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Police in St Louis Bracing Themselves For Violence On Their Streets; Three Storms In The Atlantic; President Now On A First Name Basis With Two Top Democrats; Could The White House Be Softening Its Hard Line On The Paris Climate Deal?; North Korea's Missile Test This Week. Aired 7:00-8:00p ET

Aired September 16, 2017 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: It is 7:00 p.m. on the east coast. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Boris Sanchez in for Ana Cabrera. We thank you so much for joining us.

We start tonight with police in a major U.S. city bracing themselves for violence on their streets after an officer's acquitted in the death of an African-American man. It is a scene that is played out over and over again in the country, this time, in St. Louis, not far from Ferguson, Missouri, where we saw this kind of incident and violence about three years ago.

In St. Louis, a judge found former Officer Jason Stockley and his wife not guilty yesterday in the 2011 killing of Anthony Lamar Smith., a black man. Shortly after the ruling, violent protests started in downtown St. Louis. And tonight, more protests are forming.

Dash cam and cell phone video were pivotal in this case. And after the shooting, a camera inside the police cruiser shows Stockley retrieving something in a bag. You see it there on the right hand side. Prosecutors accused him of planting a gun in Smith's car. But Stockley has always maintained that he was trying to get medicine aid from his bag to help Smith.

CNN's Ryan Young is in St. Louis.

Ryan, you were there as the protests became violent yesterday. This acquittal stirring a lot of emotion again tonight. What are you seeing?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Plenty of emotion. Look, we were with protesters yesterday from about 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. yesterday. And once again, you can see now this is where protesters are starting to gather. We have been to three different malls today as protesters have walked their way throughout the city. But right now, if you look behind me, they are starting to gather in this direction and we will walk you over here, Boris.

You see the iconic arch here in the distance. And of course, that when they went to the malls, they were going to several different malls. They stayed for about a half hour and then would leave. Now, they are gathering in the middle of the city. We believe another protest will form here. We are told there could be several others before the night is over.

Once again, we talked about that. It was mostly peaceful yesterday. Then all of a sudden, there was some tussling between these protesters and the police. In fact, four police officers were injured during all this yesterday. We know there were about 13 arrests that happened when the protests got a little violent yesterday.

Look. We even marched to the mayor's house at some point. And somebody decided to throw some rocks through the front window. That's when police sworn in. Used teargas to kind of disperse the crowd. There was a lot of terms of how the police officers were managing this. You can see they were taking care, professionalism, and trying to make sure they were guiding people out.

There wasn't those violent outbursts from coming from their sides, trying to push people out of the way. But we did notice there was a small group of protesters who decided they were going to taunt police officers for most of the night. Once again though, this crowd today and the people who have been marching have remained peaceful so far.

SANCHEZ: Now, Ryan, I did want to ask you about that ex-St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley. He spoke out yesterday and after the acquittal. What is he saying?

YOUNG: Yes. He talked about how difficult this has been and talking about how this has taken a toll on him and how he understands how people can be angry. Listen to this interview when he talked about some of the words that were used in that video. Now, he tries to explain the raw emotion of that period of time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON STOCKLEY, FORMER ST. LOUIS POLICE OFFICER: I can tell you with absolute certain that there was no plan to murder Anthony Smith during a high speed vehicle pursuit. Just not the case. And I wish that I could tell you exactly what that was and what it meant, whether it was just in the moment or part of a larger conversation, I really don't -- I just don't remember.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Once again, we marched over five miles yesterday, Boris, with protesters. We did see some protesters even carrying weapons as we marched. This is an open carry state. So far, we haven't seen any of that so far. But we will continue to watch them and march with them through the night -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Ryan Young reporting from downtown St. Louis. We will get back to you, Ryan, if things do get out of hand. Thank you.

We are on storm watch tonight. Tracking not just hurricane Jose, but now, two other systems in the Atlantic.

CNN meteorologist Gene Norman joins us now from the CNN weather center.

Gene, it seems like these storms just keep on coming.

GENE NORMAN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right. It's a drum beat no one wants to hear, Boris. Three storms in the Atlantic. Actually, only two are ones we need to be concerned about. Lee not so much. Jose, I think is still going to miss the U.S., but Maria is a factor now. And you are saying when did that become a thing?

Earlier today, a tropical depression, now, a tropical storm, packing 50 mile an hour winds and moving steadily to the west and unfortunately headed for the eastern Caribbean. In fact, there are hurricane watches in effect for Barbuda and Antiga (ph) that could use. Expected to become a category two hurricane by Tuesday. Possibly category three and impacting Puerto Rico by the middle of the week. I don't like the end of the forecast cone because that's pointed toward the U.S. That's the wrong direction after what we have been dealing with.

As far as Jose, it's still out there with 80 mile an hour winds. As the hurricane hunter planes are flying in and around it today. They did identify some information that helped refine the track. Good news because it looks like the track will continue to be away from the U.S. earl today, the cone of uncertainty was touches places like Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, but now, less so.

Still going to see rip currents up and down the east coast. We have seen that throughout the day today. But this is not a picture we want to see. Last time we had 13 named storms by this date on the calendar, Boris, was 2012. You remember what your that was, Sandy. We don't want a repeat.

[19:05:47] SANCHEZ: That's right. And Gene, there is still about another month left in hurricane season. So we appreciate the perspective.

Gene Norman, thank you.

Coming up, we have been talking about Irma and the effects of it. We go to Florida now where thousands of people who wisely evacuated the keys ahead of last week's killer hurricane are this weekend being allowed back to their homes for the first time since the storm. But all is not well in the Florida Keys. Electricity, running water, gasoline, all very hard to find. And officials fear that a mass return to the islands could make for a challenging situation. And it could worsen conditions there.

Martin Savidge is in Key West for us.

Now, Martin, you actually had a conversation with the mayor of Key West earlier. He is trying to lower expectations a bit, isn't he?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He is, indeed. But at the same hand, he is also the one who was the strongest cheerleader to say we need to bring these people back.

I'm going to show you another rather unusual scene. This is Duvall Street. If you have ever been to Key West and there's no doubt you have been here, but it's a Saturday night. And this place will be, well, the place to be. And yes, there is some traffic, but not what you would have seen on a typical Saturday night in Key West Florida.

And by the way, there's a curfew that will begin right about half an hour from now, which means no one is allowed out on the street. If you are, you will be stopped by police. Unless you got a good reason, you will be in some very serious trouble. And that curfew by the way is going to be in effect when people return. It's another thing to consider.

And I did talk to the mayor about what should people expect and essentially, it was not much.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: What do you tell residents coming back?

MAYOR CRAIG CATES, KEY WEST: I tell them that be prepared to be shocked when you get here. Don't expect that all the services you need, that you can just call somebody and they are going to come over and fix it. Be patient. If you do come back, don't be upset when things don't go exactly how you planned. And if you are going to come back, be part of the solution, not a problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: The good news is that most of the folks that are going to be returning to Key West are going to find things pretty much as they left it. There's some damage, but otherwise, they paired well. It's those who are going to return safe from southern mile bridge down to Stop Key. That is the area where Irma came ashore and where the devastation is significant. And for many people there, there is not a whole lot to go back to. So it's going to be a very difficult day tomorrow. Mixed feelings. Some are going to celebrate of course. Others are going to be heartbroken, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Martin Savidge reporting from Key West. Martin, thank you.

The focus these past few weeks has really been on these historic, massive hurricanes. And that has some people asking the President if he has at all altered his views on climate change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, we have had bigger storms than this. And if you go back into the 1930s and 1940s and you take a look, we have had storms over the years that had been bigger than this. If you go back into the teens, you will see storms that were as big or bigger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: There are some new reports about the White House and what might be happening with the Paris climate agreement. We will discuss shortly. Plus, Chuck, Nancy and the Donald, the President now on a first name

basis with two top Democrats as they hammer out a deal on DACA, but does Trump risk alienating some of his die hard supporters? A lively discussion ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:13:32] SANCHEZ: Could the White House be softening its hard line on the Paris climate deal? The question comes at the White House is denying a report that President Trump is reversing his position to get out. "The Wall Street Journal" says that the Trump administration will not withdraw from the deal that aims to reduce global warm. But a White House spokeswoman just insisted that the President's position has not changed. Remember, it was June when the President announced the U.S. exit making it the only major industrial nation to do so. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: As someone who cares deeply about the environment which I do, I cannot in good conscious support a deal that punishes the United States. Which is what it does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's turn to CNN White House correspondent, Athena Jones and CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott.

Athena, let's start with you. What are White House officials saying about this reporting?

ATHENA JONES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Boris.

