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EARLY START

Court Filing Says Paul Manafort Lied After Guilty Plea; General Motors To Shut Down Production At Five Plants; President Trump Says He Does Not Believe Climate Change Study; World Condemns Russian Aggression, But Not President Trump. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired November 27, 2018 - 05:30   ET

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


[05:30:06] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: The plea deal is off. Prosecutors say Paul Manafort lied to Robert Mueller.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't believe it. No, no, I don't believe it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Call it denial -- get it? The president outright dismissive --

BRIGGS: I do.

ROMANS: -- of government scientists who say climate change is a crisis.

BRIGGS: The president lashing out at GM. The automaker shutting five North American plants and slashing its workforce by 15 percent.

ROMANS: And missed tips about this man, the Parkland school shooter, now forcing the FBI to overhaul its public tip line.

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

BRIGGS: Good morning, my friend. Good morning to all of you. I'm Dave Briggs. Five-thirty eastern time on a Tuesday.

We start with the big question -- the big cliffhanger in Washington this morning. Did Paul Manafort lie to Robert Mueller, and if he did, why?

Prosecutors say the former Trump campaign chairman has breached his plea agreement with the Justice Department. For more than a year, the biggest open questions about the Russia investigation have swirled around Manafort.

ROMANS: For example, what's the full story on the Trump Tower meeting he attended with Russians who claimed to have incriminating information about Hillary Clinton? Now, we may never hear Manafort testify about any of it.

CNN's Jessica Schneider has more from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, the lingering question after this filing, what did Paul Manafort lie about? The special counsel saying he lied on a variety of subject matters but they won't disclose exactly what they were until they file a sentencing submission with the court a little bit later.

But remember, Paul Manafort -- he's been working with Mueller's attorney since he pleaded guilty to two charges he faced in Washington, D.C. That guilty plea was back in September. And, of course, on top of that guilty plea, we know that Paul Manafort -- he was found guilty by a Virginia on eight counts back in August.

But now, the special counsel is calling off the cooperation. No more talks, no more opportunity to cooperate, and they're ready for a federal judge to sentence Paul Manafort.

Now, Paul Manafort's attorneys, they responded to this filing and they said that Paul Manafort believes he was truthful and that he does not agree that he breached any agreement.

So we'll have to see what the judge says in this case. But for now, the special prosecutor's team saying to the judge, let's go ahead with the sentencing of Paul Manafort -- Christine and Dave.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Jessica. Thank you so much for that.

General Motors is reinventing itself and it will close five North American plants to do it. GM will cut its salaried workforce 15 percent. It will cut a quarter of the company's executives. The pivot, toward electric vehicles and self-driving technology.

In a statement Monday, CEO Mary Barra said this. "The actions we are taking today continue our transformation to be highly agile, resilient and profitable while giving us the flexibility to invest in the future."

GM will shut plants in Detroit, in Ontario, in Warren, Ohio, White Marsh, Maryland, and Warren, Michigan. Those plants made sedans that have become less popular, including the Chevy Volt, the Impala, the Cruze, the Buick LaCrosse, the Cadillac CT6 and the XTS. GM will no longer make those cars.

Those shutdowns translate to 8,000 salaried workers. Six thousand hourly workers will either lose their jobs or be reassigned to other plants.

President Trump said he talked with Barra after the announcement and is not happy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I was very tough. I spoke with her when I heard they were closing and I said, you know, this country's done a lot for General Motors -- you better get back in there soon. That's Ohio and you better get back in there soon. So, we have a lot of pressure on them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: At a rally in Mississippi Monday night, the president said his administration has found the magic wand for manufacturing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The previous administration -- they said manufacturing's never coming back -- it's gone. You'd need a magic wand. Well, we found the magic wand and that's actually -- that's actually going to be increasing by a lot in the next short while because we have a lot of companies moving in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: GM also said it would close three plants outside North America by the end of next year. One of those closures in South Korea had already been announced.

