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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Actor Jussie Smollett Meets With Cast Of "Empire"; Labor Sec. Alexander Acosta Broke The Law With 2008 Deal; Michael Cohen Prepares To Testify; New Election In North Carolina 9th; Brexit Uncertainty Continues With Five Weeks To Go. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired February 22, 2019 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:30:33] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDDIE JOHNSON, SUPERINTENDENT, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: Why would anyone, especially an African American man, uses a symbolism of a noose to make false accusations?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: The police chief is angry, the judge calls it vile. Meantime, Jussie Smollett is back on the set of "EMPIRE". What he told the cast and crew after he was charged with faking a hate crime.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And get ready for the split-screen of a lifetime. Michael Cohen on Capitol Hill preparing to testify while the president meets with Kim Jong Un.
SANCHEZ: And another Trump cabinet member in hot water. Why a decade-old plea deal could be trouble for Alex Acosta.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK HARRIS (R), NORTH CAROLINA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I believe a new election should be called.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A remarkable about-face in North Carolina. A congressional candidate who thought he won is now calling for a new election. Why, and will he even run in that new election?
Welcome back to EARLY START, everybody. I'm Christine Romans.
SANCHEZ: Great to be here with you, Christine.
ROMANS: Great to have you.
SANCHEZ: I'm Boris Sanchez in for Dave Briggs. We are 31 minutes past the hour.
And we start with Jussie Smollett. He is apologizing, but not for the crime that he's charged with.
Cameras swarmed the "EMPIRE" star as he left court yesterday accused of staging a supposed hate crime against himself.
After posting a $100,000 bond, Smollett's first order of business was a meeting with the "EMPIRE" cast and crew. A person who attended tells CNN that everyone expected him to come clean -- to bare his soul and ask for forgiveness. But --
ROMANS: A source says he did apologize for any embarrassment he caused. Then, to the shocking dismay of at least some people there on the set, Smollett defiantly proclaimed his innocence, blaming the legal system and the media.
But, Chicago police are painting a very different, very unflattering picture.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career. I'm left hanging my head and asking why. Why would anyone, especially an African American man, use a symbolism of a noose to make false accusations?
This publicity stunt was a scar that Chicago didn't earn and certainly, didn't deserve. I only hope that the truth about what happened receives the same amount of attention that the hoax did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Prosecutors, and even the judge, struck the same outraged tone where prosecutors detailed text messages between Smollett and his supposed attacker.
CNN's Nick Watt has more from Chicago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine and Boris, this was just a bond hearing, but it was an extraordinary bond hearing. The state laid out in intricate detail their case against Jussie Smollett. The state says he orchestrated the entire thing.
He hired the two brothers. He told them to attack him. He told them to buy a rope, to make a noose, to put it around his neck. He told them to buy red caps, which in the end they didn't wear those red caps that would have looked like the "Make America Great Again" caps.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a change in the plan in that bleach was going to be used instead of gasoline during the simulated attack. Smollett then drove the brothers home and provided them with a $3,500 personal check.
WATT: He also took them to the scene of where the attack was going to take place. He pointed out a security camera, prosecutors tell us -- told them that will capture this attack. And actually, when he first spoke to police, Smollett drew their attention to that camera. It turns out the camera was actually facing the other way and did not capture the attack.
Now, the judge had some very, very harsh words for Jussie Smollett. He said listen, of course, there is a presumption of innocence until proven guilty, but if this is true this case is quote, "utterly outrageous."
And he spoke particularly about that noose that Smollett allegedly asked these brothers to put around his neck. And of that noose, he said that symbol conjures about such an evil in this country.
Now, Smollett's lawyers were in court. The legal team released a statement which reads in part that, "Today we witnessed an organized law enforcement spectacle."
The police superintendent of Chicago was very angry. He said that police officers here are pissed off.
Now, a motive -- that police superintendent said that allegedly, Jussie Smollett was upset that he wasn't getting paid enough for appearing on the show "EMPIRE". That's why he sent a letter to himself -- a threatening letter at the studio. That's why he orchestrated this attack.
