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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Fire Ravages Notre Dame Cathedral In Paris; Redacted Mueller Report Due Thursday; Measles Jumps To Second Highest Level In 25 Years. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired April 16, 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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[05:30:42] 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, everyone. I'm Christine Romans.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Boris Sanchez in for Dave Briggs. We are half past the hour. Thank you so much for joining us.
We begin with really what was a sad story to watch yesterday as it unfolded. A staggering amount of history lost, a 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.
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, singing hymns there.
As the news broke on screens big and small, people around the world were united in helplessness.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.
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ROMANS: The unique nature of the fire -- a tall cathedral, centuries- old with an interior made entirely of wood meant standard firefighting equipment was honestly no match as this inferno grew.
SANCHEZ: Yes, and we're getting first pictures from the inside. You can see ash, smoke, the reflection of light coming from the cross there -- just the vastness of the structure. And outside, the pair of bell towers immortalized in Victor Hugo's "Hunchback of Notre Dame" survived.
Experts are going to assess the structure today. We asked an architect what lies in store for the Cathedral. Listen to what he said.
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KOBI KARP, KOBI KARP ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR DESIGN: Obviously, it will never, never be the way it was -- original -- because that has gone away. But we do have an ability to bring it back and restore it so that when you do come back into the Cathedral you do see the way it was originally.
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SANCHEZ: CNN's Jim Bittermann is standing by for us live in Paris right now.
Jim, what was the sentiment like on the streets? We saw the scenes from yesterday, very solemn. What's it like today?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think one of immense sadness. There's no question about it. Dismay that this happened to such an iconic building.
But on the other hand, one of the things I think that was a very positive note was what President Macron did last night. He visited the scene, looked at the destruction, and then pledged to rebuild it. He said rebuilding it is our destiny. Here's how 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.
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BITTERMANN: And, in fact, some of the pledges to help rebuild that have been coming in this morning -- $10 million from the regional government, $50 million euros from the city government. And from France's richest family, allegedly, the Bernard Arnault family has pledged $200 million euros to help rebuild. There's online collection sites that are trying to collect funds.
So I think it's going to -- the money is going to be there to rebuild it, it's just of question of time and patience that it will take before this is rebuilt. Some architects are saying it could take 20 or 30 years -- Boris.
ROMANS: Jim, it's just impossible to overstate how important this structure is to the French psychology. I mean, it's literally the center of Paris in the Ile de la Cite.
It is a parish church. People get married there. It is a parish church for many. But 12 million people a year go there to visit.
[05:35:02] Explain why this cathedral means so much.
BITTERMANN: Well, I think it's on a couple of different levels, Christine. The fact is that it's a cultural icon. It's such a slice of history.
One of the documentaries I saw many years ago about the cultural history of the planet started with the Notre Dame Cathedral.
For me personally, it was an icon as well because I was in that parish. I was living across the street from Notre Dame the first seven years I was in Paris. My daughter was baptized there
So it was a functioning church, but it was so much more than just a religious icon and so many sort of non-religious things took place there.
President's funerals -- for instance, President Macron (sic), his funeral was there. He was not a very religious person as far as his life was concerned.
But so many other kinds of things. It was a gathering point after 9/11, for example. One of the very first religious services after 9/11 anywhere in the world was at Notre Dame where leaders gathered to remember 9/11.
So just as after 9/11 when people said we're all Americans today, I think today, on this day, they're saying we're all Parisians -- Christine.
ROMANS: Yes. I think you meant Francois Mitterrand, not Macron, had his funeral there. Macron still alive and well.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
ROMANS: He was speaking last night.
BITTERMANN: Yes, sorry.
SANCHEZ: All right, so a lot of personal connections --
BITTERMANN: Sorry.
SANCHEZ: -- to Notre Dame.
Jim Bittermann, we appreciate the report from Paris.
BITTERMANN: Right.
SANCHEZ: We turn now to Washington and the Attorney General Bill Barr's edited version of the Mueller report expected to go public on Thursday. Washington is on edge waiting for the redacted report to fill in details on just what the 22-month-long special counsel investigation uncovered.
