Return to Transcripts main page

New Day Sunday

North Korea Warns U.S. Of "Merciless Strike"; Today: Trump Returns To White House Amid New North Korea Threats; Trump To Hold Campaign Rally In Phoenix; Ivanka Trump Praises Boston Counterprotesters; Day Will Turn To Night For Total Solar Eclipse; North Korea: U.S. Drills Driving Situation To Nuclear War; Thousands March In Protest Against Racism, Nazism; Pressure On Police: Boston Versus Charlottesville. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired August 20, 2017 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thousands of counterdemonstrators converging on Boston.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing is burning. Nothing stolen. Nothing is looted. This is a victory today to stand together and drive away racism.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to choose the direction we need to move as a nation, and that should be one again of unity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All we can do is kind of simply hold our breaths one minute.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Countdown to total eclipse coast-to-coast.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I don't think you really should look at the sun. Might burn your eyes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, Monday is the big solar eclipse. Experts have issued some warnings. Don't look at it and try not to watch for too long. I'm sorry. They are talking about Trump's press conferences.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning to you. Always so grateful to have out board. Welcome to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. We want to start this morning with some breakings news.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: North Korea says it's ready to mercilessly strike and blame the U.S. for driving the two countries to the brink of nuclear war.

PAUL: CNN international correspondent, Paula Hancocks is in Seoul. Paula, of course, this threat comes just hours ahead of joint drills with South Korea. Is that what spark the warning?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor and Christi, this is certainly expected from North Korea. We have these joined drills between U.S. and South Korea starting on Monday, and they'll last 10 days.

(Inaudible), they happen every year and the U.S. says they are defensive in nature, but quite frankly, North Korea doesn't see them that way. Any military drills they see as a practice for an invasion of North Korea.

And this is exactly what they are seeing this time as well. They say that it's a reckless provocation to carrying this out and also reminding the U.S. that as far as North Korea is concerned they already can hit Guam, Hawaii and Mainland United States.

Certainly, we are seeing an increase in the rhetoric and it is to be expected, though, as those drills are about to start. One interesting thing about these drills they are computer simulation.

So, you're not going to see thousands of U.S. Marines landing on a South Korean beach like you do in the spring drills, massive amphibious landing, live fire drills, which are a provocation, North Korea says, for them to see that, thinking that is an attempt to practice for war.

Potentially tensions won't be quite as high now considering you won't be seeing these pictures but we started from a higher level. We know that the head of the U.S. Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris is here in Seoul right now.

He has met with the South Korean defense minister to try and figure out how to coordinate better in order to deal with North Korea potentially to oversee these drills as well. Victor, Christi, back to you.

PAUL: All right. Paula Hancock, thank you so much for the update.

BLACKWELL: As North Korea is issuing these new threats, the president, President Trump is returning to Washington today to a freshly renovated White House. You know, it has been an eventful working vacation, to say the very least, for the president.

PAUL: Yes. This morning, we want to take stock of really what has happened since the president left a little more than two weeks ago. First, the president threatened a nuclear war with North Korea remember with his fire and fury comment.

He blamed many sides for the violence in Charlottesville, which included an act of domestic terror by neo-Nazi, and he then doubled down on an idea saying there were, quote, "many fine people among the white supremacists and KKK marchers."

BLACKWELL: And the fallout from those comments led business allies to abandon his business councils, although, President Trump then tweeted it was his idea to shut them down. Well, after another terror attack in Barcelona, the president tweeted a false story about a U.S. military officer mass murdering prisoners of war by shooting them with bullets dipped in pig's blood and leading a Republican senator publicly to question whether the president has the stability and competence to succeed.

Now you'll also remember the president fired his Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. So where does this administration go from here?

Let's talk about it. CNN political commentator and political anchor at Spectrum News, Errol Louis, joins us, as well as Sarah Westwood, White House correspondent for the "Washington Examiner." Good morning to you.

So, this has to be the worst vacation that anyone has had this summer. Let's start with you, Errol, and, you know, when the president goes back to the White House, a lot is on the table that has been left undone.

A lot to move forward to. I want to put this in the context of what Steve Bannon told "The Washington Post." He said that no administration in history has been so divided among itself about the direction about where it should go. The question how much of his agenda remains here and where does the president start?

