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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Democrats United Behind Hillary Clinton; Can Donald Trump United the GOP?; Suicide Bombings Rock Baghdad. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 10, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:13] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Democrats unite. President Obama is delivering an impassioned endorsement of Hillary Clinton. Both Vice President Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren go on the attack against Donald Trump.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump on the campaign trail to unite the Republican base beginning this morning with evangelicals. His strategy ahead and what he promised top party donors.

Good morning. Happy Friday. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.

ROMANS: Nice to see you here, Alison. Thanks for being here.

I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday. It's June 10th. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East.

Let's start here with politics. This morning, top Democrats are closing ranks behind Hillary Clinton in highly choreographed effort to elevate Clinton as the party's presumptive nominee and disarm her Democratic rival. President Obama met with Bernie Sanders at the White House. Two hours later, the Clinton campaign dropped a web video unveiling the president's long anticipated endorsement of Secretary Clinton.

White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski has the latest this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alison and Christine.

Right, to see this play out was truly remarkable. Here we have a presidential endorsement in a video on Twitter that was released by the Hillary Clinton campaign. When has that ever happened?

It was recorded on Tuesday. It was well-produced. You could hear the music behind it there.

So, it was clear the White House wanted to let the meeting play out, private meeting between the president and Bernie Sanders at the White House yesterday. It was a lengthy meeting. Let the discussion happen. Let the president hear out Bernie Sanders and work on a path forward. How will he be engaged? How will he work with the White House and Hillary Clinton?

Then, as soon as that meeting was over, bam, within two hours, the endorsement was out. And the president wasn't holding back.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know how hard this job can be. That's why I know Hillary will be so good at it. In fact, I don't think there's ever been someone so qualified to hold this office.

She's got the courage, the compassion and the heart to get the job done. And I say that as somebody who had to debate her more than 20 times. I'm with her. I am fired up. I cannot wait to get out there and campaign for Hillary.

KOSINSKI: The White House is wasting no time on that either. I mean, now the president is free, unleashed. She's hitting the campaign trail on Wednesday with Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin.

And for Democrats right now, it's all about unity. I mean, they want Sanders many supporters to ultimately support Hillary Clinton. They feel that Sanders voice will be crucial in that to rally them, to ultimately go to her side. As well as the voice of President Obama who is such a powerful influence on the younger voters -- Alison and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: All right. Our thanks to Michelle Kosinski for that.

And President Obama's endorsement marking a new phase of Hillary Clinton's campaign, but it also represents a message to Bernie Sanders that he should start reshaping his role in the Democrats battle to defeat Donald Trump. Sanders meantime signaling he is not ready to drop out quite yet.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Alison, that sound you heard in Washington was the sound of Democrats coming in line together. It really brings the relationship between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton from rivals to friends full circle again.

Now, the president has been eager to jump into this race from the very start and campaigning against Donald Trump. Now, he will be able to.

Bernie Sanders met in the Oval Office on Wednesday and at the vice president's residence, and Democrats on Capitol Hill also greeted him. It was a sign of respect throughout the day and a sign of the leverage he has after winning 22 states.

Now, he said he has one focus and one focus of all going after this, and that is Donald Trump.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The American people will not vote for or tolerate a candidate who insults Mexicans and Latinos and insults Muslims, who insults African-Americans and women. Needless to say, I am going to do everything in my power and I will work as hard as I can to make sure Donald Trump does not become president of the United States.

ZELENY: Now, Bernie Sanders says he will stay in the race until next Tuesday when voters in the District of Columbia have their say.

But then, he is expected to get out of this race and campaign aggressively for Hillary Clinton. We don't know exactly when they are going to have their first meeting. That will be coming soon. He may even join President Obama when he is out campaigning with Hillary Clinton.

But the matter now is, will the supporters of Sanders who spent so much time campaigning against Hillary Clinton looking for an alternative, if they will come together or leave Sanders and go their own way -- Christine and Alison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:05:03] ROMANS: All right. Jeff Zeleny -- thank you, Jeff.

Two other big Democratic holdouts endorsing Clinton. Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren formally throwing their weight behind the presumptive Democratic nominee. Warren had been the only female senator who didn't line up behind Clinton early on. Both now praising Clinton, taking direct aim at Donald Trump. They blasted the Republican for saying an American judge can't be fair because of his Mexican heritage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I find Donald Trump's conduct in this regard reprehensible. Evidenced by the bipartisan condemnation of the action for what it is, a dangerous attack on a vital pillar of democracy, the independent judiciary by threats of intimidation and undercutting the legitimacy of a judge by suggesting that because of his heritage, he is incapable of being fair. In addition to this, it is racist. In addition to this.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Trump is criticizing Judge Curiel for following the law instead of bending it to suit the financial interests of one wealthy and oh, so, fragile defendant. Now Trump also whined that he is being treated unfairly because the judge happens to be, we believe, Mexican.

