did you get your power ball tickets? i got mine. that's it for us. good luck with the power ball drawing. that's it tonight. "ac360" starts now. good evening. thanks for joining us. busy night indeed. we begin tonight with donald trump. he has been making insinuations about ted cruz's citizenship and denying responsibility saying that he is only asking what

others are asking him. senator cruz was born in alberta to an american mother and trump's thoughts surfaced when he was asked about it late yesterday by "the washington post" and spoke today "the situation room's" wolf blitzer. >> senator ted cruz is your main rival in iowa according to the polls right now. all of a sudden, this issue of the fact he was born in canada has come up whether or not he's a natural born citizen. you know the constitution says no person except a natural born citizen shall be eligible to the office of president. do you believe senator ted cruz is a natural born citizen? >> i don't know, to be honest. and i like him a lot. and i don't like the issue. i don't like even bringing it up and wasn't me that brought it up. it was "the washington post" doing an interview. >> they ask you a question -- >> one of the questions they asked me was this question and they went with it. and i wasn't very aggressive with the answer except one thing. you can't have somebody running if the democrats are going to at some point and one of them threatened to bring a suit along time ago. how can you have a nominee running against a democrat, whoever it may be, probably hillary clinton because she'll probably escape the e-mail

problem, which is disgusting that she's able to because other people have -- are doing far less had very, very major consequences. it's been terrible but probably it's going to be hillary. how do you run against the democrat, whoever it may be and you have this hanging over your head if they bring a lawsuit? a lawsuit would take two, three years -- >> he says he's a natural born citizen because his mother was u.s. born, u.s. citizen and as a result he's a natural born citizen. >> i hope he's right. i want to win this fair and square. i don't want to win on this point. what the democrats are saying, though, he had a passport. >> he says he didn't have a passport. >> he had a canadian passport. >> his aides say he didn't have a passport. >> i heard -- >> he may have been eligible. >> i think that's wonderful if he didn't and never understood how he did. >> he was born in canada. >> well, here is what i think. what i think i'd do, i'd go and seek a declaratory judgment if i was ted.

>> what is that? >> a declaratory judgment. you go in seeking the decision of the court. without a court case. you go right in. you go before a judge. you do it quickly. it can go quickly. declaratory judgment. it's very good. i've used it on numerous occasions, i've been pretty good with up, actually. when there is a doubt because there is a doubt. when ted doesn't want to happen is he doesn't want to be in there. i mean, i think i'm going to win. i'm leading in every poll by a lot, but i have a lot of friends in the republican party. i have a lot of friends all over the place, all right. if ted should eke it out and i hope that doesn't happen and he has a cloud over his head, i don't think it will be possible for him to do very well. i don't think it's possible for the republicans to let it happen. because he'll have this cloud. what you do is go in immediately like tomorrow, this afternoon you go to federal court. you ask for declaratory judgment. you want the court to rule. once the court rules, you have your decision. >> that could take a long time.

>> no, declaratory judgment -- >> because i don't think the supreme court has really ruled on what is a natural born citizen. >> that's the problem. there is this doubt. people have doubt. again, this was not my suggestion. i didn't bring this up. a reporter asked me the question. but the democrats have brought it up and you had somebody, a congressman say no matter what happens, we're going to be suing on this matter. that's a tough matter for ted. again, i didn't bring it up, wolf. this is brought up and asked of me as a question and not the first time it's been asked but it's been canned by a lot of different people to a lot of different people that are running. >> because your critics are saying you're doing to ted cruz what you tried to do to president obama -- >> no, who knows about obama. >> his mother was a u.s. citizen born in kansas. was he a natural born citizen? >> who knows? who knows? who cares right now? we're talking about something else, okay? i have my own theory on obama. some day i'll write a book that will do successfully.

