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EARLY START

Barr Vows to Let Mueller Finish; Shutdown Taxes the Economy; Brexit Crisis in the U.K.; At Least 14 Dead in Nairobi Hotel Complex Attack. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired January 16, 2019 - 04:30   ET

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


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[04:30:06] WILLIAM BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE: I will not be bullied into doing anything I think is wrong by anybody.

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DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Bipartisan praise for Bill Barr. The nominee for attorney general vows to let Robert Mueller finish his work. Will the public get to see a public report?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Turns out it costs more to shut down the federal government than to keep it open. And now the president's economic advisers are doubling that.

BRIGGS: Another democracy in crisis. U.K. rejects the Brexit plan. Theresa May facing another Brexit vote today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Baby sister. Baby sister.

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ROMANS: A little girl hears her sister's voice for the first time. What happens next is going to melt your heart. You needed that on a Wednesday. Stay tuned.

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

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs on day 26 of the longest government shutdown in our nation's history. We get to the impact straight ahead.

But we start with the president's nominee for attorney general, delivering a notably un-Trumpian performance at his confirmation hearing. William Barr setting the tone before a Senate Judiciary Committee that had both parties, yes, both parties, mostly pleased. Barr split from the president and his aides on several talking points, among them, disagreeing with the president's claim that the special counsel Robert Mueller is on a witch hunt, vowing he will not allow Mr. Trump or his lawyers to correct or put their own spin on Mueller's final report and committing to release as much of that report as possible, quote, consistent with the regulations and the law. ROMANS: Barr also did his best to reassure senators that he will

allow Mueller to finish his work.

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BARR: I am not going to do anything that I think is wrong. And I will not be bullied into doing anything I think is wrong, by anybody, whether it'd be editorial boards, or Congress or the president. I'm going to do what I think is right.

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ROMANS: Barr also promised to quit if the president crossed the line.

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BARR: If someone tried to stop a bona fide, lawful investigation to cover up wrongdoing, I would resign.

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ROMANS: But Barr did hedge on one issue that may cause trouble for Democrats.

CNN's Jessica Schneider has more on that from Washington.

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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dave and Christine, an unanticipated contentious hearing was actually quite calm. With top committee Democrat Dianne Feinstein saying this, so far, so good. And even Delaware Democrat Chris Coons saying he is going to seriously consider supporting William Barr's confirmation, and the reason for that, maybe Barr's strong stance defending Robert Mueller, pointing to their 30-year friendship and also vowing to protect the Russia probe and make as much as he can about Mueller's final report public.

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: Will you commit with providing Mr. Mueller with the resources, fund and time needed to complete his investigation?

BARR: Yes.

FEINSTEIN: Will you commit to assuring that special counsel Mueller is not terminated without good cause, consistent with department regulations?

BARR: Absolutely.

FEINSTEIN: Will you provide Mueller's -- excuse me, Mueller's report to Congress, not your rewrite or a summary?

BARR: My objective and goal is to get as much as I can of the information to Congress and the public. I don't know what -- at the end of the day, what will be releasable. SCHNEIDER: Barr did say that he won't fire Mueller, saying it will

take something egregious, since he knows what type of investigator Mueller is. But in one issue that could potentially rankle Democrats, Barr was asked, can a sitting president be indicted?

BARR: For 40 years, it's been the position of the executive branch that you can't indict a sitting president.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT: I'm asking you what your view is right now.

BARR: You know, I actually haven't read those opinions in a long time. But I see no reason to change them.

SCHNEIDER: Now, Barr was also asked several questions about presidential pardons, while he did say it is within the president's power to pardon individual, he stressed it is also possible that the president can abuse his power by issuing certain pardons. And Barr also wouldn't rule out the possibility that Mueller could subpoena the president.

But overall, Barr wanted the takeaway to be that he will be an independent attorney general. More, of course, to come in the second round of the hearing that starts this morning -- Dave and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: So, here we are, an impasse over border wall funding and that puts the government shutdown in its 26th day. Eight hundred thousand federal workers and the families they support, real people, feeling the pinch.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's earning his paycheck, but he's not getting it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The shutdown isn't just a Washington, D.C. problem. It's affecting real people here in Iowa.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got our pay stubs on Thursday and seeing zero dollars is just very disheartening.

[04:35:06] It makes it hard to wake up and want to go to work.

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BRIGGS: Liz Runge is a mother of two in Summerville, South Carolina. She depends on food stamps to care for a disabled daughter, and does not have a plan B if those benefits dry up.

