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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Meeting With Turkish Leaders; Mega Millions And Powerball Jackpots Combined Now Worth $1.2 Billion; One Dead In Texas Flooding; Columbus Police Officer Confronts Children Playing With A BB Gun. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired October 17, 2018 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:30:27] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: The Secretary of State meeting with Turkish officials about a journalist who vanished from the Saudi consulate. The president says this is another case of guilty until proven innocent.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Epic flooding in Texas forces evacuations -- a bridge even washed away. One body is already recovered.

BRIGGS: And how does $868 million sound to you? That's the next Mega Millions jackpot with no big winner in last night's drawing.

One point two billion dollars on the line total --

ROMANS: That is amazing.

BRIGGS: -- between the two jackpots.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour.

We begin with the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Turkey this morning. He met with Turkey's president and just finished a meeting with the foreign minister to discuss the U.S.-based journalist presumed killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Yesterday, Sec. Pompeo met with Saudi Arabia's king and crown prince. Overnight, Pompeo told reporters the Saudis promised to figure out what happened to Jamal Khashoggi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: He told me they were going to conduct a thorough, complete, and transparent investigation. They made a commitment to hold anyone connected to any wrongdoing that may be found accountable for that, whether they are a senior officer or official. They promised accountability.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Including a member of the royal family?

POMPEO: They made no exceptions to who they would hold accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Three sources tell CNN that a Saudi team sent to interrogate and possibly abduct Khashoggi from Istanbul was organized by a high- ranking officer in the main Saudi intelligence service.

International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson live this morning outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, in front of that very door where we last saw Khashoggi two weeks ago.

Nic, good morning. A mountain of evidence here.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It seems a very large mountain, Dave.

What we understand from several sources is that it was a senior intelligence figure close to Mohammad bin Salman, the crown prince -- the main in central single-handedly in control of Saudi Arabia right now -- who organized what the Turkish officials are calling the hit squad to come here to Turkey.

And what Turkish officials have briefed CNN about is that Jamal Khashoggi was, in fact, dismembered in the consulate shortly before -- shortly after he went into the consulate.

But we understand about this so-called hit team, according to Turkish officials -- the sources -- Saudi sources say that it isn't clear if the team came here to rendition him but they may have injected him with tranquilizers and somehow that went wrong.

And one of the sources says that maybe this wasn't authorized by Prince Mohammad bin Salman. That isn't clear. It doesn't pass the sniff test here in Turkey because what Turkish investigators are finding is they're getting obstruction, essentially, from the Saudis.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says very clearly, it's vital for Saudi Arabia to have a transparent, speedy investigation, and he says they should be given time to complete that.

But what the Turkish authorities are saying when their investigators went into the consulate the night before last, a lot of it had been painted over, we were told, and a cleaning team had gone in moments after it was announced that the investigators would be headed there in a couple of hours.

And then, on top of that, when the investigators went to the consulate general's house yesterday, a couple of hours before they arrived there the consulate general fled the country and flew back to Saudi Arabia. The investigators had gone to his house to search his house and search his vehicles -- he is believed to be complicit in this -- but they weren't -- the investigators weren't able to get into his house.

So for the Turkish authorities, this is not a case of Saudi Arabia being transparent and open and helping with the investigation. They, in the Turkish's eyes, are blocking it and obstructing the investigation.

BRIGGS: Aside from a body, it's hard to imagine more evidence than the Turks have provided.

Nic Robertson live for us in Istanbul this morning. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right.

Joining us now, "Washington Post" columnist Josh Rogin, a CNN political analyst. Good morning, Josh.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: Good morning.

ROMANS: And yet, all of that evidence, all of this leaking from the authorities, an 11-minute audiotape, passport scans of the kill team -- of the supposed kill team -- two private jets linked to the crown that bring this team to Istanbul --

BRIGGS: A team that included a forensic doctor who specializes in autopsy who's going to be part of an interrogation.

ROMANS: All of this and the response that the President of the United States has to the A.P. is -- listen.

"Here we go again with, you know, you're guilty until proven innocent. I don't like that. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh and he was innocent all the way, as far as I'm concerned."

[05:35:08] Guilty until proven innocent. This is, as "The Washington Post" -- your paper says in its headline -- the president is choosing conciliation over confrontation. Why?

ROGIN: Right. Well, if you had asked me yesterday I would have said that President Trump is unintentionally undermining his own government's effort to place pressure on the Saudi authorities.

But today I can't really say that because after what we saw from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo it doesn't seem like we're trying to place any pressure on the Saudi authorities. It seems that the administration is in lockstep in adopting the Saudi position, which is that the Saudis should be allowed to investigate the Saudis.

