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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

White House Staffer: 25 Security Clearance Denials Overruled; Democrats To Authorize Subpoena For Full Mueller Report; Stampede At Nipsey Hussle Memorial; UNC Women's Coach And Staff Put On Leave; Another Round of Brexit Gridlock. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired April 02, 2019 - 05:30   ET

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


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[05:30:19] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Democrats ready to wield subpoena power. Security clearances and the unredacted Mueller report top the agenda.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, a stampede at a memorial for rapper Nipsey Hussle. Police have now named a suspect in his murder.

ROMANS: Another pivot from the president on health care. It turns out he doesn't want a plan to replace Obamacare until after the 2020 election.

BRIGGS: And trouble for a storied college basketball program. A Hall of Fame coach and her staff have been benched at the University of North Carolina.

Welcome back to EARLY START on a Tuesday. I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: Good morning.

BRIGGS: Good morning.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is 30 minutes past the hour.

Let's begin here with House Democrats now turning to subpoenas to obtain information on two critical fronts.

First, security clearances. A White House whistleblower tells House investigators senior officials overruled concerns raised about 25 individuals whose clearances were initially denied.

On Monday, House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings released a memo on the interview with Tricia Newbold. In 18 years on the White House staff, she has worked in Republican and Democratic administrations.

BRIGGS: She told investigators the 25 individuals had a wide range of serious disqualifying issues including foreign influence, conflicts of interest, concerning personal conduct, financial problems, drug use, and criminal conduct. A source tells CNN both Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are on the list of 25. Important to note, though, the president is legally entitled to order a security clearance for anyone he wishes.

Chairman Cummings comparing the clearance overrides to Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server as Secretary of State.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D-MD), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: If the violations are accurate -- and I do think they are, as Ms. Newbold has told us -- I think this is a million times worse.

What you have here are people who literally have the top secrets of the world and they have not been properly cleared. That should -- that should alarm each and every American.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Jared Kushner responded last night on Fox News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARED KUSHNER, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Over the last two years that I've been here, I've been accused of all different types of things and all of those things have turned out to be false.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That is apparently a reference to conclusions in the Mueller report, which has not yet been seen by Congress or the public.

Chairman Cummings plans to issue a subpoena this morning demanding an interview with Carl Kline. He served as the personnel security director at the White House during the first two years of the Trump administration. Cummings is sending a subpoena even though Kline's attorney says his client is willing to be interviewed voluntarily.

BRIGGS: The second, subpoena for the Mueller report. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler finalizing a subpoena for the full unredacted version. Nadler is not saying whether the subpoena will actually be issued before Attorney General William Barr publicly releases a redacted Mueller report. That is expected to happen later this month.

ROMANS: Today is the deadline Democrats set for Barr to provide the full Mueller report and its underlying evidence to Congress. Barr says he is working with Mueller to finish redacting the report.

According to the Attorney General, those redactions include grand jury testimony -- material, rather -- sensitive intelligence materials, information from ongoing investigations, and information that could damage the reputations of people not charged in the Mueller probe.

BRIGGS: All right, let's discuss all of this with "Washington Post" White House correspondent Toluse Olorunnipa. Good to see you, sir.

ROMANS: Good morning.

BRIGGS: Let's talk about these security clearances -- a serious concern for our national security given these were senior-level White House employees. But ultimately, as we pointed out there, the president can override and give a security clearance to whomever he wants.

ROMANS: Right.

BRIGGS: So what do Democrats hope to accomplish?

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE WASHINGTON POST: The Democrats on this committee want to shed some light about what's happening behind closed doors at the White House.

We hear from this whistleblower that things were very chaotic and the idea of national security was put on the backburner in order to get security clearances for a number of different officials -- up to 25 -- who had some issues with their record that made career staffers want to put a halt on the process and maybe deny them security clearances.

