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New Day Saturday

Trump Revives Hopes Of Summit With North Korean Leader; CNN Reporter Witnessing Nuclear Site Destruction; South Korean President Just Held Second Summit With Kim Jong-un; Ireland Votes To Allow Abortion; Alberto To Bring Rain On Memorial Weekend; Gas Prices Up 31 Percent From Last Memorial Day; CNN Questions Russian Oligarch Over Trump Tower Meeting; Coaches, Friends, Praise Teacher Who Disarmed Shooter. Aired 7-8a

Aired May 26, 2018 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: overhead bins.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: He was arrested for interfering with a member of the flight crew. He now has a reservation before a judge on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lines of communication with North Korea are back open again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're now returning phone calls trying to see if they can work out and make something happen to make this summit occur on June 12th.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is yet another media-shy Russian billionaire linked with the Kremlin and mired in allegations of collusion with the Trump team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE), why did your company pay hundreds of thousands of dollars --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not now --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- to President Trump's lawyer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We walked in, and he just had the gun in his hand, he started waving it around.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He started shooting at Mr. Seaman, and everybody started screaming and freaking out. And Mr. Seaman ran up and tackled him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seaman threw a basketball at the shooter's forehead, swatted the gun out of his hand, and tackled him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without him, I'm not sure if all of us would've made it. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND, with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good Saturday morning to you. Question of the day: can they salvage this summit? This morning, there's a mix of cautious optimism and renewed faith that this meeting between Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump may happen after all.

PAUL: Yes, this is less than two days after canceling the upcoming sit down. President Trump says his team is having "productive talks with North Korea." With 2.5 weeks to go, can this meeting really happen? Though, a team of reporters and analysts are covering every angle of this story, including CNN's Will Ripley who just returned from North Korea hours ago. We start with CNN's Sarah Westwood in Washington, though. Because Sarah, when he says productive talks, how much confidence is there that this meeting could actually still take place on June 12th?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN REPORTER: Well, that remains an open question. President Trump created a bit of whiplash on North Korea this week, cancelling that highly anticipated summit with Kim Jong-un. But just hours later, hinting that the summit could still take place next month as scheduled. Now, Trump has sounded optimistic about the chances of the meeting moving forward, as has Defense Secretary James Mattis who told reporters yesterday that we could soon be hearing some good news out of North Korea. Trump upbeat about the current status of negotiations, tweeted last night: "We are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the summit, which if it does happen will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th, and if necessary, will be extended beyond that date."

Now, administration officials are continuing preparations for the summit as if it was still taking place on June 12th. A trip by senior administration officials to Singapore to scout potential locations for that summit was not canceled. And the White House is not backing down from Trump's demand for the eventual denuclearization of North Korea despite Pyongyang's objections. But senior administration officials are still trying to keep expectations low, with one senior official telling reporters this week that with just 17 days remaining between now and the scheduled date of the summit, there are a lot of issues that need to be worked out between the two sides, and just not that much time left to address all of them, Christi.

PAUL: All right. Sarah Westwood, thank you so much. We're going to get to Will Ripley here in just a moment. But I do want to bring in Gordon Chang, he is the Author of "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World." Gordon, thank you for being with us. How confident are you that this meeting will indeed happen whether it's on June 12th or not?

GORDON CHANG, COLUMNIST AND AUTHOR: I'm confident that it will take place, though, it might not be June 12th, might not be Singapore. And the reason is the North Koreans definitely have a reason to talk to the United States: they want sanctions relief -- actually, need sanctions released. They certainly don't want the United States to strike their missile in their nuke facilities. Kim Jong-un wants legitimatization of the meeting with the president of the United States. Also, the North Koreans would like to counterweight to China which they're concerned about. You know, and of course, we want the meeting because we don't want the North Koreans to have missiles and nukes. You know, there's going to be a lot of friction but nonetheless, because both sides really need this meeting, I think it will occur. And we've got that -- you know, after Thursday when President Trump withdrew his participation, the North Koreans suddenly turned conciliatory. That's a real indication that they want to talk.

PAUL: What would have to happen in this meeting for the U.S. to walk away from it and be able to claim a success?

