Transcripts For WPVI Good Morning America 20170531 : compare

Transcripts For WPVI Good Morning America 20170531

Correct. Becoming the youngest competitor ever to qualify for the National Spelling bee. How shes preparing to go up against kids twice her age as the showdown kicks off this morning. And good morning, america. So 6yearold edith fuller about to make a little history at the spelling bee. Youngest competitor ever. Could she solve President Trumps spelling challenge. Could she spell covfefe. Or covfefe. The v is silent. Covfefe. 12 06 tweet. Never finished it. Covfefe. That tweet, that word, covfefe, covfefe, whatever you want to call it has sparked more than a million tweets and jimmy kimmel saying what makes me sad is that i know ill never write anything funnier than covfefe. And as george alluded to he responded to it on twitter and found humor in it. Well have much more on that in a bit. First we want to get to breaking news. A devastating attack rocking afghanistans capital near several embassies during rush hour. Lets go straight to abcs lama hasan for the very latest on this, good morning, lama. Reporter and good morning to you, amy. This morning in what is the deadliest attack in the Afghan Capital in years striking during the muslim holy month of ramadan in the heart of rush hour, the moment the massive and powerful explosion caught on an Office Security camera. The car bomb ripped through what is meant to be one of the most secure and heavily fortified neighborhoods in kabul close to the british and german embassies killing more than 80 people and wounding 350 others. Among them German Embassy workers and civilians. Officials expecting the death toll to rise. Security forces and medical teams quickly swarm the scene. They were ferried in makeshift ambulance, the force so strong it blew out windows with more than 50 cars destroyed. Plumes of smoke could be seen for miles. No group has taken responsibility yet. The Afghan Taliban released a statement condemning the bombing, both isis and the taliban have been behind recent attacks in the country but the question this morning, how did an attacker evade the heavy Police Presence and target an area protected by tenfoothigh walls . So many questions. Horrific story. Thank you so much. That conflict is getting worse. We move on. A lot going on in washington as President Trump mulls whether to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord. He set twitter on fire with that tweet we talked about and hes back at it this morning with more tweets about the russia investigation. More on that ahead. Secret service has responded to Kathy Griffin after she posted a gruesome Photo Holding a replica of President Trumps head and now apologized. Well have more on that and it comes as the russia Investigation Continues to grow and Vladimir Putin doubles down on his denial of russian interference in our election. Hes calling it fiction. Brian ross has new reporting on more Trump Associates caught in the web of the investigation. Good morning, brian. Reporter good morning. A showdown brewing today between congress and one of the president s longtime confidants who says hes refusing to cooperate in the russia investigation. Mr. Michael cohen. Reporter as his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen has been one of Donald Trumps most trusted aides. And now Congress Wants to know what, if any, connections he had with russian officials during the campaign. I think his role in particular is very important. Reporter trump came to his defense after the election when the dossier prepared for Democratic Party operatives alleged without any proof that cohen had secretly met with russian spies. Its a disgrace and i think they ought to apologize to start with to Michael Cohen. Reporter he told abc news hes not talking to Congress Calling the request poorly phrased, overly broad and not capable of being answered. I would say to mr. Cohen that we will issue a subpoena and he will be compelled to come and speak. Reporter the growing interest in the president s soninlaw, Jared Kushner and his dealings with the New York Branch of a russian bank known to the fbi as a u. S. Base for russian spies, including this one, evgeny burekoff after spending time in a u. S. Prison. This was a trained operative spy operation in new york targeting human assets. Reporter adding to the interest in kushner his efforts to set up a secret back channel between the Trump Transition Team and the kremlin. This is exactly the kind of thing the russians do to recruit people to become sources of information for their intelligence services. Reporter kushner tells us he wants to answer any and all of the questions that congress has for him. Thats right. We alluded to these tweets the president has out talking about carter page, his former Campaign Aide who is also caught up in this as well. Reporter page had volunteered to testify before the house, democrats wanted him very much. Now theyre saying they dont want him so quickly and the president is asking why is that . He says he would dispute some misleading testimony by james comey. Calls it a witchhunt. The president is at it this morning. Speaking of those tweets lets have more on President Trumps mysterious message overnight taking on the press in a tweet and then ending with a typo. He is now reacting to all the reaction that twitter got from his latest tweet. And his press Secretary Sean Spicer returning to the podium for the first time in more than two weeks. Lets go to cecilia vega who is in washington with all of that. Good morning, cecilia. Reporter yeah, amy, if you want