President Ready To Replace H.R. Mcmaster; Mueller Subpoenas Trump Organization Documents, New Sanctions Against Russia Announced; Russia Will Expand American Blacklist; 'Recover Operation' At Miami Bridge Collapse, Four Killed; Trump's Comments Rattle S. Korea.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump is shopping around for a new National Security Advisor and he'll replace H.R. McMaster when he finds one.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Putin a friend or a foe of the United States?</s>SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think that's something that Russia's going to have to make that determination.</s>DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: The White House thinks soft on Russia despite finally levelling new sanctions. Overnight, Russia punches back against those new measures.</s>KOSIK: And what caused a deadly pedestrian bridge collapse at Florida International University? Four people are dead and search efforts are now focusing on recovery. We're going to get a live update from officials in 30 minutes.</s>BRIGGS: Such a devastating story, isn't it?</s>KOSIK: I know. It really is. Welcome back to Early Start. I'm Alison Kosik. Good morning.</s>BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. It's 30 minutes past the hour. Thanks for being with us here on a Friday. We start with The White House and after weeks of speculation President Trump ready to replace his National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster. Two sources telling CNN the President has not made a final decision on who will replace McMaster and the timing is unclear. One source says any delay stems from McMaster trying to finalize his next steps.</s>KOSIK: Trump has privately expressed irritation with McMaster's personality and style. Late last night, The White House pushed back against reports of the change. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeting this, "Contrary to reports, the President and McMaster have a good working relationship and there are no changes at the National Security Council". For his part, Trump yesterday called reports of impending staff changes, "exaggerated and very false". Listen.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've gotten to know a lot of people over the last year. You know, I've been in Washington for a little bit more than a year where some people have been here for 30, 40 years. I've gotten to know great people. So there'll always be change, but very little. It was a very false story. It was very -</s>BRIGGS: The President has signalled he is prepared to get rid of aids he's clashed with. Sources say, after a year in office, Mr. Trump has become more self-assured and is starting to trust his gut more.</s>KOSIK: In the latest sign that Russia - the Russian Investigation is picking up steam, a source tells us that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed the Trump Organization for business documents. "The New York Times" reporting the subpoena includes records related to Russia. This marks the first known instance of Mueller demanding documents connected to President Trump's businesses.</s>BRIGGS: We should note that the Trump Organization has already turned over a wide range of documents voluntarily. Our source says the subpoena is meant to, quote, "clean up and ensure all related records are handed over". The President said any investigation of his or his family's personal finances would cross a red line. Jeff Zeleny asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders about just that.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Does the President still believe - does he draw a distinction, do you know, between a red line on family finances separately from family finances or business finances relating to Russia as it pertains to this case?</s>SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President believes very strongly there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. We're going to continue to cooperate with the Special Counsel and for questions specific to the Trump Organization, I would refer you to them.</s>BRIGGS: All right. An attorney for the Trump Organization said in his statement that the latest report are, quote, "old news".</s>KOSIK: Reports of Mueller's subpoena came after the Trump administration announced it is finally imposing new sanctions on Russia, including against people the Special Counsel indicted last month. The administration is six weeks late meeting a congressional mandate to impose punishments on Moscow for it's 2016 election meddling. The White House also lodging a new accusation against the Kremlin that Russian Intelligence tried to hack the U.S. energy grid. In total, the new sanctions apply to 19 individuals along with five companies and government agencies.</s>BRIGGS: Remember, those were passed 98 to 2. Among those sanctions, the Internet Research Agency, the Russian troll farm, that cranked out divisive political posts on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. Two Russian intelligence agencies and some of their employees also on the list. After the administration announced the sanctions, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders still would not say whether the Kremlin is an ally or an adversary.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Putin a friend or a foe of the United States?</s>SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think that's something that Russia's going to have to make that determination. They're going to have to decide whether or not they want to be a good actor or a bad actor. I think you can see from the actions that we've taken up until this point, we're going to be tough on Russia until they decide to change their behavior.</s>BRIGGS: Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen joining us live from Moscow. Good morning to you, Fred. If the Kremlin's Press Secretary were asked that question, what do you think would be the answer?</s>FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, I think it would be pretty much exactly the same answer, Dave. I think he would blame the U.S. for the current state of U.S.