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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
President Trump Wanted Department of Justice To Prosecute Hillary Clinton; Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Says He Did Not Know About P.R. Hit Firm; E. Coli Concerns For Romaine Lettuce; Coldest Thanksgiving In New York In Over A Century. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired November 21, 2018 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:30:16] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: The clearest case yet of the president misusing the Justice Department. He tried to get DOJ officials to prosecute Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN SENIOR TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Can you state it for the record? Did you know anything about this?
MARK ZUCKERBERG, CO-FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, FACEBOOK: Well, I -- like I said on the call, you know, I learned about this when I read the report.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN ANCHOR: A CNN exclusive -- Mark Zuckerberg fends off criticism after a report Facebook hired a P.R. hit firm.
BRIGGS: Keep romaine lettuce off your Thanksgiving table. An E. coli scare forcing that stern warning from health officials.
HARTUNG: And temperatures taking an epically cold turn. Wind chills in the single digits in New York for Thanksgiving, putting the balloons for the parade in jeopardy.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Kaylee Hartung in for Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. I guess we need new plans for our Thanksgiving holiday. Thirty-one minutes past the hour.
Perhaps no day in the Trump presidency of the last 24 hours is a clear picture of his worldview and his view of presidential powers, and that's where we start.
It turns out the president's calls to "lock her up" weren't reserved for campaign rallies; they were also heard inside the White House where President Trump was taking steps to have the Justice Department actually prosecute Hillary Clinton. A source telling CNN the president pressed then-White House counsel Don McGahn to make it happen. HARTUNG: The president had been attacking Clinton for years, by that point, over her e-mails, the Clinton Foundation, and other matters.
"The New York Times" first reported on the president's push to have Clinton and former FBI director James Comey prosecuted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, this is what happens in authoritarian countries. The president orders -- the president -- the leader orders the investigation and prosecution of his political enemies.
Fortunately, there are people in the White House here who understood the traditions and the rules of the American legal system and said you can't do that, and it didn't happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Now, McGahn fended off the president's repeated requests to have his rivals prosecuted. The "Times" reports McGahn had White House lawyers write a memo warning the president about all the consequences, including possible impeachment.
McGahn has since left the White House after extensive cooperation with the Mueller investigation, which include 30 hours of interviews that unnerved the president.
HARTUNG: A CNN source says the president also spoke repeatedly with deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein and Matt Whitaker -- now, the acting attorney general, then-chief of staff to Jeff Sessions.
Mr. Trump asked them about Justice Department progress investigating Hillary Clinton.
BRIGGS: Whitaker came to the meetings prepared to tell the president what Justice was doing on Clinton-related matters, although our source says Whitaker did not seem to cross any line.
More broadly, the president pressing Whitaker at the time seems to prove he was lying when he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know Matt Whitaker. Matt Whitaker worked for Jeff Sessions and he was always extremely highly thought of, and he still is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARTUNG: Well, Mr. Trump had been very clear for some time he intended to go after Hillary Clinton, including this remark at a presidential debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.
TRUMP: Yes, because you'd be in jail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARTUNG: It's startling to hear those comments from more than two years ago.
So far, no comment from the Justice Department on all of this.
BRIGGS: All right, let's talk about all of this with "CNN POLITICS" digital director Zach Wolf, live in Washington this morning.
Zach, good to see you. A lot to get to and that exchange is just startling to look back on.
The president told us exactly what he was going to do. Look, lawyers have long held the president from making bad decisions.
What does all of this mean and what does it tell you about the president's view of presidential powers?
ZACHARY WOLF, DIGITAL DIRECTOR, CNN POLITICS: Well, I think what it tells us is first, what he says on Twitter is essentially what he's thinking and that's what he's going to try and do pretty definitively, as he says things like trying to deflect from the Russia investigation by why isn't the Justice Department investigating Hillary Clinton.
He actually thinks that that should be happening. He actually has pushed for that to be happening.
So we should take, I think very literally, things that he says on Twitter. That's what he's going to try and do. Don't -- he's not joking. That's what he's -- that's what he's up to, make no mistake about it, first.
And then second, this is a man who has a view of presidential power that is at odds with basically the checks and balances that put the country together. He is essentially a stress test for this country's democracy to be able to withstand somebody like that being able to just have the Justice Department investigate people because he wants to.
[05:35:12] HARTUNG: Well, and as Jeffrey Toobin just pointed out, Trump had people in the legal system telling him you can't do that.
Now with Don McGahn gone and Matt Whitaker at the top of the Justice Department, who can stop him?
WOLF: Well, I mean, the way the framers put it together, Congress should be working to stop him, theoretically.
BRIGGS: Should, yes.
WOLF: Career people in the Justice Department should be -- should be working to tamp him down, I think. The country is not supposed to work so that one person -- sort of a figurehead at the top has the power to do this. So we'll see if the country is up to the task, I guess.
