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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Fire Ravages Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris; Redacted Mueller Report Due on Thursday; AT&T Sells Hulu Stake. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired April 16, 2019 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[04:30:44] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A pillar of Paris for eight centuries ravaged by a fast-moving fire. Parts of Notre Dame Cathedral destroyed. A devastating start to Holy Week around the world.
Welcome back to EARLY START this morning. I'm Christine Romans.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Great to be with you, Christine.
I'm Boris Sanchez, in for Dave Briggs. We are half past the hour.
And we start with something that was hard to watch yesterday. You couldn't help but having a visceral reaction to seeing the images on your screen.
A historic calamity for France and for the world. A huge fire engulfing Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, a symbol of the city that has stood for more than 800 years.
The blaze marring the Parisian skyline, and threatening a powerful emblem of the Catholic faith just as holy week begins.
The fire burned for hours, destroying the Cathedral's iconic spire and roof before firefighters finally got it under control.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's horrific. We heard the tower fall and it was the worst sound, and people screamed. It's so sad. Everyone's so sad.
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ROMANS: Parisians and visitors brought literally to their knees as they watched Notre Dame burn. Some in the crowd hugging, others crying, many just witnessing in hushed reverence as the news broke on screens big and small, of people around the world were united in helplessness.
BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES JANEGA, U.S. TOURIST NEAR CATHEDRAL WHEN FIRE STARTED: I turned around and looked back. I gasped and saw this fire engulfed in flames. And from there we watched, as the rest of Paris watched, in silent shock.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The unique nature of the fire, a tall cathedral centuries old with an interior made entirely of wood, meant standard fire fighting equipment was no match as this inferno grew.
SANCHEZ: Yes, take a look at these first pictures from inside. You can see ash, smoke, light reelecting off the cross and the vastness of history which could ultimately be lost. Outside the pair of bell towers, immortalized survived along with the cathedrals elaborate gothic facade. French President Emmanuel Macron cancelled a speech he was supposed to give last night to be there. Now, he is vowing to rebuild.
CNN's Jim Bittermann is standing by live for us in Paris right now.
Jim, what's the reaction as the sunrises on Paris?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in fact, Boris, one of sadness and dismay at seeing this symbol go down in flames the way it did last night. But Macron was pretty good at the way he instantly was on the scene last night, and vowed to reconstruct the cathedral was something I think Parisians would have expected from him.
Here's the way he put it.
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EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): It is a cathedral, which is the one of all French women and men, even those who have never been there. This history is ours. I say to you quite solemnly tonight this cathedral is one that we will rebuild.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BITTERMANN: In fact, he said a little later on, it's our destiny to rebuild. It's something, an emphasis of the fact that he feels that it really should be rebuilt.
Now, along that line, just this morning, we're hearing about all kinds of donations that are coming in, 10 million euros from the French regional government, 50 million euros from the city of Paris, and according to the richest family in France, Bernard Arnault family, has pledged 200 million euros, the founders of LVMH have pledged 200 million euros to rebuild.
There's also online sites and the mayor of Paris says she's going to host a donors conference in Paris in a few weeks or so to bring about donations from all over the world -- Boris.
SANCHEZ: All right. Jim Bittermann reporting live in Paris. We want to bring in Anne Lester. She's an associate professor of
medieval history at John Hopkins University. She joins us over the phone from Washington.
Anne, good morning.
[04:35:01] It's very hard to process the images, the history involved when you're talking about Notre dame is staggering. So help put this into context for us, everything that was lost and what could potentially be saved?
ANNE E. LESTER, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY (via telephone): Yes, it's staggering and devastating. I have spent year after year visiting the cathedral, the interior, walking around, looking at the objects that are stored, but also taking aim the historical basis itself (ph), it's hard to know exactly what has been lost. As far as I can tell from my contacts in Paris and Europe, a number of relics that were in the cathedral space treasury that people could go in and visit sort of in a museum setting, some of them have been saved, were able to be saved through the heroic efforts of people yesterday evening, in particular, the Crown of Thorns and the tunic of St. Louis were saved, but so much has been lost in terms of the visual culture and the glass in particular.
