With us from day beruit is bill neely. Lets start with you, kelly. We are half an hour out from what we are expecting to be a White House Press briefing. We are now into the time period where the president says a decision will be made. We know jim mattis walked into the white house just over an hour and a half ago. It was thanks to our cameras capturing the image of the defense secretary walking into the white house that we knew for certain he was here. We were talking to a range of officials and people didnt want to disclose that he was here. That may be just a matter of them not feeling they were authorized to do so or it might be this is the cane of session with the president or others here that they didnt want to get public attention. Certainly the secretary comes here to meet with the president from time to time the. It takes on new importance given the tweet schedule that the president put out, the backdrop of the chemical attack in syria and the time line that the president provided which has certainly put us into this zone as you describe it. At the briefing thats coming up we know that some of the official who were involved in that are working behind the scenes to prepare for the questions that will be coming from the reporters in the briefing room. Typically something of this itch in a, a military action is not disclosed and talked about in specific terms in a public setting like the brooep briefing but we might get a sense of the president s thinking on get a sense of World Leaders he has talked with, others who are consulting him. We might get some of that context to help us know where the president is in this process. All right kelly. Bill neely is in beruit for us, 10 p. M. In the middle east. What is the chat on the ground in syria, neighboring countries. We no there have been troop movements. We know people are moving equipment around. There is a sense certainly that an attack is imminent. Absolutely. All eyes are on the skies as you say. Its 10 00 p. M. Here in lebanon and syria. And plenty of evidence, today, in fact that those skies are quiet because reports from syria suggest from north to south it was a huge drop in the number of air strikes today. Now, that would suggest that the Syrian Air Force is not interested in. Booing its interested in repositioning and getting its planes into shelter. The Syrian Air Force has about 260 fixwing aircraft, around 80 helicopters. And those, of course, are the aircraft that dropped chemical weapons. Remember, emmanuel may krone, the french president , said yesterday that one of the targets would be destroying syrias chemical weapons capabilities. Now you would imagine that would include the aircraft that dropped those chemical weapons. Clear evidence that the airbases are evacuating, that headquarters buildings are evacuating, one Missile Research facility outside damascus was also said to be emptying today. The big question is are some of those aircraft seeking shelter at russian airbases . Because if that were true that would really present the United States air force and navy with a problem because they one assumes they do not want to be seen to be targeting russian assets. Again, thats what president may krone of france said yesterday. Russia and iran are not targets. Ali, plenty of evidence that syria is moving people around. Its air defenses are good. And indeed there was one analyst on Syrian Television today speaking about the fact that syria has a missile shield. Yep. So those air defenses will be up tonight. Israel lost its first fighter jet in a long time as a result of those defenses. So this is a serious issues. Kelly odonnell we will stay close to you as well as bill neely in bay krut. The president what are the president s option . This is heavily simplified. Lets discuss what could happen. He could launch a small attack on a runway or territory. Thats what he did last april in the 2017 chemical attack. Launching missiles at a syrian airbase. There are three airbases that supported the chemical offensive in eastern ghouta. He may want to do something bigger considering that that attack didnt deter assad from further chemical weapons use. He could consider more damaging strikes. He could target multiple military bases linked to assads regime linked to its capability to deliver chemical weapons but that might kill russian and iranian personnel supporting assads regime. And that complicates the situation as long as it involves any of americas allies. That brings us to the final option, actual strikes against russian and iranian bases in the area. President trump called out both russia and iran for backing assad. Such an attack would be sure to send a message but escalates a risk of fighting with russia which promised to retaliate against any strike that hurts russian troops. I have to bring in an analyst. I have to say we have no information that the u. S. Government is considering that last and most drastic strike, which would be attacking iranian and russian installations in syria. But it is important to understand the potential unintended consequences of a strike on syria. Absolutely. Of the three options you laid out the third is certainly the riskiest. I think there are a lot of reasons why the United States is going to avoid that at all costs because the United States, as well as the potential coalition partners, france, the united kingdom, they do not want to go to war with russia over this issue. All signs point to the desire for the United States to send a message about wanting to degrade and destroy the Syrian Governments ability to deliver chemical weapons. They dont want to strike or risk