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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

President Trump Denies Pressing Whitaker on Cohen Probe; Roger Stone to Jail?; Winter Storm Threat; Burberry Pulls Hoodie With Noose; The Hunt for Al Baghdadi. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired February 20, 2019 - 04:30   ET

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


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[04:30:15] REPORTER: Did you ask Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to change the leadership of the investigation into your former personal attorney Michael Cohen?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, not at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: A pregnant pause and denial from the president. "The New York Times" reports he tried to get a supporter put in charge of the Michael Cohen investigation.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Could Roger stone end up in jail as he awaits trial? A Judge Simmons him back to course after a controversial Instagram post.

SANCHEZ: Rain, sleet, ice, snow, affair the country in for wicked weather and round two is not far behind that.

ROMANS: Suicide is not fashion. Anger at fashion giant Burberry, the company pulling a hoodie that had a noose around the neck.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

SANCHEZ: I'm Boris Sanchez, in for Dave Briggs. We're about half past the hour. Thank you so much for joining us.

We start with President Trump facing more are obstruction of justice questions in the wake of a wide ranging "New York Times" report. "The Times" says the president pushed to have a federal prosecutor appointed during his administration to oversee the Michael Cohen investigation. Mr. Trump had by that point already been implicated in the Cohen probe.

ROMANS: But "The Times" reports late last year, he still called then Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to ask if the U.S. attorney in Manhattan could supervise it. The report is raising obstruction concerns even in places that usually downplay them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SHEP SMITH, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: The phone call would be evidence of what?

JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO, FOX NEWS SENIOR JUDICIAL ANALYST: Corrupt intent. That is, an effort to use the levers of power of the government for a corrupt purpose.

SMITH: Would that be obstruction?

NAPOLITANO: Yes. Well, it would be attempted obstruction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Now, it is unclear what Whitaker did in response to the president's call. There is no actual evidence that he took action. The Justice Department says Whitaker made no commitments, but he does not flatly deny that the investigation was discussed. President Trump though not shy about making a blanket denial.

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REPORTER: Did you ask Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to change the leadership of the investigation into your former personal attorney Michael Cohen?

TRUMP: No, not at all. I don't know who gave you that. That is more fake news. There is a lot of fakes -- a lot of fake news out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We get more now from senior White House correspondent Pamela Brown.

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Christine and Boris. President Trump is denying that he ever made that ask of former A.G. Matt Whitaker to have the U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Berman unrecused and oversee the Cohen probe.

Now, this denial was in response to "The New York Times" that he, in fact, did make that ask because he viewed Berman as an ally. As sources tell me and my colleague Laura Jarrett that Trump was upset about the Cohen probe and how it implicated him in the payments of two women during the election, you recall that, and that he did talk to Whitaker about it over the phone.

The president thought Whitaker should do a better job with controlling the investigators in the probe that he oversaw as acting attorney general. During recent congressional testimony, Whitaker would only say he won't discuss conversations with the president when he's asked if he spoke to him about the SDNY investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to know whether you talked to President Trump at all about the Southern District of New York's case involving Michael Cohen. MATTHEW WHITAKER, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Congresswoman, as

I've mentioned several times today, I'm not going to discuss my private conversations with the president of the United States.

BROWN: In contrast, he told the committee he never spoke about the Mueller probe to President Trump.

WHITAKER: At no time has the White House asked for nor have I provided any promises or commitments concerning the special counsel's investigation or any other investigation.

BROWN: But this latest reporting about Trump fits into a pattern where he believes that officials in DOJ roles should show loyalty to him and do his bidding. As you will recall, the president was furious that Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe and he never got over it -- Boris and Christine.

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ROMANS: All right. Pamela, at the White House, thank you for that.

According to "The Times" report, the Whitaker controversy is just one example of a pattern of deception and intimidation applied by the president concerning investigations around him. It includes orchestrating a lie about the firing of national security adviser Michael Flynn. Now, Flynn resigned after reports surfaced about his contacts with Russia's ambassador at the end of 2016.

SANCHEZ: Yes. You remember, he claimed this he was stepping down because he misled Mike Pence about it, but when an adviser mentioned that House Speaker Paul Ryan was saying telling reporters the president asked for Flynn's resignation, Mr. Trump liked that version better so he ordered his press secretary at the time, Sean Spicer to use that version for his briefings.

ROMANS: "The Times" also reports President Trump asked his former campaign manager, Cory Lewandowski, to pressure Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign. Privately, Mr. Trump tried to have Sessions removed, but White House aides dodged the president's orders to secure Sessions' resignation.

