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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Kavanaugh Accuser Christine Blasey Ford Will Not Testify On Monday; President Trump Visits Storm-Ravaged Carolinas Today; Korean Leaders Announce "Era Of No War"; U.S.-China Trade War Escalates. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired September 19, 2018 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:30:08] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA BANKS, ATTORNEY FOR CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD: It's premature to talk about a hearing on Monday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford say they want the FBI to investigate her accusations against Brett Kavanaugh before any Senate hearing.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, North Korea just agreed to shut down a main nuclear site, but there is a big catch.

BRIGGS: And, President Trump visits the Carolinas today as the death toll climbs in the flood disaster left by Hurricane Florence.

ROMANS: Firefighters get into a tug-of-war with a tornado of fire and guess who wins? Not the hose.

Welcome back to EARLY START, everybody. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: Remarkable video. I'm Dave Briggs. It is 5:30 eastern time.

The president up, tweeting late last night, "The Supreme Court is one of the main reasons I got elected." And that, of course, is where we begin.

The woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault 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 that the process must not be rushed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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 T.V. is not a fair process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Ford's request for delay seeming to shift momentum among Republicans.

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 Sen. Bob Corker, a frequent Trump critic, "Republicans extended a hand in good faith. If we don't hear from both sides on Monday, let's vote."

President Trump, so far, maintaining the restraint he has shown since the accusations against Kavanaugh were first revealed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hopefully, the woman will come forward and 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Two of Brett Kavanaugh's former classmates say they have no recollection of the party where Ford says the assault occurred. Ford says both Mark Judge and Patrick Smythe were at the party and that Judge was in the room when the attacked took place.

Smythe sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee saying he has no knowledge of the party or the alleged improper conduct. Smythe described Kavanaugh as a person of great integrity.

ROMANS: In a 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."

Now, Judge's memoir of his time as a student there at Georgetown Prep is drawing a lot of attention. The memoir is titled "Wasted: Tales of a GenX Drunk." It recounts a culture of heavy drinking at the school, quote, "positively swimming in alcohol" and talks about his own blackout -- drunk blackouts. So what kind of --

BRIGGS: Right, begging the question would he remember?

ROMANS: -- credibility does he have remembering this incident or not?

BRIGGS: OK. Anita Hill, who accused then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in 1991, weighing in with a "New York Times" op-ed entitled "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 surface during a confirmation hearing suggests that the committee has learned little from the Thomas hearing, much less the more recent #MeToo movement."

Hills adds that "As Judge Kavanaugh stands to gain the lifetime privilege of serving on the country's highest court, he has the burden of persuasion. And that is only fair."

ROMANS: Let's bring in "CNN POLITICS" digital director Zach Wolf in Washington. Good morning, Zach.

All right, does this hearing happen on Monday with or without her testimony -- Christine Blasey Ford -- and what are the implications for Republicans, one way or the other?

ZACHARY WOLF, DIGITAL DIRECTOR, CNN POLITICS: Well, I think what we're seeing -- we don't know if this hearing is going to play out. I mean, certainly, it's scheduled and Republicans could hold a hearing. It doesn't sound like she's going to be there.

I'm not sure how effective a hearing with just Judge Kavanaugh would be in this case -- him denying an allegation that we haven't heard too much about. That wouldn't probably play very well or at least it wouldn't give people very much more information.

I think the bottom line and what you need to remember here is Republicans want this to happen fast -- as fast as possible -- and that is because the election is coming up and that would change the entire calculus for getting a Supreme Court nominee confirmed.

ROMANS: Right.

[05:35:00] WOLF: So they want this happen, they want it to be Kavanaugh, and they want it to happen quickly. That is the motivating factor behind everything that is going on right now for them.

BRIGGS: The numbers might not get better for Democrats. They could get significantly worse. If you put the Supreme Court on the midterm ballot, nothing motivates Republican voters quite like that. That would be dangerous for those Democrats in Trump states.

But what about the risk for Republicans of putting on this show on Monday if she's not there? Would it look like -- we just mentioned -- 1991, Anita Hill?

WOLF: Well, what came after 1991, since you mention it, was 1992 which was the year of the woman, which -- you know, so-called the year of the woman. That's when a lot of -- there -- you know, the number of women senators more than doubled. People like Dianne Feinstein came to office and the two things were at least, in the national consciousness, linked.