[06:05:01] ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, there are a lot of different questions that are wrapped up in that one, Victor. The real issue is, look, in the short term, there are some pretty important items like the federal budget, like tax cuts that were promised on the campaign trail.

That this White House is going to have to deal with. I interpret the Bannon comment, though, as in part about style. Will it continue to be chaotic? Will the president continue to pit different aides against one another?

Will the president continue to tweet and sort of make policy spontaneously and change that policy as the mood hits him or will they be a little more focused, a little more orderly and get to some of these big-ticket items?

The things of a possible government shutdown, things like getting the budget passed that is on a pretty strict timetable. They can't really afford to lose more weeks the way they have over the last two weeks.

BLACKWELL: Of course, the most important is that debt ceiling is coming up pretty soon. Sarah, to you, another pullout from "The Washington Post" interview with Steve Bannon.

If the Republican Party on Capitol Hill gets behind the president on his plans and not theirs, it will all be sweetness and light, Bannon says, one big happy family. But most Americans, though, oppose the big-ticket items the president is pushing.

Most Americans oppose a wall along the southern border. Most American oppose all of the Obamacare repeal and replace plans that came out that the president supported. So, sweetness in light?

SARAH WESTWOOD, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": Well, you know, the president should do everything that he can to implement the agenda that he ran on and got elected on because then it would be too easy for his critics to say his presidency fell short in all of the areas that made him unique.

So obviously, the president will keep pushing for those items even if they are not pulling as they used to given the president's unpopularity. But the problem is the Republicans on Capitol Hill are not going to want to stick their neck out for this president while he is so embattled while his approval ratings are continuing to plummet.

They are not going to want to expend political capital fighting for things that are specific to the Trump agenda like the border wall whereas things like repealing and replacing Obamacare, which Republicans (inaudible) long predated President Trump.

Those are things that Republicans might make progress on in spite of President Trump. But in terms what is specific to Trump, what Trump champions that Republicans were kind of forced to accept in retrospect because Trump was so popular, those are the kind of things that could be casualties of Trump's kind of rocky first few months on the job.

BLACKWELL: OK. Errol, let me come to you. With all that there is on the table, on Tuesday, President Trump heads to Phoenix for a 2020 re- election rally. This is, I guess, an opportunity for the president. Can he pass this test or has he already failed it? What is his opportunity to recover here?

LOUIS: Well, he has an opportunity to recover. I don't know if going to rallies of his base is going to be what gets it done. I mean, there is a peculiar kind of theme that runs through on the Steve Bannon comments.

Both the interview in "The Washington Post," as well as other recent comments, which is that he somehow imagines that with the president having a narrow victory over the Republican establishment that the Republican establishment is now supposed to disregard what individual members of Congress and senators are supposed to disregard what their constituents want.

Disregard everything that they, themselves, stand for and have run on and simply line up behind a chaotic White House. That is probably not going to happen. So, when the president goes to Phoenix -- and, you know, good for him.

It sorts of boosts his moral and energizes his base and nice to have the president out in the country and outside of the beltway, but it's not going to address this fundamental problem of does he want the establishment -- does he expect the establishment to simply line up behind him or is he going to negotiate with them? Is he going to strike one of his famous deals and give a little to get a little?

BLACKWELL: Finally to you, Sarah, before we go. We are hearing now from Ivanka Trump. She is back from vacation, just like the president, tweeting out about Boston and the demonstrations we saw there yesterday.

But she was noticeably silent after the president, his very fine people ran about blame on both sides in Charlottesville. She doesn't seem to be the moderating force that some expected she would be. What is the impact after this last week on her ability to impact and influence her father?

WESTWOOD: This was some of the highest scrutiny she has received since she joined the administration in this advisory capacity because a lot of people expected her to come out and sort of denounce her president's comments and that didn't happen.

Ivanka Trump's purpose along the way since she has been helping her father seems to be to protect the family brand from some of the more controversial things that her father had said, but that didn't really happen in this case.

[06:10:11] There is a question as to why, why Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump happened to be on vacation when this situation unfolded and whether Trump's comments was the cause of them being gone or the effect of not being there to moderate President Trump.

So, there are a lot of questions about why she was so silent this past weekend and interesting to see her all of a suddent back online when her father is starting to emerge from this controversy.

