Return to Transcripts main page

EARLY START

President Trump Concerned He May Be Impeached; Accused Russian Spy Now Cooperating; White House Races To Find New Chief Of Staff; U.K. Parliament To Hold Emergency Brexit Debate. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired December 11, 2018 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:31:03] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A busy day ahead in the special counsel investigation. Why we're told President Trump now sees impeachment as a real possibility.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: An accused Russian agent who cozied up to the NRA now pleading guilty. What information she's ready to share with investigators.

ROMANS: New names emerge in the search for President Trump's next chief of staff. Why a source tells us the president is quote "pissed off" about the whole situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY CORBYN, LEADER, LABOUR PARTY, UNITED KINGDOM: The government is in disarray and the fault for that lies solely at the door of this shambolic government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Shambolic, indeed. U.K. Parliament holding an emergency debate after Prime Minister Theresa May delays the vote on Brexit. What a mess in Paris and in London this morning.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour.

Worries in the West Wing this morning. A source close to President Trump tells CNN he is concerned he could be impeached when Democrats take over the House. The source says the president is anxious even though he's not certain it will happen.

A separate source says the White House aides believe collusion won't be the problem. The source says aides think the only issue that may stick is campaign finance violations stemming from hush payments to alleged Trump mistresses.

BRIGGS: A busy week ahead for the Trump defense team.

This afternoon, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort may face new charges or a harsher sentence for breaching his cooperation agreement with special counsel Robert Mueller. Also, former National Security adviser Michael Flynn files a draft sentencing memo seeking no jail time. And tomorrow, Michael Flynn faces sentencing in New York.

Alleged Russian agent Maria Butina has a change of plea hearing. We'll have more on that in a moment.

ROMANS: On Friday, prosecutors reply to Michael Flynn's sentencing request.

And finally, a mystery. A sealed grand jury hearing apparently related to a dispute between the special counsel and a witness, and that's all we know.

For those keeping score at home, we now have at least 16 Trump associates who had contacts with Russians during the campaign or the transition, according to public information. Everyone on this list denies colluding with Russia in any way.

BRIGGS: A source telling CNN accused Russian spy Maria Butina has reached a plea deal and is now cooperating with federal prosecutors. The 30-year-old used connections she built with the National Rifle Association to work her way into the 2016 election campaign.

She was photographed with GOP presidential hopefuls and even lobbed a question at then-candidate Trump at a 2015 conservative event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA BUTINA, ACCUSED RUSSIAN SPY: Do you want to continue the politics of sanctions that are damaging of both economies or you have any other ideas?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe I would get along very nicely with Putin, OK -- and I mean where we have the strength.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: CNN's Sara Murray has details on Butina and her plea agreement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave and Christine.

Maria Butina, the accused Russian spy who cozied up to the National Rifle Association, is now cooperating with federal prosecutors, a source tells CNN. Now, that's part of a plea deal and this deal is not final and won't be until she appears in court on Wednesday to introduce that plea and the judge accepts it. But it means she poised to plead guilty on a least one of the charges she's facing.

Now, prosecutors have cast her as someone who came to the U.S. and began ingratiating herself with U.S. political groups in order to advance Russian interest.

Our understanding from a source is that she's cooperating on a couple of things. First is, of course, her contacts with the Russians -- who she was in touch with, who her handlers were, and what they wanted to know and what she provided them.

But she's also providing information about another American, her boyfriend Paul Erickson. They want to know what his role was in her plot here in Washington and they also might want to know information about a separate fraud investigation into him in South Dakota.

Maria Butina was arrested in July. She's been in jail ever since. And normally in cases like this, you are sent back to your home country. In this case, it would be Russia, although that could be a little bit awkward now that she's cooperating.

[05:35:05] Back to you guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Sara -- thank you.

President Trump caught in a squeeze with three weeks to find a new chief of staff and no clear frontrunner. Multiple sources familiar with the president's mood tell CNN he's quote "super pissed" at the process of replacing John Kelly.

His initial pick, Nick Ayers, ultimately said no to the job. The current list of candidates looks like this, though it's -- you know, it's a work in progress.

BRIGGS: Indeed.

A source tells CNN President Trump has questioned one of those on the list, David Bossie, about his time in the House during the Clinton impeachment. The source says Bossie advised the president to go as partisan as possible to survive.

Another leading contender, Rep. Mark Meadows, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. He has expertise on House oversight -- how it works -- and says he hasn't yet spoken to the president about the job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR, "THE STORY WITH MARTHA MACCALLUM": So it sounds like if you were offered the job you would say yes.

