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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

No Collusion, But No Exoneration; Congress Bitterly Divided Over Barr's Summary; Republican Celebrated Barr's Summary; Mueller Investigation Wraps Up; Second Parkland Student Dead Of Apparent Suicide; Boeing Sheds $40 Billion In Market Value; Viking Cruise Ship Docks In Norway. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired March 25, 2019 - 04:00   ET

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


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[04:00:00] DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- significant boots on the ground, Dave?

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN HOST: David McKenzie live for us in Johannesburg. Thank you. Early Start continues right now.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This was an illegal takedown that failed.

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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: No collusion. Maybe obstruction. Robert Mueller says the Trump campaign did not conspire with the Russians, but leaves one major question unanswered. Welcome to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. Thanks for joining Early Start, I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. It is Monday, March 25th, 4:00 a.m. in the East. It was 22 months investigation, it's boiled down to four pages and two words to the president mattered. No collusion. The takeaways from the Special Counsel investigations have now been made public in that four page letter from the Attorney General Bill Barr to Congress. The full Mueller report not public yet, if ever it sees the light of day, but the top headline, is the president has been saying from the start. Those two words, no collusion.

ROMANS: The Attorney General quoted Mueller saying the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities. That means no one will face charges for conspiring with the Russians. Even in that infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting, organized to obtained dirt on Hillary Clinton.

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TRUMP: It was a complete and total exoneration. It is a shame that our country had to go through this. To be honest, it is a shame that your president has had to go through this. This was an illegal takedown that failed. And hopefully somebody is going to be looking at the other side.

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BRIGGS: Looking at the other side. On the obstruction of justice question, the special counsel decided not to render judgment. Here is Barr again quoting Mueller, while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him. Mueller left the ultimate decision on obstruction to the Attorney General who was appointed by the president. Now, remember a year ago, Barr wrote a memo saying he considered the obstruction investigation, quote, fatally misconceived.

ROMANS: now, in the letter to Congress, Barr cleared the president of obstruction and leaned heavily on Mueller's findings about collusion to do so. He writes, "The absence of such evidence bears upon the president's intent with respect to obstruction." In other words, since there was no collusion with Russia, there could not be obstruction for firing the FBI director at the time, James Comey, even though President Trump said this.

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TRUMP: Regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey, knowing that there was no good time to do it. And in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story, it is an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Comey, himself, tweeted this pensive picture with these words, so many questions.

BRIGGS: A highly charged bitterly divided reaction in Congress to Barr's summation of the Mueller report. Sara Westwood is live from Washington with what comes next. Sara, good morning.

SARAH WESTWOOD, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDET: Good morning, Christine and Dave. And House Democrats are eager to hear from Attorney General Bill Barr themselves. House Judiciary Chairman, Jerry Nadler, said yesterday that he looks forward to hearing from Barr in the near future. They want to know why Barr concluded so quickly that President Trump did not commit obstruction.

That is what the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Intelligence and Oversight Committee said in a joint statement yesterday. They wrote it is unacceptable that after Special Counsel Mueller, spent 22 months meticulously uncovering the evidence, Attorney General Barr made a decision not to charge the president in under 48 hours, but even as the Democrats are skeptical of that part of Barr's letter to Congress Republican are emboldened by the fact that Mueller apparently concluded that there was no collusion between President Trump and Russia and there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia. Senator Lindsey Graham, atop ally of President Trump was in Florida

with Trump over the weekend, he wrote on Twitter, good day for the rule of law. Great day for President Trump and his team. No collusion and no obstruction. The cloud hanging over President Trump has been removed by this report.

And Doug Collins the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee said he hopes Democrats now drop their probes into President Trump although those lines of inquiry go far beyond the question of Russian collusion.

The House Judiciary Committee has issued subpoenas for 81 people and entities and not subpoenas, excuse me, requests for testimony or documents from 81 people and entities related to President Trump. Nadler says Democrats are prepared to use subpoenas to make people honor those requests.

[04:05:03] And House Judiciary Chairman, Nadler speaking both before and after the released Barr's letter did not seem ready to let the issue of collusion go. Said Congress will continue to press for answers. Take a listen.

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REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY), CHAIRMAN HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: President Trump is wrong. This report does not amount to a so-called total exoneration. The Attorney General's comments make it clear that Congress must step into get the truth and provide full transparency to the American people.

Obviously we know there was some collusion. There have been obstructions of justice. Whether they are -- clearly, whether they are criminal obstructions and other question. What Congress has to do is look at a broader picture. We are in charge -- we have the responsibility of vindicating -- protecting the rule of law, of looking at obstructions of justice, and looking at abuses of power and corruption.

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WESTWOOD: Now, White House adviser tells CNN that there are concerns that the president could overreach in this victory lap on the Mueller report which he has already begun taking, that the president could say something that could cause more trouble for him with the public. The president has a rally on Thursday in Grand Rapids, Michigan. So stay tuned for what else the president might have to say about the end of the Russia investigation. Christine and Dave.

