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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Final Farewell To President George H.W. Bush; Presidents Trump and Xi Agree On Temporary Trade Truce; Violent Fuel Protests Rock Paris. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired December 03, 2018 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:31:14] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Special Air Mission 41 takes flight today -- a final farewell for the late President George Herbert Walker Bush.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Trade truce. No new tariffs, for now, on Chinese goods while the U.S. and China begin working to end their trade war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER STONE, FORMER ADVISER TO DONALD TRUMP: Where is the crime? I engaged in politics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Roger Stone maintains he did nothing wrong in 2016 despite questions about what he knew and when about hacked Democratic e-mails.
BRIGGS: And the New York Police Department saves the day after an engagement ring gets lost in Times Square. A happy ending ahead.
Welcome back to EARLY START, everybody. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It's 31 minutes past the hour.
Let's begin here, though, with the tearful tributes and the final goodbyes that begin this morning for George Herbert Walker Bush, the nation's 41st president. He died Friday night at the age of 94.
The same aircraft that took President Trump to Buenos Aires for the G20 summit will bring Mr. Bush back to Washington, D.C. one last time.
At a ceremony today, Vice President Pence will deliver remarks.
Listen to former Secretary of State James Baker describing the late president's final hours.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES BAKER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: One of the aides who assisted him physically said Mr. President, Sec. Baker is here. And he opened both eyes, he looked at me and said hey, Bake, where are
we going today? And I said well, Jefe, I said we're going to heaven. And he said good, that's where I want to go.
Little did I know or did he know, of course, that by 10:00 that night he'd be in heaven.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Jefe or chief is what Baker always called H.W.
Also making the trip to D.C. today, Mr. Bush's Labrador, Sully. That's him lying next to the late president's casket.
Bush 43 posted the photo and writes, "As much as our family is going to miss this dog, we're comforted to know he'll bring the same joy to his new home, Walter Reed, that he brought to 41."
More now from CNN's Suzanne Malveaux in Houston.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave and Christine.
The mission is called Special Air Mission 41. The presidential aircraft at Ellington Field now, here in Houston, that will be carrying President George H.W. Bush's body that will be brought to Joint Base Andrews later today. At about 11:30 Eastern is when they will go ahead and have a departure ceremony.
And then, in Washington, that is when the formal procession and the formality gets underway. At 4:45, the arrival ceremony, U.S. Capitol Rotunda, where President Bush will lie in state. And then it will be 7:30 Monday evening through 8:45 Wednesday morning that the public will be able to pay their respects.
Eleven o'clock is when the memorial service at the National Cathedral will take place with dignitaries, friends, and family. And then Wednesday evening, the president's body again being returned here back to Houston where he will lie in repose until Thursday morning.
Thursday, another second memorial service at St. Martin's Episcopal Church. That is the same church, you might recall, that Barbara Bush was memorialized at.
And then, on to the casket -- the body traveling by train to its final destination, College Station, Texas, at the Presidential Library and Museum. That is where he will be buried alongside his wife, Barbara Bush, and their little child -- their daughter who died at three years old, Robin.
In the meantime, many people here in Houston paying their respects at statues throughout the city with flower, teddy bears, and even those colorful socks as they pay tribute -- Dave, Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, Suzanne Malveaux for us in Houston.
Let's bring in Julian Zelizer, historian, CNN political analyst, and Princeton University professor. Nice to see you this morning.
[05:35:01] JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, HISTORIAN AND PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, AUTHOR, "THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW": Good morning.
ROMANS: You know, it was Dan Quayle who said -- really ticked through, I think very well, so many of the accomplishments of this president. And when we look back at a one-term president, these are his accomplishments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN QUAYLE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look at what we did, you know. We got budgets passed, clean air -- comprehensive clean air -- and legislation disabilities.
But sometimes divided government works. It clearly worked in our administration and you can get things done if you reach across the aisle and work hard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: There are the accomplishments and then there's the context. This is the last World War II president, you know? I mean, this is a really kind of moment in time to talk about where we've come from and where we're going.
ZELIZER: Look, he has a long list of accomplishments for someone who served four years -- that's true. Big accomplishments like the American With Disabilities Act, the budget deal that reduced the size of the deficit. Not only is he the last generation of that World War II era, he helped guide the country through the end of the Cold War.
So, he's a one-term president, not without his controversy, but that many people look back on and respect what he did in four years.
BRIGGS: And not just those four years, but think about not just the combat pilot, he was the CIA director, he was ambassador to the U.N., he was a congressman, he was a vice president.
ROMANS: Yes.
BRIGGS: His whole life was virtually dedicated to service.
But beyond the domestic accomplishments, foreign policy -- does that make him arguably the most consequential one-term president?
