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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Deputy National Security Adviser Out of the White House; Florida Recount Tallies Due at 3 PM Today; Putin, Other Leaders Meet with Vice President Mike Pence; Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired November 15, 2018 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:14] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A dark cloud surrounds the White House. The president's mood takes a turn for the worse after midterm losses and a public rebuke from his wife.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Democrats pick up two more House seats, but Nancy Pelosi's path to reclaim the speaker's gavel faces new challenges.
ROMANS: Election recount numbers due today in Florida. Which major county could miss the deadline and what it means for major races?
BRIGGS: And get ready for an ugly day along the East Coast. A mix of floods, ice, even snow from the Deep South up to New England.
ROMANS: There's lots to look forward to.
BRIGGS: We're not in bad moods, though. I don't know about the mood of POTUS. We're happy, we hope you are.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: Everybody is entitled to a bad mood every now and then. I'm Christine Romans. It is Thursday, November 15th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.
This morning the president and Mrs. Trump will visit the Marine barracks in Washington, greeting troops. The president of course criticized for not going to Arlington earlier this week on Veterans Day.
He is pissed at damn near everyone. A direct quote, the words of one White House official describing President Trump after a series of setbacks and election night drubbing, infighting among aides, and the first lady's public demand to fire a National Security official. Aides tell CNN the president is isolated and becoming angrier by the hour.
BRIGGS: A week after declaring victory, nearly complete victory, in the midterms, the president's friends tell he is bitter about election losses and worried by the intensifying Mueller investigation. He is now openly musing about replacing more top aides and the first one to go is that National Security official Melania Trump wanted gone, Mira Ricardel, out of the White House if not the administration. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has the latest.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, all that talk of a White House staff shakeup is actually leading to one departure. You'll remember that story of the deputy National Security adviser just a couple of days ago in the crosshairs of First Lady Melania Trump. Well, the president finally making a decision to remove her from her position here at the White House. The president has decided to move her to another part of the administration but will indeed be leaving the National Security Council and White House.
Now important to point out, she was the top ranking deputy to John Bolton, the National Security adviser, who had -- you know, had her full support and she indeed was a key part of his team here at the White House. So this is a big departure. But certainly one, even it took the White House about 24 hours or so to acknowledge she was going to leave, it was almost unthinkable that anything else would happen because that would be president essentially ignoring the wishes of the first lady.
Many people are wondering why the first lady didn't tell the president privately. Well, sources here are saying that she had done that and there was no action taken. So that is why she called for the public firing of her. But in any case, there is no sense that this will be last shakeup. In fact the president saying that he will make a decision soon on the Homeland Security secretary. The key adviser we're looking for, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. Will he leave as well?
Those questions and anticipation is certainly swirling out there. But it is one sign the president is going to make good on his pledge to have a new team around him at least in some respects as he heads into the second two years of his first term in office -- Dave and Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Jeff Zeleny. Thanks, Jeff.
The GOP faces a new complication. Winning Senate confirmation for Trump administration judicial nominees this morning. Retiring Republican Jeff Flake says he will not vote yes unless a bipartisan legislation protecting the Special Counsel Robert Mueller receives a floor vote. The threat came after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked a floor vote on the special counsel bill that Flake and Democratic Senator Chris Coons are pushing.
BRIGGS: Flake and a handful of other Republican senators say legislation is necessary after the president fired Jeff Sessions and named Matt Whitaker as acting attorney general. Whitaker has been openly critical of the Mueller probe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: With the firing of the attorney general and in my view the improper installation of an acting attorney general who has not been subject to confirmation by this body, the president now has this investigation in his sights and we all know it. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: McConnell and other Senate Republicans say the measure is not needed because the president is not about to fire Mueller.
ROMANS: The Democrats gaining two more seats in the House of Representatives as races in California and New Jersey are called. That brings Democrats total net pickups in the House to 38 with -- 32, rather, with eight races still to be called. Democrats now poised to hold at least 227 seats in the new Congress. Meantime, there is a new wrinkle in Nancy Pelosi's bid to regain the House speaker's gavel.
[04:05:03] Seventeen House Democrats have now signed a letter saying they will not vote for her on the House floor.
BRIGGS: Five additional Democrats pledging not to support Pelosi, although they haven't signed that letter. If they all stick to their word, she may not have the votes to become speaker. But Pelosi and her allies are confident saying she will call the critics' bluffs. So far no House Democrat has actually stepped forward to run against Pelosi, and that's the key here. But Ohio Representatives Marcia Fudge and Tim Ryan both tell CNN they are not ruling out a bid.
ROMANS: President Trump announcing his support for a bipartisan prison reform bill called the First Step Act. The legislation shortens mandatory minimums for firearm offenses, eliminates the so- called stacking provisions that result in lengthy consecutive sentences, and reduces the number of nonviolent drug offenders serving mandatory minimum sentences.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're all better off when former inmates can receive and reenter society as law-abiding productive citizens. And thanks to our booming economy, they now have a chance at more opportunities than they've ever had before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The reform is a key focus for the president's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner. The president's support grew after White House officials show there's growing support for the bill across the political spectrum and among law enforcement. Senate leaders say they'll bring the measure to the floor if there are 60 votes in favor. The White House says it's optimistic.
