JUDY WOODRUFF: The Pompeo confirmation hearing
to be secretary of state is taking place as the administration confronts urgent questions
about Syria. President Trump and Russian officials swapped
warnings today about whether to strike the Middle Eastern nation over a suspected chemical
weapons attack. The president first said that a U.S. Response
could come -- quote -- "very soon or not so soon at all." Then, at a White House meeting, he was pressed
on whether the U.S.
Is indeed getting ready to attack. DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States:
We're looking very, very seriously, very closely at that whole situation. And we will see what happens, folks. We will see what happens.
It's too bad that the world puts us in a position
like that. But, as I said this morning, we have done
a great job with ISIS. We have just absolutely decimated ISIS. But now we have to make some further decisions,
so they will be made fairly soon.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Later, the president met with
his National Security Council to discuss next steps. Afterwards, officials said he plans to speak
tonight with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May. Today, May announced that her Cabinet has
approved a plan to work with the U.S. And France to coordinate an international response
to Syria's actions.
Meanwhile, Russia asked for the U.N. Security
Council to meet tomorrow. Its ambassador to the U.N. Said Moscow wants
to avoid a war.
VASSILY NEBENZIA, Russian Ambassador to the
United Nations: We hope that there will be no point of no return, that the U.S. And their
allies will refrain. The danger of escalation is higher than simply
Syria, because our military are there on the invitation of the Syrian government. JUDY WOODRUFF: The back-and-forth came as
international inspectors headed for Syria.
They will begin a fact-finding mission on
Saturday. Amid the tensions over Syria, there's another
shakeup in President Trump's national security team. It's widely reported that Ricky Waddell will
step down as national security adviser -- deputy national security adviser. He's the latest of several top staffers to
leave since John Bolton took over as the new national security adviser.
The president today played down talk that
he might fire Robert Mueller, the special counsel in the Russia investigation. Instead, the president tweeted that he's cooperating
with the probe. He said: "I have agreed with the historically
cooperative, disciplined approach that we have engaged in." Later, White House lawyer Ty Cobb denied an
NBC News report that negotiations with Mueller have broken down. In London, international investigators have
confirmed that former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve
agent.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons didn't say who was responsible. Britain charged again that it was Russia,
but Moscow insisted the findings mean nothing. MARIA ZAKHAROVA, Russian Foreign Ministry
(through translator): Russia will not trust any conclusions in the Skripal case until
Russian experts have been granted access to the relevant materials linked to the OPCW
expertise and all the information London has on this incident. JUDY WOODRUFF: Britain has asked the U.N.
Security Council to meet next week to discuss the report.
The National Enquirer's parent company is
denying that it suppressed a story that President Trump had a child out of wedlock in the 1980s. American Media Incorporated said today the
claim wasn't credible. "The New Yorker" and the Associated Press
reported that AMI paid a former Trump Tower doorman $30,000 in late 2015, but never ran
the story. The doorman maintained today that his story
was true.
The U.S. Senate today confirmed Andrew Wheeler
to be the number two at the Environmental Protection Agency. He is a former coal lobbyist who has opposed
regulations affecting that industry. Wheeler will now be line to run the EPA if
the agency's embattled Director Scott Pruitt were to be forced out.
Oklahoma teachers say they're going back to
class, after an most two-week walkout that shut schools across the state. The teachers union celebrated what it called
a historic funding increase. The Republican-controlled legislature had
approved tax hikes that provided $450 million in new funds. That's $150 million short of the teachers'
demands.
And on Wall Street, stocks rose as fears of
a trade war with China eased again. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 293
points to close at 24483. The Nasdaq rose 71 points, and the S&P 500
added 21..
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