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EARLY START
Democrats Demand GOP Release Plans for Trial; Impeachment Trial Begins Tomorrow; NYT Editorial Board Endorses Warren and Klobuchar. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired January 20, 2020 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00]
LAURA JARRETT, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: Still under a lock and key just a day before the trial gets under way. The Republicans who are already trying to limit new evidence Democrats can introduce, are now trying to limit the trial duration as well. Instead of 24 hours of opening arguments over ten days like the Clinton trial, four sources tell CNN, Senate GOP leaders are considering two 12-hour sessions for both sides to move things along. With no formal plan in place, Democrats are ramping up pressure on the majority leader.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Why is McConnell being so secretive about his proposal? Well, there are two obvious answers. One, he wants to rush this thing through so quickly because he's afraid of what the American people might hear. And there's a second reason. He's afraid that more damning evidence will come to light.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RYAN NOBLES, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: President Trump has until noon today if he wants to file a trial brief with the Secretary of the Senate. His lawyers fought back ferociously this weekend after Democrats 111-page trial memorandum called the president's conduct, quote "the framers worst nightmare". The president's lawyers called the articles a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the 2016 vote and interfere with the 2020 election. Republican senators who will serve as jurors already lining up to support that claim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): My personal preference, Chuck, would be to see this thing dismissed out of hand because I think it's an illegitimate process in the house.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): This has been a political hit job. This is political revenge, and what they're doing to the presidency is a danger to the institution itself.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, TELEVISION JOURNALIST: We've seen the president in public ask the Ukrainians to get involved, ask the Chinese to get involved. SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R-AL): Well, those were just statements
political. They make them all the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: Alan Dershowitz is a newly named member of the Trump legal team. He argues abuse of power and obstruction of Congress even if proven do not amount to impeachable offenses. Didn't always feel that way, though.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without a crime there can be no impeachment.
ALAN DERSHOWITZ, TRUMP IMPEACHMENT DEFENSE LAWYER: So it certainly doesn't have to be a crime. If you have somebody who completely corrupts the office of president, and who abuses trust and who poses great danger to our liberty, you don't need a technical crime.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: What a difference a couple of decades makes. Well, Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham says the president wants very much to deliver his State of the Union speech on February 4th with the impeachment trial behind him.
NOBLES: And the president was on the road in Texas last night speaking to farmers. The loudest applause came when the president went off script talking about impeachment. And without question, the crowd at that Texas rally had the president's back. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has more from Austin.
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ryan and Laura, the president speaking to a couple thousand farmers here in Austin, Texas. And he did not waste any time touting his two big trade agreements, the phase one trade deal with China which he signed just last week, and USMCA which he plans to sign very soon. But his biggest applause line actually came when he mentioned impeachment. Take a listen to how the crowd here reacted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're achieving what no administration has ever achieved before. And what do I get out of it, tell me? I get impeached. That's what I get out of it by these radical left lunatics, I get impeached. But that's OK, the farmers are sticking with Trump. They're sticking with Trump.
(CHEERS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YURKEVICH: You hear the crowd really giving their support to the president, so we wanted to ask farmers how do they feel about impeachment?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump is innocent, he didn't do anything that he shouldn't have done. He was doing -- everything that he did was for our benefit as is country, and we need to recognize that and let this move forward. The politics of it is, it doesn't help us on the ground at all. It needs to go away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I go by what we see and impact us directly. The political side of it, there's always going to be that, that's just the nature of Washington D.C. But as far as that goes, that doesn't have any impact on how I vote the next time around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YURKEVICH: Farmers we spoke to say while they will be paying attention to impeachment, it is not top of mind for them. What they really want to focus on are these two new trade deals which they say are promises that have been delivered by the president. Ryan and Laura?
NOBLES: Thanks Vanessa, and breaking overnight, "The New York Times" editorial board bucking tradition with its highly sought after endorsement in the Democratic primary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In this perilous moment, both the radical and the relist models warrant serious consideration. For this reason, we are breaking convention and putting our support behind not one, but two candidates, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: "The Times" editorial board acknowledging divisions within the party, writing, quote, "Ms. Klobuchar and Ms. Warren right now are the Democrats best equipped to lead that debate, may the best woman win.
[05:05:00]
JARRETT: The decision could be a blow to frontrunner and former Vice President Joe Biden. The editorial board writes, "the Biden agenda tinkers at the edges of critical issues", but, quote 'merely restoring the status quo will not get America where it needs to go."' And an almost Trumpian take down of Senator Bernie Sanders.
"The Times" writes "we see little advantage to exchanging one overpromising divisive figure in Washington for another."
NOBLES: Sparring this weekend between Biden and Sanders, both almost 80, over Social Security, Sanders directly attacking Bidens record, but also forced to admit a video that one of his aides promoted probably should have had a fuller context. That video supposedly showed Biden backing cuts to Social Security.
