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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
President Trump Contradicts Japan's Prime Minister During State Visit; Europe Votes Against Centrists; Death Toll Rises On Mount Everest. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired May 27, 2019 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:31:55] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Intelligent people agree with me.
REPORTER: You're not bothered at all by the small missiles?
TRUMP: No, I'm not. I am personally not.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The president stands alone. He says he is not bothered by recent launches from North Korea. Japan and his own national security advisers say otherwise.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Extremists are in, centrists are out. European voters deal a blow to the establishment.
ROMANS: A deadly holiday shark attack in paradise. A California doctor killed off the coast of Maui.
BRIGGS: And another tornado outbreak leaves part of Oklahoma in ruins. More than 300 tornadoes reported in the U.S. this month alone.
And just a reminder, it is Memorial Day, everyone. Remind those kids this morning why they don't have school this morning -- not just another day at the beach of the pool.
We honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. And there, a live look at Arlington National Cemetery at 5:32 a.m. Eastern time.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to EARLY START on this Memorial Day. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans, 32 minutes past the hour.
Let's begin here with the president.
President Trump standing alone in defense of North Korea on a state visit to Japan. The president says he is not personally bothered by Pyongyang's missile tests. That's even though National Security adviser John Bolton said just days ago that there is no doubt the tests violated U.N. resolutions, and Japan agrees with Bolton.
White House correspondent Boris Sanchez -- he is traveling with the president live in Tokyo -- Boris.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Christine and Dave.
Yes, this press conference we saw between President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe really encapsulates -- demonstrates how much trust President Trump has in Kim Jong Un. The president ignoring the outlook of his advisers and even the outlook of Shinzo Abe, who was standing just a few feet to his left, saying that these recent short- range ballistic missile tests were of great regret.
The president doesn't feel the same way. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I am very happy with the way it's going and intelligent people agree with me.
REPORTER: You're not bothered at all by the small missiles?
TRUMP: No, I'm not. I am personally not.
My people think it could have been a violation, as you know. I view it differently. I view it as a man -- perhaps he wants to get attention and perhaps not. Who knows?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Quite an interesting statement from the president that intelligent people agree with him. It seems like he's sending a message between the lines to his national security adviser John Bolton.
Coincidentally, just a short while ago, North Korean officials put out a statement making fun of John Bolton's intelligence, saying that he's a war maniac and that some of his perspectives on North Korea are less than logical -- Dave and Christine.
ROMANS: All right. So, Boris, the North Korea issues first came up late last week. The president tweeted North Korea fired off some small weapons. Trump echoed Kim Jong Un, calling Joe Biden a low I.Q. individual while spelling Biden wrong.
TEXT (PRESIDENT TRUMP, TWITTER): North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people and others, but not me. I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me and also smiled when he called Swampman Joe Bidan (sic) a low I.Q. individual and worse. Perhaps that's sending me a signal?
[05:35:05] What did the president say about all of this? SANCHEZ: Right. Well, the president apparently took the side of Kim Jong Un over a fellow American in Joe Biden. The president saying that he thinks Kim Jong Un is right in his estimation of Joe Biden being a, quote, "low I.Q. individual."
The president very swiftly pivoted to Iran, citing the Iran nuclear deal that was struck during the Obama administration as a sign that Joe Biden lacks intelligence.
The president also made news on Iran, saying that he does not believe that a regime change is necessary for both the United States and Iran to have a prosperous future and that he wants to strike some sort of deal but he's in no rush to replace the JCPOA -- Dave and Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Boris in Tokyo where it's 6:35 in the evening. Thank you, sir.
BRIGGS: All right. Staying abroad, in European Parliament elections, centrists are the big losers. The vote, which saw the highest participation in 25 years, boosted Euro-skeptics as well as Greens and other pro-European leftists.
CNN's Phil Black live at London's 10 Downing Street with the results. Phil, good morning.
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave.
Yes, so there was strong performances by nationalist groups in France, Italy, and here in the U.K. where the Brexit party surged to the number one position in local voting, securing around one-third of the vote -- people who are angry that Brexit still hasn't been delivered some three years after the referendum was held.
But on the other hand, here in the U.K., parties like the liberal Democrats, who openly oppose Brexit, they want to fight it, they want another referendum. They also did strongly with their combined vote also being around one-third. So it shows that Britain is still heavily divided on this issue.
