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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Terror Attacks on Westerners in Jakarta; Three Sets of Winning Lottery Numbers Confirmed; Campaigns Roll On. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired January 14, 2016 - 04:30   ET

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

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[04:30:28] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning. A deadly terror attack targeting westerners in Jakarta. A series of bombs setoff. Police caught in a gun battle then with the terrorists. We are live with the brand new developments.

Welcome back to "Early Start." I'm Christine Romans.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Berman. 30 minutes past the hour right now with a breaking news this morning. It looks like a series of coordinated gun and bomb attacks in the heart of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta overnight.

Right now we are told at least seven people are dead and officials say at least five of those killed including attackers. One foreigner also of unidentified nationality. Officials say ten other people were injured. So far, there has been no claim of responsibility, but as you can imagine, people are asking questions about whether ISIS was involved.

CNN's Kathy Quiano is in Jakarta for us. Kathy, what is the latest?

KATHY QUIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we are getting conflicting reports about the numbers of death here from the explosions and the gunfight earlier. But to stop security administer did tell reports just a while ago that five suspects were killed bu security. Authorities here and there were two civilians. And these two who's died as well from the explosions.

And one of them -- was to believed to be a Dutch national. He also confirmed that there were at least five explosions that happened, one of them in the Starbucks cafe which is in the office building at the central part of Jakarta in this very busy intersection. And across that was a police station, or a police outpost that was also attack by grenades by at least two people.

This happened very quickly. The explosions and gunfire that was heard. People panicked. There was a lockdown and buildings around it. Like I said it's very, very busy in the area. A lot of commercial establishments but also a lot of office and one office building, U.N. offices our headquartered there.

We see now that this road leading to the building is still closed off to traffic and security is still heavy there. The security minister telling us as well that it's still a manhunt going on for suspect. Although I didn't get any detail about who are they are and where they may be. John.

BERMAN: Kathy, tell me about the area that was hit. Is it clear yet if there was a specific target?

QUIANO: Well, they did -- the police did say that, a police outpost was clearly attacked. The grenades were launched there by the attackers. And this outpost is on an island in the middle of the main thoroughfare that separates these two huge lanes. So, you know, people don't normally walk past that outpost, but eyewitnesses tell us that at least two people had approached that police outpost and then explosions happened. But before that, there was an explosion in the nearby Starbucks cafe just across that outpost.

So, you know, this is -- if they wanted to, you know, to instill some terror and fear in the people in of Indonesia and Jakarta specifically, this would have been a very good target. John.

BERMAN: In a level of coordination, are officials saying that might lead them to think it was some kind of international terror group? Any ISIS ties at this point?

QUIANO: Police are not saying that for sure. But they certainly are looking at that angle. The President himself said ordered security officials here police and military to go after the perpetrators. The people who may be behind this attack. Even the networks that maybe associated to groups who have a motive for doing this attack. And of course, the prime suspect here, has many -- have said already is a group, the east Indonesian Mujahadeen which is base other central to western Indonesia. The leader and also Indonesian's most wanted terrorist has at one point pledged allegiance to ISIS. And is definitely on the top of their list, John

BERMAN: All right. Kathy Quiano for us on the street in Jakarta, right now working your sources. Kathy, we'll check back with you in a little bit. Thanks so much.

ROMANS: Let's bring in Christian Hubel he works in a skyscraper. He has a clear view of the site of the attackers. He joins us now via Skype. He is with us from Jakarta.

[04:35:03] Christian, so nice to see you. So glad you are safe. First of all, tell us what did you see?

CHRISTIAN HUBEL, WITNESS: Yeah, I mean. Our office is based at the Plaza Indonesia. That's the most central office building in Jakarta. From here, we have straight view because we are on level 20. So we have a good view on the scene which is suppose just 500 meters away. We heard a big noise. Like sounded like an explosion. But in first step we thought it's like was from the construction site next to our building.

But then we realized it's a huge smoke cloud on the street like 500 meters away. And then was second and third and up to five or six explosions we heard within a few minutes. Then we realized, oh there must be something going on. It must be really serious.

ROMANS: How long did this go on? Was this a period of minutes or half an hour? How quickly were authorities on the scene?

HUBEL: The explosions were maybe within 30 minutes. But the whole scene looked like it was going on for two hours because when the police arrived and a lot of people were standing around the scene suddenly everybody was running away. So it looks like maybe there was still one terrorist or something like that. And then after -- it took maybe two hours until the police now is cleaning up the whole scene and really all the rest of the cars and all the military police is there now. And then, it was really shutdown for at least two hours. So it looks like there is still something going on. And still maybe a person with a gun or something like that.

