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EARLY START
Mueller Digs In; President Trump New Situation Implicated Crime; Chief of Staff Search; Miami Miracle; Jamal Khashoggi's Last Word, I Can't Breathe; Who is Konstantin Kilimnik; Comey Lashes Out At Trump; Jerome Corsi Sues Mueller; E.U. Court Decides U.K. Can Cancel Brexit; SNL Skewers Trump. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired December 10, 2018 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF, (D), CALIFORNIA: He may be the first President in quite some time to face the prospect of real jail time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALISON KOSIK, CNN HOST: President Donald Trump dipping into his playbook of distraction and denial as the Mueller investigation ramps up.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN HOST: President Trump looking for a new chief of staff to replace John Kelly. Why his top pick pass on the job.
KOSIK: I can't breathe. Those are the final words of Jamal Khashoggi. What else could transcripts reveal about his murder?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A miracle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: That is the ending game and you got to see the middle of an incredible play by the Miami Dolphins. How they pulled off a win with no time left on the clock. The Miami miracle on a Monday. Welcome back to Early Start, I'm Dave Briggs.
KOSIK: Good morning. I'm Alison Kosik. It is 30 minutes past the hour. And the White House operating under an entirely new circumstance this week, now that the Justice Department has clearly implicated President Trump in a crime. Prosecutors in New York saying the President directed his former lawyer Michael Cohen to break campaign finance laws, making illegal hush payments to two women who claimed they had affairs with Mr. Trump.
The special counsel's team revealing new contacts between Trump associates in Russia including a Russian national offering a government level political synergy. Mueller's team also explaining, they dropped their plea agreement with former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, because he lied about contacts with a Russian intelligent official.
BRIGGS: In this new environment, Democrats are no longer quite as cautious about using the "I" word, impeachment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JERROLD NADLER, (D) JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: They would be impeachable offenses whether they are important enough to justify an impeachment is a different question, but certainly they would be impeachable offenses.
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY, (D), CONNECTICUT: The President has now stepped into the same territory that ultimately led to President Nixon resigning the office. President Nixon was an unindicted co- conspirator.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The Washington Post reporting anxiety is spiking among Republicans. They worry the White House has no real plan to deal with the accelerating Mueller probe. Here's Sara Westwood from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
SARA WESTWOOD, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDET: Well, Dave and Alison, the President spent this weekend going after the Paris climate accord railing against his former FBI director, calling for an end to the Russia investigation. Basically talking about anything other than prosecutors claiming in court filings submitted Friday, but the President directed his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to make a pair of illegal payments during the presidential race. That Trump has attempted to tout his latest documents as vindication, because they did not contain evidence of Russian collusion, but they did linked the President directly to payments that he initially denied knowledge of. That those payments to two women who tried to come forward during the presidential election with allegations of affairs.
Now all of this comes against the back draft of a major staff shake up. The President announced Saturday that John Kelly, his White House chief of staff, would be leaving the administration by the end of the year. And his first choice for the job, Nick Ayers, the current Chief of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence will also be leaving the administration after merely accepting the role as Kelly's replacement.
Our colleague Kaitlan Collins reports that Ayers and Trump had discussed the prospect of Pence's Chief of Staff replacing Kelly. But Ayers wanted to do it on a temporary basis and the President wanted a two-year commitment from Ayers.
Now CNN has told that the President is considering four names to replace Kelly. One of them, may be Republican Congressman Mark Meadows, he is a close ally of the President on Capitol Hill. And CNN has also told that the President aims to make this decision by the end of the year. David and Alison.
(END VIDEO)
KOSIK: OK. Sara, thanks very much. According to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Paul Manafort lied about five major issues after agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors. Including his interactions with the man named Konstantin Kilimnik. Mueller says Kilimnik has ties to the Russian Intelligence Unit that hacked the Democrats during the 2016 campaign. CNN's Fred Pleitgen, live for us from Moscow. So Fred, what are you learning about Konstantin Kilimnik?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Alison, he is an important figure to Paul Manafort. He worked for Paul Manafort for a very long time while Manafort was doing business in Eastern Europe, of course specifically in Ukraine which at that point in time had a president who was very pro-Russian.
