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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

White House Defends President Trump's Emergency Declaration To Build A Border Wall; Police Say Jussie Smollett May Have Orchestrated His Own Attack; Former FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe Details Rosenstein Officer To Wear Wire; Team LeBron Rallies To Win NBA All- Star Game, President Trump To Discuss Humanitarian Crisis in Venezuela. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 18, 2019 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:30:52] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MILLER, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE POLICY ADVISER: You don't know what you don't know and you don't catch what you don't catch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The White House defending the president's emergency declaration to build a border wall. Efforts to block the move will escalate today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, FBI: He said I never get searched when I go into the White House. I could easily wear a recording device and they wouldn't know it was there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: The former number two at the FBI adds new clarity to why Rod Rosenstein considered wearing a wire into the Oval Office.

ROMANS: American aid has arrived at the Venezuelan border. Now begins the struggle to get it to the people who need it.

SANCHEZ: And, did an actor stage an attack that he claimed made him the target of a hate crime? Police sources in Chicago say they believe he did. The latest on that bizarre saga coming up.

Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Boris Sanchez in for Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: Nice to have you here this week --

SANCHEZ: Good to be with you.

ROMANS: -- and this Presidents' Day. I'm Christine Romans. It's 31 minutes past the hour. SANCHEZ: Yes, the White House is going all out in defense of the president's national emergency declaration. It's the opening round of what's sure to be a prolonged battle over funding for the border wall, involving fights in the courts and in Congress.

Today, the progressive group MoveOn is sponsoring hundreds of protests nationwide. They're aimed at stopping what the organization calls Trump's dangerous and illegal power grab.

ROMANS: In California, the attorney general there 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 hawk Stephen Miller insisted the emergency is real. Host Chris Wallace pushed back with government statistics that show otherwise.

This was Miller's countermove.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILLER: The problem with the statement that you're apprehending 80 or 90 percent of drugs at ports of entry, 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 of that same density and screeners of that same density across every single inch and mile of the southern border, you'd have more drugs interdicted in those areas. You don't know what you don't know and 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 that Congress previously denied.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, ANCHOR, FOX NEWS SUNDAY: 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 authority. I think the broader --

WALLACE: I'm just asking, has there been a similar case where Congress asked for money for military construction, Congress said no, and he then -- MILLER: It's -- 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 they should have changed it a long time ago.

WALLACE: But you agree the answer is no? There hasn't been a single case like this.

MILLER: 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 security initiative.

WALLACE: But they have never done this under a national emergency where a president --

MILLER: We declare -- we declare national emergencies to promote democracy in Belarus, to promote democracy in Zimbabwe.

WALLACE: But didn't it involve taking money that Congress refused to appropriate?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: So under the emergency declaration, a major source of money to be siphoned off for building the wall is the Department of Defense. And over the weekend, acting Defense Sec. Patrick Shanahan said he will 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 turn around and defend the declaration from a bipartisan effort to stop it.

ROMANS: All right. "Washington Post" White House correspondent Toluse Olorunnipa is with us, traveling with the president, actually. He joins us live from West Palm Beach. Good morning.

You know, I think that diverting money, guys, just to start here -- that diverting money from other Defense Department projects could end up being a public relations problem. If you're starting to -- if you're talking about military construction on bases -- I mean, these are some things I think that could maybe be, you know, optics. You could have an optics problem.

And if you're talking about like extra money, the president even said, Toluse -- he said -- he said I've got so much money I don't know what to do with it. So then, why do you need the money in the first place?

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yes, the president is basically saying that he has the money for all the other things that are happening on the border, just not the border wall because Democrats do not believe a border wall is the most effective way to secure the border. And they were very stringent in saying they do not want to provide more than that $1.375 billion --

[05:35:09] ROMANS: Right. OLORUNNIPA: -- for the border wall.

So now, the president is looking to take money from the Defense Department and you don't have very many people in the Defense Department saying that they think this is a good idea. Even the acting secretary said I'm going to look around, I'm going to take a look at this -- not giving a full-throated endorsement of the idea of taking billions of dollars from his department, from his --

ROMANS: Uh-oh, did we lose your shot? Oh --

SANCHEZ: Oh.

ROMANS: -- bummer. I was going to ask what's the bigger threat, courts --

SANCHEZ: Yes.

ROMANS: -- or Congress?

SANCHEZ: Plenty of questions to ask. We'll see if we can get him --

ROMANS: Can we get him back? It'll take a minute.

