pompeo: every day. [laughter] david: so what are the most significant foreign policy issues of concern to you? what do you think are the biggest challenges we have in our country right now in the foreign policy area? sec. pompeo: i get asked this question about sort of the rank ordering the challenges. david: so you mean that is not a unique question? [laughter] sec. pompeo: it is an important question. it is about priorities and resources and how do you allocate time and think about the problem set? for me, the first task when i came in, now 16 or 17 months ago, to the state department, after having been the cia director, was to make sure the state department was ready in a moment of crisis. in terms of priorities, every morning the first thing i do is read about china. so i take time and talk about all the broad array of issues that present both real opportunity for the united states and risk to america from china. david: let's talk about china for a moment. the trade negotiations are going on. you ar

>> secretary of state mike pompeo>> secretary of state mike pompeo: it was a checcollective decision that -- there was unanimity that we were making the right decision that day. it was based not only on this intelligence, but you need to look no further than the days that led up to this. qassem soleimani led and orchestrated an attack that killed an american. there was sound and just and legal reasons for the actions that the president took. and the world is safer as a result of the bold action that president : esident trump is saying there are 52 sites that the u.s. would target if iran retaliates. how is that consistent with what you say is your message of de-escalation. >> secretary of state mike pompeo: entirely consistent. iranian leadership needs to understand that attacking americans is not cost-free. setting out conditions, saying these are expectations, these are the things american is expecting from you, and if you don't do them, the cost is clear and direct. we have an obligation to speak to the iranian leadership clearly and directly, so they understand that america is pr

secretary pompeo will comment more on this. today's sanctions are part of our commitment to stop the iranian regime's global terrorist activities. the president has been very clear. we will continue to apply economic sanctions until iran stops its terrorist activities and commit that it will never have nuclear weapons. i now turn it over to secretary ompeo. mr. pompeo: thank you, steven. good morning, everyone. today president trump is delivering on the pledge that he made, the day after iran attacked american forces in iraq, there will be a series of new sanctions. secretary mnuchin just mentioned eight senior iranian officials that are responsible for the regime's violence both at home and abroad were striking at the heart of the islamic republic's inner security apparatus. these sanctions targets include the secretary of the supreme national council and a commander of the forces. that's the regime's brute squad, which has in the last few months killed approximately 1,500 irans a were -- iranians who were simply demanding fre

i will now turn it over to secretary pompeo. sec. pompeo: thank you, stephen. good morning, everyone. today, president trump is delivering on the pledge he made the day after iran attacked american forces in iraq. there will be a series of sanctions that secretary mnuchin just mentioned. eight senior officials responsible for violence at home and rebought. we are striking at the heart of the islamic republic's -- and abroad. we are striking at the heart of the islamic republic's security apparatus. squad in thebrute last few months has killed approximately 1500 iranians who are simply demanding freedom. we have targeted leaders close to the ayatollah who carried out his terrorist plots in the middle east and around the world. they have deployed soldiers across the region's battlefields, trained militias in iraq, syria, and elsewhere in the arts of domestic repression. today, they are accountable for murder and mayhem. the goal of our campaign is to deny the regime resources to conduct destructive foreign policy. like a iran to behave normal nation. we believe t

pompeo is next." the mixed contradictory picture like that, i have a lot of questions for secretary of state mike pompeo. we reached tout t eed out to th department for comment last night and tonight. we haven't heard back. we'll let you know in that changes. as the president's trial on this scandal gets under way in the senate, a key question about the conduct of the trial is whether secretary pompeo will be called under oath to answer questions about what really is his very, very, murky role in all of this. we'll be right back. this is the all-new chevy silverado hd. it's beautiful. you want to take it for a test-drive? definitely. we're gonna go in that. seriously? i thought we were going on a test drive. we are. a heavy-duty test drive. woo-hoo! this is dope. i've never been on a test drive like this before. this silverado offers a 6.6 liter duramax diesel that can tow up to 35,500 pounds. awesome! let's take these logs up that hill. let's do it. wow! this truck's a beast. are you sure there's a t

