it's friday, april 7th. i'm alex witt alongside ayman mohyeldin. we begin with breaking news. the united states has launched cruise missile strikes against a syrian air base. at roughly 8:40 eastern time last night, 59 tomahawk missiles were launched from "uss ross" and "uss porter," targeting the shayrat airfield near the city of hchloms before dropping cheml

weapons on city of idlib. autopsies supervised by world health organization conducted on three victims showed sarin gas was most likely used. the target of last night's strike is the same location where prior to 2013 the assad regime stored its chemical weapons stockpile. >> tonight i ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria from where the chemical attack was launched. it is in this vital national security interest of the united states to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. 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. >> now, the pentagon says the strikes were intended to deter the regime from using chemical weapons again and targeted syrian aircraft and infrastructure, including fuel supply storage, ammunition supplies and defense and radar systems. an initial assessment shows the strikes severely damaged or destroyed syrian aircraft and support infrastructure. the department of defense shows extraordinary measures were taken to avoid civilian casualties and no personnel were targeted. a syrian military spokesman is saying this morning that at least six people on the ground were killed. national security adviser h.r. mcmaster also says steps were taken to avoid hitting sarin gas stockpiles. now, syria's ally, russia, also operates out of that shayrat airfield. their forces received warning of the strikes through secure channels. >> joining us here medal of

honor recipient, colonel jack jacobs. good to have you with us. i know its been a long night for you. weave gotten initial reaction from the kremlin and russian president vladimir putin saying the u.s. air strikes amount to an aggression against a sovereign state. are we entering now into full confrontation with russia inside syria and diplomatically? >> no, i don't think so. i think we want to talk to them diplomatically, but militarily, not likely. this is a tactical strike. it's not meant to nor could it affect in any way the arc of the battle inside syria. it was for one purpose and one purpose only -- well, maybe more than one purpose. certainly there was a domestic political component. president trump had to act because he had castigated president oba by sg he drew a line in the sand, didn't do anything. then he drew a line in the sand and he had to act. the principle reason was to make sure that the -- to convince

syrians not to use poison gas again. but that's a tactical objective. and over the longer term it's not going to change what takes place on the ground or in the air. >> what's the expected reaction from russia on this? you've been in this business for a long time. what will be the verbiage coming out? should there be any concerns? >> i don't think so. remember, putin has a domestic political component to everything he says and does, so therefore the responses we've already seen and heard from the russians conform with that. what actually might take place, if we're clefver, are discussios are russians on how we can all work to solve the problem there. that's going to be extremely difficult to do because we have to be extremely skilled in doing it. what you hear from the russians and the syrians, as a matter of fact, is exactly what one -- and the iranians as well as, exactly what one would expect in these

circumstances. >> does this air strike bring us any closer to the end of the syrian civil war? we're talking 500,000 people dead. some are looking at this saying u.s. is reacting for 100 syrians killed in a chemical attack. hundreds are dying every single day, not as a result of a chemical attack. what does that do to change that die nam snik. >> a greater number were killed by chemical attacks before ask half a million people dead during this long war. the short answer, no this doesn't bring us any closer to a resoluti resolution. this was just a tactical strike to achieve some military and political objectives. you may not hear any more about it in the weeks going forward. >> how do you expect this strike to be interpreted by bashar al assad? >> well, that's an interesting question because he could interpret it to say, you know what, if this is all they're going to do and they're not going to keep doing it, i can do anything i want to but i have to

stop short of using chemical weapons and there won't be any further chemical weapons used. don't forget also that assad doesn't do anything by himself. at the top of the military food chain is a large group of general who is have a real interest in what takes place inside syria and may, in fact, be calling the shots here. so, it's not just assad here. it's the generals at the top of the food chain. yeah, he's going to say, i can do whatever i want as long as i don't use chemical weapons. >> colonel, great to see your perspectiv perspectives. the air strike has drawn mixed reaction from members of the congress. paul ryan called the action, quote, appropriate and just. senators john mccain, lindsey graham said in a joint statement, unlike the previous administration, president trump confronted a pivotal moment in syria and took action. for that he deserves the support of the american people. senator marco rubio said the air strike achieved an important objective.