And there's a problem there of basic logic is that in a rule of law system we do not allow the accused to lead the investigation into their own alleged crimes, but Saudi Arabia is not a rule of law system.

And, you know, the president may have sort of -- you could say a kneejerk response to any sort of accusations to -- because he ties everything to his own accusations or accusations that are in his political interest.

But overall, that just happens to fit into what is now emerging as a Trump administration policy to provide cover for the Saudi regime to cover up its own alleged involvement in Jamal's murder. BRIGGS: Yes, not just going with their story here, it's maybe providing it. That whole rogue killer thing seems like it may have come from the president and then from the Saudis.

You write about this, though, in an interesting way in "The Washington Post" concerning this arms deal. The president has clearly said it's not on the table if you want to say it's $100 billion or not. The important point, you say, is that he's mischaracterizing who has the leverage.

Here's how the president phrased it to "FOX BUSINESS" in an interview last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They made the largest order in the history of our country for -- outside of our country for weapons -- $110 billion they're purchasing. It's 500,000 jobs -- American jobs. Everything's made here.

OK, so now people say well, we want to have you end that order. Well, aren't we just hurting our own country because here's what going to happen? They're going to say hey, America won't sell us the missiles. We'll buy them from China or we'll buy them from Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: All right, taking the 500,000 jobs and the $100 billion off the table, what does the president have wrong about the leverage here regarding this arms deal?

ROGIN: Everything. All right, so as you said, the numbers are all wrong. There's not 500,000 jobs. There's not $110 billion worth of arms sales.

But even if there were it seems like this might be something that we could use to pressure the Saudis to do things that we want rather than letting the Saudis use this deal to pressure us to do things that they want. In other words, what's the point of having this whole military power system if every time that we sell arms to someone they own us?

It doesn't make any sense and that's not how arm sales have always worked.

And, you know, arms sales are a strategic advantage for the United States, not our vulnerability. At least they were until President Trump just totally flipped that issue for no apparent reason.

So, you know, we have a president that sees everything -- all national security in terms of dollars and cents. He doesn't want to fly -- exercise and do missions in South Korea because it costs too much money. He doesn't want to keep troops in foreign countries because it costs too much money.

He fails to see that there's a long-term cost to abandoning sort of the system that America has built up with its allies over 80 years. And that just happens to coincide with his other interest, which is to protect his buddies, the Saudis.

And, you know, overall, it's just a diplomatic fail. And in the end, if you look at this two weeks after Jamal went missing we're nowhere and the U.S. has played no cards.

And now, we're sending our Secretary of State around the world again to get sort of -- to do the gripping grin with the Saudis and the Turks and ask them pretty please, can you release all the evidence you have.

And that goes for the Turks, by the way, too because this drip, drip, drip of evidence from anonymous sources is insufficient. If they know what happened they should just tell us and put their names on it.

ROMANS: Yes.

ROGIN: And -- so what is Mike Pompeo doing? He's just sort of going around the world trying to look busy. Meanwhile, the investigation lingers.

ROMANS: Let's -- there's Congress -- the president's conciliation and then there's Congress. And listen to what he heard yesterday from two leading senators.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I've been their biggest defender on the floor of the United States Senate. This guy is a wrecking ball. He had this guy murdered in a consulate in Turkey.

There's a difference between a country and an individual. The MBS figure is, to me, toxic. He can never be a world leader on the world stage.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: This is going to alter the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia for the foreseeable future. What those specific measures are obviously is going to be up for debate, but they'll be strong and they'll be meaningful. Congress will act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:40:07] ROMANS: Josh, what can they do?

ROGIN: They can do certain things. I mean, listen, if Lindsey Graham had the power to replace foreign leaders the world would be a very different place right now. So I don't really think that anything that we can do is going to change the leadership of the Saudi regime.

BRIGGS: No.

ROGIN: They can, first of all, stop the arms sales deals that haven't already gone through. They can put pressure on the Saudis to stop their bloody, possibly, war in Yemen, which happens to be killing thousands of civilians needlessly. And overall, they can place pressure on the administration to stop

doing what the Trump administration is doing, which is providing political and diplomatic cover for the Saudis as they try to weasel out of this thing.

And I think Congress is going to do all of those things.

But in the end, it's going to be up to the Trump administration itself to exert any real pressure they have on the Saudis and the Turks to tell us what happened to Jamal. And so far, the Trump administration, for whatever reason, has decided not to use that pressure. That's got to change.

BRIGGS: All right, Josh Rogin from "The Washington Post".

ROMANS: Great piece.

BRIGGS: Great stuff -- thank you.

ROGIN: Thank you.

ROMANS: All right.

President Trump distancing himself from potential Republican losses with the midterms now less than three weeks away. He tells the Associated Press "I'm not running. I mean, there are many people that have said to me I will never ever go and vote in the midterms because you're not running."

