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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Obama in Ethiopia; Trump Tops GOP Field on Latest Poll; Chrysler Hit With Record Fine; Turkey Calls for Rare NATO Talks; Louisiana Movie Theater Shooting; Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired July 27, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:13] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A moment in presidential history. President Obama now the first sitting president to visit Ethiopia. We are live with new details on the visit.

Donald Trump on top. New polls keep coming. Showing him as the GOP frontrunner no matter what he says about immigrants or John McCain. And we have new numbers just minutes away.

And the desperate search off the coast of Florida. Two teens missing. Their boat recovered. But no sign of these boys. We have new details on the search overnight.

Good morning, everyone. Great to see you. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman. It is Monday, July 27th. 4:00 a.m. in the East. Christine Romans is off today.

Happening now, history unfolding in Africa. President Obama becoming the first sitting U.S. president to visit Ethiopia. He will meet shortly with the Ethiopian prime minister. Topping the agenda, fighting the terror group al-Shabaab, the civil war in South Sudan, and alleged human rights violations by Ethiopian leaders. The president's visit follows an emotional two-day trip to his father's homeland Kenya.

Let's get the latest from CNN's Robyn Kriel live in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia -- Robyn.

ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, John. Yes, President Barack Obama has just entered the national palace so there was a 21- gun salute which could be heard across the Addis Ababa, the capital. He will be sitting down with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. He is also sitting with the National Security Adviser Susan Rice as well as members of the Trade and Commerce delegation.

They will be discussing, of course, continuing trade relations with Ethiopia and hoping to increase those trade relations as well. Ethiopia is one of Africa's fastest growing economies and actually sits to, according to the World Bank, become the world's fastest growing economy in the next four years with amazing figures in terms of growth every single year. Up to 11 percent growth every single year, the World Bank estimates.

Also topping the agenda will be of course security. And this is right off the back of a terror attack yesterday at a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia. Just as President Barack Obama was taking off from Kenya. That attack leaving around 15 people dead, a suicide attack by terror group al-Shabaab. So this region, a hotbed of insecurity in terms of -- in terms of counterterrorism efforts by the United States as well as the European Union.

It's also, John, a regional security issue. We understand that terror group al-Shabaab has made plans for this region as well as the United States is really interested in curbing that as well.

John, back to you.

BERMAN: Be interesting to see what comes out of the meetings.

Robyn Kriel, thanks so much.

New polls show Donald Trump on top of the GOP field. In the latest CNN/ORC poll he runs ahead of Jeb Bush apparently overcoming that messy dust-up with John McCain. Trump says there is a reason why he is number one.

Let's get more now from CNN national correspondent Sunlen Serfaty.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This poll shows that Donald Trump is not just a hiccup in this race. Right now, he is the national frontrunner among Republicans. Now it's important to note that this poll was done after he made those controversial comments about Senator McCain and shows he's increased his support among Republican voters in the last month.

But beneath the surface here there are certainly some red flags for him. His unfavorability ratings are a problem for him more so than any other Republican candidate. 80 percent of Democrats have an unfavorable view of him, 53 percent of independents and 42 percent, that's still such a big number, among Republicans.

Now despite this, these poll numbers making it clear he is a factor in this race and Trump likely will feel very emboldened by that, saying Sunday on "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER" that he believes the leaders of the RNC are starting to warm up to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They view me as an outsider, I guess, and now they are starting to view me not as an outsider because I'm leading in all of the polls. Not just yours. And I think they've been really nice over the last few days. They're starting to see what's happening. I mean, there's a movement going on. This is more than me. This is a movement going on. People are tired of these incompetent politicians in Washington that can't get anything done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And that trademark rhetoric of Trump's clearly is attracting voters. In this poll, he is the candidate that Republican voters say they want to see up there on the debate stage. And here you see that Trump leads well ahead of Bush, ahead of Senator Rubio and ahead of Senator Cruz. The first debate is just 10 days away. Trump has already started, though, to downplay expectations a bit saying he has no debate experience and predicting that the other candidates will come out swinging for him.

BERMAN: But will he be calling names? Thanks, Sunlen.

