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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Can Donald Trump Be Stopped?; The Race for President: Sanders' Last Stand?; Ohio A.G. Confirms Victim Received Facebook Threat; Gay Rights Activist Among 2 Killed in Bangladesh; U.S. Bolsters Military Presence Near Russia. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired April 26, 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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[04:30:36] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Voters in five states casting their ballots today in the race for president. Can Donald Trump be stopped? The new plan hatched by Ted Cruz and John Kasich to keep him from clinching the nomination.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Will this Tuesday be the last stand for Bernie Sanders? Hillary Clinton leading in the polls, but will Sanders pull off an upset? And what happens to his supporters, whose job is it to wrangle the Sanders army?

Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. Big day for you this morning. Thirty-one minutes past the hour.

This morning, Ted Cruz and John Kasich alliance aimed at stooping may be falling apart before it really even gets started. In just hours, voters head to the polls in five Eastern states. Donald Trump is expecting a clean sweep in the so-called Acela primary, leaving Indiana as the next huge battleground one week from now.

Cruz is boasting about Kasich from pulling out of Indiana as part of a deal, where Cruz is supposed to give a clear path in New Mexico and Oregon. This is all in order to block Trump from winning enough delegates to clinch the nomination on the first ballot.

But Kasich has already been pouring cold water on the plan. He will be in Indiana today for a fundraiser and a meeting with the state's Republican governor and he's telling Indiana voters that if they want to vote for him, they should.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't see this as a big deal, other than the fact I'm not going to spend resources in Indiana and he's not going to spend them in other places? So what? What's the big deal? I've never told them not to vote for me. They ought to vote for me. I'm not over there campaigning and spending resources. We have

limited resources. You know, you ought to feel good about it. Mine's like the people's campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Trump is blasting what he calls collusion aimed at stopping him.

CNN's Jim Acosta is with the Trump campaign in Pennsylvania.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, this alliance between Ted Cruz and John Kasich has not gone unnoticed inside the Trump campaign. Donald Trump opened the flood gates on Kasich, hurling insults at the Ohio governor like never before.

But could the Cruz/Kasich deal actually work? That's another issue.

I talked to a Trump campaign adviser who said Kasich pulling out of Indiana could help Cruz and hurt the GOP frontrunner in that critical state.

All day long on Monday, Trump has been making the case that this political marriage of sorts just proves that Cruz and Kasich simply aren't the best suitors for the GOP. Here's more of what he had to say.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kasich is doing worse than many of the people that left months ago. I mean, if you look at Marco Rubio, he did much better than Kasich. He had more -- to this day, has more delegates. This is just a guy who is a stubborn guy, who eats like a slob, and shouldn't have press conferences while he is stuffing stuff down his throat. I've never seen anything like this.

But this is a guy who's stubborn guy, "I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving." He is one for 42. I would have won the one, but I was given a dirty poll by NBC where they came up with a poll --

(BOOS)

It's true.

ACOSTA: Now, the Trump campaign is still confident that the real estate tycoon can reach that magic number of 1,237 delegates. But the top official within the Never Trump movement told me, don't be sure. Trump needs Indiana, this official argued, even as he added that he wished Cruz and Kasich had joined forces weeks ago.

And it's not clear how long the Cruz-Kasich alliance will last. Kasich is still scheduled to attend a fundraiser in Indiana later on today -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right, Jim.

On the Democratic side, today could be a chance for Hillary Clinton to put more distance between herself and Bernie Sanders. Right now, Clinton is about 250 pledged delegates ahead. Add in superdelegates, and her lead grows to more than 700. Late last night, Clinton and Sanders spoke in dueling television town halls, each predicting a clear path to victory and arguing over whose job it will be to unite the Democratic Party if Clinton wins the nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is incumbent upon Clinton to reach out not only to my supporters but all of the American people with an agenda that they believe will represent the interests of working families, lower income, the middle class, those of us who are concerned about the environment and not just big money interests.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I did not put down conditions. I did not say, you know what, if Senator Obama does X, Y, and Z, maybe I'll support him. I said, I am supporting Senator Obama.

At that time, 40 percent of my supporters said they would not support him.

