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Putin Jokes About Meddling in U.S. Election; Concerns Over Medium-Range Submarine Missile; Heat Wave Hits the U.S. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired October 03, 2019 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause, live from Studio 7 at CNN World Headquarters.
Cornered and lashing out as the impeachment inquiry grinds on, President Trump goes into meltdown mode.
Boris Johnson and his fair and reasonable Brexit plan but is the British prime minister playing to lose?
And a record breaking heat wave in the United States in October?
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VAUSE: Barely a week into the formal impeachment inquiry, a clearly angry and rattled U.S. president lashes out with a level of vengeance, victimhood, delusion and statement and outright lying like we have never seen before.
During two joint appearances with the president of Finland, Donald Trump described himself as a very stable genius, accusing Adam Schiff, one of the, leading Democrats in the impeachment investigation, of treason and having a mental breakdown.
He claimed the White House summary of his conversation with Ukraine's leader was in fact a word-for-word transcript -- it is not and says so on the front page. And the president claims that precise transcript in which he asks his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden, clears him of all wrongdoing -- it does not.
The president's Twitter account has gone into over drive, "USA Today" reporting Trump set a new record of almost 800 tweets and retweets last month and they keep coming, only now with added profanity. This one on Wednesday.
"The do-nothing Democrats should be focused on building up our country, not wasting everyone's energy and time on bullshit, which is what they have been doing ever since I got overwhelmingly elected in 2016.
"Get a better candidate this time. You'll need it."
It was another remarkable day at the White House and one moment stood out. The angry and furious response from President Trump when he was asked a simple question, the question which is at the very heart of the impeachment inquiry.
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JEFF MASON, REUTERS: The question, sir, was what did you want President Zelensky to do about Vice President Biden and his son, Hunter?
TRUMP: Are you talking to me?
MASON: Yes, it was just a follow-up of what I just asked you, sir.
TRUMP: Listen, listen, are you ready?
We have the president of Finland. Ask him a question.
MASON: I have one for him. I just wanted to follow up on the one that I asked you, which was, what did you want...
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Did you hear me?
Did you hear me?
Ask him a question.
MASON: I will, but...
TRUMP: I have given you a long answer. Ask this gentleman a question.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: Don't be rude.
MASON: No, sir, I don't want to be rude. I just wanted you to have a chance to answer the question that I asked you.
TRUMP: I have answered everything. It's a whole hoax.
And you know who's playing into the hoax?
People like you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Joining us now from Washington, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, also Republican and former Mitt Romney policy director, Lanhee Chen.
Thanks, you guys.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to be with you, John.
VAUSE: OK, so as Donald Trump was fuming, it seems that the president of Finland was chuckling. But what seems odd is that Donald Trump has answered that question before just over a week ago. Here he is.
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TRUMP: This conversation, the conversation I had, was largely congratulatory, was largely corruption, all of the corruption taking place, was largely the fact that we don't want our people, like Vice President Biden and his son, creating the corruption already in the Ukraine.
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VAUSE: So Maria, what does this all say to you?
The refusal to answer the question in the White House on Wednesday, the level of anger pouring out of the president, what's the bigger picture, here?
CARDONA: I think he's starting to realize how serious, how much in trouble he really is, how serious this impeachment inquiry really is. You, know I think at the beginning when you show the clip when he was actually answering the question, I don't think he knew how much trouble he was getting himself into.
I don't think he knew that Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats were going to move forward with this impeachment inquiry. And then everything exploded with the White House memo of the call becoming public, with the whistleblower complaint becoming public.
And it was so clear and simple and easy to understand for the American people and frankly the world, how this man has deliberately and egregiously abused his power in office, betrayed his oath of office, shredded the Constitution, put us in danger from a national security standpoint and essentially has given the finger to the American people.
And that's why he is now feeling the heat.
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CARDONA: Because things to be coming out on a daily basis if not hourly basis that underscore just how unfit this president is in office.
VAUSE: There was also a lot of anger as well on Wednesday, from the president, directed at the whistleblower, listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: The whistleblower was so dishonest. The whistleblower said terrible things about the call but he then -- I then found out he was secondhand and thirdhand. In other words, he didn't know what was on the call.
