. >> what sense do you have about the degree of use of the military that the trump administration this. >> we were not presented with any specific military options that i would talk about. >> were you presented with anything that china is doing? >> i think we all know that china is north korea's biggest supporter, the closest major ally and without china's ongoing partnership and military support north korea would be in a very complex place. it's my hope we have diplomatic diplomatic -- to really constrain north korea to abandon his was an irresponsible attempt to develop a weapon to threaten the united states. i don't have a specific timeline for you. the whole point of meeting with the trump administration to brief us on what there merges -- emerging policy is so that's a better question put to the trump administration. >> i was encouraged that they chose to brief the entire senate and i think it was a sobering briefing with how much thought and planning is going into preparing military options if called for in the diplomatic strategy that strikes me as clear-eyed and well proportion

it's day 100 of the trump administration and president trump says that being president is tougher than he thought. we'll talk about that assessment in just a moment. north korea is determined to make life even more difficult for the president this morning after firing yet another ballistic missile. >> this is the 10th missile test since trump took office. the pentagon says this latest exploded soon after launch. but the message from supreme leader kim jong-un is very clear. >> this is kim giving us the finger, giving china the finger, giving the u.n. the finger. the time cigarette planned and pre-ordained in his mind. >>> this morning we have our team of correspondents covering this around the globe. cnn senior washington correspondent is watching this. let's go to will riply. good morning. >> reporter: here in north korea even though the rest of the world has been talking about this missile launch still no official acknowledgement by this regime that this happened which means every north korean from rocket scientists and supreme leader kim jong-un they have no idea. the message north

that's the trump administration formula on climate change. deny, delay, defund, and that would be a disaster. if donald trump are really committed to energy, he wouldn't have signed an executive order last week to week and fuel economy standards in the vehicles we drive. he wouldn't have signed an executive order to advance the dakota access and keystone pipelines without ensuring that the keystone oil actually stays in america and is not just exported. we still import more than 3 million barrels of oil per day from opec nations. keeping strong fuel economy standards in place is the best way to increase carbon american energy security and decrease carbon pollution. and windows nothing to ensure that the keystone oil safely be exported abroad, the promise that the kxl will help our energy security is as hollow as the pipeline itself. all risk no reward for the united states. we need to put america on a path towards a 100% clean and renewable energy future and that's what jeff merkley and sheldon whitehouse represent as we stand here today. cli

she got up trump administration spoke. she got up to her feet, trump administration spoke. she got up to herfeet, which is rare in the security council, and branded photographs of the children who had died. she asked pointedly of the russians, how many children need to die before russia cares? we arejoined by we are joined by a webcam we arejoined by a webcam by we are joined by a webcam by an expert on russia from london kings,. thank you forjoining us. thank you very much. why is it is strategically at portage relationship for russia to have an alliance with syria in the way that it does? it is very important for russia for a variety of reasons, primarily because russia is trying to make sure that there is not a colla pse to make sure that there is not a collapse of the assad regime and a ta keover collapse of the assad regime and a takeover by sidnei insurgents, radical islamists or isis. for them it is particularly pertinent to make sure there is a secular regime in place in damascus that can fight off any kind of rubble insurgency which will be taking a much morejihadi

as i said, the summit is taking place early in the trump administration. number it is taking place before two, the trump administration has outlined in any public or definitive way their policy towards asia. that is one of the easy -- one of the interesting things we can talk about. there is not a strategy or policy perspective laid out. number three, it is pretty clear that the trump administration is developing those, particularly trained and perhaps north korea. charlie: the trump administration has not filled out crucial positions at the state department and other places. tom: exactly right. you don't have in place, except for a couple of people with experience on the trump administration team right now. you have an administration that is slow in filling out its personnel, so given those circumstances, you are not given a real precise set of goals. what do you do in that setting? they will look to establish a personal report between the two presidents. they will take time over the 24-25 hours to take the measure of each other. you lay out your agenda.

