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EARLY START

Saudis Fuel Skepticism With Changing Stories; Eleventh Hour Midterm Push; HHS Pushing To Roll Back Transgender Protections; Bolton To Meet With Russian Foreign Minister In Moscow. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired October 22, 2018 - 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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[05:30:39] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BEN SASSE (R), NEBRASKA: You don't bring a bone saw to an accidental fist fight.

SEN. BOB CORKER (R), TENNESSEE: They've lost all credibility as it relates to explaining what has happened.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: If the crown prince truly loved his country he would not have put his country in this position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Congress not buying the changing Saudi cover story for the murder of a journalist. The president calling out the Saudis' deception. Riyadh maintains the crown prince was not involved.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: A big last-minute push for both parties ahead of the midterms. The president, the former president, and Joe Biden all on the campaign trail today.

ROMANS: The White House considers a drastic move that could effectively define transgender out of existence under federal law.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Five thirty-one eastern time.

Again, Congress is united on one thing, that the Saudis are lying and need to be punished. What will they do? We'll discuss that with Julian Zelizer in just a moment.

But here's the latest. Attempts by Saudi Arabia to distance its crown prince from the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi have failed to quiet international uproar. A series of inconsistent and shifting stories to explain what happened to the "Washington Post" columnist fueling skepticism around the world.

On Friday, the Saudis admitted Khashoggi died at their consulate in Istanbul, claiming he was killed accidentally after a confrontation escalated into a brawl.

ROMANS: The Saudi foreign minister told "FOX NEWS" Khashoggi's death was a tremendous mistake but the result of an unsanctioned operation.

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ADEL AL-JUBEIR, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SAUDI ARABIA: The crown prince has denied this. The crown prince is not aware of this. Even the senior leadership of intelligence service was not aware of this.

This was an operation that was a rogue operation. This was an operation where individuals ended up exceeding the authorities and responsibilities they had. They made the mistake when they killed Jamal Khashoggi in the consulate and they tried to cover up for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The foreign minister says the kingdom is determined to punish those who are responsible for Khashoggi's murder.

International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson standing by live at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

And, Nic, the thing about this changing story -- you know, the president says he's convinced that Mohammad bin Salman was not involved. But at the same time, he says he has control of his regime. It seems as though those two things can't both be true.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, they seem to be mutually exclusive and the view from Turkey here seems to be the same.

For their perspective, they would feel that there's inconsistencies in what the foreign minister is talking about. The foreign minister has talked about when the Saudis decided to launch an investigation and their close cooperation with Turkish investigators. But the facts on the ground for the Turkish authorities haven't played out that way.

They were denied access to the consulate for a long time. When they finally got in they found elements of the places they wanted to investigate had been painted over as well.

The Saudi foreign minister also says they have no idea where Jamal Khashoggi's body is, yet a senior Saudi source says the body was handed to a collaborator. And from a Turkish perspective, that would imply that those Saudis under question in Saudi Arabia would have information -- more and better information that would help them locate Jamal Khashoggi's body. And at the moment, the trail here in Turkey is really going cold.

Turkish authorities today -- the prosecutor questioning 28 members of staff from inside the consulate to try to get more details from them about precisely what happened.

We also understand the king and the crown prince in Saudi Arabia have called Jamal Khashoggi's son, Salah, to express condolences. But that doesn't lead to a better understanding about where Jamal

Khashoggi's body is and that's something key to his family, key to Turkish investigators. It may -- it may give us information about forensic details about how he died and why part of that Saudi team that came to Turkey included a top forensic expert from Saudi Arabia -- Christine.

ROMANS: Yes. On October third, the crown prince says we have nothing to hide. There is still so much hidden, even with these new excuses, reasons, cover stories.

BRIGGS: Yes, yes.

ROMANS: All right, Nic. Thank you so much for that in Istanbul, right outside that Saudi consulate for us.

BRIGGS: Yes, and Recep Erdogan has the truth. Will he reveal it?

