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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Troops U.S. Service Members Killed In Afghanistan; Robert Mueller Has Washington On Edge In Anticipation Of Report; White House Officials Using Personal E-mail; European Union And U.K. Leaders Set Plan To Avoid Brexit Crash; Mississippi Governor Signs New Abortion Ban. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired March 22, 2019 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:31:57] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, two U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan as efforts to ramp up ending that 17-year war to a close.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Do family tours and staff departures mean the special counsel is done? The Mueller watch. New indications that report could go to the attorney general at any time.

BRIGGS: Jared Kushner using an encrypted WhatsApp to communicate with foreign leaders. Why his attorney says it's not a problem.

ROMANS: And for the second time in a year, Mississippi trying to ban abortions before some women even know they have a baby on the way.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs, 5:32 Eastern time on a Friday.

Breaking overnight, two U.S. service members were killed while conducting an operation in Afghanistan. Information still coming in at this hour.

National security reporter Ryan Browne joining us live from Washington. Ryan, good morning. What are we learning?

RYAN BROWNE, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Well, morning, Dave.

Details are still very scarce right now as exactly what happened in this case. We are being told by officials in Kabul that the incident is under investigation -- two U.S. service members being killed.

This is just the third and fourth U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan this year. And it really underscores that despite the talks between the U.S. -- the Trump administration and the Taliban -- talks that some officials have shed a positive light on, saying they're making progress. Despite those talks, fighting continues.

There's still active fighting between the Taliban and the Afghan government. The U.S. is advising the local Afghans in that fight. There's also al Qaeda and ISIS affiliates that the U.S. is also fighting there. So a lot of active combat still going on.

Afghanistan just celebrated its New Year's celebration so that's also a time when fighting tends to uptick a little bit.

But again, the Trump administration has told the military to begin planning for a possible drawdown should these talks with the Taliban progress. However, these most recently incidents and these U.S. troops dying in an operation over there just really underscores how challenging a situation this is.

And even those talks between the U.S. government and the Taliban have opened up a rift between the U.S. and its local Afghan allies who have complained that they're feeling left out of this process.

So again, a very complex situation and it will be difficult to see where it goes from here -- Dave.

BRIGGS: And 2,200 U.S. troops killed in our longest war.

Ryan Browne live in D.C., thank you.

ROMANS: Also breaking overnight, another sign things are going south with North Korea. Pyongyang is pulling out of the joint liaison office it opened last year with South Korea. The statement from the South said Seoul was notified the North is pulling out with instructions from the superior authority, meaning presumably, Kim Jong Un.

Now, the timing here critical. This move comes after the U.S. slapped two Chinese firms with sanctions for doing business with Pyongyang. Now, those sanctions the first move by the White House against North Korea since the second summit between Kim and President Trump in Hanoi ended with no agreement.

All right. Robert Mueller has the White House and the world on edge this morning. The special counsel appears close to delivering his final Russia report. Everyone is watching his every move

[05:35:04] Inside the Beltway, players and the president's lawyers are on alert and here's why.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz pointing out that members of Mueller's team are bringing family members to the office for visits. Some staff members are carrying out boxes. The top prosecutor is leaving for another assignment. Plus, the special counsel's grand jury has not been seen in two months.

BRIGGS: When Mueller does file his report it could take weeks for most Americans to find out what he learned. The special counsel is required to hand over his report to Attorney General Bill Barr in advance. The Justice Department would then share portions with the White House.

CNN reported this week the White House wants to review it before lawmakers do to claim executive privilege where it warrants. ROMANS: The White House legal team working on the Russia probe has already prepared responses to whatever becomes public based on several potential scenarios.

Sources tell CNN there also appears to be a sense of relief within this White House that they managed to navigate this entire Mueller probe without the president ever sitting down for a face-to-face interview.

Let's bring in CNN digital director Zach Wolf, live in Washington this morning for us.

Zach, I love the pictures of Mueller with his baseball cap, arriving to work. It's as if this is a Washington watch like I have never seen.

And then there's from Stephen Collinson. Our colleague posted a piece that I think is going to be viewed widely today. "Mueller has Washington on edge" -- he writes this. "The sound of silence is driving Washington to distraction."

There is this feeling that we are almost there. Imminent is a word you hear every news organization talking about.

But what are we going to get? We're going to get what the special counsel submits to the attorney general that is scrubbed by the White House for executive privilege, and then presented to Congress, and then presented to the public?