SANCHEZ: We have a bombshell from Andrew McCabe. The former acting FBI director asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper if he still believes that President Trump could be a Russian asset.

Listen to his answer.

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ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER ACTING FBI DIRECTOR: I think it's possible. I think that's why we started our investigation. And I'm really anxious to see where Director Mueller concludes that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That comment by McCabe coming just days after he revealed the president's own words and actions led to the counter intelligence and obstruction investigations that were opened. McCabe also told CNN he briefed top congressional leaders about President Trump being under investigation. He says no one objected.

ROMANS: Rod Rosenstein's replacement has now been named. The White House says the president is nominating Jeffrey Rosen to become deputy attorney general. Rosen is currently deputy secretary of transportation. He formerly worked at Kirkland and Ellis, the same law firm as the new attorney Bill Barr. Rosenstein is expected to leave the Justice Department in about three weeks. That will mark almost exactly two years since he took over supervising the Russia investigation when former Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself.

SANCHEZ: New overnight, hackers thought to be linked to Russia's military have targeted two American think tanks in Europe. Microsoft revealing that Fancy Bear, that same group that allegedly hacked the DNC in 2016 tried to infiltrate the Aspen Institute and the German Marshall Fund of the United States. It happened between September and December 2018. The company is not saying whether the hackers were successful, but Microsoft is getting the attention of E.U. officials who hold parliamentary elections in May of next year.

ROMANS: All right. Roger Stone has been ordered to appear at a court hearing tomorrow after an Instagram post that seemed to threaten the judge overseeing his case. It featured this picture of Judge Amy Berman Jackson with crosshairs. The post could jeopardize the lenient gag order she imposed. It could also jeopardize Stone's bail.

Stone, who's motto is to never apologized, apologized officially to the court. He told CNN that a volunteer made the initial post and it was in no way a threat to the judge. Stone, of course, was indicted on charges that he coordinated with top Trump campaign officials while he sought stolen emails from WikiLeaks during the 2016 election.

SANCHEZ: Bernie Sanders's second act off to a hot start. The Vermont senator's presidential campaign raking in $4 million in donations already from nearly 150,000 supporters. That has Sanders thinking ahead to possible running mates.

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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We would look for somebody who is maybe not of the same gender that I am, and maybe somebody who might be a couple years younger than me and somebody who can take the progressive banner.

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SANCHEZ: You heard Sanders reference his age there. Late night comics took notice of that.

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SETH MEYERS, COMEDIAN: Senator Bernie Sanders announced today that he will run for president in 2020. If successful -- yes. If successful, he would be the oldest person. That's it.

JIMMY FALLON, COMEDIAN: At age 77, Bernie is the only candidate who toss his hat and his teeth into the ring.

JAMES CORDEN, COMEDIAN: At 77 years old, Bernie Sanders would be the oldest president in history which explains his brand new campaign yard signs, get off my lawn.

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SANCHEZ: President Trump could be facing another challenge from within the Republican Party. CBS is set to air an interview today with Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, he is not ruling out a White House bid in 2020, citing the president's weak poll numbers.

ROMANS: All the country -- about half the country rather is in for ugly weather today. Two systems merging into one forming a powerful winter storm, packed a mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain. More than 150 million people from the plains and Midwest to the Mid- Atlantic and Northeast under some kind of weather advisory right now. Eleven million others face flood advisories in the South.

SANCHEZ: And Washington, D.C. and Baltimore are expected to take the brunt of the storm. Federal offices in the nation's capital are closed today. All Minnesota and Philadelphia public schools shut down. About 1,000 flights are already canceled, most of them in an and around Washington, Chicago and Philadelphia.

And get this, another storm system is moving into California, it is expected to follow the same pattern for another round of punishment this weekend. Here is meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

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PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Boris and Christine, yes, about a 130 million people underneath these alerts, advisories and warnings. And notice, a multi-storm setup here over the next couple days. One coming in for the next 24 hours, and then another one coming in, going towards late this weekend and early next week. So where it is not heavy rainfall, it is a wintry mix or heavy snowfall across parts of the Midwest and also the Intra Mountain West and parts of the Northwest as well.

And notice, the current storm brings in heavy rainfall across portions of the south and north of St. Louis into parts of the Great Lakes, it becomes all snow and all of this pushes on in toward the east as we go in through later on tonight and into early tomorrow morning leaving behind about 4 to 6 inches of snowfall across that region.

[04:40:07] But again, plenty of flooding threat in place as well from Nashville down towards Birmingham, even northern portions of Mississippi and eastern areas of Arkansas whereas much as 4 to 6 inches of rainfall could come down in the next two days.