As you mentioned, the White House is pushing back against this "Wall Street Journal" report. Here is what we learned from deputy press secretary Lindsey Walters. She said there has been no change in the United States position on the Paris agreement. As the President has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favorable to our country.

And that very much echoes what we heard from the President in that Rose Garden address in June where he talked about - he said we will start to negotiate and we will see if we can make a deal that's fair. That is hat this comes down to this. This is a campaign promise kept as far as the White House is concerned. This idea the President, then candidate Trump campaigning on canceling this agreement. He wants a fairer deal for Americans.

But Boris, it's important to remember that even though he announced this withdrawal, this is going to be a lengthy process under the terms of the Paris support, not being completed the withdrawal until November of 2020. It's also important to note that the U.S. set its own goals when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions under this deal. So that's something that the U.S. could look to change. Change its own targets when it comes to carbon emissions. But this is now something of a muddle given what we are hearing. The

EU official saying that they are hearing White House official. And it's something that the White House officials are going to have to address at the United Nations general assembly in New York next week. We already know that a top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, was set to meet with about a dozen climate ministers on the sideline of that U.N.ga meeting. And so they are definitely going to want to hear more from him about what the U.S. position is.

And one more thing, Boris. This also speaks to the larger question of how the President is going to promote his America first agenda at this meeting of the United Nations, which is of course a global body. That is geared towards addressing global issues like climate change -- Boris.

[19:16:27] SANCHEZ: Elise, to you. It seems like this might be some confusion brought about by semantics, right? "The Wall Street Journal" is citing this reporting calling or citing rather statements from a European Union official, where do you see the confusion? How did this happen?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: OK. There was this meeting today in Montreal about 30 countries. And a top White House energy climate official was there. So the EU energy commission -- EU climate and energy commissioner came out of this meeting, told reporters that this White House official introduced a plan to reengage on the climate deal.

The officials said -- the EU commission, I will just read the quote that he told reporters, the U.S. has stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris cords, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement.

Now, it's kind of vague. And look, Boris, let's not, you know, overdo it here. It certainly doesn't look as if, you know, the White House and President Trump said I'm going withdraw the deal and now, it's like, yes. I looked at it and now, I love it. Clearly, the U.S. has problems with this agreement.

But I mean, I have to say, it does seem like a very nuanced and you know, softening of the U.S. kind of firm position that it was going to pull out of the deal and instead of renegotiating a new deal or renegotiating, it says it's going to review the terms. So at least the White House wants to appear to these, you know, ministers in Montreal and you know, coming up at the U.N., that it's more open to talking about this agreement.

And as Athena says, Gary Cohn, the head of the White House economic council is going to be meeting with climate ministers. He is also, obviously, the White House has created some confusion that they have to clear up. But this also does come as the President is going to the United Nations. He certainly wants to be received well there. And also, comes as if there is some question about the President's firm promises on some of his campaign pledges. And that he might seems to be willing to kind of soften those positions and go against the base that elected him for us. SANCHEZ: Yet another thing to watch for at the general assembly this

week. As you said, Elise, the President said to speak before the GA on Tuesday.

Elise Labott, Athena Jones, thank you so much for joining us.

Coming up, dueling rallies. Trump supporters and members of the Black Lives Matter movement meet on the national mall in Washington. The pass the mic moment you need to see, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:23:35] SANCHEZ: After months of divisive rhetoric, a moment of unity in an unexpected place, a pro Trump rally it's called a mother of all rallies. And this evening, one of the speakers or loud members of Black Lives Matter on the stage, what happened next might surprise you. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, you guys know that the mother of all rallies was the end of political violence. It's about freedom of speech. It's about celebration. So what we are going to do is something you are not used to. And we are going to give you two minutes of our platform so put your message out. Now, whether they disagree or agree with your message is irrelevant. It is the fact that you have the right to have a message. Just like all dead have the right to their message. Fair enough? The mic is yours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Some tense, some tense moments there. Fortunately, civility won out. We were having some technical difficulties earlier.

But let's try to go to CNN's Ryan Nobles who might be live at the national mall.

Ryan, what are you seeing in there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I talk about --

RYAN NOBLES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That's right, Boris. I think you played that moment which was what had the potential to be a pretty tense moment here on the national mall. This was a very peaceful rally for the most part. These were Trump supporters that gathered not under the banner of being Republican or Democrat, but just under uniting under President Trump.

