Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Unleashes New Attacks on Clinton; Clinton Calls Trump's Foreign Policy "Dangerous"; President Obama Dives into 2016 Fight; Signal Detected from EgyptAir Flight 804. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired June 02, 2016 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:12] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in full battle mode. Trump calls Clinton a liar with no talent who shouldn't be allowed to run for president.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Clinton launching a new counterattack on Trump. In just hours, a speech to go after what she called his dangerous plans for foreign policy.
BERMAN: And look who is jumping into the 2016 race. President Obama blasting the Republicans and promising to campaign vigorously when someone clinches the Democratic nomination.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is Thursday, June 2nd. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East. Good morning, everyone.
Happening now, police in San Jose, California, on alert, preparing for the unexpected when Donald Trump holds a rally there tonight. In the past Trump events like this one in Albuquerque, Mexico, those events have been hit with protests, fights, arrests. So, San Jose police have been holding tactical meetings to ready just in case.
Last night, Trump attacking Hillary Clinton, unleashing just a barrage of new putdowns. Trump retaliating for Clinton's description of his Trump University and Trump himself as frauds.
CNN's Sara Murray traveling with the Trump campaign has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, John and Christine.
On a day when Donald Trump took some harsh incoming fire, he fired right back. Hillary Clinton went after Trump for Trump University, calling him a fraud, he was trying to scam America. And here in Sacramento last night, Donald Trump opened his speech, unleashing a series of counter-punches against Hillary Clinton, calling her crooked Hillary and saying she was one of the worst secretaries of state in history.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's not qualified because she has bad judgment. Now, who said that? Bernie Sanders said that about Hillary. She's not qualified.
So, here are seven points that I marked down which I think are important. And they talk about Hillary and her incompetence.
She is one of the worst secretaries of state in the history of our country. Now she wants to be our president. Look, I'll be honest. She has no natural talent to be president. This is not a president. They talk about me. Actually, a lot of people think I look extremely presidential, if you want to know the truth.
But do you really believe Hillary is presidential? This is not presidential material.
MURRAY: That's Trump swiping Hillary Clinton over foreign policy comes as she prepares today to deliver what she and her campaign are billing as a major foreign policy address.
As for Donald Trump, he's back on the campaign trail once again in California today in San Jose.
Back to you, guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right. Sara Murray, thanks so much here.
And talking about a major foreign policy speech that Hillary Clinton is set to give today, it will focus, we are told, extensively on Donald Trump. Senior policy adviser Jake Sullivan tells CNN that Hillary Clinton will reel off a list of what he calls dangerous policies that Trump backs related to nuclear proliferation, war crimes, NATO, and banning Muslims, among other things.
All this while Hillary Clinton is keeping her eye on Bernie Sanders in California. They are neck and neck in the string of new polls. Hillary Clinton flew to California last night following a rally in New Jersey. That is another big state with a primary on Tuesday. CNN's Jeff Zeleny was there and he has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Hillary Clinton going after Donald Trump at some of the most pointed and personal ways yet, saying that he's committed a fraud and he's been scamming the American people all over that controversy at Trump University.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: His own employees testified that Trump U -- you can't make this up -- that Trump U was a fraudulent scheme where Donald Trump enriched himself at the expense of hard working people.
ZELENY: Now, as Hillary Clinton focuses squarely on Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders is out in California trying to win over voters. Hillary Clinton is flying to California today as well. She realizes that it's a very tough race. A new poll shows it's dead-even. She's only slightly up by about two points.
Bernie Sanders took a bit of delight in that Wednesday as he campaigned there.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I'm shocked. You know why? Because you all told me the campaign was over. I wonder -- I wonder why Secretary Clinton and her husband Bill are back in California.
ZELENY: Now, Hillary Clinton does not need to win California, but she certainly would like to. It's the biggest delegate price of all, some 475 delegates next Tuesday. That's why she'll be spending the next five days there campaigning but also going after Donald Trump, including at this foreign policy address later today in San Diego, trying to present Donald Trump as unqualified and unfit for the presidency -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Jeff, thanks for that.