This country has to find out who that person was, because that person is a spy, in my opinion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Lanhee, we are sort of at the point in the Trump presidency when that stuff kind of seems par for the course, sort of normal. But it seems truly shocking when you put it in the historical context of the U.S. being the first government to pass a law to protect whistleblowers.
And now you have a President of the United States calling a whistleblower a spy.
LANHEE CHEN, HOOVER INSTITUTION: Well, this is all part I think of the president's strategy to discredit the whistleblower, to figure out some way of raising questions about the whistleblower's motives, their positioning, were they in a position to witness or to hear the contents of that call?
The individual's political motivations potentially, so all of these efforts by the president are efforts to get out ahead of the identification, should we ever know who the whistleblower is.
But you are right in the sense that, in the United States, we have a very strong tradition of protecting those who are willing to come forward and expose or discuss malfeasance and government, whether it's the state level, local level, federal level.
And we have learned a lot historically from people who are willing to do that. So for the president to make these comments is another example of the way in which he has circumvented or ridden roughshod over some of the norms we have long held dear in the United States.
VAUSE: Another part of the strategy seems to be make a removal from office as difficult as possible, and at as high a cost as possible, sort of explains the tweet or the retweet warning of civil war.
If anyone thinks of this as just hyperbole and not to be taken seriously, maybe they should think again because tweet was picked up the Oath Keepers, which is a right-wing armed militia, 24,000 Twitter followers, and they tweeted this.
"Here is the money quote from that thread. This is the truth. This is where we are. We are on the verge of a hot civil war. Like in 1859. That's where we are. And the Right has zero trust or respect for anything the Left is doing.
"We see them as illegitimate, too."
So Maria, by now, three years into the Trump presidency, Donald Trump surely must know the impact he has when he retweets something like civil war.
CARDONA: He doesn't care, John. He only cares about his own self interests. He only cares about his own personal well being and his image. This is what three years of Donald Trump presidency has shown us.
He has no respect for the office of the presidency, he has no respect for the American people and everything that you just mentioned he has done, it's worse than just not respecting the norms. He is putting the American people in danger.
He is putting the whistleblower's life in danger when he talks about this whistleblower being a spy and then says that we should treat them the way that we used to treat spies. That is essentially urging the execution of this whistleblower.
When he talks about a coming civil war, that is essentially urging a civil war in this country, if anything happens to take him out of office. To, me that underscores how incredibly important it is for the Democrats to move forward with this impeachment inquiry and let the facts take us where they may.
And frankly, all of these ridiculous, irresponsible tweets that he is putting out there can probably be part of the articles of impeachment, given how irresponsible they are.
VAUSE: One of the old lines from the Russia investigation, that it's a hoax, it's all fake news, that there's nothing to see, here it's all about sour grapes for him winning the 2016 election. The president keeps repeating an allegation about Joe and Hunter Biden which has zero credibility, here he is again today.
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TRUMP: Biden and his son are stone-cold crooked and you know it. His son walks out with millions of dollars. The kid knows nothing. You know it, and so do we.
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VAUSE: You know, Lanhee, this is a president whose children have traveled the world handing out sales vouchers with their father's name on it. And he is complaining about Hunter Biden. The fact that the latest poll came out today, which had about 4 in 10 Republicans who believe Biden's name came up during the conversation with Ukraine's president, only 4 in 10.
Is that indicative of this sort of toxic confusion and conflation is actually working?
CHEN: Well, I think part of what the president has been trying to do the entire time here is to create or cast doubt on vice president Biden's candidacy, however he can do that.
[00:10:00] CHEN: And the goal was to figure out, how can we put, how can Republicans put the Biden campaign and Vice President Biden into some kind of politically compromised situation as we go into a primary contest?
In that sense, what the president does, by repeatedly talking about Biden, repeatedly talking about the allegations relating to Biden and his son, regardless of the credibility of that allegation, is precisely this, to raise a question, to have a dialogue about it and to hear this issue repeated over and over again.
I think at some point, people do ask the question, what did happen with Biden in Ukraine?
So I think that has been the president's goal all along, to sort of foment this conversation and so long as people are talking about it, I think the president feels like he is winning.
