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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Man Hunt Underway For Acts of Domestic Terrorism; Friday's Jackpot Up to $750 Million; FBI Warns Of More Devices That May Have Been Mailed To Other Locations; Law Enforcement Trying To Track Down Package Sent To Former VP Biden. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired October 25, 2018 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The media also has a responsibility, to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: President Trump casting blame hours after assassination attempts on several his favorite political targets and us here at CNN. It's being treated as domestic terror and a man hunt is now underway.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN HOST: Rough day for the markets. The Dow and S&P are raising all gains for the year. The Nasdaq in correction territory.
ROMANS: And here we go again. No Powerball winner overnight, sending Friday's jackpot to $750 million. There's one money story there that probably matters to you and another one that probably doesn't. And it's the stock market that everyone's talking about this morning.
BRIGGS: We might have to go split ...
ROMANS: Welcome back to Early Start. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. After a very difficult day, the question is, this morning, is it over? A series of mail bombs sent to prominent Democrats and to CNN right here in New York. None exploded, but a source telling CNN the FBI's handling the investigation as domestic terrorism.
The Bureau itself warns more devices may have been mailed to other locations. The New York Police Commissioner echoed that concern.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES O'NEILL, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: This is open ended, all right. Last night we had one and then we have six. So, we have to operate under the assumption that there are more out there.
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ROMANS: Law enforcement trying to track down a package addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden. That package considered suspicious because of similarities to the others. It was misaddressed and sent back to the same bogus return address printed on the other packages, the Florida office of Congressman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The first package was hand delivered Monday to the New York estate of Democratic mega donor, George Soros.
BRIGGS: Late Tuesday another pipe bomb was intercepted by the secret service addressed to the Clinton's Chappaqua home. Wednesday, explosives were intercepted on the way to the Obama's D.C. home.
A device intended for Representative Maxine Waters was found at a congressional mail facility, and a package for former Attorney General Eric Holder, misaddressed and sent to Wasserman Shultz's Florida office.
Also, a package intended for former CIA Chief John Brennan, arrived here at CNN. For the record, he works for NBC as a National Security Analyst.
ROMANS: A source says Brennan's package contained a white substance that may be pyrotechnic powder from the bomb itself. For the very latest on what officials are looking for, here is CNN's Miguel Marquez.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Dave, now the biggest concern is, are there any more devices either out there or being delivered. A national hunt now on the way for whoever is responsible for sending these bombs.
Investigators now looking into several things. Both looking at video tape, here in the New York area and others, the packaging of the bomb to see what they can glean from that, any DNA left, any fingerprints on that bomb and then the bomb itself. The pipe, the trigger, the glue, the tape, the explosive itself it see if there are signatures that will help them understand who did this.
Several of the bombs had also had stamps placed on them, but then had been hand delivered. And that may be something that also plays into this investigation.
[04:35:00]
MARQUEZ: But right now a national hunt on for whoever is responsible and the hope is, is in releasing that picture is that no one will be injured by similar packages that are out there and it may jar someone's memory or give them information on leads that officials are now desperate for. Christine, Dave.
BRIGGS: All right, Miguel Marquez, thank you. The terror threat did not change the president's schedule. He still showed up for that political rally in Wisconsin last night and clearly had the failed pipe bombings on his mind.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And by the way, do you see how nice I'm behaving tonight? This is like -- have you ever seen this? We're all behaving very well and hopefully we can keep it that way.
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BRIGGS: But after an early call for unity, the president did not acknowledge his own rule in this heated political environment. Kaitlan Collins was at the rally.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine and Dave, President Trump brought up those attacks as soon as he got on stage here in Wisconsin. He denounced the attacks, he called for unity, but one thing we did not hear from President Trump were the names of the people that those packages were addressed to.
Former President Barrack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Maxine Waters, any of the president's usually favorite political at rallies like this, he did not mention them when he got on stage nor did he mention CNN, another favorite target of his, while he was discussing these attacks today and calling for unity. However, he did point to the media at one point, saying that they need to be the ones who make they are setting a civil tone. Here's what he said.
