Reporter he said Bashar Al Assad might be a partner in fighting terrorism. Now it seems many groups work with terrorists in the have said they welcome this move. Very surprising development. Frances . Certainly watching the assad regimes response. And any actions taken from it. Nbcs matt bradley in beirut. Thank you. The president explained his decision to order these missile strikes from his Maralago Club where hes currently hosting chinese president xi jinping. Here is what the president had to say. Tonight i ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria where the chemical attack was launched. It is in this Vital National security interest of the united stat states. It is in this Vital National security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. There can be no dispute that syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the chemical weapons convention, and ignored the urging of the u. N. Security council. Tonight i call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in syria, and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types. How are other government officials reacting to this. Nbcs Edward Lawrence is in d. C. This morning. Edward, what are you hearing . How is washington responding . Reporter in general, both republicans and democrats support this strike. One house member barbara lee who tweeted out this is an act of war against syria. Still many others say a message had to be sent to the assad regime that the use of chemical weapons on helpless individuals will not be tolerated. For example, senator bob corker, a republican, saying he applause the president s decision. The Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations committee, senator ben warden says this shows the u. S. Would stand up against the use of chemical weapons. About two dozen representatives and senators were briefed about this before the missile launch. During the barrage, they were briefed again on the progress of it. This shows the white house wants to reach out and work with members of congress on this. Senators say going forward, if theres any further escalation of missiles or air strikes or beyond that, it must take an act of congress to engage the american people, yasmin . So far a united front on this. Well see what transpires over the next 24 hours. Nbcs Edward Lawrence in washington, thank you. Lets bring in nbc news military analyst colonel jack jacobs. Colonel, i appreciate you being with us. When you have the question that so many are asking now, that what next question that applies to this administration. It applies also to assad regime. Overall weve got to look at the end game, the picture here. What are we looking at . Were not looking at very much. Its not entirely clear what our strategy is. I think a lot of people are convinced there is not necessarily a strategy. Dont forget that this was not a strategic strike, it was a Tactical Strike set to achieve some fairly narrow goals including domestic, political goals, foreign political goals. Convincing assad not to use chemical weapons again which i think to that extent it was a success. But what next . It all depends on what kind of strategy that National Security adviser general mcmaster puts together. I think he was hired specifically to do that. Not just for the middle not just for syria, not just the middle east but across the entire arena in which the United States operates. For his entire life, his whole professional life, hes been very much focused on strategy. I think he was engaged specifically to create a strategy and we havent had one before and i think he is working on it right now. What its going to look like remains to be seen. But this is a Good Opportunity for the United States now to use other instruments of policy, not just the military instrument, in its quest for stability in the middle east. Colonel, what about the fear of creating a vacuum in that area, if Bashar Al Assad were to leave, if they were able to take him out. What about isis and them coming into that area . Its a very big problem. By the way its a very big problem in all of the countries in the middle east. We saw exactly what happened including libya and iraq when there was no followthrough, no way to stabilize the country and so on. Its not entirely clear what would happen if there were no regime, no assad regime as it stands now. But whatever its going to be, the country itself would fragment and be difficult for american National Security interest. Thats why the United States needs to work with the russians and, quite frankly, with iran and saudi arabia to make sure theres a concerted effort to keep stability in the region. Especially you have a lawmaker say the strikes will hamper relations when it comes to the United States and russia so well continue to follow that. Colonel jack jacobs. Want to go to nbc news correspondent calipari who has met and interviewed the syrian leader. Good morning, cal. Good to talk to you. Take us inside assads mindset right now. Will these air strikes deter him . Certainly thats the hope. Keep in mind Bashar Al Assad has