spicer: no. i think china, and we noted he very helpfuls been and we hope to see a change in behavior. it is a positive sign with the level of engagement china has. >> is the trump administration calling for the release of this u.s. citizen currently being detained? want to make sure all of our citizens are protected and return home. concern among of republicans about the deficit. raising revenue as well as tax cuts so conservatives can be confident? mr. spicer: we will have further details. i will not get ahead of the resident's rollout. we will have to see. jennifer. >> [inaudible] mr. spicer: i will not get into the specifics of the president's is conversation. we will continue to work with the state department on that. >> can you explain why president trump did not use the word genocide? mr. spicer: the statement he put out is consistent with statements put out for at least several past administrations. looking back to the language of president obama and president bush, the language the presi

spicer: i think i just touched on privacy. the obama administration have that exception to their log. they said what it was but you don't know who got left off and who did not. they chose to not put people out for whatever reason they gave an excuse and no one questioned it. is wek the bottom line will have the same policy every president has had through time and comply with the law. remember, it is interesting that we're following basically the same thing members of congress followed. you go with congress and there is an option for people to express their opinion and if people want to make it public whose meeting with them, a lot do, we bring in you guys do, we bring in you to share their view. remember this is the same policy of every administration have followed. >> he entered the office saying he would train the swamp appeared under the existing policy, a lobbyist the tries on the campaign trail, washington impact -- insider, can walk into the white house and there is no resource for the public to hold the president to acc

spicer: no. reporter: can you talk about the process with the three options and what the recommendations were? sec. spicer: i'm not going to get into specifics. both in terms of what could have been done -- obviously that would telegraph potential future action and i don't want to get into. a lot of it remains classified. i will say, as i mentioned both , secretary of defense matiss, director mcmaster and the rest of the national security team, the vice president and others, were consulted, and the president continued to ask questions and ask for options. this was a very evil process in which the president was given updates, asks additional questions, given additional options, we find those options until an ultimate decision was made yesterday. margaret? reporter: i think you said that the president informed president xi after. is that accurate? sec. spicer: the exact timeline -- the present was having dinner. i think after the dinner concluded, i believe the impact had been made. i'll have to ch

spicer: i will have to get back to you on that. eporter: really? mr. spicer: he may. i will have to get back to you on that. he is still under audit in the statement still stands. >> on north korea, you say china is playing an act of role, a historic role right now in pressuring the north koreans. what are they doing? mr. spicer: when you look at coal in particular, that is their number one export. i think they have taken some helpful economic actions and exhibited positive signs on the diplomatic front as well. but this is an ongoing conversation based on the relationship that president has with president xi. it is encouraging, the signed china is showing. reporter: did the president suggest there was a quid pro quo in not declaring china a currency manipulator because they were going to help with north korea? so if china does not adequately put pressure on north korea, is he going to go back and declare them a currency minute later? mr. spicer: a couple of things on that. they have not been manipulating their currency since he has been in office. the president said

spicer: i am sure he has.atches ahink anybody video and is not disturbed another human being is treated that way. one thing people have to understand is, when there is a potential law enforcement matter , for the president to weigh in pro or con can prejudice a potential outcome. clearly, watching another human being being dragged down an aisle, watching blood come out of their face after hitting an armrest, there is not a circumstance you can sit back of beenthis could not handled better, when you're talking about another human being. again, i do not think it is my place to get in the middle of judging how a company deals with it. there will clearly be enough review both on the corporate side and the law enforcement side, on how this was handled. from a human to human standpoint to see a human being getting dragged down an aisle with their head banging off of armrests and do not think it could've been handled better, i would assume we can agree on that. syria,oreign policy and this administration continuing t

spicer: if needed. the president will do everything he can to maintain majorities and further the party. is there too much political capital on a race the republicans should be winning easily? mr. spicer: i thought some of intriguing. was the democrats went all in on this race, they spent over a $.3 million, they said on the record their goal was to win this race. they run this -- they lost. they lost. they spent a .3 million dollars and through everything including the kitchen sink at it and lost. not in terms of what their stated goal was. goal was to win with over 80 -- 50%. they ran to win last night and they lost. anything short of describing that as a loss is sort of inconceivable in the sense that that is literally what they said their goal was to do. they said we want to win tuesday night with over 50%, they come -- came up short. they had all their money and firepower in there and they came up short. it is a loss. >> i am not thinking specifically about this case but there seems to be a little

spicer: i don't know. he had -- he was he head of the department of -- the defense intelligence agency he had an existing clearance. >> could you talk a little bit more about the overall efforts that the administration is make, we know the united nations meeting yesterday, an up and coming meeting with congress are you as an administration trying to get a coalition together to build a stronger diplomatic case korea? ctions against mr. spicer: you saw that they engaged in a robust discussion as regards north korea as a group and with the president. the more we continue to solve this diplomatically and continue to apply pressure on china and other countries to use the political and economic tools they have to achieve a goal in stabilization in the region but also to tamp down the threat that north korea faces, i think that's something we all share. >> how would you characterize the administration's overall strategy on the dprk? mr. spicer: i think it's ongoing. we've seen pstive signs with respect to a natio

spicer: i don't know. all of that occurred prior to his service -- reporter: does this white house consider a payment from russia to be a payment from a foreign government? mr. spicer: i understand. everything he did was prior to coming to this white house. reporter: wondering whether you consider that to be a payment from a foreign government. mr. spicer: if they were in employee of the white house, absolutely. but i don't know the exact circumstances. everything that is being discussed occurred prior to his employment at the white house, as a consultant, so whatever he did, as long as he did it in compliance with the law, every one of us as a citizen has the right to. reporter: why wasn't he more closely vetted during the transition period? mr. spicer: again, you fill out forms. reporter: i feel like the white house and the trunk transition team should have known about this. mr. spicer: you fill out the forms, you do an investigation, you do a background check. they have a security clearance and they fil

spicer: right.nd when you look at the number of the pieces of legislation and executive orders, business confidence, there is a lot of a -- a lot of accomplishments that have occurred and lethal good -- we feel good about what we have done. you will continue to see a lot of action and a lot of results all the way through. >> in a hundred days, there is no funding of the wall and no health care reform or appeal of obamacare, would the president consider that a conspicuous failure based on the promises? mr. spicer: when you look at the totality of what we have accomplished on immigration and trade, it is unbelievable what he has been able to do. you can cherry pick any couple of things and say what about this or that, but when you look at it overall in terms of the drop in border crossings and look at consumer confidence and relationships around the globe and protecting the country and bring back jobs, those have been unbelievably significant. to minimize that, we will push for health care reform. the

spicer: good afternoon. i'm sure you all know that i was up here earlier this morning off camera with some of your kids. it was a pleasure to be able to share a little bit of the white house experience with them and i hope they enjoyed it. i think some of you have trained them very well. i hope they enjoyed their visit and i'm glad they got an opportunity to visit with the president and the vice president today. we have a bunch to talk about. today about what the president's been doing and he's got an executive order coming up. going to try to get through it all. this morning the president welcomed the president and mrs. macri of argentina for an official visit. the president and the first lady of argentina just left. so we will have a read-out for you very shortly on that. we've got a 2:00 p.m., the president will be signing a memorandum on aluminum imports and threats to national security. we'll try to keep this briefing on time. i know secretary ross spoke about the memo that the president signed yesterda

spicer: absolutely. if you recognize the threat that our people face if there is the growth or spread of chemical , the proliferation of those, the spread to other groups is a clear danger to our country and our people. on assad, arep you saying that beating isis and getting assad out of power should happen at the same time? i don't think they are mutually exclusive. i don't think you have to do one or the other but they kind of go hand in hand. as you reduce isis and de-escalate the conflict in syria, the political environment to remove him becomes stronger and stronger. >> the secretary said that we can navigate a political outcome -- [indiscernible] said we do not see peace in an area with assad is the head of the government. i don't think those are mutually exclusive statements. one of them saying we don't see and theth him in charge th other saying that we need to have him gone, that is the point of both. the goal for the united states is twofold. to make sure we destabilize syria. destabilize the c

