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EARLY START

Amazon Opens Check Out-Free Store; Government Shutdown Day 3; Democrats Want Firm Commitment On DACA; Senator Flake And Graham Back In GOP Folds; Impact On Government Shutdown; Super Bowl Set; Conservatives Demand Release Of Nunes Memo; Tokyo Conducts First Missile Drill. Aired 04:00-04:30a ET

Aired January 22, 2018 - 04:00   ET

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


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[04:00:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: Amazon just opened a cashier- less store. Here is how it works. Customers scan the Amazon go app when you walk in and sensors track your movements and charge your Amazon accounts for the items you grab, literally like grab a sandwich and ketchup and walk out the door. The Seattle store offers groceries and cold drinks. It has no plans to open other locations yet. Amazon is opening physical shops with intrigues of irony of course, wildly blame for driving criticism from retailers out if business. Lock in, pick it up, and walk out.

DAVE BRIGGS,CNN HOST: Fascinating development. "Early Start" continues right now with the latest on the government shutdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN MITCH MCCONNEL, (R) MAJORITY LEADER: It would be my intention to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. It would be my intention to proceed to legislation to address DACA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The senate majority leader intends to address immigration reform. Is that enough for Democrats to back a spending plan to reopen the government? Signs are mixed. We will find out at noon today. Good morning. Welcome to "Early Start" on a shutdown Monday. I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: I know. Day three. I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday, January 22nd, 2018. 4:00 a.m. in the East. The first business day of unpaid furlough for about 800,000 furloughed workers. A key vote on a measure to reopen the federal government through February 8th. New to the deal, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's intention, he says, to take up the bill to extend protections for DREAMERS, immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Republicans hope the McConnell promise will lure enough Democrats to turn the lights back on for the government.

BRIGGS: But overnight, two Democratic sources told CNN, they expect today's vote to fall short. The top aide McConnell commitments are not firm enough. A Republican source tells CNN that McConnell's promise the house will take out whatever the senate passes. Still some optimism in the GOP as the number two senate Republican John Cornyn says it is better to have a successful vote today than a failed vote overnight.

ROMANS: A senior Republican aide says leaders think they have a shot to pick off enough Democrats to get the bill moving forward. Let's bring in Ryan Nobles with the latest from Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

RYAN NOBLES, WASHINGON CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Dave and Christine, good morning from Capitol Hill. It turned out to be a much earlier night than anyone expected. That is not because a grand bargain was struck with Democrats and Republicans. They just extended the debate for a little bit longer hoping that noon today Eastern Time would be an opportunity for a great breakthrough and the government will finally be open. This is what Senator majority leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor late last night.

MCCONNEL: It is my intention to resolve this issues as quickly as possible so we can move on to other business that is important to our country. Assuming the government remains open. It would be my intention to proceed the legislation that would address DACA, border security and related issues.

NOBLES: But McConnell's olive branch not enough for Democrats last night as they decided not to vote on the measure and give their members some time to sleep on the issue. There appears to be an issue of trust right now between with Republicans and Democrats. Democrats are insistent that a vote on immigration and in particular protection for the DREAMERS comes up before the next continuing resolution deadline which is now set for February 8th. Regardless of the back and forth between Republican and Democrats here on Capitol Hill, there is a stark reality for the hundreds and thousands of federal workers across the country. They don't have to go to work today. That means they will lose a paycheck for today because the government remains shutdown. Many of them waiting on edge to see whether or not Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer can set aside differences and cast a vote that would reopen the federal government. We will see what happens later today. Christine and Dave. Back to you.

(END VIDEO)

BRIGGS: All right Ryan. Thank you. Two Republican Senator who broke from this party on Friday night are now back in the full, there is Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina agreeing to vote yes on the stop-gap funding bill known as the continuing resolution. Flake and Graham have been key participant in negotiations with the Democrats and they believe the White House is not done enough to strike a deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, you really think you can come up with agreement by the 8th? SEN JEFF FLAKE, (R) ARIZONA: I hope, but I doubt it. It relies on

the White House to actually work with us on this and we have not seen that yet.

