Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Preliminary Finding Reached In Ethiopian Crash; Democrats And President Trump Refuse To Move On From Collusion; Chicago Demanding Jussie Smollett Pay $130,000 For Police Investigation; Virginia And Gonzaga Advance To Elite Eight. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired March 29, 2019 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- they will continue defrauding the public with ridiculous (bleep).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump in full attack mode in his first rally since he was cleared of collusion.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: And no shortage of madness. A one-seed barely hangs on and two two-seeds sent packing.

Welcome back to EARLY START and happy Friday, everybody. I'm Dave Briggs.

DEAN: Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in for Christine Romans this morning. It is 30 minutes past the hour.

And up first today, breaking news in the Boeing investigation. According to "The Wall Street Journal," preliminary findings show a stall-prevention feature automatically activated before the 737 MAX jet crashed this month in Ethiopia. That's believed to be the same sensor issue that brought down a Lion Air flight last October.

We go live now to Ethiopia and bring in CNN's Robyn Kriel -- Robyn.

ROBIN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, 157 people were on board that flight of the Ethiopian Airlines ET302. Eight Americans were on board. All of them perished in that crash.

And I spoke earlier to a family member who is still out here actually, waiting to hopefully take the remains of his brother back to Israel. I asked him how he felt knowing that potentially, the cause was this MCAS failure and he said well, it was good to know the cause. It, ultimately, does not bring his brother back and they are still devastated.

Just in terms of what this means for Boeing, perhaps a double-edged sword because on one hand Jessica, at least it is -- they know what the problem is. That is this MCAS system that failed, pushing the nose down as pilots were trying likely to fight to keep it up. But at the same time, at least it's not another problem. So at least they have identified the problem.

Ethiopian Airlines -- we spoke earlier to one of their press people. They say they're in a high-level meeting right now. They didn't say what it was about but we can only assume it is likely about this FAA news that was coming that the "The Wall Street Journal" reported -- this high-level meeting that reportedly occurred last night.

And, of course, the minister of transport also there in charge of the investigation here saying a few days ago that they did notice that there were these similarities from this preliminary reports between the Lion Air crash and the Ethiopian air crash -- Jessica and Dave.

DEAN: All right. Robyn Kriel for us in Ethiopia. Thanks so much.

BRIGGS: Some Democrats refusing to move on from collusion and so, too, it seems is the president. Here he is at his first rally since he was effectively cleared of collusion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And after three years of lies, and smears, and slander, the Russia hoax is finally dead. The collusion delusion is over. The Democrats have to now decide whether they will continue defrauding the public with ridiculous bullshit, partisan investigations, or whether they will apologize to the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: We hope your kids aren't up at 5:30 Eastern time. If so, we, too, apologize.

The Mueller report is 300-plus pages. So far, we've only seen a summary from Attorney General Bill Barr, politically appointed. The primary obstacle to getting it released in full is the presence, of course, of grand jury information.

DEAN: And, CNN has learned House Judiciary chairman Jerry Nadler offered Barr the opportunity to work together to get a court order to release the grand jury information. An aide to Nadler says Barr is open to Nadler's arguments but is still, quote, "a far cry from where the chairman is right now."

BRIGGS: All right, let's go live to Washington and bring in Toluse Olorunnipa, White House reporter for "The Washington Post". Good to see you, sir.

All right. So this Adam Schiff back-and-forth is where we are clearly headed over the question of was there actual evidence of collusion. All nine Republicans on the House Intel Committee signing a letter calling on Schiff to resign. And there was this back-and-forth yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE CONAWAY (R), TEXAS: We have no faith in your ability to discharge your duties in a manner consistent with your constitutional responsibility and urge your immediate resignation as chairman of the committee.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: My colleagues may think it's OK that the Russians offered dirt on a Democratic candidate for president, but I don't think it's OK. I think it's immoral, I think it's unethical, I think it's unpatriotic. And yes, I think it's corrupt and evidence of collusion. And the day we do think that's OK is the day we will look back and say that is the day America lost its way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: OK. So, a reminder. We have not -- none of those Republicans nor Democrats have seen the Mueller report. They've seen a 4-page summary by a politically-appointed attorney general who called it fatally misconceived -- the obstruction argument there.

[05:35:10] So where are we headed here?

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, we learned during the course of the Mueller investigation that there were a number of links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

We heard about -- we learned about the meeting in Trump Tower with Donald Trump, Jr. and the president's campaign manager, and his son- in-law, and a Russian lawyer offering dirt on Hillary Clinton.

