here on cnn. must-see tv. you'll have to see this very, very important. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer this the situati situation room. erin burnett out front starts right now. >> next, breaking news. the defense secretary briefing the president on military options in syria. will trump put american boots on the ground? plus steve bannon demoted, yet traveling with the president to m mar-a-lago. and legendary comedian, the king of insults. let's go out front. good evening, i'm erin burnett. we begin out front, edging toward war. president trump considering military action against syria. james mattis briefing headline his next moves. we understand all options are on the table at this hour.

as the president looks to punish syrian president bashar al assad for the brutal attack in which 100 citizens were brutally killed. as recently as last thursday, the u.s. ambassador nikki haley said "our priority is no longer getting assad out," but today an outraged trump struck a very different tone on air force one. >> i think what happened in syria is one of the truly egregious crimes and it shouldn't have happened. he's there and i guess he's running things. so something should happen. >> this is the first major foreign policy test for trump. a nals step could be catastrophic. it's happening as trump is meeting right now with the chinese. the most important diplomatic event of the trump's young presidency.

jim accoster is in palm beach. extremely high stakes for the president tonight. >> reporter: that's right, erin. president trump is in florida for what could be some tense talks with the chinese president, from trade to north korea. syria is likely to dominate his thoughts as he and his national security team are making clear syria leader's bashar al assad's day are numbered. it's a commander in chief test. he told reporters on air force 1 that bashar al assad may have to pay a price its attack on civilians. >> i think it's a disgrace to humanity. i guess he's there and i guess he's running things. so something should happen. i i think what happened in seesh ya is one of the truly egregious crimes and it shouldn't have happened and it shouldn't be happening now.

>> reporter: just before the president landed in florida for talks with president xi jinping, he ramped up the rhetoric. >> assad's role in the future is uncertain, clearly, and with the acts that he has taken it would seem that there would be no role for him to govern the syrian people. >> tillerson said the u.s. may have to live with assad in power, hinted the trump administration is now wanting regime change in syria. >> will you and president trump organize an international coalition to remove assad? >> those steps are under way. >> it's an extraordinary reversal for a president years ago advised president obama to avoid action. >> when you see little babies that are dead from gas and a very, very, you know, heinous form of gas, which very few people have access to, that's

bad stuff, bad stuff, really bad. >> some members of congress already appear to be on board for military action. >> i hope he's formulating a military response. that doesn't mean we fully engage in regime change. it can force the parties to the table and inflikts massive punishment for dropping chemical weapons on children. >> syria is just one of a number of issues for president trump. president trump wants a greater cooperation from china in trade. >> we have not been treated fairly on trade for many, many years. no president has taken care of that as they should have. we have a problem with north korea. we can't continue to allow china to rape our country, and that's what they're doing. >> the administration is no longer using that kind of tough talk as the president is hearing calls from his own party to work with china to control north korea. >> we cannot allow north korea

to be books to become a nuclear power. >> i'm not and i don't want to be the president of the world. >> reporter: now, president trump tanned chinese president are scheduled to have dinner at this hour before a whole series of meetings tomorrow. officials with the administration are downplaying any expectations of any major break-throughs between president trump and president xi as it is a 24-hour visit for president xi. the syrian events are seeping into the meetings. >> all right. thank you very much, jim acosta. of course, the breaking news here on syria. laeflts go to barbara starr live at the pentagon. you confirmed a moment ago the joint chiefs of staff have been called together. the president going to be briefed by the defense secretary. what can you tell us? >> indeed, erin. the joint chiefs in a hastily

called meeting on what may be happening by all accounts. the president has not yet made the final decision. defense secretary mattis briefing him at mar-a-lago. there's a couple of logical military options that the pentagon has long had in hand. there could be a very limited strike. perhaps against the airfields where the planes launched from that dropped those bombs, killing so many people in such a horrific atrocity. so you could take out the airfield. but that's very limited. that's not going to stop assad's helicopters, barrel bombs, tr l artillery. but those can be filled with deadly agents and be used to attack people again. do you want to take it all out? that's a pretty significant proposition for the u.s. to engage in. one of the big challenges here

is going to be where are the russian troops on the ground? the russian equipment. now the russians are all until in syria and they are at many military locations. if you want to do that big list of strikes, you're going to have to be very certain you're not striking an area where the russians are. so that will be a potentially complicating factor, but make no mistake, president trump tonight facing this fundamental commander in chief decision about whether to engage in this very significant military action. erin? >> thank you very much. incredibly significant. the world, of course, is watching. out front now, the former deputy si secretary of state tony blanken and new york times national security reporter david sanger. i want to begin with retired u.s. army general spider marks. general, obviously he's considering action. he is being briefed by the defense secretary. the joint chiefs were hastily called together for a meeting. this is not sounding like talk.

