that's our broadcast for tonight and goodnight from msnbc head quarters in new york. over what to do about syria. there are questions over how and when the u.s. will respond to the suspected chemical attack near damascus. >> and we're learning fbi agents who raided michael cohen's office were looking for documents relating to access hollywood tape and what it means for the future of the gop and the 2018 midterms. good morning, everybody. it is thursday, april 12th.

we begin with the latest on syria on monday president trump said he will be making decisions on syria's use of chemical weapons. there was no timetable for this and as the administration continues to drum up sup port from allies for a unified response the war of words between washington and the kremlin continues. ayman, i do understand the president spoke with theresa may possibly building a coalition here. talk to me about what you know on that. >> yeah, there's certainly no doubt that there is a widespread condemnation that is emerging right here in france. there is the contours of a coalition that is beginning to emerge with some of the united

states closest allies including macron. he went a little bit further putting the blame on the u.s. government and they attributed that to the assad regime. now, what kind of response may actually play out? that i think remains to be the question. surprisingly over the past 24 hours it's been somewhat muted here. there has not been any clear indication as to which way france is going to go in this military campaign if in fact one gets unleashed. we do know from the french president is really based on what he's made in public including the saudi crown prince and in that the french president said that if they were to participate in military strikes it would be against chemical weapons installations or depots, not against russia, not against

iran, some of the closest all s allies, so a lot of questions right now as to how closely the french and the u.s. is going to be working in this about a possible military strike. no doubt france has some military assets in the region. >> and it's interesting that you bring up what macron said could be feezly france's option here, when they laid down that strike on the airfield in syria where those chemical weapons were to originated, it seems a year has passed and it appears nothing has changed. it doesn't seem it worked to strike an airfield like that. >> that is the question now is what is the united states that's going to change the dynamic. they don't want to be in this situation in a couple of months or a year from now. they want to send a strong

message, but how far are they willing to go to get involved in the civil war militarily because there have been stronger defense systems. we've known that could possibly pose a position to any of the military positions that are going to be participating in some sort of strike. i want to get so tom soer news now. federal investigators are looking into information as the scope of the search warrant involving michael cohen is wider than first believed. cohen was in contact with executives as they $150,000. cohen's communications about the payment to mcdougal and a separate mamt were part of the search warrant. investigators are also seeking

any of cohen's communications involving the access hollywood tape, a 2005 recording which president trump bragged that he could kiss and grope women. and yesterday the white house reacted to reports about the scope of the cohen search warrant done by federal prosecutors in coordination with bob mueller's team. watch this. >> if the mueller investigation has nowmorphed from looking at russian collusion to an illegal campaign contribution by the president's personal attorney, does the president consider that that the mueller investigation has strayed outside of its mandate. >> the president has very deep concern of the direction of the special counsel and others have taken. this investigation took off about russia collusion which there was none and the president has spoken at length on this

topic. >> and house speaker paul ryan has added his name to the long least that he would not seek re-election. he announced he would not seek re-election saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. >> what i realize is, if i'm here for one more term, my kids will only have ever known me as a weekend dad. i just can't let that happen. my dad died when i was 16. the age my daughter is. and i just don't want to be one of those people looking back at my life thinking i spent more time with my kids which i know if i spend another term they will only know me as a weekend father. i really do not belief whether i stay or go in 2019 will affect a person's individual race for congress. i don't think it's going to hinge on whether paul ryan is speaker or not.

