hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. 8:00 p.m. in moscow, 1:30 a.m. in pyongyang, north korea. wherever you're watch aring from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. we start with breaking news. out of north korea. the pentagon here now says north korea fired another ballistic missile. it's another troubling move by north korea as they move ahead with the development of the missile program. also comes as fears are growing about the country's progress with weaponizing their nuclear program. the last missile launch was back on the fourth of july, independence day here in the united states. this one comes just one day after both north and south korea mark the 64th anniversary of the

armistice halting the korean war. go to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr standing by. will ripley standing by in beijing, alexander field in seoul, south korea for us. barbara, first of all what do we know about the reported launch? for example, what type of missile was launched today, do we know? and different than the last launch that took place on july 4th? >> reporter: all the things we are awaiting the pentagon to tell us, wolf, on this day, as once again world threats intervene on washington politics. the north koreans fired this missile about 10:45 this morning each coast time. according to the pentagon it was quickly detected. the u.s. has satellites and other intelligence gathering systems that can quickly detect ballistic missile launches, especially out of north korea. there had been a lot of indicators that they might be getting ready to launch. what we're looking for now is the announcement by the pentagon about what kind of ballistic

missile this was. there is a good deal of concern it might have been yet again an intercontinental range ballistic missile. something designed to eventually be able to hit the united states with a nuclear warhead. this is the kind of missile they fired on july 4th for the first time. that -- here's an interesting indicator. that missile on july 4th flew something between 37 and 40 minutes and the japanese have already said, this missile today flew 45 minutes. so a good deal of concern that what we are looking at is a potential announcement that this was another icbm long-range missile launch. that is not confirmed. they are still looking at all the data. we expect an announcement in the coming hours. look, wolf, make no mistake. this comes as a u.s. intelligence committee recently advised its estimate saying we could be facing a reliable icbm

from north korea sometime in 2018. wolf? >> a couple years ahead of what earlier had been thought. will ripley, you've been to north korea several times, including recently. what else can you tell us about this launch? certainly doesn't seem to be much of a surprise. they're doing this increasingly more often. >> reporter: right. just yesterday, wolf, i was reporting for your program from along the demilitarized zone. there specifically to watch for this kind of thing. we were looking at kusan as a possible launch site. turns out this particular missile was fired a significant distance away. about 250 kilometers away from a mountainous region in the northern part of korea. i visited that part of north korea just last month. i spoke with officials in the country who said that they not only will have an icbm capable of striking the mainland u.s. but are absolutely not willing to relinquish this kind of weapon. their leader, kim jong-un, made

it a real point to develop these weapons as quickly as possible, because they feel this is their chance to get a seat at the table and to get respect from the international community. really it's the only leverage that north korea has to force other countries, much more powerful and wealthy countries, like the united states, to talk to them. so what we're seeing, not only is the development of this kind of potential, another potential icbm, a first strike kind of missile. remember, within the last week we saw them also trying to perfect their second strike capability, a ballistic missile that could be launched from a submarine. they tested a component of that kind of missile just a few days ago. so north korea trying to develop an icbm they can launch from the land and also one they could launch by sea, by surprise. this is certainly a very troubling development for everyone watching north korea, wolf. >> certainly. will, stand by. alexandra, there in seoul, south korea. south korea, the japanese

government, both called emergency meetings. what can you tell us about the reaction? i understand the missile according to the japanese, they believe it landed in what they call the japanese exclusive economic zone? >> reporter: and they have seen missiles land in that zone before, wolf. this is a troubling enough development that the highest levels of government convened meetings both in south korea and japan in the middle of the night. just about 2:00 in the morning here in south korea. these meetings do quickly happen in the aftermath of these missile launches here in south korea it's the national security council meeting. you can likely expect from this meeting would be a statement that might be issued soon, typically we have seen the government first condemn the action. then underscore the point these missile launches are in violation of international sanctions and then vow any provocations will be met with a response. that's sort of been the routine, response, you've seen from both south korea and japan after these barrage of missile tests we've witnessed for really the past two years now. what's been slightly different

