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Student Dies in School Shooting Near Denver; NYT: Trump Lost $1.17 Billion Over 10 Years; Trade Tensions Sink Markets; Epic Rain Strands Hundreds of Students; Iran Reduces Commitment to Nuclear Deal. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired May 08, 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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[04:32:23] SEANAN RILEY, STUDENT, STEM SCHOOL HIGHLANDS RANCH: We thought it was a drill until we saw the officer with the patrol rifle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not knowing if we would make it out.
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DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: One student dead, eight others injured after two students opened fire on their classmates miles from columbine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: More than a billion dollars lost over ten years. Staggering losses for Donald Trump according to documents obtained by "The New York Times."
BRIGGS: Wall Street could not sustain another day of trade uncertainty. The Dow plummets. So, what's in store today?
ROMANS: And epic flooding in the South. Hundreds of students stranded overnight in Texas. And the weather threat is not over.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Thirty-two minutes after the hour on this hump day.
We start with breaking news overnight. One student is dead with eight others injured in a school shooting near Denver.
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POLICE DISPATCHER: Attention all units. Getting information on a shooting at STEM school. All units, we have a shooter in room 107, 107.
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BRIGGS: Two p.m. Tuesday, the moment the STEM School in Highland Ranch went into lockdown -- the students forced to evacuate. An all too familiar scene, the kids lining the sidewalk with their hands in the air.
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RILEY: We heard that there was a lockdown and we thought it was a drill until we saw the officer with the patrol rifle and tens of other police cars just coming our way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as the lights go out everyone was scared for their lives. People were quiet. I felt like I was out in the open and I didn't like it.
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ROMANS: Police apprehended two students after the shooting. One of them is a teen, the other is a juvenile. Police believe they both attend the school.
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TONY SPURLOCK, SHERIFF, DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO: Two individuals walked into the STEM school and got deep inside the school and engaged students in two separate locations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
POLICE OFFICER: They're all going to Northridge.
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ROMANS: Police left in a delicate spot informing crying parents their children were being bussed to other locations.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where are you located right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Northridge Rec Center.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's where they're taking you? Are they taking you on a bus? How are you getting transported there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know how they're taking us, mom. I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many kids were shot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think probably -- I don't know, mom.
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ROMANS: When students eventually reunited with families, the relief was palpable.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very comforting because not knowing if we would make it out or what since we didn't know how many there were or anything.
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[04:35:03] ROMANS: The father of one student tells "The New York Times" his son and two friends tried to tackle one of the gunmen. One of the boys was shot in the chest.
BRIGGS: People in the area just marked the 20th anniversary of the deadly shooting at Columbine High School, about seven miles away. This is the fourth shooting in Colorado since that.
No motive known for Tuesday's shooting. It happened after schools were closed while authorities scramble to find a Florida teen said to be infatuated with the Columbine massacre.
Several of the injured students from Tuesday's incident were told they're in critical condition. This now the 33rd school shooting this academic year since August.
ROMANS: All right. The Justice Department is warning House Democrats the Trump administration is prepared to invoke executive privilege over the entire Mueller report if they move forward with today's vote to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt.
By invoking executive privilege, the Trump administration could be trying to prevent House committees from interviewing key figures in the Mueller report. The challenge for Democrats, how hard to push the president on oversight.
Manu Raju has more from Capitol Hill.
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MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Dave.
Now, House Democrats are planning to still hold the Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt and later this morning after he has not provided full Mueller report and the underlying evidence as Democrats have demanded.
Now, for much of the day yesterday there had been discussions to try to reach a deal to head off this contempt vote, but Democrats are pushing forward. This could be the first time holding a senior member of the Trump administration in contempt after the administration has refused a whole range of requests, this being one that they issued a subpoena for and the administration said no.
Another subpoena that the committee issued was for Don McGahn's records and testimony. The former White House counsel -- the Democrats hoped would cooperate as part of their investigation into potential obstruction of justice, but the Justice Department has said that -- the White House said that he should not comply because it could breach his confidential discussions that occurred when he was working at the White House. But nevertheless, these are all wrapped up in the larger fights that could end up in court and could take months to play out -- Christine and Dave.
