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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Protests Rage Outside Huge Trump Rally; Sanders Softening Attacks on Clinton; Investigators Look at Overdose in Prince Death; Airstrike Destroys Syrian Hospital. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired April 29, 2016 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:29] MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning: violent protests rage outside a huge Donald Trump rally. Republican frontrunner drawing thousands late last night. California is the battleground in the Republican race for president.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Miguel Marquez.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: So nice to see you this Friday morning.
MARQUEZ: It's Friday.
ROMANS: Big news day, again.
I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday, April 29th. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East.
California taking the spotlight in the race for president now with the chance to play decisive role in the nomination. For the first time in more than 50 years, late last night, frontrunner Donald Trump holding this, a huge rally in southern California, confident that he is, in his own words, the presumptive nominee, while a raucous anti-Trump protest raged outside that amphitheater. Several people injured. About 20 people arrested.
The frontrunner enjoyed the limelight inside, returning to his standby themes -- illegal immigration, bashing Hillary Clinton, mocking rival Ted Cruz. Now, this afternoon, Trump is set to speak at the California Republican Convention. Later, he'll be joined by rivals Cruz and John Kasich.
CNN's Jason Carroll was at that Trump rally last night. He's got more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Miguel, Donald Trump wrapping up the speech here in Costa Mesa, California, already setting his sights at least for a short while on California, and the 172 delegates up for grabs.
For the first time at one of his rallies, he opened up his speech talking about the issue of illegal immigration, an issue that is a divisive issue here in the state, one very important to the state of California.
One of his opening speakers, a father whose son was killed by an undocumented worker back in 2008. Donald Trump talked about the need to be tough on illegal immigration, talked about building that wall. He also continued to criticize Ted Cruz for building that so-called alliance with John Kasich.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, now, what they're doing is Kasich has given up on Indiana and hurt all of the people because he has like all of us, you know, we have all of these people working hard. And the people working for Kasich, what happened? We are going around ringing doors, now all of sudden, we're out. Nobody even told us.
So, he dropped them terribly. And now, Cruz gave up a couple of other states. So, what they're doing is playing Russian roulette. That is the dumbest move. The next day, they were criticized incredibly because shows weakness. They choked under pressure.
CARROLL: As Trump supporters left the fairgrounds, some were surrounded by anti-Trump protesters. They surrounded their cars, waving Mexican flags. Trump called his rallies some of the safest in the world. He vowed not only to take the state of Indiana but California as well -- Miguel, Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Thanks to Jason Carroll. If Trump does win California and Indiana, it will put him within striking distance of clinching the nomination, which is one reason the Republican battle seems to have reached a turning point, with many in the party elite accepting or resigning themselves to Trump as the GOP standard bearer.
One sign that's the case is more openly expressed loathing of Ted Cruz. Former House Speaker Boehner slamming Cruz as Lucifer and worse in a scathing interview with Stanford University's campus paper. Those remarks captured on tape as Cruz fires right back. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: Lucifer in the flesh. I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everybody, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) in my life.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When John Boehner calls me Lucifer, he is not directing it at me. He is directing that at you. What Boehner is angry with me for is not anything I've ever said. I haven't said much to him if anything. What Boehner is angry with me is standing with the American people, is energizing and encouraging House conservatives to stand with the American people and actually honor the commitments we made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: There is one certified member of the elite sticking with Ted Cruz and refusing, refusing to back Donald Trump as a former rival for the nomination, Jeb Bush, who sat down with CNN in an exclusive interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My personal belief is if Donald Trump is the nominee, you know, look -- my views have been pretty consistent about this, we'll lose the Senate and we'll lose the presidency in a landslide.
[04:05:03] And our country can't afford that.
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you think the Republican Party should get around him if he's the nominee?
BUSH: I think they should support Ted Cruz.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUEZ: A major shift on the Democratic side for the race for president as well. Bernie Sanders campaigning in Oregon softening his attacks on Hillary Clinton, focusing instead on how he and his followers can reshape the Democratic Party, putting it in his words on the side of working people instead of big money interests.
Senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Miguel.
Hillary Clinton is on the cusp of becoming the Democratic Party's nominee. And Senator Bernie Sanders is trying to influence the party even if he won't lead it. He is still pledging to take his movement to the Democratic convention, but it's just that, a movement. No longer a campaign with a viable path to win this party's nomination.
Now, he is softening his tone just a bit, but he's still rallying supporters as he did Thursday in Oregon.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We all agree, this is one thing that Secretary Clinton and I do agree on, we must not have a Republican in the White House. But I think the evidence is overwhelming that you are looking at the strongest Democratic candidate.
