Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

President Donald Trump To Announced His Nominee For Supreme Court Chief Monday 9:00 p.m.; Four Boys Trapped Deep In A Cave For More Than Two Weeks Emerged From That Cave Today; A British Woman Exposed To Novichok, A Deadly Chemical Nerve Agent Tied To Russia Has Died; Rudy Giuliani Seems To Confirm Something Important About The President's Now Infamous Meeting With James Comey; Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo Is Hitting Back At North Korea's Accusations Of The U.S. Having A Gangster Like Mindset In Denuclearization; Aired 7-8p ET

Aired July 08, 2018 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00] RYAN NOBLES, CNN HOST: And you are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

CNN's breaking news right now, the urgent rescue mission that people all over the world are following. It's way too early to exhale just yet. But the first phase of this operation, a huge success.

This is northern Thailand where four boys trapped deep in a cave for more than two weeks emerged from that cave today. Rescued by expert divers. An enormous relief but nobody is celebrating because eight boys and their soccer coach are still stuck 2 1/2 miles underground. They can't get out on their own and where they are right now is not safe.

Those four rescued boys hungry and weak are now under doctor's care. And back at the cave, rescue teams are restocking air and other supplies before they get in to get more of the boys out.

Jonathan Miller is live near the cave entrance at the center of the rescue mission. CNN's Matt Rivers is at the hospital where those rescued boys are being treated.

Jonathan, give us an idea of what is happening right now at the entrance of the cave. Do we have any idea when the rescuers are expected to go back in?

JONATHAN MILLER, CNN ASIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you can see, Ryan, from behind me, it's a dank gray dawn here in Chang Rai province, north of Thailand. And the morning broke just about a half hour ago to show the hills around the Tham Luang cave complex.

Completely shrouded in low cloud. It has been raining heavily overnight. This is very bad news because when it rains like that in this (INAUDIBLE) area, all the water will flow into that cavern system and raise the water levels. That is the fear. So the governor here who has been in-charge of the operation over the past two weeks has always declared this to be a war against water and a race against time. And it is still both of those. Four boys are out. They are safe. They are in hospital. Eight more

remain below with their coach. The operation to extract them will begin again in a few hours-time. The governor said that they had to reposition more oxygen canisters down below. It's obviously a very heavy oxygen, you know, demand situation down there. They need to have these things in place. As soon as they are, as soon as they are going to be able to start that extraction process again, I'm sure they will do it. Because time is not on their side.

NOBLES: OK. Jonathan, thank you for that.

Let's move over to Matt now. He is at the hospital where those rescued boys are being treated.

Matt, any idea about the condition of these young men? And what can you tell us about this hospital and how they are set up to handle the rest of the kids when they are rescued?

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Ryan, no official word on the condition of the boys in the hospital at this point. However, we did get some new video from Thai authorities that they released video of some of the boys being loaded into an ambulance at that cave entrance. That was yesterday evening here Thailand time.

They took great pains, great lengths to not show the boys that they are loading into that ambulance. They really trying to respect privacy here. But we know that that ambulance then came right here to the hospital. We saw it drive into the ER. Again, no word on the condition.

But we do know what is happening inside the hospital, at least according to health officials that spoke earlier this week. What happened inside is the medical professionals set up a sterilized isolation unit for these boys that the minister of public health here in Thailand actually toured earlier this week and said that's where these boys will be going.

You could see the beds that they had set up for them. They are going to undergo a battery of tests, testing for everything from dehydration, they are going to do blood tests to make sure. But the more interesting piece of information that came from the public health minister is that these boys are actually going to be physically separated from their parents according to the public health minister for one to two days. They cannot be in the same room as their parents. They might be able to talk in some way. But they cannot be in the same room.

And then after that isolation period, they are going to be under evaluation for five to seven days after they came out of that cave. The same thing will happen when these other boys are brought out of the cave. So it's kind of adding insult to injury.

