stuart: almost time up. i do want to thank peter kernen with us. expert experience again. ashley, liz. thanks very much indeed. charles payne, sir, it's yours. charles: thank you, very, very much, stuart varney. yes, i'm charles payne in for neil cavuto. get set for a crazy two hours of "coast to coast." coming up steve bannon's white house role is changing. charlie gasparino is reporting that could impact your tax bill. is united in legal trouble. the lawyer for the man dragged out detail injuries and telegraphing if a lawsuit is coming. soon new details how nato is going to stop isis. you will hear it from the head of nato himself. because he is here. we start with breaking news out of syria. in a new interview syrian president assad denying any chemical involvement in the chemical attacks. >> definitely, 100%. we don't have arsenal. we're not going to use it. and we have many indications if

you don't have the proof, no one has concrete information or evidence. charles: assad then going as far as to insist that the united states worked, quote, hand-in-glove with terrorists to carry out the attack. former deputy homeland security jim loy. admiral, how do you respond to this? >> well i think we have respond with some kind of a factual, investigatory process that gets facts on the table before we speculate what the outcomes might be in one direction or another. it is disappointing that we had russia veto the resolution from the united nations security council just yesterday. but i think an investigatory, some basis on which facts can be put on the table where judgments can be taken and then options can be exercised going the other way. charles: well, weren't those, wasn't there some sort of a factual assessment that led to

the trump administration retaliation with those 59 tomahawk missiles? >> without a doubt, there is very little doubt in the mine of our intelligence community that there was involvement at the national level of syria with regard to the choice made, the weapons chosen and the execution of those strikes of the sarin gas. so we think, we think we understand exactly what happened but there is a value in a international validation process. charles: you know, admiral loy, i find it sort of compelling here assad is using the same line that lavrov used yesterday in their joint press conference about the international community and some sort of investigation. we're not sure if it was chemical weapons. then russia to your point earlier, not joining with the u.n. resolution t feels like more games are being played, at the, to accomplish what, a public relations win here? who would they win over? >> well, it is a about the

losers. the losers remain the syrian people who were dealt with in the manner they were by, by assad. so the challenge on the table here i think again is to get facts in place. let the international community recognize those facts, and come to judgments based on those facts that can be put on the table publicly. so i think that is where we happen to find ourselves. but the posturing associated with the pr win or the pr loss is clearly going on and, as we watch that, i would like to think that we hold on to an affirmation that getting those facts on the table for the international community to see and respond to is really the answer to the question. charles: with all due respect to the international community we've seen small resolve when it comes to actually enforcing, you know, pushing back these ruthless dictator bad actors of the world.

most of them did cheer us on. the applause from the trump administration came from all corners including a lot of vocal critics. so how much policy should be set or wedded to the idea of pro or con international encouragement or discouragement? >> you know i'm with you on that. i mean there is great disappointment around the world during the obama administration when we put red lines in the sand and backed away from them as dramatically as we did. so i think lots of countries around the world, certainly the citizens of our country should be encouraged by the choice made by president trump to launch 59 missiles. charles: right. >> having said that, the value of looking at the history of all of this with the, if we go back to gadhafi, if we go back to hussein, if we go back to milosevic, yes, our country has

stood for the right of many of these aggressive dictators in the past and that hopefully will remain our behavioral pattern going into the future. charles: which don't have much time left in a minute but i do wanto squeeze ifhe question for you on rules of engagement going forward. obviously chemical weapons and sort of damage they do being a crime against all of humanity. are there other instances now where the trump administration should probably react almost immediately to send the same message including these gasoline-filled barrel bombs and things like that? >> well those are the syrian questions. there are north korean questions on the table at the same time. so i think that the president has made quite clear he is not taking any option off the table in any of these circumstances and will respond appropriately when an international event occurs. on the other hand we have to be very careful. an event does not become a strategy until it is pretty

clear over multiple occasions. so, what we're finding at the moment i believe in the trump administration is that, with the old after for rich talk is cheap and behavior counts f the talk was during the campaign and rhetoric associated with that sort of hinted in one direction or another, the actual behavior of a governing president is a very different thing. and i think the, we should be encouraged by what we're seeing today. charles: we really are, of course the stakes have risen. we appreciate your time this afternoon, admiral loy. >> okay. thank you. charles: turn now to north korea because there are new satellite images suggesting kim jong-un is planning another nuclear test. ble burman on hothe white house is responding. blake? reporter: hi, there, charles, the issue of north korea suddenly crept to the top of the list for president trump in his young administration as top priority as it relates to foreign affairs.

part of the president's eye earlier this day, he sent out another tweet as it relates to north korea and neighboring china. here is what the president wrote -- i have great confidence that china will properly deal with north korea. if they are unable to do so the u.s. with i wills allies will, usa. the president and administration is intimating they're willing to leverage potential trade deals with china will get a handle or a grassp over the neighbor to you mentioned the satellite images. they are something to take a look at. it is entirely possible that north korea could test another nuclear weapon. thinking would happen underground at some point this weekend. the timing not coincidental. on saturday the day of the sun in north korea. this is a big holiday there celebrating the birthday of its founder. when you look at those satellite images the intelligence

community believe it is possible that underground test could happen on saturday. here at the white house administration officials are pushing back that a story potential sanctions, very specific sanctions could be in the pipeline as it relates to north korea. instead they're telling me, one white house official telling me all options are on the table as it relates to sanctions. this white house official saying, i'm quoting here, we're exploring a new range ever diplomatic, security and economic measures in response to the north korean regime's continued prove visions, end -- provocations. a white house official telling me the era of strategic patience with north korea is over. charles? charles: thank you, blake. warning that north korea could fire sarin-loaded missiles. lieutenant colonel tony shaffer, what actions could be taken now. >> thanks for having me. charles: feel like something ominous is going to happen.

all sides feel it. it is in the area. what should we do and how preemptive should we be? >> this is a great question. this is an issue i've been working a part of since the early '90s. it is no small issues as pointednut run-up to our interview here, charles, the strategic patience thing has been going on with the clinton years in the '90s. the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. we've seen no different results. we've seen the north koreans walk up to a very fine line. we give them stuff, they back down and walk two paces past the line and want more stuff. so i think what we're seeing here, both by the metaphor of syria and russia, syria being a client state of the russians, i think we're now telegraphing, look, if you do something that crosses a line, a clear cross of a line, there will be bad consequences. charles, one thing we must

remember about north korea. it is about one man and regime survival, un. if we make it clear un will be responsible, something bad will happen to him, we personalize it, we can successfully see mitigation and changing of north korean behavior. tough do something different than we've done in the past. charles: i tell you, tony, it is so tough. we're talking a third generation of control there. >> right. charles: i want to remind the audience what they call the arduous march, the 1994 to 1998, as many as 3 1/2 million koreans died of starvation. they couldn't fund them with their own personal mismanagement. this genocideal, generation of maniacs remained in the control. no one around them has the will to push them out no matter how bad things get. what does that mean for the west? i'm not sure they will get them

