hello, i'm wolf blitz ser i washington. we begin with breaking news on multiple fronts. first trump is considering military action in syria in retaliation for this week's chemical attack. the president said yesterday that he now pairs the responsibility when it comes to the syria conflict. we're going to have much more on the options the president is now considering. a live report coming up from the pentagon. also the chairman of the house

intelligence committee has stepped aside from the panel's russia investigation. critics accused devin nunes of trying to provide cover for president trump's unfounded wire tap claims against president obama. the other breaking story is the show down in the u.s. senate over the neil gorsuch supreme court nomination. just a little while ago senate republicans invoked what's called the nuclear option. that allowed a simple 51 majority to break the democrat as filibuster. a source telling cnn president trump told several members of the congress that he is considering military action in response to the horrific chemical weapons attack in syria. during a news conference with jordan's king yesterday, the president called the syria attack a heinous act that changed his views on syria. >> i will tell you that attack on children yesterday had a big impact on me. big impact. that was a horrible, horrible

thing. and i've been watching it and seeing it and it doesn't get any worse than that. >> let's bring in our pentagon correspondent barbara starr and chief political correspondent dana bash. barbara, what kind of options, military options will the president have? >> wolf, the first thing to say is there's no indication just yet that the president has made that political decision to move ahead with any kind of strike in syria. but let's say that he does. there are basically two military options, two military decisions for him to make. if he wants direct retaliation for the strike against those civilians, he could decide to order limited air strikes to basically take out the air field where those aircraft came from that dropped the bombs that the u.s. believes was filled with nerve agent. but that would be a very limited option because of the second

problem. assad has a much greater capability to deliver chemical weapons. not just from fixed wing aircraft. he's got helicopters that have regularly been filled with barrel bombs. those helicopters can take off from anywhere. artillery, rockets. they have shells that can be filled with chemical agent. so he's got to first make the decision which way he wants to go limited with direct retaliation or a larger action to try and take out assad's capabilities. one of the big factors here for him will be the russian presence inside syria we are told. what the u.s. is going to be cautious about if it hits that wider set of targets, it's going to want to make sure it doesn't inadvertently hit a target where there may be russian personnel that the u.s. doesn't know. nobody's looking for a wider war here. these are some of the very complicated decisions that have kept the u.s. frankly from doing this in the past.

the question for mr. trump now, does he want to move ahead. >> it's a serious question. dana, give us a sense of what the president might need members of congress to do to get on board were he to decide to move forward with military action. >> first and foremost he would need moral support if he does something in the short term. that is why clearly our reporting shows that he is touching base with members of congress to do just that. to give a heads up that this is being seriously considered. but then this is going to unleash and launch the same kind of debate that we saw several years ago when president obama was in the white house and he was considering military action in syria. which is should the congress do something that they haven't done in years, which is pass what is known as an aumf, authorization of military force.

many members of congress, republicans and democrats, say it is time because the executive, the president, hasn't had such a thing now since back before the air strikes in afghanistan. and so that's why that is going to be clearly a conversation dp depending on how robust the president wants to be. in the short term i will tell you that i spoke with our -- given our news to one member of the armed services committee. a democrat told this senator what we were reporting and this senator, who's not exactly super hawkish, said i would support that. if it's limited, if it's focused, if it's targeted, i would support that. the buzz is already starting to kind of brew here about what that would mean and what the reaction would be from members of the united states congress. >> contingency plans being drawn up over pentagon i'm sure. there a always contingency plans

for these kind of option fist the president asks for the various options. guys, thanks very much. i want to bring in chief international correspondent. this would be a significant move for this new american president authorizing military action, precise military action presumably against various targets from the syrian regime. could this be a game changer? >> it could be. but of course we're now talking about limited moves, if any at all, and the fact that russia does occupy a big space in syria. you remember 24 hours ago when we were all on this program as donald trump spoke in the rose garden, we described his big be tart tur. he said he's completely changed on syria and assad because of this attack. he described the death and the terrible contortions and suffering the children went

