our pentagon correspondent barbara starr is reporting that u.s. officials are concerned iran could be on the brink of launching an attack against israel. have you seen intelligence corroborating those concerns? >> i haven't seen anything that indicates imminent attack on israel by iran. but i think what we may see, what may be more likely than something as overt as that is that the iranian backed militia in iraq start targeting u.s. troops. that iranian suppliers provide new and more lethal munitions to those that we're fighting with in afghanistan to the taliban and so this may put troops at greater risk. i think that is a more likely course for iran to essentially lash out than something like provoking confrontation with israel. >> at the same time, president trump is clearly eager to strike a deal with north korea over its nuclear program. how do you think kim jong-un is interpreting today's announcement by the president? >> well, i would say in a couple of ways, first he cannot counts on donald trump to keep america's word. so he has to enter

barbara starr, appreciate that, live from arlington national cemetery.here's barbecue, baseball, but remember those on the screen, those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. >>> coming up, could the nuclear summit with north korea still happen, and could it happen just two weeks from now? ♪ if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months, ... with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. tell your doctor if these occur. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your w

barbara starr, thanks very much. less than 12 months from threatening kim jong-un with fire and fury to calling him nice for freeing three detained americans. duncan just protected his family with a $500,000 life insurance policy. how much do you think it cost him? $100 a month? $75? $50? actually,duncan got his $500,000 for under $28 a month. less than a dollar a day. his secret? selectquote. in just minutes, a selectquote agent will comparison shop nearly a dozen highly-rated life insurance companies, and give you a choice of your five best rates. duncans wife cassie got a $750,000 policy for under $22 a month. give your family the security it needs at a price you can afford. just another day on the farm. or is it? this farmer's morning starts in outer space. where satellites feed infrared images of his land into a system built with ai. he uses watson to analyze his data with millions of weather forecasts from the cloud, and iot sensors down here, for precise monitoring of irrigation. it's a smart way to help incr

barbara starr, thank you for being there for us today.ith me now, cnn military analyst, retired major general spider marks, a combat veteran, served more than 30 years around the world, including in south korea, kuwait and iraq. thank you for being here, spider. and also with me is yasine wade, a military widow who lost her husband three years ago when he was deployed overseas, the mother of three children. thank you for your commitment, your service and sacrifice to this country and for your husband's. let me begin with you, your husband is buried at arlington. you went yesterday with your three little kids. we have some photos to pull up here and so people can see your family. what do you want people to remember about your husband today? >> just want them to remember, actually, all of the people that have died and sacrificed for our country. it is not just about the pool openings or barbecues, just taking a moment to just think about who has, you know, given the ultimate sacrifice. for us, we like to go and we'll -- our game we played a

i want to bring in barbara starr so we can talk about some of what we just heard. the president talking for more than a dozen minutes there about north korea in particular. barbara, some of the things that stood out here, he contradicted john bolton, his new national security adviser, who had said that when it comes to north korea, the administration is looking at the libya model in terms of taking away, well, in libya's case it was sort of hodgepodge nuclear parts certainly compared to what kim jong un has and what has been in development in north korea for decades. but he seemed to dismiss that idea, which is something that specifically the north koreans had cited as a reason for being upset at this point in time and really throwing the idea of these talks into question about whether they're even going to happen, but he was also stressing that when it came to libya, when it came to gadhafi, we didn't say to them, meaning the u.s., that they'll get protection, that they'll have military strength. he's talking about adequate protection for kim jong un. what's he tal

barbara starr joining us at the pentagon. what is your read on how these two leaders, kim jong-un and president trump understand or fundamentally do not understand one another? >> well, you know, a great question, poppy. i think the fundamental question here is what is going on inside kim jong-un's head? what has led him to engage in this new round of rhetoric that then led the president to put the summit off. look, kim jong-un, 100%, at all times, is about his own survival. his own survival and keeping his regime in power. if he feels that is threatened, he will react. that is what the cia has believed, what the pentagon has believed, since he came to power. so is he reacting to the comments about the libya model, give up the nukes and get murdered by rebels like moammar gadhafi did? perhaps. perhaps also something going on inside his regime that we are not aware of. was he feel eing threatened? was he feeling vulnerable by reaching out to the u.s., by reaching out and trying to have this summit? we don't know that yet. what

