. —— jim mattis. those are words fromjim this stage. —— jim mattis. those are words from jim mattis, no doubt as the team in washington are speaking to the allies in the region. but we move to syria. a bomb has hit a a convoy of buses carrying evacuees from two towns. the passengers had been waiting at a transit point — travelling from fuua and kafraya — to the west of aleppo. the delay was caused by rebel groups raising concerns about the status of people leaving rebel—held territory near the capital damascus in a reciprocal evacuation. the syria white helmets say they have recovered more than 100 bodies. richard galpin reports. in the immediate aftermath, a man runs towards the site of the huge explosion, filming the horrifying scenes around him. it is believed a suicide bomber carried out this attack, reportedly driving a van carrying aid supplies. translation: i can't describe it, i am speechless. there are dead people everywhere. you can see dozens of burnt—out cars, bodies everywhere. emergency staff and opposition factions are evacuatin

instead coming from the department of defense, jim mattis, the secretary of defense. that's a different kind of strategy, one that senior advisors had suggested to me earlier was the likely approach and it really does turn down some of the angst on the global stage or perhaps taking some of the sort of response down to a level that is a bit more in line with what took place here. not that the north korean attempts are not grave and of serious concern, but as things go now perhaps this approach is just sort of putting that pause button on for a bit tonight, especially as the vice president is in the air headed to seoul, south korea and this is a holiday weekend and the white house has time to consider how it wants to respond. this is not a moment when they have to respond quickly. they have acknowledged it. they've told us everyone has been briefed and they've taken the steps and for now that may be enough. >> a great point you're making there. a volume level on response, at least from what we're seeing right now. not on high, right? it is not something that necessaril

that happened in the hours before jim mattis touched down. he met afghan president ashraf ghani but was very clear, had a message of no bending towards talks with the taliban. here's what he said. >> if the taliban wished to join the political process and work honestly for a positive future for the afghan people who have suffered long and hard, they need only to renounce violence and reject terrorism. it's a pretty low standard to join the political process. >> reporter: that's just never going to happen, really. i mean, they've already attempted diplomatic pressures with the taliban. they're winning, though, on the battlefield now, so the taliban talking is pretty unlikely, and they have key al qaeda-affiliated militants in their command structure, so asking them to denounce terrorism is a large call as well. what is on the table for a trump administration policy in afghanistan? the u.s. has tried the troop surge, they've tried talks, they've tried sending in more trainers to boost the afghan military. that could be the one option they'll tr

defense secretary jim mattis putting out a brief statement, saying the president and his military team are aware of north korea's most recent unsuccessful missile launch. the president has no further comment. it is not easing concern over pyo pyongyang's work on nuclear missiles. over the weekend they showed off new hardware. we did hear from mike pence very bold words and he also made bold moves, getting very close to the north korea border. >> reporter: that's right, allison. yes, he was at the dmz, demilitarized zone, and he was seen by north korean soldiers. they came out when they realized there was a vip there and started taking photos. the fact that the second in command of the most powerful country in the world is right on the border. it's what we see from many of these top officials that come in south korea. they go up to the dmz to show, as he said, they are standing shoulder to shoulder with south korea. he did give some statement as well when he met the acting president not so long ago, and a very strong message, a real warning to north korea, when it came to talking about

mattis -- including rex tillerson and jim mattis. such briefings usually take place in a secure location where there is more room. that is in the washington post this morning. go to the pages of the "new york times." next william, of next, conway, south carolina. caller: i wanted to make a comment that president obama is somewhat correct. he should not interfere with .hat trump is trying to do also, i think he should make a what he was in and what he was involved with it he had a republican-controlled congress, he wasn't going to get nothing there, because the republicans .nd democrats they seem like they are bitter enemies. they don't want to get nothing done. reckon,'t want to, i work together. it is a shame that this country is like what obama said, we don't even vote. i think obama was a good thing of getting out and trying to get the people to come out and vote. he should make some comments on maybe going to war, because i believe we might be heading that way with some of trump's comments. stop.needs to obama needs to say that.

