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EARLY START

Amazon Founder Says AMI Tried to Extort Him; SCOTUS Puts Louisiana Abortion Law On Hold; Optimism on Border Deal; Lakers, Celtics Have a Hollywood Ending. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired February 8, 2019 - 05:00   ET

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


CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: -- a story of nude selfies, politics and extortion.

[05:00:04] The world's richest man turns the tables on "The National Enquirer", revealing a tabloid plot.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: The Supreme Court puts a restrictive Louisiana abortion law on hold, at least for now.

ROMANS: And, finally, some optimism on a deal to fund border security. A key negotiator says he thinks the president would sign a deal.

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

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Happy Friday, everybody. February 8th, 5:00 a.m. in the East.

"Apoplectic" is the word Merriam Webster was search -- people were searching for after this Jeff Bezos story broke. I think complexifier was the word that stood out to me.

ROMANS: Complexifier is a very interesting -- it's a very Silicon Valley word. Isn't it complexifier?

BRIGGS: That's how he describes his ownership of "The Post". We'll get to the Bezos story in a minute. We start with politics though.

Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker has decided he will testify today before the House Judiciary Committee. The announcement came after days of contentious wrangling as Whitaker threatened not to show up unless the committee promised not to subpoena him, the faceoff a prime example of Democrats asserting their new control of the House for oversight of the Trump administration.

ROMANS: Democrats vowing to press Whitaker on two subjects today, first his decision not to recuse himself from overseeing Robert Mueller's Russia investigation despite his past criticism of the probe and second his conversations with the president about the Russia investigation. The president recently told the "Daily Caller" there have been no such conversations. Yesterday, the president was asked whether he thought Whitaker should testify. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He is an outstanding person. I would say if he did testify, he'd do very well. He is an outstanding person. A very, very fine man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: This may be Whitaker's only congressional testimony as the head of the Justice Department. William Barr is on track to be confirmed as attorney general next week.

All right. The world's richest man says he was the victim of an extortion attempt, the target: Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and owner of the "Washington Post." The alleged blackmailers, parent company of "National Enquirer", AMI. Its links to the president and its role in the political climate are no secret.

Bezos published the shocking details, he writes this: I was made an offer I couldn't refuse or at least that's what the top people at the "National Enquirer" thought. I'm glad they emboldened them to put it all in writing.

BRIGGS: Bezos quotes entire e-mails sent by AMI his reps. Ami is the same company former Trump fixer Michael Cohen admitted giving money for hush payments to women who claimed they had affairs with Mr. Trump.

Bezos' blog also makes a cryptic reference to actions AMI has taken on behalf of Saudi Arabia.

Senior media reporter Oliver Darcy with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: It doesn't get much more explosive than this. In a tell-all blog post published Thursday afternoon, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos accused the "National Enquirer" of, in his words, extortion and blackmail.

This all goes back to when the "Enquirer" published a story revealing that Jeff Bezos had been having an affair. In that story were text messages the "National Enquirer" obtained between Bezos and his mistress. Bezos has since launched an investigation into how those messages were leaked and whether politics may have been a motivating force.

The "National Enquirer" CEO is, of course, David Pecker, a longtime friend of Donald Trump's. And because Bezos owns "The Washington Post" which covers Trump critically at times, the president is no fan of Bezos. Bezos says he's being blackmailed now for investigating whether there were any politics at play.

According to one of the e-mails Bezos released, the "National Enquirer's" chief content officer, Dylan Howard, threatened that if he did drop his investigation, the magazine might publish more revealing photos of him, among other things.

In another e-mail, a lawyer for the "National Enquirer's" parent company suggested an agreement in which Bezos or his spokesperson would say they have no evidence politics was at play.

Bezos said he would not capitulate to extortion and blackmail. He chose, instead, to publish all the messages online, and they are quite extraordinary.

It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out moving forward. We reached out, of course, to the "National Enquirer" but they have not responded to our request for comment -- Christine, Dave.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: It is just a remarkable story.

All right. Oliver Darcy, thank you for that.

The Supreme Court taking a big step on the hottest of hot-button issues, the justices blocking a restrictive abortion law for taking effect at least for now. The decision split 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the court's four liberals. The 2014 law would require doctors at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Now, opponents say it unduly burdens women's access to abortion, and could have left just one doctor to provide abortions.

BRIGGS: The ruling came hours after the National Prayer Breakfast where the president made pro-life remarks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We must build a culture that cherishes the dignity and sanctity of innocent human life.

[05:05:05] All children, born and unborn, are made in the holy image of God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The high court is likely to rule eventually on the merits of the Louisiana law which has never been enforced. The court found a nearly identical Texas law unconstitutional in 2016.

