Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Border Battle: 16 States Sue to Block National Emergency; Pragmatic Klobuchar Makes Pitch for Democratic Nomination; Infant Screen Time Doubles; West Virginia Teachers to Strike Again; Trump Vows "New Day" for Venezuela. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired February 19, 2019 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:30:19] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Sixteen states sues to stop the president's national emergency declaration. From coast to coast, Presidents Day protests against Trump's border move.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The actual legislation you do we know there's going to be compromises. I am not for free four-year college for all, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Amy Klobuchar is willing to say no. It may anger progressives but can it win over centrist Democrats?
SANCHEZ: And screen time for infants has more than doubled, but what device they're watching may surprise you.
ROMANS: And just a year after walking off the job, West Virginia teachers will hit the picket lines again. Why the union said it had no other choice.
Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm Christine Romans. Nice to see you today.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Boris Sanchez. A pleasure to be with you, Christine, as always. We're about 30 minutes past the hour.
And we begin with the escalating challenges to President Trump's national emergency declaration. Protesters took to the streets coast to coast Monday rallying against the plan to use billions from federal programs mostly from the Department of Defense to build his border wall. And last night, 16 states filed a lawsuit seeking to block the immigration legislation.
ROMANS: Led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. The states argue the president is using the pretext of a manufactured crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) XAVIER BECERRA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, it's pretty clear that the president is trying to usurp Congress' authority. The president does not have the power of the purse. The president can't decide to shuffle money around once Congress has allocated it. That's only for Congress to do.
Otherwise, presidents for the last 240 years would have been doing the same thing, when they don't like where Congress puts the money. Simply because Donald Trump fabricated a crisis and called it a national emergency doesn't mean that he can violate the separation of powers of the Constitution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The suit specifically addresses this remark by the president on Friday where he all but admitted the situation at the border is not exactly an emergency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: On the wall, they skimped, so I did -- I was successful in that sense, but I wanted to do it faster. I could do the wall over a longer period of time. I didn't need to do this, but I'd rather do it much faster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. This is the latest in a wave of expected litigation. Though fighting it in court will likely be difficult and time consuming, the president has broad discretion over what constitutes a national emergency.
BRIGGS: Challenges are also expected from Capitol Hill on resolution of disapproval to block the emergency declaration is expected in the House and could even pass the Senate. If the resolution passes, the president is expected to veto it, though. There's also no word from the Pentagon on what military funding resources will be diverted to ultimately build the wall.
ROMANS: Amy Klobuchar is making her pitch as a pragmatist in the 2020 Democratic field. The Minnesota senator appeared in a live CNN town hall in New Hampshire last night on topics for Medicare-for-All, to a Green New Deal, to free college. Klobuchar separated herself from her party's progressives offering no sugarcoated promises. Instead, she struck a practical tone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: What's your reservation about supporting Medicare-for-All?
KLOBUCHAR: Well, I think it's something that we can look to for the future, but I want to get action now. And I think the best way we do is something we actually wanted to do back when we were looking at the Affordable Care Act and we were stopped was trying to get a public option in there. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you were asked about the Green New Deal, you
were quoted as saying it's an aspiration.
KLOBUCHAR: The actual legislation you do, we know there's going to be compromises. It's not going to be exactly like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you be to say to my generation and end the student debt crisis by supporting free college for all?
KLOBUCHAR: My idea is to make it easier to refinance, to start with your two-year degrees, the community colleges being free. I am not for free four-year college for all, no. If I was a magic genie and could give that to everyone and we could afford it, I would.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Senator Klobuchar was also asked to respond to allegations that she mistreats her staff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KLOBUCHAR: Am I tough a boss sometimes? Yes. Have I pushed people too hard? Yes. But I have kept expectations for myself that are very high. I've asked my staff to meet those same expectations. And that the big point for me is I want the country to meet high expectations. We don't have going now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: I don't know if I've ever heard a male candidate ever asked how he treats his staff. That's a first and something to noodle over.
All right. Another Democratic contender set to release a sweeping plan today. Elizabeth Warren says her bill guarantees child care from birth to the time a child enters school.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:35:01] SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The costs of child care are just crushing families. Families are just buckling under the weight of it. It holds people back. They decide that they can't work because they're worried about the cost of child care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: How would you pay for it? Well, from the wealth tax she rolled out last month, targeting Americans whose net worth exceeds $50 million.
SANCHEZ: The child care proposal calls for a network of public and family run centers. Care would be free for families of incomes below 200 percent of the poverty level. That's about $51,000 for a family of four. Those earning more would pay a subsidized fee that's based on income. And all signs point to a big announcement today from that guy Bernie
Sanders. CBS says it has a revealing interview with the Vermont senator later this morning.
ROMANS: All right. CNN has learned that the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is set to leave the Department of Justice in mid-March. Now, we previously reported that Rosenstein planned to step down after the Senate confirmed Bill Barr as attorney general. A justice official who confirmed the more precise timing disputed the idea that it had anything to do with the latest revelations from Andrew McCabe.
SANCHEZ: Yes, he former acting FBI director, of course, claimed that Rosenstein suggested wearing a wire to secretly record President Trump and he talked about laying out a strategy for ousting the president using the 25th Amendment.
You can imagine the president had some strong feelings about that. He tweeted about McCabe and Rosenstein saying they were planning a very illegal act in a, quote, illegal and treasonous insurance policy.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham says that his panel will investigate some of those comments made by McCabe related to the 25th Amendment.
ROMANS: Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats could be the next top administration official to leave. Long time Trump ally Chris Ruddy, the CEO of the conservative news site Newsmax, says he spoke to the president personally last weekend at Mar-a-Lago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS RUDDY, NEWSMAX MEDIA CEO: I think you have a classic example here where Director Coats is trying to make policy and not inform policy. I'm hearing from sources around the White House there's just general disappointment of the president with Director Coats. There's a feeling that maybe there needs to be a change of leadership in that position.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: At a hearing last month, Director Coats contradicted President Trump on U.S. intelligence involving North Korea, ISIS and more.
SANCHEZ: A White House source tells CNN the president views former Michigan candidate John James as a leading contender for the job of ambassador to the United States. The GOP Iraq war vet lost to Senator Debbie Stabenow in November. The source says Trump sees James as a rising star and asked trusted advisers what they thought about James at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend. States Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert withdrew from consideration for the U.N. job over a tax issue over a nanny whose visa did not allow her to work in the United States.
ROMANS: All right. To money, more tariffs could be coming this time on imported cars and auto parts. Back in May last year, President Trump requested a section 232 investigation into whether imported cars are a national security threat to the U.S. The president received the findings on that section 232 Sunday night, and now, he has 90 days to decide whether to act upon the recommendations.
Although we don't know what the recommendations are, still shrouded in secrecy. But the Commerce Department has sent its report to the White House. This is something that is drawing the ire of many of our closest allies and the auto industry, frankly. During the Munich security conference this weekend, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel called out the Trump administration over its claim that German cars somehow pose a security threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): We're proud of our cars. They are built in the United States of America. So when these cars because they're built in South Carolina are not becoming less threatening rather than the ones that are built in Bavaria supposed to be a threat to the national security of America is a bit of a shock to us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: You can see the wild applause in the audience in support of Angela Merkel and you can see the sort of stone-faced reaction of the president's advisor and daughter Ivanka Trump.
Now, the auto industry warns that the national security imposed tariffs on cars would cost consumers. The National Automobile Dealers Association estimates tariffs would add more than 2 grand to the cost of U.S. built cars and would add $6,000 to the cost of imported cars and trucks. And reports from the Center for Automotive Research showed a 25 percent tariff would cost more than 366,000 jobs in the U.S. in auto and related industries.
SANCHEZ: New overnight, crews rushing to rescue 16 people trapped on a gondola ride at SeaWorld in San Diego. Harnesses and lifeguard boats are brought in to pull their passengers to safety. Emergency officials say an infant was among those on board, along with a partially paralyzed passenger.
Officials say the attraction "Bayside Skyride" stopped running over Mission Bay after a gust of wind tripped a circuit breaker.
ROMANS: OK, yes, I would not want to be there at all.
Forty minutes past the hour.
Not racist, not homophobic, two brothers speak out.
[04:40:01] They are cleared now in that alleged Jussie Smollett attack. When will the actor speak to police again?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Chicago police say two brothers who were arrested in connection with that alleged attack on "Empire" star Jussie Smollett, they are no longer suspects. Abel and Ola Osundairo were arrested on Friday after new evidence emerged.
In a joint statement to WBBM the brothers said, quote: We are not racists, we are not homophobic, and we are not anti-Trump. We were born and raised in Chicago and are American citizens.
SANCHEZ: Now, Jussie Smollett claimed he was attacked last month by two men yelling racial and homophobic slurs. He said this to ABC News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSSIE SMOLLETT, ACTOR: Who the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) could make something like this up or add something to it or whatever it may be? I can't -- I can't even -- I'm an advocate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:45:00] SANCHEZ: Despite that impassioned statement, sources say that police believe the actor paid the brothers to orchestrate an assault. Smollett denies playing any role. Police do want to re- question him.
