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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Susan Zirinsky Named President of CBS News; Trump Considers Declaring National Emergency; No Progress on Shutdown After Weekend Meetings; Fox News' Chris Wallace Fact-Checks Sarah Sanders; Bolton Signals Pause in U.S. Withdrawal from Syria. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired January 07, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00] DAVE BRIGGS, CO-HOST, EARLY START: That is a lot of females getting promoted there at "Cbs" --
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-HOST, EARLY START: Yes --
BRIGGS: Three now --
ROMANS: Yes --
BRIGGS: On "Cbs" this morning --
ROMANS: That's a real -- you know, that's a -- that's a ceiling- shattering moment. A glass-ceiling --
BRIGGS: It is indeed --
ROMANS: Shattering moment --
BRIGGS: Congratulations to her. EARLY START continues right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I may declare a national emergency dependent on what's going to happen over the next few days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: President Trump weighing whether to use emergency powers to fund his border wall, as the shutdown enters week three, no headway on talks.
BRIGGS: National security adviser John Bolton rolling back the president's decision to rather withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. The new conditions he's now laying out.
ROMANS: After a week-long search that gripped the nation, two men are in custody connected to the murder of seven-year-old Jazmine Barnes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Bohemian Rhapsody".
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: A night of major upsets at the Golden Globes. We'll have all the highlights for you. What a night it was, good morning everyone, welcome to EARLY START, I'm Dave Briggs --
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans, nice to see you this Monday morning.
BRIGGS: Nice to see you my friend.
ROMANS: It is January 7th, it is 5:00 a.m. in the East.
BRIGGS: What did you make of the Golden Globes? A lot of surprises --
ROMANS: I was surprised. I mean, I didn't have Glenn Close, I didn't -- you know, I didn't -- I thought --
BRIGGS: That was huge --
ROMANS: A star is born would win more awards, so I was is surprised.
BRIGGS: Yes, I did too. A lot of breakout stars always the talk of Golden Globes. But last night, there's one no one saw coming. The breakout star was the girl photo-bombing the red carpet, the Fiji "Water Girl", Roman, she knew exactly where to place herself perfectly and was trending all night.
ROMANS: I did love it, I did -- oh, wait, we have our own Fiji water --
BRIGGS: Photo-bomber --
ROMANS: Model -- photo-bomber, hello --
BRIGGS: Can I get one of those? Thank you very much, well played.
ROMANS: No, thank you, no thank you --
BRIGGS: Well played.
ROMANS: All right, two minutes after the hour. The federal government -- the shutdown entering its third week with no major progress after three straight days of meetings over the weekend. The president's border wall still the barrier to a deal.
On Sunday, the White House laid out budget requests including $5.7 billion for what they're calling -- now calling a steel barrier. And $800 million to address urgent humanitarian needs. Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney admitting President Trump took the concrete wall off the table during talks with Democratic leaders on Friday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICK MULVANEY, ACTING CHIEF OF STAFF: Call it a wall, call it a fence, the president actually said he didn't care what you call it, he even offered to let the Democrats help him design something. He says as long as it's effective, he doesn't care what you call it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The president now weighing whether to declare a national emergency at the border to fulfill his signature 2016 campaign pledge. That idea facing some swift push-back from Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: Look, if Harry Truman couldn't nationalize the steel industry during war time, this president doesn't have the power to declare an emergency and build a multi-billion dollar wall on the border. So that's a non-starter.
REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA), CHAIRMAN, ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Well, unfortunately the short answer is yes, there is a provision in law that says the president can declare an emergency. And in this case, I think the president would be wide open to a court challenge saying where is the emergency?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House will begin passing spending bills this week to reopen parts of the government. The first measure funding the Treasury Department and IRS so Americans can get their tax refunds on time, but no sign the Senate will take up those measures or the White House would support them. White House correspondent Boris Sanchez with more.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, as we've seen during other meetings between top administration officials and lawmakers, we're hearing two different sides as to what happened during these negotiations to reopen the federal government.
