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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Dems Pivot From Russia to Health Care; Why Were Smollett Charges Dropped?; Emergency Landing for Boeing 737 MAX; NFL Changed Replay Review Rule; Violence Escalate Between Israel & Gaza Militants. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired March 27, 2019 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: At this moment when they were going to take a victory lap, suddenly, they're reminding us why so many of us are Democrats.
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The Democrats happy to oblige, after the president shifts the focus of Russia to health care.
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[04:30:03] RAHM EMANUEL, MAYOR, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: This is a whitewash of justice.
EDDIE JOHNSON, SUPERINTENDENT, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: Do I think justice was served? No.
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DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Police want prosecutors investigated after they drop all charges in on Jussie Smollett.
ROMANS: The FAA coming to Capitol Hill today, the day after an emergency landing for a Boeing 737 MAX being moved into storage.
BRIGGS: Too little too late for the Saints. But the NFL is making the right call now. Pass interference can be reviewed in the future.
Welcome back to EARLY START on the hump day. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. Thirty minutes past the hour.
Good morning to you, Dave.
Let's go to the president shifting health care after the president gave them an opening. Democrats are looking for issues to help Democrats take back the house in midterms and they got their chance when a judge backed the ruling calling Obamacare unconstitutional. Democrats including 20 hopefuls pounced. Leadership was looking to focus on issues that helps Democrats take
back the House in midterms and they got their chance, when the Justice Department said it backed the judge's ruling, calling Obamacare unconstitutional. Hours later, Democrats including 2020 hopefuls pounced.
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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The GOP will never stop trying to destroy the affordable health care of America's families.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The idea that people are playing politics, yet again, with the Affordable Care Act is the height of irresponsibility.
JULIAN CASTRO (D), 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This administration and the Republican Party want to go back to the bad old days where people couldn't get health insurance if they had a preexisting condition.
JOHN HICKENLOOPER (D), FORMER GOVERNOR OF COLORADO, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you start taking health care away from people who have preexisting conditions it upsets whole family structures. And then look at the 20 million people that are suddenly going to be without health care. Is anybody thinking about what that -- what that does to their lives?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), (D) 2020 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nothing Trump and his friends do surprises me. The idea, however, that they would ask the courts to say that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional -- I mean, it's an outrage, but we've seen this movie before.
BUTTIGIEG: As a matter of policy, I'm not surprised because this seems to be the position they hold deep down. Just take this health care coverage away from millions of Americans. As a matter of political strategy, I'm a little bit surprised because most Americans want this.
And so, at this moment when they were going to take a victory lap around what was happening in Washington, suddenly they're reminding us why so many of us are Democrats.
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BRIGGS: A White House official tells CNN there's been a heated debate inside the Trump administration about whether the DOJ should support a ruling validating the Affordable Care Act.
President Trump making the final call.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me just tell you exactly what my message is. The Republican Party will soon be known as the party of health care -- you watch.
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ROMANS: Attorney General Bill Barr and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar were against this move. They argued against scrapping Obamacare because, well, Republicans don't have an alternative plan. The battle will play in Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. The Fifth Circuit is regarded as very conservative. The case may end up before the Supreme Court.
BRIGGS: Questions mounting this morning over why Chicago prosecutors dropped the charges against Jussie Smollett. A grand jury indicted the "Empire" actor, accusing him of staging a hoax hate crime against himself and then filing a false police report about it.
ROMANS: The city's police union calling for the investigation of the involvement of the Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx in the case. This may be why. Text messages obtained by CNN through an open records request shows that Smollett family friend Tina Tchen reached out to Foxx on February 1st. Foxx later recused herself.
BRIGGS: Head of the police union said if Smollett wanted to clear himself, he should have had his day in court. The deputy prosecutor who took over the case straddling the line.
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JOSEPH MAGATS, FIRST ASSISTANT COOK COUNTY STATE'S ATTORNEY: The only reason that it's getting the scrutiny that it is is because of who got the disposition. There are plenty of other cases, like I said -- over 5,700 -- that have gotten some type of alternative or deferred type of prosecution.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think Mr. Smollett did what he was charged with doing?
MAGATS: Yes. We stand behind the CPD's investigation in this case -- the great work -- the tremendous work that they did in investigating this case.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you consider him innocent?
MAGATS: No.
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ROMANS: New overnight, the lawyer for the Osundairo brothers said they were fully prepared to testify. Smollett paid them to stage the attack. They're captured on surveillance buying the materials.