through. and his administration was giving the same. whether it was the secretary of state, even rex tillerson. now you've got all sorts of conversation coming out from russia. they're trying to say look, this wasn't a deliberate attack by syria and look, please, united states, layout your strategy for syria. and assad himself has given an interview and he didn't talk about this, but he's even talking about continuing the war until there is total victory. he said we have no other option. so it's very likely that these kinds of attacks could happen again unless they are stopped. unless there is a price to be paid by assad for launching these kinds of chemical weapons. and you know that the pentagon has also confirmed that their intelligence shows that there were regime aircraft dropping bombs in that particular region at that particular time. we're not sure that they've confirmed what was in it, but the it will aircraft dropping bombs at the time that everybody

describes those chemical weapons had been dropped on that area in syria. >> as you remember, at that news conference with king abdal of jordan, the president did not mention russia at all, but in an interview he was asked the specific question what do you think it says about the role of russia in syria? his response, well, i think it's a very sad day for russia because they're alined and in this case all information points to syria that they did this. so a muted response. certainly not as victory -- he is saying it's a sad day for russia. >> that is movement. he actually hasn't said that before in those words at this time. look, the president faces two very, very dramatic foreign policy challenges. you've got weapons of mass destruction in this way having been used by the syrian regime, most people in the region believe that it was the syrian

regime and they've done it before. and you've got nuclear armed north korea which is raising its threats on a practically daily basis having conducted yet another dlballistic missile tes towards japan a day before president trump is meeting with president xi jinping in florida. these are two huge, huge issues that the west -- the united states has to deal with. the way the president deals with syria which is a more immediate issue, potentially could set the tone for the kind of message that north korea gets about what it's doing. so it's all linked. when the president of the united states makes very dramatic statements about the horror of what happened in syria, about how it's an affront to the civilized world and humanity and using the words red line himself, then it implies because the world is listening and watching that there needs to be some follow-up to that. >> thank you for joining us from

london. thanks for much. i want to bring in our global affairs analyst david rhodes and rick francona. david, you've been working your sources and you're hearing what we're reporting about the president considering some sort of military response to this brutal attack thr, this gas att against civilians including kids in syria. >> i heard from a separate member of congress than the person dana bash referenced. i heard from a separate member of congress that trump called them said. said he was considering military action in syria and he wanted to speak to secretary mattis. again, a separate member of congress saying the president told them that he is considering military action in syria. >> colonel francona, what kind of military options do you believe the president will have if he gives the go ahead for some sort of military option? >> well, what we're hearing is

that they would like to close down the operations of the syrian air force. the syrians operate out of about four or five major airfields. closing them would be not a challenge so much, but keeping them closed would be. we could shut down the airport. you want to take out the aircraft and runways, and all that. the u.s. military has plans to do this. they're very effective at it. the problem isn't can we do it. the problem is what happens after we do that. are the russians going to stand by as we do this or are they going to try and intradict any kind of missile strikes? what happens if they engage in american aircraft? these are all things that have to be factored in before you start deciding what kind of action you're going to take. i would assume in the interest of pilot safety they would try and do this with longer range missiles, tomahawks or air launch crews missiles where you could cripple a couple

airfields. that would send the message. then you have to address the political fallout with the russians. ever since september 2015 when the russians intervened in syria they have become a major player in anything we do in syria. >> and david, it's a fair point, because there are a lot of russian military personnel working with the regime of assad. if the u.s. were not necessarily to use air strikes because the syrians we believe still have a pretty robust air defense system, u.s. planes and pilots could be in danger, but if they use tomahawk crews missiles, in the process u.s. could wind up killing russians and iranians. that could cause smrfurther problems. >> exactly. i think there would be less fallout if it was an iranian adviser, but this is very