there's almost no one at defense with jim mattis. administration typically have more people in the pipeline. charlie: so that the failure? >> yes. >> on the issue of national security, people i speak to in the white house say on domestic policy and economic policy, it's chaotic. on national security issues, the president seems strikingly kellyntial to mcmaster, -- charlie: there, he has no experience. he has deferred to people with experience. >> on syria, he said, show me options, had a lot of meetings. he actually chose the most cautious option they presented to him. on the national security front, he seems to respect expertise that's not his own. charlie: but on the economic issue, he also has gary cohn in the white house. he has mnuchin at treasury. he has the secretary of commerce, weighing in on economic issues. testshink we saw in early of his ability to affect economic change with the health care bill, which did not go well. i think that is because he did not have a lot of ownership they had. to take ownership retroactively.

jim mattis says the president and his military team are aware of the most recent unsuccessful missile launch. the president has no further comment. all eyes now turn to donald trump. >> despite everyone telling the north koreans, don't do this, they've gone ahead and try to do something. it didn't succeed, it failed, but i think the question is what is our response going to be. >> reporter: chris pollone, nbc news. >>> we will continue to follow the latest on the situation with north korea, both in our newscast and on our website nbcbayarea.com. >>> in berkeley at least 20 people were arrested and 11 injured during violent clashes between supporters and opponents of president trump. one person was reportedly stabbed. hundreds of pro and anti-trump supporters began to gather at martin luther king jr. civic park at 10:00 a.m. for the tax day event. that's when an explosive mele broke out. they exchanged blows, burned flags and threw fireworks. police said they confiscated stun guns, sticks batteries and knives. one person was carrying a can filled with concrete. berkeley police eventual

the defense secretary jim mattis said officials cancelled planned exercises and president trump boasted about the move in an interview with fox business. now we know the carl vinson wasn't headed up north at all when the president said it was on fox business. instead, it went south. went from here down to here in the opposite direction from all the stuff going on in the bad ways and got to behave in north korea. the navy put out a picture on saturday. they put out this picture, which is how we found this out showing ship was not headed there somewhere, it was down here. some 2,500 miles from the korean peninsula. despite that, the white house claim they never talked about timing. there was nothing to clear up. the president did not speak too quickly. >> we put out a release talking about the group ending up in the korean peninsula. that's what it will do. i think we were asked about the use of the carrier group and what that meant. that's what we discussed. i would refer you back to any otherish you'res with that to the department of defense. the president said he had an armada going to

new this morning defense secretary jim mattis making an unannounced visit to afghanistan. this is video of him getting there via helicopter. you can see in the video he will be walking with members of the military and he is there to help the administration decide whether or not to send in more u.s. troops. this is three days after an attack on northern afghanistan, an army base there that killed more than 100 people. mattis has been in the area in europe as well trying to build relationships with allies and partners in the war in afghanistan. he is now the first member of the trump cabinet to visit afghanistan. >>> happening today, former president barack obama will make his first public speech since leaving office. he is expected to address community leaders and students at the university of chicago. it's being build as part of his post presidency goal to encourage and support the next generation of leaders. mr. obama just got back from nearly a month on an island in the french >>> medians on friday night, saturdays and sundays. many of the drivers park there to attend ne

in a written statement jim mattis said the president is aware of north korea's most recent unsuccessful missile launch. and chris hill said all eyes now turn to donald trump. >> despite everybody telling the north koreas don't do this, they went ahead and tried something, and it failed but i think the question is what is our response going to be? >> mike pence's trip to south korea continues as plan and he is expected to emphasize the u.s. alliances and present a new front against north korea's new ambition. >> north korea will be the featured subject on "meet the press" this morning. chuck todd will be sitting down exclusively with john kelly, and john mccain and jack reed of the armed services committee. >>> 5:38 on this sunday, tomorrow is an important day if you want to cast your vote in the upcoming pennsylvania primary. >>> he's no easter bunny, but he's an attraction at a spot if you want to take the kids, and we'll explain in a minute. fios is not cable. we're wired differently. maybe that's why we've been ranked highest in customer satisfaction by jd power 4 years in a row. and

this is the secretary of defense jim mattis who says that u.s. is reinforcing saudi arabia's resistance to iran's mischief here. the backdrop to all of this and the question is how much the u.s. government under this administration is going to push our allies or the u.s. allies, saudi arabia, on issues when it pertains to human rights in that country? a number of different issues ongoing, certainly in relationship with the united states and saudi arabia as it plays throughout the region throughout the middle east. >> jon: interesting times they are at the state department where you are, thank you. >> law enforcement and definitely think you to the people around the country that called in again, almost 400 tips on this that we had to follow up on. that just shows the vigilance of the people in this country. >> jenna: it was one tip that led to the end of all this. cleveland police chief on the nationwide manhunt for the facebook killer that ended in pennsylvania went steve stephens shot and killed himself yesterday after a brief pursuit. the tip t

