will he say? how will he character ize? >> james mattis, when will he spoke? we'll have live reaction from the white house press briefing pick it up where you are left off, the massive bomb dropped on afghanistan, calling it the largest nonnuclear bomb to be deployed, welcome to the second hour of "happening now" as we taken that breaking news, i am jenna lee. >> jon: i am jon scott. we are awaiting the daily white house press briefing. sean spicer. to the microphone and surely there will be questions about the use of that bomb in afghanistan. here's the thing, what it looks like, 24,000-pound conventional bomb dropped after the death of a green beret fighting isis in afghanistan. kevin corke is live at the white house. what more do we know? >> right now, we are awaiting the press briefing as you point

out and certainly the white house will be asked very quickly about the gbu-43. you mentioned 24,000 pounds, it massive, some have called it the mla b, the mother of all bombs, dropping it in eastern afghanistan, we expect to hear about that very quickly, probably right off the top. i think the other question that will probably be asked in his press briefing is just who is president donald trump? what i mean by that is when you look at some of the changes in position from the campaign to the president, it doesn't make you wonder, is it the same man who said nato was absolute and now isn't? is at the same in his had relations with russia would improve but maybe they are at a low point? is it the same man that told china they were a current seeming to be later, but now says they are not. needless to say, this is raising eyebrows not just here at home but all across the country. there are others who are consistent in their messaging, one of them certainly would be nikki haley over at the u.n. of course, china yesterday abstained in the vote of the security council on the resolution condemning syria.

of course, the russians vetoed it. that pounded the ambassador to the u.s. to give her russian counterpart a piece of her mind. >> unfortunately, this was their eighth veto on the u.n. syria resolution, we want russia to use its influence over the assad redeem to stop the madness and cruelty we see every day on the ground. >> meanwhile and russia, secretary of state rex tillerson yesterday demanded the russians agree and abide by the disk accords before any improvement in the relationship with the u.s. can occur. >> until full progress is made under the accords, the situation in ukraine will remain an obstacle to improvement in relations between the u.s. and russia. >> meanwhile, back here in washington, he heard earlier this president reversing his position on nato which he once called absolute, sending another signal to moscow that the west will stand up to any further russian aggression.

this is interesting just a day after the leading google search was "world war iii," the president took to twitter to perhaps try to calm some nerves, let me share a bit of what the commander-in-chief had to say to the public. he tweeted this morning: "things will work out fine between the u.s. and russia, everything will come together." jared kushner and ivanka trump are headed north of the border to canada for easter, we will talk about that probably a lot more, very interesting topic and a packed house here at the briefing room, that is coming shortly, but back to you. >> jon: a little presidential reassurance via twitter. kevin corke waiting for the briefing with sean spicer, when we get to it, we will take it live. >> jenna: just did say the significance of using this weapon, this is the first time we know of that the bomb has been used in combat, a little more color and texture from the pentagon team. this bomb in particular has a 1

mile blast radius so a lot of people heard that, felt that, and not just the folks in afghanistan, not just isis which was the target in this particular area of afghanistan. chris wallace is joining us, host of fox news sunday. we are awaiting the briefing as we see sean spicer, we will want to take that up in light of all of the news. what do you think is the significance? >> you are exactly right, the direct target of this was isis which apparently has a lot of tunnels, burros underground in that area, and u.s. forces were trying to send a message to them, but the message cannot have been lost on syria and its sponsor state of russia or north korea and its sponsor state of china that this is a president who is willing to be very aggressive militarily, obviously with the 59 cruise missiles last week into syria into that air force -- airbase, now using the biggest nonnuclear bomb in our arsenal in

afghanistan and sending a message about the kind of efforts we would make to strike again in syria or conceivably at north korea. of course, we are coming up on a big anniversary in north korea this weekend, the anniversary of the birth of kim il-sung, founder of the north korean state and there have been rumors that they will have another missile or nuclear test. this is a president sending the message that he is, as opposed to barack obama, he is very comfortable projecting the use of u.s. force anywhere he feels is necessary. >> jenna: wanted draw our viewers attention to the press briefing room. why this will be significant as we have not heard anyone speak directly on the use of this weapon, not from the pentagon or white house, so we will see what sean spicer has to say and how he will address it. in the meantime, we actually have some video of what this bomb looks like from 2003 pair this is our understanding, part

of the test of this weapon. this is the file footage we have. this is all we have because we haven't seen this weapon being used. we are going to play that file footage so our viewers see that from 2003. i like to come if we can't as well, go back map in afghanistan. over the past decade or more and afghanistan, we've been focused on al qaeda, the tele- band, but now significant that we are focused on isis. this area between afghanistan and pakistan is significant because in the past when it comes to our military aggression, it has been very difficult to target these areas along the border with pakistan because of obvious sensitivities with pakistan being a sovereign nation. that is also significant to talk about, chris, the importance of putting in the context of the news and everything happening in the world, but when it comes to afghanistan and targeting this specific area and this specific enemy, it is a marked change from the past two administrations.

