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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
President Trump Hedging On Syria Withdrawal Timeline?; Day 10 Of Partial Government Shutdown Continues And President Trump Won't Accept $1.3 Billion For Border; American Citizen Detained In Moscow On Spying Allegations; New Year's Eve Preps In New York City's Times Square. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired December 31, 2018 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:30:40] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: We're reevaluating what's the best way to achieve the president's objective.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Will President Trump slow the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria? He promised a rapid pullout but a leading Republican senator says the plan may change.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: And it's about to get even rougher for 800,000 federal employees. They will remain unpaid through the new year as both sides, Republicans and Democrats, refuse to budge on border security.
KOSIK: And we're ringing in 2019 today. Expect big security if you're heading out. And will the weather cooperate? We've got details on that.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik sitting in for Christine Romans. Good morning.
MARQUARDT: Happy New Year's Eve. Good to be back with you.
KOSIK: Happy to be here, as well.
MARQUARDT: And, I'm Alex Marquardt in for Dave Briggs. It is just past 5:30 a.m. here on the east coast.
And, President Trump may be hedging on his time lime to pull all U.S. troops out of Syria.
After meeting with the president on Sunday, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham is suggesting that Mr. Trump has a better understanding of the stakes in Syria and that he has agreed to reevaluate, as Graham said. Now, Graham originally characterized the president's pullout as an Obama-like mistake.
KOSIK: Two thousand American troops are supposed to leave Syria in the coming weeks and months. Senator Graham says Mr. Trump is not pausing on the withdrawal completely, but that he's committed to a fresh assessment to see what happens on the ground in Syria -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM: I think we're in a pause situation. We're reevaluating what's the best way to achieve the president's objective of having people pay more and do more. After discussions with the president and Gen. Dunford, I've never felt better about where we're headed.
I think we're slowing things down in a smart way. But the goal has always been the same -- to be able to leave Syria and make sure ISIS never comes back, our partners are taken care of, and Iran's contained. And I think that's possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: Those partners that Graham was talking about right there are the Kurds in northern Syria. There is concern that they could be attacked by their longtime enemy, Turkey, if U.S. troops do leave.
On Friday, the Kurds invited the Assad regime that runs Syria -- that controls Syria -- to reclaim some of the territory that they held with the hope of avoiding a slaughter at the hands of the Turks.
KOSIK: Tonight, outgoing Defense Sec. James Mattis will make a phone call to his replacement -- his name, Patrick Shanahan -- marking the end of his tenure as head of the Pentagon. Mattis was supposed to leave at the end of February but President Trump moved up his departure date by two months.
MARQUARDT: Now, the partial government shutdown -- we are in day 10 and counting, and you should be expecting to be counting for quite some time according to sources telling CNN President Trump is privately speaking with lawmakers and telling them that he will not agree to a deal if it only allocates $1.3 billion for border security.
Democrats, remember, take control of the House this week and there is no sign that they're willing to budge, either.
It's 800,000 federal workers and their families who are really feeling the pinch while lawmakers play politics and while they continue to collect their paychecks.
KOSIK: Now, on CNN this weekend, Tony Reardon, the head of the National Treasury Employees Union -- he appeared, saying his members -- they're anxious and they're angry.
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TONY REARDON, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES UNION: They have been kind of cast in the middle of a fight, not of their creation and that they do not have the power to resolve.
They are fearful of not being able to pay their mortgage, to pay their rent, to pay the college tuition bill for their -- for their children, and they want Congress to do their job -- Congress and the administration to do their job.
We had an individual let us know that recently his wife died. He is unable, at this time because of this shutdown, to pay for her headstone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Now, some banks, like Chase and Wells Fargo, say they're willing to work with federal employees whose accounts are in good standing.
And as questions linger about how far President Trump might be willing to bend on border security, his outgoing chief of staff is publicly clarifying one critical point.
More from Sarah Westwood at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN REPORTER: Well, Alison and Alex, President Trump is holding out for funding for his promised border wall as the partial government shutdown drags into its second week.
[05:35:04] Now, the president's allies have tried to muddy the waters about how much funding the president wants for a wall versus border security. It's also not clear at this point what the president considers an actual wall.
