Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Eagles Stun Patriots 41-33; GOP Lawmakers Contradict Trump; Deadly Train Crash In South Carolina. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired February 05, 2018 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:33:43] RYAN NOBLES, CNN ANCHOR: The Philadelphia Eagles defeat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl for their first title. Fans in Philly take to the streets to celebrate, some taking it too far.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Fallout from the Nunes memo. The president says the memo totally vindicates him in the Russia probe, but a few Republicans now saying that's not true.
NOBLES: New clues in the investigation into a deadly Amtrak train crash. One train slamming into a parked freight train.
ROMANS: All right, welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans this Monday morning.
NOBLES: Good morning. I'm Ryan Nobles. It is 34 minutes past the hour. Thank you so much for joining us.
ROMANS: John Berman just walked by and he seems OK.
NOBLES: He actually said I am OK.
ROMANS: I'm OK.
NOBLES: Don't worry about me.
ROMANS: I'm OK. He said it three or four times. I think he's trying to convince himself.
NOBLES: Yes, a big Patriots fan, of course, as well.
Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles, though, going from underdogs to top dog, knocking off Tom Brady and the defending champion New England Patriots 41 to 33 in Super Bowl LII.
Foles, who nearly quit football three years ago and started the season as the Eagles backup quarterback, wound up taking home MVP honors. He went toe-to-toe with Tom Brady and beat him, throwing three touchdown passes and then on this incredible trick play, actually catching a fourth touchdown.
But in a game that featured record-shattering offense, it was a clutch defensive play that sealed the win for the Eagles.
[05:35:04] Let's go live now to Minneapolis U.S. Bank Stadium. That's where Coy Wire is standing by.
ROMANS: Hi, Coy.
NOBLES: What a game, Coy.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Incredible game. Records -- over 15 records were broken in this one including most total yards in a game -- over 1,000 yards. That's regular season or Super Bowl. Incredible stuff.
Tom Brady tried to catch a pass and dropped it. But then, Eagles quarterback Nick Foles, he caught one for a touchdown.
When's the last time you saw that in a Super Bowl? Never, because he threw one, too. That never had been done before.
But this is the guy who has the respect of his teammates. He takes grad school seminary classes in the off-season. He wants to be a high school pastor someday.
Tom Brady, though, and the Patriots would come back in the fourth quarter taking the lead for the first time with a touchdown pass to the Gronk star. But, Nick Foles going toe-to-toe with the living legend Tom Brady, throwing this touchdown pass and regaining the lead. Zach Ertz for the score there. After some dispute, was it a catch or not, it was.
Brady would get another chance with about two minutes to go but no, Brandon Graham with the strip sack. Fumble recovery for the Eagles. Tom Brady would get one more chance -- a Hail Mary, a prayer that would not be answered for Patriots Nation.
Philadelphia taking their first-ever Super Bowl title. There's parties in the streets. I had to track down the MVP of the game and the coach, right there, who got some Gatorade dumped on him.
Here's Nick Foles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK FOLES, QUARTERBACK, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: Just to be a part of this -- to be a part of the Philadelphia Eagles organization and to be a part of the first world championship, we're very blessed. It's an unbelievable feeling and, I mean, honestly right now, it's just -- it's all soaking in. It's unbelievable.
MALCOLM JENKINS, SAFETY, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: No team deserved this more than we did. All the things that we fought for, man. What this means to the city that we come from and we can't wait to bring this back to Philly.
JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I wasn't breathing easy until the last second.
BRYAN BRAMAN, DEFENSIVE END, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: I can't even put it into words, man. I'm 30 years old and I've got to come up with a new life dream.
TOM BRADY, QUARTERBACK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: I mean, losing sucks but that's part of it, you know. You show up and you try to win and sometimes you lose, that's the way it goes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: What an incredible story. Philadelphia Eagles being called underdogs all season long.
And how about for the NFL as a whole? The season started in Philadelphia with the NFL draft being held there for the first time ever and it will end in Philadelphia with a parade -- a championship parade through the streets.
ROMANS: Awesome, just awesome. All right.
Talk to us about the halftime show. Justin Timberlake performed. A lot of chatter on social media. Some loved it, some didn't.
WIRE: Well, I'll tell you what. I did see that and I could understand that because T.V. broadcast is completely different from what you see in the stadium. It was Justin Timberlake's third time ever performing at a Super Bowl, first time as a headliner.
But this was the goosebump-inducing moment that had me and the folks around me just jaw-dropped. A Prince tribute there in the middle of a city lit up purple. Incredible moment for Minnesota's own Prince being honored there by Justin Timberlake.
So, I liked it. His goal, he said before this, was to go out there and make people wiggle a little bit. I know I did there in my seat with everyone around me.