>> that is right and again as i say, i think donald trump has showed a willingness to project american force less than 100 days into office that we certainly did not see with a barack obama who the trump administration openly dismissed as his paralysis through analysis, and even george w. bush's administration. this is a president who in a very short period of time has shown a muscular use of force. this is a surprise to a lot of people in washington, both supporters and opponents because you remember, this president talked about not wanting to get involved overseas in foreign entanglements, running to america first, building america, concentrate on america, spent our blood, money, treasure here, not overseas. as i say in a very short period of time, getting very involved in syria, lots of the very forward leaning threads about north korea if china will not stop its nuclear program, we will, and then as you say, this

unprecedented attack on an area and an enemy in afghanistan that we had not seen before. >> jenna: we have not necessarily been at the forefront of our minds with so much happening in the world. i cannot help but remember the family that recently lost the soldier, and if we can just go back less than a week ago, a week ago, a green beret was killed in this very province in afghanistan, and it is a shame to think his name is not a name we all know. but this is him, sergeant mark, he is 37, 37, he died april 8th, jennifer griffin standing by at the pentagon, i know this is a story that you covered, but this is a reminder that we still are very much in combat in afghanistan. >> absolutely, i think it is important to remember not just the staff sergeant of maryland who was with the seven special

forces group based out of the air force base, it is interesting to point out, it is clear this moab b bomb was tested, this 21,000 palm was tested in 2003. the air force used a mc-130, it is basically pushed out of the fact of the c-130, the largest weapon, 21,000-pound bomb, largest nonnuclear weapon in the air force arsenal. it's blast radius, just to give a sense of the size and scope of the weapon is 1 mile wide, so a blast radius of 1 mile. it is hard to imagine how you can minimize any sort of civilian casualties in that area, this is a mountain area on the edge of pakistan. it is an area with lots of tunnels, as we mentioned, and it also comes as the president announced yesterday that h.r. mcmaster, his national security advisor, would be

traveling out to afghanistan soon to discuss with general john nicholson, the head of u.s. forces in afghanistan, about a request for more troops for afghanistan. they are considering several thousand more u.s. troops for afghanistan. as you know, the last administration was in the process of drying down from afghanistan, in fact, in januar january, many were pulled out, but it is now being reassessed at this time. so the president weighing what to do next for afghanistan, will the u.s. get more involved? it is certainly unprecedented to use this sized bomb on an area where there were bound to be villages and civilians in that area along the pakistan border. >> jon: this is jon scott obviously, you mentioned that tunnel in that area. is this the kind of bond that is able to collapse those tunnels or does it send shock waves through the tunnels that take

the lives of any taliban fighters who might be in there or do we know? >> this is a concussive weapon, that means it explodes above those tunnels. the force of the blast would kill anything inside those tunnels, but it is not a penetrating bomb. again, it was first tested in 2003, and we used to hear about it being talked about in conjunction with if there were a military action against iran's nuclear program and had to actually be used for tunnels they are where suspected parts of that nuclear program where based, that is when we started hearing talk of this moab b as it is called by the air force, "mother of all bombs" because it is 21,000 pounds. just to give you an idea, a tomahawk is 1,000 pounds, and it certainly is a very powerful weapon. >> jon: is a guided, do we know? is it a precision weapon? i'm not sure how precise you have to be with a 1 mile blast

radius. >> i don't want to speculate. as a guided? it is not guided, i am told. it is gravity pulled, pushed out the back of a c-130 plane, and you can see the video we have from the defense department of the test that took place. again, i don't want to put too fine a point on it but it was tested at eglin air force base which is where this special forces soldier who was killed on saturday, staff sergeant mark de alencar, who was killed as he was trying -- going against this ices network that was burgeoning in the province, that is the air force base he was deployed from from the united states, eglin air force base. >> jon: let's go back to chris wallace. there was obviously a great deal of consternation among some members of congress when president trump launched that attack on syria. will there be the same kind of blowback, if you will come on the use of this weapon or