BRIGGS: Joining us from Washington this morning, "Inside Elections" editor and publisher, Nathan Gonzales, a CNN political analyst. Good to see you, sir.

ROMANS: Good morning.

NATHAN GONZALES, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, "INSIDE ELECTIONS": Good morning.

BRIGGS: The GM story in color here on the New York "Daily News." The president driving off a cliff in his own homemade GM.

The president, though, telling "The Wall Street Journal" regarding these massive job cuts, "You're playing around with the wrong person" -- a clear threat to GM.

I'm old enough to remember another president threatening private business and conservatives were up in arms. So, too, is my 6-year- old. That was President Obama.

Why are conservatives now OK with a Republican president threatening private business and what are the politics of this?

GONZALES: Well, I think too often, where people stand on an issue depends on who is taking that particular stance.

Right now, the Republican Party, including most Republicans and most conservatives, are following the president. They believe that he's the right messenger. They believe he's the dealmaker, and that no matter what happens he is -- he has the best interest of the country at heart. [05:35:07] You know, we can -- people can disagree about that but that's the -- I think that's the thinking of the Republican base.

And I think what we're seeing so far is sort of the typical reaction from the president as GM makes the announcement, and he's going to berate GM on Twitter, in public appearances. And we'll see -- I assume that GM was ready for this and that they're going to be ready for the P.R. hit and we'll see how long that lasts.

But if they -- if there isn't some sort of -- if they don't change tactics then I think you'll see the president blame someone or something else or say that it would be -- it would have been worse if he hadn't have been involved. So I think we're going to see a couple of chapters of this play out.

ROMANS: But will it work? I mean, the risk for the president is if he keeps blaming GM he's reminding everybody of all the promises that he made. That he's the dealmaker in chief and that he is going to bring these jobs back.

I mean, listen to some of the promises he made about Michigan and Ohio -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You people know something about the car industry because I'm bringing it back to the state of Michigan, right?

We have many car companies coming back in. They're going to Michigan, they're going to Ohio. They're going to the states where they want to be.

You look at what's happening with Ford and with General Motors in Michigan and Ohio. You look at the tremendous number of jobs that are being announced in so many different fields.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Does he risk that voters in those states think that these are just empty promises?

GONZALES: Sure, there's absolutely a risk. I think maybe to -- one of the things going for the president right now is that we're still two years from reelection -- from the reelection race.

And so, let's wait and see what happens. Maybe there is -- something changes and GM makes a different decision, but -- or other companies make a decision.

But right now, this is not a good -- this is not a good news story for the president because I think there's going to be at least multiple days of coverage in this way where people are just pointing out -- look, this is what he said, this is what's happening. How does this line up?

ROMANS: A couple of things -- a big tax cut for these companies, they're still shutting plants.

BRIGGS: Right.

ROMANS: The president fixed NAFTA and now calls it USMCA or whatever, they're still closing these plants.

You know, at what point --

BRIGGS: Tariffs making it worse, like GM and Ford.

ROMANS: Tariffs making it worse. All of these things, right -- all of these things.

BRIGGS: Let's turn now to what's happening in Mississippi. Polls open in just a bit. A big Senate race there. Mike Espy, the Democrat, trying to take out Cindy Hyde-Smith.

Race has been really a central factor in this Senate race -- the run- off here.

Let's listen to what the president said last night in one of two rallies for Hyde-Smith in the state last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Cindy's far-left opponent -- he's far-left. Oh, he's out there.

How does he fit in with Mississippi? Just explain. And I could go over this, but how does he fit in?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: He was born in Mississippi -- raised -- Mike Espy.

Was that -- was that racist, what he was saying there?

GONZALES: Well, you know, I'll let the president -- let people read into what they want.

But, you know, Mike Espy comes from a longtime family in Mississippi. His family -- from the Delta region. His family owned a series of funeral homes and so he is not a newcomer to Mississippi. So you could -- people could read into that what they -- what they want.