City officials are fuming this morning.
CNN's Ryan Young has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a shocking reversal, Chicago prosecutors, on Tuesday, dropped all charges against actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused last month of staging a hate crime against himself and filing a false police report about it. His attorney insisted he was, indeed, attacked and that the misinformation led to a rush to judgment against him.
[04:35:02] Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel blasted the prosecutor's decision. Just watch and listen to how angry he was.
EMANUEL: This is a whitewash of justice. A grand jury could not have been clearer. This is without a doubt a whitewash of justice and sends a clear message that if you're in a position of influence and power you'll get treated one way; other people will be treated another way.
There is no accountability than in the system. It is wrong, full stop.
JOHNSON: Do I think justice was served? No. Where do I think justice is? I think this city is still owed an apology.
It's Mr. Smollett who committed this hoax, period. If he wanted to clear his name, the way to do that was in a court of law so that everyone could see the evidence.
YOUNG: The Cook County State's Attorney's Office didn't immediately explain why the 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct were dropped, except to say the decision came after reviewing the case facts and in the view of Smollett's willingness to forfeit his $10,000 bond.
After a brief appearance in a courtroom, Smollett told reporters he was grateful to those who stood by him.
JUSSIE SMOLLETT, ACTOR: I've been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one. I would not be my mother's son if I was capable of one drop of what I have been accused of.
YOUNG: And, Christine and Dave, we may never know what was in that court file because it was sealed by the judge. Just a lot of questions still remain in this case.
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BRIGGS: Ryan Young, thanks.
A Boeing 737 MAX 8 forced to make an emergency landing in Florida.
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PILOT: Tower, Southwest 8701, we just lost our right engine, need to declare emergency. Fly heading 020.
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BRIGGS: There were no passengers on the southwest flight. The plane was being ferried from Orlando to California for short-term storage. The global fleet of 737 MAX jets was grounded indefinitely two weeks ago, following crashes in October and earlier this month, killing 346 people.
ROMANS: Transportation officials will be on Capitol Hill today. The acting FAA administrator expected to tell senators the agency's oversight approach needs to evolve. He also plans to defend the FAA's initial decision not to ground the 737 MAX fleet even after regulators worldwide did so.
This week, Boeing will make its final submission to the FAA for proposed software update to the 737 MAX jets. Officials from the aviation industry convened and at Boeing's facility outside of Seattle today as the company tries to restore confidence in its safety protocols.
BRIGGS: Weeks but not months, a justice department official confirming Attorney General William Barr should make some version of the Mueller report available in the coming weeks. On Monday, Democratic lawmakers demanded the special counsel's report by April 2nd.
ROMANS: Meantime, NBC News reports former FBI Director James Comey told an audience in charlotte Tuesday he's confused by Mueller's decision on obstruction. He said: I have great faith from Bob Mueller, I just can't tell from the letter why didn't he decide these questions when the entire rationale for a special counsel is to make sure the politicals aren't making the key charging decisions.
BRIGGS: To be clear, Comey who oversaw the Russia probe before he was fired by Trump in 2017, but he has not seen the Mueller report. Also raising questions, George Conway, noted lawyer and husband of President Trump's top aide Kellyanne Conway wrote an op-ed titled: Trump is guilty of being unfit for office. In it, he says Mueller isn't prone to cheap shots. He plays by the rules every step of the way. If his report doesn't exonerate the president there must be something very damning.
ROMANS: A federal judge ruling that a decades-old North Carolina law banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy is unconstitutional. The 1970 statute made some allowances for medical concerns but a 2015 amendment narrowed those exemptions, prompting abortion rights groups to file suit. The judge then siding with the advocacy group says court across the country have struck down weak or event-specific abortion bans and North Carolina is no different. The ruling will take in effect in 60 days pending an appeal from the state or revised legislation.
BRIGGS: The drugmaker Purdue Pharma has agreed to pay $270 million to settle an opioid lawsuit brought by the state of Oklahoma. The suit alleged Purdue helped to create the nation's opioid crisis. It claimed aggressive marketing of OxyContin led to thousands of deaths in the state and that Purdue's deceptive claims downplayed the dangers of addiction. Nearly $200 million of the settlement will go towards establishing an addiction treatment and research center in Oklahoma State University. Oklahoma is one of the 36 states to file lawsuits against Purdue and other opioid drugmakers.
