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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

All The President's Men; 75th Golden Globe Awards; Oprah's Powerful Moment; More Trouble At JFK; A Brief Cold Weather Respite; NFL Wildcard Weekend; Korea Talks Tomorrow. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired January 08, 2018 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:35:20] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reality is the President is a political genius.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump is completely capable of working alongside of us.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, EARLY START SHOW CO-HOST: The President's backers defending his fitness to serve, but then the President's own tweets, did they hurt his own cause?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY, OPRAH SHOW HOST: For too long women have not been heard or believed. If they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men. But their time is up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: A new day is on the horizontal. Oprah Winfrey's powerful message as Hollywood confronts harassment. Is a political run in her future? So many wondering if she will run for President in 2020. Your gut says?

ROMANS: the audience are smiling broadly, I wonder what she has to say about it.

BRIGGS: We'll see perhaps on CBS this morning. Good morning everyone, I am Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: I am Christine Romans, happy Monday everybody. It is 31 minutes past the hour. Let us begin with top aides and President Trump himself defending his mental state this weekend. The release of a book full of unflattering anecdotes sparking an uncomfortable interview and a series of bizarre tweets. Many of those anecdotes in that book came from former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. On CNN's state of the union, Senior Policy adviser Stephen Miller smashed Bannon as an angry vindictive person and Michael Wolff's book as poorly written garbage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEPHEN MILLER, SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: One of the

other tragedies of this grotesque work of fiction is its portrayal of the President. The reality is the President is a political genius. The all these so called political geniuses in Washington, whether it about the big lobbying firms or --

JAKE TAPPER, AMERICAN JOURNALIST CARTOONIST: The only person who's called himself a genius in the last week is the President.

MILLER: A self-made billionaire, who revolutionize reality TV.

TAPPER: I'm sure he is watching and happy you said that.

MILLER: Jake, you can be condescending.

TAPPER: I'm not being condescending.

(CROSSTALK)

A lot of --

MILLER: I'm get to go the issue. The President's tweets absolutely reaffirm the plain spoken truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Wow. Hear the tweets Miller was talking about on Saturday morning. The president slammed Democrats for quote taking out the old Ronald Reagan play book. He touted his own quote mental stability in being like really smart. Capped off a list of his achievements saying I think that would qualify as not smart but genius in a very stable genius at that.

ROMANS: Then Trump went before the cameras to defend his mental state again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I went to the best colleges -- college. I went to a -- I had a situation where I was a very excellent student. Came out and made billions of dollar, went to television and for ten years was a tremendous success as you probably have heard. Ran for President one time and won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: It's worth noting as a private citizen Trump questioned President Obama's sanity. For example in 2014 for allowing planes to fly to the U.S. from countries affected by the Ebola outbreak. There have been those who have said this is just unseemly to question the fitness, the mental fitness of an acting sitting commander in chief, and --

BRIGGS: Hashtag, there's a tweet for that.

All right. Steve Bannon the man behind the most damning on the record accusations in the Wolff book now refuting some of them. Bannon said he regrets not responding sooner to comments attributed to him in Fire and Fury, comments scathingly critical of Donald Trump Jr. CNN has not confirm all the claims in Wolff's book.

ROMANS: There's no question the Bannon quotes drove a deeper wedge between the President and the man he now calls sloppy Steve, a source saying CNN president is calling friends and allies telling them they must choose between him and Bannon.

BRIGGS: Meanwhile the Golden Globes largely took the back seat in the 75th Golden Globe Ceremony. It focused more on the empowering women and addressing sexual harassment. This was the first major awards show since Hollywood really began addressing the epidemic. Some of the most powerful words from Oprah Winfrey. She accepted the award with a message to young girls watching at home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WINFREY: I value the press more than ever before as we try to navigate these complicated times, which brings me to this. What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have. And I'm especially proud and inspired by all the women who have felt strong enough and empowered enough to speak up and share their personal stories. For too long women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men. But their time is up. So I want all the girls watching here now to know that a new day is on the horizon.

(APPLAUSE)

(CHEERS)

[03:45:41] And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of who are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say me too again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Lot of people this morning wondering if Oprah's speech there could be a start of a political run. Obviously a very friendly audience but boy they love it. A longtime partner said it would be up to the people, but she would absolutely do it.

