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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

White House Limits Scope Of Kavanaugh Probe; U.S. And Canada Reach Last-Minute NAFTA Deal; Apocalyptic Aftermath In Indonesia; Las Vegas Marks One Year Since Shooting Massacre. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired October 01, 2018 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:10] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, it's not meant to be a fishing expedition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The White House narrowing the focus of the FBI investigation into Brett Kavanaugh. What's in, what's out, and is the investigation just a means to an end?

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: And breaking, Canada agrees to join a trade deal with the U.S. and Mexico, a big symbolic win for the president. What it means for milk drinkers and car buyers in North America.

ROMANS: The death toll rising sharply after an earthquake and tsunami devastates an Indonesian island.

BRIGGS: And one year later, Las Vegas remembering the victims of the worst mass shooting in modern American history.

October first also means the 8-member Supreme Court begins a new term today.

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 30 -- almost 31 minutes past the hour this Monday morning.

FBI agents working this morning to get to the bottom of what really happened in the summer of 1982 if the White House will let them.

Sources telling CNN the FBI investigation into allegations of sexual wrongdoing by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is narrowly focused. Sources briefed on the matter say the White House is controlling the scope of the probe, which they say will be limited to questions asked by the Senate.

Here's Kellyanne Conway on "STATE OF THE UNION".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CONWAY: It will be limited in scope. It's meant to last only, I believe, beginning last Friday and it will -- it's not meant to be a fishing expedition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Now, the source says Kavanaugh's drinking history is not part of the probe and that agents will interview just a handful of people.

One person already interviewed is Deborah Ramirez. She came forward last week with an accusation Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party while they were at Yale, a claim Kavanaugh quickly denied.

ROMANS: President Trump says the FBI has free rein, tweeting yesterday -- "Democrats, who are only thinking obstruct and delay, are starting to put out the word that the time and scope of FBI looking into Judge Kavanaugh and witnesses is not enough. Hello! For them, it will never be enough."

Now, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee wants the White House to explain exactly what marching orders it gave the FBI.

CNN's Boris Sanchez has the latest from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dianne Feinstein, putting out a statement Sunday afternoon demanding that the White House counsel and FBI Dir. Christopher Wray give Republicans and Democrats on the committee the exact directive that the White House is handing to the FBI -- the exact parameters of this FBI probe into Judge Brett Kavanaugh and accusations that he acted inappropriately during a party back in the summer if 1982.

Feinstein saying that the stakes are simply too high. She's essentially responding to reporting by CNN and other outlets -- sources that have indicated that the White House is guiding the parameters of this investigation very tightly, narrowing its scope.

Democrats were not happy about that news, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who grilled Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday. She spoke with Jake Tapper on "STATE OF THE UNION" Sunday morning.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), MEMBER, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: And while the White House decides who to nominate and then that person is submitted to a background check, I've never heard that the White House, either under this president or other presidents, is saying well, you can't interview this person, you can't look at this time period. You can only look at these people from one side of the street from when they were growing up.

SANCHEZ: Press Sec. Sarah Sanders was also on the Sunday morning talk shows. She says that the White House does not want to micromanage the FBI, though she admitted that she did not know whether White House counsel Don McGahn had told the FBI specifically who they could or could not interview, and what questions could or could not be asked -- Dave and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Boris at the White House. Thanks, Boris.

BRIGGS: All right.

Joining us this morning, CNN law enforcement analyst James Gagliano, a retired FBI supervisory special agent. And, CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer, historian and professor at Princeton.

Good morning to both of you.

ROMANS: Good morning, guys.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, HISTORIAN AND PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, AUTHOR, "THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW": Good morning.

BRIGGS: Jimmy, you know a few things about FBI investigations. You spent 25 years at the Bureau.

In all likelihood, will this FBI investigation change anything about the circumstances or the questions that remain outstanding today?

JAMES GAGLIANO, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT, ADJUNCT ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY: It's definitely going to be difficult. They're going back 36 years. And again, Dave, if something happened today and you asked me could the FBI investigate it 36 years from now, we're in a different time and place.

