Joe Biden's Launch Greeted by Attacks from Trump and Rivals; Measles Quarantined Ordered at Los Angeles Universities
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN ANCHOR: Renewed challenges from past and present for Joe Biden. His 2020 launch a stark reminder why he poses a threat to Donald Trump and himself.</s>DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Hundreds of faculty and staff quarantined at two California universities. They have to stay away unless they can prove they've been vaccinated from the measles.</s>KOSINSKI: Police ruling nothing out after a Pennsylvania church catches fire for the second time this week. The first time was ruled arson.</s>BRIGGS: And it's the next generation of the NFL. Who went where and which player almost toppled the commish at the NFL draft. Quite a night in Nashville. The first time they've had it in Tennessee. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.</s>KOSINSKI: I'm Michelle Kosinski. It's 31 minutes past the hour.</s>BRIGGS: Happy Friday, my friend.</s>KOSINSKI: Thank you. You too.</s>BRIGGS: Just breathe it in.</s>KOSINSKI: Is it Friday?</s>BRIGGS: Yes.</s>KOSINSKI: This hour --</s>BRIGGS: Let's talk some politics, though.</s>KOSINSKI: All right. Let's do. Joe Biden is in and already he's under attack from all sides. The former vice president running for the White House now again and no one took faster notice than the current occupant. Biden is the Democrat President Trump has long worried he might face in the general election. So the president went right after him.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that, you know, when you look at Joe, I have known Joe over the years, he's not the brightest light bulb in the group. But he is a pretty sleepy guy. He's not going to be able to deal with President Xi, I will tell you. That's a different level of energy and frankly intelligence.</s>BRIGGS: Biden's announcement was largely free of biography and certainly was free of policy. Instead he went straight at one of the president's most shocking moments.</s>JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Very fine people on both sides? Those words, the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it. And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I had ever seen in my lifetime.</s>BRIGGS: In Delaware before hitting the campaign trail, Biden was asked why President Obama had not thrown his support behind his former VP.</s>BIDEN: I asked President Obama not to endorse, and he doesn't want to -- we should -- whoever wins this nomination should win it on their own merits.</s>UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Why are you the best choice for Democrats?</s>BIDEN: That will be for the Democrats to decide.</s>KOSINSKI: Biden already faces challenges from his present and his past. Anita Hill says she is not satisfied after a conversation with Biden. The former VP shared his regret for what she endured during the 1991 Supreme Court hearings for Justice Clarence Thomas. That's a point he's also recently made in public.</s>BIDEN: When Anita Hill came to testify, she faced a committee that didn't fully understand what the hell was all about.</s>BRIGGS: Biden oversaw the Thomas hearings, but Hill declined to call the conversation an apology, telling "The New York Times," quote, "I cannot be satisfied by simply saying I'm sorry for what happened to you. I will be satisfied when I know there is real change and real accountability and real purpose."</s>KOSINSKI: Biden is also taking fire from Democrats to his left. Senator Elizabeth Warren questioning Biden's ties to Wall Street.</s>SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: At a time when the biggest financial institutions in this country tried to put the squeeze on millions of hard-working families, they just didn't have anyone, and Joe Biden is on the side of the credit card companies.</s>KOSINSKI: Bernie Sanders' campaign sent fundraising e-mails with Biden's name on the subject line, attacking Biden for launching his run with a fundraiser in the home of a corporate lobbyist.</s>BRIGGS: Biden was in Philadelphia last night for that first big donor event. He lamented the idea that the way to gain power is to divide the nation, calling it, quote, "same old tactic that snake oil salesman have done." Today Biden will be on "The View." Over the next few weeks he'll campaign in California, Nevada, Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. His big 2020 kickoff rally set for Philadelphia May 18th. A quarantine ordered at two public universities in Los Angeles trying to stop the spread of a measles outbreak. Students and staff at UCLA and Cal State L.A. exposed to a confirmed case of the highly contagious disease have been ordered to stay home and avoid contact with others. The order affects hundreds of students and employees who cannot prove they've been vaccinated. Now a fourth case may have been confirmed at Los Angeles International Airport and back East Rockland County, New York, has renewed a measles state of emergency.