More broadly across Europe, there will now be more nationalists, populists, and right-wing figures in the makeup of the new European Union, but not as many as some had predicted. And they will be offset by greater numbers of socially liberal representatives and Green groups as well, who also performed strongly in these elections.
So on the whole, the landscape has changed. The makeup of this Parliament, which is voted for, represents, and shapes the legislation of 28 member states -- well, it's going to look different. The traditional center-right power blocks are going to be weakened. But on the whole, there is still very much a clear pro-European Union majority in this Parliament.
And, the turnout -- the Democratic result is considered to be pretty good because that turnout is so high -- the highest in decades even though it has been driven by people who really do want fundamentally different things from Europe. On one hand, the Euro-skeptics, the nationalists, the populists -- people like those who want Brexit. People who are worried about immigration. And on the other hand, those who believe in greater European immigration, a stronger Europe, and also those who are really worried about the environment as well -- Dave.
BRIGGS: A long and bumpy road ahead between now and a Brexit deal.
Phil Black live for us at 10 Downing, thanks.
ROMANS: All right. In Oklahoma, six people are dead there after days of severe weather.
A mobile home park in the town of El Reno devastated by a tornado Saturday that roared through with winds of up to 160 miles an hour.
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RACHEL GARRISON, OKLAHOMA STORM SURVIVOR: Trailer 80 flipped over on top of 81, which we were in. And after everything was over with and all the shaking and jarring and everybody landing on the floor, the sirens went off.
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ROMANS: The twister killing at least two people. El Reno's mayor says they're going door-to-door to find more possible victims and assess the damage.
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MAYOR MATT WHITE, EL RENO, OKLAHOMA: We just cannot do without all the help and partners we've had. These people are displaced.
It's very decimated. It's a -- it's a -- it's a tragic scene out there. It's terrible. We're going to work through that process. It's going to take us time to do that.
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ROMANS: You know, El Reno was already under water due to severe storms last week.
This month alone, there have been 320 reports of tornadoes in the U.S.
BRIGGS: And the threat of more severe weather today in the Midwest. Meteorologist Karen Maginnis has your holiday forecast.
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KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: On so many fronts, Dave and Christine, we have seen this outbreak of severe weather once again across the Central Plains -- the typical Tornado Alley.
And, May is the peak month when we typically see the heavy volume of tornadic activity like we saw just over 24 hours ago in El Reno, Oklahoma. Two fatalities there, numerous injuries reported. It's only a town of about 19,000 people.
But you can see that throughout the last 11 days only, 260 tornado reports.
Also, we're not finished yet. A lot of this will lift further to the north, so it looks like across the northern tier and into the lower Great Lakes region, that's where we could see the potential for severe weather again.
[05:40:00] And then, not to be outdone, there's going to be another system that moves out of the interior West into the Central Plains and that's going to be the severe weather producer going into Tuesday.
And as if that were not enough, flooding, especially along the Arkansas River at Van Buren. Take a look at this. It's going to be at historic levels going into the middle of the work week. Severe flooding where the river is expected to crest over 42 1/2 feet.
Back to you guys.
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ROMANS: All right, Karen Maginnis. Thank you for that.
A local judge in Utah has been suspended for six months for making comments critical of President Trump in court and on social media. The Utah Supreme Court reprimanding Judge Michael Kwan after he made a reference to the "ACCESS HOLLYWOOD" tape, described the Trump presidency as a "fascist takeover" and accused the president of an "inability to govern and political incompetence."
BRIGGS: The state Supreme Court ruled that Judge Kwan's behavior "diminishes the reputation of our entire judiciary."
Kwan said his remarks were meant in jest but the high court wrote, quote, "It is an immutable and universal rule that judges are not as funny as they think they are."
Kwan's lawyer said he probably has no recourse but to sit out the six months without pay and hope he still has a court to come back to.
ROMANS: All right.
A deadly shark attack off the coast of Maui. A 65-year-old California man killed Saturday morning about 60 yards from shore on Kaanapali Beach.
CNN affiliate KCRA identifies the victim as Dr. Thomas Smiley, an optometrist from Granite City. His family tells police he had gone for a swim off Kaanapali Beach.
