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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Major Russia Probe Developments Expected; Democrat Dan McCready Rescinds Concession; U.S.-China Trade Turmoil Expands Over Huawei Exec Arrest; Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired December 07, 2018 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:11] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: New revelations expected today in the Mueller investigation. What else does the special counsel know about the Trump campaign and Russians?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump about to name a new U.N. ambassadors. Questions surround the choice of former TV host Heather Nauert.
BRIGGS: Breaking overnight, two former Major League players killed in a car accident.
ROMANS: And a stunning announcement out of Hollywood. Kevin Hart says he's stepping down as host of the Oscars.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: Search is on again. I'm Dave Briggs, Friday, December 7th, 4:00 a.m. in the East. And just when you thought those midterm elections are over looks like they may go into the next yea. We'll have more on that in a moment.
We start with a very busy day ahead with developments in the special counsel investigation. Closed-door testimony from former FBI director James Comey just the opening act. We are also expecting two major court filings by Robert Mueller's team involving former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. The filings may reveal significant new details about Mueller's probe of possible Russian collusion.
Our Sara Murray has more from Washington.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Dave. It's already been a wild week in the Russia investigation and that frenzied pace continues today. To start this morning, we are going to see former FBI director James Comey up on Capitol Hill. He'll be providing testimony, but he'll be doing it behind closed doors for House Republicans. He and the committee struck a deal that he would provide this testimony as long as they release the transcripts soon after he does this deposition.
Now that's just part one of the news. We are also expecting to get from Mueller's team a filing to explain what exactly happened with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Remember the government dropped a bombshell. They said initially that Paul Manafort was agreeing to cooperate. Then they alleged that he lied when he was supposed to be cooperating.
This filing should give us some more details about what went wrong but we'll wait to see how much of it is actually revealed and how much remains redacted.
The other big filing we're going to be waiting on today is what is going on with Michael Cohen's sentencing. This is a filing that's going to be coming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team but also from the Southern District of New York. They're working together on this.
Now Michael Cohen has asked for no prison time, so this is an opportunity for the government to respond to that request as to whether they think he should serve time in prison, and also potentially to lay out the extent of Michael Cohen's cooperation. So plenty, plenty brewing on this Friday.
Back to you, guys.
ROMANS: Sara, thank you for that.
Sometime today, President Trump is expected to name State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert as his new ambassador to the United Nations. The former FOX News host is relatively inexperienced in international diplomacy setting the stage for a potentially tough Senate confirmation hearing. She would replace the outspoken current ambassador Nikki Haley who reportedly sparred with other administration officials.
Two other top officials, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security adviser John Bolton, are currently pushing to downgrade the U.N. ambassador job so that it is no longer a Cabinet-level position.
BRIGGS: All right. The latest on election fraud going on. A CNN review of absentee ballot envelopes has revealed irregularities with witness signatures in a second North Carolina county. The discovery comes as Democrats Dan McCready withdraws his concession in a congressional race where investigators were already probing allegations of election fraud in another county.
CNN's Drew Griffin has the latest from Raleigh, North Carolina.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, major developments again in the validity of the election in the Congressional District 9 here in North Carolina. The loser in this race, the Democrat, Dan McCready, has now rescinded his concession. He no longer thinks he lost. He did lose by 905 votes. He's wondering if those 905 votes are now valid because of all the vote fraud allegations, and the other big development is our own review, CNN's review which shows it's expanded, alleged vote fraud, into two counties.
The review of absentee mail-in ballot signatures in Robeson County near Bladen County shows dozens of these absentee ballots were witnessed by just four people, all four people associated with the same ring that's involved in now a criminal investigation in Bladen County, the state of North Carolina. The Board of Elections here investigating whether or not hundreds of absentee ballots were illegally stuffed in favor of the Republican candidate and potentially more than a thousand absentee ballots potentially in favor of the Democrat were thrown out.
So suppress the vote of the Democrats. All of these throwing the validity of this election in doubt and it looks more and more like this is heading toward a reelection -- Christine, Dave.
[04:05:02] ROMANS: All right. Drew for us. Thank you, Drew.
Make that a plus 40 for House Democrats in the midterm elections. On Thursday Republican Representative David Valadao officially conceded to Democratic challenger T.J. Cox in California's 21st. CNN and other news outlets had initially called the race for the incumbent. So right now the balance of power in the House looks like this, 235 seats for Democrats, 199 seats for Republicans and, of course, that North Carolina race remains to be called.
BRIGGS: A new consensus candidate to replace Jeff Sessions as attorney general is emerging this morning. 68-year-old Bill Barr was attorney general once before in the early '90s during the George H.W. Bush administration. Lawmakers from both parties have spoken highly of Barr. They said it would be easier to confirm in the current highly polarized political environment. Barr would be Robert Mueller's boss.
