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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Kavanaugh Accuser Wants FBI Probe First; North Korea's Nuke Agreement; Trump Visits Carolinas Today; Tornado of Fire; U.S.-China Trade War Escalates; Syria Accidentally Shoots Down Russia Military Plane. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired September 19, 2018 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[04:31:15] LISA BANKS, ATTORNEY FOR CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD: It's premature to talk about hearings on Monday.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford say they want the FBI to investigate her accusations against Brett Kavanaugh before any Senate hearing.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, North Korea agreed to shut down a main nuclear site, but there's a big catch.
ROMANS: President Trump visits the Carolinas today as the death toll climbs in the flood disaster left by Hurricane Florence.
BRIGGS: Firefighters get into a tug-of-war with their tornado of fire. Guess who wins. The only thing cooler than a sharknado, and this one is real.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 -- almost 32 minutes past the hour.
Let's begin here with the women accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. She says she will not testify to senators until the FBI investigates her claims. The lawyer for Christine Blasey Ford telling Anderson Cooper last night that her client wants to cooperate with the Senate judiciary committee but the process must not be rushed.
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BANKS: It's premature to talk about a hearing on Monday. And I think people understand that because she has been dealing with the threats, the harassment, and the safety of her family. Asking her to come forward in four or five days and sit before the Judiciary Committee on national TV is not a fair process.
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BRIGGS: Ford's request for delay seeming to shift the momentum among Republicans. The Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley saying in a statement that nothing the FBI does would have any bearing on what Dr. Ford tells the committee, so there is no reason for any further delay.
Even Senator Bob Corker, a frequent Trump critic, tweeted: Republicans extended a hand in good faith. If we don't hear from both sides on Monday, let's vote.
President Trump, thus far, maintaining the restraint he has shown since the accusations against Kavanaugh were first revealed.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hopefully, the woman will come forward, state her case. They will look at what she had to say from 36 years ago.
I don't know about the other party, but Judge Kavanaugh's very anxious to do it.
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ROMANS: Two of Brett Kavanaugh's former classmates say they have no recollection of the party where ford says the assault occurred. Ford says Mark Judge and Patrick Smyth were at the party and Judge was in the room when the attack took place. Smyth sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee saying he has no knowledge of party or alleged improper conduct. Smyth described Kavanaugh as a person of great integrity.
BRIGGS: At the separate letter, Judge writes, Brett Kavanaugh and I were friends in high school, but I do not recall the party described in Dr. Ford's letter. More to the point, I never saw Brett act in the manner Dr. Ford describes.
Judge's memoir of his time as a student at Georgetown Prep is now drawing much attention. It's entitled "Wasted: Tales of a Gen-X Drunk," recounts a culture of heaving drinking at a school, quote, positively swimming in alcohol.
ROMANS: The point, what is his credibility in saying he didn't see this kind of behavior --
BRIGGS: Or doesn't recall it --
ROMANS: And he's written extensively about become blackout drunk with his friends. Blackout drunk with his friends.
All right. Anita Hill who accused then-nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment back in 1991 weighed in with "The New York Times" op-ed called "How to Get the Kavanaugh Hearings Right." Now a law professor, Hill slams the Senate Judiciary Committee. She says the fact that the committee still lacks a protocol for vetting sexual harassment and assault claims that surfaced a confirmation hearing suggests that the committee has learned little from the Thomas hearing, much less the more recent #MeToo movement. Hill adds that as Judge Kavanaugh stands to gain the lifetime privilege of serving on the country's highest country, he has the highest burden of persuasion, and that is only fair.
[04:35:10] BRIGGS: President Trump travels this morning to a storm- ravaged North and South Carolina, the region still struggling with epic flooding from Hurricane Florence. Two detainees being transported by sheriff's deputies were killed Thursday when their vehicle was overtaken by floodwaters. That raised the death toll to 36, with 27 of those fatalities coming in North Carolina, eight in South Carolina, one in Virginia.
More now from Miguel Marquez.
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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Dave, we're on the Person Street Bridge in Fayetteville. They had to shut down because engineers are concerned about all the debris moving under this bridge. I want to show something what's happening here.