CHANG: Well, the only success is going to be getting the North Koreans to give up their nukes, give up their missiles, and most important: to have the strictest inspection regime of any agreement. You know, we saw the joint comprehensive plan of action. The Iran nuclear deal fell apart because of inspections over military bases. The Iranians say we couldn't do it, and we saying, of course, we need it. That's going to be the same issue with regard to North Korea. And because the president withdrew from the Iran deal, he set a high bar for inspections provisions of any North Korean agreement. So, that's going to be critical. And you know, we have to get that. If we don't get it, it's not a success.

[07:05:21] PAUL: So, I want to ask about the credibility of any agreement because if this meeting takes place, and there is a final agreement, how much credence can anyone put into that agreement when you look at how dicey the road has been just to solidify a meeting?

CHANG: Well, the agreements that we've had with North Korea, the agreed framework of 1994, the statement of principles, the leap day deal, you know, we are talking about arrangements without verification. And so, without verification, we know they'll fall apart fairly soon. The important thing here is that we get inspections. And it's going -- inspections not just after the North Koreans surrender everything, these have got to be inspections long afterwards to make sure they don't restart programs. So, this is going to be extremely difficult for us but is absolutely critical. You know, no matter how good a deal sounds, if it doesn't have, you know, inspectors on the grounds, it isn't going to work.

PAUL: All right. Gordon Chang, we appreciate your perspective this morning, sir. Thank you.

CHANG: Thank you, Christi.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Will Ripley is just back from North Korea after watching what the north says with the destruction of their nuclear site. He's been to North Korea 18 times so far. Will, hello to you. And what is the reaction from South Korea to the news that the U.S. and North Korea are now talking, potentially that the summit may be back on?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Victor. I think the South Koreans are thrilled to hear that there's now a possibility that the summit in Singapore on June 12th or even at a later date could happen. Because remember, it was South Korea's President Moon Jae-in, who's been kind of serving as the intermediary between the North Koreans and United States and has done a very good job up to this point. To watch it fall apart, would be really devastating for him. He's invested so much political capital which is why his office, a spokesperson for President Moon's office, is putting out this statement just within the last few hours saying, "it is fortunate that the embers of the North Korea-U.S. dialogue are not going out but are coming up again. We are watching the developments carefully."

They're also watching developments very carefully in North Korea. And I was inside the country when the news broke that the summit was canceled. But hours before that, we took a trip that has never been made before to the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, a place that North Korea has kept so secret for so many years. Suddenly, they decided to open it up to the world before blowing it up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY: From the moment I landed in Wonsan, I knew this story was unlike any other. 18 trips to North Korea, and this country still keeps me guessing. For more than 24 hours, we didn't even know if our trip to the Punggye-ri nuclear site would happen. The rhetoric with the U.S. was really heating up. Only when we boarded the bus did we know it was a go.

We rode for more than 12 hours on a North Korean luxury train. It was surreal -- a ten-course banquet with all the blinds closed and strict orders not to film outside. We also couldn't film on the drive to the nuclear site. Arriving at Punggye-ri was surreal. The buildings were log cabins, almost like a summer camp. It was definitely not what I expected.

We had to carry our gear and hike for what felt like ages up steep ravines to get to observation posts built specifically for us. We visited tunnel after tunnel. The same tunnels North Korea has used to conduct six nuclear tests since 2006. All of them, full of explosives, football sized bags strung with wires.

We even had lunch provided by the North Koreans -- ham and cucumber sandwiches, surrounded by buildings that would be blown up just hours later. The explosions were huge.

(EXPLOSIONS)

Earthshaking.

(EXPLOSIONS)

They sent rocks and debris flying. We found some of it scattered later hundreds of feet away. I can only imagine what it felt like during those nuclear tests. It was totally impossible to verify if what we were seeing, if all those dramatic explosions actually made the nuclear site unusable as the North Koreans claim.

For the nuclear officials on site, there was almost a sense of sadness watching more than a decade of hard work go up in smoke.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY: And we have just received a piece of breaking news. Just within the last few minutes, we learned that South Korea's President Moon Jae-in has held a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. They met at Panmunjom, that is the truce village along the demilitarized zone that separates North Korea and South Korea. That meeting lasted from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. local time -- so it just wrapped up about two hours ago.

