Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Clinton Hammers GOP on Immigration; San Francisco Pier Slaying: Suspect's Gun Belonged to Federal Agent; Subway Spokesman's House Raided by FBI; Greece Shows Up With No Written Proposal; Chinese Stocks Plunge. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired July 08, 2015 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:31:08] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A shocking development in a San Francisco shooting. A development that has ignited an immigration debate. The accused killer, a repeat felon, illegally in this country. Where we are now learning where his gun came from. That's ahead.

Subway spokesman Jared Fogle caught up in a child pornography investigation.

A CNN exclusive: Hillary Clinton talks Donald Trump and Jeb Bush in her first national interview since interesting the race for president.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour. John Berman has the morning off.

Nice to see you all this morning.

Only on CNN this morning: Hillary Clinton goes after Republicans Donald Trump and Jeb Bush for their stances on immigration. Clinton sat down exclusively with CNN's Brianna Keilar for her first national interview for her presidential campaign.

She says she is very disappointed in Donald Trump for his portrayal of Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers. Clinton took aim at Bush, accusing him of reversing himself and now opposing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants./

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump is creating commotion on the other side. He's a friend of yours, has been over the years. He donated to your Senate campaign, to the Clinton Foundation.

What's your reaction to his recent comments that some Mexico immigrants are rapist and criminals?

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm very disappointed in those comments and I feel very bad and very disappointed with him and with the Republican Party for not responding immediately and saying enough, stop it. But they are all in the -- you know, in the same general area on immigration.

You know, they don't want to provide a path to citizenship. They range across a spectrum or being either grudgingly welcome or hostile toward immigrants and I'm going to talk about comprehensive immigration reform. I'm going to talk about all of the law-abiding productive members of the immigrant community that I personally know, that I've met over the course of my life that I would like to see have a path to citizenship.

KEILAR: What about Jeb Bush's approach to that? It's different certainly than Donald Trump's.

CLINTON: He doesn't believe in a path to citizenship. If he did at one time, he no longer does. And so, pretty much -- as I said, they are on a spectrum of, you know, hostility, which I think is really regrettable in a nation of immigrants like ours, all the way to kind of grudging acceptance but refusal to go with a pathway to citizenship.

I think that's a mistake. I think that we know we're not going to deport 11 million or 12 million people. We shouldn't be breaking up families. We shouldn't be stopping people from having the opportunity to be fully integrated legally within our country.

It's good for us. It's good economically. It's good for the taxes that will be legally collected. It's good for the children so that they can go as far as their hard work and talent will take them. So, I am 100 percent behind comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Jeb Bush campaign responding this morning to Clinton's comments about his stance on immigration. A spokesman says the former governor says immigrants should be able to earn legal status after paying fines, paying taxes and learning English.

Hillary Clinton also speaking out against the city of San Francisco and its treatment of undocumented immigrants. Specifically, she blames San Francisco's sanctuary city law and local officials for failing to hand an undocumented felon over to federal authorities before the man shot a woman to death at a public pier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: The city made a mistake. The city made a mistake not to deport someone that the federal government strongly felt should be deported. So I have absolutely no support for a city that ignores the strong evidence that should be acted on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:35:09] ROMANS: Breaking overnight new information in the San Francisco shooting. Sources telling CNN the gun used by the suspect belongs to a federal agent. That suspect, a repeat felon, was illegally in the country, he's been deported back to Mexico several times, he pleaded not guilty to murder on Tuesday.

CNN's Sara Sidner is in San Francisco.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, another strange twist in this case. A source with knowledge of the investigation told us that, indeed, the gun that was used in this trace actually traced back to a federal agent. Now, we don't know which one and we don't know how that all came about, but we understand that the gun was recovered in this case.

This is happening on the same day that the suspect Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez was in court. He was asked whether or not he was guilty or not guilty of the crime of murder in the Kate Steinle case and he said, in Spanish, not guilty.

He was also asked several other questions, but really the only answer he kept giving the court was not guilty. He seemed not to understand some of what was going on in court. His attorneys say he only has a second grade education and that he had no prior violent felonies in his past, that this was a complete accident, a random act.

[04:05:07] He has also talked to a couple of local stations here in jailhouse interviews and gave conflicting information when asked about this particular case. His next court date is July 20th. He is being held in jail on a $5 million bond -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Sara Sidner -- thank you, Sara.

This morning, officials are investigating a deadly mid-air collision between an air force fighter jet and a small private plane over South Carolina. Two people aboard that civilian aircraft were killed. The military pilot, he safely ejected from the F-16.

Take a listen to a woman who witnessed the crash as it happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just seen one plane coming this way, one going this way and then, it exploded in mid-air and fireball. And then the plane landed in my yard! I can't do this!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Officials say the F-16 was on an instrument training mission in Joint Base Charleston.

