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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Senate Votes on Dueling Bills Today; U.S. Recognizes Venezuelan Opposition as Leader; Search for Missing Soccer Star's Plane Suspended; Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired January 24, 2019 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:31:09] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Advantage Pelosi. The president caves to the House speaker and calls off the State of the Union hours after vowing to deliver it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Did he keep -- make a deal to keep his wife out of trouble?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Comments just like that one of Michael Cohen's family scared for their safety? Now Cohen is delaying his testimony to Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JONI ERNST (R), IOWA: I'm still the same person as I was a week ago. The only difference is that you know more about me now than you did a week ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Iowa Senator Joni Ernst says she was not ready, but she is confronting painful memories of abuse and rape after they were publicized in divorce papers.

ROMANS: And five people are dead after a gunman storms a bank in Florida.

Welcome back to EARLY START this morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. 31 minutes after the hour. We will get to Venezuela where the country is in crisis. Country with the largest oil reserves in the world. But we start right here, our State of the Union is -- well, it's a mess.

The State of the Union address is on hold indefinitely. President Trump blinking in his high stakes battle with Nancy Pelosi after a daylong power struggle with the House speaker. The president actually backing away from a fight, it would appear, tweeting, "This is her prerogative. I will do the address when the shutdown is over. I'm not looking for an alternative venue. I look forward to giving a great State of the Union address in the near future."

ROMANS: He talks about the history and the tradition importance of the House chamber, many wondering who exactly wrote that tweet. It was --

BRIGGS: Was he hacked?

ROMANS: It was permissive and very, very calm. That rather stunning capitulation from the president coming 11 hours after he firmly vowed to somehow deliver that addresses from the House as planned writing, "It would be so very sad for our country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule and very importantly on location." Pelosi, though, did not budge, refusing even to consider allowing a vote to let the president speak.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: The government is still shut down. I still make the offer as for the mutually agreeable date, as the original date was, mutually agreeable, so that we can welcome him properly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: You might recall Pelosi initially claimed security was the reason for delaying the president's address. Here's what Mr. Trump had to say about postponing his speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Nancy Pelosi, or Nancy as I call her, she doesn't want to hear the truth and she doesn't want it hear more importantly the American people hear the truth. So we just found out that she's canceled it and I think that's a great blotch on the incredible country that we all love. It's a great, great, horrible mark.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The White House appeared caught off guard by Pelosi's pushback. CNN has learned the president's team believed the speaker was only suggesting the address be postponed so they decided to call her bluff. Pelosi pressing her advantage late last night, tweeting, "Mr. President, I hope by saying near future you mean you will support the House passed package to end the shutdown."

ROMANS: Day 34 of that shutdown, that partial shutdown is dawning and there are signs the administration bracing for the shutdown to go on for who knows how long. The "Washington Post" reporting that White House acting chief staff Mick Mulvaney has asked agency heads to list their vital programs that would be jeopardized if the government remains closed into March or April.

The "Post" also reporting the House Democrats are prepared to back increased spending on border security, but not a wall. That is if the president agrees to reopen the government first. BRIGGS: The Senate is set to vote today on dueling bills that would

do just that. One bill backed by Republicans would fund the president's border wall. The Democrats' proposal has no money for the wall. ' Neither bill expected to pass but there are signs a fracture within the GOP. At least one senator, Cory Gardner of Colorado, is expected to vote for the Democrats' clean bill that does not include border wall funding.

[04:35:07] And Ohio Senator Rob Portman also has concerns about the president's strategy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROB PORTMAN (R), OHIO: I never believed that shutting down government provided leverage. One I think it's a bad idea to shut down government. The taxpayer ends up losing. Families of workers end up losing. The economy ends up getting hit. So it really doesn't make sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: $6 billion to date, $6 billion in pay for federal authorities -- for federal employees has not gone to them. So for 800,000 of them, the end of this workweek means a second paycheck missed. Again that will be about $6 billion by the end of this week. That's more than the president asked for to pay for the border wall.

All five former Homeland Security secretaries including newly departed White House chief of staff John Kelly have co-signed a letter to the president and Congress that says, "We write to you today with a simple message. Fund the critical mission of DHS." In addition to Kelly, two of those former secretaries served in the Obama era, two others from the Bush era.

