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Senate Majority Leader McConnell Pushing Ahead On Kavanaugh Vote; First Lady Melania Trump Goes Solo On First Trip To Africa; 1,234 Now Dead In Indonesia Quake And Tsunami; Booted Baseball Star Back On Boys' Team. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 02, 2018 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:30:33] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want it to be comprehensive. I actually think it's a good thing.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: We'll be voting this week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The Senate leader has made up his mind on Brett Kavanaugh before the FBI finishes its work, but Kavanaugh's drinking history and whether he lied about it could pose the biggest problem.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: And the first lady en route to Ghana for her first solo foreign trip. What will she hear following the president's controversial comments and policies toward Africa?
ROMANS: And a Florida teen back with her high school baseball team after she was kicked off because of her gender.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
Wow, she can hit. If I was her, I'd --
BRIGGS: If I could get my son to swing that way -- sorry son -- I'd be very happy.
I'm Dave Briggs. Five thirty-one -- here we go.
Tabloids -- morning tabloids, they're all Brett Kavanaugh. They're all about the Supreme Court. It's a weird Tuesday.
A shift from the White House this morning allowing the FBI wider latitude in its Brett Kavanaugh probe. And even if the FBI clears the Supreme Court nominee of sexual misconduct, his youthful drinking and the way he describes it now could prove damaging. Some senators have said lying to the Judiciary Committee would be disqualifying.
The FBI has now reached out to one of Kavanaugh's former Yale classmates, Chad Ludington, who says Kavanaugh was not truthful about his alcohol consumption.
Here are Kavanaugh last week and Ludington last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRETT KAVANAUGH, NOMINEE, U.S. SUPREME COURT: I drank beer with my friends -- almost everyone did. Sometimes I had too many beers; sometimes others did.
I liked beer. I still like beer. But I did not drink beer to the point of blacking out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He testified that he did drink and wasn't proud of everything.
CHAD LUDINGTON, FORMER KAVANAUGH CLASSMATE, YALE UNIVERSITY: He did, but he also downplayed, to a degree, the possibility that he could ever not know what was going on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you're saying there were omissions?
LUDINGTON: I'm saying there were omissions. There were certainly many times when he could not remember what was going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Well, Ludington says he witnessed a 1985 bar fight started by Kavanaugh. The victim accused Kavanaugh of throwing ice at him. The brawl ended with the man being hit in the head with a glass. The police report does not say if anyone was arrested.
The White House released statements from two other Kavanaugh friends from Yale who say they never saw him black out.
BRIGGS: After reports over the weekend that the West Wing was trying to limit the FBI investigation, President Trump and the White House now say agents can follow leads as they see fit, so long as they finish by Friday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I want it to be comprehensive. I actually think it's a good thing for Judge Kavanaugh. I think it's actually a good thing, not a bad thing. I think it's a good thing.
Now, with that being said, I'd like it to go quickly. I think the FBI should interview anybody that they want within reason.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: That was the temperate Trump yesterday, talking to reporters in the Rose Garden. But last night at a rally in Tennessee, the president attacked Democrats and defended his nominee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: They've been trying to destroy him since the very first second he was announced because they know that Judge Kavanaugh will follow the Constitution as written. That's been his history.
And he's a good man. Great student, great intellect. Never had a problem.
All of a sudden, oh, let's go back to high school. They maybe should go before high school.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Three key Republican senators making it clear they expect a legitimate investigation of Brett Kavanaugh. Jeff Flake, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski will likely determine the fate of the president's nominee.
Flake sent this message to White House from a conference in Boston.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R-AZ), MEMBER, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: We certainly want the FBI to do a real investigation and we are working to make sure that that happens. It does no good to have an investigation that just gives us more cover.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: No matter what the FBI finds, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already decided to plow forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCONNELL: Their goalpost keeps shifting but their goal hasn't moved an inch -- not an inch. The goal has been the same all along.
And so let me make it very clear. The time for endless delay and obstruction has come to a close. Judge Kavanaugh's nomination is out of committee, we're considering it here on the floor, and Mr. President, we'll be voting this week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:35:09] BRIGGS: OK.
