Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20170411

The situation in 2003 and the war in iraq. First of all, there was a Campaign Launched in iraq and it finished with the destruction of the country, the growth of the terrorist threat, and the emergence of isis on the international arena. No more. No less than that. Our Senior International sbre correspondent Matthew Chance is joining us from moscow. Sara murray on the lawn of the white house while we wait for sean spicers press briefing. Putin also said he expected more Chemical Attacks in syria. Tell our viewers precisely what hes saying. This is president putin pushing whats been the russian version of events since this terrible attack took place last tuesday basically saying this was a provocation, this was something that was a normal syrian air strike, a regular conventional syrian air strike on a weapons factory that was run by the rebels to manufacture land mines that they were stuffing with chemicals to use against the syrian military. Hes saying that the syrian military, the Syrian Government unfairly was blamed for causing that horrific loss of life. Take a listen to what he had to say about the future of possible Chemical Attacks. Translator we have information from various sources that this kind of provocation and not guilty oth and nothing other than provocation is being prepared for in and then accuse the Syrian Government of it. But we believe that any manifestation of that kind should be carefully investigated and we intend to apply to relevant u. N. Bodies and towards the entinternational Community Investigate these matters very carefully. So putin is saying that hes got intelligence that there may be more sort of these Chemical Attacks that will perhaps encourage the United States to carry out further attacks, further missile strikes against syrian targets, wolf. What is he specifically saying, matthew, about a possible investigation the chemical attack in syria last week that killed so many civilians, including a lot of children . Well, the Defense Ministry here in russia issued a statement saying that theyre ready to provide security for chemical weapons inspectors to go into syria and investigate at least the air base that was struck by the missile strike from where the strikes were launched by the syrian airplanes. To have a thorough investigation there to try and determine whether there were any chemical weapons at that air base. The Syrian Government, according to the russian Defense Ministry, hass has said theyd be willing to consider that problem as well. The problem is the attack took place in the Southern Area and thats rib el territory and it will be difficult if not impossible for inspectors to get there. An investigation may leave the various parties and the International Community none the wiser as to what actually happened. Sara, were now hearing from a white house official whos responding to some of russias claims. What are you hearing . We were briefed by Senior Administration officials who hitting back against this russian narrative. Theyre saying they do believe this was a sarin gas attack and it was carried out by the Syrian Regime. They do not have evidence this was something done by the rebels or by a terrorist group. They also called out russia saying they have waged a campaign of disinformation to try to cover up the culpability of the Syrian Regime. Its worth noting we have been told by Senior Administration officials from yesterday to today there is still no consensus in the u. S. Intelligence community that russia had any kind of heads up, any kind of foreign knowledge about these grizzly chemical weapon attacks. We did hear officials lean further into this asking the question of how russian forces, if they were co mingled with these Syrian Forces to did the chemical attack, how could they not have knowledge. Still insisting there is no consensus from the Intelligence Community on this, but i think were beginning to see some of the Administration Officials put a little more pressure on russia. Obviously this comes at a time when secretary of state tillerson is in moscow. He has spoken very critically about russia and any potential role they may have had in this. So far we have not heard that from President Trump himself. Thanks so much, sara murray. Matthew chance with the latest from moscow. I want to bring in cnn clarissa ward. Shes long the syria turkey border. President trump asked general mattis, the secretary of defense for an up date on the missile strikes. Mattis said 20 of the operational Syrian Air Force was either destroyed or damaged. Are we getting a clear sense of how much damage was done to this Syrian Air Base . Well, wolf, its really difficult to get a sense of just how much damage was done, because obviously each side has its own narrative. The Syrian Regime almost immediately started flying planes out of the air base obviously in an attempt to try to show that they were that their planes could still fly from there air base. At the same time that does not gel with what we heard yesterday from general mattis, secretary of defense mattis. He said that 20 of the Syrian Air Forces fixed wing aircraft had been either severely damaged or destroyed. That is a huge amount if indeed it is 20 . That would mean they have roughly 100 fixed wing aircraft. Weve looked into some defense analysts who said before the civil war they had 300 fixed wing aircraft. It does seem now after six long years of war they would have about 100. It does sound like a feasible number but its difficult to confirm that. We also