So you can expect that when we finally do see the full report that it will have more information that not necessarily exonerates the president and his campaign from any wrongdoing, even if they were not able to establish a criminal conspiracy.

They -- as Adam Schiff said, there were a number of contacts that make it very questionable as to why the president's campaign was spending so much time working with Russian officials, talking to Russian officials, exchanging information with Russian cutouts. And I think that's something that Democrats want to continue to talk about and continue the investigation even if the Mueller investigation did not establish a conspiracy.

So the idea that the president said that the Russia investigation is over and that collusion delusion is finally dead, that's not exactly what we're going to see. We're going to see the president sort of talking about it and trying to sort of claim victory for several weeks, if not months to come.

But we'll also see Democrats continuing to push on this issue -- continue to turn over different types of information to find out what the president's campaign was doing and why they were in touch with so many -- so many different Russians.

And even if there's not a criminal conspiracy, Rep. Schiff has said that he wants to find out whether or not there is any compromise -- that the president may be compromised --

BRIGGS: Right.

OLORUNNIPA: -- by the Russians.

DEAN: Yes, still a lot more to talk about there as well.

And you've also written about the latest turn in the health care debate coming out of the Trump White House. We have President Trump coming out and saying now that he wants to become the party of health care. And this taking people -- Republicans on the Hill quite by surprise.

You know, typically, Toluse, we would see the president working with people on the Hill -- with lawmakers to make sure that this is all rolled out in a very carefully planned way, especially something like health care. This seems, though, quite chaotic. Is that the impression you're getting?

OLORUNNIPA: Definitely very chaotic. This is a president who has a slogan on health care but doesn't have a plan. And that took a lot of Republican senators by surprise that the president even wanted to pivot to health care because they saw the losses that the Republican Party experienced in 2018, in large part because Democrats were campaigning on the issue of health care.

Republicans have been campaigning against Obamacare for nine years but they do not have a specific plan for how to replace it, how to repeal it. And they spent the last two years trying to do that. They tried a couple of times in 2017 and they failed.

And after the election, a lot of them thought that they had finally moved on from the idea of repealing and replacing Obamacare. And now, the president wants to jump back into this battle. He feels that it's a promise that he hasn't been able to fulfill from this 2016 campaign.

But he doesn't have a plan and it has become sort of this political grenade where the Republicans in the Senate are saying the White House should come up with a plan. The White House is saying the Republicans in the Senate should come up with a plan.

DEAN: Right.

OLORUNNIPA: But no one wants to actually touch this issue --

BRIGGS: Yes.

OLORUNNIPA: -- but the president wants to be able to campaign on it.

DEAN: Right, right.

BRIGGS: They've name-checked Sens. Cassidy, Barrasso, and Scott as coming up with that great plan. I just checked Bill Cassidy's Twitter feed. He does have a tweet about a limited edition beer koozie that they're selling but nothing about --

DEAN: But nothing about --

BRIGGS: -- a health care plan, Toluse. What those Republicans probably would like to continue to talk about is the economy and, of course, immigration, the president's signature issue which took an interesting and ugly turn late last night in Grand Rapids -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're all met by the lawyers and they say, "Say the following phrase -- I am very afraid for my life. I am afraid for my life."

OK, and then I look at the guy. He looks like he just got out of the ring. He's the heavyweight champion of the world. He's afraid for his life.

It's a big fat con job, folks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: So, asylum seekers -- some seeking -- fleeing domestic violence, gang violence, and many, in fact, fleeing for their lives is a big fat con job.

What's your reaction to that, and will the strategy of demonize and divide continue to work for this president?

OLORUNNIPA: This has been the president's strategy for the past two years. It hasn't necessarily worked electorally as they did suffer a big loss in 2018, but it also doesn't line up with the facts.

I mean, the majority of people coming across the border illegally are families. This includes a lot of young children -- their mothers trying to flee the violence and trouble that they experience in Central America.

And I don't think that anyone else in the president's administration is saying that all of these people are sort of trying to con the American public and that they aren't facing dangers within their countries.

[05:40:00] Now, some of them believe that the asylum process has been taken advantage of and that the laws need to be tightened up. But the idea that all of the people are just walking and leaving their countries just because they want to con the U.S. government is not something that is widely believed by people who follow this issue very closely.

So the president is sort of isolated on this issue. He believes that it's a strong issue for him for 2020 but it hasn't really -- you haven't really seen that in the -- in the elections that we've seen since 2016.

BRIGGS: He won Michigan by 11,000 votes, the slimmest of margins. Will that expand on that number? Time will tell.

Toluse Olorunnipa, good to see you, sir. DEAN: Thanks so much.

