Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Pushes Border Wall in TV Address; Democrats Push Back on Border Wall; No Paycheck for Federal Workers; Bombshell Mueller Filing; Brexit Debate Resumes. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired January 09, 2019 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:30:19] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is a growing humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump making his case, trying to, on immigration. Did he change any minds?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Mr. President, reopen the government, end this shutdown now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Democrats head back to the White House today to meet with the president. Are they ready to make a deal?
ROMANS: Deadline passed. It is official now, hundreds of thousands of federal workers on the front lines of national security will not be paid Friday. We'll tell you their stories.
BRIGGS: It may be the clearest public evidence yet of coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. What Paul Manafort shared with an alleged Russian operative during the 2016 election.
Welcome back to EARLY START, everybody. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: Good morning. I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour.
And we're entering day 19 of the federal government shutdown. This afternoon, President Trump will attend the Senate Republican lunch then return to the White House for a meeting with top congressional leaders. The president heading to the stage for the oval office address last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The federal government remains shut down for one reason and one reason only, because Democrats will not fund border security. This situation could be solved in a 45-minute meeting. I have invited congressional leadership to the White House tomorrow to get this done. Hopefully, we can rise above partisan politics, in order to support national security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: But those top Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rebutted the president this way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHUMER: This president just used the backdrop of the Oval Office to manufacture a crisis, stoke fear and divert attention from the turmoil in his administration.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: President Trump must stop holding the American people hostage. Let's stop manufacturing a crisis, and must reopen the government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Despite the hints dropped by the White House, the president did not declare a national emergency in his speech. That does not mean it's off the table. But a course close to the president says he's been told by several advisers that an emergency declaration probably won't work.
CNN's Jim Acosta has more on the address from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDEN: Christine and Dave, President Trump did make his pitch for a border wall from the Oval Office. And while the president did not declare a state of emergency down at the border, he did talk about the situation on the border and humanitarian and national security terms, at one point saying he wanted to appeal to the heart and soul of the country.
Here's more of what he had to say.
TRUMP: Over the years, thousands of Americans have been brutally killed by those who illegally entered our country, and thousands more lives will be lost if we don't act right now. This is a humanitarian crisis, a crisis of the heart, and a crisis of the soul.
ACOSTA: The president did manage to tell a number of falsehoods in that brief eight-minute address, at one point saying it was Democrats who were requesting a steel barrier down at the border, when a Democratic aide up on Capitol Hill tells CNN that is not the case. The president also said that Mexico would somehow pay for that steel barrier through the new trade between the U.S. and Mexico, but that's not how that trade deal works -- Christine and Dave.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRIGGS: Thanks, Jim.
At the stroke of midnight last night, it became official, federal employees at America's airports, borders, prisons, men and women who are working hard to feed their families and serve all of us will not be getting paychecks on Friday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CATHERINE FICCO, FORLOUGHED IRS EMPLOYEE: We are deferring payments where we can. We are boning everything back to the bare necessities to try and make it through.
CHRISTINE VITEL, TSA EMPLOYEE WORKING WITHOUT PAY: I am a single mom. My son just graduated his first two years of college. He's going back. I'm not getting paid. I just bought a house. I'm not going to be able to pay my mortgage.
ANGIE ACKLIN, CORRECTIONAL OFFICER: You have the stress of I'm not getting paid. I'm not getting a paycheck. And you have inmates who, you know, just want to tease and mess with you as an officer, so they can make it a more dangerous place. For safety and security, I mean that puts that at risk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: And now this CNN exclusive, an e-mail written by a high- ranking official at TSA, raising new concerns about airport security becoming compromised.
Rene Marsh has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[04:35:00] RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION & GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, excessive callouts by TSA officers have hurt security operations at a southern California airport. That is the assessment of a high-ranking TSA official. It's all laid out in an internal e-mail dated Monday.
The TSA official in charge of security operations at Palm Springs International Airport wrote, and I'm quoting, due to excessive, unscheduled absences recently experienced at this airport, PSP, Palm Springs International, that has adversely impacted security operations. If you have an unscheduled absence, you will not be placed in an intermittent furlough status. Plainly speaking, concerns about the number of callouts at the airport have reached the point that TSA management is now warning in this e-mail that there may be disciplinary action if employees call out.
