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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Has No Plans to Concede as Impeachment Probe Goes Public; Trump to Leave New York for Florida; Iraqi's Prime Minister Resigning Amid Massive Protests. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired November 01, 2019 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: -- the process go public.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The president's namesake tower losing its most tenured resident. Why is Donald Trump moving to Florida?
SANCHEZ: Breaking overnight, a new wildfire growing fast in Southern California. Thousands forced to evacuate. Is relief on the way?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT LEBLANC, ACTOR: Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.
DAVID SCHWIMMER, ACTOR: Happy Thanks --
JENNIFER ANISTON, ACTRESS: Happy Thanksgiving.
LEBLANC: Well, this has been great.
SCHWIMMER: See ya.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: And if you're looking for a helping of "Friends" this Thanksgiving, classic holiday episodes are coming to movie theaters nationwide. Apparently the 25th anniversary was successful.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
ROMANS: So they're doing it again.
Welcome back to EARLY START, everybody. I'm Christine Romans.
SANCHEZ: And I'm Boris Sanchez, in for Dave Briggs. Great to be with you, Christine.
ROMANS: Nice to see you.
SANCHEZ: We're about half past the hour here in New York. And just hours after the House officially made Donald Trump the fourth president in history to face impeachment, a defiant chief executive made very clear he has no plans to concede anything. In an Oval Office interview with "The Washington Examiner," the president said, quote, "This is over a phone call that is a good call. At some point, I'm going to sit down, perhaps as a fireside chat on live TV and I will read the transcript of the call because people have to hear it."
That's a reference to FDR's radio addresses from nearly a century ago.
ROMANS: With Speaker Pelosi holding the gavel, not a single Republican voted to support the impeachment inquiry. Two Democrats crossed over to vote against. The vote paves the way now for a very private process to go public in the coming weeks.
While that was going on, a top National Security Council official who was on that phone call testified to impeachment investigators. A source says he told lawmakers his predecessor advised him to stay away from the shadow Ukraine foreign policy being pursued by Trump attorney, Rudy Giuliani. And the NSC official backed up damaging claims about the president.
Lauren Fox reports from Capitol Hill.
LAUREN FOX, CNN POLITICS CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, a huge day on Capitol Hill yesterday as lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, both forced to be on the record when it comes to where they stand on impeachment. The resolution they voted on yesterday sets out the rules for the next stage of this impeachment inquiry when these testimonies become public.
Also yesterday, Tim Morrison up on Capitol Hill where he largely corroborated testimony from Bill Taylor. He was a career diplomat who told lawmakers last week in a 15-page opening statement that he had concerns when he had learned that the president was trying to use nearly $400 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine as a way to try to extract investigations that he hoped the Ukrainian government would announce against his political rivals.
Now, Morrison also testified yesterday on Capitol Hill that he didn't have any concerns about the legality of what President Trump said on that July 25th call, but he did say he had concerns about information leaking from that call because he said he worried that it could damage the U.S. relationship with Ukraine. He also said he was part of the conversation about what to do with the call transcript following the July 25th call -- Boris and Christine.
SANCHEZ: Lauren Fox, thank you for that.
Now Lauren mentioned Tim Morrison testified he wasn't worried anything illegal was discussed in the call. That statement has been seized on by Republicans, including President Trump, who tweeted this out late last night, writing, "Thank you, Tim Morrison, for your honesty." A sharp departure from the criticism of basically every other witness so far.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that she would only move forward with impeachment if there was bipartisan support. But yesterday's nearly partly-line vote was anything but.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I had not been, shall we say, enthusiastic about the divisiveness that would occur from an impeachment. Weighing the equities, I had said then, he's not worth impeaching because it's even going to divide the country further than he has already divided it. But this was something that you could not ignore.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (D-CA): Alexander Hamilton wrote, "There will always be the greatest danger. That the decision to use impeachment power would be driven by partisan animosity. Instead of real demonstrations of innocent or guilt."
REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): This is Soviet-style rules. Maybe in the Soviet Union, you do things like this where only you make the rules. Maybe you think it's fairness if you can run rough shot over somebody because you've got the votes. But that's not how impeachment was supposed to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Remember the longer impeachment goes on, the more complex it becomes for Democrats. Among other things, a trial could disrupt presidential campaigns with candidates who are also senators required to stay in Washington. Meantime, others, rivals like Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg could stay on the campaign trail. Also vulnerable House Democrats may face new challenges after voting for an inquiry. Republicans will no doubt target those lawmakers, many who won traditionally red districts in 2018.
