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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Admits He's "Not Happy" About Border Deal; NYPD Detective Killed By "Friendly Fire"; McConnell to Call Senate Vote on Green New Deal; Duke Pulls Off a Historic Comeback to Beat Louisville. Aired 5- 5:30a ET
Aired February 13, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Every person looking for a job had to beat out at least six other people to get the job.
[05:00:02] And that was really hard. Today, things are a lot better.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: One the president would like.
EARLY START continues right now with the latest congressional compromise.
(MUSIC)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not happy about it. It's not doing the trick.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Will President Trump sign the border deal, and find another way to pay for his wall?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES O'NEIL, NYPD POLICE COMMISSIONER: That this appears to be an absolute tragic case of friendly fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A New York City police detective shot and killed in a chaotic armed robbery.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: I want to give everybody an opportunity to go on record.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: A Senate vote would force Democrats to take a stand on their ambitious Green New Deal.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It's exactly 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 13th.
Happy birthday, mom. See now, I got the daughter of the year --
BRIGGS: Is that right?
ROMANS: Yes, I got the daughter of the year --
BRIGGS: My daughter's birthday as well. It's a good birthday.
ROMANS: Is it really? All right. So, happy birthday.
All right. Just two days left until a second partial government shutdown, and Republicans are openly pushing for President Trump to openly accept the border deal they negotiated. The president hinted he is leaning that way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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've accomplished.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: 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 of barrier. And now, Republicans are urging him to take even less, $1.375 billion for 55 miles.
But 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.
Here's Jim Acosta from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Jim Acosta, thank you, Jim.
The prospect of another shutdown has lawmakers on both sides urging the president to get on board with the deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The White House considering several executive actions options to find the money to fund the wall. They could take money earmarked for military construction. But that would declare a national emergency declaration. It could take money from the Army Corps civil works funds. That would come at the expense of natural disaster repairs. That also might require a national emergency. And they could take Pentagon counternarcotics funds and Treasury forfeiture funds.
BRIGGS: OK. Fox News host and frequent presidential adviser Sean Hannity again blasting the border compromise deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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. This is the time. That is a necessity. And the president, I think I know him pretty well, telegraphed that very thing just today. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Ann Coulter tweeting this, Trump talks on a good game on the border wall but it's increasingly clear he's afraid to fight for it.
[05:05:00] Call this his yellow new deal.
Here's what "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board thinks of 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 one immigration dead end after another. They seem to think Mr. Trump's duty is to fail repeatedly in the service of the politically impossible. The next time they give good advice will be the first time.
ROMANS: Ouch.
The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee is not too happy with Michael Cohen. Senator Richard Burr insisting any goodwill his panel may have had for the president's former lawyer is now gone after Mr. Cohen postponed his scheduled appearance at a hearing Tuesday morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICHARD BURR (R-NC), 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: 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 severe 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.
Well, that photo you're talking about, 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.
BRIGGS: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is planning to force Democrats to take a stand on sweeping climate change on economic 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCONNELL: It will give everybody an opportunity to go on record and see how they feel about the Green New Deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Smirk, smirk.
Republicans aim to make the Green New Deal a key 2020 campaign issue, painting it as costly, unworkable socialism. The proposal calls for a complete shift away from fossil fuels and throws in a variety of social justice initiatives. Most Democrats in the Senate who are running or thinking of running for president support the initiatives to varying degrees.
Senator Amy Klobuchar who just declared said she will co-sponsor the Green New Deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Some have been more cautious like Ohio's Sherrod Brown who said Tuesday he supports a green new deal but hasn't decided how he would vote on this measure.
ROMANS: A grim financial mile phone for America, as a candidate, President Trump, Donald Trump promised to get rid of the national debt, telling "The Washington Post" in 2016 he could make the U.S. debt-free in eight years. Today, the U.S. national debt is at a record high. New Treasury Department figures show the U.S. national debt above $22 trillion for the first time. The national debt has been rising since the 2008 financial crisis when Congress and Obama administration approved stimulus to prop up a collapsing American economy.
The debt began to level off but then it jumped after his tax cuts took effect and the lower corporate tax rate cut into Treasury revenues. Less money coming in. Without higher taxes, massive spending cuts or an explosion in economic growth, the Congressional Budget Office predicts public debt will rise to 93 percent of the GDP by the year 2029, crowding out spending on other things like education, the military and everything you need to do on your economy.
BRIGGS: Yes.
Breaking overnight, a shooting leaves one New York city police officer dead and another wounded in what police officials say looks like a tragic case of friendly fire. Officers were responding to a robbery call at a cell phone store in queens last night. Within two minutes, they opened fire on a 27-year-old suspect.
Audio from the chaotic scene captured on police radios. You can hear the wounded officer letting dispatch know he's been hit.
We'll get that audio for you next half hour. You heard the wounded officer say, going to Jamaica.
[05:10:01] That's a reference to Jamaica hospital.