Of course, it's necessary. Medical professionals will say it is necessary to do that to ensure that the sensitive position that these boys are in isn't compromised by contact with the outside world. However, you can imagine all these families want to do is get back together and the parents just want to hug their kids. And they won't be able to do that for one to two days as a result of having to be put in this isolation unit.

NOBLES: Wow. OK. That is another additional piece of information, Matt. Thank you for sharing that. Jonathan Miller, thank you as well for your reporting. Please stand by. We'll get back to you when we learn of some new information.

Let's now move over and talk to a professional rescue diver and cave diver right now and that is Paul Sumner. He is formerly of the Miami Beach fire and rescue department.

Paul, I see you have got some equipment with you that you are going to show us. I mean, just talk to us, you know, about this situation. I mean, this is not a cookie cutter cave rescue by any stretch of the imagination. What are some of the tactics and equipment that they are using to try and get these kids out successfully?

[19:05:17] PAUL SUMNER, FORMER MIAMI BEACH FIRE AND RESCUE: Well, as you have shown in the past presentations, a lot of the equipment is stuff that either rescue divers, Navy, military seal divers will be using. This particular type of facemask I have seen in the earlier presentations is a mask that fits a wide variety of faces. So it obviously it was successful for four of these teens.

And this gives them an opportunity, I would assume, they might have some communication capability within this mask to where the two divers that are leading each of the teens outs of the cave system have the ability to talk with them and allay some of the fears and anxiety by hearing somebody's voice as they are traversing this cave system.

NOBLES: How difficult is it to get used to wearing something like that? Is it a short learning curve or can it be uncomfortable for some people when they first learn how to put it on?

SUMNER: It might -- it's probably going to be a little uncomfortable at first as, you know, mammals. We breathe through our nose and we don't typically have something covering our face. From a fire rescue, from a emergency services standpoint and the military, it is typically a 12 to 16-hour training program just on this mask or even the mask over my shoulder just for a diver that already has experience to get comfortable with going from a normal scuba mask and a separate regulator in your mouth to having everything combined into one and then add that component, the communications feature which is a wonderful feature to have in the masks.

But the training curve, you know, for a teen that has -- or the adult that's never been on scuba to begin with and were suddenly throwing them into something we don't begin to train with much before 30, 40, 50 hours-worth of dive experiences as a emergency services diver. It's a big learning curve. It's a very fast one. Obviously, the first four have taken to that challenge quite nicely.

NOBLES: You know, cave diving for exploration or as an adrenaline sport, I mean that is challenging enough. It has special challenges which you already kind of outlined. But when you mix a rescue into it, I mean, how much different does that make the calculus? Not just for those being rescued but for the emergency crew that's are out there. I mean, is this a much different situation than someone that's just out for an afternoon exploring a cave?

SUMNER: Most definitely. If I were in my recreational cave mode, I would have at least one if not two other dive partners diving with me. Part of the cave training system is redundancy. You have multiple, just yourself as a diver will have three flash lights like two, a primary flashlight and top backups, in case of your has failed.

With two dive partners, that is nine lights all in total. Our breathing equipment, each much us has two regulators. So three divers cave diving would have six total -- the ability for, you know, to utilize six different regulators in case one failed we can go to a backup. Now you are taking kids that have never been on scuba, the professionals that are working with them to bring them out have that ability. But they are trying to put, you know, utilize that skill and training on someone that is not necessarily comfortable. Ideal conditions, recreationally cave diving usually the water is so clear you can see for thousands and thousands of feet with a proper light. They are diving in mud essentially. There is no visibility. So the anxiety level to suddenly take an individual and say we are going to put you in a mask. You are not going to be able to see a thing and you are going to have to trust us to lead you out of here, I'm sure is quite a stress level.

NOBLES: So they tried to mitigate some of the problems, right, by establishing this rope system so that they can hold on to these ropes throughout the entire swim. They are also tethering the soccer team players with the experienced cave divers. You talk about the communication. I mean, all those different aspects of this, I mean, how important is that for them to successfully get through this situation? And then the other thing is if you are one of the eight kids still down there and find out that the first four made it through OK, does that just raise your confidence level?