about this launch is what has happened in the run-up to it. as bash ba starr pointed out, indicators that north korea was preparing for another launch and in that context you actual will had an overture from the south korea to the north korean government to establish talks near the dmz. that heavily fortified border that divides the countries. that request was not met with a direct response from north korea. the south korean government continued to say that they remain open to talks and wolf you know as reported on this program, that's been the key aim of the new administration here in south korea. to achieve some kind of dialogue with north korea and certainly mark a shift from the previous administration's approach to dealing with north korea. wolf? >> yes, it would. very important shift indeed. barbara, you're there at the pentagon. we keep seeing these missile launches by the north koreans. what, if anything, is the pentagon planning to do about it? >> reporter: well, defense secretary james mattis has regularly and very publicly said

a military confrontation with north korea would be a catastrophe. of course, no one knows how the north korean regime would react. they have heavy weaponry they could quickly launch into south korea killing millions there'sthe focus of the trump administration has been, of course, on diplomacy led by the state department, pressure in china to pressure north korea to give up its weapons program, but that is not working. the u.s. military, top commanders, we have reported this, have recently updated military options for what they call a rapid response if it is needed. and just a few days ago, publicly the chairman of the joint chiefs, general joe dunford, told an audience where he was appearing that he would be ready to take those options to the president, wolf. >> dramatic developments indeed. barbara starr, will ripley, alexandra field, all working the story. stand by. i want to bring in democratic

senator mazy has rune e i hharu. thanks for joining us. >> hello, wolf. >> alaska and hawaii, closest potential targets to north korea. on a scale of one to ten, senator, how concerned are you about this latest ballistic missile launch? >> we continue to be concerned, because we know that kim jong-un will continue to do these missile launches and that's why north korea and what they're doing is a matter of great concern to us, and we did just pass in the senate a sanctions bill relating to russia and north korea and iran. but i know that there are more sanctions that we could place on north korea and that is an avenue pursued by the chair of our foreign relations committee, bob corker and our ranking member cordon. so there are more things we can do at the same time, i certainly agree with general mattis that there would be a catastrophe if

we take military action, but, of course, as general dunford says, we can't take that off the table either. but i believe there are still some other elements of sanctions that we can impose and certainly continuing to encourage china through whatever avenues including some sanctions on china to encourage them to do more, to -- encourage or discourage kim jong-un from continuing his nuclear ambitions. >> senator, you mentioned the bill now headed to the president's desk. it passed the sanctions bill. passed the senate, what, 98-2 last night. 419-34 419-3 in the house of representatives. overwhelming measures in both chambers. what new sanctions specifically? including against russia, iran and north korea. as far as north korea what new sanctions are you leveling

assuming the president signs it into law? what new sanctions curb north korea's capability in this sanctions? >> in this particular legislation, it was an area that bob corker wanted to strengthen. therefore, i agree with him that we need to place a lot more stringent economic sanctions on north korea, and that is not exactly what was in this bill. a lot of us were very much concerned about the sanctions on russia as way to telegraph to russia that they cannot continue to interfere with our elections, and that was a very important part of the sanctions bill as far as i was concerned, because as you know, as a member of the judiciary committee we have focused a lot of our committee's work on our oversight on what russia was doing at any trump teams -- efforts, i suppose, to work with the russians.

>> quickly -- quickly, senator. >> yes. >> you say maybe the u.s. should start imposing regular sanctions on china to squeeze the chinese, force north korea to stop this ballistic missile program. how far do you want to go in squeezing the chinese? >> i think part of it has to be a diplomatic dialogue with china, because that's the dance of diplomacy in this area of the world. you know, china is, is a huge power, and it's not as though that we can just simply tell them what to do. i think the diplomatic dialogue we have with china in conjunction with further economic sanctions, but it is a matter of how far do you want to go? and that is a dance. that's why the diplomatic aspects need to be strengthened. >> we'll see what the president, president trump harks to say about this latest north korean missile launch. senator, i want you to stay with us. more we need to discuss.

other dramatic news unfolding. we'll talk about that very, very significant health care vote last night in the u.s. senate, including that maverick moment it's being called from senator john mccain that derailed the republicans' health care plan. plus, the president tackles the topic of gang violence in a speech planned just a little while from now out on long island. looking at live pictures coming in. we'll have live coverage of that. stay with us.

