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Defense Sec. Mattis Resigns After President Trump's Syria Move; President Trump Orders 50 Percent Drawdown Of Troops In Afghanistan; Partial Government Shutdown Looming, Acting AG Whitaker Refuses To Recuse From Mueller Probe. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired December 21, 2018 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Frustration boiling over after Jim Mattis resigns as Defense secretary. The breaking point, the president's decision to pull troops from Syria.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: The government is on track to shut down at midnight. The president vowing to follow through on his demand for a border wall.

BRIGGS: The acting attorney general defying ethics officials and will not recuse from the Mueller probe.

KOSIK: We have a lot going on.

BRIGGS: There sure is.

KOSIK: Welcome back to EARLY START. Good morning, I'm Alison Kosik.

BRIGGS: Happy Friday, everybody. I'm Dave Briggs, 5:30 Eastern time.

Got the countdown clock up until the government shutdown -- 18 hours, 29 minutes from a partial government shutdown.

What a day it is. Josh Rogin on the Mattis departure. Rachael Bade on what this shutdown means and will it happen.

We start, though, with President Trump scouting for a new Secretary of Defense this morning.

James Mattis, considered by many the guardrail of this administration, will leave at the end of February. He tendered his resignation just a day after the president revealed plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. His departure shaking Washington, creating uncertainty at the Pentagon and at bases around the world.

KOSIK: Mattis' resignation, in essence, is a rebuke to many of the president's foreign policy views, including Russia and China. But no doubt, the last straw for Mattis was President Trump's planned withdrawal from Syria. Two Defense officials tell CNN Mattis was, quote, "livid."

For more, let's go to CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Alison, Dave, an administration official tells CNN that Sec. Mattis decided early Thursday morning around 7:30 that he needed to go to the White House one more time, meet with President Trump, and try to convince him not to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.

Mattis was very concerned about the fate of Kurdish fighters that the U.S. has backed. As a military man, it would be a terrible thing, in his view, to leave your friends on the battlefield that you had promised to stay and support. That became a big problem for Jim Mattis to leave the Kurds behind and withdraw U.S. troops.

He met with President Trump about 3:00 and expressed his views. The president did not change his mind. And, Mattis had a resignation letter ready to go, telling the president in that letter that he deserved someone who was more aligned with his views. That essentially means Jim Mattis quit under protest.

He talked in that letter about the need to support alliances, about the need to support U.S. interests around the world at a time when President Trump is taking a much more isolationist view and believes that the U.S. does not have a frontline role anymore in fighting terror groups like ISIS -- Alison, Dave.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: Great reporting from Barbara Starr.

Let's discuss it with "Washington Post" columnist Josh Rogin, a CNN political analyst. Good morning to you, sir.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: Good morning.

KOSIK: Good morning, Josh.

BRIGGS: On a stunning day we recommend, as Nancy Pelosi said, to read the letter from James Mattis. It is stunning. We have a scroll of important reactions to the resignation of James Mattis.

And we want to start you, though, Josh, with reaction from William Cohen, the Republican senator and former Secretary of Defense under President Clinton -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: Our credibility and our reputation for reliability has now been called into question. And the president can say I made a campaign promise. You can make a campaign promise but some of them are made to be broken.

The president has taken a wrecking ball to every pillar of stability and security we've erected over the past 60, 70 years. He's systematically demolishing them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: So, there's that.

Josh, your reaction to the stunning resignation of Jim Mattis?

ROGIN: Good morning.

There's no doubt that Sec. Mattis' resignation is a full-throated rebuke of President Trump's overall worldview, which is to shift the role of America in the world away from its traditional role as a leader and promoter of the liberal international world order that we've helped build since World War II.

There's also something political going on here. I mean, there's no doubt that the relationship between Sec. Mattis and the White House has been fraying for months -- that Jim Mattis was looking for a way out and that this probably was the straw that broke the camel's back. But it also gave him an opportunity to get out on his own terms, right?