Mark Judge, a witness to the alleged sexual assault involving Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, has been interviewed by the FBI.
Senate Democrats concerned about the short initial witness list gave the White House and the FBI names of 24 witnesses they want interviewed.
ROMANS: All right, let's bring in Daniel Lippman, reporter and author of "POLITICO Playbook," live this morning in our Washington bureau. So nice to see you this morning.
BRIGGS: Good morning.
ROMANS: So you heard Mitch McConnell say the vote will be this week. It'll be -- there'll be a vote by Friday. If you're going to have an FBI investigation, that means you've got to wrap this up, what, within the next day or two to be able to have both of these things there for senators to consider.
DANIEL LIPPMAN, REPORTER AND CO-AUTHOR, POLITICO PLAYBOOK: Yes, by like Friday midday. But don't you want senators to process the FBI report and consider whether that disqualifies Kavanaugh?
A lot of people are looking at McConnell's statements yesterday and saying that pre-judges the FBI investigation. And that is just assuming that they find nothing to dispute his account, and we just don't know that yet.
BRIGGS: So, Mitch McConnell has essentially said what Democrats are doing is moving the goalpost. It was about one allegation, Christine Blasey Ford, then it was about Michael Avenatti and his client, Ms. Swetnick, and then it was about some Yale party. And now, it appears to be about his drinking in college and whether he lied about that.
Senator John Kennedy, from Louisiana, in only Kennedy-like fashion, talked about where this is headed -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA), MEMBER, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: If you think this is a search for the truth you probably ought to put down the bong. It's not a search for the truth.
The Democratic colleagues have accused Judge Kavanaugh of being a rich, drunk, lying sexual predator, and the six FBI investigations that he's been through did not support that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: All right. So are Democrats, Daniel, moving the goalpost? And if it's about his drinking and how much he partied in college, could this really come back to backfire for Democrats?
LIPPMAN: I don't think it's about drinking in college and whether he had too much to drink. I think it's more about whether he told the truth to Congress and the American people because he has said multiple times that he did not drink to excess that he blacked out.
And so if you have college classmates and roommates of Kavanaugh who would -- who are saying that's just not true, that goes to the broader point of do we want a person on the Supreme Court who is caught up in all these small lies to try to protect his nomination?
Often, you hear crisis coms people say just get it all out. Don't -- you know, be more truthful even if it's embarrassing. That will save your nomination.
ROMANS: Yes. There's one crisis coms person who is most important maybe in this whole process. That's the president, who wanted his nominee to be strong and forceful and that's what we saw there on -- in front of the hearing room.
Let's talk about trade. This is a big day yesterday for the president.
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: I mean, there are a lot of critics of Trump who said he would never able to get this done.
He got a NAFTA deal that is being called a win-win-win in the three countries that are -- that are doing it -- renegotiations. He's calling it the USMCA.
This is what "The Wall Street Journal" has to say about it. Its editorial board lukewarm, I would say, at best.
BRIGGS: At best, yes.
ROMANS: "U.S. business is likely to be ambivalent about a pact that is worse than NAFTA. GOP free-traders will also prefer the status quo, and Republicans always provide the bulk of the votes for trade deals. The new trade deal could have been worse given Mr. Trump's protectionist beliefs, but that's about the best we can say for it."
We haven't heard from the -- we haven't heard from the autoworkers union.
BRIGGS: Not yet.
ROMANS: We've heard from the AFL-CIO and they've said we need to see more. We've heard from some of the folks who are in these states who say we need to see the text.
This is a big win, symbolically. Is it a big win, practically?
LIPPMAN: I think people are still reviewing the text but --
ROMANS: Yes.
LIPPMAN: -- even Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative -- in talking about this new agreement, he referred to it as NAFTA a couple of times. And so a lot of people think it's rebranding it and that there are definitely some substantial wins.
But what's interesting is that they also use some elements of TPP --
ROMANS: Yes.
LIPPMAN: -- to get this agreement to be more modernized, and Trump and lots of other populists have bashed TPP. And so it's just ironic that they're even openly saying that they used bits and pieces from it to try to make this deal happen.