look, ted, he should ask for a declaratory judgment because that would clear it all up. i'm doing it for the goodness of ted. i like him, he likes me. we have a good relationship. this would clear it up. you go into court and ask for declaratory judgment. the judge will rule. once the judge rules that he's okay then the democrats can't bring a lawsuit later on. >> donald trump with wolf blitzer today. here is how ted cruz responded today talking with our chief political correspondent dana bash. >> speaking of the constitution, you may have heard donald trump is bringing up the fact that you were born in canada. and saying that if you're the republican nominee, it could be held up in the court for two years. you're a constitutional scholar. you've argued before the supreme court. why do you think on the legal basis he's wrong? >> look, the legal issue is straightforward. the son of a u.s. citizen born abroad is a natural born citizen. >> but it's never been tested. you know full well because you've done it. >> listen, the constitution and

laws of the united states are straight forward. the very first congress defined the child of a u.s. citizen born abroad as a natural born citizen and by the way, many of those members of the first congress were framers at the constitutional convention. at the end of the day, this is a non-issue but you know, my response as you and i talked about just a minute ago, i tweeted a link to a video of fonzi jumping a shark. you know, i'm not going to engage in this. and the reason is simple. there are far too many serious issues facing this country. last night north korea claims to have tested a hydrogen bomb. what the american people are looking for is who is prepared to be commander-in-chief. who has the seriousness? who has the judgment, who has the knowledge, who has the clarity of vision -- >> let me button this up though. >> but. >> on the issue of the passport. >> what passport? >> donald trump is suggesting, saying you had a canadian passport. >> it's not true. >> false? >> right. >> you never had a canada passport -- >> of course not. >> you asked your mom and your

dad and you're -- >> yes, i'm sure. >> we are joined by cnn political commentators and amanda carpenter who once served for ted cruz and jeffrey lord. and jeffrey toobin is joining us if legal perspective. jeffrey, i mean, trump is saying and you agree that he's just doing some sort of due diligence on behalf of the gop in case alan gracen, the congressman who made the, you know, suggestion about possibly suing over this although alan gracen is certainly questionable on a lot of folk's minds, even democrats minds but clearly it's more than him just saying, you know, i'm just trying to help ted cruz. clearly, he says i don't know when wolf asked him point-blank if he believes cruz is a natural born citizen. he can say of course he is but he still should do this. >> right.

you know, anderson. what strikes me here, there is two tracks to this. one is the legal and i'm not a lawyer so i'll leave that for jeff toobin and lawyers to debate and i've heard different versions of this. i think he's a natural born citizen but i'll leave it to the lawyers. the second track, though, is quite political and what is striking here in this is that he has managed for a little bit at least, to throw ted cruz, who is no dummy, off message. and ted cruz is spending his time answering all of this kind of thing. and we are now at a point where the countdown is on for iowa and new hampshire and south carolina. and i assure you, ted cruz doesn't want to spend his time answering this thing. that's number one. number two, i have to say the people in the establishment who can't stand either of them, they are looking at this like king kong battling godzilla and hoping the two of them will wrestle themselves to death and then they can get somebody else in there. so it's very interesting in a political situation here but he's definitely thrown ted cruz

off message and we'll see how long this lasts. >> amanda, do you think ted cruz your old boss, do you think he's thrown off message by this? >> no, he answered a silly attack with a silly video which was fitting but i agree with jeffrey. this is all about politics because donald trump learned he can't attack ted cruz on the issues. donald trump doesn't want to attack cruz on the issues because cruz is pretty rock solid across the conservative spectrum. what has donald trump done over the last few weeks? he has questioned cruz's evangelical faith and now he's questioning his birth. i think this shows that donald trump is really flum boxed -- fluk flummoxed. and is really seeing the primary date is quickly approaching and

he needs to find a way to knock cruz off his game. and really in the time where he's just throwing the kitchen sink out there to seeing what he can get cruz to respond to. we might spend a day or two on this but i think we'll quickly move on. >> jeff toobin from a legal stand point, what do you make of this? is there any merit to questioning cruz' eligibility? >> in 200 years, the supreme court never addressed this issue. there is no definitive ruling, however, every indication, every piece of history, every analysis of this issue suggests that cruz is a natural born citizen. apparently, what the framers of the constitution meant was that anyone who became a citizen by birth, not someone who went through a naturalization ceremony, so john mccain born in the panama canal zone is a natural born citizen. ted cruz, son of an american mother, did not have to go through a naturalization ceremony. so he became -- >> right. >> he is a natural born citizen. arnold schwarzenegger born austria moved to california, went through a naturalization, he could not be president. >> right. >> but there is no definitive