And potentially fund some sort of barrier between the United States and Mexico. President Trump on one hand tweeting out that this was a productive meeting on Sunday afternoon. People inside the room though are giving different accounts.
According to sources, this meeting was not very productive, one Democratic source explaining that Republicans presented to Democrats a specific outline, an official justification for spending $5.7 billion on the president's long promised border wall.
That Democratic source feeling that the Republican presentation was incomplete in their words. On the other hand, Democrats have continued to maintain that they believe the federal government should first be reopened before any talks about funding any sort of barrier could take place.
In the meantime, President Trump has continued referencing this potential drastic option of declaring a national emergency to secure funding for his border wall. The president talked about it on Sunday when he returned from a retreat at Camp David.
I asked him what his thoughts on that were. Here is his justification.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're looking at a national emergency because we have a national emergency. Just read the papers. We have a crisis at the border of drugs, of human beings being trafficked all over the world. They're coming through.
[05:05:00] And we have an absolute crisis, and of criminals and gang members coming through. It is national security. It's a national emergency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: The president didn't really answer when asked if he had a specific deadline or something that he specifically had to see during these talks to then trigger that drastic option, ultimately saying that we'd have to wait and see, that they will get back to us soon.
The president also making waves with a bit of news about the actual material that the barrier is going to be made out of. The president moving from the concrete wall that he demanded just a few days ago on Twitter, now saying that he believes the barrier should be made out of steel because it would boost American business, not cause any obstructions and potentially be stronger than a concrete barrier.
The president also saying that it's partly because Democrats don't like concrete. Dave and Christine.
ROMANS: OK, duly noted.
BRIGGS: With a smirk, Boris for us there --
ROMANS: Thank you, Boris, from the White House. The real world consequences of the shutdown are starting to show. The National Park Service forced to take the extraordinary step of using reserve funds from visitor fees to cart away at the trash that has piled up and to keep the parks safe.
In the two-plus weeks since the shutdown began, at least three visitors to national parks have been killed in unrelated accidents. And if the shutdown stretches into February, millions of Americans who rely on SNAP; that's the nation's food stamp program, could be cut off.
Congress has appropriated $3 billion in emergency funds for SNAP, but that will not cover all of February's obligations.
BRIGGS: And even more media dangers. The nutritional program for women, infants and children or WIC who are not receiving federal funds at all during the shutdown. WIC helps around 7 million pregnant women and mothers with young children who fall within the poverty index. And growing security concerns after hundreds of TSA officers called out sick last week from at least four major airports. The National TSA Employees Union tells Cnn as many as 170 staff members called out each day last week at New York's JFK Airport, and sick calls have increased as much as 300 percent at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
ROMANS: Federal workers are facing their first missed pay-check this week as the shutdown stretches on. The bills are beginning to pile up and they're facing their first missed pay-check Friday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORIE MCCANN, FURLOUGHED FEDERAL WORKER: If it goes on much longer, then I am going to have to figure out what I'm going to do to sustain my lifestyle. And just to be able to eat honestly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: That's furloughed IRS worker Lorie McCann, President Trump says he feels her pain and the pain of 800,000 other federal workers including border patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection officers who will not be paid this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I can relate and I'm sure that the people that are on the receiving end will make adjustments. They always do and they will make adjustments. People understand exactly what's going on. But many of those people that won't be receiving a pay-check, many of those people agree 100 percent with what I'm doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: According to acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, if no agreement is reached and the shutdown by midnight Tuesday, the federal payroll run for Friday night will not go out as planned. And again, that's TSA agents and border patrol.
So think of that for a moment. I mean, the people on the front lines of keeping America safe are doing it without pay.
BRIGGS: All the while, why you're considering national emergency to build, it's confusing, isn't it? White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders meanwhile falsely suggesting terrorists are pouring across the southern border into the United States by the thousands.
