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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

White House Budget Director Nomination Hanging By A Slim Thread; Testimony Preview: Police Told Extremists Would Join Riot; Battle Over Biden's Proposal To Raise The Minimum Wage. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 25, 2021 - 05:30   ET

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


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[05:31:38]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, good Thursday morning, everyone. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Laura Jarrett. Thirty-one minutes past the hour here in New York.

Well, just how long and how hard is the White House willing to fight with Republicans and some Democrats for a cabinet nominee whose chances are fading fast?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: There's one nominee to lead the budget department -- her name is Neera Tanden -- and that's who we're continuing to fight for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Tanden's nomination on the brink of collapse, in limbo, that senators say is because of some mean tweets that she wrote when she was head of a progressive organization.

ROMANS: Still, the administration pinning its last hope on Sen. Lisa Murkowski. But overnight, she voiced her own concerns saying "It seems that in this world we've kind of gotten numb to derogatory tweets. I don't think that that's a model that we want to set for anybody, whether it's a nominee, whether it's a president, or whether it's a senator. So I'd like us all to cool that."

CNN's Daniella Diaz live for us on Capitol Hill this morning. And first, a lot of people are making the point that these tweets were sent in an era when the leader of the Republican Party said far worse, and so did many of his lieutenants.

But really, Daniella, this isn't just about Republican obstruction or tweets. This is also about the outsized role the centrists will play in Biden's own party. The White House has basically no room for error here but doesn't want to look like it's handcuffed by a small group of Democratic lawmakers, does it?

DANIELLA DIAZ, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: That's exactly right. The Biden White House has their backs against the wall on this nomination for Neera Tanden to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

And there's two senators that we're keeping an eye on because one senator, Joe Manchin, a West Virginia senator -- he's a moderate -- has already said he won't for Tanden to be the leader of the OMB. And another senator, we don't even know where she stands on this issue and she's also a moderate, Krysten Sinema of Arizona, who has been very quiet on this issue. And the White House needs her vote to try to confirm Neera Tanden in this role.

But this points to a larger issue in the White House. Their issue isn't even trying to get Republicans to sign on to their proposal, it's their own Democrats. They need every single Democrat to support what they want to push through Congress.

And we -- CNN has learned that the White House is in constant communication with Sinema on where she lands on these issues and has regular phone calls with Manchin. So they're two very powerful moderate Democratic senators that have a relationship with the White House on these issues.

But, Biden has said that he plans to still stand behind Tanden. The White House has no plans to, you know, choose someone else for this role. So we'll be keeping an eye out how the White House plans to proceed on this when they, right now, do not have the votes to confirm her to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

ROMANS: All right, Daniella Diaz. Thank you so much. Bright and early this morning, you're one of our EARLY START early birds. We're so glad to have you here. Thank you.

In just a few hours, the House holds its first hearing into the deadly Capitol insurrection.

At the Senate hearing, the former chief of the Capitol Police said he did not see an FBI memo sent one day before the riot. That memo explicitly warning about potential violence. It said protesters were preparing for war.

But a preview of today's testimony shows officials had at least some sense of what was coming. The acting chief of Capitol Police will testify they did make security changes to protect high-ranking members of Congress, including adding protection at leaders' homes and planning evacuation vehicles.

[05:35:04]

JARRETT: Still, there's a lingering anxiety on Capitol Hill right now. Senators left a security briefing yesterday frustrated by the vagueness of the threats and the limited details about how much longer those stepped-up security measures will need to stay in place.

CNN's Ryan Nobles is on Capitol Hill for us. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Laura and Christine, another day of what is expected to be very revealing testimony from those looking into what happened on January sixth in the Capitol insurrection.

House Appropriations Committee members expecting to hear from two key players -- the acting chief of police, Yogananda Pittman, and the acting sergeant at arms, Timothy Blodgett. And they've already released their opening states and it's already pretty revealing.

First, in Pittman's testimony, she says that there was intelligence that was given to them prior to the January sixth attacks but that security officials didn't do enough to act upon it. And had they known that the insurrection and the threat level would rise to the scope and breadth that it did on that day that perhaps they wouldn't have allowed the vice president, Mike Pence, to be on the Capitol campus to certify the Electoral College vote.

