Welcome everybody, im neil cavuto and we are keeping an eye on dignitaries and wife visiting the United States. Timing is everything because all of this comes in light of our wanting to get punishing measures on syria for what appears to be the use of chemical weapons against its people and we are looking at for a universal slapdown of the syrians there. Well spell it out. We see power shifting within the National Security team that is at the white house of the steve bannon, were hearing right now, has been removed from that position. It is not necessarily what it appears. Blake burman on the phone to tell us what is going here. Blake . Reporter im on the phone. Watching live shot of kings arrival. They wouldnt let us cross to the camera positions because there is butch of highly important people here at white house. What the secret service says we do and follow. Hello from the phone, 100 feet away from video you were watching. As it relates to steve bannon. He has been taken off as a permanent fixture. That is the key part of the National Security councils principal committee. Let me wind you back from the beginning. Steve bannon is the chief strategist here at the white house. One of the top advisors to the president. When the president came in there was reorganization of this Principle Committee, standing members, folks invited into nsc meetings every single time and steve bannon was put on that select group. In past administrations a person of Steve Bannons caliber within the administration was not automatically put on but he was in this case. This today is another reorganization, steve bannon, not automatic member now as it relates to these nsc Principle Committee meetings but he will be able to attend as Senior Administration official, breaks it down with the following, neil, was put on the committee as a check on Michael Flynn, former nsa advisor who was trying to depoliticize the nsc. As we know flynn is no longer here. There is essentially that check on flynn and what he was trying to do, not needed. Thus bannon taken off the nsc principals committee. There was a lot of angst among sum why the chief strategist would be put on committee in the first place. Now he is off but still invited to attend events. Neil . Neil i assume they didnt need the same check on h. R. Mcmaster who took flynns place . Reporter right, what theyre saying according to this official the check was the whole trying to depoliticize it. They have a new guy in mcmaster, the president doesnt feel bannon is needed at this point in that role. Neil thank you, buddy. We appreciate it very much. Real clear politics associate editor, a. B. Stoddard here. Charlie gasparino here. What do you make of this there is no more subterfuge or drama behind it than what blake outlined . Still bannon is a lightning rod for critics. I wonder if think make him any less so, what do you think . It was interesting he was removedc permanently they saidn their statement but still ad loud to attend the meetings, so in the end he will have his eyes and ears in there. It is true actually that he was trying to monitor flynn. That was reported in the New York Times. Clearly from sources close to bannon, before flynn was even fired or we were even wrapped up into that whole story about him not informing the Vice President of his conversations with russian ambassador. So there was tension between bannon and flynn before that. But, it was highly unusual as blake pointed out, that a political appointee would be in that group on the principals committee, attending those meetings reserved for top National Security officials and defense officials. Mcmaster as you know was on active duty and could not reject the offer, neil, when he was asked to replace Michael Flynn as National Security advisor. He had to say yes, upon taking the job, there were reports he doesnt have walkin privileges in the oval office. You know many in trumps circle have the privileges, omarosa to Kellyanne Conway on down. There was tension when a nsc lawyer, made him into the news with the devin nunes story about the white house showing the chairman of the intel committee, you know, certain information on unmasking, mr. Cohen watnick was going to lose his job. That was a flynn holdover when mcmaster wanted to get rid of, but he appealed to steve bannon and he got to keep his job. There are tensions in the overlapping power circles to be sure. I dont know if there was casualty of that but there might be more in the future. Neil are you hearing, charlie gasparino, of any reining in going on . I dont know. But heres what we do know and we do know inside of the Trump White House there are competing and warring tribes. There is the steve bannon tribe. There is the gary cohn tribe, who is very associated with Jared Kushner. There is other there is the Reince Priebus tribe and probably three or four others. What we do know, some of them are engaged in software fare between themselves but there is hard hardware fare inthe trump trump hardwarfare. When you look at this from the political, policy standpoint, it looks like, just on the basis, steve bannon and his nationalist, sort of agenda gets a slight downgrade, and gary cohn, much more of a keynesian, moneyspending likes infrastructure, used to work at Goldman Sachs gets his plus. Gary cohn is former democrat, a liberal. Neil cohn is the left of him. Saw steve mnuchin. I believe jarred kushner is a democrat. There is a moderate democratic faction, more liberal than the other guys, thats in the white house that may be asserting pressure right now, more power. What does that mean in terms of policy. Yo, the Foreign Affairs stuff. Ab probably would know that better than i do but from