Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20171102

Their constituents and say look, we are all about tax cuts. This is what the Republican Party is about. We want to give this to you because we didnt repeal and replace obamacare. They failed to repeal and replace obamacare and the pressure is on them and they are concerned if they dont get the tax cuts through, the tax reform unveiled in the house of representatives, it could be a disaster politically for them next year. The special interest will be out there and the home landlorders salandlord builders oppose this. Everybody comes out of the woodwork with a bill on the table. The special interests want to try to reshape it and thats one advantage to trying to get it done quickly, but there will be a big fight over this. There will be and there is much more coming up on the proposals here had in the United States. We want to welcome the viewers. Im wolf blitzer in washington. Other Important News we are following including dramatic new video moments after the suspect terrorist smashed his truck into a new York City School bus after a mile long killing spree on a bike path. Watch this. You okay . Oh, my god. Hey, can you call 911 . Oh, my god oh, my god oh, my god i need an ambulance right here. Right here. The guy got tboned. This kid right there. That very emotional video coming to lights as he appeared in court shackle and in a wheelchair. He waived his rights and admitted he was inspired by isis and had been planning the attack for a year and admitted he wanted the carnage to continue on to the Brooklyn Bridge. The criminal complaint revealing he chose halloween as the day because more potential innocent victims would be on the streets of new york city. Thats not all. According to federal investigators, the 29yearold is so devoted to isis, he wanted to display the terror groups flag in his hospital room. He had been shot in the abdomen by an nypd Police Officer saying he felt good about everything he had just done. Joining us now, terrorism analyst. Paul, when you look at how the suspect said he planned and rehearsed this and how it was executed, it sounds as if its coming from the isis playbook. Literally from the isis playbook. There was a manual put out in isis book about a year ago. He followed that to the letter down to the verbiage in his claim of allegiance to isis. He was paying very, very close attention to what isis was saying and following instructions to a t. Somebody we understand from the complaint who was planning an attack on the United States for one year that takes us all the way back to last november. Last november he was forced to pay a fine for a traffic citation that was perhaps a grievance attached to that. We have seen in part cases with chattanooga where the suspect was arrested for drunk driving a few months after. A brush with the law can really help trigger a move towards wanting to launch an attack. Of course we understand he had other grievances. Grievances over the United States air strikes in iraq and isis. Grievances against the United States policy towards israel. This was somebody that was listening to speeches by baghdad i. They played a significant role. He was meticulous in his planning and lots of preparations and testing of a truck he was going to hire. He wanted to kill as many people as possible. That is what isis told sympathizers is a top priority. He wanted to carry on driving and heads towards the Brooklyn Bridge and take out many more people. Fortunately he was stopped before he was tabable to do tha. The suspect also said he was inspired by watching isis videos on his cell phone. He had about 90 videos and 4,000 isis images on his phone. Many incredibly graphic including beheadings of innocent people. Could that be the main way he was radicalized . In most cases its not online radicalization. In most cases its contact with people that you know socially and like minded people that is the driver. We will have to wait and find out more information about the nature of his contacts in the United States. What we already know is he was on the periphery of a number of Counter Terrorism investigations and people that the fbi were looking into suggesting that he was moving in radical circles inside the United States, wolf. That is significant. We need to hear a lot more about what kind of connectivity he had to these individuals who were under investigation. They are learning a lot every day. Paul, thanks very much. Meanwhile, serious questions are being raised about whether or not President Trump is jeopardizing the prosecutions case after tweeting not once, but twice that the suspect should be put to death. Last night and doubling down this morning. The impact of the president s words and what could it have. Joining us to the assistant attorney general and cnn legal commentator and still with us, the chief political analyst gloria borger. This is a serious issue and a federal government and a for example court wants to charge him with crimes that can lead to Capital Punishment and the Death Penalty and the defense could use the president s words as undermining that opportunity. It raises that problem and one would think that the president s advisers would be able to communicate that to him. When he is tweeting about a particular penalty, going beyond saying just this person needs to be brought to justice, but he should have the Death Penalty. A criminal complaint has been filed. He is going to be prosecuted in the Southern District of new york. That court has a lot of experience with terrorism cases. Regarding the debate over whether