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FBI Opened Probe on Trump; U.S. Government Shutdown Longest in Nation's History; Building Fire Followed by Explosion in Paris; Jayme Closs Found Alive; Democrats Gear Up for 2020 Presidential Election; Woman in Coma Gives Birth after Rape; Corruption Probe Focuses on Japanese Olympic Chief. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired January 12, 2019 - 05:00   ET

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

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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A bombshell report by "The New York Times" reveals the FBI opened an investigation of President Trump to see whether he had worked on behalf of Russia.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Plus, making history. The U.S. government shutdown now becomes the longest shutdown in U.S. history. What life is like now for hundreds of thousands of American workers working without pay.

ALLEN (voice-over): Also ahead this hour, missing for nearly three months. You can imagine people might have given up. But this teenage girl escaped captivity. She is now back with family.

HOWELL (voice-over): We are live at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. I'm George Howell.

ALLEN (voice-over): I'm Natalie Allen. CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

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ALLEN: And we begin with a shocking report from "The New York Times" with explosive implications. The paper reports the FBI looked into whether Donald Trump, a sitting U.S. president, was working on behalf of Russia and against American interests.

HOWELL: This, the new statement alone, it is just unprecedented. According to "The Times," the FBI started the investigation, because it was concerned, worried about Mr. Trump's behavior, his actions after he fired FBI director James Comey.

The probe also triggered by Mr. Trump's own words, his public statements when he said in a TV interview, he dismissed Comey because of the Russia inquiry. To be clear, we don't know if special counsel Robert Mueller is still pursuing that probe as a part of his overall investigation into Russian collusion.

ALLEN: The White House is quick to respond, press secretary Sarah Sanders calling this story "absurd," and says Comey was fired for being "a disgraced partisan hack."

HOWELL: And we're hearing from the president's attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who said this, quote, "The fact that it goes back a year and a half and nothing came of it that showed a breach of national security means they found nothing."

Again, that according to the president's attorney.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Joining me now to talk more about this is Steve Moore, a retired supervisory special agent at the FBI. He has got the tie on for the interview.

And then we've got Steve Hall, a retired CIA chief of Russia operations.

Welcome to both of you. Thank you so much for talking with us.

I want to start with you, Steve Hall.

How big could this be?

Is this a potential bombshell?

They are looking at whether the President of the United States perhaps was or is a Russian intelligence asset.

STEVE HALL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, sure, jus by the way you correctly phrase the question, yes, it's a very big deal.

From a counter intelligence perspective, there were always a lot of questions about guys like Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort more recently, a lot of people have been in the news because of the activities they undertook and then they were brought to judgment after investigations.

But there was always a question, oftentimes raised by the White House themselves, saying, well, yes, but was the boss involved?

Did Donald Trump really know about what Paul Manafort was doing or what Michael Flynn might have been doing?

And now from what we have learned from the reporting this evening is that the FBI was very seriously asking that question. And yes, so that, in and of itself, I think is a big deal.

Of course, I'll defer to Steve as for the details as to what the bureau might have been up to. But yes, for me, from a counter intelligence perspective, it's a big deal.

ALLEN: Yes, same question to you, Steve Moore, and then we'll break it down a little more about what led to this. But just your initial thoughts when you heard about this investigation.

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, I agree, anytime you are investigating at any level, the president for possible involvement with foreign power, in and of itself that's an important investigation.

I think, however, "The New York Times" was not real clear on how they explained what was going on. This was not a full investigation. This is what was called a preliminary inquiry, which is very limited in scope and can be opened simply on an allegation, which means it can be opened without any evidence at all.

And it has to be closed, if nothing is found within six months. So it's not a criminal investigation as people would think of an FBI investigation.

ALLEN: Let's talk about what led to the investigation. It was apparently the interview that Donald Trump gave NBC about why he fired James Comey. Let's listen to that now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Regardless of recommendations, I was going to fire Comey, knowing there was no good time to do it. And in fact, when I decided to just do it --

[05:05:00]

TRUMP: -- I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: So that was one of the things. The other thing was a letter that President Trump planned to send to Comey, which he apparently didn't do.

