you know what's not awesome? gig-speed internet. when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party.

morning glory, america. i'm hugh hewitt. if you went to bed early last night and just woke up, you will not know last night air and sea forces of the u.s., great britain and france president trump speaking from the white house at 9:00 p.m. eastern said we are prepared to sustain this response until the syrian regime stomachs its use of chemical agent. an hour later, secretary of defense mattis, joint chiefs of staff, and joe dunford said this was a one-time shot. retired major general joins me to talk about the attack on syria. first to get the view from inside the beltway, especially from the pentagon at 1600 pennsylvania avenue, i'm joined by three of the best reporters in the city. francesca chambers, courtney

kube, and seung min kim. what is the verdict? >> so what was successful so far is they hit the targets they wanted to. there were three. they were going after syrian chemical women's and a command and control site. these were syrian regime targets. we can't forget that. but it seems we still don't have any good sense of how many syrian military may have been killed. it looks like they were not civilian casualties. part of of that was they did this in the middle of the night. command and control site, except for those at the pentagon is generally not going to be staffed in the middle of the night. one thing that is very interesting about this. on friday we started hearing these rumblings that president trump wanted broader options.

he wanted something bigger. secretary is mat tuesday was concerned about the u.s. military. further into this very complex civil war that has so many players. what they did last night was larger than at least we saw april 2017. it was actually very targeted. it was not broad. it went after the syrian regime specifically chemical infrastructure and their copiabilities to do this again. one thing that we also don't have a good accepts osense on. >> francesca, you were at the white house when the president spoke and covering it. what was the mood in the room. do you think there is any chance that this is wag the dog or is this a long set is out, very carefully choreographed attack on an evil monster. >> at first it was a little bit of surprise because the white

house said you can go out and get some food and be back by 7:00 p.m. okay. that's not necessarily a bomb dropping on syria tonight. it became clear as the night went on on this is what would be happening as they started to gather us again as it got closer to 9:00 p.m. it felt like on a friday night something was happening at this point. these are precision strikes. that was the word president trump used. and we're talking about the larger scale that president trump wanted, you could feel that shift throughout the week as president trump said america is very powerful. america has to do something about this, which was very different than what he was saying before the chemical weapons attack before taking 2,000 troops out of syria very soon. >> we had michael cohen, mcclatchey piece. and i tend to believe it means mr. co help was in prague. we'll come back to that. did you sense this was done for

reasons other than to retaliate against the syrian use of chemical weapons? >> i think when it comes to the day on which they happen, you also have to recall that president trump was supposed to be in peru and he was supposed to be in colombia. the white house said he was staying behind to oversee the response to syria. so if he didn't do something over this amount of time he was supposed to be gone through sunday, monday roughly, there would have been questions as to why he pulled out of this foreign trip very suddenly and september vice president mike pence instead is. he spent a lot of his time stewing over the things you just mentioned, tweeting about andrew mccabe and skwraeupl comey. >> it was a strange day. what does congress think of this white house this morning? >> so i think a lot of times it was along the typical lines.

you had push back from democrats and republicans saying these strikes are unconstitutional. the president should have come to congress first. they are worried about a broader conflict in syria. clearly a lot of support for republicans for what they called targeted strikes. what i found interesting is a unifying message, whether you're a supporter or critic of these actions is that congress is seeking a broader strategy from the administration on syria. because of the complexities of the country it is a difficult thing for any administration to lay out. but i can tell you all week congress -- even the key players, were very confused as to what the president was actually planning on doing. i talked with senator bob corker on wednesday when we received these tweets from the president about get ready for missiles or what was going on. and he said he hadn't heard from the white house at all. he himself was confused. and he basically said who knows what they are up to. >> so the element of surprise that the president gave away

with his tweet had returned by last night, courtney. the russians, though, were they surprised or were they notified? what is your understanding? >> so the notification -- the military is very careful to say it was in coordination with the russians. they do notify notify them to avoid a problem in the air. there were manned u.s. and allied aircraft in the air. in an area where they are not usually flying. there were also cruise missiles flying over where russian and syrian military are operating. the u.s. wanted to avoid any kind of problem in the air. they a deconfliction line. they said you're going to want to make sure you're clear from there. >> the level of complexity, france, uk, america, all operating in that small space, tom hawks, british crews missiles, and airplanes from all three countries. how long does it take to put that together?

