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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
House Democrats Dig in to Trump Oversight; Lieutenant Governor's Accuser Releases Graphic Statement about Sexual Harassment Incident; Trump Touts Territorial Gains Against ISIS. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired February 07, 2019 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[04:00:20] REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: The American people have a right to know, indeed have a need to know that their president is acting on their behalf.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's called presidential harassment.
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DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, that unity push did not last long. Democrats defy the president with aggressive new investigations after the president warned against it.
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REP. MATT GAETZ (R), FLORIDA: We have an immigration system that allows people to come here violently. We engage in --
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A congressman uses a gun violence hearing to push for a border wall. Parents of Parkland shooting victims not having it.
BRIGGS: The president touts territorial gains over ISIS but the secretary of State admits threats remain. Live in the Middle East.
ROMANS: And the former top editor of the "New York Times" accused of plagiarism Jill Abramson now says she will review passages from her new book.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START bright and early this morning. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Good morning. Almost Friday, February 7th, 4:00 a.m. in the East.
We start with these new investigations. House Democrats now starting to flex their new power in earnest. House Intelligence Committee Adam chairman -- Adam Schiff announcing an aggressive investigation into whether President Trump's business and financial interests are driving his decisions. The probe will go beyond contact between Trump's team and Russia, it will include whether foreign interests hold any kind of leverage over the president or anyone in his orbit, whether any of those people is at risk of manipulation from abroad and whether anyone has tried to obstruct the current investigations.
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SCHIFF: The American people have a right to know, indeed have a need to know that their president is acting on their behalf and not for some pecuniary or other reason that pertains to any credible allegations of leverage by the Russians or the Saudis or anyone else.
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ROMANS: The president dismissed the new investigations saying Schiff had no basis for it.
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TRUMP: This is a political hack who's trying to build a name for himself. It's called presidential harassment and it's unfortunate. And it really does hurt our country.
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ROMANS: The move came less than 24 hours after President Trump warned in his State of the Union against Democratic probes.
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TRUMP: If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn't work that way.
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ROMANS: Only about 18 months ago the president gave a similar signal against investigating his finances.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mueller is looking at your finances, your family's finances unrelated to Russia. Is that a red line?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Would that be a breach of what his actual --
TRUMP: I would say yes. Yes. I would say yes.
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BRIGGS: Worth noting federal prosecutors in Manhattan may pose a bigger threat to the president than Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The Southern District of New York specifically looking at Mr. Trump's finances and has already enlisted cooperating witnesses like his former lawyer Michael Cohen and Trump Organization CFO Alan Weisselberg. Democrats circling the president in other ways. House hearings
scheduled today on Mr. Trump's tax returns, family separations at the Mexico border, and a session is set for tomorrow to question acting attorney Matthew Whitaker. Democrats will ask about his decision not to recuse himself in the Russia probe among other things.
ROMANS: House Judiciary chairman Jerry Nadler says he will have a subpoena in his pocket just in case Whitaker refuses to answer questions. Also House Financial Services chair Maxine Waters says her panel is in talks to bring in Treasury Security Steve Mnuchin. They want to talk to him about the lifting of Russian sanctions on companies connected to oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
A bipartisan group of 17 lawmakers is making progress on a deal to head off another government shutdown next week, but a source tells CNN no one is certain what the president will sign. The White House staying out of the talks to this point. The deadline is next Friday but negotiators want a deal done this week to give Congress and the president enough time to process it. Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney is scheduled to meet with the group this weekend at Camp David. He is still warning the president could use executive authority.
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MICK MULVANEY, ACTING CHIEF OF STAFF: If it comes to this, find the money that we can spend with the lowest threat of litigation and then move from that pot of money to the next pot that maybe brings a little bit more threat of litigation and then go through the budget like that.
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BRIGGS: The 17 lawmakers met with Customs and Border Protection officials on Wednesday. They agree the best way to secure the border is to marry new technologies to additional personnel and new barriers. But they disagree about how to do that.
One interesting note, CNN has learned the government shutdown ended after just 10 air traffic controllers stayed home on January 25th, the 35th day of the impasse.
[04:05:06] The absence of those few workers -- six in northern Virginia, four in Florida -- temporarily shut down travel at New York's LaGuardia Airport while causing delays at other major hubs.
ROMANS: All right. Tension at a congressional hearing on preventing gun violence. Republican Matt Gaetz of Florida using the hearing to actively campaign for the president's border wall. This is a hearing about gun violence. And this did not go over well with some in attendance.
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GAETZ: HR8 would not have stopped many of the circumstances I raised, but a wall, a barrier on the southern border, may have. And that's what we're fighting for.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chair --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
GAETZ: We have an immigration system that allows people to come here violently. We engage in --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be no comments or demonstrations, please.
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ROMANS: Gaetz's comments angering the fathers of two of victims in Parkland school massacre, Manuel Oliver and Fred Guttenberg.
BRIGGS: At one point, Rhode Island Democrat David Cicilline posed this question.
