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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Tiger Woods' Comeback; Deadly Tornadoes Ripped Through Texas To Alabama; President Trump's New Tax Attack; Mayor Pete Buttigieg Gets In The 2020 Presidential Race; Border Battle, Sanctuary Cities Is An Option On The Table; Rep. Omar Slams Trump Twin Tower Tweet; White House Awaits Release Of Mueller Report; 2020 Democrats Hopeful's Total Fundraising Hauls; Pelosi On Dem's Left Wing, That's Like Five People. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired April 15, 2016 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: You know, it's hard to comprehend right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Tiger Woods talks about pulling off one of the greatest sports comebacks of all time.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: At least eight people are dead after tornados ripped through the south from Texas to Alabama.
SANCHEZ: And the White House says Congress isn't smart enough to understand President Trump's tax returns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D-IN) 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm a proud son of South Bend, Indiana, and I am running for president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Mayor Pete Buttigieg just launched his 2020 race for the White House, a busy weekend and a busy morning ahead. Good morning, everyone, welcome to "Early Start," I'm Christine Romans.
SANCHEZ: Great to be here with you, Christine. I'm Boris Sanchez in for Dave Briggs. It's Monday, April 15th, 4:00 a.m. on the East Coast. And we start with an absolutely stunning comeback --
ROMANS: It's amazing.
SANCHEZ: -- yes, for the man who once dominated the sport of golf. Tiger Woods clinching his fifth Masters at his 15th major title at age 43. He overcame scandal, serious back problems and a tightly packed leader board, to win by a single shot. It was Tiger's first major title in 11 years, his first green jacket since 2005. CNN's Don Riddell, has the story form Augusta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Boris, can you imagine being world famous at something, but your kids really have no idea, they can't imagine it. They have to take your word for it or watch it on video because they never experienced it for themselves. Well, that was the case for Tiger Woods kids, Sam and Charlie. And that was one of the reason why he wanted to pursue see this comeback to see what he was capable of, but also they could be a part of it too. And that is why the scene on the 18th green on Sunday afternoon at Augusta was just so special.
We all know it was historic. We all know it may well be the greatest sporting comeback of all time given everything that he has been through. But to see Tiger scoop up his kids and embrace them in the same that he hugged his dad here in 1997 when he became the youngest Master's champion at the age of 21. That was so special and so emotional for so many people watching it. It has been an extraordinary triumph for Tiger Woods.
When you think about everything that he has been through, this is a man who once dominated his sport, who transcended it, but since 2008, it has been so difficult. There was the scandal, the public humiliation, the fall from grace, then all the health issues, the back problems, the multiple surgeries, the spinal fusion operation. Ranked 1200th in the world, just a year and a half ago, Tiger Woods was telling us that it was painful just doing anything, riding in a golf cart. He didn't think he would necessarily be able to compete again and contend for majors.
And now here we are, and the pursuit, for Jack Nicklaus' 18 major title, he's back on. Finally Tiger's come from 14 to 15. What does the future hold? Well, I'll tell you this, there's three more majors this year and the two American ones are on courses where Tiger's already won, Best Page and Pebble Beach and the open championship at Royal Portrush, nobody has an advantage there because they haven't played a major tournament there since the 1950s. This is not necessarily the end of a comeback, this could be the beginning.
Good luck managing the hype and the excitement ahead of the PGA championship next month. This golf season just got so much more exciting. I can't wait for the next one. Christine, Boris, back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Thank you for that. Let's just savor this one before we get ahead of ourselves here. Tiger Woods certainly savoring that victory. He sat down one on one with our Andy Scholes and he talked about how it felt to win against the odds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANDY SCHOLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tiger, you said before it's a
miracle that you can even still play golf considering the back surgeries, 11 years, nearly 4,000 days since your last major. Did you ever think this day would come, and how does it feel?
WOODS: Yes. I did think it would come just because of what I did last year. You know, I had a chance to win the open championship, I led going on the back nine on Sunday, I gave Brooks a little bit of a run at the PGA first and second tier. I knew it was in me. You know, did I know it was going to be this week, no, but I had good feeling that the way I was chipping the golf ball that I was going to be in the mix.
