Secretary Of State Pompeo Traveling To North Korea To Meet With Kim Jong Un; British Couple Exposed To Deadly Nerve Agent; Eleventh Hour Supreme Court Lobbying Effort
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: And a July Fourth protest at the feet of Lady Liberty. Police apprehended a protester who vowed to stay until all the children are released. (Fireworks from New York City)</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: That's New York. Nobody doesn't like New York. San Francisco is nice too, I will say.</s>BRIGGS: San Francisco did a nice job. Nashville is always one of my favorite fireworks displays --</s>ROMANS: Really?</s>BRIGGS: -- on Independence Day. Happy fifth of July, everybody. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.</s>ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. If you're getting up this early with us you probably missed the fireworks in your --</s>BRIGGS: The chances are good.</s>ROMANS: -- in your town, so we wanted to give you a taste. It is 30 minutes past the hour. Let's begin here. This morning, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is on his way to North Korea where he will meet with Kim Jong Un, his third trip there in as many months. Pompeo is looking for a roadmap for North Korea's nuclear disarmament. CNN's Paula Hancocks is live for us this morning in Seoul with the latest and he is en route right now.</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right Christine, and certainly the pressure is on the secretary of state this time. As you say, the third trip. He knows, according to sources telling CNN, that he has to come back with some kind of concrete plan to show what the path forward is going to be for the denuclearization. Just last week there's one of the intelligence officials telling us that the Americans are expected to hand over some kind of detailed list of tasks that the North Koreans have to do in order to show that they are pushing towards denuclearization. Trump administration officials saying that very quickly they will be to find out if Pyongyang is serious about giving up its nuclear weapons. Now, also on Sunday, there was a meeting between the U.S. and North Korean delegation at Panmunjom in the DMZ. A source with knowledge of U.S.-North Korea relations telling me that a letter was handed over. No details on exactly what was in that letter. But also saying that apart from the schedule and the agenda for Pompeo's meeting they wanted to hammer out when exactly they were going to see the remains of the U.S. service members from the Korean War, which North Korea had promised to give back when they met -- when Kim Jong Un met with Donald Trump in Singapore. That was actually part of the declaration that he signed. The U.S. military on alert and waiting for those remains but we really haven't seen anything beyond that at this point. So clearly, that will be something that Sec. Pompeo will be bringing up as well -- Christine.</s>ROMANS: Absolutely. In Seoul for us, Paula, thank you very much. The 'America First' president repeatedly floated the notion of invading Venezuela. A senior administration official tells CNN the president asked top advisers about this last August. Aides, including then-national security adviser H.R. McMaster, strongly urged him against an invasion of Venezuela. They warned such a dramatic response to Venezuela's political and economic crisis could backfire. Our source chalked up the president's comments to thinking quote, "out loud." But the following day the president said it out loud.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not going to rule out a military option and we have troops all over the world in places that are very, very far away. Venezuela is not very far away and the people are suffering and they're dying. We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option.</s>BRIGGS: Over the next month, the president kept pressing Latin American leaders about invading Venezuela, including on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. All the leaders firmly opposed the idea. President Trump has repeatedly tried to ratchet up pressure on the socialist government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Overnight, Maduro ordered Venezuela's armed forces not to lower their guard. He said, "No empire is going to choose for us." Police say a couple in southern England was exposed to the same military-grade nerve agent used against a former Russian spy and his daughter in March. Erin McLaughlin live in Amesbury, England with this latest incident. Good morning, Erin.</s>ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave. And we just heard a diplomatic response to all of this from Russia, suggesting that this is sort of -- some sort of elaborate plot to spoil the World Cup now underway in Russia. Worth noting England is there competing. The Russian embassy in the Netherlands tweeting out how dumb they think Russia is to use quote, "again, so-called Novichok in the middle of the FIFA World Cup." This, as the security minister here in the United Kingdom, Ben Wallace, is calling on the Kremlin to provide answers as to what exactly happened to Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy, and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury four months ago, saying that there are still unanswered questions in that investigation. They've since been able to identify the source of the poisoning using the weapons-grade military nerve agent Novichok smeared on the couple's doorknob but they don't know how it got there. And, British authorities believe that that could provide vital clues as to what happened to this British couple -- middle-aged couple -- Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, who were found unconscious on Saturday in the apartment block just behind me. Now, British authorities believe that the couple was not targeted but they don't know how they came across the nerve agent that was also used in the attack against the Skripals. And that is the fundamental question that about 100 counterterrorism police are furiously trying to answer here not far away from the Stonehenge here in Wiltshire, England.