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president trump's on the road today. away from the white house, away from washington. at least for a little while. overnight here in washington the u.s. senate shout down the last republican effort to repeal and replace the affordable care act, obamacare as it called. right now we're waiting to hear from the president. getting ready to address a group on long island in new york state to talk about the threat of gang violence here in the united states. we'll have live coverage of that coming up. the president is leaving behind the fallout and there's a lot of it from last night's have dramatic development on the senate floor. the drama culminated in a thumbs down from arizona senator john mccain who registered the decisive vote in effect killing

the last republican repeal and replace plan, at least for now. that vote made it 51 against, 49 for the bill. right after the vote, the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said it it's time to move on while president trump tweeted, "three republicans and 48 democrats let the american people down. as i said from the beginning, let obamacare implode. then deal. watch!" . our national politics reporter m.j. lee on capitol hill and jeff zeleny at the white house. m.j., take us through all the intrigue on the senate floor overnight, and what's being said about it today. >> reporter: well, wolf, what we saw on the senate floor last night was really pretty extraordinary. i was inside the chamber watching from the press gallery above when the vote was happening, and you could see, you know, being able to watch senator mccain sort of close-up. you could tell this was not going to be good news for gop

leadership, when he started talking to senator murkowski and senator collins, of course, the two other no votes at the end of night. that was a sign. and when he was engaged in pretty long conversation with vice president mike pence seemed to not be a good sign for leadership and got up and walked over to the democratic side of the chamber and started hugging some of his democratic colleagues. it was clear he was delivering some good news to his colleagues in the other political party, and then, of course, the final moment when he walked up to the clerk in the front of the chamber, raised his arm and gave a quick thumbs down and said the word no. it was clear that this obamacare repeal bill was not going to move forward. now, where does that leave republicans today? the senate is not in, but house republicans were in this morning meeting actually in the basement for their gop conference meeting, and i can tell you that speaking to house republicans, the message was pretty mixed.

a lot of folks, of course, expressed disappointment. that this is not -- this did not work out last night. and then just the argument back and forth about whether they need to continue their efforts to try to repeal obamacare. that is going to be a key question to watch, and to really press republican senators and house republicans on in the coming days. >> m.j. lee on capitol hill. m.j., thanks very much. jeff zeleny, the president is expected to focus his message at least over the next few hours on the fight against gangs here in the united states. talk about this focus today, what we're hearing from the white house on the health care failure as well? >> reporter: well, wolf, the president is going to be addressing that later this hour in long island, new york. flying there as we speak, with a couple of representatives. republican representatives who represent that district. talking about ms-13, immigration and other matters. wolf, i can tell you the focus and disappointment here at the white house is still very palpable today. it is impossible to overstate

what a, a collapse the bill overnight was, and that dramatic moment as m.j. explained there with john mccain voting against this. it really raises questions about the entire trump administration's agenda here. yes, his advisers say we're going to move on to -- to tax reform. move on to other things. tax reform, the idea of that was built upon getting health care through. wolf, it's back to the drawing board and at the six-month mark, and a week or so, of the presidency. there is open warfare here in the west wing among the president's top advisers from the chief of staff reince priebus to the new communications director anthony scaramucci. as all of that was going on here, this republican priority was absolutely collapsing on capitol hill. many questions being asked today, wolf. should the president have shown more leadership on this issue? should he -- have exerted more pressure on members?

