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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
The Most Restrictive Abortion Law In The Country Passes In Alabama; The Trade War With China Is Keeping Investors On Their Toes; Secretary of State Pompeo Is Sending A Clear Message To Vladimir Putin; The U.S. State Department Urging American Citizens Not To Travel To Iraq; San Francisco Is The First State To Ban Police And Other City Offices From Using Facial Recognition. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired May 15, 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]
TERRI SEWELL (D), A.L.: But do you - do you know what it's like to be raped? Maybe we need to come up with a castration bill. I mean, you guys come up with some crazy bills.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, EARLY START HOST: The most restrictive abortion law in the country passes in Alabama. It sets up what could be the toughest challenge to Roe versus Wade.
BORIS SANCHEZ, EARLY START HOST: And plus, the president says we are winning the trade war, but is there a real strategy to help American farmers growing desperate?
ROMANS: A deal is reached for the president's son to testify again before Congress. What's on the table and what's off limits for Donald Trump Jr.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We flat out deserve to know what is on our airplanes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't disagree.
SANCHEZ: Pilots have big concerns for a Boeing executive after the first crash of a 737 Max. So why weren't changes made sooner? Here the newly uncovered audio. We also just learned the State Department issued a do not travel warning to Iraq and ordered the departure of non-emergency government employees there. Good morning, and welcome to Early Start. I'm Boris Sanchez in for Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: Nice to have you in today. I'm Christine Romans. It is Wednesday, May 15, 2019. It is 4 a.m. in the east. Let's begin here with this breaking news. Overnight, a near-total ban on abortion now on the verge of becoming law in Alabama - the state senate passing a bill what may be the Supreme Court battle that tests Roe v. Wade. The bill heading to the governor's desk would punish doctors who perform abortions with life in prison. There are exceptions for serious health risks to the mother, no exception for rape or incest. Lawmakers and supporters of the bill make no secret of their larger goal. (BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this bill designed in any way to go to the Supreme Court or how is it designed in doing -
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's designed in every way to do just that.
ERIC JOHNSTON, ALA. PRO-LIFE COALITION PRES. & DRAFTER OF BILL: It's the first time in 46 years that the makeup on the Supreme Court has changed where there's possibly enough conservatives on there who would believe Roe v. Wade is incorrectly decided.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
SANCHEZ: The republican governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey, has six days now to sign the measure. She hasn't publically taken a stance on it, but she has previously aligned herself with anti-abortion forces. Last night's vote was condemned by Alabama democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
SEWELL: Republicans, you all - you guys used to say, "we want the government out of our life. We want them out of our business. We want them out of our bedroom." Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, we never said.
SEWELL: Yes. Yes, you did. You said I want them out of my bedroom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, they don't.
SEWELL: Now you're in my womb. I want you out.
BOBBY SINGLETON (D), A.L.: I apologize to the women of Alabama for this archaic law that we passed. The state that will allow them to be raped and the fact that they have to carry that child.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ROMANS: Again, the supporters say this law was designed entirely to get to the Supreme Court. The ACLU and Planned Parenthood say they will challenge the measure in court if it becomes law. Nine states now have passed laws that impose significant abortion restrictions, similar measures pending in seven other states including Alabama where the senate debate has some emotionally charged moments.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, do you - do you know what it's like to be raped?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, ma'am. I don't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know what it's like to have a relative commit incest on you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On me? No, ma'am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, on you.
SEWELL: Maybe we need to come up with a castration bill. I mean, you guys come up with some crazy bills. I'd like to be able to just open up your minds and just see what's inside.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
SANCHEZ: Democratic presidential candidates were quick to denounce last nights vote with Elizabeth Warren calling the ban dangerous and exceptionally cruel, and Kirsten Gillibrand tweeting, "for politicians who claim to care so much about humanity, they don't have much of it."
ROMANS: All right, the trade war with China is keeping investors on their toes. Stocks finished higher Tuesday, rebounding from that big selloff on Monday. The Dow closed up 207 points. The S&P 500 ended up about eight-tenths of a percent. The NASDAQ finished the day at more than 1 percent. President Trump claims we're winning the trade war as sources close to the White House say there is no strategy or path forward - stark difference from the image the president is trying to craft.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
We're having a little squabble with China. I think it's going to turn out extremely well. You know what? You want to know something? You want to know something? We always win.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ROMANS: On Tuesday, Trump travelled to Louisiana to speak at a liquefied natural gas export facility. That plant coming online this week and was built partly in response to increase demand from China for the product from the U.S. One of the retaliatory steps Beijing took Monday was to increase tariffs on liquefied natural gas to 25 percent which experts say will slow demand. At the same time, exporters trying to figure out, you know, what tariffs mean for their businesses. Soy bean farmers being badly hurt. Prices are now at a 10 year low.