thats an appropriate venue, that court in new york has lots of experience with terrorism cases so they can handle this case, but what they dont need is some sort of political statement jeopardizing the legitimacy or the process of particular case. Lead me read a couple of tweets, about you one. Nyc terrorist wanted to hang irs sis flag in his hospital. Should get Death Penalty. You are a former attorney general in virginia. Could that weaken the case that the federal prosecutors might have once they go to court. Jury tampering is what some have suggested. It doesnt weaken the case, but it gives the defense counsel one more layer of motions to get through. It will be primarily played out in jury selection. We are enough people in new york who dont give a lot of credence to what the president says. It wont be hard to seat a jury that would be unbiassed from the start. Even though this will be a wellknown matter. We dealt with Something Like this in virginia and the whole d. C. Area with the sniper and a terrorism situation. Multiple offenses, not one. Two states to choose from and its a state prosecuted case. This will be a federal prosecuted case. New york doesnt have the Death Penalty. He is being specific, the president of the United States, not saying suspected terrorist or alleged. He convicted him if you take a look at what he put out there on twitter. When he said would love to send the new york city terrorist to guantanamo, but sta diftically that takes much longer than going through the federal system. There is something appropriate about keeping him in the home where he committed. He convicted the guy and he just admitted it. This is not where thats a big issue. Normally i would have the same reservations, but when he declares it to the world after the fact, there is plenty of Video Evidence and everything else. Its a political statement. We had other politicians and president s after terrible terror events coming out and saying this guy ought to get the Death Penalty or he is guilty. You can really read it as a political statement. Is it potentially counterproductive . Sure. In the end i think what the president says in this particular venue as you were pointing out, people who are going to be potential jurors will probably not have much of an impact. Should he not say that . Yeah. He wouldnt be the first politician and say somebody ought to be brought to justice. Its popular politically. He back tracked from what he tweeted last night. Yesterday evening, somebody briefed him on the fact that using gitmo, Guantanamo Bay for this particular case would be inappropriate given that the events took place here and the individual has lawful status in the United States. He had to back track a little bit, but and that it would take longer. Guantanamo bay is he originally said he is open to naming him as an enemy com t combatant and ending him to gitmo, but he changed his mind but the White House Press secretary said he is an enemy combatant. Stand by. There is a lot more going on. We have breaking news in the russia investigation days after Robert Mueller announced the indictments of top Campaign Officials. Now new cnn reporting about heightened scrutiny of the attorney general of the United States. We will share the new information and north korea said to be working on an advanced missile capable of hitting the United States. The president s security adviser getting ready to meet with journalists and answer reporter questions about the the White House Briefing and we will have live coverage of that as well. The former interim head of the Democratic Committee saying Hillary Clinton had a secret deal that helped rob Bernie Sanders of the president ial democrat nomination. We super new information. 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Garnier micelles act like a magnet. To gently remove stubborn makeup. With no harsh rubbing. In just one step. Perfect for sensitive skin. Micellar cleansing water from garnier. On capitol hill, lawmakers are are openly questioning how accurate Jeff Sessions was when testifying before congress. There are concerns with a guilty plea on monday with the russia investigation. Detailing Campaign Officials discussing meetings with russians under oath that never happened. He is speaking live at a veterans event and we are monitoring that, but we will go to capitol hill with the breaking news. What are lawmakers telling you . Democrats are raising concerns and republicans want to look into the matter further. This started on monday after court papers were unsealed that show that George Papadopoulos, that Foreign Policy adviser had floated a meeting between president putin of russia and then candidate donald trump. At that meeting, trump did not dismiss the idea, but Jeff Sessions was then the senator and a top surrogate for the campaign weighed in and said thats a bad idea. He rejected it according to a source in the room who told us thats what happened. Now, this is prompting a lot of questions on capitol hill. As you can recall, under sworn testimony on multiple occasions, sessions now the attorney general was asked multiple times about his conversation with russians if you overhead any conversations with russia and russian meetings and the like. He either did not recall or rejected that and said things like this earlier this year. I have never met with or had any conversation with any russians or any foreign officials concerning any type of interference with any campaign or election in the United States. Further i have no knowledge of any such conversations by anyone connected to the Trump Campaign. Let