Good day, everyone. A very busy morning on the sunday talk shows. Tensions with iran dock nament t dominate the discussions. The president made the right decision. We will reduce risk. I think general milley said, is there risk of attack, of course there is. We are doing everything we can to take that down and protect american lives. I accept there was a threat. The question of how imminent is something that i need more information on. We need answers on whether this is part of a meaningful strategy, what choices were offered to the president and why he believed this was the best choice. The intelligence assessment made clear that no action, allowing soleimani to continue his planning, his terror campaign, was more risk than taking the action we took. We learned the hard way in iraq, in the iraq war, that administrations sometimes manipulate and cherry pick intelligence to further their political goals. This dramatic escalation is putting americans at greater risk. I really worry that the actions the president took will get us into what he calls another endless war in the middle east. We will have the latest on the showdown with iran ahead. First, an update to the breaking news near pittsburgh where at least five people are dead, around 60 have been hurt after a crash, enormous on the pennsylvania turnpike. A tour pusbus and two tractortrailers and several cars. It happened near mount pleasant, pennsylvania, southeast of pittsburgh. Gabe gutierrez is joining me with more. We heard from police a few minutes ago. Can you give us an update why this happened . Reporter yeah. This is a devastating crash as you saw from the images, includes several vehicles, three tractortrailers. You see the tour bus there as well as one other passenger vehicle. The new developments that we just heard from pennsylvania authorities is that five people have been killed, about 60 have been taken to the hospital. Several have been treated and released. We just learned that this was a tour bus that was heading from new jersey to ohio. This crash happened just before 4 00 this morning. The National Transportation safety board investigators are on their way to the scene. Were told by authorities that the people in the tour bus, included a lot of japanese and spanish speakers. Many of the people in the bus were from outside the country. Thats proven a little difficult to communicate exactly what happened leading up to the crash. Authorities do say that around the time of the crash, they were told by some of the passengers that the weather started to deteriorate. They dont know exactly what role that played in the crash. If you have been in this part of pennsylvania, you know its extremely mountainous. Theres a lot of steep hills in the area. Were told that that tour bus was coming down one of the hills and somehow ended up on an embankment. Its unclear exactly how big of a role weather played in this crash. Thats something that ntsb investigators will take a look at. We under the red cross is on the scene at several of the hospitals where those victims were taken. Five people unfortunately have been killed in this crash. About 60 were taken to the hospital. Some of those have already been treated and released. This investigation still very much underway. Absolutely a tragedy along the pennsylvania turnpike. Were you given any indication how long this 86mile stretch of the turnpike will be shut down . Reporter no. They havent been able to reach some of the victims, unfortunately. As you know in these investigations, they need to reconstruct the entire scene. It happened on the westbound lanes, but some debris ended up in the eastbound lanes. That area will be shut down for a while according to authorities. Its about 40 miles southeast of pittsburgh, near the West Virginia border. A mountainous, rural area. At 4 00 a. M. This morning, with all that there was deteriorating weather, visibility could be low. Thats something investigators will look at. Gabe gutierrez, thank you for that. Lets go to breaking news on the world stage. Tensions between the u. S. And iran intensify. Mike pompeo this morning doing a full ginsburg, appearing on all the talk shows, defending the administrations decision to kill a top iranian general. The Senior Leadership had access to all of the intelligence. There was no skepticism. General milley said we would have been cull culpable if we didnt take this action. New reaction from the democrats with skepticism and concern over the consequences. I think we learned the hard way, chris, in iraq, in the iraq war, that administrations sometimes manipulate and cherry pick intelligence to further their political goals. They have an obligation to present the evidence. They did not notify the gang of eight. The one opportunity they had just two days ago to brief senior staff at the top secret level, they provided no evidence to support their claim of an imminent threat. Taking out soleimani, it may have shortterm benefit. Smartness in terms of in the region with our allies and bringing along the American People, i think the jury is really out on that. We have a lot to go over this hour with hans nichols and Richard Engel. Lets begin with you hans in florida. What are we hearing from the Administration Today . Reporter the administration is doubling down on this idea that they needed to reestablish deterrents in the region. Mike pompeo did that on all five talk shows as you mentioned, with slightly softer rhetoric. His tone was different than the president s tweets last night. The message is the same. If iran strikes, if iran retaliates and tries to avenge the death of soleimani, there will be a robust response. They are still justifying this. Publically, pompeo is saying this was retribution for the things soleimani had done in the past. But also trying to stop an imminent threat. They do appear to be prepared to share some of their intelligence on capitol hill. Have a listen to how pompeo