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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Oval Office Address; Democratic Rebuttal; Second Trump-Kim Summit?; Clemson Batters 'Bama; Wall Street Recovering From December Losses. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired January 08, 2019 - 04:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:45] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump taking his case to the American people with a primetime Oval Office address on immigration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: We want the symbol of America to stay as the Statue of Liberty, not a big concrete wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Democrats stand united against the wall. How they plan to respond to the president's address tonight.

BRIGGS: North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un arriving in China overnight as we learn new details about a possible second summit between Kim and President Trump.

ROMANS: And while you were sleeping, Clemson dominating Alabama for the national title. We have all the highlights. You think this team even has a future, huh?

BRIGGS: I mean, look, one of the great teams in the history of college football and they might get better, that is the scary part for the rest of college football.

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

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. It's just Tuesday, just Tuesday, my friend. That is it.

ROMANS: Please stop.

BRIGGS: It's 4:31 Eastern Time. Yes, I know, check it out.

It's day 18, though, of the government shutdown, if you want more good news.

President Trump launching a PR blitz to make the case for his border barrier. Tonight, he will give a 9:00 p.m. televised address on what the White House is calling the humanitarian and national security crisis on the border with Mexico. That address will be carried on all the networks, including right here on CNN. The White House also announcing that the president will visit the border on Thursday.

The location of that visit officially undisclosed, but the "Washington Post" reports that the FAA is restricting air space over McAllen, Texas, due to what it's calling VIP movement.

ROMANS: Now, two sources tell us that the president decided to make this content speech after allies told him his arguments are not resonating. Some aides say his "build the wall" slogan is getting worn out from overuse. Vice President Pence and Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen laying the groundwork for the president to possibly declare a national emergency to build the wall, using military funds.

At a press briefing, they used the word "crisis" 37 times.

BRIGGS: The president vowing to keep the government shut down until he gets his wall, however long that takes. Meantime, hundreds of thousands of federal workers brace to miss their first full pay check on Friday.

Congressional correspondent Phil Mattingly with the latest from Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, has the partial government shutdown enters its third week, it is clear that there is no end in sight. You have negotiators on both sides deeply entrenched not building a bridge in any way, shape or form to try and figure out a solution. You have the president on one side. You have Democratic leaders on the other. Both are playing to bases that don't want negotiations, bases that don't want compromise. And as it currently stands, there is no clear pathway out of this.

Now, why that really matters particularly this week is because the pain of the partial government shutdown is going to start to be felt in a very acute manner. Now, it's interesting, over the course of the last couple weeks, it has been somewhat muted. First and foremost, it is only 25 percent of the government that shut down. That lessens the disruption to some bit.

And you also had the holidays which played some role and keeping it somewhat quiet over the course of the period of time. You got a change of the new Congress as well.

But when it really starts to bite is when people start to miss their paychecks. Starting this Friday, it will be the first full paycheck, the bulk of the 800,000 federal workers affected by the shutdown will start to miss. And as the weeks move on, the pain becomes more and are more acute.

You have federal housing vouchers, potential tax refunds, you have all sorts of issues because of those agencies in the government are shut down. Now, in the past, those have been the issues, that has been the pain that has brought lawmakers to the table. Basically, they are hearing constituents saying enough is enough, time to make a deal and make a deal. The problem right now when you talk to negotiators on both sides is they haven't gotten any sense that that is doing anything to change the dynamic at the moment. In fact, it seems like both sides are just digging in further. You have the president's primetime address tonight. You have Mike Pence the vice president planning to come to Capitol Hill later this evening to basically rally Republicans, to stick together.

Democrats are doing the same saying they will block anything in the Senate if it comes to the floor so they can stick together. Basically, both sides playing to their base, both sides playing to politics, and to be frank, both sides believe they may have the winning hand at least as it pertains to the politics of it. That, of course, didn't actually pertain to the personal stories, personal people who are actually affected by this, those people don't seem to have a say right now.

[04:35:05] And as long as that is the case, I think the real concern up on Capitol Hill is that there is going to be no deal, there is going to be no pathway forward and again, it's not days we're talking right now, it is quite possibly weeks -- Christine and Dave.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Phil Mattingly, thank you for that. Democrats demanding a chance to respond to the president's immigration speech tonight. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are releasing a joint statement that says this, now that the television networks have decided to air the president's address, which if his past statements are any indication will be full of malice and misinformation, Democrats must immediately be given equal air time.