ZACHARY WOLF, DIGITAL DIRECTOR, "CNN POLITICS": Yes, we're going to -- we're going to wait until we have to wait a little bit more or maybe a lot more. Who knows?

I mean, essentially, as I understand it, the attorney general feels as though he might essentially rewrite the whole report in his own words. So, you know, I'm sure that could take some time.

He'll have a version for essentially, the White House, that Mueller gives. And then, they'll have a version for the public and for Congress. And that's going to create a whole new fight or a whole new drama here as we try to see what they hide or what they change before releasing it publicly.

BRIGGS: And, Rod Rosenstein, who oversaw the investigation and acknowledged in the past week that he's going to stay longer than expected. He ramped down expectations just about a month ago, explaining what we might or might not see.

WOLF: Yes, the --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROD ROSENSTEIN, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: There's a knee-jerk reaction that suggests that we should be transparent about what we do in government, but there are a lot of reasons not to be transparent about what we do in government. If we aren't prepared to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt in court, then we have no business making allegations against American citizens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: How does that tamp down expectations for what we might see?

WOLF: Well, if -- you know, as Katelyn Polantz reported there, if the grand jury hasn't been seen it doesn't seem like they're bringing any new court cases through the Mueller report. So they won't be making any new cases in the Mueller report.

But again, who knows? We just have to see it or see what they'll let us see of it before we can -- we can -- we can know what it says.

ROMANS: Let me ask you about this reporting that Jared Kushner -- Jared Kushner and others -- Ivanka Trump and others in this administration have been using encrypted apps, like WhatsApp, in Jared Kushner's case or personal e-mail to conduct foreign policy -- to talk with foreign leaders.

In Jared Kushner's case, in particular, his lawyer says not a big deal. He takes screenshots of his WhatsApp messages and then sends them to the National Security Council or sends them to his own White House e-mail.

I'm sorry --

BRIGGS: A head-scratcher.

ROMANS: "Lock her up" was a theme of the -- of the movement that led Donald Trump into office, but his own administration is using private e-mail.

WOLF: Incredible, and CNN has reported on this in the past. I think we reported last -- back in October that Kushner was using WhatsApp to communicate with the Saudi Crown Prince, who is essentially the leader of that country, and you'll recall was involved in the -- essentially leading to the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

So, you know, he's talking to these people. Nobody knows what they're talking about, essentially. We're assuming that he's taking these screengrabs and then forwarding them to his White House account.

ROMANS: Well, why not just use your White House account? I don't understand.

BRIGGS: Yes, it begs the question.

WOLF: Yes. I mean -- I mean, unless you want to -- you want to have off-the-record conversations with the Saudi Crown Prince because you're dealing with Middle East peace and you want --

ROMANS: But isn't that -- but isn't that what the Presidential Records Act is for -- to make sure that these things are recorded?

WOLF: Exactly, precisely.

ROMANS: Right.

WOLF: And, you know, I think -- but administrations have long tried to find ways around this.

ROMANS: Right.

WOLF: That's why you have Bobby Kennedy going around finding secret locations to meet with Russians.

BRIGGS: Right.

[05:40:00] WOLF: It's like these things maybe have to happen in order for diplomacy to occur. But using WhatsApp is a really weird way to do it, particularly after using it so -- like a bludgeon on Hillary Clinton in the -- in the -- in the campaign.

BRIGGS: Right. And it was just 24 hours ago that Charles Kushner, Jared's dad, wrote in "The Washington Post" -- "We are voluntarily adhering to the strictest standards to avoid even the appearance of conflicts."

WOLF: Right.

BRIGGS: He really wrote that in "The Washington Post" -- not "The Onion".

All right. Zach Wolf, thanks for being here live in D.C. this morning.

ROMANS: Keep waiting. Call us if you see anything happening on the -- on the Mueller probe today, all right?

BRIGGS: Yes.

WOLF: Oh, you'll be my first call.

ROMANS: All right, thank you.

BRIGGS: Waiting for Mueller and keeping up with the Conways.

ROMANS: I know. What is imminent?

BRIGGS: Reality shows.

ROMANS: How imminent is imminent?

BRIGGS: All right. This weekend, Trumpworld will be remembered for the president's incessant attacks on the late Sen. John McCain.

In an interview Thursday with "FOX BUSINESS," he slammed the deceased war hero again, calling McCain "horrible" for his 2017 vote against a measure to repeal Obamacare. And, claiming the Arizona Republican gave the FBI an explosive dossier on alleged Trump ties to Russia for, quote, "very evil purposes."

