general qassem soleimani and they thought we can take them both out. and permission was denied and the only legitimate target and qassem soleimani went off and is just an unbelievable story. and that whole initiation because because that has always been a fraught proposition at the cia. and for decades. and to go through confessions where the israelis. and bush signed off on the deal as long as nobody talked about it. in this chapter that i wrote in the book. >> when you exit your interviews with those cia directors what happened and comment. >> but in the end where tom brennan who gets frustrated with me asking repeatedly for commen comment. he finally looked at me and said he died quickly. >> that's more than you got from the others. one thing i wanted to ask what are your thoughts the use of the generals to be head of the cia? and how we think about that and others have thought about that with general patraeus because there is a way that the is our distinct authorizations so what did you learn about that particular mixing of expertise? >> it is a mi

is behind the killing of qassem soleimani.n this particular case, iran speculating and speculates with its favorite adversary, israel, united states and sometimes saudi arabia. or certain internal elements in iran. it looks like a sophisticated take out. what does response look like from iran? the day of one administration and trumps pension for getting into it with iran. >> they have a tough choice to make, there's a will the of calls for revenge. from military officials. head of the arms forces is calling for revenge. the head of the security council is calling for revenge. there was a protest this afternoon who are military group working under the irgc that all u.s. assets in this region have to be targeted over the next 40 days until trump leaves office. and they're saying iran has to do this because if they don't, it will only em bolden the enemy. as you know iran is good at playing the long game. they can wait and choose the moment when they want to exert revenge. if they were going to do this, before donald trump leaves

moving the embassy to jerusalem or taking down qassem soleimani or reducing the threat from iran or recognizing for the first time in 40 years that the chinese communist party presented in a normal threat to the security of the american people and frankly jobs and arty american economy. i think that things that the obama administration did put americans into worse place. i think people's jobs and lives were less secure than they had been for these past four years and i hope that a president who comes into office in the middle of january next year will have a much more robust, marketable, more confident national security approach than what they have for those eight years. >> bret: which is the more imminent threat? iran, russia, china? >> those are hard questions to answer and when i think about the challenges that america is presented over the next five or ten years, the chinese communist party is the central threat. they are here. they are influencing the way we think about the world. they have technologies that are very capable. they have stolen intellectual property that's destroyed millions

the assassination of qassem soleimani in iraq. and, you know, the concern is that country that was the proxy battlefield for the united states and iran, for years, it turned into a bloody confrontation, earlier this year. and their concern is they will be dragged into it, once more, and that iraq will be caught in the midst of it. so, everyone waiting to see what iran's going to do. michael. >> of course. jomana, good to see you. thanks for that. jomana karadsheh, there, in istanbul. >> jon kirby is a cnn and diplomatic analyst and former pentagon and state department spokesman. he joins me, now, from alexandra, virginia. it's good to see you. officials there accusing israel of this killing, of course. but regardless, what do you make of the timing of this killing? >> i think, michael, you have hit on a real key point there. certainly, makes the timing more suspect, in that regard. i mean, look, again, we don't know who -- who's done this. there's been no attribution. certainly, this is an individual that's been on the israelis' m

january 3 will be the anniversary of the killing of qassem soleimani. how embarrassing is it?you put it well. over the last year, four major global figures will have been -- who were ostensibly being protected by iran's security umbrella were quite easily assassinated. and for a country, for a regime like iran, which really prides itself on being a security state, being a police state, this is deeply, deeply humiliating. and this comes at a time when iran has been imprisoning, in a sense, academics and environmentalists on charges of being israeli spies. and they can't protect their top figures from israeli or american assassinations. so i think morale must be very low right now in the islamic republic. and they must be thinking, what else do they know about us? what other means of our communication have they penetrated? >> yeah, good point. of course, not all groups in iran, all factions, have the same calculations. how does this potentially change the dynamic between iran's hardliners and moderates? which have been notoriously fractious. >> well, my view is that over the las

comes less than a year after president trump ordered the assassination of a top iranian general, qassem soleimani, here in baghdad, iraq. that resulted in iran targeting u.s. troops with missile strikes. we're currently on a base that's used by u.s. troops in baghdad, and threat level here has not changed. holly williams, cbs news, baghdad. >> yuccas: protesters marched across france today. in paris, authorities fired tear gas after demonstrators threw stones and set cars on fire. they're angry over a proposed security law that would make it illegal to take photos of police. now to rome. wilton gregory was not raised catholic, but today gregory, the archbishop of washington, made church history, becoming the first black american to earn the rank of cardinal. cbs' chris livesay is at the vatican. >> reporter: that's latin for wilton daniel gregory. add a ring and a red hat, and you're looking at history. due to the coronavirus, there were more masks than fanfare, but that didn't take away from the ceremony's profound significance, especially for african americans. how important is it for them to s