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BRIGGS: Manu Raju, thanks.
Democrats un-persuaded by a Republican effort to move on from the Mueller report once and for all. This was Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor yesterday and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's terse response.
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SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): The special counsel's finding is clear -- case closed -- case closed. This ought to be good news for everyone, but my Democratic colleagues seem to be publicly working through the five stages of grief.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Case closed, no. I don't think so. I don't think so.
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BRIGGS: Pelosi says the president is just trying to provoke Democrats to do something he believes helps him politically.
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PELOSI: Trump is goading us to impeach him. That's what he's doing. Every single day he's just like taunting, taunting, taunting because he knows that would be very divisive in the country but he doesn't really care. He just wants to solidify his base.
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BRIGGS: Pelosi has pushed back against calls for impeachment from left-wing Democrats, saying it's, quote, not worth it.
ROMANS: All right. President Trump has made a career of bragging about his wealth, wrote a book about "The Art of the Deal", right? Last night, "The New York Times" reported his tax documents show Trump businesses lost more than a billion dollars over the course of a decade. Oh, by the way, the decade in which he wrote "The Art of the Deal."
BRIGGS: That was correct.
ROMANS: "The Times" says IRS transcripts show his businesses lost $1.17 billion between 1985 and 1994. So much that he did not have to pay income taxes at all for eight of the ten years. "The Times" writes, in fact, year after year, Mr. Trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer. His core business losses in 1990 and 1991, more than $250 million each year or more than double those of the nearest taxpayers in the IRS information for those years.
BRIGGS: Here are a couple of his biggest losses. In 1989, he bought Eastern Airlines and lost $182 million. In 1990, he opened Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. He saddled the company with $800 million in debt and lost $517 million over the next two years.
ROMANS: Of course, he ran for president branding himself as a self- made billionaire, but he steadfastly refused to release his tax returns, breaking protocol.
A lawyer for the president told "The Times", the tax information acquired was demonstrably false and that lawyer called IRS transcripts notoriously inaccurate.
[04:40:01] Mr. Trump's attorney did not cite any specific errors, though.
Breaking overnight, Iran's president announcing a partial withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal it signed with the United States and other world powers. The decision comes from one year after President Trump abandoned the agreement.
The move comes one day after Mike Pompeo's mystery tour turned out to be a four-hour stop in Baghdad. The secretary of state meeting with Iraqi leaders about rising tensions with Iran.
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MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We talked to them about the importance of Iraq ensuring that it's able to adequately protect Americans in their country. They both provided assurances that they understood that was their responsibility.
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ROMANS: Nic Robertson joins us live from 10 Downing Street where Secretary Pompeo meets with the British Prime Minister Theresa May today.
Good morning, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Good morning, Christine.
Well, you can bet Iran is going to be on the agenda. One of the reasons the Iranians are taking this move, they're saying that they're making the move is because the United States has abrogated on the JCPOA, the nuclear deal, and that they feel they have a provision within the deal to do exactly the same. They are going to increase their stockpiles of lightly enriched uranium, they're going to increase their stockpiles of heavy water.
What does that mean? This cuts down the pathway of making a nuclear bomb. This is the reason for getting the joint nuclear agreement in the first place. Theresa May, Britain -- rather, France, Germany and the European Union
all believe that the JCPOA is worth saving. Iran is clearly trying to exploit those differences. And this weekend, they wrote saying they are concerned the United States wasn't going to continue with the waivers for countries to buy oil from Iran.
So, there is a degree of tension. Undoubtedly, secretary Pompeo will be on the brief, the prime minister, on the threats that the United States is seeing from Iran right now, for example, the movement of short range ballistic missiles by sea near Iran. This all adding up to a threat and growing tensions in the region.
Of course, the Iranians will be watching the response from the Europeans, carefully. They want more support. It may backfire on them.