spicer: i do not have a number. in many cases, and i think i went over with his early on in the process, but we installed beach head teams during the transition process. we put 400 plus individuals into these important -- these departments. we have been able to be up and running in almost every one of these in a very early process when you look at the totality of how we handle the transition of government. david? reporter: staying on taxes, the president said he is going to present this plan tomorrow. can you give us a sense that what we are going to see? mr. spicer: no. we will have plenty of time to talk about that tomorrow. . reporter: the president on friday when he announced it was going to happen on wednesday, the secretary of the treasury seemed surprised. inside thel us who white house and the treasury the president told he was going to announce this on wednesday? mr. spicer: i think tomorrow we will have a great plan for you to see. reporter: the goal of tax reform is for a growth of 3% or more. already, pe

>> press secretary spicer: that's appropriate.f there is wrongdoing, then the inspector general should look at that. >> reporter: are you satisfied with the vetting that was done by the transition team before he came on board as the national security advisor? >> press secretary spicer: that's a great question, i appreciate you bringing that up. let's walk through that for a second. general flynn was a career military officer who maintained a high level security clearance throughout his career in the military. his clearance was last reissued by the obama administration in 2016 with full knowledge of his activities that occurred in 2015, as you point out. the issue is, he was issued a security clearance under the obama administration in the spring of 2016. the trip and transactions that you are referring to occurred in december of 2015, from what i understand. obviously, there is an issue that the department of defense is looking into. we welcome that. all that clearance was made during the obama administration. apparently they had

spicer: yeah. i think the president made clear that he intends to work with anyone who wants to help him get to the number of votes. he obviously had a very productive discussion this weekend with senator paul. i know the vice president has been actively engaged as well as other members of the staff with members of the house in particular. and they're going to try to find a way forward. there are some -- i am not going to expose some of the members. some wanted to back channel this to offer solutions, constructive ways forward. but those conversations are happening at several levels within the white house to see if we can find a way forward to get the number of requisite votes. you know, the president continues to work hard. he's having these conversations. members have reached out to him to make their suggestions known. and so that's -- but we continue to feel optimistic in the sense that there's a lot of constructive ideas that are coming to the table to get us to a way forward on health care. i

spicer: no. we are saying the president has made it clear we have two priorities in the continuing resolution. number one, increasing funding for military and the homeland security border wall. i will not start to get into, we are having a negotiation and to prejudge where it ends up at this point would not be prudent. >> on economic sanctions, how will they determine how effective they are? mr. spicer: a lot of ways but first and foremost is to send a clear signal to make sure they understand we do not take action slightly and we want to do everything we can in the region. there will be a lot of ways to know whether they are working. as the -- trying to achieve an outcome of that negotiation. -- we have a lot of tools to bring the outcome of stability to that region. >> now that a citizen has been detained does this make it more , difficult for the president to negotiate through china to try denuc nuclear us -- ularize north korea? spicer: no. i think china has been helpful. china has been very

spicer: yes. sure. i think you can defeat isis with him in power and to your point, it's not like there is a single track that says you have to do -- if we can get both at the same time or one happens after the other, that's fine as well. the number one threat that america faces is isis in that region and we have to make sure we do everything we can to do that. message?s the specific will he threaten more sanctions? sec. spicer: i will let secretary tillis talk about his meeting. there's a lot to discuss. with respect to syria, we need to remind them of the commitments they have made. foremost,at first and we need to make sure that we understand what the situation is on the ground. there is no question who acted in this case and what syria did. we need to make sure that russia fully understands the actions took, sawed took -- assad the commitments the syrians have --e, and the russians getting them back would be the logical step. it is something that we share. >> the president wants the secretary of sta

