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Donald Trump Reaffirms Support for his Supreme Court Nominee; Will Donald Trump Fire Rod Rosenstein?; Bill Cosby Will Learn His Fate Today; Moscow Sends Advanced Missiles to the Syrian Assad Regime.. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired September 25, 2018 - 04:30   ET

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


[04:30:00]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, ANCHOR, CNN EARLY START: Twin crises for the White House. The president reaffirms support for his Supreme Court pick as the nation waits to see if he will fire the man in charge of the Russia probe.

DAVE BRIGGS, ANCHOR, CNN EARLY START: Moscow sending advanced missiles to the Assad regime. Why now and how it could heighten risks of an air war over Syria.

ROMANS: Bill Cosby will learn his fate today. Prosecutors want up to 10 years for drugging and assaulting a woman in 2004.

BRIGGS: And a remarkable rescue. A team found alive in a floating fishing trap after seven weeks at sea.

ROMANS: Unbelievable.

BRIGGS: Just astounding development here. Welcome back to EARLY START on a Tuesday. I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: It is only Tuesday but it has been, you know --

BRIGGS: How in the world is it Tuesday?

ROMANS: -- almost (ph) six weeks of news this week. I'm Christine Romans, everybody. It's 30 minutes past the hour. Good morning. If Monday was Washington's version of a fire drill, expect Thursday to be even more chaotic. President Trump will sit face-to-face with Rod Rosenstein who right now is still deputy attorney general following a very tumultuous day in the nation's capitol. That meeting will happen as Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford both testify on Capitol Hill about her sexual assault allegations against the Supreme Court nominee.

BRIGGS: First on Rosenstein. A senior official tells us the deputy attorney general overestimated how angry the president would be. Rosenstein expected fury after The New York Times reported suggested he secretly recorded the president and discussed using the 25th amendment to remove Trump from office.

ROMANS: Rosenstein offered his resignation to chief of staff John Kelly Friday, which led to multiple discussions of top officials through yesterday. So for now, the future of the man in charge of the Russia investigation remains very much up in the air. Senior White House correspondent Jeff Zeleny has the latest.

JEFF ZELENY, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Christine and Dave, President Trump waking up here in New York City for the second day of the United Nations general assembly. He certainly is going to be on the world stage addressing world leaders, but it is troubles and controversy back in the White House that are overshadowing his entire meeting here. Now, the question, of course, is is he going to fire Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general.

Rod Rosenstein went to the White House yesterday expecting to be fired or prepared to resign. Neither happened. The president said he wants to meet with him on Thursday when he gets back to Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In our meeting with Rod Rosenstein on Thursday, when I get back from all of these meetings, then we'll be meeting at the White House and we'll be determining what's going on. We want to have transparency, we want to have openness and I look forward to meeting with Rod at that time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So the president talking about transparency, talking about openness but what does that mean exactly? We're not certain, actually. Is he going to fire Rod Rosenstein? We don't know. Is he going to resign? We don't know that either. One thing is clear. The president is furious about the Russia investigation and blames Rod Rosenstein for all of it. And certainly there are questions of loyalty here as well. Dave and Christine.

BRIGGS: Jeff Zeleny, thank you. Trump attorney Jay Sekulow calling for a time-out in the Russia investigation if Rod Rosenstein leaves his post. He says a replacement could conduct a review of the Mueller probe that is thorough and complete. As for who might succeed Rod Rosenstein, next in the line of the Justice Department is Solicitor General Noel Francisco, a conservative lawyer who worked in the Bush White House. There are questions about whether he'd need a waiver to address potential conflicts of interest.

Francisco was a partner at the law firm Jones Day, which represents the Trump campaign in the Mueller probe.

ROMANS: President Trump's is standing by his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, telling Fox News the president called him on Monday to express his support. The judge remaining defiant in the face of a sexual assault allegation that threatens his confirmation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT KAVANAUGH, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: I'm not going to let false accusations drive us out of the -- out of this process and, you know, we're looking for a fair process where I can be heard and defend the -- my integrity, my life long record -- my life long record of promoting dignity and equality for women, starting with the -- the women who knew me when I was 14 years old. I'm not going anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: I'm not going anywhere. The Washington Post reports President Trump called Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Saturday, demanding he -- he call a vote on the Kavanaugh's nomination.

BRIGGS: One White House official telling CNN the president has been pushing for a more defense oriented approach, defending his nominee, especially after a second Kavanaugh accuser surfaced in The New Yorker Magazine. The allegation views the allegation by Debbie Ramirez as a chance to be more aggressive since the story was thinly sourced. We're already seeing signs of that from Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, who calls Ramirez's allegations phony and pointing the finger at Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: Well, it's amazing to me that these allegations come out of nowhere at the last minute and that they weren't brought up earlier in the -- in this process.

