Rachel Maddow

It's very tightly constrained so that we can see it, but are also held a little bit at a remove.

Do you think those kinds of restrictions

are appropriate given the sort of purpose of us being able to see this that you were just describing.

Yeah, made very, very real by these images we've just had tonight.

Colonel Jack, it is always an honor to have you with us whenever you can have time to be here, especially on a night like this.

I appreciate you being here, sir.

All right, that dignified transfer, again, for Sergeant Benjamin N. Pennington, 26 years old, of Glendale, Kentucky.

We'll be right back.

Stay with us.

The classified report by the National Intelligence Council, quote, found that even a large-scale assault on Iran, launched by the United States, would be unlikely to oust the Islamic Republic's entrenched military and clerical establishment.

Unlikely to oust the Islamic Republic's regime.

a sobering assessment as the Trump administration raises the specter of an extended military campaign.

The findings were confirmed to the Washington Post by three people familiar with the report's contents.

They raised doubts about President Trump's declared plan to, quote, clean out Iran's leadership structure and install a ruler of his choosing.

So this is a Trump administration intelligence product.

This is an analysis produced for Donald Trump by the National Intelligence Council, which is veteran intelligence analysts who are in charge of crafting intelligence assessments for all 18 of the U.S.

government's 18 different intelligence agencies.

And the National Intelligence Council has advised, the Trump administration has advised the White House that even a large-scale assault on Iran launched by the United States will not be likely to oust Iran's regime.

Why are we doing this anyway?

Joining us now is Congressman Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut.