Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom Live 20180723

Words of violence and death. Be cautious. The u. S. President appears to have been responding to this quote from Iranian State media, speaking to diplomats sunday. Irans president reportedly said, mr. Trump, we are the honest man and guarantor of the safety of the waterway of the region throughout history. Do not play with the lions tail. It is regrettable. Peace with iran is the mother of peace and war with iran is the mother of wars. President trumps top diplomat also taking aim at iran. Listen here to the u. S. Secretary of state mike pompeo, what he had to say on sunday. The bitter irony of the Economic Situation in iran is that the regime uses this same time to line its own pockets while its people cry out for jobs and reform and for opportunity. The iranian economy is going great but only if youre a politically connected member of the elite. Mike pompeo there on sunday. For more cnns ian lee joins us live from jerusalem. Ian, dont know if theres been any reaction there to these exchanges yet. But certainly Prime Minister netanyahu has been one of President Trumps Biggest International supporters. Reporter yeah, natalie. It is a bit early to get a reaction from israeli politicians. Even in iran were not seeing much reaction there either. But for Prime Minister netanyahu, youre right. Hes been against the jcpoa from the very beginning, from when the Obama Administration was negotiating it. He failed even though he tried to get the United States not to sign on to it. And that agreement went through. But under President Trump he also pushed, and this is something that President Trump campaigned on, is pulling out of what he said was a bad deal. And the United States did pull out, breaking their agreement with the jcpoa, also known as the Iran Nuclear Deal. And this has sent the region literally scrambling. You have president rouhani, hes going to the other members of the jcpoa, the p4 plus one. So you have britain, france, china, russia and germany trying to see if theres some way they can circumvent this u. S. Sanctions that are supposed to go in place on november 4th. Now, the United States has been very firm on this, saying that other companies from other countries will not be exempted from these sanctions. And theres more than 50 International Companies inside iran that reinvested in iran once the jcpoa was signed. These companies are reassessing their situation. You have Big Companies like ge, total, and simmons who have invested in there and theyre looking to pull their investments in. And for iran this has been a huge blow. Especially for the president , rouhani, who has championed this Iran Nuclear Deal within his own country. Also, you have, you know, the United States saying that they want to hit irans oil exports, saying they want to get that down to zero. Also, that is a huge blow to the Iranian Regime as they get a lot of their cash flow from the oil exports and weve heard iranian officials in the past say that they will close the straits of hormuz, which is a very vital waterway that about 20 of the worlds oil goes through. And its not just closing it. Even threatening to close the straits of hormuz could send oil prices up. And so this is where youre seeing kind of this tit for tat from the president of the United States as well as the president of iran with this very harsh rhetoric. And this is just kind of the continuation of what weve been seeing since the United States pulled out of it. Right. Tensions bubbling up. Mr. Trump had wanted and hoped that iran would come to talk, to make a deal. That has not happened. Well continue to follow these developments. Ian lee for us. Thanks so much. Now over to george. And now a closer look with steven erlanger. Steven the cheep Diplomatic Correspondent for the new york times. Good to have you on the show with us, steven. Lets begin with this latest tweet from the u. S. President in bold letters to the president of iran. The context here surely important. We just heard a moment ago as ian explained this, but its all part of a territorial war of words with irans president over the strait of hormuz, which is a very important waterway that iran has threatened to shut down in recent days if provoked. Well, thats right, george. And dont forget in 1967 when egypt shut the straits of hormuz it created a war. The israeli arab war of 67. This is very important. A good part of the worlds oil comes through the strait of hormuz. What we have here is all caps, its true. But i think that President Trump doing two things. One, hes trying to change the topic. Hes trying to change the subject away from his disastrous summit in helsinki with Vladimir Putin. And the chance that his lawyer Michael Cohen has flipped, talking to the mueller investigation. So this is something trumps very good at doing. His Early Morning tweets set our agenda. So we immediately stop talking about one thing and Start Talking about another thing. But at the same time trump has made an alliance with israel and the sunnis of the region, especially the saudis, who are extremely antiiranian, all of them. And what hes implying is war. I mean, these sanctions are designed, Rudy Giuliani has said so, others have said so, to cause a revolt against the iranian government, the islamic government of iran, which obviously had been looking for a Nuclear Weapon but then stopped doing that. Which did do a deal with the United States and the other members of the Permanent Council of the u. N. Which weve