New this morning, the Subway sandwich chain cutting ties to pitchman Jared Fogle after an FBI raid on his home. Investigators seized computers and other electronics as part of an investigation that Subway says may be linked to child pornography charges against another man, a man who used to work for Fogle as head of the Jared Foundation. The Jared Foundation is an organization that fights childhood obesity.

Following events for us, CNN's Ryan Young with the very latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, and this is an involving investigation. In fact, we have been watching it for the last day or so. I can tell you investigators showed up around 6:30 in the morning and they went through the home.

In fact, we see video of them coming out with hard drives and computers. We also have been told they brought special investigative dogs that can sniff out hidden electronics and brought them around the perimeter of the home.

We do know when they arrived the family was inside sleeping. His wife and two kids were allowed to leave. Jared stayed for most of the afternoon.

But police, so far, not telling us what's going on with this investigation. We do believe it's connected to a former Jared Foundation employee who has been charged with several counts of child pornography.

Now Subway, late in the afternoon, released this statement that said Subway and Jared Fogle have mutually agreed to suspend their relationship due to the current investigation. Jared continues to cooperate with authorities and he expects no actions to be forthcoming.

Both Jared and Subway believe this was the appropriate step to take.

People in the neighborhood tell us they were shocked.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only thing I ever see around his home are happy people doing their yard, waving, so I'm shocked and I'm sad, of course and saddened, a great figure in our community. Just have nothing bad to say about him.

YOUNG: And, Christine, something we noticed throughout the afternoon, it seemed like Subway started going through the Web site and dropping Jared's name from several sections of the Web site. Authorities are waiting for investigators to give comments on what they found during this investigation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Also important to note he has not been charged here. The chain Subway just suspending its relationship, they could reinstate that depending on the outcome of this investigation.

All right. The U.S. and world powers once again extending their deadline with nuclear talks with Iran. So far, there'd been no breaks through the situation. Both sides hoping to hammer out a deal the end of the week and watching every twist and turn for us over the past week. Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Vienna for us.

Bring us up-to-speed, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, Christine.

Well, substantial progress on all areas is the description we are getting from State Department officials here.

[05:10:02] One senior administration official described the negotiating process as something where you sort of do the easiest stuff at the beginning and this rather explains why we keep getting to these deadlines and the deadlines keep slipping, but that the slippage each time is a little bit shorter. Because, according to the senior administration official, what they tried to do is to get enough gain and agree that the other side, the Iranians here, will then perhaps make compromises on some of the tougher issues.

But there are red lines out there, and one of them is Iran wants a weapons ban imposed through a U.N. Security Council resolution. It wants that lifted before it is willing to sign to a broader nuclear agreement. And for the United States, the world powers here that are negotiating with Iran, that is also red line. That's not something that they are prepared to do at this stage.

Indeed, that arms embargo and ballistic missile ban were put in place to specifically bring Iran to the negotiating table. We have heard from people who have been at the negotiating table here, the E.U. foreign policy chief talking about the pain during the negotiations, but the importance of touching on those painful issues and French foreign minister talking about moments of tension and, of course, he has his own red lines as well.

So, we are still in a position where everyone is saying they don't know if the deal can be done but they are still talking and hoping to get it done -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. So many, so many hours at the negotiating table. Thanks for that, Nic.

New fallout for Bill Cosby after court documents reveal his stunning drug and sex confession. New developments overnight, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:45:13] ROMANS: New fallout in the wake of revelations that Bill Cosby obtained drugs to give women he intended to have sex with. Two TV networks Bounce and Centric pulling reruns of "The Cosby Show." And a statute of the comedian has been removed from Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park in Orlando. The bust came down after the park closed on Tuesday night.

While the support for Cosby is eroding, he still has his high profile defenders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, THE VIEW: I don't like snap judgments because I've had snap judgments made on me. So, I'm very, very careful, and, you know, save your texts, save your nasty comments because I don't care!

(APPLAUSE)

Only because -- and I say this -- I say this because this is my opinion and in America, still I know it's a shock, but you actually were innocent until proven guilty. He has not been proven.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: More than two dozen women claim Cosby sexually assaulted them. Many say they were drugged. Cosby has long denied the allegations and has never been charged with a crime. As for these latest revelations, his publicist says we have no plans to issue a statement.

Removing the Confederate flags from the grounds of South Carolina's capitol looking like a fait accompli. The state house of representative voting overwhelming to send the flag bill directly to the floor for debate beginning today. It followed a similar final vote in the Senate. Two-thirds majority in both chambers is needed to send the bill to Governor Nikki Haley who has made it clear she will sign it.

The effort to remove the confederate flag grew out of a shooting last month in Charleston, last month. The suspect, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, was indicted Tuesday in a rampage that left nine people dead. Roof also faces three counts of attempted murder. Authorities say those charges are related to the three victims who survived the attack.

Breaking news this morning: world markets are in chaos. China's stocks in a free-fall and Greece days away from being kicked out of the euro and no one knows what the contagion looks like.

