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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Protesters Greet Exiting Trump Supporters; Sanders Softening Attacks on Clinton; Investigators Look at Overdose in Prince Death; Airstrike Destroys Syrian Hospital. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired April 29, 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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[04:31:11] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight: violent protests rage outside Donald Trump's late night rally. The Republican frontrunner campaigning in California, the next battle ground in the race for president.
Welcome back to EARLY START at this Friday morning. I'm Christine Romans.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: It's Friday, Friday.
I'm Miguel Marquez. It is 31 minutes past the hour.
California taking the spotlight in the race for president with the chance to play a decisive role in the nomination for the first time in more than 50 years. Late last night, Donald Trump holding a huge -- check that out, amazing -- huge rally in California. Confident that he is in his words the presumptive nominee.
Not so fast says the crowd. The raucous protest outside with 20 people injured and 20 people arrested.
The frontrunner enjoyed the limelight inside, returning to his standby themes -- illegal immigration, bashing Hillary Clinton, mocking rival Ted Cruz. This afternoon, Trump is set to speak at the California Republican Convention. Later, he'll be joined there by rivals Cruz and John Kasich.
CNN's Jason Carroll was at the Trump rally last night. He has more for us.
(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)
ROMANS: So, that is Jason Carroll inside the venue.
If you look at the pictures outside the venue again, the protesters rocking a police car. Somebody put in the back of --
MARQUEZ: This is the most serious we have seen so far at the Trump rallies. I guess in California, it's going to get worse.
ROMANS: When you look at the instigators in the crowd, it looked like -- what did you see? I saw young people.
MARQUEZ: A lot of young people. "L.A. Times" reporting a lot of Latino immigrants. This is southern California, south of Los Angeles, a conservative area of the state. A very big Latino population.
Trump's campaign has hot sat well with the Latino population across the country, a lot of undocumented immigrants and people who side with them. And I think this is the thing as the campaign rolls into California, you're probably going to see a lot more of.
ROMANS: All right. So, if Trump does win California and Indiana as he promises, it's going to put him within striking distance of clinching the nomination, which is one reason the Republican battle sees to reach a turning point, with many in the party elite accepting or at least resigning themselves as Trump as the standard bearer.
[04:35:00] One sign that's the case is more openly expressed loathing of Ted Cruz. Former House Speaker John Boehner slamming Cruz as Lucifer, that's his word, Lucifer and worse in a scathing interview with Stanford University's campus paper. Those remarks on tape as Cruz fires right back. 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)
MARQUEZ: Now, there is one certified member of the Republican elite sticking with Ted Cruz and refusing to back Donald Trump. That's his former rival for the nomination Jeb Bush, who sat down with CNN 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. 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)
ROMANS: 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)
MARQUEZ: Thanks, Jeff Zeleny.
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.
ROMANS: All right. Time to an early start on your money. American's confidence is lowest all year. Gallup's Economic Confidence Index fell to the lowest since August. It measures how Americans feel about the economy today and how they feel about the future, 60 percent say the economy is getting worse. Back in August, stocks were crashing. Fears over China were crushing confidence.
So, why are Americans back to feeling so down about the economy now? Well, the presidential election may be to blame with candidates like Donald Trump bashing the economy. We do know the start of the year was weak for the American economy. GDP rose just 0.5 percent in the first three months of the year. The first quarter has been weak the past couple of years, only to bounce back into the summer.
It was a tough day for stocks yesterday. The Dow down 200 points.
MARQUEZ: As were you reading that, it has to do with the political issue. Do politics really leading to it?
ROMANS: Well, you've been hearing so much about just how people can't get ahead, how -- you know, the job numbers look good, but don't feel good. People are starting to really believe that.
MARQUEZ: Well, there does seem to be a transition in the country as well.
[04:10:01] ROMANS: I would say so.
MARQUEZ: Economic transition.
ROMANS: I call it one America, two economies. There's a part of the economy that's really working well, and there's the big part of the economy where people aren't feeling it.
MARQUEZ: I'm going to publish that book for you.
ROMANS: OK, there you go.
MARQUEZ: All right. New information about the prescription painkillers found in Prince's possession when he died, coming up.
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ROMANS: 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 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.
[04:45:06] 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. 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)
MARQUEZ: Thanks to Sara Sidner.
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. Roos is being held in jail. He will likely face a judge within a few days.
ROMANS: 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 both Farook and his wife in last December's gun attacks. Authorities say Marquez is an unindicted co-conspirator in the sham marriage, eventually having played the fake husband.
MARQUEZ: 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.
ROMANS: 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.
MARQUEZ: A man stormed a Baltimore TV station in a panda outfit shot by police. Take a look at this surveillance video. You can 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.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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)
MARQUEZ: Man.
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.
ROMANS: All right. 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.
A lot of companies have been saying, you know, we are not going to do business in states.
