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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

President Trump Kept Translator's Notes From Putin Meeting; Attorney General Nominee William Barr Vows To Keep Hands Off Mueller Probe; Government Shutdown Desperation Continues on Day 25 Of Government Shutdown; Brexit Decision Day. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired January 15, 2019 - 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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[05:30:39] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I never worked for Russia and you know that answer better than anybody. I never worked for Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The president had his say. Today, the nominee for attorney general gets his. William Barr faces Congress after it was revealed he shared criticism of the Mueller probe with the president's lawyers.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Will work for food. Unpaid federal workers with little recourse as the government shutdown enters day 25.

ROMANS: No committee assignments for Steve King in the new Congress. Remarks condoning racism have some prominent Republicans suggesting he leave entirely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Do we give you some little quick salads that the first lady will make along with -- along with the second lady -- they'll make some salads?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: No stinking salads but 1,000 fast food burgers for the college football champs.

Christine Romans likes her salad with a Quarter Pounder with cheese, right? I'm more of a Burger King kind of guy, myself.

ROMANS: I could eat two them actually, but that's another story altogether.

BRIGGS: There was Wendy's there, too. Don't leave Wendy's out.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour this morning.

Let's begin here. Now it is on the record. The President of the United States says he is not a Russian agent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I never worked for Russia and you know that answer better than anybody. I never worked for Russia. Not only did I never work for Russia, I think it's a disgrace that you even asked that question because it's a whole big fat hoax. It's just a hoax.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So now, that's settled. But scrutiny of the president just intensifies. CNN has now confirmed "Washington Post" reporting after a 2017 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Germany, Mr. Trump confiscated his own interpreter's notes and told him not to share anything with anybody.

BRIGGS: This all happened the same day "The New York Times" called the White House to ask about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign officials and Russians. The next day, the president dictated a misleading statement on the Trump Tower meeting, saying it was about adoption -- coincidentally, the same way he described his earlier meeting with Putin.

ROMANS: Meantime, the president's legal team has rejected requests from special counsel Robert Mueller for an in-person interview with the president to ask follow-up questions.

In November, the Trump team provided written answers to a limited number of Mueller's questions, focused only on the period before Mr. Trump took office.

One source now tells us, quote, "Mueller is not satisfied."

BRIGGS: Russia expected to be a hot topic when President Trump's pick for attorney general appears before the Senate today. William Barr will be fielding questions from members of the Judiciary Committee.

On the Democrat side, there will be likely contenders for the White House in 2020 -- Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, California's Kamala Harris, and Cory Booker of New Jersey.

ROMANS: And some new faces on the Republican side. Lindsey Graham becomes chairman. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Joni Ernst of Iowa become the first Republican women to serve on the committee.

Barr has already provided a preview of his testimony, addressing growing concerns he may interfere with the Mueller probe.

Here's CNN's Jessica Schneider.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, a big day on Capitol Hill that will likely be quite contentious as the president's pick for attorney general faces the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Now, we've already gotten a sneak preview of what William Barr will stress and he'll promise two major things. First, that he'll let the Mueller probe move forward and not interfere. And second, that he'll be transparent and allow the public and Congress to see what Mueller uncovers.

Barr will also explain why he wrote that 19-page memo to the Justice Department that many have read as Barr concluding that the president cannot obstruct justice by firing the FBI director. But, Barr will tell senators that he often weighs in on legal issues of public importance and that his ultimate conclusion was not that the president can't obstruct justice.

But the question is, will that explanation be enough Democrats? They are set to drill into Barr about his motivations behind even writing that memo.

Did he draft it to get into the good graces of people surrounding the president, especially because we now know that Barr sent the memo to several of the president's legal team? And, Democrats will also ask will it compromise his oversight of the Mueller probe -- Christine and Dave.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: Jessica, thanks.

Joining us this morning, former federal prosecutor Elie Honig, a CNN legal analyst.

[05:35:02] ROMANS: Nice to see you.

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, FORMER ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, NEW JERSEY DIVISION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Hey.

BRIGGS: A busy day on Capitol Hill. Good to see you.

