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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
No Clear Path To Avoid Government Shutdown; Trump's First Year On The World Stage; 13 CA Siblings Suffered Horrible Abuse. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired January 19, 2018 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:30:55] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: The reason we're here right now is our friends on the other side say solve this illegal immigration problem right now or we're going to shut the government down.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: I'm not trying to play for political points. I am trying to get us to come together in a bipartisan nature.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: There was actually laughter there.
Countdown to shutdown. Democrats, Republicans far apart as the clock ticks to midnight. A shutdown looking more likely by the hour.
We have reports on our top stories this morning from Capitol Hill, from China, Iraq, and London.
Welcome back to EARLY START, everybody. I'm Dave Briggs on a Mar-a- Lago Friday.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A Mar-a --
BRIGGS: A flu Friday, as it is for me.
ROMANS: Or a shutdown Friday.
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It's 31 minutes past the hour. It is Friday but it doesn't feel like it because we are now 18 and a half hours away from a possible government shutdown; one that is increasingly likely.
The Senate adjourned last night without a vote on a stopgap funding bill and frankly, there's no clear path right now to a solution.
BRIGGS: The Senate returns at executive time, 11:00 a.m., with both sides dug in. We're told Democrats are resolute, determined, and united against the measure.
On the Senate floor last night, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer floating the idea of the stopgap measure that funds the government for a matter of days, but aides to Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell say they don't see the point.
ROMANS: When Schumer said during debate he was not, quote, "trying to play for political points" several Republican senators laughed out loud.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell went right after the Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: There is a real emergency in the immigration area and we have until March to deal with it. So make no mistake about it, we are where we are for one reason and one reason only within a day of a government shutdown, and that is the insistence of our friends on the other side that we deal with this non-emergency right now.
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ROMANS: Even the simple matter of trying to adjourn for the night raised an objection.
Here's Independent Sen. Angus King.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there objection?
SEN. ANGUS KING (I), MAINE: I object.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The senator from Maine.
KING: I object.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection is heard.
KING: I don't understand how we're adjourning when we're in this urgent situation. We could voice tonight on cloture and have an entire day tomorrow to work on this matter. We're -- this is irresponsible and I just don't understand it, so I object to the motion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The Senate took up the four-week continuing resolution after the House passed it. Conservatives say they got a promise GOP leaders will pursue a separate hardline Republican-only immigration bill that runs straight against Democrats' demand for an immigration bill that will satisfy their base, leaving little room to maneuver.
ROMANS: The White House insists it does not expect a shutdown and President Trump plans a weekend trip to Mar-a-Lago to mark the one- year anniversary of his inauguration.
For the very latest let's go to CNN's Ryan Nobles, live on Capitol Hill on this Mar-a-Lago Friday.
Ryan -- or is it shutdown Friday. Things looking pretty grim on the shutdown front. It feels like they've already even moved toward -- for the blame game at this point, Ryan.
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about that, Christine. They're definitely already in the blame game.
And that's a big question whether or not the president leaves this afternoon and heads to Florida if the shutdown is still in doubt. His aides insistent that they don't think it's going to come to that and that he will leave this afternoon to spend the weekend in Florida.
But we are up against the real possibility that the president will wake up on the anniversary of his inauguration with a government shutdown.
Right now, it's essentially a high stakes game of chicken between Democrats and Republicans. Both sides have entrenched to their camps and not willing to budge on some of these key issues.
Now essentially, what's at play here?
Republicans are interested in a stopgap measure, a clean C.R. with only one additional kind of thing put in there, and that would be funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program for the next six years.
Democrats want something more comprehensive. They want a long-term spending bill and they want a whole host of other issues addressed, primarily immigration reform and in it, something that solves the problem of DACA and provides protection for those 700,000 Dreamers whose status is in limbo right now.
