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6.2 Earthquake Hit Central Italy; Clinton Campaign Pushes Back on Foundation Controversy; Deaf Man Fatally Shot by North Carolina State Trooper; Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 24, 2016 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:01] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Boris Sanchez.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Nice to see you this morning. Busy morning, middle of your week. Welcome, folks. I'm Christine Romans. It's 30 minutes past the hour.

Breaking news this morning, this deadly earthquake in the mountains of central Italy. It's a magnitude 6.2 quake. It hit six miles north of the village of Norcia. In rattled windows in Roma 100 miles away. In the hardest hit town of Amatrice, the mayor says buildings are destroyed. There are people right now trapped under the rubble. Access is cut off. He is now, the mayor of that town, is pleading for outside help.

We're just starting to get all these pictures in. For the very latest, let's talk to CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau, the Italy bureau chief of the "Daily Beast."

Good morning, Barbie. What can you tell us in this early moments, these early hours after this earthquake?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I'm standing right now in front of an ongoing rescue operation. A little village of about inhabitants, about two kilometers from the epicenter. We are watching about 12 people use their hands to get access on a farmer's tractor trying to find the bedroom in what was a three-story building which is now on street level. You see the scene repeat itself all across this little area. These houses are made of stone. They're not wood. They're stone. And they are just piles of rubble.

I'm looking at about a dozen collapsed buildings right now. And people -- we have seen, for ourselves, bodies on the side of the road covered. Obviously, corpses. We don't have equipment in that has reached this area yet. There are just farmers and everyday citizens trying very desperately with their hands to try to find the survivors. In this case, it was a family sleeping in the bedroom of this building on the main floor that is no longer a three-story building. It's just a pile of rubble.

We've got civil protection helicopters overhead. Ambulance after ambulance taking the injured to nearby hospitals. They've just, you know, pulled out all the stops trying to get as many people as possible, any sort of medical qualifications to come to this area to try to help. They're asking people to donate blood. But right now, more than anything, they need heavy equipment to just pull up the pieces of rubble. These piles of rubble and find survivors. This earthquake happened at 3:30 in the morning. Everybody was in bed when it happened.

And you know, we've had aftershock after aftershock. I was in Rome when it happened. It shook me out of bed. It woke me up at 3:30 in the morning. I can't imagine what it must felt like here but you see this devastation, just mile after mile of rubble. These beautiful old ancient buildings, you know, that draw tourists to this area because it's such a popular place for Americans and international tourist who rent holiday homes here for a little bit of peace in a beautiful Italian countryside right now that's been completely interrupted by this devastating earthquake.

ROMANS: Can you tell us a little bit about that part of the country, central Italy, there? You talk about the stone homes, the rural nature, the American and British tourists who rent homes for the holiday there. Tell us a little bit about the area. It's pretty rural?

NADEAU: Yes, it's very rural. You know, the biggest town here, the town of about 2,000 people during the winter. But they're -- you know, they stay around, you know, close -- civil protection say close to a million people probably in the area right now. We're still in the height of summer here. School really doesn't start for another couple of weeks. So people are still on vacation.

This is one of the places they come, these old -- these houses, many of them have been restored and rented out as holiday homes. Other generational homes, we got two, three generations of families living together, gathering for their, you know, family holidays. We see a helicopter landing finally. Civil protection helicopter landing about 300 meters from where I'm standing right now. But it looks like it's got some sort of emergency medical people in it.

You know, desperately, they're desperately trying to find the survivors. In front of our position right now, they're describing what the floor looked like. The wooden floor, we don't know if this is a holiday house or if these were residents who lived here. But again, we've seen this repeating itself for miles and miles in this area where -- you know, where people have gathered here for the end of the summer festivities.

ROMANS: All right, Barbie, we'll let you get back to work there. Watching that rescue as they hopefully can try to find people in the bedroom of that home.

Barbie Nadeau, for us this morning. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: As that desperate search continues the Italian Red Cross immediately mobilized all its emergency centers and resources, a spokesman telling CNN that medical personnel, ambulances management and rescue crews are on their way or already onsite in the disaster area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMMASO DELLA LONGA, ITALIAN RED CROSS, ROME: The first priority now is to find people under the building that collapsed and to find the survivor. You have to understand that this area is very rural. It's the middle of mountains and valleys so there is not only the problem of the small cities like Amatrice, for instance, but also really there's more villages.

[04:35:02] And then also houses that are completely alone in the middle of a valley so they need to have help as soon as possible. So this is the main challenge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right. Will those emergency crews be fighting against the weather? Want to bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for that.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Boris and Christine, you know, the only piece of good news coming out of this is the weather pattern over the next week. A pretty expansive area of high pressure. Hard- pressed to find much in the way of cloud cover over this region in the next coming couple of days.

