♪ >> tonight i ordered a targeted military strike in syria. >> there's a new sheriff in town. you know what? the new sheriff wants to look like robo cop compared to the last one. >> 59 missiles landed at one air base. >> that is how you conduct military attacks. you have an objective. >> we now have a president who says something and he backed up his words with action. >> bashar asal he has been put on notice if he uses chemical weapons again, it will be the end of his regime.

>> i call on all civilized nations in joining us to seeking to end the slaughter and blood shed in syria. pete: a fox news alert. welcome to "fox & friends." that's president trump ordering missile strikes in syria in response to a chemical attack. those visuals you are seeing right there were taken last night from the uss ross and uss porter. two warships destroyers off the eastern mediterranean firing on a facility that we believe that we know is where the chemical attacks originated from. ainsley: that's right. those are the missiles being launched off of our carriers and destroyers and hit ther is rat air base. we have new video coming in right there. first video released this morning of those tomahawk missiles actually hitting the air base, hitting the runway in the mitiondz of the night. steve: meanwhile, live from syrian television, this is also new video. i shouldn't have said live.

it on tape and it shows you the bomb damage. and you can see in the background it looks like some of those hangers are scorched. we understand that portions of the runway were taken out. keep in mind, this is also apparently a chemical weapons depot. and so this is where they kept the stuff that they dropped on the people two days ago. we know that through intel sources where we saw the planes take off from this air field, circle over the area, presumably drop the stuff according to eyewitnesses and then land there. and that is why president trump felt confident that that was the spot to make this targeted strike against the country of syria. pete: as you look at this footage. some buildings are standing, some are not. keep in mime tomahawk missiles are precision guided land within 10 meters if not less of their intended target. whether you have chemical weapons on the facility and russians on the base and very intentional about what you are striking. they hit the targets they wanted to hit based on

intelligence. he. ainsley: see that map our destroyers are in the eastern mediterranean ocean. can you see western side of syria close to the ocean. our destroyers are there. they launched the missiles and landed there on the air base. they were trying to target the airstrips, the control towers and ammunition areas and it looks like it was successful. steve: pete, let me ask you because you have training on chemical weapons. there is ross and porter right there. you were posted in iraq for a while. if you have got a sarin gas depot, right? and a bomb comes in and blows it up. is that sarin gas then just released to the area? pete: it could be. it depends on how it is container rised. we would know that some of it would be eviscerated in the actual explosion. you would definitely risk pushing that out into the population. ainsley: we warned russia 30 minutes before we warned these missiles. is russia contacting assad and saying get those chemical weapons out of there? pete: not the chemical weapons

but likely potentially fighter jets and other personnel a lot what we will hear in the aftermath is d. jets get away. this is standard protocol. he hey, let me tell you so you can get out of there. 24 is president trump and his team talking about the targets he wanted to hit. make sure it was hit the intended target and not the russians to escalate. ainsley: not to kill people but actually destroy their base so they can't do this again. steve: and poison gas. here is the thing, ainsley about russia. and you said would they have time to move the poison gas? no, because russia has been telling us we got rid of it. there isn't any there. what are you talking about? ainsley: syrian rebels are responsible for this not assad because he got rid of the chemical weapons. right. pete: that's right. ainsley: conor powell is on the border of israel and syria with the breaking details for us. good morning, conor. >> good morning. as you were just saying overnight the pentagon launching 5 tomahawk cruise

missiles at the at at the sharrat. this is where they believe the planes took off and departed to. according to syrian state television. six soldiers were killed. seven others wounded. now,s you a mentioned just a short while ago, the white house and the pentagon did notify russia before this strike, giving them some time to not phi the syrians. according to syrian officials. what we're hearing out thereof is that they were able to move some of their jets but there was still significant amount of damage down to the air field, to the hangers and many of the sort of buildings that were on this air field. how much damage was done to the jets and to the air field, that still isn't clear. we're seeing several different pictures on social media. some of them appear to have been from several days ago. from what we can see from the video is a significant amount of explosions overnight. 59 tomahawk crews mills will do a lot of damage to an air field.

now, not surprisingly, russia condemning this move. same with syrian leaders. they're saying that this undermines syrians ability to fight terrorism and to carry out counter terrorism operations. they are very much painting this as a danger to their ability to fight isis and al news are a and other groups in syria ignoring obviously the impact of the chemical weapons attack that was on tuesday. one thing that should be pointed out is, that this area where this air field is, there is a significant isis presence. there are also reports, that isis is trying to use the vacuum, the chaos of this attack to launch some new attacks in that region. that isn't confirmed but that's some of the reports we are seeing online and on social media. but one thing that we're looking for here going forward is what exactly will the response be? will syria respond to the united states? will they respond to israel? to jordan? to turkey? there are u.s. troops in awful these countries and they are all prime targets for some type of retaliation.

there are some reports that maybe hezbollah, a problemsy of the assad regime and big supporter of the assad regime that they may carry out some kind of retaliation. guys, that's what we're looking to see in the next 24, 48, 27 hours. does this escalate further or does this stay as just a warning and the war essentially carries on but without chemical weapons being used? back to you. steve: all right, conner, thank you very much. a warning sent by president donald trump. here is last night at mar-a-lago. >> my fellow americans, on tuesday, syrian dictator bashar al assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians. using a deadly nerve agent, assad choked out the lives of helplesshelpless men, women, and children. it was a slow and brutal death for so many.

even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. no child of god should ever suffer such horror. tonight i ordered a targeted military strike on the air field in syria from where the chemical attack was launched. it is in this vital national security interest of the united states to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. tonight i call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and blood shed in syria. and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types.

we ask for god's wisdom as we face the challenge of our very troubled world. we pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of those who are passed. and we hope that as long as america stands for justice, that peace and harmony will in the end prevail. good night and god bless america and the entire world. thank you. ainsley: well, the world is taking notice pers. these are the headlines this morning. this is the "new york post." pres fires missiles at syrian butcher. trump strikes. steve: the cover of the daily news is interesting. because the daily news has been the biggest critic of the united states. here it is u.s. hits syria. dozens of missiles hit air

base. pete: u.s. launches missiles into syria. tomahawks hits base tied to attack. you warns syria and warning to the world as well. steve: let's bring in the former ambassador from the united states for the united nations john bolton. i see that russia now says the united states used farfetched pretext to do that. can you explain to mr. putin if is he watching why he is wrong? >> it's a ridiculous argument about what you would expect from russia, which is a key ally of the assad regime. and it also goes to the question some have raised in this country whether the president had constitutional authority to act. the two are very closely related. syria was a party to the chemical weapons convention as is the united states. it's violated its obligations and whenever the united states faces a violation of a treaty

that's designed to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, our national security is adversely affected. the president has full constitutional authority under the commander-in-chief clause to act, which he did. he made a very limited and precise strike for a very limited and precise reason. i think it was the right thing to do. and i think last night the obama era in american foreign policy ended. ainsley: ambassador, you are the former u.s. ambassador to the u.n., the current position is now hailed by nikki haley. she held up the pictures of the children that died because of these chemical attacks on tuesday that drew global outrage and even the democrats are supporting the president now on this. there are a lot of countries that came out immediately and said they were in support of president trump and his reaction. let's show this map to our viewers at home who is in support. we have saudi arainia, israel, australia, turkey, just to name a few. france, the u.k., who am i leaving out? japan?

there are a few that are not in support of this. we have heard from russia. we have heard from iran. also i'm sure isis is not in support of this and north korea. so what is your message? what is your message to them or what's the message that the president is sending to those countries? >> well, great. all the usual suspects. i mean, look, in the middle east specifically e this is a very complex geopolitical environment. two things have changed dramatically since the obama administration. number one, up like obama, who was very reluctant to do anything about the assad regime because he feared the negative impact on his nuclear deal iran, given the iran/syrian relationship. president trump says the iran nuclear deal was the worst diplomatic agreement the united states has ever made that constraint is removed. but, perhaps even more importantly in the short-term, we are on the verge of the final assault against isis, which means we have to deal with the post isis world in

what used to be syria and iraq and the middle east. and we need to think about how to e4reu78 nate isis in a way that minimizes the upside impact for assad, for hezbollah. for the baghdad regime and for iran. so this strike against assad's regime i think is very important for the beginning of constructing the post isis middle east. i think for the larger world i couldn't imagine anything being more convenient than this strike occurring while president trump was having dinner with president xi jinping. pete: certainly sends adversary. they play by the rules and they won't in this instance. whether it's the assad regime or the russians pushes out propaganda saying the u.s. killed civilians, they were reckless. this is an overreach. how do we win the narrative on this to keep it exactly where we want it. >> fackets are always helpful. we gave them advanced warning. we targeted a military base that we believed was the source of the strike that used

the chemical weapons, that killed the innocent civilians. it was very targeted. i would say the president has not elim flighted the possibility for further strikes. i think this is a wake-up call around the world in addition to the chemical weapons convention, of course, we the russian syrian agreement some years back to give up syria's illicit stockpile of chemical weapons: that really worked out. i think now we have shown we have the determination that when countries enter agreements that involved the united states they better be prepared to honor their commitments. ainsley: ambassador, how would the president know to do all of this so strategically? is it because is he listening to his national security team who has a lot of military experience? >> well, i think the precise terms of this strike were undoubtedly planned out months and perhaps even years ago against the contingency that a president might order it. as i say, it walls a very precise strike. one could argue that he could have gone further and

destroyed all the chemical stockpiles in syria that we know and gone further and taken out more of the syrian air force. this was the strike he ordered. i think it was a very clear signal. the ball is in moscow's court and assad's court. steve: sure. what about the fact that the images that came out tuesday of the people from syria who were killed with this poison gas attack, obviously, with this strike, the president is showing, look, there is a new sheriff in town. i'm going to protect the people of syria. do the safe zones that donald trump then candidate and now president, do the safe zones, you know, we haven't heard much about those lately. are they an important part of the next step on what to do for folks over there? >> well, i would be very careful about declaring safe zones unless we're really sure we can protect them. i think that's very hard to do with air power alone. that's why i think what we really need to be doing is looking at the broad strategy as we close in on isis, as

their territory shah rinks. as eventually the so-called caliphate falls. because you do not have really functioning governments in iraq and syria anymore. the kurds in iraq are functionally independent already. i think the sunnies in both syria and iraq are very reluctant to go back under the authority of assad -- or the iran dominated government in baghdad. so we have to think long and hard about what this looks like after isis. as i say, we do not want to advantage the iran coalition, which is backed by russia against our allies, jordan, the arab monarchies on the peninsula and israel in what may be the next conflict. we have to think ahead beyond last night's strike in syria and beyond the defeat of isis. pete: mr. ambassador, some have suggested that could include regime change from bashar al assad. if that were to be the case, what happens next? if we learn from the lessons of the past, how do you fill a vacuum with something that

isn't like isis or worse than assad. that's why what why we have to think through what we want the post isis world looks like. nobody believes that assad is any kind of ruler that we would want to tolerate, but it may well be syria cease to exist as a nation. that an enclave as some have called it ruled by assad might end up one end state here. that's not very appetizing. but you have to ask if we decided that overthrowing assad was our policy, who we would we place him with that's a question i can't answer at the moment. i've said what we need is a new sunni state carved out of syria and iraq. that may not be possible, either. but, i don't think we should take this simply one step at a time. i there it's very important now to think about these larger issues. because they will shape the middle east. and i think one element of that while we're on the subject is getting russia out of that air base at will he lett

obama administration allowed them to build. they should be out of the middle east entirely. that's what sadat did when he expelled the soviet advisors. it was bipartisan american policy ever since to keep the russians out and obama let them back. in. steve: all right. ambassador john bolton joining us today from washington, d.c. thank you very much for your analysis on the u.s. tomahawk strike last night in syria. all right. it is 18 minutes now after the top of the hour. we're starting to get some reaction from capitol hill for the most part it is bipartisan support for the president. pete: that's right. ainsley: yeah. pete: one of those supporting the president out the gates is senator marco rubio. he was on sean hannity's program last night. this is what he had to say. >> the way that they're using these chemical weapons is they are dropping them from the airplanes. that's the air field that they're flying attack frssments they have conducted chlorine bomb attacks from air field and saran attack from that air field. the objective of this mission was not to kill russians, it

was to destroy an air base so assad could not use it in the future. that's an appropriate thing to do. it has nothing to do with some sort of nefarious conspiracy theory that some might come up with that's how you conduct military attacks. you have objective and conduct the resources to achieve a it and the armed forces of the united states as they always do. steve: indeed. pete: predictable that senator marco rubio would come out as a republican. ainsley: chuck schumer made this statement making sure assad knows that when he commits such despicable atrocities, he will pay a price is the right thing to do. pete: this is nancy pelosi saying tonight's strike in syria appears to be a proportional response to the regime's use of chemical weapons. steve: so so far too democrats like it and balance elizabeth warren this morning issued. this the constitution gives the power to authorize the use of military force to the legislative branch. expanded military intervention in syria requires action by congress if president trump expects such an authorization

he owes the american people an explanation of his strategy to bring in end the violence in the strategy. clearly what she is fishing around for if there is going to be more in syria she wants congress. ainsley: she wants to be a part of it. about power? steve: that would also be appropriate if they are going to expand the mission. pete: if they are going to expand the mission. steve: it sounds like one thing only. ainsley: all you have to do is look at the pictures on that were killed on tuesday know there is someone in charge in syria that is evil and a dictator and is willing to do this to children and to families and to women? pete: the key is identifying america's national security in it. you can think a thousand boots on the ground right now in syria trying to help kick isis out of raqqa and their capital, that's a serious reason to be engaged as well. ainsley: there is a new should'vis a newsheriff in town. steve: will bashar al assad

try retaliate? how should we respond if he does? coming up with. ainsley: colonel david hunt and richard newton. they are next so stay with us. kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin kevin trusted advice for life. kevin, how's your mom? life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you.