changed since the civil war began. Seven or eight years ago he was a darling in the middle east, was going to open up peace negotiations. All that changed when people took to the streets. People took to the streets calling for reform, not regime change. It was his militarys response to those calls that then really inflamed the situation. It was his killing of civilians in the streets of cities like dara and damascus thats really brought us to where we are today. The other thing is that hes not really the president of syria. Putin is really the person who is largely in charge, Bashar Al Assad is at this point fighting for his survival. He is going to keep taking cues from moscow. Were hearing those reactions where you have president putin saying this strike is aggression against a sovereign country, violating International Law and distracting from many civilian deaths. What can we expect from russia and what may follow as far as how they may come about in dealing with a strike . I think look, the real fear here and my real fear is that president assad is going to reassert himself to the syrian people. They are already playing this off like this was a, quote, limited strike, that this didnt have effect on the capabilities of the syrian air force. I think unfortunately what youre going to see in the next 24 hours is probably more attacks on the civilian population of syria. Keep in mind were in year six, weve seen a half million dead, we have a refugee problem of biblical proportions, none of that changes tonight because of 59 tomahawk missiles fired at one target. What is going to continue for the syrian president , for president assad is continuation of this policy fighting for survival he now is in control of some 80 of the country, hes looking for the other 20 . A lot of people waking up to this news. Well see what transpires as you said, cal perry, thank you. Also making news on this friday. Severe weather slamming the eastern half of the country. There was heavy rain in florida where a possible tornado destroyed at least a dozen homes and lightning sparked a massive house fire. Further north the d. C. Area was under a Tornado Warning as brutal winds tossed large trees into homes and knocked out power for thousands. In the midwest the wind gusts so powerful they shattered highrise windows in chicago. Nbcs bill karins is tracking it all. What are you seeing . A new storm in the west coast, high winds overnight, 85mileperhour gusts reported in the mountains. Also brought periods of rain, too. The big story is the winds as the storms continue to push through the pacific northwest. Strong and damaging winds. Even more snow, feet of snow possible at the high elevations. Here is our Wind Warnings and advisories. The warnings are in the purple. Thats the entire coastline of northern california, all of it to the pacific northwest. Power outages are possible throughout the day with some of ose strongerth on and off periods of rain. Temperatures cool in the 50s with those windy conditions. Of course, all eyes on mara lago where President Trump is located. A beautiful shot of the sunrise there in florida. Gorgeous, isnt it . Really nice as we wake up this morning getting ready for the meeting with chinese president xi jinping. Remembering one of hollywoods biggest stars, plus history will be made in washington with the addition of a new Supreme Court justice. Thats next. The smoother the skin, you are in it. So find a venus smooth that contours to curves, flexes for comfort, and has a disposable made for you. Skin smoothing venus razors. Venus theres a world like no other world where your time together is special and your memories more powerful than ever because here, the magic is endless Walt Disney World kingsmaturbotax agent try and hello mr. Dumpty,ether. Do you have a tax question . Humpty dumpty ive recently had some unforeseen medical expenses. Turbotax agent oh, i hope its not too bad. Humpty dumpty uh. Its pretty bad. Humpty dumpty anyway, can i get a Tax Deduction for the hospital bills . Turbotax agent in your case, yes Humpty Dumpty ooh arent you helpful. Its so difficult to find good help these days. If youto treat your tough nasal allergies. Listen up. Unlike pills that dont treat congestion, clarispray covers 100 percent of your nasal allergy symptoms. Clarispray. From the makers of claritin. The senate cleared the way for historic vote today to confirm Supreme Court nominee neil gorsuch after republicans used the socalled Nuclear Option to change the chamber rules and eliminate filibusters. The rule change will enable gorsuch to easily pass through the simple majority instead of the 60vote threshold. He is expected to win confirmation this afternoon. Devin nunes says he will step aside from the investigation leading into russias meting in the u. S. Election. Bipartisan House Ethics Committee announced it would investigate whether nunes illegally reviewed classified information when he saw intel reports that saw trump transition officials were picked up in the surveillance of foreigners. Nunes called the ethics complaint, quote, entirely false and politically motivated. 