North Korea Vow Retaliation for Sanctions; Interview with Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York.
CAMEROTA: North Korea lashing out at the U.S., vowing retaliation over the new U.N. sanctions. President Trump just tweeted moments ago about this. He says, "After many years of failure, countries are coming together to finally address the dangers posed by North Korea. We must be tough and decisive. But North Korea says its missiles and nuclear weapons are not on the negotiating table and never will be. Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks. He serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Thanks so much for being here in studio, Congressman. Great to see you.</s>REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D), NEW YORK: Thank you, good being with you. So the president is pleased at this unanimous 15-0 U.N. Security Council vote to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea, but North Korea, it appears, has only gotten more bellicose as a result of those, and you heard, I mean, they say that they will never negotiate about their nuclear program. Where does that leave us?</s>MEEKS: First of all, let me say compliments to the president in that hopefully, he's understanding what President Obama understood that you can't do this America alone, and you've got to work with nations. I mean, that's what President Obama did when we talked about the Iranian agreement with other nations. So we've got to do that, but now how do you do that and how do you maintain and make sure for example that China locks in and stays with these sanctions, because we've all said China is key.</s>CAMEROTA: And what is the answer?</s>MEEKS: And the answer to that is we've got to make sure, you know, because diplomacy is multilayered, and so we know that China does not have an interest for the United States to stay in the region, but China does have an interest to be a world player. We have other allies that we've got to work with, and China has been trying to deal with them. So we've got to talk to those allies, and we've also got to look at, on a long-term basis, I know a lot of individuals were critical of, say, for example, TPP. But those kind of engaging those countries in the region to make sure that they are continually working with us and not, you know, just doing separate deals becomes important.</s>CAMEROTA: Has China shown any appetite or openness to really doing something critical on North Korea?</s>MEEKS: Well, no, this is the first, well, another indication of what China can do, I mean, but what you have to do is to put enough pressure on them, and I think not just pressure from the United States.</s>CAMEROTA: How?</s>MEEKS: We talk about pressure. It's multilateral pressure, but other nations also saying to China this is important. If you want to continue to do business with us as they're doing, then we need you also to be strong on North Korea. And I think they get that this then hurts them on the world stage also, because they want to stay on the world stage. And we've got to focus on that.</s>CAMEROTA: This wasn't the first tweet that the president sent out this morning about North Korea. He also retweeted a FOXNews.com story about our spy agencies apparently spotting these anti-ship cruise missiles being loaded onto a patrol boat days ago in North Korea. That's curious on a number of levels. So why is the president tweeting a FOX News story when he could, I mean, this is arguably intelligence that he should know from his own administration efforts. Why is he using that to get word out to the American people?</s>MEEKS: I could never justify what this president is doing. To me he's playing "Apprentice" in the White House, and you know...</s>CAMEROTA: Meaning what?</s>MEEKS: Meaning that, you know, he's trying to make folks guess. He tells lies. That's what "The Apprentice" was all about. You know, and if you didn't do, doing something, then you're fired. That's a game show. It's supposed to be reality TV. It's not real. And he's utilizing that same format to try to govern this country. That is dangerous, and so I would hope that my colleagues, particularly my Democratic, Republican colleagues, understand that we can't play "The Apprentice" game in the White House. I mean...</s>CAMEROTA: And the other confusing thing is that the president is well-known for saying he never telegraphs his thoughts to the enemy. This comes from what he would call a leak from the U.S. intel agency that's sharing it with FOX News. It's just confusing on a bunch of levels.</s>MEEKS: And if you talk at what he said, you know, about fake news, the only news that he seems to want to report is fake news. Those that are not verifiable, but when you have networks like CNN and CBS and ABC and NBC and all of whom, the "New York Times," "The Washington Post," you know, credible, notable press, he says that's fake news. Well, he goes to things that are clearly not verifiable, and it just seems to me he is playing a game; and he should stop doing it.</s>CAMEROTA: Congressman, very quickly, I know you wanted to tell us where you think you're headed on health care. What's happening on Capitol Hill with health care?</s>MEEKS: Well, what I wanted to talk about, because I think what Senator McCain said is very, very true. We need to go back to regular order, where you have hearings and ideas being discussed, and working things over in a bipartisan manner, because health care is too important for us to continue to play partisan politics with.</s>CAMEROTA: And you want Medicare for all, yes?</s>MEEKS: I would want Medicare for all, but I understand that there's got to be an agreement that's worked out. So I don't believe that you wipe out the Affordable Care Act. I think that you've got to work collectively to fix it so that people have quality, affordable care. I remember too vividly, too many Americans going bankrupt when they've had a family member or someone within themselves got sick, and they couldn't afford it. They thought they had health care, but they didn't when they need it, and we've got to make sure that doesn't happen. Life is so important, and we shouldn't play politics with it.</s>CAMEROTA: Congressman Gregory Meeks, great to have you in the studio. Thanks so much for being here -- Chris.</s>CUOMO: All right. So President Trump and the truth are being put to the test. A new CNN poll shows a majority of Americans, three in four, don't trust what they hear from the White House. So this is a big deal. A president cannot survive this way. How will the president turn it around? We have a debate you don't want to miss.