>> air strikes against assad. the united states, along with the u.k. and france launching more than 100 weapons overnight at three chemical weapons sites in syria. president trump tweeting just hours ago, mission accomplished. this, after vowing to make sure syri syrian's assad to pay for a gas attack that killed at least 42 civilians, including children. >> this massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons used by that very terrible regime. these are not the actions of a man, they are crimes of a monster, instead.

elizabeth: kazakhstan's ambassador to the united nations is speaking right now at the emergency security council meeting on syria in new york. the syrian ambassador is scheduled to speak just shortly. welcome to a very busy saturday. america's news headquarters from washington, i'm elizabeth prann, thank you for joining us, we're digesting a busy news day. leland: i'm leland vittert. 7 p.m. in damascus. you talk about world reaction. we've heard from the russian ambassador at the united nations and also the u.s. ambassador to the united nations and different world views entirely. we're waiting for the undersecretary of public affairs in a minute to join us, to hash out a little of the truth herement last night we had about 100 or so tomahawk cruise missiles and missiles launched not only by the u.s., but u.k. and france. and the language is important, we were talking about it

earlier. they're talking these are overwhelming and precision strikes, at the same time they were only three targets, they were not -- as the pentagon carefully pointed out only with the syrian chemical weapons program that allegedly they didn't have. elizabeth: we heard from the pentagon three hours ago and there was certainly precision when it comes to it and even the critics and pro assad supporters and russians are saying some of these missiles were intercepted, but the pentagon says they're ready. and we heard that from the u.n. ambassador nikki haley saying, yes, we're locked and loaded and critics say perhaps not enough was done, but at the same time maybe the united states wanted to poise themselves to let them know what we're capable of. leland: time will tell in terms of whether or not president assad got the message this time

around. there has been so far two pentagon briefings. we're waiting for a briefing from n.a.t.o. and how n.a.t.o. plays a larger role in this. here is the n.a.t.o. briefing from brussels, we'll listen in for a second and hear if there's any news. >> people contributed to appalling human suffering since the start of the conflict. the use of such barbaric weapons is a flagrant violation of international standards and international norms. it is a breach of multiple united nations resolution and of the chemical weapons convention, which syria rectified in 2013. in hundred years after the end of the first world war, we must do all we can to uphold and not to erode the chemical weapons

convention. n.a.t.o. fully supports the efforts led by the united nations to achieve a lasting political solution to the conflict in syria. we call on all members of the u.n. security council to uphold their responsibilities. at the same time, we call on all supporters of the syrian regime, notably russia, to exercise responsibility to ensure that the syrian regime participants constructiely in the u.n.-led n.a.t.o. process. n.a.t.o. remains committed to defeating terrorism in all its forms remains a key objective for our countries, and a key challenge. leland: back to brussels and the n.a.t.o. press conference as news warrants. acting under secretary of

diplomacy and public affairs, a state department official joins us. heather, start big picture here. the president tweeted mission commissioned. from the u.s.'s standpoint what was the mission and what was accomplished. >> the mission was two things, showing that the chemical weapons and killing of innocent civilians will not be tolerated. the united states has taken many efforts for many months now, for many years as a matter of fact, and president trump led the way on that. we tried at the united nations and european union and had conversations with allies and partners around the world to bring this horrendous plight to the attention of the world. russia stood in the way and assad has continued to kill innocent civilians and enough is enough. i think the president wanted to make that clear. in convention with our allies, the british and the french. leland: noteworthy, the russia

have vetoed six independent resolutions about syria's chemical use and 30 minutes ago, the ambassador at the security commission complaining and whining about international law and put the richness of their complaining about international law aside for the moment. your response. >> how about russia care about the innocent lives in syria. russia has thwarted efforts to hold syria responsible. russia had promised to help the syrians get rid of the chemical weapons. russia has the ability to get syria to stop this and they'll failed and they're asked and pressed and when nikki haley talks about it, they deny and

many are trying to turn this upsidedown. we know the facts, the united states and british, we were hearing from n.a.t.o., the french, we all know the facts. syria is responsible for what it's been doing to its people far too long and russia, and backing and supporting them. leland: if syria is responsible and russia is their garan tore. what does russia make the link that they're responsible for the atrocities if they're not going to stop them. >> i'm not going to get ahead of any actions by the united nations. we've been saying to russia, stop, if you want to be a responsible international member, a responsible party to the international community, then russia needs to take responsible and they need to cut this out. we have seen the united states and many other countries hold russia responsible for its bad acts in other parts of the world. we've seen that through many rounds of sanctions and other actions, here at the state department, we kicked out 60

russians spies from the united states and we will continue it hold russia to account for its bad ax actions elsewhere. leland: and the president left it open yesterday against russia. what is the message now to the syrian regime? if they stop using chemical weapons, is the u.s. willing to call this one a day now? >> the syrian regime needs to do a couple of things. one now, it can declare its entire stock pile and all of its programs. leland: didn't they already say they did that? >> they claim they have. maybe they have woken up after this action and change their mind. we certainly hope so. if they would do that, we can help to get them to the geneva process to eventually get them to the point where they can hold elections, this is a far way off, but syria could build itself once again. we're a long way off, but syria should take the first step and declare its chemical weapons program and make it clear to the united states and international world. leland: real quickly here before

we leave you. we keep hearing about the geneva process and keep hearing that from you and is the u.s. continuing to endorse this. why have hope for an again nevaeh -- geneva process when they've laid out iran and russia as partners at best of any kind of resolution? >> i think that's the only way forward. russia and iran have tried to build on to a process, a process that none of that's worked because iran and russia have been the garantors. but they've outstretched their hands with a clear by sponsored by the united nations, that's the geneva process. it's a political process to eventually get syria back to a place where they could become a good, salad society again where they're not facing a civil war. it's a long way off.

we're long way off from that, but it's a bright spot in the future to help. leland: dare to dream you might say. but that's what we're taught to do at the state department. heather from the state department. thanks for joining us on a saturday. elizabeth: all right, we have general keane standing by and we will a talk to him, but we have holly mckay in syria. can you it will us what's going on on the ground there? . >> absolutely, i'm further north, and syrian democratic process, so it's a long ways from damascus, but i can tell you that the atmosphere here and from a lot of people that i know that i've spoken to, in damascus has been excited and overwhelmed by the response. i think there are critics that say that it wasn't enough and people are definitely hoping a lot more action happens, but i think the symbolism of the attacks has really meant a lot to the syrian people who have

been living through this war for the past seven years and i think they felt very betrayed by the previous administration and so, seeing that america does care and is willing to take action has been really important to the syrian people and i think that people are standing by and really hoping that more action comes. elizabeth: you know, we had-- i was looking at other networks and there was some pro assad sort of, you know, cars honking and people cheering. are you seeing that as well. that perhaps there wasn't the toughness that they had anticipated, if that makes sense? >> yes, and i think assad will only have his loyalists, particularly in damascus and earlier this morning they were trying to rally people together to come to the center of the town and declare that america had failed and it did provide a propaganda opportunity for them, but their loyalists or their