A lot of times when you work for President Trump, either he's going to humiliate you or you're going to humiliate him. And this opportunity gave Sec. Mattis the chance to get out on his own terms, in his own voice, and telling the president and the world exactly what he thinks.

KOSIK: All right. So there's the politics of the Mattis-Syria situation and then there's the human impact. You wrote a very moving op-ed in "The Washington Post" --

ROGIN: Thank you.

KOSIK: -- called "Trump is leaving 50,000 Syrian civilians to die," saying, "Syrian civilian refugees living under the direct protection of the U.S. military are suddenly fearing for their lives."

[05:35:06] Are we forgetting here the human impact -- we're focusing too much on the politics?

ROGIN: Yes, that's exactly right, Alison. I mean, listen, American credibility, the liberal international order -- these are all sort of abstract concepts that are hard to measure. Even Jim Mattis' defense of the Kurds is a situational sort of issue.

What about all the rest of the Syrian civilians -- millions of them, actually -- who will now suffer greatly because they were living under the protection of the coalition will be no longer and there's no plan to provide for them? There's no -- they've got no information.

I focused on this one refugee camp called Rukban Refugee Camp because they're actually living under the protection of U.S. military forces.

And I know people in the camp and they didn't believe me when I told them that the forces were leaving. They were like that's impossible. You can't tell me that the U.S. forces are going to leave us here, we're going to get slaughtered. And I had to be the one to tell them yes, actually, you better make preparations because the forces are actually leaving.

And they are going to get slaughtered. And we can talk about sort of the 50,000-foot view of like our Syria policy, but real people are going to get killed and that blood will be on all of our hands.

BRIGGS: Josh, then there's the threat to our own national security.

I've never hoped Lindsey Graham is wrong more than this tweet. "If we continue on our present course, we are setting in motion the loss of all our gains and paving the way toward a second 9/11."

When you put in perspective Syria and Afghanistan, how serious a threat is it to our own security?

ROGIN: Yes, I know. I think he's raising -- Sen. Graham is raising real concerns.

I mean, again, he has a different theory of the case, right? President Trump believes that if we bring all our troops home, stop spending money abroad, and cede the Middle East to Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime, then that's going to make us safer, OK?

I happen to think that's 100 percent wrong. Lindsey Graham happens to think that's 100 percent wrong. Almost everyone in Washington thinks that's 100 percent -- Jim Mattis thinks that's 100 percent wrong.

Well, we're going to find out. We're about to find out what the world looks like when American -- America takes its hands off the wheel, OK?

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROGIN: It might be a very dangerous and dark place to live.

BRIGGS: I want to get your quick take, Josh, on Gen. Jack Keane, a Fox News military analyst, widely respected and regarded, told Martha MacCallum last night, "No, not going back into public service. That is final."

How significant is that? He was considered by many the favorite. And who might replace Mattis given all that's happened in the last couple of days?

ROGIN: Yes.

So I was the one who originally reported that Jack Keane was in contention. He was in contention. I think now that we see the policy going the way it is, I don't believe -- I'm not surprised Jack Keane has taken himself out of contention. He's a guy that's for American involvement and intervention in the Middle East.

OK, so here's the rumor intelligence, as I've got it from early this morning.

We've got Deputy Sec. of Defense Patrick Shanahan, Navy Sec. Richard Spencer, Bridgewater Associates' David McCormick, former Treasury official. And then, there's a couple of dark horses that are being thrown about -- Jim Talent, who's a former senator. This is -- Dan Coats, our current DNI, right?

So they are looking for somebody who is already vetted -- maybe somebody who has already worked for the administration or at least has told them they would like to work for the administration. Someone that can plug and play, OK?

But that's all --

BRIGGS: Sure.

ROGIN: -- speculation, preliminary. It can all change tomorrow. The search has really just begun.

KOSIK: OK. Well, we're hearing some names.

BRIGGS: And finding someone who's OK with the Syria withdrawal, that's not an easy task.

