Return to Transcripts main page

EARLY START

Chopper Crash-Lands On Roof Of Manhattan High-Rise; David Ortiz Back In Boston Hospital In Serious Condition; Trump And Biden In Iowa Today. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired June 11, 2019 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:31:58] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATHAN HUTTON, WORKS IN MANHATTAN HIGH-RISE WHERE HELICOPTER CRASHED: You could feel the building shake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: What caused a helicopter to crash and burn on the roof of building just blocks from Times Square in New York?

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Red Sox legend David Ortiz moved to a Boston hospital after getting shot in the Dominican Republic.

ROMANS: President Trump and former vice president Biden with dueling campaign stops in Iowa today. Is this what the 2020 race will look like?

BRIGGS: And the cost of a tank of gas getting cheaper. What's behind the falling prices at the pump?

ROMANS: That's a nice surprise for the summer.

BRIGGS: It is, indeed.

Welcome back to EARLY START, everybody. I'm Dave Briggs.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 32 minutes past the hour this Tuesday morning.

Let's begin with the follow-up from this crash in Manhattan yesterday. The NTSB, the FAA, and New York City Police all on the scene of a deadly chopper crash on the roof of a high-rise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FIRE UNIT: We have what appears to be a helicopter that crashed into the roof. The helicopter is on fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: One first responder described the scene as a debris field on fire.

An Agusta A109E chopper flying in poor -- very poor visibility in the early afternoon, slamming down on a roof of the 54-story building.

A witness describes the moment of impact.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUTTON: You could feel the building shake and you could actually hear the alarms when they went off. The alarms went off. Security came in and told us, everybody, get out of the building now. Do not take the elevators -- walk down the stairs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Now, the pilot has been identified as Tim McCormack. He was a certified flight instructor with 15 years of experience flying helicopters and single-engine planes.

He was also an ex-fire chief in Upstate Clinton, New York. His colleagues there left heartbroken and stunned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON ESTES, FIRE CHIEF, EAST CLINTON FIRE DEPARTMENT, CLINTON CORNERS, NEW YORK: Tim will be exceptionally missed by his department members, not only for his leadership but his wonderful sense of humor. Rest in peace, brother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Investigators say there is no sign of criminal intent. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

BRIGGS: Red Sox legend David Ortiz back in Boston this morning. The team sent an air ambulance to pick him up after the former Sox star was shot at a nightclub in his native Dominican Republic.

Team president Sam Kennedy says Ortiz's condition is serious but doctors cleared him for transport to Mass General Hospital.

One suspect, Eddy Feliz Garcia, captured and beaten by bystanders; another fled on foot. An assistant says Ortiz does not know Feliz Garcia but is confident it was not an armed robbery.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann has that story from the Dominican Republic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Dave and Christine, we are outside the hospital in Santo Domingo where doctors apparently saved David Ortiz's life -- Big Papi, as he is known here and in the United States.

He was brought here suffering from a gunshot to his back. Doctors had to operate on him for hours, removing parts of his colon, intestines, and gallbladder and able to -- in order to stop the internal bleeding.

[05:35:09] It is still a mystery why two men apparently approached him at a nightclub that he was used to frequenting -- a very well- known place. A place that's considered to be safe. And one of them took a gun out, police say, and shot him in the back, and would have probably escaped had the crowd not tackled him and beat up this alleged gunman very badly.

The second man has escaped, at least for the moment. Police say they are searching for him.

So while that investigation continues David, Ortiz has managed to make something of a remarkable recovery. He came to and has talked to his family.

Doctors here in Santo Domingo gave him the all-clear to go on to the Boston, a city where he is so famous and revered. But it is going to be beginning of a very long recovery. But the good news is David Ortiz, Big Papi, is safe and receiving the treatment he so desperately needs -- Dave and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: OK, Patrick Oppmann, thanks.

The Boston Red Sox family was stunned by the news of Ortiz's shooting. They paid tribute to their former star before last night's game against the Texas Rangers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOSTON RED SOX ANNOUNCER: Please join us as we offer a moment of reflection, thought, and prayer for a complete healing and a full recovery for our beloved Big Papi.

(MOMENT OF SILENCE)

ALEX CORA, MANAGER, BOSTON RED SOX: He'll be back with us. He'll be in that clubhouse with that big smile and that huge heart.

They talk about superheroes without capes and he is a superhero without a cape. That's the way we see him, yes. So, he'll be OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Sox manager Alex Cora, who played with Ortiz in Boston, adding his players are trying to stay positive and sending prayers to the Ortiz family.