si'm happy for the distraction. i'll be right there. and the butchery begins. what am i gonna wear? this party is super fancy.

are you my uber? [ horn honks ] hold on. [ upbeat music playing ] the biggest week in tv is back. [ doorbell rings ] who's that? show me watchathon. xfinity watchathon week now until april 9. get unlimited access to all of netflix and more, free with xfinity on demand. >> we have been very clear to the outside regime but also to other players on the ground that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. steve: president obama may have backed off his own declared red line but president trump took action after a chea chemical weapon atk on tuesday. ainsley: what message does

which stoned american allies and american enemies? pete: that's right joining us now is richard newton and fox news military analyst colonel david hunt. they are both joining us live to react. what signal does this send? is this a new red line we are willing to enforce? >> good morning, pete. i think it reinforces certainly america is back. not only in the region to globally as well. we have a president who says, you know, states u.s. national security objectives and then if you cross his red line, he will act decisively and disciplined and measured way. it speaks not only to our allies and the friends in the region but globally as well. steve: what's your headline regarding the strike on syria last night? >> message sent. we launched 60 tomahawk missiles very effectively out of the mediterranean at a specific small airfield but

russias airfield launched this chemical attack to send the message to assad don't do this anymore. the other option we had, which we could have easily done, take a couple more days was to wipe out his entire air force infrastructure. so it was a measured response for overwhelming force. and the other person receiving this message is the president of north korea. so it was a message sending evening. and we wait and see what happens. but we had to coordinate with the russians to do this. very violent. very specific. very accurate and appropriate. it was a message night. ainsley: general, does it send a message also to vladimir putin that president trump is not afraid of him? >> absolutely. i think it sends a message certainly to putin who is overseeing his client state led by assad here in syria. it sends a signal to him that the united states is not going to tolerate certainly the

atrocities of employing chemical weapons. but also it sends a signal to the fact that the united states is not only in the region but is going to remain in the region. and that you have now the united states in the leading role, certainly over the skies and the battle space of syria but also in the region so that putin will not be able to operate from this point on with his own impunity and own desires to wherever he wants to certainly in syria. pete: colonel, you said if we wanted to we could have taken out their entire air force. do you think part of the reason this was so targeted and proportional because we are not yet at a point where strategically we want to get rid of bashar al assad? >> >> no. i don't think it had to do with decapitation of the assad regime. i think it was specifically on the chemical attack that occurred the day before. i disagree by the way with the general. we're not sending message to

putin with that strike. i do not believe we are going to get in to an air war or ground war with russia any time soon. they still have very powerful, very organized. what we have to get done is figure out how -- we have got soldiers on the ground that are going up to kill isis. and we have to be -- there is going to have to be some continued coordination between certainly at least the russians. but we have to understand there is close to 1,000 dispirit organizations fighting actively in syria. that's 1,000. that is like six different countries. very, very difficult thing to do. we still have to coordinate with the most powerful military on the ground we have right now which is russia. this is a signal more to assad. the russians were coordinated with and warned because they this guys actually there. steve: colonel, let me ask you a follow-up question. if you are assad, the dictator running syria this morning, you wake up, you look at these images out of syrian television and your air base

and your chemical weapons dump is charred, what do you do? you are a guy who likes to act like a strong guy. what do you do? >> you have to talk to your senior military russian and that will be dictated. because for five years we haven't cared who assad has killed. killed men, women, and children by the tens of thousands. and actually it was the second time he has used che chemicals. is he going to be talking to the russians and see now what is going to happen. our purpose to send that message is also we still got soldiers on the ground that the mission which is to get up -- get rid of isis in the middle of this massive conflict with about six different armies, a thousand different organizations about terrorists and otherwise the militia. very, very complicated. assad is going straight to the russians and say hey, what is next? ainsley: if assad does retaliate, how do we respond?

what are your message to moms and dads who have kids in our military? >> well, the president took action not only against assad and his use of chemical weapons against his own people, but he also -- we have also taken action to protect our forces that are there. as colonel hunt alluded to, we have nearly a thousand troops in syria. we have 5,000 or so plus in iraq and also elsewhere in the region. we took steps to protect our men and women serving over there in certainly within arm's reach of assad and his use and ability to deliver chemical weapons by destroying that airfield. but there is a mess seaj not only to assad, there is a message to putin as i stated. there is also a message to our friends in the region, particularly jordan and egypt and so forth. that we're there to make sure that should, you know, u.s. national security objectives be threatened, that we will act. we will act decisively. we will act with precision. we will act also with discipline. i may also add, again, as the

chemical attack took place on tuesday, you've got the national security council meeting late in the night on wednesday. the joint chiefs of staff come up with military options that certainly had been on the shelf for several months, if not years. and that the president went ahead and took a look at options and went out and did act appropriately and effectively. and so the message to assad, and message to putin, the message also to the american men and women is that we'll act. we will act decisively. steve: all right. colonel, general, we thank you very much for your expertise. ainsley: thank you for serving our country. coming up, not all republicans are on board with the president's missile strikes against syria. how will this play out in d.c.? a live report from washington straight ahead. pete: plus, president trump responding to the critics and stressing the importance of flexibility. especially when it comes to decisions that impact the world and our security. is he right? we're going to debate that next ♪ ♪ >> such horror.

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pete: president trump show of force in syria getting reaction from both sides of the political aisle. ainsley: our commander-in-chief side stepping congress to pull the trigger. steve: peter doocy live at the capital with new demands for congressional approval here on out. good morning. >> good morning. many here in congress seem to be feeling left out by the president's decision to pursue air strikes in syria without asking them first. and that's even within the president's own party where senators ted cruz, ben sass, mike lee and rand paul are among those that want there to be a debate here about the justification for military action. the way that senator paul sees things he says. this while we all condemn the atrocities in syria, the united states was not

attacked. the president needs congressional authorization for military action as required by the constitution. and i call on him to come to congress for a proper debate. our prior interventions in this region have done nothing to make us safer and syria will be no different. and just a few hours after hillary clinton said that she would support air strikes in syria, her one-time running mate, stale virginia senator tim kaine added this, quote: congress will work with the president but his failure to seek congressional approval is unlawful. now, on the more supportive side of the aisle, senators john mccain and lindsey graham are also calling for a strategy but they are going to a step further. they are saying what they want the first thing, the next thing for the president and the pentagon to do. they say this. the first measure in such a strategy must be to take assad's air force, which is responsible and not just for the latest chemical weapons attack but countless atrocities against the syrian people completely out of the fight.

and there is a democrat senator, democratic senator who is still looking at last night's actions before he looks too far ahead that is bill nelson from florida. he says i support the administration's strike on the air base that launched the chemical attack. i hope this teaches assad not to use chemical weapons again. there are now some scattered calls for speaker ryan to recall lawmakers from the easter recess that started last night so they can debate this. but so far no sign of that actually happening. back to you in new york. steve: i bet that's not going to happen. all right, peter, thank you. pete: president trump's critics complained he has changed his message when it comes to taking action in syria. but has the presiden president-d the importance of flexibility in decision making? >> i like to think of myself as a very flexible person. i don't have to have one specific way and if the world

changes i go the same way. i don't change. well, i do change. and i am flexible and i'm proud of that flexibility. and i will tell you that attack on children yesterday had a big impact on me. big impact. that was a horrible, horrible thing. pete: flexible and unpredictable indeed. here to react is former white house security staff under george w. bush and turner. karl higg buy, national security analyst for the ryan project and former cia officer brian dean wright. we have all sides coughed. cia, republicans and democrats. jillian, i want to go to you first. your initial reaction to these strikes overnight. >> well, i think that this sent a clear signal not only to the assad regime but to its main sponsors on the ground, ie the russia and iranian regimes and at the end of the day the biggest success here is really not tactical, it's more strategic. it's going to give us

tremendous leverage moving forward if we hope to have a hand in really trying to put an end to the civil war inside that country. steve: carl, something we have seen before historically before any military action is taken, the white house will go to the united nations, try to build a coalition and stuff like that. make sure we have got a lot of people on board with whatever we are going to do before we fire the tomahawks like we see right there. but, instead, president trump said 48 hours after this poison gas attack in syria, i'm going to do it by myself. i'm not going to the united nations because i want the element of surprise. because you go to the u.n., suddenly they tell the bad guys and things g.e.d. moved. >> 100 percent. this is obam obama's limp forein policy is over. i would be very curious to see to see how pyongyang is reacting right now. ainsley: ryan, what is your response. we just saw peter doocy

talking to us about congress men and women who were not in favor of this decision necessarily because the president didn't go to them first to get authorization and said it is unlawful? >> the president has to have the ability to rapidly respond to situations like this. and part of the criticism is based in the falsehood that this has no national security need behind it. and the reason it's a falsehood because that air base in syria has been linked to hezbollah and the iranian revolutionary guards corps tsmght appears a threat to the united states to have an air base with the chemical weapons capabilities with hezbollah killed more americans than anyone else and more likely to kill americans again. >> clearly a strike targeted at a facility used for chemical bombing. give us the next 24, 48 hours. who do you we want to this progress and how will syria and russia try react. >> we will be speaking very closely and quickly with putin and other folks in the russian government. we're going to be doing the same thing probably through back channels into tehran to

try to make sure that they don't respond disproportionately. and i think that you are also probably going to see a second look at some other possible strike locations. this i think there are other targets on deck. you may see those, depending on how some of those initial conversation goes specifically with the russians. steve: jillian, what we are seeing with this president something we didn't see with the last president and that seems to be some flexibility. out on the campaign trail, donald trump did not sound like he was for any sort of military action in syria. now, 48 hours after he saw these gas attacks he was for taking military action. because is he flexible, does that confuse people internationally when they are thinking about doing something bad? >> well, i think that it's never a good thing when you have people committing to one thing and not following through when is what whand previously with the sir i can't believe and the obama

administration. here it's worse. we had a commander-in-chief wasn't interested in getting involved fighting isis in this part of the world. now as commander-in-chief with access to a whole new treasure trove of information, he is making a different calculation. i think it's smart. i think it's showing a depth nez. i would push back against the flip flopper critics by again saying you have somebody who -- his opinion on the matter and his insight into the matter has really -- he has had a steep learning curve over the last two months and his thinking has evolved very quickly. i agree with what secretary tillerson yesterday afternoon which is that every time have you an attack like this that goes unresponded, to it normalizes it. it normalizes this kind of occurrence in the international community. ainsley: a retired navy seal, these missiles were launched from destroyers by our fleaf

in the eastern mediterranean ocean overnight. what are you hearing from your friends in the military? were they proud of the president for this? is this a victory? >> yes. huge victory. like all the people i have spoken to recently active and former have all said this was donald trump's first test and he absolutely nailed it. this is right on par. this is a show of force that the world needs to see and the world knows we will do. everybody in the military that i have spoken to is extremely proud to call him our president this morning. steve: hey, brian, we are looking at social media and some of the people in the twitter verse are saying this is vietnam 2.0. explain to them why that might not be an apt analogy. >> i don't think anybody is talking about a full blown war. what have you seen here is a very measured, proportional response to the chemical attacks. now if we start getting down the road of committing large numbers of troops, sure, that's a very different conversation. steve: there has been no suggestion of that. >> of course not, no. not at all. ainsley: ryan, you were