SANCHEZ: -- back in a couple of minutes, perhaps.

ROMANS: Right, working on it.

All right, let's move on and then we'll come back to Toluse --

SANCHEZ: Yes.

ROMANS: -- when we get him back.

SANCHEZ: So there are growing signs that the alleged hate crime attack against "EMPIRE" actor Jussie Smollett may not be what it seemed.

Two law enforcement sources tell CNN that Chicago police believe the actor actually paid two men to orchestrate an assault. Smollett's attorneys have firmly denied that. But two brothers that were arrested last week were released only two days later with police citing new evidence in the case.

Here's CNN's Ryan Young in Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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 attorneys 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Ryan, thank you.

Now, claims that Jussie Smollett may have orchestrated this attack somehow has Democratic presidential hopefuls facing some questions. Many of them were really quick to respond when it appeared the actor was the victim of a hate crime.

Cory Booker said this last week on the Senate floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ), 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Less than two weeks ago, an actor and activist was brutally attacked in Chicago. Two men yelling racial homophobic epithets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: On Sunday, though, Sen. Booker more restrained.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOOKER: Well, the information is still coming out. I going to withhold until all the information actually comes out from on-the- record sources. I'm following this news as you are and we'll see what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: OK, this programming note on the 2020 Democratic race. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar will field questions tonight from New Hampshire voters and from our moderator Don Lemon at a CNN presidential town hall tonight, 10:00 Eastern, only on CNN.

SANCHEZ: Yes, and hopefully, this town hall not quite as snowy as her announcement. I think this is indoors.

It looks like we got our wires sorted out and --

ROMANS: Toluse is back.

SANCHEZ: -- Toluse with us again. I wanted to ask you something, Toluse, about a portion of your most recent piece, reporting that President Trump is telling his campaign staff that they have to convince the public that more of the wall is being built.

Do you get the sense from the president that he believes 2020 is a referendum on his ability to build that wall and fulfill his promise?

OLORUNNIPA: Yes, the president wants to make 2020, basically, a repeat of 2016. An election based on immigration, based on the idea of the wall.

And he realizes that he has not built very much wall at all because, you know, Democrats and Republicans in Congress are not really very supportive of the idea of putting billions of dollars towards a border wall. And for the last two years, they haven't really funded very much and have not allowed the president to build the wall that he claimed that he was going to build during the campaign trail.

So he wants to have this promises made-promises kept reelection tour and he is not able to do that when it comes to the wall.

So he's starting to sort of make a rhetorical shift where he's saying we're already building the wall. The wall is very much under construction. We're already doing a lot. I just gave out a contract in the Oval Office.

A lot of claims that just don't stand up to credibility because that's not the way that funding works in the government. The president doesn't just get to give out contracts to various people to build a wall that has not been appropriated by Congress.

So now, we're seeing the national emergency declaration. We're seeing the president go to great lengths. And he even said it during his Oval Office presentation on Friday that this is, in part, about 2020.

SANCHEZ: Right.

OLORUNNIPA: And he believes that he has built some section of the wall because of the election in 2020.

ROMANS: Yes.

SANCHEZ: So --

ROMANS: He said it was a national emergency, except it wasn't. He says it was politics.

SANCHEZ: Right. He's just doing it to speed it up. That may come back to haunt him later.

[05:40:02] I do want to ask about potential challenges to this declaration. You're probably going to have one coming from Congress even though Stephen Miller practically said the president would veto it.

ROMANS: Yes.

SANCHEZ: And you're likely going to have one play out in the courts.

Which do you think stands the best chance at really challenging the president on this?

OLORUNNIPA: I think we can see sort of a one-two punch of these two things working in tandem. We normally -- we often see the courts rely on the intent of Congress, and if Congress passes that resolution saying they disapprove of this that could be used in the courts against the president. The judges may say this is a direct contradiction to what the lawmakers who have the power of appropriation actually want.

So you may end up seeing the Congress move first because of the course end up taking a long time, and that could be something that causes the president to issue a veto. And then, the courts could pick up from there and that could also be a challenge to the president because if the courts say we're going to look at the intent of Congress, and Congress does not want this money spent, then that could be a challenge for the president's legal team to defend this money being appropriated without Congress' intent.

ROMANS: Let's talk a little bit about the former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe on CBS "60 MINUTES" last night. He's got a book out and he's talking about sort of the chaos surrounding these early days of the Trump administration.