In October of last year Winfrey told CBS there would be no running office of any kind for me. Time will tell.

BRIGGS: The standing "O" for Oprah had barely subsided when Ron Howard and Natalie Portman took the stage present the next award and Portman said this.

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RON HOWARD, ACTOR: We are honored bringing you back to this and this. To be here to present the award for best Director. (CHEERS)

NATALIE PORTMAN, ACTRESS: And here are the all-male nominees.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: As for the awards it was a big night for female-driven films and television shows. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel won for best TV series. The hand maid's tale was named best drama series.

ROMANS: On the film side lady bird one for best music comedy. And three billboards outside ebbing Missouri won for best dramatic film also Brown became the first African- American to win the Golden Globe for best actor at a TV drama. The first Asian to win the best actor in TV comedy The Master of None.

A whole new world. These aren't all network broadcasts. Just shows you some say it's a golden age of television right now, because there's so many places making amazing content.

BRIGGS: If you're a female Director do you like what Natali Portman said there or do you want it to be nominated because your work stands for itself. Not because you are a woman. I am just curious on your take on this.

ROMANS: She is talking about the extra hurdles for women all along the pipeline and that is why you have men who are all --

BRIGGS: Sure.

ROMANS: So, she is well known in her skepticism about fairness in Hollywood and she is not new to this discussion.

BRIGGS: Just your thoughts.

OK. President Trump reiterating that he wants to work with Democrats to find a permanent solution that he says would help so called dreamers, but only if it comes with a long-promised border wall and major changes to the immigration system.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: That could happen, but we also want great security for our country. So important. We want to stop the drugs from flowing in. Very important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Back in September, the Trump administration announced it was ending the Obama era DACA program which prevents the deportation of young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. At the time it gave congress six months up until this March to act before dreamers start losing their protected status.

ROMANS: All right. The ranking Democrat in the House Intelligence Committee suggesting White House badgering led directly to the Justice Department reopening its investigation of the Clinton foundation. Here's what Congressman Adam Schiff said Sunday about the FBI's probe of corruption allegations.

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ADAM SCHIFF, (D) CALIFORNIA: You don't have to be genius to see this and you don't have to be a scenic to see this. The Justice Department is taking action as a direct result of this lobbying campaign by the White House, and I think I would be derelict as the Republicans are derelict, if I wasn't calling this out and sounding the alarm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And official tells CNN the FBI and federal prosecutors are looking into whether foundation donors were improperly promise the policy favors or special access to Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State and whether tax exempt funds were misused. Pressed for evidence of a connection between the investigation and the White House, Schiff cites the President's tweets saying I am not going to ignore the plain reality of this.

[04:04:06] BRIGGS: President Trump's official workday has been starting later and later since his inauguration a year ago. The news cite Axios obtained internal schedules that showed the president in the oval office having quote executive time from 8:00 to 11:00 in the morning, but in fact he often spend that time in the residence making phone calls, watching TV and tweeting often about what is on TV.

ROMANS: CNN has observed the President's start time in the oval is often around 11:00 a.m. or later. White House Press Secretary Sara Sanders responding to that Axios reports this way. The time of the morning is a mixed of resident time and oval office time, but he always has calls from staff, cabinet members, foreign leaders during this time. The President is one of the hardest workers I've ever seen and puts in long hours and days nearly every day of the week all year- round.

Let's talk about money. Wall Street hitting another round of records Friday. Strongest first week in more than a decade. President Trump is celebrating, tweeting stock market has been creating tremendous benefits for the country. The President and future jobs, jobs, jobs. One small problem. Stock market does not create jobs. It measures how companies are doing. But Trump's jobs record was strong in 2017. About 2 million jobs were created at his first year in office. Take a look at how that falls in recent years. It falls short of Obama's last year. In fact it is the slowest job growth since 2010. President Trump promised to be the greatest job creator in history. Now experts question how much in effect any president had on the market. The president gets too much credit and too much blame. Businesses do like Trump's agenda. They really do. Lower taxes and less regulation. And blue collar jobs are booming. In December alone, the construction industry added 30,000 jobs. Manufacturers 25,000. Both industries added a combined 406,000 jobs last year.

BRIGGS: Something you tweeted out was the black unemployment rate is at a very low numbers. ROMANS: Record low.

