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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Senate to Vote on Shutdown Bills Thursday; FBI Agents: Shutdown Weakening National Security; Teachers' Strike; Blown Call Lawsuits. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired January 23, 2019 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:19] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Day 33 of the government shutdown and two competing proposals to end it will get a vote in the Senate. Do they have any chance?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADMIRAL KARL SCHULTZ, U.S. COAST GUARD: I find it unacceptable that Coast Guard men and women have to rely on food pantries.
THOMAS O'CONNOR, PRESIDENT, FBI AGENTS ASSOCIATION: FBI agents should not have to go work at a store.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Bread lines for government workers, that's what it comes to. And frustration grows with federal workers set to miss another paycheck in a couple days.
BRIGGS: Striking Los Angeles teachers are back in the classroom just as teachers in another major American city vote to walk off the job.
ROMANS: Furious Saints fans actually suing the NFL over the bad call that cost New Orleans a trip to the Super Bowl.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs.
Good to have you back. How was your time away?
ROMANS: What did I miss?
BRIGGS: Did you miss the Saints game?
ROMANS: No, I saw that. I saw a lot of football. I missed a lot of news.
BRIGGS: Well, unfortunately, the government shutdown has not changed one bit.
Wednesday, January 23rd, 4:00 a.m. in the East, and the shutdown drags on. The Senate set to take two votes tomorrow on competing bills to end this 33-day-old government shutdown. Neither of them is given any real chance at success. One bill backed by Republicans would fund the border wall at the full $5.7 billion he has demanded and would offer three-year extensions for Dreamers and immigrants in the U.S. on temporary protected status or TPS.
The Democrats' proposal already passed by the House has no money for a wall. It would reopen the federal government through February 8 while negotiations for a permanent fix go on.
Both proposals expected to fail at this point because neither would get the 60 votes to advance.
ROMANS: Sarah Sanders would not directly answer CNN's question whether the president would veto the Democrats' plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: If it gets 60 votes, is the president going to veto that bill?
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Look, the president has a proposal on the table. He has laid out what he would like to see and he has made in a clear time and time again. The real question is, why are Democrats not supporting the president's proposal?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Democrats pushing back, saying the Republican plan is one- sided and made in bad faith. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeting this: If Trump gets away with shutting down the government to get what he wants, he will do this again going forward. He will continue to hold workers hostage to his demands.
BRIGGS: FBI agents meanwhile sounding the alarm over the shutdown, they say serious damage is being done to their counterterrorism and anti-gang operations. Dozens of agents releasing an anonymous report that concludes the impasse is weakening national security.
The president of the FBI Agents Association calling on lawmakers to figure out a solution fast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS O'CONNOR, PRESIDENT, FBI AGENTS ASSOCIATION: Realistically, FBI agents should not have to go work at a store stocking shelves because they can't feed their families on their government job. They are still working 50-plus hours a week. So, when are they going to find time to go get that second time? It's ridiculous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The TSA also pleading for help as the shutdown drags on. According to an internal e-mail obtained by CNN, officials there are asking for 250 officers to move, to move temporarily from their home airports to bolster staff at airports that are shorthanded. Ten percent of the TSA workforce had unexcused absences over the weekend, that is three times the number a year ago. BRIGGS: The shutdown over the president's demand for stronger border
security forcing the state department to cancel an international conference focused on border security. The conference was scheduled to take place next month in Edinburgh, Scotland, with a goal of preventing the transfer of weapons of mats destruction and conventional weapons across borders.
ROMANS: All right. The Smithsonian managed to stay open for the first 11 days of the government shutdown, but has since closed its museums and the national zoo. Now, the Smithsonian secretary says the closure of its restaurant, shops, IMAX theaters and other operations is costing the institution a million dollars in unrecoverable revenue each week.
BRIGGS: The head of the Coast Guard says members of his service branch are relying on pantries and donations during the shutdown. He calls it unacceptable.