I think fundamentally, the majority isn't at stake in this election but the stakes are high because this is -- this is the primary focus right now because most of the elections are already over. Every seat matters in the majority because Democrats want to stay as close as possible after these 2018 elections in order to try to have a chance to take over the majority in the 2020 elections.

And the president has put himself out there by going down and doing these rallies. He's putting some political capital on the line even though I still expect Cindy Hyde-Smith to win this race today. BRIGGS: And as you see there, it would be 53 for Republicans if Cindy Hyde-Smith wins. And that would be a massive upset if Espy can pull it off, but we shall see later tonight.

Nathan Gonzales, thanks for being here. Appreciate it.

ROMANS: Nice to see you --

GONZALES: Thank you.

ROMANS: -- up and early.

All right.

President Trump dismissing that new study about the consequences -- dire consequences of climate change. The findings contain ominous warnings about global health and conclude the U.S. economy could lose hundreds of billions of dollars every year with extreme heat in the Southwest, declines in corn and dairy production.

So what does President Trump think about his own government's assessment?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Have you read the climate report yet?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've seen it. I've read some of it and it's fine.

REPORTER: They say the economic impact will be devastating.

TRUMP: Yes, I don't believe it.

REPORTER: You don't believe it?

TRUMP: No, no, I don't believe it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The study was supposed to come out in December but was released by the Trump administration on Black Friday when few Americans were paying attention.

It was conducted by 13 federal agencies and departments with over 300 prominent climate scientists.

One of them, Katharine Hayhoe, tweeted this on Friday. "I wrote the climate scenarios chapter myself. What the White House says is demonstrably false."

She's talking about whether this was based on the worst-case scenario or not, correct?

[05:40:00] ROMANS: So, some of the people who are climate deniers who are dismissing this, they're saying look, they only looked at the worst-case scenario.

BRIGGS: Right.

ROMANS: Not a fair assessment.

She says, no, no --

BRIGGS: That's false.

ROMANS: -- I looked at all scenarios and she's saying that is false. And she's going to be on "NEW DAY" later this morning --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- to explain their data and criteria.

Democrats still making gains in the House this morning, three weeks after the midterms.

A flip in California's 21st Congressional District. The latest vote totals show the Democrat, T.J. Cox, ahead of the Republican, David Valadao.

One other race remains uncalled by CNN in New Mexico. The Democrat is ahead there, as well.

So far, Democrats have picked up a net gain of 38 seats in races called by CNN.

BRIGGS: One of those was in Utah, where Republican Mia Love conceded against Ben McAdams. And she responded to the president who attacked her the day after the election before this race was even called.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Mia Love gave me no love and she lost. Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia.

REP. MIA LOVE (R), UTAH: What did he have to gain by saying such a thing? This gave me a clear vision of his world as it is. No real relationships, just convenient transactions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The president's own approval rating taking a hit in the wake of the midterms. Six in 10 Americans now disapprove of the job he's doing, according to the latest Gallup poll.

ROMANS: All right. Even visual proof of a Russian ship ramming into a Ukrainian tugboat not enough for the president to outright condemn Moscow. We're live in Ukraine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:45:40] BRIGGS: President Trump offering a muted response to escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Russia seized three Ukrainian Navy ships in a key waterway. Other world leaders condemning the move, as did U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Here is the president's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm not happy about it at all -- not at all. We let our position be known. We do not like what's happening. Either way, we don't like what's happening and hopefully, it will get straightened out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Ukraine has declared martial law on the border regions. Twenty-four sailors still detained by the Russians, including some counterintelligence officers.

Nick Paton Walsh live for us in Ukraine with the very latest. Nick, where are we headed here?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Dave, this is a potentially very serious flashpoint because although this war between Russia, effectively, and Ukraine has been rambling on for years since Russia invaded Crimea in the east of the country through its separatist proxies, we haven't seen the Russian military and the Ukrainian military kind of go head-to-head against each other in the sort of clumsy way that happened in the Azov Sea near the Crimean Peninsula, just on Sunday.

Now, it's caused a long-simmering conflict here to be back in global focus again.