i'll ask about this latest coming from pompeo. kaitlan, thank you so much. >>> to the state department, kylie atwood is there, the sanctions, what you heard from pompeo, what does this mean for diplomatic efforts going forward? >> the message the trump administration is sending with these sanctions coming just days after this iranian missile strike that happened on those iraqi bases where u.s. troops were based is the fact that the u.s. knows who these people are. now, secretary pompeo said they're going to be eight iranian senior officials who are going to be targeted with these sanctions. so the u.s. is coming out and symbolically saying we know who you are. that's really really important here because the economic impact may not be as obvious. these folks likely do not do business with american companies, but the fact that the u.s. knows who they are is important. the u.s. is also going to be sanctioned additional iranian manufacturers, having to do with medals and other sectors, so they are continuing to use sanctions. as the p

pompeo: thank you all. have a good day. >> if you missed any of what the secretary of state had to say, you can find it on our website, c-span. org. type mike pompeo in the search box. we are going to the u.s. institute of peace with a discussion of leaders of south sudan, kenya, nigeria. and we will from former secretary of state madeleine albright. we join this in progress.

pompeo sometimes levels that charge in person on camera. last october he attacked the credibility of national reporter nancy emonds. >> sounds like you're working at least in part for the democratic national committee. >> reporter: he hit back at judy wood druf the same way. >> you know there's been no proof of any misdoing on the part of vice president biden -- >> you all keep remeeting that line as if you're working for the dnc. >> i'm not working for the dnc. i'm an independent journalist. >> reporter: after the latest blowup pompeo claimed kelly agreed to have our post interview conversation off the record. kelly says that's not true and npr backs her up. kelly said the secretary had a parting message for her. >> he said, people will hear about this. >> that's true. people are hearing about it. with me to discuss all this and more cnn's senior political analyst john avalon, oliver darcy and in washington staff writer for "the new yorker" susan glasser. you were out to dinner with her on friday night. tell us what she's thinking about th

he told her go speak to pompeo. rudy went to speak to pompeo. they got into it.white house, where he told bolt on the fire her. he told pompeo to fire her. rudy got into it with all of them again. at one point he told madeleine to fire her. so, i mean, that was becoming comical because i couldn't understand you are the president. that one of the things, when i say comical, it's not more comic am. at that point it was an firmation to me there was people against the president of the united states if they're not listening to his orders. so and that's why i think the smear campaign started coming about. i think it was like a boost to them to help them, if the media started like egg him on, that there was really something there, that he would tweet and fire her. >> they couldn't get it done through normal channels. even with the president, himself, being involved in those somewhat normal channel itself and so they started the smear campaign to try to create media annualtation against ambassador yovanovitch. maybe that would make it possible for the president to evade

♪ pompeo >> audience: ♪ pompeo >> stephen: note pom-pe-o ♪ i love that, it's just fun. his bizarre bullying, so he doubled down with an official statement, saying, "mary louise kelly lied to me, twice. first, last month, in setting up our interview, and then again yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview conversation off the record." adding, "it is worth noting that bangladesh is not ukraine." that's true. ( laughter ) it's also out of nowhere. bangladesh and ukraine are not close to each other, which is why many speculated that pompeo was confusing bangladesh with belarus, which borders ukraine-- exactly the clarity you want from a secretary of state. ( laughter ) ( as pompeo ) "president trump has ordered missile strikes against ireland. i mean, i-ran! sorry. kiss your blarney stone goodbye." of course, like any trump administration official statement, it was a lie. kelly released emails where she let pompeo's team know that she would be asking about ukraine as well. so in retaliation, pompeo kicked a different npr reporter, michele keleman, off his trip to e

>> secretary pompeo: i don't.hink that our adversaries understand the president trump and our administration will do the right thing to protect the american people everyplace that we find risk. >> chris: secretary pompeo, thank you. thanks for coming in on a very busy weekend. >> secretary pompeo: thank you. >> chris: when we come back, democrats raised questions about the wisdom and legality of the president's decision to take out soleimani. we will talk with a top democratic senator, chris van hollen, that's next. ♪ they're walking into a trap. your orders are to deliver a message calling off tomorrows 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! beyond the routine checkups. beyond the not-so-routine cases. comcast business is helping doctors provide care in whole new ways. all working with a new generation of technologies powered by our gig-speed network. be