[04:35:03] I spent an enormous amount of time convincing my supporters to support him. And I'm happy to say the vast majority did. That is what I think one does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: CNN's Brianna Keilar is traveling with the Clinton campaign in Pennsylvania. She has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John and Christine, the Clinton campaign feeling pretty good about this primary day. They feel good about Pennsylvania. They think they have Maryland all but locked up. And because of that, Secretary Clinton is channeling some of this confidence into -- focused on the general election, unveiling a new attack line on Donald Trump in Wilmington, Delaware.

CLINTON: Donald Trump says wages are too high in America and doesn't support raising the minimum wage. And I have said, come out of those towers named for yourself and actually talk and listen to people.

Don't just fly that big jet in and land it and go make a big speech and insult everybody you can think of and go back and get on that big jet and go back to -- you know, your country clubhouse in Florida or your penthouse in New York.

KEILAR: Looking at the math, you can see how it is so difficult for Bernie Sanders coming out of his loss last week in New York. To deny Hillary Clinton the nomination, he would have to win six out of 10 delegates. That's just looking at pledged delegates. You factor in superdelegates and he would have to win three out of four.

And what you also have going forward is a number of states racially diverse. That is terrain that is much more advantageous towards Hillary Clinton -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Brianna. Thank you.

Bernie Sanders appears live here this morning on "NEW DAY". That's in the 7:00 hour Eastern Time. And stay tuned to CNN.

All day coverage of today's crucial Super Tuesday elections. Voters are going to the polls for the Acela primary in five states, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

BERMAN: All day. And more importantly, all night. We'll be back here starting at 2:00 a.m. tomorrow morning for the overnight rolling coverage of the election night.

All right. Other news now, a federal judge upheld North Carolina's controversial law requiring a photo ID to vote. The law also reduces the number of days of early voting in the states and bars registering and voting on the same day. Republican North Carolina lawmakers said they pushed the law to fight what they called voter fraud, the NAACP calls it an affront to democracy. The Justice Department which sued to overturn the law says it is disappointed and evaluating legal options.

ROMANS: All right. Millennials are now the largest living generation. There are 75.4 million Americans aged 18 to 34 in the U.S. That's according to Pew Research Center analysis of government population data. A real milestone here.

There are 74.9 million baby boomers who range in age from 51 to 69. Generation X, John Berman, right between the two, now numbers about 65 million, expected to pass the boomers year 2028. For the past 30 years or so, the boomers have carried the economic burden as the largest working population making the most money.

What boomers do changes and defines the economy. Guess what? Now, it falls on the millennials. The focus shifts to millennials. Pew says young immigrants are a big part of this growth. As boomers have aged, the number of deaths have exceeded the number of coming into the country. It's a shift in momentum and quite fascinating.

BERMAN: I just want them to take care of us, you know, one day.

ROMANS: You have to take care of yourself.

BERMAN: That's probably true.

All right. A murder mystery unraveling in Ohio. What led to the grizzly murders of eight family members? We'll tell you what investigators are now revealing. That's next.

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[04:44:38] BERMAN: -- bathroom access for transgender people. Some enters the House speaker's office and refused to leave. This came after thousands came to the building praising the lawmakers praising the restriction restrictions.

ROMANS: Former speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, is being sued for breach of contract by a former student he allegedly molested. The unidentified man filed the lawsuit in Illinois, claiming that Hastert still owes him $1.8 million on the settlement they reached.

[04:45:04] The plaintiff says Hastert molested him when he was 14 years old. Hastert is expected to be sentenced Wednesday for violating banking laws to secretly pay off the former student.

BERMAN: The criminal case against Bill Cosby can now go forward. A Pennsylvania appellate court Monday rejected the comedian's pre-trial appeal to dismiss sexual assault charges against him. It did not address Cosby's argument that a former district attorney promised decades ago not to charge him in this case. Cosby is accused of drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand, a former Temple University women's basketball manager, in 2004.

ROMANS: Sportscaster Erin Andrews has settled her lawsuit with the Tennessee hotel owner and operator. Andrews sued the Nashville Marriott for $75 million after a stalker recorded her nude through a peephole in 2008. Andrews was awarded a $55 million verdict by a jury in March. The jury ruled that Andrews' stalker owed her $28 million, while the hotel and operator owed her $27 million for negligence. The settlement terms are confidential.