barbara starr is over at the pentagon getting more information. what are you learning, barbara? >> this situation could be broadening at this hour. i have spoken to several u.s. military officials who say there is growing concern that iran could be preparing for some sort of attack against israel. this comes amid all of this escalating tension between the u.s., iran, and israel. they can't say at this point what kind of attack, what the intelligence is particularly showing them. but we already know that israeli authorities, according to news reports, are saying that air raid shelters in the golan heights and israel should be made available that they are seeing concerning signs of iranian movements potentially inside syria. what u.s. military officials are telling me right now, they are looking at intelligence that has tem worried iran could be aiming to take a swing at israel. what they don't know is would it come from iranian forces already inside syria? would it come from iranian third party affiliates if you will, like hezbollah in neb none. or would it come from inside iran

that is where we find cnn's barbara starr. i know you have been speaking with a number of people there this morning to honor those that they have lost. >> reporter: good morning. we are hear down the hill from where the president is expected to arrive. it is a misty morning here, a very soft, gentle, misty rain is beginning to fall. you're seeing some umbrellas go up. nobody is leaving here. this is a place that really has become a pilgrimage of sorts on memorial day where families come to honor their loved ones, friends, battle buddies. we met one family a short time ago, we had spoken to them over the years here, the great grandmother is 94. the youngest member of the family is 7 months old. they are here to honor their fallen service member. we are -- we are seeing the years go by here. we have come here almost every year for the last 13 years or so. reconnected with a family earlier today. the gold star mother came up to me and i said, gee, you know, i lost track, how many years? she said to me my son died 13 years ago. so

italian politics and they really do not want that now what happens in rome and doesn't stay in rome barbara starr markets have been slipping investors are worried about this uncertain italian political situation the european the single currency is also being hit hard how worried are italians about financial instability. italians themselves strange for us maybe not very wary to tall because many people somehow don't seem to grasp the connection between italian government debt and the eurozone and things that could happen in europe if italy for instance defaults or something else horrible happens or if there is a serious bank crash or something similar so the connection is not made what people here feel and they're very emotional at the moment is and this emotion of course is populist parties what they feel is we want to make a decision about our own politics and we want things to be different in the future and so they're ready to do more or less anything to vote for populist parties because they think they going to give that for him and the eurozone and europe itself can just go do something else

barbara starr is in the very section 60 which has a very significant meaning obviously honoring the fallenheir lives in the wars in iraq and afghanistan. good morning, barbara. >> reporter: good morning. we have been here a couple of hours now and family members battle buddies, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren continue arriving every minute here. so many families every year coming to pay their respects. i want to introduce you to the bunting family. this is nicky. nicky, i want you to tell us, you and i know each other. we have come here many years together. >> yes. we have been seeing each other every year since about 2009. >> reporter: your husband, brian, had a nickname. >> we called him bubba, yes. >> reporter: tell me about bubba. >> he was such an extraordinary man. he had the biggest smile, never met a stranger. made best friends with everyone. he had a heart of gold. >> reporter: you and bubba went way back. >> we met in sixth grade, stayed close friends for quite a while. we always kept in contact throughout college. we met back up after college and started dating and

cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr joins us from arlington. barbara, what more do we hear from the president? >> reporter: well, he talked a lot about service and family, i want to point you behind me for a minute. that is through that crush of people back there, section 60 here, is retired general john kelly. president trump's chief of staff, and four-star marine himself. he has come here to his son's grave, lieutenant robert kelly, killed in afghanistan, in 2010. you may remember that general kelly brought president trump here last year. the president not visiting section 60 after the ceremonies, but general kelly spending a good deal of time here right now at section 60, talking to military families, meeting some of the young people here, meeting some children who are here. so it is quite a moment because as you just said, for these families, today is not about politics. it is about remembering their loved ones. and anything really that can be done to help remember them is something that these families cherish. >> and barbara, tell us what y

barbara starr is there. what more are we learning now that this video is out there?: the pentagon had a press conference about all of this, they still, until last night had not provided to the public the full amount of information that they had, including this video. i want to tell everyone, sarkt la david johnson's family has seen this video. they are aware of it. and the part that is so compelling is you see the local troops finding his body under a very dense thorn tree where he was killed by isis militants and they take his body, they put it on a helicopter so it can be returned to his family. one of the key things this tells us according to the pentagon is sergeant johnson, 25 years old was not ever alive in the hands of the enemy. he made his last stand hero irkly fighting isis by himself under that thorn tree. such difficult news to hear. there are other elements of the video giving us more information about how valiantly this team of american and african troops fought to save each other. there were a team of survivors that made their way into a sort of wooded