BRIGGS: One critical component of DHS is the TSA. And the shutdown is taking an enormous toll on its agents. In Minneapolis, St. Paul, for example, they have been forced to support each other with this makeshift food bank at the airport and air traffic controllers are facing serious challenges as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERT NAVARRO, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: It does affect your sleep at night. How can you be well rested when you're not -- you don't know when the next time you're going to get paid. Pretend like your last paycheck was in December, and you do not know when you will get paid again.

PAUL RINALDI, PRESIDENT, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS' ASSOCIATION: The biggest toll I have right now is the human toll. The fatigue in my work environment right now where I'm seeing routine mistakes are actually happening because they are thinking about which credit cards can I consolidate up for zero interest, who is giving you a break on your phone bill, or which company is helping you out so you can skip your mortgage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Already the most stressful job there is, now they're landing planes without a paycheck. Eighty-seven accidents have not been investigated by the NTSB since the shutdown started. That includes plane, car and train accidents. And some of the nearly 6,000 Secret Service staffers coping without paychecks are carrying these special challenge coins. These are something that are common in government. First in combat actually.

They would, you know, for a tour of duty or something, they'd make these. But now they're doing them inside the government. Look, they're paid for by the agents. "Don't worry, you'll get back pay" is printed on one side. On the other side, "United States Secret Service essential personnel."

BRIGGS: Former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen postponing his public congressional testimony scheduled for February 7th citing ongoing threats against his family. A source telling CNN Cohen's wife and father-in-law feel threatened by attacks from President Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Did he make a deal to keep his wife who supposedly, maybe I'm wrong, but you can check it, did he keep -- make a deal to keep his wife out of trouble? He should give information maybe on his father- in-law because that's the one that people want to look at because where does that money -- that's the money in the family.

RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S LAWYER: I'm telling you, it come from the Ukraine. The reason that's important is, he may have ties to something called organized crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The president was asked about the postponement Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Michael Cohen today, he says he's been threatened by you and Mr. Giuliani. He and his family being threatened.

TRUMP: No, I would say he's been threatened by the truth. He's only been threatened by the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Democrats meantime say not testifying not an option for Cohen. They're considering whether to subpoena him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: We will get the testimony as sure as night becomes day and day becomes night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Cohen reports to prison to begin his three-year sentence in March.

BRIGGS: For the first time Republican Senator Joni Ernst is speaking out about painful moments she endured in the past. The highest ranking woman in Republican Senate leadership and an Army combat veteran says she was, quote, "forced out as a survivor of mental and physical abuse" following public reports of her divorce papers earlier this week.

Ernst told Bloomberg News, quote, "I didn't want to share it with anybody. And in the era of the hashtag Me Too survivors, I always believe that every person is different and they will confront their demons when they are ready. And I was not ready."

ROMANS: Ernst described a violent episode where her then husband Gail Ernst grabbed per by the throat and pounded her head. She also told Bloomberg News she was raped during her time as a student at Iowa State University. Ernst said she has and always will work hard to support people who have been in her shoes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERNST: I have always been a strong proponent of working for those survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, understanding now that people will view my work in those areas not as a senator that is working to support them but now as somebody who has been in that situation that will be supporting them.

[04:40:04] But what I want to remind everybody is that I'm still the same person as I was a week ago. The only difference is that you know more about me now than you did a week ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Ernst denied allegations made by her husband in that divorce affidavit that she had an affair. CNN has attempted to reach out to Gail Ernst for a response, but we have not heard back.

BRIGGS: Another day, another Democrat entering the 2020 presidential race, the latest though certainly different than the rest. He is openly gay, 37-year-old South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Mayor Pete as some call him also served in the Navy during the war in Afghanistan. He says his message is one of generational change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), SOUTH BEND, INDIANA: For a new generation of leadership in our country. And that we can't nibble around the edges of a broken system, that there is no going back, that there is no again in the real world, and that we can't rewind to 1950 or for that matter to 2010.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Buttigieg has little name recognition and could struggle to get noticed in an already crowded Democratic field.

