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Protest Erupts Outside Trump Rally In Costa Mesa; Boehner Calls Cruz "Lucifer in the Flesh"; Officials Release Prince's Call Log; Airstrike Destroys Syrian Hospital With Dozens Reportedly Killed. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired April 29, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00] MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN HOST: Breaking overnight, violent protests raging outside Donald Trump's late-night rally. The Republican front-runner campaigning in California, the next big battleground in the race for president. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Miguel Marquez.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: I'm Christine Romans. It's 30 minutes past the hour this Friday morning. The big story this morning, California taking the spotlight in the race for president with a chance to play a decisive role in the nomination for the first time in more than 50 years.

Late last night front-runner Donald Trump holding a huge rally in Southern California, confident that he is, in his own words, the presumptive nominee. Outside, a raucous anti-Trump protest raged outside that amphitheater. Several people injured, about 20 people arrested.

The front-runner enjoyed the limelight inside, returning to his stand by seems, 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 Ted Cruz and John Kasich. CNN's Jason Carroll was at the Trump rally night. He's got more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Miguel, Donald Trump wrapping up his 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 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 -- we all have these people working hard. And the people that are working for Kasich said what happened?

We're going around ringing doors, now all of a 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 like playing Russian roulette. That is the dumbest move, and the next day they were criticized incredibly because it shows weakness. They choked under pressure.

CARROLL: As Trump supporters left the Costa Mesa fairgrounds some were surrounded by anti-Trump protestors. 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, Jason Carroll. Joining us to make sense of this crazy, mixed-up world is Washington Post political reporter Ed O'Keefe. Good morning, Ed.

ROMANS: Morning.

MARQUEZ: All is not quiet on the western front. A lot of young Latinos out there obviously upset with Donald Trump and his rhetoric. (Video playing) There they are shaking a police car. The L.A. Times had a picture of them busting out the window. People were punched. Twenty people arrested. I take it we can expect more of this as it moves into California.

ED O'KEEFE, POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: I think we can. We saw some of this, remember, in Arizona during the primary there. A lot of immigration activists concerned about Trump's candidacy were doing it there. I think we will see more of it in certain parts of California.

I think it's important for those of us who live so far away from California to remember big state, lots of different things going on there. But in certain parts of the state he's likely to face this kind of opposition. Remember, he's still winning out there. If he can do well that probably puts him over the top.

I think that's part of why you're going to see some anti-Trump voices, whether they're liberals, whether they're immigration activists. There will be some Republicans who will try to build, say, advertise things to try to stop him one last time out there when the primary's held.

ROMANS: On Wednesday, we had what was billed as a major foreign policy speech. You had Donald Trump on the stage reading from a teleprompter trying to put some meat on the bones of the comments -- the soundbites he's made over the past year or so about his foreign policy vision.

We were hearing from his supporters and surrogates that he was going to start to seem more presidential. There'd be a pivot in the persona. And then last night he was back with the nicknames for lyin' Ted Cruz on the stage. Let's listen to him last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have this guy, lyin' Ted Cruz. We know lyin' Ted, right? (BOOING) I mean, nobody likes him. I've never seen a guy like this. In fact --

(CHANTING): Lyin' Ted, lyin' Ted, lyin' Ted, lyin' Ted, lyin' Ted.

TRUMP: Have we branded this guy or what? I mean he probably --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:35:00] ROMANS: While campaigns staffers and media talk about him becoming more presidential it is very clear to me, Ed, his crowd loves the Donald Trump that they show up for at those rallies.

O'KEEFE: Yes, I think we've seen a lot of different sides of him in the last week and we've heard from the strategists that he's going to make this pivot to be more presidential, and that for now he's just playing a part and that he'll change over time.

Remember, he got very upset about that when it was revealed that his senior adviser, Paul Manafort, had said it. We'll have to wait and see. I think there's an understanding in this campaign about what we saw last night. The branding, as he's said he's done of his opponents' works.

That's it's easily sought by his supporters. That's there's an element in the Republican Party that loves and expects it from him. And we'll see whether the more scripted Trump, if you will, that we saw this week is something that resonates eventually.

I know he gave a speech to the AIPAC group last month here in Washington. Again, with a teleprompter, all the bells and whistles of a presidential-like address. It instilled some fear in his opponents who realized, what a second, this guy actually could do this.