[19:10:04] SUMNER: Absolutely. I would hope by now, but this is complete conjecture, that somehow they have gotten word to these others. But I'm sure in due time if they haven't already, they will know that the other four successfully made it out. I'm sure that will be a tremendous boost to each one of them knowing that this can be done. Obviously though, the whole back story of the monsoon, the rains coming makes this more challenging because we see how long it took to get four of them out. Now we have to repeat that process eight more times, nine more times.

NOBLES: Right. Yes, so a lot of work still to do. Some reason for encouragement. But this story is far from over.

Paul Sumner, thank you for your expertise. We appreciate it.

SUMNER: My pleasure.

NOBLES: Between the heavy rainfalls about to come, the lack of oxygen as Paul is mentioning in the cave and the sheer number of days that those kids are trapped underground, the urgency is never higher to get them out.

Here is Tom Foreman with how phase one happened. Tom?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ryan, the initial part of the rescue went a little faster than officials expected. Two boys came out about ten minutes apart. Then two hours later two more.

The only way that was possible was through this incredibly aggressive effort to pump many, many, many hundreds of gallons of water out of here to clear enough space where they could actually walk out. Now some places remain completely submerged. That's why the divers had to put these boys into full facemasks.

There were 18 divers working inside the cave and as they brought them out, they did it in this configuration. A diver would go up front carrying the air supply for the boy and tethered to the boy in the middle. They would follow the line out. And then another diver comes in the back to backstop the entire effort as they went through very tight areas and other areas as well.

How many places do they actually have to be completely underwater like this? We don't entirely know because the maps are very inadequate at this point. By some estimates though, a quarter of this cave may still require that sort of passage. If that's true, these boys are having to go under roughly 11 football fields completely underwater with muck and cold and currents. It's a huge challenge. And yet, they managed to get four of them all the way outside.

Now why did they stop? Because they ran out of their oxygen supply. They have to replenish. And that will take a while. But the clock is really ticking here. All of that pumping was to deal with the rain that fell from the time the boys disappeared until the little lull that they reached right in here. And now what's happening, the storms are coming back in earnest. That is giving a tremendous sense of urgency here, beyond what we've seen so far --Ryan.

NOBLES: All right. Tom Foreman, thank you for that.

Still to come, breaking news. A British woman exposed to the deadly Soviet nerve agent novichok has died. And UK police are now launching a murder investigation.

Plus, freed but not out of the woods. What are the immediate concerns for our freed boys? Sanjay Gupta is here.

And in just hours, a decision that could impact the Supreme Court for years to come. We will break down the President's short list for the Supreme Court pick.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:017:30] NOBLES: Breaking news. A British woman exposed to Novichok, a deadly chemical nerve agent tied to Russia has died. Officials say Dawn Sturgess was poisoned along with her partner after handling a contaminated object. Her partner is still in critical condition.

You will recall that Novichok is a group of chemical agents used earlier this year to poison an ex-Russian spy and his daughter who were living in the UK. The British government has blamed Russia for that attack.

British Prime Minister Teresa May speaking out a short time ago. She said in a statement quote "I'm appalled and shocked by the death of Dawn Sturgess and my thoughts and condolences go out to her family and loved ones. Police and security officials are working urgently to establish the facts of this incident which is now being investigated as a murder.

And for the boys who are rescued today from that cave in Thailand, the focus now shifts to their health and recovery. All four are hospitalized now. They will be checked for signs of malnutrition, dehydration, hypothermia and array of other possible health issues.

Earlier I spoke with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, about their immediate medical needs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, when it comes to this sort of medicine, you know, triage on scene, it really has broken down into a few big buckets. Are they breathing OK? They have gone through this pretty treacherous rescue. We know the cave itself, typically you have 21 percent oxygen in the air. The cave has 15 percent. So are they breathing OK? Do they have any underlying breathing problems? That would be one of the big things. How dehydrated are they? Does it cause the blood pressure to lower? Does it put them at risk of having some sort of heart problem? Unlikely. And these are young boys. Also members of a soccer team. But they have been through a lot over the last couple weeks. Those are the big ones.

