mr. assad's attack. he's used military operations using civilians as a method of accomplishing a military victory and that is against international norms and standards. so this chemical attack is horrific, but it's not the only thing he's done. look at the barrel bombing and look at the thousands of children and women who have been killed, civilians have been killed and hospitals have been targeted. mr. assad cannot remain in syria and the u.s. policy has to be clear about it and last week's comments by the secretary of state was not clear at all. in fact, it was counterproductive. >> this is a crisis that spans administrations, senator, clearly, and does not appear to be getting better. ben card in, thank you so much. >>> an emergency united nations meeting under way. u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nicki haley will speak any minute. what will she say? will she address the concerns of senator cardin? earlier she made it sound like the united states was okay if assad stays in power. and a team of experienced

tim and aggressive state m e nts contradict tim and aggressive statements from mr trump who called mr assad who called mrassad and animaland statements from mr trump who called mr assad and animal and mr spicer who compared assad with hitler with the caveat that hitler never used chemical weapons. how do these uttera nces chemical weapons. how do these utterances facilitate diplomacy and how and when will the rhetoric change? i think the perspective from the united states supported by the facts that we have are conclusive that the recent chemical weapons attack carried out in syria was planned and it was directed and executed by syrian regime forces and we're quite confident of that. this isjust the latest in we're quite confident of that. this is just the latest in a we're quite confident of that. this isjust the latest in a series of use of chemical weapons by the assad regime. notwithstanding their use on more than 50 occasions of chlorine bombs, cluster bombs and other types of weapons that are intended to maim and kill in the most horrific ways. so, ithink and kill in the most horrific

so, i would hope that the trump administration would not give any credibility that mr. assad -- president assad has any legitimacy to remain as the leader of syria. >> all right. let me ask you one quick question on a random topic, one i'm profoundly interested in, the nation of south sudan which is in the midst of a civil war. people are starving there. it's incredible the number of people who are starving. and do you have -- should the u.s. get involved in south sudan? >> i think we have to. the international community needs to be engaged there. we have a familiar incaused by conflict. this is not just a weather related familiar in. this is a conflict famine where literally millions of people are in jeopardy of starving to death and it's because the government has little concern of the welfare of the people of south sudan. the international community needs to provide a safe haven for humanitarian relief and get relief from the conflict so that people can get help. >> it's a terrible what's going on there. iigressromsyria. have you had any conversation with the white house o

and, are you listening, mr assad, is were flown from there.stening, mrassad, is the headline. indeed. the china daily reporting on the chinese president, xijinping, who has arrived reporting on the chinese president, xi jinping, who has arrived for the first meeting with donald trump. sensitive discussions on north korea and trade arrangements between the countries high on the agenda with president trump saying that they held lengthy discussions and it was the start of a great relationship. the business section of the telegraph has a warning from the imf that households through the world face the end of free banking if the current low growth economic environment continues. and the ft, financial times, reporting on norway's $910 billion sovereign wealth fund pushing for an overhaul of chief executive pay, arguing long—term incentive schemes favoured by many companies are flawed and should be scrapped. in the guardian financial pages, a warning from ryanair that it will have to stop flights from the uk for weeks or months if the uk prime ministe

previously, the us administration said trying to topple mr assad would not be a priority.ung san suu kyi, who's in effect the leader of myanmar, has rejected international criticism that she's stood by while the country's rohingya muslim minority is ethnically cleansed, killed or gang—raped by the national army. a series of devastating floods in north west peru have left a hundred people dead and tens of thousands homeless. roads and bridges have been swept away and the air force deployed to airlift thousands of people. russia's supreme court is considering whether to ban jehovah's witnesses on the grounds that they could hold extremist views. any ban could affect around 175,000 members of the religious movement. now for the latest financial news with sally and world business report. the president of protocol meets the maverick billionaire turned president — but will trump and xi get down to some "serious business" or will the meeting prove to be too difficult? the rain and wind may have forced fans off the course of the master's golf tournament in augusta — but the event

