soldier was killed there in combat just several days ago. this is an area they wanted to get after very badly. very remote. very mountainous. isis retreating into caves and tunnels so it's becoming clear this is a weapon they thought they could use here and get the effect they wanted. all of this, wolf, comes as the trump administration, in fact, is considering the possibility of sending additional troops to afghanistan, u.s. troops, to help train the afghan forces even more, advise and assist them. they've been making progress against the taliban, making progress against isis. but still it is a very -- after all these years, it is a very long road ahead for afghan forces to take all of this on themselves. and we saw today that the u.s. was able to deliver what it believes was a very decisive blow to the isis forces there. but there will be reconnaissance missions over this site now so

they can determine how much damage they really did. this is the first use in combat of this weapon. >> just showing our viewers the video of the test of this moab bomb back in 2003. you see the plume of smoke that comes up after the bomb has been detonated. a bomb that has been used for the first time in combat in afghanistan. what you're saying, barbara, is that they're now going through the damage assessment. were they trying to destroy this tunnel? were there people or isis folks inside? do we have any idea what the actual target was? >> well, we are told the target is being described by the u.s. military and the coalition as a tunnel complex in this region. we believe there are also some saves there. i don't want to come to any, you know, snap conclusions, but this is an area of afghanistan dating all the way back to the al qaeda

days of many years ago that has been laced with caves and tunnels where injusurgents have been able to retreat to over the years. it's very close to the pakistan border. so there's always the concern -- it's basically been the same concern over the years. you have these insurgent terror groups operating there and they can go back and forth across the border and you want to stop them before they can do that. so i suspect that's part of what was in play here. how many fighters were actually there at the moment, i mean, the u.s. would have conducted reconnaissance prior to dropping the bomb. they would have had a fair idea of what was there. they would have had some assurance to themselves that civilians were not in this very remote area. but again, we're talking about something very extraordinary here. the first use ever in combat. we have the test for video we're showing you, but the first use

infer combat. so they will have to conduct reconnaissance. get some imagery of the site and calculate if this bomb did work as designed, as planned, as they expected. first use ever, they've seen it on the test range, but now they have to see how it actually worked in battle, wolf. >> as you reported, barbara, just what? last saturday a u.s. army special forces soldier was killed in that area, although there's no indication as far as we can tell, at least not yet, that this strike today has any connection to that. what are you hearing? >> not hearing of any direct connection, wolf. this special operations soldier was operating with his unit and the afghan forces in this region. forces stale remain up in nangahar, the area, trying to pushback these isis fighters. and it's not even clear that it's a massive group of isis, but they want to get them out of

nangahar and push them back. this area is an area where they have seen isis emerge as an affiliate organization and many times as we have seen over the years, these fighters essentially self-identify. they say i'm isis, i'm taliban. they affiliate themselves with these labels and these organizations, whether they, you know, at times go home to their villages during crop season or something, that is something that the u.s. has seen in the past. but these people are identified as isis fighters, as an isis affiliates that emerged in afghanistan. that's why u.s. troops were up there fighting. and they are trying to get the afghan forces able to do it on their own, obviously. but it's a very long road. and that's one of the reasons that the u.s., that the trump administration, the pentagon are very quietly discussing sending

additional u.s. military trainers and advisers to afghanistan to try and beef up the capability of afghan forces because the country is basically very fragile in many places in terms of its ability to maintain its own security. they have to make sure that the afghan forces can really be out there in front in these key areas or the isis comes back, the taliban come back. they've been resurgent in the south in recent months. the think the lesson for the u.s. military has been it can all fall apart pretty quickly. they want to maintain a presence. they are considering asking the white house for additional troops to help do that. >> very quickly, barbara, this is the first time the u.s. has ever used this moab bomb, this 21,000 nonnuclear bomb. hasn't use today in years in iraq or afghanistan or anyplace else. how high up the chain of command

