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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Debt Ceiling Deadline Approaches; N.J. Senate Rate Tightens; While You Were Sleeping
Aired October 14, 2013 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The debt ceiling deadline just three days away this morning. Meaning, Congress and the White House have only until Thursday to come up with some sort of plan to give the administration permission to borrow the money necessary to pay the bills. The U.S. needs to pay its bills, will not be able to after Thursday. And experts say if we do not get that permission to pay the bills, it could mean economic catastrophe.
Talks between House Republicans and the white House, they fell apart over the weekend. So, now, all hope rests with two men. Senate leaders, Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell, they say they're trying to work out their own deal and try and force the House's hands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, (D) NEW YORK: I think there's a view in the Senate that we have to take over. That the House will get nothing done. But hopefully, if we can pass something with a broad bipartisan majority, that the House will then act.
SEN. RAND PAUL, (R) KENTUCKY: We have 13 compromises this week to open the government. The Democrats have rejected each one of them. To me, there's a big picture problem. We have a $17 trillion debt. We're borrowing more than a million dollars every minute. So, we do have to address that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So, the new sticking point this morning appears to be on the question of spending with Republicans objecting to a plan, Democratic plan, that would have restored some cuts now in effect as a result of the sequester, those forced spending cuts. All this is happening as the deadline for dealing with this grows closer and closer and closer.
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Thirty-two minutes past the hour. A weekend protest over the government shutdown spreading from the World War II memorial in Washington all the way to the White House. Backers of the Tea Party rallied and face off with park police Sunday. The World War II memorial has been officially close since the shutdown began.
But the park service has said it will not stop veterans who want to visit. The protesters wanted to send the message, though, picking up the barriers and dumping them in front of the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is the federal government spending money to erect barricades to keep veterans out of this memorial?
(CHANTING)
(EXPLETIVE DELETED)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're American citizens and we're all veterans. We have a right to be here. We have a First Amendment right to speak our mind. We're being shut down.
(CHANTING) USA! USA! USA!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: "Politico" says another rally is planned for later this week, also at the World War II memorial and this one involving major veterans groups, including the American Legion of VFW will call on Congress to end the stalemate and to reopen the government.
BERMAN: Just a hotly contested Senate battle with people heading to the polls this week in New Jersey. Newark mayor, Cory Booker, facing really a tougher than expected race. The Democrat is really far better known his opponent, but he has watched his poll numbers plummet over the last few months, though, he's still up by 12 points in most recent polls. Now, the election is just two days away and his republican challenger calling in a prominent heavy-hitter. Jason Carroll reports.
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STEVE LONEGAN, (R) NEW JERSEY CANDIDATE: Time we held the line!
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What does a candidate do if you're down in the polls days from the election and your opponent is a political celebrity?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, New Jersey!
CARROLL: Answer? Bring in your own celebrity.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can the rest of America count on you to send Steve Lonegan to the United States Senate?
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CARROLL: That's exactly what New Jersey's Republican Senate candidate, Steve Lonegan, did. Former mayor of Bogota is facing an uphill battle against the man well-known on the national stage, Newark's mayor, Cory Booker.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't be measuring the drapes there just quite yet. CARROLL: Palin and Lonegan paint the race as a national referendum on the president's policies, including obamacare.
LONEGAN: When we go to Washington October 17th, it's going to be Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid that are going to fold!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cory Booker, radical, liberal, stream.
CARROLL: Thanks in part to Lonegan's aggressive ad campaign, Booker's double digit lead, 28 points, in August dipped to 12 points according to a poll released last week. Not surprising to some voters here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I believe that there are a lot of people in the state that have conservative values. They just don't know it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a republican, but I think Lonegan is a little bit too far to the right.
KRISTA JENKINS, PROFESSOR, FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON UNIVERSITY: He really is very much a movement conservative. I think that makes his uphill battle that much steeper because of his identification as a Tea Party conservative.
CARROLL: Lonegan is anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage. His and his campaign's views on Mayor Booker seem to be getting all the attention. Lonegan fired one of his top advisers Friday after that adviser gave a profanity laced interview ridiculing Mayor Booker for having a Twitter exchange with a stripper saying, "I don't know. It was like what a gay guy would say to a stripper."
LONEGAN: I have hundreds of activists, volunteers, donors, people on this campaign and I can't be responsible for what all say, but I will take responsibly. So, i terminated the gentleman for his inappropriate comment.
CARROLL: Lonegan has been criticized for his own comments about Booker. This after Booker addressed questions about whether he was gay saying, "so, what does it matter if I am?" Lonegan weighed in during an August radio interview.
LONEGAN: It's kind of weird. As a guy, I personally like being a guy.
CARROLL: And then, there was the comment Lonegan made during last week's debate where taxpayers money from the suburbs and rural areas goes.
LONEGAN: All that income tax and sales tax money gets poured into the big black hole of Newark. But the liberal media is going to say what they want to say. Newark's budget is a big black hole, and it sucks in millions and billions of suburban taxpayer dollars and we never see it again, period.
CARROLL (on-camera): The last time Sarah Palin appeared at a Tea Party express rally was more than a year ago. Whether or not she has any influence this time will be determined when the voters head to the polls in New Jersey this Wednesday.
Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
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SAMBOLIN (on-camera): Our thanks to Jason.
