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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
China Retaliates Against Trump's Tariffs; Mike Pompeo to Meet Putin Today; Investigating the Investigators, Again; Boeing 737 MAX Delay; A Giant Leap for Womankind; 4 Dead, 2 Missing in Alaska Midair Collision; NBA Holds Draft Lottery Tonight. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired May 14, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Amazon wants its employees to quit their jobs and create their own delivery business.
[05:00:05] Turns out that's awfully expensive, so it's raising the stakes. Amazon says it will give employees up to $10,000 and three months salary to get their delivery services off the ground.
The retail giant had announced the progress last year, but many who are interested simply couldn't afford it. Amazon says it has started the delivery service, there have been more than 200 independent contractors, it hopes to add hundreds more this year.
EARLY START continues right now.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's working out very well.
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BRIGGS: Investors, though, disagree. Global markets plunge, farmers and manufacturers, feeling the pain of the president's trade war.
The attorney general launches the third investigation into the origins of the Russia probe. We'll tell you who he's bringing in.
It will take longer than expected for the Boeing 737 MAX to get back in the air. Why a flight control fix keeps getting delayed.
Fifty years after the U.S. put a man on the moon, the U.S. wants to put a woman on the moon. How long will it take?
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs. It's Tuesday, May 14th, 5:00 a.m. in the East. Christine Romans back tomorrow.
We'll have live reports this morning from Beijing, Moscow and Iran, and we start this morning with an ongoing trade war. Wall Street looking to recover after the biggest one day drop since
January. Asian markets still feeling the pain after China retaliates with higher tariffs on roughly $60 billion worth of U.S. goods. European markets have opened slightly higher as trading begins there on Wall Street. Futures pointing to, well, a cautious positive open after Monday's sharp decline.
The U.S. China trade war will raise costs for Americans but President Trump is defending his tariffs even though he admits farmers could get hit by retaliatory measures. On Monday, Trump said he would use some of the tariff revenue which is paid by U.S. importers to help keep farmers afloat.
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TRUMP: And out of the millions of dollars that we're taking in, a small portion of that will be going to our farmers because China will be retaliating probably, to a certain extent, against our farmers.
And so our farmers can do well. They'll be planting. They'll be able to sell for less and they'll make the same kind of money until such time as it's all straightened out.
So our farmers will be very happy. So I think it's working out very well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Trump also said the U.S. could impose stronger tariffs to the tune of another $300 billion, and added he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Japan late next month. China's decision to retaliate against the Trump administration sends shivers through the market with investors realizing the trade war between the world's two largest economies could be long-term.
Matt Rivers live from Beijing with more on how China is fighting back.
Matt, good morning.
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave.
Well, it's interesting, it was yesterday evening here in Beijing that China decided to go ahead with those retaliatory measures and it chose to make that public about an hour before stocks opened in the U.S. for the week. That was not a coincidence. They did that to have maximum impact, and that's exactly what China has been doing since the start to have the trade war.
When they retaliate to tariffs imposed by the United States, they choose products usually that will have the maximum amount of political interest. Take soybeans, for example, one of the first things that China targeted in this trade war, and then yesterday, they announced tariff hikes on things like corn flour, on things like grain, aircraft parts, the kinds of products that are made in the kinds of places that voted for President Trump. The aim here is to have political impact and also as we saw with the
timing of yesterday's announcement, to have impact on the stock market in the U.S., because that's something the president watches very closely. At the same time, China is trying to drum up nationalistic support here in China, talking about how they're growing more soybeans domestically than ever before and actually urging the public to get ready for a fight with the United States. When it comes to the economy, they are saying this is a nationalistic effort against the United States.
BRIGGS: No sign of either side backing down. Matt Rivers live for us in Beijing, thank you, my friend.
Staying abroad, he'll be a day late, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heads to Russia this morning. Just a few hours, he's set to meet with Vladimir Putin on a wide range of issues, including Iran, arms control, and Ukraine.
Senior international correspondent Matthew Chance live in Moscow for us with the latest -- Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Dave, he was supposed to come to Moscow, first the Russian capital, but Mike Pompeo, the U.S. secretary of state called the leg of his first trip to Russia off and he's instead going to be heading straight to Sochi in the southern part of this country to have a face-to-face meeting first of all with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
[05:05:07] They are going to be speaking about all range of issues, the situation in Syria, Venezuela, the arms control, the G20 summit between President Trump and Putin next month in Japan, but the meeting is going to be dominated by issue of Iran, the Russian foreign minister saying he's going to be looking for clarification from Secretary Pompeo about how the United States plans to end this crisis that he says he has been caused by unilateral American decisions, referring, of course, to the pullout of the United States of the Iran nuclear agreement and the consequent retaliation by Iran of that.
Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister saying he expects the discussions to be frank, for possibly quite heated and so, of course, Iran, and Russia very close allies, the United States flying straight into that turmoil.
BRIGGS: Of course, there's another opportunity for the U.S. to bring up Russian interference in our election. Time will tell.
Matthew Chance live for us in Moscow, thanks.
Is the administration preparing for war with Iran?
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TRUMP: Hearing little stories about Iran. If they do anything, they will suffer greatly. We'll see what happens with Iran.
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BRIGGS: Well, now, "The New York Times" reports Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told top national security officials last week as many as 120,000 troops could be sent to the Middle East if Iran attacks American forces, not clear if the president would agree. President Trump warning the Iranians, they'll have a bad problem if they play a role in sabotaging two Saudi oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.
Joining us with the latest on that, Nic Robertson live on the port where the oil tankers were sabotaged.
Nic, what's the latest?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, Emirati investigators continuing their investigation. They have called on the help of U.S. Navy as well here. We saw them out, U.S. naval bases out around one of those Saudi oil tankers yesterday inspecting it.
The Emiratis say that they have called in the U.S. support and help her, not just for technical reasons, but to send a very loud and clear message, that they are not in this alone, that they have allies and partners and the partners are helping and this will be a credible and thorough investigation. Though the moment, the Emiratis are estimating that this sabotage was caused by a rocket or a missile attack, looking at a gash in the back of one of the ships yesterday, you could swim into it. It was big enough to swim into the hole of the hull of the ship. These are not pinpricks.
The investigation shows concerns that the emirates had been sharing with allies like the United States about Iranian intentions in this region, raising those concerns. Secretary Pompeo, of course, in Europe yesterday, and Brussels, able to share the United States intelligence on all of this with European partners who at the moment have been standing behind Iran mostly -- Dave.
BRIGGS: OK, Nic Robertson live at the third of three hot spots around the globe. Thank you, Nic.
Back in the nation's capital, the investigators being investigated again. U.S. Attorney John Durham now assisting Attorney General Bill Barr in his review of the origin of the 2016 Russia investigation. Durham is the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut. He will be looking into intelligence collection activities by U.S. government prior to Election Day to determine whether they were lawful, and that has Democratic Senator Joe Manchin puzzled.
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SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): John is well-qualified and has much experience. I just can't figure out what they're going to try to do. You know, you want to know what led to the investigation, it was the evidence. I was on Intel Committee. We watched this thing unfold. And it was the evidence that led us in the direction we went.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRIGGS: Attorney General Barr recently suggested the Trump campaign was in his words spied on. A claim echoed by the president but called into question by FBI Director Chris Wray. Durham is the Trump appointee who has investigated a number of public corruption cases under Republican and Democratic administrations. His new role marks the third separate probe into the early days of the Russia investigation.
New details about why the Senate Intelligence Committee decided to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. Two sources tell CNN the president's son balked in answering more questions about his 2016 Trump Tower meeting with the Russians as well as his pursuit of a Trump Tower Moscow project.
Chairman Richard Burr told his colleagues he had been engaged in talks with Don Jr. since last December. Burr said Trump Jr. agreed to be interviewed twice before backing off each time. One Republican had this piece of advice for Don Jr.
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SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): I'm not a big advocate of ignoring the subpoenas. Pleading the Fifth, if he's comfortable doing that, that I think would be better way to go than to simply ignore subpoenas.
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BRIGGS: The ball is now in Burr's court. Will the Senate Intel chairman hold the president's son in contempt of Congress and risk further Republican backlash or will he give Trump Jr. a pass and trigger outrage over favoritism?
[05:10:08] Breaking overnight, a deadly midair collision off the coast of Alaska. We'll have the latest for you ahead on EARLY START.
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BRIGGS: All right. One-fourteen in Alaska, where we have some breaking news this morning. Four people are dead and two missing after two floatplanes carrying two cruise ship passengers collided head on off the coast of Alaska.
[05:15:02] It happened near the town of Ketchikan. The flight operated by Taquan Air and sold through Princess Cruises was returning through a shore excursion. Ten people and a pilot were on board. The second plane was carrying four passengers from Royal Princess on a separate tour. Right now, the Coast Guard is actively searching for two missing people.
The return of Boeing's 737 MAX has been delayed. It's unlikely the aircraft will be back in the air before mid to late August. "The Wall Street Journal" reports regulators are aiming for preliminary approval of a fixed flight control software by late May. Engineering challenges and efforts to secure support for the fixer are mostly responsible for the delays. Serious questions remain about how and why the FAA approved the 737 MAX for flight, and whether it rushed the certification process.
