Kim and Moon Pledge to End Korean War; Lawyer at Trump Tower Meeting an Informant
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Vows of peace on the Korean Peninsula. Leaders of North and South Korea make a series of ambitious pledges. We'll have a live report on what's next.</s>GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Plus a Russian lawyer who was at a controversial Trump Tower meeting admits she had closer ties to the Kremlin than she let on.</s>ALLEN (voice-over): Later this hour, ancient battles between, guess what, humans and giant sloths. You're probably thinking, I really wanted to know that.</s>HOWELL (voice-over): We have more giant sloths ahead.</s>ALLEN (voice-over): We've got the story. It has to do with fossilized footprints that have been found. Stay with us for that.</s>HOWELL (voice-over): Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell.</s>ALLEN (voice-over): I'm Natalie Allen and this is CNN NEWSROOM.</s>HOWELL:  5: 01 on the U.S. East Coast. North Korean state media describes the summit between North and South Korea as historic. The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appeared relaxed and comfortable as he crossed into the South for a day-long summit with President Moon Jae-in. The men did seem at ease together with each other. They planted a tree together and even took a long walk from their aides and from the press to talk.</s>ALLEN: At the conclusion Mr. Kim and Mr. Moon vowed to formally end the Korean War and to denuclearize the peninsula. The United States president tweeted his approval. He wrote, "Korean War to end. The United States and all of its great people should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea." CNN's Paula Hancocks covered the summit and she is in Seoul, South Korea, with us. Paula, thanks for being with us. The day after this historic meeting between the leaders, what is the overall sense among people who watched in Seoul about what they witnessed and perhaps where things go from here?</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Natalie, there is a certain amount of optimism among some, having seen what happened yesterday. The fact that these two leaders did seem to be building some kind of rapport, some kind of relationship, both of them saying publicly that they were building trust and clearly going forward considering that declaration that they signed was fairly light on details to work out those details they are going to have to build trust between the two countries. It was a day of optics and tremendous photo opportunities. There were certain things, though, we understand, that clearly were papered over. There was no mention of human rights. There was very little detail on what exactly this complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula could look like, what conditions, what concessions would Kim Jong-un ask for. So there's certainly a lot of questions that have been unanswered. But I think, from the South Korean government's point of view, they could see this as going as well as could have been expected. We are, though, today, seeing some protests, small protests against what happened yesterday, some anti-Moon protests, a group of a few hundred defectors from North Korea gathering as well, saying that yesterday was simply a show, no substance to it, and they don't believe that they could work -- they are calling for the U.S. to add more sanctions.</s>HOWELL: Paula, there is talk about credit to the U.S. President Donald Trump but what about credit to President Moon there in South Korea? Clearly he staked his presidency on outreach to North Korea, even when people doubted him. Despite the criticism, it did happen. How does all this add up for him politically?</s>HANCOCKS: Well, that's right. To be honest, President Moon, I think, is one of the only leaders that hasn't claimed credit for what is happening at the moment. He has been pushing for this since he took power back in May 2017. He's been bringing the U.S. President Donald Trump along with him, but grudgingly at first. Mr. Trump even called Mr. Moon an appeaser at one point because he didn't believe that engagement with North Korea was the right way. But I think certainly there should be credit for President Moon to have got to this point. When you consider what was happening about five or six months ago, when tensions on this peninsula were incredibly high. Even amongst the missile, the nuclear tests, which were far more prolific than they have been in North Korea's history, Moon was still pushing for North Korea to be engaged in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. He was pushing for this sporting diplomacy.</s>HANCOCKS: And then at the beginning of the year, you had Kim Jong-un changing his public policy, saying that he was possibly going to send a delegation to the Olympics. And then it just accelerated from there to this point that we saw on Friday. So certainly I think President Moon deserves some credit for at least getting to go this point. But, of course, there is a long way to go.