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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Orders U.S. Troops Out of Syria; William Barr Ridiculed Mueller Investigation in Memo; Bank Refuses to Cash African American Man's Paycheck; Cuban Baseball Players Can Now Play in the U.S. Without Defecting. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired December 20, 2018 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: And the DOW now at its lowest point of the entire year. Investors spooked after another rate hike from the Fed and we're looking at the worst December since the Great Depression. Good morning everyone, welcome to Early Start. I'm Dave Briggs.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Alison Kosik, I'm sitting in for Christine Romans. Its Thursday, December 20th and its 5:00 a.m. in the east. And President Trump's decision to order a full and rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria is running into fierce resistance this morning.

In the words of one senior administration official, the decision by tweet will recklessly put American and allied lives in danger around the world. A mistake of colossal proportions. A U.S. defense official tells CNN planning for the pullout is already under way. Reactions to the president's move ranging from shock to outrage.

BRIGGS: A group of bipartisan senators firing off a letter to Mr. Trump urging him to reconsider. They believe if there is a pullout, quote, "any remnants of ISIS in Syria will surely renew and embolden their efforts in the region. Top Republican senators not pleased about getting blindsided.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Now we're dramatically less safe. This is an Obama-like move.

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: It's a terrible mistake, and -- and unfortunately I think we're going to pay a price for it if it's not reversed.

SENATOR BOB CORKER: It's hard to imagine any president would wake up and make this kind of decision with this little communication, with this little preparation.

SENATOR JOHN CORNYN: Pulling the plug on these troops without due consideration to the consequences, I think is something that I don't think any of us want to do.

GRAHAM: To say they're defeated is an overstatement and is fake news. We have been dishonorable. This is a stain on the honor of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: The president did not make himself available for questions about Syria on Wednesday. Instead, the White House released a video of Mr. Trump explaining why he made the move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And we have won against ISIS. We've beaten them and we've beaten them badly. We've taken back the land. And now it's time for our troops to come back home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: One problem here, the Defense Department disagrees. They released this statement. The coalition has liberated the ISIS-held territory, but the campaign against ISIS is not over.

BRIGGS: The White House struggling to articulate the president's full Syria withdrawal plan. They cannot say how many troops have come home, what the timeline is or when other personnel will leave. An administration official referred to all questions to the Pentagon while the Pentagon referred them right back to the White House.

KOSIK: The president's order to withdrawal all U.S. troops from Syria is being met with near universal condemnation. And there are a lot of reasons why. Nima Elbagir joins us live from London. You know, everybody kind of scratching their heads that this sort of came up out of nowhere, saying it's impulsive. What really is behind this foreign policy decision?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, it's no secret that the president has signaled in the past he's keen to withdrawal from Syria, that he's keen, he has said, to not repeat the mistakes of President Obama, as he's put it. And this is something the key allies within the anti- ISIS coalition have been fighting against.

And there is concern that this is something that came out of conversations between the president and the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who really stands to gain here, the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish force who have been such strong in the fight against ISIS, fighting alongside U.S. troops, oftentimes are seen by the Turkish president as an extensions of Kurdish militants and seen s potential staging ground.

The fear is they're seen as a potential staging ground for attacks inside Turkey by the Turkish administration. And tellingly, it is only the Turkish president amongst those allies involved in the fight against ISIS who has come out and said that this is a very good decision. Other allies, not quite so convinced, Alison. Both the U.S. and now France have publically disagreed with the president and saying this isn't over, there is still a fight against ISIS.

But more importantly, what does this do in the context of the broader fight against extremism, and everyone we're talking to on the ground and diplomatically across Europe is saying the same thing. What the president has done is telegraph to ISIS that the U.S. is not in it in the long term, and what he has also done is telegraph to America's allies that the U.S. is not in it in the long ter.

KOSIK: And Senator Lindsey Graham last night on the Senate floor saying, I think it's disastrous to our national security. Nima Elbagir, thanks very much.

BRIGGS: OK, could be just a coincidence, but President Trump is giving Russia two big gifts in the same day. Pulling U.S. troops out of Syria and lifting sanctions on major Russian firms controlled by friends of Vladimir Putin. The United States is also sanctioning 15 Russian intelligence agents for interference in the 2016 election.

This morning President Putin holding his annual end of the year news conference about the state of his domestic and foreign policy. Let's go live to Moscow and bring in CNN Moscow chief, Nathan Hodge.

[05:05:00]

Nathan, this is usually a marathon press conference. Any word yet about mentioning the U.S. pull out of Syria.

NATHAN HODGE, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Dave, yes, it's a -- it's a conference we expect to go on for another three, maybe even four hours. No, Syria has not yet come up but Putin has brought up things like geopolitical issues such as the risks of nuclear war, which he sees as escalating the crisis in Ukraine.

But you has mentioned, President Trump's decision may have caused consternation in Washington and in other capitals but it's certainly welcome news for the Kremlin, which has supported the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

And even last night we saw the spokesperson for the Russian ministry of foreign affairs saying that they see this as a real, real prospect for a political settlement. So I'm sure it's news that's going to be coming up at the press conference, which is an occasion for Putin to both appear presidential, show his mastery of the facts, and sort of spend the years -- the past years news and the most recent news to both his domestic and an international audience, Dave.

