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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Tornado Outbreak Kills Three In Missouri; President Trump Refusing To Work With Democrats; Infant Dies After Being Left In Florida Day Care Van. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired May 23, 2019 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:30:27] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, a deadly tornado outbreak rattles Missouri. Major damage in the capital of Jefferson City. Three are dead in the latest blow to the Midwest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We believe that the President of the United States is engaged in a cover-up.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't do cover-ups.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The government at a standstill. The president refusing to work with Democrats if they continue their multiple investigations.
BRIGGS: A baby girl in Florida has died after her day care left her alone for hours in a sweltering van.
ROMANS: And he joined the Taliban to fight the U.S. Now, John Walker Lindh is set to go free on American soil.
Welcome back to EARLY START, everybody, this Thursday morning. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: Good morning. Good morning to all of you. I'm Dave Briggs, 5:30 Eastern time on a Thursday.
We begin with breaking news overnight. A tornado outbreak turning deadly in Missouri.
A tornado emergency for Missouri's capital of Jefferson City. The National Weather Service confirms the city took a direct hit from a twister. All Jefferson City firefighters have been called into work on rescue operations.
We spoke to the city's mayor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAYOR CARRIE TERGIN, JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI: Our biggest concern is that we are hoping that everybody is OK. Buildings or things can be replaced. We just are hoping that everybody is alright.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The damage is extensive -- roofs ripped out homes, debris everywhere. At least 10,000 customers are without power. At this Chevy dealership, the cars literally tossed around, landing upside down.
Officials are asking people to stay indoors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. DAVID WILLIAMS, JEFFERSON CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT, JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI: We do not need citizens coming out helping out by driving around identifying problems. We've got enough calls coming from affected citizens to where we don't need people driving around telling us that there's a tree in the roadway. We have personnel out doing that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Three people in Missouri are confirmed dead. Debris reached as high as 13,000 feet in some places. Several injuries reported in the Carl Junction area of Jasper County.
A possible tornado also downed trees and powerlines in Joplin, eight years to the day after a catastrophic storm there killed 158 people.
In Oklahoma, we're keeping an eye on a pair of runaway barges that may have hit the interstate bridge and the near dam -- nearby dam in Webbers Falls. Officials calling for evacuations along the river. Residents have been told if they are staying, quote, "Write your name on your arm in permanent marker."
ROMANS: The flooding from earlier storms sinking this home along the Cimmaron River in Logan County. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol rescuing a woman who had to climb out of a window to get to safety.
And the threat in that region is not over. CNN's Pedram Javaheri live for us in the Weather Center. It has just been a wild few days.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It has, and you know what's impressive to me is the current hour here at 5:30 in the morning to see the intensity still continues into the early morning hours after -- when you lose the daytime heating you typically begin to see conditions quiet down just a little bit. Of course, the activity has really flourished into the overnight hours.
Tornado watches still in place. We expect some of these to expire within the next hour. But now, a severe thunderstorm watch is also issued across portions of Indianapolis and areas just to its east.
But notice this. The activity pushing away from St. Louis now but plenty of lightning strikes and plenty of heavy rainfall, which may be the next level of concern across the region.
And, Indianapolis seeing the brunt of this system right now to the north where winds easily could be up to 50-60 miles per hour across these regions. The severe thunderstorms in place across the area.
But, 29 reports of tornadoes, nearly 50 reports of wind damage, up to 30 now for hail. When you look at this -- you look at the past five days, nearly 170 tornado reports in a 5-day span. From what I could calculate that's about the most we've seen in that period -- that short of a period in some two years' time. So the activity definitely ramping up here in the peak of tornado season.
And we take a look back towards areas around the Plains, from Wichita southward towards Lubbock, Texas. Still seeing a level three there for some strong thunderstorms and another round of tornadoes this afternoon.
And also notice around portions of the Northeast, including areas just outside of Philly there. Just west of Philly an enhanced risk in place. That's a three on a scale of one to five there for this afternoon and this evening.
So the pattern still continues across much of the country today, guys.
BRIGGS: OK, Pedram. Thanks so much.
[05:35:00] Turning to politics now, President Trump proving there's more than one way to shut down the federal government. Until all investigations by the House are done, Mr. Trump will not work with Democrats -- not on infrastructure, not on immigration, health care nor disaster aid. Even the budget appears to be on hold.
The "Trumper Tantrum," as Twitter called it, erupting Wednesday morning after this comment from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PELOSI: We do believe that it's important for the -- to follow the facts. We believe that no one is above the law, including the President of the United States. And we believe that the President of the United States is engaged in a cover-up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: That appears to be the trigger. He walked into a meeting with Democrats on infrastructure, lectured them for five minutes, and then the president left.