And we saw, you know, as you saw Ryan, I think two of the boys actually leading by ambulance, one of the boys was airlifted, my understanding. So at that time, at the exit of the cave, they made a decision that probably because of one of the reasons the boy wasn't as in good shape because of breathing problems or blood pressure problems that he should be flown. But those are the immediate concerns at the site and certainly in the hospital as well.

NOBLES: Yes. I wonder how big of an issue hypothermia could be. Obviously, these boys did not have the proper clothing to be in a cave for as long as they were. The water temperature that they are swimming through is very cold. They do not have wet suits. How serious would that be from your mind as they make this dangerous journey out of the cave?

[19:20:01] GUPTA: That's a significant concern. I mean, you know, people generally know that obviously if you are going through water, you are going to be dispersing your body heat much more quickly, ten times as fast, for example, versus the air. There is another concern which maybe a little bit less intuitive and that is if you are a scuba diver and you become very cold, you start to consume a lot more of your air, a lot more of your oxygen. That's a commodity. That is a precious commodity as you heard, Ryan, within these caves. So you want to do -- as best you can to keep these boys warm as they are exiting but because of the conditions you can only do so much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES: Stay with CNN for the very latest on the ongoing rescue of those brave boys trapped in a cave in tie land.

Now to southern California where a massive heat wave leaves thousands of people without electricity. The L.A. department of watt and power says that Friday's record setting heat put unprecedented demands on the electrical grid and caused power outages throughout the city.

Thirty Four thousand customers I should say are affected as of this morning. The vast majority of them are still in the dark. Downtown L.A. reached a high of 108 degrees Friday shattering the previous record of 94 set in 1992.

Coming up, the President's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani seems to confirm something important about the President's now infamous meeting with James Comey. We will discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:25:56] NOBLES: Welcome back. We have got a significant development in the obstruction of justice investigation into President Trump. Today, his attorney Rudy Giuliani seemingly confirming that the President did In fact ask former director of the FBI James Comey for leniency when it came to his friend and former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Take a listen to mayor Giuliani.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S LAWYER: He didn't direct him to do that. What he said to him is can you --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Comey says he took it as direction.

GIULIANI: Well, that's OK. I may have taken that way. I mean, by that time he had been fired. And he said a lot of other things, some of which turned out to be untrue. The reality is as a prosecutor, I was told that many times. Can you give the man a break? Either by his lawyers, by his relatives, by friends? You take that into consideration. But you know, that doesn't determine not going forward with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: All right. Let's bring in our senior political analyst David Gergen. He served as an adviser to four U.S. Presidents both Republican and Democrat.

David, I'm interested in what you think about how the mayor is handling this situation. He is kind of just pushing it off as this is just something normal, the prosecutors and people that are investigating and talked about. I have to imagine though that this is a little bit different when you are talking about the President of the United States and the director of the FBI.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolutely right.

Listen. Rudy Giuliani drives the left nuts because they can't deal with all of this. The obfuscation, the changing of the story, something like that. But he is doing something pretty clever for the President. And that is he is getting -- he is making an admission and trying to down play it. Admission that flies in the face of everything that they have said before. And he is basically trying to make it a small story so it's not a big story later on. And he is setting up all this happens all the time. Well, I'm sorry, it doesn't happen all the time to the President of the United States.

And why are you guys denying this? You deny, deny, deny. Now you are turning around and nonchalantly saying, well, we did.

NOBLES: Yes. And it seemed in the beginning when he was -- this is not the first time he has said something along these lines. And every goes a lot of criticism when Mayor Rudy Giuliani at the time. But this appears now to be a strategy, doesn't it?

GERGEN: Absolutely. I think as I say, I think it's a clever strategy. Look at the way the public is gradually turning against this investigation against Mueller. You know, the negatives on this thing have gone up about ten points in recent months. They have gone up a lot since Rudy got involved in this. And as I say, I think one of the reasons that left and many, many people in this country are very upset about Giuliani is he is muddying the waters effectively and they realize that the chances of Mueller being a blockbuster, having a blockbuster outcome have diminished.

