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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Capitol Riot Committee, New York Attorney General Make Aggressive Moves in Trump Cases; International Airlines Suspending Flights Over 5G Service; Blinken: Russia Has Plans In Place to Increase Force "Even More". Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired January 19, 2022 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:27]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go. It's Wednesday, January 19th. It's 5:00 a.m. in New York. Thanks for getting an EARLY START with us. I'm Christine Romans.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Christine. I'm Laura Jarrett.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. A lot to get to this morning.

We start this morning with the former president's legal woes mounting, with three major new developments in just the last 24 hours in the push to hold Trump, his family and friends and his namesake company accountable.

First, breaking overnight, New York attorney general's office saying for the first time that her office has uncovered significant evidence that the Trump Organization misrepresented the value of its assets to boost its bottom line. The A.G. now asking a judge to order the former president, his children, Don Jr. and Ivanka Trump, all to sit down for questioning and hand over documents.

Also, CNN was first to report that the January 6 committee has now obtained phone records for Trump's younger son Eric and Don Jr.'s fiancee, Kimberly Guilfoyle. These are the first known subpoenas targeting the Trump family.

And later today, the National Archives will release Trump-era White House documents to the January 6 House Committee. It's a small batch of documents out of a much larger pool requested, but it's the first time the panel will get any of the White House records that Trump wants to keep secret.

ROMANS: All right. Let's bring in CNN legal analyst Jennifer Rodgers, former federal prosecutor and lecturer at Columbia Law School.

So great to have you here to walk us through this, this morning.

Let's start with the breaking news. This remarkable filing and tweet from the New York attorney general, she says they've uncovered significant evidence of wrongdoing at the Trump Organization.

Jennifer, how do you see this playing out in court?

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, it's unusual for an A.G. to show her hand in this way, but she's having to litigate over whether Trump and his two adult children will show up for deposition. So that's why she's disclosed this. And honestly, it's virtually unheard of for a judge to interfere in an ongoing investigation before a complaint is even filed.

So, I suspect that the judge will, partially based on this representation, but mostly based on the fact that judges never, never do this will go ahead and let the investigation proceed, including the depositions.

JARRETT: Jennifer, I don't know about you, but don't you just find this entire thing so highly unusual? I mean, for the A.G. to say in a tweet, no less, in the middle of an active investigation, that she's essentially found significant, significant evidence of wrongdoing instead of waiting to say that, sort of letting the complaint speak for itself, letting the legal paper speak for itself. I just wonder, given this and given the stakes out of everything you've seen so far, if this is what Tish James has, then this is what the Manhattan D.A. has as well.

Do these allegations rise to a criminal level?

RODGERS: Well, we're waiting to find out, Laura. I mean, obviously, as you know, the criminal requirements are much higher than that of civil requirements in terms of whether you can file a complaint criminally versus civilly. We'll see, the A.G. is still putting together her civil case, much less a criminal case at the D.A.'s office. So, we don't know yet.

It is unusual, but it does sound from what her filing said, she is moving forward. I do expect she will be in position to file a civil complaint down the road.

JARRETT: Jennifer, this latest round of subpoenas from the House Committee investigating January 6th, now they have phone records. They have phone records from Eric Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle.

Help our viewers understand how investigators use these things if they don't have the substance of what was actually said.

RODGERS: Well, that's right. So, they're really useful just to make connections if you're trying to find out who might have been involved in some sort of wrongdoing, a conspiracy, for example. You want to know who the players are. So you start to look at the folks you do know are involved and who they're talking to. So that's really what's happening here.

Were Eric and Kimberly involved in the height of the conspiracy, the height of the events leading up to January 6, who were they talking to, who was talking to the former president, that sort of thing. They're looking where to direct their next moves in the investigation.

JARRETT: Well, we know they participated in some of the funding surrounding the big lie. I'm sure that's something the committee wants to dig deeper into.

Jennifer, the committee on top of everything, subpoenaing the former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, among other Trump lawyers, people like Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell who peddled a fair amount of conspiracy theories themselves. Arguably, though, these people are attorneys. They served as attorneys for the president.

Putting aside how great their legal advice was, don't they have a better claim to attorney/client privilege?

[05:05:01]

RODGERS: It does complicate things. It's not entirely clear whether the attorney/client privilege applies in congressional investigations, but certainly I think they're going to claim it and that will slow things down because if the committee doesn't accept it, likely these folks will file in court to quash the subpoenas. So it does complicate matters ultimately, especially given the crime fraud exception you can't claim privilege where there is a crime or fraud involved in the communications.

It's probably not going to carry the day, but unfortunately they will claim it and it will take time to sort it out.

ROMANS: All right. Jennifer Rodgers, CNN legal analyst, so nice to see you this morning bright and early, with all these legal news. Thank you.

