Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
President Trump Ordered Security Clearance For Ivanka Trump; White House Officials Push Back On House Probes; Satellite Images Show Activity At North Korean Missile Site; FDA Approves Nasal Spray To Treat Severe Depression. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired March 06, 2019 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:30:10] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: First, it was Jared, now, Ivanka. CNN learning the president overruled officials to get his daughter a security clearance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Instead of doing so many things that they should be doing, they want to play games.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The White House pushing back on investigations by House Democrats. The strategy could involve withholding documents.
BRIGGS: North Korea has begun rebuilding a part of a long-range missile test facility. Work began right around the summit between the president and Kim Jong Un.
ROMANS: And a new drug has been approved to treat severe depression. Major news for millions who have not been helped by other antidepressants.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs.
We'll also have R. Kelly speaking out, saying he's innocent of all these accusations.
It's is 5:30 Eastern time.
We start, though, at the White House. For the second time in two weeks, we're learning the president overruled security officials on personal grounds. Three sources telling CNN President Trump pressured top aides to grant a security clearance to first daughter and senior aide Ivanka Trump.
The revelation contradicting Ivanka's denial to ABC News just three weeks ago. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER AND SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: The president had no involvement pertaining to my clearance or my husband's clearance.
ABBY HUNTSMAN, CO-HOST, ABC "THE VIEW": So, no special treatment?
I. TRUMP: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: It is not clear what red flags were holding up her clearance. Several sources tell CNN it's possible she was unaware there were concerns raised during her background check or she may not have known of her father's involvement. But it followed the president ordering a top secret clearance for Ivanka's husband, Jared Kushner.
Senior White House correspondent Pamela Brown has more from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Christine and Dave.
We have learned that President Trump pressured his then-chief of staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn to grant his daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump a security clearance against their recommendations. Now, this is according to three people familiar with the matter speaking to me and my colleague, Kaitlin Collins.
And while the president has the legal authority to grant clearances, most instances are left up to the White House personnel security office, which would determine whether a staffer should be granted one after the FBI conducts a background check.
But after concerns were raised by the personnel office, Trump pushed Kelly and McGahn to make the decision to it didn't appear as if he was tainting the process in his family's favor. Now, after both refused, Trump granted the security clearance.
Now, this development comes on the heels of the "The New York Times" reporting that Trump ordered Kelly to grant Ivanka's husband, Jared Kushner, a top secret security clearance despite concerns raised by intelligence officials.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders says the White House cannot comment on security clearance issues nor can it respond to every anonymous source.
Kelly could not be reached for comment, and McGahn declined to comment for this story.
Back to you, Christine and Dave.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRIGGS: Pamela Brown, thank you.
CNN also learning the concerns about granting a security clearance to Ivanka Trump were separate from those about her husband.
CNN has been told the White House rejecting the House Oversight Committee demand for documents about security clearances of some of President Trump's closest advisers and that raises the likelihood of subpoenas from committee chairman Elijah Cummings.
ROMANS: All right. "CNN POLITICS" digital director Zach Wolf joins us this Wednesday morning from Washington.
BRIGGS: Good to see you, sir.
ROMANS: You're not struggling on Wednesday morning, right?
ZACHARY WOLF, DIGITAL DIRECTOR, CNN POLITICS: Never.
ROMANS: You're like -- you're raring to go at 5:33 a.m. in the East.
BRIGGS: And it is hump day.
ROMANS: Look, all these investigations -- we see sort of the contours of what's going to be the Democratic strategy to investigate the president in every way, shape, and form.
Here's how the president, yesterday, pushed back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. TRUMP: Essentially, what they're saying is the campaign begins and instead of doing infrastructure, instead of doing health care, instead of doing so many things that they should be doing, they want to play games.
President Obama, from what they tell me, was under a similar kind of a thing. Didn't give one letter. They didn't do anything.
They didn't give one letter of the request. Many requests were made. They didn't give a letter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A couple of things there. We've already seen sort of from some of the refusal to grant interviews or information from the Republican side. That's already -- some of these refusals of committee requests have already started.
