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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump's Next Move?; NYPD Detective Killed By "Friendly Fire"; McConnell to Call Senate Vote on Green New Deal. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired February 13, 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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[04:00:22] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not happy about it. It's not doing the trick.
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DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Will President Trump sign the border deal and find another way to pay for his wall?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will tell you that this appears to be an absolute tragic case of friendly fire.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A New York City police detective shot and killed in a chaotic armed robbery scene.
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SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: I want to give everybody an opportunity to go on record.
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BRIGGS: A Senate vote would force Democrats to take a stand on their ambitious Green New Deal.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wire fox terriers take it again.
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ROMANS: One small dog comes atop again, the Westminster dog show.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. Nice to see you this morning. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: All hail the new king. Good morning. I'm Dave Briggs. It's Wednesday, February 13th, 4:00 a.m. in the East. We start with the shutdown. Just two days left until a second partial
shut down. But we do have a deal. Republicans are openly pushing for President Trump to accept this border security deal. The president himself hinted he is leaning that way.
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TRUMP: I don't think you're going to see a shutdown. I wouldn't want to go to it now. If you did have it, it's the Democrats' fault. And I accepted the first one. And I'm proud of what we accomplished.
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ROMANS: So what exactly did the president accomplish? He originally wanted $5.7 billion for 234 miles of border barriers. Last December, he turned down Democrats' offer of $1.6 billion for just 65 miles. And now, Republicans are surging him to take even less, $1.375 billion for 55 miles.
Even if the president takes that deal, he still has a few cards up his sleeve in the form of executive actions to fund barrier construction without congressional appropriations.
CNN's Jim Acosta has more from the White House.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine, the president says he's not a big fan of this bipartisan agreement coming down from Capitol Hill to provide security on the border and some border fencing. But at this hour, it appears that the president is going to sign this agreement. We talked to a White House official who said the president is likely to sign this deal, although aides stressed, the president and other top White House aides are still going over what is exactly over this bipartisan agreement.
But as the president was meeting with his cabinet earlier in the day, he registered his complaints about this agreement. Here's what he had to say.
TRUMP: I have to study it. I'm not happy about it. It's not doing the trick. But I'm adding things to it, and when you add whatever I have to add, it's all -- it's all going to happen when I'm going to build a beautiful, big, strong wall that's not going to let criminals, and traffickers, and drug dealers and drugs into our country.
ACOSTA: And the president is getting par less than what he originally wanted from the wall. He wanted something in the neighborhood of $5.7 billion. The bipartisan committee on the border security bill, they've only come back with something less than $1.4 billion, that's a lot less than he expected.
But the president and his advisers are looking at new areas of the administration where they can draw money to continue building the wall. But at this point, some of that could be subject to legal challenges in the courts, and the Democrats have said if the president goes that route and declares a national emergency, they'll take him to court -- Christine and Dave.
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BRIGGS: All right. Jim Acosta there, thank you.
The prospect of another shutdown has lawmakers on both sides urging President Trump to get on board with this deal.
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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Please, Mr. President, no one got everything they wanted in this bill, but sign it and don't cause a shutdown.
MCCONNELL: I hope he signs the bill. And check it. I think he ought to feel free to use whatever tools he can legally use to enhance his effort to secure the borders.
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BRIGGS: The White House is considering several executive actions to find other sources for border funding. They could take $3.6 billion earmarked for military construction. But that would require declaring that national emergency.
Also being eyed, $3 billion from the Army Corps civil works funds which would come from the national disaster affairs and might also require a national emergency, $700 million from the Pentagon and $680 million from Treasury forfeiture funds.
ROMANS: Fox News host and frequent presidential adviser Sean Hannity again blasting the border compromise deal.
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SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: The so-called compromise is typical of the D.C. sewer and swamp and its level of funding for security and safety for the American people is pathetic, the president would need to declare a national emergency.
[04:05:01] This is the time. That is a necessity. And the president, I think I know him pretty well, telegraphed that very thing just today.
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ROMANS: "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board thinks the conservative TV's influence on the president. They write: The restrictionist talk-show right is trashing the deal and Mr. Trump's grousing Tuesday may reflect that criticism. But these are the same critics who have coaxed Mr. Trump to crash into one immigration dead end after another. They seem to think Mr. Trump's duty is to fall repeatedly in the service of the politically impossible. The next time they give advice will be the first time.
BRIGGS: OK. The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee not too happy with Michael Cohen. Senator Richard Burr insisting any goodwill his panel may have had for the president's former lawyer of the president is now gone after Cohen postponed his scheduled appearance at a hearing Tuesday morning.
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SEN. RICHARD BURR (R), SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: He's already stiffed us on being in Washington today, because of an illness. You have -- on Twitter, a reporter reported he was having a wild night out Saturday night out in New York with five buddies. He didn't seem to have any physical limitations. And he was out with his wife last night.