first the trump administration firing a shot over iran. rex tillerson making clear the administration's tolerance of iran's belligerence and provocation is growing thin. >> iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism and is responsible for intensifying multiple conflict and undermining u.s. interests in syria, yemen, iraq and lebanon and continuing to support attacks against israel. an unchecked iran has the potential to travel the same path as north korea and take the world along with it. the trump administration has no intention of passing the buck to a future administration on iran. the evidence is clear iran's provocative actions threaten the united states, the region and the world. the trump administration is currently conducting a comprehensive review of our iran policy. once we have finalized our conclusions we'll meet the challenges iran poses with clarity and conviction. >> joining us now with reaction from washington a politics editor and a political director of abc news. rick, what did you make of the timing of this?

did they notify the trump administration? i don't know. i don't think we should be investigating or speculating on who knew what and when here. i'm sure they're going to get to the bottom of it. i'm positive the trump administration will come out clean saying, we didn't know that he was doing this. there are people in every single administration that do these types of things. when the information is brought to light for the administration, whether it's obama, bush or trump, you remove them. you do what you're supposed to do. >> melissa: which is what happened. meanwhile, it's taking way from these other huge items. taxes. one of the big slams is that it's a tax cut for the rich. not if you live in new york. people that live in high tax states, top earners will end up paying more. that point seems to be getting lost. what do you think of the tax policy as it appears? >> i think it's an amazing economic stimulus. all right. so for the vast majority of people out there with the exception of the extremely high earners who live in high tax stat

missile strike telling moscow the trump administration will use force and is also not ruling out further military action against assad but hoping that the russians temper their own actions. >> i'm confident the russians will act in their own best interest, and there's nothing in their best interest than to say they want this situation to go out of control. >> reporter: secretary of state rex tillerson arriving in moscow today also laid down a marker. >> i hope that what the russian government concludes is that they have aligned themselves with an unreliable partner in bashar al assad. >> reporter: but russian president purity put calling the missile strike reminiscent of the u.s. invasion of iraq. >> translator: this very much resembles the situation in 2003 and the war in iraq. iraq campaign was launched and it finished with the destruction of the country. the growth of the terrorist threat and nothing less than the emergence of isis on the international stage. >> reporter: and warning syrian rebels may have more planned. >> translator: we have information from various sources that this

new details tonight is the trump administration explains its latest moves. this is "special report" ." ♪ good evening, welcome to washington. i am bret baier. iran is keeping up its end of the nuclear deal with the u.s. and its allies -- or maybe it's not. we are getting mixed messages from the trump administration, but one thing is certain. the agreed-upon sanctions for iran is no longer a done deal. chief washington correspondent james rosen estimates the top story. >> in a letter to house speaker paul ryan, secretary of state rex tillerson certified iran is meeting the terms of the joint comprehensive plan of action, or jcpoa, better known as the iran nuclear deal. tillerson also announced it will lead an interagency review of the jcpoa and indicated the u.s. has little interested in allowing video as presently configured to remain in effect. >> it really does not achieve the objective. it is another example of buying off a power who has nuclear ambitions, someone has to deal with it later. we just don't see that that is a prudent way to be dealing with

as with president trump, president glirk the summit is taking place very early in the trump administration, number one. number two, it's taking place before the trump administration has really outlined in any public or definititive way their policy towards asia and china. we haven't really seen that. it's one of the interesting things about the trump administration we can talk about. so there is not really a strat gea or policy perfect-- perspective laid out. number three i think it's pretty clear the trump administration is still developing those approaches particularly on trade and perhaps north korea. >> rose: number four, five, the trump administration has not yet filled out crucial positions at the state department and other places. >> exactly right. you really don't have in place except for a couple of people, people with any experience on the trump administration team right now. and you do have, you have really the administration which has been very slow in filling out its personnel, so given those circumstances you are coming in here without a real kind of precise set of goals. so