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TRUMP: Any acts or threats of political violence or an attack on our democracy itself, those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective.
As part of a larger, national effort to bridge our divides and bring people together, the media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and, often times, false attacks and stories. Have to do it. Have to do it.
(CHEERING)
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COLLINS: For the rest of the night we did see a slightly more subdued tone from President Trump. Now, whether or not the president moves forward with this subdued tone, stops calling out Hillary Clinton at the few rallies that he does have before those voters go to the polls in less than two weeks for the midterms, that's an open question.
But, what we did see tonight was President Trump called for civility but made no points about anything he said, the critics have said was uncivil. Christine and Dave.
ROMANS: All right. Thank you for that Kaitlan. White House officials are rejecting calls for President Trump to tone down his rhetoric, insisting he should not blamed for crazy things that violent people want to do.
Here's what the president has said about the people targeted by those bombs.
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TRUMP: Fake as hell, CNN. The worst.
(CHANTING)
Don't worry, I don't like him either.
Hillary's a very dishonest person. If you look at the things she says, I mean, they're so dishonest.
I think Brennan's a very bad guy and if you look at it, a lot of things happened under his watch. I think he's a very bad person.
And of course, the legendary, low I.Q.ed Maxine Waters.
(CHEERING)
Low I.Q. person.
It was very polarized under President Obama, unbelievably polarized under President Obama.
He'll go to a person holding a sign who gets paid by Sorros or somebody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: You heard the president refer to John Brennan, the former CIA Director, as a very bad person. Last night Brennan had this to say about the pipe bomb addressed to him that was sent here to CNN.
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JOHN BRENNAN, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Donald Trump has not helped to encourage the type of civil discourse and engaged -- public engagement and his rhetoric, too frequently, I think, fuels these feelings and sentiment that now are bleeding over into potentially acts of violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The White House did not reach out to President Obama, nor the Clintons or any of the officials who received the pipe bombs.
ROMANS: In fairness, the president is not the only politician using overheated rhetoric. Conservatives are quick to point to comments like this one from California Congresswoman, Maxine Waters.
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REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), CALIFORNIA: If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them. And you tell them they are not welcomed.
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ROMANS: In the wake of the pipe bomb attacks that you might have expected a softer tone from the right winged talk show circuit, instead, queue up the conspiracy theories and the fear mongering.
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RUSH LIMBAUGH, AMERICAN TALK SHOW HOST: Not one of these bombs went off and if a Democrat operative's purpose here is to make it like, hey, you know there are mobs everywhere. The mobs are not just Democrat mobs.
MICHAEL SAVAGE, AMERICAN TALK SHOW HOST: It's a high probability that the whole thing is set up as a false flag to gain sympathy for the Democrats, number one. And number two, to get our minds off the hordes of illegal aliens approaching our southern border.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Democrats, after weeks of literally calling for incivility, and kicking, and getting in people's faces and following them, telling them you're wanted anywhere anymore. All of a sudden are pretending to be the party of peace. This is hypocrisy at its worst.
MICHAEL SAVAGE, AMERICAN TALK SHOW HOST: It's a high probability that the whole thing is set up as a false flag to gain sympathy for the Democrats, number one. And number two, to get our minds off the hordes of illegal aliens approaching our southern border.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Democrats, after weeks of literally calling for incivility, and kicking, and getting in people's faces and following them, telling them you're not wanted anywhere anymore. All of a sudden are pretending to be the party of peace. This is hypocrisy at its worst.
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BRIGGS: Two hours after news of the pipe bombings broke, the President's reelection team sent out an email signed by Mr. Trump's daughter-in-law, Laura. It said I have some breaking news for CNN. That is the real American that exists outside of the liberal bubble. The President's campaign manager apologized later claiming the email was preprogrammed, an automated message that was not caught before the news broke.
ROMANS: Late night hosts did address the pipe bombs.
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SETH MEYERS, LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS: The White House issued a statement today condemning the suspicious packages sent to the homes of the Clintons, former President Obama, and CNN's New York City headquarters. Trump has ordered the FBI to look at several suspects including the Clintons, Obama, and CNN.