How it was President Trump's own actions and statements, and in the view of the intelligence and law enforcement community, bizarre behavior that had their -- had their senses really heightened and had investigations on the table.

This is what he said about Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein offering to wear a wire -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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 could easily wear a recording device. They wouldn't know it was 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)

ROMANS: Now, another source tells CNN that -- who was in the room for that conversation -- that it was sarcasm. That it was sort of straight-faced sarcasm. But what -- just for a moment, this is what was happening in the early days of the Trump administration. OLORUNNIPA: Yes, this is exactly right. The FBI was considering wearing a wire to record the president surreptitiously, as well as potentially trying to get cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the president.

Just the fact that those things were being discussed shows how much concern there was within the FBI over the president's firing of former director James Comey and some of the things that he said that show some sort of affinity to Russia that the FBI agents decided was enough of a challenge, enough of a concern for them to open up an investigation into the president.

So I think we're going to hear very much more, not only from Mr. McCabe but also from Rod Rosenstein because Congress is going to want to know more about this and potentially, call both men up to the Hill to testify under oath about what actually happened.

Now, you're going to hear from the president's defenders that Andrew McCabe is a liar, that he lied to FBI agents and that his credibility is to be -- is not to be taken seriously.

But I think there are a number of people who read the response from the FBI Deputy Dir. Rosenstein and said that it was sort of legalese and he used language that didn't really deny what McCabe said, but tried to say that what McCabe said was false and inaccurate.

So you're going to hear from a number of lawmakers, including on the Republican side, who want to hear from Rosenstein whether or not he called for wearing a wire against the president and whether or not he seriously discussed the 25th Amendment -- to invoke the 25th Amendment and try to get rid of the president.

So, this is not going to be a story that ends quickly. I think we're going to hear much more from both of these men, potentially under oath.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

Toluse Olorunnipa, thank you so much for joining us this morning --

ROMANS: Nice to see you.

SANCHEZ: -- and getting up early to be with us on EARLY START. We appreciate it.

ROMANS: From "The Washington Post".

All right. Florida inmates caught on video breaking into a car. This is not what you think, though. Who was inside that car, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:48:30] ROMANS: All right.

Global stock markets starting the week mostly higher here as trade talks move to Washington this week. You can see Asian markets closed higher already, and European markets are pretty much mixed here.

No Wall Street trading today. It is closed for Presidents' Day. But Friday, a good day for the Dow, up about 1.7 percent, and the S&P 500 rose 1.1 percent. The Nasdaq closed up as well, a 6-day winning streak there.

For the week, another good week for the Dow, up three percent, it's eighth-straight weekly rally. The longest streak since the fall of 2017.

The Nasdaq is up 12 percent so far this year. Bespoke Investment Group says the S&P 500 had its best 30-day start to the year since 1991. A couple of things here. A suddenly patient Federal Reserve and U.S.-China trade talks.

And some more good news for consumers out there. Mortgage rates fell to a 12-month low. Where do we stand? A 30-year fixed rate mortgage now -- oh, about 4.37 percent is the average compared with 4.38 percent a year ago.

It's the end of an era. Payless is going out of business after more than 60 years selling discount shoes. Payless will close all of its stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico -- more than 2,000 of them.

You know, it's really known for those buy one-get one free sales, remember? It's a strong following for that but not enough to stay afloat.

Liquidation sales began yesterday. Stores will be closing in March. Some will stay open until May. Payless also plans to shut down its online store.

Reuters reports Payless could file for bankruptcy for a second time by the end of the month.

[05:50:00] Uber is suing New York City over that temporary cap on new vehicles licenses to address traffic congestion. In a complaint filed Friday, Uber asked that New York City remove the cap so it can add new vehicles to the road to support demand.

Uber claims the city plans on making the cap permanent. New York passed a one-year freeze on new for-hire vehicle licenses back in August.

The deputy press secretary for the mayor's office said Uber made congestion worse and paid drivers less than a living wage and so they put just a hold for the next year on new vehicle licenses for those ridesharing companies.

SANCHEZ: We knew it was coming. We didn't know exactly when and --

ROMANS: And here it is.

SANCHEZ: -- now it's clear.

Highlights from the All-Star Game. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:55:14] SANCHEZ: Basketball's biggest stars took center stage for the NBA's All-Star Game last night.