because we have an ongoing war that is still raging in afghanistan, is he completely covered? >> i would think -- look, there will always be people who say he needs to go back for more authorization from congress, but if there is anything the authorization for the use of military force would seem to apply to -- remember it was right after 9/11, it would be our continuing combat in afghanistan against enemies they are. this was apparently against isis which did not exist back then, and we were fighting al qaeda and the caliban, but i would think that the lawyers at the white house and justice department will feel pretty comfortable if anything, this more so than syria is covered by the authorization -- aumf as it is called back in 2002-3. >> jenna: i'm curious what sean spicer will say and the message from the white house. quickly here for 30 seconds, what are you going to be

watching for? >> i think obviously, they are going to talk about why they used it here. i am sure my colleagues in the press corps are also going to be asking about, is this sending a message to syria and as they say, its sponsor russia? does it sent a message to north korea and its chinese sponsor? it will be interesting to see. whatever he says, it clearly has sent the message that this is not a particularly subtle move on the part of the pentagon. it will be interesting to see the degree to which he wants to make it explicit. >> jenna: we will be watching, thank you very much. thank you to jennifer griffin as well. we will continue to watch breaking news out of the pentagon if we get anything else to give us more context of the power of the weapon, why it was used, how, the after effect, we will bring that to you appeared but very interesting news to start off the hour. >> jon: interesting to see if the pentagon does the battle assessment and gives us the indication as to what the dropping of this weapon accomplished. any minute now, sean spicer will take to the podium you see there

for today's daily briefing. when he does, we will take you back to the white house live.

>> jenna: back to this breaking news as we've been reporting the united states has dropped the largest nonnuclear bomb in eastern afghanistan right near the pakistan border. apparently on a network that was helping isis but also in the past likely helped al qaeda. this area is definitely a hotbed for terrorism. the bomb like you see here, 21,000 pounds. as we mentioned, it's been referred to before as "the mother of all bombs." this attack is taking place in the same exact area where a green beret was recently killed in the pursuit of isis. as a reminder, combat is very much happening in afghanistan. we are awaiting the white house press briefing, about 18 minutes past the hour, about to start, so we will keep you posted and bring you back there when it happens. >> jon: afghanistan just one of the world's trouble spots, and here is another.

disturbing new development out of north korea. new satellite images suggest the ridging there could be preparing for another nuclear test. it comes as japan's prime minister claims the north may now be capable of launching missiles tipped with deadly staring gas. senior foreign affairs correspondent greg palkot is in north korea for us. >> welcome to pyongyang where tensions between the u.s. in north korea over its nuclear and missile programs are very real and with this city is defined, take a look at what we saw. you are looking at thousands of city to the mike citizens coming out in a very well organized, orchestrated event opening up a new neighborhood here in the capital. the idea by the regime is to get a semblance of order. it could be the cements of a functioning city despite the sanctions, despite the problems over the nuclear and missile crisis, they say they are moving forward. they say they are functioning,

and this is what we are seeing. just a few hundred yards from where we were, north korean leader kim jong-un was cutting a ribbon on the government backed building project. officials calling it a sign of defiance against the united states and the sanctions. saturday's anniversary of the birthdate of the founder of this country, kim il-sung, he's the grandfather of the current leader kim jong-un. there are possible preparations for yet another detonation of a nuclear device by north korea to mark the day and a missiles in the past have been launched to mark the date as well. all we can say for sure, though, is the talk here is very tough. officials telling us they will never give up their nukes or missiles and that they will be more than happy to respond in kind to any kind of u.s. preemptive military strike. as for other reports,

north korean ally china is cooperating more with the u.s. and he taking a harder line against north korea, officials pointer projects like the one they unveiled today, claiming that this proves that it could be self-sufficient from anyone. take a listen to one person who told us about what he think's about the united states and its sanctions. >> we don't really care. we've lived under the shadow of the u.s. since the very first day, we don't give a. >> that quote and very much of what we do was with a government official very nearby, but we can see and hear a lot, and it's been five years since we were last year, there is much to tell, more to come. >> jon: greg palkot in north korea for us. thank you. >> jenna: very interesting to consider what is happening in north korea as we continue to take an news of this massive bomb being dropped in afghanistan. that's go ahead and show them applicant as we await the white house press briefing. there is the live feed, we are

