now's the best time to us the experience the mostver. highly recommended bed in america. save up to $700 on select adjustable mattress sets during our memorial day sale. visit tempurpedic.com to find your exclusive retailer today. hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in new york. 9:00 a.m. thursday in pyongyang. from wherever you're watching around the world, thank you very much for joining us. up first, president trump strikes a hopeful tone on north korea and issues a warning to iran. the president addressing his two most pressing foreign policy challenges at the capitol a little while ago. he applauded the release of three americans held by north korea and says the location of his summit with kim jong-un will be announced within the next three days and said it will not, repeat not, be in the

demilitarized zone. whatever the location, the president says he's optimistic about the meeting. >> a lot of things can happen. a lot of good things can happen. a lot of good things can happen. i believe that we have both sides want to negotiate a deal. i think it's going to be a very successful deal. i think we have a really good shot at making it successful, but lots of things can happen. >> the president was also asked what happen it is iran restarts its nuclear program now that the u.s. has pulled out of the agreement with tehran. here's what the president said. >> iran will find out. they're going to find out. i don't think they should do that. i would advise iran not to start their nuclear program. i would advise them very strongly. if they do, there will be very severe consequences. >> chief white house correspondent jim acosta is joining us from the white house. jim, strong words from the president. but does he have a plan b when it comes to iran after withdrawing from the nuclear

deal? >> reporter: it doesn't sound like it, wolf. we've heard from our senior diplomatic sources overseas that they're concerned the president, the white house does not have a plan b when it comes to dealing with iran, and what would happen, for example, if tehran restarted their nuclear program. you heard the president say they would be met with severe consequences. the president also talked about fire and fury in the context of the north korean nuclear program last year. and now the president is heading towards it appears an upcoming summit with kim jong-un and these prisoners that were being held by north korea, these american detainees on their way back to the u.s. the president tweeting this morning that he's going to be there at joint base andrews in the middle of the night to greet them. so he is obviously delivering some mixed messages in all of this. but this is somewhat a lot of critics were talking about as the president was unravel thing iran nuclear agreement, which is that while at the same time he's trying to enter into discussions with kim jong-un, he is

scrapping the iran nuclear deal. the critics, chuck schumer being one of the first among them, the senate minority leader, saying this may weaken the president's hand going into north korea, in the north koreans can't count on these commitments from the u.s. lasting from one administration to the next. >> another subject today, jim, the president admitted that his idea of so-called fake news is any news that doesn't reflect positively on him. he tweeted this, and let me read it. the fake news is working overtime. just reported that despite the tremendous success we are having with the economy and all things else, 91% of the network news about me is negative, fake. why do we work so hard and working with the media when it's corrupt? take away credentials? that's a quote from the president. so to him, fake news means negative news. what's been the reaction? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. we've known that all along that he conflates fake news with

stories he doesn't like. and by the way, i still have my credentials with me. i just swiped them at the white house just a few moments ago, they worked fine. some of these are empty threats. we heard these from the president and the trump campaign manager in recent weeks. we can tell you that the white house correspondent's association just put out a statement saying that a president preventing a free and independent fres frpress from c the workings of our public would be an unconscionable assault on our first amendment. but keep in mind, we know this from covering the white house for years now, when the president takes the oath of office on inauguration day, he is taking an oath to uphold the constitution of the united states, the first amendment is in the constitution of the united states. when the president threatens to go after the media and revoke credentials and calling us names, he really is jumd miunde

an oath he took in front of the american people. >> jim acosta, thank you very much. glad you still have your credentials over there. public interrogation today for the woman picked by president trump to lead the cia. gina haspel grilled today about her thoughts on torture and the cia's past use of advanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding. >> i think we did extraordinary work. to me the tragedy is that the controversy surrounding the interrogation program, which as i already indicated to senator warner, i fully understand that. but it has cast a shadow over what has been a major contribution to protecting this country. >> should the cia even be in the business of interrogating detainees? >> having direct access to a terrorist is extremely valuable for intelligence collection, and we do that. but cia does not today conduct enter dpainterrogation