spinning things around and they're always going to be there and always going to back him and that's kind of a natural progression, i think, for them. but i do think that the opposition is grateful for the attacks and is very hopeful that this isn't the end. and so, it's waiting with baited breath right now to see what's going to happen next. and many people hope --. elizabeth: right. holley mckay, thank you for giving us that perspective. thank you for joining us. i want to bring in strategist general jack keane. we heard from hollie mckay on what the mood is there. i want your reaction to heather now and what do you feel after hearing that? >> well, first of all, let's credit the administration for, one, taking action. you know, we had a previous administration that failed to in the view of such a horrific thing as the use of chemical

welcomes. second, credit the administration for bringing our allies into the strike and representing the entire international community because this is an attack on civilization, on the international community. elizabeth: it's like theres' a "but" coming. >> there's a big "but" coming. i think that the response is very weak in my judgment particularly in view of the fact that this is a follow-up attack by assad to a strike that we had delivered a year ago. it should have been decisive and consequenti consequential, as a result of the strike we leave him with multiple chemical storage sites and production capabilities. we didn't put any on a delivery system or an airfield. what is happening, assad made this calculation. he's been fighting for damascus for months. and the russians have been bombing every single dayment they got to a place where rebels

were hiolding out. bombing. and assad calculates i'll use chemical weapons. he used the chemical weapons, six hours later the rebels surrender, they're gone and russia is there. i'm going to use the weapons, i know the united states is going to respond. i expect another modest response and i'm willing to pay that price. elizabeth: and we've broadcasted our capabilities and we can do more, the united states is willing to do more. it doesn't seem as if it's one and done, meaning, even the ambassador, nikki haley will say, we're locked and loaded. >> well, that's inviting, incentivizing another chemical attack. do you think the purpose of this to stop these guys from using these weapons? look it, the thing that we're not talking about here is why didn't we take out all of his

military capability that he has. elizabeth: the why not? >> because we're intimidated by a second rate power who's trying to pretend to be a super power, called the russians and they have put stooges at their military bases and we're afraid to do harm to them. that's what's not being discussed and the so-called collateral damage. and this second rate power, we have a considerable overmatch of them in the middle east, or anyplace else for that matter, is they think escalation like they did with obama in ukraine and he bought into it. we should not buy into it. we've got people who are advising the president who are far too risk averse to be quite frank about it. elizabeth: and we heard a reaction statement from russian president vladimir putin, it's almost immediate, it's incharacteristic to have a response so quickly. he did not say act of war, but act of aggression. should we read into that.

putin has scored a major victory he and the eye raun-- eiranian iranians. >> and the thing that heather is talking about, that putin would start shooting at us over our reaction to a chemical attack in syria that would put the united states more involved in syria, that's ridiculous. he's not going to shoot at us. he doesn't want to, and we're already leaving. they're firing a few shots and they're out the door. that's what's happening here. elizabeth: thank you, general, thank you for coming on and reacting. we appreciate it. leland: we lettered from president trump last night literally as the bombs began to explode in damascus and in syria. and kevin, we hear from him from the white house.

>> as i check a couple of notes here, lucky, even as they're written, we are in constant contact from our partners around the globe following that devastating attack on the infrastructure of the syrian regime and trying to strike with pinpoint accuracy the chemical weapons. as you pointed out earlier, striking what forces are calling specific targets and they said it was limited, quote, unquote. now the barrage was carried out from france and the u.k. and marks, lucky, the latest and most significant response to the regime's use of chemical weapons. last night here in an address to the white house, president trump told the american people, yes, the u.s. will always step in where needed. >> americans have no illusions, we cannot purge the world of evil or act everywhere there is

tyranny, no amount of american blood or treasure can produce lasting peace and security in the middle east. the united states will be a partner and a friend, but the fate of the region lies in the hands of its own people. >> so, you see the president talking there. now, of course, that's one perspective. let me share while we have a moment the russian reaction. this is just part of a statement, by the way, by president putin of russia, he says what the u.s. did was an act of aggression against a sovereign state and added it was committed without a mandate from the u.n. security council and and norms and principles of international law. i'm sure that drew chortles from some. and they say that the president isn't on legal footing for such a strike, but i want people at

home to know that he is not the first. he's the third to use the aumf for such a strike. leland: and congressmen on both sides on that issue. kevin, thanks. >> you bet. elizabeth: there's much more on the syrian air strikes tomorrow with an all new fox news sunday. chris wallace speaks with the ambassador to the u.n.s u.n. nikki haley. check your local listings for time and channel and tune into fox news for media buzz, diving into the media coverage of last night's strikes. leland: a live look at the united nations as we await the syrian ambassador, who will talk about that u.s.-led air strike after the break, as the world continues to react. and a closer look at bashar al-assad and his repeated use of chemical weapons against his own people. live to the border with syria and israel as they watched and waited last night. david lee miller, hi, david.

>> hi, leland. coming up, the latest details and reaction in syria and around the region to the u.s. and allied air strikes. that is coming right up. >> and right and legal to take military action together with our closest allies, to alleviate further humanitarian suffering by degrading the syrian regime's chemical weapons capability and deterring their use. patrick woke up with back pain.

but he has work to do. so he took aleve. if he'd taken tylenol, he'd be stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. aleve. all day strong.

managing blood sugar isn't a marathon. it's a series of smart choices. like using glucerna to replace one meal or snack a day. only glucerna has carbsteady... unique blends of slow-release carbs to help manage blood sugar. every meal. every craving. it's the choices you make when managing blood sugar that are the real victories. glucerna. everyday progress.

>> the united states, france and great britain are all claiming a successful mission following the air strikes in syria last night. david lee miller is live in golan heights near the israeli border with syria and joins us now with the very latest. >> elizabeth, we're on the israeli side of the border. off in the distance is the syrian territory. it's 7:30 in the evening, but the sun is not setting on the controversy swirling in syria. there has been great reaction throughout the area and middle east. no country arguably is watching more events more closely than israel. an injury israeli cabinet minister saying that the air strikes sent what was described as an important signal not just

to syria, but to hezbollah and iran as well. meanwhile, not far from where i'm standing about 40 miles is the capital of damascus, the syrian capital. and earlier there were massive demonstrations, people out on the streets, following the air strikes. there was a air of defiance many people carrying the syrian flag. they were dancing to nationalistic music. the syrian president tweeted out that good souls will not be humiliated and he also said the attacks will increase the syrian resolve to continue fighting and to escalate their attacks against what he calls terrorism in every inch of the country. also reaction from iran, the supreme leader of iran, making a statement saying u.s. allies will not get any achievement for the crimes in syria. the u.s. president, the u.k. prime minister and the president of france are criminals. ap according to a published

report, saudi arabia is supporting the air strikes. a government official described what he called the horrid crimes because of the chemical attacks against the syrian people. a similar sentiment expressed by the government of bahrain and also qatar voicing its support of the u.s. air strikes and what's notable here, elizabeth, is that qatar allowed the united states to use a military base there to launch some of the strikes. the syrian government has responded, accusing the government of qatar of being, quote, what they described as shameful because of their allowing the u.s. to use their air base. so, that's the latest from the region. this now as the sun sets across the middle east. elizabeth: all right, david lee miller with the latest. leland. leland: with that we bring in christian witten formerly of the

