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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Clinton, Sanders Face Off in Debate; Deal to "Cease Hostilities" in Syria; Louisiana Governor: LSU Football At Risk. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired February 12, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:13] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Sparks fly at the Democratic presidential debate. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton one-on-one, fighting for the hearts and minds of Democratic voters, and they are heading into critical contests in Nevada and South Carolina.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman. It is Friday, February 12th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

This morning, punchy, pointed and poignant, but did it change the path of this race? Overnight, a Democratic debate in Milwaukee that was way, way more than Milwaukee.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders turning their focus to the racially diverse states of Nevada and South Carolina. Hillary Clinton turning her attention to stopping the post New Hampshire momentum of Bernie Sanders.

She repeatedly said his promises are not realistic and he is not leveling with the American people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Last week in the CNN town hall, the senator told a questioner that the questioner would spend about $500 in taxes to get about $5,000 in health care. Every progressive economist who analyzed that said the numbers don't add up. And that's a promise that cannot be kept.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet. And let us be clear that every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Let's get more on the debate and bring in CNN's Jeff Zeleny in Milwaukee.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, a civil but contentious Democratic debate here with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders really showing differences on several issues from foreign policy to immigration to health care. But the person who was not on stage but talked about the most was President Obama. Hillary Clinton hung tightly to him, his legacy. She said she is the true keeper of his -- of his flame, of his legacy, of his administration, on all of those issues.

Throughout the course of the debate, she mentioned President Obama and questioned Sanders' loyalty to this president. It's a way for her to point out that he is not a Democrat, at least not a registered Democrat in name.

The whole point of this strategy was to look ahead to South Carolina. The South Carolina primary is just about two weeks time is filled with African-American voters. Some 55 percent of the Democratic electorate is African-American. And Secretary Clinton was trying to make the case she was closer to President Obama.

Listen to this exchange at the end of the debate.

CLINTON: Today, Senator Sanders said President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. This is not the first time he has criticized President Obama. In the past, he's called him weak, he's called him a disappointment. I just couldn't disagree more with those kinds of comments.

I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for being a president. It is a --

(APPLAUSE)

The kind of criticism we heard from senator Sanders about our president, I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama.

SANDERS: That is --

(APPLAUSE)

SANDERS: Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. I think it is really unfair to suggest that I am not supportive of the president. I have been a strong ally on him and with him on virtually every issue. Do senators have the right to disagree with the president? Have you ever disagreed with the president? I suspect you may have.

ZELENY: Of course, Senator Sanders pushing back on the notion that he is not supportive of this president.

Now, at the end of this nearly two-hour debate, it is hard to imagine what changed in the mind of Sanders supporters. If you came into this debate as Sanders supporter, you likely left this debate as Sanders supporter, likewise on the Clinton side.

But what this did do for the Clinton campaign is reset her candidacy after that stinging defeat in New Hampshire. This campaign continues now, the Nevada caucuses now just eight days away, South Carolina the following week -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Jeff Zeleny, thanks for that.

No one grew their tent any bigger, but they really got to refocus and reposition as they head into some really important states.

Lots to talk about this morning. I want to bring in "Wall Street Journal" White House correspondent Colleen McCain Nelson from our Washington bureau.

Good morning. Nice to see you.

Let's start with this Hillary Clinton leaning hard on Barack Obama, on this president, trying to show that she is the candidate who will continue this president's work and Bernie Sanders is an outsider.

COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Absolutely. She mentioned President Obama every chance she got. She tethered herself to his legacy and interjected him in the conversation even when he wasn't part of the question.

So, she brought him up and said he's done a great job on health care, he's done a great job on race relations. He's made improvements there. She even mentioned his policing commission, which is not a major initiative that got a lot of attention. She brought that up and said I agree with everything that it's done.

[05:05:03] And so, it was a very strategic move as she looks ahead to the South Carolina primary, where as Jeff noted, more than half of the voters are likely to be African-American. And so, for her to say, I am the person who will continue the first black president's legacy and pointing out that Bernie Sanders has on occasion criticized the president was a very strategic move as they head into the states with larger minority voters.

BERMAN: And I think the phrase you use there, "strategic move", is crucial here because this is a big strategy. It didn't just take place on the debate stage. If you look at the last three days since New Hampshire, you have Jay Carney, the president's former spokesperson coming out and flat-out saying Barack Obama supports Hillary Clinton.

You have the political wing of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsing Hillary Clinton yesterday, using language that seems very in line with what the Clinton campaign is saying, that Hillary Clinton has supported Democrats. She is a true Democrat. She is the one who can carry on the president's legacy.

This seems to be the terrain they want to fight on going forward. Not who's the most progressive candidate, which is something we heard in Iowa and New Hampshire.

NELSON: Absolutely. They are confident they can win minority voters. They can kind of stop the bleeding after New Hampshire by going to the states where the population is more diverse.