those are the words of secretary pompeo. we'll get try to get answers to those coming up this hour. >> thank you, kelly o'donnell. garrett haake, this crisis point with iran, there's i understand some news coming out from the house speaker related to impeachment. >> this is what passes for news, the speaker was coming off the floor and a group of reporters asked her if there was an announcement on the articles and she said she'd be communicating with her members and perhaps we'll hear that. she may be putting out a dear colleague letter. there's no mechanism to put forward the impeachments on it today. they have to name the managers first that's a separate vote that has to happen before they can formally transmit the articles to the senate which means we won't see that done before this weekend but what we might see -- we might see, and i emphasize might given that we're reading tea leaves is a communication about what the next steps would be. perhaps naming internally who the impeachment managers are going to be. we're waiti

giuliani's communication wih secretary pompeo.oreover, based on call records lawfully obtained by the house from this period, we know that from march 24th to march 30th, mr. giuliani called the white house several times and also connected with an unidentified number numerous times. these records show that on marcd a series of calls, a series of calls to the state department. secretary pompeo's assistant and the white house switchboard in quick succession, all within less then 30 minutes. obtaining emails and other documents regarding the state department leaderships' interaction with president trump's private lawyer in this period when mr. giuliani was actively orchestrating the pressure campaign in ukraine related to the sham investigation into vice president biden and the 2016 election would further clarify the president's involvement and direction at this key juncture in the formation of a plot to solicit foreign interference into our election. we also know, based on recently obtained documents, that lev parnas, an associate of

i will now turn it over to secretary pompeo. sec. pompeo: thank you. good morning, everyone.t trump is delivering on the pledge that he made the day after iran attacked american forces in iraq. there will be a series of new sanctions. mentionedmnuchin eight senior iranian officials responsible for the regime's violence at home and abroad, striking at the heart of the iranian republic's inner security apparatus. they include the regime's brute squad which has killed in the last month proximally 1500 iranians who were simple he demanding freedom. other senior leaders closer to the ayatollah carry out his terrorist plots and destabilizing campaigns across the middle east and the world. they have employed soldiers across the region. they have trained militias in iraq, syria, and elsewhere in the art of domestic oppression. campaign is to deny the regime the resource to conduct its foreign policy. we sibley want iran to behave like a normal nation. we believe the sanctions further that strategic objective. our campaign is composed of diplomatic, economic components that deprive th

pompeo didn't say she came out and confused bangladesh and ukraine. meant to undermine a veteran journalist. >> right, ali. look, it's a crowd pleasing statement to secretary pompeo's kind of audience of one, which is really president trump. you know, it has no basis in reality. she had her degree in cambridge in european studies and obviously knows where ukraine is. but i think it's the issue that this is par for the course with secretary pompeo and he had contempt for the press since she entered the state department about two years ago. and any time he doesn't like the question, he turns it on the questioner and says, oh, goodness. i can't believe you asked me that. this is ludicrous. you know, the issues that are tough, i've covered seven secretaries of state. none of them really like being grilled by the press. but in this particular case, secretary pompeo when he doesn't like the questions or gets pressed he is trapped by his own temperament. >> to elise's point, there is often tension between a secretary of state, foreign correspondents, state d

pompeo: yeah.ne sits at the edge between democracy and tyranny, in the easternmost parts of europe. it is a nation that gave up their nuclear weapons at the end of the cold war. america made a commitment, they said we would assist them with a number of things that they could still be a secure, sovereign nation. we care about democracy everywhere. they are a huge trading partner for the united states of america. america has a number of interests with respect to ukraine. the level of resources we have committed their reflects that level of interest. david: that was part of kevin cirilli's exclusive interview with secretary of state mike pompeo. kevin joins us from kingston, jamaica. well done, kevin. timely interview. let's go back to where you started about iran and the -- it is clear he is steadfast in saying they cannot get nuclear weapons. he says europe is there as well but i do not hear how they will keep them from getting it. kevin: absolutely correct. i was struck by secretary pompeo's contin

pompeo said there was a quote-unquote imminent threat. democrats are demanding to see the intelligence, that the president declassify the intelligence behind his decision to actually take this strike. they are also demanding president trump go to congress to get authorization if he wants to take any further military action over iran. the president tweeting defiantly these media posts will serve as notification to the u.s. congress should iran strike any u.s. person or target the united states will quickly and fully strike back and perhaps in a disproportionate manner. democrats fired back, essentially, you're not a dictator. there's a real clash with house speaker, nancy pelosi and democrats to introduce a resolution that would in fact require the president go through congress for any further military action. not clear how that will end at this point, andrea. >> to provide more context there, jeff mason, you were on air force one flying back from florida last night with the president, when he doubled down going after cultural sites. i wil

