Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin 201704

These images that they say show the impact of 58 of those 59 tomahawk missiles that targeted the syrian airfield. This is the same airfield that the Syrian Regime launched the chemical attack killing dozens of men, women and little children. We are also learning now that the pentagon is investigating whether or not russia was complicit in that chemical attack. Im joined now by chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto and Senior International correspondent Clarissa Ward who is there near the turkey syrian border. Clarissa, beginning with you, the Syrian People, how are they reacting to this action . Reporter well, its been extraordinary to see, brooke, the Syrian People who support the opposition, that is to say who are against the regime of Bashar Al Assad were actually pretty shocked by this and shocked, i should say, in a good way. They view it as a welcome surprise for years and years they have dreamed about the u. S. Finally coming to their aide in some capacity only to really watch that dream sort of die after the red line was crossed under president obama. So they didnt really expect this and, of course, they welcome it but the majority of people who i have spoken to are also concerned that its not enough, that the strike is very limited. You heard there from nikki haley. Its proportional. Its moderate. They dont expect to continue with strikes unless there is a call to continue. Theres disappointment, i think, that there wont be any further u. S. Intervention but definitely a sense of relief and a sense that something has changed profoundly in how the syrian conflict is now shaping itself on the ground. The powerba balance has somehow shifted and now it appears that the u. S. Has some leverage in this game and syrians are hoping that they can capitalize on this brooke. And then theres russia. Tell me more about how the u. S. Military is looking at potential evidence that russia bombed a hospital to cover up the chemical attack. Its interesting, you heard secretary tillerson say in the last 24 hours that either russia was complicit or incompetent. Uhhuh. If syria continued to have chemical weapons storage despite the 2013 agreement for them to give it up, monitored by russia. Now the u. S. Military raising the question as to whether there was active complicity here. Thats based on a couple of clues, one of which is that a russianmade warplane, the pentagon has assessed, five hours after those chemical weapons were dropped, dropped another bomb on the hospital where the patients were being treated and the question is, was that bomb dropped to scrub the evidence, in effect, of a chemical weapons attack . The question now before the pentagon is it was a russianmade plane but was it flown by russian air crews or was it a syrian crew in that plane. Beyond that, a russian air unit was based at that same base where the syrian warplanes were launched from and how could they not know, in light of the closeness in the relationship between the russian and syrian military, how could they not know that a chemical weapons attack was being planned or going under way from that same base . Those are the questions now. They clearly have suspicion. They havent established with certainty whether russia was complicit but thats something that they are looking into very seriously now. That would be a stunning development. Jim sciutto, thank you. Clarissa ward, thank you. A Critical Response to consider Going Forward is how will this affect the very delicate relationship between the u. S. And russia. Particularly, as weve just mentioned here, it reveals if the kremlin was complicit in this attack at all. The Russian Ambassador condemned the military action calling the missile strikes a, quote, flagrant violation of International Law. Watch. On the night of the 7th of april, the United States attacked the territory of sovereign syria. To redescribe that attack as a fragrant violation of International Law and act of aggression. We strongly condemn the illegitimate actions by the u. S. The consequences of this for regional and International Stability could be extremely serious. Joining me now, thomas pickering, former u. S. Ambassador to russia. Mr. Ambassador, welcome. Thank you. Nice to be with you. Nice to have you on. I mean, just off of our conversation on russia, specifically, sir, how plausible is russias complicity in this . I think that the presence of russians at the airfield would certainly indicate that they were witting. What they did to make them complicit is the fine parsing of the effort. Whats more significant is that traditionally when these attacks have taken place, chlorine and mustard and the houtha attacks, the russians try to put the blame on the opposition, either saying that they have captured this or it was some kind of error, that really they were responsible for. This time it doesnt seem to be holding up very well. They have been saying some things like that at the time that the attacks took place. But you just heard the russians Say Something in the sovereign territory of syria. Well, its a little sloppy because we have now conducted 8,000 raids against isis, a large number of them on syrian territory. And the russians, too, and the russians, of course, have been carrying out syrian territory as well. The fact is, they were invited. We were not invited and that may spell a difference. But what were seeing here, really, is a kind of flipflop. Three or four days ago, we were, i think, quite complicit in our praise for assad that may have led to miscalculation. I dont know. And three or four days ago you could say that the honeymoon between President Trump and putin was still there. The question now is has it changed and how much and what is important is that the strike has built leverage, people are correct. But that leverage, in my humble view, will only lead you to leverage for you . For the United States. They built leverage for a political settlement i dont believe its an indication that were going to win this war or that indeed it is opening the path for the russians and assad to win this war. Its been clear for some time that a political workout has to be achieved and the interesting question for the United States is have they begun to think about that and how and in what wait do they use the leverage or will we get into a question of tit for tat and neither side being able to use the leverage constructively that theyve got to put it into the political hopper. If i may jump in, upping the ante, russia saying that they are ramping up their defense in syria. This is significant. This the most advanced mobile system in that area. This is what ive been told by folks