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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

House Dems Formalize Impeachment; Trump Packing His Bags; New Fast-Growing Fire in California; They'll Be There For You; 49ers Hold Off Cardinals to Stay Undefeated. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired November 01, 2019 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:00:01]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: 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.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: It's nice to see you, Christine.

ROMANS: We start a new month.

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: 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 television and I will read the transcript of the call because people have to hear it.

Fireside chat, that's a reference, of course, to FDR's radio addresses from nearly a century ago.

SANCHEZ: I can't imagine what the late shows are going to do with that if he does it.

With Speaker Pelosi holding the gavel, not a single Republican voted to support the impeachment inquiry. Two Democrats crossed over, defecting to vote against it. The vote paves the way for a private process to go public in the coming weeks.

While that was going on, a top National Security Council official who was on that call between President Trump and President Zelensky of Ukraine testified to impeachment investigators. A source says he told lawmakers his predecessor advised him to stay away from the shadow Ukraine foreign policy that was being pursued by Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. The NSC official also backed up damaging claims about the president.

CNN's Lauren Fox reports from Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) LAUREN FOX, CNN 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Lauren, thank you for that.

Washington has been fixated on impeachment now for more than a month. But in states Trump won in 2016, many voters saying, this is not their priority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a waste of the taxpayers' money.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You don't really follow the whole impeachment thing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, and I don't really know much about it at all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the ones of us that support him will continue to support him. If you look at the economy there's no way to deny that we're doing pretty amazing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he don't need to be taken out. He's the only who's going to tell the truth and he can't be bought.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it was out in the open and everything was discussed and he did something wrong, impeach the guy. I just don't like the secrecy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And "The New York Times" and Siena College polled voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Arizona. These were the states with the closest popular votes that went for Trump in 2016. Now, three years later, just 43 percent of voters in these six states want the president impeached and removed from office.

SANCHEZ: When his time at the White House ends, President Trump is heading south. Trump giving up his namesake Manhattan Tower as a permanent residence and declaring himself a Florida resident. Court documents and a series of tweets shows the native New Yorker is moving the 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.

ROMANS: A note that he doesn't mention federal taxes. There's no way to check the rest since he's never released his returns.

A source close to the president tells "The New York Time" the change was primarily for tax forces. Florida has no income tax. The source says the president was also enraged by the Manhattan prosecutor's lawsuit to obtain his tax returns. That case is likely to head to the Supreme Court in an election year.

SANCHEZ: Breaking overnight, a new, fast-growing fire in Ventura County, California.

The Maria Fire spreading to about 5,000 acres with zero containment. Seventy-five hundred residents in Santa Paula and northwest of L.A. are under mandatory evacuations.

Watch this video. It's fire vehicles driving right through the middle of the inferno. The Ventura County fire department says 400 firefighters are battling the fire on the ground and in the air.

A pilot for KTLA was overhead as the trucks narrowly avoided being seared by the raging inferno.

[05:05:01]

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HELICOPTER PILOT, KTLA, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The second one here -- that fire is a little bit closer so he's just going to make a run for it and get down here as quickly as possible and get away from that 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: Several Ventura County school districts will be closed today. In northern California, 6,700 PG&E customers remain without power, the result of a shutoff that began last weekend. The utility's giant 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, though, is fortunately decreasing. High winds are starting to subside after a week of red flag warnings.

ROMANS: All right. The monthly jobs report is due out in a few hours. Projections aren't great. The GM strike is a big reason why. CNN's Matt Egan joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:11:46]

ROMANS: All right. In just a few hours, the Labor Department will release the jobs report. And, you know, it looks like the job market may have taken a hit. Analysts expect about 89,000 jobs were added in October. That's down from 136,000 in September. The unemployment rate likely, you know, ticked up to 3.6 percent. That's still a phenomenal number, by the way.

This, though, would be the slowest monthly jobs growth since May when 62,000 jobs were added.

I want to bring in, it's Friday, let's bring in Matt Egan, lead writer for CNN Business.

We also learned this week that the economy is slowing over the summer. Just 1.9 percent growth for the economy.

Do you think the GM strike is going to play into jobs numbers and kind of cement that idea? That the economy is growing but not growing gangbusters.

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS LEAD WRITER: Happy Friday, you guys.

I think the jobs report is going to be what economists like to call messy. It's a technical term. That's because of the GM strike as you mentioned. They're supposed to show that job growth slowed pretty significantly, just 89,000 jobs in October. As you mentioned, that's a slowdown.

And some economists have warned there could be no growth or negative numbers were job support.

ROMANS: Really?

EGAN: That hasn't happened since 2010.

But I don't think investors or economists are going to freak out about this because it's being distorted by the GM strike. That strike took out tens of thousands of GM workers out of the labor force. It also caused layoffs for some of the suppliers, as well.

So, that's why it's really important to look at the overall trend. So, if you look at the last year or so, we can clearly see that job gains have slowed down. Even if you just look at the average for 2019, just 161,000 jobs have been gained. That's below of last year's pace of 223,000.

ROMANS: Oh, yes.

EGAN: And it's below the final year under President Obama.

Not a big surprise because there's not enough workers. Unemployment rate is really low. And there's challenges like the trade war out there.

SANCHEZ: Overall, the economy is doing well. And someone that loves to take credit for that is President Trump, of course. He tweeted yesterday that the impeachment hoax is hurting our stock market. There it is.

How realistic is that? Is the impeachment playing a role in the stock market? Or does the dip have uncertainty over trade?

EGAN: It really has nothing to do with impeachment at all. We should point out that the stock market hit all-time highs on Wednesday. I don't understand how anything is hurting the stock market.