President Trump speaking out against the Saudi's shifting explanations for Khashoggi's fate, saying in an interview with "The Washington Post," quote, "Obviously, there's been deception and there's been lies."

But the president also defended Saudi Arabia as an incredible ally and clung to the possibility the crown prince did not order Khashoggi's assassination. The president, in fact, praised Prince Mohammad as a strong person with good control of his country.

[05:35:12] ROMANS: But, on Capitol Hill, lawmakers expressed deep skepticism and called for severe repercussions.

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SASSE: I think the cover stories from the Saudis are a mess. You don't bring a bone saw to an accidental fist fight inside an embassy in Turkey -- or a consulate in Turkey. So, the Saudis have said a whole bunch of crap that's not right, accurate or true.

CORKER: They've lost all credibility as it relates to explaining what has happened. I can understand the president wanting to keep open channels, but I think those of us who want to speak directly to this know that it's just not credible.

GRAHAM: If the crown prince truly loved his country he would not have put his country in this position. If he truly respected the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia he would never thought of this.

I want to work with the president but we've got to send the right message. Others who could do this or would do this are watching us. I don't want to give them a green light.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Now, we could add a parade of Democrats to that, including Dick Durbin and Adam Schiff, and several others who spoke out Sunday. Joining us this morning, historian and professor at Princeton, Julian Zelizer. Good to see you, sir.

ROMANS: Good morning.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, HISTORIAN AND PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, AUTHOR, "THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW": Good morning.

BRIGGS: OK, so Congress is actually united for the first time in a long time. They say, basically, the Saudis have lied and should be punished. Will they be, because the president clearly just want this to go away?

ZELIZER: It's not clear to me. I mean, the three Republicans you just showed all have kicked and screamed before but they then don't do anything to really push back against the president. And you also have to remember this outrage is pushing against a very long relationship that has outlasted these contentious moments.

I'm not convinced there'll be any serious sanctions at this point.

ROMANS: Yes, consider the one thing to hang onto and focus on is this global Magnitsky Act. Lindsey Graham has talked a lot about it. But to your point, will they just wait for this to go away and turn on to the midterms, perhaps?

ROMANS: Meanwhile, the final sprint to the midterms --

ZELIZER: Yes.

ROMANS: -- two weeks now. You're going to have the president, the former president, the former vice president canvasing and campaigning over the next few days.

And this comes as the president -- a new poll with the president's approval rating -- an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll of registered voters found the president's approval rating 47 percent. That's a good number for him heading into the midterms.

ZELIZER: It's a very good number. And even if it's exaggerated, certainly his support is not falling. And in the month or at least the last few weeks it's stabilized. So --

ROMANS: What's working for him? Is it mobs and jobs? Has he found a tagline that works?

ZELIZER: It's partisanship. I mean, he understands that in the end, it's a very polarized electorate and Republicans are going to come home in the end. And he has played to that very aggressively, as have Republicans like Lindsey Graham.

And so I think the race has tightened because many Republicans are as enthused to support the Republican ticket as Democrats are to create a check to the president. BRIGGS: And if you look at the wider trends it looks like Democrats have a pretty good shot at taking back the House. I think Nate Silver has it around 80 percent. And the Republicans will hold the Senate -- may even gain.

The one thing that's interesting to follow here is the governorships though --

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: -- across the country because we haven't talked a lot about it --

ZELIZER: Yes.

BRIGGS: -- and Democrats are in awfully good shape here.

And here are some states where the GOP could lose governorships. I would focus on a couple of states. Florida -- Andrew Gillum is doing very well. And three key states that really led Trump to the White House -- Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan.

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: Governorships look like they're turning blue there. How key will that be ahead?

ZELIZER: That's important. It's not going to be a short-term story. I mean, in the next --

BRIGGS: Right.

ZELIZER: -- couple of years it might not help the Democrats as much as they hope, although it might signal that Trump support is softening there for 2020.

