Dem Falls Short of Outright Win in Georgia; U.S. Show of Force... That Wasn't
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning: no decisive winner in Georgia's highly anticipated special election. So, why are all sides claiming victory and what is the White House saying? Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.</s>DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Dave Briggs. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East, Wednesday, April 19th. Certainly, both sides claiming victory. Interesting rhetoric in this election.</s>KOSIK: We knew they would.</s>BRIGGS: Breaking overnight in Georgia's sixth congressional district. The only thing settled there this morning is that nothing is settled just yet. A special election held for decades by Republicans now headed to a June 20th runoff between 30-year-old Democratic first timer Jon Ossoff, and Republican Karen Handel. This House seat has been a reliable Republican since the Carter administration. It's been held over the years by Newt Gingrich and Tom Price, whose departure to become HHS secretary set off this special election.</s>KOSIK: Now in a race viewed as a bellwether for how energized Democrats are in Trump country, their standard bearer is already declaring last night's win a victory for the ages. More now from CNN's Manu Raju at Ossoff's headquarters in Atlanta.</s>MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Good morning, Alison and Dave. Now, Jon Ossoff, the Democratic candidate here in the sixth district of Georgia, falling short of the 50 plus 1 percent that he needed to win this seat outright. Meaning that there's going to be now a runoff in two months against the Republican candidate Karen Handel, former Georgia secretary of state, is going to try to consolidate support in this conservative district. Now, this district has not gone to a Democratic candidate since, for actually the last 37 years. So, the fact that Mr. Ossoff came close gave Democrats some reason to cheer last night even though he fell short. This is what he said when he addressed supporters.</s>JON OSSOFF (D), GEORGIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: We have defied the odds. We have shattered expectations. We will be ready to fight on and win in June if it is necessary. And there is no amount of dark money, super PAC, negative advertising that can overcome real grassroots energy like this.</s>RAJU: Now, the question for Ossoff is whether or not he can actually galvanize enough support on the left to get 51 percent and beat Handel. She's going to be able to get support from a lot of those supporters who backed her, the Republican opponents, and also the question, though, the impact that Donald Trump will have as they try to woo swing voters, people who may be disaffected by his presidency -- guys.</s>BRIGGS: Manu Raju for us in Atlanta -- thank you. For his part, President Trump sees the Georgia result as a victory for the GOP and he's even taking credit for it. Take a look at this post- midnight tweet from the president. He says, quote, "Despite major outside money, fake media support and 11 Republican candidates, big R win with runoff in Georgia. Glad to be of help." John Ossoff did raise $8.3 million for his campaign, much of it from out of state. Some say 97 percent. But President Trump spent a lot of political capital on this race over the last few days, even recording a robocall against Ossoff.</s>KOSIK: We are learning that the U.S. force of show against North Korea wasn't everything it was cracked up to be. Remember that earlier this month, the White House responded to North Korean missile tests by sending what President Trump called an are armada to the Korean peninsula. But it turns out, those ships, the USS Carl Vinson and its strike group, were steaming in the opposite direction actually to join in military exercises in the Indian Ocean, some 3,500 miles away. A senior administration official is blaming the mix up on a miscommunication between the Pentagon and the White House.</s>BRIGGS: Meantime, two major high stakes tests of a system aimed at shooting down North Korean missiles are planned for May. Pentagon officials say the long planned missile defense test will take place at a test range in the Pacific. Vice President Mike Pence continuing his Asian tour with a visit to USS Reagan docked in Japan. Pence said the U.S. will always seek peace but, quote, "under President Trump, the shield stands guard and the sword stands ready." For inside analysis on all this and more, we'll have CNN's Christiane Amanpour live for us in just a few minutes.</s>KOSIK: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggesting the U.S. may have to re-impose sanctions on Iran even though it is complying with the terms of a nuclear deal. In a quarterly letter to Congress required by the nuclear agreement, Tillerson says that Iran has continued to act as a state sponsor of terrorism and that returning to sanctions may be in America's national security interest. Note that the nuclear deal does not cover terrorism and that reinstating sanctions would break the U.S. side of the bargain not to mention infuriate America's partners and potentially invite Iran to restart its nuclear program.</s>BRIGGS: The FBI used a controversial dossier compiled by a former British spy to help convinced the U.S. FISA court to approve surveillance. Last summer, that was of Trump campaign associate Carter Page. Now, the dossier alleges Page, a national security adviser to then-candidate Trump, met secretly with Russian officials on behalf of the campaign. According to U.S. officials, any information from the dossier that was presented to the FISA court had to be first corroborated by the FBI. Former President George H.W. Bush recovering from pneumonia in a Houston hospital. He was admitted Friday with a cough that kept him from sleeping. The 92-year-old Bush will be kept in the hospital for further evaluation over the next few days. He and his wife did not initially disclose his illness because they didn't want anyone to order headed into Easter weekend. We hope the former president is home and healthy soon.</s>KOSIK: We certainly wish him well. A surprise announcement from British Prime Minister Theresa May calling for elections as the U.K. begins Brexit negotiations. We're going to get some great insight from CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, live in London, coming up next.