. >> secretary of defense jim mattis met with saudi arabia's king salman. for a saudi led coalition fighting rebels in yemen and denounced north korea's missile launch as a reckless act of provocation and that the -- >>> published reports say that form news is preparing to cut ties with star commentator bill o'reilly. the reports are in the wall street journal owned by the same company that owns fox news. o'reilly is under mounting pressure after revelations that he and 20th century fox settled multiple sexual harassment complaints. a final resolution of o'reilly's fate could come in the next few days. fox has a board meeting tomorrow. >> thousands protested at auburn university in alabama last night during a speech by a white nationalist richard spencer. a federal judge blocked the ban for him to speak. they railed again racial diversity and the media in the bid to promote white pride. three people were arrested during a brief scuffle outside of the speech. >>> coming up we introduce you to sesame street's newest resident, her name is julia, and how she co

mattis. >> yeah, jim mattis also had to sort of apologize today because he said we took out 20% of the fixed-wing planes that they had, which was not true. >> took out 20, yes. >> right, which is different obviously unless the denominator is a hundred. but here's my question to you. we also have this tillerson question about ukraine, right? at the meeting of foreign ministers. and, again, this real sense that the foreign policy of this government is essentially up for grabs for whoever sort of moves first or most strongly in the public eye. and what that means for other states that are attempting to make strategic judgments about how to interact with us. >> it means that they're terribly confused, including our most prominent allies in the world. we don't know. they don't know exactly what's going to happen at any given time. i remember very vividly how this happened with the bush administration in the first term when dick cheney was more or less running everything, and no one knew what was going to come out until dick had made up his mind. this was very disconcerting for our allies. w

mattis said the president and his military team are aware of the north korea's unsuccessful missile launch. and all eyes now turn to donald trump. >> despite everybody telling the north koreans don't do this, they have gone ahead and something. it didn't feel -- it didn't succeed, it actually failed but the question is what is our response going to be. >> vice president pence's trip continues as plan and he is is that corrected -- as planned. >>> north korea's failed missile launch and a muted reaction from the white house will be the focus of discussion on nbc's "meet the press." earlier this morning i spoke to "meet the press"'s phamoderatom chuck todd. >> one of the interpretations for the low-key response from president trump is it's possible the u.s. had more involvement the missile launch failure than people might realize. >> north korea will be the featured subject on nbc's "meet the press." chuck todd will sit down exclusively with homeland security secretary, john kelly. it comes your way in just a few minutes at 10:30 right here on nbc10. >>> and then to south jersey where

. >> defense secretary jim mattis put pressure on russia during his brief visit to afghanistan. mattis said the u.s. would confront moscow over the claims it is giving machine guns and other weaponry to the taliban. russia denies giving support. mattis predicted this year is going to be another tough year, talking about that fighting in afghanistan. >> vice president mike pence heads back to washington, d.c. after wrapping of a tour of asia. but first he made a stop in hawaii overnight to have lunch and meet with americans troops. he told soldiers that president trump is fighting to rebuild the military as the u.s. faces threats, posed by north korea. and he delivered a personal message from the president. >> as he said to me, just tell them i am proud of them. and i promise all of you the american people are proud of every man and woman in this room. give yourselves another round of applause, thank you for serving your country. >> pence postponed a visit to the pearl harbor memorial. he rushed back to washington for the busy week ahead. as lawmakers scramble to reach a deal on

defense secretary jim mattis, national security advisor h.r. mcmaster briefing president trump on military options at mar-a-lago this afternoon. this is according to senior military officials. this coming on the heels of a deadly chemical weapons attack in the arab country. the president weighing in on the situation moments ago on air force one. >> what assad did is terrible. i think what happened in syria is one of the truly egregious crimes. and it should, and it should be -- [inaudible] melissa: here now is lieutenant colonel ralph peters. he is a fox news strategic analyst. thank you, sir for joining us. >> hi, melissa. melissa: i don't know if you caught secretary of state rex tillerson speaking maybe it was about an hour ago, saying they do have a strategy for syria and it was a three-fold plan. he started with destroying isis, number stablizing the country, and number three removing assad. what do you think about that order? >> that is complete reversal of what he said less than a week ago. melissa: yeah. >> i think the administration is