bush and trump state department experience. thank you. notice what david lee miller dependent say, that the syrians haven't responded at all. they haven't done anything, didn't hit israel, they start of took their licks. >> that's right, they did try to, they did mount a defense after most of the targets were hit in a futile attempt to hit u.s. and allied air targets. leland: what do you think of that. >> i think it succeeded and degraded syria's ability to use chemical weapons and restored deterrents and restored the white house and the presidency lost when president obama crossed the red line-- >> in 2017 they launched a chemical attack, we basically succeeded in blowing up a couple of airplane hangars that had airplanes that couldn't fly in them. that was 58 million. and we spent for tomahawk missiles to buildings that had

chemical weapons inside. and isn't it like, you can do anything you want. if we see something on youtube. >> and that's not as if you're dropping smart bombs from overnight. assad has had to duck, so have the russians. they've sent airplanes-- and come on though, the message to the rushes shuns was, if the russians threaten us and our red lines, you can't hit anything with our people around. we didn't. we didn't take out syria command and control, we didn't take out any of the units involved in this attack. how is this other than a slap on the wrist. >> the ability to use chlorine weapons and sarin weapons, we've degraded their capability.

they'll have that cap built. but it shows there's a cost. the president is adamant that we do know the do another iraq in syria, that we do not do regime change when we don't know what the outcome will and we don't want to weaken, frankly, assad so much, gone on for years, and 700,000 people dead and maybe a point where we should say no more. leland: our gillian turner was able to confirm, at least by the u.s.'s standards, both a chlorine and a sarin attack and they seem to think they have that nailed down. we have not seen any evidence and so far basically from the pentagon and state department we've heard trust us, trust us, trust us. but it brings us back to the point of when does the united states make sure they get the message whether the phone rings or not? because we heard these exact same talking points from the trump administration a year ago and it didn't work. >> right, well, we have escalatory dominance so last

time 59 tomahawks missiles. and we have sanctions on russia, not for this particularly, but we're building a coalition. it's important that iran and assad see it's not just the united states as last time. now it's united states, france and britain. and the europeans supposedly don't like us, if you read the press. lo and behold, the french against us on everything in iraq are with us in syria and the brits are coming along and i think that sends a signal. leland: and the french and brits were with us in libya and that didn't not turn out glowingly well either. you talked about iran being a targeted audience on this and gillian turner reporting on that after the break. elizabeth: after the break we'll talk to a member of the rnc as president trump and his allies target former fbi director james comey about his new book coming out this week.

mom? dad? hi! i had a very minor fender bender tonight in an unreasonably narrow fast food drive thru lane. but what a powerful life lesson. and don't worry i have everything handled. i already spoke to our allstate agent, and i know that we have accident forgiveness. which is so smart on your guy's part. like fact that they'll just... forgive you... four weeks without the car. okay, yup. good night. with accident forgiveness your rates won't go up just because of an accident. switching to allstate is worth it. not having a good breakfast can make you feel like your day never started. get going with carnation breakfast essentials®. it has protein, plus 21 vitamins and minerals including calcium and vitamin d, to help your family be their best. carnation breakfast essentials®.

(a voby daft punk is heard bettethroughout.) to help your family be their best. (sound of typing) (sound of exhaling)

(sound of drilling) jimmy (shouting): james! brand vo: the world's largest workforce works for themselves. we work for them. quickbooks. backing you. here's something you should know. there's a serious virus out there that 1 in 30 boomers has, yet most don't even know it. a virus that's been almost forgotten. it's hepatitis c. hep c can hide in the body for years without symptoms. left untreated it can lead to liver damage, even liver cancer. the only way to know if you have hep c is to ask your healthcare provider for the simple blood test. if you have hep c, it can be cured. for us, it's time to get tested. it's the only way to know for sure.

>> russia back in 2013 promised the world that it would help syria get rid of its chemical weapons. russia failed to do so. russia becomes a garanto r: russia has the ability to get syria to stop this, and when they're asked and pressed and ambassador haley at the united nations so effectively presses them on that, they just lie and they try to turn around the story. we're already tracking many russians trolls around the world trying to turn this story ups e updown. leland: u.s. government says they're keeping track much russian trolls. and they condemn this through dep diplomatic channel. the kremlin criticizing the u.s., great britain and france for the strike. u.s. ambassador to the united nations, nikki haley, then hitting back. >> we've talked about the victims in douma. we've talked about the assad

regime and its patrons, russia and iran. we've spent a week talking about the unique horror of chemical weapons. the time for talk ended last night. we're here today because three permanent members of the united nations security council acted e now for some context. because obviously today several european leaders are voicing support for the u.s.-led air strikes against syria, but warned against the seven-year confli conflict. blaze, it started in 2011, but, boy, it's a lot more complicated now than then. >> it certainly is. we often think of it in the u.s. as multiple conflicts going on at once. there's the civil war, opposition trying to topple assad in syria. the isis threat that sort of popped up in 2014 is now largely contained in syria and iraq.

the turks fighting the kurds and we often try to segregate those in boxes and say we're focused on isis and trying to deter chemical weapons, but not dealing with the broader conflict. elizabeth: the u.s. got more involved than in 2013, to target isis, but on the rebels, is that right? >> that's right, following the rise of isis which sort of stormed across syria and iraq unexpectedly and then started capturing the u.s. citizens, beheading some of them. the u.s. in 2014 started gearing up and then at the same time, had its own coalition, but was arming rebels on the ground, with the goal of both fighting isis and maybe also fighting the assad regime. elizabeth: so when did we see an up-tick in interest from russia. what vacuum did they fell and why is there such an interest. >> russia came in in 2015 and 2016 when it looked like assad was gaining ground for a--

some with support from the u.s. and others extremist, there was al-qaeda aaffiliates that cot gt money from qatar and other countries and with assad sort of on the ropes and iran not doing enough. russia came in and contributed its air power and that's really when we saw the tide turn against the rebels. elizabeth: and they have a fiscal interest, a port they wanted access to. have they gotten what they've wanted. are they happy with what they want? >> that's the debate, what does russia want in syria? they have a port they want. and an airfield, maybe that's their lane interest. maybe they don't care about the east of syria or other parts of it, but i think it's broader than that and really the conflict, all of it in syria, in iraq, in yemen, iran and russia, focus on one thing, trying to

push the united states out of the middle east to lower the u.s. standing on the world stage. basically to use president trump's language to make us look like losers and them look like winners. when we lose sight of that broader objective they're fighting for, we lose site of what the u.s. interests are and we can actually sort of lose. elizabeth: right, right. we could pick your brain. we've had breaking news and you brought in yemen, too, a lot of things we could talk about. thank you for bringing in with that context. appreciate it. leland. leland: continuing coverage of last night's air strike. breaking news out of the white house and how the message sent to bashar al-assad resonated not only with president trump's base, but our enemies abroad as well. >> the purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons, establishing this deterrent is a vital national security interest of the united states.

after my dvt blood clot, i had a lot on my mind. could this happen again? was my warfarin treatment right for me? my doctor told me about eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. not only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood clots... eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. eliquis had both and that turned around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. if you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily... and it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. both made eliquis right for me. ask your doctor if switching to eliquis is right for you.