>> the planning part is more complex than people i think realize. in april 2017 they responded within a matter of a couple days. that was just the u.s. it was less than a week they put this together. while it was targeted it wasn't an expansive campaign. this was a complex campaign. >> michael cohen is said to have been in prague. a year from now we might not talking about these strikes. what does that mean if michael cohen went to prague if the president is dragging deeper into this special counsel probe? >> that is something we will be exploring is as we head into next week as well. we also have another big thing coming up. president trump will be going to florida to meet with shinzo abe

of japan. now we are turning i think for a lot of us who cover the white house, from syria a little bit, to focusing on on that and the conflict in north korea. so i do think some of these other things having to do with the department of justice and having to deal with the president's personal attorney are not going to potentially get as much play as you alluded to. >> when you talk to your source on the hill and the members in both the house and the senate, do they have any sense of this slowing down any time soon? >> oh, absolutely not. >> and paul ryan retired. >> right. and think on of confirmations alone. gina haspel seems to have more problems than pompeo's hearing. we have ronny jackson.

they are worried they might have to confirm a new epa administrator. although scott pruitt seems to be on a little more solid footing these days. but you have the drama with speaker paul ryan's retirement and the jockeying behind the scenes. >> has mccarthy been blessed? >> speaker ryan has blessed him. it looks like it is dying down for now. we have been watching whether they would make a play. >> thank you for coming in on a saturday morning with breaking news. david. what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. that's it? everybody two seconds! "dear sebastian, after careful consideration

of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. the smoother the skin, the more comfortable you are in it. and now there's a new way to smooth. introducing new venus platinum. a premium metal handle boosts control... to reveal up to 100% smooth skin. venus this time, it's his turn. you have 4.3 minutes to yourself. this calls for a taste of cheesecake. philadelphia cheesecake cups. rich, creamy cheesecake with real strawberries. find them with the refrigerated desserts.

[seen it. covered it. n. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ [fbi agent] you're a brave man, your testimony will save lives. mr. stevens? this is your new name. this is your new house. and a perfectly inconspicuous suv. you must become invisible. [hero] i'll take my chances.

you know what's not awesome? gig-speed internet. when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party.

welcome back. i'm hugh hewitt. monday through friday i'm on the salem radio network. saturday mornings i'm on msnbc. all eyes are fix odd syria where the u.s., france and uk struck hard last night. i've asked major general to join me. marine corps. general joe dunford and robert neller, joint chiefs of staff. all four men and thousands more in the american military are very busy this morning, as are those in the forces of our allies. general, welcome. thank you for joining us from charlotte this morning. >> absolutely. good morning, hugh. >> first basic question.

judging from what you saw and have seen, was it a successful exercise last night, the air strikes? >> sure. it sounds like we were able to thread the tactical needles and he we seemed to have an effect on the targets. >> general dunford said there was no coordination with the russians. reports this morning are there was some notification. what's your assessment of this? >> i don't think notification is the same thing as coordination, hugh. and it sounds like we went through the normal procedures just explaining we would be operating in certain airspace so they wouldn't be surprised when aircraft or other things in the air showed up. >> general, you know the complexities of these things. what order of complexity is getting these three to coordinate and execute on these attacks in this time space?