So, Bill Barr -- this is not his first rodeo. He knows how to do this. He knows how to assure the Senate that he will let Bob Mueller do his job -- allow that report to see light of day.

What is the most important question these Senate Democrats need to press him on?

HONIG: So, the senators on both sides of the aisle, I think, need to focus on obstruction of justice. William Barr's memo attacking Mueller focuses on the exact obstruction of justice theory that Robert Mueller is pursuing.

Barr writes in his memo that it cannot be obstruction of justice for the president to fire -- to have fired James Comey and to have pressured James Comey to drop the Michael Flynn investigation. In the memo, Barr calls these -- this theory fatally misconceived and he calls it asinine. And so, the senators need to press on that.

ROMANS: Yes.

HONIG: Are you saying that the president is free to fire whoever he wants for whatever reason he wants? Are you saying that the president is free to try to stop an investigation if it threatens you?

And, in fact, Barr says that. Barr says the president may shut down an investigation without legal recourse, even if he has his own personal stake in it.

Now, Barr has tried to anticipate this and he said well, my theory of obstruction is a narrow one. Yes, but it's exactly what Mueller is looking at.

ROMANS: Supporters of Barr will say that he has made these sort of private analyses before -- two different administrations where he's offered his expertise, unsolicited, on such important issues.

But, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia -- this is what -- he's on the Intelligence Committee -- the Senate Intelligence Committee. This is what he says.

"Our country deserves better than an attorney general who auditioned for the job by attacking that investigation. Under our constitutional system, no one is above the law, not even the president. We need an attorney general willing to vigorously defend his -- this principle."

HONIG: Yes. The audition, I think, is the big concern. Why did he write this memo? It's a 19-20-page single-spaced memo. It must have taken dozens if not 100 hours.

ROMANS: And shared it with Trump lawyers.

HONIG: Yes, and he -- and he vetted it through the Trump lawyers in advance. And he did this when he was a private person at a law firm. He did it on his own, uninvited. So, why?

It's a strange exercise if you read it and he's pretty aggressive in his attacks on Mueller. And he shouldn't be allowed to run away from his own words now.

And I hope that the senators -- again, Republicans and Democrats alike don't accept these sort of coached-up, lawyered-up dodges that we see so often in confirmation hearings. Put his own words in front of him from that memo and say do you still stand by what you said here?

BRIGGS: But not only do they have the numbers, they have Matthew Whitaker. And that's why Senate Democrats ultimately have to confirm Bill Barr, don't they? The last thing they want is Matthew Whitaker --

HONIG: Yes.

BRIGGS: -- overseeing this Russia probe at a time the Mueller probe is made public. HONIG: I agree William Barr is more qualified than Matthew Whitaker and has fewer problems with his impartiality. I guess the question then -- the political question is are you satisfied with someone who's better or do you want someone who's sort of ideal? Is better good enough or are we going to hold out? From the Democrats' point of view, are we going to hold out for someone who is perfect?

Look, this is the way politics works. It's a Republican president. He gets -- he gets to nominate a Republican.

William Barr certainly is an established Republican candidate. He was the attorney general.

BRIGGS: Sure, has the resume, has the credentials.

HONIG: Yes. But that memo raises a lot of concerns -- the audition concerns that Sen. Warner raised.

ROMANS: Let's talk about House Democrats for a minute because you're starting to hear people talk about maybe subpoenaing the notes from this interpreter who was in this one-on-one meeting with the president and Vladimir Putin.

There were five face-to-face meetings with Putin and the president, one of them at least two hours long, right, and we don't know what was said or what happened. And the secrecy around the president actually taking the notes from his interpreter and saying don't ever tell anybody what happened in here and taking the notes from him.

This is what Congressman Jim Himes said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM HIMES (D), CONNECTICUT: And I know how this plays out. We can subpoena that interpreter but the White House is going to claim executive privilege. That's what they did with pretty much all of the White House witnesses that we called into our investigation.

So now, we're in a world of litigation and contempt proceedings, and working on what exactly executive privilege comprises and it's going to be a while.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The president could just clear it up, of course, and release those notes and say exactly what happened behind closed doors.