striking russian personnel. That sort of brings us to an option two, right . Because option one is the crews missiles 59 crews missiles like we used last year which not only didnt do a great deal of damage because the air field was up and running within a couple of days but certainly didnt deter the assad administration. I think its fair for people to realize that the administration is propped up by the russians and the iranians. How do you get into how do you send a message to assad without having the iranians and the russians feel it, too . Right now, because the syrian battlefield is so complex and because you do have the involvement of so many different powers, regional powers, extra regional powers like russia and the United States on the battlefield there are simply so many different strategies and different powers that are trying to see their own plans realized on the ground in syria, but russia its important to arer that russia does not control the Syrian Government. They are their most important great power guarantor. Iran is absolutely critical for syria on the ground but russia cannot control what the Syrian Government is doing. We have seen that as multiple ceasefires have fallen apart in syria over the last years. Americans have little appetite for wars in the middle east. At this point, given that america is good at getting into them and bad at getting out, should we be thinking about exit strategy, end games, what success looks like in syria . You know, President Trump has laid out earlier this month and last month his desire to not become more involved in middle eastern conflicts and to let regional powers shoulder more of the responsibility. Thats why we are watching to see who is brought into a coalition to launch this potential punitive strike against Syrian Air Force assets. We are looking at potential involvement, sort of in a facilitatory capacity from the gulf states. We know that President Trump does not want to get more involved in the syrian conflict beyond the stated objectives that the United States has been clear about, which is combatting the islamic straight and other violence extremist organizations and containing iran. Should be noted there isnt a oernling outpouring of the gulf states, qatar which hosts a number of meares middle Eastern States i says it doesnt want to get involved. When it comes to the Syrian Crisis most of the focus of this white house and of most americans has been on the threat isis. You cant forget that the people on the ground have different concerns. I cannot emphasize enough, this is a civil war. It is a conflict thats been going on since the spring of 2011, trig erred by peaceful protests on which the Assad Government fired. Over 165,000 people have died for gone missing. 5. 6 million fled their country. More than 3 million are hosted by turkey, a country that according to the Washington Post doesnt really want them there. More than 6 million Syrian People are displaced. They are inside syria but not in their homes. According to u. N. Investigators and recent news reports president Bashar Al Assads regime is accused of using chemical weapons not once or a dozen times. At least 30 times since 2011. I want to bring in gentleman gene giovanni, she has been covering the middle east and syria for more than 25 years. She is the author of the morning they came for us, dispatches from syria. Janine i think its important on the eve of potential war in syria to remember the people of syria. This is not necessarily a welcome thing for the people remaining in syria. Its not clear that this ends the war or brings it closer to a conclusion. Absolutely. I mean we are not sure what it will bring. About you look at the past air strikes, they werent that punitive. They were more i think of a moral symbolic gesture. You have to remember there are people in syria who do support assad. These are the people that said in the beginning assad or we burn the country. And we now see, there is no end to what they will stop at. When you think about the attack on douma, which we now know open sources have given us evidence that 34 people did die despite what the russians say that there was no chemical attack. We know that assad is now in a position where he really is disparate. He wants to wipe out the last of the opposition. He uses chemical gas. I want to stop you there because he talks about the last of the opposition. We talk in terms of the last gasp for isis. They are not the same people. Absolutely. Because this is where the narrative of the war has gotten lost. Right. I think to most of the American Public i do understand it is the most complex war i have ever covered. Sure. There is the war on the ground which started as you said in 2011 with people that what did they want . They wanted to rise up against a dictator. They wanted what we have, rule of law, human rights that protect them. In fairness beside they were not asking for the full democracy that americans would think of. They wanted some better rights than they had. Free and Fair Election where is they elect someone they know is not part of assad family or his kplan or his cousins. I think thats all they basically wanted. So those people were punished for that in a way that is so severe. He burn the country. His tactic all along was scorched earth. It was basically to attack homes, the place where is the resistance, the opposition was very strong to show, looking you are going to follow the opposition . This is what you are going to get. So we have the war still going on there. And then dont forget the other part of the country, the syrian kurds. What do they want. They are in an