interrogations, we never did historically and are not getting back in that business. >> what would you do if the president ordered you to get back in that business? >> the president has selected me to give him advice. i would not restart under any circumstances an interrogation program at cia, under any circumstances. >> thank you. >> let's go to our correspondent m manu raju. gina haspel was also asked several times if she would refuse an order by the president based on moral grounds, what was the key focus of today's public hearing? >> reporter: that was one of them, because as we know president trump has said that waterboarding works. he expressed support for torture. this is something that she suggested she would not necessarily go along with, if the president were to make such a declaration now. however, her answer did not satisfy democrats and the committee wanted to hear whether or not she viewed the past waterboarding techniques that the cia undertook, whether those

were immoral, and she would not get pinned down on that, just saying she would follow the law. there's a big focus also on the 2005 controversy that occurred when there was a destruction by the cia of interrogation tapes at that time, that prompted a special prosecute tore investigate the matter. she said she was not the one who ordered this. her superior sent a cable that she wrote to field officers to carry out the destruction of the tape without getting the signoff from the cia director at the time, essentially washing her hands of it saying it was a superior's decision. wolf, there is a classified report that was written by the special prosecutor at the time about that episode of the destruction of the tape known as the durham report. that report goes into more detail. there's a push to declassify that report to give the senate broader access to this.

i asked senator mark warner whether her comments were in line with what he has seen behind closed doors. did she give an accurate assessment in her role of the destruction of the videotapes in 2005 based on what you have seen, is it consistent with what you have seen? >> that's one of the reasons i asked clarifying questions that i hope to get answered this afternoon. she's served our nation for years, which is a very different role than others have been. but she has to make the case not only to me, but i think to other members and for that matter, to earn the public's trust. >> reporter: now, warner would not say that he would support this nominee, but one democratic senator, joe manchin, who is in a tough re-election race, said she had a great hearing. republicans right now feel confident that ultimately she

will get confirmed as the next cia director. >> we'll see if other democrats do the same thing. thank you very much. joining us now, illinois republican congressman adam kinsinger. congressman, thanks for joining us. let me get right to gina haspel, the cia director nominee, faced lots of questions on interrogation techniques during the confirmation hearing today. she led what was described as a cia black site in thailand that used some of those techniques like waterboarding. she says she was following the law at the time, and this is in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. but doesn't think the cia should be in that business any more. do you think she allayed any fears that may exist about her nomination? what was your reaction and you served in iraq and afghanistan. >> i hope she allayed some hopes and fears. right after 9/11, we didn't know what was coming next. the unthinkable had just happened and we needed

information. so we turned at the time what we thought was the right thing in extreme circumstances. so there's a lot of people that were not sinless, if you call that a sin. i still happen it should be a tool in our arsenal in extreme circumstances. but she made it clear to the senators she doesn't believe the cia should be in the business of interrogation. if you take her at her word, and i do, because i trust her, hopefully those fears were alied today. >> during the 2016 presidential cam pin, then candidate donald trump said this about the use of torture. listen to this. >> torture works, okay, folks? torture doesn't work. believe me, it works, okay? and waterboarding is your minor form. some people say it's not actually torture. let's assume it is. waterboarding, absolutely fine. we should go much stronger. that's the way i feel.

>> gina haspel said today that she doesn't think torture really works. but you say it should be a tool, am i right about that? >> i don't think it's something we need to use. but basically to have it in the arsenal in extreme circumstances. i agree with what the president later said, where he said he talked to general mattis and he convinced him that it's a cigarette and a beer that more often breaks them. we have a lot of things that we have to do to protect our country. the potential cia director said she would not institute any kind of interrogation in the cia. that's great. i think people need to take her at her word and give the president some deference in terms of who you're going to appoint as, as we should always do. >> you support the president's decision to get out of the iran nuclear deal, but you are calling on the trump administration to deliver a

comprehensive plan to replace it. why wasn't that plan in place already when the president made his announcement yesterday? >> i think there is. you know, if you look at the memo that came out from state department that the president signed, there's a plan in you to extract ourselves from this agreement that takes in some cases up to 180 days. we're going to work with our allies to make sure they understand both corporations in the united states and out of the united states what they have to do, what would violate these sanctions and the agreement. and the ultimate goal here is, we gave up a lot of tools just for a nuclear agreement. the problem is, those tools also need to be used to moderate the broader behavior of iran around the world. there's 500,000 dead syrians that are partially where they are in the ground because frankly they were enabled by the russians and iran that's behavior we have to push back against. and basically bringing these tools back out and saying let's renegotiate but do it on broader behavior will hopefully work.