ROMANS: A possible 2020 preview in Iowa today with President Trump and Democratic front-runner Joe Biden. They are both campaigning in the state, possibly setting up some interesting split-screens.

The president is attending a fundraiser. He will also visit an ethanol plant where he'll tout a new federal ethanol policy intended to help farmers and growers. Biden has community events in Ottumwa, Mt. Pleasant, and Davenport. So far, none of them intersect with Trump's schedule, but he is clearly blazing his own path to the first-to-vote state.

He faced criticism for skipping a big Democratic event there over the weekend to attend his granddaughter's graduation.

CNN's Leyla Santiago is in Des Moines with more on that and the day ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Dave, former vice president Joe Biden will be heading right here to Iowa today and so will President Donald Trump.

And that comes after a very big weekend here where a lot of these 2020 candidates were here trying to not only stand out but also show their strength.

A lot of the voters here will be waiting to hear what Biden has to say, given that he was not one of the 19 candidates that came for the Hall of Fame event over the weekend in Cedar Rapids. It's the largest 2020 candidate gathering to date and Biden missed that event for his granddaughter's high school graduation.

But let's talk about the polls here. The latest CNN-Des Moines Register Iowa poll shows the former vice president still leading that Democratic pack but with a much smaller advantage than what we've really seen in recent national polls. In a 3-way battle for that second spot -- well, you have few folks there. You have Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and also Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Now, on the campaign trail, we're starting to see these candidates sort of criticize and knock Biden, be it directly or indirectly.

And from Biden himself, not only did we not see him in Iowa over the weekend, we also didn't see him in California the previous weekend for a major event. He also really has only done minimal national network interviews. How that will all play out with voters, we'll have to wait and see -- Christine, Dave.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: OK, thanks, Leyla Santiago.

House Judiciary chairman Jerry Nadler striking a deal with the Justice Department to get documents from the Mueller report -- documents related to possible obstruction of justice by the president. That puts off a court fight to enforce a subpoena served to Attorney General William Barr.

It's not clear which documents will be provided to the committee. Nadler says the agreement means all Judiciary Committee members will see Robert Mueller's most important files on obstruction. ROMANS: Shortly after announcing the deal with the DOJ, Chairman Nadler gaveled in a hearing featuring Richard Nixon's White House counsel, John Dean, a CNN contributor. The hearing was called to discuss the "Lessons From the Mueller Report," a job handled by a pair of federal prosecutors.

Dean told lawmakers he came to provide historical context.

[05:40:03] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN DEAN, FORMER NIXON WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: In many ways, the Mueller report is to President Trump what the so-called Watergate road map, officially titled "The Grand Jury Report," was to President Richard Nixon. Stated a little differently, special counsel Mueller has provided this committee with a road map.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Dean said the Trump administration was in, quote, "fast competition with the Nixon White House on the degree of obstruction that it had engaged in."

Dean acknowledged from the outset that he was not a fact witness, which angered some Republicans on the Judiciary panel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): Here we sit today in this hearing with the ghost of Christmas past because the chairman of the committee has gone to the Speaker of the House and sought permission to open an impeachment inquiry. But she has said no.

And what I really regret Mr. Dean is that --

DEAN: It is -- it is striking Mr. Gaetz --

GAETZ: -- you're here as a prop. You are functionally here as a prop because they can't impeach President Trump because 70 percent of Democrats want something that 60 percent of Americans don't, so they're in this no-win situation.

And you sit before us here with no knowledge of a single fact on the Mueller report on a hearing entitled "Lessons From the Mueller Report."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: An unusual amount of laughter --

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: -- was heard throughout the day.

Let's talk about this and all things politics this morning with "Washington Post" congressional reporter Karoun Demirjian, a CNN political analyst. ROMANS: Hi, Karoun.

BRIGGS: Good to see you.

KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Good morning.

BRIGG: So look, given the Trump administration obstruction on all witnesses and documents, the only thing that has the real potential to change the narrative is Robert Mueller testifying.

Will Democrats subpoena him, and if they don't, does their search for impeachment really fall flat?

DEMIRJIAN: This is one of those moments of truth for the Democratic Party in the House to see whether they're actually going to follow through and use the full weight that they have at their disposal and all the legal tools to try to compel this interview to happen.

But they're weighing two things here, right, which is will they get Mueller in, which is the first question. But also, once he comes in what will he say, what will he do?

Is there the benefit they think there is in having him, even if he does only what he said he would do, which is basically read from his report? Is that enough, really, to advance their case for the American public, which is really the sticking point at this point.

ROMANS: Right.

DEMIRJIAN: If they want to move towards impeachment proceedings, they need more public support behind them before the speaker is going to really allow that to happen or people having to campaign on this in 2020 are going to feel fully comfortable that it was the right call.

