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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Robot Sub Searching For EgyptAir Flight 804 For Black Boxes; Polls: Clinton & Trump Neck-And-Neck; Sanders: Clinton 'The Lesser Of Two Evils'; U.S. Lifts Arms Embargo Against Vietnam; Powerful Performances At Billboard Awards; Operation To Retake Fallujah Begins. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired May 23, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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


[05:31:00] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: New information this morning on what was happening inside the cockpit of EgyptAir flight 804 just moments before it crashed at sea. And now, submarines are launched to hunt for the plane's black boxes. We are live in Egypt with the very latest for you.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning. President Obama lifting a 50-year ban on the selling of lethal weapons to Vietnam, a move sure to anger China. We're live on what the fallout could be.

HOWELL: The race for the president -- it is intensifying. Bernie Sanders calling Hillary Clinton the lesser of two evils, as new polls reveal a dead heat between the Democratic front-runner and Donald Trump. Good morning.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm George Howell.

KOSIK: And, good morning, I'm Alison Kosik. It's 30 minutes past the hour and happening now, Egypt deploying a submarine to help in the search for EgyptAir flight 804. The robot searching for the jet's black boxes. Those flight data recorders hold key details about what was happening before the plane crashed.

French investigators confirming the plane sent automated messages signaling smoke at the front of the aircraft moments before it disappeared. Investigators also focusing on security at airports the plane visited before its final flight. Four of the five -- Brussels, (INAUDIBLE), Paris, and Cairo were already under heightened terror- related scrutiny.

Joining us now with the latest, CNN's Nic Robertson live in Alexandria, Egypt. Good morning.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, good morning, Alison. Well, the Egyptians are getting some much-needed hope from the French. We're told that a French survey vessel with two dive experts, a small submarine -- a small submersible -- and acoustic detectors is arriving on the scene of that search. It's about 180 miles out to sea behind me.

The weather is rough today. A lot of white tops on the waves there. A lot of swell out there. It's very windy. That will make the search and recovery much harder. But the submarine the Egyptians are putting under the water there -- it has a maximum depth of 3,000 meters. It sounds a lot, but the sea out there is actually as much as 2 miles deep. As much as 5,000 meters deep.

So it's really critical to have this French ping detector -- these acoustic detectors that can detect the pings coming off the transmitters that are attached to those black boxes that are now believed to be resting on the ocean floor.

The Egyptians have said all along that they are short of some of the necessary equipment to do this search. Their minister of aviation has said that the Army has been working with allies to get this equipment now. Some of it appears to be arriving.

But, again, a sense here of where the Egyptians are at in the stages that this search will go through. The French have put it this way. The French are saying they still need to find the main parts of debris before they could even usefully deploy that submersible vehicle and the acoustic detectors to pick up the transmissions coming from the black boxes. They're warning that this could take quite some time. Day, even weeks, Alison.

KOSIK: All right, CNN's Nic Robertson with the latest from Alexandria, Egypt. Thanks very much.

HOWELL: The race for the White House at new polls show Hillary Clinton now in a dead heat with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. In the Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll, Trump gains four points over last month at Clinton's expense, putting him three points behind. A statistical tie now.

And then, there's this. In a new Washington Post/ABC News Poll Trump is two points ahead, 46 to 44 percent. This, as Clinton blasts Trump over the weekend, calling him "dangerous". Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do not want Americans and, you know, good thinking Republicans, as well as Democrats and Independents, to start to believe that this is a normal candidacy. It isn't.

[05:35:00] What he is advocating -- look what he's done this past week, you know, attacking our closest ally, England. Heaping praise on a dangerous dictator in North Korea. Reiterating his call to pull out of NATO, our strong military alliance.

Talking about letting other countries have nuclear weapons. Advocating a return to torture and even murdering the families of suspected terrorists. That is beyond the pale and it poses immediate dangers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: So, Hillary Clinton there going point by point, laying out all the things that Donald Trump has said.

KOSIK: She's done a nice laundry list there. Let's go through more of it now. Bringing in CNN politics reporter Eugene Scott in our Washington bureau. Good morning. Thanks for getting up early with us.

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning.

