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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
White House Defends Emergency Declaration; Defense Department to Divert Funding for Wall; Former FBI Deputy Director McCabe Says Trump's Own Words Prompted FBI Probes; McCabe Details Rosenstein's Offer to Wear Wire to Record President Trump; Two Nigerian Brothers Arrested Last Wednesday After Alleged Attack on Empire Actor; Vigils Held for Aurora Shooting Victims; Eleven-Year-Old Charged After Pledge of Allegiance Flap; New Report Shows Amazon Didn't Pay Federal Income Tax for 2017 and 2018; Wintry Mix Ahead for Northeast U.S.; Florida Inmates Help Rescue Baby Locked in SUV; Late Wrecks Cause Chaos at Daytona 500 With Denny Hamlin Winning in Overtime; President Trump Accuses Saturday Night Live of Collusion; ISIS Fighters Escape Syria With $200 Million; President Trump to Discuss Humanitarian Crisis in Venezuela; U.S. Sends Aid to Hundreds of Helpless Venezuelans; Trump Tells Europe to Take Back ISIS Fighters. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired February 18, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:00:00] STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE AIDE: You don't know what you don't know, and you don't catch what you don't catch.
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BORIS SANCHEZ, CO-HOST, EARLY START: The White House defending the president's emergency declaration to build a border wall. Efforts to block the move are going to escalate today.
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ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FBI: He said I never get searched when I go into the White House. I can easily wear a recording device, they wouldn't know it's there.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-HOST, EARLY START: The former number two of the FBI says the president's own words were the reason for investigation launched against him.
SANCHEZ: And American aid has arrived at the Venezuelan border, now the struggle begins to get it to the people who need it most.
ROMANS: And did an actor stage an attack who claimed made him a target of Trump supporters. Police sources in Chicago say they believe he did. Good morning, and welcome to a special President's Day edition of EARLY START, I'm Christine Romans.
SANCHEZ: Always a pleasure to be here with you, Christine, I'm Boris Sanchez, in for Dave Briggs, Monday, February 18th, 5:00 a.m. in the East Coast, and we start with the White House going all out in defense of President Trump's national emergency declaration.
It's the opening round of what is sure to be a prolonged battle over funding for a border wall involving fights in the courts and in Congress. Today, the progressive group Move On is sponsoring hundreds of protests nationwide, they're aimed at stopping what Move On calls quote, "Trump's dangerous and illegal power grab."
ROMANS: Meantime, California's Attorney General working with at least six other states on a lawsuit to stop the declaration they say it will be filed imminently. In a combative Sunday interview on "Fox", White House aide and immigration hock, Stephen Miller insisted the emergency is real.
Host Chris Wallace pushed back, you know, with government statistics that show otherwise, this was Miller's counter move.
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MILLER: The problem with the statement that you're apprehending 80 percent or 90 percent of drugs at ports of entries, that's like saying, you apprehend most contraband at TSA checkpoints at airports. You apprehend the contraband there because that's where you have the people, that's where you have the screeners.
I assure you, if we had people that same density, and screeners with that same density across every single inch of mile at the southern border, you'd have more drugs interdicted in those areas. You don't know what you don't know, you don't catch what you don't catch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Miller also seemed to struggle to name a precedent for diverting billions of dollars in funding, the Congress previously denied.
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CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS: Can you name one case where a president has asked Congress for money, Congress has refused and the president has then invoked national powers to get the money anyway?
MILLER: Well, this current situation --
WALLACE: Just yes or no, sir.
MILLER: The current situation pertains specifically to the military construction authorities --
WALLACE: I'm just asking, has there been a separate proper case --
(CROSSTALK)
Where Congress asked for money for military construction, Congress said no, and he then -- MILLER: Listen, the meaning of the statute, Chris, is clear on its
own terms. If you don't like the statute, or members of Congress don't like the statute --
WALLACE: Would you agree the answer is no, there hasn't been a single space like that --
MILLER: The should have changed -- they should have changed it a long time ago. But the premise to your question is also false because Congress has appropriated money for construction of border barriers consistently. This is part of a national --
WALLACE: But has never done this under a national emergency where president --
MILLER: We declared -- but we declared national emergencies to promote democracy in Belarus, to promote democracy in Zimbabwe --
WALLACE: But didn't --
(CROSSTALK)
Money that Congress refused to appropriate --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Out of the emergency declaration, a major source of money to be siphoned for building the wall is the Department of Defense. Over the weekend, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said, he's going to start looking for military projects that could be delayed or canceled to free up those funds.
