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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump's 'Fire And Fury' Warning To North Korea; Concern On Capitol Hill Over Trump's Remarks; Disney Pulling Content from Netflix to Start Own Streaming Service. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired August 09, 2017 - 05:30   ET

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


[05:30:00] ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: -- his knee locks up awkwardly and he goes down. This is the very start of the game.

Camargo ended up having to be helped off the field.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: No.

SCHOLES: He suffered a bone bruise in his right knee, expected to miss a couple of weeks.

And, guys, you know, we've heard of athletes having weird, freak injuries off of the field. Unfortunately for Camargo, this happened right there in front of thousands of fans at the very beginning of the game.

MARQUEZ: That would be my major league sports experience.

SCHOLES: That would happen to you, Miguel.

MARQUEZ: That's terrible. Poor guy. That's really embarrassing.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: That plane -- that Patriot plane is sweet. Those two planes are sweet.

SCHOLES: They're pretty nice.

ROMANS: Can you imagine? Oh, man.

MARQUEZ: And, Kaepernick -- I mean, if anybody hired him they'd sell more jerseys in a -- in a night than anything else. Why not just hire him?

SCHOLES: Yes. You've got to think it's -- you know -- I don't know, Miguel. Is he being blackballed or is it just a bad -- or finding the right fit?

MARQUEZ: I put Andy Scholes on the spot.

Thank you very much, Andy.

ROMANS: Thank you, Andy.

SCHOLES: And he did.

ROMANS: EARLY START continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.

MARQUEZ: It is perhaps one of the most stunning public threats to an American adversary in decades. What's President Trump's next move after North Korea defied him with another threat to the U.S.?

We have full coverage this morning from Washington and Seoul.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Miguel Marquez in for Dave Briggs this week.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. Nice to see you this week.

It's 31 minutes past the hour, 5:31 in the east.

This morning, North Korea threatens an attack on the U.S. territory and President Trump warning of fire and fury. Pyongyang with a major escalation, warning of what it calls preemptive, retaliatory operation of justice.

MARQUEZ: In a statement, the North Korean military threatens to strike the U.S. territory of Guam and it specifically mentions Andersen Air Force Base on Guam, which is home to two American bombers -- B-1 bombers that flew over the Korean Peninsula this week prompting the latest North Korean rhetoric.

ROMANS: The North Korean threats came just hours after we also learned U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded Pyongyang has produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead. Now, that news prompted a harsh response from President Trump.

Our coverage begins this morning with CNN national security reporter Ryan Browne. He is in Washington for us. Good morning, Ryan.

RYAN BROWNE, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Good morning.

Again, a lot of developments coming with regard to the situation in North Korea yesterday.

First off was this intelligence assessment which CNN has learned by the Defense Intelligence Agency which assesses that North Korea now has the capability to miniaturize a nuclear weapon that could fit into a ballistic missile potentially.

Now, this coming just one month after North Korea successfully tested two ICBMs that were capable, potentially, of reaching the U.S. mainland.

Now again, officials caution that there are still other aspects of this that, you know, would need to be kind of developed by North Korea before they could actually have a workable weapon -- a reentry of the warhead from the -- reentering the earth's atmosphere, targeting -- things of that nature, but it is a concerning development for U.S. intelligence analysts.

And this, again -- North Korea kind of responding with ratcheted rhetoric to this latest B-1 flight threatening to target Guam.

Now, U.S. military officials have taken precautions on Guam for a very long time. There's missile defense systems there and the U.S. military official has long planned that North Korea has the ability to mount nuclear weapons on missiles. They've kind of worked that into their planning assumptions so the military not particularly concerned about that.

But again, Donald Trump -- President Trump issuing a very stark warning to North Korea in the face of all these developments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.

He has been very threatening beyond a normal statement. And as I said, they will be met with fire, fury, and frankly, power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWNE: Now, again, very harsh words there, very strong language being used, but not exactly clear what are President Trump's red lines when it comes to North Korea. He talked about threats and threatening posture. We saw Pyongyang issue that threat against Guam yesterday.

So again, not clear exactly what types of things they're looking for -- where they're drawing their red lines with regards to a potential response to North Korea.

This all coming after President Trump had a success at the United Nations in posing sanctions against the regime in Pyongyang. So we will just have to wait and see where this exactly goes from here.

ROMANS: And a lot of people noting, Ryan, that -- you know, that part of the phrase 'like the world has never seen' -- he had said that about a completely different subject just a few minutes before that in that same -- in that same briefing after, you know, he was told -- he had a briefing about the opioid epidemic in the United States -- 'like the world has never seen' so maybe a turn of phrase for him.