BRIGGS: So if that gives you a clear picture of how the president views presidential powers, this next story is all about his worldview because the U.S., under the president, has decided to stand by Saudi Arabia after the killing of U.S. resident and "Washington Post" journalist Jamal Khashoggi in this astounding, exclamation point- riddled statement from the president.
TEXT: "It could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event. Maybe he did and maybe he didn't! That being said, we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi. In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
BRIGGS: "Maybe he did and maybe he didn't" is the key point in all of this. It ends by the president saying, "Our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
But this statement starts with a couple of things. It starts with 'America First' and it says the world is a very dangerous place.
Does 'America First' mean American values are for sale, and has the president made it an even more dangerous place with his actions in the last 24 hours?
WOLF: Well, I would like to say I think "maybe he did or maybe he didn't" is code for I don't really care --
BRIGGS: Yes.
WOLF: -- because essentially, the president is saying it doesn't matter if MBS -- you know, the Saudi crown prince had anything to do with this. He doesn't care that the U.S. Intelligence Community thinks that he did. He simply is interested in the -- in the -- in the business relationships with Saudi Arabia above everything else.
So I think, to your point, 'America First' clearly is more about economics than it is about American values.
HARTUNG: And listen to this statement from Sen. Lindsey Graham on Sean Hannity's show last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: -- if Saudi Arabia needs us more than we need them. It's not too much to ask an ally not to butcher a guy in a consulate. This is not World War II, so I'm not going to look away at what MBS did. I think he did it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HARTUNG: So there you have it. Saudi Arabia needs us more than we need them. It doesn't appear that President Trump sees it that way.
How do you rectify that?
WOLF: It doesn't.
And it's interesting to see Lindsey Graham, who has been trying to get so close to President Trump on so many issues, sort of break with him a little bit on this. But when he was criticizing -- not really criticizing -- the way he did it on Twitter was by basically saying you don't want to be like President Obama and turn your-- turn your eye -- you know, turn your back on the Middle East.
He -- though the way he's trying to influence Trump is by making it all about President Obama. I think that's kind of an interesting way to do it but it also shows you that a lot of Republicans are going to have difficulty breaking with the president on this or anything because he has so much --
BRIGGS: Yes.
WOLF: -- sway with the base of the party right now.
BRIGGS: Especially when you see guys like Bob Corker, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, a Republican on his way out, tweeted this.
"I never thought I'd see the day a White House would moonlight as a public relations firm for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia."
This is a terrifying signal sent to autocrats around the world. It is, by far, a more dangerous place today.
Zach Wolf, thanks for being with us this morning. Happy Thanksgiving, my friend.
WOLF: Thank you.
BRIGGS: All right.
New financial disclosures filed by acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker reveal more than $900,000 in payments from a conservative group he founded in 2014. The group known as FACT received almost all of its funding from a dark money organization which got at least some of its funding from a major Republican donor, Charles Koch.
HARTUNG: Most of Whitaker's income in the past few years came from FACT, although CNN did pay him $15,000 as a legal commentator in 2017.
The disclosures magnify concerns over whether the Senate would confirm Whitaker if the president nominated him as permanent attorney general.
BRIGGS: Nancy Pelosi's bid to reclaim the speaker's gavel just got a big boost. Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, an Ohio Democrat who was weighing a potential challenge, announcing she will, instead, endorse Pelosi.
Fudge said she made her decision after being assured black women will have a seat at the party's decision-making table.
Pelosi also announced plans to revive a subcommittee on election integrity and make Fudge the chairwoman in the new Congress.
At this point, Pelosi has not faced a formal challenge in the speaker's race. She has encountered opposition from a small but very vocal group of House Democrats who want new leadership.
HARTUNG: Now, to a CNN exclusive.
After a year of apologizing for Facebook's missteps, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is sounding a lot more defiant.
Last week, a "New York Times" report claimed the company wasn't transparent about Russia's interference in the 2016 election. The report also said Facebook hired a P.R. firm to dig up dirt on its competitors and encourage reporters to examine the links between liberal billionaire George Soros and activists protesting Facebook.
[05:40:16] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEGALL: Can you state it for the record? Did you know anything about this?
ZUCKERBERG: Well, I -- like I said on the call, you know, I learned about this when I read the report as well, but I'm not so sure that's the most important point.
And I think your question is right that this is -- I do run the company. I am responsible for everything that happens here.
I don't think that this point was about a specific P.R. firm. It was about how we act.
SEGALL: You know, the P.R. firm was founded by a Republican political strategist and it launched a campaign linking Facebook critics to George Soros.
This is a common tactic used by anti-Semitic and alt-right groups. That's why I think people were so shocked when they found out about this. I think that was one of the parts of the report that a lot of folks had real questions about.
Does that strike you as stooping low?