[04:05:00] The 2016 race feels like it's about to get a major new player. President Obama is attacking what he calls "economic myths" push by Republicans, prescriptions that he says benefit the rich at the expense of the middle class. Without mentioning Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton by name at a speech in Indiana, the president's speech sent clear signals he is ready, even eager to join the fray.
More this morning from White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John and Christine.
Right. You look at President Obama there in Elkhart, Indiana. This was the first place he traveled as the president with the recession raging around him. And you see him looking relaxed. His sleeves rolled up. He's on the campaign trail, but not quite on the campaign trail.
Clearly, though, this is a taste of what's to come. And sources in the White House tell us that he's ready to get out there. But at this point, he's not even mentioning names yet.
However, this was a long speech. It was an hour, at times fiery and shouting. You clearly want to throw everything in there. Look at where we are -- a place where he won in 2008, but was absolutely trounced in 2012. He called it a whooping, a place where Bernie Sanders just won the primary.
So, he wanted to do two things. First, tout his policies and how much they changed the economy. At the height of the recession, Elkhart, Indiana, had a nearly 20 percent unemployment rate. Today, it's down to around 4 percent, although the governor there just said that the economy has improved, in spite of Obama's policies. Then, he also wanted to hit out at the Republican rhetoric. I mean,
again, not mentioning Trump by name. In fact, when people started booing the candidate, as he called him, he told them not to. But here's what he did say.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Don't think that actually this agenda is going to help you. It's not designed to help you. And the evidence of the last 30 years, not to mention common sense, should tell you that their answers to our challenges are no answers at all.
KOSINSKI: The president hit out at cynicism, at voting out of fear or based on provocative tweets. I wonder who he is referring to there. But the question, of course, is will his words and there were an hour's worth of them, register with the voters that he's wanting to target here? Those who are voting Republican or thinking about it -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Michelle Kosinski, thanks for that.
So interesting to me that when you look at the president in 2009 there compared with today, 2009, the month that he was there last time, the economy lost 703,000 jobs that month. I mean, it was a really terrible period in American history, in American economy. And when you look at how much the economy has improved, it's remarkable, but that's not the narrative on the campaign trail.
The narrative on the campaign trail is still the fear of the scars of the recession, how will the president, how will Hillary Clinton be able to take an improving economy into a general election with so many people are saying they don't feel it.
BERMAN: Look, and Trump is able to reach those voters like those manufacturing workers in Elkhart, Indiana.
ROMANS: Right.
BERMAN: It's the blue collar, white blue collar workers that exist there. Pennsylvania, Michigan. That's why the president was there yesterday.
ROMANS: Yes.
All right. Happening today, President Obama is in Colorado Springs to deliver the commencement address at the Air Force Academy. The White House says he will stay and shake the hand of every single graduating airman.
BERMAN: The former I.T. specialist who set up and maintain Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server when she was secretary of state plans to plead the Fifth at a deposition next week. Brian Pagliano, he is cooperating with the FBI after accepting immunity and immunity deal from the Feds and the government earlier this year. But he will not answer questions next week when he is deposed for Freedom of Information lawsuit against the State Department by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.
An embarrassing admission by the State Department. Officials there now acknowledge someone in their public affairs bureau made a deliberate request to cut several minutes of video from an archive 2013 press conference. The edited video contained questions from a reporter demanding to know whether the administration was lying about holding secret talks with Iran. Officials later revealed the department had been lying to protect the delicate negotiations. No one involved claims he or she can remember who ordered the cuts.
ROMANS: All right. Time for an early start on your money this morning.
Uber just scored its largest single investment, not from a famous billionaire, not from a Fortune 500 company, from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia's public investment fund parking $3.5 billion in Uber. Uber valued at $62.5 billion, making it the most valuable startup in the world. The managing director of the Saudi fund will join Uber's board.
