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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Democrats Happy To Pivot From Russia to Health Care; Chicago Officials Outraged by Smollett Dismissal; Emergency Landing for Boeing 737 MAX; NFL Changed Replay Review Rule. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired March 27, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Former First Lady Michelle Obama's memoir is now breaking records.
[05:00:04] "Becoming" has sold nearly 10 million copies. It is one of the most popular books of the decade. A publisher recently told "Wall Street Journal," we believe it could be the best memoir in history.
It's really the bestselling I think in four decades. It could be the best memoir in history.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: That's incredible, and an era where every book seems to be about President Trump.
ROMANS: And she's going around the country, really the world, being interviewed by her friends and social associates and selling out audiences.
BRIGGS: Yes.
EARLY START continues right now.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: At this moment when they were going to take a victory lap, suddenly, they're reminding us why so many of us are Democrats.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Democrats happy to oblige after the president shifts the focus from Russia to health care.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAHM EMANUEL, MAYOR, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: This is a whitewash of justice.
EDDIE JOHNSON, SUPERINTENDENT, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: Do I think justice was served? No.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRIGGS: Police want prosecutors investigated after they drop all charges against Jussie Smollett.
ROMANS: The FAA coming to Capitol Hill today, the day after an emergency landing for a Boeing 737 MAX plane being moved into storage.
BRIGGS: And the NFL makes the move it had to make after the Saints got robbed, calls including pass interference can now be reviewed.
Now, they got the call right, yes.
Good morning, welcome to EARLY START, everybody. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Wednesday, March 27th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.
Good morning, get up, there's a lot of news this morning.
Democrats moving fast to shift from Russia to health care, after the president gave them an opening, a big one. Leadership was looking to focus on issues that helped Democrats take back the house in midterms. They got their chance when the Justice Department set it back to judge's ruling calling Obamacare unconstitutional.
Hours later, Democrats including 2020 hopefuls pounced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The GOP will never stop trying to destroy the affordable health care of America's families.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The idea that people are playing politics, yet again, with the Affordable Care Act is the height of irresponsibility.
JULIAN CASTRO (D), 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This administration and the Republican Party want to go back to the bad old days where people couldn't get health insurance if they had a preexisting condition.
JOHN HICKENLOOPER (D), FORMER GOVERNOR OF COLORADO, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you start taking health care away from people who have preexisting conditions it upsets whole family structures. And then look at the 20 million people that are suddenly going to be without health care. Is anybody thinking about what that -- what that does to their lives?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), (D) 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nothing Trump and his friends do surprises me. The idea, however, that they would ask the courts to say that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional -- I mean, it's an outrage, but we've seen this movie before.
BUTTIGIEG: As a matter of policy, I'm not surprised because this seems to be the position they hold deep down. Just take this health care coverage away from millions of Americans. As a matter of political strategy, I'm a little bit surprised because most Americans want this.
And so, at this moment when they were going to take a victory lap around what was happening in Washington, suddenly they're reminding us why so many of us are Democrats.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: A White House official tells CNN there has been a heated debate inside the administration on whether the DOJ should support a ruling fully invalidating the Affordable Care Act.
President Trump making the final call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me just tell you exactly what my message is. The Republican Party will soon be known as the party of health care -- you watch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Now, "Politico" Attorney General Bill Barr and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, they argued against scrapping Obamacare because Republicans don't have an alternative plan. Now, this battle will play out in Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. The Fifth Circuit is regarded as very conservative. The case may well wind up before the Supreme Court.
BRIGGS: Questions mounting this morning over why Chicago prosecutors dropped the charges against Jussie Smollett. A grand jury indicted the "Empire" actor, accusing him of staging a hoax hate crime against himself and then filing a false police report about it.
ROMANS: The city's police union calling for an investigation of the involvement of Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx in this case. And this may be why. Text messages obtained by CNN through an open records request shows that Smollett family friend Tina Tchen reached out to Foxx on February 1st. Foxx later recused herself.
