Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Democrats Face Hard Choice After Mueller; White House Backs Full Obamacare Repeal; Avenatti Charged in $20 Million Plot; Duke Settles for $112 Million Over Fake Science. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired March 26, 2019 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:00:19] MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Speaker Pelosi, are you ready to say that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in light of the Mueller finding?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Democrats facing a hard choice post- Robert Mueller. Do they keep investigating Trump, do they focus on their agenda, or can they do both?
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: The White House now back to full repeal of Obamacare -- a major shift after saying parts of the law could stand.
ROMANS: A $20 million extortion plot. Serious charges against the lawyer who helped expose the hush money payments from Donald Trump.
BRIGGS: And Duke University used fake science to get real federal money and now the school is paying up.
Good morning, everyone. And welcome to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: Nice to see you on this Tuesday.
BRIGGS: Good morning to you.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is March 26, 4:00 a.m.
And let's start with breaking news overnight, a major reversal by the Trump administration on Obamacare. In a Monday court filing, the administration said the entire Affordable Care Act, all of it, should be struck down. The Justice Department says it now agrees with the federal judge in Texas who invalidated the ACA in a December ruling. At the time the administration said that it would not defend certain Obamacare provisions including pre-existing condition protections covering 52 million Americans, but it argued the rest of the law could stand.
BRIGGS: The president has repeatedly promised to protect people with pre-existing conditions, but the new stance doubles down on stripping away those and all other protections. The case is currently before a federal appeals court. Constant questions about the future of Obamacare did not hurt signups too much for 2019, though they were down 300,000 from 2018 to 11.4 million.
ROMANS: All right. Democrats at a critical juncture this morning. After President Trump is effectively cleared by special counsel Robert Mueller on collusion. For 22 months, many Democrats all but guaranteed Mueller would find the president or his campaign had conspired with Russians. When he did not, even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was caught short.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Speaker Pelosi, are you ready to say that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in light of the Mueller finding?
REPORTER: Does this exonerate the president?
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I think that the Mueller report was clear. The president is not exonerated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Not exonerated. The speaker is indeed correct. Mueller said he did not exonerate the president on obstruction of justice.
Trump Attorney Rudy Giuliani complained about that to Chris Cuomo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: This was a cheap shot.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST, "CUOMO PRIME TIME": Then I don't know why Mueller said it.
GIULIANI: It was a cheap shot.
CUOMO: He either makes a decision to prosecute or not.
GIULIANI: For a prosecutor, this is unprofessional. If people get prosecuted for what they're thinking -- if somebody says oh, I think I'm going to -- I might want to kill that guy because he was mean to me --
CUOMO: But doesn't he need formulation of intent?
GIULIANI: No. That's what he says --
CUOMO: Corrupt intent?
GIULIANI: No. That's why he says there is no obstructive conduct.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Two guys arguing law school right.
While everyone haggles over obstruction, Democrats are still not ready to conclude there was no Russia conspiracy. They say they will continue to investigate ties between the campaign and Russians.
But that strategy risks a political backlash if voters think Democrats are grasping for evidence where Mueller already investigated. It is a point 2020 hopeful Elizabeth Warren made last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I spent the last couple of days in New Hampshire. I did a bunch of big public events.
Altogether over the weekend, I got maybe 100 questions. And do you know the number that were about the Mueller report? Zero, because what people were talking about -- what they're asking about are the things that touch their lives every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Like the aforementioned Obamacare story.
Speaker Pelosi already moving past Mueller telling the leadership team House Democrats should focus on their agenda, their message, not Russia interference. Still the calls to release the full Mueller report are growing louder by the hour. Even the president seems OK with it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's up to the attorney general, but it wouldn't bother me at all. Up to the attorney general. Wouldn't bother me at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: In the Senate, Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked efforts by Democrats to make Mueller's report public. McConnell saying Attorney General Bill Barr should not be rushed as he reviews the report to determine how much to release. A CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds 87 percent of Americans across party lines believe Mueller's team should produce a full public report of their findings.
[04:05:00] Even the president is seeming to back Mueller with a major about-face in his rhetoric.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Did Robert Mueller act honorably?
TRUMP: Yes, he did. Yes, he did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: We will hear publicly from Attorney General Barr April 9th. Set to testify before House committee on the DOJ budget, but expect a lot of questions about Mueller and his report. ROMANS: All right. Some Republicans are calling on House Intel
Chairman Adam Schiff to resign in the wake of Mueller's findings. Schiff, of course, has been outspoken for two years about alleged collusion and Russia. Kellyanne Conway says he should step down for peddling lies.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is calling on Schiff to step aside from his chairmanship and apologize to the American people. The chairman is standing firm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Mr. Schiff, do you accept the finding that there is no Trump/Russia conspiracy?
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I accept that the prosecutorial judgment of Bob Mueller is sound. I've said all along that we would accept whatever conclusions he reaches as the prosecutor.
I've also said that there was a big difference between whether there is evidence of collusion and I think that evidence is in plain sight and whether you can establish or prove beyond a reasonable doubt criminal conspiracy. And I accept his conclusion that he could not.