Let's go to you, Steve Moore, to explain, what was it about this investigation and this letter that triggered the FBI?

MOORE: What triggered the FBI I believe is the fact that he repeatedly wanted to get, at least on paper, some type of evidence to support the fact that Comey allegedly told him he wasn't being investigated for involvement with the Russians. And he really wanted this on paper somehow. And I can see why that would lead agents to be concerned.

ALLEN: To you, Stephen Hall, could the president have unwittingly come under Russia's influence?

HALL: Sure. There's always the question, Natalie, as to whenever somebody is associated with or perhaps the question is, was this person in this case, the President of the United States, involved or cooperating with Russia, whether it was witting or unwitting?

And that probably has important legal distinctions. From counter intelligence perspective, though, which is a significantly lower bar than a legal bar, there have a lot of, in my assessment from a counter intelligence perspective, there have been a lot of questionable activities on the part of this president. We mentioned a couple of them in terms of Russia, what about the

30,000 e-mails, I hope you find them. But if you just look at his performance, for example, in the Oval Office with Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, talking about how he just got rid of Comey that night.

That is something that every American official should know, you don't talk about that kind of dirty laundry in front of an adversarial country and its prevents because it allows them to take advantage of you in a counter intelligence way.

So legally there's obviously a lot of thresholds and a lot of hoops that would have to be jumped through before this gets much more serious. But already, there's significant concerning counter intelligence patterns that I think have emerged over the past couple years and they now perhaps they are beginning to culminate and come together.

ALLEN: Yes, and the White House has already issued a statement. It's claiming partisan politics. Here we go again with Comey.

Does that argument on behalf of the White House have any merit to you, Steve Moore?

MOORE: Well, here is the problem with that. And I agree completely with Steve about the counter intelligence aspect of this. The president is acting unwisely in this.

However, when Comey was fired, who was in charge and who could have authorized even something as small as a preliminary inquiry against Donald Trump?

It would have been the acting director, Andrew McCabe and the deputy assistant director in charge of counter intelligence, Strzok. And so what you have are two people who have been compromised, not compromised in the counter intelligence way but the American people have a compromised trust in them because they were both marched out because of political biases, apparently.

So the problem is, you have the fruit of the poisonous tree. People are not going to believe an investigation that is opened by those two guys after their boss got fired. So I think it should rightly go to Mueller because he apparently doesn't have that baggage.

ALLEN: We will continue to watch it. It's a remarkable new development. Steve Moore and Stephen Hall, we thank you both. We appreciate your insights.

HILL: Thanks.

MOORE: Sure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Now to the partial U.S. government shutdown. It lingers on, now officially the longest shutdown in U.S. history and, for some 800,000 federal employees, it means they have been left high and dry, hurting now for three weeks and counting.

ALLEN: The collateral damage is piling up, House Democrats have passed bill after bill to reopen the government and get people back to work. But Senate Republicans ridicule those moves as stunts and say they won't move on anything until President Trump says OK. For more, here's CNN Kaitlan Collins.

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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump backing off his threat to declare a national emergency to fund his border wall today.

TRUMP: What we're not looking to do right now is national emergency.

COLLINS: The president making that comment during an immigration roundtable at the White House after warnings that he would likely set off a firestorm of critics if he bypassed Congress to build his signature campaign promise, though Trump still maintains he can if he wants to.

TRUMP: I have the absolute right to do it.

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COLLINS: Washington is in a deadlock 21 days into the government shutdown and the White House has started exploring ways to pay for the wall without Congress, after talks with Democrats went nowhere.

TRUMP: The only way you're going to stop it, only way to stop it, without question, is with a very powerful wall or steel barrier.

COLLINS: Despite warnings Trump could face a lengthy legal battle if he did use his emergency powers, Senator Lindsey Graham urged him to do so after their meeting today, tweeting, "Democrats don't want to make a deal and will never support a border wall. Mr. President, declare a national emergency now. Build a wall now."

