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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Boeing Under Scrutiny After Another of its Planes Crashes; Ethiopian Airlines Crash Kills 157 People; Trump to Release Budget Proposal; Democrats Blast Trump's Budget Plan; Democrats Take South By Southwest By Storm; Gabbard Refuses to Label Assad a War Criminal; Beto O'Rourke Teases a White House Bid; Fox News Rebukes Host Jeanine Pirro; Congresswoman Omar's Israel Comments Muddles Democrats; Fed Chair Jerome Powell Says Interest Rates are in a "Good Place"; A Jaguar Injures Woman at Arizona Zoo; A Fan Gets Arrested After Sucker- Punching an Aston Villa Player; John Oliver Tackles Robocalls with Robocalls; Three Teams Punch Their NCAA Tickets; Gardner-Webb Makes First-Ever NCAA Tournament; Liberty Wins to Earn First NCAA Tournament Berth Since 2013; Suns Snap 18-Game Losing Streak Against Warriors; Kevin Durant Injures Ankle; Spurs Mascot Dressed in a Batman Costume Delays Bucks-Spurs Game; Snowy Soccer Field Denies Hannover of a Goal. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired March 11, 2016 - 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, CO-HOST, EARLY START: Now, big questions for Boeing over a new model jet many Americans fly were live at the site of the latest crash in Ethiopia.
JESSICA DEAN, CO-HOST, EARLY START: Declare a national emergency, spend billions, then get Congress to pay for it. That's just part of the president's new budget, setting up a new battle over the border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANINE PIRRO, FOX NEWS: Omar wears a hijab. Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Sharia law?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: In a rare rebuke of one of its stars, "Fox News" now condemning Jeanine Pirro who questioned whether a controversial congresswoman's religious beliefs oppose the U.S. constitution.
DEAN: And a soccer fan in England runs unto the field and sucker- punches a player in the head -- wait until you see how Jack Grealish responded.
BRIGGS: Good morning everyone, welcome to EARLY START, I'm Dave Briggs.
DEAN: Hi, everyone, I'm Jessica Dean. It is Monday, March 11th, it's 5:00 a.m. in the East.
BRIGGS: I will start with that deadly plane crash. Boeing facing serious safety questions this morning following the second crash of a new 737 in the last five months. All 157 people on board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Nairobi died Sunday morning when their plane went down shortly after takeoff.
The pilot had reported technical difficulties, 189 lives were also lost when a Lion Air flight crashed in late October, both flights involving brand new Boeing 737 Max 8 airplanes.
DEAN: There is no evidence that the two incidents are linked, but if one issue caused both disasters, Boeing might have to very quickly implement modifications to its planes. American and Southwest operate dozens of them. This morning, Ethiopian Airlines is grounding all Boeing 737 Max 8s, so is Cayman Airways and China's Civil Aviation Authority has suspended all domestic flights using the Max 8. Boeing now delaying plans to unveil its huge new 777 jetliner this week.
BRIGGS: On Sunday Ethiopian Airlines crash, eight Americans were among the 157 killed and 19 of the dead were United Nations staff members.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEWOLDE GEBREMARIAM, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES: We don't know the cause of the accident. We will -- we will comply with all the international regulations as an airline, will be fully supporting and cooperating with the investigation and we will know the exact cause.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Robyn Kriel joining us now live from the crash site in Ethiopia with the latest. Robyn, good morning.
ROBYN KRIEL, CNN AFRICA CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, and just to shed a little bit more light on perhaps what the final moments, what those passengers and those pilots and crew members went through in their final moments. It was just six minutes after taking off from Bole International Airport that Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed in this field behind me.
And we spoke to an eyewitness earlier today, he was collecting wood in the hills nearby, he said that he saw the plane flying around in a circle and flying erratically like the pilot was trying to do something that -- those were his words.
He also said that he believes that the plane was smoking in some fashion before it went down. So all of these sort of eyewitness accounts, obviously, you can't judge the entire incident just from one person's account, but investigators, police forensics, people coming from internationally as well as here in Ethiopia.