But in the long-term that's important. In 2010, Republicans did really well in state elections and that set them up to control redistricting, which has long-term implications for the House.

So those are really important races even though in the next few years it might not be on people's radar.

ROMANS: What about the message -- we talked about mobs and jobs.

ZELIZER: Yes.

ROMANS: The president -- that's a new tagline I think you're going to be hearing.

The president talking about caravans -- the Democrats --

ZELIZER: Yes.

BRIGGS: Caravan and Kavanaugh.

ZELIZER: Yes.

ROMANS: He falsely claims that the Democrats are paying criminals to caravan to the U.S. border.

What about the Democratic message? I mean, I've heard health care -- they don't seem to have it honed quite as precisely as the president has.

ZELIZER: Well, I think that's true. I certainly think 'not Trump' was the key message and that's not insignificant because it's a turnout battle and that helps to make sure that Democrats come out for a vote.

But I do think they've struggled. I mean, he has, in classic Trump fashion, captured the whole message in a few words -- the economy and partisanship, period, end of story.

And I don't think Democrats have that same clarity. It's unclear they need it. He is the clarity for Democrats.

[05:40:04] ROMANS: Right.

ZELIZER: It's him. He's the elephant in the room.

BRIGGS: Let me throw out one number before you go.

ZELIZER: Yes.

BRIGGS: This NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll shows women --

ZELIZER: Yes.

BRIGGS: -- prefer Democrats take control of Congress 57 to 32.

ROMANS: Oh my gosh.

BRIGGS: That is a 25-point margin. How significant might that be?

ZELIZER: Right, the gender gap has just exploded.

BRIGGS: En masse.

ZELIZER: It could be very significant if that turns into votes. That's what midterms are about. All these polls are almost --

ROMANS: Who's energized.

ZELIZER: -- irrelevant if on Election Day that doesn't translate into a ballot.

BRIGGS: Turnout.

ZELIZER: So that's the key. Get people to vote. Both parties are fighting to do that right now.

BRIGGS: Turnout is everything. Julian Zelizer, thank you, sir.

ROMANS: Nice to see you.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

BRIGGS: Good to see you.

The Trump administration considering it most drastic move yet to rollback protections for transgender people.

"The New York Times" reporting the Department of Health and Human Services is pushing an effort to narrowly define gender as a biological condition determined by genitals at birth. The move would effectively define transgender out of existence under federal law.

ROMANS: HHS wants a uniform definition for sex across the government under Title IX, the civil rights law banning gender discrimination. HHS claims its definition is, quote, "grounded in science."

The Obama administration angered conservatives by widening the definition of gender in federal programs, prompting fights over bathrooms, dorms, and sports programs.

The Human Rights Campaign slammed the proposal Sunday, calling it "a destructive precedent."

BRIGGS: Top military brass were in much greater danger than originally thought in last week's insider attack in Afghanistan.

We now know the American general who oversees NATO's military advisory mission in southern Afghanistan was wounded. A NATO spokesman says Army Brigadier Gen. Jeffrey Smiley is recovering and is still in charge of the command.

Two Afghan officials, including Kandahar's police chief, were killed.

General Scott Miller, the head of U.S. and NATO forces, drew his weapon during the attack but did not fire.

ROMANS: All right.

National Security Advisor John Bolton landing overnight in Moscow, just days after the U.S. decided to pull out of a nuclear treaty with Russia.

We've got Fred Pleitgen in Moscow for us, next.

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[05:46:20] BRIGGS: National Security Advisor John Bolton is in Moscow, set to meet with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov today. The meeting follows President Trump's announcement that he will pull the U.S. out of a landmark nuclear treaty with Russia.

Fred Pleitgen live for us in Moscow with what this all means. Fred, good morning.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly a very important visit today by the national security advisor. We do know that he's also planning to meet -- that the Russians are also planning a meeting with Vladimir Putin where they also want to discuss the U.S. wanting to leave that treaty on intermediate-range nuclear forces.

