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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Tornado Terror Devastates Part of Kansas; McConnell Flips On Supreme Court Vacancies; Changes Coming to Everest; Child Attacked By Mountain Lion. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired May 29, 2019 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:30:47] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: For the 13th straight day, tornados carve a destructive path. This time, the worst damage is in Kansas.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And historic flooding is expected in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Oh, we'd fill it.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A total 180 for Mitch McConnell who says he would fail Supreme Court vacancy in an election year.
BRIGGS: Changes are coming to Mt. Everest. It could get harder to get a permit after 11 climbers died this climbing season.
ROMANS: And a boy attacked by a mountain lion, the first off its kind in more than 20 years.
Welcome back to EARLY START this morning. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: Good morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Dave Briggs. It is Wednesday, 4:31 Eastern Time.
We start again with this weather. A night of terrifying tornados stretching from the Southern Plains to the Northeast, Eastern Kansas hit especially hard. The cities of Linwood and Lawrence suffering extensive damage. They're located just across the border from Kansas City.
Linwood's mayor says dozens of homes in the area are gone.
(BEGIN VDIEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It got really dark, and it started raining really hard and I could feel air moving the walls, and I could feel the air coming from above and then all of a sudden, I heard stuff flying around up above me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Storm clouds stretching for miles across the region. Homes in the area flattened. Lawrence police warning residents about downed trees and power lines. At least 12 patients are being treated for injuries. Some forced to take cover in a safe room of a local gas station.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRAD PERKINS, KANSAS RESIDENT: Just lightening hitting the ground in front of me. Just everything pitch-black. (INAUDIBLE) my wife, too. She called me, too, though, and said, hey, it's right in front of you. You need turn around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The Red Cross has opened a shelter for anyone in the county displaced by the storm which crossed the Missouri and spawned a tornado near the town of Kearney. A tornado also touched down in Berks County, Pennsylvania. On Tuesday, one neighborhood in Morgantown suffered heavy damage with several trees uprooted. And a New Jersey high school was damaged by a severe band of storms. Nobody was inured.
ROMANS: All of the damage and destruction coming from the same system stretching from Texas to the New York City Metro Area. Authorities in Ohio are getting a handle on all the damage suffered late Monday. Look at the ceiling, that's all remains. The ceiling is gone.
For 13 consecutive days, a tornado has touched down in the United States. That's the longest stretch since 1980. Is there more ahead?
Here's Karen Maginnis with the latest forecast -- Karen.
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, there definitely is more in store and even more people are threatened by the potential for severe weather. And what we're seeing in the Northeast and also into Central Plains, another round of potentially dangerous tornados. Even during a month where tornadic activity is at its peek, we have seen exceptional weather.
This is that rain-wrapped tornado that was just to the west, about an hour's drive from Kansas West. All right. So who is in line for the severe weather today? We look at areas around Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and stretching on over all across central and southern Illinois, Springfield, Little Rock, Dallas.
And it isn't just the potential for tornados. We're looking at heavy downpours and the potential for large hail across this region as well. All part of a vigorous weather system that is tracking slowly towards the east and in its wake, that's what we're seeing in that warm, unstable air, clashing of the air masses where we see the violent storms that will march across the area known as Tornado Valley. Now, the tornados that we saw in Ohio over the past 24 hours, eight
tornadoes reported. Three of those EF-3 tornados, between 136 to 165 per hour winds, about 5 percent of all tornados are classified as EF- 3s.
All right. Take a look at the sad picture out of Linwood, Kansas, and a lonely horse. Now, of all the destruction, we see of homes, and businesses and livelihoods.
[04:35:01] Even the animals are affected here as well. Dashcam video shows this horse is kind of lost and lonely. The trees are stripped. Debris strewn around. Just shows you just how wide-spread the impact is.
Back to you, guys.
BRIGGS: Karen Maginnis in the weather center, thanks.
The flooding in Arkansas turned deadly overnight. Police say a driver stirring around the barricade on a flooded roadway drowned. And a rain-swollen Arkansas River could crest at nearly 41 feet later today. It's putting western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma on alert for record-breaking flooding. The mayor of Tulsa warning residents to prepare for a worst-case scenario.
