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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Seventeen U.S. and Canadian Missionaries Kidnapped in Haiti; Adam Kinzinger Cites He Won't Rule Out January 6 Committee Subpoena for Trump; Bill Clinton Discharged from Hospital After Being Treated for Urological and Blood Infection. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired October 18, 2021 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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LAURA JARRETT, ANCHOR, EARLY START: Good morning everyone, it's Monday, October 18th, it's 5:00 a.m. here in New York, thanks so much for getting an early start with me, I'm Laura Jarrett, Christine is off today. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. We begin this morning with the kidnapping in Haiti. Seventeen U.S. and Canadian missionaries including five children were abducted over the weekend after visiting an orphanage.
The victims were taken by a local gang that experts say is now kidnapping on an industrial scale. CNN's Melissa Bell is tracking the story for us from Paris. Melissa, does the U.S. State Department know anything about where these Americans are being held at this hour?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For the time being, all we really know, Laura, is thanks to security sources within Haiti who confirmed the name of the group that took these missionaries, 400 Mawozo, that took them over the course of the weekend. No indication yet as to where they're being held. But interestingly, the neighborhood from where they were kidnapped, in fact, if you get to the north of Port- au-Prince; the Haitian capital, Laura, is precisely the neighborhood from which a group of Haitian and French missionaries were kidnapped back in April.
Now, at the time, there had been a lot of work on the part of the Catholic Church to try and get them released, it had taken a couple of weeks, but they had been set free. No word though on whether any exchange of money took place. What tends to happen with these kidnappings is that either individuals or groups who kidnap against ransom. It's happened a growing number of cases over the course of the last year, a 300 percent rise in kidnappings just since the month of July. And this really, Laura, is a scorch to ordinary Haitians going about their business every --
JARRETT: All right, it looks like we may have lost Melissa Bell there, thank you to her and all of her reporting as usual. Back here at home, Donald Trump may soon face a subpoena from the house committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot. Several Trump allies have already been served and Congressman Adam Kinzinger, one of only two Republicans on that committee is ruling nothing out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): I'm just speaking quite honestly, if we subpoena all of a sudden, the former president, we know that's going to become kind of a circus, so that's not necessarily something we want to do upfront. But if he has pieces of information we need, we certainly will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: On Friday, President Biden told reporters he believes anyone who defies a subpoena from the January 6th committee should be prosecuted. We get more now from CNN's Melanie Zanona.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, the investigation into January 6th is poised to take a pivotal step forward this week. The select committee will meet Tuesday evening to vote on criminal contempt charges for Steve Bannon who is refusing to comply with a subpoena from the select committee. Bannon of course, is a former Trump adviser. He is someone who had the president's ear, and he also said on his podcast on January 5th that all hell was going to break loose on January 6th. So the committee understandably has a lot of questions for Bannon.
Now, even if the full house votes on criminal contempt charges, which we are fully expecting them to do in the near future, it will only refer it to the Department of Justice. So, ultimately, it would be up to the DOJ to determine whether to hold Bannon in criminal contempt which could result in jail time or fines. However, if they go down that route, it could wind up in a lengthy court battle, which means, we might not see a resolution on this for quite some time. Nonetheless though, the committee is pushing ahead, they're moving quickly and aggressively. They want to make a real example out of Bannon and send a message to other witnesses who were contemplating whether to comply with the committee.
And all of this comes as the select committee is still debating whether to subpoena Donald Trump himself, something committee members are not ruling out. Melanie Zanona, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JARRETT: Melanie, thank you for that. While lawmakers maul a subpoena for the former president, he's set to testify today in a lawsuit filed by protesters who say they were attacked by his security staff outside Trump Tower. The suit brought by a group who self-describe as activists of Mexican origin claim a Trump Tower guard hit a protester as he took their card board sign that read, quote, "Trump make America racist again". Their lawyer wants to question Trump to determine if he was responsible for the conduct of the security staff. CNN's Kara Scannell has more from New York.
KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Good morning Laura, this morning for the first time since leaving office, former President Donald Trump will testify under oath. [05:05:00]
He will sit for a videotaped deposition in a case stemming from a 2015 lawsuit where a group of men sued the former president and his company alleging they were assaulted by Trump's then head of security while protesting against Trump's anti-immigration rhetoric. Last week, a New York State judge who has called Trump's testimony in this case indispensable ordered Trump to sit for the deposition, ending years of litigation. The plaintiff's lawyer is expected to question Trump about any instructions he gave to his security team, and because the lawyer is suing for punitive damages, he will likely question Trump about his net worth and finances.
