Advertisers have now pulled their ads from the oreilly factor. As President Trump defends the fox host bill oreilly. Good evening. Its great to have you with us on a wednesday night. We begin tonight with President Trump in front of the world on syria, on Bashar Al Assad, on the apparent chemical attack that killed so many families and children. The president condemning the attack, calling it quote, an affront to humanity. Saying his attitude toward syria has changed very much. The graphic images seen around the world. More than 80 men, women and children dying. Those who did survive gasping for air. What the world was waiting for next, was word from President Trump. How hell handle this, will the u. S. Act . Tonight, youll hear what he said. Abcs chief White House CorrespondentJonathan Karl leading us off. Reporter welcoming the king of jordan to the white house, the president firmly condemned the chemical weapons attack in syria, placing the blaming blame squarely on the syrian government. It is a terrible affront to humanity, i can tell you. Terrible. Reporter and later at a joint press conference in the rose garden, he suggested there should be retaliation. These heinous actions by the assad regime cannot be tolerated. Reporter in the past, again and again, donald trump said the u. S. Should not get involved. Tweeting syria is not our problem when president obama proposed protecting civilians. And after assads massive chemical weapons attack in 2013, he tweeted do not attack syria, fix u. S. A. Adding, if you do many bad things will happen from that fight the u. S. Gets nothing but now, the president says these horrific images have changed his views on the assad regime. Innocent civilians suffering from this weeks attack, more than 80 dead. Here a father clutches his twin 9monthold babies, both of them killed. Today at the white house, talk of a changed syrian policy. I do change. And i am flexible. And im proud of that flexibility. And i will tell you, that attack on children yesterday, had a big impact on me. Big impact. And its very, very possible, and i will tell you, its already happened, that my attitude toward syria and assad has changed very much. Reporter trump blames president obama for the humanitarian crisis but acknowledges its now his challenge to solve. I now have responsibility and i will have that responsibility and carry it very proudly, i will tell you that. It is now my responsibility. If i could just quickly ask you if the Chemical Attacks crosses a red line for you . It crossed a lot of lines for me. When you kill innocent children, innocent babies babies, little babies with a chemical gas that is so lethal. People were shocked to hear what gas it was, that crosses many, many lines, beyond a red line. Many, many lines. Reporter but he gave no indication of what he may do. Well, one of the things i think youve noticed about me is militarily, i dont like to say where im going and what im doing. Im not saying im doing anything one way or the other. But im certainly not going to be telling you. Reporter today, King Abdullah made it clear, the world is looking to President Trump. I believe under your leadership we will be able to unravel this very complicated situation. Reporter and the president , while again blaming his predecessor, is promising to take action. The world is a mess. I inherited a mess. Were going to fix it. Were going to fix it. And jon karl with us tonight live at the white house. The president made it clear he wont say what hes going to do. But do we have any kind of time line for possible action here . White house Officials Say this is very high on the agenda. In fact, the president himself chaired a meeting of his National Security council today here at the white house on the chemical weapons attack. But, david, no time line yet for a response. All right, jon karl leading us off. Jon, thank you. We just heard President Trump saying that syria crossed not only a red line, but several lines. We also saw u. N. Ambassador nikki haley holding up pictures today saying, if the u. N. Doesnt act the u. S. May have to. How many more children have to die before russia cares . The United States sees yesterdays attack as a disgrace at the highest level. An assurance that humanity Means Nothing to the syrian government. When the United Nations consistently fails in its duty to act collectively, there are times where we are compelled to take our own action. I want to bring in martha raddatz, with us tonight. You heard the president there saying his attitude toward syria has changed. We just heard Ambassador Haley say, at times were quote, compelled to take our own action. For americans at home tonight wondering whats going happen, whats next . Whats the goal here . Do they want to prevent further attacks . Do they just want to punish or do they want to get rid of Bashar Al Assad . We dont know. In 2013, there were array of air strikes when president obama said they crossed the red line. They didnt use them. They still had that intelligence. But most of those chemical