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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Twenty Die in Upstate New York Limo Crash; Dems and GOP Dig in for Midterm Fight; Senator Collins Defends Vote for Kavanaugh; Mitch McConnell: GOP could Fill Supreme Court Seat in 2020; Colin Powell: Trump Cannot Be a Moral Leader; China: Interpol Chief Under Investigation; UN Climate Panel Warns About Global Warming Tipping Point; China Tells Pompeo U.S. Must Stop its Wrong Remarks and Actions; Pompeo: Second Trump-Kim Summit Announcement is "Pretty Close"; North Korea Invites Inspectors to Nuclear Testing Site; Washington Post Columnist and Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi has Disappeared While at Saudi Consulate in Istanbul; Tropical Storm Michael Set to Hit the U.S. as Hurricane; Carolina Panthers Stage Last Minute Comeback Win; Eric Reid Kneels During National Anthem; Houston Texans Win Cowboys 19-16 in Overtime; Brewers Sweep Rockies to Advance to NLCS; Braves Bats Come Alive, Stave Off Elimination with Win. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired October 08, 2018 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00] JOE JOHNS, CO-HOST, EARLY START: Investigators on the scene and --
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-HOST, EARLY START: Nice to see you, I'm Christine Romans, it's Monday, October 8th, it is 5:00 a.m. in the East.
JOHNS: State and federal investigators on the scene in Upstate, New York, following the deadliest transportation accident in the U.S. since 2009. Twenty people died when a limousine carrying several couples to a birthday party plowed through an intersection and crashed into a parked SUV in Schoharie, about 40 miles from Albany.
State police say all 18 people in the limo were killed, including the driver. Two pedestrians near the SUV also died. Among the victims, several married couples and four sisters. Here is their aunt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIIP)
BARBARA DOUGLAS, AUNT OF FOUR CRASH VICTIMS: They were fun loving, they were wonderful girls. They'd do anything for you and they were very close to each other and they love their families, they loved their parents. They had -- one has two -- one has two little children and one has one child. And they now have no home or no parents.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So far, officials have not been able to answer crucial questions about the limo and its safety record, but one woman says her niece who died in the crash was uneasy about riding in it.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
VALERIE ABELING, NIECE DIED IN LIMO CRASH: My niece said before she got in the vehicle, she texted a friend at first and said, oh, my God, she wouldn't believe what they just said. And she says this vehicle is a little sketchy because it made a lot of noise, it didn't look good.
She says I don't know if we're going to survive this and 20 minutes later she died.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROMANS: Thirtieth birthday party ending in tragedy. Officials have not yet identified the company that owned the limo. It's also unclear whether the passengers were wearing seatbelts if there were even seatbelts, if the brakes were working or if the driver was speeding.
JOHNS: The Supreme Court confirmation fight is now over. Both sides digging in, trying to use the fallout from the bruising battle for gain in the mid-terms. President Trump and Republicans are defiant, branding Democrats as a mob for the way they attacked Brett Kavanaugh.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In their quest for power, the radical Democrats have turned into an angry mob.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER, SENATE: We refuse to be intimidated by the mob of people that were coming after Republican members at their homes and in the halls.
SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA), CHAIRMAN, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: What we have learned is the resistance that has existed since the day after the November 2016 election is centered right here on Capitol Hill. They have encouraged mob rule.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Senate Democrats arguing that many voters, especially women are still furious. Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono says Democratic voters will be highly motivated to punish Republicans in November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D), HAWAII: He's going to be on the Supreme Court with a huge taint and a big asterisk after his name. And the partisanship that he showed was astounding. And that the conspiracy theory that he accused us of behaving, and was bizarre.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Meantime, Senator Susan Collins, one of the crucial swing votes is defending her decision to back Kavanaugh. She says she thought he stepped over the line during the confirmation process, but that he had some justification.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: I put myself in his shoes. He is coming forward and answering an allegation that includes that he was involved in gang raping and doping girls. I mean, that is so devastating. And I think he reacted with anger and anguish as a father of two young girls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Collins says she believes Christine Blasey Ford was assaulted, but she does not believe that Brett Kavanaugh was her assailant.