shaking your head no, why? >> the vietnam comparison just can't be thrown in there because this is a strike on one air base. i mean, this is a very measured strike. and it was done so humanely that we let the russians know to get out of there and even done to minimize casualties to assad's forces. so all the hysteria seeing on social media about world war iii is starting and we're going to have a war with russia was just dramatic political hysteria we have seen on daily basis since trump became president. pete: extension of that he hysteria no doubt. jillian, we have seen the effects inside that region. no coincidence likely that the president announced this or the strikes were going on while he is having dinner with the president of china. we were talking missiles before. we have been talking missiles about north korea. what message does this send to north korea. >> the whole world was watching. this was a strike against the assad regime. the audience is the entire international community here. i though it sends a very strong signal to the north koreans about what the united

states is now willing to do to intervene in parts of the world where we feel regimes are committing human rights violations, atrocities against its own people. i think that there's a broader implication as well, again, in the sense that while this was a very precise sort of tactical maneuver, it gains us a tremendous amount of sort of strategic advantage in the sense that it positions us much better to have a hand in really coming through with negotiating a cease-fire. something that's been tried 10 times in the last four years and failed. i think this sets us up. puts us in a much better position to try to achieve something now through diplomacy, which is the point of military action in the first place. steve: sounds like you really approve of what the president did. carl, the president as we look at the images of him with the chinese president last night. did he tell the chinese president before he made the announcement officially. we also called apparently the russians to say hey, we're

going to blow that place up in 30 minutes, get your guys out of there? so, this morning, on the crazy meter, some people online are saying look, that's proof that this administration is colluding with the russians. >> no. this is not colluding with the russians. this is not phiing them because we don't want to spark even further conflict down the road. this is something, i mean, look, even nancy pelosi has jumped on board with this strike. i think the fact donald trump called them to notify them to that we were going to blow up an entire air base is good diplomacy. putin is not happy about. this this should end the narrative that we are in bed with the russians because this was their base as well. this is not collusion with the russians. anyone who says that is an idiot. ainsley: all you have to do is look at the statement from the kremlin. the strike is aggression sovereign state violation of international law. that's what russia thinks about it? >> didn't they march into crimea?

just saying. steve: all right. jillian and carl and ryan and brian, thank you very much. pete: thank you very much. >> thank you. steve: meaning while joining us now retired four star general and vice chief of staff of the united states army general jack keane. ainsley: good morning, general. steve: what's your headline? >> well, president conducts a decisive attack in response to a wmd attack within 48 hours. puts the united states back on a world stage in terms of global relationship, reassure our allies and send a loud message to our add investor adv. pete: general might be safe to say no one knows the generals and commanders better than you. get us inside the decision-making process? is this months in the work or did they put this foggy in the last 48 hours. >> we always have contingency plans for targets like this. assad only has six air bases he uses. we know the freezing rain

structure at those bases, depo he is, the fuel storage, the runways themselves. certainly the aircraft. that's the air power freezing rain structure. we have target folders on awful that we could take it all down in one night if we wanted to do that this is a proportionate, limited attack to send a limited message to one person assad and also to putin and the iranians, no more w.m.d. attacks. and we will see if they get this message or not. ainsley: general, if you were 35r9 of president trump's national security team, what would be your advice? would have you done it exactly this way? >> i think the issue for me would have been i would like to have taken out all of the air power freezing rain structure. ainsley: all six of them you said? >> yeah. i think what was going on in their minds to do this we would have had to reposition more ships because we need more cruise missiles that would have taken more days. i think the president wanted to be decisive. also they are focusing on the chemical attack itself. and that's why they went to the air base where it originated. so i understand what's behind

all of this. and i do think there's a lot to be gained by being that decisive within 48 hours. it does send an unequivocal message that the united states will act on behalf of its national interests and also on behalf of its allies. just think for the last 70 days the trump administration has been reassuring our allies in the far east, in europe, and in the middle east that the united states intends to play a role to protect their interests and also our own interests. and now we have decisive action to prove that. steve: and i love the fact that you pointed out it just took 48 hours from the time we saw the gas attack victims until the president pulled the trigger on the tomahawks. there is also the element of surprise. you know, the bad guys around the world aren't used to a commander-in-chief who works this fast. >> no. absolutely. and he has said that during the campaign and he said it since he became president. i'm not going to tell what you i'm going to do. he gave us some hint that there were going to be

consequences here and certainly i think this operation could not have gone any better. we'll see what the impact is on putin who certainly is enabling assad. remember, putin is in syria committing war crimes himself because his air power is bosoming and penetrating underground hospitals, conducting massive attacks on syrian population centers themselves. admittedly not using w.m.d. but very much complicit here to the carnage that has been going on in syria. pete: great point. general jack keane thank you for joining us this morning. >> good to talk to you. pete: is isis now finally taking the trump administration seriously? that's what we're going to talk about next. ♪ ♪ spring is on. and it's time to get growing. as america's #1 professional lawn care company, trugreen can tailor a plan that turns your ordinary lawn into an extraordinary one. so start your trugreen lawn plan today for only $29.95.

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♪ steve: now continuing our coverage this morning of the missile strike, the tomahawk strikes on syria last night. how will this move impact our fight against isis and terror groups? here with reaction fox news contributor former counter terrorism advisor to vice president dick cheney and author of warrior diplomat, lieutenant colonel michael waltz. colonel, good morning to you. >> hey, good morning. steve: i understand you are surprised at what did not happen regarding this strike. >> yeah, that's right. so let's look at what didn't happen. we didn't have weeks and weeks of doddling with national security council meetings and principles meetings in response to an attack with wmd on civilians. we didn't go to the u.n. and for weeks on end tell them to think about it only to have a strongly worded letter, maybe at the end of it and we -- you know, as a military officer, the most important thing we didn't do was telegraph to the entire world what we're thinking about and what we

might do and put our pilots and our navy personnel and our soldiers on the ground at risk. so i think that's incredibly important. and then we also didn't mother may i to the russians like we have the last 8 years. pete: colonel, a lot of people looking at this strike very targeted precision strike against one facility based on chemical use. >> right. pete: there is also speculation about the future of assad: could we have taken out all of his air assets and airfields? what's the tipping point to weaken him enough to put anymore in the corner so he doesn't use chemical weapons and destabilizing the regime and putting country in chaos. >> we could have taken out there is a half dozen airfields that are operational. and we could have taken down and degraded his air force significantly. but one of the things that we had to think about was that the russians, because we just essentially allowed them to march back in to the middle east have put in some of their most sophisticated air defense systems, the s-300, the s s-40400 that could he really

give our pilots a hard time. we would have to have probably a series of waves of a&e tacks to both take those systems down and now you are talking about incurring russian casualties in the wake of that before we could truly get at the heart of syrians air force. we could do it. and that maybe the next step? let's see how the russians respond today and the syrians respond today. i have seen some kind of chatter coming from the russian ministry of defense saying that the attacks were extremely ineffect actual and that they are going to beef up syrian air defenses. steve: shocking. >> yeah. shocker. and then i will be interested to see how the fight with isis is going. you know, we have had kind of an agreement with the russians which now they are saying they may pull out of that their aircraft say on one side of syria and ours stay on the other. now they -- the russians are saying they are going to pull out of that agreement and let's see how the fight over top of isis goes. ainsley: i love how the

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targeted at him. >> president putin regards the u.s. attacks on syria as an aggression against a sovereign state in violation of the norms of international law. a a. >> we ask for god's wisdom as we face the challenge of our very troubled world. steve: this is a fox news alert. on the 77th evening of his president, donald trump launched 59 tomahawk missiles at an air force base in syria. it was the location of the source of the poison gas that 48 hours earlier had killed 80 civilians. ainsley: we have some new video coming in this morning of what it looked like when those missiles landed there on the ground in syria. this is the air base where those missiles hit on top of one of the runways, the airstrips, the hangers, the control tower and ammunition areas.

pete: that was as they were hitting. in the morning when the sun comes up we have newly released video of that airfield itself, hangers and otherwise. the airfield you may not be able to seat craters. certain ones. mission guided missiles intended to hit a 80-meter target of more precise 59 missiles hitting what it wants to hit and sending a strong signal. steve: so far the reaction around the world for the most part has been positive. our allies are behind us. people up on capitol hill are behind it. although there are some lawmakers who are saying the president, if he is going to go further, needs congressional authority. none the less, on the 77th day of his presidency, we saw donald trump act decisively as commander-in-chief for the first time. here he is last night at mar-a-lago. >> my fellow americans, on tuesday syrian dictator bashar

al assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians. using a deadly nerve agent, assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women, and children. it was a slow and brutal death for so many. even beautiful babies were cruelly married in this very barbaric attack. no child of god should ever suffer such horror. tonight i ordered a targetinged military strike on the airfield in syria from where the chemical attack was launched. it is in this vital national security interest of the united states to prevent and

deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. tonight i call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and blood shed in syria. and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types. we ask for god's wisdom as we face the challenge of our very troubled world. we pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of those who have passed. and we hope that as long as america stands for justice and, that peace and harmony in the end will prevail. good night and god bless america and the entire world. thank you. steve: you know, it was just

hours earlier that donald trump in reaction to the gas attacks, 48 hours earlier had said something's going to happen. last night at 8:45 we saw something. brian: absolutely. ainsley: something big. let's bring in andrew big a former intelligence officer and advisor to the united states and nato advisors in afghanistan. we also have gary bernsen and tony shaffer, former cia intel officer and retired u.s. army. thank you, gentlemen, all for joining us. >> good morning. ainsley: gary, i will start with you. the kremlin is saying this violates international law, syria using sarin gas which they said they had destroyed which is also a war crime. >> it is clear president trump acted to defend against a war crime and a massive violation of human rights. you look around the world, 180 nations there is only one country and one leader willing to step up and do this and he should be commended for his actions. pete: andrew last night the

president authorized the firing of 59 missiles but he sent one strong message. what was the message that he sent to the world? >> well, that america is finally making a down payment and putting its money where its mouth is. for years we have been proclaiming our humane values. we have said we outlaw -- we have outlawed chemical weapons. we said assad must go and laid down red lines and, yet, we have done nothing. well, today we started to do something. steve: sure, one of the things, tony, that made it so complicate is the fact that syria, you know, it's just a mess. but it's being propped up by the russians. and our relationship over the last 8 years with the russians has been tenuous at best and now we understand, now that there is a new sheriff in town, donald trump, the 39 of the united states, 77 days in, he actually does something, we understand putin is absolutely furious. >> right. look, steve, this is donald trump's grenada moment. let's remember back in 1983, some of us are old enough to remember that, this was the

turning point for president reagan when we went in to rescue the medical students in grenada, by the way, who were being supported by the russians going in there. so i think this is that moment in time where the world takes notice. i think by no small coincidence, president trump was having dinner with premier xi from china and the north koreans, the iranians and others are on notice saying i'm sorry we are not going to be giving u. pallets of cash to support you helping us. you may get a cruise missile. steve: tony, china has supported syria as well. >> that's right. steve: when the president leaned over the salad plate i'm about to. >> how about duck sauce and cruise missile to go with that dinner. steve: what do you think the chinese president's reaction was? >> i think the chinese premier was probably very, very demuir. there is no doubt he took notice. absolutely no doubt. ainsley: shaking in his boots?

