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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Tropical Storm Bonnie Socks Carolinas; Trump Vows To Account For Veteran's Fundraiser; Rubio Says He Apologized To Trump For The "Small Hands" Crack At Debate; Sanders: Clinton Must Win Over His Supporters; Gorilla Shot & Killed At Cincinnati Zoo; Migrant Crisis In Mediterranean; WHO Rejects Calls For Cancellation Of Summer Olympic Games Over Zika Fears. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired May 30, 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] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Stormy holiday weather drenching the Carolinas and now heading up the east coast. Millions could see flooding and dangers at the beach to end the long weekend. And now, trouble at one of the nation's busiest airports. We're going to tell you where.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Team Trump is warning ongoing talk of a third party candidate could hurt the Trump campaign, and now the Libertarians have their nominee. Who could play spoiler in November?
KOSIK: And serious questions for zoo officials in Cincinnati. An endangered gorilla is shot and killed to save a boy who climbed into their enclosure. We're going to tell you why zoo officials say the force was necessary.
Welcome back to a special holiday editor of EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.
ROMANS: Good to see you here this morning Monday.
KOSIK: Good morning.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is 30 minutes past the hour on this Memorial Day. Tropical Storm Bonnie slams into the Carolinas wrecking the holiday weekend for many with heavy rain and widespread flooding along coastal South Carolina. And now, Bonnie is headed north, folks. Whose Memorial Day will she disrupt next?
Our team coverage begins with CNN's Jennifer Gray in South Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: All right, Jennifer Gray, thanks so much. So the big question? Where exactly are the remnants of Tropical Storm Bonnie headed now? Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us with the latest. Good morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEREK VAN DAMN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, Christine and Alison, the timing with this storm system couldn't be worse, coinciding with the Memorial holiday weekend. The good news out of all of this is that the storm is in a significantly weaker state, currently a tropical depression.
It will move parallel along the eastern coastline over the next two to three days -- really only a low-pressure system. Sustained winds at the moment around the center of circulation at 30 miles per hour. Now, the concern being that with it being the holiday weekend we have the potential for rip currents.
Of course, a high surf advisory in effect for that region, as well. So people heading to the beach do need to take note and extra precautions as they venture into the water. We have the potential for downpours, perhaps some localized flooding as this pulls in moisture from the Atlantic Ocean.
We could potentially experience anywhere between two to localized three inches of rainfall as it moves along the east coast. That could cause some delays, especially for some of those heavily-trafficked airports near the New England coast.
Elsewhere across the United States, we have the potential for severe weather across the Dakotas and into western Texas. Unfortunately, a bullseye for heavy rainfall over this region. Already a saturated environment leads to more flooding potential this week.
Here's a look at your Memorial Day forecast. D.C. and Boston look wet with temperatures in the 70's. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: All right, Derek Van Dam, thanks for that. And officials at New York's JFK Airport are warning of delays and huge lines this morning with operations drastically slowed by a computer crash. The server crash affects terminal 7 and the airlines operating there, including British Airways, Qantas, Iberia, Cathay Pacific, and others. At the delay's peak, get this, some 1,500 customers were waited to be checked in manually. ROMANS: All right, to politics now. Today, Donald Trump is off the campaign trail for Memorial Day, but we do have new details on his hunt for a running mate. Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says the vice presidential search is now down to a very short, short list and his team is now vetting the remaining options.
This, as Trump gave a speech Sunday at the Rolling Thunder motorcycle run honoring POWs. Trump promising that tomorrow he will give a full accounting of money brought in at his veterans' fundraiser earlier this year. CNN's Scott McLean has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
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, POW's 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, POW's 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.
DONALD TRUMP (R), 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.
[05:35:00] 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. 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.
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 whole 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 Sen. John McCain last year, saying he was only a war hero because he was captured in Vietnam. This weekend on CNN, former Sen. 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 planned to apologize. His response was "not that I'm aware of" -- Alison, Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: All right, thanks for that. Donald Trump blasting any 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 here. "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."
Well, Trump lashed back in a series of tweets himself, saying "If dummy Bill Kristol actually does get a spoiler to run as an Independent, say goodbye to the Supreme Court!" And 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."