ROMANS: Awesome. But no surprise guest or anything.
NOBLES: No.
ROMANS: That's what some people were saying, that that was the surprise. People want so much.
NOBLES: Right. And Coy, we won't bring up your pre-game prediction. We won't talk about that.
WIRE: Thank you very much. I love you and you know that. I love you even more now.
ROMANS: But you can gloat if you want to, Ryan.
NOBLES: Yes.
ROMANS: Thanks. Nice to see you, Coy.
NOBLES: Thanks, Coy.
ROMANS: Thousands of delirious Eagles fan jamming Broad Street and marching toward city hall last night to celebrate their first Super Bowl title.
Police used hydraulic fluid on the sign poles to keep fans from climbing them. It didn't work out in every case. Several of those polls pulled down, along with reports of looting and smashed out windows.
Authorities say a car was overturned in Center City and people were seen jumping off the Ritz Carlton awning until it collapsed. I can't believe more people weren't hurt there. Local media outlets are reporting several injuries.
NOBLES: All right, let's talk politics now.
New fallout from the memo that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released Friday. Top GOP lawmakers disputing President Trump's claims. They say the Nunes memo does not clear him in the ongoing Russia investigation, as the president has been saying since he signed off on its release.
The president set to speak today in Cincinnati where he'll probably echo comments like this tweet from the weekend where he refers to himself in the third person. This is what the president wrote, quote.
"This memo totally vindicates Trump in probe but the Russian witch hunt goes on and on. Their" -- there spelled incorrectly -- "was no collusion and there was no obstruction (the word now used because after one year of looking endlessly and finding nothing, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!"
For more, let's go to White House correspondent Boris Sanchez. He is in West Palm Beach, Florida -- Boris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We heard several Republican lawmakers, some of them on the House Intelligence Committee, outright contradicting the president and his stance that he voiced several times over the weekend via Twitter, that the Nunes memo vindicates him and proves that the Russia investigation is a witch hunt.
[05:40:10] Listen to South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy on one of the Sunday morning talk shows.
REP. TREY GOWDY (R-SC), MEMBER, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: There is a Russia investigation without a dossier, so to the extent the memo deals with the dossier and the FISA process, the dossier has nothing to do with the meeting in Trump Tower.
The dossier has nothing to do with an e-mail sent by Cambridge Analytica. The dossier really has nothing to do with George Papadopoulos' meeting in Great Britain. It also doesn't have anything to do with obstruction of justice.
So there's going to be a Russia probe even without a dossier. SANCHEZ: Well, that statement coming from Trey Gowdy is especially significant because even according to Devin Nunes, Trey Gowdy is the only Republican on the House Intelligence Committee that has actually seen the raw data -- the raw intelligence that allowed a FISA court judge to go ahead and issue those warrants to surveil Carter Page. So if anyone knows about the validity of the Nunes memo or its potential implication on the Russia investigation it's certainly Trey Gowdy.
Despite that, the president also tweeted portions of a "Wall Street Journal" editorial that supposed that there are political actors within the Department of Justice and the FBI that are anti-Trump.
We also heard from Donald Trump, Jr. on Saturday and he said that the release of the Nunes memo is like sweet revenge for him and his family.
Democrats are pushing for the release now of the so-called Schiff memo. That is the rebuttal of the Nunes memo which, according to Democrats, contains more context and contradicts, in portions, the Nunes memo.
We could potentially see the Intelligence Committee vote to declassify that as early as today. What is unclear is whether the White House will allow for its declassification the way that they did for the Nunes memo, Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, Boris, thank you for that.
Let's bring in "Washington Examiner" White House correspondent Gabby Morrongiello. Nice to see you again.
And, you know, you heard Boris mention that one of the president's sons went on the Sunday talk shows this weekend and said that this was sweet revenge for the family. Let's listen to that sound-bite.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, JR., SON OF PRESIDENT TRUMP: There is a little bit of sweet revenge in it for me and certainly probably the family in the sense that if they wouldn't have done this, this stuff would be going on.
JESSE WATTERS, HOST, FOX "WATTERS' WORLD": You're right.
TRUMP, JR: This would be going on at the highest levels of government. They'd be continuing to do it to my father, trying to undermine his actions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: That hold, I guess, is that talking point for the defense of the White House's Russia investigation here. So interesting to me because that particular FISA warrant was renewed like three times, right? So they've gone back to the court and found more reasons to renew it.
GABBY MORRONGIELLO, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": It was renewed three times. It was also renewed by Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who is a Republican and who is in charge of the Mueller investigation.