BRIGGS: Enjoy the weekend.

OLORUNNIPA: Thank you.

BRIGGS: All right.

The City of Chicago now demanding "EMPIRE" actor Jussie Smollett pay $130,000 for the police investigation into his alleged attack. He was indicted for staging a hate crime against himself in Chicago, but all charges were dropped this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL (D), CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Given that he doesn't feel any sense of contrition and remorse, my recommendation is when he writes the check, in the memo section he can put the word "I'm accountable for the hoax."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Prosecutors insisting their case was solid, even after charges were dismissed.

DEAN: President Trump calling for a federal review on Twitter. Neither the FBI or DOJ have said they will do so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: That case is an absolute embarrassment to our country and somebody has to at least take a very good hard look.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association says the dismissal of the Smollett case is, quote, "abnormal and unfamiliar."

In another bizarre twist, the office for the city's top prosecutor Kim Foxx now says she did not formally recuse herself from the Smollett investigation. Her office saying she only separated herself from decision-making out of an abundance of caution.

One woman, two wombs, three children all in less than a month. It's a wild story. You don't want to miss it. It's coming up, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:46:08] BRIGGS: All right, 5:45 and a check on "CNN Business" this morning.

The U.S. economy is showing more signs of a slowdown. New data from the Commerce Department shows economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter with a gain of just 2.2 percent. The economy grew 4.2 percent in the second quarter of 2018 and you can see the decline there -- the 3.4 and this 2.2 percent in the final quarter. Politically, this wraps up a good year of growth at 2.9 percent, the highest since 2015 but certainly not the 3.2 percent the White House predicted more recently in the president's 2020 budget proposal.

Economists have said growth could decline as the sugar high of the Republican-backed tax cuts fade. And now, many economists expect growth to continue to slow this year.

The Federal Reserve recently lowered their growth forecast for 2019 to 2.1 percent. The Fed cited trade tensions with China as well as slowing global growth as possible drags on the economy.

Global markets higher amid hopes of progress in the U.S.-China trade talks. Asian markets closed up. European markets opened higher as trading begins there.

The good mood extending to Wall Street as futures are pointing higher as well. U.S. markets did close higher Thursday. The Dow Jones up 92 points; the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both closed up slightly. The S&P 500 on track for its best quarter since 2009.

Lyft has beaten Uber to the public market and its stock will come at a hefty price. Lyft makes its public debut today and has priced its initial public offering at $72.00 a share, valuing the company at around $24 billion. That is above its original proposed price range, suggesting there is strong investor demand.

Lyft's public debut could be a bellwether for how so-called unicorn companies will be received by investors. Uber, Slack, Pinterest, and Postmates all expected to go public this year.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:52:42] BRIGGS: All right, the latest on the opioid crisis.

The New York Attorney General's office suing six opioid manufacturers. The suit alleges manufacturers in six of their distributors engaged in false and deceptive marketing practices. It also names the eight members of the Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical giant that manufacturers OxyContin.

The state wants companies to change their business practices and wants financial compensation. That money would fund prevention programs along with addiction and medical treatment.

Purdue Pharma denies the allegations and reps for the Sackler family call the claims, quote, "baseless."

DEAN: An Eleventh Hour reprieve for a Texas death row inmate because he wanted his Buddhist spiritual adviser to join him. The Supreme Court put the execution on hold, saying Patrick Henry Murphy was entitled to have his spiritual adviser in the death chamber.

Murphy is on death row for the murder of a police officer in 2000. At issue for the court is a policy allowing Christian or Muslim chaplains who are prison employees to be present for executions, but not advisers of other religions.

BRIGGS: Google and Twitter are now under scrutiny by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD firing off letters to the tech giants questioning their advertising practices.

The agency also announcing charges against Facebook for alleged housing discrimination through its advertising platform. Facebook says it was caught off-guard by the charges because it's been working with HUD to address its concerns.

DEAN: HUD does not have an open investigation into Twitter or Google. These letters were intended to start a conversation about how housing is advertised. Twitter tells "CNN Business" it does not allow discriminatory advertising. And, Google says it has a longstanding policy that prohibits targeted ads based on race, ethnicity, religion or disability.

BRIGGS: New details and more questions about the death of fifth- grader Raniya Wright at a school in South Carolina. Law enforcement officials now saying weapons were not involved when the girl was killed in a fight at school this week.

The girl's mom said she had faced bullying but CNN has not been able to verify that.

