Soldier Shoots Machete-Wielding Attacker Near Louvre; Is Trump's Foreign Policy Moving Toward Obama's?; Rift with Australia Triggers Damage Control
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.</s>ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. You're watching NEW DAY. It is Friday, February 3, 6 a.m. here in New York. We do begin with breaking news out of Paris. A man wielding a knife rushing soldiers near the Louvre Museum, prompting one soldier to open fire. The man reportedly screaming, "Allah Akbar."</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. The underground mall at the world-renowned museum is on lockdown. There are about 200 people inside. The Paris prosecutor did open a terror investigation. We learned a second person has been arrested in connection with the attack. Let's take you straight to Paris. We have CNN's Melissa Bell with the very latest. What do we know about why they are keeping these people on lockdown and the general situation, Melissa?</s>MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the end, Chris, the employees and the visitors here at the Louvre were kept inside the building for an hour and a half. They were moved as soon as this incident happened, just before 10 a.m. local time. A couple of hours now to secure parts of the museum. They may have now been allowed to leave. They were evacuated a little while ago. Many of the employees told not to speak to the press. However, what we do know and we have confirmed, and French authorities were very quick on this to get through to the press and confirm more details. Just before 10 a.m., this machete-wielding man who was carrying backpacks went for policemen and soldiers who were guarding the Louvre in an attack at the foot of the staircase, as you just said, that is beneath the Louvre museum. Just beneath this pyramid. What we call in French its carousel. It is an underground shopping mall here at the Louvre Museum. He lunged for them, managed to wound one of those soldiers to the scalp before being shot several times and wounded. Now fairly quickly, the area was secured, and the investigating officers were able to get to work to try and work out exactly what happened. We don't know much about this man's motivations, but have had confirmation from police that he did shout "Allah Akbar" as he lunged for those policemen and soldiers in that attack. Also, Bernard Cazeneuve, France's prime minister, has now confirmed that French authorities believed that this was an attack of a terrorist nature. We don't for the time being know very much more than that, Chris.</s>CUOMO: All right, Melissa. Obviously, the big follow-up will be was it coordinated? Were there others? Check back with us when you get information. Thank you very much for scrambling to the scene. Appreciate it. All right. Now to President Trump's unpredictable foreign policy agenda, suddenly looking a lot like President Obama's, the administration calling out Russia for aggression in Ukraine. Warning Israel about new settlements in the West Bank and threatening Iran with sanctions towards the latest missile test. The same approaches taken by the previous administration. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Let's get the latest from CNN's Jeff Zeleny, live at the White House -- Jeff.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Chris. There's no question that President Trump is still forming his foreign policy, and there are key distinctions from President Obama without -- without a doubt. But we're also seeing emerging signs this morning that President Trump sounds a lot different than candidate Trump.</s>ZELENY (voice-over): President Trump telling Israel not so fast with settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The White House releasing a statement, warning Israel that the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Those words sounding similar to the Obama administration's approach to the settlements.</s>BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land.</s>ZELENY: And far different than the tone Mr. Trump took on the campaign trail.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Israel, our great friend and the one true democracy in the Middle East, has been snubbed and criticized by an administration that lacks moral clarity.</s>ZELENY: But the White House noting that President Trump has not taken an official position yet and will continue discussions when he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in two weeks.</s>NIKKI HALEY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: I must condemn the aggressive actions of Russia.</s>ZELENY: And tough talk coming from U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, condemning Russia for a recent surge of violence in eastern Ukraine.</s>HALEY: We do want to better our relations with Russia. However, the dire situation in eastern Ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnations of Russian actions.</s>ZELENY: Haley's rhetoric far stronger than the president's posture so far on Russia. But Thursday's remarks coming as no surprise to the White House. Sources tell CNN they signed off on Haley's speech. Meanwhile, today, the White House could announce additional tougher sanctions on Iran following Sunday's ballistic missile test. These sanctions expected to be similar to actions taken by former President Obama. Mr. Trump also not ruling out military action.