ROMANS: All right. Nic Robertson, 10 Downing Street, in the lovely London rain this morning, thank you so much. Nice to see you, sir.
He doesn't think it's lovely.
Uncertainly on Wall Street. Stocks held their ground Monday amid persistent Trump trade threats. But investors freaked out Tuesday when his top trade negotiators confirmed he is not bluffing. He wants to hike tariffs on Friday because China reneged on earlier progress.
The Dow fell about 473 points. That's the worst one-day decline since January 3rd. The S&P 500 closed down 1.6 percent. The Nasdaq fell 2 percent. It's now below 8,000 for the first time since last month.
Look, some perspective, stocks are up for the year. The Dow 11 percent, 15 percent for S&P and 20 percent for the Nasdaq. I mean, that's all predicated, really, on a deal, a trade deal.
A dovish Fed, strong economic growth in the U.S. and the trade deal. Now, that trade deal looks like it's in jeopardy. Chinese top trade negotiator arrives in D.C. for shortened talks. That starts tomorrow.
Talks were supposed to happen today, but they were delayed after U.S. trade officials confirmed this president is serious about raising tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods, up to 25 percent on Friday. If the two sides can't work out a deal, it could hurt the economy. Look, consulting firm The Trade Partnership estimates the entire cost of Trump's tariffs, this new 25 percent level and the existing taxes on high tech imports from China, all the rest, would cost 934,000 jobs and raise expenses for the typical family of four by $767 a year.
Now, remember, China does not pay for the tariffs. They're paid at the port of entry by American companies. They can eat the cost or pass it along to consumers. So, for a lot of things like tennis shoes and smartphones, you got to talk about a 15 percent higher price tag starting on Friday.
BRIGGS: And what you are hearing from businesses now is, look, we ate that 10 percent. We cannot eat that 25 percent.
ROMANS: That's right.
BRIGGS: That's too much. We are going to have to pass that on.
ROMANS: That is exactly what we are hearing. They were holding out hoping it was a down payment on a trade deal.
BRIGGS: Right, so you will feel this one.
To the weather now, epic amounts of rain fell on Texas Tuesday. Drivers braved the flooded streets in Houston, at least 14 inches of rain reported near the city. The Houston Fire Department says it received at least 250 calls for higher water rescues. It says hundreds of homes are being affected by the flooding.
Fort Bend County issued a disaster declaration for flash flooding with a threat of a nearby river spilling over its banks.
ROMANS: Hundreds of students in three counties are left stranded. They're being housed overnight since school districts were not able to get buses to them.
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LANCE MEYER, NEW CANEY HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR: Started getting higher and higher outside. They started locking us in. We have been in since 3:00.
LANCE MEYER'S MOTHER, SON ATTENDED NEW CANEY HIGH SCHOOL: Down the road, the water was so high, I turned around and realized him calling me, I had no choice.
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[04:45:07] ROMANS: The Cleveland Independent School District posted images of the Superintendent Chris Trotter still in school with the kids last night. Severe storms pounded the Southern Plains since Monday. Now, more than 60 million people are at risk of severe storms from Texas all the way to the Great Lakes. Tornadoes, also a possible threat.
It's still wet in my hometown, Davenport, Iowa, still under water.
All right. Forty-five minutes past the hour.
Careful next time you ring the doorbell.
OK, a snake, out of nowhere, gives a visitor a rude welcome.
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ROMANS: A federal appeals court is allowing the Trump administration to continue returning some asylum seekers to Mexico during the course of their immigration hearings.
[04:50:01] The Ninth Circuit judges were split on the decision. Concerns were raised about the safety of the migrants, but because the Mexican government agreed to grant humanitarian status and work permits to asylum seekers who are returned, the three-judge panel is allowing the policy to remain in effect, pending appeal.
BRIGGS: Students at an Arizona high school staging a walkout after a classmate was turned over to border patrol agents and could be deported. More than 100 classmates of Thomas Torres-Maytorena protested Monday outside the Pima County sheriff's county office. The sheriff's office turned the 18-year-old undocumented student over to federal authorities following a traffic stop.