But that moment that you just showed a few minutes ago was when a group of Black Lives Matter supporters approached the stage. A large crowd gathered around them. There appeared to be some tension growing. But one of the people that was on stage speaking on behalf of the mother of all rallies, actually called those Black Lives Matter supporters up on stage for second there. There was a moment where you thought it could turn into something ugly, but then they actually allowed the member of Black Lives Matter to speak to this crowd. And I believe we have some of that sound for you now. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[19:25:41] DEANTE JOHNSON, FOUNDER/CEO, BLACK CONSERVATIVE FEDERATION: It's important for me to be here because I stand for unity. Of course I need to come here. But also, I like to see these things. I like to see us coming together. Rallying together. And this is kind of like a Trump reunion, you know. Everyone, a lot of people here, we found out that we are Facebook friends. We have been defending each other, but we never met each other in person. And so, there's a lot of fear. Like I said, I worked on the Trump campaign. I worked on the present campaign. I am politically active. I do political strategy work. And I just love the President. I love what he is doing and I just love what he is going to do.

NOBLES: There are clearly a lot of African-American prominent and African-American leaders feel differently than you do about the President. What do they have wrong about their perception of Donald Trump?

JOHNSON: They don't have the research. They haven't done the research. And depending how bad it is if you do the research, if you actually, President Trump, I read a book that he has, "the Art Of The Deal." You would know exactly how he operates and why he does what he does. (Inaudible).

NOBLES: You know, I have seen some shirts here today, though, I think one shirt that said no white guilt. Things like that. I mean, there have been some messages that might not be that open to folks with diverse perspectives. I mean, what would your message be to folks like that?

JOHNSON: When it comes to white guilt, I agree with that. I actually just made a post about it on my page and a video about it is that there is, there are some white Americans that feel guilty for what their ancestors did, you know, this and that. And the thing about it is they should not have to feel guilty. This is America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going to let them finish out the night --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES: And just let me correct myself, Boris. That was actually Deante Johnson. He is the founder of the Conservative Black Foundation. He was one of the many African-Americans speakers that spoke today at this rally. An effort by this group to show a diversity of support for President Donald Trump.

There's no doubt though, the majority of people that were here were certainly white. But we did see a cross section of Americans. And the goal here was to get out of this situation peacefully and they were able to do that -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Fortunate to see that.

Ryan Nobles reporting from the mother of all rallies. Ryan, thank you. Coming up, Chuck and Nancy go to the oval office. That's what the

President calls two most powerful Democrats on Capitol Hill. Republicans in Congress say if the three of them made a deal this week, there may be big trouble ahead. Details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:32:17] SANCHEZ: The White House says it will list its specific priorities on immigration in the next seven to ten days, perhaps providing some clarity to Republicans who have been up in arms over President Trump's possible deal with Democrats.

It all started in this week when the President invited two top Democrats over to the White House for Chinese food and chocolate cake. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi or as the President calls them, Chuck and Nancy. What followed was a lot of confusion. There is a deal, there's no deal. It's a discussion, the wall is coming later, no, it needs to get done right now. Here's just a taste of what the President said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are working on a deal for DACA, but lot has to do with the amount of security. We want very heavy security at the border. We have to have an understanding what whether it's in the budget or some other vehicle, in a fairly short period of time, the wall will be funded, otherwise, we are not doing anything.

They cannot obstruct for a wall because we definitely need a wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Whatever was discussed, Chuck Schumer was certainly happy about it. Here he is caught on an open microphone talking about the President. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), MINORITY LEADER: He likes us. He likes me any way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Some members of the President's base don't like that too much.

Breitbart News run by Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon, running multiple headlines, angry headlines. Look at this. Amnesty dawn. Trump getting rolled. DACA deal will be electoral nightmare.

We also has some lawmakers of Republican congressman Steve King of Iowa tweeting things like this. Saying that if the deal becomes reality quote "Trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible. Not to mention, others like Ann Coulter alluding in a tweet that even she would like to see President impeached." I want to bring in our CNN political commentators. Republican

strategist and former communications director for Ted Cruz Alice Stewart and Patti Solis Doyle. She is Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign manager.

Alice, start with you. If President Trump is able to effectively reach across the aisle and accomplish something with Democrats, what message does this send to Republicans?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It sends the message you need to work across the aisle and get things done. Look, it's interesting we have Chuck and Nancy, who once demonized now are big deal makers. And when you have people that have 67 years combined in Washington as wheeling and dealing, working with someone who has a lifetime of wheeling and dealing in real estate, I think we might possibly get something done.