BRIGGS: The head of the police union said if Smollett wanted to clear himself, he should have had his day in court.
The deputy prosecutor who took over the case straddling the line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH MAGATS, FIRST ASSISTANT COOK COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY: The only reason that it's getting the scrutiny that it is is because of who got the disposition.
[05:05:01] There are plenty of other cases, like I said -- over 5,700 -- that have gotten some type of alternative or deferred type of prosecution.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think Mr. Smollett did what he was charged with doing?
MAGATS: Yes. We stand behind the CPD's investigation in this case -- the great work -- the tremendous work that they did in investigating this case.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you consider him innocent?
MAGATS: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So a couple days of community service and they dispose of the case. New overnight, the lawyer for the Osundairo brothers say they were fully prepared to testify. Smollett was accused of paying them to stage the attack. They were captured on surveillance video buying the materials used. City officials, frankly, this morning are fuming about this.
CNN's Ryan Young has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a shocking reversal, Chicago prosecutors, on Tuesday, dropped all charges against actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused last month of staging a hate crime against himself and filing a false police report about it. His attorney insisted he was, indeed, attacked and that the misinformation led to a rush to judgment against him.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel blasted the prosecutor's decision. Just watch and listen to how angry he was.
EMANUEL: This is a whitewash of justice. A grand jury could not have been clearer. This is without a doubt a whitewash of justice and sends a clear message that if you're in a position of influence and power you'll get treated one way; other people will be treated another way.
There is no accountability than in the system. It is wrong, full stop.
JOHNSON: Do I think justice was served? No. Where do I think justice is? I think this city is still owed an apology.
It's Mr. Smollett who committed this hoax, period. If he wanted to clear his name, the way to do that was in a court of law so that everyone could see the evidence.
YOUNG: The Cook County State's Attorney's Office didn't immediately explain why the 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct were dropped, except to say the decision came after reviewing the case facts and in the view of Smollett's willingness to forfeit his $10,000 bond.
After a brief appearance in a courtroom, Smollett told reporters he was grateful to those who stood by him. JUSSIE SMOLLETT, ACTOR: I've been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one. I would not be my mother's son if I was capable of one drop of what I have been accused of.
YOUNG: And, Christine and Dave, we may never know what was in that court file because it was sealed by the judge. Just a lot of questions still remain in this case.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Ryan, thank you for that.
A Boeing 737 MAX 8 forced to make an emergency landing in Florida.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
PILOT: Tower, Southwest 8701, we just lost our right engine, need to declare emergency. Fly heading 020.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROMANS: Now, of course, there were month passengers on the Southwest flight. The plane was being ferried from Orlando to California for short-term storage. The global fleet of these jets was grounded indefinitely two weeks ago, following crashes in October and earlier this month killing 346 people.
BRIGGS: Transportation officials will be on Capitol Hill today. The acting FAA administrator expected to tell senators the agency's oversight approach needs to evolve. He also plans to defend the FAA's initial decision not to ground the 737 MAX fleet even after regulators worldwide did so.
This week, Boeing will make its final submission to the FAA for proposed software update to the 737 MAX jets. Officials from the aviation industry convened and at Boeing's facility outside of Seattle today as the company tries to restore confidence in its safety protocols.
ROMANS: As he considers a 20 run for president, former Vice President Joe Biden is addressing one of the most challenging parts of his legacy, Anita Hill. He says Hill paid a terrible price when testified in 1991 that she had been sexually harassed by now Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. At the time, Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Biden now says Anita Hill deserves the committee's respect but never got it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH BIDEN (D), FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: When Anita Hill came to testify, she faced a committee that didn't fully understand what the hell it was all about. And to this day, I regret I couldn't come up with a way to get her the kind of hearing she deserved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Biden has twice publicly apologized to Anita Hill. The Biden team has not said if they've spoken in person.
