hello. i'm wolf blitz ser. it's 1:00 p.m. in washington. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. right now we're keeping a close eye on the white house. the press secretary sean spicer will brief the press. take questions on russia, syria, reported troubles inside the president's inner circle. we're going to bring that to you live once it gets under way. among the questions on syria, whether the u.s. is changing strategy and the feelings on regime change. the u.s. ambassador to the united nations nikki haley says regime change in syria is inevitable. while the secretary of state rex tillerson is a bit less direct. tillerson is in italy getting

ready for the g7 meetings but will head to moscow tomorrow to talk about the role of both russia and the united states and syria and the administration's ideas for the next steps there. let's bring in our senior white house correspondent jeff zeleny over at the white house. the action on syria, the action with russia clearly over shadowing what was supposed to be a victory lap of sorts for the president. >> indeed, wolf. foreign policy is still center stage here in this administration, this president with his challenges sort of stacking up one on top of the other. but there is a bit of misdirection and it sounds like a lack of cohesion between some members of the president's top advisers, the u.n. ambassador to the united nations nikki haley. she was pretty blunt over the weekend saying here on cnn and elsewhere that regime change is essentially going to happen. the secretary of state who is traveling in the region heading to russia tomorrow, he was less direct on that. he said that the focus is still

the fight against isis. we talked to a senior administration official earlier this morning who said look, there's not as much difference there as you might think. nikki haley is being more impassionate in the words of this official and the secretary of state is being more reserved. but there's no question that the challenges there are something in the wake of the strikes last week in syria that are weighing heavy on this president. and this administration. but we saw the president early ther morni er this morning, wolf, trying to take that victory lap with his first appointment to the supreme court at the rose garden at the white house. >> oi've always heard the most important thing that a president of the united states does is appoint people, hopefully great people like this appointment to the united states supreme court. and i can say this is a great honor. and i got it done in the first 100 days.

that's even nice. >> so, wolf, you get the sense that the first 100 days, that marker that new presidents are always judged by, clearly on the mind of this president here. and that is likely to be his biggest accomplishment here in washington as they look for that date at the end of the april. also these foreign policy challenges weighing on the president. i expect sean spicer will be asked a considerable number of questions about those. it's his first briefing since those strikes in syria last week. >> i'm sure there'll be a bunch of questions. we'll have live coverage this hour. one consequence from the u.s. air strikes has been an end to cooperation with russia on military flights over syria no. longer is there a system in place to make sure there are no close calls in the air as both countries fly various missions over syria. let's go to our senior international correspondent fred.

what was it like flying over syria? >> we did that today, wolf. and we saw the operations against isis there firsthand. of course, right now there is a degree of uncertainty there in the air for the u.s. forces that are flying there. of course before that you had a system in place. that system of deconflicting where the russians said we're operating here and the u.s. said we're operating there, we'll stay out of each other's way. right now it's not clear whether that system is in place. not clear if there is going to be communication again. that bears a lot of risk to what you were just talking about possible midair collisions. the folks in the u.s. air force say the fight against isis has to continue. so they are still flying missions inside syria. they are still fighting isis both in iraq and in syria. especially in light of the fact, wolf, that of course there are ground forces there, some of them u.s., that are in harm's way. they say the fight against isis has to continue at full steam even though there are these

political tensions right now between the u.s. and russia. but certainly very interesting to see that firsthand and to see the amount of air power that the u.s. still brings to bear on isis despite everything that's going around here, wolf. >> fred, thank you. fred on an exclusive assignment. meanwhile, a u.s. navy strike group let by an aircraft carrier is headed to the waters off the korean peninsula. national security adviser lieutenant general h.r. mcmaster spoke about the deployment this weekend. >> it's preent udent to do it, it? north korea has been engage inside a pattern of provocative behavior. this is a ve jeem thregime that nuclear capable regime. >> will ripley is the only u.s. journalist in north korea right now. he's joining us from byeopyongy

with this latest report. >> wolf, we've been speaking with government officials and they tell us they certainly are receiving the message that the u.s. is sending, but their response may not be with the trump administration is anticipating. i was with the officials when word came in over the weekend that the carrier strike group, the kacarl vinson was being sen back. we were talking about the missile strike at that time and they said this is just examples of what they feel is provocative behavior on the part of the united states. they think the united states is an a congress or. th -- agresso. they believe they have a right to develop nuclear weapons here. these actions by the united states will only encourage them to speed up the development of

