[Brooke Baldwin, Cnn:] Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. New details coming in on the impeachment of President Donald Trump. Of course, this is the week Washington has been talking about for so long. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to turn over those articles of impeachment to the Senate within the next couple of days, which would then clear the way for the Senate to begin its historic trial. But despite the president supporting a trial just last week, and even arguing for a trial that would include the Democratic House leaders prosecuting him, he's now suddenly changing course. He's calling for the Senate to flat out dismiss the case against him. CNN's Kaitlan Collins is at the White House. And, Kaitlan, you have some new reporting about the president's impeachment defense. What do you know?
[Kaitlan Collins, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Well, Brooke, essentially, the president's defense team thought that they were not going to have this much time for prepare to prepare for the trial. But given the fact that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has taken so long to get ready to send those articles of impeachment over to the Senate, they have had a lot more time that they had initially scheduled for and thought that they were going to get. Now that the days are getting shorter and it seems like this trial is inevitable, that it's going to start any day now, they say that they're prepared to move on to this next phase. The White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, was here at the White House all weekend in meetings getting ready for this, as was President Trump, who was on a different second floor of the White House. He was inside the residence. That's when he was firing off tweets saying he wants that outright dismissal of the trial. And we're told by sources that the president spent the weekend on the phone discussing what this trial was going to look like and saying he wanted that quick dismissal, while Pat Cipollone was preparing the defense, which they do not expect is going to be any kind of an outright dismissal. Now, the questions are still going to be who exactly it is on the Hill presenting for the president. We know that Cipollone is expected to take the lead, but the president has also pushed for Jay Sekulow, his outside attorney, who was here at the White House for several days last week, to have a really big role in this. That's what he's told people, because he's confident in the way that Jay Sekulow has made arguments on television, in front of courts, and he wants him to have a big role in defending him. But, Brooke, there are still questions about other attorneys who could join the president's team. One of those is Alan Dershowitz, who we're told by multiple sources the president has pushed for to come on the team. But no final decision has been made about that yet. And, essentially, as one person described it to me, it'll be up to Dershowitz if he does join, because the president has made clear he wants him on the team, though there have been questions raised about his connections to people like Jeffrey Epstein by the president's allies, saying, maybe it's not such a good idea. Another attorney, Trey Gowdy, is someone who is not expected at this time to take any kind of a public-facing role, though he once was going to be on the president's impeachment team. He was only there for about 24 hours before they announced he couldn't join because of those federal lobbying rules for former lawmakers. If he does join, he's more likely to play a role behind the scenes in the background or on television, not exactly on Capitol Hill defending the president. And, Brooke, of course all of this comes is there are still big questions about if the House members are going to be up there defending the president, the president's most ardent defenders that he wants there. But some people like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have said, maybe it's not such a good idea to appeal to those more moderate Republican senators that they need on their side.
[Baldwin:] We will start to get some of these questions answered and see who represents whom in the coming days. Kaitlan, thank you for that. We want to pivot now to Iran. And it seems, the more time goes by, the more confusion there is about what led President Trump to authorize that drone strike that killed Iran's top general, Qasem Soleimani. Initially, President Trump said that it was an imminent threat against diplomats and military personnel. Recently, the president revealed Soleimani, responsible for hundreds of American deaths, was targeting four U.S. embassies. Throughout, President Trump's top diplomatic and intelligence officials have struggled with the specifics on what the president is pushing. Listen for yourself. This is what Defense Secretary Mark Esper said over the weekend regarding the threats on those four embassies.
[Mark Esper, U.s. Defense Secretary:] Well, the president didn't say there was a tangible he didn't cite a specific piece of evidence. What he said is he probably he believed, could have been...
[Margaret Brennan, Host, "face The Nation":] Are you saying there wasn't one?
[Esper:] I didn't see one with regard to four embassies.
[Baldwin:] And then, later, the defense secretary seemingly changed the story to CNN.
[Esper:] What the president said with regard to the four embassies is what I believe as well. And he said he believed that they probably, that they could have been targeting the embassies in the region. I believe that as well, as did other national security team members.
