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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

"Brady Bunch" Star Florence Henderson Dies; Black Friday On Thanksgiving Thursday; Man Accused Of Killing Black Teen Who Bumped. Aired 5:30-6a ET.

Aired November 25, 2016 - 5:30   ET

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


[05:30:30] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: She was a T.V. mom for an entire generation. Florence Henderson, from the "THE BRADY BUNCH", dead at age 82.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, Black Friday bargains. Millions of Americans are hunting for them right now in stores and online.

ROMANS: A question of loyalty. A top Trump aide criticizing a possible pick for secretary of state. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

SANCHEZ: Always good to be here with you, Christine.

ROMANS: Nice to see you.

SANCHEZ: I'm Boris Sanchez. We are half past the hour and we start with breaking news overnight. Fans worldwide saying goodbye to a favorite T.V. star. "BRADY BUNCH" mom Florence Henderson has passed away.

Henderson starred as Carol Brady on the family sitcom starting in 1969 and she stayed with the role through various T.V. movies and spin-offs for more than 20 years. She died Thursday of heart failure in Los Angeles. Her manager says she had not been ill. She had only been hospitalized on Wednesday.

Here she is on "DANCING WITH THE STARS" back in 2010. Henderson's big break came in 1951 when she landing a starring role on Broadway in "Oklahoma". In 1962, she became the first woman to guest host "THE TONIGHT SHOW". Florence Henderson was 82 years old.

ROMANS: All right, 31 minutes past the hour. Even though it's only 5:00 a.m., Black Friday is already well underway mainly because, of course, Black Friday now starts on Thanksgiving Thursday. Here in New York, thousands of shoppers finishing off their turkey early so they could pack into Macy's last night to get a jumpstart on those Black Friday deals.

SANCHEZ: And this is in Minnesota. Long lines of people patiently waiting for stores to open so they can get a head start on their holiday shopping. And shoppers in Portland, Oregon had to brave wet weather on top of these long lines to snag those Black Friday preview deals. ROMANS: Reporter Brandi Williams from our affiliate KUSI has a look from inside a store in San Diego.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRANDI WILLIAMS, REPORTER, KUSI: It seems that most Americans are skipping out on that second slice of pumpkin pie and racing to retailers for those early Black Friday deals. Passionate shoppers lined up at this Best Buy early Wednesday morning just to take advantage of the slashed prices. This location closes for only seven hours and then they're going to reopen with a separate set of deals. Most people are looking to make a leap to 4K or upgrade to a smart T.V. or maybe just get a newer phone model.

Whatever the preference may be it's a sure shot it's going to be on sale, like all DVD's selling at just $5.99 or these Amazon Fires selling for $59.99, marked down from $89.99. It makes a really good stocking stuffer. So you can pass up on that second slice of pumpkin pie but you don't want to miss out on these prices. From San Diego, Brandi Williams.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: OK, thank you for that. Now where can you get the most bang for your buck today? Well, Macy's, JC Penney, and Stage, that's according to WalletHub. They're offering an average discount of more than 60 percent. As for specific items, toys and consumer electronics will be at the steepest discounts but avoid jewelry and clothes. They're marked down last during this -- least, right now -- and tend to be cheaper later on.

Mobile accounted for 39 percent of online sales yesterday. That's a record $449 million in revenue for Thanksgiving Day. And your phone could be the key to a successful Black Friday, too, folks. Apps are replacing circulars and coupons. Flipp, F-L-I-P-P, let's you track your own list of deals by product, store or brand. Shopular uses your location to push sale alerts to your phone as you walk through the mall.

And ShopSavvy, that's where customers can use their phone to scan bar codes and price compare. There's also RetailMeNot. There's a whole bunch of them. Andusually, even at Target for example, they have their own kind of app to do this. But I always try to remind people on this day. You know, you think you're on the hunt, but you're being hunted.

SANCHEZ: That's true.

ROMANS: The retailers want you to spend more money than you mean to. They want you to take your holiday list and spend on others things, too, so really be careful. Also, please do not open store cards. They ding your credit. They also are a temptation you don't need. So even if you get another 20 percent off to open a store card, just say no. Don't do that. Please don't.

