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EARLY START
A New Study Shows U.S. Banks Brought in More Than $120 Billion in Profits in 2018; U.S. Government Shutdown Enters Day 31; Donald Trump's Lawyer Rudy Giuliani Says it's Normal if Trump Spoke to Cohen About Testimony; Democrats and Conservatives Slam Deal to End Stalemate; Washington Post Advises Democrats to Consider Trump's Offer to End Government Shutdown; Teen Who Had a Face-to-Face Encounter with a Native Indian American Responds to Outrage Over Viral Video; Winter Storm Batters Midwest and Northeast U.S.; United Passengers Grounded for More Than 14 Hours on Tarmac in Frigid Weather; Rams Face Patriots in Super Bowl 53; L.A. Rams Beats New Orleans Saints 26-23 After a Controversial Missed Call; Patriots Advance to Third-Straight Super Bowl After Beating Chiefs 37-31 in Over Time; Whistling Saints Fan Drives TV Viewers Crazy. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired January 21, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00] DAVE BRIGGS, CO-HOST, EARLY START: The U.S. Banks just had a banner year. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley brought in more than $120 billion combined in profits last year.
The result of President Trump's corporate tax cuts and a booming economy. One sticking point of the government shutdown which could drag down economic growth in the first quarter of 2019. And that matters for banks since profits are closely tied to the economy.
They suffer when growth slows and some customers aren't able to pay back loans. And you wonder if that's a sticking point for the president, how much of the economic damage continues.
LAURA JARRETT, CO-HOST, EARLY START: If anything, it would be at this point, right?
BRIGGS: Yes --
JARRETT: Well, EARLY START continues right now.
BRIGGS: The president's compromise offer to end the government shutdown a non-starter for Democrats. Is there anything that can break the month-long impasse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, HOST, THE LEAD: You just acknowledged that it's possible that President Trump talked to Michael Cohen about his testimony --
RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY TO DONALD TRUMP: Which will be perfectly normal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Perfectly normal for the subject of an investigation to talk to a key witness about his testimony.
BRIGGS: The snow is gone, but some of the coldest weather of the year greeting the northeast this chilly holiday morning.
JARRETT: And the Super Bowl is set after one of the craziest days of football you will ever see. Super Bowl number nine for Brady and Belichick. And did a missed penalty cost the Saints a trip to the Super Bowl?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations to New England.
(CHEERS)
(APPLAUSE)
Your 11-month Super Bowl drought is over.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: I know you have strong feelings about this --
BRIGGS: Tough time --
(CROSSTALK)
BRIGGS: You know, it was an incredible NFL championship Sunday. Probably the best I've ever seen in my lifetime, but if you are a Saints fan this morning, you feel robbed and you should, and the NFL should do something more than apologize, and admit they got it wrong.
JARRETT: I'm sure they hear you this morning loud and clear.
BRIGGS: That will be discussed all week.
JARRETT: Well, good morning and welcome to EARLY START, I'm Laura Jarrett, in for Christine Romans today --
BRIGGS: Good to have you here --
JARRETT: Thanks --
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs, Monday, January 21st, it is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it is 5:00 a.m. in the East, it is day 31 of this government shutdown. We start with the president after a 40-tweet Sunday trying to find the political middle ground if there is one to end this government shutdown.
Instead, he got hammered by the left and by the right. It was the president's most significant move yet to end the stalemate, offering temporary protections for some undocumented immigrants in exchange for $5.7 billion in border wall funding.
That offer triggered action by Mitch McConnell. The Senate Majority leader vowing to bring the president's plan to a vote this week even though the odds of getting 60 votes are very slim.
JARRETT: McConnell's proposal is expected to include measures to entice Democrats. So the -- if they vote no on the entire package, they will also be turning down add-ons in their favor, like an extension of the Violence Against Women Act.
We get more now from Cnn's Sarah Westwood on the state of play for this shutdown.
SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN REPORTER: Laura and Dave, President Trump and senior administration officials defending the president's immigration proposal against almost unanimous Democratic opposition this weekend.
Now, the president on Saturday rolled out this deal that would involve him getting $5.7 billion for the construction of his border wall, and in exchange the president said that he would agree to a three-year renewal of DACA protections for those young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers as well as a three-year extension of temporary protected status for the roughly 300,000 immigrants who are right now facing the prospects of the expiration of their TPS.
House Democrats though say that's dead on arrival. They do not want to negotiate on any kind of deal until the government is reopened. Now, President Trump has been lashing out at Speaker Pelosi for opposing his plan, claiming that Pelosi is beholden to the left wing.
For a party, well, also defending his proposal from the right wing of his own party with conservatives accusing the president of extending an offer of amnesty to the nearly 1 million immigrants who would benefit from this plan if it were put into law.