ROMANS: A mass shooting inside a bank in Sebring, Florida, leaving five people dead. Police say a gunman barricaded himself inside the SunTrust Bank branch Wednesday and opened fire. The suspect identified as 21-year-old Sebring resident Zephen Xaver. He's now in custody. Police say he himself contacted authorities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our subject contacted or consolidated dispatch center and said he had entered the bank and began shooting. We've suffered a significant loss at the hands of a suspect criminal doing a senseless crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Police still have not released the names of the victims. The suspect's father says he is heartbroken for those who died and says his son, quote, "wasn't raised to be like this."

Zephen Xaver had worked as a correctional officer trainee for two months before resigning two weeks ago.

ROMANS: All right. A major shift in Venezuela, the U.S. recognizes the only opposition leader as president. The nation dealing with economic turmoil, corruption. We'll go to Caracas next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:46:19] BRIGGS: All right. A country more than 30 million in crisis and relations between the U.S. and Venezuela may be building toward a flash point at blazing speed. Starting less than 24 hours ago when the Trump administration recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation's president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today freedom broke out in Venezuela with the recognition of the new interim president. Maduro is a dictator are with no legitimate claim to power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The U.S. move a major blow to Nicolas Maduro whose election last year was condemned around the world as a fraudulent power grab. Over just a few years Venezuela has fallen into a deep crisis despite immense oil wealth. Corruption and failed socialist policies have crashed the economy leading to hyperinflation, widespread hunger and disease.

Now the crisis has deepened. Huge protests yesterday left 10 people dead. Maduro gave U.S. diplomats 72 hours to leave the country, but a senior administration official dismissed that order as, quote, "meaningless."

Stefano Pozzebon reporting for CNN from Caracas. STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Yes, Christine, Dave, historic moments

we have witnessed here in Caracas yesterday when Juan Guaido swore himself in as the new president of Venezuela in order to call for free and fair elections as soon as possible. And right now, there are two people claiming to be the president of Venezuela and the White House -- the United States -- are throwing their support behind Juan Guaido, behind the Venezuelan opposition, with all the implications that that support mean, implications in the economic sphere, in the political sphere.

Let's talk about the economics. There is of course a lot of trade especially oil trade going on between Caracas and Washington. President Trump has said that all options are on the table when it comes to restore the Venezuelan democracy.

Nicolas Maduro has reacted to the support by the United States to Guaido by cutting down and breaking all political and diplomatic relationships with Washington and the United States are so far stood firm and say they still recognize Guaido and are still waiting for democracy to be restored here in Caracas -- Christine, Dave.

ROMANS: All right. Thank you so much for that.

China's economy is slowing and it will still overtake the United States as the world's top retail market for the very first time. Retail sales in China will reach more than $5.6 trillion this year, about 100 billion more than in the United States. $5.6 trillion. The Chinese population is growing wealth and the rapid development of online sales have driven this retail boom. Almost $2 trillion of retail spending in China will be online this year. Compared with just 11 percent in the U.S.

But Chinese consumers are feeling the effects of the country's slowing economy and the ongoing trade war. Retail sales growth is expected to weaken to 7.5 percent. That's still really big growth, but that is weaker. This year overall China's economy expected to pass the United States overall now by 2030.

And many economists say once China overtakes the U.S. as retail market and as overall economy, that will be it. I mean, it will always be the stronger and bigger.

BRIGGS: They'll never reverse.

ROMANS: It'll never -- the United States will never recover that.

BRIGGS: All right. Ahead, as Netflix gets more expensive, Hulu gets cheaper. CNN Business has the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:54:17] BRIGGS: The family of soccer star Emiliano Sala is pleading with rescuers to continue searching for his missing plane. The single engine Piper Malibu that was taking Sala from Northern France to Wales disappeared Monday over the English Channel. The operation to find the aircraft is now suspended. Before his plane vanished, Sala sent a WhatsApp audio message to a group of friends.

Amanda Davies with the latest live from London this morning. Good morning.

AMANDA DAVIS, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ANCHOR: Good morning, Dave. It's now some 60 hours since the last contact with that plane carrying Emiliano Sala, the soccer star who just days before on Saturday had made the biggest move of his career, becoming English Premier League side Cardiff City's record signing.

