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Dow Down 200+ Points in Early Trading; Key Black Lawmakers to Endorse Clinton; Armed Occupiers Say They'll Surrender Today; Hearing Underway on Obama's Zika Funding Plan; Internet Feasts on "Bernie Sandwiches" Gaffe. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired February 11, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:29:54] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A brutal start on trading on Wall Street today. The Dow plunging more than 240 points just about an hour after the opening bell. Alison Kosik is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange with more for you. Good morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning -- Carol.

So the good news I guess, if you can call it good news, is the sell off is stabilizing though we are seeing as you said the Dow down 237 points.

There are a few things going on here today. For one, oil prices -- we are watching oil prices plunge again, this time below $27 a barrel. Look, this is great for consumers because it translates into lower gas prices. But here's the thing, for the economy, there's a tipping point here. You don't want to see any segment of the economy in free fall.

And that's kind of what we're seeing here in the oil market. We're seeing a lot of fear in the market as well. We're seeing investors jumping into treasury bonds, they are buying gold which is considered -- both are considered safe haven trades.

And then there's the fed chief, Janet Yellen. She is back on Capitol Hill. It's day two of her testimony explaining about interest rates, how the economy is doing, and in her first day of testimony yesterday, Carol, she didn't instill much confidence -- part of the reason you're seeing the sell off today. We saw the sell off in the tail end of the day yesterday kind of bled into today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Alison Kosik reporting live for us. Thank you.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

In just about a half an hour, the political arm of the Congressional Black Caucus will endorse Hillary Clinton. It's an important endorsement for Clinton. She needs the black vote to win big in South Carolina. But Bernie Sanders is fighting for that vote too. He had lunch

with Al Sharpton in Harlem. And he has earned the vote from some high profile names -- from Professor Cornell West and ex-NAACP president and CEO Ben Jealous to Ta-Nehisi Coates, an award winning writer on culture who recently slammed Sanders for not backing reparations. Coates says Clinton's Wall Street ties concern him though and that's why he's now backing Sanders.

On the Clinton side, she boasts former Attorney General Eric Holder and Sabrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin's mother and oh, Atlanta's mayor Kasim Reed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR KASIM REED (D), ATLANTA, GEORGIA: The way that Senator Sanders talks about the current economy and the current environment is dismissive of the contributions that President Obama has made. But it's really more than about that. It's also about where Secretary Clinton has been her entire career.

We're not going to continue to stand on the sidelines while Senator Sanders who has been in the senate for more than 25 years and has gotten very little done in comparison to Secretary Clinton and the President of the United States. We're not going to continue to let them talk about all this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. With me now, Representative Gregory Meeks, the Democrat from New York and chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus PAC. Welcome -- sir.

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D), NEW YORK: Good being with you -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Nice to have you here. Why are you endorsing Clinton?

MEEKS: Well, you know, the Congressional Black Caucuses PAC which is the political arm, as you said of the CBC we are focused on electing Democrats. And we know that when Democrats are in the majority, the issues that are important to us become real. And when we run around the country whether it's for the House or for Senate seats or for president of the United States, we try to elect, you know, those like-minded Democrats.

And One of the individuals who have been with us time and time again has been Hillary Clinton. When we need to organize to get Democrats elected, it's been Hillary Clinton who has gone into our communities and has talked in regards to the importance of electing Democrats, the importance of us being in the majority so that we can make sure that the policies and issues that are of particular concern to our constituencies are made real.

She has been, her whole career, an individual that has been fighting for issues that are important to the African American community. And so it is then -- when we do our evaluations as we do, in all, because one of the things that I want to make sure is clear, the CBC PAC not only endorses CBC members. We endorse in House seats, in Senate seats non CBC members, those who are Democrats and want to make sure the Democrats are in the majority.

COSTELLO: So what do you not see in Senator Sanders that you see in Hillary Clinton?

MEEKS: Well, what I'm saying is and we do not see, you know, is that the fact that the person that has been on the front burner, the person that has been very aggressive about getting folks elected and making sure that the Democratic agenda is a reality, the person that has stayed on the scene when she could have gotten off the scene but has seen the importance of election cycle after election cycle has been Hillary Clinton.

And so the person that has partnered with the CBC in so many years has been Hillary Clinton. And so I think that it is only -- and it's a broad feeling also of the CBC PAC. It is the right thing to do because it is the best thing to do. And she's the best candidate to be the next president of the United States.

[10:35:04] COSTELLO: All right. And I want to run this by you. "The Nation" featured a devastating article on Hillary Clinton, an article that went viral. The article charges that Mrs. Clinton and her husband decimated black America.

Michelle Alexander is the reporter. She writes of Bill Clinton quote, "Clinton mastered the art of sending mixed cultural messages appealing to African-Americans by belting out 'lift every voice and sing in black churches' while at the same time signaling to poor and working class whites that he was willing to be tougher on black communities than Republicans had been."