We already know from Barr's 4-page summary that Robert Mueller all but cleared the Trump campaign of collusion with the Russians, but major questions still remain, including whether we might get some glimpses 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 topline 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 4-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: All right, Pamela Brown. Thank you for the update.
Let's bring in "Washington Post" congressional reporter Rachael Bade. She's also a CNN political analyst. Rachael, good morning. ROMANS: Good morning.
SANCHEZ: Thank you so much for joining us.
RACHAEL BADE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Good morning.
SANCHEZ: Obviously, the news of the Mueller report coming out on Thursday overshadowed by news overseas. Nevertheless, this is a really big deal.
And we've sort of seen the Trump administration -- some of his surrogates and attorneys laying the groundwork for the release of the report -- potentially any surprises or embarrassing details that may be coming forward.
Are you expecting anything along those lines that the administration has to worry about?
BADE: You know, it's just too early to tell right now.
I think it's interesting that Attorney General Barr, in his letter to Congress a few weeks ago when he said the investigation is done, I'm going to be releasing this report at some point -- he specifically said that when it came to obstruction of justice that Mueller did not make a decision about whether or not the president had obstructed justice. He was the one who determined -- William Barr was the one who determined that there was no case for obstruction.
And he said that when it comes to actions the president had taken that could be construed as holding up or supporting an obstruction case, most of those things had been made public in courts, but not all. And so, there could very well be some bombshells in this report.
You know, Democrats think that Mueller didn't make a decision on obstruction specifically because there are things that we don't know yet that the president did behind the scenes to try to trip up this investigation. So, Democrats certainly think there could be something poisonous in there.
ROMANS: It was only three weeks ago that this delivered --
SANCHEZ: Right.
ROMANS: -- and we've been waiting to see what more we can -- what more we can learn.
And the president initially said yes, yes, fine, let's see what's in there. And now --
SANCHEZ: Kind of a different tune.
ROMANS: -- a little bit of a different tune.
We heard Rudy Giuliani, one of the president's attorneys, this weekend, saying basically investigate the investigators. That seems to be the tone that they're taking here or the work that they're -- the groundwork they're laying -- listen.
[05:40:09] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: I think it was the product of -- you want to call it a political dirty trick or you want to call it a crime. I don't know, criminal conspiracy. But in any event, I think that collusion will leave that question open. How did this come about?
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ROMANS: So I think we know that the team around the president, they have a plan for how --
SANCHEZ: Right.
ROMANS: -- they're going to respond after Thursday.
BADE: That's right.
And for the past two years, we've seen Trump allies on Capitol Hill, even despite pushback from speaker Paul Ryan at the time -- they've been trying to push for an investigation of the investigators, suggesting that the origins of the Russia investigation were sort of driven by some sort of anti-Trump bias.
And they haven't really been able to make that case to the public. A lot of people have sort of dismissed that. It hasn't gotten a lot of headlines.
But now, the difference is that William Barr, the attorney general, just last week came to the Hill and gave life to this sort of notion out there. He said that he believed there was spying that occurred on the Trump campaign from law enforcement at the beginning of this investigation.
So what that's done is it's really given this lift to the president's defenders on Capitol Hill. And we are already hearing that they're going to continue to push for an investigation. Obviously, this will take place in the Senate because the Senate has the -- Republicans control the Senate, Democrats control the House.
But, Republicans are not going to be just satisfied with the fact that the president was not charged with conspiracy or obstruction. They think if there's something damaging they're going to -- they're going to go right after the beginning of this investigation and try to suggest the entire thing was an attempt to undercut the president.
SANCHEZ: Yes, it's not just lifting the president's supporters in Congress, it's lifting the president himself. We're talking about reporting from Maggie Haberman in "The New York Times" saying that aides believe that the release of the report is going to embolden President Trump in his language -- his attacks against Democrats.