23andme can market home dna tests directly to consumers to test genes that put them at risk for serious medical conditions. Customers today 200 test on line and send back a saliva sample tested for markers which could be associated with one of 10 diseases or conditions. One of those they do not look for is cancer. Thats difficult. Do you want to know . What can you do about it moving forward. Remembering the life of a comedic legend. Youre watching early today. Starting thursday at kohls get play proof kids gear built for springtime fun like jumping beans dresses for only 12 7 mix and match tops and bottoms and carters sandals 19. 99. Youll get kohls cash too. Play proof guarantee only at kohls. Everyone wants to be cthe Cadbury Bunny because only he brings delicious cadbury creme eggs. While others may keep trying, nobunny knows easter better than cadbury. The bathroom. When things go wrong here, you remember. Quilted northern is designed to work so well, you can forget your bathroom trips. But sir froggy can never forget. I used to be a prince. But no princess would kiss me now. Many will agree he was one of the funniest men of his time. Comedian don rickles known for his big mouth and verbal assault, qualities that endeared him to generations. Rickles died at his home at the age of 90 after a long career. Lester holt has a look back at the life of this comedic legend. Quite a night. Welcome mr. Warmth, don rickles. The only thing truly warm about don rickles were his sizzling insults, a master at the comedic putdown. What is your ancestry . Honduran. Im in the business 25 years i dont have a joke for a jerk thats honduran. Yes, he went there. Before went there was a thing. You think insult humor is the easiest to come up with . Standing next to you, it is. Don rickles didnt really tell jokes. I started making fun of the guy that yelled at me, making fun of the room, making fun of the people around me. And then it became a putdown thing. He credited his rise to another master of humor, johnny carson, and more than 100 appearances on his show. When i hit johnnys show, the whole world knew me. No. Give me a break. Im so lonely. Even before a president he didnt hold back. Its a trait for me to fly all the way to california to be here for this kind of money. Rickles appeared on the Silver Screen and later the animated screen, in toy story. What are you looking at you hockey puck . Rickles perfected the secret sauce of making people laugh not just at his humor but at themselves. He used what we all aspire to be. No matter what he said, you always knew it came with a wink. Because he knew that we knew it was all in good fun. Id like my family to know i was a good father and a good husband. And id like the public to know that i was laughing along with them. Just ahead, watching your money. How the World Markets are reacting to the u. S. Air strikes in syria. Cnbcs landon dowdy joins us next. Youre watching et et. But for both of them, the most challenging opponent was. Pe blood clots in my lung. It was really scary. A dvt in my leg. I had to learn all i could to help protect myself. My doctor and i choose xarelto® xarelto®. To help keep me protected. Xarelto® is a latestgeneration blood thinner. Thats proven to treat and reduce the risk of dvt and pe blood clots from happening again. In clinical studies, almost 98 of patients on xarelto® did not experience another dvt or pe. Heres how xarelto works. Xarelto® works differently. Warfarin interferes with at least six bloodclotting factors. Xarelto® is selective. Targeting just one critical factor, interacting with less of your bodys natural bloodclotting function. Dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor as this may increase risk of blood clots. While taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. It may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. If youve had spinal anesthesia, watch for back pain or any nerve or musclerelated signs or symptoms. Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Tell your doctor before all planned medical or dental procedures and before starting xarelto® about any conditions, such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. Youve got to learn all you can. To help protect yourself from dvt and pe blood clots. Talk to your doctor about xarelto®. Theres more to know. Codogs just wont quit. neither does frontline. Thats why theres frontline gold. With its easy applicator frontline gold delivers powerful protection that doesnt quit for a full 30 days. Its triple action formula is relentless at killing fleas and ticks. Frontline gold. The latest innovation from the maker of frontline plus. For persistent protection you can trust. Good boy go for the gold. Frontline gold. Available at your vet. Yet up 90 fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. Lets do more. Add one a day mens complete with key nutrients we may need. Plus hearthealth support with b vitamins. One a day mens in gummies and tablets. Creamy, crunchy, chocolatey, hersheys. Packed with cookies