BERMAN: New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's four-game suspension is back on the table. In fact, it's just plain back. A federal appeals court ruled Monday in favor of the NFL in the deflategate case. The punishment was initially handed down by the league's commissioner, Roger Goodell, but thrown out by a district court judge. But the appellate court judge, the panel, voted two to one, saying that the four-game suspension was within the powers of Roger Goodell. Tom Brady now said to be mulling his legal options.

ROMANS: All right. To weather now, severe storms and possible tornadoes ahead today. For the very latest, let's bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, one of those days you really want to pay attention to your forecast, especially if you are across the Plain States, across northern Texas, much of Oklahoma, certainly eastern areas of Kansas and Nebraska as well.

We know very high risk for a large scale severe weather this afternoon, 35 million people in line with severe weather impact. Some tornadoes spawned this afternoon could be on the violent side. So, it's certainly worth noting. If you tuned in from Kansas City to St. Louis, you started off early from around sunrise towards the afternoon hours, the energy then begin shifting a little farther south, including Oklahoma City on Wichita towards the evening hours.

Something is certainly really worth noting. I want to show what's happened because exactly five years ago this week, we had the April of 2011 tornado outbreak that took place, 526 tornadoes. So, certainly, not unusual this time of year across this region to see widespread tornadoes. We had over 300 fatalities. This storm left nearly $5 billion in losses across the United States.

So, worth nothing, we do have another severe weather day ahead of us. And the afternoon temperatures is much like summer variety here across parts of Nashville, Atlanta, Jackson, mid- upper 80s in the forecast across the region, guys.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Pedram. Kelly Ripa will return to her set on "Live" today after after getting a personal apology from officials at ABC and Disney. The actress and talk show host was apparently blindsided by the announcement last week that her co-host Michael Strahan would be leaving the show. Sources tell CNN the executives expressed regret for the way that Kelly was told the news. Strahan is leaving "Live" in September for a full-time gig at "Good Morning America."

All right. Wall Street bracing for a flood much corporate earnings starting today. Some of the companies are likely in your 401(k). We're going to get an early start on your money, that's next.

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[04:52:34] BERMAN: Outrage and fear in the diplomatic community as a U.S. embassy worker who was also the editor of Bangladesh's first LGBT magazine was hacked to death along with another man. Police say a group of attackers, one of them posing as a delivery person gained entry to the apartment. His mother and a maid were also there, but survived. U.S. embassy officials identified their colleague as Xulhaz Mannan, calling him a dear friend. It is the latest in the series of deadly attacks in Bangladesh targeting bloggers and secular writers.

ROMANS: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemning the killing of a Canadian by Islamic militants as an act of cold-blooded murder. The Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines held 68-year-old John Ridsdel captive for seven months and then beheaded him after its ransom deadline expired. Canada's foreign ministry refused to pay ransom, saying it's a significant source of terrorist funding.

BERMAN: The United States is sending two fighter jets to Romania, just a short hop from Ukraine, up from Ukraine to the Crimean Peninsula and Russia. The move was part of the NATO training exercise, but follows the buzzing of the U.S. warships from Russian jets, and complaints that Russia is ramping its own air missions.

Let's get more from CNN senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward who is live in Romania this morning.

Clarissa, it is just two fighter jets, but it is a message.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is a message, John. We are here on the Black Sea. This is rapidly becoming one of the most hotly contested and heavily militarized areas in the region. That, of course, much to the concern and anxiety of many NATO allies like Romania, which is why the U.S. Air Force yesterday landed two F-22 Raptor fighter jets here in Romania.

This is the first time, John, that F-22s have landed here and we were lucky enough to ride along with the refueling tanker that accompanied the two jets here to Romania. It really was an extraordinary opportunity to watch these unique aircraft up close. We were able to essentially get right up against the refueling window that they use, that the boom operator uses to refuel the aircraft.

Now, what makes the F-22 so special? Well, a number of things. First of all, it can travel at twice the speed of sound. Secondly, it has stealth technology that allows it essentially to fly undetected by radars. This technology is so sophisticated that Congress actually passed a law making it illegal for Lockheed Martin that makes the F-22 to sell it overseas.