ROMANS: Yes.

GAGLIANO: Police sciences have evolved. Technology has given us a digital footprint that was not available back in 1982 or '83. If FBI agents can investigate this they certainly will.

They're going to look at nine factors. They're going to look at the accuser as well as Judge Kavanaugh, and they're going to go into character, association, reputation, loyalties, abilities, their finances, biases or potential biases, alcohol and drug use. Those are the nine things.

So this whole argument about listen, this is -- you know, the White House is going to limit this or can limit this is specious. It's a tempest in a teapot. Why? FBI agents are going to follow the leads that are there.

[05:35:01] ROMANS: Yes.

GAGLIANO: If there are credible allegations -- and the key word here is credible -- they're going to run those to the ground and no one can tell them who they can or cannot interview.

ROMANS: But what we heard from Kellyanne Conway, who is the counselor to the president -- "It will not be a fishing expedition. It will be limited in scope."

We -- from our reporting, we know that overall drinking history is not really going to be a part of this. The FBI's only taking direction from the White House. Agents will make no conclusions about what the witnesses say. The White House will get to see the results and then decide how to proceed.

That's CNN reporting.

So then listen to Sarah Sanders from "FOX NEWS SUNDAY."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The White House is not micromanaging this process. This is the Senate is dictating the terms.

At the end of the day, the FBI is going to go through this process, they're going to do interviews. They don't come to a conclusion. That's still something the Senate has to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So, Julian, who's in -- who's in charge here?

ZELIZER: Well look, ultimately, the Senate is in charge. Ultimately, the Senate is going to be accountable and they are going to have a vote. So I assume the FBI will try to go as far as they can.

And there's two issues. What happened that night and was this claim or other claims of sexual assault credible?

The other issue, they actually don't need an investigation. It's his actual demeanor and performance during the hearings, which for many senators might be enough to disqualify him.

So it's ultimately going to be a political judgment. It won't be simply the facts of the investigation.

BRIGGS: OK, so let's just take those two things, James, when Kellyanne Conway says "we're limiting the scope," and Sarah Sanders says "we're not micromanaging the process." Can both be true?

GAGLIANO: They can't do either.

BRIGGS: That's right.

GAGLIANO: So, the Senate has asked that the FBI look into this -- the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Director Wray is going to pull out all the stops -- as many resources, whether it's agents or technological resources. Anything that they need they're going to get.

When it goes to the distinction -- to find distinction between well, you can't ask about his drinking, if drinking was a part of what is alleged to have occurred that night, of course, they can.

ROMANS: That's what I don't understand -- the people who say that an investigation of his drinking is irrelevant because all of that is wrapped up into these -- both of these allegations, right?

BRIGGS: Well, being a drinker doesn't make someone a sexual assaulter.

ROMANS: No, of course, not.

GAGLIANO: No, but overuse of alcohol or if there are other witnesses that can corroborate the fact that he had been a blackout drunk --

BRIGGS: All right.

GAGLIANO: -- or could help put a fine point on this and say no, that was never the guy that I knew.

BRIGGS: OK.

GAGLIANO: He never did that. That that's going to be corroboration or exoneration.

ROMANS: James Comey, who used to run the FBI, fired by the president, has a "New York Times" op-ed this morning and he says this.

"FBI agents know time has very little to do with memory. They know every married person remembers the weather on their wedding day, no matter how long ago. Significance drives memory.

They also know that little lies point to bigger lies. They know that obvious lies by the nominee about the meaning of the words in a yearbook are a flashing signal to dig deeper."

Do you think some -- you were saying the demeanor on the -- at the -- public demeanor last week might be disqualifying for people.

ZELIZER: Well, absolutely. I mean, even Sen. Flake has indicated this was troubling to him. Just -- was he just lying in general about who he was?

You have to remember, it's the FBI investigation and journalists are on the frontlines in the next few days. And they are already digging up many stories --

ROMANS: Right.

ZELIZER: -- by people who are not Democrats who are not opposed to his nomination. They're saying this isn't the guy who we knew in college. And that's going to be --

BRIGGS: Sure.