The president adding this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA BARTIROMO, ANCHOR, FOX NEWS "MORNINGS WITH MARIA": But, Mr. President, again, he can't punch back. I know you punch back, but he's dead.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I don't talk about it. People ask me the question. I didn't bring this up, you just brought it up. You asked the question.

BARTIROMO: Well, you talked about it this week.

TRUMP: You asked me the question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Fact-check here. President Trump went after McCain unsolicited twice on Twitter last weekend and did it again this week during a speech in Ohio that was intended to focus on the economy and national security.

ROMANS: I mean, Maria did ask him the question. She asked him the question because he has made this an issue.

And there are many who are like why did this come up this weekend? Why did this come up? What was the trigger for him on McCain again this weekend?

BRIGGS: It was a Fox report --

ROMANS: I see.

BRIGGS: -- about this dossier.

ROMANS: I see.

BRIGGS: The president won't let this go.

ROMANS: No, he will not.

BRIGGS: Not anytime soon.

ROMANS: All right.

Facebook is sorry -- sorry, again. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. This time, because millions of your passwords were exposed.

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[05:46:28] ROMANS: All right, welcome back.

Another "we're sorry" from Facebook. This time, from its handling of the passwords for hundreds of millions of its users. Facebook said it didn't properly mask their passwords and stored them in an internal database that staff had access to. A Facebook vice president says this. "The passwords were never visible to anyone outside of Facebook, and there's no evidence anyone abused them."

Now, it's been a year of constant issues for Facebook -- cybersecurity concerns, regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. and even more in Europe, and a lengthy outage last week.

At the same time, misinformation about vaccines is appearing on Facebook and Instagram weeks after the site said they would try to minimize that content. Earlier this month, Facebook said it would reduce the ranking of groups and pages that spread misinformation about vaccines by not including them in the recommendations or in predictions when users type a search.

But, two weeks later it is still an issue. A "CNN Business" review showed Facebook still recommending content in the search bar that linked vaccines with autism -- a false conspiracy theory.

Global markets are mixed amid Brexit concerns. On Wall Street, taking a look, we see futures pointing lower. I guess we're not going to see that but I can promise you they're pointing lower.

Stocks had a good day -- there we go -- that's in Europe. Those are world markets. London, Paris, Frankfurt, all down.

And there we go. Dow futures are down about 136 points so -- but it was a good day yesterday. The Dow closed up 217. The S&P advanced; so did the Nasdaq.

Apple closed up four percent ahead of a major product announcement on Monday. Apple is up nine of the past 10 days.

Biogen, though, plunged 29 percent after halting trials about what was a promising Alzheimer's treatment. A big disappointment there. That was the worst day since February 2005.

BRIGGS: All right. Speaking of business, a reprieve for the U.K. this morning, at least temporarily.

The European Union has extended the Brexit deadline to avert the prospect of Britain crashing out without a deal next Friday, but there are conditions.

International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson standing by at 10 Downing Street in London this morning with a look at what has to happen now. Nic, good morning.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, good morning, Dave.

Very tough conditions, essentially. What the European Union is saying to Theresa May is get the deal passed in the House of Parliament and you can have an extension until the 22nd of May to sort out all the sort of legal details that need -- that need to be, you know, put in place for Britain to leave the European Union. But they're saying if you don't get that deal voted through, then you need to come clean and tell us what you're going to do by the 12th of April. The European Union is saying still on the table is a deal, is a no-deal, is a very long extension. We're talking about the possibility of a couple of years or revoking the Brexit -- revoking Brexit plans completely.

Theresa May has really ruled out the long extension. Ruled out revoking the -- revoking the vote for Brexit, if you will. Those are off the table as far as she's concerned.

And the reality of what's left is where we were at the beginning of this week -- where we were last week when Theresa May lost the vote by 149 votes.

The European Union is not putting anything additional on the table. She doesn't have anything actually to come back from Brussels with to convince Parliamentarians to vote for this.

So, in essence, we're back to where we were. It was going to be deal or no deal by next Friday. That's moved a couple of weeks down the road. A huge amount of concern in the U.K. about that, Dave.

[05:50:00] BRIGGS: But no workable roadmap ahead.

Nic Robertson live for us at 10 Downing. Thank you.

We'll be right back.

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ROMANS: All right, important information for your refrigerator. Tyson Foods is recalling more than 69,000 pounds of frozen chicken strip products. They could contain pieces of metal.

The chicken strips were produced on November 30th, 2018.