At the same time, the president also claims his campaigning and his endorsements are responsible for several GOP wins. To be fair, Republican candidates backed by Trump did enjoy success in the primaries.

BRIGGS: A fiery Senate debate in Texas last night as Democrat Beto O'Rourke tries to translate his titanic fundraising -- $38 million in the last quarter alone -- into votes.

O'Rourke and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz sparring on key topics, including border security, tariffs, climate change, and regulating social media to combat foreign election interference.

ROMANS: The wrangling showcased a major shift in tone for O'Rourke. So far, he has mostly bypassed opportunities to take direct aim at Cruz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BETO O'ROURKE (D), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: Senator Cruz is not going to be honest with you. He's going to make up positions and votes that I've never held or have ever taken.

He's dishonest. That's why the president called him "Lyin' Ted" and it's why the nickname stuck because it's true.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: It's clear Congressman O'Rourke's pollsters have told him to come out on the attack, so if he wants to insult me and call me a lair, that's fine. But, you know, John Adams famously said, "Facts are stubborn things."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: A new CNN poll shows Cruz with a solid 7-point lead over O'Rourke.

This programming note. Our Dana Bash moderates a Texas Senate town hall with O'Rourke, live tomorrow night at 7:00 eastern on CNN. Senator Cruz was invited but declined to participate.

BRIGGS: No winner in last night's Mega Millions drawing, bringing Friday's jackpot to a mind-boggling $868 million. If you were to take the lump sum you'd walk with just shy of half-billion dollars.

The winning -- or rather non-winning numbers -- 3-45-49-61-69 and the Mega ball was 9.

Tonight, though, another big drawing, Powerball. An estimated $345 million jackpot, so a total of $1.2 billion on the line.

ROMANS: That is a lot of money.

All right, I'll take these numbers, though. The number of American jobs available far outpacing the number of people looking for work. What this means for a very hot labor market.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:47:35] BRIGGS: Severe flooding in Texas forcing the governor to issue disaster declarations in 18 counties. Llano County hit especially hard.

Evacuations have been ordered because of flooding from the Llano River. The FM 2900 bridge over the river has collapsed and residents are being told to remain away from their homes for the next 24 hours.

And take a look at the flooding around the LBJ Dam in Texas Hill Country, 45 minutes northwest of Austin. At least one death has been reported in the area.

The death toll from Hurricane Michael has climbed to 29. That includes 19 fatalities in Florida, with eight new victims now being reporting in hard-hit Bay County.

Mexico Beach residents will be allowed to return today to survey the damage to their homes and businesses.

Last night, the governor reported there are still 138,000 customers in Florida without power and about 1,200 people still in shelters.

ROMANS: All right, let's get a check on "CNN Business" this morning.

For the first time in history, the U.S. has more than seven million open jobs. The Labor Department reports 7.1 million job openings in August. That's a record high, actually bigger than the number of Americans looking for work by a lot.

There are 902,000 people actively looking for work. That's the largest gap ever.

The labor market is tight, the unemployment rate is the lowest in a generation, so many businesses are struggling to find workers. That means bargaining power for you, the employee, including higher wages.

U.S. workers are finally starting to see their paychecks grow a little faster. Last quarter, weekly wages rose 3.3 percent, much better than the prior quarter of just two percent.

Wage growth has been slow for years. Rather than raises, companies have been boosting benefits like more paid sick leave and better health care. But now, employers may need to jack up salaries to attract or keep workers.

Corporate America coming to Wall Street's rescue. U.S. stocks rebounding big-time yesterday after their worst week in months. Big company profits from Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson -- they're making a ton of money.

The Dow soared 548 points or 2.2 percent, the best day since March. The Nasdaq up nearly three percent. The S&P 500 also at more than two percent.

Remember those big losers last week with tech stocks? They raced back to life. Yesterday, big jumps for Amazon, Facebook, and Netflix.

A reminder -- don't make big moves on one day in the market, right? You might miss the rebound.

Uber could be worth as much as $120 billion when it goes public. There's big anticipation for Uber's Wall Street debut which could take place as early as next year.

[05:50:02] "The Wall Street Journal" reports banks are currently valuing Uber at $120 billion. That's nearly double its last valuation. That is more than GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler combined.

It's rival, Lyft, also plans to make its Wall Street debut next year just at a bit of a lower value of $15 billion.

You see Netflix? One hundred and thirty-seven million people now tune into Netflix around the world. It added seven million new subscribers last quarter, two million more than it thought -- way above any other streaming service like Amazon Prime or Hulu. The majority of its subscribers -- six million -- come from overseas, of the add.