>> actually, hugh, i don't think it's all that difficult given we have been operating with these allies in similar types of operations the last couple of years. the procedures to put aircraft in place to do the deconfliction, to do the timing for weapons on on targets, is pretty standard procedure. and i suspect that once those decisions were made, the specific technical plants were put together quickly. >> general, this is a question about marines running the military right now. the secretary is of defense is a marine germ, chief of staff, marine general. does that change the way that we lean into these do you think we plan these in any significant way? >> well, you have to manage a bit my bias as a marine.

there is a clearly bias towards action. it's ingrained in marines. you hear that in general mattis's speaking. you hear it from general dunford. you get it from general kelly as well. but what you get is clarity on what we're seeking to achieve. the decisions being made are hardly reckless but focused on achieving an outcome. >> general mattis, secretary of defense mattis said this is a one-time shot. less than an hour after they said we're prepared to sustain this. the french foreign minister said if they cross this red line again we will strike again. what is the message you got out of all the input you received yesterday? >> i don't think there's necessarily an inconsistency in that. general mattis is speaking about this particular action and retribution for the recent activities of the syrians. and i think what the president was speaking towards if the

syrians continue this, as well as the french, we could revisit this again. and i don't think that's necessarily difficult to put together from the three different comments that were made. >> let's talk about mr. putin and second order effects. first of all, do you think putin blinked? why did he allow assad to do this in the first place? do you think he blinked and what happened as a consequence second order impacts of these attacks last night? >> the comments to understand why he would do this is confusing. and i suspected he made the decisions unilaterally. i don't know about putin necessarily blinking. i think he got a message the act for us to get these strikes in. if in fact, they didn't have any impact, everything was able to get on target.

if they get involved with us, it is an overmatch in our favor. >> what is the message in pyongyang that was received? the president will meet with prime minister abe this week. and obviously somewhere in pyongyang they were watching and wondering what that telegraphs for our upcoming summit with the north koreans. what do you think? >> well, again, hugh, the message is if we want to go after a target, we're going to be able to get to the target. and i'm not sure there's anybody in the world that can stop is us. you know, there might have to be some other actions. i don't know if we stripped away air defense before with got in the airspace where they were launching the weapons. we know how to do that. we know where the targets are. we know where the defenses are. we we know how to break the systems down in order to get to

where we need to be. >> there is no report yet of any cyber offensive against the syrian or russian capability. i wouldn't be surprised if that comes up later. i want to talk about our vulnerabilities both in the region where american troops are and around the world where hezbollah and iran has operated sleep or cells around the world and it struck outside their borders, iran particularly. what is our threat to our troops? what is the threat level in the united states where only a year ago we arrested a couple of people in new york for being hezbollah sleeper cell agents doing forward planning? >> i'm not sure that threat level necessarily changes because syria is not typically in control of those. so if iran were to make a decision on to activate some of those, they would be doing it on behalf of syria. i'm not so sure they want to escalate a contest with us over our very narrow attacks in

syria. again, if assad made this decision on his own not necessarily in conjunction or coordination and the russians, they may come to the conclusion that guess what he deserves in that. i think there is still more that needs to be learned. >> let's talk a little bit about the day after a major strike like this. we saw sustained campaigns in kosovo and libya. we have seen one-offs before from this president and other places. what is the american military doing this morning aside from assessment of targeting? what happens next? >> i think at this particular point, we're watching the response of the syrians in particular. again, the message from general mattis was that we were going after these particular targets for a particular reason and only going to do it one time. so i think our orientation in addition to the assessments, as you mentioned, are looking to he

see the behavior of the syrians. and if we see them, maybe ignore us and start mustering their chemical agents again, you will see us tool up to go after them one more time. >> the security council meeting, the one i watched before the invasion of iraq, was fascinating yesterday. but the french ambassador to the u.n. actually said the regime reached the end of the line. it has gone past that. there was a lot of apocalyptic rhetoric at the u.n. yesterday. do you think that's justified given what we saw last night, or was this a last-chance warning in force to assad? >> i think it's more the latter, hugh. the people are going to determine the length of the assad regime apart in new york. frankly, i don't know that they're in washington either. i think it is in moscow and tehran that will determine that. >> all right. by the way, the president just

tweeted. he said a performly executed strike last night. thank you to france and united kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine military. could not have had a better result. mission accomplished! now that's an interesting choice of words given it is associated with george w. bush and the early call of victory in iraq. i don't know that the president knew that when he did that. i'll be right back. we're finally back out in our yard, but so are they. the triple threat of dandelions, lurking crabgrass and weak, thin grass! introducing the all new scotts turf builder triple action.