to do our bade bidding for us? >> that is why president trump's conversations with china are critical. the chinese acted on discussion. they limited certain movement of certain material not north koreans. it was made very clear, i suspect, i am speculating here, it was clear from president trump, to president xi, you all of china have the ability to control your client state. without the chinese, charles, what you could not have happened, horrific as it was the chinese sat back with nothing to help the north koreans during that period of time. i was visiting cree about every six months during the period you just mentioned, the mid '90s. this was a horrific act by brutal dictator then, the father of the current son. the son has not shown any change from that. we have to focus on doing something different. working with our allies. by the way you talked about the japanese concerned of sarin gas. charles: right. >> we do know the north koreans have the capability to he deploy

those weapons against the japanese. let me say this, i can't give you all details i know there, is pretty good chance that the north koreas could hit us with some sort of a weapon as well. we need to reinsinuate our ability to insure our allies like the japanese that we can take care of them. president obama, when he failed to follow through on the red line back on syria years ago, didn't just upset our ability to deal with syria, it upset the tire world. charles: sure. >> our allies now are recognizing that president trump is coming back from that deficit. we will stand by our allies. charles: upset the entire world and emboldened all the belligerent actors in the entire world. >> absolutely. charles: colonel shaffer, thank you very much. >> thank you, charles. charles: steve bannon's future in the white house is in doubt. does that mean the future of tax reform is in greater doubt? charlie gasparino with the latest there. do today's bank earnings underscore new rules to help main street? absolutely. i will lay it out tonight at 6:00 p.m. eastern on "making

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♪ arles: presint trump tling "the wall street journal" he won't lease idelines for lawmakers to write tax legislation until health care is done. it has come back full circle. freedom caucus member,

congressman scott perry joins me now. congressman, felt initially like the freedom caucus was hailed as heroes, protectors of the orthodoxy of conservatism but as time has gone on, feels like a lot of finger are being pointed at you and your fellow congressman the main issue here, the main problem, with not only holding back reform of obamacare but the entire donald trump economic agenda. >> first of all we are trying to do what we told the american people we were going to do. stick tote plan what got us elect and most of us campaigned on. i know you probably don't have the count but i do have the count and it was much more than freedom caucus members, very much more, that stopped the health care bill in its tracks. charles: sure. >> i know freedom caucus is bearing the brunt of the blame, you know as well as i do there is a lot of other members kind of on the more liberal side of the republican party said no. charles: right.

>> a lot longer and for a lot longer and strident i, they're not taking credit for that. >> the tuesday group, sort of your idealogical opposites if you will within the gop. so, president trump, more recently throwing out there, maybe perhaps the idea of not paying insurance companies or insurers as a way of expedient of this free fall and ultimately having the blame lay at the foot of democrats. that sounds like a dangerous gambit. i will share with you and the audience, the kaiser foundation issued a survey, if this implodes will blame -- 61% will blame trump and gop and only 31% will blame democrats. >> that is dangerous route. we knew it was flawed from the start. we always said it was. the american people elected republican party, generally speaking, house, senate, executive branch, they expect us

to do the right thing to be responsible. we know it will not be easy. let's get to it. we should be working on it right now as far as i'm concerned. i understand some people's feelings got hurt. mine didn't. it is just business. we continue to negotiate trying to get to a place where we can be yes but one of the things we have to do is drive down the cost of care. if all we're doing is refinance, find another way of financing health care costs that can't be controlled, won't be controlled, we'll fail like obamacare, the aca did. charles: right. >> we fundamentally have to change it. which means driving down the costs. that is where most freedom caucus members are. if we show the federal government is out of it, telling insurance companies and patients what they have to do, that will drive down the cost of care, but we're not doing that right now. charles: quickly, because we're running out of time in some layman's terms. >> sure. charles: in other words, what are you guys willing to compromise on and how can this get done? because everyone watching from outside says it is simple, those

folks including yourself in the actual mix, obviously not as simple as we think it is. >> i think it is as simple getting everybody at the table for 12 hours working it out and we could probably get there. with that, one of the things the white house offered we were very interested in giving a state a waiver authority so they could provide the stuff. then the federal government wouldn't be requiring insurers to make you buy say maternity care for single man that is 80 years old. those kind of things. give them back to the state, let them do it. drives down the cost. everybody participates. problem solved. charles: that is picking up traction. hopefully that could be the tipping point. sir, thank you very much. i really appreciate you coming on the show. >> thank you. charles: well that man who was dragged off of the united airlines flight, he is lawyering up big time. in fact his lawyer was speaking out. he hasn't even stopped speaking after this. ♪ yes?

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♪ >> are we going to continue to be treated like cattle, bullied, rude treatment? >> we were completely horrified and shocked at what had happened to my father when we learned of the incident. charles: well that was the attorney and daughter of the man that was dragged off of that united airlines flight. the attorney says that he has severe concussion, a broken nose and lost two teeth. a lawsuit will be filed once an investigation is done. meanwhile the ceo of delta is defending the pctice of overbooking flights. want to go to the former head of spirit airlines, baldanza, who also agrees. it is sort of frustrating. i'm a capitalist, but i watch the airline industry in a decade go from nine big carriers to four.

i watched them park airplanes, so airplanes they fly were all full. that is smart thing to do. the overbooking thing, i can't make the flight give it to someone else and person misses flight charged a fee for changing it. you take advantage of all of that. where do you draw the line and capitalism and industry doesn't get a bad image? >> charles, great to be with you. i'm glad you're a capitalist here. the thing really important to note. this was not a overbooked situation. the plane was full with paying passengers. and then late in the process four crewmembers from republic airlines said that they had to get on the plane to take a flight the next day. and it was because of having to put crewmembers on the plane that the gate crew there in chicago was put in really unfortunate position of having to pull people off the airplane. i don't think you can blame overbooking for this. charles: so the crew was late, and then through a series of events somebody gets a bloodied nose, missing teeth, whose fault

is that? >> i think it is, quite honestly i think it is the fault of republic airlines. i know that sound strange, but there was a republic crew, that needed to take a flight out of louisville the next day and they sent their crew to get on that plane to louisville. somebody at republic clearly knew they were sending that crew to the gate, but they didn't get there until after the plane was boarded. now i can tell you that airport agents at most airlines are quite good at handling situations like this before the plane's booked and many customers are actually quite eager to give up their seat for a free trip or some cash or something, if their time is flexible. but once you're boarded on the plane, getting pulled off is a different thing. had the gate crew had the ability to create the four seats for the crewmembers before the flight got boarded i don't think we ever would have had this issue. because the crew showed up late, the gait agents didn't know what to do. they get four people off, when

they called in security, all hell broke loose. charles: there is series of issues. i've been on planes waiting for crewmembers. none of this is unusual. there should have been issues or preparation for all these particular things happening, someone being late from a crew. paying off the passengers. not having a limit. i understand the industry limit is 1350 bucks something like that. they only went to $800 or some so ultimately the lawyer for this doctor is saying that he says it is an indictment not only just for united airlines and the industry itself but the way perhaps businesses are now treating their customers in general. do you see something like that? do you see a shift where, because it does feel like this is happening, we pay for our bag an, pay for changing our flight. there have been ideas tossed out in your industry paying for toilet seats.