-Russian relations and say, it's up to Washington to improve them. And I think if he were asked if the U.S. at this point were a friend or a foe, he would probably say that the Russians right now consider the U.S. to be an adversary. However, they don't consider President Trump to be an adversary. It's been very interesting, especially since the election in 2016, but the Russians have said it's all the U.S. that's causing the relations to get worse and worse. However, they consistently take President Trump out of the equation and don't mention him when they say - talk about the reasons why those relations have become so bad. And it's pretty much the same thing right now with these new sanctions by the Treasury. The Russians have already said they are going to retaliate. They said they're going to expand, what they call, their "black list of Americans". However, they've not said how, exactly, they're going to do that, how many people they're going to add to that. They also say that, with these new sanctions by the Treasury, they're very calm in the face of them. They don't seem to take them very serious. And if you look at the list, for instance, that Internet Research Agency, the troll factory, that did so much damage during the U.S. - or in the run up to the U.S. election, that doesn't even exist as a legal entity here in Russia anymore. And then you have the main guy on the Treasury list. His name is Evgeniy Prigozhin. He came out and he said he couldn't care less about these new sanctions and he said the only thing that he would do, is he would stop eating at McDonald's, Dave.</s>BRIGGS: Some really punishing sanctions there, indeed. Fred Pleitgen, that is great reporting.</s>KOSIK: Clearly you mean that sarcastically.</s>BRIGGS: Yes. Dieting (ph).</s>KOSIK: A scathing indictment of the Republican party from one of its own senators. Jeff Flake of Arizona making the argument the GOP might not deserve to run the country because of its support for President Trump. He's been calling for a more civilized political discourse throughout much of the Trump presidency.</s>SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZ.: If my party is going to try to pass off the degradation of the United States and her values from The White House as normal, if we're going to cloister ourselves in the alternative truth of an erratic leader, if we are going to refuse to live in the world that everyone else lives in and reckon with the daily reality that they face, then my party might not deserve to lead.</s>BRIGGS: Might not deserve to lead. Flake is not seeking re-election but he may have his eye on 2020. The Senator is the featured speaker today at the latest installment of the Politics and Eggs Breakfast in Manchester, New Hampshire. Flake says a presidential bid is not in his plans, but he's not ruling it out.</s>KOSIK: Search efforts at the scene of a deadly pedestrian bridge collapse in Miami transitioning overnight from rescue to recovery. A 15 member Go-Team from the National Transportation Safety Board is trying to determine what went wrong. At least four people died when the brand new bridge fell into a busy intersection near the campus of Florida International University in Miama.</s>BRIGGS: Senator Marco Rubio tweeting overnight, "The cables on the bridge had loosened and were being tightened when the collapse occurred". Here's Florida Governor, Rick Scott.</s>GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLA.: We will hold anybody accountable if anything - if anybody's done anything wrong. But the most important thing we can do right now is pray for the individuals that ended up in the hospital, for their full recovery, pray for the family members that have lost loved ones. But I know we're going to all want do our best to try to find out exactly what happened here.</s>BRIGGS: Two other people are in extremely critical condition this morning, victims of a structure that was designed to last a century and withstand the force of a Category 5 hurricane. CNN's Dianne Gallagher in Miama with the latest.</s>DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NTL. CORRESPONDENT: You know, Dave, Alison, these crews worked through the night. They said they're going to go around the clock. We're talking about 100 emergency workers here. The Fire Chief did say late last night that they had found the bodies of at least four people in the rubble, but at this point they don't really know how many people could still be in that. They're searching and it's not going to be a quick process here. These are very large, heavy pieces of concrete that they have to remove very carefully. Because it is Spring break here at Florida International University, this could have been much worse. This bridge was put into place just yesterday. This is $15 million project that had been being built sort of to the side of the road. They swung it into place with a big rig in a matter of about six hours installing it and while it was still under construction. This is something the University was very proud of. The community and the engineers who built it, very proud of, and had been looking forward to for a long because it was a way to make it safer for the students and staff so they didn't have to cross a very busy six lane highway to get to where they lived in the Sweetwater community. They're trying to figure out now, what caused this 950 ton bridge, of course, to fall onto the highway. Alison, Dave.</s>KOSIK: OK. Our thanks to Dianne Gallagher for her report. Defense official says there are likely fatalities in the crash of a U.S. military helicopter in Iraq. Officials saying it happened right near the Syrian border. The Pave Hawk helicopter, a variation of a Black Hawk. It was carrying seven crew members. It was not on a combat mission and defense officials say earlier reports do not indicate hostile fire. The cause is under investigation. Of course, we're going to bring you more information as soon as we get it.</s>BRIGGS: Coming up, a happy reunion. A German Shepherd accidently shipped to Japan instead of Kansas, back with his owner this morning. More on that next.