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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Signs of American Economic Comeback; WaPo: FBI Warned Giuliani in 2019 He Was Target of Russian Operation; Daily Beast: Letter Says Gaetz Paid for Sex with Minor; India's Coronavirus Surge Threatens Global Pandemic Fight; Dozens Killed in Stampede at Mass Religious Festival in Israel. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired April 30, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:23]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Stocks and housing are booming. Layoffs are slowing. So who benefits the most from a great American come back?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: He was warned. The FBI told Rudy Giuliani he was the target of Russian manipulation. What he now says about the raid on his home.

JARRETT: And new claims about Matt Gaetz paying for sex with an underage girl. How the details emerged in a letter from an ally pleading for a pardon.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world, we have reports this morning from India, Israel, Moscow, the White House and the Kentucky Derby.

This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday, April 30th. Happy Friday, everybody, it is 5:00 a.m. exactly in New York.

We begin with the great American comeback. The economy roars back in the first quarter. The economy grew 6.4 percent on an annualized basis in the first quarter, the best first quarter since 1984. That strong number showed huge gains in consumer spending and business investment. Goldman Sachs now estimates the economy for the year could grow 7 percent, the best in 30 years.

Layoffs are slowing, weekly jobless claims still double what they were before the crisis but that trend incredibly important. The housing market is the strongest it's been in years, home prices setting new records as buyers scramble to find homes amid an inventory crunch.

The pandemic moves Americans' lives online, that has been a boom for tech earnings. Amazon's profit more than tripled in the first quarter to $8.1 billion on $108 billion in sales. The earnings coming after the tech giant said it would spend a billion dollars to raise wages for more than 500,000 workers.

Microsoft and Google soared as people spent most of their lives in front of multiple screens during lockdowns. The S&P 500 hit a brand- new record high Thursday. It is up 12 percent this year. More people are getting back outside as restrictions are lifted, open table CEO says nearly 80 percent of restaurants on its site are open and are taking reservations.

McDonald's said its sales are back to pre pandemic levels partly because of the return of spicy Chuckle nuggets and a chicken sandwich. Delta will start selling its middle seat tomorrow as demand for air travel grows.

Disneyland in California is reopening with limited capacity to Californians after shutting its gates over a year ago. And the CDC said U.S. cruises could set sail again in July if the vast majority of ships' passengers and crew are vaccinated.

Now, the greatest risk to the recovery is resurgence of this virus which is the best reason to get the vaccine, which is safe and effective. And it's true, not everyone is benefitting from the recovery yet.

That's where the Biden economic agenda comes in. He wants to make sure forgotten Americans are benefitting, too, that this rising tide, which is there, lift all boats not just yachts.

JARRETT: Yeah. So many people are doing well as you outlined, and the question is, who isn't doing well and how can the government actually help them, right?

All right. Now, to this, an ambassador recalled, an FBI warning, so many election lies, and now this week, a raid on the home of former mayor of New York City. It's hard to keep up with all the developments surrounding Rudy Giuliani, but let's start with this.

CNN has now learned the FBI directly warned Giuliani as far back as late 2019 that he was the target of a Russian influence operation. "The Washington Post" reports Giuliani was told the Russians wanted to use him to circulate falsehoods aimed at damaging Joe Biden ahead of last year's election.

Now, despite this FBI warning, Giuliani went ahead with a planned trip to Kiev where he met a Ukrainian lawmaker, the U.S. later labeled an active Russian agent. CNN has already reported the Trump White House was warned some of the disinformation being passed to Giuliani was from foreign intelligence.

ROMANS: For more than two years, Giuliani has been the focus of an investigation by the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, the office he once ran. The probe is looking into his activities in Ukraine, including whether he broke foreign lobbying laws. This week, federal authorities showed up at his home and office seizing multiple devices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP'S FORMER LAWYER: The search warrant is purportedly based on one single failure to file for representing a Ukrainian national or official that I have never represented. I have never represented a Ukrainian national or official before the United States government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: But "The New York Times" reports that, in fact, the focus of the justice department probe is Giuliani's push to oust then U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. Giuliani believed she had been blocking his effort to dig up dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden.