barbara starr at the pentagon with all the details. what have you learned?ven months in the making, we're going to get a press briefing in a couple of hours. what we now know is that the troops that were sent on this mission in niger had a very confusing situation. they were at some point told to go look for a high value isis operative. that was not a mission they were even authorized, trained, equipped, given the weapons and the readiness to be able to do it. but that is what they were sent to do initially. then they were switched to being working with local forces. that was supposed to be their regular mission or job if you will and then at some point they're sent to look at an abandoned terrorist camp to try to determine what intelligence they could gain from that. the entire thing confusing. and at some point this ambush begins. they're overwhelmed by isis fighters in this remote area of west africa. and overwhelmed would be an understatement. four dying in this fire fight. the troops, the u.s. troops were separated, on the battlefield at various points.

barbara starr at the pentagon filed this report. >> reporter: a u.s. the moment in niger, army sergeant la david johnson's body pulled out from under a tree. 48 hours earlier, separated under fire from his teammates, this 25-year-old soldier trained as a mechanic makes a heroic last stand as he runs to the tree for cover. but pentagon narrating a 23-minute video it produced explaining the isis ambush last october in west africa. >> an enemy vehicle armed with a mounted heavy machine gun stopped within 100 meters of johnson's location firing on the position and cutting off further escape and enemy forces moved in. >> reporter: they take the remains to a waiting helicopter. johnson's family has seen the images but pentagon says the rare drone video shows johnson was never alive in enemy hands. earlier, three other soldiers are killed also under heavy fire fighting to save each other. the first, staff sergeant brian black. then -- >> jeremiah johnson shot and rendered immobile. staff sergeant dustin wright, stopped near to the position and engaged the ene

cnn barbara starr joints us from the pentagon. the american military posture changed at all over the last 24 to 48 hours. >> reporter: look, jake, the answer to that is publicly no. but behind the scenes, all military eyes are indeed on north korea. north korea is under heavy u.s. military and intelligence surveillance as always. but now the watch is on for any indication it is resuming weapons testing in response to president trump calling off the summit. >> we'll see what develops over the next few days. if any provocative actions occur from dprk, we'll in concert with our allies and partners be ready. >> reporter: u.s. spy satellite and aircraft submarines in the region continuing to gather every detail about what kim jong-un is doing. the u.s. military has significant concerns about north korea capabilities. mobile ballistic missiles could quickly be wheeled out of hiding and test fired. tunnel sites around the country could be used to test nuclear devices or kim jong-un could conduct a nuclear test in the atmosphere. north ko

barbara starr is at the pentagon with more.his was already going to be a tight one, but clearly there is some backup plan in the works now. >> reporter: indeed, poppy. you know, think of it as plan b if you will, looking at other candidates that they might put forward if haspel falters on wednesday at her confirmation hearing. all eyes really focused on that because gina haspel, very well respected as an intelligence professional, has served for decades, but she served also during the george w. bush presidency when the cia was involved in so-called enhanced interrogation, think of it as torture practices. and that is going to be a big problem for her by all accounts. she ran one of those black sights in thailand where terror suspects were subject to enhanced interrogation techniques. that has all been repudiated during the obama administration. president trump never fully turning his back on torture techniques, and that will be the problem for haspel during the hearing. if she is asked would you engage in this again, everyone i

hello there i'm barbara starr in london these are the top stories on iraq vote counting is underway in lebanon's first parliamentary elections in nine years there are three point six million eligible voters but turnout has been low and it's expected to fall short of the fifty four percent who voted back in two thousand and nine lebanon is using a new system based on proportional representation but it's unlikely to upset the overall balance of power said holder has more now from beirut. judd phone is among the eight hundred thousand voters who are eligible to cast their ballot for the first time lebanon hasn't had an election in nine years political wrangling and disagreement over a new alec torah law were to blame now this twenty three year old hopes his vote will make a difference give people. the money you need to read the world. more and more voices are calling for change and it's not just the young lebanese are concerned about the growing level of poverty and unemployment in the country. on the unit. we want change we want to new generation of leaders who know what they used to mee

