rocket man. clearly, things have changed, wolf. >> yes. and we are standing by for this announcement momentarily. let's see how significant it really is. but we'll continue our breaking room coverage. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." thanks for watching. erin burnett outfront starts right now. outfront next breaking news president trump promising a major announcement momtds from now. live we are learning about an invitation from kim jong-un personally to trump. plus russian investigators on capitol hill calling for a subpoena for lewandowski amid questions for prince on a meeting in the seychelles. and a new twist in the stormy daniels saga. we have more information.

unprecedented moment, all of a sudden we find out we are standing by for what president trump is calling a major announcement this evening for about north korea. it is expected to take place any moment just outside the west wing. let me make this clear, sometimes we get a warning when these things happen. this is so last minute appearingly being thrown together. it's going to happen when it happens. so you have to stay with us. start any second. started this afternoon. the president made a surprise appearance in the briefing room at the white house late today showing up like that opening the door. our jeff zeleny telling us this is the first time he can recall the president coming into the briefing room. and this came after south korean delegation came by this afternoon. will ripley south koreans had hand delivered alert from kim jong-un to president trump. personal invitation for trump to kim jong-un. this is according to a u.s. senior official. a lot to get to tonight.

as i said they'll walk out when they walk out and you'll hear what they have to say. what this announcement is that the president of the united states felt was so momentous he needed to jump into the briefing room and tell the a press all of a sudden live announcement at 7:00 eastern. begin our coverage with jim acosta at the white house. will ripley in seoul, south korea. jim let me start with you. stunning things in terms of the theater or lack there of, then you have kim jong-un inviting trump to a meeting. >> reporter: that's right, erin. welcome to our world at the white house. things are changing a mile a minute. and you are right, what we do expect to see in a few moments here is the leader of the south korean delegation, he will be coming to the microphones out here, we suspect without any other u.s. firms mainly because that's the guidance from the white house. but keep in mind, erin, the president liked to break the news earlier this afternoon.

i would not be surprised if he pokes his head outside the doors of the west wing. but in terms of the content of what we are going to hear, we do understand that the leader of the south korean delegation met with the president earlier today. and as you were saying, will ripley and others reporting that he hand delivered some kind of letter or message to the president inviting to the president on behalf of kim jong-un, the leader of north korea, to meet with the north koreans about how to deal with this very tricky issue of denuclearizing the north korean peninsula. and at this point the question is will the president go forward with this. and agree to meet with kim jong-un. now, we are hearing from sources here at the white house, that the president is perhaps not likely to do that. that he's already being counseled that that would be a bad idea. but, erin, as you know, past being prologue, we have seen the president defy the advice of his advisers before and go in a very different direction. so i this i it's totally up in

the air to what the president will ultimately decide on that front. and also point out this may be more than just an invitation from kim jong-un. there are these talks that have been going on between the south koreans and north koreans and i'm told that the content what we'll be hearing from the south korean leader in just a few momtds is, quote, interesting. so there is going to be more, i think, than just this information about kim jong-un inviting the president of the united states to meet with him. but make no mistake, we have gone from the president referring to kim jong-un as little rocket man, and the president talking about fire and fury, to the potential for a very unlikely and incredible and, dare i say, reality tv style meeting between two very different and in some ways similar leaders. >> i mean, it's incredible. we are learning now from ryan brown, pentagon reporter, that some pentagon officials were caught off-guard. didn't know there was announcement to make. of course, jim, as you've been

talking about, the president didn't even tell his own staff that he was making this announcement. >> that's right. >> how caught off-guard was everybody who works for the white house here? >> reporter: they were caught off here at the white house. i was talking to senior administration official earlier this evening who said they were making plans as this a flouns pt was being made by the president, tan that things, i was being told, could change at any moment. so, yes, they were obviously caught off-guard. and the press was caught off-guard as well. paint you a picture, the president walks into the briefing room, something you are right he has not done since he's been in office. and he was talking to reporters and said, hey, this is off the record. he initially said this is off the record. then other reporters in the room said no we can't take it off the record. can you tell us without having any video footage of that. so the president perhaps doesn't understand how off the record works.

