Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Brett Kavanaugh Will See If He Gets The Votes To Join Supreme Court; Democrats Don't Believe The FBI Went Far Enough With Investigation; Four Women Arrested For Trespassing While Protesting; China and U.S. Trade Dispute Growing Into Much More; Labor Market Shows No Signs of Slowing Down. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired October 05, 2018 - 4:00   ET

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


[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

BRETT KAVANAUGH: This confirmation has become a national disgrace.

JOHN PAUL STEVENS, FORMER SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: His performance during the hearings caused me to change my mind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just Brett Kavanaugh just put out an op-ed, and overtly political play to convince Americans he's not political.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All eyes are on three Republican senators along with red state Democrat Joe Manchin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This (inaudible) investigation is a (censored) investigation.

SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R), I.A.: This is almost rock bottom.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN EARLY START HOST: Reporters, dissenters, even Brett Kavanaugh himself making a final emotional pitch. A seat on the Supreme Court is on the line today.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN EARLY START HOST: The U.S. waging new battles against two superpowers. China and Russia now responding. We are live this morning in Hong Kong and Moscow.

ROMANS: And in just one hour, the world finds out who wins the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize. Good morning and welcome to Early Start this Friday morning. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: Happy Friday, my friend. I'm Dave Briggs. Good morning to all of you. You can bet on the Nobel Peace Prize.

ROMNAS: Can you? (ph)

BRIGGS: We'll tell you who the favorite is in a moment. It's October 5. 4 a.m. in the east. We will know later this morning, get a better clue as to whether or not Brett Kavanaugh has the votes to join the Supreme Court. Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, has set a key procedural vote for 10:30 a.m. Then senators still weighing how to play their hands will have to show some cards.

The final case for Kavanaugh coming from Kavanaugh himself in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. The nominee arguing he is an independent, impartial judge and admitting he, quote, "might have been too emotional before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week."

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

KAVANAUGH: This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

ROMANS: Kavanaugh now writes, "at times my testimony reflected my overwhelming frustration at being wrongly accused. I know that my tone was sharp and I said a few things I should not have said. I believe that an independent and impartial judiciary is essential to our constitutional republic. It seems I'm likely to sway one man who knows the court well."

Former Justice John Paul Stevens. He says he changed his mind after that testimony.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

STEVENS: He has demonstrated a potential bias involving enough potential litigance before the court that he would not be able to perform his full responsibilities. And I think there's merit in that criticism. It's not healthy to get a new justice that can only do a part-time job.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BRIGGS: Overnight, Senate Judiciary Chairman, Chuck Grassley's office put out and executive summary of the FBI report confirming the bureau interviewed 10 people. Democrats clearly don't believe that went far enough.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a (inaudible) investigation, it's a bullshit investigation. The reality is that is not a full and thorough investigation.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BRIGGS: OK. Attorney's for Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh's first accuser, are calling the investigation a stain on the process on the FBI and on our American ideal of justice.

ROMANS: The president last night made his own final push for Kavanaugh at a rally in Minnesota where he attacked Democrats.'

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNTIED STATES: Their rage-fueled resistance is starting to backfire at a level that nobody has ever seen before. The people of America are going to reject the Democrat politics of anger and destruction.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

ROMANS: Republican leaders margin for winning Kavanaugh's confirmation now shaved from five to four. North Dakota Democratic senator Heidi Heitkamp coming out against the nominee. In an emotional appearance on Fargo's (ph) CNN affiliate, Heitkamp said this.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

SEN. HEIDI HEITKAMP (D), N.D.: If this were a political decision for me, I certainly would be deciding this the other way, but, you know, there's an old saying history will judge you, but most importantly you'll judge yourself. And that's really what I'm saying. I can't get up in the morning and look at the life experience that I've had and say yes to Judge Kavanaugh.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BRIGGS: That decision met with this response by protestors in front of the Supreme Court.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator Heidi Heitkamp is on the right side of history.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BRIGGS: Four remaining senators still undecided after getting a look at the FBI report on Kavanaugh.

[04:05:00]

BRIGGS: That supplemental background check includes 45 pages of interview summaries and another 1,600 pages of information collected through the FBI tip log. Closed door briefings for senators went late into last night. Here's Manu Raju reporting that it does appear to be shifting toward Kavanaugh on Capitol Hill.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Dave. All eyes on the Senate floor in just a matter of hours. Later this morning the Senate will take a key procedural vote to advance Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court as we know is a 51-49 Senate with Republic versus Democrat. That means if all Democrats vote no and Republicans lose more than one vote, then this nomination could go down and lose to a Democratic fillabuster later this morning.

We are watching four key senators - Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Jeff Flake of Arizona, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Manchin being the one Democrat. All of them went to that briefing about the FBI investigation to Brett Kavanaugh's past and those allegations of sexual misconduct in which he furiously denied.

