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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Signs GOP Loyalty Pledge; Trump Stumbles On Foreign Policy; Bush Bashes Trump; Biden: I "Will Not Hesitate" To Run; Kentucky Clerk Jailed; Stock Futures Down Ahead Of Jobs Report; Migrant Crisis Overwhelms Europe. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired September 04, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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


DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- seen an event like what happened at Trump Tower and that is the chairman of a party flying from Washington to go to the home turf of a candidate for president in order to convince him to sign a pledge to be a member of that party.

But this is the world of Donald Trump. Of course, all of this is happening because Trump is relatively new to the GOP. He is doing extremely well. He has the highest poll ratings so far nationally.

Republicans have been worried that if he doesn't get the nomination that he could take the supporters that he has and bolt the GOP, run as an independent and hand the White House to the Democrats.

So the Republicans have been quietly trying to talk to Trump and try to convince him to cajole him and get him to make this promise he will stay in the GOP. It would be different response from last month in the debate where he would not make that pledge.

I asked what makes him sign it now when he would not do it a few weeks ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: What changed over the past several weeks?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think the big thing, Dana, that's changed, and it's been obvious to all. Number one, after I announced we went up like a rocket ship. I think the thing that changed is the fact I went to the number one place quickly after I signed. The biggest thing is I went early to number one and the RNC has treated me with great respect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Just to be clear, this pledge is not legally binding at all. He doesn't have to stick to it. Still he said that he doesn't see a circumstance where he would tear up the pledge. Donald Trump knows how unpredictable politics is and we know how unpredictable Donald Trump is.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Dana Bash for us at Trump Tower. Trump a little tripped up Thursday by conservative radio talk show host, Hugh Hewitt. Now foreign policy was the topic here. Trump confusing the Iranian military force with the Middle Eastern Kurds. Trump admitted he did not know the difference between Hezbollah and Hamas. Listen to some of the exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm looking for the next commander in chief to know who Asralla is and Al-Jumani and Al-Baghdadi. Do you know the players without a scorecard yet, Donald Trump?

TRUMP: I knew you would ask me things like this. There is no reason. I will hopefully find General Douglas MacArthur in the pack. I will find whoever it is that I'll find. They are all changing here. Those are history questions. Do you know this one? Do you know that one?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe in "got ya" questions.

TRUMP: That is a "got ya'" question. I'll know more about it than you will ever know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope so. So the difference between Hezbollah and Hamas does not matter to you yet, but it will?

TRUMP: It will when it is appropriate. I will know more about it than you know. It won't take me long.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Jeb Bush talking tough about Donald Trump. He believes Trump is too pessimistic to run the country. Insisting the Republicans will lose the election if Donald Trump wins the nomination. Bush says he will not stand idly by when Trump attacks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will push back when he says things that are ugly and damage our brand and damage our ability to be successful. When he attacks me personally or disparages my family. I will not participate in some reality TV show. I'll stay true to my beliefs. I'm not personalizing this. I'm not personalizing it. It doesn't have to do with him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Bush claims Trump is trying to, quote, "insult his way to the White House" and that Trump is simply preying on people's angst and fears.

Vice President Joe Biden says he will not hesitate to run for president, but there are two factors that could stop him. Biden speaking at a synagogue in Atlanta said he has to be confident he can build a strong campaign that can raise enough money and he has to be sure he and his family are up to the challenge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The most relevant factor in my decision is whether my family and I have the emotional energy to run. But unless I can go to my party and the American people and say that I am able to devote my whole heart and my whole soul to this endeavor, it would not be appropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:35:02] ROMANS: Hillary Clinton's former deputy chief of staff at the State Department is set to face the House Select Committee on Benghazi today. Jake Sullivan is now the foreign policy adviser for Clinton's campaign. He is expected to be questioned behind closed doors about the 2012 attack on the U.S. mission Libya and Clinton's use of a private email server.

On Thursday, Cheryl Mills appeared before the committee. The former State Department chief of staff reportedly told lawmakers no work related e-mails have been withheld or destroyed to keep them from the public eye.

Clinton and Republican Marco Rubio will both be campaigning today in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico does not vote for president, but whoever wins its primary is likely to gain support among Puerto Rican voters in places like New York and Florida.

Some of the Republican candidates rallying behind jailed Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis. Davis behind bars ordered to jail on Thursday for failing repeatedly to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Court rulings have gone against her from top to bottom and the Supreme Court refusing a delay. Some of the candidates like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz in particular calling her imprisonment criminal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I stand with her and anyone else that the government is trying to persecute for standing up for their faith. This is fundamentally wrong. It is inconsistent with the first amendment of the constitution.