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REP. DAVID CICILLINE (D), RHODE ISLAND: Is there any committee rule that prevents a member of Congress from reciting false statements in a committee hearing that are unsupported by the evidence? That are unsupported by the evidence or are members of Congress entitled to just make things up?
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BRIGGS: The House Judiciary Committee has been hearing testimony on a bipartisan measure that would require background checks for all gun sales and most gun transfers.
ROMANS: All right. To Virginia now where the political crisis there is taking another ugly twist. Attorney General Mark Herring admitting he appeared in blackface at a party in 1980 dressing up as a rapper when he was 19 years old. He calls it a one-time occurrence caused by a callous and inexcusable lack of awareness.
That is three scandals weighing down Democrats in that state now. Governor Ralph Northam refusing to resign over this racist photo on his med school yearbook page. Initially he said it was not him in that picture on the right, he said it was -- first he said it was him, but he wouldn't say which person he was. And now he says it is not him.
BRIGGS: Right. All this unfolding as we learn more about sexual assault allegations against Virginia's Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax. His accuser, Vanessa Tyson, claims Fairfax sexually assaulted her at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. She told Virginia's Democratic Congressman Bobby Scott about the allegation a year ago. Aides to Scott tells CNN the congressman did not learn the full scope of the allegation until Wednesday when Tyson released a graphic statement about her encounter with Fairfax.
More now from Ryan Nobles. RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Dave and Christine, we had
thought that things couldn't get much worse here at Virginia state capital, but Wednesday proved us very wrong.
The accuser of the lieutenant governor, Dr. Vanessa Tyson, released a very lengthy statement where she talked in specificity about the alleged incident in which she says that the lieutenant governor, who was then an aide to Senator John Edwards, forced her to perform oral sex on him.
Now the lieutenant governor says that this is not true and, in fact, we have been told in private meetings he has been vehemently denying these claims and has also launched into an expletive laden attack against Miss Tyson and her supporters.
Still, this is something that is rocking the capital. In fact, a very influential Democratic congresswoman, Jennifer Wexton, who was just recently elected in this wave of Democratic women to Congress, she was once a state senator here in Virginia. She served with Justin Fairfax. She tweeted yesterday, "I believe Dr. Vanessa Tyson."
Meanwhile, those state lawmakers attempt to find some way to get the business of this government complete -- Dave and Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Ryan Nobles. Thank you so much for that, Ryan.
If somehow the scandal brings down Virginia's top three government officials, a Republican would take the state's highest office. Virginia House and delegate speaker Kirk Cox is fourth in line for governor.
BRIGGS: What a mess.
Planet earth just emerged from the fourth hottest year ever recorded. According to the NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that means 18 of the hottest 19 years have occurred since 2001. The warming driven largely by increased carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases caused by human activity. Many countries suffered through extreme weather and climate events in 2018, but the United States was hit particularly hard.
There were 14 separate weather and climate disasters that caused $1 billion in damage or more last year.
ROMANS: All right. Wall Street waiting for the Federal Reserve to decide when and if it will raise interest rates in 2019. The former Fed chief Janet Yellen told CNBC yesterday the Federal Reserve could decide to cut rates next.
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[04:10:01] JANET YELLEN, FORMER FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: If global growth really weakens and that spills over to the United States or financial conditions tighten more and we do see a weakening in the U.S. economy, it's certainly possible that the next move is a cut.
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ROMANS: That got a lot of attention yesterday. Her remarks come after the Fed kept interest rates steady and floated the idea it might be done considering any rate hikes this year. A few weeks ago it had suggested as many as two rate hikes this year were on the table.
So what does that say about the American economy and the global economy, right, if they're not -- because they can't keep raising rates? Yellen mentioned several risks that could affect the U.S. including weak economic data from China and Europe, as well as uncertainties about trade policy and Brexit.
Current Fed chief Jerome Powell recently said the decision on rates requires patience and he denounced any idea the Fed was caving to political pressure by taking the more dovish approach to rates. And by political pressure, there is pressure from the president of the United States. There is also pressure from the markets.
BRIGGS: Right.
ROMANS: There are those who said the markets with that -- with that, you know, hissy fit in December where selling off and pressuring the Fed to not keep rates always raised.
BRIGGS: Are there widespread fears that the president did bully his way to exactly what he wanted with interest rates?
ROMANS: I think that the Fed chief -- look, the Fed is an independent body and you -- if you're appointed by Donald Trump, you have to know that there's going to be --
BRIGGS: Right.
ROMANS: Twitter, you know, tirades about it. So from all -- from all appearances, the Fed is going to wait to see what the data looks like before it decides to raise rates.
BRIGGS: Let's hope.
Ahead it looks like a serial killer in Toronto is nabbed with his next victim already tied up in his home. The stunning twist ahead.
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[04:15:48] TRUMP: It should be formally announced sometime probably next week that we will have 100 percent of the caliphate.
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ROMANS: President Trump touting territorial gains against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, praising the U.S. Military and its allies in remarks to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS at the State Department. President Trump did not mention, though, the diplomatic and policy implications of his sudden decision to pull American troops out of Syria. The secretary of State did.
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MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: ISIS remains a dangerous threat in territory it does not control.
