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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Secret Taliban Talks Canceled; Dems Renew Focus On Impeachment; Bullied Boy's Last Laugh; Air Force Orders Review Of International Layovers; Cost Of The U.S./China Trade War; Netanyahu Borrows From Trump Campaign Strategy; Netanyahu Sparks Speculation Of Election Fraud; British Airway Pilots On Strike Over Pay; Ketchup Conundrum; CDC Now Suggest People Stop Vaping; 82-Year-Old Holiday Burglar Busted; Curious Teen Helps Solve Missing Person Case; Patriots Crush Steelers In Season Opener; CNN Business. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired September 09, 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]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: If you're going to negotiate peace, you often have to deal with some pretty bad actors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Is there any way out of America's longest war? The president nixes secret talks with the Taliban.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: Congress is back today. A full agenda with guns, the border and trade, but House Democrats are keeping their focus on impeachment.

BRIGGS: Seventy thousand people struggling to survive in the Bahamas. The window quickly closing to find people missing after hurricane Dorian.

ROMANS: And he was mocked for a homemade shirt. Now, one Florida boy is getting his swag and more. Welcome back to "Early start" this morning. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: Good morning. Good morning to all of you. I'm Dave Briggs, 4:30 Eastern Time right here in New York. This week marks 18 years since September 11 and now we've learned secret peace talks were planned for this weekend at Camp David with the group that harbored terrorist responsible for those attacks.

President Trump cancelling the talks accusing the Taliban of an attack in Afghanistan that killed 12 people including an American soldier. The president saying quote, they probably don't have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway. How many more decades are they willing to fight? Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended the president's decision and his original invitation. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POMPEO: If you're going to negotiate peace, you often have to deal with some pretty bad actors. I know the history too at Camp David. Indeed President Trump reflected on that. We all considered as we were debating how to try and get to the right ultimate outcome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The invitation angered many lawmakers, including some Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MICHAEL WALZ (R-FL): As we head into the anniversary of 9/11, I do not ever want to see these terrorists step foot on United States soil. Period.

REP. ADAM KINGZINGER (R-IL): Nothing wrong with negotiations, but the president should not be negotiating with these really evil people. We can't forget what they did. We can't forget what they continue to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Liz Cheney, the number three House Republican, whose father was vice president on 9/11 says, Camp David is where America's leaders meant to plan our response after 9/11. No member of the Taliban should set foot there, ever.

Pompeo says the U.S. is still interested in striking a peace deal, but for now, the talks are dead and efforts to end America's longest war once again moving a step back.

Let's go live to London and bring in CNN's Clarissa Ward, who embedded with the Taliban just a few months ago for more on what's next. I think a lot of people were really surprise when the president in his torrent of Twitter messages, said that, unbeknownst to almost everyone, the Taliban were invited to and going to come to Camp David to try to talk this out. That really caught a lot of people by surprise.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think it -- really, you could hear, sort of, jaws dropping across the world, as people woke up to -- or if it was late at night, there are times saw that news on Twitter, simply because of the optics of it, of course. But not least, the fact that tomorrow is the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

And there will be a lot of people also beyond that. because there will be some discussion of whether it would be appropriate to host the Taliban at Camp David, if there was potentially a more substantial coherent agreement struck with the Afghan government being a major party shareholder in that agreement.

But a lot of people would have been extremely critical even beyond the optics of this deal, because -- and the 9/11 memorial, because there are a lot of people who have many problems with this deal and the fact that there wasn't a sort of preordered cease-fire. That there wasn't any guarantee to protect women's rights. That the Afghan government didn't have a seat at the table.

And yet there are still be others who will also say, you know, what, this is the longest war. 18 years, 2,400 servicemen dead. Tens of thousands of Afghans killed, trillions of U.S. dollars spent. It's time to get out of this war. How do we do that? We need to sit down with the Taliban. And the question now becomes, Christine, when can that happen? How can that happen? Are these talks dead in the water? Or is there still an opportunity for them to continue?

ROMANS: Sure.

BRIGGS: Clarissa, you mentioned people critical of negotiating with the Taliban. One of those people is Donald Trump, who back in 2012, tweeted, critical of Barack Obama, he is negotiating with our sworn enemy the Taliban, who facilitated 9/11. There's a tweet for everything, is there actually a desire from the Taliban to achieve meaningful peace there?

WARD: So, I think definitely what we saw, Dave, when we spent time with the Taliban was, they are showing a more pragmatic side, they are showing a willingness to be conciliatory.

