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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Democrats Hope To Find Common Ground On Biden Economic Agenda; U.S. Supreme Court Tackles Abortion, Gun, And Religion In New Term; British Military To Help With Fuel Deliveries Amid Panic Buying. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired October 04, 2021 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:31:56]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It is just about 32 minutes past the hour this Monday morning -- time for our top stories to keep an eye on today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCES HAUGEN, FACEBOOK WHISTLEBLOWER: I've seen a bunch of social networks and it was substantially worse at Facebook than anything I'd seen before. Facebook, over and over again, chose to optimize for its own interests, like making more money.

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JARRETT: The Facebook whistleblower revealed. Thirty-seven-year-old Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, telling "60 MINUTES" the company knows its platforms are used to spread hate, violence, and misinformation, and it tried to hide the evidence in the name of making more money. Facebook calls her claims misleading.

ROMANS: Dead birds and fish washing ashore on Huntington Beach in California. A pipeline breach -- an oil spill destroyed a local wildlife habitat. The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team of investigators in to assess the source of the spill.

JARRETT: North Korea has reopened communication with South Korea. The move comes after Kim Jong Un said Pyongyang has no reason to provoke or hurt the South. The country has also restored their military hotline. South Korean officials hope greater communication will help reduce tensions on the peninsula.

ROMANS: More than 700 badly behaved passengers have been banned from flying by United Airlines during the pandemic. United's CEO says that number is surprisingly low considering the airline is carrying nearly three million people a week now. He credits the de-escalation training given to flight attendants. JARRETT: The new George Floyd memorial statue in New York's Union Square vandalized for the second time. Blue paint was dumped on it Sunday morning. The statute originally unveiled in Brooklyn in June and was vandalized with black paint and the logo of a white supremacist group five days later.

ROMANS: That's disturbing.

All right. Democratic lawmakers set to regroup this week as they try to salvage President Biden's economic agenda. The party infighting, layup for the "SNL" season premiere.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CECILY STRONG, CAST MEMBER, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE," PORTRAYING SEN. KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-AZ): What do I want from this bill? I'll never tell. Because I didn't come to Congress to make friends, and so far, mission accomplished.

JAMES AUSTIN JOHNSON, CAST MEMBER, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE," PORTRAYING PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Roads -- everyone OK with roads?

MELISSA VILLASENOR, CAST MEMBER, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE," PORTRAYING REP. ALEXANDRA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I like roads.

AIDY BRYANT, CAST MEMBER, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE," PORTRAYING SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): Me, too. Roads are where trucks live.

JOHNSON: Kyrsten?

STRONG: I want no roads.

JOHNSON: No roads? Why?

STRONG: Chaos.

JOHNSON: All right, then -- just tell us, Kyrsten, what do you like? What is good to you?

STRONG: Yellow Starbursts, the film "The Polar Express," and when someone eats fish on an airplane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Moderate senators like Kyrsten Sinema are causing gridlock with progressives that could drag on for weeks. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reset the clock, giving them until Halloween to strike a deal on both the bipartisan roads and bridges infrastructure plan and that more expansive $3.5 trillion social spending and climate bill.

CNN's Jasmine Wright live in Wilmington, Delaware for us this morning.

Jasmine, are Democrats any closer to finding that common ground? It feels as though the president accomplished something in at least saying -- taking the pressure off by saying we're going to get it done eventually. Eventually, we'll get it done. It wasn't necessarily the make-or-break week last that we thought it was.

[05:35:00]

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Christine. But still, it doesn't seem like they are any closer, which means that despite these efforts, President Biden's economic agenda still hangs in the balance. But one thing that the White House, to progressives, to moderates want us to know is that these negotiations still continue.

But yesterday, on the Sunday shows, Democrats -- you know, they said that they were united in their purpose in trying to bring substantial change to the American people -- American families. But it was clear that they had no consensus on a final price tag or even what programs would be in our would be out to bring that package number down.