</s>BRIGGS: And circling back to that World Cup theory, Russia and England could play in the semifinals in Russia if they both win their game. That should be an interesting match. Erin McLaughlin live for us in Amesbury. Thank you.</s>ROMANS: All right. The president expected to make a final decision on his choice for the Supreme Court as soon as today. His pick expected to be a closely guarded secret in a leak-prone White House. An eleventh hour lobbying campaign is in full swing. Conservatives are hoping to see their choice nominated. Liberals are pushing moderate senators against supporting a hard-right pick.</s>BRIGGS: So far, the president has interviewed seven candidates. Sources tell CNN the president narrowed it down to a handful of appeals court judges Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, and Raymond Kethledge. Jeff Zeleny with more from the White House.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, President Trump is nearing a final decision on that pick for the Supreme Court. White House officials tell me that he is likely to make that decision either today or Friday but, of course, not announce it until Monday evening here in a prime time address from the East Room of the White House. Now, the president, of course, has been interviewing at least seven contenders here at the White House this week. Vice President Mike Pence also talking to more than one contender although we don't know how many. Now, going into the weekend, the White House war room here that's been established for a group of aides to essentially start fighting the summer confirmation fight is going to have a list, I'm told, of two or three possible names. They are not going to know who the president has decided but they are going to gear up for this epic fight that is going to unfold across Washington. Now, the president, of course, could always change his mind. That's one of the reason also they'll be two or three potential contenders, but he is narrowing in on a list. Now one thing is interesting. A behind-the-scenes lobbying push also going on at the eleventh hour with the president taking phone calls, even as he was on the golf course or driving to the golf course on the Fourth of July, from some senators and from conservative activists clearly trying to persuade the president or have a final word of say -- Dave and Christine.</s>ROMANS: All right, Jeff Zeleny. Thank you for that, Jeff. DNA testing is being conducted on separated migrant parents and children as part of the family reunification process. A federal official says it is a precaution against children being trafficked or smuggled by adults claiming to be their parents. One immigration group called the practice deplorable. And this -- all those border visits by members of Congress to see for themselves what is happening down there on the border, well it could be slowing up the reunions. That's what Homeland Security officials say. They say lawmakers are draining resources that would be dedicated to the separated families.</s>BRIGGS: One immigration attorney telling CNN nine clients received bond Wednesday, a big step toward being reunited with their children.</s>JODI GOODWIN, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: One of them fell down on her knees and just cried. She couldn't believe it.</s>BRIGGS: Those clients will still have to pay an immigration bond of $1,500 to $2,500 before they are released. Then they have to figure out where their children were taken.</s>ROMANS: All right. A woman who climbed to the robes of the Statue of Liberty to protest the separation of migrant families, she's in federal custody this morning. Authorities tried to talk Therese Okoumou down for three hours. She refused to leave until, she said, all migrant children in government custody were released. Earlier in the day, other members of Okoumou's group unfurled a banner at the base of the statue, calling for the abolition of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). At least seven people were arrested. Statue cruises that provide trips to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island -- they turned away as many as 3,000 customers because of the police activity. You know, you have to get a reservation to go to the -- you know, to go to the crown or to go beyond the base, so --</s>BRIGGS: Way out.</s>ROMANS: Yes, way out, so people plan those trips.</s>BRIGGS: That's really tough for those thousands of people. OK. Ahead, rescue teams have an emergency plan to evacuate those boys trapped in a cave as the situation worsens. Crews looking for another way in and weather is the biggest concern. We are live in Thailand with an update, next.