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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Tropical Storm Bonnie Soaks Carolinas; Trump Addresses Rolling Thunder Rally; Cincinnati Zoo Mourns Death of Gorilla; Rookie Driver Wins Indy 500. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired May 30, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:06] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And now trouble at one of the nation's busiest airport to tell you about. We'll tell you where.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump's campaign warning a third party candidate would put Hillary Clinton in the White House. This comes as the Libertarians pick their nominee and a never Trump Republican suggests a new challenge is waiting in the wings.

ROMANS: Zoo officials in Cincinnati facing serious questions this morning after they made the call to kill a gorilla to save a boy who climbed in. Was the use of force necessary? We'll tell you what zoo officials are saying this morning.

Good morning. Welcome to a special holiday edition of EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. Nice to see you.

KOSIK: Good morning. Good to be here. I'm Alison Kosik. It's Monday, May 30th, Memorial Day. It's 5:00 a.m. in the East.

And Tropical Storm Bonnie slams into the Carolinas wrecking the holiday weekend for many with heavy rain and widespread flooding along coastal South Carolina. Now Bonnie is headed north. Whose Memorial Day will Bonnie disrupt next?

Our team coverage begins with CNN's Jennifer Gray in South Carolina.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Christine and Alison, what is now left of what was Tropical Storm Bonnie being very stubborn across South Carolina. In fact, practically stalling out, leaving flooding rains across some areas in the state. In fact, Sunday, portions of I- 95 completely shut down.

And as we know, I-95 is that major interstate that a lot of people use to get to the coast. And with it being Memorial Day weekend, lines of traffic with people stuck in their cars for hours as they slowly exited the interstate and had to detour around the flood.

And so conditions are expected to improve over the next couple of days. However, off and on showers could linger across South Carolina as we go through Memorial Day, and then as the storm continues to push to the north conditions will improve across South Carolina -- Alison and Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Jennifer. Thank you for that. So wow we're talking about remnants of Tropical Storm Bonnie and where

is that expected to head now. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us with the latest on that.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Christine and Alison.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VAN DAM: Back to you.

ROMANS: All right, Derek, thank you for that.

Delays of a different sort to tell you about. Officials at New York's JFK airport are warning of huge delays, long lines with operations drastically slowed by a computer crash that happened Sunday afternoon. The server crash affects Terminal 7. The airlines operating there include British Airways, Qantas, Iberia, Cathay Pacific and others. At the delay's peak, some 1500 customers were waiting to be checked in manually.

KOSIK: On to politics now, today Donald Trump is off the campaign trail for Memorial Day. But we have new details on his hunt for a running mate. Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski saying the vice presidential search is now down to a very short, short list. And his team is vetting the few who remained in contention. This as Trump gave a speech Sunday at the Rolling Thunder motorcycle run honoring POWs. Trump promising that tomorrow he's going to be giving a full accounting of money brought in at his veterans' fundraiser earlier this year.

CNN's Scott McLean has more on that.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alison, Christine, Donald Trump delivered what was a pretty typical campaign speech in a pretty atypical setting. Thousands of bikers were there to pay respect to and raise awareness of POWs and soldiers missing in action.

Now this was not a Trump campaign rally and so there were a lot of people who were just passing by, but many of them were veterans. Trump got a pretty warm reception from the crowd. He slammed Hillary Clinton, saying if she were elected, POWs would not be coming home.

He also hit all of his usual talking points. Trade, the Second Amendment, rebuilding the military, and of course, veterans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Our veterans have been treated so badly in this country. You have a secretary that last week said no, the wait time doesn't matter. Forget about wait time. I know people, and I've gotten to know so many vets, and we just raised almost $6 million for the vets because I didn't do a television show.

[05:05:06] I said, let's do this. And we're announcing on Tuesday all of the groups that we put up this money, and we raised this tremendous amount of money because we love the vets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: Now that money he mentioned was raised when he skipped a FOX News debate a few months ago. Since then he has been dogged by questions about where the money went. So as you heard he's planning a full accounting of the funds raised tomorrow to try to put that issue to bed.