so as all of this is decided here there are new questions that will be, you know, seeing in the coming days's will there be more new faces here at the would us? many think it's time for a reboot. wolf? >> a lot more on that part of the story coming up as well. jeff zeleny at the white house, thanks very much. the drama of the health care vote left us with several memorable moments, including this one. watch this. >> when i was diagnosed with kidney cancer and facing my first surgery, i heard from so many of my colleagues, including so many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who wrote me wonderful notes, sharing with me their own experience. with major illness in their families or with their loved ones. you showed me your care. you showed me your compassion. where is that tonight? >> i want to bring back senator

mazy has rhone i ha roe ma mazie hirono. discussed this in the past. very moving. your vote, nos coming in from republican senators susan collins and lisa murkowski and john mccain of arizona. you specifically mentioned in your remarks last night. >> yes, and we were on the bring of voting on a bill that would have resulted in 17 million people getting knocked off health care. raising costs for so many others. and i'm so glad that the senator, john mccain, who only a few nights before, had been on the floor of the senate to exhort us to get back to regular order so we could have hearings, debates and really think about how best to provide health care for our people that he cast that deciding vote and it was quite

that moment for me, and for the rest of us. >> senators collins and murkowski, they face some nasty remarks. >> yes. >> including senator murkowski getting a threat about federal funds that could help people in alaska, her home state. what's your reaction when you heard about those kinds of direct pressure, the threats coming to those republican lawmakers? >> i had talked to lisa murkowski when she was criticized by the president, and then, of course, thereafter from the interior secretary and so at the time she said, you know what, mazie, i know when somebody tries to bully you, you have to fight back, from the very get-go. otherwise they'll keep coming back. the people of alaska know who she's fighting for. she fighting for them and not afraid of ham-fisted threats and as you noticed, didn't work. same for susan collins. >> as you know, senator, obamacare is in deep trouble.

especially given uncertainty over the battle up on capitol hill. now president trump and his tweet said, just let it fail. the majority leader mitch mcconnell says the time to move on. what do democrats do now to help strengthen the affordable care act? >> that's always been our position, because, of course, none of us takes the position that the affordable care act is perfect. so there are a number of bills that we all have proposed, such as lower prescription drug costs. make sure that subsidies are in place so costs can be lower for health insurance. let's get a public option in there to provide for competition and i know that, for example, tim kaine has a reinsurance program that i think is also very promising. so i hope that going forward that we all care about health care for our people, and i also think that it's unconscionable for the president to say, let the affordable care fail,

because it is going to fail under his watch, and if he does those kinds of things that he's already directed his departments and directors to do, to ensure the failure, i think that's unconscionable for a president to visit illnesses on the people of this country. catastrophic non-covered illnesses. it's unconscionable. >> senator hirono, thanks for joining us. i want to show viewers live pictures coming in from long island. i think this is ronkonkoma, rhode island. the president heading shortly to deliver a speech, a speech on the ms-13 gangs that are out there. live pictures coming in from, from the -- this is -- these are pictures that just, from moments ago of air force one landing at the long island macarthur airport. the president will be delivering the remarks shortly. we'll have live coverage of that coming up. we'll take a quick break.

much more coming up, including the white house communications chief calling the white house chief of staff a paranoid schizophrenic. that's the only part i want to discuss right now on tv. a lot of the other words a lot, a lot more profane, i should say. our panel is getting ready to weigh in on this latest saga. stay with us. people would stare. psoriasis does that. it was tough getting out there on stage. i wanted to be clear. i wanted it to last. so i kept on fighting. i found something that worked. and keeps on working. now? they see me. see me. see if cosentyx could make a difference for you- cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... ...find clear skin that can last. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have

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team there onboard air force one have not yet deplaned. will be shortly. the president getting ready shortly to deliver a speech in front of law enforcement officials and others dealing with a wave of gang violence here in the united states. live coverage of that speech as soon as it happens. first he's got to get off the plane and drive over to brentwood. not too far away, we'll he'll be delivering that speech out on long island. meantime, other news we're watching including this. this is a picture, worth 1,000 words. if this one, it's -- if this one of the new -- it's one of the new white house communications director anthony scaramucci and the white house chief of staff reince priebus. icily glaring in the other's direction inside the oval office. sort of screams turmoil going on right now. with scaramucci's own words, at least, in a new and rather vulgar profanity laden interview with the "new yorker" magazine.

