>> so if you're looking for a unique new york get-away, you can rent president trump's childhood whole on airbnb. >> it's in queens. $725 a night. >> amazing. >> cool. >> america's news headquarters starts now. >> harris: our breaking news now coverage as the u.s. defense secretary james mattis just issued an official warning to north korea. and i quote. "crease any actions that would lead to the destruction of its people." i'm harris faulkner. now diplomacy still in play as we await a news briefing at state department. we'll carry it live and we're told it could be any moment from now. we're reporting how quickly this situation between the u.s. and korea has deteriorated in the past 24 hours. now we know from secretary mattis this very key information. president trump was informed of

the growing threat last december. on taking office, his first orders to me, says general mattis, emphasize the readiness of our ballistic missile and deterrent forces. rex tillerson is urging all calm right now. he says he sees no imminent threat of attack. >> i think the president -- what the president is doing a sending a strong message to north korea in language that kim jong-un would understand. he doesn't seem to understand diplomatic language. >> we have team fox coverage now with military analysts and retired lieutenant colonel oliver north. let's begin with rich edson with the diplomatic piece of the puzzle. rich? >> secretary of state rex tillerson says americans should sleep well and have no concerns about the escalation rhetoric over the last couple days. secretary of state is just returning from a trip to asia

where he conducted several days of diplomacy, north korea consuming much of that. by the way, as he was speaking there, that was just before he landed for a refuelling stop in guam, an island north korea had threatened a couple hours before saying it was carefully examining an attack on guam. tillerson claims that escalation in rhetoric shows international pressure is beginning to affect north korea. >> i think in fact the pressure is starting to show. that's why the rhetoric coming out of pyongyang is becoming louder and more threatening. whether we've got them backed into a corner or not is difficult to say. diplomatically, you never like to have someone in a corner without a way for them to get out. >> tillerson said he spent much of the time in asia pressing his allies and u.s. allies to better enforce sanctions against north korea. that while he was there, the u.n. security council approved

more sanctions against north korea with china and russia jumping on board there. >> you mentioned china and russia on board. we need china to do more. what is going on with that? >> the secretary of state noted that he did at this international conference in manilla speak with representatives from china and russia, he's counter parts there. he's noted that both of those countries have open communications lines with north korea. a north korean representative was also at this conference. the secretary of state is saying that he wants china and russia to use the open lines of communication to pressure north korea to, as he says, stand down on its weapons programs. there's the economic component of this, as you mentioned, harris, where china accounts for 90% of north korea's trade and the u.s. has been pressing china to not only enforce these new sanctions the u.n. security council has passed but sanctions that have been passed in years prior. >> make them feel the money loss. thanks, rich. general mattis issued the stern

warning to north korea where i started at the top of the hour. part of it said "the regime's actions will continue to be grossly overmatched by ours and would lose any arms race or conflict it initiates." let's go to lucas tomlinson at the pentagon. lucas? >> good afternoon, harris. added to that warning to pyongyang, defense secretary jim mattis added "north korea must choose to stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons. to that end, mattis is visiting a submarine base in washington, his home state, to visit the u.s.s. kentucky seen here, a ballistic missile submarine which has 24 trident ballistic missiles, each missile has up to ten independent nuclear warheads, each bigger than the size of the hiroshima bomb.

other options are b-1 bombers which carry conventional bombs, stationed 2,000 miles away from north korea on the island of guam. since north korea's first ballistic missile test, these b-1 bombers have showed force in the area. there's the aircraft carrier strike group in japan. the u.s.s. ronald reagan was off the coast where she was joined by the u.s.s. carl vinson. cruisers and destroyers can launch tomahawk cruise missiles. u.s. special operations forces are also on standby in guam. there's 400 land-based nuclear missiles in montana, north dakota and wyoming, which are staffed 24 hours a day and also wait the president's order if