Now like all federal judges, Judge Curiel is bound by the federal code of judicial ethics not to respond to the attacks. Trump is picking on someone who is ethically bound not to defend himself, exactly what you expect from a thin-skinned racist bully.

(END VIDEO CLIPS) KOSIK: As we watch Democrats move to unite, Donald Trump has a tough job, trying to get Republicans to line up behind him. House Speaker Paul Ryan repeating his message that Republicans who support a conservative agenda must back the presumptive nominee even if they don't agree with everything he says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We have a far better chance of putting these ideas in place with a Trump presidency than Clinton presidency.

WKOW ANCHOR: Do you worry at all that people are going to hear to the next few weeks and think, well, getting your agenda passing the law is more important to you than, you know, how our nation looks, how our president acts over the next four years?

RYAN: Yes. That's a legitimate question, I think. That's why I condemned his comments as clearly as I can. I have spoken to him about it. I spoken to him about other issues and things he said in the past, and I think this has to change. He has to fix this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Today, Trump will work to rally the Republican base headlines the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference heavily attended by evangelical voters. Then, Trump heads to Richmond, Virginia, for a rally tonight at 8:00. Two stops on a busy schedule Trump promised dozens of top party donors on Thursday that he would keep up in order to beat Clinton in November.

CNN politics reporter Sara Murray has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, Christine and Alison.

While as the Democrats enjoy the show of unity, the president throwing his support behind Hillary Clinton yesterday, the same was not playing out on the Republican side of the aisle. Now, Donald Trump said his days of needling Hillary Clinton on Twitter, saying, "Obama just endorsed crooked Hillary. He wants four more years of Obama, but nobody else does."

But we are seeing unity on the Democratic side that we're still not seeing with Republicans. Donald Trump is still trying to move past this firestorm he caused by criticizing a federal judge. We saw Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, we saw Ohio Governor John Kasich saying they're not sure if they'll ever be able to throw their support behind Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, his campaign is trying to pivot. They're trying to shift into the general election. They're going to be doing that today. He is campaigning in Virginia. He is going to be hitting some key battleground states over the weekend, as well. Pennsylvania and Florida, they're hoping that they can focus in on Hillary Clinton, move past this latest dust-up and get rolling on the general election.

Back to you, guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: All right. Our thanks to Sara Murray for that.

An exclusive reporting from "USA Today" showing Donald Trump does not always pay his bills. The newspaper contacted hundreds of people who claim the billionaire developer stiffed them. On that list, painters, dishwashers, carpenters, and even Trump's own lawyers. The report found that Trump has been involved in over 3,500 lawsuits in the last three decades, with dozens of them alleging a failure to pay.

Trump claims he always pays on time. In the few cases he did not, he says it was because the work was unsatisfactory.

ROMANS: All right. Nine minutes past the hour. Time to an early start on your money this Friday morning.

Stock markets around the world are lower, dragging Dow futures are drawing down. The selling trigger fears about global growth. Stock markets lower, but investors piling into the safety of U.S. treasury bonds, you can see the yield on that ten-year is down to the lowest since February.

[04:10:02] Puerto Rico is one step closer to getting a government bailout. Last night, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelming passed a bill to help the island avoid economic collapse. This is being hailed as a bipartisan compromise. President Obama and Hillary Clinton support it, as does House Speaker Paul Ryan.

It could make it through the Senate and to the president's desk before the July Fourth recess. Puerto Rico is more than $70 billion in debt. It has defaulted three times in the past year, has a $2 billion payment due on July 1st.

And as you know, Alison, the brain drain from Puerto Rico has just been staggering. People have been leaving the island going to Florida, going to Texas, going to Chicago, going to places in the country that are hiring because they are having so much trouble there in Puerto Rico.

KOSIK: And this measure is not everybody is agreeing to it, but it's a necessary pro-evil to get Puerto Rico hopefully back on track.

All right. In just hours, a final farewell to iconic fighter Muhammad Ali. Thousands expected this morning to attend, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:15:07] KOSIK: A final farewell today for the greatest, Muhammad Ali. It begins with the 16 to 18-car procession through the streets of his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. That will be followed by a huge celebration of Ali's life, an interfaith service with Bill Clinton and Billy Crystal among others, delivering eulogies. President Obama remembering the champ reflecting on a pair of Ali boxing gloves he displayed at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I don't know how good of a boxer I am. I have had to slug it out here a little bit here in Washington. There have been times where I have been the underdog just like the champ. There have been times where I got beat up a little bit and had to come back. And that says resilience. That's what these boxing gloves represent to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: So today at 1:30 p.m., we are going to be having continuous coverage of the event, "The Greatest: Remembering Muhammad Ali".

On Thursday, thousands attended a Muslim prayer service where Ali was memorialized as the people's champ.

