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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

President George H.W. Bush Lies in Repose in Houston; Turkey Calls for Arrest of Top Saudi Aides; Robert Mueller Files Heavily- Redacted Court Memo about Michael Flynn; U.S. Prepares to Sail Warship into Black Sea; New Images Show Expansion at North Korean Missile Base; Ballot Fraud Investigation in North Carolina House Race; Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired December 06, 2018 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:30:15] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Live pictures from Houston where the body of President George H.W. Bush lies in repose right now at the Bush family's church.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, 43RD PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The best father a son or daughter could have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Raw emotion as America's 43rd president eulogizes his father with another church service now just hours away.

BRIGGS: The Trump White House faces more opposition to its Saudi Arabia policy after the murder of a "Washington Post" journalist.

ROMANS: Plus a major search operation under way right now for five U.S. Marines after two military planes crashed off Japan.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. 30 minutes after the hour.

You know, there's a lot of laughter from George W., from 43.

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: Not just the tears. Something we've never seen before, we'll never see again. A president eulogizing his father.

ROMANS: Yes. That's right.

BRIGGS: Bur right now the body of the 41st president of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush lying in repose at the Bush family church back home in Houston.

These are live pictures. People have been filing by all night to pay their respects and later this morning, a memorial service at the church, St. Martin's Episcopal. It's the president's second memorial service following a service yesterday in Washington. For more on that, here is Jessica Dean in Houston.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave and Christine.

We are here at St. Martin's Episcopal Church where President Bush will lie in repose until 6:00 this morning. So they're asking people who'd like to come pay their respects to drive to a nearby church there, then walk through security. They board buses and are brought here. But that's been a very important thing for many people in this community to do.

The Bushes attended this church for some 50 years so they are very familiar faces in this place, in this neighborhood. In fact, their home is not too far from here, just over my shoulder. It's a very important place for the Bush family and it's important for this community to pay their respects to President Bush.

Now at 10:00 a.m., again Central Time, that's when this second funeral will take place. We're expecting to hear from President Bush's grandson, George P. Bush, as well as his former Secretary of State and best friend, James Baker.

We'll be following all those developments throughout the morning -- Dave and Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Jessica.

As she said, President Bush and his whole family were a real presence in Houston so it's no surprise thousands of mourners, regular Houstonians, lining up, some waiting more than many hours for a chance to pay their respects.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so happy that I came. I would have spent 10 hours in line waiting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: George Bush was Houston's president. We wanted to come and pay our respects and honor him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Houston was the Bushes' home but Washington was where the late president built his career. His state funeral yesterday held at the National Cathedral filled with heartfelt tributes and emotional farewells.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON MEACHAM, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN AND AUTHOR: George Herbert Walker Bush was America's last great soldier-statesman. A 20th century founding father.

BRIAN MULRONEY, FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA: I believe it will be said that no occupant of the Oval Office was more courageous, more principled, and more honorable than George Herbert Walker Bush.

SEN. ALAN SIMPSON, FRIEND OF PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH: He loved a good joke, the richer, the better. And he'd throw his head back and give that great laugh. But he never ever could remember a punchline, and I mean never.

BUSH: In his inaugural address, the 41st president of the United States said this. "We cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank account. We must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be a loyal friend, a loving parent, a citizen who leaves his home, his neighborhood and town better than he found it.

So through our tears let us know the blessings of knowing and loving you. A great and noble man. The best father a son or daughter could have. And in our grief, by this smile knowing that Dad is hugging Robin and holding Mom's hand again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Robin, George and Barbara Bush's little daughter, died of leukemia at age 3.

This afternoon, President Bush's body will be taken by train to College Station, Texas, where he'll be laid to rest at his presidential library.

Stay with CNN all day. We'll have complete coverage of President Bush's Texas memorial service and internment.

ROMANS: All right. A bipartisan group of senators is looking to punish Saudi Arabia for its in the killing of "Washington Post" journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

[04:05:04] They will meet today to discuss a deal aimed at suspending arms sales to the Saudis and curtailing U.S. support for the war in Yemen. They are hoping to reach a consensus and bring it to the floor as soon as next Monday. It comes after senators were briefed by the CIA director on Khashoggi's killing and came away convinced the Saudi crown prince was involved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BOB CORKER (R), TENNESSEE: What I do know is, you know, the CIA director came in and -- with some analysts and gave the most precise presentation I've ever heard in 12 years. And I left there as I mentioned as somebody came up today and corrected me on my comments yesterday when I said if he went for a jury, he'd be found guilty in 30 minutes. Some of my colleagues came out and said, no, no, no, 20.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: A deal targeting the Saudis would also be a rebuke of the president. He has downplayed the Khashoggi murder and cast doubt on the role of the Saudi crown prince.