And this is significant: President Moon apparently held the meeting on the north side of Panmunjom -- this is the North Korean sight of the demilitarize zone. So, you remember when he took a brief step over the military demarcation line at the inter-Korean summit. He actually walked even further this time and met for two hours with Kim Jong-un talking with about the inter-Korean summit and implementing the agreements that they made. But also, more importantly to all parties involved; how to make the summit with the United States and President Trump take place.

This is very significant, the fact that the South Korean president and North Korean leader have met yet again. And it just goes to show how seriously both sides are taking this. The fact that they want this dialogue with the United States to happen. President Moon felt that it was important enough to use that hotline that was setup between his office, in Kim Jong-un's office, and they made that summit happen with very short notice. The fact that it was kept secret from the press, and we're just now learning about it some two hours after it wrapped up at Panmunjom.

[07:11:01] It's really extraordinary because Kim Jong-un also just yesterday was in Wonsan -- where our hotel was in North Korea. We were told to stay inside the hotel; they wouldn't let us look out the windows. There was security all around the hotel. We didn't know what was happening. We later learned Kim Jong-un was there inspecting a resort complex that was being built along the beach right next to where we were staying. It was the lead story in the North Korean newspaper this morning. But now, breaking news, a second summit between President Moon and Kim Jong-un -- wow, that really is an extraordinary development that we just learned about, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right. Will Ripley, we'll talk more throughout the morning about what this means as the U.S. now continues to try to get that summit back on with the North Koreans. Will Ripley for us. Thanks so much.

PAUL: Also, talking this morning about the students who say a school in Indiana could have been so much worse yesterday had it not been for their teacher who stepped in to stop that gunman. How they say he used a basketball to disarm a school shooter.

BLACKWELL: Also, we're learning more about a Russian oligarch who met with the president's lawyers, personal lawyer, in Trump Tower. We'll tell you next what happens when our Matthew Chance asks him about that meeting. PAUL: Also, incredible new video. Look at how frightening this is.

The lava from Kilauea volcano just creeping up to this family's home, and all they can do is sit there and watch it coming.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:16:32] PAUL: We have breaking news for you right now. The people of Ireland just made history: overturning a ban on abortions. Ireland is a predominantly Catholic country. Some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world are set there. The votes are technically still being counted, but Ireland's anti-abortion save the eighth group just conceded. That campaign said in a statement: "Abortion was wrong yesterday, it remains wrong today. The constitution has changed, but the facts have not," quote there.

All right, let's talk about the rain, the floods. Yes, the weather does not look good as we head into Memorial Day weekend. I wish I had better news for you but this is all because of subtropical storm Alberto. CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is at the weather center. So, really, what is the potential for the storm kicking into gear and doing some serious damage?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I think the main concern here is going to be flooding. Not just because it's expected to be an incredibly high amount of water, but it's going to be so widespread. You're not talking just an isolated area that will be affected. Here's the latest: storm and winds about 40 miles per hour moving north/northeast at about seven miles per hour.

The big area of concern is going to be what happens once it enters into the Gulf of Mexico. Right now, it is expected to make landfall as a tropical storm, very late Monday night, really the overnight into early Tuesday morning. The thing is, before it gets there, it's going to start to enter much warmer water, and that is fuel for a hurricane or a tropical storm. That's what it needs to intensify, and it's going to get it.

So, the real concern is, say, just within the last 12 hours before it makes landfall, could it hit warm enough water, just enough to trigger it to get into a low-end category-one hurricane. Possible at this point, still likely that it will remain a tropical storm but it is still possible. Right now, tropical storm watches or in effect from Florida stretching over towards Louisiana.

We talked about rain being the main factor here, but storm surge is also going to be a concern. You can already see some of those showers and thunderstorms will begin as early as today across areas of the Gulf Coast region. But because the storm is going to be moving slow off to the north, you're looking at days of rain across the southeast.