[04:25:09] So, this really is a unique aircraft. Now, officially, this was simply a training exercise to move the F-22s from a fixed base in the United Kingdom to a temporary forward operating base in Romania. But, of course, what this was really intended as is a show of support to NATO allies and show of force against an increasingly assertive Russia.

As you mentioned before, earlier this month, we saw Russian fighter jets buzzing really close to USS Donald Cook, the Navy destroyer warship in the Baltic Sea. Russia is now projected to spend nearly $2 billion on modernizing its Black Sea fleet by the year 2020.

So, essentially, what we have been seeing is a sort of tit-for-tat going back and forth with NATO on one side, the Russians on the other side. Russia, of course, sees this whole tit-for-tat very differently. They see NATO as the aggressors. They see NATO as encroaching right off on Russia's borders. So, it will be very interesting to see how the Russians interpret this latest move from the U.S., landing these two F-22 fighter jets here in Romania, John.

BERMAN: It'd be interesting how they interpret and also how they respond, Clarissa. I mean, what has been or what is likely to be the range of options?

WARD: Well, I think there's a number of options. You could see more provocative such as we saw with the buzzing of the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea earlier this month, but perhaps more likely you'll see some articles carefully planted both in Romanian media, but certainly also in Russian media, disparaging NATO efforts and essentially trying to draw upon the divide that exists within Romania between people who are very much wanting to be more integrated into the E.U. and NATO, and between people who perhaps feel more sympathy to Russia. This is, of course, a country that used to be a part of the Soviet Union, John.

BERMAN: All right. Clarissa Ward for us with the really interesting report from a really interesting place to be this morning in Romania -- thanks so much, Clarissa. ROMANS: All right. Let's get an early start on your money this morning.

Dow futures are higher, signaling some optimism ahead of a slew of corporate earnings due today. Stocks ended lower yesterday. Oil steady right now, below 43 bucks a barrel. Stock markets in Europe are higher. Shares in Asia finishing mixed overnight.

Apple could post its worst quarterly results in more than a decade after the closing bell today. Analysts predict a drop in iPhone sales will drag down profit and revenue at Apple. Some are calling for a double-digit drop compared with the same time last year. The last time that happened was in the fall of 2001 when Windows 98 was a dominant operating system and the iPod hadn't been introduced yet.

BERMAN: I can't remember back then.

ROMANS: No, I can't either. Apple shares have tanked nearly 20 percent over the past 20 months.

BERMAN: You were in junior high.

ROMANS: The stock is flat for the year, down 2.5 percent over the past week.

Goldman Sachs, banker to moguls, architect of mergers, advisers to big money, reviled by Bernie Sanders, Goldman Sachs now open to Main Street. Goldman Sachs opening an online bank. Mom and pop can now bank to Goldman Sachs. There's no minimum deposit. Goldman won't charge transaction fees. But customers are limited to six withdrawals or transfers per month. There's no ATM card or no branch to go.

The best part for savers here, it's really a savings account. Accounts are paying out 1.05 percent interest. The average savings account in the U.S. pays out, look at this, that is just ridiculous, 0.06 percent.

So, how is Goldman doing it? Online banks cut the costs. Those savings can be extended to customers. And Goldman just finished the purchase of GE Capital Bank, which holds $16 billion online depositors.

BERMAN: Interesting.

ROMANS: It bought its way into the business and now offering mom and pop a chance to have a Goldman banker.

BERMAN: A whopping 1 percent return, which doesn't sound like much, but when you put it up there against what you're getting in your bank, it's an awful lot.

ROMANS: That's right.

BERMAN: All right. EARLY START continues right now.

(MUSIC) ROMANS: A last-ditch effort to stop Donald Trump. John Kasich and Ted Cruz team up. But is there are plan too little too late? This as voters head to the polls this morning in five state primary elections.

BERMAN: Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic battle. What is the key for Hillary Clinton today and how well does Bernie Sanders have to do to keep on going?

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, April 26th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East. Nice to see you this morning.

It is voting day. And this morning, Ted Cruz and John Kasich alliance aimed at stopping Donald Trump may be falling apart before it even gets started. In just hours, voters head to the polls in those five Eastern states. Donald Trump is expecting a clean sweep in the so- called Acela primary.