The investigation into russias involvement in the election. By the way, the senate just went nuclear, changing its rules to confirm judge neil gorsuch to the Supreme Court. This morning well be joined live on the set with the chairman of the Armed Services committee, senator john mccain, also member of the Foreign Relations committee senator marco rubio. New york times columnist tom friedman joins. Bob woodward as well. Welcome to morning joe on this friday, april 7th. With us on capitol hill, we have columnist and associate editor for the Washington PostDavid Ignatius, washiton anchor for bbc world news america katty kay, and john heilemann. Good to have you all, this morning. We begin with the breaking news. The United States has launched Cruise Missile strikes against a Syrian Air Base. Yesterday evening 59 tomahawk missiles were launched from the u. S. S. Ross and u. S. S. Quarter in the Eastern Mediterranean sea targeting the shayrat airfield near the city of homs. It follows a chemical attack on tuesday by the Syrian Regime against a rebelheld area that killed nearly 100 people including dozens of children. Turkish Authorities Say autopsies supervised by the World Health Organization show sarin gas was most likely used. The pentagon says the strikes targeted syrian aircraft and infrastructure including fuel supplies, storage, ammunition, air defense and radar systems. According to u. S. Officials extraordinary measures were taken to avoid civilian casualties and no personnel were targeted. A Syrian Military spokesman claims at least six people on the ground were killed. Russia, which also operates out of the targeted airfield received warnings of the strikes through secure channels. So here we go. David ignatius, just last week the Trump Administration sounded like it was going to follow the Obama Administrations position which was to essentially yield syria and the people of syria to the fate of assad and putin. Donald trump appeared over this past week to be mugged by reality, as the old saying goes. I think he found the consequences of embracing assad which is in effect what he did, just too horrifying. I thought the president was sincere in saying looking at those photographs of the little children choking to death as they died was abhorrent. I think he said frankly, i changed my mind. I didnt think that i would embrace this policy but i did. Its now fallen to donald trump to enforce the red line that was first enunciated by president obama that he did not follow through on. Significant consequences for his presidency. Hes chosen the least drastic of the military options that general mattis, the secretary of defense put before him, but he has acted. I want to make sure our viewers understand that in answering this next question i dont know where you stand on these attacks, you would be in no way endorsing the attacks of last night. But can you explain why so many people, not only in washington in the Foreign Policy community but across the world were disheartened and concerned after assads first chemical weapon attack was met with no response and how those fierce would have multiplied if they had not been answered the second time . Joe, weve had in the last four years a lesson in the credibility of what American Power is. When a president says, as barack obama did, that use of chemical weapons will cross a red line established by the United States and then doesnt take action to enforce the red line, air goes out of the balloon. We watched that with president obama. By taking that action, donald trump has restored the credibility of American Power. He now inherits nightmarish problems in syria. In terms of the credibility of American Power, i think most traditional washington commentators would say hes put more umph, more believable back into it. Yet, katty, when the history is written of however this story ends, just like some looked at statements made to Saddam Hussein in late 1990, leading up to his belief that the United States would president act if he went into kuwait, certainly a lot of people will be looking at the statements of this administration, especially Rex Tillerson just last week saying, well, this is really up to assad and the syrian people, perhaps gave assad the belief that he could launch another chemical attack on his people and the United States would do nothing. There are a slew of tweets out there from the course of the campaign as well with President Trump saying that barack obama would be crazy to take action against syria, that this was not americas problem, and the focus should be back here at home. Having said this crossed a lot of lines for him, President Trump put himself in a position where he had to take some kind of action. There are now still a lot of questions about why he acted now when hed already seen victims of Chemical Attacks from a few years ago, that the images were all out there. I saw that a lot last night. Hes president now. And when youre president now it rests on your shoulders. You cant tweet and run into the back room. Hes president. He saw it happen, and i do think despite what donald trump said in the campaign were going to see him act more aggressively against isis. Were going to see him respond to these type of attacks because i think thats probably a lot more who he is at his gut. Clearly for the people who thought he would be an isolationist president , not going to get involved, yesterday dispelled that. Hes going to have to deal with the fallout. If its a small Tactical Strike