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North Korean Missile Explodes after Launch; Trump's Unconventional Foreign Policy; Past Presidential Learning Curves; Trump White House Still Missing Key Appointments; Reviewing Trump Ahead of First Milestone; Pope Francis to Celebrate Mass in Military Stadium; Trump Takes Reality TV to D.C. Reality. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired April 29, 2017 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): North Korea, showing no sign of stepping back from its nuclear program, test firing another ballistic missile.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This as the U.S. president hits 100 days in office. We take a look at how President Trump differs from candidate Trump.
ALLEN (voice-over): And Pope Francis, in Egypt, bringing comfort to Christians and visiting churches attacked by ISIS just a few weeks ago.
HOWELL (voice-over): Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell.
ALLEN (voice-over): I'm Natalie Allen. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
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ALLEN: On Donald Trump's 100th day in office, North Korea fired another ballistic missile. There have been multiple attempted launches since Mr. Trump became the U.S. president in January.
HOWELL: The latest act of deficit comes as a U.S. Navy strike group, led by the U.S.S. Carl Vinson, was finally spotted off the coast of Japan. A North Korean diplomat said this, quote, "The irony is that the U.S., which is wholly to blame for pushing the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the brink of nuclear war by staging the largest ever joint aggression, military drills against the DPRK for the past two months."
ALLEN: And Donald Trump tweeted this, "North Korea disrespected the wishes of China and its highly respected president when it launched, though unsuccessfully, a missile today. Bad."
HOWELL: Fair to say we have a lot to talk about here. We get the latest from CNN's Will Ripley, the only U.S. television correspondent currently in Pyongyang, with this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can hear the music that plays almost hourly here in Pyongyang, reminding citizens of the sacrifices of their late leaders. The outside world may view this missile launch as a failure but here inside North Korea, most people will never hear about it and North Korea's rocket scientists may not see it as a failure because, with each launch, whether it's a success or not, they gain valuable intelligence.
This particular missile they were trying to launch is the kind that could someday be used to attack a U.S. aircraft carrier like the Carl Vinson, which is approaching the waters off the Korean Peninsula.
So perhaps overshadowing the launch itself is the strong message North Korea is sending to its enemies.
RIPLEY (voice-over): North Korea attempting to launch another ballistic missile. Its ninth launch attempt since President Trump took office. A U.S. official tells CNN the land-based ballistic missile exploded over land shortly after launch. A defiant response to mounting international pressure.
It's clear this is a regime with something to prove. The Korean People's Army calling Tuesday's live fire drill their largest ever. Long range artillery by the hundreds, submarines, bombers.
Earlier this month staging this massive military parade, unveiling what North Korea says are new missiles, trying and failing to launch one the very next day.
On the ground, it's clear to us this is an attempt to look tough, all of it choreographed for the world and regular North Koreans. State TV defiantly threatening to strike back against the U.S. with force.
North Korea furious about ongoing joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea, just miles from the demilitarized zone that separates the two countries. Exercises always infuriate the regime but tensions are at their highest level in years. North Korea uncertain about the Trump administration's next move.
Government officials in Pyongyang telling CNN there is an imminent and growing threat of all-out war with the United States. State mouthpiece KCNA warning, in case a war breaks out on the peninsula, the U.S. will be held wholly accountable for it, no matter who made the preemptive attack.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea.
RIPLEY (voice-over): The president telling Reuters the U.S. won't rule out the military option but, quote, "we'd love to solve things diplomatically."
Also expressing a degree of empathy for North Korea's supreme leader, Kim Jong-un.
TRUMP: He is 27 years old, his father dies, took over a regime. So, say what you want but that's not easy, especially at that age.
RIPLEY (voice-over): The president later clarifying he is not praising the North Korean leader. Kim has ramped up North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, launching more missiles than the two previous leaders --
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RIPLEY (voice-over): -- combined. The growing threat of a nuclear North Korea, the focus of a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council, chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
REX TILLERSON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Failing to act now on the most pressing security issue in the world may bring catastrophic consequences.