Admiral Karl Schultz tweeting out a video of support to his struggling team.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:05:03] ADMIRAL KARL SCHULTZ, U.S. COAST GUARD: We're five-plus weeks into the anxiety and stress of this government lapse and your nonpay. You as members of the armed forces should not have to shoulder this burden. I find it unacceptable that Coast Guard men and women have to rely on food pantries and donations to get through day to day life as service members.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Devastating.
On January 15th, thousands of active duty Coast Guard members did not receive their regular paychecks marking the first time in the history U.S. service members were not paid during a lapse of government funding.
ROMANS: America's military, a branch of America's military not being paid. I mean that is just unbelievable in today's society.
BRIGGS: Not just a branch, but the president talks about drugs funneling in this country, the Coast Guard keeps a lot of those drugs out of this country.
ROMANS: And the idea of bread lines for the federal workers, a make shift food pantry in Brooklyn, outside the Barclay Center.
Sonia Smith, a furloughed TSA employee, drove all the way from Queens. She says she's never had to depend on anyone else for food but she has no choice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SONIA SMITH, FURLOUGHED TSA EMPLOYEE: I can't believe this is happening. Every day I'm like, wow, here we go again. And I stay watching the news just to hear something positive, but it is not working.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Smith says she's burning through her savings, and if the shutdown lasts another week, she will be spending all her time traveling from food pantry to food pantry.
For more information on how you can assist American federal workers affected by the government shutdown, you can go to CNN.com/impact.
BRIGGS: And then there is the state of the president's State of the Union Address, still a little vague this morning. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling for the address to be delayed or delivered in writing because the government shutdown.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders says that is not stopping the president for now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Nancy Pelosi invited the president, he accepted. She cited security concerns as a potential reason to delay that. The United States Secret Service and DHS have addressed those concerns and we're moving forward until something changes on that front.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Pelosi appears to be playing hardball. Over the holiday weekend, the administration asked for a walkthrough in the House to prepare for the State of the Union Address. That request was denied.
ROMANS: Special counsel Robert Mueller wants to know more about the Trump campaign's relationship with the National Rifle Association. A former Trump campaign aide tells CNN he was asked about it a year ago when he was interviewed by Mueller's team. And CNN has learned the special counsel has been asking questions about the NRA as recently as a month ago.
We get more from Sara Murray.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Dave.
We are getting our first sign that the special counsel is interested in the Trump campaign's relationship with the National Rifle Association during the 2016 election. Sam Nunberg, a former Trump campaign aide, telling CNN, when I was interviewed by the special counsel's office, I was asked about the Trump campaign and our dealings with the NRA.
Now, the questions from Nunberg's interview in February 2018 are the first indication that Mueller has been probing ties to this powerful gun rights group and Mueller's team was still asking questions about this as recently as a month ago, CNN has learned. Mueller's investigators wanted to know how Trump and his early operatives first formed a relationship with the NRA and how Trump wound up speaking at the group's annual 2015 meeting just months before he announced his presidential bid, according to Nunberg.
Now, the NRA hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing by law enforcement, but it has come under plenty of public scrutiny for its ties to Russians like Maria Butina, who pleaded guilty to engaging in conspiracy against the U.S. And as part of her plea deal, she actually admitted to trying to build relationships with the NRA and trying to influence U.S. relations with Russia.
Lawmakers have also been looking into the NRA financial support of Trump in 2016 and whether there were any large sums of Russian money that flowed to the NRA. This is something the NRA denies.
Now, we don't know if Mueller is diving deeply into this NRA Trump connection, or just covering all of his bases. The special counsel's office declined to comment for our story, and the NRA didn't respond to request for comment. We should note when Mueller posts a series of written questions to President Trump, Trump was not asked about the NRA.
Back to you, guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRIGGS: OK, Sara Murray, thanks.
Michael Cohen's testimony before Congress next month will not include any topic that is under investigation. That is according to top Republicans on the House Oversight Committee. They claim Cohen's lawyer said the testimony would be unsatisfying and frustrating because so much is off-limits. That could mean that the president's former turn won't discuss lying to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow project or the payments made to women during the 2016 campaign for their silence.