BRIGGS: Thank you, Sarah. And just to note, that was before the report was made public, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, Republican senators both said they want to see the entire report. Have any Republicans, Sarah come out after it was released and said they want to see the entire thing?

WESTWOOD: There has been a theme throughout the responses of Democrats and Republicans that they do want to see the underlying evidence of why Mueller concluded what he did. And there has been for example from Senate majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, some concerns expressed about what Barr wrote in his letter that Russia clearly did interfere in the 2016 election and that they are in a position to do so again.

BRIGGS: And that is probably the most important thing to come out of this, but the fight will continue to your point, on both sides. Sarah, thanks.

Even with the report summary out, there are many lingering questions. Chief among them, why so much smoke if there was no fire. Court filings established senior Trump associates were eager to accept help from the Russians. Prosecutors zeroed in on Trump's one time chairman Paul Manafort and his extensive connections to Russia and including one associate with ties to Russian intelligence.

ROMANS: Manafort passed Trump campaign polling data to that associate while he was overseeing the Trump campaign. Prosecutors said that move was at the heart of their investigation.

BRIGGS: Nor has the smoke cleared around one Roger Stone. Mueller claimed Stone was coordinating with Trump campaign officials at the same time he talked to WikiLeaks about the release of emails stolen from Democrats. Still no official word which campaign officials were coordinating with Stone, although Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, tried to clear that up last month.

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MICHAEL COHEN, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S FORMER PERSONAL ATTORNEY: Stone told Mr. Trump that he had just gotten off the phone with Julian Assange and that Mr. Assange told Mr. Stone that within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton's campaign.

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ROMANS: Certainly the president sees this as being absolved by Mueller, but the investigation spawned by Mueller's probe brought down several members of Trump's inner circle, among 37 criminal defendants charged by Mueller, there had been seven who had pleaded guilty, including Manafort, his deputy Rick Gates, former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and Michael Cohen, he's longtime fixer and personal attorney. Cohen implicated the president in a hush money case spawned by the Mueller probe.

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COHEN: And for the record, individual number one is President Donald J. Trump.

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BRIGGS: And legal trouble still lurks for the president and his inner circle. Other investigations picking up momentum, among the targets, the Trump inaugural committee and the Trump organization and the president also being investigated for alleged insurance fraud. Even if there was no collusion, offshoots of the Mueller probe are just gaining steam.

Also important to keep in mind, what Mueller did uncover, the special counsel charging 12 Russian military officers in a sophisticated kremlin hacking operation against Democrats and 13 members of a Russian troll farm accused of trying to manipulate American voters on social media. Russia attacked our democracy and it remains a threat.

ROMANS: The president's nonstop witch hunt rhetoric may have made him the prime focus, but Russia interference is the core issue here. It was ambition -- ambitious rather and brazen and it is ongoing. The president has sided with Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence, but the entire intel apparatus agrees Moscow is not slowing down its interference campaign in American politics.

[04:10:01] BRIGGS: That is true, indeed. Ahead, for the second time in a week, the Parkland Florida community is in mourning. Two students commit suicide a year after the massacre that left classmates struggling to cope.

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BRIGGS: 4:14 Eastern Time, for the second time in a week, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student has died of an apparent suicide. The student has not been identified and it is unclear whether there was a direct connection to last year's massacre at the school. The Parkland community was already mourning the passing of Sydney Aiello. She lived through the school shooting, but suffered with survivor's guilt and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

ROMANS: CNN's Kaylee Hartung spoke with Ryan Petty. His son survived last year's tragedy, he's daughter did not.

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RYAN PETTY, DAUGHTER DIED IN PARKLAND SHOOOTING: There had been a number of resources including options for counseling, but unfortunately sometimes there are stigmas associated with getting help for mental illness, for depression and for anxiety for the trauma that they've all suffered.

[04:15:07] And so, unfortunately some students are not availing themselves of those opportunities and some parents are not understanding that the risks of anxiety and depression.

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ROMANS: If someone you know or you might be at risk of suicide, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

BRIGGS: CNN has learned pilots from the three American carriers that fly the Boeing 737 Max planes tested software upgrades in a simulator this weekend. The changes are intended to decrease the chances of triggering the system, believe to have played a role in the Lion Air crashed back in October. The FAA has said, there are similarities between that accident and the crashed in Ethiopian earlier this month. The updated software uses input from two sensors on the nose of the plane, rather than one. Boeing says quote, it is part of our ongoing effort to share more details about our plan for supporting the safe return of the 737 Max to commercial service.

ROMANS: Boeing under microscope is (inaudible) on Wall Street continue. The aircraft manufactures has shed more than $40 billion in market value since the fatal Ethiopian Airline crash on March 10th. The CEO Dennis Muilenburg said in a public letter last week, safety a top concern, he said this, ensuring safe and reliable travel on our airplane is an enduring value and our absolute commitment to everyone. The same time the world's largest airline said it plans to cancel flights, well, into April now, because of the 737 Max grounding American Airlines.