giuliani's communications with secretary pompeo. moreover, based on call records lawfully obtained by the house from this period, we know that from march 24th to march 30th mr. giuliani called the white house several times and also connected with an unidentified number numerous times. these records show that on march 27th, mr. giuliani placed a series of calls, a series of calls to the state department switchboard. secretary pompeo's assistant and the white house switchboard in quick succession, all within less than 30 minutes. obtaining e-mails and other documents regarding the state department's leadership interaction with president trump's private lawyer in this period, when mr. giuliani was actively orchestrating the pressure campaign in ukraine related to the sham investigation into vice-president biden and the 2016 election, would further clarify the president's involvement and direction at this key juncture in the formation of a plot to solicit foreign interference into our election. we also know, based on recently obtained d

as we await secretary pompeo here's what we have learned in just the last 18 hours or so. a short time ago this morning the national security adviser offered new details on what the administration said was an imminent threat from iran. new threats from emerged as the number of people killed from the deadly funeral stadium field rises to 40. there's a new warning issued of possible retaliation from iran and at 4:00 today, the gang of eight is to set to get a classified briefing. i want to sneak in peter alexander at the white house. you spoke with robert o'brien this morning, right? >> that's right. we heard from robert o'brien. he was on fox news and then he came and spoke to reporters. we pressed him for more details about some of the revelations, some more specifics about what that imminent threat was that the white house and the president's administration and allies say was the reason behind their effort, their ultimate killing of qassem soleimani. he said that they were plotting to kill americans at facilities. americans, diplomats and soldiers. he would not specify ex

it's a risk for the chris and for mike pompeo. >> pompeo has done more press briefings than stephanie one. they very much. >>> coming up, president trump will be addressing the nation on iran in the next hour, but first, a member of the senate armed services committee will be here on msnbc on what he wants to hear from the commander in chief. commander in chief. the good news? our comfort lasts all day. the bad news? so does his energy. depend® fit-flex underwear offers your best comfort and protection guaranteed. because, perfect or not, life's better when you're in it. be there with depend®. saturpain happens. aleve it. aleve is proven stronger and longer on pain than tylenol. when pain happens, aleve it. all day strong. remember, you have out the hilton app. can the hilton app help us win? hey, hey-we're all winners with the hilton price match guarantee, alright? man, you guys are adorable! alright, let's go find your coach, come on! book with the hilton app. expect better. expect hilton. >>> as we await president's speech on iran, one impact we're keeping an eye on is the economy.

pompeo: if you just ask them both. reporter: to your knowledge, was any legal counsel in the executive branch consulted for his or her input surrounding the legal aspects of the strike rior to its execution? mr. pompeo: i'll leave to others to comment on that. i have never seen this administration engage in activities of this nature without a thorough and complete legal review of what the bases would be if the president were to make a series of decision during the lawyers review the options presented to the president in advance of them being presented, such that every option has been fully vetted through the legal process. i am confident that is the case, although i do not have specific knowledge but i am confident that was the case. second. you asked about the scope of the strategy and the maximum pressure campaign we have had in place. it has a diplomatic component, economic component and it has had a military component. what you have seen over the course of these past -- may of 2018 when we withdrew from the iran nu

he told rudy to speak to pompeo. rudy spoke to pompeo. they got into it.ing at the white house where he told bolton to fire her. bolton didn't want to pyre her. rudy got into it with all of them again. at one point he told madeline to fire her. so i mean, that was becoming comical because i couldn't understand -- you're the president. when i say comical, it's not comic comical, but at that point it was more affirmation to me there was people against the president of the united states if they're not listening to his orders. that's where the smear campaign was coming about. it was a boost to help them if the media started egging him on, if there was something on, he would just tweet and pyre her. >> they couldn't get it done through normal channels even with the president himself being involved in the somewhat normal channels. so they started to smear campaign to try to create media agitation against ambassador yovanovitch, and maybe that would make it possible for the president to evade or elide direct channels and do it with the support of the conservative