when you start talking about north korea, we'll consider that on the record. >> yeah, stay with us jim. i want to go to will ripley in seoul, south korea. you know the players. you've been to pyeongchang 17 times. why do you think kim did this in dramatic way. give a letter, go to washington, hand delivered to donald trump from kim jong-un. why do you think this in this way? >> well, sources i've been speaking with very close to north korea say that kim jong-un has been studying intently president trump. and he's taking a page from the trump playbook. he looks at what is happening right now. the sanctions that have been largely by the trump administration are beginning to bite in north korea. trucks coming from china has

almost none hand negative effect if the sanctions continue. also the messaging from president trump that he would be very willing to move to a military option, attack on north korea if diplomacy doesn't work. so kim jong-un, he wants to remain in power for decades to come. long after president trump leaves office. long after south korea moon leaves office. so his calculusty moment is diplomacy is best and only option to move forward. even when north korea talks about they have nuclear missiles pointed at the united states, they foe if there was a war to break out odds of north korea surviving as we know it are next to none. and, therefore, the north korean calculus is they need to engage with this administration, despite the insults that were hurled back and forth, despite all the bell bell a coast rhetoric, and he knows trump likes drama.

kim jong-un ready to deliver apparently. this was top secrets. no one knew what was in this. but just given the secrecy surrounding it. the south korean number one priority when they were in pyeongchang to secure a meeting between united states and north korea. the south korean want these two countries to talk. they don't want to see the situation escalate. they want engagement so they flew to washington. and they delivered this letter, this invitation. theys will delivered apparently a promise by kim jong-un to freeze nuclear missile testing as this diplomatic process ongoing. >> right. of course they promised and broken those promises. will, let me ask you, do you know anything more about the letter itself? i mean, you know, i think people are curious about this. could it have been written by hand? would it have said anything about where a meeting happened? what's the drama with the letter itself?

because obviously for president trump that drama matters a lot. >> reporter: and we didn't confirm, erin this was a letter a few hours ago most likely a verbal message. but now obviously we are hearing it was not. if you looked at those images from kim jong-un at the head quartsers of korea where you had more than four hour meeting and dinner with the south korean he was holding in his hand a large byner. which if you look at the byner you assume he had notes and talking points and ready to sit down and talk. but programs in the binder kim jong-un he also made a formal presentation to the south korean of this letter, or it could have been the south korean tried to convince him letter was to do it, had a meeting before the south korean to fly back to seoul. and so it will be interesting if the white house releases image of this letter, what it's going to look like. we have seen what letters from kim jong-un look like before. we have seen signature.

but this will be a document that will go down in history to have leader of north korea written and addressed to donald trump the president of the united states. >> pretty incredible. thank you. as jim and will stand by, you can see what we can see. we expect them to come out of the door and walk over to all of those microphones as you see. because the white house seemed to not have any idea what they were going to do here, we can't tell you whether sarah sanders will introduce the south korean delegation, whether the president himself pops out. this is the sort of theater of course that the president of the united states likes to present us with. and you have it there right now. right now they are ten minutes late from when they were anticipated to approach. i want to as jim and will stand by, bring in phil mudd, former cia counter terrorism official joins me now along with sam, former senior adviser to the national security adviser during the obama administration. also with us, retired general james spider marks, military and

pa li analyst, and spent a lot of time in north korea. and show down takes on the world. also here in new york global correspondent elise that spends time at the u.n. special meeting on monday. let me start with you, sam, next to me, big question letter comes in. how unprecedented is this moment, letter from the leader to the president of the united states requesting in-person meeting? >> this is historic. we did not a letter from the north koreans. >> they are going to start talking. let's listen in. >> on my resent visit to pyeongchang. i would like to thank president, the vice president and his national security team, including my close friend, general mcmaster. i explained to president trump that his leadership and his