in the navy. What could be next . Why did we use cruise missiles . Because we didnt want to talk down the air defense system. There are different ways to do this. One can do it on the ground and various options need to be looked at the key there is we need a political option to end this conflict which has killed 4 to 500,000 people and move 9 to 10 million out of tla heir home into oblivion. Thats a serious tragedy and its a big one. The recent effect of the gas attacks has called attention to that but the magnitude of what we have seen and destruction in syria is way beyond what happened in the gas attacks as horrible as they were two or three days ago. So this is an opportunity now to see whether in fact there is a workout that is possible because neither side is going to win anything by a constant escalation of military activities without opening the diplomatic door from which they can both walk and get something at the end of the day which they can live with and i think thats possible but its a long shot. On the opening of the diplomatic door and you had mentioned rex tillerson, the secretary of state and the aboutface a couple of days ago he essentially said lets leave the fate of assad to the Syrian People. Either russia has been complicit or incompetent, hes saying. Hes supposed to go to moscow next week for meetings. Whats his move . I think his move is to bring home to the russians that theyre not getting anywhere doing what they are doing, that they have influence with assad and that they have to use it. If they were witting or complicit, then it was the time to have done it and now they have to do it and theyre a real player and need to begin to shape the outcome and i think we should be ready to work to try to shape an outcome to stop this tragedy. Ambassador thomas pickering, thank you so much. Thank you very much, brooke. Just in this past hour, by the way, the chinese president left maralago, the president s club in florida, officially ending this 24hour summit with President Trump. The strikes in syria happening in the midst of dinner together between these two world leaders. What the attack means for the u. S. Relationship with china and whether it will be an effective warning to north korea. Also ahead, well talk to a man who knows firsthand what its like to survive a gas attack by the Syrian Regime. We had him on this week. He was pleading with President Trump to do something. Now that the president has done something, what now . With my moderate to severe crohns disease,. I was always searching for ways to manage my symptoms. I thought i had it covered. Then i realized managing was all i was doing. When i finally told my doctor, he said humira was for people like me who have tried other medications,. But still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohns disease. In clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. And many achieved remission. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. Including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers,. Including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions,. And new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb,. Hepatitis b, are prone to infections,. Or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. If youre still just managing your symptoms, ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. Just me. Your me and my four daughters. Theres a lot of dancing and pageants that go on in our kitchens and living rooms and things like that. Ive had to learn to accept certain things like the fact that my toe nails and finger nails are going to be painted constantly. But its really awesome to watch them at their own things. Theyre great kids. All of them. Whatever home means to you, well help you find it. Zillow. Chinese president xi jinping left florida after a highstakes visit by President Trump. He did talk about the military operation in syria after the two had dinner but today it was back to bilateral discussions. Trump called his meeting with the chinese leader, quote, tremendous. I think truly progress has been made. Well be making additional progress. The relationship developed by president xi and myself. I think hes outstanding. We look forward to being together many times in the future and lots of very potentially bad problems will be going away. David is back with us today, a frequent oped for cnn. My goodness, what a difference a day makes. So quick, from sean spicer in an offcamera briefing, what was president xi thinking as hes sitting down at maralago with President Trump and learned on their walk from dinner back to their quarters for the evening, thats when President Trump told him what he had done in syria. This is no doubt, a whole different donald trump than xi went to bed than the one he sat down to dinner with. How do you mean . This is a donald trump prepared to go out and take some action, unlike any american president has done in the last eight years. And this is someone he has to take very seriously because if donald trump says he might do something, he might do it and totally unpredictably. So this is someone that he has to be very careful. This is not someone who is going to worry about america first, about trade and so on. This is someone who can suddenly launch 57 tomahawks against someone who is not really even americas enemy. Imagine what he can do with north korea. Jeff zeleny, i understand, is with us now there in palm beach. Tell me more about what sean spicer told the press as far as the conversation between president xi and trump on syria. Reporter brooke, the white house insisted to be offcamera, the white house briefing. There wasnt a bigger briefing the day after such a big event. But in any case, sean spicer was walking reporters through essentially how quickly the president changed his mind and made up his mind. Really starting about 10 30 on Tuesday Morning when the president learned and saw these first gruesome photographs and images coming out of syria. And then fast forwarding to about thursday around 4 00 p. M. When he was here at maralago in florida and gave the ultimate decision. He met with his National Security adviser separately about four different times or so including when he was flying on air force one on thursday. The white house is trying to project the president as a man of quick action. They are trying to drive an unstated parallel to some of their criticism of the obama administration, particularly in terms of syria. But it is interesting, the conversation that President Trump had with president xi here at maralago. It was after the dinner last evening. Sean spicer said that the president reached out to his chinese counterpart and told him what had just happened in syria. So