[04:35:04] And they also worked together for a Russian oligarch named Oleg Deripaska, who is very close to Vladimir Putin. As you mentioned, the Mueller investigation says Kilimnik has ties to Russian intelligence and that Manafort lied about allegedly not meeting Kilimnik when he was chair of the Trump campaign in 2016, but then the Mueller team confronted him with those lies. I want to read you a little bit from the latest Mueller document, it says and I quote, this is a heavily redacted document, some of them are black out, you see that.
The evidence of the above includes electronic communications, including detailed description of parts redacted, drafted and travel records after being told of such evidence, Manafort conceded that he and Kilimnik discussed or may have discussed -- another redacted part -- at each meeting.
As you can see, he is someone that was met and also -- Kilimnik is also accused by the Mueller team of apparently tampering with witnesses after Manafort got arrested, so certainly, someone of big interest to the Mueller investigation. Just quickly, we are on a conference call right now with the Kremlin. If we get any more reaction from them on this matter, I'll bring that you very soon. Alison.
KOSIK: OK. We will certainly come back to you if you learned anything new there. Fred Pleitgen, from Moscow, thanks.
BRIGGS: James Comey calling outright for President Trump's defeat in 2020. The former FBI Director interviewed on stage last night at New York's famed 92nd Street Y. He practically begged Democrats to set aside their differences and nominate a candidate who is best equipped to beat Trump. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: All of us should use every breath we have to make sure that the lying stops on January 20th 2021.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRIGGS: Those comments coming after the President tweeted without
evidence that Comey lied to the House Judiciary Committee 245 times last week. The former FBI Director spent six hours behind closed doors on Friday, answering questions mostly about Hillary Clinton's emails.
KOSIK: According to the transcripts of the session, Comey was asked by Democrat, Jerry Nadler, whether if he is best friends with Robert Mueller as President Trump claims. And Comey response, I am not. I admire the heck out of the man, but I don't know his phone number. I have never been to his house. I don't know his children's names. I think had a meal once alone with him in a restaurant. Nadler replies, referring to a Trump claim, I will not ask whether if you ever have hugged and kissed him. Comey response, a relief to my wife.
BRIGGS: Indeed. Breaking overnight. Jerome Corsi has filed suit against Robert Mueller in Federal Court. The conspiracy theorist and Roger Stone associate has already testified before the Special Counsel's grand jury and is refusing to sign a plea deal. In his lawsuit, he claims Mueller threatened to indict him and put him in federal prison effectively for the rest of his life, unless he provided the false testimony he says, Mueller is demanding.
Corsi alleges Mueller still wanted a testimony even after he was informed, it would be false. He also alleges federal authorities unconstitutionally searched his electronic records and phone. Corsi's lawsuit seeks $350 million in damages.
KOSIK: The New York Times reports President Trump's son in law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, offered Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman advice on how to quote, weather the storm after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
White House protocol requires that national Security Council staff be present on all phone calls with foreign leaders, but the Times reports that Kushner and Mohammad Bin Salman continued chatting informally following the Washington Post columnist death.
In his statement, the White House spokesman told the Times, quote, Jared has always meticulously followed protocol and guidelines regarding their relationship with MBS and all of the other foreign officials with whom he interacts.
BRIGGS: I can't breathe. Those are the final words of Jamal Khashoggi. A transcript of the audio recording of the murder of journalist death seen by a CNN source also includes the sound of Khashoggi's body being dismembered by a saw. Nic Robertson joins us live now from London this morning with his exclusive reporting. Nic, good morning.
NIC ROBERTSON, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CNN CORRESPONDENT: From what the source says from his reading of the transcripts, as soon Jamal Khashoggi walks into the consulate, he recognizes somebody that he knows. This person is a Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, the former Saudi diplomat intelligence officer. Khashoggi knows him and asked him what he is doing there. And Mutreb said to Khashoggi, you are coming back. Khashoggi says I can't do that. There are people waiting outside for me. And immediately there are sounds of people jumping on him and attacking him. And of course, this is contrary to what the Saudis have said which was, you know, that his death was accidental.
04:40:00] Indeed, what you can hear very clearly on this tape is anything, but that. Immediately jumped upon and then Khashoggi can be heard multiple times, multiple times saying, I can't breathe, I can't breathe. Then there's a sound of him screaming and the sound of him gasping and other noises that are identified as saw and cutting.