[05:05:04]

In particular, prosecutors are looking into Giuliani's communications with Ukrainian and American officials leading up to Yovanovitch's firing.

ROMANS: Her dismissal was a focus of former President Trump's first impeachment and that's one of the scandals swirling around Giuliani who was also involved in Trump's other impeachment and could face charges for his role peddling election lies in Georgia and inciting the Capitol mob.

Laura, when they look into this, this now opens up everything, right? Officials -- the FBI can look at everything here what they find on this material.

JARRETT: Sure. And I think that there's a lot to unpack here for Rudy Giuliani but the big question is who is he working for? He says he never represented a Ukrainian before the United States government. He's saying that but he knows because it would be illegal unless he had registered as a foreign lobbying agent with the Justice Department, something he didn't do.

We also know of course he was the president's lawyer then. He's working for Trump. So the question is who exactly is his client? Who is he doing all this work for? Why does he want the former ambassador ousted? I think that's the question for investigators and something they will be looking for when they search all the devices.

ROMANS: Certainly more to come on this story.

JARRETT: Right. All right. So President Biden says all these decisions being made at the Justice Department are being made independently, but the wider shift in priorities at the DOJ is notable here. Local media in Minnesota report federal prosecutors have convened a grand jury to indict Derek Chauvin, along with three other former Minneapolis police officers with civil rights violations for the death of George Floyd. And Attorney General Merrick Garland has launched a broad probe of the Minneapolis Police Department to see if it's engaged in a pattern of using excessive force.

ROMANS: He also added similar investigation of the Louisville department in Kentucky. That's where Breonna Taylor was killed in her home by police during a botched raid. There are also hate crime charges against three white men in the killing of black jogger Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia and a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting death of Andrew Brown Jr. by a sheriff's deputy in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. All of that plus several other indictments this week including against

a police officer in Louisiana and another in Virginia and that's only what we know about at this point.

JARRETT: All right. A lot of DOJ news this morning.

And now this, pleas for a last minute pardon may have revealed incriminating details about Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz. "The Daily Beast" has obtained a letter and messages from Joel Greenberg. Remember, he's an associate of Gaetz and a central figure in the fed's ongoing sex trafficking investigation here.

Greenberg writes that he and Gaetz paid for sex with multiple women including a minor who was under 17 at the time.

ROMANS: So this letter says the underage girl, quote, was involved in sexual activities with the congressman from Florida's first congressional district and myself. He also says gas money or gifts, rent or partial tuition payments were made to several of these girls, including the individual who was not yet 18.

CNN has not seen the letter and can't verify the details of "The Daily Beast" story, but here is a reporter who shares the byline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE PAGLIERY, POLITICAL INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER, DAILY BEAST: This letter is pretty explicit. It states very clearly that Joel Greenberg got paid by Matt Gaetz to acquire young women for sex and that they had sex with a teen. The thing that really jumps out at me at this damning letter is the idea that he goes I did see the acts occur firsthand. This is going to be pivotal for prosecutors as they go after Matt Gaetz.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Now, Greenberg was under indictment himself at the time and the messaged screenshots he showed he offered Trump confidant Roger Stone, yeah, he is now involved in this, $250,000 for help obtaining a pardon in the last months of President Trump's term. Stone tells CNN he never took money from Greenberg, he doesn't recall any letter and he never heard of Greenberg implicating Gaetz in this.

ROMANS: A spokesperson for Gaetz told CNN in a statement last night, and I'll read it to you here, Congressman Gaetz has never paid for sex nor has he had sex with a 17-year-old as an adult.

"Politico" has reported Mr. Greenberg's threats to make false accusations against others and while "The Daily Beast" story obtains confessions from Mr. Greenberg, it does not add anything of substance and certainly no evidence for the wild and false claims about Representative Gaetz. In fact, the story goes some way to showing how Representative Gaetz was long out of touch with Mr. Greenberg and had no interest involving himself in Mr. Greenberg's affairs.

