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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; Ivanka Trump Visit Women-Led Businesses In Ethiopia; American Airlines Extends Flight Cancellations; Lyft Pulls Electric Bicycles From Three Cities. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired April 15, 2016 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: You know, it's just, it's hard to comprehend right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: Tiger Woods talking about pulling off one of the greatest sports comebacks of all time.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And severe weather, at least eight people are dead after tornadoes ripped through the south from Texas to Alabama.
ROMANS: White House says Congress just 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)
SANCHEZ: And Mayor Pete Buttigieg just launched his 2020 race for the White House. Welcome back to "Early Start." I'm Boris Sanchez in for Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: Nice to have you here this week. I'm Christine Romans. It is 32 minutes past the hour. Let's begin with this amazing, stunning comeback for the man who once dominated the sport of golf. Tiger Woods clinching his Fifth Masters, his 15th major title at age 43. He overcame scandal, serious back problems and a tightly pack leader board to win by one shot. It's It was Tiger's first major title in 11 years and his first green jacket since 2005. It was just amazing to watch. CNN's Don Riddell has the story from Augusta for us.
(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)
[04:35:05] SANCHEZ: Well, many are looking ahead. Tiger is slowing down and savoring this one. He sat down one on one with our Andy Scholes. 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. 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 just still -- I think it's going to take a little bit of time for it to sink in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Woods joins Jack Nicklaus as the only player to have won the Masters in three different decades. Woods first won at a 21-year-old, back in 1997.
ROMANS: Just great golf yesterday and all weekend.
All right, 36 minutes past the hour, to Washington now where the fight to obtain the president's tax returns intensifies. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders coming up with a new line of attack. She argued that members of Congress are not smart enough to examine the president's returns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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)
ROMANS: But the congressional research service says there are 10 accountants in this Congress. We'll show you right there on your screen, including two Senators and 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. In a new letter to the IRS over the weekend, Neil stressed the law gives Congress a right to see those taxes. The IRS doesn't respond by his new April 23rd deadline, the dispute will likely end up in federal court.
SANCHEZ: Sarah Sanders also says 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 and 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)
SANCHEZ: House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler firing back. He told CNN's Jake Tapper, that migrants should not 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)
ROMANS: Congresswoman Ilhan Omar says death threats against her have spiked since President Trump tweeted about a speech she gave last month. In the president's Friday tweet he wrote we will never forget over a clip from a speech Omar gave last month to the Council on American-Islamic relations. In it, in that speech, she described the events of 9/11 as quote some people did something. The clip posted by the president edited parts of her speech into footage of the Twin Tower attacks. In a statement, Omar accused the president of fostering right-wing extremist violence, she said, 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, denying the president was encouraging violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:40:06] 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)
ROMANS: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offering Omar her support in a statement. The president's words weigh a ton and his hateful inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger. President Trump must take down his disrespectful and dangerous video. Speaker Pelosi says she has spoken with the House Sergeant at Arms about Omar's personal safety.
SANCHEZ: President Trump heads to Minnesota today for what is White House is describing 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.
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 at the White House, thank you for that.
All right, it is tax day and it's the first tax day under President Trump's new tax law. If you have put off filing your taxes, you're not alone. As of Friday, the IRS reported as many as 50 million taxpayers still had not filed their tax returns. So who are some of the winners and losers under the new tax law? Winning, most U.S. taxpayer, data from the Congressional Joint Committee on taxation shows more than 65 percent of tax filers will see their overall tax burden decrease by at least hundred bucks.
Losing, people who thought a tax cut would mean a bigger refund. New figures from the Treasury show the IRS's issued about $6 billion less in refunds this year. With refunds down an average of 20 bucks. So, why the smaller tax refund. Well, for many, it's because those workers took home more in your paychecks during the year.
Big players begin using the new IRS income tax upholding table. In other words, you paid less in taxes, but you still got a smaller refund. Others taxpayers will pay more. Some a lot more. Because the new code gutted some popular deductions, namely the full deduction for state and local taxes, that really hurt taxpayers in high tax states like New York and New Jersey. Do you need more time to file, you can always file for an extension up to October 15th to file your returns. So, get that done today folks. 50 million people did not have it done by Friday.
SANCHEZ: Got to get it done.
ROMANS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: The newest Democrat running for president got a warm reception from his hometown crowd. We'll take you to Mayor Pete's rollout after a quick break.