put it. President trump was right in what he said. So was i. We will share all the intelligence we can. I was the cia director for a little while. There are tlihings we cannot ma public about what we know and what we know today about the continuing activity. General milley said we would have been negligent if they went go after soleimani when we had the opportunity. Reporter theres a certain level of trust that needs to be established, on sharing sensitive intelligence and making the case. Its going to be behind closed doors as the secretary of state is suggesting. This comes ahead of a week where we could have some movement on an impeachment trial. The same time the senate could be impeaching the president or having a trial, there could be this question of just how solid the intelligence was thats clearly escalating tensions in the region. Hans, thank you for that update. Heated rhetoric getting even hotter in the middle east. In beirut, the chief of hezbollah said today that the killing of soleimani was a crime. He also declared that americas military in the middle east are fair targets. In baghdad, the Iraqi Parliament passed a nonbinding resolution to expel u. S. Troops from the country. In tehran, elected officials earlier broke into chants of death to america. They were at a special parliamentary session called to discuss the u. S. Air strike. Iranian officials are meeting to further scale back irans obligations under the nuclear agreement. They left the door off to resuming talks after iran pays off the u. S. , in other words, takes revenge for soleimanis killing. Lets turn now to Richard Engel in iraq. I understand you have news to update us on with regard to the parliament thats passed the resolution telling the government you gotta end the presence of foreign troops there . Reporter no, i think its more about you made a brief reference to it in the introduction. You mentioned hezbollah. I was just listening to the speech by the leader of hezbollah. He was giving an indication of how the shia militia groups across the region want to respond. In a lengthy address, at times impassionate, he said that the appropriate response to the killing of soleimani is not to attack americans in the region, not to attack the American People, not to attack american professionals working in the middle east, but to kick out american troops from the region. He said he would be the most powerful to rise up to have an uprising to turn their aggression, turn their weapons, their energy against american forces. He specifically mentioned american bases. He mentioned american ships. He said that is the appropriate response to the appropriate vengeance for the death of soleimani. That came just as the shia members of the Iraqi Parliament, several of them, many of them supporters of hezbollah, took this resolution, voted in the same vein to call on their government to kick out american forces. I think were starting to see how this network that soleimani bime built, supported, how they want to respond. They are calling for actions to push out american forces. That could be a dramatic step, a violent step. Any american troops who served here in iraq will know that the shia militia groups in lebanon, in this country are a force to be reckoned with. Absolutely. As you talk about the statements here, when you look at the area where the United States has a presence you mentioned ships. Persian gulf, strait, destroyers, warships, is this what he was meaning . Reporter he was calling for the entire network of supporters of iran, of soleimani, which has presence in afghanistan, yemen, there is also presence in bahrain where the fifth fleet is located, specifically syria, lebanon, iraq and iran itself. Quite a large area in the middle east, mostly radiating around iraq. But that was the force, this Informal Alliance of shia powers that he said now must take on the responsibility and rise up to drive out american forces. Yes, the straits and the u. S. Fifth fleet in the middle of that and u. S. Presence in bases in afghanistan, in iraq, u. S. Le. He said now it is the duty not to focus on attacking american civilians or american interests. He didnt mention diplomatic interests. He mentioned kicking the u. S. Military out, the same people, the same military that attacked and killed soleimani and an iraqi shia militia leader with him. Thank you so much. Lets go to irans capital city of tehran. Do you have anything more to add to what richard said with regard to the statements at the general soleimani memorial . Reporter there are some things. Theres been some major developments while i was waiting to come on air with you. We were talking about the nuclear deal and the fifth step iran was going to take. There was an official iranian government announcement saying iran is taking its fifth and final steps. Its going to completely shed its commitment to the nuclear deal. Its not going to abide by any restrictions on uranium enrichment, centrifuges or on research and development. Saying theyre not going to abide by any of the restrictions of the jcpoa, which is otherwise known as the iran nuclear deal. Which is a major development. We have to see how European Countries respond to that. Obviously, america is no longer a part of that deal. The europeans have been trying desperately to salvage that deal. I think its going to be very hard for them to abide by it now once iran has shed all of its commitments to it. In response to all of this ongoing tension and fiery rhetoric thats going on, former head of the irgc, who also sits on the expediency counsel here, a body that makes decisions here in iran, tweeted out that iran is going to strike militarily against the United States to avenge soleimanis death. If there is any reaction to that strike by the United States, iran will level tel aviv. They see israel in complicit in everything going on. So they made a very huge threat towards israel as well if there is