ROMANS: Meantime in Iowa, you have two people already campaigning for 2020. A split-screen, really between the President of the United States and Joe Biden. Joe Biden has three stops today. The president will be at an ethanol facility and will do a big fundraiser.

Is this what it's going to look like, do you think?

DEMIRJIAN: I mean, potentially, right? I mean, we -- we've been seeing that Biden has been leading the polls and he's still at the top of the pack. And I think that this a fight that both of -- both Biden and Trump would relish in the general election.

But, it's a long way from even the Iowa caucuses.

ROMANS: Right.

DEMIRJIAN: And as you've seen, Biden's lead is kind of shrinking over his competitors in the Democratic field who are not pulling punches at this point. They have started to directly call out Biden, not specifically by name -- ROMANS: Right.

DEMIRJIAN: -- but by his actions and by his positions. And I don't think that they are going to be backing down from that anytime soon because everybody wants that nomination and there's a good seven months until --

ROMANS: I mean --

DEMIRJIAN: -- the contest actually comes.

ROMANS: Tactically, he did not go with all the big crowd when they had the big Cedar Rapids event this week.

DEMIRJIAN: Right.

ROMANS: But that sets him up just --

BRIGGS: It might have helped.

ROMANS: Right, that sets him up just to be mano a mano with Trump in Iowa today.

BRIGGS: Right.

DEMIRJIAN: It potentially does, right, or the question is also that is he seeing too much of the general election and missing kind of the preliminary stages --

ROMANS: Right.

DEMIRJIAN: -- going through the primary and caucus season. But that's the open question, right? Will the tactic and the strategy work?

BRIGGS: Yes. In the 4:00 and 7:00 hours, they'll both be speaking. It should be interesting.

DEMIRJIAN: Right.

BRIGGS: Let's turn to the tariff battle now and the trade wars developing, and this deal or was there a deal with Mexico.

Your newspaper reporting that Mexico agreed to an unprecedented crackdown on Central American migrants while other outlets have basically said there was no deal and there will never be anything in paper.

Did the tariff threat work in regard to Mexico?

DEMIRJIAN: Well, my colleagues are reporting that it seems that they -- the Mexican government has agreed to far more aggressive measures than they seemed to have been willing to impose in the past, including sending militarized troops, basically, down to the Guatemalan border agreeing to -- It seems like there is a more regional approach to asylum seekers in

development, which would keep more asylum seekers not in the United States after their claims have been processed because those claims will be processed in countries of first arrival.

It would potentially let there be a backflow of migrants to those countries. And we're talking about a plan that would have to include Brazil, Guatemala, Panama, as well as Mexico just because of the various streams of migrants that are coming in.

[05:45:00] But, yes, my colleagues' reporting shows that there does seem to have been an acquiescence by the Mexican government to move forward in ways that Trump found more satisfactory because of the aggressive nature of the promises that they were willing to make, and that this does seem to have been -- the Mexican government seems to have been --

BRIGGS: Yes.

DEMIRJIAN: -- rattled by the threats that the Trump administration was making over the tariffs.

BRIGGS: And, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says in 30-45 days they'll be able to gain success, at least in terms of border numbers.

ROMANS: You know, Karoun, quickly, what happened with Mexico and the Mexico deal, does it give us any kind of a road map for what's coming up with China? The president saying that if he doesn't meet with Xi Jinping in Osaka in, what, 10 days --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: -- that he's going to put tariffs on another $300 billion worth of Chinese imports to the U.S.

DEMIRJIAN: I mean, the stakes are always different depending on which country you're talking about. You have the marriage of the migration question and the tariffs question in Mexico. It's not quite the same structure with China, although there is definitely national security questions that are being always balanced against the question of the economic decisions that are being made.

But look, we've seen the president now emboldened by his own bluster and threats when it comes to the question of tariffs. And if this a win for him with Mexico -- if he feels like this -- he was -- his strategy was victorious, then it suggests that he won't really see any reason to back down from a similarly aggressive posture with China.

And how that plays out with China, potentially, very different. China is a much larger economy than Mexico. It's a little bit of a question of is there a superpower competition here or is China going to acquiesce to what the United States wants.

I think that there's -- it's a more open question when you're dealing with a country like China that has that much clout on the world stage. But certainly, Trump is -- seems to think that this strategy worked for him once and it may work again.

ROMANS: Yes, and China has a lot more leverage than we've been talking about.

DEMIRJIAN: Yes.

ROMANS: They own so much U.S. treasuries. On the front page of your --

DEMIRJIAN: Exactly.