BRIGGS: Istanbul's chief prosecutor has now filed an application seeking arrest warrants for two top Saudi aides. They are among five high-ranking officials dismissed over Jamal Khashoggi's death.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh live in Istanbul with the latest developments. Jomana, good morning.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave. And we understand that a Turkish court did issue the arrest warrants for those two senior officials. They're members of the inner circle of the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Those two individuals, the former head, deputy head of the intelligence service for Saudi Arabia, Ahmed al-Asiri, and also Saud al-Qahtani, who is a senior adviser to the crown prince.

And according to the chief prosecutor in Istanbul, the reason they issued these arrest warrants is they say, quote, "great suspicion" that those two were involved in the planning of the events that took place here at this building behind me, at the Saudi consulate here in Istanbul back in October.

Now this is coming after -- we heard the Saudis back in October saying that these two individuals were fired from their positions. They've also announced several other measures against that senior adviser, al- Qahtani, including a travel ban. But the feeling among Turkish officials is that no real meaningful action is being taken by the Saudis and in the words of a senior Turkish official telling CNN that this move by the chief prosecutor was, quote, "it reflects the view that Saudis authorities will not take formal action against those individuals."

And we heard this repeated call again from Turkish officials for the extradition of the suspects who are being held in Saudi Arabia, saying that no real process will be taking place there. So they should face justice here in Turkey. Something that has been dismissed by Saudi officials in the past. So again, we're hearing from officials. They're saying that the time has come for an international investigation.

BRIGGS: Yes. MBS clearly hoping this story will go away. It will not.

Jomana Karadsheh, live for us this morning. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right. All of Washington whirl of speculation this morning. Everyone wants to know what's under those hundreds of black lines redacting key parts of a court filing in the case of one-time National Security adviser Michael Flynn. Special Counsel Robert Mueller says Flynn provided substantial help in the Russia investigation. But Mueller isn't ready to say yet what that help was.

CNN's Sara Murray has more from Washington.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave and Christine.

The heavily redacted sentencing memo from Michael Flynn, President Trump's former National Security adviser, has Washington wondering what Special Counsel Robert Mueller is holding back. For all we've learned about Flynn's substantial assistance, 19 interviews with law enforcement spanning more than a year, Mueller's filing these many questions unanswered.

Flynn offered intel from multiple investigations. He cooperated in the investigation in the potential coordination between Russians and senior members of the Trump transition and campaign, offering long- term and first-hand insights. What those insights were? That's still unknown.

Flynn also provided substantial assistance in a criminal investigation. The rest, blacked out. As for a third investigation, the details of that one are entirely redacted in the filing. Those blacked out lines causing frenzied speculation as to what or who could still be in the Justice Department's crosshairs.

And we're still waiting on at least two other developments this week. Mueller's team in conjunction with U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan is expected to file a sentencing memo in the Michael Cohen case and respond to his request for no prison time.

And on Friday, we're expecting an explanation from Mueller on what former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort lied to investigators about, jeopardizing his cooperation agreement. So still a very busy week ahead.

Back to you, guys.

ROMANS: All right, Sara. Thank you for that.

We may learn much more about President Trump's finances once the Trump Organization responds to subpoenas served Wednesday.

[04:40:02] The attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia demanding tax records, profit and loss statements and other records. The president's personal taxes are not part of the subpoena.

A federal judge on Monday gave the go-ahead in a lawsuit by Maryland and D.C. The suit claims the president is violating the Constitution's ban on payments from foreign or domestic government to federal officeholders. "The Washington Post" reported yesterday, lobbyists for Saudi Arabia paid for at least 500 stays at the Trump Hotel in Washington over three months shortly after the president's election.

BRIGGS: The Senate Judiciary Committee scrapping a meeting today to advance more of President Trump's picks for the lower courts. An aide to Chairman Chuck Grassley says it's because Republican Senator Jeff Flake is not backing off a threat. Flake vows to vote against all pending judicial nominees until he gets a floor vote on a bill that would protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: We can solve this easily. Let's just have a vote. Let's just a vote. We need to approve some more judges. That would be great. But this has to be priority now. It has to be. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The committee has canceled meetings two weeks in a row, delaying 22 nominees from floor consideration by the end of the year.

