On Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence stated on Fox News that the administration acted on credible intelligence in ordering the strike against Iranian general Qassim Suleimani — even though none of it can be shared publicly — and added that contrary to speculation, the Iranians did in fact intend to hit their target when they launched the retaliatory missiles.
The problem with that, noted CNN correspondent Dana Bash, is that President Donald Trump and many of his supporters have been trying to suggest exactly the opposite.
"I just want to talk about for one second what Vice President Mike Pence just said, Dana," said CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota. "He just said that they have the intelligence to support that Iran fired those missiles intending to kill Americans. How can we trust that what he is saying there, since they have presented none of the intelligence to the American public and many of the lawmakers who have seen it dismiss the intelligence as being woefully scant?"
"Not just that," said Bash. "I've seen reporting, including especially at CNN, that says the opposite, that what Iran was doing was ... that they intended to send a message and not to kill anybody, to de-escalate. So if they are saying that, that will be important to back up, but it's curious that he would say that because it's the opposite of the message that the president and everybody else from the administration were trying to send yesterday, which is reel it back, reel it back."
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