But you heard the president talk about the Obama administration didn't give one letter.
Now, Zach, I seem to recall a Republican Congress that was really aggressive with investigations into the president's administration -- Fast & Furious, Solyndra, Benghazi. How many hours of testimony was there on Benghazi? That was a multi-year effort. You know, the IRS targeting conservative groups.
And they gave over lots and lots of information.
What's the strategy here from the White House?
WOLF: Well, I mean, I think what we see here is witch hunt, part two. This is -- this is -- they are trying to imply that Democrats are bent on impeaching Trump and this is just the next step in that, so we're going to fight every single thing tooth and nail.
It sort of makes sense given the way he's fought the Mueller probe.
ROMANS: Sure.
WOLF: The way he's fought any sort of investigation. The first thing you have to do in Trump's mind, clearly, is to kneecap the investigation and make it seem unfair. So, that's clearly what's going on there and it's probably the most predictable thing going is that he's not going to want to help at all. Why would you help people who are, in his mind --
[05:35:14] BRIGGS: Yes.
WOLF: -- trying to bring you down? These aren't --
ROMANS: But he thrives on a street fight. He thrives on a street fight --
BRIGGS: He lives for this.
ROMANS: -- so it kind of plays to his strength.
BRIGGS: It absolutely does.
But the first part of what he said is this notion that you can't legislate and investigate at the same time. But I must have missed the White House proposal on infrastructure or the health care bill to protect preexisting conditions. I don't see either side trying to legislate.
WOLF: Right.
BRIGGS: Is this what the next two years look like?
WOLF: Well, I mean -- and he also had two years with complete Republican control --
ROMANS: True.
WOLF: -- in which to legislate. They got one huge achievement in the -- in the tax bill. But that's also made it more difficult, I think, for them to do something like infrastructure because as you guys were talking about earlier this hour, the U.S. budget deficit --
ROMANS: Oh my gosh.
WOLF: -- is exploding. So it's hard to pay for any sort of new legislation.
ROMANS: And that deficit is exploding from exactly the things that this -- that this administration has championed. Military spending, veterans' affairs, interest on the debt, and then companies are paying less in taxes and people are paying less in taxes, so that's a big gap.
BRIGGS: Well, he had only two hours to speak the other day. No mention of an agenda. No mention of proposals or legislation coming this way.
So let's turn our attention towards 2020 and where this fight is headed.
Michael Bloomberg is the latest to say he will not run, and he said something interesting here. He said a warning to Democrats. Quote, "We cannot allow the primary process to drag the party to an extreme that would diminish our changes in the general election and translate into four more years."
Who is Michael Bloomberg warning of and what is he warning of? Is it the Green New Deal?
WOLF: I think he's warning largely about Bernie Sanders if I had to guess without naming him. That left lane in the Democratic primary is looking extremely crowded right now, and the middle lane doesn't really have -- you know, it doesn't have a top voice sort of emerging to be the person that people rally around.
You know, this is -- that's essentially the same warning that Howard Schultz made -- what Michael Bloomberg just said. There is, I think, a lot of concern amongst a lot of Democrats about where the party is going to land at the end of this primary process.
ROMANS: It's one of the reasons why people keep talking about it. Sherrod Brown's name keeps getting spun around in there --
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: -- because he has a -- I don't know, a populism --
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: -- to him that is not that progressive populism. It is a --
BRIGGS: John Hickenlooper --
ROMANS: Yes.
BRIGGS: -- who entered the race this week.
ROMANS: Amy Klobuchar also right in the middle lane, so --
All right, it's going to be interesting. Guess what? This week -- exactly a year, Zach, from this week is Super Tuesday if you want to put it in your calendar. WOLF: Yes, it's already there.
ROMANS: It's already there. I'm sure it is.
All right, Zach, nice to see you.
BRIGGS: Zach Wolf, thank you.
WOLF: See you.
ROMANS: All right.