Since Sunday, it is canceling about 90 flight a day through April 24th. Before Sunday's announcement, it had only canceled flights through the end of March. Other carriers are not cancelling nearly that far out. Southwest Airlines is only canceling five days out at this point.

BRIGGS: And that was the wild scene aboard a Viking Sky Cruise ship which is now docked in Western Norway, after (inaudible) that included engine failure and 25-foot waves. Rescue teams air lifting 479 people from the vessel as it drifted in stormy seas on Saturday with 1300 passengers and crew on board. You see there the water rushing in to the ship where passengers were waiting to be evacuated.

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JAN TERBRUEGEN, AMERICAN PASSENGER: Furniture would slide across the room, slide back and with it came people and glass. It was a very dangerous situation frankly.

BETH CLARK, AMERICAN PASSENGER: The guy came down from the helicopter, one of the Coast Guards, snapped my belt and said hold it and shot me up about 100 feet in the air and on to the helicopter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Some vacation. 20 people suffered injuries. Viking has canceled the ship's next voyage to Scandinavia, and the Kiel Canal which had been scheduled to depart Wednesday.

ROMANS: Nebraska's historic flooding is hitting ranchers and farmers especially hard. Emergency shipments of hay are being driven in in air dropped to save surviving livestock from starving. Farmers in parts of Nebraska and Iowa say they had too little time to escape those flood waters so they have to abandon their livestock and their harvest. South Dakota, Pine Ridge reservation also struggling for basics. For about two weeks now, extreme weather and bad roads have left some people stranded with limited food and water. Emergency rations are only able to reach parts of the back country by horse, boat and helicopter.

BRIGGS: With iPhone sales spluttering, Apple is looking to reinvent itself by entering the television and news industries. The company is expected to unveil its new services business this afternoon. CNN learning it will involve TV shows, movies, music and yes a new subscription service in partnership with the Wall Street Journal.

Apple sending more than a billion dollars on shows featuring an a-list stars from Hollywood, Heather Stream, time line for the release and possible bundle offerings all expected to be revealed in just a matter of hours.

ROMANS: All right. Rap Dr. Dre throwing some first class shade at those families caught up in that college admissions scandal. He posted a picture on Instagram Sunday with his daughter celebrating her acceptance to the University of Southern California, he wrote on the captions, my daughter got accepted into USC all on her own, but critics were quick to point out that just a few years ago, Dre and a fellow rap producer made a $70 million donation to USC. Dre has since deleted that post.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Duke survives.

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BRIGGS: Duke advancing to the sweet 16, but just barely. The top seeded Devils escaping with a thrilling 77-76 win finished against the University of Central Florida. It was a freshman Zion Williams leading away with 32 points. Those two though from Jaytee Barrett (ph).

[04:20:10] Tennessee also moving on the Volunteers defeating Iowa 83- 77 in overtime after blowing a 25 point first half lead. It is a tough heavy sweet 16 starts on Thursday. All four number one seeds moving on.

ROMANS: You have to work hard to blow out your bracket as badly as I've have.

BRIGGS: It was a nice job. Go big and you did.

ROMANS: It takes talent to be as bad as I was as picking those teams.

All right, 20 minutes past the hour. Breaking overnight, another rocket attack on central Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu will now cut his trip to the U.S. short. We'll go live to the site of that attack.

[04:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIGGS: Breaking overnight, a rocket fired from Gaza hit a house in central Israel setting it on fire and injuring seven people. This comes the same day Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet with President Trump at the White House. Let's bring in Oren Liebermann live at the scene of that rocket attack in Central Israel. Oren, good morning.

OREN LEIBERMANN, CNN CORESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave. I'm standing in front of the house where this rocket from Gaza landed. You can see the damage to the house. It land just after 5:00 in the morning doing serious damage and ripping apart the roof essentially and sending shrapnel all in the area. We're standing right next to a car that was torn apart by shrapnel. Some of the other homes here were damaged as well.

According to the Magen David Adom, Israel's emergency response services, seven people were injured inside this house including two women who are moderately injured, as well as, two young toddlers who suffered shrapnel damage from that rocket attack.

What is exceptional about this, first of all, the strength of the rocket? This is the farthest a rocket has been fired from Gaza since the end of the 2014 war. And then also the timing of this, rockets are rarely if ever fired at first light in the morning just after 5 o'clock. Normally they are fired overnight. So that will be one of the key questions as to why and who fired this rocket.

Meanwhile in terms of the Israel's response, Israel has closed the two border crossings into Gaza. As you pointed out, Prime Minister Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu was set to meet with President Donald Trump today on his visit to Washington, he will still have that meeting in just a few hours, but then he will immediately return to Israel in a short statement posted after a consolation with security heads here, he said, Israel will respond with force to this rocket attack. Dave?

BRIGGS: Oren Liebermann, live for us, just about 10:30 a.m. there. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right, from cries of a witch hunt to this --

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TRUMP: America is the greatest place on earth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The president is taking his victory lap. His campaign was cleared of collusion, but Robert Mueller did not rule on obstruction of justice.

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