[Baldwin:] Brett Bruen is back with us today. He served as director of global engagement in the Obama White House. And so, Brett, how troubling is it that the administration can't seem to get the story straight?
[Brett Bruen, Former White House Director Of Global Engagement:] Yes. And with all due respect, Brooke, to the president's keen intuition and clever insights, this is about real intelligence. We're talking about the safety of American diplomats, American service men and women. This isn't about making bets or beliefs. We have got to get back to a place where we're dealing with facts and real information. And I think it's concerning that the president has played so fast and loose with the truth on this.
[Baldwin:] Your own experience, Brett. I mean, I was reading your piece over the weekend. You were this diplomat in the Middle, East Africa, Latin America for 12 years. You know what it's like to be posted to countries in crisis. Can you just tell me a little bit more about that, experiencing being shot at firsthand?
[Bruen:] Well, I can share with the audience that, when we talk about threats against American embassies, it actually has a very real impact on diplomats and their families, how they move around between work and home and go out too. The president just putting this out there, as though there are serious, imminent threats against our diplomats, has a real psychological effect on those serving in countries abroad.
[Baldwin:] We have more to talk about. Let me hit pause on this conversation for now. Brett Bruen, stand by. Want to get to some breaking news on a tragedy we covered extensively last month. Just in the last hour, the U.S. attorney general, Bill Barr, and the FBI announced that a deadly December shooting at the Pensacola Naval Station was in fact an act of terrorism. A Saudi Air Force 2nd lieutenant killed those three American sailors in the shooting spree before he was shot and killed. The gunman had been participating in a flight training program at the Florida military base. And investigators say they were able to uncover several instances of extremist behavior online by this individual and evidence. The suspect even visited 911 Memorial here in New York ahead of his shooting spree.
[William Barr, U.s. Attorney General:] This was an act of terrorism. The evidence shows that the shooter was motivated by jihadist ideology. During the course of the investigation, we learned that the shooter posted a message on September 11 of this year stating, "The countdown has begun." During the Thanksgiving weekend, he then visited the 911 Memorial in New York City. He also posted other anti-American, anti-Israeli and jihadi messages on social media, including two hours before his attack.
[Baldwin:] Let's go straight to Jessica Schneider. She's at the Justice Department. And the obvious question is, would any of this have popped up during the vetting process?
[Jessica Schneider, Cnn Justice Correspondent:] That is something that the Pentagon is now looking at. They announced these renewed vetting procedures, enhanced vetting procedures in the wake of this December 6 attack that killed three U.S. soldiers. So the attorney general was asked about that. Was anything were there any red flags about this particular Saudi national? The attorney general didn't reveal that there were any red flags, but we now know that this is something that the Pentagon is looking at, because there are thousands of these international students who are at U.S. military bases around the country working side by side with Americans. So the attorney general really laying out all of the findings here, really publicly for the first time, concluding that this was an act of terror. And it turns out, Brooke, there were a lot of signs that weren't immediately seized upon, the fact that this Saudi national visited the 911 Memorial over Thanksgiving weekend, posted anti-American messages on social media, including one two hours before the attack. So, as a result of this broad review here, Brooke, it not only about the motivations by this gunman, but the attorney general announcing today that the U.S. is expelling 21 Saudi nationals who have found to have had some tie to extremist ideology. Also, some have come in contact with child pornography. So those 21 will be expelled immediately. But the review continues, as well as those heightened vetting procedures by the Pentagon for those thousands of others who are here in this country Brooke.
[Baldwin:] Jessica, thank you for the update, Jessica Schneider in Washington. Still ahead here on CNN, Senator Bernie Sanders on the defensive after sources tell CNN that, back in 2018, he told Senator Elizabeth Warren that a woman can't win the election. We will have a member of the Sanders campaign join us live. And the queen issues a statement after the royal family holds this emergency meeting today, a meeting Meghan Markle didn't actually physically show up to. She called in. Why did she do that? What does that say? We have those details ahead. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We will be right back.