heard from sean spicer saying this was a pr stunt. The refuelling capability is gone. The radar capability is gone. Thats what youre hearing from the u. S. Government. On the other hand, we are see are air strikes continuing across syria day in and day out. This is nothing new. None of them have been particularly noticeable. They have been your sort of typical daily syrian air strikes. So difficult to know exactly how much damage has been done just yet, wolf. Issue yare you getting any r to sean spicer comments about the use of barrel bombs potentially representing yet another red line for the United States . Well, i think everybody who follows syria very closely, who was watching yesterdays press briefing, had a moment of jaw dropping on the ground when they first heard sean spicer say that potentially barrel bombs would constitute another red line. There was a kind of moment where people were furiously talking about particularly on the ground inside syria, people who support the opposition, if this would constitute a red line for the u. S. , that would be a huge escalation because of course barrel bombs are a very crude weapon that are being used on an almost daily basis. Weve since heard the white house apparently try to walk back that a little bit and now theres an understanding that perhaps it would only refer to barrel bombs that had been packed with chlorine gas. This is also been used quite regularly, but frankly we have not heard any real clarity from the white house. Perhaps well hear some in this press conference were waiting on now. Were standing by the sean spicer Daily Briefing. Clarissa, thanks very much. Shes along the turkey syria border. Meanwhile north korea is issuing another warning to the United States. North korean state media saying a Nuclear Strike is possible. If provoked by what it calls u. S. Aggression. President trump had some tough talk of his own today on twitter tweeting this. North korea is looking for trouble. If china decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them. U. S. A. The u. S. Meanwhile is sending a Navy Strike Group to the waters off the Korean Peninsula led by the uss carl vinson. I want to join will ripley. With a hbig National Holiday where you near north korea. Are we expecting tensions to escalate even further . It certainly seems that way, wolf, as this country does prepare for the day of the sun. Its most important holiday of the year and a holiday when north korea has in the past attempted very dramatic displays of power. It was five years ago in 2012 when they tried to launch a satellite into orbit just two days before this major holiday that ended up being a fail launch but succeeded later in that year n december of that year. What this shows is this is a time when kim jongun who appeared just a short time ago in some brand new video presiding over an important political gathering also happening today, it is a time when he is has been known to project strength and power not only to his own people here in north korea, but to show defy ans to tyans defy aniance ont of the world. They believe kim could put the button on the countrys sixth nuclear test which would be a defiant message to President Trump in light not only the tweets but deployment to the strike group that could arrive in the waters in just a matter of days. Will ripley with the very latest. Very tense time indeed. Will, thanks very much for that reporting. Lets get back to russia now and those harsh words from the russian president Vladimir Putin aimed at the United States. Also today Russias Foreign Ministry releasing a statement saying u. S. russia relations are at their most difficult point since the cold war. Joining us now, steven foreign relations, former ambassador at large for russia and a former soviet states. Ambassador, thanks so much for joining us. Pleasure. You agree that u. S. russian relations are at their worst level since the cold war . Theres a lot of friction. Nothing much that the two sides agree on. And many points of contention. As the russian Prime Minister said last week, theyre not too far from military confrontation in syria. There were russian people at the Russian Military personnel at the base that the United States struck. Thats, you know, very tense, dicey situation for two sides to be in. You believe the russians were complicit in that chemical weapons attack against those civilians in syria . I dont think we have any real way of confirming that. My guess is we wont. Some of the information thats been used is very circumstantial. There was a russian drone over the syrian hospital, so they must have known. This is the sort of thing that will be argued back and forth without much real resolution. As you know, the secretary of state Rex Tillerson is in moscow. Hes going to meet with sergey lavrov, the Russian Foreign minister. No word yet that president putin is going to invite him to a meeting, but do you expect that meeting to take place . Russian officials are telling russian journalists today that there will be a meeting and that makes sense. Putin is somebody who worries about looking weak. He wants to show his disapproval of what the United States has done, but he also wants to hear from tillerson what the United States is doing. He you know, i think probably secretary tillerson heard those comments today about the rebels being responsible for the gas attack as an example of putin leading with his chin. Hes going to go into that meeting in a piric you can either go with the regime of assad and the iranians or forget about them, you come work with us, youll