president trump in the oval office. the secret service rather carefully examing that letter for anything potentially dangerous before it was presented. but they don't erase the volatile past. both countries with a lot on the line for this highly anticipated meeting. >> it will be a beginning, and i don't say, never say it happens in one meeting. you're talking years of hostility, years of problems and years of hatred, really, between so many different nations. i think you'll have a very positive result in the end. not from one meeting. i didn't cancel the meeting. i canceled it in response to a very tough statement. and i think we're over that, totally over that. and now we're going to deal and we're going to start a process. >> do you believe kim is committed to denuclearization? >> i do think so. he would like to see it happen. he wants to be careful. he wants to be -- he's not going to run and do things but i told him, to be honest with you, look, we have sanctions on. they're very powerful sanctions. we would not take sanctions off unless they do it. the sanctions are very powerful. >> cnn's ryan nobles joins us live from the white house. president trump is at camp david this weekend, ryan. do we know what he's up to there? and how will the white house pull this off in time? >> well, pam, we know that the president is at camp david with many of his children and we're told that he is beginning preparations for this summit in north korea. to answer your question about how he's going to pull this off, it seems as though he will pull it off by scaling back the expectations of this summit in a big way. you'll remember when this meeting was first announced by the white house they declared it was going to be the start of lasting peace on the korean peninsula, the beginning of a denuclearization by the kim regime. and now the president describing it as a much more of a get to know you meeting, perhaps start the process to talk about the big-ticket items on the table. which is really a big win for north decreea. they've never had the opportunity for their leader to sit in front of the president of the united states. there's a number of things that will eventually have to be talked about, whether or not they're going to completely abandon their nuclear program. whether or not they're going to address some of the human rights abuses that have been at the hands of the kim regime. and then on the american side, what about the high number of troops that are currently stationed in south korea, just to the south of pyongyang, according to defense secretary jim mattis right now, that conversation will not be part of this summit. take a listen. >> that issue will not come up in the discussions with dprk. as you all recognize, those troops are there as a recognition of a security challenge. obviously, if the diplomats can do their work, if we can reduce the threat, if we can restore confidence-building measures with something verifiable, then, of course, these kinds of issues can come up subsequently between two sovereign democracies, the republic of korea and the united states. that issue is not on the table here in singapore on the 12th. nor should it be. >> that gives us an indication right there, pam, of what to expect when this meeting actually does take place. it doesn't look like there will be a ton of substance. instead just a feeling out process by these two powerful men to decide whether or not they trust each other to take the very next step. it will be anybody's guess as to how that's perceived by the global community. pam? >> we shall see. this appears to not be the only summit the white house is working on. what are you hearing about a possible summit with putin? >> reporter: pam, this is something that president trump has talked about publicly on a regular basis, that he would like the opportunity to have a bilateral meeting with president putin, sit down with him one on one and talk about the variety of issues that stand between the united states and russia, including the problem in syria. "the wall street journal" reporting that ambassador jon huntsman, who was here in washington yesterday and met with a number of leaders at the white house and also at the state department is taking a lead on these negotiations to set up this plabilateral meetin. security council officials could not confirm that definitively to me. if jon huntsman is doing the president's bidding in russia, and we know in the past that president trump said this is something that he wants to see happen, you could easily connect the dots in that respect. according to the wall street journal, the thought is that if this summit is to take place, they are in the very early stages of these negotiations and that the president himself won't even begin to think about it until the north korea summit is complete. >> that would make sense. ryan nobles, thank you so much. president trump is feeling pretty good about the mysterious giant letter from kim jong-un. >> that letter was a very nice letter. oh, would you like to see what was in that letter? >> tell us. >> how much? how much? >> when he said that, he hadn't even read the letter yet. the big question is, what was the message in that letter? cnn's will ripley joins us live from singapore. after he spoke to reporters there, will, he did go back to the oval office. he read that