ROMANS: I know. I mean, I'm really kind on pins and needles to find out what happened with the rose window, with what's happening with some of the architectural features that are just so iconic there. You know, this morning we know that there are art historians and restoration experts who are going through right now.
I can't imagine what their feeling must be to see this location in such disarray. We do know that they got t Crown of Thorns right out, and the Louis IX's tunic out, but there were huge tableau, and all kinds of art and artifacts there. Essentially, in the middle ages, people couldn't read. You were telling the story of the bible through art within those wall, right, Anne?
LESTER: That's right, that's right. Visual culture was immensely important for people, how they understood themselves in the world and particularly as part of an experience of the divine. That was what that building communicated, to simply enter into it.
You stand before the glass panels, or indeed, the elaborately carved expanses, a sculpture of it surrounded the choir part, that central part of any church where the high altar is. They would process along there, and see the story of Jesus' life, told and retold to see other panels and people who really were part of their imaginative and religious world and the fact that this might be lost is just gut wrenching for any of us who could work on this building, and I think that that is exactly the reaction that I have gleaned from anyone who spent time looking at this space and what it could mean. It's heartbreaking and really cuts us to the core.
SANCHEZ: And, Anne, if you could take us through the history here because 850 years, the cathedral has survived plague and revolution, and world wars and it's had some challenges in the past, hasn't it? LESTER: That's right. Yes, I mean, rebuilt in 1160s and was really a
community effort, which I think is why this building is such an important symbol. It was the city that was built through work, the support of the king and many people within France as a whole, but you're right, it was built over time, over in many decades and then continued to be added to, to be expanded. Yes, the building lived through the period of the Protestant Reformation, when the Huguenots came and took down part of the sculpture, the structure in a show of their own belief and frustration with aspects of the Catholic Church.
It survived through the revolution, when revolutionaries came down and took down the sculpture of the king which lined the cathedral. But many of those other people came in and saved and held until that moment has passed and the cathedral could be restored. Even during World War I and World War II, the community of Paris came together and painstakingly saved the glass and was able to prepare to do their best to keep the building intact. And it was intact.
In this case, there was no such time. Nobody was prepared for this. So, there's, I think, one of the things that was most devastating last night, and today and to think about this is just the pace of the fire and the pace of destruction.
ROMANS: Yes, we're hearing reports of firefighters and police officers, honestly, grabbing candelabra, and running out of the building with candelabra and gilded chairs. It would be hard to even prioritize what to get out of there.
[04:40:04] Anne Lester, thank you so much for walking us through that fascinating discussion. Thank you.
All right. Forty minutes past the hour.
Attorney General Bill Barr's edited version of the Mueller report is expected to go to the public on Thursday. Washington on edge waiting for the redacted report to fill in details on just what the 22-month long special counsel investigation has uncovered. We already know from Barr's four-page summary that Robert Mueller all but cleared the Trump campaign of collusion with the Russians and we know the special counsel did not exonerate the president on obstruction of justice but major questions remain, including whether there will be rev revelations about a number of ongoing investigations.
Justice reporter Pamela Brown has more from Washington.
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PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Christine and Boris.
We have learned that the highly anticipated Mueller report will be released Thursday morning to the public and to Congress. This is according to a Justice Department spokeswoman.
And the White House is bracing for this. White House officials I've been speaking with do not believe that the coming Mueller report will actually change public opinion much because the top line conclusions of Barr and Mueller are already known.
Officials do admit, though, that they are curious, as the public is, as to why Mueller did not make a decision on obstruction. One concern in the White House is that any damning information in the report could give ammunition to Democrats.
Now, the White House is letting the attorney general take the lead in the process. One official I spoke with said Barr is driving this train.
And at this point, the White House does not feel the same necessity to assert executive privilege as it did before Barr's four-page letter to Congress because officials view the bottom-line conclusions as favorable to them -- those conclusions from Barr in that letter. And they are acutely aware of the scrutiny it would bring if they got involved in the redactions process.
Back to you.
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SANCHEZ: Pamela Brown, thank you for the update.
The president's legal team is fighting demands for the president's tax documents on two fronts. Trump attorney William Consovoy writing a letter to the Treasury Department. He claims the House Ways and Means Committee is wrong.