The Army Corps of Engineers has been releasing water for the Keystone Dam ahead of the river cresting. But this could worsen the flooding in nearby communities. Further east, flooding in at least eight states along portions of the Mississippi. It is the longest lasting since the Great Flood of 1927.
ROMANS: A really sad picture of River Band Stadium there.
All right. Presidential candidate and former vice president, Joe Biden, back on the trail in Texas. He is talking about policy, laying out part of his education plan in Houston and includes more funding for schools in low income areas and in helping teachers student debt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You all gone (ph) and went to college, you spent four years. You ended up with a debt, most of you, if not all of you, and you end up in a situation where you in fact are making 25 percent less than most college graduates. And it's a just -- it's just not right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Focusing on education and policy there while his campaign hit back at President Trump's low IQ comments overseas, criticizing the president for embracing autocrats, like Kim Jong-un.
This is what the campaign says: To be on foreign soil on Memorial Day and to side repeatedly with a murderous dictator against a fellow American and former vice president speaks for itself. Now, Trump, the president, defended his comments by saying he was
actually sticking up for Sleepy Joe Biden. Trump tweeting that Kim Jong-un called Biden a low IQ idiot. So he used a much softer term, low IQ individual. Trump adding, who could possibly be upset with that?
BRIGGS: Assuming that was tongue and cheek, but you never know.
ROMANS: I think that was a hit with another hit.
BRIGGS: A brazen flip flop by Mitch McConnell. The Senate majority leader says if a Supreme Court vacancy occurs next year's presidential election, he will work to confirm a nominee appointed by President Trump. Here's what he said in the chamber of commerce luncheon in Paducah on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: If a Supreme Court justice was to die next year, what would you do?
MCCONNELL: We'd fill it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: A sip and a smirk.
You might recall McConnell's decision to block President Obama's nominee to the high court, Merrick Garland, following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016.
(BEGN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCONNELL: All we're doing, Chris, is following a long-standing tradition of not filling vacancies on the Supreme Court in the middle of a presidential election year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: In the middle of a presidential election year. But McConnell's explanation for the flip-flop -- well, doesn't exactly hold up. His spokesman claims there is a big difference between now and three years ago because in 2016, the White House was controlled by Democrat and the Senate by Republicans. This time both are controlled by the GOP.
ROMANS: All right. Some home town love for Michigan's Republican Congressman Justin Amash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are salute your courage.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: Amash held his first town hall since becoming the only Republican in Congress to say President Trump engaged in impeachable conduct.
Before the town hall, he tweeted Attorney General Barr has so far successfully used his position to sell the president's false narrative to the American people, and he stood by that claim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JUSTIN AMASH (R-MI): Clearly, things that violate the public trust are impeachable. I'm confident if you read volume two, you'll be appalled at much of the conduct. And I was appalled.
And, by the way, a lot of them think I was right about the Mueller report and they won't say it. There are a lot of Republicans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: One woman at the town hall who defended the president was heckled. Congressman Amash intervened and asked the crowd to be respectful.
BRIGGS: Excessive gaming is new legitimate medical condition. The World Health Organization says it can be diagnosed when it interferes with daily life and when a person losing can control and prioritizes gaming over other interests in daily activities, like work, school, family life or social relationships.
[04:40:02] The new guidelines call for 12 months of symptoms before a diagnosis can be made.
Video and online games posted nearly $44 billion in sales last year. The video game industry has opposed the gaming disorder classification since the WHO first proposed in 2018.
ROMANS: Did you know 45 percent of gamers are women?
BRIGGS: I did not.
ROMANS: It's a very fast growing obsession among women as well.
Al right. Netflix is vowing to rethink all its entire investment in Georgia. It's the state's recently passed abortion law goes into effect. The streaming giant also plans to work with the ACLU to fight the measure in court.
Georgia's law bans abortion once a fetal heart beat is detected, with exceptions for rape and incest. The law is scheduled to take effect January 2020. Several other companies have threatened to pull out of Georgia because of the law.
BRIGGS: Air travelers left behind almost $1 million of airport security checkpoints in 2018. According to a new report from the Transportation Security Administration, that's $90,000 more than passengers left behind the previous year. The TSA by law is allowed to use the money for projects it can considers important for aviation security. And much of the funds remain in TSA coffers. The report says travelers at New York JFK Airport left behind the most money followed by LAX, Miami, O'Hare and China, and Newark Liberty.
