Return to Transcripts main page

EARLY START

Brett Kavanaugh and Accuser Christine Ford Senate Hearing This Morning; Trump Accuses China of Election Meddling; Trump Claims Two- State Solution Will Happen; Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired September 27, 2018 - 04:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:00:12] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A major chance to speak. No, it's possible I'll hear that, and I'll say hey, I'm changing my mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Today is the day the nation could remember for a very long time. The president with a close eye on testimony from Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford. Supreme Court hangs in the balance.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: The president suggesting Rod Rosenstein will remain in his post. The meeting that could have changed the course of the Russia probe now appears to be off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: China? Not Russia. That came as a bit of a surprise as the president putting meddling in a trade war in the same category. Seems he's going be very concerned about an advertisement the Chinese government put in the "Des Moines Register."

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: Earlier this morning. Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: Very few aggressive words about Russia's election.

ROMANS: No. No.

BRIGGS: Meddling. I'm Dave Briggs. It is Thursday, September 27th. A hugely significant day. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

One way or another today will be remembered as a historic day on Capitol Hill. In about six hours, Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford will testify at the Senate hearing that will likely make or break Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.

As the hearing approaches, the number of allegations against Kavanaugh is growing. On Wednesday, he was forced to deny three more accusations bringing the total to five. Two of the allegations were anonymous. Though a Twitter handle linked one has emerged.

ROMANS: In that case, a Rhode Island man said he had information about, quote, "a rape on a boat" in August of 1985. The other allegation is that Kavanaugh assaulted a woman he was dating in 1998. Regarding that claim, Kavanaugh said we're dealing with an anonymous letter about an anonymous person and an anonymous friend, it's ridiculous. Trouble Twilight Zone and no, I've never done anything like that.

BRIGGS: The third accusation came hours earlier. This woman, Julie Swetnick, submitted a sworn statement. The Judiciary Committee saying Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were present at a party in 1982 where she was drugged and, in her words, "gang raped." Swetnick did not identify Kavanaugh or Judge as her attacker.

ROMANS: All 10 Democrats on the panel called on the president to either withdraw Kavanaugh's nomination or order the FBI to reopen his background investigation. But Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley says the hearing will go forward this morning. His office releasing a timeline detailing its responses to the allegations against Kavanaugh. The timeline includes interviews with one man who believes the incident Ford remembers may have actually involved him instead.

BRIGGS: At a news conference, an extraordinary one that lasted 83 minutes in New York, Wednesday, the president said it's possible he could be swayed by today's hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're giving the women a major chance to speak. No, it's possible. I'll hear that. And I'll say, hey, I'm changing my mind. That is possible. I'm going to see what happens tomorrow. I'm going to be watching. You know, believe it or not, I'm going to see what's said. It's possible that they will be convincing. They're going to have a big shot at speaking and making their case. And you know what? I could be persuaded also.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Susan Collins, a critical swing vote, also raised serious concerns at a private meeting about the new allegations. The senator from Maine also questioned why the Judiciary Committee has not subpoenaed Mark Judge, the only other person Ford says was in the room when she says Kavanaugh attacked her.

CNN's Phil Mattingly has more on what to expect today on Capitol Hill.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, Dave and Christine, the moment is very nearly here. The stakes, they are enormous. Basically senators have to decide not only to change the balance of the U.S. Supreme Court but also to change the balance of their institution, to change the balance of how people deal with sexual assault allegations. All of that will be on the line in a hearing this morning.

Now to give you a little sense of the dynamics here, this is going to be a pretty small and contained hearing. They're going to limit the number of press, they're going to limit the number of visitors, of people who can watch the hearing. So don't expect the protests like we saw in the first Brett Kavanaugh hearing. But do expect a high stakes drama.

And here's why. Obviously Democratic senators have made clear they have a lot of questions for Brett Kavanaugh. They have a lot of questions for Christine Blasey Ford as well. Republicans, they have hired kind of an outside counsel to come in, bringing in a county prosecutor to ask questions, somebody with sex crimes experience, prosecution experience to ask those questions.

Most Republican senators I've spoken to say they plan to yield back their time. But the reality kind of looming above all of this is Brett Kavanaugh does not currently have the votes to be confirmed by the United States Senate.

[04:05:07] I have been told that by several Republican advisers. That means, this hearing means everything for his nomination. And when you look at everything that's surrounding this hearing, it means so much more than that -- Christine and Dave.

ROMANS: All right, Phil, thank you so much.

A big fat con job. That's how President Trump describes the mounting allegations against his Supreme Court nominee. But he admits his thinking is influenced by past allegations of sexual misconduct against him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I've had a lot of false charges against me. Really false charges. I know friends who have had false charges. People want fame. They want money. They want whatever. So when I see it, I view it differently than somebody sitting home watching television.