In fact, the forecast moving forward over the next three days shows you a warming trend that takes us eventually up into the mid-80s. The overnight temperature is close to 60 degrees. All of these fantastic when it comes to any sort of search and rescue operations for folks across this region.

But, of course, the bad news is just the amount of people that felt this intense shaking associated with this quake. Upwards of 20 million people feeling the shaking associated with this quake. And the USGS did a wonderful job of looking at previous quakes and learning from them as far as the damage potential left in place from this quake. And the highest likelihood of fatalities they're estimating, based on previous data, would be between 100 to 1,000 people.

Now you take a look at previous quakes again. We know in 2009 the L'Aquila quake in this region took with it almost 300 lives. It was a 6.3, .1 weaker -- stronger than the one we just saw in the past several hours, also sitting at around six miles in depth and also happening in the 3:30 in the morning hour period. So very similar quakes to what we saw there from a couple of years ago -- guys.

ROMANS: All right, Pedram. Thank you for that. Also breaking overnight, North Korea test firing a submarine based ballistic missile off the eastern coast. It landed 300 miles away in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea. The launch violated Japan's air defense zone for the first time ever. Japan's prime minister calling the test launch an "unforgivable reckless act," that significantly damages the peace and stability of the region. The launch comes during an annual joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea.

SANCHEZ: Back to the U.S. now, Donald Trump and Republicans with harsh new criticism of what they call a pay-to-play culture at the State Department. The attack is based on a new report from the Associated Press saying that more than half the private individuals meeting with Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state had donated to the Clinton family's Foundation. Trump is calling the foundation "the most corrupt enterprise" in political history. It's a line of attack that he kept up on the campaign trail yesterday in Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is impossible to figure out where the Clinton Foundation ends and the State Department begins. It is now abundantly clear that the Clintons have set up a business to profit from public office. They sold access and specific actions by and really for, I guess, the making of large amounts of money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The Clinton campaign has rejected Trump's claims and the AP reporting that it's based on.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more from Washington.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Boris, the Clinton campaign is pushing back hard on a new report saying that Secretary Clinton had more than half of her meetings with donors to the Clinton Foundation during her time as secretary of state.

Now Donald Trump seized on this Associated Press report, as did Mike Pence. They said it is the latest example of pay-for-play at the Clinton State Department involving the Clinton Foundation.

Now Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said this. He said, "This story relies on utterly flawed data. It cherry-picked a limited subset of Secretary Clinton's schedule to give a distorted portrayal of how often she crossed paths with individuals connected to charitable donations to the Clinton Foundation."

Now the Clinton campaign is saying that this story is simply not true, but it certainly has opened the door to more questions here, fueled this fire that Donald Trump has been calling on for really several days to put an end to the Clinton Foundation.

Now the Clinton campaign on the defensive here about the foundation already changing rules. Just earlier this week, President Clinton said he would step down from this foundation. He would stop raising money for the foundation if Hillary Clinton is elected president. So this latest report is one more example that the nexus between the secretary of state's office and the foundation will remain an issue throughout the rest of this campaign.

Now today Secretary Clinton still in California raising money, looking forward to a speech tomorrow in Nevada where she will question Donald Trump's temperament in the latest installment of what some call the Trump lecture series -- Christine and Boris.

ROMANS: What some call -- what Jeff Zeleny calls the Trump lecture series.

Donald Trump's attacks at Hillary Clinton not confined to her family's foundation. The Republican nominee also going after her stance on immigration saying she wants to open the floodgates at the U.S. borders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And Hillary Clinton wants a totally open border.

(CROWD BOOS)

TRUMP: She wants catch and release.

[04:40:04] She wants Obamacare and other things for illegal immigrants, in many cases, more than our great veterans get.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Just a few hours earlier, Trump told FOX News he would consider softening his immigration stance to help law-abiding undocumented immigrants. This despite a year of taking a seemingly uncompromising stance on immigration as the centerpiece of his platform.

Trade deals facing harsh criticism this election cycle. Now a rock star economist, Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz says pushing through the Trans Pacific Partnership, the TPP, is, quote, "absolutely wrong." He would also change NAFTA.

Here's what he told Richard Quest last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH STIGLITZ, NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING ECONOMIST: The advocates of trade said it was going to benefit everybody. The evidence is it's benefitted a few and left a lot behind. It could have been different. We could have managed trade in a way that would have had shared benefits. But that's not the trade agreements that we had and now people are realizing that that rhetoric that everybody was going to better off was a lie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: A lie. Stiglitz is a Hillary Clinton supporter, he was part of the Bill Clinton administration that passed NAFTA. He is not against trade deals but he says politics and corporate interests have been put ahead of American workers.

