Intelligence committee has stepped aside from the panels russia investigation. Critics accused devin nunes of trying to provide cover for President Trumps unfounded wire tap claims against president obama. The other breaking story is the show down in the u. S. Senate over the Neil Gorsuch Supreme Court nomination. Just a little while ago Senate Republicans invoked whats called the Nuclear Option. That allowed a simple 51 majority to break the democrat as filibuster. A source telling cnn President Trump told several members of the congress that he is considering military action in response to the horrific chemical weapons attack in syria. During a News Conference with jordans king yesterday, the president called the syria attack a heinous act that changed his views on syria. I will tell you that attack on children yesterday had a big impact on me. Big impact. That was a horrible, horrible thing. And ive been watching it and seeing it and it doesnt get any worse than that. Lets bring in our pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr and chief Political Correspondent dana bash. Barbara, what kind of options, military options will the president have . Wolf, the first thing to say is theres no indication just yet that the president has made that political decision to move ahead with any kind of strike in syria. But lets say that he does. There are basically two military options, two military decisions for him to make. If he wants direct retaliation for the strike against those civilians, he could decide to Order Limited air strikes to basically take out the air field where those aircraft came from that dropped the bombs that the u. S. Believes was filled with nerve agent. But that would be a very limited option because of the second problem. Assad has a much greater capability to deliver chemical weapons. Not just from fixed wing aircraft. Hes got helicopters that have regularly been filled with barrel bombs. Those helicopters can take off from anywhere. Artillery, rockets. They have shells that can be filled with chemical agent. So hes got to first make the decision which way he wants to go limited with direct retaliation or a larger action to try and take out assads capabilities. One of the big factors here for him will be the russian presence inside syria we are told. What the u. S. Is going to be cautious about if it hits that wider set of targets, its going to want to make sure it doesnt inadvertently hit a target where there may be russian personnel that the u. S. Doesnt know. Nobodys looking for a wider war here. These are some of the very complicated decisions that have kept the u. S. Frankly from doing this in the past. The question for mr. Trump now, does he want to move ahead. Its a serious question. Dana, give us a sense of what the president might need members of congress to do to get on board were he to decide to move forward with military action. First and foremost he would need moral support if he does something in the short term. That is why clearly our reporting shows that he is Touching Base with members of congress to do just that. To give a heads up that this is being seriously considered. But then this is going to unleash and launch the same kind of debate that we saw several years ago when president obama was in the white house and he was considering military action in syria. Which is should the congress do something that they havent done in years, which is pass what is known as an aumf, authorization of military force. Many members of congress, republicans and democrats, say it is time because the executive, the president , hasnt had such a thing now since back before the air strikes in afghanistan. And so thats why that is going to be clearly a conversation dp depending on how robust the president wants to be. In the short term i will tell you that i spoke with our given our news to one member of the Armed Services committee. A democrat told this senator what we were reporting and this senator, whos not exactly super hawkish, said i would support that. If its limited, if its focused, if its targeted, i would support that. The buzz is already starting to kind of brew here about what that would mean and what the reaction would be from members of the United States congress. Contingency plans being drawn up over pentagon im sure. There a always contingency plans for these kind of option fist the president asks for the various options. Guys, thanks very much. I want to bring in chief international correspondent. This would be a significant move for this new american president authorizing military action, precise military action presumably against various targets from the Syrian Regime. Could this be a game changer . It could be. But of course were now talking about limited moves, if any at all, and the fact that russia does occupy a big space in syria. You remember 24 hours ago when we were all on this program as donald trump spoke in the rose garden, we described his big be tart tur. He said hes completely changed on syria and assad because of this attack. He described the death and the terrible contortions and suffering the children went through. And his administration was giving the same. Whether it was the secretary of state, even Rex Tillerson. Now youve got all sorts of conversation coming out from russia. Theyre trying to say look, this wasnt a deliberate attack by syria and look, please, United States, layout your strategy for syria. And assad himself has given an interview and he didnt talk about this, but hes even talking about continuing the war until there is total victory. He said we have no other option. So its very likely that these kinds of attacks could happen again unless they are stopped. Unless