maximum pressure policy together with international solidarity brought us to this juncture. i expressed president moon personal gratitude for president trump's leadership. i told president trump that now meeting north korean leader kim jong-un said he's committed to denuclearization. kim pledged that north korea will refrain from any further nuclear or missile tests. he understands that the routine joint military exercises in the republic of korea and the united states must continue. and he expressed his eagerness to meet president trump as soon as possible. president trump appreciated the briefing. and said he would meet kim jong-un by may to achieve

permanent denuclearization. the republic of korea along with the united states, japan, and our many partners around the world, remain fully and rest lieutenantly committed to the complete denuclearization of the korean peninsula. along with president trump, we are optimistic about continuing a diplomatic process to test the possibility of a peaceful resolution. the republic of korea, the united states, and our partners stand together in insisting that we not repeat the mistakes of the past. and that the pressure will continue until north korea matches his words with concrete actions. thank you. >> all right. that was a stunning statement. let's just start with the most stunning part. that was the national security

adviser for south korea and he is saying in his meeting with president trump, president trump expressed his eagerness to -- i'm sorry kim jong-un expressed eagerness to meet trump as soon as possible, president trump said yes, and he will do so by may. that is incredible thing. i don't think there is anybody watching this or expert on korea who expectsed that response at this time. pretty stunning. also you heard from the national security adviser of south korea a lot of flattery from south korea to the president of the united states. and saying that kim jong-un reiterating his position that north korea would refrain from anymore nuclear tests. there is so much to talk about here. sam who worked with president obama, you just said this was unprecedented in terms of getting this letter. let's get to elise, the response. president trump comes out and says yes i'll meet with you. i'll do it by may. >> that's right. look, president trump wants to be the leader that no -- wants

to do what no other leader has done, right. he wants to meet with kim jong-un, get a commitment from the north korean leader, and you know good for him for lowering the temperature. this maximum pressure campaign, flattering president trump, speaking to his, you know, ego a little bit. and saying, look, your leadership has brought you to this point. but, you know, these talks that the u.s. would have with north korea, if president trump were to sit down with kim jong-un tomorrow, what would he say? i mean, there is no -- and you talk to u.s. officials, there is no strategy for what they want from north korea, how would this go, these kind of important summit, while it would be historic, you would want to think the ground work was laid. tan he's going to put advisers in a very tough position right now to prepare the ground for these talks. it's historic. and it's very significant.

might be a little premature. >> i'm curious general marks what you think of the president's strategy. you know, he had the option of saying okay i'll think about it. let's see what you do, whether you actually keep your word or not, then maybe i'll meet with you. but he didn't do that he came out and said yes i'll meet with you and i'll do it by may. is that the right strategy? >> he said he would meet him by may. i'm blown away. put my tie and put it whack dba in front. totally unprecedented. but what should not be unprecedented how this will evolve. the president said by may, but there will be preconditions. this has to be completely set up so the president doesn't walk in and totally ambushed and walking away from what ends up being a stillborn outcome. there has to be preconditions. there has to be inspections if

there is going to be a freeze in nuclearization in terms of missiles and tests that has to be inspected. we have to be able to verify this is moving in the right direction. so there is a lot of green on that table. that pool table between good intentions and execution. >> still to this point, general marks talks about being blown away, i mean to say you could do it and do it by may, were you also stunned by that? >> totally stunned. absolutely. i was not expecting this announcement to include this. >> sorry, phil. >> yeah, but, let's put a couple of things on the table here. because count me as a skeptic as well. i don't have any problem with the white house trying to lower the temperature with the north koreans. this is better than the president tweeting that the head of north korea is little rocket man. we don't need that. but bush failed. clinton failed. obama failed. and let's look at the language that was just used a couple of moments ago at the beginning of this program. they didn't say they would

reverse. that is the south koreans. they didn't say they had a promise from the north koreans they would reverse. they said they would refrain from future testing. what did we see in the past year or two? development of ballistic missile and missile testing. which says i have the capability. if i'm the north korean i can deliver nukes, why not cement the solutions and say let's talk. if i'm the president i have two questions. what's on ts table? and it sount sound to me like denuke. it sounds like freeze. and number two, what happens if you fail? i didn't hear either one of those. >> and gordon on this issue the words from the south korean adviser where they would refrain. but you saw what happened to clinton, they agreed in 1994 that would be the end, and of course that was broken. in 2005 they said they would end their nuclear programs and allow inspectors bush. then 2006 nuclear test.