letter. what can you tell us about it? >> reporter: he hasn't revealed the contents of the letter yet, pam. is that such a big surprise, knowing that president trump is all about suspense and keeping the drama and the narrative going? all we have to talk about with this letter right now, frankly, is the size of a newspaper folded in half. a grandios gesture from the leader to u.s. president, who likes to be flattered, who likes big gestures and on the north korean perspective a letter is the most formal perspective form of communication you can send. so a letter from the president of north korea to the president of the united states is the most respectful way to give any message he would like to send to president trump. president trump thinks the message is favorable and he had a lengthy conversation with kim jong-chol. the hack on sony pictures entertainment, the bombing of a south korean naval ship that killed south korean sailors, and is believed to have jailed tens of thousands of north koreans in these political re-education camps and yet here he was, smiling next to the u.s. president, holding a very big letter. let's see what the letter says. when we find outlet may, maybe coming days, pamela. >> this man is kim jong-un's right-hand man. how is this being viewed in north korea, the fact that he was welcomed into the oval office, the president spent more than 90 minutes with him? we saw the good-bye where he warmly shook his hand. will this be used as propaganda in north korea? >> reporter: potentially. i was shocked when i was flying into north korea last week and on the second page of the pyongyang times there was a picture of the chairman kim and mike pompeo smiling together and it was very positive. i never have seen positive press coverage of the united states in north korea. it does go to show that the north koreans are all in here, studying president trump for more than a year, discovering what exactly makes him tick, how to get inside his head and flattery and praise is one way to do it. this is, perhaps, playing out exactly as the north koreans had hoped. the big question, pamela, what will happen in singapore on the 12th when they have to sit down and talk about denuclearization, which means something to the north koreans and the united states. will they be all smiles when they walk out of the summit in singapore in over a week and a half? as the president likes to say, we will have to wait and see. >> a lot of big, important questions loom over the summit. will ripley, thank you so much. i want to talk more about this with our panel, cnn political commentator and assistant editor of "the washington post." also joining us lynn sweet, washington bureau chief for "the chicago sun times" and sean turner, cnn national security analyst and former communications director for u.s. national intelligence. david, i want to start with you. if you listened closely to what the president said yesterday, it almost seemed as if he was trying to move the goal post in terms of lowering expectations, saying this would be a lot to work out, history of hostility. what do you make of that? >> that's right, good morning, pam. ratchet down, substantively ratchet down total denuclearization to we're just getting to know each other. he has also, over the last week or so, ratcheted up the level of drama around just getting the meeting set. my own theory is one of the reasons he sent that letter last week, canceling the meeting, was to make it appear that it was harder to get the people to the table so at the end of the day it looks like more of an accomplishment to have the meeting take place at all. sort of a letter saying hey, nice talking to you. this isn't working out. but all of a sudden it's like we have these guys back to the table because we're in here working so hard. if you read chapter two of "the art of the deal" the president underscores this idea of not wanting to look like you want a meeting too badly. i think that's the strategy you have in play. >> then you lose your leverage. >> exactly. >> every step of the way, everything you see is critical. this meeting yesterday, sean, is a critical part of all of this. we're so focused on the summit. but the president spent more than an hour and a half with kim jong-un's right-hand man. there is a warning that came from the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell about all of this. let's attack a listen let's take a listen to what he said. >> it's going to be quite a challenge. for these situations to work, you have to not want the deal too much. if you fall in love with the deal and it's too important for you to get it, and the details become less significant, you could get snookered. >> what do you think? is that already happening here? >> i think to some degree, it is. we've gone from a situation where the administration was seeking clear, verifiable and irreversible dismantling of north korea's nuclear program to a situation, whereas david pointed out, two dpies sitting down to get to know each other. when the president goes into this meeting with the understanding that north korea is not, under any circumstances, agree to completely dismantling their program in this meeting, if the president stays at the table at that point, that is a clear victory for north korea at that point because they simply got the meeting. that's what's