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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Virginia Wins Its First NCAA Men's Championship; Attorney General William Barr Faces Lawmakers Today; Rep. Eric Swalwell Joins Crowded Democratic Field; Benjamin Netanyahu Seeks Fifth Term in Crucial Election; Rescued U.S. Tourist Arrives in Kampala, Uganda. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired April 09, 2019 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:31:36] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Virginia captures its first ever men's basketball title in an overtime thriller.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Democrats plan to grill Attorney General Bill Barr about the Mueller report in a Capitol Hill hearing just hours from now.
BRIGGS: Israelis are voting right now as longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reign hangs in the balance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm ready to solve these problems. I'm running for president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A new Democratic candidate just joined the 2020 race for the White House. And then there were 18. A bigger field of Democrats already than we saw Republican field.
BRIGGS: A record 17 ran for the Republican field.
ROMANS: That's right.
Welcome back to EARLY START, everybody. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Thirty-two minutes past the hour. We'll get to Mueller madness in a minute. But we start with March Madness.
From national embarrassment to national champions, the Virginia Cavaliers putting the final touches on a remarkable turnaround, beating Texas Tech, 85-77, in overtime last night to win their first ever NCAA title.
It was one year ago, Virginia became the only number one seed ever to lose to a 16-seed in the first round UMBC. But they exercised those demons last night in Minneapolis thanks in large part to De'Andre Hunter. He scored a game high 27 points, drained that critical three- pointer with just under 13 seconds left to send it to overtime, and it was Hunter's three-pointer again, just over two minutes left in OT that put Virginia ahead for good. Hunter missed last year's tournament with a broken wrist and that made this title so much sweeter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DE'ANDRE HUNTER, NCAA CHAMPION: The joy is in the competition, like I said. This is a great win for our program, a great win for our coach. We worked for this all season and all that work just paid off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: And they are still partying in Charlottesville this morning and frankly all over the state of Virginia. The team returns home late this afternoon. An official celebration takes place at Scott Stadium Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m.
Congrats to Coach Tony Bennett.
ROMANS: All right. The main event in Washington today, Attorney General Bill Barr faces lawmakers this morning for the first time since issuing his four-page summary of the 300-plus page Mueller report. We're already hearing from House Democrats who plan to grill Barr about it.
House Appropriations chairwoman Nita Lowey previewed her opening statement last night. "Your four-page summary seems to cherry pick from the report to draw the most favorable conclusion possible for the president."
To draw their own conclusions, Democrats want the full Mueller report as soon as possible. Expect lots of questions this morning about any redactions Barr plans to make.
Senior congressional reporter Manu Raju has more on that.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Good morning, Christine and Dave.
Bill Barr coming before the House Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees his budget to talk about the president's request for funding for the Justice Department. But even though Bill Barr's opening statement does not mention the Mueller report, that is going to be the focus of today's hearing.
Democrats, in particular, plan to push Bill Barr over the four-page letter he sent outlining the top line conclusions of the Mueller investigation. Also they want to understand why he did not charge the president with obstruction of justice, with his decision-making behind that, as well as how he's handling the effort to redact information from the Mueller report before it becomes public.
[04:35:08] I had a chance to talk to one congressman who plans to do the questioning at today's hearing and he said redactions are going to be a key line of questioning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MATT CARTWRIGHT (D-PA): How much is he going to redact? And I hope that he takes a very sparing approach to his redactions because he knows that everybody is going to want to know what's behind the black ink.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: This is the start of two days of testimony for Bill Barr. He will also come before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees his budget on Wednesday.
Today will be a first sense of how Barr plans to handle the Mueller report and we'll see if he sheds any light on his thinking -- Christine and Dave.
BRIGGS: Should be fun. Thank you, Manu.
The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee is calling on Robert Mueller to testify. But it's not clear whether the special counsel would oblige.
Georgia Republican Doug Collins writing a letter, asking Chairman Jerry Nadler to invite Mueller to testify later this month. He says, quote, "If you seek both transparency and for the American public to learn the full contours of the special counsel's investigation, public testimony from Special Counsel Mueller himself is undoubtedly the best way to accomplish his goal."
Nadler agrees. The chairman tweeting his committee must first receive the special counsel's full report and hear from Attorney General Barr about that report on May 2nd. Nadler says he looks forward to hearing from Mueller at the appropriate time.
