Sri Lanka Death Toll Spikes To 290; Leaning Toward Impeachment; Comedian Wins Ukraine's Presidency; Nadler Plans To Call McGahn To Testify; Trump Fuming Over Fallout From Mueller Report; Ukraine's Choice 2019; CNN Business, Earning Season In Full Effect.
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN HOST: Nearly 300 people now dead in coordinated Easter terror attacks in Sri Lanka. A security warning was circulated among police 10 days earlier.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It may be that we have undertaken impeachment. What is the best thing for the country?</s>CHUCK TODD, MSNBC HOST: Do you think this is impeachable?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, I do.</s>DAVE BRIGGS, CNN HOST: A lengthy pause. Some Democrats starting to come around on impeachment in the wake of the Mueller report.</s>KOSINSKI: A comedian scores a decisive to win in Ukraine's next president. I'm sorry, I screw that whole thing up as Ukraine's next president.</s>BRIGGS: Because it's so hard to believe.</s>KOSINSKI: Sorry. Bringing fresh uncertainty to an ally.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you doing? He is bleeding.</s>BRIGGS: And claims of excessive force in Florida. Video captured police slamming a teen's head to the ground. What that Deputy is saying this morning. Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to "Early Start." I'm David Briggs.</s>KOSINSKI: And I'm Michelle Kosinski. It is 31 minutes past the hour. The death toll in Easter Sunday attack in Sri Lanka rising steeply to 290 people now. That number includes at least two Americans. The attack involved coordinated explosions in at least eight locations across Sri Lanka, including three churches and four high-end hotels. Officials now say 24 people are under arrest so far. The state department says terror groups are still plotting possible attacks with little or no warning.</s>BRIGGS: Also, a police source tells CNN an internal memo was sent by authorities before the bombing set contained a warning to raise security. Senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson live at the Sri Lankan capitol of Colombo. Ivan, good morning, what are we learning?</s>IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Dave. It is a subdued and frankly it's a city of mourning here. And I'm standing in front of the St. Anthony Shrine. It's one of the three catholic churches that was so viciously attacked on the holiest day of the Christian calendar, Easter Sunday. So, right here, there is a tight security cordon, you can see clergy gathered there as well as armed police. We have had soldiers here as well and some of the damage, the glass and even the roof and the clock tower appearing to be frozen at 8:45, which is when we believe that the suicide bomber struck at this location and this was a coordinated attack, because there were three luxury hotels up the road from where I am here in Colombo that were also attacked as well as two other catholic churches in two other cities in this country. So just a kind of organization that has frankly shocked the authorities here. One government minister telling me that this is a brand new type of terrorism for Sri Lanka, and that is saying something, because this country fought a civil war for decades that ended almost 10 years ago. And it's no stranger to acts of political violence. There's some big questions right now, though, because some government ministers have published parts of a memo between different security departments issuing a warning that they got from a foreign intelligence service, warning about possible suicide attacks against catholic churches and the Indian high commission, the embassy here in Colombo. So some government ministers are saying why wasn't action taken in response to these warnings, calling this negligence and incompetence, but they also trying to keep people safe. In one of the police raids yesterday, the targets of the raid detonated bombs, killing three police. So, they're not taking chances. There is a 12-hour curfew that will go on into effect 10 hours, I'm sorry, at 8:00 p.m. tonight. There are also freezing access to social media here worried about rumors being spread and to secure the government and the security forces being very careful not to point any big fingers at any one group or organization in this multiethnic, multi sectarian country before the investigation gets more details. I might add, no claims of responsibility up until now for these atrocities. Dave and Michelle.</s>BRIGGS: Just past 2:00 p.m. there. Ivan Watson live for us. Thank you.</s>KOSINSKI: There is a frightening scene Sunday at an Easter service in San Diego. Church members tackled a woman carrying a 10- month-old baby and a handgun after she threatened to blow up that church. Witnesses say the woman walked into the auditorium at Mount Everest Academy around noon during a nondenominational service.