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First Funerals Today For Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting Victims; Defiant President Trump Set To Honor Pittsburgh Victims; Kentucky Shooting Investigated As A Hate Crime; More Bodies Recovered At Indonesia Plane Crash Site. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 30, 2018 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: -- unlikely remains for everyone on that doomed flight will ever be found.
All right, welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Dave Briggs. It is 5:30 eastern time. We're one week from the midterm elections. Thanks for joining us this morning and being informed on what's going on in your world.
We start with the president heading 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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 any more than they already had disruption.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The rabbi at the targeted synagogue -- at the Tree of Life -- says the president is welcome. Some in the community are not ready. A group of Pittsburgh Jewish leaders writing in an open letter that Mr. Trump is not welcome until he fully denounces white nationalism.
Pittsburgh's mayor urging the president to hold off until later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BILL PEDUTO, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA: 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 is the city. It 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)
BRIGGS: The president, himself, showing little signs of becoming the unifier-in-chief most Americans expect in troubled times. On Monday, blaming the fake news media for social divisions and still describing the migrant caravan as quote "invasion" -- language the synagogue shooter cited as the basis for his attack.
TEXT: "There is great anger in our country caused in part by inaccurate and even fraudulent reporting of the news. The fake news media, the true enemy of the people, must stop the open and obvious hostility and report the news accurately and fairly. That will do much to put out the flame."
"Many gang members and some very bad people are mixed into the caravan heading to our southern border. Please go back. You will not be admitted into the United States unless you go through the legal process. This is an invasion of our country and our military is waiting for you!"
ROMANS: The first funerals from the synagogue shootings are scheduled for today. Brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal and Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz being laid to rest as more harrowing stories emerge from the worst anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.
BRIGGS: Eighty-year-old Judah Samet survived 10 months in a concentration camp as a child. He says he always arrives on time for 9:45 service at the Tree of Life but was running a few minutes late when he got there Saturday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDAH SAMET, SURVIVOR, SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING: 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, two, three. The other guy was answering with rapid-fire -- da, da, da, da -- da, da, da, da -- da, da, da, da.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "AC 360": Do you hate the man who did this?
SAMET: No, I don't know. I hate what he did but I don't know the guy. But evidently, he's a subhuman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The suspect 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 is said to have wounded remain hospitalized.
Parts of the downtown Pittsburgh skyline lit blue overnight to honor the victims from the Tree of Life synagogue.
BRIGGS: All right, let's bring in historian and Princeton University professor Julian Zelizer, a CNN political analyst. And, from her hometown of Pittsburgh, "Washington Examiner" reporter and "New York Post" columnist Salena Zito, a CNN contributor.
Good morning to both of you. ROMANS: Hi, guys.
JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, HISTORIAN AND PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, AUTHOR, "THE FIERCE URGENCY OF NOW": Good morning.
SALENA ZITO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, REPORTER, WASHINGTON EXAMINER, COLUMNIST, NEW YORK POST: Good morning.
BRIGGS: Salena, nobody knows this town better than you. I've been there many times. It is arguably the toughest, grittiest town in this country -- a fantastic place.
How is your city doing? Is it too soon for the president to visit?
ZITO: You know, the city, obviously, is incredibly sad. I was on the scene on Saturday. I've been covering it ever since.
This is a neighborhood that I have known all of my life and attended weddings there, and bar mitzvahs, and, you know, just a great community.
But, there's this resiliency about Pittsburghers that's hard to describe, although I think it's very common in cities across and small towns across the country where people come together and they unite over a variety of different races, and ethnicities, and religions. And when something hits your community you grieve together but you also are strong together.
There's this great creed. It's called the "Pittsburgher's Creed" that was written in 1914 about past Pittsburghers and what there was an expectation of what Pittsburgh would look like in the future. And it's incredibly accurate about the strength and resiliency of people in this city.
Is it too soon for the president to come? Look, I think it's normal that presidents get criticized when they come to these moments. They're criticized if they don't come.
I think the president's going to put his head down. He and his wife, and daughter, and son-in-law are going to visit with whoever wants him to visit and then they're going to leave, and that's what they should do.
[05:35:04] BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: Yes.
ZITO: Politics aside -- this is not a time for politics.
ROMANS: Oh, yes. Well, it hasn't -- there's a lot of moments that aren't a time for politics and politics --
BRIGGS: Yes.
ROMANS: -- unfortunately, creep in. ZITO: Right, yes.
