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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Green Book Gets Top Prize; Congress, Big Week Ahead; Trump Heads To Second U.S.-North Korea Summit Today; Trump Postpones Tariff Hikes On China; Congress Awaits Released Of Mueller Report; Manafort Lawyers To Respond To Mueller Memo; Kraft Facing Charges Of Soliciting Prostitution; Pence To Meet Venezuela's Opposition Leader. Aired 4:30- 5a ET

Aired February 25, 2019 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the Oscar goes to "Green Book."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: And the big prize goes to Green Book, but that's not all that happened on Hollywood biggest night. We have highlights for you.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN HOST: Congress back in session and ready for their blockbuster week with Trump's personal lawyer headed to the Hill. Three time and House Democrats trying to stop the president's national emergency.

ROMANS: Plus, President Trump heading to Asia today ahead of his summit with North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. Can the president convince Kim to denuclearize?

BRIGGS: And President Trump proposing a new summit with China's president in Mar-a-Lago delaying tariffs set to slam that country. Can the administration buy time to reach a new trade deal?

ROMANS: Welcome back to "Early Start," everybody. I'm Christine Romans. Nice to have you back in the chair.

BRIGGS: Good to be back. I'm Dave Briggs, where you get chemistry like Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper every single morning here on Early Start.

ROMANS: I'm not teasing (inaudible) to you. Our spouses wouldn't like it.

BRIGGS: If you didn't see it though, it was kind of the chemistry that blew audiences away.

ROMANS: It is coming up in two seconds.

BRIGGS: We'll have that for you in a moment, but first the moment everyone waited all night to see.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Green Book."

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BRIGGS: Green Book won the night's top prize and it also took home an Oscar for best original screen play. It is a film about a white man who drives a black jazz musician through the Deep South in the early 1960s.

ROMANS: "Roma" was one of the top contenders for best picture with a big push from Netflix. But the film did not go home empty handed, it took home three academy awards, with Alfonso Cuaron winning his second Oscars for Best Director, along with the Best Cinematography award. Cuaron used his speech for that award to draw attention to the plight of domestic workers, much like the lead character in his film.

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[04:35:12] ALFONSO CUARON, DIRECTOR, ROMA: As our piece, our job is to look where others don't. Big responsibility becomes much more important in times when we are being encouraged to look away.

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BRIGGS: Spike Lee won his first Oscar ever for Best Adaptive Screenplay for his film Black Klansman. He thanks his grandmother for helping pay for school then turned his attention to politics.

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SPIKE LEE, FILM DIRECTOR: The 2020 presidential election is around the corner. Let's all mobilize, let's all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let's do the right thing. You know, I had to get that in there.

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ROMANS: You kids out there, do the right thing is of course is reference to Spike Lee's film of the same name, it earned him an Oscar-- his first Oscar nomination, nearly 10 year ago now. In the category of acting Mahershala Ali won best supporting actor for his role in "Green Book" becoming only the second African-American to win two acting awards, the first was Denzel Washington.

Rami Malek won Best Actor for playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemians Rhapsody. Regina King, the terrific Regina King won Best Supporting Actress for her role in If Beale Street Could Talk. A very surprised Olivia Colman won best actor for playing Queen Ann in the favorite and one moment that everyone's buzzing about this morning --

-- this very intimate duet between Lady Gaga and Branden Cooper. They performed this close, the Oscar winning song Shallow from "A star is born." BRIGGS: Find someone who looks at you that way. Ladies, gentlemen,

try to find that look there. After the show, Spike Lee explained how he felt about "Green Book's" big best picture win.

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LEE: I'm snake bit. I mean, every time someone is driving somebody, I lose, but they changed the seating arrangement.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We saw a little bit of a reaction to the Green Book win. Can you give us your thoughts on that Best Picture win?

LEE: Let me take another sip. Next question. No, I thought it was court side at the garden. The ref made a bad call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Wow. Lee was referring to driving Miss Daisy, which won four awards in 1990, that's the same year he was nominated for best original screen play.