[05:35:05] Christine and Boris, back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Nick, thanks for that.
Another Trump cabinet secretary is in trouble. This time, it's Labor Sec. Alex Acosta.
He was a federal prosecutor in Florida 11 years ago when the Justice Department reached a plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein. He is a politically-connected Palm Beach billionaire accused of sexually abusing as many as 36 underage girls in a sex ring that spanned from New York to Florida to an island in the Caribbean.
On Thursday, a federal judge in South Florida ruled that Acosta and the Justice Department broke the law by not discussing the plea deal with victims as required.
ROMANS: In November, "The Miami Herald" reported Acosta gave Epstein the deal of a lifetime -- no trial and just 13 months in prison. The plea arrangement effectively shut down an ongoing FBI probe and granted immunity to any potential coconspirators.
Earlier this month, Republican Sen. Ben Sasse said the Justice Department told him it opened an investigation into how DOJ handled this case. Acosta said he welcomes that review.
SANCHEZ: Michael Cohen is in Washington preparing for a high-stakes week ahead. President Trump's former fixer spent several hours on Thursday inside the Senate Intelligence Committee's secure spaces. That's unusual for a witness the panel has already interviewed as part of its Russia probe.
Next week, Cohen will be interviewed by the Senate Intelligence Committee behind closed doors, Tuesday. Wednesday, he goes public before the House Oversight Committee, and then back behind closed doors on Thursday to talk to the House Intelligence Committee.
ROMANS: A big question hanging over Cohen's appearance is what he can say and what he will say in public. He's not expected to testify about the ongoing Russia investigation. But the questions could come up around the edges, like the failed Trump Tower Moscow project or the BuzzFeed article claiming Trump told Cohen to lie to Congress, something the special counsel's office explicitly denied.
SANCHEZ: Whatever happens, it will make for a very few interesting split-screens. Some of Cohen's testimony is going to overlap with the president's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
ROMANS: All right.
Joining us now from Washington this morning, CNN White House reporter Sarah Westwood, getting an early start with us this morning. Happy Friday to you.
SANCHEZ: Good morning, Sarah.
ROMANS: Let's start with Cohen. It's going to be -- I mean, it was a jam-packed week of news this week. Next week is going to be just mind-blowing, I think --
SANCHEZ: Right.
ROMANS: -- for what we're going to learn and for what's happening on the global stage with this president.
In terms of Cohen, what could he say that could change the course of investigations into Donald Trump?
SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, I think one particular area of interest will be how long those discussions about Trump Tower Moscow went on during the election. Remember, that's the lie for which Cohen got in legal trouble with Mueller. He told congressional investigators that they had ended months sooner than they actually did throughout the course of the investigation.
And just a couple of months ago, Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal attorney, acknowledged that those discussions might have continued all the way through Election Day -- all the way through November. And, Giuliani said that's what President Trump told special counsel Robert Mueller in this written answers.
So there's a lot of clarity that needs to be found around when these Trump Tower Moscow talks ended.
I think there will also be a lot of questions, obviously, about the payments to women, but also the Trump Foundation, the Trump International Hotel. President Trump's business interests are an area that haven't really been explored to a really full extent the congressional committees like the Russia issue has. And, Michael Cohen is uniquely positioned to have insight into that, having spent years working for President Trump while he was still in the business world.
SANCHEZ: And, Sarah, the other big question about Cohen's testimony is the timing of all of this. As you noted, Christine, we may potentially even get the Mueller report next week.
ROMANS: Right.
SANCHEZ: With the president over in Asia, how big of a distraction is all of this happening stateside for the White House?
WESTWOOD: Well, this is absolutely not what President Trump or his aides want. Trump has been expressing frustration since his first meeting with Kim Jong Un that that summit wasn't covered positively enough. He complained that he didn't think he got the recognition he deserved for initiating those talks with Kim Jong Un.
