Now. 2 00 a. M. On the u. S. East coast, new sanctions on north korea have prompted a sharp response, putting the relationship between the two countries into question. Pyongyang saying the sanctions could block the path to denuclearization, and warn that the two sides could return to, quote, exchanges of fire. The u. N. Sanctions new sanctions, rather, were placed on three north korean officials for alleged human rights abuses. Lets get the latest live in hong kong. Cnns will ripley following the details of the story. Will, tell us, how serious are these sanctions against north korea . Reporter these new sanctions in and of themselves not particularly significant in terms of their impact, but they are very symbolic in that the United States is naming three men who are very close to the north Korean Leader, kim jongun. I have seen them standing on stage beside him at events in north korea. They run his state security department, his organization and guidance department, and his department of propaganda and agitation. The department that, by the way, his own sister kim yojong also works for. She is not named here. No member of the kim family is named, and that is likely deliberate on the part of the United States because if they took it to the next level and actually named kim or a member of his family, that could take, you know, what is outrage, anger on the part of the north koreans, a reaction you might expect, and really amp it up to the next level. But the sanctions issue overall, sanctions that are in place over north Koreas Nuclear program and the issue of human rights which north korea calls nonexistent, despite reports from the United Nations of thousands of people imprisoned in labor camps and no freedom of choice or freedom of speech or freedom to express ones political views if they differ from the sole ideological statement of the Workers Party of korea. The fact that these sanctions exist and the fact that the u. S. Is continuing to add to them and enforce them is highly discouraging to the north koreans. It could actually be the red line for them that dee rails the denuclearization process. I think they thought that if things went well, if there was a friendly rapport between their leader and the u. S. President donald trump, that north korea would get some Economic Relief at this point and they havent gotten that. Of course, the u. S. Thought that north korea would start getting rid of its Nuclear Weapons by now or at least being transparent about what they possess and that hasnt happened either. So both sides continue to have different expectations here. I want to read you what the north koreans said over the weekend about the sanctions. Specifically it says, it will block the path to denuclearization forever, a result desired by no one. That could actually be true. This is an unprecedented opportunity where you have the u. S. President , north Korean Leader, they have sat down face to face. They might try to have a second summit possibly, but the sanctions issue could be the deal breaker on the north korean side. Will, to that point, it seems that the path to denuclearization goes through these leaders, goes through the u. S. President donald trump to the leader of south korea, of course, and to the north Korean Leader. The question here, could north korea be turned off by these sanctions with the meeting with the south korean president and also with the possible meeting with President Trump . Reporter i think we have seen clear evidence of north koreas frustration and frankly reluctance to move forward with further conversations until they get a clearer picture of whats going to happen in terms of the sanctions issue. And, by the way, a formal treaty ending the korean war, neither of those things happened. There was supposed to be a meeting this month according to south koreas president moon jaein between moon and kim jongun in seoul. It would have been the first time a north Korean Leader traveled to the south korean capital. But a source told me last week that the chances of that actually happening now are close to zero. There are a lot of reasons for that, some logistical. But others, it speaks to the fact its unclear if kim really wants to russia head with this process now. That raises questions, if this second summit between trump and kim will happen in january or february as the United States has said it would. I know that there was a situation within the last couple of weeks where the u. S. Side was trying to call the north korean side. Sources said 10 or 20 phone calls and the north koreans never answered. So at this point there arent conversations happening. And without conversations, you cant make plans for a summit. And without a summit you cant make progress on denuclearization. Will ripley live in hong kong. Well keep in touch with you. Thank you. A chaotic year in washington winding down now with a tweet storm by the u. S. President , donald trump lashing out at multiple targets on sunday. The special counsel Robert Mueller, his investigation, democrats and, of course, the media, and of course his former fixer, Michael Cohen, the man seen here. Mr. Trump angrily called his onetime personal attorney a rat for cooperating with prosecutors. And he got some back up from his current attorney as our Boris Sanchez reports. Reporter Rudy Giuliani, the president s attorney in cleanup mode, after the president s former Attorney Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison on friday and made some disparaging comments about the president over the weekend. Giuliani trying to put some distance between cohen and the white