ROMANS: -- newspaper, the rock fight that's part of the trade war. The rare earth minerals that are critical for defense and technology that China has a stranglehold in many of these. So, there are things China can --

DEMIRJIAN: The straight card.

ROMANS: Yes, they can -- there are things that China can do to really hurt the United States economically.

BRIGGS: OK. Karoun Demirjian --

DEMIRJIAN: Indeed.

BRIGGS: -- thanks so much. Appreciate you being here.

ROMANS: All right, nice to see you.

DEMIRJIAN: Thank you.

ROMANS: About 47 minutes past the hour. Coming up, Cleveland rocks, literally.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:51:21] BRIGGS: People in and around Cleveland are still a bit shaken this morning after a reported 4.0-magnitude earthquake. Highway video here captures the very moment the quake struck on Monday.

And, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, it was centered in Lake Erie, about 20 miles northeast of Cleveland. No serious damage reported.

ROMANS: Let's get a check on "CNN Business" this morning.

Stock markets are higher around the world. More gains after the president dropped his tariff threat toward Mexico.

And there are hopes for lower interest rates helping U.S. stocks. U.S. stocks are on a winning streak here.

The Dow closed up 79 points, the sixth day in a row of gains. That hasn't happened since May of last year. The S&P 500 closed up about half a percent. And, the Nasdaq did even better, up 1.1 percent. United Technologies was the biggest loser in the Dow. It fell 3.1 percent after its deal to merge with defense business Raytheon.

President Donald Trump called into CNBC and he mused that the merger could kill competition. The president also threatened tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese imports if President Xi does not meet with him at the G20 in Osaka.

But there's good news at the pump this summer. Gas prices are dropping. U.S. oil production on track for a record 13.4 million barrels a day by the end of the year. OPEC has been scaling back its output as the cartel tried to prop prices back up.

So what does that mean for consumers? Lower gas prices right now. The national average for a gallon of gas is $2.73. Gas prices have fallen for five straight weeks.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:57:01] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NBA FINALS ANNOUNCER: Leonard backing up VanVleet. VanVleet picks it out. Lowry for the win. It won't go and they'll be a game six in Oakland. And it was a great job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The Golden State Warriors stave off elimination, beating the Raptors 106-105 in game five of the NBA Finals.

But, Golden State lost superstar Kevin Durant, injured in his first game back from a strained calf. The fear is, ESPN reports, a torn Achilles.

Game six, Thursday night in Oakland.

ROMANS: All right. Trevor Noah has a message for the 2020 presidential hopefuls. Leave the comedy to him.

Here are your "Late Night Laughs."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREVOR NOAH, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL "THE DAILY SHOW": With only five minutes to make an impression on the world's most powerful white voters, all the Democrats took to the stage to deliver their best punchlines.

ANDREW YANG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian man who likes math. Thank you very much, Iowa.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am your senator next door and I can see Iowa from my porch. MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look at that show that this president's created. Whatever you want to call it -- reality show, horror show, game show. Help me change the channel.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He claims to be the best president we've seen in a generation. Well, I say let's call Barack Obama because that's identity fraud.

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will always be real with you. I will be bold without the bull.

(SILENCE)

NOAH: Wow, that was a lot of silence. He like said it and it was just like everyone was like are you -- are you going to -- you -- like, from now on, librarians aren't going to shush people. They're just going to play that clip of Eric Swalwell.

And by the way, Andrew Yang, good line, but the opposite of Donald Trump isn't an Asian man who likes math. It's a Mexican lady who likes her children. Come on, now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Oh.

BRIGGS: Today it's Joe Biden's turn.

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: Let's see if he cracks some jokes in Iowa.

ROMANS: Yes, all right. Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. Here's "NEW DAY."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: President Trump and Democratic front-runner Joe Biden both campaigning in Iowa today.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Trump inherited an economy that was given to him, just like he inherited everything else in his life.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't see him as a threat. He's only a threat to himself.

FIRE UNIT: We have what appears to be a helicopter that crashed into the roof. The helicopter is on fire.

HUTTON: You could feel the building shake. Security came in and told us, everybody, get out of the building now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One individual is dead, seemingly, the pilot. Certainly, an accident that is very hard to understand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, June 11th, 6:00 here in New York.

And, John and I are both suffering with the sniffles this morning. I'm having an allergy attack. You're worse.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Apparently, you're contagious, though. Your allergies are contagious because I have it now.

CAMEROTA: All right. We will somehow get through this.

And we begin with President Trump and former vice president Joe Biden both campaigning in Iowa today. The split-screen will give voters a glimpse of what a potential Trump-Biden.

END