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Lowest Unemployment in 7 Years; Hungarian Police, Migrants in Tense Standoff; Video of Police Shooting in Texas in Police Possession; Kentucky Clerk in Jail Over Marriage License Issue; Fiorina Answers Question That Stumps Trump; Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired September 04, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:03] CAMEROTA: He's full of them.

BERMAN: Have a good weekend, everybody.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, he's full of something. Have a good weekend, guys.

NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, the boy on the beach laid to rest this morning as we hear his family's story.

TIMA KURDI, AUNT OF DROWNED MIGRANT BOYS: I did all in my power to save them. I couldn't.

COSTELLO: The desperation outweighing the danger for thousands more migrants.

ADHAN, SYRIAN REFUGEE IN HUNGARY: No food. No water. No meal. Nothing.

COSTELLO: Where are they going to go?

Also, kisses, hugs and soon wedding bells in Kentucky. A clerk denying gay marriage licenses, in jail this morning. But her fight isn't over yet.

Plus, Jeb Bush's fighting words.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When he attacks me personally or disparages my family, you damn right I'm going to fight back.

COSTELLO: Why he says Donald Trump cannot insult his way to the White House.

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We're following breaking news on the economy. 173,000 jobs added last

month, fewer than many expected. Still, the unemployment rate ticking down two notches to 5.1 percent. That is the lowest unemployment rate since April of 2008.

Christine Romans, as always, is following the numbers for us, to parse them, to tell us what they really mean.

Good morning.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. What they mean is the labor market improved again in the most recent month in August. Improved but here's the perspective. Not as robust as you saw earlier in the summer. That was a surprise for some people. But the unemployment rate, this is a headline that basically almost to full employment again, back to pre-crisis levels. The lowest unemployment rate, 5.1 percent, the lowest unemployment rate since April 2008.

When you dig into these numbers the sector growth was impressive and widespread. And you had growth and jobs at the higher end of the income spectrum. So that is something that is interesting. These are the kind of numbers that are good for recent college graduates, quite frankly, and people who have a college degree. Those are the kind of jobs we're seeing grow.

Futures, though, still lower here. Everyone trying to figure out what this means for the Federal Reserve when it meets in two weeks to raise -- to raise interest rates. So you've got futures down here before the opening bell. I think there's going to be a lot of discussion and consternation, quite frankly, about what this kind of job market performance, Carol, is going to mean for the Federal Reserve.

The U.S. economy is getting back on track and these numbers confirm that but not quite as strong as some had hoped -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, at least it's on the positive side.

Christine Romans, thanks so much.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: He has become the face of a humanitarian crisis. His small lifeless body the symbol of desperation to flee war and poverty. These image made the world stop and pay attention. And these images capturing the promise and hope that has unleashed a flood of refugees across much of Europe and into danger.

A few hours ago the family of 2-year-old -- of a 2-year-old Syrian boy watched him being buried alongside his mother and 4-year-old brother. They, too, drowned. The father is the family sole survivor, returned with them to Syria, a war torn country they were trying so desperately to escape.

"Everything I was dreaming of is gone," he said. "I want to bury my children and sit beside them until I die." His sister who lives in Canada who is awaiting their arrival is

haunted by his description in watching his son die.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARDI: So he close his eyes and he let him go. He look around for his wife. She was floating in the water. It's like a balloon. He said, you should see how she looked like. He said, I did my all in my power to save them. I couldn't. Nobody else could save them. Everyone in the boat tried to save their life. I told him, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't send you the money to go. If I didn't send you the money, you won't go. And he said, don't blame yourself. I know you did to help us a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The refugees are finding many European countries overwhelmed and unwelcoming frankly. This is the scene near Budapest, Hungary. Desperate migrants asking where is the world and right next to them tensions are building in a standoff between police and migrants. Refugees are refusing to get off a train and for more than 24 hours have demanded safe passage to Germany.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is there with the latest for us. Hi, Fred.

[09:05:01] FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi, Carol. And the standoff here at this little railway station Bicske which is just outside of Budapest continues here right now with the migrants really are getting more and more frustrated as all of this is going on. We've seen them sort of stage a small demonstrations throughout the day calling for help from Germany, saying they want to leave Hungary as fast as possible. They don't want to stay here.