>> good to talk to you this morning. thanks for joining us to so early. we understand this sort of scope of the search into the communications between prtesidet trump and michael cohen is much wider than originally thought. what does this mean for the direction of the mueller investigation overall? >> i think there was some expectation that it would not be as narrow as it was originally presented and that's because we often see that in terms of these investigations. quite frankly we saw that in the investigation into former bill clinton's conversations and dealings with the monica scandal. how closely tied he was to the campaign and the real desire to see if there were any funds illegally used to settle situations involving not only stormy daniels but karen

mcdougal. >> i want to switch to paul ryan to step down as speaker. he is obviously announcing he's stepping down in january. he's got eight more months on the job to hear. where does this leave the republican party? it seems as if paul ryan seems to think it's not going to affect the midterms or the gop going forward. >> that was a surprising statement to make considering that paul ryan is arguably one of the best fundraisers for republican candidates and incumbents to be in congress. so his absence to convince people to get behind some people hoping to be in politics will change things. i mean, there is an argument to be made that paul ryan is why trump happened and so to see his absence, his not being on the ground to move the party forward

and achieving trump's agenda could send this party the gop as a whole in a different direction especially considering that as many as 50 seats could be up for election this fall. >> i'll talk to you again at the bottom of the hour. we want to turn back now to our top story. the response to the assad regime's most recent use of chemical we tons. mattis addressed where things currently stand. watch this. >> have you seen evidence for this chemical attack? >> we're still assessing the intelligence ourselves and our allies we're still working on this. ? is the u.s. mailitary ready to - >> we stand ready for military options as the president

determines. >> and certainly the question is whether or not france is going to participate in any particular -- you had the french president release the schedule. macron's agenda for the day and there's some suggestion that there could be some military response in the day. to oversee how those military options play out and control, which is the kind of flight control system over the eastern mediterranean. they sent out a tweet yesterday. possible military activity in the next 72 hours but as we mentioned the complex battlefield involved some of syria's closest allies. for more on that perspective and certainly what the iranian government views, let's cross over now to nbc for more.

>> reporter: good morning, ayman. well, the iranians had warned the israeli attack on the air base in syria would not go unpunished. the senior representative to the supreme leader who's the supreme leader's advisor on all foreign affairs had shown up in syria the day before yesterday speaking to arab media there. he said the response is not going to go unpunished. you have to bear in mind that iran has to say some of these things right now. they haveorceful. they've invested a lot of capital in syria but i very much doubt iran wants to get involved in any sort of conflict right now. there's a lot of moving parts in i rap. the economy is not doing well and the nuclear deal is coming up for certification in about a month so the iranians don't want

to rock the boat too much. >> and given the fact that there are iranian troops on the ground, the french military response would be very mindful, what is the likelihood in terms of an iranian military response internally within syria should something of that caliber happen of a military strike on potentially another base not necessarily from israel but from the united states and its allies? >> well, i think you would have to be very significant and very prolonged for iran to want to get involved. if it was going to be isolated to one or two attacks over two days it's unlikely iran would retailuate, but if this did seem to become a regime change i don't think the iranians would have much choice but to respond.

about 7 iranians were killed in the attack on the t 4 base a few days ago. iran hasn't responded. they had huge funeral processions today chanting death to america but it would be very significant for iran to get involved. >> all right. thank you very much for that and you get a sense really of how compl complex that battlefield looks like should they carry out a military strike and whether or not it is going to be sustained or a one off strike like we saw last year. something has to happen to deter the syrian president from doing another chemical attack. >> it's the reason why so many are on edge as we await what may or may not happen in that area. thank you. >> still ahead. steve bannon is reportedly

pushing a plan to stop the investigation. and plus a check on your weather when we come back. just another day on the farm. or is it? this farmer's morning starts in outer space. where satellites feed infrared images of his land into a system built with ai. he uses watson to analyze his data with millions of weather forecasts from the cloud,

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earlier this year president trump said steve bannon had quote lost his mind and now the former cheeief strategist is seeking to take down the bob mueller probe. in which the first step is to fire deputy ag rod rosenstein. he also suggests the trump administration must end its cooperation with bob mueller. a relation shape that ty cobb has called beneficial. there have been no subpoenas, this has gone in a very smooth way. now according to the post,

advisors are said to be alarmed by suggestions to fire rosenstein or mueller, warning that it could cause a constitutional crisis. a guy leaning on the mop may be the guy that ends up firing mueller one person said. >> let's get a check on the forecast. but as many people usually say, nothing is free. >> that's a really good point. we do have a really nice forecast for some and we have big differences for other parts of the country. so let's talk about right now, above freezing for many spots. we will take this warmth and look at what happens as we go throughout the afternoon. that ridge of high pressure really builds in. that jet stream allowing all that warm air in and we're going to see temperatures very summer like in some spots. shorts and short sleeves in