it's sounding like action. is it imminent? >> it should be imminent. it's one of many acts that have occurred before. you have to maintain some kind of momentum. there has to be political will to do something. if assad is given time to adjust to the bellicose talk, his chemicals can be dispersed. his aircrafts can be dispersed. you can increase the likelihood of having a very bad are collateral damage concern and that's when what the cheechs are looking at. you want to make this a limited strike to achieve a very limited goal and then you take it from there. it gives this administration an opportunity to respond to this. >> you're saying we're talking hours, if not days. >> we're talking days. i would say within the next 48 to 72 hours, something must occur. we have forces on station in the region and the capability exists to go after, if it's a limited

strike, to go after very precise targets. >> airfields, runways, that sort of thing? >> you want to keep the syrian aircraft and helicopters on the ground. >> general, thank you very much. david, let me go to you. this is trump's first decision about war. let's not mirnce words. that's what this is. >> it's critical because he's never made this kind of decision before. as you indicated in the run-up to this, he actually opposed taking military steps and during -- in 2013 tweeted about it, spoke about that. so what's changed now? first he's president. he's responsible for it. secondly, he's thinking through for the first time what it means for the united states to step in on a humanitarian basis. of course, whatever he does here

is going to set some form of precedent for what he would do in the future. president obama as tony can speak to better than i elected not to take this step but instead they tried to move diplomatically to get the weapons out and they succeeded. there are some in the obama administration who argued he could have done both, both taken a military step and then worked to get those out. >> of course, hillary clinton was among them. tony, let me ask you this. we're talking about a strike in probably 48, 72 hours as you heard the general say. if you're talking about airfield or chemical weapons locations that are known, those are things barack obama could have done and didn't do. do you think it's harder than trump may think? >> first, erin, i'd say this. i think we have to act. this goes beyond syria. this goes to assad gutting a norm that's been in place since the end of world war i that you don't use chemical weapons.

if we allow him to do that now with impunity, we are setting a terrible, terrible press dented. done the right way, there's the prospect that we can rattle his cage, rattle the russians, rattle the syrians. we should do it at a time and place of our choosing. ides focus on the airplanes and airfields that are responsible. we have plans in place to do that. here's the thing. we can't sugarcoatst risks. they're real. you have russians and iranians on the bases. they could be killed. you have air defenses much more prevalent than they were a few years ago. also, you'd be taking our planes and pilots, not only putting them at risk but also taking them away from the counterislamic state issue and making that more complicated. all those things need to be factored in. bhaefr we do needs to be a larger part of a strategy. >> you heard the russians are

all in, right. and they're at all sort of military locations and stations. what happens if russians are killed zm dz that mean war with russia? some have suggested that's a possibility. >> i would doubt one would go to war with russia over that, but it raises the interesting question. what is the president's responsibility to try to coordinate this first or deconflict wit the russians. he has a big moment coming up. secretary tillerson, whose view seems to have hashedened considerably in the last couple of days is supposed to be in moscow starting tuesday afternoon. he's supposed to be seeing his counterpart and president putin on wednesday. one of the big calculations they're going to have to be making at dinner tonight and through the weekend is do they act before they've had a chance to sit down with putin, which is going to be hang in the next few

days, anyway. it would make the trip harder if they act ahead of the trip and there are injuries or deaths among russians. >> tony, would trump's team notify the russians and if so, would the russians notify assad? we know putin is the reason assad is still in power. he's propping up that regime. >> this is an important question. you could take a limited focus strike targeting the airplanes and airfields responsible for this attack and then go to the russians and say there's going to be more unless you can rein this guy in now. get the planes out of the skies and get him back to the table. we want to work with youto do that. but we've got to use the moment leverage the russians. they own assad. we need to make them own this and show some responsibility in putting a stop to it. >> thank you very much. i appreciate it. to general marks as well.