>> clearing no one should be treated like mr. dao was treated. no question about that. this process escalated far more than it should have. getting four people of plane in the gate is not that difficult. you said been there waiting for crew before. remember this was crew not for the flight people were taking. pilots and flight attendants were on the plane and plane was loaded with paying passengers. crews that needed to be in louisville next day. a lot of ways that crew could have got to louisville. didn't need to pull people off the plane. charles: i agree. they could have taken a uber with a lot less money or embarassment. are you satisfied what you're hearing from the ceo of united and think there will be real changes, would put renewed focus back on the customer? >> i hope they do that. you mentioned the $1300. that is governmental limit what a customer can claim. united could have offered them a lot more if they warranted to. mr. munoz in his interview on

good morning america had exactly the right tone. he talked about changes in terms of authorities gait agents would have -- gate agents and crewmembers. letting employee travel create a brandes are up shun for you is a real challenge for an airline. seems to me like oscar munoz gets that and will dress it appropriately, i hope. charles: they will be teaching in this business school courses for many years to come. really appreciate it. >> thank you very much, charles. great to be with you. charles: if bannon is on the outs, what will it do for tax reform. steve bannon acknowledged that he is not longer the president's top guy when it comes to the economy, what happens now, charlie. >> let me make a point about the united thing market cap was erased. charles: at one point it washundred million. but came back and beating

earnings again. >> is beating "the hill" out of that guy, making sure their crewmembers got a seat is that charles: i give you a better story. wells fargo is getting hammered and been getting hammered with the incident. this stuff can hurt a large corporation for a long time. >> brand damage hurts, not just brand but the bottom line. getting back to this, this is bottom line story. inside of the trump white house there are no real supply-siders. larry kudlow never got a job. the guy that advocates tax cuts to improve the economy and revenues. the closest thing to a supply-sider you have in the trump white house is steve bannon and his crew of nationalists. they want -- charles: economic nationalists. >> they want lower taxes and infrastructure and trade restrictions. they embrace tax cuts on the corporate level and individual level. with him on the outs and democrats suddenly running the

white house, that could change tomorrow, donald trump is known for switching the deck chairs around all the time, jared kushner, gary zone, head of ec, supply-side tax cuts are taking a back seat to more innovative plans. here is where it is sort of manifesting. you hear the president talk about health care first. clearly tax cuts not at the top of the agenda. you also hear the white house floating they will not do a big corporate tax cut. what they will do they give a repatriation, repatriate money from overseas profits if you're a corporation, we'll let you repatriate it at lower tax rate so we can use it for infrastructure. they're not calling for the 15% tax rate. that is where it is right now. you're seeing impact of gary cohns and democrats inside of the trump white house taking hold. charles: i thought it was also telegraphed when blake burman two days ago asked sean spicer

about people filling out their taxes next year and about a tax break, the first words out of his mouth was i hope so. then he went on to say middle class tax breaks. he didn't say anything for the upper level. if we do get something, perhaps for individuals i can see that being sacrificed. >> well i, i think so, sean said it to us. we should point out, we reported it. he said everything is he table. the president is doing a listening tour about what to do. clearly they, they had a plan that was advocated by art laffer, by steve moore, by larry kudlow, all supply-side econmics donald trump ran on. he is no longer running but he is no longer added advocating that plan i should point out. charles: where did this come bannon acknowledged he is no longer the top guy on the economy? >> it is not economy so much. top guy in the white house. he accept the fact he lost a turf bat well jared kushner. he wants to stay in the white house.

he will play a long game. but it's a situation where you know this was a guy that wrote i believe the speech, the many of trump's top speeches. he is no longer the go-to guy. i will say one thing. the caveat here, trump could change this is his management style. charles: all right. thanks a lot, charlie. >> okay. charles: assad meantime denying he is behind the chemical attacks in his own country. the head of nato is here and he is going to respond. ♪

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♪ >> definitely, 100 percent application. we don't have arsenal. we're not going to use it. don't have any indications if you don't have proof. no one has concrete information or evidences. charles: syrian president assad lashing out against the united states saying u.s. worked

closely with terrorists to carry out that chemical attack. here with reaction, nato secretary-general generals -- jens stoltenberg. that his government didn't use chemical weapons but that it was the united states and terrorists? >> the assad regime has used chemical weapons before the airstrike, some days ago. it was a u.s. operation based on u.s. intelligence but, i have no reason to doubt that they have, the united states have solid basis for their analysis and for the intelligence that they have showing assad regime is behind the chemical attacks. charles: your meeting and subsequent press conference with president trump yesterday seemed

to be something of a victory for your organization. during the campaign president trump was extraordinarily critical about nato for a variety of reasons, one which was perhaps it was developed in 1949 as a cold war strategic move that it had become obsolete. how do you feel about your role in the world and the new mission of nato? >> so i welcome very much strong commitment of president trump and his security team to nato because a strong nato is important for europe. it is also important for the united states. two world wars and a cold war told us that peace and stability in europe is also important for the security and the prosperity of north america. and we have to remember that the only time nato has invoked our collective defense clause, article 5, was after an attack

on the united states after 9/11. so nato is important for north america and for europe. but we have to adapt and change and i agree with president trump we have to step up our efforts to fight international terrorism and need a fairer burden-sharing, meaning allies have to invest more in defense. charles: i will ask but the money part of this later but i want to get back to the terrorist part because you talked about this yesterday and when i raid nato's purpose, it says to protect the freedom of its members. so how do you extrapolate that to protect people of afghanistan or people of syria or the people of iraq, and what exactly will nato do to insure that freedom and peace? >> nato's core task to defend nato allied countries, 28 european countries and the united states and canada. charles: right. >> that is our core task. charles: right, sir with all due respect, if terrorism is happening in european countries

as of course, unfortunately almost weekly we see some incident, but it's coming, originates out of one ever these countries like raqqa, for instance, in syria, what does nato do to help solve that, because it is an attack on your members? >> yes. and that's the reason why we're addressing the root causes of the terrorism, the terrorist threats we see against many nato allied countries. we are in afghanistan to fight international terrorism. the main reason for nato being there so many years is to prevent afghanistan from becoming safe haven for international terrorists once again. we're in iraq, training iraqi forces enabling them to stablize their own country, fight terrorism and fight isil in iraq. and nato is supporting the u.s.-led coalition in fighting isil in syria with our awacs surveillance planes helping to improve the air picture. so all nato allies are part of the coalition including some of

them are active on the ground in syria. so nato and nato allies participate and contribute in many different ways to the international fight against terrorism. charles: now your original goal of course, the cold war fight, seems to be re-establishing itself with russia, and the grander ambitions of vladmir putin. bringing in montenegro certainly sends a serious message i would think to russia and their balkan ambitions. what do you see on the horizon with respect to a more tense and tense situation between the west and russia? >> so we have seen increased tensions between nato and russia and that is the result of the fact that russia has implemented a significant military buildup over several years, and they have used military force against neighbors. in georgia in 2008, and ukraine

illegally annexing crimea, annexing part of another country in 2014. charles: right. >> they continue to destablize eastern ukraine. that is the main reason why nato has implemented the biggest reinforcement to our collective defense in europe with more troops, with more exercises and we are, we're now in the process of deploying forces to eastern part of the alliance to the balkan countries andand. charles: let me get back to the money issue. 28, we won't count montenegro yet. so-called fair share, president trump made this a serious point during the campaign. he brought it up during your press conference yesterday. feels like there is sense of urgency for you guys to catch up. how will you make the members pay up? >> nato allies have turned a corner. after many years of cuts in defense spending, 2016 we saw the first increase in defense spending across europe and

canada. it was a significant increase of 10 billion u.s. dollars. and it has been very helpful that president trump has been so clear and that his message has been so clear to all allies. and the recently we saw that romania declared they will reach the 2% target this year. lithuania and latvia will reach the 2% target next year. european nato allies are starting to move in the right direction. we still have a long way to government i welcome that more and more nations now need the 2% target. charles: secretary-general jens stoltenberg. thank you for your time. >> thank you. charles: sean spicer's brief something set to start. he will respond to assad comments. the number one priority and president trump signaling how he will get democrats on board and that is why it has got the left freaking out.