But do you think that there's a legal standing at all to try to get those notes?

HONIG: Yes, it's an interesting legal question as the representative pointed out. If there's a subpoena served then, very likely, Trump's team will assert executive privilege. And now, we're into sort of unknown legal territory.

Here's my read on it. On the one hand, executive privilege is designed to protect communications between the president and his own top advisers -- his lawyers, his attorney general, his cabinet members, his chief of staff. And to argue that now we should extend that to foreign heads of state -- potentially, of adversary states -- that is a serious extension of executive privilege and I think is -- seems unlikely.

On the other hand, this is sort of conversely. The Richard Nixon decision from 1974 is the -- really, the leading decision we have on executive privilege. And the court there says it's designed to protect military, diplomatic, and national security secrets.

And so, sort of unusually, I guess, President Trump might say look at the Nixon decision. Yes, President Nixon exerted executive privilege and lost, but the reasoning there is in my favor.

[05:40:09] And the real -- the policy reasoning is you can't expect to have meetings with foreign heads of state if they believe that your interpreter is then going to be subpoenaed and have to testify publicly about everything that was said. There has to be some privacy. So it will be an interesting legal and policy back-and- forth.

BRIGGS: Well, yes, because Democrats even wanting him to claim executive privilege gives them a talking point as we go --

ROMANS: Right.

BRIGGS: -- into 2020, right?

ROMANS: That becomes part of the game.

BRIGGS: What are you hiding?

HONIG: Sure.

BRIGGS: So you've got to view this all in terms of 2020 and what's coming down the road, right?

HONIG: It's the legal and the political --

BRIGGS: Yes.

HONIG: -- all mixing together, of course.

ROMANS: Elie Honig, nice to see you. Thank you.

HONIG: Thank you.

BRIGGS: All right. Desperate times for some of the 800,000 federal workers going without paychecks as we now hit day 25 of this partial government shutdown -- the longest in our history.

Tampa International Airport teaming up with local charities to set up a food bank for struggling government employees. And a South Florida restaurant, Chef Creole, giving free meals to TSA workers at Miami International Airport. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILKINSON SEJOUR, OWNER, CHEF CREOLE, MIAMI, FLORIDA: These people are here every day. It's not like they don't want to work. They want to work but they're not getting paid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Can you imagine the biggest economy in the world -- its government workers are not being paid and are getting free meals at the airport -- unbelievable. Just think about that for a minute.

Air travelers are experiencing long lines at airports nationwide. In Atlanta, officials at Hartsfield-Jackson say passengers, if you're going through Hartsfield-Jackson, you need to arrive three hours before your flight to get through security.

Overnight, Southwest Airlines announced a planned expansion to Hawaii is on hold. The shutdown preventing full certification on those new routes from the FAA.

And a report from Syracuse University estimates more than 42,000 immigration hearings have been canceled due to the shutdown.

BRIGGS: Efforts to end the border wall funding impasse are going nowhere. President Trump telling aides and allies he believes he's winning the battle for public support despite polling that suggests otherwise. A source familiar with the president's thinking tells CNN he's not going to budge even one inch.

ROMANS: A bipartisan group of at least 12 senators met at the Capitol Monday to find a way forward. A source telling CNN it was, quote, "rough going."

BRIGGS: House Republicans will deny Iowa Congressman Steve King committee assignments after he made remarks defending racism. King staying completely silent as he left his office after the announcement by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

He says McCarthy made a political decision that ignores the truth. He says his quotes were mischaracterized. Judge for yourself.

He told "The New York Times," "White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization -- how did that language become offensive?"

ROMANS: Earlier Monday, a pair of the Senate's most high-profile Republicans sharply condemned King. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said this. "If King doesn't understand why white supremacy is offensive, he should find another line of work. And, Utah's new Sen. Mitt Romney tells CNN King should step aside.

BRIGGS: The White House will vote as early as today on a resolution to disapprove -- the House, excuse me -- of King. That's not as severe as a censure. The disapproval resolution being proposed by South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn. He's the highest-ranking African-American in Congress. ROMANS: All right. The national champion Clemson Tigers had it their way during a visit to the White House. President Trump played host to the college football champs Monday.

