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EARLY START

Democrats And GOP Headed For Holiday Standoff; Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg Resigns; California Deputies Mistake Carjacking Victim For Suspect. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired December 24, 2019 - 05:30   ET

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


[05:30:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We, at the very minimum, will require votes.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Look, we're at an impasse. We can't do anything until the speaker sends the papers over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: The impeachment standoff apparently going to last into the new year. What Democrats are demanding and why Republicans are not budging.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? Well, keep on dreaming. But some parts of the country, they're going to be facing wicked weather for the holiday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POLICE OFFICER: Get out of the car.

DAVID WARD, SUSPECTED CARJACKER: All right, I'm getting out, I'm getting out. (Screaming)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: New video of a deadly confrontation between California deputies and a suspected carjacker. It turns out the man was driving his own car.

KOSIK: Good morning, this is EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.

JOHNS: And I'm Joe Johns. It is 30 minutes past the hour.

Not much holiday spirit in Washington this morning. Congress seems to be headed toward a long standoff over the framework for a Senate impeachment trial.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer warning Democrats will stand firm on their demand for more witnesses and documents. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHUMER: We, at the very minimum, will require votes from all the senators on each of the witnesses and about each of these sets of documents. And I don't think my colleagues, Democrat or Republican, are going to -- going to want to vote to withhold evidence in such an important trial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: It would take 20 Republican votes to remove President Trump but only four would have to side with Democrats to compel witnesses or documents. At the moment, though, it is unlikely Republicans will budge.

Congress is not slated to return to Washington until January sixth. Officials are prepared for several weeks without any resolution to the face-off.

Here's congressional reporter Lauren Fox.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Both sides digging in, in Washington, over when and if the Senate impeachment trial will start in January. There are still questions looming as everyone is waiting on Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, to send over those two articles of impeachment.

And, Democrats still insisting on getting witnesses, even as majority leader Mitch McConnell makes it clear he needs Nancy Pelosi to send over those articles before he makes his next move.

MCCONNELL: It seems to me a rather absurd position to say after you've impeached the president you won't send the papers over to the Senate for the impeachment trial mandated by the Constitution. And look, we're at an impasse. We can't do anything until the speaker sends the papers over, so everybody enjoy the holidays.

FOX: And there was more fiery back and forth in Washington on Monday. This, as Chuck Schumer sent a letter to his colleagues arguing that they need to be negotiating witnesses now and not wait until the start of the Senate impeachment trial.

Of course, Republicans have been arguing that what they are going to do is something very similar to what they did during the Clinton impeachment trial. You have the House managers make their case on the Democratic side, then you have the president's lawyers defending him on the Senate floor. Then you would make a decision about witnesses.

But all sides, at this point, digging in. No sign that the stalemate will break anytime soon -- Joe and Alison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill, thanks for that. And there's more. House Democrats raising the prospect of impeaching President Trump again. The suggestion coming in a court filing from the House Judiciary Committee seeking to force testimony from White House counsel Don McGahn. The committee says McGahn could shed light on alleged obstruction of justice by the president in the Robert Mueller investigation. That charge was not included in the articles of impeachment passed last week.

KOSIK: Earlier Monday, the Justice Department argued in its own filing the House impeachment ends any urgency to tie up the McGahn case and that the courts should not get involved. That's even though Republicans argue Democrats should have gone to court to resolve impeachment issues.

The McGahn case is expected to be heard on January third.

JOHNS: So we're going to have more on this ahead. Plus, a tragic end to the search for a woman missing since October when she told a friend she was involved in a shootout.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:37:54]

KOSIK: An impeachment standoff on Capitol Hill this morning. Democrats demanding Senate Republicans allow witness testimony and new documents in the trial over removing President Trump. Republicans demanding House Democrats first send over the articles of impeachment approved last week.

JOHNS: Will either side blink?

Joining us in person -- an early Christmas gift -- "Washington Post" congressional correspondent Karoun Demirjian. She is a CNN political analyst.

So, good to see you --

KOSIK: Good morning.

KAROUN DEMIRJIAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Good morning. Good to see you, too.

JOHNS: -- and thanks for coming in.

DEMIRJIAN: Yes.

JOHNS: I guess we ought to just begin with the big question on everybody's mind is what's the bottom line on what's going on, on Capitol Hill, between the speaker and the majority leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell? Everybody's guessing.

