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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Indonesian Plane With 189 Aboard Crashes Minutes After Takeoff; Pittsburgh Mourns Deadly Synagogue Attacks; President Trump Orders Flags To Fly At Half Staff; Boston Red Sox Win World Series With 5-1 Victory Over L.A. Dodgers. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 29, 2018 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:31:21] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, a passenger jet with almost 200 on board crashes after take-off from Indonesia. We have a live report moments away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BILL PEDUTO, PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA: We will drive anti- Semitism and the hate of any people back to the basement, on their computer, and away from the open discussions and dialogues around this city, around this state, and around this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Pittsburgh defiant after the deadliest attack on Jews in American history. The attacks cap a series of events inspired by hateful rhetoric moving from the fringe to the mainstream.
ROMANS: A radical shift in Brazil, the election of a far-right populist as president. He's been called the Donald Trump of Brazil over his racist and misogynistic rhetoric.
BRIGGS: And for the fourth time since 2004, the Boston Red Sox are World Series champions, and there is a feel-good story in there.
ROMANS: Good.
BRIGGS: He is the World Series MVP.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: And you promise me there's an underdog story --
BRIGGS: I promise.
ROMANS: -- in that big fat payroll.
I'm Christine Romans. It's 32 minutes past the hour.
Let's begin, though, we with breaking news this morning. A Lion Air passenger jet with 189 people on board crashing overnight shortly after take-off from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.
We have CNN's Will Ripley with brand new details. He is live from Hong Kong. What do we know, Will?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine.
Yes, just minutes ago we learned from Lion Air that the plane was reported to have an unspecified technical problem. This brand new Boeing 737 MAX that was just delivered to the airline back in August -- it had an unspecified technical problem the night before the flight. But that technical problem was repaired and the plane was deemed ready to fly.
We also know that weather conditions were -- there were some scattered thunderstorms in the area but nothing that would have come close to the plane or would have put the plane in any sort of danger.
Also learning the identity of the captain of the plane. He is an Indian National named Bhavye Suneja with more than 6,000 hours of flight time. His co-pilot had 5,000 flight hours, so a combined 11,000 hours of experience for the flight crew, itself.
A plane that had a slight technical problem but it was repaired -- a new aircraft. So a lot of questions as to what exactly could have happened.
Here's what we know. The plane took off from Jakarta. It was headed for Pangkal Pinang early Monday morning, local time. This was supposed to be just a short flight, about an hour or so, but it disappeared from radar some 13 minutes into flight.
Air traffic control also now confirming to CNN that the captain asked to turn the plane back around to Jakarta. The plane obviously never did that, but what radar shows is it did make a very rapid descent from about 5,200 feet before it dropped off radar screens altogether.
Of the 189 people on board, there were eight crew members and 181 passengers, including sadly, one child and two infants. It went down in the Java Sea some 34 nautical miles off the coast of Jakarta.
And the images that are coming in show debris rising to the surface. Things like luggage, backpacks, cell phones and, of course, pieces of the plane.
Along the shore there in Jakarta there is a row of ambulances lined up waiting to bring back any survivors but it seems very unlikely at this hour that there is going to be a good outcome here given what the 300 rescuers are seeing there in the ocean.
Just a very sad story still unfolding right now, Christine.
ROMANS: All right. The news certainly grim there.
Thank you so much for that, Will Ripley, in Hong Kong.
BRIGGS: Back here at home the city of Pittsburgh and its Jewish community trying to come to grips with the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in the history of the United States.
[05:35:05] Federal prosecutors filing hate crime charges against a Pennsylvania man police say stormed the Tree of Life synagogue and opened fire, killing 11 people and injuring six others, including four police officers.
The gunman telling one officer he wanted all Jews to die. His online postings tell the same story.
ROMANS: The U.S. attorney for Pennsylvania's Western District seeking approval from Attorney General Jeff Sessions to pursue the death penalty against Robert Bowers.
