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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Will Trump Sign Republican Loyalty Pledge?; Bush And Trump Escalate Feud; Biden Testing Presidential Waters; Obama Secures Iran Nuclear Deal; House Benghazi Hearings; Search Widens For Suspected Cop Killers; Hungary Crippled By Migrant Crisis. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired September 03, 2015 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Joe Biden fueling speculation this morning that he could enter the race for president.
[05:30:04] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And investigators following new leads overnight, they are searching for three men who killed a police officer.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: Nice to see you. John Berman here. It's 30 minutes past the hour. We are going to begin with big political news, a big moment today for Donald Trump. A big news conference play in the issue, will Trump sign an oath saying he will not run as a third-party candidate if he doesn't get the Republican nomination?
The Republican National Committee asking for that pledge from all the Republican candidates to rule out a possible independent bid. Donald Trump has refused to make this pledge in the past.
Today he meets in New York City with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and sources tell CNN, all signs indicate that Trump will sign the document. Most importantly for Donald Trump, he will hold a news conference this afternoon. The cameras will be there.
Also important for Trump, there is no enforcement mechanism. You can sign a document saying, I will not run as a third-party candidate and then eight months down the line saying, you know what, I didn't mean it.
ROMANS: Those pledges I always wonder, they have a sign by like a notary public.
BERMAN: There is a space for Reince Priebus to be the witness.
ROMANS: They pledged not to raise taxes or repeal Obamacare. This is something interesting.
Trump and Jeb Bush are in a bit of a feud. It is getting nasty. Trump telling Bright Bart News, quote, "I like Jeb, he's a nice man, but he should really set the example by speaking English while in the United States." Of course, as you know, he speaks fluent Spanish. He speaks Spanish at home and raises his kids speaking Spanish. The former Florida governor firing right back taking subtle digs at Trump in an online quiz appearing on his campaign Facebook page.
All of the choices lead to either Bush or Trump. All the favorable choices if you're a Republican lead to Bush. All the unfavorable ones lead to Trump. Trump is described in one of these as the candidate with, quote, "Clear Democratic tendencies."
BERMAN: Speaking of Democratic tendencies, Vice President Joe Biden giving a speech in Florida making people wonder is he on a trip now to fuel the speculation he might run for president? He spoke at Miami- Dade College.
A lot of people looking for signs in the speech he may be running. He talked about affordable higher education, immigration reform, and the economy. Afterwards, a few reporters asked about his plans.
Let's get more now from CNN senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine. After a summer of close door meetings and quiet strategy sessions, Vice President Joe Biden is hitting the road. A wave of speculation followed him from Washington all the way to Miami where he is taking a two-day trip. He is relishing in the presidential sized attention.
Listen to what he said during a middle of a speech here at Miami-Dade College.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look at the interest you attracted. Their interesting community college has impressed me greatly and I hope that's what they are going to write about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: Now the vice president did not say if he planned to run, but he gave a few hints of what his campaign message might be if he decided to go ahead with the race. He focused hard on the middle class, income inequality, raising wages, of course, all themes of the Obama administration.
But also raises a challenge, are voters ready for a third term of this administration or are voters in the mood to move on? But he first needs to take the temperature of Democrats.
He was doing that at a fundraiser on Wednesday night in Miami, of course, a key critical battleground state. The fundraiser was for Senate Democrats, but many of these donors would also be key to a presidential race if he decided to go forward.
He is still mowing this over. He is going to decide I'm told within the next three weeks by October 1st at the latest -- John and Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thanks, Jeff.
The White House still selling the Iran nuclear agreement even though it's all but a done deal, Vice President Joe Biden makes the case for the plan when he speaks to Jewish leaders in South Florida later this morning.
President Obama has enough votes to make the measure override proof. He's got at least 34 senators now publicly backing the agreement, but he's sending out his top lieutenants to secure even more support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It is our belief deeply that this will make Israel safer. It has made Israel safer. The amount of time to produce enough material for one bomb was down to two months. We will now stretch that out. We've already stretched it out. We've reduced their stockpile. We have limited their centrifuges.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The White House is hoping for at least 41 votes to keep the bill from getting to the Senate.
BERMAN: The House panel investigating the deadly 2012 attack in Benghazi set to question two of Hillary Clinton's top aides while she was secretary of state. Former Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills will be questioned today with former aide, Jake Sullivan, facing questions tomorrow.
Sources tell CNN that Mills wanted the hearing in public, but the request was denied. She's expected to be asked about internal communications between Clinton and top staffers.
Another former State Department employee who worked on Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server, Brian Pagliono, (ph) apparently has informed Congress he will invoke his Fifth Amendment right to avoid answering questions before the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
[05:35:11] ROMANS: All right, the VA system for tracking requests for medical care is so unreliable, it is impossible for the department to know how many veterans still need treatment or if those veterans are alive.
