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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Homeland Security Secretary Nielson Is Out; U.S. Tourist Kidnapped In Uganda Is Freed; Mulvaney: Democrats Will Never See President Trump's Tax Returns; Benjamin Netanyahu Fighting For His Political Life; Baylor Wins NCAA Women's Championship. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired April 08, 2019 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:31:36] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Homeland Security Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen forced to resign, the latest domino to fall as the border situation worsens.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: An American tourist freed after being kidnapped in Uganda. Reports a ransom was paid. Could that payment encourage future kidnappings?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL HEMMER, HOST, "FOX NEWS SUNDAY": The Democrats will never see the president's tax returns?
MICK MULVANEY, ACTING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Oh, no, never.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Never. The White House rejecting demands for the president's tax returns setting up another major battle with House Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER, NCAA WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: It's Jackson on the drive for the lead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: And the Baylor Lady Bears are NCAA champions, their third title since 2012.
Your men's champ will be crowned tonight. Either way, defense wins championships. Virginia and Texas Tech, two of the best defensive teams in the league. But it's a 9:20 Eastern time tip-off, so a couple of naps in order.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 32 minutes past the hour this Monday morning. Nice to see you. Breaking overnight, Homeland Security Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen is out. Nielsen has become the face of President Trump's hardline stance on immigration. They were together at the border just Friday but he has become increasingly frustrated with the crisis at the border.
BRIGGS: Just days ago, the president abruptly withdrew the nomination of Ron Vitiello to head up ICE, and he cut aid to Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala for failing to stem the tide of migrants. A senior administration official tells CNN the president was making, quote, "unreasonable, even impossible requests."
One person close to Nielsen says she felt in limbo for the last week and it wasn't her choice to leave.
For more, we welcome in Boris Sanchez from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Dave and Christine, a source close to Kirstjen Nielsen tells CNN that she did not resign willingly. We are told that she was under pressure from President Trump to hand in her resignation letter. We're also told that she didn't fight to try to keep the job and she didn't grovel or beg the president to stay in her post as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
We understand that Nielsen came to this Sunday meeting at the White House not expecting to have to resign but prepared to do so. In fact, I want to read you a portion of her resignation letter. Listen to this.
Quote, "Despite our progress in reforming homeland security for a new age, I have determined that it is the right time for me to step aside. I hope that the next secretary will have the support of Congress and the courts in fixing the laws which have impeded our ability to fully secure America's borders and which have contributed to discord in our nation's discourse.
Our country, and the men and women of DHS deserve to have all the tools and resources they need to execute the mission entrusted to them. I can say with confidence our homeland is safer than when I joined the administration."
A White House official told me that frustration was mounting on the White House's side as well. They said, quote, "It's about time." I'm told that President Trump was rarely happy with Nielsen's work.
She was brought in at the behest of former chief of staff John Kelly and when he left the administration in December the door was open for her to be replaced.
But I'm told that President Trump was happy with her performance during negotiating sessions over the government shutdown with Democrats. But ultimately, that faded away and the president wanted to restart -- wanted to hit the restart button on his Department of Homeland Security, deciding to force Kirstjen Nielsen to resign -- Dave and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[05:35:05] ROMANS: All right, Boris at the White House. Thanks, Boris.
Nielsen says she will stay on the job at DHS until Wednesday to ensure an orderly transition.
Now, President Trump announcing Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan will become acting DHS secretary. Now, that presents a problem. McAleenan's appointment skips over acting DHS Deputy Sec. Claire Grady who is legally next in line for the post. So she will have to go in order for McAleenan to assume the role.
BRIGGS: If McAleenan becomes temporary DHS secretary there would be five acting cabinet-level officials. That's a quarter of the cabinet.
A source tells CNN's Pamela Brown one of the reasons Nielsen stayed on the job this long was to try and repair her image. She felt she'd become the face of the administration's child separation policy even though it was Jeff Sessions' idea.
Over the weekend, we learned it could take up to two years to identify potentially thousands of additional immigrant families that U.S. authorities separated at the border.
And late last night, more threats by the president to shut down that border, tweeting, "Mexico must apprehend all illegals or we will have no other choice. Our country is full."
ROMANS: Joining us this morning, Princeton University historian and professor Julian Zelizer, a CNN political analyst. Nice to see you this morning.
JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, HISTORIAN AND PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, CO-AUTHOR, "FAULT LINES: A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1974": Good morning.
BRIGGS: Good morning.
ROMANS: A lot going on and you heard the president on Friday say we're full -- the country's full -- mocking asylum seekers, which is the law by the way. It is legal for someone to come here and seek asylum. Mocking asylum seekers and then by the end of the weekend, his Department of Homeland Security secretary is out.
