Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
New Zealand Prime Minister Bans Assault Weapons; Boeing 737 Max 8 Certification Under Investigation. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired March 21, 2019 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:31:13] JACINDA ARDERN, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand will ban all military style semiautomatic weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, New Zealand vows to outlaw assault weapons. Decisive action just six days after an attack that killed 50.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Was it ever safe to fly the Boeing 737 Max? The Department of Justice is now on the case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted. I don't care about this. I didn't get thank you. That's OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: He just can't let it go. For the fourth time in five days, the president tramples on John McCain's grave.
BRIGGS: And Robert Kraft wants video and other evidence from his solicitation case kept under wraps.
Welcome back to EARLY START on a Thursday. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: It is Thursday.
BRIGGS: It's almost Friday as you prefer to call it.
ROMANS: OK. I'll take that. That's right. 32 minutes past the hour. I'm Christine Romans. Nice to see you all this morning.
Swift, decisive action from the prime minister of New Zealand less than a week after 50 people were slaughtered in two Christchurch mosques. Jacinda Ardern is overhauling her country's gun laws.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARDERN: New Zealand will ban all military style semiautomatic weapons. We will also ban all assault rifles. We will ban all high capacity magazines. We will ban all parts with the ability to convert semiautomatic or any other type of firearm into a military style semiautomatic weapon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Prime Minister Ardern also announcing a buy-back program to encourage New Zealanders who own automatic weapons to surrender them.
Want to go live to Christchurch and bring in CNN's Ivan Watson.
This is swift action. Only 72 hours after this awful, awful double attack here, they were already talking about this.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Already talking about it and now six days later announcing this ban which will have to be made into law and we'll see whether or not it passes through parliament sometime in mid-April. But it has been fast, they have not even buried all of the victims from last Friday's terrorist attacks here in Christchurch. And they have already moved forward and the prime minister thinks she's got the support of the people behind her. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARDERN: We as a government feel absolutely confident that the vast majority of New Zealanders will support this change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: So how is this going to work exactly? They say that the buy- back scheme could cost anywhere between $70 million and $140 million U.S. Anybody who had one of these guns that is now considered illegal as of 3:00 in the afternoon, well, they're not automatically a criminal.
There's an amnesty period, there's a transition period. There is supposed to be an online registration Web site with the police that will be active the government says by Wednesday so they can start registering to start returning these weapons.
There are a lot of weapons. We don't know how many fit into this category, but there are at least 1.2 million firearms in New Zealand according to police statistics. So this could be quite a big project that they are about to undertake. But a dramatic one as well.
The suspected terrorist had a gun permit here. All of the weapons that he had in the shooting were acquired legally, though they had been modified to make them illegal and the prime minister says that's what she wants to never see happen in this country again -- Dave, Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Ivan Watson for us in Christchurch, thank you.
BRIGGS: Was the Boeing 737 Max 8 ever safe to fly? The Justice Department has issued several subpoenas into Boeing certification and marketing of the 737 Max line. [04:35:03] The FAA and others say data from the Lion Air crash in
October is similar to the Ethiopian Airlines crash last week. A criminal investigation seeking answers on two accidents that killed hundreds.
Justice correspondent Evan Perez with the latest from Washington.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, Justice Department prosecutors have issued multiple subpoenas as part of an investigation into Boeing's certification and marketing of 737 Max aircraft. Now this is the plane that's been involved in two fatal crashes in less than six months. Sources tell us that the investigation is in its early stages and that it began after the Indonesia crash, of Lion Air 737 Max in October.
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao this week also asked the agency's inspector general to investigate the Max certification. Criminal investigators have sought information from Boeing on the plane's safety and certification procedures including training manuals, pilots, along with how the company marketed the new aircraft.
Now it's not clear what possible criminal laws could be at issue in the probe. Among the things that investigators are looking into is the process by which Boeing itself certified the plane is safe and the data that it gave to the FAA about that self-certification. A Boeing spokesperson said that the company does not respond or comment on questions regarding legal matters.
Now the planes have been grounded worldwide after the crash last week of a Max aircraft operated by Ethiopian Airlines -- Christine, Dave.
ROMANS: All right. Evan, thank you so much for that.