up next, the trumps dining with the chinas president and first lady. and bernie sanders goes viral. millions and millions and millions more are watching his facebook show. what's on it? and jeanne moos remembering comedian don rick lgs. >> this is what you're going to hear, lady. if you're waiting for billy graham to come in and make your kid walk again, forget about it. [ ominous music ]

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tonight the man charged with leading a capitol hill investigation into russia's medaling in the 2017 election is forced to step down, at least temporarily. >> we're not going to talk about it. >> reporter: he announced he was stepping away because of ethics complaints filed against him. it was following his secret meetings on white house grounds two weeks ago. >> chairman nunes wants to make sure that this is not a distraction to a very important investigation, so he wants to clear himself while this investigation continues on without any kinds of distractions. >> reporter: in a statement, nunes called the charges "entirely false anlz politically motivated." he handed over the investigation into russian interference in the election to texas congressman mike connolly. it comes amid overwhelming criticism and concerns. today, the ranking democrat on

the committee thanked nunes for recusing himself, something nunes has resisted until today. >> i'm sure it was a difficult decision for him. but as he mentioned, i think it is in the best interest of the investigation. >> reporter: nunes has been involved in controversy since he said the information may have been incidentally collected by officials conducting surveillance. after seeing the documents, he then publicly returned to the white house the next day to brief the president. >> this is information that was brought to me that i thought the president needed to know. >> reporter: the full committee which was not privy to the same intelligence will now be able to review the documents at the nsa's headquarters in fort meade, a move that the committee says will get it back on track. >> the documents are now being made available to the full committee. i think that's a positive step as well.

>> reporter: this as some democrats, despite nunes' recusal have renewed their calls for the investigation to be handled by an independent commission. consistently, house speaker paul ryan has said he supported the role that nunes played in the investigation. we're told they spoke about the situation and ryan agreed with his decision to step away and allow congressman conaway to take over. nunes said he did not inform the members of the house intelligence committee during a meeting this morning. in fact, erin, many of them learned of his decision through press reports. erin? >> thank you. >> reporter: thank you. >> democratic congresswoman jackie spear, thank you for being with me. we've learned the full intelligence committee is going to be able to view, is going to go view the intelligence documents that devin nunes saw at the white house. have you seen them yet? >> i have not but i will be. >> are you comfortable with the

time? has there been any sort of a delay? >> no. i think we'll be able to look at the documents. let's remember that these documents are part of a wild goose chase that has nothing to do with the charge we've been given to investigating the russian intersflengs our elections and whether or not the trump campaign was in fact coordinating with the russians. >> but just to make sure i understand, do you anticipate seeing them today or over the weekend or when will you see them? >> no, i won't see them until i return to d.c. after the two-week break. >> oh, ok. so in other words, from your point of view, they're not that important, obviously? john certainly they're important on some level, but they are not critical to our investigation at this point. >> congresswoman president trump spoke about the investigation yesterday to the new york times. i know you're well aware of what he said but i want to read one part and quote. the russia story is a total hoax. there has been nothing coming out of that but what -- you

know, what various things that led into it is the story we're talking about, the susan rice. what's happened is terrible. he also said susan rice, may have committed a crime. he said he thinks she did by requesting the identity of trump associates who were incidentally swept up in legal surveillance. rice has denied any wrongdoing. do you believe her? >> i belief her but it's irrelevant whether or not i believe her. i think what's important to point out is what cia, former director michael aheaden said, what she did was legal, appropriate, and what more do we need at this point? let's be clear. the president is very quick to lash out at people and call them criminals. i mean, that, to me, speaks volumes of someone who is frankly unhinged.

the fbi and ail of the 17 intelligence committees and entities within our government has already said that they believe with very high confidence that the russians intervened in our elections. for the president to now say that the russia connection is a hoax is a lie. is just falls. he is doing himself and the american people a great disservice by fostering that kind of a position. >> now, we have made it very clear that unmasking a -- requesting to see who was actually involved in the legal surveillance is not the same thing as leaking it to the press, right. those are two different things. but here's a claim. she is responsible referring to susan rice for unmasking a summertime citizen which made that name more widely disseminated and could have been