against isis and al qaeda, defense secretary jim mattis warned not to ignore iran. >> at the time when i spoke about iran, i was the commander of u.s. central command and that was the primary exporter of terrorism, frankly. it was primary state sponsor of terrorism and it continues that kind of behavior today. >> reporter: last week the u.s. says george h.w. bush arrived in the persian gulf to begin air strikes against isis and to keep an eye on iran. on capitol hill the head of u.s. central command said iran represents the greatest threat to the region, operating in a gray zone just short of open conflict. >> i think we need to look at opportunities where we can disrupt through military means or other means their activities. >> general votel says iran's behavior has gotten worse when a nuclear deal was reached during the obama administration. test-fired more ballistic missiles iran and russia continue to work together in syria to keep president bashar al assad in power. >> we have seen russian jets operating out of iranian basis and cooperation to prop up the regime and give them new

secretary of defense jim mattis met with afghan officials and u.s. forces today. the top american general in afghanistan is suggesting that russia is now arming the tal been offer any specifics. >>> [sirens ] >> today is holocaust remembrance day. sirens blaired blaered tw to minute -- blaired for two minutes. the country came to a stand still to commemorate the 6 million jews killed during world war ii. the israel prime minister laid a brief at the country's holocaust memorial in engineer lemm -- jerusalem. >>> thousand ten -- tens of thousands of people marched through los angeles to mark the genocide. 1 preponderate -- 1.5 million people were killed by a cam -- campaign by the turkey government. they continue to doeny it -- to deny it. today president trump followed past administrations in noting the los angeles of so many of the most mass atrocities of the 20th century. the los angeles area is home to more than 200,00 people of armanian decent. >>> a car backed by google takes to the skies. >> one of the largest fires forces the cancelation o >>> in prince geo

they'll be hearing from some heavy hitters - incuding defense secretary jim mattis, chairman of the joint chiefs gen. joseph dunford and secretary of state rex tillerson. that brieffing is set for three this afernoon. we'll be monitoring that breifing and the siutation with north korea closely. stay with abc seven and wjla dot com for all the latest developments. also happening today at the white house - president trump will unveil his "goals" for tax reform. they include a 15-percent corporate tax rate that critics say lacks a way to prevent a deficit increase. in an effort to win democratic support - the plan is also said to include infrastructure spending. a drink laced with drugs - passed around a sterling classroom! and that's not the only place where the substance was found! suzanne kennedy is live at river bend middle school.. suzanne? wet weather - and then a big change.. coming up - what time the sun will return today - and the summer like temperatures coming with it. are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool? try zyrtec® it's starts working hard at hour one an

mattis said the president and his military team are aware of what happened but had no comment. the attempted missile launch follows a military parade in north korea it celebrated the birthday of kim jong-un's grandfather who was the founder of the communist regime. it raises the question how much is blues to her and how much is bite >> he has been uscally quiet. but he did tweet sort of about north korea but really talking about china, why would i call china a currency manipulator when they're working with us on the north korea problem? we will see what happens. in some way, i guess acknowledging something is going on but not any insight to what these thinking. he keeps tweeting about the foreign policy with the sentence saying we will see what happens. i guess that's true, we will see what happens. it's, and, not giving us as much as we would like >> the reason people are asking is because what he repeatedly said that china was manipulating currency. you look at these pictures coming out of north korea with the missile tests and parades. the parades are nothing new. there will

but defense secretary jim mattis claiming not to care about numbers. >> frankly, digging into tunnels to count dead bodies is probably not a good use of our troop's time. >> reporter: tonight, more than 20 extremist organizations in the region according to u.s. officials including isis and the taliban. >> i don't see how afghanistan doesn't devolve further into endless civil war. >> reporter: the top commander in afghanistan wants to add a few thousand more troops to the already 8400 in country. but neither secretary mattis nor president trump has publicly indicated if they agree. lester? >> hans nichols at the pentagon. thanks. >>> there are a flood of new questions tonight about president trump's new tax plan to be specific, what's in it? and how will it effected millions of american families. the trump administration provided an outline but not many details so far. nbc's peter alexander has more on that. >> reporter: the president's plan to overhaul 70,000 pages of federal tax laws so far boiling down to barely 200 words. critics say it's a p.r. pitch, not a proposal. >> it is a pl