mr. assad said in the interview that there was no way he could launch a chemical weapons attack, because he says his forces gave up those weapons a long time ago. but that is not true, is it? the opcw has been on all kinds omissions in the last two years alone looking for chemical weapons in syria. >> it is absolutely true. back in 2015 immediately after the attacks, the opcw -- syria committed in terms of surveillance and monitoring chemical weapons, it was compelled to assemble a list of its chemical weapon arson rate, and was compelled to surrender all of its weaponry command from 2013 to 2016, approximately 100 tons of chemical weapons have been destroyed in that timeframe, within those three years. the opcw, from what i understand, investigated 21 sites accessible to the opcw, given that this takes place in an arena of conflict, leaving open the possibility of perhaps chemical stocks, weather could also be the possibility that new chemical weapons have been developed secretly on the ground

there's not just mr. assad and president putin. there are multiple players that will look for some kind of reaction in the future. >> michael mcfaul, former u.s. ambassador to russia. thank you, sir. it's good to have you with us tonight. >> down in florida, chief white house correspondent hallie jackson has just emerged from this briefing. hallie, we told our viewers about this. this was the national security adviser to the president and the secretary of state briefing on the record but not for camera. in a visual medium, that means we get our briefing from hallie jackson. what did you learn? >> reporter: let me start with the headline coming out of secretary of state rex tillerson which he described russia as either complicit or incompetent in dealing with bashar al assad, adding that in response to our questions, moscow, the kremlin was not notified of this attack. that nobody from the u.s. government spoke with anybody from the kremlin prior to the strike being carried out. that said, typical deconfliction procedures were follo

assad. which brings me to mr. putin and russia. mr. putin is clearly facilitating the activities in syria by president assad. and is blocking action in the united nations. and he needs to be investigated for culpability as a war criminal. there's legislation pending. senator rubio and i have worked on legislation to impose additional sanctions on russia and would also set up a way to protect against russia propaganda and democratic attacks on tinstitutions. that bill should be marked up now and acted upon now. there's the civilian protection act which imposes sanctions against those supporting the atrocities in syria. it's named after cesar, a person who we both have met who brought photographs of what was happening in syria to our attentions several months ago. it was just recently we re-showed it in the six anderson of the conflict in syria. and i think it shocked our country. but it didn't shock enough for action. now's the time for action. and let me just conclude on this comment. later this month we will have the yamashoa commemora

trump calling mr. assad in animal as well as mr. sean spicer who compares mr. assad to mr.r who said that mr. hitler never used the chemical weapons. do you think the rhetoric can change? and is it helping the diplomacy or not? thank you. >> i think that perspective from the united states supported by the fact that we have are conclusive that the recent chemical weapons attack carried out in syria was planned and it was directed and executed by syrian regime forces, and we are quite confident of that. this is just the latest in a series of use of chemical weapons by the assad regime. notwithstanding their use on more than 50 occasions of chlorine bombs and cluster bombs and other types of weapons that are intended to maim and kill and the most horrific ways. so i think the characterization is one that president assad has brought upon himself. >> reporter: it is quite evident this is a topic with regard to which we have differences of opinion. russia insists that there needs to be an objective investigation into seeing the u.s. and russia eliminating the use of serious chemi

in the daily telegraph today, we are now referring to him as assad, not mr assad. really?ething we only do for criminals. that's very interesting. the times, two stories i want to mention, facebook? the times have been really going on this, and rightfully so. they reported to facebook that they could see inappropriate images of children, child abuse, on facebook, alerted the organisation to these images, and yet they still were not reviewed. the nspcc today are calling for there to be a statutory code of conduct, so that these social networking sites have to comply with certain standards. at the moment, it seems they are making up the rules and constantly being alerted and not taking action. you sense pressure is growing along these lines? you do, and it plays to these lines? you do, and it plays to the idea that the internet to a degree is still the wild west and that people do what they like and think they can get away with it. louise haig, the shadow digital minister, has written to facebook saying that she thinks their reporting regime is obviously flawed and has multi

mr assad made that string of extraordinary allegations in an interview with a french news agency. say us intelligence has uncovered communications between military and chemical weapons experts in syria, as they were discussing their preparations for the attack in idlib province last week, which contradicts mr assad's version of events. there was no order to make any attack. we don't have any chemical weapons. we gave up our arsenal three years ago. even if we had them, we wouldn't use them, and we have never used our chemical arsenal in our history. so, what happened recently? as i said, the only sources al-qaeda. we cannot take it seriously... but our impression is that the west, mainly the united states, is hand in glove to the terrorists. they fabricated the whole story, you know, to have a pretext for the attack. it wasn't an attack because of what happened, it's one event, its stage one, the play that we saw on the social networking and on tv, the propaganda. and stage two is the military attack. that's what we believe is happening, because it's only a few days, 48 hours betw