would the authorization, the decision, the order to go ahead and use this bomb have to go? i'm specifically wondering if it has to go to the commander in chief? >> well, you know, these are always very difficult questions to answer because there's probably the bureaucratic answer and the common sense answer. we do not know at this hour so early on whether president trump particular lick signed off on it himself. what we do know is the four star general, head of the u.s. central command had authorized the use of this weapon. we know it was at a four-star level. when they found they had a target they wanted to go against. i think it would be common sense to think that the national security council adviser, general h.r. mcmaster who has had many tours in afghanistan himself, would have been informed about this. and that it would have, again,

common sense had been up to general mcmaster to inform the president that something very interesting was about to happen. typically what you see in these cases is on this level, on the four-star level, secretary of defense, chairman of the joint chiefs, national security adviser, these are very experienced officers and cabinet level secretaries. s secretary mat ticktis a former four-star himself. they know when to notify the president about a military event. they don't want president trump hearing about it on the news, so i think it's pretty safe that we can make an asumgz thsumption t president trump would have known about this bomb. >> which raises the question why had this bomb never been used in the military? >> it had been developed about a decade ago mainly with an eye

toward a set of targets back in the days of saddam hussein, but they never found the target clearly they felt they wanted to go against. this becomes a weapon that i think what is emerging here very quickly, a weapon that is really optimum for using in remote areas where you don't have to worry about civilians, but yet your target essentially is a large footprint. it's not like you would just drop one 500 pound precision bomb against a group of isis fighters, a small group of fighters. we see that day by day in syria and iraq. these are very narrow targets and very specific areas. but when you're going after a complex of caves and tunnels that may extend for some distance, a large footprint, this makes this weapon more optimum. it explodes in the area. it has a large blast area.

and you presumably can cause the damage you want with just using this one detonation. but again, they're going to have to see in the coming hours if it did cause the damage that they hope it did. >> we're standing by to hear from sean spicer, the white house press secretary. he's about to have his daily briefing. i'm sure he's going to be asked whether or not president trump personally as commander in chief authorized this first ever use of this moab, this mother of all bombs, 21,000 pound bomb. nick, you've been in that region. tell us a little bit about that area. >> remote very hard to operate. let me explain the history of action and why it's important to the group we call isis and afghanistan. a historical name for afghanistan and pakistan, the kind of kingdom they want to create. action has always been isis's stronghold. it was sort of not far from

there where some of the first pictures emerged of isis fighters back in 2015. that's been a stronghold. it's where they kicked some locals out . it's where they've been hit by drone strikes repeatedly. but isis did return. that's always been the problem the afghan army has faced. they can with coalition support take area but they can't always hold it because of corruption, because of low morale, because of not having the resources. this is coming at an absolutely critical time for afghanistan. the taliban now controlling over half the territory of that country. afghan security forces experiencing record casualties too. staggering numbers frankly. but isis have taken hold with perceived tiredness of the taliban. you've seen the taliban being the maine insurgents for

decades. if you're looking for pressure ideas, isis can provide that type of branding. many say they first came across the border from pakistan has been the allegation from many afghans. but they brought with them money and resources and that's where they began to take hold and spread against nangahar. nangahar and parts to the north impossible to control. it's overrun. such a hard job to resist the taliban. they're embedded with the locals. they have local support. you have to understand if you're going to use a bomb like this, you're pretty much saying we can't send special forces in on the ground there. of course, that obviously is the preferred tactic. you tolerate the loss of life because you get to assess who you killed, what you found and gain intelligence from something li like that. out of government control most of the time. i think also, toork t, the factt such munitions are being used

gives a snapshot of how the u.s. perceives that threat. they've extended their reach into kabul in the last month or so attacking near the defense ministry, showing their metal you might say to those welling recruits, move sbog ting into t capital. they're certainly on the front -- the taliban, too, accused by the u.s. of being close to al qaeda. there is a messes mix of extremists in afghanistan, a collapsing i think it's fair to say government security project now in many parts of the country. things escape our notice sometimes, wolf, and in a vital town which where many marines lost their lives has fallen to the insurgency recently. see how they need to fight on in afghanistan pain staking as it is in the 16th plus year of

