North Korea Launches Failed Missile Test; President Trump Speaks at NRA Event; Varying Levels of Influence of Trump Aides and Family Members Assessed.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me on President Trump's 100th day in office. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in the nation's capital. President Trump marks the day with a huge campaign style rally, this after repeatedly dismissing the milestone as a ridiculous measure of early success. We'll take a look at his administration's accomplishments, stumbles, and the work in progress. And just hours after the White House rallied international pressure on North Korea, the regime fires back with a defiant launch of a ballistic missile. The test considered a failure but effective in sending a message. Also being heard today, protests and rallies across the country some in support of the president, some angrily opposing what he already accomplished or is proposing, the largest encircling the White House later on today and railing against the changing climate both environmentally and politically. We begin this hour with North Korea and its latest brazen refute of international pressure. The missile launch coming just hours after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson chaired a special meeting at the United Nations and called for increased pressure on the regime. CNN's Will Ripley is in Pyongyang, the only western television journalist in the North Korean capital. Will?</s>WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, tensions here in the Korean peninsula are at their highest level in years. In fact it's gotten so bad this has become the most pressing global security concern right for you for the Trump administration. And in President Trump's first 100 days in office, North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un has ordered at least nine missile launches. Not all of them have been successful, including the latest launch in the early morning hours here. U.S. and South Korean analysts believe the missile traveled just 22 miles before exploding over North Korean territory. They had initially thought it traveled much further, possibly flying for 15 minutes and exploding in the waters near the Japanese coast. That was enough to issue a nationwide alert, a missile alert in Japan that halted subway and rail service in the country for a full 10 minutes. It just goes to show how tense the situation is here in this region. The kind of missile that North Korea tested was a modified scud that we saw unveiled in this country's large military parade earlier this month, and that's significant that they would test this particular kind of missile on the very same day that we've confirmed the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group has arrived in the waters off the Korean peninsula and is now conducting joint naval drills with the South Korean Navy. North Korea clearly trying to sending a message to the United States that they will continue to test weapons that they view as essential to protect their national sovereignty and to protect against what they believe is hostility and aggression on the part of the United States. They're watching very closely not only the words from President Trump saying that a major, major conflict with North Korea is very possible, but they also listen to Secretary Tillerson at the U.N. Security Council urging the world to put more diplomatic isolation and economic pressure on this country. The North Korean response -- that will not stop them from testing missiles and nuclear weapons. Fred?</s>WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Will. So President Trump joining the chorus of nations condemning North Korea's defiant missile launch, and the president trying to nudge China into applying pressure on its communist ally. CNN's Joe Johns is at the White House for us. Joe, what's the response from the White House this morning?</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Fred. Well, among other things, the White House very much trying to downplay this latest activity by North Korea. The president tweeting, in fact, that among other things, North Korea had disrespected the wishes of China's president by launching this missile, a clear indication that the administration wants to put the onus on president of China to interact with North Korea to bring resolution to the nuclear ambitions of that country. The White House statement from the press secretary officially just two lines, essentially saying that the administration was aware of the missile launch and that the president was briefed. The National Security Council pointing a bit of a finer point on it, saying there was reason for concern for the missile launch, but also saying North Korea has always been provocative in response to a question about the timing of this missile launch occurring just a few hours after the secretary of state chaired that big beating at the United Nations. So quiet here at the White House as the president prepares to go over to Pennsylvania to celebrate the 100th day of his administration. He will be meeting before he goes with his CIA director. Fred, back to you.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, thank you so much, Joe Johns, at the White House. We'll check back with you. Shortly after news broke of another North Korea missile test, CNN spoke with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. Secretary Kelly believes it will be up to President Trump to stop North Korea before it has a missile that can reach the U.S.</s>JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Just a few days ago on Sunday on "State of the Union" you told Dana Bash that North Korea will have a nuclear missile that will reach California by President Trump's second term. Is the development of the ability to launch such a missile in itself a red line, meaning, if it becomes a certainty that they have that technology, would the U.S. without question strike to prevent it from happening?