>> press secretary spicer: absolutely.make sure all of our citizens are protected and returned home, but the state department is the lead on that. >> reporter: there's quite a bit of concern among republicans on capitol hill about the federal deficit. you roll out the tax plan wednesday, you also going to include things in there that raise revenue as well as the tax cuts so that conservatives can be confident that this -- >> press secretary spicer: we will have further details p it on my getting ahead of the presidential rollout, but i'm not going to -- the level of semester to be in terms of the pay for it and the cost we will have to see. >> reporter: is the president aware of the american pastor jailed and turkey -- >> press secretary spicer: i'm not going to get into the specifics of the president's conversation. we are obviously aware of that action. we are going to continue to work with the state department on that. >> reporter: can you explain why president trump did not use the word genocide to refer to the killing

now, press secretary sean spicer asked whether secretary tillerson would confront him about it, spicer was less than clear following this -- with this follow-up. >> in a time that the united states has called out russia for a disinformation campaign in syria for collusion with a government it regards as carrying out a war crime, meeting with the russian president, is it or is it not a priority of this president to have his secretary of state of state convey that directly? >> he is conveying that message. that's what he's doing. if the head of the russian government won't meet with him, he can convey it to his counterpart. >> that was far from the only rough moment for sean spicer. he also suggested that bashar al assad was worse than hitler, saying hitler never used chemical weapons in the way assad did. then when given a chance to clarify his remarks, here's what sean spicer said. >> i think when you come to sarin gas, there was no -- he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that assad is dog. i understand. thank you. i appreciate that. there was not, in the -- he broug

spicer: he was very moved, he found the event very tragic. i think from the get-go it was disturbing and pride -- disturbing and tragic. it was very moving to him. before we get too far, he had a very deliberate process of asking his national security team to develop options. sean spicer: those options usually start with zero and go all the way to 100. there was a level of assessment. refinement, a decision was made. i don't want to suggest that of immediate sense decision. it evolved over time. >> where there printed out images? >> i can go into it. they were very clear images that were available. everyone in the world could see them. images a in the public -- were they in the public images? >> the president now believes that assad needs to leave power, is that correct? sean spicer: i think the president believes that the syrian government should agree to abide by the agreements that they made in reference to chemical weapons. i think that is where we start. a very clear message was sent last night. it was backed up and act out by our own le

sean spicer. to the microphone and surely there will be questions about the use of that bomb in afghanistan. here's the thing, what it looks like, 24,000-pound conventional bomb dropped after the death of a green beret fighting isis in afghanistan. kevin corke is live at the white house. what more do we know? >> right now, we are awaiting the press briefing as you point out and certainly the white house will be asked very quickly about the gbu-43. you mentioned 24,000 pounds, it massive, some have called it the mla b, the mother of all bombs, dropping it in eastern afghanistan, we expect to hear about that very quickly, probably right off the top. i think the other question that will probably be asked in his press briefing is just who is president donald trump? what i mean by that is when you look at some of the changes in position from the campaign to the president, it doesn't make you wonder, is it the same man who said nato was absolute and now isn't? is at the same in his had relations with ru

spicer: i think we're making significant progress. i feel good about the momentum so i don't want to get into whether who is going to be knotty or nice. cash -- naughty or nice. >> [indiscernible] the market follows his preferences. had you characterize that response? sec. spicer: the president has made it clear from the beginning het he is going to do what can to fight on american businesses to make sure we can help create an environment here in america where businesses grow and industries continue to hire, jobs can be coming back and living americans can give more of their hard-earned dollar. [indiscernible] sec. spicer: i think what he is , through a lot of the meetings that he has done, he is continuing to meet thingssiness leaders and -- and find things we can do. he has taken great steps in making sure we can create a regulatory tax environment and put people back to work. i think what it will continue to do is fight on behalf of the american people. i hate to cut this short but we have 10 minutes until the president addresses.