Now, with the government shut down there was no catering, right? So the president, himself, picked up the tab for this glamorous meal. What do you think they got?

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TRUMP: So, I had a choice. Do we have no food for you because we have a shutdown or do we give you some little quick salads that the first lady will make, along with -- along with the second lady? They'll make some salads. And I said you guys aren't into salads.

Or do I go out -- Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, do I go out and send out for about 1,000 hamburgers-- Big Macs? So, we actually bought 1,000. We have Big Macs, we have Quarter Pounders with cheese. We have everything that I like -- that you like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Do you think their trainers freaked out? No, I'm just kidding.

Needless to say, the hungry Tigers had no complaints about the shutdown smorgasbord of fast food that included piles of pizza and fries to go along with more than 300 burgers.

I mean, I guess the season's over, right, so they can splurge?

BRIGGS: The season's over and this team is loaded for next season. They are going to be just fine.

Elie Honig, if you get the choice between Wendy's, Burger King, McDonald's, what's your national champion of fast-food burgers?

HONIG: I'm a traditionalist -- McDonald's.

BRIGGS: Oh.

HONIG: Everything else is really just an imitator, let's be honest.

BRIGGS: Wow.

HONIG: Yes.

BRIGGS: Wendy's, man, all the way.

ROMANS: I'm with you, man -- Quarter Pounder with cheese -- maybe two.

BRIGGS: Really?

ROMANS: All right, 44 minutes past the hour.

BRIGGS: We disagree here, folks.

ROMANS: There are big ramifications for today's Brexit vote by British lawmakers. How will the U.K. exit the E.U. and will Theresa May keep her job? We're going to go live to 10 Downing.

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[05:48:58] BRIGGS: British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal widely expected to be rejected today by lawmakers in the House of Commons and most political observers in the U.K. believe she'll lose the vote by a potentially historic margin.

Let's go live to 10 Downing Street and being in Hadas Gold. Good morning, Hadas.

At some point --

HADAS GOLD, CNN REPORTER: Good morning.

BRIGGS: -- does a new Brexit referendum become a consideration?

GOLD: Well, that's one of the possibilities of after what will likely be a defeat for Theresa May's plan on how they will exit the European Union. Tonight, that vote is taking place.

Right behind me, the cabinet has been meeting for just over an hour and they're likely discussing what will be the next steps. The margin of defeat tonight is sort of what will help determine what the next direction will be.

Whether Theresa May will just try to go back to Brussels and get a few different concessions or whether there will be a completely new plan, including possibly, either a second referendum or another vote on whether the public agrees with Theresa May's deal or no deal at all.

But it's not just a political crisis here. It's not just all of us political nerds who care about this.

[05:50:00] This is having real-world impact on businesses and everyday people because businesses can't plan for beyond March because they don't know what's going to happen after that deadline of March 29th when U.K. is supposed to exit the European Union. They don't know whether there's going to be a deal or no deal.

Businesses, including grocery stores, have started to actually stockpile food because they're worried about what the borders could mean and whether food would be held up.

This is obviously a huge implication and that's why so many people are going to be watching tonight's vote so closely, Dave.

BRIGGS: Yes, 73 days and a Brexit with no deal, and we're 25 days into a government shutdown.

Hadas Gold live in London this morning -- thanks.

ROMANS: Yes, and that Brexit chaos in the front of minds for investors around the world, as is --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- slowing global growth. Those are the two global headlines the past couple of days.

Right now, global stock markets are higher. In Asia, you had gains -- you know, one or two percent gains across the board -- and then London opened up just a little bit. But that -- I mean, you look at European markets -- I would call that barely higher.

And on Wall Street, futures are up a little bit. It's a bounce after stocks suffered their first back-to-back declines of the year.

The Dow lost 86 points. Investors fretting about slowing global growth. The Dow had been down as many as 231 points earlier on concerns about China's biggest drop in exports in two years.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also closing down a little bit to start the week.

All right, more competition for Netflix. NBCUniversal is going to launch its own streaming service in 2020. In this press release, NBCUniversal's CEO said this. "People are watching premium content more than ever, but they want more flexibility and value."