KOSIK: So, we saw Hillary Clinton making the rounds on "MEET THE PRESS" on Sunday. She did continue to beat the drum about the fact that Donald Trump is not releasing his tax returns. I want you to listen to what she said and we'll come back on the back end and talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I think he needs to release his tax returns. The only two we have show that he hasn't paid a penny in taxes. And yet, he goes around talking about make America great. You know, that means paying for our military. That means paying for our roads. That means paying for the V.A.

That means a lot of things and if you've got someone running for president who's afraid to release his tax returns because it will expose the fact that he pays no federal income tax, I think that's a big problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: All right, so many think that, yes, she's right. Is he hiding something? Why is he not releasing them? But, Eugene, tell me this. Is this more of thing where it's more of a candidate running for president? Is it more of a media thing that wants him to release it? Do voters really want him to release it? Do they care that much? Is it really a deciding factor on whether or not they can vote for him?

SCOTT: Well, certainly, there is a segment of Trump's support and Trump's base where they don't care what he will do and what he won't do because they support him so deeply, and so it will have no effect on them. But for people who are still on the fence or who just want to know more, it is an issue of concern.

I think we have seen that every Republican and Democratic nominee since, Ibelieve, at least '76, has released their tax returns and that's for various reasons. One of them is people want to know if nominees have conflicts of interest.

They also want to know about philanthropic giving. I know that Trump has said he has given quite a bit in the past and we had a report last week regarding the veterans' fundraiser in Iowa that said the money that was raised did not go to as many people as people thought, and so people are concerned.

Interestingly enough, as well, this week we're going to see some advances made in Trump's vice presidential candidate process. And from what we've reported recently, he actually has seen and asked for the tax returns of his vice presidential candidates but is yet to release his. So, there's something interesting going on there.

KOSIK: What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

HOWELL: Well, look, Eugene, love him or hate him we're talking about two of the most unpopular candidates --

KOSIK: We are.

HOWELL: -- in a U.S. presidential election. Bernie Sanders is seizing on that saying that hey, people do like me. Listen to what he had to say and we'll talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need a campaign, an election, coming up which does not have two candidates who are really very, very strongly disliked. I don't want to see the American people voting for the lesser of two evils. I want the American people to be voting for a vision of economic justice, of social justice, of environmental justice, of racial justice. That is the campaign we are running and that's why we are getting the support we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Eugene, does that play help Bernie Sanders or Sanders staying in the race -- does that, in the end, end up hurting Hillary Clinton as we see Trump now rising with Republican coming together around him?

SCOTT: Well, it certainly is a bit of a back-handed compliment, right? At the end of the day I think he is saying that if you have to choose between the two, go with Hillary Clinton. And the reason why that somewhat matters is because, as you know, Bernie Sanders has quite a few supporters who have said they will not vote for anybody other than Bernie Sanders.

And so, for him to come out and say you know what? If you to choose, let's go with this option, I think, does somewhat help her. But it keeps him close to his debates as well because it doesn't make him look as if he's affirming some things that he has, in fact, in the past called problematic.

Ultimately, will that help him become victorious over her before the convention or even shortly afterwards? Time remains to be seen if that will happen, but it's not looking like it right now.

HOWELL: My goodness.

KOSIK: All right, CNN political reporter Eugene Scott. Thanks for walking us through some of the political goings-on over the weekend.

SCOTT: Thank you for having me.

KOSIK: And breaking news this morning. A major U.S. policy change sure to anger China. The news and what the repercussions could be, next. [05:40:00] HOWELL: Plus, a touching tribute to Prince at the "Billboard Music Awards". Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:44:25] KOSIK: Some breaking news this morning that's sure to anger China. President Obama announcing, at a joint news conference in Hanoi with Vietnam's president, that the U.S. is fully lifting the decades-old ban on the sale of military equipment to Vietnam.

Let's go live to Hanoi. CNN's White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski -- she's traveling with the president and joins us live now. So, give us kind of an overview of why President Obama is spending so much time in Vietnam on his trip to Asia. I understand he's spending three days just in Vietnam?

[05:45:00] MICHELLE KOSINSKI, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, this is a moment whose time has come, really. I mean, we've seen other presidents travel here. President Clinton normalized relations with Vietnam decades ago. President Bush visited here for an international forum. But President Obama is really the first to spend this kind of time and try to really deepen and strengthen that relationship.