When you say does it affect me in terms of my thinking with respect to Judge Kavanaugh? Absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The opening statements for Judge Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford have been released ahead of this morning's testimony. Kavanaugh calls the allegations against him last-minute smears, pure and simple. He says, quote, "I never had any sexual or physical encounter of any kind with Dr. Ford. I'm not questioning that Dr. Ford may have been sexually assaulted by some person in some place at some time. I have never done that to her or to anyone. I'm innocent of this charge." ROMANS: Ford's testimony recounts her memory of Kavanaugh, his

alleged assault. She adds, "I don't have all the answers and I don't remember as much as I would like to. But the details about that night that bring me here today are ones I will never forget. It is not my responsibility to determine whether Mr. Kavanaugh deserves to sit on the Supreme Court. My responsibility is to tell the truth."

BRIGGS: The president after his news conference playing the George Washington card. Yes. Suggesting that even one of the founding fathers would be maligned by modern-day Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Look, if we brought George Washington here and we said we have George Washington, the Democrats would vote against him. Just so you understand. And he may have had a bad past. Who knows? You know. He may have had some I think accusations made. Didn't he have a couple of things in his past?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: And hence, George Washington trending on Twitter throughout the evening. Mr. Trump did not elaborate what exactly Washington could have been accused of. But there were rumors back in the day about him chopping down a cherry tree.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: I think that's fake news actually.

BRIGGS: Unsubstantiated.

ROMANS: I think that's actually fake news. The original fake news, the cherry tree.

All right. President Trump trying to ease the tensions surrounding his upcoming meeting with Rod Rosenstein. He is even suggesting that embattled deputy attorney general may not lose his job after all. At least not yet.

Rosenstein thought he was out after a stunning report claimed he spoke of wearing a wire to record the president with the goal of ousting him from office last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He said he never said it. He said he doesn't believe it. He said he has a lot of respect for me and he was very nice and we'll see. And he is a member of the Trump administration in that sense, the Justice Department. I would certainly prefer not doing that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The president also indicated he would postpone today's meeting with Rosenstein in order to avoid competing with Judge Kavanaugh's hearing. The meeting is not on the official White House schedule.

ROMANS: All right. President Trump trashing Canada over NAFTA. As the North American Trade pact without Canada is looking more unlikely by the day. Trump is unhappy with renegotiations. He claims he rejected a one-on-one meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Because his tariffs are too high and he doesn't seem to want to move. And I told him forget about it. And frankly we're thinking about just taxing cars coming in from Canada. That's the motherlode. That's the big one. We've very unhappy with the negotiations and the negotiating style of Canada.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The negotiating style of Canada. A spokesman for Trudeau said no meeting was requested. This is not the first time Trump has threatened Canadian cars. Autos are a central part of NAFTA renegotiations and a deal made between the U.S. and Mexico last month. The White House wants Canada to accept the terms of that agreement, that agreement with Mexico, by this weekend. If not the U.S. threatens to move ahead without them. They still differ on other key issues like access to Canada's dairy market.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They've treated our farmers in Wisconsin and New York state and a lot of other states very badly. Dairy products. 300 percent. 300 percent. How do you sell a dairy product at 300 percent?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Trump is referring to Canadian tariffs on U.S. dairy. Canada charges an average 249 percent tariff to protect its domestic ag industry. That's not uncommon. In fact U.S. and Canada already had an agreement to lower those tariffs. It was part of TPP which President Trump quit in his first week in office.

Dairy is a relatively small pile of money compared with all of the other trade the U.S. has with Canada.

[04:10:06] But you can see, the president had harsher words for Canada, a country that has fought and --

BRIGGS: Yes.

ROMANS: And whose citizens have died alongside the United States in wars post 9/11. Harsher words for Canada, allies that have bled with us, than Kim Jong-un who said -- he said wrote a magnificent, beautiful piece of word -- piece of art letter to him.

BRIGGS: Or Russia. Continues to attack our system.

ROMANS: It really got a lot of attention. Got a lot of attention. BRIGGS: Any deal would still have to go through Congress.

ROMANS: That's right. And there are already Republicans in Congress who've been saying, wait a second. We don't want to proceed. And the president doesn't want to call it NAFTA. He wants to rebrand it. And the --

BRIGGS: And he touched on that at USM --

ROMANS: Mexico-U.S. --

BRIGGS: Another part of that interesting press conference yesterday.

ROMANS: Right. Right.

BRIGGS: Ahead, one day after saying he has great respect for Xi Jinping, President Trump says China is meddling in U.S. elections. But what exactly is he basing this on?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:15:04] BRIGGS: It's about 4:15 Eastern Time. President Trump declaring a foreign power is trying to interfere in the upcoming midterm elections. But it's not the country you might think.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: China has been attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election. They are trying to meddle in our election. They would like to see me lose an election because they have never been challenged like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: The president making that claim three times on Wednesday.

CNN's Alexandra Field getting reaction for us. She joins us live from Hong Kong.

Good morning, Alex. What's the evidence here?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dave, look, there is no mention of Russian election interference and frankly no mention of any tactics that sound similar to the Russian campaign. Instead you have these allegations lodged over and over by the president that Beijing was interfering in the midterm elections as retribution essentially for the trade war that's been building up with Beijing.