>> i don't know if shaking in his boots is the right thing. i think there is an understanding now that the united states will not simply sit back and allow, to be essentially a witness to the events of the world. we are going to now effect those events. pete: gary, big events overnight. people are waking up saying missile strikes, does this stop right here or where does it go in the next 24 to 48 hours. give us a sense of how this could play out. >> clearly, i think that the russians will be very, very cautious in their approach. they will use, you know, multi-lateral forms to politically criticize the u.s. because they have got to try to maintain face. i think they have to recognize that a country like iran would use an opportunity to do a terrorist attack on us. our forces throughout that region are going to have to be on heightened alert because the iranians won't announce something. they will do something that they can deny. iranians have been attacking americans for the last 40 years and gotten away with it. this should be a very strong message to tehran this is no longer business as usual.

steve: andrew, for people who have not known what's been going on in that neck of the woods for a while and you write about that in a op-ed today in the new york daily news, the syrian war has been going on -- it's been a civil war for the last six years. half a million people have been murdered by assad. and, yet, it was finally these images of the 80 who were gassed on tuesday that got the world's attention. >> absolutely. and, in fact, you know, to putin's point, calling these strikes against international law. the precedent of international law is clear just like nato's bombing of kosovo in 1989. if there are crimes against humanity of this scale such that they effect regional stability, member states are entitled to move against to take action against the perpetrators to restore international stability and bring those who are committing those crimes to justice. steve: just a second ago the iranian foreign minister zoo

zareef as the only mass use of chemical weapons in the 80's. iran condemns the use of all weapons of mass destruction of begin next begin. let's hope he is referring to mr. assad and the weapons of mass destruction he used on his own people. >> steve, i think that's one of the key issues here. look, john kerry declared in july of 2014 all chemical weapons were gone. and that was an agreement between the united states and russia which clearly was either a ruiz or more importantly the russians may have allowed the syrians to manufacture more. either way it's a direct violation of that look, i support my liberty caucus friends and rand paul. we need to bring this to congress and have a debate on it i do understand why mr. trump was feeling the necessity to both strike the target, which the chemical weapons came from as well as changing the narrative, regarding the fact that we'll not sit back and allow

wholesale violations of agreements we sign up to and others violate. pete: gary? >> understand one other thing about iran here. the iranians are the principle architects of a policy across the middle east where iranian and she a she a and iraq and hezbollah are attempting to conduct genocide across there to create complete arc of she a documentation there the iranians are the greatest hypocrites on the planet. >> yep. >> important point. ainsley: andrew, i know you were u.s. army intelligence officer, what's your message to the military men and women that if this does escalate, what's your message to them going forward? >> well, gosh, i think the only message can be stay safe and do the mission. you know, i see the biggest threat to our soldiers overseas as pete hegseth knows very well from his time in iraq as iranian terrorism and iranian made bombs, these so-called projectiles that might be deployed against

u.s., syria and iraq as retaliation. i thought the iranian foreign minister's statement was very telling. for the first time in a long time iranians sound cautious. that's a good thing. steve: all right. andrew and tony, and gary, thank you very much. i have now have the other two tweets from the foreign ministry, he says u.s. aide saddam use's of cw against iran in the 1980s. >> thank you. steve: you are welcome, military force over bogus chemical weapons allegations first in 2000 and now in 2003 in syria. not only two decades after 9/11 u.s. military fighting on same side as al qaeda and isis in yemen and syria. time to stolen the hype and the coverups. mark steyn, best selling author, fox news contributor as well joins us right now. so that's interesting. the iranians are saying we are a partner of isis. >> right. this is the confusion of it i think that was what was great last night.

how syria shakes out in three, five years time, we can't know. and we should be cautious about that after what's happened in libya and iraq and afghanistan and else are with. but simply as a response to a provocation, i mean, basically assad said the world hasn't changed. for the last eight years i have been able to kill my own people and get away with it. they put dead babies on the wells tv screens and trump said enough of this. that's a change. that's a real russian reset button. that's a real reset button upon the world. steve: no kidding. pete: some say he took a different stance. isis in the middle east. not issues like this. what does this tell you about how president trump is going to approach the world. >> it shows you he responds to things. is he very nimble and able to respond to things. the disgusting aspect of the last eight years is that obama mistook the sidelines for the moral high ground.

he would use all this lofty rhetoric about red lines and he would stand there and people killing each other, slaughtering each other, dead babies and he would stand there with his hand on his hip giving a speech. and he stripped words of their meaning. and trump isn't articulate. he isn't as polished but his words have meaning. to do that while is he having dinner with the chinese. you said did he tell him over the salad bowl, as i understand it, he told him over the cream brule or the tier tier mistiramisue how is te him sit through a night of american targeted bombing? steve: that's right. ainsley: do you consider this a victory for him? >> yes, i think. so. ainsley: why? >> because i think he has accomplished certain things. he sent a message to the chinese as they are sitting across the dinner table from him. he sent a message to putin,

and, thereby, incidentally made all these stupid investigations of investigations of investigations that the senate and the house are chasing their tails and look absolutely ridiculous. you know, he has picked a fight with putin at a time when congress has spent and susan rice has spent a year investigating whether is he putin stooge. how stupid dthey look? steve: hold on a second, mark there are some online who are suggesting the reason we called the russians a half an hour early was to give them a heads up to move their military and their people and their assets was because we are colluding. this administration still colluding w-9 russians. that's why we gave them a 30 minute notice. >> i don't think so. and you know that, pete. i mean, the most effective move that's happened in the middle east in the last couple of years is that assad was supposed to be dead. history. weighs gone. he was out. and putin stepped in, put him back on his throne. pete: aalong with iran. >> and basically made russia a

player again in the middle east. steve: just as his puppet. >> just as his puppet. and trump has basically said i don't care. i don't care if he is your puppet. if is he killing kids, he is not going to do did on my watch. pete: foreign capitals, especially our foreign enemies moscow, they are waking up this morning and already midday over there what's their calculation? their next step? >> i think they understand this is really -- last night was inauguration day. america is back in the world. now, not i ineeffectively. what we have to be here tactical ruthlessness of last night is matched with strategic clarity which hasn't been the case in afghanistan and iran. but accepting that trump doesn't want to get mired in pointless civil wars. i think this keeps america's enemies on their toes and figure out what they have to do next. ainsley: the deputy turkish

prime minister said this is a positive but should be completed. i guess insinuating it's not completed yet. what do we need to do to complete it. >> i think this is where, of course, like everything in the middle east it all gets incredibly complicated. in libya, america made things worse. catastrophically worse. and we do not want to implode another regime. i'm not sure that syria can be preserved. and i think what you probably need is a sunni, some kind of sunni statelet on the syria, iraq border but preserving an assad structures without this horrible butcher, barbe barberos family he was opthamologist. i can't even say it. an eye doctor. that's in american. in london. and i think -- hereditary

dictatorship are the worse on the plan net. in syria and north korea. ainsley: most ophthalmologists don't put sarin gas in their patient's eyes. >> they certainly don't. steve: last week ourselves rex tillerson said it looks like assad is here to stay. donald trump when he was out campaigning as president he said i don't know if we get involved in syria. 77 days into his administration, president trump said, you know what, i'm flexible and i have got to change my point of view. >> i also don't think sea cynical man. i believe weighs genuinely moved by those pictures of dead babies and dead children. i think do believe one of the ugly features of the modern world is that we can now see everything that's going on. and yet, we normalize these men so that this butcher's ambassador is going to be

eating in swank new york restaurants today, the guy at the u.n. as if he is no different from the swedish ambassador or the slovian ambassador. that's got to stop. that doesn't mean you get mired in nation building but just some rinky dink with six air bases and you k567 our eye for the wrong reason, we will take out those air bases. ainsley: what does nikki haley need to say to those ambassadors? >> i think nikki haley. i think generally speaking the civilized world should stop normalizing people. i put putin in that camp, too. this is a way of saying to putin, you want to have dinner with this guy, you want to treat assad as if he is no different from the prime minister of norway, there is a price to be paid for that. pete: it's a world where moral relativism is pervasive. you have got to stop that and call a spade a spade. >> and it doesn't mean you spend 15 years running around in afghanistan. but it does mean you say we're

responsible for 40% of the world's military spending we are not going to let a pip squeak put dead children all over the world without consequences. steve: thank you. >> thank you. steve: straight ahead on this friday, president trump responding to the critics defending a shift in u.s. policy on syria. so, is the president right that his flexibility is the key to securing our nation? we're going to talk to admiral william mccraven coming up. pete: first, we're talking to senator marco rubio. so don't go anywhere. looking for clear answers for your retirement plan? start here. at fidelity, we let you know where you stand, so when it comes to your retirement plan, you'll always be absolutely...clear. it's your retirement. know where you stand.

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steve: fox news alert. thank you very much for joining us on this friday morning. we are talking about the fact that yesterday president trump ordered a strike on syria taking out, as you can see, as the tomahawks are launched from the uss ross and porter, that airfield where the chemical attacks were launched 48 hours earlier, killing 80 innocent civilians in the country of syria. joining us right now is florida senator marco rubio. he joins us from capitol hill. well. >> good morning. steve: senator, what do you think. >> it was the right thing to do. number one it was legal it had to be done. he was in violation of an agreement that we were guarantors of that he would get rid of chemical weapons answered lied and didn't do so. also in violation of international law. also in violation of the u.n. security council resolution. number two is we have american troops, hundred of american troops now embedded throughout syria and iraq. this guy is dropping sarin gas it posed a threat to american personnel. number three, i think it achieved a very clear military objective.

and that is we are going to destroy one of the six airfields or significantly degrade one the significant airfields. the airfield from which he had conducted that sarin attack 48 hours ago. it had a clear mission. he gave the significant military forces to achieve it and he achieved it therefore it was the right choice and conducted in the right way. ainsley: senator, some others disagree with you, some of your counterparts, mike lee, rand paul, tim kaine, elizabeth warren they all came out. you are saying it was legal. they are saying it was unlawful because he first needed congressional authority. >> well, that's an age old debate around here. we don't have 535 commander-in-chiefs. we have one. number two this is not a declaration of war or commitment of significant ground troops over extended period of time. this was strategic attack in exigent circumstances and the president has to have the ability to act. that's his role as commander commander-in-chief is to protect our national security interests. every president has held that position and i hold that position and so not only was what he did legal it was

appropriate. pete: senator, americans are waking up across the country dry to the reality to our commander-in-chief ordered air strikes against a facility in syria because of a chemical weapons attack. where does this go the next 24 to 48 hours? where do you hope this progresses? >> well, let me first say this morning that bashar al assad and vladimir putin and iran and hezbollah and others understand they have different cost benefit analysis and risk assessment. up until this point they figured we can do whatever we want and nothing will happen to us other than some nasty letter from the u.n. now they understand that they there very well could be consequences including the loss of aircraft. it's not syria has the biggest airfield in the world. i do think this will impact their behavior especially in the short-term. next thing that must happen is america must engage the sunni allies with the tuckers have interested in syria. includes not only the defeat of isis, not just the defeat of the al qaeda group he will news are a but also the removal of assad from power.

as long as assad is in power in syria there are going to be radical sunni groups in syria as a result of that. pete: sure, senator, a lot of people asking the logical next question. what do you replace bashar al assad with that's better with him. >> you replace him with a syrian government that's not run by a dictator. i never said syria was going to going new zealand in the next two years. cannot be not be ungoverned space. proxy of iran and vladimir putin and also not be an ungoverned place is that true ideal playground for jihadist groups to come in and organize and spread their poison and their murder. ainsley: how would you prevent it from becoming another libya though? >> look what happened in libya. in libya that conflict was protracted. after the conflict ended there was known engagement from the international community. it descended into chaos: look at syria the majority are not syrians they are foreign fighters. went into syria because there

was no government in vast portions of the country. we have to figure out and i believe that there are. they are not the best armed. not the best equipped. not the best capable right now. non-jihadiists sunni syrians who are prepared to govern spaces of syria and be at that table when not just assad's departure and i hope charges on war crimes also alternative for syria being negotiated politically. steve: senator, let me ask you this, you were senator from florida during the obama years and when you would z. war crimes like this happen or atrocities around the world and there would be international cry hey, united states, do something. and we didn't do anything, how do you feel now that you've got a commander-in-chief owho looks at things on a case-by-case basis you know what you? are right. we have got to do something right there. boom, we did it? >> i think the decisiveness is important. i think what he did last night was critical. and, i will say one more thing. i think the president, people keep talking with 2013 and what he tweeted this, that, or the other.

