Donald Trump, Jr. Faces House Intel Committee; Democratic Senators Call On Franken To Resign; Trump Recognizes Jerusalem As Israel's Capital.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump, Jr. refusing to tell the House Intelligence Committee about conversations he had with his father over that now-infamous Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer.</s>ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Al Franken expected to make a big announcement this morning. Dozens of his colleagues urging him to resign amid sexual misconduct allegations.</s>BRIGGS: Firefighters in Southern California racing against time and intense winds as all of L.A. County is now under extreme fire danger warnings. This is a terrifying situation out there in California. We'll go live there shortly. Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.</s>KOSIK: Good morning. I'm Alison Kosik. It's 30 minutes past the hour. And, Donald Trump, Jr. on the House Intel hot seat for eight hours, and it's what the president's son refused to tell House members that's raising eyebrows this morning. The main focus of Wednesday's closed-door session, a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Don, Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and a Russian lawyer, designed to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. House investigators pressed Trump, Jr. about his father's knowledge of that meeting but he refused to tell them what he and his dad discussed, citing attorney-client privilege.</s>BRIGGS: President Trump did participate in the crafting of his son's initial response to reports of the meeting. That statement turned out to be misleading, suggesting it was about Russian adoptions while failing to mention the purpose was to gather information on Clinton. Here's the ranking member of the House Intel Committee, Adam Schiff.</s>REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA), RANKING MEMBER, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: He acknowledged discussing that matter with his father but refused to answer questions about that discussion on the basis of a claim of attorney-client privilege. In my view, there is no attorney-client privilege that protects a discussion between father and son. This particular discussion revolves around a pivotal meeting.</s>KOSIK: All right. Schiff, by the way, is going to be live on "NEW DAY" this morning, so tune in for that. And for more on Donald Trump, Jr.'s testimony let's turn now to CNN's senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju.</s>MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alison and Dave. Now, Donald Trump, Jr. had a marathon session with the House Intelligence Committee talking about his interaction with the Russians during the campaign season. And one thing that they focused on in particular was that June 2016 meeting in which Donald Trump, Jr., we now know, was promised dirt on the Clinton campaign from Russians and was informed that Russians -- the Russian government wanted to help his father's campaign. Now we are learning that Donald Trump, Jr. did have a meeting with his father after the reports were published but he did not tell the committee yesterday what he and his father were talking about. In fact, he cited attorney-client privilege, saying that because attorneys were in the room there was no reason for him to disclose this information because it was covered by attorney-client privilege. That's something that Democrats balked at. Now, at the same time he was asked about the response that initially was misleading about the Trump Tower meeting when the White House -- when Donald Trump, Jr. said it was mainly about Russian adoptions -- well, it turns out that the White House was involved, at least to some extent. Donald Trump, Jr. said that he texted with Hope Hicks who is now the communications director for the White House. Did not talk to his father about that response, but talked to Hope Hicks about the response. And given the fact that we now know that was not a fully accurate picture about what happened, it is raising a lot of questions among investigators about whether or not the White House was trying to work to mislead the public and potentially even the investigation. We'll see what the White House has to say later today -- Alison and Dave.</s>BRIGGS: Manu Raju, thanks. Meanwhile, an unidentified whistleblower claims former National Security adviser Michael Flynn told a business colleague sanctions against Russia would be quote, "ripped up" and he did it will President Trump was being inaugurated. The whistleblower telling his story to Congressman Elijah Cummings. He claims Flynn texted his associate that a plan to build nuclear reactors with Russia in the Middle East was quote, "good to go right after sanctions against the Kremlin were dropped."</s>KOSIK: The whistleblower's account is the strongest claim to date suggesting the administration was focused on unraveling the sanctions that President Obama had just imposed, and that Flynn had a personal motivation to make it happen. Last week, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with a Russian ambassador.</s>BRIGGS: As calls for his resignation mount, embattled Minnesota Democrat Sen. Al Franken expected to make an announcement today, presumably about his political future. Thirty-two of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate, including party leader Chuck Schumer, now say Franken should step down. It comes as a sixth woman accuses Franken of inappropriate touching. Let's go live to Washington and bring in "CNN POLITICS" reporter Tal Kopan. Tal, good morning to you.</s>KOSIK: Welcome back, Tal.</s>TAL KOPAN, REPORTER, CNN POLITICS: Good morning.</s>BRIGGS: Kirsten Gillibrand has really been out front in all of this. Here's what she said about no longer tolerating sexual harassment in Congress.