RIPLEY (voice-over): North Korea says it's only a matter of time before they test more nuclear weapons and launch more missiles, also insisting they're more than ready for whatever happens next.
RIPLEY: There is always a lot of confusion in the early hours of these launches. Initially the U.S. thought the missile traveled 15 minutes, then they changed that and said that it exploded over North Korean territory. But in South Korea military analysts say it still reached of an altitude of 71 kilometers, around 44 miles, showing that North Korea was able to get this ballistic missile up and they will work to perfect the distance for the next go -- Will Ripley, CNN, Pyongyang, North Korea.
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ALLEN: Well, before Pyongyang launched the missile, the U.S. led a meeting on North Korea at the United Nations Security Council; two sharply opposing views emerged, first from China and then the U.S.
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WANG YI, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): I want to reiterate that China firmly opposes the deployment of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea. This move has undermined the strategic security of China and other countries in the region and it has also damaged trust and cooperation among parties to the Korean Peninsula issue. It will neither help push forward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula nor help ensure the long-term stability on the peninsula. We call on relevant parties to stop the deployment immediately.
REX TILLERSON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: For the past 20 years, well- intentioned diplomatic efforts to halt these programs have failed. It is only by first dismantling them that there can be peace, stability and economic prosperity for all of Northeast Asia.
With each successive detonation and missile test, North Korea pushes Northeast Asia and the world closer to instability and broader conflict.
The threat of a North Korean nuclear attack on Seoul or Tokyo is real. And it is likely only a matter of time before North Korea develops the ability to strike the U.S. mainland.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Let's get the latest, reporting now from Seoul, South Korea, CNN's Alexandra Field is following the story for us this hour.
Alexandra, we just heard mention the THAAD missile defense system. It has created a bit of a rift between China and South Korea.
How is that playing into this dynamic?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's issues here of security, of politics and also of economics. Look, this is a system that the U.S. designed. The U.S. has continued to say, as you heard Secretary Rex Tillerson talking about there, that it's critical to the defense of the region and also part of a wider system of defense that is being created in order to potentially protect the continental United States from a threat from North Korea.
So you had U.S. and South Korean officials that seem to be very much in lockstep about the deployment of the system. Just this week, they were telling the public about the incredible urgency of deploying the system. They want it operational as quickly as possible. And we received word that it will be operational, capable of intercepting missiles within a matter of days.
And they say that they are rushing to deploy it because of this grave and advanced missile threat from North Korea. And they have been plowing ahead with the deployment, despite the repeated and insistent objections of neighboring countries, countries like Russia and China, who have protested by saying that the advanced radar system that is part of THAAD could be used to spy on other countries in the region.
They staunchly oppose it, there's been allegations from the South Koreans that the Chinese are retaliating against them for agreeing to the deployment to THAAD by hitting them in the pocketbook, hitting them economically, cancelling tours of Chinese citizens to South Korea.
China denying those allegations and repeatedly calling on U.S. and South Korea to stop the deployment. The deployment going full speed ahead but a new wrinkle in the whole thing this week, George, U.S. President Donald Trump now saying that South Korea should pay for the billion-dollar defense system.
This has not been received well in South Korea. It's, in fact, seeming to have really stunned people here. They say the agreement, as they understand it, is that the U.S. pays for the deployment and operation of their defense system and that South Korea provides the site and the infrastructure for the installation of THAAD.
And again, George, the THAAD system itself is even controversial domestically right here in South Korea. You have got about 40 percent of voters who say that they are opposed to it. It has also been an issue in the upcoming presidential election with the front-runner, a Democratic Party candidate, saying that this was a decision that was rushed ahead, that should have been put through the national assembly and that should ultimately be left to South Korea's next president -- George.
