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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Polar Vortex Brings Dangerous Weather As Record Cold Hits Midwest; President Trump Met Putin At G20 With No U.S. Translator; Top U.S. Intelligence Chiefs Contradict President Trump On National Security; Debate Rages Over Medicare For All. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired January 30, 2019 - 05:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:30:24] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: It will feel like 70 degrees below zero -- not in the Arctic; right here in the United States. Tens of millions in for the coldest temps you've ever felt.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: More substance and no translator. A new report says there was more to that Trump-Putin chat in Buenos Aires at the G20 than the White House revealed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have won against ISIS.

DAN COATS, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: ISIS is intent on resurging.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The commander in chief and the Intel officials he appointed on very different pages about threats facing the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (D), FORMER MAYOR, NEW YORK CITY: I think you could never afford that. You're talking about trillions of dollars.

HOWARD SCHULTZ, FORMER CEO, STARBUCKS: That's not correct and that's not American.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The possible 2020 candidates weighing in on Medicare for All. Do voters even want a single-payer government plan? And what is the Democrats' strategy on that?

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: I mean, it's -- and Medicare --

BRIGGS: It will be a major issue in the months ahead. ROMANS: And, Medicare for All means different things to different people but now, I think this is going to be something we'll be talking about for the next days.

BRIGGS: Right.

ROMANS: Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs on a bone-chillingly cold day.

We will get to Josh Rogin, as well --

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: -- on this split between the president and his Intel chiefs in just a moment.

We start, though, with that wicked weather. Extreme cold hardly begins to describe it. Truly life-threatening conditions for a huge swath of the U.S.

More than 200 million Americans will see temps below freezing. That's more than 70 percent of the population. Eighty million people face subzero weather without even factoring in wind chill. In Minnesota, those wind chills will drop to a historic 70 degrees below zero.

ROMANS: There's already a minus-66 degree wind chill in Ponsford, Minnesota. Wind chill of minus 62 in Swift County.

And the State Patrol has reported at least 193 crashes during the storm. Highway crashes in Michigan as well. This multi-car pileup left parts of some cars under tractor trailers.

And blowing snow reduced visibility in Buffalo to near zero.

BRIGGS: State offices closed in Michigan and Wisconsin. U.S. Postal Service delivery suspended in all or parts of 10 states. Schools in much of the region are closed. Check before you head out, and if you don't have to head out -- well, just stay inside.

A live look here at Lake Michigan from Chicago, frozen over. Amtrak canceling all service to and from Chicago today. City officials there adding 500 shelter beds for the homeless.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri in the CNN Weather Center.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Dave and Christine.

An incredible pattern here when it comes to the expansive nature of all of this. And you take a look, we're not just talking about 30, 40, 50 below, which maybe some people have felt the lower end of that threshold of about 30 below, but we're pushing up, of course, close to 65-70 below in a few spots across northern Minnesota. And really, not just across parts of Minnesota but a pretty expansive area here with about 140 million that will feel wind chills as cold as 30 below or even colder in spots. And it includes portions of the major metro cities in the Northeast as we get in towards Thursday and eventually, Friday as well.

And, in fact, this pattern continues into the weekend across parts of the Northeast before a dramatic warming trend comes in going in towards, say, Sunday and eventually, Monday as well.

But how about this? Some 61 possible record low maximums. Essentially, what that's telling us is the coldest afternoon high temperatures we've seen on record for this date here across portions of the Midwest and also parts of the Great Lakes as well over the next 24 hours.

And how about this? We're some 46 degrees removed here in the coldest time of year to what is climatologically normal.

So, Chicago for an afternoon high, we should be around 32 degrees -- right at the freezing mark. Take it down 46 degrees below that and you're sitting at minus 14 which would, by the way, be the coldest temperature ever observed in the city of Chicago for an afternoon high.

And you notice we expect to drop the temps back down to about 25 below, which would fall just shy of 27 below, which is the all-time lowest temp ever observed in Chicago as well.

