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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
President Trump Raises Alarm on Border Security; Trump's Trade Adviser Talks Taxes; Trump Slams "Worst Cover-Up in History"; $1.6B Mega Millions Winner in South Carolina; Red Sox Beat Dodgers in World Series Opener. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired October 24, 2018 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There's no proof that they're in the caravan now?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, they could very well be.
ACOSTA: But there's no proof?
TRUMP: There's no proof of anything. There's no --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: No facts, no problem. The president sticking with the strategy on racial and cultural issues to rally Republicans ahead of the midterms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER NAVARRO, WHITE HOUSE TRADE ADVISER: We're seeing wage growth with that investment, and it's hitting on all cylinders.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The president's top trade adviser says tax cuts and tariffs are behind the strong economy. So, why is the president targeting his Fed chair yet again?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It was a total fiasco from day one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: The president's anger growing with the Saudis, calling their story about Jamal Khashoggi one of the worst cover-ups in history.
ROMANS: And someone in South Carolina is waking up $1.6 billion richer today. The rest of us, have a good Wednesday at work. Blah, blah.
BRIGGS: There's still a plan B out there, folks.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It's Wednesday, October 24th.
You're talking about the Powerball? The Powerball is still open?
BRIGGS: That's right, $350 million cash option.
ROMANS: If we spent as much time preparing for retirement as we do dreaming about Mega Millions --
BRIGGS: I'll pay 5 bucks to dream.
ROMANS: All right.
It is 13 days until the midterms. And President Trump is fully committed to vilifying the migrant caravan in Central America to energize his voters. One problem the president is having, he cannot back up many claims with facts.
The caravan is still weeks away from the U.S. border and has decreased from 7,000 to about 4,500, according to the Mexican government.
[05:00:03] After days of asserting unknown Middle Easterners are embedded with the caravan, the president was asked for proof.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Very good relationship with Border Patrol and ICE and they say it happens all the time, from the Middle East. It's not even saying bad or good, but some real bad ones. But --
ACOSTA: There's no proof that they're in the caravan now?
TRUMP: Well, they could very well be.
ACOSTA: But there's no proof?
TRUMP: There's no proof of anything. There's no proof of anything. But they could very well be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Ten minutes later, the Homeland Security Department spokesman tweeted DHS can confirm there are gang members and criminals in the caravan, and people from the Middle East traveling through Mexico. But DHS is not confirming any of them terrorists or any proof for its claims saying it is law enforcement sensitive issue.
The president with senior commanders in the room said he is considering military options for the border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Thinking about a lot of things, thinking about everything, including the military. Not just the National Guard, the military is what I'm thinking about. We can't have people coming into our country illegally.
REPORTER: What legally could the military do?
TRUMP: They can do a lot. They're the military. Right, fellas? They're the military. They can do a lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The president doubling down while calling himself a nationalist while denying there are any racist overtones to the term.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: There's a concern that you are ended coded language or a dog whistle to some Americans that what you really mean is that you're a white nationalist.
TRUMP: I never even heard that. I cannot imagine that. You mean I say -- I'm a nationalist. No, I never heard that theory about being a nationalist.
We protect, and we get killed. We do the training, and they get killed. Can't do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The president's potential 2020 opponents honing in on all this, Vice President Joe Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: This president's more like George Wallace than George Washington.
(LAUGHTER)
No. And Democrats have to choose hope over fear. Unity over division!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
We have to choose our allies over our enemies. We have to choose truth over lies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: President Trump back on the road tonight campaigning for Republicans in Wisconsin.
ROMANS: President Trump touting a mystery tax cut for the middle class. With Congress out of session, D.C. scrambled yesterday to make sense of whether this new plan is fantasy or reality.
Critics of the original GOP tax law say it favors companies over families, and it balloons the federal deficit.
I asked President Trump's top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, if another tax cut is necessary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAVARRO: He's targeting the middle class 10 percent which I think is a great idea. One of the beauties of the Trump economy is the high levels of investment we're seeing from the tax cut and from the tariffs, investments coming on shore.
Now, what does that do? What that does is it increases our productivity, and when you get increased productivity, real wages go up. So, we're seeing wage growth with that investment. And it's hitting on all cylinders.