BLACKWELL: All right. Sarah Westwood, Errol Louis, thank you.

WESTWOOD: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Governor John Kasich and Congressman Adam Schiff join Jake Tapper on "STATE OF THE UNION" today at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

PAUL: Well, a second officer we've learned has died after an overnight shooting in Kissimmee, Florida. Sergeant Richard Sam Howard was shot late Friday night after responding to suspected drug activity and reports of a suicide attempt. He died yesterday afternoon in the hospital.

Howard was there to back up Officer Matthew Baxter. Police say there was a scuffle. Then the gunfire started and Baxter died at the scene. Police have charged Everett Glenn Miller with first-degree murder, among other charges.

BLACKWELL: Well, it's the plane North Korea's Kim Jong-un hates. Coming up, we will take you to Guam for a closer look at the U.S. Air Force's B-1 bomber.

PAUL: President Trump hails Steve Bannon's return to the right-wing website Breitbart saying, quote, "Fake news needs competition." How will Bannon help drive his agenda from outside the White House?

BLACKWELL: It's the countdown to the total eclipse that will turn day into night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think is going to happen?

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Like, I don't think you really should look at the sun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you shouldn't.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: It might burn your eyes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:07]

PAUL: It is tomorrow! The day the sun will disappear across the U.S. for a brief moment. The day is going to turn to night for the total solar eclipse.

BLACKWELL: It is! I've already got my stylus glasses.

PAUL: You're not putting them on, are you? You want mine?

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: OK, go.

BLACKWELL: I don't know why this is exciting you so much.

PAUL: I took a picture of him in them and put them on Instagram. I don't think he was too happy with that picture so I didn't know if he would put them back on again.

BLACKWELL: So, here is the fun thing about this, Allison Chinchar. I will tell a secret of yours. You bring me glasses over from the weather center. We don't have them and you say give them back of the show. I don't have anything for the eclipse!

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You need them and I wish I had more pairs! Not to sell them off, but so many people have asked because there are a lot of places that are now sold out of these!

Here is the thing. You know all of those people, Victor and Christie, that go out on a cloudy day and get sunburned? It's cloudy, I won't get burned. This is the same issues just because your forecast may be cloudy doesn't mean you can't use these.

You have to use this even if rain is in the forecast for your eclipse. Speaking of which. Let's take a look at the forecast along the areas of the path. It starts on the west coast of Oregon namely around say legal. It's crossing over around 2:00 near Kansas City, Missouri and 3:00 in the afternoon, Eastern Times.

This is passing through areas like Charleston, South Carolina. And then going over the water for the few lucky folks on that cruise, but in terms of the actual forecast, OK?

Let's take a look what we have got going on. Here is that totality path. We start out to the west. For folks in Oregon, Idaho, outside of a little bit of haze and smoke from some of those wildfires the forecast actually remains dry and the cool part it may change the colors.

You may get more red and orange hints or hues to it because of that smoke and haze. Now we shift the forecast a little bit further to the east, say, namely around Kansas City and St. Louis.

Here is where the problems because both of those cities actually have not just potential for showers, but also severe weather tomorrow as well. We are actually talking damaging winds and large hail and isolated tornados.

So, if you plan to be in the path of these locations, make sure you also have your weather alert so you can evacuate if you need to even around the time of the eclipse. Further down to the south, now we get a little bit closer to Nashville.

At the moment, other than an incredibly small chance late in the day, talking tomorrow night, the best chance for rain is. So that means you won't necessarily get rain in Nashville but you may have cloud build up ahead of time during the eclipse.

Then we move on to areas of South Carolina, Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina where unfortunately, we also have some rain chances in the forecast there. Albeit not very high but even still, if there is one pop-up shower and thunderstorm in the afternoon during the eclipse and none rest of the day it doesn't matter because that is the most important time of day to have nice weather.

We have talked about it before, Victor and Christi. The most important thing to have are your glasses. There are still some locations that have them. My best advice, maybe check out your local animal shelter.

A lot of them are actually giving them away for pets. Still not really sure why because your animal doesn't normally look at the sun on a normal day, but they have them, nonetheless, four pets so maybe they can sneak you an extra pair as well.