[05:35:04] Both sides don't seem to be willing to budge at all. And despite the fact that this bill made it out of the Republican House yesterday, it seems that right now there just simply aren't enough votes for this to get done. And what we're seeing here is the Democrats taking the opportunity to use what little leverage they have here on Capitol Hill.
This is a measure that requires 60 votes so that means, at minimum, 10 Democrats are going to have to vote for this plan in order to get it across the finish line. Right now, there's more than a dozen Democrats who have said no. That number could grow as the day goes on.
And there's already a couple of Republicans who said they don't agree to this bill.
So right now, here we are about 18 hours before the government shuts down and, Dave and Christine, there's no real evidence that any progress has made as of yet. ROMANS: All right. Well, you'll be working hard this weekend.
Ryan Nobles, thank you so much. Nice to see you this morning.
NOBLES: Thank you.
BRIGGS: All right, let's bring in political economist Greg Valliere, chief strategist at Horizon Investments, joining us from Atlanta.
Greg, there's the clock -- 18, 24, 12 --
GREG VALLIERE, POLITICAL ECONOMIST, CHIEF GLOBAL STRATEGIST, HORIZON INVESTMENTS: Yes.
BRIGGS: -- ticking down.
We are no stranger to shutdown in Congress. It has happened several times before. We could put up on the screen the last one, of course, under the Obama administration.
What's different about this one is it's the first time a government shutdown would occur with one party in control (the House), one party in control (the Senate), and the White House.
But is Congress getting so good at being bad that we won't really feel the impact of a shutdown this time around?
VALLIERE: Well, politically, we're going to feel it big time right away, Dave.
But I think economically -- you know, Social Security checks will go out, the mail will get delivered, the military will have readiness. Air traffic controllers are going to work -- on, and on, and on.
So I think the immediate impact will be pretty minor. The political impact is going to be huge.
ROMANS: Stupid -- it's stupid. I mean, it might --
VALLIERE: Yes.
ROMANS: -- be a short-term pain but if it goes on for a long time it's more than stupid, it's a potential --
VALLIERE: Yes.
ROMANS: It's a potential hurdle in an economy and a stock market that's doing very, very well. When you have hundreds of thousands of people not getting their paycheck, that can have -- that can have --
VALLIERE: Yes.
ROMANS: -- an effect. And if feels to me as though this doesn't look like a short-term thing. They are really dug in here.
VALLIERE: I think this could last for a while, Christine. And you're right, it's stupid.
I mean, you're going to have 800,000 people not get paid. Eventually they will, retroactively --
ROMANS: Right.
VALLIERE: -- but they're not going to be able to make purchases.
And as we said in the previous segment, there are other pawns. There are these kids who may get deported, there are kids who may lose their health insurance. They are simply pawns as both parties are just itching for a fight that would blame the other party.
BRIGGS: Well, when you look at the polling it's fascinating on Dreamers. Eighty-seven percent of the country, according to CBS, says Dreamers should remain in the country.
VALLIERE: Yes.
BRIGGS: Even when you look at this for Republicans, 79 percent of Republicans say Dreamers should get to stay in this country. It's hard to find 79 percent of Republicans to agree on tax cuts.
What gets us to an agreement and why is this so hard?
VALLIERE: It's so far away because Trump apparently will not back down on the wall. He seemingly contradicted his chief of staff Gen. Kelly, yesterday.
And there are other provisions in the House bill that would ban legal immigration. We've got an acute labor shortage right now. We need more workers. So they would ban legal immigration.
There are so many moving parts here that are hopelessly dividing both parties.
ROMANS: And then, the leadership from the president. I mean, that's something -- I mean, Mitch McConnell, the Speaker of the House (sic), said we need to know what the -- what the president wants here and thinks here.
We heard the president yesterday from the Pentagon talking about a shutdown. Listen to what he said.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If for any reason it shuts down, the worse thing is what happens to our military.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: And we know that the military -- they've been paid on the --
VALLIERE: Right.
ROMANS: -- first of the month and the 15th of the month, so they've been paid. A long shutdown would hurt them.
