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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Government Shutdown, Day 31; Frigid Weather; Epic NFL Championship Sunday; Washington Post, Time For Dems To Consider Trump's Offer; Brexit Plan B; Super Blood Wolf Moon; DOW Closed Up 336 Points. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired January 21, 2019 - 04:30   ET

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


[04:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LAURA JARRETT, CNN HOST: The president's compromise to end the government shutdown, a nonstarter for Democrats. Is there anything that can break the month long impasse?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: You just acknowledged that it is possible that President talked to Michael Cohen about his testimony.

RUDY GUILIANI, ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP: Which would be perfectly normal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN HOST: Perfectly normal, but the subject of an investigation, talked to a key witness about his testimony.

JARRETT: And the snow is gone, but some of the coldest weather in this year is greeting the northeast this holiday morning.

BRIGGS: And the Super Bowl is set after arguably the craziest Sunday in NFL history. Super Bowl Nine for Brady and Belichick. And did a missed penalty cost the Chief Saints a trip to the Super Bowl?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations to New England. Your 11 month Super Bowl drought is over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Yes, those long suffering Patriots' fans are back in the Super Bowl.

JARRETT: It took so long.

BRIGGS: What a controversial call there, what a championship Sunday. Good morning everyone. Welcome back to Early Start, I'm Dave Briggs. JARRETT: And I'm Laura Jarret in for Christine Romans. Its 31 minutes past the hour. President Trump trying to find political middle ground to end the government shutdown. Instead, he got hammered by the left and the right. It was the president's most significant move yet to end the stalemate, offering temporary protections for some undocumented immigrants in exchange for a $5.7 billion in border wall funding. And that offer triggered action by Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader vowing to bring the president's plan to a vote as early as this week, even though the odds of getting to 60 votes slim to none.

BRIGGS: The McConnell's proposal expected to include measures to entice Democrats. So, if they vote no on the entire package, they will also be turning down add-ons they favor like an extension of the Violence Against Woman Act. More now from CNN's Sarah Westwood on the shutdown state of play.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARAH WESTWOOD, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDET: Laura and Dave, President Trump and senior administration officials defending the President's immigration proposal against almost unanimous Democratic opposition this weekend.

Now, the president on Saturday rolled out this deal that would involve him getting $5.7 billion for the construction of his border wall. And in exchange, the president said that he would agree to a three year renewal of DACA protections for those young undocumented immigrants, known as DREAMers, and as well as a three year extension of temporary protective status for the roughly 300,000 immigrants who are right now facing the prospect of the expiration of their TPS.

House Democrats though say that's dead on arrival. They do not want to negotiate on any kind of deal until the government is reopened. Now, President Trump has been lashing out at Speaker Pelosi for opposing his plan, claiming that Pelosi is beholden to the left-wing at her party while also defending his proposal from the right-wing of his own party with conservatives accusing the president of extending an offer of amnesty to the nearly 1 million immigrants who would benefit from this plan if were put into law.

But the bottom line is that this is not a new idea. Trading DACA for wall money is an idea that has been tried and has failed on Capitol Hill several times. Although this is the White House's attempt to try to peel some moderate Democrats off, build a bipartisan coalition of support at the moment, it appears Democrats are united in their opposition to the president's immigration agenda. Laura and Dave.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Sarah, thanks so much for that report. The "Washington Post" Editorial Board said that it's time for Democrats to consider the president's offer. In a piece entitled, Make a Deal Save the DREAMers, the board writes, quote, "to refuse to even talk until the government reopens does no favors to sidelined federal workers and contractors. Unquestionably a deal would gain galling elements for both sides, that's the nature of compromise."

Meanwhile the cost of the government shutdown keeps growing. At the TSA, the unscheduled absence rate on Saturday was 8 percent compared to just 3 percent last year. In Maryland, Baltimore Washington International Airport had one security checkpoint closed for the last two days.

BRIGGS: As for food stamps, they will be paid through February, but final food stamp payments for now went out yesterday.

[04:35:03] U.S. Federal Courts will run out of operating money this Friday and federal housing assistance contracts are expiring in just nine days, which will impact 1.2 million households.

JARRETT: Rudy Giuliani, he is back, admitting President Trump might have talked to Michael Cohen about his congressional testimony ahead of time. The president's lawyer telling CNN he does not know for sure, but he claims if Mr. Trump did it, so what.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUILIANI: As far as I know, President Trump did not have discussions with him -- certainly had no discussions with him in which he told him or counseled him to lie. If he had any discussions with him, they would be about the version of the events that Michael Cohen gave then, which they all believe was true.