We're on Person Street Bridge. Up there, that is the Grove Street Bridge. That bridge may have to be shut down as well because of the river here, the Cape Fear River. The water is still rising, has about a foot to go in the next 12 hours or so. They think that it will actually crest.
The bigger concern right now is this rail bridge just below us, the CSX rail bridge. You can see the amount of the waters hitting the bridge and the amount of debris that is now gathering in the center of that bridge, putting a lot of stress on it.
We have a drone up overhead. Person Street. It can move over to the train bridge to show you exactly sort of how much debris is gathered and how much pressure there is on the bridge.
I want to point out one other thing here. There's a street light here. This is kind of amazing. That is normally where the end of a boat ramp is.
It is clearly 20 or 30 feet below that now, and one other picture to show you. This is a picture of right near downtown Fayetteville. That's about a half mile from where we are right now. That river is moving up toward the downtown area.
They've not seen anything like this since 1945. They believe downtown will be okay, but they're concerned that it's getting close to city hall, their visitors bureau, and several businesses in downtown Fayetteville, as well. Authorities here say they have done everything they can. And at this point, it is just sitting back and hoping that everything goes according to plan -- Dave, Christine.
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ROMANS: All right. Miguel, thank you for that. Some of those pictures amazing. Add this to the losses from Florence -- North Carolina's Department of Agriculture says 3.4 million chickens and turkeys have been killed along with 5,500 hogs. That's already double the toll from Hurricane Matthew in 2016, and those numbers are expected to go higher.
BRIGGS: President Trump standing by his unprecedented order to declassify a host of documents and text messages related to the Russia investigation, an ongoing investigation. Intelligence officials have voiced concern declassifying materials in an active investigation could jeopardize sources and methods. But the president not backing off his order to immediately declassify part of the surveillance application for former aide Carter Page.
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TRUMP: We want transparency. What I want is I want total transparency. This is a witch hunt. Republicans are seeing it. The Democrats know it's witch hunt, too, but they won't admit it because that's not good politics for them.
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BRIGGS: Democrats expressed profound alarm at the president's order, even Republicans uneasy. Senate Intel Chairman Richard Burr says he would prefer to keep the documents classified but said declassifying is the president's prerogative.
ROMANS: Breaking overnight, North and South Korea have committed to an era of no war on the Korean peninsula. At a joint news conference in the middle of their planned three-day summit, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un announced what Moon called a way to achieve denuclearization.
CNN's Paula Hancocks is live for us this morning in Seoul with the latest -- Paula.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Christine. Well, just a couple of headlines from that very ambitious and wide- ranging agreement that was signed by the North and South Korean leaders. They have agreed, North Korea, to shut down the Punggye-ri missile test site. Now, this is the key site for their ICBM, intercontinental ballistic missile program. It is something that the U.S. President Trump had already announced after that Singapore summit.
But what is new from today is that they have agreed that they would allow independent international experts in to verify this. Now, there was also one more announcement saying that they would be willing to shut down the Yongbyon nuclear facility but this one was conditional. They said that they want to see U.S. corresponding measures. Now, they didn't specify what they wanted, but we know that North Korea wants a declaration to the end of the Korean War. They want a peace treaty which the U.S. has resisted so far.
But we did hear a positive response very quickly after the announcement from the U.S. president. He tweeted saying that he was very excited about all of these developments, also specifying that the two Koreas were going to make a joint bid for the 2032 Summer Olympics.
[04:40:11] It really was a wide-ranging agreement -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Paula, thank you so much for that for us in Seoul where it is 5:40 in the evening.
BRIGGS: No one blinking in the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China after President Trump announced a new 10 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, Beijing fired right back with $60 billion on tariffs on over 5,000 U.S. products. So, where does this end?
Matt Rivers live from Beijing with the latest.
Matt, China cannot match these tariffs dollar for dollar because of the trade imbalance. So, where does it go?
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, it's a great question, Dave. You know, the trade war, it's definitely a trade war at this point. We can call it a trade war. It's not a trade skirmish, it's a trade war.
China saying that they were going to retaliate, and they did. If there was any thought that they weren't going to retaliate, that thought is now out the window, as you said. $60 billion in tariffs on American -- $ 60 billion worth of American exports.
That brings the total amount of tariffs on American imports here in China to $110 billion. There's only $130 billion total American imports that come here each year, so it's nearly every single American import now facing tariffs here in China.