VALLIERE: Right.
ROMANS: But military readiness is not affected by a shutdown.
It's interesting because the last time there was a shutdown was 2013 and there's always a tweet for it. But the president, then citizen- Trump, said this in 2013.
"Here's the truth. The government doesn't shut down. All essential services continue. Don't believe the lies."
Where is the president on this?
VALLIERE: Well, that's an issue that's increasingly aggravating Republicans, including McConnell, in my opinion. They don't know where he stands. He's been undermining them, undercutting them on a lot of issues. I don't think that he has made it explicit just where he stands on this.
BRIGGS: Well, here's what Republican Mo Brooks told Chris Cuomo about presidential leadership just last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MO BROOKS (R), ALABAMA: Well, I'm going to confess that I don't know what the White House's position is on border security, or with respect to this continuing resolution to fund the government, or with respect to an omnibus to fund the government for the rest of this fiscal year.
We don't have the kind of consistency that you would like emanating from the White House on this particular set of issues.
I prefer clarity. I try to keep my positions as constant as I possibly can and I think I've established that reputation for having a belief system that guides me. But we're not seeing that from the White House and it does, to some degree, make our jobs more difficult.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:40:10] BRIGGS: Some stark words there. Where are we headed?
VALLIERE: Well, you know, there's one other factor here, guys, and that is it's not just about the Dreamers.
There's a huge division on spending and we're going to get a big increase for defense, eventually. But this year's 2018 budget -- we're four months into 2018 and -- a fiscal year -- and there's still no budget.
And I think for defense contractors, for a lot of people counting on federal money this is going to be an increasing story what would cause confidence to drop.
I think this is another big angle. I think confidence, whether it's consumer confidence, market confidence, business confidence, could begin to erode if this lasts for weeks and weeks.
ROMANS: That's fascinating. It's something clearly to watch with the Dow above 26,000 --
VALLIERE: Yes.
ROMANS: -- and the unemployment rate so low, and we're fighting about whether to keep the lights on in Washington.
VALLIERE: Yes.
ROMANS: It is their job. It is literally their only job --
VALLIERE: Yes, it is.
ROMANS: -- and they're going to get paid.
VALLIERE: A pox on both their houses, I say.
ROMANS: Oh, yes.
All right. Greg Valliere, so nice to see you.
BRIGGS: Happy weekend, Greg.
ROMANS: Have a nice weekend, Greg.
VALLIERE: All right, guys.
ROMANS: We'll talk to you next week, hopefully.
VALLIERE: OK.
ROMANS: All right. As corporate tax savings start rolling in you may get a boost in your 401(k). A dozen companies plan to raise the payments they make to retirement plans.
VISA is one of them. It will match employee contributions at five percent, up from three percent, while other employers will make big one-time payments to 401(k) accounts.
The new tax plan cuts the corporate tax rate from a too high 35 percent to a just right 21 percent and that is a gift to companies. And some are giving back to employees, mostly in the form of bonuses.
But, better retirement plans help companies attract talent and keep them, and that is important. You just heard Greg talk about a tight labor market -- keeping workers. Fattening their 401(k)s, that one way to keep your workers.
The unemployment rate is at a 17-year low. Companies need to boost pay or offer better incentives to keep their employees, and some are. In fact, the amount companies contribute to retirement plans has risen $30 billion since 2010.
BRIGGS: Wow, sweet. ROMANS: I like the sound of that.
BRIGGS: There is some good news.
ROMANS: Yes.
BRIGGS: Just done listen to D.C. All right.
What's the view of American leadership one year into the Trump administration? We're live in China, the Middle East, and London.
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[05:47:00] ROMANS: One year into Donald Trump's presidency and brand new polling finds the world's confidence in American leadership has plunged to a new low.
The Gallup poll -- this Gallup poll conducted across 134 countries shows approval of America's leadership slipping to 30 percent. It's behind China and ahead of Russia, and down nearly 20 points from the rating during Barack Obama's last year in office.