be better off if you do. Thats the choice hes going to offer to the russians. How do you suspect the russians will respond . Well, Rex Tillerson is not the first secretary of state to go to moscow with that message saying you know, it could be so much better if you worked with us instead of those nasty people the iranians and president assad. Actually, the russians have done fine working with the iranians and president assad. Their economy is not that good. The economy is not great. Its picking up a little bit, but what putin has done in syria, his intervention in syria is one of his most significant Foreign Policy successes and hes not going to be talked out of it by the mere claim that, you know, it would be nicer if you worked with us. The real question for an american secretary of state who goes to moscow and says you should work with us, you should promote a political solution, tillerson himself said the assad regime is coming to an end. The real question that the russians will have for him is what are you going to do about it, what are you going to do if we say no. Where do you see this u. S. russian relationship in the short term heading . In the short term, the russians have to decide whether they want to pivot in their syria policy, but the chances are they wont. They are going to try to drag this out. The point of putins remarks today was to say the rebels were responsible here, lets have an investigation. This was their line last week in the u. N. Security council. Thats their story and theyre sticking to it. For putin to believe that he needs to pivot, hes got to believe that the United States is going to take a significantly different approach than it has in the past few years and one military strike probably isnt going to do it. Well see if theres some more military strikes coming up, because thats the threat on the table right now. Ambassador, thanks so much for joining us. So what do all these new developments mean for the u. S. russian relationship as well as russias growing role in the middle east . Congressman, a chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee is standing by to join us live. Mr. Chairman, stand by. We also are only moments away from the White House Press briefing. Mu multiple officials forced to collarify comments made by sean spicer yesterday regarding the president s position on taking action in syria. Will he set the record straight today . Well have live coverage of that and a lot more. Thats all coming up. Se gels have laser drilled holes. They release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. Tylenol® parts a and b and want more coverage, guess what . You could apply for a Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan whenever you want. No enrollment window. No waiting to apply. That means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. 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Change your wifi password to something you can actually remember, instantly. Add that premium channel, and watch the show everyones talking about, tonight. And the bill you need to pay . Do it in seconds. Because we should fit into your life, not the other way around. Go to xfinity. Com myaccount j wear. Were waiting for the White House Press secretary to come out. Hell probably be asked lots of questions about Vladimir Putins questions this morning that compared it back to the start of the authentic war in 2003. Well bring you the News Conference briefing live as soon as it starts. In the meantime u. S. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson, hes in moscow right now for talks about the u. S. russian lip arelations and the future of syria. Joining us from santa ana california is ed royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you, wolf. Let me get your Immediate Reaction to the comments from president put tin sighing what e u. S. Is doing is misleading the world, that the syria ran regime ba Bashar Al Assad did not launch an attack. I think thats russian spin because putin is and should be embarrassed by exactly what was done here, by assad and i say that with assurance because a day after assads forces launched that attack, i was given the information which is clear cut. We monitored the flight of that air wing because that plane took off and flew over the target and dropped a chemical weapon on that target. Assad was caught here red handed on something that putin had given us assurances that assad as part of this deal would give up his chemical weapons. Thats what this is about and thats why two days later our air force or at least our strikes of our tomahawk missiles took out 23 of those planes, assads planes. The russians maintain the u. S. Was wrong in 2003 leading up to the war in iraq about iraqs weapons of mass destruction, stockpiles. They want an international investigation. Your reaction to that . We had an international investigation. The russians were part of that, wolf, if youll recall. And we had an attestation to these amounts of weapons that had been created by assad. He turned over some of them but not all of them. Apparently he did not turn them all over. Now hes been using them. In the last id say week or couple weeks, hes had three attacks and in this last one he was just plain caught red handed. And so this is the current situation. Thats a great embarrassment to russia. Was russia complicit in this syrian gas attack, the sarin gas attack against the civilians in one way or another . Whats the latest information youre getting . Well, from my standpoint, ill give you my view of this, the man who ordered