Michael Cohen back on Capitol Hill today. He'll be finishing his testimony to the House Intelligence Committee behind closed doors.
His appearance comes one day after the New York State Finance Department slapped a subpoena on the Trump Organization's insurance broker, Aon PLC, and just a few days after Cohen dropped this potential bombshell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY), MEMBER, HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: To your knowledge, did the president ever provide inflated assets to an insurance company?
MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Aon says it intends to cooperate. The New York State Finance Department does not have the power to bring criminal charges. It can refer its findings, though, to state prosecutors for that.
BRIGGS: Breaking overnight, new satellite images appearing to show North Korea rebuilding part of a long-range missile testing facility. The work apparently taking place around the same time Kim Jong Un was meeting with President Trump in Vietnam in a summit that ended abruptly with no deal.
Paula Hancocks live for us from Seoul tonight with the breaking details. Hi there, Paula.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Dave.
Well, these are commercial satellite images which appear to show, according to analysis from 38 North and CSIS, that North Korea is rebuilding parts of this missile engine test site that they had already dismantled. Now, we have been seeing over recent months that they were dismantling part of it.
So we know that Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, had spoken to the South Korean President Moon Jae-in and they were discussing actually having independent inspectors go into this particular test site to show that it had been put out of action. But now, we're seeing the exact opposite. This is also being corroborated by a South Korean intelligence agency here, saying that they are also seeing that a roof, a door has been reassembled. They are seeing vehicles that have been moving materials around this particular area.
Now, of course, the timing is key. We don't know exactly what they -- these images are from. We know from 38 North it's anything from February 16th to March second, so it could have been either before, during or after the summit in Hanoi.
[05:40:04] So because of that, many experts are waiting to see exactly what it was. They don't want to say at this point. This is North Korea showing definitively that they were unhappy there was no deal made -- Dave.
BRIGGS: All right, Paula Hancocks live tonight in Seoul. Thank you.
ROMAN: House Democrats plan to update their resolution condemning anti-Semitism to also include a condemnation of anti-Muslim bias. The resolution is now likely to come to the House floor for a vote tomorrow instead of today.
Democrats faced pressure to condemn anti-Semitic comments by freshman Democrat Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and also defend her from anti-Muslim rhetoric.
BRIGGS: Omar, one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress, once again under fire for repeatedly suggesting support for Israel is tied to Jewish money.
Her comments sparking calls from Republican Steve Scalise and some Jewish groups to remove her from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The chairman, Eliot Engel, says he's not close to doing that.
ROMANS: Experts calling it the biggest advancement in years to fight depression. The Food and Drug Administration approving a new nasal spray.
It will be sold as Spravato and should be used in conjunction with an oral antidepressant. The medication is designed for five million adults who have not benefited from other antidepressant drugs.
Spravato is based on a powerful tranquilizer called ketamine, also known as the party drug Special K. It will carry a black box warning, the most serious issued by the FDA, with abuse and suicidal thoughts as potential side effects.
Now, people who take the nasal spray will have to go to a doctor's office to do it and have to be monitored for at least two hours to guard against some of those really kind of dramatic potential symptoms -- side effects.
BRIGGS: Some big news there, though. All right.
Ahead, some very scary moments on a Norwegian cruise. Chaos there after being hit by hurricane-force winds. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:46:10] BRIGGS: That's what it looked and sounded like for cruise passengers when their Norwegian ship starting tilting to one side after being slammed by a sudden hurricane-force wind. With no warning, furniture was flying, glass breaking, and people holding on just to stay upright.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE PASSENGER 1: I was at the bar. I was sliding down. Chairs were flying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE PASSENGER 2: My son got up and he looked out the window and he could see water at that port window.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE PASSENGER 3: I had to grab to a table because I couldn't hold my balance. And whatever -- all the items that were not attached properly just keep on falling down -- glass breaking.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE PASSENGER 4: People were down, people were crying. Yes, it was a pretty traumatic experience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Several passengers and crew members were injured. There was no serious damage to the Norwegian "Escape." The ship arrived at Port Canaveral yesterday morning.