This is still a communist country with an extremely sketchy human rights record, and that's putting it lightly. But this is sort of, you know, the time to extend the relationships and the Vietnamese are willing to do that. This is a valuable ally here with a booming middle-class. Lots of opportunities for trade and strengthening this relationship for the U.S. is one more way to counter China's influence in this region, Alison.

KOSIK: Oddly, strengthening Vietnam's relationship is also hurting our relationship with China in the process.

KOSINSKI: I mean, you could say that in a sense. But just to show you how tricky this is, I mean, we know that the U.S. increasing its influence, building these ties with allies is a way to, as I said, counter China's influence, both in trade and in security. But, China has a close relationship and a long-standing traditional relationship with Vietnam.

That said, China and Vietnam have been in this extremely tense dispute over some islands in the South China Sea and the U.S. repeatedly said that China fails to follow international rules. So, it's kind of this web of relationships that have strong points and have tensions.

And on the lifting of this arms embargo today, something that would have been unheard of just a few decades ago, China actually released a very happy statement just now saying that this arms embargo to Vietnam was a product of the Cold War. It shouldn't have existed, and that China welcomes the U.S. and Vietnam strengthening its ties and normalizing relations.

KOSIK: All right, CNN's Michelle Kosinski, traveling with the president. Thanks so much. It's time for an EARLY START on your money. Dow futures are slightly higher this morning. Stock markets in Europe and Asia -- they are trading mixed. We are seeing oil prices lower.

Hedge funds are dumping Apple and buying Facebook. Apple was the most sold stock by hedge funds during the first quarter. That's according to two separate reports from FactSet and S&P. The selling was led by billionaire Carl Icahn, who dumped his entire stake in Apple.

Other investors ditched the stock after it reported its first ever drop in iPhone sales. Shares of Apple hit a 52-week low in mid-May, but it rebounded seven percent since then. In fact, Apple's regained the title of the world's most valuable company in the process.

But guess what? The new favorite stock among hedge funds is Facebook, which is up 12 percent this year and just a few dollars away from an all-time high. The top 50 hedge funds bought $3 billion worth of Facebook shares in the first quarter. Welcoming in a new darling on Wall Street. Goodbye Apple, hello Facebook.

HOWELL: Just changes overnight, doesn't it?

KOSIK: It does.

HOWELL: All right, now time to take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Alisyn Camerota joins us now live. Alisyn, good morning.

KOSIK: Good morning.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hey, guys, great to see you. Good morning. So, Bernie Sanders stepping up attacks on Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. He calls Clinton "the lesser of two evils" compared to Donald Trump, and he is backing the opponent of DNC chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Meanwhile, a new poll shows Trump and Clinton -- the matchup is extremely tight. Tighter than people would have predicted, even just weeks ago. And the presumptive GOP nominee fueling speculation about his V.P. pick. He is meeting today with Tennessee senator Bob Corker.

We are also following developments on the EgyptAir. The search for the black boxes continues. Also, we have President Obama making history overnight in Vietnam. So, a lot to get to when we see you in about 12 minutes.

KOSIK: OK, we will see you soon.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, guys.

HOWELL: Alisyn, thank you. It was a night of music, honors, and a touching tribute at the "Billboard Music Awards". (Video playing, Britney Spears)

KOSIK: Wow, look at that outfit.

HOWELL: All right, that's Britney Spears, the recipient of the coveted Millennium Award, kicking off the show with that steamy medley of hits. (Video playing, Justin Bieber) Two awards, including top male artist. (Video playing, Rhianna). Rhianna showed off her vocal range and an award for chart performance. And Adele won the night's biggest award for top artist.

[05:50:00] The Weekend won eight trophies, including best R&B artists. (Video playing, Kesha) Kesha let the music do the talking in her first televised performance since that public legal fight against her producer. And then this. (Video playing, Pink). All right.

KOSIK: She's hanging from the ceiling again.

HOWELL: Yes. And, of course, you need a little fire around you as well for her new single "Just Like Fire". But it was Madonna's tribute to Prince. That's what stole the show. Listen. (Video playing, Madonna and Stevie Wonder singing "PURPLE RAIN")

How about that purple scarf on Stevie Wonder, joining Madonna on stage for the sing-along finale with the whole arena. You see it right there. Waving light-up purple wrists, remembering a great artist, Prince.

KOSIK: What a beautiful tribute.