The president offered scant details, very little evidence to back up his claims. But he did later tweet something that I suppose is suggesting evidence. It was an insert from "The Daily Mail." A Chinese state-sponsored newspaper that ran in the Iowa "Des Moines Register." This insert has articles supporting Beijing's stance on the trade war. The "Daily News" is a publication that has paid Western news outlets

before to publish its inserts and its ads. Look, this is what's being offered as evidence by President Trump. A top senior administration official tried to flush out the president's position later on in the day saying that Chinese tariffs targeting regions that supported Trump back in 2016 also amount to election interference and as the Trump administration officials tend to do, he teased that Vice President Mike Pence would be talking more about this Chinese campaign of interference in the future. Perhaps next week.

Chinese officials, particularly the representative to the U.N. Security Council where these accusations were made have flatly denied allegations that they are interfering -- Dave.

BRIGGS: Yes. Meddling or just hard ball. They have long targeted Trump country with these tariffs.

Alexandra Field, live for us in Hong Kong. Thanks.

ROMANS: Well, the president has a new view of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He now fully supports it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think the two-state will happen. I think it's in one way more difficult because it's a real estate deal because you need lots of leaps and bounds, and you need lots of carve outs and lots of everything. It's actually a little tougher deal. But in another way it works better because you have people governing themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Early in his presidency broke with precedent and backed away fully supporting a two-state solution.

CNN's Oren Liebermann joins us live from Jerusalem. And the president true to form bringing it back to what he knows, a real estate deal.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very much so. And he also clearly endorsed a two-state solution repeatedly. And for the first time from the Trump administration the first time he did so was in the morning sitting just a few feet away from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That is how he started his day at the United Nations General Assembly.

Part of that meeting was predictable. Netanyahu and Trump thanking each other for the good relations and that's when it suddenly went into very much newsmaking, with the Trump administration's first clear backing of a two-state solution. He was asked repeatedly by a reporter at that meeting and he said again and again I like the two- state solution. Netanyahu sitting just a few feet away was notably silent.

Trump also said 100 percent the Palestinians are coming back to the table for negotiations. He said he's put economic pressure on them cutting some $550 million in aid and suggesting that might come back if the Palestinians come back to the table.

But that hasn't led to a softening of the Palestinian position. Just the opposite. The Palestinians have entrenched themselves and said they won't negotiate with the American administration or even consider whatever peace plan it is that the administration puts forward. Trump did say his peace plan would come in some three to four months.

As for the reaction, well, Netanyahu again didn't say anything when Trump endorsed the two-state solution right next to him. Netanyahu did say at a briefing with reporters a little bit later that the term state is something you can define in different ways. And he wants to talk substance rather than just terms.

Christine, both Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas will be speaking today at the General Assembly.

ROMANS: All right. Oren Lieberman in Jerusalem. Thanks, Oren.

All right, 20 minutes past the hour. Not exactly "Jaws" but check this out. A seal goes after a kayaker.

BRIGGS: With an octopus.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: In New Zealand.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:24:15] ROMANS: San Francisco's brand new Sales Force Transit Center shutdown causing days of gridlock downtown. Now a second crack has been discovered in a steel beam supporting the $2.2 billion, three-block long structure. Officials say they're investigating the cause noting it could be an issue with fabrication, welding insulation or design. The transit center is a key commuter hub uniting San Francisco with the East Bay. It will likely remain closed through next week.

BRIGGS: Kayaking is usually not a contact sport but it was for one man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Underwater? Whoa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

BRIGGS: Ouch. A kayaker gets slapped in the face by the tentacles of an octopus that a seal tossed out of the water.

[04:25:03] The bizarre encounter off the waters of New Zealand. Kyle Mulinder says he and his friends were watching the seal tussle with the octopus before it was tossed out of the water by the said seal.

ROMANS: Wow.

BRIGGS: That will leave a mark. He laughed it off, though. Well played.

ROMANS: Slow and steady wins the brace. That's the miniature wheelchair made from Legos helping this injured turtle heal. He was found at a park near the Maryland Zoo in July with severe fractures under his skull. Workers say it was likely from being hit by a car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we are trying to find something to keep him off the ground since he has the fractures on the bottom of the shell. We didn't want him touching the ground to reduce his pain. We thought of attaching Lego wheels to something that we could put above him like a brace. And so that's where the idea of the wheelchair came in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Oh my gosh, that is the cutest thing I have seen all day. It is only 4:25 a.m.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: Zoo officials say the eastern box turtle is doing great, riding in style. They plan to return him to the wild once he is fully healed. That's cute.

BRIGGS: That is very cute.

All right. One way or another, history will be made today. Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford will testify. Will her accusations keep him off the Supreme Court?

CNN's coverage begins at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time with Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper. The hearing starts at 10:00. You can see it on TV and online at CNN.com. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)