That comment despite Graham saying last week a national emergency was a, quote, "fallback position," but not all Republicans are on board, including Senator Chuck Grassley, who said, "The president should not do it. I think it might be a bad precedent."

This as vice president Mike Pence, who led shutdown negotiations on Capitol Hill, paid a visit to the Customs and Border Protection headquarters today.

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I also know that we do this in the midst of a partial government shutdown. That's no doubt created anxiety for families that are gathered here today.

COLLINS: Making this pledge to the border agents who aren't getting paid:

PENCE: This president and this administration will keep fighting to build the wall and give you the resources and reforms you need to do your job. That's my promise.

COLLINS: While declaring a national emergency is not completely off the table, sources say he backed off that idea because he feared the sharp backlash he would get from not only Democrats but Republicans as well, who felt he would set a dangerous precedent.

Despite the flurry of activity through the shutdown, CNN is told there's no meetings scheduled between White House officials and congressional staffers over the weekend. They're going wait for lawmakers to get back in town -- Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: To get perspective on the shutdown showdown, where things stand now, let's bring in Dr. Richard Johnson. He teaches U.S. politics and international relations at Lancaster University in England, joining via Skype. Good to have you with us.

RICHARD JOHNSON, LANCASTER UNIVERSITY: Thank you.

HOWELL: Dr. Johnson the shutdown showdown lingers on but President Trump seeming to back down for now on his threats to declare a national emergency to build a border wall that he famously promised Mexico would pay for, admitting that it could get blocked in the courts.

Mr. Trump says that is still an option but he prefers a different path. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's the easy way out. But Congress should do this. This is too simple. It's too basic and Congress should do this. If they can't do it, if at some point they just can't do it, this is a 15- minute meeting. If they can't do it, I will declare a national emergency. I have the absolute right to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: So Richard, with both sides still clearly dug in, where do you see things going from here?

JOHNSON: Well, the president probably does have the right to call a national emergency. At least he has the first move advantage on this. Presidents since Woodrow Wilson have declared national emergencies.

There is a very significant court case in 1952 against President Harry Truman when he tried to nationalize the steel industry in the midst of the Korean War. The Supreme Court acted against the president and said he wasn't allowed to do that.

What happened in the 1970s is that Congress passed legislation, which the National Emergency Act of 1976, which was meant to constrain the president by requiring the president to provide justification to Congress for those actions. What it's actually turned into, it's actually made it fairly easy for

presidents to provide some kind of cursory justification and then to carry on. And now I think if President Trump does it in this case, I think he will certainly face legal action.

We have to remember that the court has been increasingly tipping in a pro-Republican direction under this president and the Supreme Court is a majority Republican court now. So I think that you know these dynamics are -- I think that the president has, you know, some room to maneuver with this. That could be concerning for people who are concerned about presidential overreach.

HOWELL: President Trump also now getting credit for what is officially the longest shutdown in U.S. history. What that means in dollars and cents for some hundreds of thousands of federal workers, Richard, is that many of these people got paychecks showing zero dollars and zero cents.

I remember my grandmother saying, don't mess with people's money. That's what's happening here. Some of the people --

[05:15:00]

HOWELL: -- affected may have even voted for this president.

Do you think this leaves a lasting mark in the minds of these everyday working Americans, these people getting checks that are worthless?

JOHNSON: I think it's very concerning. And the federal workers are in a fairly weak bargaining position. Since the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, federal workers haven't been allowed to go on strike.

There have been incidents where federal workers have effectively gone on strike, in 1981, famously; 11,000 air traffic controllers went on strike and President Reagan said that was illegal action. It was illegal action. And he sacked all of them.

So they don't have a huge amount of leverage compared to other workers, who might be in a paid dispute with their employer.

So really what they have to depend on is public opinion and that's their safeguard, is to hope that they're able to get the American public on side to place pressure on particularly the president and also Congress to form some sort of agreement because they don't have that ability, themselves, to withdraw their labor as a part of some kind of strike action.