All right, helping us to break down all the holiday weekend political crossfire, political analyst and best-selling author, Ellis Henican. Good morning, thanks for getting up early on this holiday.
ELLIS HENICAN, POLITICAL ANALYST AND BEST-SELLING AUTHOR: Good morning, guys. How are you?
ROMANS: Nice to see you.
KOSIK: So, we saw the Twitterverse going absolutely crazy with the Indie idea, with the Libertarian ticket already set. Trump immediately coming out and just having a field day on Twitter about this. He's getting worried, isn't he?
HENICAN: What did you expect? I mean, of course, he's coming out on Twitter. Yes, because this is an actual real threat. As you know, many conservatives have been reluctant to support Trump, saying well hey, how conservative is he really now? If there were a serious conservative candidate in that race, even in some third party -- a no- name party -- it could pull votes away from Trump, no doubt about it.
KOSIK: His campaign manager, Lewandowski, also talked about this. Let's hear what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: A third party run by any candidate is a complete disaster and you're handing over the White House to the Democrats, which 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 goodbye to the Second Amendment, amongst other things, right? You can say goodbye to your rights.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: OK, but Trump's unfavorables are high, Clinton's unfavorables are high, but --
HENICAN: Right.
KOSIK: -- you're thinking the Republicans are really at risk not just because of a Libertarian ticket, but this possible Indie --
HENICAN: Well, it depends, Alison, which third party person you're talking about. If it's a Bill Kristol conservative, that's going to peel votes away from Trump. No doubt about it. The others are a little dicier. When the Libertarians -- you know, they could pull some Hillary votes, they could pull some Trump votes.
Marijuana a big issue for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian nominee. I mean, that might be a Hillary problem. So, it's hard to calculate sometimes.
ROMANS: You know, we're talking about this short, short list for the V.P. and I don't think that Marco Rubio is probably on that list.
HENICAN: He is not on it -- definitely not on it.
ROMANS: He sat down with Jake Tapper and had a really interesting conversation this weekend. You know, he sort of softened his stance on Donald Trump and addressed that whole issue about the hands -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": In one way, you are responsible for an unprecedented moment in American politics when Donald Trump went on stage and assured the American people that there was no problem regardless of the size of his hands, I guarantee you.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, and you know what?
TAPPER: To be fair to him, you raised that issue.
RUBIO: I did, and so, you know -- and I actually told Donald at one of the debates -- I forget which one -- I apologized to him for that. I said, you know, I'm sorry that I said that. It's not who I am and I shouldn't have done it. And, I didn't say it in front of the cameras. I didn't want any political benefit. I'm not a candidate now so I can say that to you. -- not because of him, but because of me. I didn't like what it reflected on me. It embarrassed my family. It's not who I am.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So, he said he still isn't -- it's not right for him -- it wouldn't be right for him to be the choice for V.P., but is he paving the way for a chance for something by softening his stance on Donald Trump?
HENICAN: You know, it seems that way. He's hinting that he might want to run for something. He's offered to speak at the convention. A terrific interview with Jake, by the way.
KOSIK: It really was.
HENICAN: He really got him to open up, didn't he?
ROMANS: Right.
HENICAN: And it shows what a complicated position he's in right now, right? He wants to support the party nominee. He clearly hates Trump, right? I mean, there's not much doubt about that. And yet, he kind of feels like he's got to hold his nose and get in there and be a good soldier. Difficult for any problem.
[05:40:00] KOSIK: I've got to say, though, it's like night and day looking at Rubio in that interview and thinking about him on the campaign trail. I mean --
HENICAN: Even tough, even good.
KOSIK: He was great in the interview. He was confident and sure of himself. I just can't fathom what was going on on the campaign trail.
HENICAN: You know, I think it was the year more than the guy, right? I mean, it just wasn't a year for someone like that. It's been a crazy year. Donald was there at the right time with the right kind of attitude, I think, even more than ideology.