SANCHEZ: We were joking about this earlier, too. It's funny to know how many people -- I would love to know how many people are out there just shopping for themselves. They're not even out there braving the elements to buy gifts for someone else.

ROMANS: And that's fine, too, if you want to get --

SANCHEZ: It's just --

ROMANS: Yes, that's fine, too, but just try to stay focused because this is -- this is the time of year that people end up -- they're still paying this off in February and that's just terrible personal financing.

SANCHEZ: Yes. At least we're not watching people get punched in the face this year.

ROMANS: Yes, exactly.

SANCHEZ: It's always --

ROMANS: Yes. If you're shopping online you're not getting crushed in front of a big box store.

SANCHEZ: Right, right. To politics now. This morning, top Trump transition adviser Kellyanne Conway publicly warning Donald Trump against bringing on Mitt Romney as secretary of state. In a series of new tweets Trump's former campaign manager says she's been deluged by messages from Trump loyalists opposed to Mitt Romney.

[05:35:07] Conway also highlighting Romney's fierce opposition to Trump during the campaign, tweeting "Henry Kissinger and George Schultz as secretaries of state flew around the world less, counseled the president close to home more and were loyal. Good checklist." Conway says she's not tweeting anything publicly that she hasn't already told Trump privately.

Trump, himself, is spending the Thanksgiving holiday with family in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago estate. This morning we do expect to get new information as his transition team holds a conference call with reporters. We get the latest now from CNN's Jason Carroll in Palm Beach.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Boris, a conference call scheduled for 10:30 this morning. Basically, this is going to be the transition team going over who's on tap to be interviewed on Monday for cabinet positions.

Having said that, we still might hear something later on today about commerce secretary. As you know, Wilbur Ross, the billionaire investor, is up for that particular job. Also, we might hear something about Ben Carson who is up for HUD secretary. He has already basically said that an offer is on the table.

Trump, for his part, turned at least part of the holiday into a working holiday. You know, he has said many times throughout the campaign that what he would do is impose a 35 percent tax on businesses that took their jobs overseas, like to Mexico. Businesses like Carrier air conditioning company.

Well, he tweeted about that, saying "I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). MAKING PROGRESS -- will know soon!"Carrier air conditioner weighing in on that, saying "Carrier has had discussions with the incoming administration and we look forward to working together. Nothing to announce at this time."

In terms of those other announcements, namely the position of secretary of state, that is something that the lead candidate, Mitt Romney, is said to still be mulling over, checking with his advisers. Not expecting to hear something on that front until later next week -- Christine, Boris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: All right, Jason, thank you for that. Let's take advantage of this pause in the fast-paced transition to assess just how it's going with "CNN POLITICS" reporter Eugene Scott, live for us this morning in Washington. Eugene, good morning to you.

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning.

SANCHEZ: We have to ask about the series of tweets we've seen from Kellyanne Conway publicly -- essentially saying that Mitt Romney for secretary of state is not such a good idea. And one of the words that she used that I stood out was 'loyal'. Here's one of them specifically talking about the attention that potential pick has gotten from Trump supporters. Here's the other one when she references former secretaries of state.

Is this something that you expected for her to do this publicly? She says she's told Trump the same thing in private but we've never seen this kind of exposure in a transition before. Is this something healthy?

SCOTT: I think it's an unexpected move from a just overall unexpected presidential election. It's no surprise to anyone that Mitt Romney and Donald Trump were at odds for much of the campaign, so I don't think we can minimize just how unexpected it is that Mitt Romney is being considered for such a high profile position, or honestly any position at this point, considering that he was not very loyal to Donald Trump, someone who highly values loyalty.

And I think what Conway was highlighting was just that, and letting people know that there is some dissatisfaction with the idea that he's even being considered for this role.

ROMANS: We know that Donald Trump has also been talking about discussions he's having with Carrier. It's a company that makes air conditioners. We know that Carrier has moved jobs offshore and Donald Trump made that a big part of his stump speech. And now he's saying -- you heard in Jason Carroll's piece he's saying that he's been talking to Carrier. No progress -- making progress, he says, on trying to keep jobs in the United States. And Carrier confirming that yes, we are talking to and working with the incoming administration.