defense secretary jim mattis says president donald trump who is in palm beach right now, is aware of the launch, but has n trump has been leading on china to put pressure on north korea. >>> wait until you see this. chaos erupting during a pro trump rally. this was in berkeley, california. because of that, police arrested 20 people after trump supporters and counterprotesters clashed. only an orange barrier separated the two groups. you can see that there. police say things escalated when heated words were exchanged, some of the activists threw anything they could get their hands on. including fireworks. about a dozen people got hurt. >>> things label the calmer at other rallies including this one on the national mall. thousands of protesters packing city after city for the tax day marches. they wanted to turn up the heat on president trump and force him to release his tax returns. trump says he will not release his taxes because he's under audit. >>> today on "meet the press" chuck todd will sit down with jack reid and john mccain a homeland skurlt secretary john kelly to talk the a

defense secretary jim mattis is in afghanistan on an unannounced visit, as the trump administration seeks to craft a new strategy in the country. now, he met afghan president, ashraf ghani, and u.s. commanders. they arrived just hours after his afghan counterpart resigned, following the deadliest taliban attack on security forces to date. anti-government protests in venezuela have entered their fourth week with demonstrators blocking main highways in the capital. the protesters are demanding the resignation of president niklas maduro, who they blame for the country's economic crisis. 21 people have been killed in the unrest over the past three weeks. firefighters in the u.s. state of maryland are battling a huge blaze at a multistory apartment complex. the building is located near the university of maryland. local media reports say that it was still under construction and had no residents. it's not yet clear how the fire began. all right. we're gonna take a 60 second break. when we come back, more world news plus all the business headlines. stick around for that. >> the whole dw on one ap

today, defense secretary jim mattis visited the tiny but strategically located country of djibouti. located on the horn of africa, it, which houses a key u.s. military base. since 9/11, the u.s. has stationed special forces and drone operations there in the fight against islamic extremists, especially in somalia and yemen. mattis greeted u.s. and french soldiers stationed in the former french colony. china is also building its first overseas military base there, just miles from the u.s. installation. in florida, firefighters worked all weekend to contain three separate wildfires. the largest, near naples in southwest florida, destroyed at least nine homes and had threatened 6,000 structures. officials say the fire has grown to almost 5,000 acres and is 50% contained. governor rick scott had deployed the national guard to help with mandatory evacuations, which were rescinded today. >> sreenivansan: returning to our top story a far-right marine le pen and emmanuel macron took the top two spots of the election and both are appealing to patriots to carry them to victory may 7. le pen to

korea was instead sailing in the opposite direction at the time. >> reporter: tonight defense secretary jim mattis overseas in cleanup mode, down playing the confusion about the location of the aircraft carrier "uss carl vinson". >> we don't generally give out ship schedules in advance, but i didn't want to play a game either and say we were not changing a schedule, when in fact we had. >> reporter: confusion from public pronouncements that the ship was heading to north korea as a show of force against kim jong-un, when in fact it was heading towards australia, including comments from mattis. >> she's just on her way up there because that's where we thought it was most prudent to have her at this time. >> reporter: even president trump. >> we are sending an armada, very powerful. >> reporter: privately, pentagon officials saying they could have done a better job explaining to the white house when the "uss vinson" was heading to north korea. which was not until this week. the white house on defense tonight. >> the president said we have an armada going towards the peninsula. that's a fact. i

defense secretary jim mattis is in afghanistan for an unannounced visit. there he will assess america's war needs. we know at this point he will meet with government officials including the president of afghanistan. now it's an arrival that comes days after two top afghan military officials stepped down following an attack by the taliban that killed more than 100 soldiers. recently a top u.s. commander in kabul asked congress for troops in order to support afghan security forces in an effort to defeat the taliban. we know mattis will discuss the war needs while there. more as we get it. eun, back to you. >> thank you, angie. >>> 4:47. important week for president trump as he nears the end of his first 100 days. it is also an important week for congress. lawmakers return to work and they're faced with a major deadline to avoid a government shutdown. >> funding for the government runs out on friday. will they reach a deal? news 4's tracie potts is here. >> here's. >> reporter:'s the deal. pay for a border wall. the president really wants money for the wall p