me say this without hesitation. That i conducted no improper discussions with russians at any time rather a campaign or any other item facing this country. This happened repeatedly in his hearings even with lindsey graham, the South Carolina republican asked him whether or not he heard conversations occurring about russia meetings. He said i have not seen anything to indicate collusion. Democrats are angry saying he should amend his testimony before the Senate Intelligence committee and Senate Judiciary committee. Heres what they said. Pafr Jeff Sessions concealed his meetings with the russians and he had an obligation to be more forth coming about the meetings that involved papadopoulos as well. In fact one of the points of question is whether papadopoulos in that charging document where there is a reference to the Campaign Supervisor was in fact talking to Jeff Sessions. I was very troubled by the attorney generals comments orange. What concerns do you have . Whether he is being honest and forthright with the committee and what it means for the highest Law Enforcement officer in the country. Wolf, i just talked to the Senate Chairman chuck grassley, the republican from iowa and asked if he shared the concerns he said he is still learning the details and would look into it. The number two republican john cornin who sits on the committees said its a legitimate area to explore. Thanks very much. Lets bring back the panel. So what could this renewed scrutiny lead to . He may have to amend his testimony. The big issue here is George Papadopoulos. No one knew he would be raised in this. Jeff sessions could conceivably say as have many people, who is this guy. I didnt know who he is. Yeah, i was in a meeting with him and yeah, now it was raised should trump have a meeting with putin and according to our reporting at cnn, Jeff Sessions was the who shut that down and said no. Candidate trump is not going to have a meeting with putin. Yeah, members of congress have a right to say we didnt get the whole picture. If i had to guess, i didnt know who the guy was and as soon as it was raised in that meeting where other things were also raised, i shut that suggestion down. Should he go down to the committees and say yes, i was at that meeting with the president and George Papadopoulos was at the meeting as well. I didnt think it was a smart idea for the president to go to moscow to meet with putin. I should have told you about that during the q a, but i didnt. The way it sounds at this point is a discussion was sort of propose and he shut it down. His perspective may well be there was no discussion. There was nothing to discuss. Were not going down that path and we didnt talk about it any further. Does that mean you talked about it . You can say yes. In that sense he may need to amend. I doubt he remembers much. This is a guy who just showed up in march. Nobody knows why he was there. Im talking about papadopoulos. If youar i senator from alabama and leading the National Security team which was thrown together really to show there was something together, you are not taking this very seriously. With that argument, Jeff Sessions was the head of the National Security advisory group. Even if he did and if we take him at his word that he shut down the particular proposal at that meeting, the plea agreement that papadopoulos reached indicates after that meeting for at least a couple of months, papadopoulos was emailing other Senior Campaign advisers about setting up meetings with russian government related officials. If session of the head of that committee and didnt like what was being proposed, he should have either said afterwards what is this guy doing on the team and what is he talking about . There should not have been a couple more months of activity at least that we know of as evidence in that plea agreement of potential meetings being set up and communications that this guy was having. Papadopoulos was having with these russians. All we know from what has been released, it looked like a pie in the sky thing to set up the meeting between trump and the president of russia like they set it up. Look whats happening today. Somebody else who was involved with papadopoulos and that advisory with the former Trump Campaign adviser sam clovis who was nominated for a senior position at the department of agriculture who has today announced he is withdrawing his name. Saying this. The Political Climate inside wash made it impossible for me to receive balance and fair consideration for this position. The relentless assaults on you and your team seem to be a blood sport that increases in intensity each day. He was one of the people that papadopoulos was communicating with. He was apparently encouraging papadopoulos to try and set up these meetings. What Jeff Sessions said is he was not aware of anyone who had communications with russians and so i think there is a disconnect here. Its a problem for clovis. I think sessions probably ought to amend his testimony, but its a bigger problem for clovis than the attorney general. Thats why clovis is going to be working at the department of agricultu agriculture. A former Trump Campaign adviser carter page is grilled on the u. S. President ial election. This is President Trump insisting he is not under investigation himself. We are standing by for the press briefing moments away. We will hear from the National Security adviser. Hr mcmaster and Sarah Sanders. Live coverage of that, coming up. To breathe. So to breathe better, i go with anoro. Go your own way copd tries to say, go this way. I say, ill go my own way with anoro. Go your own way oncedaily anoro contains two medicines called bronchodilators, that Work Together to significantly improve lung function all day and all night. Anoro is not for asthma. It contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. The risk is unknown in copd. 