Seas location in an attrition fight to surrounding the enemy in their strongholds so we can annihilate isis. The intent is to prevent the return home of escaped foreign fighters. I want to emphasize here there has been no change to our rules of engagement. And there has been no change to our continues extraordinary efforts to avoid innocent civilian saz y civilian casualties. Despite needing to go into Populated Areas to break isis hold hold, despite isis endangering innocence lives and we continue all possible efforts to protect the innocent. Youre all aware of the human costs isis has exacted, killed, wounded, refugees, merciless control over those regions they hold, the cost to turkey, jordan, and lebanon and syrian iraqis have been displaced. In response to isis and unforgivable treatment, the world has responded. This is a coalition effort. Since this began in 2014, the coalition has strengthened and expanded. The International Team is fully committed at the political and military levels to the destruction of isis. A coalition of 68 members, 65 nations with more joining as we speak, plus i sharing intelligence, providing troops and funds for combat and no less importance for the post combat recovery. In late march or secretary of state gathered diplomatic colleagues in washington where they discussed how we would deal with the post combat aftermath. Secretary tillerson, mr. Mcgirt and the colleagues in the coalition rightly focused most of their effort on how that this region can recover from isis after we free it. 26 of our Coalition Nations contribute militarily including more than 4,000 nonu. S. Troops on the ground and in the air. Our recent Coalition Meetings in brussels, copenhagen and elsewhere have a with the forces in iraq and the forces in syria. So what have we achieved . We have fought isis elements from Southeast Asia to africa. Collaboration among many nations, Intelligence Services continues to complicate and blunt sis operations. Even as isis continues to pursue and conduct attacks against the United States. And our allies through centralized directed plots but also through inspired attacks. From the philippines to europe and beyond while isis remains dangerous, they are no longer carrying an air of strength. In afghanistan two weeks ago the president announced we had killed the leader of isis plus approximately two thirds of their strength been killed during very tough pragoperation. France has brilliantly led a two year Ongoing Campaign in the Lake Chad Basin and west africa to throw isis off balance with 4,000 of their troops on the ground to support our african allies. In libya we struck a significant isis presence there in january of this year. Our attack against their concentrated strength was highly effective and isis did not own any major territory any longer there. Elsewhere, too, there have been successes. But in iraq and syria lies the core area of isis. Recent attacks in istanbul, paris and brussels were planned and coordinated out of isis socalled capital of raqqa. Additional imminent threats to many nations require us to move with urgency against all strongholds still in their hands. East mosul has you know have fallen after tour fighting by the Iraqi Security forces with u. S. And coalition support. Since january it is returning to normal with businesses reopening, cleanup under way and kids back in school. West mosul in accordance with tactics changed by president President Trump is surrounded and are our iraqi partners are in a stiff fight. There is no escape for isis. Even while we do all that is humanly possible to shepard the innocent out of harms way. Talafar is also surrounded and other pockets of isis exist elsewhere. We will continue to fully support the Iraqi Security forces and the Prime Ministers government in isolating and destroying isis throughout iraq. In syria, we support Syrian Democratic forces that recently seized have taken tack ca and are currently attacking with Great Success to isolate raqqa. Isis has additional strength scattered down the river valley to the iraq border. We will not stop until they, too, are destroyed. I want our chairman general dun zairs fo dunford and to provide more details to let me sum up. We are leading a comprehensive International Campaign to crush isis claim of invisibility. To deny isis a geographic haven from have to hatch murder, eliminate isis ability to operate externally, and to irrad indicate to finance terrorist operations. Thanks to leadership and authorities provided by trump, thafrpgs thanks to the nations whose troops have gone toetotoe with this terrorist group. With the deepest sympathy for the families that have lost sons and daughters in this fight and with the greatest respect for the families caught up on the battle fields that we know are also humanitarian fields. We have retaken over 55 of isis territory there in the core. Over 4 Million People have been liberated and not 1 inch of territory seized from isis has been recaptured from them. Excuse me, recaptured by them. Let me turn it over to chairman dunford for more on our isis campaign. Chairman. So there he is the secretary of defense james mattis. Announcing a new Trump Administration strategy in his words to annihilate isis. He said this was an accelerated operation designed to destroy isis. Lets bring in our cnn military analyst and retired air force colonel sed brick leighton and