bbc reporting goes mr. assad the syrian government had given up chemical weapon adding ", even if we had them, we wouldn't use them," there are doubtos russia assad ria's claim mrchlt said he would allow impartial investigation into the events of attack to ensure it will not be used for po liticized allies , adding key aying russia, syria's key ally angered france by vetoing draft resolution that would have required the government to with an investigation into the attack. that is from the bbc. trump tweeting out this morning about russia and u.s. relations saying things out fine between the usa and russia, at the right time, everyone will come to and there will be lasting peace. again, on the open phone, first ron, he is in mcallister, oklahoma. ron, go ahead. caller: well, i just don't think telling the truth. that is my gut feeling. the he?o is on, who do you think is not telling the truth? aller: i don't think assad is telling the truth. back in 1913, i mean, back in 2013, we had chemicals, it was that had che

most certainly mr. assad has respect for his own citizens.heart-wrenching photos that came through, the president felt them. i think he felt them on behalf of every single american. liz: of course. >> he did what he thought was right. he acted decisively. he sent a very clear message that that type of activity, that violation of everything that we know is to be right or wrong in our international relations with regard to chemical weapons he went right after it. liz: senator, again, it was supposed to be a one-off. we have a russian frigate steaming into the mediterranean. it is alreadthere. redirected from the black sea. it was doing exercises with turkey. you wonder, is turkey on their side? don't we need turkey? now what happens if there is some type of a showdown with russia? you as a senate armed services committee member will soon have this right on your plate? >> nato, turkey is a member of nato. they are an ally of ours. they are in good standing. i have full confidence turkey will continue in that type of a mode. i can tell you it may

with the power of diplomacy with forcing the russians to do some things with mr. assad, with information and perhaps with some type of federation -- i don't know. i'm not a politician. but i do know there might be a better way as opposed to forced regime change. don't misunderstand, i am not into a regime change. we have seen the power that that brings about. and it's awful. we can't go that way. >> clarissa, as you are on the ground there, just the sheer complexity of all the different actors inside syria and kind of the ever shifting areas that they are operating in and control, it's hard to kind of overstate just how complex a scenario it is. >> it's incredibly complex. i mean, i have spent six years studying this and spending so much time inside rebel held syria. i can barely get my head around all of the different groups operating on the ground with different proxies. i did not imagine this time a week ago we would see president donald trump emerging as a hero to rebel forces on the ground who have given him his own no, ma'am da gar. we're in uncharted territory. i

we're going to tighten the screws to the point we have a regime change that mr. assadill have to go under whatever circumstances he can negotiate through president putin, working with the united states. we're going to have to try to achieve that. >> andustery quickly, do you think he's going to retaliate or do you think he sees this as a warning? >> well if he retaliates and retaliates against the united states, i think he would be making a big mistake. if he tries to attack any of our soldiers in the region, he will invite a much more grievous response. i don't think he wants to climb the ladder of escalation. we should be prepared to manage the escalation and i'm sure that secretary of defense mattis and others are looking into that and planning for all of the contingencies that might happen. >> former secretary of defense william cohen we really appreciate your insights this morning. >>> just moments from now, we expect to see president trump holding a bilateral meeting with president xi jinping of china. we'll braing that to you as soo as it happens. >>> a live loo

. >> the idea that russia is now going to see the light about mr. assadnd remove him, is fanciful. >> reporter: the secretary of state was even lectured by the russian foreign minister about washington's conflicting messages on syria and even why he hasn't filled so many state department staff jobs. a sign that the u.s./russia relationship has a long way to go. lester? >> andrea mitchell in moscow, thank you. >>> we want to bring in our chief foreign correspondent richard engel who is following developments from overseas. richard, we heard tough talk both sides, obvious disagreement, what do you make of it? >> well, there are some very real tensions, but is this the all-time lowest relations between moscow and the united states have been? of course not. there is posturing going on here. let's not forget the trump administration is facing multiple investigations into potential collusion with the kremlin. so that is part of the backdrop and very much suits president trump and his close advisers to try to talk rush to russia and create distance between them