word but it seems very, very clear that cruz can be president. >> and jeffrey toobin, when donald trump says he should just get a declarative ruling from a judge. does that make sense to you? >> no, that makes no sense at all. under the constitution, there has to be a case or controversy. you can't go to a federal judge and say oh, please, answer this question for me. you can do that in some states, but you can't do that in the u.s. district court. there has to be something called a case or controversy. >> so when trump says he can go to a federal court, that's simply not true? >> it is just wrong. it is just not possible for ted cruz to do that. that does not exist in the federal courts so someone would have to sue. as far as i'm aware, no one who has standing, that is, who has the legal right to sue, is planning to do this, to file such a lawsuit. but, you know, so i think the issue is never going to be

resolved to 100% certainty but it is pretty close to 100% certainty that ted cruz is eligible to be president. >> jeffrey lord, i want to play a clip what donald trump told abc about cruz's citizenship opposed to what he said last night to an affiliate. let's listen. >> do you think he's ineligible to be president because he was born in canada? >> no, from what i understand everything is fine. it was checked out by every attorney and every which way and i understand that ted is in fine shape. all i know is a lot of people are talking about it. i hope it's not so but people are worried if he weren't born in this country which he wasn't, he was born in canada and had a canadian passport along with a u.s. passport until just recently, like within the last couple of years. so i don't know what it all means. i known that other people are talking about it. we'll find out i guess. ted will be answer to answer the question hopefully satisfaction -- sats factually.

i hear a couple states have a problem with it, too. >> it's interesting he once said according to everything he heard in the legal experts there is no problem now he hears people talking about it. so he's raising this. i mean, it's a flip-flop, no? >> well, you know, one of the things that i've discovered in going through this, there was attempt to throw ted cruz off the new hampshire ballot. it failed. the very fact they took the time to do this with the alan grayson thing says to me there are people out there and boy, this society is soly contingency. i just can't believe that there's not going to be somebody out there who would try this if ted cruz gained steam. whether that means he's on the -- whether he's on the top of the ticket or if trump picked him for vice president, i think they would still come after him. >> amanda, to jeffrey lord's point, so what if some people, alan grayson or whomever files a court case. people get sued all the time. presidents of the united states, people want to be president get sued all the time.

does it really matter? >> well, listen, if any court case should be taken seriously but i think ted cruz is in very good standing. a lot of lawyers are on his side. it's campaign 101. don't take advice from people who want to beat you. ted cruz is not going to take donald trump's legal advice. >> good advice. >> there is a very good article. the former solicitors general for president bush and president obama have written in the harvard review journal, there's no question that ted cruz is a u.s. citizen. there are very serious legal scholars that looked at this and put their thoughts on the record. >> right, as donald trump said months ago. amanda carpenter, jeffrey lord, jeffrey toobin, thanks very much. when we come back more implications as we get closer to the ballot box. coming up later, it was earth-shaking news. the question were the tremors from a north korean h bomb test does one of the world's most

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well, there is good reason why donald trump turned guns on ted cruz. the texas senate has become a serious rival and in iowa is the front runner, which helps explain the trump attacks and insinuations, however that is not all he said to wolf blitzer today. here is the interview. >> you heard the president of the united states. who what would you do right now to prevent that kind of slaughter? >> okay. the first thing i'd do is protect the second amendment. the second thing i would do is wouldn't use executive orders to do this. you got to get people. you know, our country was founded on the basis that you're supposed to negotiate back and forth with different members of different parties and you come

