A lot of breaking news to bring you on a busy friday night. We bin with an announce frmt kim jong un. Which, stunning. North korea reports says he says his regime no longer needs the nuclear or missile tests. He realized the best path forward is normalizing relation was other country. If true plenty of reasons to be cautious. But will ripley joins me from hong kong tp what are you hearing about how he came to this decision, if in fact it is his decision. Ive been speaking with north korean officials who were taken by surprise by this announcement. But they say incredibly shroud. He met with Party Officials in pyongyang on friday they decided at least for now missile tests and Nuclear Tests are not the best path forward for nairk. Arguably his Missile Program has gotten him to this point. He is recognized by world leaders. Yet continuing the program could mean military conflict with the United States. Could mean the continuation of crippling the economic sanctions. What my sources tell me is this indicates kim jong uns willingness to focus on trying to fulfill the fromz to his people, a promise he made when he came to power to improve the economic living conditions. And in order to do that he feel that engages with the Global Community and not moving forward with nuclear with Nuclear Missile testing is the best way to go for now. But the north korean will never completely give up the leverage. They havent said they will destroy the weapons. They might shut down the test site. But there might be another one we dont know about. They also said they wont continue to launch satellites which a lot of people feel use the same technology that could be used to put a war head towards the United States. There are a lot of things that need to be work out. This came after his visit to china meeting with the chinese premier as well as the visit by mike pompeo. It did. And apparently according to sources familiar with the discussion the meeting went well. I think that that meeting facetoface with mike pompeo and kim jong un it showed the Trump Administration that kim is someone they they can deal with. Kim jong un was described as personable, well prepared. Obviously he has been studying about this, really studying President Trump himself. He is going into the summit with a very clear list of what he hopes to gain out of this. We can only hope that President Trump also will come prepared to potentially make a deal. Because this is an opportunity thats never happened before. Nine u. S. President s, three north Korean Leaders. This is the first time the president and north Korean Leader sit down facetoface. There may not be another opportunity like this again. Boris sanchez joins me with the reaction from the kwhous. What does the president have to say about the announce zbloomtd hey there, anderson. Tonight we see a shift are from language President Trump previously used to describe the american relationship with north korea, no mention of little rocket man tonight. Also a shift from even how he described the possibility of this summit just a few days ago. And answering questions about the possibility of the summit the president qualified it by saying if the North Koreans went through, if they behave well, then the summit could take place. Tonight the president is saying he is looking forward to the summit. He devoted out a short while ago wrietding north korea agreed to suspend Nuclear Tests and close up a test site. This is good news for america and the world. Look forward to the summit. The president actually pinned that to his twitter account. Of course there are a number of logistical issues to be ironed out specifically where this summit is going to take place. We reached out to the white house to see if they would expand on the president s tweet ton. But they have yet to put out a statement. I mean, this certainly gives the president some big pushback to his critics and to anyone who suggests he was going into the summit any concessions by North Koreans. Yeah, there was criticism of the administration after this announcement of a potential summit was made that the administration was apiecing kim jong un and giving into this craving that he has had to meet with an american president and elevate his country on the world stage. Secretary of state nominee mike pompeo was criticized after the announcement of the secret meeting in north korea, some saying that he came back empty handed, what with there being american prisoners in north korea right now. But of course this is significant, this is ammunition for the administration to justify some of the rhetoric that we have heard from President Trump in the past, his argument is that he is soft on the North Koreans. Of course the question is how serious is kim jong un about denuclearization . How transparent is he going to be . Is he allowing an independent monitor to enter his nation and survey Nuclear Facilities . And and see denuclearization going to be irreversible . In other words kwo kim jong un ultimately flip a witch and from one day to the next restart the Nuclear Program from one day to the next . So still plenty of questions to be answered. Again, this is significant. But as you well know, anderson, the United States has had deals with north korea before that have wound up in the waste bin of history. Boris sanchez thanks. Joining me is author of nuclear showdown, north korea takes on the world. Senior military analyst. Mark herteling. Jim sciutto. Gordon, how significant is this. It is significant of course. Im sure that kim jong un thinks he is playing us. His father in 2008 they destroyed the