an economic standpoint it could mean, and i said could, we dont know yet, it could mean Infrastructure Projects over tax cuts. It could meanc keeping obamaca, when you do reform it as much as the Freedom Caucus might want to reform it. That is the sort of stuff that plays out. We dont know yet. Neil ab, is it your sense, you mentioned something very interesting, i think these things who has access to the president and who can walk into the oval office, you mentioned something that is not always a guarranty. You would think as a National Security advisor that would be instant. Hasnt always been instant. Remember with Henry Kissinger was a National Security advisor that he had more leeway than did the secretary of state at the time. Ultimately kissinger became secretary of state. There is much to be made of that position but right now it is a sort of a backbencher to the likes of some holdovers from the early trump days. What do we make of that . I think mcmaster learned very quickly, just as Rex Tillerson, secretary of state, that Jared Kushner is the chief diplomat for this adminstation. He is leading on all Foreign Policy and National Security issues. He sits in on critical neil why . That is pretty dramatic. Donald trump trusts him even though he has no experience in this area and in this space and he keeps everything in the family. And he is known to create these sort of feuding factions. Right. So far, and charlie brings up something very interesting, so mcmaster as you know, i mentioned, active duty, had to say yes. You have to leave the service to get his job. Neil is that correct, you cant say no. No, i dont think he could. Neil that is interesting. Appointment to fill the slot right immediately he has to say yes. But, longterm he might neil bottom line he did. I mean if you know omarosa has dibs on the oval office ahead of you, that isnt going to fly well. There is definitely tension here between the people, like tillerson and mcmaster, taking direction from Jared Kushner, but also i think were going to have to start to can he whether or not this former very tight bond between Jared Kushner and steve bannon wings and two themselves actually beginning to erode because that is what sort of looking like is on display here. Neil can always go back to their comfort level. Jfk did it with his own brother bobby after the bay of pigs fiasco. Relying on his counsel heavily. Right. Neil there is precedent for that. This is glaring that he is so young and inexperienced. Neil doesnt appear to have the experience. Lets be clear here, Bobby Kennedy was kind of a known political entry. Neil and a lawyer. Could make the argument he did stuff politically. Neil got his brother elected president. Jared kushner may have ran his fathers real estate business and, he definitely married Donald Trumps daughter. Omarosa, the notion she has access, walkinccess and head of National Security doesnt is bizarre. I would say this, you know, Jared Kushner is, im not saying he is a stupid guy but think about a guy with almost no experience calling shots on all these policy levels, Foreign Policy levels is actually scary. Neil that is interesting. Guys, thank you very much. Well be getting a pool feed from the white house in this sitdown with King Abdullah, they will make jointc press remarks about an hour from now. Ahead we have senator john thune from the beautiful state of south dakota, very prominently republican, to put it mildly. Senator, so much to hit on with you first, if you indulge me, bannon stuff, white house intrigue, not senate intrigue, what do you make of it and what the white house could be telegraphing Going Forward . Were kind of digesting it like you are, neil. I think it is an appropriate move. As you pointed out early on in the administration there was concern about having checks and balances on certain players that were involved and seems to me at least, perhaps that now is not necessary. I do think that in every white house you have this tension and sort of push and pull where the power is and who has the president s ear. Neil right. Part of it comes down you have to have people around you are comfortable with and trust but you also have the people around you with the depth and experience and knowledge that can give you good advice. So trying to figure out how to couple those and get the best possible decisions is the challenge i think every white house faces. It seems like that this is something that this white house is going through as well. Neil i dont know how you deal with that on your own senate staff. Im sure theyre clawing for your attention and love, senator. You will tick off somebody, right . There will be people on own turf, why am i being reported or secondguessed by this kid, Jared Kushner. I dont mean to disparage him. If you have vast military experience and pecking or the of things you will be a little annoyed, right . Neil, you dont want people that will be rubberstamps. You dont want a lot of yes, sir people around you. You want people with dissenting opinions. Neil not me, senator. I love to be surrounded by yes people that never argue with anything i say. Youre always right, neil. Your own instincts are good. Neil there you go. Let me ask you while we have you, thank you for indulging my offbeat humor, what do you interpret is going on in the house right now reworking the Health Care Proposal . I talked to your colleague senator capito from west virginia, she said proceed with the tax cut thing and paraphrasing, leave the health care fight for another day . How do you feel about that . They are hell bent making sure they get it right this time and proceed with the tax thing. What do you think . I think, neil, as