</s>ALLEN: Certainly. But we hope that Olympic diplomacy spreads across the globe and, heck, why not? K-pop diplomacy as well, let's not forget that effect. Paula Hancocks for us, thanks so much. President Trump could meet with the North Korean leader in the coming weeks. He has gone from attacking Kim Jong-un as Little Rocket Man to calling him honorable.</s>HOWELL: A big change there, a 180 you could call it. Despite that change in tone, Mr. President Trump says that he is poised to accomplish what previous administrations could not. Listen.</s>TRUMP: It's taken a long time, many decades to get here. Let's see what happens. Things have changed radically from a few months. You know the name calling and a lot of other things. We get a kick every once in a while, either the fact that I'll be watching people that fail so badly over the last 25 years explaining to me how to make a deal with North Korea, I get a big, big kick out of that. But we are doing very well. I think that something very dramatic could happen.</s>ALLEN: The president also took to Twitter to credit his Chinese counterpart, saying, "Please do not forget the great help that my good friend, President Xi of China, has given to the United States, particularly at the Border of North Korea. Without him it would have been a much longer, tougher, process!"</s>HOWELL: The president also says the list of possible sites where he would meet Kim Jong-un has narrowed but he did not reveal the locations; sources tell CNN the U.S. favors Singapore. The U.S. Secretary of Defense is expressing high hopes about dealing with North Korea.</s>ALLEN: But General James Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon he does not want to assume anything.</s>GEN. JAMES MATTIS, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I don't have a crystal ball. I can tell you we are optimistic right now there's opportunity here that we have never enjoy since 1950. That's going to take dip low mat working and I'm not going to calculate in advance anything.</s>HOWELL: Let's get analysis now with Leslie Vinjamuri. Leslie teaches international relations at SOAS University of London, live for us in our London bureau. Good to have you with us. We just heard from James Mattis just a moment ago. A bit of caution because we've been here before. North Korea promising to offer concessions and dialogue but then back to square one. How do you see this as different?</s>LESLIE VINJAMURI, SOAS UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Well, I think it's very much the same in that sense, that it puts much more pressure. Perhaps this is where it's different. The amount of pressure now on that summit, when President Trump meets the North Korean leader, to actually achieve results, a clear commitment to inspections of the North Korean nuclear program, to verification, to transparency and what will denuclearization actually come down to. The details now are really what matters. And there's no room at this point for just having a summit that produces little more than a photo opportunity. So I think there's tremendous pressure on really making tangible what denuclearization will be and, if not, what action will the United States take.</s>HOWELL: The big question is around the progress between North and South Korea. The U.S. President is saying he is due the credit for the openness of Kim Jong-un with regard to talks. Here's his take on it.</s>TRUMP: I don't think it's ever had this enthusiasm for somebody -- for them wanting to make a deal. And, yes, I agree the United States has been played beautifully like a fiddle because you had a different kind of leader. We're not going to be played. OK? We're going to hopefully make a deal. If we don't, that's fine. United States in the past was played like a fiddle. Money going in and nobody knew what was happening.</s>HOWELL: If all goes as planned, this would be an achievement that none of his predecessors were able to realize. What are your thoughts?</s>VINJAMURI: Well, there's no doubt that the North Korean nuclear threat has been one of the biggest if not the biggest security concerns. Everybody knew it would come to be the very significant problem for whoever the president was going to be at this stage. So Trump is right, that this is very significant, that the North Koreans have played past other presidents, that they've continued to develop a nuclear weapons program and they've done that further --</s>VINJAMURI: -- under the Trump presidency. Remember, there's now an ICBM program; there's been further nuclear testing. But when President Trump says if we don't reach a deal, that's fine, it's not clear what that means and I think that's one of the big questions right now. If there aren't very clear details agreed on denuclearization, then what? This is -- again, the summit has been pushed now to the brink. And the stakes are tremendously high. There's also the question of what the United States will be willing to offer in terms of sanctions relief, normalization, will this mean any altering towards the U.S. positioning of troops on the Korean Peninsula, all sorts of questions. So really the planning will be very important and there's been a question mark about whether there's sufficient planning going into the summit. But this is really -- despite the photo opportunity and the optics yesterday, which were tremendous, the pressure is really very intense right now.