ROMANS: All right.
Today, search efforts will transition into recovery efforts in Alabama after an outbreak of catastrophic tornadoes in Lee County killed 23 people Sunday. The victims range in age from six to 89 years old.
Authorities say the death toll could rise. There are seven or eight people still unaccounted for.
One woman who lost five family members is volunteering at a command and supply center, she says, to help get her mind off it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAKITHA GRIFFIN, LOST FAMILY MEMBERS IN ALABAMA TORNADO: I'm just out here volunteering and helping my community out. It keeps me busy. Like, it keeps my mind and stuff off of it because this just doesn't seem real. Like, we see this somewhere else -- like, not -- not like here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Two large corporations who wish to remain anonymous have announced they will pay for the funerals for all 23 victims.
BRIGGS: R. Kelly denying sexual abuse allegations. Kelly pleaded not guilty last month to 10 counts of felony aggravated sexual abuse of young girls.
Here's R. Kelly in an interview with Gayle King of CBS News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
R. KELLY, SINGER ACCUSED OF SEXUAL ABUSE: Use your common sense. Don't -- forget the blogs. Forget how you feel about me. Hate me if you want to and love me if you want to, but just your common sense.
How stupid would it be for me to -- with my crazy past and what I've been through -- oh, right now, I just think I need to be a monster and hold girls against their will. Chain them up in my basement and don't let them eat and don't let them out.
Quit playing, quit playing.
GAYLE KING, ANCHOR, "CBS THIS MORNING": Robert?
KELLY: I didn't do this stuff. This is not me. I'm fighting for my f***ing life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Prosecutors say the charges against Kelly span 1998 to 2010. He faces three to seven years in prison for each count if convicted.
ROMANS: Las Vegas the final stop on Melania Trump's 3-state tour to promote her "Be Best" initiative. The first lady getting personal during a town hall Tuesday on opioid addiction. She said she frequently talks to 12-year-old son Barron about the dangers of drugs.
No stranger to stories swirling around the White House, the first lady made this plea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELANIA TRUMP, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: I challenge the press to devote as much time to the lives lost and the potential lives that could be saved by dedicating the same amount of coverage that you do to idle gossip or trivial stories.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Mrs. Trump shared the stage with former Fox News anchor Eric Bolling whose teenage son died of a drug overdose in 2017.
BRIGGS: All right, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:53:36] ROMANS: That's a city council meeting in Sacramento -- a little heated there days after the district attorney decided not to charge the police officers who shot and killed Stephon Clark.
You'll remember, he was unarmed and he was gunned down in his grandmother's backyard last year. Police say they thought they saw a gun flash. It turned out to be a cell phone.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is defending the D.A.'s decision not to charge these officers. He says evidence shows a basis for officers to believe they were in imminent danger.
The U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI will now be examining that case.
BRIGGS: Racing suspended indefinitely at California's famed Santa Anita Race Track. Twenty-one horses have died at Santa Anita since December. The latest, a 4-year-old filly who was injured while training at the track and had to be euthanized Tuesday.
Officials say the suspension will give a new consultant time to thoroughly inspect the racing surface.
Southern California has endured an unusually harsh rainy winter. Sixteen inches have fallen in Arcadia -- that's the home of the track -- since late December. The heavy rains could be a factor in the horse deaths.
ROMANS: Asbestos has been found in three cosmetic products from Claire's. The FDA advising consumers do not use the store brand eye shadows, compact power, and contour palette.
[05:55:05] Claire's, which sells makeup and accessories for teens and young children, frankly, says it has pulled the affected products along with any talc-based products. The company has disputed the FDA's findings, saying it mischaracterized fibers in the products, but it is pulling them nonetheless.
BRIGGS: An Air Canada pilot giving Sully a run for his money as the best ever. The captain ordered pizzas for passengers who were stranded on a snowy tarmac for eight hours.
The Air Canada flight left Toronto for Nova Scotia Monday night but bad weather forced the plane to be diverted to Fredericton, New Brunswick.