The company has been operating in Saudi Arabia since 2014. It says 80 percent of its customers there are women, who under Saudi law are not allowed to drive. The deal makes sense for both sides. Uber is investing heavily in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is looking for more sources of income due to low oil prices.
BERMAN: New information this morning on the murder/suicide that created panic and chaos on the UCLA campus. We have new details about the crime and victim next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:14:08] BERMAN: This morning, the UCLA professor who was killed in a murder/suicide on Wednesday is being remembered as a brilliant scholar and a caring teacher. The 39-year-old William Klug, the bio mechanics professor, Little League coach and father of two will be remembered tonight at a candlelight vigil. The man who killed him left a note behind. But police have not released his identity or motive.
Let's get more now from CNN's Stephanie Elam.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and John, a couple of tense hours here on the campus of UCLA as police were searching for an active shooter. Students taking refuge inside of classrooms, inside of buildings and staying in their dorm rooms, awaiting word for the all clear. That didn't come around until noon or so.
But at that point, police saying that they believe it was a murder/suicide that took place in a small office in the engineering four building. They said that they were being abundantly cautious and going to the buildings and making sure that there was no other shooter who was involved in this event.
[04:15:07] But they do say that at this point, they believe it was just involving these two adult men who were found dead in that office.
And classes are expected to resume here today which is noteworthy as they are heading into finals here at UCLA and graduation is scheduled for Friday -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Stephanie Elam for us in L.A. -- thanks, Stephanie.
The mother of the 3-year-old boy who fell into the gorilla habitat at the Cincinnati Zoo, she made a frantic call to 911 just moments after making the terrifying discovery. That audio recording has now been released. Listen to the mother calmly trying to keep her son from panicking before losing it when the 450 pound gorilla Harambe starts violently dragging her little boy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOTHER: Hi. My son fell in the zoo exhibit at the gorillas. The Cincinnati Zoo, my son fell in with the gorilla. There's a male gorilla standing over him. I need someone to contact the zoo, please.
DISPATCHER: OK, we do already have that started -- we do already have started there, OK?
MOTHER: OK -- be calm. Be calm. Be calm.
DISPATCHER: How old --
MOTHER: Be calm! He's grabbing my son. I can't watch this. I can't, I can't, OK, I can't watch this.
DISPATCHER: How old is your son?
MOTHER: I can't watch.
Mommy's right here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Just terrifying.
Cincinnati police have wrapped up their investigation. They are recommending no charges against the boy's mother. The prosecutors will review the findings. They'll announce a final determination as soon as Friday.
BERMAN: Six New York City concerts have been postponed by promoter Live Nation in the wake of a deadly shooting in the Manhattan nightclub last week. Three concerts scheduled for the Irving Plaza Club this week have been called off after one person was killed and three others injured there. Three other shows at the Gramercy Theater also have been pulled by Live Nation which says it's meeting with New York City police to develop a new security plan for the shows. ROMANS: Kansas is joining a growing number of states challenging the
Obama administration's transgender bathroom guidelines for public schools. The state senate dominated by Republicans voted 30-8 to challenge the directive in court. Democrats tried unsuccessfully to keep the focus on school funding during the last day of the legislative session. The Kansas attorney general says he has not decided whether to join a class action suit with 11 other states or sue separately.
BERMAN: Massachusetts lawmakers are close to sending a bill to the governor there that would expand protections against discrimination for transgender people. The measure would also permit use of bathrooms corresponding to a person's gender identity. The House and Senate have passed different measures. Once those differences are reconciled, Republican Governor Charlie Baker is expected to sign that bill into law.
ROMANS: All right. Severe flooding prompting the governor of Texas to declare a state of disaster across dozens of counties. Look at this video out of Lubbock, says it all. Crews using inflatable boats to help people stuck in waist-deep water. The same theme playing out in Houston.