ROMANS: Well, Bernie Sanders -- this was the right year for Bernie Sanders. He came out of nowhere really. I mean, he wasn't even a Democrat. I mean, an Independent -- you know, an Independent senator from Vermont. Let's listen to what he said about what Hillary Clinton has to do. How she has to do the work to woo his supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: At the end of the day, whether it's Sec. Clinton, or Bernie Sanders, or Donald Trump, or anybody else, the way you gain support is through the candidate, himself or herself. So my job is to make sure that Trump does not become president and I will do that.
But, if Sec. Clinton is the nominee it is her job to reach out to millions of people and make the case as to why she is going to defend working families and the middle class, provide health care for all people, take on Wall Street, deal aggressively with climate change. That is the candidate's job to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So, he's putting the onus on unifying the party post-primary on her, not on him.
HENICAN: You do it, Hillary.
KOSIK: She's got to fight her own battle.
HENICAN: You do it, yes. You know what? It's both of their jobs, honestly. Yes, it's primarily the candidate's job, but boy, Bernie could be helpful or hurtful, depending on what he says to his supporters who are very loyal people, right? If he's out there saying you've got to get behind Hillary, it matters. Saying the same stuff Corey Lewandowski said about all the things that are stake right now. He could have a lot of impact.
KOSIK: Do you see Hillary maybe, if she obviously becomes the nominee, giving Bernie a little seat on her team?
HENICAN: There will be a lot of Bernie love. I don't think there's going to be a Bernie vice presidential candidacy if that's what you're talking about.
ROMANS: Ellis, nice to you this morning.
HENICAN: Hey, great to see you guys. Have a wonderful day.
ROMANS: Thank you for getting up early for us on this holiday.
KOSIK: Yes, thanks very much. All right, did officials at the Cincinnati Zoo really have to gun down a gorilla after a boy climbed into his enclosure? Many are crying foul. We're going to have the zoo's side of the story next.
[05:42:30]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:46:40] ROMANS: Heartbreak and anger this morning over the decision to shoot and kill a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo in order to save the life of a 4-year-old boy. At first, Harambe, a 17-year-old lowland gorilla, appeared to be trying to protect the boy. The boy, who somehow fell into a moat inside the gorilla habitat -- but then the situation took just a terrifying turn. We get more this morning from CNN's Jessica Schneider.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: What a crazy story.
KOSIK: I'm so glad that little boy is out of the hospital. Hopefully, he's OK.
ROMANS: Yes, me too.
KOSIK: All right, let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Alisyn Camerota joining us now. Good morning, Alisyn.
ROMANS: Morning.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hi, ladies, great to see both of you. So, of course, it is Memorial Day, and today we'll honor the men and women who fought for us and who've made the ultimate sacrifice serving our country.
We're also following the terrible holiday weather that is spoiling more than a few holiday parades. Remnants of Tropical Storm Bonnie drenching the east coast at this hour. And the storms in Texas have been deadly. At least six people have been killed. So, where is the severe weather headed next and how will it impact holiday travelers who are trying to return home today?
We're also following all of the political developments, including the Libertarian Party choosing its ticket. The vice presidential nominee, William Weld, will join us live --
ROMANS: Great.
CAMEROTA: -- so we'll see you in about 10 minutes.
KOSIK: That will be good, we will be watching.
ROMANS: Looking forward to it.
CAMEROTA: Thanks, guys.
ROMANS: Forty-nine minutes past the hour. A spike in the number of migrants who don't make it to Europe alive. Hundreds perishing in just the last few days. We're live in Europe with an update on this crisis, next.
[05:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [05:54:10] KOSIK: Welcome back. Breaking overnight, the Iraqi military launching an operation to storm the ISIS stronghold of Fallujah. A military spokesman says Iraqi forces, with the help of the Shite Militia, have already retaken villages surround Fallujah from ISIS.
Hundreds in Fallujah, most of them women and children, now fleeing as Iraqi forces make major gains. Security forces evacuating about 760 people. But the U.N. Refugee Agency says tens of thousands are still caught in the middle of intensified bombing.
ROMANS: A deadly week for desperate migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe. A series of shipwrecks leaving dozens dead with hundreds more missing and feared dead. Most of the victims on three ill-fated boats trying to flee countries like Somalia and Sudan.
CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman tracking the latest developments live from Rome for us. And Ben, the weather -- the seas have been rough. But also, some of these countries -- Greece, for example -- it's harder to reach some of these places. What's going on here?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well actually, the reason why we've seen this sudden outpouring of people coming out of Libya towards Italy -- 14,000 in less than week -- is because the seas are actually quite calm. And that's really the important factor when you're looking at the numbers coming.
There are hundreds of thousands of people from Sub-Saharan Africa waiting in Libya to make this crossing. So as soon as the seas are calm enough to put these barely seaworthy vessels out -- what the human traffickers do is they bus people from warehouses in other places where they've been waiting to cross.
And many of them, when they see the vessels they're about to board, are terrified and don't want to get on, but the human traffickers force them at gunpoint onto these ships. These ships are really only capable of taking them, perhaps, out of the territorial waters of Libya. As soon as they get out into the open seas they send out distress signals to the Italian Navy, to the Italian Coast Guard, to any ships in the area that come to their rescue.
But, of course, because these boats are so unseaworthy, even in calm seas, they're crammed into -- some of the -- one of the boats that went down on Thursday had more than 650 people on board on a boat that really should take just a few dozen. So, it sank and hundreds are missing.
And, of course, we don't really know how many people in total are missing because, of course, the human traffickers don't put together a passenger manifest. They basically shove these people on the boats, shove the boats out into the sea, and that's the end of the matter as far as they're concerned -- Christine.
ROMANS: Ben, so what you're telling me is that the business model of the human trafficker is to shove these people on any kind of rickety, not even seaworthy, boat and just send them out. They're not even trying to get to the shore. They're just trying to get into the middle of the Mediterranean Sea and then expect the Italians to help.
WEDEMAN: Yes, there's no intention. There's no one in their wildest imagination would think that these rickety, leaking vessels would ever make it to the shores of Italy. Basically, just far enough to get away from Libya so that somebody will pick them up. So it's not even crossing in these boats. They're just sent out far enough so that they're out of their hands.
ROMANS: Dozens of people -- we don't even -- can't even count how many people have died just in the last few days on this horrible, horrible trip. Ben Wedeman, thank you for that from Rome for us.
The World Health Organization dismissing calls for the Rio Summer Olympics to either be moved or canceled. W.H.O. officials argue holding the games in Brazil will not alter the spread of the Zika virus since the virus is already present in 60 countries. That assessment, brushing aside the concerns of a coalition of doctors and scientists. They fear holding the games in Brazil may lead to new outbreaks in places like Africa and South Asia.
KOSIK: American rookie Alexander Rossi, a 66 to one longshot, is the winner of the 100th Indianapolis 500 and he's still not quite sure how he pulled it off, though. Rossi took a big gamble and decided to pass up a late pit stop. He wound up running out of fuel just as he crossed the finish line. His engine was actually sputtering in the final lap and his car had to be towed to the victory party. But alas, he made it anyway.
ROMANS: He made it, and good for him. All right, 58 minutes past the hour. The threat of dangerous weather for you this holiday Monday. Now, the ripple effect from a glitch at a major airport also causing some travel headaches this morning. "NEW DAY" picks up the story right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The water level comes up to almost our knees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got a lot of rip currents. Undertow is pretty strong.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lighting striking everywhere. It's just really violent and I don't feel safe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The day's been crazy. Water rescues, people in their vehicles.
TRUMP: Hillary thinks the V.A. is doing good.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He goes around talking about he wants to have a great American military. Well, we have the best in the world.
TRUMP: We're going to rebuild our military. We're going to make it bigger and bigger, and better and stronger.
SANDERS: We're going to fight until the last vote is cast.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A child has fallen into the gorilla cage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He certainly was at risk, but it seems very unfortunate a lethal shot was required.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to a special Memorial Day edition of NEW DAY. It's Monday, May 30th, 6:00 in the east. Please take a moment today to remember all those who sacrificed their freedoms for ours.
We begin with severe weather this morning. Tropical Storm Bonnie stalling out, soaking the Carolinas. The holiday spoiler now creeping up the east coast.
