Fairly soon. The president is meeting with his National Security team to discuss his options in syria. The secretary of Defense James Mattis arriving. Walk us through what these conversations may look like. We heard that from the president earlier this week as well. He said 48 hours would be a major decision. It is thursday. No decision has been agreed upon yet. But the president is meeting with his National Security team as they weigh the options on the table. We have learned from sources that the president has told him around him that he wants more muscular response in syria than last year. As youll recall after the military strikes against syria last years are the airfield was still in use following that and chemical weapons attacks have still happened. The president wants a more forceful response here. We know they have been in touch with counterparts in france as well as in great britain. Theresa may holding a meeting with her cabinet officials there as well. The french president macron going further saying there is concrete proof that a chemical weapon or chlorine was used. By contrast, defense secretary mattis told members of Congress Today that was a chemical weapo attack, theyre sending people in to do that. He was apparently telegraphing that the u. S. Would be sending missiles into syria, by comparison today, he is tweeting out saying he never said tan attack would take place soon. He was criticized for telegraphing military action ahead of time as he in the past has criticized others for telegraphing military action. Gentlemen, thanks for being on with me. General hertling, pam is hearing the president wants a more muscular response than last year. What do you think muscular means . First of all, thats expected. Last year was a retaliatory response to a chemical strike. He was three months into his administration. It wasnt a crisis. It was another nation violating the rules of international order. This time hes basically going to say to them, hey, look, i gave you a chance, a slapped you last year at this time, now im going to go after heavier targets because youre still using chemical weapons. Thats to be expected. The other thing id say is this is truly mr. Trumps First International crisis where he has to pull his primary committee together and they have to talk about the kinds of things of not only what he does but the response of others to what he does. All of those things are going to put him through some new dynamics he has not experienced before, in my opinion. So that said, david singer, on how this is his First International crisis, the u. S. Has to be comparing notes with friends like the french. The french president has said we have proof that chemical weapons were used. Can you walk us through pull the curtain back on this National Security meeting happening right now. What do those conversations look look and how imminent do you think a response is . I think the president is to be commended for this, hes recognized its much better to do withis with allies than without. The strike last year that the general just referred to was solely an american operation. This sounds like it will not be, it will probably be the french and british and the u. S. And maybe some others involved. The problem with the way that the president has spoken so far is that he has confused various Strategic Options out here and objectives. He keeps mentioning in his tweets and in those comments you talked about before is what a great job he did against isis. In fighting isis, the United States happened to be on pretty much the same side as assad. We didnt put it that way but we were. He hasnt defined whether this is a humanitarian intervention to stop chemical weapons, whether its an intervention to topple assads regime and whether there is the idea with the french and the british and with others that you now have to get deeper into the fundamental problem of the civil war in syria, which the president has pretty much avoided until now, both diplomatically and with troops, so that you have a longlasting solution. Otherwise youve just hit a set of targets and you go away and maybe this time it will take them longer to recover than it did a year ago, but you havent solved anything. You feel a little better but you havent solved anything. It like you got all the praise from taking out that field a year ago but whats next . Staying with you, david, are you surprised germany has ruled out joining any possible strikes against syria . Yes and no. Germany has never gotten involved in the past usually in these kind of offensive strikes. And theres always great debate about doing it. But in this case involving the gassing of civilians, you would think if ever there was a moment where germany says there is an issue on which we can step in and show a completely different germany and one that will intervene on humanitarian purposes, you would think that this would be the one. Right. Phil, on the president and how weve heard i dont know if you want to call it whiplash, we will strike, we may not strike soon, im wondering how all of this and his tweets are being interpreted by putin and assad. What do you think . I think these are tweets meant for an american political audience that is saying you how do you say you dont telegraph during the campaign and you telegraph now. I think he should have told the russians that were going to strike so we could say we told you, move your guys out. I think