2020 pretty much in a place, not a direct comparison, but where we started with the killing of qassem soleimaniand just from the response, saying the book is not closed on the response from that. if there's something that we saw more with the missile strike in baghdad that i should say injured -- gave brain injury, or caused brain injuries in more than 100 troops. but no one was thrilled. no life-threatening bodily harm to the troops. we'll see what the next step is. jason rezaian, thank you for being here with us this morning. >> thank you. >> congratulations on the new baby. >> thanks so much. >> what's his name? >> justice. >> justice, that's a great name. have a good morning. >> you, too. >> christi. >> i liked the end of that conversation better than the one i'm going to have right now. >>> i can't believe i have to tell you this in the morning or anytime, there was a vicious brawl that broke out in taiwan yesterday during a parliament meeting and lawmakers from taiwan there -- do you see what they're throwing there? i don't know you know what that is, but i will tell you, it's disgusting.

following the killing of general qassem soleimani. conflict between the u.s. and iran, after years of being that proxy battlefield. so, a lot of concern and, i think, michael, right now, the ball is in iran's court. everyone's waiting to see what they do, next. >> jomana, thanks. jomana karadsheh in istanbul for us. >> vice president of the quincy institute. he joins me, now, from washington. great to have your expertise on this. >> thank you. >> what -- what do the israelis achieve, if, indeed, israel was behind this as the iranians suggest? what would be the point? >> i guess, for the israelis, or certainly for benjamin netanyahu, i think he views this as a win/win. if this assassination sparks iranian retaliation that leads to war, then netanyahu will achieve the war that he's been looking for, for more than ten years. it will sour the atmosphere. it will set back any likelihood of biden administration being able to kick start negotiations with iran which is something netanyahu categorically objects. he does not want to see any negotiations between the u.s.

a accords in dozens of years, we got north koreas pacified, we put china on their heels and qassem soleimanii ended up dead. america first is what america needs, and general mattis should probably stick to the things he was good at and write another memoir about the warsh not foreign -- about the war, not foreign powell. lou: and foreign policy is very much on the hides of all americans who are watching this battle for the white house play out as we see the foreign policy team that former vice president biden wants to assemble should he be elected. talking about china, the middle road with them? there is no reason to be competitive or concerned despite their expansion their and bellicose policy positions and rhetoric? >> and the problem with joe biden is he has always fundamental lu are misunderstood china. now, maybe it had something to do with all the money he was helping hunterrer haul out of there in their biden corruption. but the problem is china is not an ally. they are our enemy. they are our main foe on the world stage. and if you ca push late and cringe in front of them and kowtow

the targeting of this terror leader followed president trump's decision to kill qassem soleimani in ar amid continued tensions with iranian proxies, part of a campaign against iran that includes extensive sanctions as the country continues to violate key terms of the 2015 nuclear deal. despite this, former president obama told 60 minutes overnight he believes u.s. adversaries have seen a weaker u.s. over the past four years. >> i think our adversaries have seen us weakened, not just as a consequence of this election, but over the last several years. we have these cleavages in the body politic that they're convinced they can exploit. >> reporter: now, when its comes to iran, the big question is whether or not president-elect biden will rejoin the iran nuclear deal, a move that is certainly of concern to officials here in israel. carley, jillian. carley: thanks, trey. senator bernie sanders defending his progressive policies, saying they are ideas and changes people want. >> the truth is, when you talk about raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour, when you talk about expanding hea

comes almost 11 months after the united states killed iran's most famous military commander, qassem soleimani air strike. there's been no major reaction to that either so there is pressure for them to respond. if iran were to respond in a significant way against u.s. or israeli targets in the region, for example, it could set something off. at the same time, iran knows joe biden is about to become president and he wants to engage with them, he wants the u.s. to get back into the nuclear deal, to ease sanctions and the maximum pressure campaign of the trump administration. so iran could hold off. meanwhile, israeli president prime minister benjamin netanyahu sees the clock ticking down on the trump administration and knows that he will have less leeway with a president biden when he's sworn in. biden is not eager to inherit a war with iran and is most certainly hoping things will be calm when he's sworn in in january so there can be a fresh start. alex marquardt, cnn, washington. >> for more i'm joined by the deputy head and senior research fellow on the middle east at chatham house. nice of y