[04:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: People in the southeast are assessing the 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 that 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: The 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.
ROMANS: All right. The small city mayor with a funny name, Pete Buttigieg formerly declaring himself a candidate for president, 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 attacks on President Trump, and this was one of the few exceptions.
(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)
ROMANS: 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.
[04:50:01] 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. 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) ROMANS: All right. Vanessa there at the event for us. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: The first daughter Ivanka Trump is on an overseas trip to Africa right now with an event being held just a few moments ago. We have a live report next.
[04:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: First daughter Ivanka Trump is in Ethiopia this morning and it's the first stop of a four day trip thru Africa promoting a White House program to bolster the role of women in business. Robyn Kriel is live in the Ethiopian capital with more. Robyn, what's the reception been like so far?
ROBYN KRIEL, CNN AFRICA CORRESPONDENT: Very warm for the first daughter and President Trump's adviser. What we're told, Boris, is that this trip might be a little less about opportunities and a little bit more about bolstering the U.S. China counter Russia influence here on the African continent.
I'll start with what Ms. Trump did earlier this morning here, she visited the Holy Trinity church to pay homage to the victims of flight ET302. If you remember, Boris, there were eight Americans on board that flight that crashed a little over a month ago, as well as from three other nations.
Then, Boris, she is now attending a women's empowerment dialogue, that is where she is sitting alongside the head of OPEC, as well as the U.S. International aid administrator Mark Green, as well as a number of other high profile Ethiopian women including Ethiopia's female president, the only female president on the African continent.
What we're told is this really does send a strong message from the Trump administration, who you will remember, their main thrust of their Africa policy as it were announced by John Bolton back in December, was to counter Chinese influence and nowhere can that be seen more vividly than probably here in Addis Ababa. We are speaking to the lot of Ethiopian high profile businessmen and women, who say that this is an important visit. Not only is Ivanka Trump President Trump's daughter, she has his ear, but she is also an adviser and it really does send a strong message of where does America stand in term of support for Ethiopia. Boris?
SANCHEZ: Robyn Kriel reporting live form Ethiopia, thank you.
ROMANS: All right, 57 minutes past the hour. Let's get a check on CNN business. This Monday morning, global stock markets mixed. Investors continuing to monitor U.S.-China trade talks on Wall Street. Look at the futures there, pointing a little bit lower for the week. Stocks up just a little bit. The S&P and NASDAQ both reported a third week of gains.
This week the focus shifts to first quarter earnings. Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley are among the big banks reporting. Netflix and Johnson and Johnson will also deliver their quarterly results. Overall, expectations pretty low this earning season. Profit growth for the S&P 500 company is expected down more than 4 percent. The first decline since the second quarter of 2016.
More cancellations for American airlines ahead of the busy summer travel season. American extended flight cancellations through August 19th because of the Boeing 737 Max grounding. About 115 flights a day will be cancelled according to the airlines, about 1.5 percent of its total daily flights. The airlines has 24 of these jets in its fleet. American previously said all flights that were originally scheduled on a Max plane would not be cancelled with something substituted with other aircraft. Last week, Southwest Airlines also extended its flight cancellations until August.
Lyft has pulled its on demand electric bicycles from three major cities amid safety concerns. Lyft pulled the bike from New York, Washington and the San Francisco bay area after some riders reported stronger than expected braking issues on the front wheel. About 3,000 bikes will be pulled from service and will be replaced with regular bicycles. Lyft operates about 20,000 bikes in those three cities with a mix of electric and regular models. Lyft says it has been hard at work on a new pedal assist bike and the model will be rolled out very soon.
SANCHEZ: I didn't know they did bicycles.
ROMANS: You know, the ride sharing world is expanding so quickly. It's really fascinating.
SANCHEZ: "Early Start" continues right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOODS: You know, it's just, it's hard to comprehend right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Tiger Woods talks about pulling off one of the greatest sports comebacks of all time.
SANCHEZ: And severe weather to tell you about, at least eight people are dead after tornadoes ripped through the south from Texas to Alabama.
ROMANS: The White House says Congress just isn't smart enough to understand President Trump's tax returns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUTTIGIEG: I'm a proud son of South Bend, Indiana, and I am running for president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And Mayor Pete Buttigieg launching his 2020 race for the White House. Good morning.
END