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to fox news the largest non-nuclear bomb was dropped in eastern afghanistan days after a green beret was killed fighting isis. the bomb, the mother of all bombs, we'll get more details from the white house briefing in a moment. of course we'll bring that to you as well. controversy over health care negotiations, president trump threatening to withhold payments to insurers because once turmoil hits the market, democrats will be forced to the table but gerri willis reports turmoil in another way, whether the democrats like it or not. gerri? >> that's right, charles. trump threatening to withhold government sponsored copaints and deductibles for some of the poorest obamacare recipient that is a move health care experts would say would trigger an insurance meltdown, if the threat proves only that, the nation's exchanges are in deep, deep trouble. knoxville, tennessee, may be the first u.s. city where obamacare fails. as it stands 40,000 people in

the area will be left with no option to buy a policy when they sign up for coverage later this year. that's because the only insurer on tennessee's exchange in that area, humana, already hey will exit in 2018 because the pool is too unbalanced. that means customers in knoxville are sicker and too few healthy people are enrolled. the state's insurance commission had this to say. >> right now, there are not going to be any options for you to buy any policies on the exchange and therefore there won't be any policies available using tax credits or premium subsidies? >> well, there you have it. tennessee of course is not alone. more than 1000 counties across the country, 1006, often role es a single insurer, according to the american action forum. were the insurers to walk away the states would be left with no options. the problem is simple. insurers are losing money, lots

of it, according to changes. according to stud by of blue cross-blue shield participants in standard and poors, benefits paid out are on decline they're still underwater after paying administrative costs. she is working hard to find a viable solution. charles, as i said to you, big question remains to be seen, will the irs force people to pay the fine if they don't have coverage in states where obamacare has gone belly-up? charles: yeah, that is a double-whammy. we'll find out. gerri, great stuff as usual. thank you very much. >> thank you. charles: i want to bring "the intelligence report" host trish regan if democrats are willing to come to the negotiating table on any circumstance. >> they have got to. if they don't they are absolutely at risk seeing large contingencies of population struggling with no real health insures. they have got to at some point come to the realization as much as they may hate trump, what he stands for.

he is their best solution. they have to work together on this people will not stand for what has happened thus far in the health care industry. charles: you know, there is a, kaiser family, kaiser did a survey and they came to the conclusion from their work if obamacare implodes, that 61% say they will blame donald trump and the gop at this point and only 31% barack obama and the democrats. so that blame game sort of, game of chicken, i'm not sure it will work as much as it might have worked early at the very beginning. it doesn't -- >> you know, how disappointing is that, to think that democrats would actually rather see the whole thing implode and people go without insurance, just because they think, well there is a shot the republicans will get blamed for this? i mean that tells you how partisan washington is, and shouldn't we all be frankly a little disgusted by that? the good thing for trump, one

thing he has going for him, he doesn't care about all the partisan stuff. he just wants to succeed. and his success means our success. it means having some kind of a meaningful reform so that people can really have health insurance, that's good, that's not as expensive. i was talking to a guy the other day, he was telling me about his insurance bill at new york hospital. do you know, charles, just the bill alone for the bed itself, just to be in the hospital, without any of these special tests, et cetera, et cetera, $8,000 a night. do you know what kind of hotel you could say in? charles: the waldorf. >> trust me, new york hospital is no four seasons or no waldorf astoria. charles: you gave me a idea, if i ever get sick i will go to the four seasons and have the doctor visit me there. >> that shows you how messed up the system is. charles: where do you think the democrats could be offered to gain support?

it is pretty clear the republicans have own issues between moderates and fiscally conservative republicans? >> look as -- charles: trump is okay with preexisting conditions. okay with kids at 26. all that stuff. those are two features barack obama bragged about the most. so they should be thrilled with that. >> i think the concern too many people will wind up not being able to get access to this. in other words you will kick a lot of people off of medicaid and that's the fear, because there are big swaths of the population that may still need it. ey say okay, you're no longe ing to be able to get it. maybe that is where you can find some next, charles, to make sure you are still covering as many people. it is tricky. what you do need is some kind of a market incentive in all of this, so we're making rational decisions and not costing $8,000 a night for a double room at new york hospital. charles: there is walmart of health insurance if we allow it to blossom. trish regan, "the intelligence report."

we'll be right back with the white house press briefing. at crowne plaza we know business travel isn't just business. there's this. 'a bit of this. why not? your hotel should make it easy to do all the things you do. which is what we do. crowne plaza. we're all business, mostly.

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. charles: breaking news -- the united states dropping the so-called mother of all bombs, moab on isis in afghanistan. this after a green beret was killed there. this is the largest nonnuclear bomb launched in combat for the first time. the white house will give us more details in just a moment. first retired navy captain chuck nash.

moab, captain nash, 21,600 pounds, gps guided if you can believe it. sending one heck of a message. >> it is interesting it was used with this, you got to be careful where you use something like that, there are three kill mechanisms in a bomb, charles, heat, blast, which causes a concussive effect and fragmentation, and weapons are optimized depending how you intend to use them. moab is intended to maximize the concussive effect which in close kills you immediately as you move out, causes amputation, as you move further out, it causes lung and brain damage. this thing at 21,000 pounds is really the m in moab stands for massive, accurately named. massive concussive effect where the only place you could use it would be near a training camp in the mountains, totally away

from the rest of the civilian population, where you could have collateral damage. so this target was chosen carefully. the weapon was chosen carefully, and you match weapon to target for maximum effect. charles: the first, the second iraq war, the invasion there, we heard about daisy cutters and things like that. large bombs, and by the same token, feels like particularly in afghanistan and the mountains of afghanistan whether it's taliban or isis or bad actor, they hide in the mountains, weather the storm and come back out and wreak havoc, can we use these more in the battle neelsd the isolated areas to kill the bad guys who otherwise wait out the whole thing? >> you know, if they choose to co locate in an isolated area, they make themselves absolutely vulnerable to a weapon like this. a ground force tend to coalesce other ground forces because they have to unite for self-protection.