[04:35:00]

And it's not untypical for our friends on the other side to pull that kind of crap.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: That kind of crap. More now from CNN's Phil Mattingly on Capitol Hill.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well Christine and Dave, there may be new allegations but there's almost no shift in posture from Senate Republicans. If anything, they've gotten more aggressive in their desire to move forward with Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination. Several Republican senators, top Republican aides say -- to me, one in particular saying, they're more angry than worried about the nomination, believing that those allegations are related to a quote-unquote Democratic smear campaign.

Now, Democrats obviously the complete other side of things, saying that this is more of a reason to have an expanded FBI background check, to hold off Thursday's scheduled hearing with Christine Blasey Ford, the initial accuser (inaudible) testimony with enormous stakes, stakes obviously for the Supreme Court nomination, also stakes for how the Senate deals with allegations like this. Stakes, really, for the whole country, given the moment that they're actually in.

What will happen after the hearing? Well, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made no bones about it. He said explicitly on the Senate floor Brett Kavanaugh will get a vote, no matter what happens on Thursday. Will they actually have the votes? Well, that's still an open question. Christine and Dave.

ROMANS: All right, Phil, thank you for that. The New York Times reporting that one of the dozens of women who signed the letter to senators supporting Kavanaugh has now learned he sexually demeaned her in his Georgetown Prep school yearbook. Renate Dolphin, then Renate Schroeder, attended a nearby catholic girls school. Kavanaugh included her name in the phrase Renate Alumnus in his yearbook entry. Now, two of Kavanaugh's classmates told the Times that student athletes often mentioned Renate as part of boasting about supposed conquests.

BRIGGS: Schroeder Dolphin told the Time the insinuation is horrible, hurtful and simply untrue. Lawyers for Kavanaugh telling CNN he and Ms. Dolphin attended one high school event together and shared a brief kiss good night. They had no other such encounter. Well, Schroeder Dolphin told the Times through her lawyer they never even kissed. She said I think Brett must have me confused with someone else.

ROMANS: Christine Blasey Ford in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley says she is frightened, but that fear will not hold her back from testifying. After a meeting in Mitch McConnell's office late Monday, some Republicans indicated to CNN a final committee vote is possible this week on Kavanaugh's nomination. No firm date has been set.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD (CHANTING): We will not go back! We will not go back!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: A number of swing votes are feeling the pressure. Protesters gathered Monday in the hallway leading to Senator Susan Collins' office. Collins says she won't make up her mind on Kavanaugh until after Thursday's hearing. Some 128 arrests yesterday in various parts of Capitol Hill as women supported Anita Hill, Christine Blasey Ford, some with the #MeToo movement, but this is the scene across Capitol Hill yesterday.

BRIGGS: And will likely continue to play out, and especially on Thursday. Lost in all of this is the president's appearance at the United Nations. He addresses the general assembly at 10:15 Eastern Time this morning. The main focus, yesterday, Mr. Trump's meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. President signaling plans to meet with Kim Jong-un again and he addressed efforts for denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I see tremendous enthusiasm on behalf of Chairman Kim for making a deal. And I think that's something that's very good. We are in no rush. There's no hurry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Let's get the latest now from CNN's Will Ripley joining us live from Hong Kong this morning. Will, what has Kim Jong-un done to earn a second meeting? What concrete steps beyond the symbolic gestures has he taken towards denuclearization?

WILL RIPLEY, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Does he need concrete steps or is it enough to tell President Trump that he has his unwavering trust? And this quote from President Moon. You are the only person who can solve this problem. That is like cat nip to the president's ears, according to many people who stuffy the president, including, by the way, the North Koreans, who were studying him intensively for more than a year before this diplomacy even began.

They know what President Trump wants to hear and they have taken just enough in terms of steps to keep the president engaged. They are now offering potentially to allow international inspectors to witness the possible dismantlement of their Yongbyon nuclear reactor. That would be a significant step towards denuclearization. It's the only known reactor in North Korea that they use to enrich nuclear fuel.

But the North Koreans have said that that would only come if there were corresponding measures taken by the United States. What are those measures? Is it relief from sanctions, as -- you know, in an incremental step by step process? Is it this peace treaty we've been talking so much about to formally end the Korean War? Those are the things that apparently Kim Jong-un wants to sit down face-to-face and discuss with President Trump because he has felt that his lower level negotiator, Kim Yong Chol has gotten pretty much nowhere with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. When that meeting will happen, where, still open questions this morning, Dave.

[04:40:00]

BRIGGS: A lot of questions there. Will Ripley, live for us in Hong Kong, thanks.

ROMANS: According to the new Gallup poll, Republicans are enjoying their highest favorability rating among voters in more than seven years. Just under half of all Americans, 45 percent, telling Gallup they have a favorable view of the GOP.