he wasn't a candidate then. he is now the president of the united states. there is a difference between being a real estate developer in new york and a private citizen and being the president. when you are the president, the weight is on your soldiers. shoulders, he acknowledged that you get the intelligence briefings about the true impact of this attack. it impacted him personal live to see babies. he talked about that last night. he talked about that the day before at that press conference. i don't care how voted for in this election. you watched those two statements it's clear that as a human being as a grandfather, as a father, donald trump was deeply impacted by what he saw in addition to acting on behalf of the national security of the united states. and he acted decisively, which is one the most important things a president has to be will to do. ainsley: he decided to send missiles into one of those arldz. you and some other guests have said there are six airfield in syria. do you think if you were the commander-in-chief, because you were close to being that, would you have just struck one or struck all six like one of the generals earlier said? >> well, first of all, i would say to you that in terms of

what we're going to do i think the president is right that you don't telegraph it. all options are on the table there is a strategic value to saying we reserve the right to act further. that this is not the only thing we may do. i think there is value to that and quite frankly it's probably the truth. the second point is i'm sure they are assessing all of that now. the president was probably present with multiple strike options and he chose one that he thought was the right one at the moment. i tend to agree with that decision. i think there are other things on the table essentially moving forward. it's got to be part of a broader strategic plan when i hope and believe they are beginning to work on. what had to happen last night had to hand. otherwise, i think you could have seen another sarin attack. pete: speaking where you could see another attack is from north korea. there may not have been a coincidence that the president was dining with the president of china very very time those missiles were leaving our warships in the eastern mediterranean. talk about how this mission to send a signal to putin and tehran in dealing with north korea. >> i don't believe that the president sat there and said

i'm going to do this to send a message to north korea. i do believe it sent a message to north korea. if you're kim jong un and you are watching tonight you are realizing we have a different thing. we have someone though just doesn't talk he actually does something. is he probably worried right now. we spend a lot of time on american television being asked aren't you worried about putin? aren't you worried about north korea? aren't you worried about the chinese? i think for once we can be able to say they should be worried about us. and they should be. we are more capable than they are. we have a bigger reach. our armed services are more skilled and braver than theirs. it's time for those countries to be worried about us not us worried about what they might do. steve: senator, before did you go. it looks like today at 11:30 the senate will confirm neil gorsuch as the next justice of the u.s. supreme court, correct? >> that's fantastic. is he going to be great justice. supremely qualified. he will be on the court, god willing for 253, 0 years. just brilliant. fantastic choice by the president and i'm excited to be able to support him.

ainsley: big week for all three branches. >> yes. ainsley: thank you so much. >> thank you. steve: meanwhile as we have been talking the president of the united states made his announcement down there in mar-a-lago which is in palm beach county, and this is where our chief white house correspondent john roberts is reporting from this morning. john, as we look at some of the images of the tomahawk strikes last night, the president officially found out that they had met their target, we understand about 8:45 last night. right? >> yeah. exactly. what's really interesting, too, steve, about this is the timing. he had just finishe finished ofe dinner with president xi jinping of china and that summit begins again this morning not too long with now extended bilateral meeting. two leaders meet privately and a meeting later this afternoon. as is he having a continuer with xi the missiles are flying. i'm told he did notify president xi about the attack just before the president gave his speech to the nation. now, what's interesting to look at about all of this, too, is the reaction coming

from the halls of congress. many people are very happen with what the president did. many people approving of it. there are other members of congress who are saying he didn't have the authority to do it. and this is an aged old argument nothing that george w. bush didn't hear, nothing that president clinton didn't hear. nothing that president george h.w. bush and ronald reagan when they launched military action as well. of the president does have the authority when it's in the national security interests of the united states to launch such attacks that's why the president last night in his message said that this was to preserve the vital national security interests of the united states to make sure that these weapons are not used or spread around the globe. you take a look at vladimir putin's response as well, saying it's an aggression against a sovereign state, against the norms of international law. it's something he has zero credibility on when you look at what happened in crimea. so, it will be interesting in the hours ahead, too, to look at what the russian response to all of this will be. i mean, i think if you are claiming the moral high ground, there is probably no higher cause to defend than

the lives of innocent children, particularly babies. the president talked to us on wednesday afternoon about how he was impacted by all of that i remember talking to president clinton some years back saying that the greatest regret of his presidency was not acting to intervene in what was going on in rwanda and the genocide there. so here's a president who within 48 hours learned about this attack and then responded to it in a way that was designed to just curtail syria's ability to be able to launch these attacks. and i'm told that it was very specifically targeted at that air base to lessen the possibility of casualties, particularly third party casualties. you can read russians there and make sure they did not hit that depot where chemical weapons were housed. nau the question is what do you do going forward. changed posture about regime change where it said it wasn't a priority for the united states. now rex ticials, the secretary of state coming out and saying there needs to be a logical plan put in place to change out the leadership in syria.

and that has to start with defeating isis and achieving regional stability and within kind of the ball cannization of syria as well with all of those different groups operating in some different areas and laying political groundwork for assad to be removed from power and somebody else put in who will maintain stability. here is what the secretary of state said yesterday, listen. there is no doubt in our minds annual the information we have supports that syria, the syria region under the leadership of bashar al assad are responsible for this attack. and i think further it is very important that the russian government consider carefully their continued support for the assad regime. >> of course, assad a patron or at least russia a patron of the assad ar regime. though they indicated lacy week that their support for bashar al assad conditional.

any leader who uses something as heinous as chemical weapons. the signal to both china and north korea is something to watch for as well. because president trump will today pressure president xi to get on board with curbing or rolling back the north korea weapons program. he said in op ed last week in china didn't get on board the lust do it itself. you can imagine what kim jong un is saying today. the situation in north korea little different than syria. syria didn't have 8,000 pieces of artillery pointed at a city like tel aviv. steve: outside of mar-a-lago, thank you very much. we have been told by our state department producer -- rather, our pentagon producer lucas tomlinson according to his sources at least 20 syrian aircraft were destroyed in the attacks last night. pete: none of the syrian jets managed to take off and escape before the u.s. missiles hit the. all were jets and not helicopters. no russian aircraft at that airfield. ainsley: point was to take out

they are called the fixed wing aircraft. the point is to take all those out. those are the aircraft used to launch the sarin gas. steve: let's bring in admiral mccraven special ops and chancellor of university of texas. nice to have you here. >> good to be here. steve: we were going to talk about your brand new book which is fantastic. we have to ask you about this. this was your department, naval operations sometimes with target things you send in the seals, you send in the special ops guys in this case you push some buttons and you send in the tomahawks. >> well, you know, in this case these are sort of plans that i'm sure have been on the books for quite some time. we have been looking at syrian airfields for a while obviously all the way back to 2013. i think when the president was talking to general mattis and secretary mattis and general dunford, i'm sure he was looking at what are our options and did a great job of being decisive and finding an appropriate target and proportional response. and i heard senator aruba and

jack keane talking about the necessity of proportionality. this is important as you begin this new chess match as you with the russians and syrians. ainsley: how far advanced notice do they get they are about to launch these missiles? >> probably a couple hours ahead of time. they will, in some cases, it depends on whether or not the t tomahawk missiles have already been designated for those particular targets. my guess is several hours ahead of time they got the word that they need to be doing 9 development of the target package and ensuring that they had the exact precision points of impact, the t lands have got to spin up so there is some time involved in that several hours ahead of time. pete: admiral, we just got the news that it appears these air strikes were effective against syrian aircraft and facilities. it feels like a new era has come h.r. mcfaster and general mattis red lines matter again. have you led some of the lead

troops in the world what does that matter to the fighter when they know hey, someone has got our back. >> the war fighter always wants to know that the commander-in-chief is decisive. when you bring a proposal to the commander-in-chief he will look at it seriously and look at the consequences. there is the responsibility of a war fighter secretary mattis, general dunford, general thomas special operations command a responsibility on their head to make sure the commander-in-chief understands all the risks involved in the mission there also needs to be a plan for what are the next steps? my expectation is in the pentagon they are now looking at the next steps. now what will the syrians do? what will the russians do? what will be our result of whatever actions they take? so it is -- it's always good to know that the commander-in-chief is going to have your back as you move forward. responsibility on the side of the war fighters to make sure they express and ensure that the president understands the risks and that they're prepared to take the next steps whatever those next steps might be. steve: you know what's interesting is we were told that the syrians didn't have

any poison gas, that a couple of years ago they got rid of all that stuff. suddenly all those people wound up dead like three days ago. so, clearly, sometimes these countries in the middle east are not telling us the truth. >> i'm shocked. shocked. i mean, i think you always have to be skeptical of any discussions you are going to have at that level. certainly with somebody like assad. you can never ever believe whatever comes out of the mouth of the president the iran. pete: you served under president obama red line pronouncement. not to o2308 through. was the carnage we saw then a result of the unwillingness and are we able to make up for that at this point? >> i don't know if you can tie the two together. i mean, i will tell you having watched our work against isis in the last year, you saw president obama in the last part of his tenure decided to get very, very aggressive against isis. i'm proud to see and glad to see that president trump has

picked that up as well. so, you know, we're attacking isis on one end and now obviously going to go after the syrian government in a very decisive way. and i think this is going to be important. we have to understand there is going to be a lot of balls in the air here and we will have to be managing them and juggling well. steve: sure, had the president of the united states, president obama, back after saying, look, there is a red line, they crossed it, had he done something then. >> right. steve: then we might not have had to do anything last night. >> certainly. that's absolutely a possibility. you have to be careful about going too far with that speculation. but, certainly, you know, when you draw a line in the sand and you say we're going to do something, it's important to follow through with that again, glad to see that the president trump did that. ainsley: several countries came out inelled me kwr59ly and said they were supporting the president. we had turkey's deputy prime minister say it was important and it was meaningful. saudi arabia said it was a courageous decision. israel said that the u.s. sent a significant message. and australia's prime minister

said support swift response to the u.s. and then we had -- sorry, when we russia and then we had iran that actually the usual suspects came out against him. do you think that this is a victory worldwide for our president? >> absolutely. ainsley: why? >> any time the president takes decisive action against clearly what was an atrocity on the part of the syrians or anybody else, and have you a president that acts decisively, i think it shows the world that we are a nation that -- whose word means something. and so, yeah, this is important to do this. now, again, if there is a cautionary note here, it's that what are the next steps. so what will the russian does? what will the syrians do? and are we prepared to deal with the next steps? pete: i'm going to ask that you question, admiral, no plans survive first contact with the enemy as you know better than anyone on this couch what are they going to do next? >> hopefully there will be a dialogue between the russians and maybe secretary of state tillerson where they say okay, you've made your point, now,

let's try to ratchet this down a little bit. let's see what steps we can take. we need to get assad out of power. the only way i think we are going to get assad out of power is to involve the russians in that the russians are going to have to remove assad from power. pete: to remove a vacuum that islamists exploit? >> absolutely. steve: you were originally booked on the program to talk about your new book the name of it is? >> "make your bed." steve: actually based on commencement speech you gave. >> commencement speech i gave in may of 2014 in texas. steve: if you want to be successful in life there are certain tenets you should follow the one of them is make your bed. >> trivialial about making your bed after the events of the last 48 hours. but the point of the speech and the point of the book really is, lesson number one was make your bed. get up every morning, find something that you accomplished, that you do well, and that will give you some incentive to do the next

task and the next task and the next task. it's also a point if you do the little things well, you make your bed well which is what we learned in the military, you couldn't just make your bed, are you h. to make sure had you hospital corners the pillow was positioned right. steve: do your job right. >> everything had to be done exactly right because the seal instructures if you can't do that right then how are you going to do the big missions right? so that was the point of the make your bed: there is another lesson in there which i think is probably important for today which is stand up to the bullies. we talk about don't back down from the sharks. one of the lessons in the speech and in the books was, you know, we get out there and we do a night swim in seal training and the night swim is kind of with the sharks, if you will off the island. and the instructures always try to scare the students by saying look this is the building ground of the great white shark. if you are ever approached by a shark and it begins to circle you stand your ground if he begins to attack punch him in the nods. the nalle is you will have to deal with bullies.

you have to deal with school yard bullies and bullies in the workplace. you have to deal with tyrants and dictators. the only way to deal with those is stand up and face them down. ainsley: that's what the president has done and also make your bed and lie in it assad. if you are going to release chemical weapons there are going to be consequences. pete: snowflakes beware. ainsley: congratulations on the book. steve: it is terrific book. on this friday a fox news alert. moscow now firing back overnight slamming the american missile strikes as a violation of international law. let's turn to james rosen who is live at the state department in washington with are a breaking details. james? >> steve, ainsley, and pete, good morning to you. russia has responded to this military strike at its client's state the assad regime in syria by shutting down, for now, the deconfliction channel. this is the line of communication that the u.s. and russia have been using to make sure that u.s. and a russian military operations in syria don't conflict. we must recall that president

trump himself at many points along the way has always acknowledged that his relationship with the russian president, vladimir putin, might be a fraught one. >> i would love to be able to get along with russia. have you had a lot of presidents that haven't taken that tact. look where why are now. look where we are now. if i can, now, i love to negotiate things, do i it really well. all that stuff. but, it's possible i won't be able to get along with putin. maybe it is. >> struck close to home for the russians in a manner of speaking. that's because at the very base the u.s. targeted, which was used to horrific attack on tuesday. it is possible that russian personnel were maintaining an active presence. one critics of the trump administration as john roberts touched on earlier if the syrian regime wasn't feeling emboldened to launch this

attack because key u.s. officials rebels terms and officials at the white house had been backing away from the old obama mantra that assad must go. tillerson at one point last week was saying that president assad's future will be decided by the syrian people, by the time he got to mar-a-lago yesterday, in time for the trump xi jinping summit tillerson was saying that there would knob role for assad to govern the syrian people. u.n. ambassador nikki haley has taken a notably sharper tone against russia her escalated launched after this chemical attack. they this came on wednesday. russia, of course, historically protects syria at the u.n. security council consider how strikingly different the tone and language of u.n. ambassador nikki haley is from that of her boss, secretary of state tillerson. >> time and time again, russia uses the same false narrative to deflect attention from

their allies in damascus. how many more children have to die before russia cares? when the united nations consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times in the life of states that we are compelled to take our own action. for the sake of the victims, i hope the rest of the council is finally willing to do the same. >> there you saw it our ambassador to the u.n. as far backing a as wednesday predicting, in essence, that the united states would take its own action. indeed now the trump administration has. back to you guys in new york. steve: indeed. james, thank you. pete: thanks, james. 20 syrian aircraft destroyed after 5 missiles launched. former commander of the u is s kohl kirk ripple knows a little bit about and then joins us next.