What does this tell us about the dealmaker in Donald Trump, that we know he's talked to Ford, we know he's talked to Carrier. That he is trying to pressure these companies to change or globalize where they do business?

SCOTT: I think it's making it very clear that he's very aware for one of the -- about one of the issues that led people to get behind him most strongly. They really wanted to see the next president bring jobs back to the country. It's not a surprise that he was able to make headwinds with this company considering its relationship with Indiana and considering that Mike Pence is the vice president-elect.

Whether or not he'll be able to follow through with this consistently remains to be seen and some people far more familiar with jobs and the globalization of it all aren't sure that this will be a constant pace -- a constant move that he'll be able to maintain. But it's certainly a step in the right direction for people who've been dissatisfied with what appears to be his not being consistent with some of the other promises that he made.

[05:40:00] ROMANS: You know, I think -- I think that there's a theory, also, that if he can get a couple of deals -- if he can -- if he can get a couple of headlines --

SCOTT: Sure.

ROMANS: -- keeping jobs here, then you don't necessarily have to remake trade policy, you know.

SCOTT: Right.

ROMANS: If he can get a couple of wins that he can point to --

SANCHEZ: Right.

ROMANS: -- then you don't necessarily have to upend trade policy and potentially hurt the economy.

SANCHEZ: Especially in such a public way.

ROMANS: Right.

SANCHEZ: We've never seen someone in such high office go after a company that way on social media. We do also have to ask about one of the big stories this week. These computer scientists that have come out and said that Hillary Clinton should contest the results in some of the Rust Belt states because there were models showing that she did worse with electronic voting machines than she did with paper ballots.

Jill Stein, on her end, has raised quite a bit of money, reportedly now $4.5 million for a potential recount. Though it seems Clinton more or less, at least publicly, has kind of let this go, is this something worth pursuing, in your eyes, Eugene?

SCOTT: Well, it doesn't seem clear. There's no proof that hacking actually happened. In fact, this seems to be a continuation of some moves to create a level of mistrust in the presidential election system that we have in this country and I'm not very surprised that the Clinton campaign has not commented on it. It's not really clear, also, what Stein needs to use the money for and what will this all change if something is revealed.

And so I think it would be perhaps in the best interest of Americans if they want to ask questions about what happened, is to reexamine the role and the significance of the Electoral College in selecting a president when the person who didn't win got at least two million more votes than the person who was elected.

ROMANS: You --

SANCHEZ: Go ahead.

ROMANS: I was just going to say Eugene Scott, are you going to go shopping this weekend?

SCOTT: I actually did some online shopping and to Boris' point, I'm one of those people who shops for himself.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: They probably had some good deals.

SANCHEZ: I can't blame you. I was actually going to ask for that pie/cheesecake recipe but --

ROMANS: Yes, yes, yes.

SCOTT: Yes, it's good stuff.

SANCHEZ: All right. Eugene Scott, thank you so much.

ROMANS: Have a nice weekend.

SANCHEZ: We appreciate the time.

SCOTT: You, too.

SANCHEZ: Tens of thousands of Israelis, meantime, are fleeing wildfires in the port city of Haifa. The prime minister warning that arsonists will be treated like terrorists. We have details on the situation there, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:46:25] ROMANS: Two people are dead and four others wounded after gunfire erupted at an annual Thanksgiving Day youth football game in Louisville. Anguished family members arrived on the scene shortly after a total of 19 shots rang out during the Juice Bowl, a decades- old tradition in that city. Victims were left lying on the field. The gunman escaped and police do not have a motive. Louisville has suffered 106 homicides this year. That's nearing an all-time record. A West Virginia man is facing first-degree murder charges for the fatal shooting of a black teenager who bumped into him outside a convenience store earlier this week. Sixty-two-year-old William Pulliam claims he feared for his life and was defending himself when 15-year-old James Means pulled a gun on him Monday night, but police say that's not what he originally told them. We get more from CNN's Ryan Young.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, a lot of questions remain about how this shooting actually happened. William Pulliam, who's 62 years old, said he was going to a Dollar Store when he encountered three teens. And one of the teens -- he's now been identified as James Means -- got off the porch, walked up to him, and they had some sort of disagreement. He ended up walking on to the Dollar Store. William Pulliam then says to avoid that teen the crossed the street on the way back home and that's when the teen crossed the street and they had another verbal disagreement.