On top of all of this, the U.S. trade war with China coming at a terrible time for Boeing. That's because it is the largest single American exporter in China. It's most important export market.
Boeing's orders from China had previously escaped Chinese tariffs. Their stock down nearly 5 percent yesterday, dropped 36 billion in market cap since those crashes.
A major legal victory for New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. A Florida judge ruling prosecutors cannot use surveillance video and other evidence in the prostitution solicitation case against Kraft. His legal team claims it was illegally obtained. The judge in its ruling said police failed to meet the guidelines in the search warrant. Kraft one of dozens patrons allegedly caught on camera receiving elicit massages at a spa in January and he pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges.
A jury in Oakland, California, awarding $2 billion to a couple who say their cancer was caused by long-term exposure to Monsanto's popular weed killer Roundup. Their verdict included an additional $55 million for pain and suffering. Plaintiffs Alva and Alberta Pilliod were each diagnosed four years apart by non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. They are both in remission. This is the third straight ruling to go against Monsanto's parent company Bayer. Thousands of similar cases are pending. Bayer says they plan to appeal the jury verdict.
Dan Sullivan calls it the best retirement gift he could ever get. The veteran firefighter from Quincy, Mass, reunited with a woman he saved some 33 years ago. Sullivan was responding to his first fire as a member of the Quincy Fire Department in November of 1986. He raced into the burning building and pulled out 3 week old Paige Lentini. They reunited last week to celebrate his retirement.
NASA is planning to return to the moon he hopes to send the first woman ever and first man in nearly five decades to the lunar surface by 2024. President Trump Monday announced a $1.6 billion increase to the NASA budget so America can return to space, quote, in a big way. The space agency also revealing the name of its new lunar mission, Artemis after the Greek goddess of the moon and twin sister of Apollo.
Well, it was quite the mother's day for Russell Wilson's mom.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you serious?
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BRIGGS: So what did the star quarterback buy mom? Andy Scholes has the story in the "Bleacher Report", next.
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[05:23:22] BRIGGS: Well, the future for one NBA franchise will change drastically tonight as the league holds the draft lottery. So, who gets the right to draft Zion Williams?
And Andy Scholes has that story in the "Bleacher Report".
And, Andy, "The New York Post" says pray for Zion, both papers, it is top of mind in New York City and several other cities in the country. Good morning.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's for sure. Good morning, Dave.
You know, this is the most anticipated draft lottery since LeBron James was entering the league back in 2003. Every fan base, especially Knicks fans are going to be holding their breath, waiting on the envelopes to reveal who's going to get the chance to draft Zion Williams, the number one overall.
You know, Zion is considered a slam dunk franchise changing player. He's 6'7", 285 pounds, can jump out of the gym. The New York Knicks had the worst record in the NBA this year, but unfortunately for them, this is the first year the NBA changed the odds format to discourage teams from tanking at the end of the season.
So, the Knicks, Cavs and Suns all have the same odd of getting that first overall pick, 14 percent, followed by the Bulls and Hawks. The NBA draft lottery is tonight at 8:30 Eastern.
It's going to be followed by game one of the Western Conference finals between the Blazers and Warriors, Kevin Durant has been ruled out of game one, with his calf strain, and Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Durant likely going to miss much more than just one.
All right. Luis Saez, the jockey who was riding disqualified maximum security in the Kentucky Derby has been suspended 15 racing days for his actions in the derby.
[05:25:00] The Kentucky horse racing commission announcing that Saez was being suspended for failure to control his mount and make a proper effort to maintain a straight course. The attorney for Saez says he's going to file an appeal. Maximum Security was the first Kentucky Derby winner to be disqualified for a rules violation in the race's 145-year history.
All right. Finally, Russell Wilson became the highest paid player in the NFL this off season after signing a new deal. Check out the surprise he had for his mom this mother's day.
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RUSSELL WILSON'S MOTHER: What's this?
RUSSELL WILSON, SEAHAWKS QB: The key to your house. It's the key to your house. It's your house. Open the door.
RUSSELL WILSON'S MOTHER: You're lying. Are you serious? Are you serious?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Dave, I love how long it took her to realize that he had bought her that house for Mother's Day. It was such a great surprise. Kind of makes me feel bad that I got my mom just some flowers.
BRIGGS: Well, I was going to ask you what you got. I did the same thing, man. At least -- we had -- the thought is what counts.
SCHOLES: Exactly, right?
BRIGGS: We both bought flowers.
SCHOLES: I didn't get $65 million recently.
BRIGGS: We're just $64 million short of that.
Andy Scholes, thank you, my friend.
SCHOLES: All right.
BRIGGS: Ahead, Wall Street looking for a bounce back after the Dow's worst day since January. The president's trade war, spooking markets, farmers consumers and more.
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