Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Saudis Fuel Skepticism with Changing Stories About Khashoggi's Death; GOP Senators Slam Khashoggi's Killing; Trump, Obama, Biden Hit Campaign Trail Again this Week; Democrat Gillum Ahead of Republican DeSantis By 12 Points in Cnn Poll; HHS Pushing to Roll Back Transgender Protections; U.S. Brigadier General Injured in Afghan Attack; Trump Says GOP is Working on Middle Class Tax Cut; U.S. to Pull Out of Nuclear Treaty; Bolton to Meet with Russian Foreign Minister in Moscow; Dozens of Clemson University Students Injured After a Floor Gave Way at a Party; Manhunt Underway for Suspect in Georgia Police Killing; Police Body Cam Explodes While in Use; Patrick Mahomes' Kansas City Chiefs Roll Over Bengals in 45-10 Win at Home; Eric Reid Calls Malcolm Jenkins a "Sell Out" Following Game; Browns Lose 26-23 in Over Time to Bucs on 59-Yard Field Goal After Jabrill Peppers' Fumble; NBA Suspends Brandon Ingram, Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul for Brawl. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired October 22, 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] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-HOST, EARLY START: Attempts by Saudi Arabia to distance its -- Monday, it is Monday, I can confirm --
DAVE BRIGGS, CO-HOST, EARLY START: That you make steel --
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans, it's October 22nd, 5:00 a.m. in the east. Let's get started everybody here. Attempts by Saudi Arabia to distance its Crown Prince from the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi have failed to quiet an international uproar.
A series of inconsistent and shifting stories to explain what happened to the "Washington Post" columnist is fueling skepticism around the globe. On Friday, the Saudis admitted Khashoggi died at their consulate in Istanbul. They claim he was killed accidentally after a confrontation escalated into a brawl.
BRIGGS: The Saudi Foreign Minister telling "Fox News" Khashoggi's death was a tremendous mistake, but a result of an unsanctioned operation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADEL AL-JUBEIR, FOREIGN MINISTER, SAUDI ARABIA: The Crown Prince has denied this. The Crown Prince is not aware of this. Even the senior leadership of intelligence service was not aware of this. This was an operation that was a rogue operation. This was an operation where individuals ended up exceeding the authorities and responsibilities they had.
They made the mistake when they killed Jamal Khashoggi in the consulate and they tried to cover up for it. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The Foreign Minister says the kingdom is determined to punish those who are responsible for Khashoggi's murder. International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson live at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Nic, good morning to you, it appears the answer may lie with the Turks and with Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is promising to reveal the truth. Good morning.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Good morning. A matter of honor, Dave. That's how Erdogan's spokesman describes it. He is going to speak on Tuesday, is expected to say a lot more about this. They do say that they're going to push forward their investigation. However, there is a feeling on the Turkish side that they're not getting the full cooperation there from Saudi officials.
That what the foreign minister is saying doesn't -- I hope doesn't hold water, and is perhaps only a partial version of some of the events that happened here. The reason that they would believe this is because the foreign minister talks in part about good cooperation. Saudi officials coming here to cooperate with Turkish investigators.
And one of the big issues for Turkish investigators right now is the whereabouts of Jamal Khashoggi's body. The foreign minister of Saudi Arabia says they don't know, a senior Saudi source says that the body was handed over to a collaborator. For Turkish officials, that would seem to indicate that the Saudis have more information and at the moment their trail of trying to find Khashoggi's body seems to be running cold.
They have been searching woods, searching farms without being unable to find him so far. They are questioning today, the prosecutor here questioning 28 people from the Saudi Consulate on this coming -- when we understand in Saudi Arabia. Both the king and the Crown Prince have called Khashoggi's son Salah to offer him condolences, according to the Saudi press agency, he thanked them.
One would expect those sorts of statements that we're hearing from the Saudi press agency, they thanked them, one would expect there. Dave.
BRIGGS: Twenty days and still this shifting explanation. Nic Robertson, live for us in Istanbul, thank you, great reporting.
ROMANS: President Trump speaking out against the Saudi's shifting explanation for Khashoggi's fate. Saying in an interview with the "Washington Post", "obviously, there's been deception and there's been lies. But the president also defended Saudi Arabia as an incredible ally and clung to the possibility that the Crown Prince did not order the assassination. The president in fact praised Prince Mohammad as a strong person with good control of his country.