ROMANS: Christian, tell us about this area. You work right there. You are on the 20th floor. You can see there was a Starbucks there. The shopping center there. U.N. Offices not far away. Obviously there are business offices, international business office. Explain to us a little bit about what this area is like.

HUBEL: I mean we are here in a very central area. So a lot of skyscrapers, a lot of business offices and very, very lot of shopping malls as you said. And it's like -- this happened on one of the main roads in Jakarta. So basically, a huge traffic as every day in Jakarta. Traffic is really huge. And this is one of the most main roads. So it's really like a lot of people. Not foreigners only, but also locals and office people and everybody is just passing this location every day.

I mean, it's pretty normal for like a business district here because it has -- like you said it has Starbucks, it has a McDonald's. It's a like a lot of food and lots of shopping malls. But it's one of the main central areas here in Jakarta.

So, it is almost one of the most important areas here in the whole city. And so, there are a lot of business people. A lot of people -- everybody is passing this location. It is not only foreigner. Only locals going there like a mixed.

BERMAN: Indonesian officials are telling us at least five attackers are dead. Obviously many people involved in this. From your vantage point, could you see a number of attackers? Did it appear like a coordinated assault to you?

HUBEL: We did not really see that close. But we definitely saw people which are walking on the street and obviously they had a gun in their arms. But we just saw a lot of smoke and at lot of explosions. And the people are running away. But we did not see where exactly how many it was or what exactly happened there. We just saw OK, there were some explosions, maybe some gunfire we didn't now.

And then suddenly a lot of military police arrived and was shutting down the whole area.

ROMANS: All right Christian Hubel, glad you're safe. In Jakarta this morning. Thank you for bringing us that eyewitness -- wow pictures (inaudible).

BERMAN: You can see obviously people in fear there on the streets trying to get to safety. When you see an attack like this and if there were five or more people involved, this must have been a terrifying scene. Look like guns strewn about the streets there. We saw a video earlier of the explosions themselves.

ROMANS: All right. Christian Hubel, thank you for that.

BERMAN: We we're following the terror attacks all morning long.

But first, back here in the United States. The race for president. Republicans getting ready to take the debate stage tonight.

ROMANS: Plus, breaking overnight. There are at least three big Powerball winners.

[04:39:45] We'll take you live to where one of those lucky tickets was sold next. That's next.

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BERMAN: All right, breaking news. Happening now. Officials in Jakarta say at least seven people are dead including several of the terrorists and one foreigner in a series of apparently coordinated gun and bomb attacks in the Indonesian capital. Among the target, a police stand in the middle of the road. A central shopping mall. A Starbucks. A United National official who work on the area found himself right in the middle of this terror.

Jeremy Douglas spoke to CNN by phone a short time ago.

JEREMY DOUGLAS, WITNESS: I was in the car when it first happened. And we got a call, our driver got a call from our security asking where were, there sort of bombing gone off from the building. But we were actually luckily pulling into front of the -- in back of the building. Excuse me.

We pulled up and got out of the car. There's a little bit of chaos because people weren't quite sure what was going on. And then a second bomb went off as we were getting out of the car. And we basically rushed into the building. Then a third bomb went off. We went up to our office on the tenth floor and now we are in lockdown in the tenth floor in our office building. And then a fourth, then a fifth, and a sixth bomb went off. And then we heard small arms fire in the street in front of the building.

You couldn't get more central in Jakarta if you tried. It's basically right smack dab in the central business area. So you got major international hotel chains all over the place, and you got the U.N. Japanese embassy is down the street.

So, there's a big diplomatic community and there's a business community right here. So if you wanted to make an impact, you wanted to get some visibility for what you're trying to do, this is the place to do it. [04:45:06] BERMAN: So far, no group has claimed responsibility. But a lot of experts and terror analysts say this attack does bears some of the hallmarks of an ISIS attack.

ROMANS: All right, breaking overnight. The suspense is over: at least three winning Powerball tickets were sold in Tennessee, Florida and at a 7-Eleven in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Lottery officials confirm those tickets matched all five numbers plus the Powerball. Good for a piece of the record shattering $1.6 billion jackpot.

CNN's Sara Sidner is standing by live at the 7-Eleven in Chino Hills, California. Are one of those life changing tickets was sold. Hi, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was. And, you know what? So many people came out here when they first heard about it. They were out here for a few hours. Dozens and dozens of Chino Hills residents just showed up at the 7-Eleven. Just impromptu. They were excited that their town had been put on the map by this.

But they are also excited for the owners of the 7-Eleven. And you'll notice a little something here. The Powerball number has gone down quite a bit. It's now down to $40 million. Chump change compared to what it was. But I'm sure anybody would love to win that. That is the new number. And the owner here just for selling the ticket is going to get $1 million.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: What do you think about the crowd that just showed up here?