His disdain spilled over into the Rose Garden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Instead of walking in happily into a meeting, I walk into look at people that have just said that I was doing a cover-up. I don't do cover-ups. This whole thing was a takedown attempt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Fact -- the president was an unnamed co-conspirator in the hush money case that sent Michael Cohen to prison for three years.
The president brought a poster with several mistakes in it, by the way. Twenty-five million is really the cost of the investigation --
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: -- but beside that. That was in the Rose Garden, slamming the Mueller report.
Pelosi continued her tough talk, though, later in the day, even invoking the "i" word.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PELOSI: In plain sight, in the public domain, this president is obstructing justice and he's engaged in a cover-up. And that could be an impeachable offense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: In a letter to her Democrats colleagues, Pelosi says Trump, quote, "had a temper tantrum for us all to see."
The president doesn't see it that way, tweeting, "This is not true. I was purposely very polite and calm, much as I was minutes later with the press in the Rose Garden."
All right, let's go to live to Washington and bring in CNN political reporter Rebecca Buck. Rebecca, good morning.
ROMANS: Good morning.
BRIGGS: Good to see you.
REBECCA BUCK, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning.
BRIGGS: All right. So quite a show at the White House yesterday. Here is how Chuck Schumer sees it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): He did not even sit down. He stomped into the room and began this diatribe mainly aimed at leader -- at Speaker Pelosi, saying she said cover-up. Now, that's been said many times before.
Saying there are investigations. We've had these investigations ongoing even three weeks ago when we met.
And he spoke very pointedly, very unkindly, and then he stalked out.
The bottom line is very simple. This was a set-up. Not a set-up on us. He made a fool of himself, I think. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: And here's how Sen. Schumer and Donald Trump's hometown paper, the "New York Daily News," sees it -- "Snit Hits the Fan."
Was this just a trap, as Admiral Ackbar said in "Star Wars?" Was it all political theater?
BUCK: Well, certainly, this move -- the patented Trump move of walking out of a meeting is something we've seen from the president before. In fact, long before he was president, he would even walk out of his own divorce proceedings dating decades back. So this is something we have seen from Donald Trump before.
But the reason that this makes members of Congress nervous is because they are in the midst of some very important budget negotiations. They're trying to reach a 2-year budget deal -- trying to raise the debt limit in a few months.
And so, if Donald Trump is not going to work with Democrats on anything, we've seen with the government shutdown that he's willing to throw the government into crisis to try to get what he wants. And so the concern that Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have at this moment is, is the president going down that road again or will he come back to the table and pass these must-pass measures?
It's -- I mean, something like infrastructure is one thing if you want to get these pieces of legislation through to improve the country, frankly. But these must-pass measures are another question entirely and they have a few of these coming before them in the coming months and weeks.
ROMANS: Yes, that sets us up for some trouble in the fall if they don't do that hard work right now. I mean, even yesterday morning before this little reality show episode it looked like there was optimism that some of this real work was going to get done.
And I wonder if the president risks a reputation hit here because he had said that we could do $2 trillion on infrastructure. Some of the people around him had said I don't know how we're going to pay for that. And now, he doesn't have to answer if you're not going to even talk about infrastructure anymore.
BUCK: Right. And I think as we saw, again, with the government shutdown, Democrats don't really have an incentive to accede to the president's demands when he's acting like this -- when he's trying to hold a legislative process -- the process hostage.
And so the question is, how does the president fare politically when he decides to hold up any sort of legislative movement in Congress? Do voters hold him accountable for that?
And, of course, his approval rating is already historically low and so --
[05:40:01] ROMANS: Right. BUCK: -- we're really down to the core Trump supporters as it is. But if some of those supporters start to think well, maybe we want someone who will work with Congress, that could -- that could be a problem for the president.
BRIGGS: But we're still at a point where a Republican congressman is willing to go further on impeachment than is Nancy Pelosi.
ROMANS: True.
BRIGGS: Are you seeing a change here? It's still only around 10 percent of the House calling for it. Are you seeing a change? Are Democrats less fearful now of going after an impeachment inquiry?
BUCK: You know, I think Democrats still see the reality on Capitol Hill.
Kamala Harris, just last night on Stephen Colbert, noted that the Senate -- of course, Republicans control the Senate -- there's no scenario where the Senate currently is going to vote to impeach the president.
And so, the question for Democrats is why would House Democrats go out on that limb to start impeachment proceedings if they know the Senate is just going to bat those down?
And so, Democrats, right now, I think, still see a benefit in continuing these investigations and moving forward in looking into the president's financial dealings and these possible connections with Russia. But they don't see the benefit yet, politically, of proceeding on impeachment.