They do have a disaster response unit here in Ethiopia, they're all going to be collecting this information to try to figure out exactly what brought down this flight. Now, just to give you an idea of the scene behind me, devastating scene, a lot of fuselage from the plane and of course it is ongoing, they do still pull bodies out of the -- out of the rubble. BRIGGS: Just a devastating scene there, just past noon there in
Ethiopia, Robyn Kriel, thank you.
DEAN: President Trump will deliver a budget proposal this morning, his first under a divided government. He's promising to balance the federal budget in 15 years by slashing spending for education, health, the environment, and other non-defense items.
It is a plan lawmakers will likely ignore as the nation's debt reaches record heights. High on the president's agenda, a White House official has confirmed he will seek $8.6 billion for a border wall.
BRIGGS: The budget proposal has an additional $3.6 billion in military construction funds to pay back the money Trump redirected using his executive authority. White House correspondent Boris Sanchez traveling with the president has more from West Palm Beach.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Dave and Jessica, in the proposed budget, President Trump is asking all federal agencies to cut 5 percent of their spending, except those agencies related to defense. The president asking for a $35 billion increase in defense spending over last year, including $8.6 billion for his long promised border wall.
This is actually the first time in Trump's presidency that the administration is requesting funding for the border wall from different sources. The president asking for $5 billion from Customs and Border Protection and an additional $3.6 billion from Military Construction Funds at the Pentagon.
[05:05:00] Democrats are not happy about this budget. The congressional leadership and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority leader Chuck Schumer put out a joint statement and they write, quote, "President Trump hurt millions of Americans and caused widespread chaos when he recklessly shut down the government to try to get his expensive and ineffective wall which he promised would be paid for by Mexico.
Congress refused to fund his wall and he was forced to admit defeat and reopen the government. The same thing will repeat itself if he tries this again. We hope he learned his lesson." Democrats are essentially daring the president to try to shut down the federal government again.
It would be the third time in his presidency that the federal government is shut down over the issue of immigration. Dave and Jessica.
BRIGGS: Let's hope not, Boris, thank you. Twenty-twenty Democratic hopefuls were everywhere at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, this weekend. And last night, CNN town hall, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg called for a generational change in America.
At 37, Buttigieg is the youngest candidate in the race and he had some harsh words for fellow Hoosier Vice President Mike Pence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, HOST, THE LEAD: Vice President Pence would be a better or worse president than President Trump?
MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG, SOUTH BEND, INDIANA: Oh, does it have to be between --
TAPPER: Politics is about choices, man, you know that.
BUTTIGIEG: I mean, I don't know, it's really strange because I used to at least believe that he believed in our -- I've disagreed with him ferociously on these things. But I thought, well, at least he believes in our institutions and he's not personally corrupt.
How could he allow himself to become the cheerleader of the porn star presidency? Is that he -- is it that he stopped believing in scripture when he started believing in Donald Trump?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: And in her town hall last night, congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii focused on foreign policy, but the Iraq war veteran would not say whether she believed Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad is a war criminal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TULSI GABBARD (D), HAWAII: I think that the evidence needs to be gathered, and as I have said before, if there is evidence that he has committed war crimes, he should be prosecuted as such.
DANA BASH, CNN: But you're not sure now?
GABBARD: Everything that I have said requires that we take action based on evidence. The evidence is there, there should be accountability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: To be clear, evidence has been gathered and the UN has concluded Assad was behind an April 2017 chemical weapons attack.
BRIGGS: There was a Texas-sized buzz for a native son Democrat Beto O'Rourke even though he hasn't officially declared. O'Rourke appearing for the unveiling of a documentary about his Senate race against Ted Cruz. Teased a 2020 run, but did not reveal timing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETO O'ROURKE, FORMER CONGRESSMAN: We got to be a part of this amazing thing in Texas over the last two years, and it continues. And we are so excited about what you're doing, Rhonda, what you all are doing, what so many other people are doing, and we just want to continue to be a part of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRIGGS: And here, look at the latest CNN "Des Moines Register" Iowa
poll, Joe Biden still undeclared topping all Democrats at 27 percent, Bernie Sanders 2 points back with the rest of the field well behind.