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Tell your doctor before all planned medical or dental procedures and before starting xarelto® about any conditions, such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. Youve got to learn all you can. To help protect yourself from dvt and pe blood clots. Talk to your doctor about xarelto®. Theres more to know. Another trump Campaign Advisers grilled about possible collusion between the Trump Campaign and russia. Carter page, a former adviser to the campaign was questioned behind closed doors by the members of the house intelligence committee. President trump described it as a chance for him to clear his name. This testimony comes on the heels of two indictments, chairman Paul Manafort and staffer rick gates in a guilty plea by another adviser to the campaign, George Papadopoulos. A democrat from indiana and a member of the house intelligence committee. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me, wolf. This was called an open hearing in a closed space, meaning we didnt know what was going on although i take it the transcript eventually will be released. Tell us about what you heard from the former campaign adviser, carter page. Members on both sides of the aisle were asking very important questions to get to the bottom of his involvement with the campaign and his involvement on the other side. I think its important for us to really dig more deeply. This threepronged approach with the House Intel Committee and senate and muellers investigation are all a part of pushing for a more perfect union. This is our tax dollars at work. I think making sure that we bring in the right witnesses and we ask the right questions, i think it furthers our efforts to honor the truth. Carter page was part of that same Advisory Board as George Papadopoulos who pleaded guilty to those charges earlier and page said he may have seen emails from papadopoulos on russia. Did he talk about the emails today . Well, what i will say is that we asked many questions. The transcript will be available for public viewing very soon. I think what you will find is that the Intel Committee specifically have been some issues i think for the most part. Both republicans and democrats are working together to keep our nation safe and make sure that we rid ourselves of any bad actors. You said very soon. The transcript of the interview will be released and can you be more precise. Will it be released today, tomorrow, or a week from now. I cant say because i dont know. In a phone interview, President Trump said this and im quoting him now. Im not under investigation, as you know. On the manafort indictment, he said there is not even a mention of trump in there. He added it has nothing to do with us. Is the president right . Is he not under investigation and if thats true, how would he know that . Well, to my knowledge he is not under investigation. I think the greater point is for us to look at the influence of the russians and the extent of their influence in terms of meddling in our electoral process. Director mueller is tasked with looking for any criminal activity as we have seen with the recent arrests and indictments. We are encouraging folks to stay tuned. The whole issue of whether the president is being investigated has been muddied by his white house chief of staff, johnicle whoa said in an interview on fox news the other night and suggested very strongly that the president was being ingevestigatedinvestigate. Let me quickly while i have you get to another topic. Shocking revelation from the interim chair who now says the Clinton Campaign reached a formal deal before donna brazil arrived to control the dn krrc before Hillary Clinton was the nominee. She said that in a new book. In exchange for raising money, hillary would control the finances and strategy and all the money raised. That deal was signed in august of 2015, a year before Hillary Clinton won the partys president ial nomination. Whats your reaction to this . I havent read the book idea. I look forward to reading the book. I know donna are brazil and i think she is a brilliant thinker and is is a former hill staffer. Im always excited to hear what she has to say. The Democratic Party and National Committee not supposed to take sides in a contest for the president ial nomination. Bernie sanders preemabsumably i reading all of this. There was a formal arrangement with the Clinton Campaign a year before she got the nomination and the d nc. You are a democrat. You want to elaborate on this information we are getting from donna brazil. We were focussed in indiana and statewide in the seventh district in terms of getting the vote out and making sure voters were engaged and they saw them working with elected fortunatelies talking about the changing tide we saw in our country. How we can deal with that. I was immeshed in that. Donna brazil is saying in the new book, if its true, i assume you would be upset that there was a formal arrangement to use the dnc and the assets of the dnc which are considerably to help the one president ial candidate. And in the process, hurt others who may want to challenge her for the partys nomination. I think more importantly what we have seen with Bernie Sanders supporters and clinton supporters is that going forward, we need to come together. Though we may have differences and different approaches in terms of methodology, we have to come together and use our numbers to make sure we dont reelect donald trump or see another donald trump rise. And learn from mistakes in the past and review clearly thats going on as well. Congressman andre carson of indiana. Thank you for joining us. We are getting new details on the investigation into the terror attack in new york city including what the suspect wanted to put up on the walls in his hospital room. 