ROMANS: All right. After President Trump set off investor jitters by feeding doubts about his trade deal with China, he stepped in Wednesday to pump up optimism. In a series of tweets, the president saying this, quote, "very strong signals being sent from China." He blamed his Chinese counterpart longer trip home for the delay in reciprocal public statements from Beijing confirming Washington's version of the agreement.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce also reaffirms Beijing's pledge to implementing already agreed on specific points as quickly as possible. In a new statement today from the Commerce Ministry as well.

Look, it welcomed -- it was welcome news for the president after Tuesday's nearly 800-point decline on Wall Street. The president's favorite personal poll. One of those points of the deal Fentanyl, a Chinese import President Trump has vowed to stamp out. The president hailed China's decision to label Fentanyl a controlled substance as a game changer, adding, quote, "If China cracks down on this horror drug, using the death penalty for distributors and pushers, the results will be incredible.

U.S. stock market will reopen today. Right now, futures are lower here. We'll watch to see if there's some follow through or a bounce back this morning.

BRIGGS: The president sure is right how crucial it would be to stop Fentanyl from being shipped from China.

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: But this seems like disagreement is similar to the North Korean nuclear agreement. Nothing concrete, vague promises and guarantees.

ROMANS: They have years of complaints from the United States to -- you know, to resolve really in 90 days.

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: And the president tweeting about it, I don't think is very helpful. I mean, the stock market really accelerated its losses on Tuesday when the president called himself "Tariff Man" in a tweet.

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: That was not helpful.

BRIGGS: Be interesting when the markets open in a few hours.

Ahead, a search and rescue mission under way off the coast of Japan after two U.S. Marine planes go down. We'll have the latest. ROMANS: Plus allegations of election fraud in a North Carolina

congressional race.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:47:08] ROMANS: A desperate search and rescue operation off the coast of southern Japan for five Marines still missing after two military aircraft crashed. The U.S. Military says the crash site is about 200 miles off the coast of Japan. Two Marines were rescued by helicopter. According to a Japanese Defense official the two aircraft fighter jet and a refueling plane, they collided in midair. The planes were conducting regularly scheduled training when the mishap occurred.

BRIGGS: The U.S. making preparations to sail a warship into the Black Sea. The moves comes amid heightened tensions in the region following Russia's seizure of Ukrainian ships and detention of its sailors.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen live in Moscow just before 1:00 p.m. there.

All right, Fred, what's the latest?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Dave, we know that the U.S. State Department has asked Turkey for permission or informed Turkey that the U.S. might sail a warship through Turkish territorial waters. That's something they need to do if they want to put a warship into that area. And certainly that has now happened. That doesn't mean that the U.S. is actually going to do this, but it is certainly, Dave, a very clear message to the Russians that the U.S. can if it wants to escalate the situation.

Of course right now that's very tense between the Ukrainians and the Russians. You just mentioned that incident that happened last week when the Russians intercepted and then impounded three Ukrainian ships that were trying to sail through the Strait of Kerch, which is out there in the Black Sea and between the Sea of Azov. That really hasn't tone down a bit.

The Russians yesterday accusing the Ukrainians of putting in place offensive capabilities in that area. Meanwhile, the Ukrainians accusing the Russians of doing the same thing and possibly were planning a ground offensive. The U.S. of course squarely on the side of the Ukrainians. They and other NATO members calling on the Russians to give those ships back immediately and the sailors who are in jail as well. And again the U.S. now preparing to possibly sail a warship out there as well -- Dave.

BRIGGS: Major confrontations ahead.

Fred Pleitgen live for us. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right. CNN has obtained new satellite images that show North Korea has significantly expanded a key long-range missile base in the country's mountainous interior. The revelation yet another reminder U.S. diplomacy has not done much to stop Kim Jong-un's effort to mass produce nuclear weapons. For the latest, let's bring in CNN's Will Ripley who has reported

extensively from Pyongyang. He is live for us in Hong Kong.

What do these images tell you, Will?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what they tell us is that Kim Jong-un is doing exactly what he said he would do on New Year's Day of this year. That he was going to mass produce nukes and continue to bolster his nation's nuclear program. And he is not in violation of any agreement with the United States or South Korea by significantly expanding and upgrading these missile sites.

And we're talking about one site that's been long known to U.S. intelligence. The Yeongjeo-dong missile base. And then there's a new previously unreported site about seven miles away. Now this is in a mountainous area. It's really ideal for North Korea to launch this kind of long-range missiles that could be equipped with nuclear warheads and target the U.S.

[04:50:05] Because you've got these long, narrow valleys lying with tunnels and inside those tunnels they can hide their mobile missile launchers that would then roll out and fire without pretty much any notice or at least not enough time for U.S. spy satellites to detect this.