ROMANS: And they did. I mean, part of TPP was the modernization of NAFTA, frankly.
[05:40:00] BRIGGS: Right, right.
So in this news conference to talk about the USMCA, the president had some good moments and some lesser moments.
Let's first start with the positive. I mean, he kind of had some self-deprecating jokes when talking about Brett Kavanaugh and related to the president's own drinking, which he's never done -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm not a drinker. I can honestly say I've never had a beer in my life, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
TRUMP: It's one of my only good traits. I don't drink.
Whenever they're looking for something, I say I've never had a glass of alcohol. I've never had alcohol. I've just -- you know, for whatever reason.
Can you imagine if I had, what a mess I'd be? Would I be the -- I'd be the world's worst. But I never drank -- I never drank, OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: He'd be the world's worst. Some real self-deprecating humor that we rarely see from this president, so he had some goodwill.
And then came this exchange with some female reporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAITLIN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Now that you've answered several questions on trade, I'd like to turn --
TRUMP: Don't do that.
COLLINS: -- to Judge Kavanaugh.
TRUMP: Don't do -- do you have -- do you have --
COLLINS: Mr. President --
TRUMP: Excuse me, do you have a question on trade?
COLLINS: We just --
TRUMP: We'll do one or two more questions on trade, OK?
COLLINS: You went through several questions on trade.
TRUMP: OK, don't do that. That's not nice -- please, please.
COLLINS: Mr. President, just to wrap up, can you promise to believe the FBI's report?
TRUMP: You know what? You've really had enough. Hey, you've had enough.
She's shocked that I picked her. She's like in a state of shock.
CECILIA VEGA, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, ABC NEWS: I'm not. Thank you, Mr. President.
TRUMP: That's OK, I know you're not thinking. You never do.
VEGA: I'm sorry?
TRUMP: No, go ahead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: OK, the first one was CNN's Kaitlin Collins, the second one was ABC's Cecilia Vega.
How much damage did the president do there with the tone? Not exactly clear if he said "I know you're not thinking" or "thanking." Does it matter?
LIPPMAN: Yes, I think Trump has never liked the press but he's never needed it more. But if you stitch together a number of those clips it almost feels like Trump is lashing out at female reporters on purpose.
There was a big "Washington Post" story saying that Trump and his -- and other Republican men, they feel like that they're under attack because of the #MeToo movement. And Trump, himself, has said he's worried that his son could face sexual assault allegations. And so -- you know, false allegations.
And so I think there's a real concern that Trump feels like the culture is changing and that they are being left behind.
BRIGGS: OK. Daniel Lippman from "POLITICO." Appreciate you being here this morning. Thank you.
ROMANS: Nice to see you, Daniel.
LIPPMAN: Thanks, guys.
ROMANS: Melania Trump is on her way to Africa. This is the first solo international trip she has taken as first lady. First stop, Ghana, followed by Malawi, Kenya, and Egypt.
We go live right now to Johannesburg where we have CNN's David McKenzie.
Her big first solo international trip. Interesting that she chose Africa, given what her husband has said about the continent.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. Yes, it is and he has said some things and had words attributed to him that have ruffled some feathers on the continent.
It's worth mentioning Christine that this is a well-trodden route by first ladies. Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, of course, all made solo trips through the continent. It's a very popular stop it seems.
And the first stop -- and we believe the first lady will be arriving pretty soon in Ghana -- will be looking at health systems in Ghana and how the U.S. government has helped improve those systems.
But there is a controversy surrounding some of the U.S.'s foreign aid assistance to Africa, particularly the expanded Mexico City policy which President Trump signed in, which means that any charity that has anything to do with abortion services or advocating safe abortions will not get U.S. funding. That has directly affected several charities I've spoken to in countries that the first lady is visiting.
She'll be looking to do a charm offensive. It's an international coming out of her "Be Best" campaign, working very closely with the USAID, the U.S.'s main development agency.
One thing that Americans might appreciate is that the agency is shifting to -- towards giving money towards self-reliance rather than giving money as a purely charity way of spending foreign aid assistance.