me to say how to pronounce the word, i dont know. Covfefe, none of us know how to say it. It was a total head scratcher of a tweet from the president in the middle of the night. Even people close to him have no idea what was behind this. Reporter overnight the president took to twitter to complain about the media, six minutes after midnight he wrote, despite the constant negative press and then a jumble of letters, perhaps he meant coverage. That tweet retweeted more than 127,000 times becoming his most popular tweet since inauguration day. The reaction immediate. Social media users pounced. But just before 6 00 a. M. That tweet deleted and the president seemed to find the humor in it too. This morning tweeting, who can figure out the true meaning of covfefe . Enjoy. In the white house, press Secretary Sean Spicer back at the podium after more than 15 days without an on camera briefing. Good afternoon. Reporter but as for answers to all those questions about russia. Im not going to get into what the president did or did not discuss. Reporter he did not deny the president s soninlaw and adviser Jared Kushner tried to set up back Channel Communications with russia during the transition but he would not say whether the president knew or when he found out. Youre asking if he approves of an action that is pot a confirmed action. So does the white house dispute that that happened . Im not going to get into it but your question presupposes facts that have not been confirmed. Reporter reporters had more questions. But i guess make mistakes. Reporter he abruptly ended the briefing. Thank you, guys, very much. I appreciate it. Reporter so back to this these tweet, there have been reports perhaps a team of lawyers might start vetting the president s tweets before he sends them out. The sources im talking to say that is not going to happen. The president is very much the mastermind behind these tweets he sends out to his 31 million followers but, george, these tweets are a major source of angst for all of the aides here at the white house. Clearly are. Lets talk more with jonathan karl, chief political analyst matthew dowd and, jesse palmer, let me begin with you and the president s tweets right there. Clearly the president doing this on his own whenever he wants at any time set against the backdrop of a white house that is very unsettled right now. Talk of a staff shakeup and isolated president. Reporter these are days of discontent and unease in the trump white house. There is just no question about that. People close to the president who have spoken to him in recent days describe him, george, as deeply frustrated, unhappy with the advice he is getting here at the white house, therefore, reaching out more than ever to friendsout side of the white house and that discontent and unease extends to the white house staff. So many of the president s most senior advisors unsure of how secure their own positions are here at the white house right now because of that talk of a looming major shakeup at the white house. Dont know if it will happen but theres clearly concerns here, concern here at the white house that it will. You can see that on sean spicers face yesterday. Let me bring in matthew dowd for more. One of the Big Questions right now, matt, is will anybody come in, anybody of quality come into this white house at this time, given how chaotic it seems to be inside. Well, if my advice would be the first position he needs is a twitter assistant to sort of help him along in this and i have to say as i was looking at that tweet early in morning, i thought he was talking about an International Soccer associate or a new drink at starbucks. I didnt quite was aware of it. As you know, every white house and every president when theyre having difficulty and when things are not going well, they always blame the communication folks or always blame the staff. This is a situation i was thinking about this, a situation where the white house is like what the nba finals about to start is a basketball team. Its not a oneplayer game but donald trump looks at this like golf. He only is a singular player and so i think no matter what the staff shakeup is, no matter what staff is brought in, unless donald trump fundamentally changes his own behavior and his own manner with which he approaches the presidency it does not matter who he brings in. He has to fix his own shot, has to fix his own swing. Jon, the president facing a big decision whether to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord that divided his advisers and supporters. Reporter its divided our ally, as well. You had a situation at the group of seven meeting the largest democracy, largest democracies in the world in sicily, six of them saying that they want a commitment to paris and the president and the United States saying that they were unsure. The president s advisers are divided on this. Yesterday the press secretary actually could not answer the question of does the president believe that human activity contributes to climate change. So entirely unclear of what hes going to do here. The one thing they do say, though, his decision will be based not on the effect of our allies and the impact it will have on our relations with our allies but solely what he believes it will do to american jobs. Fundamental baseline question. He said he had to check with the president. Thanks very much. Now to new images of a first of its kind missile intercept test. The u. S. Successfully stopping a mock longrange missile in space. That comes amid mounting fears north korea will perfect a Nuclear Missile that can reach the continental