. >> the trump administration stepping up its war on violent gangs and drug cartels, attorney general jeff sessions and dhs secretary set to visit the southern border tomorrow, this marks session's second trip to border in as many weeks, session in a interview saying, violent street gang m, 1ms13 could be labeled a terrorist organization. >> there is no doubt, the open border, lawlessness we have is a factor of americas 13. >> many of them without not be here. lou: department of homeland security secretary john kelly saying that gangs like ms13 among the biggest threat to country, blaming them for their role in over 52,000 drug overdose in 2015 alone. >> i in a single we're we latest nearly as men americans to drug overdoses as we lost in world war i. almost as many as we lost in 12 years of fighting in vietnam. lou: kelly and sessions also are expected to discuss the border wall, attorney general today called for progress to move rapidly. secretary kelly two weeks ago did not seem overily committed to the wall. >> it is unlikely that we will build a wall or physical barrier from sea

but why is the trump administration shifting the blame to the obama administration? >> it was an eye opening interview with the reuters regarding kim jung-un, the president. let's break it all down. >> an aurjing warning from president trump. the president suggesting a military face-off with pyongyang is within the realm of possibility. listen. >> well, there's a chance we could end up having a major, major conflict with north korea, absolutely. >> now, the president telling reuters the u.s. would prefer to achieve a nonnuclear north korea through diplomacy, but he said that's very difficult. >> he praised president xishy ping for trying very hard after accusings him of not doing enough. tillertion is set to chair a u.s. security council meeting on north korea later this month with the house of representatives set to vote on new sanctions on pyongyang next week. for the latest let's bring in cnn's alex field live in seoul. the president suggesting south korea is not doing enough to pay their fair share. what's the reaction from seoul? >> yeah, i think this interview

we have been with the trump administration. but, you know, stepping back and saying, hey, there's more to life than being a member of congress, i'm doing what i said i was going to do. serve and then get out. >> so, what about your future. is politics over? >> well, i'm just saying i'm not going to be a candidate for the senate seat that's up in 2018 nor am i going to run for the house again. i may very welcome back into politics at some point. i'm not going to close the door on that. >> then in a separate interview chaffetz left the door open for a run for governor. paul ryan wished him the best on twitter. on msnbc last night, chaffetz recalled telling the speaker about his decision to not seek another term. >> have you spoken to speaker ryan about it? >> i did. i called him last flight. he said, boy, i didn't see that coming. and then he said, please, don't do that yet. i said, well, i didn't call to ask permission pin just called to inform you that julie and i had made that decision. >> meanwhile, interest in the georgia sp

what will the trump administration going to do? >> we should note it comes a few days after they signaled a new willingness to essentially de-emphasizing getting assad out as a priority of the u.s. and focusing instead on isis. so, you know, you can see, you can feel the sea change here on syria policy between these two administrations. it's interesting i think that they keep looking back at the obama administration. that's something i think in the future they have to stop doing as events progress forward. >> here's statement from the white house. these heinous actions by the assad regime is a consequence of the past administration's weakness. president obama said he would establish a red line against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing. does this under mine the use of any red lynn with my administration? >> the entire problem with the obama administration when they drew a red line and then unable to sort of follow through and do anything about it, it sort of speaks to if you're going to say something you have to put y

reiterating, of course, what the trump administration has had to say. he held a news conference wit malcolm turnbull and he said again all options are on the table. australia is in lock step with the united states. this nation has fought alongside the united states in every battle, in every field in the world since world war i. and the vice president also said that the "uss carl vinson," that aircraft carrier, is en route and will be in the area of the korean peninsula within the next few days. the vice president saying that it is important to the united states that the north korean peninsula be a nuclear free zone. one other thing to note is that about 1250 marines from camp pendleton is in the north of this country training alongside australian soldieres and they're obviously part of the mix, as well. >> sara, the refugee agreement made by the obama administration came up during his talks with the australian prime minister. what was the vice president's response? >> well, that was an interesting one because, of course, everyone here in australia was w

what will the trump administration do? the pressure will be tremendous on the trump administration to either escalate or face humiliation. so far the world awaits political clarity, what is the political road map of the trump administration. will he invest serious political capital to really help the nightmare in syria. hardly any critical, consistent ideas from the trump administration. >> there is confusion overseas, back at home there's also quite a bit of frustration. the missile launch did have some bipartisan support among hawkish republicans and democrats. but there were others who said this was completely illegal, that donald trump needed to get congressional approval before doing that. one of these members was senator chris murphy, a democrat on the foreign relations committee. here's what he said earlier. >> i don't believe the strikes were legal. if he asked the american people for a declaration of war against bashar al assad, he wouldn't get it. the amer people don't really like putng big militaryssets into the