This week a little more panned because of the content of his speech. But if he gets somewhere between those two speeches on a consistent basis during a general election match-up, who knows? We may see the needle move a little way.

MARQUEZ: And now, Cruz pulling out all the stops here. He's not trying to slow Trump's momentum, he's trying to stop Trump. The bathroom bill -- the transgender bathroom issues he's bringing up on the stump now.

He had this shock therapy of naming his V.P., Carly Fiorina, this week. Last week this Kasich-Cruz collusion in order to divvy up which states that they would go after. All of this seems to have backfired on him so far, yes?

O'KEEFE: It's the definition of desperation, Miguel. I think we've seen this Cruz campaign really scramble this week to try to build some buzz, some momentum and it's unclear that it's going to work. The situation with John Kasich trying to divvy up the remaining states was odd to begin with, partly because that's something they should have considered about a month ago, ahead of the primaries that were held this week in the northeast.

Secondly, because it just hasn't worked. Kasich almost immediately poured water on it and had to show up in Indiana anyway for some private events that he had long scheduled because he needed to raise some money there. And then both of them, now, sort of disputing the idea that they were doing this and that's because it's confusing to voters.

MARQUEZ: Yes.

O'KEEFE: You're going to go in and vote for someone -- why should I not vote for him or vote for you because the other guy didn't show up? I see him on my T.V. all the time. So it makes no sense. It's only understood by strategists.

And the Fiorina thing -- look, there's no reason to believe that it's giving them any kind of a bounce just yet, but it is an effective counterprogramming move because you have Trump getting criticized for talking about women. She is, of course, a woman and is a very effective party spokeswoman. An advocate for herself, though she didn't really win anything.

I think when it will help him with, conceivably, in the next few weeks is the idea that he can be in one place and she can be in other.

ROMANS: Right.

O'KEEFE: Whether it's attending these state conventions where delegates are getting selected. Whether it's going to fundraisers so that they have money to raise, or whether it's making other stops, as she will in the next few days in Indiana alongside Heidi Cruz, his wife. It allows them to spread it out a little more and, in their view, hopefully win the Indiana primary on Tuesday.

ROMANS: Ed, I want to play for you two different pieces of sound from yesterday. Two different establishment Republicans with two very different opinions about Ted Cruz. First, Speaker of the House John Boehner -- former Speaker of the House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTIONER: How about Ted Cruz?

(LAUGHTER)

JOHN BOEHNER, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Lucifer in the flesh. I have as many Democrat friends as I have Republican friends. I get along with almost everybody. But I have never worked with a more miserable son of a b**** in my life.

(LAUGHTER) (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Now, people who cover him know that in private he can be very frank and colorful in his language, and he certainly was there. And then you have Jeb Bush -- Jeb Bush with a different take. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH, (R) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My personal belief is that if Donald Trump is the nominee, 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: I think you still, this morning -- I know the storyline is that people are getting resigned to a Donald Trump candidacy, but I think there is still just so much handwringing within the Republican Party.

O'KEEFE: There is to some extent. Remember also, Jeb Bush had some real bitter personal history now with Donald Trump that he didn't have about a year ago.

ROMANS: Right.

O'KEEFE: So I think even if the whole party shifts, I think Jeb Bush will be standing there in a corner by himself very concerned about what's about to happen. And there's an element in the party that agrees with him whether it's about rhetoric, whether it's about the fact that yes, down ballot races will be affected. He speaks for that element of the party but he also comes with a lot of baggage between the two of them, given what went on on the debate stages and what not over the past year.

[05:40:00] ROMANS: Sure.

O'KEEFE: We'll see. It's still a few months to go until the convention. A lot of things can happen, but it's clear that there are really deep divisions in the Republican Party that may be irreparable in some ways.

MARQUEZ: All right.

ROMANS: Ed O'Keefe, nice to see you.

MARQUEZ: Ed O'Keefe, thank you for getting up early.

ROMANS: Thanks for getting up early for us.

MARQUEZ: Thank you very, very much. Have a great weekend. New information about the prescription painkillers found in Prince's possession when he died. We have that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:45:00] MARQUEZ: New developments this morning in the probe surrounding Prince's death. Law enforcement releasing call logs from the later 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 latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Miguel, as the memorial grows outside of Paisley Park, we're hearing new information now from sources familiar with the investigation into Prince's death. One, we have found out from a source that when Prince's body was found inside of that elevator in Paisley Parkthat he had opioid prescription medication on his person.