In reality, Biden was mocking cuts proposed by former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. You know, what's interesting about that "Times" endorsement, Laura, is yes, they didn't pick a clear winner there, but in Iowa, who you pick first and second is important, so that could be part of the thinking there as you go into it because you may be able to claim victory without actually getting the most votes.
JARRETT: Yes, it's interesting and see what happens today, the fact that they didn't pick one --
NOBLES: Right, yes --
JARRETT: Prince Harry speaking candidly about why he and his wife Meghan are backing off royal duties. CNN is live at Buckingham Palace.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:10:00]
NOBLES: Prince Harry making his first public statement since Buckingham Palace announced that he and his wife Meghan would give up their royal titles and would no longer represent the queen as working members of the royal family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY CHARLES ALBERT DAVID, DUKE OF SUSSEX: The decision that I have made for my wife and I to step back is not one I made lightly. It was so many months of talks after so many years of challenges. And I know I haven't always gotten it right, but as far as this goes, there really was no other option.
What I want to make clear is, we're not walking away, and we certainly aren't walking away from you. Our hope was to continue serving the queen, the Commonwealth and my military associations, but without public funding. Unfortunately that wasn't possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: CNN's Max Foster is live at Buckingham Palace. Max, the prince saying that this was his decision, he is taking the pressure off of his wife. At least, that's what it seems.
MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and his wife shares the same values as the queen. It does shed more light on it, doesn't it? This situation where the Duchess has been over in Canada throughout this whole process and didn't even dial into that meeting, the crisis family meeting in Sandringham where they tried to thrash all of this out.
This is Prince Harry really fighting against the narrative that the Duchess was behind all of this, that she's changed since they got married. He's deflecting all of that and taking full responsibility for it, but also expressing his sadness for the fact that he's having to give up all that he's worked for throughout his life. These military positions in particular, he's having to drop them and how he had no choice, effectively, he was given no choice by the queen. He speaks very fondly of the queen later on in the speech, but it's
the queen that draws the line on these things, and there was an impasse between them, and that's become clearer, interesting to hear his point of view on that.
NOBLES: And Max, the palace has released some kind of clues, at least, given us some clues about Harry and Meghan's future. What can you tell us about that?
FOSTER: Well, only they'll be spending most of their time in North America. Kind of the correspondent has been explaining on air how that means they can only spend a number of months in Canada if they don't have residency. That does suggest to me that a lot of the time will be spent in the United States, although the palace is not confirming any of that.
They will retain their cottage here in Windsor. They'll be paying rent on it, they're repaying their renovation costs on that because they are distancing themselves completely from the public money associated with a public role, partly because they're giving up their public roles but also so they can argue that there are private individuals and deserve a private life.
I just -- a last thought on that video you were seeing earlier on, no major -- I was told that this event was happening, I wasn't told what was in the speech. No media was invited to that speech, and it was filmed by a member of staff on their phone. And it was placed on their Instagram feed.
So this is how they're moving forward. Entirely private individuals, any private individual, probably would have done the same. They're no longer public figures in their mind.
NOBLES: The new era of Harry and Meghan. All right, Max Foster live from Buckingham Palace, Max, thanks for that report.
JARRETT: Hundred and thirty nine new cases of pneumonia in China including a third death all caused by a new strain of Coronavirus. The health officials say the respiratory disease related to SARS has spread from the central city of Wuhan to Beijing and Nantong(ph).
Officials are concerned the disease may spread further as Chinese tourists travel for the Lunar new year holiday. South Korea has now confirmed its first case. The U.S. says the CDC -- in the U.S., the CDC says airports in New York, San Francisco and L.A. will start screening passengers arriving from Wuhan.
NOBLES: All right, who is your favorite? Super Bowl LIV is all set, the Chiefs and 49ers will square off. Andy Scholes has this morning's "BLEACHER REPORT" next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:15:00]
NOBLES: Two police officers shot and killed responding to a domestic violence call in Hawaii. Authorities say the first officer to arrive outside a home in Waikiki found a stabbing victim. When she and other officers approached the home suspect, Jerry Hanel opened fire. The other group of officers arrived and when they got there, they were fired on as well. Officers Tiffany Enriquez and Kaulike Kalama were killed. The Honolulu police chief says the family and the department are devastated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN BALLARD, HONOLULU POLICE DEPARTMENT: They left in the morning alive and they get -- you know, they come to the hospital and find out that their loved ones are no longer around, so very emotional, very emotional. I'm sorry?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know the deceased or this is the first time --
BALLARD: I did, they were like my kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: The gunman also allegedly set a fire that completely destroyed at least seven homes. Police say it will take several days to process the scene. The work includes removing the possible remains of three people now unaccounted for, two adult females and the suspect.
JARRETT: The FBI and local law enforcement in Virginia all responding to threats of violence at a big gun rights rally today in the state capitol of Richmond. Federal authorities already arresting several suspected neo-Nazis around the country, concerned they were planning violence.