called upon, harris. >> harris: thanks, lucas. you set us up for our next guest. what are our possible military options? now we know what is in our arsenal. we have to bring in host of "war stories", oliver north. thanks for being with us. >> good to be with you, harris. >> harris: i wrote down part of what lucas said. we've been doing show of force missions, this is different what is deployable in our arsenal? what is reality, colonel? >> let's take one step back from that. i'm a firm believer that the military option, harris, has to be on the table. but before we do that, we ought to exhaust all other opportunities. i'm not talking about months more of these so-called dialogues where they continue to build weapons while we talk to them. what we have to do is convince president xi in beijing that

we're deadly serious about this. the only leverage we have is china. what he needs to do, the president needs to do, press hard for president moon and the republic of korea to bring as many thaad missile systems and even presenting israel in. return the tactical nukes to the republic of korea that we with drew in the 90s. number 3, deploy another carrier strike group in addition to the reagan and more than one long air strike task group. these are visable activities that will get the attention of if not xi, but pyongyang. how about asking xi to base some sarad units. number 4, deploy the u.s.s. mercy and the u.s.s. naval ship

comfort from japan. it shows we're serious. disoff the target lists. in other words, additional intelligence and reconnaissance assets and deliver biological chemical weapons equipment. and hopefully xi sees the light. >> harris: when you talk about dusting off the target list, this is now -- this is something that you can put into play. like you have just listed the things and it became clear, you saw me looking down, taking notes there. our -- the two countries that got on board, russia and china will know the meaning of these things immediately. so the phone calls will be made to kim jong-un, hey, even stronger than china's recent statement which took a shot at the u.s. but this is interesting. this even before another list that ambassador john bolton to the u.n. gave us.

that is preemptive strike on north korea. let's look at that list. i'm curious to get your thoughts on this. maybe the two go hand and hand. so you've got a preemptive strike on known nuclear facil y facilities and launch sites. this is what john bolton would suggest. wait until missile is ready to launch and then destroy it. use air strike special forces to destroy national command and seize nuclear assets. i almost hear you saying do all of those other things before you even get to the ambassador's list. your thoughts. >> well, you would have to do them anyway. what i'm suggesting is, if the president orders those kind of deployments, those assets positioned where they could strike that will convince xi and maybe, although i doubt it, kim jong-un, that we are really deadly serious about this. this is a threat to the united

states of america. you never know where one of their missiles will go. if you are going to launch military operations, you have to do that anyway. make it clear that we're deadly serious. if you have to go to the military options, the first thing you do is take down air defenses and leadership communications with cyber attacks and let's call it special weapons. two, take out the nuclear and icbm cites and north korean artillery sites at the dmz. ideally you'd do all of those things simultaneously. it's not going to happen simultaneously. you have to do them all pretty quickly though because otherwise, it's a true catastrophe all over that peninsula. >> that's my next question. the collateral. the fallout. it sounds like we mean what we say when we say that they're outmatched. clearly from everything that you're saying right there and from what ambassador bolton said

is possible. we've heard terrible things about kim jong-un and his sanity and ability to stay stable for the conversation ahead. is he crazy enough to go for this is a big question? what do we have the fortitude to do back? >> i'm old enough to remember the cuban missile crisis. this is much more serious. because we knew that the soviets and today the russians want to survive the experience. mutually assured destruction worked because they did want to survive it. there's no such assurance with the iranians or the north koreans that they have the same instinct. the only pressure point we have with these guys in north korea is china. convince china that you don't need the population of north korea is about 25 million people. you don't need five million

people walking across the river to get into china. it will be a disaster for everybody, not just the north koreans. very a damaging to south korea. >> harris: you saw the threat against guam and our military bases there. where do you think we should be when it comes to whatever target north korea says is going to throw out there? do we wait or are you in favor of a preemptive strike? >> look, i'm in favor of a preemptive strike if we've done all the things that i just outlined for our administration to do and they don't work. if they don't work, in order to protect the american people, no president, doesn't matter republican, democrat, no president can allow this kind of threat against the homeland to continue. it's got to stop. >> harris: colonel north, you gave us a lot to think about. that idea of being outmatched, they need to get that message. what you said puts an exclamation point at the end of

that sentence. thanks very much. we're again awaiting the state department. that's the diplomatic side of this. the colonel said this is an urgent situation. we know rex tillerson has said that this is not an imminent situation, but we'll hear definitively from the state department any moment. we'll have that live when heather nauert steps up. a tiny island in the west pacific is now at the center of the stage with the standoff with kim jong-un. you heard me talk about it, guam. >> the north korean missile capability can point in many directions. so guam is not the only place that could be under a threat.

liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. yeah, my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. what?! you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. >> harris: watching breaking news today.

the fox news alert. awaiting the briefing at the state department. rex tillerson continuing his trip in asia. no doubt all of washington along with our secretary of state and the rest of the world noticing that north korea threatened to strike our military bases in guam. a small u.s. territory in the western pacific with a population less than boise idaho. but it plays a historic role in our defenses. trace gallagher is here. some americans caught off guard. why guam? you can tell us why. >> guam became a u.s. territory in 1898 in the spanish american war. it does have one nonvoting delegate and the natives are u.s. citizens by birth. residents do not vote for president and do not pay u.s. taxes. guam is considered american soil and an attack there would be an attack on the united states. for location, guam is about 4,000 miles or so east of hawaii. so it's nowhere near the u.s.

mainland, but because of its proximity to china, japan, the philippines and of course the korean peninsula, guam has long been a key facility for the u.s. military. the u.s. takes up about 30% of the island with a naval base and an air force installation. there's been talk in recent years about relocating thousands of marines from okinawa, japan to guam. last month when north korea tested that intercontinental ballistic missile, the u.s. responded by flying two supersonic jets, two sets of bombers, from guam over the korean peninsula in a show of force. while the u.s. military is the main driver of the guam economy, tourism is second and threats of an attack by north korea are not helping to draw visitors. what thanks this threat so interesting is that while north korea has routinely warned of attacking the u.s., those warnings are almost never specific. so singling out guam is a brand

new tactic. the governor of guam spent much of today telling residents not to worry. he said "i'm working with homeland security, the rear admiral and the united states to protect our safety. i want to make sure there's no threat to our island." here's what residents are saying. watch. >> something that we can't take lightly. you never know what could happen. you know, everyone is saying, what are we going to do? you can't do anything. you can't run and hide from a nuclear bomb or threat. >> back in 2013, kim jong-un told his military to prepare launch attacks on guam, hawaii, south korea and the united states. clearly that did not happen. i said east of hawaii. i meant west of hawaii. >> harris: we're with you, trace. the world is round. it would have been one way or the other eventually. one of the things we learned from general mattis today is the fact that the president had been

told about this back in december. coming into his new presidency. so much information that you've given us in the last little bit there on what the president would have known and going forward, why some of this is making sense. some of the rhetoric going back and forth. thanks for the primer on guam. thank you, sir. we're a few minutes away -- we're passed the point -- where the state department said it would be telling the nation the latest on north korea. we're waiting for that to happen. the rhetoric as trace and i talked about has elevated. we know the u.s. and the connection to guam and why north korea might have picked that one. we'll take you to the press briefing as soon as it gets underway live. and the president is getting push back from some lawmakers on how he responded to north korea. will congress back him when the rubber meets the road? our political panel is coming on board. >> the time is not on our side.

eight years of strategic patience, it has narrowed our options. if we want different results, we must change our strategy.

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during long bubble baths. tv on every screen is awesome. the xfinity stream app. all your tv at home. the most on demand your entire dvr. top networks. and live sports on the go. included with xfinity tv. xfinity, the future of awesome. >> harris: president trump is not mincing words when it comes to north korea. we're awaiting a press conference. all that has happened today and makes this moment especially important. we know where we will be militarily if and when the time comes that north korea presses ahead with any of its threats. that was made very clear by our defense secretary. now we want to know what in the diplomatic realm is being done

to keep us from coming to a point where we're on the brink of anything militarily. that's what we're waiting for. as soon as the state department press secretary steps up, we'll take you there live. meanwhile, the president is promising to meet north korea's aggression with "fire and fury." if north korea does not back off. lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle, some of them, are criticizing that comment saying it goes to far. joining me is vince from the daily caller and adam, a democratic strategist for the progressive change campaign committee. good to see you both, gentlemen. yesterday on this program representative darrell issa said everybody would be on the same page. there would be bipartisanship. i want to start off with your response to that and then go from something from john mccain, senator mccain. so i will start now with you guys. you know, it's interesting.

