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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Central U.S. Slammed by Tornadoes and Torrential Rain; Beto O'Rourke Trailing Badly in Polls; Pelosi Meeting with Dems Amid Growing Impeachment Calls; Rough First Quarter for Department Stores; Chicago Hospital Under Investigation; Raptors Even Series with Blowout Win Over Bucks. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired May 22, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Spotted clinging to a tree as floodwaters rushed around her. After one rescuer reaches her, two others pulled her to safety. Neighbors also helping each other out including this woman confined to a wheelchair.
This house in Edmond, Oklahoma surrounded by massive floodwaters, and a car here trapped. Raging floods closing parts of Interstate 40 just west of Oklahoma City. That includes El Reno where water stretched as far as the eye can see.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Major erosion on the Cimarron River from heavy rains in Kingfisher County. Eleven injuries were reported in Oklahoma. There were at least 30 reports of tornadoes in the Central U.S., 130 in the last five days.
Most of the twisters touching down in Kansas and Missouri. And look at this, this is Nebraska. A state trooper tweeted this photo, he said, the tornado stayed in the field, likely didn't cause much damage, but what an image.
The Central U.S., it's not out of the woods either. Two storms are converging, expected to deliver a dangerous end of the week.
BRIGGS: The Central U.S. also the center of the political universe last night. Beto O'Rourke trying to jumpstart his presidential campaign in the CNN town hall last night. He says he's seeking a national audience for his ideas even though the earlier stages of his campaign featured a more personal touch. With O'Rourke holding up to six town halls a day in early voting states. The former Texas congressman lives near the U.S.-Mexico border and does not approve of President Trump's immigration policies, including the move to cut $500 million, an aid to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras for many asylum seekers who are fleeing violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETO O'ROURKE, (D-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He wants to cut that. I would double it, and I would focus it on violence prevention so that no mother has to make the God-awful decision of sending her child on that 2,000-mile trek because it is the only choice that she has now. Let's invest in those solutions there so that families can stay there, they can be prosperous there, they can help those countries come together, and make sure that we have partners in the Western Hemisphere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: According to a new Quinnipiac Poll, O'Rourke has a lot of ground to make up. Joe Biden is the leading choice of Democratic voters by more than two to one over Bernie Sanders. And while Elizabeth Warren is trending up, Pete Buttigieg is leaving off and O'Rourke is actually trending down.
And look at this, the majority of voters who are not paying a lot of attention for the presidential campaign, they back Sanders. While voters who are paying a lot of attention favor Biden. And a reminder, it is months to go until the first votes are actually cast. These early polls are early.
All right. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is huddling with fellow Democrats this morning. A growing number of her members clamoring to initiate impeachment proceedings against the president. The number of Democrats calling for impeachment or at least an inquiry growing significantly. Our count at CNN shows 18, the Washington Post says as many as 25. Pelosi, holding her ground for now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Madam Speaker, are you under increased pressure to impeach the president from your caucus?
NANCY PELOSI, HOUSE SPEAKER: No. No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Pelosi insists she wants to pursue a more methodical approach, and allow the committees and the courts to do their work. But on a sign Speaker Pelosi senses her members getting restless, the New York Times reports she has approved an escalation of tactics but still short of impeachment. Some members are clearly getting antsy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you think it's time to move forward than impeachment inquiry?
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, (D-NY): I do. I personally do. We can't be scared of elections. We need to uphold the rule of law.
RAJU: Are you there, yet?
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D-MD): I'm getting there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Even if Democrats do pass an impeachment resolution, the Republican-led Senate is all but guaranteed to reject it. President Trump's tax returns must be turned over to Congress unless he invokes executive privilege. That's according to a draft of a confidential IRS memo from last fall obtained by the Washington Post. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin defied a subpoena for the returns last Friday claiming he is not authorized to fulfill a request that lacks a legitimate legislative purpose. But according to the IRS memo, he has to regardless of the reason for the request. President Trump still refusing to release his returns claiming he's under audit. That has not stopped past presidents though from releasing their taxes.
ROMANS: And unexpected visitor on Capitol Hill Tuesday, the former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meeting with top Democrat and Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Sources tell CNN the interview focused on the Trump administration's dealings with Russia and Jared Kushner's role in foreign policy. The tension between Tillerson and Kushner who effectively run a shadow State Department on Middle East issues was well documented. Tillerson was fired in March 2018, and in a later interview called President Trump undisciplined.
BRIGGS: The internet and more than a few Democrats losing their cookies over Ben Carson. The secretary of Housing and Urban Development was testifying on Capitol Hill, Tuesday when he was asked a question that involved a common real estate term.
[05:05:04] Carson's testimony just went from bad to worse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KATIE PORTER (D-CA): Explain the disparity in REO rates. Do you know what an REO is?
BEN CARSON, DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT SECRETARY: An Oreo?