cases today. oklahoma stay 86 degrees. some spots reaching the mid-90s but look to the west. this is a very classic spring setup. that very cold air to the north and west. some snow, some rain today and then down to the south we have that warm moist air and that's going to cause a big problem tomorrow. we're going to watch the potential for a setup where we will see severe weather in the central and porn plaisouthern p. even up to 2 feet in the highest elevations and this will continue. you can clearly see where that sold front will move tomorrow. this is on friday. then by saturday we're going to see it trek off to the east and that will bring the potential for severe weather further to the east. even could see a few tornados so we're going to continue to watch

this today and also tomorrow. >> a lot of people on the east coast looking for ward to that weather ahead. >> i can't wait. >> still ahead, two big brawls on the ball field. we've got the video next in sports. whether it's a big thing, small thing, or something unexpected, pnc will be right there when you need us. because when it comes to your finances, if you focus on today, tomorrow has a way of working itself out.

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players are ejected from the game. the rockies would go on to win this one 6-4 but look at that. they are not letting up and fists are flying. the yankees and the red sox would have their own brawl. the dugouts cleared after austin charged the mound afz being hit by a pitch in the 7th. both austin and kelly were ejected. the yankees would go on to win this one 10-7. perhaps the heated rival rivalry is back. >> i don't think it ever went away, to be honest. >> must be something about the warm weather in the spring. >> yeah. still ahead, president trump's mixed messages on syria from a 48 hour deadline to respond to the latest chemical attack to now having no deadline. is the president being unpredictable or indecisive? >> now another republican

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welcome back, everybody. let's start the the top stories on monday. president trump said he would be making major decisions in response to the assad regime's most recent use of chemical weapons. now the white house say there is

is no set time line for action and deliberations continue. >> the president like you said and actually answered my question for me has not laid out a timetable and he has a number of other options as well and we're considering all of those options and a number of different timetables of what we would not look like. >> so the 48 hour timetable is out the door like he said monday? >> in a public sense, the president has not laid out a timetable and still leaving a number of other options on the table and we're still considering those and a final decision has not been made. >> jim mattis was at the white house yesterday and he addressed where things currently stand. >> have you seen evidence for this most recent attack? >> we're still assessing the intelligence ourselves and our

allies. we're still working on this. >> is the u.s. military ready to conduct a retaliatory strike if ordered? >> all right. the u.s. continues to drum up support from allies for a unified response. fro france put forth its support. france appears to now be on board after presenting new evidence assad is to blame for the attack. the prime minister has ordered submarines to move within striking distance of syria. the syrian observatory writes it has evacuated airports and military bases ahead of a possible strike. yesterday, president trump appeared to lay down the gauntlet on twitter.

nice and new and smart missiles are headed to syria. >> the president holds syria and russia responsible for this chemical weapons attack. >> is the white house prepared for the possibility of direct military engagement with russia. >> once again all options are on the table and i don't havefully -- >> i just want to be clear. >> a final decision hasn't been made but we'll keep you posted once it is. >> does the president now believe that russia has firmly bla established itself as an enemy of america? >> so of course russia is responding to the president's threats on facebook. a russian foreign ministry wrote that quote, smart missiles should fly toward terrorists and not the legitimate government. and putin's press secretary was quoted as saying quote, we do not participate in twitter

diplomacy although as the washington post points out they frequently do. >> and back here in the u.s. bob corker of tennessee made this surprising comment about his vote for last year's tax bill during a senate budget committee yesterday. >> this congress and this administration likely will go down as one of the most fiscally irresponsible administrations in congress that we've had. you've talked about the cost of this tax bill and if it ends up costing what has been laid out here, it could well be one of the worst votes i've made. >> and corker's comments come as the congressional budget office is set to top in 2020. they had voted against the tax