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ROMANS: Let's bring in CNN's Arwa Damon live from Istanbul. And from the region, I'm just really curious what the feeling is. I mean, we know that there are countries who have some 800 foreign fighters in Syria. They don't want them to come. They don't know how to bring them home or what to do with them, and there are concerns that there could be attacks on American troops and American allies as the U.S. prepares to withdraw.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And those concerns, Christine, are very real and very valid. In fact Trump's own military intelligence circles have been saying that ISIS does still pose one of the key threats to not just security in the region or against the United States, but globally speaking as well. Not territorially speaking inside Syria, sure, they only control one small sliver of land, but you heard there from the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo emphasizing that point that it really isn't necessarily about the territory that ISIS does control.
The ideology is still very alive and well especially amongst those diehard supporters. And there is some concern among many analysts that ISIS has actually been preparing for this very moment all along. The top ISIS leadership was anticipating the fall of the caliphate and they have a plan in place to be able to still carry out attacks and terrorize the world.
As for the whereabouts of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS' leader, at this stage that is unknown. It's not expected that he is still within those few lands that ISIS does control, but he is presumed to be alive. And when it comes to America's pullout from Syria, very little has been said as to actually how the U.S. plans to secure that territory once they are gone -- Christine.
ROMANS: Yes. So many questions.
Arwa Damon, for us in Istanbul this morning. Thank you, Arwa.
BRIGGS: All right. Ahead, marijuana is legal in Oregon, it's legal in Colorado, but a truck driver is facing drug charges this morning from moving the cannabis between those two very states.
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[04:22:54] ROMANS: A stunning revelation in the case of a serial killer in Toronto. When police moved in to arrest Bruce McArthur last year, they found a man tied to his bed alive. Searching McArthur's hard drive for evidence, they found eight folders labeled with the names of different men, each folder filled with photos of his victims. A ninth empty folder was labeled with the name of the man tied to the bed. The details revealed Bruce McArthur was sentenced for luring the man to his home, then strangling, dismembering and burying them in garden planters in a ravine. McArthur who also worked as a mall Santa pleaded guilty last month.
BRIGGS: A truck driver facing drug trafficking charges even though the company that bought the cannabis he was carrying says it's perfectly legal. This all unfolded when the driver was stopped by an Idaho state trooper for a routine inspection. 7,000 pounds of cannabis was on board. State officials say field tests show the plants were positive for THC, the substance in marijuana that helps people get high.
ROMANS: The Colorado company that bought the cargo in Oregon says it is legal hemp, but because of mandatory minimum drug sentences in Idaho where marijuana is illegal, the driver faces five years in prison and a $15,000 fine. The driver spent four days in jail and was released after posting $100,000 bond.
BRIGGS: Teachers in Denver plan to strike Monday. Colorado's governor is hoping to overt the strike saying both sides are close to a deal. Still teacher salaries remain a major sticking point. The union says its proposal could be funded if some of the $4 million slated annually for administrator bonuses was invested in teacher salaries. Denver Public Schools says it has added a 10 percent average salary increase for teachers next year,
ROMANS: Officials in Key West, Florida, are moving to ban the sale of some popular sunscreens to protect the coral reefs. A city commission voted to ban those containing oxybenzone or octinoxate. Chemicals shown to damage coral reefs. Up to 70 percent of sunscreens on the U.S. market contain oxybenzone including products from Neutrogena, Coppertone and Aveeno. The ban will not take effect until January 2021.
[04:25:02] Now the city can't keep visitors from bringing banned sunscreens to its beaches. It can only discourage them.
BRIGGS: Scary moment caught on video in Missouri. A school bus overturning in Kansas City as it was dropping off students. The school district spokesman says it may be due to freezing rain and icy roads. First responders rescued the three students and driver on the bus. No major injuries. One student who was in a wheelchair had to be removed from the bus with a gurney. Amazing. No injuries.
ROMANS: Ozzy Osbourne waking up at a California hospital this morning. The 70-year-old rocker was admitted Wednesday after suffering complications from the flue. His wife Sharon Osbourne sharing the news on Twitter saying doctors felt it was the best way to get Ozzie on a quicker road to recovery and she thanked everyone for their concern and love. Last week Ozzy Osbourne announced he was postponing the European leg of the tour with Judas Priest due to illness.
BRIGGS: Late last night former "New York Times" executive editor Jill Abramson tweeting she's reviewing passages in her new book after being accused of plagiarism. Just hours earlier, Abramson rejected the claim she lifted parts of her new book "Merchants of Truth" from other works.
Those allegations made earlier Wednesday by Vice News tonight correspondent Michael Moynihan. He tweeted out several examples where Abramson's language was a close match to phrasing that first appeared elsewhere. Moynihan says he stumbled on the issue while fact checking the book which profiles for outlets, Vice, BuzzFeed, the "Times" and the "Washington Post."
ROMANS: All right. 26 past the hour. The president used his State of the Union to warn against investigations. Now Democrats calling his bluff. New probes into Trump, his inner circle, his tax returns, his policies and a lot more.
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