by doing this, it's the antitheses of that. they're isolating themselves in an area where there are no civilians and they are just prime targets for a weapon like vietnam, like a b-52 arclight strike. same thing, a massive amount of ordnance. in this case, one and done as opposed to stringing mark 80 series bombs all over the place. charles: by the same token, we are soberly reminded we cannot win these sort of wars with airpower alone. reminded of that over and over again. how do we ultimately come to conclusion with respect to afghanistan and iraq, i know we're making moves and feels like the mosul is going to fall at any moment but ultimate victory, it also remains so elusive without the american troops, those boots on the ground. >> yeah, and charls this is going to be a political

solution, and i've been sfrag the beginning, it's uncomfortable but the taliban is involved in the political solution, they are. just like the syrians are involved in the -- russians are involved in the syrian solution. they are. we can't just say the afghanis and the united states, the afghan government and the united states are going to determine how this works out. not so. taliban is going to be involved. charles: captain nash, thank you very much. appreciate it. >> you bet, charles. charles: breaking news on north korea, the u.s. unveiling this picture of our air force to send a message to north korea. adam shapiro in washington with the details. >> reporter: charles, president trump wasting no time dealing with a threat from north korea, issued a warning to the rogue communist country as it prepares for a possible nuclear weapons test. the president tweeted this morning, i have great confidence that china will properly deal with north korea. if they are unable to do so,

the u.s. with its allies will. usa. chinese president xi jinping told president trump late wednesday night, he wants a peaceful solution tend to north korea's nuclear weapons program. china, north korea's only ally, opposes north korea's nuclear program. satellite images show north korea may conduct sixth nuclear weapon test possibly this saturday. united states is sending the aircraft carrier, "u.s.s. carl vinson" to the korean peninsula. the chinese foreign ministry said military force cannot resolve the issue. the japanese, they are also worried about north korea's chemical weapons program. japan's prime minister shinzo abe warned a parliamentary panel on national security that north korea may be able to fire a missile loaded with deadly sarin gas. reuters reports president trump has asked national security team to craft new international sanctions to pressure north korea to abandon nuclear weapons program.

we are waiting to see how all of this will play out and, of course, the press briefing, you can bet there will be questions about north korea, charles? charles: absolutely, adam shapiro, thank you very much. meanwhile, syria's assad denying any involvement in the chemical attack. i brought this up with the head of nato moments ago. >> i have no reason to doubt that they have -- the united states have very solid basis for their analysis and for the intelligence they have got showing that the assad regime is behind the chemical attacks. charles: to army special forces veteran ben collins and deputy undersecretary of the navy seth crosby. seth, start with you, man, the geopolitical stuff is coming at us so much faster than anyone participated and feels we're on the precipice of something happening with regard to real, real military engagement and ho

action by itself cannot solve these problems, but it is right, and i think what he was referring to is actually using force, but sending a very strong signal that forces are there, that they're capable, that they're able to deliver weapons such as you talked about in afghanistan is powerful means of concentrating the minds of our adversaries, that's the right way to handle this. charles: ben, our adversaries emboldened over the last eight years essentially to feckless foreign policy or approach to war by president obama, but it feels like we're at a point where we're forced to put up or shut up, beyond the 59 tomahawk missiles from last week?

>> certainly, i agree. to the comment we made when you came into the segment that the geopolitical stuff is coming at us so fast, honestly, charles, the reality is it's always been there, finally we have a president, an administration paying attention to this stuff, just like north korea. in the ten years' time that they had their first nuclear test, they've gone from a one kiloton explosion to 30 kiloton explosion. they're buying missiles that can reach san francisco. that was on obama's watch. we have a president that said, look, we're going to do something, if othepeop can't police their o neighborhoods, we're going to do whas necessary so our american citizens are kept safe. charles: ben, that is a fantastic point, and president trump by putting the light on this also took a big political risk because now we're going to want to see what he does about it, and do you see -- what do you see, perhaps, the outcome

as being? can we saber rattle our way through this? >> you have -- i think the number one thing we have to regain after eight years of as you said feckless president obama is we've lost the ability for deterrence, and deterrence, if you want to maintain peace, you have to be vigilant about the threats and be prepared to go to war. right now from what we're seeing, going back to that. it wasn't just a red line that obama forgot to enforce in syria. the reality is he essentially said to the world stage, we're not going to act, and therefore, we lost the ability for deterrence, which is our enemies say we're not going to do this because we know that the u.s. will act. to me, what we're seeing right now it takes a long time to build deterrence capability and doesn't take a long time to lose it and hopefully get some of that back and maintain stability. charles: i want to get back to the mother of all bombs or massive air ordnance, u.s.

official telling fox news it was dropped on a tunnel network al qaeda had been using for a long time. they've been mounting eastern afghanistan attacks there. it's been a hiding spot of theirs. seth, 21,600 pounds, that is the mother of all bombs. how do you like this approach? t enforces the message that the united states takes seriously. its commitment to allies, coitment to no. its commitment to security in ars where our interes are involved and those of our allies, i think this is a positive thing depending upon of course, the successful accomplishment of the mission,

and if this works here, there's no reason why it shouldn't be used elsewhere. >> definitely a new meaning to shock and awe, ben. >> to go back to what your guest chuck nash said, the taliban are going to be part of the solution, embedded in the afghan society. they don't come to the negotiating table out of the goodness of their own heart. they think they can get a better deal with the negotiating table than they could on the battlefield. for eight years, i'm a believer, look, we're not at a stalemate, we're losing in afghanistan albeit slowly. the taliban think they're wing. trump's in office less than 100 days and dropped the mother of all diplomatic cables saying listen, we're not going to play around. it's eight years of uncommitted and suddenly drop this bomb, and on the heels of losing mark

de la car, staff sergeant green beret a couple of days ago, this sends a strong message we're not going to take this lying down anymore. charles: on the diplomatic front, seth, you have expertise there. at what point does this take over not just for afghanistan but see it become the main focus, afghanistan, iraq and perhaps syria. are we almost at that transition yet? >> you mean at the transition point where -- charles: we've done enough damage and proven a point it adversaries and they take us seriously enough that now we could start taking the final stages to perhaps creating and securing a peace? >> charles, absolutely. look at what's happened on the border between the united states and mexico mex. the president says i take the issue of border security

seriously, and lo and behold, a consequence set the number of people trying cross legally into the united states is falling away as we speak. so the point is that actions have consequences, and when people, our adversaries and friends around the world see we're once again willing to stand up for our interests, you can expect positive results. charles: seth, did you see the interview with assad earlier today where he said the united states actually was the one that used chemical weapons in conjunction with terrorists? when a guy speaks like that, we know he's something of a madman himself. seems like it may push this to some sort of uglier conflict before we can get it resolved? >> i wouldn't call him a madman, i think he's a calculated monster, i don't think the terms make a great deal of difference. he lies, he kills his own people. he uses weapons of mass destruction to kill infants.

why should anybody be surprised if he lies in addition to all of that? so, yeah. charles: but i guess, ben, it was interesting because he talked about investigation, and those echoed the words of lavrov, of russia, used yesterday in joint press conference with rex tillerson which sounds like he's getting direction from russia. if that's the case, russia still entrenched. he's still their guy. >> well, look, russia has a lot to gain from it from their point of view. they want to be the major external power in the middle east. they have a naval base at tartus in syria. they would like to project naval power in the mediterranean, and as i say, they want to be the big guy in the middle east from outside the region. no surprise they continue to

back this criminal assad, and it's no spin. charles: ben, i want to ask you, felt like the 24-hour preceding that, one, vladimir putin wasn't going to meet with rex tillerson, he ended up meeting with him for two hours. russia saying there was no chemical attack and now saying let's investigate. does it feel like the needle did move just a bit on the idea that maybe russia might be willing to work with america with regime change? >> well, i think so. and not that i can take too much out of it, but i think, charles, if russia was sincerely as angry as local press, through the state mechanisms of media portrayed. i think they would have canceled the tillerson meeting altogether. never mind having a meeting off the books for two hours between secretary tillerson and president pi putin.