PAUL: All right. Good advice there. Allison Chinchar, thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's turn to these escalating threats now from North Korea. There is a new warning from Kim Jong-un as the U.S. is now preparing for military drills.

PAUL: Also, thousands of counter-protesters come face-to-face with people affiliated with white supremacist groups. Unlike protests leading up to last week's terror attack, demonstrations were largely.

[06:20:07] But there is another protest and rally next week in San Francisco. We are going to talk about police responses in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: A new nuclear threat from North Korea. Pyongyang says it's ready to, quote, "mercilessly strike at any time."

BLACKWELL: Now this warning comes as the U.S. and South Korea preparing for joint military drills. North Korea says those exercises are reckless and bring the two countries to the brink of nuclear war. Despite the threat, the U.S. says the drills will go on as planned.

(VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: The Charlottesville terror attack is inspiring anti-Nazi and anti-racism protesters to march in streets across the country. Some 2,000 demonstrators paraded from downtown Atlanta to the tune of Martin Luther King Jr. That happened yesterday.

[06:25:09] That was just one of several rallies in major cities including in Dallas, New Orleans, Memphis. Many speaking out against confederate symbols and monuments all were largely people, I'm happy to tell you.

BLACKWELL: And when the largest protest that was in Boston, the self- described free speech rally of about 100 alt-right supporters was dwarfed by thousands of counter-protesters.

At one point, the small group of white nationalists was huddled in a gazebo surrounded on all sides by protesters. A lot of them carried signs that read hate speech is not free speech.

President Trump tweeted this, "It looks like many anti-police agitators in Boston. Police are looking tough and smart. Thank you."

BLACKWELL: In stark contrast with the president, Boston's mayor and superintendent praised the counter-protesters for remaining peaceful in the face of the (inaudible).

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MARTY WALSH, BOSTON: I want to thank all of the people that came out to share that message of love, not hate. To fight back on racism, to fight back on anti-Semitism and to fight back on the white supremacists that come into our city.

WILLIAM GROSS. SUPERINTENDENT IN CHIEF, BOSTON POLICE: As you look around, nothing is burning. Nothing is stalling. Nothing is looted. That the young people of Boston, their parents, their loved ones, and especially the young people of Boston, you know, this is a victory today to stand together and drive away racism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: So Boston Police Department is being praised for keeping order, police in Charlottesville are still facing some backlash after a man mowed down dozen of anti-racist protesters. One woman was killed.

The residents there are criticizing the police is too passive, blasting them for failing to keep apart white nationalists and counter-protesters and not separating them so much.

I want to bring in Charles Ramsey, CNN law enforcement analyst and former chief of the Washington and Philadelphia Dolice Departments. Thank you, Charles, for being with us.

I want to read to you what a counter-protester in Charlottesville told the "Washington Post" after the terror attack last week. The 70-year- old David Cooper told them, "The worst part is that people got hurt, and the police stood by and didn't do an expletive thing."

And the former Charlottesville chief of police says he has a valid concern. Let's listen together here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM LONGO, FORMER CHARLOTTESVILLE POLICE CHIEF (via telephone): I think the question being raised by the general public is a legitimate one. Clearly, we had notice of groups coming into the city with differing views and I think when the potential for violence was real and beyond speculative.

I think when they presented themselves Saturday morning in our community with shields, helmets and weaponry I think it was foreseeable that there would be violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: What is your reaction to the criticism?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I agree with the Chief Longo. I mean, that was a situation where you did have a lot of signs that this could potentially turn violent and they just weren't as prepared as they could have been.

But in fairness to Charlottesville, they are probably a department that is not accustomed to handling large demonstrations, particularly those that have a high potential for violence.

So, they need to reach out and learn from some of the larger jurisdictions like Boston, New Orleans, Philly, D.C. that handle these kinds of things on a fairly regular basis.

PAUL: And it's safe to say Boston learned from watching Charlottesville, would that be safe to say?

RAMSEY: Well, it is safe to say it. Obviously, you saw that it's no longer a potential for violence, but actual violence can occur, including a murder that took place. So, you know, that gives you a look heads-up, but Boston is very adapted at handling these kinds of things anyway, and they have a large department and had affair overwhelming presence and what you really want.