RODGERS: Thanks so much.

JARRETT: Thanks, Jennifer.

ROMANS: All right. To the fight against COVID now, just in to CNN, the White House official says the Biden administration is making 400 million N95 masks available to the public for free beginning next week, free masks. They will come from the U.S. strategic national stockpile. People will be able to pick them up at local pharmacies and community health centers.

JARRETT: You get a mask, you also get a test, four of them in fact. This new website to order free at-home coronavirus tests is up and running successfully. The White House confirming Covidtest.gov began working Tuesday to make sure it was functioning seamlessly. The at- home rapid tests are expected to begin shipping later this month.

As I mentioned, the request, though, are limited to four tests per home regardless of your household size. ROMANS: Did you sign up already?

JARRETT: I did.

ROMANS: I did, too. So, we'll see how long it takes to get them. It was an easy process to sign up.

JARRETT: It was. I was waiting for the computer glitches to happen. It didn't happen.

ROMANS: I know.

All right. Happening right now, airlines cancelling because of the new 5G rollout today.

JARRETT: Plus, Secretary of State Blinken arriving in Ukraine just a short time ago to try to stave off a war.

ROMANS: And just hours from now, President Biden's first news conference in months.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:11:10]

JARRETT: Happening right now, several international airlines cancelling flights into the United States. It's all over uncertainty about how the new 5G cell phone service interferes with airplane safety technology.

CNN's Anna Stewart joins me live here.

Anna, a number of companies agreed yesterday that they would actually limit the rollout of 5G near the airport. So, why all the flight cancellations?

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, despite that 11th hour decision, cancellations from Emirates, India, ANA, Japan Airlines and just in the last couple of hours, Lufthansa is cancelling a flight from Frankfurt to Miami. And also to avoid further cancellations, many are stopping aircraft -- swapping aircraft around so they can use some planes which have been certified as safe from any potential 5G interference.

Why the cancellations, why the disruption given the delays of the 5G rollout near certain airports? Well, some of these airlines clearly had to make a decision yesterday. They're long haul flights. They had to let staff and passengers know what was going on.

And also, I think the nature of yesterday, we saw such chaotic mixed messages. You know, you had the airlines saying they were facing catastrophic disruption, calling for a delay. You had mobile operators saying it was safe, but the FAA had had long enough. They delayed this decision before. They didn't want to delay it again.

So I think international airlines here playing it safe. So despite all that chaos, hopefully passengers do feel safe traveling to and from the U.S. today.

JARRETT: All right. Anna, thank you so much for your reporting.

ROMANS: All right. 5G, of course, a tech revolution. Let's dig in with CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien.

And, Miles, I mean, for our viewers who don't really understand this, 5G, 5th generation is what it means. It helps with faster downloads and uploads, offers better streaming and video calls. You know, if 1G was 10 cent a minute long distance on a phone on an actual phone line, 5G is how we live our lives, right?

We're streaming. We're using social media. The holograms at basketball games. This is the future.

You're a pilot. How does this technology affect airplanes?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Yeah, you know, I want 5G, too, but it's important to know that this part of the 5G frequency band, the C-band right next door to the part of the spectrum used by a crucial device on airliners, the radar altimeter, and it's designed to tell an aircraft how close it is to the ground when it's getting really close to the ground in really bad weather in particular. You need a couple of radar altimeters operating well on that proverbial dark and stormy night when you're flying in to land. And if it doesn't operate well, truly catastrophic things can happen.

So, while it may be not a likely scenario, the airline industry is looking at a problem which has serious potential consequences here.

JARRETT: So you can understand why they're worried. I mean, what you just explained is sort of terrifying, worst case scenario. But 5G has rolled out safely in dozens of other countries. So why does it seem like the U.S. is sort of behind the ball here?

O'BRIEN: Yeah, it can be implemented. It has been done. It's a matter of reducing the power on some of the towers, pointing the antennas downward instead of upward, creating corridors or bubbles around the runways in question.

But the FCC and the FAA have been in this long-running, I guess game of chicken, if you will, over who is going to blink first. The FAA demanding that these sort of precautions be taken and the FCC saying, you're overstating the worry. But the airline industry is all about improbable worst case scenarios. And that's what the situation here, that's why they're raising this concern.

So even though it might be remote, they don't want to be in the position of taking that chance, particularly when there are passengers strapped in seats behind them.

[05:15:02]

ROMANS: Of course, there's no margin for error when you're talking about an airplane full of people.

So how do you see, Miles, this battle between communications companies and airlines affecting travel I guess in the coming months?

O'BRIEN: Well, there's going to be a little ripple effect because the lead time here, and that's why you've seen those long haul flights that had to be canceled kind of way in advance, are still occurring.