That's what she implied on "Fox News" until Chris Wallace suggested otherwise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, PRESS SECRETARY, WHITE HOUSE: We know that roughly nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists come into our country illegally, and we know that our most vulnerable point of entry is at our southern border -- CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS: Wait, I know the statistic, I didn't know if
--
SANDERS: Yes --
WALLACE: Anybody used it, but I studied up on this. Do you know where those 4,000 people come -- where they're captured? Airports.
SANDERS: Not always, but certainly --
WALLACE: At airports, the State Department says there hasn't been any terrorist that they found coming across the southern border from Mexico --
SANDERS: It's by air, it's by land and it's by sea. It's all of the above.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Sanders also told Wallace, President Trump quote, "means what he says when he suggests the shutdown could last for months or even years."
ROMANS: All right, national security adviser John Bolton signaling a pause in plans for a U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria. During a news conference in Jerusalem, Bolton insisted U.S. troops will not pull out until ISIS is destroyed. And Bolton expressed concern about the welfare of the U.S.-backed Kurds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BOLTON, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER, UNITED STATES: We're going to be discussing the president's decision to withdraw, but to do so from northeast Syria in a way that makes sure that ISIS is defeated and is not able to revive itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:10:00] ROMANS: President Trump announced on December 19th, the U.S. would depart within 30 days. At the time the president declared ISIS had been defeated in Syria, since then, he has changed his tune and said Sunday, the U.S., quote, "won't be finally pulled out until ISIS is gone."
Earlier, Bolton told reporters the United States will pull out of Syria only with assurances that Turkey will not attack America's Kurdish allies there.
BRIGGS: Joe Biden expected to decide whether he'll jump into the 2020 race within a month. A close Biden ally tells Cnn, the former VP indicated he is leaning toward a run and hoped to reach a decision within the next 30 days. So far, no word, but the ally says Biden believes he could beat Trump in the general election.
Some Biden allies though worry uncertainty about running may be a sign the 76-year-old doesn't have the passion to mount another campaign. Biden had said even if he decides in January, he'd wait until later to announce.
Elizabeth Warren looking to gain some early momentum for a possible 2020 run. The Massachusetts senator canvassing the state of Iowa over the weekend. And she was confronted by a voter in Sioux City who criticized her decision to take a DNA test to prove her claims of native American ancestry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I am not a person of color, I am not a citizen of a tribe. When I first ran for public office, the first time was in 2012, and the Republicans honed in on this part of my history and thought they could make a lot of hay out of it, a lot of racial slurs and a lot of ugly stuff that went on. And so my decision was I'm just going to put it all out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Warren campaigned in five cities and four counties over the past three days and, well, as you'd expect, it took a toll. The senator losing her voice by the end of the visit.
ROMANS: All right, in an interview with "60 Minutes", newly-elected Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposed taxing the rich as high as 70 percent to fund a climate change plan she is calling the Green New Deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D), NEW YORK: But once you get to like the tippy tops on your 10 millionth dollar, sometimes you see tax rates as high as 60 percent or 70 percent. That doesn't mean all $10 million are taxed at an extremely high rate, but it means that as you climb up this ladder, you should be contributing more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The Green New Deal calls for reducing carbon emissions to zero and moving the U.S. off of fossil fuels in ten years. Freshman progressive acknowledged her goal is ambitious.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OCASIO-CORTEZ: It's going to require a lot of rapid change that we don't even conceive as possible right now. What is the problem with trying to push our technological capacities to the furthest extent possible?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest woman elected to Congress. A Democratic socialist, she has also pushed Medicare for all, tuition free public college, canceling all student loan debt and housing as a federal right and this is why she is so popular -- I guess she is so popular among millennials.
