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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Indonesian Air Plane Crash Search Widens Scope; Merkel Announces She Will Not Seek Re-Election. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired October 30, 2018 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL PEDUTO, MAYOR OF PITTSBURGH: I do believe that it would best to put the attention on the families this week.
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DAVE BRIGGS, CNN HOST: Some in the communities are not ready, but the president and his family head to Pittsburgh today to pay tribute after the Synagogue shooting. The first funerals are today.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: Stocks on a roller coaster ride. Futures watching them this morning after a 900 point swing for the Dow among tariff concerns.
BRIGGS: A seismic shift in European politics. Angela Merkel will not seek another term as Chancellor. Her power is waning amid a rightward tilt in the west.
Good morning everyone. Thank you for being here and not believing all the B.S. you read online. This is Early Start. I'm Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine, big sigh from Dave Briggs, I'm Christine Romans. It's Tuesday, October 30. It is 5:00 am in the East. The president heads to Pittsburgh today following the Synagogue massacre there that killed 11. He will be joined by the first lady along with daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, both Orthodox Jews.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I'm just going to pay my respects. I'm also going to the hospital to see the officers and some of the people that were so badly hurt. So -- and I really look forward to going. I would have done it even sooner, but I didn't want to disrupt anymore than they already had disruption.
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BRIGGS: Now, the Rabi at the targeted Synagogue, the Tree of Life, says the president is welcomed, but some in the community are not ready. A group of Pittsburgh Jewish leaders writing an open letter that Mr. Trump is not welcome until he, "fully denounces white nationalism." But Pittsburgh's mayor urging the president to hold off for now.
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BILL PEDUTO, MAYOR OR PITTSBURGH: I do believe that it would be best to put the attention on the families this week and if he were to visit, choose a different time to be able to do it. Our focus, as a city, will be on the families and the outreach that they'll need this week and the support that they'll need to get through it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So, the president showing no signs of becoming the unifier in chief most Americans expect in troubled times. On Monday, still blaming the fake news media for social divisions, still describing the migrant caravan as an invasion, language the Synagogue shooter cited as a basis for his attack.
BRIGGS: The first funerals from the Synagogue shootings are scheduled for today. Brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal, also Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz being laid to rest. As more harrowing stories emerge from the worst anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.
ROMANS: Eighty-year-old Judah Samet survived 10 months in a concentration camp as a child. He says he always arrives on time for the 9:45 services at Tree of Life, but he was running a few minutes late when he arrived Saturday.
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JUDAH SAMET, SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING SURVIVOR: And all of a sudden I see this guy standing right outside my car, behind the wall, with a pistol and he started shooting and he was shooting, two, two, two, three. The other guy was answering with rapid fire. Duh, duh, duh. Duh, duh, duh. Duh, duh, duh.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you hate the man who did this?
SAMET: I don't know. I hate what he did, but I don't know the guy. But, evidentially he's a sub-human.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Suspect, Robert Bowers, made his first court appearance Monday, on charges of federal murder and assault. He was detained without bond, two of the four Pittsburgh police officers he allegedly wounded remain hospitalized. Parts of downtown Pittsburgh skyline lit up blue overnight to honor the victims from the Tree of Life Synagogue.
ROMANS: A lot of the president's rhetoric describing a supposed invasion from the south, apparently coming from his favorite echo chamber.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Caravan, it's an invasion. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Overwrought coverage of this invading hoard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Literally marching to the U.S. in what would be a mass invasion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like an invasion. It doesn't look like a family reunion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about diseases. I mean, there's a reason why you can't bring a kid to school unless he's inoculated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: There's those pictures on the bridge where everybody's packed together. That's like 1,000 miles away. The migrant caravan is weeks away from the U.S. border, but Fox News and Fox Business hosts and guests talked about invasion at least 130 times in the last two weeks.
President Trump doubling down on the base rallying issue, sending 5,200 troops and military equipment to reinforce the southern border to arrive just in time for midterms.
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: Now, at least one Fox News host has had enough.
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SHEPERD SMITH, FOX NEWS HOST: Tomorrow is one week before the midterm election, which is what all of this is about. There is no invasion. No one is coming to get you. There's nothing at all to worry about.
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BRIGGS: Well said. Even conservative media icon, Matt Drudge, pushing back against Fox, calling out a segment where the hosts seem to laugh and joke their way through a discussion on the political impact of terror. Drudge tweeted, not even 48 hours since blood flowed at Synagogue. Check your soul in the make-up chair.