RAND PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think what will happen as a rule of this, states and localities will opt out of the marriage completely. Her heart felt religious conviction is this is not the marriage she approves of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: This is a tweet from Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, asking voters to sign a free Kim Davis petition insisting religious liberty should never be a crime in America.

This is from Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator tweeting, "We should not have to choose between keeping our job and practicing our faith. Congress and states must pass First Amendment Defense Act now."

At least three GOP candidates, Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham, and Carly Fiorina, they say Davis is obligated to carry out the law as a government employee despite her personal religious objections.

Now Kim Davis could have stayed out of jail. The judge in her case told her she could go free if she gave her deputy clerks the permission to issue same-sex wedding licenses. Davis consulted with her attorneys and she refused to do that.

We get more from CNN's Alexandra Field in Ashland, Kentucky.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kim Davis has been refusing to issue marriage licenses ever since the Supreme Court of the United States made a ruling earlier this summer making same-sex marriage part of the law of the land.

Davis was forced to appear in a federal court here in Kentucky earlier this summer where she was ordered by a judge to issue those marriage licenses, but she has not complied. She is appealing the case. She has continued to refuse to issue marriage licenses.

Brought back to the same federal courthouse here in Kentucky, a judge ruled that she was in contempt of court and then he ordered her remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal.

That decision surprising many in the courtroom who expected that Davis would simply be fined. But the judge said that would not be enough to compel her to follow his orders, which are to issue these marriage licenses.

While Davis is now in jail, the judge called six of her deputy clerks to the stand. Five of them have now agreed to issue marriage licenses for Rowan County.

An attorney representing Kim Davis was also brought back into the courtroom. However, he said that Davis would not authorize the clerks to do that. Given that the judge said that Kim Davis will have to remain in jail, but those deputy clerks can begin to issue those licenses to all couples, same-sex and different sex couples as early as this morning.

ROMANS: All right, Alexandra, thank you for that. Time for an EARLY START on your money this morning, it looks like a tough end to the week for stocks so far. Jitters around the world ahead of the jobs report later today.

European stocks lower so are U.S. stocks futures. That August jobs report due out at 8:30 Eastern Time, this report could sway the fed's decision on raising interest rates later this month.

Meantime, evidence that the jobs market in this country is changing. Look at this new survey, it found 31 percent of workers consider themselves free agents that means, you know, contractors and freelancers, small business owners, temps and even moonlighters.

A surprising majority said they choose this form of work. They are doing it this way because they want to. Only 10 percent said they were forced into this kind of a gig because of the economy.

Significant new evidence in the search for three men suspected of killing an Illinois police officer. We have the new leads ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:43:14]

ROMANS: Sacramento police searching for a gunman who opened fire at Sacramento City College killing one and badly wounding another, and grazing a third person, all three students at the college. The gunman fleeing on foot. The police say they believe this attack was an isolated incident and not a campus shooting spree.

Authorities in Illinois say they are making significant progress in the hunt for three suspected cop killers. They are now looking at footage from a nearby home security system. They are hoping for some fresh leads in the case. These three suspected killers are still on the loose. The latest now from CNN's Ryan Young.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The outpouring of emotion is still going on here in Fox Lake. Investigators are working around the clock. In fact, the commander here tells us he has to tell his investigators to go home.

One woman has been charged with the idea that she falsified a police report saying that she saw two suspects. Now that police have cleared that up, they got a piece of solid information.

They do believe there is some home surveillance that may have caught three suspects running nearby. That video has been turned over to Homeland Security.

Meanwhile, more than 100 tips have come into the tip lines and two investigators are working just on e-mails and tip line phone calls. All of this, they believe, will help them maybe catch the people involved in the vicious killing.

ROMANS: All right, Ryan Young for us this morning, thanks for that, Ryan.

Let's take a look at what is coming up on "NEW DAY" this Friday morning. Alisyn Camerota joins me now. Hi, Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Happy Friday, Christine. So was that radio exchange between Hugh Hewitt and Donald Trump a "got ya" moment or fair game? John Berman and I disagree on this point so we will debate that with our big brained guests.

Also Trump pledges his loyalty to the Republican Party. What was that whole gimmick about? We will ask the RNC as well as GOP presidential candidate, Rick Santorum.

And that Kentucky County clerk is behind bars this morning for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses on religious grounds.

[05:45:06] Did the judge make the right call in jailing her? We will explore that and so much more when John and I see you all at the top of the hour. ROMANS: We will talk to you soon. Thank you, Alisyn.

It's 45 minutes past the hour. A migrant crisis exploding in Europe, leaders unable to agree on how to solve it, that leaves thousands of people homeless. Families stranded in the streets. We are live with new developments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right, this just in to CNN. British Prime Minister David Cameron announcing Britain will accept thousands more migrants who are fleeing Syria. At the same time, thousands of women and men and children pouring into Hungary from places like Syria and Iraq.