PAUL: The president tweeted and Victor read it a minute ago, but I want to reiterate it here for folks who might have missed it. The president tweeted, "It looks like many anti-police agitators in Boston. Police are looking tough and smart. Thank you." How do President Trump's words affect law enforcement, whether it's psychological, whether it's how they implement their planning?

RAMSEY: It doesn't have any real effect on us one way or another. Like everyone else, you get confused because that is the first tweet followed by two others that were totally different and really is what you would have expected from a president.

So, when you're in a planning stages, you're focused on one thing and one thing only. Allow people to exercise their First Amendment rights on both sides, but, at the same time, keep people safe from harm. That is your focus, not what a president or anyone else is really saying.

PAUL: Real quickly, does the free speech rally in San Francisco next weekend, the risk is you don't know who is showing up. What are your feelings about what is upcoming?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, you have to deal with all of these things individually. I do think the success in Boston and when you look elsewhere, you know, we didn't have the kind of violence we saw in Charlottesville.

Police chiefs do communicate with one another and their tactical people communicate with one another. The Joint Terrorism Task Force and their own intel divisions will be monitoring some of the websites to see what kind of talk is going on there so you could be prepared. But certainly, Charlottesville was a wakeup call for everybody.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Charles Ramsey, we so appreciate your time. Thank you.

RAMSEY: That's OK. Thank you.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump seems to be counting on Steve Bannon as an ally despite cutting him loose at the White House. Bannon returned to "Breitbart News" to run it on the same day he was fired from his job from the administration.

Joining us now to talk about what to expect, Brian Stelter, CNN's senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES." Brian, good morning to you.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Really interesting to see the president weighing in one day after Steve Bannon's departure from the White House posting a message on Twitter that seemed like he was trying to send off Bannon with a fond farewell even though there have been tensions between the two men.

Here is what President Trump wrote, his most recent message about Bannon. He said, "Bannon will be a tough and smart new voice at @BreitbartNews... maybe even better than ever before. Fake news needs the competition."

So you see President Trump here trying to send off Bannon with a positive message one day after Bannon, of course, left on a not so positive note. It was described as a firing and Bannon, in his own words, had some interesting comments about the president saying that the Trump presidency, we fought for this disruptive presidency is now over.

Here is part of what Bannon told the "Weekly Standard." He said on the outside he'll be able to fight for more Trump now. This is sort of spin I think.

But Bannon said, "I can fight better on the outside. I can't fight too many Democrats on the inside like I can on the outside."

This is the beginning of what is going to be a really interesting period, Victor, to have Trump's chief strategist now on the outside at Breitbart without being in the White House any more.

BLACKWELL: All right. We will watch that. Brian Stelter, thanks so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

PAUL: Well, the man who inspired the movie "American History X" is with us as hate groups gain traction in the United States. We're going to ask this former neo-Nazi, can they be stopped?

BLACKWELL: And we look back at the life of the pioneering comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory who died Saturday at the age of 84.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:36:36]

PAUL: One hundred alt-right supporters show up to rally in Boston. They're dwarfed by thousands of counter protesters but the rally -- it was primary peaceful not so obviously in Charlottesville last weekend as you remember. Counter protesters try to fight the hate groups.

So some people might be wondering which is the better strategy to stop the rise of white supremacists. You may remember the 1998 movie "American History X" to have a neo-Nazi who went to prison, faced his ignorance and turned his back on his past.

Well, our next guest is the man who inspired that movie. We are joined now by Frank Meeink, a former neo-Nazi recruiter. Frank, thank you so much for being with us --also the author of "Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead."

I think people are watching this. And the first thing they want to know, frank, is what enticed you to become a neo-Nazi?

FRANK MEEINK, FORMER NEO-NAZI RECRUITER: You know, I felt marginalized. I felt that people couldn't be there for me when I needed to, my family. And I went to an all-black school.

I was (INAUDIBLE) and a lot with the kids at school. So there was little tensions there. You know, I wasn't -- I was full of fear. I was like a kid that was afraid of my school. I was afraid of my parent who weren't around, stepparents. I was afraid I wouldn't have enough food to eat.

We were kind of poor. (INAUDIBLE) the, you know, the poor side of Philadelphia. And so I felt marginalized.