Now, each of those senators had different interpretation about exactly what they saw in there, but two of the senators, Flake and Collins, sounded positive about the way the investigation was carried out, but Murkowski and Manchin both noncommittal.

Republicans want to try to advance the nomination to a confirmation vote as soon as Saturday. Christine and Dave -

ROMANS: All right, Manu. Thank you for that. A possible last minute wrinkle to the Republicans. Montana senator Steve Daines expected to miss a potential confirmation vote Saturday. He'll be at his daughter's wedding, walking her down the aisle. That mean GOP leaders may be forced to hold open the confirmation vote for Kavanaugh overnight as the senator returns to Washington. Spokesperson for Senator Daines has says he's assured Kavanaugh he has made arrangements to get him across the finish line as needed. Same assurance as to his daughter I hope.

BRIGGS: Yes, let's hope.

ROMANS: Get her down the aisle.

BRIGGS: Dad first we hope. More than 300 protestors including actress Amy Schumer arrested Thursday as anti-Kavanaugh demonstrations swarmed Capitol Hill.

Activists making their voices heard while lawmakers reviewed the FBI's report on KAVNAUGH. Protestors chanting "November is coming" as a man was arrested at the Hart Senate Office Building.

ROMANS: Signs in the window of that building reading "We believe her and we believe survivors." A group of protestors even confronted Republican senator Orrin Hatch.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why aren't you brave enough to talk to us and exchange with us? Don't you waive your hand at me. I waived my hand at you.

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), U.T.: When you grow up I'll (inaudible)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I grow up?! (inaudible)

(END VIDEOCLIP)

ROMANS: There was protests in several other cities besides Washington, D.C. including in New York City at Trump Tower, Portland, Oregon, San Francisco. Protestors also demonstrating at Senator Jeff Flake's office in Arizona. Four women were arrested for trespassing. Wow. BRIGGS: In about an hour, the Nobel Committee announces the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. The winner will be picked from a total of 331 nominees, 216 individuals and 115 organizations.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, South Korea's Moon Jae-in, and, of course, President Trump considered favorites to win the honor for their efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. Last year the prize was awarded to the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons.

I mentioned you can bet on this. An Australian booking website has Angela Merkel as the actual favorite.

ROMANS: That's interesting.

BRIGGS: A British website lists Trump as a five to two bettering favorites, so you can make some money on this. Better believe he is paying attention to that at 5 a.m.

ROMANS: All right, nine minutes past the hour new hacking allegations begin to Russia and major accusations of China undermining the U.S. What those countries have to say next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:10:00]

BRIGGS: 4:13 Eastern Time. The government of China accusing Vice President Mike Pence of, quote, "slander and unwarranted accusations," after he launched a broad attack against Beijing. The vice president Thursday accused China of predatory economic practices, military aggression against the U.S., and of trying to undermine President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To put it bluntly, President Trump's leadership is working and China wants a different American president.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BRIGGS: CNN's Will Ripley live this morning from Hong Kong. He joins us with the latest. Will, what was a trade dispute is growing into so much more.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A trade dispute, a military dispute, domestic politics and election meddling. I mean, on all fronts it's the U.S. is completely, as Christine put it yesterday, kind of hitting the reset button, and it's a hard reset on the relationship with China.

And Beijing is firing back. During the overnight hours, we got a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs basically saying that the claims the vice president were making are unsubstantiated, pulled out of thin air as the Chinese put it. They say they have no desire to meddle in U.S. elections. And in fact, they say it's the United States that does the meddling, not China.

Truth probably somewhere in the middle here, but it'll be interesting to see later on whether time will tell was this really a substantial case.

[04:15:00]

RIPLEY: I mean, you have to wonder when members of the Trump administration are making such a big deal about election meddling given their track record of kind of brushing it off in the past when it didn't involve them.

Also though, this is also another potentially really important development happing in the coming hours. Because the Trump administration's planning to release a report claiming that there are 300 area's at which the United States is at risk, when it comes to national security, and the defense industry.

Basically the crux of this report is that America doesn't have the factories it used to. I mean this might have something to do with all the steel tariffs and what not. You know all of that labor, that industrial labor is now most - for the most part outsourced to other countries. Think back to World War II, you know when America won that war with its allies. They were making all the weapons at home.

That is not happening anymore. And the concern is that U.S. doesn't even have access to the materials and that China and its industrial kind of dominance could actually pose a threat to U.S. National Security. So that could just really ratchet things up to a whole new level. And it shows the mindset right now of the Trump administration, Dave.

BRIGGS: Yes, as does a piece in the "New York Times" written by Peter Navarro, he say's history will judge whether Donald Trumps economic security is national security, joins the ranks of great presidential maxims, a lot to look at today. Will Ripley live for us today in Hong Kong, thank you.