SCHOLES: You joked before that your kids think of you as the video game golfer, because they had never seen you win a major. Your kids, your mom, your girlfriend were there waiting for you on 18, what was that moment like when your son Charlie jumped in your arms?
WOODS: Surreal. You know, I did the same thing with my dad and now I'm the dad with my son doing the same thing. So, it's amazing how life has evolved, it changes.
[04:05:02] That was 22 years ago when my dad was there and then now my son is there. My daughter was there. My mom was there. My mom was there 22 years ago, and the fact that she is still around, still kicking, still fighting, goes to show you her resiliency. It's just -- it's hard to comprehend right now. I mean, honestly, I have to (inaudible) a few hours out of winning the tournament, I'm still trying to enjoy it, and trying to figure out that I won it. I know I have the green jacket on. But it still -- I think it's going to take a little bit of time for it to sink in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Really an incredible story. We could talk about Tiger all day. But we have to shift to Washington now, where the fight to obtain the president's tax returns is intensifying. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders coming up with a new line of attack. She is arguing that members of Congress are not smart enough to examine the president's returns.
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SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't think congress, particularly not this group of congressmen and women are smart enough to look through the thousands of pages that I would assume that President Trump's taxes will be. My guess is most of them don't do their own taxes and I certainly don't trust them to look through the decades of success that the president has and determine anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Well, the Congressional Research Service says there are 10 accountants in this Congress right here on your screen, the list includes two Senators, eight house members. Senator's comments come after the House, Ways and Means Committee chairman, Richard Neil, ratcheted up his demands for access to the president's tax returns. He sent a new letter to the IRS commissioner over the weekend and he stressed that the law gives Congress a right to see the president's tax returns. If the IRS doesn't respond by his new April 23rd deadline, the dispute will likely end up in federal court.
ROMANS: Sarah Sanders also tackling whether the Trump administration is still mulling the idea of releasing some immigrants to so called sanctuary cities. She told ABC's this week, it's up to Democrats in Congress to work with the president to take action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: This is not the ideal situation. The ideal solution is real simple. It's for Congress, particularly Democrats in Congress to sit down with the president, do their jobs and help us stop this awful crisis that is taking place at our border. It can't be denied or ignored anymore. They can either deal with it at the border and stop it from getting worse or they're going to have to take on some of that burden in their communities if that becomes an option.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, firing back, he told CNN's Jake Tapper, migrants shouldn't be used as pawns in a game of political retribution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY), CHAIRMAN HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: The president has no right to spend money appropriated by Congress for other purposes to ship immigrants all over the country. He shouldn't use them as what he imagines as retribution to political opponents in various areas. It's another misuse of presidential power against the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Congresswoman Ilhan Omar says death threats against her spiked since President Trump tweeted about a speech that she gave last month. In the Friday tweet the president wrote quote, we will never forget over a clip from a speech that Omar gave last month to the council on American Islamic Relation. Now, in that speech, she described the events of 9/11 as quote, some people did something, end quote.
The clip posted by the president edited parts of the speech into footage of the Twin Tower attacks. In a statement, Omar accused the president of fostering right wing extremist violence. She said quote, violent rhetoric and all forms of hate speech have no place in our society, much less from our country's commander in chief. We are all Americans, this is endangering lives, it has to stop. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders denied that President Trump was encouraging violence. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SANDERS: The president is absolutely and should be calling out the
congresswoman for her not only one time, but history of anti-Semitic comments, the bigger question is why aren't Democrats doing the same thing? It's absolutely abhorrent the comments that she continues to make and has made and they look the other way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered Omar her support in a statement. She wrote, the president's words weigh a ton and his hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger. President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video. The speaker says she has spoken with the House Sergeant at Arms about Omar's personal safety.