The timing of the release of this report is really benefitting the president, especially going into 2020, right? BADE: You know, it's going to -- he's going to claim victory. He's already claimed victory. We haven't even seen the details of the report.
But again, this is just -- this is not the last chapter of the Trump investigations. We are already seeing Democrats on the Capitol Hill, yesterday -- three committees subpoenaing financial institutions that have financial information about the president or how he ran his company.
So this is not going to be the last word. Russia is just one chapter.
And I can tell you from talking to sources on Capitol Hill, this is not going to do anything in terms of quieting down or slowing the investigations we're going to be seeing of the president from Democrats --
SANCHEZ: Yes.
BADE: -- in Congress.
SANCHEZ: We may see that tax return battle wind up in the Supreme Court --
ROMANS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: -- after fall.
ROMANS: All right, Rachael. Nice to see you. Racheal Bade.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Rachael.
BADE: Nice to see you.
ROMANS: All right, 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've 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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ROMANS: Now, that's former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld. The Republican says it is clear to him that the country has already had enough of the current administration.
Weld served two terms as Massachusetts' governor. In 2016, he was the vice presidential nominee on the Libertarian ticket.
According to Gallop, President Trump enjoys a nearly 90 percent approval rating among Republicans. The Pulitzer Prize board honoring local newsrooms that covered mass shootings.
The "South Florida Sun-Sentinel" was recognized for its reporting on the massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
The staff of the "Capital Gazette" in Annapolis, Maryland was awarded for its courageous response to the largest killing of journalists in U.S. history in their own newsroom last June.
Two jailed Reuters reporters also won Pulitzers for revealing the massacre of 10 Muslim Rohingya men by Buddhist villagers and Myanmar security forces. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been jailed for nearly 500 days in Myanmar for their role uncovering the massacre and reporting on it.
AT&T is selling its stake in Hulu as the streaming service market continues to evolve. "CNN Business" has all the details, next.
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[05:48:12] ROMANS: Global markets are higher as investors follow U.S.-China trade negotiations. Economic adviser Larry Kudlow said yesterday the trade talks between the two countries continue and they've made, quote, "good progress."
You see futures around -- or stock markets, rather, around the world are all a little bit higher. Futures here in the U.S. pointing higher ahead of a fresh round of corporate earnings. Remember, all these companies are reporting their profit results for the first quarter.
Markets yesterday closed just slightly lower -- barely down. The Dow down 28 points. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both fell slightly.
Still, for the year, really important to point out all major averages -- all three major averages are really close to record highs. The Dow has surged 13 percent, the S&P 500 up about 16 percent, and the Nasdaq up 20 percent. That is an incredible return after that really terrible sell-off at the end of the year.
OK, AT&T is selling its stake in Hulu back to Hulu. AT&T and Hulu announced the deal yesterday, which values the streaming video service at $15 billion. The deal is a sign, really, of how the streaming wars have evolved.
At one time, Hulu was a joint venture between several media giants -- Disney, 21st Century Fox, NBC Universal, Time Warner. None of those companies had majority control. Now, Disney has majority control.
Hulu is competing with Netflix amid a really crowded streaming market for the attention of consumers.
Disney unveiled Disney Plus last week and it plans to offer more mature programming through Hulu.
SANCHEZ: It's one of those stories that's hard to believe you're reporting on in 2019. Measles, a disease that was once eradicated in the United States, has now jumped to the second-highest number of cases in 25 years.
The CDC reporting 90 new cases in just one week. There have now been a total of 555 cases in 20 states and the year isn't even halfway over. We're still in April.
Most of the cases have been in New York, the site of an outbreak among ultraorthodox Jews that started in the fall.
[05:50:02] The New York City Health Department has now closed one childcare program for repeatedly failing to provide medical and attendance records.
Health officials already announced that anyone in affected neighborhoods who has not been vaccinated could be fined $1,000.
Worldwide, there have been more than 110,000 cases in just the first three months of the year. That's nearly quadruple the same period last year.