the attack was assad. And the one were holding responsible for it is assad because he continues to do it. And i think for that reason the International Community is sort of come to the conclusion, and this is why our secretary of state is there meeting with putin today in moscow, to try to reason with the russians and explain look, this the judgment of an individual who has killed 480,000 of his own people and driven 14 Million People out of their homes, many of these dps are stretched across syria but many across the middle east and now in europe, someone with that inability to govern his country, someone with that streak of cruelty in him is not going to bring order out of the chaos that hes helped create. So i think at this point, that discussion, that political discussion has to happen in terms of the down sides to everyone in this continues. Youve seen the reports that the russians were involved in some sort of effort to cover up the syrian use of the chemical weapons by launching another separate strike against the hospital to remove evidence. Have you been briefed on that . No, ive not been briefed on that particular attack. But it makes sense to me that the russians are embarrassed by this. As everybody has been embarrassed by assad. His own some of his cabinet officials who have defected have said look, find another leader, but lets get rid of this guy because of what hes done to his own country and his own people and when his own tribe is saying that, it is really time for the russians to open a political discussion here of a negotiation on how to get this guy out of the process. Have him go to russia. Have him go wherever. But lets see a negotiated agreement here that will get rid of isis, which is in russias interest and ours, because assad wont fight isis. And at the same time, allow some kind of way forward here for sunni to at least begin to put back the Building Blocks in that region. Radicalization is not in europe or our interest either. Were just getting word from our senior White House Correspondent from jeff zeleny. He had a briefing at the white house. Senior Administration Official telling him and im quoting this official now, i think its clear the russians are trying to cover up what happened there. We do think that it is a question worth asking the russians the plan prepared and carried out this chemical weapons attack and did not have knowledge. I take it theres also been a formal report from the administration to congress with more detail. So mr. Chairman, where does the u. S. Go from here as far as drawing additional red lines if theres another chemical weapons attack or if there are more barrel bomb attacks that, you know, these brutal attacks that kill a lot of civilians. Should the u. S. Be prepared to step up its military involvement in syria . I think what the administration is looking at is a response to the gas attacks and theres bipartisan support for a measured appropriate response to a given attack using gas. Either through a barely bom or some other type of ordinance, anything that drops clhlorine. Poison gas is not to be used and thats been an International Agreement since the end of the first world war. The only exception the real exception to it that was hitlers use of gas, but that was in secret really. The world didnt find out about it until after the war was over against his own people. And theres against the Jewish Population and others. And there has been this agreement since that gas will not be allowed to be used. Thats in the vital interest of the United States. Now, if this goes out more than 60 days, of course, there needs to be an authorization of use of military force in order to take out any other gas attack and secondarily, wolf, there needs to be a strategy put forward, a political strategy, of how to negotiate with russia and others. Weve got to take a quick break, but very quickly, what youre saying is if there are more strikes coming up within the next 60 days or after 60 days, formal legislation, aumf authorization for the use of military force, legislation in the ho us and senate will be required . Is that what youre saying . That the president does not have the authority to continue military strikes without that kinds of legislation . My read is if it goes beyond 60 days, you need an aumf. Thats a precise state from the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee. As usual, thanks for joining us. Thank you, wolf. Coming up, white house officials tell cnn they are confident the Syrian Government was behind the deadly attack and theyre now accusing russia of trying to shift blame. The White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer expected to speak in the next few minutes. Well have live coverage of his Daily Briefing. Thats coming up. Is time you make for yourself. 