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Because you were part of the national security council, i believe from 2017 to 2018. how would you actually describe how the trump administration's calculation is with iran, at least from a strategy standpoint? what are they betting on? >> sure. so, i came into the administration, or at least the national security council, in 2017 on the counterterrorism side. so, i was not part of the middle east sort of side or the team that ran the middle east strategy to include the iran strategy. but from what i recall at that time, the administration wanted to increase pressure on iran in a different way...

Circumstances where we might have to. >> as you can see at least publicly house democrats are all over the map on the subject on whether to impeach president trump or not. right now they're meeting with speaker nancy pelosi to try to get on the same page. as a practical matter, impeachment has essentially no chance of succeeding since you would need at least 20 republican senators to sign on. but does that mean it should be off the table? i want to bring in the one and only robert costa, n of "washington week" on pbs. let's talk strategy. if democrats cannot move the needle on impeachment beca...

No discussions up until this point, and now there's this briefing. how do you see this from a strategy standpoint? >> well, look, i think the democrats are in the cat bird seat. they're in a much stronger position. this is an unpopular shutdown and most americans subscribe the blame to trump, not the democrats. i think they're in a very strong position. i think all the arguments from their perspective are to wait, let the pressure increase, and cut a deal that's favorable to them. if i were a democrat, i would say the one thing i would really drive for is some kind of agreement in writing that...

Never say this kind of thing. they are already under a ton of pressure. they are waiting for this fbi reports. the president needs their vote. i think, from a strategy standpoint, do you get the country with you and lose those three votes and then end up winning in 2020 because people are so mad? or do those people, though senators come away for the fbi report. if it's clean, they have no reason not to vote for him. if the fbi report comes back and is fine. >> judge jeanine: i really believe donald trump always has both situations covered. he has the public situation covered and the political....

Nominating a conservative because it was replacing a conservative with a conservative. the stakes are higher for conservatives and liberals, republicans and democrats. what do you think about -- from a strategy standpoint for republicans, what would be the best way to get this through the chamber and do you favor getting it done before or after the mid-terms? >> justice kennedy was appointed in 1987. 31 years ago. for 31 years, justice kennedy has been at the crossroads at every decision for three decades, this is an opportunity -- what i hope the president will do is nominate a principled con...