Now all eyes are on the president's Republican allies in Congress, many spoke out against the emergency declaration before the president signed it, and now they have to flip-flop and turn around and defend the declaration from a bipartisan effort to stop it.
House Democrats have said they're already working on a resolution of disapproval.
ROMANS: Right, former acting FBI Chief Andrew McCabe says Trump's own words led the FBI to launch counter-intelligence and obstruction probes into the president. The bureau's former acting director telling "60 Minutes", FBI officials took note of the derogatory way the president had been speaking about the Russia probe.
He said they viewed that as an attempt to quote, "publicly undermine the investigation."
SANCHEZ: Yes, McCabe said officials weighed a series of dubious events, many have been publicly reported before, including the president asking James Comey to drop the FBI investigation into national security adviser Michael Flynn.
The president publicly linking the Comey firing to the Russia probe, and then the president meeting in the Oval Office with the two Sergeys, Sergey Kislyak and Lavrov, the two Russian officials telling them that firing James Comey relieved great pressure.
ROMANS: McCabe told "Cbs" Rosenstein was absolutely onboard with launching investigations into the president. McCabe also added details to the claims Rosenstein offered to wear a wire into the White House.
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MCCABE: We talked about why the president had insisted on firing the director and whether or not he was thinking about the Russia investigation, and did that impact his decision and in the context of that conversation, the deputy Attorney General offered to wear a wire into the White House.
He said I never get searched when I go into the White House, I can easily wear a recording device, they wouldn't know it's there. Now, he was not joking, he was absolutely serious, and in fact, he brought it up in the next meeting we had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:05:00] ROMANS: As CNN has already reported, Rosenstein denies pursuing any recording, and a source in the room for the conversation says Rosenstein was being sarcastic. Also Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsay Graham says his panel will investigate McCabe's claim that Rosenstein raised the possibility of ousting President Trump through the 25th Amendment.
Graham calls the statement quote, "beyond stunning".
SANCHEZ: There are growing signs that the alleged hate crime attack against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett may not have been what it seemed. Two law enforcement sources tell CNN, Chicago police believe the actor paid two men to orchestrate an assault.
Smollett's attorneys firmly deny that claim, but two brothers that were arrested last week were released two days later with police citing new evidence in the case. Here's CNN's Ryan Young in Chicago.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: According to a source familiar with the investigation, we now know detectives have obtained and are examining the cell phones of the two brothers they suspect that Smollett paid to orchestrate the attack.
The source also tells us that the two men are now cooperating fully with law enforcement. In a statement to CNN Saturday, Smollett's attorney wrote in part, "as a victim of a hate crime who has cooperated with the police investigation, Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by the recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with.
He has now been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that say Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth, and anyone claiming otherwise is lying." As a group of detectives continue to work the case, Chicago police did confirm to us that information received from the brothers has in fact shifted the trajectory of the investigation.
Adding that they have reached out to the actor's attorney to request a follow-up interview. They would not comment if they still consider the actor a victim at this point. Boris and Christine.
ROMANS: This change in direction of the investigation, those claims from Jussie Smollett may have had something to do with the attack as Democratic presidential hopeful is facing some questions. Many of them were quick to respond when it appeared the actor was a victim of a hate crime.
Cory Booker said this last week on the Senate floor.
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SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), NEW JERSEY: Less than two weeks ago, an actor and activist was brutally attacked in Chicago. Two men yelling racial and homophobic epithets.
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ROMANS: On Sunday though, Booker a little more retrained on what he thinks about this case.
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BOOKER: I believe information is still coming out, I'm going to withhold until all the information actually comes out from on the record sources. I'm following this on the news as you are and we'll see what happens.
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ROMANS: From the on-the-record sources, I think that's a way to claim, because like the Chicago police, there's no way to examine the record on this way on this change of direction --
SANCHEZ: That's right --
ROMANS: This programming note on the 2020 Democratic race, Amy Klobuchar will field questions tonight from New Hampshire voters, and moderator Don Lemon at a CNN presidential town hall. That's tonight at 10:00 Eastern only on CNN.
SANCHEZ: Hundreds of people attended vigils this weekend in Aurora, Illinois for the victims of a workplace shooting on Friday. Five people were killed, including an intern who was showing up for work on his first day. Five police officers were injured, a group of Aurora residents and supporters from nearby towns held a prayer service on Sunday outside the manufacturing company where the shooting took place.
They then carried crosses for the victims to the Aurora Police Department. Police say the gunman Gary Martin brought a pistol to his termination meeting on Friday, he knew he was going to be fired, he worked at the company for 15 years. And after learning that he would be fired, he opened fire on co-workers. He was killed by police shortly after.