BRIGGS: Well, on Capitol Hill, lawmakers expressed deep skepticism including several Republican senators typically in the president's corner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. BEN SASSE (R), NEBRASKA: I think the cover stories from the
Saudis are a mess. You don't bring a bone saw to an accidental fist- fight inside an embassy in Turkey or a consulate in Turkey. So the Saudis have said a whole bunch of crap that's not right, accurate or true.
SEN. BOB CORKER (R), TENNESSEE: They've lost all credibility as it relates to explaining what has happened. I can understand the president wanting to keep open channels, but I think those of us who want to speak directly to this know that this is just not credible.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: If the Crown Prince truly loved his country, he would not have put his country in this position. If he truly respected the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, he would never thought of this. I want to work with the president, but we've got to send the right message. Others who could do this or would do this are watching us, I don't want to give them a green light.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Adding to the chorus, the conservative editorial board of the "Wall Street Journal" weighing in as well. They write, "U.S. officials above all can't appear to be complicit in a whitewash of the murder or public embrace of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman as if nothing happened. Americans understand that the U.S. has interests in the Middle East that often require working with rulers and countries that can be brutal. That shouldn't extend to denying actions that offend our values when they occur.
[05:05:00] ROMANS: All right, 15 days and counting to the midterms elections. The president now has up to 15 planned campaign stops, and that's just in October. This week alone, he is in Texas tonight for Senator Ted Cruz, in Wisconsin on Wednesday, North Carolina, Friday, Illinois on Saturday.
The president will have something new to crow about tonight, a new "Nbc"-"Wall Street Journal" poll finds his approval rating at a new high, only two points under his disapproval within the margin of error.
BRIGGS: Yes, still by a nine-point margin, likely voters would prefer that Democrats control Congress. Over the weekend, President Trump was in Nevada where he seized on the migrant caravan in Central America and pushed a jobs, not mobs message, attacking Democrats. Countering Trump in Nevada day, his predecessor President Obama campaigning for Jacky Rosen, Steve Sisolak, running for Senate and governor.
Joe Biden in Florida today campaigning with Senator Bill Nelson and Andrew Gillum who of course is running for governor.
ROMANS: Gillum and his Republican opponent Ron DeSantis sparred over race and President Trump during a contentious debate last night hosted by Cnn. One issue, climate change and the environment. DeSantis attacks Gillum for pursuing what he calls a California-style energy policy.
Gillum, according to DeSantis climate change skepticism. The Tallahassee mayor also tried to tie DeSantis to Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ANDREW GILLUM, TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA: Donald Trump is weak, and he performs as all weak people do. They become bullies. And Mr. DeSantis is his acolyte. He's trying out to be the Trump apprentice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: DeSantis also forced to confront accusations he's trying to use Gillum's race against him. Most notably, DeSantis warned Floridians in a "Fox News" interview not to monkey this up by voting for Gillum. Republicans strongly denied that comment was about race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON DESANTIS, FORMER CONGRESSMAN: You look at my record, whether it's in the military, when we're down range in Iraq, it didn't matter your race. We all wore the same uniform. We all had that American flag patch on our arm and that was end of story.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The latest Cnn poll has Gillum ahead of DeSantis by 12 among likely voters. The average of "RealClearPolitics" polls has him up by less than four though.
ROMANS: Right, the Trump administration is considering its most drastic move yet to roll back protections for transgender people. The "New York Times" reporting the Department of Health and Human Services is pushing an effort to narrowly define gender as a biological condition determined by genitals at birth. The move would effectively define transgender out of existence under federal law.
BRIGGS: HHS wants a uniform definition for sex across the government under Title IX. The civil rights law banning gender discrimination. HHS claims its definition is quote, "grounded in science". The Obama administration angered conservatives by widening the definition of gender and federal programs prompting fights over bathrooms, dorms and sports programs in human rights campaigns slam the proposals Sunday, calling it a destructive precedent.
Top military brass were in much greater danger than originally thought in last week's insider attack in Afghanistan. We now know the American general who oversees NATO's Military Advisory Mission in southern Afghanistan was wounded. A NATO spokesman says Army Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley is recovering from a gunshot wound and is still in charge of the command.