this single-step breakthrough changes everything. it kills weeds, prevents crabgrass for up to 4 months, and feeds so grass can thrive, all guaranteed. only from scotts. our backyard is back. this is a scotts yard. a hilton getaway means you get more because you get a break on breakfast get an extra day by the pool get to spend more time together get more from your spring break getaway with exclusive hilton offers. book yours, only at hilton.com alright, i brought in high protein to help get us moving. ...and help you feel more strength and energy in just two weeks! i'll take that. -yeeeeeah! ensure high protein. with 16 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. ensure. always be you. janice, mom told me you bought a house. okay. [ buttons clicking ] [ camera shutter clicks ]

so, now that you have a house, you can use homequote explorer. quiet. i'm blasting my quads. janice, look. i'm in a meeting. -janice, look. -[ chuckles ] -look, look. -i'm looking. it's easy. you just answer some simple questions online, and you get coverage options to choose from. you're ruining my workout. cycling is my passion. even when nothing else is. keep her receipts tidy, brand vo: snap and sort your expenses with quickbooks and find, on average, $4,340 in tax savings. quickbooks. backing you.

welcome back, america. if you saw the president's tweet moments ago it ended with the term "mission accomplished." i immediately went back to 15 years ago, may 1st, 2003. george w. bush and abraham lincoln with the banner mission accomplished. perhaps not the best choice of words because the mission was far from accomplished in iraq that day. thank you for watching. we hope it goes better in syrian than it did then. keep the conversation going on msnbc. stay with msnbc for the continuing attacks in syria.

more news in a moment. i just got my cashback match, is this for real? yep. we match all the cash back new cardmembers earn at the end of their first year, automatically. whoo! i got my money! hard to contain yourself, isn't it? uh huh! let it go! whoo! get a dollar-for-dollar match at the end of your first year. only from discover.

you wouldn't accept from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase relieves your worst symptoms including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. most pills only block one. flonase. tomorrow, it's a day filled with promise and new beginnings, challenges and opportunities. at ameriprise financial, we can't predict what tomorrow will bring. but our comprehensive approach to financial planning can help make sure you're prepared for what's expected and even what's not. and that kind of financial confidence can help you sleep better at night. with the right financial advisor, life can be brilliant.

is part of a bigger picture. that bigger picture is statewide mutual aid. california years ago realized the need to work together. teamwork is important to protect the community, but we have to do it the right way. we have a working knowledge and we can reduce the impacts of a small disaster, but we need the help of experts. pg&e is an integral part of our emergency response team. they are the industry expert with utilities. whether it is a gas leak or a wire down, just having someone there that deals with this every day is pretty comforting. we each bring something to the table that is unique and that is a specialty. with all of us working together we can keep all these emergencies small. and the fact that we can bring it together and effectively work together is pretty special. they bring their knowledge, their tools and equipment and the proficiency to get the job done. and the whole time i have been in the fire service, pg&e's been there, too. whatever we need whenever we need it. i do count on pg&e to keep our firefighters safe. that's why we ask for their help.

hello, everyone. msnbc world headquarters here in new york. >> we are following today's breaking news on the u.s. military strikes in syria. >> explosions rocked two cities in syria last night moments after president trump announced strikes would be used to punish the syrian regime for last week's suspected chemical attacks on civilians. >> 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. >> moments ago tweeting out a perfectly executed strike last night. thank you to france and the united kingdom for their wisdom and power of their fine