</s>KOSINSKI: Measles cases in the U.S. this week set a new record for the highest number since the diseases was declared eliminated nationwide in 2000. That's 695 cases in 22 states. Health officials say anti-vaccine myths have played a key role in this current outbreak.</s>BRIGGS: A federal judge temporarily blocking new anti-abortion restrictions from the Trump administration. The so-called gag rule would have banned abortion referrals at federally funded family planning clinics. The judge scolded the Department of Health and Human Services for offering no reasoned analysis for changing the long standing rule. Groups funded by the Title 10 program were already prohibited from performing abortions with those funds. Title 10 serves about four million people a year.</s>KOSINSKI: A second fire breaking out at a Pennsylvania church already damaged by arson. Firefighters were called to the Pentecostal Church of Bethlehem Thursday to put out a fire in the chapel area. An arsonist torched the same church two days earlier.</s>NITZA COLON, PASTOR'S DAUGHTER: It was heartbreaking and really sad that this would happen for the second time. And I said, who would do such a thing? I mean, what else can they burn in the building?</s>KOSINSKI: At this point authorities are not saying whether the latest fire is also arson but say they're not ruling anything out.</s>BRIGGS: A deadly chain reaction crash near Denver shut down I-70 in both directions overnight. According to the Lakewood Police Department, multiple people were killed in the pileup and fire which started with a semitrailer traveling at high speed, colliding with several other vehicles, setting off a series of crashes involving 12 passenger cars and three semis. Police are warning the interstate may remain closed through this morning's rush hour.</s>KOSINSKI: USC is making big changes to its admissions process because of the recent scandal. The university plans to emphasize more oversight and review of student athlete applications. The school president says every student athlete candidate will now be reviewed on three levels by the head coach, the senior sports administration overseeing the team and the USC Office of Athletic Compliance. Then it will be sent to the Admissions Department.</s>BRIGGS: Current students caught up in the admissions scandal have been notified their cases are being reviewed. That includes Olivia Giannulli, some of you know as Olivia Jade. Her parents, actress Lori Loughlin and designer Mossimo Giannulli, have pleaded not guilty to criminal charges. Their daughter could have had her admission revoked.</s>KOSINSKI: How does free, one-day shipping sound? Amazon now spending $800 million to make it standard for its Prime customers. The company changed the game when it introduced free two-day shipping for Prime customers over a decade ago. Amazon is not saying when the one-day option will become standard or whether Prime members will see any rate hike. Analysts say the move could expand the types of products consumers are willing to order online.</s>BRIGGS: Now a check of CNN Business at 4:38. Corporate earnings dominate Wall Street's attention Wednesday with major tech and consumer companies reporting their first quarter results. Amazon's profit machine shows little sign of slowing down, posting a record profit of $3.6 billion. That marks the sixth straight quarter where Amazon's profits have topped $1 billion. Microsoft's earnings sent the company over the trillion-dollar mark for a bit. Its revenue climbed 14 percent to $30.6 billion. Ford shares also jumped on solid earnings reporting a revenue of $40 billion during the quarter. The Detroit automaker said it expects sales and profits for 2019 will top last year. Starbucks stock rose after hours after its positive results. Sales at U.S. stores jumped 4 percent and 3 percent in China. The increases are a sign its efforts to expand its biggest markets are working. On the other hand, 3M struggled in the first quarter and it's now cutting 2,000 jobs. The industrial manufacturer announced the cuts after reporting weak sales and cutting its guidance for the year.</s>KOSINSKI: Otto Warmbier was returned to the U.S. in a coma and died days later. So why did North Korea demand $2 million for his medical bills?