more easily leekds by someone else. it cost him his job do you think the wall street journal has any bit of a point when it comes to the masking question? >> i think they don't have a point because my understanding of unmasking, if in fact something is unmasked, it's determined by the agency that provided the intelligence to unmask it. and it is unmasked to that specific vimd and that individual only. so it is not widely distributed across the government. you know, again, this is a wild goose chase and it is unrelated to the president es original statement on a saturday morning when he said that the president obama had wiretapped him. he accused the president of committing a crime. at some point, the president has got to recognize that when he speaks, the country and the world listens, and you cannot spew out have itry ri or rr rr

ol and maintain credibility. >> thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> now up front next. lightning rod steve bannon gets demeet moated. who's in trump's ear or is it still bannon. and some say ivanka trump is woshing against women. ...but real joyful moments are shared over the real cream in reddi-wip. ♪ reddi-wip. share the joy.

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. new tonight, steve bannon, again by the president's side after being demoted. the president's chief strategist traveling to mar-a-lago one day after being kicked off of the national security council. how much longer will bannon have the president's ear? tom foreman is out front. >> he's a man of tremendous talent and experience. >> reporter: president trump praising his new national security council. while trump's controversial advisor steve bannon is getting a demotion. >> i can run a little hot on occasions. >> reporter: for democrats, there is no greater lightning rod than the ultra conservative

bannon. some praised the move to push him from the iner circle of security. >> i think it's a positive step. he's introduced a political element there that doesn't belong there. from my own point of view he doesn't belong in the white house, either. >> reporter: he used his radio pattersons on bright batter to help him along. >> hey, this guy trump is -- this is going to be very serious. >> reporter: but bannon brought an extremist orthodoxy which has infu infuriated many. he's angered mainstream republicans, too. >> look at the intelligence of the republican party and the conservative intelligentsia. they were mocking the tea party and the grass roots organizations. >> reporter: for now bannon and his allies are trying to put a good face on the move away from the security council. he said "susan rice

operationalized the nsc during the last examination. itches put on nsc to make sure it was deoperationalized. general mcmaster has it back to its proper function." what that statement means is not really clear, but this is. the embarrassing failure of republicans to be able to overturn baker and other setbacks for this administration have resulted in other advisors getting more influence, including the president's own son-in-law and it is not clear right now if steve bannon can stay at the top of the heap. erin? >> tom, thank you very much. out front kailee mcanyone any, and yamy gangel. from the start of trump's. si and even in the transition, we've all been at meetings. we've seen pictures of meetings. steve bannon has been at every single one of them in some shape

or form. has there been a change? >> there has been a change. i think what's going on is simple. donald trump is not happy, he is not happy about the failures of health care. he is not happy about his pole numbers. he talked about how great his pole numbers were, his ratings. i think the other thing that is true that we've been told is that jared kushner and ivanka have fallen out with steve bannon, whatever that relationship is, it's not -- it is not going well. he's not going to fire his son-in-law or his daughter. >> so it's sort of a one francisco versus another. bannon has a history of saying controversial things and these are some of the things that made more traditional republicans really dislike him. here some of them are. >> islam is not a religion of peace. it's a -- >> what we need to do is bitch slap the republican party.

we're at the beginning stages of a global war against islamic facism. >> is less power for bannon a good thing? certainly you'd think it is for the conservative francisa facti? >> steve bannon, when the establishment republican party was taking the party off the cliff, steve bannon said hold on guys, let's put a brake to this. we have to stand up for the worker. we have to be against some of these free trade deals. we need to stop illegal border crossings. he was saying these things that donald trump said in the primary that got him elected. i fully believe now that donald trump is materializing on what he promised, tpp and immigration. those things are starting to happen. he is saying don't listen to the washington establishment, do

what you told the american people you would do. >> one of the ironclad rules is don't fight the family. it's always a losing bet. you can't fire jared kushner. there are deep idea logical and floss cal differences. he was called a globalist and a cutservative. >> i thought that was a typo. >> oh, no, no, no. it's a term of art. >> all right. >> but the second bit is there was a conscious movement among some folks to start pushing this idea of president bannon. he was presenting himself as a ma nigs jigs. we've reported the snl skit. >> let's show the skit. there's all these other comments. president gannon, gq. steve bannon is the president.