to a conclusion through negotiation and compromise. you don't go and just keep signing orders and all he's doing is taking chunks out of the second amendment. that won't happen. >> but you don't want convicted felons or mentally ill people to be able to go to a gun -- anyplace online or whatever and get access to a gun. >> when you say anyplace, we have very strong laws on the books -- >> gun shows for example. you don't want bad people to get access to guns. >> when you get into the gun show, it's a slippery slope. that stops a father from giving his child -- >> what about online purchases? >> let me just go a step further. >> because background checks make sense, right? >> we have to protect the second amendment. have no choice. we have to do that. it's very important. i believe in -- >> ted cruz also talked firearms with cnn's dana bash. she joins us now along with

presidential correspondent maggie haberman. dana, you heard what donald trump said about guns. what did senator cruz have to say on the issue? >> on this issue, they sounded very similar. both saying that the president is way out of bounds, both in how he did this and in what he believes. listen to what senator cruz told me. you posted or your campaign posted on your website a men -- menacing picture of president obama and the picture said obama wants your guns. >> it is actually quite accurate this is the most anti gun president we've seen. eric holder the first attorney president said he believed it was his job as attorney general to quote brainwash americans against guns. >> but that's not the president. >> but it's the president's direction. at every instance, the president uses every terrorist attack virtually every criminal -- >> so you don't take him at his word he just wants to protect your children, his children, everybody else.

>> in fact, i'll tell you who i do take at her word is senator dianne feinstein who said if i could go to mr. america, mrs. america and say hand over your guns, i want all your guns i would do it. i believe her and barack obama is in exactly the same boat. >> maggie, it's interesting. we've seen a lot of republican candidates go after president obama for the executive action on firearms. as i mentioned the president is going to have his town hall tomorrow night at 8:00 where we're going to be asking him questions and audience members are going to be asking questions on all sides of the issue. how do republican candidates stand apart from each other because they sound very similar. >> they do sound very similar. you're hearing similar rhetoric and saw the white house, it was interesting. chris christie is the one person you've seen democrats try to single out as being different on guns. you saw josh earnest, the white house press secretary making the point christie has a record at odds with what he's saying now.

i with -- was with chris christie the other day in new hampshire. he repeatedly declined to answer questions. for the rest, it is basically sound as conservative as you can and as strong as you can on this issue. you saw with ted cruz and donald trump. >> dana, i want to go back -- >> anderson. >> go ahead, dana, yeah. >> just real quick, if i may ad, i think maggie is exactly right. there is not a lot of daylight policy-wise between the republican candidates but for the cruz campaign it is very clear, this was a gift for them because ted cruz sees himself as somebody who is different because way back when he was the solicitor general of texas he made a name for himself with conservatives as somebody by really pushing for people around the country to play into a very important supreme court case. the country to play into a very important supreme court case. he actually got an award from the nra way before he ran for

the u.s. senate so he feels like he's got good credentials on that so this is again a political gift. >> dana, was cruz at all rattled by trump's citizen ship, raising the citizenship attack when you spoke to him? >> if he is, he's not showing his cards at all. you saw he was a little bit sort of pointed in our discussion about the way that trump took it a step further, saying, well, i don't know, maybe he had a canadian passport. saying no way, trying to put that part of it to bed but i do think that they understand inside the cruz campaign that they have a lot to lose here. i mean, he is at this point very much the expected winner of the iowa caucuses. that's what donald trump knows, too, which is why he's throwing this and pretty much anything else i think they can think of at him. so they've got to try to play it cool, kind of somehow walk that line of not looking like they're responding and taking the bait but also trying to make clear and look, we just don't think he's right here. and he does have the ability of being a lawyer, you know, ted

cruz and somebody who has an understanding of the constitution. so that helps in his argument. >> maggie, do you see, when trump went after ted cruz in the past, rush limbaugh, mark levin, you know, powerful radio hosts basically said, back off. do you see that happening here or because we're, you know, we're less than a month away from iowa, do you see this escalating? >> i think we'll know more in the coming days. it is an interesting fact in the last couple of weeks, especially, months especially, the superpacs backing ted cruz made advertising investments on a lot of radio shows. they know these are cruz backers and given cruz antibodies when issues have come up but there are a lot of people that also like trump within this audience. i'm not so sure you'll see trump criticized quite the psalm way. we're entering a different period. some of it will matter on the audience response but i think dana is right. cruz is walking a careful line.