REP. MARK MEADOWS (R-NC), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS: Well, I -- you know, listen, there's a whole lot. You don't answer a question before it's asked.

But I can say this, that because it's an honor, certainly I'm favorably inclined to at least have a discussion with the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Let's bring in "CNN POLITICS" digital director Zach Wolf, live this morning in Washington. Good morning, Zach.

BRIGGS: Good morning.

ZACHARY WOLF, DIGITAL DIRECTOR, CNN POLITICS: Good morning.

ROMANS: And, "The Wall Street Journal" in an editorial makes this point.

It says, "Mr. Trump hates discipline, especially self-discipline. He may have to settle for someone who operates from within the Trump- defined reality of Trump versus the world but with enough competence to impose some order. Mr. Trump's chaotic style is so outside management norms that we hesitate to suggest any names."

Zach, this is one of those plum jobs in Washington. When you're the chief of staff to the President of the United States there's a lot you can do politically --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- to build from there.

Why aren't there a whole bunch of people beating down the doors for this job?

WOLF: Well, it has traditionally been one of those plum jobs in Washington. It's traditionally been one of the jobs that puts you at the right of the most powerful person in the country, if not the world, and you have the ability to do -- you know, to make all this difference.

Now, working for Donald Trump is very different. You're going to need to get yourself a lawyer as you're walking in the door, for sure. You're going to need to figure out how to manage his personality. You're going to need to figure out how to -- how to deal with your reputation.

Most people -- John Kelly was a -- was a very well-respected general -- a DHS secretary going in. And now, he's -- you know, he's basically been shown the door.

So this is not the job, at least in the Trump administration, that people leave with a higher standing than they come in the door with. So you really have to essentially be a true believer, I think, in Trump in order to be somebody really qualified for this job at this point.

BRIGGS: And that's why Bossie, Whitaker, perhaps Meadows do make sense.

Whoever that person is going to be, you mention the things they'll have to deal with, including possible impeachment proceedings by a Democratically-led House because, of course, the campaign finance violations related to hush payments to Trump mistresses.

So, are Republican senators concerned about crimes committed by the President of the United States?

Well, here is Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving Republican senator in U.S. history, about how concerned he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R-UT), MEMBER, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: I don't think he was involved in crimes. But even then --

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.

HATCH: -- you know, you can make anything a crime under the current laws if you want to. You can blow it way out of proportion. You can do a lot of things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: How about that?

In particular, you talk about what Orrin Hatch once said of Bill Clinton in 1999. "Committing crimes of moral turpitude such as perjury and obstruction of justice go to the heart of qualification for public office. These offenses were committed by the chief executive of our country, the individual who swore to faithfully execute the laws of the United States."

Wow -- how do you reconcile those two opinions, and how concerned should the president be given that Republican senators want no part of believing or concerning themselves with crimes?

WOLF: Well, yes. I mean, part of the storyline today is that Trump is more concerned about impeachment. He should be. People are talking more seriously.

Jerry -- Congressman Nadler --

ROMANS: Yes.

WOLF: -- who's going to be in charge of the Judiciary Committee -- he is talking more seriously about the idea that Trump committed impeachable offenses. So that's not the kind of talk you want Democrats to be having if you're Trump.

On the other hand, reaching that two-thirds majority threshold in the Senate to actually carry through and kick somebody out of office, that seems like a very far way -- a very long way away considering Republicans still control the Senate.

So until you start hearing a bunch of Republicans talking about how Trump needs to go, he's probably going to be in office for a -- for a while.

ROMANS: And he's going to have to govern, right? I mean, we know today, he's going to meet with Pelosi and Schumer at 11:30. He's got to avoid a partial government shutdown. Going to potentially talk maybe bipartisanship with infrastructure later this year. [05:40:05] What do you expect from this meeting today with the president and Pelosi and Schumer?

WOLF: Yes, I think this is going to be really interesting. He's almost been thirsting for somebody to be a villain against him. You know, he wanted to play off Republicans and he would often get frustrated with Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Now he has people he can -- he can basically turn into his punching bags up there to oppose on everything, and he's called them Chuck and Nancy -- Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi.

So, you know, this is going to be the new dynamic. They're not quite in power yet but they still do hold some cards because Republicans can't fund the government on their own. They've basically thrown in the towel and said you're going to need to find Democrats help do it. So this is going to be the new normal.

BRIGGS: You can't help but wonder if that same dynamic exists with impeachment. If they use that to run against House -- the Democratically-led House --

WOLF: Right.

BRIGGS: -- bring up impeachment trials.

But a lot to come in the next couple of days.