serious stuff if you are mistakenly harming a russian adviser. so it's a serious step. i think the administration would have to talk to russia about this beforehand and members of the u.s. military have been nervous about that. they've not wanted to cooperate with russia. so it's not a simple step. but as we're hearing, the president is considering it. >> quickly, colonel, how good is the syrian air defense system? >> the syrian air defense system has atrofhied over the years. the russian brought in the state of the art -- it is real an effective system. however, u.s. aircraft if we employ stealth aircraft, we could easily penetrate that, but as david said, the question is these russian advisers, and they're virtually everywhere in

the syrian armed forces. >> they certainly are. and a lot of iranian advise ares as l. guys, thanks very much. our other breaking news story right now, the senate just triggered the so-called nuclear option to break the filibuster by democrats blocking the confirmation of supreme court nominee neil gorsuch. that nomination should go forward now. plus the respect chairman of the house intelligence committee devin nunes has stepped aside temporarily in the investigation over russia's meddling in the presidential election. we have new details when we come back.

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interdi . we're back with other breaking news. the republican chairman of the house intelligence committee devin nunes has stepped aside temporarily in the investigation over russia's meddling in the presidential election. the news comes as we learn the house ethics committee is currently investigate congressman nunes. the congressman releasing this statement saying in part, and i'm quoting him now, several left wing activists groups have filed allegations against me. the charges are false and politically motivated and being leveled just as the meamerican

people are beginning to learn the truth of the unmasking identities of u.s. citizens and other abuses of power. that statement from devin nunes. i want to bring in manu raju. manu just learned that nunes actually mate with house speaker paul ryan about this decision. what else are you learning? >> that's right. they did meet. speaker ryan does support his decision to accept aside i am told. one thing ryan office and ryan himself are not saying is whether or not the speaker himself urged nunes to step aside. i tried to ask paul ryan that at the press conference earlier today and he did not respond. his office has not responded to that question either. but saying that they believe that his decision to step aside was to avoid becoming a bigger distraction on this committee. one of the reasons why he became a digger distraction was the announcement by the house ethics committee was they were

investigating devin nunes for possibly revealing classified information. it is determined to investigation these allegations in order to fulfill its institutional obligation. this comes in the aftermath of mr. nunes going to the white house, briefing the president of the united states on intelligence information that he said shows some incidental collection of trump transition communications. he also briefed the press on that as well. that's going to be the center of this investigation going forward. this decision stunned the house intelligence committee which members did not even know about this decision when they met privately with devin nunes earlier today. the top democratic on the committee adam schiff came out and said this afterwards. >> i just want to express my appreciation for what the chairman decided to do. i'm sure it was a very difficult decision for him. but as he mentioned, i think it is in the best interest of the investigation. it will i think allow us to have a fresh start moving forward. i look forward to working with

mr. conaway. this investigation is of such critical importance that we need to get fully back on track. >> now that white house is now making available those documents that both mr. shift and mr. nunes saw those documents that got chairman nunes in a difficult position about that incidental collection of information as well as whether any officials were unmasked in their identities revealed within the intelligence committee. we are told that the full committee will start to look at this information. jim hines, the member of the -- democratic member of the committee told me he's going to review it today. some signs, wolf, that this investigation could be moving forward. now that devin nunes is stepping aside. nunes not answering any questions as he bolted out of the capital and left and got on a plane for the house recess. >> the fact that the ethics committee is even investigating

a chairman of the house intelligence committee on potentially disclosing classified information, that is in and of itself pretty unusual. manu, thanks very much for that. now to the other show down we're seeing. the show down over the knneil gorsuch u.s. supreme court nomination. republicans followed through on the threat to invoke the so-called nuclear option. that means they only needed a simple majority of 51 votes instead of 60 to end the filibuster. let's bring in our political director and our chief political analyst gloria borger. this is historic. >> it is historic. it means -- let's talk about the short term. it means that in terms of future supreme court nominations, there is no going back. and, you know, this means that what we are used to in terms of bipartisan agreements on things

as prpt important as supreme co nominees will not occur. it is not a surprise given the fact that harry reed started this in 2013. it means that judges both on lower benches, on the supreme court will be more ideological. i'm not so sure that's great for the country. the question i have going forward, and i know david can talk about this, the question i have going forward is does this then mean there is a slippery slope and that the senate which is supposed to be a deliberate body then starts doing a nuclear option, say, for legislation? and then the senate becomes the house of representatives which is not a role model . >> this is the majority leader and the minority leader in the senate making their respective