the conversation inside the white house is far more advanced than we know. People are talking about it, including the president. You cant criticize president obama for not striking. You cant strike shortstly afte President Trump took office and talk about an imminent strike in reaction to murder of so many civilians and they not do it. Theres two questions, whats the target and whats the duration . Is it increasingly complicated with last years strikes with iranians and russians on the ground . It is. What facilities are we striking and do we use continued intelligence. David hit on a more significant issue. After this, i dont think theres anything much we can do beep ha. We have a very limited presence on the ground. Isis is in decline. The russians are winning this one. Nobody wants to acknowledge it. Thats the after action here. General hertling, what happens if russia shoots down a u. S. Missile, as they have suggested they could . Is the u. S. Then at war . Potentially. It depends on how it is deescalated at the quickly. Youre talking about tactics. David mentioned this but last year the 59 cruise missiles was a tactic. There was no end stage involved. This is just tactics again with bigger bang for the buck. Theres still no strategy associated with this. David outlined three different courses of action on what we attempt to get out of this and yet no one has put their finger on it and said, hey, this is what were trying to do and the administration thus far has been very skichizophrenicschizophren. If russia does get involved. If they do shoot down a missile or shoot down even worse an airplane, then it katie bar the door and you have just stumbled into warfare. That is what is the problem with these kind of things when you dont have an end state in mind. I have no idea what these sort of conversations look like that hes in the thick of with his National Security council but would strategy, would the what do we do next piece that all through of you have brought up lacking a year ago, isnt that part of the discussion now . It certainly is i think. It is the key part of the discussion of where do you want to be when all of this is over, when the last smoke cloud clears, what do you want to have happen . When you dont know if its a tu punitive reaction to someone using chemical weapons or you want some end state, what should be whats driving your decision and putting our soldiers and airmens lives on the line. Its going to be dangerous, more dangerous than launching a couple of missiles. David, last word for you . The general has it right. You want to not do it one backwards. Your overall strategy has to be whats the end state were looking for in syria or at least our participation in syria. The president offered one about a week ago when he said i just want to get out and let someone else handle it. Thats one end state, which is not my problem. Now if hes going to commit these forces and particularly if hes going to commit them running the risk of a conflict with russia, however remote or direct you think that is, hes got to go into it with a clear ing of what it is were trying to achieve. And thats whats new to this president. I dont think he has ever certainly in the interviews i did with him during the campaign on foreign policy, he has just not in the past had to approach issues rigorously thinking about the strategy first. Yes, youre outstanding, all three of you. Thank you so much. Come back. Coming up next here, breaking moments ago, the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein meeting with President Trump at the white house. Yes, the very same Rod Rosenstein that the president has been raging against over his handling of the russia probe and the fbi raid on trumps personal attorney. What did they meet about . Those details ahead. And new report on another hush money payment involving President Trump and his former doorman and the Parent Company of the National Enquirer. The story behind it. Stay with me. Uganda, sumatra, ca and other parts of south america. Like these mountains, each amazing on their own. But together . Magical. All, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. Green mountain coffee roasters. Its ok that everyone ignores its fine. Drive. Because i get a safe driving bonus check every six months im accident free. And i dont share it with mom right, mom . Righttt. Safe driving bonus checks. Only from allstate. Switching to allstate is worth it. At crowne plaza, we know Business Travel isnt just business. Theres this. A bit of this. Why not . Your hotel should make it easy to do all the things you do. Which is what we do. Crowne plaza. Were all business, mostly. Crowne plaza. Lets fly, lets fly away just say the words and well beat the birds down to acapulco bay its perfect for a flying honeymoon they say come fly with me lets fly, lets fly away come fly with me lets fly, lets fly away you might or joints. Hing for your heart. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brainhealth supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. Searching for answers may feel overwhelming. So start your search with our teams of specialists at Cancer Treatment centers of america. The evolution of cancer care is here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com experts were back. Youre watching cnn. Im brooke baldwin. When President Trump meets with Rod Rosenstein, eyebrows rise, especially when the drum beat gets louder to fire him. The push comes from steve bannon, who had a major fallout with the report. Theyre reporting bannon is telling trump allies that the president should fire rosenstein and ty cobb. The president tweeted a couple of hours ago, i have agreed with the historically cooperative disciplined approach that we have engaged in with Robert Mueller, i have full confidence in ty cobb, my special counsel and have been fully advised throughout each phase of this process. Dana, we know that Rod Rosenstein has been the target of the president s ire for some time now rolls through the white house. Its paraphrased as routine Justice Department business. Whats really going on . Well, there is a lot of business to be done. There are a lot of discussions to be had about what information to give to capitol hill, for example, on the investigations. But, look, i think that the fact that the tweet that you just showed, brooke, that the president sent out today was written in a very formal way, not generally the style that we see from the president when hes just doing it on his own, and look at the end there. I have full confidence in ty cobb, my special counsel and have been fully advised throughout each phase of this process. The only thing thats missing there and if you had xray vision, cc steve bannon. It seems to be a direct response to bannon who talked on the record to the washington post, telling them that had is his idea for a game plan, to be aggressive, to fire ty cobb, to fire Rod Rosenstein. Mueller sort of burned the house down. Did it through the press because he doesnt seem to have a connection to the president directly anymore because of the falling out you talked about. So this is the rhetoric from the president and maybe even more importantly from the president s staff. Let me move on from that and talk about this latest hush money story out today on the president. The Associated Press reports the publisher of the National Enquirer paid 30,000 to a former doorman at a Trump Building for the details on this salacious story on trump. Then the doorman dropped the story, the same tactics used with Karen Mcdougal. A source told cnn the doorman didnt know the contract was going to be a whole catch and kill situation. So solomon, to you, from your perch as youre reading about all these different stories, you have the fact this time yesterday we were reporting the investigators raided Michael Cohen, before that it was Stormy Daniels and Karen Mcdougal and now this doorman. Would you consider that a pattern . Solomon . Well, id consider it a pattern but not a very important part ea pattern. Youre talking about potential violations of Campaign Finance law, which is almost never truth prooute prosecuted. With cohen, youre talking about potential bank fraud. It stuff that if it wasnt the president of the United States would be utterly garden variety at best. So its a pattern. Its too early to say anything about it. Its the southern district. Its not mueller. Okay. So with that said, caroline, turning to you, he is absolutely correct, its sdny who conducted the raid. This could end up being they want to like at maybe his bean accounts. Hes absolutely correct, too, in saying it could be nothing or, as we discussed before, it could be more than that. It absolutely could be more than that. I dont think the sdny is in the practice of taking on small crimes like federal election law violations. So i think whats really interesting and what people havent been reporting on is that Michael Avenatti went on Anderson Cooper last night and said for certain there will be more raids. He then went on to praise the sdny for the work theyve done in this case. I think its clear we dont know the full extent of this story. I think the issue with the pattern and practice with this new 30,000 payment, it seems pretty clear there was an systemic pattern and practice among team trump to pay off stories that were unfavorable to them. Now, catch and kill is not if and of itself illegal, brook, but the fact is ami, they didnt publish the stories because they werent credible. Brook, when has credibility ever been a hallmark of the National Enquirers reporting policies and procedures . The whole reason they didnt print was story was to protect the president. Go ahead, dana. Im pretty confident that the alien babies that the national inquir inquirer has reported. Thats not real . Yeah that, has not happened. Solomon, because of your involvement from the whitewater era, i want to read you a quote from the latest magazine cover. Much as how paula jones harassment case against bill clinton helped drive his impeachment and the seizure of Anthony Weiners laptop led the fbi to reopen its probe of hillary clinton, trumps personal history now may threaten his presidency. What say you, sir . I think its very accurate. Its often the woman, sometimes the man, that bring you down. With president clinton, the way they tried to take down monica lewinsky, they are just werent quite as careful about it because nobody had ever looked at personal relationships like that. That was the first thing i thought when the stormy story broke and everybody was dismissing it at unimportant, no, this could end up being very important. Its too early to tell. When i worked for ken starr and i would come home every night at about 1 a. M. And flip on cable news, im telling you literally 75 of the stuff i saw about what we were supposedly