weapons, the stockpiles, are gone so the chemical weapons used here were hidden. This is much more difficult. And as we heard, they met with the National Security team today. Martha, thank you. All of this playing out amid a shakeup on the president s National Security council. The president s chief political strategist steve bannon has now been removed from the National Security council. Whats behind the move . Heres abcs senior White House Correspondent cecilia vega. Reporter at the white house today, a staff shakeup. President trump, reversing his controversial decision to put his chief strategist, steve bannon, on the National Security council. Bannons presence on the council drew harsh criticism, a lightning rod, his rightwing views on nationalism and islam no secret. Its pretty dark here in europe right now, but theres something actually much darker and that is islam. Reporter when president added bannon to the committee, he also excluded key military and intelligence officials and was accused of favoring politics over National Security experience. Todays restructuring largely due to the growing influence of National Security adviser, general h. R. Mcmaster, who took on the job after Michael Flynn was fired after just 24 days. The military and Intelligence Leaders initially excluded, now restored to their permanent seats on the council. Vice president mike pence saying today, this is just a Natural Evolution to ensure the National Security council is organized in a way that best serves the president in resolving and making those difficult decisions. White house Officials Say mcmaster and bannon, share the same philosophy and vision and there was no longer a need for bannon on the council. They say bannon has not been demoted. As this news was breaking, the president in the oval office with the New York Times, talking about what he called one of the big stories of our time. It involves president obamas National Security adviser susan rice and her acknowledgement that she asked to know the identities of americans picked up by surveillance, a process known as unmasking. Sources telling abc news that in some cases they were the names of Trump Campaign and transition officials, caught up in surveillance as the Intelligence Community investigated russias election meddling. Rice denied leaking any names. I leaked nothing to nobody and never have and never would. Reporter and rice says she simply needed to know those names in order to understand the significance of the intelligence reports she was reading. We cant be passive consumers of this information and not and do our jobs effectively to protect the american people. Reporter but today asked by the New York Times if rice committed a crime, President Trump said, do i think . Yes, i think. Cecilia, President Trump of course has accused president obama of wiretapping him. As you just reported there, he now just said that susan rice may have committed a crime. What is she saying tonight . A spokesperson for rice said, im not going to dignify the president s comment with a response. They have questions for rice and theyd like her to testify before their panels. David. Cecilia vega with us again tonight. Thank you, cecilia. We turn now to another firestorm, this one involving fox news host bill oreilly. Tonight, President Trump is defending him. Heres abcs linsey davis. Caution, youre about to enter the nospin zone. Reporter as the embattled star of fox news faces a firestorm over alleged sexual harassment, the president is coming to his defense. In an interview with the the New York TimesPresident Trump said i think hes a good person. Fox news is facing growing calls to fire oreilly. And nearly 50 companies have pulled their ads from the show. Oreilly paid five women almost 13 million in settlements over claims of sexual harassment. The president now says perso. The president now says personally i think he shouldnt have settled. Because you should have taken it all the way. I dont think bill did anything wrong. Its not the first time hes defended a fox titan. Last summer, when former ceo roger ailes faced multiple allegations of sexual harassment, candidate trump defended his friend. Theyre saying these horrible things about him. Its very sad. Because hes a very good person. Reporter but just a month before the election it was trump under fire for that infamous access Hollywood Tape where he talked about groping women. Im not going to play too much of it because it is crude guy talk. Reporter candidate trump then gave oreilly the first tv interview in the wake of that explosive tape. Well, first of all, locker room talk, and most people have heard it before. Reporter he apologized for the remarks. More than a dozen women came guard accusing him of inappropriate sexual advances and groping. Allegations he denies. In a statement over the weekend, he said his fame makes him a target. He has to put to rest any controversies to spare his children. President trumps defense of oreilly comes just days after the president acknowledged april as Sexual Assault and awareness month. Next, the new tornado threats. 