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U.S. Deploys Warships after 'Troubling' Threats by Iran; Stock Prices Plunge as Trump Ratchets Up Pressure on China Over Trade; Trump Reverses Course, Says Mueller 'Should Not Testify'; Russia Launches Criminal Investigation Into Deadly Plane Fire; Former Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Set to Report to Prison; Trump Tweets Support for Far- Right People Banned by Facebook. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired May 06, 2019 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. deploying a carrier strike group and a bomber task force in response to what the White House is calling troubling actions by Iran.

[05:59:26] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think that we should take it lightly. We're trying to exert a show of power. We could find out soon why that's happening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump saying flat-out, Mueller should not testify. He didn't express those concerns on Friday.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's up to our attorney general.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only Mr. Mueller can tell us what is exactly on that report. Why is he afraid of the truth?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and jo Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Monday, May 6th, 6 a.m. here in New York.

Hope you had a terrific weekend.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I did. I didn't do a 26-mile run, like you did. But --

BERMAN: I did a 26-mile run, yes.

CAMEROTA: It was impressive. I saw the pictures.

BERMAN: It went pretty well.

CAMEROTA: You didn't look happy, but it was impressive.

BERMAN: Well, no, chafing tends to make you unhappy. Let me tell you stories.

CAMEROTA: TMI.

BERMAN: All right. Major developments overnight. President Trump moving U.S. military assets, moving markets and moving his position on the Mueller investigation.

We learned overnight that the U.S. is deploying an aircraft carrier strike group and Air Force bombers to the Persian Gulf. Officials say it is to deter any Iranian military action.

National security adviser John Bolton says it's designed to send a, quote, "clear and unmistakable message" to Iran after the regime made what he calls troubling threats against U.S. forces in the Middle East. We should be clear: there's no indication that any action by Iran is imminent.

CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, stock futures are plunging this morning as President Trump is ratcheting up pressure on China, threatening a new, more severe round of tariffs if there is no breakthrough in the year- long trade war.

"The Wall Street Journal" reports that China is considering pulling out of trade talks that were set for this week.

President Trump is also changing course on whether he thinks Special Counsel Robert Mueller should testify before Congress. On Friday, the president told reporters the attorney general -- the attorney general is the person who should make that call. But now he says that Mueller should not testify, period.

So there's a lot of ground to cover around the world this morning. We begin with CNN's Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon with the U.S. military action on Iran. What's happening, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

An extraordinary statement by the administration on Sunday night. And now this morning, a U.S. aircraft carrier task force and Air Force bombers are heading to that region in the Middle East, where there are thousands of U.S. forces. They are deployed up and down the Persian Gulf. There are U.S. forces in Iraq, in Syria, and in Afghanistan.

The forces that are on the way, we are told, is because there is intelligence that Iran and Iranian-backed forces in the region may -- may -- be preparing for an attack on U.S. forces.

In that Sunday night statement, the national security adviser, John Bolton, said -- and let's show it to everybody -- his exact words. He said, "The United States is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and a bomber task force" -- those Air Force bombers -- "to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force. The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack." So bottom line, we are told there's no imminent action planned by the

U.S., because they see no imminent threat from the Iranian forces that they are worried about. But this is about deterrence. This is about making a very public show of force, sending a message to Iran: "Don't even try it" -- John.

BERMAN: It is interesting to me, we hear, no imminent threat, but this is clearly in response, so say U.S. military officials to something. It's just unclear to me what exactly that something is.

Also, Barbara, you know, up until this point, the Pentagon has been very much focused on Russia and China. Now they're having to really widen that scope. What do you make of that?

STARR: Well, this is extremely interesting. Acting defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan, has said for months now, it's all about, in his words, China, China, China, and Russia. This is what the Pentagon has really shifted to.

And what we find literally on a Sunday night, they are back, focused on the Persian Gulf. This has been a flash point for years. And of course, tensions rising with Iran, the U.S. trying to limit their oil exports. The president obviously worried about their nuclear program. And now the U.S. making this show of force to deter Iran, because of what they believe they have, which is intelligence, that an attack possibly is being prepared. Possibly -- John, Alisyn.

BERMAN: All right. Barbara Starr for us. Barbara, thank you very much for that report. We'll stay on this all morning -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, John, another big international story. President Trump rattling financial markets, threatening new U.S. tariffs on some $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. This comes ahead of a critical week of trade negotiations between the U.S. and China.

So let's bring in CNN chief business correspondent and "EARLY START" anchor, Christine Romans.