We'll see, especially as this Democratic primary with the presidential race continues, does the pressure from the party base mount on impeachment?
We have seen, of course, Beto O'Rourke, just this week, saying he believes impeachment is the way to go.
ROMANS: And, Bernie Sanders, last night --
BRIGGS: That's right, Bernie.
ROMANS: -- told us on CNN that it's time for impeachment proceedings as well.
BUCK: That's right.
ROMANS: So, fascinating.
All right, nice to see you, Rebecca Buck. Thanks for getting up early for us.
BUCK: Thanks.
BRIGGS: Thank you. ROMANS: Have a great rest of your day.
BUCK: You, too.
ROMANS: A second major setback for President Trump in his fight to keep his financial records private.
A federal judge in New York ruling the president cannot block subpoenas from House Democrats to Deutsche Bank and Capital One. The judge says the subpoenas are broad but clearly, pertinent to the work of Congress.
The decision starts a 1-week clock for Trump's legal team to find a way to keep the banks from releasing extensive information about President Trump, his businesses, and family members.
Earlier this week, a D.C. federal judge said the former Trump accounting firm, Mazars, would have to comply with the congressional subpoena. The president's attorneys have appealed that ruling.
BRIGGS: A sixth migrant child has died after crossing the border and the latest case being reported happened eight months ago. A 10-year- old girl from El Salvador dying while in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement last September.
Five other minor migrants have died. Before that, there were no child fatalities since 2010.
A spokesman for Health and Human Services says the girl came to their San Antonio office in March of 2018 with a history of congenital heart defects. Surgery complications left her in a coma and she died in a Nebraska children's hospital later.
When CNN asked HHS officials why her death was not announced we were told notify the media is not required by the department.
ROMANS: An infant girl just a few months old has died after being left in a day care van in Florida. Police responded to a call about an unresponsive baby at the Ewing's Love & Hope Preschool & Academy Wednesday afternoon and they found the baby in a car seat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN KEE, ASSISTANT CHIEF, JACKSONVILLE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, JACKSONVILLE, FL: Said the kid was there from about 8:00 a.m. to about a little after 1:00 p.m., so almost five hours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Temperatures in the area reached as high as 92 degrees.
Darryl Ewing, a co-owner of the day care facility, was arrested for child neglect.
BRIGGS: Oh, boy.
Ahead, a dog that jumped from a speeding R.V. during that wild police chase is on the road to recovery.
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[05:48:26] ROMANS: Let's get a check on "CNN Business" this morning.
Taking a look at global markets right now, leaning lower around the world in the stock markets. Shanghai and Hong Kong with more than one percent losses, and London opening up to some pretty significant weakness there.
So we'll watch and see how that translates on Wall Street when the opening bell rings in a few hours. Right now, futures are indicating a lower open here as well.
Look, there was a retreat in the stock market on Wednesday -- a decline in oil prices and more wreckage in the retail world. The Dow fell 101 points. The S&P and the Nasdaq also lower.
The energy sector, the biggest loser there. U.S. oil prices dropped about three percent on a surprise increase in stockpiles.
Lowe's -- in retail land, Lowe's declined 11 percent after slashing its profit outlook for the year. Higher costs weighed on its first- quarter earnings.
Tesla once had faster sales growth than any other auto company -- now it's a different story. The stock is down 40 percent almost since the start of the year, erasing most of the gains it made over the past several years.
Tesla recently had its biggest drop in sales ever. It's facing growing competition. It's been forced to close stores and raise prices as it struggles to make money. Tesla will need to return to profitability soon before concerns about another cash crunch weigh on its stock more.
Ford experimenting with something different here -- a package-carrying robot. Ford announced Tuesday it's testing a robot called Digit to carry deliveries from its self-driving cars to customers' doorsteps. Digit can climb steps, walk on uneven terrain, and carry packages up to 40 pounds.
Ford declined to say if or when it will launch a commercial delivery program with Digit, but you can see it is experimenting.
[05:50:00] BRIGGS: Very cool.
The first U.S.-born detainee in the war on terror walks out of prison a free man today. John Walker Lindh, also known as the American Taliban, was captured in Afghanistan after the 911 attacks. He has served 17 years of his 20-year sentence.
His case raising questions about radicals reentering society. A small but growing number of Americans convicted on terror-related charges are completing prison sentences in the coming years. And there are calls for an investigation into Lindh's time in prison. Two U.S. government reports say he made pro-ISIS statements that could land him back in detention.