</s>DAVID MICHAEL MILLER, HELPED TACKLE WOMAN HOLDING BABY AND GUN: And two minutes after I came in, this lady comes on stage, came through the back with her baby and a gun, and she starts talking all of this craziness about the rapture not being real and everyone is going to hell. After she started pointing the gun at the baby, one of the older gentleman grabbed it from her and me and a couple of other men tackled her.</s>KOSINSKI: Police arrested the woman identified by local media, 31 year-old Anna Konke. They later found her 5-year-old daughter healthy and unhurt. The children are now in protective custody.</s>BRIGGS: A growing number of Democrats are warming up to the idea of impeaching President Trump, including three key committee chairman who seemed hesitate in the past, he even discuss the issue.</s>REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Now, it may be that we have undertaken impeachment nonetheless. I think, what we are going to have to decide as a caucus is what is the best thing for the country? Is it the best thing for the country to take up an impeachment proceeding, because to do otherwise sends a message that this conduct is somehow compatible with office?</s>REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D-MD): There comes a point in life where we all have to make decisions based upon the fact that it is our watch, and you know, history, I think, even if we did not win possibly, if there were not impeachment, I think history would smile upon us for standing up for the constitution.</s>TODD: Do you think this is impeachable?</s>REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): Yes, I do. I do think that this, if proven -- if proven, which hasn't been proven yet, some of this, if proven, some of this would be impeachable, yes.</s>TODD: All right.</s>NADLER: Obstruction of justice if proven would be impeachable.</s>BRIGGS: Chairman Nadler plans to call former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. According to the Mueller report, McGahn refused an order from President Trump to fire the special counsel.</s>KOSINSKI: And Politico is reporting Democrats on the judiciary committee are already engaged with the Justice Department. They're making preliminary arrangements for Robert Mueller to testify next month. The White House now in full spin mode.</s>TODD: Do you feel like he is truthful?</s>RUDY GUILIANI, ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP: I believe he is truthful, yes, as much as he can be in a world in which every single word you say is picked apart.</s>KOSINSKI: Rudy Giuliani not stopping there, the president's personal lawyer launching a blistering attack on the Mueller report, while curiously not questioning its findings.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're saying that this document is not credible.</s>GUILIANI: No. How about looking at it this way, people who wrote an unfair to him, people who wrote an unfair report, people who came close to torturing people to get information and break them --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Came close --</s>GUILIANI: Yes, how about having --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They put forward a report that ultimately cleared President Trump.</s>GUILIANI: And that takes every cheap shot imaginable because he couldn't prove it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You called it cheap shots. Other people call it evidence.</s>GUILIANI: But you don't just spew out all this stuff.</s>TODD: Do you and the president accept the idea that the Russian interference was designed to help President Trump?</s>GUILIANI: I believe it was. I can't tell you for sure. I haven't examine all that evidence, but I have --</s>TODD: Did the president accept that?</s>GUILIANI: -- no reason to dispute it. I think he does.</s>BRIGGS: Boris Sanchez traveled with the president for the holiday weekend. He filed this report from West Palm Beach.</s>BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dave and Michelle, according to sources President Trump spent the weekend fuming over news coverage of details in the Mueller report and the depiction from some former White House officials of a White House in chaos. A president that is unhinged, paranoid and angry, and aides that either ignore or refuse to carry out his orders. Meantime, the president's attorney, Rudy Giuliani was on the Sunday morning talk shows. He spoke with Jake Tapper on State of the Union. And Jake asked him about some of the behavior outlined in the Mueller report, specifically whether it was ethical or moral. Listen to what Giuliani's response.</s>GUILIANI: Any candidate in the whole world in America would take information.</s>JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: From a foreign source? From a hostile foreign source?</s>GUILIANI: There's nothing wrong with taking information from Russians.</s>TAPPER: There's nothing wrong from taking information --</s>GUILIANI: It depends on where it came from. It depends on where it came from. You're assuming that the giving of the information is a campaign contribution. We do report carefully. The report says we can't conclude that because the law is pretty much against that.