The Anti-Defamation League reports a whopping 57 percent rise an anti- Semitic crime in 2017, the largest ever in the U.S.
A defiant Pittsburgh mayor says hatred will never win.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEDUTO: We will drive anti-Semitism and the hate of any people back to the basement, on their computer, and away from the open discussions and dialogues around this city, around this state, and around this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Three major crimes in this country in the last week with a common thread -- hate rhetoric that's becoming all too mainstream.
On Wednesday, police say a white man killed two black people, Maurice Stallard and Vickie Jones, at a Kroger grocery store in Kentucky. Minutes earlier, police say he tried to enter a predominantly black church.
And, of course, the mail bomber who is due in court today. Cesar Sayoc was arrested in South Florida on Friday, his van filled with pro-Trump, anti-Democrat, anti-CNN stickers.
ROMANS: The synagogue shooter is also due in court today. The damage he left behind tearing at the fabric of Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood.
David Shribman, the executive editor of the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" writing, "For more than a century and a half it has been not only the spiritual center of Pittsburgh Judaism but also a vital landmark in the history of Jews in America."
BRIGGS: An interfaith vigil was held Sunday for the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Here you see the three rabbis of the three congregations at the Tree of Life synagogue hugging on stage.
The victims ranged in age from 54 to 97.
Jerry Rabinowitz was 66. He was a primary care physician.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN BLACKMAN, FRIEND OF JERRY RABINOWITZ: Dr. Jerry was just somebody who when you see him your eyes light up.
SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And he's gone.
BLACKMAN: And he's gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Sixty-five-year-old Richard Gottfried had a dental practice with his wife, Peg. He was also the dentist for the North Hills School District for some time. The superintendent calls him a fixture in the community.
Joyce Fienberg was a 75-year-old former research specialist at the University of Pittsburgh. She was also a grandmother and the mother of two sons.
BRIGGS: Cecil and David Rosenthal were brothers, 59 and 54 years old, respectively. They always sat in the back of the temple to greet people as they came to worship.
Listen to one of Cecil's longtime friends.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA BERMAN, FRIEND OF CECIL ROSENTHAL: He was always just a sweet, sweet, gentle soul that was friendly to everybody, helpful to everybody. He came -- I understand he came all the time because he wanted to help be part of the community and to make it accessible to everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Daniel Stein was 71. His dry sense of humor was legendary. Stein's son says Saturday was "the worst day of my life."
ROMANS: Bernice and Sylvan Simon were the sweetest couple you could imagine, according to their neighbor of 40 years. They were 84 and 86 years old.
Ninety-seven-year-old Rose Mallinger was from Squirrel Hill. She regularly attended the synagogue with her daughter. Her daughter also shot.
Friends say even at 97, Rose was vibrant and full of life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBIN FRIEDMAN, FRIEND OF ROSE MALLINGER: The Holocaust and the ugly times, and she made it through all of that. These aren't the kinds of things that are supposed to happen. You don't walk in there on Saturday morning and think you're not walking out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Eighty-eight-year-old Melvin Wax, of Squirrel Hill, was always the first to arrive and the last to leave the synagogue. Friends remember him as a gem and a gentleman.
And, Irving Younger was 69. Friends and neighbors say the former real estate company owner was a wonderful father and grandfather.
A GoFundMe page for the Tree of Life synagogue has already raised over half a million dollars in donations.
ROMANS: President Trump ordering flags to fly at half-staff in honor of the synagogue shooting victims until sunset on Wednesday.
Before heading to a rally in Illinois, Mr. Trump insisted the outcome of the synagogue attack could have been different if there had been armed guards.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If they had protection inside the results would have been far better. This is a dispute that will always exist, I suspect, but if they had some kind of a protection inside the temple maybe it could have been a very much different situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:40:01] BRIGGS: The president, once again, deflecting responsibility for the tone in the country right now, instead pointing fingers at we, the media, tweeting last night, "The fake news is doing everything in their power to blame Republicans, Conservatives, and me for the division and hatred. It is their fake and dishonest reporting which is causing problems far greater than they understand!"