The lawyer could also ask Trump about Matthew Calamari, his top official overseeing security and his compensation. That's an area that is part of an ongoing criminal investigation by Manhattan prosecutors. Trump has denied any knowledge of the alleged incident and said he delegated full responsibility of security to Calamari. Today's deposition will be played before a jury when the case goes to trial. The former president is also facing a late December deadline for a deposition in another case, the defamation lawsuit filed by former "Apprentice" contestant Summer Zervos. Laura?
JARRETT: Kara Scannell, thank you so much for that. It's time for three questions in three minutes. Let's bring in CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Jennifer Rodgers. Jennifer, good morning to you. This case out of New York is one that actually is all that stuff that happened before Trump was actually president. But it's significant because it is the first time he would actually have to sit for a deposition after leaving office. If you were a lawyer for these protesters, what would you want to get out of this today?
JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, good morning, Laura. So, they'll be trying to do a few things. The basis or the purpose of a deposition is try to collect evidence that helps your side of the case. So, they'll be looking for evidence that the president directed or encouraged or supported violence against his supporters. And they'll do that of course by probing the incident in question, the 2015 protested that.
But also by looking to other instances where the president had done that, encouraged violence against people who opposed him, and there are any number of times during his campaign and presidency when he did that. So, I'll expect that they will want to go into those episodes as well.
JARRETT: So, help our viewers out here. Why is that the former president is sitting for a deposition in this case, but not yet in all of these cases by women who have directly accused him of harassment. This is about the behavior of one of his security guards or a set of his security guards, but what about his own behavior in cases like Summer Zervos that Kara mentioned or E. Jean Carroll?
RODGERS: Each case is set in terms of its discovery schedule by the judge presiding over the case. So, each judge controls his or her own schedule, this one just happened to go first, but I do expect that those other cases having been stalled during the course of his entire presidency will now proceed with the discovery that's been so delayed, including as Kara said, the Summer Zervos deposition which should happen by the end of the year. So, we're about to finally start seeing some testimony under oath from the former president in these matters.
JARRETT: Yes, he managed to get a lot of these punted while in office, but those days are of course, over. I also want to get your thoughts, Jennifer, on what's going on with Steve Bannon. He's of course, Trump's former chief strategist, he's completely defied the subpoena from the House Select Committee. So, what comes next for him this week?
RODGERS: Well, tomorrow, we expect a vote from the entire house on whether to refer to DOJ for criminal charges. Then it will be up to DOJ as to whether to bring that case. And that's not a civil contempt case where they actually would potentially put him in jail in terms of trying to coerce him to testify. That's a free standing criminal case. So, if he's charged by a grand jury with having committed criminal contempt, that case goes on whether or not he finally does cave and decide to cooperate. So, we'll see what DOJ does, but if that criminal case is brought against him -- and remember, that will be the second pending criminal case against him. He still has fraud charges pending in Manhattan federal court.
That will be its own matter that he'll have to fight in addition to trying to deal with the subpoena from the house.
JARRETT: A good reminder there, his legal plate is certainly full. Jennifer Rodgers, thank you so much, appreciate you getting up with me this morning.
RODGERS: Thanks.
JARRETT: All right, still ahead for you, the numbers are looking better, but concern this morning that unvaccinated Americans could still jeopardize all the recent progress in the fight against COVID here in the U.S. We have the latest for you next.
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JARRETT: Former President Bill Clinton is back at home in New York this morning after nearly a week in a California hospital receiving treatment for an infection. Clinton walked out of the ICE -- walked out of UC Irvine Medical Center on Sunday with his wife Hillary by his side there. We get more now from CNN's Natasha Chen.
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Laura, the former president left this hospital early Sunday morning with his wife Secretary Clinton arm-in-arm. She was the one who first gave a wave over to the media, we were stationed across the street from them here, and when later someone shouted, Mr. President, how do you feel? He gave a thumbs up. They were shaking hands with the medical team, even giving some hugs. Truly, a seemingly grateful for the care that he received here for five nights. Again, he was first admitted Tuesday night here to the UC Irvine
Medical Center when he was feeling unwell, extremely fatigued. So, that was five total nights, and we understand he went through IV antibiotics treatment for a urinary tract infection, that then affected the bloodstream. We are told this can be very common for men of his age, 75 years old.
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And so, when he walked out of the building Sunday morning, you could tell that, you know, he was able to walk out, but he did so gingerly and very carefully. A statement was released through his spokesperson from the chair of the medical department, an executive director here at the hospital saying that "his fever and white blood cell count are normalized, and he will return home to New York to finish his course of antibiotics. On behalf of everyone at UC Irvine Medical Center, we were honored to have treated him and will continue to monitor his progress." Laura, back to you.
