Return to Transcripts main page
EARLY START
16 States Sue to Block National Emergency; Pragmatic Klobuchar Makes Pitch for Democratic Nomination; Infant Screen Time Doubles; West Virginia Teachers to Strike Again; MLB Will Use Pitch Clock During Spring Training Games. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired February 19, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(MUSIC)
[05:00:04] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Sixteen states sue to stop the president's national emergency declaration. From coast to coast, Presidents Day protests against this president's border move.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The actual legislation you do, we know there's going to be compromises. I am not for free four-year college for all, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Amy Klobuchar is willing to say no. It may anger progressives but can it win over centrist Democrats?
SANCHEZ: Plus, screen time for infants has more than doubled. But what device they're watching may surprise you.
ROMANS: Just a year after walking off the job, West Virginia teachers hit the picket lines again. Why the union says it had no other choice.
All right. Good morning, and welcome to EARLY START, everyone. I'm Christine Romans.
SANCHEZ: Presidents Day's protest -- that was a tough one.
ROMANS: I'm sorry, I put that in, I read it and I'm sorry.
SANCHEZ: Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Boris Sanchez, in for Dave Briggs. It's Tuesday, February 19th, 5:00 on the East Coast.
And we begin with the escalating challenges to President Trump's national emergency declaration. Protesters took to the streets coast to coast Monday, rallying against the plan to use billions from federal programs mostly from the Department of Defense to build his border wall. And last night, 16 states filed a lawsuit seeking to block the emergency declaration.
ROMANS: Led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the states argue the president is using the pretext of a manufactured crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
XAVIER BECERRA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, it's pretty clear that the president is trying to usurp Congress' authority. The president does not have the power of the purse. The president can't decide to shuffle money around once Congress has allocated it. That's only for Congress to do.
Otherwise, presidents for the last 240 years would have been doing the same thing, when they don't like where Congress puts the money. Simply because Donald Trump fabricated a crisis and called it a national emergency doesn't mean that he can violate the separation of powers of the Constitution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The suit specifically addresses this remark by the president on Friday where he all but admitted the situation at the border is not exactly an emergency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: On the wall, they skimped, so I did -- I was successful in that sense, but I wanted to do it faster. I could do the wall over a longer period of time. I didn't need to do this, but I'd rather do it much faster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: This is the latest in a wave of expected litigation, though fighting it in court will likely be difficult and time consuming. The president has broad discretion over what constitutes a national emergency.
SANCHEZ: And challenges are also expected from Capitol Hill. A resolution of disapproval to block the emergency declaration is expected in the House, it could even pass the Senate, though if the resolution passes the president is expected to veto it. There's also still no word from the pentagon on an important detail, exactly what military funding sources are going to be diverted to build the wall.
ROMANS: All right. Amy Klobuchar is making her pitch as a pragmatist in the 2020 Democratic field. The Minnesota senator appeared in a live CNN town hall in New Hampshire last night on topics for Medicare- for-All, to a Green New Deal, to free college. Klobuchar separated herself from her party's progressives offering no sugarcoated promises. Instead, she struck a practical tone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: What's your reservation about supporting Medicare-for-All?
KLOBUCHAR: Well, I think it's something that we can look to for the future, but I want to get action now. And I think the best way we do is something we actually wanted to do back when we were looking at the Affordable Care Act and we were stopped was trying to get a public option in there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you were asked about the Green New Deal, you were quoted as saying it's an aspiration.
KLOBUCHAR: The actual legislation you do, we know there's going to be compromises. It's not going to be exactly like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you be to say to my generation and end the student debt crisis by supporting free college for all?
KLOBUCHAR: My idea is to make it easier to refinance, to start with your two-year degrees, the community colleges being free. I am not for free four-year college for all, no. If I was a magic genie and could give that to everyone and we could afford it, I would.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: She got several rounds of applause. That kid looked disappointed, though.
Senator Klobuchar was also asked to respond to allegations that she mistreats her staff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KLOBUCHAR: Am I tough a boss sometimes? Yes. Have I pushed people too hard? Yes. But I have kept expectations for myself that are very high. I've asked my staff to meet those same expectations. And that the big point for me is I want the country to meet high expectations. We don't have going now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Not the first time she has had to address this. I cannot recall any other candidate, male candidate, ever having been asked about what kind of a boss he is.
