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EARLY START

Judge Blocks White House From Denying Asylum Claims; Ivanka Trump Sent Government E-mails From Personal Account; Gunman Kills Three At Chicago's Mercy Hospital; California Fire Evacuees Turn To FEMA For Help. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired November 20, 2018 - 05:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:30:51] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, a federal judge blocks the White House from restricting asylum claims for people who cross the border illegally.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And don't expect any "lock her up" chants. Ivanka Trump used private e-mail hundreds of times to conduct business from the White House last year.

BRIGGS: Three people, including a police officer, gunned down at a Chicago hospital. The gunman knew one of the victims.

ROMANS: And the founder of the Women's March wants the movement's co- chairs out. She says they have allowed bigotry into the mission with ties to Louis Farrakhan. Open warfare, almost, there --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- in the Women's March movement.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Thirty-one minutes past the hour.

I eagerly await your thoughts on the tech stocks -- Facebook, and Amazon --

ROMANS: It was ugly.

BRIGGS: -- and Apple.

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: A rough day for the markets.

Breaking overnight, though, a federal judge in California handing President Trump a defeat in his effort to block asylum claims by immigrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The new temporary restraining order says the president may not rewrite immigration laws to oppose conditions forbidden by Congress.

ROMANS: In his order, Judge Jon Tigar writes, "Asylum seekers will be put at increased risk of violence and other harms at the border, and many will be deprived of meritorious asylum claims."

BRIGGS: "The government offers nothing in support of that rule that outweighs the need to avoid these harms."

Immigration advocates argue it's illegal to block asylum claims based on how an immigrant entered the country.

The judge's order remains in force until the next hearing which is now set for December 19th.

In a twist that is ironic, to say the least, perhaps the height of hypocrisy, Ivanka Trump, last year, sent hundreds of e-mails conducting White House business through a personal e-mail account. The revelation based on e-mails released by a nonpartisan watchdog group, American Oversight.

E-mails show Ivanka used her personal account to e-mail cabinet officials, White House aides, and assistants for much of 2017.

ROMANS: The president, of course, used Hillary Clinton's private e- mail as a -- as a centerpiece of his 2016 campaign. Remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look at her e-mails, which put America's entire national security at risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: People familiar with the matter tell "The Washington Post" the White House conducted an investigation into Ivanka Trump's e-mail usage. The probe found many of the e-mails were sent in violation of federal records laws which require preservation of all White House communications.

BRIGGS: The White House had no comment but a spokesman for Ivanka's lawyer acknowledged Ms. Trump occasionally used her private e-mail before she was briefed on the rules -- didn't know the rules, apparently -- and stressed Ms. Trump's e-mail usage was different from Sec. Clinton's.

ROMANS: He said she "did not create a private server in her house or office, no classified information was ever included, the account was never transferred or housed at the Trump Organization, and no e-mails were ever deleted."

A spokesman said Ivanka Trump handed over all her government-related e-mails months ago so they could be stored permanently with other White House records.

All right. Joining us here, "Washington Examiner" senior congressional correspondent David Drucker, a CNN political analyst.

Are these apples and oranges or is this a case of the administration that is do as I say, not as I do? DAVID DRUCKER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Well, there's a -- there's a few differences here.

I mean, let's be clear. Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State so she was trafficking in some of America's most sensitive secrets, diplomatic secrets, national security secrets. She purposely created a server in her home, one could argue for the purpose of keeping this stuff secret, of keeping it out of government hands.

And it undermined the biggest selling point for her candidacy, which is she was competent. That you may not always agree with her but she was the most trained and ready to be president. And I think that's a little bit different than the first daughter -- I guess we call Ivanka Trump.

ROMANS: Who is an adviser to the president -- a senior adviser.

BRIGGS: A senior adviser to the president.

ROMANS: She's got a big job.

DRUCKER: I said it was a little bit -- a little bit different --

ROMANS: OK.