ROMANS: And that report will be so fascinating Dave because we have talked about rare earth minerals before. These really important rare earth minerals that you need in the defense and industrial base that China has managed to sort of corner the market on.

They're also talking about carbon (ph) fibers, things that are needed in missals and aircraft that the supply chain can be corrupted by the outsourcing. So these are the kinds of things that this administration is really looking, looking hard at, and really resetting a relationship, until now it has been the global supply chain that has just been accepted.

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: Now this administration is saying no, no, no, no maybe that's not good for everyone.

BRIGGS: And they want to point out that the Obama administration punted on this in their point of view.

ROMANS: Yes, absolutely. Russia taking aim at the U.S. after the Justice Department Indicted seven Russian Intelligence Officers in international - in an international hacking scheme, CNN's Fred Pleitgen is live in Moscow with more on key evidence uncovered by counter intelligence officers. Fred, what do we know?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Christine I'll tell you it was a long day yesterday for the Russian Military Intelligence Service, the DRU and for any Russian official who had to explain all of the allegations that came out yesterday. First of all there were the indictments by the DOJ yesterday for hacking the World Anti Doping Agency and also leaked (ph) in the United States exposing some 250 athlete's names and their medical data.

Not just in America but also in other places as well, Also trying to hack the Westinghouse Electrical Corporation as well. But on top of that the Brits also came out with new allegations of hacking, including the DNC hacking 2016. And then the Dutch came out and just presented a flurry of evidence against the Russians for allegedly trying to hack into the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons.

And you know we sometimes think of the Russian spies as being elite agents coming over. They were photographed arriving at the airport, getting picked up by someone from the Russian Embassy. They were photographed renting a car, packing it full of electronics' and pointing an antenna at the building of the OPCW. And they even had with them when they were busted a taxi receipt from the headquarters of the Russian Military Intelligence Service to the airport in Moscow.

Of course all of that was found by the Dutch. The Russians issuing somewhat of a denial but we certainly see them a lot more muted than we would usually, Christine.

ROMANS: Oh, the taxi receipt for the GRU expense report I guess. All right (inaudible), I'm going to be glad this it was that interesting. Thank you so much Fred.

BRIGGS: All right ahead, how much would you pay for this? Turns out a rock used as a doorstep for 30 years is worth big bucks.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Good news for U.S. workers. The labor market showed no signs of slowing down. The Labor Department releases it's closely watched jobs report today, and the prediction here another 185,000 jobs in September, a solid number. The unemployment rate should fall to 3.8 percent, which it also hit back in May. Still around an 18-year-low there.

This is what economists call a tight labor market. It's been this way for months. Right now, there's about one unemployed person per job opening in the U.S. Great if you want a new job, not so much if you want higher pay. Expect wages to grow by 2.8 percent maybe in September. That's a little light from August. That August number was the largest gain since the recession.

Higher wage growth is good for workers, but it worries investors. It could signal rising inflation, which would cause the Federal Reserve to speed up the pace of interest rate hikes.

BRIGGS: The floor in South Carolina community gathering for a vigil to honor an officer who was killed in the line of duty and seven others who were shot.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible)

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BRIGGS: One officer remains in the hospital. Members of the community and police held hands and prayed. The body of 30-year veteran police sergeant, Terrence Carraway, escorted back to Florence. Flags throughout South Carolina will be lowered to half staff.

The man suspected of shooting the officers has been identified as 74- year-old Fred Hopkins. Authorities say he is one of the owners of the residence where the shooting took place. Hopkins is a disbarred lawyer and was charged with disorderly conduct in 2014.

[04:25:00]

ROMANS: All right, this plain looking rock has propped open a door in Michigan for the past 30 years. That's a nice doorstop, but it is literally out of this world. A geology professor at Central Michigan University was asked to check it out and found that the oddly shaped 22-pound rock was actually a meteorite worth $100,000.

It is the sixth largest recorded find in Michigan. The owners says it first came to Earth in 1930s. The Smithsonian and a mineral museum in Maine are considering purchasing the meteorite for display.

BRIGGS: The Los Angeles Dodgers first strike beating the Braves in game one of the NLDS. Joc Pederson hit a lead-off home run to give the Dodgers an early lead, more than enough for Hyun-Jin Ryu. Hit pitched seven show down (ph) innings. Max Muncy and Enrique Hernandez also homered in the Dodger's six-zip win.

Also drama in Milwaukee as the Brewers take game one over the Rockies. Colorado tied the game with two runs in the ninth, but in the tenth Mike Moustakas singled home Christian Yelich, the likely MVP. Brewers win 3-2. Another tough morning for this Rockies fan as I stayed up far too late.

All right, one of the most contentious nomination fights in history is almost over. Will four key senators back Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court? We're just a few hours away from finding out.

(COMMERICAL BREAK) [04:30:00]