SANCHEZ: Especially one who is so renowned for his ability to fire people in a boisterous way.
ROMANS: No, but I'm just saying.
Anyway, another Democratic contender set to release a sweeping universal child care plan today, Senator Elizabeth Warren says her idea guarantees child care from birth until the time a child enters school.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[05:05:03] SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The costs of child care are just crushing families. Families are just buckling under the weight of it. It holds people back. They decide that they can't work because they're worried about the cost of child care. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: How does she propose paying for it? From the wealth tax plan she rolled out last month, targeting Americans whose network exceeds $50 million.
SANCHEZ: The child care proposal calls for a network of public and family run centers. Care would be free for families of incomes below 200 percent of the poverty level. That's about $51,000 for a family of four. Those earning more would pay a subsidized fee that's based on income.
And get this -- all signs pointing to a big announcement today from Bernie Sanders. CBS says it has a revealing interview with the Vermont senator this morning, the big question, of course, will he run in 2020?
ROMANS: Will he run?
CNN has learned that the Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is set to leave the Department of Justice in mid-March. Now, we previously reported that Rosenstein planned to step down after the Senate confirmed Bill Barr as attorney general. A justice official who confirmed the more precise timing disputed the idea that it had anything to do with the latest revelations from Andrew McCabe.
SANCHEZ: Now, the former acting FBI director claims that Rosenstein suggested wearing a wire to secretly record President Trump and that he talked about a strategy for ousting the president under the 25th Amendment. Yesterday, Mr. Trump shared his feelings about McCabe and Rosenstein, saying that they were planning a very illegal act in a, quote, illegal and treasonous insurance policy.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham says that his panel will investigate those comments from McCabe regarding the 25th Amendment.
ROMANS: All right. Big questions swirling in Washington this morning, is the director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, the next top administration official to go?
Long time Trump ally Chris Ruddy, the CEO of the conservative news site Newsmax, he says he spoke to the president and other officials personally this weekend at Mar-a-Lago. This was his impression.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS RUDDY, NEWSMAX MEDIA CEO: I think you have a classic example here where Director Coats is trying to make policy and not inform policy. I'm hearing from sources around the White House there's just general disappointment of the president with Director Coats. There's a feeling that maybe there needs to be a change of leadership in that position.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: At a hearing last month, Director Coats contradicted President Trump on U.S. intelligence involving North Korea, ISIS and more.
SANCHEZ: Long time Trump confidant Roger Stone breaking one of his own rules, formally apologizing to the judge overseeing his criminal case over controversial Instagram posts. Now, this photo posted and then deleted from Stone's Instagram account showed Judge Amy Berman Jackson next to crosshairs mimicking the scoop of a rifle. The same photo was later posted again without the cross hairs and that was deleted as well.
Stone tells CNN a volunteer who works on his social media campaign made the post. He also denied that those were actual crosshairs. He says the photos were not meant to threaten the judge. The post, though, will likely not sit well with Jackson who last week imposed a partial gag order in Stone's case.
ROMANS: Yes, his motto is never apologize.
SANCHEZ: Right.
ROMANS: And that's an apology.
All right. A White House source tells CNN the president views former Michigan candidate John James as the leading contender for the job of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Republican Iraq War vet lost to Senator Debbie Stabenow in November. The source says Trump sees James as a rising star and asked trusted advisers what they thought about James at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert withdrew from consideration over the job over a tax issue with a nanny whose visa did not allow her to work in the U.S.
SANCHEZ: New overnight, a dangling rescue, crews rushing to rescue 16 people trapped on a gondola ride at SeaWorld in San Diego. Harnesses and lifeguard boats were brought in to pull the passengers to safety. An infant was among those on board along with a partially paralyzed passenger.
Officials say the attraction "Bayside Skyride" stopped running over Mission Bay after a big gust of wind tripped a circuit breaker. Fortunately is looks like everyone is OK on the "Bayside Skyride". I've been riding the urge to not make a joke about David Hasselhoff this morning, but I've lost that battle so that's over with and we can move on.