ROMANS: All right. To California now. The death toll there stands at 58 as catastrophic wildfires ravage the state. At this hour, 56 people known to have died in the Camp Fire in Northern California, making that by far the deadliest wildfire in state history. 130 people are still unaccounted for. More than 10,000 structures destroyed. Most of them homes.
BRIGGS: Yes, 8600 just in that Camp Fire alone, which is now estimated to have burned 138,000 acres. It is 35 percent contained.
CNN's Dan Simon traveled with the National Guard going from house to house looking for victims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. STEVE COLLINS, BUTTE COUNTY SHERIFF'S INVESTIGATIONS: Everybody that's involved here has emotional connection to this. A lot of the people that are from this community have directly been impacted by their losing their home or know somebody that lost their home. They are housing people that lost their homes. It's -- this hit hard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Utility company PG&E could be in deep financial trouble if it's found liable for the Camp Fire. The utility disclosed Tuesday it experienced an outage just 15 minutes before that fire started.
In the face of tragedy, people are stepping up. A California couple took in a 93-year-old veteran after he fled the fire in Paradise. The volunteer organization North Valley Animal Disaster Group is working to relocate and shelter animals.
BRIGGS: Donations of things like food, clothes, and blankets also are piling up at this parking lot in Chico, California. Some donations even being brought by sea. One man filled his 150-foot yacht which supplies which were raft to shore by volunteers to be delivered where they're needed. Nice to see.
Meantime firefighters in Southern California gaining the upper hand on the Woolsey Fire. That blaze is now 52 percent contained. At least two people died in that fire.
ROMANS: The U.S. Postal Service's net loss has more than tripled in 2018 even as package deliveries rose. According to Reuters, the U.S. Postal Service lost nearly $4 billion this year. That's up from the loss of $1.2 billion in 2017. However, the report says the U.S. Postal Service reported shipping and package sales actually rose 10 percent.
This could give President Trump a reason to blame Amazon. The president has repeated attacked Amazon for not paying the U.S. Postal Service enough. In March, the president tweeted this. "It is reported that the U.S. Post Office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon." He continued accusing Amazon scamming the postal service saying, "The post office scam must stop. Amazon must pay real cost and taxes now."
Support of the U.S. Postal Service will nearly double the number of U.S. packages delivered for Amazon from 1.1 billion this year 2018 to 1.9 billion by 2023. Reuters reports rising pay and benefits and higher transfer costs like gas prices has hurt the postal service this year. That seems to be the problem there.
BRIGGS: He can just retweet his own tweet as you showed there from March.
(LAUGHTER)
BRIGGS: All right. Ahead, get ready to get soaked. Rain, ice, snow. All along the East Coast. The full forecast is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:13:51] BRIGGS: President Trump once again sowing doubt about voting numbers ahead of the Florida's recount deadline. In an interview with the conservative "Daily Caller," the president suggested without evidence some people are voting twice, saying, quote, "When people get in line that have absolutely no right to vote and they go around in circles, sometimes they go to their car, put on a different hat, put on a different shirt, come in and vote again."
Once again, there is no proof of that.
ROMANS: All right. Meantime, Florida Governor Rick Scott announcing he will recuse himself from certifying the election which he is a Republican Senate candidate. Scott was even in D.C. yesterday being introduced as a new senator. That's right. In unofficial results before the recount began, Scott led Democratic opponent Bill Nelson by just shy of 13,000 votes. The official results are due today but one big county named not make it.
CNN's Jessica Dean in Lauderhill, Florida, with more.
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave and Christine. We have made it to Thursday. This is the day that so many eyes have been on because this is the deadline, 3:00 p.m. today, when all counties across Florida are supposed to have their recount tallies into the Secretary of State's office.
[04:15:05] Here in Broward County they say they are on track to get that completed without any issues, that they will have those new numbers in, their new count into the Secretary of State's office by the deadline, but Palm Beach County is standing out as the one county across Florida that says they're not sure that they're going to make it.
They have been plagued by old equipment that is overheating. It's not able to really take the pace that a lot of this other equipment like they have here at Broward County, is able to take. That has slowed down the process for them. The supervisor of elections there saying on Wednesday she was in prayer mode that they were going to make the deadline.
Now Democrats have a pending lawsuit to lift all deadlines for the recount to make sure that everyone gets those numbers in. The law currently says that if they don't meet the deadline, that the election day numbers, those unofficial numbers they first submitted last Saturday, will stand.
So a lot of moving parts, and don't forget, a lot of lawsuits sitting out there as well. There will be more to come on this throughout the day. But again, today at 3:00 that's the time to watch -- Dave and Christine.