Committee chairman Richard Neil says none of the president's legal objections can be used to deny the request for the president's tax returns. The letter comes after Neil set an April 23rd deadline, the second such deadline for IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig to comply with the panel's request for documents.
ROMANS: In a separate letter obtained by CNN, Mr. Trump's attorneys argue an accounting firm that prepared several years worth of the president's financial statements should not comply with the subpoena. They claimed House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cumming's reasons for wanting the information are not valid. Trump threatening legal action if the accounting firm Mazars tries to comply with the subpoena.
SANCHEZ: It turns out, President Trump will have a primary challenger after all.
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BILL WELD (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really think if we have six more years of the same stuff we have had out of the White House the last two years, that would be a political tragedy, and I would fear for the republic. So, I would be ashamed of myself if I didn't raise my hand and run.
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SANCHEZ: That's former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld. The Republican says it is clear to him that the country has already had enough of the current administration. Now, Weld served two years as Massachusetts governor back in 2016. Don't forget, he was the vice presidential nominee on the libertarian ticket. According to Gallup, President Trump enjoys a nearly 90 percent approval rating among Republicans, definitely a steep hill to climb for Weld.
ROMANS: All right. Potentially, a major breakthrough for people in need of a heart transplant -- a 3D-printed heart.
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ROMANS: The stock markets surged during the first three months of the year. But that was not enough to boost profits at Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs reports its net income fell 20 percent during the first quarter compared to last year, revenue down 13 percent. The bank said its compensation and expenses, its bonus pool also fell 20 percent.
Boris, it's called you eat what you kill, you know? Their bonuses depend on how much the bank makes. CEO David Solman said the government shut down was a big reason for the slow down. He also noted that ongoing geopolitical risks, most notably, concerns about U.S. trade talks and Brexit, kept investors on the sidelines.
Morgan Stanley and Bank of America will report their first quarter results later this week.
SANCHEZ: We have a potential major medical breakthrough to tell you about in Israel. Researchers there have 3D-printed a heart using a patient's own cells. The researchers say their 3D heart is small. It's a size of a rabbit's heart, but larger human hearts could be created using the same technology. Heart disease, of course, is the leading cause of death in the developing world.
A 3D printed heart could affect the lives of thousands of waiting transplants for end stage heart failure each year. Of course, the number of these patients that will die while on the waiting list is pretty large.
ROMANS: Wow, that's an amazing discovery.
All right. AT&T is selling its stake on Hulu as the streaming service market evolves. CNN Business has the details next.
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[04:53:40] SANCHEZ: Over 1,000 people are now confirmed dead from Cyclone Idai, which battered Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi last month. Hundreds of thousands more displaced. The World Bank estimates the cost to recover will exceed $2 billion. Already 5,000 cholera cases have been confirmed.
The aid group Save the Children says that kids drawings suggest severe psychological distress. Look at this image. It's drawn by a 10-year- old and it shows people sobbing, others drowning in flood waters and children crying out for their mothers.
ROMANS: It's awful. All right. The man accused of throwing a 5-year-old boy from the third floor of the Mall of America now facing attempted murder charges. Twenty-four-year-old Emmanuel Deshawn Aranda of Minneapolis is due in court today. Witnesses say he either pushed or threw the boy to the mall's first level nearly 40 feet below.
The child has not been identified. The child remains in critical condition. According to police, Aranda told them he had come to the mall a day year old intending to kill an adult but that did not, quote, work out. He claimed he visited the mall for years trying to speak to women there but they rejected him and that made him lash out.
SANCHEZ: Prosecutors have filed hate crime charges against the man suspected of setting fire to three black churches in Louisiana. Twenty-one-year-old Holden Matthews pleading not guilty to three hate crime counts and as well as three arson charges.
[04:55:06] He was denied bail. And authorities say he may have been influenced by black metal music, and what they call its associated history with church burnings.
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BOSTON MARATHON ANNOUNCER: Trying to hold him back. Who says marathoning isn't a contact sport?
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ROMANS: A thrilling photo finish in the 123rd Boston Marathon. Kenya's Lawrence Cherono in his first Boston Marathon holding off two- time champion Lelisa Desisa in a one-block sprint to the finish. Cherono's winning time of two hours, seven minutes, 57 seconds just two seconds better than the runner-up.
