Transcripts For WPVI Good Morning America 20170704 : vimarsa

WPVI Good Morning America July 4, 2017

Maybe i should go. Unable to speak at her First Press Conference since that deadly car crash near her home in florida. Will she be able to go on at wimbledon . Fireworks inferno. Fourth of july festivities sparking a dangerous blaze in arizona. Flames shooting up as families celebrate the holiday. The dry and hot weather canceling fireworks displays as dozens of wildfires burn across the southwest. Hey, good morning and happy fourth, everybody. All morning were going to be celebrating this Independence Day all the way from washington you see those iconic monuments to new york city with that live look at lady liberty and she is looking quite festive. Also in new york city theyre getting ready for the macys fireworks display as people hit the beaches and wave the flags on this Independence Day. Are you going to do any of those, fire up the grill my wife and son are up at grandmas place so im going to watch whatever i want on television tonight how about you . Ill be going to the fireworks, nine of us and the kids will be melting down by the time they start so happy fourth, everybody. Great to be here with you, dan. But first on this Tuesday Morning breaking news, a july 4th provocation from north korea. They claim to have launched their first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile as we refer to as an icbm overnight, perhaps a major step toward their goal of being able to hit the United States with a Nuclear Weapon. Abcs James Longman is in london covering this developing story for us this morning. Good morning, james. Reporter good morning, paula. A stunning claim overnight, north korea saying it successfully tested its first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. The announcement came on state tv early in morning with the secretive regime releasing images it says are of the launch. As usual its difficult to know for sure whats going on in that country but japan confirmed the missile through for about 40 minutes before landing in the ocean. If true this would be the first time that north korea has tested a missile that experts fear could potentially reach alaska. North Korean Leader kim jongun and others were shown celebrating the successful launch and overnight President Trump was tweeting about the test. He of course aasked does this guy have anything better to do with his life. This comes on the heels of the summit but how is the u. S. Reacting this morning. Reporter paula, u. S. Officials tell us theyre analyzing the test. At this point they believe it was a more standard midrange missile. Tensions, of course, between the u. S. , its allies and north korea on the rise and the regime saying theyve carried out at least 11 missile tests so far this year. And just last month the death of 22yearold American College student otto warmbier, of course, he was there after 17 months in captivity and, remember, its not just about how far a missile can travel but whether the technology is there to support a nuclear warhead. Paula. Seems theyve been more bold and brazen in their actions. James, thanks for your reporting this morning. Dan. We are in treacherous times, James Longman, thank you. Lets bring in steve ganyard, a former state department official. Steve, good morning to you. Good morning, dan. So whether or not this is an icbm, would you say this launch is nonetheless a genuine step toward north korea having the ability to hit us in the mainland u. S. With a Nuclear Weapon . I dont think we should be too worried about what we call it, dan. This is the first time if the analysis is correct that were seeing a north korean weapon that can hit the United States, not the mainland but alaska is very much part of the United States and this is a very worrying development. President trump has been trying for months to get china, north koreas most important ally, to intervene here. But in a phone call on sunday, just hours before this test, President Trump told the chinese leader that the u. S. Is now willing to go it alone on north korea so i guess my question is what exactly does that mean . What are our options . Well, President Trumps really stating the obvious because china has left us on our own. Nobody will solve this except the United States and the problem is with this launch its no longer just a regional problem. This is a u. S. Problem because it can now reach the u. S. Territory soil, so right now the only thing the u. S. Has is economic sanctions, its the same thing that the past four u. S. President s have, the problem is its going to involve sanctioning chinese banks which can going to further exacerbate our very sour relationship with the chinese and so theres an interesting knockon effect. This Missile Launch will have will, in fact, ruin or make our relationship with the chinese much worse. No good options, steve ganyard, thank you very much for your analysis on this holiday weekend. Paula, over to you. The Trump Administration is getting ready for its first Independence Day celebration in the white house. The focus will be on honoring veterans and military families. Trump is also preparing for the g20 summit and leaves tomorrow making a stop in poland on his way to the critical meeting with World Leaders and the president will have come facetoface with Vladimir Putin. The question this morning, will he confront the russian leader over that countrys interference in the u. S. Election . Abcs david kerley is at the white house for us this morning with more on that. David, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, paula. We are not hearing from the president about that meeting coming later this week. He is tweeting this morning about the