where we stand right now, everybody is watching to see who will jump first. so am i. gentlemen, take it away. >> yeah, i'll just say when you have a foreign policy action where there's an imminent threat, when you have -- when you're dealing with the north korean regime that looks like it's on the verge of launching something, you'll expect your lawmakers, your senators will stand somewhat in unity behind the president of the united states whether or not they disagree with the strategy we got here. a clear mandate, voters elected donald trump president of the united states and commander-in-chief, specifically to make these types of tough decisions. you disagree over strategy as you mount up to this moment but we're here. the time for hug it out is over. donald trump decided to make a strong statement about it, one that was reinforced by rex tillerson and general mattis today. >> harris: adam? >> yeah, first of all, i don't

think any republican or democratic voters were thinking on election day, i hope he gets us into nuclear war with north korea. he was acting recklessly and fickle yesterday by talking about fire and fury, doing this not as a direct grand strategy like you said but winging it off the cuff with -- >> harris: do you really feel that way now that you know the past history that we're learning? the president has known about the threat from north korea being different and more serious than ever before since december and on into the early days of his presidency in january? >> the reason that -- >> harris: if you look at the video of the president, he seemed to be determined and very singular in his comments. >> he wasn't cool, calm and collected. when you have the leader of the free world, it called for diploma diplomacy. we're the titan in these international relations. we need to be steady and not a

dog barking up a tree. north korea, the reason that north korean dictator talks about fire and fury and stuff like that, they are a little guy. they are a pesky gnat on the side of the world stage. that's what they're doing to get attention. donald trump should not have acted so recklessly. >> wow. >> to say that we need bipartisanship? the democrats and independents and republicans should rally around him right or wrong is ridiculous. i don't think most people that have kids right now -- >> harris: so when you hear our secretary of state saying the president got it right, when you hair representative issa saying the president got it right, it begs the question are you listening to the words being said on how we got up to this point. vince? >> look, these same people that are criticizing the president today for his words yesterday would not be in the same position criticizing mattis. they have respect for him. this is a reflexsive contempt for the president's leadership. people can disagree with how he got here.

every word he says is responded to with contempt by his critics. they think he doesn't have credibility on the issue. the truth is, this is one of the only unique ways that a president has communicated on north korea. regularly kind of talking about how he can come to the table, which president trump has tried negotiation as an element of his strategy. it hasn't worked. so he's trying something different -- >> harris: i want to throw something in here from within your own party. this is from senator john mccain. he was on a radio show. so i'm interested to get your response on this. because it looks like not everybody is in agreement even among the republicans. let's watch. >> i take exception to the president's comments because you got to be sure that you can do what you say you're going to do. the great leaders that i have seen, they don't threaten unless they're ready to act. i'm not sure that. trump is ready to act.

>> harris: adam, i'll throw to you. >> yeah, well, according to vince, john mccain must be betraying his country. according to vince, no matter what donald trump says, right or wrong, the entire country should unite. that's ridiculous. people should want bipartisanship for good things, not bad things. to keep their kids safe, not nuclear war. the fact that a hero like john mccain who knows what he's talking about with foreign policy is criticizing the president, seems to show that that is a legitimate point of view. >> the key here, if you come out, if you're a senator like john mccain or any senator, you can criticize in good faith. understand this. if you have the president of the united states make a forceful -- >> that's not what you said before. >> i'm making the point for you. you don't ups it. when you make a forceful statement like this, the goal is to not undermine the efficacy of the president's words. not to make it look to north korea like the united states is engaged in a half measure, that