MARQUEZ: It's amazing, just a new day across the board.
[04:50:02] ROMANS: All right. Stocks took a tumble yesterday. The Dow falling more than 200 points. Are more losses on the way? We're going to get an early start on your money next.
MARQUEZ: Can't hardly wait.
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MARQUEZ: Outrage intensifies after a catastrophic turn in fighting in Syria. An air strike hitting 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. He's live in Beirut for us with the latest.
Nick, there are reports of a rocket may have hit this facility and barrel bombs. Do we know how this happened or who might have struck this?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, very little doubt that it was regime or Russian air power behind this. They have repeatedly over the past years. In regime's case, the past months. Russian's case, hit this rebel held area of Aleppo, less so though in the past months or so.
[04:55:06] The past I think 58 days, partially because of something called cessation of hostilities, which is being designed to reduce the violence. Now, this may mark and it is being treated with such a global spotlight because it may mark an effective end of the cessation. It was agreed really between the U.S. and Russia, and it was always meant to exclude certain groups they considered terrorists, including one group to fight along side other rebels in the Aleppo area, really muddy the whole battlefield, who can be hit, who can't be hit.
This strike killed upwards of 50, most likely a rocket of some description. The devastation intense in the area. But those 50 or so a part of 200 people who died in the past seven days in violence in Aleppo, 123 on the rebel side, including 18 children.
So, staggering death toll rising here, leading many to say, look, the cessation of hostilities was a construct in some degree, it's pretty much over. Talk of a monstrous disregard of human life by the U.N. who say that violence is soaring back now to pre-cessation levels. The key question now is what's next.
We had bomb strikes for the past four or five years. As horrifying as this, does this, many activists fear, herald potentially a move by the regime to fully attack Aleppo, to go after that eastern held rebel area, heavily besieged, human life still existing in it.
We have seen U.S. officials warn that Russian artillery is headed for that area, now perhaps with the peace talks in Geneva really falling apart, very fast indeed. Few have a chance to start with. Now less talk of that at all.
Does this potentially mark a new military phase with Aleppo in the regime and most importantly, Russia with its superior military sites?
MARQUEZ: During that so-called cessation of hostilities, it still continued in Aleppo. Why Aleppo, why has this become such a point of contention?
WALSH: Well, it's always been a commercial hub of Syria. It was a huge totem for the rebellion when they took part of it back in 2012. They split it down the middle. Obviously, the Assad government wants to reclaim all of Syria. That's highly unlikable, but they may have a chance of besieging this rebel-held area. Human life there is very hard to sustain in a moment anyway.
They almost cut it off over a month ago. Now, there's one key supply route in and out. The major fear is they go for it again and the human suffering of the estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people still living in that heavily damaged, heavily besieged area. Well, that's unimaginable, Miguel.
MARQUEZ: Just horrendous. Nick Paton Walsh for us, thank you very much.
ROMANS: All right. Let's get an early start on your money this morning. Four and a half hours until the U.S. stock markets open and futures are stuck in neutral. After a big loss yesterday for stocks, the Dow down 210 points. Oil rising back above 46 bucks a barrel.
You know, the connection seems to be breaking. Stocks in Europe are falling. Wall Street had high expectation for Amazon's earnings last night. The online retailer delivered. Profit swung to a record $513 million from a loss a year ago. That makes four profitable quarters in a row. A big turnaround from years of losing money.
Revenue jumped 28 percent. Cloud business and Amazon web services jumped 63 percent during the quarter. Netflix and Airbnb and Major League Baseball have helped make that one of Amazon's best performing units. Amazon is also growing its prime membership base about half of U.S. household, half of U.S. households have an Amazon prime membership. That's according to a research report from earlier this year.
Shares are up more than 12 percent in pre-market trade. Despite huge gains over the past 12 months, Amazon shares are down about 11 percent in 2016. You're going to get a pop on Amazon this morning.
Apple's bad week is getting worse. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn says he sold his stake in Apple. Icahn told CNBC that he dumped the shares due to concerns over how Apple will navigate the treacherous Chinese market. That's Apple's second largest market behind the U.S.
Icahn owned nearly 46 million shares of Apple at the end of 2015. When Carl Icahn talks, investors listen. The market dropped 2 percent after his comments. It is down 9 percent this week alone due mostly to Apple's worst earnings report in more than a decade. Ouch.
MARQUEZ: Wow.
ROMANS: Good for Amazon today, bad for Apple.
MARQUEZ: I was delivered here this morning by an Amazon drone. Yes.
ROMANS: There's a joke in there about anchors and droning on.
MARQUEZ: Really? Not -- certainly not me.
EARLY START continues now.
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ROMANS: Breaking news this morning. Violent protests outside a huge Donald Trump rally. The Republican frontrunner drawing thousands late last night. California is now the battle ground in the Republican race for president.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