diplomacy is an art, not a science. >> you don't blame bashar al assad for those deaths? >> absolutely. i blame him, the russians and the iranians. they were all working together to destabilize an entire region. and iran are repairing to attack israel. so there's no sinless in that tree yad of terrible people and regimes. >> congressman, thanks for joining us. >> you bet. thanks, wolf. the special counsel investigating the russia probe wants answers as to why michael cohen, the president's long-time personal lawyer, was paid by hundreds of thousands linked back to a russian oligarch. we have new details next. or make me feel like i'm not really "there." talk to your doctor,

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they've questioned a russian oligarch, a billionaire, who paid $500,000 to president trump's personal attorney michael cohen around the time of president trump's inauguration. the payment was revealed by the attorney representing stormy daniels, who said the $500,000 went into the same account that was used to pay off his client. this isn't all he says. he also claims that at least three other companies have poured money into cohen's account since the election, totalling more than $1 million. our crime and justice reporter helped break the story for us. explain the connection between this russian businessman, this oligarch, and these payments to cohen. >> that's right. first, it's best to start with viktor veklesberg, a russian dplas oligarch, sanctioned by the u.s.

governme government. his company, columbus nova, which is based in new york, gave money, some $500,000 in a deal with michael cohen, as a business deal, they gave money to michael cohen. this was first revealed by michael avenatti, stormy daniels' attorney, and has since been confirmed by columbus nova. they said they had a business dealing with him, and that was the extent of it. and now the next thing is, really to understand why this matters, wolf, that's because viktor is a russian oligarch, who has close ties to putin. he's the chairman of an asset management group called renova group that has a link to columbus nova that wound up paying michael cohen. now, he was sanctioned in april for election interference. he also attended the 2015 moscow

dinner, when michael flynn, where putin was, and he attended trump's inauguration. and now all of this obviously has been something that the special counsel, robert mueller and his team have been looking at. >> what are these three other companies that paid cohen and what did they say? >> korea aerospace said they paid michael cohen $150,000 for legal work. at&t said they also paid michael cohen for what they called policy. they said it was basically to provide insight into understanding the new administration. this is what they paid him, the $200,000 for. navartis issued a statement, they paid close to $400,000. they said that they had been contacted in november 2017 by lawyers from the special counsel's office regarding the

company's agreement with essential consultants. they say they cooperated with the special counsel's office, and provided all the information requested. wolf, this is the first company that we have received a statement from, that confirmed that the special counsel has been looking at some of these payments. >> any reaction from cohen? >> no. there's been no reaction from michael cohen to this point, wolf. >> we'll see what he says. thank you very much. i want to bring in two experts in this area, daniel goldman and kara kara. so kara, talk more about these companies, why they were giving cohen all this money. >> remember, michael cohen was, you know, a new york lawyer. he made his money by investing in real estate. and otherwise was an attorney for the trump organization for decades. after the election, he didn't have a position in the administration, so he was looking for other work and looking to do consulting deals.

we've seen in some of the court filings that he had seven clients. so this information that we learned now shed some light on who some of those clients were. what we don't know is what kind of work he was doing for them. we've done a scan of the lobbying database. we haven't seen cohen was registered as a lobbyist, so why was he hired and what kind of advice was he providing these companies? we just don't know the answer to that. >> and if he was working for korea aerospace, was he registered as a foreign agent with the department of justice in >> we haven't seen any indication that he was. he may have been doing some other kind of advice that didn't interface with the government. so maybe he wasn't required to disclose that. but these are all questions that now we know who some of these clients are, we're beginning to look into. >> does it look like there's anything illegal here? >> there are a number of things -- we don't know enough yet to make that determination. but there are a number of things that are suspicious. what is columbus nova, a