and mr. assad has other allies. he has the iranians, he has hezbollah. their interests don't always align with the russian interests. >> some are asking then why assad would want to launch a chemical attack. there is a theory out there that he wanted just to drive a wedge between the u.s. and russia. is that idea plausible or do you think there's a better explanation? >> again, i don't know. i haven't talked to mr. assad. i find it hard to believe he would be so calculating. i think instead he was launching this next wave of attack against the opposition. they had moved from aleppo to idlib and he was not afraid to try to use these weapons, thinking he could get away with it. >> so there are these escalating tensions between top u.s. and russian diplomats all over the accounts of the chemical attack, russia disputing that the syrian government is responsible, even. is this all some sort of diplomatic standoff or do you think this might lead to real military consequences? >> i don't think it will lead to military consequences. this is not a new doctrine by

mr assad it is true is very much more secure in his position now, more than he has been since the beginningister has insisted that it's in both the uk and the eu's interest to strike a deal on brexit. theresa may, who's visiting saudi arabia, was responding to a parliamentary report that challenged mrs may's previous claim that no deal is better than a bad deal. the parliamentary committee for exiting the eu says parliament should be consulted before ministers walk away without a deal. six pro—brexit mps on the committee voted against the report saying it was too gloomy. our political correspondent ellie price reports. the charm offensive is on. theresa may is in the middle east, on a mission to foster new partners and new trade partnerships in a post—brexit world. here injordan, next stop saudi arabia. i want to see a truly global britain that is really outward looking. a good trade deal with the eu but, yes, good trade deals around the world. but our relationships around the world aren't just about trade, they are about ensuring that we can maintain our security and support the security o

previously, the us administration said trying to topple mr assad would not be a priority. series of devastating floods in north—west peru have left 100 people dead and tens of thousands homeless. entire roads and bridges have been swept away, and 800 towns and cities have declared a state of emergency. peru's air force has been deployed planes to airlift thousands of people. now it's time for click. this week: adventures in sound with posh cams, invisible speakers and cloning brian's brain. today, i'm in the lair of a wizard. a wizard who like decibels, who has won grammies, who writes a good book or two. a wizard called brian eno. i don't know if i should actually show you how this works, really. let's just find the... so these are notjust not of speakers, they are working speakers — these are working speakers? they're working speakers, yeah. oh, my gosh. and it is sound that this man is best known for. big sound. the former member of the band, roxy music, has added his unique production sound to the biggest acts in the world — groups like u2, and coldplay and some chap c

it was the appropriate response for a horrible terrorist attack that president assad did to innocent civilians in syria. >> mr. ambassador, let me just ask you one last point. on that matter that you just said in terms of assad having a vote and it not just being our action and there's no response, several pentagon officials told a reporter now at buzzfeed, a very experienced reporter on national security matters, several pentagon officials told her this week that the chemical weapons -- what appears to have been this chemical weapons attack on tuesday by assad may itself have been an action that assad took to test the united states after rex tillerson, the secretary of state, said on thursday that it's up to the syrian people whether or not assad is their leader, after the u.s. appeared to back off its previous insistence that assad must go, that the attack on tuesday itself may have been a test of the new administration, essentially to find out where the new lines are. from your experience in these matters, from the way that you've seen this unfold over the years, does that seem plausible to you? >> well, i

mr. trump calling assad an animal as well as mr. spicer who compared mr. assad to mr.r who said that mr. hitler never -- >> the united states, supported by the facts that we have, our conclusive, that the recent chemical weapons attack carried out in syria was planned and it was directed and executed by syrian regime forces. we're quite confident of that. this is just the latest in a series of the use of chemical weapons by the assad regime. notwithstanding their use on more than 50 occasions of chlorine bombs and cluster bombs and other types of weapons that are intended to maim and kill in the most horrific ways. so i think the characterization is one that president assad has brought upon himself. >> josh? >> translator: i will have to use words of this topic of which we have differences of opinion. russia insists there needs to be an objective investigation. in 2013, the u.s. and russia interceded the use of chemical weapons. in record terms, we prepared the necessary agreements, as well as the security council of the u.n. there have been reports from the oscw which