And as you know, sir, Bill Clinton with his wife's support signed that 1994 crime bill that critics say disproportionately hurt the black community but made the President look tough on crime.

In other words, the Clintons say one thing and do what's politically expedient. Your response to that?

MEEKS: Well, let me say first of all, that 1994 bill, the truth of the matter is Bernie Sanders had a vote -- he voted for it also. A lot of Democrats voted for it. And so it was the sign of the times then. If you want to go and use revisionist history, it's also true that when you talk about the economic gap and the creation of jobs and more black folks coming into the middle class, if you look at the same period of time, during that same time that President Clinton was president, that you saw that gap began to close, and more African Americans were at work and entrepreneurs were moving and gains in value went up.

And so let's talk about the entire record of Bill Clinton. In fact it went up so much that the poet Toni Morrison declared him the first black president at the time. And you have to remember, also, that in reelection in 1996, it was the black community that came out in large numbers to make sure that President Clinton was reelected. Why -- because don't think that black folks are not dumb. They come out for individuals who they know have their best interest at heart.

And as they did in '92 and did again in '96, in overwhelming numbers, they came out and supported Bill Clinton because economically and otherwise, he made a tremendous impact and difference in their lives, and that's -- go back and look at the news stories back then. And then let's talk about the entire record, and not just trying to piecemeal it.

COSTELLO: All right. Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York -- thank you so much for being with me this morning.

MEEKS: Good to be with you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, armed occupiers in Oregon may be about to give up as federal agents move to end that six week old protest.

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[10:41:59] COSTELLO: Armed protesters still occupying a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon say they will surrender this morning. The six-week stand off included a chase and a shooting that left one occupier dead. In a live stream phone call last night that lasted several hours, the remaining hold outs talked about giving up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They promised you they wouldn't do this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, they got their guys and (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out there waiting. You know, they're -- they're telling us to come out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And they're getting closer and closer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell them Assemblywoman Michelle Fiore is in Portland on the ground willing to negotiate a peaceful resolution and exit strategy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- in Portland, Oregon on the ground and she's willing to come here to negotiate with us. You need to stand down. She says you need to stand down. She's coming here to settle this peacefully. Not your way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they cut our phones off, that probably means we're dead. Just so you know that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just try to take a deep breath and don't do anything rash.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're not. Our hands are at our sides. Our weapons are down. If they come in, if they cut our communications, it's because they killed us.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: Last night the FBI arrested Cliven Bundy, the father

of protesters, Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy as he got off a plane in Portland.

CNN's Dan Simon is tracking all of the latest developments this morning -- hi, Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. This has been a very bizarre and intense standoff that has lasted some 40 days. It appears it's going to end as you now have the remaining hold outs. We're talking about four of them who apparently are prepared to surrender in about 20 minutes from now at an FBI check point.

They've decided to do this after the federal authorities closed in on the refuge blocking all of the entrances and exits to that refuge. This was all playing out Carol on live audio YouTube audio stream listened by 66,000 people all over the world. They were very intrigued by this.

You have a Nevada lawmaker named Michelle Fiore who was apparently trying to play peacemaker. She was on the phone with these holdouts. She's been sympathetic to the cause. You can actually see Michelle Fiore in the Portland Airport talking on her cell phone to the hold outs. We have part of that sound. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE FIORE, OREGON ASSEMBLYWOMAN: I am with you in spirit. God is with you in spirit. And as we're walking out, we don't need our weapons right now. They can't fire upon you with the world watching. Do you understand? The world is watching you. They cannot fire. Please tell David Jeff-- yes, they do.

The roads are blocked. They're not letting anyone in or out. The only way I'm going to get there is with an FBI escort. I'm willing to do that, but they have to be willing too.

Listen to me. Yes, you will. Yes, you will. Yes, you will see the light of day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:45:05] SIMON: So Carol, we are monitoring things very closely at 8:00 a.m. local time in Oregon. In about 20 minutes from now, those last hold outs, four of them, say they will surrender. And of course, you had even drama with the patriarch, Cliven Bundy also arrested. He was arrested in the Portland Airport last night. Lot so drama there we're going to see how things unfold shortly -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. We'll check back in 20 minutes. Dan Simon reporting live from San Francisco.

Checking some other top stories for you at 45 minutes past.

The city of Cleveland under fire after the family of 12-year-old Tamir Rice was billed $500 for an ambulance ride for their dead child. Rice was shot and killed by police as he played with a toy gun in a park in 2014. The head of Cleveland's police union called the bill unconscionable while the rice family attorney said that it quote, added insult to homicide.

The Paris concert hall that was the site of a terrorist massacre will reopen in November, that's one year after three ISIS gunmen waded into a crowd inside the concert hall in Paris and opened fire. 89 people died in the city's most deadly attack.