He clearly is honing in on a very hardline immigration policy, publicly, heading into the reelection.
ZELIZER: He's going from a hard line to an even harder line and he's frustrated and using, in some ways, Nielsen to explain why things aren't working. And at the same time, to double down for the election and to start to say that he's going to be even tougher and the administration's going to crack down even more. So I think this is at the heart of his presidency because back to day one with his campaign launch and right now, this is a mess. It's a total mess.
BRIGGS: It's not just a reelection strategy, it is a crisis. There were nearly 100,000 apprehensions at the border in March -- 4,100 in one day alone. So why can't the president solve it? That is the question.
And, Evan Perez tweeted this from a senior administration official. "The president fundamentally lacks understanding of the legal limitations." He doesn't understand the law. And then he adds that "Nielsen felt the president was pushing for measures that were unlawful."
What does the president need to do? Why can't he solve this crisis?
ZELIZER: Well, he won't focus on what many people have said is most important at the border, having more agents to actually handle the processing. Changing facilities so that they are more apt to deal with families rather than individual men. He's not listening to any of that.
This is a political campaign speech that he gives over and over again. And as real problems emerge under his watch he's unable to deal with them.
BRIGGS: He needs to deal with Congress, which is the one thing he has --
ROMANS: Yes.
BRIGGS: -- not been able to do -- Republicans or Democrats.
ROMANS: Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress want to see the president's tax returns. And, Mick Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff -- the president's acting chief of staff, yesterday, told Fox News never, never, never, never -- never going to happen -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: To be clear, you believe Democrats will never see the president's tax returns?
MULVANEY: Oh, no, never -- nor should they. Keep in mind that that's an issue that was already litigated during the election. Voters knew the president could have given his tax returns, they knew that he didn't, and they elected him anyway which of course, is what drives the Democrats crazy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: I want to actually disagree a little bit, respectfully, with Mick Mulvaney. The president told voters he would release his taxes. I mean, he said as soon as he was done with his audit he would release them -- no problem. I mean, I think the voters assumed that eventually they would -- they would -- they would hear them.
Listen to the president in his own words say he was going to release his taxes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, THEN-BUSINESSMAN: If I decide to run for office I'll produce my tax returns, absolutely.
TRUMP, THEN-CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm releasing when we're finished with the audit.
I will release my tax returns against my lawyers' wishes when she releases her 33,000 e-mails.
I'll release them when the audit's completed -- as soon as that's finished. Whenever that may be, and hopefully it's going to be before the election. I'm fine with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: See, his excuse changed a little bit over time, right --
ZELIZER: Yes.
ROMANS: -- but he said he would release them.
ZELIZER: No, he did say that, and the election wasn't about electing a president who wouldn't show his tax returns.
This was a tradition started under Richard Nixon or after Richard Nixon. The point was that we understood whether presidents were accountable and had a sense of their holdings.
It's triply important with President Trump because he is a businessman and because he owns this huge business empire with potential areas of conflict of interest. And so, to not have this, I think causes a lot of problems in our body politics.
[05:40:04] BRIGGS: It will be a powerful argument in 2020 to say what is the president hiding, but that's the fight between Democrats and Republicans.
There are a lot of fights between Democrats themselves and President Obama, in Germany over the weekend, hit on this at a town hall. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA (D), FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One of the things I do worry about sometimes among progressives in the United States and maybe it's true here as well, is a certain kind of rigidity where we say ah, I'm sorry, this is how it's going to be.
And then we start sometimes creating what's called a circular firing squad where you start shooting at your allies because one of them is straying from purity on the issues. And when that happens, typically, the overall effort and movement weakens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: OK, as per that circular firing squad, an article in "The New York Times" points out House Democratic campaign is trying to ward off all these primary challenges within the party all over the country.
How big a problem is it for Democrats?
ZELIZER: It's a problem. It's true that parties can implode and fight with themselves to a point it's destructive. That said, remember, 2008 when he took on Hillary Clinton it was the most bitter primary that we had seen in a while and it was over litmus test issues, such as what do you vote for in Iraq.
What was the outcome? He won, the party came out stronger for it, many would agree, and you had a very successful president. So, parties can use this kind of fighting to make themselves stronger.
BRIGGS: If they can coalesce around one leader.
ZELIZER: If they can.
BRIGGS: If it's Bernie Sanders --
ROMANS: Right.
BRIGGS: -- I'm not sure that happens.
ZELIZER: Yes.
ROMANS: What do you make about the early fundraising numbers?