our own ryan liz sa, scaramucci absolutely unloads on his fellow white house staffering and in the r-rated -- x-rated remarks i should say, scaramucci beginning threatening the entire white house communications department and evolve into calling reince priebus a paranoid skits nchizoc and more profane words and wanteds to "kill all the leakers in the white house." and senior political reporter and cnn political director are with us, and keep a watch on air force one and the president as he deplanes as we discuss. so what's going on over there at the white house? >> wolf that is a very good question, to which we canndo no know the answer, except, i would say it's beyond dysfunction at this point, because it stilled out into the open, and you know

there are warring factions, and you know this is a president who while he likes to fire people on television doesn't like to do it in person, and i think that at some point this ban-aid has to be ripped off here. i do think that they have to get their differences resolved, and you have seen that reince priebus has been out there on this limb without anybody backing him up at the white house. and i think that's a real problem for him. you know? >> we're told by the press pool aboard the plane, that both scaramucci and reince priebus are aboard, traveling with the president right now. >> i hope that -- >> yeah. i hope at opposite ends of the plane. >> not sitting flex to each other. >> in the exit row, who's there is what i want to know? >> could be a rather awkward situation over there. >> we saw this coming. scaramucci coming in to the white house, had always wanted to be in the white house, and reports that he was blocked

several times and that priebus wasn't happy to have him there and scaramucci now with his own power center there and apparently with the blessing of this president. how priebus goes on from here we don't know how bannon goes on from here. we don't know. we have seen sessions, right? the attorney general jeff sessions, essentially survive the same kind of public humiliation and public trash talking. we'll see if priebus is able to do that, too. he's been on ice, really, since day one, hadn't been in the president's inner circle to begin with, and seems to still be having problems, we don't see the same kind of conservative defense of priebus the way we did with sessions. sepgss was able to hang on because of his relationship with the base. it's one thing for an attorney general who's enacting policy. seems unlikely you'll see a lot of senators or breitbart or conservative media come to deal

with a west wing staff issue. >> i've spoken to a source that says this is ready to get resolved. >> what's ready to get resolved? >> that priebus is likely to leave at some point and i've also spoken to a source who said he's not going anywhere. >> and any sense of resolution with both of them staying there? >> no. i don't. again, with this -- with this white house it's difficult to predict anything. >> of course. >> you can't with any certainty, because this is up to one person, and that's the president of the united states. and as we know, he could change his mind, and, however, with these conflicting power centers in the white house, and there are many power centers, it's very difficult to get anything done as we have seen, and what makes people leak is the fact that they're competing with each other. you can't stop leaks until you get people all on the same page, and that's the problem, i think, this white house has. >> no. it's true, but also true that probably the leaks aren't the main problem -- >> by the way, you're seeing members of congress getting

ready to deplane. i think i saw peter king, whose district is out there on long island. chris collins, from the other part of new york state up in western new york, around buffalo. one of the top aides to the president there, a press aide to the president. and you see nikki haley, united states ambassador to the united nations. sorry for interrupting. >> clearly trying to refocus, right? focusing on gangs and the justice department trying to wipe out ms-13, been a real problem in long island. this week was supposed to be american heroes week. hadn't been a lot of focus on that. so we'll see what comes out of this, and, you know, i mean, it's just constant drama out of this white house and i think this week in particular. you talked about conservatives that are really challenging this white house, because of what trump was doing around sessions. and we saw that. and so many levels. the pentagon challenging this white house over trump's announcement around transgender.

