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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

President Trump's Final Pitch And His Pre-Existing Promise; Criticism For SNL Cast Member; Amazon Announces Holiday Shipping Promotion. Aired 04:30-5a ET

Aired November 05, 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] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No nation can allow its borders to be overrun.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Don't be hood winked. Don't be bamboozled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, EARLY START SHOW CO-HOST: Power players from both sides making a final pitch in the last hours of the midterm campaign. Expected to be a referendum on President Trump.

DAVE BRIGGS, EARLY START SHOW CO-HOST: The President vows to protect pre-existing conditions and says this, he did not know his own Justice Department would be urged a court to throw them out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE DAVIDSON, SNCL COMEDIAN: he only lost his eye in war or whatever.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right. Mounting criticism for an "SNL" cast member. Pete Davidson made fun of a congressional candidate who lost an eye in Afghanistan. Not only it was not funny, it is just not funny.

Welcome back to Early Start. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: And rather offensive. I'm Dave Briggs. It is 4:31 Eastern Time, happy midterms. The midterm election just one day away. We are 25 and half an hours until polls open on the East Coast deciding the 35 Senate races, 435 House seats and 36 races for governor.

A new NBC news Wall Street Journal news, a poll has Democrats with a seven point edge in the generic Congressional ballot. And the latest Washington Post ABC News poll shows 69 percent of registered voters under 40 say they are certain they will vote. That is way up from 44 percent in the last midterms. A lot riding on whether Democrats can flip the House. CNN political Director, David Chalian handicapping the state at play.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CHALIAN, POLITICAL DIRECTOR, CNN: Nearly 70 districts truly in play. Some leaning a little blue, Democratic, some leaning a little red, Republican, 31 in yellow. True toss ups. Total coin flip and of those, 30 of them are currently held by Republicans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The President going all out in the home stretch holding three rallies today in Ohio, Indiana and Missouri. Where he will be joined by a special guest. Sean Hannity of Fox News. On Sunday, the President was in Georgia and Tennessee. He repeated his ominous warnings about that migrant caravan. The first members have just reached Mexico City. That is about 500 miles away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: No nation can allow its borders to be overrun. And that is an invasion. I don't care what they say. I don't care what the fake media says. That is an invasion of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The president has kept up that drumbeat on the caravan and the border for more than a week, but the Republican Party's chairwoman is downplaying that focus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONNA MCDANIEL, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRWOMAN: I'm with the president at this rallies, the President is talking about. All the accomplishments, I think the media is focused on immigration constantly and I get that. But he is focusing on the economy. He is talking about the jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Senior political analyst Rachel Bader is reporting this morning for Politico, House Speaker Paul Ryan called the president Sunday, for one final plea, please talk up the booming economy in the final hours before the polls open. The President not quite on board.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They say speak about the economy. Speak about the economy. Well, we have the greatest economy in the history of our country.

(CHEERS)

But sometimes it is not as exciting to talk about the economy, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: He really said that out loud, but put that in the President's

yes he said that out loud category. Democrats are deploying their heavy hitters to a closing midterm arguments. Party leaders from the past, the present, the future fanning out across the nation, notably absent from the trail, Hillary Clinton. President Obama campaigning in Indiana and Illinois on Sunday delivering a stinging indictment of the trump administration record and rhetoric.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Don't be hood winked. Don't be bamboozled. Don't let them run oki doki on you. Because while they are trying to distract you with all this stuff, they're robbing you blind. They will be like, look, look, look. Caravan, caravan. Then they give tax cuts to their billionaire friends. They promised they would take on corruption in Washington, instead they racked up enough indictments to fill a football team.

(CHEERS)

[04:35:11] Nobody in my administration got indicted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: As of Sunday morning, more than 34 million people had voted early in these country. That is 67.8 percent more than early votes cast in all of 2014. Our colleague said this weekend says it is fair to say the midterms are under way in and end on Tuesday, because so many votes had been passed.

BRIGGS: There has been a lot of interpretation of who that may help? We shall see.

Meanwhile Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp's office says, it is investigating the state's Democratic Party over where it described as an attempted hack of the state's voter registration system on Saturday. Kemp, who is the Republican nominee for governor, has not provided any evidence or said why the Democratic Party is being investigated so close to the election.

