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North Korea Missile Launch; Trump Speaks in Long Island. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 28, 2017 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:03] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. You're watching CNN on this Friday afternoon. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Good to be with you.

Just a heads up, any moment the president will be speaking from Long Island in New York, touting his administration's efforts to crack down on the MS-13 gang. And he chose this particular location because police say the gang has been on a killing spree there.

These will be his first public remarks since the failure of the Republican bill to replace Obamacare. And we're told his two feuding aides were both on the plane. They were both on Air Force One with him, Anthony Scaramucci, and Reince Priebus, and we have lots more on that in just a moment.

But first, let's go straight to the Pentagon and what they're confirming to us here at CNN. You see the map. So this is all on North Korea.

The news is just crossed that North Korea has launched another ICBM. This happened around 10:41 Eastern Time this morning. The Pentagon saying this was a long-range missile, actually landing just about 50 miles off the coast of Japan. Japan reporting the missile possibly flew for as long as 45 minutes.

So, Gordon Chang, "Daily Beast" columnist, author of "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World," is back with us on this.

And so significant, of course, in and of the fact that they launched yet another ICBM, but additionally significant because of the -- it was in the air eight more minutes than the last time and bigger and higher than before. Why is that a big deal?

GORDON CHANG, AUTHOR, "NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN: NORTH KOREA TAKES ON THE WORLD": It's a big deal because it means that they can launch this missile farther down range than we thought. The July 4th test, which was their first ICBM launch, that was 37 minutes in the air. This is 45. That one went 1,740 miles into space. This one, 1,900 miles into space. And, of course, it went farther down range.

And what they did was they landed this very close to Japan, as you mentioned, 80 miles.

BALDWIN: Right. CHANG: This is significant because they're warning the Japanese.

And there's one other thing that people haven't talked about, and that is, we, over the weekend, were looking at one location in North Korea where they had sorted (ph) these mobile missile launchers. That's where we thought this was going to be launched from.

What we just saw in the last few moments was, this was launched from an entirely different location. And they're basically saying to the U.S. military, you cannot kill our missiles on the ground. We can hide them. We can fire them off from almost any location. You won't be able to see them until it's too late.

BALDWIN: They made the world think it would come from one location, when in actuality, surprise, it came from another.

CHANG: It came from another.

BALDWIN: I think it's also just important to point out, and all of this is significant, all of the numbers involved, the time it was in the air, the length, because what they're doing, and correct me, but they're testing it, in essence, with a vertical.

CHANG: Yes.

BALDWIN: With the ultimate goal of more of a horizontal flight. They just want to see, without getting in too much trouble, how high they can go.

CHANG: Right. And they were also testing heat shielding. In other words, they need to protect the nose cone as it reenters the atmosphere. They had a May 14th and a July 4th test which were successful on heat shielding.

Heat shielding is thought to be the last major technical hurdle for the North Koreans to be able to land a nuke in the U.S.

BALDWIN: OK.

CHANG: And so that's why the Defense Intelligence Agency, three or four days ago, said, look, we're no longer talking three or four years before they can hit us with a nuke. We're now talking one year. And that's probably about right given their accelerated testing schedule.

BALDWIN: That's what the U.S. is now moved up the timetable thinking -- moved it up by a year in terms of nuclear capability, correct?

CHANG: By two years -- two years.

BALDWIN: By two years.

CHANG: So that they're saying some time in 2018 they'll be able to hit us with a nuclear weapon on an ICBM.

BALDWIN: What does President Trump do other than 140 characters or less of bluster toward Kim Jong-un? CHANG: What he needs is to talk to the Chinese. Really basically to say to them, look, you can support North Korea or you can do business with the United States, but you can't do both. If we are able to say that and have the Chinese believe us, and that's an important part of it, but have the Chinese believe us, then I think we can push Beijing in the right direction. Up to now they have not seen political will out of the United States when it comes to North Korea so they haven't taken us seriously. And this is -- it's been the case for a couple decades now. If they think we're serious, then we might see China actually start to help us.

BALDWIN: OK. Gordon Chang, you are excellent on this. Thank you so much for coming by.

CHANG: Thank you.

BALDWIN: It is nice to see you.

