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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Mocks Kavanaugh's Accuser; NY Times: Trump Helped Parents Evade Taxes; Democrat Cites PTSD to Leave Mayor Race; Rosa Floods Arizona; Rockies Outlast Cubs in NL Wild Card Game. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired October 03, 2018 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[04:30:39] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How did you get home? I don't remember. How did you get there? I don't remember. Where is the place? I don't remember. How many years ago was it? I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump attacks Christine Blasey Ford. The FBI now expanding the Kavanaugh investigation. Who they're talking to now?
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Fraud, sham corporations, and more. A revealing "New York Times" report on President Trump's family taxes suggests he's not the self-made millionaire he claims.
ROMANS: A rising star in the Democratic Party pulls out of a mayoral race citing post-traumatic stress from his military service.
BRIGGS: Some of the highest rain totals ever for Phoenix as a tropical depression rolls through the desert.
ROMANS: And an instant classic. It took 13 innings, but the Rockies are heading to Milwaukee. The Cubs are heading home.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: And I'm bloodshot eyes Dave Briggs. It was a four hour and 55-minute game.
Good morning, everyone.
As soon as today, the FBI may deliver a report on Brett Kavanaugh to the White House and Capitol Hill. That news coming as sources tell CNN the bureau is expanding its inquiry into sexual assault allegations against the Supreme Court nominee. Two sources say the FBI is focusing on other high school friends of Kavanaugh. He listed them as attending a July 1st, 1982, party on a calendar he provided to the Judiciary Committee. It's not clear that the additional interviews will prolong the investigation. ROMANS: Kavanaugh has vehemently denied allegations by Christine
Blasey Ford that he assaulted her at a high school party. She has also said she does not remember some of the details. The president seized on that admission at a rally last night, going further than ever in attacking Kavanaugh's accuser.
Senior White House correspondent Jeff Zeleny was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, President Trump in South Haven, Mississippi, on Tuesday night for a campaign rally, the second campaign rally in as many days. And, of course, we're five weeks before the critical midterm elections.
The president talking about Judge Kavanaugh, the brutal confirmation process. But he did something that he has not yet done during the course of all of this -- he mocked Christine Blasey Ford, the California research psychologist who accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her some 36 years ago. This is what he said --
TRUMP: I had one beer. Well, do you think -- nope. It was one beer. Oh, good.
How did you get home? I don't remember. How did you get there? I don't remember.
Where is the place? I don't remember. How many years ago was it? I don't know.
(APPLAUSE)
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. What neighborhood was it in? I don't know. Where's the house? I don't know.
Upstairs, downstairs, where was it? I don't know. But I had one beer, that's the only thing I remember.
ZELENY: Now, that comment was met with laughter and applause from the audience of loyal Trump supporters. The president went on to essentially warn mothers in this crowd that their sons and husbands could also be falsely accused.
One thing not said at all was any mention about women who have come forward to make credible allegations about sexual assault or misconduct, the force of the #metoo movement.
Clearly, the president believes that this is a rallying point. Some five weeks before the midterm elections. He believes it's unifying Republicans.
The open question, though, what it's doing to independent voters and Democrats who are so inspired and infuriated by this same movement?
Dave and Christine?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Jeff Zeleny, thanks for that.
Christine Blasey Ford's lawyer outraged by the president's comments, Michael Bromwich, accusing Mr. Trump of a, quote, vicious, vile, and soulless attack on his client. He went on to call the president a profile in cowardice.
BRIGGS: In the 1983 letter written by Kavanaugh and obtained by "The New York Times," the future judge describes himself and his friends as, quote, loud, obnoxious drunks with prolific pukers. Not exactly the image Kavanaugh tried to project in his Senate testimony.
ROMANS: Of note, Kavanaugh signed the letter "Bart." You may remember a book written by Kavanaugh's former classmate, Mark Judge, features a character named Bart O'Kavanaugh. The nominee refused to answer last week when Senator Patrick Leahy asked him if he was Bart O'Kavanaugh.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: Are you the Bart Kavanaugh that he's referring to?
[04:35:01] Yes or no? That's it.
JUDGE BRETT KAVANAUGH, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: You'd have to ask him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: So how does all this affect Kavanaugh's confirmation vote? Well, Senators Jeff Flake and Lisa Murkowski say they are waiting to see what the FBI reports before making up their minds. But Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insists the FBI report will not be used as another reason to delay a vote which he claims will take place this week.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wants an FBI briefing for all senators before a vote is scheduled. For now, the only people who can read the FBI file are the 100 senators and a handful of staff, although some members are pushing for some or all of the FBI report to be released to the public.