This week a survey a survey of more than 400 economists showed just 6 percent, though, think the U.S. should reject that current TPP deal. So Joe Stiglitz, at odds, I think, overall with what other economists are saying but he's very strongly, strongly coming out here.

SANCHEZ: It's become a real hot topic in this election season. Not something trade deals that you think would typically guiding voters.

ROMANS: Yes. That's right.

SANCHEZ: But it's been a platform for so many candidates.

Vice President Joe Biden with a critical stop in Turkey today. With the country fighting a wake of terror in the wake of that failed military coup, can Biden help restore some calm? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:46:07] ROMANS: We're following breaking news this morning. A major earthquake overnight in central Italy. CNN partner RAI News reports the death toll now at least 21. Mayor of the town of Amatrice says the town is no more. He says access roads to the town are cut off. There are people buried under rubble and there is no electricity. Additional worries right now, aftershocks and landslides. We'll have more throughout the morning.

SANCHEZ: Breaking overnight, Turkish forces launching a military operation along the border with Syria to clear out ISIS operatives. And a U.S.-led coalition is joining that effort. The operation is coinciding with a visit later today by Vice President Joe Biden who will be meeting with Turkey's leaders. He's expected to express concern about that country's crackdown on free speech and political opponents in the wake of that failed military coup.

Biden is also telling NATO allies in the Baltic States not to take Donald Trump seriously. In a meeting in Latvia on Tuesday, Biden pledged the U.S. will always honor its NATO commitments.

ROMANS: President Obama is promising to rebuild Louisiana after touring a Baton Rouge neighborhood devastated by flooding. The president faced criticism for not cutting his summer vacation short to visit the state sooner. But he shrugged off those critics, praised the relief efforts of FEMA and urged Americans not to forget the scope of the disaster facing the people of Louisiana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sometimes once the floodwaters pass, people's attention spans pass. This is not a one- off. This is not a photo-op issue. This is how do you make sure that a month from now, three months from now, six months from now, people still are getting the help that they need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The White House confirms the president met with the family of Alton Sterling. He's the 37-year-old Baton Rouge man who was shot to death by police in July. He also met with families of slain and wounded Baton Rouge police officers.

SANCHEZ: Attorneys for Army Sergeant Beau Bergdahl are asking a judge to dismiss charges against their client because of comments made by Senator John McCain. Bergdahl is facing a court martial on desertion charges. His lawyers claimed that he can't a fair trial because Senator McCain publicly stated that he's going to hold a congressional hearing if a military trial fails to punish Bergdahl. McCain says that he believes Bergdahl clearly deserted his post.

ROMANS: All right, 48 minutes past the hour, outrage growing over the spiking price of EpiPens. Three senators now pressuring the company who makes that drugs. We're going to show you how high the prices have climbed when we get an EARLY START on your money next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:52:56] SANCHEZ: The following breaking news this morning, an earthquake overnight in central Italy. CNN partner RAI News reports the death toll is now at least 21. The mayor of Amatrice says the town is no more. He said access roads to the town are cut off and there people are still under the rubble. There's no electricity in that area right now. The current worries are aftershocks and landslides. We're going to continue following the story and bring you more throughout the morning.

ROMANS: To North Carolina now, mourners there paying their respects at a memorial service for 29-year-old Daniel Harris. He was a deaf man fatally shot by a state trooper after an attempted traffic stop in a car chase. Authorities have launched a criminal investigation into the shooting. And Harris' brother who is also deaf believe his sibling's disabilities may have inadvertently led to that shooting.

We get more from CNN's Ed Lavandera.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Boris, the family of Daniel Harris says his shooting death could have been prevented and they are demanding answers.

It's been nearly a week since Daniel Harris was shot and killed by North Carolina state trooper Jermaine Saunders. This altercation took place last Thursday just after 6:00 at night. Investigators say that Harris led the trooper on a pursuit that lasted a little more than seven miles. Harris' family believes that he was trying to get back toward his neighborhood and his home where he felt more safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM HARRIS, BROTHER OF DANIEL HARRIS (Through Translator): He was unarmed and he is a deaf individual and I think that he was just afraid. He was a few feet away from his home. He was trying to get to the safe place he knew. He could not hear their warnings, he couldn't hear their commands to stop or stay away from them. The police need to become aware of how to communicate with deaf people, what that might look like and how to avoid situations like this from ever happening again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: All of this over a suspicion that Harris was speeding while driving. What happened next isn't exactly clear. Investigators in North Carolina will only say that there is a, quote, "encounter" between Harris and the trooper that resulted in one shot being fired.