But you've also have seen in the last couple days, Senator Sanders moving quickly to build his support among minority voters and show he appeals to more than just white voters, appeals to more than just young people. You saw him going straight from New Hampshire and straight to Harlem to have breakfast with Al Sharpton. You saw him rolling out some endorsements and putting out a video message from Harry Belafonte.

And so, he has a lot of ground to make up here. But he is moving quickly. You look at polls that were taken in South Carolina and Nevada before the New Hampshire primary. Hillary Clinton had margins anywhere from up to 40 percent when it comes to minority voters.

And so, Bernie Sanders has to make up a huge amount of ground. He's hoping that momentum and money which he has both coming out of New Hampshire will help him start to make in-roads there.

ROMANS: Colleen, you know what I didn't hear last night, I didn't hear any direct discussion of the chaos in global markets, crashing oil prices, real concern about the U.S. economy that could get hit by these global headwinds. It's interesting to me that there is a lot going on right now that they could be talking about and they really, really aren't talking about how they would stabilize, grow and fix the American economy.

They are talking about health care. They are talking about free college. They are not talking about what is happening right now. Why is that?

NELSON: That's a great point. I think that they both feel like they have issues that resonate with their voters. And, unfortunately, they have not been asked for pushed to go beyond that.

And so, we heard them talk about the same issues over and over again. You can kind of repeat the lines back to them before they say them on some of these issues. And so, Bernie Sanders is quick to talk about a rigged economy, to talk about the billionaire class, and talk about the very narrow slices of economic issues.

But we have not heard as you said about global economic issues. We have not heard them delve into some important details there.

BERMAN: We did hear them talk about Henry Kissinger, which was interesting. I have to say, I don't know if I have to time to play the sound, but Bernie Sanders -- we do have time. Let's play this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: I happen to believe that Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country. I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger.

CLINTON: I know journalists have asked who you listen to on foreign policy. We have yet to know who that is.

SANDERS: It ain't Henry Kissinger, that's for sure.

CLINTON: That's fine. That's fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: It is interesting. Bernie Sanders may have won the 1976 part of the debate bringing up Henry Kissinger.

ROMANS: Not resonating with millennials.

BERMAN: But she is talking about it more, then she probably should have also it seemed this weird side path.

NELSON: Well, it was an interesting moment because she has brought up Kissinger in the past. And so, he came ready with this line. So, this was a prepared moment where he had this ready to go. And then as soon as he delivered the line, his campaign put out a long memo explaining his thoughts on this and making clear that they've been preparing for this moment. It wasn't spontaneous by any means.

ROMANS: All right. Colleen, really interesting stuff. Henry Kissinger, I guarantee you, my 18-year-old is Googling him right now.

All right. Thank you so much. Nice to see you, Colleen.

NELSON: Thank you.

ROMANS: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both trying to appeal to African-American voters. The demographic mentioned frequently in that debate.

Here are the numbers. First, jobless rates. Black unemployment stands at 8.8 percent. The national average, 4.9 percent. White unemployment, 4.3 percent.

[05:10:01] The wealth gap, even more pronounce. Median wealth in white households, $141,900. The average among all households, the average is more than $81,000. Black household wealth, $11,000.

Homeownership, 72 percent is the rate among white Americans. That's above the national average. It's just less 42 percent for black Americans.

Now, there was a statistic Bernie Sanders mentioned last night. The black families lost half of their wealth in the financial crisis.

We checked that stat. It is mostly true, 42 percent of their wealth wiped out by the financial crisis largely because black families are more likely to have their money tied up in their homes. And as we know, the housing crisis crash was really, really devastating.

BERMAN: Some other big news developing overnight. World leaders agree to stop bombing Syria as tens of thousands of refugees line the border trying to escape the violence. Again, if this goes through, this could be a major development. We have details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The United States, Russia and other world powers have agreed to a so-called cessation of hostilities in Syria, the first step on what maybe a long road toward ending the civil war there.

[05:15:09] Now, the aim is to allow distribution of the desperately needed humanitarian aid. But at this point, the diplomats behind the deal hope it holds after it goes into effect one week from today.

For the very latest, let's bring in CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson in Munich where that pact was hammered out five years into the devastating civil war.

Can this hold?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The indications are that it's got a good chance of holding. You had all of the 17 nations at the table last night pledging that they would do everything in their power to make it happen. So, it's got a good chance.

And this peace process has already stumbled and picked itself back up last night. So there does appear to be a good chance for that. What they're saying here is humanitarian aid needs to be delivered across the country beginning right now. They've got a plan in place to deliver it to seven different places. These are government control places that are cut off. They have to get delivery by air and also opposition places, another four places that will get delivery of aid by road.

This is supposed to build confidence between the two sides and a week from now, they are supposed to begin the cessation of hostilities. What we're being told here is that the delivery of humanitarian aid is not directly linked to the cessation of hostilities. Think, if you will, the terminology "cessation" rather than cease-fire. Think of it as a pause in the process. The process goes forward and it becomes a cease-fire, which becomes more binding across the country.

So, what is expected here now is the humanitarian aid will go out immediately, the cessation will get into place. The United States and Russia will lead a task force group that will oversee that cessation determine where al Qaeda and ISIS are located in the country, everyone will continue to fight them. And we heard from the opposition here saying that if this is implemented as stated, then you can expect to see them back at the talks table soon. Of course, that's what all of this was about, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Nic Robertson for us this morning in Munich, thank you for that, Nic.

CNN taking you inside Syria where the Assad regime forces are making significant advances on key rebel controlled town. It's a report you'll see only on CNN. We're bringing that to you at 5:30. Wait for that.

ROMANS: All right. This morning, the final four protesters who occupied an Oregon wildlife refuge, they're in custody and will make their first court appearance today. They surrendered after hours of intense negotiations, bringing an end to the six-week standoff with the FBI. Felony charges are related to the armed occupation. They are pending.

The four refused to leave after protest leader Ammon Bundy and others were arrested. One protester, one occupier, was killed by police.

ROMANS: A New York jury convicting an NYPD officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man in 2014. Peter Liang was found guilty of manslaughter. He and his partner were patrolling a Brooklyn housing project when his gun went off in an unlighted stairwell. The bullet struck and killed 28-year-old Akai Gurley, who was walking down the stairs. Officer Liang faces up to 15 years in prison.

BERMAN: A bloody scene inside a Columbus, Ohio, restaurant. A man with a machete was shot and killed by police after randomly slashing several customers and employees. Police said they have identified the suspect but they are not releasing his name yet. At least four people were injured. One of the victims needed surgery and is now in stable condition.

ROMANS: All right. The head of the Environmental Protection Agency defending its response to the Flint water crisis. At a House hearing Thursday, EPA chief Gina McCarthy was asked why the agency did not act sooner after learning last year about the lack of proper treatment to prevent the Flint River from leeching lead into the water. McCarthy has focused blamed for the crisis on the state. Two officials at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality had been suspended or fired over the handling of the water contamination in Flint.

BERMAN: All right. People in Louisiana, they love LSU football, but could the team get sacked by the state's budget crisis? I got to tell you, the football fans in the bayou, they went bonkers yesterday. Coy Wire with more in this morning's bleacher report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:23:41] BERMAN: All right. What a shock this was. The governor of Louisiana announced yesterday that the state could lose one of its most prized possessions, the LSU football team.

ROMANS: Coy Wire has more in this morning's bleacher report.

Hey, Coy.

COY WIRE, BLEACHER REPORT: Good morning, Christine and John.

Louisiana is home to the LSU Tigers. Perennial football power house and the heart of the south where football is king. And the governor is using the ultimate scare tactic, telling constituent that if his tax increases aren't approved, no football. Say what?

Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, says that if his tax increases aren't approved by the Republican-led state legislature, state schools would run out of money by April. That will mean that students can't finish spring semester and that athletes would be ineligible.

A quick FYI, the state is in the red, but the football program at LSU turned a profit of $57 million just last year.

Good news for Raiders fans. They can bask in the noisy and disorderly glory of the black hole, the Oakland coliseum for at least one more season. The team announced yesterday that they signed a lease to play there in 2016. They also hold options to stay in 2017 and 2018 as well.

Team owner Mark Davis says it gives them time to continue to search for a long-term solution they're hoping for in Oakland. And remember, they could still be a player in Los Angeles depending on what the Charges do next year.

[05:25:05] The NBA all-star game festivities officially get under way tonight in Toronto. And Sunday's all-star game will be Kobe Bryant's last.

So, our man Andy Scholes caught with Kobe's former teammate and TNT analyst Shaq, who gives advice to the Black Mamba.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, ANALYST "INSIDE THE NBA": I want to say go out and have fun and I'm sure if he gets a hot hand, guys are going to look to give it to him. Hopefully, he can get the MVP.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Finally, we're going to end with a little fun on this Friday. Sun's out. The European tour in South Africa. Trying to hit out of a water hazard no shirt, no shoes, no sweet swing. The ball went about three feet and he ends up double bogeying the hole and showing the world a pretty epic farmer's tan, guys. It looks like he's still wearing a white t-shirt there. What do you think?

BERMAN: I think it is a two-stroke penalty for a farmer's tan like that actually.

WIRE: Yes, yes, they're working on that six pack all season trying to hope for a moment just like that. It didn't work out for him.

BERMAN: I have to take my shirt off. Yes, exactly.

ROMANS: All right. Coy Wire, thank you so much, Coy.

WIRE: You're welcome.

ROMANS: Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton facing off on the debate stage. Who came out on top? Who changed the race? Breaking down the moments live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)