ROMANS: Yes. Andy Scholes is in Charlotte and has more in this morning's Bleacher Report. Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, guys. You know, All-Star weekend always the most fun few days of the NBA season.

And this year, the league once again going with the draft format. LeBron James and Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo picking the teams for this year's game. And legends Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade were added to the All-Star Game this year by Commissioner Adam Silver since this is likely their last season.

And, Dirk coming into the first quarter. He didn't look that old. He knocked down back-to-back threes, getting a big ovation from the crowd.

And, you know, as always with the All-Star Game there are plenty of high-flying dunks. Second quarter, Curry -- the bounce to Giannis for the monster slam. Later in the game, Wade going to go off the backcourt to LeBron for the alley-oop. It was just like old times.

And thanks to a big second half from Kevin Durant, Team LeBron making a big comeback in this game. They pulled away in the fourth quarter to win 178-164. And, Durant was named the game's MVP for the second time in his career.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN DURANT, FORWARD, GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS, TWO-TIME WINNER, NBA ALL-STAR GAME MVP: As a veteran now, coming back and winning another MVP is just cool to put into the trophy case. It's hard to rank, you know, and everything's special. But it's cool to be out there with some of the best players that ever played the game, and to win MVP in front of my family and friends is pretty sweet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now, as far as the NBA All-Star weekend, there are always tons of parties and events. And for the second straight year, Bleacher Report holding a free FanFest. There was a kid's clinic, two concerts, fun exhibits.

And there was a dunk contest and I'll tell you what, it was arguably better than the one we saw Saturday night. The somersault dunk that that guy did was just incredible.

And I caught up with Bleacher Report's Howard Mittman and he told me the event -- it's all about delivering a great all-star experience to the fans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HOWARD MITTMAN, CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER AND CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, BLEACHER REPORT: We're so excited to be able to be in a position to bring the excitement of All-Star to our community for Bleacher Report House of Highlights. You know, we'll have 3,000 to 4,000 people on the ground here and bring that experience to them through dunk contests and samples of free products, and a host of other experiences.

But we have 100 million people who are going to follow online and that's a big part of this, just bringing that access -- exclusive access we have to the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And, you know, Saturday's dunk contest with NBA players, guys, wasn't that good. The contest has become pretty stale.

I've got an idea how to fix it. Get fans like I saw yesterday at Bleacher Report's dunk contest. Bring them in and have them compete with the NBA guys because I'll tell you what, some of the dunks we saw from those guys yesterday --

ROMANS: Right.

SCHOLES: -- they were better than what we saw --

SANCHEZ: That somersault dunk was impressive. I'd love to see you dunk, Andy. We'll wait and see what you do at next year's All-Star Game.

SCHOLES: Not happening.

ROMANS: All right, Andy. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Andy Scholes.

In just a couple of hours, President Trump is set to speak at Florida International University about the ongoing turmoil in Venezuela. More than a million people in that country have already made their way to neighboring Colombia -- people in desperate need of medical care and more.

ROMANS: On Saturday, a wave of U.S. aid arrived at the border but embattled President Nicolas Maduro resisted the help.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio visited the border there and said supplies would get in with or without Maduro's approval.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: Well, if aid 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 the medicine for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Overnight, members of a European Parliament delegation say they were refused entry to Venezuela by the Maduro government.

Some Florida work-release inmates putting their skillset to good use after a couple accidentally locked their baby inside the SUV. The couple told police they simply couldn't afford to hire a locksmith.

They were about to break the driver side window. Before they did that, five low-risk offenders and the sheriff's deputy supervising them came to the rescue. The baby was fine.

Afterwards, the sheriff joked people can break into vehicles only when a deputy is around and we give permission.

SANCHEZ: See, it does take a village to raise a child.

ROMANS: I guess it does.

Thanks for joining us, everybody. I'm Christine Romans.

SANCHEZ: And I'm Boris Sanchez. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILLER: He's going to protect his national emergency declaration -- guarantee it.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D), DELAWARE: We should take action to disapprove of this excessive use of executive power.

REP. WILL HURD (R), TEXAS: Our government wasn't designed to operate by national emergency.

REP. JIM JORDAN (R), OHIO: This is a serious situation, this is a crisis. It'll go to court and we'll see what the court says.

MCCABE: If we failed to open an investigation, we wouldn't be doing our jobs.

ROMANS: McCabe says President Trump's own statements prompted the counterintelligence investigations.

END