ZUCKERBERG: Yes. I wasn't particularly happy about that piece of it and that's certainly a big part of what I -- when I read about this what made me want to look into this more deeply.
The intention here was never to attack an individual but -- and there are these lobbying groups and folks who are out there whose primary purpose is to -- is to attack the company, and I do think it's fine to push back on them. SEGALL: It's not common for tech companies to necessarily hire these types of firms and many would argue it's a way of spreading the same type of conspiracy theories that Facebook has worked so hard in the last couple of years to get on top of.
ZUCKERBERG: Yes. Look, from the review that I've done so far, it doesn't appear that anything that the -- that the group said was untrue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARTUNG: A great job by Laurie Segall there.
Zuckerberg went on to say, "We have a different worldview than some of the folks covering us."
BRIGGS: A check on the markets.
U.S. futures are now up slightly. Markets looking to rebound one day after the Dow lost more than 500 points, wiping out all gains for the year. It's not alone. The S&P 500 also down for the year.
Investors are worried the days of record profits are nearing an end with tech stocks taking the biggest hit. Tech companies have long been the darlings of Wall Street, sending stocks to record highs. But now, Apple faces slowing demand for iPhones; Facebook under scrutiny over data and privacy issues.
And as those stocks fall, so too, does the market. In fact, these five big tech names have lost more than $800 billion in combined market value since August.
TEXT: Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, Alphabet, Apple.
BRIGGS: But investors have a flurry of other concerns. High interest rates, crashing oil prices and now, at a 13-month low. Also, the U.S.-China trade war.
The bottom line here, after years of big profit growth, investors expect a slowdown in 2019.
HARTUNG: You know, Amazon's stock is down 26 percent --
BRIGGS: It's brutal.
HARTUNG: -- from its all-time high in September, but it's still up 29 percent on the year.
BRIGGS: But all those FAANG stocks have, to our point, driven the growth of the market. Will they drive it right back down?
HARTUNG: Something else concerning to hear this morning. The number of people unaccounted for in the Camp Fire is taking another big jump overnight. Now, potentially damaging rain is moving in for thousands without a home for the holiday.
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[05:47:25] HARTUNG: A major health warning that could affect millions of Thanksgiving menus. The Centers for Disease Control warning consumers not to eat romaine lettuce due to a possible E. coli contamination.
Thirty-two people in 11 states have been infected with the outbreak strain. In addition, 18 people in Canada have become sick.
Officials say consumers should not eat any romaine lettuce product. That includes whole heads of romaine, hearts of romaine, and bags and boxes of precut lettuce in salad mixes.
So far, the FDA not been able to tie the outbreak to a specific grower.
BRIGGS: The number of people now unaccounted for in California's Camp Fire jumping back up to 870. That's an increase of 171 from Monday, according to Butte County officials.
The death toll now stands at 81. That's up from 79, Monday.
The Camp Fire now 75 percent contained. Rain could become heavy over Northern California, lasting into Saturday, and that will help with the air quality but could also trigger mudslides and debris flows.
HARTUNG: The estimated cost of fighting the Camp Fire and the Woolsey Fire, which has claimed three lives, now stands at $130 million. Losses are still being tabulated. But for comparison, last year's smaller Napa Fire resulted in more than $13 billion in claims.
You're looking here at new video from a fire department helicopter flying through thick smoke from the Woolsey Fire to rescue three people and two dogs in the hills above Malibu.
The Woolsey Fire is nearly 100 percent contained after charring close to 97,000 acres.
BRIGGS: Well, if you're out here on the east coast for the holiday, bundle up. It's going to be coldest Thanksgiving in New York City in more than a century, which could spell trouble for the old Thanksgiving parade.
Here's meteorologist Ivan Cabrera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, record cold temperatures and along with that we're going to have the wind to contend with, and when you combine those two it is going to feel brutal out there.
Today will be in the 20s as far as the wind chill. That's going to be balmy compared to what's coming. Look at this -- just terrible timing, right?
Thanksgiving morning, eight degrees is what it's going to feel like in New York; 10 for Black Friday morning. And then Boston, even into single digits as well.
And look at Syracuse. It's going to feel like one degree -- perhaps at five-below heading into Friday, so brutal stuff here.
Sixteen possible record lows. And in fact, in New York, if we hit 19 or below that would make it the coldest Thanksgiving ever.
Here is the forecast for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We are looking at temperatures in the low 20s but with the wind at 15 to 20, that's going to make it feel like it's in the single digits throughout the entire parade, so please bundle up.
This is not going to last all that long. For Black Friday, it's still cold but watch what happens. We'll get back to where we should be for this time of year.
[05:50:00] So again, it's just this timing. But back in the 50s by the weekend and into early next week.
Happy cold Thanksgiving -- guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARTUNG: Oh --
BRIGGS: Thank you, my friend.
