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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Hundred Protest New Mexico Trump Rally; Clinton: "We Want to Finish Strong"; Obama Wraps Up Vietnam Visit; Cosby Facing Possible 30-Year Sentence; Golden State Warriors on the Verge of Elimination. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired May 25, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:01] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news now. Violent protests rage outside a huge Donald Trump rally. Officers injured. At least one arrest. The race for president turning very tense this morning.

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm George Howell. It is Wednesday, May 25th, 5:00 a.m. on the East Coast.

And we begin with breaking news from overnight. Hundreds of anti- Trump protesters in new Mexico lighting fires, throwing rocks and bottles at police, injuring officers there, and smashing a door at the Albuquerque Convention Center. That's where Donald Trump was holding a rally inside.

Police using smoke grenades and pepper spray to get control of the angry crowd.

CNN's Dan Simon was in the middle of it all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was quite a dramatic scene in downtown Albuquerque Tuesday night as a group of anti-Donald Trump protesters clashed with police. This is one of the remnants that you find on the street. This is an empty canister of pepper spray that police used on the crowd.

This all began when you had a group breakthrough a barricade that police had set up to keep people from going into the convention center where Donald Trump was speaking. From there, things quickly descended into chaos. You had a number of people who were throwing bottles and throwing rocks at police officers. Police showed remarkable restraint, not really arresting anyone. What they tried to do was to get the crowd to thin out.

They were pushing them back in full riot gear. You had police officers on horseback. Then finally, you had police use tear gas to try to get this crowd to disperse, and ultimately, that's what seemed to work. It's quite surprising what we saw, given that throughout much of the

afternoon, this was a peaceful protest. You had well more than a thousand people assemble here in front of the convention hall, people who were criticizing Donald Trump's rhetoric when it comes to immigration, some of his comments against women. That was a peaceful protest.

Then, you had nightfall come. That's when things spun out of control. Police officers trying to get those protesters to calm down, but you had a lot of people who were just intent on causing trouble. But fortunately, things have calmed down here in downtown Albuquerque.

Dan Simon, CNN, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: All right, Dan Simon. Thanks for that.

So, Trump, Clinton, and Sanders all campaigning in California today. Let's dig into this more and discuss this unusual sight -- maybe these days not so unusual, all of these protesters, but the day's political warfare. CNN political analyst and "Washington Post" columnist Josh Rogin.

Good morning. Thanks for coming on so early.

You know, it's hard to turn your head away from these protests that really seem to dog Donald Trump.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure. Well, on one level, we really have to lament and worry about what we see as a rising trend of political violence in this campaign. Political violence on one level is always a failure of the political process to address people's real concerns in a nonviolent way. As we look towards the last primaries and the conventions, the fear of somebody really getting hurt is a concern for everybody involved.

I think there's a widespread feeling that both sides need to do more to make sure that doesn't happen. On a political level, what we're looking at is, you know, the fact that Donald Trump has really failed to really tamp down serious concerns about his comments on immigration and Mexicans and women despite that tweet on Cinco de Mayo of him eating a taco bowl. Doesn't seem to have done the trick, right?

And especially in the Southwest, which will be a crucial battleground in the election, which is a high rate per capita of Hispanic Americans, Hispanic voters this is where that issue will come to a fore. When we look at the election map, that's something that's got to be in the mind of the Trump, Clinton, and Sanders campaigns.

KOSIK: Yes, we talked about the protests. We talked about the reaction. We just want to show you the reaction from Donald Trump. He actually tweeted, ignoring the protests, saying great rally in New Mexico, amazing crowd. Now in L.A., a big rally in Anaheim.

So, not acknowledging what happened there. But his senior adviser blasted the protests, saying this on Twitter, "Watching thugs and punks in Albuquerque en route to California. They don't even know what they're protesting."

At some point, you know, Trump really does have to acknowledge that this is happening, maybe as you said by moderating on some of these issues he would see that in the response to where he shows up for his rallies.

ROGIN: Well, yes, Alison. I think you're exactly right. I just would add that the Trump campaign has not come around to thinking about what their actual outreach to Hispanic voters, especially in this crucial region of the Southwest, will be. I mean, they've tried ignoring them. They've tried dismissing them. They've tried mocking them.

None of these things seem to be working. Now, they might make the calculation that it just isn't worth it for them to try to adjust their rhetoric, much less their policies, to capture this growing and influential part of the electorate.

[05:05:04] But, you know, politically, that seems shortsighted. And you have to wonder, as the Trump campaign pivots to the general election, what will they do? They don't seem to have figured out their policy for addressing this problem in their overall strategy.

HOWELL: So, you talk about focusing on Hispanics as the pivot happens toward the general election, the focus on moving toward women, getting women -- support from women. I want you to listen, though, to what happened last night at the rally.

I want you to hear from Donald Trump himself on the topic of women and also from his surrogate, Albuquerque Attorney David Chavez, and the way he set this rally. Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I keep hearing about this woman thing. I think I'm doing really well with women, but what do I know? What do I know?