spicer needs to go."l, for more, we're joined now by steven goldstein, the executive director of the anne frank center for mutual respect. steven goldstein, welcome to democracy now! why is this so important to you? >> coming of passover, i like many other jews, was with my family during seders. my entire family wanted to throw up. here we have the press secretary to the president of the united states denying that adolf hitler gassed millions of jews. that means sean spicer has to go. ps to be fired. here is why. either sean spicer's comments were a matter of ignorance, and confidence, or prejudice. or all three are any commendation there of. that does that make one fit to be press secretary. that does not make one fit to serve in government whatsoever. spicer is an embarrassment to the united states of amerera. nermeen: what about those who say, including a former spokesman, airy fleischer, that such mistakes are commonly made by people who speak asked for incident -- >> that was not a mere mistake. that

is this just sean spicer again a misspeak? >> i think it's the entire administration really trying to find its footing on foreign policy. these are not matters that donald trump dealt with on a daily basis by any means. when you think about the arguments that he made on the campaign trail about syria last year, you know, saying that we shouldn't be involved, we shouldn't be the world's policeman and then clearly a very emotional response to the photographs that we saw last week, i think that everyone from trump to spicer is trying to figure out how to talk about a really complex situation and i think there is a level of naivety there, which is to be expected if you haven't dealt with these issues, but they are clearly trying to get up to speed very quickly. that's why trump has brought in so many of the military generals into his inner circle trying to get the right advice on this. but certainly a level of naivety there that is probably very unsettling to the american people because we don't know where this is going. >> speaki

spicer as he spoke at today's press briefing. his words and attempts at clarification touching off an emotional response. now just a short time ago came an apology. white house correspondent kristen welker has details. >> reporter: tonight, a messaging misstep rocking the white house after press secretary sean spicer compared syria's president, bashir al assad, to adolf hitler. >> we didn't use chemical weapons in world war ii. you had somebody as despicable as hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons. >> reporter: those comments sparking an immediate backlash. hitler gassed millions of jews in concentration camps during the holocaust, that forcing spicer to clarify before the briefing was over. >> i think when you come to sarin gas, he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that assad is doing. there was not -- he brought them into the holocaust center, i understand that. what i'm saying the way assad used them where he went into towns and dropped them down onto innocents in the middle of town. >> repo

got a personal apology from spicer.out, that he personally apologized to a big, big donor before he started his public apology tour, did that help or hurt -- maybe a rhetorical question, did that help or hurt the situation? >> i think it's probably more irrelevant to the situation. this goes beyond any one phone call. the question people have to ask is why, you know, the thing that you don't want any white house press secretary, you don't want to do from that podium is come close to compromising the truth, but he's working for a president who willingly compromises the truth day in and day out, so he may very well be the press secretary this president wants. his own personal credibility is damaged, he's making mistake after mistake daily from that podium. it's not serving him well at all and honestly in the long run i don't think it serves president trump well. >> as somebody who worked for a president, in the position that he's in, he has two choices. he can get out there and say whatever it is donald trump tells him to

and this moment for sean spicer overtook that. that's something that the president does not like. >> and the press secretary and i'm a former white house correspondent, you have to have credibility. not just with reporters on the white house beat but with the american public. the people all over the world. that's why i asked this question, david. listen to this. >> as you know, you're the press secretary for the president of the united states at the white house. this is not the first time your comments from the white house, from the lecture in there have been criticized. are you worried, sean, you have a credibility problem right now? >> no, i think this is why i'm here right now, wolf. i clearly, as i said earlier to you, to your audience, when you make a mistake, you own it. my comments today did not reflect the president's. we are a distraction and frankly it was misstated, insensitive and wrong and i wanted to make sure i clarified them as soon as possible. i appreciate you having me on. but one of the things that is important

here's sean spicer.let's listen in. >> i'm sure you all know i was up here earlier this morning off camera with some of your kids. it was a pleasure to be able to share a little bit of the white house experience with them and i hope they enjoyed it. i think some of you have trained them very well. i hope they enjoyed their visit and glad they got an opportunity to visit with the president and vice president today. we have a bunch to talk about today about what the president has been doing and he's got an executive order coming up so i want to try toet through it all. this morning the president welcomed the president and mrs. macri of argentina for an official visit. the president and first lady just left so we will have a read out for you shortly on that. we've got a 2:00 p.m. the president will be signing a memorandum on aluminum imports and threats to national security and we'll try to keep this briefing on time. i know secretary ross spoke about the memo that the president signed a bit yesterday, but