ROMANS: If the economy is so strong, and I think it really is by every measure, and the president's talking about more tax cuts, do we run the risk of even worsening the deficit here?
NAVARRO: The best way to close a deficit is to add another point of growth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: And that's been the philosophy from day one, right. That right now it's about juicing growth.
So, what does President Trump think is the biggest risk to the economy? The Federal Reserve. In a "Wall Street Journal" interview he said Fed chair Jerome Powell is raising interest rates too quickly and he is unhappy because President Obama had zero interest rates.
He said Powell, who he chose, looks happy while doing it.
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: Having fun raising interest rates.
BRIGGS: He needs a boogieman, and even if it's the Fed chairman heading into the midterms, that's what he's going to do.
ROMANS: And that comment about, well, Obama had zero interest rates, I don't think anybody wants the economy Obama had when he came in, right? He had zero interest rates because the economy was off a cliff.
BRIGGS: Yes, no one wants to inherit that.
ROMANS: That's why the interest rate were zero.
BRIGGS: All right. The candidates for the next governor of Georgia covered a range of topics during their hour-long debate last night, sparring over criminal justice reform, education, Medicaid, and voter suppression. Democrat Stacey Abrams, Republican Brian Kemp, and libertarian Ted Metz squaring off. Abrams defending a 1992 Georgia flag-burning protest when it still had the Confederate symbol.
CNN has more from Atlanta.
CNN's Kaylee Hartung in Atlanta with more.
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KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dave, Christine, for the first time in this hotly contested race, Georgia's candidates for governor faced off in a debate. And right out of the gate, Democrat Stacey Abrams was asked about the news of the day. Her admission that in 1992 she participated in a protest where the old Georgia state flag was burned.
[05:05:01] STACEY ABRAMS (D), GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: And 26 years ago as a college freshman, I along with many other Georgians, including the governor of Georgia, were deeply disturbed by the racial divisiveness that was embedded in the state flag with that Confederate symbol. I took an action of peaceful protest. I said that that was wrong. And ten years later, my opponent, Brian Kemp, actually voted to remove that symbol.
HARTUNG: The most controversial topic for Republican Brian Kemp to address -- the allegations of voter suppression by Stacey Abrams in his capacity as secretary of state.
BRIAN KEMP (R), GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: We have more voters on the roll than when I took office. I created the process for overseas and military ballots to be delivered electronically. We have made it easier to vote and hard to cheat. And just because Ms. Abrams files a false lawsuit or the New Georgia Project, it doesn't mean it's right, and we defeated that in 2014.
HARTUNG: Both campaigns entered this debate with similar strategies -- to continue down their polar opposite paths. Both did that, continuing to energize their bases in a state where very few undecided voters remain -- Dave, Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Kaylee, thank you.
The Democratic nominee for governor of Florida targeted by a blatantly racist robocall. Andrew Gillum mocked in a brutally offensive message delivered in black-faced dialect. The robocall also makes derogatory references to Jews and slavery. Listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
ROBOCALL: Well, hello there. I is a Negro Andrew Gillum, and I be asking you to make me governor of this here state of Florida. My esteem opponent who done call me the monkey, is doin' a lot of hollerin' about how expensive my plans for healthcare be. But he be thinking for the white man's medicine, which is very expensive because it uses science and whatnot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Just really vile.
BRIGGS: Deplorable.
ROMANS: A right-wing extremist podcast, "The Road to Power," claiming responsibility for the message. Gillum's complain blasted the call as deeply offensive. No response yet from the campaign of his Republican opponent, Ron DeSantis.
BRIGGS: Gillum challenged on another front, claims he improperly accepted tickets to "Hamilton" on Broadway in 2016. New texts released under a subpoena from the state ethics commission cast doubt on Gillum's explanation. His campaign says his brother was the source of his ticket. But the texts hint they may have come from someone else.
Text messages were handed over by a close friend Gillum saw the show with, a friend who is also a lobbyist. Gillum's campaign claims the cryptic texts prove he did not mislead the public, though.
ROMANS: President Trump this morning set to meet with U.S. officials returning from Turkey and Saudi Arabia, they were there looking into the death of "Washington Post" columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
The "Wall Street Journal" asked the president about the possible involvement of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Trump said, well, the prince is running things over there. So if anybody were going to be, it would be him.
