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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Search for Woman Connected to Colorado School Threats; Redacted Mueller Report Comes Out Thursday; Effort to Preserve, Rebuild Notre Dame Begins; Felicity Huffman Now Faces 4-10 Months in Jail; Prosecutors Take Next Step in College Admissions Scandal; Netflix Adds Record Number of Subscribers; Foxx: Smollett A "Washed-Up Celeb Who Lied to Cops"; Severe Weather on the Southern Plains. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired April 17, 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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[04:30:37] DEAN PHILLIPS, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, FBI: She has expressed an infatuation with Columbine. Because of that, we were concerned.

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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Armed, dangerous and infatuated with Columbine. Police in Colorado are looking for the woman whose threats have shut down hundreds of schools today.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And we are one day from the redacted Mueller report. The President sees it as vindication but some aides are concerned it could paint an unflattering picture.

ROMANS: The long road to recovery begins for Notre Dame Cathedral. Officials looking into what sparked the inferno as stories of heroism emerged.

SANCHEZ: And it appears, Felicity Huffman will go to jail for her role in the college admission scandal. Now prosecutors have been begun alerting others. They could be next to face charges.

Welcome back to EARLY START, I'm Boris Sanchez in for David Briggs.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. Nice to see you this morning.

SANCHEZ: Good to see you.

ROMANS: I think that college admission scandal still, you know, weeks into that story, it is the most talked about a story about parents.

SANCHEZ: And who knows who could be charged next.

ROMANS: I know.

SANCHEZ: It's going to keep going.

ROMANS: All right.

SANCHEZ: We start with news out of Colorado. Authorities urgently searching for this woman they say is infatuated with Columbine High School and threats led to lockouts Tuesday at Denver area schools, including Columbine where of course the mass shooting occurred in 1999.

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PHILLIPS: She has made some concerning comments in the past. She has expressed an infatuation with Columbine and the events, the shooting there that happened. She was last seen out towards the Foothills, and we have been trying to find her ever since.

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ROMANS: Hundreds of schools in about 20 districts in and around Denver are now closed today. We get more from CNN's Scott McLean.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Boris, police in suburban Denver are searching for an 18-year-old woman they say is armed and dangerous, who has made credible but non-specific threats against schools in Jefferson County. Her name is Sol Pais. According to the "Be on the Lookout" alert of the FBI sent to local law enforcement, Pais was infatuated with Columbine. According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, she came to Colorado only on Monday.

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PHILLIPS: She departed the airport and went to a store where she did procure a weapon. She obtained a pump-action shotgun and ammunition. We have no specific information about any specific threat to any particular school. We don't have that sort of credible information but we do consider her to be a credible threat to the community.

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MCLEAN: Now some area schools including Columbine High School and others went into lockout on Tuesday. Which means it is business as usual on the inside but no one can come or go from the building. Now, when the schools were let out, it was with extra police officers and security.

Now, this is not the first time there have been threats against Columbine but this is a specially sensitive time given that Saturday will mark 20 years since 13 people were killed there in a school shooting.

Christine, Boris.

SANCHEZ: All right, thank you, Scott.

In just about 24 hours, the Justice Department will release the redacted version of the Mueller report. President Trump is ready, already putting his spin on it, sight unseen, tweeting, "No collusion, no obstruction." But some current and former White House officials aren't so sure the report is going to be flattering. While few are predicting bombshells, there is plenty of apprehensions.

ROMANS: Advisers believe the full report will provide the most credible account so far of chaos inside the White House. The report will not be based on a kind of anonymous sources, the president likes to attack. Instead, its account will be attributed to former officials, and allies, witnesses who could face felony charges if they lied to investigators.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins has the latest from the White House.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine and Boris, sources tell CNN that the president is eager for that Mueller report to come out on Thursday. He thinks it's going to back up his claim that he's been exonerated but people surrounding the president are not so sure. Instead, they're worried that even though the report is going to be redacted by the Attorney General Bill Barr, they think that while it may not reveal sensitive information, it could reveal embarrassing information.

There are tons of people inside the White House, who used to be at the White House, and allies of the president who sat down with the Special Counsel and his team for hours upon hours.

[04:35:03] Some of them, dozens of hours revealing information about not only central events related to his investigation but also details about the president, his temper, his work habits that they fear could embarrass the president. And then in the aftermath of the report coming out on Thursday, they're going to have to deal with that.