HOWELL: A lot of drama around THAAD from obviously China and South Korea and now with the United States in the seemingly random question from the U.S. president, though --
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HOWELL: -- as you point out in your reporting, this is an agreement that is an agreement, that's already been made and decided.
Alexandra, what more can you tell us about the reaction there in the region, from South Korea, from Japan, about this failed missile launch, again, THAAD designed to protect South Korea from such a missile launch?
FIELD: Right -- and the argument with THAAD has been because of the fact that all parties believe that they will continue to see test launches from North Korea and they fear they could see more than that from North Korea. And what you are seeing is the third ballistic missile launch just this month, George. These are three failed attempts, according to both the U.S. and South Korea.
But this is the sixth time since the start of the year that North Korea has pulled off such a provocative measure. And let's not discount the timing here, either. It came just hours after that special meeting of the U.N. Security Council, led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in which he said that there could be a catastrophic outcome here if other parties did not work together right now to try and rein in North Korea and its nuclear and missile ambitions.
You have had quick reaction of course, as is common in these cases, from both South Korea and from Japan; South Korean officials saying that further provocations will warrant a response, Japanese officials calling a meeting of their security council and also something we have not seen before, George.
They even stopped the subway trains for about 10 minutes once word of the launch reached Japan. They then quickly restored service. But it does seem to underscore the mounting concerns here in the region -- George.
Alexandra Field, live for us in Seoul, South Korea. Thank you for the reporting. We will stay in touch with you.
ALLEN: The Trump administration reaches 100 days and we will talk about what the president has and has not accomplished by his first big milestone coming up.
HOWELL: Plus a look back at the high and low points of Mr. Trump's foreign policy ventures since becoming president as NEWSROOM continues.
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HOWELL: First 100 days in office, every president faces an adjustment period when they step into the White House, but for Donald Trump, as he often pointed out, he is not like every other president.
ALLEN: However, he is facing the same steep learning curve and he is admitting now that he underestimated the challenge of the job. Our Jeff Zeleny has that.
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TRUMP: But I have to tell you, I don't think anybody has done what we have been able to do in 100 days. So we're very happy.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SR. WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: President Trump may say --
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ZELENY: -- he is happy as he crosses the symbolic threshold of his first 100 days in office.
TRUMP: I don't think there's ever been anything like this.
ZELENY (voice-over): But there's a lingering feeling at the White House that he is longing for the days of Trump Tower and surprised by the challenges of the Oval Office.
TRUMP: I do miss my old life, I have to -- this -- I like to work, so that's not a problem. But this is actually more work.
ZELENY (voice-over): He's hardly the first president frustrated by the ways of Washington. At the 100-day mark of a new presidential term, new leaders often offer a rare look into the growing pains of the most powerful position in the world.
President Obama put it like this:
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The typical president, I think, has two or three big problems; we have got seven or eight big problems.
ZELENY (voice-over): During his primetime news conference in 2009, when the president and White House correspondents looked younger, President Obama conceded that governing is harder than he thought.
OBAMA: I can't just press a button and suddenly have the bankers do exactly what I want or turn on a switch and suddenly Congress falls in line. ZELENY (voice-over): But despite all of the attention paid to the first 100 days, the defining moments of most presidencies come far later.
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can hear you.
ZELENY (voice-over): For President Bush, the terror attacks of September 11th and the Iraq War still months away.
BUSH: Oh, I know we always don't always. But we are beginning to get a spirit here in Washington where we are more agreeable, where we are setting a different tone.
ZELENY (voice-over): President Clinton may have been frustrated by gridlock...
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I learned that things are not going to change quite as fast as I want them to.
ZELENY (voice-over): -- but still intent on changing Washington.
CLINTON: It may be that we can only do one thing at a time in this town. That may be. But I'm not prepared to acknowledge that.
ZELENY (voice-over): For President Trump, serving his first time in elected office, his frustrations set him apart from recent predecessors. It's not clear he actually likes his new job which seems far more difficult than he so often described.
