Of frame behind the president. What to make of it . Well, anybodys guess, but it does come on a day when theres a slew of reporting that bannon could be on his way out of the white house. As you know, the decision to strike have said about syria. Some of it as recently as just a few day ago. Was it warranted, was it wise . Is it part of a larger strategy for syria and if so what is it . In short, what exactly is next . Tonight we have new reporting on much of this expert analysis on all of it we have news making gue guests, including senator john mccain and we have information on that possible russian collusion. Reporter tonight the u. S. Military is investigating whether russia was complicit in the Syrian Regimes gruesome chemical weapons attack on its citizens earlier in week. Whether a russian warplane dropped a come on a hospital treating victims of the attack just five hours later. A russian drone flew over the hospital site just before the bombing. The probe comes after President Trump ordered a barrage of missiles on a Syrian Air Base in retaliation for the deadly attack. The first u. S. Military strike against the assad regime in the countrys bloody sixyear civil war. Today u. N. Ambassador nikki haley warned of possible further u. S. Military action. The United States took a very measured step last night. We are prepared to do more. But we hope that will not be necessary. Reporter the target of the strikes was syrias sherat air base, the pentagon says 59 of 60 tomahawk cruise missiles, severely degraded or destroyed their targets, including aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, fuel and ammunition jump dumps. Theres several shelters Still Standing and military aircraft undamaged. U. S. Missiles left the run way intact and avoided chemical weapons storage to prevent civilian casualties. The march to military action took little more than 48 hours. The planning began tuesday, the day the world saw the first images of victims, many of them children of the chemical weapons attack. On thursday before President Trump sat down to dinner with the chinese president. In the middle of night in syria, the attack began. Donald trump sat through dinner alongside the chinese president as the attack was under way. Then just 35 minutes later, at approximately 9 15 eastern time, the president S National Security team briefed him on the missions results. Jim joins us now. We saw satellite images from after the strike, does it seem like the pentagon is content with the results . Reporter the pentagon is content with the narrow boundaries of what this attack was supposed to do. They lost one missile in the eastern med, and launched another in effect to replace that, destroyed about 20 aircraft, as you saw in those pictures, some of those hardened shelters, et cetera, but the run way is still operational. In fact we heard reports there might have been planes tacking off in the last 24 hours. When the pentagon talked about that, they said it was not intended to destroy this base entirely for everybody, it was intended to send a message that there will be a price if assad uses chemical weapons and that definition of success, the pentagon view this is as a successful operation. More on this message that the white house hopes to send, jim acosta has more on that. Is the white house discussing what if any the next steps may be . Reporter theyre not telegraphing the next steps, thats by design, the president doesnt want to send a message to assad that more air strikes may or may not be coming. I talked to a Senior Administration official about this today. This mission that went down last night, it should not be interpreted as a Wider Campaign to remove assad from power, but what they are saying clearly, and the message they were driving home again and again when we were talking to officials today, is if Bashar Al Assad decides to use chemical weapons against his own people, he runs the risk of being attacked by the United States and they feel like that was made very clear last night. Theyre hoping assad does not come away from this without fully understanding the consequences of doing this again. Jim, sit clear what the White House TrumpAdministration Policy is on whether or not the u. S. Still is looking for the removal of Bashar Al Assad, which is the previous administrations policy, but last week, tillerson said its up to the Syrian People. Is it clear what the policy is now . I think thats a clear question and i think youre going to see the secretary of state on the sunday talk shows giving his policy on this. He was saying before these air strikes were carried out is that yes, the force assad from power. But what you heard today from Administration Officials was that this was a measured response, proportional response, you heard the secretary of state say, well, they went after this airfield that jim sciuto was just talking about, because they wanted to make it clear that this was about condemning the use of chemical weapons against a civilian population. But at the same time, theyre making it very clear, anderson, at this point is that assad sort of is in charge of his own destiny, if he chooses to use chemical weapons against his own people, as i understand clearly from the Administration Officials, he