There's a lot of Hungarian security forces here also at the railway stations. They're trying to hold them back and of course also holding us back from speaking to them as well. Nevertheless I was able to speak to one asylum seeker from Syria who described to me how bad the situation is there on that train. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADNAN, SYRIAN REFUGEE IN HUNGARY: Right now the situation is so bad inside. We have babies. We have women. We have pregnant women inside. So many women. No food, no water, no meal, nothing inside. And I don't know why they stopped us here. We buy the ticket by our money. If they don't want us to move from the station. If they don't want us to pass through here, why did they allow us to the buy tickets? Why?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So you can just see there the major frustration there among many of those people who of course now have been there on that train, holed up for more than 24 hours. Many pregnant women, many children among them as well. So it certainly looks at this point, Carol, as though that situation

is not going to resolve any time soon. What the migrants are saying is they're not going to leave that train until that train goes towards the border between Hungary and Austria, or maybe even all the way to Germany. But the Hungarian authorities are saying the only option for these people is to get off that train, get on buses and then go to a refugee shelter, which is very close here. They say they don't want to do that in any case -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Frederik Pleitgen, reporting live near Budapest, Hungary this morning.

Those images so heartbreaking, even hard to stomach. But it's important to show them because they illustrate the severity of this crisis. These photos also caught our attention. They show a mother gripping her baby lying across the train tracks. Hungarian police try to pull her off but she refuses to leave.

As the crisis worsens, so does the frustration with the global response.

Joining me now to talk about all of this is CNN global affairs analyst Bobby Ghosh.

Good morning, Bobby. Thanks for being with me.

BOBBY GHOSH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Any time, Carol.

COSTELLO: I want to read you something that the Hungarian prime minister said yesterday. He seems quite heavy-handed frankly in his treatment of these migrants. He's forcing them into these fenced camps, which we saw in Frederik Pleitgen's report. And this is what he said. His name is Viktor Orban.

He says, "We don't want to criticize France, Belgium, any other country. We think all countries have a right to decide whether they want to have a large number of Muslims in their countries. If they want to live together with them, they can. We don't want to and I think we have a right to decide that we do not want a large number of Muslim people in our country."

Your reaction to that?

GHOSH: Well, Viktor Orban has a long history of this sort of hyper nationalist and frankly racist rhetoric. He's not alone. There are leaders across the European continent. Fortunately many of them are actually fringe elements. But they are often heard at times like this saying things that are frankly Islamophobic and racist.

I do -- you do have some sympathy for a country like Hungary. It is small, it has economic problems of some magnitude, and it is overwhelmed with the arrival of so many refugees. But this kind of language doesn't help. It would be much more helpful if Orban would instead to reach out for aide, for help from countries in the world and be -- show some sympathy for these people. After all, it was not too long ago that the world was showing sympathy for Hungarians who were under the yolk of oppression during the Soviet era then the Cold War. Perhaps Mr. Orban's memory doesn't run that long.

COSTELLO: Paint a picture for us. Remind us why these people are fleeing Syria and Iraq.

GHOSH: Well, it's been -- Syria has been -- we're here in here five of a brutal, brutal civil war in which the regime of Bashar Assad helped by people -- helped by countries like Russia, like Iran, has essentially been slaughtering tens of thousands of its own people. 250,000, a quarter of a million people are already dead.

On top of that, you have ISIS, which is -- which operates from its headquarters in Syria. So you have a huge population of people, millions of people who are caught between a rock and a hard place, to use the old cliche. Millions of them are already refugees. More than -- anywhere between three million and four million people are currently refugees outside the country. Nearly two million are in Turkey, a million are in Lebanon, nearly a million in Jordan.

[09:10:01] And these countries are themselves overwhelmed. In Lebanon a million refugees is equal to a quarter of the population. Imagine having a quarter of a population of your country being refugees. The political instability that brings, the economic pressure that brings. So these countries are over burdened and cannot take any more. And the refugees who were arriving recognize that. You just have to go to one of these refugee camps in Jordan, in Syria, in Turkey, and you realize this can only be a halfway house. I cannot bring my family and leave them here.

COSTELLO: Right.

GHOSH: So going to the next obvious place, since they're clearly not wanted by other Arab countries, countries that actually have money countries like Saudi Arabia, like Qatar, like Kuwait, like the UAE, that have huge amounts of money and should be taking large numbers of these refugees won't have them. Where can they turn? They turn West.

COSTELLO: OK, so -- right, they turn West to Germany, the -- and other countries within Europe. And also maybe the United States. And I just want to run this by you because some Republican candidates running for president are blaming President Obama for this crisis. Here's Chris Christie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a result of the president's weakness. Right? So the president stands up months ago and says if Assad uses chemical weapons on his people in Syria, we will take him out. He drew a red line as president of the United States. Then Assad used chemical weapons on his people and he said never mind.