ROMANS: The newest member of the committee that will question Michael Cohen is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
[04:10:00] The freshman Democrat from New York is one of several young progressives to join the House Oversight Panel which will be very active investigating the Trump administration. Joining Ocasio-Cortez on the committee will be Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Ro Khanna of California. Now, the committee is expected to hear public testimony from Cohen on February 7th.
BRIGGS: Sources tell CNN President Trump is not mad at Rudy Giuliani despite the conflicting answers the attorney has given in interviews recently. Among the contradictions, Giuliani told NBC Sunday the president had been involved in talks about the Trump Tower Moscow nearly up to election day 2016.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Throughout 2016.
RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: Yes, probably up to could be up to as far as October/November.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: That answer contradicted months of statements by Trump and his team that discussions ended in January 2016. Within a day, Giuliani had to walk it back, saying his comments were hypothetical, even so a source familiar with the Trump legal team says, quote, Rudy is not getting fired. The president thinks Giuliani is effective.
Another source tells us Giuliani is one of the few people that the president has not been screaming about over the last few days.
ROMANS: One wonders if it muddies the waters or if there is a strategy at all.
BRIGGS: Yes, absolutely.
ROMANS: President Trump's top economic adviser Larry Kudlow is denying reports that the U.S. canceled a meeting this week with the Chinese government as the two countries rush to strike a trade deal. Now, reports suggest that the United States had turned down an offer by Chinese negotiators to hold preliminary talks this week, deputy level kind of planning this week ahead of the critical meeting with China's chief trade negotiator next week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KUDLOW, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S TOP ECONOMIC ADVISER: There were no other intermediate meetings scheduled. The story is unchanged. We are moving towards negotiations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Chinese Vice Premiere Le is expected to meet with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for two days of talks next week. A White House spokeswoman says preparations for those talks are ongoing.
The two countries are racing to reach a deal by March 1st. If there is no deal, the U.S. jacks up tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods to 25 percent from 10 percent.
It just shows you the whiff of any change of those negotiations could really move markets.
BRIGGS: Are they optimistic, by March 1st?
ROMANS: I mean, it's a really tough deadline. And the fact -- what Larry Kudlow is saying there is no scheduled preliminary talks. No, there weren't. The reporting was that the Chinese said let's have a pre-round here to lay out some goalposts and the U.S. said no.
BRIGGS: Looks like another round of tariffs. We shall see.
An out of control car on a slippery highway heads straight for a state trooper. See what happens next.
ROMANS: And the next big American city that could soon be dealing with the teacher's strike.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:17:02] ROMANS: All right. Seventeen minutes past the hour.
Los Angeles teachers will be back in the classroom this morning. Union leaders say early vote counting shows more than 80 percent of teachers voted to end the six-day strike. The agreement with the L.A. unified school district calls for a gradual decrease in class sizes and more counselor, librarians and nurses in addition to a 6 percent raise for teachers. The union says it will fight alongside the district and the mayor's office for an increase in state funding.
BRIGGS: As L.A. teachers head back to work, teachers in Denver are planning to strike. The Denver Teachers Association voted Tuesday to go on strike. The city's public schools though will be open today. The school superintendent says the district is committed to working with the union to reach an agreement. At the earliest a walkout could happen is Monday.
ROMANS: All right. Amidst some brutal winter weather, police in Wisconsin are using a visual aide to encourage safe driving. It shows a speeding car sliding across the lanes and barreling toward a police officer who just manages to get out of the way. The county sheriff's office releasing the video to serve as a warning to drivers to go slowly as another round of severe winter weather approaches the region.
