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Senate to Vote on Kavanaugh on Saturday; China Shows Agression at Sea. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired October 04, 2018 - 05:00   ET

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

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SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), KENTUCKY: I'm filing cloture on Judge Kavanaugh's nomination this evening so the process can move forward.

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DAVE BRIGGS, CNN HOST: A full Senate vote on Brett Kavanaugh as soon as Saturday. The FBI report on his conduct will be in the hands of senators in just three hours.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: Growing concern of China's military aggression at sea. Is the U.S. ready to show a force? The Vice President, today, will declare even Russia's action pale in comparison to Beijing.

BRIGGS: One officer is dead, six others recovering after coming under fire in South Carolina.

ROMANS: And here come the Yankees. The Bronx bombers headed for a showdown with the Red Sox after disposing the Oakland As. The Yankees, Red Sox - wow, that's one of those rivalries, right? Good morning, welcome to Early Start. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: Yes. That's all you will hear about here in New York in the days ahead. I'm Dave Briggs. It's Thursday, October 4. Five a.m. in the east. In just a bit, we'll tell you which Republican senator said we all know the President cannot lead us through this time, which Republican senator said that.

But we start with breaking news overnight, Senate Republican leaders starting that clock for the final vote on Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court, majority leader Mitch McConnell filing a motion to end debate. That procedural move will come to a vote this week with the final vote on the nomination as soon as Saturday.

ROMANS: The timing driven by the FBI's renewed background investigation on Kavanaugh. Senators will be able to start reading investigation summaries starting at 8 a.m., in just three hours. The White House has the report already. The Wall Street Journal reports, the White House finds no corroboration of sexual assault allegations against that nominee. BRIGGS: That, of course, does not address whether Kavanaugh mislead senators about his drinking habits. And the Washington Post reports the White House privately restricted the FBI from looking into Kavanaugh's youthful drinking, and whether he lied to Congress about it. All while the President was, publically, saying the FBI could follow any lead it saw fit.

ROMANS: The FBI wrapped up its investigation Wednesday, having interviewed about 10 people in total. Now the focus moves to undecided senators and what they make of the FBI report. Congressional Correspondent, Phil Mattingly, has more from Capital Hill.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine and Dave, it's been something Democrats have been asking for for weeks. It's been something Republicans, at least on the leadership level, grudgingly agreed to just about five, six days ago. Now, it's on Capital Hill, the FBI supplemental background investigation.

This report will dictate whether or not Brett Kavanaugh is elevated to the highest court in the land. At this point, Republicans do not have the votes to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. That isn't stopping them from moving forward though.

As it currently stands, the expectation is the first procedural vote on Kavanaugh's nomination will be setup for Friday. That would mean a final vote on him confirmation could come as soon as Saturday.

Again, what Republicans don't have is the 50 or 51 votes they need to actually move this forward. The expectation has been, what the FBI returns will help get them over the line. As you know, there's three undecided Republicans, there's two undecided Democrats. All five of whom have been weighing their options.

But multiple of those senators have said, this report will play - will go a long way to dictating how they end up voting. It really all relies on what they see here. The big problem is, we aren't going to see it.

It won't be released publically. There will be no summary. And the senators, and the staffers, who get to see it, technically, aren't allowed to talk about it at all. So, what does that mean? Well, it's going to be open to interpretation in terms of what the FBI found in its interviews in that supplemental background investigation.

Here's a good metric, a good guide to know what it actually looks like. Look at the votes. Republicans have the votes to move Brett Kavanaugh through. They, or at least those undecided senators, have decided they haven't seen anything damming. If they don't, well, you can draw your own conclusion on that one, Christine and Dave.

BRIGGS: All right, Phil. Thank you. One of Judge Kavanaugh's freshmen roommates at Yale claims that he lied under oath when he downplayed his youthful drinking. Several senators have said they would oppose Kavanaugh if he lied to the Judiciary Committee. Now, here's what James Roche told CNN's Anderson Cooper. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES ROCHE, KAVANAUGH'S FRESHMAN ROOMATE: Even within that environment, there were people who were - who were loud drunks, who were sloppy drunks, who were belligerent drunks. But - but even by those standards, my memory of - of Brett was that he was - he was on the far edge of this. He was, notably, heavier in his drinking than other people.

It was an awful long time ago. And I can't tell you he was drunk on this date or not. But I can tell you that my recollection of my experience with him was that he was drunk frequently.