the boy scouts, of all things, challenging the president at every point, it's the president's fault. one thing to blame leaks, but this is the president's own doing. >> and threatening murkowski. >> exactly. >> and of course, the three senators, murkowski, collins and mick contain. >> right. >> i totally agree. i think this was, this was a really significant week in the trump presidency, because i think it was the first time that we really saw cracks, fissures emerge in a way we haven't seen to date. >> the language, this, that scaramucci used in attacking reince priebus and steve bannon in the white house, he later tweeted this -- anthony scaramucci. i sometimes use colorful language. i will refrain in this arena, but not give up the passionate fight for president trump's agenda. i made a mistake in trusting in a reporter. it won't happen again. now, you're shaking your head. >> well, the second tweet, when he decides to just deflect blame and blame it on the reporter

somehow is -- it's nuts. you know? obviously it was an on the record conversation, and so -- it was -- >> our friend ryan lizza, twice mentioned this was all on the record with scaramucci. scaramucci agreed. called him up the next day, in fact, said, yes, it was on the record. here comes the president walking down. he's going to be delivering this speech shortly. on this gang warfare going on. specifically ms-13. so he's brought a whole entourage along with him for this presentation, but, you know, a lot of what he's trying to do this week, gloria, seems to get lost because of all of these other issues, american heroes week, certainly gets lost. >> i would say, when health care goes down and john mccain is the, you know, the vote that does it, i think -- >> a true american hero. >> which the president actually called him this week flying back, thought he was coming back to be with him. >> and proceed to debate. john mccain, the first time we

heard president trump actually refer to him as a hero. >> that didn't work out so well. look, you're the president of the united states. health care just failed, embarrassing to you and you may take part of the blame or not take part of the blame. this transgender policy you didn't clear with your joint chiefs and we see members of the -- >> you saw nikki haley, u.s. ambassador to the u.n., peter king walking down. some other -- >> congressman, represents a distribute out on long island. republican. chris collins from western new york, from my hometown area, buffalo, new york. a lovely part of new york state, i must say as well. >> go bills. >> and this is -- this is an important event for the president. they've been setting the stage for it for several days now. >> that's right. and this idea of being tough on crime, being tough on criminals, being tough on illegal immigration, it all comes together i think in this event today and we'll see what the president has to say about this. i mean, it is part of what

attorney general jeff sessions is doing. this is some of the work he's been doing as well and the president, certainly a part of his brand and allows him to focus on something that will rile up his base. the base expected, and had success on. everything else in many ways, he hasn't had that success. this idea he's a dealmaker. he alone can fix it. he can bring sort of a new tone and tenure to washington hasn't worked, but on these kinds of things i think, you know, the base is very pleased with what he's been doing. >> look, i think the turmoil that surrounds the president, part of which he's to blame for, weighs heavily on him, because he's got an agenda that has been stalled, and i think he understands that's a problem, and he has people, i'm told, urging him he's got to do something about it. but we -- we just don't know in the end what he will do or when he will do it. >> and beginning to leave the long island mccarthy airport for the drive over to brentwood where the president will be

speaking. interesting that scaramucci, reince priebus, other senior aides, must have deplaned the back exit as opposed to the front exit. we didn't see them -- they left with the secret service. >> arm in arm. >> with the press pool, all the staffers. didn't come out the front. >> despite the fact that's probably the photo we really wanted. >> that's why we wanted to keep that shot up. in case they'd walk out together. maybe walk out together holding hands or whatever. >> do you remember when the president cold jared kushner and steve bannon to work it out? when -- i can't remember exactly. >> march, maybe? >> march, maybe march. so you don't know what the conversation was on the plane with -- with reince priebus and with scaramucci. and -- and we don't know if there was a conversation. we don't know what the president said. and we don't know if that's going to, conversation will continue or not continue. >> here's what we do know -- we do know when the white house was asked about this yesterday, that they did not have any problem with it.