But Trump is also facing new questions about comments he made about Senator John McCain last year, saying he was only a war hero because he was captured in Vietnam. This weekend on CNN, former Senator Bob Dole, who is a Trump supporter and a decorated World War II veteran himself, said he would push Trump to apologize for the comments.

We asked Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, whether Trump plan to apologize. His response was, "not that I'm aware of" -- Alison, Christine.

ROMANS: All right, thanks for that.

Donald Trump blasting at a suggestion that a third party conservative presidential candidacy may be imminent. Pundit and never Trump leader Bill Kristol seeming to predict or maybe promise as much in this cryptic tweet. This is what he wrote, "Just a heads up over this holiday weekend. There will be an independent candidate, an impressive one, with a strong team and a real chance."

Trump lashing back in a series of tweets, "If dummy Bill Kristol actually does get a spoiler to run as an independent, say goodbye to the Supreme Court." Also this, "The Republican Party has to be smart and strong if it wants to win in November. Can't allow lightweights to set up a spoiler indie candidate."

Let's break down all the holiday weekend, the political crossfire this morning, with political analyst and best-selling author Ellis Henican.

Good morning. It's Memorial Day.

KOSIK: Good morning.

ELLIS HENICAN, POLITICAL ANALYST AND BEST-SELLING AUTHOR: Good morning, guys.

ROMANS: There's so much to talk about. I want to start with this -- the third party ticket.

HENICAN: Dummy Bill Kristol is we're talking about. OK.

ROMANS: Dummy Bill Kristol. Right. Listen to what Corey Lewandowski said about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Third party run by any candidate is a complete disaster. And you're handing over the White House to the Democrats. That means four or five potential U.S. Supreme Court justices that Hillary Clinton would have a chance to appoint. If she does that, you can say good-bye to the Second Amendment amongst other things. Right? You can say good-bye to your rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: This idea that if there's a third party candidate, you're just handing it to Clinton.

HENICAN: Well, as we call it, frightening the base. Right? So you guys better avoid this. But listen, ultimately when it comes to any of these third party candidates, only one question to ask is who will that candidate steal more votes from? Certainly dummy Bill Kristol's candidate will take more from the Republicans than he's going to do from Hillary Clinton.

ROMANS: Yes.

HENICAN: So yes, there's some reason to worry.

KOSIK: But they both -- both Clinton and Trump have very high unfavorables.

HENICAN: Absolutely.

KOSIK: So is it sort of a crapshoot at, you know, who really is going to be hit the hardest if we go to split?

HENICAN: Well, you know, Alison, I would say that's what creates the opening. Right? That's why this is even something worth talking about because there's so many things that make this difficult. But, you know, I think you got to ask who the candidate is. In the case of a serious conservative, certainly more likely to take Republican votes than Democratic votes.

ROMANS: Sort of a cryptic tweet, though. I don't know. He might have been -- could he been talking about the Libertarian? The Libertarians put up their ticket this weekend.

KOSIK: That was already out so this could -- you know.

HENICAN: That is right. I mean, there's no name here. And so it's hard to know how serious a threat it is. But I mean, he certainly sounds like he is promising there will be, Bill Kristol says.

ROMANS: All right. Speaking of Libertarians, they've got their ticket. They've got -- they've got Gary Johnson.

HENICAN: Gary Johnson.

KOSIK: They've got Bill Weld. Gary Johnson interestingly enough, he already came out taking the first punch at Donald Trump. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GARY JOHNSON, LIBERTARIAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm taking him on, on the fact that he wants to deport 11 million illegal immigrants. Taking him on on wanting to build a fence across the border. That's nuts. Taking him on when he says that Mexicans are murderers and rapists when -- and it's incendiary as a border state governor. It's incendiary to 50 percent of the population of New Mexico that he's talking about Hispanics and Mexicans in this way when the absolute opposite is true. To call him out on what is really racist. It's just racist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: All right. Former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson. Why do you think he took his first potshot at Donald Trump?