expecting sean spicer any minute now, we have the two-minute warning. we will see when he gets to the podium. what you are looking at is the map, the province where the bomb was dropped, it 1 mile radius is the effect this bomb has. just want to underscore something else that's been happening this week. so much focus on russia, and russian mischief in afghanistan is something that the pentagon has been speaking about recentl recently. especially some concern that russia is actually supporting the taliban. this is in light of a rise of isis within afghanistan, not to mention al qaeda as well. so one has to wonder, and it should be part of our conversation and will be over the next day or more, about what message this is sending russia, the dropping of this bomb, just a day after a major meeting between our secretary of state and the russian leader. this is something to consider peer there are a lot of different lines to this story. and the reverberations of this bomb really could be felt around the world.

>> jon: according to our room, this is the first time this particular weapon has been used in combat. it's power is described as being similar to that of a small nuclear weapon. we emphasize this is not a nuclear device. it is the largest nonnuclear bomb in the u.s. arsenal. they are, you see that mushroom cloud that emanated from it from this in 2003 for a test, as far as we understand, that was when it was first tested. the fact this thing has a 1 mile blast radius, is used against tunnels, bunkers, and armored concentrations. just about any taliban who would have been within that 1 mile area probably with pretty much evaporated as a result of the use of this weapon. us before something else to consider is the fact we've been fighting in afghanistan, longest war in our nations history. there is a lot of concern about whether or not the war continues and what success really looks

like in afghanistan. it is a big question pure just want to mention as well in the statement put out by centcom about the dropping of this bomb, the u.s. forces took every precaution to avoid civilian casualties, but also want to point out this is a very rural mountainous area between afghanistan and pakistan. often referred to in these tribal areas where there is some way not a lot of infrastructure, and not a lot of government, but a lot here's sean spicer at the white house. >> press secretary spicer: there is some news breaking out of afghanistan, so i want to give it quick update. around 7:00 p.m. local time in afghanistan, last night, the u.s. military used a gbu-43 weapon in afghanistan. the gbu-43 is a large, powerful and accurately delivered weapon. we targeted a system of tunnels and caves that isis fighters used to move around freely, making it easier for them to target u.s. military advisors in

and afghan forces. the united states takes the fight against isis very seriously and in order to defeat the group, we must deny them operational space which we did. the u.s. took all precautions necessary to prevent civilian casualties and collateral damage as the result of the operation. any further details, i would refer you to the department of defense on that. moving on, as you may know from the schedule, the president has a 2:00 event. so i'm going to try to keep this rather tight so the pool has a chance to set up properly. earlier today, the president signed another piece of legislation, bringing the resolutions to 13. this overturns a regulation put in place by the previous administration on their way at the door that would have taken away the right of states to set their own policies and priorities for title x family planning programs. our federal system wasn't set up to allow states to address the

unique needs of their own populations when possible, especially when it comes to programs as important and sensitive as family planning. with the bill signing, the president has restored respect to states rights on this particular issue. as i mentioned at the top, there is an event at 2:00 where the president will be meeting with the brave first responders who were involved in the i-85 bridge collapsed that occurred in atlanta to thank them for their work and dedication in addressing this horrible situation. the bridge collapsed during rush hour on march 30th, but due to the heroic efforts of atlanta's first responders, some of whom will be here today, no lives were lost. the president is proud to host these brave individuals and honor their commitment to protecting their community. later this afternoon, the present will head to florida for the easter holiday. he will be departing joint base and used by a motorcade as the perforations for the easter egg roll are well underway on the south lawn pending a marine one departure appeared while we are on the topic, i know it was brought up the other day but

just to give a quick note what to expect this coming monday. we expect more than 21,000 people to attend the easter egg roll. the allocations of tickets have been given to schools, children's hospitals, in military and law enforcement families. commemorative eggs will be handed out to the children who attend, nearly 18,000 eggs were ordered, which is in line with past years. the event will start at 7:30 with different groups of guests arriving every two hours to ensure that all the children have an opportunity to participate in more than a dozen activities that will be available. further logistics and guidance will be provided over the weekend. also today, the treasury department's office of foreign asset control design and designated one entity and individual connected to human rights abuses against iranian political prisoners and iran's prisons. the individual who was designated for his role and abuses in iran's prison is the brother of the commander of