BRIGGS: The drugmaker Purdue Pharma has agreed to pay $270 million to settle an opioid lawsuit brought by the state of Oklahoma. The suit alleged Purdue helped to create the nation's opioid crisis. It claimed aggressive marketing of OxyContin led to thousands of deaths in the state and that Purdue's deceptive claims downplayed the dangers of addiction.
Nearly $200 million of the settlement will go towards establishing an addiction treatment and research center in Oklahoma State University. Oklahoma is one of the 36 states to file lawsuits against Purdue and other opioid drugmakers in connection with the growing national crisis.
ROMANS: A decades-old North Carolina law banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy is unconstitutional.
[05:10:03] The 1973 statute made some allowances for medical concerns but a 2015 amendment narrowed those exemptions, prompting abortion rights groups to file suit. The judge in siding with the advocacy group says courts across the country have struck down weak or event- specific abortion bans and North Carolina is no different. The ruling will take in effect in 60 days pending an appeal from the state or revised legislation.
BRIGGS: Unvaccinated children are banned from certain public spaces in New York's Rockland County. A severe measles outbreak triggering a state of emergency there. Officials say the ban will remain in place for 30 days until unvaccinated children get the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, the MMR.
Worth nothing, outer spaces such as playgrounds are not part of this ban. Rockland County ban, rather. Rockland County is about 40 miles from Manhattan. It has seen more than 150 confirmed measles cases.
ROMAMS: The state has allowed to tighten up on the exemptions because of the risk to the public, the growing risk to the public.
Eleven minutes past the hour.
What do babies, Aquaman and a space lizard and Ronald Reagan on a velociraptor have in common? Hear why one senator thinks the Green New Deal is a very bad idea.
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[05:15:24] ROMANS: A riddle for investors. There's a disconnect between the stock and bond market sending conflicting signals for investors about warning signs about slowing global growth and slowing growth in the U.S. All three major stocks averages rose Tuesday as investors decided it was too son to worry here at least.
And some perspective, the S&P 500 is up 19 percent since its December lows. But bond yields are telling us something else. They are still lower. And the bond market is placing in a rate cut this year to prop up the economists.
Now, some economists say the stock market is wrongly ignoring recession signals. Last Friday, the yield on rates rose above the ten-year treasuries since 2007. According to the Fed, that inverted yield curve has preceded each of the last seven recessions.
You know, fascinating here. Others are saying the recession signals means the Fed needs to cut rates next. That's something that would be good for stock. Either case means things are getting good for investors and all of it is political.
President Trump will likely be looking for a scapegoat for the economy.
BRIGGS: Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah wants no part of the Green New Deal to fight climate change, but he's the only one offering up this idea in its place.
(BEIGN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MIKE LEE (R), UTAH: This is the real conclusion to climate change. Babies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: That's right. Beautiful babies. Senator Lee claims climate change is an engineering challenge best solved by increasing the population.
He broke out other visual aids including poster board pictures of the superhero Aquaman and former President Reagan riding a velociraptor and shooting a machine gun. Senator Lee telling colleagues he was using props so he could, quote, consider the green deal with the seriousness it deserves.
Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a sponsor of the Green New Deal, not a fan of the senator's presentation, tweeting: If this guy can be senator, you can do anything.
How would you like to be that staff member to go out and make visual aids. Go make me a prop with a velociraptor, President Reagan and a machine gun.
ROMANS: Is his point that the green deal is ridiculous?
BRIGG: Yes.
ROMANS: He's offering a ridiculous counter.
All right. Seventeen minutes past the hour.
Warmer temperatures in the plains could worsen flooding and snow melt.
Here's Pedram Javaheri. (BEGN VIDEOTAPE)
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Dave and Christine, yes, good morning, guys. Spring-like conditions across portions of the Upper Midwest and the Northern Plains here, we've got a slowly flow, we're talking temperatures 10, 15 degrees above average. And any snow left on the ground across the northern tier in the U.S. some melting to take place there, especially in places such as Minneapolis, look at that, among the warmest temperatures of 2019, almost 70 degrees, that is 21 degrees above average for this time of year.