on the one hand, he doesn't want to get sucked into this. and on the other, trump is able to project something in a way that no other candidate has been able to. we've been talking about this for a day. trump made sure of that. it remains to be scene if trump will talk at his rally tomorrow but my guess is he will in someway or another and keeps it going. it will be interesting to see what happens next week at the debate. maggie haberman good to have you on, dana bash as well. good to have you on. still to come, more on guns in america. what happens to the guns police confiscate from criminals. police departments want to destroy them. the nra does not want that to happen. they want to force the police to resell them. drew griffin tonight investigates. try the superior hold...

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tomorrow i'll be questioning president obama in a town hall meeting called guns in america. tonight we have an investigation into a gun battle you may not be aware of. what do with the guns that police take away from criminals. many departments want to destroy them. but they are facing opposition from the nra. they think that would be wasting perfectly good guns and on a lobbying spree to sell the guns back to people. it's an idea that's already backfired at least once nearly killing two officers in minnesota. cnn senior investigative correspondent drew griffin reports tonight. >> reporter: it happened in new hope, minnesota at a city council meeting almost exactly a year ago. a routine meeting captured on the city's in house video. new police officers had just been sworn in when the council took up its very next item. >> a resolution authorizing the purchase of an electronic reader board sign. >> reporter: suddenly shots. [ gunshots ]. [ bleep ]. >> get down. get down. >> reporter: council members

diving under desks, one takes even takes out a gun. off camera just outside the council chambers a well-known mentally unstable resident decided this was the night he would get back at the city he had been fighting with. those newly sworn officers would be his targets. >> he was waiting for them as they left the council chambers, waiting for them right here with a gun police say should never have been allowed back on the streets. it was a shotgun kmetz fired once. the new police officers made sure he wouldn't fire again. two officers were wounded, kmetz killed in a hail of police bullets. >> i think everybody heard this was a shock that an individual could walk into a city council meeting where police officers were being sworn in to the next 20, 25 years of duty and service to their community and be victims of gunfire like that. >> reporter: for sheriff richard stanic, the shock wouldn't end

with the crime. the investigation could find kmetz should have never had that gun. he would have never passed a federal background check. he had a history of mental illness and the trouble with the city of new hope. yet raymond kmetz was able to buy three guns illegally through a straw purchaser, a friend pretending to buy the three guns for himself. and in a shocking twist, all three guns were being sold by the police department of duluth, minnesota. >> very surprised. being a sheriff of a large midwestern county, one of the largest counties in the country to learn a law enforcement agency actually sold these guns online instead of destroying them or keeping them for their own purposes. >> reporter: across the country, police chiefs and sheriffs are finding themselves in an ethical dilemma. over the same issue, in hennepin county, minnesota, guns from

crimes are seized almost every day. good guns worth money. the sheriff doesn't sell them but keeps them here never to be on the street again. 2600 of them and counting inside his gun library under the guise they could help in future criminal investigations and training but other municipalities have shrinking budgets and are under growing pressure to do exactly what duluth, minnesota did, sell them. and across the country, one very strong lobbying group is trying to make sure guns seized by police are actually put back on the street. that lobbying group, the national rifle association. >> actually, we weren't seeking it but it was brought to us. >> reporter: the chief of the knoxville, tennessee police department heads up the statewide police chief's association in tennessee. he says if anything he and his fellow police chiefs were looking for a law that would allow them to destroy the guns they confiscate. instead, the nra came to downtown knoxville and found its own state legislator to push its

own legislation. the senator put forth a bill that would ban police chiefs in tennessee from destroying any gun. the state senator told us he was too busy see to talk to us about his bill today and tomorrow and the next day and according to his assistant, ever. >> the original law that the nra brought forward would not allow us to destroy any of the firearms, any. >> right. >> so we certainly were not in favor of that. >> police in tennessee were able to water down the nra's law which went into effect last summer. a police agency can destroy a gun but must first seek permission from a judge to do it. according to a survey conducted by cnn money, nearly a dozen states passed new laws in the past five years that ban or discourage police from actually destroying their confiscated guns. and instead, encourages them to be sold. each law drafted or suggested by the national rifle association.