ROMANS: All right. President Trump appears to be overseeing a systematic purge of the Department of Homeland Security. One day after DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was forced out, Randolph "Tex" Alles has been told he is being removed as director of the Secret Service. The announcement catching officials at the agency off guard, many of them finding out their boss was leaving by watching CNN. And it was especially surprising since the president said this just last week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I could not be happier with the Secret Service. Secret Service has done a fantastic job from day one. I'm very happy with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The White House says the president has picked career Secret Service official James M. Murray to replace Alles.
BRIGGS: Kirstjen Nielsen's problems with President Trump certainly were not helped by the many times she pushed back against his efforts to slash migration. Senior administration officials telling CNN that over the last few months, the president has been pushing Nielsen to enforce a stricter version of zero tolerance and family separations. That's the same policy Trump himself rolled back under heavy criticism. Multiple sources say the president wanted families separated even if they were asylum seekers at a legal port of entry. Nielsen tried to explain that court rulings banned reinstating the policy. Other White House staffers explained it would be an unmitigated PR disaster.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley deflected responsibility for the proposal to Congress and migrants themselves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOGAN GIDLEY, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The separation of families, you know, the president has said before he does not like that. It's a horrible practice. But Congress has a way to fix that so that it will not be a magnet for people to come here and use children to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: About two weeks ago, the president ordered Nielsen to shut down the port of El Paso, Texas. He gave her a deadline of the next day. A person present at the Oval Office meeting says Nielsen told Trump that closing the port would be a bad, even dangerous idea. She said it would end legal trade and legal travel, while migrants would just go between ports. Now two witnesses say the president responded in that meeting, I don't care. Acting Chief of Staff Mulvaney seems to have been able to talk the president out of closing that port.
BRIGGS: And just last Friday, the president visited Calexico, California, where he told border agents to simply not let migrants in no matter what a judge might say. After the president left the agents asked their bosses what they should do and the supervisors said they had to follow the law, not the president's orders.
ROMANS: Fascinating behind-the-scenes of what has been happening there at DHS over the past few days and weeks.
All right. A major blow to the president's immigration effort, a federal judge in California blocking his policy of returning some asylum seekers to Mexico while they wait for their immigration court hearing. And a preliminary injunction takes effect Friday.
The so-called remain in Mexico policy was rolled out in January. Secretary Nielsen recently ordered an expansion to that program to stem the flow of migrants. According to DHS, as many as 400 asylum seekers have already been returned to Mexico under the policy.
BRIGGS: OK. The Colbert primary continued late last night with Eric Swalwell becoming the 18th Democrat running for president. The California congressman making his big announcement on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." Swalwell says he's been thinking about entering the race for months. He says too many Americans feel like they're just running in place and getting nowhere.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:40:01] SWALWELL: And I see a country in quicksand, unable to solve problems and threats from abroad, unable to make life better for people here at home. Nothing gets done. And none of that is going to change until we get a leader who is willing to go big on the issues we take on, be bold in the solutions we offer, and do good in the way that we govern.
I'm ready to solve these problems. I'm running for president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Swalwell plans to hit the road with a frantic week of campaigning ahead. He hosts a town hall in Sunrise, Florida today with the focus on combating gun violence, then travels to Iowa Thursday, South Carolina Friday, and his home district in California Sunday, where he'll lay out what he calls his vision for the East Bay and America.
ROMANS: A programming note, be sure to watch Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in a live presidential town hall moderated by Erin Burnett. That's tonight at 10:00 Eastern only on CNN.
BRIGGS: All right. The latest on Operation Varsity Blues now. Actress Felicity Huffman and 12 other parents will plead guilty to bribery and fraud charges in the college admission scandal. Federal prosecutors alleged Huffman paid $15,000 to a fake charity to facility cheating for her daughter on the SATs.
The admission scheme helped students get into elite universities like Yale, Stanford, USC and UCLA. Huffman acknowledging her guilt and apologizing in a statement Monday, saying, "I am ashamed of the pain I have caused my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues, and the educational community. My daughter knew absolutely nothing about my actions and in my misguided and profoundly wrong way, I have betrayed her."
Prosecutors say they will recommend incarceration for Huffman at the low end of the sentencing range. Also we should note Stanford University expelled a student linked to a $500,000 donation from the charity at the heart of the college admission scam. The school says the unnamed student put false material in their college application.