And it seems that this gets to the inner circle of the White House with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump being overruled -- or having the decision of career staffers overruled because the president wanted to get them security clearances.

So I think we're going to hear more and more from Democrats about this because this whistleblower is not a political figure. This is someone who has worked for Democrats and Republicans -- a career staffer who has been in the White House for about 18 years.

And the fact that she had such concerns that she decided to become a whistleblower while still working at the White House and take her concerns to the Oversight Committee shows that this is not just a political hit on Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, the way he tried to describe on Fox News last night.

[05:35:10] ROMANS: I mean -- but could you argue that this is a president who wanted people who he knows close to him and surrounding him and this is part of his disruption? This is less carelessness about national security and more about the president really wanting the people around him who he trusts.

OLORUNNIPA: Yes. This is obviously the prerogative of the president to decide who to give security clearances to. But you have to remember that this is a president who spent two years on the campaign --

BRIGGS: Right.

OLORUNNIPA: -- trail saying "lock her up" to Hillary Clinton --

ROMANS: Yes.

OLORUNNIPA: -- because of how she handled security issues. So there is a sort of hypocrisy here that Democrats are going to drive home to the public that the president didn't seem to care as much about national security when it comes to giving security --

ROMANS: Yes.

OLORUNNIPA: -- clearances to people close to him.

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: Do as I say, not as I do.

BRIGGS: Right. And, Jim Jordan -- the Republicans offered their own memo complaining about what they see as overreach. But clearly, they would make a bigger -- a massive issue if the reverse were true.

But let's pivot to health care because the president is pivoting again on health care. He brought up this issue just days after what appeared to be some very good news from the summary of the Mueller report and then tweeting again last night that they're going to wait until after the election to have their new plan unveiled -- to have a vote on it, which will lower premiums, lower costs, and according to Mick Mulvaney, no one will lose coverage.

Where is this issue headed if you are a congressional Republican? Is there any hint of a plan?

OLORUNNIPA: There is no plan. And if you are a congressional Republican, at this point you're probably breathing a sigh of relief that the president said he's going to wait until 2020 because Republicans in the House and the Senate knew they would not be able to come up with a bipartisan plan for health care.

They were really perplexed that the president decided to bring this up and make this an issue when he said the Republican Party will soon become the party of great health care. It looks like soon is now going to have to be after 2020 because someone got to the president and made him realize that they do not have the votes.

They do not have a plan to vote on and it would just be sort of a headache for Republicans going into 2020 to know -- for the public to know that there is no plan and the president has a slogan for health care but no actual plan to make sure people have --

ROMANS: It still leaves --

OLORUNNIPA: -- coverage.

ROMANS: It still leaves uncertainty. If you're -- if you're heading --

BRIGGS: Sure.

ROMANS: If you are somebody how is using Obamacare right now -- I mean, will it be there in two years? I mean, are they still legally going to be the administration fighting against parts of Obamacare even as we're waiting for the Republican replacement? It just still injects an awful lot of uncertainty.

BRIGGS: It's still an issue in 2020 --

ROMANS: Absolutely.

BRIGGS: -- if not the defining issue.

ROMANS: Absolutely.

Let's talk about what's happening at the border because we're still waiting to hear from the president whether he's going to shut down the border. And we're told that it depends on how this week goes.

We know, covering economics, that shutting down the border would be near-term disastrous for American businesses and manufacturers and people -- consumers, frankly.

How likely do you think it is the president's going to do this?

OLORUNNIPA: The president is very serious about this threat. Remember, he decided to shut down the federal government for 35 days and he says that he believes that that was a positive experience --

ROMANS: Right.

OLORUNNIPA: -- because it drew attention to this issue. And that's what the president is trying to here.

Even though there would be really dire economic consequences on both sides of the border, the president believes that drawing attention to the immigration issue -- and he's frustrated that he hasn't been able to solve that problem and he wants to do something drastic. So I would not be surprised if the president did take some steps even on a short-term basis to shut down the border and draw attention to what's happening on the southern border.