We're 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 very top priority and 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 some documents that were given out by the sheriff's department here. Five years of calls to local law enforcement from Paisley Park. And as we looked through them there were 47 different calls, one of which was the call when Prince died.

There were also four other -- three other -- excuse me -- medical calls. Those medical calls that we are not sure whether or not Prince was the subject of those calls. All we know is that they were made from Paisley Park. The others are innocuous. They're things like suspicious activity or harassing phone calls.

But the picture of what happened to Prince is starting to get a little more light onto it. And we also know that everyone is waiting for that 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 the autopsy. Miguel, Christine --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Sara, thank you for that. Time for an early start on your money this Friday. American's confidence in the economy is the lowest all year. Gallup's economic confidence index spells the lowest level since August. It measures how Americans feel about the economy today and how they feel about the future. Sixty percent say the economy is getting worse. Back in August, stocks around the world were crashing. Fears about China were crushing investor confidence. So why are Americans feeling so down again about the economy? Well, the presidential election may be one reason -- candidates like Donald Trump bashing the economy.

We do know, as well, 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. It's barely growing. The first quarter has been weak the past couple of years, only to bounce back, though, into the summer.

Well, let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Michaela Pereira joins us this Friday. Hello, Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN HOST: Hello, friends.

MARQUEZ: Hi, Michaela.

ROMANS: Is this your last day on "NEW DAY"?

PEREIRA: I've heard rumor this is my last day on "NEW DAY". That's why I'm wearing the "NEW DAY" color. See how I live the brand?

MARQUEZ: Wow, well done.

ROMANS: I love it.

PEREIRA: I did that. I know, I know all about it, or at least for today.

MARQUEZ: Dear Jeff Zucker.

PEREIRA: Dear Jeff Zucker, yes, exactly. All right, let me tell you what's going on on "NEW DAY" today. Quite an ugly scene at Donald Trump's rally in California overnight. Some 20 arrests and violence clashing between supporters and anti-Trump protestors.

And in addition to all of this, former House Speaker John Boehner kind of letting loose on Trump's chief GOP rival, Ted Cruz, calling him quote -- these are his words -- "Lucifer in the flesh and a mean S.O.B." You know there will be reaction to that. We'll have it.

Also, Jeb Bush speaking exclusively to CNN. It's his first interview since he dropped out of the GOP race. And we're going to speak with the lovely Jane Sanders, Bernie Sanders' wife. Hear why she believes Bernie is poised to make an epic comeback against Hillary Clinton.

So, basically, it's a regular Friday on "NEW DAY". Nothing new going on here.

MARQUEZ: I look forward to the going away party. My guess is there's going to be one.

PEREIRA: There might be a little something around 9:01.

MARQUEZ: I'm sad that you're going.

ROMANS: She got a great gig on the other end.

PEREIRA: I'm not going far.

ROMANS: I know. Still with the family. Still with family.

PEREIRA: That's right. That's all that matters.

ROMANS: All right, thanks. Nice to see you, Michaela. Stocks took a tumble yesterday. The Dow fell more than 200 points. More losses on the way or a bounce back? I'm going to tell you when we get an early start on your money, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:53:00] MARQUEZ: Outrage intensifies after a catastrophic turn in fighting in Syria. An airstrike destroying a pediatric hospital in Aleppo. Rights groups say 50 people were killed including one of the last pediatricians in the entire city.

We want to bring in senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, live from Beirut. Nick, I understand that death toll has actually gone up.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Two hundred, it's seen now, in the past week. That was the count of this morning on both Rebel-held areas, 123 with 18 children amongst those and 17 on the Regime's side.

But I have to tell you, Miguel, this morning we're getting reports of continued airstrikes. Some suggesting possibly over a dozen in total and we don't know at this stage the death tolls or the injuries. We know that some activists are saying that one clinic was also hit at this stage. Now, that clinic was said, in fact, to be perhaps empty at the time. We are still in the very early stages of gathering information so no definitive notion as to how many were injured or killed during that.

But also, two residents telling us that a mosque was also targeted by what he thought was a jet firing a missile. Not many casualty reports coming out there either at this stage. So, it does appear the strikes are continuing today but the death toll, at this point, not anywhere like what we're hearing from yesterday's strike on the MSF hospital.

[05:55:0] So, that itself -- the strike on the MSF-assisted hospital was something we've seen many incidences of in the past years or months, but it's got particular attention, of course, because of the death toll of over 50, but also because of its timing.