NOBLES: Right.

Let's talk now about the Supreme Court. Obviously a big decision tomorrow night. The President says he is going to announced it tomorrow night at 9:00. Just a few hours ago, he said he still not made his final decision. Listen to this.

GERGEN: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm very close to making a decision. Have not made it official yet obviously. Have not made it final. But we're very close to making a decision. Let's say it's the four people. But they are excellent. Everyone. You can't go wrong. But I'm getting very close to making a final decision.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE)

TRUMP: Probably, it would be decided tonight or tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: So we are 25 1/2 hours or so before he makes this announcement public. They say he did not bring any briefing books with him to Bedminster over the weekend. I mean are you surprised that he is still deliberating this decision so close to whether he is scheduled to announce it?

GERGEN: I think this is pure theater. I think Donald Trump has learned how to master this. He had a really good rollout of Gorsuch. It would probably one of the most effective (INAUDIBLE) he has had on anything he has gone as president. He is trying to emulate that here now.

But there is still -- you know, the big picture, there are four candidates. And for much of the country it doesn't really matter which one of those four gets there. To the left, you know, the fear is deep. And the anger is deep. That whoever he chooses is going to try to overturn Roe v. Wade.

NOBLES: Right.

GERGEN: On the right, there is a view, hey, we are actually going to get somebody that is going to change the dynamic of the court. We got two Scalia out of this in effect. So, you know Hardiman seems to be as Tom Hardiman, a judge who lives in Pennsylvania and by the way, three of the four live in pretty key states for 2020. But Hardiman seems to be emerging as the favorite, slight favorite.

But knowing this President, you know, the surprise to me is going to Barrett, the woman who is from Indiana. I think the President lovers the theater of all of this and I think there is a part of him who would love to see the woman be a decisive voice in overturning Roe.

[19:30:26] NOBLES: And she could potentially be an energizer for the Republican Party leading into the 2018 midterms.

GERGEN: Yes.

NOBLES: I mean, how much of a calculus do you think that is to the President about upcoming election? I mean, this is somebody that is going to sit on the court for possibly four decades. Should that even come into the conversation whether or not it could help energize voters in an upcoming election?

GERGEN: It shouldn't and historically it hasn't. But the court has become so politicized in recent years starting before Trump that a lot of people are losing faith in the court and the integrity of (INAUDIBLE).

It is supposed to be nonpartisan. You are not supposed to be able to predict the outcome by which president's point of view, which party appoint to with the optics. But here we are. A lot of things in this country have declined in quality. And it's not a good situation. But you know, inevitably, this President as recent Presidents, they do look to protect their ideology. They look to protect their power. And they see it as a way of projecting power far into the future long after they left.

NOBLES: I want to ask you quickly about the international situation. Because after the President makes his pick, he is going to go out to NATO. He is going to meet with leaders in the United Kingdom and then one-on-one with Vladimir Putin. And that meeting, the series of meetings is going to come right after we have learned that a person died as a result of being exposed to this Russian nerve agent. I mean, how much is that changing the dynamic of the already important meetings for the President?

GERGEN: It could give him an opportunity. And that is if he comes out fighting about that and support of Britain and of the NATO allies. It could be a moving it toward unity. The big issue right now, Ryan, is does the President want to have a meeting that ends with unity and strength as his aides do? Or does he want to blow up NATO? And we don't really know. I mean, this ought to be a meeting fundamentally about the future of NATO and then he ought to come out of that meeting and go see Putin with that particular view, you know, (INAUDIBLE). That's why most Presidents play this. But he's unpredictable.

NOBLES: Unpredictable. That's a good way to end it.

David Gergen, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it.

GERGEN: Thanks, Ryan.

NOBLES: Still to come, the supreme choice as President Trump says he is close to making his pick for the high court. Senator Orrin Hatch seems to hint he knows who it is.

Former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal, he gives his take live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:37:11] NOBLES: We are counting down to President Trump's big Supreme Court reveal tomorrow night. He will announce his nominee to replace the retiring justice Anthony Kennedy.