surprisingly, the nra so far is refusing to respond but a spokesman pointed out the guns are being sold to law-abiding citizens, adding that those opposed to police gun sales are just trying to destroy firearms for the sake of destroys them because they want to get rid of all guns. the chief of police in austin, texas, says the nra is simply on the wrong side of the law. police chiefs don't want more guns on the street and certainly don't want to be the ones who are putting them there. >> i think that it's easy to buy firearms. that's the problem in the country and the last thing we need is for the police department to become, police departments to become basically part of the pipeline that ends up in our inner cities and young people are dying every day. >> reporter: each police chief interviewed for this story admits it is so easy for people to get guns in the u.s.

whether the police departments sell them or not won't change things. it's just a matter of principle and fear that his police gun sales will backfire. >> pray hard that none of these firearms that, you know, that we are trying to, again, take care of our community, that none of them end up back in the hands of those who would harm us. >> drew, so a lot of -- many police chiefs seemed they don't want to do this. they don't want to sell the guns but the nra gets these laws passed and the decision is out of the hands of the local police. is that accurate? >> that is accurate and that's what is upsetting these cops, anderson. you hit it right on the head. this is one of the solutions that didn't have a problem. police want to be able to destroy the guns or not destroy guns based on what their local community wishes and the local police agency decides is the best route. the nra is removing that ability with these blanket laws that are now in about a dozen states that you must sell these guns you can't destroy them, period.

>> how does the nra convince state lawmakers it's a good idea if police chiefs in the states are saying it's not? >> first, this is happening in states that lean pretty conservative. this wouldn't be happening where you are right now, in new york. it's not happening in california. and what the nra is telling these lawmakers in these states is why throw away a perfectly good gun when you can sell them and then use the money to reinvest into other law enforcement activities. that true. police department that have sold these guns have been able to buy bullets for training or ballistic vests for officers. officers. it's the idea they are forced to sell the guns that is infuriating law enforcement agencies and police chiefs about what the nra is doing, anderson. >> drew, thanks very much. tune in tomorrow night when president obama joins me for a town hall discussion on guns and gun control. the president is going to answer questions for me and from

audience members on all sides of this issue. it's called "guns in america" here on "ac360." north korea's regime said it tested a hydrogen bomb calling it a spectacular success. if the claim is true, not everyone is convinced it is, by the way, the question is, what comes next? get beautyrest, posturepedic,

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north korea stole the spotlight saying they tested a hydrogen bomb. on state television the regime spent the day bragging about it serving up anti american rhetoric as justification. if north korea did carry out a successful test of a hydrogen bomb it would mark a troubling milestone to say the least. u.s. officials are not convinced the claim is true. the white house said initial analysis of the event is not consistent with the hydrogen bomb. there is little doubt north korea carried out a new nuclear test of some kind. today the u.n. security council condemned the test as a clear violation of past security resolutions. paula hancocks joins us with the latest. what do we know about this test, paula? >> reporter: well, anderson, i have yet to hear anybody say yeonpyeong yang that they believe this was a hydrogen bomb. there is a lot of skepticism here in south korea. intelligence agencies briefed lawmakers last night and in turn briefed us saying effectively it's difficult to give credibility to north korea's

claim that this was a hydrogen bomb. they gave some specifics. they said if it was an h bomb, it would be a destructive force of 15 mega tons. even if it was miniaturized which they don't believe that the north koreans have that capability yet it would be 50 to 60 kilotons. it was 6 kilotons. that shows that it is very unlikely it was a hydrogen bomb. whether there was an element, they don't know but it may be difficult to be 100% certain given the secrecy in that country of exactly what did happen, anderson. >> right, the test was done underground. how did they go about verifying what was detonated? >> well, that's the thing, without getting iaea inspectors on the ground, they have said they are willing to go in but north korea will not let them in. without having those inspectors on the ground going into the site and seeing exactly what the