Look. As a Republican, I never thought Donald Trump would build a wall and Mexico would pay for it. I never thought that he would quickly overturn Obamacare. I never thought that he was a do away with DACA. But I did say he would eventually embrace the Democrats. And I think this is a strong message to Republicans.

Look. If you can't get things done, if you can't repeal on place Obamacare and work on tax reform, I'm going to do it for you. I'm going to reach across the aisle and get things done. The question is as you have indicated, is this a deal, an agreement, is this just constructive conversation? I think if he is able to do this, with the wall, then it's a major success!

[19:35:24] SANCHEZ: Now to be determined on exactly what that was.

Patti, to you. Should the Democrats be applauding President Trump for holding these meetings, discussions, negotiations with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi?

PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer played this beautifully. They went to dinner with the President. They had some Chinese food and they came out and they immediately put out a statement basically saying that they had cut a deal that will enshrine DACA into legislation and no wall. And that's what Democrats want.

And they were up there first. Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan were basically humiliated. They weren't even in the room. They had to scurry the next among and try to figure out how to get ahead of this. So I think Democrats are pretty happy right now.

STEWART: I think the one question with that, yes, they played it beautifully in terms of coming out and framing the discussion. However, that doesn't really appear to be exactly what happened. They didn't really reach a deal as the President said since then. There is a conversation. And I think that a lot still remains as to what will come out of this meeting. And I do think it is clear the President made it abundantly clear the next day is that they want to have a wall. And I think it's great to work with Democrats, but to what end. If we don't have some type of enhanced security at the border, possibly let's ask for e verify. Possibly, let's go for the raise act, which is another immigration idea that I think is a strong one. If we work with the Democrats and get nothing in return, I think that is not a good thing for Republicans, by working with the Democrats and both sides compromising for the good of America, that is a success.

SANCHEZ: Patti, quickly, to you - actually, go ahead.

SOLIS-DOYLE: I was going to say, I don't think Donald Trump made anything abundantly clear. If anything, he made everything abundantly convoluted. I don't know where he stands. I don't think Americans know where he stands. I don't think his base knows where he stands. He is not about ideology. He is not about his base. He is not about campaign promises. He is basically about Donald Trump and trying to get a deal done for a positive press coverage by Donald Trump.

SANCHEZ: Alice, very quickly, because I want to talk about Hillary Clinton. Is this more about - press coverage are getting something done from President Trump.

STEWART: Has to be both. Look. I mean, clearly, yes. He is getting tremendous praise from members of the media and certainly, Democrats, but he is also getting tremendous fire from his base. Steve King and others who played quite a bit of them. He has always been very good about solidifying his base. He doesn't need to expand but he also needs to do it in a way that he can keep his solid base and also keep his promises.

This was a key campaign promise. He was doing away with Obama's overreaching executive order. So, in some ways, he has to be true to his ways, but also expand. Given that we had virtually 76 percent of this country that wants to provide protections for dreamers.

SANCHEZ: It will be interesting to see how the Breitbart wing moves forward if a deal comes about.

Patti, I want to turn it to you because Hillary Clinton sat down with Anderson Cooper this week. She talked about the reasons the election didn't go her way. Here's some of what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This was a highly sophisticated influence operation. I believe it did affect people's votes.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST. AC 360: You think it cost you votes.

CLINTON: I think it cost me votes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: After that interview, President Trump tweeted out, crooked Hillary Clinton blames everybody and everything but herself for the election loss. She lost the debates and lost her direction. Is that a fair assessment? Do you think Clinton is still pointing fingers in other directions when she should be programs taking more ownership of the loss?

SOLIS-DOYLE: Well, first of all, I have to say I read the book. And it's a great book. You know, I had the privilege, I'm working on some of ore other books. And you know, her other memories were, you know, sort of (INAUDIBLE), you know. They were memories of a politician who had a few more campaigns in her. This one, you know, it is clear she's not going to run again. And it's very revealing. It is very honest. It is funny. It's very good.

As for the, you know, taking blame, I honestly think the 2016 campaign was one of the most remarkable, one of the most stunning and probably the most consequential election of our lifetime. And I think students of politics will be writing their (INAUDIBLE) on it for decades and decades to come. I think it's important to have the perspective of one of the major candidates in that race.