We know that another person identified in that room by Turkish officials is the forensic doctor from the Saudi Intelligence Office, who tells people if they do not like what they are hearing, put their earphones in or listen to music like him. And also the transcript indicates that Mutreb talks to somebody on several phone calls, telling them it's done. The job, the thing is done. Saudi authorities who have reached out to say they are have reviewed the transcript and reviewed the audio recording and see no evidence there that a phone call was made. And a source - a Saudi source close to the Saudi investigation says, that both the two men identified, the forensic doctor, and Mutreb say they did not make a phone call. Lindsey Graham, of course, the Republican Senator, has as we know, said that there is a ton of intelligence linking that team in the Consulate killing Jamal Khashoggi to comprehend Mohammad Bin Salman.
BRIGGS: All right. Nic Robertson, live for us this morning. Thanks.
KOSIK: Worried about the U.S. and China trade war resulting in another round of heavy selling on Friday. Capping up a brutal wreak on Wall Street. The DOW fell 559 points on Friday. The NASDAQ closed down 3 percent. While the S&P 500 fell about 2 percent. For the week, the DOW plunged over 1100 points. Keep in mind, that was a short trading week, only four days of trading for George H.W. Bush's funeral. It was the index's worst week since March of this year.
Investors were left confused by conflicting messages coming from two White House officials on the trade negotiations with China. Larry Kudlow, the director of the president's national economic council told CNBC on Friday that the trade talks with China are extremely promising, however White House trade advisor, Peter Navarro, struck a different tone on CNN, listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER NAVARRO, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF TRADE AND MANUFACTURING TARIFFS: China is at a point now at an inflection point. It either has to change itself structurally and come into the world of free trading nations and be peaceful or it can continue doing what it is doing. If it is going to continue doing what it is doing, we have a President who is going to stand up to that for once and the American people should be appreciative of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Investors also received a softer jobs report on Friday. The Labor Department said the U.S. added 155,000 jobs in November. That misses the expectations. Interestingly enough here, the jobs report, that did not trigger the sell-off, because some traders are figuring that the slowdown in employment and in hiring will reduce pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. The thinking is that the fed will raise fewer or not as much as far --
BRIGGS: I guess the concern is that the fed was bullied by the President. Maybe not, but it certainly could look that way on the surface.
KOSIK: It could.
BRIGGS: They are cooperating with what the President would like, but we are not to see economy driving that.
Ahead, French President Emmanuel Macron meeting right now with political and business leaders after a fourth weekend of violent protests. We go live to Paris next.
[04:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Breaking news. The European court of justice ruling the U.K. can cancel Brexit without the permission of the other 27 E.U. members. It comes one day before members of parliament are due to vote on the British Prime Minister, Theresa May's Brexit deal. The proposal is widely expected to be rejected. The BBC is reporting the ruling makes staying in the E.U. a real viable option and it might sway some to vote that way, but May's government are firmly behind Brexit.
BRIGGS: Embattled French, President Emmanuel Macron meeting right now with political and business leaders, local officials and unions. Later today, he will address the nation, calling for national unity. Macron's speech follows a fourth weekend of sometimes a violent protest that drew 136,000 demonstrators on Saturday alone. For the latest on the crisis engulfing French society, let's turn welcome European correspondent, Jim Bittermann, live in Paris. Jim, good morning. This yellow vest protests were about these fuel tax which was scrapped. Why are they protesting still?
JIM BITTERMANN, SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, basically, there is a lot of people have joined in with these protests, because they see it as a chance to win their own favorite concessions from the government. Things like property tax and the government saying it is possible they may have to abolish the property tax and things like bonus for help buying power. And some people are saying the government could come up with a much of a thousand Euros bonus to help people who can't make ends meet at the end of the month.
The kind of things that Macron faces this morning, in addition to those business and social leaders that are meeting with him are the headlines in newspapers this morning. Here is one from (inaudible) the things he has to change. (Inaudible) saying (inaudible) and Macron looking for the words to get out of this crisis, but for most people, it is going to take more than words. It is going to take some kind of very concrete action. This is now the fourth weekend. The question is, will there be a fifth weekend? No one is saying, but they will wait until the President speech tonight at 8:00 local time. Dave.
BRIGGS: It should be a fascinating speech. Jim Bittermann, live for us in Paris this morning. Thank you.