they just pointed to scaramucci's words. sarah huckabee sanders did. >> exactly. >> and said, he said he probably went outside of the lines there, but no -- recrimination or that's unacceptable behavior for a white house staffer. not the way colleagues should treat colleagues. >> shocking, by the way. >> there's was no retribution. >> or defense of reince priebus, who's done a fantastic job. >> and didn't hear strong vote of confidence in the attorney general at that press briefing yesterday either, when specifically sarah huckabee sanders, the press secretary, asked, does the president have confidence? we didn't hear a yes. a simple yes would have been a strong word but we can't hear that. guys, stand by. we're getting new information now on the breaking news that led our program this hour. we know now what type of missile north korea launched earlier today. bring back our pentagon correspondent brash starr. barbara, what are you and your team learning? >> reporter: wolf, we've been told by the pentagon it was indeed a north korean

intercontinental ballistic missile, and icbm, that north korea launched about 10:40 a.m., east coast time this morning. what does this all mean? an icbm is a long-range missile that has the capability some day of being able to strike the united states with potentially a nuclear warhead on top of it. that is the critical threat that president trump getting off that plane is facing. he would have been briefed about this now. no public word from the white house yet about this, but here's what's so critical, wolf. not just an icbm, but this is the second one within a month. north korea first tested an icbm on july 4th. stunning the world. and now today. a second icbm test launch. according to what the pentagon is telling us, it was launched out of a site in northern, north korea. north of the capital of pyongyang. it flew about 1,000 kilometers to the east. believed to have dropped in to

the sea of japan. the east sea. japanese saying that as well. the japanese are calculating the missile flew for about 45 minutes. one of the critical things we're trying to learn is how high the missile flew nap wi. that will tell us a lot about the capability of the missile. it landed about 88 miles off the coast of japan. this is -- this is a destabilizing action by the north koreans, once again, but destabilizing more than ever before. so now, what happens? the trump administration publicly has been focussing on diplomacy. using the chinese. trying to pressure the north koreans, but there's no indication the north koreans are giving up their weapons. what we know is that commanders, u.s. commanders, have recently updated military options for north korea, even though the defense secretary, jim mattis, says a war with north korea would be a catastrophe. wolf? >> only 80 miles from japan. in japans what they call their

exclusive economic zone. a very worrisome development where this missile landed at the same time. barbara, stand by. we'll get back to you. following the breaking news. also following president trump. about to address a large crowd out on long island as questions swirl about the future of some of his top aides. live coverage. stand by.

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gained worldwide attention with both pope francis and president trump weighing in. charlie gard was just 11 months old. take a look at this. very different story we're following right now. live pictures coming from brentwood area of long island in new york where the president shortly will deliver a speech on combatting gang violence here in the united states and the need for stricter immigration laws. it's all part of an effort to get on with his agenda after the republican health care bill failed in a dramatic late-night vote. the health care defeat caps a very difficult week for president trump. he was rebuked by members of his own party. even the u.s. boy scouts and some of the president's actions are raising questions about whether his leadership style is truly effective. joining us now to talk about all of this and more, presidential historian alan lickman, distinguished professor of history here at the american university here in washington,

d.c. it is very dramatic. give us an historic perspective on this week, on the setbacks that the president has suffered. >> well, this week is not unique. he's suffered setback after setback. and i would compare him to the first american president to be impeached, andrew johnson, who was impeached in 1868. like trump, johnson was a maverick. he portrayed himself as the ultimate outsider. he called washington 12 square miles surrounded by reality. like trump, he loved the adoring crowds and often propagated bigotry. he called himself the moses of the white man to cheers of his crowds. he, like trump, did not listen to advice. he was extremely head strong, and he aired his grievances in public, demeaning and defaming his enemies in congress. he obstructed the reconstruction laws. he couldn't get any victories through congress. which you know why he was ultimately impeached?