underground test site looks like, it is like, it is very difficult to know exactly what the conditions are like. it's not like previous tests that other countries have done in water for example. that's much more -- much easier to trace the radio active dust. we do know there have been planes going up, american planes, japanese planes to capture dust to see what the radioactive parols are like. this could take days or weeks to analyze and some are saying we may never be 100% certain of what the elements of that nuclear test were. bear in mind, in 2013 for the third nuclear test, experts are split whether or not that was uranium or plutonium. it's likely we will never know for sure. but certainly at this point the likelihood of a traditional hydrogen bomb is low. >> thanks very much. paula hancocks. victor chaw and korea chair, the center for strategy and international studies.

mike, this test if in fact it was a hydrogen bomb, how worried should the u.s. be? does this put north korea on a new level when it comes to flexing their power on the international stage? >> if it really was a hydrogen bomb it would be really a game changer. the evidence seems to signify it wasn't a full hydrogen test. this test is a significant step forward in terms of north korea's determination to enhance the nuclear capability with each test, north korea's nuclear scientists get more data and further along the road toward miniaturizing a warhead so they could put it on a missile which could eventually be in a position to reach the united states. so whether or not it was a full fledged hydrogen bomb or not, it's still a very worrying development. >> victor, you say north korea has gone as far as cutting off power -- contact with global

powers, before they took part in talks allowing nuclear inspectors to go into the country, but that recently changed? >> yeah, anderson, that's right. when we did the agreement in 2007, they were inspectors from the six-party countries in north korea actually going into a lot of these nuclear facilities. with the ascension to power of this new young leader, kim jong-un, a few months ago, there has really been no effort at all by the north koreans to engage. the obama administration tried on number of occasions to engage with the north koreans and they are not interested with us, with the south koreans, with the chinese, with the russians, with the japanese. they seem very focused on establishing a new threshold in terms of their nuclear capabilities and perhaps at that point they want to try to deal from a position of strength with the rest of the world. >> mike, i mean, i guess in terms of leverage, there is the possibility of more sanctions but does that have an effect over north korea. if this is in fact the fourth

and by far the biggest test north korea has done in the face of such sanctions in the 21st century. >> well, we have a pattern that we've seen in the previous nuclear tests, international condemnations, a u.n. resolution, new sanctions and no change in north korean behavior. the evidence so far suggests that the sanctions do not lead the regime in pyongyang to moderate its behavior. i think one of the things that's probably going to be on the table now is are there sanctions that could be stepped up or targeted in such a way to make a difference? there certainly are things that are not being done that could be done but a lot of that involves china because most of north korea's trade goes through china and its fuel and chinese companies and banks are doing business in north korea and when you start targeting chinese entities dealing in north korea you risk escalation intentions

with china. it's very problematic because the chinese themselves even though they are angry are unlikely to take steps to bring the regime to its knees and force it to change behavior. >> so victor, what more can be done? >> well, i think i mean, i agree with mike in that sense but i do think there are -- there is a new level of sanctioning that boetsd the -- both the u.n. security council can mandate as well as under the president obama's executive orders after the sony hack in 2014 that are much more targeted on individuals that call for travel bans that really put pressure on china to instruct its own companies to cease doing business with north korea across the board on a variety of commodities related to, not just nuclear weapons but also human rights abuses as well as cybercrimes. so i think when you compare the sanctioning against north korea to iran, it's much smaller than iran. there is more that could be done and i think that's what we're going to be seeing from both the

u.n. and the united states in the coming weeks. >> interesting to put in perspective with iran. victor, mike, thank you. in a new interview, melania trump says she is not shy. her silence is a strategy. question is why is she so quiet? what is that strategy? and what else did she say about her life with donald trump? find out ahead. i'm there for bess. i'm there for ray. ted loved baseball. dr. phil likes to watch football. renne, who wants sloppy joe on the menu every day. rosie's my best friend. evelyn likes to dance. harriett wants her fried shrimp as well. alice anne likes vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and rainbow sprinkles. they give me so much back. i can't even imagine how i could possibly give them what they give me.