Two Afghan officials including Kandahar's police chief were killed in the attack. General Scott Miller; the head of U.S. and NATO forces drew his weapon during the attack, but did not fire. ROMANS: Well, President Trump says he has a new plan to help
Republicans in the midterms and more tax cuts. But there's little chance of it coming together in time. The president told reporters, Saturday, these new tax cuts are aimed at the middle class.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are looking at putting in a very major tax cut for middle income people. And if we do that, it will be some time just prior I would say to November. I would say sometime around the 1st of November, maybe a little before that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So it's not clear exactly what Trump meant or who the "we" is there. That time frame is just before the pivotal midterm elections. Here's the problem -- there's no chance of any plan passing before then. Congress is already in recess through the election, and even after that, it's unlikely to pass during the lame duck session.
There is a deep partisan divide over the GOP tax cuts. Many critics say this was corporate welfare. It helped corporate America, not the middle class to the same degree. You know, which Trump acknowledged Saturday, adding that this new plan would not be for businesses at all. Also not helping the new tax bill, the fact that the original $1.5 trillion tax cut is ballooning deficit. The federal deficit rose 17 percent in 2018 to $779 billion, that is the highest deficit in six years.
BRIGGS: And will that become an issue in the midterms with the entitlement cuts that Mitch McConnell is throwing out there? We shall see. National Security adviser John Bolton landing overnight in Moscow just days after the U.S. decided to pull out of a nuclear treaty with Russia. Fred Pleitgen live for us in Moscow next.
[05:10:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: National Security adviser John Bolton is in Moscow, he's set to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today. The meeting follows President Trump's announcement that he is pulling the U.S. out of a landmark nuclear treaty with Russia. One outspoken Russian senator says the U.S. is pushing the world to another Cuban missile crisis. Cnn's Fred Pleitgen live in Moscow with more. Fred?
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine, yes, the Russians also saying this could start a new nuclear arms race in a place obviously that's fairly quiet over the past couple of decades. I do have an update for you that literally just came in a couple of minutes ago.
Currently, the National Security adviser John Bolton is meeting with his Russian counterpart; the Russian National Security Guard sued security adviser Nikolai Patrushev, so that meeting is going on right now, you're absolutely right. Later, he's going to meet with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. But what we haven't been able to confirm yet, Christine, is whether or not, he's also going to meet Vladimir Putin.
[05:15:00] The Russians were saying that a meeting is in the works, but it hasn't really been confirmed yet. What the Russians want to know from the National Security adviser is they want to know whether President Trump's comments over the weekend that the U.S. is pulling out are final or whether or not there might be some wiggle room to maybe renegotiate some of this stuff.
Of course, this treaty, the intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty from 1987 got rid of 2,700 nuclear weapons in Europe by end of the Soviet Union as well. The U.S. has been accusing Russia of violating it over the past couple of days, because they say that the Russians are deploying intermediate-range missiles in the west of Russia.
The Russians say there's no evidence of that, they blame the U.S. for violating it, for developing a missile-defense system which of course the U.S. wants to deploy in Europe. Another really interesting thing that happened this morning is that the Chinese have also commented on this, criticizing the U.S. for wanting to leave that treaty.
One of the things that the Trump administration also says is that aside from the fact that they believe the Russians have been violating the treaty. They also think it puts the U.S. at a disadvantage towards China, which of course now part of the treaty and therefore could develop any sort of weapons it wants -- Christine?
ROMANS: All right, thanks so much for that, Fred Pleitgen in Moscow for us this Monday morning.
BRIGGS: All right, we'll talk a little sports ahead. The Kansas City Chiefs keep on rolling led by their star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and that young man Kareem Hunt, Coy Wire has more in the "BLEACHER REPORT" next.
[05:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRIGGS: Dozens of Clemson University students are lucky to be alive after a floor gives way at a party near campus this homecoming weekend.
Wow. Police say 30 people were injured Saturday night when the floor collapsed and the partiers suddenly plummeted into the basement. First responders were there in minutes. Authorities say no one suffered any life-threatening injuries, mostly broken bones and lacerations. Police are investigating what happened.
ROMANS: A manhunt is under way for the suspect in the killing of a Georgia police officer. Police say 18-year-old Tafahree Maynard is still at large, he's been charged with aggravated assault and felony murder in the shooting death of officer Antwan Toney. Officer Toney was answering a call about a suspicious vehicle, Saturday.