To keep the suspense building which the President is good at, in true reality TV form, the President announced a few hours ago he still hasn't decided who he will choose. But wait, Trump is adding to the buildup tweeting a short time ago that he is looking forward to making the announcement.

Keep in mind this is a key choice. Justice Kennedy provided the swing vote on landmark issues such as abortion and gay rights and gay marriage in particular. Trump's pick is expected to give the court a reliable 5-4 conservative majority that could have a profound impact on case that's shape our society.

There is plenty to discuss here so we are going to bring now a Georgetown law professor and former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal to talk about it.

The President, Neal, says he narrowed the list down to four. Is there a favorite in your mind?

NEAL KATYAL, FORMER ACTING SOLICITOR GENERAL: I have no idea. I mean, predicting Donald Trump is kind of like predicting the weather except the weather has a lot more rationality to it. So, no. I can't imagine who his favorite might be. We will find out tomorrow.

It is a shame to me that the President does treat this like a game show and all of this kind of survivor-ish or, you know, kind of connotations to it. I mean, this is our highest court of the land, the Supreme Court of the United States. But, you know, so be it. We will find out tomorrow at 9:00.

NOBLES: Well, to that end, I mean he is holding this for a big reveal on prime time tomorrow. He actually just tweeted a few minutes ago about pushing it to a prime time announcement. I mean, what do you think of this process? You alluded to that a little bit. But why do you think that this is not appropriate for the honor and the responsibility of becoming a Supreme Court justice?

KATYAL: Well, I mean, it's not just the announcement. It's the whole kind of spectacle around this. I mean, I do like the fact that the President gets how important the Supreme Court is. It is just, you know, to try and do it this kind of game show way, I think, you know, and the theatrics last time around about for Judge Hardiman, you know, filling up his gas tank and all of that stuff, you know, it is just, you know, the kind of misdirection and saying it's going to be him from the White House and then not picking him, you know.

I just -- it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth, but so be it. You know, whatever it is, I think what you started out, Ryan, by saying is absolutely right. This is a critical seat on the Supreme Court. There are nine justices on the court. Justice Kennedy's retirement, he was kind of considered the swing vote. Not in every case but certainly in some of the more important ones. And so it is, you know, in an age of exaggeration that we hear on TV all the time, it's hard to believe anything. But this is a one time in which people say this is really important, it really is. I mean, so much depends on this nomination.

NOBLES: Yes. It's difficult to understate just how important it is.

Let's talk about the Democrats in this process. I mean, they are promising to fight the nominations. They don't really have a whole lot of leverage because, of course, Harry Reid set the standard in terms of not being able to use a filibuster to hold off a judicial nomination. They have to -- and basically, keep the whole caucus together and then hope that one or two Republicans holds back if the nominee is not something they agree with.

How can -- how long can they hold out and especially for this group of Democrats in red states that up for reelection? I mean, there could be a political cost, couldn't there?

[19:40:29] KATYAL: Right. So two things. Number one is, you know, I don't think Harry Reid set a precedent about Supreme Court nominations and filibusters. I think that's always thought of as different. And the second and most important thing is I do think that the Democrats have an important principal point to make no matter who is the nominee is which is, you know, Justice Scalia died in February of 2016, eleven months before Barack Obama's term as president was over. And the Republicans did something that was, you know, unforgivable which is they didn't allow the President to fill a seat even own though President Obama had nominated a centrist judge Merrick Garland, I think, widely considered the most qualified nominee in our lifetimes to the Supreme Court.

So I do think that there is, you know, a feeling that this is now a stolen seat. This is a seat that, you know, is going to swing the composition of the court in a potentially very radical direction at a time when they really didn't allow Merrick Garland to take a seat. They didn't even give him a hearing.

NOBLES: Yes. I want to talk about to you a little bit about Orrin Hatch, the senator from Utah. He wrote an op-ed in the Utah Dessert News. He used feminine pronouns when writing about the new justice.