VAUSE: We also know that one of his tactics when he was a businessman was to use litigation against his opponents, he is making that threat now, warning of litigation against those who have been part of the Russia investigation, much along the same lines as this tweet from Giuliani.
"We are carefully considering our legal options to seek redress against Congress and individual members for engaging in an organized effort that exceeded their limited powers under the Constitution and for trampling on the constitutional rights of citizens by engaging in several illicit plans carried out by illegal means, to remove the president of the U.S. on knowingly falsified charges allegations."
Lanhee, we know that Rudy Giuliani is the world's greatest lawyer but is there any merit here?
CHEN: Well, threatening litigation is as time honored in America as apple pie on the 4th of July. Look, litigation, in some ways, I think the hope amongst those who try to seek out litigation, is to legitimize a set of principles, legitimize a set of ideas and I think that's what Giuliani and the president are trying to do.
Giuliani has been an interesting figure, I sort of use that word broadly, in this entire episode. His, role, the degree to which he has been involved, the degree to which he has coordinated or not coordinated within the administration, is a big open question.
So part of this is going to be interesting to see where it goes with Rudy Giuliani and how much of this actually is authorized by the president, I bet a lot of it, quite frankly, is offensive to and quite dangerous to others in the administration, who are potentially implicated by his freelancing.
So Rudy Giuliani is not doing the president any favors right now, in my mind. Although he might think he is because he has been a fervent defender of the president, in fact he is causing, I think, potential headaches down the line.
VAUSE: We will just finish up, we are almost out of time, with the question which angered the president so much. Here it is.
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MASON: What did you want President Zelensky to do about Vice President Biden and his son, Hunter?
TRUMP: Are you talking to me?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: "Are you talking to me?"
It's a very famous line from Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver," and here is a reminder.
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ROBERT DE NIRO, ACTOR, "TRAVIS BICKLE": You talking to me?
You talking to me?
You talking to me?
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VAUSE: Maria, is it worth mentioning that De Niro's character, Travis Bickle, was a disturbed loner, trying desperately but failing to connect with reality?
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CARDONA: I think it is worth mentioning that because it's kind of a similar situation, unfortunately and sadly for the president of the United States.
I could say he has become unhinged but I think he has always been unhinged and a little deranged. I don't think he is well mentally. I think he has actually had a mental decline, even in the three years that he has been in office. He is completely detached from reality. The people around him know this.
There has been some very disturbing reporting about the meeting that has gone on inside the Oval Office. What he says, what he wants his staff to do. There is a reporting about immigration and how he wanted a moat filled with snakes and alligators and he wanted the Border Patrol to be shooting migrants and then if he couldn't do that, to at least shoot them in the legs to slow them down.
This is not normal, John. And so I would say to not just to the American people but to the global community, look at what's going on in the United States, don't believe a word this president says, follow the facts, follow the evidence, follow the truth. Truth still matters.
VAUSE: And that is a good point to end on, Maria and Lanhee, thank you so much, good to see you both. CARDONA: Thank you so much, John.
VAUSE: Concerns over a global recession are dragging down U.S. financial markets, the Dow dropped nearly 500 points after the release of weak payroll data and slowing manufacturing activity, partly because of Donald Trump's tit-for-tat tariffs with China and a ruling by the WTO that the Trump administration has the green light to impose tariffs on another $7.5 million of European exports because of European government subsidies to the aircraft maker, Airbus.
The E.U.'s trade commissioner says there will be retaliation to the new U.S. tariffs.
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VAUSE: Boris Johnson says his Brexit plan to Brussels short on details and failing to address the biggest sticking point of all, it could be doomed to fail and that might just be what the British prime minister is hoping for.
And what's driving the days of deadly street protests in Iraq.
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VAUSE: In the coming hours, E.U. officials are expected to outline their objections to the British prime minister's new Brexit plan. Boris Johnson has delivered the documents to Belarus, what he calls a fair and reasonable compromise on the Irish backstop.
That was negotiated by his predecessor, intended to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in a post-Brexit world. Of all the complexity of Brexit, the question of how to withdraw the U.K. from the E.U. while avoiding a border with Ireland remains a problem without a solution.
And the new Johnson plan is light on how he can succeed where others have failed. That raises the speculation that he's playing to lose, to blame the E.U. for rejecting his path and for the chaos that follows.