JOHNS: In a move generously described as hypocritical, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is leaving the door open to confirming a Supreme Court nominee in 2020. During the last presidential election in 2016, Republicans refused to even hold hearings for President Obama's nominee Merrick Garland.
They said the next president should choose the next Supreme Court Justice. But Sunday, McConnell argued that if the White House and Senate are controlled by the same party, the nomination can and ought to proceed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCONNELL: We simply followed the tradition in America which is, if you have a party of a different Senate of a different party than the president, you don't fill a vacancy created in a presidential year. That went all the way back to 1888.
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS: Are you saying that the --
MCCONNELL: Well, the answer to your question is we'll see whether there's a vacancy in 2020.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Last week, Senator Lindsey Graham says if a vacancy does come up in 2020, the Garland standard applies and the nomination should be put on hold.
[05:05:00] JOHNS: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell tells Cnn's Fareed Zakaria, he does not believe President Trump can be a moral leader. During a rare interview with Cnn, he pointed to Trump's attack on the press and his tendency to insult his opponents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, FORMER UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: My favorite three words in our constitution is the first three words: "We, the people". "We, the people". But recently, it's become me, the president as opposed to we, the people. And you see things that should not be happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: Colin Powell, a Republican alongside a Democrat Secretary --
former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, she said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, FORMER UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: I can't believe that. You know, everybody is taking advantage of us, that is so not true. We are the most powerful country in the world with the best story and we need to really validate that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: For more from Fareed's remarkable interview, go to cnn.com. After days of mystery surrounding the disappearance of the head of Interpol, the International Police Agency said Chinese government admits Meng Hongwei is under investigation for alleged corruption.
Chinese officials say Meng insisted on taking a wrong path and had only himself to blame, their words. Now his last message to his wife is under the microscope. Cnn's Sam Kiley monitoring the situation for us, he joins us live from Hong Kong with the very latest. Sam?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, then, last message which was sent after he landed, we now know, in China, said first, wait for my call and then was followed four minutes later by an emoji of a knife. Perhaps indicating that he felt himself in some danger.
He then simply vanished. And the Chinese authorities went to the extent of censoring Cnn broadcasts whenever the story came up. But today, they have finally come out and admitted that he is in detention and he's been investigated on allegations of corruption.
Which is something of an irony since when he became president of Interpol, the organization that links the world's police forces up, he was -- it was feared that he might be used by China to go after the people that the Chinese wanted to round up, given that China doesn't have many extradition treaties with other nations.
So further irony of course is that he is or was the Vice Minister of the Department for Public Security which is the very administration that has -- now has him in detention. He is facing charges, potentially of corruption. If those charges are laid, proven and he is convicted, he could face the death penalty in China.
ROMANS: Remarkable, all right, Sam Kiley for us this morning, thank you.
JOHNS: Dire warning from United Nations Board. They say the world has barely ten years to get climate change under control or the results could be catastrophic. A new report says the planet is already two-thirds of the way to a climate tipping point. The panel says if we don't reduce greenhouse emissions, the earth will reach that crucial threshold as early as 2030.
ROMANS: Sea levels would rise an extra four inches and extreme heat and weather events would be much worse and more frequent. Holding global warming below this limit would require what the panel calls rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.
The U.S. is the world's second largest emitter of carbon dioxide, and the Trump administration has rolled back Obama era climate measures.
JOHNS: A journalist for the "Washington Post" goes to get a marriage license and hasn't been heard from since. Are his harsh words about the Saudi Crown Prince the reason? We're live in Istanbul.
[05:10:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Things are off to a rough start for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Beijing this morning. Pompeo's meeting with China's Foreign Minister started with bold aggressive language on topics including trade. And that's according to poor reports. These meetings come just days after the vice president launched a reset of sorts with China. Cnn's Alexandra Field live now in Seoul with more.
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Joe, good morning to you. There was some tension in the room when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sat down with his counterpart in Beijing Wang Yi who said the recent U.S. remarks and actions have cast a shadow over bilateral ties and eroded trust between the two nations.
He was most certainly referring to that speech from Vice President Mike Pence just last week. It consisted of essentially a broad attack on China, allegations of improper trade practices and military aggression, interference with the mid-term elections and a general intention to undermine the Trump presidency.