there is a price to be paid by assad for launching these kinds of chemical weapons. And you know that the pentagon has also confirmed that their intelligence shows that there were regime aircraft dropping bombs in that particular region at that particular time. Were not sure that theyve confirmed what was in it, but the it will aircraft dropping bombs at the time that everybody describes those chemical weapons had been dropped on that area in syria. As you remember, at that News Conference with king abdal of jordan, the president did not mention russia at all, but in an interview he was asked the specific question what do you think it says about the role of russia in syria . His response, well, i think its a very sad day for russia because theyre alined and in this case all information points to syria that they did this. So a muted response. Certainly not as victory he is saying its a sad day for russia. That is movement. He actually hasnt said that before in those words at this time. Look, the president faces two very, very dramatic Foreign Policy challenges. Youve got weapons of mass destruction in this way having been used by the Syrian Regime, most people in the region believe that it was the Syrian Regime and theyve done it before. And youve got Nuclear Armed north korea which is raising its threats on a practically daily basis having conducted yet another dlBallistic Missile tes towards japan a day before President Trump is meeting with president xi jinping in florida. These are two huge, huge issues that the west the United States has to deal with. The way the president deals with syria which is a more immediate issue, potentially could set the tone for the kind of message that north korea gets about what its doing. So its all linked. When the president of the United States makes very dramatic statements about the horror of what happened in syria, about how its an affront to the civilized world and humanity and using the words red line himself, then it implies because the world is listening and watching that there needs to be some followup to that. Thank you for joining us from london. Thanks for much. I want to bring in our Global Affairs analyst david rhodes and rick francona. David, youve been working your sources and youre hearing what were reporting about the president considering some sort of military response to this brutal attack thr, this gas att against civilians including kids in syria. I heard from a separate member of congress than the person dana bash referenced. I heard from a separate member of congress that trump called them said. Said he was considering military action in syria and he wanted to speak to secretary mattis. Again, a separate member of congress saying the president told them that he is considering military action in syria. Colonel francona, what kind of military options do you believe the president will have if he gives the go ahead for some sort of military option . Well, what were hearing is that they would like to close down the operations of the syrian air force. The syrians operate out of about four or five major airfields. Closing them would be not a challenge so much, but keeping them closed would be. We could shut down the airport. You want to take out the aircraft and runways, and all that. The u. S. Military has plans to do this. Theyre very effective at it. The problem isnt can we do it. The problem is what happens after we do that. Are the russians going to stand by as we do this or are they going to try and intradict any kind of missile strikes . What happens if they engage in american aircraft . These are all things that have to be factored in before you start deciding what kind of action youre going to take. I would assume in the interest of pilot safety they would try and do this with longer range missiles, tomahawks or air launch crews missiles where you could cripple a couple airfields. That would send the message. Then you have to address the political fallout with the russians. Ever since september 2015 when the russians intervened in syria they have become a major player in anything we do in syria. And david, its a fair point, because there are a lot of Russian Military personnel working with the regime of assad. If the u. S. Were not necessarily to use air strikes because the syrians we believe still have a pretty robust air defense system, u. S. Planes and pilots could be in danger, but if they use tomahawk crews missiles, in the process u. S. Could wind up killing russians and iranians. That could cause smrfurther problems. Exactly. I think there would be less fallout if it was an iranian adviser, but this is very serious stuff if you are mistakenly harming a russian adviser. So its a serious step. I think the administration would have to talk to russia about this beforehand and members of the u. S. Military have been nervous about that. Theyve not wanted to cooperate with russia. So its not a simple step. But as were hearing, the president is considering it. Quickly, colonel, how good is the Syrian Air Defense system . The Syrian Air Defense system has atrofhied over the years. The russian brought in the state of the art it is real an effective system. However, u. S. Aircraft if we employ stealth aircraft, we could easily penetrate that, but as david said, the question is these russian advisers, and theyre virtually everywhere in the syrian armed forces. They certainly are. And a lot of iranian advise ares as l. Guys, thanks very much. Our other breaking news story right now, the senate just triggered the socalled Nuclear Option to break the filibuster by democrats blocking the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee neil gorsuch. That nomination should go forward