Outgoing White House chief of staff John Kelly said that this administration actually abandoned the idea of a concrete wall along the southern border early in Trump's presidency.
He told the "Los Angeles Times," "To be honest, it's not a wall. The president still says wall.
Oftentimes, frankly, he'll say barrier or fencing. Now he's tended toward steel slats. But we left a solid concrete wall early on in the administration."
Senator Lindsey Graham came to the White House on Sunday for a 2-hour lunch and said he pitched the president on what he described as a potential breakthrough should it gain traction, and that's a deal that would trade $5 billion in wall funding for temporary protections for the so-called Dreamers -- the young, undocumented immigrants protected by DACA.
GRAHAM: The president didn't commit but I think he's very open- minded. I know there's some Democrats out there who would be willing to provide money for wall border security if we could deal with the DACA population and TPS people. And hopefully, we can get some serious discussions started maybe as soon as next week.
WESTWOOD: But keep in mind that Mick Mulvaney, the incoming acting chief of staff-budget director, has already signaled that the president is willing to back down off that $5 billion number. In fact, Vice President Mike Pence, last week, offered something in the neighborhood of $2.5 billion -- half of that -- and Democrats rejected it.
Now, keep in mind that Democratic congressional leaders haven't been invited back to the White House for further negotiations, so talks do still appear to be at a standstill, Alison and Alex.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUARDT: All right, our thanks to Sarah Westwood --
KOSIK: Thanks very much.
MARQUARDT: -- at the White House.
For more on this, let's go live to Washington and bring in Brenna Williams, the multiplatform editor of "CNN POLITICS" and CNN's "The Point" newsletter.
KOSIK: Thanks for waking up early this morning.
MARQUARDT: Good morning, Brenna.
BRENNA WILLIAMS, MULTIPLATFORM EDITOR, CNN POLITICS, CONTRIBUTOR, "THE POINT": Good morning. Happy New Year.
MARQUARDT: Happy New Year to you.
All right -- well, here we are at day 10 of the shutdown. As we heard from Sarah right there, everything at a standstill.
So, Brenna, is there any sense -- because we just heard Sen. Graham there -- he's the only one seemingly talking about a middle ground. Is there any sense that the talks -- that there could be some negotiation, there could be some bargain struck that might include DACA or do you think that President Trump and -- is really going to get hung up on that one figure -- that dollar amount for the border wall funding?
WILLIAMS: Well, I think the first thing that stands out to me about where we are right now at this impasse is that we have heard pretty much nothing from congressional leaders, right? Lindsey Graham is great. He has been in the Senate for a while but he is not congressional leadership, right?
I think it will be interesting looking into this upcoming week, this upcoming year.
There's no motivator in politics quite like optics. And, Nancy Pelosi, who we assume will be the new Speaker of the House -- maybe the optics of reopening the government on their first week of House -- or a Democrat-controlled House might be appealing, might find some wiggle room. But they, of course, need the Senate on board.
And back in February of this year -- it's been a while, but a deal tying DACA to an even bigger border wall funding -- $25 billion -- did not go through as you'll remember, and that's why we're here right now. So I don't think that tying DACA to the border wall will -- has been a path for success in the past and I don't think that that's the way forward now.
KOSIK: OK. I'm going to ask you to take out your crystal ball for all of 2019. What do you see happening with the Democrats and their game plan just in general? Are they going to be focusing on legislation? Are they going to be focusing on policy? Are they going to just be attacking President Trump -- anti-Trump -- or are they just going to sit back and kind of -- kind of watch President Trump sabotage himself?
What do you think is the game plan here for Democrats?
WILLIAMS: Well, I think the Democrats need to come out of the gate strong, right? They need to make a point with taking control of the House. They need to kind of rally around something.
The party is incredibly splintered right now. There's no frontrunner -- agreed upon frontrunner for president in the Democrat -- or presidential nominee in the Democratic Party for 2020.
So I think that they need to pick a few things, they need to rally around that. They need to find things that will resonate with voters in the Midwest, not just on the coast.