[05:35:10] But fire and fury and power, those are words that are certainly getting a lot of attention this morning.

Ryan Browne up early for us this morning in Washington. Thanks, Ryan.

MARQUEZ: This is hardly the first time North Korea has made harsh threats against the U.S., some of them sounding just as deadly and dangerous. So why is this one being taken more seriously?

We have CNN's Alexandra Field. She's live for us in Seoul, South Korea this morning just after 6:30 p.m. Good morning to you.

What is the sense of it there? They have heard this many, many times from the North.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And yet, still, when you talk about threats that are this blunt you've got some jaws dropping that might be more because of the threats that are being issued in this case by President Trump though than by Kim Jong Un, himself.

What is clear is that these two leaders do seem to be speaking the same language to some extent.

Just days ago you had Kim Jong Un threatening through state news, essentially, that the U.S. mainland would be reduced to an indescribable sea of fire.

Now, you have the U.S. president, the commander of the U.S. military, talking about fire and fury if North Korea continues with its threats.

That hasn't been enough to silence North Korea from making threats, of course, because threaten is what North Korea does. So they issued this barrage of threats even after President Trump laid down that ultimatum. The threats were specific targeting Guam, the possibility of a military attack using long- and medium-range missiles.

Who is stuck in the middle of all of this? South Korea. They know that if there is a misstep, if there is a misstate, if there is some kind of conflict they are the ones who stand to lose the most.

Don't forget, there are some 20 million people in the Seoul metropolitan area. We are just 35 miles away from the DMZ, that border between North Korea and South Korea.

There is a full range of artillery on the North Korean side and they could do a grave amount of damage to this city and its people if something gets lost in translation here -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Twenty million South Koreans and almost 30,000 U.S. troops in that area.

Alexandra Field for us in Seoul this morning, thank you.

ROMANS: We have no room --

MARQUEZ: No.

ROMANS: No margin for error here.

Let's bring in CNN military analyst and retired Air Force colonel Cedric Leighton. He is live for us again via Skype from San Antonio.

Your reaction to the raised temperature here on the situation between the U.S. and North Korea. Has the president drawn a red line here and is there a risk that the U.S. isn't prepared to meet that red line if the North Koreans react? COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST (via Skype): I think we're seeing that there is a very big risk that we've drawn a red line without necessarily intending to draw the red line or having the strategy to deal with that.

So whenever you do something like this it becomes very important to have a way in which you can not only send the message but also have the force to back up that message. And I think that was lacking in the president's remarks and in the preparation that has been going on to potentially counter a North Korean threat.

MARQUEZ: And this is a good example of how that sort of rhetoric the president used yesterday can be taken out of context and military matters can get out of control very quickly.

The B-1 bombers that the U.S. sent over the Korean Peninsula -- they had been sent there earlier in the week when the U.S. was trying to deal with the insurgency in Baghdad. They were sending a B-1 around that. It is a very -- it sends a very, very strong signal to any country to see those terrifying bombers flying low over an area.

At the same time, the North Koreans make their comment about the bombers -- that President Trump is making his comments. Everything seems to telescope together in one thing.

I mean, are we at a situation where from the president on down that the rhetoric has to be smarter, better thought out? I mean, what has to happen from this point on? We are where we are. What has to happen now?

LEIGHTON: Well, Miguel, I think you raise some very excellent points there. Anytime you send a B-1 bomber or any weapon system that is as impressive as a B-1 to an area people are going to notice that.

The B-1's are part of a deployment scenario and a deployment schedule that the Air Force has published for quite some time, but that really doesn't matter to Pyongyang. To Pyongyang, that is something that is part of what the U.S. is doing. It is part of the threat that the U.S. poses to them, in their view.

And that's the kind of thing that can easily result in miscalculation. So the biggest danger is that we stumble into a conflict because of miscalculation.

History is full of examples when great powers have gotten into big messes because of miscalculation and we really want to avoid that kind of a situation on the Korean Peninsula because the results, of course, would be devastating not only for the people involved but really for the entire world from an economic as well as human rights standpoint.

[05:40:13] And it becomes a very clear need that we are very careful with the rhetoric and that we have a strategy to make sure that we have that the right kind of moves in place, use the right kind of rhetoric at the right time in order to really effect the changes that we want to on the Korean Peninsula. And that would mean a denuclearized warhead -- at least a nuclear minimized North Korean state.

ROMANS: We've talked about careful rhetoric but this is a president who is known to speak off the cuff, to say what he thinks, to vent -- to go back and say the opposite. And when we look at the words from this president, you know, he said like we've never seen before. Fire and fury and power like the world has never seen.