And, again, as this system moves on, we do have another system right on its heels and temps are struggling to warm up across the south. Atlanta only 49, Charlotte, 41 degrees, and up in the Midwest, looking into the middle 30s while this system exits, another one follows a similar track going in toward the upcoming weekend.

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ROMANS: All right. Pedram, thank you for that.

Southwest Airlines struggling with an operational emergency. An unusual high number of planes taken out of service because of mechanical issues, hundreds of flights cancelled since last week because of this.

On Tuesday, more than 40 had issues more than double the average number. The airline says there is no common theme to the mechanical problems and all hands on deck order implemented last week now extended for all Southwest mechanics. The airline hoping that will promptly return service back to normal.

SANCHEZ: No common theme, that's not worrisome at all.

Remember the teenager who went viral and was accused of bigotry after this confrontation with a tribal der? Now he wants 250 million bucks from "The Washington Post". Details on his lawsuit, next.

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[04:45:33] ROMANS: All right. High level trade talks between the U.S. and China begin tomorrow and the president appeared upbeat about their progress.

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TRUMP: Well, there are very complex talks. They are going very well. We're asking for anything that anybody has even suggested. I can't tell you exactly about timing, but the date is not a magical date. A lot of things can happen.

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ROMANS: The date is not magical date.

Well, the president had threatened to increase the 10 percent tariff to 25 percent if a deal isn't reached by March 1st. That March 1 deadline seems pretty steadfast. It could be pushed back if the two countries appear to be making some progress.

The U.S. is asking China to do a whole bunch of things, wants China to stop stealing U.S. technology, wants access to Chinese markets, more are exports and structural changes in the system of forcing countries to hand over technology secrets. If talks go well, the tariffs might be lifted all together.

SANCHEZ: Justice Clarence Thomas pushing for the Supreme Court to reconsider one of the foundations of American libel law. He says the high court wrongly decided the landmark 1964 case "New York Times" versus Sullivan. That ruling interpreted the First Amendment to make it hard for celebrities and public officials to win defamation lawsuits.

But Thomas now writes the higher standard is not found in the Constitution. He says libel laws should be left to state courts. No other justices joined his opinion. Thomas' position echoes complains from President Trump who repeatedly called for libel laws to be, quote, opened up.

ROMANS: And a lawsuit has been ruled to move forward agreeing to hear a challenge from a parked advocacy group, protect our parks claims the city illegally transferred Parkland to a private entity. The center will serve as presidential library and headquarters of the Obama foundation. Both sides due back in court next week.

SANCHEZ: A battle brewing between California and the Trump administration. U.S. Department of Transportation canceled a nearly $1 billion grant for the state's high speed rail project that would have run from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Governor Gavin Newsom announced last week he was scrapping the project because it was too expensive and would take too long to complete. And that decision led President Trump to demand all the money be returned. Newsom says the move is clear political retribution for a California-led lawsuit to try to block his national emergency.

ROMANS: Attorneys for a Kentucky high school student at the center of a viral video controversy are suing the "Washington Post." They are seeking $250 million in damages for 16-year-old Nicholas Sandmann. The teen was in Washington last month for the annual march for life rally when he found himself face-to-face with a tribe elder.

SANCHEZ: The video initially touched off accusations that Sandmann was a big got. The lawsuit claims that "The Post" wrongfully targeted and bullied Nicholas because he was a white student wearing the Red Make America Great again cap. The newspaper says it is planning to mount a vigorous defense. Sandmann claims says he was just trying to diffuse tension.

ROMANS: Growing calls for the editor of an Alabama newspaper to resign after his op-ed calling for the Ku Klux Klan to ride again. Goodloe Sutton, publisher of the Democrat Reporter in Linden, Alabama, confirmed to CNN that he wrote the editorial that called for the return of night rides against Democrats in what he calls Democrats in the Republican Party plotting to raise taxes in Alabama.

SANCHEZ: He also told a newspaper that he wants the Klan to use lynchings to clean out D.C. The KKK used night rides to terrorize African-Americans. Alabama Democratic Senator Doug Jones had this reaction, OMG, what rock did this guy crawl out from under. This editorial is absolutely disgusting and he should resign now.

A troubling new study out finds that heart attacks are on the rise among young women. And researchers are trying to figure out why. The study published recently in the journal circulation found that they have risen from 21 percent to 31 percent. For men, they only crept up three points.

[04:50:01] Each year, about 790,000 Americans have a heart attack. Those are most often linked to heart disease, leading cause of death in the United States.