ZELIZER: -- a problem in terms of a Supreme Court nominee.

BRIGGS: I did take issue with Comey saying "significance drives memory." For Leland Keyser, that wasn't a significant night.

ROMANS: Right.

BRIGGS: It was just one night 36 years ago that means absolutely nothing in her life.

So the only thing he said that's true, I think, is he said there is freedom in being totally screwed that both sides are going to rip whatever the FBI finds.

But I want to move on to the process, which the Republicans are criticizing -- how this has all unfolded here. Here is Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM COTTON (R), ARKANSAS: The Democrats have disgraced this process and the United States Senate in the orchestrated smear campaign of character assassination they've run against Judge Kavanaugh.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), MEMBER, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: It was clear to me that something happened to Ms. Ford. She's led an accomplished life.

But we have to look at this through some prism. I don't assume that he's guilty and he's got to prove to me he's not. This is a very serious accusation 36 years ago.

To me, she was troubled by something. But when it comes to Brett Kavanaugh, he emphatically denied it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Your reaction, James?

GAGLIANO: You can hold two opposing thoughts here.

I, for one, agreed that an FBI investigation is appropriate and it should be conducted unfettered by any political influence or any undue oversight or micromanagement from the White House.

I can also see the political process that I believe has been perverted here. I believe that this should have been handled in a much different way from the onset of these allegations coming to the attention of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

ZELIZER: Yes, but let's remember, Republicans control the Senate, they control the Judiciary Committee. This is a Republican Party who wouldn't even hold meetings on Merrick Garland. So the process has been broken for a while.

[05:40:10] This investigation should have happened before the hearings --

ROMANS: Yes. ZELIZER: -- so that they could have been material for the hearings, rather than now -- which I still don't really see what this is going to do because you need questions, you need testimony. You need the public to ultimately see what all this means. So I think the process is broken.

I would put more blame on the Republicans who, ultimately, have control. The majority has the power --

ROMANS: And do --

ZELIZER: -- not the Democrats.

ROMANS: And do we get through this because look, last week was exhausting and it was -- I think it was -- it's had an emotional toll on a lot of Americans. I mean, just this weekend at soccer games and --

ZELIZER: A traumatic political moment -- yes.

ROMANS: -- and swim practice. Everyone's talking about this and what a really hard week it was last week.

BRIGGS: You may have had more than 40 million Americans that watched either online or on television.

ROMANS: Remarkable. Does that translate into voters? Does that translate into action?

BRIGGS: And what did they take away from it?

ROMANS: All right.

Thanks, guys. Nice to see you.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

GAGLIANO: Thank you.

ROMANS: All right, a big win for the president's trade agenda. The U.S. and Canada reaching a last-minute deal to revise NAFTA, keeping the 24-year-old trade pact a 3-country deal. This came just hours before a midnight deadline.

Canada will join the U.S.-Mexico deal made in August. That was looking unlikely last week. The top U.S. trade official warned Canada the U.S. was ready to move ahead with just Mexico, but negotiators worked all weekend to strike a deal.

This is a milestone for President Trump, who vowed to renegotiate NAFTA. He blames it for killing American jobs. But both the U.S. and Canada say this new deal will create good, well-paying jobs for all North Americans.

It's also NAFTA no more. It's now the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMC) and it updates the original 1994 deal, introducing rules for digital businesses that have emerged since then.

It gives U.S. farmers more access to Canada's dairy market. That was a huge sticking point during talks. In return, the U.S. will keep a mechanism for resolving disputes. That was something that Canada really wanted.

It also promises higher wages and higher labor standards for autoworkers. It keeps tariffs on Canada's steel and aluminum. That will still raise costs for automakers. Tariffs will -- the USTR says those tariffs will be negotiated separately.

Now, the deal now faces Congress, who must approve it. Many lawmakers said they would not support a NAFTA without Canada.

So, three countries -- USMC.

BRIGGS: It needs a better name.

ROMANS: USMCA, USMCA, USMCA.

BRIGGS: NAFTA 2.0? Not going to fly, probably.

ROMANS: The president didn't like the word NAFTA.