The pilot ordered 23 pizzas and had them delivered right to the airplane's door. Passengers are praising the pilot to the skies for keeping them informed and fed.
Well, too bad you don't have $19 million lying around. If you did, you could have bought this -- the world's most expensive car. Bugatti promises only one will ever be made.
The premium carmaker gave it the imaginative La Voiture Noir, meaning the black car. It was sold to an anonymous buyer.
It recalls Bugatti's Type 57 SC Atlantic of the 1930s. Only four of those were ever made and they're among the most valuable cars on earth, costing upwards of $50 million bucks.
And if you're looking for something more in your price range, Bugatti's entry-level Chiron starts at just $3 million, Romans. ROMANS: Three million bucks.
BRIGGS: Three -- that ain't bad.
ROMANS: Three million bucks. I wouldn't even be able to try it, look at it, sit in it. Put in a frame on the mantle.
Let's a check on "CNN Business" this morning.
Global markets mixed. Investors are waiting for developments on a trade deal with China.
On Wall Street, futures are pointing slightly lower here. Stocks ended Tuesday basically unchanged. The Dow down about 13 points. The S&P and the Nasdaq also down just a little bit.
Strong retail earnings show, though, that the Americans -- you know, they're not tired of shopping just yet.
Target shares up five percent. It had the best year since 2005.
Kohl's shares jumped seven percent. Really strong holiday sales there as well.
Now, this afternoon, the president will take part in an American Workforce Policy advisory board meeting. Who's on that board? Top bosses from Walmart, Apple, Lockheed Martin, IBM, Visa, and Home Depot.
GE's stock sank after its CEO issued disappointing guidance for the year. During an industry conference, Larry Culp said GE won't generate any cash from its operations in 2019. That was enough to send the stock down more than five percent.
"The Wall Street Journal" reports GE will provide an update on financial -- its financial outlook to investors next on March 14th. GE lost $200 billion in stock market value in 2017 and 2018. All eyes on that turnaround -- that Culp turnaround and if they can -- they can make a go of it.
All right, Forbes has named a new youngest self-made billionaire and it's stirring up a little bit of controversy. Kylie Jenner takes the title at 21 years old. She dethrones Mark Zuckerberg. He got that title when he was 23.
Now, some argue Jenner can't be self-made. She comes from a wealthy family. She's riding the coattails of her famous half-sister, Kim Kardashian West.
According to Forbes' estimates, Jenner's cosmetic company is worth at least $900 million and she owns 100 percent of it.
BRIGGS: She has seven full-time employees -- a billionaire -- impressive. Is she self-made?
ROMANS: I say yes. BRIGGS: Yes.
All right, 19 million views for the trailer of the final season of "GAME OF THRONES" on YouTube. No spoilers here but while you were sleeping, Stephen Colbert used this trailer as inspiration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're coming. Maybe one document request in the expanding Trump probe. A daring attack launched by House Dems.
This spring, brace yourself. Subpoenas are coming. Shame of Thrones, the Final Season?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Shame of Thrones.
ROMANS: Dave Briggs, you have like seven seasons to catch up on before we have the big finale season coming up.
BRIGGS: I have not seen a single episode.
ROMANS: Oh my gosh. What world do you live in?
Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. It starts April 14th, I'm told -- the final season.
Here's "NEW DAY."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
I. TRUMP: The president had no involvement pertaining to my clearance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump pressured John Kelly to grant his daughter a security clearance against recommendations.
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: When you cannot get information, you cannot be a check. It's not some witch hunt.
D. TRUMP: Eighty-one people or organizations got letters. It's a disgrace to our country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Judiciary Committee has the right to look at all of this. I hope they just provide us with the documents.
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), TEXAS: This is all about setting up the stage for impeachment proceedings. That's pretty clear.
(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 Wednesday, March sixth, 6:00 here in New York.
It's my daughters' birthday today.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happy birthday, daughters.
CAMEROTA: Thank you very much.
END