[05:05:00]
ROMANS: Michael Bloomberg says a recent spike in anti-Semitism is a consequence of President Trump's words. The former New York City mayor telling CNN the president has a responsibility to unify not insight.
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MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: The president's words matter more than anybody else and his job, I've always thought, is to be a unifier. Not to be the leader of a Party, but to be the leader of this country. There are consequences to words.
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ROMANS: Bloomberg adds, Republican's have not fulfilled their obligation to provide checks and balances on the president.
BRIGGS: Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, at an event Monday, was asked about the divisive political rhetoric.
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MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: It's terrible. Yes. And I think that there's been a lot of contribution to it on both sides. I think the whole country's been on edge. I hope it settles down after the election.
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BRIGGS: McConnell says he expects the country to heal from the divisions. He says, America has seen worse in it's history.
ROMAN: The fatal shooting of two black people at a Kroger grocery store in Kentucky is being investigated as a hate crime. Gregory Bush, the white 51-year-old suspect accused of killing 69-year-old Maurice Stallard and 67-year-old Vickie Jones last week.
Before the shooting, Bush allegedly try to enter a mostly black church nearby. He couldn't get inside. He couldn't get in the front doors. Investigators are looking into reports that Bush told a bystander, "Whites don't shoot whites," before he was captured. Bush is being held on $5 million bond.
BRIGGS: The man suspected of sending at least 14 pipe bombs to prominent Trump critics and to CNN, made his first court appearance Monday, where he was formerly read the charges. Cesar Sayoc faces up to 48 years in prison. He was emotional in court, red faced and teary-eyed. Sayoc's lawyer tells CNN he intends to plead not guilty.
Officials tell CNN, Sayoc has lists of more than 100 people he planned to send packages. Authorities have been reaching out and warning all of them. Another suspicious package showed up yesterday addressed to CNN headquarters in Atlanta. It was intercepted though before delivery.
Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill putting some distance between herself and a top Democrat. McCaskill in the fight of her political life against Republican Josh Hawley, here is a bit from her latest radio add.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Claire's not one of those crazy Democrats. She works right in the middle and finds compromise.
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BRIGGS: So, who are those crazy Democrats? Well, asked on Fox to name names, McCaskill said this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, just to be clear, there's not another crazy Democrat in the senate?
SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: Well, I would say this. I would not call my colleagues crazy, but Elizabeth Warren sure went after me when I advocated tooling back some of the regulations for small banks.
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BRIGGS: McCaskill has served in the Senate since 2006. She is three points ahead of Hawley among likely voters in the latest CNN poll.
ROMANS: All right, so I would say the roller coaster ride is a terrible cliche ...
BRIGGS: Cliche.
ROMANS: ... for the stock market, right? Well turns out, yesterday was one of the rare instances where the cliche fits. This is what a correction in the stock market looks like. It was a 900 point swing for the Dow Monday, finally closing down one percent, that's 245 points.
Renewed tariff concerns drew the blame, but you know, we all knew that the president will be meeting with China's president in Buenos Aires at the G20 next month. We knew there is a December deadline to ratchet up tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on 200 billion in Chinese goods. And we knew there is a potential for a couple of hundred billion more in tariffs, so none of that is new. But the stock market really shook yesterday on this concern.
Now, some context here, the major averages are up 22 to 35 percent since the election, times have been so good for American companies that investors think maybe it can't last. That's starting to sink in. Also, when you look at different sectors, they tell different stories. Amazon and Netflix, yesterday, look at those. Down sharply, but banks rallied.
The superlatives about the market right now are uncomfortable. The S&P 500, the Nasdaq, both on track for the worst months since the days after the financial crisis. As for October, one analyst called it a train wreck. Apple and Facebook report earnings this week, so we will watch to see if there's any kind of motivation there.
Futures look like they're up a little bit right now. Global markets mixed up, so it didn't spread around the world.
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: We'll see what happens today. But ...
BRIGGS: Instability.
ROMANS: ... anybody's guess. Anybody's guess.
BRIGGS: All right, Angela Merkel's unparalleled run as German Chancellor will end in 2021. What her power decline means for Europe and the United States. We're live in Berlin. [05:10:00]
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BRIGGS: German Chancellor Angela Merkel will not seek reelection when her term expires in 2021. She made that announcement Monday in Berlin. Merkel has been Chancellor since 2005, but her popularity is plummeting. And let's go live in Berlin and bring in CNN's Fred Pleitgen with what is, arguably, the biggest story on the globe. Good morning sir. What are the implications here?