And then in Timothy Blodgett's testimony, he's expected to say that some of the intelligence they got in was contradictory. He points specifically to a briefing that was put out by Capitol Police on January third that in one part of the testimony it talks about how there could be the possibility of violence as a result of the planned protests on that day.

But then just a couple of pages later in that same briefing, it essentially says that they didn't expect it to be anything more than the Million MAGA marches that had already taken place in Washington prior to January sixth that didn't really amount to much more than just a peaceful protect.

So these are the opening statements from both Pittman and Blodgett. We -- in addition to what they had to say in these opening statements, we do also expect them to be pressed by House leaders about what they knew leading up to it and then potentially, what needs to be done in the aftermath.

So another very busy and what could be a very revealing day here on Capitol Hill -- Laura and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, absolutely. Ryan Nobles, thanks for that on Capitol Hill.

A CNN investigation has found a close friend and ally of Georgia congresswoman and conspiracy peddler Marjorie Taylor Greene was part of the mob.

Anthony Aguero is a conservative live-streamer and activist. Now, he has admitted on video that he was in the group that breached the Capitol. Now, this congresswoman has called Aguero one of her closest friends. They've worked side-by-side on causes like immigration. They've attended pro-Trump rallies together. And, Marjorie Taylor Greene is one of those people, Laura, who has

suggested that they were Antifa or false flag activists.

JARRETT: And he said they weren't.

ROMANS: And he said he was there. So one of her closest friends there -- clearly, not an Antifa activist.

JARRETT: Yes.

Well, the biggest sticking point to passing President Biden's rescue plan, the minimum wage. Because of the pandemic, many small businesses -- well, the owners say now is not the time to raise it to $15.00 an hour. But some cities -- well, they've already done it.

Vanessa Yurkevich takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NISHAD SAYEM, EMPLOYEE, WELL-PAID MAIDS: Oh, I used to work two jobs a day. I had to support my family.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Nishad Sayem used to make $10.00 an hour working from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. to scrape by. Now he makes $18.00 an hour cleaning homes. That allows him to not only cover his bills but take time to care for his disabled father.

SAYEM: I work only 35 to 40 hours a week and I'm making more than two jobs. And now I can give some time to my family. I can help my dad when he wakes up.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 for over a decade, but 29 states and Washington, D.C. pay more than that. D.C., where Sayem works, is the highest at $15.00 -- the same city where Congress is currently debating raising the federal wage to that same level.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No one should work 40 hours a week and live in poverty.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): President Biden wants that sweeping move to be part of his COVID-19 relief plan.

DELVONE MICHAEL, ACTIVIST, FIGHT FOR 15: We did it here in D.C. We were like the first major jurisdiction to get it done. Federally is the way to go about it to do it the quickest to the most people.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): A $15.00 minimum wage by 2025 would lift nearly one million people out of poverty but could also cost 1.4 million jobs, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

ANGELA FRANCO, INTERIM PRESIDENT AND CEO, D.C. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: Small businesses, and especially the ones that have the hourly rate, sometimes they handle, like, lower margin. And at the end, they have to transfer that cost. So they have either to cut hours, right, or cut employees, or increase prices.

[05:40:00]

YURKEVICH (voice-over): But some small businesses, like Little Sesame in D.C., have made the math work. The restaurant paid employees $13.25 an hour when it opened in 2018 but quickly pivoted to the new $15.00 minimum when it took effect this past summer.

NICK WISEMAN, CO-FOUNDER, LITTLE SESAME: We knew that this $15.00 mark was coming and we made sure that the models supported that. That that was an integral part of our business. It was -- you know, it was the right thing to do and it was a good thing for us as a business.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): But during the pandemic, more than 400,000 small businesses had closed by September. At the same time, support for workers has grown. Sixty-seven percent of Americans back raising the minimum wage.

MICHAEL: Just under a year ago, we decided these people to be essential. And I think the right thing to do is to pay them $15.00 an hour -- a living wage.

SAYEM: Aisha (ph), come here.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): A living wage means a world of difference for Sayem. He's saving money for the first time. He has plans to go back to school for a career in I.T. and for a reunion from Bangladesh a year in the making.