</s>TRUMP: I haven't eased anything.</s>ZELENY: Foreign policy center stage on Rex Tillerson's first day as secretary of state.</s>REX TILLERSON, SECRETARY OF STATE: Hi, I'm the new guy.</s>ZELENY: Speaking with foreign leaders of Israel, Germany and Mexico but also doing damage control after the president's tense phone call with Australia.</s>TRUMP: President Obama said that they were going to take probably well over a thousand illegal immigrants who were in prisons, and they were going to bring them and take them into this country, and I just said why.</s>ZELENY: Republican leaders alarmed by the president's tone toward a long-standing U.S. ally.</s>SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The relationship between the United States and Australia is of the most, greatest importance; and I am concerned about the effect of this difference.</s>ZELENY: Now today President Trump also receives his first big piece of economic news, the January jobs report. Now, that is an indicator he will be judged by. But he's also meeting with business leaders here at the White House. One person who will not be there, the CEO of Uber, who called the president yesterday and said, "I can't come. I don't agree with your immigration order signed last week." Of course, getting so much blowback about that that that meeting is still happening later today -- Chris.</s>CUOMO: All right, Jeffrey. Interesting. Elon Musk said that he is going to go, even though he may not agree. He says you can't get anything changed if you don't have interchange. All right, let's bring in our panel. CNN senior political analyst and senior editor at "The Atlantic," Ron Brownstein; senior congressional correspondent for "The Washington Examiner," David Drucker; and CNN political commentator and contributor to "The Atlantic," Professor Peter Beinart. Let's put up this quick graphic that shows these apparent parallels and changes from what we had heard from President Trump. It now sounds more like former President Obama. Look at your screen. Israel: stop building settlements, they're not helpful to peace. Russia: sanctions for Ukraine incursions to remain in place, according to Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., until they abandon the peninsula. Very aggressive. Iran: on notice, additional sanctions for missile launch. Peter, is this a return to more Obama-esque language, and if so, good or bad.</s>PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think it is. It seems like Trump had a meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan, and that probably was the reason that he put out something on settlements. But if you look at it carefully, what it says is don't build beyond existing borders. That means don't build new settlements, but it doesn't stop Netanyahu from building up in the settlements that already exist. The statement is also, by the way, totally incoherent, because it says first we don't think settlements are an impediment to peace and then says they may not be helpful. I think they wanted to give King Abdullah something. Maybe Rex Tillerson is hearing the same things from other Arab countries, but this is not exactly a red light to Benjamin Netanyahu.</s>CAMEROTA: OK, so Ron, is this the influence already of Nikki Haley and Rex Tillerson, already that things -- that language seems to be moderating and things seem to be shifting?</s>RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Russia you'd have to say is clearly a modulated or different language in the campaign. Look, I think every president I've ever seen that I've covered runs for office saying that they are going to make the world sit up and salute more than their predecessor did, that they're going to be tougher or smarter or both. And that people are going to do what we want, more than the dummy before me was able to get them to do. And then they get into office and they find out that there are other nations with other priorities and other points of leverage, and that our leverage is ultimately limited. And I think you know what? Look at what we have seen here. Both Netanyahu and Putin moved very aggressively to take -- to take advantage of what they thought was a more accommodating attitude from President Trump. And I think you're seeing some pushback here. But in the end on many, many fronts, they're going to end up in a very different place than President Obama.</s>CUOMO: Do you think, David, that there's anything to the notion that Bannon went out strong with his advice on how to deal with Australia, how to deal with Mexico, and he was celebrating the disruption and there was push back within the administration that, yes, disruption means destruction for us. We look terrible on these. Let's try and get to some positions where people start liking what we're doing. Do you buy that?