Josh Rogin --

ROGIN: Yes.

BRIGGS: -- great to have you here --

KOSIK: All right.

BRIGGS: -- on a Friday. Thank you, my friend.

KOSIK: Josh Rogin, thanks.

ROGIN: Thank you.

BRIGGS: All right, a cold, harsh reality on this first day of winter. A partial government shutdown is looking likely over Christmas. It looked like Democrats and Republicans were coming together on a short- term plan to fund the federal government through early February.

That is until the president derailed the deal. He says if there aren't billions for his border wall, well then he's not on board.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've made my position very clear. Any measure that funds the government must include border security. It has to, not for political purposes but for our country -- for the safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: All right, joining us live now to get more perspective, Washington political -- "Politico" congressional reporter, Rachael Blade -- Rachael Bade, sorry. I'm having a tongue-tying moment. She also is a CNN political analyst.

BRIGGS: Good morning.

KOSIK: I'm so excited to get to you because I want to know how the president got to this.

We saw him in the White House -- a reality T.V. moment. He was ready to own a shutdown. Then it seemed he was moving toward signing a continuing resolution. And then suddenly, he flipped.

Walk us through what happened behind the scenes.

RACHAEL BADE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Total whiplash. I'll tell you --

BRIGGS: Yes.

BADE: -- I'm still exhausted from yesterday.

So basically, the president has said from the beginning or at least since last spring that he is not going to sign another major spending bill until he gets his wall money.

And what happened was the GOP leadership, they really hate shutdowns, right? They know they're bad for the United States and they worry about political blowback. And so, GOP leaders Mitch McConnell, Speaker Ryan basically talked him off the ledge.

[05:40:05] And we are getting close to the holidays. A lot of people were tired.

I think the president, himself, was kind of thinking about whether he wanted to go through this fight right now. And he -- and he basically greenlighted McConnell to move forward on this bill that doesn't include the wall money.

Well, guess what? Conservatives totally freaked. The president was hearing that he was caving on his border wall.

BRIGGS: Yes.

BADE: This was going to be the last time he could actually secure money for this very central campaign promise.

And what happened yesterday morning was Mark Meadows, who as you know was just considered potentially as chief of staff for the president -- he's close with the president, he's a hardcore conservative. He called the president and he said listen, this is a time to fight -- we've got to do this now. The base is going to basically freak if you don't do this.

And, Trump had been hearing criticism all the night before, all the morning of and he's like you know what, you're right. And he sort of retracted to his gut instinct, which is I'm going to do this now.

And so what we have is a situation where the president told the House to add $5 billion for his wall, even though the Senate already passed something while senators were singing Christmas carols -- half of the senators are out-of-town right now.

But now we have this standoff between the House and the Senate over the border wall and it dramatically increases the chances of a shutdown.

BRIGGS: Yes, OK.

So, Ann Coulter called the president "gutless." Jim Jordan "flipped a lid." Rush Limbaugh was not happy. Even "FOX & FRIENDS" was ripping the president getting outmaneuvered by Pelosi and Schumer.

So at this point, it looks like this GoFundMe effort which raised almost $11 million -- an Iraq war vet might raise more than the President of the United States towards his own border wall.

Is there the votes in the Senate for that $5 billion? Is a shutdown going to happen in 18 hours and 18 minutes?

BADE: No, of course not. I mean, in the Senate, they need nine Senate Democrats to pass whatever funding bill they get through.

And there was a meeting in the Oval Office yesterday where the president told lawmakers he wanted this, of course -- House members, he wanted this. Notably, nobody in the Senate was present.

And so, the White House Legislative Council actually stood up and said listen, we've got to think realistically here about what could get to the Senate. And she advocated for a smaller number, saying $5 billion perhaps couldn't get through but maybe something like $2 billion or $3 billion could.

The issue here is that Democrats, right now, are emboldened. They just took back the House.