The topic thrust back into the national conversation last week when governor of Virginia Ralph Northam seemed to suggest that late term abortion could happen after birth.

ROMANS: Good news on border security talks, as the threat of another government shutdown looms on just seven days. Senior White House officials tell CNN, quote, we're in a good place, even though there are sticking points that could prevent a deal. Right now, the White House is hoping a deal would be struck by Sunday. Lawmakers need time to review that agreement.

BRIGGS: A big cloud at this point, the president. No one knows what he'll sign. But Republican Senator Richard Shelby who's part of the negotiations, he met with the president and said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R-AL), CHAIRMAN, SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: And if he -- if we can work within some of the parameters that we've talked about today, which we'll keep to ourselves right now, I think he would sign it. And I think he's, from my perspective, been quite reasonable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Sources tell CNN that there is a consensus the final agreement will need increases in funding for technology, personnel and border barriers.

Today is the deadline for the White House to respond to Congress on the murder of "Washington Post" columnist Jamal Khashoggi. The administration expected to double down on defending Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee pushing for President Trump to determine whether the crown prince also known as MBS violated Khashoggi's human rights. The source says the White House will likely reiterate there is no smoking gun.

"The New York Times" also reported that the U.S. intelligence intercepts show MBS told aides he would use a bullet on Khashoggi a year before the journalist was killed.

ROMANS: All right. Trouble of U.S.-China trade talks sent stocks into retreat, investors not happy when Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic, suggested that the U.S. and China are not close to a new trade pact.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KUDLOW, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: The president has indicated that he is optimistic with respect to a potential China trade deal. But, but, but, but, we've got a pretty sizable distance to go here. To quote a colleague of mine, we have miles to go before we sleep. That was a joke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Wilbur Ross last week said we're miles and miles away from a deal. The Dow fell 221 after that comments. The S&P 500 fell close to 1 percent, the Nasdaq down 1.2 percent. We take a look at futures, right now they are leaning lower this morning.

The U.S. U.S. official said President Trump not likely to meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping before the March 1st deadline. There had been hopes that they would get together when the president is in Vietnam. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin set to travel to Beijing for a third round of trade talks. The president has threatened to increase existing tariffs on Chinese goods if they can't reach a permanent truce in the trade war. BRIGGS: Washington heavyweights are remembering former Congressman

John Dingell. Dingell's wife says he died peacefully at his home in Dearborn yesterday after battling cancer. Dingell was the longest serving member of Congress in U.S. history. He served in the House for a remarkable 59 years and 22 days from 1955 to 2015. Dingell a Democrat whose district was home to the Ford Motor Company was a strong supporter of the auto industry, but also stressed environmental issues over the years. He was 92.

ROMANS: That was a lifetime of public service.

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: All right. Zero emission energy, millions of green jobs, guaranteed health care and wages -- that is just the start of Democrats' fight to -- a plan to fight climate change.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:13:09] BRIGGS: Democrats in the House and Senate addressing the climate crisis among other things, in a sense remaking every aspect of the American economy. In a resolution laying out the main elements of a new plan, it calls out if for a very big, very costly ten-year commitment to confer to 100 percent zero emissions energy sources in the United States. Sponsors say it could create millions of new green job, guaranteed health care, fair wages, retirement, security and much more. Expect this to be a major issue on the 2020 campaign trail.

ROMANS: Four Democratic candidates, Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand all support this. But there are many centrist Democrats weary of taking on so much, and there's the cost.

CNN's Miguel Marquez has more on what's in the plan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Dave, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the freshman Democrat, is introducing the first piece of legislation that she herself has sponsored. It is a resolution which means it is nonbinding, called the Green New Deal.

It calls for a ten year national mobilization, the goal, in one short decade to bring greenhouse gas emissions to zero, meet 100 percent of energy needs by renewable sources, overhaul transportation systems, creative millions of high paying jobs, bring equality in health care and equal justice for underserved minority and impoverished communities. Now, this new deal goes beyond climate change, way beyond.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D), NEW YORK: And so we're here to say that small incremental policy solutions are not enough. They can be part of a solution, but they are not the solution unto itself.

MARQUEZ: Ocasio-Cortez was surrounded by veteran lawmakers from both the House and the Senate to introduce this legislation. Ed Markey, the senator from Massachusetts, is introducing a similar measure in the Senate.

Now, the resolution views climate change as an existential threat to the entire world, warning that what we see now in terms of wild weather, fires and rising seas is just the beginning if radical change isn't embraced immediately. The resolution is only 14 pages long, but there are some estimates out there that it could cost trillions of dollars.