there's been no evidence ever the obama administration found -- and isis league of the trump administration has found evidence to that as well -- but they asserted it to say we're not prosecuting them for publishing. amy: we will leave it there but continue to follow this. thank you for joining us, glenn greenwald, pulitzer prize-winning journalists, one of the founding editors of the intercept. when we come back, and explosive new investigation by allan nairn . has president mike pence just left indonesia. we will talk to the journalist. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. vice president mike pence visited the largest mosque in southeast asia thursday during a trip to indonesia. a day earlier, he spoke addressed reporters at press conference with indonesian president joko widodo in jakarta. >> oldest and most engaged defense department's, and under president trump, we are firmly committed to continuing to collaborate on the security of both of our peoples. a strong defense partnership will service will as

it is day 93 of the trump administration. with one week left, the president is downplaying the 100-day benchmark calling it a ridiculous standard. at the same time, the president making a new promise. >> we will have a big announcement on wednesday having to do with tax reform. >> jump starting tax cuts and another swing at health care plan. what he hopes gets done by day 100. >>> and a new report that the russians tried to infiltrate the trump campaign through an adviser. and the moments of terror. fear in the heart of paris caught on tape with new information about the attacker this morning and how it all may effect the french election coming up tomorrow. >>> and the last days of bill o'reilly. new reports on how the cable network he helped build pulled the plug on his show and whether new allegations could surface against him soon. >>> we start with reaction from vice president mike pence the day after the announcement on tax reform next week. here is the vice president making comments in australia this morning. >> our cor

then a question on the trump administration's climate record. >> an unchecked iran has the potential to travel the same path as north korea and take the world along with it. host: that was secretary of state rex tillerson discussing the trump administration's desire to thoroughly review u.s. policy toward iran and specifically review the iran nuclear deal. even though it was earlier this week the administration had announced the country was complying with elements of the deal, which was established by the obama administration and other countries, and even earlier as the administration reiterated that iran was a state sponsor of terrorism. we'll hear more from the secretary of state. with that in mind and specifically toward the iran nuclear deal, should the u.s. continue to be a partner in it or should we pull out of it? here's how you can let us know. 202-p 48-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. and 202-748-8002 for independents. if you wish to tweet us about this topic you can do so at c-span wj and facebook.com/c-span. how you post on our facebook page. secretary of

we have the trump administration. you know me, i'm a regular order guy, so i want the appropriations committee to write the appropriations bill and negotiate a bill. the good thing is we're working hand in glove with the trump administration on these things. that's point number one. we don't have to fight an administration that we disagree with on so many issues. we are now working with an administration we agree with. the appropriators are going to go get the best agreement they can. that's the way the process should work and i anticipate we'll be moving on that. [ inaudible question ] i'm not going to get ahead of where the appropriators are. the appropriators are negotiating, writing this bill, and you'll see it at the end of the month. thanks, everybody. appreciate it. >> all right, house speaker paul ryan explaining, yes, the house of representatives, republicans are working on hammering out some kind of language, perhaps work toward a deal on health care. >> warned we're in the beginning stages, really, the coll

i was just as critical of the obama administration as the trump administration. >> ivanka trump tweeted about this moments ago. she said heart broken and outraged by the images coming out of syria following the atrocious chemical attack yesterday. no tweet. no tweet. con sp from president trump. do you have a sense of who is in charge of the white house? >> right now, it is the president. it starts at the top. this is a president who will never get cross with russia. so because russia is the great benefactor to bashar al assad, that is why the president is not condemning them. he is trying to blame president obama. again, he is the president now. the world is waiting for him to lead. >> secretary tillerson said something interesting about north korea. another obviously hot spot on international relations. he put out the statement saying the united states has spoken enough about north korea. we have no further comment. that's in relation to the ballistic missile launch. what does that mean to you? >> i have no idea what that means. i hope we have more comment. there is opportunity coming