So Christine, what exactly is the president threatening here?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, he's the tariff man, right? Remember? He had bragged about that, saying that tariffs are the way to deal with the Chinese in a very strong way.

And the president is saying he wants to raise tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports from 10 percent to 25 percent on Friday, this week. And he wants to add potentially new tariffs very shortly, he said, on another $325 billion worth of Chinese imports. Essentially putting taxes, as he calls them, on everything that the U.S. imports from China.

This is a sharpening of his tone. As we're here in the tenth after ten rounds of negotiations in a year-long trade war, he has really sharpened his tone here.

[06:05:07] CAMEROTA: So how are the markets reacting this morning?

ROMANS: No, nobody likes it. They don't like it at all. "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting that they're -- that the Chinese are considering pulling out of an important meeting this week.

Top negotiators were going to come to Washington. They thought that they were wrapping this up, and then we're heading into maybe a June signing ceremony. Now that looks in jeopardy.

You go around the world, you can see stock markets down sharply in Asia. They're also down in Europe. You know, Japan and London are closed, so those numbers are misleading there, but around the world, you know, 2 to up to 5 percent losses.

In the U.S., you're looking at a 1 or 2 percent decline on the opening bell. That would be off 400 -- now 500 points as the most recent Dow futures number.

Look, stocks are up very, very sharply over the past year, over the past several years, right? And baked into this is the assumption that there is going to be a meaningful trade deal. If the U.S. just walks away and breaks down and puts more tariffs on more goods, that is seen as something that's destabilizing to the stock market.

CAMEROTA: But Christine, just help us understand this. The president says that China is paying the tariff Bill. So is that true?

ROMANS: Yes, you know, he -- in this series of tweets, where he talked about this, he said that, you know, China has been paying tariffs on these $200 billion worth of goods coming in, and also, even higher tariffs, 25 percent tariffs on high-tech stuff coming in.

China is not paying those tariffs. It's very clear here, customs -- U.S. customs, that Bill goes to whoever imported it. So that is, for example, you know, American furniture companies, American retailers, American apparel suppliers.

And so far, the president is right in his tweets that, so far that -- those prices haven't been passed in a big degree to the American consumer, but there's a concern that, if you put tariffs on everything that the U.S. brings in here, that's going to start to filter down to the consumer.

I will say that trade allies of the president says that the U.S. economy is so strong right here, Alisyn, this is the perfect time to be threatening the Chinese, right? Because the U.S. economy is strong and can withstand any further trade war. Markets don't think so.

CAMEROTA: OK, Christine, thanks very much for explaining all of that -- John.

BERMAN: All right. A major reversal from President Trump on the special counsel. The president now says that Robert Mueller should not testify before Congress, which really does beg the question, what exactly is the president afraid of?

CNN's Joe Johns live at the White House with the latest. And Joe, this is a shift.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's for sure, John. And since Friday, we've seen quite a bit of positioning on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue on this issue with House Democrats, trying to appear more accommodating, which they hope sets them up for a court case, if it comes to that.

The president appearing to double down, which is pretty much a negotiating position he's favored over the years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS (voice-over): President Trump flipping his stance on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's potential testimony on Capitol Hill, tweeting, "Bob Mueller should not testify. No redos for the Dems." But on Friday, Trump saying, it's not up to him whether Mueller testifies.

TRUMP: That's up to our attorney general, who I think has done a fantastic job.

JOHNS: last week, Attorney General William Barr telling senators he would allow the special counsel to take the stand.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): What about Bob Mueller? Should he be allowed to testify before the Senate?

WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I have already said publicly, I have no objection.

JOHNS: The president's reversal comes as House Democrats wait to hear from Mueller about a tentative May 15 invitation. Democrats want Mueller to further explain the ten incidents of potential obstruction by President Trump, as well as the special counsel's decision not to make a determination about whether Trump obstructed justice.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Given the fact that Barr does not seem to be a neutral observer here, Mueller's testimony is all the more important.

JOHNS: As the clock quickly ticks for Mueller, House Democrats are demanding the attorney general hand over the full, unredacted Mueller report.

REP. LOU CORREA (D-CA): Congress, our job is oversight. The American people need to know the truth. That's why we need the full Mueller report.

JOHNS: House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler threatening to hold Barr in contempt of Congress if he doesn't respond to the request by 9 a.m. this morning, sending the A.G. a letter Friday, offering to negotiate a reasonable accommodation with the Justice Department.