HOWELL: This goes to my second to last question here, very quickly, "The Wall Street Journal" reporting the White House Office of Management and Budget is preparing for the possibility this could go through the end of February, well past the president's upcoming State of the Union address set for January 29th.

Yet Democrats refusing to negotiate and Senate Republicans blocking these appropriations bills that could reopen government.

Do everyday people, do they have any leverage here to push these politicians to stop the games?

JOHNSON: Well, there's some interesting polling has come out this week. You find that 31 percent of Americans, only 31 percent support shutting down the federal government for a border wall. But a majority of the Republicans do.

That's a key group to watch. But that number is now 58 percent so that's dropping. I think that's the key one for the president that he is keeping his mind on.

On the other hand, so far, two-thirds of Americans in that same poll say they haven't been personally affected by the shutdown. But as people stop seeing their tax rebates, they can't get their passports, they can't get their subsidized lunches for their children, food stamps and so on, as more and more programs start to run dry, I think that that will only not only affect, you know, the average American but also affect Republican voters.

And I think when a majority of Republicans are stopped being in favor of a shutdown, then I think you could see the president having to change his mind.

HOWELL: Dr. Richard Johnson, with context and perspective. Thank you.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

ALLEN: We are following breaking news out of France, where authorities are responding to an explosion in Central Paris. Police say the blast was called by a gas leak at a bakery Saturday morning.

And an official in Paris tells CNN there were victims but so far it is unclear how many, police are saying the explosion is not terror related.

CNN's Paris correspondent Melissa Bell joins us now from the area where this happened.

It must have been a terrifying Saturday morning for people in that neighborhood, Melissa.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I think for anyone who would have been on what is normally a busy street, I'll show you behind me the scene now. It would have been pretty terrifying stuff.

You can see there at the end of the street, Natalie, the fire services, who have been battling the flames of the fire that followed the explosion for the last couple of hours, it now appears to be under the control. The plumes of smoke billowing out the last couple of hours have now died down.

But we have been hearing a lot more about precisely what happened here before that explosion took place. What eyewitnesses say is, in fact, the fire services about an hour before the explosion took place. Here's what one eyewitness who works in a hotel opposite the bakery in which that explosion took place had to say about what he saw. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel a big pressure came out of me like smoke, so I just have time to get down and then cover my head and cover everything. I didn't see nothing, I didn't see nothing. So I was in panic.

So, unfortunately, I know that, even with a lot of smoke, so I could repair the exit, so I just run, run, ran through a lot of rocks. A lot of things came off the roof, fell down off the roof. So I -- so I was running, so I was stepping on nothing and then I was run off. Fortunately, I get out of the water (ph).

[05:20:00]

BELL: So it was an explosion of such force felt here at 9:00 am, I'm moving out of the way, because of the security, the emergency services, they need to use this road as they make their way to and from the scene, Natalie.

But as you heard from that eyewitness and we've heard from others, the explosion, the strength of it, the force of it was such for a fair distance around, there were windows broken. People were pushed back by the sheer force of this explosion.

France's interior minister has been visiting the scene here even as firefighters struggled to get that fire under control. What the interior minister said was, although there was no official toll for the time being, he expects there will be a lot of casualties.

One of the questions is whether those firemen who'd been called out to the scene because of that gas leak were actually present and therefore injured by the time the explosion took place. It could be they are amongst those wounded.

There are a couple hundred firefighters at the scene behind me, a hundred policemen also trying to deal with the fallout from this explosion and, remember, Natalie, this is a Saturday morning in Paris.

That means this is another day of Yellow Vest protests. So, of course, the entire city was full of policemen and women, trying to ensure the safety of the streets. This is an extra thing they need to deal with this morning.

ALLEN: Absolutely. The protesters there, they're in Paris and, all of a sudden, this happened. It must have been quite a jolt that, all of a sudden, the story switched to this neighborhood. As you said, yes, people have been injured. But no reports of any deaths.

Is that right, Melissa?