BRIGGS: All right. Keep us up to date if we hear anything on Syria. Thank you, sir. Breaking overnight, North Korea says that they will not denuclearize until the U.S. eliminates its own, quote, "nuclear threat."

That's commentary published by state media, which suggest one of the obstacles could be U.S. military assets in South Korea. All this will pose another big obstacle for the U.S. and Pyongyang. They've been deadlocked in talks about denuclearizing in exchange for sanctions relief.

Another summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un has been rumored for early next year. KOSIK: The senate has passed a Stop-Gap spending bill to prevent a partial government shutdown at midnight on Friday. The measure to fund the government through early February, it still needs house approval and the president's signature.

The deal kicks the can down the road on critical issues like funding for the president's border wall. That's going to be a tougher task for republicans once democrats take over the House next month.

Any funding for a wall would have to go through Nancy Pelosi. The White House is suggesting it could get creative to find the money. Instead of the budget route they could get funding from other departments or carve out money for border security rather than a wall specifically.

The DOW tumbled to the lowest level of the year after the Federal Reserve voted to raise interest rates despite new signs of economic softening and weeks of market volatility. The DOW tumbled 352 points or 1.5 percent on Wednesday.

The sell off left the DOW sitting on its lowest level in 13 months, wiping out a 382 point rally that we saw happen before the Fed decision came down. The S&P 500 lost 1.5 percent. The NASDAQ was down 2 percent.

Central bankers unanimously agreed to lift the federal funds rate to a range of 2.25 percent and 2.5 percent. Interest rates have increased seven times since President Trump took office. Four of those increases have been under Fed chair, Jerome Powell.

The president has repeatedly attacked Powell and blames these rate hikes for some of the market's recent volatility and drops. And when asked about pressure from the White House, here's what Powell said.

"We're going to do our jobs the way we've always done them." Stressing the importance of the Feds independence from political pressure. "Nothing will cause us to deviate from that."

But what rattled the market is that while the Fed sent some dovish (ph) signals to investors, it wasn't dovish enough. The Central Bank now appears to be eyeing at least two more rate hikes in 2019 but investors were expecting an even slower pace of rate increases.

BRIGGS: All right. A newly released memo could complicate William Barr's nomination for attorney general. In a memo from June of this year, to senior justice officials, Barr writes Special Council Robert Mueller's obstruction investigation is "Fatally misconceived" and that President's Trump interactions with ex-FBI director, James Comey; do not constitute obstruction of justice.

The fact that Barr weighed in on such a sensitive issue and would be poised to oversee Mueller's work could put his nomination in peril.

KOSIK: Barr, who was once attorney general for George H. W. Bush also wrote that Trump asking Comey to let go of the Michael Flynn investigation and then firing Comey were both within his powers as head of the executive branch.

According to a Justice Department official, Barr's memo was unsolicited. Deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein said this on Wednesday. Many people offer unsolicited advice and Barr's memo has quote, "no impact on the investigation."

[05:10:00]

BRIGGS: Today the House Intelligence Committee expected to decide whether to turn over a transcript Roger Stone's 2017 testimony to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Now, Stone has been a focus of the special counsel investigation. Mueller's team looking into his potential back channels with WikiLeaks during the 21016 campaign. A vote to give the interview to Mueller would dramatically raise the legal stakes for Stone. Several Republicans and Democrats tell CNN they are willing to turn over the transcript to the special counsel's team.

KOSIK: South Carolina Republicans could forgo their presidential primary in 2020 to show support for President Trump. The move would be designed to frustrate the efforts of potential GOP challengers to the president. The state's GOD chairman asking why have taxpayers paid for a primary when the party totally supports Mr. Trump? A decision is expected by next summer. This would not be the first time Republicans nix the first in the south primary. They did for President Reagan in 1984 and again in 2004 for George W. Bush. One key difference here, back then the party paid for primaries, now taxpayers do.

BRIGGS: Another key difference is the media environment is very different than 2004. You would have a massive megaphone if you are, say, John Kasich and you're locked out. All right, ahead, a black man in Ohio went to cash his paycheck. The bank called police. Hear from him and what the bank is saying next.

[05:15:00]

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KOSIK: The Yemeni mother who blocked from coming to the U.S. to say goodbye to her dying son has finally arrived in California. The U.S. state department granting Shaima Swileh a Visa this week after she was blocked from traveling here by the president's travel ban.

Shaima is expected to travel to a children's hospital in Oakland to reunite with her two-year-old son Abdullah who is on life support. Her husband made a public plea this week to expedite his wives Visa application so she could see her son.

BRIGGS: Washington D.C.'s attorney general is suing Facebook, accusing the social media giant of wide ranging privacy violations saying Facebook has failed to live up to their commitment of protecting user data.

The (inaudible) Facebook's relationship with Cambridge Analytica, a firm linked to President Trump's 2016 campaign. Earlier this year Facebook admitted Cambridge accessed and improperly stored data from 50 million users.