Now, CNN plans to carry the Democratic response live. Details about who will speak and if how long have not been finalized. Some Democrats already dismissing the president's pitch before he even makes it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: I expect the president to lie to the American people. Why do I expect this? Because he has been lying to the American people and his spokespeople continue lying to the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: When a serious sanctions bill comes up for a vote later this morning, Democrats will attempt to block it, in order to keep the focus on the government shutdown. And according to a senior aide, party leaders are discussing the idea of broadening the strategy to all legislation. The two Democratic senators from Maryland, Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, first raised the idea of blocking bills on the floor to put pressure on President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Cardin and Van Hollen represent thousands of furloughed government workers. McConnell is refusing to put any government funding bills on the floor unless the president supports them.

ROMANS: All right. So, word is you can expect to receive your tax refund on time even if the shutdown drags on. That's the word from the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, announcing that refund checks will be sent out during a shutdown. How are they going to do that? That would reverse a long standing policy.

According to a senior administration official, budget officials are relying on a 2011 IRS memo that argues refunds can be paid during shutdowns. The IRS says it plans to recall a significant portion of its furloughed employees as tax season approaches.

BRIGGS: A national pilots association says that the shutdown stalemate is compromising safety, security and efficiency of the nation's air traffic system. The president of the airline pilots association writing a letter to President Trump, he says because of the shutdown, there are fewer safety inspectors at the FAA and that adversely affects the air traffic control system.

On Friday, CNN reported hundreds of TSA officers called out sick last week from at least four major airports. A TSA spokesman says the agency is closely monitoring the situation.

ROMANS: Three of the four living ex-presidents deny telling President Trump that they wish they had built a walling on the southern border. Here is what Mr. Trump is claiming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This should have been done by all of the presidents that preceded me and they all know it. Some of them have told me that we should have done it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Some of them have told me that we should have done it. So we checked.

Jimmy Carter says it was not him. The nation's oldest living president tweeting I have not discussed the border wall with President Trump and do not support him on the issue. President George W. Bush, his spokesman says, quote, they have not discussed in. Bill Clinton, no, his spokesman says, quote, he never said that and Mr. Clinton has not spoken to President Trump since the inauguration.

That leaves Barack Obama who has not responded directly to President Trump's claim, but has publicly denounced the notion of a border wall.

BRIGGS: California Democratic Senator Kamala Harris set to begin a book tour today for her new memoir. The tour giving her a chance to preview her message ahead of an expected presidential announcement this month.

Meantime, "The Wall Street Journal" reports former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke planning a solo road trip to meet voters outside of Texas. "The Journal" says he will pop into places such as community college campuses as he considers whether to enter the 2020 race. O'Rourke does not plan to make a final decision until at least February.

Fellow Texan and Democrat Julian Castro plans it announce his decision on a possible run on Saturday.

ROMANS: Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords will return to Capitol Hill today. She will help introduce some bill requiring background checks on private gun sale transactions. House Democrats plan to unveil the bill on the eighth anniversary of the shooting in Tucson that nearly killed Giffords and left six other people dead.

Despite some bipartisan support for gun legislation, the Democrats' background check proposal appears unlikely to advance in Republican- controlled Senate.

BRIGGS: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg missing the first day of oral arguments for the first time in the new year as she recuperates from cancer surgery. Ginsburg had not missed day one of arguments since she was confirmed to the court in 1993. The 85-year- old had jurist had surgery last month to remove two cancerous growths from her left lung. She has been recovering at home.

Ginsburg has had two other bouts ca confirmed to the court in 1993.

[04:40:01] The 85-year-old had surgery last month it remove two cancerous growths from her left lung. She has been recovering at home. Ginsburg has had two other bouts with cancer in 1999 and 2009. A Supreme Court spokesman says she will still vote on cases by reviewing transcripts of the oral arguments.

MADDOW: All right. Forty minutes past the hour.

Actor Kevin spacey pleads not gilts tie charges he groped an 18-year- old busboy in Nantucket. Why defense attorneys asked the court to preserve cellphone records from the alleged victim.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back.

Kevin Spacey pleading not guilty in a sexual assault case. Spacey appearing in court in Nantucket Monday for his arraignment on a charge of indecent assault and battery. Prosecutors say he groped an 18- year-old busboy at a bar back on the island back in 2016.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE THOMAS BARRETT, NATUCKET DISTRICT COURT: You're required to stay away and have no contact, direct or indirect, with the alleged victim.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: According to the criminal complaint, the accuser filmed a short part of that incident on Snapchat and sent to his girlfriend. Defense attorneys asked the court to preserve cellphone data and other text messages from the victim for six months after the date of the incident. If convicted on the felony charge, Spacey faces up to five years in prison.