You know, President Trump is on the road and on the attack. The focus of his trip to Ohio Wednesday was supposed to be jobs and national security. Instead it was pure Festivus. The airing of Trump grievances started even before the president left Washington. His first target, the special counsel. Trump says he doesn't mind if the Mueller report is made public even though he thinks it shouldn't exist in the first place.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: No collusion. No collusion. I have no idea when it's going to be released. It's interesting that a man gets appointed by a deputy, he writes a report. You know, never figured that one out. Somebody is going to write a report who never got a vote. So we'll see what the report says. Let's see if it's fair.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: OK. From Mueller to the next on the list, George Conway. Earlier on Twitter the president called the attorney and husband of Kellyanne Conway, a stone cold loser and the husband from hell. Conway who questioned the president's mental fitness tweeted a simple response, "You. Are. Nuts." But the president wasn't finished. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He is a whack job, there's no question about it, but I really don't know him. He -- I think he's doing a tremendous disservice to a wonderful wife. Kellyanne is a wonderful woman and I call him Mr. Kellyanne.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Be best, Mr. President. Mrs. Conway for her part siding with her boss, the president, telling "Politico," "Trump left it alone for months out of respect for me, but you think he shouldn't respond when somebody, a nonmedical professional, accuses him of having a mental disorder? You think he should just take that sitting down?"
Then later during a speech, that speech in Ohio, the president once again refused to let Senator John McCain rest in peace.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So I have to be honest. I've never liked him much. Hasn't been for me. McCain didn't get the job done for our great vets and the V.A. I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted, which as president I had to approve. I don't care about this, I didn't get thank you. That's OK. We sent him on the way. But I wasn't a fan of John McCain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Silence in that room. Military vets among the crowd. At least one Republican senator, Johnny Isakson, has had enough of the president's attacks on McCain calling his days of comments deplorable. Lindsey Graham, McCain's best friend in the Senate, who has been mostly silent now says President Trump's comments hurt the president more than McCain's legacy.
ROMANS: All right. Ford is investing big bucks into electric and self-driving cars. Ford announced a $900 million investment at its plant in Flat Rock, Michigan. It plans to add about 900 jobs in the state. It's investing $850 million to produce electric cars. $50 million is the amount for self-driving technology.
The announcement comes after Tesla debuted its second electric SUV, the Tesla Model Y over the weekend. Now Ford has teased a possible electric Mustang-inspired crossover, the same time Musk began his Model Y event, tweeting, "Hold your horses," with a simple image of the famous sports car's pony logo outlined in blue against a black backdrop.
Ford already working on another pure electric vehicle. The still unnamed SUV will be as assembled at a plant in Mexico starting next year.
[04:40:02] BRIGGS: Former White House communications director Hope Hicks plans to turn documents over to the House Judiciary Committee as it investigates potential obstruction of justice. Cooperation by President Trump's longtime confidant comes amid a growing number of investigations of the White House run by House Democrats. It comes after the White House ignored a couple of congressional deadlines.
ROMANS: House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler says his committee has had substantial responses from many people it subpoenaed. He warned the White House not to stonewall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JERRY NADLER (D), CHAIRMAN, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: It's fundamental law that executive privilege cannot hide misconduct. You cannot use the executive privilege to hide misconduct by the president or anybody around him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: During closed-door testimony last year Hicks was pressed on whether she ever lied for the president. She admitted she had told what amounted to white lies.
BRIGGS: That should be interesting.
OK. Ahead, would you rather see a high fence or what's behind it? We'll explain why this is suddenly on full display in Santa Rosa.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:45:15] BRIGGS: New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft could make an appearance at the White House before he makes an appearance in Florida court to face solicitation charges. According to "Politico," President Trump wants Kraft to join his players at the White House to celebrate the Pats' Super Bowl victory. No date has been set but White House aides are concerned Kraft's presence could turn a feel- good photo-op into an embarrassing media spectacle.
ROMANS: Attorneys for Kraft and more than a dozen other defendants charged in a prostitution sting at a Florida day spa filed a motion asking that evidence including surveillance video from the spa not be released to the public. Meantime a source says Kraft will not accept a plea deal from Florida prosecutors. They offered to drop charges in exchange for an admission he would have been found guilty at trial. Kraft has strongly denied taking part in any illegal activity.