>> tonight is not symbolic. i think it has strategic value to it. the question is, what happens next? is there a comprehensive plan to follow this up? what i hope happens is conditions for alternative for assad to emerge. i don't think syria will be a stable, u.n. tear government in any time in the future but i think we can take steps to provide alternatives to assad's role. >> not every republican supported last night's strike, however in a series of tweets senator rand paul said the president needs congressional authorization for military action as required by the constitution. our prior interventions in the region have done nothing to make us safer and syria will be no different. on the democratic side, senate minority leader chuck schumer had praise for the strikes, saying in part, making sure assad knows when he commits such despicable atrocities, he'll pay a price is the right thing to do. but he called on trump to come up with a strategy on syria and consult congress.

house minority leader nancy pelosi called the military strike a proportional response. and chris coons said he was encouraged and also concerned, writing president trump must seek authorization from congress. senator tim kaine said president trump's failure to seek congressional approval is unlawful. coming up on "morning joe," senators john mccain, marco rubio, chris coons and mike lee will join in on the discussion later this morning. earlier this morning the president said the chemical attack changed his attitude toward bashar al assad. now with the air strike it seems the president completed his reversal. in july 2015 he quoted, we should stay the hell out of syria. the rebels are just as bad as the current regime. what will we get for our lives and billions? zero. two months later, quote, don't attack syria. an attack that will bring nothing but trouble for u.s. on making our country strong and great again. then tweets demanding president obama get congressional approval

before any attack on syria. saying it would be a big mistake if he doesn't. and warning about a possible long-term conflict. now, during the campaign president supported the idea of safe zones to protect civilians but warned against direct u.s. military action. in fact, here he is just days before the election taking aim at hillary clinton. >> now she wants to start a shooting war in syria in conflict with a nuclear-armed russia could could very well lead to world war iii. russia is heavily armed. doesn't like her. putin does not respect her, doesn't like her. what are we doing, folks? she's a mess. >> last night president trump addressed previous policy towards syria while calling on the international community to rise to the occasion. >> years of previous attempts at changing assad's behavior have all failed and failed very dramatically.

as a result, the refugee crisis continues to deepen and the region continues to destabilize, threatening the united states and its allies. tonight i call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end this slaughter and bloodshed in syria. >> joining us now from beirut, lebanon, nbc news matt bradley. good morning to you. let's talk a little bit about how our allies are responding and in some cases our enemies. iran taking one side of the divide in syria. what's the initial read in the region? >> reporter: as you mentioned, this is a shark tank donald trump is wading into right now. this maiden voyage into the middle east, he inherited a lot of these conflicts but he'll be poking at a lot of our allies in the region and enemies in what is already a very tense

diplomatic game. of course, the russians have been very, very critical of this and they've already suspended what was kind of a hot line between u.s. forces and russian forces. a deconfliction phone line. this is the phone line the united states used to inform the russians they were going to be launching strikes against assad's regime in the first place, late last night. it sounds like, according to the associated press, this will be suspended. it seems as though so many people in the region are seeing this for what it might look like for a lot of lawmakers and politicians in the united states. that donald trump's words, his bell akoes language, had painted himself into a corner. they see this as a little more than a warning shot, a shot across the bow of the assad regime. they're not expecting this to continue. but they are condemning it for what it is now, which is a new element, a new fight in this war. a new wrinkle in a conflict that

already contains so many different elements and so many different people fighting each other. >> matt, i want to ask you a question here. mcmaster and tillerson both made it very clear when you mentioned russia, they did not seek permission, correct? they informed russia what they were doing. talk about the difference there and how russia will interpret that. >> reporter: well, of course, when russia actually started intervening on this in iraq, they actually sent a diplomat to the united states embassy in baghdad. this was, i believe, back in 2015 and did the same thing. they simply informed the americans they were going to start launching air strikes. this was something -- i'm sorry, in syria, not in iraq. and this is the way things are done between the united states and russia. now, this time they used the hot line, united states used the hot line to inform russia they were launching air strikes against assad regime bases. we've seen the air strikes and weave seen the result in russian television footage and syrian

television footage. this is kind of the diplomatic norm as it was set by russia several years ago, to not ask permission but to tell. >> thank you. >> matt bradley live for us in lebanon this morning. still ahead, president trump meets with chinese president xi kicking off a high-stakes summit where discussions will include north korea's nuclear threat. intel chair devin nunes is recusing himself from his committee's investigation into meddling. also, a check on weather when we come back. hey allergy muddlers