</s>SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D), NEW YORK: Obviously, there were new allegations today and enough is enough. We need to draw a line in the sand and say none of it is OK, none of it is acceptable, and we, as elected leaders, should absolutely be held to a higher standard, not a lower standard. I do not feel that he should continue to serve.</s>BRIGGS: All right, credit where it's due, albeit a bit slow. They have drawn that line against sexual harassment. Franken appears to be on his way out. John Conyers, longtime Democratic congressman, is out. But it is Washington so you have to view this a bit skeptical. Is it, perhaps, a political play claiming the moral high ground with Roy Moore, perhaps, on his way to the Senate and Blake Farenthold staying put in Texas despite an $84,000 sexual harassment lawsuit and Republicans saying nothing? Is this a political play?</s>KOPAN: Well, I don't think you can say it's only a political play. Certainly, you know, it took Democratic senators a while to get here and actually -- I watched Gillibrand speak the day before she came out against Al Franken and it was almost torture watching her say she wasn't ready to call on him to resign that day, even as she was saying we can't tolerate any of this behavior. So, you know, certainly, you can say this is a matter of Democrats getting their house in order and saying if they want to have a no- tolerance policy they have to start with themselves. And yes, one of the effects of that is that they then have the ability to call on their Republican colleagues to have the same level of scrutiny of their members. So I think it's all a swirl of these factors. But certainly, if you're a party, you can't call on the other party to close ranks around a member if you aren't doing the same with your own members.</s>BRIGGS: We certainly haven't heard the last of this as we approach 2018.</s>KOSIK: Oh yes, you said it. OK, let's stay on Capitol Hill for a moment and where the tax bill is still being hashed out between the House and the Senate. So the ink's not even dry and we're already seeing the GOP kind of -- kind of focus on something beyond the tax bill, and we're talking about entitlements. I want you to listen to what House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Ross Kaminsky's talk radio show yesterday. Listen to this.</s>REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Frankly, it's the health care entitlements that are the big drivers of our debt. And then, welfare reform, too. We think it's important to get people from welfare to work. We have a welfare system that's basically trapping people in poverty and effectively pay people not to work, and we've got to work on that.</s>KOSIK: OK. Then, Bernie Sanders pounced. He tweeted this. "There it is. Paul Ryan just admitted that after providing $1 trillion in tax breaks to the top one percent and large corporations Republicans will try to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and help for the most vulnerable Americans." Have at it, Tal.</s>KOPAN: Yes, this is going to be tough for Republicans, there's no doubt. I mean, this has been a third rail of American politics for quite a long time. You typically -- once a benefit is given to the public, don't take it away. It's a very difficult lift just on its face and Democrats are going to hammer them on this, without a doubt. And especially use President Trump's own comments from the campaign trail saying he didn't want to go after Medicare and Social Security. It's going to be incredibly difficult and, you know, Republicans have not shown a particular ability to muscle through very difficult bills. Their tax cut bill is still not done and signed yet. So, you know, this may be aspirational -- we'll see. But if this is what they turn to next it's going to be a heavy lift.</s>KOSIK: Yes. It's important to note -- to point out that President Trump did say that he wouldn't cut Social Security, Medicaid, or Medicare.</s>BRIGGS: And he hasn't weighed in on this. It just becomes difficult when you consider that the tax bill adds a trillion and a half, at minimum, to the deficit to then return to concerns of a debt and the deficit, but we'll see how they make that pivot. Speaking of, the president has been relatively quiet on Twitter the last couple of days. I recommend he stay off of it this morning because of the hashtag #DentureDonald. #DentureDonald is trending on Twitter across the country. Here's why.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And God bless the United States. Thank you very much.</s>TREVOR NOAH, HOST, THE COMEDY NETWORK, "THE DAILY SHOW": President Trump is wearing dentures, people. I know that this is just a theory right now but we need to get to the truth. So I say forget the Mueller investigation and bring on the molar investigation. We know what's happening, people.</s>BRIGGS: Yes, the molar investigation. You are not a dentist, a doctor -- you are not a lawyer. We asked you not to weigh in on privilege, but what's happening here? Any thoughts on that?</s>KOPAN: Well look, I think it's evidence of how once you're in that hot seat and you're in the presidency, people look at everything you do. And, you know, it sort of comes with the territory. You have to be prepared for people to analyze every move. And, you know, it is also understandable for the American people to be concerned about the health of the commander in chief. And while we have no idea if there are any issues here, that level of scrutiny is going to happen. And, as you say, his Twitter has been quiet lately. But you have to wonder what he might say about Trevor Noah if he sees that clip.</s>BRIGGS: Thanks. Thanks -- I couldn't resist. Tal Kopan, thank you. We appreciate it.</s>KOSIK: Thanks so much.</s>BRIGGS: All right.</s>KOSIK:  A -- BRIGGS: What's coming up?</s>KOSIK: A state of emergency in California as firefighters are battling four wildfires and thousands of residents are fleeing. We're going to go live to Southern California, next.