now pulled out of, and which is playing a sort of revolutionary role in the rest of the region. It is supporting hezbollah. It is supporting hamas in gaza. It is supporting most importantly bashar al assad. Quite well, it seems to me, in syria. So this is an antiiran coalition. And the temperatures getting hotter. Thats for sure. Whether it means something right now, im not sure. It may simply be a tactic of the president to change the topic. Interesting that you see this as a topic changer. And lets talk just a bit more about that because again, the tweet that we see, it is in all caps, it is directed toward the president of iran. It is tough talk. But compare that and juxtapose that to tough talk from this u. S. President about his predecessor on the very topic of iran. We found these tweets in president Donald Trumps twitter feed. Lets take a look here. From 2011. If we can pull that up. In order to get elected barack obama will start a war with iran. Again, that back from 2001. And then this tweet that we found from 2013. Take a look. I predict the president that president obama at some point will attack iran in order to save face. Steven, your point here that you raise, the president deflecting in your view from the summit in helsinki that he saw a great deal of backlash. You see this as that. And compared i see it as part of that, yes. Its also a response to a speech by president rouhani of iran which warned the United States in very fluorid language which is kind of typical of the entire region that a war with iran would be the mother of all wars. Now, if you remember, Saddam Hussein used the same words about iraq, it would be the mother of all battles. Everythings the mother of something. So i i think trump has used that heightened rhetoric because rouhanis in some difficulty with these economic sanctions. Hes trying to find leverage to get them lifted. The europeans who continue to support the Iran Nuclear Deal with trying to help iran with business deals to keep up the treaty, which after all means that iran stops nuclear enrichment. Now, iran is wondering whether its worth, it whether it can keep going. My sense talking to people is iran would like to stay in the deal because it has enough on its plate with syria, with hezbollah, with Everything Else going on, but it wants the europeans to come up with some kind of financial help to make up for the american sanctions in order to stay inside. So it is a very tense moment. There are a lot of people working to save the deal. In the meantime the rhetoric, as weve seen, is going up, including pompeos speech. But those in tehran do understand i think that the Trump Administration with the saudis and the israelis want to pull them down, and that creates a whole different level of tension in iran and could lead to something explosive. All right. Steven erlanger with perspective and analysis. Thank you so much for your time live there in brussels. Thanks, george. President trump is also tweeting about russias interference in the u. S. Election, and he is reversing course yet again. He tweeted on sunday that its a big hoax, and he slammed his predecessor, acougs barack obama of failing to inform the Trump Campaign about russia. Of course we factchecked that. That is not correct. In august of 2016 then candidate trump was briefed by u. S. Intelligence officials that russia would try to infiltrate his campaign. Sundays tweet by the u. S. President follows his stunning refusal one week ago to call out russian interference as he stood side by side with president putin. A day later he backtracked. Dan coats came to me and some others. He said they think its russia. I have president putin. He just said its not russia. I will say this. I dont see any reason why it would be. The sentence should have been i dont see any reason why it wouldnt be russia. Sort of a double negative. So you can put that in, and i think that probably clarifies things pretty good by itself. One of the president s staunchest supporters, though, who says mr. Trump needs to do a better job clarifying his stance on russia. Listen. The evidence is overwhelming. It can be proven beyond any evidentiary burden that russia is not our friend and they tried to attack us in 2016. So the president either needs to rely on the people that he has chosen to advise him or those advisers need to reevaluate whether or not they can serve in this administration. But the disconnect cannot continue. The evidence is overwhelming. And the president needs to say that and act like it. That from one of President Trumps staunchest supporters. Meantime, the top democrat on the u. S. House Intelligence Committee had this to say about mr. Trumps behavior regarding russia. Well, i certainly think hes acting like someone whos compromised. And it may very well be that he is compromised or it may very well be that he believes that hes compromised, that the russians have information on him. We were not permitted to look into one of the allegations that was most serious to me, and that is were the russians laundering money through the trump organization. The republicans wouldnt allow us to go near that. I hope that bob muellers investigating it because, again, if thats the russians are using it would not only explain the president s behavior but it would help protect the country by knowing that in fact our president was compromised. All right. A lot to follow here for sure. Look, the u. S. President also accusing the fbi and the Justice Department of misleading the courts after they released