cooling tower for his reactorer then a year from that they walked away from the six party talks. They are probably thinking they are doing the same thing as dad did. But there are so many dramatic eenlts occurs one after the other. No matter the plans kim has i think he will be swept by momentum which means he can decide to play this out. But thats no the the way things occur. Things are happening too fast and tao significant. With the United States and south korea. And certainly china is involved. Japan is involved. President trump has shone that he is not allowing anyone to upstage him. You have a new National Security advisers talked about attacking north korea when he was at fox news. You have events unnerving kim jong un. By the way he needs sanctions relief. Because its pretty clear the u. N. Sanctions, u. S. Sanctions are starting to constrict the flow of money to kim mean he needs cash. That means he has to talk to trump. General herteling, do you believe north korea will want something in return, a frez for freeze as some people said . Well, this is a positive development, anderson but im not breathlessly excited about this. I normally dont disagree with gordon but on this i do. There is a lot of talking required yet. And all it is is a freeze of something that kim jong un has already proven ke do. He has proven he can fire missiles. He has proven he can test Nuclear Weapons. He is doing this to set the trap i believe. You know, he has been negotiating with both the president of china and the Prime Minister as mr. Trump has been talking to the Prime Minister of japan. The North Koreans have been sending foreign minority to moscow. There has been a lot of discussion behind the scene other than mr. Pompeo going over. I think there is a lot more to be considered. Im not excited yet. In fact im skeptical. This has happened before. You said he is setting a trap. How so . I believe that he has the most to gain. He is in a very good situation. He has proven his Nuclear Program works. Possibly not as much as hed like. He needs primarily the economic assistance, as gordon just said. Thats critical to kim jong un right now. He needs to bring his population around. He has seen positive development. I think he is getting help from some of the neighbors. Jim, if you were kim jong un why would you denuclearize . Their definition of denuclearization seems to be different than ours. But you look at what happened to khadaffip it didnt end up well for him. Its seen as voifl. Its a matter of survival. We have often talked about how folks from the outside will say well kim is a crazy man, irrational behavior, et cetera. But folks who know north korea well say in fact north koreas security pols policy is very rational from their point of view. Youll hear this even from u. S. Intelligence officials from their point of view they are outmatched. Theyre surrounded by rivals. Basically have one sort of friend, china, in the world. So nuclear power, Nuclear Weapons are the best chance of survival. So when they say denuclearize really more likely to be talking about a freeze as gordon and mark general herteling were talking about. The question becomes what does the u. S. Then does the u. S. Freezes for exercising . How long . How comfortable is south korea with that . Also possible only on the table an actual treaty to end the korean war which has been inactive since 1953 but not oberlely over. If you reached agreement there suitable to both sides it would give north korea a sense of skurtd that they would they wouldnt have be in danger of a first strike for instance. But you know complete and ill defer to the smarter folks on the panel. But complete denuclearization based on folks i talk to seems farfetched. Gordon be with moving forward what does the u. S. Need to be cautious about. Everything. This is the kim regime after all. Theyve been good at this. Theyve had a Nuclear WeaponsProgram Since 1965 maybe since the fighting of in the korean war in 1953. But we have high cards and havent played all of them yet. Of course kim doesnt want to give up the destructive weapon processes. But if he is put in a position where he might lose the regime he could well decide to do that. For instance, he may not have the money for gift politics politics which is giving the gift items. If he doesnt have cash to do that. The choice may be santa fe in power or give up nuks. Thats critical for him to stay in power. Thats the manhattan ray of the kim regime. The second thing they need to do is take over south korea. What kim is thinking right now is if he starts a momentum of events then well hell be able to submit so force south korea into submission. That sounds ludicrous. But thats been the kim family policy 70 years. General herteling how important are the joint nuclear exercises with south korea that the United States does. They would be potentially on the negotiating table when people say a frez for a freeze. Right and thats the one step i was going to go, the joint military exercises are extremely important. And when you take a look again the setting of the trap is there a leaning toward the potential of a deal that would get some or all of u. S. Forces off the peninsula that would disrupt the alliance weve had seven years. If that were to occur and not trying to go too far forward too fast but that would be significant to russia and china. Very insignificant very problematic for the south koreans and japanese. But thats been a goal of kim jong un. Its also been a goal of the russians and chinese to get u. S. Forces off the peninsula. So and see part of of the deal making . Is that kim is going to ask President Trump for . And we have seen a propensity for President Trump to say why do we have the forces on the peninsula . Who is paying for this . What quine of defensive measure . Remember that was part of the manhatt mantr a zblien Washington Post, attorney Jeff Sessions threatening to quit with the president fires Rod Rosenstein. What happened in federal court today on the storm daniels lawsuit. Ill talk to her attorney later on tonight. Over. Hey, want to try it . Ok here you go. Over. Under. Hey whoa, pop, pop. Your shoes untied. Ensure hes well taken care of, even as you build your own plans for retirement. See how lincoln can help protect your savings from the impact of longterm care expenses at lincolnfinancial. Com. Better than all the rest applebees new bigger bolder grill combos. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Why people everywhere are upgrading their water filter to zerowater. Start with water that has a lot of dissolved solids. Pour it through britas twostage filter. Dissolved solids remain . What if we filter it over and over . sighing oh dear. Thank goodness zerowaters fivestage filter gets to all zeroes the first time. So, maybe its time to upgrade. Get more out of your water. Get zerowater. Discover card. I justis this for real . Match, yep. We match all the cash back new cardmembers earn at the end of their first year, automatically. Whoo i got my money hard to contain yourself, isnt it . Uh huh let it go whoo get a dollarfordollar match at the end of your first year. Only from discover. Breaking news from the Washington Post ton, attorney general Jeff Sessions reported told the white house he might have to leave his job if the president fires rod rosen. The he called don mcgahn with warning. Amid that the president was furious with rosenstein for thorsoning the rode on Michael Cohen home and offers. As james comey wrote details of the conversation was the president. The Justice Department watch dog group is investigating whether classified information was improperly shared. Our panel, is here ton. Gloria this move by sessions, would that be good news to President Trump, the idea that jeff session wos resign if Rod Rosenstein was fired. He might think two for the price of one here. Because he doesnt like Jeff Sessions and he doesnt like Rod Rosenstein. He might think okay well i didnt know that. Maybe i should do that. On the other hand, its very clear that Jeff Sessions message to don mcgahn look if this occurred you would have a revolt on your hands in the Justice Department. And that would be a real problem. And that sessions was very happy to learn that in the meeting that rosenstein had with the president last friday in which we are recording that rosenstein apparently told the president that he had no legal jeopardy in the Michael Cohen case, that the president was pretty happy with that news and maybe with rosenstein. Maybe now he wont fire him. And zwref sessions will be happy. Rich, would be it a problem politically for the president if he fired rosenstein and sessions quit . Yes. Yes it sure would. Anything i does to move against mueller almost any form now would risk causing a semi collapse in his Justice Department. He won be able to get confirmed aj or a deputy ag to replace him. So it would be a crisis of legislate macy in his Justice Department. Even though he is irritated at the probe obviously, hates the way it widened out there is no Good Alternative other than weathering it. Are you surprised to hear satisfactions going to bat for rosenstein. A little bit. Except its his deputy he should support him. Its heartening to see that sessions doesnt seem to be buying into the narrative of some of the trump surrogates that rosenstein has already done things that warrant his firing. At least to me he supports him to that extend which is good. Kim. Im glad to hear rich say it would be a bad thing. Because i think in the minds of too many people especially people who support trump, firing rosenstein wouldnt be as bad as firing mueller. And to me i kpetly agree with you you. Firing rosenstein would be just as bad as firing mueller. Because its an attempt to get the Mueller Investigation out of the way. So i think that and even if its a double whamy with sessions would certainly i think cause a constitutional crisis. And then would cause whether republicans trying to put something in place to protect mueller, whatever you have it, i think it would be a bad sign for the trump campaign. Scott. This confirmation issue is real. Look how much trouble they confirming the nasa guy. They had to twist arms and we dont have the space shuttle. Pompeo having issues. Cia comes up. The v. A. Coming up. Throwing two more shrimps on this confirmation barbie would lead this department rudderless and leaderless. Sessions is implementing the president s agenda. Thats the thing, van, about sessions, not only was he an early spoerlter ever trump. Could stots point maybe more than elses pushing the president s agenda forward. He is most trumpian of the trump team and yet the most despised and spat upon. Thats the trump style. The closer you are to him the more he dislike likes. But you see the institutions buckling and strange but not breaking under trumps antics and his fits and his bluster and threats. You are seeing the Institutions Holding on. And if a sessions were to leave, dont forget, this is a former senator. He can pick up the phone and call a bunch of people to his defense in the u. S. Senate. So far the Republican Leadership has basically been quiet while trump acted th