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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
NY Times Report Raises New Obstruction Questions; Roger Stone to Jail?; Winter Storm Threat; Burberry Pulls Hoodie With Noose; Reports: Manny Machado Agrees to Record-Breaking Deal. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired February 20, 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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[05:00:03] 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 pause and a 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 summons him back to court after a controversial Instagram post.
SANCHEZ: Plus, rain, sleet, ice, snow, half the country in for wicked weather and round two is not far behind.
ROMANS: Suicide is not fashion. Anger at fashion giant Burberry, the company is pulling a hoodie that had a noose around the neck. They said it was a marine theme. I don't know.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START, everybody. I'm Christine Romans. Nice to have you here.
SANCHEZ: Great to be with you, Christine. I'm Boris Sanchez in for Dave Briggs. It's Wednesday, February 20th, 5:00 a.m. on the East Coast.
And we start with President Trump facing more 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 by that point had already been implicated in the Cohen probe.
ROMANS: But "The Times" reports that 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 concerns about obstruction of justice even in places that usually downplay them.
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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: It's still unclear what Whitaker did in response to the president's call. There's no evidence that he took any action. The Justice Department says Whitaker made no commitments, but it does not flatly deny that the investigation was discussed. Trump, however, making this 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 fake news out there.
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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 Brown at the White House. Thank you.
According to that "Times" report, the Whitaker controversy is one example of a pattern of deception and intimidation applied by the president concerning those investigations around him. That includes orchestrating a lie about the firing of national security adviser Michael Flynn. Flynn resigned after reports surfaced about his contacts with Russia's ambassador at the end of 2016.
SANCHEZ: Yes, he claimed he was stepping down because he misled Vice President Pence about it, but when an adviser mentioned that House Speaker Paul Ryan was telling reporters the president asked for Flynn's resignation, something that "The Times" points out they don't know where Ryan got that information, Mr. Trump reportedly liked that version better so he ordered his then press secretary Sean Spicer to use that version in his briefings.
ROMANS: "The Times" also reports President Trump asked his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to pressure Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign. Privately, Mr. Trump tried to have Sessions removed. The White House aides dodged the president's orders to secure that resignation.
[05:05:00] SANCHEZ: A new bombshell from Andrew McCabe as the former acting FBI director asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper if he still believes President Trump could be a Russian asset. Listen to his response.
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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 counterintelligence and obstruction investigations that were opened. McCabe also telling CNN that he briefed top congressional leaders about President Trump being under investigation. Both Democrats and Republicans. He said no one objected.
ROMANS: Wow. 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 a picture of Judge Amy Berman Jackson with crosshairs. The post could jeopardize the lenient gag order, also could jeopardize his bail.
Stone whose motto never apologize apologized officially to the court. He told CNN it was a volunteer who made the post and it was in no way to threat to the judge. Stone was indicted on charges he coordinated with top Trump campaign officials white he sought stolen e-mails from WikiLeaks during the 2016 election.
President Trump's Space Force is a step closer to becoming a national security reality. The president signing an order taking a first step towards a Space Force that would become the sixth branch of the U.S. military. The aim is to protect assets in space and China last month landed a spacecraft on the far side of the moon. The Defense Department will draft a proposal to submit to Congress which must approve any new military branch.
SANCHEZ: I think you can tell that I'm very pumped about space force.
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SANCHEZ: Bernie Sanders' second act is off to a hot start. The Vermont senator's presidential campaign raking in $4 until in donations already from nearly 150,000 supporters. That has Sanders thinking ahead already talking about 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 aides there. Late night comics also took notice.
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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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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 right. Half the country is in for ugly weather today. Two systems merging into one forming a powerful winter storm, folks. It's packing a mixture of snow, sleet, freezing rain like you see in these pictures. These are live pictures from Des Moines.
More than 150 million people from the Plains, the Midwest to the Mid- Atlantic and the Northeast under some kind of weather advisory right now. 11 million others facing flood advisories in the south. Washington, D.C. and Baltimore expected to take the brunt of the storm. Federal offices in the nation's capital to be closed today.
SANCHEZ: Another reason to be happy to be here with you, Christine.
ROMANS: Good.
SANCHEZ: Here is a live look at St. Paul, Minnesota. All Minnesota public schools are shut down today. Schools also closed in Philadelphia. About 1,000 flights are already canceled. Most of them in and around Washington, Chicago and Philly and another storm system is moving into California. It's expected to follow the exact same pattern for another round of punishment this weekend.
We turn now to 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. 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. [05:10:02] 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. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: If you couldn't get enough there's more on the way.
Teachers in West Virginia got their wish, so why are they still on strike for a second day? We will explain.
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ROMANS: Fourteen minutes past the hour. Welcome back.
Plans to sell nuclear power to the Saudis now the focus of an investigation by House Democrats. White House officials kept pushing the proposal in early 2017 despite warnings from national security officials that the Saudis could convert the technology to weapons development. Now house oversight committee Democrats have issued a report focusing on the report of then national security adviser Michael Flynn and his aide Derek Harvey.
[05:15:00] SANCHEZ: It says Harvey overrode staff warnings and pushed the nuclear program. Flynn had previously advised an IP3 subsidiary. Flynn had previously advised an IP3 subsidiary. A spokesperson for Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee where Harvey is a staffer called the report is ridiculous conspiracy theory. Flynn has not responded to a request for comment.