So to have the media's attention split and focusing on Michael Cohen's testimony that's almost certainly not going to be flattering to President Trump. That's certainly not something that the White House wants. And, of course, the way Trump responds is going to be unpredictable and could have implications for his summit with Kim Jong Un.
ROMANS: Let's talk a little bit about this Jussie Smollett story in Chicago and why this is a political story -- is fascinating -- because some of the candidates for 2020 were quick with their opinions and analysis. Granted, ask for -- we asked for them.
SANCHEZ: Right.
ROMANS: Journalists asked their responses after -- when this looked like this was a hate crime.
Do you think that there was a little bit of a breaking news 101 that happened here for some of these candidates about how they're going to have to respond going forward?
WESTWOOD: Well, add President Trump to this list of candidates who weighed in on the Jussie Smollett attack back when it was believed to have been --
ROMANS: Yes.
WESTWOOD: -- a hate crime.
But, obviously, this is a lesson for candidates on how to respond to breaking news and perhaps it's a test of who can pivot more quickly when the facts --
ROMANS: Right.
WESTWOOD: -- are evolving.
Senator Kamala Harris, she was asked about the emerging details of an alleged hoax and she didn't have a good answer for it, and that got a lot of attention.
[05:40:03] So it is going to expose some of the weaknesses of these candidates if they can't pivot quickly enough when circumstances change.
ROMANS: And here's what Kamala Harris said, by the way -- Sen. Harris said.
"I'm sad, frustrated, and disappointed. When anyone makes false claims to police, it not only diverts resources away from serious investigations, but it makes it more difficult for other victims of crime to come forward. At the same time, we must speak the truth. Hate crimes are on the rise in America."
SANCHEZ: I also have to ask you Sarah, quickly, about Roger Stone. He's typically somebody who is always on the attack. He never apologizes for anything.
We saw a very different Roger Stone on the witness stand yesterday speaking to that judge. What did you think? You think he sticks with the gag order?
WESTWOOD: Well, that's certainly going to have deep implications for his case. The threat of a gag order had been looming over him and he had still been speaking out in really incendiary terms about his case.
And when he was put on the stand, it was his own works, his own ability -- inability to get his story straight that ultimately led to this gag order. That he couldn't really stick to the written apology that his lawyers had.
And so, his own words have been problematic for him all along, since the beginning -- since him speaking out publicly about these supposed ties to WikiLeaks. So perhaps some silence will do Roger Stone some good with the case moving forward.
SANCHEZ: All right, Sarah Westwood. Great to see you this morning.
ROMANS: Have a great rest of your day.
WESTWOOD: Thank you.
ROMANS: All right.
The North Carolina Board of Elections voting unanimously to order new elections in the state's 9th Congressional District.
Republican candidate Mark Harris was under scrutiny for hiring a political operative accused of election fraud. The board investigated claims Leslie McCrae Dowless ran an illegal scheme to collect, fill out, and forge mail-in ballots. Harris said his campaign wasn't aware of any of that. But a day after his son, John, testified that he had warned his father about Dowless, the candidate said he now favors a revote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Knowing what I know now and hearing what I've heard is very concerning, and I would have obviously never gotten into this point. Through the testimony I listened to over the past three days, I believe a new election should be called.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: It was a dramatic reversal from Harris' position that the elections board should certify the results that had him winning.
Now, Harris did not commit to running in the new election, either. He said he is struggling with memory recall and confusion due to two recent strokes.
SANCHEZ: Prosecutors say the Coast Guard lieutenant suspected of plotting mass murder first drew attention when he used work computers in the alleged planning of widespread domestic terror attacks.
Christopher Hasson is being detained pending trial. The judge ruled his legal team could fight the detention order after 14 days if the government doesn't charge him with criminal activity.
He was arrested last week on drug and gun charges. Federal prosecutors say that is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
The government alleges Hasson is a self-described white supremacist who maintained a hit list that included prominent Democrats and journalists, as well.
