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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Fighting Halt To Travel Ban; Trump: "You Think Our Country's So Innocent?"; Pats Win Fifth Super Bowl; Russia Demands Apology From Fox News. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 06, 2017 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:30:00] MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Lawyers filing their arguments just moments ago.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New criticism from both sides of the aisle pointing at the president for defending Vladimir Putin again. This time, asking if the U.S. is any more innocent that the Russian leader. Moral equivalency between the U.S. and Russia.

MARQUEZ: And, Tom Brady engineering an unprecedented comeback to win Super Bowl LI. We are live in Houston where Patriots fans are still celebrating and the Falcon fans scratching their collective heads trying to figure out how it slipped through their fingers. Welcome back to EARLY START, I'm Miguel Marquez.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It's Monday morning. Nice to see you all. Thirty minutes past the hour. It was a Super Bowl for the ages. Tom Brady becoming the --

MARQUEZ: Huge, huge.

ROMANS: -- first quarterback ever to win five championships. He did it in epic style, bringing the New England Patriots back from a 25- point deficit late in the third quarter for a stunning 34-28 overtime victory over the Atlanta Falcons. We're going to have more on this historic comeback in just a second.

MARQUEZ: But we begin with breaking news. Attorneys for Washington State and Minnesota filing legal papers in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overnight, just a little while ago inside the 4:00 a.m. Eastern time deadline. We're trying to keep -- they're trying to keep a suspension intact on President Trump's refugee and travel ban. The ban was halted four days ago by U.S. District Court Judge James Robart, prompting angry Twitter attacks from the president. Democrats and even some Republicans are blasting Mr. Trump for those attacks.

And now, the president is coming under more fire for apparently suggesting the U.S. has been just as bad an actor as Russia and Vladimir Putin. We get more from CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After just the first two weeks in office, President Trump is preparing now for a judicial showdown over whether his travel ban by executive order can stand. To this dismay of both Democrats and some Republican lawmakers, Trump spent part of his weekend disparaging the federal judge who temporarily suspended the ban through tweets, calling him a "so-called judge" who made a ridiculous ruling, adding, "Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!"

This could become an issue for Republicans that are trying to get the 60 votes necessary in the Senate to confirm Trump's pick for Supreme Court justice, Judge Neil Gorsuch. Also, Republicans publicly distancing themselves from Trump's comments about Russia when he suggested in an interview with "FOX NEWS" there was moral equivalency between the U.S. and Putin.

BILL O'REILLY, HOST, FOX NEWS: Do you respect Putin?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do respect him, but --

O'REILLY: Do you? Why?

TRUMP: Well, I respect a lot of people but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with them. He's a leader of his country. I say it's better to get along with Russia than not, and if Russia helps in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world --

O'REILLY: Right.

TRUMP: -- major fight, that's a good thing. Will I get along with him, I have no idea. It's possible I won't.

O'REILLY: He's a killer, though. Putin's a killer.

TRUMP: There are a lot of killers. We got a lot of killers. What, you think our country's so innocent? You think our country's so innocent?

O'REILLY: I don't know of any government leaders that are killers.

TRUMP: Well, take a look at what we've done, too. We've made a lot of mistakes.

MALVEAUX: Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is now calling for a formal investigation into Trump and Putin's relationship. Monday, President Trump makes his first major public address to U.S. troops since his inauguration when he goes to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. There, he's also going to be briefed by U.S. Central Command -- CENTCOM -- and Special Ops Command.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: OK. The Sunday talks shows were full of folks who were talking about that -- those Russia comments and some Republicans who've, so far, been pretty quiet about their expectations about the Trump administration who are saying that Donald Trump was wrong in that moral equivalency between the United States and Russia. All right. Expect a flurry of legal activity today in the battle over the president's travel ban. The Justice Department expected to file legal briefs by 6:00 p.m. Eastern tonight in their fight to lift a federal judge's suspension of the president's order. I want to go live to Washington and bring in CNN justice reporter Laura Jarrett. Laura, bring us up to speed.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Good morning, Christine. Well, as you said, a lot of activity overnight happening in this case. First, the Washington State attorney general, just in the last hour, filed its response to the Justice Department's motion to try to get this travel ban reinstated. They're saying there's no way that the government can successfully show that was irreparably harmed -- that that's the standard that they have to show that the judge's suspension hurt them because pressing pause on the executive order simply returns things to the status quo.