significant investment firm, doing by making payments to michael cohen for $500,000? they are far over and above and more sophisticated than any experience michael cohen appears to have. so prosecutors will be asking those questions. why is novartis looking at michael cohen for information or expertise on u.s. health care policy, which they also said in their statement? there are a lot of open questions, and they're exacerbated by the connections between columbus nova and viktor veklesberg, a russian dplasolig and someone who has been sanctioned through his affiliations with renova and others. >> he was questioned by fbi agents working with mueller when he arrived in the united states not that long ago. he's now been sanctioned by the treasury department. why is all of this such high

interest to mueller and his team? >> as novartis said, mueller approached them in november of last year, six months ago. so they have been cued into michael cohen's role through essential consultants, and perhaps otherwise for quite some time. there were -- there was allegations in the steele dossier that michael cohen went to prague and met with european hackers. michael cohen has been trump's fixer for a long time. so mueller is digging deep and many months ahead of where we are right now, as ault of this is coming to the fore. but he's digging deep into the connections between michael cohen and russia and it's beginning to percolate more and more. >> mueller and his team, i can assure you, know a lot more than we know. we kn

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>> we've gone from fire and fury to open and honorable. but i would say curb your enthusiasm. while it's great we're talking, kim jong-un has not made any kind of irreversible concessions to the united states. it's great that he's releasing these three hodgehostages. but remember, he took the hostages to release them later on to get rewarded for. >> do you think something dramatic, important will emerge from this summit meeting between the president and kim jong-un? >> i certainly think they will announce something important and that donald trump will claim it's the greatest deal ever and it will have the word "denuclearization" in it. the issue is, once you dig down, are they going to verifiably give up their nuclear arsenal? i have a lot of questions about that. and trump just exited from the iran nuclear deal, so he's setting himself a high benchmark for the kind of deal he will

accept from north korea. it has to be stronger than the iranian nuclear deal. >> he does seem, though, the president, what you agree or disagree with his policiepolici be dominating the world stage right now. if you look at not just north korea or iran, but syria, paris climate accords, all sorts of international issues. he'll really dominating what's going on. >> i think he's achieving what he wants, which he wants to be the center of attention and he is. the question is, is it a wise idea to be juggling so many crises at the same time? remember, he's renegotiating nafta, negotiating with china, he's negotiating with north korea, and now with iran and our european partners about the iranian nuclear program. that is a lot of stuff for even a well functioning white house, with a veteran chief executive to handle. and i just don't know if this white house with donald trump and the fact that they still don't have a lot of appointees in place, can they handle these

multiple crises at the same time? >> max boot, thank you very much for joining us. coming up, the global fallout. saudi arabia's foreign minister issues a sobering warning to iran. we're going to ask him if iran restarts their nuclear program, what will the saudis do? plus, the president threatening to pull credentials what he calls the corrupt media, raising serious questions over whether this mirrors the behavior, not of a president of the united states, but of a dictator. we'll have a serious analysis of that when we come back. get your groove on with one a day 50+.

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president trump's decision to walk away from the iran

nuclear deal was not unexpected, but has still been met with deep concern around the globe from those who made the deal. former president obama called the decision misguided, while former vice president joe biden called it a profound mistake. key allies that urged president trump to stay in the deal all said they felt regret and concern over the decision in washington. joining us now from riyadh, saudi arabia's foreign minister. thanks so much for joining us. why do you, the saudi government, support president trump's decision? >> we believe that the nuclear deal was flawed. we believe that the sunset clause should be eliminated and the inspections should be tightened. it does not deal with iran's ballistic missile program or iran's support of terrorism and interference with countries in the region. >> if iran now restarts its nuclear weapons program, will

saudi arabia build a bomb itself? >> i believe if iran restarts its enrichment program beyond what it has right now, that should trigger the provisions and cause all the other countries to abandon the deal and reimpose sanctions on iran. >> what will saudi arabia do? >> whatever it takes to protect our people. if iran acquires nuclear capability, we will do everything we can to do the same. >> you will acquire nuclear capability yourself? >> that's what we mean. swlaz is your message to the iranian leadership right now, foreign minister? >> our message to the iran leadership is the policies of the past have cto end. you cannot seek to dominate the region and seek to acquire nuclear programs. you must abide by international law, cease supporting terrorism. cease providing ballistic