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A all this comes as north korea is working on an advanced version of an Intercontinental Missile that could reach the United States. We want to bring in our correspondent who has been working the story. Stand by. We will get to you after this briefing. We will hear from general mcmaster on the trip and Sarah Sanders will introduce him right now. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be traveling. For those of you on the trip, i look forward to seeing you. For those of you that arent, we will miss all of you and your questions. Its a busy day here at the white house like most days here. The president was excited to announce the broad com limited coming back to the United States, moving their company back from singapore. Their ceo credited the president s economic agenda for once again making the United States the best place in the world to grow a business. He noted that the tax reform plan which was rolled out this morning will make it easier for them and other companies to do exactly what the president promised. Bring back our jobs, bring back our wealth and bring back our Great American dreams. This morning the president applauded the house ways and Means Committee for introducing the tax cuts and jobs act which is another important step to providing massive tax swallow the American People. Our entire administration is working tirelessly to make good on the promise to the working people who built our nation to deliver historic tax cuts and reforms. The rocket fuel our economy needs to sore higher than ever before. As you know the president is preparing to leave the country tomorrow for a fivecountry 10daytrip to hawaii and asia. We have with us the president s National Security adviser general mcmaster who will preview the trip and take your questions. Please keep your questions on topic. If you have other questions, the press team will be around this afternoon and throughout the next 10 days while the rest of us are on the road. General mcmaster . Good afternoon, everyone. Tomorrow President Trump embarks on his longest foreign trip to date and to asia by an american president in more than a quarter century. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate americas and the trump administrations commitment to the endopacific and our efforts to strengthen long standing american, lineses and expand new partnerships. The president has actively engaged leaders in the endopacific to address a range of Strategic Issues including most notably the north korea Nuclear Threat. Since taking office, President Trump has placed 43 calls to endopacific leaders and conducted bilateral meetings with south korea and india and australia and malaysia and thailand. This will build on that ongoing diplomacy. The president s trip will focus on three goals. First, strengthening International Resolve to denuclearize north korea. Second, promote a free and open endopacific region. 30, advance american prosperity through fair and reciprocal trade and economic practices. The u. S. Remains committed to the complete verifiable and perm nebt denuclearization of the korean peninsula. President trump will reiterate the plain fact that north korea threatens not just allies and south korea and japan and the United States. North korea is a street to the entire world. So all nations of the world must do more to counter that threat. That is happening. The president recognizes that we are running out of time and will ask all nations to do more. In particular the president will continue to call on all responsible nations especially those with the most influence over north korea to isolate the north korean regime economically and politically and convince its leaders that the pursuit of Nuclear Weapons is a dead end and it is pastime to denuclearize. You will remind friend and foe alike that the United States stands ready to defend itself and our allies using the full range of our capabilities. The president will also use his trip to promote his vision for a free and open endopacific region. The president will make the case that respect for freedom of navigation and overflight the rule of law, sovereignty, freedom for coercion and private enterprise and open markets is the best model to increase prosperity throughout the region. And to secure the freedom and independence of all nations. And of course increasing prosperity of the American People is always one of President Trumps top priorities. Throughout the trip, the president will stress his commitment to free, fair, and reciprocal trade. He looks forward to working with partners across the endopacific region to ensure the governments do not unfairly subsidize their industries. Discriminate against foreign business or restrict foreign investment. This will help increase trade, reduce unsustainable deficits and promote prosper it for the American People and the pacific of the endopacific region. The final point and a point that is often overlooked, this trip like all the president s engagements with foreign leaders builds on previous accomplishments and