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ultimate flora. more power to your gut. in his interview with wolf blitzer today, donald trump talked about a lot including his wife melania. listen. >> your wife melania, she's featured on the new issue of "harper's bazaar" you've seen that cover? >> right. >> is she going to be actively going on the campaign working for you? >> she will be and she's been to a certain extent and we have a young boy baron, she wants to devote a lot of time and i want her to and he's doing really well but she has been quite active very -- has a good political mind, really gets it and will start doing interviews very soon. she'll be amazing. she's got a great heart and she's very smart. and you know, she made a tremendous amount of money. she was a very, very successful person as a model, and i think she's going to be a fantastic first lady if it ever comes to that.

>> melania trump has made a handful of campaign appearances since her husband jumped into the race. she's been a quiet presence, striking contrast to mr. trump's out going attitude certainly. some assumed her silence stems from shyness but mrs. trump says that is not the case at all. randi kaye as more. >> reporter: melania trump, more often seen than heard telling "harper's bazaar" magazine that is all by design. people are curious about me. i'm choosing not to go political in public, because that is my husband's job. i made that choice. i am not shy. the wide-ranging interview at three-story manhattan penthouse she shares with her husband, gop front runner, donald trump and the couple's 9-year-old son. for the first time, she shares how the decision was made her husband would run for president. we decided as a family it was something we would do, explaining to her son, daddy will run for president. >> in the article, which has stunning photos of the former

model including one posing in front of an american flag, the magazine's reporter describes melania as beautiful sporting a startling 25 carat diamond ring on her left hand given to her by her husband. melania is used to posing for pictures. she started modelling as a teenager. it is part of my life being in front of the camera all of the time. it's not something new to me. in some ways, me long yeah seems to be enjoying the attention, calling this recent portrayal of her on "saturday night live," quote, an honor. >> put donald in the white house. he is total package. he is strong -- >> i didn't ask you to say that. >> he is wise. >> this is all off the cuff. >> he's good in bed. >> those are his words. >> he's the only man that can unite both sides. >> melania trump met her future husband in 1998 at a party in new york city. he was in between marriages and asked for her number. as she tells it, she refused because she says he was with a date but called him days later. i was struck by his energy.

he has an amazing sense of vitally. two things melania would not discuss with the reporter was what life in the white house may be like and which first lady she admires most but she didn't shy away from commenting on her husband's often brash tone. he is not politically correct and he tells the truth. everything is not roses and flowers and perfect because it is not. he wants america to be great again, and he can do that. asked why she thinks her husband would make a good president, she said, he is a great leader, the best leader, an amazing negotiator. for that reason she says she's put everything on hold to care for their son while her husband campaigns. i have a lot on my plate right now. i don't have a nanny she explains. i have a chef and i have my assistant and that's it. i do it myself. 9-year-old baron reportedly speaks slovenian, which her husband does not. that's okay, she told harper's. i'm not that kind of wife who

would say, learn this or learn that. i'm not a nagging wife. randi kaye, cnn, new york. we'll have much more ahead from wolf blitzer's interview with donald trump. they talked about gun control, north korea and of course trump's opponent, ted cruz. in typical trump style, he certainly minced no words. more on that ahead.

that does it for us. thanks for watching. join us tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. eastern for guns in america, a town hall discussion with president barack obama. i will be asking questions along with people on all sides asking the president questions as well. "cnn newsroom" is next. >> this is hour, market turmoil stops and chinese markets tank again and trading shuts down for the second time this week. was it a hydrogen bomb or a blast from the past? skepticism grows over north korean claims they tested an h-bomb. plus, prosecutors in los angeles decide not to file charges in two cases of sexual misconduct against bill cosby. 4 i'm john vause "newsroom l.a." starts right now.