ROMANS: Now to Washington. Congress returns today to a packed calendar and things could get very interesting this week, because the president's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen testifies before three committees. On Wednesday his testimony will be public.

Also on the docket, the first attempt by House Democrats to block President Trump's border wall national emergency along with threats to subpoena Special Counsel, Robert Mueller's report on Russian collusion if it even comes out this week. CNN's Sarah Westwood at the White House with more on the busy week of fireworks ahead.

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SARAH WESTWOOD, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDET: Christine and Dave, Congress is returning today for a blockbuster week on Capitol Hill starting with the president's former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen will be testifying this week before three different congressional committees.

On Wednesday, he will be testifying publicly before the House Oversight in Government Reform Committee, the same day that President Trump is slated to sit down face-to-face with North Korean Chairman, Kim Jong-un.

On Tuesday, House Democrats will move forward with a vote to block the president's national emergency declaration, a vote that is expected to pass the House overwhelmingly.

The Mueller probe is also nearing completion, although we don't expect to see Mueller hand over his final report to the Justice Department this week. That could be coming in the days ahead.

Now, Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff said, he's prepared to subpoena the Trump administration, if that Mueller report is not made public. REP. ADAM SCHIFF, (D), CALIFORNIA, INTELLIGENCE CHAIRMAN: We will

obviously subpoena the report, we will bring Bob Mueller into testify before Congress, we will take to court if necessary. And in the end I think the department understands, they are going to have to make this public. I think Barr will ultimately understand that as well.

WESTWOOD: While all of this could create quite the split screen for President Trump as he tries to conduct diplomacy overseas. Christine and Dave.

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ROMANS: All right. Sarah, thank you so much for that. President Trump flies to Asia today for his second face-to-face summit with Kim Jong-un. The meeting will take place at the same time Michael Cohen testifies on public on Capitol Hill. The North Korean leader has already arrived in Vietnam. Let's go live to Hanoi, where we have already arrive as well, CNN's Will Ripley is there for us. Hi, Will.

[04:40:05] WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Has he arrived in Vietnam yet? I'm not sure if we know that just yet. We're still waiting for a word officially that his train has pulled up to the border with Vietnam, from China and then he is expected to make the drive here to Hanoi possibly to this hotel behind me, the Melia Hotel.

Now, of course they are not going to tell us where Kim Jong-un is staying. They don't want reporters like me standing outside talking about it. Sorry, but we have seen is extensive security, we actually saw the Vietnamese army doing some mine sweeping and we know that Kim Jong-un's security detail, those North Korean bodyguards that you saw running next to his limousine at the Inter-Korean Summit last year, back in April, they are staying here.

And so we believe that this might be where we see his motorcade pull up at some time possibly as soon as the early afternoon in the U.S, but again, it is all being kept top secret. We're spotting the whole route trying to find out for you. There are a lot of expectations obviously for this summit with Kim Jong-un and President Trump. It is the second time they are sitting down.

If Singapore was all about photo-ops and symbolism, Hanoi needs to be about results and both the U.S. and North Korea know that. North Korea wants economic relief, they want -- they want the normalization of diplomatic ties and of course the U.S. wants the North Korea to actually do something to get rid of their nuclear weapons.

And we just within the last hour got a hint from the South Korean Blue House about one of the things that may be announced here in Hanoi later this week, South Korea saying there is a very distinct possibility that the U.S. and North Korea could announce a plan to formally end the Korean War. This could happen potentially, Christine, without Kim Jong-un giving up a single nuclear weapon, although of course we don't know what the North Koreans are planning to give in exchange as a concession here when the summit kicks off with President Trump and Kim Jong-un. ROMANS: interesting. You know, Will, one thing we know is in a where

you are in Vietnam, I mean, some American negotiators are holding that up as an example for North Korea, like, look, if you denuclearize, if you open up your markets to the West, you can be more like Vietnam. How is apt is that comparison?

RIPLEY: Well, for the North Korea, priority number one is security guarantees, Kim Jong-un in power for the long term. So they need to trust the United States first, before they would even consider taking steps towards denuclearization. And that is what the U.S.-North Korea are here in Hanoi, trying to do and we know that both sides have been talking for weeks to try to draft some sort of an agreement.