PAUL: So you felt marginalized and just to clarify, did you truly feel superior as a white man or was it primary fear-driven?

MEEINK: That was -- it's all fear-driven. Every guy that you see -- a hundred protesters -- the hundred pro-white people that were there they're all full of fear. It is -- these are fear and guys who are full of anger and fear that join these groups.

It's what they are about. Because --

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: What is the fear -- what is fear about? What do they fear? What did you fear?

MEEINK: Well, you know, I feared basically going to school some days but I mean other people fear that they're going to lose what is theirs. That's what this is all about. They feel that what they had is now being taken by other people, minorities.

So, you know, they see affirmative action as a threat to them. I mean, it's really not. You know, reality -- sometimes your feelings aren't facts. And these guys feel that these are real that -- they are losing their jobs because of affirmative action and so this is what they wake up and they think about -- first thing when they wake up in the morning is they think about that.

PAUL: You wrote a couple of years ago in an interview you had said our violence was our camaraderie, a clockwork orange. Was that the glue that held you all together? Was the camaraderie of violence against somebody else?

MEEINK: Absolutely. It was -- we would go out like as normal teenagers you go out and shoot basketball or you shoot hockey pucks with your friend.

We didn't do that. We went out and we practiced race stuff for our race war and when we come back and we learn -- we used to go out and practice stuff, race war stuff and violence we go back to the tents that we live in Pennsylvania or where we go for our bible studies and they would teach us that everything we are doing is by God's hand.

God wants us to fight for the white race. God has chosen us to be the angels that ruin Sodom and Gomorrah. You're telling a welfare kid from Philadelphia that God wants me on his team. Like, that was our camaraderie.

PAUL: So what changed for you when you were in prison? What turns you around? MEEINK: You know, I was a young kid. I was 17 in an adult maximum security prison.

One of the first prisons I go to John Wayne Gacy is there. I mean, this -- that's how long ago it was.

But I go there and the other kids that played sports -- I want (ph) to play sports. I was an athlete. I grew up my whole life playing sports where all these other black kids from Chicago -- and so sometimes I would get a chance to go play with them even though I was this -- neo-Nazi swastika on my neck.

[06:40:03]

I happen to know a couple of the kids from (ph) (INAUDIBLE). I got to start playing football with some of them and then they see that I was good and this guy -- (INAUDIBLE) start -- you know, when you play sports with guys you start walking back from the yard, back to your cells we talk about life because we are 17-year-old kids in adult prison. And we talk about our girlfriends and who had a baby on the way.

And we talk about -- because I had a baby on the way. We just start to get to know each other so we're -- they knew more about me than my own (INAUDIBLE) gang in prison. These guys knew more about my life.

And so when I got out of prison there's this -- I couldn't get a job. I was aggravated kid with that on my record. I've got a swastika on my neck.

These ain't good people skills and a guy -- a Jewish guy gives me a job doing antique furniture. He was a man who just didn't care what my (INAUDIBLE) were at first. He's just a guy -- I don't care. As long as you don't break my furniture you work for me.

PAUL: So, Frank --

MEEINK: And I worked for this guy -- go ahead.

PAUL: I'm sorry.

I just want to -- we only have a couple of seconds but I wanted --

MEEINK: Yes.

PAUL: -- to really get something even more productive out of this. What would you say to people who are in these neo-Nazi gangs right now and who may be feeling that fear? What would you say to them?

How can you take what happened to you in prison and what changed you and move it into the outside world and hope that it changes somebody else? How do they do that when they are where they are?

MEEINK: Well, you got to (INAUDIBLE) if you want to be a better human being but I can't change them in a sound bite neither. As you understand you have to find out who the human being is. You have to treat them as human beings.

When I used to walk in marches, when I used to be one of the bad guys in these marches people throw bottles at me. I never ducked a bottle and thought, whoa, I better change my beliefs here. Now I more prove of what I'm standing for.

I need for people to talk to me as a human being. I need for me to have a conversation and that's where people start to change. Not throwing bottles.

Not breaking -- you want to protest racism? Go protest a private prison industry. That is real racism.

Protest -- stop and frisk. That is real racism. That's where you really start.

PAUL: And are you able to talk to any of these neo-Nazis now? I mean, do they talk to you? Do they ask for your advice?