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ROMANS: In an earlier op-ed for Slate, Roche wrote, in his words and behavior, Judge Kavanaugh has shown contempt for the truth, for the process, for the rule of law, and for accountability. His willingness to lie to avoid embarrassment shows doubt on his denials about the larger questions of sexual assault. Roche says he has not been contacted - has not been contacted by the FBI, but he is willing to tell agents what he knows.

BRIGGS: The White House standing by. President Trump's mocking impression of Christine Blasey Ford by denying he mocked her at all.

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TRUMP: How did you get home? I don't remember. How'd 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.

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BRIGGS: That was Tuesday evening in Mississippi. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders held a White House briefing to review complaints, Sanders defending the President as simply stating the facts.

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SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Every single word that Judge Kavanaugh has said has been looked at, examined, picked apart by most of you in this room. But not - no one is looking whether or not the accusations made are corroborated. Whether or not there's evidence to support them. The testimony by Dr. Ford was compelling, but you can't make this decision based on emotion. It has to be based on fact.

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ROMANS: She said the President was just giving a litany of facts, but she's wrong there. Ford did have answers to many of the things Trump mocked. For example, she specifically recalled the assault happened 36 years ago, and that it happened upstairs in the house, a number of Republican senators crucial to confirming Kavanaugh taking issue with the President's tone.

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SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: I thought it was, obviously, insensitive and appalling, frankly.

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R), ALASKA: I don't approve of the comments from last night. I thought that they were wrong and extraordinarily unfortunate.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: The President's comments were just plain wrong.

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ROMANS: Nebraska Senator, Ben Sasse expected to vote for Kavanaugh, but in an emotional speech from the Senate floor, he criticized the President for his tone toward women.

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SEN. BEN SASSE (R), NEBRASKA: We all know that the President cannot lead us through this time. We know that he is dispositionally (ph) unable to restrain his impulse to divide us.

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BRIGGS: Senator Lindsey Graham, a vocal Kavanaugh backer says he would, simply, tell the president to, quote, knock it off. You're not helping.

ROMANS: Right across, the fight (ph) proposal has been drawn up by the U.S. Navy to respond to China's military aggression. Defense officials describe it as a global show of force. On Sunday, a Chinese warship came within 45 yards of the USS Decatur, challenging the American's ship presence in the South China Sea, that near collision, one of many troubling developments with China. Let's bring in Will Ripley, live from Hong Kong.

And, you know, folks close to the President, advising the President in the White House have said he really wants a reset on the U.S. relationship with China. Trade is part of that, but so is national security. And the President sees it all as one issue.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And, you know, I can recall, Christine, conversations here in Asia Pacific with Trump- appointed diplomats who said, even at the height of the North Korea crisis more than a year ago, that China was the administrations long- term concern.

And that seems to be playing out with this speech expected by the Vice President in the coming hours where he will send a very clear message to Beijing, that the United States will not be intimidated by incidents like the one on Sunday involving the USS Decatur where a Chinese Luyang Class Destroyer, allegedly, cutoff the boat. They came within 45 yards of the each other. They have pictures to prove that China was trying shoo off this American ship which was conducting a freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea near the disputed Spratly Islands that China claims.

The U.S. rejects that claim. If the U.S. Navy goes through with this proposal for a global show of force, you could see a lot more confrontations like this next month, during the week that this operation is expected to happen with warplanes, and ships flying at a pace, the likes of which, perhaps we haven't seen yet in terms of the intensity and the frequency of the operations.

The Vice President also expected to speak about something that could, potentially, enrage Beijing even further. And that is the allegations of election meddling. The Vice President's speech expected to include this mega-statement.

What the Russians are doing pales in comparison to what China is doing across this country. The Vice President expected to talk about tariffs, targeting red states, and other parts of what the Trump administration claims is a detailed plan by the Chinese to interfere in the midterm elections, and try to sway those conservative voters away from President Trump.

These are really hot button issues, Christine, and we really don't know how Beijing is going to respond...

ROMANS: Yes.

RIPLEY: ...yet, here.

ROMANS: Fascinating. All right, so much - thanks for that Will Ripley in Hong Kong.

BRIGGS: A reprieve for hundreds of thousands of immigrants fearing deportation. A federal judge has blocked, for now, the Trump administration plan to end temporary protective status, TPS, for immigrants from Sudan, El Salvador, Haiti, and Nicaragua. TPS protects people admitted to the U.S. from countries hit by dire conditions like natural disasters, or war.