any retribution for the attack that they want to launch to avenge soleimanis death. The head of Irans National Security council said that there is going to be a military strike against the United States. Its not going to be just limited to military strikes. That could mean cyber as well as choking off the flow of oil in this region. Is there an accurate sense of how far developed the Nuclear Program is there within iran . Reporter alex, they have gotten very far in the Nuclear Program. And thats why there was such a desperate scramble in the obama era to make a deal with iran. You may be a fan of that deal or you may not be a fan of that deal. But the reality was that that was an indication of how advanced iran was on the Nuclear Program. I think its fair to say that iran had mastered the nuclear cycle. They dont have a nuclear bomb, but they have almost certainly have the know how and could go into production in a relatively short period of time providing all those elements come together. So it is a pretty advanced Nuclear Program. And thats why so many world powers gathered together over in the obama period over a twoyear period and had those intense talks with iran, because there was a fear of a breakout capability from iran. Yes, it is an advanced Nuclear Program. They do seem to have mastered the nuclear cycle. Very sobering comments from you with that reporting. Thank you so much. We will go to california representative susan davis, a democratic member of the House Armed Services committee. Welcome. Pretty heavy discussion to get into, but may i ask you, just your reaction as you hear the reporting from my two most recent nbc news correspondents, that essentially according to ali in tehran, that iran has said, were going to withdraw from all aspects of the nuclear deal, which the u. S. Has done as well, in addition that the head of hezbollah, he has said, go out and attack American Military targets. This is what he is asking for in the region. Its sobering to say the least. What is your reaction . Extremely sobering, alex. Im sitting here and listening to that. About as harsh a rhetoric i think as we could expect. I think what that means is that the American People need to be prepared, they need to be told whats going on through their representatives as well as through the reporting. There certainly is a real need now i know that we are all anxious to get back to washington. And i can assure you and others that we will be smepending a tremendous amount of time, amount of focus on this, in addition to many, many other issues that we have been dealing with. Talk about a full plate as you kick off 2020. It is really a full plate. Lets talk about the trump administration, which has been saying that an imminent threat forced the u. S. To launch that strike against general soleimani. Lets take a listen to secretary of state mike pompeos latest defense of that decision. Was the justification in that he has been this destabilizing force for so long or was the justification this imminent threat . Its never one thing. You have been at this a long time. The American People are smart. Its never one moment. Its never one instance. Its a collective. Its a full Situational Awareness of risk and analysis. I am confident and the Intelligence Community presented us facts that made clear the risk from doing nothing exceeded taking the action we took. We made the right decision. You have said you are eager to get back to washington to find out the answers, the reasons for this particular strike. What you heard there from secretary of state, does that explain well enough to you what exactly an imminent threat was . Not at all. I think the secretary was really trying to not answer the question. I can understand that at this particular moment. As we return and as the different committees that have jurisdiction over this as well as the entire Congress Becomes engaged and very involved, we expect answers. We expect answers for the American People. They need to know whats going on. What i have felt and i was in the congress on 9 11 and also as we went into iraq. If you cant answer the what comes next question, then you really have no business moving forward. I understand that they had a risk calculus here. The military always does. They should. But its clear to me that there are likely a number of issues that were not raised or certainly not resolved. Theres a lot there that they are spewing in terms of what we can expect. I certainly hope that that does not come about. We need to be sure it doesnt. I know your democratic colleague, that being senator chris murphy, stressed the importance of Congress Role in military decisions just like this. Lets listen to what he had to say. When President Trump came into office, he set into motion a series of blind he is can esc matters that have us on the precipice of war. If he is contemplating taking action against a broad set of threats to the american public, then he has the responsibility to come to congress. Do you agree with that . Im assuming you do. What do you and your fellow members have in your pocket to ensure Congress Gets properly informed . Certainly, a series of hearings that are i know are being scheduled. I think also we need to realize the role of the iran nuclear deal. Clearly iranian enrichment is going to be going on now and did not have to be. There are inspections. We dont have the information that we would have had had we still been in that deal. The International Community, of course, plays in a role in that as well. What i find very troubling is that this International Community had been involved in this. We had been at the table. They have their contacts as well as we do. We dont have that interaction anymore. That leaves us in a very vulnerable position. In terms of vulnerability, the u. S. Bracing for the retaliation. Dhs issued an advisory system bulletin. Theres no information regarding a specific threat, it is pointing out