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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Tenth Major Hurricane Threatening The Eastern Pacific; Turkish President To Address Jamal Khashoggi's Murder; President Furious About Immigrant Caravan; Prominent Members Of Both Political Parties Targeted By Violence. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired October 23, 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]

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And in that caravan you have some very bad people. You know what I am? I'm a nationalist, OK?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: A campaign of fear in full swing. Two weeks to the midterms. The President ripping on Democrats, taxes, a migrant caravan, and more, but much of it - almost all of it fails the fact checks.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN HOST: The Turkish President will address the Jamal Khashoggi murder this hour. The CIA director also heading to the region, but the White House is increasingly frustrated with the Saudis.

ROMANS: And who wants $1.6 billion? A record Mega Millions jackpot drawing is tonight. And your odds are long, boys and girls, very - very long. You might as well just put it in a 529 savings plan.

BRIGGS: It's five bucks, my friend.

ROMANS: Good morning. Welcome to Early Start. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. It's Tuesday, October 23. I'm playing, she's not. It's 4 a.m. in the east. The midterms, two weeks from today. The President is full campaign mode. Last night he was in Texas embracing Senator Ted Cruz, the man he called lying Ted during the 2016 campaign. He now labels, beautiful Ted. And Trump officially tagged himself with the label to characterize this populous redirect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: A globalist is a person who wants the globe to do well, frankly, not caring about our country so much. And you know what? We can't have that. You know, they have a word. It's, sort of, became old fashioned. It's called a nationalist. And I say, really, we're not supposed to use that word. You know what I am? I'm a nationalist, OK? I'm a nationalist. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The President also escalated his redirect against that caravan as the estimated 7500 migrants slowly make their way north through Mexico more than a thousand miles away from the U.S. border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think the Democrats had something to do with it. And now they're saying I think we made a big mistake. That is an assault on our country.

(APPLAUSE)

That's an assault. And in that caravan you have some very bad people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Again, that caravan, more than a thousand miles away from port of entry into the United States. Migrants in the caravan - migrants say that the - they are fleeing violence they're looking for economic opportunity. But Monday, the President threatened to cut aid to several Central American countries says failed to stop the migrants.

BRIGGS: The President also claimed that unknown Middle Easterners were embedded within that caravan. A senior counterterrorism official rejecting that claim, saying there is no evidence that's true. They rally and chance for the President to hone his pitch to his face with early voting now underway in 21 states.

ROMANS: Trump - President Trump's campaign rallies have featured a lot of redirect and a lot of it is, simply, false. It appears the President is, simply, making up claims about migrant caravans, tax cuts, riots, clean air, voter fraud. We have a scroll for you. The list goes on and on. And it caught the attention of former President Obama as he campaigned for Democrats in the state of Nevada.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Unlike some, I actually try to state facts. I believe in facts.

(APPLAUSE)

I - I believe in a fact-based reality, and fact-based politics. I don't believe in just making stuff up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The former Vice President, Joe Biden, campaigning for Democrats in Florida. He calls President Trump's comments about the migrant caravan, quote, hysteria. And he says the President is a know-nothing when it comes to climate change.

ROMANS: All right, prominent members of both political parties targeted by violence in the last few hours. A suspicious package intended for Democratic super-donor, George Soros. Found in a mailbox near his Bedford, New York home. Authorities say an employee opened the package revealing what appeared to be an explosive device. It did not detonate. The case has been turned over to the FBI.

BRIGGS: And Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy's office in Bakersfield, California, vandalized last night. And a post on his verified Instagram account, the House Majority Leader, McCarthy, showing surveillance footage of the suspects. And asking, does anyone know these two guys? He says they threw a boulder through his window, and took office equipment. There are the suspects.

ROMANS: There it is. Take a good long look at that. All right, 30 minutes from now we are expecting the Turkish President, Recep Erdogan, to address the (parliament) with the details of that investigation into journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death. On Sunday, Erdogan promised he would remove the lid completely from what his staff is now calling a cover-up by the Saudis.

BRIGGS: CIA Chief Gina Haspel is traveling to Turkey to monitor the investigation into the Washington Post columnist's murder. President Trump telling USA Today in an interview he still believes it was a plot gone array. And indicates he will oppose stopping arms sales to the kingdom as punishment. Still, the President does seem to be running out of patience with the Saudis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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TRUMP: I am not satisfied with what I've heard. They want a month? That's a long time. There's no reason for that much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The President's son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner has close ties to the Saudi Crown Prince. He confirmed on Monday that he spoke to Mohammed bin Salman and advised him to be fully transparent with his investigation. Let's go live to Turkey and bring in CNN's Ben Wedeman.

And Ben, it's almost as if there were mixed signals from - from the Americans here. You have the President saying he doesn't like the deception, but really backing away from any idea of stopping any arms sales. And the Treasury Secretary, meanwhile, is - is in Saudi Arabia meeting with Mohammed bin Salman.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We saw a picture from the Saudi Press Agency of Treasury Secretary Mnuchin meeting the Crown Prince. But he is not attending this so-called Davos in the Desert - Desert future investment initiative conference that is being organized by the Crown Prince.