what do you make then of mike pompeo? he's not offering further evidence of an imminent attack, he's focusing on things today that already happened and already are publicly known to make the case that something was imminent. >> well, i think there may be a concern about sources and methods being used, which is why they aren't being completely open with the intelligence. it is important to protect our sources and methods, we do that all the time. throughout war, throughout operations. it may be that as the gang of eight are briefed, more information will come out to them, more intelligence will come out to them. it is my great concern and my great hope that that information is not then taken outside to a microphone and heavily politicized. >> do you think though, general, i want to hear what you're comfortable with, do you think the president, state department, whom ever, needs to make a more public case for why this was required or from what you heard are you comfortable with it? >> i think with the great level of suspici

state mike pompeo. what was the imminent threat that secretary pompeo mentioned moments ago was the cause for the u.s. air strike that killed general soleimani? our breaking news coverage continues right now. >>> welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. this is a "new day." we do begin with breaking news. the state department is urging all americans in iraq to leave that country immediately. this is after president trump ordered the assassination of iran's top military and intelligence leader near the baghdad airport. this is some aftermath footage of that. general qasem soleimani was the commander of the quds force of the iran guard. that title does not explain what a huge role he played in the region. he was one of the most powerful men in iran. maybe the second most powerful man across the region. he was behind iran's military and intelligence strategy for the last several decades. imagine the head of the cia combined with the chair of the joints chief of staff combined w

pompeo: let's see. the statement that soleimani was traveling to baghdad on a diplomatic mission, is anybody here believe that? is there any history that would indicate it was remotely possible that this kind gentleman, this diplomat of great order qasem soleimani, traveled to the baghdad for the idea of conducting a peace mission? i am mckinney reporters left this morning. that's fantastic. you know that's not true. we know in that moment that was not true. he is a propagandist of the first-order, and most of what you suggested in his text message or email or message that you laid out was indeed irani iranianaganda -- indeed propaganda. it is false. he was not there on a diplomatic mission trying to resolve a problem. there has been some story that he was there representing a s audi peace deal. i have spoken to my saudi counterparts at great length, but i can assure you they share my view that he was not there rep is in big some kind of agreement that was going to reduce risk of the lives to americans

>> mike pompeo has become one of the high priests of trumpism. on trump is a war on the media. i think mike pompeo is trying to cast himself as this hero and to please donald trump. this isn't about whether or not she could correctly identify ukraine on a map, this is part of their performative hate on the media. >> mary louise kelly said before ending the interview pompeo leaned in and glared at her and then he tried to give her a pop quiz. i mean, what is with this intimidation mode? >> this is the pathetic insecurity of the spineless amoebas of men such as mike pompeo and the other men in trump's administration, right? this is a recurring theme with pompeo. he tried to intimidate a female reporter of the u.s."usa today." he doesn't like when women are asking questions and follow up. this time around he throws f bombs. he brings out a map. why does he have a map of our country? then she points it out. who should we believe? mary louise kelly, a veteran journalist, or mike pompeo who this month alone has lied to the american public alone about i

the top officials told us pompeo was really the one in charge. he said he told them about embassies as targets, and they're telling us, no, they didn't. >> this is the problem throughout the soleimani strike, that it's not obvious the u.s. looked into the pros and cons and long-term residuals from that strike. we're seeing the blowback now. it is good that we're hearing the administration talk more about sanctions and finding some offramps from the recent crisis, but it's sort of a situation where the administration has been both the fireman and the arsonist. they're working themselves out of a crisis but it's a crisis that didn't have to happen. and it's not obvious their discussion is having a big impact, especially since we haven't seen evidence of our allies, our coalition partners or of china and russia wanting to go along. >> do you have a sense of congress not wanting to go with the whole story, because they're saying they would have gone with this if they had seen everything i had seen. >> we know there are a number of skeptics in congres

secretary pompeo: you are not really wondering. sunday.ambiguous on it's completely consistent with what the president has said. we ill take every action take will be consistent with the international rule of law and can - the american people assure of that. if you want to look at who has denied religious freedom, denied persian culture that's steep n intellect and they have denied the capacity for the culture to continue. going back to the holidays, the people they killed, that qassem they have not d, allowed them to go mourn their family members. the real risk to persian culture from the united states of america. is no mistake about that. thank you, all. have a good day. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> the u.s. house gavels. after the pray this afternoon, members will immediately recess eastern.0 p.m. at that time the house will conduct a vote known as a quorum a prer

