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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Clinton's Course Correction; Carson Gun Controversy; Russia Not Letting Up in Syria. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired October 08, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:18] MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN ANCHOR: A new take on trade for Hillary Clinton. The Democratic frontrunner coming out against the president's new deal which she's advocated for in the past. How does this impact the race with the first Democratic around the corner?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Ben Carson says he would fight back against a would-be mass shooter. But when faced with a criminal with a gun, what did he actually do? You might be surprised.

KOSINSKI: Russia unleashing its full arsenal in Syria. Their military even forcing a U.S. plane to divert from a mission in Syria. We are live with the latest on the escalating conflict.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Michelle Kosinski, in for Christine Romans.

BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. It is Thursday, October 8th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

And this morning, a big split between Hillary and the White House on a big issue, one the president wants to be a cornerstone of his legacy.

Hillary Clinton now says -- now says she opposes a trade deal that she once pushed for as secretary of state. She has now come out against the Trans Pacific Partnership. That is a huge 12-nation deal known as TPP for short.

President Obama has been pushing this deal. His team has been negotiating for it. Clinton once called it the gold standard for trade deals. She said that when she was secretary of state. But that was before it was actually finalized.

Now, she tells Judy Woodruff of PBS that it does not meet the high bar she had sought to be creating Americans jobs, and lifting wages and advancing national security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have learned about trade agreements in the past for years. Sometimes they look great on paper. I know when President Obama came into office, he inherited a trade agreement with South Korea. I, along with other members of the cabinet, pushed hard to get a better agreement. We think we made improvements. Now, looking back on it, it doesn't have the results we thought it would have in terms of access to the markets, more access, et cetera.

JUDY WOODRUFF, PBS: So, are you saying that, as of today, this is not something you could support?

CLINTON: What I know about it as of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The full details have not been released or not available, which is why she says as of what she knows now.

Mrs. Clinton is in Washington for Congressional Hispanic Caucus event tonight. President Obama is speaking at the same awards dinner. So, there could be an interesting moment if they cross paths.

KOSINSKI: Clinton joins most Democrats in Congress and most of her Democratic rivals for president in opposing the Trans Pacific Partnership. Bernie Sanders welcomes her change of heart, calling the TPP, quote, "a continuation of disastrous trade policies that have led to the loss of millions of decent paying jobs." Sanders will take Clinton on head to head for the first time next week at the Democratic presidential debate here on CNN.

It will be a crucial moment for Sanders as he tries to move up from the second place in the polls. For the latest, let's go to CNN's Sunlen Serfaty in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michelle and John. Well, there is a lot riding on Tuesday's debate for Bernie Sanders. He's been out raising money, attracting big crowds and doing well in the polls. But this will be the first time that voters will see in facing off with Hillary Clinton. The campaign is calling this a very important moment for Sanders. They understand that, and certainly how he approaches handling Clinton and drawing policy distinctions with her up on stage will be key. I asked Bernie Sanders how he is approaching that as he preps for this debate.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You are looking at a candidate who has run in many elections, who has never run a negative political ad in my life and I hope to never have to run one. You are looking at a candidate who does not go about attacking people personally. I just don't do that.

But what I think democracy is about and what I think debates are about is in fact differentiating the differences of opinions that we have. That's full democracy. That's a good thing. And I look forward to a vigorous debate on the most important issues facing this country.

SERFATY: Now, that said, Bernie Sanders said he is very ready for the whole handful of topics to draw those policy distinctions with Clinton over TPP, over the Keystone Pipeline, over Wall Street. So, that certainly will be something that he intends to bring to the debate stage.

Now, tomorrow, Sanders will rule out his first congressional endorsement from Representative Grijalva of Arizona. He will also have three big campaign rallies over the weekend in Arizona, in Boulder, Colorado, and in Las Vegas. The campaign very eager, Michelle and John, to send him in with a lot of momentum to Tuesday's debate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI: Thanks, Sunlen.

And all of this, of course, leading up to Tuesday's first Democratic debate hosted by CNN and Facebook.

[04:05:03] BERMAN: Da, da, da.

KOSINSKI: That's it.

Coverage from Las Vegas begins at 8:30 Eastern. Be there.

BERMAN: That could be huge.