ROMANS: You know, reading those names and knowing more about those people, it makes it almost too much to bear -- really, it does.
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: But it's important to talk about what's happening in this country right now. It's really important to talk about those victims.
I want to go live to Washington and bring in "Washington Examiner" commentary writer Phil Wegmann.
And, Phil, just an awful, awful turn of events and the president -- every president, when something like this -- nothing like this has ever happened to the Jewish community in this country. But when something like this happens, the president becomes the consoler in chief. And the consoler in chief -- his first reaction was to say they should have had an armed guard.
Then he also said that the United States needs to toughen up the death penalty. There is a death penalty in Pennsylvania and they will seek it in this case, in particular. There were also police officers that were shot. Trained professionals with handguns -- sidearms -- who were hurt and attacked by this -- by this shooter.
And then he said that he was going to go ahead -- to go to his rally in Illinois because after September 11th the New York Stock Exchange opened up the very next day. It did not. It opened up a week -- a week later.
What does it tell us about the consoler in chief -- those three particular incidents?
PHILIP WEGMANN, COMMENTARY WRITER, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: It shows us that there's a long way to go.
I mean, I think that President Trump's initial response to the bombing in the East Room where he was viscerally angry -- I think that his response to the shooting where he stood side-by-side with a rabbi who would later fray in the White House -- I think that that was appropriate and that was good.
His subsequent dunking on politicians and dunking on the press, and then also sort of flooding the zone with conversations about separate policy topics -- that's not just counterproductive, I think it's fundamentally irresponsible.
But, you know, I understand why this president, in particular -- we've been watching him for two years. I understand why he's doing this. He thinks that Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and others are trying to pin the blame for these bombings and these shootings on him. And what he's trying to do is push back against the narrative.
And I think what needs to happen now is we need to have one side -- preferably, both sides actually stand up and lead consistently past just a single sound bite.
BRIGGS: The president said he thinks he could actually tone it up because the media has been extremely unfair to him. And here's what he said about blame for this recent rise in political violence, on Friday -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: There's no blame, there's no anything. If you look at what happened to Steve Scalise, that was from a supporter of a different party. You look at what happened -- numerous of these incidents, they were supporters of others.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: So let's take blame out of this conversation.
You wrote about this on the "Examiner Watch" in the "Examiner." You say that he was -- Cesar Sayoc was radicalized before Trump.
Are you suggesting that the president bears no responsibility for the tone that's been set in this country?
WEGMANN: That's not at all what I'm implying, Dave.
BRIGGS: Yes.
WEGMANN: What I'm arguing there is that context is important when you are dealing with anyone who is a violent person or who is a psychotic person.
And just like it would be wrong for us to point to the congressional baseball game shooter who went out and shot at Steve Scalise and then say that Bernie Sanders, who he supported, was somehow complicit or responsible for that type of behavior would be wrong.
BRIGGS: Hey, let me just --
WEGMANN: And in the same way -- and in the same way --
BRIGGS: Yes.
WEGMANN: -- it would be wrong for us to have a knee-jerk reaction and say that because this psychotic and awful individual who has a violent record, who has a criminal record, and who was bomb threats as early as 2002 when President Trump wasn't even involved in politics -- to pin the blame for his actions on this president, I think that that would be fundamentally irresponsible.
BRIGGS: OK. So, Phil, hang on -- hang on, Phil.
WEGMANN: But to your point --
BRIGGS: There's 14 bombs that have been sent. All are targets of the president, whether it be at rallies or on Twitter.
So you must have similar language to make this 'both sides' argument that Bernie Sanders made about congressional Republicans and/or Steve Scalise. To make that comparison you must have similar rhetoric.
WEGMANN: OK, so here is -- here is what we need to do right now. I think that we need to recognize the coarsening of rhetoric in politics is not something that started with Trump.
I think it is worthwhile to point out that on both sides you have people who -- not exactly to the same degree, but on both sides you have some very bad actors.