Well, imagine if you're elderly and living alone, surviving on frozen meals without a microwave. Firefighters in Florida helped one woman who was down on her luck.
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[05:47:21] The father of the Alabama woman who joined ISIS is suing the Trump administration over her U.S. citizenship and fighting for her to be allowed back in the country. Hoda Muthana is from Hoover, Alabama.
As a college student, she traveled to Syria and married three ISIS fighters. Two of them were killed. Now, five years later, Muthana says she regrets what she did and she wants to come home.
Well, President Trump tweeted this week he will not allow it.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo weighed in, reiterating that message.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: She is a terrorist. She's not a U.S. citizen. She ought not return to this country.
CRAIG MELVIN, ANCHOR, NBC "TODAY SHOW": Is that because she was the daughter of a diplomat and she was born here? Is that --
POMPEO: That's right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Now, to clarify that, children born in the United States to active diplomats do not get automatic citizenship since diplomats are under the jurisdiction of their home countries. Now, a family representative said Hoda Muthana was born in New Jersey a month after her father was discharged as a diplomat.
If she's allowed to return, Muthana is prepared and willing to surrender to any charges.
SANCHEZ: Just five weeks to go until the Brexit deadline politicians are increasingly concerned about reaching an orderly deal for the U.K. to leave the European Union and those concerns are not limited to the British government.
CNN's Phil Black is live in London with the very latest. Phil, it is crunch time and negotiations are still in disarray.
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Boris.
So, Brexit day is March 29 and as you say, at the moment, there is still no agreement in place to ensure this divorce takes place in an orderly way. To ensure that the E.U. and the U.K. can continue cooperating on a wide range of really important issues, and to ensure that their economies can keep feeding into one another -- that goods, people, money can continue to cross borders in an orderly way.
It is widely accepted that a no-deal scenario -- that is March 29, no deal in place. Brexit crashes out, hard borders suddenly appear -- that that would be devastating economically to both economies.
Now, who's to blame for this? Well, the E.U. seems to think that it is certainly the U.K. Parliament because a deal was negotiated between the British government and the E.U. officials. They spent two years working on it but it was rejected by the British Parliament and that is why at this late stage -- at this crunch point -- you're hearing a lot of frustration from E.U. officials.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: We are not there because in the British Parliament there is, every time they are voting, a majority against something. If a no-deal would happen -- and I can't exclude this -- this will have terrible economic and social consequences, both in Britain and on the continent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:50:01] BLACK: So, the British Prime Minister Theresa May is still trying to make her negotiated agreement work. She's talking to the E.U., trying to seek a compromise on some of the points that the Parliament in Britain really doesn't like -- the reasons why they've rejected the deal.
But time is really tight. The clock is ticking and that is why you're hearing people, both in the U.K. and in Brussels and the E.U., saying that this no-deal scenario -- this much-feared situation -- well, they say it's looking increasingly likely, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Phil Black reporting live from London. We appreciate you bringing us the latest.
ROMANS: All right.
In Washington, the United States gearing up for a second summit between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, which is now less than a week away. Officials say the U.S. is looking for major steps from North Korea to fulfill the commitments it made during last year's summit in Singapore.
At this point, it's not clear whether North Korea has made a decision to denuclearize. An official says the U.S. is engaging the country in diplomacy because there is a possibility it will. And that summit will be in Vietnam, next week.
SANCHEZ: Must-watch T.V. All eyes are going to be on the president and Kim Jong Un.
Stay with us. We'll be right back.
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[05:55:33] ROMANS: All right.
Global markets mostly higher as day two of high-level trade talks between the U.S. and China take place later today.
Take a look at markets around the world. You can see mostly higher here -- European markets are higher.
And on Wall Street, it looks like things are leaning up just a little bit here -- triple-digit gain for the Dow if things hold.
The president is scheduled to meet with the Chinese vice premier this afternoon, 2:30 Eastern time. The clock is ticking toward this March first tariff deadline. The two sides have to move quickly if they want to reach a deal before that deadline.