JARRETT: Natasha, thank you for that. The holidays may still look a little different this year. The CDC says getting family and friends together outdoors and using masked inside where people are unvaccinated is the best way to keep everyone safe. At the same time though, the rates of cases, hospitalizations and deaths are dropping. That's good news. But the problem Dr. Anthony Fauci says is 66 million people here that are eligible for the vaccine still remain unvaccinated.
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ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If we don't do very well in that regard, there's always a danger that there will be enough circulating virus that you can have a stalling of the diminishing of the number of cases. And when that happens as we've seen in the past with other waves that we've been through, there's the danger of resurgence.
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JARRETT: On Friday, FDA vaccine advisors voted unanimously to recommend a booster dose of J&J's vaccine, at least, two months after people get their first shot. The group also discussed the question of whether it's a good idea to mix and match vaccines here as a recent study shows there may be additional benefits from Pfizer or Moderna boosters for J&J recipients. For the first time in franchise history, the Chicago Sky are WNBA champs. More on the emotional victory in the Windy City next.
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JARRETT: Welcome back. The Atlanta Braves are now just two wins away from the World Series after another dramatic win over the L.A. Dodgers. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "BLEACHER REPORT" report. Hey, Andy. ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning Laura. You
know, there's just something special about this Atlanta Braves team. They just know how to grind out wins and they've gotten hot at the right time. They won game one in a walk-off hit by Austin Riley on last night, got 4-3 in the eighth, Riley coming through again with the RVI double, that tie the game at four, fast-forward to the bottom of the ninth, two outs, is in the runner on second.
Eddie Rosario who the Braves traded for mid season comes to the play. He's going to hit a missile right up the middle off of Kenley Jansen, it gets through, Swanson is going to come around to score, Braves win 5-4 to take a 2-0 lead in the National League Championship series. Braves is the fourth team in Major League Baseball history to win games one and two of post-season series via walk-off. Game three, tomorrow in L.A. on our sister station "TBN".
All right, for the first time ever, the Sky are WNBA champions. Candace Parker, one of the greatest WNBA players of all time coming through for her hometown, winning a title in Chicago. The 35-year-old helped lead the Sky back from 11 down the fourth quarter to beat the Mercury in game 4. And Parker just overcome with emotion afterwards, hugging her daughter, her family and her teammates. Kahleah Copper named the finals MVP. They Sky, the sixth seed in the Playoffs, the lowest seed ever to win a WNBA title. All right, to the NFL, we had three overtime games yesterday including Patriots hosting the Cowboys fourth quarter, Trevon Diggs ending the game, picking off Mac Jones, takes it back for the score.
That's his seventh interception of the year, put the Cowboys up by 5 of the very next plate, (INAUDIBLE) will blow by Diggs and the rest of the Cowboys secondary takes off 75-yard touchdown. Pats led it by 3 at that point, Cowboys over hit it for a field goal, send it to overtime. And Dak Prescott finding CeeDee Lamb, he waves goodbye to the Patriots, as the Cowboys win it 35-29, their first win over New England since 1987. Cowboys now 5-1 on the season. Steelers and Seahawks, the other -- one of the overtime games, T.J. Watt coming up big with a strip sack of Geno Smith there in overtime.
Steelers recovered inside the 20, that sets up Chris Boswell for a game-winning 37-yard field goal. So Steelers win that one, 23-20, Seahawks now far, 2-4 on the year. All right, finally, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers getting the best of the Bears yet again. This is Rodgers 22nd win against Chicago in 27 meetings. Rodgers sealing it with a six-yard touchdown run. And then he started yelling to the Soldier Field crowd, "I still own you". He was asked after the game, why did you decide to yell that?
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AARON RODGERS, QUARTERBACK, GREEN BAY PACKERS: Sometimes you black out on the field in a good way.
(LAUGHTER)
I definitely blacked out from a concussion, which is in a good way. But I looked up in the stands and then from nowhere, saw a woman giving me the double bird.
(LAUGHTER)
I'm not sure exactly what came out of my mouth next.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: You know what, Laura, it's going to be a shame if Rodgers is not on the Packers next season because I just love those -- the rival games against the Bears. So, that was the bad news in Chicago yesterday, they lost to the Packers, but the good news is they did win that WNBA championship.
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JARRETT: Yes, that was good news for sure. All right, Andy, thank you so much, appreciate it --
SCHOLES: All right --
JARRETT: My friend. Still ahead for you, supply chain bottlenecks, a tight labor market and more, it's all on the docket for a critical week ahead for President Biden, how he plans to tackle it all. That's next.
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JARRETT: Hey, good morning everyone, this is EARLY START, I'm Laura Jarrett, it's about 29 minutes past the hour here in New York, and this morning, the White House is facing a big challenge on the economy.