foreign policy, president bannon's destructive week in office. i remember he was joking about one article referred to him as davrt vader. he was laughing at this. but these things could truly truly damage a man who gets his news from reading mass market publications and runs into these kind of things, ie, donald trump. >> when you talk to the republican establishment, they are thrilled about this. steve bannon's loss of power, they have felt that he was destroying the republican party. they feel that -- there was a sense of ding-dong, the witch -- the witch may not be dead but maybe the witch is going. they want steve bannon out of there. >> i wonder if he's going to be. because donald trump doesn't want to feel like the establishment has won. that is anathema to what he

stands for. maybe now he wants to teach a lesson to steve bannon but is he really going to lose power? >> look. i think that's a fair appointment. you've got sort of an accelerated game in washington in real time, but i think steve bannon was trump's spirit animal. >> spirit animal. >> he kept him true to what he said he'd do. you have a game of control the president going on. there are people trying to keep the administration from going off the rails. that's a pretty compelling argument, too. >> steve bannon was the person who would allegedly go on the plane with president trump and he would be his calming force. steve bannon was the one that got along really well. you need the reince priebuss of the world. you need the person that's going to hold president trump's feet to the fire. >> and remind him that he did

every day, this is what you're elected to do. that's what steve bannon was doing for donald trump. thanks to all. next, ripping up the rules to get supreme court nominee neal gorsuch on the bench. and bernie sanders with a major hit that millions and millions are watching. you'll see it next. look closely. hidden in every swing, every chip, and every putt, is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. the microsoft cloud helps the pga tour turn countless points of data into insights that transform their business and will enhance the game for players and fans. the microsoft cloud turns information into insight. z282uz zwtz

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. hillary clinton taking on president trump tonight, speaking at the tina brown women of the world summit. the former secretary of state confessed that she enjoyed watching the president struggle and fail at repealing and replacing obamacare. >> listening to them talk about repeal and replace for eight years, or seven years now and he had not a clue what that meant. health care is complicated, right? and so they -- they don't know what to do. and, yeah, i do admit that was somewhat gratifying. >> and out front now, democratic congresswoman debbie wasser man schultz. great performance by hillary

clinton today. we haven't seen much of her since the election. do you want her to be even more vocal in opposing donald trump? >> i think she needs to be measured and be vocal when it's the most relevant and appropriate and can really, i think, draw the most significant contrast. >> now, senator bernie sanders on the other hand, of course, has been much more vocal. leading protests, holding town halls. he's got some videos that are getting eight million views. is he the leader of your party right now? >> senator sanders is a leader of our party, one of a number of leaders. it is absolutely fantastic that he is leading an effort to continue to engage our grass roots activists, so anything that we can do. and we are all hands on deck here to make sure that we don't miss the moment. whether it's bernie sanders or

hillary clinton or nancy pelosi or debbie wasser maj schultz or any of a number of us who want to help our 2constituents. >> you and bernie sanders have had a disagreement. >> i think it's time to take a reassessment of the purpose of whether the democratic party is and where it wants to go. essentially, what i think we need to do right now is to become a grass roots party. >> definitely to senator sanders, we are already a grass roots party. >> do you think you need to be working together right now? what's the issue here? >> well, we are working together. senator sanders is a member of the senate democratic leadership. as you said, he has a facebook live show that gets eight million views. he's been fully integrated and his team has been gulf integrfu

integrated to fight back against the trump administration. as much as we can make sure that we reach out to the grass roots as we always have -- >> sounds like that's your issue, when he's saying we need to become a grass roots party, you're obviously offend by the way he's saying that. >> i am not offend. this is a manufactured battle. i'm not -- i spend no time worrying about the semantics of whether bernie sanders thinks we are or aren't a grass roogts party. >> we began this conversation talking about women and president trump's daughter, top advisor ivanka talked about her official role at the white house. here's what she said. >> i think for me, what it means is that i'll continue the advocacy work i was doing in the private sector, advocating for the empowerment of women. >> we know ivanka trump has met with the planned parenthood

president, sa sececille riched, know that didn't do anything to change cecille richards' view of president trump. do you think ivanka trump is helping or hurting now? >> i think she needs to realize she is the most powerful woman in this administration. she needs to recognize that she has a role in the white house, in the west wing that includes making sure that women are a priority of this administration. and she owns that aportfolio. when you own a portfolio like that, it is her responsibility to really lay out what the administration's agenda is. >> she says she's -- when she says she's fighting for women -- she's going to be attending this conference in europe this spring. she says she's working on behalf

