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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Sri Lanka Death Toll Spikes To 290; Leaning Toward Impeachment; Comedian Wins Ukraine's Presidency; Deputy Investigated For Slamming Teens Head; Nadler Plans To Call McGahn To Testify; Trump Fuming Over Fallout From Mueller Report; Ukraine's Choice 2019; Search For Missing Illinois Boy, CNN Business, Earning Season In Full Effect. Aired 4- 4:30a ET
Aired April 22, 2019 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN HOST: Nearly 300 people dead in coordinated Easter terror attacks in Sri Lanka. A security warning was circulated among police 10 days earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): It may be that we have undertaken impeachment. What is the best thing for the country?
CHUCK TODD, MSNBC HOST: Do you think this is impeachable?
REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): Yeah, I do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, SENIOR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT: Some Democrats starting to come around on impeachment in the wake of the Mueller report.
BRIGGS: Laughter is the best medicine, comedians score a decisive win as Ukraine's next president, bringing fresh uncertainty to a critical ally.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you doing? He's bleeding.
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KOSINSKI: Claims of excessive force in Florida. Video captured police slamming a teen's head to the ground. But the deputy is saying this morning.
Good morning, and welcome to "Early Start," I'm Michelle Kosinski.
BRIGGS: Good to see you my friend.
KOSINSKI: Thanks. BRIGGS: Welcome back, I'm Dave Briggs. Monday, April 22, it is 4:00
a.m. in the East, 1:30 p.m. in Sri Lanka. That's where we begin this morning in the death toll in Easter Sunday attack in Sri Lanka, rising steeply to 290 people, that number includes at least two Americans. The attack involved coordinated explosions of at least eight locations across Sri Lanka, including three churches, and four high end hotels. Officials now say 24 people are under arrest.
KOSINSKI: The state department says terror groups are still plotting possible attacks with little or no warning. Also a police source tells CNN an internal memo was sent by authorities before the bombings that contained a warning to raise security. Senior international correspondent Ivan Watson now is live in the Sri Lankan capitol of Colombo. Ivan, tell us what we're learning right now.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Michelle, government minister here told me that this is a brand new type of terrorism for Sri Lanka. So the church behind me here is St. Anthony's shrine. It is one of three catholic churches that was bombed apparently by suicide bombers on Easter Sunday. And one of those, another government minister says that at least 102 people were killed and there was a mass funeral in that city.
There were also three luxury hotels here in Colombo that were hit as well. Just incredible coordination that took place. The authorities are being very careful at this time not to point any fingers and not to blame any organization. There have been no claims of responsibility even though there's a massive death toll, 209 people killed, at least more than 500 wounded people battling for their lives in intensive care right now in hospitals.
But there has been reporting and parts of a memo published by a government minister here. Earlier this month, between different departments of the security forces, warning about the threats of suicide attacks against catholic churches and against the Indian high commission, so one government minister I talked to called this negligence, the fact that nobody had followed up on that and properly protected, churches like this where there is still broken glass on the pavement in front and the clock tower appears to be stuck at roughly 8:45 a.m. That is when we believe that the explosion ripped through this church on Easter Sunday. Michelle.
KOSINSKI: That's just an unbelievable thing to wake up to yesterday. Thanks for that, Ivan.
BRIGGS: OK. Back here, a frightening scene Sunday at an Easter service in San Diego. Church members tackling a woman carrying a 10- month-old baby and a handgun after she threatened to blow up the church. Witnesses say the woman walked into the auditorium at Mount Everest Academy around noon, during a nondenominational service.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID MICHAEL MILLER, HELPED TACKLE WOMAN HOLDING BABY AND GUN: And two minutes after I came in, this lady comes on stage, came through the back with her baby and a gun, and she starts talking all of this craziness about the rapture not being real and everyone is going to hell. After she started pointing the gun at the baby, one of the older gentleman grabbed it from her and me and a couple of other men tackled her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Police arrested the woman identified by local media, 31 year- old Anna Konke. They later found her 5-year-old daughter healthy and unhurt. The children are now in protective custody.
[04:05:00] KOSINSKI: A growing number of Democrats are warming up to the idea of impeaching President Trump, including three key committee chairman who seemed hesitate in the past to even discuss the issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHIFF: Now, it may be that we have undertaken impeachment nonetheless. I think, what we are going to have to decide as a caucus is what is the best thing for the country? Is it the best thing for the country to take up an impeachment proceeding, because to do otherwise sends a message that this conduct is somehow compatible with office?
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D-MD): There comes a point in life where we all have to make decisions based upon the fact that it is our watch, and you know, history, I think, even if we did not win possibly, if there were not impeachment, I think history would smile upon us for standing up for the constitution.
TODD: Do you think this is impeachable?
REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): Yes, I do. I do think that this, if proven -- if proven, which hasn't been proven yet, some of this, if proven, some of this would be impeachable, yes.
TODD: All right.