iran's i rgc force he was himself previously designated under terrorism, counter proliferation and human rights and authorities. the sanctions against human rights abusers in iran's prisons comes at a time when yvonne continues to unjustly retain in its prisons various foreigners including u.s. citizens. we joint recent calls by international organizations and u.n. human rights experts for the immediate release of all u.s. citizens unjustly detained or missing in iran so that they can return to their families. ofac also designated two isis facilitators, continuing our ongoing effort to disrupt key leadership notes for the group. moving on, over the past few days, the president and members of the cabinet have held many meetings and discussions with their international counterparts about the significant foreign policy challenges facing our

world. yesterday, you heard from the president himself alongside nato secretary general about the need for a strong funded alliance to combat terrorism, the humanitarian crisis ongoing in syria, and many other serious threats to our collective safety and security. also yesterday, ambassador nikki haley along with her counterparts from nine other nations voted in favor of a draft resolution to denounce the heinous chemical attacks carried out by the assad regina last week. unfortunately, but not surprising, russia stood in the way of this resolution, however i would like to point out that the abstention of china on the heels of president xi's recent visit aunt kazakhstan, both of these abstention's are notable and signify that the united states is persuading the world that the use of weapons of mass destruction cannot go unanswered. second tillerson as you know was in russia yesterday to meet with his counterpart and ensure that they are made fully aware of the

united states position in both areas of practical cooperation such as defeating isis and areas where russia does not share our interests and values. as you know, the vice president will be departing for his ten day trip to south korea, japan, indonesia, in australia on saturday morning. his office will provide more information later today. finally, i'm glad to announce the president will host the prime minister of italy for an official working visit to the white house next thursday, apri. the leaders will discuss the upcoming g7 which will be hosted in italy and sicily, and a range of issues of mutual concern. with that, i am glad to take some of your questions. >> reporter: where is the initiation on this? >> press secretary spicer: that is an area that is being internally discussed at this time. >> reporter: undecided? >> press secretary spicer: there is an ongoing discussion on that matter. >> reporter: the last two days there have been no number of

policy shifts by the president on china, the currency may be later, healthcare taxes, there is more, but i will not belabor the point. what should the american people make of these shifts, and are there any policy areas that are not negotiable? >> press secretary spicer: i think respectfully come you can look at what you are referring to as a shift in a lot of ways. by that, i mean i saw a couple instances with respect to nato being one of those yesterday, and if you look at what has happened, it -- those individual entities are involved in the president's decision. nato in particular, he talked about the need of countries to pay their fair share, live up to their commitments, the 2% of gdp. he talked about the need for nato to focus more on terrorism. nato has done just that. it is something he pointed out in the first debate in september of last year. he talked about the fact that nato is moving toward what he has been calling for.

i think in some cases, the issues evolve, but it is not just a clear and fast statement that this is -- that the entity itself is moving toward his or the issue is evolving toward the position that he articulated. that cannot be proven more true in the case of nato where he laid out two very clear positions that he had an issue with nato and as far back as september of last year started to recognize that institution was moving much more toward his position, secretary general noted that as well yesterday. >> reporter: follow-up, if i may. the make is another one commented institution has not changed at all. so i'm wondering on these policy shifts, we have not seen the type of change you see with nato, what should we make of this shift? and are there any policy areas that are not negotiable? >> press secretary spicer: there always going to be -- i think that there are wind to be areas where again it depends on the outcome. in the case of nato in particular as i pointed out, it is the most illustrative.

you look at the president's position, where he wanted to see nato in particular evolve to, and it is moving exactly in the direction he said it was in terms of its goal of increasing the amount of participation from other member countries and having a greater focus on terrorism. something that was reinforced by the secretary general himself when he was here. i think when you look at these issues in you recognize the direction in which they are moving, they are moving in a direction the president stated very clearly. >> reporter: on the gbu-43 bomb, it's never been used. why did you choose this particular location, and would you say that this bomb will not be used again in a flashpoint around the world like syria, like north korea? >> press secretary spicer: as i noted at the beginning, i would refer you to the department of defense on the specifics. >> reporter: a separate matter, you mention what you see as a win as the u.n. security council.

i'm curious as to why you believe this is a win, after all, this particular resolution did not pass, so looking at what happened in the past, for instance, the security council resolution which gave the green light for the persian gulf war, you actually had all five permanent members of the u.n. security council voting yes. so why are you saying this is a win when not all five permanent members of the security council actually voted yesterday? one russia blocking it. >> press secretary spicer: i think it is very significant, china's abstention in particular, kazakhstan is another one in terms of its approximate location and history with russia, you see a breakaway of russia aligning itself with a position that is not only shared with the u.s. but the rest of the world. so that would be a natural position they may have taken in the past. secondly, i think china's abstention is a significant win for the president who had discussions with president xi, you all saw that, heard remarks about how he walked through