Instead he's attending a separate terrorism conference. So, they are trying to maintain a certain distance from the Crown Prince, but having a picture of the Treasury Secretary of the United States with the Crown Prince published online doesn't necessarily send the right message.

Now here in Ankara, the Turkish capital, we are expecting the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to begin speaking in about half an hour. And he has already said that he is going to present, in his words, the naked truth about what happened.

He said that nothing about this incident, the killing of Jamal Kashoggi, will remain hidden. And, of course, what everybody wants to know is what is in, if they exist, these audio recordings that Turkish official sources who have remained anonymous, who have insisted, proof that the Washington Post columnist, on the second of October, shortly after 1 p.m. local time, was tortured, murdered, and then dismembered.

Now, what we've heard is the Saudis have now acknowledged that he was killed, perhaps, in a boxed interrogation, but everybody wants to know, where is the body? Until now there's no indication that the Saudis know where it is. The Turks haven't found it. But certainly, the investigation goes on.

ROMANS: Right. And in 23 minutes we will hear from the President of Turkey. We know you'll be monitoring it for us. Thank you so much, Ben Wedeman.

BRIGGS: Breaking overnight, the search is on for the gunmen who apparently shot and killed a student on the University of Utah campus. Police say a series of shots were reported and a woman's body was found inside a vehicle.

Police believe she had a previous relationship with the suspect identified as 37 year old Melvin Roland. The campus police say they don't believe they're dealing with an active threat. Classes are canceled for today.

ROMANS: All right. You have to believe tonight is the night, right?

BRIGGS: It's got to be.

ROMANS: It's got to be the night. The Mega Million's $1.6 billion jackpot drawing, that's a world record. If you want the cash upfront, the lump sum is $904 million. The odds are long, but at least there's a backup plan.

The Powerball jackpot is on Wednesday. It's $620 million. That's a cool 35.4 - 30 - $354.3 million for the lump sum. You know $904 million for the - for the Mega Millions. You could buy like 3 Boeing 777s for that. You know, that's a lot of money.

BRIGGS: You could also buy - you could buy every single combination for $600 million. So, if you could only fill out those cards, which you could not do ...

ROMANS: Right.

BRIGGS: ... you'd have a winner. Ahead, a category four hurricane, Willa, barring down on Mexico's west coast, but the rain threat extends all the way to the northeast this weekend in what could be a nasty weekend here.

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ROMANS: All right. Its President Trumps mystery tax cut. He says he is cutting taxes for the middle class by 10 percent with no legislative vehicle to do it.

During a rally in Houston yesterday the President brought up this new tax cut three times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to be putting in a 10 percent tax cut for middle income families. It's going to be put in next year. 10 percent tax cut. Republicans passed the biggest tax cut and reform in history with massive tax cuts for the middle class and now we're adding 10 percent to those numbers.

Kevin, we're putting in next week the 10 percent reduction in middle income taxes, right? Next week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Assuming that Kevin is the house ways of means (ph) chairman who is there in the rally. The critics of the President and the GOP tax law, the overhaul say that this really was skewed towards companies, not the middle class. How real is this? This new mystery tax cut.

The White House says the President wants tax reform 2.0, an additional 10 percent tax cut for middle income families, but a GOP source tells CNN there's no serious plan at the moment and there are two big issues here.

The President says next week. Well next week? There's no real clear time frame and no change of any plan passing before mid terms. Congress is out campaigning. Congress is in recess through the election.

And how would it be paid for? The original $1.5 trillion tax cut is ballooning the federal deficit. The deficit swelling 17 percent in 2018 to $779 billion, the highest in six years, so insiders say this is a campaign talking point.

BRIGGS: There's no need to speculate about what this is. It's a blatant lie in political play.

ROMANS: Two weeks before the mid terms.

BRIGGS: No plan.

[04:15:00]

ROMANS: The President wants to remind people that he cut taxes and he wants the middle class to think he can do some more.

BRIGGS: If he wanted this tax cut he had 18 months to get it through, never brought it up. We all know what this is. I'm certain even that crowd knows what this is.

Nancy Pelosi says, Democrats will use subpoena power strategically if they take the House in the mid term elections.

At CNN's Citizen Conference, the House minority leader told Dana Bash (ph) she would not take a shot gun approach to demanding documents and testimony from the administration, instead she said they'd use the threat of subpoenas to gain leverage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY PELOSI, (D) CALIFORNIA: Subpoena power is interesting. To use it or not to use it, it's a great arrow to have in your quiver in terms of negotiating on other subjects.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Pelosi said she is, QUOTE, pretty comfortable. She will be speaker again if Democrats win the House in two weeks. But, she told the L.A. TIMES in an interview, she sees herself as a, QUOTE, transitional figure.