That's up - that's up nine points from this time last year. Democrats are one point behind with a 44 percent favorability rating. Take a look at this new NBC Wall Street Journal poll.

When asked who should control Congress, 52 percent of voters said Democrats, only 40 percent said Republicans.

BRIGGS: What do you make of the Gallup number? I mean we'll have Harry Enten on later who analyzes these numbers, but it - it would appear that President Trump has galvanized support in the party though maybe more divisive as a country, as a party, more together.

ROMANS: We shall see.

BRIGGS: We'll talk about that later on. Ahead, the FBI joined the search for a boy with autism missing in North Carolina. The search zone now expanding. And a popular brand of nuts recalled over a possible E. coli concern. What you need to know.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:45:00]

BRIGGS: Russia now further aligning itself with Syria. In the next two weeks, the Kremlin says it will arm the Assad regime with sophisticated air defense systems. That move could heighten the risks of air war over Syria.

Last week, the Syrians accidentally shot down a Russian military plane, killing 15 Russian troops. The Kremlin blamed Israel for the incident. CNN's Fred Pleitgen joining us live from Moscow with the latest, and John Bolton says, Fred, really the party responsible for the shooting down of the Russian plane is Iran.

Help us out here.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes, I mean that's - that's what he said yesterday at the United Nations. Essentially what John Bolton is saying is that because the Israeli military planes were targeting pro-Iranian sites in that area, which was around Lattakia in Syria which is also where that Russian airbase is.

And the Syrian military then responded by trying to shoot those Israeli planes down. He believes that Iran is responsible. Now of course the Russians take a very different take on all of this.

They are more and more saying they believe that the Israelis are responsible. They came out with an animation yesterday showing the flight path of their plane the Il-20 that was coming in to land and showing the flight path - the alleged flight of those Israeli planes.

And essentially what the Russians are saying is that they believe that one of the Israeli planes maneuvered in a way that essentially made it take cover behind that Russian plane, putting it exactly in the path of those rockets that the Syrians then fired into the sky and essentially bringing that plane down.

Now what the Russians are saying is they need this new system, the more advanced system to make sure their planes are safe. It's got more advanced radars, they also want to give the Syrians other communications systems to make it easier for them to identify the enemy and friendly airplanes.

Now of course it's a big concern for the Israelis, because this new system has a much higher range, that means Israeli planes could be targeted while they're still in Israeli airspace.

Also, of course, a big concern for the U.S. as well and its freedom to maneuver above the skies in Syria also just in case there might be another standoff with the Assad government once again, which of course is something that could potentially happen as well.

Now we know from our reporting, from our own Barbara Starr that the U.S. is studying all of these measures, they believe they can get out of the way of these planes. But nevertheless - or of these - of these missiles, nevertheless of course it is a big concern for the U.S., that new system that's about to be delivered there. Dave.

BRIGGS: That's awesome that you're there (ph), Fred Pleitgen live for us in Moscow this morning, thanks.

ROMANS: Crude oil prices are at four year highs here as OPEC resists American pressure to boost production. Global crude oil prices tapped 80 bucks a barrel overnight. That's the highest since 2014. World oil supply is tight, it's expected to get tighter, mainly because of looming U.S. sanctions on Iran targeting Iranian oil exports.

Iran is the fourth largest producer of oil and sanctions begin November 4th. So last week, President Trump demanded OPEC increase supply to make up for the expected shortfall, but OPEC decided to keep output steady.

The concern in the U.S. now is gas prices. High oil prices mean you pay more at the pump. Summer gas prices were the highest in four years. That could cause a political headache for the GOP in the coming midterms.

Morgan Stanley says higher gas prices will cut into the money Americans receive from tax cuts, wiping out a third of their direct benefit from tax cuts.

BRIGGS: Yes, no president wants an increase in gas prices in the midterm elections. All right, coming up, nearly a week after the fire that gutted his apartment complex, a 74 year old man is found alive.

Questions this morning why no one realized he was missing.

ROMANS: And the founders of Instagram are resigning with little explanation it could spell some trouble for Facebook. CNNMoney is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:53:45]

BRIGGS: 4:53 Eastern time, and Bill Cosby set to be sentenced today for drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in 2004. The experienced comedian was convicted on three charges, the judge now merging them into one for sentencing purposes because they stem from the same event.

That means Cosby now faces a maximum 10 years in prison instead of 30. Prosecutors are asking the judge for a five to 10 year sentence, arguing the 81 year old has shown no remorse.

Cosby's lawyer wants house arrest.

ROMANS: The Dallas Police Department has fired Amber Guyger, she is the officer charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of 26 year old Botham Shem Jean. Jean was killed inside his apartment. It was (ph) Officer Guyger claiming she thought she had entered her own apartment.