[04:05:01] When it comes to name calling, the Republicans' top party strategist has a not-so-subtle message for Donald Trump. He says knock it off. That was RNC communications director Sean Spicer on CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES." Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE SPOKESPERSON: I understand it's going to be the nature of any primary for folks to discuss the differences between themselves on policy issues. And I think that's fine. The name calling, however, needs to stop. We've got to remember what Ronald Reagan taught us, his eleventh commandment, thou shall not speak ill of another Republican.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Spicer says he wants Republicans to keep their eye on the White House.

Mike Huckabee facing backlash for invoking images of the holocaust to condemn the nuclear agreement with Iran. This is what the Republican candidate told Breitbart News. He said, "This president's foreign policy is the most feckless in American history. It is so naive that he would trust the Iranians. By doing so, he will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven. This is the most idiotic thing. He gave away the whole store. It has got to be stopped."

That was the end of his statement. The Anti-Defamation League quickly condemned Huckabee's comments. National Director Jonathan Greenblatt said good comments such as those by Mike Huckabee suggesting the president is leading Israel to another holocaust are completely out of line and unacceptable. The White House is still selling the Iran deal hard targeting mostly undecided Democrats before they head home for the month-long August recess.

There is a new tweet from Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. It says -- it shows President Obama holding a gun to his own head and reads, "We welcome no war, nor do we initiate any war. But if any war happens, the one who will emerge loser will be the aggressive and criminal U.S."

And campaign events in a new video on her Web site, Hillary Clinton is promising to put the country on a path to renewable energy that will power every home in the U.S. by the year 2027. In people score that would be 10 years after she hypothetically takes office.

The former secretary of state also says she will testify before a House committee on Benghazi in October. The Republicans claimed she is demanding limitations on questioning. This is raising doubts about whether she will actually appear at all.

This morning there is no sign of two Florida teenagers who went missing at sea Friday during a fishing trip. The Coast Guard is still searching for 14-year-olds Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos. The two friends vanished 12 miles south of Daytona Beach. Their capsized boat was recovered Sunday.

Now their neighbor, the Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath is helping with the search.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE NAMATH, HALL OF FAME QUARTERBACK: We're are all praying and Nick actually wants the folks to know that they are trying to help out that are out there searching, be very careful. We've got a lot of people out on the water and in the air looking. Both families have been hard at work at this and praying. So let's just stay safe and we'll keep on looking until we find them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Families are offering a $100,000 reward for anyone who helps bring the teens home safely.

Later this morning on CNN you will hear live from the mother and stepfather of one of those missing teens along with Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath. They will be on "NEW DAY" in the 7:00 hour.

Breaking overnight. Bobbi Kristina Brown has died. The daughter of the late Whitney Houston and singer Bobby Brown passed away Sunday in Georgia at the age of 22. She spent most of the last six months in a hospital in a hospice facility after being found face down and unresponsive in a bathtub.

A statement released by the Houston family reads, "Bobbi Kristina is finally at peace in the arms of God."

Big moves in stocks this morning. CNN Money correspondent Alison Kosik here with that.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: We are seeing red arrows across the board, John. Asian stocks, European stocks, U.S. stocks futures all lower at the moment. Look at Shanghai's benchmark index, it's down 8.5 percent. Gosh, it's been quite a wild ride for China stocks this year where trillions of dollars wiped out in a matter of weeks. But the market has been relatively calm for a few weeks.

That's after the government took desperate and dramatic measures to stop the bleeding. But we're not seeing that as being the case this morning with big worries over China's economic growth slowing down.

And the biggest business story this morning, Chrysler will be paying a record fine for recall mistakes. Officials will slap the car company with a $105 million bill. And they say what happened here is that Chrysler botched 23 recalls involving 11 million vehicles. That includes a recall of 1.5 million Jeeps with gas tanks that can leak after a severe rear impact. And some of the problems here, John, include Chrysler not notifying car owners early enough about safety issues. And then making it even difficult for car owners to get repairs.

BERMAN: A lot of money. Thanks, Alison.