Now, the e-mail was directed to all TSA personnel at the airport. And it's significant, because it exposes for the first time an acknowledgement that this partial government shutdown now stretching into a third week is impacting some aviation security at least one airport. Now, we received a statement from TSA, it says in part that Palm Springs airport is a small airport that requires a full-team effort. The deputy FSA who is the federal security director referenced in the e-mail obtained by CNN was simply expressing that all screening employees must report to work during the current lapse in appropriations as required by federal rules.
TSA on its part says it has not seen any impact on its operations there. Of course, this comes from safety warnings from major pilot, flight attendant, and TSA employee unions -- Christine and Dave.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Yes. Rene, thank you, again.
These are people in the front lines of national security who will not be paid on Friday.
Some FDA employees are worried the shutdown is risking the safety and health of the American people. About 41 percent of the FDA staffer off the job and rest are working without pay. Jeannine Harks (ph) is a chemist, she tests medications for a lab in Detroit. She tells CNN the agency is doing the best they can with a skeleton skew but she said it's terrifying. What if there's an outbreak and they don't have the staff to handle it. In an emergency, the FDA can call workers back from the furlough for as long as the emergency lasts, but that's after emergencies already begun.
BRIGGS: Hundreds of low income families facing possible eviction this morning because of the shutdown. More than 1,100 HUD contracts with landlords who provide subsidized housing have expired since the shutdown started. And over 1,000 more are set to expire by February. HUD is asking the affected landlords to deep into their reserves to cover any shortfall.
ROMANS: And despite the shutdown, the Agriculture Department says it will be providing food stamps to 38 million Americans through the end of February. Initially, the agency could only guarantee them until the end of January. Ag officials say they will use a provision which allows them to make obligated payments within 30 days of a funding lapse. They're now working with states to issue food stamp benefits $4.8 billion worth by January 20th.
BRIGGS: The president's trade policies, coupled with the shutdown, are punishing some of its most loyal supporters, America's farmers. The Department of Agriculture extending the deadline to apply for assistance to offset their losses. The farm agency had to close because of the shutdown, so the deadline will be extended by the number of days the agency is closed.
ROMANS: So that doesn't mean you can file for those benefits today. That means, once the government reopens, then you'll have a window. So those farmers still are uncovered.
It may be the clearest public evidence yet of coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential race. This came out in a botched court ruling by lawyers by Paul Manafort revealing that the former campaign chief shared polling data with an alleged Russian operative. We get more from CNN's Sara Murray.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Dave.
We're now learning that Paul Manafort shared campaign-related polling and discussed Ukrainian peace plan with his Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik, all while serving as Donald Trump's campaign chairman.
Manafort and Kilimnik stayed in touch after Donald Trump was elected, even meeting in Madrid in 2017.
Now, those revelations are the closest public sign of coordination between a Trump campaign official and Russians. In this case, it's Kilimnik, a man prosecutors says has ties to Russian intelligence. That same Russian intelligence that investigators say hacked the Democratic Party and leaked stolen e-mails during the 2016 campaign.
Remarkably, we're learning all of this thanks to Manafort's legal team. They submitted a filing to explain that Manafort never intentionally lied to federal investigators when he was supposed to be cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller.
[04:40:04] Manafort's lawyers insist their client has misremembered certain details. But their lawyer submitted a redacted version with formatting errors that allows all of these details to be made public.
Back to you, guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRIGGS: The Supreme Court ruling on a case tied to the Mueller investigation, the justices rejecting a challenge by an unnamed foreign-owned company that sought to avoid complying with the grand jury subpoena. The order reinstates daily contempt fines totaling $50 million a day for failing to comply with the subpoena. Chief Justice John Roberts had put those fines on hold. The case marks the first time the Supreme Court has had to intervene in the Russia probe.
ROMANS: A Russian lawyer who met in 201 at Trump Tower with members of the Trump campaign has now been charged with obstruction of justice in a separate case. Federal prosecutors in New York charging Natalya Veselnitskaya in connection with the money laundering case. It does highlight her deep ties to the Russian government. She helped organize the infamous meeting at Trump Tower between members of the campaign and President Trump's family and candidate Trump's family and Russians, promising dirt on Hillary Clinton.