Now, the state managed to get some pretty high-profile names attached to this filing. It includes a declaration filed by the former National Security officials and State Department officials, such as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and John Kerry, who claim that Trump's executive order is not only unnecessary but it harms the interest of the United States at home and abroad.

[05:35:05] So, in terms of what's next, we're going to see something from DOJ later tonight. They'll get a second bite at the apple and be able to file a reply brief to this brief. And then later we'll see the Ninth Circuit decide what's going to happen. They're going to either hold a hearing or decide this on the papers, and then we're off to the Supreme Court.

ROMANS: And then off to the Supreme Court. All right, Laura Jarrett, thanks so much. And in this really unique position where the President of the United States is watching and remarking of the house of legal activity. All right, thank you so much for that, Laura.

Time for an early start on your money this morning. Markets higher around the world. Asian markets closed higher. European markets, U.S. stock futures all looking upbeat. Stocks ended the week on a high note following a strong jobs report. The Dow above 20,000 entering week three now of the Trump presidency. So far, the big winner on Wall Street is Wall Street. Trump took the first steps at dismantling Dodd-Frank, the safeguard against another financial meltdown on Wall Street like 2008.

The big money questions for this week, will Trump now pivot back to tax reform and infrastructure, pro-growth policies, or will he be mired in controversial immigration restrictions? Some of the largest companies in Silicon Valley -- Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, to name a few there -- they are formalizing their concerns about the president's travel ban. They've partnered with other firms and filed a legal brief to show the executive order violates immigration laws and the constitution.

MARQUEZ: Now, we want to bring in our guest, "CNN POLITICS" reporter Eugene Scott here in New York with us. And in Washington, "Bloomberg News" White House correspondent, Shannon Pettypiece.

ROMANS: Hi, guys.

MARQUEZ: Good morning to both of you. I want to get right to this -- sort of the moral equivalence that the president made between the U.S. and Russia, basically when Bill O'Reilly -- the tough-talking Bill O'Reilly said but Vladimir Putin's a killer. And he said well, there's a lot of people who are killers and we've done a lot of bad things as well. You know, Republican senators -- here's Ben Sasse, Republican from Nebraska, going after his own Republican president on that point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BEN SASSE (R), NEBRASKA: Let's be clear. Has the U.S. ever made any mistakes? Of course. Is the U.S. at all like Putin's regime? Not at all. There is no moral equivalency between the United States of America, the greatest freedom-loving nation in the history of the world, and the murderous thugs that are in Putin's defense of his cronyism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Shannon, I can only assume that this is going to consume Washington.

SHANNON PETTYPIECE, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Yes, if there wasn't enough controversy last week over the travel ban, now we kick off this week -- Monday morning when everyone shows up on the Hill -- with more controversy coming within the president's own party -- the Republican Party -- which was supposed to be a united front and looked to be a united front after the election coming in where they would be able to just get through legislation on tax reform, on healthcare, and some of the big issues. Now, even more divided today than they were on Friday when they were already pretty divided.

ROMANS: Yes, and Eugene, you know, the Kremlin this morning coming out and demanding an apology from "FOX NEWS" for Bill O'Reilly's suggestion to the president that Vladimir Putin is a killer. It's just a remarkable turn of events, I mean, especially when just days ago the president was in a tough conversation with an ally --

MARQUEZ: Australia.

ROMANS: -- the Australian prime minister, but he's going out of his way to be kind to the Russian leader.