america's longest war do they see the need to use munition like this against a newer enemy. >> a very powerful message sent to isis terrorists in afghanistan. yesterday the president at his news kchbs with tconference wit secretary general said general mcmaster was heading over to afghanistan in the coming days. general marks, let's talk about this massive bomb. 21000 pounds this bomb dropped. described as the largest nonnuclear bomb ever used in battle. tell us about the bomb and the significance and the signal it sends. >> it sends a very powerfuling? . if i can address several things. both are spot on. their reporting is really in depth. what you saw, the use of this bomb belongs in a category of a whole bunch of options that that

commander has available to him. this has been delegated to him to make the decision on its use. first of all, the president of the united states of course knew about it. he didn't have to authorize it because it had already been authorized and secretary mattis knew it was going to be used. they didn't have to go ask for permission. general nicholson went to his boss and said hey, i'm about to do this, recommend you allow me to do it and general votel said g. it was a choice they made. their target was a concentration of isis fighters in a consolidated area, underground tunneled area and it was used for the passage both in and out of pakistan and afghanistan. this i would call link-up point became target rich. you probably had a very large concentration and it made perfect sense based on the time of day they were going to attack that they could have a massive kill in this area not putting any special operators or any conventional forces at risk.

so you drop this moab. it explodes above the ground at a distance depending upon what type of a shape and a blast you want to have, and as described, it's a concussive blast. so everybody underneath that thing is either obliterated, ears are bleeding, or they're completely destroyed. the key thing at this point is to go do battle damage assessment. there are multiple ways you can do that. you can do it through offset, through technical means. you do it by imagery. what you'd like to be able to do is get folks on the ground to walk through tunnels and to see what damage took place. that has to be done very, very carefully because you would obviously put folks at risk. the bomb itself is delivered by opening the ramp of the back of a c-130. there's a parachute delivered and it's gps guided. it is an area weapon and it's got that target rich -- a rich

target below it which really justifies its use. >> first time ever in u.s. or anyone's military history thr, kind of 21,000 pound concussion bomb has been used, this moab as they call it, the mother of all bombs. wee going to get more on breaking news. let's take a quick break. we're standing by to hear from the white house press secretary sean spicer. he's going to be briefing reporters. we'll get the president's take through sean spicer on the decision to go ahead and drop this bomb on this isis target in afghanistan. we'll be right back. we've used real ingredients, whole nuts, and natural flavors from the very beginning. give kind a try.

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we're back with breaking news and standing by to hear from white house press secretary sean spicer. he's going to walk to the lectern and make a statement and answer reporters questions. i'm sure reporters will want answers to the u.s. decision to drop what's call the mrt other all bombs on an isis target in afghanistan. did the president of the united states as commander in chief authorize this first ever use of this massive bomb, the largest

bomb that is not nuclear. the largest bomb that is not nuclear in the military arsenal. we showed you test video of this bomb as it was dropped from a u.s. air force plane and landed in a target and a huge plume of smoke developed. they're working on a damage assessment. we're showing our viewers the video right now. this bottom will be dropped from this u.s. air force cargo plane and as you see the bomb go down, once it hits this huge plume of smoke develops. it will be interesting to hear if the president of the united states personally oo authorized use of this bomb. >> that is going to be the first question to sean spicer in the press briefing. he might come out and say it initially what the contact was with the president. as we heard from the general and from barbara starr and her excellent reporting and others,

it's not necessary vooisa see t chain of command -- and they didn't feel the need to use it for whatever reason. that is the key question to sean spicer. the other thing i think just kind of taking a step back is that now we have within the span of a week president trump, the guy who wanted to sort of pull back when it came to being engag engaged abroad dealing with syria, with strikes, and then also launching for the first time in u.s. history this mother of all bombs. it is different. he did promise on the campaign trail to go after isis, you know, to the end of the earth and that is what we are hearing from barbara's reportering the whole reason for launching this bomb was to get at isis targets