evidence about russias election interference. The target of that evidence, former trump adviser carter page. Cnns shimon proek pez explains the implications of this release. Reporter the more than 400page document which is heavily redacted gives us a look inside the highly sense tip process by which the fbi went about getting surveillance warrants for cater page, arguing in the affidavit that page knowingly engaged in clandestine intelligence activities. The affidavit certainly significant in how the fbi characterizes carter page. At one point writing that they believe he had been the subject of targeted recruitment by the russian government. In another part saying that they believe page has been collaborating and conspiring with the russian government. You know, certainly serious accusations here from the fbi. They say in the affidavit that there is probable cause that his activities involve or are about to involve violations of criminal statutes of the United States. Now, carter page has denied extensively denied that he was working for the russian government and as of now theres no indication that carter page is going to be charged by the special counsel, which as we know is investigating russian interference in the 2016 election. Now, the accusations in these pages are certainly serious. And while conservative critics of special Counsel Robert Mueller have argued that the fisa warrant is tainted because the fbi relied on information from the dossier, there are things that we just dont yet know because so much of the document is redacted and we cant see what other information the fbi used in this affidavit. Shimon prokupecz, cnn, washington. And again, the target of this evidence, the former Trump Campaign adviser carter page, speaking with cnn. He told our colleague jake tapper the accusations in the warrant application are ridiculous and a complete joke. You did advise the kremlin back in 2013, or 2012. Somewhere in there. Jake, thats its really spin. I mean, i sat in on some meetings. But you know, to call me an adviser is i think way over the top. Except in the 2013 letter you wrote, it says, over the past half year i have had the privilege to serve as an informal adviser to the staff of the kremlin in preparation for the presidency of the g20 summit next month, where Energy Issues will be prominent points on the agenda. Thats august 2013. Thats yourself calling yourself an informal adviser to the kremlin. Informal, having some conversations with people. I mean, this is really nothing and just an attempt to distract from the real crimes that are shown in this misleading document. You know, page 8 it says it talks about disguised propaganda including the planning planting of false or misleading articles, which is exactly what this is. So thats kind of the pot calling the kettle black. By mr. Comey. It says the fbi believes carter page has been the subject of targeted recruitment by the russian government, and then its redacted and then it says undermine and influence the outcome of the 2016 u. S. President ial election in violation of u. S. Criminal law. It says that the russians were trying to recruit you. We know youve said that you went to russia in the summer of 2016 to deliver a commencement address. Is it not a possibility that russians were trying to recruit you even if you didnt take the bait . Is that not possible . It seems to me like that would be their job and you were working for trump, youd worked with the kremlin in the past, that would be a reasonable thing for them to try to do. Its totally unreasonable, jake. And it actually speaks to another misleading testimony related to the indictments that eric holder and Preet Bharara submitted on january 2015 talking about that prior case. And a lot of that is incorrect spin. That individual, mr. Podobny, a young diplomat in new york, i talked with him about my class. You know, i sat we had coffee one time. I met him at a conference at asia society. We met once for coffee, and i gave him some of my class notes, you know, that my students at New York University were looking at. And it was in one ear and out the other. He never asked me to do anything. I mean, its just so preposterous. Carter page there speaking with our colleague jake tapper. Ahead here on cnn, breaking news from toronto where more than one dozen people have been shot. Police are working multiple crime scenes. Well have the latest on the victims and the investigation. Thats next. Still aheadl the u. S. President not known for holding back, but his private opinions on north korea are reportedly very different from what he says in public. Well explain as newsroom pushes on. burke at farmers, weve seen almost everything so we know how to cover almost anything. 