One person the president is willing to talk about the Mueller report with, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in their first call since the conclusion of the investigation. TRUMP: He actually sort of smiled when he said something to the

effect that it started off as a mountain, and it ended up being a mouse, but he knew that, because he knew there was no collusion.

JOHNS: Missing from the conversation, a warning from Trump to Putin to stop Russian interference in the 2020 election.

TRUMP: We didn't discuss that. Really, we didn't discuss it.

JOHNS: The Mueller report confirming the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systemic fashion. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on defense over that lack of warning.

MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: You're looking at the administration that has been tougher on Russia than any of its predecessors, and yet, you continue to be fixated on something that Robert Mueller wrote down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[06:10:05] JOHNS: So what's the bottom line here on the Mueller report? Well, so far, the White House, the president, and the attorney general have been able to control the narrative over that issue. But if the special counsel himself speaks publicly, those words are going to carry a lot of weight -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Joe, thank you very much.

Now to more international news. Russia is launching a criminal investigation into what may have caused that deadly plane fire on that Moscow runway. Here's the video.

Forty-one people were killed, including at least two children, when the plane burst into a ball of flames while trying to make an emergency landing.

CNN's Nathan Hodge is live in Moscow with the very latest. What do they think happened?

NATHAN HODGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, Russian authorities have cast a very wide net here in investigating the causes of this -- of this crash on Sunday.

Russia's investigative committee, which is its top law enforcement body, it says that it's looking at a whole range of possible causes for this, everything from the qualifications of the pilots and the maintainers, to the air traffic controllers, to a problem with the aircraft itself, to adverse weather conditions.

So right now, they're just trying to get some sense of what was the cause of this. And what forced this plane to turn back. It was in the air for only about 30 minutes. It was flying on a route from Moscow to Murmansk. That's about a two-hour flight to a city in Russia's -- in Russia's north. And just under half an hour in the air, turned back and made this hard

landing on the ground, first bouncing on the ground, and then making another landing. and the undercarriage of the plane and the engines catching on fire after it skidded to a halt at the end of the runway. the emergency chutes were deployed, and we were seeing this quite arresting footage of the passengers of the plane trying to make an escape, coming down those ramps.

And as you had said, many people were killed. Forty-one people were killed in this incident. Seventy-eight people were onboard this aircraft. So Russian authorities are really still trying to get to the bottom of what caused this -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Nathan, thank you very much. Obviously, the video is horrifying. Just hearing what was happening inside the cabin is horrifying.

BERMAN: Yes, they've had a lot of issues with air travel in Russia for decades. They were hoping they'd corrected some of it, but clearly, issues were made.

CAMEROTA: We're going to have Miles O'Brien here to talk more about that later in the program.

BERMAN: All right. President Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, heads to prison in just hours. We understand he might want to speak to cameras before making the journey behind bars. What is it exactly he wants to say this time? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:17:25] CAMEROTA: All right. There's less than eight hours of freedom remaining for Michael Cohen.

BERMAN: That was a dramatic turn right there.

CAMEROTA: I know. There is something dramatic about this.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And waiting for somebody to report to prison, you know? President Trump's former lawyer and fixer, he will report for federal prison this afternoon, begin serving that three-year sentence for tax fraud and campaign finance violations.

Brynn Gingras joins us from Otisville, New York, near the prison. Is he going to say something, Brynn?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, that's unclear this morning, Alisyn. But I do want to mention Michael Cohen actually asked to be here at Otisville, because in part, it's very close to New York City.

But it's not a bad choice. This prison was dubbed Club Fed. "Forbes" magazine listed it as one of the cushiest prisons in America back in 2009. He's going to share the halls with some notable people, as well.

Billy McFarland, the former Fyre Festival promoter, is housed here. The situation from Jersey Shore.

There's actually more than 800 inmates in Otisville on two different campuses, a minimum security campus, a medium security campus. And it's unclear right now where Michael Cohen is going to be housed. The Bureau of Prisons doesn't really give that information until he actually checks in.

But certainly, what's also unclear, as you guys said, is if he is going to say anything. He's hinted that he might. We shall see. But we know, of course, he's been on this truth-telling crusade ever since he pleaded guilty last year to tax fraud, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress, sort of talking about the president publicly in front of Congress, also behind closed doors.

We know 53 years old, he's going to spend three years here at Otisville, and he has to report here by 2 p.m. today.

So John and Alisyn, we'll see if he says anything outside his home in Park Avenue. Very different from where he'll be living for the next three years.