ROMANS: You know, Julian, she talks about the moment this is and these sorts of moments show a lot about a president and about a leader.
How is the president doing, in your view, as the consoler-in-chief here?
ZELIZER: I think so far, there hasn't been much consoler-in-chief. And within the Jewish community, he's a very controversial president. There's a reason his ratings are under a quarter of the Jewish community.
And there are many who believe that he has stoked some of the fires of this country that led to this horrific event. Not that he caused it, not that he's responsible, but he's used --
ROMANS: A climate of words.
ZELIZER: He's created a bad climate. So there are many Jews in Pittsburgh, there are many Jews nationally who this doesn't sit well.
And in terms of politics, he went right back on the political campaign trail. And not only that, he gave a speech that night which was his standard rhetoric.
So at this point, he hasn't pulled back from the politics, he hasn't pulled back from the controversy. And so this is not your normal circumstances with a president visiting. But the Jewish community is very sorrowful right now.
BRIGGS: And, Salena, you write about the political atmosphere there but you write about it in terms of the unity you saw in Pittsburgh with the right and the left united after this tragedy --
ZITO: Yes.
BRIGGS: -- and helping this city heal.
Do you see that type of leadership and unity from our president, who we do expect to be a moral leader in these crucial times?
ZITO: I don't see much unity period from anybody and that -- I think that speaks of the climate that we're currently in, and I think that we've been in that climate for a while. But because he has a tendency not to -- that's not his instinct -- that it probably comes across rougher than you would see in other times.
President Obama was very eloquent anytime that he spoke. So was President George W. Bush in terms of compassionate times.
This is not his greatest strength but it -- you know, that doesn't mean he shouldn't or should not be here. I think every president needs to do what they believe is right to do in the situation -- put their head down and grieve with whoever wants to accept that from him. I will -- I do want to say I'm incredibly proud of the leaders in my state and in the region, and in Pittsburgh. None of them had made it about politics in any of the days that I have been covering this, from the moment I was there on Saturday on scene. And I'm very proud of how they've behaved and not pointed blame or used hurtful rhetoric to either side of the aisle.
ROMANS: Salena, back in 2016 -- in the election during the campaign -- you said something that got everyone's attention. You say, "The press takes President Trump literally but not seriously. His supporters take him seriously but not literally."
Is that still the same? There are some concerns the president's words are being taken literally by some of his supporters.
The shooter -- the accused shooter in this particular case, the last thing he wrote was that he loves that people are calling -- not calling them illegals, but calling them invaders. That moved him and that's language from this president.
ZITO: Well, I mean, he also hated the president. I'm not going to equate this shooter with the president at all. I'm just not. But, you know, I mean --
ROMANS: Well, of course, not.
ZITO: Look, but this -- you know, something was clearly wrong with this man and who knows what motivates him. And I'm just very cautious about putting one with the other.
BRIGGS: Let's be clear. We are not --
ROMANS: No.
BRIGGS: -- and no one should --
ZITO: No, no, I don't think you are -- yes.
BRIGGS: -- putting any blame on the president for this shooting. I just want to be clear.
ROMANS: We're talking about the climate of words.
BRIGGS: Well, let's talk about that language, Julian. It's not just the president's language --
ZITO: Yes. Well, we're just -- yes.
BRIGGS: One second. It is the language that these people hear from one particular network -- listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not a caravan, it's an invasion.
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST, "THE INGRAHAM ANGLE": Overwrought coverage of this invading horde.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST, "THE SEAN HANNITY SHOW": Literally marching to the U.S. in what would be a mass invasion.
NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: That looks like an invasion. It doesn't look like a family reunion.
BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS HOST, "FOX & FRIENDS": 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)
BRIGGS: Now, though the network's news correspondent Shepard Smith had an epic takedown of what his own network is spewing --
[05:40:00] That language -- invasion -- the language that we hear from the POTUS about enemy of the people -- globalist versus nationalist.
What is the impact and the history of it?
ZELIZER: There's no excuse. All of this has a long history. "Enemy of the people" has a history with Stalin and Nazi Germany. This has been discussed over and over -- the dangers of throwing those kinds of words out there.
This "caravan" -- quote-unquote -- has been a story whipped up to create fear and to generate a lot of concern over people who are fleeing safety and they're continuing to use it. They're literally using the words that came out of the shooter's mouth. They're literally using the ideas that came out of the person who threw pipe bombs, including to this building.
There's no excuse to do that anymore and it shows a certain lack of care. And I hear --
ROMANS: Or a strategy -- or a strategy.