ZELIZER: Sure, this is the end of the Cold War. It's coming apart at the end of Reagan's presidency and there's this big question -- what's going to happen as this fundamental relationship between the U.S. and the Soviet Union collapses. And he decides to handle it with a lot of restraint. In public, he
doesn't say much as the Soviet Union is collapsing. He is criticized for that. But in the long run, it looks like that was a very effective way to keep the U.S. out of the story as its own goals were actually being accomplished.
And he always worked for international alliances, which he believed were fundamental to effective foreign policy.
ROMANS: It's interesting -- I heard people over the weekend talking about how, for example, he wanted the Germans to take credit for German reunification. And he wanted -- he didn't want to go rolling into Baghdad after they stopped Saddam Hussein in Kuwait.
He was not a bragger and he wasn't grandiose. That was almost that patrition (ph) --
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: You know, the patrition old money kind of old-school way of leadership.
ZELIZER: Yes, he had trouble talking about himself. I think this also dates back to his mother --
BRIGGS: Yes.
ZELIZER: -- always taught him to be very humble. But it really does affect his leadership. Part of it is humility, part of it's strategic.
ROMANS: Yes.
ZELIZER: He believed that the role of the president was not always to be out front in public and that that could actually undermine what he wanted to accomplish. So he often would give other people credit for things that he could easily have gone on television and say look what I did.
BRIGGS: Yes. And in that, he was the complete opposite of our current president. Not just that, but in how he embraced the media in terms of he wanted to have, in his words, a kinder, gentler nation. In every way, shape or form, his approach, his personality was the opposite of the current president.
But I want to talk about six key words that may have changed everything for him and here they are.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Read my lips. No new taxes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: How did those six words eventually change his legacy and the entire party's direction?
ZELIZER: Yes. Look, he makes that promise to show he's a real Reagan Republican, which many people doubted. Then in 1990, he reverses himself and works with a Democratic Congress on a deficit reduction deal where he increases taxes.
Newt Gingrich, who's the minority whip in the House, is furious --
ROMANS: Right.
ZELIZER: -- with this -- literally walks out of the meeting and will never really support the president again.
And that energizes kind of the modern wing of the Republican Party to be pure on every issue -- not to compromise. And you can argue that's a moment that hurt his presidency and also gave birth to the -- to the new era of Republican politics.
ROMANS: We'll have a lot of time this week, I think, to really reflect on his presidency and his legacy.
But I want to talk about what happened in G20 in Buenos Aires and that trade thaw -- a truce, if you will. We're not going to put 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods. It's going to stay at 10 percent.
How important was that? Is this real progress?
ZELIZER: Sure. Look, the last thing we need is a trade war and even in the last month we've seen some of the fragility of this very strong economic era. And I think the instability of trade is one of the issues that's lurking out there.
So, any kind of tentative agreement and real agreements that were made, I think are a sign of progress. We don't know if they'll stick.
ROMANS: Yes.
ZELIZER: We have no idea what's going to happen. That's the uncertainty of the Trump era.
[05:40:02] BRIGGS: Yes.
ZELIZER: But for now, that's better than a trade war.
ROMANS: It's 90 days of where -- and nothing's changed, I should say. It's 90 days where everything's staying the same.
BRIGGS: Just walking back from the cliff is all that's changed.
ROMANS: Right, it's everything is staying the same for the next 90 days and they're officially going to be talking. But when you look at what the U.S. wants China to do it is existential. The way the Chinese operate on the business landscape, I don't see them changing on some of these things.
BRIGGS: Intellectual property --
ROMANS: And forced technology transfer.
BRIGGS: -- forced technology transfers.
ROMANS: You know, and --
BRIGGS: But if he gets any movement on those two key issues, that's a huge --
ROMANS: Yes.
BRIGGS: -- win for President Trump.
ROMANS: We shall see.
Julian Zelizer --
ZELIZER: A lot of the business community --
BRIGGS: Yes.
ZELIZER: -- is looking for that.
ROMANS: Yes. Thanks you.
BRIGGS: Julian, thanks.
ZELIZER: Thank you.
ROMANS: Nice to see you.
All right.
Lawyers for Michael Cohen say he should not go to prison even though he has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress.
In a Friday night court briefing, Cohen's attorneys argue he is a changed man who is eager to share his knowledge with law enforcement. They go on to detail what they describe is Cohen's extensive cooperation, including seven voluntary interviews with special counsel Mueller's team and meetings with federal prosecutors in New York.
They also claim Cohen lied about efforts to finalize that Trump business project in Moscow because he was abiding by Trump's, quote, "strongly voiced mantra to minimize the investigation into links with the Kremlin."
Cohen is expected to be sentenced on December 12th.
BRIGGS: Former FBI director James Comey has agreed to sit for a private deposition with House Republicans. At first, he objected to a closed-door meeting but the two sides reached an agreement on transparency.