Jean's mother Allison says she's relieved by the news of the officer's firing, but family lawyers say they want Guyger indicted on a murder charge.

BRIGGS: Authorities in North Carolina expanding their search for six year old Maddox Scott Ritch who went missing on Saturday. Police say the boy has autism and is non-verbal. Maddox was last seen at Rankin Lake Park in Gastonia, North Carolina, near Charlotte.

His parents say they lost sight of him when he ran off. Police extended their search on the ground and in the air to two miles outside the park using trained dogs to cover parts of the terrain, the FBI assisting in the search.

ROMANS: A variety of Mauna Loa macadamia nuts products have been recalled because of possible E. coli contamination. Health inspectors found E. coli in the well water and distribution system at the company's facility in Hawaii.

[04:55:00]

The effected products were made there between September 6 and 21, no illnesses related to the water have been reported so far.

BRIGGS: A 74 year old man found alive and well in his senior apartment complex in Washington D.C., five days after it caught fire. Washington's mayor says no one knew the man was missing.

He was found by crews who were trying to determine if fire marshals could safely enter the building. Some of the doors have swelled because of the heat, workers had to use crowbars to pry them open.

Right after the fire, emergency responders said they had rescued more than 100 residents. It was thought everyone had been accounted for. The man was taken to a hospital and is expected to be OK.

ROMANS: Another amazing story here of a real life "Life of Pi". An Indonesian teenager plucked from the sea after drifting for 49 days in a floating fish trap. Nineteen year old Aldi Novel Adilang was working on a remote fishing trap off the coast of North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

He told CNN Indonesia that in mid July strong waves caused the trap's anchor rope to break, the platform drifted all the way to the waters of Guam. That's more than 1,500 miles. He says many ships passed right by him until he was able to attract the attention of a passing cargo ship, the MV Arpeggio, which hauled him aboard.

Adilang was treated on that ship and examined by the Japanese Coast Guard and has now returned home to Indonesia.

BRIGGS: While you were sleeping, between Brett Kavanaugh, the president and Rod Rosenstein, no shortage of material for late night comedians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's a chance that this could be one of the single most unfair, unjust things to happen to a candidate for anything.

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT: It's not fair, it's not fair that he had just three accusations and he might not get the gig. I had 19 accusations and they gave me the launch codes, so.

Warning, it was reported that Rosenstein was on his way to the White House to quit and or get fired, so all the cable news channels began airing heart stopping live footage of an SUV in a rainy White House driveway.

It was the first ever cable news car chase of a parked car.

SETH MYERS, HOST, LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MYERS: According to a new poll, fall has become the most popular season to get married, while the most popular time to get divorced is after the midterms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Hey, not fair, not fair, a little low. Let's go check on CNNMoney this morning. Global stocks mixed overnight, Wall Street closed mostly lower after U.S. China tariffs took effect.

Yesterday the U.S. hit Chinese goods with another round of tariffs on $200 billion in goods, many of them consumer goods, China quickly retaliated. The S&P 500 and the DOW closed lower, Michael Kors' stock fell eight percent, it plans to buy Versace for about $2.3 billion.

Apparently investors did not think that was a good idea. Sears is running out of time to fix its problems and must act immediately to survive, that's according to Sears holding CEO Eddie Lampert.

He told the board Sears must address significant constraints in its cash position without delay, sounds pretty dire, particularly they need to sell more assets like its Kenmore appliance brand and restructure its debts.

Sears Holdings, which owns both Sears and Kmart, has lost $11.7 billion since 2010. Sales have plunged 60 percent since then. The founders of Instagram are resigning with little explanation, but it could spell more trouble for Facebook.

Kevin Systrom and Mike Kieger founded the popular photo sharing app in 2010, they sold it to - they sold it to Facebook for $1 billion bucks in 2012. The two wrote in a blog post they are taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again.

A Bloomberg reports the two left due to tensions with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the future of Instagram. Facebook and Instagram declined to comment further. Instagram is Facebook's fastest growing money maker and is increasingly important as Facebook's core platform faces a series of crisis, including failure to protect user data and allowing election meddling.

BRIGGS: Sold it for a billion dollars, it's worth some say $500 billion today if it were its own standing company, which it is not.

EARLY START continues right now with a wild Monday in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT KAVANAUGH, CIRCUIT JUDGE, UNITED STATES: Look, I'm not going anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The president's Supreme Court nominee with his most forceful defense against sexual assault allegations, President Trump reaffirming support for Brett Kavanaugh.

BRIGGS: Will the president fire the man in charge of the Russia probe? After a chaotic day, Rod Rosenstein is still waiting to find out.

ROMANS: Moscow is sending advanced missiles to the Assad regime. Why now and how it could heighten risks of an air war over Syria.

[05:00:00]