I do want to say with respect to the obstruction part as well that what troubles me the most about that is that you have an attorney general who applied for the job by talking down any potential obstruction conviction or indictment, who then went to a Senate confirmation and refused to recuse himself. I don't think under those circumstances he should ever have been confirmed.
But he has now done the job he applied for, which is attempt to exonerate Mr. Trump when Mr. Mueller said no exoneration was in order. That should deeply concern people that someone was hand picked for the purpose and executed that purpose. That does not I think tend to enhance the credit ability of the Justice Department.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Schiff says the House will continue investigating whether President Trump or anyone around him is compromised.
SCHIFF: The Pentagon has authorized the transfer of $1 billion to begin new wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border. Congress was notified last night. The Department of Defense will direct the fund toward 18-foot high fencing along the Yuma and El Paso sections of the border.
President Trump declared a national emergency last month in order to divert billions toward wall construction. The administration says it plans to shift an additional $1.5 billion in the future so that Democrats objecting to the move they say the Pentagon did not seek permission before noticing the appropriations committee of the transfer. ROMANS: All right. High profile lawyer Michael Avenatti arrested in
New York for allegedly trying to extort more than $20 million from Nike. He was released last night on $300,000 bond. He claims he is innocent.
According to the criminal complaint, Avenatti met last week where attorneys for Nike and threatened to release allegations of misconduct.
SCHIFF: That was on the eve of the company's quarterly earnings call, start of the NCAA tournament. Avenatti allegedly telling Nike's lawyers, I'll go take $10 billion off your client's market cap, I'm not F-ing around.
The charges coming minutes after he announced a press conference for today to disclose a supposed major scandal perpetrated by Nike.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL AVENATTI, ATTORNEY: I have fought against the powerful -- powerful people and powerful corporations. I will never stop fighting that good fight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Celebrity attorney Mark Geragos is an unnamed co-conspirator in the case. He was a CNN contributor, but is no longer as of Monday.
Minutes after news about the New York charges broke, federal prosecutors in California charged Avenatti in a separate case, a separate case involving wire and bank fraud. Those charges could bring a maximum sentence of 50 years in federal prison.
BRIGGS: Pilots may have had less than a minute to override a system suspected of failing in at least one of those crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX. "The New York Times" spoke to two unnamed pilots who recently conducted flight simulations. The point was to recreate a crisis situation similar to what investigators suspect went wrong on the doomed Lion Air flight last October. They discovered they had less than 40 seconds to override the automated system on Boeing's new jets and avoid disaster.
ROMANS: Forty seconds.
The pilots reportedly did not fully understand just how powerful the system was until they flew the plane on a 737 MAX simulator. The automated MCAS system is the focus of the investigations into the Lion Air disaster and the Ethiopian Airlines crash this month.
[04:10:00] Boeing expected to propose a software update that would give pilots more control over the system.
BRIGGS: Duke University agreeing to pay a $112 million settlement to the U.S. government after being accused of falsifying scientific data to win federal research grants. The school allegedly submitted bogus data to the National Institutes of Health and the EPA from 2006 to 2018. A former Duke employee who filed a whistle blower suit against Duke will receive nearly $34 million as part of that settlement. The university president says, quote, we expect Duke researchers to adhere always to the highest standards of integrity. When individuals fail to uphold those standards, we must accept responsibility.
ROMANS: Wow.
All right. President Trump is breaking precedent again with his latest pick to the Federal Reserve. The president announced his plans to nominate Stephen Moore, a former campaign adviser, to nominate him to the Central Board on Friday. Now, Moore then appeared on Bloomberg Television and he said he is unfamiliar with monetary policymaking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN MOORE, FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD NOMINEE: I'm kind of new to this game frankly, so I'm going to be on a steep learning curve myself about how the Fed operates, how the Federal Reserve makes its decisions. And this is a real exciting opportunity for me. So, it is hard for me to say what even my role will be there assuming I get confirmed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Moore's nomination has raised concerns given his previous comments about the Fed. He has called it a swamp and the close relationship with the president, the Fed is supposed to be an independent body. In December, Moore blasted Fed Chair Jerome Powell for raising rates at the end of last year, saying they, quote, should be thrown out for economic malpractice.
There are currently two vacancies on the seven-member Fed board. The president is considering former pizza executive and Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain for the second open seat. The nominations would have to be confirmed by the Senate.
BRIGGS: So we have a former coal lobbyist running the EPA and someone not familiar with Fed policy on the board of governors?
ROMANS: Some people think that he was being self-deprecating there, but there are others who've said he just doesn't have the gravitas, economic gravitas. He is a kitchen table economist, but someone who has advised the president during the campaign and after frankly. And the president trusts him.
BRIGGS: Fascinating times in which we live.