ROMANS: A big oops for fashion giant Burberry. It is apologizing for clothing a runway model with a hoodie with a noose around the neck. Criticism from one of their own models Liz Kennedy led to back lack. She wrote suicide is not fashion. The ceo says the design was inspired by the marine theme that ran throughout the collection, but it was insensitive and we made a mistake and removed the item from its collection.

All right. Airbnb has been subpoenaed by New York City, what data the city wants and why. CNN Business is next.

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[04:55:09] SANCHEZ: U.S. intelligence officials say a branch of ISIS that's based in Afghanistan has emerged as a major threat, capable of carrying out direct attacks on the homeland. The U.S. intelligence official in Afghanistan tells CNN that ISIS is gathering social media information to determine whom they can use and exploit to carry out their attacks. The warning comes as ISIS is on the verge of being driven from its last stronghold in Syria.

ROMANS: Meantime, the whereabouts of ISIS's elusive leader Abubakr al-Baghdadi remains a mystery.

CNN's Arwa Damon is live in Erbil, Iraq, with a fresh look at the hunt for al-Baghdadi.

We have that picture of him I think in Mosul, you know, preaching, and it's that image that we see so many times of him. Other than that, he's sort of vanished.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is a bit like trying to track down a ghost. Other than his public appearance, which is the only time that we have those images from back in July of 2014, there really has been nothing more than rumors flying around, brief sightings and spotty intelligence.

We did manage to go out to what are known as the Iraqi badlands. This is a massive wall-less area that spans across the desert very close to the Syrian border. And these are al-Baghdadi and his organization's historic hiding grounds. And going out there, you get a bit of an understanding of why tracking him down is so difficult and why there is a certain agree of ease of movement for him and for these remnant of ISIS that do exist throughout this area because it is stilled with gorges, they have mountain hideouts there and they have a certain amount of support from the local population.

We went to one area where an air strike did take out one of the top leaderships called Sharqat. This is an area where in 2015 he and his top commanders are believed to have held a number of meetings. But we spoke to one Iraq analyst who focuses on ISIS and he said, look, even if al-Baghdadi is taken out, even if you manage to destroy the networks in both Syria and Iraq, ISIS has other networks based overseas.

ROMANS: All right. Arwa Damon for us in Erbil, Iraq -- be careful. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Another member of Britain's Labour Party resigning, citing anti-Semitism as the cause. Joan Ryan, a 40-year-old veteran of the party, now its eighth lawmaker to quit. She blamed Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, writing that Corbyn has allowed the party to become infected with the scourge of anti-Jewish racism. Seven others defected in the last few days citing anti-Semitism and other concerns.

Anti-Semitism is on the rise across Europe. Just this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling for European leaders to take a strong stand after 80 Jewish graves were desecrated with Nazi symbols at a cemetery in France.

ROMANS: All right. Let's get a check on CNN Business this Wednesday morning. Global stock markets are higher. Investors around the world are cautiously optimistic on this ongoing U.S./China trade talks that begin this week in the U.S. On Wall Street, you got futures slightly lower here, not very big moves at all.

So we'll see how the direction shapes up later this morning. Stocks closed nearly higher on Tuesday after the president hinted at flexibility on the March 1st deadline with China to raise tariffs. Dow finished mostly unchanged. The S&P 500, Nasdaq both up slightly. Not big moves there.

New York wants to make sure Airbnb is not breaking short term rental laws in the city. New York City has subpoenaed Airbnb for 20,000 listings in the area. They include requests for details about hosts including their addresses, volume of bookings and the amount of money they earned.

In 2016, New York made it illegal for people to list entire apartments on Airbnb for periods of less than 30 days. The law is aimed at cracking down at people turning their homes into they tells while denying the city tax revenue.

Virgin Galactic could be closer to launching people into space this year. A rocket-powered plane, VSS Unity, is scheduled for its highest and fastest test in California this morning. Virgin Galactic made history in December when VSS Unity climbed more than 50 miles above Earth, the line that the U.S. government considers the edge of space. More test flights are planned in coming months to fine tune the vehicle before passengers will be on board.

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson says commercial flights could be in July and he plans to be the first passenger on board.

SANCHEZ: Not a cheap ticket.

ROMANS: No. You know, I don't know. I'll watch from here. I'll safely watch from here.

SANCHEZ: Hey, and if you can't afford the tickets, space force is out there.

Another hour of EARLY START continues right now. (MUSIC)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Did you ask Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to change the leadership of the investigation into your former personal attorney Michael Cohen?

TRUMP: No, not at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)