</s>HOWELL: Friday's talks between North and South Korea now in the history books. We also saw a photo that was released, basically of the new secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, meeting with Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang. So the question to you, Leslie, is this the groundwork really, is this setting the stage for this possible meeting between Kim Jong-un and President Trump? What are some of the issues that could derail that possible meeting?</s>VINJAMURI: Well, I think it does look like that meeting will go forward. I think that President Trump would like to have that meeting. Certainly the North Korean leader would like to have that meeting. Remember, this is a tremendous thing for him, for Kim, because it gives him legitimacy and makes him a very significant player on the international stage. He's wanted that meeting. It's a real opportunity. So I think that will go forward. But, again, it's a question of how much planning goes into that and whether there's a clear strategy, an articulated set of goals of what the United States is willing to accept and what it's willing to offer. And I think this is really critical and undoubtedly Mattis will be working on that. We have a very different set of leaders now that are critical to the preparation. So it looks very different with Bolton and Pompeo in place, who, one would expect to take a much harder line if those details for denuclearization aren't very critical. Remember the backdrop to this is that the Trump administration has been tremendously critical of the Iran deal and thinking that there isn't compliance, that it doesn't go far enough on the question of the missile program in Iran. So then to turn to North Korea and not get very tangible results out of the summit would be quite a walk back, I think, for the U.S. administration.</s>HOWELL: We'll have to wait and see. A lot of credit being taken but, again, the game is not done yet. Leslie Vinjamuri, live for us in London, thank you for your time.</s>VINJAMURI: Thank you.</s>ALLEN: Well, President Trump and the German chancellor say their friendship is strong even if it doesn't always look that way. The two leaders met in Washington Friday, discussing a range of issues, including trade, Syria and the Iran nuclear deal, which Mr. Trump insists is bad for the</s>U.S. HOWELL: Chancellor Merkel admits the agreement is anything but perfect but that it's important, an important first step toward curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions. Listen.</s>ANGELA MERKEL, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY (through translator): The whole of the region, obviously, is of prime importance to us, because it's not 1,000 kilometers away, as it is the case, for example, between the USA and Syria. But Syria and Iran are countries that are right on our doorstep. So that is of prime importance for us, and we will continue to be in very close talks on this.</s>HOWELL: Mr. Trump refused to rule out military action should Tehran resume its nuclear program. In the meantime, there are two key developments in investigations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. On Capitol Hill Friday, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee issued their report, saying there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.</s>ALLEN: President Trump hailed the report on Twitter, repeating his claim the investigation is a big hoax for Democrats and calling it a witch hunt. And he also said this in the Oval Office.</s>TRUMP: We were honored. It was a great report. No collusion, which I knew anyway. No coordination, no nothing. It's a witch hunt. That's all it is. As I've said many times before, I've always said there was no collusion but I've also said there has been nobody tougher on Russia than me. I was very honored by the report. It was very totally conclusive, strong and powerful. Many things said that nobody knew about and said it very strongly. They were very forceful in saying that the Clinton campaign actually did contribute to Russia. So maybe somebody ought to look at that.</s>HOWELL: All right. There is new information to share with you on that Russian attorney, who was at the now infamous Trump Tower meeting with Trump campaign officials. Our Manu Raju has details for us.</s>MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The Russian lawyer who attended a 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr. now acknowledging she's an informant of the Russian government. In newly released e-mails from 2013, reported by "The New York Times," Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya is shown coordinating closely with the office of a senior Russian official, the prosecutor general. "I am a lawyer and I am an informant," she told NBC News. "Since 2013 I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general." The disclosure shines a new light on a June 2016 meeting she attended with the president's eldest son and senior campaign officials, when Trump Jr. initially was promised dirt on the Clinton campaign, that never materialized. The Republican who ran the House's Russia investigation acknowledging he was unaware that she was an informant of the Russian government.