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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

President Trump Tweets Dozens of Attacks Over The Weekend; New Zealand To Change Gun Laws After Mosque Attacks; Subpoenas Issued In Federal Probe Of 737 MAX. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired March 18, 2019 - 05:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:30:08] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The president spent his weekend veering from grievance to grievance, slamming his opponents -- even some allies. An epic weekend tweetstorm against the late John McCain, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" reruns, GM, and Fox anchors, just for starters.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Changes to gun laws already on the way in New Zealand after the mosque attacks. The White House forced to offer an unprecedented defense of the president after he refused to condemn white supremacy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICK MULVANEY, ACTING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: The president is not a white supremacist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And subpoenas have been issued as the feds probe the Boeing 737 MAX planes. New similarities between two jets that crashed in five months. An important development here.

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: Welcome back to EARLY START this Monday morning. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: It's great to have you back, my friend.

ROMANS: Thank you.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. It is 5:30 Eastern time.

St. Patrick's Day was Festivus in the White House. We'll get to that in a bit.

There is little, if any, doubt where the president's head is. He told us often. While allies mourn the attack in New Zealand, the President of the United States unleashed a Twitter barrage, extreme even by his own standards. The question is why? He was busy lurching among grievances -- GM, the auto workers union, "SNL" reruns, Hillary Clinton, Robert Mueller -- even Fox News and the late Sen. John McCain. That got a ton of pushback, so he did it again.

ROMANS: The president criticizing the late senator on Twitter for his ties to the controversial Russian dossier. President Trump also going after McCain for his vote against repealing Obamacare -- even calling him last in his class at Annapolis.

BRIGGS: A strong response from McCain's daughter, Meghan.

She tweeted, "No one will ever love you the way they loved my father. I wish I had been given more Saturday's with him. Maybe spend yours with your family instead of on Twitter obsessing over mine?"

President Trump is using the Oval Office to moonlight as a program director. Mr. Trump is urging Fox News to put Jeanine Pirro back on the air. Sources tell CNN the controversial host was suspended for Islamophobic remarks doubting the patriotism of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANINE PIRRO, HOST, FOX NEWS "JUSTICE WITH JUDGE JEANINE": Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Sharia law?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Pirro well-known for her full-throated defense of the president and attacks on his enemies. The president tweeting at Fox to bring back Jeanine Pirro and telling the network to "stop working so hard on being politically correct, which will only bring you down."

Before we get into why this happens, why do we discuss this? It's not because we want to, it's because this is the president's priorities. These are the president's thoughts. This is what he cares about.

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: This is what he's passionate about. We have to discuss it, not because we want to discuss it.

ROMANS: Well, let's talk about it this morning with Princeton University historian and professor Julian Zelizer. He's a CNN political analyst.

Look, while the world is mourning the worst terrorist attack in New Zealand history -- 50 people dead -- this is what's on the mind of the President of the United States. These grievances from one thing to another, even "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" reruns.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, HISTORIAN AND PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY; CO-AUTHOR, "FAULT LINES: A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1974": There are his priorities. This is unfiltered President Trump. It's certainly legitimate to understand what is he thinking?

Here's a moment of crisis, here's a moment of tragedy -- you know, there's a brief tweet and then he's back to the conspiracy theories to attacking Sen. McCain.

BRIGGS: Well, to your point, he tweeted once about the New Zealand shootings -- once.

ZELIZER: Yes.

BRIGGS: Sixty-three times over the weekend. And after that one tweet, 20 minutes later he was putting out there this new term "Jexodus" where Jews are leaving the Democratic Party. So it gives you a sense of his priorities.

But, Sen. John McCain -- he takes aim at McCain once again. And, Lindsey Graham sort of half-heartedly defends John McCain -- his best friend -- late best friend -- but doesn't really criticize the president.

Why is the president going after John McCain, and how do conservatives -- those who just want the tax cuts and the conservative judges -- how do they reconcile those attacks on an American hero who dedicated his life to this country?

ZELIZER: Well, the instinct part of why he does this is he's angry. He sees a story and he responds. And there's no filter to President Trump's bully pulpit.

The strategy is he is now connecting it to this conspiracy theory about a Washington that's out to get him. It's a deceased senator now connected to the Mueller investigation. You could almost see the logic of what he wants to talk about.

How do they justify it? This is partisanship. When you have really, really strong partisanship as you're seeing in the GOP right now, absolutely nothing will break it -- not even the president going after a deceased senator on these kind of spurious tweets.

ROMANS: You feel -- you feel for his family -- Sen. McCain's family. I mean, Meghan McCain had a very --

ZELIZER: Yes.

ROMANS: -- response that I think shows her anger that her dad keeps coming up us sort of this punching bag for the President of the United States.