vladimir putin is a calculating guy as well, and president trump has shown he's not going to be pushed over. for eight years, obama had one doctrine, and that doctrine was very simple. it was don't do anything to irritate iran and mess up my deal. well, president trump has come in here and said look, that is not going to be my doctrine and going to react to the conditions on the ground. and a lot of people are yelling. we've discussed this before. people are saying about the u.s. the fact of the matter is that chemical weapons are illegal and they're illegal under the geneva convention, so a better question i think to the rest of the signatories is why haven't you acted before? now they're looking to the united states. i think vladimir putin has one sincere concern, that is nato. those are the eastern states. syria he's only going to be willing to support so far before it's just going to become kind of a lost, a lost cause for him in a sense. so i think we're close to getting somewhere. chles: all right, guys, stay

there for a moment. the markets are dropping on this news. we've got lauren simonetti at the new york stock exchange. lauren? >> reporter: hey, charles, we had a very choppy market for much of the session, and when we received word that the bomb was dropped on afghanistan, did see stocks go to session lows. 20,495. almost there. looking at the dow. and, of course, you see the gold stocks, safe haven, gold is up today and the defense stocks have been up and up tremendously since the election, continuing rise for the most part today. look at raytheon, up a quarter of 1%. northrup grumman up half a percent. i'm looking at the advance/decline line right now, it's broadly lower at the moment. charles: wow, and coincided exactly as the news was coming out, right? >> the bombs were dropped at 7:30 p.m. afghanistan time, which would be 10:30 our time. it was around noon when we

started to see the market reaction, and since then, as you're seeing the story pop up in more places and finding more information, stocks continued to drift lower. i shouldn't say drift lower, they continue to go lower. charles: to your point, seen this pattern for the last couple of week market, unsure footing, gold back in play? >> gold back in play. gold is up about $11, $12.88. and gold up much of this week. we've seen overall, charles, and this is something we talk about all the time. a resilient market. you see a pullback and sometime doesn't last, it's more of an opportunity. this is what folks on the floor would say. it's an opportunity to buy the dip. but we've seen geopolitical uncertainty, add regions to the world, syria, north korea, afghanistan, it's russia. so this is kind of the new world order that we're in. the vix index is actually it's down right now, charles, looking at the vix down

slightly. has been higher this week. investors aren't getting totally offput by this, although the news did take the market down. charles: to your point, the anxiety is clear and clear today. more red on the screen. thanks, lauren. we've got the white house briefingly in seconds. we'll bring that to you as soon as sean spicer comes out. we'll be right back.

. charles: we got the two-minute warning, sean spicer about to come out. this after the united states dropped the, quote, mother of all bombs. i want to get back to ben collins and seth, and bring in daily caller news foundation editor, katie, the market is pu think the global political tensions could get any tighter, they have. >> of course, the markets are going to be shocked by, this happening on a thursday. we had the green beret just killed. donald trump wanting to flex his missiles he is toward china, syria, russia, of course, i'm certainly shocked by this. charles: ben, before we left talking about nato allies and where they've been. i interviewed the secretary-general earlier in the show and i don't feel

comfortable hearing they're training people, beside putting in more money, what else can they do so we don't lose more american lives and being the so-called policeman of the world? >> immediately after 9/11, and that being said, i think nato is an institution, it is not obsolete but outdated. they can police their own backyard, especially as isis fell, they're going to fall in raqaa, back into europe. we're going to see the attacks like we've been seeing a little over a year ago, a la paris and brussels. they need to share better

intelligence. i think nato needs to streamline command structure, decision-making and also i think they need to start stepping up and spending money that is requisite. charles: right. >> and one of the first steps they can take is right now the 2% gdp spent is arbitrary. you look at countries like greece, greece marks 29% -- the 2% of gdp, have you countries like france that don't spend 2% but buying materiale and capabilities to go to war. so we need to put things into place to make sure not only they're spending their share but spending it on the right things. charles: seth, nato, is it obsolete? are you happy with the pivot that they are addressing

terrorism although some question to what degree? >> i don't think nato is obsolete at all. 60% of the nato members increase military spending last year to bring in more in conformance with the 2% acquired. that's an impressive figure. nato forces are active today in afghanistan, naval exercises are conducted in the eastern mediterranean. romania sent troops to afghanistan. on the front lines of naval activity that's taking place in the black sea. so it looks to me as though the nato countries are responding to the increasing threats from russia through the middle east and also that president trump's

warning out taking seriously the contributions that are expect oalliance members is, in fact, being taken seriously by the alliance, and i think that's a positive sign. charles: katie, obviously president trump warming up to nato since they've made some of the changes. he's obviously hinting to that. they have to step up with regard to investments for defense, and maybe -- let's hold on, folks, sean spicer is approaching the podium. >> good afternoon. as many of you are aware there is news breaking out of afghanistan. i want to give you a quick update. around 7:00 p.m. local time in afghanistan last night, the united states military used a gbu 43 weapon in afghanistan. the gbu 43 is a large, powerful and accurate and deliberate weapon.

focused on tunnel that isis use freely making it easy to target military advisers and afghan forces in the area. the united states takes the fight against isis seriously and in order to defeat the group must deny 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, i'm going keep this tight so the pool has an opportunity to get in and set up appropriately. earlier today the president signed hj res bringing the total review of legislation pieces now 13. this resolution he signed overturns regulation that was put in place by the previous administration on their way out the door that would have taken away the right of states to set their own policies and priorities for title 10 family planning programs.

federal system was set up to allow famies to addrs needs wherever possible when it comes to programs. with the bill signing, the president restored respect to states rights on the particular issue. as i mentioned, there's an event at 2:00 where the president will be meeting with the brave first responders involved in the i-85 bridge collapse and 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 no lives were lost. the president is proud to honor their commitment to protecting their community. later this afternoon, the president will head to florida for the easter holiday. he will be deploying joint base andrews by motorcade, and while

we're on the topic, i know it was brought up the other day. just to tell you what to expect monday. we expect 21,000 people to attend the easter egg roll. the allocation of tickets to schools, children's hospitals and military and law enforcement families. commemorative eggs will be handed out to the children who attend. nearly 18,000 eggs were ordered which is in line with past years. the event 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 available. further logistics and guidance will be provided over the weekend. also today, the treasury department's office of foreign asset control ofac designated one individual to human rights abuses against iranian political prisoners in the prisons. the individual designated for the role is the brother of

qassim sewell mainy, the commander of iran's irgc quds force previously designated under terrorism counterproliferation and human rights authorities. the sanctions against human rights abusers in iran's prisons come at a time when iran continues to unjust ledetain in prisons including citizens numazi and baqar numazi, the immediate release of u.s. citizens unjustly detained to immediately return to families. ofac returned facilitators north of africa continuing our ongoing effort to disrupt key leadership notes for the group. over the past few days, the president and members of the cabinet held many meetings and discussions with international

counterparts about the significant foreign policy challenges facing our world. yesterday 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 collective safety and security. also yesterday ambassador nikki haley along with counterparts from nine other nations voted in favor of a draft resolution to denounce the heinous chemical attack carried out by the assad regime last week. unfortunately but not surprising, russia stood in the way of the resolution. however, i'd like to point out abstention of china on the heels of he and president xi's visit in kazakhstan, they are notable and signify the united states is persuading the world that the use of weapons of mass destruction cannot go unanswered. secretary tillerson was in

russia yesterday to meet with counterpart and ensure they are made fully aware of the united stes positions in areas such as defeang isis aneas where russia does not share our interest and values. the vice president will be departing for ten-day trip to japan, indonesia and australia saturday morning, his office will be providing more information later today. finally the president will announce the prime minister of italy for a working visit to the white house. the leaders will discuss the upcoming g7 hosted in italy and sicily on a range of issues of mutual concern with. that, glad to take some of your questions. >> reporter: sean where is the administration on the costs of -- >> that is an area that is internally discussed that the time. >> reporter: undecideed? >> there is an ongoing discussion on the matter, matt?