Remember, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia -- he wants that economic bill that expands the social safety net to come in around $1.5 trillion. That would be $2 trillion less than President Biden's original asking price of $3.5 trillion.

So, yesterday, when talking to our own Dana Bash on "STATE OF THE UNION," Congresswoman Jayapal, who was really the leader in keeping Democrats -- keeping progressives to hold the line and not vote for that infrastructure bill unless they got an agreement on that second part of the agenda -- she basically shot that down. Take a listen.

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DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, if we're not looking at numbers, what about 1.5, like what Sen. Manchin wants?

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): Well, that's not going to happen.

BASH: So why is that --

JAYAPAL: So, it's going to be somewhere --

BASH: Why won't it add up to that number if --

JAYAPAL: Because that's too small to get our priorities in. So, it's going to be somewhere between 1.5 and 3.5, and I think the White House is working on that right now. Because remember, what we want to deliver is childcare, paid leave --

BASH: Yes.

JAYAPAL: -- climate change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: So, President Biden, the White House says, will continue his outreach as negotiator-in-chief. As we've said, he went to the House on Friday, giving lawmakers kind of a reset. This week, he will invite them over to the White House after a weekend of close engagement, the White House said, that he and his officials had with Congress. As well as, he will take his case out into America to the American

people, trying to rally support for his two plans. In Michigan -- he will be there on Tuesday, really trying to bring pressure back home on lawmakers to come back into the fold to come to a deal.

But already, Christine, we are seeing some effects of Americans kind of putting pressure on lawmakers, including that of Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. We saw kayakers kind of go past his houseboat really asking him to stop his resistance, come back into the fold, and make a deal.

So I'm sure in the coming weeks that we see these negotiations continue. We will see some more of that -- Christine and Laura.

ROMANS: Yes, there was a lot of attention this weekend to the fact he's on his big houseboat in the Potomac talking -- he had been quoted as talking about how he wanted to have a rewarding society, not an entitlement society. And it was sort of like wow, you're on a big boat talking about --

JARRETT: It's not a good look.

ROMANS: -- talking about entitlement.

JARRETT: Jasmine, there's another sticking point that seems to be shaping up for Democrats, and it's abortion.

Senator Manchin says he will not vote for this larger $3.5 trillion plan if it doesn't include what's known as the Hyde Amendment, which generally prohibits federal funds being used on abortions. Other progressives, like Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, we just showed -- she says she wants it stripped out completely. I'm sure that there are other congresswomen who agree with her. Biden has his own interesting history on the Hyde Amendment.

So how do you see this playing out?

WRIGHT: Well, it's just one of those things, Laura, that we have to wait and see. But it is difficult to see how progressives really vote for this package with the Hyde Amendment, if it stays in there, because of all of the acrimony and kind of intense jeopardy that the abortion rights are currently in after that Texas abortion bill.

So, Jayapal says that she will not vote for it. Manchin -- if it's not in -- if it is in there -- Manchin says that he will vote for it if it's not in there. Of course, there are probably a dozen or so lawmakers who fall in between those two areas. And, of course, President Biden, in 2019, came out and said that he was against the Hyde Amendment.

So just like the price tag in the programs that are going to be inside of the bill, it's just something that we have to wait and see how it all turns out.

JARRETT: Yes.

ROMANS: All right, Jasmine in Delaware. Thank you so much. Nice to see you this morning bright and early.

JARRETT: Thanks.

ROMANS: Thousands of women taking to the streets across the country over the weekend protesting new restrictions on reproductive rights in Texas and other states. Last month, Texas banned nearly all abortions after a heartbeat is detected. There were chants of "My body, my choice" in city after city as protesters called on lawmakers to keep their hands off women's rights.

JARRETT: Reproductive freedom on the minds of many as the Supreme Court begins its new term today. The justices will hear in-person arguments for the first time since the pandemic forced the court to go virtual. Arguments on abortion, guns, and religious rights all to come.