[05:35:00] "No one will ever love you the way they loved my father. I wish I had been given more Saturday's with him. Maybe spend yours with your family instead of on Twitter obsessing over mine?"

It brings up what was he doing on St. Patrick's Day obsessing on Twitter? I mean, I go back to that in the beginning. Even some prominent conservatives were saying this is unnerving, that the president seems to be veering from one grievance to another so dramatically.

ZELIZER: Well, it is. I mean, there's the substance and how angry many people are, but there's also just the question of why is he doing this right now? Why is he spending so much time consumed on Twitter?

ROMANS: What's he worried about? I mean, it just --

ZELIZER: It's what he's worried about and that this becomes his executive time.

ROMANS: Right.

ZELIZER: We are literally dealing this weekend with something that happened overseas. It's horrific and the implications --

ROMANS: Horrible.

ZELIZER: -- here, but this is how he allocates very precious time.

It's not as if presidents are like the rest of us. They don't have all weekend to do what they want. They are working 24/7.

BRIGGS: But this was an easy one for the president.

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: Given this opportunity to condemn Islamophobia and to show support for the Muslims in New Zealand and around the world, this is what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Do you see today white nationalism as a rising threat around the world?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't, really. I think it's a small group of people that have very, very serious problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: That's his response.

And then, Mick Mulvaney asked about the response by Chris Wallace -- asked why doesn't the president give a speech condemning Islamophobia? Here's the surprising, stunning response from Mulvaney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MULVANEY: The president is not a white supremacist. I'm not sure how many times we have to say that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: OK, that's the acting chief of staff who was not asked that question. He was not asked if he's a white supremacist. What do you make of that response?

ZELIZER: Yes -- well, a very defensive response. It's hard to believe in presidential history this is where we are in 2019.

Part of it is about the lack of response from the president after the attack, but part of it's a bigger issue. What is the language the president has been willing to use from the campaign right from today that often resonates with white nationalists? And this has been a major source of criticism from Charlottesville to New Zealand.

And clearly, people in the administration are aware of it and they're thinking of it, and they'll answer it, even if that's not exactly what's asked.

BRIGGS: Yes, that's an unforced error.

ROMANS: I agree -- I agree.

I want to ask you about the "SNL" attack on -- reruns of "SNL," by the way.

ZELIZER: Right.

ROMANS: The president goes on to say, "Should the FEC or FCC look into this? There must be collusion with the Democrats." -- blah, blah, blah. I don't mean to say blah, blah, blah dismissively but it goes on.

Is he threatening a federal intervention of comedy shows because his feelings are hurt?

ZELIZER: Basically, it's bring back the fairness doctrine for comedy instead of news. And these kinds of attacks are silly in that that's not going to happen.

But it is a form of intimidation and that's why it has to be paid attention to. Going after the media -- all sorts of criticism -- is a standard part of his repertoire.

BRIGGS: And you see at the bottom of the screen there "Recorded from an earlier live broadcast." We know the president reads chyrons so that one he should have been able to --

ZELIZER: Yes.

ROMANS: The Christmas trees were a dead giveaway for me, but --

BRIGGS: Yes, yes.

ROMANS: -- it was a rerun.

BRIGGS: I did tweet out four examples of "SNL" mocking Democrats in the last four episodes if the president or anyone else wants to check those out. ZELIZER: But that doesn't matter to him. It's a caricature. It's a villain in his narrative, whether it's the comedians in New York, whether it's the newscasters, or whether it's the late Sen. McCain.

This is a world stacked up against him and his campaign. His presidency is about him and his followers -- his supporters fighting against all these different forces, and that's the story.

BRIGGS: It should be an interesting Monday, my friend.

Julian Zelizer, thanks for being here.

ROMANS: Thanks for coming on.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

BRIGGS: OK.

Cabinet officials in New Zealand agreeing in principle to toughen gun laws in the wake of the mosque attacks. According to the prime minister, the changes will be announced in about a week.

Family members bracing now for the agony of claiming the remains of their loved ones. The first body now released by New Zealand police.

Let's go live to Christchurch and bring in CNN's Ivan Watson -- Ivan.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Dave.

It's after 10:30 at night here on a Monday night and still, there are people coming to show their respects and affection and love for the Muslim community -- that tiny community of one percent of New Zealand's population that was so viciously targeted last Friday here in Christchurch.

And those shows of love have come from the highest levels of government -- from the prime minister of this country to ordinary people who continue to lay flowers, and light candles, and write handwritten signs saying "We love you. You are us."

The prime minister has announced that there will be new gun laws in response to the deadliest terror attack in New Zealand's modern history and that they'll come some 10 days after Friday's attacks on two mosques here in Christchurch.

[05:40:00] The police say that they believe this was the work of one suspected terrorist - a 28-year-old Australian named Brenton Tarrant, who appeared in a court here in Christchurch on Saturday facing, so far, just one count of murder. They say that they believe that both attacks on the two mosques were the work of this one man.