DRUCKER: -- than the first daughter using her private e-mail account to talk about government --

BRIGGS: But you did quote the great Yogi Berra. Why?

DRUCKER: Yes. Well look, mistakes were made, which is the other cliche.

[05:35:00] I have dealt with press officials at the White House who were smart enough to tell me -- when I was still out of habit contacting them on their personal e-mail accounts -- I work at the White House now. I can only talk to you via my official White House --

ROMANS: Yes.

DRUCKER: -- e-mail account.

This is not --

ROMANS: That's the way it's done.

DRUCKER: -- hard to do. This is something that everybody knows. And the fact that this mistake was made, I think suggests that possibly she didn't really think it through or maybe she just didn't care.

So I am not saying that this wasn't a problem and I'm not saying that foreign powers didn't get ahold of those e-mails --

BRIGGS: Right. DRUCKER: -- and look at them, especially adversaries. I'm just saying if you asked apples and oranges, I'd say we're in a fruit basket here so it's all in the same category.

ROMANS: OK.

DRUCKER: I'd say one was a little bit rougher than the other but I'm not going to begrudge the Democrats who -- and start chanting "lock her up" --

ROMANS: Right.

DRUCKER: -- simply because the president, himself, was very aware of the sensitivity of this --

ROMANS: Of course.

DRUCKER: -- and you think it might have been communicated to his senior staff of which she is considered a member.

BRIGGS: It's just impossible to acknowledge that she didn't know the rules given the chant "lock her up" that led him into the White House and continued as recently as October.

DRUCKER: Well, either she didn't know the rules -- either she knew the rules and skirted them or she was incompetent. So take your pick. You can't have it both ways.

I think the fact she is now -- if it's true that these e-mails have now been given to the government -- the government has full possession of them so there are no records laws being skirted, there are no secrets being kept -- you can say that this -- and nothing was actually deleted or lost -- then you can also say -- again, we're in the fruit basket here. One was a little bit worse than the other.

But I think that the criticism is fair. I think that the points you're raising are fair, especially considering what Republicans had to say about Hillary Clinton's e-mail problem.

Now, the question might be what will the new House Democratic majority want to do about this?

ROMANS: Yes.

DRUCKER: Will they say look, we always thought Hillary Clinton's e- mail problem was overblown. We're going to leave this alone.

Or are they going to say this is a problem? Turnabout's fair play.

We're going to investigate this. We want to see all these e-mails. We want to see what foreign powers might have looked at.

BRIGGS: That depends on large part who --

ROMANS: And who's the new leader.

BRIGGS: -- leads them. Who will lead them because 16, as they say, rebel Democrats are coming up to stop her leadership but --

ROMANS: How serious --

DRUCKER: Yes.

ROMANS: -- is the revolt? Is it a revolt?

DRUCKER: Well, I'd say that the revolt is real. I think that what people have to understand is that Nancy Pelosi has been on top for 14 years. I don't care how rosy the circumstances, how great things are going, that's a long time for a congressional leader.

So, Pelosi is working very hard to lock down votes. That is not some fake effort there. This is real.

However, because they won such a sweeping majority of nearly 40 seats, I don't think there are enough rebels to block her on the floor even if they all vote no on the floor. So I think what Pelosi would like to do is try and satisfy and reduce the number of no votes so that it's less embarrassing.

Look, Pelosi, I think, is going to get through this.

BRIGGS: Yes.

DRUCKER: Two years from now I'm not so sure if they hold their majority. As we saw with John Boehner and the Republicans, members of Congress get restless.

And even though the grassroots don't vote for speakers -- and I don't take too much into account about the grassroots want with this kind of a vote -- if there is enough angst out there it can impact members.

So, Pelosi will get this done and if Democrats really want her gone, then somebody has to step up and raise money, and affect legislation, and create the kind of power base that can rival her and actually take her out. Nobody's actually done the work.