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I was just at a different briefing with Senior Administration officials really going farther than they have before in saying that russia was complicit in their view in working with the Syrian Regime to cover up a chemical attack here. Now, this u. S. Official speaking on background did stop short of saying that russia had to, quote, foreknowledge or knew in advance of the chemical attack a week ago to set off the series of events that led to the military strikes last thursday. They do believe russia has been engaging in a cover up of chemical weapons overall here over the last couple of years. Let me read directly from the Senior Administration officials who said i think its clear that the russians are trying to cover up what happened there. We do think its a question worth asking the russians. How is it possible that their forces were located with Syrian Forces that planned, prepared and carried out this chemical weapons attack at the same time and did not have foreknowledge. Theyre not saying they have proof of this, but they are asking the question here. So this is an attempt at pushing back on what Vladimir Putin said earlier today. Simply trying to wash his hands of any involvement in this chemical attack here. But we are going to hear more from the pentagon as the day goes on here what those bomb damage assessments were. But again, the u. S. Government stating more clearly than it has before that the russian government was engaged in a cover up in their words with the Syrian Regime leading to these Chemical Attacks. Serious charge against the russians. The russians are leveling serious charges against the u. S. Jeff, well get back you to. Were waiting for the White House Press briefing. Sean spicer will go to the lectern there. Well have live coverage as soon as it begins. In the meantime, lets bring in our panel. Joining us retired u. S. Army, mark kimmen. Mark brownstein and jackie. Strong words coming back and forth, but i want to quickly get your reaction to news we just heard from ed royce saying if military action were to continue for more than 60 days by the u. S. , the president would have to seek formal authorization, legislation, from congress, an aumf bill authorizing the use of military force in order to make it legal and constitutional. Thats a strong statement. Absolutely. Particularly coming from chairman rice. Youre absolutely right. This would open up a new debate in congress. And having more of his republican colleagues around him will definitely help him but that doesnt necessarily clear the way. Theyre signaling theyre going to take back some of the authority. They took a lot of criticism for con ve conceding that authority to the branch. Hes a chairman of the House Committee and hes a republican. The last time we had this debate not only in the u. S. But also the u. K. It was politically difficult. President obama had to back down in part from his red line because he could not marshall the support in congress. And they lost the it was the first time they had lost a vote on war and peace since the american revolution. If you look at the polling today it is very precarious. Yes, there is support, but just at 50 . Much less support than weve seen for other military interventions and a majority saying they did not support further action. If in fact this does continue and they need to go to congress, theres no guarantee that even a Republican Congress will be there. I think based on the precedent and the patterns of Public Opinion weve seen. They would have to show a lot of hard evidence of syrian syrian decision to use these kinds of weapons in order to convince democrats and republicans in the house and senate to go along and pass this kind of legislation. I think thats right. Weve got to remember that 60 days is a long time from now. Its not that long. Its two months. If assad ramps down his activities with regards to barrel bombs and chemicals, that would make it more difficult tootoget to get it passed. If he in i think there will be much more support for the administration trying to get that through congress. I know they can supply classified information to members of congress but to the American Public how far can they go in providing the evidence they say they have that it was syria that did it, the u. S. Knows for sure, and that the russians maybe were trying to help cover it up . Lets be clear. This has been going on for quite some time, ever since president obama backed away from the red line. We know syria has chemical weapons. We know the russians were supposed to verify the removal of those chemical weapons. Weve seen them repeatedly use them as recently as a couple of days ago. Lets be fracnk. This is all in the Public Domain right now. So i dont think that theres going to be much more coming out of intelligence that would be needed to convince the American People and the u. S. Congress if this continues. The key question, if this continues. You know whats happening now as we speak, the u. S. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson is in moscow. Hes meeting with the foreign minister sergey lavrov. He may have a meeting with president putin. Both sides, the u. S. And russia have hardened their positions and some are suggesting the u. S. russian relationship may be at its worst level since the cold war. Particularly coming from tillerson who was close to putin and took a lot of flack for that. What happened in syria and the administration strike has given him more leverage going into this meeting, but i just wanted to add one more thing about how different this is from the candidate trump who didnt who didnt want to get into another conflict in the middle east. Who campaigned that iraq was a terrible decision and who criticized the spending that went into this. And now were how many days in and were talking about perhaps another aumf. Not only that but the comparison to candidate trump, when he talked about the value of trying to have the principle asset he saw coming out of that was cooperation against isis and syria. You go back and look at the language in the first president ial debate. He said wouldnt it be great if we could Work Together with russia against isis and here we have the situation in syria, you know, really exploding the difficulty, making very clear the difficulty