ROMANS: Screen time for children under 2 years old is soaring according to a new study. Between 1997 and 2014, daily screen time for children under the age of 2 more than doubled for an hour 19 minutes to three hours and three minutes. Surprisingly, most of it was spent in front of a TV despite more devices being available. Now, screen time for kids 3 to 5 did not change significantly.
SANCHEZ: The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended no screen time for children under 18 months and limiting kids between 2 and 5 years old to one hour a day of high quality programming. I think EARLY START counts.
ROMANS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Excessive screen time has been associated with cognitive, language and social and emotional delays likely because screen time actually decrease the time that kids spent interacting with their parents and others.
Some doctors say not all screens are created equal and electronic readers and learning devices should not be in the same category as other screens.
ROMANS: Public schools across West Virginia are closed today. Teachers and school workers will walk off the job just one year after their last strike. Union officials say they had no other choice. The strike prompted by an education bill that diverts money from public schools and invests in private school vouchers in the state's first charter schools.
Last year's stoppage lasted nine school days and resulted in almost daily rallies at the state capitol in Charleston. It also sparked teacher strike work outs nationwide. Oakland teachers are set to strike Thursday.
SANCHEZ: The FAA has launched an investigation into the way Southwest Airlines tracks their weight of checked bags. "The Wall Street Journal" reports that airline employees made significant and systemic mistakes that caused pilots to compute the wrong take off for planes. Errors meant that planes were sometimes 1,000 pounds heavier than they were expected to be.
The FAA says that excess weight can affect the plane's speed, maneuverability and balanced and caused higher stress on landing gear. None of the things you want to hear when you're taking off. Southwest says it has an ongoing effort to track data and eliminate any operational risks.
ROMANS: Iowa's governor will not repeal a ruling that struck down the state's fetal heartbeat law. It would have banned most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. That's as early as six weeks, often before women even know they're pregnant at that point. Last month, a state judge declared the ban unconstitutional before it ever took effect.
Governor Kim Reynolds said last night she won't fight the ruling. She said at last year's Iowa's Supreme Court decision, that there's a fundamental right to an abortion under the state constitution.
SANCHEZ: Caught on some action packed video, police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, rescued two young children from a suspected carjacker. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POLICE OFFICER: Hey, put your hands out.
POLICE OFFICER: Hands up.
POLICE OFFICER: Hands up. Hands up. Hands up. Get out of the car.
(EXPLETIVES DELETED)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: This police video from last month shows officers pulling a suspect, Jarrod Gilliam, from a stolen car. Authorities say he took the car with two kids inside while their mother was in the store. Fortunately, the kids were not hurt and they were returned to their mother. Though it's still not clear why she left them in the car alone.
ROMANS: A Houston officer called face charges after the police chief says he lied in a search warrant before a drug raid that left two people dead and five officers injured. Officer Gerald Goines obtained search warrants using an unnamed confidential informant to confirm drugs were being sold. Those informants later told authorities they did work for the officer but not for the warrant at the address where that raid took place. A lawyer for Office Goines said he said his side is not being heard since he was injured in the raid, and his jaw is wired shut.
SANCHEZ: A grand jury has been convened in Cook County, Illinois, to look at the new allegations against singer R. Kelly. That's according to two sources close to the case. CNN has viewed a videotape that's been turned over to the state's attorneys office and appears to show Kelly engaging in sex acts with an underage girl who refers to her own body parts as 14 years old.
Prosecutors will not confirm the grand jury proceedings. An attorney for R. Kelly tells CNN that if there is a grand jury, he hasn't been notified.
ROMANS: All right. A Texas teacher getting very creative with a student who was being teased. Shannon Grimm took action when she noticed 5-year-old Priscilla Perez began wearing a hat to class to cover her short hair.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRISCILLA PEREZ, 5-YEAR OLD STUDENT, MEADOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WILLIS, TEXAS: It was short -- like here, and then my mom cut it.
SHANNON GRIMM, KINDERGARTEN TEACHER, MEADOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WILLIS, TEXAS: About that time that friends started to call her boy -- call her a boy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: So, Mrs. Grimm decided to chop off her own waist length hair in favor of that pixy cut just like Priscilla's.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRIMM: I am going to do other things for my friends in my classroom other than just teach them. I'm going to show them the love and the support that they need in order to learn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Mrs. Grimm even bought those fashionable matching hair bows for her and Priscilla to wear.
At a school board meeting last week, take a look at this, the little girl presented the teacher with a medal for being her hero during a difficult time.