now. Plus the respect chairman of the House Intelligence Committee devin nunes has stepped aside temporarily in the investigation over russias meddling in the president ial election. We have new details when we come back. Does your makeup remover every kissproof,ff . Cryproof, stayproof look . Neutrogena® makeup remover does. It erases 99 of your most stubborn makeup with one towelette. Need any more proof than that . Neutrogena. Its about moving forward, not back. Its looking up, not down. Its being in motion. In body, in spirit, in the now. Boost® high protein its intelligent nutrition with 15 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. For when you need a little extra. Boost® be up for it but shouldnt it be about firsts . D in zeros. And seconds. How about adding a third . We think theres a bajillion ways to measure success. And whether you have hundreds or millions. We think you deserve the Financial Freedom to sleep like this at night. This is the new success story. And at tiaa, were with you. Start today at tiaa dot org. Interdi. Were back with other breaking news. The republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee devin nunes has stepped aside temporarily in the investigation over russias meddling in the president ial election. The news comes as we learn the House Ethics Committee is currently investigate congressman nunes. The congressman releasing this statement saying in part, and im quoting him now, several left wing activists groups have filed allegations against me. The charges are false and politically motivated and being leveled just as the meamerican people are beginning to learn the truth of the unmasking identities of u. S. Citizens and other abuses of power. That statement from devin nunes. I want to bring in manu raju. Manu just learned that nunes actually mate with House Speaker paul ryan about this decision. What else are you learning . Thats right. They did meet. Speaker ryan does support his decision to accept aside i am told. One thing ryan office and ryan himself are not saying is whether or not the speaker himself urged nunes to step aside. I tried to ask paul ryan that at the press conference earlier today and he did not respond. His office has not responded to that question either. But saying that they believe that his decision to step aside was to avoid becoming a bigger distraction on this committee. One of the reasons why he became a digger distraction was the announcement by the House Ethics Committee was they were investigating devin nunes for possibly revealing classified information. It is determined to investigation these allegations in order to fulfill its institutional obligation. This comes in the aftermath of mr. Nunes going to the white house, briefing the president of the United States on intelligence information that he said shows some incidental collection of trump transition communications. He also briefed the press on that as well. Thats going to be the center of this investigation Going Forward. This decision stunned the House Intelligence Committee which members did not even know about this decision when they met privately with devin nunes earlier today. The top democratic on the Committee Adam Schiff came out and said this afterwards. I just want to express my appreciation for what the chairman decided to do. Im sure it was a very difficult decision for him. But as he mentioned, i think it is in the best interest of the investigation. It will i think allow us to have a fresh start moving forward. I look forward to working with mr. Conaway. This investigation is of such critical importance that we need to get fully back on track. Now that white house is now making available those documents that both mr. Shift and mr. Nunes saw those documents that got chairman nunes in a difficult position about that incidental collection of information as well as whether any officials were unmasked in their identities revealed within the intelligence committee. We are told that the full committee will start to look at this information. Jim hines, the member of the democratic member of the Committee Told me hes going to review it today. Some signs, wolf, that this investigation could be moving forward. Now that devin nunes is stepping aside. Nunes not answering any questions as he bolted out of the capital and left and got on a plane for the house recess. The fact that the Ethics Committee is even investigating a chairman of the House Intelligence Committee on potentially disclosing classified information, that is in and of itself pretty unusual. Manu, thanks very much for that. Now to the other show down were seeing. The show down over the knneil gorsuch u. S. Supreme court nomination. Republicans followed through on the threat to invoke the socalled Nuclear Option. That means they only needed a simple majority of 51 votes instead of 60 to end the filibuster. Lets bring in our political director and our chief political analyst gloria borger. This is historic. It is historic. It means lets talk about the short term. It means that in terms of future Supreme Court nominations, there is no going back. And, you know, this means that what we are used to in terms of bipartisan agreements on things as prpt important as supreme co nominees will not occur. It is not a surprise given the fact that harry reed started this in 2013. It means that judges both on lower benches, on the Supreme Court will be more ideological. Im not so sure thats great for the country. The question i have Going Forward, and i know david can talk about this, the question i have Going Forward is does this then mean there is a slippery slope and that the senate which is supposed to be a deliberate body then starts doing a