DEAN: "Fox News" condemning remarks from one of its own top hosts last night. Jeanine Pirro on Saturday questioned whether Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's religious beliefs run counter to the U.S. constitution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO: Think about it, Omar wears a hijab which according to the Quran 33, column 59 tells women to cover so they won't get molested. Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Sharia law which in itself is antithetical to the United States constitution?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: Pirro's comments came at the end of a week of controversy for Representative Omar which began with the Minnesota Democrat's suggestion that Jewish money is behind congressional support for Israel. Omar has drawn criticism from all quarters, but "Fox" says Pirro went too far.
BRIGGS: The network saying in a statement, "we strongly condemn Jeanine Pirro's comments about Representative Ilhan Omar, they do not reflect those of the network and we have addressed the matter with her directly." Pirro herself did not quite apologize, but offered this explanation.
"I did not call Representative Omar un-American. My intention was to ask a question and start a debate. But of course because one is a Muslim does not mean you don't support the constitution."
DEAN: The controversy around Omar cast a cloud over Democrats all last week and the GOP took notice of that. Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney was one of 23 House Republicans to vote against a resolution condemning hate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[05:10:00] REP. LIZ CHENEY (R), WYOMING: It was really clearly an effort to actually protect Ilhan Omar. Had to cover up her bigotry and anti-Semitism by refusing to name her. The Democrats have yet to take any action to remove her from her committee.
And they've got a real problem. I mean, the extent to which they are now abiding by anti-Semitism and enabling anti-Semitism in their party is something we watch them struggle with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: But resolution against hate started out narrowly focused on anti-Semitism and was gradually broadened all week to include groups across the racial, ethnic and religious spectrum. BRIGGS: All right, 5:10 Eastern and the worry over higher interest
rates appears to be over at least for now. During an interview on "60 Minutes", Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the Central Bank will continue to take a wait-and-see approach to the rates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: We see the economy as in a good place. We think that the outlook is a favorable one. Inflation is muted, in our policy rate, we think it's in an appropriate place. So what we've said is that we would be patient.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: After four rate hikes last year, central bankers unanimously agreed to keep rates steady at the beginning of 2019. The Fed had floated plans to raise rates three times or more this year, but it now expects to raise rates only twice in 2019.
Powell said while America's economy is strong, the main risks are now from slower global growth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POWELL: I would say the principal risks to our economy now seem to be coming from slower growth in China and Europe and also risk events such as Brexit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Now, Brexit no deal drawing near. Powell also said attacks by President Trump had zero influence on the decision to slow down interest rate hikes and waved off any imminent concerns of a looming recession. Powell also said the president cannot fire him.
DEAN: A woman tries to take a selfie with a Jaguar, and it doesn't end well. Why the zoo says the woman is at fault.
[05:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DEAN: A woman is recovering this morning after an encounter with a Jaguar at a zoo in Arizona. It happened Saturday night at the Wildlife World Zoo near Phoenix. Witnesses say she crossed over a barrier between the public and the animal's enclosure to take a selfie. The female Jaguar reacted reaching out and grabbing that woman's arm.
Another zoo guest distracted the Jaguar and the animal let the woman go. The injuries were non-life threatening, zoo officials say there were proper barriers in place and it's not a wild animal's fault when they're crossed. They say the Jaguar will not be put down.
BRIGGS: Glad to hear that. A soccer fan in England arrested for running onto the field and punching a player in the head. It happened during the tenth minute of a match between Aston Villa and rival Birmingham City. You can see the fan running toward footballer Jack Grealish, get him from behind with a sucker punch.
The fan was taken into custody by security and escorted away. And Grealish, he got the last laugh scoring the winning goal for Aston Villa. Leaped into the stance to celebrate, following the match, an apology from Birmingham City. The team says the fan who attacked Grealish has been barred for life.