that was worth a whole lot of nothing. then happened again praum, kim jong-un as leader of north korea reached out, said there would be no more long-term missile launches and halt activity at the nuclear side. what happened the year later? third test. track record very clear. they say they are going to stop nuclear test and do it whenever they are ready to do it next. >> yes, something different though. this time. there are reports that office number 39 which is the kim family slush fund is low on funds. and that's low on funds because of the accelerated testing of missiles last year. so i'm not surprised -- i'm surprised by this whole thing. but the within thing that is not surprising is that the north koreans are not going to test that much more. first of all, as phil mudd suggested, they have already gotten to a high level of proficiency. >> right. because they can do what they say they want to do? that's a crucial question, right? >> it certainly is. but remember they don't have the

money. because president trump's and the u.n. sanctions are really starting to bite. we vl a lot of anecdotal evidence. the most important thing for president trump right now is not to stop the pressure. and that means, as we heard national security adviser chung say, we can't stop, we have to pull more on. because the north koreas will give up nukes if they have no other choice. they are not there yet erin but we can push in about six months. >> all of you stay with me. more of our breaking news coverage stunning moment here and the president of the united states agree go to meet with kim jong-un the leadser of north korea this spring, by may. we'll be right back.

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and we are back with the breaking news tonight. president trump agree go to meet with kim jong-un. the leader of north korea, by may. and unprecedented move and stunning development in a relationship that has included a voluntarily of nasty insults, right. we have north korea calling trump a dotard. trump calling him little rocket man. threatening annihilation. i want to go to will represently in seou ripley in seoul. you have some information. why may? >> reporter: well, may because they are going to be meeting at some point in april. so ahead of that meeting and ahead of this presidential summit between trump and kim in may, there is obviously a lot of ground work laid out. but all sides appear to want to

be seizing on this momentum here first gained when the inter korean talks revived during january. picked up during the olympics. even though they had no meaningful interaction in pyeongchang, obviously now kim jong-un has calculated this is the time to deal with the united states. and if you think about it, it makes sense. i've been chatting with sources who say that really kim jong-un is probably looking at the scenario, he thinks that trump is somebody who will have one shot man, skip all the bureaucracy and make a realistic decision on the fly without having to go through all the steps that u.s. presidents have done. so perhaps kim jong-un thinks president trump can be the one to achieve what he wants. where they work out some type of deal in exchange for north korea works as nuclear state and more normalized relationship with the u.s. kim jong-un has been studying president trump and he knows face-to-face meetings way to do t you talk about the charm offensive at the olympics, this will take the charm offensive

whole new level. i wanted to talk about significance of the letter, western world seem crazy for people to think there is so much importance tashed to letters. but inside north korea, letters are the most form hallway they can be delivered, highest significance, remember the china president sent alert to kim jong-un. so this is highest form of communication to show he respects president trump and ready to sit down at the table and try to make a deal for the benefit of his country and interests. >> respect is so crucial in what the president wants. will, stay was. i want to bring into the conversation retired admiral kirby with many conversations with north korea. thank you very much. you heard what will rifely reported one shot man. and that kim jong-un thinks this

is his chance. president trump is the guy who can cut through all the bureaucratic tape and get this done. is this actually a great endorsement and a victory for president trump? >> yeah, let me tell you something else about the dynamics on the timing, erin, it's not about drumpresident tr it's about moon, he knows he won't get someone almost trip go over himself to engage and make something happen. not just kim jong-un here being cowed by donald trump. certainly he's a little bit concerned by the military uncertainty. sanctions. but so too are allies in south korea. president trump has rattled them. so when we talk about what's bringing this about and timing, almost as much to do with the tensions and feelings and fear south of the dmz as it does with the uncertainty to the north. >> but is all of that, admiral,