As we are waiting for the president to speak there in Long Island, here in New York, this comes amid this whole civil war within the White House. And on Air Force One today, the two brothers, as Anthony Scaramucci referred to them as, right, in the "NEW DAY" interview the other morning, Cain and Abel here, this is Anthony Scaramucci, the chief coms director, and the chief of staff, Reince Priebus. This is hours after Scaramucci's vulgar rant with "The New Yorker" there, Ryan Lizza. We'll talk live to someone who has covered Scaramucci for years and can talk about his ways.

[14:05:00] Plus, Senator John McCain, in the wee hours of the morning, his maverick moment. We picked apart every frame of that dramatic and surreal 16 seconds when the senator was the final thumbs down vote on the all-important Obamacare repeal. Wait until you see this.

We'll be right back.

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BALDWIN: All right, let's take you now to Long Island. Here he is, the president of the United States speaking there about to talk about MS- 13, the war on gangs. Here he is.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. Thank you.

CROWD (chanting): USA. USA. USA.

TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. This is certainly being home for me. I've spent a lot of time right here.

I was in Queens, so I'd come here and this was like the luxury location for me. And I love it. I love the people here.

[14:10:00] Even coming in from the airport, I sat with Nikki Haley, who's here some place. Where's our Nikki? Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is so incredible. And she's seen crowds in her life and she said, boy, those are really big crowds. Crowds of people all lining the streets all the way over to here. And it's really a special place. And so when I heard about this, I said, I want to do that one.

But I really wanted to do it, not because of location, but because, as you know, I am the big, big believer and admirer of the people in law enforcement, OK, from day one. From day one.

We love our police. We love our sheriffs. And we love our I.C.E. officers. And they have been working hard.

Thank you.

They have been working hard.

Together, we're going to restore safety to our streets and peace to our communities. And we're going to destroy the vile criminal cartel MS-13 and many other gangs.

But MS-13 is particularly violent. They don't like shooting people because it's too quick. It's too fast. I was reading one of these animals was caught and explaining they like to knife them and cut them and let them die slowly because that way it's more painful. And they enjoy watching that much more. These are animals.

We're joined today by police and sheriffs from Suffolk, Nassau, Duchess and Ulster Counties, state police from New York and New Jersey -- many of you I know, great friends -- Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices and law enforcement personnel from a number of federal agencies. So we're loaded up with great people. That's what I call it.

And I want to just tell you all together, right now, and the reason I came, this is the most important sentence to me, on behalf of the American people, I want to say "thank you." Thank you very much. Thank you.

And I don't think you know how much the public respects and admires you. You're saving American lives every day. And we have your backs, believe me. We have your backs 100 percent. Not like the old days. Not like the old days.

You know, when you want to take over used military equipment, they were saying you couldn't do it. You know what I said? That was my first day. You can do it. In fact, that stuff is disappearing so fast, we have none left. You guys know it. And you really knew how to get that. But that's my honor. And I'll tell you what, it's being put to good use.

I especially want to thank I.C.E. Director Tom Homan, who has done an incredible job in just a short period of time. Tom, get up here. I know you just talked. Tom is determined to rid our nation of cartels and criminals who are preying on our citizens. And I can only say to Tom, keep up the great work. He's a tough guy. He's a tough cookie.

Somebody said the other day they saw him on television. Somebody -- they were interviewed after that. They said, he looks very nasty. He looks very mean. I said, that's what I'm looking for. That's exactly what I was looking for. And for that, I want to congratulate John Kelly, who has done an

incredible job of secretary of Homeland Security. Incredible. One of our real stars. Truly one of our stars. John Kelly is one of our great stars.

You know, the border's down 78 percent. Under past administrations, the border didn't go down, it went up. But if it went down 1 percent, it was like, this was a great thing. Down 78 percent. And, in fact, the southern border of Mexico, we did them a big favor, believe me. They get very little traffic in there anymore because they know they're not going to get through the border to the United States.

So, that whole group has been incredible, led by General Kelly.

[14:15:13] Let me also express our gratitude to the members of the New York delegation here today, Congressman Chris Collins. Where's Chris? Where is Chris? Oh, Chris, right from the beginning, he said, Trump is going to win. Trump is going to win. That's why I like him. I didn't like him that much before. Now I love him. I'll never --

Dan Donovan. Thanks, Dan. Thank you, Dan. And Lee Zeldin, who I supported right from the beginning, when they said he didn't have a chance of beating a pretty popular incumbent. And I saw him in a debate and I said, I think this guy's going to win. But he fought a pretty popular guy. And I said, I think he's going to win and went heavy for him and he won. And he won pretty easily, didn't you? Pretty good. I'm proud of you. Great job.