So it's obviously a site that is concerning to the United States. But the work began in 2017, at the height of tensions, and, you know, even after Singapore, two months after Singapore, the work was continuing at these missile bases. But if you think about it from Kim Jong-un's perspective, why would he stop work that was already underway when there is no written agreement with the United States?

Especially since the United States is still pushing very hard on the sanctions issue and you have, you know, some kind of hawkish when it comes to North Korea, members of the Trump administration like National Security adviser John Bolton, saying that North Korea is not living up to its agreement. And sanctions won't be lifted until they fully denuclearize North Korea digging in their heels as well.

So during this diplomatic standoff, what is clear is that, you know, the military and missile capabilities are being expanded. North Korea still has its full arsenal, even though they are not testing them at the moment for more than a year now or parading them. The missiles are still there. The threat is still there. And we'll just have to see if the second Trump-Kim summit happens early next year if they can come to some sort of a deal to start getting rid of these weapons.

ROMANS: All right. Well, Will Ripley, for us in Hong Kong, watching all of this. Thanks, Will.

BRIGGS: All right. Here at home, House Democrats seeking an emergency hearing as investigators in North Carolina look into allegations of election fraud in the congressional race there. The investigation centers on a political operative who worked for Republican candidate Mark Harris. Unofficial ballot totals showed Harris ahead of Democrat Dan McCready by just 905 votes. CNN's Drew Griffin explains.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, we're now learning that this investigation, this criminal investigation has been going for nearly a year. It focuses not only on perhaps vote fraud, but on the campaign financing behind it. At the center of it is a man named McCrae Dowless who was paid by the Mark Harris campaign to get out the absentee ballot vote in Bladen County.

We've done some digging on Mr. Dallas. It turns out that he's worked on six different campaigns dating back to 2010. He was paid $23,000 for his work over those campaigns. And get this, it turns out in almost all of the campaigns he worked on, his candidate got a disproportionately large amount of absentee ballots. That is a subject of this investigation now which could end up turning over this North Carolina District 9 congressional race -- Christine, Dave.

BRIGGS: OK. Drew, thanks.

That political operative Leslie McCrae Dowless has denied any wrongdoing to the "Charlotte Observer."

Of course, Christine, we hear so much from the president about people changing a hat and clothes in the car and going in and voting. It would be nice to hear from the White House on election fraud in a very key state.

ROMANS: Yes. And this is really important.

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: All right. Burger King wants people to download its app so it's sending them to McDonald's for access to a 1 cent Whopper. We're going to check on CNN Business next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:57:58] ROMANS: All right. Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning. Global stock markets are down after the arrest of the Huawei -- the Huawei CFO.

Let's take a look at markets around the world. Here you can see Asian markets down while Nikkei down 2 percent here. Shanghai and the Hang Seng down 2.5 percent. The negativity continuing in the European market trading, in early trading there. You can see the DAX, the FTSE, the CAC quarante are all lower.

Wall Street will reopen today after being closed yesterday for the National Day of Mourning. And futures are down here across the board so you're going to see some weakness it feels like at the Opening Bell.

Look, yesterday was a welcome respite after Tuesday's decline. The Dow fell 799 points. That's more than 3 percent. The fourth largest point drop ever. It was the Dow's worst day since October 10 when it lost 832 points. The Nasdaq also closed down on Tuesday. The S&P 500 also about 3 percent lower.

Again the markets were closed yesterday. Global markets are all down. Futures are down. So we will see if the selling spreads today.

The president claims farmers will benefit from the deal with China on trade. But according to a new report by the Nebraska Farm Bureau, farmers have lost upward of $1 billion in revenue from ongoing trade conflicts. Corn, soybeans and pork have all had significant hit. According to that report, the total loss of Nebraska farm revenue due to the retaliatory tariffs is anywhere between $695 million to $1 billion just so far this year. The farm bureau there in Nebraska calling for the elimination of the administration's steel and aluminum tariffs saying they also raise prices for products they need to operate their farms. So they're getting hit twice there.

Burger King wants people to download its app. So it's sending them to McDonald's for access to a 1 cent Whopper. Here's how it works. If you're within 600 feet of a McDonald's, customers can unlock a deal for a penny Whopper using the Burger King app. The app then gives directions to a nearby participating Burger King where customers can pick up their burger.

Fast food chains often use stunts to get consumers to pay attention and buy for their business. Burger King recently announced plans to upgrade its stores to include digital menu boards and self-order kiosk, changes that its rivals have already put in place. They already have those at McDonald's.

The 1 cent deal runs through December 12th then customers can only access it one time. That whole story makes me so hungry.

BRIGGS: Delicious but --

ROMANS: Something about burgers at 5:00 a.m. I just love.