Also, just checking the news updates and it appears that the President did not clear this strike with congress, but instead informed the Russian authorities about his intentions before issuing the order. Is there any more clarification on this?
Why do you think informing the Russians was inappropriate?
The situation is very delicate - two superpowers fight a war, supporting in a limited way two opposing sides of a conflict. US informing the Russians means they give them enough time to evacuate their people. The intention is not to kill Russians or to start a much more terrible war.
Trump didn't need to clear it with congress, especially if there were suspicions another attack was imminent. (In any case, he has 90 days to get official sanction from congress.) Also worthy of note was the Russians could have shot the missiles down but didn't.