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welcome back, everyone. we're following breaking news out of syria this morning. last night the united states took military action launching 59 missiles at a syrian air base. the u.s. military says it was in response to what it believes was syria's use of a banned chemical weapon. president trump is calling the strike vital to the national security interests of the united states. we'll be following this story

throughout the morning as it develops. meantime, the president was wrapping up his evening with chinese president xi when the syria strike launched last night. the summit between the president and his chinese counterpart kicked off with a dinner at mar-a-lago. president trump took a positive tone while discussing the united states' relationship with china. >> we've had a long discussion already. so far, i have gotten nothing, absolutely nothing. but we have developed a friendship, i can see that. and i think long-term we're going to have a very, very great relationship and i look very much forward to it. >> both leaders ignored reporters' questions about north korea, but the topic is expected to be discussed today. in just a few hours, the senate is set to hold a final vote on the confirmation of supreme court nominee neil gorsuch after republican leaders invoked an historic rules change that will now likely alter how the chamber conducts business

moving forward. that final vote is set to take place around 11:30 eastern. yesterday in a vote every republican and three democrats voted in favor of breaking the filibuster of gorsuch, after mitch mcconnell triggered the so-called nuclear option following his address to colleagues on the historic use of that tactic. >> the democratic leader has mouss muchlt sed openly about holding this seat open for an entire presidential term. we will not allow it their act to take hold. mr. president, this will be the first and last partisan filibuster of a supreme court nomination. >> following the proceedings, senator mcconnell was captured leaving the senate floor,

fighting back a smile as he gave a thumbs up to reporters. meanwhile, his republican colleague senator john mccain, who voted in favor of using the nuclear option, lamented the move. >> i think it's a bad -- a very sad day for the senate because we have now destroyed 200 years of tradition of requiring 60 votes, which meaning you have to have bipartisan approach to these issues and these appointments. and i think we're on a slippery slope. >> reporter: how did you feel about having to cast that vote given all of your reservations? >> i didn't like it. >> coming up on "morning joe," senator john mccain will discuss his decision to support the nuclear option to confirm neil gorsuch. reaction yesterday as the chairman of the house intelligence committee devin nunes temporarily recused himself from leading the chamber's russian meddling investigation. the california republican's surprise announcement -- the committee is aware that nunes

may have made unauthorized disclosures of classified information in violation of house rules, law, regulations or other standards of conduct. the move is officially in response to a request from groups like democracy 21 and crew after nunes' public comments about foreign surveillance reports in disclosing the incidental surveillance of trump transition officials. nunes said the charges from left-wing activist groups are entirely false, politically motivated and are being leveled just as the american people are beginning to learn the truth about the improper unmasking of the identities of u.s. citizens and other abuses of power. the white house speaker paul ryan praised nunes in his integrity and dedication and announced congressman mike conaway will take the lead in that investigation. we continue to follow the very latest on u.s. air strike in syria. strong storms hammer the south and move up the east coast. today the west coast is bracing