ROMANS: All right. Forty-one minutes past the hour. The deadline to file your taxes is a week away, and this may be a surprise to many. The first year under the new tax law refunds are smaller. New figures from the Treasury show the IRS issued about $6 billion less in refunds this year with refunds down an average of just about $20.
Here's what's going on, the new tax code lowered most individual tax rates and nearly doubled the standard deduction. According to the Tax Policy Center, 80 percent of filers got a tax cut. About 5 percent will pay a little bit more.
So why the smaller tax refund? For many it's because those workers took home more in their paychecks throughout the year because employers began using the new IRS income tax withholding tables. In other words, you paid less in taxes but you still got a smaller refund. Other taxpayers will pay more because the new tax code gutted some popular deductions namely the full deduction for state and local taxes.
That will really hurt taxpayers in high tax states. In fact many of you waking up this morning and listening to us who are in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey.
BRIGGS: Right here.
ROMANS: You are --
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: You know exactly what we're talking about. A lot of those deductions you lost this year.
BRIGGS: I'm very familiar with what you're speaking about.
ROMANS: Yes.
BRIGGS: It's been a tough one.
ROMANS: You're poorer.
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: You're poorer in those blue states.
BRIGGS: All right. Israelis heading to the polls right now with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing the stiffest challenge of his political life. We go live to Jerusalem next.
ROMANS: And more questions about ride share safety. What police say an Uber driver was caught doing on a doorbell camera.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:47:40] BRIGGS: 4:47 Eastern Time. It's Election Day in Israeli, and in a matter of hours, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will learn whether he's won the fight of his political life. Netanyahu, seeking reelection to a fifth term, faces multiple corruption investigations and a formidable opponent in former General Benny Gantz.
Joining us live from Jerusalem, CNN's Michael Holmes. Michael, good morning.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Dave. Yes, there's been a steady stream of voters going into this polling place here in Jerusalem. Most of the ones we've spoken to say they are voting Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu's party, or other right-wing parties. And that's more a factor of where we are in a fairly conservative area. You go to Tel Aviv, you're going to get a lot more people saying we're
voting Blue and White, Benny Gantz, the former military chief of staff. And being a former military chief of staff is important because Benjamin Netanyahu has long touted himself as Mr. Security, and security always the chief issue here in Israeli elections.
The Blue and White Party of Benny Gantz, he's a former chief of staff in the military. There's two other former chiefs of staff in the military who are part of that party as well. So the security issue has been muted if you like when it comes to who's going to be the toughest guy running the country.
In terms of who has the edge, neck and neck in the head-to-head poll, but of course it's all about the coalition building when it comes to Israeli elections. Neither man cancelled. Netanyahu is going to get enough votes to govern, so they've got to cobble together coalition with anywhere between 10 and maybe 14 parties that meet the threshold for seats in the Knesset.
At the moment, and I stress at the moment, it looks like Netanyahu has the edge in coalition building. The polls are open for another 10 hours or so. So then we'll get exit polls and have a better idea of where this is headed -- Dave.
BRIGGS: OK. Michael Holmes, just before noon there on Election Day. Thank you.
ROMANS: On the eve of that Israeli election, the Trump administration announcing it is formally designating Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard as a foreign terrorist organization.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: For 40 years, the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guard Corps has actively engaged in terrorism and created, supported and directed other terrorist groups. The IRGC masquerades as a legitimate organization but none of us should be fooled.
[04:50:03] It regularly violates the laws of armed conflict, it plans, organizes and executes terror campaigns all around the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Iran immediately retaliated, naming the U.S. a state sponsor of terrorism and American troops operating in the region as terrorist groups. The U.S. move warmly welcomed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who tweeted his thanks to President Trump, and appeared to take some credit for that decision saying it came in response to his request.
BRIGGS: An Uber driver in Northern California under arrest after police say he tried to break into the home of passengers he took to the airport. Authorities say 38-year-old Jackie Gordon Wilson was caught on a ring home surveillance camera burglarizing and ransacking a home in San Mateo. Now the homeowners shared the video online. Neighbors identified him
as the Uber driver who tried to break into their house after taking them to San Francisco airport. That attempt was thwarted by their alarm system and was also caught on surveillance video. Hours later police arrested Wilson at his home near Sacramento. Uber says it is cooperating with the investigation.
