First Lady Recovering From Kidney Procedure; How Hard Is It To Apologize; Deadly Day in Gaza
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: The first lady at Walter Reed Medical Center after a procedure on her kidney. She is expected to stay there the rest of the week. Details in a moment.</s>RAJ SHAH, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: It's going to be dealt with and has been dealt with internally. This is an internal matter. It's being addressed internally.</s>ROMANS: The White House unable to put the brakes on the story that could have been resolved last week. Now, pressure builds from John McCain's colleagues to apologize from mocking the senator's cancer battle.</s>BRIGGS: This jarring split screen, celebration in Jerusalem as the deadliest protests escalate in Gaza. More protesting expected this morning. Eight children among the dead yesterday. We have reports from Gaza, Beijing, Tehran, Hawaii and England, around the world this morning on EARLY START. Welcome back. I'm Dave Briggs.</s>ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour this Tuesday morning. We begin in Washington, though. First Lady Melania Trump recovering this hour at Walter Reed Medical Center after undergoing a procedure to treat a benign kidney condition. The White House reporting all went well. No complications. Mrs. Trump is expected to spend the rest of the week in the hospital. Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta finds that unusual. He says patients who undergo this type of procedure are typically hospitalized for just one night.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPODENT: Embolization procedure, it's not really surgery. It's basically threading this catheter near this -- near the kidney and injecting a glue type substance to try and stop blood flow, to an area of the kidney where this abnormality is. Benign obviously is good. We don't want to be anything other than benign. But what exactly is it that was treated here? Some of the benign things that happened to a kidney are things like cysts. But those are not treated using embolization. So, what was it? Was it some sort of mass? Was it something else?</s>BRIGGS: The first lady's hospitalization caught everyone off guard. She is certainly out in public more frequently lately attending the state dinner for the French president and greeting three U.S. detainees from North Korea last week with her husband. President Trump tweeting yesterday, quote, heading over to Walter Reed Medical Center to see our great First Lady Melania. Successful procedure. She's in good spirits. Thank you for the well wishers. We here at CNN would like to wish the first lady a speedy recovery.</s>ROMANS: All right. It has been five days and the White House still refusing to apologize for the aide who dismissed the influence of Senator John McCain because, quote, he's dying anyway. The silence from the administration and aide Kelly Sadler only inflaming the controversy. The White House focusing instead on the leak that brought Sadler's remark to life, not the unfortunate remark. The president calling the story an over-exaggeration, even referring to members of his own staff as traitors, traitors for leaking.</s>BRIGGS: Wow. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway selling the same message. She expects changes because of these leaks.</s>KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE COUNSELOR: Some leaks exist to hurt I guess colleagues. Some leaks exist because they disagree with the policies that are being forth. But none of them are helpful. It's not so much leaking as using the media to shiv each other.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you expect personnel changes as a result?</s>CONWAY: I do. Actually, yes, I do.</s>BRIGGS: Sources tell CNN Kelly Sadler's job is safe. White House spokesperson Raj Shah reluctant to say much of anything.</s>SHAH: I understand the focus on this issue, but it's going to be dealt with and has been dealt with internally. The matter has been internally. It is being addressed internally. And I don't have anything further to add.</s>REPORTER: Is she being reprimanded?</s>REPORTER: Can you explain how it's being addressed internally?</s>SHAH: Obviously, if I explain all that, it won't remain internal.</s>BRIGGS: That's a good point.</s>ROMANS: I'm gob-smacked on that one. All right. The administration's stunning refusal to offer an apology and its constant focus on deflection and the leakers, not what was leaked, even has Republican lawmakers frustrated. Listen to Louisiana Senator John Kennedy.</s>SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R), LOUISIANA: I don't know Ms. Sadler. So, I don't know whether she is stupid or not. But she sure made a bad decision.</s>ROMANS: Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a member of leadership, also demanding an apology. When asked who should apologize, he replied, the person who said that really dumb thing.</s>BRIGGS: Peace seems more improbable than ever in the Middle East. Just as the U.S. opening the embassy in Israel in Jerusalem, protests along the Gaza border turn deadly. Israeli defense forces opening fire on the Palestinian protesters, killing 59 and wounding thousands. The Israelis blame the Palestinian militant group Hamas for inciting terror attacks. Ian Lee is live for us from Gaza where protests are expected today. Ian, good morning.