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EARLY START

Trump Calls for Unity But Launches Attacks; Trump Defends Syria Withdrawal in SOTU; Senator Warren's Woes. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired February 6, 2019 - 04:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:01:21] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is going to be peace and legislation. There cannot be war and investigation.

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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The president calls for unity in a speech laced with partisan notes. Highlights and reaction to the State of the Union right now.

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

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Good to be back, my friend. How are you?

Good morning, everybody. I'm Dave Briggs. It is Wednesday, February 6th, 4:00 a.m. in the East.

We'll show you why Democrats were applauding at one point. Did the president get it? President Trump, though, holding firm on demand for increase border security. A combative State of the Union Address that straddled the line in calls for unity and attacks on Democrats.

The president with Nancy Pelosi over his shoulder opened with an appeal for bipartisan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We just reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution, and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good.

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ROMANS: But the call for harmony did not carry far. He did not call it a hoax, but the president did make this allusion to the Russian probe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: An economic America is taking place in the United States. And the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations.

(APPLAUSE)

If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. It just doesn't work that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The president gave no sign he's interested in compromise on border security with another government shutdown, or possibly a national emergency declaration looming next week. He dug in what he called a very dangerous border with Mexico.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: No issue better illustrates the divide between America's working class and America's political class than illegal immigration. Wealthy politicians and donors push for open borders, while living their lives behind walls and gates and guards. My administration has sent to Congress a common sense proposal to end the crisis on the southern border.

It includes humanitarian assistance, more law enforcement, drug detection at our ports, closing loopholes that enable child smuggling, and plans for a new physical barrier or a wall to secure the vast areas between our ports of entry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Notably, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shhh'ed Democrats who started booing migrant caravans heading toward the U.S. border. Some policies the president mentioned were received warmly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Both parties should be able to unite for a great rebuilding of America's crumbling infrastructure.

To lower the cost of health care and prescription drugs, and to protect patients with preexisting conditions.

To eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years.

[04:05:06] Many childhood cancers have not seen new therapies in decades. My budget will ask Congress for $500 million over the next 10 years to fund this critical life-saving research.

I'm also proud to be the first president to include in my budget a plan for a nationwide paid family leave so that every new parent has a chance to bond with their newborn child.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: For others, lawmakers' reactions were decidedly mixed. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I am asking Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother's womb.

As we work with our allies to destroy the remnants of ISIS, it is time to give our brave warriors in Syria a warm welcome home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: There was some noteworthy omissions in the State of the Union Address. At no point that the president mentioned guns, climate change or the Supreme Court, among other topics.

BRIGGS: There was one heartwarming moment, one came when President Trump gave a shout-out to women, including those in the audience. And he addressed his wife a tribute to suffrage a century ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: No one has benefited more from the thriving economy than women who have filled 58 percent of the newly created jobs last year.

(APPLAUSE)

You weren't supposed to do that.

We also have more women serving in Congress than at anytime before.

(APPLAUSE)

(ED VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Citing female employment gains and the Democratic women in the House, saying, yes, us, we were elected.

BRIGGS: But I don't think he got that. I don't think he got that they were applauding him for their jobs.

ROMANS: The president also paid tribute to Judah Samet, Holocaust survivor who nearly escaped the Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh last December. He turned 81-yesterday, and he wound up being serenaded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING "HAPPY BIRTHDAY")

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Never heard happy birthday.

BRIGGS: That is something I (INAUDIBLE). That's a nice moment.

ROMANS: Happy Birthday.

BRIGGS: Also in attendance, although asleep. Young Joshua Trump, no relationship, he's been bullied because he shares the president's last name.

Outside the Capitol, President Trump earned a positive response. Some six in ten viewers in a CNN instant poll, one important caveat here, the viewers have skewed largely Republican, as you might imagine.

ROMANS: The Democratic response to the president given by Stacey Abrams, a rising star in the party, even after losing. She lost her bid for governor of Georgia. She blasted the Trump administration for the government shutdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACEY ABRAMS (D), FORMER GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Making livelihoods of our federal workers a pawn for political gains is a disgrace. The shutdown was a stunt engineered by the president of the United States. One that defied every tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people, but our values.