Outgoing Sen. Joe Donnelly said Medicare for all is not going to play very well in Indiana. And, of course, going into 2020, looking ahead not only for the presidential race but again, trying -- Democrats trying to take control of the Senate and hold their control of the House, this kind of universal Medicare for all is not going to play well there. They need to rally around some things that will play well from coast to coast.
[05:40:00] MARQUARDT: Yes, Brenna, the other story that you just hit on right there that's going to be alongside all the shutdown as that plays out in the coming days and weeks is, of course, the 2020 race.
We just saw a poll from the "Des Moines Register" in conjunction with CNN that listed the top contenders on the Democratic side. It was Biden, it was Bernie Sanders, it was Beto O'Rourke.
How do you think January is going to look in terms of -- in terms of that race and when people start announcing, and when people really start ramping up their campaigns?
WILLIAMS: Oh, I think that they are going to start announcing and they're going to start coming out and forming exploratory committees and kind of making solid moves right out of the gate. I mean, the earning quarter starts January first and there is no way to solidify yourself as a frontrunner like raising money, and the more days you have to do that, the more money you can potentially raise.
KOSIK: All right, give us a reason to be optimistic for 2019, 2020 -- go. Give us something to look forward to.
WILLIAMS: Actually, I think that the thing we can maybe all be happy about is the fact that this incoming Congress is the most diverse it's been ever. There are a lot of firsts. There are a lot of women who are -- a lot of women who are in office for the first time, a lot of minorities.
Congress is starting to look more like America. It's starting to look more like the people they're representing and we don't know what that means. Maybe it'll mean that they'll start to compromise, maybe it'll mean that new fresh ideas will resonate with voters and with members alike.
That's what I'm hoping for. We don't know but let's be optimistic.
KOSIK: OK. I will take that and run with it. I always like good optimism --
MARQUARDT: This is a good plan, yes.
KOSIK: -- and I like the -- I like the idea of fresh ideas.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
KOSIK: All right. Brenna Williams, thanks so much --
MARQUARDT: Thanks very much, Brenna.
KOSIK: -- for your time this morning. Happy New Year.
WILLIAMS: Happy New Year.
KOSIK: And breaking news. An American citizen detained in Moscow for allegedly spying. That's according to Russia's Domestic Security Service.
CNN's Moscow bureau chief Nathan Hodge is live for us this morning.
Nathan, I understand that he was arrested on December 28th. We're only learning about this now.
NATHAN HODGE, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Alison, we're only just getting details about this.
We have a name. The American citizen detained by the Federal Security Service or FBS, Paul Whelan. We don't have any other details about this individual and we haven't heard anything from the U.S. side about this.
I think the most interesting thing about this at this stage is that it's the FSB, Russia's domestic intelligence agency, which is doing the arresting here.
We've heard a lot in the headlines over the past year about the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service, and they're the ones who are accused of being at the center of everything from the 2016 election meddling in the U.S., hacking, the Salisbury poisoning.
So, the FSB is another very important intelligence service and they're the ones claiming to have made the arrest in this case.
But at this stage, it's -- this is pretty much all the information that we have to go on.
Of course, there have been tit for tat spy wars in the -- in the past between the U.S. and Russia. The FSB is the successor agency to the KGB, the Soviet Union's feared intelligence service. And, Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, is the former head of the FSB.
Again, only details are just emerging right now and we're awaiting any further comment on what the individual was and how they made this arrest, Alison.
KOSIK: OK, Nathan Hodge. Thanks very much for your reporting. We will come back to you if you have anything new to report.
MARQUARDT: And that could potentially be a huge story --
KOSIK: It really could.
MARQUARDT: -- in this new year at a time of already extremely fraught relations between Washington and Russia.
KOSIK: Yes. Retaliatory tactics -- that is first and foremost what comes to mind there.
MARQUARDT: All right.
Well, an intern mauled by a lion at a North Carolina zoo. How that happened and what the victim's family is now saying, that's next.
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[05:47:16] MARQUARDT: We will be ringing in 2019 in just under 19 hours here on the east coast and for the millions who will be in Times Square to see the big ball drop, security, as ever, will be extremely tight.
For more on that, we go CNN's Miguel Marquez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alison, Alex, it is a party for two million people and safety is the number one priority for the NYPD.