Greenberg has been cooperating with investigators since last year. His attorney declined to comment.

JARRETT: More to come on that for sure I'm guessing.

All right. Still ahead, India's coronavirus catastrophe worsening this morning. Neighboring countries on high alert, some families forced to bring their own oxygen to save dying relatives.

CNN is live in New Delhi next.

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[05:13:56]

JARRETT: This morning in India, a national crisis with global repercussions. The more the virus spreads, the more chance it has to mutate and create variants that could eventually resist the current vaccines. Now, India's neighboring countries are on high alert. The country shares land borders with Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Some borders have residents crossing back and forth every day.

Mumbai also has announced a three-day suspension of vaccinations because they don't have enough.

ROMANS: All this as India deals with the worst air quality in the world and people are scrambling to find scarce hospital beds for family members. Funeral pyres are burning throughout the day and night, bodies piling up faster than cremate them.

CNN's Vedika Sud live in New Delhi at a makeshift hospital, operating under the supervision of the armed forces.

Just a tragedy unfolding there. What can you tell us this morning, Vedika?

VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Good afternoon from India, Christine.

I'm going to take you through this area. This is a COVID-19 quarantine facility. We've brought you visuals and the situation from hospitals.

[05:15:00]

Now, it's time to tell you more about what's happening inside this quarantine center.

There are 500 beds available here with oxygen supply but we've been speaking to a lot of relatives waiting outside. One is this lady here that you see. She's actually holding an oxygen can in her hand. We have just spoken to her and she says her father has been inside for the last two hours and there is no one to attend to him. She's worried, she is here with a small can of oxygen, that's all she can manage as of now just in case he needs it.

There are a lot of tense people all around out here, family members, I'm going to go closer to this COVID-19 ward, you see the cars all around, these are family members who are not inside but outside waiting to hear from their loved ones.

If you remember, I had gone to crematorium a couple days ago and spoken to the nephew of this deceased person who succumbed to COVID- 19. He said his uncle's phone was switched off, when they tried to reach him no one was responding, they called the help desk and found he had succumbed to COVID-19 two days before that call.

That is the worry in places like this. There are ambulances waiting outside, all these people have COVID-19 patients inside, all of them weak right now, breathless, just hoping to get a bed inside.

Out here you see the family members as well, they are just waiting to hear about their loved ones. This is the situation. I just saw a young girl sitting right by this gate near the barrier who was gasping for breath asking for help. There are beds inside but we've been told by the family members that there are no doctors, not sufficient doctors and not sufficient nurses at this point in time.

I also know of two family members who requested that their relative who are inside this quarantine facility be discharged so that they can take them somewhere else. Can you see what's happening here? Ambulances are breaking down. People are pushing ambulances, they have all been overburdened by the number of people who need support at this point in time.

On another note now, Christine, let me bring up a tweet of a friend and a colleague who I spoke to this morning. Her daughter is down with COVID-19 and another four people in her family have COVID-19, and that's how she's communicating with her daughter. Under the door, she's putting sheets of paper, her eight-year-old is coloring those sheets of paper and sending it back to her mother.

I'm sorry I'm getting a bit emotional right now because it gets difficult to actually digest all of this. I just heard of an ex- colleague who has passed away.

So it's all over. It's just all over the place. People are standing here just to hear about their loved ones, hospitals are overcrowded and we also know that inside this facility, they have allowed relatives of patients actually sitting there who could even get that virus.

You can hear them say it themselves, they're saying they're not treating those patients.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's admitted from last two days. She has not got any doctor, any kind of facility, any oxygen, even a paracetamol. And no one is asking for them.

SUD: So, that is the state of affairs right now. It's worrying, people are concerned and we're just hoping that all those people get the facilities they need at this point in time, Christine.

ROMANS: Oh, Vedika, what a tragic situation. Thank you. Take good care of yourself. I'm so sorry for the losses that all of you are suffering there. It's

just almost too hard to -- too hard to take. Thank you for that and we will talk to you soon.