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the center's executive director blasted spicer, saying the white house spokesman likes the integrity to serve in his post. on passover, sean spicer has engaged in holocaust denial by assed jewsller g to death, it was said in a statement. this is what sean spicer said in the news briefing. >> the alliance between russia and syria -- for decades. president clinton has supplied -- president vladimir putin has supplied syria with weapons. what you think they will pull back now? >> a couple of things. we did not use chemical weapons in world war ii. someone as terrible as adolf hitler did not use chemical weapons. you have to, if you are russia, ask yourself if this is a country that you want to align yourself with? you have previously signed an international agreement rightfully acknowledging that the use of chemical weapons should be out of bounds by every country. that you're not standing by your own word should be troubling. russia put their name on the line. at what point do they recognize that they are now getting on the wrong side of history in a really bad way will he quickly? loo

what i was looking at sean spicer up there and we know sean spicer, obviously.b now 82 days now and you could tell that he was getting into territory and comparisons that might not exactly be helpful and you can sort of see in the room there, april was obviously there, seems like the reporters trying to help him out to get to a place where he can clarify and make good and make some sense with this statement. but he -- he was never really able to do that and released the third statement. >> let me read that statement. >> didn't help either. >> he said i in no way trying to lessen the horrendous nature of the holocaust. any attack on innocent people is reprehencible and inexcusable. anna, as mistakes go, i mean, this was a pretty big one. so much so that sean spicer -- >> i think the word you're looking for is huge. >> yeah, shunlg. he apologized to wolf blitzer. here it is. >> i was obviously trying to make a point about the heinous acts of assad against his own people last week using chemical weapons and gas and, frankly, i mistaken used an inappropriate and ins

paul tells you go that spicer is calling the reference a -- us that spicer is calling the reference a mistake. >> reporter: sean spicer's under fire, after making a highly controversial statement on defending the u.s. airstrike in syria. in retaliation for chemical weapons attack. >> we didn't use them in world war ii. you had a, you know, somebody as despicable as hitler who didn't sink to using chemical weapons. >> reporter: those words immediately sparked an outcry from many that know the history of the holocaust. >> he did gas his people, millions of them, so it was a huge historical mistake. >> reporter: the senator says he couldn't believe spicer's comments. >> this is a pattern we've seen from the president and others in his administration, that shows an ignorance of history, shows the manipulation of facts and circumstances. >> reporter: moments after the original statement, spicer tried to make a clarification. >> i think when you come to sarin gas, there was, he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that asaddam hussein is -- assad was doing. >> reporter: many

how do they square that. >> reporter: i disagree with sean spicer on this. i think when the president said we're not going into isis, that could be -- into syria, could be interpreted by isis or by assad that this is the extent of what the u.s. will do, occasional air strikes maybe but we won't go in further. and that does tell them what to expect. that's different than from the president said on the campaign trail when we've grilled him on what he will do on various parts of the world when he's not going to tell his enemies what he's going to do. i disagree with sean spicer on that but that's how he draws it. >> take us behind the scenes a little bit. you're there at the newseum. is there anything that we can't see, small talk before or after when sean spicer got on the stage? >> reporter: i think he came in, he didn't have the bounce in his step that he typically has in the pressroom. as he left in came kellyanne conway who of course is going to be on a few minutes later. so i had a chance to talk to kelly anne. small talk. back behind the scenes, we know