I can tell you this. Much less exciting to me, fellas, they say I'm setting records with men. That's so unexciting to me. I want to set records with women, not with men. The hell with the men, right? The hell with the men. I want to set records with women.

DAVID CHAVEZ (R), FORMER NEW MEXICO STATE REPRESENTATIVE: I've heard people say, I don't know who to choose, Trump or Hillary. Even Bill Clinton chose other women. So you should too.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

HOWELL: Uh, Josh, will that work with women?

ROGIN: Well, George, I mean, what we can do here is look at the numbers. According to the recently released CBS/"New York Times" poll, Trump's unfavorability with women is at 60 percent versus 21 percent favorability. Now, we should note here that Hillary Clinton is also under water were women, 48 percent to 35 percent, but it's a much narrower gap.

So, apparently, Donald Trump and his campaign aren't reading those polls or they don't think they're accurate or they don't care about them.

But the numbers are looking bad in terms of Donald Trump's support amongst women. And despite that, the campaign just seems to be doubling down on its strategy to sort of oddly call out Hillary Clinton for allegedly playing the woman card, something that the Clinton campaign is happy to just lean into.

They've been sending out little cards that say the woman card to everyone. My mother just got one, right?

So, the Trump strategy isn't changing. It sort of defies logic and defies the polling numbers, but that's what he's going with. The real only test will be that poll, that final poll in November.

HOWELL: I want to point this out. We've got probably 30 seconds left, Josh. When it comes to Bernie Sanders, not to be left out, that focus on California with Hillary Clinton.

How is it going to work with Bernie? He's telling people that he is the candidate to beat Donald Trump. Is that working among Democratic voters?

ROGIN: Yes, I mean, I wouldn't say as Hillary Clinton said that it's over. I would say that it's close to over. And after the California primary, it'll be even closer to over.

But, you know, as we've discussed all cycle, the question is whether Hillary Clinton can tap into that Bernie movement, bring him along, bring his people along, especially when we look at the numbers with women, right?

Bernie Sanders has great numbers with women. Hillary Clinton has okay numbers with women. If they can combine forces, that would be a formidable effort against Donald Trump. We're going to have to wait a little longer to see if that unity can really come out.

KOSIK: All right.

HOWELL: I think after California, we'll see how that happens.

ROGIN: Exactly.

KOSIK: All right. Josh, we're going to come back to you in a little bit. More to talk about with CNN political analyst Josh Rogin -- thanks so much.

Time for your early start on your money. Dow futures pushing higher at the moment. European stock markets are up. We saw Asia finish with big gains overnight and oil prices up near $50 a barrel. What a nice rally for stocks yesterday. The Dow jumping 213points, or

more than 1 percent. NASDAQ with the strongest gain there, up 2 percent. The S&P 500 rising as well. Why the big rally? Well, new home sales surged more than 16 percent in April. That actually marks the highest level since January of 2008, this was just before the housing collapse.

New home sales are both a gauge of the housing market and construction. Also, home values are rising because of low inventory. So, what we're seeing here, more new homes being built could help fix our problem as the busy summer buying season gets underway, everybody comes out of their cocoons and goes and looks for new home.

HOWELL: That's always good news.

A story we're following, Bill Cosby will face a trial on a decade's old sex assault case. What is next for the comedian, as EARLY START continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:13:41] KOSIK: Bill Cosby now set to go on trial more than ten years after first being accused of sexual misconduct. A Pennsylvania judge ruling there is enough evidence to move forward with a criminal case against the disgraced entertainer. Cosby faces three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault. If found guilty, he could face 30 years in prison.

More now from our Jean Casarez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We can say with certainty that the criminal case against Bill Cosby is proceeding to trial. The preliminary hearing, a very important hearing determined by the magistrate judge that the prosecution had probable cause that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted Andrea Constand in 2004 when inviting her to his home. He gave her blue pills, had her drink wine, and then sexually assaulted her.

The defense very aggressive in the hearing. You can see that they are going to say that any sexual activity was consensual, that they had a romantic relationship, and that alcohol was not used that night. If she wanted to say no, she could have.

Bill Cosby is waiving his next formal arraignment, but both sides will now begin to exchange discovery, and this case will proceed to trial right here in Pennsylvania.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Following the case, our Jean Casarez. Thank you.

President Obama is scheduled G7 Summit in less than two hours' time, after wrapping up a historic visit to Vietnam.

[05:15:08] He hosted a town hall in Ho Chi Minh City overnight, raising the thorny issue of human rights violations in the communist party after yesterday normalizing ties with the Southeast Asian nation. While in Japan, the president is expected to visit Hiroshima. The U.S. dropped the first nuclear bomb on the city, forcing Japan's surrender in World War II.

KOSIK: The head of the TSA on the Capitol Hill hot seat this morning. Peter Neffenger set to be grilled by the House Homeland Security Committee about three-hour wait times at airport security check points. Thousands of passengers complaining about missed flights and connections. The TSA is expected to offer up a couple of near-term solutions like an automated baggage bin system and real-time data to keep air travelers informed out wait times at security.