The big question moving forward, will there be more negotiation was here on out? And the answer is we just don't know. The U.S. extended an invitation to the Chinese side last week. China has said they won't negotiate under the threat of blackmail, but they haven't said that they won't attend these negotiations. That's the only seeming off ramp right now. But these negotiations, Dave, certainly in jeopardy at this point.
BRIGGS: Continuing to ramp up. Matt Rivers live for us in Beijing -- thank you, my friend.
ROMANS: Commerce secretary yesterday saying that China's running out of bullets and so the U.S. has the advantage here.
Corporate America, though, says the administration is right about China's bad trade practices, but that tariffs are the wrong way to achieve real reforms. That's from the powerful business lobby, the Business Roundtable. It warns that this latest escalation threatens U.S. businesses and workers.
So far, the U.S. plans to hit $250 billion in Chinese goods. The president is threatening an additional $267 billion. That would cover absolutely everything the U.S. buys from China. Even consumer goods that have largely been spared so far, shoes, electronics, toys, that means you will likely pay more.
In fact, the auto industry warns that tariffs on car parts could raise the price of a new car by several thousand dollars. But Wall Street, this is so interesting, Wall Street shrugging off trade tensions at least right now. Here's why -- corporate profits are really strong. Companies are making a lot of money. And at a tariff rate of 10 percent, these tariffs aren't as high as investors feared. At least not right away.
Global stocks rose overnight, fascinating.
BRIGGS: Extraordinary.
All right. Stormy Daniels sharing the x-rated details of her alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump in a new tell-all book, "Full Disclosure." It includes graphic descriptions of Mr. Trump's anatomy that we don't have time to get into.
ROMANS: Spare me.
BRIGGS: Spare you for now. We'll talk at the commercial, though, Romans.
Daniels describes a tragic childhood and broken home that includes being repeatedly raped as a 9-year-old girl by a man who lived next door to a friend. The adult film star says she wrote the book because she wanted to get all the facts out and have a chance to defend herself. The White House has not responded to requests for comment. But she also discussed notably a conversation between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton while she was present. No word yet --
ROMANS: A phone conversation?
BRIGGS: A phone conversation between the two in which she claims they were discussing our plan. Stay tuned.
ROMANS: All right.
Up next, a woman convicted of helping abduct Elizabeth Smart back in 2002 is about to walk free.
BRIGGS: And firefighters battle a tornado of flames.
ROMANS: Wow.
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[04:48:16] BRIGGS: Four-forty-eight Eastern Time.
And the woman convicted along with her husband of abducting Elizabeth Smart 16 years ago being freed this morning. Wanda Barzee and Brian David Mitchell tried on charges of kidnapping and sexual assault after holding 14-year-old smart captive for nine months. Barzee was sentenced to 15 years in exchange for her cooperation against her husband. Utah officials refused to say exactly what time this morning Barzee would be released.
ROMANS: A Supreme Court decision could force so-called dark-money groups to disclose the names of their donors. Less than seven weeks before the midterms, the high court let stand a federal judge's earlier ruling. Now, the names of donors to nonprofits' political campaigns will have to be reported starting today.
Now, some loopholes remain such as ads that focus on issues instead of candidates. Supporters of the change like Democratic SEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub call it a victory for transparency. The conservative dark groups Crossroads GPS linked to GOP strategist Karl Rove expressed disappointment but said it is confident it can navigate the current morass and comply with the law.
BRIGGS: Take a look at this crazy video, burning up, if you will, the internet right now. Firefighters in British Columbia versus a firenado. The crews trying to extinguish it when the firenado snatched up the hose.
A crew member who shot the video says it was more than 200-feet high and threw burning logs across the fire-control line for 45 minutes. They did eventually got the hose back, but it's melted. British Columbia is experiencing one of the worst fire seasons on record.
ROMANS: All right. CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri still monitoring the flooding ongoing in the Carolinas, now turning his eye to potential flooding in the Upper Midwest -- Pedram.
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[04:50:06] PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Dave and Christine, the river flooding still in the forecast here for today. We're going to see conditions gradually improve as some of these gauges going to finally crest over the next 24 or so hours. But as much as 50 counties still reporting some flooding in place, and you take a look, the gauges for Wednesday, over 30 of them in flood stage with the vast majority coming in at the major flood stage. So, certainly a very slow and drawn-out process here before conditions improve for good.
