CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: North Korea

Interview

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SEN. JIM RISCH (R), IDAHO, FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: He wants to talk.

[16:30:01] And he will do some things in the meantime, not the least of which is to quit testing. And that's a big deal. And I think he is going to have to be held to that as a precondition. I think he knows that or he wouldn't have said it.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: I want to you listen to something else that Sarah Sanders said at the White House today.

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SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: For the first time in a long time, the United States is actually having conversations from a position of strength. Not a position of weakness like the one that North Korea finds itself in due to the maximum pressure campaign.

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BASH: Senator, the CIA director has said that North Korea is months away from being able to hit the U.S. with the nuclear weapon. That sounds like position of strength. Not America's right now.

RISCH: Well, we have to remember that you're dealing with a country that, although it has the nuclear weapons, its abilities compared to the United States' abilities is like hamster facing an 800-pound gorilla. I mean, it's a huge difference.

Do they have more strength handle they've ever had? Yes. So does United States of America.

BASH: Yes, but you're talking about that in the context of war. I just mean in the context of negotiations and diplomacy.

RISCH: Sure. Well, in that context, I think that what you need -- the most important element here is that both parties agree on an objective. And right now, you have the president and America and the world who's had denuclearization of the peninsula as goal and you have now heard Kim Jong-un say that's his goal. The statement that came out of the last night, that came out of the ambassador to the United Nations was crystal clear in that regard.

And it would behoove everyone to read that. Not necessarily believe it. It stated that our goals are the same.

So, we don't to have start with what are our goals. But we need on work towards is, how do we reach those goals?

BASH: Yes or no question, I'm out of time. Do you trust the North Koreans in these or any negotiations that they will do what they say?

RISCH: Of course not. And they're not going to trust us. Each side needs to verify just like we do when we deal with the Russians.

BASH: Senator Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho, thank you so much for joining me. Appreciate it.

RISCH: Thank you.

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