DEAN: Well, if you think robocalls are annoying, you are not alone. While you were sleeping, John Oliver came up with a way to send a message about it to the FCC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN OLIVER, COMEDIAN & TELEVISION HOST: Robocalling is so easy, it only took our tech guy literally 15 minutes to work out how to do it. So when I press this button, will it trigger our robocall to the FCC? No, that would be too simple. Instead, behold --
(LAUGHTER)
Instead when my finger presses this button, it will trigger this much larger finger who will press a much larger button which will trigger our calls to the FCC. So FCC, you know what you need to do, and by the way, if you want to -- if you want to tell us that you don't consent to be robocalled, that's absolutely no problem.
Just write a certified letter to the address that we buried somewhere within the first chapter of "Moby-Dick" that's currently scrolling up the screen. And if you're thinking that there should be a simpler way to opt out, well, no -- OK? No sir, simply, no point delaying this any longer. Here it goes, unleash hell, it's ringing.
(CHEERS)
(BELL RINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Well done, John Oliver, the master of props today and last week --
DEAN: I think there's certainly people that called me anymore, it's just robocalls all the time.
BRIGGS: Thankfully, I don't mind them on the home phone because those you just ignore --
DEAN: Yes --
BRIGGS: But the cellphone --
DEAN: A certain way --
BRIGGS: That's what drives me nuts. All right, ahead, looked like a sure goal, but the shot was stopped, not by the goalkeeper. Coy Wire tells us who stopped it in the "BLEACHER REPORT". [05:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRIGGS: March Madness less than a week away. Three teams punching their tickets to the NCAA tournament. Yesterday, Coy Wire tells us who in the BLEACHER REPORT, good morning my friend.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Good morning, Dave, selection Sunday just days away, and so is one of the best times of the year in sports. The buzzer beaters, Cinderella stories and by becoming confident champs yesterday, teams put their names on March Madness brackets.
Gardner-Webb; an undergrad enrollment of just 2,200 students makes the tournament for the very first time in school history after they beat Bradford. Bradley came from -- being down by 18 at one point to beat Northern Iowa, these are what hoop dreams are made of, faces beaming with pure joy.
Liberty, they'll be playing in its first tournament in six years after beating Lipscomb, winning The Atlantic Sun Conference in their very first season competing in it. Reason for concerns for the defending champs, Golden State's Kevin Durant going down in the fourth against the Suns, injuring his ankle, he stayed on the floor for a few minutes before he left the game with the team calling a contusion.
More reason for concern? The Warriors have now lost four of their last six after losing last night to the team with the second-worst record in the league, The Suns snapping 18-game losing streak to the Warriors, starting way back in 2014. Devin Booker's game high, 37 points in the 115-111 win.
[05:25:00] Now, the NBA's best record that belongs to the Milwaukee Bucks, they found themselves battling not just the Spurs, but a bat- gone rogue. (INAUDIBLE) running for his life, game was delayed, this bat-buzzing by players and fans heads -- and clearly the San Antonio's had bat issues before.
Their mascot dressed in a batman outfit and then going all out, laying out to get this rodent with wings, only to come up empty-handed though. The bat went to the Rafters, the Bucks came up empty-handed as well, taking the L to the Spurs 121-114.
Look at this scene in Germany, Bundesliga action, a snowy soccer pitch turned out to be Bayern Leverkusen's best defender. Hannover's Genki Haraguchi -- look at this, with the sweep, he has the goalie beat and rockets this ball towards the net, but Dave, it just stopped dead in its tracks, only to make matters worse, Hannover ended up losing 3-2 in this match. Incredible stuff there.
BRIGGS: That is -- yes, put a little more mustard on that ball in the snow, man, ask Kevin Benateria(ph) about kicking in the snow, all right?
WIRE: There you go.
BRIGGS: All right, good stuff, Coy Wire, thank you. Jessica, what's coming up? DEAN: All right, guys, thanks. Well, Boeing is facing some big
questions, two of its newer planes crash in five months. The latest model is being put on hold now. We're live at the site of the latest crash in Ethiopia.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