about donald trump? >> yeah. >> he's the guy -- is this a different moment on every single level than it was with bill clinton, bush, barack obama, president after president who failed? is it different and is it different because of one person donald trump? >> it feels like a different moment for me. i don't think that you can say that it is. i do think president trump deserves some of the credit. because the sanctions he put in place international pressure is starting to have affect. because he has created uncertainty in the minds of both the south and north about what he might do militarily, yes he gets credit for that but two other things really important, erin, kim is not his father. he has more credibility at negotiating table because he has more credibility with military. so has upper hand. number two, moon is the other factor here that we haven't discussed. it's because he wants to engage so much, kim knows that, kim is taking advantage of that, and to

some degree he's running the table here. >> let's me go back to team of experts. sam, back to you, you were part of whatever conversations with president obama. does this feel different with you than the meeting tonight? >> it does. but it doesn't mean we should rush into a nuclear summit. we would spend months for basic meetings president obama would have. talk to your diplomats and intelligence committee. there is no way president trump could be ready for may to have high stakes on the korean peninsula. so looking at scenario now where the president now perhaps because he wants a pr opportunity, perhaps he's desperate to do a deal is going to be rushing into a nuclear negotiation. guess what, you can't wing it. kim jong-un will be fully prepared. i think he's playing to the president's ego and weaknesses by flattering him and by inviting had imto pyeongchang. but this is major concession.

if president trump does meet with kim jong-un, he's going to be going in unprepared and giving to kim what kim wants, which is positive photo op. >> is that what it is? between these two? because if that's the way it is, you see him in everyone of these televised meetings, doentd want the process, he wants to come in and say dial it. >> there's true. but let me play devil's advocate this time. they are not going to sit down to nuclear negotiation and come out in one deal. we are talking about meeting or talks. maybe they sit down and they agree they are going to give technical experts or secretary tillerson their envoys start negotiations. i don't think -- >> so really face-to-face meeting? >> face-to-face. could it be a photo op? yes. could it be a start of something? warming of tensions? it's been pretty tense on the korean peninsula. i do think this is different. i grew he with will ripley entirely that kim jong-un sees that president trump might be

the most favorable deal he's going to get. and if he's going to do something, he might as well try and do it now. i think you have to trust but verify. and the u.s. is not going to giveaway everything. president trump does have good advisers around him. i think it is a different moment. i think it's significant. i think president trump as we have said does deserve credit for this maximum pressure campaign working. but i think you need to be skeptical about what the north koreans are going to do. >> and on that front, what does happen with the north koreans? right? because you have to look at history. they have allowed inspectors in before. they have said they are going to freeze before. they have said they are not going to test before. and every single time they have. and it would seem to defy reason they would give up all of their nuclear program and completely verifiable way which of course is what this administration said they have to do. >> well, so, let's cut to the chase. the question is is it different. let me give you my answer, hell

no. you have a south korean adviser who just walked out of the west wing and didn't talk about denuclearization which is what the president has been talking about. he talked about a freeze. so the president shows up at the table. he says we are going to freeze in a place where the north koreans have already proven to us that they have a nuclear capability. if you are the north koreans you are saying in the past five minutes i just won. so the conversation is whether we test more not whether we denuclearize. i don't buy this for a second. i would do this if i were the president. who knows what the north koreans will show up with. i think the sanctions are having some impact. but i would place the chance that we see something on denuclearization over the next let's say six, 12, 24 months somewhere between 0 and 20%, no better. >> interesting article in the walt disney that went through what will ripley said, empty

trucks, and china stepping up to the plate trading partner. but that article said wealthy north koreans were able to get everything they wanted. who knows what the exact situation on the ground is. gordon, what's your perception? how dire are the straits? what kim jong-un cares about, fancy cars, women, everything that provides the lifestyle that he wants to maintain, has that damaged to a level he's willing to negotiate? >> i think there has been certainly a reduction in the money going to regime. we saw that to the soldier deflected, he had uncooked kernels of corn in his stomach. >> and worms. >> well, we know that.