The Russians -- I think what they really want from John Bolton is an explanation about whether or not the comments that President Trump made over the weekend that the U.S. wants to leave that treaty -- whether or not that's final or whether or not there might still be some wiggle room for the negotiations to try and maybe save that treaty.

As we speak right now, John Bolton is already in a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Nikolai Patrushev. That's sort of the main sort of meat and potatoes meeting where they're going to discuss a whole range of issues. Obviously, that's going to be very important as well.

This treaty, of course, signed in 1987. It got rid of some 2,700 nuclear weapons both in Europe and also in Russia, as well.

The U.S. has been accusing Russia of violating the treaty over the past couple of years for deploying -- allegedly deploying an intermediate-range nuclear weapon that apparently the Russians have and that is new.

The Russians reject that. They continue to reject it. They say there's no evidence that that's happening.

They accuse the U.S. of breaching the treaty for working on a missile defense system that, of course, the U.S. has been wanting to deploy a long time in Europe.

Another interesting thing Dave is that the Chinese have also commented on all of this. It's interesting because President Trump also said that while the Russians are violating the treaty, he also feels that it puts the U.S. at a disadvantage towards a resurgent China that can develop any weapons it wants because it's not part of this treaty.

The Chinese rejecting that and, of course, criticizing the United States as well, Dave.

BRIGGS: And around we go. A key meeting with Mr. Bolton today.

Fred Pleitgen live for us in Moscow. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right, let's get a check on "CNN Business" this Monday morning.

The lottery jackpot in uncharted territory -- more than $2 billion up for grabs. That's from two potential lottery wins this week.

Mega Millions is now offering a historic $1.6 billion jackpot with a drawing on Tuesday. There was no winner Saturday.

Powerball is now at $620 million. That next drawing is Wednesday.

Combined, that's a total of about $2.22 billion.

Even if you buy a ticket the odds are not really in your favor. You're more likely to be hit by lightning or eaten by a shark than to win the Mega Millions.

And be careful of those office pools. I know it's fun. I know the comradery -- throwing in five bucks, right? A winning ticket often means a lawsuit and years in court to settle the winnings.

Believe it or not, your best five friends at work tend to argue about --

BRIGGS: Imagine that.

ROMANS: -- how it should be divided up.

Lottery officials and lawyers saw coworkers should get everything in writing before plunking down money in an office pool.

Global stocks higher today, boosted by China here. Shanghai up more than four percent. That's the best day for Shanghai stocks in, I think, 2 1/2 years.

Senior government officials pledged to support China's struggling economy -- an economy now growing at the slowest pace since the financial crisis.

On Friday, it was a mixed close for Wall Street. The Dow was up on strong earnings. That broke a 3-week losing streak.

It's been a rough October for stocks. A damage report here, folks. Investors worrying about global growth.

The Dow and the S&P 500 -- each of them -- the Dow down almost four percent. The S&P 500 down five percent. The Nasdaq -- look at that for the month of October -- down more than seven percent.

[05:50:04] Still, some context perspective is always key. All three are up more than 25 percent since the election.

More changes at the -- on the CBS board. Richard Parsons -- Dick Parsons resigning after only four weeks as interim chairman.

He's citing his health here. He has multiple myeloma. It's a type of cancer.

In a statement, Parsons said he felt the situation was manageable when he joined the board, but unanticipated complications created additional challenges and his doctors advised him to cut back.

Parsons replaced longtime CEO Les Moonves on the board. Moonves left, of course, in September over claims of sexual misconduct. And are you ready to be frightened, afraid, scared? Mike Myers back and scarier than ever, earning one of the biggest debuts for a horror film.

"Halloween" earned about $77.5 million at the box office this weekend, the best opening ever for a 40-year-old slasher franchise. "Halloween" is the 11th film in that series.

The film, a direct sequel to the 1978 classic, was also a hit with critics. The movie earned an 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Its opening also marked the second-biggest ever for a horror film. That's behind last year's "It" which had a $123 million opening.