There's a lot complaining --

BRIGGS: No one's actually running to take her spot --

ROMANS: Right.

BRIGGS: -- either.

DRUCKER: Well, you have -- you don't just take her --

ROMANS: It's just the "Never Nancy" or the "Not Nancy" -- yes.

DRUCKER: -- out without doing the work, and they need somebody to have done the work and that will be the key over the next two years.

Who tries to create the power base --

ROMANS: Yes. DRUCKER: -- that can depose her?

ROMANS: David Drucker, nice to see you this morning.

DRUCKER: Thank you.

ROMANS: Thank you, sir.

BRIGGS: All right.

President Trump telling advisers he may visit troops in the combat zone for the first time in his presidency. That's according to "The Washington Post". The president has not made a visit to American service members in Iraq or Afghanistan.

ROMANS: Current and former aides tell "The Washington Post" the president does not want to associate himself with wars he views as failures. The "Post" says Mr. Trump also cites the long flights and potential security risks. A former senior White House official says the president is afraid people want to kill him.

BRIGGS: The president standing by his accusation the U.S. military and intelligence officials who found Osama bin Laden should have done so earlier. His attack on retired Navy Admiral William McRaven, the architect of the raid, is not sitting well with former Defense secretary and CIA chief Leon Panetta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON PANETTA, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE AND CIA CHIEF: We all enjoy free speech. That's part of what our democracy is all about.

But it doesn't mean that the president ought to attack former heroes in a very personal way. People like John McCain and now, Bill McRaven because frankly, it undermines any relationship he will have with the military as commander in chief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:40:00] ROMANS: The Republican National Committee is backing President Trump's claim that Adm. McRaven was a Hillary backer, tweeting it's worth noting McRaven was reportedly on Hillary Clinton's short list for vice president in 2016.

Now, McRaven was on a list of dozens of possible vice presidential nominees, the Clinton's campaign chairman mentioned in an e-mail. That e-mail was hacked by Russia and made public by WikiLeaks.

Also of note that he was considered for a job in the Trump administration, too.

BRIGGS: Yes.

Three people, including a police officer, killed by a gunman at Mercy Hospital in Chicago. A doctor, Tamara O'Neal, and a pharmaceutical assistant, Dayna Less, were also killed. Police say the gunman approached O'Neal in the hospital parking lot and shot her. The two had been in a relationship.

Police responded and followed the suspect inside the hospital where shots were exchanged -- pardon me.

Officer Samuel Jimenez, a father of three, was killed. He'd just joined the force last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDDIE JOHNSON, SUPERINTENDENT, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Those officers that responded today saved a lot of lives because this guy was just shooting. That poor woman that got off the elevator had nothing to with nothing and he shot her. Why?

There's no doubt in my mind that all those officers that responded were heroes and they saved a lot of lives because we just don't know how much damage he was prepared to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Police say the gunman is dead. Not clear whether he was killed by police or a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

ROMANS: All right.

The number unaccounted for the California Camp Fire drops under 700. A new concern now for charred areas, the weather.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:45:50] ROMANS: Let's get a check on "CNN Business" this morning.

Asian automaker stocks tumbled in what was already a tough day for global stocks. Nissan's stock fell nearly six percent, Mitsubishi Motors fell seven percent.

Look, Nissan's chairman, Carlos Ghosn, a legendary auto industry executive, arrested in Japan after an internal investigation revealed years of quote "significant acts of misconduct" by him and another top executive.

Now, together, with Japan's Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan and Renault make up the biggest global carmaking alliance and make one of every nine cars sold worldwide and employ more than 470,000 in 200 countries.

Nissan said its investigation found he significantly underreported compensation and misused company assets.

And new details emerging from Japanese broadcaster NHK that Nissan funded four properties around the world in Rio de Janeiro, Beirut, Paris, and Amsterdam -- homes, essentially, for him -- and did not declare those homes on financial reports.