During the fraying, or frankly, the collapse of the cessation of hostilities brokered between the U.S. and Russia and kind of imposed upon the conflict to some degree. It was always having problems because terrorists quote "were not part of that ceasefire" and one of the groups described as terrorists by the U.S. -- the al-Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front --

They fight alongside many other Rebel groups in that area, meaning that potentially the Russians or the Regime can target those groups, making the ceasefire agreement, the battle space extraordinarily muddy and complicated of people to work out who shouldn't be hit, who should be hit under that cessation of hostilities.

Frankly, after the death toll we've just been talking about well, that real -- originallyartificial idea of the cessation of hostilities is beginning to look even more farcical, frankly, day by day. The big fear as you move ahead now, we're having two days of intense airstrikes, it seems. It seems we're into the second day at this point.

Is this the beginning of a broader offensive by the Regime or the Russians to move against the Rebel-held east of Aleppo? It's a muddy, complicated, urban area. Not going to be an easy job militarily at all, but one where there could be enormous humanitarian costs well over, some say, 200,000 people still living in there, potentially trapped in there, too, if the area isn't circled.

That's one of the particular difficult things for the Regime to pull off.And now, of course, the worry being those peace talks have fallen to pieces, really, in Geneva now. Are we into a worsening of the military phase of this war and more loss of human life? Miguel --

MARQUEZ: Nick Paton Walsh for us with a very sobering situation there. Thank you.

ROMANS: All right, it's about 57 minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money. Three and one-half hours until the U.S. stock market opens. Futures stuck in neutral after a big loss yesterday. The Dow down 210 points. Oil rising back above $46 a barrel. Stock markets in Europe falling. Asian stock markets finishing lower.

Wall Street had high expectations for Amazon's earnings last night and boy, the online retailer delivered. Profits swung to a record $513 million from a loss a year ago. That makes four profitable quarters in a row. A big turnaround for Amazon. Revenue jumped 28 percent. Its Cloud business, Amazon web services, jumped 63 percent during the quarter.

Big name clients like Netflix, Airbnb, Major League Baseball -- they've held make that one of Amazon's best performing units. Amazon is also growing its prime membership base. About 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 now in pre-market trading, and despite those huge gains over the past 12 months, Amazon shares are down about 12 percent so far this year. But you're having this pop on Amazon this morning.

Apple's bad week, though, is getting worse. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn says he sold his huge stake in Apple. Icahn told "CNBC" he dumped the shares due to concerns over how Apple will navigate the treacherous Chinese market. It's Apple's second-largest market behind the U.S. Icahn owned nearly 46 million shares of Apple at the end of 2015, and

when Carl Icahn talks, investors listen or they run for the hills. The stock dropped 2 percent after his comments. It's down 9 percent this week alone, mostly due to Apple's worst earnings report in more than a decade. So watch the tech news -- tech zone today.

MARQUEZ: Wow, that's big for Apple, huge.

ROMANS: It is. It's Friday.

MARQUEZ: Friday. Thank God it's Friday.

ROMANS: Breaking news, it's Friday.

MARQUEZ: I'm sure Tim Cook is very happy about that. Violent protests raging outside a huge late-night rally for Donald Trump. "NEW DAY" starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Here we are in a world that's going to hell. We're not going to take it anymore.

BOEHNER: Lucifer in the flesh.

TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When John Boehner calls me Lucifer, he's directing it at you.

GANGEL: You think you'll ever run for politics again?

BUSH: This was my chance and I ran into a storm.

MARQUEZ: Bernie Sanders may be down, but he's not out.

BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the evidence is overwhelming that you are looking at the strongest Democratic candidate.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: And it's a sad day here at NEW DAY. One of our own is flying the coop and heading for the bluer skies of L.A. Stick around for Michaela's send-off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Don't touch me. Good morning, welcome to your new day. It is Friday, April 29th, 6:00 in the east. We turn and begin with breaking news. Hundreds of protestors taking to the streets at a Donald Trump rally in Southern California overnight. The protest quickly turning violent. Some left bloodied, others stomping on cars, throwing rocks. Police making scores of arrests.

The protestors come as the Republican Party establishment is actually starting to warm up to the idea of Trump as their nominee. On the campaign trail, a different kind of clash between Ted Cruz and former House Speaker John Boehner. The two trading blows after --