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steve: the tomahawk missile strikes at that syrian military base last night were fired from the uss porter and uss ross. ainsley: we are now learning that defense officials trained for two days to execute this mission. what is it like on a warship preparing for a strike like? and are these ships in danger now? pete: no one better to ask than kirk lippold former commanding officer of the "u.s.s. cole" and he joins us now to react. thank you for your time this morning. first off, what was going on on those vessels as they prepare for these strikes. >> well, first thing, before they even deployed, they spent months getting trained and certified in being abled to fire these weapons. they are very familiar with

the procedures, for any incidence that may occur, misfires, rapid changes in targeting, so that when they actually get over into the eastern mediterranean and they are preparing to fire, they get benefit, giving a heads up that they were there. they were able to operate within the launch baskets or near them to be able to practice the missions, practice the targeting, practice some of the procedures if they happen to rapidly change the targeting based on national command theater directive. it was a great opportunity to have two days really to get the crews ready to go. steve: sure. we just had admiral mccraven on. of course, he used to head up special ops, the navy seals, things like that. sometimes with the targeted mission, you will either send in the, you know, one of the seal teams or you'll do the tomahawks. i can't tell you how many stories, commander, i'm reading online today about how the navy loves the tomahawk missile. explain that. >> it's a great missile. it's extremely flexible. it can be retargeted on short notice. we're able to use it for a

variety of missions. it has different war head packages available for the combatant commander to use. depending on what they want to accomplish. obviously, have you different things if you want to take out a hardened aircraft bunker versus damage a runway and taking down a building going in the 10th floor on the south side. there is a variety of different missions it can be targeted to do. that's why it makes it such a great missile it is very flexible we really need to continue to invest in development and deployment. steve: it's really that accurate aim it at the 10th floor of a building and hit the 10th floor? >> with some the g.p.s. targeting that we have today, yes. it is a very accurate weapon and the reason we want to use that, obviously, is to nail the target and not have the civilian casualties that rah ten can't with just setting off large bomb. pete: when we say we took out 20 syrian aircraft and other airfields, it's because we could hit exactly what we want with pinpoint precision with tomahawks?

>> absolutely. that's one the great things about that weapon is the flexibility and accuracy that goes with it immense investment by the navy in these weapons and need to continue it for the neigh future as well. ainsley: when that chemical attack happened on tuesday, did we send our destroyers over close to the coast of syria or were they already there? >> well, they were in the eastern mediterranean, exactly where they were operating, we obviously want to keep that classified to give us flexibility for future operations. but they operate within a fairly large basket that gives them an opportunity to place it. it depends on how they want to missiles to fly. what the entrance is to be able to get there. were there any air deferences that they need toed fly around or bypass. those are the types of things that you have to take into consideration. in the mission planning for how you are going to use these weapons. ainsley: it actually makes me feel safe that we have these destroyers on the ready all the time. is that the way it is in most of the seas around the world? do we have these on the ready? >> well, we have them ready

but i will tell you we are doing it at a cost. we are robbing peter to pay paul. we don't have the depth we need. we have had four years of sequestration. we have taken a 50% hit in the department of defense. we need to make sure that we are putting that $54 billion that trump is trying to put back into the department of defense, that's not a plus-up. that is trying to make up a 200-million-dollar short fall, 200 billion-dollar short fall that the department of defense is living with. obviously the men, training equip is going to have impact especially with the weapons like the tomahawk. you want to have that training and don't want to wait until the last minute to make sure the crews are ready and armed. steve: no kidding. pete: thank you for your time we appreciate it such a reminder what moments like this rebuilding your military really means. have you got to maintain them and build them. ainsley: i come from the school of thought spend whatever money you need to to protect our country. i wonder how much those missiles are? steve: some of them are a

million dollars apiece. the previous administration had harsh words for assad drawing a so-called red line in the sand. except that red line turned out to be nothing more than an empty threat. how did the u.s. get to this point in jerry? ed henry and geraldo rivera coming up next. ♪ ♪ can i get some help. watch his head. ♪ i'm so happy. ♪

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>> tonight i ordered a targeted military strike in syria. >> this was a strategic attack, exigent circumstances. not only what he did was legal, it was appropriate. >> 59 missiles landed at one airspace. >> this is show of force that the world needs to see. the world now knows we will do. >> if they put dead babies on the world's tv screens. trump says enough of this. that is a real russian reset button. >> bashar al-assad is put on notice if he uses chemical weapons again, if it will be the

end of his reining -- regime. >> we hope as long as america stance for justice, then peace and harmony will in the end prevail. steve: this is a fox news alert. it is 8:00 here in new york city. it was 8:45 eastern last night when the president of the united states ordered a mission which would send 59 cruise missiles into the airfield in syria. that is where the airplanes took off two days earlier that delivered poison gas that killed all the syrians. reports the airspace almost completely he destroyed. what it shows is, the new president, president trump is willing to act forcefully and quickly. ainsley: that video on the left-hand side of the screen, those are two destroyers out in the middle of mediterranean ocean and uss porter uss ross,

one of pictures you see american flag hanging from one of the ships. they're launching missiles into syria. pete: powerful imagery of american firepower, imagery of american airfield, 20 syrian aircraft were destroyed. none of the syrian jets managed to take off before they were destroyed. there were no russian aircraft targeted. tomahawk missiles, very precise and hit their target. ainsley: that is what it looks like now that the sun has come up, what was hit on the ground. we'll have anthony scare moo youchy, former trump committee member. he will be joining the trump team. >> hopefully my deal will close shortly. i was in the white house on tuesday, speaking with chief of staff priebus and steve bannon about that. ainsley: you were there on tuesday when the chemical strike happened. were their response saying they need to do something about that? >> the president you could see from his reaction with the king of jordan how upset he was. there is a moral component to this, ainsley, as well as a

military and strategic component. at the end of the day the president represents what lincoln called the last best hope for mankind. he looks at this situation, we'll act and act decisively send a message to people where the united states stands not only geopolitically from military perspective, and economic perspective from a moral one. steve: we should point out anthony is a businessman involved in the world of finance. i've known donald trump for a while. he is a businessman, commander-in-chief, 77 days into the administration ordered a strike. a year ago he sounded like he was not for this kind of intervention. but when you suddenly have the keys to air force one things change. and he has said i have the flexibility to change my mind. >> you and i know him a very long time. think about this. this is 23 months into his political career. he is 75 days or 78 days into the presidency. this is unbelievably adaptive human being. one of the smartest emi ever

worked with, steve. he compiled the information and looking a the situation geopolitically. this is air traffic controller message to the world. hey, listen we'll not take any guff from anybody. you need to know that the american people are a force for good and we believe in peace through strength. ronald reagan once said no wars really got started with a super strong american military. he really needs to send a resonating message. not only is it going to the syrians, iranians and russians, but resonates on the other side of the world in relation to north korea. pete: we've been talking about the next 24, 4hours is important after a situation like this. he surrounded himself with one of the best cabinet especially on national security side. who is he huddling with in mar-a-lago for next steps? >> i'm not sure who he is huddling with but if you look at the second the secretary mattisr

the strike on yemen or the situation with the chemical attack, one thing i'm absolutely certain about with this president he looked at all the evidence related to the chemical attack, more or less certain came from the syrian government, i don't think the strike would have happened. ainsley: were you shocked when you woke up this morning, started to hear on our show or other shows. >> only your show, ainsley. ainsley: here reaction of democrats in favor or support of this? >> not necessarily. what happened, if you go back to 2013 people were reticent. they were not ready to engage in a situation like this. after 24, 36 months of this activity, people are froing tired, they need to send a message where american leadership is. whether senator mccain, senator graham or democrats opposition in president trump's agenda, they have to coalesce around him. this is defining moment in american moral leadership as

well as our geopolitical position. steve: folks remember when barack obama looked at the atrocities in syria, he drew the red line. everybody expected him to do something. he said, you know what, if congress wants to do something congress should take it up, they didn't have the political will. he didn't go to congress to ask for permission and did not go to the united nations. you know how the u.n. works, you live here? new york. you go to the u.n. security council everything is suppose toed be secret, everything gets moved. >> what they did i have to give him credit for, ambassador haley did a great exposition. presented case through the united nations through you ambassador haley. but you're right at the end of the day this is very reaganesque. steve and i are old enough, you guys are not old enough to remember.

steve: i'm a darn quid. >> he was growing up in the one-room schoolhouse. steve: i went to a one-room schoolhouse. >> the cool thing about this is what leadership is really about, making a decision like this, sending a message to the world, really the great thing about our president, he really has great instincts. he knows what is right and what is wrong. this was clearly wrong. this was a measure he needed to take to let people know it. pete: he acted when we heard so many words for the last eight years. with the strike with bipartisan support around big day on capitol hill he will get a supreme court nominee passed through the senate. >> we have a couple wins on the board. going into these conversations with the president of china, president xi, i think the president has a really good set of cards to deal with right now. ainsley: thank you so much. >> appreciate it. steve: we were lucky enough to have admiral mcraven on with us a little while ago and asked him for an assessment how the president is doing thus far.

here is what he had to say. >> in this case these plans have been on the books for quite some time. we've been looking at syrian airfields for a while, obviously all the way back to 2013. i think when the president was talking to general mattis and secretary mattis and joe dunford i'm sure he is looking what are our options? i think he did a great job being decisive, finding an appropriate target and proportional response. this is always important as you will begin this new chess match if you will with the russians and syrians. steve: that brings us to a roundtable discussion. let's bring in tony shaffer, michael walsh, brian murder row and brian dean as right as well. they're experts in the various fields. we want to talk a little bit, tony as you listen to the admiral right there, do you agree with him? >> well, absolutely. i would so far hazard to say some of these plans have been on the books since general mattis was head of central command. we've been looking at this set of issues for a long time.

let's be very clear here, part of what had to change not only the perception that the united states would not act. that has been changed now. but what was worse, steve, as you know is the self-deception that was put forth by secretary kerry and the old administration saying weapons of mass destruction were gone. that was a fix. and so the american people were buffaloed. what is worse is the people living in the region may well thought hey, we're safe now. they weren't. this is important. again i am not a guy that believes in the unmitigated use of military force. this was precise. this was meant to send a very clear message, not only tactical but strategic level to china, to north korea and iranians that we're back. pete: lieutenant colonel walsh on military side, appear to be successful, 20 aircraft were hit, none were able to take off, are the american people waking up to the real think this happened overnight. what is your message saying how far does this go, how far does

it end and how successful was it? >> it was incredibly successful. i'm proud of our president. the happiest americans around the world with exception of navy sailors who got to fire the missiles are diplomats. for the last eight years they have had a few carrots and no sticks because in negotiation after negotiation we pulled most powerful military in the world off the table before they even walked into the room, from north korea, to pakistan, to libya our diplomats are walking into negotiations now with a little more swagger and knowing that the u.s. military is, hasn't been neutered that is standing behind them. ainsley: guys, i'm being told we're just getting new video of russian drones immediately after the attacks this is what those drones were picking up. i'm not sure if y'all can see this, but this is from the russian drones. my question to you, ryan, is, will russia discourage assad from continuing these types of attacks?