doing had absolutely no basis in reality. No davis nobody had any idea nobody knew who papadopoulos was before that criminal information came out. So stay tuned. We are. Dana, over to you, though. I think it is important to point out the relationship between President Trump and Michael Cohen. I think it was last september that he gave an interview at vanity fair where he said im the guy who would take a bullet for the president. Weve had this whole discussion about even though it sdny, it would be more and it could be something used at leverage, but bu that said, Michael Cohen, of all people to flip do you think based upon what you know, could he . It would be very, very difficult, but hes human. And he has a family. He has a family, a wife and children that he wants to protect. So depending on how far down the road this goes, doo pending on how much pressure is on Michael Cohen to flip or it give anything up about the person he said he would take a bullet for, donald trump. Well see. We are dealing with people who are made of flesh and blood, no matter how hard and aggressive their tactics are. And i think thats why, you know, youre the other guest here who have worked in this arena for years understand that and thats why this kind of case where you kind of go bit by bit, person by person, witness by witness, tepds to work. And to solmans point, there. Just ahead here on cnn, on the very day the president teases a decision on. Next, the heated exchanges and why one says he has, quote, serious doubts. Helped put a roof over the heads of hundreds of families, hes most proud of the one hes kept over his own. Brand vo get paid twice as fast with quickbooks smart invoicing. Quickbooks. Backing you. Liberty mutual saved us almost 800 when we switched our auto and home insurance. Liberty did what . Yeah, they saved us a ton, which gave us a little wiggle room in our budget. I wish our insurance did that. Then we could get a real babysitter instead of your brother. Hey, welcome back. This guy, right . laughs yes. Ellen. Thats my robe. You could save 782 when liberty stands with you. Liberty mutual insurance. Internet providers promise Business Owners a lot. Lets see who delivers more. Comcast business offers fast gigspeeds across our network. At t doesnt. We offer more complete reliability with up to 8 hours of 4g Wireless Network backup. At t, no way. We offer 35 voice features and solutions that grow with your business. At t, not so much. We give you 75 mbps for 59. 95. Thats more speed than at ts comparable bundle, for less. Call today. After nearly five hours in the hot seat, former cia director mike pompeii owe may not have enough votes for the nomination. Expressing concern republican rand paul and democrat jeanne shaheen. If these three vote no, pompeo will not get the votes he needs. This account strongly suggests that the president asked you what did President Trump say to you in directing coates in that meeting . Senator, im not going to talk about the conversations the president and i had. I think its in this setting appropriate for a president to have an opportunity to talk with his senior leaders. Ill do that throughout the day. But i will tell you. The articles suggestion that he asked me to do anything improper is false. Im happy to talk about this administrations work on russia, ha happy to talk about our work on sanctions. Did President Trump ever discuss the fbis or responsibles russia investigation . Im not going to talk about private conversations ive had with the president. My question is very simple. Were running very close to a d deadline on certification . Is it better to pull out of an agreement with iran or is it better to stay in the agreement . Yes or no . Its not a yes or no question because its a hypothetical. Are you in favor of regime change in north korea . Ive arctticulated my own personal views, we have a responsibility to achieve a condition where kim jong un is unable to threaten the United States with a nuclear weapon. Are you saying now you dont favor regime change . Senator, i have never advocated for regime change. Its a simple question. Im a hawk, im a hardliner. I read that and theres no one, as you just heard in what i described, theres no one like someone who served in uniform who understands the value ofrro tragedy that is war, like someone who served in uniform. It the last resort. I intentd to achieve the president s policies with diplomacy rather than sending our young men and women to war. Elise lavin is with us. That is just a snippet of the hours we saw. Tell me more. He was really grilled. The senators tried to pin him down on whether he agreed with the president that the Russian Investigation of special Counsel Robert Mueller was an act of treason against the country, whether it was against the constitution and such and he just wouldnt go there. He did confirm, however, that he spoke to Robert Mueller as part of the investigation. He wouldnt go into details, but when asked whether he would resign if the president fired mueller or his boss, Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein, he said no, i wouldnt. The democrats were saying that this is against the rule of law and would he resign to make a point . He said, no, i wouldnt because i think in times of political chaos its important to stay the course and he would side with the president , brooke. Let me ask you about a group of senators who met with the president