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boost® simply complete™. welcome back. severe storms ravage the eastern united states yesterday. let's start down south where georgia power is reporting 7,000 outages due to high winds. one southern county was hit by a tornado. campers were overturned and at least 14 homes were destroyed according to the local sheriff's

office. as the storm moved north in virginia and parts of washington, d.c., roofs were torn off as homes and trees were uprooted due to 60-mile-an-hour winds there. high winds and 2 inches of heavy rain also whipped through the philadelphia area, tearing off a rooftop of one commercial building there. some in the area actually reported what looked like a funnel cloud but the national weather service has not yet confirmed whether a tornado, in fact, touched down. let's get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, the storm has passed but now we have to deal with the cold weather behind it. >> yeah, at least the airports will improve. we're dealing with a chill and even a little snow. the storm is now exiting up here by quebec, montreal. the rain is all gone. it's even snowing as far as the mountains of north carolina this morning. first week through april and it's a snowstorm in some areas here, near cleveland, erie, up towards buffalo. the roads are mostly above freezing so it will just be wet.

on the grassy surfaces we'll get a little accumulation, including western new york. we've had a couple heavy rain events in a row. where you see the red we have river flooding. a few spots, not widespread. yesterday's rainfall was a little less than expected so that did help. there's still some snow left up in northern new england. we'll get very warm in the beginning of next week so we could have additional problems. this is the satellite showing snowpack. all the snow in maine, new hampshire, vermont. about 2 to 5 feet on the ground so when we get temperatures next week up into 70s, rapid snow melt, we'll have some problem on the rivers. weekend forecast looks like this. a big storm coming from the west. they had nasty winds last night in california. that will spread to the north. it's very cool, especially tomorrow morning all the way down into areas of the southeast. a chilly day. then as afternoon temperatures warm up, it will be okay. all the warmth in the middle of the country. here's the good news, by the time we get to sunday, it spreads to the east coast.

monday and tuesday look even warmer than that. you know what, a nice calm after a very busy and active weather pattern. >> yes, much appreciated. still ahead, we of course continue to follow the breaking news as the united states has carried out a missile strike against a syrian air base following a suspected chemical weapons attack on civilians. we'll have the very latest coming up next. even a coupe sou. [woman] so beautiful. [man] beautiful just like you. [woman] oh, why thank you. [burke] and we covered it, november sixth, two-thousand-nine. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ ♪...nausea, heartburn,♪ indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea!♪ nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea!♪ here's pepto bismol!

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welcome back, everyone. i'm alex witt alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. we continue to follow the breaking news on those u.s. air

strikes in syria and two other big stories. president trump and chinese president xi jinping are expected to start discussions today at the mar-a-lago estate. u.s. is concerned about chinese trade practices and president trump is expected to urge his counterpart. senate will hold final vote on confirmation of neil gorsuch after mitch mcconnell invoked a so-called nuclear option to break a filibuster. final vote is set to take place around 11:30 a.m. the big story this morning, the u.s. air strikes in syria. >> roughly went down around 8:40 eastern time last night. 59 tomahawk missiles were launched from "uss ross" and uss porter targeting the shayrat

airfield, where syrian aircraft took off before dropping chemical weapons on idlib tuesday, killing dozens of children. >> using a deadly nefsh agent, assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. it was a slow and brutal death for so many. even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. no child of god should ever suffer such horror. tonight i ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria from where the chemical attack was launched. >> joining us here on set, retired army veteran, medal of

honor recipient and msnbc military analyst, colonel jack jacobs. what happens from your perspective from the u.s. and -- what will their response be? >> at the end of the day, what's really important is we have a strategy and at the moment we do not have a strategy. we shouldn't confuse this attack, which was very limited in scope, so only on one target, with a strategic strike, at one point, one of the senators said it was a strategic strike. it was not. it was a tactical strike. and it's entirely possible -- as a matter of fact, it's probable it won't have any effect over the long term in syria. >> may i ask you the difference, strategic strike, tactical strike? >> well, for it to be a strategic strike it has to be --

it has to be one of the steps in the accomplishment of a long-term strategic objecttive. this is not and it's not because we don't have a strategy. h.r. mcmaster's job, the reason he was hired to be the national security adviser to the president was specifically to structure a strategy. not just for syria, not just for the middle east, but in general for the united states of america to designate what our objectives are in every area of the world and how we're going to achieve them. he has a lot of work to do because we don't have much in the way of strategic objectives and that's his job to figure it out. in the meantime, you know, the purpose of launching the strike is to convince assad not to use chemical weapons anymore. if that's all it's designed to do, it's probably achieved its objective. >> a one-off tactical strike? >> so far it looks like a one-off.