SEN LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: The White House staff, I think, is making it very difficult. I talked with the President. His heart is right on the issue.

[04:05:02] I think he has a good understanding of what will sell and every time we have a proposal it is only yanked back by staff members. As long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiating immigration, we're going nowhere. He has been an outlier for years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Calling out the White House using the Senator's own words to defend Miller and to attack Graham. Saying, as long as Senator Graham chooses to support legislation to side with people in the country illegally we are going nowhere. He has been the outlier for years.

BRIGGS: Overnight, the White House kept up pressure on the Democrats. Democrats can't shut down the booming Trump economy so they shut down the government instead. We will not negotiate on the unlawful status of the immigrants while the Democrats holding our government and our military hostage.

ROMANS: Earlier President Trump tweeted that the stale may continue. Republican should go to 51 percent. Changing to a simple majority vote known as the nuclear option. Majority leader Mitch McConnell said senate Republican conference does not support changing the threshold to end the filibuster.

BRIGGS: Helping us break it all down this morning, Chris Deaton is deputy online editor of the Weekly standard, good morning sir. So painful, so early, we appreciate it. All right if you are betting man, noon is the vote, are you feeling optimistic, we will have a deal that the government will be back open?

CHRIS DEATON, DEPUTY ONLINE EDITOR, WEEKLY STANDARD: About as optimistic as the Vikings through the third quarter last night.

BRIGGS: Yeah.

ROMANS: Too soon. Too soon for Vikings fan.

DEATON: You were in the final four. I'm a colts fan and we were in the final 50. I'm not feeling this test vote at noon today. First of all, I think we have to look the outstanding issue here to bring some of the broader context into this if we go back to the shutdown of 2013 when Ted Cruz was talking about defunding Obamacare and a lot of Obamacare mandatory spending. It is not a discretionary spending matter like we are examining right now than we were back then. DACA is the same thing. It is not something you allocate money for. It is not a line item in the budget. It is not in the appropriations bill. Republicans don't like it is being used in leverage in the negotiations. If you can resolve that impasse, we are at loggerheads. I think Republicans have to pick up seven votes here in the next several hours before noon to advance this thing. I'm not sure how is that going to happen in the time frame.

ROMANS: Chris, what do you think of Senator Chuck Schumer saying he sat down with the President and man-to-man made a deal. He said fine. The President gave a number for the border wall and they had a deal. It was Republicans who did not accept that deal. In fact, the difference between authorizing the appropriating funding for the wall. What do you make of that whole controversy?

CHRIS DEATON, DEPUTY ONLINE EDITOR, WEEKLY STANDARD: Technical difference, but big one. The difference in Mick Mulvaney who brought it up with Jake Tapper. It is the White House talking point on this. When you talk about authorizing money, there is a bill back in 2006 called the secure fence act. This is the bill that goes to the judiciary committee and some committees that are not appropriations committee. It is the same thing that happen with comprehensive immigration reform. What happens is that this bill is allocated money for hundreds of miles of border to be built on the southern border. That is different than appropriating that money. What Mick Mulvaney and the White House is talking about here is we already have in law that money has been authorized for this, because most of the fence or wall or whatever it is has yet to be built. Because of that, if Chuck Schumer is offering a sort of grand bargain comprehensive immigration reform type of thing that goes along with DACA and other things, the Republican stand point is we already got what we want in law. Appropriations are what we want. That is the sticking point.

ROMANS: In 2006, that was bipartisan support for the wall. That was meant to -- finally going to put border security behind us to fix the other unintended consequences of a broken immigration system and that was 10 years ago. Here we are.