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: I think what we've seen is a continuation of significant questions about Donald Trump's foreign policy approach. Who are his allies, who are his enemies, and how different that will continue to be from what we've seen historically here in the United States. One thing I think that's also interesting is what he said about Putin this weekend is a prime example of what both Republicans and Democrats mean when they question his awareness and knowledge about the relationship, historically, between the United States and Russia, and Russia's involvement with international affairs.

MARQUEZ: And the -- Shannon, the travel ban, as well, sucking up so much time now for this young administration. I mean, they haven't put forward a specific case where the old vetting process was an issue. Are we likely to hear something more substantive by 6:00 p.m. tonight or later?

PETTYPIECE: It's possible because I think that's one of the main things the courts are going to want to hear. Well, if this is so important for national security, show us why the existing system is so flawed. Show us how, you know, terrorists were getting into the country from these specific countries. Show us why these specific countries are more of a threat than other countries. And show us the big holes in the previous vetting system that was such a problem.

So, for the government to be able to show that there's a real national security interest here and that this could do irreparable harm they're going to have to prove that. At least that's what legal experts are speculating right now. We'll see what the court -- I mean, it's up to the courts at the end of the day.

ROMANS: Meanwhile, there's a new power player in politics that everyone will be talking about on the Hill this morning. Her name is Melissa McCarthy and she killed it this weekend on "SNL". I've got to ask you, Shannon. You're in that briefing room. What is the mood like in a briefing room, in general, over the past three weeks and do you think Sean Spicer will respond somehow today?

[05:40:09] PETTYPIECE: You know, yes, I saw that. You know, it's just another day at the office for me. It -- you know, there's been a bit of back and forth. I mean, you know, there are days I think where there's a little bit of good cop-bad cop but, yes, I will try and bring that up for you today in the briefing room if I can, Christine.

MARQUEZ: Well, at least "Bloomberg" wasn't seen in a cage wearing a diaper, so you're way ahead --

ROMANS: That was "CNN".

MARQUEZ: -- of "CNN" on that one.

ROMANS: All right.

MARQUEZ: Well done.

ROMANS: Thanks, guys.

MARQUEZ: Thank you both.

ROMANS: Nice to see you, Shannon. Eugene, nice to see you this morning. Talk to you again soon.

MARQUEZ: Now, just when you thought the New England Patriots were done, Tom Brady puts it all on his back and overcomes a 25-point deficit to win his fifth Super Bowl ring. Coy Wire bringing you all the latest highlights and post-game reaction when EARLY START comes back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:45:20] MARQUEZ: The New England Patriots completing a thrilling comeback to win Super Bowl LI in overtime. CNN's Coy Wire live in Houston for us with that finish -- wow -- poor Coy, though, who's a Falcons fan. I'm so sorry. We love you. We love you anyway.

ROMANS: How could we love him?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, a Falcons fan because I -- my teammates in that -- Matt Ryan, Julio Jones. I spent three years with them, yes. I mean, it just crushed me.

MARQUEZ: We still love you.

WIRE: What a way to lose. Yes, if you -- if you could have a good way to lose this was it. I mean, history in the making. "His-story" in the making. We're talking about Tom Brady. Most passed yards and completions in a Super Bowl. Record fourth Super Bowl MVP. He has five Super Bowl titles now. It's not just what he did, guys, it's how he did it. Check this out.

(Video playing) They were down 28 to 20, the Patriots were, fourth quarter, about two minutes to go and Julian Edelman like Houdini, pulling a rabbit out of a hat in this one. I mean, look at this catch. Unbelievable. The Patriots would end up scoring on this drive but they would need to go for two to tie it. And Tom terrific would flick it to Danny Amendola who would find a way to get that ball across the plane -- insane.

So, to the first of ever Super Bowl overtime we would go and you could just feel it. As soon as the Pats won the coin toss you just knew it was going to happen. It was written. Tom Brady to James White, who caps off the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. They were down 25 points at one point in this game and no team had ever come back from being down by more than 10 in any Super Bowl.