I would prefer to get him before he goes to prison. The way he's positioning himself not coming to committee, we may help him go to prison.
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BRIGGS: Cohen's lawyer Lanny Davis firing back. He says in a statement, despite Senator Burr's inaccurate comment, Mr. Cohen was expected to and continues to suffer from post-shoulder surgery pain. The medication Mr. Cohen is currently taking made it impossible for him to testify this week. We believe Senator Burr should appreciate that it is possible for Mr. Cohen to be in pain and still have dinner in a restaurant.
This photo of Michael Cohen greeting friends and dining Monday night at the upscale L'Avenue Restaurant is not helping his cause with the Senate Intel chairman.
ROMANS: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell planning to force Democrats to take a public stand on a sweeping change in climate change and overhaul. The Republican leader announcing he will set a floor vote on the so-called Green New Deal co-authored by House member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey.
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MCCONNELL: It will give everybody an opportunity to go on record and see how they feel about the Green New Deal.
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ROMANS: You see that slight smile on his face. He's going to put them on record.
Republicans aim to make the Green New Deal a key 2020 campaign issue. The Republicans are painting this as costly, unworkable socialism, a takeover of the American economy. The proposal calls for a complete shift away from fossil fuels, throws in a variety of social justice initiatives.
BRIGGS: Most Democrats in the Senate who are running or thinking of running for president support the initiative to varying degrees. Senator Amy Klobuchar who just declared said she will co-sponsor the Green New Deal.
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SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm in favor of it simply because I see it as a framework to jump-start a discussion. I don't see it as something that we can get rid of all of these industries or do this in a few years. That doesn't make sense to me. Or reduce air travel. But what does make sense to me is start doing concrete things and put some aspirations out there on climate change.
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BRIGGS: Some of them more cautious like Ohio's Sherrod Brown who said Tuesday he supports a green new deal -- a green new deal. But hasn't said how he'll vote on this particular measure.
ROMANS: All right. A grim financial milestone, folks, as candidate president Trump promised to get rid of the national debt, telling "Washington Post" in 2016, he could make the U.S. debt-free in eight years. And now, the U.S. national debt has hit a record. New Treasury Department figure show the U.S. national debt has topped $22 trillion for the first time in history. The national debt has been rising since the 2008 financial crisis. That's when Congress and the Obama administration approved big stimulus funding to prop up a collapsing economy.
The debt began to level off at the beginning of President Trump's term but it jumped again after his 2017 tax cuts took effect and the lower corporate tax rate reduced treasury revenues. Without higher tax cuts, massive spending cuts or an explosion of economic growth, the Congressional Budget Office projects public debt will rise to 93 percent of GDP by the year 2029.
BRIGGS: Eye-popping.
Breaking overnight, a shooting left one police officer dead and another wounded in what looks like a case of friendly fire. Officers responding to a robbery call at a cellphone store in Queens last night. Within two seconds they opened fire on the suspect.
Audio from this chaotic scene captured on police radio, as you can hear the wounded officer letting dispatch know he's been hit.
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[04:10:00] POLICE OFFICER: Shots fired, shots fired.
Be advised, I'm shot. Perp's still in the location. Please set up a route going to Jamaica.
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BRIGGS: You heard the wounded officer say going to Jamaica. That's a reference to the Jamaica Hospital.
Killed in the gun fire, 42-year-old detective Brian Simonsen, a 19- year veteran of the department. He was shot in the chest and pronounced dead at the hospital.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Make no mistake about it, friendly fire aside, it's because of the actions of the suspect that Detective Simonsen is dead.
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BRIGGS: The unidentified suspect described as a 27-year career criminal who was shot many multiple times and hospitalized. According to police, an imitation firearm was found at the scene.
ROMANS: Just a tragedy for him. My heart goes out to his family and the NYPD.
All right. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz grilled on CNN about his possible independent bid to topple President Trump.
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POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: If you do run and the numbers don't add up your way and it looks like it would mean a second term for the president, would you commit to dropping out?
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ROMANS: His answer, next.
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[04:15:13] ROMANS: All right. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has not yet entered the 2020 presidential race. The Democrats see him as a potential threat who could help president Trump win re-election. Schultz is exploring an independent run for the White House.
At a CNN town hall last night, he essentially dodged the question of whether he would drop out if it looked like he was helping the president win a second term.
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HOWARD SCHULTZ, EXPLORING INDEPENDENT PRESIDETIAL RUN: If the math didn't tally up when I get to the next three or four months and I take my message out to the American people. And I continue to talk this way about how concerned I am about the country and how I think we can do so much better under a different process, if the numbers don't add up, I will not run for president, because I will not do anything whatsoever to re-elect Donald Trump.
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BRIGGS: Senator Cory Booker meanwhile who announced he's running for president says he would look to women first for a potential running mate if he ends up clinching the Democratic nomination.
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SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that you will rarely see a Democratic ticket without gender, race diversity. I think it's something we should have. So, I'm not going to box myself in. But should I become -- I will be looking to women first.