>> you have inside syria, a man the president is determined to hold onto power at any cost. this is not going to change the dynamics on the battlefield one way or the other. you won't see the rebel groups somehow ep emboldened because they've come out and welcomed this statement. the largest armed rebel group has come out and said, look, any attack that slows down the killing of civilian syrians, even if it's from america, we welcome it. >> over the long term it won't change much. it's not just assad on a slippery slope, who's just holding on, it's his entire chain of command, the people at the top of the military food chain. they are empowering each other. so, at the end of the day, when you talk about regime change in syria, it's not just assad. it's the way in which business is done by the alluoite

majority. the only way that will change is if a multitude of international actors, including united states and russia, but so far we haven't decided we're going to do it. >> there was some conflicting signals suggesting president assad should go. the u.s. saying we're not going to necessarily commit to that. rex tillerson saying it's up to the syrian people. in the press conference in florida, he had a comment that a lot of people interpreted as an interesting comment, to say the least, when he said steps are under way to remove assad. is it now this administration's policy that they want to see president assad of syria go? and is tonight the first step in that process? >> i think the short answer is probably yes. he also said something else that was interesting when he latched onto the notion effectively lecturing the russians that they were backing the wrong side. if you put those two things together, you have to come to

the conclusion that our objectives have changed with respect to that and we're going to work to make sure the assad regime is going, which is actually big news for this administration. >> so, big picture perspective here, jack, when we talked about the syrian rebel group that was applauding this and saying this was great and supporting the u.s. strike, a lot of the problem in syria is there are a number of rebel-held groups. there's not a cohesive unit. so choosing with whom the united states wants to ally themselves is very difficult. history would suggest what you choose is good today may not be good a decade from now. >> this is basically a proxy war. we decided we're going to align ourselves with saudi arabia, who's in a battle in the region against iran for influence. so, it's a very fragmented place. it's been said before, it's an extremely complex battle that's going on. so, allying yourself with any

one people is a very bad idea. what you need if you're ever going to have it, is something of a catholic solution, one that encompasses everyone, and that ain't going to happen any time soon. >> i think calling syria a complex situation is an understatement. >> the world's grossest understatement. >> colonel jack jacobs, stick with us. last night rex tillerson said it's important for the u.s. to take some action on behalf of the international community to make it clear using chemical weapons is a violation of international norms. adding, the strike was coordinated with international partners. joining us now from beirut, nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley. matt, let's speak a little about that international response, particularly those coming from our allies in europe as well as in the middle east. who do we know that was made aware of this strike before it happened? who was left in the dark? what does that say about how this is playing out? >> well, ayman, all we know right now is nato forces, the

general said he was informed aheaof t air strike. of course, the russians were informed ahead of the air strike through the using deconflicting hot line that the united states uses to communicate with russian forces over syrian air space in order to avoid, basically, airplanes bombing each other, hitting each other or bombing each other's forces on the ground. so, this says a lot about how this is going to be moving forward because that russian/american link, that hot line, the russians announced today they're going to be suspending it. that's something of a response to an air strike that the russians have said is basically helping out terrorists in syria. now, again, as you mentioned before, saying that the syrian conflict is complicated is very much an understatement. but the reaction that we've heard across the region does kind of fall into the expected categories that you would normally think or expect to see. saudi arabia has voiced fulsome praise for donald trump's intervention, as has turkey.