But to the north we go, where thunderstorms abound. Minneapolis toward Green Bay and Milwaukee, could see travel disruptions because easily the wettest spot in the country the next couple of days is right here in Southern Minnesota and portions of Wisconsin, four to six, in some areas more than six inches could fall through Friday afternoon, certainly an area to watch carefully. But St. Louis, how about the lower 90s, Omaha around 93 degrees.
Gorgeous setup as far as New York is concerned, 78. Notice what happens here across portions of the south central states and places like Oklahoma City. How about from the 90s to the 80s to the 70s to the 60s, so, yes, a hint of fall in the air? Very quickly there, Dallas, a well-deserved 79 in store after the middle 90s the next couple of days -- guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ROMANS: All right. Pedram, thank you for that.
The Justice Department looking into Tesla. Quite a week for Elon Musk. It is facing a criminal probe over Musk's comments about taking the company private. We're going to break it down in CNNMoney next.
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[04:56:16] BRIGGS: Moscow has confirmed Syrian defense forces accidentally shot down a Russian military plane, killing 15 Russian troops. Moscow now pointing the blame squarely at Israel.
Matthew Chance live in Moscow with the very latest.
Matthew, good morning.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave.
That's right. The Russians reluctant to blame their Syrian government allies for this shoot-down saying instead that it was the result of Israel's -- what they call Israel's careless actions. The attack took place during an attack by Israeli fighters against targets inside Syria, the Russians complained that the Israelis that have deconfliction channels with the Russians to prevent this kind of thing from happening did not give Russia adequate warning that an attack was going to take place.
And the second allegation against the Israelis is that they used the Russian aircraft as cover as they approached the Syrian airspace to carry out that attack. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has attempted, though, to ratchet down the rhetoric and the tension that's have been growing between Russia and Israel saying that it looks like a chain of tragic accidental circumstances that resulted in this shootdown of the Russian warplane.
For their part, the Israelis expressed regret and sorrow at the loss of the 15 Russian servicemen who were onboard of that Soviet era Ilyushin 20 naval patrol aircraft shot out of the sky by Syrian air defenses. They said the Syrian government and their Iranian partners, allies in Syria are ultimately responsible for those deaths and that shoot-down -- Dave.
BRIGGS: Stay tuned to this space. Matthew Chance live for us in Moscow -- thanks.
ROMANS: Let's get a check CNN Money this morning.
The U.S. and China escalating their trade fight. I think you can officially say this is now a trade war. But Wall Street not concerned here. Look, China slapped tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. imports yesterday, retaliation for the U.S. hitting $200 billion in Chinese goods.
But U.S. stocks closed higher, and global stocks rose overnight. Why? Because corporate profits are still very strong. The tariff of 10 percent, at that rate the U.S. tariffs aren't as high as investors feared. At least not right away.
But a powerful lobby, the Business Roundtable warns this latest escalation threatens U.S. businesses and workers. They say the tariffs are the wrong way to achieve real reform with China.
It's been ten years since the financial crisis and Wall Street pay is hitting levels not seen since that time, including bonuses. The average salary in New York City's securities industry jumped 13 percent hitting $422,500 in 2017. That's the highest since 2008 and the third highest on record. The boost is largely because of corporate tax cuts. That drove bank profits to a record $60 billion last quarter.
The Justice Department is investigating Tesla. It is facing a criminal probe over CEO Elon Musk's comments last month about taking the company private. Tesla has since abandoned the plan. Musk's tweet that he had secure funding boosted the stock price. And if that info was false, it could be illegal.
Tesla says it is cooperating with a voluntary request for documents but gave no further specifics. Tesla shares fell as much as 6 percent.
Back on the New York securities industry pays $422,000. Typical income of four is $60,000 some, just a reminder of the difference there.
BRIGGS: Astounding.
Yes. All right. EARLY START continues right now.
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BANKS: It's premature to talk about hearings on Monday.
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ROMANS: Lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford say that they want the FBI to investigate her accusations against Brett Kavanaugh before any Senate hearing.
BRIGGS: Breaking overnight, North Korea just agreed to shut down a main nuclear site.
