Thank you, guys. Have a wonderful week off. You know you have walked on them. Good morning, everyone. Im poppy harlow. John berman has a welldeserved week off. If President Trump was hoping to silence north korea with his improvised threat to unleash fire and fury t didnt work. Today pyongyang is shrugging off the threat that it calls nonsense from a president that it calls, quote, bereft of reason. And a Senior North Korean general says a plan is in the works to send four mediumrange missiles into the waters off guam, saying the plan had go to north Korean Leader kim jongun within days for review and approval. The Trump Administration, meanwhile, is insisting it speaks with one voice in the north korea standoff, and south korea says it is keeping the door open to dialogue. We have all of this covered around the world. The only way cnn can. Lets begin with our will ripley in beijing. Good morning, will. As you said on the program yesterday, generally it takes 24 hours for north korea to respond. And respond it did. Reporter they sure did. You know, were used to hearing fiery rhetoric from north korea, poppy. Weve heard them say theyre going to turn the mainland u. S. Into a sea of fire, theyre going to annihilate washington in a nuclear attack. But what makes this different and really ive never seen anything quite like this before is the level of technical detail in this statement, talking about the specific missile that theyre going to use. The trajectory up over japan. 2,100 miles towards guam. That u. S. Territory home to more than 160,000 u. S. Citizens and key military assets and bringing those missiles down less than 20 miles from the island. Talking about all of that so specifically, if they were to pull this off successfully would be north koreas most provocative missile test they have ever done. But, of course, there is a big difference between writing words on a sheet of paper and actually executing the plan. And there are a lot of questions about the accuracy of north koreas missiles and their capabilities. But the fact theyre putting this out here, this could be a big bluff, or they could feel quite confident, technically, that they have the ability to do this, and theyre saying they could have this plan ready to go in a matter of days. But whats also noteworthy about this statement, the insults aimed at President Trump after he warned north korea not to engage in threatening behavior, threatening to rain down fire and fury like the world has never seen. North korea calling that a load of nonsense, poking fun at the fact that President Trump was speaking from his golf course in new jersey. His private golf club when he made these remarks. They said he doesnt grasp the gravity of the situation on the korean peninsula. They say they dont believe that essentially sound dialogue would work when communicating with the president. They say that only absolute force would work. Thats coming from general kim rock yum of the korean peoples army. And the last statement here, poppy, from north korea, saying we keep closely watching the speech and behavior of the u. S. This is a threat that if the rhetoric continues from washington, north korea will continue to up the ante. And you have the concern in this region that one step leads to another. One misstep and all of a sudden you have an accidental war breaking out on the korean peninsula, which is why the south korean government is saying, despite all of this, their door remains open to sit down with north korea for negotiations, an offer they have extended now for weeks. North korea has yet to respond. And that has been president moons tactic since he won the election recently. Will, stick around. We want you to stay with us, as we discuss more. Lets go to guam, because our ivan watson is there. Look, these are the people that are caught in the middle of all of this. Including, of course, the south koreans and americans. But this latest threat is right off the shores of guam. Reporter well, yeah. A threat on paper and a threat in statement. But despite it, the governor, the highest elected official on this island with more than 160,000 u. S. Citizens and two u. S. Military installations insist the threat level has not been raised at all. I spoke at length with governor eddy calvo, and hes trying to reassure the public, and he pointed out to me, there is no panic on this u. S. Island right now. Take a listen. Theres no panic in guam. Im sure youve talked to people who live in seoul or even tokyo. I think the concerns are even more weighty over there, which is closer to the action, particularly seoul, where artillery is within range of the inhabitants of seoul. Reporter i was speaking to the governor in the guam museum, which has an exhibit showing photos of peoples grandparents here who were put in japanese concentration camps when this was occupied by the Japanese Army during world war ii. People here in living memory remember conflict they have endured super typhoons, and in response to these threats, its not the first time they have heard them from north korea. In 2013, kim jongun, when he was just brandnew as Supreme Leader of north korea, threatened guam, and the u. S. Military deployed thaad Missile Defense systems here. The governor pointed out that there are is an entire umbrella of u. S. , south korean and Japanese Military defense between guam and north korea, and any missile from there would have to