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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Most Restrictive Anti-Abortion Law Passes in Alabama; White House Weighs Responses to Iran; U.S.-China Trade Talks at a Halt; Don Junior Strikes Deal to Testify after Subpoena; Mike Pompeo Thinks Warning to Russia Got Through. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired May 15, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:00:04] STATE SEN. VIVIAN DAVIS FIGURES (D-AL): But do you -- do you know what it's like to be raped?
STATE SEN. LINDA COLEMAN-MADISON (D-AL): Maybe we need to come up with a castration bill. I mean, you guys come up with some crazy bills.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The most restrictive abortion law in the country passes in Alabama. It sets up what could be the toughest challenge yet to "Roe v. Wade."
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Also breaking, the State Department ordering non-emergency personnel out of Iraq. The latest regional trouble as the U.S. deals with threats from Iran.
ROMANS: The president says we are winning the trade war. But is there a real strategy to help American farmers who are growing desperate?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We flat-out deserve to know what is on our airplanes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't disagree.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And Pilots had major concerns for Boeing executive after the first crash of a 737 MAX. So why weren't changes made sooner? Hear the newly uncovered audio in just a few minutes.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Boris Sanchez in for Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: Nice to have you here today. I'm Christine Romans. It is Wednesday, May 15th. It is 5:00 a.m. exactly in the East. And breaking overnight, a near-total ban on abortion now on the verge
of becoming law in Alabama. The state Senate passing a bill setting up what may be the Supreme Court battle that tests "Roe versus Wade." Now this bill heading to the governor's desk, it would punish doctors who perform abortions with life in prison. Now there are exceptions for serious health risks to the mother, but no exceptions for rape, no exceptions for incest. Lawmakers and supporters of the bill make no secret of their larger goal.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is this bill designed in any way to go to the Supreme Court or how is it designed?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's designed in every way to do just that.
ERIC JOHNSTON, ALABAMA PRO-LIFE COALITION PRESIDENT AND DRAFTER OF BILL: This is 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.
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SANCHEZ: Republicans Governor Kay Ivey now has six days to sign the measure. She's not publicly taken a stance on it but she has previously aligned herself with anti-abortion forces. Last night's vote was condemned by Alabama Democrats.
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COLEMAN-MADISON: 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.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, never said that.
COLEMAN-MADISON: Yes. Yes, you did. You said I want them out of my bedroom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, they don't.
COLEMAN-MADISON: Now you're in my womb. I want you out.
STATE SEN. BOBBY SINGLETON (D-AL): I apologize to the women of Alabama for this archaic law that we passed. A state that will allow them to be raped and the fact that they have to carry that child.
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ROMANS: The ACLU and Planned Parenthood say they will challenge the measure in court if it becomes law. Nine states have passed laws that impose significant abortion restrictions. Similar measures pending in seven other states including Alabama where the Senate debate had some emotionally charged moments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FIGURES: But do you -- do you know what it's like to be raped?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, ma'am, I don't.
FIGURES: Do you know what it's like to have a relative commit incest on you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On me? No, ma'am.
FIGURES: Yes, on you.
COLEMAN-MADISON: Maybe we need to come up with a castration bill. I mean, you guys come up with some crazy bills. I'd love to be able to just open up your minds and just see what's inside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Democratic presidential candidates were paying attention. They were quick to denounce last night's vote. Elizabeth Warren calling the ban dangerous and exceptionally cruel. And Kristen Gillibrand tweeting, "For politicians who claim to care so much about humanity, they don't have much of it."
ROMANS: All right. We are following breaking news 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 comes amid mounting tensions with Iran.
CNN has confirmed an option to send more than 100,000 troops to the Middle East to counter Iran was discussed at a recent White House National Security meeting. Here's what President Trump had to say about it on Tuesday.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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.
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SANCHEZ: Two U.S. officials described the National Security meeting as a prudent measure driven by an interest in being ready for anything.
Let's go live to Tehran and bring in CNN's Frederik Pleitgen.
Fred, we know that the U.S. administration is concerned about some Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. I'm curious how they're responding to this potential plan to send hundreds of thousands of troops into that region.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Boris. Well, the Iranians are continuing to say that they don't want an escalation here in this region but they also say that they are absolutely ready if indeed an escalation does occur. It's quite interesting as far as the embassy personnel there in Iraq was concerned.
I actually spoke to a former senior commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and he told me, look, one of the things that the U.S. needs to remember that if there is an escalation that takes place, the Iranians don't only have the ballistic missiles they've been working on for years, but they also -- and this is what he said, they also have militias around almost every American military base in the region.