BRIGGS: All right. Thank you. The unsettled Georgia governor's race. A federal judge has issued a
split decision in response to the Abrams campaign's request to count previously rejected ballots. The decision says all Georgia counties must accept absentee ballots where the birth date was omitted or incorrect. But it denies a request to count provisional ballots cast outside the voter's county of residence. It's unclear how many ballots will be affected by this ruling.
Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who is also the Republican nominee for governor, cannot verify the election results until each county includes these absentee ballots.
ROMANS: Yes, the midterms are not over yet.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: They're not over yet. The state of play in the American election still in play.
It's not just cold temperatures invading the northeast. A wintry mix is also moving across the mid-Atlantic to the coast bringing with it rain, snow and ice. 31,000 customers already without power in Indiana.
Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has the forecast for us.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Dave and Christine. Major winter storm impacting the East Coast today. You can see how it is evolving across the Ohio River Valley, overspreading moisture and plenty of cloud cover across the region.
We've got several concerns that we're monitoring, including a full-on ice storm across central and southern Indiana and portions of southwest Ohio, with the potential for heavy snowfall, especially away from the coastline in the major cities. However, we still have the potential for some of the white stuff on the ground from New York all the way to Boston.
Over 80 million Americans under a winter weather advisory, winter storm warning, ice storm warning, five to seven inches of snow possible in St. Louis today and right along the spine of the Appalachian Mountains with high elevation snowfall for upstate Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, into New York as well. It could exceed a half a foot.
Thirty-one million people impacted by the potential of flooding today, from Atlanta all the way to the nation's capital. You can see the rain and snowfall totals for this region. Maybe a couple of inches on the ground by this time tomorrow in New York City. 35 degrees today for the Big Apple but we warm up quickly into the weekend.
Back to you.
BRIGGS: All right, Derek. Thank you.
The funeral will be held today for Sheriff Ron Helus who was killed last week in the Thousand Oaks shooting. The Country Music Awards honoring the 12 victims of last week's shootings in a Southern California country music bar. Musician Garth Brooks opened the show by telling the audience the night would be dedicated to the victims killed at the Borderline Bar & Grill. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARTH BROOKS, MUSICIAN: Tonight let's celebrate their lives. Let the music unite us with their love and their enduring memory. So please join me now in a moment of silence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: This is the second year in a row country music has faced this sort of dilemma. The Las Vegas shooting last year came just a few weeks before the awards. There are even people in that Borderline Bar & Grill who had survived the Las Vegas shooting.
BRIGGS: Yes. All right. Fitchburg State University is suspending basketball player Kewan Platt and barring him from campus for what you are seeing here. Yes, that's a brutal cheap shot unlike we have ever seen in sports arguably, a Nichols State player was committed against.
Nate Tenaglia actually hits a three-pointer. Platt went after him after he released the ball with a vicious forearm to the face. He checked the ref first to see if he was looking at him. Fitchberg State says it's appalled by Platt's conduct. A review is being conducted to determine if he should face further sanctions. Tenaglia was able to finish the game.
I'm surprised.
ROMANS: Have you ever seen anything like that?
BRIGGS: Well, no. And I'm surprised we're not talking about assault charges. Aside from being suspended.
[04:20:02] We've seen some pretty nasty things in the NHL that are close to this. But the fact that it was planned and he looked at the referee to check if he could get away with it first.
ROMANS: All right, 20 minutes past the hour. Overnight the vice president meeting with key Asian leaders in Singapore. What was on the agenda and which world leader fell asleep? We're live in Hong Kong.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: East Asian leaders meeting with Vice President Mike Pence as the 33rd ASEAN Summit wraps up in Singapore. Russian President Vladimir Putin also there. He and the vice president appeared together for a moment, along with National Security adviser John Bolton.
[04:25:04] The regional leaders taking on several key issues. They did not appear to be critical enough to keep South Korean president Moon Jae-in alert. It appears he nodded off while waiting for Pence to arrive.
It happened to us all.
(LAUGHTER)
BRIGGS: Absolutely.
ROMANS: You see Dave Briggs --
BRIGGS: I just woke up.
ROMANS: CNN's Alexandra Field has the latest from Hong Kong -- Alex.
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It would not happen to you, Christine. It did happen to President Moon. And certainly that image is being seen.
Look, that was before a big sit-down, though, with Vice President Mike Pence. The topic, of course, something that keeps everyone awake -- North Korea. The two men addressed the press before that meeting saying that they were talking a lot about the importance of a second summit between U.S. president Donald Trump and the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un. Both men indicating that a second summit would lead to meaningful progress on the topic of denuclearization.
Of course this talk all coming during the same week that the world saw widely published commercial satellite images showing the public some of North Korea's hidden missile sites. But certainly Vice President Pence trying to underscore the progress that has been made in terms of engagement with North Korea saying that there had in fact been meaningful progress and acknowledging that much more does still remains.
ROMANS: All right. Alexandra Field in Hong Kong. Thank you very much.
BRIGGS: All right. Ahead, we're in a good mood, but the president is not. His mood apparently darkened, getting darker. Now the National Security official his wife wanted fired is out of the White House, but not out of a job.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