mr assad thinks the attack was fabricated to justify us military action.s suggest over 80 people died. independent tests on some victims show the presence of a nerve—agent such as sarin. it's also important to note that this new syrian claim contradicts this russian account of what happened. according to the objective data of the russian airspace control, syrian aviation struck a large terrorist warehouse that housed a warehouse making bombs, with toxic substances. bbc arabic‘s presenter is rasha qandeel. she watched the full interview and told me what she thought. it puts bashar al—assad between russia and the united states. that puts a limit to what trump will go for it in the next attack, if anything will happen in air strikes. if it is not a chemical attack it is above the line, anything below that is in the eyes of bashar al—assad permitted and can be talked about. it puts them in between russia and the united states, three different versions of what happened. he did not offer evidence to back up his claims. no, he did not, but he considers that the t

previously, the us administration said trying to topple mr assad would not be a priority.ologised for ‘missing the mark‘ as they put it. viewers complained that the video undermined the black lives matter movement. pepsi said they were trying to project a ‘global message of unity, peace and understanding'. now it's time for hardtalk.

mr trump said the deaths, including 20 children, had changed his attitude towards president assad.nse and bitter session of the un security council moscow was accused of allowing its syrian ally to carry out war crimes. nick bryant has this report from new york. 5—year—old ibrahim went to bed in his spiderman pyjamas and woke up to the latest horror in syria's unending war. his grandmother was at his hospital bedside caring for ibrahim and his sister, tebba, because their father was killed in the attack. lives ended, lives ruined, by a toxic cloud that filled victims‘ lungs with poison. translation: my grandchildren were sleeping. everyone woke up to a loud noise. they went outside and that's when they came across the chemical attack. they just fell to the floor and died. it's all too easy to become desensitised to the suffering of the syrian people, but consider the plight of abdul hamil al—yousf, he lost 20 members of his family, including his twin children, killed in a second explosion. translation: i left them in good health. why did this happen? i went to help other people and

previously, the us administration said trying to topple mr assad would not be a priority.ess. entire roads and bridges have been swept away, and 800 towns and cities have declared a state of emergency. peru's air force has been deployed planes to airlift thousands of people. now it's time for click. this week: adventures in sound with posh cams,

whether he will change the view and believes mr assad should be in some sense forced from power, i don't know is what he intends to do in the wake of this particular attack, is there going to be some kind of american military response, the un ambassador hinted that countries have to take action themselves sometimes. will there be an effort to arm opposition groups in syria? 0ne an effort to arm opposition groups in syria? one wonders who exactly americans might arm. it hasn't been a successful policy in the past. in many ways with russian aircraft in the area of assyria, russian air defences on the ground, with the assad regime more entrenched than ever, it's very hard to see, practically, what the us administration can do. the ukip welsh assembly member and former mp mark reckless has left the party and will now vote with the conservative group in cardiff bay. the resignation of the former mp mark reckless from ukip follows in the footsteps of the departure of douglas carswell as its only mp last month. he has been speaking to nick servini about his reasons for leaving. he has been spea

so right now their formal position, i think, will be to defend their ally, mr. assad, and defend the sovereignty of the state of syria. >> that was former russian ambassador michael mcfaul on what he believes would be russian president vladimir putin's response this morning following president trump's decision to strike syria. still with us, colonel jack jacobs and nbc's cal perry. talking about the kremlin's response, saying this is a distraction from the casualties that we are seeing in iraq. irani interesting that we have this senior russian official who says basically these strikes put an end to u.s.-russia relationships as far as cooperation when it comes to syria. and in essence, the first step in dealing kind of a crippling to that relationship. >> well, he's a legislator. he's in charge of the foreign affairs committee, but he is a legislator. he's not part of the executive branch in russia. and if i were he and i were the government in russia, that's exactly what i would say. i think one of the things that we have to keep in mind is that most things that are

children there had had a big impact on him, and it had "very much changed" his attitude towards mr assadnt, reports. five—year—old ibrahim went to bed in his spiderman pyjamas and woke up to the latest horror in syria's unending war. his grandmother was at his hospital bedside caring for ibrahim and his sister, tebba, because their father was killed in the attack. lives ended, lives ruined, by a toxic cloud that filled victims' lungs with poison. translation: my grandchildren were sleeping. everyone woke up to a loud noise. they went outside and that's when they came across the chemical attack. they just fell to the floor and died. it's all too easy to become desensitised to the suffering of the syrian people, but consider the plight of abdul hamil al—yousf, he lost 20 members of his family, including his twin children, killed in a second explosion. translation: i left them in good health. why did this happen? i went to help other people and thought my children were 0k. now they are gone. yesterday, donald trump derided his predecessor barack obama for warning the assad regime that using