The sue comes the day after the New York Times reported Facebook shared more user data than it previously acknowledged with more than 150 partner companies.

KOSIK: The Illinois attorney general says the states sis dioceses have failed to disclose accusations of sexual abuse against at least 500 priest and clergy members. Illinois dioceses have publicly identified 185 clergy members who are credibly accused.

But state attorney general, Lisa Madigan says the accusations have not been adequately investigated. She says the church failed its moral obligation to provide survivors, (inaudible), and the public a complete accounting.

In a segment, the head of the Illinois arch (ph) dioceses says since 2002 all allegations have been reported.

BRIGGS: Serious questions for a bank in Brooklyn, Ohio after a teller called police on a black man who was trying to cash his paycheck. Paul McCowns doesn't usually do business with Huntington bank but he followed protocol and provided tellers with two forms of I.D. and a fingerprint.

Well, the bank still declined to cash his check. As McCowns left the bank, the teller called the police and McCowns was detained.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

PAUL MCCOWNS: It was highly embarrassing. Highly embarrassing. Whoever made that phone call, I feel as though they were judging.

(END VIDEO)

BRIGGS: McCowns was released once officers reached his employer and confirmed with the account holder the check was valid. The bank says there's been increased fraud in the area and tellers were being hyper vigilant. They've released a statement apologizing to McCowns.

KOSIK: You know as you were reading that, I was looking around the room. The folks behind the cameras are just shaking their heads.

BRIGGS: Yes, I don't know if vigilant is exactly what that bank was being. Let us know what you think about that on Twitter. Ahead, Cuban baseball players no longer have to defect if they want to play in the United States. Andy Scholes has the latest in the Bleacher Report next.

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[05:20:00]

BRIGGS: Major league baseball in Cuba reaching a landmark deal. Players from the island can now sign in the U.S. without having to defect. Andy Scholes has the details in the Bleacher Report. Good morning Andy. ANDY SCHOLES, CNN HOST: Yes, good morning, Dave. You know this is a huge agreement for Cuban baseball players. No longer will they have to risk their lives defecting from Cuba to realize their baseball dreams.

You know for decades now players have used any method possible to get to the U.S. in order to play in the big leagues. You know Dodger's star Yasiel Puig, he tried to defect to Mexico unsuccessfully more than a dozen times before finally -- finally finding success with the human traffickers and Mexican drug lords.

And in cases like (inaudible), the Cuban players, they end up owing agents and the people who got them out of Cuba, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars in this new agreement with major league baseball.

That money is now going to go to the Cuban baseball federation. Some though, think this is a bad deal. Senator Marco Rubio tweeting, "I have asked state department and White House to review the deal that allows Cuban regime to conduct state sponsored trafficking of baseball players.

Unlike Japan and Mexico the regime control sports and the state department should issue a ruling to that effect." All right, when Lebron James is not on the court playing for the Lakers, he's busy being a dad to his three kids and he gave us an inside look at him coaching up his youngest son, Bryce (ph), after a recent game.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

LEBRON JAMES, LAKERS FORWARD: If you miss any shots or make any shots, don't worry about it kid. Don't -- you did -- you played a hell of a game. You ain't got to worry about making shots or missing shots. All right, good job. I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you, man. All right. Go with your team. Bye. Good job.

(END VIDEO)

SCHOLES: That's pretty cool. And yesterday was early signing day for college football and we saw one of the best school reveals ever. Hanahan, South Carolina defensive end Cooper Dawson picking between Clemson, Syracuse, and Central Florida.

And he brought his friend, Kingsley Feinman who suffers from cerebral palsy, with him to make the announcement.

[05:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO)

COOPER DAWSON: The only disability is a bad attitude and if he can come -- come around every day with this big ole smile on, I can do it just the same. So without further ado, I told Kingsley I'd announce it to him before I told anyone else. So I'm going to tell him and then I'll him announce it to you all.

KINGSLEY FEINMAN: The team going this year is (inaudible). (END VIDEO)

SCHOLES: I tell you what, Dave that is just so awesome how cooper said that his friend there, Kingsley, had such an impact on him that he helped him make that announcement. Don't know if we're going to see a school reveal any better than that.

BRIGGS: That is fantastic. Although, I know you feel pretty good about your Houston Rockets NBA record twenty-six 3s, which was in the Make a Wish game, I believe, right?

SCHOLES: Yes. Yes, and they had a good luck charm. You know they had C.J. Smith (ph) who is battling cancer right now. They had him at practice a day ago. And then last night they had him at the game.

He was there for the player introductions and set there right near the bench and Chris Paul actually said after the games, C.J. (ph), their good luck charm. They're going to have to have him at a game once they get off this road trip because an NBA record 26 3s (ph), definitely an impressive night for the records.

BRIGGS: The healing power of sports. Andy Scholes, thank you my friend.

SCHOLES: All right.

BRIGGS: Kosik, over to you.

KOSIK: OK, thanks, Dave. A mistake of colossal proportions, even the president's closest allies are slamming the move to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.

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