[05:20:00]
Governor Ralph Northam declaring a state of emergency after it was learned out-of-state hate groups planned to attend. Second Amendment attorney Tim Anderson acknowledging, there is a different atmosphere at the annual gun rights rally.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM ANDERSON, SECOND AMENDMENT ATTORNEY: It just didn't start today. This started back in November. We peacefully demonstrated throughout the Commonwealth, and what -- if anything bad comes out of tomorrow, I hope that the world understands that it's not Virginia gun owners that are causing this.
It is -- it is the same kind of terrorist organizations that have caused unrest in other places.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JARRETT: The Virginia house Republican leader says anyone spreading white supremacist garbage is not welcome in Richmond. NOBLES: Super Bowl LIV is all set, it's going to be the Kansas City
Chiefs taking on the San Francisco 49ers. Andy Scholes joins us now with more in this morning's "BLEACHER REPORT", hey, Andy?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Yes, good morning, Ryan, yes, it's going to be an awesome match-up. You've got the best team in the NFL and the 49ers taking on arguably the best player in the NFL in Patrick Mahomes. And the Chiefs have been waiting 50 years to get back to the Super Bowl.
And once again, they had a slow start followed behind by double digits to the Titans, but Mahomes just would not be denied. Look at the determination on this run. He just would not go down, 27 yards in for the touchdown. And Mahomes and the Chiefs came back to beat the Titans 35-24 to win the AFC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK MAHOMES, QUARTERBACK, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: It's amazing, obviously being able to do it at home, you know, with a -- win a Lamar Hunt trophy here, and I do it for the fans and everybody like that was awesome. We fell short last year, and we learned from it, and we built every single day and now, we have the chance to go to Miami and get the ultimate goal which is Super Bowl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: After winning the AFC, the Chiefs get the Lamar Hunt Trophy. Hunt founded the Chiefs, and the AFC trophy was named after him in 1984, and it's going to stay in Kansas City for the first time ever. Hunt's son Clark and widow Norma were on the stage to accept that trophy. Fun facts, Norma, the only woman to have attended every single Super Bowl and her late husband Lamar, he was the one who came up with the name Super Bowl.
All right, 49ers meanwhile are going to be looking for their sixth Super Bowl title. They haven't won it since 1995. They just dominated the Packers on both sides of ball in the NFC Championship game. San Francisco only attempted eight passes. That's because Raheem Mostert was just running wild in this one. He's the first player ever to run for 220 yards and four touchdowns in a playoff game. Niners win 37-20, and it's been quite the journey for Mostert who was cut by seven teams before finding a home at San Francisco.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAHEEM MOSTERT, RUNNING BACK, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS: The journey has been crazy. Not everybody can deal with that type of stress and pain and agony that I went through, but like I said, I just -- I kept the faith in not only myself, but whoever gave me the opportunity, and this organization has done a great job with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: All right, so it's going to be Niners and Chiefs February 2nd in Miami, Ryan, and hey, the odds makers say it's going to be a great game. The Chiefs opening as a 1.5 point favorites over the Nines.
NOBLES: Yes, you have one of the best defenses against one of the best offenses in the league. It really could be a terrific matchup. All right, Andy, thanks so much.
SCHOLES: All right --
NOBLES: And Laura, you've already started -- you're looking at the odds right now to place your bet, right?
(LAUGHTER)
JARRETT: I'm on it.
NOBLES: You're on it, yes.
JARRETT: All right, Ryan. Three years to the day after he was sworn in as president, President Trump is a day away from facing an impeachment trial. Why are the GOP plans for that trial still private?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:25:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trail and launch's gate initiated --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) --
(CHEERS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: A major milestone in space travel. SpaceX successfully launched a test of the abort system on its new spacecraft, the Crew Dragon. The unmanned test paved the way for trips to the International Space Station beginning this year. In a test of the abort system, the capsule ejected from the Falcon 9 rocket to simulate carrying astronauts to safety in an emergency.
JARRETT: And as we observe Martin Luther King day, a big honor for the hero of Pearl Harbor. Mess attendant second class Doris Miller was awarded the Navy Cross for valor for his heroism in 1941. After the attack, Miller was mentioned in the news reports only as an unnamed negro Mess man hero. But now, the Navy is set to name a $12.5 billion aircraft carrier in Miller's honor. He manned a machine gun on the USS West Virginia to fire back at attacking Japanese planes. EARLY START continues right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHUMER: Why is McConnell being so secretive about his proposal?
(END VIDEO CLIP) NOBLES: One day from the president's impeachment trial, Democrats
want to know how the GOP plans to proceed and why those plans are still private.
JARRETT: The much coveted "New York Times" Democratic endorsement is out. More than one candidate has reason to celebrate.
NOBLES: Two police officers dead, two people unaccounted for along with the suspect after a deadly rampage in Hawaii.
JARRETT: And Super Bowl LIV is set. The Chiefs and the 49ers will square off for the Lombardy Trophy. Good morning, this is EARLY START, I'm Laura Jarrett.
NOBLES: I'm Ryan Nobles, 29 minutes past the hour, thanks so much for starting your day with us. Rules for the president's impeachment trial still under lock and key just a day before the trial gets under way.
END