TRUMP: We are going to start winning again. We are going to win so much that you people are going be angry at me.
ZELENY: Now there is anger at this president, probably not the kind he was think about back on the campaign trail. Now at this point of his presidency, he has the lowest approval ratings of any president dating back to Eisenhower when modern polling began.
But as for all those promises of winning, in his first term, he has more than 1,360 days left to deliver on those promises -- Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.
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HOWELL: Let's bring in Leslie Vinjamuri, who's professor of international relations at SOAS University in London.
It's good to have you with us, Leslie, to talk about the president's first 100 days in office. Let's take a look at this most recent poll, a CNN/ORC poll, that was conducted April 22nd through 25th, showing 44 percent of people approve of the president's time in office so far. And 54 percent disapprove. This poll certainly a snapshot of a divided nation.
You have some people that disapprove of him and those that say, let's give him time, it's just 100 days in office.
What are your thoughts here?
LESLIE VINJAMURI, SOAS UNIVERSITY: Remember that the 44 percent, this is the lowest approval rating of any president in the post-war period. It's quite a remarkable number. Usually what would we see in the first 100 days is a relatively high approval rating. Remember, that Obama, who, at that point in America's history, the unemployment was 8.5 percent and yet, Obama hit 65 percent approval rating in the first 100 days.
So this is remarkably low and it suggests that Trump has been very effective at holding on to his base but he has lost a lot of people. Having said that, the polls are also showing if there was an election today, most people who voted for Donald Trump would still vote for him.
And that has a lot to do with the fact that there's no obvious alternative in town. Nonetheless, it's been a difficult period. He has not managed to push through any major proposals on the legislative front domestically, failed miserably on health care reform and I think there's a lot of dissatisfaction of what he is doing, which is not to say that people would vote him out of office.
HOWELL: Let's talk about the wins and losses. The president successfully put a --
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HOWELL: -- new Supreme Court justice on the bench but again failed to pull enough support at the last minute to vote on Trumpcare.
VINJAMURI: That's right. I think that most people would say that his number one success so far has been the confirmation of the Supreme Court justice, Gorsuch, undoubtedly. A number of people, certainly his base, are probably strongly approving of some of the measures that he took to move to deregulate the economy.
And I think that we have seen some positive changes in terms of his appointments, his high-level appointments, getting rid of Flynn and appointing McMaster, very serious individual to be a national security adviser. Certainly gave many a degree of reassurance --
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VINJAMURI: -- that foreign policy would be in much better hands.
But in terms of -- and then I guess the other notable dimension is that if you look at foreign policy, many of the things that he said that he would do, which would have been harmful to America's interests, he has not done and he has reversed course and we saw that just now, he supported NATO.
He's taken a very different line with respect to Japan, South Korea and China because he understands now how difficult the North Korea situation is. So a number of things that could have gone very wrong, have not gone wrong because he changed his position.
But not very many successes on -- in domestic politics. And I think that one of the most worrying things is that we now have 475 important appointments across the government that simply have not been made.
So we have a government that can't really function on a daily level, at the level of programs. We have 100 people who have not been appointed to very serious positions in the State Department. We have a president threatening to cut the State Department budget by 30 percent.
So even though at the grand level, some things seem more intact, at the level of making this government work, there's a lot of work left to be done and it does not look very good.
HOWELL: All right, well, let's touch on that, you talk about vacancies, cuts at the State Department, vacancies, positions that have not been filled yet. This is happening in a time of high tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea and South Korea, tensions there, both nations conducting military exercises and we saw this failed missile attempt. There's no U.S. ambassador there in South Korea at this point.
How important is it for the United States and the president to basically fill these vacancies and have a full infrastructure to deal with foreign policy?
VINJAMURI: It's tremendously important. It's always important but I would say it's even more important in this administration, where we have a secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, who's had no government experience and who really needs to be able to draw on the deep expertise that exists across the foreign policy establishment.