He said quote, consider these two references from the op-ed. Quote "that kind of Supreme Court justice America needs, a justice who says what the law is not what she wants it to be. And progressives will do everything they can to paint her as a closet partisan." Is Orrin Hatch dropping breadcrumbs here or is this --?

KATYAL: Come on. Give me a break. I mean, we are not that desperate for tea leaves that we are going to look at. You know, I'm glad that the United States senator there has used the feminine pronoun. But I don't think it means anything in terms of who the nominee is. I think, you know, it just is good to mix it up and use the feminine pronouns and the masculine in others. So I don't think -- I would read nothing into that.

NOBLES: All right. We will not then, Neal. We appreciate that. We thank you for being on. Thanks for being here tonight.

KATYAL: Thank you.

NOBLES: Just ahead, call it a speed bump. The rapid road to denuclearization brokered by President Trump hitting its first big blockade. The North Korean comment that forced secretary Pompeo to push back.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:47:08] NOBLES: This just in to the CNN NEWSROOM. The Pentagon has identified a U.S. service member who died Saturday in what appears to be an insider attack in southern Afghanistan. Corporate Joseph Macel was part of the U.S. counter terrorism mission in Afghanistan. The attack took place Saturday. Two others were injured and are in stable condition. Corporal Macel was assigned to the third infantry division in Ft. Benning, Georgia. The incident comes a year after three U.S. Special Forces were shot dead by one of their Afghan colleagues. On the path toward denuclearization in North Korea there seems to be

some major bumps in the road. It's been less than a month after Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un met at a whirl wind summit. But now tensions are flaring again. Secretary of state Mike Pompeo is hitting back at North Korea's accusations of the U.S. having a gangster like mindset in denuclearization saying if those requests were gangster like, the world is a gangster.

Despite the sharp change in rhetoric, the secretary of state says the conversations with North Korea and officials about denuclearization were detailed and substantive.

Well that brings us to your weekend Presidential brief, a segment that we bring you every Sunday night highlighting some of the most pressing national security information the President will need when he wakes up tomorrow.

And joining us as always is our CNN national security analyst and former national Security Council adviser, Sam Vinograd. She spent two years in the Obama administration helped prepping for the President's daily brief. Now she preps us.

So, Sam, the big gap here between what secretary Pompeo is saying about the negotiations and what the North Koreans are saying. I mean, who should we believe at this point?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, definitely a bilateral breakdown or breakup. Pompeo saying the talks are constructive and productive. And North Koreans are calling them cancerous and regrettable. And for the most part, Pompeo is taking it. He was in Vietnam earlier and had another constructive message publicly for Chairman Kim. But for us North Korea watchers, this really isn't that surprising.

This is the North Korean playbook. They proliferate missiles about as quickly as they proliferate insults. And they are still doing both. And keep in mind, they were all public displays of affection when they were signed a superficial agreement, very general statement with President Trump in Singapore. Pompeo shows up, wants to get down into the details. The North Koreans balk and start name calling.

And I do think that Putin is watching this. He is getting the message that he can sign a general agreement with President Trump. He can send his negotiators to meet us. He can insult us and Pompeo the state department and others are going to take it and use this rosy language.

NOBLES: The important point to make is, of course, the President has the meeting with Vladimir Putin and the very near future.

Now, the NATO allies are probably going to want to know what set the North Koreans off, right. What do you think they want when it comes to North Korea?

VINOGRAD: I think they want to know how real the threat is. Because remember, if North Korea has an armed attack against the United States, NATO allies have to come to our defense under the NATO treaty. So there's that potentially bad news on the agenda. But there is also some good news. We focused a lot on what Donald Trump finds wrong with NATO. But they have some good news to share in Brussels.

Defense spending is up. They are going to have a new command structure. They even improved force readiness. So there is some positive headlines.

Remember that good news in Brussels is actually bad news in Moscow. Because Vladimir Putin thinks that NATO everything NATO does is against Russia. And so allies are going to have to walk the line. They are going to have to say we are serious about countering Russian aggression. That everything isn't about you, Vladimir Putin. If the threat from Russia goes down proportionately so too can NATO's focus on countering the threat from Moscow.