we dont have much more detail than that. But it certainly casts this entire meeting, brooke, in a different light when the sun came up this morning because north korea, the worlds most and foremost in terms of emerging threats and cast President Trump in a certainly more of a commander in chief look, if you will. This is exactly what david was just saying to me. And so just in terms of north korea, if youre north korea and you see what President Trump, commander in chief trump can be capable of with these 58, 59 tomahawks, what are you thinking, if youre pyongyang . You have to wonder whats going to happen the next time i do a major underground nuclear test, the next time i launch a major rocket into the sea of japan or even into the pacific ocean, an indication that you have the ability to reach, for instance, los angeles or San Francisco or even alaska or hawaii. That can be a whole game changer and now here is a president who will actually put his muscle where his mouth is and thats donald trump, obviously. Hes now prepared to actually go out there and do something. What i find interesting is what russia is going to do next. What is russia going to do when they decide they cannot deal with trump at all, will they get mad or get even . Getting even could be heres what we really did to get donald trump elected. Maybe not directly but the leaks start to come out and one is going to have to wonder if donald trump has to wait for that eventuality. Russia. Russia. David, thank you very very. Jeff zeleny, thank you in palm beach for us. Satellite imagery from the syrian airfield, giving us a better idea of what President Trumps strike actually accomplished. Well breakdown these pictures and get an assessment from a former Navy Commander and the ships from which they came. Its our little differences, that can make a world of difference. Expedia, everything in one place, so you can travel the world better. I want to show you some pictures now of the aftermath captured from a drone of the deadly u. S. Strike near the syrian city of homs. This was a result of the tomahawks launched from warships. Were told 20 were destroyed there. Tom foreman, how did this all happen and what did they hit . Show me. You made a point just before saying they did not seem to go after the runway. This is the runway down here. This long stretch right here. And theres no real sign of much damage here. A little bit of damage over here on what would be sort of a taxiway out to the runway. What were they after . Very specific targets. For example, areas like this where you might have storage of fuel occurring out in here, maybe weapons somewhere out in this area and a little off of the base if they were to catch on fire, you dont want them in the middle of your base. There is a Storage Facility over here and you can see the earth and walls so if you have a fire or a problem, its somewhat contained. Heres some of the pictures of what we have that was hit, though. Look over here. These right here are those concre concrete bunkers that weve seen, where the planes are kept. This is that group of them before the attack. If you move over here, you can see the very same ones and see all of that smoke around it, all of the blackened area, thats where the missiles actually hit and would have done some damage. Same thing if we move on to another one of those areas right here. Heres another example down here at the other end of the taxiway and, again, you can see destroyed areas here, damaged shelters. But heres a big question, brooke. How much damage was really done in all of this and was it as targeted as they might have hoped . Because if you take a look at the overall video that weve been seeing, is there a lot of damage here . Yes. Could there possibly be the remains of an airplane . Not over here. This protected the planes just fine. We counted about 15 of these around that airfield. So well have to get a much more thorough counting of how much damage is done by this but out on the actual tarmac, very little damage, as far as we can tell at this point. Brooke . I have the perfect guest to react to what youve just shown us. Tom, thank you very much. I get to talk to the Syrian Regime<\/a> launched the chemical attack killing dozens of men, women and little children. We are also learning now that the pentagon is investigating whether or not russia was complicit in that chemical attack. Im joined now by chief National Security<\/a> correspondent jim sciutto and Senior International<\/a> correspondent Clarissa Ward<\/a> who is there near the turkey syrian border. Clarissa, beginning with you, the Syrian People<\/a>, how are they reacting to this action . Reporter well, its been extraordinary to see, brooke, the Syrian People<\/a> who support the opposition, that is to say who are against the regime of Bashar Al Assad<\/a> were actually pretty shocked by this and shocked, i should say, in a good way. They view it as a welcome surprise for years and years they have dreamed about the u. S. Finally coming to their aide in some capacity only to really watch that dream sort of die after the red line was crossed under president obama. So they didnt really expect this and, of course, they welcome it but the majority of people who i have spoken to are also concerned that its not enough, that the strike is very limited. You heard there from nikki haley. Its proportional. Its moderate. They dont expect to continue with strikes unless there is a call to continue. Theres disappointment, i think, that there wont be any further u. S. Intervention but definitely a sense of relief and a sense that something has changed profoundly in how the syrian conflict is now shaping itself on the ground. The powerba balance has somehow shifted and now it appears that the u. S. Has some leverage in this game and syrians are hoping that they can capitalize on this brooke. And then theres russia. Tell me more about how the u. S. Military is looking at potential evidence that russia bombed a hospital to cover up the chemical attack. Its interesting, you heard secretary tillerson say in the last 24 hours that either russia was complicit or incompetent. Uhhuh. If syria continued to have chemical weapons storage despite the 2013 agreement for them to give it up, monitored by russia. Now the u. S. Military raising the question as to whether there was active complicity here. Thats based on a couple of clues, one of which is that a russianmade warplane, the pentagon has assessed, five hours after those chemical weapons were dropped, dropped another bomb on the hospital where the patients were being treated and the question is, was that bomb dropped to scrub the evidence, in effect, of a chemical weapons attack . The question now before