There's a lot of discussion about that number because it is historic and a milestone. It's still several percentage points above white unemployment and unemployment in general.

BRIGGS: Progress.

ROMANS: Still work to be done, but progress.

BRIGGS: Ahead, it was cold outside and flooded inside. Part of JFK airport brought to a standstill by a water main break. Angry passengers left without answers for hours and hours. More from a frigid and soaked JFK next.

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[04:46:19] BRIGGS: After a mess of a Sunday international arrivals have resumed at terminal 4 of New York's JFK airport. Water poured into the arrival and customs inspections area of the terminal. Bags left behind by passengers, dealing with days, weather delays, those bags ended up soaking in that water.

ROMANS: The sudden inundation forcing a partial evacuation of the terminal. Power was even cut off for safety precaution. Situation left some travelers as you may expect, very angry.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am so angry. Words can't even express how I feel right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone video this because we need answers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were in the plane for a good 20 hours. They took us out once to eat. And then back in the plane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The weather meanwhile set to warm up but don't break out the short sleeves yet. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri live in the CNN weather center. Pedram at least it finally warmer in Atlanta that it is anchored. You got that going for you.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. It's a start. It is short lived. We're going to watch it here as we warm up pretty quickly. Over the next couple days we will climb out of the 20's and 30's. New York City right now 20 degrees, feels like 11 outside. Again, it is going to change for the better but at least just for a few days, here's what's going on. Roughly 80 million people under a winter weather advisory. Some snow showers as you approach the great lakes. Delays potentially around Cleveland airport. From that point southward notice about a quarter inch or less of ice could accumulate around this region. Any time you talk about that amount it makes travel dangerous, but really doesn't impact much as part of bringing power lines down. At least one element of good news there. The forecast is a good one when it comes to warming. It remains a few degrees below normal. You think this incredible long spell of cold air is finally done with. But just until Friday. Look at what happens when we go on to Saturday and Sunday big time arctic blast once again sets up shop. Certainly puts the Midwest right not heart of it. Just like that, January begins again. 32 for a high. Climb all the way up to 50 by Friday and back down to 32 again with 19 being the low. So bring it below average as we approach next week.

ROMANS: 50. 50? That says 50. That is crazy.

BRIGGS: Which means those five-six-foot piles of snow will at least melt.

ROMANS: Black-gray snow.

BRIGGS: Thank you, my friend. Also in Atlanta, it is game day. Georgia and Alabama square off tonight for the national championship in college football.

ROMANS: Even President Trump is going.

BRIGGS: Top of the early morning to you. Game day. Ticket prices for this game nose bleed seats $1500 on StubHub that is for one ticket by the way. Suites will take you about $9000. Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs of Georgia battling it out at the brand new Mercedes-Benzes stadium. About 200 yards from where I am sitting right now. Both teams have star power, great players and coaches. It's all about finding an edge right now. A mental edge indeed. 11 have moved on to become head coaches themselves and have tried to take their mentor down. All failed miserably. Closest margin to victory was 14 points in those match-ups. Now UGA's Smart is the next one up.

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[04:50:10] KIRBY SMART, GEORGIA HEAD COACH: Coach Saban himself has helped me tremendously in my career, but we're honored and privileged to compete against what's a great program.

NICK SABAN, ALABAM HEAD COACH: I hate to lose. And I know he hates to lose too. I think that has something to do with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Kickoff is 8:45 p.m. Eastern. Vegas has them favored by 3.5 points. And in rational mind says they probably is going to win. My heart is telling me that the UGA Georgia bulldogs being we're here in the heart of the Bulldog nation in Atlanta, they can pull it off. This is a vintage throwback. You must not have washed it for a while, because is still smells like success.

ROMANS: I love that rummaging through the office to get that as a prop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: $1450 for the cheapest two seats in the house. The worst seat in the house, $1450 apiece.

BRIGGS: Are you going?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. I'll be there down on the field before and after the game and then tomorrow morning I'll be right in the meet of it all. With that confetti flying down. Will it be Crimson or will it be Georgia Bulldogs, we shall see.