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BRIGGS: Booker noted he believes that women should already be president and that he tried hard to make that happen.
ROMANS: Senator Amy Klobuchar revealing her strategy on responding to the president's attacks. He lashed out at her on Twitter Sunday shortly after she announced her bid for president. Here's what she told CNN.
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KLOBUCHAR: It's a case by case, you certainly don't want to go down every rabbit hole with him. Now, in my case, I welcome being called the snow woman. I thought it was a pretty cool title myself. So, I was more than glad to respond.
I think those decisions have been made on a strategic basis. He wants to dominate every news story. He wants to get himself in news stories and that's just strategy.
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ROMANS: Klobuchar responded to a report that former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid rebuked her for mistreating her staff.
She tells Fox News neither she nor Reid recall that conversation.
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KLOBUCHAR: Yes, I can be a tough boss and push people, that's obvious, that's because I have my expectations of myself, I have high expectations of those that work with me, and I have a high expectations for our country.
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ROMANS: Senator Amy Klobuchar will take part in a CNN presidential town hall next Monday in New Hampshire. The Democratic candidate will field questions from voters and from CNN's Don Lemon. He's going to moderate. That's Monday night at 10:00 p.m., only on CNN.
BRIGGS: OK, Nikki Haley back in the spotlight. The former ambassador to the U.N. honored last night by the Jewish federation of greater Miami. And despite a lot of conjecture, she made it clear she's not considering a primary challenge to President Trump in 2020.
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NIKKI HALEY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: I can promise you, I'm too young to stop fighting. Because we have press in the back of the room, no, that does not mean I'm running for president.
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BRIGGS: Republican mega donor Paul Singer organized last night's dinner honoring Haley. That fueled speculation that the former South Carolina governor might be thinking about taking on the president.
ROMANS: Former astronaut Mark Kelly launching his campaign as a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2020. In his announcement video, Kelly appears with his wife, former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who survived a shooting in 2011.
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MARK KELLY, FORMER ASTRONAUT: I learned a lot from being an astronaut. I learned a lot from being a pilot in the Navy. I learned a lot without solving problems from being an engineer. But what I learned from my wife is how you use policy to improve people's lives.
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ROMANS: Fifty-four-year-old Kelly enters what is sure to be a competitive race vying for the late John McCain's Arizona Senate seat. Republican Martha McSally was appointed to fill that seat until the 2020 special election. That seat will be on the ballot for a full six-year term in 2022.
BRIGGS: A lot of money pouring into that state ahead of that race.
This dog, folks, a breed apart. More on the winner of last night's dog show, next.
ROMANS: Plus, the cartoon pig that has many parents scratching their heads.
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[04:23:49] BRIGGS: A top trending topic on Twitter at 4:23 a.m. is second-ranked Duke, college basketball, staging an epic comeback to beat Louisville last night. The Blue Devils erased a 23-point second half deficit to win the game, 71-69. Freshman superstar Zion Williamson led Duke with 27 points to come back the biggest in coach Mike Krzyzewski's career at Duke, and the second largest in school history.
And the reason I have red eyes this morning, Romans.
ROMANS: All right. Residents in Houston still haven't figured out who owns a 350-pound tiger that was found in an abandoned home. Authorities say they received an anonymous call Monday morning. And when they entered the home, they found the tiger and the cage with food bowls inside.
Authorities have no idea how the tiger got there. It was tranquilized and taken to an animal sanctuary for medical treatment and temporary housing. BRIGGS: Every year this time, Madison Square Garden goes to the dogs.
Well, this morning, a wire fox terrier named King is the king of the 143rd Westminster Dog Show.
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[20:25:01] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The wire fox terrier is king again!
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BRIGGS: King becomes the 15th wire fox terrier to be named America's top dog. That is far more than any other breed. That is supremacy right there. Congratulations, king.
ROMANS: Parents of American preschoolers say their kids are taking on British accents thanks to TV's Peppa pig.
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MOMMY PIG: What's wrong, Peppa?
PEPPA PIG: I can't, but everybody else can.
MOMMY PIG: Never mind, I'm making cookies.
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ROMANS: Never mind -- moms and dads sharing on Twitter that their kids are talking like Peppa and her family. Some even taking on Peppa's trademark snort. The mommy who started on started wanted to get the Peppa back.
The British animated kids show is phenomenon in the U.S. And its YouTube channel has 7 million subscribers, even CNN's Paul La Monica admitted on Twitter that he and his sons have adopted the accent and the snort.
Have you moved down to the Peppa Pig?
BRIGGS: Yes, my daughter still calls mommy on occasion but no snort, fortunately.
ROMANS: Yes, yes. It's a kids' show.
BRIGGS: All right. With the deadline (INAUDIBLE) of the government shutdown is not out of the question, an executive action to fund the border wall is not off the table. The latest from the White House is next.
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