The Anita Hill trial -- or I called it a trial -- the Anita Hill hearings sort of led into the year of the woman. Is that kind of backlash going to happen right now, I don't know. But probably not if we don't hear from the woman or see her.

But, you know, this sort of bullying -- it could come off as bullying an accuser if they do. Take it or leave it --

ROMANS: Yes.

WOLF: -- you have this one chance --

ROMANS: Yes.

WOLF: -- to testify and that's all you get. That might not be such a good thing.

BRIGGS: The optics could be brutal there.

But you mention Dianne Feinstein. Does she have a lot more questions to answer about why she did not ask Brett Kavanaugh questions about this incident when they talked face-to-face?

WOLF: Yes, I think that's an interesting point and it's something Republicans are going to continue to bring up. Was she, from the start, just trying to delay this --

BRIGGS: Yes.

WOLF: -- and have a -- have a sleeper issue to bring up? I don't think that's probably it but it's certainly something she'll have to answer.

ROMANS: Or was she trying to protect a woman's confidentiality who had asked for confidentiality in this process and was -- and was struggling --

BRIGGS: This was an alleged crime -- sex assault.

ROMANS: -- was struggling for months trying to figure out exactly how to -- how to reveal it?

Let's listen to the president, though. The president, yesterday, he didn't say the woman's name --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- which was, I think, notable.

But he also said that he doesn't think this is something the FBI should be probing -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The Democrats have had massive collusion, massive obstruction, and they should be investigated.

Why isn't the FBI looking at the DNC server?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: OK, so what I was calling for was yesterday when the president said, "I don't think the FBI really should be involved because they don't want to be involved."

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: "If they wanted to be, I would certainly do that. But as you know, they say this is not really their thing."

And then Dave has pulled together a list of all the things --

BRIGGS: That's rich, right?

ROMANS: -- that he would like -- the investigations he would like the FBI and DOJ to be doing. And there's so many we have to have like multiple screens here.

What do you make of that?

WOLF: Yes, look, he doesn't -- he doesn't really want this investigated so, you know, it's kind of an obfuscation, clearly. If Trump wants something investigated by the FBI it seems like he could pick up the phone and figure it out.

And, you know, the Republicans on Capitol Hill, they want to give just one opportunity, get this over with, and move on. This is all -- the motivating factor for all of this is get it done.

BRIGGS: I want to ask you about the declassification of these documents related to the FISA warrant on Carter Page, the text messages related to Bruce Ohr, and Comey, and this and that.

The president says, "All I want to do is be transparent." He tells that to "The Hill" T.V. He also tells them he didn't even read the documents before declassifying them.

What is the goal here from the president?

WOLF: You know, if you're calling for total transparency and what you say your goal is is total transparency, but you're selectively declassifying certain things that you think or you hope might make you look good, that's not really total transparency of any kind and it could destabilize the -- you know, the way the FBI goes about things and the entire FISA process.

I think that's something to think about there.

But, you know, every time something -- and by the way, some of these things that he wants to declassify, they've already been declassified in a redacted way.

BRIGGS: Yes.

WOLF: I think what's behind that is there's always going to be some other thing to do -- some other shoe to drop in the future. That's the way a conspiracy theory works.

BRIGGS: The president also added he hopes uncovering this corruption at the FBI could be one of his -- one of his crowning achievements as president.

Zach Wolf, good to see you, sir.

ROMANS: Thanks, Zach.

WOLF: Thanks.

ROMANS: All right.

The president, today, travels to storm-ravaged North and South Carolina this morning. The region is still struggling from epic flooding from Hurricane Florence.

Two detainees being transported by sheriff's deputies were killed Tuesday when their vehicle was overtaken by flood waters. That raised the death toll to 36. Twenty-seven of those fatalities coming in North Carolina, eight in South Carolina, and one Virginia.

Let's get more this morning from CNN's Miguel Marquez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Dave, we're on the Person Street bridge on Fayetteville that they've had to shut down because engineers are concerned about all the debris moving under this bridge.

[05:40:06] I want to show you 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 the river here -- the Cape Fear River -- the water is still rising. It 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 water is 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 -- and it can move over to the train bridge to show you exactly sort of how much debris there is gathered around that bridge and just how much pressure there is on that bridge.

