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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Major Week Of Public Testimony Ahead; Iranian Official Threatens Gas Price Protesters; U.K. Papers And Social Media Slam Prince Andrew. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired November 18, 2019 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, the latest incident involves members and guests of a fraternity who subjected a black female to a racial slur. Jews, Asians, and African-Americans have been targeted in disturbing videos like this one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE 1: I solemnly swear to always have hatred in my heart for -- to always have hatred in my heart for n****rs (laughter).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The university is increasing security around the campus and adding shuttle service for students' safety.
EARLY START continues right now.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: The E.U. ambassador under scrutiny ahead of testimony on Capitol Hill. Eight witnesses on the schedule with the president attacking yet another one.
ROMANS: A new leader for the Democrats in Iowa. What the rise of Pete Buttigieg means for the 2020 field.
BRIGGS: And the president backing off a major commitment to curb vaping. Has his reelection bid come before teenagers' health?
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour.
There are eight public impeachment hearings this week, but the focus is really increasing on one -- Gordon Sondland, ambassador to the E.U. Ahead of his testimony Wednesday, "The Wall Street Journal" reporting Sondland frequently updated several top officials on efforts to convince Ukraine to launch investigations the president was demanding.
Among those officials, Energy Sec. Rick Perry and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney who famously said this about Trump's pressure campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICK MULVANEY, ACTING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: We do -- we do that all the time with foreign policy and I have news for everybody -- get over it. There's going to be political influence in foreign policy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Also new this weekend, the release of a deposition from former top National Security Council Tim Morrison. He told investigators Sondland was acting at the direction of the president and that Sondland spoke to a top Ukrainian official about exchanging military aid for political investigations.
Republicans tried to shift the blame for mounting trouble away from the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): Those individuals that leaked this -- you know, if they're interest was a strong relationship with Ukraine, they didn't accomplish this. Having this all come out into public has weakened that relationship and has exposed things that didn't need to be exposed.
This would have been far better off if we would have just taken care of this behind the scenes. If this never would have been exposed, that funding would have been restored, and our relationship with Ukraine would be far better off than it is today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The president, meanwhile, attacking another witness after demonizing former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch while she testified Friday.
The president, on Sunday, lashed out at another witness, career diplomat Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice president Mike Pence. He went after her as a never-Trumper. She is set to testify tomorrow.
BRIGGS: Williams listened in on the president's infamous July 25th phone call with the leader of Ukraine. She testified privately that Trump's request for investigations struck her as, quote, "unusual and inappropriate."
ROMANS: One big question answered over the weekend, who ordered the Trump-Zelensky call transcript to be moved to a highly-classified system? It turns out that was a mistake.
In his testimony, Tim Morrison relayed an explanation from top NSC lawyer John Eisenberg. Now, he said Eisenberg's executive secretary put it on the highly-classified server after misunderstanding some instructions. They discovered it was misplaced when they tried to use it to prep the president for a planned Warsaw trip in September -- a trip that was later canceled.
BRIGGS: A stunning rise from obscurity to the top of the field in Iowa for Pete Buttigieg. The South Bend, Indiana mayor pulling to a 9-point lead in a new CNN-Des Moines Register poll. That's a 16-point surge in Iowa since September.
With 11 weeks to go before the caucuses, it's a close race for second with Elizabeth Warren at 16 percent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: On the ground, for weeks, I've been feeling that there's more and more support. I've been feeling momentum and a sense of when people hear the message they connect with it and they get more and more interested in supporting this campaign.
I know that we've got the biggest hills to climb right ahead of us and we'll stay disciplined and focused on doing that.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't do polls. But I know what I'm fighting for and I know that we need ideas that match the problems in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: One challenge in facing Buttigieg -- challenge, rather, facing Buttigieg is a lack of support in the black community -- just four percent in a recent Quinnipiac poll. He will speak today at Morehouse College, a historically black university in Atlanta.