(LAUGHTER)
STEPHEN COLBERT, THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT: CNN evacuated everybody from their offices. I assume Wolf Blitzer did his show from the situation bodega. When news breaks like this everyone is rushing to get information out and mistakes can happen, like this Tweet from Fox News. Suspicious package sent to CNN contained some kind of white power.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.
COLBERT: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It did though.
COLBERT: Yes. It did a little bit - a little bit - little bit, an honest mistake. Fox has since tweeted out another unfortunate error, White House committed to finding perpetrator, vows to do everything they clan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Oh.
BRIGGS: Oh.
ROMANS: All right, Stephen. Thank you for that. Yesterday's selloff on Wall Street was felt around the world. Asian markets are now down, closing down the Nikkei, a big decline there. European markets though, open-mixed here. You've got the German DAX up slightly, and - and British stocks down.
Look, yesterday was really tough. Basically, the gains for the year knocked out. The Nasdaq saw its worse day since August 29th plummeting 4.4 percent. The DOW fell 2.4 percent. The S&P 500 down 3 percent in just one day. Both indices now negative for the year.
For the month, the Nasdaq is down almost 12 percent. The DOW is down 7 percent. The S&P 500 down 9 percent. Those are big moves for one month. And the question now is why. Investors are coming to grips with something being called peak earnings. The golden days of a booming economy, rich tax cuts for companies, and low interest rates is right now. That's the condition right now. And that will begin to fade next year.
A series of bomb scares added - I would call it an emotional and, maybe, temporary element to the angst in the selling. Here's the tech stock damage report for the day, Netflix down 9 percent that is a big one day move, Facebook down 5 percent, Amazon down 6 percent.
Remember it's all about perspective. The bull market is nine years old. Just since the elections, stock are - stocks are still up. Look at that Dave, from the election, 25 percent or more, so perspective everybody.
BRIGGS: Yes. Good to have that perspective. All right, the New York Times reporting Russia and China are actually listening in on the President's private cell phone conversations raising fresh new security concerns. The Times says the President's phone is not secure but he's refusing to stop using the device.
Government officials cited in the report say China is attempting to use intel from the President's calls to develop a winning strategy in its trade dispute with the United States. China is also trying to use its own business leaders to influence people with connection to the President's inner circle. Mr. Trump told the Wall Street Journal this week, he uses discretion when talking on his cell phone.
ROMANS: I would encourage.
BRIGGS: A third cell phone apparently.
ROMANS: I would encourage everyone to read that story because it's pretty remarkable, especially given the hewing (ph) cry over Hillary Clinton's, you know, unsecured email.
BRIGGS: Use of email, the lock her up chants.
ROMANS: Right.
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: And here you know the Chinese are listening to the President on the telephone. It looks like the latest Megyn Kelly controversy may be the last straw for NBC.
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ROMANS: President Trump will be briefed today by CIA Director Gina Haspel on her trip to Turkey. The Washington Post reporting Haspel listened to the audio of Jamal Khashoggi murder during her trip. Today we may learn more about what happened to the slain U.S. based journalist. CNN's Nic Robertson is live in Istanbul. So let me get this straight. Reports that an American official has heard this audio?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And it may reveal what's been hinted all along by Turkish officials, that Jamal Khashoggi was killed very soon after he went into the consulate. It was brutal. There was torture. There was a beating. And his body was dismembered.
That's what the leaks have been all about, and is that was Gina Haspel will now be able to report to President Trump? And what else, if anything, will she be - have been informed by Turkish authorities about the connection between that - what the Turkish are calling a hit team, and the crown prince - Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia. Right here, speculation is growing that maybe Turkish investigators
are getting closer to finding the body of Jamal Khashoggi. When they went into the consulate general's house behind me here a week ago, Saudi officials wouldn't let Turkish investigators look in the well in the basement of the building.
Now it seems that perhaps the Saudis may let that happen. Of course, this flies in the face of all this much talked about by the Saudis, that their great cooperation with Turkish officials raises the question why, over the past week, haven't the Turkish investigators been allowed to get into that well?
[04:50:00]
Speculation mounts (ph), is that where Jamal Khashoggi was hidden after his murder? Christine.