Lincoln at 74 today. Should be 57 for this time of year. Even in Chicago, 57 this afternoon, where 51 is considered normal. And we're going to compare this to last week where we had a significant swath of flooded areas that were the concern around the Midwest, and a pretty good drop in the area of coverage there in the past couple of days so, certainly seeing improving conditions as it relates to flooding across that region.
But the warmth continues to build at least Thursday and Friday. And then we get another shot of wintry air Saturday and Sunday across portions of at least the northern tier of the country. In fact, look at Minneapolis, 68 down to only 40 for the afternoon high come Saturday afternoon. While in places like Washington and New York, you're actually going to see your warmest days by Saturday. In Washington, 75, in New York, middle 60s -- guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Pedram, thank you for that. If you're from the Midwest, there's one story and that story is flooding. That is it. And it's a story that's a slow evolving story over the next weeks and days.
BRIGGS: It's not just Nebraska and Iowa, 14 states.
ROMANS: Yes.
BRIGGS: All right. It's too late for the New Orleans Saints but the NFL will now make the right call on pass interference plays. Andy Scholes has the story in the "Bleacher Report."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:24:14] BRIGGS: All right. The NFL making a big change for next season pass interference, whether it's called or not will now be reviewed.
ROMANS: All right. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report."
Hey, Andy. Good morning.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, guys.
You know, this isn't going to make fans in New Orleans feel any better. But at least coaches around the NFL can rest easy knowing what happened to the Saints in the NFC championship game won't be happening to their team. The owners voted in favor of expanding replay to include offense and defense pass interference penalties. The plays can be challenged even if a flag is not thrown. Coaches can challenge any penalties for two minutes. It will only be a trial period for next season.
And Commissioner Roger Goodell, he explained why they decided to make the change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[05:25:03] ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: I think our clubs including our coaches, owners and everyone else realize that our job is to get this right. And we should use every available means to get them right. And replay is a great means to be able to do that.
Will this solve every problem? Will this get us perfect? Don't let perfect get in the way of better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Our thoughts are prayers with Michael Irvin this morning. The Hall of Famer receiver posting this picture to Instagram. He was getting tested for throat cancer. Irvin lost his voice last season, and it lasted for almost two months. He says his father died from throat cancer at the age of 51. Irvin is asking for everyone to pray for him as he awaits the results.
All right. Finally, remember John Phillips, he was known as crying northwestern kid. Was shown many times when the Wildcats lost to Gonzaga.
Well, get this, Pizza Hut wanted to use his likeness for their ad showing the roller coaster of emotions. They paid him reportedly more than $50,000 for his troubles. John whose dad say director at Northwestern decided to donate that money to literacy and food programs.
But, guys, this brought up the question, many people flagged this immediately. John was crying at a college basketball game and got paid more than $50,000 for it. Meanwhile, all of the players can't get a dime for their services in providing the NCAA tournament.
ROMANS: True.
SCHOLES: It's just incredible that continues to go off the way it is.
BRIGGS: It is.
SCHOLES: The argument is the players should at least be able to make money off their likeness.
BRIGGS: Right.
SCHOLES: Which is still --
ROMANS: I've never understood it.
BRIGGS: If you believe Michael Avenatti, some players are getting paid. But that's a whole another can of worms.
ROMANS: Can of worms, a can of pepperoni.
All right. Thanks.
BRIGGS: Andy Scholes, thank you, my friend.
ROMANS: Awesome of the dad and the kid decide to give the money.
BRIGGS: That is a wonderful ending to those tears.
ROMANS: That is some good parenting.
Twenty-six minutes past the hour.
Democrats are looking to shift to Russia for other issues. And they got the opening they needed from the president himself.
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