Zach Wolf, good to see you -- thanks.

WOLF: Thanks.

ROMANS: All right, 40 minutes past the hour.

Leaders of Britain and France face crises of their own. Protests in Paris even after the French president offered concessions. And, Theresa May facing backlash for suspending that Brexit vote.

We're going to go live to London, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:45:26] BRIGGS: French students are blocking classes and activities today at 170 high schools across the country, showing solidarity with yellow vest protesters.

Trying to calm those protests, French President Emmanuel Macron gave a televised speech saying he'll ask his government to increase the minimum wage by 100 euros per month starting in 2019 and vowed to cancel a planned tax increase.

Macron acknowledged that workers in rural districts don't feel heard by the government, and added that much of the anger that people feel is just.

ROMANS: In Britain, Parliament is set to hold an emergency debate after Prime Minister Theresa May announced her government will postpone a vote on its Brexit deal. That vote had been scheduled to take place today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THERESA MAY, PRIME MINISTER, THE UNITED KINGDOM: It is clear that while there is broad support for many of the key aspects of the deal, if we went ahead and held the vote tomorrow the deal would be rejected by significant margins.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: May has begun frantic diplomacy with E.U. leaders trying to get assurances on specifics of the deal. Today, she meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

CNN's Nina dos Santos joins us live outside Parliament. And, Nina, just -- I mean, it's so complicated and it feels as if it's a stalemate again here.

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right.

After a year and a half of negotiating this 585-page withdrawal agreement, Brussels seems to be in no mood to open up that documentation again to try and tear up chunks of it, especially with regard this most contentious of issues which is the Irish backstop to prevent a hard border (ph) between Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K.

So the best that Theresa May can probably hope for here is perhaps some kind of additional text that is a footnote, if you like, that aims to try and limit the indefinite relationship that the U.K. could be stuck in vis-a-vis the E.U. and its customs arrangements over Northern Ireland -- that being the main bone of contention for MPs who are planning to vote down this deal based on these arrangements for the so-called Irish backstop.

And, Brussels, obviously, has made it very clear that they are in no mood to renegotiate substantive parts of this agreement. But what they have said is perhaps they might help give Theresa May some superficial reassurances, if you like, so that she can come back here to the U.K. and try and get this through Parliament one more time.

It's not clear when she would plan to do that. Parliament will be heading into recess on December the 20th as per the current timetable.

As you mentioned in your introduction, we've also the leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, holding an emergency debate in Parliament in about half an hour's time to get more clarity on when that vote is being postponed to. Obviously, he and other opposition MPs are planning on voting it down and that could have precipitated a leadership challenge or a general election.

Those things, for the moment, is off the cards but it all depends on what Theresa May comes back with from Brussels -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Nina. Thank you so much for that in front of the Parliament in London.

Now let's get a check on "CNN Business" this morning.

Global stock markets mostly higher. Investors are shrugging off those concerns over Brexit.

Taking a look at Asian markets, Tokyo down, but Shanghai and Hong Kong higher. And then a few hours later, European markets opened higher in their early hours of trading.

On Wall Street, futures, though, are lower. U.S. stocks hit session lows Monday after the Prime Minister Theresa May said she would delay that critical vote on the Brexit deal.

The Dow fell as many as 508 points -- that's two percent -- falling below 24,000 for the first time since June. But stocks then staged a recovery later in the day and the Dow actually closed 34 points higher.

The S&P 500 closed up a fraction. The Nasdaq closed up close to one percent. Again, futures a little bit lower here right now.

Tensions persist as Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou's bail hearing continues into a third day today in Canada, so watch that.

Now, this is what a trade war between the U.S. and China looks like in tech. In a stunning decision, a Chinese court has banned the sale and import of older iPhone models. Here's what happened.

The court granted a pair of preliminary injunctions requested by Qualcomm, an American microchip maker. Qualcomm claims that Apple violates two of its patents in several iPhones. The ban does not cover the new iPhone XS, the iPhone XS Plus or the iPhone XR which were not available when Qualcomm filed its lawsuit.

The ruling was announced publicly Monday but was put into effect last week. Now, Apple filed a request for the court to reconsider that decision.

Investors were mostly unmoved by the ruling. Apple stock closed at nearly one percent. Qualcomm stock rose two percent.

[05:50:02] A lot of people leaving their jobs at Verizon and that, it turns out, is a good sign for the overall economy. In an effort to cut costs and shipped investments as it rolls out 5G service, Verizon announced more than 10,000 management employees have accepted voluntary buyout deals.