[05:05:10] That, of course, would include Iraq as well. And he also said those militias could cause some serious problems for the U.S. So a clear warning there coming from the Iranians. At the same time, you have the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, he came out and he said that there absolutely wouldn't be categorically any war with the United States. He said, quote, that, "Iran would continue to resist and outlast America here in this region." Then a very interesting tidbit from what he said last night, he also said that there absolutely would not be negotiations at this time with the Trump administration.
He says he believes the Trump administration is trying to coerce Iran into submission. He said that is definitely not something that the Iranians are up for -- Boris.
SANCHEZ: Yes. We've heard from sources that President Trump wants to strike some sort of deal. He wants to go to the negotiating table. We'll see how Iran responds.
Frederik Pleitgen, thank you so much.
ROMANS: All right. The trade war with China is keeping investors on their toes. Stocks Tuesday rebounding from Monday's steep selloff. The Dow closed up 207 points. The S&P 500 ended eight-tenths of a percent higher. The NASDAQ finished up 1.1 percent.
President Trump claims we're winning the trade war. And sources close to the White House say there's no strategy or path forward. A stark big difference from the image the president is trying to craft.
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TRUMP: We're having a little squabble with China. Yes, 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.
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ROMANS: On Tuesday, the president traveled to Louisiana to speak at a liquefied natural gas export facility. It's coming online this week, built partly in response to increased demand from China for the product from the U.S. But one of the retaliatory steps Beijing took Monday was to increase tariffs on LNG to 25 percent which experts say will slow demand. At the same time, exporters are trying to figure what tariffs mean for
their businesses. Farmers are being badly hurt especially soybean farmers where prices are now at a 10-year low.
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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: 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.
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ROMANS: I mean, this is planting season. This is when farmers decide whether they're going to plant corn or soybeans and they've got wet fields, and they've got no clarity on this trade war.
New this morning the Chinese president Xi Jinping at a conference in Beijing said this. "No civilization is superior over others," adding, "The inclination to remold or replace other civilizations are just stupid." A few message for the Americans.
SANCHEZ: Yes, definitely.
It appears Donald Trump, Jr. will be back testifying on Capitol Hill after all. The president's eldest son and the Senate Intelligence Committee reaching 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 lawyers broke down. Sources tell us 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. But questions covering the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting and the Trump Tower Moscow project are on the table.
ROMANS: Follow-up questions will be limited as well. Don Jr. has already testified before three committees. A fact not lost on his father.
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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.
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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. SANCHEZ: Mike Pompeo is back in Washington, set 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. He thinks it got through.
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MIKE POMPEO, 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. So I don't think he could be mistaken about America finding that Russian interference is unacceptable in 2020.
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SANCHEZ: Matthew Chance is live from Moscow with the latest developments.
Matthew, Pompeo taking his message directly to Vladimir Putin but the Russians at least publicly deny that meddling ever even took place.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean he thinks his message got through. But again, you know, that public denial was pretty prominent, both from the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and from his Foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. And they spoke about the issue, basically saying, look, you know, we've seen all these allegations of election meddling and collusion, and they are essentially fake, they're fake news.
[05:10:08] They almost used the exact terminology that President Trump has used repeatedly to describe them, despite the fact of course that multiple Russians have been indicted for the hacking of the Democratic Party e-mails and, of course, the attempts to sow social discord from their troll factory in St. Petersburg. And so, you know, we'll see how that pans out in 2020. Certainly, Mike Pompeo made the point that if there is election meddling in 2020, that's going to lead the relationship between Washington and Moscow to an even worse place than it is now.
On the other issues, of course, Mike Pompeo saying that he hopes it will be a step towards building a better relationship. But then when they sat together, when he sat with the Russian Foreign minister and they listed all the things they talked about, the war in Syria, how to deal with North Korea and its nuclear program, the situation in Iran and the increasing escalations there, arms control, it became increasingly clear that there may be a will to build a better relationship and to find common ground.
But the truth is, these two countries are fundamentally opposed on all of those major issues. That's going to be a problem.
SANCHEZ: That's right, Matthew. Interesting that president Trump really hasn't confronted Vladimir Putin publicly the way that some of the officials in his administration have.
Matthew Chance reporting live from Moscow. 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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[05:16:19] SANCHEZ: New this morning, CNN has learned that the TSA is deploying hundreds of officials including federal air marshals to bolster security at the U.S.-Mexico border. According to an internal e-mail obtained by CNN, senior TSA official Gary Renfrow said there's now an immediate need for more help from TSA at the southwest border. The deployments involve up to 175 law enforcement officials and as many as 400 people from security ops.