Comedian Kevin Hart and CNN's Don Lemon engaging in a cautious back- and-forth over how far Hart needs to go apologizing. Furor over a series of years old homophobic tweets caused Hart to back out of hosting this year's Oscars. Last Friday, Lemon who is openly gay criticized Hart's appearance on Ellen DeGeneres' show. He said that instead of apologizing moving on, Hart should become an LGBT ally and make the world a better place.

Yesterday, Hart pushed back on his Sirius XM radio show.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

KEVIN HART, STRAIGHT FROM THE HART WITH KEVIN HART: I don't like the forcing. I don't like -- like Don Lemon goes -- Don Lemon goes on CNN and he is like you can fix this, become an ally. That's not my -- it's not my life dream.

Kevin Hart apologizes for his remarks that hurt members of LGBTQ community. I apologize.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BRIGGS: This was Don Lemon's response last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Whether I like it or not, whether you like it or not, that is his right. If he doesn't want to be an ally, he doesn't want to be a spokesperson for the gay community. He doesn't have to do that. It's his choice as America.

Kevin is sorry for what he said. He says that he understands how it hurt, but he is not here to be an ally. OK. So we have to march on without him. Glad he apologized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Still no official word on whether hart will host the Oscar telecast. The Motion Picture Academy indicated that it would still accept Hart as a host if he approached the group about returning.

ROMANS: All right. California utility PG&E, the stock tumbled Monday after a report it may go bankrupt. PG&E could be responsible for tens of billions of dollars for its potential role in California's devastating camp fire last year. The deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history.

PG&E has indicated that it does not have the case or assets to pay close to that amount. "Reuters" reports that the utility which provides electricity to about 16 million Californians is contemplating filing for bankruptcy protection. The stock closed down 22 percent. According to the state fire officials, the cause of the camp fire is

still under investigation, but PG&E has suggested it may be responsible. In report last month, it outlined how employees discovered damaged power towers minutes before the camp fire broke out. A class action lawsuit accuses the utility of negligence and poor maintenance of its electrical infrastructure. According to the California attorney general, the utility could face murder or manslaughter charges if found responsible for causing those wildfires. PG&E did not immediately respond to our request for comments.

BRIGGS: All right. The Clemson Tigers rolled the Alabama Crimson Tide 44-16 to win the college football national championship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Off to the races goes Justin Ross. And he is going to score!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Good night. After trailing 16-14 in the second quarter, Clemson reeled off 30 straight points to turn the game into a rout. Freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence three touchdowns, your MVP. It is the second national title in three years for Clemson and their coach Dabo Swinney. Tigers finished a perfect 15-0.

ROMANS: All right. California Governor Gavin Newsom's toddler son toddled on stage yesterday, stealing the show on the middle of the new governor's inaugural address. Two-year-old Dutch right here flanking his son. He wandered right up to dad Monday. To the governor's credit, he didn't miss a beat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: Now more than ever, we Californians know how much a house matters and children matter.

(END VIDEO CLI)

ROMANS: You know, I'm really --

BRIGGS: Was that planned?

ROMANS: I love working parents. We all got to juggle it, right? He ad libbed this is exactly how this was scripted.

BRIGGS: I once had my daughter wander up to me on national television and I kind of gave the stiff arm. It wasn't as smooth as Gavin Newsom was there. Well done.

All right. Ahead, North Korean dictator Kim Jung-un arriving in China from a serious three days of meetings with President Xi Jinping. We go live to Beijing next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [04:54:09] ROMANS: North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un arriving in China for three days of meetings. He came in an armored train and here is his motorcade parading down Beijing's most famous boulevard. According to North Korea's state run media, he was invited by President Xi Jinping. There meeting comes as U.S. negotiators wrap up trade talks with Chinese officials.

Matt Rivers tracking latest live from Beijing.

Peel back the mystery for us here. Why do we think that Kim has been summoned to the capital?

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is always that little bit of mystery when Kim Jong-un comes to China. It was late last night here that we first got reports that this train had come across the Chinese/North Korean border and this morning it finally pulled up and Chinese media said that Kim Jong-un was here. As China and North Korea usually do, not a lot of details, we haven't even seen any pictures of the two men together as of yet, but we can make an educated guess about why the North Korea leader is here.