But I think they've come up with a solution to provide these kinds of buffers and corridors at affected runways. So, we're okay in the short term.

Long term, there's too much money at stake for this not to get solved. $65 billion bet on 5G C-band by AT&T and Verizon, and, of course, the airline industry has its concerns. They're going to solve this. They're going to have to solve this.

But why it came to this is a stunning failure of government, in my view. How could this possibly happen, just a complete failure of leadership?

JARRETT: Yeah, sort of happening at the 11th hour when they had all this time to plan. Does raise some questions.

Miles O'Brien, aviation analyst for CNN, thank you so much, sir.

ROMANS: Nice to see you, Miles.

JARRETT: Appreciate it.

O'BRIEN: You're welcome. Good to see you, guys.

JARRETT: Coming up for you, the secretary of state on a mission to Ukraine right now. What he just told reporters about Russia's border buildup.

ROMANS: And heart-pounding moments as a police officer rushes into a burning building. See the rescue as he saw it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:20:51]

JARRETT: Welcome back. This just in to CNN, Secretary of State Tony Blinken speaking in Ukraine just moments ago.

Blinken says Russia plans even more of a troop buildup on Ukraine's border. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We know that there are plans in place to increase that force even more on very short notice, and that gives President Putin the capacity also on very short notice to take further aggressive action against Ukraine. And that, of course, has gotten not only our attention, but it's gotten the attention of virtually all of our allies and partners, and not just in Europe, even beyond.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow, and Matthew Chance joins us live from Kyiv.

Matthew, first to you, what does the Ukrainian president want to hear from Secretary Blinken when they meet today? Already strong words there.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's a good question. And, in fact, what the Ukrainians are looking -- what they welcome from United States are the expressions of solidarity. We're seeing more of that now from the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying the United States backs Ukrainian sovereignty, its territory and integrity, and will work with it to fight the impending Russian threat.

But, I mean, privately, Ukrainian officials are telling me they're a little frustrated with the expanse of the United States. U.S. is talking about crushing sanctions against Russia if it chooses to invade. They want those sanctions placed on Russia now in order to deter a Russian attack. They also want more military equipment right now so they can defend against what they regard as an impending threat.

And behind closed doors, I'm told by Ukrainian officials, they are asking for loan guarantees from the United States as well because this crisis has led to a pull-out of foreign investment in the country, and the already sort of economy on its knees has lost billions of dollars in revenue, and they want some sort of compensation for that, Christine.

ROMANS: Yeah, actually, one of the successes already of the Russian move here, without ever even invading here.

Hey, Fred, the Kremlin has repeatedly denied that it will invade, has plans to invade, says it's not on the chess board here. What will the message be to the Kremlin when Blinken meets with Lavrov on Friday?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the message to the Kremlin most certainly is going to be that the U.S. expects that the Russians are going to take a diplomatic path. I think one of the things Secretary of State Blinken said on the ground there in Kyiv, he really hopes Vladimir Putin chooses a diplomatic path forward.

It's quite interesting, Christine. We got off the phone with the Kremlin. The spokesperson does a daily conference call with journalists and there once again the Russians are saying they believe this is about their security. They are the ones, they say, who feel threatened. And they also say they are still eagerly awaiting answers from the United States for those security demands that they made at the summit last week in Geneva. And the Russians say they want those as fast as possible.

The other thing that Dmitry Peskov also said is he says that that meeting with Secretary of State Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday in Geneva, that that is going to be of the utmost importance. He didn't say anything more than that, but he said it will be very important for the Russians again. Though, Russians still making some of those military moves, we do now know and they've said they've moved troops into Belarus, guys.

ROMANS: All right. Matthew Chance, Fred Pleitgen there in Moscow -- Matthew in Kyiv -- thank you, guys, and keep us posted on any developments. A lot going on here.

All right. Late today, President Biden takes questions in his first news conference in months. Former White House Secretary Joe Lockhart stops by to talk about how the resident can reset.

JARRETT: Ad Britain's Boris Johnson taking hours two hours from now, in the hot seat about his partying scandal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:29:23]

JARRETT: Just hours from now, President Biden takes questions from eager reporters for his first formal news conference in months to mark his first year in office. On the business side of things, plenty -- the president will be grilled on things like the fastest inflation since the '80s, oil prices on the rise again, supply chain issues leading to empty store shelves, and his social safety net plan effectively stalled in Congress right now.

ROMANS: On the flip side, though, the president will look for opportunities to tout accomplishments. More than 6 million jobs added in his first year in office, wages on the rise, the strongest GDP -- that's the strongest economic growth in decades as it bounces back, the economy bounces back from the pandemic, and the stock market breaking record after record last year.