ROMANS: A new audio confirms American Airlines pilots angrily confronted Boeing officials about new features on the 737 MAX fleet last November. This 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: And on the recording a Boeing official tells the pilots that software changes are coming perhaps in as little as six weeks, but he insists the company didn't want to hurry the process.
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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 the airplane, nor did anybody else.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know that understanding the system would've changed the outcome on this.
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SANCHEZ: The problem of course is that the Boeing officials is right. The pilots on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 repeatedly performed all of the manufacturer's procedure but they still could not control that Boeing 737 MAX 8 before it crashed.
ROMANS: A college student claims he mistook his mother for an intruder. Now he's facing second-degree murder charges after beating her to death. The incident happened back in March. Prosecutors filed criminal charges against 21-year-old Thomas Summerwill this week. They say his story about thinking it was an intruder was not reasonable since he had been drinking. According to his defense attorney Summerwill has the full support of his family members who call the incident a horrible accident.
SANCHEZ: And this story is just infuriating. A Kansas hospital facing big questions after a woman claims that they leaked her personal information to her alleged rapist, who then attacked her again. The unidentified woman received treatment at the Atkinson Hospital after she says she suffered a violent sexual assault. In a new lawsuit she alleges the hospital betrayed her trust by sharing intimate details about her evaluation with the man who raped her. According to the suit, the same man that harassed and sexually assaulted her again. The hospital CEO reportedly wrote a letter to the patient apologizing for any concern or difficulty the case caused her.
ROMANS: Oh, my.
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. 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 and Lyft screen their drivers. Confronted with questions, he remained tightlipped.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you feel you deserve to live here, sir?
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you feel you deserve to live here, sir?
YUSUF ABDI ALI, UBER DRIVER: No comment.
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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 further reviews the matter. Lyft says it permanently banned him from its platform.
[05:20:01] Well, if you heard a lot of clamoring, a lot of groaning, perhaps some wailing and crying, you may be able to guess who did not win the NBA draft lottery last night.
Another great night for Knicks fans. So which team does have the chance to pick Zion Williamson, a phenom.
Andy Scholes has this morning's "Bleacher Report" next.
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[05:25:20] SANCHEZ: The hopes and dreams of New York Knicks fans hoping to see Zion Williamson wearing their jersey playing at Madison Square Garden, those dreams were crushed last night in the NBA draft lottery.
ROMANS: Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report." Hey, Andy.
SANCHEZ: Good morning.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys. You know, Knicks fans, they've been praying for Zion ever since they had the worst record in the league last season. But unfortunately for them the NBA changed the draft lottery format this year to discourage teams from tanking. So instead of a 25 percent chance of that top pick, the Knicks had just a 14 percent chance.
Now the lottery now draws the top four picks instead of just three. The Knicks and their good luck charm Patrick Ewing, they made it into that top four as did the Lakers. We had some high drama, but it quickly fizzled. The Lakers got the fourth pick. And then despite how hard this guy was praying here at the bottom right of the screen, Knicks fans also had their dreams crushed when it was announced that they would be picking third.
It came down to the Pelicans and the Grizzlies. And it would be the New Orleans Pelicans winning the Zion Williamson lottery. And check out the reaction from the Pelicans ticket office employees.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grizzlies.
(CHEERS)
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SCHOLES: All of those people acted like they just won the lottery. And I guess they kind of did. It's going to pretty easy to sell tickets now with Zion.
Here's the draft order. Pelicans, Grizzlies, Knicks, then Lakers. And one thing is clear from this draft lottery, tanking to have one of the worst records in the league not going to work out well for teams anymore. The Pelicans have the seven best odds of getting that top pick.
All right. The Western Conference Finals tipping off last night. Kevin Durant still out of action with his injured calf. When he plays in this series, still up in the air. But it looks like they don't even need him. Steph Curry just on fire from three-point landing game one. He tied a career playoff high, making nine threes. Curry finishing with 36 points as the Warriors, they blow out the Blazers in the fourth quarter to go on to win game one, 116-94. Takes 1-0 lead in that series.
Game one of the Eastern Conference Finals, guys, tips off tonight between the Bucs and the Raptors. That will be on our sister station TNT.
SANCHEZ: Yes. Feels like that Warriors-Blazers series is going to be a quick one.
SCHOLES: It sure looks that way.
SANCHEZ: Andy Scholes, thank you so much.
ROMANS: All right, 27 minutes past the hour. Will this be the toughest challenge yet to "Roe versus Wade"? The most restrictive abortion law in the country has passed in Alabama.
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