Live team coverage breaking it all down.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:50:56] ROMANS: A new deadline for Greece. A disaster in China stocks this morning. European stocks up right now. Eurozone leaders meeting right now telling Greece it has until Sunday to agree on a bailout plan. This is Greece's last chance, its last chance to avoid leaving the euro. That's a first -- it's a huge unknown for stocks and markets around the world.

Separately, a blood bath for China stocks. The Shanghai Composite fell 6 percent and more than half of all companies listed halted trading. They're just not even trading. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng also fell 6 percent.

The government is doing everything it can to rescue the markets. It's cutting interest rates, forcing brokerages to buy stocks, billions of dollars in stocks, but investors are not convinced.

We've got team coverage tracking both of these important stories from Hong Kong to Athens.

I want to start in Greece this morning, right now facing a hard and fast deadline. European leaders giving Greece until Sunday to fix its financial mess or be forced out of the euro.

Live in Athens now, CNN's Isa Soares.

And we know that the prime minister is speaking right now. He's saying that any kind of reforms must share the burdens among the population, must create jobs, must encourage entrepreneurship.

And critics of that government, Isa, would say since his party took power, things have only gotten worse in Greece.

ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely. Many people would say the economy has only deteriorated in the last six months. We just have to look at the fact we have banks are closing, capitals are closed and many people don't have money for medicine and let alone for food and petro.

So, you know, the country has indeed taken a turn. I think now, Alexis Tsipras needs to realize this is the last few days. This is it. The message was very clear. Europe is completely exasperated by the situation.

Many people are scratching their heads yesterday, Christine, when the finance minister turned up with no proposal, just bullet points, an oral presentation of sorts of what he thought could happen in the next few days. And today, we heard the last few minutes we heard from Tsipras speaking in Brussels basically saying he will put proposals to the table and he is confident they will meet obligation.

At the same time, going on, exactly the points he has made, which is he needs debt to be reduced basically, debt relief at some point. He needs jobs to be created. He needs a deal he says is socially just and economically sustainable. It seems to me both Europe and Greece are not singing from same hymn sheet, but now, Greece knows this is it. They have until Friday to put the proposals through, and then on Sunday, it's do or die.

ROMANS: They are literally speaking different languages. Literally speaking different languages. All right. Isa, thank you for that.

Now to China now. The market there in free-fall. Many stocks shedding the maximum allowed in a day, 10 percent. Trillions of dollars in value wiped out.

Joining us live from Hong Kong is CNN's Andrew Stevens.

So, Andrew, you know, this is a market that is essentially closed. I mean, U.S. investors don't have much exposure, but China is the second largest economy in the world and when you see a free-fall like that, that is very concerning about what it could mean for the rest of the world. Walk us through how important this move is.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The headline is it looks very concerning for the rest of the world, purely because you have such a instability in the market in China.

But you talk to economists here on the ground and they will say this can be contained. It's bloody if you are an investor in those Chinese markets. As you point out, it is just about 100 percent, only 2 percent of foreign investment in the China markets. So it is restricted to basically moms and pops, the retail investors taking the hits at the moment.

But as far as the broader economic impact, at the moment, at least, it is not going to be that big a reverberation. The world's second biggest economy is not going to stall and go into reverse by any stretch of the imagination, but what is also happening is that the Chinese government, as we now know and you've been saying, has been desperately trying to get in front of this and actually stop the slide and has not been able to.

[04:55:02] So, it's losing credibility at the moment. That is the last thing the Chinese government wants to do, so expect more and more measures to come through to try to stop this at this stage.

As I say, this is -- it is focusing on that stock market slide. It is a blood bath out there, no doubt about it. Investors who want to get out half of them can't because half of the companies which are traded in China are now suspended from trading, which is a nightmare for those people.

We didn't see it when it happened in the financial crisis in U.S. or Europe but seeing it happen in China, that is going to push back this whole effort by China to say, look, we are opening the market forces to more liberal economics.

ROMANS: Wow. When a bubble pops, it really hurts, and it is hard for any government to stop a bubble from popping.

Thank you so much, Andrew Stevens.

Greece and China rocking the stock markets, but I'm going to tell you about the most magical stock on earth, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an early start on your money this morning.

U.S. stock futures sharply lower this morning. A lot for Wall Street here between a new deadline and Greece's debt crisis, and absolutely collapse in China stocks.

Investors may be angry with Greece and fearful in China, but they are only feeling joy when it comes to Disney. The stock is at a record of more than 20 percent up this year, thanks in part to the Pixar hit "Inside Out." It's brought in $250 million in the U.S. since its June release.

Disney has two other movies in this year's top five, "Avengers: Age of Ultron", and second, "Cinderella" is fifth. And top it off, the highly anticipated seventh episodes, "Star Wars" comes out just before Christmas, and if John Berman were here, he'd be jumping for joy.