The entire area around Times Square will be blocked off. There will be entrances for the public to get in. There will be magnetometers at all of those entrances.
No alcohol will be allowed, no backpacks, coolers, large packages, lawn chairs or umbrellas. It doesn't sound like much of a party, does it?
The pens that they put the public in will start opening up at 11:00 a.m. It's a little like Hotel California. You can check in any time you want but if you leave, you can't check back in because you have to go back through the line again, basically. So you're going to have to have your restroom strategy worked out if you actually go. As for NYPD's part, there's going to be hundreds of officers and agents from over 50 agencies -- local, state and federal -- 1,200-plus cameras, officers embedded in hotels around the area. The bomb squad will be on hand -- bomb-sniffing dogs. Hundreds of vehicle blockers to block off the entire area.
And one new thing this year, drones.
JOHN MILLER, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INTELLIGENCE AND COUNTERTERRORISM, NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT: We'll be deploying NYPD drones for overwatch and we haven't done that before. But that's going to give us a visual aid and a flexibility of being able to move a camera to a certain spot with great rapidity through a tremendous crowd.
MARQUEZ: They'll even have counter-drone technology out there. So if you want to bring your drone to Times Square you might be into trouble because they'll probably be able to take it down somehow, although they're being very, very tightlipped on the details there -- Alex, Alison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: OK, Miguel. Thanks very much.
And for those of you heading to Times Square and elsewhere wondering what the weather is going to be like, here is meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Alison and Alex, good morning to you both. Happy New Years, as well.
Take a look at what's happening here across the east coast because that's some serious weather beginning to shape up across portions of the east coast at it relates to at least heavy rainfall, some strong thunderstorms, and even a wintry mix. I think there's some snow to be had, as well.
We'll take you out towards the northeast into New York City because yes, that's what it looks like. Forty-nine degrees right around midnight. Rain showers probable across the region. In fact, it begins around 4:00 p.m. and continues throughout the overnight hours of Monday into Tuesday morning.
And if it all plays out as its forecast, it would be the first time since 1994 we've had wet weather right at midnight for New Year's Eve there at Times Square. In fact, it will also be one of the warmest ones, as well. Compare that to a wind chill last year on New Year's Eve as we rung in 2018 of a six-below -- what it felt like at times into the morning hours in New York.
[05:50:07] Forty-five degrees is what it will feel like this morning going into tomorrow morning, I should say, around portions of New York City. So that's the perspective. Wet weather also slated across areas of the south here, with some stronger thunderstorms embedded across portions of the Tennessee Valley. But at least, generally, going to be a threat here for rain as opposed to snow for a large part of the east coast -- guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: OK, Pedram. Thank you.
Sears will close more than 80 Sears and Kmart stores, one of them at the Mall of American site in Minnesota. It had been the only full- scale Sears in the state that wasn't already earmarked closed soon. The brand will be all but erased from the state where its co-founder first entered the retail business in 1886.
Sears also received a last-minute bid from its chairman to keep much of the business alive. The final decision on Eddie Lampert's bid will be made by the judge overseeing all the bankruptcy proceedings.
Sears holdings have lost $12 billion over the past eight years as sales have plunged 60 percent.
Verizon and Disney reaching an agreement to resolve a high-stakes fight over programming fees. The dispute threatened to knock ESPN, ABC, and other Disney-owned channels off the Fios T.V. network.
No details released about the deal yet. These fee disputes, though, they're becoming really common. This is as television viewership is on the decline.
Media companies are demanding more for their content to make up for the lost revenue. That has cable and dish providers balking at raising rates for fear of losing even more customers.
These battles are typically resolved before stations go dark. But there are some notable exceptions here, including last year's CBS-Dish Network fight that blacked out CBS and NFL games over Thanksgiving. That was the leverage.
MARQUARDT: No worse timing except maybe the Super Bowl.
KOSIK: There you go.
MARQUARDT: All right. Well, we'll be back with more.
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[05:55:18] KOSIK: It's going from bad to worse, to much worse for disgraced comedian Louis C.K. Leaked audio of new stand-up shows him mocking Parkland shooting survivors and their advocacy for gun laws -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOUIS C.K., COMEDIAN: They testified in front of Congress, these kids? Like what the f***? What are you doing? You're young. You should be crazy. You should
be unhinged, not in a suit saying I'm here to tell -- f*** you.