bill over concerns added to the deficit, but he joined the legislation backed by the president. and mark zuckerberg faced some more intense questioning. zuckerberg testified before the house energy and commerce committee yesterday. and the ceo was asked on the nuances of facebook's privacy setting and whether his company is properly giving users the information and the tools they need to protect themselves. during the hearing zuckerberg revealed he too was affected by the cambridge analytica scandal. take a listen. >> was your data included in the data sold to the malicious third parties, your personal data? >> yes. >> why wasn't explaining what facebook does with users' data higher priority for you as a

cofounder and now as ceo. >> mr. chairman, you're right that we don't sell any data and i would say that we do try to explain what we do as time goes on. it's a broad system. i do think that we can do a better job of explaining how advertising works. there's a common misperception as you say that is just reported often keeps on being reported that for some reason we sell data. i can't be clearer on this topic. we don't sell data. i do think we could do a clearer job explaining that. >> zuckerberg was also questioned by lawmakers about allegations of anti conservative bias by facebook. >> i do want to ask you about a study that was done dealing with the algorithm that facebook uses to describe what is fed to people through the news feed and what they found was after this new algorithm was implemented

that was a favorable bias toward liberal content. was there a directive to put a bias in and were you aware of this bias that many people have looked at and analyzed and seen? >> congressman, this is a really important question. there is absolutely no directive in any of the changes that we make to have a bias in anything that we do. to the contrary, our goal is to be a platform for all ideas. >> now, facebook's spokes person says that over the two days, he testified for over ten hours and took 600 questions. >> eugene, good to talk to you once again. yesterday was day two for mark zuckerberg on capitol hill there. what do you think were the most surprising takeaways from his second day? >> one of the most interesting things i heard was zuckerberg

a admitting that he has data on people that aren't even on facebook. they're deleting their accounts for the protection of their own privacy and he pretty much revealed that even that perhaps doesn't keep all of the information -- personal aand away from the public that people are hoping that not being on facebook would. >> i'm also wondering, do you think that congress is now going to move to regulate companies like facebook in the weak of zuckerberg's testimony? >> i actually do. i mean, even zuckerberg seemed supportive of it but he seemed concerned over overregulation, but one thing that trump has been really pushing is the deregulation for a lot of businesses that -- business owners say doing business difficult. so it will be interesting to sew what will happen. >> i want to ask you about what bob corker said yesterday which

is con ttroversial stuff. he said his tax bill might be one of the worst decisions that he made. the worst votes that he made. do you think with the recent budget projections could this be a hurdle come midterms? >> absolutely. and that's a sound byte that we should expect to see from democrats. the tax bill while gaining in popularity was not at peak popularity with liberal voters and i think this will reenforce this was not in the interest of the american people as a whole. >> still ahead, another day, the new report on pruitt's bid to make the focus of memorabilia for the agency more about him. and parts of the country dealing with summer like temperatures while others it's more snow. a full check on your forecast when we come back.

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a new report is lighting scott pruitt's mem lo beale ya. he pushed for the overhaul last year during his first few months in office. the times citing that he wanted the epa's challenge coin, a type of souvenir bedmedallion to feae him around the rim. and a bible verse to represent his faith. an epa spokesman told the agency had never ordered redesigned coins. the paper says that he wanted to remove the epa seal and have his

name also featured more prominently but the times said agency officials feared the changes would be too expensive and remove the epa logo would be a breach of protocol. >> hopefully some good weather on the way. >> we do have some good weter for some. today we're pretty quiet. we have that warm ridge of high pressure that's bringing us that summer like weather in parts of the southern and central plains. that jet stream finally lifting up to the north. it's like that roadblock that lifts up and allows all this warm air to come in. that's good news for many across the country. st. louis feeling good at 79. galveston 78 degrees. this will all move off to the east so we'll see warming air over the next several days. tampa 83. atlanta 78 and then by saturday,