President Trump obviously saying publicly, he is in no rush. That is a good sign according to many analysts I've been speaking with, because it shows realistic expectations on the part of the United States, but the U.S. does expect North Korea to start moving now towards eventually disarming itself. Getting rid of those nuclear weapons, so that they can end up perhaps like Vietnam which, you know, here in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, they rose from the ashes of the Korean War.

And now, I mean surrounding me here is construction in less than a block down the street, there's high rises that have all come up within the last 10, 20 years and that is a direct result of opening up trade and all of the benefits that can come with normalized diplomatic ties with the U.S. Could it be a lesson for Kim Jong-un that is certainly the message President Trump is going to try to deliver, Christine?

ROMANS: All right. Thanks so much for that, Will Ripley for us in Hanoi. Thanks, Will.

BRIGGS: Good stuff there. Authorities say they have recovered the remains of two people from a cargo plane that crashed in a bay off East Texas. The plane was operating on behalf of Amazon. Three people were believed to be on board. Witnesses reported the plane nosedived before crashing and the NTSB says it went into a very rapid descent.

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MICHAEL KREUZER, PLANE CRASH WITNESS: (Inaudible) -- we've seen the plane coming down at a 45 degree angle.

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BRIGGS: The NTSB has launched a go team to investigate the crash. So far, no word on what may have caused it.

ROMANS: All right. Big news in market, folks. The tariff hike is on hold for now. President Trump announced he will delay increasing tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods that was going to go into effect on Saturday, 12:01. He plans to meet with his Chinese counterpart to put an end to their trade war if all continues to go well. The president tweeted about substantial progress on talks with China

pointing two importance structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agricultural services, currency and many more issues. Now the announcement gave global markets an instant boost.

Look at Shanghai, that's almost a 6 percent bounce in Chinese stocks. They are now up 20 percent from their lows. Remember last year was a terrible year, because of the trade war and slowing growth really hurt the Chinese markets. The positive mood is extending to Wall Street. You got, the DOW that could be above 26,000 at the opening bell this morning. Futures are higher.

Now, the announcement comes after two days of high level trade talks in Washington. They look awful grim there, don't they? That grim look belies how much progress was made. The president did not specify what his new deadline is for raising tariffs or when he will meet with President Xi. In a statement from Chinese state news agency, Chinese trade negotiators echoed the president's tweets adding this, the two side will continue their work for the next stage in accordance with the instructions of the two countries heads of state.

[04:45:04] And Dave you've said so many times, you know, if it's just a symbolic win for the U.S., you know how long will that --

BRIGGS: A (inaudible) buy soybeans.

ROMANS: Energy or -- right. They really have structural issues that have to be worked out. The way China supports its states own -- with its state own enterprises supports its own industry that is a business model of China.

BRIGGS: Communist state business model.

ROMANS: Exactly.

BRIGGS: It needs some massive structural changes.

Ahead Patriots owner, Robert Kraft, one of dozens who could be charged today with soliciting prostitutes. It comes after a sex trafficking ring was broken up in Florida. CNN has details next.

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BRIGGS: Four forty-nine, Eastern Time, and charges could come as early as today against New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. The 77-year-old billionaire facing charges of soliciting prostitution and he's among more than 100 people linked to a large scale sex trafficking crackdown in Florida. CNN's Polo Sandoval has the very latest from Jupiter, Florida.

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[04:50:14] POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine and Dave, good morning to you. It is today that we could potentially find out more coming from the Palm Beach County City Attorney General Office exactly what may come next for about 200 of those men who are identified as such seeking out these paid sexual services in various spas located here in the coast of Florida.

Of course we're standing outside one of them which is where police say Robert Kraft visited on at least two occasions. These are allegations that his spokesperson has denied, categorically denied that Mr. Kraft did anything illegal.

I should mention though that as we wait for more from authorities, we're learning really a bit more about what is happening inside of these locations according to the Martin County Sheriff's office. The women mainly adult aged women from China were subjected to some very difficult conditions inside, forced to work as basically modern day sex slaves. Take a listen.