interesting here. there's no question about what the united states wants. the real question, going into this meeting is going to be how much is north korea willing to give? we know for a fact they're not willing to give exactly what we want. >> because, i mean, the nuclear program in north korea is key to the survival of the regime. >> sure. >>s they h-- that's how it's viewed. >> the other is the denuclearization said. one thing the united states is focusing on is the idea that you make some economic concessions to north korea and maybe that way you can get them to move on the denuclearization side. for north korea, this is about security. this is about making absolutely sure that they maintain a high level of security in the region. i think we go into the meeting with these disparities and for the united states, you know, it's unclear why we are elevating kim jong-un so easily, because it's already a case that one could argue that he has kind of won this negotiation. >> let's not forget, lynn, kim jong-un is a dictator, responsible for the recent death of a uva student, an american. yet we're seeing all of this play out. president trump was asked yesterday whether he raised human rights abuses in that meeting with the former ex-spy of north korea. >> it took something off the table to talk about. i was at the white house yesterday. there was a sense of marvel. diplomacy is usually scripted, as we know. this was more of an improv play as each minute went by and this meeting went longer. death of a united states citizen, exactly the kind of issue you would think trump would embrace. and in this back and forth, it was -- even if you don't want to say, trump, i'm going to take on human rights at large, to take it off the table the way he did as some kind of -- i don't want to sound unhumane, but it is something you bargain with. it is giving north korea an enormous break if you basically say not only am i meeting with the official, the spy master who is responsible for treacherous acts, but we're kind of saying let's make a deal and we'll put that on the side. usually in diplomacy, you use every arrow in your quiver. and this is just -- it's worth noting that he gave it up without yet getting something, an advantage or not having a future gain. >> when you look at this oval office meeting yesterday, who wasn't there is just as interesting, david. mike pence, the vice president, was not there. john bolton, national security adviser, wasn't in that meeting. what do you make of that? >> i make of that that those who have pursued a more traditional reagan-esque foreign policy in the past are slightly on the sidelines of this back and forth. and the president and kim jong-un have the lieutenants, if you will, that they like in the room. in this case you have kim jong-chol meeting with president trump. you have secretary of state pompeo meeting with kim jong-un. these are the guys who seemed to have stepped in and are speaking on behalf of their respective principles, who their principals clearly seem to trust with the other side. >> that includes russia and china. president trump said he wasn't happy with russia meeting with north korea, but it could be positive. how do they factor in all of this? >> it's interesting. you look at those relationships and what north korea's relationship, particularly with russia, those dynamics are going to play a significant role as the president goes into the summit. i think about security region with regard to japan and what japan and china, what others are interested in and the president getting out of this meeting. i think that one of the concerns that i have is that there is not enough focus on those other dynamics with those other countries as we go into this meeting. i will tell you someone recently said to me that, for example, if kim jong-un gives up his long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles, those other missiles can still reach japan. >> and japan warning u.s. not to reward north korea just to coming to the summit f, showingp for a meeting. >> thank you so much. steve bannon with the dire prediction. >> i believe he will shut down the government. i believe the government will actually shut down in the run-up to the election. >> could the fight over the border wall come to a head just before the mid dms termterms, c shutdown or is this bannon's way of talking strategy to the president? 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because hotels.com lets me do me. ahhh. the smell of goat. hotels.com. you do you and get rewarded. you'll make my morning, buty the price ruin my day.ou? complicated relationship with milk? pour on the lactaid, 100% real milk, just without that annoying lactose. mmm, that's good. former white house chief strategist steve bannon making predictions. he believes president trump will shut town the government if he doesn't get funding to build the wall on the u.s./mexico border. >> i think that president trump nationalizing this, the wall is central. it's not just totemic. it's absolutely essential to his program. i believe what he wills going to do, as we come up on september 30th if that appropriations bill does not include spending to fully build his wall, not some 1.6 billion for prototypes, i mean to build the southern wall, i believe he will shut down the government. i believe the government will actually shut down in the run-up to the election. we have to limit massive illegal immigration. you're starting to see in the trump administration, what he has done to limit mass illegal immigration, that's why we have the lowest black unemployment in history, lowest hispanic unemployment in 20 years and raises are starting to rise in agriculture, and in construction. >> joining me now to discuss this is a man who knows steve bannon very well. kurt bordella, former publicist for breitbart news where bannon once served as the executive chairman. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> how much weight should we put into what steve bannon is saying right now? he is no longer an adviser to the president and do you think he is right, that the president could shut down the government if he doesn't get funding for the wall? >> what we know about this president is that he's likely to do anything. you can never take anything off the table. steefb is really talking to an audience of one. it's not that he thinks trump is going to do something, he believes -- he's trying to give advice to trump and using cnn and fareed that trump loves/hates to watch cnn especially in prime time. he is communicating to trump and trying to get back in his good graces and set up the stage that if things are bad the end of september, if it looks like republicans are going to get wiped out in the midterms here is steve bannon. >> does he still talk to the president, do you know? >> i don't think he does. >> okay. >> and if he did, i think you would hear a lot more about that. steve has been in permanent political exile. and when he lost his position with breitbart and his billionaire donors, he has been traveling abroad and been seen persona nongrata. steve, halfway through the year, trying to make a bit of a comeback and going to use media to make that happen. >> shutting down the government for not getting funding for wall may play well to donald trump's base but how would thatply for the gop who is trying to, you know, get re-elected in these tough states? >> democrats are trying to nationalize this election, make the midterms a referendum against donald trump. the last thing that republicans want is donald trump this close to the election at the end of september when this theoretically happened do something so massive that it would make the election all about him. republicans are not inviting him into the campaign. the worst news that the campaign could give right now is donald trump saying high want to come campaign for you in your district. that would be a disaster for them. i don't think that the republicans, mitch mcconnell, they don't want to see a shutdown. >> i want to go to what else steve bannon said. he's trying to make the case that the president is not an isolationist. here is what he said. >> looked at as a very practical businessman saying you can't bifurcate these. and that engagement -- so, people, the first thing the opposition party media says about him, he's an isolationist. he wants america to go alone is the exact opposite. if you look everywhere it's engagement, including in iran. in iran it's the front line nations of saudi arabia and the united arab emirates. egypt, israel, bahrain. if you look around the world it's the exact opposite as he has been portraying. >> is that true? i mean, you look at the u.s. pulling out of trade deals, paris accord. >> climate agreement. >> right. is that true? >> look what he did this week with the tariffs with mexico and canada. >> the eu. >> our neighbors, allies, friends, people we run a trade surplus with. he's penalizing them. i don't know how you can look at had an and not say he's an isolationist. >> it makes you scratch your head. >> that's what steve does, puts out this bizarre propaganda. it's message for donald trump, not anybody else. he is hoping that trump watches this interview, sees it and goes, yeah, steve's right. i'm not an isolationist it. the opposition media -- notice how he used that term in the sound bite. he's speaking quoted language of donald trump. >> thank you for that perspective. appreciate it. you can catch fareed's interview with steve bannon tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. the president and his pardons. president trump now floating the idea of pardoning martha stewart and commuting the sentence of rob blagojevich. why now? 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what is the strategy? why float these pardons now? what do you make of it? >> i don't think there's a strategy. i think that the president recognizes that he has the power of pardon and that when someone whispers in his ear, whether it's vicky tunsing about scooter libby or ted cruz about sousa and he feels a compelling need to act, he acts. i don't think it's strategic in a sense that's been talked about, which is him sending a message to others involved in the russia investigation. i just don't -- i don't want to say it this way but i don't credit him with long-term strategic thinking as it relates to his use of the pardon power. i think it's give me a case. if i like it, like with the boxer, then i'll do it. >> it is interesting. i spoke to a white house official about this, who said look, a lot of us didn't even know comey had a hand in the prosecution of martha stewart and so forth, and that sdny was involved in the prosecution