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Judge Voids Manafort Plea Agreement; U.S.-China Trade Talks Move to Higher Level; Pence Expected to Call Out Iran; Reports: Ravens Trade Joe Flacco to Broncos. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired February 14, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Paul Manafort's plea deal now voided. A federal judge ruling the former Trump campaign chairman intentionally lied to the FBI. The special counsel and a grand jury making multiple false statements about several material matters, including his interactions with a long time Russian associate Konstantin Kilimnik.
More now from CNN's Evan Perez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, a judge here in Washington voided Paul Manafort's plea deal with federal prosecutors. Judge Amy Berman Jackson said that there's enough evidence to show that Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, intentionally lied in three instances during the time that he was supposed to be cooperating with investigators from special counsel Robert Mueller's office.
Manafort's attorneys have disputed that he intentionally made false statements, saying he simply didn't remember certain details. Prosecutors have accused Manafort of five specific lies.
He pleaded guilty last year to financial crimes and had agreed to cooperate with the Mueller investigation. The judge issued an order saying that Manafort lied in three of those topics and the lies were, quote, "material to the investigation".
Now, two of those lies, the judge said, had to do with Manafort's former business associate Konstantin Kilimnik. Prosecutors allege that Kilimnik is an operative with Russian intelligence, and they say that Manafort shared sensitive polling data with Kilimnik during a meeting last year at a cigar bar in New York.
Now, we don't know exactly what else happened at that meeting but prosecutors say that it was important enough that Manafort lied about it and that those who attended even left by separate exits, perhaps to avoid detection.
The judge has yet to decide how long Manafort will spend in prison and whether he gets any time for admitting to his crimes -- Christine and Dave.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Evan Perez, thank you so much for that.
If all goes according to plan, a bipartisan border security bill could be on President Trump's desk by tonight and according to two sources who have spoken to him, he plans to sign it. The 1,159 page spending package has officially been released, the Senate is expected to take it up and pass it today, the legislation goes back to the House with final passage expected tonight.
From there, the measure goes straight to the White House.
Here is Mr. Trump with the Colombian president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, we haven't gotten it yet. We'll be getting it. We'll be looking for land mines because you could have that, you know. It's been known to happen before to people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The president continues to claim his wall is already being built, even though the funding bill headed his way calls for just 55 miles of new steel fencing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're building, as we speak, in the most desperately needed areas. And it's a big wall, it's a strong wall. It's a wall that people aren't going through very easy.
You're going to have to be in extremely good shape to get over this one. They would be able to climb Mount Everest a lot easier, I think.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The conservative House Freedom Caucus is so unhappy with the compromise border bill, its members introduced a short term resolution to keep the government funded for another week. Now, they had hoped to buy some time to negotiate in their view a better agreement.
BRIGGS: Critical talks between the U.S. and China getting under way in Beijing. This is the third round of recent negotiations between the two countries. If a deal is not reached by March 1st, U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports skyrocket from 10 all the way to 25 percent. But if enough progress is made, President Trump may let that deadline slide.
Let's go live to Beijing and bring in CNN's Matt Rivers.
Matt, Marco Rubio writing in the "Washington Post" this is the significant geopolitical challenge of the century. Is there progress on that front? MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, when it comes to
the economy and trade, it does appear to. I mean, if we're talking overall, Dave, I think there's a lot more geopolitical issues that have to be worked out between China and the U.S. overtime, at least according to the senator.
But when it comes to trade, it does appear there has been some progress between both sides. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin leading the U.S. delegation here, telling reporters very briefly so far so good when asked about any progress. We saw a photo shoot between the top Chinese negotiator and the top two American negotiators, everyone was smiling.
So, if you are just looking at the tea leaves here, it does appear that things are going well. The question is, how well? And is there enough progress that's going to be made during these talks here this week in Beijing to satisfy President Trump?
What he said is that if enough progress is made during these talks, that he would be open to moving that deadline where tariffs go up on March 1st. Of course, it accomplishes two things, one, it puts tariffs back, it doesn't make them go any higher on March 1st, but it also gives the president time to meet with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping. Trump has said that he wants to meet with Xi to ink a possible trade deal at some point down the road and no trade deal would be possible until those two men meet.
[05:05:02] Well, we know due to schedules and the Trump/Kim Jong-un that's scheduled for the 27th and 28th of February that it's not possible for the Chinese and American leaders to meet before March 1st. Really you're looking middle of March if those two men will meet. So, by sliding that deadline back, you give negotiators here in Beijing a little bit more room to work, you give time for Xi and Trump to meet, and ostensibly maybe give enough time for some kind of trade deal to be worked out.
That said, all of this is speculation and we have no idea how it's going to go, whether a trade deal is produced or not, we're just not sure.
BRIGGS: Also a big sigh of relief I would assume for the markets here.
Matt Rivers live for us in Beijing, thank you.
ROMANS: Yes, that's exactly right. Those smiles between negotiators, that Matt is talking about in Beijing, brightening the mood in stock markets. Wall Street futures pointing higher, the Dow climbed 182 points to a two month high Wednesday, the S&P and Nasdaq up a little tiny bit. New data shows China has had a surprising jump in exports. Exports of Chinese goods rose 9.1 percent in January.