BRIGGS: A Kansas state trooper posted an emotional video message after he responded to the scene of a crash that killed a 19-year-old girl on an icy Interstate 70 Tuesday. It led trooper Ben Garner to make a video plea for drivers to be safe and stay off of ice covered roads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN GARNER, KANSAS HIGHWAY TROOPER: They need to be off the roadways. How are you driving your vehicle? What are you doing to keep yourself as safe as you can for what could be taking place around you? You have to be safe, everyone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Garner called the crash that killed the young girl devastating.
ROMANS: All right. The student at the center of that confrontation with a Native American elder says he wishes it could have been avoided. Covington Catholic High School students were criticized when a brief video surfaced Friday showing them wearing Make Great American Again hats and mocking Omaha Nation elder Nathan Phillips. This was during a school trip to a March for Life Rally in Washington.
Now, a second video surfaced on Sunday showing another group identifying themselves Hebrew Israelites taunting students before the encounter with the Native American man.
Here is what Nick Sandmann is telling NBC about his faceoff with Phillips.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK SANDMANN, STUDENT, COVINGTON CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL: As far as standing there, I had every right to do so. My position is that I was not disrespectful to Mr. Phillips. I respect him. I'd like to talk to him. I mean, in hindsight, I wish we could have walked away and avoided the whole thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:20:03] ROMANS: A Native American legal group says Phillip has offered to visit Sandmann's school in Kentucky to talk about the importance of respecting other cultures. The White House says it has invited the students to visit but not until after the government shutdown ends.
Were they doing the tomahawk chop? Is that what they were doing?
BRIGGS: They were, they were. Yes, a lot to discuss on that story. But we'll just get to the commercial break.
An up-and-coming actor will play Tony Soprano in an upcoming movie. You may not know his work, but you sure will recognize his name, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:25:10] BRIGGS: Like father, like son, Michael Gandolfini has been cast in the prequel to the groundbreaking TV series "The Sopranos". The 19-year-old is set to play a young Tony Soprano, the iconic New Jersey crime boss that made James Gandolfini famous. The prequel film titled "The Many Saints of Newark" is co-written by David Chase who created "The Sopranos".
In a statement, Michael Gandolfini says it is a profound honor to continue his dad's legacy, while stepping in the shoes of a young Tony Soprano.
Members of the original Sopranos cast just celebrated the 20th anniversary of the series launch on HBO. Time for you to catch up, Romans.
ROMANS: I know, 20 years.
BRIGGS: Twenty years later.
ROMANS: Wow.
Furious New Orleans Saints fans are suing the NFL. They want the outcome of Sunday's NFC championship game changed. This is the notorious no call in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter that cost the Saints a trip to the Super Bowl. The lawsuit was filed by a New Orleans based attorney who says the blunder caused mental anguish, emotional trauma and loss of enjoyment of life.
A hearing on the suits is scheduled for Monday morning in civil district court.
I can't get over that. I'm not even a football expert and I can't get over it.
BRIGGS: Hopefully change comes to the NFL as a result of that painful call.
Major league baseball announcing its hall of fame class for 2019. It is led by former Yankee closer Mariano Rivera, who becomes the first player ever to be the unanimous selection into the hall by the baseball riders. Rivera appeared on all 425 ballots.
Joining Rivera is Edgar Martinez, who spent his entire 18-year career at Seattle Mariners as a designated hitter. He won two batting titles, hit more than 300 home runs, and a career batting average over 300. Martinez makes to Cooperstown on his final year in the ballot.
Also inducted, Mike Mussina, the Moose, pitched 18 seasons, 10 with the Oilers, eight with the Yankees, winning 270 games.
And the final inductee, the late pitching great Roy Halladay, who won more than 200 games over a 12-year career that included two Cy Young Awards for two teams in different league. Halladay also threw a perfect game and had a no hitter in the 2010 National League Division Series. He died in a plane crash in 2017.
He was my Little League teammate as a boy, as dominant then as he was in his final games with the Phillies.
Happy for the Halladay family this morning.
ROMANS: All right. Twenty-seven minutes past the hour.
Both sides have a plan to end the government shutdown but neither has enough votes to pass at this point. The latest quagmire, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