the pentagon is it was a russianmade plane but was it flown by russian air crews or was it a syrian crew in that plane. Beyond that, a russian air unit was based at that same base where the syrian warplanes were launched from and how could they not know, in light of the closeness in the relationship between the russian and syrian military, how could they not know that a chemical weapons attack was being planned or going under way from that same base . Those are the questions now. They clearly have suspicion. They havent established with certainty whether russia was complicit but thats something that they are looking into very seriously now. That would be a stunning development. Jim sciutto, thank you. Clarissa ward, thank you. A Critical Response<\/a> to consider Going Forward<\/a> is how will this affect the very delicate relationship between the u. S. And russia. Particularly, as weve just mentioned here, it reveals if the kremlin was complicit in this attack at all. The Russian Ambassador<\/a> condemned the military action calling the missile strikes a, quote, flagrant violation of International Law<\/a>. Watch. On the night of the 7th of april, the United States<\/a> attacked the territory of sovereign syria. To redescribe that attack as a fragrant violation of International Law<\/a> and act of aggression. We strongly condemn the illegitimate actions by the u. S. The consequences of this for regional and International Stability<\/a> could be extremely serious. Joining me now, thomas pickering, former u. S. Ambassador to russia. Mr. Ambassador, welcome. Thank you. Nice to be with you. Nice to have you on. I mean, just off of our conversation on russia, specifically, sir, how plausible is russias complicity in this . I think that the presence of russians at the airfield would certainly indicate that they were witting. What they did to make them complicit is the fine parsing of the effort. Whats more significant is that traditionally when these attacks have taken place, chlorine and mustard and the houtha attacks, the russians try to put the blame on the opposition, either saying that they have captured this or it was some kind of error, that really they were responsible for. This time it doesnt seem to be holding up very well. They have been saying some things like that at the time that the attacks took place. But you just heard the russians Say Something<\/a> in the sovereign territory of syria. Well, its a little sloppy because we have now conducted 8,000 raids against isis, a large number of them on syrian territory. And the russians, too, and the russians, of course, have been carrying out syrian territory as well. The fact is, they were invited. We were not invited and that may spell a difference. But what were seeing here, really, is a kind of flipflop. Three or four days ago, we were, i think, quite complicit in our praise for assad that may have led to miscalculation. I dont know. And three or four days ago you could say that the honeymoon between President Trump<\/a> and putin was still there. The question now is has it changed and how much and what is important is that the strike has built leverage, people are correct. But that leverage, in my humble view, will only lead you to leverage for you . For the United States<\/a>. They built leverage for a political settlement i dont believe its an indication that were going to win this war or that indeed it is opening the path for the russians and assad to win this war. Its been clear for some time that a political workout has to be achieved and the interesting question for the United States<\/a> is have they begun to think about that and how and in what wait do they use the leverage or will we get into a question of tit for tat and neither side being able to use the leverage constructively that theyve got to put it into the political hopper. If i may jump in, upping the ante, russia saying that they are ramping up their defense in syria. This is significant. This the most advanced mobile system in that area. This is what ive been told by folks in the navy. What could be next . Why did we use cruise missiles . Because we didnt want to talk down the air defense system. There are different ways to do this. One can do it on the ground and various options need to be looked at the key there is we need a political option to end this conflict which has killed 4 to 500,000 people and move 9 to 10 million out of tla heir home into oblivion. Thats a serious tragedy and its a big one. The recent effect of the gas attacks has called attention to that but the magnitude of what we have seen and destruction in syria is way beyond what happened in the gas attacks as horrible as they were two or three days ago. So this is an opportunity now to see whether in fact there is a workout that is possible because neither side is going to win anything by a constant escalation of military activities without opening the diplomatic door from which they can both walk and get something at the end of the day which they can live with and i think thats possible but its a long shot. On the opening of the diplomatic door and you had mentioned rex tillerson, the secretary of state and the aboutface a couple of days ago he essentially said lets leave the fate of assad to the Syrian People<\/a>. Either russia has been complicit or incompetent, hes saying. Hes supposed to go to moscow next week for meetings. Whats his move . I think his move is to bring home to the russians that theyre not getting anywhere doing what they are doing, that they have influence with assad and that they have to use it. If they were witting or complicit, then it was the time to have done it and now they have to do it and theyre a real player and need to begin to shape the outcome and i think we should be ready to work to try to shape an outcome to stop this tragedy. Ambassador thomas pickering, thank you so much. Thank you very much, brooke. Just in this past hour, by the way, the chinese president left maralago, the president s club in florida, officially ending this 24hour summit with President Trump<\/a>. The strikes in syria happening in the midst of dinner together between these two world leaders. What the attack means for the u. S. Relationship with china and whether it will be an effective warning to north korea. Also ahead, well talk to a man who knows firsthand what its like to survive a gas attack by the Syrian Regime<\/a>. We had him on this week. He was pleading with President Trump<\/a> to do something. Now that the president has done something, what now . With my moderate to severe crohns disease,. I was always searching for ways to manage my symptoms. I thought i had it covered. Then i realized managing was all i was doing. When i finally told my doctor, he said humira was for people like me who have tried other medications,. But still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohns disease. In clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. And many achieved remission. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. Including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers,. Including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions,. And new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb,. Hepatitis b, are prone to infections,. Or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. If youre still just managing your symptoms, ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. Just me. Your me and my four daughters. Theres a lot of dancing and pageants that go on in our kitchens and living rooms and things like that. Ive had to learn to accept certain things like the fact that my toe nails and finger nails are going to be painted constantly. But its really awesome to watch them at their own things. Theyre great kids. All of them. Whatever home means to you, well help you find it. Zillow. Chinese president xi jinping left florida after a highstakes visit by President Trump<\/a>. He did talk about the military operation in syria after the two had dinner but today it was back to bilateral discussions. Trump called his meeting with the chinese leader, quote, tremendous. I think truly progress has been made. Well be making additional progress. The relationship developed by president xi and myself. I think hes outstanding. We look forward to being together many times in the future and lots of very potentially bad problems will be going away. David is back with us today, a frequent oped for cnn. My goodness, what a difference a day makes. So quick, from sean spicer in an offcamera briefing, what was president xi thinking as hes sitting down at maralago with President Trump<\/a> and learned on their walk from dinner back to their quarters for the evening, thats when President Trump<\/a> told him what he had done in syria. This is no doubt, a whole different donald trump than xi went to bed than the one he sat down to dinner with. How do you mean . This is a donald trump prepared to go out and take some action, unlike any american president has done in the last eight years. And this is someone he has to take very seriously because if donald trump says he might do something, he might do it and totally unpredictably. So this is someone that he has to be very careful. This is not someone who is going to worry about america first, about trade and so on. This is someone who can suddenly launch 57 tomahawks against someone who is not really even americas enemy. Imagine what he can do with north korea. Jeff zeleny, i understand, is with us now there in palm beach. Tell me more about what sean spicer told the press as far as the conversation between president xi and trump on syria. Reporter brooke, the white house insisted to be offcamera, the white house briefing. There wasnt a bigger briefing the day after such a big event. But in any case, sean spicer was walking reporters through essentially how quickly the president changed his mind and made up his mind. Really starting about 10 30 on Tuesday Morning<\/a> when the president learned and saw these first gruesome photographs and images coming out of syria. And then fast forwarding to about thursday around 4 00 p. M. When he was here at maralago in florida and gave the ultimate decision. He met with his National Security<\/a> adviser separately about four different times or so including when he was flying on air force one on thursday. The white house is trying to project the president as a man of quick action. They are trying to drive an unstated parallel to some of their criticism of the obama administration, particularly in terms of syria. But it is interesting, the conversation that President Trump<\/a> had with president xi here at maralago. It was after the dinner last evening. Sean spicer said that the president reached out to his chinese counterpart and told him what had just happened in syria. So we dont have much more detail than that. But it certainly casts this entire meeting, brooke, in a different light when the sun came up this morning because north korea, the worlds most and foremost in terms of emerging threats and cast President Trump<\/a> in a certainly more of a commander in chief look, if you will. This is exactly what david was just saying to me. And so just in terms of north korea, if youre north korea and you see what President Trump<\/a>, commander in chief trump can be capable of with these 58, 59 tomahawks, what are you thinking, if youre pyongyang . You have to wonder whats going to happen the next time i do a major underground nuclear test, the next time i launch a major rocket into the sea of japan or even into the pacific ocean, an indication that you have the ability to reach, for instance, los angeles or San Francisco<\/a> or even alaska or hawaii. That can be a whole game changer and now here is a president who will actually put his muscle where his mouth is and thats donald trump, obviously. Hes now prepared to actually go out there and do something. What i find interesting is what russia is going to do next. What is russia going to do when they decide they cannot deal with trump at all, will they get mad or get even . Getting even could be heres what we really did to get donald trump elected. Maybe not directly but the leaks start to come out and one is going to have to wonder if donald trump has to wait for that eventuality. Russia. Russia. David, thank you very very. Jeff zeleny, thank you in palm beach for us. Satellite imagery from the syrian airfield, giving us a better idea of what President Trump<\/a>s strike actually accomplished. Well breakdown these pictures and get an assessment from a former Navy Commander<\/a> and the ships from which they came. Its our little differences, that can make a world of difference. Expedia, everything in one place, so you can travel the world better. I want to show you some pictures now of the aftermath captured from a drone of the deadly u. S. Strike near the syrian city of homs. This was a result of the tomahawks launched from warships. Were told 20 were destroyed there. Tom foreman, how did this all happen and what did they hit . Show me. You made a point just before saying they did not seem to go after the runway. This is the runway down here. This long stretch right here. And theres no real sign of much damage here. A little bit of damage over here on what would be sort of a taxiway out to the runway. What were they after . Very specific targets. For example, areas like this where you might have storage of fuel occurring out