Unvaccinated kids are banned from certain public spaces in New York's Rockland County.
[04:40:03] A severe measles outbreak triggering a state of emergency. Officials say the ban will remain in place for 30 days or until unvaccinated kids get the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. Rockland county about 40 miles from Manhattan has seen 150 confirmed measles cases.
ROMANS: All right. Rumors in Congress to help struggling Midwest farmers. Last year, 498 U.S. farms filed for chapter 12 allows distressed farmers and fishermen to restructure their debt and remain open. Data from the research center shows bankruptcy in the Upper Midwest look at this up 19 percent in the past couple of years, and they appear higher among dairy farms. The increase affects low prices for corn, soybeans, and even beef. It's gotten worse since June because of retaliatory tariffs by China. A bad situation for farmers made worse due to recent floods, they have devastated the Midwest. Now two beer giants are stepping up to help. More than 200,000 cans of drinking water from Miller and Busch have been donated to Nebraska and Iowa. They need, frankly, clean water.
This is such an important story. There are farms that are in families for generations surrounded by water. You have air drops of hay for livestock that hasn't been fed, or feed that has been ruined by the flooding. It's an ongoing mess there.
BRIGGS: And the planting season coming soon, I assume.
ROMANS: Yes, planting season coming up. There's cabin season for Nebraska rangers. They're concerned. So, this is a big problem for the big chunk of the country right now.
BRIGGS: Especially with no deal with China on the horizon.
Ahead, the president raining on his own victory parade. He's once again targeting hurricane-stricken Puerto Rico behind closed doors. What the governor said overnight.
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[04:46:23] ROMANS: "The Washington Post" editorial board is coming down hard on the president's handling of the crisis in Puerto Rico. Its headline: the Trump administration has turned bigotry into policy. In a closed door meeting Tuesday with Senate Republicans, President Trump once again criticized Puerto Rico's physical management and size of its disaster relief in the wake of devastating storm.
BRIGGS: Senators in the room say he even broke out a chart to compare what Puerto Rico has received in disaster aid, with states like Florida and Texas. Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello reacting forcefully, calling President Trump's remarking below the dignity of a sitting president of the United States. He says his comments continue to lack empathy, are irresponsible and regrettable and above all unjustified. ROMANS: Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah wants no part of a new
deal for climate change. But he's the only one offering up this idea in its place.
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SEN. MIKE LEE (R), UTAH: This is the solution to climate change, babies.
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ROMANS: That's right. Cute babies. Senator Lee claims climate change is an engineer challenge best solved by increasing the population. He broke out other unusual aids to make his point including poster board pictures of the superhero Aquaman.
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: He also used former President Ronald Reagan riding a velociraptor.
BRIGGS: Senator Lee telling colleagues he was using said props so he could, quote, consider the green deal with the seriousness it deserves. He also unveiled a post of Luke Skywalker riding a space lizard in "The Empire Strikes Back." Mr. Lee praised Luke's mode of traveling convenient but praise the mythical creature tauntaun for being green neutral.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sponsor of the Green New Deal, not a fan of Senator Lee's presentation tweeting if this guy can be senator, you can do anything.
ROMANS: Is the Tauntaun carbon neutral? Do we know that for a fact? Come on, methane gas on that piece could --
BRIGGS: Look, if he spent that amount of time addressing climate change or health care we might be somewhere.
ROMANS: All right. Forty-eight minutes past the hour. The former First Lady Michelle Obama's best-selling memoir just knocking it out of the park. This could be the most successful memoir ever. CNN business has the details, next.
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[04:53:28] ROMANS: After 16-hour lull, violence between Israeli forces and Gaza militants is escalating sharply now. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now says he's prepared to do a lot more after Israeli strikes hit Hamas targets in Gaza.
CNN's Phil Black is live for us this morning in Jerusalem with the latest.
What can you tell us, Phil?
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Christine, yes, there were exchanges in and out of Gaza overnight. More limited than what we saw the other night but it's still significant. It shows the escalation has not yet run its course.
We saw a small number of rockets from Gaza into Israeli territory. They were either shot down or failed harmlessly. Israel struck to Hamas military targets in the south of the Gaza Strip as well. So, the key question where does this go now. As touched on Israel saying there's no cease-fire in place. And will do more if necessary.
And that's after describing the bombing operation Monday night as the biggest use of force against Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza since Hamas and Israel went to war, and that was back in 2014.