[04:55:08] That shot killed Daniel Harris there, near his home in Charlotte, North Carolina. But investigators are not releasing any details about what exactly took place during that encounter. Investigators say that they are in the process of collecting and analyzing dashcam and body cam footage from all of the troopers that responded to that scene. From our understanding, it's some 20 different officers that responded to that shooting call and so they're in the process of analyzing all of that -- Christine and Boris.

SANCHEZ: Incredibly sad story.

A bit of lighter news now, scientists for NASA getting an out-of-this world surprise. They've re-established contact with the Stereo B spacecraft after nearly two years of radio silence. Officials say the communication almost lost during its mission to study the sun. And it had been working in tandem with the second craft and now that it's been founder the Stereo team will monitor the spacecraft to see what kind of shape it's in.

ROMANS: Good for them.

All right. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. Dow futures are down slightly. All three major averages finishing just short of all-time record highs yesterday. The Nasdaq hit a record during the day. Analysts say Fed chief Janet Yellen's speech Friday in Wyoming could direct the market for the near term. Stock markets in Europe and Asia are trading mixed. Oil with a big drop this morning.

This day last year, the Dow fell 1100 points. 1100 points shortly after the Opening Bell. Investors were spooked by the health of the global economy and the stability of the world's financial markets. But this is a very distant memory now, folks.

Look at this. The Dow is up some 20 percent since the low point that day, arising nearly 3,000 points. It's hitting record highs nearly every week. And now the second longest bull market of all time.

Now the record for the longest bull market is still nearly five years away. You'd have to rally for five more years to match the record length of the record long bull market.

All right. Pressure mounting on EpiPen maker Mylan Pharmaceutical. A trio of senators now calling for an explanation of the 400 percent price hike on this popular medicine. It's used to treat allergic reaction. Families literally rely on this.

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar calling for a hearing and investigation into Mylan, the company that bought the device in 2007 and has since increased its price several times. Klobuchar's own daughter is an EpiPen user. Earlier this week, Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal demanded lower prices for the drug and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley sent a letter to Mylan CEO asking for an explanation.

In 2009, a two-pack of EpiPens cost about $100. Today, it's around $600, depending on where you buy and what state you live in. Mylan tells CNN that the change in health insurance landscape is partly to blame for the rise in consumer costs especially for people with high deductibles. So if you have an insurance plan with a high deductible, suddenly you're paying an awful lot more out of pocket than you used to, and that's the reason for the price. These senators, though, they want a real explanation and they want those prices to be lowered.

SANCHEZ: It definitely has to be a challenge for the parent of a child with those allergies, considering, as we talked about yesterday, it's back-to-school time.

ROMANS: That's right.

SANCHEZ: You have to be prepared for the school.

ROMANS: The active ingredient, we're told, is about a dollar a pen to make. So think about that, $600 a pen. The active ingredient a buck.

SANCHEZ: EARLY START continues right now.

ROMANS: Breaking overnight, a deadly quake hit central Italy. We're getting our first look at the damage and the death toll. Officials now trying to find survivors in the rubble. We'll the very latest on the tragedy.

SANCHEZ: Donald Trump assailing Hillary Clinton over the Clinton Foundation after a new report suggests favorable treatment for donors. He's also suggesting he may soften his tone on immigration, but could that shift ultimately cost him.

Good morning, and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Boris Sanchez.

ROMANS: Nice to see you. I'm Christine Romans. It's the middle of the week, Wednesday, August 24th, it is 5:00 a.m. exactly in the East.

So let's begin with our breaking news this morning in Italy. A deadly earthquake in the mountains of central Italy. The magnitude 6.2 quake hit six miles south of the village of Norcia. And rattled windows in Rome some 100 miles away. In the hardest hit town of Amatrice, the mayor there says buildings are destroyed. There are people trapped under the rubble, access is cut off. And he is pleading for outside help right now.

For the very latest let's turn to CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau. She's the Italy bureau chief of the "Daily Beast." And she is there for us this morning, and Barbie, when we talked to you a few minutes ago, there are rescuers, there were people trying to locate a bedroom of a -- of a stone home to find the family that was asleep there. What's happening now?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, there are rescue operations still going on. You know, you hear (INAUDIBLE) if you're watching this frantic activity, and then silence, and they're yelling, Andrea, Andrea, obviously that's one of the people who's inside that building, everybody is silent. You could hear a pin drop while they wait for some sort of response. No response. They start digging again. You know, they just pulled out. They must have reached a wardrobe, a closet of some sort. They must have reached a wardrobe or closet or something. Just piles and piles of clothes from that hole. And they're just trying to, you know, desperately find, I guess, the family under there who was in the first floor of this house about 100 --