based on these records it is also clear that secretary pompeo

your reaction to the president's tweets and what you heard there from mike pompeo. >> mike pompeo was trying to walk back president trump's tweet which was completely inappropriate and i can't help but think it's something he does from his gut, he says oh, that sounds good, let's come up with 52 targets to match the 52 hostages 40 years ago. of course he has no understanding what have he's actually saying and the consequences of his actions. and we saw that time and time again. and this time we saw it by him not notifying the gang of eight, the top levels of our government, of a military action that is typically done because president trump wants to make this about him and that his party is the one doing the right thing, and that is disgraceful, just as disgraceful as far as attacking any sites that would be deemed criminal in warfare. >> something which, by the way, the u.s. department of defense, its own law of war manual says that is illegal, one does not do that. that said, philippe, do you interpret this as these actions are deterrence or escalation? >> i think they're just actin

>> mike pompeo has become one of the highest priests to trumpism. cast himself as this hero and to please donald trump. this is not about whether or not she could correctly identify ukraine on a map. this is part of their media hatred this engage in on the daily. >> before ending the interview, pompeo leaned in and glared at her and tried to give her a pop quiz. what is with this intimidation mode? >> this is the pathetic insecurity of the spineless amoebas look, this is a recurring theme with pompeo. he tried to intimidate a female reporter in the "usa today" in may. he really doesn't like it when fema reporters in particular are asking questions and are intelligent and do follow-ups. our colleague in an affiliate in nashville in august, same thing happened. this time around he throws f-bombs. he brings out a map. why does he have a map without countries? it's so strange. she points it out, and who should we believe? mary louise kelly, a veteran journalist, or mike pompeo, who this month alone has lied to the american public about imminent threat,

he fired her when he gave an order to mike pompeo once. secretary pompeo didn't fire her.dy came back and said go speak to pompeo. then they got into it. they had another meeting at the white house where he told boltn to fire her. at that point it was more affirmation to me there were people against the o the united states if they're not listening to his orders. it was a boost to help him if the mhing there and he would tweet and fire her. >> indicted rudy giuliani associate lev parnas, providing more information and how it's been on her mind for months. parnas's comments coming after his released text messages that put into question whether or not the ambassador was under her full surveillance. they prompted the ukrainian government to open a criminal investigation. but our government, until today, remained silent. the associated press described like this. on friday, pompeo broke nearly 72-hours of silence of alleged threats and violence to the ambassador to ukraine. he said he believed they would be proved wrong but he had an obligation to investigate the matter. former

you had mike pompeo at virtually every sunday show yesterday.is we won't hear from the secretary, at least for now. >> thank you, dan lamothe. we appreciate you and your reporting. >>> hamas has voiced his opinion on the killing of soleimani. what could the next move from iran look like? >>> now, iran has promised retaliation against the u.s. for the attack that killed iranian military commander qasem soleimani. president trump in return has said he will not hesitate to retaliate if that were to happen. an iranian military general is telling cnn that retaliation will take military form. let's talk about this. let's really get into this withwit with elan goldenberg. he's covering the middle east and was a . >> i want to walk through some of the scenarios, but first talk about the overall thinking when it comes to retaliation. >> i think what the iranians are going to do, they will take their time. they won't necessarily go back at the united states immediately on day one. they will be weighing their own domestic politics. you sawmill i don't know

pompeo has been the face of the strike defending the decision to kill general soleimani.stion is, does pompeo have credibility on this claim? kaitlan collins is "outfront." and the president is particular about who speaks to him and he's stayed out of sight and mike pompeo has been outfront today. >> reporter: he had him go on the six sunday shows to defend the move. the president was only on air during the address last friday when he talked about this and it is really pompeo who has essentially been the face of it. a lot of that has to do with pompeo being the one behind the scenes pushing for the option as the president was weighing which way he should go with all of this. and this comes in wake of past events when you've seen iran provoke the administration in the past and you've seen people like the secretary of state push for certain options in iran. the drone strikes, shooting down that drone comes to mind. that was certainly a key moment when the president called off that retaliation at the last minute and this is annin ste-- instance where he played a key role. an