they couldn't get at without it. >> we're waiting for sean spicer to come to the lectern. this is an important decision. i assume the president of the united states at least knew about it. if not personally said yes, do it. >> well, we were talking about this yesterday, wolf. president trump's recounting of his decision over a piece of chocolate cake with president xi to say go on the tomahawk missiles. my guess is, though i defer to the general, my guess is that he did. i think the point dana makes can't be overstated which is there is a clear difference here in approach. this is a philosophical difference because this is something donald trump talked about on the campaign trail. this is not the willy-nilliness. our first priority to going to be defeat isis. obama has not been tough enough on them. we will. i will also say dana is right that first and maybe most of the

questions for sean spicer will be about this. had it not happened, a lot of the questions would have been about steve bannon and about sean spicer himself. so it shows you how these news cycles, i feel like we have ten pounds of news stuffed in a five pound bag regularly. >> i want to get a reaction. a member of the house foreign affairs committee. congressman, let me get your reaction to the first ever use of this mother of all bombs thr, this bomb in -- you're going to have to wait. sean spicer has just stepped up to the podium. >> thank you. as many of you are aware, there's currently news breaking out of afghanistan. around 7:00 p.m. local time in afghanistan the united states military used a gbu 43 weapon in afghanistan. the gbu 43 is a large powerfully and accurately delivered weapon. we targeted a system of tunnels

and caves that isis fighters used to move around freely making it easier for them to target u.s. military advisers and afghan forces in the area. the united states takes the fight against isis very seriously. in order to defeat the group we must deny them operational space which we did. the united states took all precautions necessary to prevent civilian casualties and collateral damage as a result of the operation. any further details i would refer you to the department of defense on that. moving on, as you may know from the schedule the president has a 2:00 event so i'll try to keep this tight. earlier today the president signed hg 43 bringing the total number of congressional review act legislation pieces that he signed now to 13. this resolution that he signed today yeoverturns a piece of legislation that was put in place that would have taken away the right of states to set their own policies and priorities for

title ten family planning programs. our federal system was set up to allow states to address the unique needs of their own populations when possible. especially comes to programs as sensitive to family planning. has restored -- as i mentioned at the top, there's an event at 2:00 where the president will be meeting with the brave first responders who were involved in the i-85 bridge collapse that occurred in atlanta to thank them for their work and dedication in addressing this horrible situation. the bridge collapsed during rush hour on march 30th. due to the heroic efforts of atlanta's first responders, some of whom will be here no lives were lost. he's proud to honor these brave individuals. later this afternoon the president will head to florida for the easter holiday. he will be departing joint base andrews via motorcade as the preparations for the easter egg

roll are well under way on the south lawn. and while we're on the topic, i know it was brought up the other day to give you quick notes on what to expect, this coming monday we expect more than 21,000 people to attend the easter egg roll. the allocations of tickets have been given to schools, military hospitals. eggs will be hand out to the children who attend. nearly 18000 eggs were ordered. it will start at 7:30 with different groups of guests arriving every two hours to ensure all the children have an opportunity to participate in more than a dozen activities. also today the treasury department office of foreign asset control designed -- designated one entity and one individual connected to human rights abuses against iranian political prisoners. the individual who is designated for his role in abuses in iran's

prison is the brother of of the commander of iran's irgc who was himself previously designated under terrorism counter proliferation and human rights authorities. the sanctions against human rights abusers in iran's prison come at a time when iran continues to unjustly detain in its prison various foreigns including u.s. citizens. we join recent calls by international organizations and u.n. human rights experts for the immediate release of all u.s. citizens unjustly detained or missing in iran. they also designated two isis financial facilitate ors as isis supporter north of africa continuing our ongoing effort to disrupt key leadership for the

group. minute of the cabinet have held many meetings with their counter parts about the significant foreign policy challenges. you heard from the president himself alongside nato secretary general about the need for a strong funded alliance to combat terrorism. the humanitarian crisis ongoing in syria. and many other serious threats to our collective safety and security. also yesterday ambassador nikki haley along with her counter parts from nine other nations voted in favorite of a draft resolution to denounce the heinous chemical attack carried out by the assad regime last week. unfortunately russia stood in the way of this resolution. however i'd like to point out the abstingz of china on the heels of the visit and a former member of the soviet union. both of these are notable and signify that the nids united st is persuading the world that the use of weapons of mass