PORTER: R -- no, not an Oreo. An R-E-O, R-E-O.
CARSON: Real Estate?
PORTER: What's the O stand for?
CARSON: Organization.
PORTER: Owned, Real Estate Owned, that's what happens when a property goes to foreclosure, we called it an R-E-O. I'd like to know why we're having more foreclosures that end in people losing their homes, with stains to their credit, and disruption to their communities and their neighborhoods at FHA than we are at the GSEs.
CARSON: I would be extremely happy if you'd like to have you work with the people who do that.
PORTER: Well, Mr. Carson, respectfully, that was my day job before I came to Congress. So now, it's my job to ask you to work with the people. CARSON: Sorry, I'm talking about the people at HUD who do that --
PORTER: I spent a decade working with the people at HUD on this problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Some may have been embarrassed by that but not Ben Carson. He fired up his Twitter account after the hearing and well, had some fun with it. Tweeting a photo of himself holding a box of Oreos saying, oh, REO. He even offered to send some cookies to Katie Porter, the congresswoman there who was questioning him.
ROMANS: All right, it was a brutal start to the year for Americans department stores and the trade war with China is not helping. Shares of Kohl's, JCPenny, Nordstrom all tumbled Tuesday after a reporting slower sales in the first quarter. And now they brace for higher tariffs on the products they sell.
Retailers depend heavily on China for their supply chain, 41 percent of all apparel, 72 percent of all footwear was imported from China in 2017. Nordstrom sales fell 3.5 percent. Sales dropped at Kohl's, and JCPenney 5.5 percent in the first quarter. And Nordstrom's CEO blamed the decline on executional misses with customers, meaning they guess they didn't know what their customers wanted. And now expects revenue for the year to fall.
Kohl's also cut its guidance for the year blaming tariffs. The Wall Street Journal reports Kohl's imports about 20 percent of everything it sells from China. Some stores are passing the cost of hose tariffs on the consumers. Last week, Walmart warned it would raise prices on some products, though it did not say, which ones.
China also bracing for a protracted trade war with the U.S. The New York Times is reporting President Xi Jinping said Monday this, now, there is a new long march and China should make a new start.
BRIGGS: A wild ride to the streets of Los Angeles.
Look at that. A woman driving a stolen RV, leading police on a dangerous, high-speed chase last night. It began in Santa Clarita and continued for a half hour with the RV heading speeds of up to 60 miles-an-hour through the San Fernando Valley. At one point, a dog who was on the driver's lap could be seen half-way out of the shuttered windshield and appeared to tumble out of the speeding vehicle. The dog was unharmed.
A second dog dangling from the window until the RV slammed into another car and plowed into some trees. The driver got out and tried to flee on foot with the dog following behind. But she was quickly tackled by police and taken into custody.
ROMANS: I want to know a whole lot more about that story. Wow.
All right, a Chicago baby ripped from its mother's womb showing his first signs of life. Now, the hospital treating him is under investigation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:13:21] BRIGGS: A migrant processing center in McAllen, Texas has been temporarily shut down after a large number of immigrants were found to have high fevers. Medical staffs are currently working to provide all those affected with proper medical treatment. The closure comes after a 16-year-old migrant from Guatemala died six days into his stay at the facility. He was the fifth young migrant to die in government custody since December.
ROMANS: A baby cut from his mother's womb after she was killed has now opened his eyes. The infant is attached to tubes as he fights for his life. He is being held there by his father, Yovany Lopez. Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, the mother was killed in April after she was lured into a Chicago woman's home with a Facebook offer of free baby clothes. Police arrested and charged three people in that murder.
Now, the hospital that received the baby, Advocate Christ Medical Center is under investigation because the department of child and family services was not contacted until May 9th. Ochoa-Lopez was killed in April. Illinois law requires immediate reporting. The hospital is not commenting.
BRIGGS: A Texas sheriff's deputy is lucky to be alive this morning after trying to cross railroad tracks when the gate was down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Whew! The Midland County officer drove around the lowered railroad crossing gate and was struck by an oncoming train. His police cruiser flipped over on impact and rolled off the tracks. According to local TV affiliates, the sheriff's deputy only suffered minor injuries and he's recovering.
ROMANS: All right. The streak goes on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[05:15:02] ALEX TREBEK, "JEOPARDY" HOST: His wager, a big one. $31,010, yes, indeed. A payoff today at $86,905, and now, a total of $1,867,142. Wow! All right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: James Holzhauer adding to his "Jeopardy" legacy with a 24th conservative win. He is starting to close in on Ken Jennings all-time record of more than $2.5 million. It took Jennings 75 games. Holzhauer plays game 25 tonight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Shows no sign of stopping. Go, James.
Ahead, the Toronto Raptors tieing (ph) up their Eastern Conference finals. Toronto's biggest star is hurting. Coy Wire tells how big a story this is in the BLEACHER REPORT, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:20:43] BRIGGS: The Toronto Raptors claw back to even the conference finals against the Milwaukee Bucks.