>> reporter: the last few days you see a number of policy shifts by the president, china the currency manipulator, health care, 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 respectfully, you can look what you're referring to as a shift in a lot of ways. i saw a couple instances with respect to nato being one of those shifts yesterday, and if you look at what's happened. it's those entities or individuals evolving towards the president's position, on nato in particular, he talked about the need of countries to pay their fair share, to live up to commitments of 2% gdp. he talked about the need for nato to focus more on terrorism. nato has done just that and something he pointed out in the first debate in september of last year, he talked about the fact that nato is moving

towards what he has been calling for, and i think some cases, the issues that it's not just a clear and fast statement that the entity itself is moving towards his or the issue is evolving towards the position he articulated. that can't be proven more true in the case of nato where he laid out two clear positions that he had an issue with nato and as far back as september of last year, started to recognize that institution was moving much more towards his position. secretary-general noted that as well yesterday. >> reporter: quick follow-up as i may, the ex-im bank changed as well. the other policy shifts where you haven't seen the change with nato, what should we make of the shifts? and again are there policy areas that are nonnegotiable, that are off-limits? >> there's always going to be. there's going to be areas where i think it depends on the outcome. in the case of nato in

particular, as i pointed out. the most illustrative. if you look at president's position where, he wanted to see nato in particular evolve to, and it's moving exactly in the direction he said it was in terms of goals of increasing the amount of participation from other member countries and two having a greater focus on terrorism. reinforced by the secretary-general himself when he was there. i think when you look at these issues and recognize the direction which they're moving, they're moving in a direction as the president stated clearly. john? >> reporter: thank you, sean. on the gbu 43 bomb, the first time it's ever been used. why did you choose this particular location, and will you say that this bomb won't be used in another flash point around the world? like syria? like north korea? >> as i noted in the beginning, refer tout department of defense on the specifics. >> reporter: on a separate matter you mentioned what you see as a win at the u.n.

security council. >> right. >> curious as why you see this as a win. first of all, the resolution did not pass, what happened at the u.n. security council in the past, the security council resolution which gave the green light for the persian gulf war, you had all five permanent members of the u.n. security council voting yes. so why are you saying this is a win when not all five permanent members of the security council actually voted. you had one, russia, blocking it? >> i think it's very significant china's abstention in particular, kazakhstan is another one in terms of proximate location in history with russia, you see a breakaway of russia aligning itself with a position not only shared with the u.s. but the rest of the world. that will be a natural position they might have taken in the past. but secondly, china's abstention is a significant win for the president. he had discussions with president xi, and then i think you all saw, that heard his

remarks how he walked through that, and i think it really shows the success of the trip first and foremost, but secondly, it continues to show how russia's isolated on this particular matter. that's important. so i think on a variety of fronts, it really was a huge win for the united states and for the persuasiveness of the president. john? >> reporter: thank you, sean. in his remarks to us off camera, director mulvaney talked about vision of the federal government being reorganized as some cases more agencies, and he said also that the vital plan will come not just from right-wing think tanks, i believe that was his phrase, coupled with the president's statement on the ex-im bank. is he already receiving any criticism, or voices of disappointment from small

government conservatives who backed him strongly? i refer to groups such as americans for tax reform or the cato institute. >> i can't say i've scanned every group's statements about this particular subject, but i can tell you that he's gotten a lot of very positive feedback as well as director mulvaney for the effort. as the director noted, you have a government that in large part has never been reorganized, just added to. when you look at the disparate number of agencies that flow throughout the government to do in some cases the very same thing are and housed in a variety of agencies throughout the government. and question that you have to ask yourself is not only is the taxpayer getting the best bank for their buck, but the people doing services intended to be provided for getting the best services? director mulvaney's effort at the president's direction to really look how government is organized and operating is a very significant step, and i think one of the point he's noted is that this is something

that should unite conservatives and liberals and republicans and democrats. good government and effective efficient government is something that doesn't have an ideological home. something we all can agree on, that the more we can effectively deliver for the american citizen and deliver for the american taxpayer effective and efficient government is something that we should all probably be in line with. richard? . >> reporter: thank you, sean. the u.s. ambassador, the europe organization for the position of chemical weapons said that syria in a sense uses chemical weapons embedded by russia. has the president offered proof of such truth bearing efforts by russia? >> was he offered -- >> reporter: proof, evidence that this is happening. >> no. >> reporter: no? i would like to know, you've

been putting in the same sentence, syria, iraq and north korea as fail stale. russia becoming a part of it. to use an old expression the axis of evil in the administration? >> i think it's important to know who russia is on the side with and where they stand. i think it dra huge contrast to show who's on what side of this argument in this crisis, and i think it's important to note the difference who they're with. that's a notable thing. i'm not going to go further than to say that. >> reporter: very quickly, with the national hockey league playoffs just started, will the president cheer for the rangers or the cats? >> that's not a subject that's come up often. i'm going to go with richard with atlanta, georgia. >>. >> reporter: obviously our

concern is the construction of 85. the president is meeting with the first responders in a few minutes, want to ask about the federal commitment to getting i-85 rebuilt as far as federal dollars and easing federal regulations to get the job done quickly? >> so, 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 not only the initial funding with help with that for the roads and the bridges and the emergency access that needs to be handled. under emergency relief efforts there are ways to expedite some of that funding, and the department of transportation and the federal highway administration are the best way to get a better answer on that.

there are ways that some of the funding can be expedited beyond the commit that the federal government has made. >> reporter: on the shift on china, the president does not mince words during the campaign. now he says he and president xi has been bonding, xi means well. not a currency manipulator. what message is to the white house supporters that sent him to the white house that think he is following through on tough talk on china? >> tough talk on a variety of subjects was to get results for the american people. that's what he pledged to do, to get more jobs here and grow manufacturing and keep our country safe. the president likes president xi and got to know him really well in mar-a-lago and established a great relationship working forward. at the end of the day, this is about developing a better situation for the american people and i think he's done that. >> reporter: the president told the "wall street journal" that president xi helped him realize that north korea is not so easy. did the president underestimate

the complexities of this? did he underestimate how difficult this was going to be? >> not at all. if china is able to help get a deal with china, the president would appreciate that. this is great for china as well, and as the president noted this morning, if china can help us do that, it will be great, and if not, we'll handle that ourselves with our allies. steve. >> the currency manipulation, why did he specifically decide to abandon this, and what other tools did he have in the toolbox to modify china's trade? >> that's a very, very complex issue and leave to the president to specifically answer that. >> reporter: has he given up trying to modify? >> i think the president is going to continue to make significant progress when it koms to the issue into how our relationship with china is. he showed what a great relationship he has with president xi and the results are starting to pour in, and i think that is an issue in particular that the president

