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EARLY START
Michael Flynn: Lock Him Up?; What Will Trump Accept?; Stocks Take Another Dive; Moonves Won't Get $120 Million Severance; Saints Hold Off Panthers on Monday Night. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired December 18, 2018 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[05:00:00] MICHAEL FLYNN, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Lock her up. That's right. Yes, that's right. Lock her up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Lock him up? Michael Flynn will be sentenced today for lying to the FBI. First, the special counsel releasing Flynn's interview with the bureau.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Deal or no deal? No one knows. Even Republicans in the dark about what the president will accept, four days to a shutdown.
BRIGGS: Stocks at their lowest levels in more than a year. What the numbers signal for the economy in the year ahead.
ROMANS: And the message in the #MeToo era. Former CBS chief Les Moonves won't see a dollar of his $120 million severance.
Good morning. Welcome, everyone, to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Tuesday, December 18th, 5:00 a.m. in the East.
We're going to see stocks bounce back a little bit today.
ROMANS: I think we'll see a triple digit bounce here, but I don't think we'll see that Santa Claus rally that's going to reverse what has been the worst year for stocks now in a decade.
BRIGGS: Yes, we are all waiting for Santa.
OK. We could find out today what compelled Michael Flynn to lie to the FBI. The former national security adviser is set to be sentenced his morning for lying about his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition and following a judge's order at the 11th hour, special counsel Robert Mueller has released a memo giving details of the FBI interview where Flynn lied.
ROMANS: Flynn allies, including the president, latched on to the fact that Flynn was interviewed by FBI agent Peter Strzok, who was later fired over anti-Trump texts. Flynn allies suggest he was tricked into lying in part because he did not have a lawyer with him. And the FBI didn't remind him that it was a crime to lie. But the memo containing FBI agents' questions and Flynn's answers debunks that claim.
White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins has more from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dave and Christine, Mike Flynn is set to be sentenced in a D.C. federal court today. And we know that the special counsel Robert Mueller has recommended little-to-no jail time for Mike Flynn.
But where this gets interesting is the day before the sentencing, the special counsel released a memo detailing the notes that the FBI agents took after they interviewed Mike Flynn at the White House when he was still the national security adviser in his office when he lied to them about his interactions with the Russian ambassador during the transition period. They only asked about him about his conversations with Sergei Kislyak about an upcoming U.N. vote on the Israeli settlements, but also he discussed the expulsion of these Russian intelligence officers in response to Russian interference in the election by the Obama administration. And he had asked Russians to mute their reaction to that because the Trump administration would be coming into his office in a matter of days.
Now, what we were seeing from the memo released by the special counsel really goes to show the level of detail in these questions that were largely yes or no questions that Mike Flynn said no to when, in fact, he had discussed these things with the Russian ambassador. It just adds to the level of drama the day that Michael Flynn is going to be sentenced, as well as two being sentenced for their work in Turkey lobbying as well. And so, there's a lot of drama surrounding the sentence as people await to see what it is he's going to be sentenced to -- Dave and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRIGGS: OK, Kaitlan Collins, thanks.
A new report prepared for the Senate shows Russian aggressively targeted the top threat to Donald Trump's presidency, special counselor Robert Mueller. They did it by setting up fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as other sites. And they used derision and disparagement, to create the narrative that the Russia probe was nonsense and that Mueller and former FBI Director James Comey were corrupt.
ROMANS: The Russian influence campaign also targeted African- Americans as part of the broader effort to suppress voter turnout among Democrats. The report goes on to say, well, other ethnic and religious groups were the focus of one or two Facebook pages or Instagram accounts, the black community was targeted extensively with dozens of them.
BRIGGS: James Comey's disputes with President Trump are nothing new, but now, the former FBI director is targeting the entire Republican Party for refusing to stand up to the commander in chief. Comey strongly defended the FBI's conduct Monday after a second round of closed door questioning by Congress.
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JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: The president of the United States is lying about the FBI and attacking the FBI and attacking the rule of law in this country. Republicans used to understand that the actions of a president matter, the words of a president matter, the rule of law matters and the truth matters. Where are those Republicans today?
At some point, someone has to stand up in the fair of fear of FOX News, fear of their base, fear of mean tweets, stand up for the values of the country and not slink away into retirement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Last night, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted: Republicans should stand up to Comey. She said the president did the country a service by firing Comey and, quote, exposing him for the shameless fraud he is.
ROMANS: All right. The U.S. stock markets sank deeper into the red in deepening concerns about the economy Monday.
[05:05:02] The Dow fell 508 points. S&P lost 2.1 percent. The Nasdaq down 2.3 percent.
Look, these are lower for the year now. All of the year's gains are gone. The decline has spread to global markets. Nikkei and Hang Seng and Shanghai all closed lower.
European markets also open lower. The Frankfurt has turned higher slightly here. This has been a rough year and a rough month on Wall Street. Dow and S&P down 4.5 percent this year. Look for the month. Down more than 8 percent in December. The Nasdaq is down 2.7 percent this year, down 9 percent this month.
