Mattis Question News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Shan wu. let's get to white lawyers instructing a witness not to answer any question because of executive privilege. >> it's like qualified immunity, if they're acting in the scope of their jobs. it's testing the boundary here, they're being very aggressive. there's a three-tier defense, one is absolute, meaning they can't be compelled to talk, period. second, they can go to the more traditional executive privilege. and third is hope hicks saying i don't remember. the last quote you just played from her, they should have objected to that. so they're obviously just cherry picking when to allow ...

A vat of butane, we're told, exploded. you could feel it in southern new jersey, delaware county, pennsylvania. another kind of reminder of the global nature of the oil market and this refinery clearly adding to some of the worries here, jim. >> no question. christine romans, thanks very much. we're start to get some reaction from republicans on the president's decision to pull back with minutes to go on the strike in iranian. cnn correspondent jamie gangel is getting more details. comparisons to obama's red line on syria according to some republicans. >> right. some republicans, pick one sh...

The other possibility is, if you're told there are going to be a lot of deaths, one senior republican who has worked in past administrations in situations like this said to me, so go back and let's ask for a target where there would be fewer potential, you know, fatalities. >> that's the thing, typically there's a menu of options ranging from more to less aggressive. >> exactly. >> tell us about this administration here, who to your understanding is pushing for a more aggressive stance -- folks are talking about john bolton -- and who is holding back. who in the pentagon has credibility to hav...

That can shoot cruise missiles in the vicinity, and they were in the vicinity, as always, last night. there are aircraft capable of dropping bombs always on station. so, you know, the military would have in fact been ready to go, awaiting that final presidential thumbs up, because that's basically how they operate. they don't go from a cold start. they have everything in place, ready to go, ready to execute any time any president gives the final thumbs-up. the interesting question is did the president take a final additional look at all of this and is that when he made the decision he just was...

And i'm assuming that the pentagon was on the same page, but we don't know exactly that. but what do we know about the pentagon? acting secretary of defense. a new acting secretary of defense. when you don't have a figure like mattis who is a strong figure, it is a point, and some republicans have said to me that they're concerned that iran took this opportunity because they see that this is a vulnerable point in time, because of all of these actings throughout the administration. >> understood. jamie, always good to hear the view from your very well-sourced view. great to have you on the prog...