everybody knows, obamacare is in a death spiral. At some point the wheels completely come off. It has been, the market has been collapsing. Premiums and deductibles and copays are skyrocketing. Something has to give. We have to have a solution for this at some point. Sooner, probably better than later, i hope the house can figure out a path forward. I know they have been engaged in discussions with the Vice President. I hope those are conductive and meaningful, eventually they will be report something out we can deal with in the senate. Neil doesnt sound like they are, senator. I dont want to leap on that and assume a half empty glass, but looks like whoever might win over on conservative side to throw a lot of things back on the states they will tick off moderates or senators maybe like yourself, so what you gain you will lose on the other end, then youre right back in the same pickle . Its a delicate balance. To get 216 over there is not easy feat. To move past that and other items on agenda, one reasons we want to look at health care because is frees up billion trillion dollars on the cqseline in reform. I hope they fifth it out. I think it is really important for the country if they do. Neil senator, indulging my around the world with these issues, were urging a punishing measure against syria for this action on the part of president assad to hit his people with chemical weapons. He argues no, it is not his doing. That he bombed armament buildings that housed these chemical weapons. We want to crack down on him. Be that as it may, how is that different from the red line barack obama drew . Some are concerned this president used to say assad has to go and now he is saying not necessarily. Are you worried about the mixed signals we as a country are sending syria . I think it is important that the United States develop a policy, a cleareyed policy. Its hard. Were six years late on this. You know, we missed a lot of opportunities in the past in the Previous Administration. This is a problem that the Trump Trump Administration inherited. Particularly that region of the world is looking to america for leadership. I think we have to take actions that will discourage the sort of thing that happened. Obviously when you see barrel bombs and chemical weapons used against these syrian children, it is horrific. And tragic. And i hope that there is a, international response. United states has to be a part of leading that. I dont think we can mess around and say were going to be agnostic to what is happening there. We have to try and promote a good humanitarian outcome, a good political outcome. Important to peace and stability in that region which affects directly our National Security interests. I think the american policy ought to be that assad needs to go. Whether that is now or at some point in the sequence of events into the future, i think its clear that anybody who would do this to his own people is not fit to hold power. I hope that the administration will take that kind of a stance. Neil senator john thune, thank you, sir, very good catching up with you. Thanks, neil, you too. Neil all right. A separate issue here, we are waiting to get from the white house with the president meeting with King Abdullah ii of jordan. This whole syria thing will likely come up. Jordan borders syria on the south and obviously jordanian king would have some idea how to proceed. Keep in mind jordan, was one of the first countries to say you, israel, you have a right to exist. There was a pound of flesh. That pound of flesh is not going down well at the white house. Well explain after this. Youll see. Neil youll see. Response to take any action regarding latest reports that syria used chemical weapons on its own people yet again. Up wards 60 to 120 depending on reports that you believe were killed in such attacks. Including a third of them children. We have former president ial envoy to iraq, ambassador paul bremer on this whole situation. Very good to have you, but im sorry under these circumstances, sir. Everyone waiting to see what the president does here. Theyre worried he might dial it back. It wasnt too long ago demanded assad leave. He said not necessarily. Is that another potential red line moment for him . Im referring back to barack obamas, if he had proof that, the government was using chemical weapons against its own people, that would be a red line moment and nothing happened. What should we do here . First i think we should understand that this shows again that there is no longterm solution in syria which makes american interests and, has assad staying in power. And there is no, i know the president has spoken and i think rightly about the importance of defeating isis but there is basically no way to conclude the fight against isis in syria, which also involves assad staying in power. So it is very hard to see how the president s stated objectives can be met if he is willing to keep assad in power. I dont think that is going to work. Neil if you can educate me, ambassador, as you often do, these areas assad hits, he always and his people say these are isis strongholds. I am targeting them. Sometimes theyre Collateral Damage is kids die but that thats what were doing and that is what you and the United States want us to be doing. You say what . Well, first of all, i think it is obscene to suggest as your sort of summary might have suggested that we would look the other way if assad were using chemical weapons, if we were using them against isis, that is simply not the case. The russians are implicated in this because after all assad by using chemical weapons is violating the agreement that the Previous Administration, working with the russians did wi