is putting hiss own life, his own future at risk. But at the same time, i asked White House PressSecretary Sean Spicer today and other Administration Officials do they want assad to go. Sean spicer said what they want is to see assad not use chem wl weapons. Theyre going to be taking a serious look at how the syrians respond to all of this. Theyre making it very clear, assad is almost in charge of his own future, another slipup with chemical weapons and that might seal his fate. But Something Like barrel bombs which hthey had used wiz can kill large numbers of people, i assume that can continue at a pace without u. S. Military involvement . Reporter i think this is where it becomes a very serious question, because you heard members of congress up on capitol hill today saying that if the president wants to go further with this, he needs to consult with congress. And we heard similar discussions during the Obama Administration, the question is how far can assad go in slaughtering his own people . You heard the president during his Campaign Talk about toppling this regime on the ground in syria. But to go to the point of regime change, that would be another evolution on the part of this president that i dont think Administration Officials are indicating at this point, anderson. As we. This did not forestall a sharp reaction from moscow. Theres that and potentially much larger story emerging about the investigation into russia possibly being complicit in the chemical attack. As jim mentioned, jim sciuto mentioned in his piece, the military is investigating whether russia bombed a hospital treating victims of the chemical attack to destroy evidence, you just heard from the kremlin, what did they say . Reporter theyre categorically denying any kind of involvement in that, any kind of knowledge of any chemical weapons being used, the president spoke just a few minutes ago about this suggestion and allegations being made by u. S. Officials they could have been come police sit and the answer back is that is just not true. Theyre also denying any sense that the Syrian Military has chemical weapons, theyre denying even that a chemical attack took place. Theyre calling on rebel held chemical munitions. Its also not the first time that the russians have shielded the syrians from criticism because of their use of chemical weapons in february. There was a Security Council resolution condemning the assad regime for carrying out multiple Chemical Attacks. That investigation because carried out by an independent chemical weapons organization. These denials i think have to be taken with a pinch of salt. What has the russian reaction been to the strike . Reporter well, i mean, the initial reaction has been pretty furious, certainly Vladimir Putin through his spokes marine said there was a violation of international law, he said it was an act of aggression against the theyre going to be putting more surfacetoair missiles in, they have also said thaw that theyre going to suspend, or have suspended the air safety agreement. Which me vents u. S. And russian spy planes from colliding, the russians say theyre suspending it. So thats something were looking at. Its also fair to say that the russians a s ars are giving sig theyre prepared to take this on the chin. They didnt intervene to stop these airstrikes when they could have. Theres talk of russian war planes near the hospital where the victims were being treated last night. Any information about that or any significance to that . Reporter yeah, its one of russias most modern warships. Its been deployed to this region in the Eastern Mediterranean before, its being done so now again, part of it is just a rotation of Russian Naval vessels that provide additional protection to Russian Forces inside syria. But this ship has been used to bombard with its own arsenal of cruise missiles targets inside syria in the past so it could mark a possible intensification of the russian bombardment of syria, or it might just be a sign that russia despite these missile 3 million syrians now live in turkey. So whats been the response by assad over this u. S. Attack over the last 24 hours . Reporter well, so far, what we have heard, anderson, from president Bashar Al Assad is more what you would expect to kind of define a bombastic statement, accusing the u. S. Of being reckless and short sighted. But i think it will be more clear in the next few days what the real reaction is. And the real reaction i should add is unlikely to be Syrian Regime, whose army is on the brink of collapse. So its probably fair to air that the russians will have a very strong part in deciding how the regime of Bashar Al Assad r reacts to this. Matthew chance just said it looks like the russians may be willing to take this one on the chin, but at this stage, it is still early days, we have heard reports of air strikes taking place in idlib province, from air strikes on the ground. But certainly everyone is going to be watching very closely to see whether or not this changes the face of the battlefield, whether Bashar Al Assad at the very least stops using chemical weapons and more optimistically starts to lower the amount of crude munitions, barrel bombs, et cetera that he uses on syrian civilians. What about reporter i