But just like that, notice what happens. A very quick read on in temps there. So in Chicago, we go from 15 below for a high and over the next couple of days climb up to 46 degrees come Sunday afternoon across the Windy City -- guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Unbelievable. All right, take care, everybody. Thanks for that, Pedram.

All right. That chat between President Trump and Vladimir Putin in Argentina was more than just a chat. A new report says talks between Presidents Trump and Putin at the G20 summit last November more substantive than the White House acknowledged.

According to the "Financial Times," Mr. Trump sat down with the Russian leader with no translator or notetaker from the U.S. for some 15 minutes. Instead, the president was accompanied by his wife, Melania. Putin was flanked by his translator.

[05:35:04] BRIGGS: The White House had characterized the encounter with Putin as one of several informal conversations. But according to a Russian official's account, the two leaders discussed a number of foreign policy issues, including the conflict in Syria and Russia's November attack on three Ukrainian naval ships.

"The Washington Post" recently reported President Trump tried to hide details of previous conversations with Putin, including the one he had at the G20 in Hamburg in 2017.

ROMANS: The president and his top intelligence officials clearly do not agree about the biggest global threats facing the U.S.

In testimony before Congress, the Intel chiefs wound up highlighting the wide gulf between their views and the president's. The directors of the Intelligence Community -- the I.C. -- flat out contradicted several claims by President Trump to justify core principles of his foreign policy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have won against ISIS. We have beaten them and we've beaten them badly.

COATS: ISIS is intent on resurging and still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria.

TRUMP: Chairman Kim -- we have a great chemistry and we're well on our way. You know, we signed an agreement that said we will begin the immediate denuclearization.

COATS: North Korea will seek to retain its WMD capabilities and is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capabilities.

TRUMP: I have President Putin. He just said it's not Russia. I will say this, I don't see any reason why it would be.

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, DIRECTOR, FBI: Not only have the Russians continued to do it in 2018, but we've seen indication that they're continuing to adapt their model.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: OK, let's bring in "Washington Post" columnist Josh Rogin, a CNN political analyst, live in Washington --

ROMANS: Hey, Josh.

BRIGGS: -- and nobody better to discuss all of this with this morning. Good to see you, Josh.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: Good morning.

BRIGGS: The worldwide threat assessment -- given this massive split between the president and his own Intel chiefs, what does this say about the process the president goes through and our preparedness for a potential foreign policy crisis?

ROGIN: Well, it's a stunning example and an illustration that our foreign policymaking processes are chaotic, dysfunctional, and essentially, broken right now.

And, you know, it takes a lot for the heads of the U.S. Intelligence Community to come out and tell the public and Congress on the record, very clearly, that on three major issues -- North Korea, ISIS, and Russia -- that the president is giving disinformation to the American public. It's almost unprecedented.

And remember, these worldwide threat assessments, right, they do this every year.

ROMANS: Yes.

ROGIN: Part of it's in public and part of it's in private. They could have said it in private and they could have done their jobs and let Congress know that they disagreed with the president.

ROMANS: Yes.

ROGIN: They made a decision to put this in their testimony. They wanted the public to know. They wanted to be on the record saying that the president is wrong on these three huge issues and that's because they honestly believe that and they believe that the American people have a right to know.

ROMANS: Let's --

ROGIN: It's not new. It's a stunning divide between the president and his Intelligence Community, but it's not getting any better. In fact, it's getting worse.

ROMANS: Let's talk about those three issues because North Korea, to me, was the biggest glaring example. I mean, you've got these Intel chiefs essentially saying -- testifying that North Korea's -- that Trump's diplomacy with North Korea is unlikely to result in denuclearization.

ROGIN: Yes, it's pretty crazy. I happen to agree with them. I don't think any serious North Korea experts think that Kim Jong Un is ever going to give up his nuclear weapons. That's the stated goal.

I mean, what the president said about the North Korean policy, which is that we signed an agreement to immediately to denuclearize, that's totally wrong on its face. So we're entering a second summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un based on a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding, mostly by the president.