BRIGGS: The former owner of the Florida massage parlor at the center of the Kraft case denies selling access to President Trump to Chinese investors. The "Miami Herald" reports Cindy Yang arranged for a large group of Chinese business leaders to attend a New York fundraiser for the president in 2017 as her guests. Now four top Democrats want the FBI to investigate possibly illegal foreign lobbying. But Yang tells NBC News none of the allegations are true.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY YANG, FORMER OWNER, ORCHIDS OF ASIA DAY SPA: Nobody else have happened, only me. And simply because I'm Chinese and, you know, Chinese Republican. That's the issue. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Yang sold her interests in the massage parlor chain years ago. She was not affiliated with the business when it was busted by police last month.
ROMANS: Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin says he deliberately exposed his nine children to chickenpox. Those kids are between 5 and 16 years old. He says he supports parents who choose to get their kids vaccinated, but he said the decision should not be up to the government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. MATT BEVIN (R), KENTUCKY: Every single one of my kids had the chickenpox.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BEVIN: They got the chickenpox on purpose because we found a neighbor that had it and I went and made sure every one of my kids was exposed to it then they got it. They had it as children. They were miserable for a few days and they all turned out fine. This is America and the federal government should not be forcing this upon people. They just shouldn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The CDC says each year more than 3.5 million cases of chickenpox are prevented by the vaccination.
BRIGGS: A hate crimes investigation under way in Massachusetts after 59 graves at a Jewish cemetery were recently vandalized. Police found swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti at the Fall River cemetery. Gravestones were also defaced using a black marker, some were even pushed over. A local paper reports the graves were marked with words like "Heil Hitler" and "Hitler was right." One was reportedly tagged with "Oy vey. This is MAGA country."
ROMANS: Teenagers and young adults with ADHD could face double the risk of psychosis depending on which medication they are prescribed. According to a study in the "New England Journal of Medicine," young people who are given amphetamines such as Adderall are at a much higher risk than those who take stimulants like Ritalin.
Current guidelines recommend either of those drugs as a first line of treatment for ADHD. Young people are four times more likely to receive a prescription for amphetamines in 2015 than they were in 2004, but one expert notes that psychosis is thankfully a rare -- a rare side effect using either class of drugs.
BRIGGS: The mom behind a popular YouTube channel has been arrested for mistreating her kids including pepper-spraying them when they flubbed their lines. Prosecutors in Arizona charging Michelle Hobson with crimes including child molestation and abuse. An adorable cast of adopted kids helped her "Fantastic Adventures" channel rack up more than 250 million views before YouTube pulled it down following Hobson's arrest.
ROMANS: A welfare check last week found she withheld food, she withheld water for days at a time. She punished the kids by forcing them to take ice baths. She locked them in an empty closet. Police say Hobson denied punishing the kids beyond spankings, grounding them or making them stand in a corner. Hobson's adult sons Logan and Ryan Hackney, they also appeared in those videos. Now they've been charged with failing to report that abuse.
BRIGGS: Police in South Korea say some 1600 people were secretly filmed in their motel rooms and the footage live-streamed for paying customers to watch. Two men have been arrested. The scheme involved 42 rooms and 30 motels and 10 cities. Cameras were hidden inside digital TV boxes, wall sockets and hair dryer holders. No indication that the motels themselves were involved.
[04:50:02] ROMANS: The "Devin Nunes Cow" Twitter account now has more followers than the congressman. An avid Trump defender who suited the parody account which claims to be hanging out on the dairy at Iowa looking for the little treasonous cowpoke. Before Nunes sued, the account had about 1,000 followers. It now has well over half a million. Nunes' verified Twitter account only has 396,000 followers.
The congressman filed a $250 million lawsuit Tuesday accusing the cow account, Twitter and two other users of defamation. He wants the operators of @DevinCow and @DevinNunesMom unmasked. Legal experts say he has zero case.
BRIGGS: Devin Nunes Mom account was suspended.