This is the worst quarter for stocks since 2008. These are big moves. It shifts a move in psychology. The biggest ship in 10 years of a bull market.
How is the president reacting? One official says he is privately expressing anxiety of the markets even as he publicly insists the economy is strong. And the economy is strong. That is why the Fed has been raising interest rates.
Everyone will be watching the Fed tomorrow. Central bank is widely expected to raise rates. What the Fed says about future rate hikes is important for the direction of the stock market. But there's no inflation really.
BRIGGS: Tight labor market. Google adding jobs. Apple adding jobs.
ROMANS: Concerns of the stock market. Since the election, the stock market is up 30 percent. So, the president has that big win number in this category. Clearly, things have stalled here. People think 2019 will not be as good as 2018.
BRIGGS: OK, lawmakers in D.C. very much in the dark about any plan to avoid a government shutdown.
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SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R), LOUSIANA: If the White House has a plan, they are keeping it to themselves.
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BRIGGS: That is Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. We are now less than four days from a partial shutdown. It seems nobody on Capitol Hill knows what Mr. Trump is thinking.
The president dug himself a hole when he said he would own the shutdown over funding for his border wall. Now, some Republicans are trying to dig him out.
Here is Phil Mattingly on Capitol Hill.
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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Dave, as the clock ticks down towards that Friday deadline, there is currently no way to bridge the gap, at least the congressional officials are aware of, between where the president stands, requesting $5 billion for the border wall and where Democrats stand, which is they are not going to give him that $5 billion.
Now, what I have been told, guys, behind the scenes is staff on the Republican side have worked up several options that the president can take as a way out of this jam. They include short-term continuing resolutions, basically freezing the current funding for the unfunded portions of the government for two weeks, three weeks, maybe in four weeks time, basically just get past the holidays and get to the time when the Democrats retake in the House. And yet, at this point, congressional Republicans have not been given any signal, one way or the other, whether he would accept it or reject it. That leaves things where it is right now, which is basically everybody in a holding pattern.
There is some question among Republicans I'm talking to whether or not the president wants any path forward himself at all. What Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby told me earlier today is perhaps the president doesn't want a solution. In other words, perhaps the president wants a shutdown. He has claimed as such up to this point.
Republican leaders are working behind the scenes, trying to prevent that. Will they find a path forward? Well, at this point, Friday is the deadline. As I said, there is still no plan -- guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRIGGS: Phil Mattingly, thanks.
In event of a shutdown, some employees will be deemed essential and continued to work. Their pay will be withheld until the shutdown is over; other federal employees will be placed on furlough without pay. Congress could order they'd be paid retroactively after the shutdown, but that is not guaranteed and not a way to spend Christmas.
ROMANS: The family of a 2-year-old boy on life support pleading for an expedited visa from the State Department. The child's mother wants to fly here from Egypt to see him last time. She is a Yemeni national unable to come because of President Trump's travel ban.
Abdullah Hassan is suffering from a generic brain condition and is on ventilator in Oakland. The little boy and his dad are both U.S. citizens.
They came here a few months ago for the child's medical treatment.
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ALI HASSAN, FATHER: Just breaking my heart looking at my son facing death. He's about to die soon. His mother is unable to touch him or see him or able to kiss him before he goes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: There is no timetable for when the visa might be granted. It can take up to 10 days. The White House travel ban restricts nationals of Yemen and six other countries from entering the United States.
BRIGGS: OK. Ahead, every parents worst nightmare. A child runs into the road after a ball. He was saved, but not by his parent. We will tell you who, next.
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[05:14:01] ROMANS: Accusations of sexual harassment and assault costing former CBS Chairman Les Moonves $120 million. The CBS board of directors says Moonves will not receive any severance pay. The board concluded it had ample reason to fire him back in September based on findings from two law firms it hired to investigate the allegations.
An attorney for Moonves, once one of the most powerful men in entertainment, the attorney says Moonves denies any of the sex was nonconsensual. Notably, the lawyer did not signal he would take further action to fight for the money.
BRIGGS: Two Chicago police officers struck and killed by a train last night. A 37-year-old officer Eduardo Marmolejo and a 31-year-old Officer Conrad Gray responding to a shots as they were searching the area both were hit by passing metro train going 60 to 70 miles per hour. Marmolejo had served on the force for two and a half years, Gray for 18 months. [05:15:00] Both men were fathers to two young families. The suspect
in the shooting they were investigating has been arrested and a gun was recovered.
ROMANS: The Catholic Church abuse scandal could be widening once again. Law enforcement from as many as 45 states now looking for help from Pennsylvania authorities in pursuit of alleged misconduct by Catholic priests. A landmark Pennsylvania grand jury investigation this year found more than 300 predator priests abused at least 1,000 victims over six decades.
The Pennsylvania attorney general tells "USA Today" that state authorities have been joining forces since August, crafting search warrant applications and grand jury subpoenas. Fourteen state attorneys general have launched separate clergy abuse inquiries. Meanwhile, the Justice Department working on its own broader review.