[04:35:04]

And they are sharing an interest in peace, because they're tired of 18 years of war too. They are tired of fighting. They are losing too many men. They are having difficulties keeping control over -- all these different potential offshoots that want to splinter off and even join more Jihadist groups.

But you have to question, what is their goal in the long term? Is it to, you know, come up with some kind of a peace sharing agreement with the Afghan government and live peacefully in the future. Or is this just them being opportunistic? Seizing on a moment that they see, where by U.S. Forces leave, allowing them to try to assert power from the Afghan government.

And that is the fear that a lot of people have. And that is why the devil is going to be in the details of any kind of a peace agreement that happens. It has to be seen to protect the interest of the Afghan people and the Afghan government as well going forward, Dave.

ROMANS: And now, we heard from the Taliban that they are vowing the U.S. will be less safe because we have backed out of these talks, no?

WARD: They said that the U.S. has lost credibility. That they are going to lose more in blood and treasure. But what's really interesting, Christine about the statement that they releases. Much in the same way that we heard Mike Pompeo saying that the door is still open to the talks, the Taliban does not ruled out, talks continuing.

They say, our approach is still the same as it has been for 20 years which is that we should have a dialogue. Now, the question is, how do you get the momentum going on those talks again? They were this close to signing a deal. It's going to be very difficult without a major climb down from the Taliban to have both sides come back to the table, with that sense of momentum, with that sense of energy and get this deal signed off. So, a lot of people are wondering if this peace process has now been derailed for the foreseeable future.

BRIGGS: Yes. Erratic messages on foreign policy. Nothing new here. Clarissa Ward, live for us. Great context. Thank you.

Meanwhile, Congress returns from summer recess today with no shortage of issues on the table. Guns, trade, potential government funding bill, but top of the agenda for many Democrats is actually impeachment, moving their probe forward and broadening its scope. But it's far from clear how far they will get, with the legislative counter running out, it's strong opposition from Nancy Pelosi. Here's Jeremy Herb.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY HERB, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave and Christine. Congress returns to Washington today from a six-week recess, but Democrats preparing to take key steps to formalize their impeachment investigation into Donald Trump. The House Judiciary Committee is expected to vote Wednesday on a resolution that would define the parameters of impeachment investigation and lay the ground rules for inducting potential impeachment hearings.

The details of that resolution are as expected to be unveiled as soon as today. The vote represents an escalation of the committee's impeachment probe. And it comes as the panel broadens out the investigation to go beyond what was in the Mueller report, and examine issues like foreign payments to Trump's business. The president's dangling of pardons and hush payments made during the 2016 campaign.

There are now at least 134 Democrats who publicly support an impeachment inquiry. And more than 35 have come out in favors since Congress left for recess at the end of July. House Judiciary Chairman, Jerry Nadler, has set a goal at the end of the year to decide on whether to introduce articles of impeachment. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is still opposed to moving forward on it. Making the coming weeks a key period for the Judiciary Committee and those advocating for impeachment to convince the public and reluctant lawmakers to joined their efforts. Dave and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Jeremy, thank you so much for that. The air force is ordering a review of all international layovers in the wake of some questionable bookings at the president's Scotland hotel. The review once again raises questions whether the president is benefiting financially from his position. Air force crew members stayed at his Turnberry Resort during refueling stops.

For one stop in March, Air Force officials claim Turnberry was less expensive than a nearby Marriott. The Air Force has said the stopover of planes in Glasgow is not unusual. Just last week, Vice President Mike Pence came under fire for spending

two nights at the president's resort in Ireland, it was 181 miles from where his meetings were in Dublin. Now he said he was staying at his boss' resort that made logical sense. He said he made the decision because he has family ties to that town.

BRIGGS: The hurricane Dorian death toll rising to 45 in the Bahamas. And it is expected to climb much higher. U.S. aid describes the destruction looking like nuclear bombs were dropped. Hundreds remained missing and are likely buried beneath rubble on Grand Bahama and Abaco. Many cars remain submerged one week after the hurricane's arrival. Volunteers are doing what they can distributing food to tens of thousands of Bahamians who are now homeless. Paula Newton with more from Freeport.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Dave. The number is staggering, 70,000 people now left homeless because of hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas. The issue now is how to get the aid that the need to those people.

[04:40:00]

A lot of them are here in Nassau, but even this, even though it is the capital of Bahamas under strain. Not just to get people the immediate needs in terms of food and shelter, but what happens next.

