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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
AG Bill Barr to Hold a Press Conference Before Releasing the Redacted Mueller Report; Some Trump Aides Regret Cooperating with Mueller; North Korea Wants Secretary Pompeo Be Replaced in Future Nuclear Talks; Firefighters Concentrated on Notre Dame's Belfry. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired April 18, 2019 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: But only before it's actually released.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, North Korea demands Mike Pompeo be replaced as top diplomat to restart nuclear talks. It came just hours after a word of a new weapons test.
SANCHEZ: And a man is arrested in New York for bringing gas cans and a lighter into St. Patrick's Cathedral. This coming just days after the inferno at Notre Dame in Paris.
ROMANS: And the biggest opioids bust in history. Sixty medical professionals, eight states, 32 million pills. You won't believe it.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
SANCHEZ: Always great to wake up early with you, Christine.
ROMANS: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: I'm Boris Sanchez in for Dave Briggs. We're about half past the hour. And today what we've all been waiting for. We'll finally learn what Robert Mueller found in the Russia investigation, most of what he found anyway.
Attorney General Bill Barr's redacted version of the special counsel's report goes public this morning. CNN has learned the section on obstruction of justice is expected to have relatively few redactions. That's because the obstruction probe is based on investigative work, unlike the Russian interference probe which relied on secret grand jury testimony.
ROMANS: The "Washington Post" reports the obstruction section will also detail analysis of tweets, private threats, and other incidents. A White House official tells us the president is, quote, "not worried," he's not worried, he's not fuming, and that any attacks on William Barr will backfire.
Here's the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You'll see a lot of very strong things come out tomorrow. Attorney General Barr is going to be giving a press conference. And maybe I'll do one after that, we'll see, but he's done -- he's been a fantastic attorney general. He's grabbed it by the horn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: As you might imagine, in the end, the public is likely going to see less of the report than Congress. There are going to be two versions, one for all of us and one that will eventually go to select members of Congress with fewer redactions. Part of that has to do with the fact that Roger Stone is still going through the legal process right now.
And in a curious move, the Attorney General William Barr is going to hold a news conference today before the report becomes public.
ROMANS: He will be joined by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, remember, whose letter firing FBI director James Comey famously made this accusation. "The director ignored another longstanding principal. We do not hold press conferences to release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation."
Senior White House correspondent Pamela Brown starts our coverage from Washington.
PAMELA BROWN, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Christine and Boris.
It is a very busy day ahead with the impending release of the redacted version of Robert Mueller's report. But before that happens, the Attorney General Bill Barr is expected to hold a press conference at 9:30 this morning, a couple of hours before the report goes to Capitol Hill around 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, raising the question of why the attorney general is holding this press conference with reporters who haven't even seen the report yet.
Now a person familiar with the matter says that the attorney general will be answering reporters' questions about his thinking, why he made certain redactions, and overview of the report, and so forth. But certainly the reporters who will be asking him the questions won't be informed on what's actually in the report because that comes later.
The report is expected to be released around 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, 400 pages with redactions. And we could certainly learn a lot in this because more than two dozen current and former White House officials were interviewed by Robert Mueller and their names could very well be revealed in this report. Some are even concerned that this could hurt their business.
Some of these former aides who are now out of the White House but able -- but their business model is about influence and access to the White House are concerned that they're going to be on the outs because of this report. So there is a lot of anticipation and anxiousness to learn more about it. "The New York Times" also reporting that there has been back and forth
in the last several days between the White House and the Department of Justice about some of the report's findings and that has helped the White House and the president's legal team prepare for a rebuttal. Rudy Giuliani has said that he is expected to come out with a rebuttal after the report is released. So we'll have to wait and see how this day unfolds.
Back to you, Christine and Boris.
SANCHEZ: Pamela Brown, thank you.
Some Trump aides who cooperated with the special counsel are having second thoughts about their decision. They now believe if they fought the request for an interview they would have been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury anyway, and that information would still be secret under the grand jury rules. That secret grand jury testimony is something the Democrats desperately want to see.
Manu Raju has more from Capitol Hill.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Christine and Boris. House Democrats are expecting this Mueller report to come back today heavily redacted and then expect a subpoena fight to intensify. They have not issued the subpoenas yet because they're trying to give the Justice Department a chance to come back in what they hope was going to be limited redactions or the full report.