pompeo: i appreciate that question. since january of 2017, one need no further than the facts, the support that this administration has provided. it is certainly helpful for the ukrainian people. it makes a difference for the united states people as well, it is to our benefit as well, but what really matters is the relationship developing between the two countries, economically, diplomatically, commercially. we will get the diplomacy right. we will get that piece of it in the right place, as time moves on. president zelensky and president trump had a fantastic meeting in new york this past september. i had a chance to see president zelensky today, and i am very comp at that we will engage at the senior levels at all the ways to do the right thing. it is less about talking, it is less about what someone says but how we deliver together to deliver really good outcomes for both ukrainian people and the american people. >> i will have matthew from the associated press. good afternoon, gentlemen, thank you. note thetary, you

pompeo called him a liar. what was your major takeaway? >> reporter: you're absolutely right, mike pompeo calling zarif a liar after the interview we did. he did indeed say that qassem soleimani was planning to out diplomats. he called the strike against soleimani state terrorism. he said the iranis view that as an attack directly on iran and there will be a response. that response will happen in iran's own time and on iran's own terms. it's not clear exactly what's going to happen or when it's going to happen, but iran says something is going to happen. this is something we've heard from other iran officials as well, that zarif believes it is the beginning of the end, as he puts it, of america's presence in this part of the world in the middle east. he says muslim nations, many nations are enraged after the killing of qassem soleimani who he hailed during this entire interview, john, ripping the trump administration, ripping into president trump saying that president trump does not respect international law. the final thing i actually ask

pompeo is refusing to acknowledge the conflict because the president's repeated vow to target iranianultural sites if iran retaliates with his claim that the u.s. will obey all international law. >> the president said on air force coming back, after you had been on the sunday talk shows, that they're allowed to kill our people, they're allowed to torture and maim our people. they're allowed to use roadside bombs and we're not allowed to touch their cultural sites. it doesn't work that way. i'm wondering, whether you would push back in your advice or in your role -- >> you're not really wondering, andrea. you're not really wondering. >> the president is saying -- >> it is completely consistent with what the president has said. we will take every action we take will be consistent with international rule of law and the american people can rest assured that that's the case. let me tell you who's done damage to the persian culture, it's not the united states of america. it's the ayatollah. if you want to look at who has denied religious freedom, and denied the capacity for that culture to

joining us here in washington, secretary of state mike pompeo mike pompeo.come back to "fox news sunday," sir. >> great to be with you. thanks for having me on this morning. chris: you know that the iraqi parliament is holding emergency session today to discuss question whether u.s. troops, 5000 we have there should remain in country. came across the wire, iraqi prime minister says interest of both iraq and u.s. to end foreign troop presence in iraq and he also says that the killing of general soleimani and also a top militia leader backed by iran for political assassinations. your reaction, sir. >> the american people should know president trump will never shy away from protecting and defending americans over these past weeks, and days. the activity you're seeing is fully consistent with that. the american people should know we with will continue president tweets last night we will continue actions necessary to keep americans safe. as for activity today with iraq, we've been in the country. we've been supporting iraqi sovereignty. we're continuing to take t

guy, to hear what secretary of state mike pompeo has to say to the press. as you know congress has been clamoring to get more information about the intelligence and to declassify the notification that they were given, i guess, two days ago or yesterday now, but, guy, in your book you sort of warn about a situation like this. you know, after the jim mattiss of the administration had exited you predicted that foreign affairs would become much more ad hoc and there wouldn't be as many checks around the president. >> alisyn, you are right and that is a key theme of the book. when you look at what occurred during 2017-2018, the administration went to great lengths, this he created a national security strategy released in december of 2017 and that was followed relatively shortly thereafter by the national defense strategy. if you take a look at what's recently occurred with the killing of general soleimani that does not align with this administration's stated strategic goals, that's the major concern and that's what's highlighted in the book is we find ourselves

secretary pompeo didn't fire her. and then rudy came back and said speak to pompeo.ent to speak to pompeo. they got into it. then they had another meeting at the white house where he told bolton to fire her. bolton didn't want to fire her. told her to tell pompeo to fire her. >> lev parnas, this is just the second hour of rachel maddow's interview, he of course one of the key figures in the ukraine pressure campaign detailing all the people, including secretary of state pompeo who was supposed to carry out the president's order to fire the u.s. ambassador to ukraine maria yovanovitch. the secretary of state pompeo is responding to those accusations. joining me now is dana shell smith, a career service foreign officer for years. she's served under eight secretaries of state and five presidents from both parties. welcome. now, you can see the secretary of state responds to the president ordering -- repeatedly ordering the firing. one of the issues you talked about publicly is the silence of mike pompeo to come to yovanovitch's defense which has really demoralized the d