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ROMANS: Abrams said she's disappointed by the president but does not want him to fail.

BRIGGS: All right. Let's talk about all of this with Nathan Gonzalez who is live in Washington this morning. He's the editor and publisher of "Inside Elections", a CNN political analyst.

Good to see you, sir.

ROMANS: Good morning.

: Good morning.

BRIGGS: Let's talk about some of these calls for unity and the president saying we can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions.

Did you see that coming?

NATHAN GONZALES: You know, on the one hand, I think the president said a lot of the right things, inciting new journeys and choosing coalitions, and all this. I think it was a lot of the right words, but we just -- he came into the speech with 2 1/2 years -- we came into the speech with 2 1/2 years of partisan baggage.

[04:10:03] I think it's tough to just leave that on the table and turn around and start over. And I think that's why I started skeptical, that the speech is going to be some sort of major pivot or major turning point because the president's job approval rating has been, you know, within a few points, you know, a few points consistently over the last couple of years. And I think that there's a lot of skepticism from Democrats. When they hear the president talking, they just don't trust him. So, I'm not sure how many minds he convinced to be changed.

ROMANS: Loud hoops and some hollering over the line he said about paid family leave which is something I think there's bipartisan support for. Certainly, there's Democratic support for. Infrastructure, drug pricing, there were areas that tried to appeal to areas where work he could get done. But light on the details on those.

GONZALES: Right, about an hour into the speech. I think there was, you know, the things you mentioned, there was the childhood cancer, ending the HIV epidemic ten years. I think there's a lot of things that both sides can work on, but can we get past the wall and shutdown and that fight? I mean, can we even get to those things, and I think that's still a giant question mark coming out of last night.

BRIGGS: Slight nods to prescription drugs and infrastructure. Should there be any doubt that there is bipartisan work ahead?

GONZALES: You know, I like to be optimistic, but I think our default position has to be that there isn't going to be a lot of things done because everything is a struggle. I mean, infrastructure has for at least a year now has been kind of put out there as well.

If they can't get anything else done, at least they can agree on infrastructure. I'm not sure why we should automatically assume that the two parties can agree on that.

ROMANS: Yes.

GONZALES: To get anything passed, you have to get the Democratic House and Republican Senate and the White House. To get all three of those to agree is an extremely tough task. You may get two of three, but three of three is going to be difficult.

ROMANS: We're showing on the screen right now, some of the takeaways from the editorial boards of the major American newspapers. And I think the optics yesterday or last night were so interesting. You have Nancy Pelosi in white, literally looking over his shoulder. All of those newly elected women from the House also all wearing white.

And then you have the response, Democratic response, from Stacey Abrams, someone who lost her bid for Georgia governor, but a rising star in the party. It was Donald Trump's night. But women were certainly actors on the stage as well.

GONZALES: Yes. I think that moment was one of the big moments. Dave, you hit on this right at the beginning, I think the reason that the moment with the women, Democratic women standing applauding, I think it worked because everyone was happy. The Democratic women were happy because they are part of the new House majority. And they have their jobs in part because of president Trump.

I think president Trump, he loved the applause. He was getting applause from the entire room. Everyone was standing and "USA" was like a campaign rally that he was used to. So, everyone was happy, but it was for two different reasons, I think. BRIGGS: I got to tell you, I think that's the moment that when the

president watches cable news this morning, he will be furious with the reaction, because I think he thought it was for him in that moment, when really, it was mocking him. I think that will be Steven Miller, why did you set me up in that moment?

Twitter Trump is what matters, right? Teleprompter Trump, we've seen it, we've reacted to it. It doesn't last long. We'll see how he tweets this morning.

But we'll check in with you in about half an hour and talk more about it.

GONZALES: Sounds good.

ROMANS: All right. Last night, the president also claimed he has presided over a roaring economic growth. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: In just over two years since the election we have launched an unprecedented economic boom -- a boom that has rarely been seen before.

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ROMANS: All right, fact-checking the president here. He can claim some credit for the acceleration of this economy on his watch but not most of it. Yes, the economy grew at a rate of 4.2 percent in the second quarter of 2018 fueled in part by the surge in government defense spending. But by the third quarter of last year, growth has slowed to about 3.4 percent.