[04:05:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
BARRY BEAN, FARMER: It's like when you leave a restaurant because you got bad service. Well, maybe they fixed the problem, but you found a new restaurant that you like. And so, it's really hard to get that business back once we lose it.
BILL GORDON, VICE PRESIDENT, AMERICAN SOYBEAN ASSOCIATION: In the rural communities, we're starting to feel in our schools and down on main street with farmers are not making money. Definitely starting to get dire out here in rural America.
(END VIDEOCLIP) ROMANS: Right now, talks between the U.S. and China have come to a halt. A U.S. trade delegation, though, is expected to travel to Beijing in coming weeks, but few details about that trip are known.
SANCHEZ: It appears that Donald Trump Jr. will be back testifying on capital hill after all. The president's eldest son and the Senate Intelligence Committee have reached a deal Don Jr. will testify behind closed doors in mid-June. The Republican led committee issued a subpoena last month after talks with Don Jr.'s attorneys broke down. Sources tell CNN the interview will be limited in length only two to four hours, and it will be limited in scope, too. Only five or six topics to discuss, but questions covering the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting and the Trump Tower Moscow project are on the table.
ROMANS: Though follow up questions will be limited, Don Jr. has already testified before three committees - fact not lost on his father.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
TRUMP: My son spent I guess over 20 hours testifying about something that Mueller said was 100 percent OK, and now they want him to testify again. I don't know why. I have no idea why, but it seems very unfair to me.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ROMANS: The Mueller Report revealed inconsistencies with Don Jr.'s past testimony. He had threatened to defy the Intel Committee subpoena or take the fifth. All right, Mike Pompeo is back in Washington, said to brief President Trump today on his talks with Vladimir Putin. The Secretary of State says he delivered a clear message to the Russian president about interfering in the 2020 election, and he thinks it got through.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I said it as clearly as I could, so yes. I think so. By the way, we have another election in the middle. We had one in 2018 where we had some good success at making sure that we kept our election safe and secure and free from interference. I don't think he could be mistaken about America finding that Russian interference is unacceptable in 2020.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ROMANS: Matthew Chance live from Moscow with the latest developments for us. And Matthew, I mean, the Secretary of State is sending a clear message to Vladimir Putin, a message that the President of the United States himself has not sent.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN REPORTER: That's right, and he delivered that message on multiple occasions during this visit both to the foreign minister so he could laver off of Russia and to the country's president, but the response from both of them was the same which is that, look, we regard these allegations of election meddling and collusion as absolutely fake in the words of the Russian Foreign Minister. And so, you know, not even any sort of sense in which the Russians are prepared to acknowledge any wrongdoing in those 2016 presidential polls.
This was meant as a meeting to try and build bridges, trying to start off a new phase in the relationship between Washington and Moscow, and at least they are talking, but when you got down to the detail of all of the issues that they discussed whether it's the escalation in Iran, the situation in the complex in Syria, in Ukraine, arms control, North Korea, all these issues it was perfectly clear from what the two - well, the foreign minister and the Secretary of State had to say is that they are still fundamentally opposed on all of those issues. And so, even though they are talking, there is still a lot of gap, a lot of daylight between the two positions of the two countries. And so, it's going to be very difficult. It's the first step along the path towards a better relationship, but it's going to be a very long path, indeed, it seems, Christine.
ROMANS: I would say so. Matthew Chance for us in Moscow, thank you.
SANCHEZ: We are following breaking news at this hour. The U.S. State Department urging American citizens to not travel to Iraq due to terrorism, kidnapping, and armed conflict. Officials also ordering non-emergency U.S. government employees to leave the region. This, of course, amid mounting tensions with Iran and as CNN has confirmed that there's an option to send more than 100,000 troops to the Middle East to counter Iran and that it was discussed at a recent White House national security meeting. Here's what President Trump had to say about it on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
TRUMP: Would I do that? Absolutely, but we have not planned for that. Hopefully we're not going to have to plan for that. And if we did that, we'd send a hell of a lot more troops than that.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
SANCHEZ: Two U.S. officials described the national security meeting as a prudent measure driven by an interest in being ready for anything. We turn now live in Tehran bringing in CNN's Fredrik Pleitgen. Fred, good morning to you. I'm wondering how this news of the U.S. warning for citizens not to travel to Iraq, how is that being received in Tehran? We know part of the reason for this escalation is because of American fears of Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.
[04:10:00]
FREDRIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's quite interesting, Boris, because just last night I actually spoke to a senior former commander of Iran's revolutions guard corps and one of the things that he said - he said, "look, right now Iran does not want an escalation here in this region," something, of course, American officials have been saying as well. But he also said, "look, one of the things that the Americans need to understand is that the Iranians if there is an escalation they say that they would be ready." They say on the one hand they have their ballistic missile program which they say they can obviously hit American bases, and then the next thing that he said, which is key, is he said that also in a lot of the countries around Iran, of course including Iraq as well, Iran controls militias that could also be very dangerous to U.S. interests in the entire greater Middle Eastern region. Whether or not this next - this move by the State Department has anything to do with that is unclear, but it certainly is a threat that the Iranians have had out there for quite a significant period of time. At the same time, you have Iran's leader - supreme leader kind of trying to put the brakes on things a little bit. He came out late last night and said that there would be categorically no war with the United States. However, he also said that the Iranians would, as he put it, continue to resist and he said that he believes in the end the U.S. will have to retreat. Essentially saying that Iran will outlast the U.S. here in this region. Supreme leader also saying absolutely no negotiations with the Trump administration possible at this time.
SANCHEZ: Yes, very interesting considering that it appears that President Trump wants to have Rouhani at the negotiating table and to talk with the Iranians one-on-one. Fredrik Pleitgen reporting from Tehran, thank you.
ROMANS: All right, did an accused war criminal get a job as a ride share driver, what a CNN investigation found.
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[04:15:00]
ROMANS: New audio confirms American Airline pilots angrily confronted Boeing officials about new features on the 737 MAX fleet last November. Now, that was less than a month after a Lion Air jet crashed off Indonesia and four months before a second deadly 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia. CBS News obtained this audio. Its existence was first reported by the Dallas Morning News.
SANCHEZ: Yes, on the recording a Boeing official tells the pilots that software changes are coming perhaps in as little as six weeks, and he insists the company did not want to hurry the process listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We flat out deserve to know what is on our airplanes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't disagree.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These guys didn't even know that damn system was on here or nor did anybody else.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know that understanding this system would've changed the outcome on this.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
SANCHEZ: The problem here is that the Boeing officials is right. The pilots On Ethiopian Airline's Flight 302 reportedly performed all of the manufacturer's procedure but still could not control the Boeing 737 MAX 8 before it crashed. Software changes on the flight control sensor are still not finalized, and by the way, Boeing reports not a single new aircraft was ordered last month, so this is certainly hurting their bottom line.
ROMANS: Absolutely, absolutely. All right, 17 minutes past the hour, she went to hospital after she was raped. Now a woman says that hospital leaked her personal information to her rapist who attacked her again.
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[04:20:00]
ROMANS: All right, he has driven for Lyft, he has driven for Uber, and he is accused of war crimes. Yusuf Abdi Ali has been shuttling passengers for more than 18 months in suburban Virginia. Both Uber and Lyft run criminal background checks. The former Somali military commander has not been convicted of a crime, but a basic Google search turns up many documents and news stories alleging he committed atrocities while a military commander during Somalia's civil war in the 1980s.
SANCHEZ: Ali's ride share work raises new questions about just how thoroughly Uber Lyft screen their drivers. Confronted with questions, he was tight lipped.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you feel you deserve to live here, sir? Do you feel you deserve to live here, sir?
YUSUF ABDI ALI, UBER DRIVER: No comment.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
SANCHEZ: CNN previously reported that Uber and Lyft have approved thousands of people whose criminal records should have disqualified them. Uber says it has suspended Ali as it looks further into the matter. Lyft says they permanently banned him from their platform.
ROMANS: A Kansas hospital hit with a lawsuit after a woman claims the hospital leaked her personal information to her alleged rapists who then attacked her again. The unidentified woman received treatment at the Atchison Hospital after she says she suffered a violent sexual assault. She alleges the hospital then betrayed her trust by sharing intimate details about her evaluation with the man who raped her, according to the lawsuit, that same man that harassed her and sexually assaulted her again. The hospital CEO reportedly wrote a letter to the patient apologizing for any concern or difficulty the incident caused her.
SANCHEZ: San Francisco, one of the most tech savvy cities in the world, is now the first in the U.S. to ban police and other city offices from using facial recognition technology. That kind of tech has popped up everywhere from places like police departments to concerts, homes, stores, and schools. The rule is said to go in effect in a month and it carves out an exception for federally controlled facilities at San Francisco International Airport and the Port of San Francisco. The ordinance also does not prevent businesses or residents from using facial recognition technology or surveillance technology.
[04:25:00]
Visions of Zion were dancing in their heads, but Knicks fans got a dose of cold reality instead.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The third pick goes to The New York Knicks.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
SANCHEZ: A lot of groans heard around the country last night. No end to the pain for New York basketball fans. The Knicks winding up with the third pick in the NBA draft last night despite having the NBA's worst record last season. So how did their fans react? A lot of pain in those hears. The Memphis Grizzlies got the second pick, and the Zion Williamson Sweepstakes went to the New Orleans Pelicans with the number one pick. One Knicks fan may have been a bit premature getting this Zion tattoo that looks a lot like the Knicks logo. Yikes, the NBA draft is on June 20.
ROMANS: All right, this could be the toughest challenge yet to Roe versus Wade. The most restrictive abortion law in the country designed to be a challenge of that law has passed in Alabama.
(COMMERICAL BREAK)
[04:30:00]
END
