now, though, top administration officials seeming to disagree on whether that position has changed. in no way do we see peace in that area with russia covering up for assad. in no way do we see peace in that area with assad as the head of the syrian government. once we can eliminate the battle against isis, conclude that, and it is going quite well, then we hope to turn our attention to achieving cease-fire agreements. it is through that political process that we believe the syrian people will ultimately be able to decide the fate of bashar al assad. and now u.s. ambassador to the united nations nikki haley saying no two ways about it, assad has to go. secretary of state rex tillerson seeming to stick to the old line, let s leave it up to the syrians. today, white house press secretary sean spicer being asked, where does the president stand on all of this? i don t think those are mutually exclusive statements because i don t think i think that you can one of them
a bit of a shadow diplomat and also helping on policies ranging from syria to, of course, his portfolio, china, the middle east, mexico. at the end of the day, the president makes the decision, but i think at least today in this briefing, we saw that the press secretary was sort of reflecting much more in line with what nikki haley said at the u.n., a more hawkish approach, that s what we saw in the air strikes last week. and for now, at least, that seems to be where things stand, although, again, the president or the administration has not outlined a clear trump doctrine or a clear doctrine on what next on syria. tim carney, the president, himself, said just before launching the air strikes said i m willing to change my mind if i m confronted with now developments and cited the chemical attack and said that made me change my mind. we have the news coming to us about russia, whether they had knowledge, advanced knowledge of the chemical attacks that assad carried out. our reporting h
s the logical step. we have new information we want to get to you about the deadly chemical weapons attack in syria. last week. nbc news now learning that american intelligence officials believe that russia had knowledge of that chemical weapons attack. now, keep in mind in the wake of that attack, russian officials publicly questioned accusations that syrian president bashar al assad had been involved in it. of course, it was those chemical weapons attacks that were the reason for the united states launching those military strikes last week in syria. let s get right to hallie jackson at the white house with the details. american intelligence officials believe russia knew about this. reporter: let me just be really crystal clear on what we know, steve, based on our reporting and what the associated press which is now out with now reporting has. so a senior official is telling nbc news what you just reported but is not clear about the timing. whether it was before, after, et ceter
with some new reporting. let s pull up their tweet, if we can. a senior u.s. official is telling the associated press russia knew in advance of sere ja s chemical weapons attack that week. the story goes on to describe the official talking about a russian-operated drone that flew over a hospital in syria, they say, as victims of the attack were going to get treatment and then, of course, hours after that drone left, the associated press reports a russian-made fighter jet bombed the hospital. so there is some developments here on what russia may have known and when. some questions about that. this is significant for a couple reasons. number one, russia, of course, the government has cast doubt on who was behind the chemical weapons attack. number two, the timing of all this. the secretary of state tillerson is headed to moscow after that trip in italy to meet face-to-face with foreign minister sergey lavrov. that particular meeting taking on new urgency after thursday night s air st
secretary of state rex tillerson attending the g-7 summit in italy trying to rally other countries behind the american plan for addressing syria s long and bloody civil war. tillerson is also expected to discuss the situation in syria when he visits russia later this week. and neil gorsuch formally sworn in today as an associate justice of the supreme court. his swearing in coming three days after he was confirmed by the senate. this was an unusual confirmation process where senate republicans faced a democratic filibuster and then changed the chamber s rules. rule change eliminating the 60-vote threshold normally needed, needed in the past to overcome a filibuster of a supreme court nominee. now just a simple majority vote going forward. also getting indications this afternoon out of montgomery, alabama, that that state s governor, republican robert bentley, is set to resign. sources telling nbc news the state s lieutenant governor will be sworn in just over an hour from now. all