BRIGGS: An emotional moment on the House floor last night. Republican Congressman Steve Scalise and former Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Giffords, both victims of gun attacks shared a hug. Scalise approached Giffords just before a moment of silence, marking the eighth anniversary of the shooting that nearly killed Giffords.
She was in Washington to help introduce a bill requiring background checks on private transaction gun sales. The Democrats' background check proposal appears unlikely to advance in the Republican- controlled Senate.
ROMANS: That moment brought tears to my eyes for a couple of reasons because of their families and what they've had to endure as victims of gun violence. And then I shot, how many other families since each of them were shot had to endure this with no letup.
BRIGGS: Yes. And those families were saying enough emotions, enough hugs and tears. We need action. We just want to see something done by our leaders in Congress and yet, another day, no action.
ROMANS: Yes, 42 minutes past the hour. An investigation under way in Arizona to determine how a woman in a vegetative state for 14 years became pregnant. How her family is responding, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:46:41] ROMANS: All right. Tim Cook wants Wall Street to focus on apple's happy customers, not how often they may be upgrading their phones. In an interview on CNBC's "Mad Money", Cook made trade war tension with the U.S., said it led to a more sharp downturn in the U.S. economy, but he believes it's temporary. As to Wall Street's response for Apple warning investors to expect slower sales, he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM COOK, APPLE CEO: I think the market is quite emotional in the short term. And we sort of look through all of that, we think about the long term. And so, when I look at the long-term health of the company is has never been better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Apple's lowered revenue expectations really rattled investors and its stock sank. Apple's value has fallen 40 percent. The company is worth $715 billion from that all-time high last year of almost $1.2 trillion of market value. In that interview, Cook said customer satisfaction and loyalty is the two most important things to Apple, not necessarily to shareholder.
BRIGGS: He's right about that. We're totally addicted. I don't know about satisfaction.
ROMANS: What about growth in India and the world? Now the stock is down 30 percent.
BRIGGS: Yes.
All right. R. Kelly, multi-Grammy winning singer, could be facing a criminal investigation in Chicago and Atlanta after the airing of a Lifetime documentary series that detailed allegations of more than two decades of abuse and pedophilia. An attorney for the family of Jocelyn Savage (ph), one of the women featured in "Surviving R. Kelly" said the Fulton district attorney is investigating the singer. Savage's attorney is claiming she's having a sexual relationship with R. Kelly and is being manipulated by him and cut off by the outside world. Prosecutors want to know if there are other potential victims out there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIMBERLY FOXX, COOK COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY: Please come forward. There's nothing that can be done to investigate these allegations without the cooperation of both victims and witnesses. We cannot seek justice without you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: In 2002, Kelly was charged with 21 counts of child pornography for a videotape that allegedly showed him having sex with an unidentified underage girl. He was acquitted and his lawyers at the time claim Kelly was not in the video.
ROMANS: All right. Police in Phoenix are trying to determine how a woman in a long-term vegetative state gave birth last month. On Tuesday, investigators served a search warrant seeking DNA from male staffers at the Hacienda Healthcare facility. CNN Phoenix affiliate reports the woman has been a patient there for at least a decade and had a baby last month.
The family's attorney releasing a statement saying the family is obviously outraged, traumatized and in shock by at buss and neglect of their daughter. The family would like to convey that the baby boy has been born into a loving family and will be well cared for.
BRIGGS: The second suspect facing capital murder charges in connection with the drive-by shooting of a 7-year-old in Houston. Larry Woodruff will have a preliminary hearing on Thursday. The news came as Jazmine Barnes family and thousands of other people packed the church for her funeral.
[04:50:04] Authorities say the shooting was most likely the case of mistaken identity. Eric Black Jr. has been charged in the case.
ROMANS: DNA in chewing gum on a water bottle helped Pennsylvania crack a nearly 30-year-old cold case. Leading to the arrest of the Raymond Rowe, he pleaded guilty in murder and rape of death of Christy Mirack. The 27-year-old teacher was found unresponsive in her home in 1992. Mirack's death was ruled a homicide caused by strangulation. Rowe will serve life plus 120 years in prison.