enjoy it in the northeast. 78 in new york city. temperatures in philadelphia over 8 odegrees and charlotte looking at 80. here's a different side of the story. warm air to the south and east and to the north and west we're looking at very cold air. rain and snow. we're looking at high mountain snow, the potential for over a foot in some spots. and that will be over the next several days. it's a very slow moving system. so we have warnings, watches in april in these parts. blizzard warning in the purple there so it's going to be a tough go for many over the next couple of days there. i can't believe i'm showing this in april, but over a foot of snow even up to 2 feet of snow in some spots. a lot of rain to the south. 2 to 3 inches locally and we could also see some severe

weather later on this afternoon. this is thing we'll track over the next couple of days. >> we are pulling for you, you are in our thoughts right now. >> we know how it feels. >> still ahead. president trump's twitter taunting russia over syria sending markets in the u.s. into the red. we'll go live to london for a look at how global markets are doing. thanks to the dedicated technicians at the american red cross... who worked with vmware... to develop technologies to help redirect the flow of blood to the areas and people needing it most. helping them recover... and refilling everyone with life-affirming hope. magic can't make digital transformation happen... but we can. that's the power of vmware, part of dell technologies.

let's turn to business. stocks fell 200 points wednesday. after a series of tweets by the president on syria. we're joined live from london and i guess the question is, are go political risks outweighing economic confidence for investors? >> the economy what the federal reserve the doing is the number one issue for investors. it's why volatility has returned to markets and why investors have so vulnerable to trump's tweets and there have been a series of them from north korea, to russian meddling trade talk and now syria and potential conflict. stocks have sold off. oil has spiked to 2014 levels and all this despite the fact that the fed is talking about a stronger economy.

most are talking about the chance of economy growing this year. when it comes to a trade war potential the fed cites this as a potential downside to the economy. they think they'll be another rate hike in june, possibly in september. what about the final one, a forty-one for 2018. >> and we have one more story here. silicon valley's meal replacement drink of choice is now walmarwalmart's. >> it's not the catchiest of names but it has caught on with a turn type of the population. the tech savvy young educated urb urban elite in the silicon valley, they're hoping to go main stream with the product. so when this comes where the company originated from. it was on its own site and also

on amazon. it did have some success in 7-11 stores but walmart is another game altogether, but the whole idea was to replace food with something that is cheap same ne. they've launched a number of different flavors, i think it's going to take more convincing for the foodies amongst us. >> karen cho, live from london. thanks so much. switching gears, a pretty tragic story, 257 people are now dead after a military transport plane crashed in algeria yesterday. it is the worst aviation disaster in the country's history and the deadliest in the world since the malaysian airlines flight was shot down in 2014. it occurred moments after the aircraft took off, crashing south of the capital of algers, most of the people on the plane were army personnel and their families.

30 western issaharan refugees we also on board. witnesses said they saw flames coming from the plane's engines just before take-off. up next, axios has a look at this morning's one big thing. coming up on "morning joe," president trump promised major decisions on syria's suspected chemical attack within 48 hours. all we've gotten is that a twitter warning that missiles will be coming. insight from leon panetta. plus republican congressman jim jordan and tom cole reacting to news of the house speaker's retirement. child: bye, grandpa! and if you have heart failure, entrusting your heart to entresto may help. entresto is a heart failure medicine that helps improve your heart's ability

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or something unexpected, pnc will be right there when you need us. because when it comes to your finances, if you focus on today, tomorrow has a way of working itself out. play [music plays]his". when everything's connected, it's simple. easy. awesome. welcome back, joining us from washington with a look at axios a.m., alexie mccammen. talk about the big thing. >> it's about the biggest

political showdown happening on capitol hill it has nothing to do with trump. it's about the fight for leadership among both democrats and now republicans after paul ryan's announcement yesterday. to figure out who could replace paul ryan as speaker and who could replace nancy pelosi if she ever steps aside. but there's no indication that she's willing to do that. >> talk to me about some names that they're throwing out there. who could be paul ryan's replacement? >> the two names are kevin mccarthy and steven scalise. kevin mccarthy is viewed as the most likely successor for paul ryan. donald trump has considered him to be his chief of staff in the past. but he would have trouble getting the approval from the more conservative members of the freedom caucus. and they're the ones who you would need approval from to replace paul ryan. for nancy pelosi, the reps, are rep crowley, 56 from queens in new york and then steny hoyer, the same age as nancy pelosi.