But the president also said this about wages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Wages are rising at the fastest pace in decades. And growing for blue collar workers who I promise to fight for, they're growing faster than anyone else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Now, wage growth has picked up since late 2017, especially for rank and file workers, but not for the high rate of above 3.5 percent seen back in the late 1990s and mid-2000s.

Now, some of the pace of the increase has to do not with the federal government and not with Trump's policies, but by states and cities. They've been raising the minimum wage, the president has had no hand in that. That's what's so fascinating about the wage story.

[04:15:00] You got dozens and dozens of states that voters in states who on the ballot in recent years have said, we want to raise our own minimum wage. Even in Republican states, red states, that people have voted to raise their own minimum wages. BRIGGS: That will be litigated ahead in 2020.

Ahead here, the president also defended the withdrawal from Syria. He's focused on ISIS losing territory but ignoring the ideology. We're live in northern Syria, next.

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TRUMP: When I took office, ISIS controlled more than 20,000 square miles in Iraq and Syria, just two years ago. Today, we have liberated virtually all of the territory from the grip of these blood-thirsty monsters.

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ROMANS: Yes, the territory is liberated but the ideology is alive and well. President Trump choosing not to repeat his false claim that ISIS has been defeated, a claim his own generals have contradicted.

[04:20:09] We want to go live to northern Syria and bring in CNN's Ben Wedeman.

Ben, what's your reaction from there about the president's State of the Union Address?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a certain amount of relief, Christine, because there was some anticipation, despite the fact that there is still an enclave controlled by ISIS not far from here. We were in fact on the front lines yesterday. There was a worry that the president would repeat that claim that ISIS has been totally defeated in Iraq and Syria.

We spoke to a senior commander, not far from the front lines, a commander with the Syrian Democratic forces who said, yes, we are about to achieve victory in this particular spot. But there continues to be a real danger in Syria, as well as in Iraq, from ISIS which is slowly transforming into an insurgency. In fact, General Votel told Congress yesterday that there are 20,000 to 30,000 fighters still at large in Syria alone.

So, yes, in terms of an area that is controlled by ISIS, that will soon become part of history but ISIS in Iraq and Syria and beyond is still very much there, Christine.

ROMANS: General Votel saying he was not confronted by the president on that plan to withdraw from Syria. Also concerned about the 400 foreign fighters no one wants to take home as well. So, a lot to mull over there.

Thank you so much. Ben Wedeman for us in Northern Syria -- thanks, Ben.

BRIGGS: On the foreign policy front, the president said had he not been elected president, in my opinion, there would be a potential war with millions killed. Also confirming an upcoming meeting in Vietnam with Kim Jong-un.

Ahead, more trouble for Elizabeth Warren of her claims on Native American ancestry. How more Democrats are making decisions about 2020.

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[04:26:36] ROMANS: A potential blow to Elizabeth Warren's White House bid. According to "The Washington Post", the Massachusetts senator listed her race as American-Indian on a state bar of Texas registration card in 1996. That is a previous unknown incidence of Warren claiming to be Native American.

DNA testing to confirm her extremely limited Native American ancestry last year. It was met with fierce criticism. And aides said the senator was sorry she was not more mindful about her claims earlier in her career.

BRIGGS: The field of Democrats running for president may be expanding this weekend. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is ready to announce her plans at a public event Sunday at a park in downtown Minneapolis. She's also scheduled to visit Iowa in a few weeks so it looks like she is in.

Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio tells CNN he'll likely to decide in March whether to run.

And former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke told Oprah Winfrey, he'll decide whether to run for president before the end of this month.

Do you think he gets in? It's tough to tell? He's holding his cards a little closer to the vest.

ROMANS: There's a lot of interest. I think it's going to a big diverse field of candidates and we have just under a year until to the Iowa caucuses. So, it's going to get interesting.

All right. Calls for unity and a barrage of attacks in the same speech. The president holds firm on border security and slams investigations by Democrats. Reaction this morning to the State of the Union, next.

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