This neighborhood, look at that, submerged. The flood warning is in effect there in the region until Saturday. Evacuations under way in the flood-ravaged city of spring. Authorities rescuing hundreds of people. One man there explaining how the situation is dire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is real serious. Do not play with this. You see what we're going through. Thank the Lord for good friends and family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: More rain, more flooding ahead for Texas.
Let's get to meteorologist Allison Chinchar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Texas is going to get more of exactly what it does not need, and that is rainfall. Take a look at the water vapor satellite. Again, you can see all of this moist air that's sitting directly over Texas.
We have a low pressure system that as it shifts towards the east is going to pull in all of that very warm, moist air, providing the necessary ingredients for more rain, again, which is the last thing they need. Because of it, we have flood watches, flood warnings and even flash flood warnings in effect for the next several days in some spots, especially due to the delayed effect for the rivers, creeks and streams.
Look at the amounts. Some -- a lot of these areas, widespread, about an additional 1 to 2 inches of rain. Some spots could pick up another four to six inches of rain. Again, this is on top of all of the rain that they already had. More rain along the Southeast and stretching up towards the Mid-Atlantic.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Allison, thanks.
BERMAN: Big development in the search for EgyptAir Flight 804. Investigators detecting pings from one of the plane's black boxes. We have new details, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:23:58] ROMANS: Welcome back.
A French navy ship has detected underwater pings from one of those black boxes onboard EgyptAir Flight 804. A specialized deep open search vessel is expected to reach the location within a week. Finding and retrieving the flight data recorder is critical here, as it could hold the key to figuring out what brought the jetliner down.
CNN's Ian Lee is tracking the latest developments for us. He is live from Cairo.
Good morning, Ian.
IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.
This is huge for investigators. They have been searching for these black boxes since the plane disappeared two weeks ago, after it disappeared from radar flying from Paris to Cairo. It had been a race against time as the batteries on those black boxes last for about 30 days.
Now, investigators are going to try to pinpoint its exact location. They already have a ship on-site that has a submersible that can go down to the depths of 10,000 feet. This is where the wreckage is believed to be. Then, investigators will wait for this other ship which is expected to arrive within a week.
[04:25:04] It has specialized equipment that will bring the wreckage and black boxes to the surface. Those black boxes will then be brought to Cairo where investigators will analyze them, try to figure out what went wrong on the flight. Up to this point, the only thing we really know about is smoke was detected in the lavatory and avionics, as well as a malfunction appearing in the right copilot's window with the heating element.
So, investigators are very keen to see what brought down the plane. Also, families here in Cairo as well saying this brings them new hope that they will be able to be reunited with the remains of their loved ones. Sixty-six people died in that plane crash -- Christine.
ROMANS: Yes. Just a tragedy and a mystery.
Tell me, you know, I think I hope they get this within the next week. How will they recover it?
LEE: So, there's a specialized ship, John Lethbridge, that is going to arrive on-site. Now, this ship has special under water robotics that can go to depths of 10,000 feet, really quite deep depth, high pressure down there. And it will be able to navigate and recover the wreckage. And they are not just looking for the black boxes.
They've only detected one of the black boxes. They are hoping the other box is in the same area, but also recover the fuselage. That will lead investigators to what brought down the plane. Was it a bomb? Was it mechanical? They just don't know.
So, they are hoping to get the black boxes but other parts of the planes that will piece together the puzzle of this crash.
ROMANS: All right. Ian Lee for us following that story in Cairo. Thank you so much, Ian.
BERMAN: The Iraqi push to free Fallujah from ISIS control moving ahead very cautiously now. Iraqi government forces say they are concerned about doing harm to civilians, including an estimated 20,000 children. Reports are also emerging of ISIS executing men who refused to fight for them and using families as human shields. Iraqi troops have surrounded Fallujah, but still have not invaded the city.
ROMANS: All right. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton go to war, unleashing new attacks on each other. And there's a big one coming later this morning. That's up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
