've been talking about the last few days, of course, has been the mysterious arrival in beirut of carlos ghosn, the former ceo of renault. he arrived interest tokyo where

he seemed to mysteriously escape from house arrest. he carries brazzon, french, lebanese passports. he was allowed to hold on to one of them and seemed to have used that to enter lebanon. his first public comments since he was ousted as renault ceo. he said despite appearances he did not consider himself a legal fugitive. >> it is important for me to emphasize that i'm not above the law, and i welcome the opportunity for the truth to come out and to have my name vinds katsds and my reputation restored. i did not escape justice. i fled injustice and persecution, political persecution. >> he says he's happy to face trial in lebanon. he says he will get a fairer trial than he would in japan and the japanese justice minister said these accusations about the japanese justice system are,

quote, intolerable. >> all right. will marks, live in london, fascinating story. reading like a hollywood script where you see the details of how he escaped from japan. a look at axios's one big thing. iran is backing down from an armed conflict from the united states but seems he was eager for an out as well. reporting and analysis from the ap. >> house speaker nancy pelosi is holding firm in her battle with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell over the articles of impeachment. we will get two senators on the record, democrat chris murphy and angus king. "morning joe" is moments away. t? yes sir. they're walking into a trap. your orders are to deliver a message calling off tomorrow's attack. if you fail, we will lose sixteen hundred men. your brother among them. we need to keep moving! i can't see! you keep hold of me!

come on! what the hell are you doing lance corporal? trust me!

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prevagen is the number one pharmacist-recommended memory support brand. you can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. welcome back. joining us here on set with a look at axios am, political reporter alexi. good to see you in person. >> good morning. >> welcome. >> talk to us about the one big thing today. >> yesterday i was in three

states which feels insane. >> is that a new record? >> yes. four if you count new york, illinois, minnesota and ohio, they were following mike bloomberg. we got to see him interact with voters and staff up close. the interesting thing in all of the events he did in these urban, rural and post-industrial areas throughout these midwestern states it revealed his thoughts on, you know, the nontraditional campaign that he's running, his weird reading habits and brought out a few touchy subjects. >> what was the toughest question do you think bloomberg had to face? was there a theme in all these stops where people kept pressing him on a set of ideas or questions of his? >> it was a jobs and economy tour so he talked about that. he didn't take questions from the audience at the events. he did a gaggle with reporters at the end and asked about the ndas he's made women sign at his company, nondisclosure agreement, because in december, senator elizabeth warren called on him to make the women free to speak and free from these ndas in case there were instances of

discrimination. >> wow. >> he was a little bit touchy and said she should worry about herself and i'll worry about myself and he went on to say that, you know, my company has been a great place to work for all kinds of people and that nda is a two-way street. if they want to get out of it, which i don't think they do, that would have to be a conversation that would have to take place under a legal agreement. >> what are his reading habits? that was buried in the lead. also what are voters saying on the trail with regard to bloomberg, their reactions? >> one interesting thing i learned while traveling with bloomberg he prefers paperbacks to hard cover books. >> was he reading a mystery novel or something? >> no a lot of newspapers. he reads only spanish literature on his kind toll teach himself spanish looking up the words he's reading which i thought was kind of interesting and something i should start doing. as far as voters i talked with at least a dozen voters and a lot of them were curious about mike bloomberg, wanted to get a sense of his candidacy, but i

heard a lot of love for mayor pete, elizabeth warren, some folks who said they think biden is likely to be the nominee. while they showed up to hear from bloomberg, they were already sort of developed this affinity for another candidate. >> one of the big issues are about the obama voters that swung and voted for president trump. you have been doing deep dives into that. what are you hearing about how the obama turned trump voters feel like about somebody like mike bloomberg? >> other candidates in the race are shying away from winning back those voters. mike bloomberg is going hard after them thinking that is a winning strategy. i don't think it's wrong to not ignore those voters but instead of calling trump corrupt or dangerous or a liar, like we heard, he goes through a laundry list of promises that president trump made to these voters in 2016 that he hasn't been able to keep since he became president. that's an interesting way of showing these voters what president trump has done wrong and his shortcomings without ba