missiles. they said they're not afraid of international condemnation. even if this country were to hurt more economically, the nuclear program and the missile program would be the last things that would receive spending cuts. kim jong-un has told his people they live under the imminent threat of invasion by the u.s. and this behavior by the united states reinforces that narrative. there's a lot of news that is kept hidden from the north korean people, but the state media is covering extensive the the strike group and the missile strike and telling people this is sometimes why they have to go without electricity or foot. the supreme people's assembly is happening on tuesday ochl saturday the most important holiday of the year the day of the sun. it's around events like this that in the past north korea has done something provocative to try to show strength not only here at home but also to their

enemies around the world. u.s. and south korean officials believe this country is ready at any moment to push the button on its sixth [ inaudible question ] lo -- nuclear test. >> will, thank you. an exclusive report from inside north korea. the u.s. says the missile strike on syria was a warning to north korea. the strike also represents a sharp reversal for president trump and his administration and his larger strategy for dealing with syria right now. listen to what top members of this administration are saying. >> so there's multiple priorities. it's getting assad out is not the only priority. so what we're trying to do is obviously defeat isis. secondly, we don't see a peaceful syria with assad in there. thirdly, get the iranian influence out. and then finally, move towards a political solution. >> once we can eliminate the battle against isis, conclude that, and it is going quite well, then we hope to turn our

attention to achieving cease-fire agreements between the regime and opposition forces. and it is through that political process that we believe the syrian people will ultimate matly be able to decide the fate of assad. >> both secretary tillerson and ambassador haley are right about that. when we really need to do and what everyone in this conflict needs to do is everything they can to resolve this civil war. >> let's bring in our panel. political analyst, kirsten powers. former assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs and robin wright, a fellow at the woodrow international center. general mcmaster, the nsational security adviser says they are both right even though they're stressing different parts. >> the trump administration's big flip flop on any policy was

last week when it turned about and said there was no role for bashar al assad in the future of syria. now they're beginning to take a softer tone. but this comes in the critical week, the most important meeting that the trump administration has had with a foreign official and that's with the russians. this was a government with which they talked about bettering relations, resetting relations and getting together particularly on the issue of syria. now they are deeply divided. i think tillerson was trying to indicate we want to find kmn ground, some way to end the fighting. i think he softened his language a little over last week. i think the administration is now taking a very tough line and know its can't flip flop yet again and go back to accepting offset as part of a political transition. >> nikki haley also warning more could be done and probably will be done suggesting more military action. is that realistic? >> i think it's very realistic. at this point we've already seen the russians and syrians start

to fly their planes from that very air field that we bombed. it is clear what the syrians are trying to say is that we will continue these operations. we may not use chemicals, but you've drawn an upper line on what we're prepared to do and we're going to operate underneath that. we're going to continue the bombings. we're going to continue the killings. >> russia is reacting very negatively to the u.s. tomahawk cre cruise missile strike. but this as we all suspect th, s could be a critical session. >> i think if you look at what mcmaster said is he basically was saying that sort of to take -- if you take all their statements together, nikki haley used kind of passive language in the way she was talking about it. it seemed he was sort of building on that and essentially saying that russia needs to do

some sort of soul searching and decide that they don't want to be supporting this murder roous regime. one has to ask why that would happen. it's not the first time he's killed people with chemical weapons. as we remember before he was a candidate he was criticizing obama for even thinking about going after assad. so it's not clear why they think russia is going to suddenly shift and realize assad is a bad guy. >> the russians insist, putin insists and others that the syrian regime of bashar al assad is not responsible for the chemical weapons killing of all these people. the opposition was responsible. they bombed some storage facility there and that's why all those people were killed. that's the russian line. >> it's the russian line, but i'm not sure the russians really believe. that i think they have enough intelligence on the ground and they will know what the united states knows. the bigger question when it comes this meeting is the russian prism on this conflict is very different from ours.