our pentagon correspondent barbara starr is joining us. tell us about the exercise named max thunder. >> reporter: max thunder, what a name. that is an annual regular routinely scheduled exercise according to the pentagon. focusing on u.s. and south korea forces practicing air maneuvers. another exercise also going on right now, full eagle. that is going on. that involves land and air forces and you're talking about several thousand u.s. troops. now why does the u.s. over the decades insist on doing these exercises? they say it is so that both u.s. and south korean forces know how to operate with each other in a contingency, in a crisis and that helps defend the peninsula. kim jong-un has never been happy about them and in terms of recently canceling the upcoming meeting, wednesday already in the peninsula, call it provocative military disturbances even though he said he was more flexible in understanding why these exercises take place. so we come full circle. why is he being so provocative again? is he trying to squeeze another concession

we'll start with barbara starr at the pentagon. and this sounds like a major wrench in the works. >> reporter: it does. at this hour washington is scrambling to figure out exactly what the north koreans are talking about. trying to translate news reports and accounts to get the exact language. i want you to listen very quickly to what the state department spokesperson had to say about all of this just a short time ago. >> i will say that kim jong-un had said previously that he understands the need and the utility of the united states and the republican of korea continuing in its joint exercises. they're exercises that are legal and they are planned well in advance. we have not heard anything from that government or the government of south korea to indicate that we would not continue conducting these exercises or that we would not continue planning for our meeting between president trump and kim jong-un next month. >> so the state department trying to figure it out, here at the pentagon taken by surprise by all accounts. they don't

jake. >> barbara starr at the pentagon. thanks so much. >>> my panel back with me. mention the libya model which apparently rubbed north korea the wrong way. to that, north korea responded -- it is essentially a manifestation of awfully sinister move to impose on our dignified state the destiny of libya and went on to say, the world knows too well our country is not libya or iraq that met a miserable fate. a mistake given that qadhafi was massacred and the country is ripped apart. >> he didn't get the memo -- >> where was zito when they need him. >> and obviously they are overly sensitive and john bolton was there, the architect of the libya model and he admitted on the show there they weren't exactly an apples to apples comparison and i think the north koreans are over reacting on that. >> and listen to sarah sanders asked about this libya model from john bolton earlier today. >> i haven't seen that as part of any discussions. so i'm not aware that that -- that is a model that we're using. >> is that a administration policy currently, there will be a model. >> look

out on the target from our barbara starr to. bring. our. future. to.

hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up on the program a new caretaker prime minister is chosen as the political crisis in italy deepens. launches a criminal investigation after al jazeera has reported on suspect that match fixing in international cricket and spiderman becomes france's new u.s. citizen the migrant hailed as a hero after saving a child dangling from a fifth floor balcony.

hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up on the program thirteen people killed in a bomb blast in afghanistan police suspect it's another attack by those looking to disrupt the forthcoming elections iran's president warns the u.s. will suffer historic regret if donald trump pulls out of the nuclear agreement with tehran and volcanic destruction in hawaii lava flows continue after the u.s. island is hit by the worst quakes in decades. hello thank you for joining us vote counting is under way in lebanon's first parliamentary elections and nine years there are three point six million eligible voters but turnout has been low and it's expected to fall short of the fifty four percent who voted in two thousand and nine lebanon is using a new system based on proportional representation but it's unlikely to upset the overall balance of power holder has more now from. the judge but our own is among the eight hundred thousand voters who are eligible to cast their ballot for the first time lebanon hasn't had an election in nine years political wrangling and di

hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up on the program a new caretaker prime minister is chosen as the political crisis initially deep in sri lanka launches a criminal investigation after al jazeera has reported on suspected match fixing in international cricket and spider-man becomes france's new a citizen the migrant hailed as a hero after saving a child dangling from a fifth floor balcony. thank you for joining us diplomatic activity is intensifying ahead of a planned summit between u.s. president donald trump and north korean leader kim jong un and the bilateral talks could become trilateral with the south korean president joining them well a u.s. delegation is a north korea while a team from pyongyang is heading to singapore where the historic meeting is set to take place and thomas has more from seoul. what a difference one frenetic weekend can make and others like it's full steam ahead for a summit in singapore on june twelfth as originally planned has been the u.s. delegation inside north korea on monday that bar song kim south korean b

