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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Biden Prepares for Historic Face-to-Face with Vladimir Putin; Retailers Plead with Biden to Fix Port Congestion; House Committee to Investigate Trump DOJ Data Seizures; FBI Warns Lawmakers QAnon Believers My Become More Violent. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired June 15, 2021 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:32]
LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. We have reports this morning from Brussels, Geneva, Washington and Tokyo.
This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, June 15th. It is exactly 5:00 a.m. here in New York.
President Biden and Vladimir Putin preparing for one of the most critical meetings of this generation now just one day away. It will be top level diplomacy of course but all the polite gestures in the world will not cover up one basic fact, relations between the U.S. and Russia are at their lowest point in years.
JARRETT: Putin contrary to U.S. intel is denying Russia engages in cyber attacks. He's painting the suspect in the U.S. Capitol riot as political prisoners while Russia has been spreading disinformation about the president's health. But Biden, of course, is no stranger to international diplomacy and he understands who he is up against.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH R. BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We should decide where it's in our mutual interest, in the interest of the world to cooperate and see if we can do that. In the areas where we don't agree make it clear what the red lines are. I have met with him, he's bright, he's tough and I have found that he is a -- as they said when I used to play ball -- a worthy adversary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is live in Brussels at the NATO summit.
Jeff, Biden's events there this morning but the focus is on tomorrow's summit with President Putin.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Laura. The focus is absolutely on the meeting in Geneva tomorrow. And we are
told that President Biden is planning for that meeting really every step along the way of his European tour here, largely also by talking with a lot of NATO allies. He had a long conversation I'm told with German Chancellor Angela Merkel about Vladimir Putin and other leaders as well.
But it is the final hours of President Biden's trip here to Brussels, he will be meeting with the Belgian king and prime minister, perhaps you can hear the helicopters overhead here in Brussels.
But the president yesterday last evening actually had a press conference where he took a variety of questions about Putin, including about his comment earlier this spring if he believes Vladimir Putin is still a killer. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I'm laughing, too. Actually, I --
ZELENY: You think he's a killer?
BIDEN: Well, look, I mean, he has made clear that -- the answer is I believe he has in the past essentially acknowledged that he was -- there were certain things that he would do or did do. But look, when I was asked that question on air I answered it honestly, but it's not much of a -- I don't think it matters a whole lot in terms of this next meeting we are about to have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENEY: So a little bit of context there about that. I asked the question if he still believes that Vladimir Putin is a killer because in a weekend interview with NBC News, Vladimir Putin laughed at the question about Biden initially calling him a killer, but you can hear President Biden choosing his words very carefully as he heads into that meeting with Vladimir Putin.
But, look, the larger point of all of this is as the president has made his way to Geneva, he has been talking to allies, really trying to bolster democracies for input on his conversations with Vladimir Putin, but also trying to confront China. And, in fact, it was President Trump, of course, as he was here in NATO and during his four years in office where he also confronted, you know, the rising threat of China.
But it was another question at that press conference last evening when President Biden was indeed asked about U.S. politics. He, of course, is trying to sell democracy abroad but is still -- many leaders wonder if, you know, the next U.S. president will also support the America is back plan.
So, listen to what he said about phony populism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: It is a shock and surprise that what's happened in terms of consequence of President Trump's phony populism has happened.
[05:05:01]
And it is disappointing that so many of my Republican colleagues in the Senate who I know know better have been reluctant to take on, for example, an investigation because they're worried about being primaried.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: But that has been a central question hanging over the entire first trip abroad that President Trump has made. His theme of America is back. Of course, the allies that he is talking to say, OK, prove it, are you the anomaly is was President Trump and the anomaly. So, really, had a series of long meetings.
I can tell you, I was at NATO headquarters last evening until about 9:30 or 10:00 at night here in Brussels, President Biden the last leader to leave the NATO headquarters after holding several meetings on the sidelines of the summit as well as a long session with everyone.
But, again, behind the scenes, we are learning that President Biden who has been flanked by a series of advisers and getting input from other Russia experts will be heading to Geneva just in a few hours or so to prepare for that day-long series of meetings tomorrow. There will be longer meetings and shorter meetings. One thing there will not be is a joint press conference with President Biden and Vladimir Putin.
That is a decision of the White House -- Laura and Christine.
JARRETT: All right. Jeff, thanks so much for being there for us.
ROMANS: All right. America's retailers are pleading with President Biden to fix the port congestion clocking up supply chains. Supply bottlenecks are a pandemic-related snag as the economy reopens and business booms again. In a letter to Biden, the national retail federation warns that congestion at our key maritime ports is causing inventory shortages and higher costs. Some of those costs being passed along to you, the consumer.
