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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

6.4 Earthquake Jolts Southern California; President Trump Sticks To Script For July Fourth Celebration; Tensions Brew Between Iran And Britain. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired July 05, 2019 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:31:48] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: Aftershocks are likely for weeks following the worst earthquake in Southern California in 20 years.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, three people stabbed and more than a dozen trampled during a post-fireworks stampede in Chicago.

BRIGGS: And the U.S. military honored with a salute to America. Protests for and against the president all over the nation's capital. Did the president politicize the military or did he stick to the script? The answer ahead.

But first, a look at the fireworks in the nation's capital which, as you can see, were not that easy to see. It was an overcast, rainy evening in D.C. And they were spectacular, from what I'm told, for those with a clear vantage point, which not everyone had. But what a day it was in the nation's capital.

I hope you all had a terrific Fourth of July.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Dave Briggs. Happy Friday and to you, my friend.

KOSINSKI: Happy Friday to you.

I'm Michelle Kosinski. It's 32 minutes past the hour.

Well, they're starting to pick up the pieces in one Southern California community after the worst earthquake in that part of the state in 20 years.

This was a strong quake -- magnitude 6.4 centered near Ridgecrest, which is about 150 miles north of L.A. Scientists recorded more than 150 aftershocks of magnitude 2.5 or greater.

The city of Ridgecrest announcing a state of emergency. Mayor Peggy Breeden spoke to CNN but, herself, was interrupted by an aftershock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR PEGGY BREEDEN, RIDGECREST, CALIFORNIA (via telephone): This would either be our seventh or eighth one we've had. Oh my goodness, there's another one right now. Oh my goodness.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Oh my goodness. Are you OK?

BREEDEN: Yes, it's just --

BALDWIN: Breathe -- just breathe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Broken gas lines in Ridgecrest may have been what caused this house fire. Power outages in the city of 28,000 leaving many without air conditioning in 100-degree heat.

Elsewhere, a garage fire consumed two classic cars. And this roadway near Ridgecrest will certainly need some work before it's safe to drive on again. And video from inside the Ridgecrest Walmart shows the force of the quake.

Meantime, 110 miles away in Studio City, the news team from CNN affiliate KCBS was shooting a promo for their morning show and the studio began to shake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wait, what's going on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Earthquake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you serious?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're in your first earthquake.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's an earthquake?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the worst it's going to get, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, shoot, it's shaking -- look.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, shoot. Oh, oh, oh --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this for real?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, oh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God. Oh my God. Yes, let's go in the hallway.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at -- shoot, you guys.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: Get out of there, guys.

BRIGGS: Oh, shoot.

KOSINSKI: Yes, I've felt an earthquake of that strength. It's scary.

BRIGGS: Did you say, "Oh, shoot?"

KOSINSKI: I was asleep --

BRIGGS: OK, all right.

KOSINSKI: -- and I had to run out.

BRIGGS: Fair enough.

KOSINSKI: Back in Ridgecrest, folks now facing a monumental cleanup job -- a lake of liquor on the floor at Ed's Mini Mart and books littering the floor at the city library.

And the work may not be finished. The U.S. Geological Survey says aftershocks are likely for the next couple of week.

[05:35:01] CNN's Nick Watt has more from Ridgecrest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Dave and Michelle, the biggest earthquake in Southern California in 20 years, a 6.4, but the location here was key, out in the Mojave Desert.

Now, Ridgecrest -- this town of 30,000 people -- this bore the brunt. Authorities here tell us they have been dealing with some downed power lines, some fires, some broken gas lines.

Also, some minor injuries being treated here at the hospital. Also, the hospital was evacuated to assess damage.

There are some cracks in walls around here. There are some cracks in the roads as well.

But what everybody is waiting for are the aftershocks. There have been -- there were more than 30 aftershocks in the first hour after that 6.4 hit.

And we are told by seismologists at Cal Tech that they expect an 80 percent probability that there will be an aftershock that's greater than a 5.0. It could be today, it could be tomorrow, it could be next week. And, of course, that is what authorities are preparing for.