people talk about replacing nancy pelosi, they say they want younger, fresher faces, but that would change in terms of age if hoyer replaced her. paul ryan's decision to leave congress, he said he plans to re main speaker until january. i know that axios is hearing some republicans, they have plans wanting to see him step aside a bit earlier. >> republicans on the hill think it's untenable for paul ryan to stay in this position through january when they're approaching what everyone knows will be a very competitive mid term election year, why would they want all of these things happening behind the scenes when they're trying to maintain control of the house, which is difficult considering 39 house republicans are not seeking re-election. several republicans have told us that they are expecting paul ryan will actually step down in the summer. sometime between july or a august or people will push him

out. >> we've heard reporting that paul ryan said he wants to spend time with family. are we hearing any other reasons that he may have stepped aside and the time in which he did? >> there's obviously some speculation he was worried he would not be voted again as speaker of the house. his team and republicans maintain he would have safely been re-elected to congress in his first district in wisconsin, but we have seen this energy and enthusiasm among democratic voters across the country, especially for randy bryce, the man running against him. those things were weighing on his mind. though that will never be the public reason that's given for his departure. >> you talk about kevin mccarthy and possibly steve scalise being replacements for paul ryan. president trump fans of both those men. could we see him weighing in on who will be the next speak centre. >> that's the interesting thing. this is a situation that trump revels in, he loves the fights, he loves the drama. if it came down to it and he had to step in, we could expect

that. kevin mccarthy would have a difficult time getting republicans on board, they think steve scalise is more ideologically in line with them. they don't feel the same about kevin mccarthy. trump loves kevin mccarthy. if it came down to it where he needed to intervene and stump for him or show his explicit support for kevin mccarthy, know egg might not win otherwise, we could fully expect trump to do that. >> what do you think the likelihood is that steve scalise will throw his hat in the ring, is it only if kevin mccarthy doesn't get the support he needs? >> that's what we're hearing. if kevin mccarthy looks like he's not going to be able to lock up the speakership, then steve scalise would more than likely throw his hat in the ring. >> we do know that steve scalise could feesly get the support of the freedom caucus over kevin mccarthy. day two of the facebook hearings with mark zuckerberg facing tough questions. after all the pageantry and all the hearings, do you think we're

going to see any sort of action from congress whether it be regulations or not when it comes to facebook? >> the interesting thing, and the main take-away from these two hearings, is that we're no closer to regulation, congress is no closer to regulations on facebook than they were before the hearings started there are many moments that i think are important to note in which lawmakers were propose potential policies and zuckerberg would say, my team will follow up with you on that. now he and his team are obligated to follow up on that. and i think lawmakers showed in their questioning maybe they weren't as informed on facebook and its policies as they need to be. now they have more information to inform potential regulation, and i think they're serious about moving forward on regulation. >> i got to say that was zuckerberg's go-to line there "my team will follow up with you on that." on things he didn't have answers to. we're going to be reading axios a.m. in a little bit. to all our viewers, can you sign up for the newsletter at

axios.com. i'm yasmin vossoughian, alongside louis burgdorf, "morning joe" starts now. we're going to make a decision on all of that in particular, syria will be making that decision very quickly. probably by the end of today. >> it's from the president of the united states a couple of minutes ago, russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at syria. quote, get ready, russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and smart. >> we're still assessing the intelligence ourselves and our allies. >> the president has not laid out a timetable and still leaving a number of other options on the table. and we're still considering the number of those and a final decision on that front hasn't been made. >> the pentagon and white house pump the brakes on the president who said on monday he was nearing a decision on syria. and then on wednesday, he would launch a military attack. all signs still point to a u.s. counterstrike. but as