Certainly on the question of North Korea, we have extraordinary expertise in Washington, waiting to serve. So not to have an ambassador in Japan, South Korea and China, not to have these key positions filled across this region but also in the State Department at the senior level, it's critical in terms of managing that day-to- day diplomacy, sending up the right analysis to the secretary of state, having those very considered and deliberative interagency discussions is crucial.
And that's the process, foreign policy making, at the level of process. I just simply -- we simply have not seen in this administration. Many of the measures that Donald Trump has taken. If we go back to the raid on Yemen, the attacks on Syria, they seem to be -- have been taken very quickly, very abruptly. The raid on Yemen was allegedly the decision was taken over dinner and without broad consultation.
The kind of consultation that is absolutely critical to thinking through the potential unintended consequences of the use of military force, of sanctions, of any number of things. And so that's really what we will be looking for in the next 100 days if this is going to be a successful foreign policy presidency. HOWELL: Leslie Vinjamuri, live for us with context from London, thank you so much.
VINJAMURI: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Contacts from London and now we go around the world as promised, Trump has been unconventional in his approach to the White House and nowhere is that more apparent than on the world stage.
HOWELL: Our Nic Robertson has the plus/minus of his foreign policy hits and misses.
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TRUMP: That all changes starting right here and right now.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: For President Trump, the first 100 days in office has been full of surprises...
TRUMP: NATO is obsolete.
ROBERTSON: -- such as discovering he likes NATO.
THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Mr. President, I think you said you confirmed that you're 100 percent behind NATO.
ROBERTSON: Although it was several months before he was able to say it for himself.
TRUMP: I said it was obsolete. It's no longer obsolete.
China -- a currency manipulator.
ROBERTSON: And discovering enemies can be friends; that China is more than a currency manipulator.
TRUMP: I have great respect for the President of China.
ROBERTSON: It can be an ally against even worse enemies like North Korea.
Another discovery, enemies will pick the worst time to act tough like while you're hosting the Japanese prime minister at your favorite club -- North Korea testing multiple missiles. Side lesson here -- don't do the national security on a public patio between the salad and main course.
And then perhaps his toughest discovery --
TRUMP: If Putin likes Donald Trump I consider that an asset not a liability.
ROBERTSON: -- that would be friends turn to enemies fast.
TRUMP: It crossed a lot of lines for me. When you kill --
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TRUMP: -- innocent children, innocent babies, babies, little babies.
ROBERTSON: To wit, smacking down Assad for killing babies with nerve agents prompted a show of U.S. strength. But it turned Assad's sponsor Putin into a foe.
TRUMP: Hello.
ROBERTSON: Indeed Trump has not been idle hosting leaders -- Israeli Prime Minister, Jordanian king, Saudi royals, Egyptian president, Canadian prime minister -- to name just a few.
But still some nuances of hosting big shots need finessing like shaking hands when asked. And then not saying stuff that embarrasses your guest.
TRUMP: Wiretapping I guess by, you know, this past administration -- at least we have something in common, perhaps.
ROBERTSON: Still better than his first few days in office. Hanging up the phone on the Australian prime minister a big ally, or Twitter spatting with the Mexican president that shut down his visit over a border wall that neither says they'll pay for.
But the first 100 days has not all been meetings and missteps. Dropping the mother of all bombs fulfilling a campaign pledge, too.
TRUMP: Bomb the (INAUDIBLE) out of them.
ROBERTSON: So what then of his number one overseas campaign pledge?
TRUMP: My number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.
ROBERTSON: On Iran, not much. Trump's biggest surprise, it's a complicated world. More than he might have imagined -- Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: I think Nic Robertson got it all kind of summed up there, the first 100 days.
Still ahead here on NEWSROOM, Russia and Mexico have both been key parts of the president's first 100.
But how is the Trump presidency being viewed in Moscow and Mexico City?
We'll have that story.