Wang defending China against the accusations, Pompeo saying that there are fundamental disagreements between the United States and China. But both sides saying that they could work together on North Korea. Pompeo was in North Korea just a day ago, his fourth visit, he met with Kim Jong-un.
The two talked about details for a second summit between the North Korean dictator and the U.S. President. They also continued to talk about what steps North Korea could take toward denuclearization, and this time, U.S. officials received an offer from North Korea to allow international inspectors to verify that North Korea had in fact destroyed a nuclear test site over the Summer when they said they did.
Nuclear experts have weighed in here, saying, that, that wouldn't necessarily constitute a step forward toward the goal of denuclearization, it would just suggest that North Korea no longer needed to use that specific test site. But more broadly, this is seen as an effort to build trust, to build some good faith, certainly that's not nothing.
Secretary Pompeo called the trip a step forward. He acknowledged many more steps to go. Joe.
JOHNS: Thanks for that Alexandra Field in Seoul. ROMANS: All right, the U.S. government is quietly working the case of missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi of the "Washington Post" writer and an astute critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.
[05:15:00] He went missing after entering the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul last week. Cnn's Jomana Karadsheh live in Istanbul with more here. He went in to get a marriage license and then what?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He hasn't been heard from or seen since, Christine. You know, this has been such a mystery, so many questions. But the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that he disappeared after that visit to the consulate on Tuesday. You know, we met his fiancee who was out here, he was waiting for him after he went into the consulate.
She said for some time he was quite reluctant about this visit. He didn't feel comfortable because this is a man who left Saudi Arabia after feeling uncomfortable staying in the country. He was worried about his safety with the crackdown on critics and activists in that country.
But she says he felt he had to do it, there was no way around it. He needed to obtain the paper work that would allow them to get married here in Turkey. Now, over the past week, Turkish officials say that he went in and never left that consulate.
And in the past couple of days, we're hearing these allegations coming from several officials, some of them unnamed according to the "Washington Post" and "Reuters". But we've also heard this from an adviser to President Erdogan suggesting that he may have been killed inside the consulate, but they've not provided any evidence to back that up.
Saudi Arabia denying these allegations, saying that they are baseless. Now, both sides, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are saying that they are investigating this incident. It definitely has so many dissidents living overseas, very worried right now that perhaps the crackdown in Saudi Arabia reaches far beyond its borders and many field that President Trump and the United States can do more here to pressure their ally, the Prince -- the Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman to provide answers. Christine?
ROMANS: All right, certainly a mystery. Jomana Karadsheh, thank you for that in Istanbul this morning.
JOHNS: If you're feeling a little sleepy this morning, you might have stayed up to try to watch the Cowboys and the Texans, they needed overtime to settle business on Sunday night football. Andy Scholes has more on this morning's "BLEACHER REPORT" next.
[05:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Hurricane watch is now in effect as Tropical Storm Michael barrels towards the U.S. Forecasts have Michael strengthening to a hurricane and hitting the Florida panhandle Wednesday. Wednesday is the day here. Meteorologist Ivan Cabrera is live with the Cnn Weather Center with the latest. I know, we just had a recent update, the winds are whipping up there.
IVAN CABRERA, METEOROLOGIST: Big uptick, Christine, absolutely, and Wednesday, today is Monday, we have two days to prepare for this thing. It could be a major hurricane by the time we're done with it here. And I think by lunch, today, we have a hurricane on our hands.
Tropical storm right now, 70 miles an hour, wind 75 would make it a hurricane and we're on our way there. Look at the bands already impacting South Florida, these would be heavy squalls moving through with very heavy rainfall, but the bulk of the storm, the dangerous part of the storm doesn't get in until it intensifies and then hits somewhere along the Gulf Coast here as we head and through the day on Wednesday.
But look at the winds now, 110, category three 111, right? So, the models have been indicating that. Some even indicating perhaps a strong three up to a four. So just keep that in mind. This could blow up in the Gulf of Mexico as a big storm.
And even if it doesn't, if it takes this track and it stays as a two, that is going to be a huge deal especially for the bay's east of the center of circulation. We could be talking about 7 to 11 feet of storm surge. So here are the watches, this is what's new from the border here of Alabama and Florida all the way down to Cedar Key, that's a hurricane watch in the pink.