but we know about the corn. they had every incentive to keep him fed and they didn't do it. i think kim jong-un and president trump are trying to influence president moon that's why they are making statements they ordinarily wouldn't make. >> general marks, let me ask you about one other thing that was said here. often you get the tests and anger from north korea when the standard joint exercises between the u.s. and south korea happen. we have all been in south korea around when this happened. this was very explicit tonight. the south korean envoy saying that kim jong-un accepts that the joint exercises between the u.s. and south korea must continue. how significant is that? kim jong-un was willing to put that on the table. is that something or not? >> it is something. it's huge, quite frankly. i would think kim would run the risk of being viewed as irrelevant and in fact not being taken seriously if he were not to acknowledge that the

coalition, the south korean u.s. coalition, military coalition on the peninsula is one of the best in the world, and has been there for 70 years. he has to acknowledge that that's not going away. and that their rhythm of exercises and joint connections and that command is going to continue to exist in some capacity. the fact that he acknowledged that makes us realize there might be something real here. but again we have to be -- a large dose of skepticism has to be taken with all of this. >> thanks very much to all of you. just an extraordinarily evening and of course owning the door to the big question, president trump can truly solve this problem. that would be going down as a great president. and no way around that. that is the reality here. thank you all. and. and next, new developments in the russian investigation, house threaten go to subpoena lewandowski after testimony on capitol hill. and the wrath of trump on aide

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we offer 35 voice features and solutions that grow with your business. at&t, not so much. we give you 75 mbps for $59.95. that's more speed than at&t's comparable bundle, for less. call today. new tonight, democrats on the house intel committee threatening to subpoena former trump campaign manager lewandowski. he testified before the panel today claiming he answered all relevant questions. but that's not what adam schiff is saying. he refused to talk about the firing of james comey or the misleading statement drafted about junior trump tower meeting with the russians. >> witnesses don't get to pick and choose when it comes to relevant testimony to our

investigation. so we requested a subpoena. >> manu raju is outfront breaking the story. manu, republicans were willing, majority, as schiff refers to, they were willing to subpoena steve bannon when he refused to answer questions before the committee. are they willing to do that for lewandowski. >> reporter: i'm not getting any indication they are willing to go that far. in fact, republicans that i've talked to afterwards are saying that they believe that he answered all, quote, relevant questions. and that's the buzz word of loouds wh lewandowski when he left the hearing committee, he said i answered all relevant questions. but he chose what questions were relevant and what were not. and democrats said questions left unanswered including as you mentioned how that statement was drafted about that donald trump junior meeting with the russians as well as what he knew about the firing of james comey. because lewandowski, despite having left the trump campaign june 2016 remained contact with white house officials and with the president himself. but republicans seem willing to

move on past lewandowski. they believe they got answers to their questions. and it's unclear, erin, what else they'll do with steve bannon threatening to hold nim in contempt for not answering questions. but right now uncertain whether they'll move forward with that. >> of course "the washington post" has been talking about mueller zeroing in on that meeting in the seychelles between a russian insider, putin insider and black water co-founder erin prince. and now schiff is calling for prince to return before the committee because he was concerned he misled them about the bankrussian banker. they downplayed this. strange exchange. let me play it quickly. >> some fund manager i can't remember his name. >> a fund manager but you don't remember his name. >> i don't remember his nape. we didn't exchange cards. >> how long was it, the meeting,

do you remember? >> probably lasted as long as one beer. >> so it was a casual setting? >> absolutely. private business that had nothing to do with the u.s. government, trump team, transition team or anything else. >> all the way to the seychelles for one beer, manu, that doesn't jive with what other people have said in the meeting have told me and told you. why is this meeting getting so much renewed sruti incrutiny no? >> upcoming 2016, prince denied that, not just to you, but to the house intelligence committee when he testified in november. but now learning that another participant was in one of those meetings george nadir, businessman with ties to the trump team, with middle eastern specialist. and prince did not reveal to the committee that nader was a part of these meetings.

