Trump claims U.S. saved many lives by killing Iranian general; Officials: U.S. Intel shows Iran moving military equipment; U.S. Forces on high alert for possible Iranian drone attacks; McConnell: I have the votes to set impeachment trial rules;

The Lead with Jake Tapper

CNN

News

3.5 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2020

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Esper: U.S. not looking to start a war but "prepared to finish one"; Now: WH Officials briefing top Dem, GOP leaders on Iran strike; Trump on threat to hit Iranian cultural sites: "I like to obey the law"; Defense Secy Esper: Soleimani was planning to carry out attack within "days"; U.S. Intel shows Iran moving military equipment, including drones and missiles, over last few days; McConnell has the votes to set impeachment trial rules, could mean no witnesses testify; Sources: Bolton's statement on testifying sent WH scrambling; Sources: Pelosi hasn't told close allies her impeachment plan; McConnell has the votes to start impeachment trial without witnesses, despite Bolton's willingness to talk; GOP Senator: Dems should be careful about wanting witnesses; McConnell has the votes to start impeachment trial without witnesses, despite Bolton's willingness to talk; Sen. Roberts: No reason Bolton can't say something right now; Biden hits Trump in Foreign Policy speech for tweets, threats & tantrums; Biden hits Trump over Iran strike as other Dems point to Biden's Iraq war vote; Back-to-back earthquakes trigger blackouts and widespread damage in Puerto Rico;To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It depends on what your definition of imminent is. The lead starts right now.
0:07.0	Right now, the Trump administration about to brief congressional leaders on the intelligence behind the president's decision to kill the top
0:16.0	military leader of Iran.
0:17.8	As President Trump minutes ago said, Solomani was in Iraq on quote, bad also breaking today majority leader McConnell says he has the votes to set the rules for president Trump's impeachment trial does that mean the public will not hear from John Bolton even if Bolton seems to want to testify?
0:37.0	Plus, double disaster, Puerto Rico dealing with the aftermath of the most destructive earthquakes to hit the island possibly in a century
0:46.6	and now questions about what is being done to help the people who are still struggling
0:51.6	after Hurricane Maria.
0:53.0	Welcome to the lead, I'm Jake Tapper and we begin with breaking news in the world lead any moment,
1:02.0	Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress
1:04.8	and the heads of the Intelligence Committees, a group collectively called the gang of
1:08.4	eight, are set to be briefed by Trump administration officials on the intelligence behind what
1:14.5	President Trump claims was an imminent threat to Americans, evidence that led
1:19.1	the president to make his decision to kill Iranian general Kasam Solemani.
1:23.8	Several Democrats already briefed
1:25.8	to have expressed deep skepticism
1:27.5	about the evidence presented so far,
1:29.4	specifically on how imminent the threat was.
1:32.6	This afternoon the president defended his decision but failed to provide any actual
1:36.7	evidence.
1:39.1	We followed his path for those three days and they were not good stops. We didn't like where he was
1:44.9	stopping they were not good stops. We saved a lot of lives. We did ourselves and we did
1:48.9	a lot of countries a big favor. The call for the Trump administration to produce clear evidence of these
	...

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