And Victor and Christi, that's going to be a concern because even cities not on the coast -- we're talking Atlanta, Charlotte, even Nashville, cities that are well inland are going to be affected by this in the form of rain. Widespread amounts, guys, expected to be four to six inches, but it is not out of the questions to get eight to ten inches total by the time we get through Tuesday. BLACKWELL: A wet weekend -- this week for a lot of people. Allison

Chinchar, thanks so much. All right. Alberto, we see there, from the forecast, potentially headed into the gulf. Oil rigs in the area could be shut down for a period. That means gas prices could be higher -- and they're already higher than they were this time last year. Let's go now to CNN's Polo Sandoval live outside a gas station in Ridgefield, New Jersey. So, what is driving up the gas prices, and how could this affect the administration, affect the midterms?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN REPORTER: Well, Victor, think about it, Republican lawmakers, the Trump administration, they've been riding the wave of legislative success already for a while now after that tax reform bill. Meaning, more Americans have potentially more take-home pay. However, because of this increase in gas prices, more of that take- home pay could be going to the pump, especially when you consider the numbers here. About a 31 percent rise in the cost of gas since last year -- already the highest it's been since 2014 when 36 million Americans are expected to hit the road this travel season with that certainly could add to pain at the pump.

There are some, who we've spoken to today who say look, it is what it is, these are the reality of gas prices. But there are some, though, that are taking notice of this. There are some that said that maybe it's time to change jobs. For an example, an Uber driver who we heard from earlier today. So, this is clearly what is people could be thinking about ahead of midterms. So, that's what the situation is like right now here on the grounds. But when it comes down to it again, the gas on average, about 2.97 a gallon here -- in New Jersey, though, Christi and Victor, about $3.10 or so and it's expected to potentially go much higher than that, guys.

BLACKWELL: All right. Polo Sandoval, I'll be on reach for you. Thank you, Polo.

[07:20:57] All right, the breaking news this hour. We've just learned that the South Korean president has just wrapped up a second summit with Kim Jong-un. Now, the question here: does this mean the North Korean leader could still meet with President Trump next month? We are live in Seoul when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:25:52] BLACKWELL: More now on the breaking news. South Korea has just confirmed a few moments ago that its president met with Kim Jong- un today to talk about how to get the summit between the U.S. and North Korea back on track.

PAUL: CNN's Matt Rivers is live in Seoul, South Korea. So, Matt, what have you learned about the meeting?

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, really, this has just come out in the last couple of minutes or so. And it has come as a huge surprise to those of us in South Korea after what has been a really, a roller coaster of a 36 hours here. There's not much information that we know thus far. We know that these two leaders met for about two hours this afternoon, local time, on the North Korean side of the demilitarized zone, that area that separates North and South Korea.

As per what they talked about -- they spoke from 3:00 to 5:00 local time -- and what they talked about according to the release from the presidential office here in South Korea was about carrying out the joint agreement that was agreed upon during the first inter-Korean summit when these two leaders met for the first time back in late April, and they also talked about the upcoming summit or the potential summit between the United States and North Korea. Beyond that, we're told by the presidential office that we should get some more information specifically about what those two men spoke about at 10:00 a.m. local time tomorrow, that would be 9:00 p.m. on the East Coast of the United States on Saturday evening.

But this is a fascinating development, Victor and Christi, and it shows you the active role here that the South Korean government is trying to take. The summit being cancelled was seen as a huge setback for the South Korea government -- a deep disappointment given the integral role the South Korean President Moon Jae-in has played over the past several months, really as the middleman, trying to get the North Koreans and the Americans at a table. But they haven't spent the last 36 hours sitting around feeling sorry for themselves apparently. This summit, second summit between these two leaders taking place unexpectedly this afternoon.

And one thing I'll note here is the last time they met, ton of pageantry, live T.V. cameras, red carpets, military guard. And this one didn't have that. We haven't seen any pictures of the meeting come out so far. This seems to be a meeting about practicality, about trying to get this summit back on track. And it appears that they didn't want the distraction of the entire world, really, watching what was going on when they met. A huge and unexpected news here on the Korean Peninsula.

BLACKWELL: All right. Matt, we'll wait for more from the Blue House there and see if the White House here in the U.S. weighs in on the gravity of this meeting happening there between President Moon and Kim Jong-un. Matt Rivers for us there in Seoul. Thanks so much.