It's -- actually, part of that is a turn of phrase that this president likes to use. I want to listen to a little bit of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The grassroots movement, the likes of which the world has never seen before.

We're all part of this very historic movement, a movement the likes of which, actually, the world has never seen before.

Unemployment is the lowest it's been in 17 years. Business enthusiasm is about as high as they've ever seen.

We're being very, very strong on our southern border and I would say the likes of which this country certainly has never seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So, the president likes to use that part of the phrase in particular. But put all together, how important are the words that the president is tweeting and the president is saying in regard to the North Korea situation?

LEIGHTON: They are critically important, Christine, because the big issue here is that anything the president says or writes becomes part of the dialogue and part of the diplomatic dance that goes on between the United States and North Korea.

And although we don't want to recognize the regime in Pyongyang they are, in fact, the rulers of that country and so we have to engage in -- with them in some way. And that becomes -- the rhetoric becomes a very critical component of this and it really becomes necessary for a strategy to be developed around the rhetoric so that not only does the rhetoric fit the strategy but the strategy fits the rhetoric if we want to go in a certain direction.

And that's the kind of thing that policymakers have to work with the president on in order for us to get a situation on the North Korean -- in the North Korean state that would be more acceptable to us. I don't think it will ever be completely acceptable to the United States, but at least we would be a bit safer if we pursued a coherent policy in that area.

MARQUEZ: Colonel, I'd say you did a yeoman's duty for us today being up with us so early, but that would be a naval term and you probably wouldn't take that very well.

(LAUGHTER) Thank you -- thank you very, very much for being with us this morning.

ROMANS: Colonel Cedric Leighton --

LEIGHTON: No problem.

ROMANS: -- thank you.

LEIGHTON: All acceptable terms.

(LAUGHTER)

MARQUEZ: Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, they are not pleased with the president's threat to Kim Jong Un.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. AL FRANKEN (D), MINNESOTA: This is so irresponsible I can't -- I can't even believe that he did this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: More of how all this is being received on Capitol Hill coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:47:38] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I take exception to the president's comments because you've got to be sure that you can do what you say you're going to do.

I think that the rotund ruler in Pyongyang is not crazy but he certainly is ready to go to the brink.

The great leaders that I have seen, they don't threaten unless they are ready to act -- yes -- and I'm not sure that President Trump is ready to act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Democrats and Republicans slamming President Trump for escalating the crisis in North Korea. Many lawmakers raising concerns about the president drawing a line in the sand and not being able to back it up.

Joining to discuss that and the rest of the day's political news, Zach Wolf. He's the digital director for "CNN POLITICS."

Good morning, Zach.

ROMANS: Good morning.

MARQUEZ: Just another ho-hum August in Washington. I take it this controversy comes at a bad time because as you pointed out earlier, Congress is on break. How -- what is your sense of how they will react and will they have to come back early? Will there be some sort of effort by Congress to bring this -- the rhetoric and this situation down?

ZACHARY WOLF, DIGITAL DIRECTOR, CNN POLITICS: Yes, I think it's a little bit early to be -- to be thinking about what Congress could do at this particular moment.

I think the most important thing is to see what President Trump does next after he made those very stark warnings yesterday, and that was followed by, you know, a North Korean response. I think we need to see what he and his administration does right now.

Congress is really more in an advisory role here, right now, and I think you see a very important piece of advice there from John McCain, who is no shrinking violet when it comes to the use of American military power. He's sort of saying dial it down a little bit. I think that's something that people should probably pay attention to.

ROMANS: Also saying to dial it down, James Clapper, the former director of National Intelligence. Here's what he's told Anderson Cooper last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I would also appeal to those in the media to tone down the rhetoric as well because the rhetoric itself now is becoming quite incendiary, and I just don't think it's very productive to engage in this dueling banjo rhetoric back and forth, which is quite provocative.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:50:00] ROMANS: I mean, we should remind people there's really no margin for error here with the situation in North Korea.

I mean, you've got Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who is in the region right now pushing, you know, peaceful --

MARQUEZ: Pressure.

ROMANS: You know, peaceful pressure to try to ratchet this down.

But you have what some would call hyperbole from the President of the United States, which sort of plays into the bellicose belligerence of the North Koreans.

WOLF: Yes. I mean, you know, it's one of these things where we have somebody who's not really a diplomat or a politician in this very high-profile position.

But we have to remember, this is not the Republican primary anymore. This is not the general election. And this is not even talking about health care with members of Congress. This is dealing with, you know, a despot from a foreign land who's trying to get nuclear weapons. And, you know, the language matters here in a way that it hasn't for him on the world stage before.