And, Chuck Schumer, while he's normally somebody who would maybe make a deal with the president -- he is getting a lot of heat from the far- left right now, saying you better stay in your position. You better not compromise on this or we're going to lash out at you and it's going to be ugly.

So traditionally, what you would have is the president would actually give the other party some sort of concession to get them on board with something like maybe more wall money. But the problem here is that President Trump hasn't offered Democrats anything that is actually palatable to them to get them to do something like this.

KOSIK: Well --

BADE: So I'm skeptical it could pass.

KOSIK: Yes. Rachael, how politically smart is this for the president to dangle a government shutdown or partial government shutdown right when recess is underway for the Christmas vacation?

BADE: I mean, the optics are terrible because there's going to be a lot of government employees who are deemed, quote, "essential." Think like TSA agents who can't just not show up to work, right? And so they're going to be working through the holidays without getting paid, and for people who live paycheck-to-paycheck, this could be a real problem. Politically, Republicans wanted the president to wait until after the midterm elections. They -- he wanted to do it, actually, before the midterm elections and Republicans said don't do that. We're going to have a problem already and that's going to make it worse.

But if the president is going to do a shutdown -- a lot of people say he's going to -- now is the time to do it. So as much as it's going to ruin my holiday, it's sort of -- it feels like we were going to be here one way or another and it just makes sense to do it now. So --

BRIGGS: I hate to laugh. We should -- if we don't, we'll cry.

Twenty nineteen will bring us divided government. Best of luck to Mick Mulvaney establishing order within this White House.

And, Merry Christmas to you, Rachael Bade. Thanks for being here.

KOSIK: Thanks, Rachael.

BADE: Merry Christmas, happy holidays.

KOSIK: OK, for any other administration this is a major story -- a big bipartisan accomplishment. Congress passes major criminal justice reform, usually.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:48:30] KOSIK: Fear of a possible partial government shutdown rattling an already volatile stock market this week. We are seeing futures up slightly -- or actually, down slightly this morning.

We're seeing, actually, a triple-digit drop on the Dow when the opening bell rings. Yesterday, the Dow dropped 464 points, the average closing below 23,000 for the first time since October of 2017.

The Nasdaq losing 1.6 percent, just avoiding closing in its first bear market since the Great Recession. That's a 20 percent drop from a recent high.

The S&P 500 tumbling 1.6 percent.

So, clearly, investors still really rattled by the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates for the first time this year. That's despite evidence of slowing economic growth.

Worries about a supply glut knocking oil into a bear market. Crude plunging 4.8 percent on Thursday to just over $45 a barrel. This is the first time since August of 2017 that oil has ended below $46 a barrel.

Investors are moving away from risky stocks, as well. Tesla losing five percent, JCPenney falling six percent, and Twitter plunging 11 percent.

BRIGGS: Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker rejecting advice from Justice Department ethics officials to recuse himself from the Mueller investigation. Before his appointment by President Trump, Whitaker publicly criticized the probe, suggesting on CNN last year it could be curtailed by choking off funding.

The ethics officials concluded there was no actual legal conflict, but based on Whitaker's past public comments it was a close call and he should recuse himself.

[05:50:04] KOSIK: But a tight group of Whitaker's own advisers who were engaged in the ethics review did their own assessment and recommended he not recuse himself. The refusal to heed advice from ethics officials will raise questions from Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd is defending Whitaker's decision. He notes the acting A.G. has not made public comments about the investigation for 16 months and has, quote, "a lot of respect for Mueller."

BRIGGS: In what's being hailed as a bipartisan victory, the House passed criminal justice reform legislation. It is a huge win for President Trump who is expected to sign the measure today.

The so-called First Step Act will allow thousands of federal inmates early release. It also eases some mandatory minimum sentences and gives judges more leeway in sentencing.

KOSIK: And that bill reform -- that bill signing actually happening at 11:00 a.m. in the Oval Office. We will be --

BRIGGS: A big win.