BRIGGS: We have reporters positioned around the world to weigh in, starting with Matt Rivers in China.
Matt, this poll shows China surpassing the U.S. in global leadership. What's the view there?
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, the view here in Asia really centers over the last year on the United States' ability to deal with North Korea.
I mean, when you think about Japan, you think about South Korea, you think about China, really, no country is more important than China when it comes to levying sanctions against the Kim Jong Un regime for their ongoing missile and nuclear testing. And really, that has dominated the relationship between the United States and China.
Imposing those sanctions happens right here along the Chinese-North Korea border, it happens on Chinese-North Korea trade.
And what we've seen is the United States and China actually be able to cooperate when it comes to imposing new sanctions -- three different rounds over 2017, surprising a lot of people, the amount of cooperation. But will that continue into 2018 when you consider what else is going on in that relationship?
The United States is considering whether to levy tariffs on Chinese imports pretty soon. Does this affect the ability to work together on North Korea? Time will tell.
BRIGGS: A pivotal time for the region 20 days ahead of the Olympics.
Matt Rivers, live for us. Thank you.
ROMANS: All right. Continuing around the world, huge gains against ISIS and Iraq, but the opinion of U.S. leadership in the Middle East, according to this polling, has also taken a big hit since President Trump took office.
CNN's Arwa Damon is live for us this morning from Erbil, Iraq.
And what's the overall sentiment there, Arwa? The president said he was going to bomb the hell out of ISIS and did.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That is one campaign pledge that was fulfilled. But in bombing the hell out of ISIS he also bombed the hell out of the civilians that ISIS was holding hostage.
And in the Old City in Mosul, for example, it's been six months since that was declared liberated and people are still going through the rubble looking for and finding the remains of their loved ones.
If we look at the region as a whole, a lot of decisions that were made over the last year were highly controversial. A lot of attitudes really calling into question what America's intentions truly are.
You look at the Iran deal and the ongoing threat to nullify that. Even more controversial was, of course, America's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. And then, you had the restrictions on immigration, also known as the travel ban or the Muslim ban.
And there is a sense across the Middle East that whether it's because of arrogance or ignorance, this administration -- this president, in particular, is perhaps trying to further marginalize and aggravate an already volatile region.
[05:50:00] ROMANS: All right. Arwa Damon for us from Erbil, Iraq where it is early afternoon and there's a sandstorm behind you. Thank you.
BRIGGS: All right. According to the Gallup survey, Germany is now the top-rated global power in the world with an approval rating of 41 percent.
Let's go live to London and bring in CNN's Nick Paton Walsh.
Nick, what is the view there from London?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, if you look at Germany, for example, where lengthy coalition talks occur in a very sort of sensible stayed atmosphere and you compare that to Washington right now where the Republicans control both houses on Capitol Hill and the White House but still can't agree on a budget, you can see why German leadership kind of takes the full in that poll. They very much do what they say.
But I think there's a sense in Europe, too, that things could potentially have been worse in the first year of Trump's presidency.
But they're still also struggling, I think, to work out entirely what he wants when it comes to the Iran deal. There's a lot of fiery rhetoric tweets and statements saying they're going to tear the whole thing up and step out. But twice now, they've continued to waive sanctions that are part of it. And European allies are very clear that they're still very much waiting to that deal.
Strangely, too, Twitter has been the avenue in which Donald Trump has chosen to retweet a far-right group here, "Britain First" which caused some great consternation and also preemptively canceled his visit to London.
So I think confusion, disdain towards his divisive rhetoric, but also too, a recognition that a lot of his actions haven't been as bad as the words have suggested they may have been.
BRIGGS: Indeed. All right, Nick Paton Walsh live for us in London. Thank you.
ROMANS: All right, 51 minutes past the hour.
Have you heard -- this is ridiculous. Have you heard of the Tide Pod challenge? People are eating detergent packets -- yes.