MARQUEZ: Well, it will be very interesting to see how this plays out and how Congress reacts to all of it.

Zach Wolf for us in D.C. Just another boring hot August day. Nothing to see here, folks -- move on.

ROMANS: Zach Wolf -- thanks, Zach.

MARQUEZ: I really appreciate it.

WOLF: Thanks.

ROMANS: Fifty-one minutes past the hour.

The U.S. boasting the highest number of job openings on record. Where are the wage hikes to match? I haven't seen them yet, have you?

MARQUEZ: I'm not --

ROMANS: "CNN Money Stream" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:55:48] ROMANS: Breaking news from Paris this morning where counterterrorism prosecutors have already opened an investigation into a car-ramming attack on a group of soldiers.

The troops were deployed on an anti-terror mission supporting police. Officials say two soldiers have injuries that are serious but not life-threatening. Four others were lightly injured.

MARQUEZ: The suspect of an accused fatally -- accused of fatally shooting a Missouri Clinton police officer during a traffic stop is behind bars this morning. Authorities say 39-year-old Ian McCarthy was captured without incident Tuesday night after a driver spotted him walking on a highway about 12 miles from where the shooting took place.

McCarthy is being treated for a bullet wound suffered in the shootout.

He's facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of Officer Gary Michael.

ROMANS: Let's get a check on "CNN Money Stream" this morning for you.

President Trump's fiery warning to North Korea is unsettling global markets. Global stocks and U.S. futures fall overnight as tensions rise between the U.S. and North Korea. Investors fleeing into so- called safe havens like gold and bonds.

Trump's promise of a fire and fury and power to North Korea also triggered a sell-off on Wall Street, snapping the Dow's winning streak after nine straight days of record highs. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 also closing lower.

All right. The U.S. economy boasting the highest number of job openings on record. Job openings up eight percent -- 6.2 million open jobs. That's according to a Labor Department report.

This high number, I think, illustrates both the strength and weakness in the current jobs market. It shows that employers have plenty of jobs -- they're willing to hire -- but these businesses claim that they struggle to find the qualified workers to fill them.

However, some economists are starting to question the so-called skills gap. They're saying hey, employers maybe should offer higher wages to attract talent.

Overall wage growth, of course, has been flat for the past few years.

Disney is pulling its content from Netflix to launch its own streaming service. Disney's cable networks make up the majority of its revenue but those channels have taken a hit in recent years as more viewers cut the cord.

So Disney plans to start its own online streaming services, one ESPN- branded channel for sports content -- that's next year, and another in 2019 for all other Disney movies and programs.

In preparation, Disney will pull all of its movies and T.V. shows from Netflix except for the Marvel T.V. series which Disney owns. That will continue to live on Netflix for now.

Both of those stocks fell yesterday -- I thought that was interesting -- on that call. Netflix and Disney shares both down.

MARQUEZ: The times they are a-changin'.

ROMANS: They certainly are.

Thanks for joining us this morning. I'm Christine Romans.

MARQUEZ: And, I'm Miguel Marquez.

The threats and rhetoric between the U.S. and North Korea reaching a concerning new level. What's the next move for President Trump?

"NEW DAY" starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: North Korea threatening the U.S. territory of Guam in response to two American bombers flying over the Korean Peninsula.

REP. DARRELL ISSA (R), CALIFORNIA: It represents the greatest crisis, undoubtedly, since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

MCCAIN: I think that the rotund ruler in Pyongyang certainly is ready to go to the brink. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: U.S. intelligence officials have assessed that North Korea has produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead.

TRUMP: They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.

FRANKEN: What he was basically doing is threatening a nuclear war against North Korea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's important for our president not to be unpredictable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He does need to reinforce the message of deterrence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By using this kind of language we're playing right into Kim Jong Un's hands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, August 9th, 6:00 here in New York.

Chris is off and Bill Weir joins me. Great to have you on this very busy news day.

BILL WEIR, CNN ANCHOR: A busy, seismic day.

CAMEROTA: It is.

So, we begin with breaking news.

North Korea is attacking -- threatening -- forgive me, threatening to attack the U.S. territory of Guam, home to Andersen Air Force Base, in response to U.S. bombers flying over the Korean Peninsula on Monday.

This, after President Trump's extraordinary warning to Pyongyang that any threat to the U.S. would be met with quote "fire and fury."

WEIR: And as a result, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressing alarm, slamming the president's comments and calling on Mr. Trump to be more measured as this crisis intensifies.