ROMANS: All right. A blockbuster "New York Times" investigation says Donald Trump helped his parents evade taxes for years, quote, including instances of outright fraud, end quote. Now, the 14,000- word story takes up the entire front page above the fold in "The New York Times." It jumps to several full pages inside.
The reporting wrecks Trump's carefully built image as a self-made man, and it may be at least one reason he's not released his personal tax returns. This months' long investigation by the "Times" draws on more than 100,000 pages of financial documents, some public, some confidential, including 200 Trump family tax returns.
BRIGGS: Some of "The Times'" key findings starting at age 3, Donald Trump received at least $413 million from his father's real estate empire, adjusted for inflation. That is a far cry from the $1 million that he claims his father gave him when he started out. "The Times" says the president and his siblings helped his parents build their wealth by hiding millions in gifts in a sham corporation. "The Times" also reviewed records showing the president helped formulate a strategy to cut his parents' tax bill by systematically undervaluing their real estate holdings.
ROMANS: The New York state tax authority say they are reviewing the allegations. A lawyer for the president called "The Times" story 100 percent false and defamatory, threatened a possible lawsuit. The White House meantime said in a statement this: Many decades ago, the IRS reviewed and signed off on those transactions. "The Times" notes that the statute of limitations on possible wrongdoing, if found, has long since expired.
BRIGGS: Law enforcement officials scrutinizing a letter addressed to President Trump that contained a substance suspected to be the deadly poison ricin. They say it appears to be connected to similar envelopes delivered to the Pentagon Monday. The envelope addressed to the president was not received at the White House and did not enter the building. All mail received at the Pentagon screening facility Monday is now under quarantine. A spokesman says it poses no threat to Pentagon personnel.
ROMANS: Be prepared to receive a presidential alert on your cell phone today. The government is conducting its first test of a new designed to push an emergency message to nearly all cell phones in the U.S. It will only be used in cases of public peril like a coordinated attack on major cities.
The alert will be sent starting at 2:18 Eastern Time this afternoon. It will look and sound like other emergency notifications such as Amber and severe weather alerts. One more detail, you cannot opt out. This test was originally scheduled for mid-September but was postponed because FEMA was responding to Hurricane Florence.
BRIGGS: A rising star in the Democratic Party is ending his campaign for Kansas City mayor to seek treatment for post traumatic stress disorder. Jason Kander served as an army intelligence officer in Afghanistan. He returned home 11 years ago.
He says he appreciates all the support he's received but says, quote, I'm done hiding this from myself and from the world. When I wrote in my book that I was lucky to not have PTSD, I was trying to convince myself, and I wasn't sharing the full picture. I still have nightmares.
Kander says he visited the V.A. in Kansas City on Monday. He tends to start getting help there regularly.
ROMANS: All right. A Chinese actress missing since June is apologizing. She's vowing to pay up after being ordered to pay $130 million.
BRIGGS: And steep declines in auto sales last month. How the trade war hits home, next.
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[04:43:29] ROMANS: Missing Chinese actress Fan Bingbing ordered to pay nearly $130 million in back taxes and fines. CNN state media report the superstar is being investigated for tax evasion for misrepresenting earnings from various film projects. Tax authorities say they will not file criminal charges if he shakes the payments.
The actress has not been seen since June. She essentially disappeared from public view. Overnight she posted an apology letter on social media saying she will pay the taxes and fines, and it is unclear if she wrote that or was forced to by the Chinese government.
BRIGGS: The death toll from Indonesia's earthquake and tsunami disaster has now jumped to 1,407. President Joko Widodo is meeting with survivors and visiting some of the most devastated areas including a hospital and hotel in Palu. His government taking heat for its slow response as displaced survivors desperately wait for aid and as Indonesia deals with the aftermath. There are reports of volcanic eruptions in the Northern Sulawesi and Java.
ROMANS: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travels to North Korea this weekend to meet with Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang. He's expected to lay the groundwork for a second Trump-Kim summit. This will be Pompeo's fourth visit to North Korea. The president canceled his last trip citing a lack of progress on denuclearization. Pompeo will also travel to Japan, South Korea, and China.
All right. Trade tensions hitting automakers. Car sales saw a steep drop as the threat of auto tariffs loom. Overall car sales fell 7 percent in September, Ford, Toyota, and Nissan all down at least 10 percent.
[04:45:04] One reason, demand for new cars is lower than last year. That's when Americans rushed out to replace cars destroyed in Hurricane Harvey. So, a tough comparison.