CNN has, so far, been unable to reach Ghosn for comment on these allegations. No public remarks from him yet.

Victoria Secret's CEO has resigned as sales decline and the company faces competition from younger companies and online stores.

As you know, the fashion show, of course, is iconic. Sales, though, are struggling -- not so pretty.

Last quarter, sales dropped six percent at Victoria's Secret stores that have been open for at least a year. Victoria's Secret's nearly 1,000 stores in the U.S. are tried to struggling malls -- many of them -- and last year sales in North America fell eight percent after it stopped selling swimwear and clothing.

Instagram, the latest social media platform to crack down on fake likes and comments. Instagram said, Monday, it began removing inauthentic likes, follows, and comments from accounts that use third- party apps that falsely inflate popularity.

It said this is part of a greater effort to maintain an authentic platform. Please, I beg you.

The move comes as social media sites, including Instagram's parent company, Facebook, face a lot of criticism over the presence of trolls, fake news, and misinformation on their platforms.

Instagram said it built machine-learning tools to help detect and remove fake popularity boosting accounts.

You mean it's not real? It's not real, folks.

BRIGGS: All right.

ROMANS: It's not real.

BRIGGS: To the latest in the California wildfires. The number of people listed as unaccounted for in the Camp Fire dropping dramatically from nearly 1,000, but there are still 699 unaccounted for. The remains of two more victims were discovered Monday, raising the Camp Fire death toll to 79.

ROMANS: Smoke from the blaze is now causing delays and cancelations at San Francisco International Airport because of unhealthy air condition -- air conditions, rather, and reduced visibility.

The Butte County Sheriff's Department says two men -- these two men -- have been charged with burglarizing a local fire department while firefighters were battling the flames.

There is hardship to go around. CNN's Nick Watt is in Chico, California.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, we have seen hundreds, maybe thousands of people pouring through this FEMA relief center today looking for help, looking for the first step in trying to rebuild their lives.

This used to be an old abandoned department store and now it is FEMA's one-stop shop so they can -- people can meet with FEMA agents about aid, they can speak to people about trying to get a low-cost loan to rebuild if and when that time comes. Also, you can get your birth certificate, if that burned in the fire, reprinted -- your marriage license, your property deeds. All of that stuff is taken care of here.

Now, the actual fire itself is still burning -- I mean, with 5,000 firefighters out there. It's mainly just spot fires but that fire is expected to carry on until the end of the month -- actually another 10 days.

But the real focus now, here in Northern California, is to try and get these people on the road to recovery and that's what this center is all about. Nearly 12,000 homes have been destroyed in this blaze. The need and the hurt is, frankly, unimaginable.

[05:50:01] Christine and Dave, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: Nick Watt, thank you.

First fire, now rain. A series of storms forecast to hit California into the holiday weekend. The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for the Camp Fire area.

Here's meteorologist Ivan Cabrera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys, good morning.

You would think rain would be good for California. It will be for the drought, but where we have the burn scars it's going to be a mess -- the potential for mudslides.

We have two systems that are going to be bringing significant rain. The first one comes in on Wednesday so already tomorrow raining, and heavily at times. We'll get a little bit of a break through the day on Thursday. But then, Thursday night and into Friday we have yet another one with more rain.

By the time all is said and done we could be looking at anywhere from four to six inches right over the burn area. Again, good for the fires but the problem is the mudslide threat is going to increase big- time here as we head through the next several days.

Out east, we have a weak system but it's enough to issue winter weather advisories where you see the purple here. It'll stay mainly to the northwest of Boston, but then you get into New Hampshire and Maine. You'll be seeing anywhere from two to four inches. By the way, that's happening for today and into tonight. We will clear this out and in the wake of it what we'll have is the

coldest air mass of the season. Take a look at this -- the temperatures. Now, these are wind chills, as the wind is going to be gusty.