let's go to barbara starr. n made kim jong-un nervous. >> appears he did, wolf. the president still hoping of course that the summit will happen, bleaving himself an out just in case. >> i think we're looking at the libya model of 2003, 2004. >> that statement sent alarm bells to kim jong-un who the cia has long thought is only worried about his own survival. kim knowing the fate of moammar gadhafi who was killed by rebels after he gave up weapons of mass destruction for sanctions relief. pyongyang now quickly returning to the classic north korean style of provocations and demand. threatening to walk away from the historic trump kim summit. a top north korean official calls bolton's comments an awfully sinister move to impose on our dignify ied state the destiny of libya or iraq. >> we shouldn't have been surprised that this is not an uncommon tactic for north korea. it's something that kim jong-un's father would do. in the run up to a major dialogue or an event to all of a sudden to throw roadblocks or obstacle

barbara starr is here. brash barbara, what can we conclude with this report?ortunately, we will not get the report seven months later. that is expected to be declassified. but we will hear their version of what happened and how they think these four troops got killed last october 4th. the report concludes that they were on, at least in the beginning, an unauthorized mission, that they were told to go look for a high-value isis operative in this corner of niger. they were not equipped to do that mission, and they were switched to another mission to advise forces. that's what they were supposed to do from the beginning. they get ambushed by isis which has a 3-1 advantage over them. during the firefight, the u.s. troops get separated from each other, there is confusion. all of this resulting, obviously, to great tragedy to four american military families who lose their loved ones in this battle. this quite candidly is not supposed to be what happens. u.s. troops are sent out heavily trained, heavily armed and very much disciplined to carry out the mission they're

barbara starr is at section 60. good morning, barbara. >> reporter: good morning.. we are here again. we are seeing so many families battle buddies arriving so early in the morning. as we look around here at section 60 you can see that people are -- many of them planning to spend the day with their loved ones. we have mom and dads. we have other soldiers, marines, military members, small children, grandparents. this is what we see here every year at section 60. in a couple of hours president trump will be laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown. we will see if he pays his respects down here. it has already been for me an emotional morning. a friend of mine is off in the distance visiting a battle buddy that fell in the war zone. he comes every year to visit him. we will leave him to his privacy. another couple, a gold star mom and dad came up to me a short time ago to say good morning and this is a couple that we have seen here every year. i said to them, remind me what year did we first meet. we met a short time after their son fell on the battlefield. and the

barbara starr at the pentagon. thanks to both of you.hese breaking developments out of the golan night heights. there's also other important news. there's breaking news the the legal battle between michael cohen and the lawyer for the porn star stormy daniels. let's get some more from our specialist. i understand you have new details on the cohen legal strategy against michael oov gn -- avenat avenatti. >> michael cohen's attorneys are trying to block michael avenatti from his federal court case in manhattan. they are saying he should not be allowed to represent stormy daniels in court and accusing him of circulating false information about cohen and private bank records about cohen because they are the information and bank records of people named michael cohen, kol wolf, but who are not michael cohen. this filing was their first response in reaction to michael avenatti this week dumping all the information out about michael cohen's businesses. they argue that avenatti should not be allowed in court because he did use bank records and in

chief and the other servicemen in the room and their families and let's go to the pentagon to barbara starrs like these are so humbling. >> you have to suspect the master chief as he had those very deep thoughts and looks in his eyes was perhaps casting his own mind back to 2002, a 10,000 foot snow-covered mountain in afghanistan in the early days of fighting al qaeda after the 9/11 attacks, fighting up a 10,000 foot mountain in the snow, helicopter crashes under enemy fire, uncertainty as they tried to get out of there who was still potentially even alive on that mountaintop. there has been large controversy about whether tech sergeant john chapman may have still be alive for perhaps an hour after this. this medal of honor ceremony actually quite extraordinary and not talked about very publicly because there was a significant look at the imagery on that mountaintop during the firefights about who might still be alive, who was no longer alive, how it all unfolded. this may be the first medal of honor that was largely decided upon technology, on the imagery analysis, not just on reports from

