TAPPER: Take a listen to what the president's director of national intelligence said just last month about the threat from North Korea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN COATS, U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: We currently assess that North Korea will seek to retain its WMD capabilities and is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capabilities, because its leaders ultimately view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival.
TAPPER: How do you convince Kim to give up something that he thinks is critical to his regime's survival? What is the United States offering that's better than that?
POMPEO: We have made it very plain to Chairman Kim the alternative to giving up his nuclear weapons is remaining a pariah state, remaining a nation that is unable to trade, unable to grow, unable to take care of its own people.
We have made the argument that it would be far better, far better for Chairman Kim himself, his senior leadership, all of the people for North Korea. We have also shared with him that we are happy to make sure that North Korea's security assurances -- they're worried about China, that the security assurances that they need can be provided in a way that is reasonable.
And we have also told them there will be -- there will be real opportunities, that countries from around the world will come, make his economy one that looks more like South Korea's economy than the one that exists in North Korea today.
Those are the kinds of things. I have had these conversations. I have been with Chairman Kim, I think, more hours now than anybody, including Dennis Rodman.
"They say a restless body can hide a peaceful soul.
A voyager, ad a settler, they both have a distant goal.
If I explore the heavens, or if I search inside.
Well, it really doesn't matter as long as I can tell myself
I've always tried."
Like a roller in the ocean, life is motion
Move on
Like a wind that's always blowing, life is flowing
Move on
Like the sunrise in the morning, life is dawning
Move on
How I treasure every minute
Being part of it, being in it
With the urge to move on
A planned working lunch between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to have been canceled, and a Trump press conference from the Hanoi summit has been brought forward by two hours: https://cnn.it/2EiF15D
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As U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held their summit in Vietnam, the narrow focus on nuclear weapons obscured a major danger: Kim holds the whip in a three-ring circus of weapons of mass destruction. The other two rings, adjacent and in many ways more frightening, feature chemical weapons and — above all — biological threats.
The North Koreans are suspected by U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies of holding substantial amounts of a variety of biological agents including smallpox, botulism, typhoid and anthrax.
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The Conservative Political Action Conference opens its annual gathering of conservatives to hear from a cross-section of government officials. Speakers today include Lindsey Graham, Rick Perry and Larry Kudlow.
The Conservative Political Action Conference opens its annual gathering of conservatives to hear from a cross-section of government officials. Speakers today include Lindsey Graham, Rick Perry and Larry Kudlow.
Envoys to the UN from France and Germany say there is no need to revise sanctions on North Korea. The two countries currently jointly chair the UN Security Council.
German Ambassador Cristoph Heusgen and French Ambassador Francois Delattre spoke at a news conference on Friday.
Heusgen was asked about the Council's response to the second US-North Korea summit, which failed to produce an agreement. He said he sees no need to change the present sanctions.
He pointed out the tough measures had helped bring North Korea to negotiations in Hanoi.
Delattre also indicated the sanctions would stay in place.
The Council last year gave up on holding a conference on human rights in the North, due to a lack of support.
At least nine Security Council members must agree for such a meeting to take place.
Asked about the possibility of a meeting in future, Delattre appeared skeptical. He cited reluctance from some member countries including China and Russia.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un left for home on Saturday, wrapping up a visit to the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.
He attended his second summit with US President Donald Trump in the city, but the two-day meeting ended on Thursday with no agreement.
On the last day of his stay, Kim left his hotel and visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where the body of the Vietnam's founding father lies.
His visit to the mausoleum has been seen as confirmation of his country's longstanding friendship with Vietnam, as his late grandfather Kim Il Sung was on good terms with Ho Chi Minh.
The city of Hiroshima has been forced to postpone plans to carry out preservation work on the Atomic Bomb Dome after receiving no expressions of interest from specialist companies.
The city government was hoping to begin work on the site, which has UNESCO World Heritage listing, by the end of March.
The dome was built more than 100 years ago and was mostly destroyed by the atomic bomb dropped on the city in 1945, at the end of World War Two.
The city wants to reinforce its steel structures and brickwork walls.