Now, one of the online shopping sites here, Trade Me, has announced that it is suspending -- at least, temporarily -- the sale of semiautomatic weapons.

Another company here called Gun City has confirmed that it sold four firearms to the suspect, all done legally. He had no previous criminal record and he did have a gun permit in this country.

As for the anguished families of the 50 people killed, most of them are still waiting to receive their loved ones back. It's a sign of how overwhelmed the authorities are dealing with so many dead and wounded -- Dave and Christine.

BRIGGS: Such a difficult scene. Ivan Watson there just before 11:00 p.m. in Christchurch. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right.

More trouble for Boeing after those two deadly crashes of the 737 MAX jetliners. "The Wall Street Journal" reporting a grand jury has issued a broad subpoena as two federal offices probe the development and approval of the jets.

Now investigations have found similarities -- this is so key here -- between the Ethiopian Airlines crash last week and the Lion Air accident last October, both involving that plane.

For the latest, let's turn to CNN's Richard Quest, live for us in Amsterdam. And that's just such a big development that there are similarities in the early moments of these doomed flights, Richard.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Absolutely, Christine, because this is the first official confirmation that there is a link in some way between the Lion Air crash last October and the Ethiopian just a week or so ago.

And that similarity, by the way, is all to do with the flight profile. It's to do with the dramatic altitude changes that were seen in the flights -- the different speed variations. The way the planes just simply did not either gain height or gain speed as a normal flight would.

Now, of course, the investigation has to go to the next stage and work out why there were, what happened, what were the similarities? What role did this so-called MCAS aviation play?

But importantly, Christine, also the authorities said that -- the Ethiopian authorities said they would prepare and produce the preliminary report, which they have to do by law within 30 days. And we will be watching very closely to see what recommendations they make about when the 737 MAX should be allowed to fly again.

ROMANS: Yes. How long does it look like these jets will be grounded? Do we have any idea?

QUEST: No, we don't. Boeing said in its statement last night that it had been working on a patch -- a fix for the plane. Boeing also said obviously, they're constantly revising the safety elements of that aircraft. So they're now waiting for permission to put the test into place.

But at the same time, as you just said at the beginning, the FAA is under investigation -- under scrutiny -- under serious question about how they certified the 737. So it begs the question when the certifiers are going to have to be investigated at the same time as the fix that they want to put in place. We're talking months, I'm guessing, before the 737 MAX flies again.

ROMANS: All right. Richard Quest for us in Amsterdam. Thanks, Richard.

BRIGGS: All right. Ahead, historic flooding in the Heartland. The death toll climbing. Hundreds in shelters after a national disaster in Nebraska.

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[05:49:00] BRIGGS: A top U.S. general denying reports the military may keep nearly 1,000 U.S. troops in Syria. His comments come in response to a "Wall Street Journal" report claiming the U.S. military was developing plan to keep up to half the present troop deployment in Syria. They would continue working with Kurdish fighters who face threats from Turkey.

In an unusual move, though, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford confirmed that U.S. and Turkey agreed to a quote "initial concept regarding some type of security arrangement along the Syrian-Turkish border."

ROMANS: A U.S. official told CNN up to 400 U.S. troops could stay in Syria but no final decision has been made. This follows the president's order in December to immediately draw down troops.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told Congress in late January ISIS maintained a presence in Syria despite the president's claim the militant group has already been defeated.

Let's get a check on "CNN Business" this morning.

In the dozens of aggrieved tweets this weekend, the president slammed General Motors, demanding GM reopen or sell the recently-closed plant in Lordstown, Ohio.

General Motors has responded. "To be clear, under the terms of the UAW-GM National Agreement, the ultimate future of the unallocated plants will be resolved between GM and the UAW."

The president had tweeted he spoke with the GM CEO Mary Barra about Lordstown on Sunday and he said he asked her to sell it or do something quickly, but that Barra blamed the UAW.

Now, the tweet was the third time President Trump took to Twitter to voice his frustrations about GM's plans to cut thousands of jobs and close some factories. Saturday, he suggested a new owner could manage the Lordstown plant with the quote, "Time is of the essence!"

Production at the Ohio plant ended earlier this month.

The president also criticized the local union president, David Green, telling him to get his act together and produce. Green did not respond to a request for comment.

GM said Sunday its main focus is offering employees jobs at other plants where they have growth opportunities.

Remember, the president, some months ago, had told those workers in Lordstown, don't sell your house. I'm going to --

[05:50:02] BRIGGS: Right.

ROMANS: -- make sure you keep your job.

BRIGGS: So why bring attention to that?

ROMANS: So this is a political -- a political moment for him.

All right, global stocks beginning the week a little bit higher here after a good week for U.S. markets. On Wall Street, futures are slightly higher. The Dow, Friday, up 139 points for the week.

