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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Mueller: Manafort Lied After Plea Deal; Trump Dismisses Climate Report; Major Cuts at GM; FBI Overhauls Tip-Line After Deadly Oversight. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired November 27, 2018 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:12] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: The deal is off. Prosecutors say Paul Manafort lied to Robert Mueller.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't believe it. No, no. I don't believe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The president outright dismissive of government scientists who say the climate change is a dire crisis.
BRIGGS: The president lashing out at GM. The automaker shuttering five North American plants and slashing its workforce by some 15 percent.
ROMANS: And the FBI will overhaul the public tip line the bureau was criticized for failing to act on tips about Stoneman Douglas shooter.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
Nice to have you back.
BRIGGS: Good to be back.
Hi, everybody. I'm Dave Briggs. It is Tuesday, November 27th, 4:00 a.m. in the East.
A Senate seat on the line in the state of Mississippi today. Polls open in a few hours. Will it be a red or a blue, blue, blue Christmas? While the president is talking about the comparison between himself --
ROMANS: Well done.
BRIGGS: -- and Elvis last night. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The proud birth place of the king of rock 'n' roll, Elvis. Elvis! We love Elvis. I shouldn't say this, you'll say I'm very conceited because I'm not.
But other than the blond hair growing up, they say I looked like Elvis. Do you see that?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Do you see the striking resemblance, Christine Romans?
ROMANS: I actually don't see it, but I'll take the president at his word.
BRIGGS: I think it's tough to tell them apart. But it is interesting when he got laughter when he said I'm not conceited. You hear laughter after the joke as well.
All right. More on that in a moment.
But we start, though, this morning, with the big cliff hanger in Washington. Did Paul Manafort lie to Robert Mueller? And if he did, why? Prosecutors some say the former Trump campaign chairman has breached the agreement with the Justice Department. For more than a year, the biggest open questions about the Russia investigation have swirled around Manafort.
ROMANS: For example, what's the full story on the Trump Tower meeting he attended with Russians who claimed to have incriminating information about Hillary Clinton? Now, we may never her Manafort testify about any of it.
CNN's Jessica Schneider has more from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, the lingering question after this filing, what did Paul Manafort lie about? The special counsel saying he lied on a variety of subject matters, but they won't disclose exactly what they were until they file a sentencing submission with the court a little bit later.
But remember, Paul Manafort, he's been working with Mueller's attorney since he pleaded guilty to two charges he faced in Washington, D.C. That guilty plea was back in September.
And, of course, on top of that guilty plea, we know that Paul Manafort, he was found guilty by a Virginia jury on eight counts back in August. But now, the special counsel is calling off the cooperation, no more talks, no more opportunity to cooperate. And they are ready for a federal judge to sentence Manafort.
Now, Paul Manafort's attorneys, they responded to this filing, and they said that Paul Manafort believes he was truthful and he does not agree that he breached any agreement. So, we'll have to see what the judge says in this case. But, for now, the special prosecutor's team saying to the judge, let's go ahead with the sentencing of Paul Manafort -- Christine and Dave.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRIGGS: OK. Jessica, thanks.
Meantime, Roger Stone associate Jerome Corsi refusing to sign a plea deal the special counsel has offered. Mueller thought to be interested in Corsi because of claims he was Stone's back channel to WikiLeaks. Corsi says his experience with the special counsel's team was like being interrogated as a POW in the Korean War.
In a phone call with CNN, Corsi said they can put me in prison the rest of my life. I'm not going to sign a lie.
ROMANS: The president dismissing the claims of climate change. The findings contain ominous warnings about global health and conclude the U.S. economy could lose hundreds of billions of dollars every year with the extreme heat in the southwest and major declines in corn and dairy production.
So, what does the president think about his own administration's assessment?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Have you read the climate report yet?
TRUMP: I have seen it. I've read some of it. And it's fine.
REPORTER: They say the economic impact will be devastating.
TRUMP: Yes, I don't believe it.
REPORTER: You don't believe it?
TRUMP: No, no. I don't believe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Some 1,600 pages, 300 government scientists. This nation's top climate experts, not an international panel, which is criticized before. These are American scientists.
BRIGGS: The study was supposed to come out in December, but it was released by the Trump administration on Black Friday when few Americans were paying attention. As Romans mentioned, conducted by 13 federal agencies and departments with over 300 prominent climate scientists.
One of them Katharine Hayhoe tweeted this on Friday: I wrote the climate scenarios chapter myself. What the White House says is demonstrably false.
[04:05:02] Katharine Hayhoe will be on "NEW DAY" later this morning.
ROMANS: All right. General Motors will cut production at five facilities in North America. GM will also reduce its salaried workforce by 15 percent, including a quarter of the company's executives. This is a major restructuring of the major American landmark company.