ROMANS: President Trump heading to Minnesota today for what the White House describes as a tax day event. It comes as Trump world and the rest of Washington remain on high alert for the release of the Mueller report. Members of Trump's inner circle used the Sunday talk shows to set the table for some of their talking points on the findings. CNN's Sarah Westwood has more from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH WESTWOOD, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDET: Boris and Christine. The White House is bracing for the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report. Attorney General Bill Barr, is set to deliver a redacted version of that report to Capitol Hill as soon as this week and the Attorney General has said that there are no plans for anyone at the White House to assert executive privilege over parts of that report which could have led to more of it being redacted.
[04:10:15] And the White House is maintaining that it wants to see as much of the report released as is allowed by law. There will be somethings like grand jury information that won't be included in the final report, and White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Sunday, that she expects that document which she has not read to match Barr's public summary of that document, which included Mueller's findings according to Barr that there was no evidence of collusion with Russia. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: I don't think it is going to be damaging to the president because the entire purpose of the investigation was whether or not there was collusion. Mueller was crystal clear in the fact that there was no collusion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WESTWOOD: That was Sanders speaking on Fox News Sunday and President Trump will be heading to Minnesota today for a tax day event while the White House and the rest of Washington waits for the release of the Mueller report. Trump and his allies have argued that the release of Mueller's findings should be the end of inquiries into alleged collusion with Russia, into alleged obstruction of justice. But House Democrats plan to continue their oversight into these and many other areas in the months ahead. Boris and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, Sarah, thank you for that. All right. The president again, you know, battling the Fed again, throwing protocol and propriety out the window and battling the Fed over his -- as his -- there's opposition going to his picks on the central bank's board. Trump tweeted this on Sunday, if the Fed had done its job properly which it has not, the stock market would had been up 5,000 to 10,000 additional points and GDP would have been well over 4 percent instead of 3 percent with almost no inflation.
There's no way for the president to know where the stock market would be if there were those hypotheticals here. The comment comes as two picks for open season on the Feds board, Herman Cain and Steven Moore had been heavily scrutinized. Cain's bid appears to be dead on arrival, he just doesn't have the votes. Last week, four Republicans said they would not vote to confirm Cain to the Fed board.
Meanwhile, Moore has been criticized for reversing his opposition to low rates. Both are currently undergoing a background check. White House advisers said Trump wants to nominate people who share his economic views. The president has repeatedly attacked the Feds, specifically Chairman Jerome Powell over those rate increases last year.
Last month, the Fed officials voted to keep interest rates a steady, instead they will not raise interest rates this year. The last Fed rate hike was in December. This is an independent body and it's designed to be that way. It's meant to be isolated from the political whims in Washington. You certainly don't want a Fed board that is going to, you know, have easy money to keep a president happy.
SANCHEZ: Right.
ROMANS: Because that could cause problems further down the road. I mean, it's just -- I can't even imagine the discussions that are happening behind closed doors there at the Fed these days.
SANCHEZ: I imagine a lot of it has to do with the fact that we're headed to an election and the president ran on the economy.
ROMANS: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: He wants the economy really strong going in to 2020.
ROMANS: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: There was a raucous crowd greeting the newest Democrat running for president. More from Mayor Pete Buttigieg's rollout, coming up.
[04:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: People in the southeast assessing damage from several deadly tornadoes over the weekend, about six of them flattening homes and snapping large trees in Mississippi. The only volunteer fire department in Monroe County had its fire house destroyed. One person was killed there. Another 10 injured. A storm chaser says that mobile homes in the area were no match for the tornadoes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRANDON CLEMENT, STORM CHASER: The mobile homes took a direct hit from the tornado either aren't there or so badly damaged and mangled and flipped that you can't really recognize what they are. Mobile homes are probably the worst case scenario in the tornado or any high wind event.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: This weekend's huge storm system ravaged areas from Texas to Alabama. In addition to the death in Mississippi, at least four people were killed in Texas, two others killed in Louisiana, and one in Alabama. Mississippi's governor declaring a state of emergency for areas affected by the severe weather.