BRIGGS: I can't help but think this is like health care where congressional Republicans say not so fast on this one.

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: With a slowing GDP growth, that could be a disaster.

Quickly, on Joe Biden. A second accuser now coming out and saying they made him feel uncomfortable. He's still not in this field.

Might this make him hesitate to get in, and how big an obstacle is the #MeToo era for Joe Biden in 2020?

OLORUNNIPA: Yes, I believe Joe Biden is still very likely, based on the people that he has talked to, to get into the race. But this is definitely a stumbling block for him and you would not be surprised based on his long history as sort of a tactile politician -- someone who likes to use his hands and get close to people -- that more stories like this might come out.

And this is something that he's going to have to reckon with and he's going to have to continue to answer over the course of the next few weeks to make sure people are comfortable with him in the #MeToo era that he did not overstep the line on a regular basis when he was sort of meeting with people behind closed doors, meeting with people in the public, and making sure that other people felt comfortable.

So, he said that he will listen to the stories of the women who are coming forward, but we have to wait and see because there may be more that come forward in the weeks ahead.

BRIGGS: Sure. And, fundraising will be a big obstacle for him, too, in this era.

Toluse, good to see you, sir.

OLORUNNIPA: Thank you.

BRIGGS: All right.

Today, the Senate will take steps toward using the so-called Nuclear Option to speed confirmation of most presidential nominees. It's not clear when the actual detonation, so to speak, will take place. The change would limit debate on nominees below cabinet and Supreme Court level.

Republicans plan to use the Nuclear Option to change rules by a simple majority vote instead of the typical 60-vote threshold.

[05:40:01] ROMANS: Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeting, "The president's nominees deserve due consideration in the Senate. Democratic partisan obstruction needs to stop."

Now, that does not jive with what he once believed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: And it's the Senate's constitutional right to act as a check on a president and withhold his consent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That was McConnell in 2016. He, of course, blocked President Obama's Supreme Court pick Merrick Garland from consideration, saying it was an election year and voters would decide at the poll.

BRIGGS: Boeing's software fix for the 737 MAX will take several more weeks. A new software was supposed to be submitted last week but according to the FAA, additional work is still needed. Boeing is not saying why it's timeline changed, but an aviation source telling CNN the company discovered an additional piece to address in the final review of the new software.

The 737 MAX fleet is grounded worldwide after similar crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people in five months.

ROMANS: Baltimore's Democratic Mayor Catherine Pugh taking an indefinite leave of absence. She cites a battle with pneumonia, but the announcement comes as she faces a scandal over a major purchase of a children's book she wrote.

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan asking the state prosecutor to investigate the sale of tens of thousands of copies of "Healthy Holly" to the University of Maryland medical system. The health system bought the books while she was a member of its board.

BRIGGS: Stunning news from one of the most storied programs in college basketball. The University of North Carolina has placed its Hall of Fame women's coach and her assistants on paid administrative leave. The school says it's due to, quote, "issues raised by student- athletes and others."

Sylvia Hatchell, head coach of the women's team, has been at UNC for 33 seasons. She was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

Hatchell says in a statement through her attorney, she will cooperate fully with the review.

ROMANS: All right, a 5-year-old with autism gets the birthday of a lifetime thanks to some neighborhood teenagers and a skateboard.

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[05:46:20] ROMANS: Breaking overnight, police in Los Angeles have named a suspect now in the shooting death of rapper Nipsey Hussle. Authorities say the gunman, identified as Eric Holder, was last spotted in a 2016 white 4-door Chevy Cruz. The license plate number 7RJD742.

This just-released surveillance video shows the moment gunfire broke out Sunday, leaving the rapper dead.

Also overnight, a stampede at the rapper's memorial. At this point, it's not clear what exactly sparked this. Police call it panic and chaos, and reports of shots fired do not appear to be accurate.