or will they support more attacks, more of the chemical attacks? >> my guess is that russia will say you need to hold off on this because it is counterproductive and an unnecessary escalation, but the question then remains, what about the massacres committed with non-chemical weapons? that is a question that president trump is going to have to answer because very possible that the next test for him will be russia, iran and the syrian regime coming together, let's try something different. let's massacre a bunch of civilians to see you how the united states responds. steve: absolutely. brian, going forward, the big wonder is, after we drop those 59 cruise missiles in there yesterday, how russia, how syria will react? we know russia, looking at bombed damage, we expect that, but what do you think russia will tell syria today? >> putin is upset and angry this happened. he has effectively been pushed

into a embarrassing situation. he will have to respond to save face for his own regime, right? one of the first reactions him withdraw youing the pact of the united states deconflicting over skies in syria. russia announced they will withdraw. those kinds of things for putin to save a little bit of face. behind the scenes they will reach out to folks like trump and our secretary of state, we need to figure out a way to get out of this together. steve: we had ryan on earlier in the program, ryan, you have an important detail regarding this particular airbase i haven't heard any other intel people tell us b we not only took out syrian air force base, we took out a terrorist airstrip, right? >> you could go so far this was not just an airstrike, not airstrike, cruise missile strike on the syrian regime but on iranian regime, specifically their terror network. this base has been known to be used by hezbollah, a terrorist group that killed more americans

than any other terrorist group up until 9/11 and likely to kill americans again. how do you feel about having hezbollah in the same location as chemical weapons? that's a very dangerous scenario. so there is a national security argument to be made here. ainsley: brian, are terrorists using other airfield? six airfields? >> yes. ainsley: they are. do we need to take out the last five? >> let's first wait and see how it settles. we want to see the reaction. i don't want to immediately go to 10 on one to 10 scale. you better believe there are plans for that. that is likely the american response if assad continues to use chemical weapons or escalates in terms of massacring civilians to the point where we have to act to show that the rules we were playing by before just aren't there. you're dealing with someone new. pete: we'll have to leave it right there. a very smart group of four, quad box. tony shaffer, ryan murrow and brian dean wright. thank you all.

steve: live here on the couch we bring in geraldo rivera and judge jeanine pirro as well. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> good morning. steve: ladies first, your reaction to the president pulling the trigger last night? >> for the first time in at that long time americans were finally, you know, we have a president now who took swift and certain action. he chose to act, and we saw the juxtaposition of a withering, dithering, whimpering president who couldn't make a decision, who drew a line in the sand and did nothing about it. by the way had the real deal with russia and kerry putting i think that 2013 chemical weapons deal, they got rid of all their chemical weapons. another success. and then donald trump comes in, and you know, he took swift, decisive action. it made americans proud. i think it made people all around the world proud. and as 400,000 syrians have been

killed. five million syrians have been displaced. we finally have a man who knows the difference between right and wrong and good and evil and it makes us proud, finally! ainsley: geraldo? >> my feeling this was a brilliant strike t was precise, it was proportional. i'm very proud of how well it was carried out by our forces. my only hesitation was this was, assad is a barbaric savage, who committed one of the most heinous acts we have ever seen captured on videotape. pete: right. >> if indeed he was guilty. that is my only hesitation. steve: you're wondering it may have not been the syrian air force? >> it was so ill-conceived. where we were on monday, tuesday of this week. we had the president of the united states, we had the secretary of state and we had the entire trump administration suggesting we could live with bashar assad. getting rid of syrian dictator --

steve: emboldened him? >> here is the point. not only is he barbaric but also profoundly stupid. here he had won the war. you have to look at this way. he finally gotten the united states and russia on his side, all he had to dos with continue to attack isis and al nusra and other sunni extremist groups. what does he do? if the president is correct, i have no reason to doubt him now. they have conference sicks on it, he does exactly the wrong thing. he aggravates, he commit this is crime that makes everybody sick, that repulses the civilized world. he totally undoes everything that -- steve: geraldo, you said he was an idiot. maybe that is why. pete: news flash, dictators are narcissists. you never know what they do. >> all those people who say that the president emboldened him. the only person that emboldened him was barack obama this president made him very clear

that we'll not tolerate actions like this. you know, for this, for people who criticizedded president and make no mistake, that is coming, in terms of where do we go froms you say, geraldo, strategic, it was precise and i don't know that this necessarily involves us in anything further. for all those people there was this bromance between donald trump and putin, well the bromance is over. cut it out! steve: hold on. online, some are suggesting the fact we called the russians half an hour early so they could move assets, that is proof that this administration is colluding with the russians, believe it or not. >> do you know what that is prove of, it is proof we don't want a world war. we want to stop assad from using chemical weapons against innocents his own citizens. >> i see it a little differently. the fact that the russians were notified and did nothing to interfere, remember we have cruise missiles. we love the tomahawk.

they're a he precise weapon, terrific weapon, but soviets have ground-to-air missiles, antimissile, missiles they could have tried with their capability in syria to knock down the cruise miss sells before they got to that airbase. they did not. they were evacuated from the base, the russians. no soviet, no listen to me, no russian aircraft were present. as far as i know all the casualties, so far at least in the earliest assessment are military. syrian general and some syrian soldiers. no civilians involved. no russians involved. that tells me putin secretly is saying to donald trump, all right, dude, it's your shot. my guys screwed up. you punish him. you did well. proportional. precise, humane. you punished the savage crime against humanity. where do we go from here? pick up the pieces. >> what also said, we don't want

this to escalate. what we want is to identify that this is wrong, we're not going to tolerate it. this is inhumane. that is the end of that. okay? it will not go out of control. it doesn't mean they're in love with each other. it only means that this is something we all agree with can not be tolerated. >> here's the question. what do we do with the sunni people in syria going forward? what do we do? do we create a safe zone within syria? in other words, partition syria, cut is in half, this is the sunni half, this is the shiite half? ainsley: to do that you have to assure this is official safe zone. >> the disappointment i have, the strategic disappointment i have is, last week when donald trump and nikki haley and rex tillerson were all saying, we can live with assad.

then you saw the old syria coming back together after this bloody war, 400,000, 500,000 dead, five million displaced. now, i don't know where you go now. you have a shattered regime again. will we let assad continue in power? pete: i think they're thinking through that calculation. they're you see the proportionality. >> i think not only are they thinking through it, they put a stake in the ground, here everything is different. we can say we tolerate you, but don't cross the line. he doesn't have to articulate don't cross the other line. all he has to say certain things will not be tolerated. his actions were swift, certain and humane. no question in my mind he will, he talked about safe zones enforce them. steve: we'll see what happens. geraldo, janine, thank you very much. straight ahead our next guest was in the room when former president obama said this. >> a red line for us, we start seeing a a wheel bunch of

chemical weapons moving around and being utilized. steve: that head rhine was crossed. ed henry says that is where the problem started. he, ed henry, joins us next. ♪ ...it shouldn't be fleas and ticks. no, no no no no... seresto® kills and repels fleas and ticks for 8 continuous months - for effective protection in an easy-to-use, non-greasy collar. 8-month seresto®. from bayer. there's nothing more than my vacation.me so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. booking.com gets it. they offer free cancellation if my plans change. visit booking.com. booking.yeah.

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brace yourself! this is crazy! [ tires screeching ] whoo! boom baby! rated pg-13. [ screams ] >> we have been very clear to the assad regime,ly also to other players on the ground that a red line for us is, we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. pete: president obama making a promise to act but it took president trump to follow through on that promise. steve: chief national correspondent ed henry was in the brady briefing room when the president said that.

look how far we have come. >> it was august of 2012. it was in the middle of presidential campaign. going back and forth with mitt romney on foreign policy. benghazi attacks were couple weeks later. think about context, commander-in-chief saying my calculus will change in terms of u.s. military action, strikes against syria. if they start moving around or utilizes chemical weapons. those were the exact words. you heard it there, massive chemical attack. president walked up to the line. remember john kerry, his secretary of state, went out and prepared the american people, this is the time for to us act. then something else happened. there was vote in british parliament. all of sudden brits did not want to go forward. uk did no-go forward with strikes of their own. president obama got cold feet and didn't go through. turned to the congress. wasn't about to act without congress. remember that whole series of events. which president trump has now done, he can do, as marco rubio said, targeted strike. it is specific. ainsley: not war.

>> it is not launching a war you but, you know, reacting to this horrific chemical attack this week. however, to be fair and balanced you have to realize obviously the positive side for president trump is decisive leadership here. however, what comes next? and what is the strategic objective as pete knows. medium, long term, here, so this does not become another misadventure in the middle east. pete: what comes next is the million dollar question then and now. the problemly only gets more difficult as situation has gotten hotter. would it not be fair to say, passed the buck, president obama did to congress on decision making? >> he did. pete: president trump said i will make the decision. >> its limited obviously with these missiles. if you expand u.s. involvement in syria, this is civil war going on for years with no easy answer, otherwise, there would be an answer. there would be some, decisive peace plan. no one in the middle east, in the night anywhere, has put that on the table.

assad is a chris sy dictator as you've been saying all morning. so what comes nix. he didn't cause a civil war. he shouldn't get the blame for the mess in syria. but when you draw the red line and don't follow up you make already horrific situation worse. interesting, that is what president trump -- ainsley: when you hear the sound bite, all the events unfold, benghazi happen ad you few weeks later, remind you how much has changed in our country since that one comment. this morning there are democrat that were saying as we were just mentioning that the president should have gone to congress first. steve: and republicans. ainsley: unlawful for him not to get permission to authorize the strike before. marco rubio said before, like we were saying, no, we've got that sound bite. >> we don't have 535 commander in chiefs. we have one. number two, this is not declaration of war. this is not commitment of

significant ground troops over extended period of time. this was strategic attack in exigent circumstances. president has to have the ability to act. that is his role as commander-in-chief. >> he is on point. i heard senator john mccain say similar as chairman of the armed services committee. obviously gets much stickier if you go beyond this. responding to the specific, horrific chemical weapons attack targeting women and children. ainsley: president really didn't have a choice, did he? this is what the american people put him in office, right? there were so many criticisms about president obama not being as strong enough force. >> assertive, decisive. once this president went out there in the rose garden in a news conference of his own this week and said he was personally moved. pete: yes. >> basically as a father and a grandfather as well, this humanizes this president as well, to see those pictures. if he had not followed through, he is back in an obama kind of moment. pete: true, what do you take as far as his foreign policy viewpoint going forward?

no one would term him as intervention it as president. is this changed mind-set or specific? >> i think specific circumstance. marco rubio was very on point saying this is a specific targeted strike. because frankly we don't yet know what is the trump doctrine. we were talking on the couch steve bannon and his influence, is it waning or not inside the administration. you have a new national security advisor trying to assert himself after general flynn leaving. secretary of state in rex tillerson unfairs few weeks how much he will assert himself. what is the trump doctrine? i don't think we'll learn that from the one strategic strike. what we are learning about the trump leadership style which is different from the obama leadership style. steve: loud and clear it is. thank you, ed. meanwhile the next 24 hours are critical. will president assad or president putin strike back? hmmm. how would they respond? chief intel correspondent for fox news, catherine herridge is

tracking that. easy for me to say. ainsley: texas senator john cornyn joints us live to react to the strong message just sent by the white house. ♪

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steve: there they go, one of 59 tomahawk missiles. president trump taking out syrian airbase following president assad es horrific chemical attack 48 hours earlier in the country of syria. ainsley: that send quite a message. that is what will happen if you continue toe use the chemical weapons. years after the country claimed they didn't have chemical weapons but new intelligence proving otherwise. pete: chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge

live in the nation's capitol with the latest. good morning. reporter: good morning. the u.s. intelligence community has high confidence that the attack was carried out by syrian government jets. fox news was told this conclusion was reached quickly through multiple intelligence streams with overhead imagery and radar. the releasing this graphic shows the flight path of syrian government aircraft over the site of the syrian gas attract. the red dots tracking the flight path, jets traveledded from the base and over the area twice in nine-minute period consistent with the explosion and sarin gas release. the smoke rising from the strike disable ad key element of the base with administration officials telling the use of sarin, a nerve agent is a water shed. the obama administration said publicly it was a red line that should never be crossed. >> the use of chemical weapons is, and would be totally unacceptable. and if you make a tragic mistake of using these weapons, there

will be consequences and you will be held accountable. reporter: after that statement the assad government agreed to disband the kim call weapons program. that capability by 2014. under a plan coordinated with russia and this latest attack though on its face is a severe breach of that agreement. pete: as many are reporting next 24 hours are very critical for this. with could we ex from syria or russia? reporter: what is on the radar of administration officials. there was a briefing for reporters, they indicated they were not anticipating a direct response to the strike but they were anticipating or thought it was likely that iran could unleash hezbollah along with syria, to attack western targets. so it is really like payback through a third party in this case. steve: catherine, thank you very much. reporter: you're welcome. steve: our pentagon team also says, we relayed some of this information, about 20 syrian aircraft were destroyed. no russian aircraft at the airfield at the time.