JARRETT: Just watching them push that ambulance is just horrific.

All right. India not the only country struggling to beat back COVID surges now. Japan where there is more troubling news for Olympic organizers trying to get the Summer Games off the ground.

EARLY START has the pandemic covered around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Selina Wang in Tokyo.

Japan has reported nearly 5,800 COVID-19 cases in one day, the highest number since January with the Olympics just months away Japan is struggling to contain a fourth wave of COVID cases amid a slow vaccine rollout. Japan has fully vaccinated less than 1 percent of its population held back by supply issues, red tape and vaccine hesitancy.

Japan has reached an agreement with Moderna for 50 million doses of its vaccine by September. The country has received its first batch even though the Moderna vaccine is not yet approved for use in Japan.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Arwa Damon in Istanbul.

It is day one of Turkey's longest lockdown to date. Numbers have been increasing, partial restrictions did not work, hence the government deciding to take this drastic decision. Vaccine rollout has also slowed down. This is to try to protect its own population, to try to salvage its economy moving forward and prepare itself for the upcoming tourism season.

However, if you happen to be here right now as a tourist you are exempt from the current lockdown restrictions.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London.

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced four steps out of lockdown, the first move happening on May 3rd. That's when it will be an end to certificates needed for movement and an end to a domestic travel ban.

[05:20:03]

On May 19th, the next step will occur, that's when curfew will be moved down a couple of hours and there will be a reopening of museums, cinemas and shops, further reopenings will happen on June 9th. Also, the curfew will be moved down later at that point.

In the final step, all curfews will be lifted but night clubs must remain closed. (END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Thank you to our reporters for all of those.

Devastating news out of Israel, dozens killed in a stampede at a mass religious gathering including children, witnesses tell us. What caused this to happen? We're going to go live on the ground in Mount Meron.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:25:06]

ROMANS: Developing overnight, dozens of people killed in a stampede at a mass religious gathering in Israel. The country's attorney general has already opened an investigation.

CNN's Hadas Gold is there live at the festival site.

Just a tragedy. What can you tell us?

HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Definitely a tragedy. I'm standing outside of the entrance to this site, it's actually a tomb of an ancient rabbi and every year tens of thousands of orthodox Jews come here to celebrate Lag B'Omer, often a festival of bonfires, singing and dancing, and many, many people here.

But last night, that turned tragic. Around 1:00 a.m., there was some sort of stampede on a stairway, a stairway to exit one of the areas there and it turned tragic. The videos are just very hard to watch, it looks like bodies on top of one another.

We have confirmed that 44 people have lost their lives, more than 100 have been injured and were sent to hospital, just a tragic evening. It's not clear exactly what happened, what caused this, because this festival actually happens every single year and, in fact, although there are reports there was almost 100,000 people in this festival, in previous years there have been more. It didn't happen last year because of coronavirus.

Because Israel has been successful at its vaccination program and the infection rates for COVID are so low here, authorities did allow this festival to take place. There are questions about whether too many people were allowed in because the scenes of it just looks absolutely crowded there. It was just tens of thousands of people crowded together singing and dancing.

Now, the police commander for the northern part of Israel has already taken responsibility for what happened last night. The attorney general has said that he is launching an investigation to see what happened, what went wrong, because in the previous years it has been fine.

But last night something incredibly tragic happened and so many people lost their lives. The ambulance services here are calling it the worst civil disaster in Israeli history.

ROMANS: All right. Hadas, thank you so much for that.

Keep us posted on any developments -- Laura.

JARRETT: All right. The first Palestinian elections in 15 years delayed indefinitely. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says the vote will be postponed until Israel agrees to allow voting in East Jerusalem. Abbas says he was told Israel's own political deadlock prevents that, but he doesn't accept that.

The elections are seen as a chance to repair a fracture between Palestinian factions in the West Bank and Gaza.

ROMANS: New ID requirements, new signature requirements, new limits on mail ballots and more, all that on the verge of becoming reality in a critical battleground state.

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