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EARLY START

William Barr Confirmation Hearings, Day 1; Shutdown Taxes the Economy; Brexit Crisis in the U.K.; Warriors Score NBA Record 51 Points in First Quarter. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired January 16, 2019 - 05:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:00:06] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Bipartisan praise for William Barr. The nominee for attorney general vows to let Robert Mueller finish his work, but will the public get to a see final report?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: It turns out it costs more to shut the government down than to leave it open. Now, the president's own economic advisers are doubling the projected losses.

BRIGGS: Another democracy in crisis. U.K. lawmakers reject the Brexit plan. Theresa May faces another no confidence vote today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Baby sister.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Can't get enough of this. A little girl hears her sister's sweet sound. What the family voices are like.

Good morning, everyone. And welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: Gets to you ever time. Kind of like the trouper unions who never seen their kids in many months.

ROMANS: I'm a real sucker for the new cute family stuff.

BRIGGS: Good morning, everyone. I'm Dave Briggs, Wednesday, January 16th, 5:00 a.m. in the East, on this the 26th day of the longest government shutdown in our nation's history.

We start, though, with the president's nominee for attorney general, setting a tone in a confirmation that had both parties mostly pleased. William Barr breaking from the president and his aides on several key talking points, among them breaking from the claims that special counsel Robert Mueller is on a, quote, witch hunt, and vowing that he will allow Mr. Trump or his lawyers to correct or put their own spin on Mueller's report and committing to release as much of that report as possible, quote, consistent with the regulations and the law of that Mueller report.

ROMANS: Barr also did his best to reassure senators that he would allow Mueller to finish his work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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)

BRIGGS: OK, Jessica, thanks.

With lawmakers at an impasse over border wall funding, the government shutdown is now in its 26th day. Eight hundred thousand federal workers and the families they support. Real people, are the ones feeling the pinch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

[05:05:07] It makes it hard to wake up and want to go to work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: 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.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Coast guard is the only branch of the military not getting paid during the shutdown. In Monterey, California, dive shop employees just down the road from the Coast Guard station decided to start a food drive to help their friends. The IRS says it's bringing back 36,000 furloughed employees to work without pay. That means Americans will get their tax refunds at the expense of those employees.

ROMANS: On Tuesday, a federal judge denied a request from a federal employees union to require the government to pay air traffic controllers who have been working without pay, and bad news for federal employees looking for help from the public. Now, CNN has obtained a alert to homeland security employees warning that accepting money from GoFundMe or similar sites could be illegal.

President's economist advisers say the shutdown will cost more than they thought. The president's economists doubled projection of lost 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.

Standard & Poor's projected $1.2 billion in loss growth. How? Workers don't get paid, which means they don't spend. Jamie Dimon told reporters the shutdown could reduce growth to zero in this country if it goes on for the whole quarter. And it could hurt airlines, Delta's CEO on CNBC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED BASTIAN, DELTA CEO: One of the other issues to us is that we're seeing a reduction in revenues in the month of January, not huge, but about $25 million due to the fact that government contractors and some government officials are not traveling the way they would anticipate because of the shutdown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: In many ways, shutting down the government costs more than keeping it open. The CEO of Citigroup on a conference call said this: Right now, we see the biggest risk in the global economy as one of talking ourselves into a recession.

BRIGGS: Well, if you think Washington, D.C. is a mess, take a look at the chaos across the pond in the U.K.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Noes to the left, 432.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal crushed on Tuesday by a record margin, a humiliating plan to guide out of the European Union. They face another no confidence vote today. The British people facing a very uncertain future.

Let's go live to 10 Downing Street in London and bring in CNN's Hadas Gold.

Good morning, once again.

So, another confidence vote for Theresa May? Can she survive this or does Jeremy Corbyn or Boris Johnson have support of parliament?

HADAS GOLD, CNN REPORTER: I mean, we are in fascinating times right now in the United Kingdom. Theresa May is in power, but especially powerless. She's not able to get enough to support her Brexit deal. As you noted by historic margins, 230 votes was the margin, the last time we saw a margin like that was 1924 and that was only 166 votes.

But she's hanging on despite that no confidence vote tabled by Jeremy Corbyn who himself wants to be prime minister. She said she'll be addressing them as a parliament across different parties, seeing what she can get, sort of consensus with them, going to Brussels, trying to go back to the European Union to negotiate with them to see what she can put on the table next week, with parliament again.

That no confidence vote will take place tonight at 7:00 p.m. after a few hours of debate. But she is expected to survive. The numbers aren't there for Jeremy Corbyn.

However, the Labour Party said they will continue tabling this no confidence votes because if Theresa May loses a no confident vote that could trig a new prime minister or a new ruling party. All of this does not change the calculations, though, on the Brexit itself, which we're barreling towards 72 days towards that March 29th deadline where the U.K. could crash out of the European Union without a deal.

That matters a lot not only to people living here, to European citizens who live here, are but also businesses who have been frozen in time. They can't plan for the future. And all they want is just some clarity on what's going to happen -- Dave.

BRIGGS: Yes, that original in 2016, the exit votes were about a million plus. Is there any talk of a new referendum?

GOLD: There is some talk of a new referendum but Theresa May has said as long as she's in power, there will not be a second referendum. She warned that doing a second referendum could potentially cause people to doubt the British democracy, because everybody had their say in 2016. [05:10:06] What is the point of coming back two years later, what's to

say you wouldn't do it again, two years again, and do another referendum? However, others in parliament have been pushing for a second referendum. Especially some members of the Labour Party and some other remainers, as they're called, in Theresa May's own party. But so far, that does not seem to be a likely outcome.