Now Bill Barr has made very clear the full report is not going to be provided to Capitol Hill. There will be some redactions but nevertheless Democrats have subpoenas authorized by the House Judiciary Committee to ask for the full Mueller report as well as the underlying evidence that includes grand jury information.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:35:13] REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): Attorney General Barr is not allowing the facts of the Mueller report to speak for themselves but is trying to bake in the narrative about the report to the benefit of the White House. And of course he's doing this just before the holiday weekend so it's extraordinarily difficult for anybody to react.
This is wrong. It is not the proper role of the attorney general.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: The House Intelligence Committee moving on a different front trying to look into the classified information that they hope will be provided as a road map to look into potential areas of compromise that the president has with foreign governments.
The question is, will they get any of this? Will this end up in court? There's an expectation that some of these subpoenas could end up in court, and how long will those court fights take and will they ultimately get the information back to Capitol Hill -- Christine and Boris.
ROMANS: All right. Manu Raju, thank you.
Breaking overnight, a big red flag in talks with North Korea. Pyongyang is demanding the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo be replaced in any future talks. It comes hours after North Korea's state-run news agency reported the test fire of a new tactical guided weapon.
CNN's Will Ripley is monitoring developments. He is live in Hong Kong. Hi, Will.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine. Yes. The North Koreans are saying they want somebody more careful and mature than Secretary of State Pompeo. Apparently they're angry about his congressional testimony where he talked about the lack of progress in the North Korea denuclearization. They felt he was insulting Kim Jong-un, someone who he has met with several times in Pyongyang.
But the negotiations have not gone well and of course the latest summit in Hanoi was a total failure with President Trump deciding to walk out, the North Koreans placing the blame for that humiliation for them. They were humiliated because they didn't have a plan B. They blame Pompeo and they blame National Security adviser John Bolton.
And of course they're combining this with this -- you know, this new messaging that's kind of militaristic in terms of tone and action. This test of a tactical weapons system not particularly concerning to the United States. It's probably an artillery or, you know, rocket launcher of some kind. The kind of thing that they tested back in November of 2008 when negotiations were at a standstill.
It doesn't pose a threat to the mainland U.S. but it does potentially pose a threat to U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. And it is a not-so-subtle message, Christine, from the North Koreans of where things could be headed, as of course they could still launch something much bigger if negotiations fall apart.
ROMANS: Absolutely. All right. Will Ripley, thank you so much for that in Hong Kong.
SANCHEZ: A 37-year-old man is in police custody for bringing gas cans into St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, last night. The suspect is described as emotionally disturbed. Media reports identify him as Marc Lamparello of Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey.
Police say he was carrying two containers of gasoline along with lighter fluids and lighters when he was stopped by a cathedral security officer. Authorities tell us they're not sure of his intentions but there was obviously great concern given the recent fire that devastated Notre Dame Cathedral. Fortunately no one was hurt in the incident.
ROMANS: Bells ringing across France yesterday afternoon marking two days since the Notre Dame inferno. French police are back at the iconic gothic cathedral stepping up their investigation into the cause of the fire. French media report investigators are examining the electrical systems now as a possible cause.
Meantime we're learning more about how firefighters managed to get ahead of this fire that threatened to bring down the whole building.
CNN's Michael Holmes is live in Paris for us this morning.
I mean, I can't even imagine as a first responder or firefighter the enormity of trying to stop that fire and prevent it from engulfing the entire structure.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, that's right, Christine. In fact, the head of the fire department here had a news conference yesterday and actually said that it was the most complex blaze he has encountered in his entire career. Of course the roof with those ancient 800-year-old timbers, they called it the forest up there because of all the timber out there, and it certainly burned like one as well.
Firefighters did realize they were going to lose the roof at one point, and so they started concentrating their efforts on the two bell towers, the belfries, and trying to save those, and they successfully did that. If the support for those towers had burned the whole place would have come down. They said they had a 10 to 20-minute window where it could have gone either way. So they were extraordinarily lucky and fought it very smartly in trying to sort of seal off the towers from the rest of the fire in the roof.
Investigations continue today. Forensic experts are inside the cathedral as they have been for the last day or two trying to find clues. Also engineers in there looking for what areas of the cathedral might still be vulnerable in terms of stability.
[04:40:04] Areas of inquiry, they still say that they believe this was an accident. The restoration work was about to get underway. Workers had been up there. None were there when the fire broke out. There was no electrical system up there because of the fear of fire. But there was a temporary set up for welders and also an elevator to bring materials and people up for the restoration work, so investigators looking into possible electrical reasons as the cause of the blaze but they don't know yet -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Michael Holmes is Paris for us this morning. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Drug dealers in white coats. Sixty people including doctors, pharmacists and nurses were busted in the largest illegal opioid operation ever conducted by the Justice Department. The crackdown taking place across eight states, West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Louisiana. All the medical professionals charged with illegally prescribing and distributing opioids and other dangerous narcotics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN A. BENCZKOWSKI, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, CRIMINAL DIVISION: As charged, these cases involve approximately 350,000 opioid prescriptions and more than 32 million pills.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: The Justice Department says that one particular physician who branded himself the "Rock Doc" prescribed powerful and dangerous combinations of opioids and other drugs in exchange for sexual flavors.