Also, this was felt from Vegas to the coast. One hundred fifty miles down the road in Los Angeles, there was a little bit of panic and people were wondering why did our early warning app not trigger? Well, it didn't trigger because the earthquake, by the time it got to L.A., was only a 4.5 and that's under the threshold for that app to trigger. That has already been changed. So here in Ridgecrest, they are still waiting for the aftershocks. In, Southern California, in general, we're all still waiting for the big one.

Dave and Michelle, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: All right, Nick, thanks.

Breaking news overnight. Three people stabbed and 16 others trampled while trying to leave a fireworks show at Navy Pier in Chicago. Police believe someone yelled "gun" or "shots fired" which caused a stampede.

Panicked visitors swarmed the waterfront restaurant Harry Carey's Tavern to escape what they thought was an active shooter incident. It turns out that the man people thought was shot was actually suffering a puncture wound from an overturned table.

KOSINSKI: On Independence Day from the National Mall, a rare and unifying message from a deeply divisive president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the joy of freedom, we remember that all share a truly extraordinary heritage. Together, we are part of one of the greatest stories ever told -- the story of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: It rained on and off, but not enough to stop President Trump from urging Americans to come together.

Ahead of the president's salute to America, days of controversy over his unprecedented military extravaganza on the National Mall.

BRIGGS: After a flyover by the plane designated Air Force One when the president is aboard, he paid homage to America's early history and its military. He spoke about more recent advances in civil rights and gender equality.

The backdrop was competing protests across D.C., including a flag- burning here outside the White House.

Out on the Mall, sweltering crowds pulled toward opposite political polls with MAGA-wearing Trump supporters here and opponents' infamous "Baby Trump" balloon there. But for the most part, July Fourth on the Mall seems to have been unifying as promised.

KOSINSKI: Just a normal day in D.C.

BRIGGS: Yes.

KOSINSKI: Well, another black eye for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CNN has learned border patrol agents allegedly tried to shame a migrant by making him hold a sign in Spanish that translates to "I like men." That's according to e-mails written by an agent who witnessed this.

The e-mails show the March incident is one of many in which the border protection agent says he witnessed several colleagues displaying poor behavior and management's failure to act.

No comment yet from Homeland Security's Office of Professional Responsibility or a lawyer for the migrant.

BRIGGS: DHS is already investigating a closed Facebook group for current and former border patrol agents that reportedly includes jokes about migrant deaths, derogatory comments about Latino lawmakers, and a sexually graphic meme involving at least one agent.

A memo obtained by CNN shows that a senior border protection official warned all agency employees last year of potential discipline after being told of a private Facebook group with inappropriate and offensive posts.

KOSINSKI: Today is the deadline for the Justice Department to tell a federal judge whether it plans to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Doing so would defy the Supreme Court.

Earlier this week, President Trump ordered the DOJ to find a way after the administration had already conceded the census would be printed without a question.

A source familiar with discussions tells CNN there are limited paths forward.

One option would be an executive order from the president, but that would likely be challenged in the lower courts. There's also the possibility of an addendum or supplement to the census with a citizenship question. And officials are considering just going back to the Supreme Court directly with a motion to reconsider.

[05:40:09] BRIGGS: Former vice president Joe Biden trying to move on from the issue that tripped him up in the first round of Democratic debates. Biden was asked about school busing again on the campaign trail in Iowa.

The question coming one day after Democratic rival Kamala Harris said local school districts should be able to decide for themselves on the issue. That's, effectively, the same argument Biden made where Sen. Harris attacked him last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's absolutely right.

REPORTER: And do you think that there is like any difference between what she was saying to you in the debate last week versus today?

BIDEN: Look, she's a -- she's a good person. She is smart as can be and she feels strongly.

It came out of nowhere. It didn't seem to be something at all consistent with anything I had been accused of before.

But I think at the end of the day is -- and I'd like to give -- we need to be talking about the future. I mean, busing is something that 99 percent of the American people don't even know what we're talking about here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: The back-and-forth continues because not everybody wants to forget the issue and move on.

Senator Harris, also campaigning in Iowa, still thinks Biden has some explaining to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, sadly, we do not agree. I have asked him and have yet to hear him agree that busing that was court-ordered and mandated in most places, and in that era in which I was bused was necessary. And he has yet to agree that his position on this, which was to work with segregationists and oppose busing, was wrong, period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: Well, what could add some clarity to this is a must-see CNN exclusive less than 30 minutes away now. Joe Biden sits down with Chris Cuomo. They cover a lot of ground on policy, the president, the debates, and whether he'd pick a woman as vice president. That debuts just moments from now, only on CNN.