ROMANS: Outrage growing over the sentence, more outrage, new outrage growing over a sentence of a former Stanford student athlete. The sentence he received for raping a woman who was intoxicated and unconscious. He was convicted of three felonies and will only serve six months. More than a million people have signed online petitions, calling for the Judge Aaron Persky to be removed from the bench.

And Vice President Joe Biden adding his voice in an open letter published on "BuzzFeed", expressing his furious anger and saying he is awed by the victim's courage for speaking out. It's really an open letter penned to her, the victim.

The defendant, Brock Turner, got six months in jail. Now, it appears he'll spend even less time -- less time behind bars.

We get more from CNN's Dan Simon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are at the Santa Clara County jail where the former Stanford athlete is serving out his short jail term. We are told that Brock Turner is in protective custody given the high profile nature of the crime. He was originally sentenced to six months in jail, but now we know it is just going to be three months. Oftentimes, California inmates are released early as long as there are not behavior problems and they get released because of jail overcrowding.

As you can imagine, people on the Stanford campus are outraged over this. We talked to several students. Here is sampling of what some of them had to say.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people say it's white privilege and I would agree. It also has to do with class and money and resources that people have here. So, I don't think it's fair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After reading the letter from the victim, it really sounds that it's not really like giving her justice in that sense. And that's really sad. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think in general, justice is not served when

it comes to this issue. Just that this is bringing that to the limelight.

SIMON: This is being felt so widely on campus that graduating seniors are planning some sort of demonstration during this weekend's commencement. We are also learning a bit more about Brock Turner's past.

In his letter to the judge, he characterized himself as someone who is a bit naive, somebody who grew up in a small town in Ohio who had no experience when it came to drugs and alcohol. But, apparently, prosecutors say that is an outright lie. On his cell phone, they uncovered text messages and photos that reveal that he did in fact use alcohol and drugs, even in high school. Some of the drugs included high potency, concentrated marijuana and LSD.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: You know, it's so interesting. This is one of the legal stories that did not end at sentencing, but actually really began a national conversation about sexual assault and about fairness in sentencing. And the voice of the victim, that letter she wrote, her victim impact statement. Many legal experts saying, probably the most profound piece of writing in 20 years of victim advocacy.

KOSIK: Yes, of course, the trick is if that statement, if all the outrage will move change in his sentence.

ROMANS: That's right.

KOSIK: We will see about that.

All right. Dylann Roof, the suspect charged with fatally shooting nine people at an historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina last year, wants a judge, not a jury to decide his fate. Attorneys for the 22-year-old Roof say he is willing to waive his right to a jury trial, but it appears prosecutors won't consent. Roof's trial is scheduled to begin in November. The government will seek the death penalty.

ROMANS: Day two of testimony of the latest Freddie Gray trial. Baltimore police officer Caesar Goodson faces the most serious charges, including second-degree murder. Now, Freddie Gray suffered a fatal spinal injury, who's riding in the back of Goodson's police wagon. Prosecutors have yet to secure a conviction in the case, that prompted riots in the city.

In all, six Baltimore police officers were charged, the first trial ended in a hung jury. A second officer was acquitted last month.

[04:20:03] KOSIK: Terror in Baghdad. ISIS launching new attacks. Dozens killed. We're going to take you there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: Another bloody day in Baghdad. Two suicide attacks in the Iraqi capital killing 31 people, injuring dozens more. Both bombings the work of ISIS. One of those targets, an irAQI army checkpoint. Seven civilians, five soldiers killed in that particular attack.

I want to go live to Baghdad and bring in CNN's Ben Wedeman.

Good morning, Ben. Bring us the latest here on this latest spate of violence.

[04:25:00] BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christine. Well, this is just the latest. Last month, there was a series of bombings that left more than 200 people dead. So, this is a real concern for the Iraqi government.

And it's one of the reasons why they launched this offensive to retake Fallujah. They believe either many of the bombs are made in Fallujah and snuck into Baghdad or the decision to send those bombers is being made by ISIS in Fallujah. So, they really want to clear that city out once and for all.

And also, another concern is now that really under pressure in Syria, in Libya and also here in Iraq with the Fallujah operation, that this is ISIS way of counterattacking since on the battlefield they are definitely on the offensive. They do, we know, have sleeper cells here in Baghdad. They may have been activated as a way to distract against this ongoing offensive.

At this point, has already seen Iraqi forces enter the southeastern part of the city. We were on the frontlines yesterday outside Fallujah yesterday. And the talk is within the coming days, the big offensive to retake the center of the city will soon begin -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Ben Wedeman for us in Baghdad. Thank you for that, Ben.

KOSIK: Democrats united behind Hillary Clinton. President Obama giving an impassioned endorsement as other party leaders go on the attack against Donald Trump. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)