destruction cannot go unanswered. secretary tillerson was in russia yesterday to meet with his counterpart and ensure that they are made fully aware of the united states position says in both areas of practical cooperation such as defeating isis and areas where russia does not share our interest in values. as you know the vice president will be departing for his ten day trip. his office will be providing more information later today. finally i'm glad to announce the president will host the prime minister of italy for an official working visit to the white house next thursday, april 20th. the leaders will discuss the upcoming g7 which will be hosted in italy and a range of issues of mutual concern. with that i'm glad to take some of your questions. >> sean, where is the administration in cost sharing stuff with. [inaudible] >> that is an area that is being internally discussed at this

time. >> undecided. >> there is an ongoing discussion on that matter. >> the last few days have seen a number of policy shifts by the president. china is a currency manipulator, the order of health care and taxes. there's more. but i won't belabor the point. what should the american people make of these shifts and are there any policy areas that are nonnegotiable? >> i think you can look at what you're receiving to as a shift and by that i mean i saw a couple instances with respect to nato being one of those shifts. if you look at what's happened, those entities or individuals or issues evolving toward's the president's position. nato in particular he talked about the need of countries to pay their fair share, to live up to their commitments of 2% of gep. nato has done just that. and it is something that he pointed out in the debate, the 50 debate in september of last

year. he talked about the fact that nato is moving towards what he has been calling for. i think in some cases the issues involve that it's not just a clear and fast statement that this is -- that the entity itself is moving towards his or the issue is evolving towards the position that he articulated and that can't be proven more true in the case of nato where he laid out two very clear positions that he had an issue with nato in as far as back as september of last year started to recognize that institution was moving much more towards his position. second general noted that as well. >> quick follow-up. the xm bank is another. that's an constitution that hasn't changed at all. on some of these other policy shifts where you haven't seen the type of change, like nato, what should we make of those type of shifts and are there policy areas that are off limits? >> there's always going to be areas where i think, again, it

depends on the outcome. in the case of nato, it's the most illustrative. i think you look at the president's position. where he wanted to see nato in particular evolve to. it's moving exactly in the direction he said it was in terms of its goals, of increasing the amount of other participation. something that was reinforced by the secretary himself when he was here. i think when you look at these issues and you recognize the direction in which they're moving, they're moving in a direction the president stated very clearly. >> on the gb 43 bomb, the first time it's ever been used. why do you choose this particular location and would you say that this bomb will be used in another point around the world objection like syria. >> i would refer you to the department of defense on the specifics. >> on the separate matter you

mentioned what you see as a win at the u.n. security council. curious as to why you believe this is a win. after all, this particular resolution did not pass. look at what's happening in the security council in the past. for instance, the security council resolution which gave the green light for the persian gulf war. you had all five members voting yes. why are you saying this is a win when not all five permanent members actually voted yes who had russia blocking it? >> i think it's very significant china in particular, in terms of that one, in terms of the approximate location and history with russia. so that will be a natural position that they might have taken in the past. but second ri,i, i think china

absension is a win for the president. it really shows the success of the trip first and formoemost. secondly it continues to show how russia is isolated a this matter. in a variety of fronts it was a huge win for the united states. >> thank you, sean. in his remarks to us off camera, director mulvaney talked about vision of the fal government being reorganized as in some cases more agencies and he said also that the final plan will come not just from right wing think tanks i believe was the phrase coupled with the statements on the xm bank s. he already receiving any criticism

or voices of disappointment from small government conservatives? i refer to the group such as americans for tax reform? >> well, i can't say that i've scanned every group's statements about this particular subject but i can tell you he's gotten a lot of very positive feedback as well as director mulvaney have for their effort. you have a government that has never been organized, just been added to. when you look at the number of agencies, to do in some cases the very same thing and are housed in a variety of agencies throughout the government. the question that you have to ask yourself is not only is the taxpayer getting the best bang for their buck but are the people that those services are intended for those services to be provided for getting those services. drek or mulvaney's effort at the president's direction to really look at how government is, organize and operating is a very

significant step. i think one of the points that he noted is that this is something that should unite conservatives and leb raliberal republicans and democrats. good government doesn't have an ideological home. it's going we all can gragree o. the more that we deliver for the american citizen and deliver for the american taxpayer, effective and official government is something we should all probably be in line with. >> thank you, sean. the u.s. ambassador at the organize for the [inaudible] chemical weapons says that syria uses chemical weapons abetted by russia's conditioning efforts to [inaudible] . was the president offered truth of such efforts by russia? >> was he offered? >> proof of this, evidence that this is happening? >> no.