barbara starr is live at the pent develop with details. what have we learned, barbara?inute video was not shown to the media when there was a press conference about it. cnn got it yesterday. some of the things in it will just show you how desperately these men fought to save each other. sergeant la david johnson, his body was not recovered for 48 hours. now we see the video from a drone overhead at 48 hours after he is killed, local forces locate him under a thorn tree and retrieve his body. we want you to know that his family has seen this video. they are aware of it. they retrieved his body 48 hours later. that is just one element that we are seeing visually for the first time. one of the american troops had to get out into a clearing and waves an american flag to signal they are all friendlies. they fled trying to get into a swampy area, trying to get away from the firefight. th they were so convinced they were about to die had he hands of isis fighters. thet left personal messages to their loved ones on their personal devices believing they would not live to see the

barbara starr is reporting. david johnson. >> the search for sergeant la david johnson began immediately as it did with the other soldiers. there was a report that he could be over with the other soldiers at tongo tongo. it turned out to be an errant report. he ran 960 meters and ran a long way where he was last seen and made his last stance where he fought until end under a tree. >> was there a delay in searching for him? what happened? >> they insisted there was no delay, even though the eight-page summary that they handed to reporters and it was only a summary of a 6,000 page report we have not seen. that summary said it did lead to some delays. this is only one of the many confusing items, still seven months after the ambush, seven months after four american soldiers and a number of nigerians lost their fight. there was confusion. the troops were separated, the rescue and medevac forced took hours to get in there. the real question is what were they doing there in the first place? they are not authorized to

i want to bring in our cnn pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. what are you hearing about preparations? >> there is a lot of action, but the question always is, what is it all adding up to? what does it mean? first, a u.s. team on the ground in north korea. by all accounts, they are talking to them about substance. in other words, seeing if it's possible to develop a communique that both sides can sign after the summit, what would be included in that, of course, remains a top question, and would kim jong insiun sign it? another delegation in singapore. that's logistic planning, hotel spaces, conference spaces, where everybody arrives, where they would come to, where they would meet. that is going on. look, bottom line remains unchanged. will the summit happen, and what will be the key issue? president trump wants north korea to give up its nuclear weapons right away. north korea, we do not know if kim jong un would even think about agreeing to that. >> barbara, when prospects for u.s.-north korea talks initially fell apart, we saw kim jong un pul

i understand through barbara starr you were in a briefing about this. did you learn anything that the american people deserve to know about? >> absolutely, chris. and i was in a classified briefing yesterday. i will just say this. i believe that the troops who were sadly killed in niger in november of 2017 were engaged in a mission that they were not authorize said by law to participate in and that they were not trained to participate in. and that is a significant reason that they tragically lost their lives. >> i don't understand. help me understand. what does that mean? they weren't legally allowed? >> i will just say that the troops that were in niger were there pursuant to a congressional authorization to engage in train and equip missions, they were not on an a train and equip mission. >> where is the accountability? who made the call? who has to be held accountable? >> it was in a classified setting yesterday. i'm a little bit constrained in what i feel like i can say this morning. but i will say this. th committee members were somewhat shocked to

barbara starr live with the details. >> there is plan b in place by all accounts. not clear how formal it is but sources are telling cnn that there are plans to potentially tap another person to be the nominee if haspel falters that would be sue gordon, deputy director of intelligence. she could be the nominee if haspel falters. she has decades of experience and support on both sides of the aisle. she was involved in the so-called enhanced interrogation, call it torture program during the george w. bush administration. she ran a black site in thailand where some techniques were used. at the confirmation hearing on wednesday if haspel is asked about the so-called torture techniques it will drag a lot of history out in public for the cia for the first time in years. if she is asked and answers about the specifics of it all it could be the final problem for her nomination. it could lead to a new potential nominee. >> thank you very much for all of that context and for the new reporting. >>> so rudy giuliani insists the president could invoke the fifth amendment if sub

barbara starr, i have you for 30 seconds, your takeaway. >> i think he is speaking partially to the people him and a reasonable message in his view from the united states so he's talking to the people of iran. on north korea, he's talking to kim jong-un. i think he is telling kim, stick with us, stick with the summit, it will be okay. that we believe that we can make a deal happen. there was doubt earlier today from trump, secretary mike pompeo trying to be more positive. >> and working toward june 12th and that date for the summit. barbara, thank you. and thanks for being with me. "the lead" with jake tapper starts right now. >>> thanks, brooke. house republicans want an investigation of the investigators. but if the democrats win, will there be an investigation of the investigation of the investigation? "the lead" starts now. >>> a democratic outcry after the justice department tries to work to find a way to address the president's political concerns about the russia investigation. now gop lawmakers say even that is not enough. is the justice department facing a potential constitutional

