Today, a look inside the twisted mind of the late Charles Manson from someone who met him facetoface. This is cnn breaking news. And welcome to the lead. Im jim sciutto in for jake tapper this week. We begin with the breaking news. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson with a surprise appearance in the White House Briefing room just moments ago. To talk about brandnew measures to keep the rogue nation of north korea and its Nuclear Ambitions in check. Its really just the latest step in a series of, as you can see, ongoing steps to increase the pressure, and i think this is, though, to hold north korea accountable for a number of actions that theyve taken. Tensions have been ramping up and just this morning the president declared the nation a state sponsor of terrorism. Tomorrow, the Treasury Department will be announcing an additional sanction and a very large one on north korea. It will be the highest level of sanctions by the time its finished over a twoweek period. Tillerson insisted tha
Condemnation right now for its use of force against the protesters. From the Trump Administration, a strong statement of support, the white house saying that hamas is responsible for the deaths and israel has a right to defend itself. U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations nikki haley weighed in on this just moments ago. Those who suggest that the gaza violence has anything to do with the location of the American Embassy are sorely mistaken. Rather the violence comes from those who reject the existence of the state of israel in any location. Such a motivation, the destruction of a United Nations member state, is so illegitimate, as to not be worth our time in the Security Council other than the time it takes it denounce it. Yesterdays opening of our embassy in jerusalem is a cause for celebration for the american people. Moving the u. S. Embassy to jerusalem was the right thing to do. Cnns Senior International correspondent ben wedeman is now live for us along the edge of the protests
Holiday break today. What does this tell you about the administrations policy toward iran . Good morning, boris. Well, iran has been really a centerpiece of President Trumps platform, dating all the way back to the campaign when he used that as a major argument against Hillary Clinton. This is a president who is very concerned with drawing a bright line on iran, he wants to be as tough on the Iranian Regime as he can be, and the protests here are an important test of his ability to do that and his clout in that region. A lot of republicans are looking back at the 2009 protests in iran they believe the Obama Administration did not respond forcefully enough to and thats one of the reasons youre seeing a lot from President Trump on this issue down here in south florida as he starts his day every morning by expressing support for the protesters in the street and condemning the Iranian Regime. The message is clear that he believes that this is a key moment for him to weigh in on which the s
Congress needs to pass new immigration laws now. Thats the same president who did nothing to help House Republicans who were trying to pass a bill just last week. And congressman jim jordan insists he was not aware of sexual abuse during his days as a wrestling coach. Some athletes insist he did know. The congressman suggests yet another deep state plot. The timing is kind of interesting. Its right after the big hearing with mr. Rosenstein. Its right when theres all this talk about a speakers race. Back to that story later, but we begin today with the hard work ahead for the secretary of state. Right now mike pompeo headed to pyongyang for a meeting with north korean negotiators. His spokesman insisting to reporters last hour the United States is not backing away from full denuclearization. Pompeos job now is to prove it and to take the vague promises of the president s singapore summit and produce something concrete. Experts say an inventory, a timeline, access to the weapons, access
Rick gates in the ukraine, he failed to tell federal investigators about rick gates apparently having contact with a russian intelligence agent. This is something that we learned just last week as federal investigators were getting ready for this sentencing. Hes facing zero to six months in prison. We expect that hes probably going to end up getting closer to no time in prison. Hes expected to his wife is expecting to have a baby in august. So thats one reason why we expect that perhaps he wont serve any jail time, despite the fact hes admitted to lying to the fbi. Hes also facing a 250,000 fine as a result of this case. We know that obviously this is part of the special counsel investigation and this is a really big connection here between van der zwaan and Paul Manafort and rick gates in the fact that Robert Mueller is investigating collusion between the russians and the Trump Campaign. This is part of what the special counsel has been trying to put together in this case. And van der