[04:35:03]
SANCHEZ: President Trump is giving up his namesake Manhattan tower as a permanent residence, declaring himself a resident of Florida. Court documents and a series of tweets show the native New Yorker is moving to Mar-a-Lago whenever he's done in Washington. He writes, quote, "I cherish New York, but unfortunately, despite the fact that I pay millions of dollars in city, state and local taxes each year, I've been treated very badly by the political leaders."
It's important to point out that the president does not mention federal taxes in those tweets and there's no way to check the rest since he's never released his tax returns.
ROMANS: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo tweeting, "Good riddance. It's not like Donald Trump paid taxes here anyway. He's all yours, Florida." A source close to the president tells "The New York Times" the change was primarily for tax purposes. Florida has no income tax. The source says the president was also enraged by the Manhattan prosecutor's lawsuit to obtain Trump's tax returns. That case is likely headed to the Supreme Court in an election year.
SANCHEZ: We're following some breaking news overnight. A fast- growing fire in Ventura County, California.
The Maria Fire has spread to about 5,000 acres, with zero containment. 7500 residents in Santa Paula, northwest of L.A., are under mandatory evacuations.
Watch this video. You can see fire vehicles driving right through the middle of the inferno. The Ventura County Fire Department says 400 firefighters are battling the flames from the ground and air. A pilot for KTLA was overhead as these trucks were narrowly driving through these flames. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The second one in here, that fire is a little bit closer so he's just going to make a run for it. Get down here as quickly as possible and get away from the fire and continue down here to the east. Now he's right up on top of the hill. You see a big flare-up right there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: That's just terrifying. Several Ventura County school districts will be closed today.
In Northern California, 6700 PG&E customers are without power as a result of a shutoff that began last weekend. The utility giant CEO was asked about struggling Californians clearing out their refrigerators during these shutoffs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL JOHNSON, CEO, PG&E: These events can be hard on people. Really hard on people, and particularly people who have struggles anyways. We didn't cause any fires. We didn't -- for these people. We didn't burn down any houses. The Kincade Fire is still under investigation. I got that. But, you know, one of the things we did was give them the opportunity to actually refill their refrigerator because their house is still there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Fourteen fires are burning across California. More than 200,000 acres have burned. That's more than 150,000 football fields. The danger fortunately is decreasing. High winds are starting to subside after a week of red flag warnings that's allowing fire crews to start gaining some ground.
ROMANS: All right. Markets ran out of optimism on trade this week. You know, the S&P 500 hit a record high on news of a phase one trade deal earlier in the week but that optimism has fizzled. Bloomberg News, citing unnamed sources, said Chinese officials were expressing doubts a long-term agreement will ever happen. The report said that Chinese officials won't budge on the most difficult issues and that they don't trust President Trump not to back out of this skinny deal, this more limited agreement that they're trying to agree on now.
Trump and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, were supposed to meet at a summit in Chile but that summit was canceled because of economic protests in the country. Trump tweeted the two sides are working on finding a new site to sign the agreement, which he says, and this is new. He says the skinny deal covers about 60 percent of a total deal.
Markets are nervous about slowing growth. They're nervous about the Federal Reserve. The Fed lowered interest rates on Wednesday and signaled it may not cut rates again for the rest of the year. Trump tweeted Thursday people are, quote, "very disappointed" in Fed chair Jerome Powell. He suggested the Fed lower rates even further like Germany and Japan. Now the president actually admiring negative interest rates around the world. Negative interest rates widely seen as a sign of an economy in distress. He'd like that here.
SANCHEZ: Outgoing California Congresswoman Katie Hill delivering some parting shots in her final speech on the House floor. The 32-year-old Hill resigned after admitting to an affair with a campaign worker. Now she's denied allegations that she was involved with a member of her congressional staff. An investigation was launched using some rules that were implemented recently following a series of MeToo complaints mostly against men. Nude pictures of Katie Hill were also posted online by a right-wing blog. She says her soon-to-be ex- husband is to blame.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KATIE HILL (D-CA): I will never shirk my responsibility for this sudden ending to my time here. But I have to say more because this is bigger than me. I am leaving now because of a double standard. I'm leaving because of a misogynistic culture that gleefully consumed my naked pictures, capitalized on my sexuality, and enabled my abusive ex to continue that abuse, this time with the entire country watching.
[04:40:04]
The forces of revenge by a bitter, jealous man, cyber exploitation and sexual shaming that target our gender and a large segment of society that fears and hates powerful women have combined to push a young woman out of power and say that she doesn't belong here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: CNN has reached out to Hill's husband for comment but we've yet to hear back.
ROMANS: All right. The president's travel ban could be on the verge of expanding. Where and why, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:45:11]
ROMANS: Iraq's prime minister has agreed to resign after weeks of deadly anti-government protests. More than 200 people have been killed, thousands more injured, just over the past month.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is live for us in Istanbul, Turkey.