Members of the House and Senate are talking about the legislation to put some or all goals into effect and as they say, the devil is in the details -- Dave, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: Some feel this is a gift to all the Republicans running for office across the country, let alone the president, because, look, high speed rail so much so that air travel would be obsolete.

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: Guaranteed retirement for all Americans feeds quite a narrative.

Ahead, another classic moment in Lakers-Celtics history. Rajon Rondo coming up huge against his former team. Coy Wire has the "Bleacher Report", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:20:23] BRIGGS: Apple fixing the Facetime bug take let people eavesdrop on unanswered video calls. Software updates were rolled out to fix the glitch nine days after videos of the bug were widely shared on social media. The tech company says it will compensate 14-year-old Grant Thompson and his family for flagging the problem. Meantime, Apple found another security issue while investigating the Facetime bug. The company did not specify what it was, but says that the new updates will fix that as well.

ROMANS: The New York City Police Department demanding Google stop allowing users to post DUI check point data on its live traffic app Waze. Authorities say Google is encouraging reckless driving. Waze advertises feature saying get alerted before you approach police.

A spokesperson for the app says it promotes road safety since it highlights police presence. NYPD says it will pursue all legal remedies to prevent the irresponsible and dangerous information from being posted.

BRIGGS: Schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul closed today because of severe weather. Not as cold as last week, but minus 35 degree wind chills are expected in those conditions. Frostbite can set in in 10 minutes. Speaking of extreme cold, this is what a frozen cat look like.

Fluffy was found by her owners buried in the snow. She was brought to an animal clinic in Montana unresponsive, but after many hours, she recovered, which brings her down to eight lives. The clinic says Fluffy is now back to her usual finicky self.

ROMANS: A veterinarian sentenced for using puppies as drug mules to smuggle heroin. Andres Lopez Elorez was convicted of surgically implanting drugs into the stomach of these animals between 2004 and 2005. Authorities say Elorez leased a farm where he secretly raised the puppies and implanted bags of liquid heroine into nine puppies. Three died of a virus contracted after the surgery. Elorez was a fugitive until he was arrested in Spain in 2015.

BRIGGS: All right. The greatest rivalry in the NBA had an ending fit for a Hollywood script.

Coy Wire has more in the "Bleacher Report."

Good morning, my friend.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave.

Especially for Lakers Rajon Rondo back where it all began where he helped Boston win a title in 2008. It was a great moment before the game, playing on the TD Garden floor in time with his 7-year-old son, teaching him how to drill and also to shoot a jumper. I want you to remember that spot right there on the floor.

Lakers down 18 at one point, fought back, LeBron with an incredible bounce to Pope who flicks it right back to LeBron for the game tying three. It came down to one last play. Rondo was in the right place at the right time getting the loose ball and nailing the jumper for the win. The exact same spot from the shoot around with his son.

It was the first game winning buzzer beater of his 13-year career, can you believe it? What a moment for Rondo and his son. Twenty-eight points for LeBron, and the Lakers won with a franchise record 22 three pointers.

Earlier in the day, LeBron and Giannis drafted their NBA all-star rosters. It was televised for the first time on our sister network TNT. LeBron selecting Kevin Durant first and then Giannis takes Steph Curry. LeBron's Lakers did not get Anthony Davis before the trade deadline, but he did, LeBron, select the Pelican star for his all-star team.

Here's Giannis' reaction to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO: Isn't that tampering?

LEBRON JAMES: No, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired.

JAMES: Tampering rule does not apply on All-Star weekend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Giannis' third pick. It got a great reaction from LeBron. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTETOKOUNMPO: I'm going to go with Ben Simmons.

JAMES: (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

He took my choice.

ANTETOKOUNMPO: I'm playing mind games. I'm playing mind games.

JAMES: You took my guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: LeBron likes Simmons so much that he traded away Russell Westbrook to get him. First trade in all-star draft history.

Catch the all-star game next Sunday from Charlotte on TNT.

Finally, one of baseball's greatest players and pioneers has passed. Hall of Famer Frank Robinson played 21 seasons in the majors. He was the only player to win the Most Valuable Player Award in both the National and American Leagues.

Robinson was also the first black manager in the majors when he took over as skipper of the Cleveland Indians back in 1975.

[05:25:05] Robinson was 83.

The great Hank Aaron said not only would baseball missed an exceptional player, but also a tremendous human being -- Dave.

BRIGGS: I'd agree with that. There is nothing that man did not do.

Coy, thank you, my friend.

Romans, over to you.

ROMANS: All right. Democrats flexing their muscles in Congress again today, the acting A.G. faces questions about his time overseeing the Russia probe.

And an explosive allegation by Jeff Bezos. The world's richest man says the "National Enquirer's" parent company tried to extort him with nude pictures over the political coverage from the "Washington Post."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END