they can't get its act together and the leaders disagree and there will be no consequence. there's not the type of invitation to deliver to kim jong-un. you need to convince him there's a real threat at stake. that was the goal of the president. these senators should realize that many are big player here is in this major conversation. in april when the president of the united states invited the senators to the white house to tell them about the north korea threat, what did they do, you had some leave and say i didn't learn anything new. the thing you missed is you were a part of a giant play to convince north korea, the united states is serious about this threat. >> harris: vince, adam, thanks very much. i appreciate your time. again, we're waiting the state department briefing to begin. as it does, we'll have it live. tensions with north korea are causing uncertainty. how is this affecting wall street? we'll take a look as america's top diplomat, rex tillerson, looks to re-assure that the rogue regime is not an eminent

threat. is this a mixed message or part of the plan? stay close.

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find clear skin that lasts. >> harris: the fox alert. white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders has sent a new statement. it's clearing up whether or not the president was aware or anyone was aware that the president was going to respond to north korea's threat following the sanctions with a strong message in no uncertain terms.

we're learning they were. rick leventhal is live from bridge water, new jersey which is up the road from where the president is staying. rick? >> you've been talking about critics of the president's remarks about north korea. some calling it reckless rhetoric. his secretary of state said the president was using language that the north korean dictator would understand. and reportedly spoke out after learning that kim jong-un's regime had the ability to place miniature war heads on missiles. >> north korea best not make any more threats to the united states. they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. >> well, in response, the democratic leader nancy pelosi said "the president's most recent comments are recklessly belligerent and demonstrate a gray lack of appreciation for the severity of the nuclear

situation." she called it saber rattling and said it eroded america's credibility. well, you played some of john mccain's comments earlier. he also spoke on facebook live a short time ago. >> we have to be careful what we say and we have to be careful what we do. i'm very concerned about the level of rhetoric that president trump employed. >> here's more from sarah huckabee sanders who says that general kelly and others on the national security team were well-aware of the tone of the statement of the president prior to delivery. the words were his own. the tone and strength of the message were discussed beforehand. they, kelly and the nsc team were clear that the president was going to respond to north korea's threats following the sanctions with a strong message in no uncertain terms. the white house knew about it. they didn't know the exact words

that the president would use, harris. >> harris: thanks, rick. we want to take you to the state department. heather nauert was just asked the first question. here it is. >> i think the united states and some of you may disagree with this, but the united states is on the same page. whether it's the white house, the state department, the department of defense, we're speaking with one voice. the world is in fact speaking with one voice. we saw that as it came out of the u.n. security council with the resolution that passed less than a week ago. the united states along with other nations condemn north korea for their destabilizing activities. they continue to talk part in that. two icbm launches in less than a month's period of time. the world remains very concerned about that. >> you don't think that the president's comments are at odds with those of the secretary's and other officials or is this kind of a good cop bat cop

routine that we're seeing here trying to coax the maximum you can get out of the north korean government? >> i think we've talked about our pressure campaign that is backed by many nations. we see that pressure campaign, which is a long-term campaign, but that campaign is working. it's ratcheting up the pressure on north korea. the president spoke about this yesterday. secretary tillerson spoke about this earlier today. the secretary spoke about the president's words. that's what you're referring to. he said this. look, the president is sending a strong message to north korea and the kind of language that north korea understands. the secretary talked in the past about how the president is very effective spokesman. people listen to him and those were the president's words sending a message loud and clear to north korea. >> does that mean that you have come to the determination that the only way to get through to kim jong-un is with the same kind of rhetoric --