these are two groups who -- or who countries aligned very much against assad. now, iran, the assad regime and russia have condemned the attack. we have yet to hear from hezbollah here in lebanon. hezbollah being the shia-aligned iranian group which is very much in favor of assad and they have proven to be a decisive factor in this conflict. we'll start to hear more reaction. right now what we're hearing is basically the same alignments, the usual suspects aligned against each other in this region. they've been active and they've been making the kind of statements you'd expect to hear. ayman? >> it's alex again. is there any group outside of those you mentioned, hezbollah, iran, russia, that you would expect to condemn this attack from the united states? is there anyone you think is percolating who will come out and say, bad move? . >> reporter: we -- i wouldn't necessarily expect anyone to come out -- any of the

unexpected groups to come out. i mean, we haven't yet necessarily heard from isis. we haven't heard from al qaeda's linked affiliates here in syria or in the region. we have heard from ahrar al sham. they came out and praised the u.s. intervention. that's a little unexpected because they are a hard line islamist group. they've had kind of beneficial arrangements from time to time. again, a hugely, hugely complicated situation. but to have a hard-line islamist group, a very powerful militia group opposed to assad, coming out in favor of u.s. intervention, that is not extraordinary, but it is interesting. it adds a new wrinkle to this already very complex, very confusing conflict. alex? >> matt bradley live for us in beirut, lebanon, thanks. colonel, i want to get your reaction to all of this inside of syria. how do you think this is being

interpreted? do they feel like this may be the united states coming in on their white horse, the cavalry coming in to save the day? >> i hope they don't because we're not going to do it. we're not going to make a commitment -- i know we've got -- we've got american forces on the ground, we have some marine artillery people, special forces and trainers, special operations forces, but we're not talking about tens of thousands of people. we're not going -- i'm pretty sure we're not, i don't think congress is going to permit us to pour a significant number of people in there. so, if the rebels inside syria or the average population inside syria think that the united states is coming to its rescue, they shouldn't hold their breath. >> are you concerned about a retaliatory strike against our u.s. soldiers? >> yeah, you should be concerned. we should be concerned. but i think we're taking appropriate tactical measures to assure it's not going to happen. we have really good intelligence, both overhead and on the ground. we have extremely good tactical protective measures and so on.

but even though we do, it doesn't guarantee that there aren't going to be any casualties. so, the more people you put on the ground, the more likely you are to have a problem, whether things are looking well or they're looking dicey as they are now. >> let's say that the u.s. wants to escalate this in another round. let's say the regime retaliates in some capacity, not necessarily against u.s. but inside syria, what are military planners at the pentagon do next? what does a next round of u.s. attack look like? >> we have a number of targets, and they just picked one to hit with the 59 tomahawks, which sounds like a lot, and it is a lot. you're talking about 59,000 pounds of expsive landing in more or less a relatively small place. but they were all targeted and -- >> double-tapped and -- >> double-taps and so on. it did damage to the things we wanted to do damage to. but we have a lot of other targets there we could attack.

and they're in priority and the priority changes every day. so, as a response if he uses more chemical weapons, we could attack them. but every time this happens, it escalates the problem. and that makes it difficult both for us and other actors in the area. >> colonel jack jacobs, thanks for your insight. coming up next, hillary clinton on the record, the 2016 democratic presidential nominee explains why she lost the election. as we continue to follow the breaking news from syria, listen to what said last night hours before the u.s. launched those air strikes. >> i really believe that we should have and still should take out his airfields and prevent him from being able to use them to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them.

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we're back with the breaking news we've been following from syria. the pentagon releasing video overnight of the u.s. air strike on that syrian air base from which the assad regime is believed to have launched the chemical attacks. after discussing options with his military and national security teams, the president authorized the air strike from his mar-a-lago resort last night, where he is currently preparing for day two of his summit with the president of china. of course, we will continue to follow this breaking news story for you throughout the morning. as the president deals with challenges abroad, more reports of strife inside the white house as senior counselor steve bannon's nationalist vision loses ground to those allied with presidential adviser and son-in-law jared kushner. yesterday bannon denied reports he considered resigning after his removal from the national security council with a xichlt os reporting he's telling associates, quoeshgts i love a gun fight, pointing to his strong support from attorney general jeff sessions and white