BALBIR ATWAL, STORE OWNER: Well, I just love them. And they love me.

SIDNER: What is this selling the winning ticket mean for you and your store?

ATWAL: It's feeling really, really good. And whoever the lucky person come here, I'm thankful for that person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Mr. Balbir Atwal excited, so sweet, so charming. His entire family showed up here. The kids were saying that they brought their books and their brought thier school clothes because they want to stay here all night. Everybody very excited about this. But there are still a lot of people who want to know who is the person, who actually bought the big ticket.

ROMANS: It wasn't me. It really wasn't me. I promise you. But I would try to remain anonymous if it were me, hostly. Because everyone is going to ask you for money now.

BERMAN: So you are saying it could be you?

ROMAN: No, you know, I don't play the lottery. You know, I don't play the lottery. Sara, have fun. Let us know if you get any new information about who that person might be. Thanks Sara Sidner. 47 minutes past the hour. Time for an Early Start on your money. Stocks futures are fraction higher. But European stock market, look at that opening with big losses. China's slowing economy, oil crash cause a really bad day on Wall Street yesterday, a very bad day. The S&P 500 falling below 1,900. You got all the markets now technical correction.

All right, lifestyle of the rich and anonymous. The treasury department cracking down on secret cash buyers of real estate and there a lot of them apparently. All cash buyers in Miami and Manhattan who spent $3 million or more on a property, they will have their names reported by title insurance companies. The treasury department trying to prevent buyers from laundering money. Really rich people from around the world, a lot of national buyers, parking money in real estate, big cash purchases but then you don't know who it is.

The Feds say some people are hiding assets by purchasing homes through limited liability companies or other OPEC financing structures. At one point last year, get this 55 percent of all home sales in Miami were all cash.

BERMAN: That is seems so sketchy.

ROMANS: Can you imagine walking in there with a bag full of cash. I think this two land out property, I can wire the money over right now. I couldn't wire money over for coffee at the moment.

BERMAN: That is bonkers.

ROMANS: All right. Three stable housing markets are seeing a seven jump in foreclosures. Expert plan you guess it, the crash in oil. We're going to explain this connection when we get an Early Start on your money. Next.

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[04:52:02] All right. This morning, Republican presidential candidates are preparing for tonight's debate in North Charleston, South Carolina. On the main stage at 9:00 p.m., Donald Trump in the center flanked by Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush and John Kasich just seven people on that stage.

At 6:00 p.m., the first debate, the under card, Carly Fiorina and Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum. Rand Paul, you see marked there discretely with a red X. He qualified, but he said he's not going to show up. He believe he belongs on the main stage.

Donald Trump was rallying in Florida overnight. You know, he said he is sure that his questions about where Ted Cruz was born whether or not he is eligible to run for president, he is sure it will come up in tonight's debate.

Jeff Zeleny was there.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Donald Trump is headed to Charleston, South Carolina for yet another Republican debate. That was clearly on his mind here on Wednesday night in Pensacola, Florida. He packed thousands upon thousand of people in the Pensacola base center. Official said maybe up to 12,000 people.

Now Donald trump gave a typical rally. He feeds off these crowds. He feeds off the energy from the crowds. But he also gave a bit of preview of what he may say at the debate on Thursday night in South Carolina. Of course, he picked his favorite target. Ted Cruz. Still raising questions about his Canadian citizenship even though Ted Cruz says he is a natural born citizen because his mother was a U.S. citizen.

Listen to what Donald Trump had to say.

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can't be born in Canada, he can't be a Canadian citizen. And I hope it works out for him. I really do. Every time I have a meeting with the press, the first question they are asking me is this. You've got to be able to run. So I'm not going to get into it. And I'm sure they'll get into it tomorrow night. But you've got to like some of the greatest lawyers from Harvard, a very good lawyer, right? Lawrence Stripes said it is not a settled matter. Suppose he runs and everybody is banking on him and then courts rule he can't run? That's not so good. What do you do? Concede the election to Hillary Clinton or crazy Bernie?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Of course Donald Trump is saying that if Republicans don't do something to stop Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders or even Hillary Clinton could be elected. Now we'll see how much that actually comes up at the debate. We've seen time and time again Donald Trump has raised something in rallies, in the days leading up to it. And then when it comes to debate time, fighting time. He leaves the gloves on. But of course the voting is coming so much closer in Iowa and he get New Hampshire. So Thursday night in South Carolina could be the most important Republican debate yet. John and Christine.

ROMANS: All right, another important Republican debate. Thanks for that, Jeff. And Ted Cruz on the defensive of this morning responding to report he may have violated federal election commission rules. By failing to disclose hundred of thousands of dollars of bank loans when he run for the Senate in 2012. A campaign spokesperson acknowledged the mistake after "The New York Times" reported on it. Now Cruz his campaign is promising to revise any FEC reports as necessary.