On the Republican side, new controversy surrounding around Ben Carson. On Twitter, conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch touted Carson as a prospective, get this, real black president. That from Rupert Murdoch. He pointed to a "New York Magazine" story on discontent with President Obama among African-Americans.

Carson himself is taking new heat over his claim that he would try to fight back against the mass shooter, like the one in Oregon. One actual survivor of that massacre takes some offense. Matthew Downing tells CNN via Facebook, "I'm fairly upset he said that. Nobody could truly understand what actions they would take like that in a situation unless they lived it."

We are learning that Ben Carson did in fact live through a crime involving a gun and apparently according to him, he did not fight back. He told Sirius XM that he was once held a gunman in a stick up at a Popeye's chicken restaurant in Baltimore.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The guy comes in and puts the gun at my ribs. I just said, I believe you want the guy behind the counter --

HOST: In a calm way?

CARSON: In a calm way.

HOST: OK.

CARSON: He said, oh, OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: Donald Trump is claiming himself a better politician than 2012 Republican candidates who surged to the top of the polls and faded just as quickly. Trump said he -- he is the outsider who will hang in there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For three months, I have been a politician. For three months, we have been number one.

You know, they used to say, well, Michele Bachmann, nice woman. Herman Cain, good guy. But they were there for week. We have been there for now three months, more than three months. So, it's good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: Rand Paul is having a bit of fun with Hillary Clinton's book. She sent all of the Republican candidates a copy as a tongue and cheek way to explain her accomplishments as secretary of state. It may not solve his chronic campaign fundraising problems, but Rand Paul has now put his copy of Clinton's book on eBay, with a note, "Get your signed copy of a great fiction book."

As of this morning, bidding is up over $1,300.

BERMAN: It's good money. It's good money for that book.

All right. The race to replace House Speaker Boehner getting complicated. Current Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy still the frontrunner, but Utah's Jason Chaffetz is challenging him. The group though of hard line conservatives, the Freedom Caucus, says it wants to support little known Florida Congressman Daniel Webster.

The House Freedom Caucus has about 40 numbers. That is enough to make things very complicated when the ultimate vote gets to the House floor at the end of October. A simple majority will carry it inside the Republican caucus. So, the real issue is a few weeks down line.

I should say that the current speaker, outgoing speaker John Boehner will appear on "Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" tonight.

KOSINSKI: The United States will not cooperate with Russia in the fight against ISIS. Defense Secretary Ash Carter insisting no collaboration is possible in Syria or Iraq, as long as the Russians continue to strike other targets. Perhaps with that in mind, Russia's defense ministry claimed overnight that it has hit ISIS infrastructure targets in Syria, using cruise missiles.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon confirming two U.S. military aircraft had to be diverted from their missions in Syria in the last few days in order to keep a safe distance from Russian fighter jets in the same air space.

Senior international correspondent Arwa Damon is monitoring the latest developments live from Istanbul -- Arwa. ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And the U.S. might not want to cooperate with Russia, but clearly they are going to have to coordinate to a certain degree to avoid any sort of disaster taking place in the skies. The Russians hitting multiple targets, according to a statements from the defense ministry in Raqqa, which is an ISIS stronghold, as well as in Idlib and Aleppo. But the U.S., NATO and Turkey are all disputing the fact that Russia is targeting ISIS or al Qaeda linked Nusra front, saying that less than 10 percent of Russia's strike are in fact against those two terrorist organization and that the rest are hitting the other rebel groups.

But do remember that Russia is in Syria at the request of the Syrian government. And the Syrian government does consider the vast majority, if not all of the groups to be terrorist organizations.

One that was hit yesterday according to its leader is one of the more moderate groups according to the leader is backed by the CIA. One of the Russia strikes, according to him, did take out one of their weapons depots. Turkey, of course, is concerned over the developments happening next door, especially following a series of its own air space violations. And NATO prepping, going into a meeting of its defense ministers.

Prior to that meeting, NATO secretary-general coming out and saying NATO is able and ready to defend all of the allies, also saying it is quite critical at this stage that NATO has doubled the size of its response force.

[04:10:08] KOSINSKI: Thanks so much, Arwa.