i think the good news is, look, the secretary general jim mattis, an stable guy, the armed forces woreships him. we've got gd guy on the ground in korea, vince brooks, army four star, so i think the military leadership's going to be just fine. the question is how do you govern a country when you've got the president tweeting these outrageous changes in foreign policy, defense policy on a daily basis? i think the pentagon must be confused and worried. >> and jeremy, this all comes under the kind of overall banner of transparency. as recently as a week ago we learned about something as localized as white house vichtdor logs, but you have for some time seen a larger meaning and a larger danger in not making those public. >> well, the white house invoked national security reasons for not making those white house visitor logs public as they had been made in the obama administration. i've been trying to talk to people and trying to figure out what national security purpose or intelligence rational could there be. i've come up empty, brian. i cannot find a single national security rational. if the

. >>> defense secretary jim mattis said the united states will face the united states and russia arming the taliban. he is in can you -- can could k. >>> rp. >>>. >>> we're learn being the new york city deadliest fire in five years. what the mother did before the fire and why the family was gathering for a celebration. >> a tough road to start, you a temple football player is given an honor as his dream comes true. if you have medicare parts a and b and want more coverage, guess what? you could apply for a medicare supplement insurance plan whenever you want. no enrollment window. no waiting to apply. that means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. medicare doesn't cover everything. and like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, these help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. so don't wait. call now to request your free decision guide. it could help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that works for you. these types of plans have no networks, so you get to choose any doct

jim mattis's arrival in kabul came just hours after the country's defence minister and the army's chief of staff resigned following friday's taliban attack on a military base. the assault, near mazar—e—sharif, killed more than 140 people. 0ur correspondent, justin rowlatt sent this report. this is the route the taliban attackers took. the guards waved them through, believing they were fellow afghan soldiers. we're the first journalists invited onto the army base, the first to see the horror unleashed here. a suicide bomber blew himself up in the dining hall, as hundreds of soldiers ate their lunch. others were mown down as they left friday prayers, the taliban shooting fellow muslims dead as they worshipped. once inside here, theyjust opened fire, and if you look around here, you can see the walls are pocked with gunshot fire. and outside, one of the vehicles the taliban used. there are suspicions the attackers had inside help, something the base commander denied. translation: investigators from kabul have been here. they confirmed there are no indication that there has been any inf

we know that one of the concerns of the defense secretary jim mattis when he briefed the president was that russians could die in these tomahawk strikes, given the fact that russians are embedded on these bases within the syrian military. there is a great deal of concern about the proximity of u.s. forces, there are about a thousand u.s. forces on the ground in syria, there about 6,000 on the ground in a rack where we just learned last week from the top commander in iraq that 100,000 a thousand iranian troops are inside a rack mount fighting very close to where that u.s. is advising the iraqi army. the potential for blowback for u.s. troops is very high, there is a great deal of concern is that the syrian forces and their allies, the iranians and the russians that are fighting with them in syria could take out, could harm u.s. forces which are also on the ground. force protection a very important part of this operation, but it looks like a limited strike, 43 tomahawk missiles. targeting at least one possibly two sites where chemical weapons were stored about 120 miles from the site of

jim mattis's arrival in kabul came just hours after the country's defence minister and the army's chief of staff resigned following friday's taliban attack on a military base. the assault, near mazar—e sharif, killed more than 140 people. 0ur correspondentjustin rowlatt sent this report. this is the route the taliban attackers took. the guards waved them through, believing they were fellow afghan soldiers. we're the first journalists invited onto the army base, the first to see the horror unleashed here. a suicide bomber blew himself up in the dining hall, as hundreds of soldiers ate their lunch. others were mown down as they left friday prayers, the taliban shooting fellow muslims dead as they worshipped. once inside here, theyjust opened fire, and if you look around here, you can see the walls are pocked with gunshot fire. and outside, one of the vehicles the taliban used. there are suspicions the attackers had inside help, something the base commander denied. translation: investigators from kabul have been here. they confirmed there are no indication that there has been any infiltr