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LIZ RUNGE, WORRIED GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE WILL BE CUT: It's important that the people that maybe aren't so affected by it, you know, either that they don't have a government job or don't receive assistance, they need to see the faces of the people that it is affecting.

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ROMANS: We know those food stamps are paid out until February, but beyond that unclear. The Coast Guard, the Coast Guard is the only branch of the military not being paid during the shutdown. The United States of America not paying a branch of the military.

In Monterey, California, dive shop employees just down the road from a Coast Guard station started a food drive to help their friends. Now, the IRS says it's bringing back 36,000 furloughed workers. They will work without pay, so that you will get your tax refunds obviously at the expense of those employees.

BRIGGS: On Tuesday, a federal judge denied a request from federal employees to deny a request to pay air traffic controllers who have been working without pay. And bad news for federal employees looking for help from the public. CNN obtained a letter to homeland security officials warning that accepting money from GoFundMe or similar sites could actually be illegal.

ROMANS: President Trump's economic advisers have now doubled the projections of loss economic growth each week of the shutdown. . The chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Kevin Hassett, said the administration now calculates the shutdown reduces quarterly economic growth by 0.13 percentage points for every week it drags on.

How much money is that? Well, Standard & Poor's forecasts $1.2 billion a week in lost growth. How? Well, workers don't get paid, which means they don't spend. And that hurt retailers, landlords, auto sales. It also hurts all the people who support them, babysitters, day care.

And it means long lines for you at the airport, because TSA agents, some of them, rather than pay for the commute and day care costs and not getting paid at work are calling out sick. So, that's why we're having long lines.

BRIGGS: So, how are we made safer by shutting down a wall for border security? This just goes round and round.

ROMANS: Shutdowns are stupid.

BRIGGS: Indeed. If you think Washington, D.C. is a mess -- well, take a look at the chaos across the pond, in the U.K.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To the left, 432.

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BRIGGS: Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal crushed Tuesday by a record margin. It's a humiliating indictment of her plan to guide Britain out of the European Union. May faces another no confidence vote today. The British people facing a very uncertain future. Let's go live to 10 Downing Street and bring in CNN's Hadas Gold.

Good morning, Hadas. Where are we headed?

HADAS GOLD, CNN REPORTER: Good morning, Dave.

Dave, I don't know, neither the people behind me in number 10, neither the people in parliament. Last night was a stunning evening for Theresa May. This is the largest defeat for a prime minister in modern British history. The last time there was a margin even this big, close to this big was in 1924, to give you some context of where we are.

Immediately after that vote, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition party, the Labour Party, tabled a no confidence vote. What that means is that tonight, members of parliament will get a chance tonight to say whether or not they support Theresa May as the ruling party in parliament. But she's likely to survive that vote. If she doesn't, that could trigger a general election and we could see a complete change to the approach to this Brexit deal.

In the meantime, Theresa May said that she is going to be talking to members across parliament, across parties, try to come to a consensus, go to Brussels, try to get extra concessions and possibly table a new vote until next week. She has to return on Monday and get some sort of update. We might see a new plan in place.

But there's still a lot of possibilities out there for many other situations, including maybe even a second referendum. This is what a lot of members of parliament are calling for. Whatever happens, though, doesn't change the scenario that we're just 72 days away before that deadline of March 29th when the U.K. is supposed to leave the European Union. So far, we see closer and closer to crashing out without a deal -- Dave.

BRIGGS: Devastating economic implications.

Hadas Gold live for us in London, thank you.

ROMANS: All right. A new court filing in the Paul Manafort case gives an unprecedented look at Robert Mueller's secret work with a grand jury. The special counsel revealing President Trump's former campaign chairman testified last fall about his communications with Konstantin Kilimnik, including a meeting in person. The special counsel believes Kilimnik Manafort has links to Russian intelligence. Manafort communicated with him beginning August 2nd, 2016, less than a month before leaving the campaign.

[04:40:00] BRIGGS: The filing also details how Manafort misled investigators and the grand jury. He said he was not communicating with people in the Trump administration. But prosecutors say he was texting someone with access to Trump last May. One big mystery. The filing does not say who that person was.

Mueller's team and attorneys for former campaign official Rick Gates also revealing the special counsel is not ready for Gates to be sentenced. That would suggest that Manafort's one-time deputy is still providing useful information.