our previous diplomatic efforts. In may, President Trump delivered a historic speech to the leaders of more than 50 muslim majority nations. The president will interact with many of those same leaders at apec or asean conferences. He will reiterate three key u. S. Counter terrorism pillars he unveiled in the speech. First deny terrorists safe havens and support bases. Second, cutoff their funding and third, discredit their wicked ideology. I think its time for us to recognize there has been progress on all three fronts. Iraq and mosul will be liberated and will no longer control territory and populations. The United States worked hard with allies and partners to deny that sooif haven and support basis to isis. Second we should recognize there is considerable progress on terrorist financing. The secretarys visit to the region during which he opened a terrorist financing targeting center. Also you heard a lot of leaders across the world and the president foremost among them discrediting this islamist or jihadist ideology. The saudi crown princes speech during which he called for a return to moderate islam. At the asean party, the president will discuss how to strengthen partnerships across the pacific to further efforts against transnational terrorist organizations. This trip is an opportunity to build moment um to shared prosperity and security and im happy to take your questions. Thank you. As you look at the tools from north korea, how much are you putting that country back on the list . Thats an option that is under consideration. The president s cabinet is looking at this as part of the overall strategy on north korea. A regime who murders someone in a public airport using nerve agent for a leader who murders his brother in that manner, thats clearly an act of terrorism that fits with a range of other actions. This is under consideration. You will hear more about that soon, i think. In the front . Will the president be using the rhetoric about north korea and will he be meeting with putin on the side lines and will he bring up human rights . So the president will use whatever language he wants to use obviously and what the president has done is clarify in all of his discussions and statements on north korea our determination to ensure that north korea is unable to threaten our allies and partners and certainly the United States. He has done that with a great deal of clarity in the past and im sure he will during the trip as well. That has been a great reassurance to our allies, partners, and others in the region who are under the gun of this regime. Modulates his language. Hes been very clear about that. Let me talk about this quickly. Ive been aware of the discussions about his use of inflammatory, and whats inflammatory is north korea regime and what they are doing to threaten the world. I think there would be a grave danger if that regime didnt understand our resolve, the president s resolve to counter north korea aggression. And the president has made it very clear. Is there likelihood during the course of this trip additional Multi Lateral sanctions will be addressed pertaining to north korea . And second question i have has to do with china. In your view, general, are they doing enough to apply pressure on the north korean government . So, on those questions, what youve seen is a concerted effort to isolate north korea economically. And thats been combined with major diplomatic effort that asks all countries to do more. There is tremendous momentum behind that now. We have seen countries across the indopacific region but globally doing more to expel the in effect north korea slave laborers which are big source of income for regime, to shut down illist u illicit trafficking. And so youve seen a lot of ambassadors, restriction on this kind of activity. And the president welcomes that. And appreciates it. But what we will doing is asking others to do more. So both diplomacy and sanctions working together. China is definitely doing more. But obviously its not enough until all of us achieve denuclearization. I think whats really essential to remember about chinas approach to this, a china recognizes this isnt the United States or anyone else asking china to do us a favor. China recognizes that it is clearly in chinas interest and all nations interest to denuclearize the peninsula. And thats because of the direct threat of regime like this with Nuclear Weapon but also because of the specter of the break down of the nonproliferation regime. And what if others in the region conclude they have to arm with Nuclear Weapons. Thats not good for anybody. So i think china will, as it always does, act in its interests. But i think this is an area where interests are really clearly aligned. General, you mentioned in your opening comments that the world is running out of time to deal with north korea. If you could expand on that for a moment . And earlier this week before the senate, general mattis was asked about the process by which the president might use Nuclear Weapons. And he said, well, if we were to detect a potential launch from north korea, that is scenario under which the president might act. Do you agree with that assessment . Has that been something discussed here within the situation room where options presented to the president . Okay. On the first p on out of time. We are out of time because approaches in the past have not delivered. Have not delivered on halting and then missile programs. And the approach to the past has been that well be happy with something with some people call a freeze for freeze or suspension for suspension. And