The entire Democratic field also getting a word of warning from former President Obama. At a high-dollar event, he spoke about going too far on certain policies, saying voters want ideas rooted in reality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is still a country that is less revolutionary than it is interested in improvement. They like seeing things improved, but the average American doesn't think that we have to completely tear down the system and remake it, and I think it is important for us not to lose sight of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:35:11]
ROMANS: Expect Buttigieg to be the target of increased attacks at the next Democratic debate this Wednesday night.
More ahead on all of this.
Plus, the queen's second son, in a car wreck of an interview, tries to explain his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. It just did not go well. Car wreck actually would be --
BRIGGS: Would be kind, yes.
ROMANS: -- would be kind to that. CNN is live in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRIGGS: A crucial week ahead for the impeachment inquiry. Eight current and former administration officials set to testify.
The most revealing testimony may come Wednesday from ambassador to the E.U., Gordon Sondland. He was right at the center of the president's campaign to pressure Ukraine.
ROMANS: And joining us this morning, Princeton University historian and professor, Julian Zelizer. He is a CNN political analyst. Good morning.
JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, HISTORIAN AND PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, CO-AUTHOR, "FAULT LINES: A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1974": Good morning.
ROMANS: There is so much material to explore from last week and so much more coming this week. And what we see is this picture really filling out with a clear and consistent tone and message of a White House that had a shadow policy trying to influence trade access to the president, right, for investigations of the president's political rivals.
[05:40:11]
How damaging was last week?
ZELIZER: It was very damaging. The whistleblower told the story and basically, everyone has either confirmed that story or expanded on it, and it keeps getting worse.
Whether it changes Republican opinion, we don't know at this point. But what it does do is solidify the support of Democrats and prevent the backlash as they move forward with this inquiry.
BRIGGS: But what the Democrats have to clear -- the bar they have to clear is high crimes and misdemeanors and firsthand knowledge that the president ordered these investigations.
Gordon Sondland, when he testifies -- now, he's a former donor-turned- ambassador to the E.U. -- the point man -- and ended up being on Ukraine -- how pivotal could his testimony be in making that argument?
ZELIZER: Very pivotal. He was one of the key players, along with figures like Rudy Giuliani, and he is under fire right now because everyone has basically confronted his first testimony and said it wasn't true, and Sondland's correction turns out to be accurate.
So if he goes on and says well, the president was on board with this, I think it will really undermine any remaining claim that the president didn't know what was going on.
ROMANS: So on this side, you have this huge impeachment process underway. On the other side you have a huge field of Democrats -- ZELIZER: Yes.
ROMANS: -- running for president.
And we saw this new polling for Pete Buttigieg that he has really soared ahead in Iowa -- 25 percent. There's kind of a race for number two there.
What do you make of the Buttigieg surge here?
ZELIZER: Well, it's not totally surprising. Buttigieg has been organizing in Iowa from a very early point in this contest. He's made this the centerpiece of how he will create momentum and show that he's viable.
It does show the Democrats -- they have a long run here.
ROMANS: Yes.
ZELIZER: You have many formidable candidates.
If he wins in Iowa it will create the perception that he can win in New Hampshire and help him move forward. It's unclear he can win in these big states. It's unclear he can carry a South Carolina or a California, but this does change the story.
It's not one poll we're talking about now.
ROMANS: Yes.
ZELIZER: We're talking about several polls and he is far ahead.
ROMANS: And a reminder, 77 days to Iowa and Iowa really matters for the Democrats, especially. The winner in Iowa has gone on to get the nomination all the way back until, I think Tom Harkin in '92.
ZELIZER: Well, they're not always the presidency.
ROMANS: True, true, true.
ZELIZER: That's a little warning.
BRIGGS: Now, a former president made some interesting news and all weekend trending was the hashtag #TooFarLeft because Barack Obama had some words of warning for those out of step with what he perceives as mainstream Democrats and talked about policies rooted in reality.
Is he right that some of the candidates may be going too far left for the country right now?