hello i'm barbara starr in london with the top stories on al-jazeera israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu is the fending overnight strikes on a rainy and targets in syria israel says the strikes the story of nearly all of the rounds of military infrastructure in syria hitting dozens of targets tehran has yet to respond officially. u.s. president on trump has confirmed the data and venue for a historic summit with north korea's leader he wrote on twitter that the highly anticipated meeting will take place in singapore in june the twelfth he also wrote a hope that they would both try to make it a very special moment for world peace all those details were announced just after trump welcomed back three u.s. citizens who were freed by pyongyang on wednesday as a goodwill gesture ahead of the talks are they show castro has more now from washington now this location was widely expected in the u.s. it's trump was debating between singapore and the d.m.z. he walked out the d.m.z. in days earlier singapore is seen as neutral ground for both countries it hosts a u.s. military base as well

kaitlan collins is at the white house, barbara starr is at the pentagon. what are you hearing about haspel from your post over there? >> reporter: there is a significant difference between gina haspel and some of the other cases. there is no question in anybody's mind we have seen that gina haspel is eminently qualified for the job. she's served in the intelligence community for several decades, some under cover. her qualifications are applauded by republicans and democrats, former cia directors who are opposed to president trump, her qualifications are not the issue per se. the issue at hand for gina haspel is her role during the george w. bush administration. in what was then an acceptable interrogation program, and enhanced interrogation, many people obviously referring to it as the torture program. it was accepted during those years. she ran a black site in thailand where some of the practices were undertaken. so very controversial in the past. and the question is, is it going to be good enough to say it was acceptable then, but not now? because, of co

. >> white house correspondent kaitlan collins and barbara starr are covering the big developments.an, we heard from the state department, and you heard from heather yesterday, what is the white house saying today, though? >> their stories seems to have changed slightly because last night as we reported white house aides were caught off guard in this announcement and president trump was on his way to visit melania trump, the first lady who was in the hospital outside of washington and recovering from a kidney illness when reports from north korea first broke and he wasn't fully briefed on what transpired until he got back from the white house over an hour later, but this morning we caught up with the press secretary sarah sanders on the driveway in front of the white house and she said they were fully expecting something like this from an unpredictable regime from north korea. >> look, this is something that we fully expected. the president is very used to and ready for tough negotiations and if they want to meet you'll be ready and if they don't, that's okay too. if they want to me

our pentagon correspondent barbara starr is monitoring developments. this drill that north korea calls a deliberate provocation is clearly an annual military exercise, thousands of american and south korean troops are involved. >> reporter: and right now, wolf, in fact, there are two sets of exercises going on, the one the north koreans are focusing on is called max thunder. an air exercise between u.s. and south korean air forces but there's another one going on that's even larger as you say, several thousand u.s. and south korean forces right now involved in those drills. something the north koreans are well aware of. they know their routine. they know their schedule. the north gets upset about them every year, but have vowed for flexibility as jim was saying with this -- with south korea and with the united states the question is what is really going on here. is there something inside the north korea regime that is pressuring kim jong-un that we are not aware of here in the united states, is he feeling some sort of pressure or is he looking for more

cnn's barbara starr is live at the pentagon with more and barbra, people should know you have never forgotten questions about this ever since it happened and they've never come clean yet. >> reporter: this investigation has been seven months in the making, good morning, chris, and today now the pentagon says it is finally ready to tell what it believes happened when these four american soldiers were killed in what was a very unexpected ambush in niger last october 4th. there's a tale that we will hear of a great deal of confusion about how these soldiers died. at one point they are told to go look for a high value isis operative. they are not trained, authorized, equipped. they don't have the weapons to do it. how it that happen? then they go back and they're doing another mission which is to help advise and assist local forces. they then go t a camp to look and see what's going on with isis operatives that had been in the area. so you have confusion. you have them then confronted by more than 100 isis operatives. they are overwhelmed by the gunfire of the isis ambush team. there will be thin