I think it is important for history. And I think it's important from moving forward. She does take blame for it in the book. She does laid length other places as well. I think both can be true.

And listen. We hear Donald Trump's perspective all the time and tweets of 140 characters.

[19:40:25] SANCHEZ: All right, Patti Solis-Doyle, Alice Stewart, still plenty to talk about the latest. We have to leave it there. So thank you so much for joining us.

STEWART: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Coming up as rhetoric between the United States and North Korea escalates, we have exclusive, rare access to life inside the hermit kingdom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you like about this game?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Killing the enemy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Killing the enemy. Who is the enemy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Americans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:45:21] SANCHEZ: You are looking at brand new images of North Korea's missile test this week. The second to fly over Japan with enough range to hit Guam. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un who was present for the launch and said that all drills going forward would be just like this one.

For its part, the Trump administration reacted with some of the strongest language we have heard yet about the possibility of a military strike on the rogue state. U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley saying that she is not afraid to put things in the hands of the Pentagon. I want to bring in CNN's Will Ripley. He is live in Tokyo, fresh off

his 15th trip to Pyongyang.

Will, what does North Korea think of this threat of a military option?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are trying to demonstrate to the United States, South Korea and Japan, that they say they are not afraid of the threat of a preemptive attack. They think that the U.S. would make a big mistake to underestimate their military capabilities. And you can see that's why they continue to aggressively lest test these missiles.

This is their pass on 12 (ph), the one that you just saw firing off. They have now flown it twice over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. To hear North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un saying that he wants all missile tests to be like this one certainly wouldn't be welcome news for people here in Japan. But now for the second time in about two weeks, heard air raid sirens and received emergency messages on their phone.

Another concern, though, of course, is that if Kim were to point this missile in a southerly trajectory, it would have put it down and actually would have overshot the U.S. territory of Guam. In other words, North Korea demonstrating that they have the capability to fire missiles towards Guam which President Trump has stated would cross a red line for him and the U.S.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Now, Will, you have been to North Korea more than any other western journalist. You have a special that is airing on CNN tonight. For folks at home, if you haven't seen it, it is a must watch.

Give us the sense of the access that you got. It is a very fine line right that you had to walk in dealing with North Korean officials to try to actually speak to every day North Koreans.

RIPLEY: Right. Yes, when people watch this program, they need the keep this mind one, that we are under the constant supervision of government minors. They restricted where we can film. They don't screen our footage. They don't, you know, approve our scripts. They don't have any editorial influence, but they control the places where we are allowed to film.

But what made this really extraordinary is for really the first time that I have reported in. There were moments where we actually able to stop the van and get out spontaneously and walk over to a group of people and just ask them what they were doing. And it were these kind of un-stage moments that I think really made the documentary the most powerful.

Along with listening to the similarities in what they say, even the young people. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (voice-over): I have reported from North Korea more than a dozen times over the last few years. Each time, we open the door a little more. And see this country and its people unexpected ways. Just like this.

Yes. Even in North Korea, kids love video games. For these 14 and 15-year-olds, these are not just games. This is practice for real life. Most of these boys and a lot of the girls, will spend their first years of adulthood serving in the Korean people's army just like their parents and grandparents before them.

What do you like about this gam game?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Killing the enemy.

RIPLEY: Hitting the enemy. Who is the enemy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Americans.

RIPLEY: This hatred of Americans stems from the Korean War. North Korean contradicts western historian, saying that America started the war that killed millions of civilians and divided the Korean peninsula.

Who do you want to fight?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): To fight sworn enemy. Americans.

RIPLEY: What they teach you about Americans in school?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They forcibly invaded us, slaughtered our people. Buried them. Buried them alive. Buried them live and killed them.

RIPLEY: So, they teach you that the Americans are the enemy and you need to shoot them, to fight them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Yes.

SOLIS-DOYLE: Here is where things get awkward. What if I told you I'm an American? Do you want to shoot me, too?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY: But at the same time, as people were telling me how much they hate the United States, Boris, then they were also warm and friendly and polite. And even those young boys, later said well, you seem like you are a good American so we won't shoot you.

They are repeating what their government has told their whole life. People from cradle to grave are fed government-controlled and authorized embedded information through the states' extensive propaganda networking. Keep in mind they don't have any access to outside media so they are just kind of repeating all that they know. You hear that from the kids to the adults and even the senior citizens in the program.