if you dismiss mr assad, it's not a solution of syria.illusion, a western illusion — "let's change this dictator and we will have a paradise." americans did it in many places, and we know the results. when rex tillerson was an oil executive, he did business with vladimir putin — toasted deals with him, received an award from him. but convincing the kremlin to abandon president assad is a huge challenge. rex tillerson may, in the past, have drunk champagne with vladimir putin. he may even have got a medalfrom him. but that was business — this is geopolitics. the reality is that russia believes it has nothing to gain and a lot to lose from abandoning president assad. and until that changes, it's not going to do it. russia sent its military to syria to keep president assad in power. to moscow, he is the guarantor of russian interests there. the west may call him an evil — russia calls him an ally. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. police in germany say they've detained one suspect, thought to have islamist links, after three explosions hit

. >> there is irony here that it does appear that it's okay for mr. assad to blow up his people. it's just not okay to gas them. >> when president trump announced the strike he pointed to the children who were killed. >> it was a slow and brutal death for so many. even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. >> perhaps no image more gut wrenching of this one of abdul hameem youssef hugging his two lifeless twins. he went house to house trying to rescue neighbors and family. many foaming at the mouth. he lost 25 relatives in the attack during which he fainted. >> translator: when i came to i asked for them he said. i told them hello darlings i took too long. i rescued everyone else but i couldn't rescue you. describing the moment the photo was taken youssef said i wasn't aware of anything. i thought they were alive. i was expecting them to hug me back. >> that father's story and the images so devastating. alex joins us live. the big question, will syria respond to the u.s. attack and do we know if today's new bombing by syria of that town where the che

. >> so long as vladimir putin is his best friend -- mr. assadhe might not be motivated to do much of anything over and against what the u.s. wants him to do, which leads me to ask what then you make of the quandary that that puts the trump administration in now with its relationship with russia, which has changed dramatically, but we thought it was going to be just a few weeks ago? >> that's right. it's astonishing. we used to -- you know, not so long ago, we were worried about lifting sanctions against russia. >> absolutely. >> and i thought it was interesting to see rex tillerson's trip to moscow. i thought for the first time he really did seem to be acting as a secretary of state. and i had been concerned that we basically really didn't have a secretary of state, that he finally kind of emerged in that role. >> there's jared kushner, but i digress. >> one of the larger problems in syria is that issue of do we have a real secretary of state? john kerry was pleading with the white house for some military strikes to give him leverage to achieve

previously, the us administration said trying to topple mr assad would not be a priority.eries of devastating floods in north west peru have left 100 people dead and tens of thousands homeless. entire roads and bridges have been swept away and 800 towns and cities have declared a state of emergency. peru's airforce has been deployed planes to airlift thousands of people. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm sarah montague. the european union in greater trouble than ever before. it's notjust because of brexit, even founding members — countries like italy — are unhappy about the direction it's headed. the italian economy has always struggled within the straightjacket of the euro. and it's wanted its fellow members to help share the burden of the half a million migrants who have turned up on its shores over the past three years. my guest here at the italian embassy in london is italy's europe minister, sandro gozi. he is a passionate european. how does he think the eu should change if it to survive and win over the next generation of europeans? sandro gozi, wel

previously, the us administration said trying to topple mr assad would not be a priority.epsi says it's discontinued a controversial advert — starring the model kendalljenner — and apologised for ‘missing the mark‘ as they put it. viewers complained that the video undermined the black lives matter movement. pepsi said they were trying to project a ‘global message of unity, peace and understanding'. now it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm sarah montague. the eu seems in greater trouble than ever before and notjust because of brexit. even founding members of the club — countries like italy — are unhappy about the direction that it is headed in its 60th year. the italian economy has always struggled within the confines of the euro. additionally, it wants its fellow members to help share the burden of the half a million migrants who have arrived on its shores over the past three years. how does the eu need to change if it is to win over the next generation of italians? my my guest here at the italian embassy in london is italy's europe minister, sandro gozi. he is