[04:50:07] ROMANS: Oh, man, teachers have the hardest job in the world. Love that.
All right. A very close call for hockey commentator Pierre McGuire. He was in his usual spot between the benches at last night's game between Columbus and Tampa Bay preparing for his inside the glass segment when a puck whizzed by, missed his face by just inches. No damage done to McGuire being an ex-hockey player. The camera -- not so fortunate.
SANCHEZ: Yikes.
ROMANS: The sailor in this iconic V-J Day photo has died. George Mendonsa was the exuberant young sailor kissing a woman in New York's Times Square on August 14, 1945. The famous photo dubbed "The Kiss" came to symbolize the end of World War II.
His daughter says the picture makes her think of how happy her father was that the war was over. George Mendonsa was 95 when he passed away Sunday in Rhode Island. Part of him, of course, will live on forever, captured at the age of 22 in Times Square.
An iconic moment. You can feel the levity in the air of that moment World War II ended.
ROMANS: All right. Marvel TV's super hero universe on Netflix officially over. Is Disney Plus the new home? CNN business is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:55:42] SANCHEZ: President Trump putting even more pressure on Venezuelan Leader Nicolas Maduro.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The twilight hour of socialism has arrived in our hemisphere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: At a speech in Miami, Mr. Trump expressed strong support for Venezuela's self-proclaimed president, Juan Guaido, and he urged that country's military leaders to do the same. President Trump's remarks drawing sharp criticism from Maduro who's blocking humanitarian aid from reaching his own citizens.
More new from Isa Soares reporting from Caracas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Boris, President Trump added yet more pressure on Nicolas Maduro and his men in a bid, really, to try and asphyxiate the regime and embolden that of Juan Guaido, the self-declared interim leader of Venezuela.
Speaking in Florida, President Trump, in many ways, was giving a message to the Armed Forces that are still blocking the aid -- still standing aside of Nicolas Maduro and blocking the aid from coming into Venezuela. He told the Armed Forces -- he's telling the Armed Forces that if you stand next to Nicolas Maduro you will lose everything.
Take a listen.
TRUMP: You cannot hide from the choice that now confronts you. You can choose to accept President Guaido's generous offer of amnesty or you can choose the second path, continuing to support Maduro. If you choose this path you will find no safe harbor, no easy exit, and no way out.
SOARES: Well, Venezuelans on both sides of the border who have no doubt been hanging onto every word of President Trump's speech, especially when he said yet again that nothing is off the table. He also said they'll be no going back and to many people that will mean that the United States is in for the haul -- long haul -- standing next to Venezuela.
We have also heard from Nicolas Maduro in a very fiery speech today in which he said that he's not intimidated by the comments made by President Trump. And he said they are ready for whatever comes at us with the force of the Venezuelan Armed Forces -- Christine and Boris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Isa there. Thank you for that.
Let's get a check on business news this morning. Global markets, you could see the mix here this morning. European markets down slightly here. Trade talks this week center stage.
Wall Street reopens today. It was closed yesterday for the president's day holiday. So, take a look at Wall Street futures. They're up just a little bit. I would call that undecisive actually.
All eyes will be of course on Wal-Mart's earning report this morning. It's a barometer of consumer spending because it's just so big.
And we'll be looking to see if there are any cracks in the paycheck to paycheck consumer. Remember we saw December retail sales down 1.2 percent. That was the biggest drop since 2009.
Will we see that decline elsewhere in thee retail earnings? That declined surprised investors and raised concerns about an otherwise strong U.S. economy and again consumers who are pulling back.
The clock ticking between the March deadline between the U.S. and China. The two sides are still talking. White House said deputy level trade talks will begin today. High level talks will start Thursday in Washington.
China's state run news agency confirmed the Vice Premier Liu He will travel to D.C. to meet with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. The White House said the two sides will discuss China's pledge to purchase substantial amount of goods and services from the United States.
Netflix has canceled the only two Marvel television shows it has left, affectively ending its relationship with the Disney company.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some people call me a hero.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: Netflix said the upcoming third season of "Jessica Jones" will be the show's last. Netflix also announced "The Punisher" will not return for the third season. So, could the super hero show end up on Disney Plus?
Disney has not officially said which series will be added to its streaming services. But the chairman of Disney's direct consumer division called them high quality shows that could possibly be revived on Disney Plus. We'll be seeing a lot of changes with some media and concept companies trying to have their own streaming services and their own in-house content to rival Netflix.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
Speaking of high quality shows, EARLY START continues right now.
(MUSIC)
SANCHEZ: Sixteen states sue to stop the president's national emergency declaration from coast to coast --
