concerns about u.s. readiness for real threat. we will discuss it with our next guest, former commander of the 7th fleet. this is a mistake, but don t let that stop us with preparation and warning time at this happens for real.
and other things that can benefit its nuclear program, and the export, and particularly north korea, of its textiles and seafood where it gets a lot of hard currency. but operationally, it would be incredible tough. it would seriously tie down the pacific fleet, specifically the 7th fleet based out of japan and its the 7th fleet that already lost two ships this year, the mccain and the fitzgerald, those collisions that we women were talking about. it would have to be part of an overall strategy. i would still like us to see focused on china and choking off and encouraging the chinese to choke everything off to north koreans. remember, they still have a very long land border with north korea, they have an oil pipeline, and what we do risk with a blockade is that we tied down the pacific fleet while the chinese are still supplying the north koreans because to them,
into north korea of oil and gas and other things that can benefit its nuclear program, and the export, and particularly north korea, of its textiles and seafood where it gets a lot of hard currency. but operationally, it would be incredible tough. it would seriously tie down the pacific fleet, specifically the 7th fleet based out of japan and its the 7th fleet that already lost two ships this year, the mccain and the fitzgerald, those collisions that we women were talking about. it would have to be part of an overall strategy. i would still like us to see focused on china and choking off and encouraging the chinese to choke everything off to north koreans. remember, they still have a very long land border with north korea, they have an oil pipeline, and what we do risk with a blockade is that we tied down the pacific fleet while the chinese are still supplying the
plane crashed off the coast of japan wednesday. this comes after the military notified the families that the extensive search and rescue efforts ended. cnn s polo sandoval joining me. the u.s. has held off on releasing the identities of these three brave men after they called off the search. however, today, we now have the names and faces of these three brave men. they include lieutenant steven combs, matthew chinlastri and bryan grosso. they were among 11 crew and passengers aboard a navy plane that crashed as it approached an air carrier on wednesday. eight of the occupants aboard that aircraft were rescued. vice admiral phil sayer, the commander of the 7th fleet, released a statement to the families about the tragic loss of these three individuals.
it reads as follows. quote, our thoughts and prayers are with the families of these sailors. their service and sacrifice will be lifting in 7th fleet and we will continue to stand the watch for them as they did bravely for all of us. again, eight of the occupants of that aircraft were rescued by both u.s. and japanese officials as they searched nearly 1,000 square nautical miles just after that crash, fred. the japanese defense minister said that engine trouble possibly may be to blame for the tragedy, though the investigation, fred, is still ongoing at this hour. so sad. all right, thank you. republicans are hoping to push through their tax reform bill in a matter of weeks. it gives big cuts to corporations and the wealthy but democrats say the middle class will wind up paying more. one democratic lawmaker join us live to talk taxes next. hey, man. oh!