but what is interesting is, we've been reporting 59 missiles launched. actually 60 were launched, one failed, likely fell into the sea. the some of them, first missiles were launched at:40 last night. some loitered or circled into the air and then went to different wave points. about:40, yesterday evening, they all landed within two or three minutes of one another. 5of 59 targets struck. apparently tomahawk they used the tomahawk e or echo, latest model. they each carry 1000-pound warheads. ainsley: one of our guests was saying how flexible and precise they are. if you want to hit the 10th floor of a building, you can hit it directly. pete: proved to be successful. we know what we want to hit. we have good intelligence. we can hit it with the best technology in the world. ainsley: you have to be precise if these things are a million dollars apiece, you want to get it right.

pete: unlike the enemy we care about the civilian casualties and strategic impact, that is part of reason we do that. steve: fox news is told the mission is complete. there is no more taskings to shoot more missiles. there are remaining missiles on board each of the he destroyers, ainsley: we talked to admiral mcraven earlier he knows first-hand being in the navy what was going on before this, what the preparation was like. how far ahead do the seamen on the destroyers get information they will launch the missiles. >> probably couple hours ahead of time. some whether or not tlams, tomahawk attack land missiles are targeted. several hours my guess ahead of time they got word they need to do development of a target package, insure they had the exact position. points ever impact. the tlams have to spin up,

time involved. several hours ahead of time. pete: we had amazing line up of guests on the program. hitting all angles. another angle catherine herridge brought up, when i asked about what we expect from russia and syria, who did she bring up? hezbollah in iran. reminding this is terror axis here, propping up with iran willing and able to strike. we have our hands all over the place with things to anticipate next 24 hours. steve: speaking after lot going on, this is completely unrelated. according to the federal government, the new unemployment rate in the nights has fallen to 4.5%. ainsley: that is good news. pete: that is great news. >> hiring slowed sharply in march with just 98,000 new jobs. ainsley: you mentioned this earlier, that reminds me of something you talked about during commercial break. it will be interesting to see what the favorability -- looks like in a week. steve: probably going to go up. pete: that is not why you do anything like this. but if you show decisive leadership, people appreciate

that. jobs coming back, nominate a supreme court justice confirmed today, that is progress. >> this could be the most successful day so far of the trump presidency. we asked you about the comments about the strikes. how do you feel? brandon on twitter this morning says, for too long the world sat idly by as innocent people were slaughtered. for too long we have appeased assad. that time is now over. ainsley: arthur on facebook, for eight years we had a do-nothing president who couldn't lead a heard of ant to a picnic. now we have a real commander-in-chief. pete: arthur, you are artful. mark on twitter says i agree 100% the president did. the only wray to send a message to assad and others we're serious to stop the carnage. interesting look at all the guests. donald on tweeter says yes, chemical weapons used on any population should not be tolerated. steve: vincent on facebook says the president is job not to go

out and kill people outside of his nation. protect and provide for citizens first within your border. pete: those statements are indicative experts we had on today, all of which praised this decisive action juxtaposition to the obama administration. the question is always the next 24 and 48, what does it look like? when you look at team the president has around him, this is the a-team. if they're in the decision room helping this decisive president make decisions that is a great place for our country to be. steve: somebody really steamed today in ad deck to putin, the united nations. pete: yeah. steve: they called for emergency security council meeting later today because the president didn't call them up, hey, what i will do in 15 minutes? pete: who is not sad? the american people. steve: there you go. ainsley: speaking of russia, putin, the kremlin slamming the syrian missile strike as a violation of international law. what is next for the u.s. and russia in that relationship. james rosen is live at the state department. pete: texas senator john cornyn joins us live to react to the strong message just sent by the white house.

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♪ steve: fox news alert, moscow firing back overnight slamming the american missile strikes as a violation of international law. ainsley: let's turn to james rosen live from the state department in washington with the breaking details. good morning, james. reporter: ainsley, good morning. russia is already responding to this attack launched on what is it client state the assad regime in syria shutting down for now something called the deconfliction channel. that is the line of communication the u.s. and russia have been using to insure u.s. and russian military operations inside of syria don't conflict. we must remember many points alongs the way president trump frankly acknowledged his relationship with russian

president vladmir putin might be a fraught one. >> i would love to be able to get along with russia. now, you've had a lot of presidents that haven't taken that tack. look where we are now. look where we are now. if i can. now, i love to negotiate things, i do it really well, and all that stuff but, but it's possible i won't be able to get along with putin. maybe it is. reporter: strike, struck close to home for russians in manner of speaking. at the very base the u.s. targeted which was used to launch that horrific chemical attack that killed 70 people on tuesday, there is evidence russian military personnel were maintaining an active presence. one question being raised by critics of the trump administration is whether the syrian regime wasn't in some measure embowlenned to launch this chemical attack because key american officials including secretary of state rex tillerson as well as spokesmen at the white house recently begun backing away from the old

baumann interest that assad must go. here is how rex tillerson was signaling as much six days before the chemical attack. >> i think the status and the longer-term, longer-term status of president assad will be decided by the syrian people. reporter: arizona senator john mccain and other influential voices in foreign policy circles immediately pointed out syrian people, some 400,000 of whom have been killed in six years ever civil war fighting in that country, really haven't much say in how they're ruled at this point. so tillerson began to change his tune somewhat, certainly by the time he arrived in mar-a-lago for the trump xi xinping summit. >> assad's role in the future is uncertain clearly and, with the acts that he has taken it would seem there would be no role for him to govern the syrian people. reporter: taking a noticeably sharper tone on russia for several weeks now has been u.n. ambassador nikki haley.

her language escalated during u.n. security council session on wednesday following the chemical attack. russia historically protects syria at u.n. security council. consider strikingly different healy's language from her boss, secretary tillerson. >> time and time again russia uses the same false narrative to deflect attention from their, from their allies in damascus. how many more children have to die before russia cares? when the united nations consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times in the life of states that we are compelled to take our own action. for the sake of the victims, i hope the rest of the council is finally willing to do the same. reporter: so when historians chronicle the trump presidency, look back at his first use of military power as commander-in-chief, they will

likely look past before this past wednesday when you're unambassador said the united states would be quote, prepared to take our own action. back to you guys in new york. pete: thanks very much, james. steve: back to capitol hill, senator john cornyn, member of the senate judiciary committee joins us this morning. >> good morning. steve: give us your headline regarding president's strike on syria? >> weakness is a provocation and strength is a deterrence and until now all we've seen in syria is weakness and of course we've seen putin and iran and president assad fill that space, in the meantime, senator mccain's pointed out 400,000 civilians dead and assad continues to use chemical weapons of which are internationally banned under law. so, i think it was a welcome demonstration of america's commitment but what comes next is harder. one of the finest generals in

american life, david petraeus, who said, anytime an armed conflict the most important question is, how does this end? and so i look forward to the president's sending the appropriate notice and consultation with congress so we come up with a unified strategy to defeat and replace assad. pete: senator, what do you say to those international critics or adversaries this is violation of international law? america should not have taken unilateral action, through the u.n., whatever that process is? what is your message to them? >> we know china and russia vetoed attempts to take it through the united nations the i don't think president trump was left with any alternative but to act unilaterally. ainsley: this wreak alone we've been talking about health care. we were talking about, calling for susan rice to testify under oath. we're talking about neil gorsuch who could be confirmed today. how significant is what happened overnight with these missiles?

how significant is that compared to everything else so far in this presidency? >> well it is very significant because i think it represent the first concrete demonstration of what this president's foreign policy will be. for the last eight years we've seen president obama drawing us back, withdrawing from the international stage but my experience is that the international community craves and really wants american leadership. but when american recedes off the international stage, it really does empower people like putin, aside and theocrats in iran and the world's a more dangerous place as a result. steve: absolutely. senator, you're also on the senate judiciary committee and i know that judge neil gorsuch has been topic afor the last couple weeks there. later today he will officially become we believe about 11:30 -- >> that's right. steve: next sitting justice on the supreme court. how happy are you that we get to

this point even after all the rancor and you know, the mudslinging from the other side? >> well i'm very happy because this judge is not only a very fine man but very outstanding judge and really argument bense him really didn't have much to do with him. they were about other things. i think ultimately it was a rejection of the legitimacy of this president, by those who were disappointed in the outcome of the election on november the 8th, but the senate has returned to the status quo before the, before the filibuster where no partisan filibuster of a supreme court justice has ever been successful. so, i think it's a good day for the senate and great day for the country. pete: senator, with the confirmation of neil gorsuch there will be nine members on the supreme court. do you april with likely 5-4 majority that the president will advance their travel ban, or the at least a challenge to it to give him an opportunity, a state like syria was listed in that. is that something that will become a priority once again? >> i think we need the supreme

court to speak in this important area and i'm glad now we'll have a full nine-member compliment of the supreme court to do just that but i always, i always remember, it's hard to predict judges, particularly judges with lifetime tenure will do. but i do think the supreme court will speak to this. i anticipate the administration will take that to them. steve: big day on capitol hill. senator cornyn. thanks for dropping by. ainsley: thank you, senator. steve: let's have a little roundtable discussion to talk about what is going on. you see us up here in this square. we have directly below us, ryan mauro, next to him, brian dean wright, off him -- lieutenant colonel -- there he is. thank you very much. good morning to all of you. >> good morning. >> here is where we start the conversation. it is interesting, we just got a piece of tape in. keep in mind it was half an hour before the missiles were launched that the united states

called russia, just to notify, hey, just want you to know, because you have airplanes over there and personnel, get them out of the way because we will launch tomahawk missiles. peter doocy on capitol hill spoke to hillary clinton ace running mate, tim kaine, and he says this is proof that this administration is still cozy with the russians. listen to this. >> just two or three days ago they wouldn't even condemn atrocities by bashar al-assad. they were cozying up with russia who was propping up the assad regime and helping them commit atrocities against their own a major change in direction in president trump's thinking about. steve: michael walsh, do you think what happened yesterday transpired in the last 24 hours shows that we're still cozying up to the russians? >> absolutely not. i think that is frankly just ridiculous. you know, you can't criticize the president for provocative

act that may start world war iii and harm russians and cause an escalation but then on the other hand do the necessary things on the ground from a military deconfliction standpoint to let them know to get out of the way. our beef is with assad and his use of wmd and we are going not only to punish him for that but we'll deter any further use. you can't have it both ways, guys. ainsley: ryan, what was your take on the sound bite? >> i completely agree. there are few things that putin demanded more than the u.s. staying out of syria. look at russian propaganda outlets they were all over this assad is not responsible. the u.s. shouldn't get involved. if the u.s. does get involved in syria you will i pay the price. just that the critics of trump are so obsessed with this russian line, making so close to russia, like he is about to fight rocky balboa or something.

pete: critics heard is this vietnam 2.0, something we're over our heads. targeted strike on one facility. careful to make sure we hit certain targets. what is your take on that? >> it is fair to ask the question, where do we go from here and insure we don't get ourselves involved in some quagmire but it is very, very clear. what we did today was very targeted, very specific. we coordinated with folks like the russians to insure we didn't have collateral damage. that was very well-done operation and i tip my hat to the president for it. steve: michael, i ask the question, are the syrians dumb enough to do something today? >> we'll see. we have special operators on the ground in the east. they embedded with the kurds and various arab forces. they are exposed but they have the u.s. air force overhead. so i kind, i dare you. steve: all right. thank you all, all morning. ainsley: thank you. steve: all right. let's see, let's check in with bill hemmer for a preview what happens at top hour.

>> great show this morning and great analysis. senator john mccain, senator ted cruz. analysis with jack keane. reaction from the best team in florida. reporters with president trump in florida. the visit with the chinese president done there. every angle from syria overnight. confirmation of neil gorsuch should happen this morning as well. see you at top. hour, "america's newsroom," 9:00 eastern.

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