Leaders promise forceful revenge. Its all unfolding as Democratic Leaders in congress are demanding an immediate briefing from the Trump Administration on its next steps. Lets get to our team opinion nbc news correspondents covering all the angles on this breaking story. Hans nichols is with the president in florida, Courtney Kube at the pentagon and matt bradley following developments from london. Hans, whats the latest were hearing from the white house . Reporter geoff, a couple new developments this hour. Number one, the president is answering this criticism at least through the retweet that he didnt read in congressional leaders and suggested they might have tipped off the iranians. Hes not directly saying, but suggested they werent informed for the same reason Congressional Democrats were informed. Quite an explosive allegation. We also have the president seem to be opening up a new front hinting the the government in bagdad, the government in iraq that the u. S. Pays billions of dollars, been there a long time, almost a warning not to take any action. Theres been some reporting about having a bill in parliament and iraq to have the u. S. Troops leave. Finally you have the actual legal justification. Secretary of state mike pompeo saying this was clearly the doctrine of pre emery selfdefense. Have a listen to how he put it. The American People should know that President Trumps decision to remove Qasem Soleimani from the battlefield saved american lives. This is a man who has put american lives at risk for an awfully long time. Last night was the time we needed to strike to make sure this imminent attack that he was working actively was disrupted. A specific target overseas . Im not going to say anything more about the nature of the attack. This was not just in iraq. It was throughout the region. Reporter one of the slight inconsistencies were hearing is america is safer. The french clearly disagree. At the same time theyre urging americans in certain embassies to take different precautions. Well see to what extent they reconcile that. Just briefly, pompeo also spoke with the president in afghanistan and wanted assurances from him that u. S. Forces there who are always on a heightened alert posture, but they also remain safe. Courtney, the pentagon is laying out what it says is its legal and National Security rationale for this strike. Whats the explanation from the Defense Department about the urgency of this operation . Reporter thats right. As hans just said, secretary of state mike pompeo laid this out this morning. Actually the first justification came in a written statement from the pentagon from secretary of defense mark esper. We have a little bit of the statement here, where he talked about how there was the potential for immediate threats and that this was deterring future iranian threats. He said general soleimani was actively developing plans to attack american diplomats and Service Members in iraq and throughout the region. The strike was aimed at deterring future iranian attack plans. The u. S. Will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and interests wherever they are in the world. U. S. Officials i spoke with as this was all breaking last night said that Qasem Soleimani, there was no heartburn or concern about the legal justification for this strike. They said he had a history of past, present and future attack plans against the u. S. , iraqis and allies there in iraq and throughout the region, that that was part of this legal justification. Secretary of defense mark esper actually gave us a bit of a preview of this, so to speak, yesterday morning when he gaggled off camera but on the record with the press corps yesterday morning. The briefing was supposed to be about the situation in iraq, the protests in the embassy and attempts to overthrow it earlier this week and the strikes the u. S. Took against the iranianbacked militia over the weekend. Secretary esper said there was concern there would be continuing strikes by these militia groups there and the u. S. Would retain the right of preempti preemption. If they had any indications that u. S. Or our allies were under threat, the u. S. Military would take action to stop any kind of an attack. That is what the pentagon is saying happened here. That they had specific intelligence or information that Qasem Soleimani was planning future or current attacks, but we have no indication yet of what those could have been, geoff. Lets talk next steps here. What are your sources at the pentagon telling you about howe they are preparing for this promised retaliation from iran . Reporter so immediately as soon as this started breaking last night, i was talking to people in bagdad and throughout the region. They said they immediately started monitoring what they call the threat streams throughout the area. Obviously the u. S. Military, u. S. Intelligence are always doing this. This is various ways they gather information and intelligence about potential threats. But it was at a heightened state of alertness. They were watching a little more kafrlly than they even normally would, specifically in iraq. There are constant potential threats and chatter coming in against u. S. Military, against diplomatic posts in iraq and in the region, but they were i would say it was a heightened stated of concern about the potential for these as opposed to how they were normally watching any kind of potential for attacks or threats to u. S. Forces and diplomats there in the area. Matt bradley, what can we expect in terms of shortterm reaction at least on the ground there in the region . Reporter a lot of the shortterm reactions, geoff, theyve already been coming