of any kind of cooperation because while there is a shared interest in dislodging isis in syria, its clear that russias principle interest again reaffirmed today is stabilizing assad in syria and you can see how big a space there is between what they want and what we want despite some overlap in terms of isis. Were just getting word that the secretary of defense general mattis and the commander of the u. S. Military Central Command, theyre going to be holding an on Camera Press Briefing at the pentagon in at 3 30 p. M. Eastern going through specific details, what happened, what the u. S. Is doing. This is a Significant Development that the secretary of defense and the head of the u. S. Military Central Command, which is in charge of the whole middle east region have decided this is a moment to speak not only to the American Public but to the world. Well, i think thats right. And you can see how much chatter there has been since the chemical attack. The motivations, should we have done this, did they really have that capability, where were the russians involved . When you have probably two of the most credible voices, secretary mattis and the chairman of the joint chiefs of commander of Central Command, i think those questions about why we did it, what we achieved, i think thats what theyre out there trying to explain. We do have one voice thats still pretty absent in all of this and thats the president. He spoke the night of the tomahawk cruise miss ilgiles. Now were going to hear the voice of the White House Press secretary. Its almost nice enough to have class outside today. Rose garden press briefings. I want to start off this afternoon by a quick comment on the tragic and heart breaking events that unfolded at San Bernadino school yesterday. Wur praye our prayers go out to the victims. Moving on to today, the president this morning led a discussion with some of the worlds top job creators on how private sector thinking can help the government modernize and provide a better more Efficient Services to the American People. Together the companies that were represented in the room this morning employed nearly four Million People worldwide and at least 1. 78 million americans here in our nation. Starting in small interactive groups the cabinet members shared their strategic visions for their departments and l listened as Business Leaders offered their perspective to how they might achieve those goals. They shared their discussions and outcomes with the president. It was hosted by the office of American Innovation and another opportunity for the administration to engage with the private sectexecutor and harness the crumbling infrastructure, a broken system at the veterans administration. Also this morning the president completed several procedural steps to ratify the protocol for a session to the north atlantic treaty organization. Following the senates overwhelming and bipartisan vote of this rat fi indication. The United States looks forward to welcoming m later today th president will have a series of meetings with his national and Economic Security team. Later the attorney general is also at the southwest border to announce specific new actions. The Trump Administration is taking to secure our borders and keep the country safe. The administrations committed to ending the practice of smuggling gangs and cartels across the border that flood our country with drugs and violence. These actions which include the strengthening of the laws applying those who are caught attempting to illegal return to the United States and those who profit off smuggling people across the border well once again make it clear to the br f members of Law Enforcement that the Trump Administration has their back. Secretary tillerson finished the meeting today ask is now in moscow for meetings with his russian counter part. Its part of our effort to maintain direct lines of communication with senior russian officials and to ensure that the United States views on the situation in syria Counter Terrorism efforts, north korea and other matters are clearly conveyed. Were open to strategic cooperation with russia when we can achieve a shared goal such as defeating isis, but well stand up for our interest and values when we do not see eye to eye. Russia must honor the commitments it made in the Nuclear Forces treaty and other topics of international concern. Secretary tillerson is going to make that clear during his visit. I also want to make it known that secretary mattis and the commander of Central Command will be giving a full briefing on the strike in syria that occurred today in the department of defense at 3 30. Then at 4 00 ill be back up here for an off camera briefing with director mulvaney was office of management and budget and Linda Springer for regarding the president s executive order on reorganizing the executive branch. That gives us three briefings plus this today. Not to get you real excited, but well have another one tomorrow morning in advance of the nato meeting with the secretary general. This afternoons briefing well be discussing the plan on reforming the federal government and reducing the size of the federal civilian work force that omb was directed to produce by executive order, so well be spending a lot of quality time together over the next 48, 24 hours. With that id be glad to take a few questions. Russia, does the Administration Believe that russia had any advanced knowledge of the chemical attack in syria and does the Administration Believe that russia may have been complicit in these attacks . I believe there was a