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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Netflix Series Starring Marie Kondo Inspiring Viewers to Get Organized; Washington Post Reports Trump Concealed Details of Putin Meetings; NYT: Comey-Firing Triggered Counter-Intel Probe; WSJ Reports that President Trump's National Security Council Asked the Pentagon for Military Options to Strike Iran; Trump Warns Turkey Against Attacking Kurds; Senator Graham Calls for Three-Week Reopening of Government; Trump Backs Off Declaring National Emergency; Trump Slams Democrats Over Shutdown; TSA Checkpoint Shut Down in Houston; Canadian Air Traffic Controllers Send Pizzas to U.S. Counterparts; White House Economic Adviser Claims Unpaid Federal Workers are "Better Off"; A Judge in California Blocks Weaker Contraception Mandate; Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro Announce 2020 Presidential Run; Pompeo Meets with Saudi Crown Prince; NFL Playoffs Down to Four Teams; Saints Rally to Beat Eagles 20-14; Patriots Reach Eighth Straight AFC Championship Game, Blows Out L.A. Chargers 41-28; Official Sarah Thomas Makes History, Becomes First Woman to Officiate a Playoff Game in the NFL; Maroon 5 to Headline Super Bowl Half-Time Show. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired January 14, 2019 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-HOST, EARLY START: Followers on Instagram. Today, she has 1.3 million followers. And do you know what this is? So you're supposed to --

DAVE BRIGGS, CO-HOST, EARLY START: I have no idea what this is --

ROMANS: You're supposed to take your stuff, right? And there's a way that she folds them so that everything sits up and you can see what you have, right?

BRIGGS: OK --

ROMANS: So notice they have drawers with stacks of jeans, right? You have the jeans sitting up so you can see them. And you're supposed to hold them in your hand and if it sparks joy, Dave, you keep it.

BRIGGS: OK --

ROMANS: If it doesn't, you say --

BRIGGS: Nothing sparks joy in my closet.

ROMANS: If it doesn't spark --

BRIGGS: OK --

ROMANS: Joy --

BRIGGS: All right -- ROMANS: You're supposed to say thank you to the item and give it

away.

BRIGGS: Boy, would I love her to hit my wife's closet, it is a debacle, it like a bomb went off in there. EARLY START continues right now on a Monday.

ROMANS: A weekend full of stunning headlines. Was the president acting against American interests? Did he destroy notes from talks with Vladimir Putin? How the president responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, CHAIRMAN, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISORS: They have the vacation but they don't have to use their vacation days. But sometimes, they're better off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: No paycheck? No apparent problems says an economic adviser to the president, but the pain is growing real for people coping with the partial government shutdown.

ROMANS: Women in more than a dozen states will not see cuts to birth control coverage, thanks to a ruling from a federal judge.

BRIGGS: And the field of 2020 Democrats expands by two. Already, one of them facing harsh backlash for positions uncovered from the past. This is clearly going to be an enormous Democratic field --

ROMANS: Yes --

BRIGGS: As we --

ROMANS: Sure, will --

BRIGGS: Approach 2020. Good morning, everyone, happy Monday. Welcome to EARLY START, I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans, it is Monday, January 14th, it is 5:00 a.m. in the East. A trio of big stories about President Trump breaking over the weekend. Two of them, new revelations connected to the Russia investigation.

"The Washington Post" reporting the president went to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among the unusual steps he took, confiscating his own interpreter's notes after a 2017 meeting with Vladimir Putin in Germany.

And that report following another Russia-related shocker in the "New York Times" that law enforcement officials were so concerned by the firing of then FBI Director James Comey, they began investigating whether the president was working on behalf of Russia.

Trump was asked about that report on "Fox News", this is what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you now or have you ever worked for Russia, Mr. President?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's the most insulting thing I've ever been asked. I think it's the most insulting article I've ever had written. And if you read the article, you'd see that they found absolutely nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Missing was the word "no". Also this weekend, the "Wall Street Journal" reported that President Trump's National Security Council asked the Pentagon for military options to strike Iran. The request came last year after militants aligned with Tehran fired three mortars into Baghdad's diplomatic corridor, home to the U.S. Embassy.

And last night, the president tweeted sharp words for Turkey threatening to devastate its economy if it attacks Kurds in Syria. But the president also seemed to give cover to Turkey if it does attack the Kurds, allies of course of the U.S. A lot to talk about with Cnn senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen live in Moscow this morning.