KOSIK: Yes. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:55:25] KOSIK: One of Britain's biggest airports has reopened this morning, albeit with big delays. Repeated drone sightings shut down Gatwick International Airport during one of the busiest travel periods of the year. The airport was closed from 9:00 p.m. Wednesday until about 6:00 a.m. this morning local time.

More than 110,000 passengers were stranded. Many planes diverted to Manchester, Heathrow -- even as far away as Paris or Amsterdam.

The Defense Ministry deploying special equipment to help police track down the drone's operator, but so far, no leads.

BRIGGS: A major drug bust in Los Angeles, nearly $20 million in narcotics, cash, and weapons. The LAPD seized jars of cannabis oils and marijuana, along with $150,000 in cash, pre-made money orders, an assault rifle, and three handguns. Four people were arrested.

Even though marijuana is legal in California, everything sold has to be regulated and approved.

KOSIK: Sixty-eight million people under flood watches across the eastern U.S. It may slow your holiday weekend travel plans. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has the forecast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Alison and Dave.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature has terrible timing this year. We have the busiest travel day of the year taking place today and a major east coast storm that is going to cause travel headaches from New England all the way to the southeast.

You can see on our map here all the rain and storms associated with this system, basically from the Ohio River Valley through the mid- Atlantic and the New England coastline. Be aware there could be some travel delays at the airports, as well.

We have over 70 million Americans under flood watches or warnings, including New York, Boston, and Philly, and that's because we have the potential to see two -- maybe localized, four inches of rainfall over the next 24 hours, especially just outside of New York City where you see that shading of yellow and orange.

Now, in terms of temperatures, quite a rollercoaster. We have one more mild day for the nation's capital and the Big Apple. But look at the temperatures sliding as we head into the weekend.

And, of course, we have the big day, Monday into Tuesday, where daytime highs will start to cool below average for New York City.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: All right. Thank you, Derek.

Meanwhile, the big day today. We are 18 hours, two minutes away from a government shutdown. And while you were sleeping, Stephen Colbert had a little bit of fun with the pending partial shutdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, CBS HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Everybody in Washington is headed home for the holidays when Donald Trump just decides to drop a steaming yule log into the nog, all for the wall, and Republicans were not amused.

Take, for instance, Maine senator and Portland's number-one realtor five years in a row, Susan Collins.

A reporter described Collins' reaction to the news this way. "Collins almost dropped her handbag as she gestured in disbelief at the word, delivered to her by reporters, that Trump would not sign the continuing resolution unless border wall money was added," asking, "Did he just say that? Ugh, are you ruining my life?"

It sounds like Susan Collins is going to have a long meeting with her brother, Tom.

The news didn't seem to faze outgoing Tennessee senator and mom's new eHarmony boyfriend, Bob Corker. A reporter asked Corker, "What's the path forward for the continuing resolution?" Corker answered, "I don't know, you all have fun. I'm getting ready to drive to Chattanooga."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: I love it.

BRIGGS: And this is how Bob Corker will deport -- depart --

KOSIK: Yes.

BRIGGS: -- as will Paul Ryan.

KOSIK: Yes.

BRIGGS: This is their last moment in Congress.

KOSIK: That's their swan song.

BRIGGS: Corker laughed out loud to our reporters when told about all of this. If you don't laugh, you're going to cry.

KOSIK: Oh, all right. Eighteen hours to go.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Alison Kosik.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Thanks for being here --

KOSIK: My pleasure.

BRIGGS: -- for a couple of days.

"NEW DAY" starts right now. I'll see you in 2019. Merry Christmas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For Sec. Mattis, who's never been known to quit anything, this was the breaking point.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT: His decision to resign is virtually our worst nightmare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president is entitled to a Secretary of Defense that shares his worldview.

TRUMP: I've made my position very clear. Any measure that funds the government must include border security.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: The Trump temper tantrum will shut down the government, but it will not get him his wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Friday, December 21st, 6:00 here in New York.

America is less safe this morning. That is the sentiment I heard overnight from government officials, active duty service members, Republican lawmakers -- Republican lawmakers.