He leaves behind a wife, three children, and six grandchildren.
This is at least the third shark attack in Hawaii this year and the first fatal one since 2015.
BRIGGS: Police in Utah say they fear the search for a missing 5-year- old girl, quote, "is not going to end well."
Elizabeth Shelley was last seen at home by her mother early Saturday morning. Later that day, police arrested the girl's uncle, 21-year- old Alexander Whipple, who they say is their main suspect. He had come for a visit Friday night and was last seen around the same time as his niece.
Logan City, Utah police say Whipple has been uncooperative.
ROMANS: A woman is lucky to be alive after surviving 17 days in a Hawaii forest on berries, river water, and her own smarts. Thirty- five-year-old Amanda Eller became seriously lost on a hike through a Maui forest reserve. Over the course of more than two weeks she endured a broken leg, an injured knee, and nursed sunburn so bad it became infected.
She had to get around without shoes. Those were swept away in a flash flood.
On Friday, searchers in a rented helicopter discovered Eller in a ravine. They lowered a basket and carried her off to a hospital for treatment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMANDA ELLER, LOST IN MAUI FOREST FOR 17 DAYS: Seeing the way that the community of Maui came together. People that know me, people that don't know me all came together just under the idea of helping one person make it out of the woods alive. It just warms my heart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Eller was malnourished and her fractured leg will require additional treatment. But her family says she is other in surprisingly good shape.
She's a yoga instructor. She left her cell phone and her water -- everything in her car so that she could go and kind of just get unplugged in the forest. And she realized too late that she was moving deeper into the forest instead of going back to her -- jungle, really -- back to her car.
BRIGGS: That's a remarkable story to tell us.
All right. Ahead, he was shot at school and spent a month in the hospital. Now, Drew Pescaro wants you to know he's home.
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[05:48:00] ROMANS: Let's get a check on "CNN Business" this morning.
We're nearing the 1-year anniversary of the trade war with China. Is the U.S. any closer to a resolution? President Trump, during a press conference in Tokyo this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: They would like to make a deal. We're not ready to make a deal. And we're taking in tens of billions of dollars of tariffs and that number could go up very, very substantially very easily. But I think sometime in the future, China and the United States will absolutely have a great trade deal and we look forward to that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Trump, once again, falsely claimed that Americans pay only a small percentage of tariffs.
The president also claimed that farmers support his decision to raise tariffs. That's despite evidence otherwise and what you're hearing on the ground in Iowa, Illinois, and all these other Midwestern states.
The U.S. is also working to strike a trade deal with Japan. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the two sides are vigorously conducting discussions and talks. During his remarks, President Trump said Japan plans to buy 105 new Stealth F35 fighter jets from the U.S.
Trade tensions have rattled investors worried that a trade war could be here to stay. Morgan Stanley says the window for resolution is narrowing, predicting there's only about a month to go before significant financial damage creeps into the global economy.
More cancelations for United Airlines during the busy summer travel season. United now plans to cancel all flights involving Boeing 737 MAX planes until August third, a month longer than it announced last month.
United doesn't fly any MAX 8 jets. That's the type of plan grounded after the fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash. But it does have 14 MAX 9s, a slightly longer version of the MAX 8.
The airline expects to cancel roughly 2,400 flights in June and July. It will continue to try to automatically rebook you if you are on one of these flights to other flights.
Disney's wish came true at the box office.
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Scene from Disney's "Aladdin."
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ROMANS: The live-action reboot of "Aladdin" brought in $86.1 million over the weekend. "The New York Times" reports Disney expects the movie to reach $105 million for the long Memorial Day weekend.
[05:50:01] And, Disney's biggest remake may be another reboot.
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Scene from Disney's "The Lion King.
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ROMANS: "The Lion King," which includes voice work by Donald Glover and Beyonce, debuts July 19th. Some analysts say it could be one of the highest-grossing films of the year.
BRIGGS: And, of course, James Earl Jones -- Mufasa.
ROMANS: Yes. "This is CNN."
BRIGGS: July eighth -- no, I thought it was the 18th, 19th. OK, I have been counting down the days. I look forward to that one.
OK, scaling Mount Everest is taking a deadly toll. Three more people and a Nepali guide, along with an Irish and British climber, have died in recent days and that brings the number of dead or presumed dead to nine in the 2019 climbing season alone.