BRIGGS: And we are not part of that big haul.

ROMANS: I don't -- I don't like -- I love rollercoasters but don't like scary movies.

BRIGGS: We are very united on that.

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: What does it say about us? I hate scary movies.

All right, a former NFL star about to go free after two decades in prison. Now, Rae Carruth wants a relationship with a son he tried to have killed.

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[05:56:03] BRIGGS: Dozens of Clemson University students are lucky to be alive after a floor gives way at a party near campus this homecoming weekend.

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Students dancing, floor collapses.

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BRIGGS: Police say 30 people were injured Saturday night when the floor collapsed and the partiers suddenly plummeted into the basement.

First responders were there in just minutes. Authorities say no one suffered life-threatening injuries.

Police are investigating what happened.

ROMANS: A manhunt is underway for the suspect in the killing of a Georgia police officer. Police say 18-year-old Tafahree Maynard is still at large. He is being charged with aggravated assault and felony murder in the shooting death of Officer Antwan Toney.

Officer Toney was answering a call about a suspicious vehicle Saturday. Police say the officer was approaching the car when Maynard fired from inside. The car sped off and crashed about a mile away. Officials think as many as four people were inside.

A second suspect, 19-year-old Isaiah Pretlow, has been charged with aggravated assault.

BRIGGS: Former NFL star Rae Carruth due to be released from a North Carolina prison today. The one-time Carolina Panthers wide receiver was found guilty of conspiracy to murder his girlfriend and their unborn child nearly 20 years ago.

Prosecutors say Carruth used his vehicle to block his girlfriend Cherica Adams' car so a hired gunman could shoot her.

Doctors performed an emergency C-section to save the baby but Adams died four weeks after the shooting.

The baby, Chancellor Lee Adams, was born with cerebral palsy. He is now 18 years old and being cared for by Cherica's mother, Saundra Adams.

Carruth sent Adams a letter earlier this year apologizing for Cherica's death and expressing interest in a relationship with their son.

ROMANS: Julia Louis-Dreyfus was celebrated last night, receiving the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The acclaimed Emmy-winning comedic actress best known for starring in "SEINFELD" and "VEEP" also battled breast cancer this year.

On the red carpet at the Kennedy Center, she offered this message for anyone facing the disease.

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JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS, ACTRESS, BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR: Power through -- keeping fighting one step at a time, for true, and that certainly helped me get through -- was just think about it almost in a weird way in baby steps. What's the next -- what's the next hurdle? What's the next hurdle?

And that's what I would encourage anybody who is in the middle of it. Just keep focused.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: During the awards, she added cancer isn't at all funny but a big part of dealing with it has been finding the funny moments.

The Twain awards show airs November 19th on PBS.

Love her -- love her.

BRIGGS: Yes. Of course, Breast Cancer Awareness Month --

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: -- and she's selling a t-shirt to help raise funds. She's an inspiration.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks for joining us this Monday morning. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now. We'll see you tomorrow.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Monday, October 22nd, 6:00 here in New York.

And we do have major breaking news this morning. A jaw-dropping exclusive on the murder of "Washington Post" journalist Jamal Khashoggi. New footage that is flat-out shocking.

Now, the official Saudi explanation that Khashoggi's death was the result of a fist fight gone bad has been deemed laughable by people around the world, not to mention Democrats and Republicans alike. For the first time, even President Trump admits there's been deception and lies even as he still does not question the Saudi claim that the crown prince had no knowledge of the killings.

This new footage, which you will see in just a moment, shows the incredible extent to which the Saudis tried to cover up the killing and add to the already existing mountain of evidence that it was all premeditated.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, before we get to that new footage, back here in the U.S. there's news, of course.

We are in the final stretch of the campaigns for the midterm elections. They are just 15 days away and a new CNN poll reveals a major advantage for Democrats in key races in one battleground state, while another new poll gives Dems the edge in November.

And, new polling shows that President Trump's approval rating has hit a new high.

So what does all of that mean?