PAUL: CNN has also learned this morning that President Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, met with a Russian oligarch in January of 2017.

BLACKWELL: Now, this happened during the presidential transition period just before Trump's inauguration. This is the CNN exclusive. Matthew Chance found that oligarch, Victor Vekselberg, and tried to ask him about that meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Mr. Vekselberg, quick question from CNN --

VICTOR VEKSELBERG, RUSSIAN OLIGARCH: Not now --

CHANCE: Mr. Vekselberg, why did your company pay hundreds of thousands of dollars --

VEKSELBERG: Not now.

CHANCE: -- to President Trump's lawyer?

He is, yet another media-shy Russian billionaire linked with the kremlin and mired in allegations of collusion with the Trump team. The FBI questioned Viktor Vekselberg about payments to Trump attorney, Michael Cohen, by his company's U.S. affiliate. They say it was for consulting work. We asked about the payments, too.

VEKSELBERG: We really appreciate -- just later, OK? We really appreciate --

CHANCE: (INAUDIBLE) access --

VEKSELBERG: No, no. Please --

CHANCE: To buy access to the president?

VEKSELBERG: Please leave.

CHANCE: We know that Vekselberg met Cohen even before President Trump was inaugurated. These recently unearthed, January 2017 images, from the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, show the Russia billionaire wearing a hat and coat, checking in at the security desk lingering for several minutes then entering an elevator with his business partner.

[07:30:11] Cohen hasn't responded for comment. But a person familiar with the meeting tells CNN, the two went to Cohen's office on the 26th floor. Whether they did not meet the then president-elect himself. They left the building just 27 minutes later.

A person familiar with the meeting told CNN that Vekselberg and Cohen discussed improving U.S.-Russia relations. But what exactly is now sanctioned Russian billionaire expected remains unclear? Matthew Chance, CNN, St. Petersburg, Russia.

BLACKWELL: We're still not sure when the Mueller probe will end, but we can take a closer look at how it could end. First, what is happened so far? 22 people and companies charged, five guilty pleas, one person sentenced. So what comes next? Near the end of this, of course.

Let's talk with Michael Moore. Of course, I'm not saying that we're near the end. I'm saying when we get to the end, what could that look like? Who knows when the end of this could come? Former U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia. Michael, good to have you back.

MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA: Glad to be with you.

BLACKWELL: OK. So, three scenarios here. Let's start with the one that I guess people expect. If there is wrongdoing found -- of course, there is the possibility that there is no wrongdoing.

MOORE: That's right. BLACKWELL: But if wrongdoing is found, Mueller will write a report.

MOORE: That's right.

BLACKWELL: Is it a guarantee that, that will be public?

MOORE: No, it's not. This is a unique situation because really in the options that Bob Mueller has, all roads lead through Rod Rosenstein, and that is will the information come out. So, hope that he would do the report, the deputy attorney general make a decision on whether or not then that's in to submitted to Congress. So again, it get passes through the chain of command that was set up in the special counsel.

BLACKWELL: Do you see a scenario in which that does not get to Congress? That Rosenstein would receive this and not send it on?

MOORE: In the normal circumstances, I can't imagine that it would not make its way there. I think it could be subpoenaed, they could try to have oversight hearings, and it they could try to get information from the deputy attorney general from the special counsel. In the process to find out what went on. Nothing about this investigation, nothing about this scenario has been normal, though. But I can't imagine that the political pressure would not be for the report often make it to Congress.

BLACKWELL: OK. Second option here is what many consider the Watergate playbook.

MOORE: Right.

BLACKWELL: Explain what that is.

MOORE: Well, there's a scenario that's possible where the president could be named in an indictment as an unindicted co-conspirator. And that's simply would mean that the grand jury outlines the conduct of the responsible activity that the president was involved in during the campaign, during the transition, or during the presidency. And while he may not be actually indicted himself, his conduct will be outlined in such a way that it talks about the conspiracy with other people who were in his administration.

BLACKWELL: So if that goes on to Congress, I mean, the identification, the classification of the president, as an unindicted co-conspirator.

MOORE: Right.

BLACKWELL: What would Congress do with that?