in here, maybe weapons somewhere out in this area and a little off of the base if they were to catch on fire, you dont want them in the middle of your base. There is a Storage Facility<\/a> over here and you can see the earth and walls so if you have a fire or a problem, its somewhat contained. Heres some of the pictures of what we have that was hit, though. Look over here. These right here are those concre concrete bunkers that weve seen, where the planes are kept. This is that group of them before the attack. If you move over here, you can see the very same ones and see all of that smoke around it, all of the blackened area, thats where the missiles actually hit and would have done some damage. Same thing if we move on to another one of those areas right here. Heres another example down here at the other end of the taxiway and, again, you can see destroyed areas here, damaged shelters. But heres a big question, brooke. How much damage was really done in all of this and was it as targeted as they might have hoped . Because if you take a look at the overall video that weve been seeing, is there a lot of damage here . Yes. Could there possibly be the remains of an airplane . Not over here. This protected the planes just fine. We counted about 15 of these around that airfield. So well have to get a much more thorough counting of how much damage is done by this but out on the actual tarmac, very little damage, as far as we can tell at this point. Brooke . I have the perfect guest to react to what youve just shown us. Tom, thank you very much. I get to talk to the Commanding Officer<\/a> of the uss cole when it was bombed. Honor and privilege to have you here. Thank you for having me on. You just saw tom with those pictures. Your assessment of what we can see as far as a successful strike and the long run ways are still in in tact. Why, do you think . What you have to consider is you have a limited number of weapons and when you put together a strike package, you prioritize what are the targets going to be, which ones do we want to hit and which order to inflict the most damage on the targets that you want and then what can you go after after that to make sure you degrade their capability. Clearly they left the runways alone. I believe they wanted to target the packages that were of most importance, the aircraft that carried out the strikes with the chemical weapons. Then you go after the facilities that helped support them, the fuel bunkers, some of the supporting facilities, maintenance facilities perhaps, maybe some of the ammunition depots but the intent was not to take down the runway which may have other purposes but the true targets that were causing the damage to the Syrian People<\/a>. Okay. And what about just the weapon . Explain to me, commander, why a tomahawk used back during the gulf war back in 91 is still the weapon of choice here. Well, that weapon that we used in the first gulf war in the early 1990s up until today has undergone significant improvements. Some of the gps targeting, much more sophisticated, much more welldesigned, much more capable than they were back in those days 20, 30 years ago or 20, 25 years ago. The ones there today, its truly an evolutionary weapon. It continues to be extremely capable. It is the backbone of the navy strike capability from the sea and we want to continue to use them and continue to build them. Not only as were coming up with an enhanced version for the future, but also continue to use the one that we have today because it is still the primary strike weapon that a Combatant Commander<\/a> uses, whether in the european theater which you see being exercised from syria or the Central Command<\/a> area in the middle east. What, then i mean, we cant telegraph what the white house is thinking as far as potential next steps or not but from your perspective, what could be a rlarger strategy beyond what weve seen there at the airfield and the tomahawks and would that be enough to stop assad . Im not sure. I think time is going to tell. I think this was clearly a single at both the tactical and strategic level. It sent a message that the red line that was drawn is going to be enforced. You use chemical weapons, there will be consequences. By the same token, it sent a signal. One of the primary subpoena por supporters of the assad regime, it says, look, were not going to use this type of weapon or type of chemical weapon in and against civilians and if you do, there will be consequences. Thats sending a message that if you cross that line, its not going top ratlerated as well. That also tells north korea, with that Nuclear Program<\/a> of yours, you better be careful what youre doing because as secretary state tillerson said, the time of strategic patience is over. A message to north korea as well, isnt it . Finally, i was telling you on commercial break i was out on the arabian gulf this time last year seeing life on an Aircraft Carrier<\/a> and im just thinking of our american sailors on board these ships. What are the dangers, commander, that they are in on board these ships, especially in that location in the eastern mediterranean. Well, right now, now that we have named the ships, they are going to be looked at as targets by terrorist groups. They are going to increase their vigilance but they were operating within a fairly large launch basket so they can maximize the efficiency of the weapons when they hit the target. By the same token, they are going to have to go back to some point to rearm and refuel, get the other batch of tomahawks onloaded so the commander has the ability to use the weapons again should the assad regime continue to do chemical weapons attacks. We also want to make sure that we are working with russia. Lets take a step back. Now that we have sent the signal, how can we figure out that what the assad regime is wrong, how do we begin that longterm transition, hopefully the russians go along with that because at some point in time, we have to stop with the bubble that for decades has existed over the Syrian People<\/a> with the assad regime and we must find a way for them to get out from underneath that dictatorship. All excellent points keeping in mind the secretary of state is heading to moscow for meetings next week. Commander lippold, thank you so much. Thank you, brooke. Thank you. Next here, big picture, is a west wing shakeup on the horizon . Reince priebus may soon be replaced as white house chief of staff . Who is on the short list . What is going on . We have jamie gangel on that. And the Senate Confirming<\/a> the next Supreme Court<\/a> justice, neil gorsuch. His official swearing in not until monday. Well take you live to capitol hill coming up. Behind the scenes of President