ROMANS: CNN has learned the accusation began when a voter reached out to Georgia's Democratic Party to say he had discovered potential vulnerabilities in the registration system. Georgia Democrats, including Kemp's Democratic rival Stacey Abrams vehemently denying the claim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACEY ABRAMS, (D), GEORGIA GOVERNOR NOMINEE: There were imperfections in their system. There are weaknesses and vulnerabilities. They were told about this on Friday. And instead of owning up to the failure, and making it right, he decided to blame Democrats. We are not responsible. We have nothing to do with this. And I'm very sad that instead of owning up to his responsibility and honoring his commitment as Secretary of State, that he is once again misleading Georgia. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So close to the election. Democrats and advocacy groups had previously argued Kemp has a conflict of interest overseeing an election, he is also running in and essentially he is the player and the ref in inside game.

BRIGGS: All right. In a new interview with Axios, President Trump claims he will reinstate protections for pre-existing conditions if the lawsuit his administration supports successfully guts the affordable care act. Got that?

Right now, the Justice Department is arguing the court should strike down Obama cares pre-existing conditions protections. That could lead to skyrocketing cost or lose of coverage for millions of people. Republicans have never come up with the replacement plan that would offer the same level of protection as the affordable care act. The President blaming the entire mess on his own embattled Attorney General.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did Jeff Sessions give you a head's up before the Justice Department?

TRUMP: No. He didn't. Actually --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an amazing lawsuit. I mean, you have seen this, right?

TRUMP: No, I didn't. But it won't matter, because pre-existing conditions on anything we do will be put into it. So, it doesn't matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: We should note Attorney General Sessions said the President did sign off on the lawsuit. The Justice Department is referring all questions by Axios about that discrepancy back to the White House. Which claims the lawsuit is about a quote, technical constitutional issue and does not represent the administration's general position on pre-existing conditions.

BRIGGS: SNL's comedian Pete Davidson facing growing backlash for mocking a Republican Congressional candidate who lost an eye in Afghanistan. Dan Crenshaw did five tours in duty in Afghanistan as a Navy Seal, he lost his eye in 2012 in an IED blast. And on "Saturday night live" he made Pete Davidson list of gross people running for office this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIDSON: This guy's kind of cool. Dan Crenshaw.

(LAUGHTER)

Come on, man.

Hold on. You may be surprised to hear, he is a congressional candidate from Texas and not a hit man in a porno movie.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

I'm sorry. I know he lost his eye in war or whatever.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO)

ROMANS: the laughter isn't right. The laughter on site is also, the joke met with anger from veterans and the National Republican Congressional Committee. It needled him about his break up Ariana Grande, writing getting dumped by a pop star girlfriend is no excuse for lashing out at a decorated war hero. Crenshaw, himself taking the high road, he tweeted, good rule in life. I try hard not to offend. I try harder not to be offended. That being said, I hope SNL recognizes the Vets don't deserve to see their wounds used as punch lines for bad jokes.

All right, Chinese president Xi Jinping has taken a swipe at President Trump the day before the U.S. midterm election. Xi denouncing a winner takes all attitude toward international trade. Xi made a remark during a speech, Monday at the opening of the inaugural China international import expo on Shanghai. He made the statement at the expo meeting in Shanghai. Swedish said today with the deepening of the economic globalization law of the jungle and winner takes all are a dead end.

A global economy is an irreversible trend and won't change, because of one person. No senior U.S. government official has attended that expo. Further underscores -- there is a strained relationship between these two countries. Although we never mentioned Trump or the U.S. by name during the speech. Xi said, there is no room for protectionism in international trade.

[04:40:02] Xi and Trump are expected to meet one on one in a G20 summit in Argentina later this month. It is interesting. Xi has been pretty successful in positioning China as the leader of the moral authority of free trade around the world. That was usually something that -- that was United States that is absolutely right.

BRIGGS: Rather revealing.

Ahead, the man police say opened fire at that Florida yoga studio Friday had been in trouble before. Hear from the father of one of the victims, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIGGS: Police in Tallahassee, Florida say the gunman who killed two women and wounded five others at a yoga studio Friday had previously had been accused of harassing women in the area.

The New York Times reports he also made misogynistic remarks on YouTube videos. According to police, Scott Beierle posed as a customer when he entered hot yoga Tallahassee and fired a handgun without warning.