HOWELL: Yes.

KOSIK: All right, breaking news this morning. A new battle launched in Iraq to take back critical territory from ISIS. We're live, next.

[05:51:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:55:00] HOWELL: Welcome back. The push to retake Fallujah from ISIS is underway in Iraq. That country's prime minister announcing the start of the military operation in a televised late-night address. Fallujah has been under ISIS control now for more than two years. The battle to liberate that city is expected to be long and expected to be bloody.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is following it all live in Amman, Jordan for us this morning. Jomana, this will be a difficult, ugly battle but we're talking about an operation of Shia forces storming into a predominantly Sunni city. Explain how this will make that situation even more complicated.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: George, that is one of the major issues when it comes to this operation. Of course, liberating Fallujah would be considered a great victory for the Iraqi forces when that happens. But, as you mention, no one's expecting this to be anything but a very long and bloody battle.

But the concern here is one, as you mentioned, the forces that will be going into Fallujah, this predominantly Sunni city. The forces that have been surrounding Fallujah and are taking part in this operation are a combination of Iraqi security forces, but they're also Iranian- backed Shia Militias that are taking part in this battle.

They have been accused in the past of reprisal attacks when they have gone into other Sunni cities. They see the population of these cities as sympathetic to ISIS and they have been accused of human rights violations and various attacks in previous operations, so this is a major concern.

Of course, it could inflame sectarian tensions, something Iraq really cannot afford right now. And another issue is the civilian population inside Fallujah. Estimates of tens of thousands of civilians in there.

We've heard the Iraqi government and the Iraqi military in the past 24 hours asking people to leave. They're telling civilians they've created safe passages for them to leave the city, but it's not as simple as people packing up their belongings and leaving.

We've heard from organizations, like Human Rights Watch, in recent weeks, that people who have tried to leave have been executed by ISIS. So, a very difficult situation for a population that has endured more than two years under ISIS control, George.

HOWELL: And if they can't leave, officials telling them to raise a white flag as this battle rages on. Jomana Karadsheh, thank you for the reporting. We'll stay in touch and follow this story.

KOSIK: All right, let's get an EARLY START on your money. We're seeing Dow futures in the green right now but we've been watching these futures bounce all around this morning. Friday's close made it four straight weeks of losses for the Dow as investors priced in a potential interest rate hike from the Fed -- Federal Reserve next month.

Stock markets in Europe and Asia -- they are mixed. Oil prices down one percent. All right, are you taking a road trip this weekend? Well, there's a good chance you're going to be hitting traffic, although I don't think you need me to tell you that. AAA predicts 38 million drivers are going to be hitting the roads this Memorial Day weekend.

That's the highest tally since 2005 and the second largest on record. One factor fueling the increase? Low gas prices. The national average for a gallon of regular hitting $2.28 overnight. And while that's close to the highest levels of the year it's still 46 cents lower than what drivers were paying at this time last year and it's going to mark the cheapest Memorial Day gas prices in 11 years. Nice.

AAA says Americans have already saved $15 billion in gas money this year because of those lower prices. I'm hoping those lower gas prices stick around.

HOWELL: Let's hope so. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: We need a serious discussion about the role of superdelegates.

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL), DNC CHAIR: We have a process set up that is eminently fair.

SANDERS: If elected president, she would not be reappointed.

CLINTON: I will be the nominee.

SANDERS: I don't want to see the American people voting for the lesser of two evils.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to make our country absolutely great again.

CLINTON: There's no evidence he has any ideas about making America great.

TRUMP: If Hillary Clinton gets in, I don't know if our country can ever recover.

CLINTON: You've got someone running for president who's afraid to release his tax returns?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have recovered small pieces, not big pieces, and some human remains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something catastrophic occurred.

JEH JOHNSON, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We cannot rule out some type of terrorist act.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 804 this is Turkish 814. How do you read me?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, May 23rd, 6:00 in the east. Up first, a defiant Bernie Sanders escalating his feud with the Democratic establishment. The Vermont senator said if he's elected president he will replace the party's chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Sanders also calling Hillary Clinton "the lesser of two evils" when compared to Donald Trump.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: All right, there is proof of the toll that this could all be taking on the Democratic Party in two new national polls. Trump and Clinton are locked in a dead heat. And get this, a majority of Americans say they would consider a third party candidate.