background briefing earlier today where that was discussed. At this time theres no consensus in the Intelligence Community thats the case. Is there any thought within the Intelligence Community or again, at this point the only thing im going to say is theres no consensus within the Intelligence Community that there was involvement. Today in the background briefing, officials accused russia of assads use of chemical weapons. In the past putin calling them very smart. Does he still think putin is very smart . Does that change the relationship . A couple things. Number one i think the president made it clear from the beginning that he entered office thinking that if he can get a deal with russia and our National Interest which i discussed during the opening remarks, part of secretary tillersons conversation with foreign minister lavrov, then were going to do it. If we cant find an area of interest, then we wont. Theres no question that russia is isolated. They have aligned themselves with north korea, syriai, iran. Thats not exactly a group of countries youre looking to hang out with. With the exception of russia, theyre all failed states. Russia is on an island when it comes to its support of syria or its lack of frankly acknowledgement of what happened. The facts are on our side. Its re its russia needs to hold themselves up to. So i think the president has been very clear with his stance on russia and in this particular case were going to be very forceful and as well secretary tillerson during his visit to make sure that we make make sure that we let russia know that they need to live up to the obligations that it has made. The administration has said sanctions against syria are forthcoming. What will those look like and when can we expect those . Great question. I think you know well enough at this point that were not going to announce any of that kind of action until its ready to go. I think the president has made it clear that additional action with respect to syria in terms of its failure to stop engaging in actions that harm its people will result in action. And so im not going to get ahead of what hes planning to announce or when, but as he has made clear on a variety of circumstances, hes not one to telegraph his actions until hes ready to make those announcements. Has the administration identified an Opposition Party that could come to power in syria if there is a regime change . I think first and foremost, and i stated this yesterday and will state again, that our number one goal did s to defeat isis. I think secondly, the political conditions that are exist in syria right now are such that what we need russia and others to do is to help create a political environment in which the Syrian People can choose a leader that is more suited to them. I think getting into who that should be, i think what were trying to do right now is shape the environment to allow the Syrian People to determine im going to change the topic. Mark meadows said earlier this morning that he thinks, quote, were very close as it relates to health care and that two options were given to the house speaker. Does the white house believe that youre very close on health care and have you signed off on those two options . Well, two things. One, were getting closer and closer every day. This has been a process that, as you know, the chief staff, Vice President and others have been extremely engaged in behind the scenes. We clearly are getting closer. More votes are moving in our direction. And these ideas are helpful. I would say we feel very good about the direction that this is going. I know with respect to a couple of the proposals that congressman meadows is suggesting and part of those has to be, again, figuring out whether or not those attract additional votes and gain Additional Support and dont detract. I know it sounds very simple. But thats what this process has been about. Hes reviewing a couple of the provisions to the ongoing amendment. Its not a question of us signing off. I think were good with the direction that this is going as long as it continues to grow the vote. A lot of these provisions that are being discussed gives the state the ability to enact certain provisions, which is giving more competition and more choice to the people in the state. Secondly, the video being played across television, United Airlines, do you think the government should investigate the industry as a whole as it relates to passenger treatment . I would just say i think clearly Law Enforcement is reviewing that situation. There is plenty of Law Enforcement to review a situation like that and i know United Airlines has said they are reviewing their own policies. Lets not get ahead of where that review goes. It was an unfortunate incident. Clearly when you watch the video, it is troubling to see how that was handled, but im not going to they have clearly stated their desire to review the situation. Law enforcement is reviewing it and for us to start to get in front of what should be a very simple a local matter, not necessarily not needing a federal response. Hallie . Has the president seen that video . Im sure he has. I dont think anyone looks at that video isnt disturbed. But again, one thing to understand is when theres an event like this, for a president to weigh in pro or con, i dont want to get involved in it but clearly a human being being dragged down an aisle and watching blood roll down their face, i dont think you cant sit back and say this could have been handled better. But again, i dont think that it is my place to get in the middle of judging