they will look at tillerson and say okay, you don't like assad, who are you offering as an alternative. in the six years since this conflict has gone on, there has been no rebel movement that has emerged back by the west. no political figure who's emerged as an alternative, viable credible alternative. the political opposition has been feckless. i think one of the stumbling blocks, how can they come together, what is the alternative to bashar al assad and that's where i think the united states is going to come up short. >> i think that actually what we're looking at is secretary tillerson going over trying to tell the russians, look, you've been backing the wrong guy for the last few years. you can achieve your goals which is not to keep bashar al assad in power. it is to keep syria together as a unitary state. when he starts using chemicals,

that's not a winning han. we want to keep syria together. you want to keep syria together. the best way to do that is not with bashar al assad. >> the president as a candidate, as a private citizen says don't telegraph what you're going to do. keep them guessing. i assume that's part of his strategy, not to announce. >> i think that's probably true. he said that during the campaign and even when people tried to press him on what his plans were he claimed he had these secret plans. yeah, i think he likes to operate in that way. if you look at the syria strike also he moved very quick wely a he's not somebody who's going to want to go to congress and talk about it and think about it the way president obama did. >> the iranians are involved supporting bashar al assad as well through various militia groups.

saying the u.s. must not carry out any strikes. they didn't say what they would do, but it is a factor the u.s. should consider. >> iran is important in this because it's lost a huge number of fighters, well over 1,000, well over eight generals. its ally has lost over 2,000, 10,000 injured . it really feels invested. bashar al assad is not the -- it's some kind of access to the middle east that borders all the other major countries. so the game is less about the immediate political future and more about the long-term stakes. that's where the russians and the iranians are going to play hard ball. they want to make sure their interests are represented long term and that's a country in which they can rely, whether it's a weapons purchaser or political ally. >> they want to make sure they go through that they went

through from iraq through syria into lebanon. that's what the iranian goal has always been and they've succeeded to a certain degree. thanks very, very much. appreciate it. coming up, president trump justifying his syrian strike in a letter to congress. a member of the house foreign affairs committee standing by to join us live. plus we're standing by to hear from the white house press secretary sean spicer. he'll be giving his first on camera briefing since the preside president ordered those cruise missiles to strike various targets at the air base in syria. we'll have live coverage from that. that's coming up. el's guests connected. businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink.

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we're waiting for the white house press secretary sean spicer to come out and start taking questions from reporters. it's sean spicer first on cam briefing since the strikes on the syrian air base. we'll have live coverage of that coming up. stand by. president trump meanwhile delivered a message to congress on syria explaining his actions and warning that there could be more to come. in the letter the president s says, quote, the united states will take additional action if appropriate to further its national interest. i am providing this report as part of miests y efforts to kee congress fully informed. the appreciate the support of the congress in this action. joining us from los angeles, congressman from california, member of the house foreign affairs committee. thanks for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> the president is doing what other presidents have done, informing congress of the military action in syria s. that enough in your view? >> it is not. i read the letter.

i'm also on the house foreign affairs committee. we've held a number of hearings on syria in the middle east and i can tell you that trump administration has no strategy. two weeks ago they signaled they were okay with assad in power. last week he attacks assad. this week his advisers give conflicting signals on whether they want regime change or not. we cannot have this strategic confusion coming out of the white house. >> do you want, before there's any additional military action against bashar al assad's regime, any of his military targets, for example, do you want congress, both the house and the senate, to pass legislation authorizing the use of military force? >> absolutely. congress has only authorized two instances for the president to use military force. to go after terrorists and to deal with the threat of iraq. attacking syria was not authorized by congress. it is unconstitutional. but more importantly, the president needs to explain to the american people why are we

involved in a raging civil war halfway around the world? how long will we be there? what are our goals and who are we supporting? >> did the president do the right thing ordering the launching of those tomahawk cruise missiles? >> i don't know because i don't know what the purpose of that strike was. the base was up and running a day after those cruise missiles landed. we also don't know if they're trying to take out assad or they're okay with having him in power. we don't know the long-term strategy. keep in mind we have u.s. ground forces there trying to take out isis. those ground forces had to reduce their operations because they don't know if assad is now going to attack them. so we have a lot of strategic ini out of the white house. >> the administration and the president, those tomahawk cruise missiles were launched, 59 of them, because of the bashar al assad regime used chemical

