this is CNN breaking news all right welcome to the lead I'm John Berman in
for Jake today and we begin this hour with breaking news in our politics lead
president Trump is watch his approval ratings tick downward since he took
office until now a new CNN poll releasing right now shows that number is
edging back up with 40% of Americans now saying they approve of the job that the
president is doing now by any normal historical measurement that is not a
good number but it is better and largely because a healthy majority 64% of voters
approve of how the president responded to the hurricanes that slammed into the
southern US coastline this month meanwhile here in New York at the United
Nations today the president confronting another challenge North Korea's nuclear
program after threatening to destroy the country today the president tacked back
towards diplomacy promising to level increased sanctions CNN senior White
House correspondent Jeff Zeleny joins me now live right here in New York and Jeff
are polling all shows that the country anxious about the threat from North
Korea it does indeed John half of all
Americans now say they believe there is an immediate threat for North Korea that
has a significant increase from only a few months ago but as the president
signed that executive order earlier today it is one sign diplomacy is still
an option despite what many saw as sabre-rattling earlier this week Trump
is backing up his brinksmanship toward North Korea with new economic sanctions
trying to cripple the regime's nuclear program a new executive order will cut
off sources of revenue that fund North Korea's efforts to develop the deadliest
weapons known to humankind two days after threatening to wipe the
isolated nation off the map we will have no choice but to totally destroy North
Korea the u.s. presented a unified front with South Korea and Japan by announcing
new sanctions to financially squeeze and further isolate North Korea from the
outside world foreign banks will face a clear choice to business with the United
States or facilitate trade with the lawless regime in North Korea Chinese
President Xi Jinping also reportedly ordering Chinese banks to
stop conducting business with North Korea a move mr. Trump hailed today I
want to just say and thank President Xi of China for the very bold move he made
today that was a somewhat unexpected move and we appreciate it while it's
unlikely a new round of sanctions will persuade Kim jong-un to rethink his
nuclear ambitions the moves are a sign the US and its allies are searching for
diplomatic and economic solutions not only military ones a new CNN poll today
shows that half of Americans now say North Korea poses an immediate threat up
from 37 percent in April that comes after months of missile launches on the
Korean Peninsula and sabre-rattling here in the US
Rocketman is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime the poll also
found that nearly 6 in 10 favor military action if diplomacy or economic
sanctions don't work overall 41 percent approve of how mr. Trump is handling
North Korea while 50 percent do not essentially unchanged from last month
mr. Trump was all smiles today during a meeting with the South Korea president
who called the North Korea nuclear program deplorable that word which
Hillary Clinton once used to describe his supporters became a soundtrack of
his campaign welcome to all of you deplorable today mr. Trump was happy to
relive those moments
now President Trump has now wrapped up a week-long series of meetings with world
leaders here at the UN he of course is taking some pleasure at that 40 percent
approval rating considering what it was but John there is one other Trump that
has a higher approval rating that's Melania Trump our poll shows she has a
44% approval we should note again 40% not good by historical standards but
from standards not that better and he'll take that Jeff's L&E always great to see
you in person today it's an extra-special treat more