cases. >> this isn't really about the nominee anyway. the opposition to this particular nominee is more about the man that nominated him and the party he represents. >> there's a reason it was dubbed a nuclear option. it's the most extreme measure with the most eck stream consequences. while i'm sure we will continue to debate what got us here, i know that in 20 or 30 or 40 years we will sadly point to today as a turning point in the history of the senate and the supreme court. >> so it does guarantee within the next day or so neil gorsuch will become a united states supreme court justice. it also sets the scene if there is is another opening in the next four years during the trump administration for a new supreme court justice.

the president could go even further to the right if he wants, if he simply needs a simple majority. >> to gloria's point, that's why we're going to have more ideological court, not just the supreme court, but throughout the whole judicial system. this nomination wasn't really changing the balance of the court. but there's no doubt when it comes to changing the balance of the court, if steven -- ruth bader ginsburg, you can imagine how donald trump not only has the ability to shape, recraft the court, but to do so in a much more conservative fashion. but this -- what happened today, i think was on an inevitable course from the moment harry reed decided to break tradition and do that. so i think there's no great -- i don't begrudge mitch mcconnell for changing the rules. what i do, and i don't mean to

sound like a fuddy duddy here, but what i learned in school growing up and the whole notion of the saucer of the senate that cools the hot passions of the house, that there were differences in these bodies, i think that if we do indeed see us going down this slippery slope and legislation sis invoked, you're going to have a very hard time. what that threshold put in place was an ability to bring people across party lines. to gather some bipartisan consensus. i think that if this new moves on to losing the filibuster of a legislation, which it might, then i think we are in a place where there is zero incentive to actually form some bipartisan consensus. that's not good for the country. >> something like medicare was passed in 1965 with buy in from both sides of the aisle. with 70 votes.

we saw what happened with obamacare when it passed with what? one vote. slim majorities don't make for great pieces of legislation. people ought to have buy in on both sides. i think we could be seeing the beginning of the end of that. >> obamacare passed with no republican support only democrats. but the democrats had the mar t majority in the house. republicans will potentially look back at this vote today and say that was a mistake. like democrats look back at harry reed's action in 2013 and say that was a mistake. >> that was a mistake. >> one says that over and over again. chuck schumer. >> thanks very, very much. coming up. take a look at. this we've got some live pictures of the chinese president, xi jinping expected to arrive in florida down in west palm beach. later today set to meet with president trump. a known china critic. these two world leaders get ready to have dinner at mar-a-lago in palm beach later

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so far this creek the crisis in north korea and syria, they're putting president trump's first foreign policy to the test and today is no exception. at any moment chinese president jinping and his wife will arrive. they will have dinner with

president trump over in mar-a-lago in palm beach. they're trying to bridge the gap in the world's most important bilateral relationship right now. president trump had this to say about the upcoming meeting. >> it's going to be very interesting. nobody really knows. we have not been treated fairly on trade for many, many years. no president's taken care of that the way they should have. we have a big problem with north korea. we're going to see what happens. >> let's get some more from our senior white house correspondent. he's already down in west bapal beach. we have a general idea whaf they' -- wh of what they'll be discussing, but give us some specifics. >> they're trying to tamp down expectations between these two leaders that might take place during this visit. this is really about getting the conversation started between president trump and president xi who should be arriving in florida in just a few moments.