Look at this -- the Dow rose 1.6 percent, the S&P 500 up almost three percent. The Nasdaq finished a strong 3.8 percent. And now, the S&P and the Nasdaq are at the highest since early October.

What to watch this week.

Wednesday, the Fed will make its latest rate decision. No rate hike is expected but the Fed chief Jerome Powell holds a press conference right after. That usually has lots of newsworthy headlines.

And then there's existing home sales for February. Those are released on Friday. You might remember that sales fell from December to January but some economists think they might have rebounded last month.

BRIGGS: OK. The death toll climbing in the historic flooding in the Heartland. Two people have died in Nebraska; one in Iowa.

Flooding in Nebraska has broken records in 17 places. About nine million people in 14 states along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers are under a flood warning. Major flooding on an Air Force base near Bellevue where about 30 buildings are completely flooded or partially.

Hundreds of people have been rescued and close to 700 are in shelters.

Warmer temperatures will melt snow and bring even more river flooding. Some rivers now forecast to crest at historic levels.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Dave and Christine.

Yes, and also a very quiet pattern shaping up when it comes to what we've had so far this winter and what is developing over the next couple of days. But as a result of some milder springlike temperatures -- yes, the

flooding beginning to take shape across some of the areas that have seen significant snowfall in recent weeks and recent months, especially you notice not just the Midwest but even down towards portions of the Mississippi River Valley. We're expecting flooding to take place as all of that water wants to continue its way downstream.

And a lot of this has to do with what's happening to the north where, Christine, ice jams take place. Essentially, ice and snow that is melting and making its way into the streams and rivers and getting blocked up by bridges and leading to flooding that are kind of allowing the rivers to burst their banks.

So, when you break everything down, we're talking about upwards of 300 gauges from the north to the south that are reporting flooding.

Temperatures in Chicago starting off on the cool side, around 43. New York City around 46 degrees.

But what happens here in the next couple of days is a significant warming trend. Look at Minneapolis climb up all the way into 60s, and Chicago also sees a similar trend with temps going back up to about 61 degrees -- guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: OK, Pedram, thanks.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:57:02] ROMANS: The killing of a reputed Gambino crime boss does not look to be mob-related. Police say the suspect, 24-year-old Anthony Camello, is in custody and will be charged with murder in the death of Frank Cali.

A police source tells CNN that Camello had some kind of relationship with one of Cali's family members. The mob boss apparently disapproved of this relationship and Camello took offense to that, which led to the shooting.

BRIGGS: A North Carolina man wanted in connection with his wife's death is in custody. He was captured on the other side of the country. Police say Rexford Keel, Jr. was arrested during a traffic stop near Tucson.

His wife, Diana, was reported missing earlier this month and found dead three days later.

Keel is charged with first-degree murder. Police say investigators are now taking a second look at the death of his first wife in 2006 that at the time was ruled an accident.

ROMANS: New guidelines advise against taking regular aspirin to prevent heart disease. Three recent studies found that for healthy, older adults, taking a daily low-dose aspirin is, at best, a waste of money -- at worst, may raise their risk of internal bleeding and early death.

Doctors -- many consider aspirin for certain high-risk patients, such as those who have trouble lowering cholesterol and managing blood sugars.

BRIGGS: The field for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament all set.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The overall number one seed is Duke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The Blue Devils are the tournament's number one overall seed. Other top seeds include Virginia in the South, North Carolina in the Midwest. It's just the second time three teams from one conference are one seeds. Gonzaga, the final top seed in the West Region.

The road to the Final Four begins with the first four Tuesday and Wednesday night in Dayton, Ohio on TruTV. I cannot wait, my friend.

ROMANS: Me, too -- and it's OK to pick your bracketology based on the color of the jerseys now.

BRIGGS: Don't overthink it -- absolutely. You'll probably beat me if that's the case.

ROMANS: I'll take Iowa State just because it's Iowa State.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Happy bracket Monday. Here's "NEW DAY."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MULVANEY: The president is not a white supremacist. I'm not sure how many times we have to say that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only thing that he can do is send out his surrogates while he stays home and tweets.

REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D), MICHIGAN: He needs to do better. He needs to speak up and condemn this very loud and very clearly.

JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: We cannot be deterred and our gun rules need to change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They want to bring division into our communities and they have failed woefully.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every victim has a story. That could have been me. That could have been you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Monday, March 18th, 6:00 here in New York.

Alisyn is off. Erica Hill joins me. You picked a doozy.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: You know, I just like to start the week off with a lot of excitement -- wow.

BERMAN: All right, what are we talking about? The president spent the weekend fighting with a dead senator and a television comedy rerun.

The president's supporters love to brag he's a counterpuncher. Well, he's a counterpuncher showing real lightning-fast reflexes this time.

END