HARTUNG: Happy --
BRIGGS: A good day to sit inside and watch football, as we planned.
HARTUNG: Yes, or take in the balloons from the Time Warner Center -- the right vantage point here --
BRIGGS: Not out there.
HARTUNG: -- if those balloons are flying.
Coming up here on EARLY START, men making choices about women's rights. It's a sad irony. That's what a Mississippi judge said as he ruled against a ban on abortions at 15 weeks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:55:05] HARTUNG: A Chicago police officer is recovering after being shot during a traffic stop. He was hit in the back of his bulletproof vest.
Police returned fire, striking the gunman in the neck. He's in critical condition today.
The video of the shooting comes just one day after three people, including an officer, were shot to death at Mercy Hospital in Chicago.
Another officer, narrowly escaping, shot when a bullet hit his holster and embedded itself into his handgun. The gunman, Juan Lopez, was dismissed from Chicago's Fire Academy in 2014 after bullying issues.
Strong words from a federal judge in Mississippi who blocked a state law that outlaws most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The only facility in the state that provides abortion services sued after Gov. Phil Bryant signed the measure in March.
Judge Carlton Reeves calling it a sad irony that men are making decisions about a woman's reproductive rights.
BRIGGS: In his ruling he writes, "The state chose to pass a law it knew was unconstitutional to endorse a decades-long campaign, fueled by national interest groups, to ask the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade."
The judge also called the Mississippi legislature's professed concerns about women's health "pure gaslighting."
Former Michigan State University president Lou Anna Simon has been charged with lying to police in the Larry Nassar case. She's accused of misleading investigators about how much she knew about sex abuse allegations against Nassar, the doctor convicted of abusing young women, all employed by the university and USA Gymnastics.
Simon resigned in January after 13 years but has still been on the university's payroll.
Her lawyer calls the charges political and untrue.
HARTUNG: Aspiring actress Mareli Minuitti granted a restraining order against lawyer Michael Avenatti. She accuses him of physical and verbal violence, including hitting her face with pillows and dragging her across the floor.
Avenatti, who represents Stormy Daniels, was arrested by Los Angeles police on suspicion of felony domestic violence last week. He has not been charged and denies the allegations.
His lawyers claim Miniutti's behavior was irrational and she did not suffer any corporal injury at the hands of Avenatti.
BRIGGS: Christmas came early for shoppers at a Walmart in Derby, Vermont. A Secret Santa picked up the tab for almost everyone last week.
One of the lucky shoppers snapped a picture of the mystery man wearing the Patriots coat -- not Bill Belichick.
She posted about the random act of kindness on Facebook. Friends and neighbors responded, saying their layaway charges were also paid off, some as high as $800.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAMMY DESAUTELS, WALMART SHOPPER: I really have a feeling that there's hope for the -- mankind or whatever, you know, that there's still good people out there.
JULIE GATES; WALMART SHOPPER: I get goosebumps thinking that that is the true magic of Christmas. That's the Christmas spirit walking amongst us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The story the world needed today.
The store employee confirmed the anonymous shopper's generosity. Walmart would not say how many people he helped or how much he spent.
HARTUNG: Another kind of generosity, this time from the president, as Peas beat out Carrots in a White House tradition, the annual turkey pardon. And the president did the honors before jetting off to Mar-a- Lago for the Thanksgiving weekend.
He said the vote was decided by a quote "fair and open election and Carrots refused to concede."
He added this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Even though Peas and Carrots have received a presidential pardon, I have warned them that House Democrats are likely to issue them both subpoenas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARTUNG: Well, Peas and Carrots will live out the rest of their turkey lives at Virginia Tech's Gobblers Rest exhibit.
BRIGGS: I love the headline of "The Washington Post" -- "The turkey pardon felt like a reality show meets Absurdist Theater." It sums it up well.
HARTUNG: Yes, it does.
BRIGGS: Yes.
HARTUNG: Thank you so much for having me here on EARLY START --
BRIGGS: Good to have you here.
HARTUNG: -- and thanks to you for joining us. I'm Kaylee Hartung.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now. See you tomorrow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are watching a president undermine the principles of our democracy.
TRUMP: If I win, I am going to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation.
JOHN DEAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL FOR PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON: I think Richard Nixon would tell this president he's going too far.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The presidential essentially put a price tag on a man's life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's one of the most amoral statements any president has ever uttered.
TRUMP: It's 'America First' to me. It's all about 'America First'.
(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 Wednesday, November 21st. It's 6:00 here in New York.
Listen to this. Nixon would tell the president he's going too far. That is a jaw-dropping statement and what Richard Nixon's White House counsel John Dean told me overnight about the stunning revelations that President Trump wanted to order the Justice Department to go after his political rivals.
This is the sort of stuff of a banana republic, Dean told me. This is what an autocrat does.