</s>JOHN KELLY, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Well, I don't have too much insight actually into the intelligence of how they're doing other than to know that certainly when I was on active duty they were doing very well. And I don't -- I believe they will have the technology. Unfortunately for Mr. Trump, all of the attempts of previous administrations to somehow get them to be more responsible, that is to say to stop their technology, missile technology development and the atomic development, they tried to do it and they essentially failed. I don't criticize them. They did try. Mr. Obama, Mr. Bush, Mr. Clinton. But it has fallen on this president that they will, in my opinion, have a workable missile, ICBM type missile that can certainly hit the United States. Not all of the United States but hit the United States, and they're working hard to develop a weapon to put on that missile. I would say that I think if we can predict it would happen on this day, we need to stop it before they get to that point.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, let's bring in our panel, CNN political analyst David Drucker and Jackie Kucinich. Also with us is Lynn Sweet, the Washington Bureau Chief for "The Chicago Sun-Times," Clarissa Ward, CNN senior international correspondent. Welcome to all of you. So Clarissa, you first. What is the message that North Korea is sending by this latest missile test?</s>CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is actually a strategy that we've seen the North Koreans implement for years now. It's this kind of endless cycle of we do something erratic and crazy is that puts the hold world on edge. And previously the world has responded by saying let's all sit down at the negotiating table and we'll give you more aid and you can extract some more concessions from us. And this is exactly why the Trump administration said we want to end this era of strategic patience. Well, the problem with ending strategic patience is you have to replace it with something else. And as of yet we don't know what that is. While we don't know what President Trump's red lines are, we also don't know what the young Kim's red lines are as well. And that's what gives me some real cause for concern. I think obviously this is a response to heightened tensions in the Korean peninsula, U.S. naval presence there, joint military exercises going on, the rhetoric he's hearing coming from President Trump. But the question is, how far is he willing to take it? How serious is he about developing a nuclear weapon? And it appears that he's very serious about it indeed.</s>WHITFIELD: But David, when it's a failure, this is considered a failed attempt, is North Korea sending a message that we're still not ready or is the message that it's sending we're continuing to revise and we're working on it so that is still a message of strength?</s>DAVID DRUCKER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think that from perspective of North Koreans, as Clarissa noted, what you're dealing with is a regime that is intent on getting there. And as a U.S. official said in recent days, every failed test is something they can learn from and it gives them an opportunity to get further along. And the reason this has become so urgent and I think that the reason the Trump administration is paying so close attention to it is it's no longer a question of them developing nuclear weapons. It's about them developing means to deliver them, not just hitting our allies in the region but the continental United States. And so I think that for the Trump administration it's understandable and we should say commendable that they've brought a level of urgency to this and they're trying to find a new way of dealing with this because previous Democratic and Republican administration have failed to put a cap on Kim Jong-un un and his father before him. The question here is relying on China as the check that's going to get this done, it's not a strategy that doesn't make any sense. It makes sense given China's influence with Pyongyang and their proximity. But China has no interest in making life better for the United States. And so President Trump has a lot riding on this personal relationship that he believes he's developed with President Xi in China when I think that the Chinese frankly would be happy to let the U.S. be caught up in this problem, and so it gives them a chance to further develop their influence in the region, build those bases in the South China Sea that we think are illegal and keeps us spun up. And so I'm not sure how much President Xi actually wants to solve this problem for us.</s>WHITFIELD: Except that, Jackie, in a tweet this morning, the president is actually challenging, is he not, China to be more involved by saying to North Korea this was very disrespectful. And here he is right now, "North Korea disrespected the wishes of China and its highly respected president when it launched." So isn't that the White House just as we heard our Joe Johns say, the White House saying, OK, China, come on. You get involved now.</s>JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: This is a little bit of tough talk now, saying are you going to let him do that to you, China? Are you going to step up?</s>WHITFIELD: Instigating. They call is that instigating on the basketball court, right?</s>KUCINICH: That's what it seems like. And the fact that this was a failed missile launch, OK, fine, but this is a challenge to the Chinese president, to the Americans to say I do what I want. They've been warned. You've heard administration escalate their talks, and right now the message from the North Korean regime is we don't care.</s>WHITFIELD: Escalating talks. We hear Secretary Tillerson who says, wait a minute, for those of you countries that are not complying with these economic sanctions, there will be consequences. That's more than tough talk. That really is the U.S. threatening other countries to get more engaged here on a different level?</s>LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": Yes and no. And here is where I think the administration is trying to figure out how much of this do they want to outsource to other countries, what is the potential of having a real alliance, or in the case of the Syria strike, we sent those 59 missiles in on our own in a unilateral move. This is so much more serious because now you're dealing with a country that's has retaliatory powers, and it's more complex because we have multiple relationship issues with China at the same time, and with all of this commotion going on, we are also putting pressure on South Korea to help pay for the defense that the U.S. provides, which then puts another element of uncertainty in this fraught time.