trump administration has been anything but. why won't the white house release the president's new tax returns or visitor logs? i'm dave briggs. >> good morning, i'm alisyn kosic. >>> up first, mike pence bringing his u.s. resolve against north korea to the middle east. in a welcome move the japanese returning the favor. shinzo abe telling the vice president he supports president trump's stance that strategic patience with north korea has run out and all options are on the table. >> abe adding dialogue for the staik sake of dialogue with north korea is a waist. a sentiment pence echoed. >> and the united states of america believes the time has come for the international community to use both diplomatic and economic pressure to bring north korea to a place that it has avoided successfully now for more than a generation and we will not rest and we will not relent until we achieve the objective of a denuclearized creep peninsula. >> this comes a day after pence said in south korea, the era of strategic patience is over. for now, le

what's the strategy of the trump administra administrator. let's say, let's go with the regime change is here. let's say that the trump administration decides in the next few days regime change is the america's change. what's the u.s. strategy. what are the tools to remove assad from power. i mean, we know that the balance of power has changed favorably in essence, i mean, direction in the past six months. russia controls the skies and the land. iran has major investments, so has hezbollah. it seems to me no are there political clarity on the part of the trump administration. it's inconsistent. it's all over the map, let's hope that the trump official sit down and basically provide, not only strategic vision for the future, that tell us what are the tools that they have in order to execute america's tragedy. >> what all was achieved by the u.s. missile strikes on syria, given the airfield that was re-opened just hours after the strikes and what do you think president trump was hoping to achieve. >> rosemary, this entanglement from reality. wa

i think it is fair to say the trump administration perhaps not ready yet to put its name to it. we are just hours into this situation of looking at potential russian involvement. what the officials kept saying to the reporters in the room was if we find credible evidence, then we will investigate it. but clearly they have some reason to believe that this is a matter worth investigating. this is not something that is off the table, that is beyond the logical reason to go take a look at it. the door is very much open now to looking at how much the russians knew simply from the standpoint of base level. they were at the base. they were at the base that was attacked. there was a russian helicopter unit. those people would have known what was going on there. >> barbara starr with new information at the pentagon, the headline to u.s. military is looking into any -- for any evidence that the russian government was complicit in this chemical weapons attack. barbara, we'll get back to you. the u.s. air strike on syria certainly marks a very dramatic shift by president trump and his admin

administration and do it anyway under the threats that already been coming from president trump. and the end result was more based as symbolic level. which again, the reason why we need to approach this is not just on the military approach in terms of escalation of words and rhetoric. we need to hit this from the economic approach and make sure they start feeling the pinch. i see china as doing the best they can but there are other companies that do work with china and north korea that we could make them have to make hard decisions and in the end put pressure on north korea. >> as we are speaking, i'm getting new information from ryan browne, pentagon reporter, saying there is a new assessment coming in from u.s. military officials. let me be precise and let you know what he is reporting. latest assessment by u.s. military said the missile was fired toward the sea of japan but not landing in the sea of japan. the missile blew up over land. official added it was a quote failure. main part of the missile landing approximately 35 kilometers from the launching point at the airfield.

and the trump administration fires off a quick response. barbara starr joins us from washington. >> reporter: this happened a short time ago, north korea firing a missile off it's eastern coast, it's not so much about the missile, but the program it represents, the missile was mobile launched, that means it's hard for u.s. satellites to track a mobile launcher and know where it's going to fire from. it had solid fuel on board, again, making it very tough for u.s. satellites to see. this is the program that north korea is working on to try and launch these kinds of missiles, keep them outside the eyes of u.s. spy satellites. this missile flew about nine minutes into the ec, also known as the sea of japan. it didn't go very far, but that's not really the point, it's what it represents. and then we had a really interesting statement from secretary of state rex tillerson, mr. tillerson saying, and i quote, north korea launched yet another medium ranged ballistic missile, the united states has spoken enough about north korea, we have no further