Good morning to you, Fred, let's start with those reports of the president possibly working on behalf of Russia --

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes --

BRIGGS: And concealing its discussions with Putin. Any reaction from Moscow?

PLEITGEN: Well, Dave, this certainly was a huge topic in Russian government-run media, Russian news agencies, Russian radio all throughout the entire weekend. And I can tell you, all of them basically having a feast with all of this taking swipes at the United States, taking swipes at the political chaos that you're seeing in the United States.

Also of course highlighting some of the things that the president said in rebuttal. Now, the one agency that we haven't heard from just yet has been the Kremlin itself. It's usually around this time of day especially on Mondays that we tend to have a conference call with the Kremlin where they do take some questions.

Haven't had that just yet, I'm going to see we can update you if in fact something happens over the course over the next hour while we're on the air. But as I've said, these are big topics here in Russia as well, especially with those meeting. And you know, there are officials who are saying according to that "Washington Post" report that there are no meetings even in -- no notes even in classified files of meetings between Vladimir Putin and President Trump in five different locations.

Now, of course, former officials that Cnn has spoken to say that's absolutely not common place. Usually, there are extensive notes and usually presidents in the past have wanted there to be extensive notes because of course this is very important for other members of the government itself.

[05:05:00] Apparently there are some who are thinking of subpoenaing the translator notes, the interpreter notes especially from that summit in Helsinki that happened during the Summer of 2018. Of course, that was that infamous meeting, one-on-one meeting where afterwards President Trump essentially sided with Vladimir Putin against America's own intelligence services saying he did not know why Vladimir Putin would have meddled in the U.S. elections in 2016 --

ROMANS: Yes --

PLEITGEN: Guys.

ROMANS: That Helsinki moment now legendary --

BRIGGS: Yes --

ROMANS: In trying to understand what the president's position --

PLEITGEN: Yes --

ROMANS: Vis-a-vis on Russia. You know, on Turkey, the president warning Turkey not to go after the Kurds, the Kurds obviously an ally that the U.S. will leave behind when the U.S. leaves Syria. But then he says the Kurds shouldn't --

PLEITGEN: Yes --

ROMANS: Provoke Turkey. You know, you've reported from Damascus many times, what is all this about? What prompted this? Is the president trying to have it both ways --

PLEITGEN: Yes --

ROMANS: Here?

PLEITGEN: Well, it seems that -- it almost seems like he is. It was very interesting to see those tweets because it really isn't clear what exactly the president is trying to achieve. And I can tell you from having reported from Syria many times, more than 20 times, the Kurds are going to have a real problem once the U.S. leaves because the Turks don't want them there in that border area between Syria and Turkey.

The president obviously knows that as well. So he had that threat in the tweet. But then he seems to leave that back door open if the Turks do take action, saying that the Kurds cannot provoke the Turks either. That's something that seems to indicate that if the Turks do say, look, the Kurds have done action against us or they provoked us in some way, shape or form, that they could possibly move into that territory.

However, looking at the situation on the ground, I've done a lot of reading up on this during the weekend, it really seems as though the entity that stands to benefit the most, if and when the United States really finalizes that pullout out of northern Syria is going to be once again the Russians and the government forces of Syria that they backed there already in negotiations with the Kurds to try and move into that territory, guys.

ROMANS: All right, Fred Pleitgen for us in Moscow, so much going on in his --

BRIGGS: Yes --

ROMANS: Real house this morning --

BRIGGS: Fred Pleitgen there, thanks for --

ROMANS: Thank you. All right, over here, we are in uncharted territory now, day 24 of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Eight hundred thousand federal workers no closer to receiving a paycheck. The White House Office of Management and Budget preparing for the possibility this could last through February.

President Trump holding of on declaring a national emergency at the border for now. His Senate ally Lindsey Graham floating this idea to temporarily at least ease the pain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I would urge him to open up the government for a short period of time like three weeks before he pulls the plug, see if we can get a deal. If we can't at the end of three weeks, all bets are off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Not all Republicans are on board with Graham's idea. Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson opposing declaring a national emergency, he says it won't get the president what he wants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R), WISCONSIN: I would hate to see that, you know, using that act, it would be in this instance would be far larger act than has ever occurred in the past. So I prefer not primarily because if we do that, it's going to go to court and the wall won't get built.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: So who is being held responsible for the shutdown? The president said he would own it and according to a new Cnn poll, he does. Fifty five percent of Americans blame Mr. Trump, 32 percent point the finger at Democrats, asked about the president's border wall, 56 percent oppose it, 39 percent favor it. More now from Boris Sanchez at the White House.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, even as new Cnn polling indicates that a majority of Americans blamed President Trump for the partial government shutdown. The president is tweeting attacking Democrats, suggesting that they should have spent the weekend in Washington trying to hammer out a deal with him as he waits for them at the White House.