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's new information.</s>RAJU (voice-over): This on the same day that the House Intelligence Committee released its report from the Russia probe. The Republicans' conclusion: they found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.</s>RUBIO: Is it troubling to you in any way that she was a Russian informant and had a meeting with senior level Trump campaign officials in 2016?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Because that's how she presented herself and there's no evidence that she acted on that.</s>RAJU (voice-over): The House GOP report does fault the Trump campaign's periodic praise and communication with WikiLeaks as, quote, "highly objectionable" and demonstrating "poor judgment." Plus, it says both the Trump and Clinton campaigns took ill-considered actions, including the Trump campaign's decision to meet with Veselnitskaya in Trump Tower. In one interaction described in the report, Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, met in December 2015, before he joined the Trump campaign, at the Russian embassy with then ambassador Sergey Kislyak before Flynn traveled to Moscow. The report cite emails exchanged between Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, and business associate Felix Sadr, over a proposed Trump Tower Moscow project and an effort to set up a Trump-Putin meeting. Sadr told Cohen, that if Putin gets on at stage with Donald for a ribbon cutting in Moscow, Donald owns the Republican nomination. The efforts to set up a Trump-Putin meeting didn't end there. In one brief interaction, the report says Trump Jr. met briefly with a Russian government official during the National Rifle Association's annual meeting. The GOP report concludes that the brief meeting centered on shooting and hunting and not the campaign. Democrats say that misses the point.</s>REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TEXAS), MEMBER, HOUSE PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE: The sad part of this is that this was not a real investigation. This was basically a kindergarten investigation.</s>RAJU: And Democrats also released their own findings that disputed a lot of assertions made by the Republicans in their own report. In the Democrats' report, it actually discusses that NRA meeting that occurred at a convention, in which Donald Trump Jr. had that brief interaction with that Russian official. So now they said that in the run-up to that convention, actually there were emails that showed there was an effort at that meeting was never by the Russian government to create a, quote, "first contact" with the Trump campaign because Moscow was very insistent on having good relationships between Putin and then candidate Trump. Now on top of that, that same report shows that Emin Agalarov, who's the Russian oligarch, who orchestrated that June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, he actually sent a gift to then candidate Trump the day after that meeting, a birthday gift. It was, quote, "an expensive painting," in the words of this report and Trump apparently responded afterwards, saying in an e-mail, "There are few things better than receiving a sensational gift from someone you admire and that's what I received from you" -- Manu Raju, CNN. Capitol Hill.</s>ALLEN: Democrats say Republicans refused to fully investigate the allegations, that it failed to call more than 30 key witnesses, including that Russian lawyer.</s>HOWELL: The committee's top Democrat also points to unanswered questions surrounding that Trump Tower meeting in particular, a curious phone call.</s>REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CALIF.), MEMBER, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Don Jr., prior to the meeting, when this is being discussed by e-mail, because it's of the sensitive nature and don't want to do it by e- mail, arranges to call Emin Agalarov. This is the son of this oligarch close to Putin. And we have these two calls to Amin. And the significant thing is they're separated by a third call to a blocked number. Now we sought to find out, is that blocked number Donald Trump's blocked number? Because we found out during the investigation that Donald Trump used a blocked number during the campaign. We asked to subpoena the phone records so we could match up, did Donald Trump receive a phone call at the same time Donald Jr. was making that call, to find out, did the president's son seek the president's permission, the go-ahead to go forward with this meeting? The Republicans refused.</s>ALLEN: There's another Russia connection that's being investigated. It has to do with a Russian banker and the NRA --</s>ALLEN: -- the biggest gun rights group appears to be bracing for an investigation over its ties to a Russian banker. We have an exclusive report about that -- next.</s>HOWELL: Plus the porn star, Stormy Daniels, and the fixer, Michael Cohen, won't be facing off in court anytime soon. What's next for the case against Michael Cohen? Stay with us.