Ahead, the struggle to cope with mass shootings has claimed a third victim in a week's time. This time the father of a child killed at Sandy Hook Elementary.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:16:42] BRIGGS: Two escaped inmates captured overnight in North Carolina, but three are still at large. The prisoners broke out of the Nash County Jail Monday night. The sheriff says they escaped by cutting an already weakened fence in the exercise yard. He believes they had outside help/
The sheriff telling the public to lock their cars and doors and if they see a strange person walking around, notify them immediately. There is a $1,500 reward for the capture of the remaining inmates.
ROMANS: All right. A dozen college coaches, sports and test administrators each pleading not guilty to racketeering. It's part of the sprawling college admissions scandal, one after another, they've been in court this week. Prosecutors say the defendants carried out a scheme it cheat on standardized tests. In some cases, they bribed college coaches who then helped perspective students gain admission to a university but falsely claiming students were athletic recruits on the rowing team or women's soccer. More defendants are due in court this week.
Meanwhile, Yale has rescinded the admission of a student who was part of the ongoing scandal. It's the first instance of a school rescinding admission since the scandal broke two weeks ago.
BRIGGS: Authorities now investigating a third suicide in the past week linked to school massacres.
Jeremy Richman was found dead in his Connecticut office building Monday morning in what police are calling an apparent suicide. His 6- year-old daughter Avielle Richman was among those 20 children and six adults killed in the Sandy Hook shooting back in 2012.
ROMANS: The news comes as the Parkland, Florida community mourns the death of Sydney Aiello, a Parkland school shooting survivor, who killed herself last week. Then on Saturday, a second Parkland survivor died in what police described as an apparent suicide. Just tragic.
If you or someone you know might be at risk of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention hotline, here's the number, 1-800-273- 8255.
BRIGGS: If you have any questions, anything, spread that number to everyone you can.
ROMANS: All right. NASA forced to scrap what would have been the first all female spacewalk scheduled to take place Friday. And the reason turns out there is only one spacesuit on board the International Space Station that best fits both female astronauts, Christina Koch and Anne McClain.
So, Friday's spacewalk will now be conducted by a man and a woman, Koch and astronaut Nick Hague. It will be the 215th for the space station and if everything goes according to plan, Christina Koch will become the 14th woman to perform a spacewalk.
BRIGGS: New this morning, a shocker from Conor McGregor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONOR MCGREGOR, FORMER VMA FIGHTER: My next fight -- we're in talks for July. We're in talks for July. So, let's see what happens. A lot of politics going on.
Fight games is my game. But, like I said, and to my fans, I'm in shape and I'm ready.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: That is not the shocker. The shocker is what happened after that interview aired. McGregor announced on Twitter he is retiring from mixed martial arts. That announcement being met with heaps of skepticism since he told Jimmy Fallon he'd be fighting this summer.
There is speculation the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion it's just trying to get an upper hand in contract negotiation.
ROMANS: Wait. So he said I'm getting ready, I'm in shape and then he said I'm retired?
BRIGGS: Yes. Do not be surprised if that is a ploy in contract negotiations.
[04:20:02] ROMANS: Wait, there's ploys in mixed martial arts?
BRIGGS: Imagine that.
ROMANS: Oh --
BRIGGS: All right. Ahead, British lawmakers seize control of the Brexit process. What it means as the clock ticks toward an exit from the E.U. with or without a deal.
We're live at 10 Downing Street.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BERCOW, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS: The ayes have it. The ayes have it. Unlock.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Members of the British parliament seizing control of the Brexit process from Prime Minister Theresa May, at least temporarily. It is a rare twist, putting lawmakers in control as this deadline to leave the E.U. nears.
[04:25:03] International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is standing by live for us at 10 Downing Street.
And another twist here, what does this mean?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Christine, just a twist after twist, isn't there? Well, last night, 30 conservative MPs from Theresa May's own party voted against. Three of them were governor ministers. They subsequently resigned. What this means is that on Wednesday, the order of what happens in the
House of Commons will very likely be controlled by parliament, by the MPs there, rebel MPs if you like. Very likely, and I say likely because none of what happened last night is bound this law. But they are likely to have what is called indicative votes, seven indicative votes, that indicate the mood and the will of parliament and it could go all the way from a no-deal leaving the European Union to a free trade arrangement between Britain and the European Union similar to what Canada has right now.
We may go back to Theresa May's deal again. We may have Theresa May's deal plus a customs union. We may have something new which would be a customs union and single market. We may have another referendum on Brexit before or mayor maybes decision will be to not go ahead with Brexit after all.
None of these are legally binding. The prime minister has already said that she will not be obliged to follow through on any of these recommendations. The European Union won't deal with rebel MPs. They'll only deal with the government.
So where does this leave everything at the moment? Is Theresa May hoping to use some of this as pressure to get a hard line MPs won over, very likely yes. Unchartered territory, Christine.
ROMANS: It is just stunning. All these choices and the outcome clear as mud.
Nic, thank you so much for that.
Wow, wow.
BRIGGS: No clear path ahead.
All right. Ahead for us, the Affordable Care Act could be in jeopardy once again. The White House emboldened about the Mueller decision agreeing with the Texas judge who ruled the entire law was invalid.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