I want to point out one other thing for you here. There's a street light right over 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 I want 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 OK, but they are very 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: Great reporting from Miguel Marquez.

Some breaking news 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 3-day summit, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced what Moon called "the way to achieve denuclearization."

Paula Hancocks standing by live for us in Seoul with the latest.

The president, up after midnight, tweeting about these latest developments.

Paula, What's new?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dave, the headlines from this agreement -- and it was a very wide-ranging agreement between North and South Korea -- was that North Korea has decided that it will shut down this Tongchang-ri test site. This is the key ICBM test site -- the intercontinental ballistic missile test site that Washington is so concerned about. So they have said that they will shut that down.

And what is new here is that they said they will invite international experts in to verify that process.

Now, on top of that, they have also said that they would be willing to shut down the Yongbyon nuclear facility, but this one has a caveat. They put conditions on it, saying that the U.S. has to give corresponding measures.

Now, they haven't specified a time line for any of this. They haven't specified the corresponding measures, although we know that North Korea wants to have this quid pro quo -- this step-by-step denuclearization and they want to have a declaration to the end of the Korean War. That is what they are pushing Washington for at this point. But as you said, the president tweeted about it just after midnight and he seemed to welcome it. He said it was very exciting, also pointing out within this wide-ranging agreement that the two Koreas are going to jointly bid for the 2032 Summer Olympics. Also pointing out that there could be more remains of Korean War veterans returned -- Dave.

BRIGGS: Yes, that Olympic bid extraordinary considering you've still prison camps in North Carolina (sic). Oh, it should be interesting.

ROMANS: North Korea.

BRIGGS: Paula Hancocks live for us.

ROMANS: North Korea.

BRIGGS: In North Korea. Yes, interesting development.

Paula, thanks.

ROMANS: All right, 42 minutes past the hour.

Next, how a court decision could soon shine a light on dark money in politics.

BRIGGS: And we're live in Beijing with neither side backing down on the U.S. and China's trade war.

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[05:49:01] 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.

Some loopholes remain, such as ads that focus on issues instead of candidates. But supporters of the change, like Democratic SEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub, call it a victory for transparency.

The conservative dark money group Crossroads GPS, linked to GOP strategist Karl Rove, expressed disappointment but it says it is confident it can navigate the current morass and comply with the law.

BRIGGS: No one is blinking in the escalating trade war between the United States and China. After President Trump announced new 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, Beijing fired right back with $60 billion in tariffs on over 5,000 U.S. products.

Where does this end?

Matt Rivers live with us from Beijing.

Matt, of course, China cannot match dollar-for-dollar the tariffs because of the trade imbalance, so where does it go?

[05:50:05] MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, that's a great question, Dave.

I mean, China is going to take it as far as it can, more than likely, in terms of trying to hit American imports dollar-for-dollar. But there's only $130 billion worth of American imports into China each year. There's over $500 billion worth of Chinese imports into the U.S. The U.S. has a lot more products -- a lot more value it could tax.

So what does China do moving forward if the U.S. continues to go down this tariff road?

Well, they could certainly make life harder for American companies here. They could slow down customs procedures. They could, perhaps, put export restrictions in and make certain products unavailable to U.S. companies.

But I think the takeaway from all of this Dave, and your point there, where does this end because neither side has shown any indication of backing down. China immediately retaliated here.

And the open question now -- negotiations were offered by the U.S. last week. That could have taken place before the end of this month. Now those are in jeopardy.

China hasn't said officially that they're not going to go to those negotiations -- they're still considering it -- but you have to figure those negotiations are in jeopardy. And with that, the only foreseeable off-ramp --

BRIGGS: Yes.

RIVERS: -- to this trade war.

BRIGGS: And based on what Christine Romans is about to tell us, it looks like leverage is on the side of the United States.

Matt Rivers live for us, thanks.

ROMANS: Yes, Matt Rivers and I have been talking an awful about trade --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- over the past couple of days.

Let's get a check on "CNN Money" this morning.

The U.S. and China escalating that trade fight, but Wall Street is shrugging it off here. China, as you know, slapped tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. imports yesterday. That was retaliation for $200 billion in Chinese goods from the U.S. side.