There are three varieties -- 25-ounce bags of Buffalo-Style Chicken Strips, and Chicken Breast Strip Fritters with rib meat and Buffalo Sauce. And, 20-pound cases of Buffalo-Style Chicken Strips may also be contaminated. All have a "best if used by" date of November 30th, 2019.

[05:55:03] You can find more information at cnn.com.

BRIGGS: Several Indiana teachers complaining they were shot with plastic pellets during an active shooter drill. The State Teachers Association says the pellets caused welts and bleeding. The training took place in an elementary school back in January.

The union, in a Twitter statement, saying, quote, "No one in education takes these drills lightly. The risk of harming someone far outweighs whatever added realism one is trying to convey here."

Police say they were using an airsoft gun in the active shooter training but recently stopped. ROMANS: A lot of health concerns in the Houston suburb of Deer Park after the enormous chemical fire was finally put out. Now, residents were warned to shelter in place on Thursday after hazardous levels of the carcinogen benzene were detected in the air.

Dozens showed up at a mobile county health clinic a few miles from the fire site complaining about burning sensations, itchy eyes and skin, stuffy and bloody noses. The ITC chemical company and local agencies are conducting air and water quality tests.

Five school districts remained closed today.

BRIGGS: Mississippi now the latest state trying to ban abortions before some women even realize they're pregnant. Governor Phil Bryant signing a bill barring the procedure once a fetal heartbreak can be detected, as early as six weeks into pregnancy. The only exceptions are for a women's life or serious risk of impairment.

Abortion rights groups have already promised a court fight.

ROMANS: Not one state has managed to put a so-called heartbeat bill into lasting practice. Earlier this week, a judge stopped Kentucky's version from being enforced. Iowa's law was declared unconstitutional in January. Last November, a federal judge struck down a different Mississippi law banning abortion at 15 weeks.

More fallout from that college admissions scandal. UCLA men's soccer coach Jorge Salcedo resigns in the wake of bribery allegations. He's accused of accepting $200,000 to enroll two players in UCLA teams even though they did not play soccer competitively.

One of those students, Lauren Isackson, was a member of the women's team in 2017. She remains enrolled there.

Salcedo rose at UCLA from ball boy to coach. He guided the team to 14 NCAA tournaments and two national championship appearances.

BRIGGS: The Florida man who sent mail bombs to prominent Democrats and CNN's New York office pleading guilty to 65 felony counts, including using weapons of mass destruction in an attempted domestic terrorist attack.

Fifty-seven-year-old Cesar Sayoc sobbing in court, admitting his actions were wrong and intended to threaten or intimidate. None of these devices detonated and no one was injured.

Sayoc faces a maximum of life imprisonment when he's sentenced in September.

ROMANS: All right. Cameras in your car could be watching you, but one automaker says that's a good thing. Volvo says in-car cameras will keep an eye on drivers and take action if they seem distracted or impaired. The Swedish automaker says the cameras will be part of a system to slow vehicles and safely park them on the side of the road if drivers become incapacitated or their attention wanders for a long period.

An ACLU policy analyst tells "The Washington Post" Volvo needs to be transparent about exactly what these cameras monitor, and he said drivers should have a say in how the information is used.

BRIGGS: It was wall-to-wall madness on day one of the NCAA Tournament.

Jaw-dropping Ja Morant for 12 seed Murray State. The sophomore lit it up, dunking, driving, dishing. A triple-double, the first in the tourney since Draymond Green back in 2012.

And they pull off the big upset there. A lot of people had that one.

Next up, a record for Fletcher Magee of Wofford. A great sports name and even better jump shot. He set the all-time career record for three-pointers made in the NCAA with 505. That is a beautiful shot.

And, Christine Romans, I know you're psyched for 12 more hours of basketball.

ROMANS: I can't wait.

BRIGGS: The tip-off in just over six hours and your alma mater, Iowa State, will go past midnight.

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: A 9:50 tip.

ROMANS: No, I'm going to start with Iowa at noon -- 12:15 --

BRIGGS: That's right.

ROMANS: -- and then I'm going to end --

BRIGGS: That's right, Iowa State.

ROMANS: -- in Iowa State late tonight.

OK, thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Have a great weekend. Here's "NEW DAY".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: They are hopeful Mueller will not find that the president has committed any crimes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to see a real report about what the Russians did and with whom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The American public is going to expect transparency. If they hold too much back it's going to be a real problem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president didn't have any of his own officials there. We need to have an account of what was discussed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We hired Trump to be our chief negotiator. He is entitled to a great degree of executive privilege.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a responsibility to oversee and to hold this administration accountable, and we're going to do it.

(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.

END