I mean, you can try trot out Trump's remarks --
And I can point to Louis Farrakhan, who said that Jews are termites. I can point to Rep. -- I can point to Rep. Maxine Waters, who talked about whipping --
ROMANS: Oh, my gosh. Louis Farrakhan is not the President of the United States. Well, wait -- Louis Farrakhan is not the President of the United States.
WEGMANN: Exactly, exactly -- yes, ma'am.
ROMANS: The President of the United States is Donald Trump.
WEGMANN: Yes, ma'am.
ROMANS: He is the person who sets the tone.
WEGMANN: Yes, ma'am. That is absolutely correct.
ROMANS: Louis Farrakhan is someone who's been saying the same garbage for years.
WEGMANN: That's right.
ROMANS: Donald Trump is the President of the United States.
WEGMANN: Yes, ma'am.
ROMANS: He's the moral authority in the White House.
WEGMANN: That's correct.
What I'm saying though is I'm not -- I'm not arguing that one side doesn't have more of a responsibility based off of their elected office. What I'm saying is that it does not work for us to pretend that this type of hate and this type of rhetoric started with one man.
[05:45:07] If we want to get to the problem I think that we recognize that, yes, Trump definitely needs to tone it down and this type of rhetoric that he is spreading is not helping. But if we're actually going to solve this problem we need to realize that it's not going to end just once he leaves the White House.
ROMANS: I would argue that no one says it started with this man. I would argue that there has been a lot of bad stuff --
WEGMANN: Right.
ROMANS: -- under the surface for a long time and there is a feeling of emboldening in some people.
And if you look at gab.com -- we just did that story about these places where people can say things that maybe they never would have said before.
And talking about who is going to take the leadership, I think Scaramucci actually is appealing to this president to be the one to be the leader on this. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I would love to see this stuff dialed back on both sides but good leadership requires that somebody go first, and I'd like it to be him.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: So, instead of the 'on both sides' stuff, how about the president lead on it?
WEGMANN: Oh, I would be fine with that. I mean, I have been here with you guys for, what, a year and a half and we've been more than critical of his administration.
My thought is that this is actually a crisis that is bigger than Trump. If you want to see what brings America together, watch the World Series last night. If you want to see what pulls America apart go watch political rallies --
ROMANS: Yes.
WEGMANN: -- go watch cable news --
ROMANS: Yes.
WEGMANN: -- go watch Twitter.
America is more than politics, but until both sides learn how to let a crisis go to waste this is going to continue. A lot of Americans don't like each other because of politics. And you have a lot of politicians, guys, a couple of blocks from us here over on Capitol Hill strategizing right now about how to use these crises to either keep their majorities or retake them --
ROMANS: I know. That's so gross.
WEGMANN: -- and that's a shame.
ROMANS: That's really gross, I think, but it's also politics.
BRIGGS: All right. I think we could go a few more rounds on this one.
Phil Wegmann --
ROMANS: Nice to see you, Phil.
BRIGGS: -- from the "Washington Examiner," thank you.
WEGMANN: Thank you, guys.
ROMANS: Monday morning.
All right.
A major change in Brazil. A far-right populist who said he'd rather his son die than be gay. That's the next president of Brazil.
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[05:51:14] BRIGGS: Brazil has a new president, becoming the latest nation to elect a far-right leader. Supporters of President-elect Jair Bolsonaro celebrating in the streets after their candidate was declared the winner by more than 10 points.
The outcome represents Brazil's most radical political change since democracy was restored more than 30 years ago.
ROMANS: The extreme right populist Bolsonaro has exalted the country's military dictatorship, advocated torture, and threatened to destroy, jail or drive his political opponents into exile. He's calling for unity following one of the most polarizing elections in Brazil's history.
The 63-year-old Bolsonaro was stabbed in the abdomen last month during a rally and cast his ballot wearing a bulletproof vest.
His critics concerned about the threat he might pose to human rights.