They are trying to make their way to Germany where the chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said if you get here, we will help you with refugee status.

After a long standoff with authorities in Budapest, these people are finally allowed to board trains on Thursday, but instead they were herded into refugee camps, some place that many of the people do not want to return to.

CNN senior international correspondent, Frederik Pleitgen, live for us this morning from Budapest where, you know, the pictures, the scenes here are just such utter desperation, Fred.

[05:50:07] What folks have escaped and now they are trying to finish the last leg of the journey. They are stymied there.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes, they get through Austria. They are stuck here on the train outside Budapest. They were told on Thursday they could board trains here. However, they are stuck here.

They are on the outskirts of Budapest. They have been stopped there. Police came on board and told these people they had to register in camps here. Now they are stranded. This situation is heart breaking. I'm looking at a child holding up a sign.

ROMANS: Not hearing, Fred, clearly. He is on a phone. He is reporting from the scene. Sorry about the audio issue. It is interesting. Fred, just yesterday was in Munich. We were talking to Fred in Munich yesterday morning at this time.

It is organized there. There is aid and a system in place for helping people once they get to Germany. Really I would say a disorganized and inconsistent response from some of these governments in Europe about how to handle this. Just in to CNN, Britain will accept thousands more Syrian refugees.

All right, 51 minutes past the hour. The president of Guatemala resigning under fire. President Molina stepping down in the face of an arrest warrant for his alleged role in a corruption scandal.

The country's congress voted Tuesday to strip him of immunity from prosecution and accepted his resignation unanimously yesterday. Molina is now in custody. The vice president, Alejandro Maldonado becomes interim president. Voters in Guatemala preparing now for national elections on Sunday.

Donald Trump says he would be the best jobs president ever. We got out the pencil and paper and tried to see how many jobs he already created. We will tell you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:56:16]

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an EARLY START on your money. Good morning, everyone. A case of the jitters in stock markets around the world this morning, European stocks and U.S. stocks futures are lower. That could all change, of course, depending on the August jobs report due out at 8:30 Eastern Time.

The economists surveyed by CNN Money predict 207,000 jobs added last month. That's in line with the solid gains we've seen this year. The jobless rate unemployment expected to tick down to 5.2 percent. A fresh eight-year low if that happens.

Donald Trump claims he would be the greatest jobs president that God ever created. He said he's already created jobs as a business man and would do it on even bigger scale as president.

So CNN money tallied up how many jobs he has already created and finds at least 34,000 jobs attributable to Trump. His company has roughly 22,000 employees. Plus more jobs created through at multiplier effect, for example, jobs in restaurants in his hotels.

All right, about a 40-year-old franchise almost is still printing money. Force Friday is finally here. Stores all over the world are selling more than 100 new "Star Wars" toys ahead of the December release.

Here in New York, hundreds of people lined up outside Toys R Us in Times Square for the release. One of the most anticipated is a rolling robot BB-8. It understands voice commands in 12 languages. You can have your own robot unit and use your phone to make it move.

Donald Trump soaring to new heights in the polls, but getting tripped up in a new interview. Fair game or "got ya?" "NEW DAY" starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: I have signed the pledge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has no legal standing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Him running as a third party would be throwing a hand grenade.

TRUMP: Those are like history questions. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe in "got ya" question.

BUSH: I'm sure he will bone up on this now.

ROMANS: Joe Biden candid and emotional about the possibility of running for president.

BIDEN: Can I do it? I don't know.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Tom Brady, still perfect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tom Brady deserved this vindication.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a witch hunt against Brady.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The standoff going on. Conditions on board the train are obviously deteriorating by the minute this train is not allowed to move forward.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Friday, September 4th, 6:00 in the east. John Berman is in for Chris today. Michaela is on assignment.

We begin with Donald Trump. Political insiders saying that Trump stumbled when asked about foreign policy questions in a radio interview. This as Trump hits new highs in the national poll. He officially promises not to run as a third party candidate.

BERMAN: On the Democratic side, Vice President Joe Biden gave his most revealing comments yet about whether he will jump into the race for president. He said he is ready for the challenge, but family will ultimately decide.

We are following the latest political developments beginning with our senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns -- Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John, another Trump public relations victory with the chairman of the Republican National Committee going to Trump's office in New York to get him on the team. It was last month Trump said he would not pledge allegiance to the Republican nominee.

But for now, the billionaire businessman is on board. The pledge is not legally enforceable, but at the very least it gives the Republican establishment a little emotional insurance that he won't launch a third party run if he loses the nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: I have signed the pledge.

JOHNS (voice-over): Trump promising not to run --