the sanctions -- remember, the trump administration mounted an operation against its general, qassem soleimanit year. those sanctions would have been removed in eight years after the agreement, in 2023. that's a designated terrorist organization. there are lots of flaws in jcpoa. i would argue it's not the right first step to make to try to get back into it. if the president-elect is seeking to unite our party, i think europe would support that but i don't think democrats and republicans, a majority of them would and rightly so. todd: all eyes on a prospective biden cabinet, susan rice on the short list for secretary of state. chris murphy, william byrd and tony blank in, if you were to generalize the foreign policy approach of those individuals you see on your screen, what is it? >> i had the honor of working with tony blankin when he was deputy secretary of state and found him to be a substantive expert. i think his expertise is recognized by democrats and republicans. certainly ambassador susan rice would be a challenging i think nomination, given the republicans' concern about her going ba

there are iranian hard line figures, qassem soleimani, killed by the trump administration, the fever pitch is hard to wine down at this point. add to that later next year, the current reformist moderates who are in charge of the government will face re-election and could possibly lose to more hard liners. there's a small amount of months joe biden has to get the deal running again and to begin working on another deal because the main provisions in the iran nuclear deal begin to lapse in about five years or so. so, there's a huge task ahead for joe biden, but frankly the massive lapse in relations and rock bottom hit on the trump administration could only make his job slightly easier. >> nick paton walsh, many thanks for joining us. >>> record turnout in the election helped put joe biden over the top. ahead we'll find out what role minority voters played in his win. back with that in a moment. what are you doing? art class. it's abstract expressionism. when you start with a better hot dog from oscar mayer, you can do no wrong. it's all for the love of hot dogs. you can do no wrong. th

think we really dodged a bullet earlier this year when we saw iran respond to the killing of qassem soleimaniile strike against u.s. military base in iraq. that was a very large missile strike. it resulted in large numbers of casualties, but no one was killed. i hope we are as lucky this time as we were then. >> very good point. i mean, speaking of that risk versus reward factor when it comes to the assassination itself, if it was israel, in some ways can be seen as a win/win calculus for benjamin netanyahu, take out a prominent figure in the nuclear program. but if iran retaliates, it gives iran and the u.s. the reason to strike back militarily. >> i think it depends on how to look at goal. if the goal is to poison the well for diplomacy, i think the strike is extremely successful. they killed the scientist, but what they've really done is try to assassinate the possibility of returning to the nuclear deal with iran. if iran retaliates, that will make it much harder. and if iran does nothing, i think support for iran will drop. >> i know you've been tweeting a t lot on this issue too, but on

retaliation and, indeed, there are vowing revenge, but they vowed the same thing after the death of qassem soleimaniwidespread -- leland: the list here, moving the u.s. embassy to jerusalem, that was going to start another intifada. oil prices right now are at a record all-time low, and we've got three new arab-israeli peace deals that were supposed to be impossible. the culling of sole -- killing of soleimani, potential for world war iii, sending over the 82nd airborne just in case the iranians did anything. this is a lukewarm war going on between the israelis and the iranians through their proxies for the iranians. the israelis have been hitting iranian bases and proxy bases inside syria for months now blowing up tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars of military hardware, killing some iranians on the ground inside of syria and effectively boo from iran. so -- kristin: yeah. leland: what we watch it, but reasons to think perhaps the iranians will stay put. >>> moving on now to the united states where america's major cities are seeing an almost are unchecked rise in violent crime

which indicates the surgeons, the system suny perspective from the shiite perspective and under qassem soleimanihey came up with the idea of basically copying the extremists. we say what they did was very successful. so they are trying to copy that model in yemen and in iraq. they do it successfully in both of these countries. now, even after we spend a lot of treasure and money it seems politically that iran and have more control over what's happening in their country than the united states just using actors, a lot of these are groups that actually went to syria. the same thing in lebanon. it became a very important card that they play with the conflict. same thing with yemen. i gave them a base in the southern peninsula. so you know, i have quite extremists groups that's very active and very popular among a lot of people in the middle east. and they dance to the tune of regional powers for the terrorist to get attention. this makes the region even more ambiguous. topics from the specter, we see it emerging in the west which is a form of supreme, the sense not domestic as it used to be. it is p