BRIGGS: Jesuit provinces in Maryland and the Midwest has released at least 84 clergy members credibly accused of sexually abusing minors. Earlier in this month, Jesuit provinces in the west and central southern provinces released a similar list. Between the four, more than 230 priests accused dating back to the 1950s.
Experts who tracked clergy abuse say the Jesuits admitted dozens of priests who should be on the list. A fifth Jesuit province in the Northeast plans to release its list next month.
ROMANS: A Missouri man convicted of poaching hundreds of deer has been ordered to watch "Bambi" as part of the sentence. The judge attaching that mandatory monthly viewings of Walt Disney movie for David Barry Jr. during his year-long jail sentence.
Prosecutors call it one of the largest poaching cases in state history and said the deer were killed for their heads. Bodies were left behind. Spoiler alert from the 1942 film, Bambi's mother was killed by hunters off screen. The young roams the woods unable to find her.
I'm not sure what kind of research there is in the criminal justice world about watching a movie and if that changes recidivism.
BRIGGS: Probably not too effective. An extremely close call caught on video. A retired police officer swoops in for a toddler wandering in the middle of a southern California street. Former Officer Darryl Pang spotted the unsupervised child stepping into the busy road in Tustin. He made a quick U-turn, and then as Pang gets his car closer, the boy bounced his ball in traffic and chased after it.
Watch this -- Pang jumped out of his car and motioned others to stop and picked the boy up in the middle of the street.
It wasn't until the boy was safe in Pang's arms that someone finally showed up to retrieve the child.
ROMANS: Have you had one of those toddlers get away from you?
BRIGGS: I have not. You have a runner. ROMANS: I had a 2-year-old who was a runner. It was terrifying. He
was -- everything's fine, folks.
BRIGGS: All right. Where were the parents?
All right. It was not pretty, but the New Orleans Saints took a big step toward the number one seed in the playoffs. Andy Scholes has the trickery here in the "Bleacher Report" next.
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[05:22:19] ROMANS: All right. Who can forget this from the 1990s?
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ROMANS: Alfonso Ribeiro probably best known Carlton from "Fresh Prince of Bel Air". He is now suing the creators of the game "Fortnite" for featuring his signature using the dance without his permission. Judge for yourself. It's pretty obvious.
The lawsuit claims Epic Games are profiting by selling the dance as an in-game purchase under the name "Fresh." Ribeiro is suing the makers of NBA 2K for the same reasons.
No comment yet from Epic Games, which gets money from you and I, Dave, almost every single day.
BRIGGS: Oh, a lot of it. Great story.
All right. The New Orleans Saints hold off the Panthers on Monday night football, getting one step closer to home field advantage.
Andy Scholes is here with "The Bleacher Report". I woke up and kept refreshing because I thought it was the first quarter, not the full game.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, not what we're expecting from the Saints-Panthers game, Dave. When we talk about the Saints, we talk about Drew Brees and the offense. It was their defense that won the game last night, giving up only 12 points. It was the lowest point total in a win in 20 years.
The only points the Saints defense gave up in the game came on a trick play. First quarter, Cam Newton hands it to McCaffrey for the score. Rather than that, it was just a rough night for Cam and the Panthers offense. He really did not look right, 131 yards passing. Saints win 12-9 to improve to 12-2 on the season. That win makes Drew Brees and Sean Payton the second best winning coach and quarterback in history behind Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.
In the NBA, the Indiana Pacers making history, hiring the first NBA female assistant general manager. Kelly Krauskopf is no stranger to the game, spent 19 season as the top executive at the WNBA. The Pacers say her job is to build a championship culture.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KELLY KRASKOPF, PACERS ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER: I am grateful I work for an organization that sees that. They don't see gender. The ball doesn't know gender. It is about the game and opportunity.
VICTOR OLADIPO, PACERS GUARD: She definite knows the game. She has been around the game for a long time. She has been around winning. Anybody who can bring that culture here, we welcome them with open arms.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: And watch Taj Gibson losing his shoe and scoring. He picks up his shoe and hustles back for defense.
[05:25:01] Then he tries to block the shot with his shoe. Look at this. A good effort from Gibson. I'm not sure that would have been legal had he blocked it with his shoe.
Finally, here is the cutest thing you will see all day.
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SCHOLES: That's awesome. That is 3-year-old Drake Winslow before the women's basketball game.
Dave, I don't know about you, but I think -- I'm pretty sure when I was 3 years old, I did not know the words to the national anthem or have the courage to sing in front of 1,000 people.
BRIGGS: That is phenomenal. I'm sure my 10-year-old doesn't know the words. Well done, young man.
Andy Scholes, thank you, my friend.
ROMANS: Andy Scholes, bringing me babies and puppies.
SCHOLES: It's Christmastime, Christine.
BRIGGS: She knows how to get you.
ROMANS: Sports stories I love.
All right. Twenty-six minutes past the hour.
Michael Cohen had a lot to say last week at his sentencing. What will we learn from Michael Flynn? Robert Mueller is shedding light with a court filing the day before the sentencing.
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