BRIGGS: No -- OK.

More than 840 people now confirmed dead after an earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia. CNN's Matt Rivers has just landed on one of the hardest-hit areas. We'll hear from Matt, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:46:51] BRIGGS: Unimaginable devastation in Sulawesi. The death toll on the Indonesian island climbing to more than 840 two days after a 7.5-magnitude earthquake and tsunami triggered ferocious 10-foot- high waves. One government official warning the final body count could be in the thousands.

Rescuers now combing through chunks of concrete and splintered wood hoping to find survivors.

CNN's Matt Rivers has just landed in Indonesia. He has the latest for us. Matt, what's the latest?

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes, Dave. Let me talk to you first about where I am right now. I'm with some of those survivors -- people being treated at the hospital that we are standing outside of.

But because of the stretch of aftershocks, most of these people are being treated in really terrible conditions in makeshift tents outside of this hospital. There's flies everywhere. People are being given their medicine from underneath a tarp.

They are crowded into these tents. People are on the floor, on the ground. There's not enough beds. This really goes to show just how really difficult the situation is

for this town. It was not ready for this by any sort of the imagination.

And a far more gruesome scene about 100 meters to my right. This town was inundated with deaths so quickly that the morgue was completely overwhelmed. So there are dozens of bodies lying outside of the hospital where I am right now because simply put, authorities don't know what to do with them.

And so, really, it just shows you how devastating this has been for this community. They continue (audio gap).

BRIGGS: Having some audio difficulties there with Matt Rivers in Indonesia. Just a devastating story. Sounds like it could go from bad to worse.

Matt will be back throughout "NEW DAY" with an update.

ROMANS: Matt's been traveling just non-stop trying to get there. He got within 500 miles of there --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- and were stopped for impassable roads. Glad he is there and hopefully, we'll be able to start bringing you some pictures and try to get some help there soon.

All right, let's get a check on "CNN Money" this morning.

Global stocks mostly higher as the U.S. and Canada reach a last-minute deal to revise NAFTA, a big win for President Trump's trade agenda.

As U.S. stocks open, the fourth quarter near record highs. The third quarter ended yesterday and this was the best quarter for the S&P 500 in five years, gaining seven percent. It's also near all-time highs, as is the Dow. Stocks up thanks to strong corporate earnings, high consumer confidence, and low unemployment.

But the 9-year-old bull market faces a few hurdles this quarter, like the U.S. trade war with China and midterm elections.

All right, Elon Musk will pay $20 million and step down as Tesla's chairman, settling charges from the SEC. Call it the $20 million tweet.

In August, Musk tweeted he had secured funding to take Tesla private. That boosted the stock price. The SEC said that wasn't true and Musk misled investors. So, Musk will pay the fine and leave the board but stays on as CEO.

That's exactly what investors want. Tesla shares up 15 percent in premarket.

It keeps the genius of Elon Musk at Tesla, but with guardrails. Another blow to Facebook's reputation exposing nearly 50 million users in its latest data breach -- largest data breach ever. On Friday, Facebook said hackers gained access to digital login codes by exploiting flaws in Facebook's code. Facebook patched the code and notified law enforcement.

[05:50:11] Now, Facebook has not said exactly what info was exposed. But in the meantime, there are a few things experts are telling everyone you should do to protect yourself if you use Facebook. Log out, change your password, and unlink related apps like Instagram.

All right. California taking a step toward gender equality in corporate America, becoming the first state to outlaw all-male boards. By the end of 2019, all publicly-traded firms in California must have at least one woman on their board or face a penalty. These are publicly-traded companies.

Now, many companies in the S&P 500 do have one woman, but only a quarter have more.

The law goes even further. It requires boards with six or more directors to have three women on it, the threshold even big California companies like Facebook and Tesla don't meet.

This is a non-binding resolution so a lot of the states in the past years giving -- you know, lawmakers giving public companies -- again, these are publicly-traded companies who have a responsibility for taking public money -- giving them non-binding requirements to do this.

But I'll tell you, I've been covering companies for 25 years and it just -- it hasn't changed.