ZELENY: Now, for the last two days, the Clinton campaign has been all but ignoring Sanders. She is taking a break and writing her game plan for the fall. That plan revolves almost entirely around Donald Trump. Aides tell me the campaign is spending little to no time on any other opponent. Now, her campaign released a video to highlight some of his greatest hits, from banning Muslims to repealing Obamacare.
TRUMP: Planned Parenthood should absolutely be defunded. Get rid of Obamacare. I will build a great, great wall. You're going to have a deportation force. A total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.
ZELENY: The Clinton campaign believes the best way to unify the Democratic Party and to boost their own base is to start taking on Trump -- Christine and Miguel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thanks, Jeff.
Vice President Joe Biden making a surprise visit to Iraq shrouded in secrecy until he landed under tight security. Biden met Thursday with embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. He met with other political leaders as well to encourager national unity and continued momentum in the fight against ISIS.
Today, Biden will be in Rome to give remarks on cancer research at the Vatican conference. The vice president is expected to meet with Pope Francis today.
MARQUEZ: Now, President Obama's ready to pull a trigger to put smart guns in the hands of federal officers. "Politico" says the White House is working on a blue print to convince the industry to create guns that can only be fired by their owner. Rank-and-file officers are apparently not on board with the plan. The Fraternal Order of Police saying officers should not be asked to be guinea pigs for a firearm most people have never seen before.
ROMANS: Time for an early start on your money. The U.S. stock market just hit a milestone. The current bull market is now the second longest in history, 2,608 days, a little bit more than seven years old. A bull market is a streak of gains without a drop of 20 percent from a high point. It jumps over the run from 1949 to 1956. Remember that nice run? That was a good --
MARQUEZ: That was good. Yes, I remember it so well.
ROMANS: It still has a long way to go to surpass the bull market that ran from the crash in 1987 to the year 2000. The S&P 500 over those 2,600 days is up an incredible 206 percent. That ranks number four in bull market gains in U.S. history. There have been a couple of pull backs, but nothing significant enough to stop this run.
As for today, Dow futures ticking down, slightly. Yesterday with a 1 percent drop. Oil is up around 46 bucks a barrel right now. Stocks in Europe and Asia are mostly lower. Two hundred-point decline for the Dow yesterday. We will see if that continues this morning.
MARQUEZ: The huge run is an indication of how far it fell in 2008.
ROMANS: Absolutely. It was a crash. A real certifiable crash it has been up without a pullback since then.
MARQUEZ: All right. Thank you.
Investigators revealing new information about Prince's death. We have that coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:13:36] MARQUEZ: New developments this morning in the probe surrounding Prince's death. Law enforcement releasing call logs from the late singer's home as investigators try to determine if the pills he apparently had were prescribed by a doctor.
CNN's Sara Sidner has the very latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Miguel, as the memorial grows outside Paisley Park, we are hearing sources familiar with the investigation into Prince's death. One, we found out from a source that when Prince's body was found inside of that elevator in Paisley Park, that he had opioid prescription medication on his person. We are also hearing that medication, the same type of medication that is for severe pain was found inside of his home.
And what we have now heard from investigators is that they have not been able to find any evidence that Prince had a valid prescription for that medication. We also know now that the Drug Enforcement Administration is going to be helping investigate this case to give some idea. The Drug Enforcement Administration has a top priority. That is dealing with the misuse of opioid medicines, trying to figure out if potentially someone got those medicines illegally. So, it gives you an idea of what's happening with the investigation.
We also looked into documents given out by the sheriff's department here.
[04:15:03] Five years of calls to local enforcement from Paisley Park. And as we look through them, there were 47 different calls. One of which was the call when Prince died. There were also four other or three other, excuse me, medical calls. Those medical calls, though, we are not sure if Prince was the subject of the calls. All we know that they were made from Paisley Park. The others are innocuous. There are things like suspicious activity or harassing phone calls.
But the picture is starting to get a little more light onto it. And we also know that everyone is waiting for the toxicology report, because in the end, the only thing -- the only scientific evidence is going to let us know exactly what killed this amazing star is what it says in that toxicology report and autopsy -- Miguel, Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Sara, thank you for that.
Breaking overnight: an Oregon man charged with threatening President Obama. Agents arrested John Martin Roos Thursday at his apartment. They said they found what appeared to be several pipe bombs in this home. FBI and Secret Service agents reportedly had contact with the 61-year-old last month after he posted online threats against the president. He's being held in jail. He will likely face a judge within a few days.
MARQUEZ: Now, also breaking overnight. Three suspects linked to the San Bernardino shooting pleading not guilty. The gunman's brother and two others are facing charges, including federal conspiracy for participating in a sham immigration marriage. Enrique Marquez, Syed Rizwan Farook's neighbor, is separately accused of arming Farook and his wife in last December's gun attacks. Authorities say Marquez is an unindicted co-conspirator in the sham marriage, allegedly having played the fake husband.