By the time we get into New York, single-digit wind chills for Thursday and into Black Friday. Bundle up, guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Oh, all right. I was not expecting that. Thank you, sir.

All right, it may be your worst fear. An elevator --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- descending 84 stories quickly when two cables snapped. How they got them out, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:56:07] ROMANS: Open warfare in the Women's March over a refusal to denounce Louis Farrakhan. The Nation of Islam leader has a history of anti-gay, anti-Jew, and other comments.

The founder of the march calling for the movement's current co-chairs to step down. Teresa Shook says four of the leaders are tarnishing the mission.

She says this. "They've allowed anti-Semitism, anti-LBGTQIA sentiment, and hateful, racist rhetoric to become a part of the platform by their refusal to separate themselves from groups that espouse these racist, hateful beliefs."

BRIGGS: Women's March leaders swiftly shot back at Shook, saying "Our ongoing work speaks for itself. That's our focus, not armchair critiques from those who want to take credit for our labor."

Two Women's March leaders have posted on Instagram praising Farrakhan. Another spoke at a rally headlined by Farrakhan in 2015.

Saint Louis County Police looking for a gunman who fatally shot a 53- year-old woman in a Catholic Supply store. Investigators say several women were also sexually assaulted inside the same business.

Police say the attacker should be considered armed and dangerous, described as a white male with a heavy build in his mid to late 40s.

BRIGGS: An elevator with six people plummets 84 floors in Chicago. It took firefighters three hours to rescue the group in the former Hancock building.

The group boarded on the 96th floor -- that's the signature sort of observation deck -- and then it plunged when two cables broke. Fire officials say there were other cables still attached to the elevator car so you've got that going for you but still when you go down 84 floors. And firefighters had to break through a wall to bring the group stuck between floors 11 and 12 to safety.

BRIGGS: Starting today, anyone over 21 in Massachusetts can purchase recreational marijuana legally. The move comes more than two years after voters approved the measure.

One location will be in Leicester, the other in Northampton where officials are expecting historic crowds when both stores open at 8:00 a.m. eastern time -- two hours.

ROMANS: All right.

The president will officially pardon the national Thanksgiving turkey today. This year's candidates, Peas and Carrots, both from South Dakota.

Peas loves popcorn, ice fishing, and watching planes. Carrots has a slight and weight advantage and loves M&Ms, skiing, and yoga. That's a mental picture I can't quite --

BRIGGS: I'd pay to see that.

ROMANS: -- figure out.

After the event, the turkeys will make their new home at Virginia Tech's Gobblers Rest exhibit in Blacksburg, Virginia.

BRIGGS: While you were sleeping, late-night hosts had some fun roasting today's turkey pardon, as you might imagine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH MEYERS, HOST, NBC "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": President Trump will pardon two turkeys tomorrow. But first, Robert Mueller will subpoena them.

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": President Trump will pardon a turkey and after the ceremony, the turkey will be sent to live in a farm upstate with Jeff Sessions.

Americans can vote on which turkey gets pardoned. You could tell the turkeys want to drag it out as long as possible because today they asked if that vote could happen in Florida.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right.

BRIGGS: I'm surprised none suggested he's already pardoned a turkey, Joe Arpaio.

ROMANS: Gobble, gobble. Pardon me, I'm gone for the rest of the week so happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving.

BRIGGS: Happy Thanksgiving to you, my friend.

ROMANS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans. BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Here's "NEW DAY."

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, November 20th, 6:00 here in New York.

We do begin with breaking news.

A federal judge blocks the White House from denying asylum claims to immigrants who cross the southern border illegally. A U.S. district judge in San Francisco issuing a temporary restraining order and telling the Trump administration to again accept asylum claims from migrants no matter where or how they enter the country.

Judge Jon Tigar writes, "Whatever the scope of the president's authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden."

This is another legal setback for the president's executive orders as he tries to reshape America's immigration system.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now, as all of this unfolds, CNN was the first to report that the president --