defense secretary jim mattis arrived in kabul today as the country descended further into chaos. worsening the situation, new allegations the russians are supplying the taliban with weapons. >> we're going to have to confront russia where what they're doing is contrary to international law. >> reporter: his top general, john nickenson, made it more clear. >> just to be clear, they're sending weapons? >> oh, no, i'm not refuting that. >> reporter: the visit comes after a sneak attack by the taliban on an afghan military base in mazar i sharif that killed at least 140 afghan soldiers. military vehicles drove taliban fighters dressed in afghan army uniforms past checkpoints into the base. survivors said the militants then opened fire on unarmed afghan soldiers returning from a mosque. mattis called the attack barbaric. the taliban also claimed responsibility for another attack today at camp chapman, a base that houses c.i.a. and u.s. special operations forces. in 2009, seven c.i.a. officers were killed here in a suicide bomb attack. there are no american casualties this time. the ta

but donald trump has had a lot to do with it, as had jim mattis, as had nikki haley at the u.n., and i'm very satisfied with the way he's begun his foreign policy, much more than i am with his domestic agenda in the house. >> i think the biggest achievement na sense, is he has learned what he didn't know, that he has learned the world is more complicated than the policies he campaigned on. that's true partly domestically, but it's much more true when it comes to the international stage. the fact that he says he sat down with president xi and the north korea situation is much more complicated than he realized and he was prepared to admit there was a learning curve. and that haas influenced hutch of what he has done and said on the foreign policy stage. he came in with a very clear, nationalist, populist "america first" ideal. and he has shifted on that. he shifted to one of more engagement, more realization that he has to engage with america's allies to get results for america. and i would-- so rather than one specific thing that he's done, i would say that's the most important thing

defense secretary jim mattis and secretary of state rex tillerson presided over the meeting. >> as his first 100 days wind down the gop may have enough votes to repeal the affordable care act. movement could begin today. there's also a movement on preventing that possible government shutdown this president trump has given some round on his border wall proposal which is laying the groundwork for at least a temporary stop gap deal with democrats. >> a lot of moving pieces there. you wonder what's going to impact what and what sort of deals are going to be made. >> yeah. >> the right to free speech has crossed political lines. >> yeah, the liberal group and you could say the aclu pretty liberal and backing conservative columnist ann coulter's right to speak at uc berkeley. the school canceled her speech over >> tom what do you have to say. >> reporter: well, this is was the cases where politics can make very strange bed fellows. you should have probably put some money on the bet that ann coulter and the aclu were going to get together at some point because i don't know that a lot of peopl

mattis at the pentagon. they're both -- you know, they're grown-ups in the room. steve bannon has been brought down a peg in national security issues. mike flynn, who was a disaster, is gone. so, i feel i could sleep a little more safely at night now than when the trump administration began in terms of foreign policy. >> since you intimated this a moment ago, let me ask explicitly whether or not you think -- even if you think that president trump was right to do what he did in syria, do you think it was a weapon of mass distraction from all the other stuff that he's dealing with here at home? >> i don't know, but i -- that has certainly occurred to me. and one of the things that, frankly, tavis, i worry about, is that while i approved of that strike, and a lot of liberals did, you know, i fear that that creates an incentive for him or makes him think that the road to greater popularity or approval is to fire off more missiles. and you know, that would be a pretty catastrophic narrative for him to absorb. >>

mcmaster, general jim mattis at the pentagon and general kelly and even tom bossert the president's assistant for homeland security. he has a very good top echelon team. i interviewed john mccain in brussels. he said while at that point he had not yet met donald trump during his presidency he had hopes that donald trump would listen to his high quality national security team. what happens in a contingency like this is that you have lots of players that come in and begin thinking about rachel was discussing earlier unintended consequences, the ripple effects, relationship management, alliance management. and a lot of that second and third tier level of folks aren't there. i think he has very good people around him and advising him. but in my book it's not enough to handle the complexity of where this might good morning many people have calked about iran. turkey is in the picture. russia is certainly in the picture. and we just don't know what the next second and third steps this might be. all i remember is december 2015 when president obama launched a spectacular attack against isis. and we we

mattis sound so diplomatic. >> with regards to north korea, we are working with international partners in order to defuse the situation. >> reporter: if north korea conducts another underground nuclear test or launches more missiles into the sea, utof the u.s. would likely limit its reaction to a show of force, sending b-1 bombers from guam to fly along the coast and bringing in an aircraft carrier battle group. however, if north korea were to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile toward the u.s., that might trigger a military response in the form of a cyber-attack. for now, the trump administration is counting on china to pressure north korea into giving up its nuclear weapons program, but if that doesn't work, they will turn to military options. one officer told me, "when this crowd says 'all options are on the table' nay mean it. they really mean it." anthony. >> mason: david martin at the pentagon. thanks, david. today the u.s. central command released video showing the impact of the 22,000-pound so-called mother of all bombs it unleashed on isis in afghanistan yesterday. af