ZELIZER: Well, sure, that's a fair warning. And it's important to remind candidates to think about what can be viable -- what's not perfect, but possible.
In the same interview, though, he also talked about the importance and energy that the big ideas people bring to campaigns, and that part of the interview got less attention.
So I think he was trying to kind of do the pluses and minuses of the different candidates and say who is the one who can bring all this together.
But those warnings are fair. But remember, big ideas matter in campaigns, also. You have to inspire voters and it's not simply a practical decision that's being made. So I think both sides have something to offer.
ROMANS: We saw former Mayor Michael Bloomberg this weekend disavowing stop and frisk, something that he has been --
BRIGGS: Yes, the papers all --
ROMANS: -- really supportive of until recently.
Is that a blatant attempt to say I'm going to run and I have to get -- I have to get the support of black voters?
ZELIZER: Well, sure. I mean, you flip-flop on day one before you've even really announced. That indicates he understands he has a problem with that policy. When you're mayor, your mayoral record will really matter and that particular policy in this day and age is a big concern for a lot of voters.
It's unclear to me that he has a big path to victory. He has the same kind of constituency as Mayor Pete but he's a billionaire running --
BRIGGS: Yes.
ZELIZER: -- and he doesn't have the organization. So he still has a difficult challenge ahead.
BRIGGS: And, polls -- Bloomberg and Buttigieg struggling with black voters nationally as well.
ZELIZER: That's right. I mean, Mayor Buttigieg has that generational appeal that's very different. He's young, he's new, and he wants to translate that into a broader appeal.
ROMANS: All right, Julian Zelizer. Nice to see you this morning. Thanks for dropping by --
ZELIZER: Thanks for having me.
ROMANS: -- on Monday morning, in what will be another long week.
ZELIZER: Yes.
ROMANS: Thanks so much.
BRIGGS: All right.
President Trump backing off a proposed ban on most flavored vaping products -- a ban he announced he with some fanfare just two months ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can't allow people to get sick and we can't have our youth be so affected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: White House and Trump campaign officials tell "The Washington Post" the president changed his mind because he fears upsetting vapers could hurt his reelection chances. The "Post" also says Trump believes the job losses in the vaping industry could dampen the economic growth the constantly touts.
[05:45:08]
Juul has already announced plans to stop selling all flavored pods other than tobacco and mint -- menthol flavors, I believe.
The CDC reports nearly 2,200 cases of lung injury linked to vaping as of last week, and there have been 42 confirmed deaths.
ROMANS: All right.
New this morning, former Vice President Joe Biden has just released a plan for combatting violence against women. It includes $100 million a year to clear the nationwide backlog of processing rape kits.
Biden also wants a national task force for online harassment and abuse that can develop strategies to make progress on that issue.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:50:40]
BRIGGS: Iran is warning security forces may act against protesters angry about a sharp rise in gas prices. At least one person was killed over three days of protests as gas prices surged some 50 to 300 percent across the country.
International security editor Nick Paton Walsh live for us in London with the latest. Nick, good morning. What are we learning?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Dave, substantial protests here, make no doubt about it. And the fact the Iranian government seems pretty much unanimous in backing the fact it had to remove these vital subsidies that make so much of Iranian daily life possible for normal Iranians suggest that they are in very tight financial spot.
As you said yourself, a 50 to 300 percent rise in the cost of some of the gas people buy. Obviously, that's going to impact the rest of an economy already reeling from long-term sanctions. Yes, Iran has prided itself on how it's managed to keep life going as best they can in the face of an international blockade, but something like this is a result, frankly, of increased government debt and increased government financial problems.
Now, we are seeing video of protests, frankly, across the country in many different cities because of the lack of transparent, open reporting. And as NetBlocks, the Web site, says only five percent Internet connectivity as per normal, it's hard to see exactly how substantial these are.
But, no doubt, Iran's interior minister is being open, saying that security must come first. There have been reports of videos of clashes, even Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader has said that a number of people have, in fact, lost their lives in this.