BELL: That's right no reports of any deaths for the time being. We have had no initial toll. The interior minister expects there to be a lot of people wounded. We don't have any figures and we don't know how critically those who were wounded are still. So that is one of the questions that we would be looking to have

answered for the time being. Though, certainly when it comes to the cause of this explosion, that is, of course, the first thing you wonder when you are here in Paris, given all the terrorist attacks of this last year, this was an accidental explosion due to a gas leak.

But the force of it, really, for anyone in the vicinity of this fairly busy neighborhood of Paris, it would be extremely shocking and loud and it did cause a lot of damage.

ALLEN: All right. We appreciate you being there on the scene for us, Melissa Bell in Paris. Thanks, Melissa.

HOWELL: The shutdown showdown, some 800,000 federal workers have now gone without being paid for three weeks. Still ahead, how the negative impact of the government shutdown is spreading far beyond the affected workers.

ALLEN: Also, she was missing three months after her parents were killed. But now Jayme Closs is reunited with her relatives. We will tell you how she got away from her kidnapper.

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HOWELL: In the U.S. state of Wisconsin, there is relief now that a girl who was missing for nearly three months is reunited with relatives.

ALLEN: Jayme Closs' disappearance on the day her parents were murdered spurred thousands of tips and several searches. But it was the 13-year old herself who escaped to freedom and led police to her suspected kidnapper. For the story, here's CNN's Ryan Young.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS FITZGERALD, SHERIFF, BARRON COUNTY: It's amazing, the will of that 13-year-old girl to survive and escape.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's the Barron County Sheriff telling the world how Jayme Closs was found alive after she was kidnapped and her parents murdered in their Wisconsin home, 88 days since she disappeared and almost 70 miles away, she approached a couple walking their dog.

JEANNE NUTTER, FOUND JAYME CLOSS: When I first saw her, I said, oh, you know, did she run away, did somebody just dump her off here because she didn't have coats or gloves or -- and then when she told me who she was, I figured she must have left in a hurry.

YOUNG (voice-over): That woman took Jayme to a nearby home. KRISTIN KASINSKAS, HELPED JAYME AFTER SHE WAS FOUND: I absolutely knew it was her. We've seen her picture a million times around here. She looked exactly the same as she did in her picture, a little bit thinner, I would say.

PETER KASINSKAS, HELPED JAYME AFTER SHE WAS FOUND: Genie walked in and said this is Jayme Closs and call 9-1-1. I was in absolute shock.

YOUNG (voice-over): That 9-1-1 call led police to Jayme Closs and led them to arrest 21-year-old Jake Patterson, charged with her kidnapping and with the murder of her parents. The authorities say there are no other suspects.

JUSTIN TOLOMEO, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, MILWAUKEE: In cases like this we often need a big break and it was Jayme herself who gave us that break.

YOUNG (voice-over): One of the women who helped said Jayme shared details about her captor.

K. KASINSKAS: She said that this person usually hides her or hides her when others are near or when he has to leave the household.

YOUNG (voice-over): So many questions remain.

How did she escape her captor?

Why did Patterson target her in the first place?

FITZGERALD: We do believe Jayme was the only target. I can tell you that the subject planned his actions and took many proactive steps to hide his identity from law enforcement and the general public.

YOUNG (voice-over): For now the family is just glad to have her home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been awesome and we couldn't -- we could have never done it without the community.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was pulled over by our local sheriff. Amazing.

YOUNG (voice-over): Kristin Kasinskas, who called 9-1-1 to tell police that Closs was alive, taught the suspect at a local middle school.

K. KASINSKAS: I don't really remember a whole lot about Jake. I had him as a middle school student in science class, very quiet kid, smart. I don't really -- I didn't really keep up with him after he left Northwood.

YOUNG (voice-over): While her aunt shared the family's relief that her niece had been finally found.

JENNIFER SMITH, JAYME'S GODMOTHER: Oh Jayme, Aunt Jen can't wait to come and give you that big hug and hold you tight because we're not going to let you go. YOUNG (voice-over): Ryan Young, Barron County, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: The White House calls the latest "New York Times" reporting "absurd" but there is concern, given the fact the FBI launched an investigation, concerned about the actions of the U.S. president, whether it was a national security risk. We'll have that story ahead.