SAYEM: I'm saving because of our future and I just got married one year ago. So --

YURKEVICH (on camera): Congratulations.

SAYEM: Thank you. And my wife is coming soon. Hopefully, by 2022 she will be here.

YURKEVICH (voice-over): Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Forty-one minutes past the hour.

Lawyers are still trying to locate the parents of 506 children separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border by the Trump administration. A new court filing shows that number is down from 611 a month ago.

The Biden administration is now responsible for reuniting families split apart by former President Trump's zero-tolerance policy. It's believed some of the missing parents have been deported and some are still, though, in the U.S.

JARRETT: Also on immigration, President Biden revoking a Trump-era executive order that banned some immigrant visas during the pandemic. Now, the move opens up legal avenues to migrate to the U.S. that the former president had closed off, saying it was in the best interest of the economy.

Alex Garcia is a Honduran native living here who has been in a Missouri church for nearly four years. He finally walked out to live with his family Wednesday afternoon. Garcia fled violence and poverty in Honduras more than 15 years ago. He is no longer considered a priority for deportation after the Biden administration announced new immigration enforcement priorities.

We'll be right back.

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[05:46:47]

ROMANS: Michigan is joining a growing list of states with big school reopenings next week. Ninety-seven percent of school districts will have an in-person learning option by March first. That follows similar announcements from West Virginia and Kentucky. Now, the big question is whether teachers should be vaccinated as a prerequisite.

CNN covering this pandemic from coast-to-coast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (on camera): I'm Bianna Golodryga in New York.

While Americans are increasingly concerned about the long-term consequences from nearly a year of virtual learning, a recent survey from the Pew Research Center suggests that 59 percent support vaccinating teachers before reopening schools that currently remain closed. The views vary based on race and party affiliation. An overwhelming majority of Black, Hispanic, and Asian adults say schools should wait to reopen compared to 51 percent of white adults.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Kristen Holmes in Washington, D.C. with some encouraging news out of Virginia. Gov. Northam says the state will be easing some of its coronavirus restrictions because, quote, "cases are falling and vaccinations are rising."

Now, one of those restrictions, a statewide curfew. According to the governor, the cases are the lowest they've been since Thanksgiving. And roughly, 13.5 percent of the state's population has at least begun the vaccination process.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Miguel Marquez in Houston, Texas where the state has opened up yet another vaccination site, and this one is big -- NRG Park, where the Houston Texans play. They'll be able to get about 126,000 shots into arms in this one location. They'll do 6,000 a day, seven days a week until they are through them all.

There are four different priority levels from 60 on up, if you live in a certain zip code -- a high-risk zip code -- or if you have preexisting conditions. ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Rosa Flores in

Manatee County, Florida where the sheriff's office says it's investigating whether County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh broke the law when she organized a COVID-19 vaccination site that allowed people from two affluent zip codes to get the shot. Then she created a shortlist that included herself.

This, after an area government watchdog filed a complaint with the sheriff's office claiming that Baugh misused her public position.

I requested an interview with Baugh regarding the sheriff's investigation and have not heard back.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Alexandra Field in New York City where two new mass vaccination sites have opened. They are the largest in the state, opening in Queens and here in Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn.

Governor Andrew Cuomo says these sites are designed to create equitable distribution of the vaccine. That means that for now, only people who live in certain zip codes can turn up at this site with an appointment. The governor says this is all about getting vaccines to people who need them the most -- people who live in communities that have been underserved or unduly affected by COVID.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: All right, thanks to our correspondents for those updates.

Sources say just days before that dramatic engine failure on a United Airlines flight, the FAA was already discussing more frequent inspections of that same type of engine. The review was prompted after a December failure of another flight in Japan.

[05:50:00]

Manufacturer Pratt & Whitney is now recommending more frequent inspections. The FAA says seven versions of Pratt & Whitney 4000 engines must be inspected before flying again.

ROMANS: South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg under growing pressure to resign. He was charged last week for the car accident that killed 55-year-old Joseph Boever in September. New evidence revealed this week includes Boever's glasses being found in Ravnsborg's car. It means the impact had such force the victim's face came through the A.G.'s windshield.

Ravnsborg initially told police he hit a deer.