BRIGGS: All right. This morning, British lawmakers resuming their debate over Theresa May's Brexit deal. A live report from London, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:55:14] BRIGGS: Today, British lawmakers resume their debate over Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal. She faces an uphill battle to gain support.
CNN's Anna Stewart live at Downing Street in London where we're less than 80 days from a Brexit without an agreement.
Good morning, Anna.
ANNA STEWWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER: Good morning.
Yes, today marks day one of a five-day debate all of that to next Tuesday. Now, just to remind you, this is a vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal. It's something she took a very long time to reach with the E.U. It was supposed to take place last month, but was cancelled just hours before the debate. And that was because it was clearly obvious she was not going to win that vote.
Dave, nothing has changed here, the MPs in parliament since Christmas noted to make it here, it looks like this is going to wind down. We're less than 80 days where currently the U.K. will leave the E.U. with a deal or without. And a no deal Brexit looks very scary indeed in terms of ramifications for businesses and the economy.
So things are getting a little bit tense here, I would say.
BRIGGS: OK. Anna Stewart live for us this morning at 10 Downing, thank you.
Meanwhile, the government shutdown appears to be the gift that keeps on giving at least for Jimmy Fallon. Here now, your late night laughs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FALLON, COMEDIAN: The government shutdown is now in its 18th day. I see members of Congress are starting to pick up part-time work when they're out of a job. I'd show you what I mean.
Senator Roy Blunt got a job as of the lollipop guild.
And Senator Angus King got a job in a town that doesn't allow dancing. It's forbidden.
Senator Lindsey Graham got a job as an Applebee's waiter that is a little a too chatty. Hey, y'all.
Senator Tom Carper got a job as a gravedigger from the "Goosebumps" book.
And Chris Coons got a job as an assistant gravedigger in a "Goosebumps" book.
And, finally, Senator Mitch McConnell got a job as a smiley French fry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. Let's get a check on CNN business this morning. Global stocks are mostly higher, as trade talks revved up in Beijing.
Let's look at Asian stocks. All of them closing higher. London following suit a couple hours ago.
On Wall Street, you can see futures are higher as well, about a half percent for the Dow. Look, stocks on a three-day winning streak. The Dow climbed another 256 points, up 1.1 percent on Tuesday. The S&P closed up 1 percent. Both the Dow and S&P up for three days in a row.
You know what, normally, that's not a good deal but it's the longest winning streak since late November. Nasdaq closed up 1.1 percent rallying for the eighth time in nine days. And it bounced back from what has been a terrible, terrible end to last year. Worse December since the Great Recession.
Sears reached an 11th hour deal Tuesday to remain open for at least now. After a series of last minute negotiations, attorneys for Sears say they reached an accessible agreement with a hedge fund controlled by the former CEO Eddie Lampert. Without the deal, Sears faced the possibility of liquidation.
The deal is a revised version of a $4.4 billion bid Lampert submitted in December. It would keep 425 of the stores open if certain conditions are met. Understand the new terms, Lampert must come up with a $120 million cash payment by this afternoon as a down payment.
There are a lot of questions after Netflix claimed more than 45 million accounts watched "Bird Box" over the holidays. Now there's data from Nielsen that backs up that number.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you hear something in the woods, you tell me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: According to Nielsen, nearly 26 million viewers watched the film which stars Sandra Bullock, 26 million viewers over its first week of its release. This number does not include numbers outside of the U.S. or viewing that happened exclusively on mobile tablets or laptops.
That could explain why Netflix's number was so much higher, 45 million. The debut week of "Bird Box" came second into the debut week of second two of "Stranger Things" in October 2017. Netflix declined to comment on Nielsen numbers.
Now, I've not seen this.
BRIGGS: I have not either.
ROMANS: Scary things with kids gives me anxiety. Everyone I know has watched it. There's a whole "Bird Box" challenge thing.
BRIGGS: Yes. Either number shows this is a massive success, and judging by all of these YouTube video that has indeed been viral as well.
EARLY START continues right now, as we debate the primetime address from President Trump.
(MUSIC)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: There is a growing humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: President Trump making his case on immigration. Did he change any minds?