</s>DRUCKER: I think that's a good point because there's a mixed message being sent by the Trump administration in recent days. When you pressuring South Korea to pay for missile defense, and in a sense the message is maybe we won't provide it if you don't write us a check, I think the North Koreans can look at that and wonder exactly how close our relationship is with south Korea and how far we're willing to go to defend them. And obviously the reason our options are so limited is because attacking North Korea could be catastrophic for Seoul where tens of millions of people live. And so I think that the administration, while it is doing a good job trying to stake out a new North Korea policy, has to be careful from the top of the White House of not sending mixed messages that give Kim Jong-un the freedom as though he has latitude to invoke.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, let's shift gears now. We're talking about the former national security adviser Michael Flynn under investigation for taking money from foreign groups without proper approval, and now the White House has been blaming the Obama administration, saying you're the one who vetted him. So you didn't do a good job. Aren't we talking, Lynn, about different levels of vetting for his job at the time versus national security adviser being brought on by another administration. Why is it this White House doesn't see that there are differences?</s>SWEET: The Trump White House likes to blame the rain some days on Obama. OK, we get that. Once you take in Flynn, who already had security clearance under Obama, that's true, it didn't mean that they did not have any responsibility to do their own scrubbing when you elevate somebody to this post. I think that's the issue. Not that he had a security clearance, but did you take your own vet look before you appointed him in his national security position.</s>WHITFIELD: And someone with great familiarity with that post, national security adviser Susan Rice had this to say to Fareed Zakaria about this entire issue.</s>FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN ANCHOR: The administration now says that it is the Obama's administration's fault that Michael Flynn got through un- vetted, or not vetted enough, that it was on your watch that he retained top secret security clearance despite the fact that he had received money from the Russians. What do you say?</s>SUSAN RICE, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Fareed, I'm smiling because that's rich. Let me explain how this process works. First of all, a former military officer such as General Flynn who wants to retain his security clearance would go through a process with his home agency, in this case the Defense Intelligence Agency, to have his clearance reviewed and renewed. That happens at a very routine level, never at a political level. But that's a very separate thing. The renewal of a clearance from vetting that goes into appointment of any senior White House official or any senior administration official. The Trump administration, like its previous administration, had an expectation and an obligation to vet to their satisfaction those individuals that the president was appointing to high positions, which is a separate and much more elaborate process than a security clearance. It gets into the financial information. It gets into your relationships and contacts. It gets into your behavior. It's a much deeper vet than what is done solely for the purpose of a security clearance.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, so, David, will this help quiet the White House on constantly bringing up the Obama administration in terms of vetting, Susan Rice's response, or does this even inspire the White House to say we have got to stop defending Michael Flynn?</s>DRUCKER: I don't think the White House is going to stop defending the president's decision to hire him as national security adviser in the first place. I think it's clear as we watch this play out during the week that they didn't have a good answer for why he wasn't properly vetted. I understand why conservatives and Republicans think Susan Rice is not a good messenger for Democrats on this given what happened in the aftermath of the Benghazi terrorist attacks and her going on all of those Sunday shows with a faulty story. But the truth about Flynn is they should -- the Trump administration team and the Trump White House should have properly vetted him for position of national security adviser and they should have done it on their own. They can blame Obama and they can blame defense department bureaucracy, if you will, for not doing a proper job, but it really lies with them and blame shifting is not going to work.</s>WHITFIELD: Does anyone expect the White House to do that?</s>KUCINICH: It's kind of funny all the trust they have all of a sudden placed in the Obama administration after this talk about how they did everything wrong. I think when it comes to the Trump administration and Flynn, a lot of this comes down to loyalty. Even when he was firing Michael Flynn, he was effusive about his credentials. This is a man who stuck with the president when no one thought he would win. He was the guy they pointed to as proof that he could be a strong commander in chief because this decorated general was back him. So the fact that Michael Flynn stood with him has made it very tough for Trump to turn his back on him because that's just how this president is. He values loyalty.</s>WHITFIELD: Real quick on that?</s>WARD: I would just say the Russians right now are sort of pulling their hair out a little bit, saying we had such high hopes for this president, and quickly we're watching all the people who were close to use, whether it's Manafort, whether it's Flynn disappearing by the wayside and the president coming under pressure to really disassociate and cut off those perceived ties with Russia.</s>WHITFIELD: Thanks so much. We'll have you all back. Also coming up, 100 days came and went with no deal on health care, one of the president's key promises when taking office. That's next.