BRIGGS: Millennials --
ROMANS: You see -- I think you see other Democrats warily watching her message and how -- just how well she relates to younger people and her message especially there --
BRIGGS: She won over 2 million Twitter followers in the process --
ROMANS: Yes --
BRIGGS: But is this dangerous for Democrats, we'll discuss --
ROMANS: Yes --
BRIGGS: That a little later on. "Bohemian Rhapsody" meanwhile the surprise champion, upsetting "A Star Is Born" for best drama at the Golden Globes while you were sleeping. And actor Rami Malek scored best actor honors for his portrayal of the Queen's frontman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAMI MALEK, ACTOR: Thank you to Freddie Mercury for giving me the joy of a lifetime. I love you, you beautiful man. This is for and because of you, gorgeous.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: "Green Book" won three globes, the most of any movie, best musical or comedy among the trophies for the road trip movie about the unlikely friendship between African-American pianist Dr. Don Shirley and his Italian-American driver.
Best Actress in a Drama, Glenn Close earned a standing ovation for her tearful speech, urging women to follow their dreams.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLENN CLOSE, ACTRESS: We have to say I can do that, and I should be allowed to do that.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Talked about her mom and how she didn't follow her dreams. There, best supporting actress winner Regina King vowing that her upcoming projects will be 50 percent female. Also challenged others to follow her lead, "A Star Is Born" took home one Globe, Lady Gaga winning for best original song "Shallow".
ROMANS: Other big winners included Best Director Alfonso Cuaron and the Best Foreign Language film for his latest project "Roma".
[05:15:00] Christian Bale, best performance by an actor in a motion picture, musical comedy for playing Dick Cheney in "Vice", and he credited Satan as the inspiration for his performance.
Olivia Colman; best performance by an actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy for the favorite. And the Americans picked up best TV drama honors for its final season, and "The Kominsky Method" took home the best TV series, musical or comedy prize.
BRIGGS: And the Fiji water girl, definitely --
ROMANS: Yes --
BRIGGS: The best cameo --
ROMANS: Yes, I will say so --
BRIGGS: Of the night. Coming up, one of the men suspected in the shooting death of seven-year-old Jazmine Barnes set to be charged with capital murder this morning. How police tracked him down after a week-long search.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRIGGS: Two suspects in the murder of seven-year-old Jazmine Barnes now under arrest. The "Houston Chronicle" reports Larry Woodruffe being held on drug possession charges but has not been held in Jazmine's death. The other Eric Black Jr. said to be formally charged today with capital murder.
Meantime, services for Jazmine are scheduled for tomorrow. Cnn's Kaylee Hartung has the extraordinary details of how police tracked down that second suspect.
KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN REPORTER: Dave, Christine, authorities say Jazmine Barnes death is very likely a case of mistaken identity, that when a gunman opened fire on the car she was in, he believed somebody else to be inside.
We're told this investigation unraveled very quickly on Friday, authorities had received a tip by way of activist Shaun King, they then pulled Eric Black Jr. over in a traffic stop, brought him on a possession of marijuana charge, and once he started talking, he eventually confessed to being the driver of the car in which another man sat in the passenger's seat and pulled the trigger on the gun that shot and killed Jazmine Barnes.
[05:20:00] When it comes to the discrepancy between that composite sketch of a white man in his 30s or 40s that investigators were looking for, for the past week, you compare that to Black being a black 20-year-old man, well, authorities say there's nothing nefarious about the description they believe Jazmine Barnes family gave, but that when they were caught up in the chaos of the moment, the white man in that red pickup truck is very likely the last thing they saw.
He is not a person of interest, they believe he is a witness and they do hope that he comes forward to discuss what he may have seen last Sunday morning. Dave, Christine? ROMANS: All right, Kaylee Hartung in Houston, thank you for that story, keeping us up to speed on that. All right, a stunner in Chicago. The Bears bounced from the playoffs by a matter of inches. Coy Wire has more in this morning's BLEACHER REPORT next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRIGGS: All right, the Philadelphia Eagles continue their magical run with a dramatic playoff win on the road against the Bears. Coy Wire has the details in the BLEACHER REPORT from Santa Clara, California, site of a pretty --
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Yes --
BRIGGS: Important college football game tonight. Good morning Coy.