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It just makes me hungry. For bacon. I love bacon, too. And who really likes to exercise . Not me. Me neither nobody [both laugh] so, were good . What . Oh, you still have prediabetes. Big time. Were following an updating breaking news out of toronto. One woman we understand has died and at least 13 others injured after a shooting sunday night. Police say that the shooter is also dead. They dont know much about the shooter, but they are investigating every possible motive, including terrorism. Investigators are working, as we mentioned, multiple scenes including outside of a restaurant. All of the victims were taken to hospitals. One of them a young girl is in critical condition. Heres what one witness had to say. Sirw what did you hear tonight . Several gunshots. Lots of gunshots. Thats about all i heard. Then i how many shots would you say . I would say i heard at least 20 shots. In intervals. Clipping, spent, reloading, clipping, spent, reloading. Clipping, spent. Thats what i heard. And then i saw the carnage as i ran down the street here to kind of follow the gunfire, i guess. Pretty crazy. I saw at least four people shot here bit fountain. As you said, someone came out of the restaurant. I missed that. Another person in dimitris i assume was shot because there was a lot of action going on there, towels trying to be grabbed, trying to help people out i guess is what they were doing. Thats all i saw. Then obviously the Police Arrived and im standing here watching this. Not cool. Not cool at all. Again, we know that one woman is dead. At least 13 others injured. This is a story well continue to follow and bring you developments as we learn more. Now to another story were following, this in the state of nevada. One person is dead there after a shooting at a church. This again happening in fallon, nevada. Officials there say that a man walked into the Mormon Church sunday afternoon, fired a gun, and then walked home. Police say this man, 48yearold john kelly oconnor, later surrendered. The police chief talked about kellys possible motive. Listen. Initially, it does not appear that this attack had been directed upon the church, but the individual victim. Staff is currently working on gathering additional information. Were getting a search warrant for mr. Oconnors residence and conducting interviews with witnesses at this time. Along with the person killed, another person was injured in the leg. Another story weve been following through the weekend about rescuers who need rescuing. In fact, were learning more now about the Daring Mission over the weekend to save members of the White Helmets. The rescue volunteers were among 422 civilians evacuated from the civil war in syria. It appears israeli troops spearheaded the mission, bringing the civilians into jordan. Israel says it was at the request of the u. S. , canada, and eu countries. For more about it cnns Jomana Karadsheh is in istanbul. Reporter at the height of the Syrian Civil War often it was the White Helmets who were the first on the scene. With no local police or emergency services, residents in rebelheld areas turned to these syrian volunteers recognized by their iconic protective gear. They have all chosen to risk their lives to save others, and that makes every single one of them a hero. Reporter the group res koouds tens of thousands of people caught up in the conflict, often saving the wars most vulnerable. Like this baby girl. After 12 hours of digging and drilling volunteers finally reached this twoweekold baby trapped under the rubble. But now its the White Helmets themselves who are being rescued as town after town in syria is reclaimed by the government theres been increasing concern over the fate of the White Helmets. The regime and their russian allies have long labeled the group as terrorists, accusing them of staging Chemical Attacks and faking rescues. In an internationally coordinated mission and an unprecedented move, hundreds of syrians including white helmet volunteers and their family members have been evacuated out of the country by israel into jordan. The group will stay there before being resettled in germany, britain, and canada, the three countries jordan says have pledged to take them in. Canada has praised the work of the White Helmets saying, we feel a deep moral responsibility towards these brave and selfless people. The uks foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, has described the rescue as fantastic news and has thanked israel and jordan for acting so quickly on the request. He says the White Helmets are the bravest of the brave, adding that in a desperate situation this is at least one ray of hope. A moment of International Action in a conflict where that has rarely brought any good. This time it may have saved hundreds of lives. Jomana karadsheh, cnn, istanbul. When you look back at the pictures, george, and you see the white helmet, there was always a white helmet in the rescues that we saw. Yeah. Pulling children out of the rubble. They were critical during that time. Well, President Trump again accusing his the former president , barack obama, of failing to warn the Trump Campaign about russia. Ill talk with a former Obama Administration official about mr. Trumps claims and why the u. S. President seems to keep flipflopping on moscow. Thats ahead. Woman i stay active by staying in rhythm. And to keep up this pace, i drink boost optimum. Boost optimum with 5 in 1 advanced nutrition helps support muscle, energy, bone, normal immune function, and vision. Boost optimum. Be up for life. In the movies, a lot of times, i tend to play the tough guy. But i wasnt tough enough to quit on my own. Not until i tried chantix. Chantix, along with support, helps you quit smoking. It reduced my urge to smoke to the point that i could stop. 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We offer up to 6 hours of 4g Wireless Network backup. Everyone else, no way. We let calls from any of your devices come from your business number. Them, not so much. We let you keep an eye on your business from anywhere. The others . Nope get internet on our gigspeed network and add voice and tv for 34. 