BERMAN: You can say that again. All right. We are watching his home very closely to wait and see if he does say something. Thanks so much, Brynn.

BERMAN: All right. President Trump is reversing himself now on Robert Mueller, saying the special counsel should not testify before lawmakers. But on Friday, the president said this about whether Mueller should speak to Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, should Mueller testify? Would you like to see him testify?

TRUMP: I don't know. That's up to our attorney general, who I think has done a fantastic job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I want to bring in Abby Phillip, CNN White House correspondent, who's here with us in New York; Joe Lockhart, former Clinton press secretary and CNN political commentator, who's always here with us in New York; and Elie Honig, former federal prosecutor and CNN legal analyst.

Abby, I want to start with you. This is a shift from the president. He was going to leave it up to Bill Barr before. Bill Barr has made it clear he's OK with Robert Mueller testifying, so what happened?

[06:20:04] ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president wants to put an end to this. I mean, he's wanted that for a long time, but I think he's been trying to be a little bit more Zen about it, trying to leave to it Barr, hoping that this is going to all end up well for him.

But, you know, in some ways, I think we have to make a distinction between Trump's behavior as it relates to the special counsel and what actually the impact of Mueller's testimony might be. Even though he seems to be extremely worried about it, saying that he doesn't think Mueller should testify, that's just the president, I think, just based on how he's behaved throughout this probe and how he interprets all of this congressional oversight.

That's him just saying to Congress, "I don't want to give you even an inch," but I don't think we should read that as a sign that he thinks that there is some kind of, you know, smoking gun that Mueller could reveal that is extremely damaging to him.

He tends to be on the side of wanting to push back against Congress. And he's just expressing his -- his true views on this. And the shift is really just a shift in him, you know, he's no longer willing to leave it to Bill Barr, but that should be no surprise. He rarely wants to leave these things up to other people.

BERMAN: But what skin is it off the president's nose, Joe? I mean, what White House resources will be taxed by Robert Mueller going to talk to Congress?

JOE LOCKHART, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I don't think that -- there won't be any. I think the difference between Friday and Sunday was, Friday he was in front of cameras. And I think he didn't want to get into a discussion about why Barr -- Mueller shouldn't testify. Sunday was a tweet. And that's -- that's not a debate. That's a proclamation.

I think he's -- I agree with Abby that they want to stonewall as a strategy. And I think they're trying to bait the Democrats into going to impeachment, thinking that they won't. That it's all a big bluff and Democrats will give up.

But I do think they're worried and should be worried about Mueller's testimony. There was a poll out this weekend that 3 percent of Americans had read the Mueller report.

What Bob Mueller does is he animates that. It's, you know, it's like bringing -- you know, it's a book to a movie. This will be dramatic. Mueller, you know, won't be theatric, but it will be dramatic to go through, piece by piece, what's in the Mueller report; and the president definitely doesn't want that to happen.

BERMAN: I do want to note that this book, "Amanda Wakes Up," has been optioned, correct? All right. Just said.

LOCKHART: I wondered why you guys were laughing at me during that answer.

BERMAN: A book to a movie. A book to a movie.

CAMEROTA: We just -- we just have our own private joke going at all times -- BERMAN: It has been optioned. It has been optioned.

CAMEROTA: -- during the program.

BERMAN: Elie Honig, Abby Phillip says the president isn't scared about something specific from Mueller. It's just obstructionist. Well, if you were going to make news by asking Robert Mueller a question with, or another way of saying this is what questions do you think the president should worry about that could go to Robert Mueller?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. So a couple of questions might really be keeping the president up at night, if Robert Mueller has to answer them in person.

First of all, if not for the infamous DOJ policy against indicting a sitting president, would you have indicted Donald Trump for obstruction of justice? It's a very direct question.

CAMEROTA: That's a good one.

HONIG: Thanks! Your book is good, too. I read it.

CAMEROTA:

BERMAN: He has taken a lot of slack for this, Robert Mueller, including from Bill Barr last week, right? Bill Barr attacked him and in the letter we saw, he did not make a thumbs up or thumbs down decision. He's taken a lot of heat for it. And this could be his chance to say, OK, you want a thumbs up or thumbs down?

I'm not so sure Bill Barr and Donald Trump want to hear that answer. That's a question I would have for him.

"Who did you intend to decide obstruction?" Robert Mueller, right? "You didn't decide it. You must have intended somebody. Did you want Bill Barr to come in and do what he did? Or did you really have Congress in mind?" would be the other one.