spicer was freelancing there, and obviously he was out of his department, you know. i don't know if he needs to be fired or not, but he certainly does need to get bert at his job. >> do you agree with white house officials who believe russia is trying to cover up the bashar al assad regime's culpability in that chemical attack that killed so much civilians, including children? >> yes, i don't think there's any question about it. they are deflecting the blame from assad and, look, given the presence of russians on the base where the attack was launched from, it is very hard to imagine that they weren't aware of it, but at the end of the day putin doesn't care. he simply wants assad in power, and he'll kill whoever he has to kill to help make that happen. and the international community has to recognize russia for the rogue actor that they are. they are encouraging this type. despotic regimes wherever they can, and that's really the threat of russia. i mean, when putin started, you know, messing around in ukraine and other places, you know, that's but a small piece of

sean spicer is the perfect spokesman for donald trump. you know that donald trump thought that that was a great line when he heard it and he thought this was areat line, too. >> hitler didn't sink to the level of using chemical weapons, what did you mean by that? >> when you come to gas, there -- he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that assad is doing. i mean, there was clearly -- i understand -- thank you. i appreciate that. there was not -- in the -- he brought them in to the -- to the holocaust center, and i understand that, but i'm saying in the way that assad used them, he went into town, dropped them down into the middle of towns. so the use of it, i appreciate the clarification there, that was not the intent. >> he brought them into the holocaust center. do you think donald trump thought that that's what they're called, holocaust centers before sean spicer got corrected on cable news and on twitter. only when twitter and cable news went wild about what sean spicer said, only then did donald trump trump realize t

that aside, it seems like sean spicer just misspoke, right? because if we now are going to intervene militarily if assad uses barrel bombs, that means that we're getting involved in a civil war at a dramatic level. the one line for trump is chemical weapons, this is just a deterrent about using sarin gas and other weapons that are banned under the chemical weapons treaty that syria did sign and they did promise to give up all their chemical weapons. so i don't see anything that suggests that they're moving the line beyond chemical weapons except for what sean spicer said. >> is there any policy toward syria as it was in the last administration? >> i'm not certain. i think it's out there as a possibility. i actually think the way they played it is great, it puts a question mark on it. it will be discussed with russia and tillerson. it was discussed with china last week. >> so you think the lack of clarity is beneficial? >> it's part of what trump does, he does not want to broadcast, this is what i have in mind. but now we have military options

sean spicer as issued a statement of apology. he appeared on several networks tonight to deliver a full apology. meanwhile, president trump was asked about north korea today in an interview with maria bartiromo on fox business. it came after the ominous headline appeared "north korea state media warns of nuclear strike if provoked." the president tonight talked about the carrier battle group tonight being sent into the region. >> we are sending an armada, very powerful. we have submarines, very powerful, far more powerful than the aircraft carrier. that i can tell you. and we have the best military people on earth. and i will say this. he is doing the wrong thing. >> let's bring in this evening's panel. a lot to talk about starting with michael mcfaul, former u.s. ambassador to russia, former special assistant to president obama at the national security council and an msnbc contributor. our terrorism analyst malcolm nance, 35-year veteran of the trade, including navy intelligence, special ops and homeland security. author of the

tonight calls for spicer to be fired including from nancy pelosi and the ann frank center. >> sean spicer has delivered one of the most repulsive slurs against a group of people we have ever heard through a white house podium. to imagine on passover. >> reporter: still the controversy underscoring the white house's struggling to offer a clear message and policy when it comes to syria. >> no one knows what president trump's intention is in syria or his plan or his strategy. >> reporter: just moments ago spicer apologized for his comments. take a listen. >> frankly, i mistakenly used inappropriate and insensitive reference to the holocaust for which there is no comparison. for that i apologize. it was a mistake to do that. >> reporter: mean while president trump himself seemed to make a similar point as spicer without using hitler saying even some of the worst tyrants in the world didn't use the gas the syrians used. >> comparisons aside, the administration continues to justify its strike on syria. secretary of state rex tillerson arriving in russia today for critical talks while the white