ZELIZER: Well, Cory -- some are disappointed at Cory Booker's not finding the space to sell his brand of politics.
But, Bernie Sanders, I must say, keeps coming back at the top, both in fundraising, in these pollings, and I think he's taking a lot of air within the Democratic field.
But, there's people like Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris who aren't raising tons of money, but I think they're still very competitive and very formidable.
ROMANS: Yes. Kamala Harris second to Bernie Sanders there with $12 million.
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: All right. Thank you, Julian Zelizer.
ZELIZER: Thank you.
ROMANS: Nice to see you.
BRIGGS: Thank you. ROMANS: A programming note. CNN hosts Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a live presidential town hall moderated by Erin Burnett. That is tomorrow night, 10:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.
BRIGGS: OK, huge relief this morning as an American tourist and her guide are returned alive. They were abducted in Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park last week.
These pictures captured just moments after Kimberly Sue Endicott and her guide were rescued from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Officials say the handover was quiet and peaceful and both are in good health.
ROMANS: Now, reports say a ransom was paid for their release by the tour company Wild Frontiers. Governments often avoid ransom payments -- are fearful it will encourage more kidnappings.
At this point, it's not clear who the kidnappers are or who they work for and whether Endicott was targeted because she is American.
The U.S. military, we're told, provided support to Ugandan Security Forces, including intelligence and surveillance.
BRIGGS: More trouble for Boeing this morning.
American Airlines announcing it's now canceling flights all the way into early June due to the grounding of the 737 MAX. American had already canceled flights through late-April. It says that by proactively canceling more flights it can provide better rebooking options. The airline has 24 737 MAX jets in its fleet.
Boeing now says it's currently cutting back production on all 737 from 52 to 42 per month.
The 737 MAX was grounded indefinitely worldwide after two fatal crashes that killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
ROMANS: All right. How young is too young to smoke? Another state says you have to be at least 21. The latest in a growing trend, next.
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[05:48:17] BRIGGS: Fighting for his political life, Benjamin Netanyahu making a last-minute play to his base one day before Israelis head to the polls. The prime minister vowing to annex settlements in the West Bank if reelected.
Let's go live to Jerusalem and bring in CNN's Michael Holmes. Michael, good morning. How risky is this move?
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN TODAY": Hi, Dave. It's very risky, really.
This was a massive sort of policy position to be announcing on the eve of the election. And as such, it's being seen as a calculated political play trying to draw votes from smaller right-wing parties so that Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud gets enough votes head-to-head with his main opponent Benny Gantz to be the one invited by the president to form a coalition government.
As we know, there are -- it's all about the coalition in Israel. There's risk involved in this, though. Those right-wing parties, they are Netanyahu's potential coalition parties.
If you pull too many votes from them and one or more them might then not meet the Israeli threshold to get seats in the Knesset. They're going to get about 3.25 percent of the vote to get seats. So, Netanyahu might pick up some seats from those parties but lose coalition partners if they don't meet the threshold, so that's a bit of a risk itself.
As for the promise on the settlements, really significant because Benjamin Netanyahu wasn't talking about major settlement blocs, which most people think would be incorporated into Israel as part of any future peace deal. He was talking about all of the settlements -- 130 or so all around the West Bank. And annexing them would make the notion of any viable Palestinian state all but impossible.
[05:50:00] Plenty of people here saying Netanyahu's promise was electioneering. Were he to win, it might slip down his to-do list -- Dave.
BRIGGS: Michael Holmes live for us on election-eve in Israel. Thank you.
ROMANS: All right, the first quarter is over and that means big American companies will reveal just how much money they made. It could be a rare quarter where profit fell.
It's been a great quarter for investors. You can see the Dow was up 13 percent so far this year. The S&P 500 up 15 percent. Look at the Nasdaq up nearly 20 percent.
So now, investors will pay close attention to what CEOs are saying about the rest of the year in their earnings calls.
Delta will report earnings Wednesday. It is expecting better earnings for the first quarter thanks to fuel costs rising at a less dramatic pace than they had feared.
Delta has held up better than other U.S. airlines. Why? It doesn't have any Boeing 737 MAX jets in its fleet.
JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo report their earnings on Friday. The JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon recently told investors the bank's profits were boosted last year from big corporate tax cuts. Revenue expected, though, to be flat for JPMorgan Chase in the first quarter and down at Wells Fargo.
There will be a lot of questions for Wells Fargo now that is CEO Tim Sloan has stepped down. Also, there are concerns about how low interest rates will affect bank businesses.
Global stock markets, right now, mostly lower when you look around the world.