ALLEN: Plus, the unintended consequences of the government shutdown, some furloughed workers are beginning to question their career choices as they face a fourth week without pay.

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HOWELL: Welcome back to viewers here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. We thank you for it. I'm George Howell.

ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen. Here are our top stories.

(HEADLINES)

HOWELL: Now to the latest on the Russia probe here in the United States, the FBI wanted to know if the actions of a sitting U.S. president threatened national security.

ALLEN: That according to "The New York Times," this story started coming out on Friday. It reports the FBI investigated whether President Trump was working on behalf of Russia and against American interests. The newspaper says investigators were worried about Mr. Trump's behavior days after he fired FBI director James Comey.

HOWELL: The White House was quick to respond, calling the allegations "absurd" and adding that Comey was fired because he was, quote, "a disgraced partisan hack."

ALLEN: A bit earlier, CNN's John Berman spoke with Adam Goldman, one of the authors of the news article. He explains what touched off the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM GOLDMAN, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": the way these things are supposed to work is we're not supposed to find out about it. OK, that the FBI investigated somebody, has a counterintelligence investigation, maybe they suspect, you know, an individual might be working for Russia.

They investigate, they do it quietly, then it goes away, just like they did with Carter Page, you know, years ago in New York. And so the idea is that, you know, the FBI can do the investigation; nobody hears about it and maybe the person isn't working for a hostile -- you know, a hostile country. And you know, they close the case and move on.

As you know, in this case, everything became public.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Yes.

GOLDMAN: So it was much more -- it was much more difficult for the FBI to try to do what they needed to do here. But, you know --

[05:35:00]

GOLDMAN: -- there were a couple things that pushed the FBI over the edge. And I think it's been lost on people, is that the obstruction in -- the possible obstruction related to the firing Comey needed an object -- the obstruction has to have an object.

And the object was the investigation into Russian interference in 2016, that is a national security investigation.

BERMAN: And it --

GOLDMAN: So as -- yes.

BERMAN: And there were two episodes. There were -- and remember how chaotic the period was following the firing of James Comey. There were two specific episodes that alarmed some of these security officials and FBI agents in the wake of that. Explain what they were.

GOLDMAN: Well, obviously, the firing of Comey and the referencing of the Russian investigation and the president's letter laying out why Comey should be fired.

The second aspect to that was the -- I believe it was the next day, the Lester Holt interview on NBC News. He says he did it because of Russia. And, you know, the FBI is watching this, and they say, well, he's telling us why he did it.

You know, he did this on behalf of Russia. And, you know, within days of that they've opened up this -- you know, they've opened up this -- they've opened up this multi-tiered investigation that has -- you know, that has a criminal aspect and a counterintelligence aspect to it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: It is important to point out it is still unclear if the special counsel is still pursuing that investigation.

Now some 800,000 federal workers are left in the lurch. Millions more Americans also being impacted all because of the partial U.S. government shutdown.

That is now the longest shutdown in the U.S. history. After three weeks without pay, many of those workers, they are angry and fed up. They are demanding they be allowed to return to work for their pay.

ALLEN: Even people who don't work for the government are feeling the pain. The three-day closure of the Concourse at the Miami Airport means people working in food and gift shops there won't get paid, either. As one furloughed federal worker tells our Jessica Dean, the feeling of helplessness is demoralizing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Daily routines, like helping with homework, continue at the Virginia home Joanna McCleland shares with her son and husband. But her paychecks have stopped, making life far from normal right now.

JOANNA MCCLELAND, FURLOUGHED FEDERAL WORKER: It makes you sick in the pit of your stomach. It's worries. It's emotions. And you know you don't know when this is all going to sort itself out.

DEAN (voice-over): McClellan works for the Department of Homeland Security as an analyst and has been furloughed since the government closed December 21st.

MCCLELAND: It's quite possible, even if we open this week, I don't see a paycheck before the 1st of February.

And where is my rent going to come from?

How will I pay my bills this month?

