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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
AG Barr Insists Redacted Mueller Report Coming Mid-April; Steve Mnuchin Defends Consultation with White House Over Trump's Tax Returns; Trump Rules Out Family Separation Border Policy; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Opponent in a Virtual Tie. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired April 10, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: -- competing in a tight labor market. There are fewer people looking for work. The unemployment rate stood at 3.8 percent last month. Bank of America declined further comment on the increase.
It's so interesting to me because you have people who say, you know, don't -- the federal government shouldn't raise the minimum wage because that -- you know, that depresses hiring.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Right.
ROMANS: What you're seeing from companies is they are raising --
BRIGGS: They have to, right?
ROMANS: They're raising the minimum wage because they need to attract and retain their people.
BRIGGS: It's the tight labor market.
ROMANS: Yes.
BRIGGS: All right. EARLY START continues right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I don't intend at this stage to send the full unredacted report to the committee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The attorney general set to face more questions today about how much of the Mueller report Americans can see.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN MNUCHIN, TREASURY SECRETARY: I am not afraid of being fired at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: President Trump's Treasury secretary insists no one is telling him what to do about releasing the president's tax returns.
BRIGGS: Israel's prime minister locked in a virtual tie with a man who wants to replace him in an election that's still too close to call this morning.
ROMANS: Doctors are urging the immediate recall of this infant sleeper the Consumer Reports links to 32 deaths.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: Wow. I'm Dave Briggs. It's Wednesday, April 10th, 5:00 a.m. in the East. It is 3:00 a.m. in Colorado where it was 80 degrees yesterday, 20s today with six inches of snow on the way. We'll have the latest on the bomb cyclone coming to most of the country later.
But we start in the nation's capital. Attorney General Bill Barr back on Capitol Hill this morning. Yesterday, he was grilled by a House subcommittee for hours intended to focus on the budget. Most of the questioning was about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Democrats demanding to know what's in the Mueller report and how much of it Barr will release and when.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARR: My original timetable of being able to release this by mid- April stands. And so I think that from my standpoint, by the -- within a week, I will be in a position to release the report to the public. I don't intend at this stage to send the full unredacted report to the committee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Barr says there will be four types of redactions in the report, color-coded for convenience. Grand jury material, classified information, material related to ongoing investigations and what he calls information that harms the privacy and reputational interest of the peripheral third parties. Barr also refused to say whether he's given the White House a sneak peek at the Mueller report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NITA LOWEY (D-NY): Did the White House see the report before you released your summarizing letter? Has the White House seen it since then? Have they been briefed on the contents beyond what was in your summarizing letter to the Judiciary Committee?
BARR: I've said what I'm going to say about the report today. I'm not going to say anything more about it until the report is out and everyone has a chance to look at it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: House Democrats say they will quickly seek the full Mueller report as soon as they receive Attorney General Barr's redacted version. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): Congress has need of the entire report, including the grand jury material, including all the -- including everything. And I presume we're going to get the redacted report within a week. When we do so, if we don't get everything, we will issue the subpoena and go to court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The attorney general also supporting the Trump administration's decision not to defend Obamacare. Barr was questioned about the Justice Department taking a position that could leave tens of millions of Americans uninsured, and here is how he responded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARR: And do you think it's likely we are going to prevail?
REP. MATT CARTWRIGHT (D-PA): If you prevail, well, you're devoting scarce resources of your department toward that effort, are you not, Attorney General?
BARR: We're in litigation. We have to take a position. If you think it's an outrageous position, you have nothing to worry about. Let the courts do their job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: In a stunning reversal last month, the administration sided with red states seeking to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act. Previously the White House indicated only parts of Obamacare were unconstitutional.
ROMANS: Today is the deadline for the Treasury Department to turn over President Trump's tax returns to Congress. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testifying on Capitol Hill admitting his department has consulted with the White House about that request. And that set off a fiery exchange with Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Mnuchin insisting no one in the Trump administration is telling him what to do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MNUCHIN: I have had no direct conversations with the president or anybody else in the White House about this.
[05:05:01] Our legal department has consulted with the White House as they would and as I believe would be normal. That is not taking direction from the White House. I don't view that as interference, was not specific to the president's -- anything related to the president's tax returns other than the expectation of getting this request.
REP. MAXINE WATERS (D-CA): You're not afraid that you will be fired if in fact you release the returns?
MNUCHIN: Well, I'm -- I'm not afraid of being fired at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Mnuchin and Waters sparring when the Treasury secretary insisted on leaving the hearing to keep a previous appointment. More on that exchange later in the program.
BRIGGS: I'll get my popcorn ready.
President Trump refuting reports his administration is looking to resume a policy that tears apart families at the southern border. And instead he blamed the Obama administration for starting the policy of separating children from their parents, a claim that is misleading, at best.
Abby Phillip has the latest from the White House.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, President Trump has now ruled out that his administration will attempt to bring back their policy of separating children from their parents at the border.