Now, they haven't named this thing yet but it's going to host a variety of programming from NBCUniversal's content lottery -- library, rather. Think "Jurassic World" -- that entire franchise. "THE OFFICE" -- hit T.V. shows like that.

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Gillette T.V. advertisement.

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ROMANS: A surprise, right? Gillette's newest ad --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- is not about shaving or beards or personal hygiene. The "We Believe" ad, posted to its social media account over the weekend, addresses serious issues like toxic masculinity, sexual harassment, the #MeToo movement.

Gillette plays on its famous tagline and asks, "Is this the best a man can get?" It tweeted Friday, "Isn't it time we stopped excusing bad behavior?"

Gillette has more videos lined up as part of the larger branding effort, which includes donating a million bucks a year for the next three years to organizations like the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

I mean, it's not about shaving. It's so interesting to me. I think -- BRIGGS: It's not about men, either. Seventy to eighty percent of consumer purchases are driven by --

ROMANS: Women.

BRIGGS: -- women. That's who that ad is aimed at.

ROMANS: And they get a lot of competition from small upstarts online.

BRIGGS: Upstarts online, yes.

ROMANS: Right.

BRIGGS: All right, we'll be right back.

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[05:57:04] BRIGGS: Jayme Closs describing the night her parents were murdered and the terrifying 88 days in captivity that followed. Her personal account appearing in a complaint against her kidnapper, Jake Patterson.

Closs says she woke up to the sound of her dog barking. Her father went to investigate. Jayme tells police she heard him get shot.

ROMANS: Her mother called 911 and hid with Jayme in the bathroom. Jayme says Patterson broke down the bathroom door where the two were huddled in a bear hug and ordered the mother to hang up. He ordered Mrs. Closs, then, to tape Jayme's mouth, then he shot Mrs. Closs right in front of Jayme.

Patterson put Jayme in the trunk of his car. She says she heard police sirens as they were driving away.

Last Thursday, she managed to escape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN WRIGHT, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, BARRON COUNTY, WISCONSIN: Jayme deserves enormous credit as a 13-year-old and she has such bravery to have done what she had done. But there were many, many others as well that had all those pieces had not fallen into place on that particular afternoon, the outcome could have been very different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: According to police, Patterson claims he drove to Jayme's home twice intending to kidnap her before going through with it. Patterson is being held on $5 million bond.

ROMANS: He even noticed her getting on a school bus.

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: Didn't even know her name --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- and decided he was going to take that girl.

All right, this is Naperville, Illinois. A dramatic rescue -- a suburb of Chicago. An 11-year-old boy fell through the ice Sunday. He said his feet were stuck in the mud on the bottom of the pond. A dive team member plunged into the ice-covered pond, pulling the boy to safety.

He is expected to be OK but his parents are furious with him, I'm sure.

BRIGGS: The new record-holder for most likes on Instagram is no yolk, a brown egg. The only Instagram post by an anonymous user has about -- well, 39 million-plus likes.

That beats, by far, the second-most-liked post on Instagram -- last year's announcement by Kylie Jenner of the birth of her daughter, Stormi. That got 18 million likes. Jenner responded to the egg post by cracking an egg on the ground.

You know that scene in "Big" when Tom Hanks raises his hand in the meeting and just says, "I don't get it?"

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: I don't get this.

ROMANS: I don't get it.

BRIGGS: How did it happen? How did anyone even know this post existed?

ROMANS: I think we're 20 years too late, do you think? I don't know.

BRIGGS: Oh, man, I don't get Instagram. Now I realize why I'm so bad at it.

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

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

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TRUMP: I never worked for Russia. It's a whole big fat hoax.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russia could not have asked for a friendlier United States president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No way, no interview?

RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They're a joke. Over my dead body.

REP. DANNY HECK (D), WASHINGTON: I am beginning to feel as though I am on the set of the "Manchurian Candidate." UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Make no mistake, this shutdown is caused by President Trump.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: So here we are because the Speaker of the House has decided that enforcing our own laws is now immoral.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's no longer a political issue now. It's a human issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers --