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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Democrats Make Their Cases at Town Hall. Aired 5:08-5:30a ET

Aired February 04, 2016 - 05:08   ET

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

[05:08:13] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton speaking directly to voters in New Hampshire, battling over who is the most progressive, who is in the pocket of Wall Street.

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Not as early start this morning. I'm John Berman. It's Thursday, February 4th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

And we do begin with a flurry of action in New Hampshire. In just a few hours, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders face-off in the debate.

Overnight, they made their cases directly to the voters in a CNN town hall in Derry, New Hampshire. They battled over who was the most progressive. They battled over who was the most effective. They battled over who was the real underdog in a state where Bernie Sanders leads by more than 20 points. So, did this change the race?

CNN's Jeff Zeleny was there, has the very latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the voters in New Hampshire and, in fact, across the country got a look at Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in a bit of a different light at the CNN town hall on Wednesday night here in Derry, New Hampshire. They tangled on who is a true progressive. They spent more than 24 hours now on the campaign trail, arguing about their politics, their brand of politics.

Listen to how they distinguish themselves.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do not know any progressive who has a super PAC and takes $15 million from Wall Street. That's just not progressive.

(APPLAUSE)

As I mentioned earlier, the key foreign policy vote of modern American history was the war in Iraq. The progressive community was pretty united in saying don't listen to Bush. Don't go to war. Secretary Clinton voted to go to war.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was somewhat amused today that senator Sanders set himself up to be the gatekeeper on progressive. Under the definition flying around on Twitter and statements by the campaign, Barack Obama would not be a progressive, Joe Biden would not be a progressive, Jeanne Shaheen would not be a progressive, even the great late Senator Paul Wellstone would not be a progressive.

[05:10:14] So, I'm not going to let that bother me. I know where I stand. I know who stands with me.

ZELENY: Now, with five days remaining until this New Hampshire primary, it's going to be up to the voters to make a final decision and many we talk to after they left the town hall say they're still undecided.

Not usual for New Hampshire. Some 40 percent of the voters are independent voters. Many of whom will pick up ballot on primary day to decide who they will vote for, Democrat or Republican, and make their decision then -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Jeff Zeleny for us this morning.

Let's dig a little deeper over what we've learned about these candidates at the CNN town hall, political economist Greg Valliere. He's the chief strategist for Horizon Investments.

Good morning.

Greg, you know, I want to play a little sound about Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton being pressed on taking speaking fees. A lot of speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Look, I made speeches to lots of groups. I told them what I thought. I answered questions.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: But did you have to be paid $675,000?

CLINTON: I don't know. That's what they offered. You know, every secretary of state that I know has done that.

COOPER: That's usually once they're out of office and not running for an office again, both have known.

CLINTON: Well, I didn't know -- to be honest, I wasn't -- I wasn't committed to running.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Greg, how did she handle that answer? What was that answer?

GREG VALLIERE, CHIEF GLOBAL STRATEGIST, HORIZON INVESTMENTS: That was not her strongest answer, Christine, of the campaign. I thought it was halting, it was not real credible. I think it reinforced the belief that she is one of the big candidates of -- for Wall Street.

ROMANS: She kept trying to say the right-wing donors are against her and spending all this money and that she has been tough on Wall Street, that she has been tough on Wall Street. Has she been tough on Wall Street?

VALLIERE: Rhetorically, everybody is now -- Wall Street is like a big pinata. Everybody is taking at Wall Street. I personally think it's mostly hot air. I don't see Congress doing anything in the next couple years to really hurt Wall Street.

I think this is a weak spot of hers and maybe one of the many legacies that Bernie Sanders will have is that he planted a seed in the minds of the voters that she is the candidate of Goldman Sachs. And that's not a good story for her.

BERMAN: No, and there is almost no way, I think, to answer that question.

You know, know without raising more questions, Greg, Hillary Clinton -- what she is trying to do, trying, is to run a patient campaign. It's not go too hard against Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire. She wants to wait until the political environment gets better for her in South Carolina and stays beyond that.

VALLIERE: Yes.

BERMAN: She talks about pragmatism and the ability to get things done. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: It is very hard to see how any of his proposals could ever be achievable. I don't want to overpromise. We had too much of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: It is tough running against ideological purity. It is tough running against something that appeals to one wing of the party a lot, isn't it?

VALLIERE: She would like to be in March, running for the general election. She would like to have this out of the way and talk like a centrist, a pragmatist. That's how you win in November. But she doesn't have that luxury because I think Sanders is going to hang around for several more weeks, maybe a couple more months.

ROMANS: Let's talk about that ideological purity, because it's so interesting. He has consistently said, you know, you should not be in debt, and your parents shouldn't be in debt, two generations in debt for college education. Higher education should be free. He goes much further than Hillary Clinton. She says you should get through a state school without debt. He said no, it should be free.

He is talking about universal health care. He's talking about opening the pocketbook for mental health and substance abuse. He is talking about a lot of things that will cost a lot of money. And you know what? They're really resonating with young people.

She is saying, I am a progressive who gets things done. He is just appealing to the young people. Is that going to hurt her?

VALLIERE: It could, because what Sanders is talking about is like catnip for young people. It's very seductive, even though it is almost impossible to explain how you pay for it unless you really have enormous new taxes. But for young people to worry about college debt, a lot of issues, their health insurance, it's a very seductive message.

ROMANS: All right. Greg Valliere, Horizon -- thank you so much. Nice to see you this morning.

VALLIERE: You bet.

ROMANS: You know, it's interesting. Talking about Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs, yesterday, the CEO of Goldman Sachs was on CNBC, and he said Bernie Sanders' criticism of Goldman by name is dangerous. It's a dangerous moment.

BERMAN: Which only helps Bernie Sanders in a Democratic primary, you know, in a liberal state.

ROMANS: Goldman Sachs is almost the third party in the Democratic race right now.

All right. Is Ted Cruz losing it? Ted Cruz lashing out after Trump accuses him of cheating in the Iowa caucuses. The new drama, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:19:19] BERMAN: Overnight, high drama and big accusations in the race for the Republican nomination. Donald Trump accusing Iowa winner Ted Cruz of flat-out fraud, claiming the Cruz campaign led Iowa caucusgoers to believe incorrectly that Ben Carson was dropping out of the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The guy who came in second, but actually I came in first, because if you take a look, OK? You know?

Oh, that voter fraud. You know, these politicians are brutal.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I wake up every day and laugh at the latest thing Donald has tweeted because he's losing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. So, in case you missed it, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum, they dropped out of the race.

[05:20:03] Senator Santorum, who is not polling high, he immediately endorsed Marco Rubio. Ted Cruz making a play for Rand Paul supporters, but Senator Paul who

know actually has a tough race for Senate in Kentucky, he says he will not endorse before the New Hampshire primary.

ROMANS: All right. Twenty minutes past the hour.

Sexual assault lawsuit against Bill Cosby, that suit will go forward. New details in the case, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Attorneys for Bill Cosby plan to appeal the ruling by a Pennsylvania judge that allows a sex assault case against the comedian to go forward. The judge rejected the defense motion to dismiss criminal charges. Cosby's lawyer cited an unwritten agreement with the former D.A. back in 2005 that they claim give Cosby immunity for prosecution. Andrea Constand accuses Cosby of assaulting her in his home in 2004.

[05:25:01] ROMANS: All right. Time for an early start on your money.

Stock futures are higher, thanks to rising market prices. Markets in Europe and Asia also gaining.

You may have lost money in the recent downturn in the stock market, but I bet you did not lose as much as former pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli. In courts proceedings, Shkreli's attorney said his client E*Trade account lost $41 million since December, mostly through the bankruptcy of KaloBios, a firm that fired him as CEO late last year. The stock tanked.

Shkreli is facing fraud charges connected to a different company he started. You may remember he was referred to the most hated man in America after he jacked up the price of a drug used to treat AIDS patients by more than 5,000 percent. That was when he was an CEO of yet another company, Turing Pharmaceuticals.

You know, he put the E*Trade account up for bail and he's lost for -- I don't mean to laugh. It lost $41 million in value. He's $4 million back in here. So, he and his attorneys have to figure out how they're going to keep him out of jail.

BERMAN: All right. New Hampshire just five days away now the voting. Overnight, a town hall forum. CNN hosted it. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton on stage.

Dramatic moments. Who came out on top? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)