As we discussed before, so many of those islands completely obliterated. Homes, down to their foundation and the issue becomes, kids need to go to school. People need jobs. This is about long-term care. And it is going to take a lot to really get a lot of these people back on their feet.

The other issue here, of course, that we are dealing with is the death toll. We have seen from USA I.D. dozens of search and rescue teams, unfortunately now, it is move to search and recovery. They have canines. They have portable morgues and morticians all at the ready. This is going to be painstaking work.

And the other issue in speaking to a lot of relatives who say that they don't know what has happened to their family members. They've seen them wash away from the storm surge and they fear that their loved ones will never be found. And add to that, the confusion, about exactly who is missing and where they are. The idea that they have to identify all of these victims will be also a very monumental challenge for this country. Christine, Dave?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

British airways cancelling most flights worldwide. We'll tell you why.

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[04:45:00]

ROMANS: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu taking a page out of President Trump's playbook, attacking the media, as fake news, as he campaigns in the face of criminal investigations. Now, journalists breaking news about cases against him have security details. CNN's Orin Liebermann has more from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORESPONDENT: They share style, a billboard and now it seems a campaign strategy.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That is a lie. A fake news back there.

LIEBERMANN: President Donald Trump has made attacking the media an essential theme of his election of his presidency.

TRUMP: You look at the news cast. I call it fake news.

LIEBERMANN: And now his friend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who's is facing a tough reelection bid is doing the same.

Ignoring traditional media outlets, the longest serving leader in Israeli history has gone to Facebook live to rail against what he calls a secret quartet of media owners planning to tilt the result of the upcoming election.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The media court-martials us. They lie, they cheat. They distort on an enormous scale and when we give our reaction, they say, this is terrible. This is awful. This is incitement.

LIEBERMANN: In a week when Hezbollah militants fired anti-tank missiles at Israel, Netanyahu said, it was the media that was planning what he called a terror attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): You're carrying out a terror attack against the truth and against democracy. We will not bow down to your hypocritical double standards. We know it's all a bluff.

LIEBERMANN: Netanyahu and his Likud Party declined to comment to CNN, but political analysts here say they have never seen anything like this.

CHEMI SHALEV, HAARETZ JOURNALIST: In Israel, to call a journalist a terrorist, which is, like, the worst moniker that you can attach to anyone, and to declare that they are trying to undermine democracy is very dangerous. It's a new state.

LIEBERMANN: Channel 12's Guy Pellic now has a security team for his own safety. He says he has received threats but Netanyahu in another echo of Trump's language called them fake security guards.

As Netanyahu faces possible charges of bribery and breach of trust in ongoing corruption investigations, he has accused the media of carrying out a witch hunt in an effort to unseat him. Even though it's an Attorney General he appointed who is in charge of the cases. Netanyahu has insisted he is innocent.

SHALEV: I think, now, he truly believes that he is being persecuted, victimized by a vast left-wing cabal run by the media. And that it's very worrying if he is indeed living in such a delusional state.

LIEBERMANN: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also beginning to warn his voter based of election fraud. He says, one of the Arab parties stole the victory from him last April, when he failed to form a government after the elections and he warns it's happening again. Meanwhile, Netanyahu's rival, former Chief of Staff Benny Gantz says, Netanyahu is just trying to lay the groundwork to reject the results of an election on an important Democratic process he says. Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: Great there Oren, thank you. Breaking overnight, British airways pilots are now on strike over pay. An airline spokesperson saying it was forced to cancel virtually all of its flights because it has no way of knowing which pilots might show up. The airline says it understands the frustration and is extremely sorry that it has come to this. The pilots union claiming that one day on strike will cost British airways about $50 million. This strike will mainly hit British Airways hub at Heathrow, but will also affect global operations.

Ahead, a struggle we've all experienced. How do you get ketchup out of the battle? Bang it? Shake it? Throw it at a wall? I use a knife.

ROMANS: Knife.

BRIGGS: Heinz just finally sharing the answer. Don't throw it at a wall. CNN business is next.

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[04:50:00]

ROMANS: Welcome back. Stop vaping immediately. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggesting people avoid e-cigarettes. The number of cases of severe respiratory illnesses among people who vape more than doubled since last month. There are now 450 cases in 33 states and 5 people have died. They have died in Illinois, Oregon, Indiana, Minnesota and California. Federal and state health officials say, they are working together to figure out which products might have been used.

BRIGGS: Four crew members from a South Korean cargo ship that capsized off the coast of Georgia are still missing this morning.