and limited at that, maybe the fallout will be limited as well. This does raise questions about the relationship with russia, the fight against Islamic State and whether it complicates that. President trump is now more fully engaged in the middle east than he was 48 hours ago. To your point a second ago, joe, your question i saw john mccain on this network and he was asked did nikki haleys comments last week invite the syrian chemical attack. Mccain answered by saying forget about that. What invited this was not just those things, was Donald Trumps soft talk on russia over the course on 18 months. Hes being tested not just for things that his administration said five days ago, but things he said 18 months ago where now Vladimir Putin and assad are testing him at this very moment. That was before he decided to launch the 59 Cruise Missiles last night. It is the case. There are a lot of things that led to what assad did. Now donald trump is taking is action. Somebody said the other day on another network when trump gave his speech to the joint session, this is the moment when he becomes president. I think that the moment when someone becomes president of the United States is the moment when they first use American Military might. Whether they like him or dont like him, thats the moment where you stand back and say, okay, hes the president of the United States. Not approving or disproving. This is it. On the russian front, it is extraordinary we launched missiles into a country where there were russian troops. That, of course, reframes some of the russiantrump debate on how obsequious hes going to be to Vladimir Putin. This is open to schism and i suspect what the russians find, the more they taunt him they say it really didnt cause much damage. Theyll find weldonald trump wi say, okay, thank you for your intel, well now attack again tonight. Thats who donald trump is. A spokesman for Vladimir Putin say the missile strikes represent a significant blow to u. S. Russia relations. According to the kremlin the american operation was a breach of International Law insisting the syrian army has no chemical weapons at its disposal. Russia released video that purports to show the aftermath of the attack with planes still in the hangar. Lets bring in nbc News Pentagon correspondent hans nichols. What can you report for us e specially given what the russians say they saw happen . Reporter all night what struck out was the deconfliction line, that the u. S. Gave russia effectively a warning, used it multiple times. When they took strikes on that base, they new russian personnel were also at that base. That gives you an indication that donald trump has a remarkable amount of confidence in these tomahawk missiles and the precision from the United States military. We havent gotten specific reaction from the russian side of it, namely that some of these tomahawk missiles were not successful. They have their eyes and ears up. This is the u. S. Side of things, i. Isr, theyll probably be taking a closer look this morning now that its in the daylight. One other reality the pentagon is waking up to is that the u. S. Troops that are in syria, and theyre just shy of about a thousand, theyre there not only with one more hostile actor, but also with the hostile actor, the Syrian Regime, that has chemical weapons. They may have to review their entire intelligence on this. This 2013 deal brokered by john kerry, that seems to be it left some chemical weapons there. Thats not something we heard a lot at the pentagon, that the assad regime was still armed with these chemical weapons, they were taken, frankly, a little bit by surprise. Thank you hans. We were told over the past month by former obama officials that this issue had been taken care of. It has not. David ignatius, its interesting when i talked to several white house officials last night, i kept asking how other countries responded. What they told me, of course, well find out in the light of day when the press releases start going out, but said it was praise across the board. Some countries, especially some arab states, thanking the president for acting. Even canada was grateful that the United States acted against what they consider to be this international crime. What does that mean for u. S. Foreign policy Going Forward in syria if this gets more complicated . It means that the traditional alliances become stronger. The gulf arabs have been pleading for this kind of toughminded u. S. Policy. They think this conflict really is about the u. S. And its allies versus iran. I think the space to watch in addition to russia and russias reaction is irans reaction. Iran has proxy forces in lebanon that could strike at israel. Iran has proxy forces in yemen that could move to close a strategic strait there by mining it further. The u. S. Iran dimension is going to be a big part of this. I was hearing enthusiastic support from french officials, certainly from emirate and saudi officials. This is the nd of strong american president ial action that theyve been wanting to see now since the syrian war began. So there will be no arguments from them. Joining us from outside boston, former nato supreme allied commander, retired four Star Navy Admiral james taf rid dis. David was talking about this toughminded u. U. S. Policy, but also a show of moral authority for sure, in light of o what weve been watching happen in syria for years. What are the potential ramifications or challenges ahead with countries like russia and iran. If you