[Reporter:] Did you ask Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to change the leadership of the investigation into your former personal attorney Michael Cohen?
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] No, not at all.
[Boris Sanchez, Cnn Anchor:] A pause and a denial from the president. "The New York Times" reports he tried to get a supporter put in charge of the Michael Cohen investigation.
[Christine Romans, Cnn Anchor:] Could Roger Stone end up in jail as he awaits trial? A judge summons him back to court after a controversial Instagram post.
[Sanchez:] Plus, rain, sleet, ice, snow, half the country in for wicked weather and round two is not far behind.
[Romans:] Suicide is not fashion. Anger at fashion giant Burberry, the company is pulling a hoodie that had a noose around the neck. They said it was a marine theme. I don't know. Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START, everybody. I'm Christine Romans. Nice to have you here.
[Sanchez:] Great to be with you, Christine. I'm Boris Sanchez in for Dave Briggs. It's Wednesday, February 20th, 5:00 a.m. on the East Coast. And we start with President Trump facing more obstruction of justice questions in the wake of a wide ranging "New York Times" report. "The Times" says the president pushed to have a federal prosecutor appointed during his administration to oversee the Michael Cohen investigation. Mr. Trump by that point had already been implicated in the Cohen probe.
[Romans:] But "The Times" reports that late last year, he still called then Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to ask if the U.S. attorney in Manhattan could supervise it. The report is raising concerns about obstruction of justice even in places that usually downplay them.
[Shep Smith, Fox News Anchor:] The phone call would be evidence of what?
[Judge Andrew Napolitano, Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst:] Corrupt intent. That is, an effort to use the levers of power of the government for a corrupt purpose.
[Smith:] Would that be obstruction?
[Napolitano:] Yes. Well, it would be attempted obstruction.
[Sanchez:] It's still unclear what Whitaker did in response to the president's call. There's no evidence that he took any action. The Justice Department says Whitaker made no commitments, but it does not flatly deny that the investigation was discussed. Trump, however, making this denial.
[Reporter:] Did you ask Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to change the leadership of the investigation into your former personal attorney Michael Cohen?
[Trump:] No, not at all. I don't know who gave you that. That is more fake news. There is a lot of fake news out there.
[Sanchez:] We get more now from senior White House correspondent Pamela Brown.
[Pamela Brown, Cnn Senior White House Correspondent:] Well, good morning, Christine and Boris. President Trump is denying that he ever made that ask of former A.G. Matt Whitaker to have the U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Berman unrecused and oversee the Cohen probe. Now, this denial was in response to "The New York Times" that he, in fact, did make that ask because he viewed Berman as an ally. As sources tell me and my colleague Laura Jarrett that Trump was upset about the Cohen probe and how it implicated him in the payments of two women during the election, you recall that, and that he did talk to Whitaker about it over the phone. The president thought Whitaker should do a better job with controlling the investigators in the probe that he oversaw as acting attorney general. During recent congressional testimony, Whitaker would only say he won't discuss conversations with the president when he's asked if he spoke to him about the SDNY investigation.
[Unidentified Female:] I want to know whether you talked to President Trump at all about the Southern District of New York's case involving Michael Cohen.
[Matthew Whitaker, Acting U.s. Attorney General:] Congresswoman, as I've mentioned several times today, I'm not going to discuss my private conversations with the president of the United States.
[Brown:] In contrast, he told the committee he never spoke about the Mueller probe to President Trump.
[Whitaker:] At no time has the White House asked for nor have I provided any promises or commitments concerning the special counsel's investigation or any other investigation.
[Brown:] But this latest reporting about Trump fits into a pattern where he believes that officials in DOJ roles should show loyalty to him and do his bidding. As you will recall, the president was furious that Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe and he never got over it Boris and Christine.
[Romans:] All right. Pamela Brown at the White House. Thank you. According to that "Times" report, the Whitaker controversy is one example of a pattern of deception and intimidation applied by the president concerning those investigations around him. That includes orchestrating a lie about the firing of national security adviser Michael Flynn. Flynn resigned after reports surfaced about his contacts with Russia's ambassador at the end of 2016.
[Sanchez:] Yes, he claimed he was stepping down because he misled Vice President Pence about it, but when an adviser mentioned that House Speaker Paul Ryan was telling reporters the president asked for Flynn's resignation, something that "The Times" points out they don't know where Ryan got that information, Mr. Trump reportedly liked that version better so he ordered his then press secretary Sean Spicer to use that version in his briefings.
[Romans:] "The Times" also reports President Trump asked his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to pressure Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign. Privately, Mr. Trump tried to have Sessions removed. The White House aides dodged the president's orders to secure that resignation.
[Sanchez:] A new bombshell from Andrew McCabe as the former acting FBI director asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper if he still believes President Trump could be a Russian asset. Listen to his response.