weapons to kill all those civilians including children. first of all, do you have any doubt that bashar al assad did that? >> i do not c. i trust our military intelligence. >> so does the u.s. have a moral responsibility to respond when the illegal -- against all international law, use of sarin gas is used to kill those kids? i. >> could support that. the question is who gets to decide. under the constitution, congress gets to decide if we get to engage in acts of war. james madison wrote that the executive branch is prone to engage in war. that's why they vested the war making powers in congress, not the prident. in this case congress did not authorize the president of the united states to enforce a chemical weapons treaty with military force. >> i want to quickly turn to north korea, congressman. as you know, the carl vinson,

the u.s. carrier battle group headed to the korean peninsula. the decision was announced just after the meetings between president trump and president xi. you're critical of this. why? >> because there's been no explanation or strategy in north korea. we've had multiple hearings on north korea as well. we don't know what the president is thinking. we can't have a foreign policy based on keep them guessing with a country that has nuclear weapons. north korea is very different than syria. nlt only do they have nukes, they can rein ar titillery and l millions of people in the peninsula if there is a miscalculation. >> there's about 30,000 u.s. troops along the demilitarized zone. coming up, secretary of state rex tillerson soon heading to

m moscow amid increased tensions. what he hopes to accomplish. plus live pictures coming in from the white house. we're told now only moments away. we'll go there live right after this.

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whthe white house press secretary sniean spicer expecte to come to the lectern. he'll like lie be asked a whole bunch of questions on the syrian strikes, secretary rex tillerson's trip to russia and the eternal struggles ongoing inside the white house. we'll have live coverage of the briefing coming up. happening right now secretary of state tillerson is meeting with world leaders in italy. first chance for other member countries to speak with tillerson face-to-face since last week's missile strikes against that syrian air base. tomorrow he heads to moscow for full coverage there. nic robertson is joining us from italy right now. the site of the summit. nick, you're there. what's the message that rex tillerson is taking to this meeting?

>> he's meeting here with the british, the french, the skbrge, the italian, japanese, and the question they want to hear is if he'll act against assad if he uses chemical weapons. they want to know the nuances of the u.s. position, on the iranians in syria. boris johnson, the british foreign secretary canceled his own trip to moscow today to so he could come here and try to align them behind rex tillerson. the message they all want him to take to moscow is russia needs to back away from assad, it needs to work to bring a cease-fire. but tillerson himself prioritized this morning going to a small mountain top village to commemorate a war crime from the second world war, august 1944, nazi forces enter ted thi

village. they gunned down and killed 560 refugees, 130 of them children. they did that in the space of three hours. rex tillerson's message on that replaying today a very clear message for russia and syria. listen to what he said. >> we remember the events of august 12th, 1944 that occurred. we rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world. this place will serve as an inspiration to us all. >> that's certainly a message that's resonating with other g7 members. tomorrow bringing in to play here foreign ministers from turkey frr turkey, from jordan, from the sawed d soud dae -- what they want to do is coming together to bring that

strong message, to give sort of strength behind secretary tillerson when he makes to journey to moscow. >> that's clearly the message they're trying to deliver. nic robertson joining us from italy. coming up, president trump forced to intervene in a deepening and increasingly distracting rift between his sa son-in-law jared kushner and steve bannon. the white house press briefing scheduled to start any moment. but kind is honest. this bar is made with cranberries and almonds. so, guess what? we call it cranberry almond. give kind a try. on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. your insurance company raises your rates. maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch and you could save $509

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fmy doctor recommended ibgard. abdominal pain and bloating. now i'm in control of my ibs. nonprescription ibgard-calms the angry gut. the white house press secretary sean spicer expected to come to the lectern any moment now to start taking questions from reporters. he presumably will have an opening statement, then he'll start the q&a.

we'll have live coverage of that coming up. the president has a message for his son-in-law jared kushner and his chief strategist steve bannon, quote, cut it out. he's frustrated between the riff over kushner and steve bannon. cnn reporter krista is with us. this is a big deal. you've got two top advisers to the president of the united states and all these reports coming in that they're feuding. >> and there have been nonstop reports about this feuding. the problem is these are have very different people who are in some ways at the same level. there's no sort of distinguishing what their portfolio is, how much sway they

have. bannon is from the breitbart wing and -- choose your own adventure wing of the party. that's what's going on. you have donald trump essentially saying cut it out. interesting that he's using a phrase that parents would use for their kids, right? in many ways, this is sibling rivalry. but the problem is i think the one who probably has a bit of an advantage here is jared kushner because he is the son-in-law. he's family. >> remember the family is tough to fire. >> yeah, very tough. i would say to ni a's point, i don't want to say a problem, but when you deputize four people all with indetermine eight boundaries of what they do, but when you have people feuding and fighting for your ear you create this. i think he does it on purpose.