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

i refer to groups such as americans for tax reform or? >> press secretary spicer: i cannot say i scanned every group's statement about this particular subject but i know he has got very much positive feedback as well as director mulvaney for their effort. as the director noted, you have a government that in large part has never been reorganized, just added to. when you look at the different number of agencies and programs that now flow throughout the government, to do in some cases the very same thing in our house and are housed throughout a variety of agencies and the government, the question you have to ask yourself is not only is the taxpayer getting the best bang for their buck but the people of those services are intending to be providing for adding the best services? so director mulvaney's efforts at the president's direction to really look at how government is organized and operating is a very significant step, and i think one of the points you noted is that this is something that should unite conservatives,

liberals, republicans and democrats, good government and effective, efficient government is something that really does not have an ideological home. it's something we can all agree on that the more we can effectively deliver for the american citizen and deliver for the american taxpayer affect to 8 effective and efficient government is something we should all probably be in line with. >> reporter: thank you. the u.s. ambassador, your provision for the proliferation of chemical weapons, so using the weapon abetted by russia, they said it was an effort to bury the truth. has the president offered proof of true abutting efforts by russia? evidence that this is actually russia. >> press secretary spicer: not that i am aware of. >> reporter: i also want to know, putting in the same sentence syria, iran,

north korea as a failed states, russia being not a failed state, but part of it. has it become part of, to use an old expression, is this the axis of evil of this administration? >> press secretary spicer: it is important to know who rush is on the side with now and where they stand. it draws a huge contrast to show who is on what side of this argument. and this crisis, and i think it's important to note the difference of who they are with. i think it is a very notable thing. i'm not going to go further than that. >> reporter: quickly, a question with the national hockey league playoffs just started, whether president cheer for the rangers or the capitals? >> press secretary spicer: respectfully, that has really not been a subject that has come up too often in the white house. i'm going to go to richard in atlanta, georgia, . >> reporter: obviously, our concern is the recent destruction of i-85, we understand the president is meeting with first responders

this afternoon in a few minutes actually. i want to know about the federal commitment to getting i-85 rebuild as far as federal dollars and easing some fella regulations to get the job done quickly. >> press secretary spicer: a couple things on that front. immediately following the tragedy that ensued in atlanta, the president directed the federal highway administration to release $10 million and then we have begun to work with the appropriate agencies to expedite that process. i know that there are critical repairs that have to get made, and i think not only the initial funding will help with that for the roads and bridges that need to be handled, but under emergency relief efforts, there are ways to expedite some of that funding, and the department of transportation and the federal highway administration are probably the best way to get a better answer on that. but they are waste some of that funding can be expedited the on

the initial commitment the federal government has made. >> reporter: back on some of these shifts, and china in particular, the president did not mince words during the campaign, now he says he and president xi have been bonding, xi means well, china is not a currency manipulator. what message does this send to the president's supporters who sent them to the white house think he would be following through on this tough talk against china? >> press secretary spicer: the presence of tough talk was on a variety of subjects to get results for the american people. that is what he has pledged to do, get more jobs here, grow more manufacturing, keep our country safe. the president and president xi had a great meeting. the president likes president xi and got to know him really well at mar-a-lago. i think established a really good relationship moving forward but at the end of the day, this is always about developing a better situation for the american people. i think he has done that. >> reporter: the president told a white street journal that president xi helped him realize that north korea is not so easy. did the president under the 8 underestimate that convexity is

and how difficult it was going to be? >> press secretary spicer: i don't think so at all, i think of china is able to help get a deal with china, the present with appreciate that, it would be great for china as well and asked the president noted this morning, if china can help us do that, great, if not, we will handle that ourselves with our allies. reporter mike on currency manipulation, why specifically did he decide to abandon this, and what are the tools he has in his toolbox to try to monetize china's trade? >> press secretary spicer: is a very complex issue, and i believe it to to the president to specifically answer that. i think the president is going to continue to make significant process when it comes to that issue and to how our relationship is with china. he already showed what a great relationship he has with president xi and the results are already starting to pour in. i think that is an issue in particular that the president is best to address. >> reporter: two questions.