But the bottom line is that this is not a new idea, trading DACA for wall money is an idea that has been tried and has failed on Capitol Hill several times. Although, this is a White House attempt to try to peel some moderate Democrats off, build a bipartisan coalition of support.
At the moment, it appears Democrats are united in their opposition to the president's immigration agenda. Laura and Dave.
BRIGGS: No end in sight. Sarah, thank you. "The Washington Post" editorial board says it is time for Democrats to consider the president's offer in a piece entitled "Make a Deal, Save the Dreamers". The board writes "to refuse even to talk until the government reopens does no favors to sidelined federal workers and contractors.
[05:05:00] Unquestionably, a deal would contain galling elements for both sides. That's the nature of compromise. Meanwhile, the cost of the government shutdown keeps growing. At the TSA, the unscheduled absence rate on Saturday was 8 percent, that's compared to just 3 percent last year. In Maryland, Baltimore, Washington International Airport had one security checkpoint closed for the last two days.
JARRETT: Final food stamp payments for now went out yesterday. They're supposed to cover people through February. U.S. federal courts will run out of operating money this Friday and federal housing assistant contracts are expiring in just nine days which will impact 1.2 million households.
BRIGGS: Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani admitting President Trump might have talked to Michael Cohen about his congressional testimony ahead of time. The president's lawyer telling Cnn's Brian Stelter, he does not know for sure, but says -- excuse me, that was telling Jake Tapper.
But says if Mr. Trump did, so what?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIULIANI: As far as I know, President Trump did not have discussions with him. Certainly had no discussions with him in which he told him or counseled him to lie. If he had any discussions with him, they'd be about the version of the events that Michael Cohen gave them which they all believe was true.
TAPPER: But you just acknowledged that it's possible that President Trump talked to Michael Cohen about his testimony --
GIULIANI: Which would be perfectly normal. Which the president believes was true --
TAPPER: So it's possible that, that happened, that President Trump talked to Michael Cohen about his testimony --
GIULIANI: I don't know if it happened or didn't happen. And it might be attorney-client privilege if it happened where I can't acknowledge it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Giuliani made those comments after a special counsel Robert Mueller took the extraordinary step of publicly disputing a report from "BuzzFeed" on Friday. That report said that Mr. Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress about a Trump Tower project in Moscow.
"BuzzFeed" editor-in-chief Ben Smith and reporter Anthony Cormier spoke with our Brian Stelter on Cnn's "RELIABLE SOURCES".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN SMITH, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, BUZZFEED NEWS: We are eager to understand which characterizations Mueller is talking about there, and obviously, we take that incredibly seriously.
ANTHONY CORMIER, REPORTER, BUZZFEED NEWS: If further confirmation that this is right, we're being told to stand our ground. This is -- this is -- our reporting is going to be born out to be accurate and we're a 100 percent behind it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Giuliani also told "Meet the Press" that plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow were discussed as late as November of 2016. Michael Cohen only said they went as far as June of 2016 when he pleaded guilty to lying to Congress.
BRIGGS: All right, a big story, everyone is talking about over the weekend. A Kentucky teen who went face-to-face with a native American man at a march near the Lincoln Memorial Friday now says that he was trying to defuse the situation.
Judge for yourself now. These students may face expulsion. The diocese of Covington, Kentucky released a statement, condemning the high school students. The diocese says this behavior is opposed to the church's teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person.
But the student at the center of the controversy claims a look at all of the video tells a very different story. Cnn's Sara Sidner has more for us on all of this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Catholic high school student who comes face-to-face with a native American elder in a viral video is now responding. In a statement, student Nick Sandmann says the viral video does not reflect the true nature of events when the students arrived at the Lincoln Memorial.
"When we arrived, we noticed four African-American protesters who were also on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. He said, the protestors said hateful things. Indeed, a small group of black men who identify as Hebrew Israelites did say hateful things to seemingly everyone around them including a priest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's make America great again! A bunch of child- molesting --
SIDNER: And the students?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See how you got these pompous bastards come down here in a middle of a native rally with their dirty-ass hat on.
SIDNER: When a black visitor tries to stand up against their rhetoric, he faces hate too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anyway, you got all these dirty-ass crackers behind you with a red -- with a red "make America great hat again" on and you all con ass, you want to fight your brother.
SIDNER: At first the Catholic students there for the march for life are still in small numbers, but more and more show up watching, but not engaging. The small group of men continue taunting them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A bunch of incest babies! A bunch of babies made out of incest! Right, trouble -- SIDNER: Sandmann says the rhetoric was startling "because we were
being loudly attacked and taunted in public, a student asked one of our teacher chaperones for permission to begin school spirit chants to counter the hateful things that were being shouted at our group. And they do."