ROMANS: It's just a tragedy. All right, an 11-year-old child in Florida calls the pledge of allegiance racist, a fight with teachers escalates, and now the child is facing misdemeanor charges.
[05:10:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Right, Amazon making record profits, but did not pay any federal income tax the past two years. Record profits, but no taxes, what? Instead, Amazon received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal tax credits in 2017 and 2018.
How is that possible? Well, even though Amazon is the third most valuable company in the world, even though Amazon earned a record $10 billion last year, it has piled up billions of dollars in losses over its two decade-history. The tax code allows money-losing companies to reduce their future taxable income.
Amazon posted $3 billion worth of losses during its first eight years as a public company, it has swung between profit and loss since 2003. Its most recent annual loss was $241 million in 2014. And while Amazon's total earnings have exceeded its losses, some of its earnings came from sales outside the U.S. on which it paid either lower or no U.S. taxes.
Last year, Amazon benefitted from an accelerated tax credit for equipment purchases that was part of their corporate tax bill, the reform passed at the end of 2017. Amazon wouldn't comment to us on its federal tax payments.
SANCHEZ: A Florida sixth grader is facing misdemeanor charges, and it all started after the 11-year-old refused to recite the pledge of allegiance. The child attends Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in Lakeland, he told his teacher he didn't want to stand for the pledge because he thinks the flag and the national anthem are racist against black people.
School officials say that the situation escalated from there with the student yelling at a dean and a resource officer who showed up to the classroom.
ROMANS: According to an affidavit, the student accused them of being racist and refused to leave the room. Here's the child's mother.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DHAKIRA TALBOT, STUDENT'S MOTHER: I want the charges dropped, and I want the school to be held accountable and the officer for what happened because it shouldn't have been handled the way that it was handled.
My son has never been through anything like this, and I feel like they should have handled this differently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: An arrest of an 11-year-old.
SANCHEZ: Yes --
ROMANS: Lakeland police say the student was not arrested for refusing to recite the pledge, the arrest was because the 11-year-old choice was to disrupt the classroom. Think about that for a little bit, maybe some -- maybe this could have been diverted a lot -- a 100 different ways before it ended up --
SANCHEZ: Yes --
[05:15:00] ROMANS: With an arrest. All right, a wet cold President's Day for much of the Northeast -- Meteorologist Ivan Cabrera has the latest.
IVAN CABRERA, METEOROLOGIST: Hey guys, good morning on this holiday, hopefully slower travel here or at least less volume on the roadways because if you're going to be hitting the roads, not looking good here for Connecticut, Rhode Island heading into Massachusetts.
That's where the bulk of the Winter weather associated with the storm is located. It's raining throughout the south, and heavily adapt, but this is the area we're going to watch.
I think early enough across portions of northern New Jersey and into southeastern New York, we're going to be seeing the potential for some icing on the roadways here, untreated anyway as a result of the temperature, below 32 at the surface and more raining up above.
But north of that, cold enough for snow also in Massachusetts and it will accumulate -- in fact, south shore will be looking at the potential for four to seven inches accumulation from the event today, because it's not the only one, we have another storm system, and that's what I'm showing you here.
This is a five-day total, as far as how much moisture is on the way, and this is going to lift from Texas all the way into the Mid- Atlantic. And so, in the next few days, we're talking about a potential for flooding here across here in the southeast. Tract are low, we'll see what happens when they're here, we'll see by Tuesday and until Wednesday when the snow is beginning to move in eventually, heading into the East Coast by Wednesday and Thursday, guys.
ROMANS: OK, well, we'll be ready for that. Thank you so much for that, Ivan. All right, some Florida work release inmates putting their skill sets to good use after a couple accidentally locked their baby inside their SUV.
Now, the couple told the police, they couldn't afford to hire a locksmith, they were about to break the driver's side window, before they did that, five low-risk offenders in the sheriff's deputy supervising them came to the rescue.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, thank God, thank you so much. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, guys, boys --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I truly appreciate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: It doesn't even look like they scratched the paint job, well done, the baby was fine, afterwards, the sheriff joked that people can break into vehicles only when a deputy is around, and we give permission.
SANCHEZ: Yikes, chaos rules at the Daytona 500, NASCAR's season opening and its biggest event, the race was marred by a series of late wrecks, including this big one that took out 21 cars causing a 25- minute delay to clean up the track. The crash packed final stage, forced the race into overtime, eventually the winner was Denny Hamlin, won a second Daytona victory in just four years.