ROMANS: The man who gunned down the former Saints football star has been indicted for murder and attempted murder in North Carolina. Cardell Hayes -- his indictment was handed down Thursday. The 28- year-old is accused of opening fire, killing Will Smith and injuring his wife during an alleged road rage earlier this month. Smith's lawyer says he was acting in self defense.
MARQUEZ: And it is unclear this morning whether the man accused of opening fire inside a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic killing three people will actually stand trial. Mental health evaluation Thursday found Robert Lewis Dear incompetent, but the judge has to decide whether the case should go to trial. The hearing is in recess until next month.
ROMANS: A man stormed a Baltimore TV station in a panda outfit shot by police. Take a look at this surveillance video. You see the suspect identified as Alex Brizzi, walking into the lobby of a local FOX affiliate. He immediately rips open his tops, police say he then threatened to blow up the station, flashing a device. The 25-year- old's father says his son has been having some problems recently.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALES: When he had his problem a week or two ago, he said that he had a vision from God and that the world was going to end. He thought on June 3rd. So, I think that's probably on the flash drive, something about the end of the world, if I had to guess.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A police robot was used to remove the suspect's clothing. The device was made up of chocolate bars wrapped in foil and connected by wires. He was hospitalized, but is expected to recover.
MARQUEZ: And the NCAA adding a new requirement in its bidding process to put North Carolina and other states in the crosshairs. The measure requires sites hosting NCAA events to provide an environment of free discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The organization's board of governors said the new policy applies to all NCAA events from final fours to educational conferences. The NCAA statement mentions states that have recently passed anti-LGBT laws, but doesn't say how the new policy will be implemented.
Wow. New day.
ROMANS: Yes, it really is.
All right. A hospital bombed in Syria, really tragic story here, folks. Dozens killed. Hundreds wounded as a cease-fire fails. We are live, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:23:39] ROMANS: Outrage intensifies this morning after a catastrophic turn in fighting in Syria. This airstrike destroying a pediatric hospital in rebel-held Aleppo. Rights group say 50 people were killed, including one of the last pediatricians in the entire city.
I want to bring in senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh live from Beirut with the very latest and to look at the pictures, the video and the still photos of the devastation of this hospital.
It's just heartbreaking.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, these scenes are common from the Syrian war. The reason why this particular one has got such attention is, of course, the death toll, because, also, it was supported by Medecins Sans Frontieres, Doctors Without Borders, but also, too, because it marks I think perhaps the removal of that veneer that people had of cessation of hostilities inside Syria, negotiated between the U.S. and Russia.
Now, the U.N. saying violence is soaring back to levels before the cessation. I should give you a broader picture of the week. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights saying that there are 200 dead in the past week, in the violence around Aleppo, 123 on the rebel side, including 18 children, and 71 on the regime side, too.
Today in Aleppo, schools are closed. Remarkable, in fact, they still try to function. That shows you there are still people living in the besieged area, on Friday prayer council.
[04:25:02] The big fear as we move forward in the days ahead, we heard U.S. officials warn the Russian artillery bound to the city of Aleppo. There's a lot of fear amongst activists in rebel-held areas that we could be about to see a broader regime assault on that rebel- held (INAUDIBLE). It will be a very long, complicated, nasty operation, but it could herald more airstrikes like ghastly scene like the one we've just saw now in that hospital in Aleppo -- Christine.
ROMANS: So, Nick, the Syrian government wants to take this rebel-controlled Aleppo. Do we know whose air strike was responsible here? Is there any information, you know, the Americans say they were not operating in the area at the time. Was it Russians? Was it the Syrian regime? Who was responsible?
WALSH: You mean you can put aside the idea this was somehow an error in strike. They not involved in striking central Aleppo. Only half of Aleppo city is held by rebels. That's the eastern side.
The Russian side came out and said there were operating in the skies at that particular time. Well, I have to be honest, you know, they've done that a lot in the past. The aim is to make the first words out of the U.S. official's mouth, we didn't do it.
The regime and the Russians have a long history of hitting targets, particularly (INAUDIBLE) in rebel held areas. It's possible this could have been a regime barrel bomb. The level of damage, the precision suggests a high grade of military strike here.
But I think the preponderance of evidence in the past five years of air strikes suggests this was much more likely to be the regime here and frankly the coalition haven't been hitting rebel-held areas in Aleppo anyway. So, pretty clear where we are now, Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Nick Paton Walsh for us in Beirut, monitoring this for us -- thanks, Nick.
Just a tragic story.
MARQUEZ: Awful.
Breaking overnight: a huge Donald Trump rally drawing thousands of supporters and hundreds of protesters. California now the battleground in the race for president.
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