That is according to a new report by the V.A. inspector general. He found of the 847,000 vets waiting care in the VA system, 307,000 have already died. That's more than a third. As many as 10,000 applications by veterans for treatment have been lost in last five years.
BERMAN: President Obama winding up his Alaska visit with the taste of the Arctic. He visited a whaling village and took time out to dance with local children.
ROMANS: This is second-term -- BERMAN: That's right. This is something you only do in your second
term as president.
ROMANS: When you are not running for re-election.
BERMAN: Because the Constitution says you cannot run for a third term. The 400 residents there may be forced to move away because melting ice is raising sea levels. The president warns that the time to act on climate change is now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, the good news is we made a lot of progress in the last six years, but I'm here to tell you we have to do more. We have to move faster. We are not moving fast enough. For the sake of our kids, we have to keep going. America has to lead the world in transitioning to a clean-energy economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The president is the first sitting president to cross the Arctic Circle. He is calling for an international agreement to reduce carbon emissions.
ROMANS: All right, time for an EARLY START on your money this morning. European shares are higher. Stock futures are up after a rally yesterday recovering from losses earlier in the week. The Dow yesterday, look at that, up 293 points.
There have been triple digit-point swings 10 of the last 11 days. That's scary for many investors, but apparently it is not scary for millennials.
According to Robin Hood, a stock trading app popular with millenials, the number of new accounts doubled on August 24th when the market tanked more than 1,000 points at the open.
Most Robin Hood users bought that Monday and Tuesday while other investors were shedding stocks -- they probably have been watching the stock market. For the past six years, if you are a 21-year-old --
BERMAN: Living in your parents' basement.
ROMANS: You will not buy when they go up. Smart.
It's 37 minutes past the hour. The search widening for three men suspected of killing a police officer. Investigators and their new leads overnight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:41:22]
ROMANS: Three suspected killers on the loose this morning and thousands of people turning out Wednesday in Fox Lake, Illinois, as a pair of vigils to remember slain police officer, Joe Gliniewicz, the officer affectionately known as G.I. Joe.
He was less than a month from retirement when he was shot and killed by these three suspects. Those three suspects still at large this hour. The manhunt has widened and authorities acknowledge the killers could be out of town or out the state.
There are no hard leads. There are more than 100 tips that have come in by phone and social media. Officials are hoping surveillance video provides some new answers. We get more from CNN's Ryan Young.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, a day full of emotion here in the city. You look at the balloons behind us and everything that is left for a guy called G.I. Joe. We went to the candlelight vigil where over 1,100 people showed up to show their respects to an officer who served so much time in this community.
But one thing we heard is how the search will continue and how it changed. We went up in a helicopter and looked from above to see what officers would be dealing with, difficult terrain. You had inlets, marshland, you also had lakes.
There is a heavy wood lined area here. They have changed how they are looking for the suspects. They have taken down the hard perimeter and broadening the search with more than 100 investigators working on the case.
Throughout the day, we know that there is a 17-minute period where officers are analyzing all of the information they got. They are looking at surveillance video to see if they can get digital images to see if they can get a better description of the suspects -- John and Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Ryan Young, thank you for that, Ryan.
Six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray will stand trial. The judge Wednesday denying a defense motion to dismiss the charges against these officers. He also rejected the request to remove Marilyn Mosby from the case.
The judge ruled the six Baltimore cops will be tried separately, charges ranging including involuntary manslaughter. The 25-year-old Gray died of spinal injuries while in police custody.
The police responding to the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri is a lesson not to handle mass demonstrations. That from a Justice Department report on the violent aftermath of the Michael Brown shooting last summer.
The report being released today cites poor police community relations and ineffective communication among dozens of law enforcement agencies and military style tactics that antagonize demonstrators.
In Kentucky, County Clerk Kim Davis will be in federal court to answer contempt citation for defying several court orders that she issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in accordance with the law. She refuses to do so on religious grounds calling it a, quote, "Heaven or hell decision for her." On Wednesday, another couple was turned away from her office in Rowan County, Kentucky.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIM DAVIS, KENTUCKY COUNTY CLERK: We are not doing marriage licenses today. We are pending appeal under the direction of the court -- under God's authority.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I knew you would say that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Davis could be fined. She could go to jail if she continues to defy the courts.
It's 44 minutes past the hour. Let's look at what is coming up on "NEW DAY." Alisyn Camerota joins me this morning. Hi, Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hi, Christine. Great to see you. So here's a question, what do presidential candidates Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina have in common with the vogue fashionista? They are all on NEW DAY this morning.
[05:45:07] Plus, Donald Trump meeting with the head of the Republican National Committee today, will he sign a pledge promising loyalty to the GOP or whoever is the eventual Republican nominee? We will talk about that and so much more with the Republican presidential candidates, will the sign the pledge?