could, begin your comments first of all, we want to know, as to what mika said, this is a show of strength, we also needed to do this as a show of moral authority. Before you agree with those two positions, that the United States needed to act after the events of this week . I absolutely do. I think it was appropriate and i think it was legal under International Law. As david said, it sends a salutory and mostneeded message to our allies. It pushes back on their heels a bit the russians and iranians. The interesting ally to watch is turkey. Their reaction has been very positive. Now the game is on for, okay, what comes next . You know the old saying, a single swallow does not a spring make. A single tomahawk missile does not a spring make either. Weve got a lot of work to do to sit back, look at the diplomatic options, look at the conversation with russia, where does that go. What follows now are the interesting set of constraints. In terms of the right decision, this was it. Its the appropriate level of force. It was well done militarily, good day for the navy, and i feel overall this will have at least a stopping effect on the flow of activity. Well have to see if we can negotiate with the russians in a way that really puts some kind of constraints on bashar al assad. Katty kay. Admiral, a Tactical Strike can be just that, a Tactical Strike. This one seems to have been successful in its aim. What does it do in terms of the longterm strategy and how does it change the situation on the ground in syria do you think . To the latter, katty, it doesnt change the tactical situation on the ground to any significant degree. The air force of assad still has great capability in order to corporate this kind of work. But what it does do, it sends a message that the United States does intend to be involved, is willing to use force, will act to try and put constraints. So i think theres a greater strategic impact than there is tactical impact to be honest with you. And also, how important ill ask you the question i asked David Ignatius. How important is it of a message not only to send to assad but also to send to the leaders of north korea, send to the leaders of iran and other countries that, even though assad has killed 500,000 of his people, caused 5 mill i dont know to flee, used chemical weapons against them, and it seemed as if there were no International Norms anymore, no red lines that could be crossed, how important do you think it is strategically that that message is now out there . Yes, he struck one of several airfields, but is there not a better understanding in damascus this afternoon that, if he uses chemical weapons again, there will be another airfield or another airfield or another military target hit . Thats exactly the thought that the administration wants to plant in syria but also globally. As we used to say in the soviet union, it is no coincidence comrade, that these strikes occur during the maralago summit. Another part of this message is she jing pi, who is watching this unfold literally on time. This is another thing for the events in asia, that the United States may be willing to use military force there and that may have a clarifying effect in the conversations with china today. Thank you very much, admiral. Greatly appreciate it. David ignatius, the last point he made was a point that two top trump officials, well, arent you concerned youre in the middle of a Chinese State dinner. He said we would only be concerned if he didnt get the message. That if we will do this in syria, if we have to do this in north korea, we will. We dont want to, but they actually were i wont say they were pleased with the timing. They certainly werent disappointed with the timing. Its dramatic pre dinner theater. It sets the table. It establishes the credibility of American Power. Trumps problem in dealing with the chinese and everyone else is he big talk, is he bluster but no delivery. By taking action quickly and in a way thats moved with surprising speed, i think hes demonstrated this isnt just talk, i mean it. Im going to enforce the positions that i take. That obviously has effect in these major trade focus negotiations with china. The chinese also saw general mattis coming down and saw mcmaster, saw some professionals down there. They did not see steve bannon going around with a group of people at breitbart advising the president. The president brought down the best and the brightest that he had, and the chinese saw that. Lets talk about reaction from the hill so far. Tell me what have you seen, what have you heard from the hill . Well, my inbox is full overnight with bipartisan approval of what the president did. Democrats basically saying we need to place this in the context of the larger strategy, need to consult more with the hill. But Chuck Schumer and nancy p l pelosi saying, good, we approve, now lets have another conversation. Republicans broadly supportive except for a couple of exceptions like rand paul who are not in favor of this and want to see a more restrained Foreign Policy. Lindsey graham and john mccain strikingly putting out a joint Statement Last night. Two guys who in some ways pose the greatest political threat of all to donald trump. Democrats cant hurt donald trump. They near the minority. The only real threat to donald trump is within his own party. Because of mccain and grahams icon class and willingness to break with their own party, those guys pose a potentially huge threat to trump. By the way, add marco rubio to the li