of a conservative commentator whom he pardoned. it does take way from the speculation that he was trying to send a larger message. it also came on the day where the white house announced tariffs on key allies, canada, eu, mexico. what do you think in terms of him mentioning this to be a distraction? do you not even give him credit for that? >> no. >> okay. >> i honestly don't. take martha stewart's case. jim comey was the united states attorney. but karen seymour tried the case. so this was a decision made down the line by seasoned prosecutors to determine whether or not martha stewart lied to them in the course of their investigation. this wasn't, you know, comey orchestrating this against some trump ally at the time. i think when you issue a pardon or prospective pardon and you say, well, you know, this person has this connection to comey, who has this connection to fitzgerald, who has this connection -- you know i just think it's too atenuating to take seriously. that said, were i advising the president, i would say because of the potential of this narrative, don't do it this way. follow the oj policy. do it according to the book. >> what bo the doj policy be, for those of us who don't know? >> there's a pardon attorney, people who represent those like scooter libby. you file a petition with the pardon office. you explain what the extigencies are of your client's case. they review it and make a recommendation to the president, who generally follows it. >> he has yet to do that if i'm not mistaken. >> he has yet to do that. bill clinton bypassed that process several times so that's the prerogative of a president. is this an effort to send a signal or obstructionist behavior 103? i think the sage counsel to him would be don't do it this way. >> hold off? >> do it by the book. >> let listen to what former attorney general eric holder had to say when the issue of pardons came up when he was speaking in new hampshire. >> i'm a little concerned about what's going on now where i think the president is trying to send a message to some people who potential ly might be involved in the russia investigation. you know, dinesh, desouza. people who deserve a pardon, i think about what contrition has he shown? and arpaio, another one who if you use all the typical methos,s very few of these people would be considered candidates for pardons. >> what's interesting here is that if you look at the people, particularly the ones that he's floating to pardon, they've paid already a hefty fine in many ways or paid the consequences, right? >> that's right. >> what do you make of that? >> blagojevich is in prison, served six of 14 years. martha stewart went to jail for 5 1/2 months. it's not as if these people have gotten off scot-free. you know, they suffered a hefty penalty for this. of all these people that he is considering pardoning, martha stewart probably makes the most sense from the standpoint of what eric holder was talking about, contrition and recognition of wrongdoing, having served her time, et cetera. the other ones i'm not as sure. and eric and i, i think, are making the same point. you go through the pardon attorney and get their recommendation and let it go. that said, of course, eric, i think, was in the department of justice when bill clinton pardoned mark rich. >> we all remember that. >> i think eric was there at that time. and so these things happen. presidents exercise their constitutional prerogatives and pardon who they want to pardon. >> they do not have to go through doj. >> they do not. >> thank you so much, michael zeldin. ahead, enjoy reid apologizing again, a photoshopped image depicting senator john mccain as the virginia tech shooter. we'll be back. it's time for the semi-annual sale with savings on the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your every move and automatically adjusts on both sides to keep you effortlessly comfortable. and snoring.... does your bed do that? 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long before this week, reid was already under pressure for homophobic blog poefs more than a decade old, one suggests that anderson cooper is the gayest thing on tv, writing that most gay people cringe at the site of two gay men kissing. including one that calls homosexual sex gross. reid's original explanation? hackers. she hired a cyber security expert to investigate and her attorney said the fbi had opened a probe. in a statement he suggested the alleged hackers may have found a password on the dark web to access reid's account. >> frankly, i couldn't imagine where they come from or whose voice that was. >> reporter: in december, reid issued a statement apologizing for the blog she wrote a decade ago and her choice of words and tone. that was all she said until late april, when she said she actually had no proof hackers being responsible so she apologized again for the post but still didn't take responsibility for writing the posts. >> i genuinely do not believe i wrote those hateful things because they are completely alien to me. but i can definitely understand, based on things that i have tweeted and have written in the past why some people don't believe me. i've not been exempt from being dumb or cruel or hurtful to the very people i want to advocate for. i own that. i get it. and for that, i am truly, truly sorry. >> in a statement, msnbc called