ROMANS: Coy Wire has more in this morning's BLEACHER REPORT. Hey, Coy.
COY WIRE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. Good morning, Dave. Toronto making a bold statement at home to even the series at two games apiece. They survived that double-overtime thriller in Game 3 thanks to superstar Kawhi Leonard. Game 4 although was all about the rest of the team rallying around him. Guys like Danny Green making a bold statement, even upon arrival, look at the floral-print jacket. Inside though, paying tribute to the late sportscaster Craig Sager and also Stuart Scott.
Kawhi just 19 points in this one, playing through pain in his right leg but doing just fine dunking on Giannis. His teammates, they would feed off this type of energy, rallying around him. Even the fans watch Giannis Antetokounmpo missed this free-throw, treks it off the front of the rim. And who is behind him? The greatest courtside height man in the NBA right now, Drake, giving him the business with the air guitar and all.
He even gave head coach Nick Nurse got a back rub in this one so Drake does it all. A total team effort. Kyle Lowry dropping a team 25 in the 120-102 win. The home team has now won all four games in the series.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYLE LOWRY, TORONTO RAPTORS GUARD: As a team, you know, everybody just going to steps up. And, you know, it's next man up. Going to stick a while. It wasn't going to be great, you know, at a hundred percent tonight so for us, everybody has to step up every game and continue to (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: The series heads back to Milwaukee for Game 5 tomorrow night tip-off set for 8:30 Eastern on our sister channel TNT. Now, one highlight we can't overlook from that game, it came during the NBA on TNT post-game show, fans outside the arena starts singing "O Canada". So Shaq and Ernie, Kenny and the whole cruise join in, all except for Charles Barkley. He wanted no part of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: O Canada we stand on guard for thee! O Canada we stand on guard for thee! SHAQUILLE O'NEAL: You know what? That's just like bad karaoke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Shaq, it may be true, bad karaoke, but that was good TV.
All right, let's go on to hockey. For the first time in nearly half a century, St. Louis is playing for the Stanley Cup. They have had 18,000 plus crazy fans braving tornado warnings to be there at Enterprise arena and their Blues did not miss a point. They dominate with a 5-1 win.
The Sharks were without three of their stars but what a turn around for St. Louis. They were in the last place back in January and the entire league, now, they're going to face the Bruins looking to hoist the Stanley Cup for the very first time. The last time St. Louis was in the final was 1970. They were swept in four games by none other than the Bruins.
Dave, Boston fans, they're going through that championship withdrawal, right Christine? I mean, it's been a whole 108 days since they last --
BRIGGS: Long time.
WIRE: -- won a title. But it will be awesome stuff. Game 1 is on Monday.
BRIGGS: A great series. And the last time those two teams played, it was Bobby Orr flying through the air. Arguably, the iconic hockey photo.
Thank you, Coy. Good to see you, my friend.
WIRE: You, too.
ROMANS: All right, 24 minutes past the hour. A major cleanup ahead in Oklahoma. Flooding across that state and is now turned deadly. And more dangerous weather is on the way.
BRIGGS: And to impeach or not to impeach? The House speaker makes her case today with more Democrats angling to move against the president.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:28:32] BRIGGS: Oklahoma under water. One person dead, dozens of dangerous rescues. Epic rain and a tornado outbreak leaving parts of the Plains and Midwest devastated.
ROMANS: More Democrats say it's time to consider impeaching the president. Can the speaker rein in her party?
BRIGGS: And one of the wildest police chases you will ever see. A busted, stolen RV, multiple crashes. A dog escapes, the driver does not. ROMANS: There's even more footage. I mean, this was just unbelievable.
BRIGGS: It's quite a story.
ROMANS: This runs through the San Fernando Valley.
BRIGGS: Welcome back to EARLY Start. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is almost 30 minutes past the hour this Wednesday morning.
Happening right now, thousands of people in the nation's heartland are waking up to utter devastation. Vicious weather bringing damaging tornadoes and torrential rains overnight. We've just learned one person has died in Oklahoma after driving around a barricade and drowning.
In Oklahoma, dozens of dramatic water rescues. This woman here spotted clinging to a tree as floodwaters rushed around here. After one rescuer reached her, two others pulled her to safety. Neighbors helping each other out, including this woman confined to a wheelchair helping her get out on a boat.
This house in Edmond, Oklahoma surrounded by the floodwaters. And this car trapped. Raging floods closed parts of Interstate 40 just west of Oklahoma City, including El Reno where water stretched as far as the eye can see.
BRIGGS: Major erosion on the Cimarron River from heavy rains in Kingfisher County. Eleven injuries were reported in Oklahoma. There were at least 30 reports of tornadoes in the Central U.S.
[05:30:00]