ROMANS: All right, 41 minutes past the hour. Boeing 737 crisis forced American Airlines to cancel flights into the busy summer travel season and impact on its bottom line remains unclear. In a new regulatory finding, American Airlines said the financial cost of this destruction cannot be forecasted at this time and will be dependent upon a number of factors including the period of time the aircraft are unavailable and the circumstances of any reintroduction of the aircraft to service.
American has 24 737 MAX jets in its fleet, 76 on order from Boeing. Boeing announced earlier this month it was cutting back production on all 737s. Meanwhile, testing continues on the plane's software update. American Airlines stock closed up 1 percent on Wednesday.
SANCHEZ: Measles has reached Google headquarters in Silicon Valley. The disease keeps spreading with little containment in sight.
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[04:46:24] SANCHEZ: An 18-year-old upstate New York college student died Wednesday following a suspected hazing incident. Sebastian Serafin-Bazan was hospitalized last Friday with what University of Buffalo calls a serious medical condition. He was injured in an undisclosed incident at the Sigma Pi fraternity's off-campus house. Now the university in response has suspended all fraternity and sorority activities on campus. City state and university police are investigating the incident and looking into whether drugs or alcohol may have played a role.
ROMANS: All right, measles keeps quietly spreading across the U.S. A person with measles visited Google's Silicon Valley headquarters. Health officials say there's no additional risk to the community and the person who visited Google is not linked to four other cases in Santa Clara County.
SANCHEZ: Meantime after contracting measles a flight attendant with Israel's El Al Airlines is in a deep coma. Authorities believe she may have contracted the virus in New York, in Israel or in one of the flights between the two. They do not believe the virus was spread to anyone on those flights.
This year in the U.S., at least 555 people in 20 states have contracted measles. Outbreaks have been linked in part to the anti- vaccination movement and the spread of misinformation online about possible side effects of vaccines.
ROMANS: Patrol granted for Judy Clark, the former radical activist who spent nearly 40 years in jail for her role in a truck 1981 Brink's truck robbery that left three people dead including two police officers. Clark's lawyers expressing gratitude to the parole board. He says the 69-year-old Clark is rehabilitated and remorseful. But prosecutors slammed the decision describing Clark as a cold-blooded cop killer. She was initially sentenced to 75 years to life but New York Governor Andrew Cuomo commuted her sentence in 2016 opening the path to parole. She could be released by May 15th or early.
SANCHEZ: The EPA is announcing a nearly complete ban on the manufacturing and importing of asbestos. The rule will close loopholes in a decades old partial ban. Separately the EPA is reviewing the small number of settings where asbestos is still used, for example some vehicle brakes and for filtering chemicals, but the widespread use of asbestos in building products including insulation was discontinued years ago. Asbestos has been linked to mesothelioma which causes about 3,000 deaths each year.
ROMANS: All right. Last week no bank CEO said they saw a woman or person of color as their successor. And now a different story may be emerging at JPMorgan. CNN Business has the details next.
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[04:53:17] SANCHEZ: You can probably bookmark this next story as being a sign that the zombie apocalypse is coming. They were brought back from the dead in a manner of speaking. Scientists have developed a tool they say briefly restored some brain activity in pigs four hours after they died. Researchers hope to eventually be able restore some human brain functions lost to disease or stroke. This study published in "Nature" offers progress toward that goal.
ROMANS: The team developed a solution called brain X and then tested it on the whole brains of 32 pigs. Researchers say some of the brains cells were surprisingly resilient. The brains did not regain full consciousness necessary for higher functions. The breakthrough is also expected to pose some ethical dilemmas obviously down the road like possibly having to redefine the line between life and death.
SANCHEZ: Samsung's highly anticipated new phone, the Galaxy Fold, is not living up to its hype. The luxury device is built as a foldable smartphone that turns into a tablet. But several reporters who got early access say the device broke after just a few days. Reviewer Mark Gurman of Bloomberg documented how a screen malfunctioned after he removed the protected film from it.
