i am pleased to have tom donilon back at this table. we'll talk about both asia as well as ukraine in this conversation. welcome back. >> thank you, charlie. it's good to be here. >> rose: tell us what the president expects to accomplish in asia on this trip. >> it's an important trip. you'll recall his last trip to asia was canceled last fall in the wake of the government shutdown, and that was costly, frankly -- >> because he was back dealing with the budget. >> he was back here dealing with the budget, and he had planned on that trip to go to malaysia and the philippines and two summits as well and that had to be canceled. >> rose: and the chinese had a real opportunity to make their case while he was gone. >> i think that's right. but the more important point is he didn't have the opportunity to work some of these issues and have a regular presence, which he's had in asia, since the outset of his administration. so this trip allows him to step out there, to be very present, to go to northeast and southeast asia. in northeast asia, o

tom donilon, former security advisor. back in a moment. ♪ >> she left harvard for washington in 2008 to oversee the bank bailout package. as part of that work, she would create the consumer protection bureau. the new york times recently reported that america no longer has the world's richest middle-class. we'll talk about that in much more about the middle class, u.s. economy, and about income equality. i am happy to have elizabeth warren back at this table. how do you like this and nothing? -- how do you like this senate thing? >> i like it. i really do. there are a lot of tools in the toolbox when you're in a place like the united states. one of the things i learned early on is, for example, there are a lot of banking regulators out there and a lot banking laws. but if the regulators won't pick up the laws and use them, than the banks can kind of go off and do what they want. if the regulators will actually use those laws, then we actually have a safer system. so the united states senate has oversight responsibilities o

tom donilon is with us here in "the situation room."u believe there was a connection between the airing of the videotape, this high-level al qaeda peninsula meeting where cnn showed those pictures and we're airing them again and the decision to launch this drone strike? >> i don't know of a direct connection, although the video that you aired, march 29th video of a large group of al qaeda, including the leader -- >> number two al qaeda leader? >> the leader of aqap and the number two overall leader of the managing director, if you will, globally, it was a significant event. i think what we're seeing here, wolf, this group, aqap, is the group most closest to al qaeda core and it's the most lethal offshoot, if you will, coming out of al qaeda and as your report said, they've been a source of a number of potential plots and efforts to strike the united states. >> do you know if any high level leaders of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula were killed in this operation? >> i don't know. but what i can tell you is this the most lethal group th