[04:55:07] More than likely he is here because of this upcoming summit currently being planned, summit number two if you will, between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. What we saw back in 2018 was Kim Jong-un made two separate trips to China before going to that Singapore summit with Donald Trump in June of last year.

So if there is another summit being planned, which we believe there is between the United States and North Korea, Kim Jong-un coming here seeing Xi Jinping, getting on the same page with his ally. And remember, China is North Korea's only major ally on the world stage, that makes a ton of sense. We also know CNN is reporting that the United States has looked at a couple different locations for this potential summit, Vietnam, Thailand, even Hawaii.

So this clearly is being worked out on both sides. And if all of that is not enough for you, Christine, that trade delegation that you mentioned earlier, they're going to be wrapping up those meetings today heading back to the United States. No word yet on any progress or how those meetings went.

ROMANS: Yes, and we'll get some sort of a readout you think or some kind of a statement sat the end of that meeting, right?

RIVERS: Probably either at the end of the meeting or when the delegation gets back to D.C., but they kind of do different things each time.

ROMANS: Exactly. And March deadline looming.

All right. Thanks so much, Matt Rivers in Beijing.

BRIGGS: And it was all about the government shutdown on the late night shows. Here is a peek at what comedians had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JIMMY FALLON, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON": President Trump is refusing to end the shutdown until he gets $5 billion for a border wall. But Democrats have a plan, they will make Trump wear one of those blind folds from Bird Box and just tell him there is a wall. Don't take it off. Don't take it off. Is that a wall?

JAMES CORDEN, "THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN": The president was asked about all the unpaid federal workers struggling to pay their bills and Trump responded saying that he, quote, can relate. It makes sense. I mean, no one is more relatable than Donald Trump, right? Just a regular working class family man.

STEPHEN COLBERT, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": So many programs affected by the shutdown. Turns out the government does a lot of things. Who knew? Including food stamps, subsidized school lunches, the EPA, the USDA, and the Smithsonian and national zoo. And you can tell they are upset if you look at the National Zoo's panda cam.

SETH MEYERS, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted that president Trump will travel to the southern border on Thursday and what do you know, Mexico finally started building that wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: And then there is Jimmy Kimmel seen here shaking hands with his temporary employee, John Kostelnik, a law enforcement prison guard. The comedian vowing to put a government employee to work every show until the shutdown ends, so that they can collect a paycheck.

Jimmy Kimmel very involved in every political issue the last couple years.

ROMANS: All right. Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning.

Global stocks are mostly higher as those China-U.S. trade talks continue in Beijing. In Asia, pretty mixed there. Shanghai down, but Tokyo and Hong Kong up. And London opened slightly higher.

On Wall Street, futures are higher this morning a little bit. Triple digits for the Dow. Stocks beginning to recover from their worst December since the Great Depression. The Dow closed 98 points higher on Monday, but that builds on Friday's 747-point gain.

However, the market rally faded throughout the day. The Dow, Dave, had been up 255 points at one point during the session. The S&P 500 closed up about 1 percent, the Nasdaq closed a little more than 1 percent.

The market has been rebounding lately, but this isn't the case for everybody. Apple fell slightly yesterday. Apple stock has fallen 36 percent since October 3. That is just amazing.

Apple has now fallen behind Amazon, Microsoft and Google in market value. It has lost $500 billion in market value over the past three months. It has got an iPhone problem, you know, iPhone growth is a real issue here.

Time running out for Sears. The bankrupt retailer could be forced to start the process of shutting down today if it doesn't accept the only bid to save it. Sears holdings had a deadline of this past Friday to accept a $4.4 billion bid from the message fund run by the former CEO of Sears, Eddie Lampert. The bid called for keeping 425 stores open and offering jobs to 50,000 of Sears remaining employees. The deadline passed without any word from Sears on the status of the bid. And the hedge fund also declined to comment.

If Sears does not accept Lampert's bid as a valid offer, it will likely have to ask the course for permission to start shutting down the business and liquidating. A hearing scheduled for today in bankruptcy court.

BRIGGS: OK. EARLY START continues right with day 18 of the government shutdown.

(MUSIC)

BRIGGS: President Trump taking his case to the American people in a primetime oval office address tonight on immigration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHUMER: We want the symbol of America to stay as the Statue of Liberty, not a big concrete wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)