fly over south korea and japan and a large expanse of ocean to reach here. So hes trying to say hes confident in u. S. Defense capabilities to protect the small island from this north korean threat. Poppy . Ivan watson on the island of guam, thank you very much for that reporting. And lets talk more about this specific threat from the north korean regime. Barbara starr is at the pentagon. And barbara, we saw will holding up the text of this latest specific threat. And he said, frankly, hes never seen anything like it. What do you make of it . Well, theres some things that really do stand out with the North Koreans threatening to launch four simultaneous missiles. And one of the reasons they might be saying that is they think, or theyre trying to send a message, that they could overwhelm the thaad Missile Defense system that is on guam. They may believe that they are able to do that. Thaad is a system the u. S. Put there that is supposed to defend against at least a small number of incoming missiles. I mean, clearly, the missile theyre talking about could on paper reach guam. Its got about a 3,000mile range on paper. Guam about 2,000 miles. But still, very serious. But a heavy technical lift for the North Koreans to be able to target with precision at that distance, and to be able to hit the target they think theyre aiming at. So thaad will be there. There will be a lot of watching and observation of north korea over the coming days, even more, perhaps, than there already is. But its going to be a matter of trying to, you know, get that intelligence at what point, if any, does this paper threat, and thats what it is right now, holding up a statement, a statement on paper, at what point does that turn into the u. S. Having to take some kind of action about this, if any action. Important point, barbara starr. Thank you and stay with us, because we still dont have word from the president this morning on north korea. We do know the Vice President and National Security adviser, hr mcmaster, are heading to new jersey to meet with the president over lunch today. Lets talk about the big picture here. Former cia operative, mike baker with us, also back with us will ripley and barbara starr. To mike. This is something that is a very technically detailed plan. Four missiles theyre threatening. The appropriate response, in your mind, from the administration is . Well, i mean, we have to operate on several levels. Its not we have to do this or we have to do that. And by that i mean, look, weve already had a fairly successful effort in the u. N. So we had 15 to 0 on the u. S. Drafted resolution. Now we have to implement those sanctions. And then we also have to monitor. If china tries to circumvent the sanctions as they have in the past, we need to be aggressive in calling them out. So we have to do that. We also have to work simultaneously at the same time off the radar screen. Its not going to be some public display, with the chinese authorities to aggressively explain and work with them so they understand that this is one of those rare moments where their interests align with ours. And to work with and to understand that this can either happen in a very bad way and nobody wants that. Thats obvious. Or they can work with us, to try to affect a resolution. And whether that resolution ultimately is that the chinese work to affect a regime change or unification, whatever it may be, and that all sounds grand. But the chinese are going to have to be at the table. And i think they have signaled a mindset change by the fact they signed on to that u. N. Resolution. But kim will not go for a regime change. Again, we have to realize, kim is not a loved figure within the north korean military. If kim left tomorrow, if kim was gone tomorrow, its not as if the military would be in mourning. So we also have to understand, theyre operating in a bit of a bubble. I dont think anybody believes that the military is giving him honest assessments of the north korean capabilities compared to the u. S. Capabilities. Will ripley, you have been in pyongyang more than a dozen times, you have spoken up with highup officials there. Do you agree with mike bakers assessment . I am not sure i would say look, at least the way its publicly expressed, you ask any member of the military, and they will say that they will die for kim jongun. Granted, he is the leader of an authoritarian regime where political dissent is not tolerated and people who are deemed to be unloyal are punished severely or even killed. However, the so every military member ive ever spoken with inside the country as recently as a month and a half ago has said they are ready to fight on his orders and he is the commander of the korean peoples army. The supreme commander. But i do think that we need to we really need to watch over the coming weeks, and heres why. August is always a tense month in this part of the world, because they engage in joint military drills, and those are expected to kick off later this month. It always infewuriates pyongyan and the officials here in beijing, the Chinese Government doesnt like to see these military exercises, either. So if north korea did feel confident they could pull off Something Like this, the month of august might be a time when they would try it. Because north korea often launches missiles and tries to show force during this time. Sure. But what we dont know is now that President Trump has