BRIGGS: At least 19 people are being treated at hospitals. Two are in critical condition. At least one person was hurt after a car hit them.

L.A. police briefly went on tactical alert and responded to the scene with riot gear and batons. Rocks and bottles were thrown at officers, injuring one of them. At least one person has been detained for disorderly conduct.

ROMANS: A major political setback for Turkey's President Recep Erdogan. His party losing control of the Turkish capital of Ankara in a local election.

Early results also show the opposition narrowly ahead of Erdogan's party in Istanbul. That's the country's largest city and a defeat there, particularly stinging. That's where Erdogan launched his political career as mayor in the 1990s.

Erdogan has dominated Turkish politics since becoming prime minister in 2003. The president says there are lessons to be learned from mistakes in this election.

BRIGGS: More gridlock on Brexit with 10 days to go until what could be a no-deal departure from the E.U. Members of Parliament voting on a number of alternatives to British Prime Minister Theresa May's withdrawal deal but, once again, none got a majority.

CNN's Nic Robertson live at 10 Downing Street with the latest. Nic, where are we headed today?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Very unclear but right now, the prime minister trying to get her party on track. She's having a political meeting this morning with her cabinet and marathon sessions today -- five hours total. She'll meet with them again in the afternoon.

Right now, she needs to sort of -- sort of hammer out those divisions over what options she has in front of her. Does she go for the option of a no-deal Brexit -- that's leaving next Friday? A managed no-deal Brexit, as they like to call it. There's a lot of pressure from within her party from that.

There would be cabinet resignations, potentially, on the other side of her cabinet from those who want a longer extension to negotiate Brexit -- who want a softer Brexit. And equally, if she went in that direction there could be resignations on that harder line side of her cabinet.

Is she mulling over the idea of a -- of a snap general election? There are some in her party who would push for that; there are others who would guide her.

But this is not the moment that the opposition Labour Party could make some gains. The government and the conservative party now doing as well in the polls as they have done perhaps a few months ago compared to later -- the opposition.

So where does it go from here today? I think all eyes, really, remain on the cabinet session. Will there be resignations, what comes out of it, and what happens tomorrow in Parliament?

Will there be another effort by MPs, as there was last night, to try to take control of the business of the day and force the prime minister legally -- even though there was no consensus or no majority on some of those issues yesterday -- legally follow that direction, potentially adding customs union to her deal?

All of that still up in the air. Without a doubt, time running out for this prime minister.

BRIGGS: Not clear if anyone could get this Parliament to agree on a deal.

[05:50:02] Nic Robertson live for us at 10 Downing, thanks.

ROMANS: All right, let's get a check on "CNN Business" this morning. Shoppers spent a little less last month, signaling the economy could be slowing down. Data from the Commerce Department showed retail sales fell slightly in February. Sales for January revised higher.

You know, shoppers cut back on purchases of furniture, clothing, groceries, electronics, and appliances. They bought more cars, though. Sales at car dealerships rebounded seven-tenths of a percent after being down nearly two percent in January.

Now, retail sales have slowly begun to rebound after that unusually large drop in sales in December. Economists note the decline in February reflects maybe a delay in processing tax refunds. Early filers saw smaller refunds under the new tax law.

Cold and wet weather could also have hurt sales in February, maybe staying in to shop online. Online sales rose just under one percent.

Global stocks right now mostly higher after some strong manufacturing data from the U.S. -- from factory numbers yesterday -- but also from China.

On Wall Street, looking at futures right now slightly lower -- barely lower. I would even call that unchanged. This, after markets finished strongly on the first day of the second quarter.

The Dow up 330 points, the highest close since October. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both up more than one percent.

Today, by the way, is Equal Pay Day. What is that? Well, it's the day that symbolizes how far into the year women have to work to earn what men earned in the prior year. A reminder about that, on average -- that pay gap -- gender pay gap is still there -- narrowing, but still there in the American economy.