On a more serious news, not racist, not homophobic. Two brothers speaking out after being cleared in the alleged Jussie Smollett attack. When will the actor speak to police again?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:13:36] ROMANS: Chicago police say two brothers who were arrested in connection with that alleged attack on "Empire" star Jussie Smollett are no longer suspects. Abel and Ola Osundairo were arrested on Friday after new evidence emerged. In a joint statement to WBBM the brothers said, quote: We are not racists, we are not homophobic, and we are not anti-Trump. We were born and raised in Chicago and are American citizens.
SANCHEZ: Now, Jussie Smollett claimed he was attacked last month by two men yelling racial and homophobic slurs. He said this to ABC News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSSIE SMOLLETT, ACTOR: Who the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) could make something like this up or add something to it or whatever it may be? I can't -- I can't even -- I'm an advocate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: On that, sources say police believe the actor paid the brothers to orchestrate an assault. Smollett denies playing any role. Police do want to requestion him.
ROMANS: All right. Screen time for children under 2 years old is soaring according to a new study. Between 1997 and 2014, daily screen time for children under the age of 2 more than doubled for an hour 19 minutes to three hours and three minutes. Now, surprisingly, most of it was spent in front of a TV despite more devices being available. Screen time for kids 3 to 5 did not change significantly.
SANCHEZ: The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended no screen time for children under 18 months and limiting kids between 2 and 5 years old to one hour a day of high quality programming.
[05:15:02] Excessive screen time early in life has been associated with cognitive, language, social and emotional delays, likely because screen time decreases the amount of time that kids spend interacting with their parents. Some doctors say that not all screens are created equal. You should not count electronic readers and learning devices in that same category as other screens.
ROMANS: Public schools across west Virginia are closed today. Teachers and school workers will walk off the job just one year after their last strike. Union officials say they had no other choice. The strike is prompted by an education bill that diverts money interest public cools and invests in private school vouchers and the state's first charter schools.
Last year's work stoppage lasted nine school days and resulted in almost daily rallies in Charleston. That was also the beginning of teacher strikes and walkouts nationwide. Look at that, Oakland teachers today -- Thursday, rather, are set to strike this week.
SANCHEZ: Take a look at this new video out of Louisiana. Incredible footage of Good Samaritans rescuing a woman from a burning car. It happened on airline highway in St. John the Baptist Parish.
The woman's car was hit by a drunk driver. The victim was transported to a local hospital. She is expected to be okay. The other driver, 23-year-old Richard Preston will be facing drunk
driving charges.
ROMANS: Terrifying.
SANCHEZ: She's probably very grateful they got her out of there in time. That to be turned out very differently.
Another winter storm is rolling over the eastern half of the United States today and tomorrow. Meteorologist Ivan Cabrera has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN CABRERA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. Another winter storm setting up for us here. The gulf moisture coming in out of the gulf, it's going to be -- crash with cold air up to the north so we will make snowfall big time. Winter storm watches and warning posted.
You see the rainfall beginning to move in. Notice how far south the cold air is, already the radar picking up mixed precip as far south as Alabama and parts of Mississippi as well. We are not going to be talking about snow, it's going to be a big rain event for this area, but farther north where we hang on to the cold air, throughout the entire day, that's where we have the winter storm warnings.
This is going to be, I think, mainly a D.C. event. That's going to be the heaviest of the snow that will begin to develop and that will be D.C. for you as we head through Wednesday. First, we have to get through all this rain as it begins to move in from the gulf.
By the afternoon it is pouring across the south, already beginning to see cold air crashing with that moisture so the snow begins in earnest through tonight. What are we talking about? Well, the potential for four to six inches in D.C., we have three to five inches forecasted Philly and New York and less than an inch. All of these totals will eventually go down and melt as rain takes over behind the storm by Thursday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Thanks for that, Ivan.
Now this. Wow, this is a heart warming story. This Texas teacher got creative with a student who was being teased. Shannon Grimm took action when she noticed 5-year-old Priscilla Perez began wearing a hat to class to cover her short hair.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRISCILLA PEREZ, 5-YEAR OLD STUDENT, MEADOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WILLIS, TEXAS: It was short -- like here, and then my mom cut it.