But also fear of tariffs on car imports prompted many shoppers to buy cars earlier in the year. Car companies face slowing sales just as costs rise. Tariffs on steel and aluminum imports are raising those prices. And the new NAFTA, now called the USMCA, creates higher labor and environmental standards for the industry, likely means higher costs. Rising interest rates slowing sales. Interest rates affect borrowing costs like auto loans, auto loans get more expensive.
BRIGGS: Some industry experts think the result of NAFTA 2.0 is moving more car production out of North America to avoid all of this.
ROMANS: Could be, could be. It depends.
BRIGGS: We'll see.
Ahead, a woman finds a burglar in her garage. Wait until you see what she did to protect her kids and nab the suspect.
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[04:50:37] BRIGGS: The internal watchdog for the Homeland Security Department says DHS was not fully prepared for the rollout of the zero tolerance at the U.S.-Mexico border. The new report says Customs and Border Protection detained at least 861 unaccompanied children beyond the legally allowed 72-hour time period and says DHS provided inconsistent information that left some parents unclear that they would be separated from their children. After three days of unannounced visits to nine detention facilities in Texas that hold immigrant children, inspector general's office found them, quote, mainly in compliance with federal standards.
ROMANS: The federal government charging four alleged members of a militant white supremacist group with inciting riots, and assaulting counterprotesters at last year's deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. Prosecutors described the defendants as serial rioters. The criminal complaint says they were among the most violent individuals at the Charlottesville rally. Photos show some of these men seen kicking and slamming counter-protesters to the ground.
The four men face riot and conspiracy charges with a maximum five year prison sentence for each count. Three of the four appeared in federal court Tuesday. It's not clear if they have attorneys.
BRIGGS: Inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration seizing thousands of documents from the San Francisco headquarters of e- cigarette manufacturer Juul. The surprise inspection last Friday focusing on the company's sales and marketing practices. The FDA calls it part of an ongoing effort to keep tobacco products out of the hands of kids. Big concern at schools and parents around the country.
Last month, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb called the teen use of e- cigarettes an epidemic.
ROMANS: Police in San Jose, California, using a murdered woman's Fitbit to track down her alleged killer. Ninety-year-old Anthony Aiello was arrested for the gruesome murder of his 67-year-old stepdaughter Karen Navarra last month. Navarra's Fitbit recorded a significant spike in her heart rate before a sudden drop off to nothing. The data helped police investigators construct the timeline and they arrested the stepfather. Aiello is being held without bail and is due in court tomorrow.
BRIGGS: Some beaches in Palm Beach County, Florida, are set to reopen after test results showed a reduction in levels of red tide. Testing by the Florida Fish and Wildlife officials showed very low to medium concentrations at 11 sites. But some nearby beaches from Lake Worth, north to the Martin County line, will remain closed.
Lifeguards and staff at these locations are reporting continued irritation. Red tide is the overabundance of algae, making it harder to breathe and making affected seafood dangerous to consume.
ROMANS: Some 400 guns stolen from a UPS facility in Memphis over the weekend have been recovered. The Chicago office of the ATF says the weapons cache was found in Midlothian, Illinois, about 20 miles south of Chicago. Two suspects have been charged, one in custody. Authorities are still looking for the other suspect, 24-year-old Roland Jackson of Chicago.
BRIGGS: In Arizona, millions of people drenched by the remnants of Tropical Depression Rosa. Watch here as firefighters rushed to rescue at least eight drivers from their flooded vehicles. North Phoenix hit hard by the flooding. People going to work had a hard time getting around.
This baseball field in Phoenix's park submerged. In south Phoenix, torrential rainfall causing a river to swell. Two full days into the month, it's already the fourth wettest October on record in Phoenix, with 29 days to go.
ROMANS: A brave mom in California holds a burglar at gun point until police arrived and it's all caught on surveillance video, the 25-year- old suspect caught here stealing a laptop in Brittany Morse's home. Her daughter found the suspect in the family's garage. Morris quickly shuttled her kids into a room and grabbed a gun she bought two weeks ago. She cornered the suspect and called 911.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRITTANY MORSE, HELD BURGLAR AT GUNPOINT: I had told the dispatch, I believe he has a knife on him. And I told him, you come near me, you take one step toward me, I will shoot you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: How terrifying. Taft City police showed up in two minutes. They arrested the suspect who had been in the garage for several hours. He was booked on first-degree burglary charges.
BRIGGS: It took five hours to decide. The Colorado Rockies outlasting the Chicago Cubs during the National League wild card game, 2-1, in 13 innings. An unlikely hero in the clutch. Third-string catcher Tony Wolters delivering the game-winning hit there.
[04:55:02] Colorado will now play the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Division series tomorrow. Tonight, the Yankees host the Oakland A's in the American League wild card game. The Rockies played in three time zones in three days.