the trump administration outlining its tax reform plan. treasury secretary steve mnuchin says this would be the biggest tax cut in u.s. history. the highlights it calls for reducing individual rates and brackets. says it wants to slash corporate rates down to 15%. they're 35% right now. and eliminate the alternative minimum tax and deductions as well. except preserve deductions from mortgage interests and charitable donations. again, that's the blueprint from the white house right now. there's also this. a potential boost for republican efforts to repeal and replace obamacare. conservative house freedom caucus throwing its support behind an amendment that would allow states to opt out of two of the law's insurance regulations. essential health benefits as these are called. this includes maternity care and emergency room visits and barring insurers from charging certain people more. all 100 members of the united states senate, meanwhile, visiting the white house this afternoon. they are on their way out right now. this for a rare classified

we are coming up against the 100-day mark for the trump administration. this is coming fast and furious. is there a time clock happening? why should this happen this quickly? >> i think it is a few things going on, alison. to one point, on the 100-day mark, the trump administration is grappling with what they have to show with the first 100 days. an artificial deadline. they don't have a lot of wins on the domestic front. there has been a lot of scrutiny of rex tillerson and nikki haley and the various foreign policy players in the administration and if they are visible enough. it is always just again a matter of the reality of governing. on the campaign trail, president trump promised to tear up the nuclear deal. when you get in office, some of those things are not that easy. while there is absolutely serious hot spots in the world that demand immediate attention, the administration is still sorting out exactly what the strategy will be in regards to the flash points. >> another thing they like to tear up is obamacare. that is one of the central promises

the trump administration has no intention of passing the buck to a future administration on iran. the raven stomach evidence is clear, there actions threaten te united states, the regions, and the world. the trump administration is currently conducting a comprehensive review of the policy. once we have finalized the conclusions, we will meet the challenges they propose with clarity and conviction. human joining is now with reaction from washington, josh crush howard, and with us in studio, rick. rick, what did you make of the timing of this, last night there was a report from the state department for the congress saying iran has largely met its end of the bargain so far and then you had this very hawkish statement today from rex tillerson in the afternoon. >> rick: tough words, harsh words, but a much different set of actions. the fact that they're going ahead with the nuclear deal, putting iran on warning, that's a big break from what you would expect, what was forecast by candidate trump, called it the were still out there. the expectation was he would go back to the negotiating

he was not a member of the trump administration. i think the distinction is real. >> so, you are not concerned about a? >> tucker: i said three times i am. you are doing exactly what bothers me. you are taking a known fact and spinning it into something that is false. he was not a member of the trump -- look, a private citizen does many things that are different from what a member of the administration does. for example, he invested all kinds of companies potentially. >> would we bet those private citizens to be the national security advisor, i went through this process at the white house, they want to know if you broke the law. he did, it seems. that should have been enough. >> tucker: what he did was wrong. i am saying, you said a member of the trump administration said he wasn't actually when he did that. >> excuse me, but when you are filling out the national security clearance, and you lie about it, you are a member of the administration. you start work before you have your clearances. if you are lying as a national security ad

what is the trump administration trying to do with these? >> of course, these consent decrees, these agreements are essentially binding interactions between the federal government and the local police department. it's when the federal government comes in and conducts an investigation as we remember in chicago and ferguson and it concludes that the local police are violating the civil rights of the residents. now, it forces the residents into the cities into binding agreements overseen by a federal minder or judge, requiring certain reforms. people like attorney general jeff sessions and others have been skeptical of these agreements and they argued that the federal government shouldn't be forcing local police to reform. so by ordering a review all of all of the agreements it potentially imperils the findings in the agreements itself, right? essentially attorney general sessions is saying i don't trust the previous investigations run by the justice department so i'm going to review this. so it raises questions where there are agreements in pl

as the trump administration -- the trump administration may be too close to russia, but that doesn't mean that any democrat would say that they are in. >> tucker: we went to war potentially, finally. there were apparently chemical weapons and syria. they're supposed to have been removed. four days ago on the radio in california, you said that you knew that under the watch of the obama administration, 95% of assaults chemical weapons were removed from that country. you couldn't know that number with any precision so far as i can tell pretty well would you say something like that? >> why don't i give you the precise number? 2,600,000 pounds of chemical -- toxic chemical warfare agents were removed from syria and destroyed. now whether that's 95%, 94%, or 96%, a precise number, weibel and determinable by international is 2,600,000 pounds. >> tucker: that's an immaterial number because it doesn't get to the proportion. that could be 1% of their available chemical weapons. you don't know and the truth is none of us knows. so why not just admit that? the obama administration said -- susan