[19:50:40] NOBLES: So, of course, the President has the NATO meeting. He has a meeting with Putin. But in between there, he is going to visit the United Kingdom. Is there a chance that the meeting there can go off the rails?

VINOGRAD: We often talk about the U.S.-U.K. relationship as being special. He is definitely going to get a special welcome. There are massive protests plan. There is even this baby Trump balloon that is going to be flying.

President Trump doesn't have a track record of having very thick skin. So I think a lot of us are wondering is he going to be able to focus on the substantive agenda, may want to make deals on things like trade, on things like Iran sanctions waivers, but is he can be fixated on all negative commentary against him. And we spoke earlier, Ryan, about the fact that a U.K. citizen has now died because of novichok that Russia supposedly dumped in the U.K. Under any of other circumstance, I think we would all be hoping that President Trump would be the messenger to Vladimir Putin in terms of what allies in the U.K. will do if Russia doesn't stop misbehaving. But we also know that President does not have a strong track record of confronting Vladimir Putin one-on-one.

NOBLES: This is going to be a pretty critical week for the President, not just the Supreme Court nomination but these trips he has overseas. Let's see how it place out.

VINOGRAD: Thanks, Ryan.

NOBLES: All right. Sam Vinograd, thank you.

Next, it's the decade that gave us lost, the office, arrested development and, of course, sex in the city. A look at CNN's new original series and the platinum age of TV next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[19:51:42] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Heidi, go. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My God. She is fashion road kill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: It was a show that spawned the question are you a Carey, a Miranda, a Charlotte or a Samantha. "Sex in the City" was and remains a must see for legions of fans. And in tonight's premiere of the CNN series "the 2000s," we are looking back at other big shows that had people talking.

I want to go back out to CNN's Kate Bennett who is having a better Sunday than you. She is visiting iconic "Sex and the City" locations all throughout New York City.

Tell us where you are now, Kate.

KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: So right now, I'm at O'Neil's which is on the lowery side, sort of right near China town. But it is in the TV show, "Sex in the City" was scout which as I know you are such an aficionado, Ryan, you would know that this was Aiden and Steve's bar that they opened together, the two ex-boyfriends of Carrie and Miranda. And this became, you know, their business and there was an opening party. Carrie and Aiden got back together.

Anyway. I'm going on. But let me just say, she is fashion road kill is one of the greatest "Sex in the City" lines of all time, that clip we just showed. So bravo to whoever pulled that one.

So we are here. We are ending the tour, the "Sex in the City" tour we have been on at, at the bar here. And a lot of the ladies who have been on his tour are now enjoying a cocktail or a cosmopolitan. We have been having such a fun day in leading up to night's premiere of "the 2000s" talking about pop culture and how much the show has influenced the vernacular, how much it did for women's friendships, the city of New York, talking about real issues and love and happiness and unhappiness and all the things that the show brought.

And I just want to say, this is a cosmopolitan, the drink that became famous because of "Sex and the City" and then sort of became a little too famous because of "Sex and the City." And then it is now famous again. In the movie they said why did we stop drinking these? And then they said because everybody else started to. And then they realized how delicious they were.

But it's been a really fun day celebrating this show on this tour. We have had a great time and we all want to tune in tonight to watch "the 2000s" premiere on CNN and remember all of the great television shows of that era like "Sex and the City" and what they meant for our culture and how does impact -- and the influence that they have had on us all these years later. So cheers, Ryan.

NOBLES: Yes. In a minute. I'm done with this so I will get in a cab and meet you down there. And save me a cosmo.

BENNETT: Will do.

NOBLES: All right. Thank you, Kate.

CNN's new original series "the 2000s" kicks off with the platinum age of television. That is tonight at 9:00.

I'm Ryan Nobles in New York. Before tonight's premiere of "the 2000s" it's a trip back into a time the decades before. The "'90s," the one about TV. That starts right now.

Thank you for watching. Have a great night.