u. S. Martha raddatz has all the latest on that. Good morning to you, martha. Reporter good morning, amy. There have been shorter range test missile intercepts over the years but many of those failed, but this longrange test, they nailed it on the first try. It was the first live fire intercept test of an int Intercontinental Ballistic Missile in history, a critical victory for the u. S. Coming at a krit time warp. The mock warhead fired from an island in the pacific. More than 4,000 miles away at Vandenberg Air base in california, the interceptor, or kill vehicle roaring into space from an underground silo to stop the mock missile and within an hour, the fivefootlong interscepter hitting its mark. It is a remarkable achievement, the equivalent of hitting a speeding bullet traveling 4 miles a second with another speeding bullet. This is a very difficult calculation where you have to look at its arc and figure out where the intercept is going to occur somewhere deep in outer space. That is truly Rocket Science in every sense of the word. Reporter the test carried out after north korea successfully launched its ninth missile this year, a shortrange Ballistic Missile with kim jongun watching. State run media claiming it was more precise than ever before. But this successful intercept sends a powerful message to north korea. The head of the u. S. Missile Defense Agency saying the test demonstrates a capable, credible deterrent against a very real threat, amy. Martha, while its stunning and incredible to witness, its important to note that this test was done under ideal conditions and was well planned. Reporter it was. You do have to keep that in mind. Thankfully this has never had to be used in a reallife situation where an intercept would be much more challenging, amy. All right, martha raddatz, we appreciate that. Michael. Thank you, amy. Now to chaos at Orlando International airport overnight. Police say a pan pulled out what appeared to be a real gun and pointed it at officers. Negotiators worked for hours to calm him down and Abcs David Kerley has the story. Good morning to you, david. Reporter michael, on these days of heightened security concerns over terrorism, a man, a gun and an airport all causes alarm. The man with what appears to be a gun overnight starts a nearly threehour standoff at the Orlando International airport. Hundreds of Police Officers descending at an airport rental car lot. Quickly get out of there. Reporter they cordoned the suspect as officers seen in this Youtube Video crouch behind pillars evacuating civilians and quickly realize the suspect is attempting a suicide by cop. The subject made several comments, pointed the firearm at officers, said shoot me, shoot me. Actually pointed the gun at his head imploring the officers to shoot him. Reporter police say the suspect, 26yearold Michael Pettigrew is a former marine. Officers were able to get him to drop the weapon. From that point he was in this area. He laid down on the ground with the gun very close by. It was a simulated firearm. The gun was not real. Reporter police were worried because that gun was so close to the suspect, thats why it took so long. The suspect taken for mental evaluation and the airport says this incident did not affect travel and operations at orlando. All right, thank you, david kerley. Glad they were able to defuse that situation, amy. Thats right, michael. We turn to the outburst in court as the man accused of killing two Good Samaritans faced a judge. Prosecutors say Jeremy Christian confessed after his arrest and say he hurled antimuslim insults at two young women and then slashed the throats of the men who tried to help them. Christian did not enter a plea in court but he did go on a belligerent rant. Death to the enemies of america. Leave this country if you hate our freedom. You call it terrorism. I call it patriotism. Prosecutors say christian was drinking sangria at the time of the train attack and later said i hope they all die. He could now face the Death Penalty if convicted. Michael. All right, thank you, amy. Turning to a big announcement from Ariana Grande. The pop star is returning to manchester this sunday to headline a tribute concert to benefit the victims of the terrorist attack and she has a lot of big acts that are going to join her. Alex perez is in manchester with that this morning. Good morning, alex. Reporter hey, good morning, michael. Its been nine days since the attack and take a look behind me here. You can see the memorial keeps growing and growing and now a group of a list stars hoping to honor the victims with the biggest tribute yet. Overnight Ariana Grande vowing to make her return to manchester. The pop star announcing the one love Manchester Concert planned for this sunday raising money for victims of the horrible tragedy with some of musics biggest names set to june grande on stage from Justin Bieber to cold. Play. Miley cyrus. And katy perry who tweeted tuesday, the Music Community stands together with love and in solidarity. I am humbled to be part of this show. Oh, my god. Reporter grapdz returning to manchester less than two weeks after a suicide bomber detonated explosives as concertgoers left a performance of her dangerous woman tour killing 22 and injuring 116 others. In manchester, authorities are still working around the clock, 11 men remain in custody for questioning and police are still trying to trace the bombers movements in the days before the attack. I think its amazing that shes coming back. Reporter but in the tragedys aftermath this benefit co

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