in and coming in fast and furious. This is a paradigm shift. Weve been seeing tweets from obviously furious senior officials, pledging what they call severe revenge, that from ayatollah khamenei. Killing soleimani was a danger in iran. It has its collective back up. Its economy is tanking and facing tren ous protests against its influence in lebanon, iraq, saudi arabia, yemen, syria and even at home in iran. Remember the violent protests a couple months ago. The ayatollahs will need to demonstrate to the iranian public they can do the one thing that has always justified their existence and their revolutionary agenda, which is they can stand up to the u. S. And israel. But the reasons for irans defensive posture, the reasons their back are up, is the very same reason they probably wont be able to sustain a muscular military response. Quickly, whats the word, the Immediate Reaction from middle east leaders . What are they saying . We heard from israels leader. They say this was justified because it was in response to an attack by the iranians on the United States. The head of the Iranian Revolutionary guard corps was seen weeping on television when he announced soleimanis death. Once we see the rest of the region coming in and weighing in on what this means, theres not a whole lot of love loved for general Qasem Soleimani, especially for the countries aligned against iran. Those countries will be celebrating. Youre already seeing dancing in the streets in iraq. For those countries that relied on iran, this will be a major blow to them. Matt bradley, Courtney Kube and hans nichols. Thank you. Douglas ol man at the National Security council under president s bush and obama. And Christopher Hill former ambassador to iraq, currently at the university of denver and an msnbc diplomacy expert. Ambassador hill, i want to start with you and get your reaction to the killing of Qasem Soleimani. Well, this is a huge, huge move by the Trump Administration. It is a gamechanger. Secretary pompeo said this was in reaction to what he said was an imminent attack. When a secretary of state speaks, you should be able to take that to the bank. I sure hope that was the case here. If it isnt, if there was not an imminent threat, i think there are questions about how our government is acting, especially with respect to the congress. But turning to the region, we have to understand that iraq has gone through a very difficult time, not just in the past few years, but especially in the past few months. The militias have been stronger. They do have a real voice there, political voice. The militias had weakened after the period of 2008, 2009. Now theyre very much back in force and largely because of Qasem Soleimanis work with them and equipping them, and most importantly, paying them. I suspect the Iraqi Militia is putting aside the question of iran, theyll be loaded for bear. The big question is whether the u. S. Is going to be able to remain in iraq in fighting isis. Theres no question that Sunni Arab States do not rue the day soleimani is gone. I think theres a lot mover complexity to that in a place like iraq which is some 60 shia. Were going to have to fasten our seatbelts. Iran is not a Little Country run by warlords. Its a 4,000yearold state. Theyve got a lot of organization there and a lot of power. There i think we can definitely expect a reaction. Ambassador hill, speaking of complexities, here you have an iranian national, a Government Official killed in iraq by a u. S. Strike, apparently without iraqi permission. What kind of diplomatic quagmire does that create . Thats a tough one because already the iraqis were pretty upset about the air strikes, the air strikes in response to the rocketing of the base in which iraqi troops were injured and one American Contractor was killed, and yet the Iraqi Government was upset about the reaction to that. This is a whole other order of magnitude where someone comes in to the airport well known to the Iraqi Government, gets in a car with a bunch of iraqis and starts heading into town and then hes killed by american drone strike. This is enormous. I think iraqis who worry about their sovereignty and this is one of the big reasons why president obama ultimately decided he needs to withdraw the troops, i think this is going to be very tough when the parliament sits tomorrow, on saturday, to consider what to do next. Doug, theres a potential for a proxy war here. Iran could respond through its militias in iraq and syria. Its got hezbollah in lebanon, its got friends in yemen. The question in my mind, though, does iran want that kind of confrontation with the u. S. Right now . It would be interesting to see how they respond. Youre right. Theres a whole laundry list of ways they could respond. Rockets from lebanon into israel, attacking u. S. Assets in iraq, attacking saudi oil frk, cyberattacks against the United States. They have a lot of capabilities and a lot of ways they could respond. The question is what game do they see is going on here and whats most important . I think theres a twolevel game going on. We have this u. S. Iran confrontation. This has really come to a head in iraq as ambassador hill was referring to, the pro democracy, pro accountability, Anti Corruption and pretty much antiiran demonstrations have been going on in iraq for about 90 days. It looked like iran and their allies were about to lose power in iraq. Many of us think thats why iran decided to do the strike about a week ago, to reset the calculus inside iraq. I think this is the real battle in the confrontation between iran and the United States. What happens in iraq in the next few days, do they, as ambassador hill