>> there's lots of ways to get through to kim jong-un. our issue is not with the dprk but the regime itself. when the president and secretary mattis and secretary tillerson agreed that the top security issue for the united states would in fact be safety and security of americans, first of course, but would in fact dprk and the destabilizing activities, the nuclear ballistics weapons programs that continue to take place. any more questions about this? >> in the president's remarks and in the secretary's comments about the president's remarks, saying that if it's the kind of language that north korea would understand and almost in a way diplomatic speech, is that an approach that the state department was involved in that the president took yesterday? >> the state department under the president, the secretary and the president have ongoing

conversations. they spoke earlier today. this pressure campaign with north korea is something that we are all in agreement on, folks in the u.s. government are all in agreement on. so nothing has changed in that regard. >> can you just extrapolate -- the president and the secretary spoke today? >> they did. >> this is when he in guam or -- >> i'm not sure where. in transit as he's on his way back to the united states. at what point or what time, i'm not sure. >> can you ask which time -- >> it happened -- a good question. let me get back to you on the time of that. >> it happened while he was on route back -- >> i believe it was on -- >> it wasn't last week -- >> no, no, no in the last 24 hours. >> you know how long it was? >> they spoke about an hour. >> so two called in the last -- since monday. >> i'd have to check with you on the first call that you're referring to. i'm not certain of that. >> a call of an hour with

general kelly and the president and the secretary on monday morning, monday morning east coast time. >> right. >> so we have two calls now. >> okay. andrea. >> hi. could i follow up? the secretary's call was well after the fire and fury language. senator mccain and others, republicans and democrats, have complained that it was bombastic. not helpful says senator mccain. no other president, not eisenhower or reagan would have used such language. the implication from the critics is that the president's language implied the use of nuclear force. is that the way the secretary read it? did the secretary have any early warning from his earlier phone call that this was going to happen? or did he only speak to the president in the aftermath? >> he spoke to the president after the fact, after the president made his announcement.

as people look at this and some consider comments to have been alarming, i would have to go back to this. let's consider what is alarming. what is alarming two icbm tests in less than a month, two nuclear tests that took place last year. as a matter of fact, when there's an earthquake in china, i get e-mails and calls from you asking was it another nuclear test. that is how big of a deal this is, what is going on. let me finish. it's a big deal what is going on. it's a concern to the world, not just the united states. those are alarming actions. they're provocative actions on the part of north korea. >> my question is, given those provocations from north korea, which has been belligerent in the extreme, granted, stipulated, is it helpful or unhelpful for the president to use the language that we have seen previously coming from kim jong-un, not from presidents of

the united states? is he ex-is ask -- exacerbating -- >> the president used the language that kim jong-un will understand. we would like to see results. the pressure campaign, we see that working. the international community is in agreement with the united states and many of our partners and allies on putting additional pressure on north korea. the secretary happens to be coming back from a conference where they had tremendous success. a good week for diplomacy. i know you want to obsess or statements and want to make a lot of noise out of that, but what is important to keep in mind is that the diplomatic pressure at the meetings of the ten asian nations along with the united states came to a joint agreement and a joint statement and put out a very strong condemnation of north korea. we are all singing from the same hymn book. >> a lot of us have reported on the success of that effort at

the u.n. and ensuing days. that doesn't take away from that question. the lack of a national security interagency process in this instance with presidential statement that has perhaps undercut the previous success. >> i don't know that i would agree with you on that. next question. >> like saying all options on the team, which is a response in the past. is that a new kind of policy? it appears that the united states would say we the privilege of right to use whatever option available to us, including aggressive military action. >> we've had a few statements that have come up today. secretary mattis addressed this very issue in a strong statement that he issued earlier today. i'll read some of it to you in case you have missed it. "the united states and our allies have demonstrated capabilities and unquestionable commitment to defend ourselves from an attack.