opposite part of the country. They have been fighting alongside the u. S. Trained and equipped by the u. S. They control the largest swath thats not government controlled. As trump said last week, if he is going to pull out the troops how does that leave them. They were our allies, they did the heavy lifting against isis. We are abandoning them yet again. What will happen to the syrian kurds and the christians in syria. Syria was a multicultural place, for all of its problems it was multireligious and mul cultural. We are worrying about the northwest of the country, al qaeda. We have wide out isis . What about al qaeda . They are still in the northwest. We need a Long Term Strategy to ensure they will not develop and even you know, grow even faster. Then we have to think about in the aftermath lets say these strikes end the war and diplomacy comes in and we get a peaceful negotiation at least. How do we divide up this country . How do we reconstruct it. More importantly, looking to past wars like say bosnia why were hey treads linger for so long. In a country like this, thousands have been killed, people have been burnt outside of their homes, people are outside of the country. How are we going to put it back together. It would we hoove us all to do more reading about syria in the coming days because these questions will be before us soon. Janine de gea vanny, the author of the morning they came for us, dispatches from syria. This just in, the New York Times is reporting that fbi agents who raided the offices of Donald Trumps personal lawyer, Michael Cohen were seeking evidence related to the access Hollywood Tape. Thats according to three people who have been briefed on the contents of a federal search warrant. The access Hollywood Tape surfaced during ump drfrs campaign. He can be heard in it making vulgar comments about women. Joining me now, one of the authors of the article and former u. S. Attorney joyce vance, she is a professor at the universe of Alabama Law School and an msnbc contributor. Matt, you are one of the authors of that piece. Sure. What is the thinking . Why would fbi agents be looking for information related to the access Hollywood Tapes given they went public . Right, is he what you have to do is you look at all the Different Things that we know that the fbi is looking at here. They are looking at the payments to women who claimed that they had affairs with President Trump. And one of the things they are looking at is was Michael Cohen essentially facilitating payments to buy their silence . And if so, was that a Campaign Contribution . Did that violate any banking laws . And then look, the access Hollywood Tape came out at crucial time. I think what the Justice Department is looking sat did Michael Cohen play any role in trying to tamp down the release of that video . Did he have any role in sort of reacting to that video . And they had there was a catchall after that that said we also want to know what else, you know, what other negative stories or negative issues that Michael Cohen was involved in responding to. Basically they are looking to see was he essentially an unofficial fixer for the Trump Campaign. Joyce vance, give me a legal umbrella onto this. Because maybe he is an unofficial fixer. He has long been referred to as such, he is a fixer for donald trump. But when you fix things that could otherwise cost you votes in the course of an election that becomes a federal crime . One of the biggest problems that drops just right in your lap here is the Campaign Finance law violation. Its illegal to make contributions that either exceed a certain amount or that end up being unreported. And so this is really very much what jon edwards was prosecuted unsuccessfully by the Justice Department for. And that prosecution failed because the department was unable to prove a linkage between payments that were made to edwards and an intent to influence the election. Those payments were made before the first primary votes were even cast. But in this situation now, one believe has the fbi is looking believes that the fbi is looking for potential payments were being affected, were being made, were being negotiated in the case of stormy daniels, perhaps attempted to suppress the access Hollywood Tapes in the weeks preceding the campaign. That could be a criminal problem for Michael Cohen and others who knew who were going on. Matt, some people are going to say this is a fishing competition, its well outside the purview of the russia investigation which is why it was not the mueller Team Involved in this. But in order to get the warrants that were required to search Michael Cohens office in this building and a hotel he was staying at, they would have had to have presented something to a federal magistrate. There is a certain bar that would have had to be met. Tell me about that. Absolutely. For starters, you have to clear the bar of is there probable cause that you are going to find evidence of a crime in these documents and in these locations . So you clear that. But internally, inside the Justice Department, going after, doing a search of a Lawyers Office is one of the highest levels of you know, this is right there in the red zone. You know, that gets a lot of scrutiny. Ed a to that that this is the president of the United Statess lawyer and the sensitivity of this search is paramount. You know, but whats significant here is yes this was carried out by prosecutors in new york. Cohens lawyer has said that this began with a referral from bob mueller, the special counsel. Obviously, this began with information they developed as part of the russia investigation. But you