90 more per month. Call or go online today. Welcome back to our viewers here in the u. S. And around the world. Youre watching cnn newsroom live from atlanta. Im natalie allen. And im George Howell with the headlines were following for you this hour. At least 14 people including a young girl have been shot in toronto, and one of the victims has died. Police say the shooter is also dead but they have no other information about him right now. Theyre asking the public for help. Theyre working multiple scenes including outside a restaurant. Police say they are investigating every possible motive including terrorism. An escalating war of words between the leaders of iran and the United States. The u. S. President donald trump tweeting this just a few hours ago. To iranian president rouhani. Never, ever threaten the United States again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before. We are no longer a country that will stand for your demented words of violence and death. Be cautious, says the u. S. President. It appears to be a response to the iranian president hassan rouhani. He was quoted warning that the u. S. Warning the u. S. , rather, that a war with iran is the mother of wars. President trump is reversing himself again on Russian Election interference. He tweeted sunday that its a big hoax and that president obama knew about russia and failed to tell his campaign about it. But thats not true. In fact, the Obama Administration reportedly informed then candidate trump in august of 2016 that russia was trying to infiltrate his campaign. Joining me now is shawn turner. Hes a cnn u. S. Security analyst and the former director of communications for u. S. National intelligence during the Obama Administration. Shawn, good to see you. Thanks for being with us. Thanks for having me, natalie. Sure thing. The president has flipflopped again, and hes done it so many times on the question of russian interference, even in the past week since the summit. And now it seems hes once again going against the assessment of his intelligence agencies. This is confusing not just for americans but for very likely our allies as well. Yeah, i would agree. Last week the president reluctantly acknowledged that he believed the Intelligence Communitys assessment that russians had interfered in the 2016 election. But with his tweet today he kind of fell back to the position hes held from the very beginning, suggesting that it was all a hoax. And you make a very good point. You know, there was a time when our partners and allies around the world could rely on kind of a norm of leadership and stability out of the United States. And i think theres a lot of concern on the International Stage right now not just because of this but because of a lot of the things the president has done recently as it relates to Vladimir Putin and as it relates to his interaction with our partners and allies at nato. This latest reversal is just the latest in a long line of very concerning and bothersome behaviors on the part of the president. Right. And he does seem to always go back to president obama. Hell mention hillary clinton. Is that a way to deflect . Is that a way to try to put blame somewhere else when in fact we do know that mr. Trump was informed in august of 2016 that russia would likely try to infiltrate his campaign. Now, you know, natalie, i was in the Intelligence Community under the Obama Administration, and the president is right in that it was during the leadup to the election that the Intelligence Community began to notice unusually invasive and aggressive behavior on the part of the russians. You know, look, it is absolutely the case that the Obama Administration once they found out once the administration found out about this took some time to deliberate and think about exactly how best to address this situation. Everyone knows that the Obama Administration did take significant steps to deal with russian meddling including president obama speaking directly to Vladimir Putin about this. We have sanctions. We have expulsions from the United States. Sought president , President Trump, is being a little disingenuous when he suggests that president obama did not do anything. Now, i think certainly theres an argument to be made as to whether or not the Previous Administration did enough. And thats a debate that historians can have. But its the case now that its President Trumps issue to deal with. President trump has to understand that not only did the russians interfere in the 2016 elections but the Intelligence Community has conclusive information indicating that they are probing and attempting to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections. So now is not the time to look back at what the Obama Administration did. The president and his team really needs to look forward and figure out how theyre going to secure these upcoming elections. And its still somewhat befuddling, even a mystery, if you will, why President Trump goes back and forth on the russia interference. There are two theories, lets discuss. One is big, that the russian president somehow may have compromising information on donald trump. The other, more innocent, that donald trump just refuses to acknowledge russian interference because he thinks that delegitimizes his election. Your thoughts. Yeah. So you know, let me take the compromising information question first. You know, theres been a lot of discussion of that. There are a couple of things i would say about it. One, i think that people have to understand how the russian mindset works when it comes to compromising information. Russians identify individuals of influence, individuals of some notability, and