And, of course, a legend, somebody that we all know very well, sort of my neighbor because I consider him a neighbor, but he's really a great and highly respected man in Washington, Congressman Peter King. Peter. A very respected guy. He is a -- a respected man that people like to ask opinions of. I do.

Congressman King and his colleagues know the terrible pain and violence MS-13 has inflicted upon this communicate and this country. And if you remember, just a little more than two years ago, when I came down the escalator with Melania and I made the speech, people coming into this country, everyone said, what does he know? What's he talking about? And there was Bedlam. Remember Bedlam. And then about two months later, they said, you know, he's right. So I'm honored to have brought it to everybody's attention.

But the suffering and the pain that we were going through and now you can look at the numbers, it's a whole different world. And it will get better and better and better because we've been able to start nipping it in the bud. We've nipped it in the bud. Let's call it start nipping it in the bud.

And MS-13, the cartel, has spread gruesome bloodshed throughout the United States. We've gotten a lot of them out of here. A big, big percentage. But the rest are coming. They'll be out of here quickly, right? Quickly. Good.

So I asked Tom on the plane -- he was never in Air Force One. I said, how do you like it? He said, I like it. But I said, hey, Tom, let me ask you a question, how tough are these guys, MS-13. He said, they're nothing compared to my guys. Nothing. And that's what you need. Sometimes that's what you need, right?

For many years they exploded America's weak borders and lax immigration enforcement to bring drugs and violence to cities and towns all across America. They're there right now because of weak political leadership, weak leadership, weak policing, and in many cases because the police weren't allowed to do their job. I've met police that are great police that aren't allowed to do their job because they have a pathetic mayor or a mayor who doesn't know what's going on.

But -- were you applauding for someone in particular?

It's sad. It's sad. You look at what's happening, it's sad. But hopefully, certainly in the country, those days are over. You may have a little bit longer to wait. But from now on, we're going to enforce our laws, protect our borders, and support our police like our police have never been supported before. We're going to support you like you've never been supported before.

Few communities have suffered worse at the hands of these MS-13 thugs than the people of Long Island. Hard to believe. I grew up on Long Island. I didn't know about this. I didn't know about this. And then all of a sudden this is like a new phenomenon.

[14:20:16] Our hearts and our nation grieve for the victims and their families. Since January 16, think of this, MS-13 gang members have brutally murdered 17 beautiful young lives in this area on Long Island alone. Think of it. They butchered those little girls. They kidnap, they extort, they rape and they rob. They prey on children. They shouldn't be here. They stomp on their victims. They beat them with clubs. They slash them with machetes. And they stab them with knives. They have transformed peaceful parks and beautiful, quiet neighborhoods into blood-stained killing fields. They're animals.

We cannot tolerate, as a society, the spilling of innocent, young, wonderful, vibrant people, sons and daughters, even husbands and wives. We cannot accept this violence one day more. Can't do it. And we're not going to do it. Because of you, we're not going to be able to do it. You're not going to allow it to happen, and we're backing you up 100 percent. Remember that, 100 percent.

It is the policy of this administration to dismantle, decimate, and eradicate MS-13 at every other -- and I have to say, MS-13, that's a name, rough groups, that's fine. We've got a lot of others. And they were all let in here over a relatively short period of time. Not during my period of time. Believe me. But we're getting them out. They're going to jails. And then they're going back to their country, or they're going back to their country, period.

One by one, we're liberating our American towns. Can you believe that I'm saying that? I'm talking about liberating our towns. It's like I'd see in a movie. They're liberating the town. Like in the old wild west, right? We're liberating our towns. I never thought I'd be standing up here talking about liberating the towns on Long Island, where I grew up. But that's what you're doing.

And I can tell you, I saw some photos where Tom's guys, rough guys, they're rough, I don't want to be -- I don't want to be, you know, say it because they'll say that's not politically correct, you're not allowed to have rough people doing this kind of work. We have to get -- just like they don't want to have rich people at the head of treasury, OK. Like I want a rich guy at the head of treasury, right? Right?