three minutes later, secretary mike pompeo replied yes. that's it. ambassador sondland explained the e-mail in his testimony. >> later in august, you told secretary mike pompeo that president zelensky could be prepared to tell president trump that they would be able to announce matters of interest to the president which could break the log jam. when you say matters of interest to the president, you mean the investigations that president trump wanted; is that right? >> correct. >> and that involved 2016 and burisma or the bidens. >> 2016 and burisma. >> when you are talking here about breaking the log jam, you are talking about the log jam over the security assistance, correct? ? i was talking log jam because nothing was moving. >> but that included security assistance, correct? >> correct. >> this was not the first time you had discussed these investigations with secretary mike pompeo, was it? >> no. >> he was aware of the connections that you were making between the investigations about the white house meeting and the security assistance? >> yes. >>

john asked secretary pompeo.on is the trust the american people should or should not have in the administration this morning and the intelligence assessment given the track record of this administration as being straight with the american people. that comes into question this morning. what is your read? >> boy, i have a couple perspectives. let's go tactical first. i wouldn't release much of the intelligence if i were them. there's only two ways you can get this intelligence. a high end penetration, human source penetration. i don't think that's what we have here. the secretary option is technical information. that's intercepted communications. as soon as you talk about that stuff, the iranians are very good at counterintelligence. as soon as you talk about that stuff, they'll shut down the line and change the codes. this stuff is very fragile and it's easy to lose. so i understand why secretary pompeo is a little bit concerned about releasing this stuff. that said, i wondered here whether the intelligence is an

and can you explain pompeo's role, and why he is an iran hawk for as long as he has?in the administration sun usual for the secretary of state to be advising on the military options, and the way he has been, but he has become, i think it is safe to say one of the closest advisers to president trump back including his time as the cia director and really is leading on the policy with regards to iran and pushing this military option of taking out qassem soleimani and after months of advising it. pompeo was a war hawk before he got to administration and when he was in congress and before he got to the cia he was one of the key agreements of the issues of iran supplying the explosive devices to insurgent groups in iraq responsible for killing so many american service members, and soleimani and the quds force that were responsible for it. so he comes into the administration with a long hostility towards iran and soleimani himself. >> and then comes the president receiving the list of options, and several options and then the final option was, you know, taking out qasem sole

. >> reporter: this is for secretary pompeo. there are reports the iraqi prime minister has asked you to start negotiating the withdrawal of u.s. troops from iraq immediately. is that the case? can you comment on that? >> he didn't quite characterize the conversation correctly, but to the larger, more important point, we are happy to continue the conversation with iraqis about what the right structure is. our mission set there is very clear. we've been there to help the iraqi training forces be successful and continue the campaign against isis, and we're going to continue that mission. as times change and we get to a place where we can deliver on what i believe and the president believes is our right structure with fewer resources dedicated to that mission weeks will do so. we also have today a nato team here at the state department working to develop a plan which will get burden sharing right in the region as well so that we can continue the important missions to protect and defend and keep the american people safe while reduci

pompeo: -- from soleimani gone sec. pompeo: the threats are never gone -- from soleimani gone? sec. pompeo: the threat is never gone. there is danger all throughout the world. no one believes the risk is gone. look at the list, though. look at the achievements of the administration. we took out the caliphate. we took out al-baghdadi. we took out soleimani. this of ministration has effect of those who put american men women at risk. [indiscernible] >> -- about the china trade deal. the chinese side will be here next wednesday to sign phase one of that deal, but china is also a big importer of iranian oil and minerals, and that is a big part of their economy as well. two?o you balance the are you concerned about the iran issue coming up in either the signing or the face to deal -- in either the signing or the phase two deal? sec. mnuchin: that is a good last question to end on. we are looking forward to the chinese delegation coming next week. phase one is very significant. it includes very significant components of changes to technology issues, intellectual-property issues, and $50 b