The president delivering his harshest indictment so far of the Saudis and Khashoggi's horrific murder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They did the wrong thing in even thinking about the idea. They certainly did a bad job both execution and they certainly did a bad job of talking about it or covering it up, if you'd like to say that. But I would say it was a total fiasco from day one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the U.S. will revoke the visa as of all the Saudis linked to the murder. He says the administration has, quote, identified at least some of the individuals responsible.
So far, it seems this fiasco has done little, though, to harm the crown prince's image back home. Crowds rushed to take selfies with MBS as he walked into the Saudi investment conference in Riyadh.
How about this photo -- the crown prince with Khashoggi's son. The prince will make his first public speech since the Khashoggi crisis at the summit today. How painful that must be for the son.
ROMANS: And notable that that was released by the Saudi press agency that wants the world to see this image. We know his family, Khashoggi's family, is banned from travel. They have travel restrictions.
All right. Someone in South Carolina's waking up rich. At least one mega millions ticket worth an estimated $1.6 billion was sold in the Palmetto State. That person could walk away with a Lump Sum payment of $904 million.
In case you missed it, here are the winning numbers -- 5-28-62-65-70, and the mega ball is 5. Now, don't worry, your dreams of becoming a zillionaire are not over. The Powerball tonight worth a whopping $620 million.
I don't believe how big the jackpots are. I mean, they've tweaked the rules, right?
BRIGGS: Tweaked the formula to make the big jackpots more likely. Made it a little more expensive, too. But it does get the attention -- look at us, talking about it.
ROMANS: True.
BRIGGS: OK. Ahead, imagine getting on an escalator when suddenly this happens. This video is not sped up. A malfunction sends dozens tumbling.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:14:06] ROMANS: An attorney from New York is the victim of an apparent murder at Club Med at Turks and Caicos. Maria Kuhnla was a 62-year-old attorney from Long Island. According to CNN affiliate WABC, she was on a girls trip with friends earlier this month when she vanished. Her body was discovered by one of her friends the next morning in some bushes at the edge of the resort. Maria's friends say authorities told them it appears she was strangled.
BRIGGS: A virus outbreak in New Jersey has killed six children. Officials say the Adenovirus left 12 others infected at the center for nursing and rehabilitation in Haskell, New Jersey. Management has been ordered to stop admitting patients until the outbreak ends. The virus usually causes mild to severe illness, but patients with weakened immune systems are at higher risk. The union representing nurses at the facility previously complained about a shortage of supplies and staff.
[05:15:03] ROMANS: All right. A devastating fire destroying the First Baptist Church of Wakefield in Massachusetts last night. A witness report seeing lightning strike the 180-foot steeple before the building, look, just went up in flames. According to its website, the church is 150 years old. The building appears a total loss. No injuries reported.
BRIGGS: The suspected killer of a University of Utah student was a registered sex offender. State corrections officials say 37-year-old Melvin Rowland was previously convicted of enticing a minor and forcing sexual abuse. Lauren McCluskey's mother Jill says her daughter Rowland for about a month and ended the relationship this month when she found out about his criminal past.
She says her daughter reported Rowland, and was harassing her to University of Utah police. Rowland was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound early Tuesday inside a Salt Lake City Church.
ROMANS: Tragedy there.
Sandra Day O'Connor announcing she's been diagnosed with dementia. The retired Supreme Court justice revealed her condition in a letter. She writes she's in the beginning stages of dementia, probably Alzheimer's disease. And she says while the final chapter of my life with dementia may be trying, nothing has diminished my gratitude and deep appreciation for the countless blessings of my life.
The 88-year-old O'Connor retired from the bench in 2006 in part to care for her husband who was suffering from Alzheimer's. She's written beautifully about how it altered their plans for retirement but it didn't alter her deep love for him. And she's really an amazing person.
BRIGGS: And a throwback to a time we may never see again when someone's confirmed 99-0.
ROMANS: Yes.