house adviser kellyanne conway and stephen miller plus alliances with wilbur ross and treasury secretary stew mnuchin. an anonymous source told axios, steve has developed strong and important relationships with some of the most powerful right-leaning associates. a source told "the washington post," the ultimate argument against him is that bannon isn't making dad look good. in her own words, former presidential candidate hillary clinton is finally sharing her thoughts on what led to her stunning defeat to president trump. at the woman in the world conference yesterday, clinton essentially cited russia, james comey and wikileaks all as factors. >> i am deeply concerned about what went on with russia. and i i think it's important that we all work together, regardless of party or partisanship or anything else,

we start acting like patriotic americans, because a foreign power meddled with our election. certainly masogony played a role. why and what the underlying reasons are is what i'm trying to parse out myself. with men, success and ambition are correlated with likability. so, the more successful a man is, the more likeable he becomes. with a woman, guess what, it's the exact opposite. the outside intervention, the combination of the comey letter on october 28th, wikileaks, which played a much bigger role than i think many people understand yet, had the determinative effect. >> about her own role in the

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we continue to follow the aftermath of last night's attack in syria.

oil futured soared. nancy, help us understand the correlation here. >> oil, as you mentioned, had the most immediate impact on news of the attacks in syria. that's because analysts say many are worried about a broader geopolitical impact, the threat of risk escalation when you consider russia and iran are the major international backers of the syrian regime. this is simply down to gee or political risk. that el ps explain why we've seen a bit of a safe haven flow into other assets including the japanese currency, the yen and gold as well, the prices for gold on the uptick. elsewhere investors would be normally keeping an eye on the u.s. non-farm pay rolls report. the big job number today expected to show an increase of between 170,000 to 180,000 jobs on the month of march. this is a slowdown from the previous month which saw about

235,000. many said this can partly be blamed on weather, when you consider the storm stella hit just in the beginning of the month. look for muted reaction to that. wall street continues to watch the developments surrounding syria. taking a look at twitter. the cerebral network filed a lawsuit to block an order from the department of homeland security that seeks to find out the identity of a twitter user who has been critical of the trump administration's immigration policy. it's@alt.uscis. twitter in its filing said any attempt to find out this identity could be a development with a grave chilling effect on the speech protection of that user. we will continue to keep you updated as well. >> nancy hunger ford live from london, thanks so much. coming up next on "morning

joe," our coverage continues on the breaking news of the u.s. air strikes in syria. senators john mccain, marco rubio, chris kuhn and mike lee joining mika and joe. >> bob woodward and t"the new york times"'tom friedman. "morning joe" just moments away. whatever they went through, they went through together. welcome guys. life well planned. see what a raymond james financial advisor can do for you. tidy cats lightweight with glade clean blossoms. our newest odor fighting scent! gives you the power of choice plus... the power of pleasant. exclusively in lightweight!

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before we toss it over to "morning joe," the stories you'll be hearing about this morning. >> nbc's hallie jackson in palm beach, florida. good morning. >> reporter: louis, good morning to you. the overnight developments in syria overshadows north korea and talks about that nation. with the threat from pyongyang at the top of the agenda here in palm beach with the chinese president, xi jinping who arrived last night. he will only be here a short time today as both he and president trump sit down for discussions on not just north korea but the economy as well. the president juggling a series of international crises this

morning, syria chief among them. >> thanks to hallie jackson. meanwhile, the senate is set to vote on the nomination of supreme court nominee neil gorsuch. >> as we just mentioned a few minutes ago, the march jobs report is out at 8:30 this morning. we'll have those numbers as soon as they cross. it's coming up on "morning joe." that's a wrap for us. i'm alex witt alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. "morning joe" starts right now. >> tonight i order a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria for the chemical attach that was launched. it is in this vital national security interest of the united states to pre vent and deter the spread and use of deadly

chemical weapons. there can be no dispute that syria use of a banned chemical weapon. under the chemical weapons convention and ignored the urging of the u.n. security council. >> president trump pulled the trigger on an attack against syria. last night the u.s. military launched multiple cruise missile strikes against the syrian air base whereas sad launch a criminal attack. >> quote, there is a new sheriff in town. president trump sending a message to friends and foes alike. >> the air strike tops what will be a huge morning on "morning joe." president trump meeting with leader of china, the chair of the house intel