want to approach the united states directly. they felt more comfortable doing it through an intermediary. whatever the case, the fact they have a meeting today is a result of american pressure. it s a result of president trump s fashioning of a range of sticks that has forced the north koreans, in my opinion, in a cooler. sanctions are beginning to bite now on the north korean regime and the threats that president trump has made against the north korean leader has unnerved him. so, i think that is why we are heading towards discussions at the moment. the intermediary, that s just a mechanism about which these talks were arranged. in the event the meeting actually takes place, do you think the personalities of the two leaders involved is a big factor here? mr. trump, kim jong-un, they can be erratic and unpredictable. do you think their actual characters is a big deal or that
do not try us. reporter: recently, trump s words have been far more diplomatic. i thought north korea was terrific. they came out, went into the olympics, came with good spirit, they did well. reporter: trump remained out of sight after calling xi and abe. it was not clear where the meeting would be but who would attend. at the end of the day, the ultimate person to lead that conversation and be at the table will be the president. reporter: jeff zeleny, cnn, the white house. let s bring in andrew stephens, live in seoul, south korea for us. andrew, what more are you learning about this meeting? the south koreans have been instrumental in getting the message from north korea to the president. that s right, they have been playing the role as the broker in the talks. they are having their own meeting between the two koreas.
making a statement. they said they re not going to be saying anything else even on paper tonight, anderson. wasn t jeff sessions recusing himself from anything to do with the russian investigation? reporter: yes, jeff sessions did recuse himself with anything to do with the russian investigation, i think that s why the white house is taking pains to point out that it was the deputy attorney general who made this recommendation, that comey be fired, then took it to sessions and then they took it to the president. but jeff sessions was still involved in the decision to fire the guy who was heading up the investigation? reporter: and i think that s why you re seeing concerns from both republicans and democrats tonight about timing of this and the way it s being handled. and comey was at an event in california when he was fired? reporter: this is a very awkward way to be fired because fru trump sent one of his trusted aides over to where trump was
received, one former trump transition official told me, anderson, in one word, none. and we should point out tonight, a white house official is telling us, in reaction to the testimony we heard today it the hearing, that their big take away from all this is that no evidence of collusion was presented at that hearing earlier today. it is interesting, i mean i had. realized that the vetting for the national security advisor would be higher than what he previously received as the director of the defense intelligence agency. that was the big news that came out offense this hearing that was a bit of fog around this issue, that the white house was blaming the obama administration for his security clearance. but president trump said that that he was the highest vetting that he had. barack obama fired flynn and warned donald trump not to hire him, there s no universe by which you can blame flynn on the obama administration.
in addition to questions about president trump s fired national security advisor, sally yates gave her own testimony. she was fired after she disagreed with trump s travel ban. today senator john cornyn asked her about that ban. i have to tell you that i find it enormously disappointing that you somehow vetoed the decision of the office of general counsel and decided instead that you would counter manned the president of the united states because you happened to disagree with it as a policy matter. i just have to say that. i appreciate that senator and let me make one thing clear, it was not purely as a policy