ALLEN: Also Pope Francis celebrates mass in Egypt, he is there right now. We will tell you the message he is sharing.
HOWELL: CNN NEWSROOM coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia, on our networks both in the United States and around the world this hour, you are watching CNN.
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HOWELL (voice-over): A warm welcome back to viewers here in the United States and around the world, you are watching CNN NEWSROOM, it is good to have you with us. I'm George Howell.
ALLEN (voice-over): I'm Natalie Allen. The headlines this hour:
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HOWELL: We're following the president's first 100 days in office. He is touting his accomplishments. It hasn't, though, exactly been smooth sailing. Still, Mr. Trump insists he is off to one of the best starts ever.
ALLEN: Our Jim Acosta looks back on everything leading up to Trump's first big milestone.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just as President Trump is about to hit 100 days in office, he sounds as if he is gearing up for four more years.
TRUMP: We'll build a wall. Don't even think about it.
ACOSTA (voice-over): In a speech to the National Rifle Association, the president returned with some of his signature device rhetoric from the campaign, vowing to build a wall on the Mexico-U.S. border and crack down on illegal immigration, warning repeat border crossers will be locked up in prison.
TRUMP: You will be caught and you'll be returned to your home. You are not staying any longer. And if you keep coming back illegally after deportation, you will be arrested, prosecuted and you will be put behind bars.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The president could not resift taking swipes at some of his old adversaries from his former GOP rival, Ted Cruz...
TRUMP: Like, dislike, like.
ACOSTA (voice-over): -- to one of his favorite targets for incendiary insults, Elizabeth Warren, suggesting the Massachusetts senator may run for president. TRUMP: It may be Pocahontas, remember that. And she is not big for the NRA, that I can tell you.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The president also touted his selection for the Supreme Court as one of his biggest accomplishments to date...
TRUMP: Neil Gorsuch sits on the bench of the United States Supreme Court.
For the first time in the modern political era, we have confirmed a new justice in the first 100 days.
ACOSTA (voice-over): -- even as he painted a dark picture of American life.
TRUMP: These are horrible times for certain obvious reasons. But we are going to make them great times again.
ACOSTA (voice-over): At the 100-day mark, the White House is celebrating what it sees on wins on executive orders, striking down regulations from the Obama administration. But the president has seen serious setbacks, with his travel ban frozen in court and attempts to repeal ObamaCare, a signature campaign promise, stymied in Congress...
REINCE PRIEBUS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: It is our duty to serve with character and integrity and to support President Trump.
ACOSTA (voice-over): -- something sources say White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, was aggressively chasing before the 100-day mark.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The joint resolution has passed without objection.
ACOSTA (voice-over): And as Republican leaders --
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ACOSTA (voice-over): -- in Congress were simply trying to avoid a government shutdown, the president admitted to Reuters, the job is tougher than he thought.
TRUMP: This is more work than in my previous life. I thought it would be easier. I thought it was more of a -- I'm a details oriented person. I think you would say that. But I do miss my old life. I have to -- this, I like to work, so that's not a problem. But this is actually more work.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Sensing the mounting public frustration with Mr. Trump's first 100 days in office, Democrats drew up their own report card for the president...
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), N.Y.: It's an F. He has not kept his promises. He has not accomplished much and then he compares it to like Franklin D. Roosevelt, it's astounding.
ACOSTA (voice-over): -- which is why the president spent part of his trip on this day talking up Karen Handel (ph), a GOP candidate locked in a tight race for Congress in Georgia, a potential bellwether special election that could spell trouble for the upcoming midterms if Democrats win.
TRUMP: She is totally for the NRA. And she is totally for the Second Amendment so get out and vote.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Jim Acosta reporting there.
Late Friday, President Trump averted a government shutdown, signing a short-term spending resolution that gives him and Congress another week to figure out a long-term plan to fund federal operations.
Allegations that Russia interfered in the U.S. presidential election have overshadowed the president's first 100 days.