[04:45:02] ROMANS: The yoga students fought back, but 61 year-old Nancy Van Vessem and 21 year-old Maura Binkley were killed. Binkley's father said his daughter has gone to Washington to protest after the Parkland shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She grew up in the age of these mass shootings often in schools. And she just saw the suffering and also the senselessness of this and just wanted to do something. She became a victim. That is a cruel irony. Cruel irony.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Police say the gunman fatally shot himself before officers arrived.

A New York man faces multiple hate crimes charges in connection with anti-Semitic graffiti found at the Brooklyn temple and fires at several locations including a Jewish school. Police arrested 26-year- old James Polite on Friday. The suspect had interned with former New York City council speaker Christine Quinn and volunteered during Barack Obama's first Presidential bid. A New York Times reports says he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2015.

BRIGGS: The second insider attack in Afghanistan in as many weeks has killed the mayor of north Ogden, Utah. The Pentagon says, Brent Taylor was serving as a major in the army National Guard, the gunman apparently a member of the Afghan security forces was shot and killed by other Afghan troops. Another U.S. service member who was not been identified was also wounded. Taylor, an energetic and a beloved figure in Utah politics survived by his wife Jennie and seven children. The attacks comes as a little more than two weeks after Army General Jeffrey Smiley was wounded in another insider attack in Kandahar province.

ROMANS: Three are girls and an adult woman were killed Saturday morning when their Girl Scout troops was hit by a truck as they pick up trash. On the side of the Wisconsin road. Police say the driver of the ford F-150 crossover a lane of traffic into the ditch where the Girl Scouts are walking. The driver fled the scene, but later turn himself in, a fourth Girls Scout, who was struck was in critical condition this morning.

BRIGGS: A fist fight between California high school teacher and 14- year-old student captured on video. The music teacher Marston Riley, seen exchanging punches with the teen. At Maywood Academy in Los Angeles, Friday. The brawl ends with students and what appears to be a campus resource officer trying to break it up. Students told CNN affiliate KTLA, the fight began after Riley, ask the student to leave the class, because he wasn't wearing the proper uniform. The boy refuse, shouting profanity and a racial slur at Riley. The unidentified teen was treated at the hospital and released. Riley was arrested for alleged child abuse. CNN has reached out to Riley, but has not heard back.

ROMANS: All right. Some good news for Amazon customers this holiday season. Shipping of gifts is going to be more affordable. We get a check of CNN business next.

[04:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIGGS: Just hours ago at midnight, Eastern Time, the U.S. re-imposed all of the sanctions on Iran that were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo calling them the toughest sanctions ever put in place against Iran. The new embargo targets all of the country's oil exports along with other key sectors. But Tehran is apparently ready to defy the order. Senior International correspondent Fred Pleitgen is live for us in Tehran with the latest. Hi there, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Hi there, Dave. Absolutely, the Iranians coming out early today and say they want to defy the United States. In fact the country's president Hassam Rouhani gave a speech just a couple of hours ago where he said it would be an honor for the Iranians to what they call unjust sanctions from the U.S. they obviously consider this sanctions to be illegal.

You know, it is interesting, because one of the things about these sanctions is that there are apparently eight countries that have received waivers from these sanctions and the Iranians are saying, even if those waivers were not there, the Iranians would still try to sell their oil generally in the international market.

Now of course, to what extent it is going to be still be able to do that is very much up in the air at this point. As you can imagine, a lot of anger on the ground here in Tehran. Yesterday, I was at protests against the United States where people were burning the American flag. The Israeli flag as well. It was interesting, people making clear to us that they are not angry at the American people, but angry at the decision making in Washington, D.C., and specifically angry at President Trump. Some of the folks I spoke to said they want to stand up to President Trump and vowed to remain defiant.

At the same time, of course, folks here are extremely concerned about their economic situation. They do know that things will get worse with the sanctions in place. The economy here is already very much in free fall. The currency has been tumbling. People think if Iran will lose income from those oil sales, things are going to get worse pretty quickly, Dave.

BRIGGS: Sure sounds like it. All right. Fred Pleitgen, great reporting there. Live from Tehran this morning. Thank you.

ROMANS: And now a CNN exclusive. The sons of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi pleading for the return of their father's body so they can give him a proper Islamic burial.