CNN Supreme Court reporter Ariane de Vogue has a preview for us.

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ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER (on camera): Laura and Christine, the Supreme Court's extraordinary new term begins today. It's the first time in over a year that the justices have met together in-person to hear oral arguments. But Justice Brett Kavanaugh won't be president because last week he got diagnosed with COVID, so he's going to participate remotely.

[05:40:13]

But the new term starts as public confidence in the court is at an all-time low. And the justices, themselves, have taken this unusual step of giving several speeches trying to bolster the reputation of the court.

But as the new term starts, all eyes will be on these justices because they're in the middle of the political hotspot they caused when they allowed a Texas law, last month, to go into effect that bans most abortions in that state. That caused a firestorm.

The cases that are important this term -- one has to do with a religious liberty case. Another has to do with the scope of the Second Amendment.

But by far, the most important case is another separate abortion case out of Mississippi. And they are the state that is asking the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. It's the most important challenge the court has heard in more than 30 years. That case will be argued in December and probably decided sometime by July -- Christine, Laura.

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ROMANS: All right, Ariane de Vogue. Thank you so much for that.

Cautious optimism this morning from the nation's top infectious disease specialist. Dr. Anthony Fauci announcing the U.S. appears to be turning the corner on the latest wave of the pandemic. The U.S. trends map showing new cases in the past week are down in 24 states, steady in 20, rising in six. Hospitalizations over the past two weeks are also down in 33 states, steady in four, rising in 13.

Also, a lot of excitement over Merck's antiviral pill that seems to cut the risk of death in half. The company plans to see emergency use authorization from the FDA, but experts warn it should not be a substitute for vaccines.

CNN's Polo Sandoval has more.

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Christine and Laura, good morning.

We may be turning the corner when it comes to the latest COVID surge, and the only way to keep hospitalization and infection numbers down is to get vaccinated. That's the word from the president's chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci. We heard from him over the weekend as the nation surpassed 700,000 deaths, saying -- Dr. Anthony Fauci saying that most of those deaths could have been avoided had people simply been vaccinated.

The latest numbers from the CDC now showing that at least 56 percent of eligible adults are now fully vaccinated -- so, clearly, have a long way to go here in terms of protecting the general population.

Dr. Fauci also expressing some concern after the promise of a new oral treatment for coronavirus patients. Dr. Fauci concerned that some people may simply choose to bypass getting vaccinated because they may have that option if it's approved someday.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It is never OK to get infected. You know, you heard the numbers. It decreased the risk of -- this pill did -- of hospitalizations and death by 50 percent. You know the way to decrease the risk by 100 percent? Don't get infected in the first place.

SANDOVAL: Merck and Ridgeback Therapeutics, the maker of that antiviral drug, says that their product cuts the risk of COVID death and hospitalizations by nearly half. Those companies saying that they plan to submit their product to the FDA for emergency use authorization as soon as possible -- Christine and Laura.

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JARRETT: Polo, thank you for that.

There are new guidelines this morning for the holidays -- still weeks away -- but they're from the CDC. If you want to reduce your risk of getting COVID or spreading COVID, the agency recommends you get vaccinated as soon as you're eligible. Wear a mask in high transmission settings. Keep celebrations outdoors or virtual. And please do not host or attend events if you are sick or symptomatic.

ROMANS: All right. COVID-19 is still disrupting the global supply chain and for you, it means higher prices and fewer options.

Some of America's biggest brands warn their supply chains are strained heading into the holidays because of closed factories in Vietnam. Over the summer, a second coronavirus wave shut down factories in Vietnam and some of them are still closed.

Nike makes more than half of its shoes in Vietnam. It lost 10 weeks of production when factories closed there.

Michael Kors, Coach, and Ugg all make products in Vietnam, meanly delays for shoppers. PacSun expects a four-week delay for its winter and holiday goods. Fewer products on the shelves there mean fewer discounts.

