>> reporter: he said bashar al assad might be a partner in fighting terrorism.

now it seems many groups work with terrorists in the have said they welcome this move. very surprising development. frances? >> certainly watching the assad regime's response. and any actions taken from it. nbc's matt bradley in beirut. thank you. the president explained his decision to order these missile strikes from his mar-a-lago club where he's currently hosting chinese president xi jinping. here is what the president had to say. >> tonight i ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria where the chemical attack was launched. it is in this vital national security interest of the united stat states. it is in this vital national security interest of the united states to prevent and deter the

spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. there can be no dispute that syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the chemical weapons convention, and ignored the urging of the u.n. security council. tonight i call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in syria, and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types. >> how are other government officials reacting to this. nbc's edward lawrence is in d.c. this morning. edward, what are you hearing? how is washington responding? >> reporter: in general, both republicans and democrats support this strike. one house member barbara lee who tweeted out this is an act of war against syria. still many others say a message had to be sent to the assad regime that the use of chemical weapons on helpless individuals will not be tolerated.

for example, senator bob corker, a republican, saying he applause the president's decision. the ranking member of the foreign relations committee, senator ben warden says this shows the u.s. would stand up against the use of chemical weapons. about two dozen representatives and senators were briefed about this before the missile launch. during the barrage, they were briefed again on the progress of it. this shows the white house wants to reach out and work with members of congress on this. senators say going forward, if there's any further escalation of missiles or air strikes or beyond that, it must take an act of congress to engage the american people, yasmin? >> so far a united front on this. we'll see what transpires over the next 24 hours. nbc's edward lawrence in washington, thank you. let's bring in nbc news military analyst colonel jack jacobs. colonel, i appreciate you being with us. when you have the question that so many are asking now, that

"what next" question that applies to this administration. it applies also to assad regime. overall we've got to look at the end game, the picture here. what are we looking at? >> we're not looking at very much. it's not entirely clear what our strategy is. i think a lot of people are convinced there is not necessarily a strategy. don't forget that this was not a strategic strike, it was a tactical strike set to achieve some fairly narrow goals including domestic, political goals, foreign political goals. convincing assad not to use chemical weapons again which i think to that extent it was a success. but what next? it all depends on what kind of strategy that national security adviser general mcmaster puts together. i think he was hired specifically to do that. not just for the middle -- not just for syria, not just the middle east but across the entire arena in which the united

states operates. for his entire life, his whole professional life, he's been very much focused on strategy. i think he was engaged specifically to create a strategy and we haven't had one before and i think he is working on it right now. what it's going to look like remains to be seen. but this is a good opportunity for the united states now to use other instruments of policy, not just the military instrument, in its quest for stability in the middle east. >> colonel, what about the fear of creating a vacuum in that area, if bashar al assad were to leave, if they were able to take him out. what about isis and them coming into that area? >> it's a very big problem. by the way it's a very big problem in all of the countries in the middle east. we saw exactly what happened including libya and iraq when there was no followthrough, no way to stabilize the country and so on. it's not entirely clear what would happen if there were no regime, no assad regime as it

stands now. but whatever it's going to be, the country itself would fragment and be difficult for american national security interest. that's why the united states needs to work with the russians and, quite frankly, with iran and saudi arabia to make sure there's a concerted effort to keep stability in the region. >> especially you have a lawmaker say the strikes will hamper relations when it comes to the united states and russia so we'll continue to follow that. colonel jack jacobs. want to go to nbc news correspondent calipari who has met and interviewed the syrian leader. good morning, cal. good to talk to you. take us inside assad's mind-set right now. will these air strikes deter him? >> certainly that's the hope. keep in mind bashar al assad has changed since the civil war began. seven or eight years ago he was a darling in the middle east, was going to open up peace

negotiations. all that changed when people took to the streets. people took to the streets calling for reform, not regime change. it was his military's response to those calls that then really inflamed the situation. it was his killing of civilians in the streets of cities like dara and damascus that's really brought us to where we are today. the other thing is that he's not really the president of syria. putin is really the person who is largely in charge, bashar al assad is at this point fighting for his survival. he is going to keep taking cues from moscow. >> we're hearing those reactions where you have president putin saying this strike is aggression against a sovereign country, violating international law and distracting from many civilian deaths. what can we expect from russia and what may follow as far as how they may come about in dealing with a strike? >> i think look, the real fear