HOWELL: Mr. Trump also has yet to fulfill one of his major campaign promises, to build a border wall between the United States and Mexico. Our correspondents have a view on the Trump presidency, from Moscow to Mexico City. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Matthew Chance in Moscow, where the view of President Trump has undergone a dramatic transformation. He entered the White House, promising to improve relations with Russia, even speaking of cooperating on international terrorism and joining forces in Syria.
But 100 days on, none of that has come to pass, Trump officials criticizing Russia for fueling conflicts in Ukraine, even ordering U.S. missile strikes on Russia's Syrian ally.
Part of the problem, lingering suspicions of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election. There is also a sense that Russia and the U.S., even under President Trump, have very different priorities.
LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Leyla Santiago in Mexico City, where tensions remain after a bit of a rocky start between Trump and Mexico. Since the election, President Trump has yet to meet face to face with Mexico's president, Enrique Pena Nieto. And a big part of that, the wall: President Trump promised to fully fund a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border within 100 days of his presidency. But that has not happened yet. Trump has asked Congress to fund a small portion of the wall and he maintains that Mexico will pay for it eventually.
Mexico has not paid for it and maintains it never will.
Now on to the next big topic, NAFTA, that free trade deal between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. President Trump says it's a one-sided deal, bad for the U.S. and Mexico said it's willing to renegotiate but if it's not a good deal for Mexico they will walk away and they'll take their business to another country. (END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: To Egypt now, where Pope Francis has been celebrating mass for Christian worshippers in Cairo. His trip is trying motivate more religious tolerance, something he talks about quite often. ISIS has targeted Coptic Christians recently there and the pope said it's time for all faiths to fight such violence.
Vatican correspondent Delia Gallagher is joining us now live from Cairo.
It's unusual for a pope to visit Egypt.
And what is his message to Muslims there, Delia?
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Natalie, the pope was invited here by the main Muslim leader, the grand imam of al-Azhar. Al-Azhar is the center of learning and teaching for Sunni Islam. So the Vatican thinks that it's an important partner in dialog. They are the ones that given an authoritative interpretation the Quran. They are the ones that set the curriculum that is taught in school.
So the pope talked to them about the importance of education for future generations on a path for peace. And interestingly, just at the mass, which was with 30,000 or so, a very small community of Catholics here in Egypt, the pope said that the only fanaticism is permitted for believers is a fanaticism of charity and that God is not pleased by any other type of fanaticism.
So his message all around from yesterday to today has been one against any kind of using violence in God's name, both to the Muslim communities, to the Christian communities --
[05:40:00]
GALLAGHER: -- that suffer from that here but in a positive tone and also in a way in which he is encouraging all of these groups to show solidarity with one another in order to fight terrorism -- Natalie.
ALLEN: Yes, a message, you know, particularly important, considering terrorism just happened there, April 9th on Palm Sunday, people just sitting in pews and worshipping in peace, who were killed.
Has that caused extra security concerns for this trip?
GALLAGHER: Well, absolutely. There was a lot of security concerns going into this trip. Obviously the Egyptians have put out all of their military, closed off the streets and helicopters surveying from up above. The Vatican has said that the pope is traveling in a normal, unarmed car, he went around this morning's mass in a golf cart and obviously for Pope Francis, his personal security comes second to the ability to be with people and again show his solidarity and give the message, don't be afraid.
And that's been kind of the undergird of this whole trip and really being here is that message -- Natalie.
ALLEN: Beautiful day there, too, as well for his visit. Delia Gallagher, for us live there, thank you, Delia.
HOWELL: Coming up this hour, a hiker from Taiwan said he never gave up hope after he and his girlfriend lost their way in a remote part of Nepal. They were missing for several weeks. We'll have the detail of that story ahead.
ALLEN: Also millions of people are at risk from flash flooding in the central U.S. Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam will have more about that.
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HOWELL: Welcome back to NEWSROOM.