the posts hateful and hurtful, adding that joy reid has grown and evolved in the many years since. randi kaye, cnn, new york. and joining me now to discuss the cnn media analyst bill carter. bill, thank you for coming on. joy had nothing to say about this on her show this morning. she was there. but she did apologize in that release statement. the network also responded, saying in part, joy has apologized publicly and privately and said she has grown and evolved in the many years since and we know this to be true. what is your take on that statement from the network? does that seem like they're moving on from this, that they look at this as something that happened in the past and she should be forgiven for? >> that's clearly their intention. and i guess you could say their strategy. it's a troubling situation, pamela. i mean, these are pretty outrageous statements. and if i were the network, i sure would have wanted to know when i hired her or gave her a prominent job what she had in her past that we should be concerned about. i think she should have revealed this, that she had a blog that said somef these outrageous things way back, even if it was only -- ten years ago. it wasn't way back when. i believe in the power of redemption and people should be able to say that was something i regret. robert burr, the senator, was in the kkk and later got 100% voting record from african-americans and christians know the story of st. paul. everyone can have redemption. and i believe joy. i think she's a very talented avenge anchor. but it's a troubling situation that keeps coming forward and certainly tshe hasn't really addressed and it leefb leaves m questions about this and how msnbc is handling it. >> they do not address the claim she had in the past that look, my blog was hacked into. this isn't really what i said. now she's sort of taking ownership of what has been surfaced on her blog post saying i don't recognize this person but i apologize. how does that square with what she said in the past, that it was a result of hackers? >> it doesn't square. and she's trying to now, i think, bury that. i think most people feel like that was a desperate explanation. >> how can you bury that? then that was a lie. >> you can't. you have to acknowledge that, too. that i felt desperate and sort of made that up. that goes to her current credibility, which is why the network isn't compelling her to do that. msnbc values her, that's clear. they made certain decisions about her that you can say why is this inconsistent with things they have done in the past? the brian williams case in which they suspended brian. the more interesting case is billy bush, involved in the famous "access hollywood" tape about donald trump, and he came forward and said that was awful and appalling and i'm not that person. and they fired him anyway. >> what is more problematic for her potentially, the comments she made ten years ago or the credibility issue of saying, hey, it was hacked into and that may not be actually what happened? >> that is definitely the latter. as i said, you can apologize and say i've changed my opinions, i've changed my position from ten years ago. no matter how ugly they are, and some of them are pretty ugly, attacking people for being gay, et cetera. now it's a credibility issue. she is a news person, on a news channel. and credibility is very important. she's very good on the air. she's a talented journalist but this is going to dog her because she has not addressed it correctly. >> bill carter, thank you so much. >> thank you, pamela. we'll be right back. stay with us. it was here. i couldn't catch my breath. it was the last song of the night. it felt like my heart was skipping beats. i went to the er. they said i had afib. afib? 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>> reporter: he also heads up the tourism board. how much is tourism down? >> i'd say 80% to 90%. >> reporter: 80% to 90%? over the last three weeks? >> since the event began. >> reporter: pahoa sits just outside the exclusion zone. leilani islands and lani kuna gardens where the lava so far shows no signs of slowing down. >> for the people here, meaning southeast kilauea, puna, it is very bad. ♪ last night i dreamt i was returning ♪ >> reporter: sitting below the eruption's orange glow, a popular restaurant, typically packed. not these days. >> we had to cut our staff, reduce hours. we even have to shut down every tuesday. >> we ship anywhere. >> reporter: for people here, it's like being hit twice. the lava destroying their homes, tourists staying away, damaging their livelihood. the impact to the entire island, unclear. arrivals by plane to the big island are up 25%, but future hotel bookings are down. its national park has been closed for weeks and norwegian cruise line has decided to forgo weekly stops in hilo at least for now. all of it costing millions. >> i think a lot of people are not fully aware of the island. so far it's covered 2,000 to 3,000 acres but this island is 4,000 square miles. >> reporter: it really is a big island. ♪ that's the place i'll be >> reporter: where life goes on, even in the shadow of kilauea, as the community hopes the volcano goddess pele takes a breather soon. ♪ that's the last miguel marquez, cnn, pahoa, hawaii. more ahead after this break. 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