the grid in fact i can see she had preparing up there meanwhile off we go to london and here is barbara starr with more international news for us i'm barbara. hello there come on let's start in afghanistan where suicide bombers have struck two police stations in the capital kabul killing at least five people and wounding seventeen others. two police officers were killed and three others were injured in the first incident in western kabul the second attack also targeted a police station located in the city center the government says at least eight suicide bombers took part in the attacks overall one of the attacks has been claimed by eisold the other by the taliban. japan and china have agreed to work together to put north korea on what they say is the right pass japanese prime minister shinzo they made the comments at a trilateral summit with the chinese premier chung and the south korean president when he has more now from tokyo. it's supposed to be an annual trilateral summit with the leaders of japan south korea and china hadn't come together since two thousand and fifteen the relationship

is north korea's complete verifiable and irreversible denuclearize ation a tall order indeed barbara. starr with the latest from washington d.c. heidi thank you. was mentioning there trump's tweet came just hours after he welcomed back three u.s. citizens who were released from jail in north korea can be how kate was at andrews air force base. back in the united states it's been more than a year since kim hacksawing and tony kim have seen their. families for kim don shula it's been even longer he was imprisoned in north korea two years ago forced to do hard labor after being convicted of espionage speaking through a translator kim described his treatment in north korea forced to work but also treated well when sick. we were treated in many different ways for me i had to do a lot of labor but when i got sick i was also created by. the release of the three americans being viewed by the white house as a goodwill gesture by north korea's leader water back here who really. was. excellent to these three incredible people they are really three incredible people the release of the three americans i

the news hour but my colleague barbara starr will be with you and i met with much more days in jail. getting to the heart of the matter if will stuff i can go to support the bill calls you today and says let's have talks would you accept facing realities what do you think reunification would look like there are two people think the peace for unification is the only option for prosperity of south korea hear their story on talk to al-jazeera. the nature of news as it breaks this is one of the areas where protestants had blocked the road forcing final higher than anything off the fight with detailed coverage because now there's an extremely hot muggy assad regime but everyone striving for the good of the state from around the world this museum aims to be a way of pasta torrie other regions history and its perfected war that has divided the tribes here for generations. jailed should never be a country club and anyone who spent time in our facilities will tell you they are just for the staying from a country club and we know our approach is working incarcerated and at the mercy of a sheri

hello i'm barbara starr at this is the news hour live from london thank you for joining us coming up in the next sixty minutes votes are being counted in lebanon's first parliamentary elections in nineteen years little change is expected at the top. thirteen people are killed in a bomb blast in afghanistan police suspected some another attack by those looking to disrupt the forthcoming elections iran's president warns that you west will suffer historic regret if donald trump pulls out of the nuclear agreement with tehran and volcanic destruction in hawaii lava flows continue after the us island is hit by the worst quakes in decades. i'm tatiana sanchez in doha with the sports including how does field spoil the party as the english premier league champions manchester fifty caliber a winning the trophy in front of their home fans. vote counting is underway in the first parliamentary elections in lebanon in nine years this election saw the rollout of a new voting system of proportional representation and several new individuals and parties a step forward to be counted the spite this the

. >> barbara starr at the pentagon.t very firm in threatening the north koreans saying the united states has the greatest nuclear, military power and capability. what's the pentagon doing? how are officials and personnel dealing with the apparently heightened threat of a military confrontation? >> well, i have to tell you, wolf, here at the pentagon the words are steady state. they're here really trying to cool it down. they're talking about the fact keeping everything in place so they are ready if there was to be a north korean provocation. there are aircraft, satellites, radars, listening elements, troops on the ground. everything that was there three weeks ago, six months ago still essentially there. still in place. watching north korea around the clock. top general here at the pentagon said today nonetheless watching very carefully over the next few days to see if there is a provocation but the message they're trying to put out from the u.s. military is, yes, we're ready but we'd much rather have a steady state. d l

more about the situation in hawaii in the meantime now let's go to our london news center here's barbara starr with a look at the day's other news barbara farley thank you very much let's start in kenya because the u.n. is warning of disease outbreaks following severe flooding in the country at least one hundred twelve people have been killed and more than two hundred sixty thousand displaced over the past two months alone aid workers a say that they've reached only a quarter of the nearly fifty thousand families in need of shelter after weeks of torrential rains. there are fear is vital cargo crossing into gaza could take weeks to prepare after it was set alight by palestinian demonstrators during friday protests pipelines which carry fuel and gas in the gaza could cost millions of dollars to repair carry force that has the latest from gaza. one of those potentially damaging events that took place during the course of the six friday protest along the gaza border came in the far south near the only cargo crossing from israeli territory into gaza where five days a week each of those days hundre