ROMANS: Interesting -- all right, David, from Johannesburg. Thank you so much.
BRIGGS: OK. Breaking overnight, a drastic increase in the death toll from the quake and tsunami in Indonesia. A live report, next on EARLY START.
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[05:48:35] BRIGGS: Breaking overnight, the death toll in the earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia rising sharply, now up to 1,234.
Alexandra Field joining us live with the latest from Hong Kong -- Alex.
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And, Dave, we've watched that death toll climb by the hundreds as rescuers work to try and reach areas that they haven't been able to get to before. They say the bodies that they are finding now are largely unidentifiable. Mass burials continue.
The latest numbers show that some 66,000 homes have been destroyed. Tens of thousands of people outside looking for any means of shelter and survival they can find. Many of them desperate now to leave the island of Sulawesi. Those who are staying in desperate search for food, water -- other basics -- shelter, tents, medicine.
Cargo planes and cargo ships have been deployed to the most heavily- affected areas. There is still the problem though of trying to distribute the supplies they're bringing to those who need them the most.
Fuel here is key. Fuel is starting to arrive. Trucks are bringing it into the affected areas but they are being guarded by police officers because of the desperation from people who have been lining up waiting for days or hours for fuel and for food.
There have been some criticisms of the government that the tsunami warning system was inadequate. The government pushing back against that.
International experts weighing in, saying yes, there are ways to improve the tsunami warning system but that when you look at the geography here and that when you look at the scale of the disaster, this is just something that simply could not be prevented or defended against.
[05:50:08] Devastating images. A long road ahead there, Dave.
BRIGGS: Yes, and more difficult to find something still standing there.
Alexandra Field, live for us with an update there. Thank you.
ROMANS: All right.
A statute of Donald Trump now stands face-to-face with a formidable new adversary, Matilda. A figure of the intrepid schoolgirl staring down the president's likeness has been erected to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Roald Dahl's 1988 novel.
A U.K. poll found the British public believes the president is the person Matilda would be most likely to confront today.
In the book, Matilda uses telekinetic powers to exact revenge on her tyrannical bully of a school principal, Ms. Trunchbull.
BRIGGS: And that's somewhat reminiscent of the fearless girl that she --
ROMANS: A little bit.
BRIGGS: -- you love so dearly --
ROMANS: A little bit.
BRIGGS: -- there on Wall Street.
ROMANS: It is, it is.
BRIGGS: Yes, all right.
"NEW DAY" is less than 10 minutes away. Alisyn Camerota --
ROMANS: Hey, Ali.
BRIGGS: -- a fearless girl, joining us now. Good morning, Alisyn. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": I'm not sure the president would like that depiction of his physique --
ROMANS: No, I don't think so.
CAMEROTA: -- in that --
BRIGGS: Probably not.
CAMEROTA: -- statue.
BRIGGS: Probably not.
CAMEROTA: We'll hear about that later, I'm sure.
But in any event, what exactly is the scope of the FBI's investigation into Brett Kavanaugh? We keep getting different reports, hearing different things. Is it limited? Is it unlimited?
So we have Josh Campbell here to tell us about exactly what the FBI can do during the course of this week.
Of course, we'll also check into when senators are going to be voting on this.
And then, we have a new segment for you. It's going to be a daily segment. It is with Harry Enten, our sort of numbers guru. We're now --
ROMANS: Love him.
CAMEROTA: -- five weeks away from the midterms, so he's going to tell us exactly, every day, which races to keep our eyes on.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": "Serpico Einstein."
CAMEROTA: "Serpico Einstein" is what John Berman -- he's getting ready to --
BERMAN: If Serpico and Einstein had a -- had a kid --
CAMEROTA: Had a love child --
BERMAN: -- it would be Harry Enten.
CAMEROTA: But we're looking for a name for this segment. So here are your options.
BRIGGS: OK, go.
CAMEROTA: "There's Something About Harry."
ROMANS: Like it.
CAMEROTA: "The Trouble With Harry."
ROMANS: Like it.
BERMAN: "When Harry Met Ali."
CAMEROTA: "When Harry Met Ali" or, right now, we're calling it "The Forecast With Harry."