never thought there would be a day when Syrian Opposition activists and rebel fighters would be referring to donald trump a name which means father of ivanka, the american, its a kind of take on a rebel fighter. Nor did i think we would see a day when syrian activists would be posting as their avatar on social media with the writing underneath saying we love you. Clearly these are surreal and unusual times that we are witnessing. I would say that while there has been some pleasant surprise and even happiness and welcoming of these u. S. Strikes, theres also pragmatism that comes with that, no one on the ground who supports the opposition believes that this is really a significant intervention and the question i get asked over and over again is why does the u. S. Community become involved when the regime uses chemical weapons to kill children and why do they not get outraged in the same way when its barrel bombs thats killing children. The children are still dying, the war is still going on and theres no end in sight, anderson. Coming up next, well talk to senator john mccain on the russians and what more he wants President Trump to do beyond last nights operation and he does want more. 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Tonight hes taking a different tone. I spoke to him early this evening. A u. S. Defense official tells cnn that there was a russian plane flying over that hospital before the attack occurred. Is russia complicit in that attack . They were complicit in those attacks in aleppo. Thats a gross violation of the rules of war, we have to understand who Vladimir Putin is, what hes all about and what he will do and what he understands and what he understands is strength. And the best way to avoid further escalation is to show Vladimir Putin, the benefits he might accrue from doing these kinds of things are not worth the penalty he would pay. Is it clear to you what the Trump Administration policy is regarding Bashar Al Assad, the previous administration, they talked, i guess, they officially said that assad had to go. Obviously theres a lot of criticism they didnt really move much in that direction. Is it do you believe that is the current policy of the donald Trump Administration . Because last week, the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson when asked about it said it was up to the Syrian People. I was puzzled by that because the Syrian People play no role in Bashar Al Assad remaining in power, its the military guard and russia and hezbollah and the iranians. I think that secretary tillerson has modified that view in light of these Chemical Attacks and i dont mean to be cynical. But i say with respect, if a mothers child is killed, im not sure that the mother is concerned as how that child is killed. So i view barrel bombs and some of the other outrageous, terrible activities that are engaged in by both russians and syrians as terrible and unacceptable as well as chemical weapons, and thats maybe where theres a departure between my view and Rex Tillerson. Do you think theyre going to be working on a plan or is this kind of a one off, sending a message, you crossed a line on using chemical weapons, and now things continue on as normal . Well, it cant be a one off in my view, i know they are planning and making plans, not only in this situation, but also for ukraine, for taking what post mosul, post raqqa, theyve got a lot of plans to make to make up for the last eight years, i am convinced they are working on an overall strategy, i have great confidence in this team around the president of the United States. If i would have been asked to name a team i couldnt have named a better one that the one we have got. But there are also, and youve got to know this, and im sure you do, there are tensions within the white house, just as there are tensions within President Trump himself. You talked about some tensions in the administration, the white house and within the president himself, clearly, it seems like the president changed his mind, obviously, you know, he said a lot of stuff as a civilian, its obviously very different when youre president , but he tweeted a lot about dont go into syria, even during the campaign, said a number of things about not trying to go into syria or not wanting to get militarily involved in syria. What do you think it is that created this change . There have been some who have said, it was the images of the attacks, it was the reality of that attack, obviously theres some people, you know, who say this is political opportunity to flex American Military power, there may be some politics involved here. Where do you see the change . I think three things, its very different being a candidate and being president. Almost every incoming president has learned that lesson one way or another. Second of all, i think that he has a team around him that he respects and gives him advice and counsel, by those that picture all of us were deeply moved. Finally to those in the United States who are concerned about getting deeply involved in syria, committing to an ongoing, you know, whether its well, i guess it would be a military fight, however that would look, what do you what do you say to them in terms of what the end game would be, how who would replace Bas