YouTube is trying to stop this bizarre and dangerous craze and we'll tell you how on "CNN Money Stream," next.
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[05:55:50] ROMANS: Heartbreaking details about those 13 malnourished kids allegedly held captive by their parents in California.
The Riverside County D.A. says what started out as neglect became what he called depraved conduct.
The prosecutor says the children were only allowed to shower once per year. Some were so severely malnourished they have cognitive impairment.
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MIKE HESTRIN, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: Punishments included frequent beatings and even strangulation.
They would buy food, including pies -- apple pies, pumpkin pies -- leave it on the counter, let the children look at it, but not eat the food.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Wow.
David and Louise Turpin face charges include torture, child abuse, and false imprisonment. The Turpins both pled guilty on all counts. A judge set bail at $12 million each.
Their attorney said the case is going to be a challenge. ROMANS: Day four of sentencing for Larry Nassar, the former Team USA gymnastics doctor who pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct. Sentencing was supposed to conclude today but the number of victims speaking pushing that to next week.
BRIGGS: Jamie Dantzscher, a bronze medalist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, had some strong words for Nassar yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE DANTZSCHER, BRONZE MEDALIST, GYMNASTICS, 2000 OLYMPICS: You pretended to be my friend. You snuck me food and candy when you knew food was being restricted. You manipulated me into thinking you were the good guy and helping me while sexually abusing me over and over and over for your own twisted sexual pleasure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Dantzscher will appear later this morning on "NEW DAY."
Nassar told a circuit judge this week he was not sure if he was mentally able to handle comments from the women he abused for decades. The judge calling that argument delusional.
ROMANS: All right, it's that time of the morning. Let's get a check on "CNN Money Stream" this morning.
Global stocks higher today after U.S. stocks stalled. Falling bond prices pulled down bond-sensitive sectors -- real estate, utilities. A drop for Boeing and G.E. weighed on the Dow.
The Dow fell just a day after closing above 26,000. Still, perspective here's important, folks. Stocks are off to their best start in years helped by a strong earnings season.
In fact, IBM sales grew for the first time in five years thanks to its Cloud business. It grew by a slim margin, one percent, so it wasn't quite enough to convince investors of a turnaround. IBM shares fell four percent after hours.
All right. Have you heard of this Tide Pod challenge? It is a bizarre and dangerous social media trend where people eat the detergent packets and they do it -- it's just ridiculous.
YouTube is trying to stop it. It's removing these clips that show people taking bites of these pods. The videos have become an online craze, prompting health and safety warnings.
You know, it's toxic, by the way. The American Association of Poison Control issued an alert.
Proctor and Gamble owns Tide. It's even enlisting celebrity support to stop the trend. In this video, NFL star Rob Gronkowski reminds people that Tide Pods are for washing clothes, not eating.
And it's -- you know, you think it's like Darwinism -- these people are just so stupid, right?
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: But the real concern for me is children. I mean, already, this is a poison risk for children, and then you've got people making fun and eating it. It's just -- it's just -- social media is -- this is like the dark side of social media.
BRIGGS: Wow.
ROMANS: All right, thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: And, I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" has you covered right now. Hope to see you next week. Have a great weekend.
ROMANS: Can you imagine?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are absolutely at this point headed to a government shutdown. There is no resolution currently in sight.
PAUL RYAN (R), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Senator Schumer, do not shut down the federal government.
SCHUMER: We have to sit down together and solve this, with the president or without.
MCCONNELL: They're prepared to shut down the government over the issue of illegal immigration.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Mitch McConnell would have wanted a budget we'd have had a budget. At some point in time, we have to do our job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a completely dysfunctional appropriation process. I don't like playing shutdown politics and I don't like playing this gamesmanship.
BROOKS: I'm going to confess that I don't know what the White House's position is with respect to this continuing resolution to fund the government.
SEN. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Please, Mr. President, get off the campaign trail, come back and be the leader, and we will negotiate with you.
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