retired admiral john kirby. Bold words from the secretary of defense. The goal to annihilate isis. This is an accelerated operation. No longer simply going to surround isis strongholds. Theyre going to go in there and crush them. Yeah. This was a different approach. What he said was actually they are going to surround the strongholds and then strangle them from outside and within. In other words, not letting them escape bombings and then to live another day. That is a different tactic than what has been previously done against isis. And he also spoke about more delegation of authority. And that the president has delegated it at the appropriate level so they can move faster or a little bit more with more agility. He talked a little bit i think framed sort of whats different now than how it was done under the Obama Administration. Cedric, is it going to make a difference . Theyve made steady progress over these last several months in this war against isis, but its by no means over. Thats right, wolf. The big issue here as john mentioned, what were dealing with is actually destroying isis. What theyre going to do is not only encircle them but the whole idea is to make it impossible for them to continue to exist as an effective fighting force, so thats going to require an increased concentration of troops. Its going to require an increased use of coalition forces. Its also going to require an increased and enhanced use of intelligence. And that is going to i think be one of the critical aspects of this operation. And what also sfrtruck me was tt was not just focussed on syria or iraq but looking at this as more or less a Global Campaign or super Regional Campaign with africa being mentioned, libya, west africa and of course the places in the middle east. He said secretary mattis, this is a new strategy that the pentagon, the u. S. Military has come up with. They present today to President Trump. He approved it and now they are going to implement this new strategy. The way i took that was they looked at the strategy that had been in place, made some changes and the president approved those changes. What i didnt hear and maybe well get more, is talking about the ideology and the narrative. The other risk about isis isnt just their semi military forces on the ground in iraq and syria. Its the way they can inspire foreign fighters to leave the fight, go back home to places in europe and the west, and conduct attacks. Also to inspire self radicalized v individuals to do that. One of the things i think that was key to this is they were talking about that this whole business of surrounding them is really meant to keep them from going back home. And so when youre looking at the way theyre doing this, theyre actually going in and not only do they want to destroy isis as an effective fighting force but they want to make sure that it doesnt go back to reinfect areas like western europe or in france and belgium in particular or do anything else with, you know, any of these areas. So they want to make sure that they can destroy this effort on the part of sirs aisis and its to be interesting to see how isis responds to this. Its a major operation. Mosul, the second largest city in iraq, still has not been completely liberated. Theyve been trying for two years to do that. Raqqa and syria, the capital, thats still under isis control. Theyve got a lot of work to do. Thanks very much. Coming up, take a look at. This were looking at some live pictures from the white house. Later this hour President Trump will depart for his first trip overseas after taking office. Can he leave the controversies of this week behind him . Thats coming up next. Plus after being briefed comeys firing by the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein, one congressional member tweeted this. It renewed my confidence that we should have no confidence in this administration. Were going to discuss the meeting with someone who was there. A lot more coming up. Well be right back. Will you be ready when the moment turns romantic . Cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. Tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. To avoid longterm injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis. 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Well be strongly protecting american interests. Thats what i like to do. The nine day trip begins in saudi arabia. From there its to isreal and the west bank followed by vatican city and that continues on to Global Summits in both belgium a belgium. Rod rosenstein made a return visit to capitol hill. He briefed house members behind closed doors on the russia investigation and the comey firing. One lawmaker described it as frustratingly cautious. In a briefing yesterday senators say rosenstein reveal the decision to fire comey was made before he wrote a letter critical of the fbi director. President trumps first foreign trip comes at the end of the week for his administration. The administration is hoping i assume that this trip will provide a break from the entire russia investigation and the enormous fallout over the comey firing, but how likely is that . Certainly these problems are not going away. Theres now a special counsel overseeing the russia investigation. The president still has to choose a new fbi director. Someone that is sure to be viewed skeptically by democrats. Basically no matter who he names. But a