SANCHEZ: Yes, Ethiopia's Worknesh Degefa won the women's race. She took the lead at mile four and never looked back. Her time, two hours, 23 minutes, and 31 seconds.
Then there was this emotional moment. A Marine running in honor of his fallen comrades crawling to the finish line. Micah Herndon running as a tribute to three men he served alongside in Afghanistan. He wore their last names, Juarez, Ballard and Hammer, on tags on his running shoes.
ROMANS: Tiger Woods is getting a Presidential Medal of Freedom to go along with his fifth green jacket. President Trump making announcement on Twitter. Woods captured his fifth Masters in 14 years on Sunday, overcoming four back surgeries and well-publicized personal problems that nearly derailed his career. The Medal of Freedom recognizes individuals who made a especially meritorious contribution.
The president, of course, is an avid golfer and was photographed with Woods on the links in Florida in January.
SANCHEZ: And some jewelry to go with the pensive coat. Talk about returning to glory, "Game of Thrones" returning to record ratings. The long- awaited premiere of season eight, the show's final season, brought in 17.4 million viewers across multiple airings on HBO Sunday night, and that includes streaming on HBO Go and HBO Now. That makes it the biggest single telecast in HBO's history.
The previous ratings record for "Game of Thrones" itself was the season seven finale, which nabbed 16.9 million viewers two years ago.
ROMANS: All right. One down, five to go, and what is America going to do.
Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning.
Global markets are higher as investors follow U.S.-China trade negotiations or at least hopes on Wall Street. We have futures pointing a bit up here ahead of a fresh round of corporate earnings.
Markets closed slightly lower Monday, dragged down by bank stocks. The Dow closed down 25 points, S&P and Nasdaq fell just a little bit. The three major averages are close to record highs, and have had a very good year.
The Dow is up 13 percent this year. The S&P 500 up 16 percent. Look at the Nasdaq this year.
All right. AT&T is selling its stake in Hulu, back to Hulu. AT&T and Hulu announced the deal have values the streaming service at $15 billion. The deal is a sign of how the streaming wars have evolved. At one time, Hulu was a joint venture between several media giants, Disney, 21st Century Fox, NBCUniversal, Time Warner, none of those companies had majority control. Now, Disney has majority control.
Hulu is competing with Netflix amid a crowded streaming market for the attention of consumers. Disney unveiled Disney Plus last week, and plans to offer more mature programming through Hulu.
All right. Americans are drinking less beer apparently. And Heineken has a plan to fix that. Over the past four years, American beer consumption has dropped 5 percent. American drinkers are focused on health and wellness, but they want quality beer, wine and liquor that tastes good.
The beer company hopes its nonalcoholic beer, Heineken 0.0, will appeal to people who value health and flavor. Heineken is not the only company jumping into the non-alcoholic beer trend. Anheuser- Busch and Guinness now sells nonalcoholic beers internationally.
SANCHEZ: Quite interesting.
ROMANS: I always thought it was duels --
SANCHEZ: So many craft beers out there, a lot of competition.
Stay with us.
EARLY START continues right now.
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SANCHEZ: A pillar of Paris for eight centuries, ravaged by a fast moving fire. Parts of Notre Dame cathedral destroyed. A devastating start to holy week being felt around the world.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START, I'm Boris Sanchez, in for Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: It's unbelievable, right?
SANCHEZ: Yes.
ROMANS: I mean, it survived two wars, famine --
SANCHEZ: Eight hundred and fifty-plus years of history.
ROMANS: Sacking by the Protestants and still standing until yesterday.
I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, April 16th, 5:00 a.m. in the East, 11:00 a.m. in Paris.
And this is the front page of "Liberation" this morning, "Notre Drame". You can see that cathedral from the 1800s, the spire, rather, splitting off and falling in the middle of this fire -- a really historic calamity for France and the world, a huge fire engulfing Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. A symbol of the city that has stood for more than 800 years, the blaze marring the Parisian skyline and threatening a powerful emblem of the Catholic faith just as holy week begins. Fire burned for hours.
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