It's something that -- there's this talking point that somehow this Nunes memo validates the president and undermines the entire premise of the special counsel probe really is invalid at this point. I think a lot of Republicans have already pointed that out, including Trey Gowdy who we just heard from earlier, saying that these things aren't mutually exclusive.
But sure, there might be malpractice at the FBI. That there was this dossier compiled by Christopher Steele, who did have an anti-Trump bias when he was putting this together.
But those things don't, in themselves, completely undermine the special counsel investigation. It would exist otherwise and I think that's something that's being missed here by the president and his allies. It's something that they're overlooking and certainly not mentioning as they talk about the probe in this memo.
ROMANS: It was George Papadopoulos before it was --
NOBLES: Right.
ROMANS: Carter Page, who they were looking into --
MORRONGIELLO: Right.
ROMANS: -- who sort of prompted this Russia investigation.
NOBLES: Perhaps purposely overlooking that key point in the memo.
And, you know, Gabby, dueling memos -- perhaps a Democratic memo in some form or fashion comes out this week.
But that's against the backdrop of the fact that we have another deadline coming up on Friday. A government shutdown could potentially be in the offing, yet again. Still no deal on DACA.
This is what Dick Durbin, who's one of the principal negotiators as it relates to immigration, said about a potential shutdown over the weekend. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL), SENATE MINORITY WHIP: I don't see a government shutdown coming but I do see a promise by Sen. McConnell to finally bring this critical issue that affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in America -- finally bringing it to a full debate in the Senate.
That's what we were looking for when there was a shutdown. We have achieved that goal. We're moving forward. (END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: It seems by listening to Dick Durbin that they are not going to hold DACA hostage to a shutdown this time around. Is that maybe a change in perspective for Democrats?
MORRONGIELLO: Well, I think they learned a lesson last time when they did that when they shut the government down in order to get some promise from Mitch McConnell that he would bring up a bill that addresses DACA.
And the public opinion polling after that incident didn't really reflect a positive image for the Democrats. In fact, they looked as though they were shutting the government down in order to protect undocumented immigrants. And so, I think they've learned their lesson.
[05:45:03] However, if you're a Democrat right now you have to be wondering whether Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Senate, is actually going to fulfill that promise this week ahead of that shutdown deadline. Whether he is, in fact, going to bring some immigration bill forward or if they'll even bring up just a clean DACA bill.
It doesn't look at this point like the latter is likely to happen. It seems as though the White House and Congressional Democrats and Republicans are still trying to figure out a way to reach some consensus on immigration reform. But we are barreling towards another government shutdown deadline and right now, it doesn't look as though there's any solution on the DACA program.
ROMANS: And the president will have plenty of chance to change the conversation today in any way that he wants. He's going to Cincinnati where he's going to a company -- a plant that gave $1,000 bonuses to its employees. He's going to you, you know, tout his tax bill on a morning we're expecting the Dow to open sharply lower and stocks have been sort of very concerned about higher interest rates.
I think there's pretty much no chance he'll take credit for a stock market decline, right, Gabby -- the way he's taken credit for the gains?
MORRONGIELLO: No, only when it's up. I do think he'll take a lot of credit, though, for what the White House has called the "Trump Bump," which is all of these companies moving their manufacturing back to the U.S., announcing bonuses, increases in wages for workers.
That's something that the Republicans are really going to run on in this midterm year, being the impact of that GOP tax bill --
ROMANS: Yes.
MORRONGIELLO: -- that passed late last year.
And I expect that's what the president's going to tout when he's in Cincinnati today, which is a big blue-collar community -- a working- class area. A state that he won in 2016 --
ROMANS: Yes.
MORRONGIELLO: -- and one where you have a gubernatorial and a competitive Senate race happening.
NOBLES: And a swing state in 2020, probably.
MORRONGIELLO: Yes.
NOBLES: So, Gabby Morrongiello, White House correspondent for the "Washington Examiner." Thanks so much for being with us this morning.
ROMANS: Nice to see you.
MORRONGIELLO: Thank you.
NOBLES: Investigators getting closer to figuring out why an Amtrak train slammed into a parked freight train. They're focusing on a new key track switch. More ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:51:09] NOBLES: Investigators have learned the cause of another deadly train crash, the second in less than a week. Sunday's collision in South Carolina killed two people and injured 116. Amtrak train 91 ended up diverted onto the wrong track, causing it to smash into a stationary freight train.
The two people killed were Amtrak employees -- the train's engineer and a conductor.
CNN's Kaylee Hartung is in Cayce, South Carolina and has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Ryan.
The chairman of the NTSB brought out a white board to diagram the fatal mistake that led to this crash. As he explained it, a switch on the track was locked with a padlock in the wrong direction, diverting that Amtrak passenger train from the main track onto a siding track and squarely into the freight train.