Shoppers could also expect longer delivery times and higher prices and should have more than one option available for gifts around the holidays, folks. Your Christmas shopping list -- you're going to have to be careful here.

We'll be right back.

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[05:46:47]

ROMANS: The British Army will begin delivering gasoline to retailers starting today. The move comes after a chaotic week of panic buying, fights at pumps, and drivers hoarding fuel in water bottles across the U.K. after a shortage of truck drivers has strained supply chains to the breaking point.

CNN's Nina dos Santos live in London with more. I mean, this is really a remarkable situation. How long will the military be doing this?

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN EUROPE EDITOR: Thanks very much, Christine.

Well, we don't know. Essentially, until supplies start to ease, which they're saying they have some indication -- the government is saying that they have some indication that the supply crunch is easing in other parts of the country.

But obviously, not here in the capital city, London -- home to nearly nine million people, many of whom are motorists. Many of whom are spending their Monday morning queuing up at a four-court (ph) like this because there's very little supply.

One in five gas pumps across London and the southeast of the U.K., the most economically vibrant part of the country, is currently running dry on fuel, Christine. And the government has warned that these intermittent supply issues with fuel -- by the way, also things like fresh food and so on and so forth -- are likely to continue, potentially towards the end of the year.

So, it is possible that we'll see more military personnel stepping in to deliver these sort of vital goods across the U.K. over the months to come, with 100 already on the streets as we speak this morning, Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Nina dos Santos for us in London. Thank you so much for that.

JARRETT: Taiwan says that 77 Chinese military jets flew into its air defense zone in two days. China sees democratic Taiwan as a breakaway province and in a show of force has been sending in military planes for more than a year.

CNN's Will Ripley joins us live from Taipei. Will, good morning. How do you see all this playing out?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a lot of concern in the United States and elsewhere that this could lead to some sort of a military confrontation of miscalculation when you have this many planes from China in the skies near Taiwan.

I want to bring up this list to show you the total number of warplanes that came in from Friday through Sunday -- 93 in total, including 80 fighters, four types of nuclear-capable bombers, five anti-submarine aircraft, and four early warning aircraft.

The U.S. State Department putting out a pretty strong statement saying that "The United States is very concerned by the People's Republic of China's provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilizing, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability. We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan. The U.S. commitment to Taiwan is rock solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region."

Now, these incursions came in Taiwan's self-declared air defense identification zone in multiple waves, day and night. The Taiwanese Air Force scrambled their own planes. They deployed anti-missile and anti-aircraft defense systems. And they issued these radio warnings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an announcement by the Taiwanese Air Force. The PLA military aircraft situated at 6,900 meters in southwestern Taiwanese airspace. Please pay attention. You have entered my airspace and affected our flight safety. Turn around and leave immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: It's important to note that Beijing did not violate international law here by entering the air defense identification zone because they didn't enter Taiwanese airspace, which extends over the main island and 12 nautical miles from the coast.

[05:50:01]

But they did enter this area, which causes a great amount of concern for the Taiwanese leadership at a time that they feel there is increasing military intimidation and bullying by Beijing, which is celebrating its National Day holiday -- more than 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

And, of course, Beijing claimed sovereignty over this self-governing island of almost 24 million people even though it has its own government, democratically-elected, and its own military -- Laura.

JARRETT: Will Ripley, thank you so much.

ROMANS: All right, let's get a check on CNN Business this morning. Looking at markets around the world to start the trading week, markets in China are closed for holidays. They will reopen on Friday.

Trading in shares of Evergrande halted Monday morning. That real estate developer has warned investors it could default if it's unable to raise money quickly. No reason given for that halt.

Looking at stock index futures on Wall Street this morning, leaning a little bit lower but now a convincing move here this morning.