Trump<\/a>s First Military<\/a> strike against a Foreign Government<\/a> here, the white house releasing this photo, this sort of makeshift situation room down at maralago where the president oversaw the offensive against the syrians. One of those people sitting around the table who may or may not be sitting there for much longer. Jamie gangel has some intel for us. Who are we talking about and what are you hearing . So lets just say this may happen to start, that its under consideration and everyone likes Reince Priebus<\/a> a lot as a person but weve all known that theres been a lot of dysfunction, chaos is the word weve been using about the way that the white house is running. So what ive been told is is that theres a short list of four people who are under conversation. For chief of staff . For chief of staff if President Trump<\/a> decides to make a change. And here are the four people. The first person is and i think we have them House Majority<\/a> leader Kevin Mccarthy<\/a>, wayne berman of the blackstone group, david urban of the American Continental Group<\/a> who used to work for senator Arlen Specter<\/a> and worked on Trumps Campaign<\/a> in pennsylvania and gary cohen, who weve been hearing a lot about, trumps economic adviser, former number two at goldman sachs. Jared and ivanka say hes the rising star. On that list, im being told that the two top contenders are Kevin Mccarthy<\/a> and gary cohn. Hes seen as a democrat so some republicans dont like him but jared and ivanka like him and support him. Kevin mccarthy is very interesting. Hes the majority leader. Hes seen as someone as building coalitions and getting legislation passed and what does donald trump want . He wants some wins and he didnt get that with health care. A lot of people are saying that this guy can get the job done for you. My producer jumped in my ear and said jim acosta is saying that a white house official is telling him that Reince Priebus<\/a> is going nowhere. Right. Heres what we have from our senior White House Correspondent<\/a> jim acosta. A senior white house official was adamant that Reince Priebus<\/a> is not going anywhere and second one says this is just palace intrigue. Lets remember, until donald trump decides he wants to make a change, theres no change. But there is a list going around. And youve got the list and you told us who the top contenders are. Jamie gangel, thank you very much, as always. Sure. Meantime, the battle over neil gorsuch, judge gorsuch is over. The u. S. Senate today confirming him to be the next justice on the u. S. Supreme court with a 5445 vote. Only three democrats, senators joe manchin, heidi heigtkamp an joe donnelly sided with them. This is a huge win for republicans. Tell me more. Reporter brooke, the dust may have settled on neil gorsuch but its not settled on the environment here at capitol hill. One thing that needs to be highlighted is how fiercely partisan it is right now. As you said, to get the Supreme Court<\/a> nominee through, it took extraordinary measures, controversial maneuvers invoking the socalled Nuclear Option<\/a> that broke Longstanding Senate<\/a> rules and had both sides really entrenched into their corners. So a lot of talk here in the aftermath about what this means for the senate Going Forward<\/a>. Not only as it applies to future Supreme Court<\/a> nominees, now that this rule has changed, but how it applies to potentially legislation. Will both sides be even more entrenched in their sides . So a lot of questions up here on capitol hill about what this all means, how this predicts the senate operating Going Forward<\/a>. But certainly, as you noted for the white house this is a big win for them today. We know that neil gorsuch will be sworn in on monday, one private ceremony at the Supreme Court<\/a> and then a public one at the white house. Broo brooke . Sunlen, thank you. Lets take a moment to honor this weeks cnn hero, who helped some of the three million children in the u. S. With hearing loss. Michelle christy has helped the lowincome children get the help they need. A child with a hearing loss can achieve anything but, unfortunately, some fall through the cracks. Sometimes these kids are bullied. And a lot of people in their life tell them that they cant do things. Their parents are often told that their child is never going to learn to speak, which is not true. You can see michelle speak up on our heroes page. While you are there, nominate someone who you think should be our 2017 hero. Coming up next here, it was two days ago when a man who survived the syrian gas attack in 2013 pleaded with me here live on tv, a plea for President Trump<\/a> to please step in and help. He is back with me live to react to the u. S. Missile strike, next. Hey, bud. You need some help . No, im good. Come on, moe. I have to go. vo we always trusted our Subaru Impreza<\/a> would be there for him someday. Ok. Thats it. vo we just didnt think someday would come so fast. See ya later, moe. vo introducing the allnew Subaru Impreza<\/a>. The longestlasting vehicle in its class. More than a car, its a subaru. Various shouting heigh ho its off to work we go woman on the gulf coast, new exxonmobil projects are expected to create over 45,000 jobs. 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When news of the missile strikes broke overnight in syria, i couldnt help but think of a man who i talked to just this week who actually told me what its like to be poisoned bizarrin gas, a former activist and rebel fighter barely survived in what remains the largest chemical attack of the syrian war back in august of 2013. Earlier today he told me of the sensation of fire in his lungs, what it was like to open his mouth to scream but actually hearing no sound, losing consciousness in the middle of the street and then waking up in a hospital. He is kassam eid back with us now. Thanks so much for coming back. I mean, it was just incredibly compelling hearing your first person account of the chemical attack and your pleas to to President Trump<\/a> to do something, and now he has. Whats your response . Thank you, again, brooke, for having me. I woke up for some reason, i couldnt sleep. I woke up. I saw a lot of texts on my phone. I saw the news. I cried out of joy. I thanked god. I dont know. I was overwhelmed. Weve been asking for protection. Weve been asking for consequences for more than six years and today for the first time it happened, for the very first time we see assad held accountable just for once, held accountable for his crimes against humanity. I was overwhelmed. I felt grateful for President Trump<\/a>. I felt grateful for the United States<\/a>. I felt grateful for each and every person who lobbied and kept on