are telling cnn he is now rethinking the Transpacific Partnership that, trump may reenter tpp. Thats right. I think as you see a couple of things going on, the president is kind of moving towards maybe a trade war with china, imposing those tariffs on steal and aluminum. And up also have the the president wanting to counterchina and so now the president is saying he might take a look at it. Those 11 countries have formed a common position. It might be easier for the u. S. To try and negotiate now. I think that was the original intent of the Obama Administration when they went about the t 33 was President Trump has asked the head of his National Economic counsel to take a look at it. Senators are eless, thank you so much. As prum meets with his National Security team right now, one huge question is what would a u. S. Strike on syria look like . Next, a closer look at resources in the reejoned and gion and anyone can get you ready, Holiday Inn Express gets you the readiest. Because ready gives a pep talk. Showtime but the readiest gives a pep rally. I cleared my inbox Holiday Inn Express, be the readiest. Holiday inn express, its these new freshfx car air fresheners from armor all. Each scent can create a different mood in my car. Like tranquil skies. Armor all, its easy to smell good. More breaking news for you on this afternoon. New details of how the president s allies stopped people from talking days before the election. The biggest bombshell this hour, another possible payoff for very unflattering stories about then candidate trump, involving the National Enquirer paying 30,000 to catch and kill a salacious story from a doorman from one of trumps building. He said after they bought his story, he was told it would never run. Ami is the Parent Company of the magazine. They categorically deny they had anything to do with running the story. The doorman speaks. I dont know if we have the full statement. I just want to read it out loud. The doorman says today i awoke to learn that a confidential agreement i had with ami, the National Enquirer with regard to a story about President Trump was leaked to the press. I can confirm while working at trump world tower, i was instructed not to criticize President Trumps former housekeeper due to a prior relationship she had with President Trump, which produced a child. So now we are learning from the doorman some details about what he was allegedly trying to claim in his interview with ami, and we have some interesting reporting from my colleague, a little more about just the agreement and what the ramifications for this doorman are. A source in touch with both ami and this doorman says according to the agreement, he can speak about the story itself. So the story being that donald trump had this love child, but what he cannot do is speak about the agreement with ami and any money that he may have received as a part of that agreement. Now, i think we really need to be emphatic here that cnn has not verified whether there is any truth to the story that this doorman was trying to sell and also worth noting that ronan farrell, who wrote the article has called this story salacious and unconfirmed. A lot of sort of red flags pointing to the story that he is trying to tell. Of course ami itself is saying that they were not able to verify that there was any truth to the story in the statement that they released earlier today. They were very emphatic they did not find this to be a a credible story and thatswhy theykilled it and run it. But the significant through line is this mnc. O. , this patte of trump and people in his orbit with these potentially different story, true or or not, and paying them off. If three thrmake a pattern, have three. All of them sort of different versions of agreements and payoffs and this effort to try to keep them quiet, but all of them are now wanting to speak out and they all say that they were paid so that they wouldnt tell their stories leading up to the 2016 election. M. J. , thank you so much. More breaking news. President trump is meeting with his National Security team right this very moment to discuss options on what to do with syria. Earlier he told reporters to expect a decision, quote, fairly soon. What exactly could the president be considering . Lets go to retired admiral john kirby, a former state Department Spokesman and former press secretary. Admiral, i see youre at the big wall. Walk us through options. Let look at the fire power President Trump will have available to him in the region. The first is the tomahawk missile. 59 of these mi ilssiles were launched again syria almost a year ago. I suspect this will be the weapon of choice if the president decides to strike. It can be launched from navy destroyers, as well as submarines. It could be a range of up to 1,500 miles. It allows you a great standoff distance. The other great thing about a tomahawk is it flies low to the ground at a subsonic speed, very difficult for air Defense Systems and radar to pick up. I would be looking for the tomahawk adviceimissile to be h used if thee he decides to stri. The f22 fighter jets have been used extensively in Northern Syria largely to deconflict airspace with the russians. Very stealthy. Obviously a work horse for the u. S. Air force. Probably less likely to be involved in any kind of strike against syrian targets in this particular case because the probably about 15 miles from the target is how far you