Now, the president is not expected to read this report page by page, line by line when it comes out. Instead, we've been told by one White House official that the president's legal team is going to read it and then brief him upon the key findings of it, what's notable in it. Even though sources say that most White House officials have said they will want to read this report, maybe they'll wait until they get home from work. But they aren't curious about what could be inside the report.

However, the question is going to be, what is it going to reveal? Is it going reveal this massive level of detail that his current and former White House officials fear? And whether or not it's going to be embarrassing for the president? Because as one source told us today, they think that the best case scenario, it's going to paint a pretty unflattering portrait of what's been going on inside the walls of the West Wing throughout Robert Mueller's investigation.

Christine and Boris?

SANCHEZ: All right, thanks, Kaitlan.

Monday's fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was apparently an accident. Official say, the catastrophic inferno was not deliberately set. Specialists are now inside the 850-year-old gothic church securing the structure. They expect it's going to take some 48 hours before Notre Dame will be safe enough to allow firefighters and preservationists to recover remaining artwork. The French President Emmanuel Macron also setting a timeline on efforts to rebuild, listen.

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EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translation): I tell you tonight, with strength, we are a nation of building. We have so much to construct. So yes, we will rebuild Notre Dame, even more beautiful. And I want that to be done in the next five years. We can do it.

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ROMANS: Experts though are saying it could take much longer, perhaps 10 to 15 years. You can see the before and after looks here. The effort to rebuild already drawing help from around the world, donations by French philanthropists and businesses now topping $700 million. The cathedral's American namesake, Notre Dame University pledging a hundred thousand dollars.

ROMANS: Back in Paris, hundreds took to the streets last night in song and prayer. For the latest, let's bring in CNN's Jim Bittermann in Paris. And Jim, five years that sounds so optimistic when you look at just how the extent of the destruction inside that it made.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: Pretty ambitious deadline but no magic and in fact, five years from now, it's 2024 and Paris is going to host the Olympic Games in 2024. So, obviously, the president wants Notre Dame up and running by the time the millions of tourists come for the Olympic Games.

In any case, there's work going on. This morning, again, we saw some water being sprayed on the cathedral this morning. And there -- one of the things they're rushing to do is to get a covering over the parts of the roof that are missing in order to prevent any further water damage from rain and what else, whatever the things that might be happening.

In any case, they're working on that. We've heard this morning, too, from the people that were putting up the scaffolding. You may be able to see it in the background here, the scaffolding on top of the roof that was in preparation for some work that was supposed to be starting soon, covering the roof.

And the one, a very small company that was involved putting up the scaffolding said that 12 employees of their employees were on site on Monday. And in fact, they left an hour before the fire broke out. And of course, the company is denying any responsibility for the fire.

And there are now stories emerging as well about the kind of rescue effort it took to get some of the relics out. For example, a chaplain from the Fire Department talked about a human chain that was set up to move some of the relics and some of the valuable objects out of the church before everything, before the roof collapsed and brought their efforts to a halt.

ROMANS: Yes.

BITTERMANN: Christine?

ROMANS: That's amazing. In the face of the inferno, the human chain outside of the cathedral, moving things to safety, just amazing. All right, thank you so much for that, Jim Bittermann.

SANCHEZ: Back to Washington, President Trump vetoing a bipartisan bill that would end U.S. military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. It's the second veto of his presidency. And Mr. Trump saying in a statement that the resolution is, quote, "an unnecessary dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities."

ROMANS: He saw the Yemen vote as a rebuke of his administration in response to the killing of Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. The veto means the U.S. will continue its involvement in Saudi Arabia's offensive against Yemen's Houthi rebels. That bombing campaign being waged with an eye to preventing Iran's expansion in the region.

[04:40:03] All right. Back here, a guilty plea and an apology may not be enough to keep Felicity Huffman out of jail. A source telling us prosecutors plan to seek a four to 10 months sentence for the actress' role in the college admission scandal. The "Desperate Housewives" star and a dozen other parents last week agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud.

Now ultimately, Huffman's sentence will be up to a federal judge. She is due back in court on May 21st. And as CNN has reported, more arrested are expected in the scandal. Prosecutors have started sending so-called target letters to suspects they have in their sites.

CNN's Brynn Gingras explains.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris and Christine, these so- called target letters have been going out since mid-March according to a law enforcement official. Students who received them are graduates, other adults allegedly connected to this case. And the letters essentially tell the recipient that they're part of an ongoing criminal probe.

They don't necessarily mean charges will be coming down the line for those who received them but this is really just the next step we've seen taken by the government. The letters are standard really in white-collar cases and are used when prosecutors don't have all the evidence they need to charge someone or they're not ready to make an arrest.

And they also essentially could be used as a bargaining chip for the government, so get those charged to the negotiating table. In this case, prosecutors may be using them to get someone to take a plea deal to avoid arresting young adults.

Boris and Christine, back to you.

ROMANS: All right, Brynn Gingras, thank you so much.

All right, Netflix is on the brink of 150 million subscribers. The streaming service added a record 9.6 million new customers in the first quarter of this year, 1.74 million of those subscribers are from the U.S. Netflix now has 148.8 million subscribers globally. The service said they expect to add another five million in the second quarter.

It burned through $3 billion in cash last year to pay for original content like "Bird Box", remember that, and Beyonce's homecoming documentary just dropped overnight. I want to see that actually.

It stocks dipped slightly after weak guidance for the next quarter as some subscriber growth slows and as it raises prices. It closed though up to three percent. And look at this, for the year, Netflix shares are up 34 percent. Wow.

Its growth could take a hit though as Apple and Disney launch their own streaming services later this year. We told you about Disney plus, right? It launches in mid-November, comes loaded with content to attract viewers. But the biggest selling point may be its price, it's $6.99 a month, half of what Netflix charges for its standard plan. By the way, Disney shares are up more than 11 percent since that Disney plus announcement.

SANCHEZ: The streaming wars will continue.

ROMANS: It's fascinating to watch. How much content can we consume?

SANCHEZ: Never enough. Never enough.

New text messages revealed from the top prosecutor in Chicago. Found out what she had to say privately about the case against actor Jussie Smollett. We'll be right back.

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[04:47:09] ROMANS: Insecure and small minded. Harsh words from the first lady's spokeswoman for Anna Wintour. Melania Trump taking aim at the Vogue editor over her recent conversation with CNN's Christiane Amanpour. Wintour acknowledged that Vogue under her leadership has been, quote, taking a stand for Democratic politics.

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ANNA WINTOUR, VOGUE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: I think it's very, very important to have a point of view. And we believe we profile women in the magazine that we believe in the stand that they're taking on issues. We feel that they are leaders, that -- particularly after the defeat of Secretary Clinton.

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ROMANS: Now Wintour never specifically mentions the first lady but the implication is clear. Mrs. Trump's spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham issued this statement, "Her role as first lady of the United States and all that she does is much more important than a superficial photo shoot and cover."

SANCHEZ: Newly released text messages in the Jussie Smollett case showed just how exasperating the experience was for Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx. She describes the embattled actor as a, quote, washed up celeb who lied to cops. This was in messages to her staff. Foxx also wrote, "When people accuse us of overcharging cases, 16 counts on class 4 felony becomes exhibit a. Pedophile with four victims, 10 counts. Washed up celeb who lied to cops, 16. Just because we can charge something does not mean we should."

Last month, the Cook County's state attorney's office dropped 16 felony charges against the "Empire" actor. Smollett, of course, was accused of staging a hate crime against himself in Chicago. He agreed to forfeit $10,000 bail and perform community service.

ROMANS: A 71-year-old Louisiana man is facing 100 counts of child rape. Harvey Joseph Fountain of Pineville was arrested last week, eight days after an adult female accuser told police he raped her as a child. She also gave detectives the names of other possible victims who have been contacted. The alleged rape took place from the early 1970s until the early 1980s. And in each case, the child was under 13.

The investigation is ongoing, and police say there could be more arrests. Bail for Fountain has been set at $1 million. It's not clear at this point whether he has a lawyer.

SANCHEZ: An attempt to get the perfect selfie has ended in tragedy. Again, 20-year-old Andrea Norton was with other students from Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa who traveled to Hawksbill Crag. It's a popular hiking destination in Arkansas's Ozark National Forest. According to witnesses, she positioned herself for a photo at the edge of the cliff, slipped, and plummeted a hundred feet. Norton was a junior and a member of the Briar Cliff's women volleyball team. The team posted this tribute on Twitter, "Number 22 on the court, number one in our hearts."

Selfie injuries are a growing epidemic.

[04:50:00] It feels like we report on one just about every week. Just this weekend, a senior at Fordham in the Bronx fell from the university clock tower after going up with friends to take photos.

ROMANS: Five New York mothers are suing the city for requiring their kids to get the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. They claim there is not enough evidence of a measles outbreak even though all of them live within the affected zip codes identified by Mayor Bill de Blasio when he declared a public health emergency last week. Now health officials in Michigan are not conforming 38 measles cases linked to the ongoing outbreak in New York.

CNN learned a man who was unknowingly contagious traveled from New York to southeast Michigan and infected all those people.