NADLER: Obstruction of justice if proven would be impeachable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSINSKI: Still a lot of testing the waters out there. Chairman Nadler plans to call former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. According to the Mueller report, McGahn refused an order from President Trump to fire the special counsel.
BRIGGS: And Politico is reporting Democrats on the judiciary committee are already engaged with the Justice Department. They're making preliminary arrangements for Robert Mueller to testify next month. The White House now in full spin mode.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Do you feel like he is truthful? RUDY GUILIANI, ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP: I believe he is
truthful, yes, as much as he can be in a world in which every single word you say is picked apart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Rudy Giuliani not stopping there. The president's personal lawyer launching a blistering attack on the Mueller report, while curiously not questioning its findings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're saying that this document is not credible.
GUILIANI: No. How about looking at it this way, people who wrote an unfair to him, people who wrote an unfair report, people who came close to torturing people to get information and break them --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Came close --
GUILIANI: Yes, how about having --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They put forward a report that ultimately cleared President Trump.
GUILIANI: And that takes every cheap shot imaginable because he couldn't prove it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You called it cheap shots. Other people call it evidence.
GUILIANI: But you don't just spew out all this stuff.
TODD: Do you and the president accept the idea that the Russian interference was designed to help President Trump?
GUILIANI: I believe it was. I can't tell you for sure. I haven't examine all that evidence, but I have --
TODD: Did the president accept that?
GUILIANI: -- no reason to dispute it.
I think he does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSINSKI: Boris Sanchez traveled with the president for the holiday weekend, filing this report from West Palm Beach.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dave and Michelle, according to sources President Trump spent the weekend fuming over news coverage of details in the Mueller report and the depiction from some former White House officials of a White House in chaos. A president that is unhinged, paranoid and angry, and aides that either ignore or refuse to carry out his orders.
Meantime, the president's attorney, Rudy Giuliani was on the Sunday morning talk shows. He spoke with Jake Tapper on State of the Union. And Jake asked him about some of the behavior outlined in the Mueller report, specifically whether it was ethical or moral. Listen to what Giuliani's response.
GUILIANI: Any candidate in the whole world in America would take information.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: From a foreign source? From a hostile foreign source?
GUILIANI: There's nothing wrong with taking information from Russians.
TAPPER: There's nothing wrong from taking information --
GUILIANI: It depends on where it came from. It depends on where it came from. You're assuming that the giving of the information is a campaign contribution. We do report carefully. The report says we can't conclude that because the law is pretty much against that.
SANCHEZ: The strategy REID: from the president's legal team is one that we have seen before. They are now just questioning the credibility of people cited in Mueller's report even as they accept the report's general findings. We should point out, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is scheduled to hold a conference call with the Democratic caucus at 5:00 p.m. on Monday to talk about the possibility of pursuing impeachment. David and Michelle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRIGGS: All right, Boris, thank you. Now to an astounding story, where life imitates art. In Ukraine, a TV comedian who played a teacher who becomes president of Ukraine is now the real president of Ukraine.
KOSINSKI: Very convincing performance.
BRIGGS: Very convincing performance.
KOSINSKI: But wait, which is real. Wait, I'm confused.
BRIGGS: Tough to tell. Political newcomer, Volodymyr Zelensky, declaring victory after Sunday's presidential election. Phil Black live from Kiev with this astounding story. Look, Phil, we elected a reality show, real estate guy, but Zelensky, I cannot find a single policy, a single platform, a single stance on anything. Did I miss it?
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. You're right. It has been an extraordinary campaign, one that Zelensky has dominated throughout and he has done it in a really unusual way.
[04:10:05] You're right, he is famous in this country, not for his political experience, but as an actor and comedian, as you touch on someone who pretends to be Ukraine's president on television. On a TV show, where he is a regular guy who accidentally becomes president and then goes ahead battling corruption, and officials and goes about cleaning up the political system. That is essentially what his campaign was based upon too.
No hard ideas or policies. He didn't appear in public much. He didn't give interviews. Instead, he ran online videos, cheeky online videos, attacking his opponents and he campaigned in generalities, just promising to do it better than the other guy, to clean up the system and it all worked, because the exit polls, the count so far shows a spectacular victory with securing -- him securing around 73 percent of the vote.
That vote is divided up among those who simply were fed up with the status quo, a protest vote if you like, but also those who really fell for this guy, whose expectations are incredibly high and who believe that he is the man who can once and for all clean up Ukrainian politics, government, the country itself. But this is a country with big problems. A struggling economy, a war against Russian backed separatists in the East.
All of this, he is going to have to start dealing with on day one. It all matters in the biggest sense, because Ukraine is on the front line against the West ongoing confrontation with Russia. This professional clown, this comedian is now the man who's going to have to be going toe to toe, facing off against a man who's not known for his easy laughs, the Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dave.
BRIGGS: Phil, any reaction from Putin or Russia?