The president was responding to a question about reports, including from CNN, that the president's aides were deliberating on an idea of giving these migrants what they are calling a binary choice, that would be to either stay with their children in detention indefinitely or to allow their children to remain in the United States while they are deported at the border.
The president did not say that that wasn't being deliberated. He just said that it wasn't going to be done. And he did also acknowledge that this was a policy that he believed would deter immigrants from coming up from Central America to the United States' southern border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now I'll tell you something, once you don't have it, that's why you see many more people coming. They're coming like it's a picnic because let's go to Disneyland.
President Obama separated children. They had child separation. I was the one that changed it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: And a senior administration official also adds that this policy was being deliberated in the administration but it was not ready for operational effectiveness. They basically had not figured out how to make it work on the ground and a lot of advocates are also saying it would probably be illegal and subject to the same kinds of legal challenges that the previous policy faced -- Christine and Dave.
ROMANS: All right, Abby Phillip. Back on to the border, the White House has reassigned hundreds of
border agents away from customs and toward immigration duties. CBP Operations director Randy Howe says that move is causing problems.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDY HOWE, DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS, U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION: The border security humanitarian crisis at the southwest border has ripple effects that impact the entire nation. Suspended services negatively affect the trade community, the supply chain, businesses that rely on these products and ultimately the consumer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Wait times Monday for cargo processing in El Paso were as long as 250 minutes. That's about four hours for those trucks sitting there. Wait times last year were less than 15 minutes.
The Bridge of Americas cargo lane closed for the first time Saturday. CNN affiliate KFOX said some businesses in El Paso did not receive their imports over the weekend because of the delays, adding that the Bridge of the Americas will be closed to cargo trucks every Saturday until further notice because they have shifted resources at the border.
Now remember truck and rail routes carry $1.7 billion in goods every single day back and forth across the border. U.S. manufacturers have complex supply chains that crisscross the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Those delays at the border hurt American factories and American workers especially in the auto industry.
BRIGGS: All right. Another top ranking Homeland Security official bites the dust. Claire Grady, the acting number two at DHS, is the latest to leave the department. Grady was next in line to replace Secretary Kristjen Nielsen after she was forced out. Grady's departure paving the way for Kevin McAleenan to lead Homeland Security in an acting capacity. President Trump insisting the personnel moves are not what they appear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I never said I'm cleaning house. I don't know who came up with that expression. We have a lot of great people over there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The changes come as the president signals a tougher line on stopping the flood of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
ROMANS: All right. The race for prime minister of Israel too close to call at this hour. More than 90 percent of the votes have been counted. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conservative party is ahead of former general Benny Gantz's Blue and White Party by fewer than 13,000 votes. Both sides have already claimed victory.
Let's turn to CNN's Michael Holmes live in Jerusalem. Michael, what's the latest?
MICHAEL HOMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, neck-and-neck when it comes to Benny Gantz and Benjamin Netanyahu. But it could actually be days before this is all sorted out.
It was fascinating watching both of those leaders, Netanyahu and Gantz, going before their voters. Both of them claiming victory with great confidence. Only one of them is going to be right. And it looks like Benjamin Netanyahu is the one who has the easier path to the prime ministership.
[05:10:03] It looks like he's going to have enough support from the smaller parties who won seats to reach the magic number of 61. And therefore a majority. We're now at 97 percent of the vote counted. The two men, it looks like 35-35 in terms of seats but Benjamin Netanyahu with the coalition advantage. Benny Gantz would have to get defections from traditional Likud allies if he were to pull a rabbit out of a hat. It could happen. Deals are done here. But it is very much a long shot. It's fair to say Netanyahu favored to be the one to be asked to form a coalition, but not a done deal yet -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Not a done deal yet. Michael Holmes, thank you so much for that in Jerusalem for us this morning.
BRIGGS: Big deal there.
All right. He's been railing against millionaires for years. Well, now Bernie Sanders is one of them. What does the Democratic socialist and 2020 candidate have to say about all that?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:15:15] BRIGGS: Consumer Reports says 32 babies have died in the same Fisher-Price rocker. The American Academy of Pediatrics calling for the immediate recall of the Fisher-Price Rock 'n Play sleeper based on the Consumer Reports analysis.
The consumer advocacy group says Fisher-Price does not believe the deaths were caused by its product. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is asking costumers to stop using the Rock 'n Play sleeper if their children are able to roll over. But the pediatricians group says that warning does not go far enough. It's asking stores to remove the product from shelves.
ROMANS: All right. Bernie has bucks. Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders confirming he is a millionaire and offering no apologies. The Vermont senator and 2020 candidate says the cash came from his bestselling book, "Our Revolution," a "New York Times" bestseller in 2016. Of course Sanders has been very critical of 1 percenters in the past.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Billionaires and millionaires have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the political process supporting Republican candidates. And today is payback time for them.
The bulk of the benefits in this legislation by a large profitable corporations and to millionaires and billionaires.