north korean Missile Launch but he is preparing for that big g20 summit in europe. This morning, ahead of his big meeting the president has been dialing for diplomacy calling nearly ten World Leaders but it is his first facetoface with Vladimir Putin, the man accused of meddiling in the u. S. Elections that will get the attention. He said donald trump is a genius. Reporter putin praising trump. [ speaking a Foreign Language ] leading some democrats wondering if all these kind words led to cooperation during the president ial campaign. The election hacking, contacts between several trump confidants with russians and possible collusion. Now the subject of congressional and a special counsel investigation. For several years mr. Trump stated he had met the russian leader. Tough guy, i met him once. Reporter but now says this will be their first facetoface. Ive never met him. You said 13, 14 and 15 you did have a relationship with him. What do you call a relationship . Im asking you. I have no relationship with putin. I dont think ive ever met him. I never met him. I dont think i ever met im. Reporter syria and ukraine two friction points and the rugss want their two diplomatic compounds back, facilities shut down by president obama for the russian interference in the elections. The Trump White House wont say if the elections will be part of the discussion with putin. This is very important for us to make a statement that russia does not meddle, not just in our elections, here and the future, but in our allies. Reporter the russians are now telling us this morning the two men will be meeting on the 7th, friday, in hamburg, germany. We do not have an agenda, guys, as to exactly what they will be discussing during that pullaside meeting . David kerley at the white house, thank you. Lets bring in matthew dowd. Matt, good morning to you. Good morning. Happy fourth to you and paula. Thank you. In this meeting does trump have any choice really but to broach the issue of election meddling . Well, you would think he would have no choice, but all the reporting and all of the things weve heard is that he is not going to bring it up. But its obvious the dominant issue in our politics how much they meddled in our elections but i think donald trump is in sort of a precarious position because one of the only friends he has is Vladimir Putin in the International Community when he meets over in europe. And, matt, putin is expected to demand from President Trump the u. S. Return those compounds that were sized by the Obama Administration back in december and russian officials have warned that retaliatory measures have been drawn up if this doesnt happen. How do you see this all going down . Reporter well, i think this is such a crucial time as you all talked about related to north korea and everything going on how much president ial temperament matters in these times. And i dont really know how its going to go down. Almost sounds like donald trump will be involved in another real estate deal, but this time related to our diplomatic i mean the diplomatic compounds of the russians. I dont really know. I dont think donald trump because i say because one of the only people that he has a friend right now, a real friend is Vladimir Putin so how much he pushes that is a real big question. Matthew dowd, we always appreciate your analysis and happy fourth to you, sir. Matt, you always have a friend in us, by the way, just in case you were wondering. I feel like its saturday lets do this every fourth of july. Happy weekend, everybody. Sorry to confuse all of you. Thanks, matt. Now we want to send things over to ginger and dangerous wildfires threatening the southwest as well as the west. Good morning to you, ginger. Good morning, paula. 29 large wildfires burning. Mostly in the rockies and the southwest. This one from parker, arizona, brush fire, you can see over the Colorado River there that intense flame all set by fireworks at the blue water casino. Thats why officials are telling a lot of people please do not set off fireworks on this fourth of july. Sparks, nevada, for example, this fire shut down i80 for a time. Now its back open but my goodness conditions are not good. Fire watch and warnings around reno. Excessive heat watch in phoenix. That ridge is building once again. Look at the numbers if phoenix, up to 116. What happened was they had a lot of moisture for the spring, a lot of foilage builds up then it dries out, paula and fires fuel. Thanks for that explanation. We know so many are traveling this holiday weekend. 44. 2 million americans according to aaa but now the traffic app waze has narrowed down exactly when you do not want to be on the road today. It anticipates, everybody, the worst times for driving will be between 3 00 and 6 00 p. M. Based on data from last year. Traffic is likely to be the worst in urban areas holding fireworks displays tonight then waze says to expect a 3 increase in traffic after those shows as people make their way home. All useful information from one of my favorite apps. Best to be careful on the road. We turn to what some are calling beachgate, new Jersey Governor Chris Christie under fire and unapologetic after these pictures hit social media. Thats christie and his family enjoying the beach even though he just ordered tate beaches to be closed as part of a Government Shutdown. Abcs Erielle Reshef is on the story. Erielle, good morning to you. Reporter good morning, dan. The threeday Government Shutdown in new jersey is now over after a late night budget deal but governor Chris Christie is still facing a wave of backlash over his time at the beach. This morning, governor Chris Christie doubling down on his right to be here. On this deserted stretch of sand. The governor