Brady was overcome with emotion after this game. We know afterwards you could see him kissing his wife, Gisele. He was there with his kids and his mother's been battling health issues for the past 18 months. That's her there in the blue head scarf. She hadn't made it to a game all season. His father, only one game, but they were there to watch their son solidify himself as the greatest of all time. Here's Brady letting out some emotions after the game and his -- and a couple of answers from big-name folks that I asked about Tom just moments after the game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK: Thank you to all our fans. Everyone back in Boston, New England, we love you. You've been with us all year. We're bringing this sucker home.

ROBERT KRAFT, PATRIOTS OWNER: I think what happened to Tommy the first four games engaged fans even more because they know we weren't treated fairly and, you know, now we had a chance to go through the year and I think results speak for themselves.

ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: It's the biggest stage and he always steps up on the biggest stage and plays unbelievable, and he did it again tonight. To bring that team back is just unbelievable.

ROB GRONKOWSKI, PATRIOTS TIGHT END: Brady's the best ever and Belichick is, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: The greatest comeback in Super Bowl history -- quite possibly, sports history -- for what it meant. I talked to one Patriots coach after the game. I said, what happened at halftime? You guys were down 21-3. He said Bill Belichick looked every man in the locker room in the eye and said 21 points is not enough for them to beat us, and the guys just locked in. They came out and just lit it up in the second half, guys. Absolutely incredible.

MARQUEZ: Man, what a game. Coy Wire, thank you so much.

ROMANS: All right, let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY." Chris Cuomo joins us now. Hello, my friend.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Howdy.

ROMANS: You are sleepy, I'm sure.

CUOMO: Boy, oh boy. I could hear the cries and screams some 30 miles north of me of John Berman all night long, riding that game up and down. You know, we're talking about it here with the crew. One, whether you like football or not, this is the beauty of sport.

ROMANS: Yes.

CUOMO: This is why it translates into all these larger life lessons. And I am not a Patriots fan, I'm a New York Jets fan. They stink, for those who don't follow football, and they see the past as a nemesis. But you can't argue anymore with any kind of cogency that this isn't the best franchise in history and that this isn't the best quarterback in terms of just winning when it counts that we've ever seen. So, it is great to witness history. I love being able to witness the good kind and even though I'm not a Pats fan, if you don't respect what happened last night, you don't respect nothing.

Now, speaking of respect of things that matter, let's talk about the divisions of power in our constitution. This battle over President Trump's travel ban is developing this morning. There are all these deadlines upcoming that we'll take you through about this all- important review by the Ninth Circuit Appellate Court of the travel ban. You've got Minnesota and Washington involved in this litigation. How far will it go, what is the process, what is the administration saying? We're going to talk to attorneys on both sides.

Plus, an act of hate leading people -- to people showing a little love in this city. A subway car was filled with anti-Semitic graffiti. It was crudely done, it was everywhere. A group of strangers on the subway notice it and what they do is going to keep your hope going.

[05:50:11] ROMANS: Oh, OK, we can't wait for that. Thanks, Chris.

MARQUEZ: That stuff is happening way too much. Thanks, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, guys.

ROMANS: All right. After months of criticizing the jobs report, calling it a hoax, the president now seems to accept it. Does this mean now we can finally get on to the business of creating jobs? We get a check on CNN Money, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: The Kremlin is demanding an apology from "FOX NEWS" after anchor Bill O'Reilly referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin as a murderer during an interview with President Trump. In the same interview, Mr. Trump again reiterated that he respects the Russian leader. CNN's Clare Sebastian is live in Moscow with us for more. The Kremlin kind of getting it both ways, being shown so much love by President Trump but then being called a killer by the person interviewing him. How are they reacting?

[05:55:10] CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it did seem, Miguel, in the last couple of hours that those comments coming out from the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, saying that the -- calling the comments by Bill O'Reilly labeling President Putin a killer "unacceptable and offensive."

But interestingly, when asked to respond to how Mr. Trump responded to that, saying that the U.S. is also not so innocent in that department, he said he would prefer not to comment. So, the message here is that the U.S. administration is leaving the door open to a potential improvement in relations with Russia and Russia is doing the same.