At one point, a student removes his shirt and the chants drown everything out. Two minutes later, you hear a drumbeat, that is Nathan Phillips; an Omaha tribe elder, and another drummer. Phillips says it was their attempt to thwart potential violence. The kids danced to it, they began chanting along.
(CHANTING)
[05:10:00] NATHAN PHILLIPS, NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBE ELDER: I realized I had put myself in a really dangerous situation, you know. It was like, here is a group of people who were angry at somebody else and I put myself in front of that.
SIDNER: Phillips, a Vietnam veteran, walks around, other students avoid him until you see him come face-to-face with a student who has now gone viral. In his statement, the student says he was the one trying to deescalate the situation, not Phillips.
"I believe that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to defuse the situation. I realized everyone had cameras and that perhaps, a group of adults was trying to provoke a group of teenagers into a larger conflict."
SIDNER: Sandmann has every opportunity to move back, so does Phillips, neither do. While they faced off, the kids faced more taunting from the Hebrew Israelites.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a bunch of future school shooters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.
SIDNER: While Phillips maintains he felt the kids were mocking him and being rude, Sandmann says it was the adults using hateful words and trying to provoke the kids, not the other way around.
(on camera): After seeing the initial viral video, the diocese that oversees the Covington Catholic high school in Kentucky condemned the students behavior towards native Americans, saying they would also investigate.
The mayor of their city also condemned them. But now, Congressman Thomas Massie who represents their district is praising them, tweeting in part, "in the face of racist and homosexual slurs, the young boys refused to reciprocate or disrespect anyone even when taunted by homophobic bigots which was obviously bewildering to them. They insulted no one."
The congressman said it was his honor to represent them. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRIGGS: Tell you what, opinions are mixed as I read my Twitter mentions this morning.
JARRETT: You asked for that --
BRIGGS: One thing is clear, the megger hats clearly caused an overreaction by everyone on both sides. I don't know, I would again would like to hear from all of you. There was clearly some misunderstanding on both sides. That young man there does not look like someone who is appreciative and considerate of this culture and this chant going on, but you put out an explanation there --
JARRETT: It may not have just been the hats, it might have been the jeering and the chanting.
BRIGGS: Yes, it's clearly two sides, this story. The problem is we all overreact so instantly with these stories --
JARRETT: On social media --
BRIGGS: Now, the megger hats stand for a certain thing to a lot of people, hopefully some understanding and some positive learning comes out of this.
JARRETT: What are the chances in that?
BRIGGS: I doubt it. Right, I doubt it --
JARRETT: In this environment?
BRIGGS: Right, not likely.
JARRETT: Well, passengers on a flight from Newark, New Jersey to Hong Kong spent 14 hours on the tarmac in frigid weather, and they did not even make it to Hong Kong. What happened, next.
[05:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRIGGS: All right, freezing outside at 5:16 a.m. Eastern Time, the Winter storm that slammed the Midwest and Northeast this weekend left at least six people dead. Among them, a nine-year-old girl in Illinois who was playing in a snow bank when a makeshift fort collapsed.
And in Middletown, Connecticut, a lineman was fishing up a repaired job when a tree fell on top of him. More than 3,800 flights were canceled this weekend. Many, O'Hare in Chicago and Logan in Boston.
The snow is gone, but the frigid air remains. Millions in the Northeast facing the coldest temps in a year. Here is meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, METEOROLOGIST: Dave and Laura, good morning guys. Yes, the cold air here, the big picture impacting not only parts of the Midwest, but much of the Northeast. And we're talking about one in every four people across the country dealing with these wind-chills that are in some cases as cold as 40 below zero across portions of interior New England.
But New York City, minus 7, what it feels like in this morning in Chicago, minus 6 in Detroit, minus 20, Minneapolis, 11 below zero in climb methodologically, this is the time of year North America sees its coldest temperatures. The third week of January is not the first couple of weeks of February, so certainly not unusual and that system nothing unusual as well.
But it did leave behind quite a bit of snowfall as it skirts offshore now. And some areas across New York, Rochester, in particular, over a foot and a half coming down and even interior portions of New York there as much as 26 inches was observed across parts of the country.
But again, notice by this afternoon, the best we can do with wind- chill forecasts still going to be below zero across the northeast here, and the colder air does want to break up a little bit come the middle of the week here where 44 is expected in New York City, but only on cooler weather still going into this weekend. Guys?
JARRETT: You do not want cancellations like that at O'Hare Airport, let me tell you. Well, passengers aboard a United Airlines flight from New Jersey to Hong Kong want answers after getting stuck on the tarmac for more than 14 hours in frigid weather.
The incident began shortly after 3:00 p.m. Saturday. The flight was diverted to Canada due to a medical emergency, but the flight experienced a mechanical issue before it could take off again. Passengers were not allowed off the plane because the airport did not have a customs officer on duty.