number of Donald Trumps allies are encouraging him to sort of see this special counsel as an opportunity to stop complaining about the russia investigation. Stop declaring it a witch hunt. To move beyond that and to refocus on his priorities as president. They do feel encouraged as they head on this overseas trip that a number of the places theyll be stopping, saudi arabia and isreal, theyre going to be meeting with World Leaders who are excited to have the president there and who really want this trip to go well. They feel like that bodes well for the visit going smoothly. As we know, this is President Trump, so certainly anything could happen. Sunlen, the Deputy Attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, he was back up on capitol hill today. This time briefing house members on the russia investigation and the comey firing all behind closed doors. What are you learning about that briefing . There certainly was a sense of frustration coming from many lawmakers leaving that briefing today. They felt that Rod Rosenstein was not as forthcoming as they would like him to be. They called him cautious, guarded, and really wanted to defer it seemed many of the tough questions to the new special counsel bob mueller. Many of the questions as it was in the senate side yesterday really did seem to center around that now famous memo that Rod Rosenstein wrote that was held up as original justification by the white house the day that james comey was fired for the reason that he was let go. We understand that rosenstein defended the writing of that memo but many lawmakers coming out of that meeting saying he was pushed and asked many questions over who exactly told him to write that memo and he would not answer that. Rosenstein did specifically get into this request as was recorded for resources coming from james comey, the fact that he was requesting and then denied more resources for the russia probe. Ro rosenstein says thats not how he understands it. Heres Kevin Mccarthy speaking about that. One of the questions where he said hes already said it, he has no evidence that comey asked for any further resources, that all the resources were there. And according to rosensteins Opening Statement which he gave on the senate side and the house side today which was o tanbtainy cnn, it does back up that statement. Rosenstein said he consulted with his staff and consulted with the acting fbi director and that none of them knew of this additional request of resources. Let me go back to sara at the white house. The president seemed to muddy the waters a bit again yesterday over his decision to fire james comey. Listen to what he said during that news conference. Compare it to what he said during an interview last week. Director comey was very unpopular with most people. I actually thought when i made that decision and i also got a very, very strong recommendation as you know from the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein. I was going to fire comey. Theres no good time to do it by the way. Because in your letter you said i accepted their recommendation. Well you had already made the decision. I was going to fire regardless of recommendation. All right. This is what the Deputy Attorney general said in remarks to the house and the senate and im quoting him now, Rod Rosenstein, on may 8th i learned that President Trump intended to remove director comey and sought my advice and input. Notwithstanding my personal affection for director comey, i thought it was appropriate to seek a new leader. I wrote a brief memorandum to the attorney general summarizing my longstanding concerns about director comeys public statements concerning the secretary clinton email investigation. My memorandum is not a statement of reasons to justify a for cause termination. Sara, help us sort out these behind the scenes developments in leading up to the comey decision. Well, look, wolf, i think it was pretty clear the president had already decided he was going to fire james comey. We know that he had been talking about it to a small circle of aides for a little while. The president admitted it was his decision to fire james comey and he made that decision before he got the memo from Rod Rosenstein. I think youre seeing a little bit of the anger from the president come to the surface there. He certainly is not happy with rosensteins decision to name a special counsel. He did not hide his feelings on that yesterday. When the president called the russia investigation a witch hunt. And when i was talking to an ally of the president s yesterday, this person was telling me look, this is why the president did not want Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the russia investigation in the first place. He dridnt want it to get to ths point where a special counsel was being named to oversee the investigation. So i think what you are seeing is a little bit of the president s frustration boiling to the surface there. Yes. Sara murray, sunlen serfaty, thanks very much. Lets discuss a bit more on the timeline of comeys firing. Here with me is crystal. You wrote several important articles on cnn. Com. Cnn politics and the last few days. You say the firing of comey in your words was political acrobatics. Explain what you mean by that. You played the clip. In in some ways television is a better way to carry that message than what i wrote. You had the argument being made by