DEAN (voice-over): Her story is a familiar one and some 800,000 federal workers remain either furloughed or working without pay, not just in Washington, D.C., but in every state, like TSA employees in Portland, Oregon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife is on Social Security. So I'm it for income.

DEAN: So missing one paycheck will be a burden on you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, absolutely.

DEAN (voice-over): Coast Guard families in Ohio...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're the only branch of the military that is not guaranteed a paycheck during these times. My husband is in there making homemade bread because it's cheaper than buying a loaf at the store.

DEAN (voice-over): -- and federal employees in Ogden, Utah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have enough for one more mortgage payment and I got to go to CarMax tomorrow and sell my car.

DEAN (voice-over): And there are federal contractors, like LaKeshia Grant-Shephard, who owns a small business, employing about 2 dozen people. Many of the company's contracts are with the federal government. And currently, those invoices aren't being paid.

LAKESHIA GRANT-SHEPHARD, FEDERAL CONTRACTOR: I'm really considering, do I forfeit my salary because, in the past, I've always sort of sacrificed the lamb. These are my employees, I've always felt an obligation to them. So I would bite down, bear the bullet and just cover them.

DEAN (voice-over): But this time, it's different. Grant-Shephard is expecting her first baby in March.

GRANT-SHEPHARD: I finally thought I was in a position where we were OK enough where I could have a child and, surprise, it's truly something out of our control.

DEAN (voice-over): Out of their control but impacting them deeply.

MCCLELAND: You know, we work hard at DHS, TSA, all these agencies because we want to, you know, support our country. We're patriotic Americans. We want to make sure our country is safe and all that. But when we're told, oh, well, you're unnecessary, just go ahead and go home. You will be furloughed. That's a big hit to your morale.

It really makes you question, you know why am I doing this?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Again, thanks to Jessica Dean for that report.

ALLEN: So many stories. They're going to keep going as the government remains shut down.

Democrats are gearing up for the 2020 presidential race and several are already throwing their names in the ring. House Representative Tulsi Gabbard told CNN's Van Jones she has decided to run.

[05:40:00]

ALLEN: Gabbard is an Iraq War veteran and serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

HOWELL: She joins a fairly deep pool of Democrats who are considering runs, like former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro. He's expected to announce a presidential bid Saturday.

And the former mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, who says, if he runs, he will pay for his entire campaign by himself.

ALLEN: Here in the U.S., a family of an Arizona woman is dealing with a horrific situation. The woman has been living in a long-term care facility since 1992.

HOWELL: She is in a vegetative state and requires around the clock care. But she suddenly went into labor last month and gave birth to a baby. CNN's Sara Sidner has more from Phoenix, Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are stunning new details in this case. A woman in a vegetative state becomes pregnant, has a baby. And it turns out we are now hearing the 9-1-1 call from the staff at the health care center that we have learned in court documents, she has been in for some 27 years.

What we are hearing on this 9-1-1 call gives a lot of details about what the staff did or did not know when it comes to this woman and her pregnancy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, the baby is turning blue! The baby is turning blue!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone just had a -- one of the patients just had a baby. And we just had no idea she was pregnant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, is the baby --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The baby is turning blue. We need someone now.

We are able to get baby out.

Is the baby breathing?

Is the baby breathing?

The baby is not breathing. The baby is blue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. So are they doing CPR?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are they doing CPR?

They are doing CPR on the baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, good. Just keep going with that.

Now how is Mom doing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mom is doing well. Looks like she's doing well.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had no idea this person was pregnant. We had no idea this patient was pregnant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, I understand.

Does she know how far along she was or anything?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have no idea. This was a complete surprise. We were not expecting this.

OK, (INAUDIBLE), they want you to guys to still do compressions. Oh, the baby is breathing. Oh, the baby is breathing. Oh my God, thank God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So you hear there a staffer at Hacienda Health Care, saying she did not know this woman was pregnant. The question is, is that the case for all the people that were taking care of this woman in a vegetative state who became pregnant?