trump's calling mr. assad and animal as well as mr. spicer saying who compared mr. assad to mr. hitler who said that mr. hitler never used the chemical weapons. do you think the rhetoric can change and is it helping diplomacy or not? thank you. >> well, i think the perspective from the united states supported by the facts that we have are conclusive. that the recent chemical weapons attack carried out in syria was planned, and it was directed and executed by syrian regime forces and we're quite confident of that. this is just the latest in a series of the use of chemical weapons by the assad regime and notwithstanding their use in -- on more than 50 occasions of chlorine bombs, and cluster bombs and other types of weapons that are intended to maim and kill in the most horrific ways. so i think the characterization is one that president assad has brought upon himself. [ speaking in foreign languag ] [ speaking in foreign language ] >> translator: it's quite evident this topic with regard to which we have differences of opinion russia insists there needs to be an objective investi

i think russia has vetoed them 7 times to denounce the actions of mr. assad against his own people. he said it's incredibly important to note the president's address to the nation and the world was non-partisan. people note how emotional it was and empathetic it was, talking about the beautiful babies and talking about how no child should suffer these horrors. but he made this decision based on the information he gathered from his national security team, and he made that decision in a decisive, swift way to accolades left, right and center. i wanted to point out. the only thing missing from his statement was any time of partisan rebuke of the previous administration. everybody knows that syria was by and large a failure under the previous administration. but this president did not need to note that. he's looking forward and calling upon civilized nations to move forward. howie: you had some of the president's fiercest liberal detracdetractors applauding this decision. donald trump was against any military action with president obama's red line. and as recently as october, trump told

trump's calling mr. assad an animal as well as mr. spicer's saying, who compared mr. assad to mr.r never used the chemical weapons. do you think the rhetoric can change? is it helping the diplomacy? thank you. >> well i think the perspective from the united states supported by the facts that we have are conclusive. that the recent chemical weapons attack carried out in syria was planned, and it was directed and executed by syrian regime forces. and we're quite confident of that. this is just the latest in a series of the use of chemical weapons by the assad regime. notwithstanding their use on more than 50 occasions of chlorine bombs, cluster bombs, and other types of weapons that are intended to maim and kill in the most horrific ways. so i think the characterization is one that president assad has brought upon himself. >> translator: -- words quite evident this topic with regard to which we have differences of opinion. russia insists there needs to be an objecti investigation and into the scene. u.s. and russia initiated the elimination of syria's chemical weapons and record ter

but with the power of diplomacy, with forcing the russians to do some things with mr. assad, and perhaps with some type of federation, i don't know i'm not a politician, but i do know there might be a better way with forced regime change. we've seen the power that that brings about, and it's awful. we can't go that way. >> just the sheer complexity of all the different actors inside syria and kind of the ever shifting areas that they are operating in and control, it's hard to -- to kind of overstate just how complex a scenario it is. >> it's incredibly complex. i mean i have spent six years studying this and spending so much time inside rebel held syria, i can barely get my head around all the different groups operating on the ground with all these different proxies. i certainly didn't think that we would see president trump kind of -- >> is that abu ivanka -- >> we've also seen them posting as their avtars on twitter and social media pictures of president donald trump, so this is a very unusual situation. i do think, though, if we just look for one second at the micro here,

aren't only the principle stakeholder in all this but the key defender of the renegade regime led by mr. assad. now the position by the administration is this, get on board, russia. understand that backing this assad horse is a losing proposition and get on board, the sooner the better. >> we aren't saying that we are the ones who are going to effect that change. what we're saying is other countries have to ask themselves hard questions. russia should ask themselves what are we doing here? why are we supporting this murd rouse regime that is committing mass murder of its population and using the most heinous weapons available. >> the next step from this vantage point is work with congressional lawmakers and find out what general policy would be acceptable to them and advance u.s. interests. >> bill: leading coverage kevin corke at the white house today. >> shannon: the syrian government showing no signs of slowing down air strikes launching war planes from the same base the u.s. missiles heavily damaged at iran and issue issued the statement saying what america waged in an aggression of syria