Other reviewers experienced a constant flickering on the screen. Samsung says it will thoroughly review those devices to get answers but it warns buyers that that protective plastic layer was not supposed to be peeled off. The Fold will be available on AT&T and T- Mobile starting April 26th. It will retail for just under $2,000.
ROMANS: All right. A British diver who helped rescue a Thai youth soccer team from a cave last year, he needed a rescue of his own. Josh Bratchley went missing on Tuesday. He was exploring a cave in Tennessee with four other people and he didn't come out. Specialized divers from Arkansas and Florida were called in to the scene to help with the search. [04:55:03] One of them, Edd Sorenson, found Bratchley the next day
trapped in an air pocket in the flooded cave.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDD SORENSON, RESCUE DIVER: Came up to the air pocket and shockingly there he was calm as could be. He just said, "Thank you, thank you. Who are you?"
DEREK WOOLBRIGHT, EMA SPOKESPERSON: He was awake, alert, and oriented. His only request when he got to the surface was that the wanted some pizza.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Reasonable. The other cavers in Bratchley's group stayed at the scene to help with the rescue efforts.
SANCHEZ: Now that we've all had a chance to binge Beyonce's "Homecoming" on Netflix, we're learning the superstar's struggles to perfect her now iconic 2018 Coachella performances. In the film, Beyonce reveals that she was still rebounding from a difficult pregnancy when she began rehearsing and she had doubts about her comeback. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEYONCE, PERFORMER: There were days I thought, you know, I'll never be the same. I'll never be the same physically. My strength and endurance would never be the same.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Beyonce also talked about breastfeeding her twins on top of demanding rehearsals and a strict diet. The film and live album also revealing her 7-year-old daughter Blue Ivy may be a superstar in the making.
That family just overflows with talent. Beyonce made history at Coachella becoming the first black woman to headline the event.
ROMANS: She is just such a hard, hard working.
Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning. Global markets are lower amidst weak factory data from the Eurozone's two largest economies, Germany and France.
On Wall Street, futures are down slightly here. We've got a bunch of fresh economic news coming in the U.S. today. U.S. stocks edged lower yesterday but barely. The Dow closed down three points, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both finished slightly lower. A new read on the U.S. economy in just a few hours. Weekly jobless claims and retail sales both due at 8:30 a.m.
All right. The latest in the unicorn parade on Wall Street. Pinterest makes its public debut pricing its IPO at $19, $2 above its original proposed price. Pinterest is now valued at roughly $12.6 billion. The strong demand for Pinterest may ease investor concerns about the stampede of tech unicorns going public this year after Lyft's lackluster Wall Street debut last month. Zoom, a video conferencing company, also plans to make its public debut today.
So last week America's bank CEOs were on Capitol Hill. They were asked whether women or a person of color would ever succeed them. None of them raised their hands. Then this, a big promotion at JPMorgan Chase puts a woman in contention to succeed Jamie Dimon there. CFO Marian Lake is leaving her post as CFO to lead the bank's consumer lending business. She will oversee JPMorgan's card services, home lending and auto finance commission. Dimon decline to comment about his succession during the bank's earnings call last night. Dimon is 63 and he has given no indication he plans to step down anytime soon.
SANCHEZ: Now you may have heard the redacted version of the Mueller report comes out this morning, and while you were sleeping comics offered their predictions for what we should expect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In exchange for Hillary Clinton's e-mails, the Trump team agreed to --
GILBERT GOTTFRIED, ACTOR: Redacted. Redacted. Redacted.
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Now the comedy duo of Barr and Rosenstein have scheduled a 9:30 a.m. press conference to release the report tomorrow. OK. Which will undoubtedly blow the lid off Donald Trump's corruption, and until then, I will pass the time counting my chickens, which I will safely place in one basket. There you go. Who wants an egg? There you go.
SETH MEYERS, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": A redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report is expected to be released tomorrow morning. Right now we don't know what's in it, but tomorrow won't be any different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: I love Stephen Colbert making fun of himself.
SANCHEZ: Yes. Counting chickens before they hatch. Great to see Gilbert Gottfried, too. I hadn't seen him in a while.
Stay with us. EARLY START continues right now.
ROMANS: Ready for redactions? Bill Barr's version of the Mueller report goes public today. The AG will face the media but only before it's even released.
SANCHEZ: And breaking overnight, North Korea demanding that Mike Pompeo be replaced as the United States top diplomat to restart nuclear talks. ROMANS: A man arrested in New York for bringing gas cans and a
lighter into St. Patrick's Cathedral days after the inferno at Notre Dame in Paris.
SANCHEZ: And the biggest opioid bust in history. Sixty medical professionals, eight states.
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