Obviously, she was raped and now police are calling this a sexual assault investigation. There are a lot of questions here as to why this facility did not know that this woman was pregnant. Now we know that the baby did survive. The mother and baby were in the hospital and they were recovering there in the hospital after you heard that distressing 9-1-1 call.

We also know that she got a woman's wellness exam back in April of 2018 and had the baby on December 29th of 2018. So she would have been pregnant at the time she got that exam if she was going to full term, which means that they must not have done any pregnancy test at the time. She was likely not showing.

But there is a big question as to how the staff did not realize that this woman in a vegetative state was actually pregnant and, therefore, maybe she didn't get any prenatal care either.

A lot of questions and there are a lot of people who have patients that are still here at this facility, Hacienda Health Care, who are worried about who may have done this.

Was it a staffer?

Was it a stranger?

Was it a family member?

Was it a visitor?

They simply don't know enough. But police are looking into it. They have already gotten a court order to get DNA samples from all the male staffers who work at the facility -- Sara Sidner, CNN, Phoenix.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Wow.

ALLEN: We'll be right back.

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ALLEN: The head of Japan's Olympic committee is being investigated by French judges for alleged corruption. Reports say the investigation of Tsunekazu Takeda involves a suspicious payment of about $2 million.

HOWELL: It occurred around the time Tokyo won its bid for the 2020 Summer Games. Takeda denies any wrongdoing. Journalist Kaori Enjoji is following this story live in Tokyo.

Kaori, what is the latest we have heard from Mr. Takeda and where do things go from here?

KAORI ENJOJI, JOURNALIST: Well, Tsunekazu Takeda is under formal investigation from French authorities, which means that he could be implicated or they could drop the case. So it could go either way still in the French legal system.

We know that he is going to hold a news conference on Tuesday, next Tuesday. But he has already denied that he has done any wrongdoing or that the Japanese Olympic committee was involved in any kind of corruption.

He says he took part in a hearing last month in France involving a probe into Lamine Diack, who was a former IOC member and is awaiting a trial in France. His son is also under investigation from the French authorities.

But it seems to be an extension of an investigation that started two years ago, more than two years ago, in 2016, regarding payments that Japan made to a company in Singapore that had very close ties to the Diack family.

The blogosphere is alight with comparisons and parallels with Carlos Ghosn, who is the head of the Renault/Nissan/Mitsubishi alliance and is in jail in Japan, has been in jail for the last seven weeks-plus on allegations of financial wrongdoing.

Both of them are luminaries in the field. Mr. Takeda is as blueblood as they come. He's the second cousin to the current emperor. He's the great-grandson of a former emperor. And he has been involved in the Olympics ever since he, himself, was an Olympian back in the 1970s.

Regardless of the parallels between him and Carlos Ghosn, one thing is for sure, this is yet another controversy to dog the Japanese Olympic committee. There were concerns about the negotiations with the architect, late architect, Zaha Hadid, regarding the stadium. It was blowing out of control.

Then there were plagiarism allegations about the mascot as well, so it's certainly casting a pall over Japan as they gear up for the preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

HOWELL: And to your point it is interesting to see these stories playing out concurrently, people drawing similarities or looking at the similarities. Kaori Enjoji, thank you for the reporting.

ALLEN: We are going to take you to Missouri next because --

[05:50:00]

ALLEN: -- look at this.

Hundreds of cars and trucks stranded for hours as a winter storm pummels the area and it is moving east. Derek Van Dam joins us with more about it next.

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ALLEN: This picture says it all; a winter storm impacting travel and could do more damage across the Central United States among the cities inundated with the wet stuff. St. Louis, Missouri, has received a heavy blanket.

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[05:55:00]

ALLEN: We want to take you now to the moon. China's national space agency released these stunning 360-degree panoramic photos showing the far side of the moon.

HOWELL: China's lunar probe snapped the images. It recently made the first-ever soft landing on that side of the moon that always faces away from the Earth.

ALLEN: Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell.

For viewers in the United States, "NEW DAY" is next. For our viewers around the world, "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" is ahead. Thanks for being with us.