or almond pieces. Hersheys has the taste you love in every bite. Back to the u. S. Air strikes in syria and what, if any, effect its having on Global Markets and the price of oil. Landon dowdy has those answers. Good morning. The Global Markets appear to be taking the news of the u. S. Missile strike in syria in stride. U. S. Stock futures fell sharply when first announced but have come well off its lows. Europe is just marginally lower this morning. Oil prices initially soared but have gains as there seems to be no immediate threat to supplies. Some investors flock to socalled safe haven assets on the geopolitical concerns, gold hitting a fivemonth high overnight. The other key for the markets today, the u. S. Jobs report. A job growth expected to have slowed partially due to the impact of the major snowstorm in the northeast. Facebook wants to use Artificial Intelligence to improve your private messages. The app will use ai. The feature, part of facebooks digital assistant called m can suggest if you book an uber or send money to a friend based on whatever youre talking about, guys. Maybe a little too much tmi right there. Cnbcs landon dowdy. Thank you. President trumps summit with the chinese leader, will it be overshadowed by the air strikes in syria. Youre watching early today. Rl more earning something you love per roll bounty is more absorbent, so the roll can last 50 longer than the leading ordinary brand. So you get more life per roll. Bounty, the quicker picker upper save on kitchen essentials kohls home sale like a farberware cookware set just 49. 99 after 30 mail in rebate. Select kitchen aid electrics are 39. 99 and a fiestaware 5 piece place setting is only 32. 99. Plus get kohls cash too. Kohls. Lets take you to paris. This goes intricate gore of could be worse, could be better. Thats president ial candidate that got flour bombed in a Campaign Event thursday. He got it right in the face, too. Thats francois fill lon, he joked that he hoped the flour was french. Lets stake you to the weekend forecast. Watching the big storm system with high winds throughout the day. Things will improve as that storm kicks to the north. By saturday, we see a piece of that into areas of california, into northern and central portions of the rockies with some showers and also some wet weather. Keeping temperatures cool in the inner mountain west. Sunday is the best day of the weekend for our friends on the west coast. Looking forward to it. As the world reacts to the strikes in syria, President Trump has a full day ahead featuring more discussions with chinese president xi jinping. Nbcs Edward Lawrence is live for us in d. C. Certainly a lot on the president s plate today to end the week. Some very heavy meetings actually. Coming up in three hours, an expanded bilateral meeting with the chinese president basically talking and trade, a big issue that comes up. Its interesting that this attack or the missile strike happened while the chinese president was here. This shows the chinese president that donald trump will follow through on some of the things he says. It might change a little bit the conversation thats going on there. Also expected to come up is north korea. At lunchtime theres going to be a short break, then lunchtime theyll have a working lunch, the two of them. In between President Donald Trump will be checking the reaction from around the world to this Strategic Missile strike. Yasmin. Thank you, edward. Fast forwarding into friday, the senate expected to vote on and pass the nomination of judge neil gorsuch to the Supreme Court. This comes after Senate Republicans invoke the Nuclear Option which allows the nominee to pass a procedural vote with a simple majority of 51. 32nd annual rock n roll induction ceremony takes place. Joan baes, electric light orchestra, also journey, pearl jam and tupac shakur. Can we have a Karaoke Party right now, when it comes to those inductees . My favorite is tupac shakur, that takes me back to the college days. Sky watchers, be sure to grab your telescopes, weather permitting, your best chance to see jupiter as it makes its closest approach to our own planet this year. Get this, only 416 million miles away, just a mere 416. Thanks for watching early today. Im yasmin vossoughian. Im frr. Make the most of a few minutes with instant moisture from ky ultragel. Right now, 94 30, a microclimate weather urlurt. Check out the radar along the golden gate bridge. Look at san jose this morning. Pretty soggy out there. Were tracking the rain and pretty strong winds reported overnight. Thanks for joining us. You made it to friday morning. Im laura garciacannon. Im sam brock. I like that message. By the way, were tracking a major fire in San Francisco where there are injuries to report. Pete is on scene. Well check in with him in a few minutes. But first, this rain that came just as you said it would. You know, the winds were really strong. Howling. Okay, can you believe this . Mt. Diablo had a wind gust of 74 miles per hour. You know, we were all feeling it overnight. The winds are starting to diminish. Werels