But the focus of Iran's government is talking about how these are rioters. The U.S. has said it stands by the Iranian people. Iran said you show no concern for their suffering under sanctions.
But the broad question people perhaps are asking is that if this goes further than isolated protests on the streets and results in some kind of political change, will that lead to more moderation in Iran or hardliners? Most analysts think you're going to see hardliners rising in the event of this sort of thing. But still, the broad question, will these protests continue or dampen down -- Dave and Christine.
BRIGGS: Nick Paton Walsh live for us in London this morning. Thank you.
ROMANS: All right.
British papers and social media slamming Prince Andrew after he was grilled on television about his relationship with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Now, the prince denied accusations he slept with an underage girl, which would be statutory rape, right -- you know, who was acting on orders from Epstein.
The queen's second son saying he had no recollection of ever meeting Virginia Roberts Giuffre. He also told the BBC, at one point, that he went to Epstein's home planning to break ties with him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMILY MAITLIS, HOST, BBC "NEWSNIGHT": You were staying at the house --
PRINCE ANDREW, DUKE OF YORK: Yes.
MAITLIS: -- of a convicted sex offender.
PRINCE ANDREW: It was a convenient place to stay. There is -- I mean -- I've gone through this in my mind so many times. At the end of the day, with the benefit of all the hindsight that one
could have, it was definitely the wrong thing to do. But at the time, I felt it was -- it was the honorable and right thing to do. And I admit fully that my judgment was probably colored by my tendency to be too honorable, but that's just the way it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: OK.
CNN's Hadas Gold is live at Buckingham Palace. Also in that interview, he was said -- do I regret the fact -- he was -- quite obviously, conduct himself in a manner unbecoming. In the interview, said unbecoming. He was a sex offender.
What's the reaction been?
HADAS GOLD, CNN EUROPEAN POLITICS, MEDIA, AND BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, a really stunning interview that actually took place just behind me in Buckingham Palace on Thursday evening. Just the fact that it happened is notable because so rarely do members of the royal family sit down for interviews not connected to their charity work.
But if Prince Andrew was hoping that this interview would somehow draw a line under this controversy that has been raging around him for months, he seems to have been sorely mistaken because as we're seeing, the reaction has been swift and it has been overall, negative. It seems to have just caused more questions than really provide any answers.
For example, in that answer that you just aired, he said that he went to break up with, pretty much, Jeffrey Epstein in person. But then earlier in the interview he said that they weren't actually that good of friends.
This was also the first time we heard from Prince Andrew any sort of actual alibis to some of the dates that Virginia Roberts Giuffre said that she met up Prince Andrew. And in one of the examples, he said that he wasn't with her because he was actually taking one of his daughters, Princess Beatrice, to a pizza restaurant for a birthday party.
[05:55:09]
Now, the reaction from the British media has been very harsh. I'll read you one tweet as an example. Charlie Proctor -- he's the editor- in-chief of the Royal Central Web site -- wrote, "I expected a train wreck. That was a plane crashing into an oil tanker, causing a tsunami, triggering a nuclear explosion level bad."
One of the biggest questions still out there is whether Prince Andrew will ever actually testify or speak under oath to U.S. investigators about Jeffrey Epstein. He told the BBC he would do so only if his legal adviser said it was the right thing to do.
ROMANS: Just remarkable. All right, Hadas Gold for us outside Buckingham Palace. Thank you for
that.
BRIGGS: The head of the FAA says he is considering an overhaul of its plane approval process in the wake of two Boeing 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people.
Stephen Dickson tells "The Wall Street Journal" that he is willing to change the initial certification process. His call to focus more on pilot reaction and other human factors echoes new recommendations from the NTSB. The FAA has also been criticized for essentially outsourcing much of its certification to plane makers, themselves.
ROMANS: All right, it's just about the top of the hour so let's get a check on "CNN Business" this morning.