What's happening here? JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Christine, as
the protests enter their second month, we saw the president, Barham Salih, coming out in this address to the nation saying that prime minister has agreed to resign but it's conditional. Only if they find a replacement. They don't want to end up in a situation where the country is in political or constitutional vacuum. And also he said that they want to work on an election law.
Now if the purpose of this address was to calm the anger on the streets, to quell these protests, that hasn't happened. We saw tens of thousands of people still pouring into the streets of Baghdad on Thursday night and also other southern cities. And that is happening today, as they are bracing for more protests. We're talking about people who say that they are fed up. They've heard these promises before.
You know, Iraqis since 2003 have been waiting for their politicians, for their government to deliver. They want jobs. There's a high level of youth unemployment. Lack of basic services. And they complain about this entrenched official corruption. And they blame the political system, their political elite for not delivering on any of these promises for all these years. So basically you have people who say that they've had enough and that they want to see change and they want it right now.
And they remain very defiant. People are still taking to the street despite that bloody crackdown. More than 200 people have been killed, as you mentioned, since the start of this month. Thousands others injured. And the government has been accused of this heavy-handed response to the protests. And the message has been clear. They are not going to stop. People say they want to see change and they want it right now -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Jomana for us in Istanbul. Thank you for that.
SANCHEZ: The president's travel ban could be expanding. Two sources tell CNN the administration is considering adding more countries, though it's not yet clear which ones. The discussion revolves around countries that are not complying with requests to share electronic documents and information. Fewer than five countries are being discussed. Restrictions would be tailored to them as opposed to a total ban. Critics have long said that Trump's travel ban is meant to keep Muslims from entering the United States.
You'll recall the first attempt to implement the travel ban caused total chaos at airports nationwide. As of mid-September, more than 31,000 people have been denied entry to the United States because of the ban. The State Department, though, issuing some 7600 waivers.
ROMANS: All right. Apple TV Plus won't have a deep content library when it launches today. But it has some advantages in the streaming wars. CNN Business is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:52:28] SANCHEZ: A company that fact-checks Facebook ads thinks it has a solution to uproar over false political advertising. Lead Stories is one of the fact-checkers that Facebook hired to curb misinformation after the 2016 election. It was co-founded by a former CNN journalist. Next week, Lead Stories will propose that fact-checkers vet ads from politicians, and those fact-checks be reviewed by new nonpartisan panels. The Lead Stories says there is an urgent need for a fair way to identify egregiously false political ads.
There's been a growing backlash over Facebook's hands-off policy toward political advertising. Twitter said Wednesday that it will no longer accept political ads.
ROMANS: A 7-year-old-girl in Chicago fighting for her life this morning after she was shot while trick or treating. According to police she was hit in the neck by a stray bullet when at least two people walked up to a group and opened fire. Police say the girl is in critical condition. And a 31-year-old man who was shot in the hand is in stable condition. Detectives are reviewing surveillance video and asking for help from the community.
SANCHEZ: More than 25,000 Chicago public schoolteachers return to the classroom this morning after an 11-day strike. Teachers protested outside city hall in the snow Thursday demanding they be paid for the schooldays lost to the strike. Mayor Lori Lightfoot agreeing to pay them for five days. More than 350,000 Chicago public students were affected by the strike. In addition to a 16 percent pay raise over five years, the new teachers contract calls for smaller class sizes and an increase in their support staff as well.
ROMANS: WeWork founder and CEO -- and former CEO Adam Neumann accused of gender and pregnancy discrimination by his own former chief of staff. A lawsuit brought by Medina Bardhi said she was demoted twice after becoming pregnant. Bardhi claims she was repeatedly derided and marginalized. A WeWork spokesperson said the company will vigorously defend itself against the claim. The company has zero tolerance for discrimination. There were a number of complaints about the company's culture under Neumann's leadership. He stepped down as chief executive in September.
SANCHEZ: Some 48 million people are under a freeze warning in the aftermath of some powerful storms. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has the forecast for us.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Christine and Boris. It's going to be a brutally cold start to our early weekend across the Ohio River Valley. All the way to the Gulf Coast, in fact, we have freeze warnings and advisories in place. Bundle up heading out the door. Can't say I didn't tell you so.
[04:55:02]
It's all thanks to this cold front that's racing eastward across the east coast of the country, departing across the Atlantic Ocean. Now another secondary reinforcement shot of cold air waiting behind it. And this first cold front actually sparked off some severe weather yesterday. Over 175 reports of severe wind gusts across the mid- Atlantic all the way to the New England coastline. An incredible amount of strength and power with this system. And it's also allowed for winds to pick up. In fact, we have wind advisories and warnings in effect for over 50 million Americans across the northeast.