eric: jim mattis says there is no doubt syria has chemical weapons and they did use them to kill their own people. ahead, a member of the syrian council is here and we'll ask about the fate of his country. brian, i just need to know if the customer app will be live monday. can we at least analyze customer traffic? can we push the offer online? brian, i just had a quick question. brian? brian... legacy technology can handcuff any company. but "yes" is here. you're saying the new app will go live monday?! yeah. with help from hpe, we can finally work the way we want to. with the right mix of hybrid it, everything computes. aleve with dtens device,y a relief from lower back pain. that's good, cause i need it. i put it on my back. ok, this is interesting. there we go. there's the little tingle. i feel this electrical pulse grabbing at my muscles. level 3. 5. i'm pleasantly surprised. it was more powerful than i was expecting it to be. it worked. what can i say? i believe aleve. learn more and read reviews at aleve.com. they will report number of casualties climbing after a deadly attack in

and i can tell you from jim mattis' perspective and h.r. mcmaster's perspective, they will get in there and lay out the options to the and the they will be firm in how they articulate those options and what next steps are required. don't think jim mattis is going to back down from folks inside the white house that may have a different opinion. he's going to, you know, stand firm. now, he's going to give the president options and they will talk through those options but jim mattis is certainly not, you know, a wilty flower. so, he'll stand his ground, as will h.r. i think they'll be able to make thr point to the president irrespective of it who surrounds the president at this point in time. >> amir dmiral, great honor to you with us. i'm going to do with steve rattner did, my kids will be watching your commencement speech and all reading your book. "make your bed" is the name of the book. little things that can change your life and maybe the world. thank you so much, sir, for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >>> well, when he was chie

mattis, he put out a very short statement that reads, quote, the president and his military team are aware of north korea's unsuccessful missile launch. the president has no further comment. now, the vice president was in the air and on the way in south korea when the failed missile took place. he was briefed on board air force two and landed in seoul nine hours later where he told american and south korean troops that their courage and valuer -- valor are needed now more than ever. >> the provocation from the north is just a latest reminder of the risks each one of you face every day in the defense of the freedom of the people of south korea and the defense of america in this part of the world. >> from south korea, the vice president will travel to japan, indonesia, australia to assure north korea's nervous neighbor that is the u.s. has their back, reinforce diplomatic promises, the pentagon is sending military muscle, right now a nuclear-powered strike group is steaming toward the korean peninsula, the president calls it an armada. it was a show of force just like the force that dr

defense secretary jim mattis arrived as the country crumbled deeper into chaos. the russians are complyisupplyi taliban with weapons. his top general john nicholson made it more clear. that. >> reporter: the visit comes after a sneak attack by the taliban on an afghan military base that killed at least 140 afghan soldiers. military vehicles drove taliban uniforms past checkpoints. survivors said the militants then opened fire oni unarmed afghan soldiers returning from a mosque. they called the attack barbaric. the taliban also claimed responsibility for another attack at camp chapman that houses cia and special operations forces. in 2009, seven u.s. officers were killed in a suicide bomb attack. there were to american casualties this time. the taliban now control about 40% of the country. the u.s. sent 300 marines to hellman province this general nicholson said he may need a few more,000 troops. despite a resurgent taliban, the u.s. military targeted isis militants two weeks ago, driving a 22,000-pound bomb on a series of tunnels. there's been no confirmation of

. >> political situation, the secretary of defense jim mattis is going to he equip next week. so we can exert political pressure that this government needs to protect christians and religious liberty. christian pastors speak out is the most important thing they can do this easter weekend. charles: all right, folks. lou dobbs. lou: good evening, everybody. a defiant north korea issuing more threats against the united states as gee no political experts -- geopolitical experts warn the rogue nation is primed and ready to conduct what would be its sixth nuclear test. that test could come as early as tomorrow. celebrating the 105th birthday of kim jong un's grandfather. the rhetoric from pyongyang has risen exponentially over the past week. a north korean official today warning of a preemptive strike against the united states if america takes what it called reckless military action. the north korean vice minister