ROMANS: A potential major medical breakthrough. Israeli researchers have 3-D printed a heart using the patient's own cells. The researchers say their 3-D heart is small, the size of a rabbit's heart, but larger human hearts could be created using the same technology.
A 3-D printed heart could affect the lives of thousands awaiting transplants for end-stage heart failure each year. A number of these patients will die while on the waiting list.
SANCHEZ: Really incredible technology.
ROMANS: Yes.
All right, we'll be right back.
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[05:55:30] SANCHEZ: A new storm system is threatening more severe weather for the already battered south this week. Here's meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.
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PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Boris and Christine, good morning, guys.
A quiet pattern across portions of the eastern third of the U.S. But back towards the Intermountain West, activity beginning to take shape here that we'll take about momentarily.
And you have impulsive energy working its way across the Great Lakes. It could bring into western New York some rainfall later on tonight and New York City, some showers into the overnight hours. But again, back towards the West, watching this area carefully as a severe weather threat again returns towards areas of say, northeastern Texas and portions of Oklahoma. That's for Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday night here.
The severe threat stretches from Austin out towards Oklahoma City. That's the highest threat zone. But, a pretty expansive region here for some damaging winds, large hail. And, of course, it is the month of April, so a few isolated tornadoes possible in that region as well.
Look at Chicago. Temps climb up to 70 before they drop off some 20 degrees. New York City enjoying a few days into the 60s before a slight cooling trend going in towards Friday. But generally, a uniform temperature trend.
And notice Easter Sunday, not too bad. We'll finally get some dry weather for you, hopefully, and highs then around 65 -- guys.
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SANCHEZ: All right, Pedram. Thank you.
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, as well as three arson charges. He was denied bail.
Authorities say he may have been influenced by black metal music and what they call its associated history with church burnings.
ROMANS: Sick of a 5-day, 40-hour workweek? Well, it could always be worse.
Chinese tech tycoon Jack Ma recently spoke out on -- in support of a 6-day, 12-hour a day work week.
It's a Chinese work practice known as 996. That number refers to working from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., six days a week. Think about that.
It is said to be common among the country's big tech companies and start-ups. He later said he didn't intend to defend the practice but wanted to pay tribute to the employees who did.
Long work days in the high-tech sector not unique to China. Tesla co- founder Elon Musk has said he worked up to 120 hours a week when the electric carmaker struggled with production delays.
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ANNOUNCER, BOSTON MARATHON: Trying to hold him back. Who says marathoning isn't a contact sport?
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SANCHEZ: A thrilling photo finish in the 123rd Boston Marathon. Kenya's Lawrence Cherono in his first Boston Marathon holding off 2- time champion Lelisa Desisa in a 1-block sprint to the finish. Cherono's winning time of two hours, seven minutes, 57 seconds just two seconds better than the runner-up.
ROMANS: 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 crawls to the finish line after his body just gives out.
Micah Herndon running as a tribute to three men he served alongside in Afghanistan. He wore their last names -- Juarez, Ballard, and Hamer -- on tags on his running shoes. Bravo to you, sir.
SANCHEZ: "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: Have you seen it yet?
SANCHEZ: I have not. I'm holding out. How about you?
ROMANS: I haven't either. I think maybe -- we can't watch it this week -- otherwise, we can't talk about it.
SANCHEZ: Yes, we can't talk about it.
ROMANS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Boris Sanchez. "NEW DAY" starts right now.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looked like an explosion -- the sides and top. It was just horrible.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We heard the tower fall and it was the worst sound, and people screamed. It's so sad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What went through my mind was the heart of Paris was burning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The redacted report will go to Congress and to the public Thursday morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that they are unwilling to release everything shows a consciousness of guilt.
MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Democrats believe the president's financial transactions hold the keys to some unanswered questions.
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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, April the 16th. It is 6:00 a.m. here on the East Coast.
John and Alisyn are off today. I'm Poppy Harlow here with my friend, John Avlon.
JOHN AVLON, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
HARLOW: Good morning. We have a lot of news to get to.
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