BRIGGS: Very much looking forward to that.

KOSINSKI: Yes.

BRIGGS: Ahead, Iran has already said it plans to increase its uranium enrichment next week. Now, the U.K. says Tehran tried to skirt European sanctions, sending an oil tanker to Syria.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:46:22] KOSINSKI: Tensions brewing this morning between Britain and Iran after British Marines seized an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of Gibraltar. It's believed the ship was taking crude oil to Syria, violating E.U. sanctions.

Moments ago, Iran demanding the return of the ship. Tehran says the seizure was illegal.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in London with the latest. So, Nic, the E.U. wants to keep what's left of the Iran nuclear deal but Iran is the one that keeps tempting them to slap sanctions on them once again. What is going on here? NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: This seems to be a case of rising diplomatic tensions across all fronts with Iran, whether it's on the Iran nuclear deal which, on Monday, Iran is expected to take one step further. The fact that it's abrogated the amount of lightly low-enriched uranium that it's allowed to keep, but it may then abrogate other terms of the JCPOA.

But this is something slightly different but it fits into that whole category of rising tensions with Iran. And this is another -- what is looking to be a diplomatic standoff here between Britain that currently supports Iran on the JCPOA -- that joint nuclear deal -- and Iran over the issue of oil.

What British military forces did, along with Gibraltarian authorities, was detain the Grace 1 supertanker that they believe that -- Gibraltarian authorities and British authorities believe was on its way to an oil refinery in Syria, carrying crude oil to the Syrian regime there. Now, that refinery is under -- is under E.U. sanctions.

Other people -- agencies that have tracked this ship believe it might have actually been carrying already-refined oil -- fuel oil for ship- to-ship transfers -- off the coast of Syria.

The bottom line, however, is that this oil came from Iran, took a very circuitous route to get to Gibraltar's waters, turned off its -- turned on and off its tracking beacon as it moved through the seas around the coast of Africa -- a very long way around.

And is now at the point where the Iranian authorities have called in the British ambassador, calling capturing this ship an act of piracy, demanding that it be released and saying that Britain has no right to interdict, if you will, shipping in this extraterritorial manner, whether it's E.U. or individual sanctions on Iran -- Michelle.

KOSINSKI: Right. Iran wants sanctions lifted but its own actions just challenging the E.U. to keep them or put more on.

Thanks, Nic.

BRIGGS: All right, a check of "CNN Business" at 5:49 Eastern time.

First, a look at your markets around the world. Stocks in Asia closed mixed. European markets opened lower.

On Wall Street, stocks are barely moving as investors wait for the latest jobs report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. Economists expect the economy added 160,000 jobs in June while the unemployment rate remains at a historic low of 3.6 percent. Any sign of weakness could increase calls for an interest rate cut from the Fed later this month.

Again, that report, 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.

If you have Ford's newest supercar on your dream car list, well, you might want to reconsider because it's illegal to drive the Ford GT MK II on public roads. The 700-horsepower supercar costs $1.2 million and only 45 will be built. [05:50:00] The car was designed to show what the Ford GT could be if all restrictions for street use or racing requirements were removed. The new Ford GT MK II available for order now.

Fortnite is arguably the biggest game in the world. Well now, electronic arts Apex Legends is aiming for the top spot. The company is hoping an e-sports deal with ESPN will expand Apex's audience. The two already have a partnership with Madden NFL.

Analysts say if people play Apex as a sport, the game could start winning back fan attention and viewership on live streaming services.

The e-sports industry has attracted millions of viewers across multiple platforms and Goldman Sachs estimates the industry could reach about $3 billion in market size in 2022.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:55:11] BRIGGS: They are baking in Alaska.

KOSINSKI: Oh, I see what you did there.

BRIGGS: You like that?

Enjoying the great outdoors. They had a lot of that in Alaska as Anchorage, the capital, hit an all-time of 89 degrees. That has never been hotter, ever, since the weather service started keeping records in 1952. It beats, by four degrees, the previous record of 85 set in 1969.