So drive with care today. You see the storm system departing. Another weak clipper that will bring a mixture of rain and snow to the upper Great Lakes today. Here's a look at your temperatures. 53 for New York. 43 for Chicago. 57 in Atlanta. Back to you.
SANCHEZ: Derek Van Dam, thank you for that.
It's almost Thanksgiving. And "Friendsgiving" is now coming to a theater near you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEBLANC: Food smells great, Ma.
SCHWIMMER: Yes. And the place looks so nice.
LEBLANC: Yes. And hey, hey, Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.
SCHWIMMER: Happy Thanksgiving.
ANISTON: Happy Thanksgiving.
LEBLANC: Well, this has been great.
SCHWIMMER: See ya.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: I crack up to seeing Chandler in the background with that shot. All of the Thanksgiving-themed episodes from the classic TV series "Friends" will screen in movie theaters across the country over two days during the "Thanksgiving" weekend. The eight episodes have been newly remastered in 4K. The "Friendsgiving" marathon event comes after the success of the show's 25th anniversary celebration that screened in theaters this past September.
ROMANS: All right. Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning. Taking a look at global markets right now. You can see they're mixed. A little bit of optimism in the European markets this morning. Asian shares mostly higher, despite fears of a long-term U.S.-China trade deal. A survey of factory activity in China was better than expected.
On Wall Street, looking at futures to end the week up a little bit. You know, markets fell on Thursday in the last trading day of the month. The Chicago PMI, that's the purchasing managers number, showed significantly slower factory activity in the Midwest. It was the lowest reading since December 2015.
Tobacco giant Altria said its investment in Juul is worth $4.5 billion less. Altria said it did not expect the regulatory challenges that Juul faces. The e-cigarette company is blamed for a rise in teenage vaping. It's facing a federal ban on e-cigarette flavors that make up 80 percent of its U.S. sales. Juul announced earlier this week it will cut around 500 jobs as part of a restructuring. Altria, which owns Marlboro, faces a decline in cigarette sales last year when it invested $12.8 billion in Juul looking at that to be the future. At the time it was one of the most valuable start-ups in Silicon Valley.
Apple TV Plus launches today with some star power.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANISTON: We are doing this my way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Without a large content library, but some really big names. "The Morning Show" will feature Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carrell and Reese Witherspoon. Apple has also signed on Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg.
It's a big moment for Apple as it faces slowing iPhone sales and tries to grow its services business. Apple reportedly spending $6 billion on content. This service will cost $4.99 a month and will come free for a year when you buy an iPhone or iPad or Mac.
SANCHEZ: While you were sleeping, Stephen Colbert put a late-show spin on a Charlie Brown Halloween classic. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINUS, ANIMATED CHARACTER: Soon the great pumpkin will rise out of the pumpkin patch for all to see.
CHARLIE BROWN, ANIMATED CHARACTER: The great pumpkin is not coming. He's been impeached.
LINUS: What did the great pumpkin do?
CHARLIE BROWN: Remember that official phone call we listened in on?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ukraine. Quid pro quo.
LINUS: Well, if the great pumpkin has been impeached, who will take his place and rise out of the pumpkin patch?
CHARLIE BROWN: The great jar of light mayo.
UNIDENTIFIED ANIMATED CHARACTER: Look at me, Mother. I'm president of the pumpkin patch.
LINUS: Good grief.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Oh, boy.
Thank you so much to our international viewers for joining us. Hope you have a great rest of your day. For our U.S. viewers, EARLY START continues right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PELOSI: The resolution is adopted without objection.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A divided House takes a critical step. The impeachment inquiry now official. So when will a private process go public?
SANCHEZ: Plus the president's namesake tower losing its most tenured resident. Why is Donald Trump moving to Florida?
ROMANS: Breaking overnight, a new wildfire growing fast in Southern California. Thousands forced to evacuate. Is relief on the way?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEBLANC: Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.
SCHWIMMER: Happy Thanksgiving.
ANISTON: Happy Thanksgiving.
LEBLANC: Well, this has been great.
SCHWIMMER: See ya.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And if you're looking for a helping of "Friends" this Thanksgiving, classic holiday episodes are coming to movie theaters nationwide.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Boris Sanchez, in for Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday, November 1st. It's 5:00 a.m. in the East. It's 1:00 a.m. in California. Nice to see you this morning to start a new month.
SANCHEZ: Great to see you, Christine, as always.
ROMANS: Just hours after the House --
[05:00:00]