And we should note there's new reporting that indicates that there has been some tensions during negotiations, but not just between Republicans and Democrats, also between President Trump and his new acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.

A White House official who was in the room for a meeting a few weeks ago with congressional leadership and the president indicates that at one point during the meeting while Mick Mulvaney was trying to negotiate with Democrats on that $1.3 billion that they offered to the White House for border security funding.

The president cut Mulvaney off, telling him, quote, "stop, just stop. What are you doing? You're f-ing it all up, Mick." Now, the source indicates that there was shockingly no reaction in the room after the president cussed at his acting Chief of Staff.

We're also hearing that Mick Mulvaney is getting an earful from Democrats as well who have prodded at him during these negotiations, suggesting that the former GOP congressman is happy and wants a government shutdown. Dave and Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Boris, thank you for that. So real harm is being done by the shutdown. You will hear from Trump surrogates that there is not a big deal yet, but look at this. A TSA checkpoint forced to close at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston due to staffing issues.

[05:10:00] All flights scheduled to depart from terminal B are operating out of different terminals. At Miami International Airport, Concourse G will return now to normal operations this morning. TSA staffing problems shut that Concourse down on Sunday.

Canadian Air Traffic Controllers, how nice of them, ordering hundreds of pizzas for their American counterparts working without pay. Since Thursday, more than 350 pizzas have been sent to 49 FAA units.

BRIGGS: But for 800,000 unpaid federal workers, the pain is real. Government employees have set up more than 1,000 online fundraising pages, some furloughed workers even applying for unemployment, money they will have to repay assuming they get back pay after the shutdown. That's making comments like this one from White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett tough to swallow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HASSETT: Huge share of government workers were going to take vacation days, say between Christmas and new years. And then we have a shutdown, and so they can't go to work, and so then, they have the vacation, but they don't have to use their vacation days. And then they come back and then they get their back pay, then they're in some sense they're better off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Better off because they didn't have to use vacation days. Women in 13 states and D.C. will not see any cuts to their birth control coverage, a federal judge in California blocking the White House plan to weaken the contraception mandate under Obamacare.

Now, the new regulations were supposed to take effect today, but the judge ruled those states could face potentially dire public health and fiscal consequences.

ROMANS: Right now, a court in Pennsylvania is considering a similar request to block the administration's proposed guidelines. Those rules would allow for profit and nonprofit employers to get exemptions based on religious beliefs.

BRIGGS: All right, ahead, the Secretary of State and Saudi Crown Prince meeting face-to-face. Mike Pompeo said he would bring up the murder of a U.S.-based journalist allegedly ordered by the Crown Prince, but it seems that did not happen. The latest live.

[05:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIGGS: Twenty-twenty is coming, two more Democrats declaring their intentions to run for president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN CASTRO, FORMER HUD SECRETARY: I am a candidate for president of the United States of America.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Julian Castro; the former HUD secretary, mayor of San Antonio has long been viewed as a rising star in the party. He admits he'll be looking up to some better known Democrats, possibly including in his own state with rising Texas Democrat Beto O'Rourke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TULSI GABBARD (D), HAWAII: I have decided to run and will be making a formal announcement within the next week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard also announcing a bid for the White House right here on Cnn. She is an Iraq war veteran who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She's also the first American Samoan and Hindu member of Congress.

There's an issue that has already cropped up here. Cnn's "KFILE" discovering Gabbard touted her work for her father's anti-gay organization in the early 2000s, promoting controversial conversion therapy. Her views on LGBT rights have shifted dramatically in more recent years. In a statement to Cnn, the congresswoman says she regrets the

positions she took in the past.

BRIGGS: She may also have some real problems with her ties of secret meeting with President Assad and denying that Assad was behind the chemical weapons attack, a murderer. So that I think maybe even a bigger issue. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meeting with Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and other top Saudi officials as he continues his Mid-East tour.

Pompeo said he would raise the issue of journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder. The Crown Prince widely suspected of ordering the killing. Let's go live to Cairo, bring in Ben Wedeman.

Ben, did Mike Pompeo bring up the murder of Jamal Khashoggi with the Crown Prince?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT: Dave, what we see from public statements is no. We saw a tweet from the United States Embassy in Riyadh saying that they discussed Yemen, the war in Yemen, which is also actually a brain child of Mohammad Bin Salman.