leo, i knoh!i'm late. my wallet! card lock from capital one. instantly lock your credit card. in case it goes... arrivederci. mona! that smile. technology this convenient... could make history. what's in your wallet? hello. give me an hour in tanning room 3. cheers! that's confident. but it's not kayak confident. kayak searches hundreds of travel sites to help me plan the best trip. so i'm more than confident. forgot me goggles.

kayak. search one and done. dear freshpet, zooka had digestive problems and wouldn't eat. then i fed him freshpet. are made with smarttrack®igners material to precisely move your teeth to your best smile. see how invisalign® treatment can shape your smile up to 50% faster today at invisalign.com

>> saturday afternoon at the u.n. security council, emergency meeting over the u.s., france and great britain's strikes against syria. we are awaiting the syrian ambassador, who will probably have some choice words. right now, that's the equatorial guinea ambassador speaking and back as news warrants. meantime, there's a little interview that airs sunday night with james comey and that's the beginning of his media tour to promote his new book. three house republican committee chairman have asked the doj to give them copies of memos detailing the conversations between comey and mr. trump. and this comes as the number

two, was talked about misleading investigator. and good to see you as always. what should we make of the fact that it is the rnc, rather than the white house leading this response? >> well, the white house is very busy, obviously, with the syrian strikes and the policies that affect the lives of everyday americans. at rnc we're here to aid the president in all of his policies and from rogue disgruntled employee james comey. leland: describe what's rogue? >> he's gone off the rails. it's not fitting for a fbi director to spill all of this in a book. take memos, nine from the fbi and leak them to the press.

s' done an about-face and-- >> if the standard a sort of behavior befitting the office, and you're saying that it's not befitting a fbi director to act in the way he's acted, is it bo fitting for a president to tweet and call somebody a scum-bag? >> we have no problem with that because he's counter punching and it's very different to go out and unilaterally attack someone. president trump nearly in all of his tweets, they are in a direct response to someone who have attacked it first. past republican presidents have taken it, but it's a way to break through the mainstream media narrative. leland: the mainstream media narrative being what in your mind? >> in this, the fbi director getting glowing praise in some quarters of the media. even the mainstream media is calling him out for-- >> i was going to say, you can't have a both ways. you said the mainstream media narrative and now you say

they're calling him out. nate silver not known for his conservative views, he says it shunning called "a higher loyal loyalty", if should be called a higher royalty. >> others have criticized him, it's right to criticize him, especially when you look at the fact that he's lied about so much. and every day, it's as if we find out about a new lie. another one, the fact that he says hundreds of thousands of e-mails were sent from huma abedin's laptop, when there was a handful. the clinton exoneration, and this is one who lacks all credibility. leland: if he lacks ought all the credibility, where is the fight? why not laying out the facts.

>> that's why we set up lying comey.com. we have to have a count he attack and counter narrative. if we let go out and let jim comey frame the narrative it's a less than positive one. it's important to back up the facts and knowing that the democrats were calling him to step down from-- >> and how are you coordinating as this week rolls out. this week, we've got the president's tweet and we know from the white house, that speaks for themselves. how closely are you coordinated with the white house? should we assume that anything on lyingcomey.com has been vetted by the white house? or have you been given free rein of. >> we're in charge of this and taking lead on this. the facts are the facts. the white house is aware of the fact. online, comey.com, we're aware of them. this is rnc leading here and reminding american people who james comey is, and someone of low moral character.

leland: and i'm getting now, i think the tweet may have been slimeball. we will double-check that. >> right. leland: and in terms of slimeball was the tweet, so you defend it as well. good to see you as always. thanks so much. >> good to see you, too, leland. leland: elizabeth. elizabeth: you're taking a live look at the united nations as we await the syrian ambassador to speak about the u.s.-led air strike after the break. we are going to have the latest details as the world continues to react. and president trump following through on hard words to assad after suspected chemical attacks. how the president's base is reacting to the u.s.-led strike in syria.

why is dark magic so spell-bindingly good? it's a bold blend of coffee with rich flavors of uganda, sumatra, colombia and other parts of south america. like these mountains, each amazing on their own. but together? magical. all, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. green mountain coffee roasters.

where we're changing withs? contemporary make-overs. then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. who has the upper hand now? start winning today. book now at lq.com.

>> all right, live pictures at the u.n. security council right now as we await the syrian ambassador's response to the u.s.-led strike. the pentagon saying they coordinated their strikes in syria and they were to show that chemical weapons is unacceptable. how is that across the country. we'll bring in milwaukee radio host daniel o'donnell. nice to see you from the conference room in milwaukee. how did this play?

this was a president a week ago for them applauding the president for saying we want to get out of syria. >> that's the dichotomy, there are trump supporters who applaud this, sort of the military hawks and believe that he's finally enforcing barack obama's red line, but there's also the theory, hey, you tweeted this morning, mission accomplished and we heard that before back this 2003 from president george w. bush and there's a fear, i think, that we don't want to make the same mistakes made in iraq now in syria. leland: what do you make of why now? all of a sudden, this chemical attack -- there have been, what, a dozen chemical attacks in syria since the 2017 air strike. why now? is there a risk of sort of this pendulum swinging back and forth too fast? >> there is definitely the

thought that i saw liberal talk show hosts are already out saying, well, this is just like the movie wag the dog. and he's trying to distract from the comey interview. but i think that pictures coming out of syria were so horrific, the children, victims of chemical weapons attacks, it's just i don't want to say tugs at the heartstrings, but certainly it's an emotional motivator for anyone, i think. leland: the emotion is unmistakable, but is emotion the way to make these serious foreign policy decisions? is that why we elected this president was emotion or policy? >> well, a little bit of both, to be perfectly honest with you. the trump base loves that he shoots from the hip, so to speak, on twitter talking about attacking and striking back at those who attack him. i think we're seeing the foreign policy equivalent of that. look, this policy has been in

place since the obama regime and there's a red line that-- >> what i'm not hearing from you and what i don't hear from a lot of ardent trump supporters is a full-throated endorsement of this. i here explanation, but not real an endorsement of this strategy as we await the syrian ambassador to speak at the u.n. >> well, to be perfectly honest with you, i think it's still too early. we were told last night by the secretary of defense the strike, this is a one-time thing and we'll see how that's followed up. and the initial strategy appears to be very strong, to send a message that this is unacceptable. leland: you say it's a very strong message. we hear so orin now, we heard from jack keane earlier. that this is anything, but a strong message, that the russians essentially said, you touch any of our people and you touch anything close to our assets, we're going to attack and the u.s. backed way off and we succeeded in blowing up three buildings that had stuff in them that we've known have been there for months, if not years. >> well, and that's the

tightrope that the u.s. has at that walk here-- >> this is a president who is going to be tough and enforce a red line, and send a message that people get, whether the phone rings or not, and clearly as general mattis said, they didn't get the message in 2017. is this really that tough, hard message? >> well, consider this a initn l initial text that we sent and that there will be a whole lot more phone calls that are answered if, in fact, this sort of behavior continues. we have to walk the line and we don't want to provoke world war iii with russia and its allies and destroying a whole lot of russian defense personnel or anything like that. so, it's the last thing that we want is to get a system of entangling alliances like world war i. leland: is the last thing we want to send a strong message and poke the bear or the last