Sunday chaos actually resulted in the fewest number of cars finishing the Daytona 500 since 1985.
ROMANS: Wow, all right, President Trump admits he has discovered collusion, the guilty party is the cast of "SNL". It all started Saturday night when the show opened with Alec Baldwin as the president predicting as his national emergency declaration will turn out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR: I'm basically taking military money, so I can ask more. So I'm going to sign these papers for emergency, and then I'll immediately be sued, and the ruling will not go in my favor, and that I'd end up in the Supreme Court, and then I'll call my buddy, Kavanaugh, and I'll say it's time to repay the Donnie, and will say new phone, who this?
(LAUGHTER)
But then the new report will be released from my new my "House of Cards", and I can just plead insanity and do a few months in the puzzle factory --
(LAUGHTER)
And my personal hell of playing president will finally be over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right, so maybe that got under the president's skin a little bit. The next morning, the president tweeted, "nothing funny about tired "Saturday Night Live". How do the networks get away with these totally Republican hit jobs without retribution. Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real collusion."
Baldwin, this is what he says, "Trump wines, the parade moves on", hashtag resign already.
SANCHEZ: If you really wanted to hurt "SNL", you think he wouldn't tweet about them bringing them more publicity.
ROMANS: It's true, it's --
SANCHEZ: Kind of intuitive.
ROMANS: It's a feedback loop --
SANCHEZ: Right --
ROMANS: Of sorts.
SANCHEZ: On a more serious news now, more than a 1,000 ISIS fighters with $200 million in cash, even if the group is defeated in Syria, significant resources have now poured into western Iraq. Details ahead.
[05:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: In just a few hours, President Trump will speak at Florida International University about the ongoing turmoil in Venezuela. The U.S. has made it clear that it recognizes Juan Guaido as interim president, as pressure intensifies on embattled leader Nicolas Maduro.
More than a million people in Venezuela have already made their way to Colombia. And this border town is feeling the strain. People are in desperate need of medical care and more.
ROMANS: On Saturday, a wave of U.S. aid arrived at the border, but Maduro resisted the international help. Republican Senator Marco Rubio visited the Venezuela-Colombia border, Sunday, he said the supplies would get in with or without Maduro's approval.
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SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: Well, look, the aide is going to get through. And I think ultimately the question is whether it gets through in a way that he's cooperative with or in a way that he's not. But there's no way you're going to stand ultimately in the way of a people whose children are starving to death, whose families are dying in hospitals because of preventable diseases and they don't have a medicine for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: CNN's Nick Valencia has the latest from Miami.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris and Christine, U.S. officials say that this humanitarian aid is coming at the most critical time. A time when children in Venezuela are starving. Children who don't have to, hospitals are struggling to stay open.
And according to the administrator for USA ID, Mark Green, this is now a regional crisis, and it's become one of the largest displacements of people in the history of Latin America. However, there's some concern now that the U.S. is involved in this crisis that it could provoke an already unpredictable Venezuelan President in Nicolas Maduro to do something very drastic.
[05:25:00] It's something that I posed to the State Department's Julie Chung who helped lead this mission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIE CHUNG, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY, STATE DEPARTMENT, UNITED STATES: If anyone is politicizing the crisis, it's Maduro. What we're doing is addressing the basic needs, the basic humanity needs that all the crisis is creating in Venezuela.
So the whole world is watching, but not only watching, the whole world is going to act. And it's up to Maduro and his regimes and his illegitimate regime to really let the aid in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: When and how this aid gets delivered will ultimately be left up to the Venezuelan military. Now, I spoke to a representative from interim President Juan Guaido's government, who said that they believe that Venezuelan military will do the right thing, the moral thing and allow this aid in.
They say those military families are affected by this crisis as well. Boris, Christine?
ROMANS: All right, Nick, thank you for that. President Trump is calling on European nations to take in hundreds of ISIS fighters who have been captured in Syria and put them on trial. He's warning more than 800 prisoners could make their way to Europe as ISIS is ready to fall.
And if they're not tried in Europe, the president claims the alternative would be to release them. All this coming at a time when Syrian Democratic forces struggling to retake the last ISIS enclave in Syria, even when the caliphate is destroyed, the ISIS threat continues.
And military officials tell CNN more than 1,000 ISIS fighters have likely fled into the remote mountains and deserts of western Iraq and may have up to $200 million in cash with them to finance future operations.
All right, a push-over between President Trump's national emergency begins in earnest today, how Congress and the courts could stop the border wall.
SANCHEZ: Plus, riveting details from a former FBI deputy director. Now the president's own words prompted investigations against him.
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