is best to address. >> reporter: two questions, sean, you were very forthcoming about the leading up to the missile launch in syria. can you give us background on the moab in afghanistan. situation room with the president, was this several days in the makeing? the second question is the president has been very critical of the intelligence community leading up to his inguration. obously 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 at the united states forces in afghanistan is best to address the tick tock on the forces there. the u.s. forces afghanistan as well. the department of defense are best to walk through the military operations that are ongoing there. i think with respect to the intelligence community and the national security team, as you know, the president put

together a world-class capital of top-notch national security experts from general mattis, general kelly, general mcmaster and others that continue to provide him the best advice to make the best decisions for the country, and he continues to rely on them and director pompeo, director coats at the dni, they continue to give sage advice how best the united states be. >> reporter: did the president specifically authorize the use of this ordnance? >> i'm not going to get into the details right now. i'm not. as i mentioned. i'll let the department of defense handle the lead on this one. >> reporter: and follow up on a question earlier, you didn't answer specifically what changed that led to the president to re-evaluate? >> let me get back to you on the ex-im banks specifically. it's a very complex issue and i would like to get back. anita? >> reporter: two questions

about the budget, are you all prepared to hold things up. a couple weeks left here. how serious are you about giving money for the wall? would you hold up the spending plan for that? >> so, the government is currently funded through april 28th under a 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 have conversations with congresand feel confident they'll do their job, the conversations are ongoing. >> reporter: there is money in the budget? >> i will leave it to the team continuing negotiations. >> reporter: there is a propose now to punish members of congress who do not pass the 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 momentum.

i don't want to get into whether or not who's going to be naughty or nice. >> reporter: as far as the president refrained from [inaudible] yesterday -- how do you characterize 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 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 tax relief and keep more of their money. >> traditionally, the economy weakened and recover when the economy strengthens. >> i understand, as you know, kayla, from the coverage and the meetings that you guys have

covered and seen here at the white house. president is continuing to meet with business leaders and people creating jobs, union leaders and the president has heard a lot, gotten a lot of feedback and taken great steps to make sure we create a regulatory and tax environment that's going to help grow america's economy and put people back to work. i thiet cut this short. we lerally have ten minutes before the president has to speak. >> reporter: did they not been the moab strike? charles: the u.s. dropped the, quote, mother of all bombs on afghanistan. spicer addressing the recent policy shifts by the president. let's go to katie freights and jillian melchior. sean spicer was put off by the idea -- we know that president

trump is a man of decision, a businessman who makes quick decisions and changes his mind when he sees something is not working. so katie, do you think that that's going to be good enough with respect to his core supporters, particularly those in congress who he needs to help push through legislation? >> we'll see, part of this is making deals, and part of it is compromise, realizing you're wrong or giving more information after the fact and changing opinion. that's what happens. part of being a responsible politician. a lot more people should do that. part of this with obamacare he has to work with the freedom caucus, he has to work with the thursday group. these are the people who said no to everything he wanted to do. obamacare, tax reform, americans are going to have to do something in the next cycle. charles: jillian, since the

week obamacare shares, and just today our session started falling apart as news of the mother of all bombs started making waves. a lot of anxiety out there, do you think what we're hearing from sean spicer will alleviate some of that or need to hear maybe from president trump on some of these things? >> i think we're going to need to hear from president trump on some of these things. sean spicer this week proved to be a very ineffective communicator. we saw with syria, a strong stance but all of a sudden we weren't talking about syria, we were talking about spieser and hitler comments. he proved to be a distraion in a moment of strength for the trump administration, i expect him to blookinat that as well. charles: jillian, i'm not a fan of the ex-im bank, i said so for a long, long time. i think it's crony capitalism. boeing and caterpillar get the lion's share of this money. i understand to a degree why people may back, it but i think it's a farce that's out there for the small businesses.

that's what we heard on the campaign trail. this is going to be another bone of contention, sean spicer evaded the question half a dozen times today but not going to go away, what are your thoughts? >> i agree with you on that. no reason for taxpayers to be backing loans that couldn't have been secured privately. absolutely goes to big corporations. i do think that ex-im bank is conflated with the trade issue in general, that's something american consumers benefit from in the form of cheap commodities. charles: katie, overall thoughts here, entered into a phase of anxiety, if you will, i thought rex tillerson did amazing job, nikki haley did an amazing job. last week was one of the best weeks for president trump since the joint session speech and yet and still more uncertainty at this moment than the early part of this administration. >> there's always going to be uncertainty when something like this happens, when approximately 21,000-pound bomb

is dropped in afghanistan, everything is wondering what's going on. trump has proved to be a 360 degree pivot from barack obama. he's drawing red lines with syria, taking action when action needs to be done. putting foot down and saying chemical weapon attacks will not stand. you kill a green beret, we'll fight back. americans find confidence in that action. charles: i think you are 100% right and president trump wants to get things done and that's something that will come across sooner to more and more folks. right now, stocks are extending losses. all of this coincided with the united states dropping the mother of all bombs in afghanistan. more after this.

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. charles: so, is united in legal trouble in the lawyer for that passenger that was dragged out detailing the injuries and telegraphing that a lawsuit is coming. connell mcshane has the latest. >> reporter: hasn't filed one yet but certainly looks like they're moving in that direction. a fairly dramatic news conference where the lawyer said the guy lost his two front teeth he. had his nose broken, suffered what the lawyer described as a significant concussion dragged off the united plane this dr. david dao, he wasn't there himself, his lawyer was and so was his daughter.

listen to both of them. >> for a long time, airlines, united in particular, have bullied us. they have treated us less than maybe we deserve. >> we were completely horrified and shocked at what this happened to my father when we learned of the incident. >> reporter: what his attorney went onto say, if you're going to remove a passenger from a plane like this, the law, he explains, says it can't be done with unreasonable force and violence. so charles, that's what the lawsuit will come down to, whether or not it was done that way when dr. dao was dragged off that way. wouldn't give a seat to employees. ceo is ashamed of what he saw in the video. see where it goes from there. charles: stocks are extending losses. that the united states dropped the mother of all bombs in

afghanistan. much more fallout, right after this.

charles: the united states dropping the largest non-nuclear bomb ever in afghanistan. this after a green beret was killed fighting isis there. stocks sustaining their losses once that news broke, fallout of u.s. strikes in syria last week, questions about our relationship with russia. then of course there is the

report that north korea is ready yet for their sixth nuclear test. with all this going on, fox business is on top of it throughout the day. right now stocks are down. your biggest winner on the dow, disney. rumors that apple may take them over. i have bigger news for you at 6:00 p.m. see you then. trish: charles, thank you so much. lots of international concerns. it is the "mother of all bombs." markets are selling off. with a market off 95 points on the dow. all of this happen as a 21,000-pound, gbu-43 massive bomb is dropped on eastern afghanistan isis tunnels and caves. they are being wiped out. additional damage assessment is going on. the fight against terror is real. i'm trish regan, and this is "the intelligence report." we drop the largest non-nuclear bomb in afghanistan after a green beer ray dice in af