</s>SANCHEZ: The strategy</s>REID: from the president's legal team is one that we have seen before. They are now just questioning the credibility of people cited in Mueller's report even as they accept the report's general findings. We should point out, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is scheduled to hold a conference call with the Democratic caucus at 5:00 p.m. on Monday to talk about the possibility of pursuing impeachment. David and Michelle.</s>KOSINSKI: Thank you so much, Boris. Preet Bharara, the former U.S. Attorney in Manhattan says there's a potential obstruction case against President Trump once he is out of office. He notes the Mueller report said evidence was being preserved.</s>PREET BHARARA, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: The president, once he leaves office can be charged with crimes committed while in office. I don't think it can be more clear, whether or not a prosecutor will seek to do it, and whether or not there will be viable defenses, I don't know, but the position of the Mueller team, to me is clearly the case, they think there is future legal jeopardy.</s>KOSINSKI: President Trump remember fired Bharara as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, that's the same district where Trump was named as individual one, in the hush money case against his former lawyer Michael Cohen.</s>BRIGGS: Former Vice President Joe Biden poised to make his long awaited announcement this week that he is entering the 2020 race. Sources close to Biden tell us, he will likely make a video announcement followed by a series of events, still to be determine. Separately, Biden spent the Eastern holiday in Delaware with his family. His entry to the race will answer one of the biggest questions still lingering over the crowded and historically diverse Democratic primary field, this would mark Biden's third run for the White House.</s>KOSINSKI: Life imitating art in Ukraine, a TV comedian who played a teacher who becomes president of Ukraine is now, in fact, the real president of Ukraine. Political newcomer, Volodymyr Zelensky, declaring victory after Sunday's presidential election. Phil Black now is live from Kiev. Tell us about the reaction to this. I mean, is there shock there?</s>PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not really, Michelle because such was the popularity and the dominance of Volodymyr Zelensky throughout the campaign, his messages, his ideas, his persona, it has all resonated so strongly. The regular guy who in probably becomes president and then cleans up politics in this country. That is the character he plays on television. That is the character he says he is now playing in real life. That is what his whole campaign was based about, the TV show's phenomenally successful here. He is an incredibly popular, charismatic comic and actor, and he's conducted this campaign in a clever, although distant way. He has not appeared in public often, he hasn't given a lot of interviews, he has not talked about detailed policy. Instead, campaigning in pretty vague generalities about cleaning up politics, fighting corruption, making things better, doing things for the Ukrainian people. All of that has really worked for him. It's just that he is a fresh face and people are ready for it. He has secured, according to exit polls, and the counts so far, something around 73 percent of the vote. A truly spectacular result really, but that is a mix of people who were simply fed up with the old system, a protest vote, if you like, and those who have generally fallen for Zelensky, people who have projected their hopes and dreams on to his likable face and vague campaign. But the problems are going to start for him on day one of his presidency, the weak economy, the ongoing fighting and now war against Russian backed separatists in the East. It all matters in a biggest sense, because Ukraine is in many ways the front line of the West ongoing confrontation with Russia, across a range of issues. And so a big part of Volodymyr Zelensky's job now are really important part, will be going toe to toe with the Russian President Vladimir Putin, the professional comic and clown, if you like, up against the guy who has dominated Russian politics and world affairs for something close to 20 years. And there's a theory that says Putin is going to be very happy about this because he will now be dealing with a truly inexperienced Ukrainian president, Michelle.</s>KOSINSKI: Great story. Thanks so much, Phil.</s>BRIGGS: It is astounding and said a Ukrainian office manager in the paper I'm reading, it's like when you go to a cheap supermarket and all the food is rotten and you rummage around to find the least rotten piece. That is who you vote for as president, folks in 2019. A 5-year-old is missing in Illinois, and police are focusing on what happened inside the boy's home. Critical story ahead.