MOORE: Well, I mean, there's several things they could do. They could take it and say, "Well, we're not going to do anything." I mean, depend on how what to control of Congress is at the time. Or they could use that as sort of a basis and an outline of charges to move forward with impeachment.

BLACKWELL: OK, and the third option here attempt to indict the president.

MOORE: Well, there is some legal debate on whether or not a president can be indicted, we've talked about that before.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

MOORE: If Bob Mueller, wanted to issue an indictment, he again would have to go through the deputy attorney general through Rod Rosenstein, and ask permission for an expansion of his powers, and for the ability there to get the indictment.

Again, that's something that I think legal scholars are debating, whether or not he can be indicted. But if in fact, that happened, then you would get into situations about there'd be a Supreme Court argument. I'm sure at some point, there would be decisions on how far it could go. And in fact, maybe we would ultimately get an answer to the question on whether or not a sitting president could be indicted.

BLACKWELL: Yes, do we have an answer to the question of whether a sitting president can pardon himself?

MOORE: Well, I think that's still maybe an open question. There is some -- there's a legitimate argument that the presidential pardon powers are extensive. But again, there's nothing usual about these case. There's nothing normal there.

BLACKWELL: This is the first conversation we've had since the reporting has ramped up on this informant that spoke with several members of the Trump campaign. And the president's personal attorney or representing him here in this investigation, Rudy Giuliani, said there will be no conversation between the president and Mueller's investigators unless they get the information about the informant.

MOORE: Well, and I think this is an easy question to answer. Let's just go back to the time that Rudy Giuliani was the United States attorney in New York. When he was a prosecutor prosecuting the mob bosses and the crime families unless find out how much information he gave to those folks before he asked to interview them.

My guess is it's going to be none. And you know, the president's not above the law. And there's not really a need to set out other than what the constitution or did any special provisions or protections for him. But in fact, he's not been named as a target, this case is moving forward at this point if Bob Mueller wants to talk to him, he's got some options to do that.

And the president, and I think really what's happening is you're seeing Rudy Giuliani try to win in the court of public opinion. He's managing the public expectations because I just don't think he's going to put the president up for an interview. And so, he wants to go and in light, the groveler could explain why he's not doing that.

[07:35:15] BLACKWELL: All right, we'll see if it happens.

MOORE: All right.

BLACKWELL: Michael Moore, thanks so much.

MOORE: Glad to be with you.

BLACKWELL: Christi?

PAUL: Yes, some more on our breaking news this hour. South Korea's president just wrapped up a second summit with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. We've learned they talked about the fate of the summit with President Trump, which as you know, has been in limbo this week, and now we're getting the first pictures from this meeting. We'll going to show you what we're getting in here next, stay close.

Also ahead, Amazon under fire after its Alexa device secretly recorded a couple's private conversation, and then randomly, sent it to someone in their contact list. I know, it sounds creepy, doesn't it? Well, my next guest says, look, this was just a technical butt dial, so to speak. And we don't need to freak out. He's going to join us next, as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Mortgage rates held steady this week, here's your look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:37] BLACKWELL: All right, more, the "BREAKING NEWS" this hour. The surprise announcement from South Korea after North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are wrapped up a second meeting at the DMZ.

We've got new video coming in now. This is, as you see, Moon Jae-in coming in. And he will walk up and be greeted by Kim Jong-un. Now, this reportedly is on the North Korean side there in the demilitarized zone.

Of course, these talks between these two men come at a time when the future or the potential -- you see the picture of a hug here between the two, of talks between the U.S. and North Korea are renewed after President Trump, on Thursday, canceled the talks, but there have been some conciliatory statements from North Korea, from the U.S., as well. The South Korean president and the Blue House there in Seoul, saying that they are happy that the embers of the potential talks -- and I'm paraphrasing here, are not out. And these two men here were discussing from 3:00 to 5:00 local time. So, two-hour discussion here.

The potential to continue on with the talks, potentially as scheduled for June 12th. So, as we learn more, we've got our Will Ripley, who is covering this. We've got Matt Rivers, there in Seoul, as well. And we will get you more on the breaking news. A second summit between the leaders of North and South Korea to talk about the U.S. summit.