Now, there's a larger factor here at play. The unemployment rate right now, 3.7 percent. It was 5.8 percent when Verizon last offered buyouts, meaning those employees figure today they have a pretty good chance of taking the money and running and finding another job.

Now, the buyout isn't the largest in Verizon's history. Back in 2003, more than 21,000 employees took a voluntary buyout with a 2-week severance offer. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics still counts voluntary buyouts as layoffs, so those Verizon employees will go into that category when they leave the company. It will be officially known as a layoff --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- but it's a layoff with a lot of high expectations for getting new jobs.

BRIGGS: All right. Your "Late-Night Laughs," ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:55:31] ROMANS: The death toll from the severe weather in North Carolina is now up to three, and thousands in the southeast are still without power.

Let's get the latest forecast from meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Dave and Christine, what an incredible storm here the last couple of days. Look at these totals in places such as Busick, North Carolina.

We had totals in western North Carolina as high as 34 inches here, setting records in a few spots. Whitetop coming in, in Virginia, at two feet of snow. Boone, in North Carolina, over 17 inches came down.

And certainly, an impressive system for any time of the year, especially considering winter officially about a week and a half away still.

But the cold air is certainly in place as well and we think this is going to be a concern moving forward because not only are we still seeing some snow here as the system slowly pulls away, parts of Virginia and the Carolinas here get some residual snow out of this. Not a significant player but we do have winter weather advisories in place because of all that cold.

You could see some of this refreeze here into the overnight hours, once again, as we go into tonight. Temps by this afternoon get above freezing. By later tonight, below freezing. All of this will stick around for at least another day.

The system, itself, pushes offshore and we get a nice trend here of quieter weather the next couple of days.

Highs in Atlanta, 52; Charlotte makes it up to 50; and New York, still in the upper 30s. But we expect highs to be about 10 degrees warmer by late-week.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: It is chilly. Pedram, thanks. The president's frantic effort to find a new White House chief of staff before the end of the year and the "smocking gun" making excellent late-night fodder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": I have good news. If anyone here wants to be President Trump's chief of staff, just raise your hand and the job is yours. Yes, no, maybe, no.

That's right, President Trump's chief of staff, John Kelly, is leaving the White House. It won't take long to pack up his office because the only things in his desk are some Tylenol and a bottle of vodka.

STEPHEN COLBERT, CBS HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": I'd like to take this opportunity to officially throw my hat in the ring.

Who would pass up the chance to spend 10 minutes on the deck of the Titanic while it's sinking? I don't know. I'm really curious to hear what a band sounds like when they know they're about to take the big bath.

JAMES CORDEN, CBS HOST, "THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN": "Democrats can't find a smocking gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia. No smocking gun, no collusion."

I mean, what has Trump been smocking? Honestly, at this point we should just be giving Trump credit for managing to spell the word gun correctly. Instead of smoke, he said smock.

And you don't want to be at McDonald's when Trump asks for a large Coke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Oh.

BRIGGS: It may be a little early for that one. That might be more appropriate --

ROMANS: I'm always sleeping during those so I appreciate how the producers pull them together for us.

BRIGGS: James Corden did a nice job with that one.

The "smocking gun" was trending throughout the day. I don't know what it is. Maybe we should ask "Scott Free" what that is.

ROMANS: Oh, yes -- stop.

BRIGGS: But it was enjoyable.

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

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now. Apologies for that. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has a continuing worry and I think it's a mounting worry.

HATCH: Democrats will do anything to hurt this president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These former senators are telling their current colleagues to please put your patriotism over your faith to the Republican Party.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He feels somewhat humiliated by the way this has played out and he doesn't have any plan B.

JARED KUSHNER, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: The president will make the right choice for chief of staff when he's ready.

SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: It's tough under any circumstances, but under this kind of White House, extremely difficult.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Not really.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You good with this whole thing?

CAMEROTA: You know, the show starts when the show starts whether I'm ready or not, I've noticed.

BERMAN: It's only three hours. Don't worry, it will go like that.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, December 11th, 6:00 here in New York.

Today kicks off days and days of legal proceedings and key events surrounding the Russia investigation and the illegal campaign payments to cover up alleged affairs investigation which, frankly, needs a better name. But by any name, it is clear the president believes it is all a real threat.

A source tells CNN President Trump thinks it's a real possibility he could be impeached. Of course, that's an effort that would be driven by House Democrats.

But beyond that, it isn't clear the president has much to fear from Congress because even with the mounting evidence that the president could very likely face indictment were he not president, even with the mounting evidence that 16 Trump associates had contact with Russians during the campaign or transition, even with the specter of the Mueller report which could expose even more -- even with all --