On Wall Street, futures tipping lower ahead of the earnings season rolling out here. The Dow gained 40 points on Friday. I can show you what the week looked like. About half a percent gain for the Dow, a little more than that for the S&P, and a 1.4 percent gain on the week for the Nasdaq.
Markets close to all-time highs here for the first time since last year.
On Wednesday, the Fed will release minutes from its March meeting. The Fed has held rates steady. It has lowered its economic forecast and signaled there are no further rate hikes coming this year.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:55:47] ROMANS: We are now hearing from the father of Timmothy Pitzen, the little boy who went missing in Illinois nearly eight years ago. James Pitzen tells NBC News there may be an upside to the hoax last week by a 23-year-old man who claimed to be his son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES PITZEN, FATHER OF TIMMOTHY PITZEN: Exposure will help them get his face back out there. He's alive somewhere. I know he is.
You can't give up hope. I mean, as soon as you give up hope, then what should I do? Declare him dead? I mean, I'm not going to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Timmothy would be 14 years old now. He went missing when his mother took him out of school, brought him to a motel and ultimately, killed herself.
Last week, the man claiming to be Timmothy surfaced in Kentucky, but DNA tests proved he was a fraud.
ROMANS: Illinois is raising the legal age for purchasing tobacco products. Governor J.B. Pritzker signing legislation Sunday that raises the legal age from 18 to 21. The new law takes effect July first.
Illinois joins a growing list of states adopting tobacco 21 policies. New laws are already in effect in six states. Other states set to take effect, and four more, including Illinois.
Teen smoking rates have declined over the years but public health advocates warn the popularity of vaping threatens to reverse that progress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER, NCAA WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: On the drive for the lead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The Baylor Lady Bears holding off Notre Dame 82-81 to win the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship. Baylor led by at least 17 -- 12 in the second half -- but needed that last-second shot from guard Chloe Jackson. She finished with 26 points. Outstanding Player in the Final Four.
A new men's champ will be crowned tonight in Minneapolis when Virginia plays Texas Tech.
After Texas Tech's Final Four win Saturday, the celebration got way out of hand. Students flipping over several cars and setting bonfires in Lubbock. School has canceled all classes after 5:00 p.m. hoping for better behavior. Behave, Tech students.
ROMANS: You're on camera. You're on camera, so come on.
BRIGGS: All over everyone's cell phone camera.
Former Vice President Joe Biden trying to ease concerns about invading personal space. He even joked about it twice on Friday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just want you to know I had permission to hug Lonnie. By the way, he gave me permission to touch him, all right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Some said the former V.P. and possible 2020 contender wasn't getting the message. Well, "SNL" weighed on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON SUDEIKIS, FORMER CAST MEMBER, NBC "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": OK, you guys know that I'm a tactile politician, right -- OK? I'm a hugger, I'm a kisser, and I'm a little bit of a sniffer, OK?
Really great to meet you, Gwen. It really is. I appreciate you coming here. Thank you for helping us out.
CECILY STRONG, CAST MEMBER, NBC "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Mr. Vice President?
SUDEIKIS: One second, I'm just connecting -- one second. Sorry for the interruption.
No, I think nose-to-nose is going to be OK. You know, here -- because look, I did the 23andMe thing like Lizzie -- you know, what's her name? You know, Lizzie Warren, right?
Now, and you know, it turns out that I'm one percent Eskimo, so I can -- I'm allowed to do the kissing. COLIN JOST, CAST MEMBER, NBC "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": A pro-Trump group released a new ad saying that Biden's behavior with women is unacceptable and should instantly disqualify him from running. The group's name is Independent Republicans of New York or IRONY.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Oh, very funny.
All right, that's it for us this Monday morning.
BRIGGS: One thing is clear. If it's Biden versus Trump, "SNL" is going to be just fine.
ROMANS: Oh, yes.
BRIGGS: Do we agree on that?
ROMANS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Here's "NEW DAY."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Kirstjen Nielsen is leaving Trump, who is not pleased with her performance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The demands from the White House are unrealistic. She saw the writing on the wall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She has separated families. She'll be remembered as one of the worst public servants we've seen.
HEMMER: You believe Democrats will never see the president's tax returns?
MULVANEY: Oh, no, never.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is Trump administration bluster. I would say to them, read the law.
SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R), UTAH: Going after his tax returns through a legislative action is moronic. He's going to win this victory.
(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 Monday, April eighth, 6:00 here in New York. Happy Monday.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happy Monday. Nice weekend?
CAMEROTA: Very great.
BERMAN: Tons of sleep?
CAMEROTA: You can.
END