Salah and Abdullah Khashoggi telling CNN's Nick Robertson it has been difficult dealing with the loss of their father and the global fallout.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SALAH KASHOGGI, JAMAL KHASHOGGI SON: This is putting a lot of burden on us. All of us. That everybody is seeking information just as we do. And they think that we have answers. Unfortunately we don't.

ABDULLAH KASHOGGI, JAMAL KHASHOGGI SON: It is difficult and it is not easy.

[04:55:00] Especially when the story gets this big. It is not easy. It is confusing. Even the way we grieve, it is a bit confusing, like we are grieving at the same time we are looking at the media and the misinformation. There's a lot of ups and downs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Salah Khashoggi tells CNN that he has faith that the king of Saudi Arabia will bring those responsible for his father's murder to justice.

BRIGGS: Officials in Indonesia confirm that the Lion Air passenger plane that crash into the Java Sea last week, did not explode in midair. The engines were still running when the air flight 610 hit the water at high speed.

Those officials also say 69 hours of information has been retrieve from the plane's flight data recorder that includes data from its last 19 flight, right up to October 29th when crashed killed all 189 people on board. Six black box experts from four countries are now analyzing the data to piece together the final moments of the brand new Boeing 737.

Authorities in China say a woman who attack the bus driver after missing her stop is partially responsible for the fatal crash. A 1o second clip from surveillance camera video on the bus shows the woman hitting the driver with her cell phone while he fights back using his right arm. The bus then swerves into oncoming traffic before crashing into the railing on the side of the bridge and going over plunging into the water. All 15 people on board were killed. Chinese investigators also blame the 42-year-old driver for not following proper safety procedures.

ROMANS: All right. Let's get a check of CNN business this morning. Asian markets start the week lower after China's President Xi Jinping a remarks said in import expo, the Nikkei is down 1.5 percent. Shanghai down and the HSI also down about 2 percent. The Wall Street, the DOW closed down 110 points on Friday giving back a bit of this week's strong gains. And NASDAQ dropped 1 percent. The S&P 500 down a bit here. It was the best week for the S&P 500 since March. And for the NASDAQ since May. General Electric fell 3 percent to a nine- year low losing ground for the eight day in a row. Bohemian Rhapsody is the champion of the box office this weekend, the

Queen film took the number one spot with an estimated $50 million in the box office in North America and $141 million globally. The solid performance from Bohemians Rhapsody mark another unexpectedly big weekend for Hollywood. Film such as stars (inaudible) Halloween. It helped set a box office record in October. The increase of 11 percent from the same point last year.

Good news for Amazon customers this holiday season. For the first time Amazon is offering free shipping on all holiday orders in an effort to add new prime members. Last year, Amazon shoppers thought prime membership have to spend at least $25 member to earn free shipping. But starting today, Amazon is waiving the minimum to give customers even more convenience they say and faster delivery options. Amazon did not announce a cutoff date for the promotion, but said that free shipping will be available for all orders arriving in time for Christmas.

BRIGGS: Is this permanent or temporary?

ROMANS: I think it is temporary. I wonder why I'm paying for prime.

BRIGGS: I pay prime and I wondering why I'm paying for prime. Unless of course you use the video. All right. "Early Start" continues right now. For the latest on the pivotal midterm election tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: No nation can allow its borders to be overrun.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Don't be hood winked. Don't be bamboozled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Power players making a final pitch in the last hours of the midterm campaign. Expected to be a referendum on President Trump.

BRIGGS: The President vows to protect pre-existing conditions and saying he did not know his own Justice Department would urge the court to throw them out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIDSON: He only lost his eye in war or whatever.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Mounting criticism for an "SNL" cast member. Pete Davidson made fun of a congressional candidate who lost an eye serving the country in Afghanistan. Good morning, welcome to Early Start. I'm Christine Romans.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. He is a Navy Seal, he doesn't get too worried about late night comics. It is Monday, November 5th, 5:00 a.m. in the East. Polls are just about open. 25 hours away deciding 35 Senate races, 435 House seats and 36 races for governor, this is enormous folks. A new NBC news Wall Street Journal poll has Democrats with a seven point edge in the generic ballot. And the latest Washington Post ABC news poll shows 69 percent of registered voters under 40 say they are certain they will vote. That is way up folks, up from 44 percent in the last midterms. A lot riding on whether Democrats can flip the House.