and nar nader cooperating now. so the question tonight, erin, for the democrats on the committee whether prince told the true to the committee, republicans right now though, erin, don't see any issue, they don't see any reason to bring him back to the committee. so we'll see how this ultimately is resolved on capitol hill. >> obviously crucial for the committee and robert mueller. thank you. we have breaking news at the white house. jim, you have breaking details on the north korean invitation to president trump. what can you tell us? >> yeah. one thing we want today make sure erin is white house is confirming the president has indeed accepted the invitation to meet with kim jong-un. white house is confirming that. we have a statement from sarah sanders the press secretary. it says president greatly appreciates the nice words. he will accept the statement invitation to meet with kim jong-un a place and time to be

determined. we look forward to the deknew l denuclearization. in the meantime all sanctions will remain. they are making clear they are not taking the foot off the gas pedal in terms of pressure. they want to remain this in place until this meeting happened. but i can tell you within talking to a senior official, this all transpired very quickly this afternoon. i'm told by this official that the south korean delegation first met with h.r. mcmaster, national security adviser, that was when this offer was first revealed. then they went straight to the president. they went into the oval office. briefed the president on all of this. . the south korean delegation once again explained that to the president. then within about that same hour, i'm told, the president then came into the briefing room, made that surprise stunning announcement and sprung it on all of us. all of that happened within about an hour. so this was all moving very quickly this afternoon. and an according to this

official, now all they are working on at this point is the date and plate for this meeting which will obviously be quite extraordinarily. erin. >> so, jim let me ask you, because this is a crucial, it's a specific point. but when you say at a place and time to be determined, the south korean envoy said that president trump had agreed to meet kim jong-un and to do so by may. they are obviously explicitly not confirming may to you. it sounds like trying to keep the date out of this. right explicitly, right? >> reporter: exactly. and i think they want to keep this so tightly under wraps at the moment they don't want to say exactly, to your point, whether this may happen very soon. they are simply saying that this will happen by may. they also don't want to get into the location of when these talks will occur. but this official did mention they do believe the south koreans will also be involved in the conversation. so does it make sense for the president to go to seoul, south korea? that would obviously be a

meeting point that would make sense. but of course we can't jump to conclusions at this point as to whether this might take place, because they say they are working on all those details as we are speaking right now. and, erin, this moved so quickly this afternoon, i would have to think they are trying to catch their breathe inside the white house at this point before they start planning all this. >> right. of course as we have reported from the pentagon ks many officials there didn't know about this. just stunning that it took the breathe away of so many in the president's administration. all right. thank you very much, jim acosta. next, we have new details on the stormy daniels scandal. what we are learning about a new woman who may have confidential information about daniels alleged affair with president trump. when this bell rings...

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breaking news albi, we are learning about stormy daniel's alleged

trump.. >> that is her there sitting next to gloria allred. now when she came out with those accusations about president trump, this is how, excuse me, candidate trump, this is how candidate trump's spokesperson responded just before the election. the spokesperson saying, listen. mr. trump does not know this person, does not remember this person, and would have no interest in ever knowing her. now he's talking there about jessica drake. less than a week after that statement was made, jessica drake, under her legal name, angel ryan, showed up in the non-disclosure agreement that was signed by michael cohen, president trump's personal attorney. that non-disclosure agreement is the agreement that

stormy daniels also signed, saying that she would not go forward with her story. this is where things get complicated. it appears that jessica drake was told the details of what happened between her and president trump, whether they were sexual details and that this affair lasted from 2006 to 2007, she must have had some information, because she's named in the non-disclosure agreement as someone who got information from stormy daniels. we still have not heard from the white house on this. but that is the latest. we are now seeing new evidence that cnn uncovered that the person that is listed in the non-disclosure agreement, named angel ryan is indeed jessica drake, one of donald trump's accusers. >> thank you very much for explaining that. it's very complicated but you explained it very clearly. let's go to joe walsh and former

trump adviser, steve cortez. let me start with you. jessica drake is named in the stormy daniels non-disclosure agreement. she says the president didn't actually sign it. but president trump saying he didn't know who jessica drake was. how damaging can this be, steve? >> i don't think damaging at all. in all reality, what we're seeing is majoring in the minors. instead of talking about the diplomatic breakthroughs tonight, instead of talk being about the economy, isis mashed, what is the media fixated on? tabloid slush. it's not relevant to what's going on today. >> certainly, if the president was aware of a payment made to her to help her silence in the election, that would be a crime