ROMANS: Pet owners know just how deep the bond with an animal can be. Well, a woman in Virginia was so attached to her dog she took it to the grave with her. Emma, a healthy Shih Tzu mix, was euthanized recently so she could be buried with her owner who left explicit instructions in her will.
Volunteers at a Virginia shelter were heartbroken when their pleas to save Emma were ignored.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARRIE JONES, MANAGER, CHESTERFIELD COUNTY ANIMAL SERVICES, CHESTERFIELD, VIRGINIA: We did suggest to them that they could sign the dog over on numerous occasions because it's a dog that we could easily find a home for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Again, a healthy Shih Tzu mix. Emma was euthanized and taken to a pet cremation center. Her ashes were placed in an urn and returned to the woman's estate.
BRIGGS: Wow.
Charges are pending against the driver in one of the craziest high- speed chases you've ever seen. Julie Ann Rainbird was behind the wheel of that stolen R.V. Tuesday night.
She crashed into several cars during the chase. The half-hour pursuit ending when she lost control of the R.V., crashed into another car, and hit a tree. The driver of that white car suffered major injuries.
Rainbird faces charges that include evading police and causing injury.
ROMANS: There's good news about the two dogs that were caught up in that high-speed chase. One, a Mastiff mix seen jumping out of the -- oh -- the speeding R.V. She suffered lacerations and soft tissue damage. There she is with a cast.
She is now in good hands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. HUGHES SANDERS, VCA MCCLAVE ANIMAL HOSPITAL, She let us clean her paw, she let us place the bandage on her paw. She's really -- she's really a sweet dog.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Both dogs are now in the care of animal control. Officials are checking microchips to see if they belong to Rainbird or someone else. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:56:16] ROMANS: All right.
The Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin punting again when pressed on whether to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. AYANNA PRESSLEY (D-MA): Do you support Harriet Tubman being on the $20 bill?
STEVEN MNUCHIN, SECRETARY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY: I've made no decision as it relates to that. And the currency timeline will be most likely 2026, which even in the most optimistic scenarios is probably beyond my term.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So, a decision had been made on this. Mnuchin's predecessor, the Treasury Sec. Jack Lew -- back in 2016, he said the U.S. would swap out President Andrew Jackson, who owned slaves, for Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave. She would be the first black woman featured on U.S. currency.
President Trump slammed that move as political correctness.
BRIGGS: Your diet may have a greater impact on your cancer risk than previously known. A new study finds in 2015, more than 80,000 new cancer cases among adults were linked to poor diets. That's roughly five percent of all invasive cancer cases.
Researchers evaluated dietary factors like a low intake of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and dairy products, and a high intake of processed meats, red meats, and sugary beverages.
ROMANS: While you were sleeping, all the drama between President Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave comics plenty of material.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES CORDEN, HOST, CBS "THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN": The president said he wouldn't work with Democrats until their, quote, "phony investigations were over." He then demanded to see Hillary's e-mails and Obama's birth certificate.
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, CBS "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": A podium adorned with a preprinted sign that said "No Collusion, No Obstruction" right over the seal, right? Just blocking out the seal. Just right over -- it's -- very presidential, I've got to say -- very presidential.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes. COLBERT: It reminds of that time that Jefferson addressed the Continental Congress behind a sign that said "Sally Hemings, Just A Friend."
CORDEN: President Trump has, quote, "engaged in a cover-up." Yes, cover-up? Yes, I think so. He's engaged in cover-up foundation, concealer, bronzer -- possibly, a little lip liner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: What was not on that preprinted poster behind the president was 199 overall criminal counts, 37 people or entities charged with crimes, and five people sentenced to prison.
BRIGGS: A lot.
ROMANS: But that's a different poster.
BRIGGS: That's a big sign.
ROMANS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I don't do cover-ups, I think was the line of the day.
I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We do want to start with breaking news for you.
Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Thursday, May 23rd, 6:00 here in New York.
And breaking overnight, a deadly outbreak of tornados hits the central U.S. A violent tornado striking Missouri's capital, Jefferson City, very early this morning. Residents there waking up to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Tornado siren.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Those are, of course, the sirens, but you can see just pitch blackness and the storm brewing over the central U.S.
Rescues are underway at this hour. Multiple people are hurt. More than two dozen twisters carved a path from Oklahoma to Missouri in just the past 24 hours.
Tornadoes are already blamed for killing three people in Golden City, Missouri.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: There are reports of people trapped in the rubble this morning. One storm chaser said of the damage, simply, "It's too much."
So you can see what the wind did to vehicles at a car dealership there, simply flipping them over.
The Jefferson City Fire Department posted these words on Facebook. "Please pray for our citizens." And we will speak to the mayor there in just a moment.
Let's get right to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.
END