ROMANS: All right. Two leading Iowa newspapers calling this morning for Congressman Steve King to resign. "The Des Moines Register" editorial board, writing, he has lost even the potential to effectively represent his Iowa constituents because of his abhorrent comments about white nationalism and white supremacy. And "The Sioux City Journal" says, if he cares deeply about the citizens of the fourth district and we believe he does, King should do what is in his best interest and step down from office.

BRIGGS: Those editorials published as the House of Representatives voted 424 to 1 to approve a resolution rejecting white supremacy and white nationalism. King actually voted for the resolution meant to criticize him.

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REP. STEVE KING (R), IOWA: That ideology never shows up in my head. I don't know how it could possibly come out of my mouth.

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BRIGGS: But it did come out of his mouth. He told "The New York Times": White nationalism, white supremacists, Western civilization, how did that language become offensive? Back home in his Iowa district, support for President King is mixed.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All people with equal value in the sight of God. And our policies should reflect that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're overreacting, you know, magnifying it 100 times what it should be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm hoping they'll get him cleared out of office. That's what I really hope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody can just dismiss what the people voted for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: That is true.

Republican House leaders have already denied King any committee assignments in this new Congress.

ROMANS: And he has been reelected handily.

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: All right. Will a woman head the World Bank? According to a person familiar with the matter, White House officials including the president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, will begin interviewing candidates to become World Bank president in the coming days. The top candidate: former Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi. It's not clear if

she's interested in that job. When Nooyi stepped down as Pepsi's CEO last year, Ivanka Trump referred to her as a mentor and an inspiration. The president and the daughter has been the White House's main conduit to the World Bank as it launched a women's entrepreneurship initiative.

Since its founding, the World Bank has been led by Americans all appointed by the president. The U.S. is the bank's largest shareholder. If named, Nooyi would be the first woman to head the group since its founding. CNN has reached out to Nooyi for comment and has yet to receive a response.

The World Bank and IMF, really, some of those 20th century -- early 21st century international institutions meant to stabilize economies. U.S. picks the World Bank chief, usually IMF, the Europeans picked that. And there's this kind of nice give-and-take. Some have wondered what the president's connection is to the organization.

BRIGGS: Not a big fan of them generally speaking. Good context.

Ahead, did the former president of Mexico take a $100 million bribe?

ROMANS: From a notorious drug lord.

The courtroom bombshell, next.

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[04:47:26] ROMANS: Bombshell testimony in the drug trafficking and murder trial of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. A former close aide to the drug lord telling a Brooklyn courtroom El Chapo once paid $100 million bribe to former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. The stunning testimony comes from Alex Cifuentes, a Colombian trafficker who spent three days on the stand. Cifuentes says he spent two years living with Guzman in the mountains of Sinaloa, helping him elude the Mexican army.

Representatives for Pena Nieto have not responded to CNN's request for comments.

BRIGGS: It is day three of a teacher's strike in Los Angeles.

Rain did not keep teachers from the picket lines Tuesday. An estimated 32,000 teachers and staff walked the walk. They are demanding smaller class sizes, higher salary, more counselors and nurses. The walkout of 100,000 students may also cost the school district millions of dollars.

The state fund is based on daily school attendance. And only about a third of the usual number of students showed up on Monday, the first day of the strike. Attendance improved slightly on Tuesday.

ROMANS: All right. A powerful reminder to make sure your car seats are installed properly. Most people don't. Frightening dash cam video shows the time a toddler tumbles out of the car on to the street. The toddler with pink coat still strapped into the car seat.

Chad Mock posted this video on Facebook, stopped his car and carried the child to safety. Remarkably, the toddler was not injured. It looks like the mother drove away. Didn't realize the child came out. She did turn around and come back. Officials are looking at charges of child endangerment.

BRIGGS: Lots of questions there.

ROMANS: Oh my goodness.

BRIGGS: All right. Ahead, binging on Netflix about to get more expensive. The streaming service raising prices to invest in a new program. CNN business has the details, next.

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[04:53:51] BRIGGS: Four-fifty-three Eastern Time.

And Kenya's president now says all of the terrorists have eliminated following an attack on a hotel complex in Nairobi. The death toll now at 14 including at least one American. We do want to warn you, some of this video we're about to show you may be hard to watch.

CNN's Sam Kiley live for us in Nairobi -- Sam.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dave, this operation by the terrorists began yesterday afternoon at about 3:00 local time, with an explosion at the entrance to the hotel, just about 100 yards behind me there. Three cars set alight. Suicide bomber ran and detonated himself, killing a number of people.