thing we want to be seen as be subserviant to what russia tells us we can and can't do, which is worse? >> i don't think this is being seen as subserviant to russia, remember, we killed a couple hundred russian forces a few weeks ago. leland: a russian general basically is said if you endanger any russian troops or allies in syria, and we read that go ahead and hit anything as long as it not russia. that seems subserviant, you had him to say, we were very careful and used lines. that sound like tip-toeing around the russians. >> it does. that's one way of interpreting it. another is it wasn't vladimir putin gassing the syrian people. it was bashar al-assad and the strategy was-- >> we're going to interrupt you to hear from the syrian

ambassador at the u.n. stand by for us. >> welcome the presence from the secretary-general in this very important moment in the history of the security council. the secretary-general in his statement yesterday mentioned that the cold war is back. that is exactly right. we all agree with just how accurate that statement is. it's important to recall at this opportunity, that those who relaunched the philosophy of the cold war-- we all, of course, remember that following the collapse of the former u.s.s. r that-- we all recall, a book that was

published here in this country, that was called the end of history. and another author and american thinker, samuel huntington spoke of the conflict of civilizations. these two books founded the-- were the founding, the return to the cold war. indeed, these two works, well, the gist of these two works was as follows: people of the world follow the way, the path of the united states, submit yourself to the will of the united states, if not, we will attack you. my way or the highway, says the speaker, as you say in the united states. that was the return of the cold war philosophies. now, lies are worthless.

they don't serve anyone. they only serve those who-- who lie just once. they're useful when whoever lies, lies once. when the lies keep being repeated, well, that person who lies only underscores the fact that the person lying is a liar. my colleague, the distinguished representative of france announced that the aggression of this country, along with the united kingdom and the united states was carried out on behalf of the international community. i'm wondering if he's speaking of a real international community that exists is this is that international community that you represent?

has it authorized this did your governments receive a mandate from this organization to -- from this international community to attack my country? my american and french and british colleagues have claimed that they have bombed centrist for the production of chemical weapons in syria. if the governments of these three countries, if they knew the actual location or the role of these productions such as that they claim to have bombed, if they knew about that, why didn't they share the information with the opcw, why didn't they share this information with the

fact-finding mission president in demascus before attacking my country? this is a question i'm putting to you. furthermore, i would like to assure you all that a group of experts, investigators have arrived today, midday, obviously the team was not able to go from beru to demascus for reasons that we know just before the attack as though an attempt to prevent this team of investigators from reaching demascus, while -- until the aggression took place, but the delegation did reach demascus today at midday and will hold a

meeting in two hours, 7:00 p.m., demascus time, with the authorities of demascus. and my government will, of course, provide every support to this delegation for it to carry out its mission successfully. now the facilities at the barsa research facility which was targeted by the per tide aggression was vefted twice, the building was inspected, the inspection was authorized by an official document that stipulated that -- well, it stated that syria had complied with its obligation vis-a-vis bcw and there were no chemical weapons in the building. now if the experts, handed to us

an official document which confirmed that this center, the barsa center was not used for any type of chemical activity that in controversial, how you reconcile that with what we heard this morning? how do you reconcile that with all of these ak -- accusations and the claims that this aggression targeted a chemical weapon's production center? the colleague from the united states said that the time for discussion is over, it was over yesterday. >> you have been listening to the un ambassador to syria bashar jafarri, he has been speaking about in philosophy that the cold war sentiment is back.

he questioned the international communities existence and went onto talk about the -- the production centers that -- that the u.s. and france and the uk targeted, how the centers were not being used for these nephew -- nefarious activities. he will continue to speak at the un. leland: so far difficult to follow train of thought. but if he says anything that's news worthy, we will get back to him. liz: president trump praising military and allies against air strikes overnight declaring, quote, mission accomplished. leland: what exactly was accomplished 8:00 p.m. in demascus, 16 or so hours when the air strikes hit, they hit 9:00 p.m. eastern last night, 4:00 a.m. local. american news headquarters from washington. nice to be with you at home as we continue i'm leland vittert.

>> i'm elizabeth prann. hi, jennifer. >> the syrian ambassador made argument that the opcw, weapon's inspector had visited the site that was struck by the french, british and americans last night. we heard a powerful defense of last night's air strikes from the three court council members at briefing at the pentagon this morning, officials said over 100 u.s., french and british missiles landing simultaneously within a few minutes despite being launched from assets deployed from the mediterranean to the persian gulf, 105 missiles destroyed three of assad chemical weapon's facilities. >> there's still a residual element of the program that's out there. i believe that we took the heart of it out with the attack that is we accomplished last night.

i'm not going to say they will be unable to conduct a chemical attack in the future. i suspect they will think long and hard after activities last night. >> guided missile cruiser shot from the sea, uss lagoon fired 7. uss tigens fired 23 tomahawk missiles. u.s. navy submarine, john warner, the sledge hammer of freedom launched six precision missiles. a pair of u.s. air force b-1 bombers from qatar under fighter escort launched 19 standoff missiles we are told, russian and syrian state media claim they shot down dozens of missiles but the pentagons said the russian guns remained

silent. 40 surface missiles wildly into the air after missiles had landed. >> the response was remarkably in effective in all domains, that's probably the best answer i can give you. they had no material impact on the strike. >> as secretary mattis said last night, the russians disinformation campaign has already begun. there has been a 2,000% increase in russian trolls in the last 24 hours. >> in other words, the russian disinformation campaign has ramped up in the wake of last night's strike according to the pentagon, despite a lot of bluster, russian forces did not engage u.s. or allied ships or planes an fail today protect the assad regime. liz. liz: jennifer with the latest on the pentagon, thank you so much. appreciate it. the more insight on syria let's bring in florida congressman, thank you for joining us, first and foremost reaction to very busy news day? >> thanks for having me on this

busy day. we watched assad use chemical weapons for the last seven years on and off, something had to be done for humanitarian standpoint. i'm on the letter with other members of congress asking the president to hold off and let congress weigh in on it. >> that's what i want to ask you. some of our viewers may not be familiar because this is new this morning, can you explain to us your partnered with 88 lawmakers, this is a bipartisan letter k. you explain to us what it requests? >> yeah, it says that congress has the right to declare, it's our responsibility, the president can use article 2 reasoning when we are in imminent threat or attacks. liz: when was the last time the president declared war, was it world war i? >> world war ii. liz: how many conflicts have we been involved since then? >> multiple, korean conflict on up to where we are today. what we are using aumf from

2001. we could be used thomas jefferson's aumf, going after things like that this, something had to be done, over 400,000 people killed in syria. it's a travesty of what's going on over there. our goal was to have the information that the swiss wanted to do that got vetoed at the un and then take that information and build a coalition, if it was assad and proven to be assad which looks like it is more than likely but then have a coalition to go and deal with that. liz: it almost -- >> the other side to go after assad as war criminal -- liz: that didn't help. >> that's what had to be done. liz: that all needs to luxury of time and at the beginning of our conversation you said something needed to be done, so what could the president have done here that would have met your approval because you wanted something to be done but you didn't want him to go in?