And the third one, I would want to ask him about all the different points where Bill Barr and he are at odds with one another, right? Bill Barr threw down the gauntlet with him and picked a fight with him last week. And I would want Mueller to have a chance to straighten things out about the letter. When you sent that letter to Bill Barr, in what ways specifically did Bill Barr misrepresent your findings?

CAMEROTA: Well, the good news, Abby, is that President Trump and Vladimir Putin agree on the outcome of this. This is strange. To hear from the president about the phone call, the very congenial phone call that he had with Vladimir Putin.

It's a little bit like talking to the burglar who broke into your neighbor's home and being congratulatory to each other about the outcome of that. It's just strange to hear the president, once again, side with Vladimir Putin over Robert Mueller, et cetera, et cetera. PHILLIP: Well, I think we can safely say that the president is not

particularly concerned about the burglary. He didn't bring it up. He really rarely brings it up in public or with Vladimir Putin.

But this is one of those cases of the president really getting in his own way.

On Friday morning, the job numbers came out. They were great for him. The Mueller probe is over. He was feeling really good. And so what does he do? He calls Vladimir Putin.

[06:25:05] And the first thing that he does is say to Putin, essentially, "We can start over. We can restart this relationship." And this is what he's wanted to do all along.

And so it is strange, because I think, given all the information that's in the Mueller report, you would think that the president would bring up the issue of Russian interference, say to Putin, "Don't do this again." But it's not strange, because it falls with President Trump's very clear pattern.

He wants to normalize relations with Putin. He's been waiting for this to all be over in order to do that. And he took the very first opportunity he could to try to do that, by basically having, like, a jovial moment with Putin on the phone.

The president was basically describing Putin as smiling, but it wasn't even a video conference. It was a telephone call. They were clearly in a good mood in this conversation, joking with each other about the Mueller investigation. It was just really extraordinary.

BERMAN: Such a good mood, he could see him smile, even though there was no actual picture to show it. Look, I think it's a fair question to ask, whether the president is concerned about Russian meddling in the next election. You know, I don't know what the answer.

CAMEROTA: I mean, Mike Pompeo bristled at that question.

BERMAN: But it's a fair question.

CAMEROTA: And acting as though, we've done more than anybody! But again, it is very confusing when you hear the president calling the culprit.

PHILLIP: And our reporting shows that the president -- this is not something that aides believe the president wants to talk about. There have been very few meetings on election interference in this White House compared to other things, like the border crisis, which he believes is a national security emergency.

White House aides are clear: this is something that President Trump only deals with intermittently. He does not want to talk about it as often as a lot of other things.

BERMAN: All right, Facebook kicked some people off over the last several days. Awful -- CAMEROTA: Oh, horrible. Conspiracies -- they're just the most

disgusting conspiracy theorists, you know, the ones that don't think that, for instance, Sandy Hook in Newtown happened. Things like that.

BERMAN: InfoWars. Paul Nehlen, who's an anti-Semite, who has said anti-Semitic things in Wisconsin. This is what the president has said about this move. He stuck up for these people.

"I'm continuing to monitor the censorship of AMERICAN CITIZENS on social media platforms. This is the United States of America -- and we have what's known as FREEDOM OF SPEECH! We are monitoring and watching closely!"

Joe, what message does that send when the president is protecting InfoWars?

LOCKHART: Well, remember, one of the first interviews the president did upon being elected during the transition with Alex Jones. And he has praised InfoWars, InfoWars being the people who said that Sandy Hook didn't happen and it was a hoax. You know, that you know, 20 kids, you know, killed -- this is part of the president's political strategy to keep his base whipped up, to re-tweet white nationalists. To play in this conspiracy game.

And, you know, we don't need any more evidence that, you know, for instance, he doesn't care about Russian meddling, because he thinks it helped him. He knows it helped him. And he'll -- he'll continue to do these things. What it does is it debases the presidency.

When you have someone who is willing to amplify, using the largest bully pulpit in the world, you know, crazy conspiracy theorists, bigots, you know, anti-Semites, he degrades the office by doing this. And, you know, he's going to continue this fight.

BERMAN: Oliver Darcy said over the weekend, I think it was Oliver, who said InfoWars doesn't need to be on Facebook, because they have the president to make their case for them.

CAMEROTA: Yes, they have a great megaphone.

Thank you all.

BERMAN: All right. Just an unreal development over the weekend at the Kentucky Derby. The first horse to cross the finish line disqualified or pushed back. The horse's owner wants to repeal the ruling, but can he? We have the latest in a live report, next.

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