</s>IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave. We also heard from the White House blaming Hamas. Hamas though says the blood of yesterday's violence is on the hands of the United States. But when we talk to people about what brings them out here, a lot say they are frustrated and angry. They're frustrated with the current situation. They are living in Gaza, has been under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade for over a decade. And they're also angry about the United States moving the embassy to Jerusalem and the declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. And so, we saw thousands of people, tens of thousands of people up and down this border yesterday and we could see why that death toll was so high which included eight children and one infant. Infant dying of gas asphyxiation from the tear gas that was fired. But it was black smoke up and down the border as protesters try to push across that border fence, they say trying to return to lands they lost during the 1948 war. For Israel, though, Israel says that is their red line. That they reserve the right to use whatever means necessary to protect what they say is their sovereignty. They say their worst-case scenario is a mass rush across that border. Today, we are expecting to see funerals. After those funerals, we are expecting more people to come where we're out here on the border, Dave.</s>BRIGGS: Everyone is hoping that calm can continue, 11:37 there in Gaza. Ian Lee live for us, thank you.</s>ROMANS: All right. President Trump defending his decision to save a Chinese smartphone maker. First, he said he wanted to save Chinese jobs. Now, the president says he doesn't want to hurt U.S. suppliers to ZTE. It's a remarkable reversal. Just last month, Trump's Commerce Department crippled ZTE by banning it from buying U.S. parts for its phones for seven years. Punishment for violating U.S. sanctions and lying about disciplining the employees involved, a behavior Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross calls egregious. Now, Ross says it did some inappropriate things.</s>WILBUR ROSS, COMMERCE SECRETARY: The question is, there are alternative remedies to the ones that we put forward. And that's the area we will be exploring very, very promptly.</s>ROMANS: It's a very decisive move from the Commerce Department. Now, the Commerce Department is looking for new ways, other ways to punish ZTE without hurting U.S. suppliers. In return, U.S. wants concessions from China like removing tariffs on agricultural products. Now, the president threw ZTE a lifeline Sunday, saying he's working to get it back into business. Now linking ZTE's fate to broader trade talks, calling it reflective of the larger trade deal we're negotiating with China. A Chinese delegation heads to Washington today. There is a trade angle here, also, there is a national security angle. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Defense Department, the Pentagon, banned ZTE products from being sold on U.S. bases for national security concerns. And the top intel agencies --</s>BRIGGS: Well, Tom Cotton, Republican senator from Arkansas, asked our intel chiefs. Would you use or would you recommend ZTE products by show of hands? Here's what they said.</s>SEN. TOM COTTON (R), ARKANSAS: Will you please raise your hand if you would use products or services from Huawei or ZTE? None of you would. You're obviously intelligence services, so that's something of a biased question. Raise your hand if you recommend that private American citizens use Huawei or ZTE products or services? None again. Thank you for that.</s>ROMANS: All of those people appointed by Donald Trump.</s>BRIGGS: Yes, those are not Obama holdovers.</s>ROMANS: No, they are not. And this is the company that the president now wants to save. So, what's the view on this from China on the president's sudden about- face? CNN's Matt Rivers live in Beijing. Matt, good morning to you. Whiplash from the American voters, from the administration. What is the reaction there?</s>MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the reaction from China's government is, well, this is great. This is exactly what we were hoping for. The Chinese government we know has made the ZTE issue a top priority in these rounds of trade negotiations that started about two weeks ago now when the U.S. trade delegation led by Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin came here to China. It didn't make a ton of progress, and other rounds set for this week in D.C. But we know the Chinese government has been very upset with the U.S. calling this decision paranoid, calling it a cold war mentality. That's one of their favorite phrases. And so, the fact that the United States is seemingly reversing that decision is great in the eyes of the Chinese government. The big question is, is that enough for them to concede something that the U.S. would want them to? Could they concede tariffs on agricultural products? Could they look at intellectual property theft? Could they look at forced technology transfer? That's what the U.S. wants out of these negotiations. So, will the ZTE concession from the U.S., if it goes forward, be enough? One other thing, national security remains a concern. Senator Rubio tweeting out it would be crazy to allow ZTE to continue to operate in the U.S. without limiting them in some way -- Dave, Christine.</s>BRIGGS: Boy, President Xi has barely blinked in all of this. Matt Rivers live for us in Beijing, thank you.</s>ROMANS: I don't know</s>U.S. BRIGGS: One in 10, I think, cellphones here in the United States.</s>ROMANS: All right. Who can forget the chemistry between Superman and Lois Lane?</s>MARGOT KIDDER AS LOIS LANE: Don't move! Sure you can move. Just don't fly away, all right?</s>ROMANS: Remembering actress Margot Kidder, next.