>> well, something has to be done with the civil war, displaced over 70 million people around the world and a big portion coming out of syria. what needed to be done is a clear-thought-through process. i'm not saying it's a knee-jerk reaction because i'm sure president trump operated on the intelligence that he has that i don't and he made the best decision that he thought at the time that i'm not privy to but i would think that after the last strike back in april of last year that we would have a better strategy moving forward and this is going to happen again. what are we going to do to prevent this? this is where, i think, if assad, he should be tried on war crimes and held in front of a criminal court and dealt with accordingly and help the syrian people bring a stable government in there to heal the syrian conflict so that people can go -- can start going back to syria so that we can get a resolution to this instead of the united states going in there. i was glad to see there were

other partners -- >> we are talking about a coalition here, some of what you're describing sounds a little idealistic, well, if we had the time and partners and then you talk about what happened in iraq, there's -- i'm not sure that there was a plethora of options here and critics are saying -- >> there was. come on. this has been going on for seven years, there's 40,000 people that have been killed. almost 500,000. it is a quagmire. you have turkey in there, iran in there, russia, you have us in there and they have all competing interests and goals, there's not a clear-cut goal. so to russian on chemical weapons, it's atrocious, yes, there's over 180 countries that have signed to chemical weapon's convention condemning condemnins things where are the other bringing an end? is it more important to go after people that are using chemical, what about the other 400,000?

this is something that affects all nations around the world because of refugee crisis that it's created. liz: right. >> 70 million people plus are displaced around the world and didn't happen because of the chemical strikes, yes, that was a part of it but a lot bigger picture that we need to bring this to a resolve for the rest of the world. liz: thank you, sir, for joining us, we appreciate it. >> thank you, ma'am, have a great day. leland: last night as the president addressed the country just stand to go his side was his new national security adviser john bolton, only five days on the job bees our gillian turner reported, clearly has had impact felt on the national security council on the decision-make progresses, important points for tedd yoho, they didn't go to congress. we heard the president cite article 2 of the constitution last night of war power's act. the question is how is the white

house pushing back on this? >> well, first of all, aumf, ongoing debate and discussion between the hill and the white house. president obama asked for a renewed aumf, didn't get one. the trump administration now believes it would like one, probably not going get one. congress is so slow to act on the issue if it wasn't so serious and tragic it would almost be laughable. leland: point to be made that it was barack obama who kicked it to congress back during the quote, unquote red line crisis in 2013 and congress didn't act then. so there you go. moving on now to where we are at, white house standing by this tweet of mission accomplished, did they define the mission was and what had been accomplished? >> what the white house has been insisting all night, all day, administration officials across board and military officials including general mckenzie who spoke earlier, this was not about anything other than deterrence. this was -- they have taken

great care to point out they don't want to escalate the situation militarily with russia, they don't want to engage directly with the russian military, this is deterrence, i spoke to senior administration official just a little while ago who also pointed the international community has been very important, there's some very important audience members. they pointed out specifically iran. a lot of this is to demonstrate capability to iranian regime. leland: no worthy that at the un syrian ambassador after he waxed on with his philosophy 15 minutes, we shot down a lot of the u.s.-cruised missiles and he's waxing on f he says something interesting, we will check with them. it was the pentagon that said they didn't intercept anything. is the administration foreshadowing that this could just be the beginning because mattis last night said this is one and done? >> right, i don't think -- put it this way, i think that

president trump and most of the cabinet is going to be fairly loathe to extend this, remember this dates back to his campaign promise to the american people. it will take something extraordinary, of obviously beyd has-scale attack and to provoke any further military engagement beyond these very limited strikes. quick point for you, though, on your earlier -- your point just now about the surface to air missiles that the syrians launched, the united states is claiming all of those -- all the deterrent missiles they launched came after our targets that had already been hit. leland: all of them failed. noteworthy, doesn't seem russian air defenses that are prolific inside of syria did anything. is that because they couldn't or decided not to or turned them off or because they just said it wasn't worth it, tbd? >> i think it's probably tbd. what we can say about russia's

involvement here is that the united states is viewing this as a pushback against russia diplomatically. leland: right. >> tried six times over the last year to block un resolutions on this. leland: heather, now on our air earlier saying that we will continue to hold the russians account for bad actions, declined to say what exactly account meant and was -- the how and what account was. yeah. gillian turner, thank you so much. liz. >> coming up the world as you can see react to go a u.s.-led air strike to syria. what's next for u.s. boots on the ground? >> america does not seek an indefinite presence in syria under no circumstances. as other nations step up their contributions, we look forward to the day when we can bring our warriors home and great warriors

they are. >> and strong spring storms hitting parts of the united states, adam klotz is standing by in the fox extreme weather center. >> portions of the south, tornado watch in place, tornadoes are likely in another part of the country, we are talking about blizzards, that's right, i will have all the details coming up and my full forecast after the break. the only one to combine a safe sleep aid... ...plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. i'm back. aleve pm for a better am.

feet go here.... you know what goes here... and your approval rating... goes here. test drive the ztrak z540r at your john deere dealer today. we believe nutrition is full of possibilities to improve

your pet's life. we are redefining what nutrition can do. because the possibility of a longer life and a better life is the greatest possibility of all. purina pro plan. nutrition that performs. when it comes to travel, i sweat the details. late checkout... ...down-alternative pillows... ...and of course, price. tripadvisor helps you book a... ...hotel without breaking a sweat. because we now instantly... ...search over 200 booking sites ...to find you the lowest price... ...on the hotel you want. don't sweat your booking. tripadvisor. the latest reviews. the lowest prices.

we use our phones the same way these days. so why do we pay to have a phone connected when we're already paying for internet? shouldn't it all just be one thing? that's why xfinity mobile comes with your internet. you can get up to 5 lines of talk and text included at no extra cost. so all you pay for is data. see how you could save $400 or more a year. and get $200 back when you sign up for xfinity mobile and add a new line of unlimited.

xfinity mobile. it's a new kind of network designed to save you money. click, call or visit an xfinity store today. liz: forces in syria were nearly 2,000 troops. joining me now with a look at military perspective heritage foundation visiting fellow and former army special forces officer steve buchi. i really appreciate it. i wanted to get your perspective because i'm curious as to, yes, we heard the announcement from the president seconds later and during speech we were getting bombings. >> the president gives initial intent to department of defense folks and start looking at options, they'll come back to the president in the midst of

the process of trying to either get more guidance, sort of offer him something he may not have asked for initially, sounds like a long time for this kind of precision was pretty -- liz: the effort -- >> that complicated further, it's simple when -- >> qatar to airbase. that sort of things. liz: i'm curious as to troops on the ground. more than a week ago, we had heard that they were going to be drawing back out of syria, we heard that from president trump. what now? what are they thinking? has their mission changed? >> at this point it hasn't. this was as secretary mattis described a one-time shot to try and deter and degrade assad from