his return to what he did in his television show the apprentice. board room, people arguing. he comes in as the decider. i think that's what he's comfortable with. what's hard is if you're one of those four people. >> you wrote a strong piece on cnn digital. steve bannon's worst week in washington. a sentence or two you wrote bannon has watched this power within the white house steadily shrink. an erosion that culminated when he -- go ahead. >> i was going to say, the remarkable thing is the roller coaster ride of this white house and there's rises and drops within days of one another. in february steve bannon was seen as president bannon. saturday night live had the whole running joke. how he's been reduced. this is the difficult thing when you're dealing with someone like donald trump who is literally saying this week this one's my favorite. this week i'm listening to this

one. it kind of rotates. you're never exactly sure why. i think steve bannon is on a downward -- he's in a gully at the moment on the sort of broad plan of where the white house is. >> kirsten, the white house is downplaying all the reports of a potential shakeup. spokes woman says the only thing we are shaking up is the way washington operates. >> i don't think that's right. i think most people, there's definitely a lot going on in the white house in terms of people not getting along. there's no question about that. there's plenty of reporting that's been done on that. i think one of the things you have to watch with donald trump is he doesn't like it when people get too much attention. as steve bannon was getting -- donald trump didn't like that bannon is the puppet master, he's the real president. president bannon on the snl skit. he doesn't like that kind of stuff. he didn't like when kellyanne conway was getting front cover of new york magazine, those kinds of things. you see that after her profile dropping a little bit, laying a

little low. i think that's part of it. part of is also steve bannon, some of the things he was out front on, the travel ban for example didn't go well and donald trump is starting to get comfortable and he's realizing some of the things steve bannon is doing may be on the fringe. >> he's upset about travel ban one and two still before the courts. i'm sure he's very upset that repealing and replacing obamacare went nowhere. at least so far. >> you look at these 80 days and not a lot of "w"s on the board. the one today is gorsuch's swearing in. that's a big "w" and it will be a win that they have for many, many decades from now. but if you're a white house that's looking to figure out where they go from here and possibly turn the page from these last 80 days, then you want to look for some blame in some ways and a shakeup and a change in course. whether that means bannon stays

or goes, we'll have to see. >> it's interesting that the former national security adviser michael flynn gone. k.t. mcfarland, his dep suty, s is nominated to become the ambassador to singapore. >> that's why i always thought it was ironic that the message coming out with the bannon demotion was he was only there to manage mike flynn. they all have a similar role here. this is not jared kushner. this returns to the earlier point. look, jared kushner's experience, views, known views on policy and steve bannon's, kirsten may have more in common with steve bannon that jared kushner does. their views are ant not at all they're radically different. they just view the world in a very different way. to say just figure it out. donald trump can say cut it out.

it's probably in his purview and the right thing to do. i'm not sure you get past views that are as different as those two are. >> the president likes people around him with different views. >> sure he does. and obviously i have nothing in common with steve bannon just for the record. but i do think that steve bannon took advantage of a power vacuum. he was the person closest to donald trump. he was sort of the ideological force behind him. he and sessions. and i think he took advantage of it. that's how you saw him getting on to the national security council. when you had people kind of coming in who were actually in control that weren't his sort of cohorts sort of saying this isn't okay and we're going to reorganize things that i think you'll see things running in a little more fashion. >> it's important to remember, too, about the wins and losses. every politician grades things on did i win or did i lose. remember the first year -- really the entire campaign, but the first year of the campaign,

the central message was i'm winning because i'm winning. the polls show me winning. therefore, i'm doing something right. therefore, i'm winning. sort of circle in his mind. so he is focused so centrally on putting points up on the board, and i think in his quieter moments he said wee do've done everything we wanted to do. we don't have health care reform or repeal. >> here he is, sean spicer, the white house press secretary. >> welcome back, everyone. good to see you all ever a few days. you didn't get a chance to go down to florida. this morning in the rose garden the president was honored to host the swearing in of associate justice neil gorsuch. his confirmation was the culmination of a thoughtful and deliberate process that the president started almost a year ago when he released his initial list of potential nominees for the supreme court .