Arwa Damon is live for us in Katmandu, Nepal with the latest. Arwa, good morning. What is happening here?
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And, of course, as we know, trying to summit Mount Everest is among the most challenging experiences that exist out there -- challenging physically, emotionally, and mentally.
Experts will tell you it's a very delicate balance of trying to know exactly how much risk to take but also how far and how hard to push your body.
A lot of those who we have been speaking to have been posting on social media and are blaming the number of deaths that took place this year on overcrowding in the Death Zone -- that last push to try to get to the summit. Called the Death Zone, Dave, because oxygen levels there are about one-third of what exists at sea level.
Three more deaths added to bring that death toll to at least nine, as you mentioned.
One of them, a British man named Robin Haynes Fisher, who actually warned -- spoke about his concerns about the overcrowding just before he attempted to make it to the summit. He did make it to the summit but then as he was descending his body appears to have given out. He died of what is believed to be altitude sickness.
And a lot of these deaths that are taking place are actually taking place as climbers are making their way down.
Now, the Nepalese government has come under a lot of criticism because of this overcrowding -- because of the number of permits that it has issued. It says that those allegations are completely baseless. But one mountaineering expert who we spoke to Dave says that if nothing changes this is going to repeat itself again next year.
BRIGGS: Perhaps fewer permits in the future.
Arwa Damon, great reporting, live for us at 3:37 there in Nepal. Thank you.
We'll be right back.
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[05:56:44] That is Drew Pescaro, a survivor of the shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He posted this video to the Eminem tune "Without Me" and confirmed to CNN he is now out of the hospital. He took his first steps without a walker two weeks ago.
Last month's campus shooting claimed the lives of students Reed Parlier and Riley Howell. Three other students were also hurt.
BRIGGS: The staff at Home Depot in Cedartown, Georgia going the extra mile for a 2-year-old boy. Logan Moore has hypotonia, a syndrome that makes it difficult for him to walk.
A physical therapist recommended a gait trainer but his parents didn't think insurance would pay for it. So they decided to make him one and went to Home Depot to pick up the parts.
What happened next stunned them. The manager and another employee sent them away to buy ice cream, then built him one. It even has Logan's name on it. And they refused to take a dime.
Bravo, folks.
ROMANS: Help thy neighbor.
A stirring rendition of the National Anthem by a man who understands more than most the meaning of Memorial Day.
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PETE DUPRE, "HARMONICA PETE", 96-YEAR-OLD WORLD WAR II VETERAN: Playing National Anthem on harmonica.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: That is 96-year-old World War II veteran Pete DuPre and his harmonica sending goosebumps through the crowd at an exhibition soccer match in New Jersey between the U.S. women's national team and Mexico.
This is not the first time DuPre, known as "Harmonica Pete," has performed the anthem but it might have been his biggest audience.
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ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, World War II veteran Pete DuPre.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Wow. Take a minute today to remember this is not about hamburgers. It's about sacrifice and patriotism.
Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans. BRIGGS: A good reminder. I'm Dave Briggs.
"NEW DAY" starts right now. We leave you with a live look at Arlington National Cemetery. We'll see you tomorrow.
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is a special holiday edition of NEW DAY. It is Monday, May 27th, 6:00 here in New York on this Memorial Day where we will take some time to remember the heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
John Berman is off today. John Avlon joins me. Great to have you here on --
JOHN AVLON, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
CAMEROTA: -- this special day.
AVLON: Always.
CAMEROTA: We have a lot of breaking news to get to right now.
This is from President Trump's state visit in Japan. President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are not on the same page about North Korea's recent missile tests. Mr. Trump insists he is not bothered by North Korea's small weapons launches, while the prime minister of Japan says North Korea violated U.N. resolutions.
AVLON: President Trump also praising Kim Jong Un on the world stage, siding with a dictator while attacking the Democratic frontrunner, former vice president Joe Biden. President Trump also making headlines on the trade war with China and escalating tensions with Iran.
Let's get right to CNN's Boris Sanchez, who is traveling with the president, live in Tokyo with breaking details. Boris, what you got?
SANCHEZ: Good morning, John and Alisyn.
President Trump made news on several fronts during this press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo.
END