At the Conservative Party's annual gathering, he rallied the faithful promising Brexit will happen on time at the end of this month despite a new law prohibiting Britain from leaving the E.U. without a deal, something Johnson calls the surrender bill.
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BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: That is why were coming out of the E.U. on October 31st come what may.
Let's get Brexit done. We can, we must and we will, even though things have not been made easier by the surrender bill.
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VAUSE: CNN European affairs commentator Dominic Thomas joins us now from Los Angeles.
OK, Dominic, Johnson in his own words on withdrawing the U.K. from the E.U. at the same time avoiding that border on the island of Ireland. Listen to this.
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JOHNSON: We will under no circumstances have checks, at or near the border in Northern Ireland. We will respect the peace process and the Good Friday agreement and, at the same time, we will allow the U.K., whole and entire, to withdraw from the E.U., with control over our own trade policy from the start.
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VAUSE: It's all great stuff, the only problem is that those two statements cannot coexist. I think it's an either/or proposition and Johnson hasn't really explained how they can happen simultaneously.
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Right, he has not, John, and so Theresa May's deal was quite straightforward, they negotiated with the European Union and the withdrawal agreement was all set. And in the transition period, Northern Ireland would remain in single market and in the customs union in what was called the backstop.
The backstop is a synonym for an insurance policy. What Boris Johnson has done, the changes he has enacted here, is essentially to argue that Scotland, Wales and England should be fully extricated from the European Union and that Northern Ireland said they would not have to be checked with the Republic of Ireland, would remain in the single market for a determined period and that every four years essentially the Northern Irish assembly will get to revisit that arrangement.
The problem with that the removal of this insurance policy is essentially Boris Johnson asking the European Union to trust him, which is something they are not willing to do and that the Republic of Ireland will not go along with it.
And then the other 26 E.U. countries with the Republic of Ireland, the 27, will simply not go along with that. So there's changes, there's proposals here but it does not deal with the fundamental question of protecting the integrity of the trade relationship, the personal relationship, of the Ireland, of Ireland or the integrity of the European Union's policy.
So this deal will not go nowhere for just those few reasons.
VAUSE: It will go nowhere in Brussels and it seems it will go nowhere in Parliament. Listen to Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEREMY CORBYN, LEADER, U.K. LABOUR PARTY: It's worse than Theresa May's deal. I can't see getting the support that he seems to get. And it will take us into a regime in Britain of deregulation of undercutting and I think it will also undermine the Good Friday agreement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Does Johnson actually really want a deal?
Would he be happier to go through the motions and then blame Brussels for not compromising?
When everything turns into chaos, it's all their fault, not mine.
THOMAS: Absolutely, John He's got three people to blame, the, European Union, the British Parliament and the U.K. Supreme Court, so all of that works very nicely for him, the facts remain, he seems to be forgetting this, that's it's his Brexiteer cohort that also voted against the withdrawal agreement on three different occasions.
As things stand now, he's lost his Parliamentary majority; therefore he cannot legislate, the last thing the Liberal Democrats want is to support a Brexit deal. They want to revoke and remain in the European Union.
And there's absolutely no way the Labour Party is going to help Boris Johnson deliver Brexit because that, will be absolutely the same as delivering them an electoral victory. Now it's a risky proposition because Boris Johnson can control the narrative and will argue it is Parliament, it is Jeremy Corbyn that's being obstructive.
That Throughout the process, Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party have been part of the problem and not the solution here and Boris Johnson is able to exploit these fractures in the opposition and they still can potentially serve him very well.
VAUSE: Despite the fact that they've been talking about Brexit and almost nothing else for the past three years, there could be a few people living under a rock who have no idea of what's coming, hence we have this new TV campaign courtesy of the British government.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Get ready for Brexit on the 31st of October. Traveling to the E.U. is going to change. To keep your trip on track, there's things you need to check. Check your passport is valid for travel to Europe. Check that you have the right driving documents and check your travel insurance covers all your health care needs.
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VAUSE: It's all going to be fine, just check your passport. If Johnson was being really honest, he'd actually say get ready for a snap election.
THOMAS: Yes, the next thing -- and Boris Johnson can say whatever he likes, it's wishful thinking; his followers will applaud him.