He's gone on record expressing confidence in the special counsel who worked under him during Barr's earlier stint as AG. Barr has said Mueller's investigation would not devolve into a witch-hunt, though he has expressed disappointment at the news some members of Mueller's team had donated to Democratic candidates.
ROMANS: All right. The evolving U.S.-China trade war has launched the stock market on a rollercoaster ride this week. News of the arrest of Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou in Canada sent the Dow falling as much as 785 points Thursday before making a comeback. The Dow closed the day down just 79 points, though, so that comeback was pretty epic. The Nasdaq ended the day up, rebounding from a fall of 2.4 percent. The S&P 500 also bounced back and ending the day down just slightly.
Now the decline came despite statements from Beijing indicating that President Xi Jinping intends to move ahead with the trade talks as planned. The market was also boosted by a report in the "Wall Street Journal" that the Federal Reserve is considering slowing down the pace of rate hikes next year. The "Journal" reported Fed officials are weighing to signal a new wait-and-see approach a likely interest rate increase at the Fed's next meeting this month. President Trump has repeatedly criticized the Fed and the Fed chief Jerome Powell for raising rates this year.
BRIGGS: Breaking overnight, two former Major League Baseball players killed in a car crash in Venezuela. Authorities say Luis Valbuena and Jose Castillo died on a car accident after a game Thursday night in the Venezuelan Professional League. Valbuena played 11 seasons in the Major with five teams including the last two at the Angels who released him back in August. Castillo played from 2004 to 2008 with three Major League teams including the Astros.
ROMANS: All right. Stunning news from Hollywood. Comedian Kevin Hart is stepping down now as the host of the 2019 Oscars. This is just two days after the Academy announced he was their choice. At issue are past angry anti-gay homophobic comments made by Hart. He says the Academy gave him an ultimatum demanding he apologized and he passed.
Hart later posted the statement on Twitter, saying, quote, "I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year's Oscars because -- this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past. I'm sorry that I hurt people. I'm evolving and wanted to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together, not tear apart. Much love and appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again."
BRIGGS: So the search resumes for a new host.
Things are back to normal after some overnight drama right here at CNN in New York. A bomb threat forced the evacuation of our building for about 90 minutes. A law enforcement source says the caller who phoned in the threat claimed there were five devices here in our building here on Columbus Circle. Employees vacated, an NYPD team swept the building. They declared all clear around midnight.
Not the kind of message you want to wake up to on your phone.
ROMANS: Right. But thanks to our team.
BRIGGS: Yet here we are.
ROMANS: We're on the air this morning.
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: And thanks to our hardworking team behind these cameras who worked from the CVS Pharmacy for an hour.
BRIGGS: They're on the sidewalk in a corner.
ROMANS: All right. Nine minutes past the hour.
A Chinese tech executive's arrest opens up a new front in President Trump's trade war. We're going to go live to Beijing, next.
BRIGGS: And roads turn to rivers. More on the storms that swamped parts of California.
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[04:13:26] ROMANS: All right. The conflict between the United States and China over trade and technology is expanding. Beijing angered by the arrest of a top executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei. That arrest at the request of the U.S. government. And that has investors worldwide rattled.
CNN's Matt Rivers is in Beijing. And it was just a real who's who guessing game here for much of the day yesterday trying to figure out, did the president of the United States know when he was sitting down with Xi Jinping -- did he know that there was this extradition order for this very high-profile executive and is this some sort of a political tool in its trade war?
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and Christine, you can bet that Beijing is trying to answer that very same question. What did the president know? You know, I think generally if you ask experts in China, they will tell you that the Chinese leadership understand that generally speaking the judiciary operates separate from the State Department, from diplomacy and from the executive branch itself like the president.
However, we know that this president likes to get involved in the Justice Department. This is what Beijing is certainly trying to figure out. But the White House and its advisors are trying to reassure the public that the president didn't actually know.
Here's Peter Navarro, the White House's top economic adviser when it comes to China, speaking last night to Erin Burnett.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER NAVARRO, ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR TRADE AND MANUFACTURING POLICY: The president was unaware of it going into that dinner, as were all members of the team. And look, I think what's interesting to observe here is that the fact of the matter is, the reason why we're having such trouble with China is they do stuff like this all the time. They lie, they cheat, they steal, they force technology transfer. So on any given day, there have been actions taken against China over the course of the administration.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:15:08] RIVERS: So whether the president knew or didn't know, it doesn't change the fact that this arrest is going to play into these trade negotiations moving forward and the big question is how is China going to respond if the United States moves forward with extraditing this Huawei CFO back to the United States. So far, they haven't really taken the bait. They haven't said they're going to scuttle these trade deals. They haven't sent any Chinese delegation. Visits to Washington, for example, are going to be cancelled.