Mr. Comey tweeting that he "will sit in the dark, but Republicans agree I'm free to talk when done and transcript released in 24 hours. This is the closest I can get to public testimony."
House Republicans will question Comey on Friday. An FBI representative will be there to provide advice about the disclosure of sensitive information.
ROMANS: All right, violent protests once again grip the streets of Paris and now officials are considering new measures to keep the city calm. We're going to go live to France.
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[05:46:08] BRIGGS: French officials promising a firm response after another weekend of violent protests. Long, drawn-out street battles between police and demonstrators leading to widespread damage Saturday in the streets of Paris with over 400 arrests.
Fuel tax hikes triggering the "yellow vest" protest in the French capital. Not the only big challenge, though, facing Emmanuel Macron.
Melissa Bell joining us live from Paris.
With Macron's 29 percent approval rating, things are not easy ahead. Good morning, Melissa.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave.
Not easy for the French president at all, especially given what happened here in some of Paris' fanciest neighborhoods on Saturday night. Even now, that clean-up operation continues.
And you mentioned there the "yellow vest" protest that was kicked off by that hike in the fuel. Well, that appears to have spread much more widely than that.
What we saw on Saturday -- you can see here this bank being boarded up already. It was the symbols of capitalism, if you like, that were really widely attacked and in so many of these, the fancier neighborhoods of Paris.
Emmanuel Macron now needs to try and bring the temperature of that protest down. The French prime minister, Dave, will meet with some of the representatives of the "yellow vests" on Tuesday to see what political headway can be made.
But already, they are threatening another days' protest next Saturday, and the question is how will authorities cope better than they did last Saturday with anger that seems to be palpable, and continuing, and ongoing?
BRIGGS: All right, Melissa. I want to ask you also about one of the signature moments over the weekend at the G20. Emmanuel Macron face- to-face with MBS.
BELL: That's right, and there was this extraordinary snippet of a conversation because while all this was happening, of course, in Paris, Emmanuel Macron was in Argentina. Now we know that the French have a particular attitude towards Saudi
Arabia. They are big arms sellers to Riyadh and the French had seemed more reluctant, Dave, than say the Germans in imposing sanctions in the wake of Jamal Khashoggi's death.
And then, this snippet of a conversation caught on camera between Emmanuel Macron and the Saudi crown prince which seemed to show a sort of almost avuncular attitude on the part of the French president. We could only make out snippets of it but things like "I told you so," "you never listen to me." And the crown prince sort of saying yes, well, I do listen to you and suggesting a fairly intimate relationship between the two.
But what the subject of it was remains a mystery. To what piece of advice that Emmanuel Macron might have given the crown prince was he referring. This is, of course, the subject of a great deal of speculation this morning in the French press, Dave.
BRIGGS: Boy, what an encounter that was.
Melissa Bell live for us in Paris this morning -- thanks.
ROMANS: All right.
Global stock markets are cheering that temporary trade truce between the U.S. and China at the G20 meeting. Tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods will stay at 10 percent. It won't rise to 25 percent on January one and that meant big gains for Asian stock markets.
The Nikkei closed up one percent. Look at Shanghai and Hang Seng, both up more than 2 1/2 percent.
European stocks then followed suit to start the new trading week. The DAX, in Germany, up 2 1/2 percent. The FTSE, in London, and the Paris exchanges also higher.
And the good mood looks to extend to Wall Street this morning. Futures are higher.
The New York Stock Exchange will observe a moment of silence on Monday -- today -- and will close Wednesday to honor the memory of former President George H.W. Bush.
Soon you'll be able to ask Alexa to play your Apple music. Starting December 17th, Amazon's Echo smart speakers will work with Apple music.
The announcement comes after Amazon said it was working with Apple to carry the newest Apple products. As part of that deal, Amazon agreed to prohibit unauthorized third-parties from selling Apple goods on its site.
But, Apple and Amazon are still competitors. Amazon will still not sell the HomePod smart speaker, sticking to its own Echo products. And you cannot access Amazon music through Siri or on Apple products.
[05:50:00] BRIGGS: All right, got it.
Ahead, another NFL player caught on video abusing a young woman. Now, former Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt says he's sorry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAREEM HUNT, RELEASED NFL RUNNING BACK, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: I'm asking for forgiveness and I definitely believe I didn't deserve forgiveness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Will another team give Kareem Hunt a chance?
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Hanukkah celebration at Tree of Life synagogue.
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[05:55:00] BRIGGS: Jews around the world celebrating the first night of Hanukkah.
It was especially bittersweet, though, in Pittsburgh with hundreds showing up outside the Tree of Life synagogue where 11 people were massacred in October. Those who came said it was an opportunity to honor the dead and embrace Hanukkah's theme of survival.
The Festival of Lights lasts for eight days.