So Sunday morning, after more than 14 hours, another plane showed up to take the customers back to New Jersey. United Airlines has apologized for the incident.
BRIGGS: I think they'll have to do more than apologize --
JARRETT: Yes --
BRIGGS: And we'll see how that unfolds. Super Bowl 53, folks all set after arguably the most dramatic championship Sunday in NFL history. Andy Scholes has the controversy this morning in the "BLEACHER REPORT".
[05:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRIGGS: All right, after it was clearly the greatest championship Sunday in history of the NFL, Super Bowl 53 all set. Rams a one-point favorite for the time-being over the Patriots. Andy Scholes here with the "BLEACHER REPORT", Andy, Saints fans will never forget this day and perhaps some change comes from it, we'll see.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Yes, good morning Dave. You know, I'm not sure the sun is going to come up in New Orleans this morning.
BRIGGS: Yes --
SCHOLES: I mean, the Saints, they were on the wrong end of the Minnesota miracle last year, and now, probably the worse no call in NFL history has cost them a trip to the Super Bowl. It was four quarter, tie game, Saints a first down away from running out the clock and kicking an easy game-winning field goal.
And on third down, Nickell Robey-Coleman just drills Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis before the ball arrives. Obvious pass interference, well, not to the officials watching the play. And if you were wondering, I mean, there were two officials in position to make that call.
There's one to the left, one to the right, so Bill Vinovich's crew threw the fewest number of flags in the NFL this season, they should have thrown one there. The worst no-call ever end up deciding the game.
[05:25:00] Rams won in overtime 26-23. And the no-call is so bad, the NFL's vice president of officiating called Sean Payton right after the game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN PAYTON, COACH, NEW ORLEANS SAINTS: It's a disappointing way to lose a game. It's frustrating, you know, just getting off the phone with the league office. They blew the call, who said it should never have not being a call. It should not only was it interference, it was helmet to helmet.
The two call -- they just -- they couldn't believe it. It happened though, so we can't dwell on it, and you know, we'll probably never get over it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Now, the AFC championship game was also a thriller. For the first time ever, there were four lead changes in the fourth quarter. Tom Brady once again, hurling, he's the greatest of all time, making all the big throws when he needed to late in this game, outdoing Patrick Mahomes.
Patriots win in overtime 37-31. And for the ninth time, Brady and Belichick are going to the Super Bowl, that's more than twice any other coach-player combo in NFL history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just what it means --
(CROSSTALK)
TOM BRADY, QUARTERBACK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: Just unbelievable, bro. Oh, I never -- I mean, this is crazy. What a game.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SCHOLES: Yes, Brady is excited now. If you were watching that
Saints-Rams game and the whistle noise coming from the stands was driving you crazy, you weren't alone. Well, a Saints super fan who is actually known as whistle man was one of the sources of that noise and get this, he doesn't even use a whistle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(WHISTLING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Yes, so pretty incredible talent he has there, also incredible that he can do that for three hours, Dave. Unfortunately for him, he won't need that until next season. But I tell you what? My heart goes out to all of the Saints fans out there, Dave, because if that --
BRIGGS: Yes --
SCHOLES: Happened to me, I'm not sure I could move on as a football fan.
BRIGGS: No --
SCHOLES: I think I would just called it a day, and you know, I'm going to be basketball, baseball --
BRIGGS: I'm with you. Thanks though, for putting that whistle back in my head. It was like the Vuvuzela, I just got it out of my head. But Andy, let me ask you quickly, do you think this is time for a change, time for the NFL to examine maybe reviewing a no-call pass interference in a game-winning, losing situation last two minutes something?
SCHOLES: Yes, exactly, I think they've got to look into it. At least in the last two minutes --
BRIGGS: Yes --
SCHOLES: Of the fourth quarter, you've got to look in to be able to review this. Because I mean, not only are the Saints not going to the Super Bowl, I mean, you changed lives by not making this right call, and the fact that it was so blatant, Dave, I think we could see some changes.
BRIGGS: And economic fortunes. You're talking about millions upon millions of dollars into the New Orleans area to the Saints franchise.
SCHOLES: Yes --
BRIGGS: I watched this game with a bunch of 10 and 11-year-olds, all who exploded instantly. They didn't wait for the replay, they knew it was a bad call. All right, we could go on and on, but we've got to --
SCHOLES: Yes -- BRIGGS: Get back to the news. Andy, good to see you --
SCHOLES: All right --
BRIGGS: My friend, thank you. Laura, over to you.
JARRETT: I want to know more about whistle man.
BRIGGS: Oh, whistle man is annoying.
JARRETT: What's his story?
BRIGGS: He needs to be banned, too, but he's talented.
JARRETT: Democrats and conservatives actually agree, can you believe it? The president's compromise in the government shutdown no good. Thirty one days, is there any hope to end this impasse.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