But this needs to be watched very closely as this process moves forward. It's hard to overstate how big a profile Wenzhou, the CFO from Huawei, has here in China. It would be like taking a super high level executive at Apple and trying to extradite him or her to China. This is a big deal and something that Beijing is not happy about.
ROMANS: And I'll tell you, Matt, there are a lot of companies right now, tech executives and other kinds of companies that they are actually having the conversation in the C suite, do we need to be sending delegations to China. They're worried that potentially there could be some sort of retaliation. I mean. we'll see if that has any kind of effect on business travel or not. But clearly, the story is just beginning.
Thanks, Matt.
BRIGGS: All right. The Trump administration reversing an Obama-era coal emissions rule just days after a U.S. government report warned aggressive action is needed to curb greenhouse gases. The rule change lifts a mandate that new coal plants use costly carbon captured technology. The EPA official claimed their Obama-era predecessors knew the technology was unproven. It's unlikely the change will lead to new coal plants sprouting across the country simply because natural gas and other power sources are cheaper, but environmental groups are calling the proposed change an act of die hard climate denial.
ROMANS: The "New York Times" reports President Trump was employing undocumented immigrants at his New Jersey golf club at the same he was vilifying undocumented immigrants and pushing hardlined immigration policy. The "Times" got two women on the record saying they entered the U.S. illegally and got work at Trump National Golf Club using phony papers.
The women say managers of the club knew they were working illegally and helped them avoid detection. A Trump Organization spokeswoman says the company has tens of thousands of employees and strict hiring practices. The "Times" notes there is no evidence the president or Trump Organization executives knew about the women's immigration status.
BRIGGS: Former president George H.W. Bush now in his final resting place at his presidential library at Texas A&M University.
"Hail to the Chief" played as America's 41st president was carried off his funeral train in College Station. You can see the Bush family looking on with hands over hearts. The Navy also performed its largest ever 21 aircraft Missing Man Formation flyover. During the funeral services a powerful tribute delivered by James Baker, President Bush's secretary of state, chief of staff and best friend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES BAKER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE TO PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH: I've always been proud that George Bush used to describe our relationship as one of big brother and little brother. He used to say that one of the things he liked best about me was that I would always tell him what I thought, even when I knew he didn't want to hear it. Then we would have a spirited discussion about that issue. But he had a very effective way of letting me know when the discussion was over.
(LAUGHTER)
BAKER: He would look at me and he'd say, Baker, if you're so smart, why am I president and you're not?
(LAUGHTER)
BAKER: He was a leader and he knew it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: It was nice to see laughter throughout this week.
ROMANS: It really was.
BRIGGS: They clearly wanted that to be a part of it.
ROMANS: You know, and I think yesterday was -- he was surrounded, the family was surrounded by their friends. This is their friends, their family, a little more relaxed than I think the formality in Washington.
BRIGGS: And the train was a wonderful touch by 41.
ROMANS: Yes. Yes. All right Up next, something we haven't seen in the NFL since the '80s. We'll have more on this run for the ages.
BRIGGS: Watch this.
ROMANS: No way. No way.
BRIGGS: Get on out of my way.
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[04:23:52] BRIGGS: Check out that dramatic scene in Burbank, California. The sloping raid -- roads, excuse me, turning into a raging river by record-breaking rain. Downpours snarled traffic and spurred evacuations in areas already ravaged by wildfires. Mudslides also hitting some areas. One even forced the closure of the Pacific Coast Highway and surrounding roads in and around Malibu.
ROMANS: A wet crash landing for a SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket off the coast of Florida. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says it encountered a technical issue, was stalled hydraulic pump that controls the rocket's fins while attempting to land back on earth. And it ended up in the ocean. The mission, though, was a success, launching the supplies spacecraft to the International Space Station. SpaceX has now made 16 cargo deliveries to the space station.
BRIGGS: It was throwback Thursday for Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry. Throwing back to his Heisman days at Alabama. Watch this. Henry became just the second player in NFL history with a 99- yard touchdown run. That included debilitating stiff arms along the way to Jacksonville Jaguars defenders.
ROMANS: Amazing.
[04:25:03] BRIGGS: One of the best defenses in the league. That ties Tony Dorset for the longest run in NFL history, also a franchise record, 238 yards and four touchdowns. As the Titans crushed the Jags, 30-9 on Thursday night football.
It looked to me like Pamplona, Spain, when you unleashed the bulls. And everyone just had to get out of the way of Derrick Henry.
ROMANS: Wow. That is fun to watch. He's having a great morning.
All right, 25 minutes past the hour. We're expecting major developments today on three fronts in the Mueller investigation. More on James Comey, Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen, it's all next.
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