>> i would like to know also, you've been putting in the same sentence syria, iraq and north korea as failed state, russia being not a failed state, but part of this. has it become to use an old expression the axis of evil, this administration? >> i think it's important to note who russia is on the side with right now and where they stand. i think it draws a huge contrast to show who's on what side of this argument. and this cries isis. i think it's important to note the difference who they're with. i'm not going to go any further. >> very quick, last question. with the national hockey league playoffs just started, will the president cheer for the rangers or the caps? >> respectfully that's really not been a subject that's come up too often in the white house. i'm going to keep with richard and go to richard in atlanta georgia. >> obviously our concern is the

reconstruction of 85. we understand that the president is meeting with the first responders this afternoon. we we wanted to ask about the commitment of getting i-85 rebuilt as far as federal dollars and federal regulations to get the job done quickly. >> a couple things on that front. immediately following the tragedy that ensued in atlanta, the president directed the federal highway administration to release $10 million and then we have begun to work with the appropriate agencies to expedite that process. i know that there are critical repairs that have to get made and i think not only that the initial funding will help with that for the roads and the bridges and the emergency access that needs to get handled, but under emergency relief efforts, there are ways to expedite some of that funding. the department of transportation and the federal highway

administration are probably the best way to get a answer. there are ways some of that funding can be expedited. >> back on some of these shifts, on china in particular, the president did not mince words during the campaign. now he says he and president xi have been bonding, xi means well. he says china is not a currency manipulator. what message does this send to the president's supporter whose sent him to the white house thinking he'd be following through on his tough talk against china? >> i think the president's tough talk was on a variety of subjects was to get results for the american people. that's what he has pledged to do. to get more jobs. to grow more manufacturing. to keep our country safe. they had a great meeting. the president likes president xi and got to know him well and i think has established a good relationship. at the end of the day this is always about developing a better situation for the american people and i think he's done that. > if i may, the president to

"the wall street journal" that president xi respected him realize that north korea is not so easy. does he underestimate how difficult this is going to be? >> i don't think so at all. if china is able to help get a deal, the president would appreciate that. i think this would be great for china as well. as the president noted this morning, if china can help us do it, that would be great. if not, we'll go handle that ourselves with our allies. >> on currency manipulation, why specifically did he decide to abandon this and what other tool zs s does he have in his tool box? >> i think it's a very complex issue and i'm going to leave it to the president to specifically answer that. >> has he given up on trying to modify -- >> i think the president is going to continue to make significant progress when it comes to that issue and to how our relationship is with china. he showed already what a great relationship he has with president xi and the results are already starting to pour in.

and i think that is an issue in particular that the president is best to address. >> two questions, sean. you were very forthcoming about the tick tock being up to the missile launches in syria. can you give us any background in moab? was there a situation scenario? was this several days in the making? my question second is the president has been critical of the intelligence community leading up to his inauguration. he's obviously been working very closely with the intel community on these situations in syria and afghanistan. has his opinion changed? >> in the first question, again, i think general nicholson is best to address the tick tock on the situation over there. >> but as far as the president's consultation? >> i understand. i think that the u.s. forces afghanistan as well as the department of defense are best to walk through the military operations that are ongoing. i think with respect to the

intelligence community and the national security team, as you know, the president has put together a world class cabinet of topnotch national security experts from general mattis to general kelly, general mcmaster and others that continue to provide him the best advice to make the best decisions for this country. and he continues to rely on them. and director coats at dni, they continue to give him sage advice about how to best position the united states. >> on that comment, did the president specifically order authorize the use of this? >> again i'm not going to get into details right now. as i mentioned, i'll let the department of defense handle the lead on this one. >>. [inaudible] can you answer what has changed that led the president to re-evaluate -- >> let me get back to xm bank. it's a complex issue and i would