And what they said was very simple. They were like, yes, there are some good things coming out of our North Korea diplomacy.

But, no, Kim Jong Un is never going to give up his nuclear weapons, probably because he's not suicidal. And, you know, it doesn't matter what you offer someone. There's no amount of money that's going to make someone suicidal if they're not already suicidal.

So we're facing this sort of like dissidence where we have this stated North Korea policy but it doesn't match the intel, it doesn't match the reality. That's an unresolvable problem but at least now we have sort of a public accounting by our Intelligence Community of what the real analysis is. BRIGGS: We also have that on ISIS and exactly where they are, given our withdrawal from Syria.

And you might ask what are Senate Republicans going to do about this? Well, at least Mitch McConnell said something about just that on the Senate floor yesterday. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: It would recognize the danger of a precipitous withdrawal from either conflict. Mr. President, we've seen the cost of a precipitous withdrawal before in Iraq. And in Afghanistan, we've seen the downside of telling the enemy they can just wait us out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: How significant is that?

[05:40:00] ROGIN: It's fascinating, actually, because here you have the head of the Republican Party in the Senate staking out a position for Congress, again, in opposition to the president's public foreign policy -- the president of their own party. I've never seen anything like it, OK?

What's going on here is that the Republican Party is trying to maintain its identity as the national security party -- as the hawkish party, right -- as the daddy party. That's what they've always been and that's what they hope to be, especially going into 2020.

And they're looking at a 2020 campaign season where Trump is going to be running on getting out of Afghanistan, getting out of Syria, maybe getting out of South Korea.

ROMANS: Yes.

ROGIN: Who knows what's next, OK? And they're trying to push back against that.

In the end, the president has the power to do whatever he wants on foreign policy, pretty much. But, Congress can pass resolutions, they can mess with his funding, but they can't stop him from making a deal with North Korea --

BRIGGS: Right.

ROGIN: -- cozying up to Putin, and pretending that ISIS is defeated.

ROMANS: I want to read some --

ROGIN: All they can do is get on the record and a case welcomes that (ph).

ROMANS: I want to read something quickly that Ryan Crocker, the former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait, and Lebanon, wrote in "The Washington Post" -- an op-ed about these talks this week between the United States and the Taliban that could result in an ultimate withdrawal.

You know, the president "can follow Obama's example and leave the country to the Taliban, or he can make clear that the United States has interests, values, and allies, and will stand behind them."

I don't think we've made enough this week of just sort of this historic moment here on the U.S.-Afghanistan strategy. I mean, you've 2,400 Americans who were killed there, 20,000 wounded. This is a 17- year -- a 17-year mission in Afghanistan.

Is Ryan Crocker right?

ROGIN: In a sense, he's right in that this is a deal that a few years ago, under the Obama administration, many people would have criticized, but we're not there now.

And it's important to remember that President Trump, in his instinct -- in his gut feeling that we need to sort of end these wars and get America out of these entanglements, is reflecting a frustration and a war-weariness of the American people, OK. And that's real and that's something that I think our elite Washington sort of clique has failed to respond to.

And it's certain that any deal we make with the Taliban is not going to be perfect, OK, and it's going to make some people uncomfortable.

ROMANS: Right.

ROGIN: But it's OK for the president to try to get us out of these conflicts. And, in fact, if he can do it in -- on imperfect circumstances, that's fine. But what's not fine is for him to do it while not telling the American people the truth about the situation on the ground and not being honest with himself and our national security professionals about the real threats.

You know, we can change --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROGIN: He can change our foreign policy but he has to do it based on reality.

BRIGGS: Josh, one final thing that was not said by our Intel chiefs is how concerned they are regarding the discussion between President Trump and Vladimir Putin because he's hidden the details of their conversations. And, the "Financial Times" reporting that they met for 15 minutes at the G20.

Ron Wyden, a senator, asked Coats about that. He said, "I look forward to discussing that in a closed session."