The United States is the leading country in the world for freedom and for liberty. And we can't permit this. Now I don't relish the United States being the world's policeman. That's not what I want. But we need to be the world's leader.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Do you agree?

GHOSH: It's empty rhetoric. He's not suggesting what he would do. What the United States ought to do.

Look, a crisis as big as Syria and what's happening in Iraq, a monster as big as ISIS has many, many fathers. There's a lot of blame to go around here. You can blame George W. Bush. You can blame Obama -- the Obama administration. You should certainly blame Bashar al-Assad of Syria who's killing his own people. You can blame Iran for helping.

There's a lot of -- there's enough blame to go around. But that's -- the blame is not -- blame game is not going to help that little kid, didn't help that little kid who washed up on the shores of Turkey dead. Nor is it going to help the millions of people who are out there. This kind of rhetoric from Republican or Democratic presidential candidates doesn't really advance the discussion, doesn't really help. Right now these are people in dire distress. The world should be talking about how can we help them.

COSTELLO: Bobby Ghosh, thanks so much for your insight this morning. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, with this Kentucky clerk behind bars the doors open for same-sex couples to pick up their marriage licenses.

Alexandra Field just talked to the very first couple to be able to do that. Good morning.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. It's a historic day here in Rowan County. The first same-sex couple is able to get their marriage license. The woman who fought to prevent them from getting that license behind bars. We'll talk about why coming up right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:17:06] COSTELLO: In Sacramento, California, classes resumed today following a fatal showing on campus yesterday. One student was killed and another seriously wounded. A third student was slightly hurt. Police are still hunting for the gunman. Police say the shooting was the result of a fight near the baseball complex on the southern end of the campus.

The funeral for Fox Lake police officer, Joseph Gliniewicz, is set for Monday. We hope to learn more a possible break in the case when police held a meeting and briefing later this afternoon. A home surveillance video may show the three men that Lieutenant Gliniewicz was pursuing shortly before he was fatally shot. Police have not yet viewed the video because they don't have the proper equipment.

Rosa Flores has more from Fox Lake. Good morning. ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Right now the

only description that investigators have of these three suspects is very vague. Two white males and a black male. So image what crisp surveillance video can do. In this particular case it could give the three cop killers faces.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF GEORGE FILENKO, LAKE COUNTY MAJOR CRIME TASK FORCE: The video was turned over to us by a third party individual who was a police officer. It matched the description of two male while subjects and a male black subject walking past this camera. Again we don't believe in coincidences. However, we still don't know and I can't verify exactly whether this video is relevant to the case. But at this point it's probably one of the most significant ones we've recovered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now another significant development, the recovery of the officer's weapon. Now authorities telling us that Lieutenant Gliniewicz was 50 yards from his cruiser. And that his gun was also recovered. Now they're being tightlipped about all the other details. But a CNN source tells us that that gun was fired. As for Lieutenant Gliniewicz's funeral it's scheduled for Monday And, Carol, of course he's a father of four, a husband and he dedicated more than 30 years to this police department -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Rosa Flores, reporting live from Fox Lake, Illinois, this morning.

A big development in -- Rowan County, Kentucky. Just last hour the embattled clerk's office there issued its first marriage license to a same-sex couple. I just talked to that couple yesterday. The clerk who block the license and defy the Supreme Court ruling breaks up in jail.

CNN's Alexandra Field is outside the clerk's office in Morehead, Kentucky, to tell us more.

Good morning.

FIELD: Hey, Carol. This is what the couple from this county have been fighting for. Ever since the Supreme Court made their decisions to allow same-sex marriage throughout the nation, the county clerk here in Rowan County has refused to hand out those licenses. Because of that, she is in jail, but her deputy clerks are handing out the licenses.

[09:20:05] The first same-sex couple to obtain a marriage license in this county showed up here at 8:00 this morning as the doors of the courthouse were open. They stopped to talk to us about their emotions on this day right before they got that license. Listen to what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JAMES YATES, ISSUED COUNTY'S FIRST SAME-SEX LICENSE: We've had supporters here since the beginning from this county, from this community. And there are people who have been here every day since the beginning of this, every day out here protesting. You don't really realize the emotional charge to it and the hate until you see it up front, you know, up close. But we're trying not to -- we just want to really go get our license right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: William Smith and James Yates made their way through the very loud throng of supporters behind me to reach this county clerk's office. They say that they have been here five times in the past to try to obtain a marriage license before. They finally succeeded today.