house, suggesting that he could not be believed, aiming to discredit him, suggesting, for example, that those hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels and karen mcdougal, alleging affairs with the president , were not campaign contributions. Keep in mind that some of the charges Michael Cohen pled guilty to in the Southern District of new york were related to were those hush money payments, Campaign Finance violations that he made to those women. Further, giuliani suggested the only way to believe cohens caims are to take his word for it. Thats simply not the case. The Southern District of new york has presented corroborating evidence to suggest Michael Cohen is telling the truth. We also know a. M. I. , the company that owns the National Enquirer which helped bury those negative stories about the president has corroborated what cohen has said as well. So there is what Rudy Giuliani is saying and then theres whats actually happened in court. Now, one thing thats clear is that we havent possibly heard the last from Michael Cohen. Representative elijah cummings, the incoming chairman of the House Oversight committee, told jake tapper over the weekend on state of the union that he would like to see Michael Cohen testify before congress yet again. Listen to this. Im hoping that mr. Cohen will come before the congress where he can tell the American Public exactly what he has been saying to mueller and others, without interfering with the mueller investigation. I think the American People just voted for transparency and integrity in our hearings. They want to hear from him, and i certainly would like to see him come in the month of january to before the congress, and so that peoples raemepresentats will have an opportunity to ask him questions. Reporter the other question thats out there following reporting from cnn last week that Robert Mueller was still interested in securing an interview with President Trump and having him answer questions in person, despite those written answers to questions from the special counsel that were submitted last month, is whether the president would actually sit down for an interview. Rudy giuliani was asked about that on sunday, and he sort of joked about it. Listen to this. Special counsel wants to interview the president . Good luck. Good luck. After what they did to flynn, the way they trapped him into perjury and no sentence for him, 14 days for papadopoulos, i did better on traffic violations than they did with papadopoulos. When you say good luck re theyre a joke. Over my dead body, but i could be dead. Giuliani struck a bit more serious tone saying he wouldnt comment on that cnn reporting, though he did say that there is an agreement out there between the president s attorneys and the special counsel that allows for more time and discussion over whether the president will answer more questions that may come from the special counsel. Boris sanchez, cnn, at the white house. Boris, thank you very much. Now lets bring in scott lucas to talk more about this. Scott, a professor of International Politics at the university of birmingham and england. Also the founder and editor of e. A. World view via skype this hour with us in birmingham, england. A pleasure, scott, always to have you. Thank you, george. We have heard from mr. Trumps attorney, Rudy Giuliani, speaking about whether the president should sit down for an interview with the special counsel Robert Mueller. Giuliani now saying over his dead body in one interview on fox news. Youll remember the president has said before he would be open to sitting down, though he worries about the possibility of being set up in a trap. So is this possibility a door that has been effectively shut from your view . Well, certainly the white house are going to demand the barricades. Lets be honest, its because they fear a face to face encounter where you cant control the statements, donald trump could open himself to perjury. On the other side, i think Robert Muellers side sees this as the final point where they want to bring everything together, lay it out before the president. If we do not have trump sitting down with mueller face to face, then i think it is a question of when the mueller team proceeds anyway to layout the full extent of what they have across a number of fronts. I think that might be in the spring. It could be a bit later. But lets be clear here. That impending investigation is reducing donald trump to a cross between jimmy cagney, you dirty rats, and king leer with Rudy Giuliani playing the court jester. Were not just talking about one investigation here, george. Please remember that Michael Cohen and the link of donald trump to criminal activity by the prosecutors did not come over russia, it came over the payoffs to women. New york state is investigating the trump organization. It was reported in the last week that the Trump Inaugural Committee is under investigation. When you talk about russia, its not just the political investigation now, its the investigation that is linked back to trumps business with the claim of the pursuit of the trump tower in moscow. So when its multiple investigations, its much harder for trump to get control of the narrative back, and i think this is just going to spiral down and down till, like i say, within the next six months we have the final act. Lets speak more about Rudy Giuliani. We heard him drop a bombshell about the trump tower moscow project, admitting now that the talks could have continued until shortly before the u. S. President ial election. How does this play into the president s poll numbers . Lets