again today when sean spicer made one colossal error. >> what spicer said was false and kind of ignorant. >> spicer is in way over his head. >> sean spicer proved himself to be a profoundly stupid liar working for a no foundly stupid liar. the president of the united states has a spokesman he deserves. >> i mistakenly used an inappropriate reference to the holocaust and for that i apologize. howie: why did the piling on continue after his repeated apologies. united apologizes after a passenger was forcibly dragged off a plane. >> i'm not going. i am not going. i don't go. howie: why did some in the media insist on trashing the 69-year-old doctor whose face wound up bloody? i'm howard kurtz and this is "mediabuzz." it was a refrain throughout the campaign that donald trump was too soft on russia. but this week they accused him of a head-spinning shift from coziness to competitors. >> is donald trump headed for a nasty confrontation from moscow, the man who helped elect him. >> this is not consistent with what donald trump ran on except i think it was the right thing to do. >> i don't thin

any greater know what is sean spicer should know. not very smart or very competent? in either case, he should not be the spokesperson for the president of the united states. >> there are other people, we just had ari fleischer on, a former press secretary. he is also on the board of the jewish republican committee. >> uh-huh. >> he was taking a more forgiving tone towards what sean spicer has to deal with, look, people speak extraneously, let my play for you what ari fleischer said. >> he apologized. he did the right thing to just come out and apologize, you know the notion that this is somehow nefarious or indicative of holocaust denial, i dismiss. i think that's the normal washington, somebody you don't like and when the party you don't like says something you don't like, you say the worst things about him. that's not sean and i know that for a fact. >> ari fleischer, what a crock. here's the problem. it took massive pressure to get that apology. he didn't apologize to wolf blitzer just a few minutes before. that was the third atte

spicer. >> just yesterday, three times sean spicer talked about barrel bombs as being something which trigger another u.s. military response. at a time when the administration, nikki haley is saying one thing, rex tillerson is saying something else and then he says something about barrel bombs that he had to walk back. >> i think sean actually does a very able job of speaking for his boss, he know what is donald trump wants to sarks he represents his boss and he does that very ably, which is the job of the press secretary, the press secretary is to represent what the president wants said. he made a mistake today, but he's a fine representative of what the president says. when you have people like paul that will find any way to undermine the president by getting to his staff. >> sean spicer seemed to include it along with chemical weapons and you can argue was he talking about chlorine gas. >> we don't have a policy in syria. and that's why i almost don't fault the administration, because it is the problem from h hhell, so it's a very difficult thing. i don't fault him for getting that

not a good look for sean spicer or the white house. we'll get to that and more in a second. first thank you for joining us on early start. >> eye christine romans. it is 4:00 a.m. in the east, 11:00 a.m. in moscow where secretary of state rex tillerson and russian foreign minister is getting underway. it comes as u.s. officials are accusing russia of trying to cover up syrian leader bashar al-assad's use of chemical weapons against his own people. warns of backing assad in this new interview. >> frankly, putin is backing a person that's truly an evil person, and i think it's very bad for russia. i think it's very bad for man kind. it's very bad for this world. but when you drop gas or bombs or barrel bombs -- they have these massive barrels with dynamite and they drop it in the middle of a group of people. in all fairness, you see kids no arms, no legs, no face. this is an animal. >> the latest, let's go live to cnn's paula newton in moscow. is secretary tillerson's meeting underway yet? what do we expect to come out of this? >> reporter: not as of yet, but we do expect it t

you heard sean spicer say that was cool. sean spicer a very big new england patriots fan.urse, the super bowl winning patriots are here at the white house. that ceremony set to begin at 2:30 this afternoon when president trump will honor them, but yes, wolf, several members of the team deciding to skip out a fusaiing they don't feel welcome at the white house. they're skipping out as part of their opposition to president trump. >> nice to see that gronkowski has a pretty good sense of humor sticking his head into the white house briefing. we'll have coverage of that event coming up 2:30 p.m. eastern a little bit more than half an hour or so from now. jessica, thank you very much. >>> we're following other news just coming into cnn. after a u.s. missile strike in syria, the regime announces they're moving their military aircraft. we'll have details we'll share with you right after this. your insurance company raises your rates. maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accid

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