Look, any rule changes need to be put on the federal register. This is important for global business. There will be ships full of goods on the ocean streaming to U.S. ports. It's unclear what kind of tariff rates they will have to pay. And again, those are American companies -- importers that pay that, not China. The Chinese government does not pay those import tariffs. It is the consumer and the companies.
All right.
Nike's reputation took a big hit after Duke basketball sensation Zion Williamson tore through his Nike sneaker during a game. The stock closed down about one percent.
Within the first minute of Duke's matchup against rival North Carolina, he slipped when his foot blew right through the shoe, the sole ripping loose from heel to toe, for the whole world to see. And talk about product placement -- poor Nike, right?
Poor Zion -- he left the game with a knee injury.
Nike exclusively supplies Duke's basketball team with uniforms, shoes, and gear. It released a statement wishing Williamson a speedy recovery, adding, "The quality and performance of our products are of utmost importance. While this is an isolated occurrence, we are working to identify the issue."
Endorsement deals with star athletes, including LeBron James and Serena Williams, and sponsorships with top college teams, like Duke, this is a key part of Duke's (sic) growth strategy. Last year, Nike spent nearly a third of its sales on marketing and endorsement contracts.
And it's really revived the whole discussion about paying college athletes, too. Like, if he's got a future career worth tens of millions of dollars --
SANCHEZ: Yes.
ROMANS: -- and he slips on a -- on a -- on a floor here and gets hurts, I mean -- what do you think?
SANCHEZ: There goes a potential career.
I mean, there are a lot of different perspectives on this. You have people like Demarcus Cousins who said he thinks the NCAA -- the system is B.S. You have Charles Barkley who has argued that these players get a lot of benefits from --
ROMANS: Right.
SANCHEZ: -- going to an elite prestigious --
ROMANS: True.
SANCHEZ: -- university.
ROMANS: True.
SANCHEZ: So it's a tough, tough conversation. ROMANS: All right.
Quickly, about Heinz -- Kraft Heinz. I want to show you about this.
Bad day. Kraft Heinz wrote down the value of its Kraft and Oscar Mayer brands by $15 billion. Posted this big loss and cut its dividend by 36 percent.
Customers weren't the problem. Sales were up about one percent in the fourth quarter. Instead, the CEO blamed higher than expected manufacturing and logistics costs.
And then, there's this. Kraft Heinz announced its accounting practices are under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC declined to comment on that investigation.
But watch that stock today. It'll probably be down.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
So let's be honest here. If you just found out you were spending the next half-century in prison you'd probably be pretty angry, right?
Ohio attorney Aaron Brockler learned that the hard way -- watch this. His client, David Chislton, goes after him for being sentenced to 47 years behind bars.
Brockler got punched in the face and then bitten when he was on the ground in a scuffle. Brockler suffered an injured hip, a broken nose, and a concussion.
Chislton's sentence was for assaulting his girlfriend and setting fire to an apartment building.
Brockler says that at his point, Chislton is a former client. You'd hope so, right?
ROMANS: All right.
Firefighters in Florida heating things up for an elderly woman with a microwave.
The High Springs crew responded to a Life Alert alarm at this woman's apartment. It went off accidentally but they noticed something. The woman who gets frozen food from Meals on Wheels, she didn't have a working microwave.
So the firefighters made a quick trip to the store and bought her a new one. They also installed it, and they cooked her dinner.
America, do something nice for people today because that was a really great moment.
Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Boris Sanchez in for Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: Jussie Smollett took advantage of racism to promote his career.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let the process work. He is presumed innocent.
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, HOST, "THE VAN JONES SHOW": This is the fall of an icon. The level of betrayal, if this is true, is so deep.
ROMANS: A federal judge imposing a strict gag order on former Trump adviser Roger Stone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She excoriated him. She said this isn't baseball. You don't get three strikes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is a hair away from ending up in jail and the judge isn't going to tolerate it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is February 22nd, 6:00 here in New York.
Happy Friday.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you.
END