One of the signals that Pelosi has sent, for example, is she doesn't want to appoint impeachment managers until such time she knows what's going on with fairness in the Senate.

What does that mean? Does that mean she'll appoint more impeachment managers if there aren't witnesses; less if there are or what?

DEMIRJIAN: It's tough to know exactly what the math is of what ends up happening at the end of the day. This is the leverage she has right now.

And she and McConnell are very well-matched opponents. They're both -- they can be very stubborn. They're both very good at counting the votes that they have.

And right now, it's not a clear sign of whether Mitch McConnell has 51 Republican votes in the Senate to back him up and the White House's lawyers up in their conviction. That this would be better done without any live witnesses, without any of the fact witnesses, and going through that again -- just sticking to the discovery that the House did.

JOHNS: So how does it play out, though?

DEMIRJIAN: We don't know exactly because there are new pieces of evidence that are coming forward.

Because the president is in Mar-a-Lago right now and he is not necessarily -- he is potentially a new thing that could happen depending on how he tweets, frankly. He doesn't really agree with his lawyers that they should keep witnesses out of this.

And so, Nancy Pelosi is hoping that in this time -- she can't hold onto these articles forever and politically defend the impeachment that they did.

So she's hoping to use these two weeks and maybe another week after they get back to find that leverage, basically, through new evidence that comes forward -- through the pressure that puts on Republican senators -- and hope that that shifts the pendulum in her favor so that they have to actually hear from some people in the Senate trial, which is what the Democrats define as fair even if the Republicans don't.

[05:40:17]

KOSIK: And so, as we see House Democrats trying to get testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn in an effort to impeach President Trump a second time --

DEMIRJIAN: Right.

KOSIK: -- what do you see as the upside to -- in this effort to impeach him again during -- you know, during an election year?

DEMIRJIAN: Right. I mean, well, the upside to getting McGahn is that he's kind of -- would be -- break the logjam on all of the former administration officials that have refused to testify because the White House told them not to. If he's forced to come forward then you could hear from John Bolton and other people like that who would potentially have pretty important information. But impeachment is supposed to be the worst of the worst, right? And yes, there is a disagreement among Democrats of do you add obstruction of justice to the list of articles. They decided no, maybe because they felt like they weren't there yet.

But once you've impeached, to come back and say OK, let's impeach again that much closer to the November elections, it takes some of the punch out of that punch. It's a little bit well, why didn't you do that in the first place? And it's a harder political argument to defend, especially when even in the first go-around, you couldn't really tick the approval numbers for impeachment and really pass 50 percent and have them stick.

JOHNS: There's been another Rudy Giuliani eruption for lack --

DEMIRJIAN: Yes.

JOHNS: -- of a better word. This time, in "New Yorker" with Olivia Nuzzi.

Among the things he's suggested is he knows Lev and Igor, those two guys, because --

KOSIK: The guys from Miami.

JOHNS: Right -- you're right -- right.

DEMIRJIAN: Right. Just like regular men, yes.

JOHNS: Because -- you know, right. They're regular Florida guys.

Another thing he said is -- he's made some references to Soros -- George Soros and him being Jewish or not Jewish enough.

What do you make of the continued statements by this person because not to have to remind the viewers, this is the personal attorney for the President of the United States?

DEMIRJIAN: It is and he keeps throwing things on the fire that just make people's head start to explode, whether -- whichever party you're in, frankly, because they wonder why are you just leaning into these things.

People wondered why did he go back to Ukraine when the president was in the middle of the impeachment scrutiny and basically do what he was being accused of.

And this -- I mean, Rudy Giuliani marches to the beat of his own drum, as we know. But also, the fact that the president sticks with him just shows you how divided this White House is on what's a smart strategy going forward.

Do you play it safe? Do you play by the rules? Do you stop trying to invite scrutiny? Or are you just putting on a show and don't care what people think that you're doing because you think that you're pretty much unimpeachable, to use a word that is relevant right now. He has been impeached, but you knew what I mean.

JOHNS: Yes.