. >> mr. assadd accountable for his war crimes. >> reporter: the president himself vowed to make it a priority blaming assad but also his predecessor for not taking a stance. >> i think the obama administration had a great opportunity to solve this crisis a long time ago when he set the red line in the sand. when he didn't cross that line after making the threat, i think that set united states back. >> reporter: in 2013 in a flurry of tweets then-citizen trump urged obama not to take action. do not attack syria, fix usa. on the eve of president trump's anticipated visit with xi jinping. north korea overnight launched another ballistic missile into the sea of japan. blain alexander, nbc news, washington. >>> one senator talks that long to protest neil gorsuch. >> gorsuch dissented in u.s. versus raven. >> jeff merkley of oregon took the stand at 7:00 last night and until 7:00 this morning. he and other democrats are protesting the pick to the high court. the filibuster is expected tomorrow. and repub

mr. assad's wife was e-mailing a friend about shoeing she liked that cost about $7,000 a pair. in another e-mail in which the first lady used the fake name alija, she contacted a london art dealer about art that cost $16,000. all this during the senseless slaughter of syrian civilians. the u.n. estimates about 400,000 syrians have been killed since the war began in 2011. as of last december, nearly 5 million syrians have fled the country. only adding to the refugee crisis in the middle east. many in syria have lost hope. >> we are not scared. i'm not scared of the chemical weapon. does it make a difference to die with a bullet or with a chemical weapon? >> reporter: randi kaye, cnn, new york. >> all right. i'm hala gorani live in beirut. we'll have a lot more from lebanon after a break. >> stay right here with cnn newsroom. . >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> hello, i'm isa soares in london, where it is 9:00 in the morning. >> hello, i'm hala gorani. it is 11:00 a.m. if lebanon. we are covering the reaction to the u.s. strike against a syrian airbase in the aftermath of a chemi

steps and they appear eager to pin down the policy of a president who said he wasn't concerned about mr. assadwe want you to call in. (202) 748-8001 republicans. (202) 748-8000 democrats. (202) 748-8002 independents. we are talking about the role congress should play. from thomasion massie of kentucky. too late tot's not pass my bill to restrict funds related to escalating u.s. military involvement in syria. a democrat from new york on his twitter yesterday, trump must seek approval before marching us into another war. congressman brendan boyle from pennsylvania, congress should return to d.c. immediately to debate syria policy. some of the comments from members of congress will go through our first hour of the program today. you can get in contact with us via facebook and twitter. greg writes that president trump should get approval from congress. i want our adversaries to wonder what he might do next. tracy writes, congress has the same role is insisted it should have when they insisted barack obama must inform or go to congress before he was to strike a sod in syria in 2013. michelle says,

they have a deeper relationship with mr. assad than anyone else. >> speaking of that relationship, is there any sign now that under pressure from the u.s., military and diplomatic, that vladimir putin will waiver at all on his commitment to assad. >> i sat in many meetings with president putin and discussed syria. without question it was the hardest and th least successful piece of our foreign policy. he always dug in to say to respect poverty. they believed if the country fell apart, the country would fall apart and the terrorists would take over. he was never sent mental about mr. sassad. it was just a relationship with him personally as a leader. i think his ally there used chemical weapons, but again, a very difficult place, because on one hand he is against regime change. he is never going to allow that. on the other hand, he has been trying to work with the international community to relimb nar relire -- eliminate weapons in syria. >> thank you very much. coming up, the damage assessment, more on the impact of those syrian a

assad regime. so far the signs are not good. it's mr. trump's turn to decide whether to stand up to mr. is iranian and russian sponsors. so far he's ducking. in fact the response from the president has been to plame barack obama his predecessor for allowing a red line to be crossed and not doing anything about it. what will the trump administration going to do? >> we should note it comes a few days after they signaled a new willingness to essentially de-emphasizing getting assad out as a priority of the u.s. and focusing instead on isis. so, you know, you can see, you can feel the sea change here on syria policy between these two administrations. it's interesting i think that they keep looking back at the obama administration. that's something i think in the future they have to stop doing as events progress forward. >> here's statement from the white house. these heinous actions by the assad regime is a consequence of the past administration's weakness. president obama said he would establish a red line against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing. does this under mine the us

why should it be the same policy for assad? mr. icer: the premise of the question suggests we don't want a new leader. i have stated two days in a row that we don't see a peaceful or stable syria in the future that has assad as the head. the number one priority is to make sure we stop the threat of isis and bring stability to the region. no question about it, there is no peaceful syria that assad is the head of. reporter: i want to clarify -- is the u.s. position as far as cooperation of russia that admit or agree that syria was behind the chemical russia musthat disown assad. can cooperation happen if russia maintains that position? mr. spicer: i think that russia has joined an international agreement regarding the possession. susan rice said syria no longer had access to chemical weapons. we know that is not true. i think the united states, russia and others, signed division national agreement that syria was a part of that they would not only use but possess chemical weapons. we have to make sure we have the existing agreement. it