lou: i are was not criticizing the trump administration for doing what it is doing. but finding it necessary to issue a warning and draw lines and assure national security interests that have been ignored the previous state 8 years under the obama administration it's an extraordinary display of conflicts and potential threats. it's an array that's almost incalculable in foreign policy and geomilitary terms. >> president trump saide inherited a mess internationally. a mess with iran. you mentioned north korea. they have been acting out for years and years, and this is coming to a head. you look at how the obama administration didn't cultivate a key ally like the he jinx president el-sisi like this administration macedon. you are right, it's been very busy. by the many encouraging to see what's been done dip naictally and also the swift action the president mass taken to authorize the military to go all out? afghanistan and the decisive strike against assad. lou: within this hemisphere, the trump administration is showing interest in what is happening in a significant

a defining moment for the trump administration. as a candidate, trump railed against china and trade policies and promised a win at the negotiation table. today, as he comes face-to-face with the leader of china, for sure trade issues will be on the table. these two world leaders will have more to worry about. >> these heinous actions by the assad regime cannot be tolerated. >> reporter: president trump confronting crises during a week of high stakes diplomacy. including the meeting today with president xi jinping. >> my attitude toward syria and assad changed. >> reporter: the president opening the door to greater action in syria in the wake of the horrific chemical attack pe perpetrated by assad. >> when you kill innocent children, innocent babies, that crosses many, many lines. i do change. i am flexible. i'm proud of that flexibility. i will tell you that attack on children yesterday had a big impact on me. >> reporter: a significant shift for a president in the past has advocated against inter convenience venetia intervention

they don't know what the trump administration is capable of. but they do think that the fact that president trump launched that air strike on syria while he was having dinner with chinese president xi jinping they believe a warning to china and china step up its enforcements of sanctions against north korea and think it was a veiled threat against this country, that things are potentially changing, that there could be missiles raining down here in pyongyang and other cities. but they are very defiant. they had the nuclear missile programs is last thing they would cut and go without food and electricity to develop the rule of their leader kim jong-un. this is a one-party state. he has absolute power so, of course, you ask somebody a question on the streets and they are going to tell you that their number one priority is to keep kim jong-un in power and what they say publicly and all we can report. this is not a country with freedom of expression and it's not a country with ideological freedom whatsoever but people will say they want their govern

but now the trump administration says there are no priorities. >> coming to the united states to work in the future for the families. we are not -- amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the white house on wednesday outlined a tax plan that would add trillions of dollars to the u.s. deficit while overwhelmingly benefiting the wealthiest corporations and individuals, including president trump. the skeletal plan, which the white house unveiled as a single-page document, would lower the corporate tax rate to 15%, though corporations rarely pay the current rate of 35%. trump's plan would also end the estate tax, referred to by opponents as the death tax. this is white house economic adviser gary cohn. >> we are going to repeal the death tax. the threat of being hit by the death tax leaves small business owners and farmers in this country to waste countless hours and resources on complicated estate planning to make sure their children are not hit with a huge tax when they die. no one wants to see their chil

i don't think it will have the kind of effect that the trump administration is looking for. i think it would really depend on how much china is really willing to pressure north korea. if china really decides to pull all of the economic aid and assistance to north korea, it might have an effect. 90% of north korea's global trade is with china, china provides 90% of north korea's oil. if china really wa nted north korea's oil. if china really wanted to, it could pressure north korea. i'm just not sure if it's strategy has changed. is pyongyang determined to develop nuclear missiles at any cost, or may they be persuaded not to do i think it's highly unlikely that this regime is going to up nuclear weapons. —— not to? i think it's highly unlikely. they have spent billions of dollars on building those. i think it would be very unlikely. the only way is if they feel that their very survival is at risk if they do not give up nuclear weapons. thank you very much for joining nuclear weapons. thank you very much forjoining us from new york. thank you very much forjoining us from n