ROMANS: CNN has learned actor Jussie Smollett has a history of providing false information to law enforcement. In 2007, the "Empire" star pleaded no contest to charges in a DUI stop. Police in L.A. say he gave them a false name, he gave them his brother's name. He was sentenced to two years probation and paid a fine.
SANCHEZ: U.S. postal inspectors are helping with this threatening letter sent to Smollett. It includes a message cut from magazine clippings and the word "MAGA" on the outside of the envelope in place of the return address. Smollett claimed that he was attacked by two people yelling racial and homophobic slurs, but his story has not so far been corroborated. Chicago detectives still want to speak to him again though it's not clear when or if that may happen.
ROMANS: Teachers in West Virginia set to strike for a second day even after the House of Delegates shelved an education bill that prompted the walk off in the first place.
Teachers cheered when they found out the news, the Republican led House voted to table the bill. It would create charter schools and education savings accounts to help pay for private schools essentially diverting money from public to the private schools. The head of the teachers union said they are striking because they can't trust state Senate leadership and want to make sure the bill is really dead. Republican Senate President Mitch Carmichael says teachers are on the wrong side of history and that the champions of the status quo won.
SANCHEZ: Heart attacks are on the rise among some young women and researchers are trying to figure out why. A study published recently in the journal "Circulation" found that heart attack related hospital admissions among women 35 to 54 have been climbing since 1995 from 21 percent to 31 percent and the numbers don't rack up for men. For young men, heart attacks crept up only three points from 30 to 33 percent.
Research looks at data from North Carolina, Maryland, Mississippi and Minneapolis. Each year some 790,000 some Americans have a heart attack, most of them linked to heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.
ROMANS: Yes. I would love to know why, the why there is so important.
A ruling by a New York appeals court says footage from police body examination is not private and can be released to the public. The New York City Police Union had argued the footage should be classified as a personnel record. The court disagreed saying the purpose of body examination is transparency, accountability and public trust building. NYPD Commissioner James O'Neal agreed with the court saying the footage shows how brave, skilled and dedicated police officers are.
SANCHEZ: The San Diego Padres making a big move in free agency to get Manny Machado. Andy Scholes has the bleacher report and his multi hundred million dollar deal, next.
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[05:22:23] ROMANS: A big oops by fashion giant Burberry. It's apologizing for clothing a runway model in a hoodie with a noose around the neck at the London Fashion Show this week. Criticism from one of their own models, Liz Kennedy, led to an online backlash. Kennedy wrote in an Instagram that 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. Burberry has removed the item from its collection.
SANCHEZ: A marine them. When I think marine, I think of vinyl and fur, whatever that was.
Finally, one of baseball's big time free agents signed a deal, Manny Machado, heading to San Diego.
ROMANS: Andy Scholes has more on this morning's "Bleacher Report".
Hey, Andy.
SANCHEZ: Good morning.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, guys.
This is a big get for the Padres. San Diego is considered a small market team. It normally don't sign big time free agents like this, but according to multiple reports, they got Manny Machado, signing him to the biggest free agent deal in American sports history. Ten years, $300 million.
Now, Machado just 26 years old, hit 37 home runs last season while playing for the Dodgers and Orioles. He will help the rebuilding Padres who finished last in the NL West in 2018. With free agent started, the Yankees are thought of as a potential landing spot for Machado, but they weren't interested. One young fan at spring training he was pleased when he was told Machado was going to the Padres.
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YOUNG YANKEES FAN: I just don't want anybody -- any -- you're not going to take a guy you hate to another team. It's kind of like taking Tom Brady from the Patriots and adding him to the Dolphins, it just doesn't happen.
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SCHOLES: That's great. That kid clearly just wants homegrown Yankees like Derek Jeter and Aaron Judge. The big question now is will Machado signing finally get free agency going. Many good players remain unsigned including superstar Bryce Harper. The Phillies and Giants are rumored to be the front runners to land the former MVP.
All right. Best rivalry in college basketball. Duke versus North Carolina is going to take place tonight at Cameron Indoor Stadium. If you want to get into this game this year, it's going to cost you more than going to the Super Bowl and I'm not exaggerating. The cheapest ticket to the game right now on StubHub is nearly $3,000 and there are less than 30 tickets available for purchase.
Why are the tickets so expensive this year? Cameron Indoor holds less than 9,500 people. Duke ranked number one in the country, North Carolina eighth. This is likely fans only fans at seeing phenom Zion Williamson take on UNC at home.
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[05:25:08] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're number one, we beat anybody. We are the devils. The devils.
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SCHOLES: Actor Patrick Warburton better known as Puddy from Seinfeld was back in his old character at the New Jersey devils game. Dropping the first puck in celebration of '90s night and he got the crowd fired up, even taking off his jersey. He then went over to first pump all the players and watch when he tries to leave the ice. He slips right there and fell.
All good, though. He gave up and gave the crowd a nice wave. He was just fine. Funny stuff from Puddy back in his old character.
ROMANS: Devils do such a good job in their pregame. It's really fun. It's really good.
SANCHEZ: High-five, Andy Scholes. Thanks so much.
ROMANS: Thanks.
SCHOLES: Have a good one.
ROMANS: All right. Imagine if you were implicated in a federal investigation and you tried to get your donor and supporter to leave that very probe. New obstruction questions this morning swirl around the president.
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