SHANNON GRIMM, KINDERGARTEN TEACHER, MEADOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WILLIS, TEXAS: About that time that friends started to call her boy -- call her a boy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: So, Mrs. Grimm decided to chop off her own waist-length hair in favor of a pixie cut just like Priscilla's.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRIMM: I am going to do other things for my friends in my classroom other than just teach them. I'm going to show them the love and the support that they need in order to learn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That is a great teacher. At a school board meeting last week the little girl present presented the teacher with a medal for being her hero during a difficult time.
ROMANS: All right. The sailor in this iconic V-J Day photo has died. George Mendonsa was the exuberant young sailor kissing a woman in New York's Times Square on August 14, 1945. The famous photo dubbed "The Kiss" came to symbolize the end of World War II.
George Mendonsa was 95 when he passed away Sunday in Rhode Island. Part of him, of course, will live on forever, captured at the age of 22 in Times Square is one of those iconic World War II --
SANCHEZ: It really is iconic. I should note the lady in that photo actually passed away at 92 and she was asked about it. She said it wasn't much of a kiss, so clearly the feeling is not reciprocal there.
So, it's not quite the "Star Wars" trailer that everyone was waiting for, but lightsaber dueling is now officially a sport. Andy Scholes will tell you where in the 'Bleacher Report" right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:23:49] SANCHEZ: Spring training gets going this week. Major League Baseball is trying to keep games shorter than ever.
ROMANS: Andy Scholes has more on this morning's "Bleacher Report".
Hey, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, good morning, guys.
One of baseball's biggest problems is the length of the game, it takes too long for most people's liking, the average game last season was more than three hours. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is trying to speed up the sport. Pitchers are going to be on a 20-second clock. They've used this in the minor leagues since 2015. If you go over 20 seconds, you get a ball added to the count. Major league pitchers have been against this idea for a number of reasons, but Manfred can put this in place for this season without the players' approval.
All right. Last week, Lindsey Vonn, who had to overcome numbers serious injuries in her career retired as the most decorated female skier of all time. Last night in Monaco, she was awarded with the Spirit of Sport Award which recognizes the athletes who achieve remarkable success and displayed relentless dedication to their sport.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDSEY VONN, PRO SKIER: I think sports has a unique opportunity to change people in ways they never expected and my come backs have always made me a stronger person.
[05:25:04] And I'm very sad to be leaving my sport, but I know that because of everything I've learned, I can take that into the next chapter of into I life and do something even more incredible. So thank you all so much for your respect and I'm going to miss it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Vonn's Boyfriend P.K. Subban posting this pretty cool picture to Instagram of Vonn getting a standing ovation while accepting that award.
All right. Blue jackets and lightning in Columbus last night. Check this out, the puck gets deflected into the bench area and it nearly drills NBC sports analyst Pierre McGuire. Look at the replay, it just whizzes by his face. Unbelievable how close it got -- talk about being right in the heat of the action.
McGuire said moments later it's all part of what goes down here. McGuire lucky to not have a black eye or broken nose this morning.
All right. Ever play like you were Kylo Ren, Rey, maybe Darth Vader and have a lightsaber fight with your kids? If they are good at it? If so, you should move to France.
The French fencing federation announcing that they are recognizing lightsaber dueling as an official competitive sport. They say that they hope this new sport will get kids off the couch and be more active. I think I grew up in the wrong generation. When you can get a scholarship now to play video games in college and now there is competitive lightsaber dueling.
SANCHEZ: That is impressive.
SCHOLES: I missed my calling, I think.
SANCHEZ: Yes, that's right.
ROMANS: I don't know.
SANCHEZ: Next time I go to Atlanta I'm going to pick up a lightsaber, we're going to try some of this new sport.
SCHOLES: I'm in.
ROMANS: And then you can take on my kids because they are very good. They are very good.
SANCHEZ: Andy Scholes, thank you so much.
ROMANS: All right. Sixteen states sue to stop the president's national emergency declaration. Can they sway the courts that the president has overstepped his powers?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