ZELIZER: Yes, and I hear that both -- everyone's doing it, but I disagree. I think the weight right now of who's throwing the toxic language out there is much stronger on one side.
And there needs to be some kind of soul-searching because we've had a week of violence and terror and someone has to show some leadership to make this stop.
ROMANS: There's only one president. There's only one president.
ZELIZER: There's one president. The weight of the president's words carry more weight than anyone else. That's what he has to understand. There is responsibility --
BRIGGS: Yes.
ZELIZER: -- that comes with that office. BRIGGS: Fifty to 100 troops headed to the border just a few days before the election, but more than 30 days before this caravan gets anywhere near our border.
Salena Zito, Julian Zelizer, thank you both. I wish we had more time.
ROMANS: Best wishes to you Salena, today in your city, OK? I know it's going to be a really tough few days --
ZITO: Thank you.
ROMANS: -- but best wishes to Pittsburgh.
ZITO: Thank you.
BRIGGS: You bet.
ROMANS: All right, 41 minutes past the hour.
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 incite.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, FORMER MAYOR, NEW YORK CITY: 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 party but to be the leader of this country. There are consequences to words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Bloomberg adds Republicans have not fulfilled their obligation to provide checks and balances to the president.
BRIGGS: 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 tried to enter a mostly-black church nearby but could not get in. Investigators are looking into reports that he told a bystander, quote, "Whites don't shoot whites" before he was captured.
Bush is being held on $5 million bond.
ROMANS: All right.
It is unlikely remains of all the people on that doomed Lion Air flight will be found. Still, the search is expanding today. CNN live at the Indonesian port where they're running search operations.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [05:47:00] BRIGGS: Actor and wrestling star John Cena will no longer take part in the WWE's Crown Jewel event set for Friday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. WWE is going ahead with Crown Jewel even as the investigation continues into the murder of "Washington Post" journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
WWE says in a statement it maintains a, quote, "open line of communication with performers and will address each situation accordingly."
No word yet from Cena himself on why he's no longer taking part.
More bodies being pulled from the waters off Indonesia but officials now say it's unlikely that remains of all 189 on board the doomed Lion Air flight will be found. And so far, no answers on what caused the plane to go down.
Ivan Watson live at the port where the search and recovery efforts are unfolding. Ivan, good morning.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dave.
This is a very grim scene because boat after boat, ship after ship is coming in here to this port -- some of the more than 30 vessels and aircraft involved in this salvage operation -- and they're bringing in debris and personal effects from that doomed Lion Air flight 610 that went down shortly after take-off on Monday morning and laying out what they're recovering here on the white tarps behind me over here.
I'm not happy to say this but there is the smell of decomposition here in the air. The remains of victims -- the 189 passengers and crew that were on board -- none of their bodies were intact -- those that have been recovered as part of this grim recovery effort.
We know that DNA samples have been collected from relatives of the passengers and crew to help with this difficult and delicate work of trying to identify the victims.
The president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, was just here inspecting this operation.
And that big question still looms in the air. Why did a brand new Boeing 737 go down on Monday shortly after the cockpit radioed to air traffic control requesting return to its point of origin but not explaining why the crew wanted to head back to base? And then, the plane was lost shortly after that.
So the investigation here continues into this fatal air crash -- Dave.
BRIGGS: Hopefully, some answers with those black boxes that have still not been recovered.
Ivan Watson live for us on the scene. Thank you.
ROMANS: All right, let's get a check on "CNN Business" this morning. So far, the drama of that 900-point Dow swing yesterday did not spread around the world.
In Asia, supportive comments from China's securities regulator, the headline there. The Nikkei up, Shanghai up, the Hang Seng down.
European markets have been open for a couple of hours, basically searching for direction -- mixed here.
[05:50:03] U.S. futures suggest higher stocks when the market opens in less than four hours.
But what a performance. The Dow finished down 245 points after that huge rally earlier in the day. The S&P 500 down. The Nasdaq down 1.6 percent.
The drama came from a "Bloomberg" report that the White House is considering more tariffs on Chinese goods in December in the next round -- if the next round of negotiations between the president and the Chinese leader do not go well.
Trick or treat or iPad. Apple hosting this mystery shopping event in a couple of hours. It's expected to announce more product updates, including new iPads. Now, unlike previous product reveals, Apple execs are going to take the stage in Brooklyn.
Last month, Apple unveiled its new iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR. Today, we'll likely see new iPads, Max, perhaps, and second generation AirPods.