The fact, let's not forget, Parliament has voted and legislated that he cannot leave without a deal, on October 31st and then he will be forced to go back to the European Union.
He could refuse to do this, there will be a vote of no confidence and a general election will be called once an extension has been guaranteed to get beyond that divide.
There's no way out of this for Boris Johnson. He knows this full well and it allows him to keep the narrative going, that it is he and the Conservative Party that are unambiguously committed to Brexit.
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THOMAS: And he absolutely wants to go into a general election where it is essentially a Remain versus Leave setup and where Jeremy Corbyn is the shadow of the potential leader if that fails.
And I think that narrative, even though statistics and polls show the British public is evolving on the question of remaining in the European Union, the facts remain the Conservative Party is still today the main leading party in the U.K., with all of this going on.
VAUSE: Yes, it just keeps going on.
Dominic, thank you, good to see. You
THOMAS: Great. See you soon.
VAUSE: Cheers, mate.
Here's a look of why the issue of the Irish border is so contentious. The bottom line is a physical border where custom checks can be carried out, trucks surged and duties paid on goods is checked, this is essential to a tariff free E.U.
But if there's no border with no checks it will be a open flood gate for smuggling duty-free imports, here's the bigger problem. A good part of the Good Friday peace agreement that ended decades of violence requires no hard border between the two Irelands.
If checkpoints reappear anywhere, there are fears it could spark terror and violence and a return to the days known as The Troubles. Here's CNN's Nic Robertson.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): It is along these busy border roads, where Boris Johnson's final Brexit offer to Brussels has the highest stakes.
JOHNSON: We will, under no circumstances, have checks at or near the border in Northern Ireland.
We will -- we will respect the peace process and the Good Friday agreement.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): And it is in the communities that live along the border that fears of Johnson's failure runs deepest.
ALAN BLACK, SOLE SURVIVOR OF 1976 KINGSMILL MASSACRE: You can see the potential that it has to bring us back to the dark, bad old days.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Black was left for dead, the sole survivor of a border shooting that killed 10 work colleagues during the depths of Northern Ireland's mostly sectarian violence known as The Troubles. He fears no deal would mean border posts, an historic focus for Irish nationalist terrorists.
BLACK: My big fear is that (INAUDIBLE) killed in the -- in some of these attacks and then you have the police to protect the customs.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Peter Sheridan was a former top cop during The Troubles, doesn't doubt lives are on the line.
PETER SHERIDAN, COOPERATION IRELAND: There's probably 2.5 thousand people alive today because of the Good Friday agreement and tens of thousands of people uninjured.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): He witnessed what it took to shut down terrorist attacks and smuggling along a 10-mile stretch of border.
SHERIDAN: We ended up with 12 army watchtowers, six helicopter bases, six army bases, four police stations, 40 roads permanently seamed off and six permanent checkpoints on other roads.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Two decades of peace restored calm, removed border blocks, rebuilt livelihoods, created dependence on an open border. But it didn't fix the underlying tension between aspirations for a united Ireland or a United Kingdom. If Johnson fails in Brussels, no place will be worse hit than the border.
KERRY CURRAN, INTERTRADEIRELAND: The impact on Northern Ireland alone could see 40,000 jobs go, the loss of farms that trade just within their local economy. Here, close to the border areas, it would be significantly impacted.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Johnson's failure would be a perfect storm for Irish nationalist terror groups. Border posts would be a magnet for recruitment. Fewer jobs, meaning more potential recruits, and customs checks, meaning smuggling, making money for more attacks. A lot along this border rides on the British prime minister -- Nic Robertson, CNN, along the Republic of Ireland-Northern Ireland border.
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VAUSE: Still to come, the man Donald Trump has never publicly criticized comes to his defense. Plus, as Vladimir Putin says President Trump is a victim of this impeachment inquiry, and then he throws out a real knee-slapper about election interference.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he's making a final offer on Brexit. He proposed an alternative to the Irish backstop, keeping the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland open but so far, has plan for an all-Ireland regulatory zone has received a cool response from the E.U.