here and my real fear is that president assad is going to reassert himself to the syrian people. they are already playing this off like this was a, quote, limited strike, that this didn't have effect on the capabilities of the syrian air force. i think unfortunately what you're going to see in the next 24 hours is probably more attacks on the civilian population of syria. keep in mind we're in year six, we've seen a half million dead, we have a refugee problem of biblical proportions, none of that changes tonight because of 59 tomahawk missiles fired at one target. what is going to continue for the syrian president, for president assad is continuation of this policy fighting for survival he now is in control of some 80% of the country, he's looking for the other 20%. >> a lot of people waking up to this news. we'll see what transpires as you said, cal perry, thank you. >> also making news on this friday. severe weather slamming the eastern half of the country. there was heavy rain in florida where a possible tornado destroyed at least a dozen homes and lightning sparked a massive house fire. further north the d.c. area was

under a tornado warning as brutal winds tossed large trees into homes and knocked out power for thousands. in the midwest the wind gusts so powerful they shattered high-rise windows in chicago. >> nbc's bill karins is tracking it all. what are you seeing? >> a new storm in the west coast, high winds overnight, 85-mile-per-hour gusts reported in the mountains. also brought periods of rain, too. the big story is the winds as the storms continue to push through the pacific northwest. strong and damaging winds. even more snow, feet of snow possible at the high elevations. here is our wind warnings and advisories. the warnings are in the purple. that's the entire coastline of northern california, all of it to the pacific northwest. power outages are possible throughout the day with some of ose strongerth on and off periods of rain. temperatures cool in the 50s

with those windy conditions. >> of course, all eyes on mara lago where president trump is located. a beautiful shot of the sunrise there in florida. gorgeous, isn't it? >> really nice as we wake up this morning getting ready for the meeting with chinese president xi jinping. remembering one of hollywood's biggest stars, plus history will be made in washington with the addition of a new supreme court justice. that's next. the smoother the skin, you are in it. so find a venus smooth that contours to curves, flexes for comfort, and has a disposable made for you. skin smoothing venus razors. venus

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aside from the investigation leading into russia's meting in the u.s. election. bipartisan house ethics committee announced it would investigate whether nunes illegally reviewed classified information when he saw intel reports that saw trump transition officials were picked up in the surveillance of foreigners. nunes called the ethics complaint, quote, entirely false and politically motivated. >> 23andme can market home dna tests directly to consumers to test genes that put them at risk for serious medical conditions. customers today $200 test on line and send back a saliva sample tested for markers which could be associated with one of 10 diseases or conditions. one of those they do not look for is cancer. >> that's difficult. do you want to know? what can you do about it moving forward. remembering the life of a comedic legend. you're watching "early today." starting thursday at kohl's

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>> many will agree he was one of the funniest men of his time. comedian don rickles known for his big mouth and verbal assault, qualities that endeared him to generations. >> rickles died at his home at the age of 90 after a long career. lester holt has a look back at the life of this comedic legend. >> quite a night. welcome mr. warmth, don rickles.

>> the only thing truly warm about don rickles were his sizzling insults, a master at the comedic putdown. >> what is your ancestry? >> honduran. >> i'm in the business 25 years i don't have a joke for a jerk that's honduran. >> yes, he went there. before went there was a thing. >> you think insult humor is the easiest to come up with? >> standing next to you, it is. >> don rickles didn't really tell jokes. >> i started making fun of the guy that yelled at me, making fun of the room, making fun of the people around me. and then it became a putdown thing. >> he credited his rise to another master of humor, johnny carson, and more than 100 appearances on his show. >> when i hit johnny's show, the whole world knew me. >> no. >> give me a break. i'm so lonely. >> even before a president he didn't hold back. >> it's a trait for me to fly all the way to california to be

here for this kind of money. >> rickles appeared on the silver screen and later the animated screen, in "toy story." >> what are you looking at you hockey puck? >> rickles perfected the secret sauce of making people laugh not just at his humor but at themselves. >> he used what we all aspire to be. >> no matter what he said, you always knew it came with a wink. because he knew that we knew it was all in good fun. >> i'd like my family to know i was a good father and a good husband. and i'd like the public to know that i was laughing along with them. >> just ahead, watching your money. how the world markets are reacting to the u.s. air strikes in syria. cnbc's landon dowdy joins us next. you're watching et et. but for both of them, the most challenging opponent was... pe blood clots in my lung. it was really scary. a dvt in my leg.