The weather service says June was the warmest on record with an average temp of 60.5 degrees. It says June was the 16th consecutive month with above-normal temps.

KOSINSKI: After the sweltering Fourth, wet weather ahead for much of the east could put a damper on the weekend.

Here's meteorologist Karen Maginnis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we finally made it towards the weekend, Michelle and Dave, and it's a good thing. July is typically that hot, muggy month and this is what we're going to see as we head towards the weekend.

Scattered showers and storms across the eastern third of the United States, but still rocking the severe storms into the Northern Plains. Hot weather to the south. We've kind of been stuck in this weather pattern.

Expecting the potential for severe weather from southeastern Wyoming into Kansas and Nebraska, but that's not the whole story. We'll start to see river rises from about central Missouri all the way down to Louisiana. Tributaries feeding into the Mississippi -- well, they're going to be seeing some rises on those rivers over the next couple of days.

And we'll expect some of those showers to really tick up again going into Sunday for the mid-Atlantic.

All right, for New York City, temperatures hovering right around normal -- low 80s, maybe upper 80s going into Saturday. Washington, D.C. hot and sticky -- temperatures around 90 degrees.

Look at Chicago. Ninety degrees on Friday but by Sunday, in the 70s. I think I would take it.

Back to you guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIGGS: As would I, Karen. Thanks.

Not everyone needs fireworks on the Fourth of July.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOBSTER RACE ANNOUNCER: On your mark, get set, go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Yes, the annual lobster race in Bar Harbor, Maine is a crowd- pleaser. All of the money from the event goes to support the local YMCA.

And not every fireworks display is planned. One in Fort Mill, South Carolina was dangerous. Firefighters spent an hour dodging exploding rockets that destroyed containers of fireworks stored for the Fourth of July.

KOSINSKI: A Texas teenager who tried to rob a fireworks stand got shot in the face, instead, with his own gun.

According to Harris County sheriff's deputies, the unidentified suspect approached the stand and demanded money. When an employee put the money on the counter, the 19-year-old would-be thief put his gun down in order to scoop up the cash. So, of course, the employee grabbed that gun and shot him in the face.

Authorities say he was transported to a hospital in very critical condition.

BRIGGS: No one is screaming for this ice cream. Authorities are looking for the woman who opened a carton of Blue Bell at an east Texas Walmart, licked the top, then put it back on the shelf.

Apparently, she thought it was hilarious but police, not so much. Well, they say her freezer felony, if you will, could land her in jail for up to 20 years for tampering.

The tainted tub was found before anyone bought it.

And that is just nasty --

KOSINSKI: (INAUDIBLE).

BRIGGS: -- kids.

KOSINSKI: I know.

BRIGGS: If you think that's a viral sensation, you go to jail.

KOSINSKI: See, I'm worried that this is going to spark copycats --

BRIGGS: No.

KOSINSKI: -- or that this is some trend we don't know about --

BRIGGS: No, America.

KOSINSKI: -- until now.

BRIGGS: No. Just no.

KOSINSKI: How many containers are out there that have been licked?

BRIGGS: Just no.

KOSINSKI: Well, thanks for joining us. I'm Michelle Kosinski.

BRIGGS: I'm Dave Briggs. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

We leave you with some spectacular fireworks from the Fourth of July. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.

KOSINSKI: We survived.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is a special edition of NEW DAY. It is Friday, July fifth, 6:00 here in New York.

John Berman is off. John Avlon joins me for what's going to be a very special show.

JOHN AVLON, CNN ANCHOR: Great.

CAMEROTA: We begin with a CNN exclusive for you.

Former vice president Joe Biden sitting down with our friend Chris Cuomo for a wide-ranging interview. Biden's commanding lead over the Democratic field has tightened significantly after the first debates.

So in this interview, Joe Biden talks domestic and foreign policy, he defends his record on school desegregation, and he addresses his feud with Kamala Harris over race. AVLON: And that's not all. Biden takes aim at President Trump, trying to position himself as the best candidate to beat Trump.

The former V.P. slamming the president's handling of foreign policy and eviscerates Mr. Trump's embrace of strongmen.

END