response this is a similar theme that we saw following the death of the leader cast i leader qassem soleimani taken out by the united states we've seen action on the ground. we don't know how iran might respond. leaders there said they will provide a calculated and decisive response, but whether or not that means we will see iran perhaps targeting facilities in israel, perhaps iran targeting a country in the gcc or maybe even targeting americana sets in the region, really remains to be seen. what we do know, though, is this certainly complicates the overall foreign policy agenda and foreign policy footprint of the united states, that in the region as well we do know that the president elect joe biden had said he would like to make the renegotiation of the iran nuclear deal a key foreign policy plank for his administration so perhaps this decision by israel is indeed the case, to take out this top scientist in iran, would complicate the u.s.'s ability to go forward with that renegotiation. in terms of the condemnation we've seen around the region and the world, the reaction we've seen from the

we began the year with donald trump ordering the assassination of qassem soleimani, iran's top general have the assassination, a lot of my sources believe by israel, of the top nuclear scientist and the extent to which the united states cooperated with that, provided intelligence, if at all, is unknown but the iranians will assume that happened. we can almost be sure there will be some kind of significant response from iran. and there is a lot of worry on the biden team that donald trump will order some kind of kinetic action against iran in the final days of his presidency which would really complicate biden's wish to get back in the nuclear deal. this move may in fact be a setback for iran's covert attempts to perfect its nuclear weapons program. they say they don't have a weapons program but this scientist, u.s. officials believe, was working on one. and since they left the nuclear deal, their breakout time has reduced from one year to three or four months, u.s. officials believe. but it's incredibly destabilizing and could send things in a very bad direction at a time when joe bide

he probably would have said the same thing about killing qassem soleimani. >> that's pretty extraordinarythe united states. they've proven that. they've blown up our embassies, they've killed our soldiers in iraq, they've killed thousands of us in 40 years, but they're not an existential threat. nuclear weapons in their hands with ballistic missiles and the continuous and repeated threat to destroy the astronaut of israel, iran is an existential threat to the survival of of israel. that is why their determination and resolve is so different, and i'm stunned that a former cia director would not recognize this level of intensity and determination for what it really is, is to protect the security of the israeli people. pete: he knows better, and he knows it. general jack keane, thank you very much for your time. we appreciate it. >> good talking to you, pete. happy sunday. pete: always great talking to you. still ahead, pennsylvania's high court dismissing a case against the is state's mail-in ballots. sean parnell is part of that lawsuit, he was a candidate from 020, and he -- 2020, and he

iranians have seen, as you pointed out, that president trump is willing to act as he did with qassem soleimani attack on the u.s. bases in iraq and the u.s. embassy in iraq. you bring up the iran nuclear deal, which certainly has israel's attention and saudi arabia's attention. joe biden talking about trying to reenter some form of it certainly is not that well with either of those allies. take a listen to the saudi ambassador to the u.n. just last week. >> the iran nuclear deal has proven its failure to the entire world. i don't think that anybody is going to be naive enough to go back to the same deal. if there is a new deal in which saudi arabia is involved in the discussion, and which covers the shortcomings of the previous, such as behavior in the region, the issue of missiles, the supply of rules, so forth, we will be all for it. >> leland: this probably brings up a larger issue. like it or not, agree with it or not, president trump really remade american foreign policy in the middle east and blew up, so to speak, so many of the precept of norms that president obama believed in and put i

soleimani is gone. the iranian general qassem so the money is gone. you might have also heard in a daring raid, u.s.s rescued an american taken captive in niger. as the pentagon announced on saturday, that america is home safe and no u.s. personnel were injured in the operation. [applause] you know, the armed forces of the united states are the greatest force for good in the world. of the and we are going to make the strongest military in the world stronger still, with four more years! [cheers and applause] it has been about standing with our military and families. it is also about standing with you who have worn the uniform. when joe biden was vice ofsident, america saw years scandal that shocked the conscience of our nation at the v.a. you all remember we literally had veterans, dying on waiting in local va care hospital's. but under president trump, those days are over. we passed the most sweeping reform at the v.a. in 50 years. veteran's choice is now available for every veteran in america. [cheers and applause] support for our military, for for our veterans, it's one more reason why we need pen