Killed in the gunfire, 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES O'NEIL, NYPD POLICE COMMISSIONER: Make no mistake about it, friendly fire aside, it's because of the actions of the suspect that Detective Simonsen is dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The unidentified suspect described as a 27-year career criminal was shot multiple times and is hospitalized. According to police, an imitation firearm is found at the scene.
Hear now the audio from the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Thoughts and prayers with the NYPD and that officer's family.
ROMANS: Remarkable from that officer. And again, just awful.
All right. Eleven minutes past the hour, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz thrilled on CNN about his possible independent bid to topple President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: His answer, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:15:24] BRIGGS: Five-fifteen Eastern Time.
And former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has not yet entered the 2020 presidential race. But Democrats already see him as a potential threat who can help President Trump win re-election. Schultz is exploring an independent run for the White House.
And 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 get a second term.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. Senator Cory Booker, who announced this month he is running for president, says he would look to women first for a potential running mate if he ends up clinching the Democratic nomination.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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 -- you know I'll be looking to women first.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Booker said he believes a woman should already be president and he tried hard to make that happen.
BRIGGS: Senator Amy Klobuchar responded to President Trump's attacks on twitter. Here's what she told CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KLOBUCHAR: It's a case by case, and 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRIGGS: Klobuchar responded to a report that former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid rebuked her for mistreating her staff. She tells Fox News that neither she nor Reid recalled that conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: This programming note. 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.
ROMANS: All right. Nikki Haley is 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Republican megadonor Paul Singer organized last night's dinner honoring her. That fueled speculation the South Carolina governor might be thinking of taking on the president.
BRIGGS: Many conservatives say they would love to see Haley run.
ROMANS: Yes.
BRIGGS: Ahead, the Duke Blue Devil pulling off a comeback for the ages. Coy Wire with the details in the "Bleacher Report", next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:23:12] BRIGGS: It's only February, but the college basketball madness has begun. Duke pulls off a historic comeback to beat Louisville.
Coy Wire has the "Bleacher Report."
My friend, these red eyes I can blame on the Duke Blue devils. Down 20. I got the alert on my phone and the rest is history.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRSPONDENT: And you had to see what was going on, right, Dave? This is Coach Mike Krzyzewski's 39th season at Duke. In all of those years, he's never had a comeback like last night at Louisville.
Things looked bad for the Blue Devils. Nine minutes to go, they were down 23 points. But they showed heart, they showed defense, 12 steals. Freshman Zion Williamson led the way with 27 points. Even with foul trouble down the stretch he was a wrecking ball at both ends of the court.
But his fellow freshman Cam Reddish, he was clutch. He had the game- tying three pointer, and the go-ahead free throws at the end of the game, Duke comes storming back. The biggest second half comeback in Coach K.'s career. A 71-69 win on the road.
So, what did the legendary leader say to light the fire in his team?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZION WILLIAMSN, DUKE FORWARD: He said he don't coach losers. He coaches winners. He said to go out there and play hard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: It looks like disgruntled wide receiver Antonio Brown's time in Pittsburgh might be over. Yesterday, he tweeted this: Thank you Steeler Nation for a big 9 years, time to move on and forward. #new demands.
According to ESPN officially requested he'd be treated, even though he still has three years and $36 million remaining on his contract. Remember, Brown missed the Steeler's season-ending finale after avoiding calls and texts from Coach Mike Tomlin during the week. And some Steelers fans maybe furious. Just over two weeks ago, he posted this photoshopped image of him in a 49ers uniform.
[05:25:04] Finally, I want to tell you about a remarkable 6-year-old from Illinois that just loves sports. Nick Trotter was adopted from Ukraine, born with just one hand and no feet. But that hasn't stopped him from doing what he loves like wrestling. He's not just winning. He's pinning his opponents. He says he just likes to win. Nick's parents have been inspired by his perspective on life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK TROTTER, PINNED OPPONENT IN 2ND WRESTLING MEET: I don't really like losing a lot because you get like hurt a lot when you lose. But when you practice a lot, you like don't get mad. You just get the person down and win.
MINDY TROTTER, NICK'S MOTHER: He always has a positive attitude. And he doesn't let things, you know, hinder him. He just decides, you know what, I'm going to do it different. I'm going to do it better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Not only is Nick a grade west offer, his parents say he's a pretty darn good swimmer. He's pretty darn good at jujitsu, baseball, he has even tried archery. Dave, the factor in determining our success over time is our state of
mind. And that young man right there, with his not do as he gets older. Incredible stuff on that young man.
BRIGGS: Awesome, my friend. Thank you, Coy. We all needed that this morning.
Romans, over to you.
ROMANS: Trotter family gets the award for best inspiring story of the day. Thank you, Trotters.
With the deadline approaching, government shutdown not out of the question. An executive action to fund the border wall is not off the table. We've got the very latest from the White House.
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END