I want a rich guy at the head of commerce, because we've been screwed so badly on trade deals, I want people that made a lot of money now to make a lot of money for our country.

And, by the way, as I was walking up, they just gave me the numbers. Our numbers were just -- just came out this morning. GDP is up double from what it was in the first quarter. 2.6 percent. We're doing well. We're doing really well. And we took off all those restrictions. And some we're statutorily stuck with for a little while but eventually that statute comes up and we're going to be able to cut a lot more. But we've sort of liberated the world of creating jobs, like you're liberating us and the people that live in areas.

But I have to say, one by one, we are, indeed, freeing up these great American towns and cities that are under siege from gang violence. Look at Los Angeles. Look at what's going on in Los Angeles. Look at Chicago. What is going on in -- is anybody here from Chicago? We got to -- we have to send some of you to Chicago, I think.

[14:25:03] What's going on? I mean, do you see what's happening there? There's no -- do we agree? Is there something maybe -- is there something -- I have to tell you one Chicago story.

So, Chicago is having this unbelievable violence. People being killed, four, five, six in a weekend and I'm saying, what is going on? And when I was running, we had motorcycle brigades take us to the planes and stuff. And one of the guys, a really good -- you could see a really respected officer, police officer, he was at the head. He was the boss. And you could see he was the boss. He actually talked like the boss. Come on, get lined up, because I'd always take pictures with the police, because I do that.

My guys said, don't do it, don't do it. Other candidates didn't do it that I was beating by 40 points. Can you believe it? But I did it. Maybe that's why I was winning by 40 points. But other candidates wouldn't do it, but I always took the pictures with the police.

But we're in Chicago and we had massive motorcycle brigades. And, you know, those people have to volunteer. I don't know if you know that, but from what I understand, they have to volunteer. And I had the biggest brigades. I had brigades sometimes with almost 300 motorcycles. Even I was impressed. I'd look ahead and it was nothing by motorcycles because they'd volunteer from all over various states.

But this one guy was impressive. He was a rough cookie, and really respected guy. I could see he was respected. And he said, all right, come on, get over here, get over here, he's got to get to work, get over here. And I said, so, let me tell you, you're from Chicago. Yes, sir. I said, what the hell is going on? And he said, it's a problem that can be straightened out.

I said, how long would it take you to straighten out this problem? He said, if you gave me the authority, couple of days. I really mean it. I said, you really think so? He said, couple of days. We know all the bad ones. We know them all. He said, the officers, you guys, you know all the bad ones in your area. You know them by their names. He said, we know them all. Couple of days.

I said, you got to be kidding. Now this is a year and a half ago. I said, give me your card. And he gave me a card. And I sent it to the mayor. And I said, you ought to try using this guy. Guess what happened? Never heard. And last week, they had another record. It's horrible.

But we're just getting started. We will restore law and order on Long Island. We'll bring back justice to the United States. I'm very happy to have gotten a great, great justice of the United States Supreme Court, not only nominated but approved.

And, by the way, your Second Amendment is safe. Your Second Amendment is safe. I feel very good about that. Wasn't looking so good for the Second Amendment, was it, huh. If Trump doesn't win, your Second Amendment is gone. Your Second Amendment would be gone.

But I have a simple message to today for every gang member and criminal alien that are threatening, so violently, our people. We will find you, we will arrest you, we will jail you, and we will deport you.

And, you know, we had some problems with certain countries, still do with a couple, but we'll take care of them, don't worry about it. Any time we have a trade deficit, it's very easy, which is almost everywhere. We have trade deficits with almost every country, because we had a lot of really bad negotiators making deals with other countries. So it's almost everywhere, so that takes care of itself.

But we had certain countries in South America where they wouldn't take the people back. I said, that's OK, no more trade. All of a sudden they started taking their people back. It's amazing, isn't it?

They used to send to the former secretary of state of the country, please call. Would you please work it so that we could take -- and they used to just tell her, no, we won't take back. They take back with us. Every single time. We're having no -- we're having very little problem -- are we having any problem right now with that? Huh? You better believe it. Give me the names of the few problems. We'll take care of it this coming -- it's unbelievable.

[14:30:11] One of the old (ph) people -- one of the people that represented the other administration --