60 million americans bracing for possible twisters and large hail and flood watches right up into the northeast. A confirmed ef2 tornado tearing across goodman, missouri, on the ground for about 20 minutes. This entire system pushing its way east. Abcs Steve Osunsami is in atlanta, where they are bracing for dangerous weather tonight. Reporter families in the deep south tonight are facing an emergency, from swiftwater rescues at flooded streets in atlanta, to this tornado in weston, georgia. Farms were torn apart, mobile homes destroyed. The top of the house started peeling off, so we knew it was a very serious storm. Reporter at the masters Golf Tournament in augusta, it wasnt safe to stay out on the greens. We are asking you to evacuate the grounds. Reporter in neighborhoods across the region, tornado sirens are blaring, the flash floods are rising. Its going to be a long night for nearly 60 million americans. You need to be careful. This is a very dangerous situation youre coming into. Reporter north of atlanta, lightning struck several homes and set them on fire. The homeowner told me it sounded like a stick of dynamite going off. Reporter this family wont be able stay here tonight. Ive seen a lot of lightning strikes but ive never seen them hit this close. Reporter this same storm hurled an ef2 tornado at the kind people of goodman, missouri. Winds as high as 120 miles and hour hit a fire station and tore apart the elementary school. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt. Stunning images of that school. Steve with us live from atlanta. This isnt over yet. A brandnew tornado watch just issued for the metro area there. Reporter yes, david. It just came in, a brandnew tornado watch for the entire Atlanta Metro area until 9 00 p. M. Tonight. And talk about a story hitting close to home, this is my neighborhood. The street is blocked. Power crews are out here, trying to clear the road that leads to my house and restore power to this entire neighborhood. David. Were certainly youre okay. Were thinking of your and everyone across the south. Rob with us tracking this now. Its not just the south, this is moving eastward as we speak. Such a large, such a dynamic system, a huge area under the gun. Lets get right to it. Alabama, georgia, carolinas, particularly dangerous situation in that spot there. Thats a rare issuance. And the radar lit up. More storms firing. It goes into kentucky, ohio and indiana. It pushes off tomorrow into the east and midatlantic where the storms will be. Snow on the backside of this. Bigtime rain across the northeast where flood watches are posted. A big mess through tomorrow as well. Tracking it through tomorrow for us, rob. Thank you. Theres still much more ahead on world news tonight the f16 crash. How the pilot barely missed a suburban american neighborhood. He did survive. The manhunt under way, two inmates authorities call dangerous. How they think the pair may have escaped and where theyre looking. 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Bounty is more absorbent,mom per roll so the roll can last 50 longer than the leading ordinary brand. So you get more life per roll. Bounty, the quicker picker upper next tonight, the ad trying to sell soda using themes of policing and race. Tonight, that ad has now been pulled after unleashing outrage across this country, including Martin Luther king jr. s own daughter. Abcs david wright on the apology now. Reporter pepsis edgy new web ad features reality star Kendall Jenner disarming racial tensions with a sugary beverage. The similarity with this image trivializing black lives matter. According to some activists. The daughter of Martin Luther king jr. Tweeted, if only daddy would have known about the power of pepsi. This afternoon, pepsi pulled the ad and apologized to bernice king. But pepsi has struggled before. Come on. Which one is he . Reporter pepsi ultimately pulled this mountain dew ad featuring a goat in a Police Lineup with black men. Today, paparazzi caught up with Kendall Jenner in paris. Do you have anything to say about the pepsi video . Do you have any regrets . Reporter pepsi does have regrets. Saying, it was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Adding, clearly we missed the mark. David wright, abc news, new york. David, thank you. Tonight, the jailbreak the manhunt. Two dangerous inmates on the run. Now the manhunt. Also the f16 crash. Barely missing a suburban neighborhood. The special delivery, the whole world waiting on one giraffe in america. But the other giraffe that beat us to the punch. And markets continue to rise and fall. Predictable is one thing you need in retirement to help protect what youve earned and ensure it lasts. Introducing brighthouse financial. A new company established by metlife to specialize in annuities life insurance. Talk to your advisor about a brighter financial future. Dont let dust and allergens and lifes beautiful moments. 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