U.S. Border Patrol says he is a Mexican citizen and faces immigration charges. He was set to graduate May 22nd, the same day he is now scheduled to appear in court.
RMANS: A newborn baby boy found on top of a garbage can in Chicago. Fire officials say people who lived nearby heard a baby crying, went to the alley, found the child, hours old with his umbilical cord attached. They took the baby to a nearby fire station.
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PATRICK FITZMAURICE, CHICAGO PARAMEDICS FIELD CHIEF: I don't know what it's like. I don't know what it's like to have a child, be pregnant and be in a horrible circumstance where you are driven to do something like this. It almost sounds diabolical, but if she would have called 911, we would have taken her to a hospital and the baby to another hospital.
We won't judge. Don't leave your baby in an alley. Come to a fire house. Leave the baby there. Give the kid a chance.
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ROMANS: Illinois Safe Haven Laws allow anyone to drop off a baby up to 30 days old at a hospital, a police station, or a fire station, no questions asked.
BRIGGS: OK. A word of warning, the video you are about to see is disturbing and terrifying, especially if you, like me, are creeped out by snakes.
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(EXPLETIVE DELETED)
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BRIGGS: Oh!
ROMANS: Let's watch it again. I can't stop looking at it.
BRIGGS: A doorbell camera captures the moment a snake attacked a man in Lawton, Oklahoma. That man Jareld Haywood (ph) was visiting a friend in Lawton on Sunday. As he opened the screen door, the snake wrapped around the porch light bites him on the face. The snake was not venomous. The snake was not as lucky. You and I
may never be the same. Will you ever ring a doorbell again, without thinking about this?
ROMANS: The snake wrapped around the porch light. Whoa!
All right. Let's move on.
Google is rolling out a feature version of its Pixel smartphone with more carrier options. CNN Business is next.
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[04:57:30] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Swing and a miss. He did it. He did it.
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BRIGGS: Oakland A's pitcher Mike Fiers throwing a first no-hitter of the 2019 baseball season and the second of his career. A 2-0 win in Oakland. He walked two and struck out six in the 131 pitch masterpiece. Fiers becoming the 35th major league pitcher in history with multiple no-hitters.
A welcome example of social media's power for good. A mom in Michigan was looking forward to celebrating her graduation from Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. She decided to forego her own to celebrate her son's graduation from Central Michigan University, which fell in the same day.
But Sharonda Wilson's school and her son's had a different idea. Sharonda posted her predicament on Facebook. The president contacted his counter part and agreed to surprise her by allowing her to graduate with her son, Central Michigan, Saturday, she earned her bachelor's in business administration and her son at his degree in musical theater.
ROMANS: I love that story. I love that story.
BRIGGS: Delightful.
ROMANS: All right. Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning.
Global stocks are lower amid a trade war concern. Futures are up slightly, oh, down slightly now, about 24 points. They had been up a little bit earlier. So, you can see, they are trying to find direction.
You know, Wall Street held its ground for one day of Trump trade threats. News he wasn't bluffing and China reneged spooked everyone. The Dow closed down 473 points, the second worse day for the Dow this year. The S&P 500 closed down 1.6 percent. Nasdaq is down 2 percent, below 8,000 now. Some perspective here, stocks are still up for the year. Dow up 11
percent, 15 percent for the S&P, 20 percent for the Nasdaq. Built into the good stock market gains, part of it is hope there's a resolution in the trade war.
And it looks like Friday, higher prices come to your shopping cart when the tariffs go into effect.
All right. Lyft lost more money in the first quarter of the year than all of 2018. That news not as bad as it seems. Lyft said Tuesday it lost $1.1 billion the first three months of this year. The lost primarily due to stock based compensation and other expenses connected to its initial public offerings in March.
Lyft reported its first quarter revenue grew 95 percent to $776 million. Now, despite the cost connected to its IPO, Lyft said it had has 20.5 million active riders in the quarter. That's up 46 percent. Lyft's biggest competitor, Uber, is expected to make its Wall Street debut on Friday.
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