Also, the latest on the manhunt for the three people suspected of killing an Illinois police officer. There are growing concerns about the safety of law enforcement officers. We have that and so much more at the top of the hour in 15 minutes.
ROMANS: All right, Alisyn Camerota, thanks for that. Nice to see you this morning. Happening now, migrants stranded in the streets for days. They are stopped in Hungary. They are desperately trying to board trains to Germany. We are live where the crisis is unfolding next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: An image this morning, a picture spreading around the world that captures the pain and desperation facing thousands of thousands of migrants and refugees trying to get to Europe. They are fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.
They are flooding into Hungary among other countries. This is the image people are talking about, a Turkish paramilitary police officer taking the body of a dead 3-year-old boy off the beach. People are living in squalor now.
[05:50:01] If they've managed to survive and get to Hungary, they are in makeshift refugee camp in the heart of Budapest. They've been trying for days to board trains bound for Germany.
Now they are finally being allowed into the rail station, but they are not going anywhere near their destination and it is unbelievable red tape among some of these European officials who are trying to figure out what to do with this crisis.
This crisis that is crystalizing around this image of a little boy dead on the beach, but a crisis that you can see in these pictures here, people desperate to get out of that train station in Hungary.
I want to bring our CNN senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon. She is on board one of those trains. She joins us by phone near Budapest.
We know the United Nations has said this year 2,400 civilians have died trying to get out of war-torn countries on this migrant route. You are right there with these people as people are trying to follow this same path to freedom.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): You know, they are, Christine. We also asked why it is they are risking this journey. Why they are risking the lives of their children to take this journey. They all say that it's because they believe that back in the respective home lands, most of them would end up dead anyway.
That is why they take the chance. We are on the train that just left the Budapest station. Hungarian officials said no international trains were going to be leaving from that station. Some people are hopeful that somehow maybe this train will be able to cross Hungary's border with Austria and travel on to Germany.
They are not entirely sure where they are going and what will happen when they get there. They just couldn't take it in the station anymore. The families here, a little girl next to me traveling with her uncle, she is traveling with a friend she just made and teaching him the alphabet in English.
It is the trip that the parents are making is all because of the children. They are aware of the risks. They do know their kids might die. They have survived and come this far and they are left to languish in streets and sheparded around from one area to another.
This is phenomenally difficult. This train is speeding now through the Hungarian countryside. People are logging in to their phones to see what is going on with the meetings in Brussels. Trying to see if there is going to be some sort of resolution to the life of limbo they have been finding themselves in.
ROMANS: You have this Eurozone area, but inside of those big borders are a lot of countries who feel differently where the migrants should go and what should happen to them. Germany saying come to us if you are from Syria or Iraq, we will help you. Other countries not so generous and you are seeing that play out right now. Arwa Damon on a train in the Hungarian countryside. Thank you, Arwa. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:57:32]
ROMANS: Good morning. Welcome back. I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an EARLY START on your money. Stocks are climbing. Look at the video of the celebrations in China to celebrate the end of World War II. Why am I showing you this?
The stock market is closed for the rest of the week in China and that is giving investors around the world a break from the scary selloff happening there and big questioning about just how quickly China's economic growth is slowing.
European stocks are higher this morning so are U.S. stock futures. You know, stocks rallied yesterday recovering a big from losses earlier in the week. The Dow climbed 293 points.
Now you can get your shows on Hulu ad free. It will cost you extra. The new commercial-free feature costs $11.99 a month. That is a $4 increase from the existing $7.99 Hulu subscription. It is the latest attempt for Hulu to gain ground in the highly competitive instant video streaming market. Netflix and Amazon do not have any advertising.
All right, will Donald Trump agree to rule out a third party bid for president? "NEW DAY" picks up that story now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will he or won't he rule out a third-party bid?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That would be the best path to victory.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump is criticizing Jeb for speaking Spanish.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pope Francis, when he comes to Washington, he will say mass in Spanish. Maybe he wants to deport the pope when he shows up too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three suspected cop killers remain on the loose.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not discounting anything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is a sad fact that no one is safe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A symbol of the horror of Europe's refugee crisis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just came here seeking a chance for a better life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: International community has proved itself incapable of preventing and stopping conflict.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Thursday, September 3rd, 6:00 in the east. Chris Cuomo is off today. John Berman is in. Great to have you.
So up first, the word of the day is loyalty. Republican Party leaders trying to get Donald Trump to pledge support to whomever the GOP nominee is and not run as a third party candidate. Trump is meeting with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus today.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: In the meantime, Trump spewed with rival, Jeb Bush. The frontrunner of the Republican Party tells Bush who is bilingual to speak English in the U.S. CNN's Sara Murray is following all this live for us in our Washington Bureau -- Sara.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, Michaela. It's a big day.