PAUL: So, have you talked to Alexa this morning? You know, Amazon's new tech gadget. It can play music, set timers order a pizza. Before couple in Portland, Oregon, they found out it can also secretly record private conversations, and then, send said conversations to random people in your contact list.

The incident sparked a national conversation about smart speakers or voice-activated technology and privacy. So, step lighter from wired, Lily Hay Newman is with us now. Lily, thank you for being here. You say this must have is basically the equivalent to a butt dial, and that we shouldn't -- we shouldn't freak out about this. Walk us off the ledge, however. Because this has the potential for people and their heads going through conversations that they have had and thinking, oh, my gosh, if that went public.

LILY HAY NEWMAN, STAFF WRITER, WIRED: Yes, this definitely at first feels like the worst nightmare, the worst case scenario with a smart speaker. But Amazon says that what happened in this situation was that it was a sort of a glitch with the voice memos or voice messages service that's in the Amazon echo.

So, you can ask the device intentionally to send a voice recording if your hands are full, or you're doing something and -- you know, you don't want to type something out, you can ask to send a voice message.

And in this case, I guess, the conversation they were happening triggered the wake word for the Amazon echo, and then, the echo was saying -- you know, OK, so do you want to send this message, and it just kind of spiraled. But there seems to have clearly been miscommunications, and -- you know, this was not an intended situation. But the message got sent to someone in the couple's contact list.

So, you can kind to see how it played out. But it's definitely an unusual situation, and Amazon says they're going to try to figure how the way they keep it from happening again.

PAUL: So, here's the thing, essentially, what you're saying is it came down to Alexa misinterpreting what was happening in that conversation and that it was talking to her. And then, she went on. Does this require -- based on what we've seen here a refinement of the products, of -- you know, Google -- a Google home of Alexa that this is still possible that this could happen?

NEWMAN: Yes, I think the protection, the -- right the main protection of a smart speaker, in general, is the wake word that you say -- you know, OK, Google, or Alexa -- you know, do x, y, z, or something else. And those wake words, I think you can change them to a certain degree. There are options so that if someone in your name is named Alexa or something you can have a different wake word.

PAUL: Good point.

[07:44:57] NEWMAN: But the protection is what is keeping the mic from just being live all the time. And so, yes, definitely, if the speakers are misinterpreting other words as their wake word, and their turning on when people don't intend them to. If it happens sort of very rarely, then, maybe it's kind of OK, and it's not a huge deal.

But, if it's really a problem consistently, you know, millions of people are using these devices -- PAUL: Right.

NEWMAN: Then, there does need to be a refinement to ensure that the devices aren't waking up when people don't realize it.

PAUL: And if all else fails, just unplug it when you don't want any conversations to be overheard. Lily Hay Newman, thank you so much.

NEWMAN: Thanks for having me.

PAUL: Absolutely. Well, students survive a school shooting that they say would have been so much worse had it not been for one teacher who stepped in to stop that gunman. How they say he used a basketball to disarm a school shooter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:04] BLACKWELL: Two people are recovering from gunshot wounds in Indiana after deputies say a middle school student started firing two handguns in the middle of class.

PAUL: Yes, let's listen together here of what's students who were in that room say happened next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER SUTHERLAND, STUDENT, NOBLESVILLE WEST MIDDLE SCHOOL: -- and everybody started screaming and freaking out. And Mr. Seaman, ran up and tackled him, and secured him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then, he started screaming to call 911 and get out. And we realized he'd got him to the ground, and the gun was out of his hands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Now, the teacher in that room was pivotal to these kids' survival. We have more from CNN affiliate, WCIA here.

KAITLYN CONNOLLY, LEAD REPORTER, WCIA: Shots rang through an Indiana middle school, Friday morning. Police say Jason Seaman was giving a test to his seventh great science class. The shooter asked to be excused. When he came back, he had two handguns and started firing. He shot a 13 year old girl. A student in the class said Seaman through a basketball at the shooter's forehead, swatted the gun out of his hand and tackled him through a storage room. He then told students to run and call 911.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH POGUE, FORMER FOOTBALL HEAD COACH, ILLINOIS: If there's a guy you want on your side, if there's a guy you want in the trenches with you, it was Jason.