</s>DAVID DRUCKER, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, "THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER": Well, look, it's possible, but usually these things take more planning. So you know, you don't end up with Nikki Haley saying what she said at the U.N. on a dime. I mean, three is planning and there is thought that goes behind these things. What I find fascinating about all this is that the Trump administration, in talking about Russia at the U.N., through Nikki Haley, and it's sort of confusing. Everybody gets to have it both ways on the Israel settlement statement. It's old-school diplomacy where you're trying to throw a bone to everybody. And this is something that Trump really said he wasn't going to do. And I'm not being critical here. What I'm pointing out is we're seeing a case now here where, especially for people concerned that he was going to be too disruptive of U.S. foreign policy in terms of the post-World War II architecture that we have set up are now seeing him play some very old-school diplomacy in that statement on Israel. On the one hand, he says settlements are not an impediment to peace. And so for people on the right, they're going to read that as a break from Obama. On the other hand, it says that they're not helpful, which is something that President George W. Bush's administration had...</s>CUOMO: What is something that's not an impediment and not helpful?</s>BEINART: It makes no sense at all.</s>CUOMO: Is there any chance that there's...</s>BEINART: I think what he's really saying is don't embarrass us too much. Remember, Netanyahu was under pressure from people on his right to do things that would really put the final nail in the coffin. For instance, to build in the area of E-1, which would be a death knell, even annex parts of the West Bank. I think, basically, the message is Netanyahu, kill the two-state solution quietly, please. Not in such a way that's really going to blow back on us.</s>BROWNSTEIN: And you know, look, while all of this is going on, 24 hours earlier, the head of his trade council, Peter Navarro, he gives an interview to the "Financial Times of London." He attacks the E.U. again and says Germany is undervaluing -- devaluing the euro to get unfair advantage and its exports.</s>CUOMO: Merkel says it's not.</s>BROWNSTEIN: Right. A broad scale attack on Germany. There is, I think a broad questioning of kind of the post-World War II architecture that is underway, but there are limits. I mean, I think that, you know, this is -- this is a White House looking at Netanyahu in Israel, Putin in Russia responding to their original signals and saying, "Whoa. There's only so far we can let this go before it becomes untenable for us, not only at home but around the world."</s>DRUCKER: And also, just watch to see what the Trump administration actually backs up some of this, let's say, new tough talk with Russian. I mean, President Obama, this would be sort of like Obama, talked tough on Russia and what it's doing in the Ukraine and its invasion of the Crimea. But it didn't do much about it. Let's see if the Trump administration over time follows up on Ambassador Haley's remarks with some actual tough action to try and put the breaks on Russian expansion.</s>CUOMO: We had a good interview yesterday with Tony Blinken, who was an architect of much of what President Obama did with respect to Ukraine. And he kept telling us that they helped the Ukraine military a lot. Now, this becomes more relevant today, because John McCain put out this letter, saying if you want to help Ukraine, give them the heavy weapons that will allow them to defend themselves that they're asking for. Obama didn't do that. Do you think that will change?</s>CAMEROTA: But, like I said, they helped with other weaponry.</s>CUOMO: Right. And then McCain made the point in his letter that, no, they need these. This is what they need.</s>BEINART: First of all, you can't really be tough, especially on Russia, if you're not in lock step with your European allies. This is part of the larger problem here, right? The only way, if the Europeans, the Obama administration was pretty successful in getting the Europeans to also impose sanctions. If you're not on the same page with Germany and working with them, your sanctions are not going to be that effective. I think what you see in general is a huge division inside the administration between people like Tillerson and Mattis who have a more traditional Republican foreign policy view, strengthen our Allies and be tough on the adversaries; and people like Bannon and, to some degree, Flynn who want to kind of disrupt everything, change around the chess board in dramatic ways, more anti-European, more pro-Russia. I think you're seeing this incoherence because of the division.</s>BROWNSTEIN: And it was Donald Trump, who said in the interview I could care less if the European Union dissolves. And, you know, like I said you have a president now who has criticized the core economic and foreign policy decisions of Germany, which has been some of the lynchpin of our allies in Europe in terms of denouncing her for allowing so many Syrian refugees in. So I think there is still a lot of disruption ahead, but this, I think, is a reminder that other -- there are other players in the world. They respond to your signals and ultimately, you have to kind of set some limits even if you want to change policy.</s>CAMEROTA: Panel, thank you for all the context. Great to talk to you. So this was a signature Trump campaign promise. Repeal and replace Obamacare, of course. But Republicans seem to be having a tough time delivering. What does this mean for you? We dig deeper.