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Dave. Well, potentially very big implications. Obviously, Angela Merkel, arguably, one of the strongest leaders in the world, certainly known as being the strongest female leader in the world, and she was once the Times person of the year because she was seen as such a strong person.
Also, this could have pretty big implication also, Dave, for the relations with the United States as well. Angela Merkel was always seen as a very pro-American leader here in Europe. Very close relations that she had with the Obama administration, a little more difficult with the Trump administration.
She's also been very tough on Russia as well. Still has fairly good relations with Vladimir Putin though, so a very - very strong, very powerful politician, someone, however Dave, who was seen as a very popular internationally, and who's lost a lot of popularity here at home in Germany.
And now, she's drawing the consequences of that.
[05:15:00]
She's lost a lot of votes to far right parties here in Germany, especially after Germany took in around a million refugees in 2015. Many people criticize her for that move. And it was so interesting to see her yesterday going on T.V. and essentially say that she now believes that she's part of the problem rather than part of the solution.
She said that the coalition that she's leading is doing unacceptable work. She said a lot of decisions that should have been made were not made. She said she doesn't believe that the electorate here in Germany is being radicalized, but it's politics that are failing them. So you could see her with a very honest description, a very bold description of what she thinks is going on. Now she wants three more years to try and right the ship, Dave.
BRIGGS: Yes. She say's it will allow the federal government to function well again. Any theories about what the leadership looks like after Merkel?
PLEITGEN: That's going to be the big question. And, you know, if you look at Germany this morning, that certainly is what everybody is asking about. First of all, they're going to replace the leadership of the political party that she is currently heading. And, possibly, the person who gets that job - there's several people who are, sort of, in the running for that, might also be a candidate to then be the next chancellor of Germany. Up in the air, really, who that's going to be at this point in time, but one of the reasons why she says she is making this move right now is she - because she wants to give time for a successor to be in place.
Now one of the things I will say is that usually in German politics, at least foreign policy doesn't go through tectonic shifts, major shifts very quickly. So we can expect to see the next person who's in office, at least have several - a similar foreign policy as Angela Merkel, but certainly it's going to be very interesting to see who that person is, and especially how the relations with the U.S. for going to be then, going forward, Dave.
BRIGGS: Excellent context from Fred Pleitgen live in Berlin this morning. Thank you.
ROMANS: All right, officials now say it is unlikely remains of all 189 aboard the doomed Lion Air flight from Indonesia will be found. More bodies are being pulled from the waters, including a baby.
Officials did try to reassure grieving families that he identification process was moving along as - as quickly as possible. So far the fuselage and the flight data recorders have not been recovered. So we don't know what caused this new plane to go down. At least 650 police personnel involved now in the search by boat, by helicopter, and underwater.
BRIGGS: Ahead, the Cleveland Browns letting go Hue Jackson who survived one win in two years. But the Cleveland Browns, with two wins this season, not enough. Andy Scholes has the latest Cleveland firing next.
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BRIGGS: It was raining threes overnight in Chicago, Klay Thompson with a record setting performance for the Golden State Warriors.
Andy Scholes has the details and the pictures in the BLEACHER REPORT. Good morning, my friend.
(SPORTS)
BRIGGS: Andy Scholes, good to see you my friend. Thank you, Romans, over to you.
ROMANS: All right, thanks Dave. The President and his family head to Pittsburgh today.
[05:25:00]
They will pay respects after the synagogue massacre, but some in the community say it's too soon. Also a GoFundMe page up for the synagogue has already raised some
$800,000. To help, go to GoFundMe.com.
(COMMERCIAL)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL PEDUTO, MAYOR OF PITTSBURGH: I believe that it would be best to put the attention on the families this week.
BRIGGS: Some in the community are not ready, but the President and his family head to Pittsburgh today to pay tribute after the synagogue massacre. The first funeral is today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Stocks on a roller coaster ride, literally. Future is way - well futures actually now are are suggesting a higher open after this 900 point swing for the DOW amid tariff concerns.
And the search area expanding after the Lion Airplane crash near Indonesia, its unlikely remains for everyone on that doomed flight will ever be found.
All right, welcome back to EARLY START, I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. It is 5:30 eastern time.
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