TAPPER: But you just acknowledged that it is possible that President Trump talked to Michael Cohen about his testimony.

GUILIANI: Which would be perfectly normal. Which the president believes is true.

TAPPER: So it's possible that that happened, that President Trump talked to Michael Cohen about his testimony?

GUILIANI: I don't know if it happened or didn't happen. And it might be attorney-client privilege if it happened where I can't acknowledge it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Giuliani made those comments after Special Counsel Robert Mueller took the extraordinary step of publicly disputing a report from BuzzFeed that report said Mr. Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress about a Trump Tower project in Moscow. BuzzFeed editor-in- chief, Ben Smith, and reporter Anthony Cormier standing by their reporting in this CNN interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN SMITH, EDITOR IN CHIEF, BUZZFEED NEWS: We are eager to understand which characterizations Mueller is talking about there and obviously we take that incredibly seriously.

ANTHONY CORMIER, REPORTER, BUZZFEED: If further confirmation that this is right, we're being told to stand our ground, this is -- our reporting is going to be point out to be accurate and we're 100 percent behind it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Giuliani claims BuzzFeed should be sued and investigated over their reporting.

JARRETT: The Kentucky teen, who went face-to-face with a Native American man at a march near the Lincoln Memorial on Friday, now says he was trying to diffuse a situation. Judge for yourself with those pictures. These students may now face expulsion. The Diocese of Covington Kentucky released a statement condemning the high school students.

BRIGGS: The diocese says this behavior is opposed to the church's teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person, but the student at the center of the controversy claims a look at all of the video tells a different story.

CNN's Sara Sidner has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Catholic high school student who comes face-to-face with a Native American elder in a viral video is now responding. In a statement, student Nick Sandman (ph) says the viral video does not reflect the true nature of events when the students arrived at the Lincoln Memorial.

When we arrived, we noticed four African-American protesters who were also on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. He said, the protestors said hateful things. Indeed, a small group of black men who identify as Hebrew Israelites did say hateful things to seemingly everyone around them including a priest --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's make a point we're trying to get, a bunch of child molested (muted) --

SIDNER: -- and the students.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See how you got these pompous bastards come down here in a middle of a Native rally with their dirty ass hat on.

SIDNER: When a black visitor tries to stand up against their rhetoric, he faces hate too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have all these dirty ass crackers behind you with a red -- with a red Make America Great hat again on and your cone ass, you want to fight your brother.

SIDNER: At first, the catholic students there for the March for Life are still in small numbers but more and more show up, watching but not engaging. The small group of men continue taunting them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A bunch of incest babies. A bunch of babies made out of incest.

SIDNER: Sandman says the rhetoric was startling, "Because we were being loudly attacked and taunted in public, a student asked one of our teacher chaperones for permission to begin school spirit chants to counter the hateful things that were being shouted at our group." And they do.

At one point a student removes his shirt and the chants drown everything out. Two minutes later, you hear a drumbeat and that is Nathan Phillips, an Omaha tribe elder, and another drummer. Phillips says it was their attempt to thwart potential violence. The kids danced to it. They began chanting along.

NATHAN PHILLIPS, NATIVE AMERICAN DRUMMER/ACTIVIST: I realized I had put myself in a really dangerous situation, you know. It was like here is a group of people who were angry at somebody else and I put myself in front of that.

SIDNER: Phillips, a Vietnam veteran, walks around, other students avoid him, until you see him come face-to-face with a student who has now gone viral. In his statement, the student says, "he was the one trying to deescalate the situation, not Phillips. I believe that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to diffuse the situation. I realized everyone had cameras and that perhaps a group of adults was trying to provoke a group of teenagers into a larger conflict."

[04:40:05] Sandman has every opportunity to move back, so does Phillips, neither do. While they faced off, the kids faced more taunting from the Hebrew Israelite.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a bunch of school shooters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.

SIDNER: While Phillips maintains he felt the kids were mocking him and being rude, Sandman says it was the adults using hateful words and trying to provoke the kids, not the other way around.

After seeing the initial viral video, the diocese that oversees the Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky condemned the student's behavior towards Native Americans saying, they would also investigate. The mayor of their city, also condemned them.

But now, Congressman Thomas Matthew, who represents their district, is praising them, tweeting in part, "in the face of racist and homosexual slurs, the young boys refused to reciprocate or disrespect anyone, even when taunted by homophobic bigots, which was obviously bewildering to them, they insulted no one." The Congressman said it was his honor to represent them. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: OK. Sara, thank you. We want to hear from you folks on Twitter, @davebriggstv and @lauraajarret. Who's right here, who is wrong? Look, if they weren't wearing MAGA hats, clearly this would have been judged entirely different. The Internet probably would not have exploded.