BRIGGS: All right. President Trump's already 0 for 2 with Alabama. Meanwhile the Saints advancing in the NFL playoffs holding on to beat Carolina Panthers 31-26. Quarterback Drew Brees nearly 400 yards in two touchdowns, the Saints will now travel to Minnesota to play the Vikings. The other wild card game Sunday not pretty. Jacksonville jaguars did find a way to beat the Buffalo Bills 10-3. Quarterback Bortles ran for 88 then he had passing that put the Steelers in Pittsburg next Sunday. They crushed them earlier this year. That is one of two AFC divisional games. In the other the Patriots meet the Titans who staged an epic comeback. Also, the Eagles host the defending conference champion Falcons. I know you were tuned in.

ROMANS: Actually there was a lot of football actually in my house this weekend.

BRIGGS: There was a lot of nodding off during that game. It was brutal.

ROMANS: True. All right. This is the biggest question out there really in technology. Kids and smart phones, critics say it's a toxic combination and now some investors are pressuring Apple to do something about it. Details on CNN Money Stream next.

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[04:55:48] TRUMP: That without my rhetoric and without my tough stance and such is the stance. This is what has to be done if it has to be done. That they wouldn't be talking about Olympics, they wouldn't be talking right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: That, of course, President Trump saying he is willing to talk on the phone to Kim Jong-un even after saying some rather inflammatory things about the North Korea dictator. Diplomatic discussions between North and South Korea is set to resume tomorrow for the first time in more than two years, now North Korean state media trying to drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul for the latest, let's bring in Will Ripley live for us from Seoul. Good morning to you Will, first, as to these talks, tomorrow, will they focus merely on the Olympics or do we have intelligence on that?

WILL RIPLEY, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: As far as we know, Dave, the main topic is going to be North Korea sending a delegation to the winter Olympics. There's a lot they have to work out. Where are they going to sleep? They can't sleep with the others Olympic athletes for fears they might defect possibly. They have to find special accommodations separate from the other athletes, they have to secure permission for the delegation to travel hear to South Korea. Those are the kinds of things they're going to be sorting out. Very high level governmental officials from both sides having those discussions which indicates how seriously this side are taking the talks. The hope is that everything will go smoothly. They will have a peaceful Olympics without any missile launches or nuclear tests and that then further discussions down the road about bigger issues. North Korea is trying to drive a wedge, as you mentioned between Washington and Seoul. Over the weekend state media saying these talks have nothing to do with outside influence even as President Trump has taking credit for bringing this about through his rhetoric and maximum pressure. In fact some experts say if you believe the sanctions might be bringing North Korea to the table, trying to get concessions, but they had said they are unwilling to give up their nukes so it is really unclear how far any future talks will actually be able to go.

BRIGGS: Real quick. What do we know about North Korea? Have they been training for the Olympics for years and years?

RIPLEY: They have. In fact North Korea's figure skating duo qualified for the Olympics last year, but then they missed the deadline to actually officially enter. So the international Olympic committee will be making an exception to allow them to participate. Tomorrow morning we'll see how we haven't seen in more than two years. North Korean officials are going to physically walk across the military demarcation line into South Korea. That will be something in itself.

BRIGGS: A remarkable moment. Will Ripley is live for us in Seoul. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right. To money now. Let us go check on CNN "money" stream. Global stock markets mostly higher. Another round of records. The Dow alone surged 200 points helping the stocks to get their strongest first week in more than a decade. Trading this year is building of 2017 momentum. Stocks grew double digit percentages. Thanks to big corporate profit, hope for tax cuts and a strong American economy. The latest measure came out Friday. Labor department reported U.S. added 140,000 jobs to end the year for a total of 2 million jobs in 2017. The unemployment rate remained at a 17-year low.

A mystery shrouded mission into orbit. The rocket took off Sunday after a month of delays and headed to low earth orbit. The precise destination was not disclosed. That is not the only thing kept secret. The spacecraft was built for the U.S. Government. The pay loads are confidential. Typically a secret payloads of the military concerns for the national security defense for surveillance.

Apple founder Steve Jobs did not let his own kid use an iPad at home. He limited how much tech they had at home. Two investors are pressuring Apple to do something about the kid's overuse of smartphones. In an open letter, two huge Apple shareholders want Apple to fight smartphone addiction among children. The California state teachers retirement system own about $2 billion in Apple stock. They site a number of detrimental effects in excess of smartphone use, like being less attentive in class, not getting enough sleep. Higher risk of depression and suicide. Shareholders want Apple to add more sophisticated parental controls to limit the time kids can spend on devices.