SANCHEZ: Some truly outstanding reporting. Will Ripley, thanks so much for the time.

You can catch Will's exclusive behind the scenes look one of the most mysterious regime on the planet "the secret state inside North Korea." It airs tonight in just about ten minutes, 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN.

Coming up, we are still following some breakings as protesters gather on the streets of St. Louis after a white police officers is acquitted in the shooting death of an African-American. We get another live update next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:55:12] SANCHEZ: We are following breaking news in downtown St. Louis right now. You can see protesters have again gathering on the street. This is the second day of protests after the acquittal of a former policeman in the death of an African-American man back in 2011.

The protest started peacefully yesterday but they became more intense throughout the night. At one point protesters marched to the mayor's home. They began throwing rocks. In all, some intent police officers were hurt. More than 20 people were arrested. And right now, they are blocking traffic.

We are joined on the phone by CNN's Ryan Young who was there last night when things got out of hand.

Ryan, bring us up to date with what you are seeing.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on the phone): Yes, Boris. Look. This is one of the thing we were worried about in terms of what protesters may end up doing. They have been trying to block their way to the highway ever since this started. What we noticed now is they found another major thoroughfare where they can kind of sit down, lay in the middle of the street.

Just when it was started yesterday, it was very peaceful. Everything was fine. You talk about that moment when someone threw rocks through the mayor's window. That's when it became scary. That's when you could tell there is something that change in the crowd. Then we saw people throwing large rocks at police officers. They used teargas, disperse that to the people. And then they made some arrest last night.

But today, what they have been doing, they went not only to the west county mall, they went to the chesterfield mall. They have been popping up all across the city doing protests at about 30 minutes at a time. But we have noticed every single hour it seems like it starts to grow. You see more people starting to engage. Whether or not this is being spread through social media, whether or not there's a time to meet, we are not sure just yet. But there has been consequences, of course, because the Ed Sheeran concert has been cancelled. The U2 concert has been cancelled. But the good news is so far today, it has remained peaceful. People are chanting. They are moving along. Right now, you see them shutting down the intersex and their universe to do city route. So you can tell the actions probably will continue for the night, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Ryan, we should mention the mayor of St. Louis Lyda Krewson said that she wanted to encourage everyone to go about their lives, as if to say they should move forward and not continue some of the violence that we saw yesterday. She also mentioned that she was not home when several rocks were thrown at her house.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Go ahead.

YOUNG: And I was going to say this is definitely having an impact. We were just inside a restaurant maybe ten, 15 minutes ago just talking to business owners and they were saying the last two days they have been without business and that it's really starting to affect them.

They were expecting all this traffic from the concerts and from people coming to events. That's all been shut down because people don't want to come downtown. They don't want to deal with this. So there is another riffle effect from this that is going on.

Of course, a lot of the protesters, and Boris you mentioned this before, were so close to Ferguson. The idea that some of this has still not healed from three years ago with the situation with Michael Brown. There are people who really angry about this. And again, the protests remained peaceful for the most of the evening. And then around nighttime it turned and we some instance that were pretty ugly. You talked about the fact that several officers were injured in this. You know, hopefully, tonight we are not looking for another long night when it comes to these protesters and police officers in confrontations.

SANCHEZ: Ryan, earlier in the hour we heard from that officer that was acquitted. Have we heard from Anthony Smith's family?

YOUNG: Well, I believe they and the attorney talked a little bit yesterday. And as you can imagine, I think there's just never going to be total healing when it comes to this because obviously you have people who watch that videotape. They saw something they did not like. They did not like the idea the officer had his own AK-47. They didn't like the words that he used on the way to make that stop. They didn't like what happened afterwards.

And so, there are some definite open wounds here where as you can understand if you lose a loved one, there is some pain that is involved here. So hopefully, there will be more conversations going on. But right now, I don't even know who in the community could stand up and have that open dialogue between police and these community members, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes. You mentioned some of the details in the case. We heard from the judge in his decision mentioning that he agonized over the details and over some of that surveillance footage repeatedly over and over again.

Ryan Young, we will leave pass and leave it there. We thank you so much for the time and for your reporting.

Again, if you are just tuning in, protests on the streets of St. Louis. We are watching this live. But right now we are leaving you with that.

I'm Boris Sanchez.

Up next, it is "secret state: inside North Korea." I'll be back tomorrow. We hope you join us then. Have a good night.