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WILLIAM SNYDER, MARTIN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: It was clear that multiple women were working and living inside the spas. They were cooking on the back steps of the business. They were sleeping on the massage tables. They had no access to transportation.

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SANDOVAL: Hell of a sheriff goes on to say this was really a massive multi-month, multiagency investigation. Believe it or not, it actually started as one red flag that came from a health inspector back in July who visited an area spa and noticed an indication that people were living at that location. They started asking questions, begin surveilling some of these locations and that eventually led to the arrest of at least seven operators of these locations and charges filed against about 200 Johns, Christine and Dave, and that includes Robert Kraft. Back to you guys.

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ROMANS: Well, human trafficking. OK, thank you for that, Polo. RNB singer, R. Kelly is expected back in an Illinois courtroom this morning after spending the weekend in jail. A judge set bail at $1 million, hours after he was indicted on 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse against four victims. R. Kelly's attorney spoke about the challenges finding $100,000 in cash his client needs to post bond.

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STEVEN GREENBERG, ATTORNEY FOR R. KELLY: This is someone who should be wealthy at this stage of his career. And through mismanagement, through people, hangers on and bad contracts and bad deals and bad leases like he had a studio, he really doesn't have any money at this point. I don't even think he owns the rights to "I believe I could fly." He is trying to get it together. He doesn't have it, send in the banks, send in a shoe box, sitting anywhere, no.

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BRIGGS: R. Kelly's attorney initially proclaimed all the women accusers were lying. He later clarified that Kelly is presumed innocent. Prosecutors claim three of his victims were underage at the time of the alleged crimes between 1998 and 2010. CNN has also learned Kelly has nearly $170,000 of unpaid child support and over $165,000 in unpaid rent. A man that was said to be one time worth $150 million. He can't pay $100,000.

ROMANS: All right. If you thought Samsung's foldable phone was pricey, Huawei's version has it beat. How much is it? CNN business next.

[04:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIGGS: Pope Francis now acknowledging past sexual abuse cover-ups and calling for an all-out war on predator priests, but survivors though say they want action now. CNN's Delia Gallagher live for us in Rome with more. Good morning Delia, reaction not so positive among the victims here.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. It's been an intense four days here, Dave. And survivors came out in full force. Pope Francis' has called for an all-out battle on sex abuse, but people have different ideas about just what that battle plan should look like.

One of the surprising revelations of this summit Dave, came from German Cardinal Marx. Cardinal Marx is a member of the pope's inner circle and he revealed that some files containing evidence of sexual abuse had been destroyed in Germany. Let's take a listen to that moment.

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CARDINAL REINHARD MARX, ARCHBISHOP OF MUNICH GERMANY: I said, could have documented the terrible deeds and named those responsible were destroyed or not even created.

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GALLAGHER: And the cardinal says that he doesn't know, Dave, the names of the people who destroyed those documents, but he doesn't think Germany is an isolated case. So that is sure to raise some red flags in the United States where there are currently federal and state investigations happening into the catholic church.

The Vatican this morning, Dave is having a follow-up meeting, they say that they are going to publish some guidelines for bishops around the world and do a task force to help those countries that are not yet up to speed on how the procedure works for sex abuse to get there.

So some positive steps out of the meeting, not everything that survivors were looking for, still some more to do on the part of the Vatican, Dave.

BRIGGS: Steps for a long way to go. Delia Gallagher live for us this morning, thank you. ROMANS: And let's get a check on CNN Business this morning. Global

stock markets are happy after the president -- President Trump announced that he will delay a major tariff hike and give the U.S. and China more time to reach a trade deal to end their trade war. The good mood extending -- look at Shanghai stocks, by the way, up 5.6 percent, that's a big move. Shanghai is bouncing 20 percent from its worst levels of weight last year. This good mood extending to Wall Street here this morning. You've got DOW futures up a triple digits.

I mean, you could see the DOW above 26,000 at the opening bell this morning. Wall Street pointing to a higher open.

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