of women. do you see any evidence of that at this point? >> i would say that because of her complicity with her father's agenda she's fighting women, not fighting for women. >> on the topic of women, trump defended bill o'reilly's position. are you surprised he came to bill owe rifle's defense so specifically? >> oh, god, nothing surprises me anymore. look at the access hollywood tape that came out. this is a man in the white house who is engaged in that kind of conduct, so naturally, he would be dismissing the similar conduct from someone else. >> all right. i appreciate your time tonight. >> sure. >> thank you very much congresswoman. >> thanks erin. >> and we have breaking news. hours away from president trump's pick for supreme court officially being confirmed, the senate has gone nuclear. republicans have changed the rules to end the filibuster of

nominee neal gore such. they're talking ability other openings coming up on the court. here he is. >> judge gorsuch is a great person and hopefully if there is a second one made by our administration -- there could be as many as four. under a certain scenario, there could be more than that. >> a bit morbid. phil mattingly is out front. >> reporter: tonight senate republicans have triggered the so-called nuclear action. >> therefore, i raise the point of order that the cloche chur set is a majority vote on all nominations. >> reporter: mitch mcconnell making a historic change to the senate rules to clear the path forward for president trump's supreme court nominee. >> today's vote is a cautionary tale about how unbridled

partisan escalation can ultimately overwhelm our basic inclination to work together. >> reporter: republicans repeatedly touting nominee neal gorsuch's qualifications. >> it's more about the man that nominated him and the party he represents than the nominee himself. >> you know that he'll be confirmed and you know in your hearts of heart that he deserves to be confirmed and that's why this is especially sad state of i a fairs. >> reporter: the change, that so-called nuclear option dropped the threshold to confirm him from 60 to just 51 votes giving republicans who hold 52 seats in the chamber the ability to work with no democratic help. >> in a post nuclear world if

the president and his presidency are in the hands of the party there's no reason to speak to the senate minority. that's a recipe for more conflict and bad blood between the parties, not less. loip the move marks a culmination or perhaps continuation of events set into motion over years of mistrust and partisanship. it follows the 2013 democratic move that made the same change for lower count appointees. >> it's time to change the senate before this institution becomes obsolete. >> reporter: it was done then to overcome block aids to overrule president obama. >> you'll regret this and you may regret it sooner than you think. >> reporter: a move some republican colleagues are criticizing. >> i find myself torn between protecting the traditions and

practices of the senate and the importance of having a full complement of justices on the u.s. supreme court. >> reporter: even as they call voted in favor. >> we just learned the final vote will be at 11:30 tomorrow morning in the senate. that's a foregone conclusion. he will be confirmed. what happens next in the chamber supposed to slow things down, be bipartisan. there is concern this is a slippery slope and perhaps changing the legislative rules next. i'm told there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes by senate aides and democrats. no question, there's an escalation ongoing for a number of years now and an open question when that will end or if it will at all. >> thank you very much. we are waiting by the way any

moment for the president's comments out of mar-a-lago with the chinese president. we will take it live the second it comes in. he's out today, he has neil gorsuch in his view and talking about more openings on the supreme court. >> this is the one part of his presidency that has gone well for him. the nuclear option has changed everything. he does not need 60 votes on these. we have a lot of members of the supreme court who are getting up there in age. i think he sees a real opportunity with the court to make a difference and looking ahead. >> he's certainly trying to seize this moment. >> absolutely. this is why evangelicals voted for him. it's almost mind blewing evangelicals voted for him more so than bush or romney or mccain because of the supreme court.

they didn't like some of the things he said, the tape for instance but did like that list of supreme court justices. >> we're looking right now -- this is from earlier today. we're anticipating -- they just made comments, what happens so our viewers understand, sometimes this happens in the room, in the old days a tape gets run out and we will play it the second it comes in. this is donald trump and the president of china. and the comments they're making at mar-a-lago mar-a-lago. this is the most important weekend he has coming on a weekend he's talking about war with syria and military options in north korea. this is the most important meeting he has had in his young presidency. >> absolutely. i think it's important to also note that the syria part of this is happening in the middle of this. they thought they would just be dealing with this meeting in china and he's been talking for