how a company dealt with this. There is clearly going to be enough review both on the corporate side and Law Enforcement side on how this was handled. But i think from a humantohuman standpoint, to watch a human being get dragged down the aisle and not think that it could have been handled better, i think we can all agree on that. Two questions. First, Foreign Policy. One on syria. This administration is beginning to fight for its travel ban that would limit refugees coming in from syria. The president spoke very starkly about how affected he was about the images that hes seen in his youngest victims. Yes. There have been refugees that have its been heartwrenching. Is the president thinking about revising that aspect of his travel ban . In terms of letting them in . The refugees are not looking to flee. Those that are. Right. And i think the number one goal of this president is to make sure that we protect our people, our country and to keep those people from having to flee. They have family there. And so thats our number one goal, creating a safer environment, deescalated the environment. The u. S. Has been extremely supportive when it comes to the financial piece of this. Thats why, you know, with the consent and guidance of his National Security team, it was very extreme it was moving. I dont think you can watch those things not that you should when you see in particular young babies and children being gassed, it should move any human being that has a heart. But that partially dealt with why he acted to decisively. To see an individual, assad, in that regime to act in a way that reacted to literally see someone use gas and as pointed out, you think about that, its in the same category as Nuclear Weapons for a reason. It is that lethal, that deadly, that horrific that when you recognize that use of chemical weapons is put in the same category, because of what it does to an individual, and the nature of an attack like that, even first responders, if you saw some of the tape were getting that is grossly affected by this, it moved him tremendously. Thats why he acted the way he did. Have you seen the latest provocations from pyongyang, that if china doesnt help, the u. S. Will solve the problem. Right. What does he mean by that, the u. S. Will solve the problem . Hes made it very clear that he is not going to tolerate these actions by north korea. Hes not one to go out and telegraph his response. I think he keeps all options on the table, his cards close to the vest. As he showed last week with respect to syria when the president was willing to act, its going to be decisive and proportional to make it clear thats the position as you know, when the president is ready to act, he make it is very clear and i think theres no question when the president is ready to make a statement, he will do that but i think hes made it clear with respect to north korea that their behavior and action with respect to the missile launches is not tolerable. For that matter, any other country in any other set of human beings. We need stability in that region and i think hes put them clearly on notice. John . Thanks a lot. The alliance between russia and syria is a strong one. It goes back decades. President putin has provided help to the assad government. What makes you think at this point hes going to pull back his support for assad and the Syrian Government right now . I think a couple things. You look we used chemical weapons in world war ii. You had a someone who is despicable as hitler who didnt even using chemical weapons. You have to, if youre russia, ask yourself, is this a country and regime you want to align yourself with . You have previously signed on to International Agreements saying that chemical weapons should be out of bounds for any country. This is russia put their name on the line. So its not a question of how long that alliance has lasted but at what point do they recognize that they are now getting on the wrong side of history in a really bad way really quickly. Again, look at the countries that are standing with him, iran, syria, north korea. This is not a team you want to be on. And i think that russia has to recognize while they may have had an alliance, the lines that have been crossed are ones that no country should ever want to see another country cross. First of all, were coming up on tax day. When does the white house plan on releasing President Trumps 2016 tax returns and are there any concerns about reflecting on the tax debate. Second, how many people are you expecting to the easter egg roll . Those are two tough ones. So on the first one, weve asked and answered that several times and the president has been under audit. We filed our Financial Disclosure forms in a way for everyone to understand. Our tax return clearly lists how much money you make, how much tax you paid. When you list a Financial Disclosure, it lists where youre getting your money from. Its a much more comprehensive understanding. This question has been asked and answered over and over again. The American People are, frankly the middle class in particular, are much more concerned about tax reform and allowing our economy to grow and the bottom line to grow. With respect to the easter egg roll, thats a huge topic. I think were going to have an excellent time. There will be a large military contingent as well. Theres five waves over twohour periods in which children and their families can come to the white house. Weve done Extensive Community outreach to bring the School Children from the area in and its going to be a great day. I dont have the