Well, my view is, you don't give, as Trump wants to, huge tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Sanders plans to release 10 years of tax returns on a report Monday. When he was asked about his growing nest egg, he replied, "If you write a bestselling book, you can be a millionaire, too."
Programming note, Washington Governor Jay Inslee in a live presidential town hall moderated by Wolf Blitzer. That's tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.
BRIGGS: More drama on Capitol Hill yesterday. Conservative commentator Candace Owens erupted at a House hearing on white nationalism after Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu played a clip of the right-wring fire brand discussing Hitler.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANDACE OWENS, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: If Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, OK, fine. The problem is that he wanted -- he had dreams outside of Germany.
I think it's pretty apparent that Mr. Lieu believes that black people are stupid and will not pursue the full clip in its entirety. He purposely presented an extracted clip.
NADLER: The witness will suspend for a moment. It is not proper to refer disparagingly to a member of the committee. The witness will not do that again. The witness may continue.
OWENS: Sure, even though I was called despicable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Owens later disavowed Hitler calling him a homicidal psychopathic maniac. She made headlines last month when the alleged perpetrator at the New Zealand mosque shooter has dubbed her the person who has influenced me above all.
ROMANS: Actress Lori Loughlin and 15 other parents now facing additional charge of money laundering in that growing college admissions cheating scandal. Now they were already charged last month with conspiracy to commit fraud. Loughlin and her husband, the fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, they are accused of paying half a million dollars to a fake charity run by Rick Singer, the alleged mastermind of this admission scam. The couple sought to get their two daughters into USC as crew recruits, even though the girls did not row.
BRIGGS: Aunt Becky is in some hot water, indeed. Ahead, Magic Johnson stunning the basketball world by stepping down as
president of the Los Angeles Lakers. Two sure fire NBA Hall of Famers also calling it a career last night. Coy Wire has a big basketball "Bleacher Report," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:23:17] BRIGGS: You can call it retirement Tuesday in the NBA's three of basketball's biggest names say their farewells.
Coy Wire has the latest in the "Bleacher Report" this morning.
Good morning, my friend. And boy, it has been a debacle this season for the Los Angeles Lakers. And that was before the stunning I guess resignation of Magic Johnson. What is happening in L.A.?
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and no doubt one of the most disappointing seasons in Lakers' history, Dave. And only one day left in the regular season.
BRIGGS: Awful.
WIRE: And that meant emotional farewells across the league with Lakers president Magic Johnson stunning just about everyone with the bombshell announcement. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAGIC JOHNSON, LAKERS PRESIDENT OF BASKETBALL OPERATIONS: I have been talking to people. We've been talking about next year. And I'm sitting there saying, I'm not going to be here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: The Hall of Famer saying he didn't even tell owner Jeanie Buss about his decision to step down because he couldn't be face-to-face and tell her. Magic says he had more fun when he was able to be everyone's big brother and ambassador. Even with the signing of LeBron James, the Lakers missed the playoffs finishing with a losing record this season.
Dirk Nowitzki made it official last night. He played his final home game in Dallas. A sea of team employees lining up to greet him before it. And the outpouring of love sparked an outpouring of points. He scored his team's first 10 points ending with a season high 30 in a win over Phoenix. He got emotional mid-game wiping away some tears. Afterwards, he made the announcement. The Mavs fans just did not want to hear it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIRK NOWITZKI, 14-TIME ALL-STAR: As you guys might expect, this is my last home game. Yes.
[05:25:04] I left Germany over 20 years ago and I became a Texan. So thank you guys for having me. And I'll see you soon. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Now Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade became a three-time champ and 13-time All Star over his 16 seasons but his impact off the court somehow seems more significant. He's been doing these jersey exchanges all season as part of his farewell tour but in a new moving Budweiser ad, he added ahead of his final game, he quickly realizes that this isn't a jersey exchange that's happening. Instead it's his mom and some of the complete strangers whose lives he's impacted over his career may surprise him. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- from the beginning, he passed away in Parkland on February 14th. He was one of the 17 victims.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: That woman, giving Wade her late brother's high school jersey. Another person gave their graduation gown. One man gave a sport coat from his first job interview. In his final home game, D. Wade dropped 30 points. The Heat won't make the playoffs. So D. Wade jumping -- I got to salute the fans one more time. He fell on John Legend and Chrissy Teigen but it was still sweet. Number three's post-game pressure. That couldn't have been any sweeter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DWYANE WADE, 3-TIME NBA CHAMPION: I remember I talked to MJ, you know, years ago. Bless you. Bless you. Three times. OK. Here we go. WNBA number three.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Got a little bit all the emotions there for you this morning, Dave. Some heartache, some shock and some sweetness as well.
BRIGGS: Those are two class acts, Dirk and D. Wade. They will be sorely missed across the league.
Coy Wire, great stuff, my friend. Thank you.
Romans, what's coming up?
ROMANS: Nothing more beautiful than a daddy and his baby. That was awesome. Thanks, guys.
Attorney General Bill Barr under fire for refusing to release the entire Mueller report to Congress. A look ahead at his testimony this morning, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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