DEMIRJIAN: That you can get away with anything basically, and Rudy Giuliani is an example of that. And the fact that he speaks so -- in ways that both don't necessarily ring that plausible for what he's doing and in ways that are potentially offensive to other people as well just shows that he feels like he can act -- he can act with impunity, and the president not separating himself from that, seems to think that somewhere it's working. And, you know, the base seems to be lapping it up still.

And so I don't know when it stops, if it does at all, unless Rudy Giuliani really causes a problem for the president. But at this point, he has the Senate GOP behind him and so he's got a little bit of wiggle room or at least feels like he does.

KOSIK: OK. So in an effort, apparently, to really appeal to his base we're seeing the president really use climate in this election, going off in a rant over the weekend about windmills. I want you to listen to this --

DEMIRJIAN: Yes.

KOSIK: -- and we'll talk on the backside.

DEMIRJIAN: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, I never understood wind. I know windmills very much. I've studied it better than anybody and it's very expensive. Tremendous fumes, gases are spewing into the atmosphere.

You know, we have a world, right, so the world is tiny compared to the universe. So tremendous, tremendous amount of fumes and everything. You talk -- you talk about the carbon footprint, fumes are spewing into the air, right -- spewing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: OK, much of what he said there, for the record, not true. But this isn't the only rant he's gone on. He's gone on rants about dishwashers, and low-flow toilets --

DEMIRJIAN: Right.

KOSIK: -- and drinking straws.

DEMIRJIAN: Yes.

KOSIK: What's his strategy here? Why try to kind of appeal to his base and years past -- all that nostalgia -- versus the radical change that Democrats are going for? DEMIRJIAN: Right. I mean, Democrats are going for the Green New Deal and everything else like that and trying to fundamentally say you can -- you know, both corporations should change the way that they act. And also, you can personally change the way that you behave in this regard, too.

I think the president just kind of likes eschewing that and he feels like it kind of appeals to a simpler time to say --

KOSIK: Do you think it's going to work?

DEMIRJIAN: Potentially, with some people of my grandmother's generation who just really don't want to be troubled by the idea of having to sort through their trash and things like that.

I think that for the most part, though, a lot of people that do support the president scratched their head about this one because there is science behind this. Most people -- yes, there are people that are climate change deniers but for the most part, people are in agreement that there is a problem.

[05:45:00]

And that there are economic incentives, too, for investing in windmills, investing in solar energy, and things like that that the president fights against.

So I feel like this is a part of his rhetoric that maybe appeals to a slight subset of his base and they get real worked up about that. And for everybody else it's one of those things that they just try to tune out because the economy is going well or other things are going well that they appreciate about the president's presidency.

KOSIK: Let's see what else is going to be on the --

DEMIRJIAN: It's not the first time for windmills, so --

KOSIK: I can't -- I can't wait to see what else he pulls out of his hat.

Karoun Demirjian, thanks so much for your time today. I'm so glad you can come in on this holiday.

DEMIRJIAN: Thank you. Great to be here with you.

JOHNS: CEO Dennis Muilenburg is leaving Boeing after struggling unsuccessfully to right the company in the wake of two deadly crashes. The 737 MAX accidents killed 346 people. They revealed a corporate culture that discounted safety concerns and treated federal regulators as little more than rubber stamps.

Muilenburg had been with Boeing more than 30 years. He'd been praised for bringing in record profits and tripling Boeing's stock price, but the tragedies in Ethiopia and Indonesia were too much to overcome.

Cristina Alesci has more. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CRISTINA ALESCI, POLITICS AND BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT, CNN BUSINESS: Joe, Alison, Muilenburg should have seen this coming. The company suffered a series of very public missteps since Boeing's 737 MAX airplane was grounded.

For the last nine months, Muilenburg has tried to get the approvals necessary from regulators to get the plane back in the air. Instead, last week, the company announced it was suspending production of the 737 MAX, which was a huge blow for the company, its suppliers, and customers. And that comes on top of Boeing shifting its time line for the 737's return several times throughout the year.

Now, one of my sources telling me the board was very concerned about the feedback it was getting from customers and regulators about poor communications from Muilenburg, himself. Bottom line, the board saying the problem boils down to a lack of confidence in Muilenburg's leadership.

Muilenburg was called on Sunday night and informed of the board's decision to ask him to step down. I heard that some people on the board were concerned about removing the CEO in the middle of trying to fix the problem with the 737 MAX but ultimately, the board decided it was on the right track with regulators and now was a good time to make that change.