BERMAN: A rare move from President Obama. He apologized to the head of Doctors Without Borders. President Obama promised full White House cooperation with investigators and the phone call with the group's leader Joanne Liu. This follows Saturday's deadly U.S. airstrike that killed 22 people at a Doctors Without Borders medical facility in Kunduz in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president assured Dr. Liu that the Department of Defense investigation currently underway would provide a transparent, thorough and objective accounting of the facts and circumstances of the incident. And if necessary, the president would implement changes that would make tragedies like this one less likely to occur in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The White House has characterized the attack on the hospital as a mistake. Despite receiving the apology from President Obama, the leader of Doctors Without Borders is still demanding an independent investigation into what happened there.

KOSINSKI: Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn getting to face lawmakers on Capitol Hill today. The House Energy Committee is investigating the car maker's attempt to circumvent emissions requirements. Horn's prepared testimony today, he will tell the committee he knew about an emission's noncompliance issue back in the spring for 2014 and will apologize for Volkswagen's use of software designed to defeat the emissions standards testing regime.

BERMAN: All right. Let's get an early start on your money today. Alison Kosik is here with that.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you.

We are watching stocks this morning. Asian shares falling this morning. Stocks in China, though, they were the exception. Shanghai benchmark index climbing 3 percent after being close for a week-long holiday. It was kind of a catch up rally.

We'll look at the European shares, they're looking a bit more upbeat. And U.S. futures, they are down. Yesterday, the Dow had another triple digit rally, closing up 122 points. The Dow has gained more than 600 points over the past four trading days. But earning season is just around the corner, and profits overall are expected to fall. That's not good news. It could cause more volatility in the market. Plus, there's lingering concerns about China and what the Fed is going to do about interest rates.

Breaking news this morning, Fiat Chrysler has averted a strike. The United Auto Workers Union says it reached a revised deal with the automaker. That secures significant gains for its member. That stops a strike today that would have affected thousands of workers.

Union members will have to vote to finalize a deal. That vote happening Friday.

You are seeing these workers looking for a sweeter deal because the auto industry right now is really a bright spot, pulling in bigger profits. And you're seeing workers wanting to get a little bit of that.

BERMAN: If things are so good, how about some of the money?

KOSIK: Hands me down, right?

BERMAN: The Pope Francis effect. Chrysler Fiat doing so well after that pope drives one of their cars and now, everyone wants a little piece of the action.

KOSINSKI: Interestign.

All right. Well, a devastating blow for families of crew members on the ship that sank during Hurricane Joaquin. The search for survivors called off with the focus now finding the ship itself. The very latest, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: The Coast Guard has suspended its search for the 33-member crew of a doomed cargo ship El Faro. The vessel sank last week near the Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin. The search for wreckage continues though with the Navy salvage ship being called to help El Faro in the depths now of the Atlantic.

Let's get more now from CNN's Martin Savidge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Michelle.

For the first time in nearly a week, the U.S. Coast Guard, its vessels and its aircraft will not be going out on search and rescue efforts to find crew members of the El Faro. That's because as of sunset last evening, the event came to an end. It was a painful realization to be met by the families. The Coast Guard met with the families first to tell them.

CLAUDIA SCHULTZ, HUSBAND ON MISSING EL FARO CARGO SHIP: What a great man he was, how proud of them he was. How much we loved him.

I just want him back, even if it is just his body. I want him back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all do. Come here.

SAVIDGE: This effort now will go from searching from survivors to searching for answers. Now will come the U.S. Navy and NTSB. The Navy is going to be brought in at the end of the week to try to locate the wreckage of the vessel under what could be 15,000 feet of water. They will use submersibles.

They are specifically going to be looking for the voyage data recorder, black box, if you will, of the ship. To do that, it is like an airplane. It supposedly has a pinger. And that pinger should give off some kind of signal that will help them locate the wreckage.

So, first, they've got to listen, then send a submersible down to look and after that, hopefully retrieve that data recorder, because there is so much information to help them figure out why this tragedy happened and why these lives were lost -- John and Michelle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI: Thanks, Martin.

Well, a healthy milestone in the fight against Ebola. The World Health Organization reporting no new cases last week, the first time that has happened since the outbreak began in March 2014. And since then, more than 11,000 people have died from Ebola in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. WHO officials are cautiously optimistic. There's still a near term risk of further cases.