In a statement Monday: CEO Mary Barra said this: The actions we are taking today continue our transformation to be highly agile, resilient and profitable, while giving us the flexibility to invest in the future.
GM says it will shut operations in plants in Detroit, in Ontario, in Warren, Ohio, White Marsh, Maryland, and Warren, Michigan. The plants made sedans that have waned in popularity, including the Chevrolet Volt, the Impala, the Cruze, the Buick Lacrosse, the Cadillac CT6 and STX. GM will no longer make those cars.
The production shutdown of these facilities will come at the expense of about 8,000 salaried workers, 6,000 hourly workers will either lose their jobs or be reassigned to other plants.
The president said he raised concerns with Barra after the announcements and said he is not happy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I was very tough. I spoke with her when I heard they were closing. I said, you know, this country has done a lot for General Motors. You better get back in there soon. That's Ohio. And you better back in there soon. So, we have a lot of pressure on them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Despite all of this, at the rally in Mississippi Monday night, the president said his administration has found the magic wand for manufacturing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The previous administration, they said manufacturing is never coming back. It's gone. You need a magic wand.
Well, we found the magic wand. And that's actually -- that's actually going to be increasing by a lot in the next short while because we have a lot of companies moving in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: GM also said it will close three plants outside of North America by the end of next year. One of those closures in South Korea had been previously announced. And, Dave, what's really important here is this is a company that is hiring. It's hiring tech and software engineers. It is --
BRIGGS: In San Francisco.
ROMANS: As one economist told us yesterday, this is not about power trains, but this is about autonomous vehicles. It's about electric vehicles. It's about the future. It's about technology and innovation, not the kind of cars we are used to.
BRIGGS: Definitely a shift in U.S. auto industry.
ROMANS: Absolutely.
BRIGGS: All right. Mexico's interior ministry says 98 migrants will be deported following Sunday's disturbance at the U.S.-Mexico border. And Mexico's foreign ministry is asking the United States to investigate the use of tear gas by border patrol agents after a group of migrants tried to rush across.
The White House trying to justify the response. Here's the president suggesting that adult migrants grabbed children to improve their chances of entering the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They feel they are at an advantage with a young child. And they call them grabbers. That's the term I've heard. But it's -- what they're called. Grabbers, they grab a child, because when they have a child, they feel a lot of safer.
All over the border, you have a lot of grabbers. You have a lot of people that grab children. And they have no idea who these children are. They are not parents.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So, the president also denied tear gas was used on children. Either he did not see or chose to ignore this picture of a woman and two children are running from the gas.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen claims some women and children in the caravan are being used as human shields. Right now, more than 5,600 migrants are in the makeshift Tijuana shelter.
BRIGGS: Voters in Mississippi head to the polls today in the final Senate race of 2018. Democrat Mike Espy against Cindy Hyde-Smith in a runoff. She is heavily favored despite a number of controversies. Among them, the video of her saying she would be in the front row for a public hanging.
President headlined two rallies for Hyde-Smith yesterday. Two nooses were found at the state capital the day ahead of the emotionally charged vote. Along with the nooses, signs like this read: We are hanging nooses to remind people that times have not changed.
ROMANS: Democrats still making gains in the House this morning, three weeks after the midterms, a flip in California's 21st congressional district. The latest vote shows that the Democrat T.J. Cox ahead of Republican David Valadao.
One other race remains uncalled by CNN. They're in New Mexico. The Democrat is ahead there as well. So far, Democrats have picked up a net gain of 38 seats in races called by CNN.
One of those in Utah where Republican Mia Love conceded against Ben McAdams. She lashed out at -President Trump who attacked her the day after the election before the race was even called.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Mia Love gave me no love and she lost. Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia.
REP. MIA LOVE (R), UTAH: What did he have to gain by saying such a thing? This gave me a clear vision of his world as it is.
[04:10:03] No real relationships. Just convenient transactions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The president's own approval rating taking a hit in the wake of the midterms. Six in ten Americans now disapprove the job he is doing, 38 percent approve. That is down five points since last week's Gallup poll.
ROMANS: All right. Even visual proof of a Russian ship ramming a Ukrainian tugboat is not enough for the president to condemn Moscow. We are live in Ukraine.
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ROMANS: President Trump offering a muted response to the escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Russia seized three Ukrainian navy ships in a key waterway. Other world leaders condemning the move swiftly as an affront to the sovereignty of Ukraine, so did the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
This was the president's response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm not happy about it at all.
[04:15:01] Not at all. We let our position be known.
We do not like what's happening. Either way, we don't like what's happening. And hopefully, it will get straightened out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is live on the phone for us in Ukraine.