like to get back. >> two questions about the budget. are you all prepared to hold things up? we've got a couple weeks left here. how serious are you about getting money for the wall? would you holdup the spending plan for that? >> so the government is currently funded through april 28th under or continuing resolution. we've made very clear to congress that the president's priorities are increasing military spending and security of our border. we're going to continue to have conversations with congress and we feel confident they'll do their job. those conversations are ongoing. >> so you can't say whether you would have to have money in this budget? >> i will leave it to our team to continue the negotiations that they're having. >> question on the budget was there's a proposal now to punish the members of congress who do not pass this spending plan in a variety of ways. withhold salary, even arrest. do you support that congress should be punished? >> let's see. i think we're making significant progress.

i feel very good about their momentum and so i don't want to start getting into whether who's going to be naughty and nice. >> historically sitting presidents have refrained from stating preferences on where parts of the economy goes. yesterday president trump says he wants low interest rates, he wants a weaker dollar and the market followed that. how do you character that response? >> i think the president has made it very clear from the beginning that he's going to do what he can to fight on behalf of american consumers and american businesses to make sure that we can help create an environment here in america where businesses grow and industries continue to hire and jobs can come back and middle income americans can get some tax relief and keep more of their money. >> when the economy is weak and needs help and they recover when the economy strengthens, so what was he trying to get? >> i understand. i think what he's trying to do

and as you know through a lot of coverage and meetings that you guys have covered and seen here at the white house, the president's continuing to meet with business leaders and people who are creating jobs, union leaders to fine out what we can do. the president has heard a lot, gotten a lot of feedback and already taken great steps to make sure that we can create a regular la to -- what he'll condition do is fight on behalf of the american people. i hate to cut this short, but we literally have ten minutes before the president speaks. >> so there you have the white house press secretary sean spicer wrapping up a relatively short briefing, but he opened up with a very important statement confirming cnn's reporting that the u.s. now for the first time has dropped what's called the mother of all bombs, the first ever in combat bomb developed by the u.s. military back in 2003, but it has not been used until

now. listen to sean spicer. >> we targeted a system of tunnels and caves that isis fighter used to move around freely making it easier for them to target u.s. military advisers and afghan forces in the area. the united states take the fight against isis very seriously and in order to defeat the group we must deny them operational space which we did. >> quickly i want to go to barbara starr. he broke the story here on cnn. barbara is getting ready. we'll go to her in a moment. dana bash, we did not hear from sean spicer, he didn't answer the question whether president trump personally authorized the first ever use of this 21,000 bou pound bomb. >> saying that's something that's going to have to come from the defense department, the military operations that are in charge and did okay this military operation. look, it's unusual.

it's unusual for something of this magnitude to not have -- i mean, we did hear from sean spicer in fairness talking about actually confirming what barbara starr broke first exclusively here, the whole notion that this was used, that the moab was used. but in times past, we have seen after an operation the white house press secretary come out and maybe not give a whole tick tock, but say the president was informed, the president okayed, something having to do with the commander in chief's knowledge or participation in something like this. the fact that he wouldn't do it is now on the long, long list of things that break with convention and break with tradition. >> it's called the moab. technically that stands for massive ordinary air blast bomb, but everyone calls it the mother of all bombs. it's 21,000 bomb. it's a smart bomb.

it's dropped from a u.s. air force cargo plan, a c-130. it's never been used in battle. it was available back in 2003 during the bush administration, certainly during the obama administration. developed for the war in rauchliraq but until now it had never been used. and dana point the this out, two past presidents, worth noting, two past presidents had this available and didn't use it. circumstances change. this is obviously something you don't want to use in a very populated area of civilian casualties. i do think that is worth noting. dana used the word unusual which is the word i was thinking. it's odd that days after we got this detailed down to the food description of how -- from donald trump of how he made the decision of what to do with the tomahawks as related to that syrian air base that we're now