Stocks rallied into October, making up some losses from the -- earlier in the week. The Dow closed up Friday 482 points. Still, the S&P and the Nasdaq logged their worst week since February. For the Dow, it was only the worst week since the start of September.

But taking a look at stocks this year -- we always like to give you some perspective -- the S&P 500 is up 16 percent this year. The Dow up 12 percent.

Shopping for a new or used car, a nightmare. Limited supplies and higher prices if you can find what you're looking for. It's all because of a shortage of computer chips. New car sales dropped last quarter. Demand is really strong but supply is the problem.

General Motors sales down 40 percent from the same quarter of 2019. That was before the pandemic hit - 40 percent. Sales at Stellantis fell 27 percent from its pre-pandemic period.

Automakers have been warning this chip shortage will affect sales for months. A shortage of cars has also meant higher prices, which has also been a drag on sales as some buyers are being simply priced out of the car market.

JARRETT: Well, a supervillain is the new king of the pandemic box office.

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CLIP FROM COLUMBIA PICTURES "LET THERE BE CARNAGE."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: The "Venom" sequel, "Let There Be Carnage" taking in an estimated $90 million in its first weekend of release. That's the best box office haul of the pandemic era, topping the $80 million Marvel's "Black Widow" raked in back in July. "Venom" is playing only in theaters, which should help boost ticket sales. ROMANS: All right. Donald Trump is asking a federal judge to let him back on Twitter. Trump's attorney calls Twitter's ban on the former president's account dangerous to open democratic debate. The CFO of Twitter says the ban is permanent even if Trump runs for president again.

JARRETT: A Florida man armed with a knife and a baseball bat now facing murder charges for allegedly killing three co-workers. Police say 39-year-old Shaun Paul Runyon punched his supervisor Friday morning and then fled his job site. He later returned to a rental home that he shared with several others and, according to police, went on a deadly rampage Saturday. He's being held in the Polk County jail with no bond.

ROMANS: All right, 53 minutes past the hour.

It is the great American pastime, daydreaming you'll win the lottery. You won't, of course. The odds are one in 292.2 million.

But let's suspend reason, logic, and well, financial literacy for a moment and dream about the current Powerball jackpot. No one won the $635 million over the weekend, so the jackpot is now -- get this -- $670 million for tonight's drawing. That's the eighth-largest in U.S. lottery history.

Think it could be you? You are more likely to be struck by lightning. That's one 500,000 odds. Bitten by a venomous snake. That's one in 37,000. Or attacked by a shark. That's one in four million.

But dream if you must. Take the lump sum. It would be $474 million cash value. And how would you spend it?

JARRETT: You're such -- you're such a doubter with all of your facts and all of your comparisons.

ROMANS: I just want people to enjoy the moment when you spend the money for the ticket that will not be the winning ticket.

JARRETT: So you're telling me I shouldn't buy a ticket.

ROMANS: No. But look, if it's worth it to you to feel that moment of dreaming what if, but you're not -- look, Powerball tickets are not the best financial plan for your future. You should be talking about a 401k.

JARRETT: I shouldn't be banking on that?

ROMANS: No. What would you spend it on, though?

JARRETT: I don't know what I would spend it on but I do know if I won, I would still want to do EARLY START with you.

ROMANS: I know. I would keep my job. I would keep my job. I would keep my job.

Thanks for joining us this morning. I'm Christine Romans. JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

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[05:59:16]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Brianna Keilar with John Berman.

On this new day, a market of malice. A Facebook whistleblower says the company knowingly pumped its users full of hate and anger to make a profit and is lying about it.

Plus, election integrity on the line as a Trump-backed candidate running for governor in a state where Joe Biden won says she would not have certified the election results.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Is the U.S. turning a corner in the pandemic? The hopeful new signs that could mean the beginning of the end.

And the crazy finish to the most hyped October football game in history. How Tom Brady's face saved everything.

KEILAR: Good morning to viewers --