Police say the officer was approaching the car when Maynard fired from inside, struck him. The car sped off and crashed about a mile away. Officials think as many as four people were inside that vehicle. A second suspect, 19-year-old Isaiah Pretlow has been charged with aggravated assault.
The New York Police Department pulling thousands of body cams from service after one explodes. The Department says an officer noticed smoke rising from its body cam on Saturday shortly after he yanked the camera off, it then exploded. No one was injured.
About 20 percent of NYPD's 15,000 body cams are the VIEVU model LE5 model that blew up. Cnn has reached out to VIEVU's parent company Axon for comment -- Dave?
BRIGGS: All right, let's talk a little sports. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes continues his scorching start to this season. Coy Wire here with the "BLEACHER REPORT". Coy, good morning to you my friend. Fast-forward, November 19th, Chiefs and undefeated Rams are undefeated right now on Monday night. That will be some entertainment my friend.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: No doubt about it. Remember, the Chiefs only loss came to Patriots and that was a narrow loss, but Mahomes, Dave, has thrown 22 touchdowns, that's more than any quarterback in NFL history in the first eight games of career.
Two of his four last night wins to the NFL's rushing leader last season Kareem Hunt who had the run of a day. A disappearing act, spinning away from Bengals defenders, then another Houdini. He's picking a defender who is left reaching for air. He's one of the many weapons that young Patrick Mahomes has around him, the NFL's brightest rising star, hitting Demetrius Harris for one of his three touchdowns in the first half alone.
The Bills, think about this, have thrown three touchdowns all season. The Chiefs romped the Bengals 45-10. Emotions running high before Carolina's win over Philly. Newly-signed Panthers safety Eric Reid who continues to kneel during the anthem in solidarity to a Colin Kaepernick was there in the face of Eagle star Malcolm Jenkins whose players coalition partnered with the league, raising nearly $100 million for combating social inequality. Reid with strong words after the game for Jenkins.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC REID, FOOTBALL SAFETY, CAROLINA PANTHERS: Malcolm capitalized on the situation. He co-opted the movement that was started by Colin to get his organization funded. It's cowardly, he sold us out.
MALCOLM JENKINS, FOOTBALL SAFETY, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: I'm not going to get up here and say anything negative about that man. I respect him, I'm glad he has a job, I'm glad he's back in the league. I'll leave it like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: To Tampa, hosting Cleveland, Baker Mayfield thinking his Brown's can't possibly lose this, but not in overtime again. Tampa's Chandler Catanzaro's 59-yard field goal attempt is good. The game winner, and the hope on this over time field goal in history, and Mayfield's expression says it all for Cleveland.
Four overtimes in seven games this season, only one of them a win, LeBron still following the Browns, venting his frustration, tweeting "kicker has been missing from 15, 20, 25 yards out with nobody else on the field all year. " And of course, he would make from 59 yards out versus the Browns -- like, come on, man.
The NBA has suspended the Lakers Rajon Rondo three games for the brawl that broke out between him and Rockets' star Chris Paul who was suspended for two games. This and the Rockets victory overshadowed LeBron James' home debut.
[05:25:00] L.A.'s Brandon Ingram also receiving a four-game suspension for his role -- you see him on the right there, coming in late, throwing in a blow in the melee. So yes, not a good look for the NBA. But how about those --
BRIGGS: Yes --
WIRE: Browns, they just can't get right, Dave.
BRIGGS: Four overtime games this year. Just heartbreak for them. But they are appearing to really turn a corner, there's some optimism and charisma --
WIRE: As are Christine's Bears who lost a narrow one to the Patriots yesterday --
ROMANS: Oh --
BRIGGS: Should have --
WIRE: They're looking good too.
BRIGGS: Should have beaten the Patriots by the way, if it wasn't for special teams. Romans, that was a tough one for you, but the Bears certainly looking on the up --
ROMANS: Oh, yes --
BRIGGS: Optimism there for sure --
ROMANS: Yes, everyone who run into Trubisky jerseys is in my house --
BRIGGS: Trubisky jersey on the young son --
ROMANS: Yes, he loves that guy, all right --
BRIGGS: Good luck --
ROMANS: All right, thanks guys, nice to see you, Coy. Shifting stories from the Saudis failing to quiet international uproar over the murder of a journalist. The president toeing a fine line here, but members of Congress say they are ready to act.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