Four gunman proceed through, not just a hotel, but an office complex, with people running for their lives through the gardens. Fortunately, for a lot of the survivors, the evacuation was pretty efficient, immediately. There were a number of armed private security guards inside the complex, responsible for evacuating the people with the gunfire.

I spoke to one of them while he was doing just that. You could hear gunfire with detonation and grenades.

[04:55:06] But the government claimed it was all over, but it restarted (INAUDIBLE) morning and continued until about 10:30. With very loud detonations a lot of automatic guns, special forces eventually cleared the area with the assistance of some American forces, too -- Dave.

BRIGGS: Sam Kiley live for us in Kenya -- just incredible video, thanks.

ROMANS: All right. A top negotiator for North Korea is visiting Washington, D.C. this week. Pyongyang ex-spy master Kim Yong Chol scheduled to arrive by Saturday at the latest. He is expected to meet with Mike Pompeo and President Trump to finalize preparations for a second summit with Kim Jong-un. The president hand wrote a letter that was delivered to the leader last weekend.

BRIGGS: Broadway marquees will be dimmed tonight to honor the life and career of the legendary Carol Channing who died Tuesday.

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BRIGGS: Channing is best known for playing Dolly Levi in "Hello Dolly" on Broadway and beyond. It's a role she performed more than 5,000 times. Bette Midler, who starred on the latest Broadway revival, one of the many stars paying tribute. Midler says Channing was, quote, a complete original and there will never be another.

Channing died of natural causes at her home at Rancho Mirage, California. She was 97.

ROMANS: A real talent.

Right now, sportscaster Bob Costas leaving NBC after 40 years with the network. Costas telling "The New York Post" the two sides reached a buyout agreement last year but decided to keep it quiet. The 66-year- old has done it all, covering Super Bowls, World Series, Olympic games, the NBA finals, Triple Crown races. He entered the broadcasters wing of the baseball Hall of Fame last summer. Costas will continue to work for the MLB network.

BRIGGS: Hard not to smile when you see and hear this next story. This is 11-month-old Scarlet Benjamin. She was born three months early and treatment for an infection impaired her hearing. Scarlet was fitted for hearing aids last week. Her older sister Hallie tested them out.

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UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Baby sister.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Baby sister.

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BRIGGS: Nothing better than the sound of that laughter. Scarlet's mom also could not contain her excitement. She said it's been a long and emotional experience.

ROMANS: Can I get that on my ring tony.

BRIGGS: I know, right? Wouldn't that be great?

ROMANS: Every text message, I want that little baby girl. Best of luck to all of you.

Let's get a check on CNN business. Global markets mostly flat as investors giving a muted reaction to last night's Brexit deal defeat. In Asia, mixed here. London also mixed. Really searching for direction. On Wall Street, futures a little bit higher. But again, I would say searching for direction is the tone here. The Dow closed up 156 points. That's a little less than 1 percent. The S&P 500 advanced 1.1 percent. The Nasdaq had a better day, a one-month high there.

All right. Microsoft and Walgreens join forces to take on Amazon in health care. Microsoft announced a partnership with Walgreens Tuesday. As part of the deal, Microsoft will become Walgreens new cloud provider.

Microsoft and Walgreens say they will also work on solutions to lower health care costs. Walgreens will open up 12 digital health corners in stores that will sell health-care related gadgets. The two said the partnership will help Walgreens gain personalized data about customers' health which allow pharmacies to get better customized nutrition and wellness solutions. Last year, Amazon announced a partnership with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase to create a new health care company that would, they touted, would be free from profit-making incentives and constraints.

All right. Binging on Netflix is about to get more expensive. Netflix is raising prices in the United States as the streaming service invests heavily in new programs. All three of the streaming services plans will increase in price by one or two bucks. The standard $11 plan, for example, will increase to $13 a month.

The price hike comes as competitors enter the streaming service market. Disney plans will launch this year. And NBCUniversal will have its own streaming service by the year 2020. Netflix stock closed up 6-1/2 percent on the news. The price hikes will applied to all existing members over the next few months. New members will be charged the new price immediately.

So you're not really grandfathered in. A little bit of wiggle room for existing customers. But there you go.

BRIGGS: All right. EARLY START continues right now on this day 26th of the government shutdown.

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BARR: I will not be bullied into doing anything I think is wrong by anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Bipartisan praise for William Barr.