ROMANS: All right. Hurricane Willa bearing down on the Mexico's western coast as category four, the aftermath could be felt from Texas through the northeast in the coming days.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the last.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good morning Dave and Christine. This is the tenth major hurricane for the eastern pacific this year. Just one shy of a record here, a record from 2015 when we had 11 and this is storm, category four, still sitting just off shore of Puerto Vallarta.

Of course big time resort companies from Puerto Vallarta northward toward Mazatlan, expecting landfall sometime into the afternoon or evening hours of today either as a strong category three or a category four here. It quickly weakens, of course, as it moves over land and the ending result here is going to be tremendous rainfall, storm surge along the coastal communities and then eventfully as we go in towards the middle of this week, this will leave showers in places such as central and eastern Texas.

The last place we want to see rainfall, of course knowing the flooding we've seen in recent weeks across that region, so that's part of the story and the other part is what's happening across the northeast this morning and eventually this afternoon.

Showers, frontal boundary in place, even a few snow showers across the interior portion of New England into the higher elevations. And the temperatures, they'll want to warm up here at least for the next 24 so hours before we see a cooling trend going into this upcoming weekend. Quick front, though, this moves out of here we'll leave the showers

behind by the time we get to tomorrow. High's across the northeast, 60 degrees by this afternoon in New York City, guys.

ROMANS: All right, we'll take it. Pedram Javaheri, thank you.

BRIGGS: All right.

ROMANS: A man arrested after groping a women on a flight, wait until you hear his explanation.

BRIGGS: And they're priceless, thousands of years old, and fake. Why a Dead Sea scrolls exhibit is no longer on display.

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[04:20:00]

ROMANS: A Tampa man facing time in prison after allegedly groping a woman on the plane and using the president to excuse his behavior. It happened on the flight Sunday from Houston to Albuquerque. A woman who was seated in front of Bruce Michael Alexander said he touched her inappropriately. Court documents reveal after Alexander was arrested, he said, quote, "The President of the United States says it is okay to grab women by their private parts." The suspect, of course, referring to that infamous "Access Hollywood" tape where the president makes rude remarks about women.

BRIGGS: A Georgia Tech student suing Senator David Perdue for grabbing his cell phone. The incident was caught on video. The Senator on Georgia Tech's campus on October 13th campaigning for Gubernatorial Candidate Brian Kemp. That's when student Nathan Knauf asked Perdue about allegations that Kemp was trying to suppress minority voters. The lawsuit against the Senator alleges unlawful battery and seeks a jury trial, damages and attorney's fees. We should note Knauf's attorneys are former democratic lawmakers. The spokesman for Perdue calls the complaint complete nonsense.

ROMANS: A school groundskeeper who says he got terminal cancer from Roundup weed killer will get to keep part of his multimillion dollar award. A San Francisco judge reversing her earlier decision and will now uphold a jury's verdict holding Monsanto for Duane Johnson's disease. The judge did cut the punitive damages from $250 million to $39 million. Johnson will get $78 million total. Bayer, which just bought Monsanto, called the decision a step in the right direction, but the verdict is still not supported by the evidence.

BRIGGS: An intruder who kicked in the front door of the Fox affiliate in Washington, D.C. is in critical condition this morning after a security guard shot him in the chest. The break-in was caught on surveillance video. According to WTTG, 38-year-old George Odemns was known to police and the station for sending bizarre e-mails to staff members. He's facing burglary charges according to the station. Police say Odemns was unarmed.

ROMANS: The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. says five of the most valuable artifacts are fakes and will no longer be displayed. They were thought to be part of the historic Dead Sea Scrolls but scholars in Germany tested the fragments and found five of them showed characteristics inconsistent with ancient origin. CNN raised questions about the museum's Dead Sea Scroll fragment last November when the new $500 million museum was set to open. Scholars say the forgeries could be the biggest sham in the history of bible archeology.

BRIGGS: All right, the fall classic begins tonight. The American League Champion Boston Red Sox hosting the N.L. Champion Los Angeles Dodgers in Fenway Park in Boston in a southpaw showdown in game one of the World Series. Left handers Chris Sale of Boston and Clayton Kershaw of Los Angeles taking the mound. The first pitch scheduled for what we call bedtime here on this set, 8:09 Eastern time; the Red Sox a slight favorite over the Dodgers.

ROMANS: It is hard to be a sports fan on this shift, Dave Briggs.

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BRIGGS: It really is tough. I'm going to have to take a lot of naps this week.

ROMAN: Taxes, the caravan, voter fraud; the president latching on familiar issues two weeks to the midterms. How much is true?

BRIGGS: And moments from now, Turkey's president expected to reveal new details about the death of the journalist at the Saudi consulate.

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(BEGIN VIDEO)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And in that caravan you have some very bad people. You know what I am? I'm a nationalist, OK?

(END VIDEO)

BRIGGS: A campaign of fear in full swing.

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