can go accurately out there. That would put them at risk. Youre probably mott going to see the f22s. That said, from the air the government can washington jassm missiles. They long range, very accurate, gps enabled, it has infrared homing and it has automatic target recognition software. It can dynamically change targets in the very terminal phases of the launch. Its a very, very attractive weapon. You could launch this from very far out and not have to worry too much about air Defense Systems that the russians and syrians have in place. It can be launched from not just bombers also also fighting. A very attractive choice in cases like this. What about allied assets . We were talking about the french and british playing a role. The british, they have two classes of submarines which are equipment you i would think if the britts do decide to participate, the french also have aircraft in the region based in or then u they have their own version of a long range missile they can fly. Its called the storm shadow. We give them the standoff distance to beat and not be kord about russian air defenses in and and targets. These are very, very capable plains. Ultimately, though, brooke, the questions come down for the president as he considers the strike three things, targets, strikes and teamwork. Admiral, that was impressive. And the capabilities. Coming up here, it is one of the most significant property brown versus the board of education. One of President Trumps nominee and schoofs of she actually agrees with it. Wait until you hear her response. It. Wish we got money back on gym memberships. Get money back hilarious. With claimfree rewards. Switching to allstate is worth it. Hello. Lets go for a ride on a peloton. Lets go grab a couple thousand friends and chase each other up a hill. Lets go make a personal best, then beat it with your personal better than best. Lets go bring the worlds best instructors right to you. Better yet, lets go bring the entire new york studio live. Lets go anytime, anywhere, with anyone whos willing. And lets go do it all right here. Ready to go . Peloton. Sus board of education whichschools. This is her response. I think i get into a difficult a difficult area when i start commenting on Supreme Court decisions which are correctly decided and which i may disagree with. Again, my personal political or religious views i would set aside. Thats Supreme Court precedent. It is binding. If i was honored to be confirmed would be bound by it and would up hold it. She is getting all kinds of criticized. Why is that a tough question to answer . Well, you know, look. This is that landmark 1954 opinion, racial segregation in public schools. The liberals really seized on this. They said, look. We understand that as a judge you dont want to show that youre impartial. You want to avoid giving your personal opinion. But here really they feel like this is really settled law. And she should have been able to come up with an answer here. And she didnt. Other judges and justices they have been asked this question. For instance, Justice Gorsuch answered it. Chief justice roberts. But she was taking the tact saying a judge should be impartial. If im confirmed, i will be listen to precedent and i dont want to give my personal opinion. Thats what really set off the liberals. Definitely did. Thank you so much. We just wanted to make sure to get that in. Quick break. We are back after this. Your brain changes as you get older. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Lets fly, lets fly away just say the words and well beat the birds down to acapulco bay its perfect for a flying honeymoon they say come fly with me lets fly, lets fly away come fly with me lets fly, lets fly away at crowne plaza, we know Business Travel isnt just business. Theres this. A bit of this. Why not . Your hotel should make it easy to do all the things you do. Which is what we do. Crowne plaza. Were all business, mostly. Even when nothing else is. Keep her receipts tidy, crowne plaza. Brand vo snap and sort your expenses with quickbooks and find, on average, 4,340 in tax savings. Quickbooks. Backing you. If youd have told me three years ago. That wed be downloading in seconds, what used to take. Minutes. That guests would compliment our wifi. That we could video conference. And do it like that. snaps if youd have told me that i could afford. A gigspeed. A gigspeed network. Its like 20 times faster than what most people have. Id of said. Id of said youre dreaming. Dreaming definitely dreaming. Then again, dreaming is how i got this far. Now more businesses in more places can afford to dream gig. Comcast, building americas largest gigspeed network. Before we go, special programming note. Jake tapper set to interview former fbi director james comey on the lead definitely tune in to cnn. Its on his show next thursday at 4 00 eastern right here on cnn. And speaking of, lets send it to jake, the lead starts right now. Welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. A barrage of news this afternoon as President Trump is trying to make a decision about whether or not to launch a military strike against the assad sere jeregimee russia investigation and breaking news that some allies of President Trump preparing for him to fire the man who super vise it is mueller investigation. All while were also learning more about President Trumps friend the tabloid media king and his alleged efforts to keep