one of the rapes why they're trying to lower expectations somewhat is because of so much of this tough talk and so many of these big policy disagreements between president trump and president xi. you'll recall during the campaign candidate trump said he would -- in the last week the white house did say that it's reviewing its trade relationships with countries around the world most notably with china. and so the question becomes and it's a very important international question, but also a domestic political question, will president trump follow through on some of these campaign promises and really crack down on trade with china. at this point what we're getting in terms of indication from senior administration officials is that is not likely to happen at all this week obviously. those discussions will take place on those subjects. but they have another critical issue to deal with and that is the subject of north korea. they fired off -- north korea fired off that missile earlier

this week. it was a scud missile that was a spectacular failure in the w0ors of one official. it only lasted 55 seconds, but it does underline the problem that president trump has. while he wants to hold china over a barrel on this issue of trade, he needs the chinese to deal with north korea or at least that is the conventional wisdom in washington. you heard and saw in that financial times article that came out over the weekend the president is willing to go it alone on north korea if he can't get china's help. >> that's going to be certainly very, very high on the agenda. trying to get from the u.s. perspective, trying to get the chinese to use their leverage on north korea to ease that nuclear threat. jim acosta, we're waiting for the arrival of the chinese president over at west palm beach international airport. the president should be arriving there in a couple hours as well. stand by. there's other news we're following. the fate of the next supreme

court justice is the focus on capitol hill. the republican senate, republican majority senate invoking the so-called nuclear option. plus a stark warning from the white house. a source now telling cnn president trump is considering military action in syria following that gas attack earlier in the week. energy is amazing. how we use it is only limited by our imagination. and at southern company we're building the future of energy, for you. speaker ry

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coming in from north korea as well as trade. no shortage of issues to discuss. in the meantime, we're back with the breaking news. cnn learning that president trump is weighing military action in syria in retal yaeiat for a -- joining us now republican senator of wyoming. if the president does go srd, would you support that? >> i would. i think all options have to be on the table. these are horrendous war crimes and i believe they will continue unless we do something about it. i think we lost considerable credibility a couple of years ago with the red line that was passed and turned into a green light. we need to do something. i think that should be aimed at assad's air power, his air assets, because that's what he's

using for the barrel bombing and the delivering of these chemical weapons. >> will you vote for an aumf for the use of military force in syria, specific legislation giving the president that authority to launch strikes? >> i'd want to see the specific legislation, but i am absolutely heading in that direction, because these are -- these sorts of attacks against these citizens, these crimes, heinous crimes, will continue unless someone steps in and does something. the u.n. has been unable to do anything. other nations have not stood up. russia and china have actually been a shield for asasad. i think the world sis demanding that we do that. i have great confidence in general mattis to supply the president with the right information so he can make the fiem decisio final decision. >> i know the military has vary

contingency fans. one option, air strikes. cruise missile strikes. boots on the ground, forces actually moving into syria. would you support the last option? >> i'm at a point where i'd want to make sure the crimes against humanity cease and i think one of the things we can do right now is go after assad's air assets, which is what he is using to put his -- to put him in an advantage against the people in his country. i think on the ground assad loses the efforts against him if he does not have the air assets to continue to deliver these chemical weapons that were all supposed to have been removed. >> how worried are you about the russian military personnel in syria working with the regime of bashar al-assad as well as? this could escalate dramatically if it's not done properly.

>> you're light. but i think even the russians have said that their support for assad is not unconditional. they're not willing to stand behind him no matter what he does and i think these sorts of assaults on humanity are going to continue under assad and i think that the russians were likely surprised that this happened because of what was happening on the ground in syria where assad's forces were likely to have fallen had he not gone with the chemical weapons. >> i'll show you some live pictures now of the plane carrying the chinese president. lots of issues on the agenda, burr he's the key question. will china come forward and take the necessary steps to squeeze north korea on its nuclear threat? that's what president trump has pressed for. >> i support president trump in his efforts on that. china clearly has the leverage.