you are very forthcoming about the missile launches in syria, so can you give us any background on moab in afghanistan, was there a situation ram scenario, was it several days in the making? my second question is that president had been very critical of the intelligence communities leading up to his inauguration, obviously been working very closely with the intel community at least on these solutions in syria and afghanistan. has his position change for the ic? >> press secretary spicer: first question again, i think general nicholson and the united states forces in afghanistan is best to address the tick tack on the situation over there. i understand, the u.s. forces in afghanistan as well, department of defense our best to walk through the military operations that are ongoing there. with respect to the intelligence community and national security team, as you know, the president has put together a world-class

cabinet of top-notch national security experts in general james mattis, general kelly, general mcmaster and others, and they continue to but mack provide him the best advised toe best decisions for the country, and he continues to rely on them, director mike pompeo or dn coats, they continue to give him sage advice about how to best position the united states. >> reporter: follow up on that, did the president simply authorize the use of this gbu-43? >> press secretary spicer: i'm not getting into details right now. as i mentioned, i will let the department of defense handled the lead on this one. >> reporter: follow-up, you did not insert specifically what has changed about the ex-im ban bank. >> press secretary spicer: i will get back to you on that, it is a very complex issue. >> reporter: two questions about the budget. are you all prepared to bolt things up, we've got a couple

weeks left, how serious are you about giving money to the wall? where you hold up the spending for that? >> press secretary spicer: the government is currently funded through april 28th under our continuing resolution. we made it very clear to congress at the president's priorities are increasing military spending and security of our border. we will continue to have conversations with congress info confident they will do their job, the conversations are ongoing. >> reporter: you cannot say whether you would have to have money in this budget? >> press secretary spicer: i continue to leave it to our team. reporter mike another question on the budget is there is a proposal not to punish members of congress who do not pass a spending plan in a variety of ways, low salaries, even arrests. would you support that congress should be punished? >> press secretary spicer: let's see, i think we are making significant progress. i feel very good about their momentum. i don't want to start getting into who is going to be naughty or nice.

>> reporter: sitting president have refrained from remarking -- yesterday president trump said he wants a weaker dollar than the market follows his preferences. given his criticism of other autonomies and their intervention, how you characterize that response? >> press secretary spicer: the president has made a very clear from the beginning that he will do what he can to fight on behalf of american consumers and businesses to make sure that we can help create an environment here in america where businesses grow and industries continue to hire and jobs can come back and middle income americans can get some tax relief, keep more of their money and hard earned dollars. reporter mike traditionally, low interest rates in the economy have been when they were weak and then recover when they strengthen, what is he trying to do? >> press secretary spicer: as you know through a lot of the coverage and meetings you guys have covered and seen here at the white house, the president

continues to meet with business leaders and people who are creating jobs, union leaders to find out what we can do in the president has heard a lot, gotten a lot of feedback and has already taken great steps to make sure that we can create a regulatory and tax rate environment that's going to help grow america's economy and put people back to work, that is plain and simple. what he will continue to do is fight on behalf of the american people. i hate to cut this short but we literally have 10 minutes before the president needs to come. thank you very much. >> jon: a shorter than usual news conference from sean spicer there. the president's spokesman, obviously one of the big questions of the day was about the dropping of moab "mother of all bombs," the actual title is massive ordinance airburst explosive which the u.s. dropped on a cave complex on the afghan-pakistan border in afghanistan just as we were beginning the first hour of

"happening now" about 11:00 eastern time this afternoon, about 7:30 p.m. afghanistan tim time. it is a weapon of massive psychological impact as well as physical impact. a little bit more on that. >> jenna: we will talk about that with andrew, former u.s. army intelligence officer now professor of international relations at the university of southern california. i'm so curious of your thoughts on this based on your experience. when you saw the headline, we were not expecting it, what did you think? >> i thought it was clearly intended to send a message of deterrence to syria and north korea and iran. this weapon was specifically designed to destroy underground nuclear facilities in mountainous areas like the area it was specifically used in nangarhar. i also have to say i served with general nicholson, the commander in afghanistan, who dropped the bomb. he's a very, very sharp guy. he knew exactly what message this would send even though it seems like this was done for a counterinsurgency perspective