It's caused Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, to talk about Russian aggression. Angela Merkel, of Germany, to talk about the need for de- escalation. And, Vladimir Putin, conversely, to accuse -- to accuse Ukraine of provocation and trying to stir trouble up right now.

More importantly here, it's caused martial law that's going to come into place in 10 regions near Russia from 9:00 tomorrow morning. That, on paper, guarantees constitutional rights but allows the military and security forces extra power. But it heightens tensions, yet, further.

And the big question really here is if Moscow's feeling emboldened enough now to let its Russian military out of the box, so to speak, in a naval confrontation like this, does it have other plans?

Is it, perhaps, testing the Trump administration's tolerance here -- the desire to hit back against Moscow? Are they going to be as tough as the Obama administration was with sanctions after Crimea was invaded? That's the key question.

That's got Ukrainians nervous and that will certainly be in the air during the G20 in Argentina coming up in the days ahead where Donald Trump's expected to meet Vladimir Putin. Back to you, Dave.

BRIGGS: Today, the president will have lunch with the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense. So, likely, an update there.

Nick Paton Walsh, thank you.

A scientist in China claims he's created the world's first genetically edited babies.

Chinese scientist He Jiankui, professor at Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, claims his lab had been editing embryos' genetic codes for seven couples undergoing in-vitro. It's a groundbreaking move likely to spark significant ethical questions around so-called designer babies.

The Chinese government has ordered an immediate investigation.

ROMANS: President Trump appears to be shutting the door on a temporary deal in the ongoing trade war with China just days ahead of that upcoming G20 summit in Argentina.

The president told "The Wall Street Journal" in an interview published Monday, it was highly unlikely he would accept an offer by Chinese President Xi Jinping aimed at averting a plan to raise tariffs on more than $200 billion of Chinese goods to 25 percent. Right now, they're at 10 percent and they rise to 25 percent in January.

And then he said this -- he even went further. "If we don't make a deal, then I'm going to put the $267 billion additional on" -- meaning more tariffs. Adding that that tariff level could be either 10 percent or 25 percent.

Trump said in the interview that could include tariffs on Apple products imported from China, including iPhones and laptops.

Earlier this month, Vice President Mike Pence said the president was willing to more than double the tariffs it has already placed on Chinese goods.

Global markets mixed after Wall Street rebounded on Monday.

In Asia, a mixed move there. The Nikkei up just over half a percent. Shanghai and Hang Seng -- the Shanghai and the Hang Seng closed down.

European markets -- the DAX and Germany up a little. The FTSE in London down and the CAC in Paris is up.

On Wall Street, futures are mostly lower right now. A little bit of a disappointment because you had a big bounce back yesterday.

The Dow jumped 354 points or 1 1/2 percent on Monday. The S&P 500 closed up 1.6 percent, the Nasdaq up two percent.

Amazon and Twitter had really great days, five percent gains apiece. [05:50:00] And, GM, on that bombshell news that it is sort of

reinventing itself, big shares gained five percent after those plans to cut 15 percent of its salaried workforce and invest in the future.

All right. Taco Bell has moved back into London after about two decades, opening four new locations, part of a broader European expansion.

It's hoping to gain customers in newer locations with beer. The first thing you will notice at the new London locations, the beer dispenser at the counter.

The food tastes the same as in the U.S. but there's some design differences, including an open kitchen layout, trendy wallpaper, colorful murals, long tables with bar stools.

There are 7,000 Taco Bells worldwide. It wants to have 9,000 by 2022.

Beer and --

BRIGGS: And, Doritos Tacos Locos. Nothing says magic on a date like that combination, right?

ROMANS: Oh, yes.

BRIGGS: Wow, that could be explosive.

Ahead --

ROMANS: A tease (ph).

BRIGGS: -- seven months, 300 million miles, and a smooth landing. NASA's InSight lander begins its mission on Mars.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:55:28] ROMANS: The FBI announcing an overhaul of its public tip line system. The Bureau faced stiff criticism after the February massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida because it received tips about the alleged gunman, Nikolas Cruz, well before the deadly shooting.