All right. Extreme heat building across the south this morning. You have an expected heat wave in the northeast. Let's get straight to meteorologist Derek Van Dam for an early look at the forecast.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John. A line of showers and thunderstorms could create some slick spots on the roadways for your morning commute. From D.C. to Baltimore and Philadelphia and the big apple. But the good news is, this will move on rather quickly early this morning and will start to dry the roads out by lunchtime.

[04:10:05] Now we're also monitoring a significant cold front dropping south out of Canada. That's going to spark off the possibility of thunderstorms today that could lead to damaging hail, also stronger winds and even an isolated tornado from the Dakotas southward through Nebraska and parts of Kansas.

We've got lots of warm air streaming ahead of this particular cold front. Of course we get that collision of air masses and we start to see the possibility of stronger storms. The hot weather that we've experienced across the nation's heartland starting to slowly shift eastward. This time including parts of the Great Lakes by the middle of the workweek. Still heat advisories and warnings from Arkansas southward.

Take a look at these heat indices easily soaring past 100 degrees from Memphis and Little Rock. Look at the temperatures warming up for the East Coast. Middle 90's by Wednesday for New York. Back to you.

BERMAN: All right, thanks, Derek.

A dramatic development in the war against ISIS. Turkey enters the fights and calls for a rare NATO meeting. Why the sudden shift? We are live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Dramatic developments in the battle against ISIS. Turkey is calling for a rare emergency meeting of NATO nations tomorrow. This follows a suspected attack by ISIS to kill 32 civilians in Turkey last week.

This is only the fifth time in NATO history that members will meet under Article 4. That's a provision that allows countries to call for consultations when their territorial integrity is threatened.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh live from Amman, Jordan, this morning.

And Jomana, this entry by Turkey into the fray in the battle against ISIS is something the U.S. has been asking for for a long time. JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, John. Really

dramatic changes in the Turkish positions, as we have seen over the past few days. As you mentioned after those attacks that we saw taking place in Turkey driving the country now into this fight against ISIS more aggressively.

[04:15:01] And as you mentioned, also Turkey calling for that rare NATO meeting to take place on Tuesday. As you mentioned it comes under Article 4 of the NATO treaty, which usually is a country, a member of NATO field, that its territorial integrity, it's security, is under threat now.

Not necessarily are we going to see something coming out of these meetings, but we'll have to wait and see if Turkey asks for anything here but we expect them to be briefing member nations on what action the country is taking right now, its military operations and also consultations with other NATO members.

Turkey is currently in a very tough position. It is fighting a battle on two fronts that it's just started over the past couple of days. As you mentioned, carrying out airstrikes against ISIS. Opening up its bases now finally to the U.S.-led coalition to carry out airstrikes against ISIS and at the same time, it has opened another front in northern Iraq carrying out airstrikes on the Kurdish Workers Party, the PKK, also there.

So a very tough situation right now for the country. It ended its truce basically with the PKK that has been in effect since 2013. And also opening that front against ISIS. So a lot of concern in Turkey now but it could possibly see some retaliatory attacks by both ISIS and the PKK -- John.

BERMAN: And the situation on the ground in Syria seems to be changing by the day as well. And just this weekend, the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad basically conceded that he has given up a great deal of territory in his own country.

KARADSHEH: Absolutely. If you look at the situation right now of course -- and Turkey coming into this fight against ISIS, John, a very critical moment. It could be a game-changer in the situation there. We have seen the Kurds in the northern part of Syria also making some advances in that fight against ISIS with backed by coalition airstrikes. And now there's this talk about the possibility of creating some sort of a safe zone when it comes to the border with -- between Syria and Turkey.

Something that Turkey has called for, for some time. But again, the concern here, John, is that the situation is very complicated with concerns among the Turks when it comes to the Kurds here and seeking autonomy at the end of the day.

BERMAN: All right. Jomana Karadsheh, again, history being made with NATO over the next two days. Thanks so much, Jomana.

The victim of last week's Louisiana theater shooting, they will be laid to rest today. The community is trying to heal as new details emerge about the shooter. We'll hear from local authorities next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:21:35] BERMAN: Funeral services will be held today for the two women who were killed in the Lafayette, Louisiana, movie theater last week. Mayci Breaux and Jillian Johnson will be laid to rest.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal says the gunman who took his own life should never have been able to buy a gun because of his mental health issues.