they collect compromising information on them all the time. They do it constantly, consistently. And its not always the case that they know at the time theyre collecting that information whether or not theyre actually going to be able to use it for leverage at some point. So you know, in reality it doesnt really matter if they have compromising information on President Trump. What really matters is whether or not President Trump has come to understand their tradecraft and know theres a possibility that they could have compromising information. If thats the way he feels, then that certainly would have an impact on his behavior. Im sorry. Last question for you, shawn. As far as he continues to differ every once in a while from the Intelligence Community on this, what more can the intelligence agencies do to try to keep donald trump on the same page with them . You know, i know a lot of people in the Intelligence Community. I work closely with them. I consider them to be friends and associates. And i can tell you that they are going to continue to collect and analyze the information and present it to the president and make a very strong case for the president regarding what the russians are doing. They have to keep their nose to the grindstone and continue to push this narrative that lays out for the president exactly whats happening. Its ultimately up to the president whether or not he wants to believe that. And i think that for every american, not just americans but for our partners and allies who are also dealing with russian interference it is in all of our best interests that the president take a step back and look at the intelligence and come to the conclusion that the Intelligence Community has, and that is that russia is being aggressive in attempting to interfere in our elections. Cnn security analyst shawn turner, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it. Thanks for having me. There are growing signs of detente between the u. S. And north korea, that its breaking down. More than a month after the singapore summit with kim jong un President Trump says things are going well. But according to a u. S. Official in private mr. Trump is frustrated, angry at the pace of denuclearization talks. For more on this story cnns Alexander Field is live in seoul, south korea. And alexandra, frustration, again, from this private source about the president s mood on this. But at least one bright spot, north korea seems determined to continue with these talks, which must be resonating well in the region there. That is coming from one source close to the negotiations. Thats information given to cnns will ripley. But certainly theres been frustration on all sides of this, george, because we have seen no concrete steps, no concrete actions since the summit toward denuclearization. We know that north korea continues to bristle and chafe under the heavy economic sanctions that have been leveled against them and in the absence of progress toward denuclearization youve recently just in the last few days had the u. S. Secretary of state mike pompeo reen force the fact that those sanctions must stay firmly in place and in fact going even further by saying that countries need to do better in implementing those sanctions. So what you have seen from north korea is some more open hostility since the summit in its rhetoric toward the United States and now in its rhetoric toward south korea. Most recently over the weekend, call into question essentially whether or not north korea would make good on another key promise it had made in its talks with south korea, and that was a promise to move forward with reunions of south korean and north korean families. Those reunions are scheduled to take place next month in august. Those are reunions of a select group of families who have been torn apart by war for decades now. This is a last chance for many of those family members to come together. And just over the weekend what we saw in north korean media reports were more hostility toward south korean officials and also the fact that these reunions could be called into question. They said there could be obstacles for these reunions if south korea didnt immediately repatriate 12 north korean waitresses. There has been a lot of debate over the circumstances surrounding these 12 waitresses. This goes back to 2016. North korea says these are women who were abducted. South korea says these are women who defected. Again, this has been an issue of contention between the countries for the last two years. But george, the key point here is this is the first time we are seeing the repatriation tied to the issue of the reunions. The reunions very important of course to families, not just in the south but also north korea, and it is a key test as far as whether or not north korea is ready to negotiate and act in good faith on the raft of agreements that its made with the United States and also with south korea. Alexandra, there is a lot tied up in all of this. Of course well have to continue to follow it. Alexandra field live for us in seoul, south korea. Thank you for the reporting. Five Tropical Storm systems are pounding parts of east asia, all at the same time. Next we take a look at the forecast from vietnam to china. Look at that map there. Well see if theres an end in sight to all of this. Stay with us. With tripadvisor, finding your Perfect Hotel at the lowest price. Is as easy as dates, deals, done simply enter your destination and dates. And see all the hotels for your stay tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites. To show you the lowest prices. So you can get the best deal on the right hotel for you. Dates, deals, done tripadvisor. Visit tripadvisor. Com so, howell. Going . We had a vacation early in our marriage that kinda put us in a hole. Go someplace exotic . Yeah, bermuda. A hospital in bermuda. A hospital in bermuda. What . What happened . I got a little overconfident on a moped. Even with insurance, we had to dip into our 401 k so it set us back a little bit. Sometimes you dont have a choice. But it doesnt mean you cant get back on track. Great. Yeah, great. Id like to go back to bermuda. I hear its nice. Yeah, id like to see it. No judgment. Just guidance. Td ameritrade. California had the worst wildfire season on record. Scientists say, our weather is becoming more extreme and we all have to be better prepared. Thats why pg e is adopting new and additional safety precautions to help us monitor and respond to dangerous weather. Hi, im allison bagley, a meteorologist with pg es Community Wildfire Safety Program. Were working now, to enhance our weather forecasting capabilities, building a network of new weather stations to identify when and where extreme wildfire conditions may occur, so we can respond faster and better. Were installing Cutting Edge Technology to provide realtime mapping and tracking of weather patterns. And we use this information in partnership with First Responders and californias Emergency Response systems. To learn more about the Community Wildfire Safety Program and how you can help keep your home and community safe, visit pge. Com wildfiresafety this just in to cnn. Police have arrested three men in the city of london in connection with an acid attack that badly injured a 3yearold boy. It happened saturday in a shop in worcestershire, england. The boy has serious burns on his face and arms. Investigators believe the attack was deliberate. Police r r had another suspect, a 39yearold man, in custody. They say the motive for the attack, though, is unclear. In South Africa Police say 11 taxi drivers were killed late saturday when gunmen jumped onto the road from bushes and opened fire on a bus. Four other pieces were critically injured. The victims were traveling back to johannesburg from a funeral. Police say they dont know who the gunmen are or why they attacked. China is holding live fire drills in the east china sea, and taiwans foreign minister says they are meant to intimidate his people. Our matt rivers is on this story and sat down with the foreign minister for an exclusive interview just a short time ago. Matt live there in taipei. And matt, tell us about the mood there. Certainly highlighting the delicacy of crossstrait relations. Whats the reaction in taiwan to these drills as they proceed . Yeah, its interesting, george, because at the same time this is something that taiwan has dealt with for a long time now, these kind of military drills. But over the past couple of years we have seen more rampedup pressure from beijing directly targeting taiwan. You see state media in china calling these drills specifically aimed at what they call the separatists in taiwan. And predictably the foreign minister rejected that categorization here in taiwan saying that the people here are not intimidated by that and that taiwan is its own separate entity. Heres more on what he had to say. They say they want to win the hearts and minds of the taiwanese people. However, what they are doing, military intimidation or diplomatic isolation tactics against taiwan, what the Chinese Government is doing to taiwan is to create hatred among the chinese among the regular taiwanese people toward the Chinese Government. And i think this is pushing taiwan further and further away. And its opposite of what the Chinese Government say they want to work on taiwan. Is there any concern amongst the leadership here in taiwan that president trip is not a reliable partner and could change his mind and could decide he doesnt want to support taiwan militarily, economically, and so forth . Some people in taiwan do worry about that aspect of the Trump Administration, the decisionmaking style. However, what we believe and what they told us they believe in is that taiwan is not tradable and democracy is not tradable. We both believe in the values that we share, that we treasure. And we feel very strongly that the Trump Administration as a whole is deeply committed to taiwan, either in taiwans security or its relations with taiwan. If the United States continues to increase its support militarily for taiwan, as you foresee, does that not increase the potential risk of confrontation militarily with china . No. The opposite is true. What we are concerned about is the United States does not support taiwan anymore. And if security ties between taiwan and the United States is getting stronger, strengthening with the ties, then that will become a barrier for the chinese to think about the future of military scenarios against taiwan. What the foreign minister is talking about there just to drive home that point is essentially in this administrations view the more the United States supports taiwan, the more military aid, the more economic dealings that these countries have with one another, then the more they feel they can deter more aggressive behavior from beijing. So thats really what theyre trying to put forward here. It does appear that the Trump Administrations policies toward taiwan have been relatively consistent so far, and that is exactly what president tsai ingwen and her administration are trying to make sure continues. Close relations i suppose, matt, to your point, for china to think twice. But again, these drills are happening. So matt rivers of course continuing to cover it live for us in taipei. Thank you for the reporting. This is cnn newsroom, and well be right back after the break. Mers, weve seen almost everything so we know how to cover almost anything. Even a cactus calamity. man 1 i read that the saguaro can live to be two hundred years old. woman how old do you think that one is . man 1 my guess would be, about. man 2 id say about two hundred. man 1 yeah. burke gives houseplant a whole new meaning. And we covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. 