BRIGGS: The line of course you hear it repeatedly from Republican here is Democrats are willing to hold the military hostage. Senator Tammy Duckworth is a couple double amputee, war veteran, in the army, in the Iraq war. She is not having any of that. This is how she fired back to the President.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN TAMMY DUCKWORTH, (D) ILLINOIS: I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment draft dodger. I have a message for Cadet Bone Spurs. If you care about the military, you would stop baiting Kim Jong-un into a war that put 85,000 American troops and millions of innocent civilians in danger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: That was cadet Bone Spurs. If you missed that reference there. Chris, what do you make of that language and the back and forth over holding the military hostage?

[04:10:00] DEATON: When you are running into an issue like that, I mean I think we have seen this in the past with the President who did not serve. This is, you know, the type of thing where a lot of people who did and had to make sacrifices, family, bodily, people who live their lives. This is a sensitive subject. When the President uses that kind of rhetoric that is going to touch off this type of stuff. I think to put it in a little bit into a broader context here, this is kind of the normal course of business that I think we would be going through otherwise. I know that Paul Ryan talked about we need to reach this larger deal to take care of the defense spending and take care of the national security needs and take care of the normal appropriations type of things. It is all normal course of business. I think a lot of that is, you know, a very strong and a powerful rhetorical device. Anybody who is in that position certainly has standing to discuss that kind of issue, but whether or not that type of line of thinking is going to have a lot of weight, I think the immigration thing is the bone of contention.

BRIGGS: No question.

ROMANS: We are still talking about -- not about normal functioning of the congress or government. We're not talking about fixing America's problems and investing futures. They are fighting over the branding of the short-term government shutdown.

BRIGGS: They can't even kick the can down the road. Chris Deaton, we will talk to you again in about 20 minutes, thank you.

DEATON: Thanks.

BRIGGS: All right. Now that the implications of this shutdown, a private Maryland based charity fisher house, stepping up to make sure families of fallen troops receive survivor benefits during the government shutdown. Those benefits including funeral and burial reimbursement which will not be paid with the government shuttered as of Sunday night. There are no report of combat deaths during the shutdown. Two service members were killed on Apache helicopter crash on Saturday at the National Training Center in California.

ROMANS: A government shutdown would bring a lot of pain if it lingers. Defense Secretary says the majority of training for military reservists will be canceled. Some of the long-term operations to help victims of hurricanes and wildfires and mudslides will be put on hold.

BRIGGS: United States Air force academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado announcing the cancellation of all sporting events and the centers for disease control and prevention. The CDC is expected to furlough 61 percent of the staff in the midst of the deadly influenza outbreak across the United States. The CDC plans to continue the immediate response to urgent outbreaks.

ROMANS: States are doing what they can with the shutdown. Officials in New York announcing Ellis Island and statue of liberty will stay open on the state's dime under the agreement with the Interior Department. And the state of Arizona also stepping in to keep the Grand Canyon open. Those are some representation of what the government shutdown does, but people out there, say look, this agencies are operating with essential personnel. I don't think a lot of people don't understand how many aspects that you will be able to see. BRIGGS: Can we agree the congressional paychecks should be furloughed

during the government shutdown?

ROMANS: They are considered to be essential. The people who did not do their job and got you here.

BRIGGS: All the irony.

Super bowl LII all set. Patriots and Eagles will play again for the Lombardi trophy. How each team punched their ticket, next?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:17:36] BRIGGS: 4:17 Eastern Time. House conservatives demanding the release of the classified memo's spearheaded by Congressman Devin Nunes. That is critical, the FBI's conduct between the 2016 election and the memo can now be viewed by all house members after a vote by the intel panel straight along Party lines. The memo said to contain details of alleged misstep by the FBI and Justice Department and their use of FISA or Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

ROMANS: Democrats claim the prepared memo presents a skewed version of events. An attempt to torpedo Special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. House conservatives who had reviewed the report say it contains evidence of widespread FBI abuse.

BRIGGS: Women taking center stage at the screen actors awards. The show featuring nearly all female presenters. Kristen Bell became the first man or woman to host the SAG awards. In the ceremony's 24 year un-hosted history. As for the winners the dark comedy "three billboards" taking home three trophies including the top.