Nick, what's the latest?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Today, I think Ukraine is very much hours away from introducing martial law as a response to the Kerch Strait where the Ukrainian vessels appeared to have rammed Ukrainian vessel and taken 24 Ukrainian soldiers prisoner. Now, they're still being held and (INAUDIBLE). International condemnation of this. Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, condemning Russia's quite aggressive actions. Russia, for their part, said this was a provocation that they were pushed into.
But what is interesting is the exactly the more muted response from the U.S. president and this falls really into the pattern of continued Russian actions in the east of Ukraine to undermine the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian economy, too. It has been about what Moscow thinks it can get away with.
But incident in the Azov Sea is significant because it just shows the Russian military directly has been able to, or capable to directly confront and arrest the Ukrainian military. Over the past few years, the war has continued, but it used proxies like Russian separatists in areas to continue the fighting. This is a clear military on military confrontation.
I think there are many analysts looking to see it's perhaps the moment where Moscow may be testing the waters with the comparatively young Trump administration to see how far they can go and perhaps use the window ahead of the G20 meeting in Argentina between President Trump and President Putin, and see how far they can push Washington in the willingness to stand up for Ukraine, a long time U.S. ally here. And it has many in Ukraine on edge with what Russia will do next if it feels embolden. And, of course, many while they can read on paper what the martial law here in Ukraine may in fact involve, it has guarantees of constitutional rights, it may perhaps imposed blockades in separatists areas which are backed by Russia which could in turn exacerbate tensions here.
So, a real sense of unease about quite what Moscow want to do next and what Washington is willing to say or do to stop it?
ROMANS: Yes, President Trump in the past has blamed President Obama for Russia's seizure of Crimea. Now it's his problem. He says he's made his position known. We'll see what that position is.
Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much.
BRIGGS: All right. A fascinating story. A scientist in China claims he's created the world's first genetically edited babies, twin girls born this month. Chinese scientist He Jiankui, a professor at Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen claims that his lab had been editing embryos genetic codes for seven couples undergoing in vitro. It's a groundbreaking move, likely to spark significant ethically questions around gene editing and so-called designer babies. The Chinese government has ordered an immediate investigation.
Coming up: seven months --
ROMANS: So cool.
BRIGGS: -- 300 million miles and a smooth landing. NASA's Insight lander begins its mission on Mars.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:22:42] BRIGGS: The FBI announcing an overhaul to its public tip line system. The bureau faced stiff criticism after the February massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida because it received tips about the alleged gunman Nikolas Cruz well before the deadly shooting.
In a letter to the Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, the FBI says it is adding 12 supervisory special agent positions and 50 professional staff positions to the public access line division. Also adding training on issues like identifying pre- attack mental health indications.
ROMANS: A hate crime investigation in Los Angeles after police say a driver tried to run down two men outside a synagogue, look at the surveillance video here of 32-year-old Mohamed Mohamed making a U-turn and allegedly driving toward the men as they were living Friday night services. One of the worshippers said Mohamed yelled anti-Semitic slurs before trying to run them over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was bleeping and screaming F-ing Jew, F-ing Jew, F-ing Jew. He's laughing the entire time. He's actually dancing. You could clearly see in his face that he just wanted to do something.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Minutes later, surveillance video captures Mohamed leaving the scene, running a stop sign, broadsiding another car and a violent wreck. He is being held on $55,000 bail.
BRIGGS: The Food and Drug Administration closing in on the source of romaine lettuce responsible for that E. coli scare just before Thanksgiving. Officials now say only romaine lettuce from certain parts of California is unsafe to eat. Lettuce entering the market will now be labeled to give consumers information about when and where it was harvested.
The FDA says the most likely source of E. coli contamination is from the California central coast growing region where harvest season is ending. The number of people sickened has grown to 43 in 12 states.
ROMANS: Dictionary.com is revealing its word of the year and it's a sign of the times. The word is "misinformation". It made a comeback in 2018 with the explosion of false information on the Internet.
Dictionary.com says it is choosing the word as a call to action. Its editors also highlighting the difference between misinformation and disinformation, noting the two are not interchangeable. Disinformation refers to a deliberately misleading or biased information. Misinformation is wrong but does not require intent.
BRIGGS: Yes. There were cheers and tears of joy at NASA when the Insight spacecraft safely reached its destination -- Mars. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:25:06] ANNOUNCER: Touchdown confirmed!
(CHEERS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: One heck of a handshake.
ROMANS: I love it.
BRIGGS: The culmination of Insight's seven-month, 300 million mile journey through space. The Mars lander will spend the next two years studying the interior of the Red Planet. It wasted no time beaming back the first picture from the Mars surface. The image includes the dust cover still on the lens which will be removed this week. The black specks are dust and there's a rock in the left foreground.
We needed positive couple of day news.
ROMANS: I know. I love science.
All right. Prosecutors say Paul Manafort lied to Robert Mueller. His plea deal is off. Why could he have misled investigators?
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