Supply issues and surging demand mean higher prices for just about everything Americans buy. In May, so-called core inflation that leaves out the more volatile food and energy prices, core inflation rose at the fastest pace since 1992.
Now, the Federal Reserve says this rising inflation or rising prices is transitory, but the JPMorgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon, says that may not be the case. He says the bank there is stockpiling cash betting that higher inflation will force the central bank to boost interest rates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE DIMON, JPMORGAN CHASE CEO: Effectively stockpiling more and more cash waiting for opportunities to invest at higher rates. We have a lot of cash and capability and we're going to be very market and we're being patient because I think you would have a very good chance of inflation will be more transitory.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The Fed will likely talk about inflation at its policy meeting this week.
JARRETT: If the Republican Party regains control of the Senate in 2022, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says he would not let President Biden confirm a Supreme Court vacancy if one opened up in 2024. That's, of course, an election year. But he also won't commit to allowing a Biden nominee to be confirmed at the end of 2023.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): I think it's highly unlikely. In fact, no, I don't think either party if it controlled, if it were different from the president, would confirm a Supreme Court nominee in the middle of an election. What was different in 2020 was we were of the same party as the president.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROMANS: To be clear, he is just making this real up. This is all his invention. He tried this playbook in 2016 and it worked, that's why Merrick Garland isn't on the Supreme Court, McConnell wouldn't give him a hearing.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez meanwhile is the latest Democrat to suggest liberal justice Stephen Breyer should retire this summer so that President Biden can appoint a younger judge to bolster the court's progressive wing. But not even clear that they would have 50 votes should that vacancy open up.
ROMANS: All right. To the airlines now, Southwest Airlines says it is gradually resuming normal operations after some computer trouble grounded its planes and delayed travel across the U.S. Southwest says a technical issue halted transmission of a weather information required to safely operate their planes leading to this nationwide ground stop. Delta and Alaska Airlines reported separate network issues Monday, affecting their ability to sell tickets.
JARRETT: Coming up, from digital soldiers to real world violence, a new warning from the FBI about online conspiracy theorists.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:13:23]
ROMANS: Thirteen minutes past the hour.
The House Judiciary Committee is launching a formal investigation into recent revelations the Trump era Justice Department seized communications records from House Democrats and from journalists. Attorney General Merrick Garland says the department will tighten its existing policies for seeking such records. The news of secret subpoenas for records of Trump's perceived foes as part of this aggressive investigation into leaks has put increasing pressure on Garland for more transparency about what really happened.
DOJ also secretly subpoenaed apple for data on Trump's own White House counsel, Don McGahn, still unclear why.
JARRETT: And breaking moments ago, new e-mails released by House Democrats adding more evidence of how former President Trump and his allies tried to weaponize the Justice Department for political ends. Specifically the former president directed his White House chief of staff to push the then acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to join a legal challenge to the 2020 election results.
ROMANS: Mark Meadows tried to have Rosen arrange an FBI meeting with an ally of Rudy Giuliani, pushing a conspiracy theory that Italy was using military technology and satellites to change votes to Joe Biden. But Rosen said he refused to speak to President Trump's personal lawyer about those claims.
Rosen even wrote to another top DOJ official, saying, quote, I flatly refused, said, I would not be giving any special treatment to Giuliani or any of his, quote-unquote, witnesses and reaffirmed that yet again, that I will not talk to Giuliani about any of this.
JARRETT: Thank goodness he did not.
An alarming warning this morning from the FBI about a shift among supporters of QAnon, what was once just a fringe far right conspiracy that the former president is somehow a folk hero in a battle against a band of pedophiles that includes famous Democrats and A-list celebrities, well, has now become a collective delusion seeping into the right wing mainstream.
[05:15:17]
Now, the FBI is concerned the recent evolution of the movement will lead to more violence.
CNN's Whitney Wild has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Laura, the FBI has warned lawmakers that online QAnon conspiracy theorists may carry out more acts of violence as they move from serving as, quote, digital soldiers to taking action in the real world. This after becoming emboldened by the January 6th U.S. Capitol attack.
The shift is fueled by a belief among some of the conspiracy's more militant followers that they can, quote, no longer trust the plan set forth by the mysterious standard bearer known simply as Q. That's according to that new report.
Alarmingly, the report suggests that the fact that some QAnon predictions haven't happened hasn't turned some followers off. Instead, there's a belief individuals need to take greater control of the direction of the movement than ever before.