drawn this red line, how the United States is going to respond. Right. We dont. Barbara starr, to you. We have learned that the president s choice of words, fire and fury, unlike the world has ever seen before, was improvised. It was essentially ad libbed. The white house is taking pains to say were all on the same page. General kelly, not surprised at all to hear this. However, can you just speak to us about whether it is rare for a president to make remarks like that offthecuff . Or when theyre speaking about a situation like this, previous president s have cleared that with those around them in the National Security apparatus. Well, you know, its rare until it happens, right . Theres always been a case of a president speaking extemporaneously, i suspect, and giving his staff a heart attack by doing that. What i think were dealing with here is, in fact, you know, take the white house at its word, that the president was speaking extemporaneously. He wanted to deliver a message. He wanted to deliver a very tough message. Its whats happened after that thats so interesting. You saw the secretary of state saying sleep well at night. You saw the secretary of defense warning that if north korea were to initiate an attack, there would be dire consequences for them to pay the destruction of the regime, even as secretary matris also made the point about the diplomatic track and supporting that diplomatic track. So its it is nuanced. Its i think its what mike went back to a minute ago. None of this is one path or the other. There are several things happening at once. There is no indication that the Trump Administration is turning away from diplomacy, but they are ratcheting up the rhetoric, trying to make sure that kim hears them. What he hears in pyongyang may be the big problem. And i think thats a really important point. Also, i think what china hears. And i think more to the point, any messages that are delivered, whether extemporaneous or scripted, its more important how china processes it, at this point. Because we tend to look at they for years now looked at north korea as an enabling you know, situation. So what they have done with north korea has served their own interests. Chinese interests. And i think that they are at a point where theyre realizing now, theyve kind of come to a point in the road where that may be changing. And to be clear, diplomatic language restrained talk, sort of a pseudo appeasement, carrot and stick approach hasnt worked. And its gotten us to this point. We have to leave it there. Will baker, will ripley, barbara starr, thank you very much. Ahead for us, is the president rethinking calling the russia probe a witch hunt this morning . After a new cnn poll shows 60 of americans dont agree. They think it is a serious matter. And obamacare is still in, so mcconnell out . Apparently the president s tactic this morning, letting it rip on the Senate Majority leader again today, as a gop source tells cnn it was the president who made it harder to pass the repeal. And brace for sticker shock. A new report out this morning, all this Uncertainty Around Health care, well, that is going to mean your premiums will likely skyrocket next year. Were putting politics aside and digging into the issue. And im randy. We sell socks. Why socks . 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Cnn political commentator, ben ferguson is here, and democratic strategist, adrian elrod, longtime Hillary Clinton campaign aide. Nice to have you both here. So ben thanks, poppy. Good to have you. North korea responds to all of this. The president s rhetoric. And heres what they say. They call it a load of nonsense. And they say that sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him. Do you think that the president s tactic and his i mean, he rolled the dice here with this language. Yeah, i dont is it back firing . I dont think so, and i dont think it was rolling the dice. We know it was improvised, ad libbed. Yeah, but i think the tone and the point of his tone was the point that over the last eight and a half years, weve had this patient diplomacy. And where it got us was 60plus Nuclear Weapons, miniaturized Nuclear Weapons, interballistic missiles and now half the United States of maamerica can be reac. Letting the world rely heavily on china to rein them in has been a complete failure. We know there are markings from the chinese. What tells you this rhetoric is working, thats what im trying to get at. I dont think its going to be something youre going to see every single day from the president. But i think he was basically having a reset that was very clear. Were not going to allow you to act this way in the world. Were not going to allow for another four years of to have these sanctions on you and you keep doing this. And so i think he needed to understand, there is a new american policy and this is unacceptable behavior. So adrian to, get to bens point, he says diplomacy over the obama administrations eight years and frankly before that, george w. Bush, the clinton administration, that that just has not worked. Look, i think we are walking a very fine line here. Hillary clinton warned time and time again during multiple debates on the campaign trail that having somebody who is temperamentally unfit like donald trump handling potential Nuclear Threats was dangerous. And now were seeing that come to fruition. Hold on, hold on. Let me hold on. Let m