The cruise ship that was damaged in a so-called extreme storm is back at home in its port in New Jersey. Four passengers were injured aboard the Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas when giant waves overturned furniture and smashed glass ware. The cruise line under fire for sailing into the storm says passengers will receive a full refund for the cancelled voyage.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, an American Olympian worried about competing in the summer games. Why? The Zika virus.

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[10:50:41] COSTELLO: A hearing underway on Capitol Hill focusing on the Zika virus outbreak and President Obama's request for an emergency $1.8 billion to expedite a Zika vaccine. Here's what the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had to say moments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INST. OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The issue of immediate importance right now is to be able to develop a safe and effective vaccine against Zika. We will likely go into phase 1 clinical trial with this vaccine sometime in late summer. And I hope after several months we'll know if it is safe and we'll know if it induces a good immune response.

If it does, then we'll move to the more advanced stage. I can't guarantee when we will have a vaccine, but I can tell we got a good head start because of years of work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. We're hearing Brazil's health minister sheds light on three new deaths from the virus. One of the victims, a 23-year-old woman with a clean medical history.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins me now live from Atlanta with more on this.

You heard Dr. Fauci -- he said we have a good head start on a vaccine. What's he talking about?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean we don't probably have as good a head start as we should, frankly because this is something that we've really started paying attention to just over the last several months. This is a virus that Carol, you and I have talked about. It's been around for a long time.

It has only really started to spread over just more recently, over the last several months, a couple years. It's interesting because there were no incentives, no push to make a vaccine or any kind of treatment before now. So it will still take, I think, even with best efforts, at least three years. This is not something that people should be waiting for, for this particular outbreak -- maybe for future outbreaks.

COSTELLO: Oh my goodness. So how vital is it that that $1.8 billion is going to the CDC to develop something that might help.

GUPTA: I mean that sort of money certainly helps. I mean What needs to happen is you have several probably different labs all over the country and probably all over the world that they're going to start working not only on the vaccine but also on potential treatments, anti-virals, and also really interestingly, something we don't talk about as much, is just different ways of eradicating mosquitoes.

This particular mosquito, Aedis Egypti -- they're the mosquitoes that spreads all sorts of diseases. And also the now questions now about what do we need to do about these mosquitoes going forward? Is eradication -- a real effort and how would we achieve that?

You know, Carol, I say this stat, and it always kind of blows people's minds but mosquitoes have killed more than any other animal, any other creature on the planet. They've led to more death than anything else. It's something that a lot of people are focused on.

COSTELLO: Wow. Dr. Sanjay Gupta -- thanks so much.

GUPTA: Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, an anchor stumbles and the Internet feasts. Jeanne Moos dishes up some Bernie sandwiches after a break.

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[10:57:47] COSTELLO: It's breakfast time on the West Coast -- lunchtime here in the East. Hungry for a sandwich? How about a Bernie sandwich? It all began with an anchor flub. And it's been an online feeding frenzy ever since. Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a pretty easy name to say.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, TV HOST: Bernie Sanders.

MOOS: Which makes a minor slip of the tongue by MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes all the more delicious.

CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC ANCHOR: Railing against pharmaceutical companies and the like and Bernie Sandwiches -- Sanders' message from the beginning --

MOOS: May I please have a second helping?

HAYES: -- and Bernie Sandwiches --

MOOS: Next thing you know everyone was making Bernie sandwiches, Bernie and corned beef, Bernie on toast, Bernie between buns. Holding a sandwich aloft, pulling one out of his pocket, #BernieSandwiches unleashed tweets like "feel the heart bern" and comments like "Bernie Sandwiches -- that's his Mafia name".

As for Chris Hayes --

HAYES: Bernie Sandwiches.

MOOS: -- he tweeted, in my defense I was literally watching people being served dinner when I said "Bernie Sandwiches".

And as if Bernie Sandwiches wasn't enough for one election night, another anchor put her foot in her mouth. Though Megyn Kelly's blooper on Fox News wasn't quite so mouthwatering--

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS HOST: On the Democratic Bernie Sandals -- Sanders -- Sandals, it could catch on in the summer months.

MOOS: It's already caught on, Megyn.

KELLY: Bernie Sandals.

Moos: The Bernie Sandwich likewise already exists. "Food and Wine Magazine" created sandwiches to represent various candidates. Hillary's was a subway sandwich.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little bit of everything and anything anyone could ever you want on it. It will agree to put under that bread

MOOS: While Bernie's was a Vietnamese sandwich -- spicy and obscure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your hipster fans are going to tell you about it.

MOOS: Even Chelsea Clinton once misspoke while bringing up Bernie.

CHELSEA CLINTON, DAUGHTER OF HILLARY CLINTON: That President Sanders --- excuse me, Senator Sanders? I hope not President Sanders.

MOOS: Yes. Well, how about President Bernie Sandwiches?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sandwich, Sandwich, Sandwich.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol

Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Hello friends. I'm Kate Bolduan.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: And I'm John --