[Andrew Mccabe, Former Acting Fbi Director:] I think it's possible. I think that's why we started our investigation. And I'm really anxious to see where Director Mueller concludes that.
[Sanchez:] That comment by McCabe coming just days after he revealed the president's own words and actions led to the counterintelligence and obstruction investigations that were opened. McCabe also telling CNN that he briefed top congressional leaders about President Trump being under investigation. Both Democrats and Republicans. He said no one objected.
[Romans:] Wow. All right. Roger Stone has been ordered to appear at a court hearing tomorrow after an Instagram post that seemed to threaten the judge overseeing his case. It featured a picture of Judge Amy Berman Jackson with crosshairs. The post could jeopardize the lenient gag order, also could jeopardize his bail. Stone whose motto never apologize apologized officially to the court. He told CNN it was a volunteer who made the post and it was in no way to threat to the judge. Stone was indicted on charges he coordinated with top Trump campaign officials white he sought stolen e-mails from WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. President Trump's Space Force is a step closer to becoming a national security reality. The president signing an order taking a first step towards a Space Force that would become the sixth branch of the U.S. military. The aim is to protect assets in space and China last month landed a spacecraft on the far side of the moon. The Defense Department will draft a proposal to submit to Congress which must approve any new military branch.
[Sanchez:] I think you can tell that I'm very pumped about space force. Bernie Sanders' second act is off to a hot start. The Vermont senator's presidential campaign raking in $4 until in donations already from nearly 150,000 supporters. That has Sanders thinking ahead already talking about possible running mates.
[Sen. Bernie Sanders , Presidential Candidate:] We would look for somebody who is maybe not of the same gender that I am, and maybe somebody who might be a couple years younger than me and somebody who can take the progressive banner.
[Sanchez:] You heard Sanders reference his aides there. Late night comics also took notice.
[Seth Meyers, Comedian:] Senator Bernie Sanders announced today that he will run for president in 2020. If successful yes. If successful, he would be the oldest person. That's it.
[Jimmy Fallon, Comedian:] At age 77, Bernie is the only candidate who toss his hat and his teeth into the ring.
[James Corden, Comedian:] At 77 years old, Bernie Sanders would be the oldest president in history which explains his brand new campaign yard signs, get off my lawn.
[Sanchez:] President Trump could be facing another challenge from within the Republican Party. CBS is set to air an interview today with Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, he is not ruling out a White House bid in 2020, citing the president's weak poll numbers.
[Romans:] All right. Half the country is in for ugly weather today. Two systems merging into one forming a powerful winter storm, folks. It's packing a mixture of snow, sleet, freezing rain like you see in these pictures. These are live pictures from Des Moines. More than 150 million people from the Plains, the Midwest to the Mid- Atlantic and the Northeast under some kind of weather advisory right now. 11 million others facing flood advisories in the south. Washington, D.C. and Baltimore expected to take the brunt of the storm. Federal offices in the nation's capital to be closed today.
[Sanchez:] Another reason to be happy to be here with you, Christine.
[Romans:] Good.
[Sanchez:] Here is a live look at St. Paul, Minnesota. All Minnesota public schools are shut down today. Schools also closed in Philadelphia. About 1,000 flights are already canceled. Most of them in and around Washington, Chicago and Philly and another storm system is moving into California. It's expected to follow the exact same pattern for another round of punishment this weekend. We turn now to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.
[Pedram Javaheri, Ams Meteorologist:] Boris and Christine, yes, about a 130 million people underneath these alerts, advisories and warnings. And notice, a multi-storm setup here over the next couple days. One coming in for the next 24 hours, and then another one coming in, going towards late this weekend and early next week. So where it is not heavy rainfall, it is a wintry mix or heavy snowfall across parts of the Midwest and also the intra mountain west and parts of the northwest as well. And notice, the current storm brings in heavy rainfall across portions of the south and north of St. Louis into parts of the Great Lakes, it becomes all snow and all of this pushes on in toward the east as we go in through later on tonight and into early tomorrow morning leaving behind about 4 to 6 inches of snowfall across that region. But again, plenty of flooding threat in place as well from Nashville down towards Birmingham, even northern portions of Mississippi and eastern areas of Arkansas whereas much as 4 to 6 inches of rainfall could come down in the next two days. And, again, as this system moves on, we do have another system right on its heels and temps are struggling to warm up across the south. Atlanta only 49, Charlotte, 41 degrees, and up in the Midwest, looking into the middle 30s while this system exits, another one follows a similar track going in toward the upcoming weekend.
[Romans:] All right. Thank you.
[Sanchez:] If you couldn't get enough there's more on the way. Teachers in West Virginia got their wish, so why are they still on strike for a second day? We will explain.