HENICAN: You know, he thinks that he's got an opening there. Because of just the unpopularity you are talking about. But what that makes me think, guys, is that he really, and with Bill Weld, really might take more votes from Hillary. He sounded a lot more like Hillary right there than he did like Donald Trump. Didn't he?

ROMANS: Interesting. Interesting. I want to ask you another question about Donald Trump. So a judge yesterday actually unsealing some documents in the Trump University case. And this is a judge that Trump has called a hater and said -- called him a Mexican. He's from east Chicago and is an American citizen.

You know, does this hurt Donald Trump, this ongoing sort of drama about some of his past business dealings? You know, the Trump University case, you know, the New York attorney general says it was a scam. And people paid up to $35,000 for basically nothing.

[05:10:02] HENICAN: I got to tell you, I think this is the biggest issue because it's something that's pretty easy to understand, right? These people paid good money for this training that seemed to do them almost no good at all. A lot easier as an issue than, you know, some complex real estate deal somewhere. So yes, I think it is the real deal.

ROMANS: But even -- but insulting the judge, I mean --

HENICAN: Never smart by the way to insult the judge in this case.

ROMANS: Never --

HENICAN: Don't do that.

ROMANS: But insulting the judge. I mean, you know, does that help or hurt him?

HENICAN: Listen, I think it's going to anger the judge, right? I'd be sucking up to the judge just about now if he were ruling on my future.

KOSIK: Yes. But those tried and true Trump supporters, they don't seem to be moved by any of this. ROMANS: Yes.

KOSIK: But this really does eat into Trump's ability to get the voters who are not yet on board, right?

HENICAN: That's exactly right, Alison. There's nothing you're going to say that's going to get rid of those hard core supporters. Donald said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and it wouldn't matter. He may be right about that.

ROMANS: What about that short VP list? And we know it's going to be a short list. Who can be on that list?

HENICAN: You know --

ROMANS: Who could be on that list?

HENICAN: You know again, I'm scratching my head on it. I mean. the names of the obvious people. Some of the candidates who ran before have almost all said no. Not me. Right? And so we're left with some kind of odd ones. You know, the Newt Gingrich's. Doesn't that feel like we're reaching back into the past?

ROMANS: How about Joni Ernst? That Iowa senator Joni Ernst. She could -- she's got a lot of, you know.

HENICAN: It's -- I mean, it's not unreasonable choice, although just a few days ago the campaign was telegraphing that it was unlikely to be a woman or a minority.

ROMANS: That would be pandering, they think.

HENICAN: Pandering. They don't want to pander, right?

ROMANS: And you know, last week he criticized sort of -- you know, one of the highest profile women in his party. A Hispanic woman in his party. You know, the governor of New Mexico.

HENICAN: I think we can take her off the list. I don't know. And I don't think -- I'm not sure frankly that they know yet. So we shouldn't feel too bad about our question marks.

KOSIK: All right. Ellis Henican, we're going to come back to you. There's still a lot more to get to. We will see you in about 25 minutes.

HENICAN: Terrific, guys.

ROMANS: Got to ask him about Bernie Sanders.

KOSIK: Yes.

ROMANS: Bernie Sanders next time. And Marco Rubio. Lots happening this weekend.

KOSIK: Yes. There is. All right. President Obama will be joined by Defense Secretary Ash

Carter at Arlington National Cemetery that's going to happen later this morning. He's going to pay tribute to America's fallen soldiers. And he will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns for the final time as president after hosting a Memorial Day breakfast honoring military service organizations.

ROMANS: All right. A tragedy at the Cincinnati Zoo. A boy climbs into the gorilla enclosure. That decision ends up costing the gorilla its life. How are officials defending gunning down one of their most prized animals? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:16:32] KOSIK: Heartbreak and anger over the decision to shoot and kill a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo in order to save a 4-year-old boy. At first, Harambe, a 17-year-old lowland gorilla, appeared to be trying to protect the boy who somehow fell inside -- into a moat inside the habitat. But then the situation taking a terrifying turn.