But look at stocks. They closed higher and global stocks rose overnight, and here's sort of why.

Corporate profits are still very strong. Companies and shareholders are making a lot of money. And that 10 percent tariff is not as high -- at least not right out of the gate -- as investors had feared. It gives the U.S. more wiggle room.

Also, there's this feeling that the U.S. has more to gain here and China has more to lose.

Now, a powerful corporate lobby, though -- the Business Roundtable -- warns this latest escalation threatens U.S. businesses and workers. It says that tariffs are the wrong way to achieve real reform with China.

All right.

The Justice Department is investigating Tesla. It is facing a criminal probe over the CEO Elon Musk's comments last month.

Remember when he said he was talking about taking the company private? Tesla has since abandoned that plan. But that tweet from Musk that he had secured funding boosted the stock price at the time and if that info was false it could be illegal.

Tesla says it is cooperating with a voluntary request for documents. It gave no further specifics.

Tesla shares fell as much as six percent on this news.

All right. It has been 10 years since the financial crisis. Wall Street pay is hitting levels not seen since then.

Including bonuses, the average salary in New York City's securities industry jumped 13 percent -- a whopping $422,500 last year, the highest since 2008. That's the third-highest on record.

And you can thank corporate tax cuts. Those big corporate tax cuts drove bank profits to a record $60 billion last quarter and bankers -- the financial industry is paid based on how much the companies make. And so people made more money, too.

BRIGGS: An astounding number.

All right. A reality T.V. doctor now stands accused of disturbing real-life crimes.

ROMANS: And the truth about Bert and Ernie. What "SESAME STREET" wants you to know about their bond.

They are just puppets. They're puppets. They are just puppets. They're not real.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:57:13] ROMANS: Take a look at this incredible video. Firefighters in British Columbia versus a firenado.

These crews are trying to extinguish this fiery twister when the firenado suddenly snatched up their hose. The crew member who shot the video says it was more than 200 feet high. Now, they did eventually get their hose back but it was melted.

BRIGGS: Wow -- all right.

A California surgeon who appeared on a reality T.V. show now facing drug and rape charges. Dr. Grant William Robicheaux appeared on one episode of the Bravo series "ONLINE DATING RITUALS OF THE AMERICAN MALE."

He and his girlfriend, Cerissa Laura Riley, both accused of raping at least two unconscious women in separate attacks.

The Orange County D.A.'s office says it's looking for possible additional victims.

ROMANS: "SESAME STREET" being slammed on social media as anti-gay after making it clear Bert and Ernie are not lovers, they are just friends.

The makers of the show released a statement saying essentially, they don't have a sexual orientation -- they are puppets.

So why are they making this statement? Well, they make the statement because a former "SESAME STREET" writer told an LGBT Website he thought of the feuding puppet muppets as lovers.

BRIGGS: Got it.

While you were sleeping, the late-night comedians getting a little raunchy with the X-rated details of Stormy Daniels' new book.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, NBC HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": Stormy Daniels has written a book about Trump. An advance copy just came out and she actually writes about her night with Trump in detail. This explains why every book comes with a bottle of Pepto-Bismol and a straw.

SETH MEYERS, NBC HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": Stormy Daniels also claims in her memoir that President Trump promised to make her a contestant on "THE APPRENTICE." It would have been the first-ever case of someone being demoted from porn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: No mention of Mario Kart. You'll have to Google that yourself.

ROMANS: Oh, I can't unsee that.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now. We'll see you tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BANKS: Any talk of a hearing on Monday, frankly, is premature.

SEN. BOB CORKER (R), TENNESSEE: If she does not want to come Monday, we've got to move on and vote.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: If you don't want the hearing to be just a he said-she said, an independent investigation by the FBI is essential.

TRUMP: I feel terribly for him. This is not a man that deserves this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's important that we hear from witnesses, not least of which is Mark Judge.

SEN. MAZIE HIRONI (D), HAWAII: This is what they did to Anita Hill. It is time for all of us to say end this kind of treatment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The show starts now whether we're ready or not.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Wednesday, September 19th, 6:00 here in New York.

And we do start with a big question this morning and that is will Christine Blasey Ford testify before the Senate next week? The woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her decades ago says he wants the FBI to investigate before she agrees to appear before Congress.