Big picture here, Boeing is one of America's largest exporters, one of the largest domestic manufacturers, so it is an important part of the U.S. economy. In fact, some analysts estimate a production halt that lasts through the entire first quarter can knock a half a percentage point off of GDP.

Now, we'll see what happens from here but the company is hopeful to get the 737 flying again in 2020 -- Joe, Alison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: Don't go anywhere. We're going to be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:50:54]

JOHNS: The Pentagon has identified the U.S. service member killed Monday in Afghanistan as Army Sgt. First Class Michael J. Goble of New Jersey. The 33-year-old was assigned to the Army's 7th Special Forces Group at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

The Pentagon is pushing back against the Taliban's claim of responsibility for Goble's death. The U.S. says troops were inspecting a weapons cache when an explosive went off.

KOSIK: Tens of millions of people are traveling this holiday week. The west coast already dealing with a powerful storm bringing heavy rain and mountain snow. The probability of a white Christmas over the last 40 years or so

decent in the north; not so much in the south. This year, dreaming of a white Christmas -- well, that may be as close as you can get.

Here is meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, certainly going to be dreaming of a white Christmas here when you take a look at where snow is currently on the ground. You've got to be into the higher elevations of the western U.S. or the northern tier of the country, and that is about it. Of course, we've had Christmas Eves and Christmas days where plenty of snowfall has kind of shifted a little farther towards the south, but that won't be the case this go-around.

High pressure begins to build here in the wake of a very slow-moving system off the southeastern coastline, so we'll generally begin to see a warming trend across much of the eastern half of the United States.

And, of course, a drying trend, as well, as this system departs here off of the Carolinas. It left with it quite a bit of rainfall right there on the immediate coast of Georgia and South Carolina. But beyond this afternoon and this evening, it is all but offshore, so we begin to see that dry air weather pattern take shape.

And then, the western U.S., that's where all the action is. The four- corner states, portions of the high country of Arizona into Utah, certainly into Nevada and areas of the higher elevations of California -- that's where all the wintry weather is. And that is about it here when it comes to active weather over the next 24 or so hours.

Los Angeles only 60 degrees, but in Chicago we'll take a 53 on Christmas Eve. And a pair of fours out of New York City with generally dry weather over the next couple of days -- guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: Pedram Javaheri, thanks so much.

Last-minute holiday shopping has paid off big-time. Sales for the last Saturday before Christmas, also known as Super Saturday, hitting a record $34.4 billion. That's the biggest U.S. shopping day in history in data first reported by Bloomberg. Customer Growth Partners said Super Saturday's results topped Black Friday sales by 10 percent.

The National Retail Federation expects the average American will spend over $1,000 this holiday season. That's the most ever recorded.

The best deals may be actually the week after Christmas. An estimated 68 percent of holiday shoppers are expected to hit stores to look for more sales after the holiday.

The newest electric car company on the block just hauled in its biggest investment yet. Rivian, the company making electric vehicles for Amazon and Ford, raising $1.3 billion. That brings Rivian's fundraising total for the year to almost $3 billion.

Not only is Rivian developing its own pickup truck and SUV, it's helping Ford develop a new plug-in battery vehicle. It's also making 100,000 electric delivery vans for Amazon.

Rivian's pickup truck is seen as the biggest competition for Tesla's new Cybertruck.

JOHNS: An attorney for the parents of two missing Idaho children downplaying concerns about the parents' actions without addressing the welfare of their 7-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter.

The lawyer for Chad Daybell and his wife Lori telling the "East Idaho News" he is in contact with the couple. The attorney said, "Chad Daybell was a loving husband and has the support of his children in this matter. Lori Daybell is a devoted mother and resents assertions to the contrary."

Friday, police in Rexburg, Idaho issued a missing endangered children alert after deeming the death of Chad Daybell's former wife suspicious. The children, Joshua Vallow and Tylee Ryan, were last seen weeks before Tammy Daybell was found dead.

KOSIK: A tragic mystery in the backwoods of Michigan. A body found submerged in a flooded area near the town of Honor has been identified as 47-year-old Adrienne Quintal.