How concerned are our Intel chiefs or how concerned should they be regarding this "Financial Times" reporting?

ROGIN: You know, it's totally crazy that even our Intel chiefs don't know what the President of the United States is saying to the president in Russia -- of Russia on a number of occasions. That's like a horrendous process and really bad in terms policymaking.

But, on the other hand, we kind of know what President Trump thinks about Vladimir Putin and Russia because he says it in public all the time, OK.

ROMANS: Right.

ROGIN: And he talks about he wants them to have a better relationship with Russia. He wants Russia to take a bigger role in Syria. He doesn't believe they did the hacking.

You know, so you don't have to be Kreskin or like a secret translator in the room to figure out what they're talking about. President Trump has told us what they're talking about.

It's still horrendous that he doesn't include our national security officials.

ROMANS: Kreskin -- strong, strong Kreskin reference this morning at 5:43 a.m. in the east.

BRIGGS: Thank you, Josh -- appreciate it.

ROGIN: Thanks, guys.

ROMANS: Josh, nice to see you, thanks.

And new overnight, Nicolas Maduro says he's open to talks with the Venezuelan opposition. Huge protests expected on the streets today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:48:10] ROMANS: All right. You're hearing a lot about Medicare for All on the campaign trail. It began with Kamala Harris -- these remarks from Sen. Kamala Harris at Monday night's live CNN town hall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And the idea is that everyone gets access to medical care.

And you don't have to go through the process of going through an insurance company, having them give you approval, going through the paperwork -- all of the delay that may require. Who of us has not had that situation where you've got to wait for approval and the doctor says well, I don't know if your insurance company is going to cover this?

Let's eliminate all of that. Let's move on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Polls show a vast majority of Americans like the idea of Medicare for All to help guarantee coverage, but they don't approve of getting rid of private insurance companies and the coverage that they already have, which could force them to pick another doctor. BRIGGS: And a pair of billionaires considering 2020 runs are scoffing at the idea.

Here's Democrat Michael Bloomberg.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLOOMBERG: I think you could never afford that. You're talking about trillions of dollars.

I think you can have Medicare for All for people that are uncovered, but -- because that's a smaller group and a lot of them have taken care of Medicaid already -- Medicare. But, to replace the entire private system where companies provide health care for their employees would bankrupt us for a very long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: And there's former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who may run as an Independent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Senator Harris is saying she wants to abolish the insurance industry. That's not correct and that's not American.

What's next? What industry are we going to abolish next? The coffee industry?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Un-American. Well, he clarified that un-American comment to our Poppy Harlow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: It's not that it's not American; it's unaffordable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:50:00] ROMANS: A spokesman for Sen. Harris now tells CNN she is open to more moderate plans that preserve the private health care industry.

BRIGGS: Just in to CNN, the American Lung Association flunking the FDA for lack of action on e-cigarettes. The health group says the government is failing to protect kids from e-cigarettes and the potential addiction they can cause.

The Lung Association notes there has been a staggering 78 percent increase in high school students' use of e-cigarettes in 2017 and 2018.

Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S., killing 480,000 people a year and sickening 16 million more.

ROMANS: All right.

Another day of protests expected against Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. Self-proclaimed interim President Juan Guaido calling on supporters to take to the streets to convince the military to side with him.

Maduro apparently starting to feel the pressure. Overnight, he said he is willing to negotiate with the opposition leader with international mediators. But he did also rule out new presidential elections until 2025.

BRIGGS: And that decision coming one day after the U.S. slapped new sanctions on the Maduro regime, cutting off oil revenues.

Now, Venezuela's Supreme Court freezing Guaido's bank accounts and restricting his travel.

The State Department issuing a warning to all Americans, do not travel to Venezuela. At least 40 people have been killed in recent protests there.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:55:37] ROMANS: Police in Chicago are looking for more surveillance video of the attack on actor Jussie Smollett. Chicago P.D. investigating that attack as a possible hate crime.