JARRETT: A bill that would make it harder to vote in Iowa is now headed to the Republican governor's desk. It would shorten the early voting period from 29 days to 20 days before an election. It would also close polling places an hour earlier on Election Day.

And meantime in Arizona, lawmakers are debating new bills that would allow them to review election results, quote, "if needed" and give them the power to pick the state's presidential electors. Big change there.

There are at least 250 restrictive voting bills being considered across 33 states right now.

Well, a police officer in Lexington, Kentucky fired after giving sensitive law enforcement tactics and deployment plans to an organizer of last summer's Brianna Taylor protest. Text conversations between Officer Jervis Middleton there and the organizer, a personal friend, were discovered after she was arrested and the phone was searched.

Middleton told investigators he was only venting but did want to bring light to some of the issues that he had dealt with personally as a Black police officer.

The Lexington Police Department declined to comment on this.

ROMANS: All right.

Looking at markets around the world this Thursday morning, Asian shares closed for the day and closed higher. You can see Hong Kong up 1.2 percent; Tokyo up even better. European shares have opened to the upside as well.

But a mixed performance, so far, on Wall Street. I mean, anything can go here this morning. A record high for the Dow Wednesday.

The Fed chief Jerome Powell calmed inflation fears and said the economy needs more help to recover.

The Dow up 424 points, the best gain in three weeks.

There's that split-screen again, folks, between the American economy here. Stellar gains over the past year while the job market suffers. We're still down 10 million jobs in the pandemic. Later this morning, another 800,000 first-time jobless claims are forecast.

One pandemic winner, the housing market, undeniably red hot. Mortgage rates are super low and millions of families are looking for more space and new homes during the work-from-home era. Growing concerns though it might not last forever. Three things to watch.

First, mortgage rates are starting to tick up a bit. More expensive borrowing can discourage buyers. And while mortgage delinquencies have dropped below six percent for the first time since last March, some 2.1 million homeowners are 90 days or more past due. That is five times pre-pandemic levels.

And this from the companies feeding the housing boom. Home Depot did not give any guidance on profit for 2021 when it reported earnings Tuesday. A lack of guidance signals uncertainty.

A GameStop deja vu. GameStop stock climbed nearly 104 percent Wednesday after it announced its CFO will resign in a month after that trading frenzy fueled by an army of digital traders on Reddit. GameStop's boardroom shuffle could fuel investors looking to focus on online sales instead of relying on physical stores. JARRETT: Calvin Tyler had to drop out of Morgan State College because he could no longer afford it. Forty years later -- well, he just committed $20 million to a scholarship fund. It's the largest-ever private donation from an alum to a historically black college.

When Tyler left school he took a job as a UPS driver where he worked his way up the corporate ladder and retired in 1998.

Tyler and his wife already donated $5 million in 2016, which has helped more than 200 students.

ROMANS: All right.

A bakery in Austin, Texas offering free meals to anyone in need after those devastating winter storms left so many people in the dark. Crema Bakery was already going above and beyond during the pandemic. Now the owners have spent thousands of dollars to feed their community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSICA TOMBERLIN, OWNER, CREMA BAKERY, AUSTIN, TEXAS: Grocery stores have been out of all of the stapes, lines are really long. We've got a lot of families, a lot of elderly people in our community who just needed a way to be able to get food.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: You know, Texans also getting help from as far away as New Jersey. Andrew Mitchell, a plumber, made the 22-hour drive with his family to help people with burst pipes and other damage.

JARRETT: Look at all those pipes in the back of his pickup truck.

ROMANS: I just --

JARRETT: I love it.

ROMANS: When people help people -- man, that is what this country is about, right? Not tearing down, building up.

JARRETT: Well, and coming together in just a disaster.

ROMANS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

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[05:59:32]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): I've been clear about my views about President Trump. I don't think that he should be playing a role in the future of the party.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cheney had the courage to speak out and McCarthy is too afraid to acknowledge it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a healthy amount of fear, not just of the politics of crossing him but of the ramifications of crossing him, such as the loss of fundraising.

NOBLES: Another busy day on Capitol Hill as those looking into what went wrong on January sixth will be testifying in front of the House Appropriations Committee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to hold those accountable who were responsible for January sixth and the big lie that preceded it for the better part of a year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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