But those ideas aren't expected to have an impact any time soon. Though, the House Committee is considering legislation to correct the problem.

HOWELL: Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Dylann Roof, the man accused of killing nine parishioners last year at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Attorney General Loretta Lynch says the nature of the crime and the resulting harm compelled her to make the decision. Federal prosecutors urge Lynch to OK capital charges, saying that Roof has shown, quote, a lack of remorse for the murders.

KOSIK: Breaking overnight, tornadoes tearing up parts of Kansas. Look at these pictures. Amazing.

One of three huge twister touching down simultaneously near Dodge City, Kansas. There are reports of several injuries, along with damaged homes and overturned cars. As many as nine tornadoes were reported from the storm that amazing to see those pictures so close up.

HOWELL: So that's the scene from yesterday. And here's the thing. The threat of severe weather, it continues, including a chance for more tornadoes for the rest of the week through the Midwest.

We get more now from meteorologist Derek Van Dam.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, George and Alison, that was one of many tornadoes that took place on Tuesday across the central U.S. We had over 130 storm reports according to the Storm Prediction Center, 26 tornadoes, 48 wind damage reports, and 58 reports of hail as well, stretching from Oklahoma into Iowa.

Another round of severe weather possible again today. You can see that highlighted within the shading of red. Scattered showers across the Pacific Northwest, even for central California.

And look what's building along the East Coast. Warmth. We could break 90 degrees in New York City. More on that in just one second. Here's our chance of severe weather. Large hail, damaging winds,

isolated tornadoes can't be ruled out. Minneapolis to Omaha, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, and southward towards San Angelo. We're going to keep a close eye on that here in the weather department.

Look at the warmth building across the East Coast. Any time you see that shading of red, we have above-average temperatures. In fact, 10 to 15 degrees above where we should be this time of year for the Big Apple.

Back to you.

KOSIK: All right. Derek Van Dam, thanks for that.

A shocker in Oklahoma City. Golden State Warriors now just one loss from elimination after getting thumped last night by the Thunder.

HOWELL: Ouch.

KOSIK: Coy Wire with this morning's bleacher report coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:22:44] KOSIK: The Golden State Warriors made history this year by breaking the record for most wins in the regular season.

HOWELL: And now, they're on the verge of getting booted from the NBA playoffs.

Coy Wire live this morning with the bleacher report -- Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, George and Alison.

The Warriors, the defending champs, hadn't lost back-to-back games all season, but now in the playoffs they have. OKC with one more win and will advance to the NBA Finals.

Warriors ran into a buzz saw last night, and his name was Russell Westbrook. His partner in crime Kevin Durant with the steal. He added to the slaughter, too. He finished with 26 on the night.

OKC drops the hammer on the warriors 118-94,ing in large part because of that man, Westbrook, ripping through Golden State with a triple- double. OKC takes a 3-1 series lead. Game five is tomorrow at Golden State.

Now, the NFL owners gave the green light yesterday to three cities to host upcoming Super Bowls. Intriguingly, two of the cities don't even have stadiums yet. Atlanta is one of them. The new Mercedes Benz stadium will be rocking in 2019. Super Bowl LIV heads out to Miami in 2020, and a new stadium in L.A. will host Super Bowl LV in 2021. No team has ever played in its own stadium in a Super Bowl.

ELeague, the new professional e-sports league kicked off yesterday. It features some of the best professional gamers around the world, competing with their teams to capture some of the $1.4 million prize pool. The action took place at turner studios in Atlanta. It will all season.

Yesterday's play was streamed online via Twitch in 80 countries. The first nationally broadcast piece of the action in ELeague is Friday on our sister channel, TBS. Hot stuff.

Feel-good story of the day. Our Turner Sports colleague Craig Sager already receive the 2016 Jimmy V Award at this year's Espys. The award goes to the person who's overcome obstacles with perseverance and determination.

Sager was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago, fought his way through countless treatments and battled his way back to the sidelines in 2015. Now, earlier this year, he announced that the cancer was no longer in remission. He was given only months to live.

Sager still reporting on sidelines throughout the playoff season, traveling back and forth to Houston for chemotherapy.

[05:25:04] Craig Sager, thank you, and all those fighting cancer for inspiring us by keeping your strength through your struggles.

KOSIK: Bittersweet to say the least.

HOWELL: It is indeed.

Coy, thank you.

WIRE: You're welcome.

HOWELL: Late last night, violent protests erupted outside a Donald Trump rally. Hundreds of people clashing with police, demonstrating against the Republican nominee for president. The dramatic moments ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: What started as peaceful protests turned violent outside a huge Donald Trump rally overnight. Hundreds of people clashing with police as the presidential front runner entertains thousands inside, defending his business practices and leveling new attacks on Hillary Clinton.

Good morning and welcome back to EARLY START. I'm George Howell.

KOSIK: Good morning. I'm Alison Kosik. It's 30 minutes past the hour.

We begin this morning with breaking news. Hundreds of anti-Trump protesters in New Mexico lighting fires, throwing rocks and bottles at police, injuring officers, even smashing a door at the Albuquerque Center where Trump was holding a huge rally.