You're not interesting because you went to a high school where kids got shot. Why does that mean I have to listen to you? How does that make you interesting?
You didn't get shot. You pushed some fat kid in the way, and now I got to listen to you talking?"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Not funny. That's just my opinion.
In a longer clip that surfaced on Twitter, the comedian also rants about people with disabilities and transgender people.
Last year, Louis C.K. pledged to step back and take a long time to listen after admitting to inappropriate sexual conduct.
MARQUARDT: All right.
Well, tragedy at a North Carolina zoo. A lion killed an intern at the Conservators Center in Burlington, North Carolina. Zoo officials say it happened during a routine cleaning of an animal enclosure. One of the lions somehow escaped a locked space and entered the public park area.
Authorities have identified the victim as 22-year-old Alexandra Black. She had interned at the zoo for about two weeks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MINDY STINNER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER, CONSERVATORS CENTER, BURLINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA: This person's passion was the zoological industry. This was not this person's first internship and this person wanted to spend a lifetime around these animals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: The lion was euthanized. It's not clear how he escaped.
The Conservators Center will be closed until further notice.
In a statement overnight, Alexandra Black's family says this, in part. "She was a beautiful young woman who had just started her career. There was a terrible accident and we are mourning, but she died following her passion."
MARQUARDT: All right.
Well, in California, the largest utility company could face murder or manslaughter charges if it's found to be responsible for the state's recent spate of deadly wildfires.
Court documents say that Pacific Gas and Electric, known as PG&E, could face a range of criminal offenses if any of the wildfires that broke out came as a result of the utility company failing to properly operate and maintain its power lines.
The attorney general's office has not yet come to a conclusion about PG&E's responsibility.
There's also still no official cause of the Camp Fire, which killed at least 85 people.
PG&E says it determined -- it is determined to do everything it can to reduce wildfire risks. Meanwhile, the utility's equipment was found to have caused 17 fires last year and 2017.
KOSIK: Flu cases are on the rise in the U.S. The latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control show nine states with high flu activity, as well as New York City. That's an increase from the previous week when only Colorado and Georgia experienced high flu activity.
Eleven kids have died from flu-related issues this flu season.
MARQUARDT: And, two employees who asked a black guest to leave an Oregon hotel after he stops to take a phone call in the lobby have been terminated.
It happened on December 22nd at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Portland, Oregon. Jermaine Massey was in the lobby when a security guard informed him that police were on their way to escort him off the property.
Massie's attorney says that all his client is guilty of is calling his mother while black.
The hotel says the actions of their employees were quote "...inconsistent with our standards and values. We reiterate our sincere apology for what Mr. Massie endured."
KOSIK: All right. They say everything is bigger in Texas, right? Well, check him out. Baby Ali weighing in at 14 pounds, 13 ounces earlier this month. He broke a weight record for newborns at Arlington Memorial Hospital.
His parents, Jennifer and Eric, telling CNN affiliate KTVT they were expecting a big baby since their firstborn daughter Annabelle was more than nine pounds at birth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER MEDLOCK, MOTHER OF BABY ALI: We heard an "oh, my" behind the curtain and I was like oh, my what? It doesn't matter how big he is. I'm so blessed to have him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Oh, more to cuddle there -- so cute. At two weeks old, he's already wearing clothes for 3- to 6-month olds -- whew. MARQUARDT: So blessed, as says -- as the mother said -- all right.
KOSIK: All right, thanks for joining us. Happy New Year, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I'm Alison Kosik.
MARQUARDT: And I'm Alex Marquardt. We wish you a happy and healthy 2019. Christine and Dave are back on Wednesday. "NEW DAY" starts right now.
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GRAHAM: President Trump is not going to walk away from this fight without border security funding.
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D), NEW YORK: We are not wasting taxpayer dollars on a ransom note.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: It is a silly semantic argument. You keep saying wall, wall, wall. He wants all types of border security.
REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D), VIRGINIA: Our president decides to use the death of two children as a political tool. I was disgusted.