So, we'll have to see where this goes and there's a political context to you of this. Parliamentary elections just two weeks away. Security is the number one issue and Benjamin Netanyahu is fighting to stay in government.
So, he must maintain a very difficult balance at the moment, being seen to be in control of security, defending Israeli lives, punishing Hamas as appropriate, but at the same time, not at allowing the situation to escalate into a larger conflict.
[04:55:03] He has been criticized widely across much of the political spectrum here for allowing the security situation to develop because his opponents say he is being too soft on Hamas in the recent times, Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Phil Black for us in Jerusalem, keep us posted there.
Fifty-five minutes past the hour. In Florida, two would-be robbers got an unpleasant shock early Sunday. Their intended victims, four young men in south Florida for spring break. Oh, they fought back.
The men, all relatives from Indiana. They were pumping gas when a man walked up pointing a silver handgun. The victims tackled the robber.
Aric Wisbey, the guy in the pink shirt, manages to wrestle the gun away from the suspect.
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ARIC WISBEY, WRESTED GUN FROM WOULD-BE ROBBER: And once I raised the gun, they both took off back to their car and then we were just screaming. I mean, the only thing running through your mind is protect your family. He was asking me to calm down and to give him the gun back and just to chill out like we weren't just held at gunpoint or anything.
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ROMANS: The men drove off -- the attackers drove off. The victims took down the plate number. The driver is now in custody. The alleged gunman police say is still at large.
I think they don't recommend that you actually confront a person with a gun but this turned out well.
BRIGG: Especially with gasoline tends to be a bit flammable.
Plus, it's too little too late for the New Orleans Saints but NFL owners with a rule change coming from their heartbreaking defeat in the NFC championship. Coaches will be able to challenge pass interference and non-calls outside the last two minutes of each half, inside two minutes. Both booths automatically review calls. The Saints you will recall lost the title game and a chance to play in the Super Bowl in part, largely because of that critical missed pass interference call.
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BRIGGS: Oh, you're welcome, America. This season Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus will likely corner the market on fans. Andrus will use that song "Baby Shark" as his walk up music each time he comes and play in Arlington. Parents more likely to describe it as so cool and catchy it will get stuck in your head and slowly drive you insane. Andrus says he chose "Baby Shark" because it's his son's favorite.
ROMANS: All right. A lot of Trump actors taking a victory parade after no collusion findings where you were sleeping late night, including a tweet from Sarah Sanders.
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STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: Last night, Huckabuck tweeted out this "New York Post" graphic, Mueller madness which of the angry and hysterical @RealDonaldTrump haters got it most embarrassingly wrong #youdecide. That, by the way, #youdecide is also the hashtag Robert Mueller used regarding the obstruction charges.
Now, right next to my photo on this Mueller madness bracket is a, quote, no collusion is Trump's aloha. It means hello and I'm guilty. Up until about 48 hours ago, that's a salad joke.
TREVOR NOAH, COMEDIAN: Trump TV, they'll agree this was a terrible, terrible thing and they want revenge.
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: People who did this will be held accountable. They hurt our country. They poison our public sphere.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: We will hold over liar every propagandist accountable. This will likely make us months and maybe longer.
NOAH: Whoa, whoa, Sean Hannity pump the brakes. If you got all of the conspiracy theorists, propagandist, and liars, Fox News would just be a bunch of empty couches and a sexual harassment settlements -- slow down, buddy, slow down.
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ROMANS: Trevor Noah. All right. Fifty-eight minutes past the hour.
Let's get a check on CNN business this morning. Global markets mostly higher. These global growth concerns linger here. You can see it here, just turning lower here.
On Wall Street, what do we expect, features up hardly at all. I would call this honestly running in place. Now, stocks closed higher on Tuesday, closing up about 140 points. That's a half a percent. It had been up 270 earlier. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed up just under 1 percent each.
A date for Elon Musk's contempt case has been set. A federal judge in New York will hear oral arguments April 4th in a lawsuit by the SEC, holding Tesla CEO Elon Musk in contempt for violating a settlement deal. The battle between Musk and the SEC goes back to August 2018 when Musk tweeted that he would take it private. However, Musk had not secured that funding, and in September, the regulator filed a lawsuit saying he misled investors. If he's found guilty of contempt, he could face a fine, further limits on his social media use and his removal as Tesla's CEO.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama's memoir is now breaking records. "Becoming" has sold nearly 10 million copies. It is one of the most popular books of the decade.