thats the beginning then of a long drawn out negotiation process or talks during which the north koreantinued to devel its nuclear capability, continued to develop its weapons. Then upon delivery of a weak nonenforceable agreement, the agreed framework, for example, in 94, what that does, what that agreement does is locks in the status quo as the new normal. And then of course north korea then breaks the agreement and continues with the programs. So we are out of time to do that because of how these programs have advanced over time. So what its time for is really converted effort to do everything, everything all of us can to resolve this short of military action. In terms of scenarios, the president is always clear, he doesnt draw red lines or forecast directly or say directly what hes going to do. But what well do is do whatever it takes to protect the American People and our allies. I only raise that because of the testimony. And so what is clear is the United States will respond with all capabilities available to north korean aggression. And they are appropriate to that scenario. Something that might be happening . Gentleman, center in the back. Thank you, general. There are been stories coming out of north korea and certainly parts of that part of the world that the North Koreans have targeted the president in different ways. And are you confident about his security and have you heard any of the rumors about his targeting of him by pyongyang . Well, you know, whenever the president travels, our team does an assessment and will secure the president. We have extraordinarily capable forces in the region. So thats routine for us is to take all that into consideration. General, how can you assess president now that he has consolidated his power, does it make it harder to deal with him or harder . I think the president will do is build on what was a strong relationship they built on. And also build on a substantive policy dialogue we had especially on the security side. In mara lar ga and meetings since then between President Trump and president xi and i would highlight three elements. So that foundation for the u. S. , chinese, really the multinational approach to north korea. The first of these is recognition that north korea is not just a threat to the United States. Remember in the old days youd hear this is rlly a problem between north korea and the United States. Well, everyone acknowledges, china especially, that this is a problem between north korea and the world. The second thing thats really critical is the universal acknowledgment that denuclearization of the peninsula is only acceptable outcome. No more freeze for freeze. And the third thing is chinas acknowledgment its acting in its interest, obviously, they have power, 90 of the trade flows in through china. So the implementation and enforcement of the u. N. Rest la, resolution holds promise but we can do more beyond what is called for in u. N. Resolutions. Two questions. One a follow up on the previous question. Have you determined whether there will be a formal bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin during this trip . Thats not been determined yet. But well announce that if thats determined. And secondly i know we are focused on asia trip. But i want to talk about the president weighing in on the man charged with mowing down citizens in new york city. Called for the Death Penalty. Have there been any conversations in the white house how that could complicate prosecutors efforts and help the defense claim . What the president wants is secure the American People from this threat. And from mass murders like this, murders like this, so what hes asked for is options to take a look. If our tremendous Law Enforcement teams has all the tools they need to combat this threat to the American People. So what we owe him is options to take a look at and see if this is the time to reassess, change our capabilities in this area and Law Enforcement in particular. Thank you, general. Your Opening Statement you spoke about a lot of different freedoms. But i did not hear anything on freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of religion. And self determination, democratic values. And what i want to know is are these things no longer as important to the United States under President Trump . Is he comfortable with authoritarian regimes consolidating power, moving away from democracy as long as they can help us accomplish larger goals such as north korea and on any other subject . So what youll hear is the president when he talks about sovereignty, talking about the solve rn nations protecting the rights of their citizens. You heard in just the preview, and youll hear much more in the speeches and statements president makes a broad about the importance of adhering to rule of law. To promoting freedom. Individual rights. And so this is extremely important to the president. What we ought to do is look at the president s record. So in syria, you have a regime that is it a big human rights offender, obviously, in a number of areas. The murder, the torture, the displacement of 6 Million People internally, 5 million refugees, mass murder of their own people with chemical weapons. Who stood up against assad to prevent either further murder . The president did. If you look at the policy towards valenzuela denying the citizens their rights. The president has made a great stance along with partners on valenzuela. So i would say look at the actions. Right. Look at the cuba policy and shift from the old cuba policy that enabled an autocratic regime and a new cuba policy that