BRIGGS: Ahead, we'll talk sports. The Boston Red Sox drawing first blood in the fall classic. Andy Scholes at a very chilly Fenway Park. No hat, though, rocking the good hair this morning. He's next. Seeing his own breath.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:21:15] BRIGGS: An apology from morning television host Megyn Kelly for defending blackface Halloween costumes during a segment on her NBC show. Kelly defended a white reality star who portrayed Diana Ross last year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEGYN KELLY, NBC HOST: What is racist? Because -- because truly, you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on black face for Halloween --
UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
KELLY: -- or a black person who puts on white face for Halloween, like -- when I was a kid, that was okay as long as you were dressed as a character.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: She was born in 1970, if you're wondering.
After an immediate backlash, Kelly sent a note colleagues saying, one of the wonderful things about my job is that I get the chance to express and hear a lot of opinions. Today is one of those days where listening carefully to other points of view including from friends and colleagues is leading me to rethink my own views. You might remember in 2013 while still an anchor at Fox News, Kelly infamously declared Jesus and Santa were white men and called her comment a verifiable fact.
ROMANS: All right. An escalator malfunction at a Metro Station in Rome injures at least 20 people, one of them seriously. Look at this video. It shows dozens thrown down at the metro station.
Most of the injured were Russian soccer fans on their way to attend a Champions League match. Rome's mayor said it appears some of them were dancing and jumping on the escalator. Fire official says the investigation is ongoing.
All right. This is like something from a sitcom. A group of apparently dim would-be robbers in Belgium took a storeowner's word when he told them come back later, I don't have enough cash in my register. They left. The owner called police.
When the group returned early, the owner told them to come back a third time. When they finally, did officers were waiting. Five suspects were quickly arrested, Dave.
BRIGGS: All right.
Let's talk a little sports. It was a cold night in Boston. But the Boston Red Sox' bats were hot in game one of the World Series.
Andy Scholes has more this morning from a very chilly Fenway Park.
Good morning, my friend.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Dave.
I tell you what, though, the atmosphere, even though it was really cold here at Fenway Park, it was electric. The fans all night long with some fun chants including "beat L.A." and Boston and Los Angeles, they have a longstanding sports rivalry. It's usually Celtics-Lakers. But for the first time, it was playing out on the baseball diamond last night in game one of the World Series.
And this game was back and forth early on. Neither Clayton Kershaw or Chris Sale was able to get out of the fifth inning. And the highlight in the bottom of the seventh, the Red Sox up by one. Two on for Eduardo Nunez, pinch-hitting. And he hits it over the green monster for a three-run home run.
Nunez once upon a time was a member of the Yankees. He was considered to be the future replacement for Derek Jeter at shortstop. That didn't quite work out for him. But, hey, after that home run, he's forever going to be a Red Sox legend.
Boston goes on to win game one by a final of 8-4 to take the lead in the series.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDUARDO NUNEZ, RED SOX SECOND BASEMAN: I don't care about being a hero. As long as we get the win, that's all that matters. We're here to win and lose together. And who cares who's the hero tonight. So, we are heroes. That's a good feeling because we got the win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Now, the winner of game one went on to win 17 of the last 21 World Series. But good news for the Dodgers, the Cubs and Astros the last two years have lost game one and went on to win the World Series.
Game two tonight at -- a little after 8:00 Eastern. David Price on the mound for the Red Sox. The Dodgers countering with Ryu.
[05:25:01] It's going to be another cold one, Dave. The temperatures around first pitch going to be in the mid 40s. So, another chilly night here in Boston.
BRIGGS: Yes. But the real feel in the mid 30s, my friend. But still, most would trade places with you, my friend. Enjoy game two.
Romans, over to you.
ROMANS: All right. Thank you. Yes. With mittens, I hope.
All right. No proof, no facts, no problem. The president's telling statement that he can't back up his claims doesn't even matter.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: There's no proof that they're in the caravan now?
TRUMP: Well, they could very well be.
ACOSTA: But there's no proof?
TRUMP: There's no proof of anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: No facts, no problem. The president is sticking with the strategy on racial and cultural issues to rally Republicans ahead of the midterms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: How long will this take with China?
NAVARRO: The ball's in China's court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The president's trade adviser defending a trade war with China, but the president now says he'd only use tariffs as a negotiating tactic.