[04:55:00]

Right now, the 656 foot Golden Ray is on its side off of the coast of St. Simon Island. Authorities first notice the vessel was listing or tilting at 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning. Coast Guard crews and other agencies responded and rescued 20 of the 24 people onboard before a fire force them to suspend the evacuations effort. Officials are working to stabilize the ship.

ROMANS: New York City police say they busted an 82-year-old burglar. According to prosecutors, Samuel Sabatino's spent holiday weekends driving from Florida to Manhattan to go on burglary sprees in upscale high-rise apartments. He allegedly slip past doorman to commit 18 burglaries over the last five years, netting $400,000. Sabatino may be linked to at least a dozen other open cases. He's bail is set at $250,000. He faces up to 15 years in prison.

BRIGGS: An underwater discovery by a 13-year-old helped solved the case of a woman who vanished some 27 years ago. Max Roywarenka was boating on Griffin Lake in British Columbia last month, when spotted a vehicle below the surface. He decided to dive in to get video, but saw something unusual, a woman's body inside, turned out to be Janet Ferris. She went missing in the fall of 1992. Police think she lost control of her car and it rolled into the lake. Her son is grateful for the closure. He says quote, the worst thing was not knowing what happen all this years.

ROMANS: All right. A Florida fourth grader bullied for his homemade t-shirt is getting the last laugh. The boy wanted to represent the University of Tennessee at his elementary school college color's day. But he didn't have any apparel. Right? So, he drew a U.T. logo on a piece of paper and pinned it to an orange t-shirt. Smart idea, but then he was in tears by when some girls made fun of his homemade sign.

His teacher wanted to raise his spirits with an official U.T. shirt, so she posted the boys story online to see if his friends could help. The post went viral and the University sent the boy a care package full of swag. U.T. also turned the boy's design into an official t- shirt logo. A portion of the proceeds from every shirt sold will go to an anti-bullying foundation.

BRIGGS: Bravo U.T.

The New England Patriots dominated in the Pittsburgh Steelers in defense of their Super Bowl title. Prior to the opening kick-off, New England's sixth Super Bowl banner was raised. And owner of the (inaudible), witness it. Patriots also look like they are ready to unveil a seventh banner at this time next year. Tom Brady tore apart the Pittsburgh secondary, 43 years old, he threw for 341 yards and three touchdowns in a 33-3 blowout of Pittsburgh.

ROMANS: All right. Let's go check on CNN Business this morning. Looking at markets around the world opening up this week, you can see, you know, mixed performance in Asian stock markets that are now closed. And European markets have close -- opened rather mixed in the last hour or so.

On Wall Street, the futures up just a little bit. Look two weeks of gains have reversed most of the angst. Investors felt in August, it feels like they don't want to be a lot of stocks for two reasons here. The Feds is going to cut interest rates probably as a buffer to the president's trade war. And there are talks scheduled for October in Washington, trade talks.

After last week's data, there's a feeling that the broader economy is still strong, even though manufacturing is struggling. The S&P 500, just 1.5 percent below record high, you could see records in the stock market again here. The S&P in the last couple of weeks is up 3.5 percent. And look for the year, it is up almost 19 percent. Of course, all of this is treacherous. The mood could change with a tweet or an economic indicator.

Speaking of tweets, the president loves to use the stock market as his personal poll, to attack China and criticized Jerome Powell. Now, JPMorgan has created the volfefe index. A play on his famous covfefe tweet, remember? We didn't understand.

BRIGGS: Oh, yes.

ROMANS: This is an index to track the impact his tweets have on the markets. The Hill, another publications report that of the more than 4,000 non retweets from the president's personal account, when markets were open, from the start of 2018 to now, 146 have moved the market. Report found tweets that include key words, like, China, billions and products, have moved markets. Isn't that amazing? You have to have an index for erratic Twitter behavior, what that means off to the markets.

All right. One of the great world mysteries. What is the best way to get ketchup out of the bottle? What is the best way? Well, Heinz is finally giving us an answer, releasing the pour perfect bottle. The trick, tilt the bottle so the label is straight. This is what Heinz calls the perfect pouring angle. The bottle is only available in Canada right now. I just use a knife.

BRIGGS: I do, too.

ROMANS: I just used a knife.

BRIGGS: I used the knife, but I prefer the plastic bottle that you just squeeze.

All right. Thanks to our international viewers for joining us. Have a great rest of your day. For our U.S. viewers, "Early start" continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POMPEO: If you're going to negotiate peace, you often have to deal with some pretty bad actors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

END