But it does look like that young man to me is taunting the Native American, Vietnam Vet and he is in his face. That is not a comfortable space for anyone. And these young kids, if they weren't taunting them, they need to be educated on what is racially discriminatory.

Making up your own Indian chant and doing the Tomahawk Chop, which was seen in other video, is not how you respect another culture. So there is a lot to learn from both sides of this viral video. I know you want to know part of the story.

JARRETT: RIP (ph) our mentions.

BRIGGS: Laura Jarrett wants about as much part of this story than she does talking about the NFL.

JARRETT: oh, I'll do Super Bowl, do whatever you want.

BRIGGS: All right. Tweet us. Let us know your thoughts @earlystart as well.

JARRETT: Passengers on a flight from Newark to Hong Kong spent 14 hours on a tarmac in frigid cold weather and didn't even make it to Hong Kong. What happened, up next?

[04:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JARRETT: The winter storm that slammed the Midwest and the Northeast this weekend left six people dead, among them a 9-year-old girl in Illinois who was playing in a snow bank when a make shift fork collapsed on her.

And in middle town Connecticut, a lineman was finishing up a repair job when a tree fell on top of him. More than 3,000 flights were canceled this weekend, many in O'Hare Chicago and Logan in Boston. The snow is gone, but the frigid air remains. Millions in the Northeast facing the coldest temperatures in a year. Here's meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Laura and Dave, good morning guys. Yes, about one in four Americans today dealing with brutally cold temperatures. That's about 74 million are in these (ph) wind- chill advisories that are -- in some areas as cold as minus 40 degrees this morning. And of course, if you look your way towards places such as Chicago, it feels like minus 6, Minneapolis minus 11, Detroit around minus 20.

To start of your Martin Luther King Day, and of course, with school being closed, at least that is one element of good news that you don't have to have kids waiting outside. But notice with all the wintry weather even on Sunday alone, 1,600 flights impacted as far as cancellations, 4,000 flights impacted as far as delays on Sunday in Boston, Newark, Chicago and JFK in New York, among the most impacted by this weather system that is now quickly skirting offshore. That's the good news here. The bad news is the damage left behind on the way of -- quite a bit of

snowfall across portions of New England and then into the Midwest even, we see -- we saw snow totals over a foot come down in places such as Wisconsin. But notice even this afternoon, the best we can do in places like St. Louis 13 for a wind-chill, in the afternoon hours Atlanta's wind-chill only 35. And the arctic air, it does wants to skirt off by Wednesday or Thursday but another round comes in going into the weekend.

BRIGGS: Frigid. Thank you, Pedram. Super Bowl 53, all set after two epic conference title games that both went to overtime, that's the first time in NFL history.

Let's start late fourth quarter in Kansas City. Patriots going for their ninth Super Bowl appearance in the Brady-Belichick era. Rex Burkhead in for the go ahead touchdown with 39 seconds left. Chiefs all the way down the field, 24 points in the fourth quarter, this is good from Harrison Butker and we are headed to overtime.

Tom Brady does what tom Brady always does, straight down the field, 75 yards, in their first possession, in for the game winning touchdown. Third consecutive Super Bowl appearance for the Pats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What it means to go back to the Super Bowl?

TOM BRADY, QUARTERBACK NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: Unbelievable, bro. I never -- I mean, this is crazy. What a game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: In the NFC title game, the L.A. Rams beat the Saints in overtime in New Orleans, 26-23. Big play of the game was a non-call late fourth quarter on third down, an obvious pass interference would have given the Saints a first down, maybe a touchdown having not interfered with them. Instead, it was a field goal.

Rams end up punching their ticket to the Super Bowl in overtime, 57 yards field goal, but Greg Zuerlein would have been good from the 70, but that non-call, laying the fourth quarter, not easy to digest for Saints coach, Sean Payton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN PAYTON, NEW ORLEANS SAINTS HEAD COACH: It is a disappointing way to lose a game. Frustrating, you know, just getting off the phone with the league office, they blew the call. And there were a lot of opportunities, though, but that call puts it first and 10, only need three plays, and it is a game changing call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: It's a devastating call. League's got to do something. Presidi (ph) fixed this, you're allowed to review a non-call on past interference, maybe just in the last two minutes of the game, just my opinion.