CORY CHRISTENSEN, FRIEND OF JASON SEAMAN: To hear that he was the one essentially, is the hero today doesn't surprise me one bit. That's something Jason would do.

CONNOLLY: Hero, it's the name Seaman's been given nationwide, but people in (INAUDIBLE) know him as a husband, a dad, and a great man.

POGUE: He was a great teammate, great leader. He made everything fun, we could go to work and Jason would lighten things up in a good way.

CONNOLLY: Keith Pogue was his teacher and coach. Seaman's played basketball, he was track and field star, he was also a standout on the football field, and went on to play at SIU. Pogue, says he was an all-around star.

POGUE: If he's not the best athletes to come through here in the last 25 years, he's close to it.

CONNOLLY: Cory Christensen is a high school and college friend. He played football with Seaman and looks after him.

CHRISTENSEN: He get along with anyone in school. You'd go up to him if you needed help with anything. And he'd help me out through sports and -- you know, on high school and so forth.

CONNOLLY: He said, he got a notification on his phone about the shooting but knew nothing. When he found out it was Seaman, who was shot, he was at a loss for words.

CHRISTENSEN: You just never think that something like this would happen to somebody you know so close.

CONNOLLY: But it did. Those who know Jason Seaman, say when it comes to fight or flight, he will always stand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: And thanks to Kaitlyn Connolly there for that report. Now, in a statement, Seaman did thank his students for their support and told them he is doing fine, that they are the reason he teaches.

The family that injured student did give a statement to CNN, and here it says in part, "Her status is critical, yet we are pleased to report that she is stable and we'd like to thank everyone across the country who prayed for our family today. We have felt those prayers and appreciate each of them."

BLACKWELL: Still to come, NBA player Sterling Brown is talking for the first time since police released body cam footage that shows officers tasing and arresting him. This was back in January. Why he's now filing a civil suit against the Milwaukee police force?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the spring of '68, we get the most violent period of the entire war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) MARTIN LUTHER, JR., MINISTER OF BAPTIST AND ACTIVIST: I've seen the promised land, but I want you to know tonight that as a people will get to the promised land.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For my parent's generation, King was the dream. And then, he's gone.

JOHN KENNEDY, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am announcing today my candidacy for the presidency of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God, Senator Kennedy has been shot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was really the death of hope.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wallace, knew how to get a crowd energized --

GEORGE WALLACE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALABAMA: I know four-letter words you don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police and demonstrators hustling over this busy intersection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Graduate is probably the most important movie of the 60s.

WALLACE: I hope you restore respect to the presidency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the most traumatic and consequential years in history.

ANNOUNCER: 1968, a four-part, two-night CNN, original series event. Starting tomorrow at night

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:58:50] PAUL: If you like the idea of surfing for exercise, but don't think you can brave the waves, this weeks' "STAYING WELL" looks at surf-inspired fitness on land.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA METCALF, FOUNDER, HANG FIVE FITNESS: Jump to the left, surf!

This is surf-inspired fitness, and it's done on a surfboard with an air buoys underneath to create the fluidity and balance that you feel when you're on water. The surfboard is on top of these air cushions that makes the board rock side to side and then some straps that kind of give it a little better stability.

PAUL JANOWITZ, FINANCIAL ANALYST: I'm eventually a wannabe surfer. In the beginning, there is that fear of just balancing and stabilizing on the board, but it doesn't take too long before you kind of get your feel for the board. So, I just find that that's a great core workout.

LIN DAO, MOTHER OF TWO BOYS: You can't let your mind wander, you got to focus on what you're doing. My core is stronger, my legs are stronger, my balance is definitely better.

KATE MIHEVC EDWARDS, PHYSICAL THERAPIST, ATLANTA: Then, your feet we have little muscles called the intrinsic muscles. If you're having to balance all the time and move with the board, then, what it will do is to get those muscles to be stronger which will create a better support system in your entire body.

METCALF: Move, move, move, move, move.

EDWARDS: It can also increase your core stability because you have to move dynamically.

If you're an older person that doesn't have great balance, it may serve you better to do some other kind of balance work.

DAO: Now, I would serve for real. Just make sure that it's in the warm water and not like somewhere cold, and I'll be fine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)