William Pulliam is saying that kid had a gun and when he went to pull that gun and when he went to pull that gun and started waving it around, he shot him two times before going home and having dinner before police ended up arresting him. He's actually talking from his jail cell and this is what he had to say.

WILLIAM PULLIAM, ARRESTED FOR KILLING TEENAGER: I don't like it. I mean, believe me, I didn't want to kill anybody but, you know, they're not going to kill me. I felt my life was in danger. I'm sorry but, Imean, I'm 62 years old. I'm not going to take a bunch of punks beating me up. I don't care if they're white or black, nobody's going to do me like that. It doesn't make any difference he's black. My God, everybody I live around over there is black. I get along with all of them, ask them.

YOUNG: So right now, police have not been able to get back to us about whether or not that teen had a gun. Now, William Pulliam said he feared for his life and shot him in self-defense, and that's something that we'll have to figure out when police get back to us.

One of the things that stands out in this case when police arrested him, William Pulliam apparently made a statement to police and I'm going to read part of this statement to. He says, "The way I look at it, that's another piece of trash off the street." He now contends he never said that and he says he did this in self-defense.

We have learned that he shouldn't have had a gun either because apparently, about three years ago he pled guilty to some domestic abuse charges and that, by federal law, means that he should not have been walking around with a revolver. This case, at this point, William Pulliam has been denied bond and as we get more details from police we'll pass it on to you. Ryan Young, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, thank you, Ryan. In Israel, at least 10 people are now in custody in connection with raging wildfires that officials are describing as arson terrorism. The smoke and flames have chased tens of thousands from their homes in the country's third-largest city. The mayor of Haifa calling the scale of the fire unprecedented. Israel's prime minister promises to punish those responsible. CNN's Oren Liebermann is live for us this morning with the very latest. Good morning, Oren, what can you tell us?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. Now, a lot of those fires that firefighters were fighting yesterday have reignited because of the dry conditions and the high winds. That is the challenge now.

Over the course of the last half hour we've heard a number of fire trucks going back and forth responding to these new hotspots that are popping up, and I'll show you what we're talking about. This, it's only a bit smoke here but it's one of many bits of smoke that we're seeing in our area. Something like this can reignite and start another fire, and that is the challenge now facing authorities -- keeping these fires out. Not easy to do in these conditions.

[05:50:03] Since last weekend, fire officials say they've had to deal with 1,200 fires of which 250 are major fires. The hardest hit area here in Haifa. Take a look at this building behind me. This is right in the center of the city. This building entirely gutted. You can smell the burned wood, the melted plastic, and when the wind kicks up there are clouds of ash that go flying around.

But Haifa's not the only place. Take a look at this video from elsewhere in Israel. Central and northern Israel -- many fires in both places there. In fact, there were more evacuations in northern Israel today because of those fires.

Israel has called in help from all over. The Russians, the Turks, the Greeks and many more have sent help. Palestinian authority has sent fire trucks and fire crews to help battle the fires in central and northern Israel. This is a problem that's gone on three days and it doesn't look like it's going away today -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Oren, thank you so much for that. Oren Liebermann for us in Haifa, Israel.

In Northern California, authorities on the hunt for two armed women involved in the abduction of a mother of two. The victim, Sherri Papini, vanished three weeks ago while out for a morning job. She was found alive Thanksgiving morning outside Sacramento. The sheriff says her captors left her bound on the side of the road. She managed to free herself and flag down a passing driver. Papini was reunited with her family after being treated for unspecified injuries.