using chemical weapons. it's not something different than what those folks were doing? >> do you think it's a one-off? >> a one-off right now. this is a continuing effort but it's not a day-to-day air campaign yet, so those folks on the ground will continue missions that they are doing, fighting isis, working with our friends and going after enemies and a lot of them are very, very well informed about this stuff, our commanders keep those young folks informed and some of them are not that young, some are very experience, special forces guy that is have a lot of miles on them, they get the politics. liz: what does that do for your mind set and you're trained and it's hard for me to fathom when you have to go from thinking that perhaps there's going to be withdrawal to there could be escalation, we just don't know. >> i have made 20 deployments in my career in active duty, i came

back on time on schedule once out of those 20. those changes happen all of the time. our folks are used to them. we have a professional military, they're not a bunch of draftees, they get this and while they'd be happy to come home if the president said come home, they understand why they are doing and want to do the right thing. liz: thank you for joining us, sir, appreciate it. leland: keep an eye on reaction to syria, meantime post spring storm making its way across midwest, tornadoes in arkansas, massive snow in other parts to have country, adam klotz, understand why there was beeping in that tape. >> yeah, exactly. big storms to scare folks, that's what's moving across the south. that's all tied into the same system that's dumping snow in northern portions of the country. that's what we will take a look at first.

blizzard warnings, tornadoes in the south and blizzards in the north, getting into some warning areas, and everything dark red color that's what we are looking at blizzard-like conditions, heavy snow, wind gusting up to 30, 40 miles an hour, an absolute mess for folks, stretching up into northern portions of michigan, wide spreed 6 to 8-inches but spots getting up to 12-inches and more all with the system, down farther to the south running it there, that's where we are looking at tornado watches in place and it's already at this hour producing a lot of big storms, everything you're looking at in the pink there, that's a current tornado warned storm, so this is something we will be watching from now running into the overnight hours, leland. leland: adam klotz on duty there. liz. liz: president trump praising military and allies for air

strikes in syria. the latest on how the world is reacting.

leland: fox news alert as we go back to the un, we won't bore you with the speeches but the russians just put forth a resolution which is you might imagine was fairly favorable to them and their syrian friends, not so favorable to the united states, the united kingdom and france that were involved in the attack, to say it failed miserable would be understatement. six separate resolutions at the security council that the russians have vetoed to protect bashar al-assad and the syrians specifically as it relates to chemical weapons. with that we bring in tom rogan of the washington examiner.

good to see you, sir, this caught our eyes from "the new york times", in moscow a sense of relief after a limited syria attack and it appears as though both russians and the united states at command level went to great lepts to ensure -- lengths to ensure that this did not escalate. >> i also think for the russians, the major point here is do these strikes endanger assad's regime. clearly, no, they do not, in that regard russians are quite relief and quite happy. leland: it's unusual to sit here and be talking about russians quite relieved and quite happy, is that admission by the united states that we are not really willing to take them on, not their home turf but kind of sort of their home turf? >> to a degree it is. the caveat of the mission accomplished.

it's the caveat that the united states has given up effectively in trying to move bashar al-assad from power. the russians are happy about that and at the same time i think the russians from their point of view, if they can consolidate our side, absorb the pinpricks as they see them, you know what, who cares, behind the scenes it's not a big deal. leland: you do get -- you sort of publicly telegraphing back and forth, we didn't call them ahead of time but we are happy to report that no foreigners were killed in this. >> right. it's a reflection of the fact that when you have two great powers there really isn't a particular interest to escalate unless you to. leland: is there a risk in not escalating, is there a risk for president trump? this is in the the first time we hit syria, first in 2017, less than we did this time, is there a risk in letting the russians know essentially you got veto power over military action? >> i think there's a profound

risk. as much as there's a tactical effect, the repeated statement that is we will do this again if we have to, that i think in the coming months expecting chemical attack, to try and get the united states to blink and say, actually we are not going to do it again. leland: you view the calculation as a little bit more than assad decide to go use chemical weapons to clear out a given neighborhood, this was essentially by the russians of the united states, of president trump to resolve? >> absolutely, the impetus and it's not about the civilians who died, it's not ultimately about assad, it's about the region, the saudis, egyptian, iranians, all of them coming to the russians to the table and saying, we know that you are the man to deal with. ultimately that is -- leland:

who won this round? in tehran and behrut, in cairo, as they sit around and smoke, who did they decide won this? >> another round coming very soon and they anticipate they will win that and win the match. leland: so far no in and outs. president putin seems to have score card. >> absolutely, putin play it is long game. leland: he's managed to do for a long time in comeback. a lot to talk about, we will watch for it. >> thanks, leland. appreciate it. >> still ahead president trump issues a verbal warning to syria following late-night air strikes led by the united states, the latest details on the situation in syria. plus the republicans ramping up the rhetoric against former fbi

director james comey ahead of the release of controversial tell-all book. >> comey will be forever known as disgraced partisan hack that broke the trust with the president of the united states, the dedicated agents of the fbi and the american people he vow today faithfully serve. helped put a roof over the heads

of hundreds of families, he's most proud of the one he's kept over his own. brand vo: get paid twice as fast with quickbooks smart invoicing. quickbooks. backing you.

i had tried to quit before,g i had tried the patch. i tried to go cold turkey; it didn't work for me. i didn't think i could quit until i used chantix.

along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix reduced my urge to smoke. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be life-threatening. stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. tell your healthcare provider if you've had depression or other mental health problems. decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. use caution when driving or operating machinery. the most common side effect is nausea. after 25 years, i walked away from cigarettes. ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. many insurance plans cover chantix for a low or $0 copay. i'm your phone,istle text alert. stuck down here between your seat and your console, playing a little hide-n-seek. cold... warmer...

warmer... ah boiling. jackpot. and if you've got cut-rate car insurance, you could be picking up these charges yourself. so get allstate, where agents help keep you protected from mayhem... ...like me. mayhem is everywhere. are you in good hands? >> we appreciate your condemnation of the use of chemical weapons and welcome your support for the action that president trump and president macron and prime minister may authorized last evening. we believe that civilized world cannot tolerate the use of chemical weapons against men, women and children and we are grateful for your clear, moral statement in that regard. liz: that was vice president mike pence, as you know he's traveling in lieu of the president that was during a bilateral meeting with the president of colombia and just

to update viewers, we had told you before about a security council vote. there was a russian resolution to condemn the air strikes in syria. there were three votes in favor, it may not surprise you that it was russia, bolivia and china and 8 votes against the resolution, the uk, u.s., france, kuwait, netherlands so four countries on didn't -- leland: some lawmakers said that the president should have involved congress in the discussion. we bring in california democratic congressman john gerimendi. >> good to be with you. leland: and you're consistent on this, when president obama was talking about his red line, he

should have come to congress, he didn't, didn't get congressional approval i should say but president trump said, i'm not coming to congress, your thoughts? >> well, he also said back in 2013 that president obama should have gone to congress, in fact, put before congress an authorization use force, didn't go anywhere. i think that if president trump had come to congress with a very simple, i need to take out these chemical weapons, give me the authority to do it, he could have passed in half a nano second. leland: fascinate -- fascinating, what don't you think he didn't? >> i don't know. you can see from the resolution to the un, he's given to the russians the initiative in the international, they lost, of course, but nonetheless the initiative on the diplomacy has now gone to china, russia and also to syria. so we need to maintain initiative -- leland: somehow