and quite significant, i would argue. >> well, i would say, listen, there's no credible information. by the way, these accusers have been incredibly conflicted themselves. stormy daniels has made conflicted statements over and over again. i'm going to take the president's word over someone involved in pornography. the people who voted for the president, when they voted for him, they didn't believe he was mother tree sachheresa, nobody that. they voted for him because they believed in the change and opportunity he would bring to this country, and he's delivering on that. >> first of all, what trump voters want or believe is not paramount. the law is paramount. and don't ride erin for not paying attention to the south

korea/north korea break through. she just spent 54 minutes on it. if a crime is committed it's going to matter. we also, i am also fascinated by the fact that dresse jessica drake shows up here, she can corroborate some of the stormy daniels story. conceivably, can stormy daniels or stephanie clifford, her real name, can she corroborate jessica drake's claims of president trump's unwanted kissing, groping. it's all very relevant. >> this is an important story. secondly, we spent almost 40 minutes talking about korea on this show. perhaps you, if you were working at the white house wouldn't have made such a poor decision, but that's what they did, okay? so let's just be clear here. they don't want to talk about the substance of things like

tariffs, so they pulled him off the show. >> i'm happy to talk about tariffs any time you want. >> you don't work for the white house, peter navarro does. >> he said there would be no exception, and suddenly, this agreement is rildddled with exceptions, but maybe we're going to have exceptions for everybody. >> we are learning president trump's upset with his press secretary, after she acknowledged his involvement in the arbitration with her. obviously, that is significant too. his press secretary, steve is, one could argue at this point the most loyal person in the white house to this president. and he's mad at her about stormy daniels. >> look, i don't know that that's true. if it is true, i'll say this. what donald trump did as a private citizen, as a hollywood

celebrity a decade ago is pretty irrelevant to me and probably to most working americans. what's relevant is once he became a candidate. >> it matters if he violated federal election law by paying her off to win the election. >> weighshe was a candidate. no cares about stormy daniels. at least it seems it was a conceptu consensu consensual relationship. do you care about coverups, do you care about crime. >> the allegations of sexual misconduct against the president, then candidate, were widely known by the american electorate. >> so that doesn't matter? >> they decided it was irrelevant or untrue or some combination of both. >> do you care if he violated election law? >> of course i care about that. >> then you care about stormy daniels. >> i don't care about stormy

daniels. >> that's the person who received $130,000 from the president's personal attorney days before the election. >> i don't care what a porn star who has been shown already incredibly on the public record to be a liar several times. i really don't care what she says. >> first of all, i'm not talking about what she says, and i'm not going to say which of them is more credible. i'm simply going to say she got $130,000 from michael cohen. it can be a violation of federal election crime. if you don't think that's a story, you don't. >> i'm not a lawyer. i know this. i know donald trump is a man who captured the imaginetation aimagination and belief of the american people that we can do better, and he's delivered on that every day in office. nobody claimed he was mother theresa. nobody claimed he had an unblemished past. i don't think there's a story here. there's an

effort again by main street media and his critics to instead of talking about the substance of his administration, to try to dig back to something from a decade or more ago and try to create it tabloid rubbish. >> we're talking about a banana, and you're talking about an apple. >> we're talking about what happened days before the lek election, not ten days ago. it's just not the fact. it's just, sorry, final word. >> it's poor melania. my final word is poor melania, but i really don't care about the consensual relationship with a porn star. i care whether she was paid off, and you should care, too, steve. bra. breaking news coverage with north korea, it continues right now with ac 360 which starts

right now. good evening. president trump on this big news in the nuclear standoff with north korea and the dictator he calls little rocket man. south korea's national security adviser delivered the news, and he laid out a series of concessions from kim as well as kim's invitation to sit down with president trump. here's the president's statement in full. >> today i have the privilege of briefing president trump on my visit to pyongyang, north korea. i'd like to thank president trump, the vice president and his wonderful national security team, including my close friend general mcmaster. i bring to president trump that his leadership and his national pressure policy, together with international solidarity brought us to this juncture. i