Donald Trump plan lashing out at Democrats, the media, and a whole lot of other people over the growing threat of impeachment. But he's not offering much of a defense for asking Ukraine's president to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter. Aides say the president has not grasped the enormity of the situation. House Democrats plan to subpoena the White House for documents on Friday.
So could this be a case of a friend in need is a friend, indeed? Vladimir Putin from Russia defending the U.S. president. Putin thinks that phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian leader was just fine, and Vladimir Putin has even offered a joke in all of this about interfering in next year's U.S. election.
Our man in Moscow is Fred Pleitgen.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Tonight, Russian President Vladimir Putin trolling the United States, joking about meddling in the presidential election and saying he'll do it again.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (voice-over): I'll tell you a secret. Yes, of course we'll do it to finally make you happier. Just don't tell anyone.
PLEITGEN: Putin also backing the demands of some in Washington to see further transcripts of President Donald Trump's interactions with other world leaders, including the Putin summit in Helsinki last year.
PUTIN (voice-over): When there were attempts to launch a scandal regarding my meeting with Trump in Helsinki, we directly told the administration to just publish it. If somebody wants to know something, just publish it. We don't mind.
PLEITGEN: But Vladimir Putin also echoing President Trump's talking points on the now-infamous Ukrainian phone call.
PUTIN: They began this impeachment proceeding and always bring up Nixon. Nixon's team was wiretapping their rivals, but this is a completely different situation. Trump was wiretapped. Some anonymous special service staffer leaked this information and, based on what we know from the calls, there was nothing wrong there. Trump asked his colleague to investigate possible corruption schemes of previous administrations.
PLEITGEN: With the congressional Democrats turning up the heat and polls showing a growing number of Americans supporting impeachment proceedings, the Kremlin has shown President Trump that he can count on Vladimir Putin to be in his corner.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Another day of deadly violence in Iraq as thousands of demonstrators poured onto Baghdad's streets.
Iraqis are protesting the lack of jobs, poor services, corruption. Officials say at least eight people are dead. More than 300 injured during this week's protest.
Meanwhile, curfews have been imposed. The Internet has been restricted. Security sources have blocked roads leading into the capital, and the U.N. is calling for calm. The Iraqi government is promising to meet the legitimate demands of the demonstrators. Protestors, though, say that is not enough.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This is the people's protest. It is not being directed by anyone. These people are all revolting, and they will not stop until the government changes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The Iraqi defense minister has ordered armed forces to be on high alert. The U.S. embassy in Iraq says it's monitoring these protests closely.
North Korea claims to have test-fired a new type of ballistic missile capable of being launched from a submarine. U.S. officials say it has a medium-range. It was actually fired from a launcher on a floating barge early Wednesday, not from underwater, as had been reported.
Still, analysts say it crosses the line. And while the U.S. president has downplayed recent short-range missile tests, this one cannot be ignored.
Details from CNN's Brian Todd.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the most brazen provocation from Kim Jong-U.N. in years. North Korea's supreme commander seemingly testing President Trump's backbone by test-firing a ballistic missile in the water that is designed to be launched from a submarine. JOSEPH YUN, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR NORTH KOREA POLICY: I mean,
this is way above and beyond, you know? And this is sending a message that we can do these tests any time we want.
TODD: It's above and beyond because this time, U.S. officials tell CNN, Kim tested a medium-range missile which can reach targets further away than any of the short-range missiles Kim has tested this year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are tens of thousands of Americans in South Korea, in Japan, military personnel, civilians that are threatened by these missiles. This is a big deal.
TODD: Specifically, about 80,000 American troops in South Korea and Japan are in the target range of the missiles Kim has tested this year, tests that violate U.N. resolutions, but that the president has consistently played down.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He has been doing some short-range missiles, but so does every other country do short- range missiles. Every country is doing it. They're pretty standard fare.
TODD: But missile analysts tell CNN, by testing short and now medium- range missiles in recent months, Kim is also advancing the technology for his long-range missiles that could potentially hit the United States.
And experts are alarmed over the wrapping up of Kim's submarine- launched missile capability in recent weeks, and the North Koreans' attempts to hide those efforts.