BLACK: So, not from Putin specifically, but Russia itself is saying that Ukraine has expressed the desire for change, which is kind of obvious, but there is a theory, often expressed by Zelensky's opponent that Vladimir Putin will be very happy about this, because he is simply so inexperience. This are men with no experience in government as a commander in chief, whereas Putin, of course, as we know has been dominating his country and to a significant extent, international affairs for almost 20 years now.
BRIGGS: That is remarkable. Phil Black live for us in Kiev. Thanks again. In Phil's words, Michelle, a professional clown is now toe to toe with Vladimir Putin.
KOSINSKI: You know, in Iceland years ago a comedian won.
BRIGGS: Is that right?
KOSINSKI: And it's a great documentary, and it's called, GNAAR.
BRIGGS: Gnaar?
KOSINSKI: GNAAR.
BRIGGS: I will check on that my friend. KOSINSKI: It's great. So, eight U.S. allies now could face sanctions
if they keep buying oil from Iran. A big move from the state department coming up next.
[04:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRIGGS: All right, 4:16 a.m. Eastern Time. And the first report card of the year for the American economy. First quarter GDP is due Friday, investors will be watching closely after worries about a U.S. economic slowdown weighed on their minds at the start of the year. The federal reserve bank of Atlanta estimating 2.8 percent growth in the first quarter. Analyst (inaudible) by market data research group Refinitiv, forecast an average of 1.9 percent.
Weaker than expected report could drive Wall Street and other assets lower. The president made big promises of three, four, even 5 percent growth, but many economists think economic growth may have peaked for now. The sugar high for corporate tax cut is fading and global growth also slowing. The economy widely expected to grow at a slower speed in 2019, and last year's 2.6 percent.
KOSINSKI: The U.S. tightening sanctions on Iran this morning. The state department says countries importing Iranian oil, including many U.S. allies could now face sanctions starting next month. "The Washington Post" reporting that sanctions wavers will no longer be granted to those countries after May 2nd, something the state department has been foreshadowing for weeks now.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is expected to make that announcement this morning. The state department issued 180-day waivers last November to China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Italy, and Greece. The idea was to give them time to find alternative oil sources. The U.S. officials now say their goal of the new policy is to drive up the costs of Iran's maligned behavior and address the regime's threats.
BRIGGS: The defense department identifying two U.S. Service members killed in non-combat incident in Iraq and Qatar. 22-year-old army specialist Ryan Riley of Richmond, Kentucky, died Saturday in Iraq. The Defense Department statement says he was supporting the efforts against Al Qaeda in operation inherent resolve. They did not disclose further details about the incident which is under investigation. The department also announcing 24-year-old staff sergeant Albert Miller of Richmond, New Hampshire, died Friday in Qatar. Official say the airman's death is also under investigation.
Ahead, the Oakland a's center fielder taking a home run away with a spectacular grab, but that is not what makes one of the most amazing plays you'll ever see, coming up.
[04:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you doing? He is bleeding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSINSKI: A Florida sheriff's Deputy under investigation for slamming a teenager's head into the ground and punching him. Moments after another officer pepper sprayed the teen. The entire incident caught on camera. Broward County Sheriff is vowing to conduct a thorough investigation. In the arrest report, the Deputy claims he had to act quickly, because he feared he would be struck or have his weapon taken from him. He is now been placed on restrictive administrative assignment.
BRIGGS: A 5-year-old boy is missing in Illinois and police do not believe he was abducted or walked away. Authorities say they are putting a special focus on the family's home. The parents of five year old Andrew A.J. Freund reported him missing last Thursday. The search has included 15 police agencies, drones, and rescue k-9 units. But the dogs only picked up Andrew scent within the resident, indicating he had not left the home on foot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW FREUND SR., FATHER OF MISSING BOY: Well, we are just doing whatever we can at this point. I have no control over what people think. I just want my son to come home. OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has been involved with the family since just after Andrew was born. Officials say there were sign of neglect by the mother.
KOSINSKI: A Florida man, the words by which many strange stories begin in the world, arrested and charged with impersonating a police officer after trying to pull over an undercover cop.
[04:25:08] Police say 26-year-old Matthew Joseph (Inaudible) of Dade city's red and blue lights on the grill of his vehicle. The undercover detective called in the attempted traffic stop, and kept his eye on him until sheriff's deputy arrived and pulled him over. Deputy say, they found a realistic looking air soft pistol in the suspect's car and a light bar installed on the roof. No word on a court day for the Florida man.
BRIGGS: Hash tag, a Florida man.
This just might be the craziest baseball play you'll see this season. Blue Jays in Oakland. Toronto's Oscar Hernandez sent that fly ball to deep left center, Laureano robs him, then overshoots everybody with the throw, but the catcher backing up the play at first, makes the throw to second, your traditional 8-2-4 double play. Bravo.
Ahead an internal security warning was circulated 10 days before coordinated Easter terror attacks in Sri Lanka. The death toll spiking overnight to nearly 300.
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