This revolution came about in a federal court yesterday when the judge called five of Kim Davis's six deputy clerks to the stand. Five of them agreed that they would issue the marriage licenses. The only deputy clerk who held out was Kim Davis's son, who is refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Kim Davis in a county jail this morning. She was actually given the opportunity to be released from jail if she would agree not to interfere with the process of allowing the deputy clerks to issue these licenses. Her attorney has said that she cannot agree to that. So today she remains in jail -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So how long might she have to stay in jail then?

FIELD: Well, indefinitely, it seems, according to her attorneys. They are saying that she is here to fight the fight. The judge has said she can purge herself of the order to remain in jail if she agrees to authorize the marriage licenses here or if she agrees not to interfere with the work that the deputy clerks are doing. But I spoke to her husband earlier today. He came by the clerk's office and he said, hey, Kim Davis is prepared to stay in jail but that she is not prepared to set either of those conditions.

It is her opinion that the state should take her name off of the marriage licenses. She would consider that a victory according to her attorneys and to her husband. But, Carol, that's certainly not an imminent possibility. The governor made a statement yesterday saying that according to the legislature here in Kentucky they have given the responsibility of marriage licenses to the county clerk. That isn't something that he can relieve the county clerk of those duties with an executive order.

The general assembly here doesn't convene again for several more months and he isn't going to call any kind of special session to discuss things or statutory changes that could affect the marriage licenses in this county.

I should point out, however, that while Kim Davis has been ordered by a court to issue these marriage licenses, while she was in contempt of court and sitting behind bars right now, that she is appealing her case to a higher court.

COSTELLO: All right. I'm sure you'll keep us posted. Alexandra Field reporting live this morning.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump is never at a loss for words. That is until he was asked about foreign policy in a radio interview. Was it a gotcha moment?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[09:27:27] BUSH: I'm going to push back when he says things that are ugly, that I think will damage our brand, damage our ability to be successful. And I'm sure as hell going to -- when he attacks me personally or disparages my family, you're damn right I'm going to fight back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Fighting words from Jeb Bush, threatening to hit back at Donald Trump if the frontrunner attacks his wife and family. But Trump isn't just taking heat from Bush, he's also feeling the fire from conservative radio show host Hugh Hewitt. Stumbling over what Trump deemed gotcha questions on Mideast politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUGH HEWITT, RADIO SHOW HOST: Are you familiar with General Soleimani?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes. I -- go ahead, give me a little go ahead. Tell me.

HEWITT: He runs the Quds Forces.

TRUMP: Yes, OK. Right.

HEWITT: Do you expect his behavior --

TRUMP: And I think the Kurds, by the way, have been horribly mistreated by us.

HEWITT: No, no, not the Kurds. The Quds Forces. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Quds Forces. The bad guys.

TRUMP: Yes. Right.

HEWITT: Do you expect his behavior to change as a result --

TRUMP: But I thought you said Kurds. Kurds.

HEWITT: No. Quds.

TRUMP: I'm sorry. I thought you said Kurds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. So was that a gotcha question from Hugh Hewitt? Let's talk about that. I'm joined by the executive director of the Independent Women's Forum Sabrina Schaeffer and CNN political commentator and former communications director for Ted Cruz, Amanda Carpenter.

So, Amanda, was Trump right? Was that a gotcha question from Hugh Hewitt?

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Listen, it absolutely was not a gotcha question. People who are running to be commander-in- chief are expected to know about international relations and particularly our fight against terrorism. The fact that he's turning this into a campaign once again against the media shows I think that Donald Trump doesn't like to be questioned on the issues.

And really there's no excuse for him not to be prepared for these questions. Hugh Hewitt has forecasted in multiple interviews on his radio show that he wants candidates to be able to talk intelligently about these issues. This question came up in the previous Republican debate. So it just shows, I think, that Donald Trump doesn't have a serious approach to preparing for these important questions.

COSTELLO: OK. So Hugh Hewitt dug in and he had Carly Fiorina on his show next. And he set up her interview by saying, you know, she has no idea what I'm going to ask her, but I'm going to ask the very same questions that I asked of Donald Trump. And I want to play how Carly Fiorina answered Hugh Hewitt's questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, we know that the general of the Quds Force has been a powerful tool of the Iranian regime to sow conflict. We also know that the Quds Force is responsible for the deaths and wounding of American soldiers.