When a neighbor complained in the city of Santa Rosa about the height of Jason Windus' fence, the California man decided to cut it down to avoid a hefty fine but it did not stop there. After he sawed it in half, he decided his nosy neighbor needed something to look at.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON WINDUS, HOMEOWNER: I guess the average person would have -- would call for resentment and get all angry and I threw a naked party in my yard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
BRIGGS: That's right, Jason set up a display of naked mannequins at a garden party. And why not? There's even a front row seat sitting empty for his neighbor.
ROMANS: A bizarre streak of lights spotted over downtown Los Angeles lit up social media. There was of course lots of speculation over what that was. Was it an alien?
BRIGGS: Wow.
ROMANS: Was it a meteor? It turns out it was just a pair of wing suit flyers sponsored by Red Bull that left the trail of flames. The LAPD immediately tweeted assuring folks it was not a fireball crashing into town. Instead they made it clear it was all just part of a film shoot.
BRIGGS: Well played, Red Bull.
ROMANS: All right. We're going to talk about the parade of IPOs, Unicorns on parade at the New York Stock Exchange. We have CNN Business next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:56:29] ROMANS: All right. Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning. Global stock markets are pretty much mixed after the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates steady. On Wall Street, looking at futures, futures are down a little bit here. Nasdaq futures are up a tiny bit.
The Fed day celebration on Wall Street proved to be short lived Wednesday. The Dow closed down 142 points. Fed officials signaled no interest rate hikes at all this year until 2020. Stocks initially rallied on the decision but then they fell. The S&P 500 declined slightly, the Nasdaq closed with a small gain. Bank stocks fell on concerns about the weaker growth outlook and a flatter yield curve.
And new this morning China's Ministry of Commerce announced a U.S. trade delegation will be in Beijing for two days of talks on March 28th. The ministry also announced a Chinese delegation will be in Washington in early April.
U.S. oil prices hit a milestone Wednesday. Oil briefly touched 60 bucks a barrel for the first time since November. Crude closed 1.4 percent higher. The rebound reflects the effectiveness of a strategy by the Saudi Arabia-led OPEC. The oil cartel and its allies including Russia agreed last year to sharp production cuts in response to a supply glut formed in part by surging U.S. energy output.
The spike in oil prices now having an impact at the gas pump. The national average price for a regular gallon a gas, $2.55 per gallon. Last week that's up about 12 percent this year.
A unicorn parade is coming. Lyft, Uber, Pinterest, Slack, Airbnb, all headed for the IPO market this year. Alan Patricof said the initial stock price of those companies will be driven by excitement and will take a while to settle. Lyft is set to begin trading as soon as next week. The ride-sharing company set a price range that will value at about $20 billion. Patricof told me amateur investors will likely buy in the latest round of big named IPOs because people want to own a piece of America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALAN PATRICOF, CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, GREYCROFT: It's going to be an interesting time. It's going to get the public more involved in the markets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. So get ready for that. A lot of incentives --
BRIGGS: But should we?
ROMANS: Well, I always said you need to wait. No, I --
BRIGGS: OK.
ROMANS: I always advise -- and look, he is an early stage investor, Greycroft is his firm. He's an early stage investor so he invests way before it finally comes to the public so --
BRIGGS: And that's usually how these things work. Right?
ROMANS: Yes. Right.
BRIGGS: All right. EARLY START continues right now with action on guns in New Zealand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARDERN: New Zealand will ban all military style semiautomatic weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Breaking overnight, New Zealand vows to outlaw assault weapons. Decisive action just six days after an attack that killed 50.
BRIGGS: Was it ever safe to fly the Boeing 737 Max? The Department of Justice is on the case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I gave him the kind of funeral that he wanted. I don't care about this. I didn't get thank you. That's OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: He can't let it go. For the fourth time in five days, the president tramples on John McCain's grave.
BRIGGS: And Robert Kraft wants video and other evidence from his solicitation case kept under wraps.
Good morning, welcome to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs. Good morning.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. Good morning, everyone. It is Thursday, March 21st, it is 5:00 a.m. in the East.
A swift decisive action from the prime minister of New Zealand less than a week after 50 people were slaughtered in two Christchurch mosques. Jacinda Ardern is overhauling her country's gun laws.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARDERN: New Zealand will ban all military style semiautomatic weapons. We will also ban all assault rifles.
[05:00:00]