has a residence at island beach. Others dont. This is the way it goes. Run for governor then you can have the residence. Reporter a local newspaper on sunday snapping these pictures of the governor and his family on a beach he ordered closed to the public. One of 40 state parks shut down in the midst of a budget deadlock. Boy scouts forced to cancel their campout, joggers turned away. Christie defending his holiday escape. I think ive proven over the last eight years i have a choice to make between my family and political optics then ill pick my family. Reporter local beachgoers not amused. This banner flying off the shore. Just hours after these were taken the governor at first implying he was hard at work to reopen the government. Governor, you look like you got some sun. I didnt get any sun today. And the Government Spokesperson saying christie, quote, did not get any sun because he had a baseball cap on. Christie also tweeting that despite the shutdown, 119 of new jerseys 130 miles of coastline are open. As his approval numbers stand at 15 , making him americas least popular governor. While social media had a field day with the now trending beachgate. Sparking memes of the lounging governor dropped in iconic scenes from the oval office to forrest gump. Governor christie says he was only at the beach for 40 minutes before getting back to work on the budget and this morning we know all of the beaches in new jersey are open just in time for the fourth of july holiday. Paula. 40 minutes, not long but long enough to be photographed. Now to wimbledon and Venus Williams. The tennis superstar breaking down in tears at a press conference when she was asked about the fatal car crash shes being reld responsible for and abcs Adrienne Bankert is here with the story for us. Good morning, adrienne. Good morning to you too. It was uncomfortable, venus started out composed. Grateful for her first round victory and her 20th wimbledon. But when questions turned to that june 9th crash after tears overtook her answer, the room fell silent and no one knew what to say. Venus williams overcome with emotion. After celebrating victory on the Wimbledon Court monday, the tennis star breaks down at a postmatch press conference when asked how shes coping following that deadly car accident last month. There really are no words to describe how devastating and yeah, i im completely speechless and its just yeah, i mean, im just reporter the seven time grand slam champion unable to continue. Visibly shaken. Crying softly before leaving the stage. Its the first time williams has spoken publicly since the car accident that ultimately killed 78yearold Jerome Barson and severely injured his wife linda. The Police Report states that williams was at fault for violating the right of way of the barsons vehicle. They have since filed a wrongful death suit accusing williams of driving carelessly and recklessly. The family also wants access to evidence as their attorney told george stephanopoulos. There are video cameras that were placed at guardhouses where ms. Williams lives and that the police have refused after multiple requests to turn those over to us. Reporter despite being found at fault, williams has not been ticketed or charged in the accident. And venus left crying as you saw but later returned to the stage to answer a few more questions. According to legal documents, the barsons daughter named in the lawsuit is seeking at least 15,000 in damages, no specifics on that total amount are not known at this time. Shell be able to compete through all of this. Well see you later in the show. Thanks for that. Absolutely. Joining us is pat mcenroe. Thanks for joining us. Thank you, thanks for having me. Its obviously a tough situation for venus, no doubt about it. Yeah, you know, but venus has been at this a long time but the accident as you saw just really wrecked her in this press conference. How does she play through this . Well, its going to be difficult obviously but Venus Williams if anything certainly as you mentioned has a lot of experience and oftentimes when players were going through difficult things off the court this is certainly very difficult and we all think about the poor gentleman and the family who lost his life in this accident. Thats number one and i think you can see from venus response that shes feeling that, as well and i a lot of times the players can use the court, practice as a refuge from things going on in their life. My guess is venus will try to do that. This is the tournament where shes had the most success in her storied career and interesting that her sister serena, of course, is not here because shes awaiting to give birth to her first child so shes not here and before this incident happened, many of us thought, hey, this is venus chance to win a sixth wimbledon title. Obviously this puts a lot of that into question as how she can handle this moving forward. Yeah, so the fact that its wimbledon, thats going to bring her a little bit of comfort because shes won five times, but police say that convenient must is at fault. She hasnt been charged, we do want to note that. The family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her. Do you think it would be good for her to take a little time off maybe after this . I think that would probably be wise for her to do that. Obviously this is wimbledon. This is, as you said, the place where all tennis players want to be and i think theyll be here in familiar surroundings will help her but certainly after this tournament you would think she might need a little break. All right, pat, thanks so much for your analysis. Everybody, you can see live coverage of wimbledon today on espn. Dan. Lets check the forecast yet again with

© 2025 Vimarsana