BERMAN: That is terrific news. It has taken a lot of work to get to this point.

KOSINSKI: Right.

BERMAN: All right. The East Coast finally emerging from the shadows of Hurricane Joaquin and just a brutal storm that hit so much of it. But what is in store for the next few days? You're going to want to hear this. The forecast is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:22:26] KOSINSKI: Cooler, drier, fall air filtering into the East Coast as the weekend approaches.

Let's get to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Michelle and John, good morning to you guys.

Yes, fall definitely in the air in like at least coming couple of days. If you take a look across portions of the Great Lakes, some cool weather beginning to filter in. Some showers from Duluth works its way towards Alpena.

In the 30s this morning across this region, and we do have, of course, flood watches locked if place across South Carolina as the river level is quite high over this region. In fact, take a look at some of the before and after images and what I want to notice is one of the dam failures that we have from satellite imagery perspective, the before image and watch this region as the dam fails completely. You see water takeover much of this region.

And again, this sort of pattern is a concern in the area because of the flood watches in place. And we do know the river levels have dropped from the record values of 127 feet in the case across the Congaree River, down towards action stage inside the next couple of days. So, certainly improving conditions. You look to the north. Here comes a cold front where the temperature trend behind is going to cool off significantly.

Chicago will shoot for 76 today, mid-80s around St. Louis. Look what happens there come Friday afternoon, dropping off into the 50s. Some 15 to 20 degrees cooler across the region. Even around portions of the northeast by Saturday, mid-70s, 60s come back. Overnight temperatures in New York City, down to the 40s by Sunday morning -- guys.

BERMAN: All the way down to the 40s. Thanks, Pedram.

The FAA testing new technology to detect rogue drone flights near U.S. Air Force and other crowded venues. The system is designed to track the drones and even force them to land if needed. No time yet for any sort of rollout of this technology. Officials say the growing number of unauthorized drones in the air poses a potential safety and security risk.

KOSINSKI: Yes, unauthorized or not, that sounds kind of risky.

Well, embattled FIFA president Sepp Blatter is reportedly facing a 90- day suspension following an internal ethics investigation. A final decision could be announced today. The 79-year-old Blatter is being investigated for selling World Cup TV rights to a FIFA colleague at a reduced price. Blatter denies any wrongdoing and his lawyers say he has not been notified of any action.

BERMAN: All right. There is joy in Wrigleyville tonight. The Chicago Cubs, they move on in the playoffs. They beat the Pittsburg Pirates. It's a shame they had to play each other because both of these teams are fun. They won 4-0 in the NL Wild Card game. Jake Arrieta, he was fun, a complete game shutout, 11 strikeouts and giving up just four hits. The Pirates not touching the ball at all.

[04:25:00] Now, there was this -- the benches cleared in the seventh. Arrieta got plunked right there. Why? Well, he hit two Pirates earlier in the game.

Nice to see they care. I will say that. Sean Rodriguez, the guy throwing that punch right there, he got tossed. He won't be in the game anyway at that point. This sets up a great rivalry in sports. It continues.

The Cubs and Cardinals in the division series that begins on Friday. Jon Lester, former Red Sox pitcher, now pitches for the Cubs. So, I'm sort of a Cubs fan, there you go if you care.

The tall stack of political headlines this morning. Hillary Clinton with a big time policy shift and new controversial comments from Ben Carson about guns. CNN Democratic debate less than a week away. How can we handle all of the excitement? We'll try next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: A big time shift for Hillary Clinton. The Democratic frontrunner now splitting with the White House, now against a trade deal she once pushed for dozens of times as secretary of state. What does it mean for 2016? That's ahead.

KOSINSKI: Ben Carson facing charges of hypocrisy with his stance on guns, days after saying people should take on would-be shooters. He admits to doing the opposite when facing down an armed robber. You'll hear what he said.

BERMAN: Russia now launching cruise missiles at Syria. This raising the stakes in the conflict as we are getting word this morning of a new ground assault from the Syrian regime. A live report just minutes away.

Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.

KOSINSKI: I'm Michelle Kosinski, in for Christine Romans. It's half past the hour.