All right, with millions in the air and on the roads it's the second- busiest travel day of the year. How will the weather affect that journey? Let's bring in meteorologist Derek Van Dam.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Boris and Christine. It's the day after Thanksgiving and many of us will be traveling home after visiting family and friends. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the weather is really going to play along that well for our travel plans, especially if you're traveling in or out of LaGuardia, perhaps Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis. You can see we do have the potential for perhaps some minor to moderate delays.

More of the same across the Pacific Northwest as a major storm system moves in across the region. Focusing in on the northeast, though. This low pressure, kind of a pesky one at that, is really bringing in chances of rain showers with the potential for a wintry mix as temperatures hover just about that freezing mark. You can see our computer model is taking us forward over the next 12 hours or so. Wet conditions, perhaps slippery roadways out there so drive with care from New York all the way to Michigan.

Take a look at temperatures today. Forty-three in the Windy City, 60 degrees for the nation's capital. Temperatures warming to, well, a very balmy 80 in Jacksonville, Florida. I wish I was there. Take a look at the temperatures for New York City, dropping through the course of the weekend. But the good news is the sun comes out. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Thank you so much. All right, just ahead something else to be grateful for this Thanksgiving weekend. The stock market's rallying big time. More on that and avoiding financial stress this holiday season right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:57:00] ROMANS: All right, happy Black Friday, folks. Let's get an early start on your money. The stock market is in the midst of a major bull run. Futures are up this morning. If the gains hold when the market opens you will see a new record high from the Dow and the S&P 500. The weekend starts early this Black Friday. The market closes at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

The rich are winning the global economic recovery. That's according to a new study from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Develop, the OECD. While the poor were hit hardest by the financial crisis, the recovery has left them behind. Incomes of the top earners grew almost five times more than the incomes of the bottom 10 percent. Income and equality still a major policy issue.

Nordstrom, Costco, Macy's, they have some of the best return policies this Black Friday. That's according to a new survey of 50 major retailers. Tis' the season for stress. Fifty-five percent of people surveyed say they feel stressed out about their finances over the holidays. Experts say making a holiday shopping budget and sticking to it can help you avoid the financial blues.

Don't open store credit cards today, folks. Don't, you know -- put off purchases like jewelry and clothing until later in the year. That's when you're going to have the biggest discounts there. I'm going to have more on all of the holiday shopping tips coming up on "NEW DAY".

That's EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. A T.V. icon is being remembered this morning. "NEW DAY" picks up that story right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Good morning, everyone. It is Friday, November 25th, 6:00 in the East. Welcome to this special holiday edition of NEW DAY. I'm John Berman alongside Brooke Baldwin.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, good morning.

BERMAN: We do begin with some breaking news and sad news, really, for all of us who did nothing but watch T.V. in the seventies and eighties. You know, it really does feel like we lost a member of the family this morning. Florence Henderson, who played Carol Brady in"THE BRADY BUNCH", she has died.

BALDWIN: We did watch a lot of T.V. in the -- well, some of us who were born in the later seventies, but also the eighties, of course, "THE BRADY BUNCH". The beloved 82-year-old actress of screen and stage died suddenly in Los Angeles overnight. Celebrities, fans, all reacting this morning to the shocking news of her death. We'll begin with Boris Sanchez here in New York with a look at her life and storied career. I had no idea just even her career on stage --

SANCHEZ: Yes.

BALDWIN: -- before T.V.

SANCHEZ: Yes. She got her first big break on Broadway and you said it, John. It feels like our mom passed away. America's mom passed away. Her manager says this was very unexpected. She passed away at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles from heart failure, surrounded by her four children. We let her into our homes, we let her into our lives, and now she's in a better place.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

("THE BRADY BUNCH" theme song playing).

SANCHEZ: Florence Henderson captured hearts across America as one of the most beloved T.V. moms, Carol Brady.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

SANCHEZ: Starring as the matriarch of a blended family, her career would forever be defined by her character on the 1970's sitcom, "THE BRADY BUNCH".

FLORENCE HENDERSON, ACTRESS: I created the kind of mother that I wished I'd had and I think that everyone longs for.

SANCHEZ: Taking on the role was something Henderson embraced.