Now, NTSB investigators have to figure out why -- why that switch was left locked in the wrong position when trains like Amtrak train 91 travel along that path every day. This, a question that the CSX Corporation will have to try to help them answer. CSX, the railroad group that owns, operates, and maintains the stretch of track where this crash occurred, so they're responsible for the signaling, the switching, and the dispatching in that area.
CSX offered up a statement with their condolences to the families of the two victims of this crash, the conductor and the engineer of that train. While they did that, they did not acknowledge any wrongdoing of their own other than to say they would be cooperating fully with the NTSB investigation.
Another key piece of evidence in this investigation -- that would be a forward-facing camera on the Amtrak train that investigators already have being analyzed in a lab in D.C. -- Christine, Ryan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, Kaylee. Thank you so much for that.
Time for a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY" and Alisyn Camerota joins us this morning. And, Berman is OK?
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Shh, we're trying not to talk about it right now, Christine. He's not OK. He's sad.
ROMANS: You know --
BERMAN: He's very sad.
ROMANS: -- Tom --
NOBLES: He just told us he was OK.
ROMANS: -- Brady says it sucks to lose, John. I mean --
CAMEROTA: John -- OK, he's actually mute. He's actually not going to respond. I hope that it changes in the next seven minutes or this is going to be a very long show.
Here's what we have coming up for you --
ROMANS: And you're wearing Eagles' green, too.
CAMEROTA: I think I'm rubbing it in, inadvertently.
ROMANS: I know you didn't mean to. I know you didn't know they were green colors.
CAMEROTA: That's right, I didn't even know these things. John, I'm actually -- he's so sad right now.
OK, so here's what we're going to -- here's what we're going to try to do if John will speak during the show. We're going to talk about all of the fallout from that Devin Nunes-crafted memo. What Republicans and Democrats have been saying over the weekend about this.
We're going to have one of the Democrats from the House Intel Committee, Mike Quigley, on. Are they going to release their -- are they going to vote on, and will it be successful to release their Democratic rebuttal, and what does all of this mean for the president?
ROMANS: All right.
CAMEROTA: So, John and I are going to see you in six minutes, I think.
ROMANS: All right.
CAMEROTA: I don't think he's going to stage a walk-off.
ROMANS: If you get in trouble you just call Jake Tapper, you know. He's up working, ready this morning.
CAMEROTA: That might help. I don't think --
NOBLES: Remind John about the six other Patriot Super Bowls. That should at least --
ROMANS: That's right.
CAMEROTA: OK, I'll tell him that.
ROMANS: All right, Alisyn. Nice to see you.
NOBLES: All right.
CAMEROTA: OK.
NOBLES: Thanks, Alisyn. We'll be right back. Poor John.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:58:22] ROMANS: All right. Let's get a check on "CNN Money Stream" this morning.
A commercial that aired during the Super Bowl last night is not sitting well with many viewers. Ram trucks used a sermon by Martin Luther King, Jr. in the ad and some felt it was distasteful to use a civil rights leader's speech to sell trucks. Fiat Chrysler owns rams and said in a statement it worked closely with the representatives of the Martin Luther King, Jr. estate during the creative process.
Another ad featuring Eli Manning and Odell Beckham, Jr. -- get this -- reenacting a scene from the movie "DIRTY DANCING." This was super upbeat and this one was a hit with viewers.
NOBLES: And with the New York tabloids, too.
ROMANS: I know. I like that "Giants Win Best Ad."
All right, thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
NOBLES: I'm Ryan Nobles. "NEW DAY" starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D), CALIFORNIA: The Democratic memo puts into context new, unseen evidence that bolsters the FBI's credibility.
TRUMP, JR.: There is a little bit of sweet revenge. If they wouldn't have done this, this would be going on at the highest levels of government.
GOWDY: There is a Russia investigation without a dossier. I support Bob Mueller 100 percent.
DURBIN: This could precipitate a constitutional crisis if the House Republicans believe they've set the stage for this president to end this investigation.
SUPER BOWL LII ANNOUNCER: Launching one for the end zone. Time runs out.
FOLES: To be a part of the first world championship, we're very blessed.
BRADY: We battled as competitive but we just obviously didn't get the job done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our fans are the rowdiest in the league. If you don't go back to see rubble, I'm mad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CAMEROTA: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States --
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: No, we don't.
CAMEROTA: You don't.
BERMAN: OK, sorry.
CAMEROTA: And we'll get to why you are in a very bad mood today, but he's going to turn it around for all of you.
This is NEW DAY. It is Monday -- it's a new day, John. It's Monday, February fifth, 6:00 here in New York.