Satellite photos have showed new activity at a submarine shipyard, and there are pictures of Kim inspecting an enormous sub under construction, a vessel that experts say will likely carry multiple nuclear-tipped missiles and could give the North Korean dictator the element of surprise against his enemies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A land-based missile, you can follow it around and maybe attack it before it can be launched, but not a submarine- launched ballistic missile. A submarine-launched ballistic missile only gives you a minute's warning.
TODD: This missile test comes just days before so-called working- level nuclear talks between officials just under Trump and Kim are set to begin. Analysts say that's no coincidence, that Kim is sending a message.
YUN: Very much, his message is, I am calling the shots now. You know? And I think he feels that President Trump is weakened, especially with the Ukraine whistleblower affair and they do believe that Trump meets a foreign affairs victory.
(on camera): The White House has expressed, quote, "strong concerns" over the latest North Korean missile test. The State Department is calling on North Korea to refrain from provocations. But will President Trump specifically call out Kim Jong-U.N. for the
test the next time they meet or exchange letters? Will the State Department hold North Korean diplomats' feet to the fire over this during the new round of talks?
We've pressed both the White House and the State Department on those questions. They haven't commented.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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VAUSE: Officially, it's autumn in the U.S., when temperatures are meant to cool, but here's a real shocker. Temperatures are at record highs, and a number of cities are enduring heat waves. More on this when we come back.
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VAUSE: Investigators are searching for the cause of a World War II- era bomber which crashed near Hartford, Connecticut. Thirteen people were on board, but only six survived. The pilot reported a problem shortly after takeoff, and then the B-17 flying fortress crashed at the end of the runway. Hit an airport de-icing facility along the way.
The flying fortress was the famous workhorse bomber of World War II. Only a handful remain airworthy. It's autumn in the U.S., but millions of people are still sweltering under a rare October heat wave.
Dozens of cities on the East Coast have shattered record highs for the month, some over 37 degrees Celsius. Forecasters say this is all part of a larger pattern of climate change. No kidding.
Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now. I mean, just here in Atlanta, the minimum temperatures have been, like, in the high 20s, which is incredible for this time of year.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is, and that's a critical point you're making here. The overnight temperatures are an incredible sign here of the warming that is, of course, to come over the coming years and coming days, as well, and what is happening here, because we're not seeing a drop in temperatures, of course, and very little relief in place.
But when you're talking about the middle thirties, that is an incredible run of heat for any time of year, John.
VAUSE: It's really uncomfortable. It's awful.
JAVAHERI: In July, that's a big story. Delight, that's a big story across the local weather world but when you are talking about the middle thirties in October, it is pretty impressive. And I want to show you exactly what is happening here, because records
broken widespread across portions of the United States. And John kind of referenced Atlanta and the city of Atlanta has kept records for 141 years. In the month of October they have never seen a temperature exceed 35 degrees Celsius in the month of October. It is about to happen each of the next three days, so it really kind of speaks to the significance of what's happening.
And 50-plus record temperature slated for Thursday afternoon, the northern portions of the, Midwestern region of the United States where, in the state of Ohio in the past few days, they've actually had to cancel classes, because some schools do not have air conditioning. That is not something they've ever experienced of having to send kids to class and then bring them back home, because the classrooms are way too hot, as the month October typically has a better chance for snow showers in some of these states than temps into the middle thirties.
But again, that is the current pattern across the eastern portion of the United States, and all-time records have been falling by large numbers from the north all the way to the south. In fact, New York City, high temperature on Wednesday afternoon, 34 degrees. First time since 1941 temps exceeded 32 degrees for New York City.
And the pattern here really persists for just about anyone you talk to. Eastern U.S., widespread coverage of middle thirties which are July-like in nature, certainly not October.
There is relief on the way for the northeastern U.S. It's already in place for the southern United States. It is coming inside the next several days.
In fact, look what happens here, John. New York's 34 degrees on Wednesday gives way to 15 by Thursday. So it kind of shows you the dramatic shift here as Mother Nature tries to reel things back in to what is normal for this time of year, versus what is summer-like as it has been in recent days -- John.
VAUSE: Yes. Like someone turned on a switch for the air conditioning or something.
JAVAHERI: That's how it works, right?
VAUSE: Better late than never. Thanks, Pedram.
And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Please stay with. WORLD SPORT starts after the break.
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VAUSE: Hello, everybody. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. You're watching another.
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