in september he released a final list promising to select only from those individuals who would continue the legacy of the late justice scalia on the bench. today the president celebrated our new associate justice who will protect our constitution for generations. it was definitely a great day to kick off the week and another productive week that we will see here at the white house. before i get into the upcoming week, just a couple updates from over the weekend. first the president spoke with prime minister of sweden to express our condolences for the loved ones who were killed in friday's terrorist attack. and to wish a speedy recovery for those who were wounded. the president also called president sisi yesterday. d dozens of innocent people were called and injured on palm sunday. we condemn these attacks on

christians, places of worship in tanta and. he also speak with the acting president of south korea all about the united states military strike on the air field in syria. all the leaders expressed support for the united states's necessary action in response to the horrible chemical and bomb attack on innocent civilians. yesterday he spoke with commander andrea slow, the commanding officer of the uss porter and the kmacommanding officer of the uss ross to thank f them and their team for carrying out the strike. he indicated he could not are more proud of these two ships and their flawless operations. these ships between the two of them sent 59 tomahawk missiles and each of them hit all of their targets showing america's

power and the military's accuracy which is just a small representation of our military's overall capability and a fraction of what this president will continue to build up the military to be throughout his administration. the site of people being gassed and blown a by way barrel bombs ensures that if we see this kind of action again we hold open the possibility of future action. the resulting action of what happened ensured that their fueling operation is gone from this air facility. 20% of their fixed wing aircraft were destroyed and knocked out. and i think by all measures the world and domestic reaction was highly laudable for the president's action. additionally, obviously we're all aware the president had a very successful visit with the chinese president and it concluded on friday. as you've read, one of the most significant developments from these discussions was the

agreement to create a 100-day initial plan hopefully with some deliverables to lead to a more balanced economic relationship between our two countries. as that develops, we'll make sure that we provide you with additional details. this morning the president was glad to see toyota announce it will be spending $1.33 billion in its kentucky plant as part of its plan to invest $10 billion in america over the next five years. a continued signal of the confidence american -- that businesses have in the american economy under president trump. now in terms of the week ahead tomorrow the president will have a discussion on strategy and policy with several members of his cabinet and a group of ceos. this is a follow-up from his meeting with 20 ceos from the strategic and policy forum with some of the same business leaders and some new ones. first they'll meet in small groups each led by a cabinet member to discuss the priorities for those cabinet secretaries and their agencies. the president will then oversee

a report that we presented to the group bioy. it will be secretary of commerce ross, secretary of education devos. and secretary of transportation as part of the effort to de deescalate the conflict in syria and push for a political process to resolve the conflict and result in a transition of a new syrian leadership, u.s. specialen voi for syria will be coming to washington tomorrow for consultations with the state department here at the white house among others. he has been overseeing the political talks among syrian parties in geneva. on wednesday we will welcome the secretary general of nato to the white house. they will have a joint press conference and the president plans to spend an easter holiday

in florida and will return to the white house on sunday. as the president noted today as we hit day 81 in the president's administration, we have done so many great things, including nominate and confirm a supreme court justice, roll back more regulations than any president in modern times, roll back the war on coal and natural gas, restored confidence in the economy. we're seeing historic levels of consumer ceo home building manufacturer confidence. there's been a 12% gain in the stock market and we have even seen a real resurgence in the mining industry. we have reduced illegal border crossings to the lowest level in decades. so with that, i'd be glad to take your questions. >> why is it okay to bomb syria,

but not assist the refugees? and what's the reaction to russia saying we are running a danger of a real war within the middle east. >> with respect to the reason that we took action was multifold. to stop the proliferation of chemical weapons. when you see mass weapons of destruction being used, it should be a concern to every nation. especially our own people. the proliferation of those weapons positive a grave threat to our national security. so we have to stop that. number two, we have to stop isis. but with respect to the people of syria, by us taking action and dees canlating what's going on in syria, that's the greatest thing you can do to support those people. deescalate i deescalating the conflict there, containing isis is the greatest aspect of humanitarian relief we can provide first and foremost. . secondly, creating yaurs in which we can work with allies,