SANCHEZ: A new order from health officials in Rockland County, New York mandates that anyone with measles stay home for up to 21 days. A failure to comply can result in a fine of $2,000 a day. Right now, that county is appealing a judge's order that put a hold on a ban on unvaccinated children in public places.

ROMANS: (INAUDIBLE) say that five percent of children who contract that disease will develop pneumonia and could die from it.

All right, 50 minutes past the hour. If you are a fan of Chips Ahoy cookies, please listen up. The manufacturer recalling 13-ounce packages of its chewy cookies. It says in some instances, the cornstarch did not fully incorporate and solidified in the banking -- baking process. There have been reports of possible adverse health effects. The affected packages have a best when used by date of September 7th, 8th, 14th, and 15th. For more information, log on to cnn.com.

All right, fake reviews are boosting sales of a particular kind of product on Amazon. CNN Business has the details, next.

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[04:56:08] SANCHEZ: Up to 31 million people are being threatened by severe weather in the already battered southern plains. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has more.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good Wednesday morning to you, Boris and Christine. A quiet start here across the region but we'll see some storms begin to ramp up as we go in towards the afternoon, and eventually the evening hours across portions of Texas on onto Oklahoma here. Severe weather possibility extends a little farther towards the east come Thursday as well, impacting portions of the Gulf Coast states.

And really the ingredients in place here. We've got the Gulf moisture, we've got the cool air back behind it. And the concern is -- the highest concerns for damaging straight-line winds and also for some large hail. And again, a few isolated tornadoes possible in this region. But this is going to be primarily a wind event across this region, impacting over 30 million people.

Austin, Dallas on a (INAUDIBLE) you see there for the highest threat zone of some 50 to 60-mile-an-hour gusts in advance of the storms. And again, you'll notice the time stamp going again into late Wednesday and to early Thursday. See these storms begin to fire up across that region and eventually shift on in towards the east putting Jackson and New Orleans in the path of the winds and also some of the large hail.

But the temp trend is such, the upper 70s out of OKC, cools off back behind the front. Look at St. Louis, from 80 down into the 50s. And in Atlanta, temps drop eventually down into the 60s. Guys?

ROMANS: All right, Pedram, thank you so much for that.

Let's get a check on CNN Business this Wednesday morning. Resilience is the word here around the world. Global markets are higher, there is brand-new data that shows China's economy performed very well in the first quarter. The world's second-biggest economy group by 6.4 percent compared to a year ago. You look at Wall Street, resilience is the word. Stocks so close to record highs. Futures are pointing slightly higher ahead of a whole bunch more corporate earnings.

Stocks ended up higher Tuesday. Gains for the year, more than 13 percent now for the DOW. More than 20 percent for the NASDAQ. The DOW closing 68 points higher, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ also up a little bit, slowly building toward very close records. A lot of people think that they will make records here soon.

PepsiCo and Morgan Stanley will release announce their earnings today. We knew that the corporate earnings season was going to be a little bit disappointing, and it's coming in exactly as expected, if not a little bit better. And so you've just got this, again, resilience is the word I'm using of the stock market.

Meantime, Apple and Qualcomm have reached a deal. Apple and the chipmaker agreed to drop all of their legal disputes Tuesday. The settlement included an unspecified payment from Apple to Qualcomm. The two will still work together announcing a new six-year license contract and a multi-year chipset supply agreement. The settlement comes after Apple alleged that Qualcomm charged an unfair amount to license its patents to place calls, connect to the internet, and for other technologies that Qualcomm had that Apple uses. Qualcomm stock closed up 23 percent after the announcement. Apple stock was flat.

Fake reviews are boosting the sales the tech products on Amazon. Fake reviews. A new investigation by a British consumer education ground found a lot of tech companies, categories, rather, on Amazon are flooded with products from virtually unknown brands all boosted by product reviews that appear to be fake. Amazon said even one inauthentic review is one too many. So buyer, beware (INAUDIBLE).

SANCHEZ: You got to be careful, yes. As the fire started to engulf the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral, you may have heard President Trump weigh in. He tweeted out his advice to put out the flames. While you were sleeping, comedian Stephen Colbert gave his analysis.

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STEPHEN COLBERT, THE LATE NIGHT SHOW HOST: In the midst of all this, and the fire was just raging at its hottest, Donald Trump offered his, ah, help. Tweeting, "So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly."

What does -- does he think every time there's an emergency in France, they're like, look, the cathedral is on fire, we must check Donald Trump's Twitter feed. What is going on? Ooh! No!

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