ROMANS: There's been so much discussion about safety and ride sharing, you know. Just --
BRIGGS: Yes. The Uber beat.
ROMANS: Wow. Yes, exactly.
Fifty-one minutes past the hour, even after its site crashed, AMC Theater stocks soared on "Avengers End Game" ticket sales. CNN Business has the details next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:55:54] BRIGGS: 4:45 Eastern Time, and rescued U.S. tourist Kimberly Sue Endicott safe and sound this morning with U.S. embassy personnel in Kampala, Uganda. She and her tour guide were kidnapped last week by an armed gang.
Let's go live to Uganda and bring in Robyn Kriel.
Robyn, good morning. What are we learning?
ROBYN KRIEL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Dave. Well, the questions will start, the investigation really will start because Kimberly Endicott was kidnapped. She is a U.S. citizen and of course investigators on the ground here from the U.S. embassy and from the United States will now try to piece together, was she targeted, for example, because she was a U.S. citizen. Why was she targeted?
This is a crime against a U.S. citizen and that's how it will be dealt with. Now we know as well that Ugandan authorities who essentially led this rescue along with American DOD, we understand they had surveillance as well as liaison offices. But Ugandan authorities have also launched an operation into that area, in the west of Uganda, that forest which sort of borders the DRC and there are these armed groups that go back and forth.
Kidnapping for ransom is a common occurrence, fairly common in the Democrat Republic of Congo just across the border from that game park. But here in Uganda it is not common at all. Authorities keen to stamp it out as quickly as possible because that threaten Uganda's tourism.
BRIGGS: OK. Robyn Kriel, just about noon there in Uganda, thanks so much.
Back here and measles cases in the United States rise into their second highest level since the disease was eliminated in the U.S. nearly two decades ago. Seventy-eight more cases were reported this week. It brings the total number this year to 465. Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts and Nevada reporting their first cases. That means 19 states are now affected. The cases are being blamed on unvaccinated or under vaccinated visitors from other countries.
ROMANS: And of course then spreads here when there are pockets of communities who don't vaccinate their children.
BRIGGS: Right.
ROMANS: Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning. Global markets are mixed amid signs the U.S. is hardening its trade against Europe. The U.S. threatening tariffs on $11 billion worth of European goods in retaliation for subsidies the U.S. says has provided to European aircraft maker Air Bus. The tariffs would hit E.U. products ranging from aircraft and their components to wine, cheese and frozen fish.
Anyway, Wall Street concerned about that, and you see around the world a mixed response really. Futures are slightly lower here as investors are monitoring earnings. U.S. stocks closed mostly higher on Monday shaking off some early losses. Boeing dragged down the Dow. Boeing fell 4 percent on news it will slow 737 MAX production.
The S&P 500 up for the 8th day in a row. That's the longest winning streak since October 2017. The Nasdaq closed up slightly as well.
Crude oil prices have now spiked to a five-month high. U.S. oil jumped another 2.1 percent on Monday. Above 64 bucks a barrel for the first time since Halloween. That's up more than 50 percent from the Christmas Eve lows. The latest rallies sparked in part by a surge of violence in OPEC member Libya which has deepened concerns about diminished supply.
The recovery in oil prices -- the rally in oil prices have been driven primarily by OPEC's aggressive supply cuts. U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and Iran have trimmed crude supply and that also drives up prices.
All right. Thanos may have wiped out half the planet with a snap last year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH BROLIN, ACTOR, "AVENGERS END GAME": You could not live with your own failure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. But it doesn't look like AMC Theaters are going to have any empty seats when "Avengers End Game" debuts later this month. AMC stock soared almost 9 percent Monday after analysts upgraded it to a buy citing the strong advance ticket sales of "End Game." Fandango said the movie broke a single-day record for presales in six hours. The strong sales even more impressive because both the AMC and Fandango sites, they crashed for several hours when the tickets first went on sale. "Avengers Eng Game" comes out April 24th.
Do you have tickets?
BRIGGS: I do have tickets.
ROMANS: You do?
BRIGGS: It's a big week because you have the "Game of Thrones" --
ROMANS: 14th at 8:00 p.m.
BRIGGS: Starts Sunday.
ROMANS: Yes. So I know I've got a lot of managing of my consumption of television and movies.
BRIGGS: Good luck with that.
(LAUGHTER)
BRIGGS: All right. EARLY START continues right now.
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