The yellow you see are tropical storm watches that are in effect. Those will all go to warnings of course as we get closer to the event. And look at this, this is what I think is going to be the most dangerous part of the storm because of the way, the shape of the panhandle is concave like that, right?
The water has nowhere to go, but in, and we're going to have some big time in addition as I mention, 7 to 11 feet. So, the storm surge threat is under way and the watches have been posted all the way down into Sarasota. As I mentioned, people have a hurricane here by 8:00 or 11:00 a.m., and then it will continue to intensify through the Gulf of Mexico, we'll keep you updated --
ROMANS: All right --
CABRERA: But this is going to be a big deal.
JOHNS: So the track looks like it's going just a little south of New York, but could hit the Delmarva?
CABRERA: Yes, that's going to be a big rain event by then, John, I don't think we're going to have to worry about any issues there with wind --
JOHNS: Yes --
CABRERA: But once it hits the coast, it will start weakening, but it will be a big rain event for the southeast, Joe.
ROMANS: All right, Ivan -- JOHNS: Thank you --
ROMANS: Thank you so much for that. A hurricane by lunch today --
JOHNS: Wow, all right, it was a wild Sunday in the NFL, the Giants losing a heartbreaker to Carolina and Andy Scholes has more in this morning's --
ROMANS: Hey, Andy --
JOHNS: "BLEACHER REPORT", hey, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Hey, all right, good morning guys. You know, the Giants fans just riding a roller-coaster of emotions, watching their team play the Panthers yesterday. They were down 17-3, so the G-men going deep into the playbook to try to get something going.
There's Odell Beckham Jr. throwing across the field to Saquon Barkley, that goes for a 57-yard touchdown. Now, in the fourth quarter, under two minutes to go, Eli Manning to Barkley, he got a leap into the end zone for the score to give New York a lead.
Looks as if the Giants had pulled off the incredible comeback, but Graham Gano makes a 63-yard field goal as time expires, he ties the record for the longest field goal to win again, Panthers would win 33- 31. Now, before the game, recently signed safety Eric Reid kneeled during the national anthem in his first game with the Panthers.
But Reid was the first player to join Colin Kaepernick in his protest of social injustice back in 2016 when they played for the 49ers.
[05:25:00] All right, Sunday night football featuring the battle for Texas as the Cowboys and Texans squared off in Houston in overtime, Deshaun Watson to DeAndre Hopkins, and look at a video game-like move, the spin move there, another spin move, that got the Texans in field goal range and they would make it -- defeat the Cowboys 19-16.
All right, for the first time since 2011, the Milwaukee Brewers are heading for the National League Championship series. The Brewers beating the Rockies 6-0, in game three to complete the sweep. The Rockies barely showed up for the series, they scored just two runs in the three games.
The Brewers now wait for the winner between the Braves and the Dodgers. Atlanta staying alive last night, 20-year-old budding star Ronald Acuna Jr. becoming the youngest player in baseball history to hit a grand slam in the post season.
Braves first baseman Freddy Freeman also joined yard in this one in that homerun, it ended up being the deciding factor, the Braves win game three, 6-5. Now, those two teams would be back on the diamond this afternoon for game three. That one gets started at 4:30 Eastern after the Indians, they're the early one, 1:30 and then you've got the Yankees and the Red Sox who are nightcap at 7:40 Eastern, that game -- or that series now shifting to Yankee Stadium --
JOHNS: Wow --
SCHOLES: Guys and Christine, you could actually -- you know, you just go to the game tonight and them come straight to the studio --
ROMANS: Yes --
SCHOLES: For EARLY START tomorrow morning --
ROMANS: Sounds like it would be great.
JOHNS: Oh, why not? A couple of cups of coffee --
ROMANS: Yes --
JOHNS: And we're good to go.
ROMANS: All right, thanks Andy --
JOHNS: All right, thanks. The worst transportation accident in this country in ten years, 20 dead, including young married couples. What investigators are looking for.
ROMANS: And Brett Kavanaugh is now Justice Kavanaugh, how both parties plan to use the messy confirmation in the mid-terms.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