including russians and committing to ensuring that there are places that are free from violence and places free to gather safely is another because everyone would agree the last thing they want to do is leave. they want to be in syria and have a safe place to e remain with their families and not be separated. so our number one priority is to defeat isis. also from a humanitarian standpoint ensuring that we create an environment that provides a safe place for them to ultimately remain. and on russia in particular, i think that if you look at the countries that are with us, it speaks pretty loudly the number of countries that have stood shoulder to shoulder with this president. russia, on the other hand, stands with syria, north korea and iran. when you contrast the two groups of countries since, it's pretty clear we're on the right side of

this issue. >> what it meebs is the action we took last week has been widely praised domestically and internationally as a great step to ensure the proliferation of chemical weapons and actions against innocent pop. when you watch babies and children being gassed and suffer under barrel bombs, you're instantly moved to action. this president has made it clear if those actions were to continue, further action will definitely be considered by the united states. we continue to urge the world community to join us in both stopping the deterrence and proliferation of those use of those weapons, but further trying to create a political environment that will result in new leadership. those are very important. they go hand in hand.

i think if you lock at who is not with us, that's a pretty small group. >> president trump has spoken out, tensively about bashar al assad and syria. does the president consider a war criminal and does he believe assad should appear before the icc. >> i think right now the focus is two-fold. one is defeating isis and second is creating a political environment for the syrian people to have a new leadership there. i don't think there's -- i can't imagine a stable and peaceful syria where bashar al assad is in power. we all recognize that that happens and there can be a multipronged approach and isis is contained and there's a

deescalation of chemical weapons at the same time creating the environment for a change in leadership. >> does the president believe assad has committed war crimes. >> there's a court that decides those things and there's a reason that while the actions you take against the people that he has, we feel confident in the intelligence that we have but that would be something for a court to decide. >> a lot of people are talking about what the trump doctrine is on foreign policy and what it may or may u not include. do you know what the trump doctrine is on foreign policy and can you explain it to u. >> i think the trump doctrine is something arctticulated throught the campaign is that america is first. our national interests are protected. that we do what we can to make sure that our interests both economically and national security are at the forefront and not going to be the world

policemen running innin inning wor world. ask that it's our snashl security that has to deal with how we act. >>. >> i think if you recognize the threat that our country and our people face if there's a growth of use or spread of chemical weapons of mass destruction those the proluf ration of those, the spread to other groups is a clear danger to our country and to our people. >> getting bashar al assad out of power should happen at the same time? >> i think -- how you sequence them but i don't think they are mutually exclusive. i don't think you have to do one over the other.

they seemed to align what you were say iing. no no way can we see peace in that area with the head of the the syrian government. who better reflects? >> i don't think those are mutually exclusive statements. because i don't think -- i think one of them is saying we don't see peace with him in charge. the other is saying we need to have him gone. i think that's the point of both. the goal for both of them, the goal for the united states is two-fold. it's one to make sure we destabilize syria. not? the syrian people, but you can

work with russia in particular to make sure that they understand that syria backed up by russia's own accounting should be held accountable for the agreements it's made with respect to its international agreements on chemical weapons alone. >> yes, sure. but i think that i think you can e defeat isis. obviously, it's your point. it's not like there's a single track that says you have to do it. if we can get both at the same time or one happens after the other, i think we obviously the number one threat that america faces is isis in that region and we've got to make sure we do everything we can to do that. >> finally when tillerson meets with his russian counterpart, what's the message going to be? is he going to threaten potentially more sanctions if russia doesn't get involved. >> he's on his way there tomorrow and i'll let him talk about that meeting.

i think there's a lot of things to discuss. the overall fight ob isis, with respect to syria in particular, we need to remind them of the commit me commitments that they have made and the commitments that syria has made. i think that first and foremost, we need to make sure we all understand what the situation is on the ground. there's no question who acted in this case and what syria did. we need to make sure russia fully understands the actions that assad took, the commitments that syria made and russia has equally agreed to those same understanding. getting them back on the same page, but the areas we can defeat isis is something we share. >> so what the president wants secretary of state to put sanctions on the stable