kim jong-un should take heed of the u.n. security council's unified voice and statements of the governments the world over that the dprk pose as threat to the global security and stability. the dprk has to stand down." it goes on. the united states is talking with one voice. >> and your choice of the word "obsess." we're not obsessing about this. this is the president of the united states threatening a nuclear armed country whether you want to accept it or not a country armed with nuclear weapons with fire and fury, the likes of which the world has never seen. i don't think it's obsessing to want to know -- to have a further clarification of what that means and whether or not it means that you're preparing to send fire and fury raining down on the north korean regime. >> and i'll let the president's

statement stand for itself. >> it's not obsessing to want to know more about -- >> i see a packed room of journalists here. normally there aren't half as many as there are here today. that shows a greater indication of your -- >> we're here for you -- >> they're here for you. hi. your name is. >> steve from cbs news. >> hi, steve. >> a quick change in topic. can you tell us about the incidents going on in havana affecting u.s. government worker there's? >> yes. so we are certainly aware of what has happened there. give me a second here. that's why we have a little late start getting some recent updates for you on this. so some u.s. government personnel who were working at our embassy in havana, cuba, on official duty, they were there working on behalf of the u.s. embassy there, they have reported some incidents which have caused a variety of physical symptoms. i'm not going to be able to give

you a ton of information about this today, but i'll tell you what we do have to provide so far. we don't have any definitive answers about the source or the cause of what we consider to be incidents. we can tell you that on may 23, the state department took further action. we asked two officials who were a credited at the embassy of cuba in the united states to depart the united states, those two individuals have departed the united states. we take this situation very seriously. one of the things we talk about here often is the safety and security of american citizens at home and abroad is our top priority. we're taking that situation seriously and it's under investigation right now. >> if the u.s. doesn't have a definsive answer on the cause or source, why did they ask the two cuban embassy officials to depart the u.s.? >> look, some of our people have had the option of leaving cuba as a result for medical reasons. >> harris: all right.

heather is being asked at the state department, the spokesperson there, about a cuban incident and while that is important, we have been very focused on the breaking news of north korea. so i want to bring in lieutenant colonel oliver north -- excuse me. ari fleischer to talk about what is happening here. ari, of course you know as the former press secretary for george w. bush and a fox contributor, as we watch this with north korea, i noticed at one point that the reporter was more concerned about the wording that heather was using in terms of reporters obsessing over what the president said in response in north korea's response. seems like we've gone far afield in that room what are you see something. >> i appreciate the promotion to lieutenant colonel. >> harris: goodness gracious. you're welcome. >> i'll take that. but i have seen this so many times before where reporters do obsess about whether or not the president's remarks were

identical to the secretary of defense, secretary of state. reporters are more interesting if there's daylights about the facts of what's happening internationally. it's notable what the president said, but it's not out of line with what has been said by the secretary of defense or secretary of state. the bigger point here is for 24 years, three prior administrations, including one i worked for, all followed the same playbook and it didn't work. here you have donald trump saying i'm going follow a different playbook, speak differently. it's as if reporters say how dare you not repeat the same things the same way that everybody said it before. and i think that's one of donald trump's strengths. he's willing to talk and say things differently. in this instance, he's caught the attention of china, which is a country he was talking to yesterday. >> you know -- i want to press in on this with you. what you're saying is yes, the president is going to use different words. we're now learning more. i keep saying this. we're learning more about what

he knew and when he knew it. the situation is not exactly what we thought it was in terms of how the president reacted yesterday. he knew far much more in terms of the intelligence and even going into the december and january months. i think that's critical to say. i want to point out that heather is saying we're singing from the same handbook. and the white house wasn't caught off guard by the president because they knew he was going to say something strong on the record. >> reminds me of ronald reagan talking about the soviet union calling them the evil empire. all of washington had the vapors. how dare you? this is unpresidential. what happens behind the scenes, i've seen it myself, the staff around the president is familiar with how the president speaks in the situation room, with the national security council and some meetings with other

leaders. i'd suspect what donald trump said yesterday is his staff has heard him say multiple times in private. so then he does say it publicly, it's not a shock or surprise to the staff that knows him. >> harris: we've also learned at this press briefing is that secretary tillerson and the president today somewhere along the route of tillerson coming back from his asia trip spoke for an hour. we need to get the timing on when that happened and if it was before certain comments and after. according to heather, it was after the president said what he said yesterday. so if they weren't in concert, you'd imagine we would know that by now. i want, if you can, ari, to sit by and watch and listen with me a point of contention there with reporters. we focus on the threats from north korea, look at the back and forth between the state department spokesperson and the reporters in the room. >> let's consider what is alarming. what is alarming two icbm tests in less than a month, two