Well, he is a small city mayor with a funny name, Pete Buttigieg formerly declared that he was a candidate for president on Sunday. The 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana announcing his run in a hometown speech. For the most part he focused on policy and avoided attacking President Trump, though this was one of the rare exceptions. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUTTIGIEG: When something is grotesque, it's hard to look away and the horror show in Washington is mesmerizing, it's all consuming, but starting today we're going to change the channel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich was in South Bend for the announcement, she filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine and Boris. That's right. Pete Buttigieg making his announcement to run for president official. And he gave a very policy heavy speech. He talked about his three principles, freedom, security and democracy. He talked a lot about the most important freedom to him being the freedom to get married to his husband, Chasten Buttigieg. They were able to get married last year, and he points at something that is crucially important to him and his campaign. He also took on the president without specifically mentioning him by name. He tackled a lot of his policies and also gave a little dig at his Make America Great Again slogan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUTTIGIEG: The problem is that they're telling us to look for greatness in all the wrong places, because if there's one thing that the city of South Bend has shown, it's that there is no such thing as an honest politics that revolves around the word again.
[04:20:05] It is time to walk away from the politics of the past and towards something totally different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YURKEVICH: And as his campaign is now officially launched, he'll be hitting the road right away, heading to New York Monday evening for a fundraiser, and then heading off to Iowa and a swing in New Hampshire this weekend. Back to you guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: All right. Vanessa, thank you for that. We have an update on President Trump's reelection campaign. The president raising more than $30 million in the first quarter of 2019. That amount rivals the combined fundraising haul of the top two Democrats over the same period. It also underscores the president's huge financial head start over the crowded field of Democrats, all vying to face him in 2020.
Right now, Bernie Sanders leads the pack with $18 million followed closely by Kamala Harris with 12 million, Beto O'Rourke with nine, Pete Buttigieg coming in 4th. Andrew Yang all the way at the back of the pack with less than $2 million raised.
You watch Game of Thrones? Wait until you find out about this glitch that let some lucky fans get a jump on all the rest. We'll explain, next.
[04:25:00 (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: House Peaker Nancy Pelosi, minimizing the size and influence of the more progressive wing of the House Democratic caucus, led by Alexander Ocasio-Cortez. Here's what she told Lesley Stahl, Sunday on CBS's 60 minutes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LESLEY STAHL, 60 MINUTES, CORRESPONDENT: You have these wings, AOC and her group on one side.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): (Inaudible) find people.
STAHL: No, it's the progressive group.
PELOSI: I'm a progressive, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Pelosi once again seeming to discount left wing policy proposals like Medicare for all. She has previously hesitated to endorse the Green New Deal. CNN has reached out to Ocasio-Cortez office for comment and we have not heard back.
SANCHEZ: Some DirectTV now customers literally got a jump start on last night season premiere of "Game of Thrones." (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You used to be taller.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you sneak up on me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did you survive a knife through the heart?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: I don't know if you watched last night, Christine, but I'm ready to close my eyes. I don't want to get scold.
ROMANS: So, they're together for the first time since the first season, right --
SANCHEZ: Since the beginning, yes.
ROMANS: -- brother and sister reunited.
SANCHEZ: Yes, the episode was available on DirectTV four hours ahead of its scheduled airing. DirecTV, and HBO are both owned by AT&T as CNN. But the company says the early release was just in error, not a preview. Apparently our system was as excited as we are for "Game of Thrones," this is a statement coming from them and it gave a few DirecTV now customers early access to the episode by mistake.
I'm going to ahead and download DirectTV now. In case it happens again.
ROMANS: You know, I was a late comer to the whole "Game of Thrones" --
SANCHEZ: Me too.
ROMANS: -- thing and now I'm going to watch it today for sure.
SANCHEZ: For sure, yes.
ROMANS: All right, 27 minutes and I'm not going to -- I'm not looking at anything on the internet, because I don't want it to be spoiled.
SANCHEZ: Stay away from Twitter.
ROMANS: It might be one of the greatest sports comebacks of all time. More on Tiger Woods, beating the odds next.
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