ROMANS: Among the major TV category, the HBO limited series, "Big little lies" dash a couple of wins for Nicole Kidman. "Veep" took home best cast in the comedy and "This is us" also won as outstanding drama. One of the show stars Sterling K. Brown, just fantastic on that. He became the first African-American actor to win a female actor in a drama. Julia Louis-Dreyfus who sag two wins, broke the record with the most SAG Honors for a single actor. She now has nine SAG statutes. She is home recovering from breast cancer surgery. She was home in her PJ's.

BRIGGS: Our best wishes to Julia Louis-Dreyfus. And the Eagles punching their ticket to the super bowl with the 38-7 destruction of the Minnesota Vikings. They now face the Patriots. The first quarter NFC title game, Eagles defense, stepping up big, tying here at 7-7. 50-yard interception for a touchdown by Patrick Robinson. What a block at the 15. Totally shifted momentum in the game. After that 7- 0 Minnesota lead. The Eagles offense rolling. Nick Foles was terrific. Third super bowl in franchise history for the Eagles though they had never won the big game.

[0420:05] They did face the Patriots in 2005, I believe, in Jacksonville in the Super Bowl. Earlier Sunday, just typical vintage Tom Brady. What was different about this one was the stitched up throwing hand. ROMANS: The glove.

BRIGGS: Didn't faze him. He is Tom Brady. Two touchdown passes to Danny Amendola in the fourth quarter, 24-20. Completing the comeback. Eighth super bowl appearance for Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Look at him getting the feet down.

ROMANS: That was like acrobatics. Not football.

BRIGGS: That is the Patriots. No matter who you think you stopped. No matter who is out with an injury, in this case, Rob Gronkowski. It doesn't matter, it find a way to get it done. What a season. What a game.

ROMANS: That quarterback for the Jags was terrific.

BRIGGS: All right ahead. A live missile drill for the heart of Japan. How did it played out in real-time? CNN Will Ripley is live in Tokyo with report next on "Early Start."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:25:32] ROMANS: Government officials in Tokyo conducting the cities first missile evacuation drill to counter the threat from North Korea. Hundreds of volunteers rushing for cover inside buildings and underground after a siren signaled approaching simulated ballistic missile. The evacuation drill is taking place in the heart of the City. We have CNN Will Ripley is there for us live in an evening time in Tokyo. The details of a beautiful - a rare and beautiful snow falling and a rare drill in the heart of Tokyo.

WILL RIPLEY, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: That is right Christine, I have seen two things today that I have never seen four years in living in Tokyo. One is the kind of snow that you can make a snowman which we are working on as we speak between live shots and the other of course a missile drill. Japan has actually held dozens of the missile drills simulating an incoming ballistic missile from North Korea. The alarm goes off and people get the j alert, text messages on their phone telling them to seek shelter underground or in a sturdy concrete building. They have never done it in the big cities in Tokyo until now, because logistically it is a big deal. They have 600 people involve in the shuts down portions of the City. The reason why the Japanese government is doing this now although things are calm right now with the Olympics and inter-Korean talks recently revived. They say this is not the time to let the country's guard down. In fact they think quite the opposite, they are worried about what could happen after the Olympics when the joint military exercises resume. Which is why we are seeing this drill here. Even as some anti-war protesters also turn out accusing the government of basically politicizing all of this and trying and mentally prepare people for the possibility of war. In South Korea, where they hope for snow for the games, there is a delegation on the ground for North Korea led by the lead singer of the pop band. They will do that in the coming hours. Christine.

ROMANS: All right. There you go, Will Ripley, thank you so much. Nice to see you.

BRIGGS: All right. The senate Republican leader says his intention is to take up immigration if the Democrats help reopen the government. Is that enough to sway skeptical Democrats? A key vote later today. Will the government reopen?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)