That event kicks off at 10:00 a.m. eastern time at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Fifty-six shopping days to Christmas and Best Buy racing to claim a piece of the $10.5 billion left on the table by Toys R Us. Best Buy expanding toy inventory at its 1,000 U.S. stores, dedicating more floor space in its stores to display popular toys like Nerf, and Hatchimals, and The Incredibles.
Best Buy says more than 90 percent of the toys this year are new to its lineup. Best Buy will also mail out a toy catalog for the second year in a row.
Walmart also doing some things to streamline its digital footprint and also have a store experience. They want your money, too.
BRIGGS: The holidays are near.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:55:56] ROMANS: The New Jersey Health Department is dispatching an infection control team to several pediatric long-term care facilities. It's in response to the adenovirus outbreak at the Wanaque Center in Haskell. Nine children have now died. That total is nine there.
The state health commissioner says outbreaks are not always preventable and officials are taking aggressive steps to minimize the chance they occur among the most vulnerable patients.
BRIGGS: There are 10 more confirmed cases of the polio-like illness AFM. Now a total of 72 confirmed cases in 24 states with 119 other patients currently being evaluated.
The CDC's medical advisers criticizing their own agency for being too slow to respond to the disease. Doctors who are caring for the sick children say the CDC has been slow to gather data and provide guidelines to pediatricians for diagnosing and treating AFM.
ROMANS: A North Carolina high school freshman facing first-degree murder charges in the fatal shooting of a classmate Monday. School officials say the conflict between the suspect and the victim began with bullying that spiraled out of control.
The victim was identified as 16-year-old Bobby McKeithen. The suspect, Jatwan Craig Cuffie, also 16, being held in the Mecklenburg County Jail.
Official say Butler High School will be closed today.
ROMANS: A North Carolina mom facing charges in the drowning death of her 1-year-old son. Authorities say Deja Lee drove around a barricaded road during Hurricane Florence. Little Kaiden Lee was swept away in the floodwaters.
His mother is facing several charges, including involuntary manslaughter. Lee is due in court November 20th.
ROMANS: USA Gymnastics is calling on its head tumbling coach to resign. Sergio Galvez will not travel with the team when it competes in the trampoline and tumbling world championship next month.
Galvez is being investigated after a report was filed with the U.S. agency that oversees sexual misconduct and abuse allegations. It's not clear what's being alleged.
USA Gymnastics' records show Galvez is suspended pending a hearing. He is forbidden from unsupervised contact with young athletes.
BRIGGS: Yosemite mystery solved. Photographer Matthew Dippel says he's found the mystery couple he inadvertently captured during their proposal on Yosemite National Park's Taft Point.
Dippel was at the vista earlier this month when he saw a man get on one knee to propose and snapped a picture. He ran over to find them but they were gone. He posted the photo on social media.
Charlie Bear and his now-fiancee Melissa told our sister network HLN they stumbled on the post last week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLIE BEAR, PROPOSED MARRIAGE IN MYSTERY TAFT POINT PHOTO (via telephone): At first, I wasn't really sure if it was us, to be honest. And then I had -- I showed Melissa the photo and I checked with her and then she confirmed. Then we kind of crossed-referenced it with a couple of photos we had on our phones, and that's how we were pretty certain it was us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Dippel says he's working out the details to get the couple a print of the photo. It was actually a second proposal. He wanted to get down --
ROMANS: Look at that.
BRIGGS: -- on one knee and really make it official. And a dramatic scene and well done.
ROMANS: Charlie Bear making it hard for guys everywhere. A beautiful, perfect proposal and then the longshot.
BRIGGS: The story we needed this morning.
ROMANS: Absolutely.
Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.
BRIGGS: And, I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now. We'll see you tomorrow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RABBI JEFFREY MYERS, TREE OF LIFE SYNAGOGUE, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA: God's the one I turn to to help lead my flock through this difficult time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to hug somebody and we have to lower the rhetoric.
PEDUTO: It would be best to put the attention on the families and if he were to visit, choose a different time.
BLOOMBERG: The president, who should be unifying -- instead, he is inciting people.
SARAH SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president has denounced racism, hatred, and bigotry in all forms.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not responsible for what happened this week but going forward, if he does not change, he will be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman. JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, October 30th, 6:00 here in New York.
Funeral services begin today for those who were murdered at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. They were killed because they were Jewish -- that's all. Not religious, but Jewish.
Among those being laid to rest, brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal, and Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz.