We get more now from CNN's Jessica Schneider.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alison and Christine, visitors here at the zoo are wondering just how this could have happened. Zoo officials say a 4-year-old boy went under a rail, through protective wiring, and then over a moat wall dropping 15 feet into the water below.

Zoo officials say the situation was so urgent that they had to act quickly. They took the gorilla's life, killing him, they say, in order to save that little boy. They say that they had no option. They said any use of tranquilizers just would have taken too long.

That little boy was in the moat for about 10 minutes. The gorilla tossed the boy and, at times, stared at the boy. That was until the dangerous animal response team took action and killed the gorilla.

The zoo director, Thane Maynard, said it was the only option and he also released this statement, saying, "We are heartbroken about losing Harambe, but a child's life was in danger and a quick decision had to be made by our dangerous animal response team."

Harambe was 17 years old, 450 pounds. That response team moved in after they tried other options. They did try getting the gorillas out of the exhibit, but when only the female gorillas responded they had to take that action against Harambe.

The little boy was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. He's actually home from the hospital now. But here at the zoo, there's a mix of emotions. People are sad, they're angry, and they're confused about how this could happen. In fact, there's a growing memorial inside the zoo itself with flowers around a statue of a gorilla just outside the Gorilla World exhibit.

And we even saw some people out here today saying justice for Harambe. They had signs. But again, zoo officials saying killing that gorilla was the only option -- Christine and Alison.

KOSIK: You know, every time you see that video, elicits the same response. It's just utter shock.

ROMANS: I know. It really is. All right. 18 minutes past the hour. A rookie driver in last place at the Indianapolis 500. Write him off, right? Wrong. The incredible story from the winner circle. Coy Wire with this morning's "Bleacher Report" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:23:26] ROMANS: All right. A rookie driver gets his first win at the 100th running of the Indy 500.

KOSIK: Coy Wire has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report." Good morning, Coy.

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

Going into this race, odds makers had Alexander Rossi a 66 to 1 dark horse to win it. Well, that didn't matter to Rossi and his 675 horse power little engine that could. 24 years old, never been to an Indy 500. Never even been there. At one point in this race, he was last place. But his risky strategy eventually got him the win. Other drivers had better cars. But Rossi stretched his final tank of gas 90 miles. He was running out of gas in the final lap coasted through the corners. He barely crossed the finish line.

Guys, he didn't even make it around on the victory lap. He had to get towed in. High risk, high reward resulted in a shocker at the 100th running of the Indy 500. And of course to the victor goes the milk.

Well done, Alexander.

And after playing nearly 100 games this season, the only one that matters for the Warriors and Thunders chance of playing for the NBA title is tonight. Game seven of the Western Conference Finals, which has been like a heavyweight title fight. Golden State defending champs had their backs up against the ropes. Now 3-1 at one point. But they came swinging back against the Thunder to tie it up. And people want to see the final round.

Guys, floor seats in Oakland are reportedly selling for $29,000 a piece. That means a pair costs more than a 2016 Mercedes Benz D Class. A sit court side or watch our sister channel TNT?

[05:25:02] I'll take the TV. Tip-off is set for 9:00 p.m. Eastern. And it's going to be a doozy.

Finally a ball boy at the French Open had a pretty good day at work. Stan Wawrinka was looking to stay warm while his opponent was being treated for an injury so he asked the kid to play. So yesterday this young fellow gets to play with the fourth ranked tennis player in the world during the middle of the French Open. Obviously a wonderful moment that this kid won't soon forget. And I think a good energy may have been sent Wawrinka's way, guys, because eventually he went on to win. And he will advance to the quarterfinals. Pretty good stuff, huh?

KOSIK: He's got some moves and certainly the focus was on him as well. He had a captive audience. I'd say go for it.

ROMANS: Love it.

WIRE: That's right.

ROMANS: All right, Coy --

WIRE: Happy Memorial Day.

ROMANS: You too. Nice to see you this morning. Thanks, Coy.

WIRE: Thank you.

KOSIK: A potentially dangerous weather system churning up the East Coast. The Carolinas are already drenched and millions could see more of the same. We have the latest holiday forecast coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)