The 36-year-old, who stars in the T.V. show "EMPIRE", says he was assaulted by two men in a homophobic and racist attack near his home. He told police they doused him with an unknown substance and placed a rope around his neck. Smollett was not seriously injured.

BRIGGS: A major recall this morning. Tyson Foods recalling more than 36,000 pounds of chicken nuggets because they may contain rubber. The 5-pound packages of Panko Chicken Nuggets have a use-by date of November 26, 2019.

The company says people have complained of extraneous material in the chicken but there are no confirmed reports of adverse reactions.

The recall comes a day after Perdue recalled more than 16,000 pounds of refrigerated chicken nuggets because of an undeclared allergen.

Drivers in California, listen up. A mystery surcharge costing you extra money for gas, anywhere from 20 to 40 cents a gallon.

According to a new report by the State Energy Commission, California drivers have been paying the premium since at least 2015. That's when prices spiked due to a refinery explosion and never went back down.

More than a dozen state lawmakers calling on the state attorney general to investigate.

ROMANS: All right. For the second year in a row, the U.S. Treasury will have to borrow at least $1 trillion to pay for the growing budget deficit. Why is the deficit growing? The government spends more than it takes in -- a lot more.

Last year, Congress passed a budget deal that increased federal spending by $300 billion. The same year it signed a tax law that brings in less tax revenue.

The U.S. deficit rose 17 percent to $779 billion last year, the highest since 2012, so the U.S. Treasury is borrowing more to make up that shortfall. The Treasury borrowed $1.3 trillion last year, the highest borrowing level since 2010 and a sharp spike from the $546 billion it borrowed in 2017.

And don't forget, the U.S. is currently waging a trade war with its biggest foreign creditor, China. As of October 2018, China held $1.1 trillion in U.S. Treasury bonds.

The party of fiscal discipline in power during these exploding deficits. However, according to Pew Research, just 48 percent of Americans say cutting the deficit should be a top policy priority for the president and Congress.

Global stock markets mixed ahead of the high-level trade talks between the U.S. and China that begin today. You can see Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong pretty much mixed in Asia; also mixed in Europe.

And futures -- U.S. futures up just a little bit here. We've got a Fed decision this afternoon so that could be why folks are on hold here.

The Dow closed 52 points higher Tuesday. The S&P 500 fell. The Nasdaq down one percent.

And, Harley Davidson, folks, fell five percent. Its earnings basically wiped out in the final quarter of 2018. It's all caught up in President Trump's trade war here.

Sunday's big game isn't just about football. There's also a soft drink showdown -- Coke versus Pepsi. Pepsi is one of Super Bowl LIII's biggest sponsors and it has swarmed Coke's hometown with over 350 ads on billboards, recycling bins -- even the walls of train stations.

There's one billboard right down the street from the World of Coca- Cola Museum and it reads "Pepsi in Atlanta -- How Refreshing."

Sam Adams also getting into the spirit of the Super Bowl. Sam Adams has created a limited-release beer called "Too Old, Too Slow, Still Here." One hundred ninety-nine people will have the opportunity to purchase the beer, which comes in a GOAT-themed can at the Boston brewery and taproom tomorrow.

BRIGGS: The GOAT going for a 6-pack of Super Bowl rings on Sunday.

ROMANS: Wow.

All right, thanks for joining us, everybody. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: And a happy early birthday to you.

ROMANS: Oh, thank you.

BRIGGS: I know you're not here tomorrow.

ROMANS: Thank you.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs.

Follow us @earlystartcnn to find out what we got her for her birthday. That's @earlystartcnn on Instagram.

We'll see you tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really, really dangerous out right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're talking wind chills of minus 30 to minus 60.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officials say time outside should be limited and the U.S. Postal Service is suspending delivery in 10 states.

TRUMP: We have won against ISIS. We've beaten them and we've beaten them badly.

COATS: ISIS is intent on resurging and still commands thousands of fighters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This has been a pattern. He says one thing and the Intel Community says another. It is very, very disturbing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY.

END