[05:55:08]

She had not been seen since calling a friend in October to say she was involved in a shootout with two men.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNY BRYSON, SISTER OF ADRIENNE QUINTAL: It's been hard searching for her. And even though we are glad to have some closure, it has been heart-wrenching.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Officials say an initial investigation showed no signs of foul play even though there were shell casings and bullet holes at the cabin where Quintal was staying.

The medical examiner will determine a cause of death.

JOHNS: We want to warn you now the video in this next story could be disturbing. A California's sheriff's deputy has been placed on leave after bodycam video showed him violently removing a driver from a car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POLICE OFFICER 1: Get out of the car.

WARD: All right, I'm getting out, I'm getting out. (Screaming).

POLICE OFFICER 1: His leg's under the wheel. Let go of my leg.

POLICE OFFICER 2: Let go of the wheel.

WARD: I will.

POLICE OFFICER 1: He just bit me.

WARD: (Screaming).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Now, those officers were responding to a report that a car had been stolen after a pursuit. Deputies Charlie Blount and Jason Little tried to pull David Ward out, thinking he was the carjacker. It turns out Ward was driving his own car and had been the victim of a carjacking.

He later died at the hospital. The officer's attorney says Ward is responsible for his own death because he took "bizarre actions," quote, that left deputies thinking he was an armed carjacker.

KOSIK: A Missouri family dealing with unimaginable loss this Christmas Eve. Two boys drowned in a frozen pond near their home. CNN affiliate KMOV names the brothers as 7-year-old Cleveland and 8- year-old Terrance Hicks.

Authorities say the boys went on a bike ride and ended up on thin ice covering a shallow lake. They believe one brother fell through; the other died trying to save him.

JOHNS: A surfer survives a shark attack near Santa Rosa Island in Southern California. The Coast Guard releasing video of the rescue after the 37-year-old surfer was bitten on the leg. It's very likely he was saved by the quick thinking of his friend who notified the Coast Guard and put a tourniquet on the victim's leg.

Eddie Murphy's return to "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" was a ratings triumph.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDDIE MURPHY, ACTOR-COMEDIAN, HOST, NBC "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": My neighborhood has gone through so much. It's gone through something called gentrification. Can you say gentrification, boys and girls?

It's like a magic trick. White people pay a lot of money and then poof, all the black people are gone. But where did they go, boys and girls? Back to where they come from, of course -- Atlanta.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Where else?

Murphy's return after a 35-year absence was SNL's highly and -- highest-rated show in almost three years. Nearly 10 million people were watching, according to Nielsen. The Eddie Murphy episode was also the highest-rated comedy since "THE BIG BANG THEORY" finale back in May.

KOSIK: A 6-year-old former cancer patient bringing holiday cheer to patients at a Virginia hospital where she underwent treatment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE CHILD: Poppy! (Hugging).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Poppy Sellier was diagnosed with leukemia around Christmas last year. She's now in remission.

And on Monday, the 6-year-old returned to a place most kids would not. She came to Inova Children's Hospital bearing gifts -- 300 donated LEGO sets for friends.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPPY SELLIER, FORMER CANCER PATIENT: I just want to make them happy and to feel like they're at home.

ALAINA GIBSON, HOSPITAL PATIENT: She made it through so I believe that I could do the same. It's very hopeful and inspiring and just makes me feel really good about myself and my future.

IVETTE PERKINS, PARENT OF HOSPITAL PATIENT: The gift that keeps on giving. The gift of hope, gift of love, gift of compassion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Poppy's mother says the kindness of other people helped her daughter heal and they wanted to pay it forward.

Now, that's a 6-year-old with a bigger heart than many adults.

JOHNS: That's absolutely right. It's amazing and it ought to be a movie.

KOSIK: Merry Christmas, everyone. I'm Alison Kosik. Enjoy the holiday.

JOHNS: And I'm Joe Johns. We've got the Santa tracker up. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

KOSIK: See you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHUMER: We, at the very minimum, will require votes from all the senators on each of the witnesses and about each of these sets of documents.

MCCONNELL: We haven't ruled out witnesses. We've said let's handle this case just like we did with President Clinton. Fair is fair.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: There are pressure points on both sides here to get something accomplished.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, spouting conspiracy theories in a bizarre interview.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What Giuliani is out there doing is trying to spin these false alternate narratives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's baffling and it certainly doesn't suggest someone who really understands the stakes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

END