[04:55:04] There was a meeting held by the rescue authorities here on Thursday morning. They have decided to continue with their search. They say that they are now carrying out a coastal search. But of course as time goes on, because of the weather conditions, the very cold temperatures over the English Channel, the chances of finding anybody alive from that plane of course are increasingly slim.

And in what is really a remarkably poignant twist to this tale, as you said, a WhatsApp audio recording has emerged of a message that Sala sent to his friends in Argentina from the plane. We don't know at what point the message was sent but he appears very tired. He yawns in the message, talks of starting training with Cardiff on Tuesday, and appears to joke about the state of the plane.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

EMILIANO SALA, MISSING SOCCER PLAYER: (Graphic) So how are you doing guys? All OK? If in an hour and a half you don't have news from me, I don't know if they would send someone to look for me because they won't find me, but you will know. Dude, I'm so scared.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

DAVIES: Dave, there is no indication that those comments are anything other than dark humor, but it does seem another tragic twist in what is becoming an ever more tragic tale. 1500 square miles of the English Channel have been searched so far. And as you said, Sala's family have really urged the authorities to continue with that mission.

BRIGGS: Hope is fading, though. Amanda Davies, live for us in London this morning. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right. In Arizona, a nurse at a health care facility now charged with sexual assault. He's accused of impregnating a woman in a vegetative state. The woman unexpectedly gave birth last month. 36-year-old Nathan Sutherland was supposed to be caring for this woman at the Hacienda Healthcare facility. Sutherland was compelled by a court order to provide a DNA sample to investigators. Police say the crime lab determined his DNA matched the baby.

BRIGGS: Investigators are looking into whether he assaulted anyone else or whether this woman was assaulted more than once. A co-worker at the facility feels betrayed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ELEANOR RIGGERS, FORMER CO-WORKER: I cried. I just cried and cried. I cried more for her than for him. I think he is a coward. I think he is the lowest scum imaginable. And it just kills me because I considered him a friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The woman's family is aware of the arrest but not commenting. Hacienda Healthcare said every member of the company is troubled beyond words to think that a nurse could be capable of seriously harming a patient. Bond is set at a half million dollars. Sutherland's next court appearance is January 30th.

ROMANS: Extreme cold and rugged terrain are hampering the search for a missing toddler in North Carolina. 3-year-old Casey Hathaway was playing with young relative at his grandmother's house on Tuesday when he vanished. According to the Craven County sheriff, choppers, drones and K-9s are assisting with the ground search which is ongoing this hour. Last night community members gathered at the New Haven church in Keaton to pray for the missing boy.

BRIGGS: A $25,000 reward that was offered for the safe return of Wisconsin teen Jayme Closs will go to Jayme Closs. The 13-year-old escaped her captor nearly three months after she went missing in October when her parents were murdered. Hormel Foods, the company that donated the reward, says it will give it to Jayme. Hormel is the parent company of Jennie-O Turkey Store, where Jayme's parents worked. The store president says they are thankful for Jayme's brave escape and their hope is that trust fund can be used for Jayme's needs today and in the future.

ROMANS: General Mills recalling five-pound bags of Gold Medal unbleached flour over concerns about salmonella contamination. The packages affected have a "better if used by" date of April 20th, 2020. The recall involves some 100,000 bags of this flour.

General Mills says it has not received any reports of confirmed illnesses. They are advising any consumers who have a bag of the recalled Gold Medal flour to simply throw it out.

Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning. Global markets higher really this morning on Wall Street. We'll look at futures and how they expect to open up today. A little bit of an advance. Barely higher here.

The Dow closed up 171 points Wednesday. The S&P 500, the Nasdaq closed up slightly as well. IBM closed up 8.5 percent on better-than- expected earnings. It was IBM's second best day in the past decade.

As Netflix gets more expensive, Hulu becomes cheaper. Hulu has dropped the price of its cheapest package by $2 just a week after competitor Netflix raised prices for its services. Hulu's basic plan which includes ads will cost $6 a month starting February 26th. Hulu has spent the last year focusing on its domestic subscription growth. It says it added eight million new --

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