ROMANS: Wow.
BRIGGS: They are, like us, exhausted.
ROMANS: Exactly. You're exhausted. You'll sleep all afternoon.
Let's check on CNNMoney this morning.
Global stocks mixed right now, but on Wall Street, the Dow jumped more than 100 points. A record high. You can thank optimism over getting that trade deal done, that uncertainty out of the way. This week, the U.S., Canada, and Mexico agreed to replace NAFTA. The biggest gains were from Boeing, Caterpillar, and 3M, manufacturers that rely on global trade.
The big tech stocks dragged on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Amazon lost 1.6 percent after announcing it would raise its minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour for all employees. Facebook fell 1.9 percent on Friday. Facebook disclosed its largest data breach ever.
All right. It's been a tumultuous quarter for Tesla but in the end, it delivered on its promise. Tesla delivered 50 percent more, have than last quarter, 83,500, 56,000 were the low-priced Model-3. Tesla has struggled to get the Model 3s into the hands of customers.
So, this should calm investors' fears just as Tesla was in need of some good news. The CEO Elon Musk, remember, agreed to pay 20 bucks and stepped down as Tesla's chairman, settling SEC claims that Musk misled investors by tweeting that he secured funding to take Tesla private when the SEC says he hadn't.
In an interview with Vice News, Apple CEO Tim Cook says you should not believe tech companies when you tell this.--
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TIM COOK, APPLE CEO: The narrative that some companies will try to get you to believe is that I've got to take all of your data to make my service better. Well, don't believe them. Whoever's telling you that, it's a bunch of bong.
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ROMANS: Cook did not name names but likely means Facebook and Google. Both companies rely on data sharing with third parties. And they face a lot of criticism for how they protect user data. Cook added that he was not pro-regulation but that some is important.
I'm soul searching in tech about what to do.
BRIGGS: Does seem some regulation is on the way, even by the deregulation administration, yes?
ROMANS: Yes, I think so. But you get -- there's nerves in tech land about can Congress do this right.
BRIGGS: Sure.
ROMANS: They don't really think so.
BRIGGS: No proof yet.
EARLY START continues right now.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: How did you get home? I don't remember. How did you get there? I don't remember. Where is the place? I don't remember. How many years ago was it? I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: President Trump with his most direct attack yet on Christine Blasey Ford. The FBI now expanding the Kavanaugh investigation. Who are they talking to now?
BRIGGS: Fraud, sham corporations, and more. A revealing "New York Times" report on President Trump's family taxes suggests he's not the self-made millionaire he claims.
ROMANS: A rising star in the Democratic Party pulls out of a mayoral race citing post traumatic stress from military service.
BRIGGS: Some of the highest rain totals ever for Phoenix as a tropical depression rolls through the desert.
ROMANS: And an instant classic. It took 13 innings, but the Colorado Rockies are headed to Milwaukee. The Cubbies, they're staying home. Poor Cubbies.
Good morning, and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: They got their World Series.
I'm Dave Briggs. It's Wednesday rock-tober 3rd, that's what they call it in Colorado. It's 5:00 a.m. in the East, 3:00 a.m. in Denver.
As soon as today, the FBI might deliver the report on Brett Kavanaugh to the White House and Capitol Hill. That news coming as sources tell CNN the bureau is expanding its inquiry into sexual assault allegations against the Supreme Court nominee.
Two sources say the FBI is now focusing on other high school friends of Kavanaugh. He listed them as attending a July 1, 1982 party, and the calendar he provided to the Judiciary Committee. It's not clear that the additional interviews will prolong the investigation.
ROMANS: Kavanaugh vehemently denied allegations by Christine Blasey Ford that he assaulted her at a high school party. She also said she does not remember some of details. The president seized on that admission at a rally last night, going further than ever before in attacking her.
Senior White House correspondent Jeff Zeleny was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, President Trump in South Haven, Mississippi, on Tuesday night for a campaign rally, the second campaign rally in as many days. And, of course, we're five weeks before the critical midterm elections.
The president talking about Judge Kavanaugh, the brutal confirmation process. But he did something that he has not yet done during the course of all of this -- he mocked Christine Blasey Ford, the California research psychologist who accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her some 36 years ago. This is what he said --
TRUMP: I had one beer. Well, do you think -- nope. It was one beer. Oh, good.
How did you get home? I don't remember. How did you get there? I don't remember.
Where is the place? I don't remember. How many years ago was it? I don't know.
(APPLAUSE)
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. What neighborhood was it in? I don't know. Where's the house? I don't know.