referring things to the defense department. sean spicer isn't the president of the united states. these are obviously two unique missions, but it is a little odd. someo i would agree. i thought it was strange. >> me, too. the bomb was dropped, elise labott, very close to the pakistani border. we haven't received any information from the government of afghanistan or pakistan. everyone is waiting for bomb damage assessment reports to see if there was collateral damage in the tunnels that isis controls. this was a message to send a devastating signal to isis. >> and this is what president trump has said in his number one priority, even as he did this strike in syria, he's been saying all week that the priority is still isis. if you think back a year or two a ago, you didn't hear much about isis in afghanistan or pakistan. this is an area that the trump

administration and obama administration as it left office was looking at very closely about gaining a foot hohold the. it also sends a message to al qaeda and the taliban about president trump's resolve, i think, but it also just sends a signal that the eye is still on isis and no matter where they are, look, it was in afghanistan but it could be in libya tomorrow where isis is gaining a foothold in these areas that you're not hearing a lot about it from this administration but they are keeping an eye on them. >> when you think of isis, you think of primarily syria and iraq. >> and when you think of afghanistan, you think of the taliban. >> barbara starr is at the pentagon. first reported here on cnn, you're getting new information so update our viewers on the very latest. >> well, i think you heard sean spicer really spell out what the

administration is saying here, which is that they went against a complex of isis tunnel and caves in this very remote area of eastern afghanistan. u.s. forces, afghan forces have been operating up there for some weeks trying to clear out isis areas. let's be frank, combat killed isis fighters in the area but decided to use this weapon now for the first time in combat because of the target that they were looking at, which was a remote area, minimum chance of civilian casualties, they believe. we will have to find out if that's accurate, caves and tunnels. this is a weapon that's quite different. it's a blast weapon. so it's not the kind of weapon that we might be used to from years of iraq and afghanistan and even steer yeyria. it's an air blast. it explodes in the air and most

of the damage and destruction is done through that concussive blast. this was a target that might have been optimum for that weapon, by all accounts, spread out over some distance so you get the large blast in the area and you can accomplish the military goal. but they're going to have to fly over the area and conduct some reconnaissance and see if the weapon really worked as planned. 21,600 pounds. this weapon is so heavy. you see some of the images from the testing of it over the years. never been used. so heavy at 21,600 pounds. it's put in the back of an air force special operations cargo plane. a parachute is attached and it's basically pushed out the back of the plane falling to earth and detonating before it hits the ground. so quite interesting choice of weapons. i think most people would agree.

but i think there's a big unknown here. how did it work? did it work as planned? did they get the result they wanted? was this the right weapon for the right target in the minds of the military. right now they say absolutely yes. >> barbara, excellent reporting. general marks, let's talk about why this bomb was not used. it was ready to go back in 2003 during the iraq war. it could have been used then. what was the delay all about? >> i think it's a combination of factors. primarily, it was not the right weapon system as the united states invaded iraq where you had saddam's military fleeing, and in many cases, choosing not to engage. and then these initial insights into this insurgences that were

creeping up, it's the collateral damage estimate process that needs to go into the choice of this weapon system. and where it was used was a wide-open area and there were isis-type capabilities, primarily fighters, in a concentrated area. folks going into afghanistan, folks going into pakistan. the time was right. it was actionable intelligence and seemed to me that it was a good use of a low risk use of a weapons system. you don't have to put any fighters on the ground at risk to go after this target. >> we know each one of those moab bombs cost many millions of dollars. we'll get a damage assessment, see if that mission was successful. i'm sure they are working on it right now. everyone, stand by. we're learning new details about this nearly 22,000-pound mother of all bombs, as it's called,

just dropped on isis targets in afghanistan, a very remote area not far from the pakistan border. the very latest when our special coverage continues right after a quick break. it's over. i've found a permanent escape from monotony. together, we are perfectly balanced, our senses awake, our hearts racing as one. i know this is sudden, but they say: if you love something... set it free. see you around, giulia ♪

hi there, i'm brooke baldwin. we start with breaking news that the united states has just dropped the, quote, mother of all bombs in afghanistan. the target there, isis. and their labyrinth of underground tunnels in nangarhar province. specifically, it's known as a