joining us now, former cia director john brennan. john brennan, happy new year, good to see you.bothing in iran. not the m.o. as we've been discussing with israel. israel has denied it. the u.s. has said israel is not involved. certainly, the islamic state group, i.s.i.s., is claiming responsibility. but iranian officials are pointing the finger at u.s. and israel. what's your analysis and can back channel talks calm this down? >> as you have said and as leon panetta has said, this is not the israeli m.o. by all accounts there are two individuals who detonated explosives in a crowd of civilians. clearly, this is the work of either i.s.i.s. or opposition groups that have operated in that area for a number of years. so, i think it's important for there to be a recognition that neither israel or united states were involved. they have enemies, those that have opposed bureaucracy in tehran, but i.s.i.s. which operates on its borders probably the most likely perpetrators of these attacks. >> i want to point out that matt miller the spokesperson at the state department has just announce

i'll speak to former cia director john brennan about the mystery surrounding secretary austin's illness and hospitalization with new nbc reporting on president biden's point of view. >>> plus, secretary blinken heads back to tel aviv after a new wave of explosions along the gaza strip and new israeli strikes against hezbollah targets in lebanon. >>> and we will go live to south carolina where president biden will arrive this hour ahead of his speech at mother emmanuel church as part of his 2024 campaign kickoff. >>> thanks for being here. it is 11:00 eastern. i'm ana cabrera joining you for a special second hour this morng. josÉ diaz-balart will be up at noon today. it is the final push in iowa for republicans running for president, and the front runr donald trump is not even holding a campaign event in the hawkeye state until this weekend. the former president, who is out defending january 6th rioters again is set to appear in courtrooms instead, in two separate trials this week. meanwhile, the two candidates fighting for second place, nikki haley and ron desantis are trading barbs on

so in the trump years, these were john brennan and jim clapper and so on.hese people will be active in in talking in ways that are derogatory to people that they tf what theyy wio say will be will be accurate. some of that will be misrepresentations. >> some it will be just justdisn dishonest, almost certainly. and they will do also is misrepresent what the what the intelligencse agenciest are supposed to do, which is which is to be wholly, wholly apolitical. the second the second group is the the current employees. >> g they can't go on television like the farmers can, but they can leaktele lik. and in 2016, 17 and so on, period, they leaked extensively and they engaged in what the what the intelligence world calls disinformation. that'se intellce purposeful, pul use of inaccurate information to to to to hurt, hurt opponents and help and help friends. so opp my my expectation, based ma what has happened in recenty years and indeed before that, is that we will see more leakingybat for people who are who are supporters of the agenda. >> and we will see the e

so in the trump years, john brennan, jim clapper and so on.tive in talking in ways that are derogatory to people they do not like. some of what they say will be accurate. some of it will be misrepresentation. some of it will just be dishonest almost certainly. and what they will do also is this represent what the intelligence agencies are supposed to do, which is to be holy apolitical. the second group is the current employees, they can't go on television like the farmers can. but they can leak. in 2016-2017 and so on, they leaked extensively and engaged in what the intelligence world calls this information. that is purposeful, purposeful use of inaccurate information to hurt opponents and help friends. so my expectation based on what has happened in recent years and maybe even before that is that we will see more leaking for people who are supporters of dei agenda. and we will see emergence of a new group of formers people that have not damaged reputations away john brennan, jim klapper and a number of others have. >> jesse: it will be good t

joining me now is former cia director john brennan. such short notice. i just want to ask, you and i have talked a number of times since the start of this war about the risk of escalation, and we've seen that at the border, we've seen that in a number of ways. in the president's statement, he said we know this attack was carried out by radical iran-backed militant groups, operating in syria and iraq. as you're watching from your vantage point, is this a different kind of escalation, given we are talking about u.s. troops involved? >> it's a very dangerous escalation, jen. given that there were three military personnel, americans, killed, and over two dozen injured, it's a sizable attack. whether it was one or more drones, these are drones that are tough packed with explosives, and then detonate on impact. but to have that type of -- the number of casualties suggests that it was a fairly sizeable one. and as the white house has pointed out, iran has cultivated relationships with a number of militia extremist groups in syria, iraq, and o

that's what john brennan was saying in that interview. to be cloud a judge -- judgment moment. i don't think this reflects some rots within the administration or the government, and i don't think the administration, certainly, sees these as needless wars and sees them as wars that we should be involved in. it is important to protect democracy, but at this critical flux moment -- and particularly struck listening to president biden today at a church giving remarks, interrupted by protesters who want to talk about gaza. this is an issue that is eating up our country, and is consuming us and our natural consciousness and our consciousness abroad. you want to know someone was in such an important position of power is not there, and if he's not there, you know why he's not, and that the proper line of command is in place. i assume nothing will change in terms of a resignation on this. friday could come, and then the sunday shows. the biden administration was obviously caught flat-footed by this, but he has a lot of explaining to do. a critical

i'll speak to former cia director john brennan about

john brennan and katty kay.uld respond and what iran is saying? >> reporter: so, starting with iran, you heard the president said he holds the iranians responsible for that deadly attack in jordan in the sense they're the ones providing to the weapons to these shia militant groups all over the middle east attacking u.s. forces the iranians haven't been shy about that but they are denying they gave the order for these groups to attack u.s. forces, either if jordan or anywhere else and in their words, these so-called resistant groups are attacking u.s. forces as a natural reaction for american support for israeli operations if gaza, difficult to know exactly what level of command and control the iranians have over these proxy groups, but the u.s. certainly has a range of options when they decide to respond to this attack in jordan the obvious one would be striking these militant groups themselves, most likely in syria, potentially also in iraq, we've seen that happen since october 7th. it has not deterred these gr

joining our conversation is the former cia director, john brennan. good to see you.n intelligence expert and why this essentially economic and commercial issue became something that the united states and the united kingdom decided they needed to deal with militarily. >> i think you described it very well in the opening there it. the escalatory nature of the strikes that the houthis have been carrying out, the fact that the tempo is increasing and has been on going for weeks, it's having an impact not just in terms of the potential danger that it poses to israel as well as to its national shipping in the red sea, but also what is happening now with international navigation that they are bypassing the red sea. so the biden administration has been very careful, measured and thoughtful in terms of how they were going to approach this. they issued very stern public warnings to the houthis. they also consulted with the allies and many of our partners because they were partners that participate in these strikes. they also consulted with congress. i was glad to hear the rank

christine brennan is going to join us, and the first game is what has all of our mouths watering, christine? >> happy new year, johnare some traditions in college sports that kill it is michigan obviously, big ten school against and michigan is the one ranked team, an congratulations, michigan, you get to play alabama nick saban with three weeks to prepare. it is going to be tough for michigan to overcome the hurdles to try to win a national title in this format. alabama has done it 1e6r8times, and michigan with contre ver shall this time, and nick say bab ax jim pet and do and once undefeated florida state not looking like they have a cli to to >> and this is the other side of the story in college football in particular, the opt-outs. the plaintiffts and they have so many much to lose as they move into the proprofessional and 20 and it was a 63-3 drubbing georgia over florida state, and so it is going to be a question for long time, and the florida state, as you know, this has to be changed, because when you have a depleted team like florida state, that is not a real game and not a matchup that the fans and everyo