The Trump administration ended TPS for many migrants, saying the dire circumstances have passed. But the judge says that decision may have been based on hostility toward non-white, non-European immigrants. The Justice Department says the judge's decision usurps the role of the executive branch.

ROMANS: Seven sheriff's deputies and police officers shot, one fatally, trying to serve a search warrant at a home in Florence, South Carolina. The suspect in custody has not yet been identified. Officials say he barricaded himself in the home with children, prompting a two hour standoff. Officers were shot as they tried to help their comrades.

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Officials say they did not realize just how much fire power the suspect had.

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KENNEY BOONE, SHERIFF FORENCE COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA: Fire was being shot all over. The way the suspect was positioned, his view of fire was several hundred yards, so he had an advantage. And the officers couldn't get to the ones that's down.

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ROMANS: The Florence officer who was killed was identified as 30 year department veteran, Terrance Carraway. President Trump tweeting his thoughts and prayers to law enforcement in Florence. It's just a tragedy.

All right, evacuations in southern Arizona where a dam could fail after record rainfall.

BRIGGS: And police in Michigan say a cheerleader took the high road, if you will, in a bid to become homecoming queen.

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ROMANS: Recalled eggs from Gravel Ridge Farms in Cullman, Alabama, are now linked to 38 cases of salmonella in seven states. The cage free large eggs were sold in grocery stores in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. They were recalled last month.

Salmonella cases now being reported by the FDA in Tennessee, Alabama, Ohio, Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky and Montana. Ten people have been hospitalized. The best by date on the eggs was yesterday. For more information go to cnn.com.

BRIGGS: Harvard's head diving coach placed on leave amidst sexual misconduct claims by athletes he coached a few years ago. A class action suit accuses 31-year-old Chris Heaton of soliciting nude pictures from female athletes at an Indiana diving academy and sending explicit pictures to them.

The suit claims athletes began complaining about Heaton's conduct in 2015. Harvard said it was unaware of the complaints when Heaton was hired in August. Heaton has yet to comment.

A water park in Waco, Texas, after a visitor died from a, so-called, brain eating amoeba. The victim identified as 29-year-old Fabrizio Stabile of New Jersey, visited the BSR Cable Park before developing symptoms last month. The amoeba that killed him is found in warm bodies of fresh water like lakes and hot springs. Labs samples taken across the facility are pending. The owners of the part cooperating with investigators.

ROMANS: Evacuations underway in southern Arizona where flood waters could overtop a dam, the reason, unusually heavy rains from tropical storm Rosa. The flooding threatening the integrity of the Menagers Dam near the town of Ali Chuk, on tribal land, less than a mile from the Mexican border. Flash flood warning is in effect for the town until early today. Wow, look at that water.

All right, Amazon, giving hourly workers a raise, a pay raise, $15 an hour. But they could loose some other benefits as a result.

BRIGGS: And Yankee fans waking up in a very good mood today. Now, the Red Sox are on deck. Andy Scholes, he too is on deck with the Bleacher Report.

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BRIGGS: A Michigan Cheerleaders dream of becoming homecoming queen has gone to pot. Police say she distributed, at school, brownies laced with weed to sway classmates to vote for her.

Hartford Police say the school was alerted by an anonymous tip. The students involved could face felony charges for distributing marijuana in a drug-free zone.

ROMANS: All right. Amazon giving hourly workers a pay raise, but at the expense of monthly bonuses and stock awards. On November 1, Amazon will raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour for all 350,000 U.S. workers.

That prompted praises from even its harshest critics. The company says in a blog post that it's going to phase out inventive pay and stock grants as a result. Right now, a single Amazon share is worth $1,950. The Verge says hourly workers get two shares at hiring then one share every year after.

Amazon says employees prefer the predictably and immediacy of cash to stocks. Amazon says it listens to critics that it relies on a low paid labor, so this move was good PR. It might be even good business. The labor market is really tight here. Retailers, like Amazon, are fighting for talent, Dave.

BRIGGS: Get ready for another chapter in one of the greatest rivalries in sports.

Andy Scholes has more in the BLEACHER REPORT. Scholes, big news when you're on the front and the back page here in New York. This could be good.

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(SPORTS)

BRIGGS: Scholes, thank you - Romans, over to you.

ROMANS: Thanks, Dave. The White House has the FBI report on Brett Kavanaughs conduct. The Senate gets to first start reading it in about two and half hours. The clock now ticking toward a final vote in a matter of days. (COMMERCIAL)

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