you feel as though the president's hand has weakened? >> absolutely. here we are whether or not he should have authorization. leland: you say half a nano, why would you get that in half a nano second, i'm assuming you would have voted for it, but for president obama it didn't happen? >> he had a complex authorization use force, ground troops, intervention into the civil war. this would have been a very simple, apparently the entire purpose of it to take out the chemical weapon's infrastructure, if that's all he wanted to do, structure and authorization use force precisely for that time limited and if it didn't work he had to come back. leland: congress has the power to declare war and the president has his own power under constitution. it would have to be a bipartisan

one to try and extract a price from the white house for this? >> i don't think we would want to put it that way. what we would want to do is assert constitutional authority by congress. leland: how do you do that? >> it's called declaration of war or military force. leland: congress would go ahead and do that unilaterally essentially and hand it to the president? >> exactly. leland: do you think there's an appetite for that? >> it has happened in the past, 2001, afghanistan, 2003, iraq. leland: those times the president asked for it. >> that's correct. leland: you think the president needs to come and ask for it? >> he should. leland: if he doesn't what happens? >> you will get the conversation that's going on right now between you and me, it's distracting, distracting from what we need to do in syria, we need to have a comprehensive strategy to deal with a very complex, very danger and very important part of the world. leland: there's a lot of things distracting in washington, with we can agree on that. >> no doubt about it.

leland: how did this go beyond a strike? do you want to hold the president for account, is there any mechanism for that? >> there is, in fact, it is the law today n. the appropriation's act there's a section that says, none of the money for the military can be used in syria. leland: okay. >> for a variety of purposes. now, we can say that that's been ignored by the president and that's probably correct. leland: congress is back to work after a break this week, we will see what you guys do, appreciate it. >> my pleasure. leland: good to see you as always. still ahead, more on what world leaders are saying about the strike and now the big question, what should happen next. feel like your day never started. get going with carnation breakfast essentials®. it has protein, plus 21 vitamins and minerals including calcium and vitamin d, to help your family be their best. carnation breakfast essentials®.

to help your family be their best. booking a flight doesn't have to be expensive. just go to priceline. it's the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40%. just tap and go... for the best savings on flights, go to priceline. >> vo: they're getting by starting with miracle-gro potting mix and plant food. together, guaranteed to produce three times the harvest. more to enjoy... to share. three times the harvest. one powerful guarantee. miracle-gro. so lionel, what does 24/5 mean to you?rade well, it means i can trade after the market closes. it's true. so all... evening long. ooh, so close. yes, but also all... night through its entirety. come on, all... the time from sunset to sunrise.

right. but you can trade... from, from... from darkness to light. ♪ you're not gonna say it are you?

liz: former fbi director james comey starts tour to promote book. the white house is work to go discredit the former top law enforcement officer. more on this to our esteemed panel kristin tate, david, a former campaign obama campaign foreign policy adviser and former state department official, thank you both for joining me, david, i hope i got your last name correct. >> you got it correct.

liz: i want to start with you, kristin, do you think this is pageantry ahead of book tour? >> james comey affirmed he's a leaker and compares po mob boss and made decisions in favor of hillary clinton because he thought that she was going to win the election. james comey was the nation's top law enforcement official and he has completely tarnished the fbi to peddle pathetic book. half of the country voted for donald trump and has zero trust in the top law enforcement bureau of the nation. look at comey, look at rosenstein, look at mccabe, the fbi is supposed to be nonpartisan, shame on comey, this is disgusting. liz: okay, david, you feel quite differently. >> those are partisan words from kristin. it's unfortunate that he would paint the former fbi director

that way, it's not accurate. to be fair, i think that james comey probably should not have done this book right now. liz: why not? >> he has a story to tell and it's important to tell the story eventually. liz: what is his story because a lot of it i'm hearing about like conversations and size of hands, what is his story? what is he trying to tell us? >> those are distractions, the most important part of the story is that james comey was an fbi director, he was doing his job impartially and fired by president trump, president trump said a week later on nbc the reason he fired of james comey was to get rid of the russia investigation. there's potentially evidence of obstruction in james comey's story and the reason he shouldn't be telling the story right now is because he's a witness and the most important thing is the mueller, special counsel, investigation to go forward in impartial way and people like james comey should tell their story after it's finished. we don't know what's going to

happen. it would be a better story by james comey if we knew what was going to happen with the special counsel investigation. liz: i want to wrap in the rnc, #lying comey, some are saying, i will play devil's advocate is like who is get lower at this point, you're putting the names on everyone, i'm curious, is it productive? >> look, i think that the white house response is accurate. of course, that's not how donald trump operates. david says i'm being partisan. guess what, james comey has made this into a partisan issue. he is the one politicizing this. >> cis -- jis >> kristin, james comey is a republican and appointed by george bush. >> let me finish. a book to come by someone so

involved in an investigation by the president. john dean under nixon whose testimony was paramount turned down 7 figures to write a book and waited until the scandal died down and, of course, monica lewinsky. liz: we don't have a lot of time, but i want to get a response from both of you because obviously the news of the day is syria, david, i want to get your reaction that the white house had a coalition when they made the attacks. >> always better to have a coalition and president trump was right to highlight participation of uk and france. i'm glad that they did strikes. we need deterrence to assad's violence and his own people. we did strike a year ago, those were great too. the problem is there wasn't engagement. what i want to see more engagement by the u.s. in syria, it can't be we are going to

strike you once and never ignore for for you while because the violence will continue and assad will use other forces of violence. deterrence more strongly in order to push for political resolution. >> donald trump ran on america first but the swamp has drained. how many nations do we need to rebuild with own servicemen with the tune of billions of dollars, we have enough problems at home, me and a lot of trump supporters we want to bring troops home and end this. liz: interesting, we sort of tackled a lot in the segment. thank you both for bearing with me, appreciate it. >> thank you. leland: we heard about the split among trump supporters in terms of their view on this -- we heard president trump talk about that last night when he said that we do not want a lasting presence in syria. we want to bring our warriors home. a lot to talk about that, ambassador nikki haley, ambassador of the united nations who was up there at security council speaking earlier today

with powerful words is chris wallace's guest on fox news sunday tomorrow on the big fox, go ahead and check your local listings for time and channel. liz: yeah, absolutely, obviously we will be continuing coverage throughout the better half of the day because un security council meeting is still taking place. leland: right now about 9:00 o'clock in demascus and getting into second night, haven't seen news out of there in the past couple of hours but we will wait and see how things develop overnight there. the news will continue from new york, been great being with you. ♪ complete multivitamins with key nutrients that address 6 concerns of aging, including heart health, supported by b-vitamins. your one a day is showing.

kelly: president trump declaring mission accomplished followed by two air-led air strikes in syria targeting three sites associated with the chemical weapon's capability. the un security council rejecting resolution from russia to condemn those actions taken by the u.s. and its allies. hello and welcome to america's news headquarters, i'm kelly wright. >> i'm eboni williams in for julie banderas. vice president mike pence to speak and we will bring them to you when they begin. this as un ambassador nikki haley says the u.s. remains locked and load today strike if the syrian