alluded to, for National Pride regions they have to eject u. S. Troops because of this offense to their sovereignty . What does this mean for pro democracy demonstrators . Thats the real interesting battlefield i think that we need to be focused on. One of the things the ambassador said caught my ear. He said when the secretary of state speaks, you should be able to take that to the bank. What level of trust should the American People have in this Administration Given its credibility gap and given the fact, lets not forget, this country went to war in iraq based on intelligence that was flatout wrong . Thats not the question that concerns me. The question as to whether these attacks were justified to me is a nonissue. Qasem soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis t f muhandis, an equally serious player removed from the game, if nothing else, theyre responsible for killing of 500 iraqi demonstrators in the last 90 days. We could go back a decade to the u. S. Troops killed during the iraq war. So im not concerned about the justification. The question is was this wise and prudent even given so. There are bad people doing human rights abuses all over the planet. Their deaths may be justified. It doesnt mean its politically wise to do so. Well see what happens in the coming day. I can craft a scenario where this works out well for the United States. I can craft a scenario where this goes very poorly. Well have to see how the ambiguity gets resolved. You talked about the ace symmetric response. How sophisticated is irans ability to carry out cyber warfare . Im not a cyber expect. I understand its something our cyber people take very serious. The virus we put into their nuclear program, they found it, reversed engineered it and were capable of sending it back, is my understanding. Im sure theyve developed other capabilities as well. The iranians have a lot of technical capability. Douglas ollivant, ambassador hill, good to have you here. Reckless, dangerous, tossing a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox. Thats how 2020 democrats are reacting to tpts actions in iran. Democratic leaders in congress say the president did not give them a heads up about this strike. Its raising new questions today about the president s war powers. Stay with us. When it comes to using data, everyone is different. Which is why Xfinity Mobile is a different kind of Wireless Network that lets you design your own data. Choose unlimited, shared data, or mix lines of each and switch any line, anytime. Giving you more choice and control compared to other top wireless carriers. Save up to 400 a year when you switch. Plus, unwrap 250 off a new samsung phone. Click, call or visit a store today. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is demanding the Trump Administration immediately brief congress on the air strike ordered by President Trump. As reaction pours in from congress, members on both sides were quick to condemn soleimani, but the speaker and other Democratic Leaders are taking issue with what they say was a lack of congressional oversight. In a statement Speaker Pelosi says President Trump carried out the strike without congressional authorization. Lets go to msnbc news correspondent Garrett Haake who joins me live from capitol hill. As you know, Lindsey Graham says he was briefed about this days ago, on monday, in fact, about the soleimani operation. Yet we understand the socalled gang of eight wasnt notified. Those are the eight lawmakers including nancy pelosi who have access to the most highly classified information. Theyre usually briefed by the executive branch. What is the House Speaker saying this morning about the strike . Reporter another tradition, another norm of governing not generally followed by this white house. Weve seen this happen a couple of times. Kevin mccarthy was at maralago. Pelosi put out a lengthy statement complaining about the way in which this was done. She writes this attack was carried out without an authorization for the use of military force, aumf, against iran. She says this action was taken without the consultation with congress and the full Congress Must be immediately briefed on this serious situation and the next steps under consideration by the administration including escalation and deployment of additional troops. Its worth pointing out that the full congress is still scattered around the country as we stand here and speak, geoff. Theyre not really coming back until probably monday or tuesday of next week. As is often the case here, news presents itself to us in the news of congress, our house producer ran into adam schiff and he said hes obviously back and he expects hell get a briefing today. Likewise, there are some staff back in town who expect to be briefed on this by the administration. The information is starting to come into the hands of members of congress, but not on the front end, not in advance of this attack like they would have expected, like they want. Earlier this morning it appears senators chris murphy and Richard Blumenthal wrapped up a press conference and talked about yesterdays operation. Here is part of what they had to say. It is incumbent upon the administration to come to congress and explain why they had to take this specific action in order to prevent harm to americans abroad. It is also incumbent upon the administration to come to congress to get authorization for future military action. I think its debatable whether there was legal justification for this strike. So that was senator chris murphy. Garrett, is this another one of those things thats breaking down along partisan lines . Reporter so far it has been. Murphy is g