Even though it went down yesterday, the S&P is just 1 percent away from the record highs. This is more about the economy and the trade war. Investors were spooked because of the Bloomberg News report, suggesting that China may not want to make a long-term trade deal with the United States.

And there was another reminder of how much damage the trade war is doing. There's a Midwest factory activity report that came out and showed it was the worst numbers in about four years. New numbers have been plunging, as well. It's a reminder why they need to get a trade deal done in the first place. Impeachment really has not been a big driver.

ROMANS: It's interesting. Central to the president's re-election message, is that the economy is strong. His trade war is not hurting average people, and stock markets at record highs.

But you look at coal country. And a big story this week, Murray Energy filing for bankruptcy. What's -- the coal -- he was going to save coal. [05:15:00]

He hasn't.

EGAN: Right. This really puts an exclamation point on the downturn on the coal industry. Murray Energy, the largest private sector coal miner in the United States, filing for bankruptcy. It shows how much pain there is in the industry.

We can see on the screen there, there's just plunging demand for coal right now. America's power plants, they're moving to cleaner alternatives, natural gas, and renewables, solar, wind. And the workers are really the ones who are going to be hurt here, not just the ones that have -- that are employed by Murray Energy coal miners, but the ones who rely on these companies for retirement benefits, health care, their pensions.

I spoke to a number of them. And they all said they really worry that this bankruptcy is going to hurt their benefits. It's another reminder of the unintended consequences here when we see a big shift in the economy away from fossil fuels.

SANCHEZ: We'll see how voters respond. Those that voted for the president, a lot of promises he made to coal country.

Matt Egan, thank you so much.

ROMANS: Nice to see you, Matt.

EGAN: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Shifting gears this morning. We saw a big night for Jimmy G. last night. The San Francisco 49ers perfect this season.

Carolyn Manno has "The Bleacher Report", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:21:10]

SANCHEZ: More than 25,000 Chicago public schoolteachers return to the classroom this morning after an 11-day strike. Teachers protested outside city hall on the snow Thursday, demanding they be paid for the days lost for the strike. Mayor Lori Lightfoot agreeing to pay them for five of those days.

More than 350,000 Chicago public school students were affected by the strike. Teachers are getting a 16 percent pay raise over five years, smaller class sizes, and an increase in their support staff.

ROMANS: All right. Thursday night football featured a battle between two of the league's most exciting division rivals, the San Francisco 49ers and the Arizona Cardinals.

SANCHEZ: And Carolyn Manno has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report". Not a lot of people expected the 49ers to be undefeated at this point

in the season.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the defense -- good morning to you both -- has really been the story of the 48ers season. So impressive.

Thursday night was exciting because it offered for a chance for their quarterback to prove his worth. That is the big question mark going in. Jimmy Garoppolo and the Niners often making big plays on, cashing on Arizona's big mistakes as well. Tight end George Kittle sent Twitter into a frenzy early on in this game, answered an opening drive touchdown from Arizona in a big way, broke two tackles on his way to the end zone.

Give the cardinals credit, though. They did fight back. Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray finding fellow rookie Andy Isabella in the fourth quarter. 88-yard touchdown and a two-point conversion to boot that would bring this game within three. That's why a lot of people feel these franchises are exciting moving forward.

Niners from their own 48 yard line. Garoppolo hitting his newest offensive weapon, former Bronco Emmanuel Sanders' 16-yard catch. The veteran receiver, a very welcome edition at San Francisco. He would kill the clock from there to stay undefeated. Good game, though.

Meantime, the district of champions is getting ready for another victory parade. The nationals returned yesterday from Houston after their World Series win. First baseman Ryan Zimmerman getting the honor of carrying the trophy off of the plane. The Nats beat the Astros in game 7 to win the franchise's first title and Washington's first World Series championship since 1924.

So, tomorrow's parade starts at 2:00 Eastern and ends with a rally near the Capitol, as well.

And just like baseball, it ain't over until it's over in hockey. Calgary's Matthew Tkachuk delivering a Halloween trick or treat. This is one of the best goals you will see all season. The 21-year-old scoring the winning goal with a second left in O.T.

Look at this shot between the legs. You need to see it a couple times in slow motion to appreciate everything that happened in that play. That's up for goal of the year for sure. The Flames burned the Predators, 6-5.

And if, by the chance, you are still in the Halloween spirit this morning, Pittsburgh football team's coaching staff getting the best of some of their players on Thursday. This is the team's director of player personnel in a uniform that's on display at the facility.

He got a couple good ones towards the end. Did you see that one? Who says football players don't get scared from time-to-time. Their game against Georgia Tech won't be as scary.

I love a good Halloween prank. I have to give credit to the coaching staff.

SANCHEZ: I hope no one gets an idea to do something like that here. They will be met with fire and fury, for sure.

ROMANS: All right. Carolyn Manno, have a great weekend. Nice to see you.

MANNO: Oh, man, good stuff.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. Twenty-four minutes past the hour.

The impeachment inquiry is now official. How moving the process from behind closed doors into the public, changes the dynamic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:29:17]

ROMANS: All right. It's November. "Friendsgiving" is coming to a theater near you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT LEBLANC, ACTOR, "FRIENDS": The food smells great, Mon.

DAVID SCHWIMMER, ACTOR, "FRIENDS": Yes, and the place looks so nice.

LEBLANC: Yes. Hey, hey, happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

SCHWIMMER: Happy Thanksgiving.

LEBLANC: Well, this has been great.

SCHWIMMER: See ya.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All of the Thanksgiving-themed episodes from the classic TV series "Friends" will screen in movie theaters across the country over two days during 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 in September.

EARLY START continues right now.

(MUSIC)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): The resolution is adopted without objection. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: A divided House taking a critical step -- the impeachment inquiry now official.

END