Do you see hope in what you see -- in what we saw in Charlottesville that change can happen?

MEEINK: Change can always happen for a human being and it will happen.

Look. The alt-right is just renamed all of the other racists groups you've gone through history. They're just a rebranding right now and it's going -- it's always going to come to an end always and it's going to be a violent end probably.

(INAUDIBLE) the Oklahoma City bombing? I hope not. Because what we need to all remember and before you cut me off -- we got to remember the end result of is this a fireman running do you a street with a dead little girl in his hands and that is Oklahoma City bombing. That's the -- images you have to remember.

This is where we have got to stop this from going because humanity will always win in the end -- always win. But -- they're going to be on the wrong side of history again but how long is it going to take us to get there? I don't know and I hope that we can have it happen without the violence.

PAUL: You are a great voice for this, Frank. Thank you so much for sharing your perspective and helping us understand a little bit more about how these things take shape. We appreciate it so much.

MEEINK: Thank you. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Important conversation there.

He broke through the color barrier, became an iconic comedian, and went on to fight for equal rights. This morning, we remember the life of Dick Gregory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DICK GREGORY, COMEDIAN: I feel so sorry for Willie. I hate to any baseball player having troubles. But that is a great sport for my people.

That is the only sport in the world where Negro can shake a stick at a white man and it won't start no riot.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: In the '60s, Gregory was one of the early black performers to headline at white comedy clubs. He got his big break in 1961 when the prestigious "Playboy" club in Chicago asked him to fill in one night.

The club then went on to offer him a three-year contract. And when he was not making people laugh, he was a voice for justice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY: We black folks is the only people in the history of the planet that went through what we went through and opt for education over liberation. George Washington --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Gregory marched for civil rights, wrote several books including "Murder In Memphis" which analyzed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. He also adamantly opposed the Vietnam War.

Now Gregory recently had to reschedule an event in Atlanta after getting sick. His family says that he died at a hospital in Washington Saturday night. He was 84 years old.

Reverend Jesse Jackson memorialized him on Twitter saying this, "He taught us how to laugh. He taught us how to fight. He taught us how to live.

Dick Gregory is committed to justice. I miss him already."

PAUL: (INAUDIBLE) his family for sure.

Well, it is the prime reason that Kim Jong-un sees Guam as a threat, the B-1 bomber. Next drills beginning on the Korean Peninsula. We are taking you to Guam for a look at one of the most important weapons in the U.S. arsenal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:49:00]

PAUL: We are just hours away from the United States and South Korea starting joint military drills off the Korean peninsula. But before they begin North Korea is warning the countries that it sees those exercises as -- quote -- "reckless." And North Korea threatening that it can strike the U.S. at any moment.

Pyongyang says the planned drills bring the U.S. and North Korea to the -- quote -- "brink of nuclear war."

BLACKWELL: Well, it is a massive bomber that flies like a jet. And the U.S. and South Korea military drill that's starting tomorrow is going to use them, the B-1 bomber, more important than ever.

Here is CNN correspondent Martin Savidge in Guam.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the plane that Kim Jong-un hates. Flying from the base that has put the U.S. territory of Guam at the top of North Korea's hit list. We were given a close-up look at both.

Andersen Air Force Base on the northern end of the island of Guam has been around since World War II but increasingly it's taking on a key strategic role for possible military action against North Korea.

[06:50:03]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We train every day. We are always -- our readiness and that's what makes us ready to fight tonight because we have this power projection here right behind us.

SAVIDGE: As the U.S. grows more and more concerned with the possibility of North Korea launching a nuclear missile this base and its bombers are called the tip of the sphere with their ability to launch preemptive strike on North Korean missile sites if so ordered. B-1 bombers usually working in pairs making the 2,100-mile flight from Guam to the Korean peninsula a mission of about 10 hours.

The Air Force calls the flights routine but also call them something else -- practice.

SAVIDGE (on camera): So the pilots that fly the B-1 bomber say it's really like flying a fighter jet no a heavy lift bomber. And they cite three words speed, persistence, it can linger a long time, and payload.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): In Iraq and Afghanistan the B-1 has been a work horse capable of airborne for long periods of time just waiting for the right moment to strike.