missiles to terrorist organizations. >> do you believe, as the international atomic energy agency does, and others, the europeans, for example, the russians, the chinese, that iran has been fully complying with the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal? >> the agreement is flawed, because by 2025, it allows iran the ability to have unlimited enrichment capability, where they could have enough uranium for a nuclear weapon within a week. that's not acceptable. two, the inspections need to be broadened. it's limited to the declared sites. it has to be 24-7, anywhere, any time. >> did the trump administration speak with the saudi leadership before announcing the decision by the president yesterday? >> the trump administration talked to allies and gave them heads up in terms of the timing, but not the content of the

announcement. >> were you surprised? >> no. because i believe it was the right thing to do. i believe that no agreement is better than a flawed agreement. any future agreement has to include iran's violations oh of the u.n. resolutions with regard to ballistic missiles and iran's support for terrorism and interference in the affairs of other countries. otherwise, that's the only way to stop iran. >> why not stay in the deal, foreign minister, and work a separate supplemental agreement on iran's ballistic missile program, the actions detablizing in the region, why not try to expand the deal? >> the deal was flawed. i believe the president tried to work with the other p5 countries to improve the deal and fix it and to deal with the issue of ballistic missiles and with the issue of iran's support of terrorism and terrorist activities in the region.

but they weren't able to reach an agreement that was satisfactory that would force iran to change its behavior. >> as you know, as a result of president trump's decision, iran is now, when it comes to this nuclear deal, on the same page as the europeans, china and russia. are you comfortable with that situation? >> as the european countries, france and germany and the uk have made it clear that the issue of iran's ballistic missiles and the issue of iran's support for terrorism and interference in the affairs of the countries of the region must be dealt with. so they agree iran has to be held accountable for this, and looking for ways to fix this agreement. so yes, we're comfortable that the sanctions will be reimposed. we support the u.s. position. our allies in the united arab emirates in jordan and egypt support this. the arab league supports it.

>> the israelis clearly support it, as well. the israeli prime minister netanyahu. the turkish president erdogan says a crisis could be coming to the region because of this decision by president trump. do you have some fears that there could be an escalation of fighting, for example, in various parts of the middle east as a result of this decision? >> i hope not. but keep in mind, wolf, that the crisis in the region began with the revolution in iran in 1979. iran has been kree yacut citing creating groups like hezbollah and has been a source of conflict in this region. the fact that iran is now going to be held accountable, and the fact that sanction also be reimposed should be a strong and powerful message to the iranian regime it must change its behavior. >> i know there was another

missile attack in riyadh today. what can you tell us? >> there were two missiles intercepted in iraq, which brings the total of 130 missiles launched. these missiles are iranian manufactured, and delivered to the houthis. such behavior is unacceptable. it violates u.n. resolutions with regards to ballistic missiles. and the iranians must be held accountable for this. >> so what does that mean, held accountable? >> we will find the right way and at the right time to respond to this. >> including military action? >> we will make -- we are trying to avoid at all costs direct military action with iran, but iran's behavior such as this cannot continue. this amounts to a declaration of war. what do you call it, a friendly

act? of course not. >> foreign minister, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. up next, fresh threats to the first amendment. president trump suggests removing press credentials until he gets the news coverage he likes. and non-24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. talk to your doctor, and call 844-214-2424. hello. give me an hour in tanning room 3. cheers! that's confident. but it's not kayak confident. kayak searches hundreds of travel sites to help me plan the best trip. so i'm more than confident. forgot me goggles. kayak. search one and done. touch shows how we really feel. but does psoriasis ever get in the way? embrace the chance of 100% clear skin with taltz. up to 90% of those with moderate to severe psoriasis had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques.