That's a surprise. That's data from the general administration of customs there. That reverses a 4.4 percent decline in December. Now, many economists thought exports would shrink for the second month in a row. The slowdown in China's economy has concerned businesses and investors around the world. It could get worse if Beijing and Washington fail to reach a trade deal.
Several companies including Apple and Caterpillar have blamed weakness in China's economy for their disappointing earnings recently.
BRIGGS: Mike Pence is about to call out Iran. The vice president in Warsaw where representatives from over 50 nations are taking part of the conference on the Middle East. Pence is expected to call on European allies to join the U.S. and forge a new nuclear deal with the Iranians.
Atika Shubert live from Poland with the latest.
Atika, good morning to you.
How much support does the U.S. have here?
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly has support from allies such as Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but with the European allies, it's a bit trickier. The E.U. of course maintains that the best way to contain Iran's nuclear program, weapons program, is to speak with the JCPOA nuclear deal. France and Germany did not send their foreign ministers to this conference and the head of foreign policy for the E.U., Federica Mogherini, is also not here.
Now, they did send high level delegations but it is something of a snub and it shows there is still a split between Europe and the U.S. on this. And the ultimate goal of this conference is still a big vague. It's not clear if there's going to be some sort of joint statement or joint communique. We do expect to see Vice President Pence making that centerpiece speech focusing on Iran, but there are also a lot of other threads here, Syria, Yemen, as well as the Israeli/Palestinian peace plan. Jared Kushner is here to that effect.
So, it's not clear what's going to come out of this but we should hear from the vice president in just under an hour, Dave.
BRIGGS: OK. We'll catch that in NEW DAY. Atika Shubert, live for us in Warsaw, thank you.
ROMANS: A former Air Force intelligence officer has been charged with spying for Iran. An indictment unsealed yesterday charges 39-year-old Monica Witt with revealing a highly classified intelligence collection program and risking the lives of U.S. assets in Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN DEMERS, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: Monica Witt provided the Iranian government with identities of employees in the U.S. intelligence community who are operation covertly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The Justice Department says Witt also helped Iran used phishing e-mails and fake Facebook accounts trying to penetrate U.S. intelligence computer networks. In 2013, she defected to Iran beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEMERS: We would hope that someday she might travel outside of Iran and we would be able to affect her arrest and render her back to the United States to stand justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The indictment says little about what drove Witt to spy but claims she considered approaching Russia as well.
BRIGGS: Two sources have now confirmed to CNN explicit photos and texts from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez were leaked to the "National Enquirer" by Sanchez's brother, Michael. Michael Sanchez, a Hollywood talent agent, declined to respond to CNN on the record. He has previously denied to the "Washington Post" that he was the leaker.
Last week, Bezos alleged in a media post that the "Enquirer" tried to blackmail him. The post showing e-mails that the tabloid agreed to sit on the lewd photos and texts if Bezos would say he doesn't believe the coverage of him was politically motivated.
ROMANS: All right, folks. If you own a Ford pickup truck, some Ford tough news. The company recalling more than 1 million of their F-150 trucks due to a transmission issues. Now, Ford warned some models from 2001 to 2013 could downshift to first gear without warning. That can cause drivers to suddenly lose control of their vehicles. There have been accidents, at least five accidents stemming from the issue have been reported.
[05:10:04] BRIGGS: All right. Ahead fireworks at a Capitol Hill hearing. A brand-new controversial at times Democrat gets into a testy exchange with a Trump diplomat.
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BRIGGS: A contentious exchange at a house hearing on Venezuela. Minnesota Congressman Ilhan Omar attacking the credibility of the Trump administration's new special envoy to Venezuela, Elliott Abrams. Omar started her grilling by putting to Abrams guilty plea for misleading Congress in the Iran-Contra affair.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ILHAN OMAR (D), MINNESOTA: I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful.
[05:15:05] ELLIOTT ABRAMS, SPECIAL ENVOY TO VENEZUELA: If I can respond to that --
OMAR: It wasn't a question.
ABRAMS: I -- (CROSSTALK)
OMAR: -- that was not -- that was not a question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Omar asked about Abrams 1982 testimony seeming to downplay a massacre in El Salvador by U.S. backed forces. She asked if Abrams would support armed rebels today trying to overthrow Venezuela's Maduro government even if those rebels committed war crimes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABRAMS: I don't think this entire line of questioning is meant to be real questions and so I will not reply.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Omar pressed again asking if U.S. interests include protecting human rights and preventing genocide. Abrams replied, quote, that is always the position of the United States.
ROMANS: President Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom sparring over California's scaled back high speed rail project, Trump saying he wants the project's federal funds back after Newsom announced the revised plan under his state of the state speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: The current project as planned would cost too much and respectfully take too long. There has been too little oversight and not enough transparency. Right now, there simply isn't a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to L.A.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Trump falsely tweeted that the project had been canceled. He claimed the state owed the federal government $3.5 billion. Newsom shot back that the rail is still being built, and added, this is California's money allocated by Congress for this project. We're not giving it back.