ROMANS: A potential tragedy narrowly averted at a preschool in Hawaii. The Department of Health reports a classroom assistant mistook a bottle of Pine-Sol cleaner for apple juice and used it to prepare snacks for the kids. Three of the students took sips before a teacher smelled the Pine-Sol and stopped the class from drinking it.
All the kids are OK. CNN affiliate KHON reports the assistant no longer works at that school.
BRIGGS: Now-former Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt says he regrets pushing and kicking a young woman. Footage of the February incident emerged Friday, prompting the Chiefs to let him go.
Hunt admitted he was not honest with the team when they asked about the incident. He apologized and says he doesn't blame the Chiefs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I'm asking for forgiveness and I definitely believe I didn't deserve forgiveness. And everything is really, you know, happening fast right now and I just want everybody to, you know, forgive me. And I know it's going to be hard. I made a bad choice and I'm not going to let this bring me down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: All right, let me just say that's not going to do it.
Hunt also told Lisa Salters the NFL never questioned him about that night. The NFL reiterating the point it first made Friday that it began investigating immediately after the February incident.
ROMANS: All right, a storybook ending for a man and his fiance after he dropped the engagement ring through a sidewalk grate when they were visiting in Times Square. The New York City Police Department tweeted video showing the man dropping to the ground trying to rescue the ring Friday -- no luck.
Saturday, police found the ring and put out an all-points Twitter bulletin to locate the couple. Social media detectives helped and by Sunday, the couple from England only identified as John and Daniella, they were located back home. The NYPD tweeting its thanks on Twitter.
Arrangements are being made to reunite the couple with the ring.
Now, John was apparently so convinced that that thing was gone forever, right, he bought another one after returning home.
BRIGGS: Yes, we need a follow-up there. Can't he just return that ring --
ROMANS: I don't know.
BRIGGS: -- or does he have just a back-up in case --
ROMANS: I don't know.
BRIGGS: -- he ever --
ROMANS: I know he would be in big -- you know, was there an insurance rider for that thing, too? Who knows?
BRIGGS: All right. "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" tackling the president's latest issues with Michael Cohen and that MBS-Putin handshake at the G20 that got a lot of attention.
Here now, your "Late-Night Laughs."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR, PORTRAYING PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, NBC "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": I'm sad you're going to prison, Michael. You were like a son to me.
BEN STILLER, ACTOR, PORTRAYING MICHAEL COHEN, NBC "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Then why'd you make me do so much illegal stuff?
BALDWIN: Because you were like a son to me.
FRED ARMISON, ACTOR, PORTRAYING SAUDI CROWN PRINCE MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN, NBC "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": When I killed that guy the other day, Trump was like -- oh, please, tell me you didn't do it. I was like bitch, you want oil or not?
ARMISON AND BECK BENNETT, ACTOR; PORTRAYING RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN, NBC "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": One, two, three, four, five -- oh.
BALDWIN (Singing): Don't cry for me, Argentina. The truth is I'm very guilty. Some little no-no's and maybe treason, but I kept my promise -- oops, no, I didn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Alec Baldwin also made fun of himself for that parking spot incident.
ROMANS: Oh, yes.
BRIGGS: But the show also honored George H.W. Bush with a montage of clips with Dana Carvey and Bush, himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: And I'm watching you do your impression of me and I've got to say, it's nothing like that. It bears no resemblance. It's bad, it's bad.
DANA CARVEY, ACTOR, PORTRAYING FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH, NBC "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Well, I'm sorry, Mr. President. I think it's a fair impression.
BUSH: Don't see it.
CARVEY: You don't?
BUSH: It's totally exaggerated. It's not me, those crazy hand gestures, the pointing thing -- I don't do them. And also, nah, gah, dah -- never said it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Not gonna do it.
ROMANS: Wouldn't be --
BRIGGS: When presidents laughed when others mocked them.
ROMANS: Yes, he did that. Well, it wouldn't be prudent at this juncture.
BRIGGS: That's was the great line.
ROMANS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I feel very fortunate to be president of this fascinating country.
JEB BUSH, FORMER GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA, SON OF PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH: My dad is just the kindest person and an extraordinary role model.
GEN. COLIN POWELL: The good news-bad news, he was always available to you. His humility demonstrated himself in so many different ways.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifty-eight combat missions in World War II. He was superb.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No regrets, then?
BUSH: No regrets about anything.
BAKER: Forty-three said I love you, dad, and I'll see you in heaven. And, 41 said, I love, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Monday, December third, 6:00 here in Washington.
John and I are here for our special coverage this week and it does promise to be a very special week here.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You know, it is an important moment for this country when a president passes. The entire country comes together and I think it is important we are here for that.
CAMEROTA: So, this is where the nation will bid farewell to our 41st president, George Herbert Walker Bush. He will make his final --