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the president of the united states is floating the idea of taking away media credentials until he gets news coverage he likes. in his latest attack against the first amendment, the president writes, quote, the fake news is

working overtime. why do we work so hard in working with the media when it is corrupt? take away credentials?" . i want to bring in the host o y reliable sources and margaret, also a cnn contributor. margaret, you released a statement. "some may excuse the president's inflammatory red rick about the media, but just baus the president does not like the news coverage does not make it fake. a free press must be automobile to report on the good, the bad, the momentous and the mundane

without fear or favor." walk us through the statement you just released. >> what the president conveyed today in his tweet really goes beyond what's appropriate. it's a longstanding tradition for politicians who either don't like critical coverage or are trying to distract from a complicated situation to blame the press. everyone acknowledges that. we all want to focus on doing our jobs, but there are certain sort of lines, boundaries, that need to be respected. and actually threatening to restrict coverage and prevent people from getting information is one of those lines. so we thought it was really important to put out a firm statement and call that out. i want to tell you also over the course of the last several hours, i've been in touch on a regular basis with the white house and white house officials

about coordinating coverage for a really important event, which is the return of these americans held in north korea later tonight. and so the president has used this rhetoric for a long time and often the association doesn't get involved in responding to rhetoric because it's just important that we focus on doing our jobs but we felt that it was important to call this out as something that was not acceptable. >> certainly outrageous to think that they're going to take away press credentials for working white house reporters, for example, simply because the coverage is negative. you know, brian, this isn't the first time the president has mentioned taking away press credentials. listen to this. >> the "new york times" is totally dishonest. totally dishonest. "the washington post" gotten a little bit better lately. i took away their press credentials. i should do it with the times. >> it's frankly disgusting the

way the press is able to write whatever they want to write and people should look into it. the press has become so dishonest that if we don't talk about it, we are doing a tremendous disservice to the american people. see, i know when i should get good and when i should get bad. and sometimes i'll say, wow, that's going to be a great story and i'll get killed. >> how serious should we take this threat from the president to yank the press credentials of reporters? >> the way he's talking, it's undemocratic. this is the way dictators operate, not how democratic leaders operate. but it is just talk. it is just the president venting, bloviating, complaining about the coverage he doesn't like. we do see that frequently from him. it's important to recognize there's no actual plan in place to do this. he's musing about this, he's done that privately, and now publicly. outlet or partisan blog, they'll

still give you credentials for the day. he sends signals by his media attacks and they use the president's rhetoric to condemn and hurt the press all around the world. it's still troubling. >> the difference between fake news and negative news is very different. the president doesn't like negative news and he brand all of that, even if it's honest and fair, as fake. >> and it's a rhetorical tool that he's used. news is news. facts are facts, and it's our job to report those facts without fear or favor when the news reflects positively on the president's initiatives, that's information the american public should have, when the news is critical and points out nuances,

that's also important information for the american public to have. we're here to do our job and we'll continue to do so. i and most of our colleagues are trying to cover what's happening with north korea, with iran, what's happening with gina haspel's hearings. on the ground and just here at the white house, the correspondent and the white house are actually working on getting good, fulsome coverage. >> he does have a history of this. that's why it's notable. during the campaign, the president did take away credentials from eight news outlets. that's why it is concerning he's talking about it again. when i interviewed him again, he

promised he would not kick people out of the white house about reporting. if he were to actually act on this, it would be a promise broken. >> the problem is, it gives ammunition to despots in other countries to do this as well. and we're seeing our first pictures of secretary of state pompeo's first trim to north korea. the news secretary of state was there working on details for the upcoming summit between president trump and the north korean leader, kim jong un. the secretary pompeo is now flying back to theins and with him aboard the aircraft are the three american detainees just released by north korea earlier in the day. new questions emerging over the president's personal attorney,

long-time fixer michael cohen and why he received hundreds of thousands of dollars from a u.s. company tied to a vladimir putin ally. it's a cnn exclusive. stay with us.

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now more businesses in more places can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. hi there. i'm breanna keilar in for brooke baldwin. president trump is now issuing a warning to iran about what would happen if it were to restart its nuclear program. this is as the president seems to make major head way on another threat, the one in north korea. three americans detained in north korea are now on their way home and the president