A hiker from Taiwan is recovering in a hospital in Kathmandu after a terrifying --
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HOWELL: -- ordeal that happened. He and his girlfriend went missing in early March while hiking in a remote area of Northwestern Nepal. They lost their trail in a snowstorm.
ALLEN: They subsisted on snow, water and salt they were carrying but 19-year-old Lu Tientian (ph) starved to death. Just three days later, her boyfriend was rescued after being missing for seven weeks. He turned 21 Friday and began walking again on his birthday.
HOWELL: Wow.
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ALLEN: Still to come, how Donald Trump may be using the skills he learned during his reality TV days to his new reality at the White House.
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HOWELL: Want to talk about an enormous salary here.
ALLEN: This will make you feel good about your own salary.
(LAUGHTER) HOWELL: OK, so let's talk about Google. The head of Google, Sundar Pachi (ph), made nearly $200 million last year. That is what they are paying the CEO of that company. He had a base salary of about $0.5 million but made almost $199 million through a stock award.
That is not bad.
ALLEN: Not bad. That's all thanks to Google having a highly successful year. It launched new phones, a virtual reality headset and also grew sales on advertising on YouTube. Pachi (ph) has worked as a top executive at Google for years.
He can afford a beach house now -- or two.
Before he became president, Donald Trump proved on his TV show, "The Apprentice," he could capture the attention of an audience using drama and conflict.
HOWELL: That's right. And now some are arguing that he is using the same playbook at the White House as part of his communications strategy. We get more from CNN's Brynn Gingras.
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BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From reality TV to the White House...
TRUMP: You're fired.
GINGRAS (voice-over): -- from the board room to the campaign trail and into the Oval Office, Donald Trump, the former star of "The Apprentice," brings the skills he learned in reality TV to his new reality in Washington.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Donald Trump lives by being unpredictable. He likes the element of surprise. He likes the element of shock. And he employs that shock value in his communication strategy.
TRUMP: Think your team won?
GINGRAS (voice-over): Shock, surprise and strategy, where have we seen that before?
TRUMP: Rebecca, you are outstanding.
Randall, you're hired.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Remember the drama around choosing the secretary of state?
Would it be Rudy Giuliani, that dinner with Mitt Romney, a Twitter tease, "Whether I choose him or not for State, Rex Tillerson, the chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, is a world class player and dealmaker," ending with, "stay tuned."
Or when he narrowed down his Supreme Court choices to a two-person finale...
TRUMP: -- potential Supreme Court pick --
GINGRAS (voice-over): -- saving his pick for prime time.
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DYLAN BYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He is very much trying to mastermind his presidency, market his presidency with that sort of reality television sensibility.
GINGRAS (voice-over): TV Trump and President Trump love grand entrances, boasts...
TRUMP: And I won bigly.
We had such great success.
I think it's the best job we have done thus far.
It's a great day for American workers.
It's going to be great.
Make America great again.
GINGRAS (voice-over): -- and ratings. He bragged to the AP about giving a network morning show its best ratings since 9/11 and (INAUDIBLE) press secretary Sean Spicer after calls to fire him over comments about the Holocaust, saying, quote, "That guy gets great ratings. Everyone tunes in."
Just this week, a made-for-TV bus trip of senators to the White House to discuss North Korea but the dramatic showcasing isn't exclusive to Trump.
President Obama held a beer summit and, in 2004, George W. Bush landed on an aircraft carrier.
So what is different about Trump?
CHALIAN: I don't think he runs the White House like a reality show. He has taken from his reality show days and his New York tabloid press days is the understanding of how to capture attention through being a captivating personality and I think he uses that more to his benefit than not from inside the White House as well.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.
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ALLEN: First 100 days. Well, there are a few more days to go for him. We will wait and see what happens next. Thanks for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. For viewers in the United States, "NEW DAY" is next. For other viewers around the world, "AMANPOUR" starts in a moment. Thank you for watching CNN.
ALLEN: See you.
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