Taking a look at markets around the world -- you know what, pretty much a mixed performance here. Asian and European stocks have -- violence over the weekend in Hong Kong -- that was a problem here. But the Hang Seng rose 1.3 percent, jumping up from last week's nearly five percent drop.
It could be -- it could be another record day on Wall Street if things hold. You know, markets are hungry for any news of a U.S.-China trade deal. Chinese state media, Sunday, said the two sides held constructive discussions about a phase one deal.
Last week, all major U.S. indices hit record highs when the economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said Washington and Beijing were close to a deal.
Those records also as concerns of a recessions fade into the background.
Ford is coming for Tesla, unveiling a fully-electric SUV with a storied pedigree with the all-electric Mustang Mach-E. They'll keep the look and horsepower of the classic car line but now two electric motors enable it to drive from zero to 60 in less than four seconds.
This is Ford's biggest bet yet on a mass-market electric car but in a size most American prefer -- most Americans prefer. Do you know that half of all U.S. auto sales are SUVs?
Prices for the Mustang Mach-E start at around $45,000.
Dunkin' is tossing out Styrofoam cups for good. In an effort to be better on the environment, the chain is ditching its distinctive foam cups -- a move that also ends the tradition of double-cupping. That's putting a foam cup around a cold plastic cup. Dunkin' playfully tweeted that it was breaking up with the double cup.
Dunkin' will now offer customers double-walled paper cups. Dunkin' plans to phase of Styrofoam cups completely by 2020.
BRIGGS: Wow, I'll miss those foam cups, but a good call.
And in case you missed it, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" gave the impeachment hearings a soap opera spin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Days of Our Impeachment, where the only thing at stake is democracy.
CECILY STRONG (PORTRAYING MARIE YOVANOVITCH), CAST MEMBER, NBC "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Oh, yes, I love the glamour and the spotlight. That's why I spent my career in Ukraine and Somalia.
KATE MCKINNON (PORTRAYING RUDY GIULIANI), CAST MEMBER, NBC "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": I tried to do that thing where you, like, hold up a magnifying glass and you say I'm going to look into that. But instead, I grabbed a hammer. I took my own eye out. Not my best day; not my worst.
KENAN THOMPSON (PORTRAYING CLEVELAND BROWNS' MYLES GARRETT), CAST MEMBER, NBC "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Oh, my God, it's a bad (INAUDIBLE). (Swinging helmet at McKinnon)
JON HAMM, ACTOR, (PORTRAYING UKRAINE AMBASSADOR BILL TAYLOR), NBC "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Is Rudy OK?
MCKINNON: I think he actually might have fixed me.
COLIN JOST, CAST MEMBER, NBC "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia. How did that go?
Well, as long as we're talking about track records, Trump started off in Atlantic City. How did that go?
Even Fox News thought attacking Yovanovitch was a bad move.
LISA KENNEDY MONTGOMERY, HOST, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK, "KENNEDY": Should the president be tweeting at her mid-hearing? No. It makes him look like a big, dumb baby.
JOST: And that's what they're saying on this favorite channel. That's like if your kid turned on Nickelodeon and Dora was like, hey, you'll never learn to read, fatty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Oh, it's all just politics until you bring Dora into it. Leave Dora out of it.
BRIGGS: We love our Dora.
ROMANS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Here's "NEW DAY."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Eight public impeachment hearings set for this week. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This last week was good for the facts and very bad for President Trump.
ROMANS: The president lashed out at another witness, career diplomat Jennifer Williams.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): If Donald Trump doesn't like what he's hearing, he shouldn't tweet.
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Mr. Sondland has to decide whether his loyalty is to America or the President of the United States.
TRUMP: This is the man that said as far as the president was concerned, there was no quid pro quo.
REP. MIKE TURNER (R-OH): The President of the United States shouldn't be on the phone with the president of another country and raise his political opponent. So, this is not OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Monday, November 18th. It's 6:00 here in New York.
I hope you all got some rest this weekend because what a week ahead in the impeachment hearings, including a witness that seems to grow in importance every hour.
END