ROMANS: All right. A first of its kind trial. Did Johnson & Johnson flood the market with prescription drug painkillers and should the company pay for it? The state of Oklahoma says yes.
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[04:45:46] BRIGGS: Four-forty-five Eastern Time.
And officials in Nepal are considering procedural changes in the wake of 11 recent deaths on Mount Everest. Climbers have been voicing concern about overcrowding.
Kate Bolduan spoke to a Canadian filmmaker who recently ascended Everest. Listen to him describe the scene at the summit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIA SAIKALY, CLIMBER & FILMMAKER: There was a climber who had taken a fall and had lost their life and that climber was fixed to the safety lines. And so, every single person that was heading to the summit had to step over that lifeless body and it's -- you know, I mean who has the tools to deal with something like that? I mean, it's absolutely devastating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Stepping over a dead body.
Arwa Damon live in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Arwa, good morning.
What are you hearing there from government officials?
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning.
And, actually, a number off climbers we've been speaking to have described the same thing, how they also had to step over a number of dead bodies just to reach the summit. Now, the Nepalese government has been coming under so much criticism because of this over crowding that took place and people saying it was due the number of permits that were issued.
The director general of Nepal's tourism department has flat out denied that. He says this season, they only issued nine more permits than last season.
But here's something that I found quite interesting. There is no experience requirement to be issued a permit. You just need prove you're in good health. You need to pay the fee of around $11,000 and you will be issued a permit. And while the director general is saying that an experienced climber
didn't contribute to the high death toll, which contradicts what we heard when we were on the mountain, they are potentially thinking about trying to put in an experience requirement. Now, today also incidentally happens to be the day where Nepal is celebrating Mt. Everest because it marks the first time that Everest was successfully summited back in 1953.
This is a mountain that so many describe as being such a challenge both physically and mentally. But as one tough climber was describing it to us, he says, you might think you're invincible but then when you come to Everest, you realize that nature has other plans.
And this whole debate happening right now isn't about shutting down Everest. It's not about preventing people from trying to reach the goal if summiting is really what they want to aim for. It's about trying to mitigate the deaths and about trying to insure that people are able to climb safely and successfully
BRIGGS: So, 62-year-old Colorado man, the 11th to die this year.
Arwa Damon, terrific reporting there from Nepal, 2:30 p.m. Thank you.
ROMANS: All right. Just months after penalizing her divorce from the world's richest man, MacKenzie Bezos is promising to give at least half her fortune to charity. The newly minted billionaire has been signed the Giving Pledge, writing: I have a disproportionate amount of money to share.
MacKenzie Bezo's personal wealth, her fortune is an estimated $36.6 billion, ranking her 22nd on the Bloomberg billionaire's index.
Now, the Giving Pledge, as you know was launched by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates back in 2010. It calls on the world's richest people to dedicate a majority of their wealth to charitable causes.
BRIGGS: Bravo. Well done.
ROMANS: Yes.
BRIGGS: All right. Ahead, Pizza hut's original pan pizza's got an makeover. CNN business has the details. Can you smell it?
ROMANS: I didn't --
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[04:53:50] ROMANS: A San Diego nature preserve is closed to the public after a mountain lion attacked a little boy on Monday. Officials say the 4-year-old and his family were hiking in a group when he was attacked. The boy's father threw rocks at a lion to scare it off.
Fish and wildlife officers late euthanized a female mountain lion. Investigators are keeping the park closed until they can confirm it was the same lion that attack a child. The boy suffered head injuries, but is expected to be released from the hospital soon.
BRIGGS: A Minor League baseball team, the Fresno Grizzlies, apologizing to New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for a Memorial Day video tribute that depicted her as an enemy of freedom. Now, the video featured excerpts from President Reagan's first inaugural when he referenced enemies of freedom, the video showed Kim Jong-un, Fidel Castro and Ocasio-Cortez.
The team, an affiliate of the Washington Nationals, tweeted, quote: We're embarrassed we allowed this to play without seeing it in its entirety first. We apologized unconditionally.