bring those into view to show our viewers in the u. S. And around the world what were seeing at this point, the president s poll numbers. At this. 43 approve, 54 disapprove. How does it play into that . Well, those numbers have been pretty much the same, george, since early this year because i think, for two reasons. One is people cant comprehend the scope of what is happening. And, two, even though Rudy Giuliani dont rule this out when he makes statements like the trump tower talks could have gone until november 2016, that confusion, not only trump, but the white house, sometimes deliberate and intentional, some people dont know where we are. If youre with trump, you shrug your shoulders and say were still with him. If youre against trump, youre still against him, but you just keep wondering when were finally going to get clarity. So, all politicians, scott, can say one thing at one time, pivot politically for reasons or evolve later. But there is a difference from simply bending the truth or lying. And you cant deny that this president has been caught telling a tale or two, or more than 6000 tales since taking office, according to the Washington Post reporting. What do you make of these latest poll numbers . The nbc news wall street journal poll, if we can bring that up into view, showing Many Americans believe the president is not telling the truth about the russia investigation. Well, whats striking, george lets be clear, donald trump lies. Im not going to use false statements, distortion. Im going to tell you donald trump lies. Whats interesting about the poll numbers now is that a higher percentage of americans now believe that donald trump is lying. For example, about the russia investigation, than actually oppose donald trump. That means that some people who are 43 that back him are effectively saying, even though we think donald trump is lying, were still going to stand by him. There may be multiple reasons for that. I wont go into that now. But what it means is thats what makes the task of Robert Mueller even harder. That even putting out the truth, the reality in evidence, evidence from witnesses, evidence from computer files, evidence from documents, even presenting that truth may not be enough to swing the trump supporter who says, well, you know what . If he looied a few times, so wh . Some americans are against the lies and some are okay with it. Well just have to, of course, see what is in store for the next year. Scott lucas live for us in birmingham, england. Thank you for your time. Thank you, george. Now to saudi arabia, denouncing the u. S. Senate, after lawmakers voted to end u. S. Military support for the war in yemen, they also voted to condemn the Saudi Crown Prince in the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi. That move from the senate also a rebuke of the u. S. President who continues to support the saudi kingdom. Saudi arabias Foreign Affairs ministry issued this statement. Ill read it here. The recent position of the United States senate, which has been built on baseless allegations and accusations, includes blatant interference in its internal affairs and the role of the kingdom at the regional and international level. In a few hours time, the british Prime Minister will bring her latest brexit argument to parliament. Coming up, the growing push for a second referendum. Also, squaring off over immigration in brussels. Thousands of demonstrators clash with police. Stay with us. Opportunity is everywhere. Like here. Where nothing stands between you and your best friends. Ignition sequence starts. 10. 9. Guidance is internal. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. The whole worlds coming iftogether now nd can you feel it can you feel it can you feel it can you feel it box woah can you feel it woman delivery can you feel it woman alexa, turn on the lights. Can you feel it can you feel it acqua di gio absolu the new sensuality Giorgio Armani at dillards. The style of christmas. [narrator] for powerful suction, you need a shark. With two swappable batteries, at maximum suction the shark ion f80 has more run time than the dyson v10 absolute. Or, choose the upright model for whole home cleaning only from shark. Welcome back to cnn newsroom. Im George Howell. The british Prime Minister is set to speak out against a second brexit referendum on monday in the house of commons. It comes as theresa may is slamming one of her predecessors over his support and comments of a second vote. Miss may accusing tony blair of undermining her negotiations on the divorce deal for the e. U. By advocating for a second vote, but blair says it isnt irresponsible or insulting to look for an alternative way forward. Theresa mays chief of staff was forced to deny that he was planning for a second referendum. That report again came from the sunday times. It says some of the Prime Ministers senior allies are getting ready for a second vote. Lets bring in steven ehrlinger, the chief correspondent for the New York Times live in europe from brussels, belgium. Steven, a pleasure. Thanks, george. Look, theres been this growing chorus of people getting a bit louder about this possibility of a second referendum, all brought to a head by theresa mays predecessor tony blair who went to brussels to suggest that a second referendum is more likely now. Theresa may accusing blair of undermining the negotiations. What do you make of this idea, though, of the second referendum . Does it seem she has the Political Capital to stop shop it . Well, shes certainly trying to. I mean, her whole strategy is my deal or no deal. My way or the hi