talking until someone actually listened. I felt very, very grateful. Kassam, i understand your gratitude but still you bring up assad. Hes still there, and, you know, the real question is whats next . Youre right. Youre absolutely right. Assad is still in damascus. Hes still ordering his troops to kill and rape and torture. He killed half a Million People<\/a> and displaced 12 Million People<\/a>. He tortured thousands and thousands of people like we saw in the report. He raped thousands and thousands of women. He helped creating isis with his atrocities. He drove people to desperation to join extremist groups when they didnt find justice and they went after revenge. He displaced millions of people. He made he remember the little boy who drowned at the sea. He made him drown and run for his life, just like he made millions of syrians leave their houses. We ask for safe zones in syria. I was talking with my friends inside of syria. Everybody kept telling me, please, if youre going to talk again, please, for the love of god, tell them we need safe zones. Tell them to stop assads airplanes from keep bombing us. Shortly after the raid on assads airport, the assad regime and the russians launched many attacks all across syria with aircrafts, and they target hospitals and schools and civilians and thats a huge piece. Thats a huge piece. I know the u. S. Military is investigating whether or not russia is complicit on this and whether or not they potentially dropped a bomb on one of these hospitals to cover up that initial chemical attack, but there are people in america and i hear you supportive of President Trump<\/a> and so many people are, democrats and republicans, but there are also people over here in america saying all right, clearly President Trump<\/a> is motivated as we all have compassion for these just horrible images of, you know, these babies who were killed, but at the same time this is a man who, you know, doesnt want syrians to come into this country with this refugee ban. Let me just play some sound. Hillary clinton weighed in. We cannot in one breath speak of protecting syrian babies and in the next close americas doors to them. Quickly, kassam, how do you see that . With all due respect, with all due respect, i didnt see each and every person who was demonstrating after the travel ban. I didnt see you three days ago when people were gassed to death, when civilians were gassed to death. I didnt see you in 2013 when 1,400 people were gassed to death. I didnt see you raising your voice against president obamas inaction in syria that led us refugees, that made us refugees get kicked out of syria. If you really care about refugees, if you really care about helping us, please, help us stay in our in our country. We dont want to come to United States<\/a>. We want to stay in our country, with all due respect. This is hypocrisy. If you really care, if you really care, help us stay in our country. We dont want to become refugees. We want to stay in our country. Help us establish safe zones. Understand. Help us stay in our country, and if you just give me a few seconds just to tell President Trump<\/a> once again, please, sir, what you did was amazing, what you did was powerful message of hope for a lot of people inside and outside of syria. Please, dont stop on this. Please, help syrians stay in their country. Please establish safe zones and please take out assad owes air force so they wont be able to commit more atrocities committing traditional weapon. Just so people can know what weve suffered in the pass six years. Kassam eid, appreciate it. Well be in touch and well be right back. G. We didnt know if it was even something that we could plausibly do. But having the zestimate in which they kinda calculate out what the approximate value of that house, maybe, should be. It took all of that kinda scary risk away. I cant tell you how much happier we are having a place of our own. Whatever home means to you, well help you find it. Zillow. Then youre a couple. Think of all youll share. Like snoring. Does your bed do that . The dual adjustability of a sleep number bed allows you each to choose the firmness and comfort you want. So every couple can get the best sleep ever. Does your bed do that . For a limited time find clearance prices on the cse bed. Now only 1399 save 500. Only at a sleep number store or sleepnumber. Com sim happy for the distraction. Ill be right there. And the butchery begins. What am i gonna wear . This party is super fancy. Are you my uber . [ horn honks ] hold on. [ upbeat music playing ] the biggest week in tv is back. [ doorbell rings ] whos that . Show me watchathon. Xfinity watchathon week now until april 9. Get unlimited access to all of netflix and more, free with xfinity on demand. I think wthe disasteraced with that strikes a country, you do see that people care. People were dying. We have to do something about this. We have something in development, so well accelerate. I think it was really necessary for people, companies to step up and try to do something about this. Ebola, zika, bird flu, cnns new original film unseen enemy looks where the next outbreak might come from and what we might do to stop it. The world changes around us at increasing speed. We cause a lot of that change. Migrating to cities, strichg the ear stripping the earth of its resources and altering the jungle. Were seeing total ecologies, that which you can see with your eye and that which you can only see with a microscope, one system after another completely reshaped. Do not miss unseen enemy. It airs tonight here on cnn at 10 00 eastern and pacific. Im brooke baldwin. Thanks for being with me. Have a wonderful weekend. Dont move. The lead with jake tapper starts now. Thanks, brooke. You know its a busy news day when a new Supreme Court<\/a> justice is confirmed, and thats not even close to our top story. The lead starts right now. The commander in chief all therizing the biggest military action of his presidency, green lighting missile strikes against the Syrian Regime<\/a>. Now the u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations<\/a> says the United States<\/a> is ready to do more. It is . What is it . Whats the next move for the president . Then, is russia at all complicit in the deadly chemical attack from earlier this week . The u. S. Military says it is now looking for evidence that the kremlin bombed a","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia804707.us.archive.org\/17\/items\/CNNW_20170407_190000_CNN_Newsroom_With_Brooke_Baldwin\/CNNW_20170407_190000_CNN_Newsroom_With_Brooke_Baldwin.thumbs\/CNNW_20170407_190000_CNN_Newsroom_With_Brooke_Baldwin_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240617T12:35:10+00:00"}