We're learning more about the shooter and possible warning signs that were missed. Let's get more from CNN's Ryan Nobles.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, we've learned a lot about the police investigation into the background of the shooter John Russell Houser. And police are starting to believe that this attack here in Lafayette was meticulously planned. I spoke with the state police, Colonel Michael Edmonson. Listen to what he told me about what police have discovered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL EDMONSON, STATE POLICE COLONEL: We're going to continue to go through his rants and raves that he had on his Internet. He was on several different blog sites. He had several areas where the different groups had had a synopsis of some of the stuff he would say, some comments. We're seeing a lot of writings about people trying to make rhyme or reason. What he did right here. So we're going to continue to go through that.

It's his diary was making comments, but here's one thing that's perfectly clear. This man was certainly of sound mind because you know what? He wrote it down. He said he is coming to this movie theater on 7:15 on Thursday night.

What we do believe is it was another theater, whether it was Lake Charles, Lafayette and Baton Rouge, maybe disguised himself and some of the things we've heard about. And then for whatever reason, he is in this theater on that night, at 7:27 and he stands up and he kills two innocent people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: And we also know that police have been looking into Houser's troubled past. Particularly his mental health problems and his run-in with law enforcement. Of course both his daughter and his wife at one point had a protective order out against him.

And Colonel Edmonson told me that his family was concerned about his potential for violence. They never thought he'd attack a place like a theater, but perhaps a government building instead. But they never said anything to anyone. Today, though, the city of Lafayette hoping to begin that mourning process. The funerals for Mayci Breaux and Jillian Johnson will happen here today -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Ryan, thanks so much.

Wal-Mart and baby products company Evenflo are taking child safety to a new level,. The new car seat is equipped with technology designed to prevent parents from accidentally leaving a child in the back of a hot car -- hot car, I should say, when the car ignition is turned off and the child is still buckled in, an alarm from a wireless chip imbedded in the chest strap will sound. The advance sensor safe embrace seat is available now online. We'll be in Wal-Mart stores next month.

The Boy Scouts of America are set to end a long standing blanket ban on gay adult leaders. The 80-member board is expected to ratify the change when it votes today. Under the new policy, church-led scout groups can still limit gays in leadership positions, allowing them to choose adult leaders who, quote, "whose beliefs are consistent with their own."

All right. The Hall of Fame in Cooperstown welcoming four Major League baseball greats in the Class of 2015. One of the best classes ever. It features Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz. That's 735 career victory and nine Cy Young Awards between them. The fourth inductee Craig Biggio. Member of the 3,000 hit club. A lifetime member of the Houston Astros.

This was the first year the three pitchers were voted in on the first ballot and the first time since 1955 that four players made it into the hall all in one year. A great class. Of course my favorite is Pedro Martinez. Not seen there but he lit the crowd on fire with his acceptance speech yesterday.

[04:25:09] British cyclist Chris Froome look pretty good in yellow. He won his second Tour de France title in three years. Closing stage of the tour follow reports that French Police opened fire on a car that tried to crash the barricades set up hours before the cyclist were to complete the race there. Police officials say it was a minor incident and not terror related.

All right. You've never heard this before. The president of the United States is in Ethiopia. It's a part of an African trip that has already featured some diplomacy and tough love in Kenya. We're live with new details and new events this morning of the president's trip. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: A presidential first. President Obama touches down in Ethiopia becoming the first sitting commander-in-chief to visit. What is on the agenda? We have a live report just moments away.

Donald Trump tops a new CNN poll of Republican candidates. So what do voters see in him that they don't see in the 15 other people running? We have the new numbers straight ahead.

And a desperate search for two teens off the coast of Florida. Their boat recovered, but the boys remain missing. The search took place through the night. We'll have the very latest. Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman. About 30

minutes past the hour. Christine Romans is off today.

Happening now, history unfolding in Africa. President Obama becoming the first sitting U.S. president to visit Ethiopia. He meets this morning with the Ethiopian prime minister. At the very top of their agenda, fighting the terror al-Shabaab, the civil war in South Sudan and alleged human rights violations by Ethiopian leaders.