Netflix has been investing heavily in foreign shows like Germany's "DARK." It credits original content for its success, spending about $13 billion this year alone.

This growth is a big win for Netflix. It added a million fewer subscribers than it predicted in the previous quarter and that sent the stock down big-time. Now, the stock is up today. It's up 20 -- 12 percent overnight. It's up 80 percent this year, Dave.

BRIGGS: And the real question --

ROMANS: Eighty percent.

BRIGGS: -- is when those other streaming services start and take away --

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: -- some of the content. But it doesn't appear to be anything stopping them.

Ahead, an Ohio cop with strong words for kids playing with a BB gun.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER CASUCCIO, POLICE OFFICER, COLUMBUS POLICE DEPARTMENT, COLUMBUS, OHIO: I could have killed you. I want you to think about that tonight when you go to bed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: How this all went down and what the officer is saying now.

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[05:55:49] ROMANS: Chinese megastar Fan Bingbing has been seen in public for the first time since she vanished in June. Images published by the photo agency Visual China, which says the video was taken on October 15th -- it shows Fan arriving at Beijing Capital International Airport.

CNN cannot independently authenticate this video.

Earlier this month, Chinese state media reported Fan was fined $130 million for misreporting her earnings on film projects.

BRIGGS: The operators of a Missouri duck boat that sank in July are asking a federal court to let them off the hook even though 17 people were killed. Ripley Entertainment claiming in court that an 1851 maritime law that limits its liability because the boat was properly maintained and is now a total loss.

That's not sitting well with Tia Coleman. She survived but lost nine family members. She says the court filing suggests her relatives are quote "worthless" and calls the legal maneuver incredibly hurtful and insensitive.

ROMANS: Police in northwestern Wisconsin frantically searching for a 13-year-old girl they believe could be in danger. Authorities issued an Amber Alert for Jayme Closs after her parents were found dead in their home.

An unidentified person called 911 early Monday. Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said the dispatcher heard a disturbance in the background but no one spoke directly to the dispatcher.

Authorities believe the teenager was in the house when her parents were killed.

BRIGGS: A new crisis at USA Gymnastics. Former Congressman Mary Bono steps down just four days after starting as interim head of the sports-governing body. Bono took the helm after Kerry Perry quit as president and CEO in the fallout from the Larry Nasser trial.

Bono stepped down Tuesday after a tweet surfaced of her defacing a Nike logo. Bono was reacting to Nike's ad campaign that featured former quarterback and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick. Bono deleted her tweet and said she regretted the post.

ROMANS: A tense exchange between a Columbus, Ohio police officer and two boys with a BB gun captured on bodycam video.

Officer Peter Casuccio sent to a call about boys waving a gun. He says when he pulled up, one of the boys pulled a BB gun from his waistband and threw it to the ground. That's when the officer drew his weapon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASUCCIO: Are you scared?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

CASUCCIO: OK. You know why you should be scared? This is getting kids killed all over the country.

Do you think a want to shoot an 11-year-old? Do you think I want to shoot a 13-year-old?

I could have killed you. I want you to think about that tonight when you go to bed. You could be gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The officer later spoke to the families about the danger of kids carrying BB guns. He said they needed to hear it.

Tough stuff.

BRIGGS: Yes, indeed.

Sixteen combined pitchers and more than five hours after the first pitch, the Los Angeles Dodgers evened up the National League Championship Series.

Cody Bellinger delivering a walk-off single with two out in the 13th inning to give the Dodgers a 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Pivotal game five at 5:05 eastern time this afternoon in L.A.

And the Boston Red Sox take a 2-1 lead over the Houston Astros in the ALCS. That's Jackie Bradley, Jr.'s eighth-inning grand slam which propelled the Sox to an 8-2 win last night.

Game four tonight in Houston. It should be a good one.

ROMANS: It should be.

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.

Good luck in the Powerball. You in?

ROMANS: Mega Millions.

BRIGGS: Powerball tonight.

ROMANS: Oh, Powerball, too? Sorry.

BRIGGS: Mega Millions later in the week.

ROMANS: All right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Saudi Arabia's our partner. They're our ally against Iran.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We should not sacrifice Khashoggi on the altar of U.S.-Saudi relations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we're dealing with foreign policy we should not rush to judgment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People that were seen going into the consulate were people closely identified with the crown prince.

GRAHAM: MBS has tainted your country. This guy's got to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, October 17th, 6:00 here in New York.

And we have some very disturbing new details about the apparent murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to share with you.

Sources tell CNN that a high-ranking Saudi intelligence officer with close ties to the crown prince organized the mission to at least interrogate and possibly kidnap the "Washington Post" columnist. Several officials tell us that the murder could not have happened without the crown prince's direct knowledge.

CNN also learning from a source that Khashoggi --