ROMANS: We know he went into that Saudi consulate. No one ever saw him leave, but cars with - with those Saudi's, quote-unquote, hit squad did leave, went to the Saudi consulate general's residence. And that's where the trail goes cold. All right, Nic Robertson. Thank you so much for that, Nic.
BRIGGS: OK, Megyn Kelly will not be appearing live on her NBC show this morning and there are doubts she'll ever be back. Kelly is in hot water with the network for her controversial comments about blackface costumes at Halloween. A source familiar with the situation tells CNN her show will be ending, and confirms she's in talks about a new role at NBC.
Kelly started her show Wednesday by apologizing for her remarks. NBC News Chairman, Andy Lack, condemned her racially insensitive comments during a previously scheduled town hall meeting.
ROMANS: Imagine if one of these landed in your backyard. This is what happens when the Air Force drops 14,000 pound Humvees from a C-17 cargo plane as planned. There it is. This is what it looks like when things don't go as planned.
On Wednesday the Air Force accidently dropped - it test dropped a Humvee seven miles off target in a wooded area outside of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. At least the Humvee's parachute opened as intended. A military spokesman tells CNN the mistake happened during tests for aero delivery of equipment. There were no injuries. The only damage was, well, to several trees.
BRIGGS: Boy could've that been worse.
ROMANS: Well, it was a test. So now they know what to worry about. Being gay is god's greatest gift, candid words from Apple CEO Tim Cook. More of what he told CNN next.
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[04:55:00]
BRIGGS: All right. You're getting another chance to be really, really rich. No winners Wednesday in the Powerball drawing. That means the estimated jackpot for Saturday's drawing is $750 million. Last nights winning numbers, 3, 21, 45, 53, 56 and the powerball 22. Also, no sign, thus far, of the $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot winner.
That ticket sold at the K.C. Mart in Simpsonville, South Carolina. The store owner gets a $50,000 payoff when the winner collects.
There was a winner in game two of the World Series. The Red Sox are two wins away from another World Series title. Game two last night at Fenway and a two run single by J.D. Martinez highlights a three running, fifth inning leading the Sox to a 4-2 victory over the Dodges and that 2-0 lead.
David Price winning his second straight post season start. He was winless in his first 10 post season starts. Game three in L.A., where it's warm once again, tomorrow night.
ROMANS: All right. Listen up stock market investors, let's get a check on CNN business this morning. Markets in Asia fell following that pain yesterday on Wall Street. Yesterday's decline wiped all of the market gains for the year. The Nasdaq saw it's worst day since August 2011, down 4.4 percent, that's a big move for one day.
The Dow, that damage report down 608 points, that's a more than two percent. The S&P 500 down for the sixth day in a row, loosing 3.1 percent. Both of those blue chip indices are negative for the year. A (inaudible) really pummeled for the month and the Netflix, yesterday, down nine percent, Facebook down six percent, Amazon down five percent, with six percent just yesterday.
Okay, four years ago Apple CEO Tim Cook became the first CEO of a major company to come out as gay. He told CNN he went public because of stories he received from kids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM COOK, CEO OF APPLE: I was public because I began to receive stories from kids who read something on line that I was gay and they were going through being bullied, feeling like their family didn't love them, being pushed out of their home, very close to suicide. I mean, just things that really just pulled my heart and I started saying, you know, I am a private person and so I've kept me to my small circle, and I started thinking, that is a selfish thing to do at this point. I need to be bigger than that. I need to do something for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Cook said, being gay is quote, "God's greatest to me." Adding, he was surprised but proud to be the first out CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
BRIGGS: Very interesting remarks.
ROMANS: Yes. The whole interview is fantastic. I encourage you to go look at it. cnn.com.
BRIGGS: All right, we'll post that on Twitter. Early Start continues right now.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: President Trump pointing the finger, hours after assassination attempts on several of his favorite political targets and us at CNN. It's being treated as a domestic terror incident. A man hunt is underway.
BRIGGS: And a rough day for the markets. The Dow and S&P erasing all gains for the year. Nasdaq in correction territory.
ROMANS: And here we go again.
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