90% of north korea's trading is with china, so they have significant financial influence with north korea. i think this is a very consequential weekend of the presidents of both of these countries coming together and i encourage president trump to continue to press the point. >> but if the chien knnese don'e forward and what do what the u.s. wants, the president has suggested the u.s. will take its own actions. how far would you support u.s. actions? all options on the table in north korea as well. >> we cannot allow north korea to be a nuclear super power. they have made significant advances recently in rocketry as well as nuclear material. we need to continue to prevent that. we have defensive weaponry capable in japan and south korea. we cannot allow north korea to become a nuclear power and china is really in the consequential

position to stop that. they need to be part of the solution. >> so the other big issue, trade between the u.s. and china, you've heard all of the statements that the president made as a candidate. even since then about china. let me play some clips for you. just to remind you. listen to this as we await the arrival of the chinese president. >> they think we're run by a bunch of idiots and what's going on with china is unbelievable. >> not only now have they taken our jobs and they've taken our base and they've taken our manufacturing, but now they're pulling us down with them. >> china, what they've done to us is the greatest single theft in the history of the world. >> so are these leaders going to be able to overcome statements like that as they get together for dinner tonight, more formal discussions tomorrow? >> i also have always believed that it's more important to be face-to-face, but i'm somebody that supports free trade. i want it to be fair trade.

wyoming our number one export is beef, lick -- >> senator, thanks for joining us. >> thanks, wolf. >> i want to bring back jim acosta. he's already down there in west palm beach. the chinese president, you see the plane has just handed. i don't think we can overstate how important this meeting between the presidents of china and the united states, how important this meeting will be. >> i think that's right, wolf. one of the things that was talked about in the very early days of the administration was whether or not a trade war would erupt between the u.s. and china and the only reason why such a trade war would develop is if the president decides to make good on some of these campaign promises. now, he has said throughout the campaign, and jurisprudence jyo

playing some of the highlights, he has talked about china rapping the united states and destroying jobs in the heart land in states that he carried in the november election. not only does the president face this delicate diplomatic distance in terms of what he's going to discuss with the chinese president, he also is facing this pressure and i think it's going to be mounting pressure over the coming months back in those states that he carried, those critical states that he carried like wisconsin and michigan and ohio and pennsylvania heading into the midterms and into 2020. if he does not make good on these campaign promises to crack down on trade with china, you're going to have some of these union members who peeled away from the democratic party during the 2016 campaign saying wait a minute, president trump, you said you were going to go after china on these trade practices and you didn't do it. the president does have -- he does find himself in a bit of a political box when it comes to dealing with this issue of trade. i think that is going to be very interesting moving forward.

we have been told time and again by senior administration officials that we should not expect too many dramatic developments during what is only going to be a 24 hour meeting here in florida. they obviously won't be meeting that entire 24 hours. that's the amount of time that president xi is going to be on the ground here. they went so far as to say during a background briefing earlier this week there won't even be time for golf down here. you'll recall that was something president trump did with shinzo abe earlier on in this administration. this is going to be very interesting to watch not just from a trade perspective, but the north korea issue is also a very troubling issue as well. you have that provocation from the north koreans earlier this week. the question for president trump is does he make good on this statement that he made over the weekend to the financial times that maybe we'll just go alone without china's help in dealing with north korea. that would up end foreign policy

that we've seen over the last three or four administrations that the u.s. has always relied on china as a sort of a check. the north koreans do a lot of trading and that leverage has always in that region. and so the question is, does president trump dispatch with what has been sort of a foreign policy precedent for several administrations now. >> stand by for a moment, jim. we're waiting for the arrival -- actually, the plane has landed. the chinese president is about to walk down those stairs arriving here in the united states for very important talks over at mar-a-lago, the president's estate down in palm beach. i want to bring in democratic senator bob menendez. senator, there's widespread reporting that one of the last things that president obama said to president trump was the number one national security threat facing the u.s. is north korea, the nuclear threat from

north korea. do you agree with that? >> well, certainly as we've seen north korea continue to perfect its ballistic missile technology so it can both get greater accuracy and breath and scope of its length of its projectory, then ultimately that is a real threat and this is not a conventional actor. people -- countries that have leaders with nuclear weapons, for the most part, understand the theory of mutual self-destruction which is if you fire at me, i fire at you and we both die, so people don't do that. you don't have a conventional actor and that's why this has to be at the very top of the president's agenda with the chinese president because ultimately china can do much more than it has been with north