BRIGGS: Financial penalties for those that don't comply or do we know how significant? So --

ROMANS: Yes, I don't know.

BRIGGS: Yes, I wonder how long they have to follow suit.

ROMANS: There is a -- there's a phase-in. There's a phase-in period.

BRIGGS: OK.

ROMANS: And most of the big companies in California are already doing this.

BRIGGS: Sure, OK.

Ahead, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" turns up the volume in its season premiere.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT DAMON, ACTOR, PORTRAYING SUPREME COURT NOMINEE BRETT KAVANAUGH: What? ALEX MOFFAT, ACTOR, NBC "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE", PORTRAYING SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY: Judge Kavanaugh, are you ready to begin?

DAMON: Oh, hell, yeah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: More of Matt Damon's Brett Kavanaugh impersonation, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:56:10] BRIGGS: Breaking overnight, Iran launching six ballistic missiles into Eastern Syria, targeting militants allegedly involved in, in last month's attack on a military parade in Ahvaz. The U.S.- led coalition in Syria says Iran gave no notice.

Our Barbara Starr reported last week U.S. intelligence was concerned about this kind of strike and the threat of Iran hitting U.S. forces in Syria.

The missiles had "Death to America," "Death to Israel," and "Death to Saudi Arabia" written on them. Iran blamed the U.S. and regional allies for the parade attack even though ISIS claimed responsibility.

Las Vegas marking one year since one of the darkest days in American history. It was last October first when a gunman opened fire at concertgoers attending the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival on the Vegas strip. Fifty-eight people were killed and more than 500 others injured.

Remembrances are planned throughout the day, including 58 seconds of silence and a sunrise ceremony. Marquees will go dark along the strip at 10:05 tonight, the moment the attack unfolded.

Authorities have yet to uncover the gunman's motive for the shooting.

California has just passed the nation's strictest net neutrality law. Internet service providers in the state will be barred from blocking or slowing specific types of content in apps and won't be allowed to charge companies for high-speed access to customers.

Just hours after Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill into law, the Justice Department said it is filing suit to block it. It says the state is attempting to subvert the federal government's efforts to deregulate the Internet.

"SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" back for season 44, and for the show's cold open on the Kavanaugh hearing, the cast had a little celebrity help with Matt Damon playing Judge Kavanaugh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: Now, I am usually an optimist. I'm a keg-is-half-full kind of guy. But what I've seen from the monsters on this committee makes me want to puke, and not from beer.

Dr. Ford has no evidence -- none.

Meanwhile, I've got these. I've got these calendars. These beautiful, creepy calendars about lifting weights with P.J. and Squee and Donkey Dong Doug.

But you don't care about Squee or Donkey Dong Doug, do you? You just want to humiliate me in front of my wife and my parents, and Alyssa friggin' Milano.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: A cardboard cutout Alyssa Milano with the cameo.

Thanks for joining us, everybody. For Christine Romans, I'd Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now. We'll see you tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KLOBUCHAR: The White House should not be allowed to micromanage an FBI investigation.

CONWAY: It will be limited in scope. It's not meant to be a fishing expedition.

REP. JERROLD NADLER (D), NEW YORK: He's still supposed to behave as a judge. You don't come out with attacks on a partisan basis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't want the results; they just want delay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody's asking for delay. People are asking for justice.

SCOTT PELLEY, CBS CORRESPONDENT, "60 MINUTES": If Judge Kavanaugh is shown to have lied to the Committee, the nomination's over?

SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R-AZ), MEMBER, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Oh yes, I would think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Monday -- it's October, all of a sudden -- October first, 6:00 here in New York.

I hope you had a nice weekend.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I had a great weekend, but conversations about the Kavanaugh hearings throughout the weekend.

BERMAN: Everywhere.

CAMEROTA: Everywhere.

BERMAN: Every person.

And the big question this morning is, is it real? Is the FBI investigation real?

The entire political world was turned upside down when Sen. Jeff Flake demanded a new FBI background check into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Flake got that background check. The FBI is investigating this morning, but investigating what and how much?

The president insists --