for firing and replacing a cabinet member in defiance of a congressional law, the tenure of office act, as well as defaming the congress. >> well, what's your reaction when you see the president of the united states on twitter and that "new york times" interview, specifically go after the sitting attorney general of the united states, jeff sessions, because he recused himself from the russia investigation. >> trump is terrified of the russia investigation. and he's particularly terrified now because he heard that the special counsel is looking into his finances. that's why he's never released his taxes. it's nothing to do with the fact that he's paid little or no taxes. it has to do with what might be concealed within his taxes so the attack on sessions is indirect way of getting at the special counsel. look, lots of presidents have been unhappy with cabinet members. franklin roosevelt was unhappy for many years with his sktd

secretary of state but he didn't air grievances in public. fdr also liked conflict and controversy within his administration. he wanted people to hash things out but he didn't do it in an unseemly way out in the public and no president, really, except perhaps for andrew johnson, has so taken a risk of losing his base of support, his conservatives, by attacking mr. conservative, jeff sessions. >> president was just asked as he landed out in long island for the speech he's about to give about the failure to pass the repeal and replace health care legislation. he said, when asked about health care, he said, it's going to be fine. that was what he said. it's going to be fine. we don't exactly know what he means. he saw his tweet earlier in the day, 3 republicans, 48 democrats let the american people down, as i said from the beginning, let obamacare implode, then deal. watch. now he says it's going to be fine. your reaction. >> two really important things here. one, as i pointed out in my

book "the case for impeachment" this is consistent with the way trump has operated for more than 40 years as a businessman. he never takes personal responsibility for anything. he always puts it off on others, whether it's bankruptcies or walking away from a deal and letting others suffer. but the really frightening thing here, and this is consistent with his m.o. as well, all he cares about is the p.r. value of what he does and getting a win. the really chilling thing here is he seems willing to jeopardize the health care of millions of americans to let obamacare fail, which means people get hurt, in order to give him a better chance of posting a win and just like with a lot of his projects, he doesn't care what's in the projects, he doesn't care what's in the bill, he just wants a mark on his record. >> and what do you think about this exchange, what we've seen, the attack from the new white house communications director, anthony scaramucci, against the sitting white house chief of staff, reince priebus, the chief strategist steve bannon, in the white house, you saw the

interview that scaramucci granted ryan lizza of "the new yorker." >> two things struck me about that interview. number one, you don't air your fights out in public. you do what fdr did and let them take place behind the scenes. number two, the vug garrity lga. you don't speak in those kind of vulgar terms. you're supposed to be the great communicator, and you know, who wants to have a communicator where you don't even want your children watching what he has to say. >> listen to republican senator kennedy of louisiana react to this. he had some strong news. republican senator. >> you have all these aides that work for the president, and they want daddy to love them best so they fight over turf, and they try to hurt each other. it looks to me like in this white house it's out of control. >> out of control. that's a republican senator. >> it is out of control.

and a lot of trump's businesses were out of control. you know, more often than not, his big businesses like the big condo towers in tampa and ft. lauderdale, soho in new york would also fail but i think it's really important that you don't put this on the aides. harry truman said, the buck stops here. what the aides are doing is a reflection of the leader. one of the lichtman rules of politics is the leader always knows and the leader always sets the tone. >> you were one of the few who actually predicted that donald trump would be elected president of the united states, and you got some grief at the time. but you were right. he was elected president of the united states. >> and my new book is "the case for impeachment" my next big prediction. >> we'll talk about that on another occasion. thanks very much for coming in, presidential historian, distinguished professor of history here at the american university in washington. that's it for me.

i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." for our viewers here in north america, "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right after a quick break. our special coverage of the president's speech out on long island. we'll have live coverage of that. stay right here. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com be soon, medicare only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. you might want to consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like any medicare supplement insurance plan, these help pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and, these plans let you choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. you could stay with the doctor or specialist you trust...

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here we go. you're watching cnn on this friday afternoon. i'm brooke baldwin. good to be with you. just a heads up, any moment, the president will be speaking from long island in new york, touting his administration's efforts to crack down on the ms-13 gang, and he chose this particular location because police say the gang has been on a killing spree there. these will be his first public remarks since the failure of the republican bill to replace obamacare, and we're told his two feuding aides were both on the plane. they were both on air force one with him, anthony scaramucci, and reince priebus, and we have lots more on that in just a moment. but first, let's go straight to the pentagon and what they're confirming to us here at cnn.