In February, it invited more than 10 firms with experience in preserving cultural properties to bid for the work. None of them responded.
City officials say that they will hold another round of bidding soon after relaxing some of their requirements so that more companies can take part.
Officials suspect a shortage of workers in the construction industry is one of the reasons for the failed bidding process.
The city has also had problems getting companies to bid on rebuilding work for an area damaged by heavy rain and landslides in July last year.
You know, it’s the greatest honor of my life to serve as Vice President to a President who gets up every day and fights to keep the promises that he made to the American people. (Applause.)
I mean, think about it: This President promised to get this economy moving again. And working with Republican majorities in the Congress, in our first two years, President Trump has cut more federal red tape than any President in American history. (Applause.) We’ve unleashed American energy, and now the United States is the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world. (Applause.)
Under the President’s strong leadership, we’ve forged new trade deals that finally put American jobs and American workers first. And with the support of this generation of conservatives, President Trump signed the largest tax cut and tax reform in American history. (Applause.) That’s promises made and promises kept!
We cut taxes across the board for working Americans, for American businesses, and we cut out the core of Obamacare. The individual mandate is gone. (Applause.) And the results have been amazing.
As I stand before you today, the American economy is booming. (Applause.) In just over two years, businesses large and small have created 5.3 million new jobs, including over 480,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs that the other side said would never come back. (Applause.)
Unemployment has hit a 50-year low. And more Americans are working today than ever before in the history of this country. (Applause.) The unemployment rate for women has hit a 55-year low. And the unemployment rate for Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and African Americans have reached the lowest level ever recorded in American history. (Applause.) And the wages of working Americans are rising at a faster pace than they have in more than a decade.
Under President Donald Trump, working Americans are winning again. The forgotten men and women of America are forgotten no more. (Applause.)
Everywhere you look, confidence is back, jobs are coming back. In a word, America is back — and we’re just getting started! (Applause.)
But for all the progress we’ve made, President Trump has no higher priority than the safety and security of the American people. And from the first days of this administration, this President has worked to make the strongest military in the history of the world stronger still. And last year, President Trump signed the largest investment in our national defense since the days of Ronald Reagan. (Applause.)
We’re modernizing our nuclear arsenal, updating missile defense, and before the year is out, President Donald Trump will launch the sixth branch of our armed forces, the United States Space Force. (Applause.) Under this Commander-in-Chief, we’ll make sure that America is as dominant in space as we are on land and air and sea.
So, we’re rebuilding our military, we’re restoring the arsenal of democracy, and we’re once again giving our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guard the resources they need to accomplish their mission and come home safe. (Applause.)
And we’re also standing with our veterans and all the men and women who have worn the uniform of the United States. And we restored accountability to the VA. (Applause.) We’re finally giving our heroes access to the world-class healthcare they earned in the uniform of the United States. Veterans Choice is here! (Applause.)
And in this administration, we’re also standing every day with the brave men and women of law enforcement, and we’ve been giving all those who stand on the Thin Blue Line the resources and the respect they deserve every single day. (Applause.) And that includes the courageous men and women of Customs and Border Protection — (applause) — who put their lives on the line every single day. Under this President and this administration, we will never abolish ICE. (Applause.)
You know, as the President has said many times: If you don’t have a border, you don’t have a country. And since day one of our administration, we’ve been working to remove dangerous criminals from our streets in record numbers, enforcing our immigration laws, and working to secure our border. And we’ve already started to build that wall. (Applause.)
And I’ll make you a promise: Before we’re done, we’re going to build it all. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Build that wall! Build that wall! Build that wall!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Oh, we’re building it. (Laughter.) As the President often says, “Don’t worry about it.” (Laughter.)
Make no mistake about it, folks: No matter what you hear from the Democrats and their allies in the media, we have a crisis at our southern border, and it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before.
Matt Schlapp認証済みアカウント @mschlapp https://twitter.com/mschlapp/status/1089995602136653829
The movement for liberty and freedom is not just an American phenomenon, but a force working to improve lives around the entire world. @JCU_official Chairman Jay Aeba @ultraJedi will highlight the impact conservatives can make when we band together for the greater good.
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