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creamy, crunchy, chocolatey, hershey's. packed with cookies or almond pieces. hershey's has the taste you love in every bite. >> back to the u.s. air strikes in syria and what, if any, effect it's having on global markets and the price of oil. landon dowdy has those answers. >> good morning. the global markets appear to be taking the news of the u.s. missile strike in syria in stride. u.s. stock futures fell sharply when first announced but have come well off its lows. europe is just marginally lower this morning. oil prices initially soared but have gains as there seems to be no immediate threat to supplies. some investors flock to

so-called safe haven assets on the geopolitical concerns, gold hitting a five-month high overnight. the other key for the markets today, the u.s. jobs report. a job growth expected to have slowed partially due to the impact of the major snowstorm in the northeast. facebook wants to use artificial intelligence to improve your private messages. the app will use ai. the feature, part of facebook's digital assistant called m can suggest if you book an uber or send money to a friend based on whatever you're talking about, guys. >> maybe a little too much tmi right there. cnbc's landon dowdy. thank you. president trump's summit with the chinese leader, will it be overshadowed by the air strikes in syria. you're watching "early today." rl

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let's take you to paris. this goes intricate gore of could be worse, could be better. that's presidential candidate that got flour bombed in a campaign event thursday. he got it right in the face, too. that's francois fill lon, he joked that he hoped the flour was french. let's stake you to the weekend forecast. watching the big storm system with high winds throughout the day. things will improve as that storm kicks to the north. by saturday, we see a piece of that into areas of california, into northern and central portions of the rockies with some showers and also some wet weather. keeping temperatures cool in the inner mountain west. sunday is the best day of the

weekend for our friends on the west coast. >> looking forward to it. as the world reacts to the strikes in syria, president trump has a full day ahead featuring more discussions with chinese president xi jinping. nbc's edward lawrence is live for us in d.c. certainly a lot on the president's plate today to end the week. >> some very heavy meetings actually. coming up in three hours, an expanded bilateral meeting with the chinese president basically talking and trade, a big issue that comes up. it's interesting that this attack or the missile strike happened while the chinese president was here. this shows the chinese president that donald trump will follow through on some of the things he says. it might change a little bit the conversation that's going on there. also expected to come up is north korea. at lunchtime there's going to be a short break, then lunchtime they'll have a working lunch, the two of them. in between president donald trump will be checking the reaction from around the world to this strategic missile strike. yasmin. >> thank you, edward. fast forwarding into friday, the

senate expected to vote on and pass the nomination of judge neil gorsuch to the supreme court. this comes after senate republicans invoke the nuclear option which allows the nominee to pass a procedural vote with a simple majority of 51. 32nd annual rock 'n' roll induction ceremony takes place. joan baes, electric light orchestra, also journey, pearl jam and tupac shakur. can we have a karaoke party right now, when it comes to those inductees? >> my favorite is tupac shakur, that takes me back to the college days. >> sky watchers, be sure to grab your telescopes, weather permitting, your best chance to see jupiter as it makes its closest approach to our own planet this year. get this, only 416 million miles away, just a mere 416. thanks for watching "early today." i'm yasmin vossoughian.

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right now, 94:30, a microclimate weather urlurt. check out the radar along the golden gate bridge. look at san jose this morning. pretty soggy out there. we're tracking the rain and pretty strong winds reported overnight. thanks for joining us. you made it to friday morning. i'm laura garcia-cannon. >> i'm sam brock. i like that message. by the way, we're tracking a major fire in san francisco where there are injuries to report. pete is on scene. we'll check in with him in a few minutes. >> but first, this rain that came just as you said it would. >> you know, the winds were really strong. >> howling. >> okay, can you believe this? mt. diablo had a wind gust of 74 miles per hour. you know, we were all feeling it overnight. the winds are starting to diminish. we'rels