Amazon is slashing prices on hundreds of products at Whole Foods for the third time in two years. Price cuts go into effect tomorrow -- mostly produce. Amazon and Whole Foods said customers will save an average 20 percent off select items, including greens, tomatoes, and fruits.

Amazon has tried to revamp Whole Foods at whole paycheck image since it bought the grocery brand two years ago. And despite cuts, prices have risen for three straight months.

And, Walmart and Costco are lowering their prices, too. That's putting more pressure on Amazon.

We'll be right back.

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[05:56:27] BRIGGS: "INSIDE EDITION" host Deborah Norville revealing she will undergo cancer surgery today and she has a viewer to thank.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DEBORAH NORVILLE, ANCHOR, "INSIDE EDITION": And a long time ago, an "INSIDE EDITION" viewer reached out to say she'd seen something on my neck. It was a lump.

Well, I'd never notice the thing but I did have it checked out and the doctor said it was nothing -- a thyroid nodule. And for years it was nothing until recently, it was something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Norville says the lump became cancerous. She says it is localized and won't require chemo. She asked viewers for prayers, both for herself and her surgeon.

ROMANS: It was a memorable birthday for Carter Braconi of South Brunswick, New Jersey. There he is. Carter, five years old, with high-functioning autism and ADHD.

His mom took him to a skate park for his birthday. When he started riding his scooter, a group of older kids showed up and they taught him to ride a skateboard. They helped him find this balance, they picked up him when he fell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTIN BRACONI, MOTHER OF CARTER BRACONI: Actions speak louder than words and taking him under their wing and giving him a little mini skateboard, I -- my heart exploded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: After they left the park, Carter and his mom went to get ice cream and they brought ice cream back to share with those teenagers.

BRIGGS: Restoring our faith in humanity this morning.

ROMANS: Good kids out there.

BRIGGS: On the morning after, some news from the April Fools' files.

Tom Brady finally joined Twitter on Monday and in his first-ever tweet announced he's retiring. Clearly, the New England Patriots were not amused. The team responding with GIF from Steve Carell from his days in "THE OFFICE."

Then, there was former FBI director James Comey tweeting, "I'm in. We need someone in the middle. #2020." Then adding, "But could you imagine a president who used this Website to make dad jokes rather than to hurl insults" -- with the hashtag #VoteDem2020.

ROMANS: And, Georgia Congressman John Lewis, in an April Fools' announcement of his own, said he plans to grow a beard to avoid being mistaken for Congressman Elijah Cummings. His statement noting years of baldest reports that confuse the two.

McDonald's unveiling its newest menu item, the McPickle burger, stacked with pickles layered between melted cheese, ketchup, sauce, and --

BRIGGS: Would you?

ROMANS: -- toasted sesame seed buns.

I actually do like pickles --

BRIGGS: Me, too.

ROMANS: -- but that's a lot of pickles.

And finally, the U.S. Open announcing the addition of puppies to its ball-person team for 2019. They say all breeds are welcome -- cute.

BRIGGS: Aside from the slobber on the ball, I am all in on that last idea. A ratings spike right there.

ROMANS: All right, April Fools' behind us. Tuesday, ahead of you. Have a great day, everybody.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Here's "NEW DAY." We'll see you tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Police identifying a suspect in the murder of rapper Nipsey Hussle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's why I call for peace. That's why we're calling upon whoever killed Nipsey to turn their self in. Nipsey was our hero. He was a role model to our youth.

CUMMINGS: To have people who have top secrets and they have not been cleared, that should alarm every American.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Democrats had to push forward subpoenas as part of their investigation.

KUSHNER: I've been accused of all types of things and all of those things have turned out to be false.

(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 Tuesday, April second -- so glad that's over -- April first -- 6:00 here in New York.

We do have breaking news overnight. A vigil for Grammy-nominated rapper Nipsey Hussle has turned violent.

END