However, some QAnon adherence likely will disengage from the movement or reduce their involvement in the wake of the administration change, it adds -- Christine, Laura.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: All right. Whitney, thank you so much for that.
Speaking of conspiracies leading to violence, new details about what happened on January 6th. CNN's Drew Griffin talks with those who were there. "Assault on Democracy: The Roots of Trump's Insurrection", Sunday at 9:00.
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[05:21:04]
JARRETT: All right. Twenty minutes past the hour.
The games are going forward. Overnight, the vice president of the International Olympic Committee arrived in Tokyo to coordinate final preparations for the Summer Games now less than six weeks away. Organizers are preparing to release their latest playbook to control the spread of COVID as the Japanese government considers scaling back the state of emergency.
You know the games are close when the athletes begin to arrive. We told you about the Aussie softball team touching down in Tokyo but one team has been there longer.
Let's go live to Tokyo and bring in CNN's Blake Essig.
Six weeks away now.
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Laura and Christine, you know, the track and field team from South Sudan has been living and training here since before the pandemic began in 2019. As a result they have had the chance to safely train and embrace Japan in a way that really no other international Olympic team will be able to.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABRAHAM MAJOK MATET GUEM, ATHLETE: I'm doing it for my country, not for myself.
ESSIG (voice over): Abraham Majok Matet Guem has been running his entire life -- running from violence, running for survival. And in just a few months, running to unite a nation at the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.
GUEM: All I need from my people that is the South Sudanese is love and peace. And all this comes with forgiveness. When they are able to forgive one another, this peace can come in.
ESSIG: Since becoming an independent nation in 2011, South Sudan has been embroiled in constant conflict. The most recent, a six-year long civil war which left nearly 400,000 people dead and millions more displaced.
GUEM: Seeing all these people dying, seeing people suffering, people worried, and they fear that we will always have suffering.
ESSIG: While the effects of war are long-lasting, Guem, his teammates and coach have found a peace and a safe place to train roughly 7,000 miles from home in Maebashi, Japan.
For most athletes and South Sudan food is hard to come by. Shoes are uncommon. And facilities like this simply don't exist.
The team has been living and training here for nearly a year and a half. They go to school daily to study Japanese and computer skills, have immersed themselves in Japanese culture, and even sampled the local fair.
Overtime, Michael Machiek, South Sudan's first Paralympic athletes says they've become part of the community.
MICHAEL MACHIEK, PARALYMPIC ATHLETE: My favorite thing is that the way these Japanese treat us very nice. Yes. They treat us as if we are citizens of Japan.
ESSIG: Through taxes and donations, the city of Maebashi raised about $300,000 to host and support the athletes. City officials say their stay was extended by a year because of COVID-19.
SHINICHI HAGIWARA, MAEBASHI CITY SPORTS DIVISION (through translator): They've become one of us now. I think people don't feel surprised when they see the athletes. They just want them to do well at the Olympics.
ESSIG: While Olympic organizers remain adamant that the games will be held as scheduled, whether or not they actually take place remains to be seen, as a fourth wave of infection in Japan continues to swell.
GUEM: Right now, I still worry sometime because the cases seems to be increasing and the worries are always there, but I am sure that Olympics will take place.
ESSIG: And if it does, Guem and his teammates will be ready to run. Run not for themselves, but to bring pride to the people of South Sudan, still struggling to recover from ongoing ethnic violence.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ESSIG: Later this week, South Sudan's neighbors to the south, the Olympians from Uganda will arrive in Japan and they'll be taking part in a training camp at a city in Osaka.
[05:25:05] To date, 122 out of 528 host towns scheduled to participate in the exchange program have canceled as a result of concerns surrounding COVID-19 -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Blake, thank you so much for that.
Laura?
JARRETT: All right. Our CNN colleague Christiane Amanpour sharing personal news she's been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Amanpour announced the news on air Monday after returning to her show from a little bit of a break.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: During that time, like millions of women around the world, I've been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I've had successful major surgery to remove it and I'm now undergoing several months of chemotherapy for the best long term prognosis and I'm confident.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Amanpour stressed the importance of early detection, urging women to educate themselves and get regular screenings. Our thoughts are, of course, with Christiane, hoping her -- she will have a speedy and lasting recovery.
ROMANS: For those who just see her in TV, she is just such a generous person both as a friend and as a colleague and a mentor to, you know, other women in journalism. Just -- we wish you the best, Christiane.
JARRETT: Yeah.
ROMANS: All right. The friendly skies are becoming a little unfriendly, a record number of violent or unruly passengers on airplanes.
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