[04:50:00] Ahead, they are calling it the Miami miracle, but not in New England.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Touchdown!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: That is the ending. You have to see the middle in the Miami miracle. The last-ditch play all the sports world is talking about this morning.
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[04:55:00] KOSIK: Oklahoma University quarterback Kyler Murray apologizing just hours after winning the Heisman trophy for using homophobic language on Twitter in 2011. In the tweets, Murray mockingly used the word queer or queers. Many of the offensive tweets have since been deleted. Murray said this on Sunday, I apologize for the tweets that have come to light tonight when - from when I was 14 and 15. I used a poor choice of word which doesn't reflect who I am or what I believe. I did not intend to single out any individual or group. He is obviously a very talented quarterback. Murray's future may actually be in Major League Baseball. He was drafted ninth overall this year by the Oakland A's and he is scheduled to report to a spring training in February.
BRIGGS: Good to have options. All right they are calling it the Miami miracle, not in New England, of course, but the Dolphins shocking New England on the final play of the game, Sunday. A 69-yard pass and double lateral play that gave the Dolphins an improbable and impossible 34-33 win over the Patriots.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Touchdown!
(APPLAUSE)
(CHEERS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Kenyan Drake getting it done, Rob Gronkowski not. You saw him take the -- that angle right here, kind a stumbling on the field. He was out there for a possible Hail Mary, but that was not what they got. "The Boston Globe" calls it the immaculate dejection this morning. I like that.
KOSIK: that was some play. All right the latest schedules to rock the White House and President Trump giving "Saturday Night Live" plenty of materials to work with. Look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Federal prosecutors said prior to Michael Cohen committed two election related crimes at the direction of a person identified as individual one. Now, we don't know for sure who individual one is, but let's just say things are getting tense right now, over at individual one tower.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump is now calling for an end to the Mueller probe which -- I got to admit -- it's worth a shot. I mean, you don't want to go to jail and find out you could have called it off the whole time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump announced that John Kelly, his Chief of Staff, is leaving his position at the end of the year, because Kelly requires extensive surgery to remove his palm from his face.
(LAUGHTER)
That is how awful it is to work in the Trump White House, by the way. John Kelly spent 40 years in the marines, he did three tours in Iraq, and he could not finish one tour with Donald Trump.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Yes. He will be leaving at the end of the year.
All right, let's get a check of CNN Business this morning. Global stocks are down amid continuing trade tensions. In Asia, the Nikkei fell 2 percent. The Shanghai is down almost 1 percent. The Hang Seng down 1 percent. And European markets, the DAX in Germany is down below 1 percent as trading opens there. The FTSE in London is down a bit and the CAC in Paris is down about half a percent.
On Wall Street futures are lower after heavy selling on Friday, those worries about the U.S.-China trade war All right capping up a brutal week on Wall Street and beginning a new week. The DOW fell 559 points on Friday. The NASDQ closed down 3 percent. While the S&P 500 fell as well. For the week, the DOW plunged over 1,100 points. It was the index's worst week since March of this year and it was the Index's worst week since March of this year and also major indices have erase all of their gains for 2018.
OPEC and its allies, reaching a deal to slash oil production Friday, despite pressure from President Trump to keep pumping. The cuts will remove 1.2 million barrels a day from world markets. U.S. crude prices spike almost 5 percent of $54 a barrel after the news.
Members of OPEC pledging to reduce their production by 800,000 barrels per day for six months, this is going to begin in January. Russia and other producers outside the Cartel promising to cut an additional 400,000 barrels per day. The deal should help eliminate excess supply. Right now, the U.S. is pumping at record levels and recently surpasses Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest oil producer for the first time since 1973.
Carlos Ghosn and Nissan were indicted on Monday on allegations on financial Misconduct. According to Japanese public broadcaster NHK in Tokyo, prosecutors indicted Ghosn and Nissan for under reporting his income. In a press released, Nissan said this quote, making false disclosures in annual security reports greatly harms the integrity of Nissan's public disclosures in the security markets. And the company expresses its deepest regret. Ghosn was arrested last month in Tokyo. He has been removed as chairman of Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors. And he has been temporarily replaced as head of France's Renault. Ghosn has not yet responded publicly to the allegations, but I will tell you what, his allegations there really probably are really piling up.
BRIGGS: Yes. Not looking good for him. All right, Early Start continues right now.