against isis. >> jenna: what do you think it's being heard by this action? >> what worries me about north korea is that kim jong-un came to power in 2012, so he has never known the possibility of american military action. i am not sure he hears the message president trump wants. i think the syrians here very clearly. after all, they were just on the end of a weapons strike. i think the iranians here it also because we've taken a series of steps to push back against iranian influence in the region, but it is not clear and north korea, unlike those other two states that there are any adults in the room who are killing kim jong-un, hey, listen up, you cannot win a confrontation with the united states. this is all a little bit rhetoric, the hot air and language you use. gbu-43 is not necessarily rhetoric for the guys that are on the ground, and i really want to make sure that we remember the green beret that was killed over the weekend. this is in the very same part of afghanistan. i'm curious of your thoughts personally, we see that we lost

one of our own, and this is the action that followed. personally, how does that feel? speak of the death of every american soldier is crushing to those of us who served. particularly in a war that's been going on 17 years. i think this is going to raise hard questions about how long this war needs to continue. the last two requests from general nicholson for more u.s. troops are all well and good, but at some point, this administration like the administration before it is going to say, okay, this is 17 years on, we are probably not going to be able to win this immediately, so are we going to commit for another ten years? >> jenna: what do you think the threat of isis and terrorism inside afghanistan continuing to fester there poses to the national security of the united states? >> i think afghanistan is actually less concerning than libya where the central government has totally broken down, there are at least three entities that govern themselves, and isis has a lot of influence

for advance we have with afghanistan government and taliban is they both hate ice is in addition to the united states so we have a de facto tripartite alliance against this small isis group organizing in the country. >> jenna: very interesting, 30 seconds and you have taken us around the world which we appreciate. what are you watching next? >> i want to see what happens on saturday, april 15th, kim jong-un's birthday, which they are potentially getting ready to prepare a nuclear test on saturday, and i think he really wants to show donald trump that he is not bashar al-assad, and he will not be deterred. >> jenna: great to have younger program. looking forward to having you back, thank you very much. we will be right back with more breaking news on "happening now "happening now." so you're having a party?

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bombs, the most powerful nonnuclear weapon in our arsenal was dropped on afghanistan. let's get into the political impact of that explosive now with our political panel, jamie weinstein is a political commentator and host of the jimmy weinstein show podcast, which allow for he is editor of the national review and a fox news contributor. what is the message? >> this might just be a discrete event, tactical decision that was made on the ground in afghanistan but it is hard not to read in the context of the missile strike against the syrian airfield, so maybe these are unconnected, but i think the consistent thread if they are connected is an effort to reestablish the deterrent credibility of the united states for adversaries around the world, to send a message that the united states is not to be trifled with anymore after eight years of passivity and weakness, and you better pay attention. >> jon: jamie, let me give our

viewers another look at this thing. it dwarfs the two people standing next to it, one of them we understand is that guy who invented the thing. this is a massive piece of ordinance. as rich just pointed out, this thing has been in the arsenal since 2003. it was available to the obama administration through the entire eight years, and it was never used. one has to believe that our military proffered it as something that they would have liked to have used at some point during those eight years. all of a sudden now, it gets deployed for the first time. >> absolutely. i agree with rich, but i think it also sends not only a message to our enemies but to our allies. after the arab spring where president obama kind of told mubarak it was time to go, after not enforcing the redline, there were a lot of allies in the middle east he wondered if america would be there to have their back if they were in

trouble. they kind of looked to russia to hedge their bets, reach out to other countries and powers around the world. i think these events, what we saw in syria and now what we are seeing in afghanistan, these displays of force show that america is back as that power center, and i think it might reassure some of our allies who were worrying that american leadership was not going to reassert itself in the world. >> jon: left and know what they are thinking and north korea this weekend as we get ready for what is expected to be a nuclear test there. we will see. gentlemen, we have to keep it short because of the news conference, thank you very much for being with us. back with more in a moment. ly pe biggest guy in there. and i walked straight up to him. now he looks me square in the eye, and, i swear he says, "welcome to navy federal credit union." whoa friendly alert! i got a great auto rate outta that guy.

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it along with us. >> jon: america's news hq starts now. >> melissa: sean spicer announcing that u.s. military dropping the mother of all bombs in afghanistan. this was the first time it was ever used in combat. hello, everyone. spicer addressing it right off the top. >> at around 7:00 p.m. local time in afghanistan last night, the united states military used a gbu43 weapon in afghanistan. the gbu43 is a large powerful and accurately delivered weapon. we targeted a system of tunnels and caves that isis fighters used to move around freely. >> dana: we've got live fox team coverage. jennifer griffin at the pentagon, the adviser to four u.s. ambassadors, united nations and ben collins a former g beret who served three tours in afgh