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Child, voiceover there was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children, she didnt know what to do. Im home. Child, voiceover she gave them some broth. Without any bread. [siren in distance] and kissed them all soundly. Lights out. Good night. Child, voiceover and put them to bed. Hunger is a story we can end. End it at feedingamerica. Org. This is vietnam, where at least 21 people have died, more than one dozen people are missing. Look at all of this water. This is after flash floods and landslides swamped entire villages. And get this, more rainfall is on the way. Oh, goodness. Lets bring in our meteorologist pedram javaheri, following this extreme weather situation. Pedram. Were in the heart of the wet season. The heart of the tropical season. A lot of these storms having to do with tropical systems. Look at whats happening across the pacific, from the central portion toward the western pacific. Tropical depressions and storms 13, 14, and 15, yet unnamed. And then of course sonh ti which impacted vietnam. It shows the tremendous amount of rainfall in these storms across this region. They havent been category 1s, 2s or even 3s, nothing certainly menacing but the amount of rainfall theyve produced, the way theyve interacted with land across this roej has been the most problematic. This particular storm made landfall in northern vietnam and then literally the steering environment changes in the atmosphere. It pulls away from vietnam, makes a second landfall across the island of hainan in Southern China and again at the same time producing a tremendous amount of rainfall between anywhere from around five to nine inches or as much as 235 millimeters in a 1 1 2day period across that region. Certainly the flooding concern remains high. The system still sitting in place. We expect additional flooding across portions of Southern China. And then you look to the north thereby, this is ampil, is this th storm impacting areas around shanghai where about a quarter of a Million People were impacted out of its path. Not very menacing on satellite imagery, not very significantlooking but certainly had a lot of impacts across this region and now moving in just east of beijing where tens of millions are going to be impacted by this with heavy rainfall. There is a tropical depression we hold you about, number 13. Sits right there across portions of the Northern Area of taiwan with it. Heavy rainfall. And guess where its headed. Right toward shanghai yet again. And eventually impacting beijing. The storms have been persistent, one after another. And of course you take a look. This is Northern Areas of the philippines around luzon. Almost every single one of these storms, george and natalie, has initiated somewhere around the northern reaches of the philippines before its made its trerk whether to be to the west or to the north. The philippines has been paying a pretty high price there with incredible flooding as well in recent days with all of this rainfall over this region. Guys . Hoping our matt rivers is watching that in taipei. A lost weather systems coming through. Were back with our top stories after this. Im natalie allen. And im George Howell. The news continues right after this. Whoooo. You rely on tripadvisor so you dont miss out on the Perfect Hotel. But did you know you can also use tripadvisor so you dont miss out on the best price . Tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites to find the hotel you want for the lowest price. Saving you up to 30 so you can spend less time missing out. And more time paddling out tripadvisor. Visit tripadvisor. Com or download the app its willingham, edge of the box, willingham shoots. Goooooooaaaaaaaallllllll that. Was. Magic. Willingham tucks it in and puts the championship to bed. Sweet dreams, nighty night. As long as soccer players celebrate with a slide, you can count on geico saving folks money. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Pressure, what pressure . The players on the. Pressure, what pressure . Like nothing you, ncy or she, has ever seen. Filets of 100 real natural chicken or seafood. Handcrafted, and served any way she wants. Purely fancy feast filets. Love is in the details. At 3 00 a. M. On the u. S. East east coast, following the breaking news this hour. A war of words between the leaders of iran and the United States. Im George Howell. And im natalie allen. Welcome to our viewers in the u. S. And around the world. This is our top story. The rhetoric escalating just hours ago on twitter. Late sunday the u. S. President donald trump tweeted this. Youll see its in all caps there. It says, to iranian president rouhani. Never, ever threaten the United States again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have