BRIGGS: Another parade in the works for the Boston Red Sox. They captured their fourth World Series since 2004. Boston smacking four home runs and outslugging the Dodgers 5-1 in game five last night in L.A.
That's Steve Pearce, the 35-year-old journeyman playing for his seventh Major League team. One yard twice (ph), first in the eighth inning. He is your World Series MVP.
The Red Sox took the best of seven four to one, handing the Dodgers their second straight World Series loss. Chris Sale finished it out there.
The celebration went deep into the night around Fenway Park and in Boston. And, "The Boston Globe" was nice enough to deliver the papers all the way here --
ROMANS: John.
BRIGGS: -- for you, John Berman. Congratulations, my friend. "NEW DAY" about 10 minutes away.
ROMANS: I'm sorry to say, John, my little boys were rooting for their uncle's Dodgers.
BRIGGS: Good morning.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": They have to learn to live with disappointment, clearly, this morning.
It was a great game and they were so clearly a great team. Those plucky underdogs --
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: -- a low, small-budget team --
BRIGGS: Yes.
BERMAN: -- from Boston somehow beating the odds -- you know, beating the Dodgers. Now look, I have to tell you, thank goodness for them last night. I needed something to smile about --
ROMANS: Sure.
BERMAN: -- after the week we've had.
BRIGGS: We needed it.
BERMAN: A group of terrific guys.
You brought up Steven Pearce -- you know, played for seven teams -- every team in the American League East -- 35 years old, and he is the World Series MVP. That's something that can inspire all of us, and I think we need a little bit of inspiration today.
ROMANS: I agree.
BERMAN: We're going to talk about some tough stuff -- and we're talking about tough, tough stuff today between the bombs that were sent around and the shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburgh.
Kellyanne Conway is coming on "NEW DAY" in the 7:00 hour. I'll have a chance to speak to the senior adviser at the White House to see what she has to say --
ROMANS: OK.
BERMAN: -- and what the president intends to do this week to try to bring the country together because we need it.
ROMANS: Yes, we do.
BRIGGS: There's something to be said in this John about no -- does the president share the blame for what Cesar Sayoc did? No, but responsibility.
There were 14 pipe bombs, John. All of them went to targets of the president's rhetoric. It seems pretty simple to draw that line.
BERMAN: It does, and when you're talking about the environment in the country -- yes, we can all work to make --
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: -- it better. But when we're talking about who can do the most, you just can't ignore the power of the presidency.
BRIGGS: Yes.
BERMAN: And is this president doing enough to bring us all together?
You know, Patti Davis, the daughter of Ronald Reagan, wrote a pretty scathing op-ed overnight in "The Washington Post" where she basically said let's stop asking him. Let's just stop asking him. We'll talk about that. ROMANS: All right.
BERMAN: We'll see if that's fair.
You know, so much to discuss today. And again, hopefully, we can all find a way to move forward.
BRIGGS: All right, congrats to the Red Sox.
ROMANS: Nice to see you.
BRIGGS: Eleven titles for Titletown since 2001.
Thank you, John.
Ahead, U.S. stocks looking to bounce back after a rough week. Futures slightly up. "CNN Money," next.
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[05:59:17] ROMANS: Asian markets mixed Monday on the back of renewed trade tensions between Beijing and the U.S. The Nikkei down, the Shanghai Composite slipped by more than two percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index up just slightly.
It was a negative end to an awful week for U.S. stocks last week. The Dow dropped 1.2 percent Friday, the Nasdaq down two percent and in official correction.
Slowing revenue growth from Amazon and Alphabet unnerved investors. A real bad day for Amazon.
But, Facebook earnings this week and a jobs report, so a lot -- a lot of minefields.
BRIGGS: All right, thanks for joining us. "NEW DAY" starts right now. We'll see you tomorrow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no words. I'm shaking inside. I'm shocked.
PEDUTO: We know that hatred will never win out. Those that try to divide us will lose.
BLACKMAN: I can't imagine the world without him. When you see him your eyes light up and he's gone.