nuclear tests that took place last year. smart, when there's an earthquake in china, i get many e-mails and calls from all of you asking was it another nuclear test? that is how big of a deal this is at what is going on. let me finish. please. and it's a big deal what's going on. it's a concern to the world, not just the united states. those are alarming actions. they're provocative actions on the part of north korea. >> harris: ari, you think we're too focused on what the president said? >> we should be focused on what the president said but not to a fault. what the president said is notable, it's important. what the president said yesterday was different from what was previously said. that's why it's caught the attention of reporters. i think he should when credited with that, frankly. this is my bigger point here. we're so used to observers as reporters following the precedence. because three presidents previously communicated in a similar tone and way, vis a vis north korea and donald trump

does something different, how can you do that? the old pattern didn't work. donald trump's bluster is different. it's shocking to the ear. we can have the same results if we don't shock some people. s that what donald trump is pushing up against. the country that needs pushing is china. if china is convinced that donald trump is different, they will put pressure on north korea. if they think he's the same as the three predecessors, they won't do anything differently and north korea will get away with the nuclear weapons and put on intercontinental ballistic missiles. >> harris: interesting you used the word "pressure." don't miss the u.s. pressure campaign backed by other nations. it's a long-term, but it's working. they're doing it differently. ari fleischer, thanks so much. we talked a little bit about catching the attention of reporters in that room and their back and forth catching our attention. what about kim jong-un? let's bring back host of "war

stories", retired colonel oliver north. we've been watching this briefing together. the big question is, is this going to catch kim jong-un's attention and what do you think it communicates? >> well, look, the most important person you can catch their attention of is president xi in beijing. that is the pressure point that will work. and i agree with everything ari said about the change in rhetoric. look, if the democratic people's republic of korea already has nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them on our homeland, that is a threat to the american people. it's a real and present danger. to fail to tell the american people and the rest of the world we see that it will be grossly irresponsible. i just -- i'm fascinated by the way our colleagues in the media are trying to go after the language. the message that the president delivered to kim jong-un yesterday and the secretary of defense mattis delivered today are the only responsible things to do along with the other list of ten items we talked about

earlier today. those things, not just words, but actions short of war. >> harris: someone when has seen war, john mccain. you heard his comments today. your thoughts on that. >> well, i have no doubt that there's going to be dissension. i don't think the president is going back to the same track that has failed for 25 years. he shouldn't. this has to stop and stopped quickly. the attention span of this guy in pyongyang is different than what we've seen before. >> colonel north and to all my guests this hour as this news has been breaking on north korea, thank you very much. so we have been continuing to monitor that news briefing that was going on at the state department. we brought you the part where they talked specifically about north korea. as that continues on and if the

news breaks from there, we will be monitoring it and bringing to it. "shepard smith reporting" is next. shep picks up things on the other side of this commercial break. stay tuned to fox. it's mozzarella sticks on top of grilled chicken. it's cajun shrimp on top of steak. it's labor day weekend on top of the fourth of july. hotdogs. it's abe lincoln on top of george washington. yonder. it's rodeos on top of rollercoasters. it's favorites on favorites, alice. it's very moving. get your favorites on top of your favorites. only at applebee's. get your favorites on top of your favorites. at the lexus golden opportunity sales event before it ends. choose from the is turbo, es 350 or nx turbo for $299 a month for 36 months if you lease now. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.

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>> shepard: two major stories developing now at noon on the west coast, 3:00 in washington. 3:30 a.m. thursday in north korea, pyongyang. a call for calm from rex tillerson. even action president trump sends a message to the dictator, kim jong-un, about america's nuclear arsenal. ahead, the rhetoric, the reality and reaction. in moments, i'll speak with a former u.s. defense secretary william cohen about america's options, north korea's forces and what needs to happen next. plus, the second big story developing today and new to us, the fbi raided a home of president trump's former campaign manager, paul manafort. ahead, what we know about the