Syria Hit: The US, the Brits, and the French bombed targets in Syria last night in response to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons in rebel-held territory outside Damascus. Defense Secretary James Mattis said the targets were three locations used for the development and storage of chemical weapons. He said the operation was designed to minimize civilian casualties, but there was no immediate damage report.

Mattis said, “We confined it to the chemical weapons-type targets. We were not out to expand this; we were very precise and proportionate. But at the same time, it was a heavy strike.”

The attack also appeared to be designed to avoid aggravating Russia and Iran and moving them to retaliate. Russia has a big military presence in Syria, but its forces were not targeted.

The Russians claim that air defenses shot down 71 of 103 incoming missiles, but the Defense Department did not confirm that. They said details would be coming today.

The Syrian government posted on twitter, “Honorable souls cannot be humiliated.”

Mattis said it was a one-time attack completed last night, but President Trump said earlier it was part of a “sustained” effort to dissuade Assad from using chemical weapons.

Trump said in an address from the White House, “These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster instead.”

The attack was anticipated yesterday. Earlier in the day UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said that the Syrians have used chemical weapons at least 50 times in the country’s seven-year civil war.

The Fixer: President Trump’s private lawyer Michael Cohen is under criminal investigation and has been for months, according to papers filed in court by the Justice Department. Depending upon what crimes they are looking at, the case could have enormous implications for Trump, who is believed to be Cohen’s only client.

A team of NY Times reporters writes that, “President Trump’s advisers have concluded that a wide-ranging corruption investigation in New York poses a greater and more imminent threat to the president than even the special counsel’s investigation, according to several people close to Mr. Trump.”

The feds secretly monitored Cohen’s email and during their search earlier this week scooped up material from Cohen’s cellphones, tablet, laptop, and safe deposit box.

Cohen had a penchant for recording conversations and investigators have shown a particular interest in talks with former aides Corey Lewandowski and Hope Hicks.

Lawyers for both Cohen and President Trump argued in federal court yesterday that all the materials seized are protected by attorney-client privilege. Cohen has been Trump’s “fixer” for 10 years, but what kind of legal service or advice he provides is murky. The investigation might be about his personal business dealings.

Cohen was instrumental in the payments of hush money to two women who claim they had affairs with the married Trump. But Trump denies any knowledge of the payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels, which means there’s no attorney-client privilege in that case, unless he was lying.

It was also revealed yesterday that Cohen arranged a $1.6 million payment to a former Playboy model impregnated by Elliott Broidy, deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee , who immediately resigned.

Take one look at that guy and you’ll wonder how he got a Playboy model into bed. But anyway, all three women were represented by lawyer Keith Davidson and Cohen was involved, even in the case in which the National Enquirer was the party paying the money. That sets up the possibility that Cohen and Davidson were working together against the interests of Davidson’s clients.

War of Words: It didn’t take long for President Trump to let loose with schoolyard taunts against former FBI Director James Comey, calling him in tweets a “slime ball” and a “LEAKER & LIAR.” He said, “His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst ‘botch jobs’ of history. It was my great honor to fire James Comey!”

Trump was reacting to published excerpts from Comey’s new book in which he attacks President Trump, even remarking on the President’s orange skin color and the length of his tie.

Comey has cast himself as the embodiment of moral and ethical probity, the last Boy Scout. In taking on Trump he’s getting down to Trump’s level, and he does have his own Achilles heel.

Columnist David Leonhardt recently wrote in the NY Times that Comey made a tragic mistake in handling the Hillary Clinton email investigation. “He helped elect the most dangerous, unfit American president of our lifetimes. No matter how brave Comey has since been, no matter how honorable his full career, he can never undo that damage.”

Burned: The Justice Department yesterday issued a scathing report, accusing former FBI director Andrew McCabe of lacking candor about his dealings with a Wall Street Journal reporter. McCabe disputes that and claims his firing was to undermine the Special Counsel investigation. President Trump got on Twitter to stomp McCabe yesterday, calling him a liar.

Excused: President Trump yesterday pardoned Scooter Libby, the former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney who was convicted of revealing the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame, endangering her life. President George W. Bush had already commuted Libby’s jail sentence.

The Obit Page: Czech movie director Milos Forman, whose movies “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus” won Academy Awards, including best director Oscars, died today at age 86.

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