korea. >> they are rolling out the carpet for the chinese leader. he'll be walking down the stairs momentarily. why have the chinese so far disappointed the u.s. and others and have been reluctant to take the steps that the u.s. would like to see to squeeze the north koreans and scale back the intercontinental ballistic missile tests? >> well, this is the part that's not fully understandable. the chinese themselves should be concerned about north korea with nuclear weapons at its border. look, they have been number one believing there's still more time and so they're more into some type of engagement and dialogue. secondly, they don't want to see a collapsed north korea at their border. they are concerned about what that means for them and what the

west would do if there was a collapsed north korea. of their obligation here.short - and so we need to change china's calculus that right now they feel that there's no consequence for getting north korea to end its nuclear ambitions, at least as it relates to nuclear weapons. for example, if we were to deploy more significant measures, the chinese are not going to want to see that but maybe they will say we need to get more serious about north korea. right now they think there's both time and not the type of necessity that we think -- i personally think the window is closing on us pretty quickly. >> a lot of people are deeply worried about the north korean threat. senator, stand by. we have more to discuss. we are waiting for the arrival of the chinese president. we'll continue our covers with senator menendez right after this. the disaster

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you're looking at live pictures. the chinese president xi jinping has just arrived. the u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson is there on the tarmac on the carpet which has just been rolled out to receive the chinese leader. there's going to be extensive conversations between the chinese and american president at mar-a-lago, the president's estate down in palm beach. bob menendez is still with us. so what are your expectations, realistic expectations? what positive steps potentially could emerge from these talks?

>> that's the key question. north korea has to be at the top of it. we've got to get china to act more aggressively. what's happening with the territorial developments of islands that have been mill tarrized by china in a major international shipping lane, that's a real concern. our concern with our trade relationship with china is very complicated. of course, the president as both a candidate and subsequently has talked about china's currency manipulator. what breakthroughs are going to be achieved. now, china likes the idea of dealing with president trump because they see a transactional opportunity. so i think the president can get them to change their calculus on a couple of things, particularly on the security questions because those are the most pressing and we'll see what he can accomplish. >> we see aides, the staff members from the chinese leader

walking down those stairs. we expect to see president xi jinping momentarily as well. this is an important in the -- these are the two greatest economic powers. in addition to the nuclear threat from north korea, there are plenty of other trade-related economic issues on the agenda as well. right? >> oh, absolutely. on the currency manipulation side, that's a real big issue. if you're going to manipulate your currency so that at the end of the day it makes it more difficult for american companies to compete because of what you do with your currency, that's a real consequence. looking at the consequences of intellectual property rights -- >> there they are. i'll interrupt. the president xi jinping and his wife have now just emerged from that air china aircraft and they are walking down the stairs and they'll be received by an impressive u.s. delegation, senator, including secretary of state rex tillerson who made his way down to florida to receive

the chinese leader. president trump will be down there and i suspect within an hour or so they'll have dinner tonight. so once again, i'm sorry for interrupting. i'll let you pick up your thought. >> i'm glad to see secretary tillerson at these meetings with world leaders and the president. it's important that the secretary of state be there. look, on the question of our trade relationship, intellectual property rights, this is a continuing challenge with china. and this is where america leads in the world, our creativity, our innovation from the high-tech field, from the pharma field, just to mention a few. we need to make sure when americans create things, that their intellectual property is preserved a he this he get credited financially and otherwise for those creations that are uniquely american and to have them stole in china without the ability of those protections is a major trade issue. there are many major economic

issues at stake in addition to the security questions between these two leaders. >> thanks, senator menendez, for joining us. we're going to continue our special coverage. you see the chinese president, the secretary of state of the united states and their wives. they are posing now for photos. our special coverage continues right now right here on cnn. all right. you are watching cnn. we have just even the leader of china, president xi, his wife, other dig nataries just deplane before they are swept off to president trump's club, mar-a-lago, where they will be holding talks, incredibly important conversations over the course of the next couple of days. i'm sorry, control room. talk to me one more time.