BRIGGS: It was one year ago today that a former student unleashed a hail of gunfire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The front page of today's "Sun Sentinel", "We Remember". Fourteen students and three adults died in the massacre, now a year later survivors vow to keep pushing for gun safety.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID HOGG, PARKLAND SHOOTING SURVIVOR, CO-FOUNDER, MARCH FOR OUR LIVES: I plan to make sure that our generation is the last generation to have to -- that has to live with the constant scourge of gun violence, no matter whether it's 17 people that are killed at our high school or one person that's shot on their -- shot and killed on their way to school because we have to end gun violence in every zip code in every single part of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: President Trump also speaking out on the anniversary, ahead of it, at a law enforcement conference in Washington the president listed his administration's efforts in the wake of parkland and advocated for stronger school security.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We cannot imagine the sorrow and suffering the Parkland families have endured. Our entire nation mourns for the victims and their loved ones. And we pledge our unwavering resolve to work with the leaders in this room to secure our nation's schools and everywhere else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: At Stoneman Douglas High School a day of service and love planned. Students will participate in community service projects in the morning. The school will let out at noon. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis petitioning the state Supreme Court to convene a grand jury, he wants an investigation of the Broward County School District's response to the attack and its handling of school safety issues.
ROMANS: Back in Washington, a moment of silence on the house floor led by Congressman Ted Deutch who represents the Parkland area. Deutch also co-sponsoring a gun regulation that would ban high capacity magazines.
The activism and legislative efforts seem to have had an effect at least on the state and local levels. A year-end report from the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence shows 67 new gun laws were enacted in 26 states and D.C.
But for grieving families and friends, change cannot come fast enough. According to the nonprofit gun violence news site, "The Trace", nearly 1,200 American children have been killed by firearms in the year since Parkland. An entire generation of active shooter drill students. When I was a kid, we had drills for -- we had drills for nuclear -- you know, like a nuclear attack, zero people were killed by a nuclear attack. My kids have active shooter drills, 1,200 a year have been killed.
BRIGGS: We'll be right back.
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[05:23:43] BRIGGS: Former Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco reportedly has a new team and some fans are feeling mile high, not this one.
Coy Wire has the report in the "Bleacher Report" this morning.
I'm a Denver fan, I'm a Denver native, I was entirely underwhelmed by this, my friend. COY WIRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, John Elway, your GM since
Payton Manning in 2012 has drafted three quarterbacks. He brought Case Keenum most recently and now according to multiple reports the Ravens are trading Joe Flacco to your Broncos, Dave, whose new head coach has history with his new QB.
Remember, Flacco lit up Vic Fangio's defense when the Ravens beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl six years ago. The Broncos got their 34-year- old quarterback in exchange for a fourth round pick, Heisman trophy winner Lamar Jackson, went 6-2 as a starter in his rookie campaign in Baltimore last season. So, the Ravens were comfortable parting ways with Flacco.
Now, the trade can't be official until March 13th when the NFL begins its new season but then again, the NFL's official Twitter account posted this picture of Flacco in an orange Broncos jersey.
All right. Houston Rockets star James Harden has scored so many 30- plus point games in season that it has almost become white noise at this point, a given even.
[05:25:03] Nonetheless, he put himself in next to a legend after dropping 42 against the Timberwolves last night. Harden has now scored 30-plus points in 31 straight games, tying Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain for the NBA's strongest streak. Harden would need to score 30 plus in every game, though, for the rest of the season and into next season if he wants to match the all time record of 65 straight also held by Chamberlain.
Harden is red hot, but how much has it really helped his team? The Rockets were under .500 before it began. They've since gone 21-10, but the loss last night still leaves them in fifth place in the West, eight games behind the Warriors. Some legends like Michael Jordan think there's something a lot more impressive than scoring streaks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL JORDAN, 6-TIME NBA CHAMPION: Which is harder from a player's standpoint? Six championships, by all means.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Jordan's old teammate Steve Kerr doesn't get angry too often, but he spiked his clipboard arguing a flagrant foul call against Draymond Green last night. He gets tossed and he had to be held back by Kevin Durant and others. After he was asked what happened to that poor clipboard?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE KERR, WARRIORS HEAD COACH: I forgot about that. There might have been a couple other words in there, too. I'm going to have to ask Yoder if the clipboard broke when I threw it down. But I got a little anger out, so that was good. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: The Warriors end up losing by 22 in Portland. Not the way too long into the break or into Valentine's Day when you're supposed to be feeling love, Dave.
BRIGGS: I think they laughed that one off. Checking Steve Kerr's Twitter account, by the way, Coy, he stayed up all night tweeting about this parkland anniversary. Very involved and wants everyone to remember all the people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
Coy Wire, thank you, my friend.
Romans, over to you.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Dave.
No more plea deal for Paul Manafort, a federal judge says Trump's former campaign chair lied to Mueller investigators about his contacts with Russians, the story next.
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