BERMAN: Yes, that's awesome. That's a real -- that's catchy.
CAMEROTA: Yes. Well, how did you come up with that?
BERMAN: That's catchy.
BRIGGS: "When Harry Met Ali," I like.
BERMAN: Yes, but I -- but I can't do it.
(CROSSTALK)
CAMEROTA: Then what about this?
BERMAN: Then I can't do it. That's not fair.
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
BRIGGS: Wow. Sorry, John.
CAMEROTA: Wow, wow. You are --
ROMANS: Oh my God.
CAMEROTA: Dave was my co-host for many years so he had to stand for me.
BERMAN: You know, and he laughs at my jokes.
BRIGGS: I do.
BERMAN: So he's laughing at my joke, just to be clear.
ROMANS: And you would like people to -- @EarlyStart -- @NewDay -- please weigh in on what we should call -- the hat at Harry Enten. I think it's -- what is it? What is his -- @ForecasterEnten, yes.
BRIGGS: Forecaster Harry, yes.
ROMANS: Yes.
BRIGGS: Yes, yes.
ROMANS: All right. So we'll --
BRIGGS: All right, guys. ROMANS: -- see what the -- what the -- what people think. Thanks, guys.
BRIGGS: Looking forward to it.
ROMANS: Tesla's stock roaring back after Elon Musk had to pay $20 million to the SEC and give away one of his job titles.
"CNN Money" is next.
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[05:57:19] ROMANS: You have stocks rising after the U.S. and Canada strike that deal to replace NAFTA. They agreed to replace the 24- year-old trade deal with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The deal aims to help the U.S. auto industry, sending auto stocks higher.
The Dow closed higher, too, as did the S&P 500, just shy of a record. The Nasdaq fell because of a dip in Facebook. Right now, global stocks are mostly lower.
All right, Tesla's stock roaring back after Elon Musk made a deal with the SEC. Shares up 17 percent. He agreed to pay $20 million. He will step down as Tesla's chairman.
This settles those claims that Musk misled investors by tweeting during a trading day that he had secured funding to take Tesla private. The SEC said that wasn't true and Musk will pay the fine.
He will leave the board but he will stay on as CEO. That's exactly what investors want. It keeps the genius of Elon Musk at Tesla, but with guardrails.
Just as Wall Street got good news as well about Tesla's Model 3, Tesla produced 53,000 cars last quarter. That meets the production goal. He e-mailed employees that Tesla was very close to making a profit.
BRIGGS: A teen baseball star in Florida now back on the team after being told she would play with the girls. Fourteen-year-old Violet Mendez was booted from the school's baseball team last week even though she played with the boys for the last two years.
A parent complained to Mendez' principal after her first game last week. Mendez believes that parent is the same person who has called her "a freak of nature" and various anti-gay slurs.
Officials originally pinned the decision on a paperwork issue which has now been ironed out -- thankful.
ROMANS: Yes, she's a good player.
BRIGGS: Yes, she can swing that bat.
ROMANS: All right, 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)
TRUMP: I want them to do a very comprehensive investigation, whatever that means.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They want to tell the FBI who should be believed and who should not be believed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there's not anything new, I imagine we'll press on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he's willing to lie about something so small, would he also be willing to lie about some of these larger allegations?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't keep moving the goalpost. This is not supposed to be a fishing expedition.
KENNEDY: Just win, baby, at any cost. That's what this thing has turned into.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
CAMEROTA: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, October second, 6:00 here in New York.
So, what is the scope of the FBI's investigation into Brett Kavanaugh?
BERMAN: That's a great question.
CAMEROTA: OK, and I think we have some answers and we will get some answers over the course of the next three hours.
BERMAN: I think there is an answer.
CAMEROTA: OK. Right now, here's what we know.
An official tells CNN that it has been made clear to agents there are no limits on their background search. No limits, except a time limit.
Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says a vote on Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination will take place this week no matter what the FBI finds.
Senator Jeff Flake, one of the key Republicans who holds Kavanaugh's fate in the balance, demands a real investigation and not one that just gives his party cover.