[04:50:08] New England Patriots, Los Angeles Rams, Super Bowl 53 in Atlanta, February 3rd. The Rams opening a one point favorite. What an insane Sunday? I wish you could appreciate it, my friend.

JARRETT: Well, Theresa May presents a revised Brexit plan to Parliament today, but other lawmakers are trying to derail per plans. We're live in the U.K.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:54:56] JARRETT: British Prime Minister Theresa May, is expected to return to Parliament today to present a revised Brexit plan. That follows a crushing defeat of her initial deal last week. May's appearance comes as an influential group of parliament members plan to introduce legislation that could block a no deal Brexit.

CNN's Nic Robertson, live in Northern Ireland for us. Nic, what's the latest?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Laura, good morning. Well, plan B could very well sound like plan A from Theresa May today. She is not believed to have shifted her position very much. She believes -- it's believed that she thinks that she can go back to Brussels, the European Union and get some more details -- get some more details that she wasn't able to get before. That's the assessment at the moment.

Meanwhile, those MPs will try to block her. They would try to have MPs to essentially take control of parliament to block a no-deal Brexit, but also to try to hold some votes to find out where there could be consensus in parliament. One of the biggest sticking points is the border between Northern Ireland, just a few miles from where I am, and the Republic of Ireland in the south.

And it is reopening old political wounds here because the pro-British MPs from Northern Ireland have a huge sway over Theresa May right now. They effectively control the majority in parliament. And just over the weekend here in the city on the border where 80 percent of people voted to remain to be in the U.K., there was a car bomb, a significant attack.

The police say that this was designed to try to kill people. They say that they believe a group called the New IRA was responsible and this place interferes at the moment during this transition time with Brexit. What happens about the relationship with -- between Britain and the Republic of Ireland? And it reopens those old wounds of the troubles here several decades ago.

JARRETT: Nic, thanks so much. I know you will be watching the situation closely for us today.

BRIGGS: Another big day there. All right. A police officer in Alabama shot and killed in the line of duty. Authorities say Officer Sean Tudor, was gunned down as he attempted to serve an arrest warrant to a suspect with prior local and federal warrants. The suspect, Marco Perez, was taken into custody. The Mobile City police chief says Tudor was a true leader and committed to the community. Officer Tudor joined the force in March of 2016. He was 30 years old.

JARRETT: Police in Oregon shooting and killing a 42-year-old man suspected of murdering four family members. Police say Mark Leo Gregory Gago killed four people including a nine month old child using a sword and similar weapons.

He was allegedly attempting to kill a young girl when deputies arrived on the scene and shot him. The girl and another survivor were taken to a local hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries. At this point, the motive is unclear.

BRIGGS: Passengers aboard a United Airlines flight from New Jersey to Hong Kong want answers this morning after getting stuck on the tarmac for more than 14 hours in frigid weather. The incident began shortly after 3:00 p.m. Saturday when the flight was diverted to Canada due to a medical emergency, but the flight experienced a mechanical issue before it could take off again.

Passengers were not allowed off the plane, because the airport did not have a customs officer on duty. On Sunday morning, after more than 14 hours, another plane showed up to take customers back to New Jersey. United Airlines has apologized.

JARRETT: You know they were unhappy there.

BRIGGS: Yes.

JARRETT: All right. Coffee drinkers, wake up. Sixty percent of coffee species found in the wild could soon go extinct. Researchers at the Kew-Royal Botanic Gardens in the U.K. warn climate change, deforestation, droughts and plant diseases are putting the future of coffee at risk. Fewer coffee crops mean your cup of Joe could get more expensive and start tasting worse.

BRIGGS: Yuck. All right. The first sky watching event of 2019, a super blood wolf moon. Got that? Basically a lunar eclipse at the same time as the super moon when the moon is full and closest to earth. The earth cast two shadows on the moon during the eclipse and thanks to sun light passing through the earth's atmosphere, the moon appeared red at times. The next super blood wolf won't occur until 2021.

Very cool. Let go a check on CNN Business, this morning markets are closed here. Global markets though mixed as China reports its economy grew 6.6 percent in 2018, 6.4 percent for the quarter, the slowest rate in decades.

Stocks in Asia all closed higher. European stocks lower as trading begins there.

Wall Street again closed today in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The DOW though jumped 336 points or 1.3 percent Friday. The S&P 500 climbed 1.3, while the NASDAQ closed up 1 percent. U.S. markets have advanced four weeks in a row, the longest winning streak since the summer.

All right. The U.S. banks just had a banner year. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley brought in more.