But so far, no public statements regarding any of the discussions on that topic between Pompeo and the Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman who the CIA assesses as being somebody who must have known about the plot to murder and dismember Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul on the 2nd of October.

Now, we did hear the secretary in the days leading up to his arrival in Saudi Arabia, saying that he would bring the topic up with Saudi leaders, and that the United States expects Saudi Arabia to hold those accountable for the murder of the "Washington Post" columnist. Dave.

BRIGGS: OK, Ben Wedeman live for us in Cairo, thank you. Coming up, the four highest scoring teams in the regular season are the four teams left standing in the NFL. Coy Wire has the latest in the "BLEACHER REPORT", final four ahead.

[05:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIGGS: All right, it's just four teams left standing in their quest for the Super Bowl after a thrilling weekend of football unless you count that Patriots blowout of course. Coy Wire has the "BLEACHER REPORT" this morning, hey, buddy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Hey, Dave. Also thrilling your beard. I haven't seen you in a while, strong man, definitely strong --

BRIGGS: Thank you my friend, appreciate it.

WIRE: Hey, defending champion, Eagles went into a tough venue, it's the loudest place I ever played in the NFL, and they're riding that magic of the Super Bowl. MVP Nick Foles, they gave the saints their best shot. They jumped out to a huge 14 point lead there on the road. And sensing they needed to shift the momentum, a fake punt was called

by Saints head coach Sean Payton and it worked. Taysom Hill keeping that drive alive. They go on to score for the first time in the game. They rode that momentum all the way to the fourth quarter.

Look at that, they were up 20-14, but an interception by the Saints that goes right through the hands of Alshon Jeffery. You can see him, one of the heroes from last year's Super Bowl lying heartbroken on the turf. All of his teammates came to support him along the way.

The Saints though, they get that 20-14 win and they advance to face the Rams next week. Here is Jeffery after that heartbreaking drive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALSHON JEFFERY, WIDE RECEIVER, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: It sucks right now. I mean everyone in the locker room, we are down, I absolutely let my teammates down, I let the city of Philadelphia down. That's on me, but we'll be back next year for sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: From the agony of defeat to the thrill of victory, Saints locker room is trending this morning on bleacherreport.com because it was like they had strobe lights and disco balls and everything in there.

[05:25:00] And they were actually dancing to Meek Mills "Dreams and Nightmares", Phillies unofficial team anthem. That hurts.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Jon Bon Jovi, they're saying, oh, we're halfway there to the Super Bowl yet again. New England playing for the AFC conference title for the eighth straight year next week. And Tom Brady tore the L.A. Chargers apart and so did Sony Michel, three touchdowns on the day for him.

They're going to go play Kansas City who are three-point favorites are the Chiefs, and that's the first time Brady has been an underdog since week two of the 2015 season. And in case you're wondering the pats won that game, then Brady is embracing though, this underdog role.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, QUARTERBACK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: You know, I know, you know, everyone thinks we suck and, you know, can't win any games. So we'll see, it will be fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Congratulations to one of the officials who made history during the game. Sarah Thomas now the first woman to officiate an NFL playoff game on the field. She became the NFL's first full-time female official back in 2015. And she has some big game experience.

Ten years ago, she was the first woman to officiate a college bowl game as well. Check this out. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Yes, baby, it's official, Maroon 5 bringing those moves to the Super Bowl. The band has been picked to be the halftime act for the big game here in Atlanta. And joining them on stage will be Atlanta's own Big Boi from Outkast, yes, get it, it's going to be a good one, it's going to be a party.

I am hoping, Dave, both you and Christine can make it down at some point and be part of our coverage because we're going to go big for it right here in the ATL.

BRIGGS: That's a great idea Coy Wire has there, EARLY START needs to be in Atlanta ahead of and after the Super Bowl --

WIRE: There we go --

BRIGGS: Christine Romans, do we agree on this?

ROMANS: Well, he just invited us, so yes --

BRIGGS: We have an invitation --

ROMANS: Can be an invitation.

BRIGGS: Let's do this.

WIRE: I love it.

BRIGGS: Thank you, Coy.

WIRE: You're welcome --

ROMANS: Thanks, Coy, thanks, Dave. All right, 27 minutes past the hour. One jaw-dropping headline after the next. The FBI investigated if the president acted against American interests. He reportedly destroyed notes from his talks with Vladimir Putin, and that's just the beginning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END