A vigil for Raniya was held yesterday. CNN spoke with her grandfather.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE WRIGHT, GRANDFATHER OF RANIYA WRIGHT: As far as violence or anything like that, she never would do that. I miss her. We love you. We're going to do everything we can do for justice for her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:55:07] BRIGGS: One student has been suspended until an investigation into the incident is completed. It's not clear if that student was involved in the fight.

DEAN: From the Ohio River Valley to the Northeast, the rain is refusing to let up. We go to meteorologist Ivan Cabrera for the forecast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys, good morning.

We made it to Friday and we do have a front that we're tracking here eventually. I think it will get us in New York, anyway, with some rainfall.

But first, it's coming out of the Midwest and so we're going to focus here because it's not just a front. It's going to bring the potential for some torrential downpours and severe weather as well. There you see some pink and white showing up. That's the cold air and a little bit of snowfall here.

But in the middle is where the clash will occur, so Northeastern Oklahoma heading into Southwest Missouri for today. We'll continue to see the potential for damaging winds in excess of 60 miles an hour and also some hail as well.

We'll track that storm because it will eventually continue its march to the East, and so I think the early part of the weekend looks good. Saturday, along the East Coast, is fine. But heading into Sunday, that's when the front comes in and that's when we'll have some rainfall.

But watch what happens, too, as the temperatures fall. For Saturday, you'll have highs in the 70s in Philly, 60s in New York, and then we'll fall for 50s for high temperatures. That's going to certainly feel cool heading into Sunday.

And look at the highs -- my goodness -- for early next week. Another shot of a little bit of winter here with high temperatures by then in the 40s and lows in the 30s.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: All right, Ivan. Thank you.

Wow and worse, the reaction of stranded passengers on both sides of the Atlantic after the ultra-budget carrier Wow Air suddenly ceased operations. The airline announced the closure Thursday in a statement posted to its Website. It advised passengers to book new flights on other airlines and said some may be eligible for compensation.

Passengers described chaotic scenes at airports in the U.S. and abroad. Other airlines, including EasyJet, Iceland Air, Norwegian Air, and Lufthansa Group are offering reduced fares to travelers impacted by Wow Air's demise.

BRIGGS: Well, it's a smoke-free world after all. Disney says smoking will be banned at its parks in Florida and California effective May first. Smoking will be limited to designated areas outside park entrances and in specific locations at Disney resort hotels.

They're also banning strollers larger than 31 inches wide and 52 inches long. Guests will be able to downsize with stroller rentals.

The policy changes come ahead of the opening of Disney's "Star Wars"- themed attraction "Galaxy's Edge" -- sure to draw throngs of visitors but you need reservations.

DEAN: A woman with two wombs has given birth twice in less than a month to three children.

Twenty-year-old Arifa Sultana of Bangladesh delivered a boy in late February. Then, less than four weeks later, she returned to the hospital with lower abdominal pain. Doctors performed an ultrasound and that's when they realized she was pregnant with twins.

Sultana has two uteruses. It's a condition called uterus didelphys. Her first baby and the twins were conceived and then grown in separate wombs.

Doctors performed a C-section to deliver the twins, a boy and a girl. All three children are safe and healthy, and mom is doing just fine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NCAA TOURNAMENT ANNOUNCER: He can't dribble himself three. He's going to have to take a long one. Step back -- three for the tie. Oh, he's done it again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Watch -- the madness was back Thursday for the Sweet 16.

Purdue holding off a big rally by Tennessee before pulling away in O.T. for a 99-94 win. The Boilermakers reaching the Elite Eight for the first time since 2000.

Virginia, your top seed in the South, advancing with a hard-fought win over the 12-seed Oregon, 53-49.

Gonzaga in the Elite Eight for the fourth time. Gonzaga, your top seed in the West, taking out Florida State 72-58.

And how about Texas Tech headed to their second-straight Elite Eight. The Red Raiders crushed Michigan 63-44. Michigan's 44 are the fewest by a number two seed in tournament history.

Four more games tonight on CBS and TBS. Tip-off at 7:00.

DEAN: All right. Well, thanks so much for joining us this morning. I'm Jessica Dean.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Enjoy the weekend, folks. Here's "NEW DAY".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: After three years of lies, and smears, and slander, the Russia hoax is dead.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Show us the report. We don't need you interpreting for us.

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D), ILLINOIS: There is obvious evidence in plain sight of collusion and obstruction.

TRUMP: Obamacare has been an absolute disaster. We're working on a plan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have said repeal and replace for a decade. They have never had a plan. JOHN KASICH (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF OHIO: Republicans are very nervous. It's not a winning issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Friday.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Naughty language Friday.

CAMEROTA: No, we're not going to say naughty language today.

BERMAN: Very naughty.

END