In a letter to the Stoneman Douglas officials, the FBI says it is adding 12 supervisory special agents and 50 professional staff to the public access line. The Bureau will start training now to identify mental health issues.

BRIGGS: The Centers for Disease Control now say there are 116 confirmed cases of the polio-like illness AFM. That's 10 more cases than a week ago. Health officials say an additional 170 possible cases are under investigation.

The disease can lead to a sudden onset of paralysis.

There are confirmed cases of AFM in 31 states -- 15 in Colorado, 14 in Texas. Not clear, though, whether there's a greater risk in those states or if they're better at identifying and reporting cases.

ROMANS: The Food and Drug Administration is closing in on the source of that romaine lettuce contamination responsible for that E. coli scare just before Thanksgiving. Officials now say only romaine lettuce from certain parts of California is unsafe to eat.

Lettuce entering the market will now be labeled to give consumers information about when and where it was harvested.

The FDA says the most likely source of the contamination is from California's central coast growing regions where harvest season is ending.

The number of people sickened has grown to 43 in 12 states.

BRIGGS: Flight schedules slowly returning to normal after a holiday blizzard caused widespread travel chaos. Nearly 1,700 flights had to be canceled Monday in and out of the U.S. Bulldozers called into action at Chicago's O'Hare International.

Thundersnow at the peak of the storm left more than -- yikes -- 220,000 customers without power in the Midwest, most of them in the Chicago area.

The snow is now picking up in New England. Some areas could see over a foot.

ROMANS: Dictionary.com revealing its word of the year and it is a sign of the times. The word is misinformation. It made a huge comeback in 2018 with an explosion of false information on the Internet. Dictionary.com says it is choosing the word as a call to action.

Its editors also highlighting the difference between misinformation and disinformation, noting the two are not interchangeable. Disinformation refers to deliberately misleading or biased information. Misinformation is wrong but does not require intent.

You know, like the conversations you were having at Thanksgiving with your uncle.

BRIGGS: Yes. A lot of disinformation spread in this current political environment.

All right, a Florida man decided to try hang gliding during a vacation in Switzerland and wound up hanging on for dear life. Look at this. His pilot forgot to connect his harness to the glider.

Chris Gursky says he thought he was going to die throughout the 2- minute, 14-second ordeal. He did manage to hang on just long enough to fall into an open field.

Gursky suffered a fractured wrist and torn bicep tendon but says he's not mad at the instructor. He's even grateful for the skilled landing.

ROMANS: Wow.

Another skilled landing. Cheers at NASA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, NASA JET PROPULSION LABORATORY, LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, CALIFORNIA: Touchdown confirmed. InSight is on the surface of Mars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The InSight spacecraft safely reached Mars. It was the culmination of InSight's 7-month, 300-mile journey through space.

The Mars lander will spend the next two years studying the interior of the red planet. It wasted no time, beaming back the first picture from the Mars surface.

It's going to stay there. It's a probe, right? It's going to sit there. It's not going to move anywhere but it's going to be able to drill down and give us all kinds of information about volcanic activity and all kinds of cool stuff.

BRIGGS: We've got to work on our handshake game. That's my takeaway from that story.

ROMANS: Yes, true -- that's true.

BRIGGS: Those two really nailed it.

ROMANS: Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that Mueller's office blew this agreement up suggests they must have a pretty good reason for thinking that he's lying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously, we have a dispute about whether or not he did that. That's why we have courts and that's why that matter will proceed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But if he's lying, there is something very big he's trying to hide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are women and children out there. Using tear gas does not seem justified.

TRUMP: In some cases, they're not the parents. They grab a child because they think they're going to have certain advantages.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This whole thing is going out of control unnecessarily.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, November 27th, 6:00 here in New York.

Things are looking very festive.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, the poinsettias are here.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: I've been growing them all year and now I get to bring them out.

CAMEROTA: That's great.

BERMAN: They're completely real.

CAMEROTA: It is that time of year.