day 85 of the trump administration. and week 12 of this young administration is ending with all eyes squarely on north korea. the secretive nation says it is ready to go to war with the united states if that's what president trump wants. these are pictures from this morning's military parade. speaking to the "associated press" there, their vice foreign minister also said president trump's tweets are making tensions worse. pyongyang has determined that the trump administration is more vicious and more aggressive than the obama administration. officials are trying to determine if north korea is planning a sixth nuclear test any time over the next hours or days, for that matter. the last such test was in september of last year. pyongyang says it will conduct its next nuclear test when it deems necessary. and citing washington's reckless actions so far, presumably navy ships moving closer to the korean pence peninsula, north korea says it's ready for a preemptive strike of its own. as the trump administration's plans, the a

the trump administration has sent mixed messages to china. until the bombing of syria and this recent bomb was dropped in afghanistan, in the chinese media the talk was how trump was a paper tiger. he had raised the one china policy and questioning it, and backed down. he raised the question of china is a currency manipulator and backed down. now maybe some of these moves in syria and afghanistan have changed that calculus. the tone in the chinese media does seem to have picked up on that. >> they seem to take him more seriously? >> yes. at least they're trying to figure out how serious he is. >> gale, i want to show everyone at home two polls. this first one shows his approval, the president's approval right now at 39%, up just one point since the last poll. the second one comes from cbs. this was fascinating to us. 39% of american voters say that they have confidence in president trump's ability to handle the north korean nuclear situation. 56% say they are uneasy. how much of this saber rattling, if you will, is meant for domestic consumpt

does this indicate the expectation that we have had from trump's administration that he is willing to act as opposed to taking a more considered approach that we had come to expect from the obama administration? , before becoming president, he had criticized president obama for not taking any action after saying he was going to draw a red line in the sand against the use of chemical weapons, and then not taking any action against syria when they did. he has also urged the president to not get involved militarily and he has been an america first president who said that he views his responsibility to the people of america first, and not as the guardian of the planet or the world. i was in the rose garden when he specifically talked about his reaction to this attack in syria, and it seemed like we were beginning to finally see the weight of the presidency changing him, and that in the past he could have looked at an attack and said, don't get involved in criticize and play a quarterback from the sofa, but here he was in the oval office with that responsibility and weight of the presidenc

>> hans, the trump administration is calling this a success. what in their eyes makes this a success? >> reporter: most of the tomahawk missiles, all but one that they fired, hit their targets. their targets were on that airfield. they think they disabled that airfield and sent a strong message of deterrence. not only for this attack, future attacks and they took out missiles in that attack. we don't have a full damage assessment, a bda as they call it in pentagon spch. we'lbe awaiting that, but they ok close to two dozen aircraft, took out some radar and key equipment in this process. there has been questions, why didn't they just pock the runway, take some divot marks on the runway. they think that wouldn't have been good use of the tomahawk missiles. you can take some asphalt and retar that simpler than if you just blow it up. katy? >> there are claims that the syrian government carried out this attack. how are they doing that? >> reporter: they're not only backing up their claims, they're adding to it saying russia might have had a role int

and if the trump administration decides not to renew the waivers, the u.s. essentially is violating the deal and that could have a significant impact on the iranian elections. the most important vote in that election may be cast by donald trump. >> interesting. and on those iranian elections, i mean, mahmoud ac din jads whose name became familiar with the consternation with iran and the u.s. he has been banned from running for office. can you tell us any more about what does that mean for the leadership of that country? >> well, so the iranian elections are not free nor fair, but they end up being competitive. what they have that makes it undemocratic is that they have a body called the guardian council that vets candidates. more than a thousand people who submitted their names, but only six were allowed to run. and interestingly enough, but not surprisingly, ac din jads was not permitted to run. this is not a surprise, mindful of the fact he had been encouraged or asked by the supreme leader of iran not to run. i think he did it nevertheless because he's tr