BRIGGS: Seventy-two days away from Brexit.

Hadas Gold live for us in London, thank you.

All right. Two leading Iowa newspapers calling this morning for Congressman Steve King to resign. "The Des Moines Register" editorial board writing, quote, 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 citizens of the 4th district, and we believe he does, King should do what is in their best interests and step down from office.

ROMANS: Those editorials published as the House of Representatives voted 421 to 1 to approve a resolution rejecting white supremacy and white nationalist. King actually voted for the resolution meant to criticize him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: But it did come out of his mouth. He told "The New York Times," quote, white nationalists, white supremacists, western civilization, how did that language become offensive? Back home his Iowa district, support for the congressman is mixed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All people are 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)

ROMANS: And he's been overwhelmingly re-elected eight times. Republican House leaders have denied King any committee assignments in the new Congress.

BRIGGS: All right. Ahead, did the former president of Mexico take a $100 million bribe from a notorious drug lord? Courtroom bombshell, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:16:16] BRIGGS: It appears the Democratic National Committee has pulled out of partnering with organizers of the Women's March in Washington this coming weekend. The group's national leaders face accusations of anti-Semitism through their association with Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan. The DNC's name was removed Tuesday from the list of sponsors for this event. An official says the DNC stands in solidarity with all those fighting for women's rights but declined to comment further.

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 coming 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: A powerful reminder to make sure your car seats are installed properly. Some frightening dash cam video from Minnesota shows the moment a 2-year-old tumbles out of a moving car on to the street. The toddler in a pink coat still strapped in her car seat.

Chad Mock who posted the video on Facebook stopped his car, carried the child to safety and remarkably the toddler was not injured. It looked like the mother drove away there, but she did turn around and come back. Officials are looking into charges of child endangerment.

ROMANS: Wow. I know we say most people don't install their car seats properly, but that's still with seatbelts.

BRIGGS: I don't know what happened there, you have taken the car seat out for travel and packing stuff. And you forget to strap it back in. I've made that mistake, wow.

ROMANS: All right.

BRIGGS: OK, ahead, some sports talk. Golden State Warriors get an NBA record before the second quarter started. Andy Scholes has the history in "Bleacher Report" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:22:40] ROMANS: All right. It's 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 a serious infection impaired her hearing. Scarlet was fitted for her first hearing aids last week. Her older sister Hallie tested them out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Baby sister.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Baby sister.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Scarlet's mom also could not contain her excitement as you can see. She said it's been a long and emotional experience.

And, America, you're welcome for that story. Thank you to that wonderful family for that, Dave.

BRIGGS: Yes, I think we just loop that for the rest of the morning. We all needed that.

All right. The Golden State Warriors setting another NBA record last night.

Andy Scholes here with the "Bleacher Report" this morning.

Andy, good morning to you. They just could not miss.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, just one of those nights for the Warriors, Dave. They proved yet again if they're playing at their best the warriors are just unbeatable. They set an NBA record last night in Denver scoring 51 points in the first quarter.

For some perspective, the Miami Heat didn't score that many points until the third quarter of their game. Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant all on fire in this one. They each scored more than 25 points while playing less than 30 minutes in the game. The warriors win in a blowout, 142-111, with the win, they regain first place in the western conference.

All right. After four decades with NBC, legendary broadcaster Bob Costas and the network are parting ways. Costas telling "The New York Post" that he and NBC came an agreement to end his contract with the network early. Costas had been with NBC since 1979. Had been the leading sports voice for events such as Super Bowl and Olympics until last year. Now, Costas will continue to work for MLB network moving forward.

All right. This next video is just incredible. Depending how you look at this Lego creation, it's either Tom Brady or Bill Belichick. About 400 students and teachers from Brown Elementary outside of Boston put this together.

[05:25:02] Artist Rob Surette created the blueprint for the masterpiece that required more than 20,000 Legos.

And the kids didn't know what they were putting together until they held this big reveal in the gymnasium. But just incredible when you watched that.

All right. Finally, "Back to the Future" is officially here. Nike revealing its latest creation yesterday. Basketball shoes you can control with a smartphone.

There are no laces. The shoe reads your foot and closes accordingly. You can control it with buttons on the side or app on the phone. The shoes do need to be charged every two weeks or so. They're going to cost 350 bucks. They're coming out next month.

The Celtics Jayson Tatum is going to use them in his game tonight. Dave, I'm all about new gadgets and everything. I control my thermostat and gadgets and lights with my phone. Not sure I'm ready for the shoes to be controlled by the phone.

BRIGGS: Hard pass on that, another reason for our kids not to learn how to tie their shoes. I would like to see Marty McFly do the ad campaign, right? Forget about the NBA stars, Michael J. Fox at his best.

SCHOLES: You do bring up a good question, Dave, will our kids need to learn how to tie their shoes in ten years? Or will this should be what they're wearing?

BRIGGS: This is it. They're not going to learn how to tie their shoes.

SCHOLES: A moment in time.

BRIGGS: Thank you, Nike. Thank you, Andy Scholes.

Romans, over to you.

ROMANS: The sad thing is they don't know how to tie their shoes but do their phones.

BRIGGS: They can dial up the pizza but they can't tie their shoes.

ROMANS: All right. Twenty-six minutes past the hour. William Barr wins over some of his critics, he says he'll protect Robert Mueller. But will the public see Mueller's report if Barr is confirmed as attorney general?

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