weeks about north korea leading up to it. now, he's facing, figuring out, he said it crossed multiple lines in syria, exactly what he's going to do. i think it's quite a balancing act for him. this is a test of his presidency, the first test really on foreign policy. >> this test with presidency, this is -- there has been no bigger event than this particular meeting he is going to have. his meetings so far have had bu bumps. the awkward non-hand shake with angela merkel and too long hand shake with the leader of japan, shinzo abe. no one can afford for there to be an error with the presidency. >> absolutely. two reasons. north korea, china can twist the arm of north korea. number two, economically, donald trump, think how many times on the campaign trail he called china a currency manipulator and

ch china on the world global stage is the reason you in michigan have lost your union jobs. it's integral to donald trump's agenda. >> also because of the intersection of the economic policy and national security policy. i was talking to several republican sources who said they were very concerned about north korea and something could happen sooner rather than later. we look at this in light of things that have not gone well recently with healthcare, this is important to him for this to work out. both on the jobs, the deficit and national security. >> he keeps saying reality is much more -- much different than it seems on the campaign trail. seems very easy on the campaign trail, just bomb them or do that or whatever it might be. he is learning that is not the way it works.

>> every president has his moment. i couldn't help but think this week of bill clinton there's genocide overseas, do i call it genocide or not? it's a humanitarian crisis. it's tough. this is what happened just moments ago in mar-a-lago. >> it's a great honor to have the president of china and his incredible talented wife, a great great celebrity in china, a great singer. it's an honor to have you in the united states. we've had a long discussion already and so far i have gotten nothing, absolutely nothing, but we have developed a friendship, i can see that. i think long term we're going to have a very very great relationship and i look very much forward to it.

thank you all very much. >> there's a lot of things you can see here. we'll start with what he said. he seemed to -- that was very well done, right? the hand shake. that was very smooth. >> he hit his marks on everything. i will say, we were watching this footage, he seemed much more relaxed at the dinner. when we were looking at the earlier footage where the two of them had the first photo-op, they looked very sober. there were a couple of times you see the weight of the office on him. i remember when he was with president obama for the very first meeting, you saw it and i think you saw it again.

>> around the table, not being exclusive, i saw jared kushner, reince priebus, ivanka trump, bannon is among them. >> bannon is among them and won't be gone yet and won't be gone i predict. president trump is very relaxed and very charming and likable. you can see that at the dinner. what's going on behind the sc e scenes? >> thank you both. now, insults. jeanne moos on the death of don rickles. >> reporter: back in the days before internet snark he was the king of insult comedy. >> mr. warmth, don rickles. >> reporter: his break through was on johnny carson. now, other performers are showering rickles with praise. he created insult comedy yet

every one of his targets felt loved and honored. >> norman wells, 30 years ago you were hand assume and now i will put good year on your face and fly you over the beach. >> watch him crack up larry king. >> what a cheap shot. can't even get the host to shut-up. shut-up, larry, get on with it. >> he was a member of the rat pack. >> it takes many years to be a great comedienne. >> and you haven't reached that. >> rickles once surprised frank sinatra on carson. he was always pretending to speak italian. >> frank, i love you. foreign poli [ speaking foreign language ] >> and kissing friend. he told of pranks the rat pack played, shoving him out of the steam room of the sands hotel naked. >> the world got to see a perfect body. >> rickles played serious roles

alongside score scino. the donald once tried to get him to buy a trump condo. this is 8 million.6, and i laid a dollar on the floor and said leave me alone. >> he had larry king wiping te r tears off his glasses. there is nothing cold about his true chats. >> i tell you, we have been blessed to have such a man. prai >> reporter: praising those he most liked to insult. >> you enjoyed it. >> laughter to a lot of people and longwell lived life. thanks for joining us. don't forget, you can watch "out front" any time anywhere on cnn go. anderson cooper begins right now. >> good evening, thanks for joining us.

we beginning tonight with three words and the work under way that could turn those words into action. something should happen. those were the words president trump used when talking about bashar al assad's nerve attack that he perpetrated. when that happens, if it does, who it involves, it could be the first large scale force of the american presidency and already has russia forces eyeball to eyeball. we have two reports where members of his national security are on hand to brief the president. we want to start at the pentagon. what's the latest you knsnoknowt what the defense secretary could be telling the president? >> the joint chiefs of staff were briefed at the pentagon about military options and defense secretary mattis bri briefing t