But there are potential cracks that we're starting to see emerging in this as, of course, the escalation in violence in Ukraine. We don't know yet how the U.S. is going to respond to that comment from Mike Pence over the weekend, saying they're very concerned, but still questions remain about how they will respond. And Iran, another key issue. The Kremlin spokesman saying today that he does not agree with Mr. Trump's categorization of Iran as the number one terrorist state. Iran, of course, a key ally of Russia. As to how this relationship will evolve in this complex web of incredible challenges still remains an open question, Miguel.

MARQUEZ: It is absolutely incredible. Typically, it is -- signals are sent and everybody understands what those are. This time, every signal is being sent. Clare Sebastian in Moscow for us. Thank you very much.

ROMANS: All right, let's get an early start on your money this morning. Week three of the Trump presidency is here. So far, it's been a boon for bank stocks. In world markets, right now, Asian markets closed higher. European markets are slightly higher. U.S. futures barely moving here, up a little bit. The job market is humming, adding 227,000 jobs in January. The jobless rate ticked up to 4.8 percent and that's a good thing. More Americans started looking for work again. President Trump likes the numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Two hundred twenty-seven thousand jobs, great spirit in the country right now, so we're very happy about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Now remember, President Trump had ridiculed these numbers for months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Then I read -- every time it comes out I hear 5.3 percent unemployment. That is the biggest joke there is. Don't believe those phony numbers when you hear 4.9 and 5 percent unemployment. The number's probably 28, 29, as high as 35.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: When jobs numbers were good under President Obama, Trump disregarded them. Now, he'll need them to measure his own progress. He has promised to create 25 million jobs in eight years. That would be more than any president in history, even topping Bill Clinton.

All right, the tone of the Super Bowl ads give you a -- gives you a snapshot of what's going on in the country and while most were silly or sentimental, those that veered into political territory gained the most attention.

Budweiser had one of the most polarizing commercials in the Super Bowl, a retelling of its origin. It showed founder Adolphus Busch journeying to America to seek a better life. The hashtag #BoycottBudweiser trended on Twitter earlier in the -- Sunday evening -- apparently started by people who disliked the ad or thought it was critical of the Obama -- or the Trump administration. But then it was sort of hijacked and people were defending Budweiser and mocking the people who were boycotting the ad with the very same hashtag.

Coca-Cola revived an old ad featuring people singing "America the Beautiful" in different languages. And there was a powerful ad by Audi featuring a dad trying to explain the struggles of pay equity to his daughter.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

MARQUEZ: Good to be here. I'm Miguel Marquez. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You had 109 people out of hundreds of thousands of travelers. All we did was vet those people very, very carefully.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump is preparing now for a judicial showdown.

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to challenge the judge's order.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The vetting order wasn't vetted.

TRUMP: I say it's better to get along with Russia than not.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: Putin's a former KGB agent. He's a thug.

TRUMP: We got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country's so innocent?

SUPER BOWL ANNOUNCER: Patriots win the Super Bowl.

BRADY: We're bringing this sucker home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it was quite a night. I went to bed a halftime and, once again, woke up to a new world order.

CUOMO: This is our team. You harness the shock of people who don't get to witness these things and I bear the brunt of staying up and witnessing every torturous moment.

CAMEROTA: Right. So, what a game, what a halftime show, and we will get into all of that for you.

CUOMO: And in, you know, a culture now where all these things are undecided, we now know for sure the Patriots are the best franchise in the history of American football. They just --

CAMEROTA: And, Tom Brady --

CUOMO: They just -- he is the best --

CAMEROTA: -- he's the best --

CUOMO: -- quarterback we've seen.

CAMEROTA: -- ever.

CUOMO: So, welcome to all of you viewers in the United States and around the world. This is your NEW DAY. It's Monday, February 6th, 6:00 in the morning here in New York. So, who will decide what happens with travel to America, the courts or the president? That's the proposition.