[04:55:02] But the error may still pose political complication for Cruz's populus campaign. He defended loans from Goldman Sachs and Citibank to CNN Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Senator, how do you explain to your supporters that you got a very large loan from your wife's Wall Street bank in order to fund your upstart insurgent senate campaign? TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, the premise to your

question is not right. Heidi and I...

BASH: You didn't get a loan?

CRUZ: The premise of your question is not right. Heidi and I, when we run for Senate we made the decision to put our liquid net worth into campaign. And so we did so through a combination of savings, liquidating our savign accounts, drew a combination of selling assets and then we had brokerage account that has a standard margin loan like any brokerage account has. And we borrowed against the stocks and assets that we had under ordinary terms.

And so, those loans had been disclosed over and over again on multiple filings. If it was the case that they were not filed exactly as the FEC requires then we'll amend the filings. But all of the information has been public and transparent for many years. And that's the end to that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: They'll make sure it is filed properly. Now they say. Now some good news for the Cruz campaign. A win in the Duck Dynasty primary. That's right. He won the endorsement of star Phil Robertson. The Cruz campaign announced that endorsement in a video that shows Robertson praising Cruz as godly able to do the job of president and able to kill a duck.

BERMAN: Hillary Clinton stepping up attacks on Bernie Sanders as he edges closer to her in national polls. He lead at in Iowa poll. But the criticism of Sanders health care and gun control proposals. There are some sign it could be you and the Clinton campaign more harm than good.

The Washington Post reports that the Sanders campaign claims to be seeing a huge surge in donation. They say four times the pace at the end of last year. And they say that they can tell it is a direct result of the attention he is getting from Clinton. A Sanders spokesman put it to the post, thanks, team Clinton.

Hillary Clinton doing a lot of interviews right now. This was overnight on lifetime. She was asked what a woman would bring to the presidency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really believe we need more love and kindness and nurturing in our country and in the world. And I don't mean this to be real in a real gushy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very fairy (ph).

CLINTON: Yeah. I really, I mean it seriously. And I'm not saying this is only about women, but I think we do have a history of trying to figure out how you get people to get along maybe just in a big old family. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Bill and Chelsea Clinton are both out on the campaign trail for Hillary. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty was with the former president in New Hampshire. He has the latest.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine. Well, Bill Clinton hitting the campaign trail here in New Hampshire. It comes at a key time. This race has taken on a much more sharp and combative tone on the campaign trail. Hillary Clinton and her campaign really ratcheting up the attacks, really laser focused now on drawing policy distinctions with Bernie Sanders. And CNN spoke with Bill Clinton here in New Hampshire about that. And about this turn that campaign has sharply taken.

Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about your wife and Senator Bernie Sanders?

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT UNITED STATES: You mean when he was in New York and criticized her all that? He's been doing that for some time. All they are doing now, as they should be doing, is talking about the differences in their positions. That's good. That healthy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the polls? Does it surprise you?

CLINTON: No. I am surprised it didn't happen 60 days ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And Hillary Clinton continues to insist she is not getting nervous about her standing in the polls. The state of this race right now even though her rhetoric and laser focus in on Bernie Sanders really sends a much different message. John and Christine.

ROMANS: All right Sunlen Serfaty, Thanks to that.

Let's get an Early Start on your money. Looking like a rebound for stocks this morning. Futures are higher. But I want you to look at Europe there. Most of Europe, Asia lower right now. That really terrible day yesterday in the market spread around the world. The problem is China. Oil prices they have investors worried about the global economy.

And yesterday, I'll tell you, plummeting oil prices wreaking havoc on the stock markets, it's rippling into corporate debt, housing markets, even a television network. North Dakota posted 387 percent increase in foreclosures last year. That's right, look at those numbers. That's according a new report from realty track. Oklahoma, 36 percent jump forecloses. In Texas rose 15 percent. Those three states remain relatively unscathed from the 2008 housing bust. That means the activity is not due to the backlog foreclosures left over from the cris it's a lower oil prices that lead to huge number or layoff across the country which constrain a local economy is with up close ties to the energies sector.

BERMAN: Yeah, a 380 percent in North Dakota. Just goes to show how much that economy is tied to the oil sector.

ROMANS: That's right, absolutely.

BERMAN: Affecting a lot of lives well beyond just oil. And of course, oil now driving the market fluctuations all around the world.

[05:00:03] ROMANS: Absolutely.

BERMAN: All right. "Early Start" continues right now.

ROMANS: Breaking news a deadly terror attack targeting westerners, a series of explosion and gun --