WIRE: Good morning to you, Dave -- oh, I feel for you, Christine, the Chicago Bears fan, it is not a good morning for them. The playoffs ending in heartbreaking fashion for Chicago. Let's check the highlights. Chicago had the lead with less than a minute to play, but the legend of Eagles back-up quarterback Nick Foles continues to grow.
A perfectly-placed touchdown pass to Golden Tate to go up 16-15. And then more drama, the Bears drive into field goal range and kicker Cody Parkey, he was tied for second most missed kicks on the season, nailed the 43 yarder, but it doesn't count.
Eagles coach Doug Pederson called the time out to ice him before the snap, so Parkey lines up again, in this time, hits not just the uprights but the cross-bar, it bounces out. Eagles Tre Sullivan has to actually tipped it, and the defending champs, they advance with that 16-15 victory. They're at New Orleans next Sunday, but Cody Parkey finished with an astonishing six misses this season that hit the upright.
[05:25:00] Parkey was booed off his home field, afterwards completely heartbroken in the locker room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CODY PARKEY, PLACEKICKER, CHICAGO BEARS: I feel terrible. Let the team down. That's on me, so I have to own it, I have to be a man. And I know, unfortunately that's the way it went for today.
I'll continue to put things in perspective, continue to just put my best foot forward and just sleep at night knowing that I did everything in my power this week to go and make that kick. And for whatever reason, I hit the cross bar and the upright, and I still couldn't -- I still couldn't do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Meantime the clock strikes midnight on the Cinderella season for Baltimore rookie Lamar Jackson; the youngest QB ever to start in the playoff. The Chargers defense simply ripped them apart, especially in the first three quarters. He converted his first two passes, then went nearly two hours before making another completion.
Hundred and ninety four yards passing, but nearly all of them coming in the final three drives of the game. He was sacked seven times, intercepted once. LA's defense forces two fumbles in this one including the sack fumble that sealed their 23-17 win.
Chargers now go back and forth across the country one more time, only to face the Patriots next Sunday. Now to the reason we're here, Alabama and Clemson playing each other for the national title, three of the last four years. Lot of talk about this game being bad for college football.
Ticket sales are way down, you could still get a ticket to the game for $184 bucks right now, location certainly a factor. A lot of the players saying that their families can't even make the trip out to see them play, because it's so darn expensive. Nonetheless though, these players think this is must-see TV.
We caught up with on them on media day and asked them why they think fans should watch this one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only thing better than a trilogy is the fourth time around. If you don't watch it, you're missing out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a must-see thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to give everybody a show.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't help it that we're good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is "Rocky 4", we'd being at it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a senior, so I played them every year since I've been here. You know, we've got to go out on top.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it's two powerhouses going at it, and it's going to be a heavyweight fight, it's going to be a dog fight to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Now, Dave, Christine, you know, one player from Clemson told me, this is kind of like he hopes that someday they'll look back like the Celtics versus Lakers when they were always --
BRIGGS: Yes --
WIRE: In the championship, but now, it's looked at as an all-time classic rivalry.
BRIGGS: Yes, you've got to admire the greatness, but 165 bucks you get-in price on StubHub, that's a problem, enjoy it, Coy Wire, and we'll get those highlights --
WIRE: Yes -- BRIGGS: From you tomorrow. Good to see you my friend, Christine,
over to you.
ROMANS: Guys, I'm so disappointed, I had the Khalil Mack jersey in my bag ready to wear it --
BRIGGS: Oh --
ROMANS: For this segment today --
BRIGGS: So tough --
ROMANS: I was so sure they were going to win, sorry Chicago, all right, thanks, guys.
BRIGGS: Tough one.
ROMANS: The government shutdown entering its third week with no end in sight. How it's already hurting programs across the U.S.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