The New York Democrat addressed the video saying: What people don't, maybe do, realize is when organizations air these hateful messages, my life changes because the flood of death threats they inspire.
[04:55:08] ROMANS: Wow, that is something.
All right. Authorities say a man died on a plane after ingesting 246 packets of cocaine. The 42-year-old Japanese passenger flew from Bogota, Colombia, to Mexico City, where he answered to a flight bound for Tokyo. This is last Friday.
When crew members noticed he was suffering convulsions, the plane made an emergency landing. An autopsy revealed that he died from a cerebral edema caused by a cocaine overdose.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX TREBEK, "JEOPARDY!" HOST: And you will add $18,000 and that takes you up to 259, 381, and now gives you a 29-day total of $2,254,948.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The legend of "Jeopardy" champ James Holzhauer continues to grow. His 29th straight win brings him even closer to the ultimate record winnings held by Ken Jennings. He took home over 2.5 million bucks in 2004.
Now, Jennings is weighing in on the current champ.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN JENNINGS, 74TH TIME JEOPARDY CHAMPION: I was there. I saw it happen. What I did not expect is someone can make a run at the cash record in 1/3 of the time. It's really just astounding what he's doing.
You know what bothers me is when I hear people say "Jeopardy" James. I'm that guy. You can't put "Jeopardy" in front of his name. I used to be the "Jeopardy" guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: There's room for both of you, I promise. BRIGGS: He said he's be interested to take him on if he could go back
to his brain then. But that could be an interesting pay-per-view moment.
ROMANS: That could be, with John Berman maybe.
BRIGGS: Bring it on, Berman.
ROMANS: Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning.
A look at global markets right now, pretty much mixed I would say. But look at London, London has opened more than 1 percent lower each. So, we'll watch to see if that bleeds into U.S. market action.
Right now, the Dow is down about 165 points. It's about half a percent. You know, yesterday was a down day for U.S. stocks. The Dow dropped 238 points, that's just shy of 1 percent, wiping out earlier gains. It had been up 132 points earlier in the day. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq declined as well. Look, investors are coming to grips with the fact that U.S./China trade war is here to stay.
All right. General Motors and Bechtel want to make finding a station to charge your electric car easier. They're teaming up to build thousands off charging stations across the country. Now, building more stations should boost sales of electric cars. A recent AAA survey shows one of the biggest concerns Americans have about buying an electric car is not having enough places to charge them.
Now, the company plans to put money into the project. The two have agreed to have a separate corporation that will build the network, and they're inviting other companies to invest in it, neither would name those potential investors. But, clearly, trying to get the infrastructure for what is a real push in the automotive industry in this country to electric.
A classic pizza hut menu item has received a make over for the first time in 40 years. Pizza Hut said Tuesday its original pan pizza is being completely remade, including a new cheese blend, new sauce, and a newly engineered pan for a crisper crust.
Changes to the pan pizza comes as pizza hut competes with Papa John's for customers. Pizza Hut said it took three years to develop these improvements. The relaunched pizza is available nationwide.
BRIGGS: Again. You provide no samples, just images to stare at.
ROMANS: Pizza Hut, we're right here.
BRIGGS: All right. It sounds good to me.
President Trump took in a sumo match while he was in Japan while you were sleeping, late night hosts wrestle would with the concept.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, COMEDIAN: The president and first lady went to a sumo wrestling event at the invitation of the Japanese prime minister. And, well, as you can see there in the background, they had the time of their lives. They really ate it up.
He loved the sumo so much he's planning to make can Chris Christie and Bill Barr roll around in the Oval Office.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Special position has been prepared for him, far enough away so that wrestlers won't fall on him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So wrestlers won't fall on him. You have to admit that's a smart decision. How would the news announce what's happened? Some horrible news at this hour, the president of the United States has been smooshed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The interesting part came afterwards when they presented the champion with this U.S. president's cup as if they have any idea what that trophy was.
ROMANS: The longstanding tradition in the United States of sumo wrestling, right, the president's cup.
BRIGGS: Topping their own trophy, an interesting gesture.
EARLY START continues right now.
(MUSIC)
BRIGGS: For the 13th straight day, tornados carve a destructive path. This time to worst damage in Kansas.
END
