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How'd that work out? and how'd going into iraq work out? so we have a disagreement on that. and, you know, there's plenty of time to do some dastardly things. >> joining me to talk about it, fareed zakaria, cnn host of "fareed zakaria gps." certainly, i guess you could say mixed messages from the secretary of state and the president. and it's so fascinating, because we're really seeing you know, just by the president's often tough talk, there is a real streak of not wanting to -- you know, it's an understandable position, not wanting to get involved in another iraq, another conflict in the mid...

Don't agree this should be dealt with outside, that betrays the whole purpose of having a whistle-blower. imagine this whistle-blower right now is thinking to themselves, all the protections that i have, the whistle-blower protections that i have by law, are now at risk because the boss decided lawlessly to stop this from happening. so at some level, it's pretty simple, anderson. >> so let me just clarify that. because this is interesting -- this is a real key point. you're saying under law, if the inspector general has forwarded this whistle-blower complaint, has deemed it of urgent concern, ...

>> david, how much of this is also the governor newsome getting underneath the president's skin? >> well, i'm sure there's some of that. i think what maggie said makes great sense. you know, that was an assault on the president, the demand for his tax returns. but i do think this serves his larger political project. you know, california is a symbol of liberalism and he wants to make the case that, you know, out of control liberalism is what he is fighting and, you know, the homeless problem. you know, he didn't -- he really wasn't talking about solving the problem. he really went to exploit it...

Now, whether it implicates the president, whether it actually is a substantive legal, important issue, you know, we don't know that for sure. but this is not a frivolous issue. >> but, jeff, couldn't it be a personnel matter, a sexual harassment matter of people who were working in the intelligence community? >> absolutely. it could be something that is very specific to one person, not something that is, you know, related to policy. but it also, you know, given what the dni has said, director of intelligence, it does appear to involve someone very high ranking, someone with a privilege, someon...

Head headening an agency. they're overseeing the coordination of the intelligence community. >> right. but, you know, the dni is subject to senate confirmation. so, you know, the only person technically he reports to is the president. i mean, if you want to be literal, i believe, on an organizational chart, the only person above him is the president of the united states. >> asha, what about the rationale for not turning over the complaint, that it doesn't meet the definition of being an urgent concern, that it doesn't actually involve an intelligence activity or somebody in the intelligence co...