SAVIDGE (on camera): This is what gives the plane its incredible lethal punch. This is actually the bomb rack here. If you look carefully, you notice that it rotates like a carousel.

It allows this aircraft to carry all kind of different ammunitions. That way, it can carry out multiple strikes on the same flight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The B-1 has multiple capabilities.

Obviously, it's a bomber so it carries bombs. It has gravity bombs. It has GPS guided bombs and also stand-off bombs so we don't necessarily have to get over the target to drop.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Just out of sight of the flight line is another feature at the base that makes it such a potential threat. A massive series of bunkers storing millions of pounds of conventional bombs and explosives including 2,000 pound bunker busters that could be used to target North Korea's regime.

Kim Jong-un may have backed off any immediate plans to fire missiles at Guam, but airmen say nothing has changed at Andersen. Here, commanders say both the base and the bombers are prepared to carry out whatever, whenever, the president orders. Living up to its motto -- ready to fight tonight.

Martin Savidge, CNN, Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: The "USS Indianapolis" lost since World War II has been found, get this, in 18,000 feet of water.

A team of civilian researchers found it Friday and they were led by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen. It was torpedoed by the Japanese in 1945 while returning from a secret mission delivering parts for the atom bomb. Almost 1,200 men were stranded in the water.

If this story sounds familiar you might remember the ship from one of the most chilling scenes in the movie "Jaws" when shark hunter Quint talks about it in this nightmare that he had about World War II.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT SHAW AS QUINT THE SHARK HUNTER: On Thursday morning, chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Boatswain's mate.

I thought he was asleep. I reached over to wake him up. Bobbed up, down in the water just like a kind of top.

Upended. Well, he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us.

We had to wake him up. Bobbing up and down in the water like a kind of top. Upended. Well, he had been bitten in half below the waist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, a lot of that story was true, only 316 men survived but they also battled dehydration, drowning, along with shark attacks. Allen's team will survey the site and tour the wreckage as well.

Well, groups all around the country are showing their support for Colin Kaepernick and Andy Scholes is here with more.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Victor, many are fighting for Kaepernick's return to the NFL. And he had some support from an unlikely place yesterday. We will have details coming up in this morning's "Bleacher Report."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:58:10]

BLACKWELL: Members of the New York police department showing their support for free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick and his national anthem protests.

PAUL: Andy Scholes is here on this morning's "Bleacher Report."

SCHOLES: Good morning, guys.

PAUL: Good morning.

SCHOLES: Colin Kaepernick still does not have an NFL team and many players around the league actually think that he is being blackballed because of his social activism and that has caused many people around the country to campaign for Kaepernick's return to the NFL.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROWD CHANTING "We support Kap. We support Kap. We support Kap. We support Kap.")

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: About 75 current and former NYPD officers rallied in Brooklyn yesterday in support of Kaepernick. They wore "I'm With Kap" t-shirts and took a knee to show their solidarity.

And now one of the reasons for Kaepernick's protest last season was police brutality. But these officers applaud Kaepernick for bringing awareness to the issues that face our country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We decided to gather here today because the way he is being railroaded for speaking the obvious truth, this is not what America was founded on.

JUMAANE WILLIAMS, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: All of the people behind me risk their lives, so to speak, to protect folk and they are standing with Kaepernick because they understand how important it is to push back on the structure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: A number of civil rights group are planning to protest in support of Kaepernick outside of NFL headquarters in New York on Wednesday.

All right. Most of us all remember learning how to drive. And I'm going to go out on a limb and say Dwyane Wade's son will never forget one of his first experiences behind the wheel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DWYANE WADE, PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYER: A little nervous. A little nervous but it's all good. You're getting it.

Who wouldn't be nervous? You see when you're driving you got to be nervous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: That is Wade's son learning to drive in a 300,000 dollar Ferrari.

PAUL: I learned in a Ford Escort on the back roads of Ohio.

BLACKWELL: I learned in a Dodge Aries K.

[07:00:01]

They don't even make those anymore.

(LAUGHTER)

SCHOLES: I was in a Ford (INAUDIBLE). But, guys, in Wade's defense I don't think he and Gabrielle Union have a lot of normal cars sitting around for his son's drive.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: That's all I have. Thank you, Andy.

SCHOLES: All right.

BLACKWELL: Thanks.