And flash flooding inundated Central Texas this weekend. Did you see these pictures? It led to scores of evacuations across the Austin area as flash floods turned dry creek beds to white water. In one area, more than a foot of rain fell in just a 12-hour period. Firefighters and first responders making multiple high water rescues and long-time residents say they've never seen anything like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the front of my house, it was three feet deep at least deeper and it was like a raging river going through. I couldn't have got out of my house because it was such fast water.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When i saw the red lights bleeping and I found out my neighbor was being hauled out through four feet of water in her house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: Officials say the moisture will probably do little to alleviate drought conditions. Most of the rain falling down stream at the areas that actually need it most and there could be more on the way for the ones that don't. Flash flood warnings are in effect through midnight tonight.
BERMAN (on-camera): Let's get a better of sense actually where things stand today in terms of the weather. Karen Maginnis has a look at the forecast. Good morning, Karen.
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John and Zoraida. Yes. A lot of areas across Texas have really been doing without, not just this particular year, but in years past. We go from the panhandle all the way towards the hill country down towards Brownsville and then Vincent State Park. They are in drought conditions but this will do very little to alleviate that because the rain is coming down so heavy, so fast that there's runoff.
So, it doesn't really soak into the ground. A lot of agriculture regions around this area but all the way from San Antonio to Corpus Christi over towards Houston as you just saw as much as a foot of rainfall and high water rescues. Now, we've got an area of low pressure ejecting out of the west, pushing towards for the Midwest.
And for this afternoon, it could spell the potential for some severe weather in Nebraska and Kansas from North Platte to Hayes Garden City. So, watch out for that as we go towards the afternoon. But the flip side to this is on the back side. We're looking at snowfall. Yellowstone Park, some of those higher peaks could see as much as 10 inches. You go down towards the front range, the Wasatch -- in Salt Lake, looks like they're seeing a little bit of early ski season there as well -- Zoraida, John.
BERMAN: All right. Thanks so much.
SAMBOLIN: Cookie weather.
BERMAN: Crazy, isn't it?
All right. Thirty-eight minutes after the hour right now. Former congresswoman, Gabriel Giffords, continuing to push -- continuing her push to stand gun violence, this time --
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BERMAN (voice-over): It was a weekend visit to a gun show in Saratoga Springs in New York. It was her first trip to a gun show since surviving an assassination -- well, since surviving a shooting back in 2011.
Alongside, her husband and New York's attorney general. Giffords chatted with gun dealers and told reporters it's time for Congress to take action on gun laws.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, FMR U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Stopping guns takes courage. The courage to do what is right, to encourage new ideas. I've seen what occurred when my life was on the line. Now is the time to come together. Fight, fight, fight! Be bold! Be courageous! The nation is counting on you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Bold and courageous. New York has some of the nation's toughest background checks for gun buyers, including a gun shows where all buyers must be cleared before they can make a purchase.
SAMBOLIN (voice-over): So, an incident involving dry ice at Los Angeles International Airport temporarily following up travel for some passengers. Did you hear about this? It happened in a restricted area of the airport's terminal two where authorities found shards of a plastic bottle that apparently exploded after being packed with dry ice. No one was hurt. The terminal was only evacuated for a short of time, delaying a handful of flights.
BERMAN: Never been delayed for that reason but delayed for almost every --
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: All right. Halloween just a few days away, and it seems like haunted houses are popping up all over the place. SAMBOLIN: They are.
BERMAN: Well, what better place than for a horror fan to show his love for his girlfriend? That is Nick Showman. Quite the showman apparently, asking --
SAMBOLIN: An interesting way to show love.
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: He asked her to marry him inside a Phoenix haunted house!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK SHOWMAN, GROOM-TO-BE: Will you take my hand and marry me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes!
STEPHANIE HILL, BRIDE-TO-BE: I didn't know what he was doing. He just sort of stopped on the bridge and I was -- there is like zombies. I'm like, what are you doing? Let's go! My hand is shaking. Sorry.
SHOWMAN: Best way ever to do it?
HILL: Yes. Best way to ever do it. I love that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: -- nothing more romantic than fake -- zombies.
SAMBOLIN: How romantic. Yes. I know. Did you see how they were gawking at her? She's like get me out of here!
BERMAN: The undead singing love songs in the background there. They escaped unharmed --
SAMBOLIN: It's a great story.
BERMAN: -- despite all the zombies. We wish them a happy Halloween and a very happy, scary marriage.
SAMBOLIN: They are on national news now. So, a very smarty. Very smart.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN (on-camera): Look at that. And we see he had the ring, right? Let's assume that --
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: All right. Forty-one minutes after the hour. And coming up, a woman trapped 20 feet in the air when a draw bridge suddenly goes up. She's dangling above the ground. Wait until you see what she managed to hold on to and we'll also see the dramatic rescue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Welcome back to EARLY START. We have to show you this picture and tell you this remarkable story from South Florida. That's a woman on a railroad bridge, that's a draw bridge dangling about 20 feet in the air. This happened in Ft. Lauderdale. Not really clear how she ended up on the draw bridge hanging like that.
There is another bridge nearby for pedestrians and this bridge you're looking at is remote-controlled. So, once it started going up, it was no one around to stop it. The woman was dangling there for about 20 minutes. The most surprising thing of all now, not that she was caught on a draw bridge dangling, no, the most surprising thing, she never let go of her purse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNA MATLACK, WITNESS: I would have been flipping out like, oh, my goodness, oh, my goodness.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you have let go of the purse?
MATLACK: Well, it depends on what's in the purse. It depends on what's in the purse. I would have held onto it if there were some valuables in there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN (on-camera): I would not have held on to the purse.
BERMAN: No, that would not be a priority to me at all. The bridge has loud sirens to go up every time it raises. So, it really is unclear why the woman was still there when it went up. There is some speculation she may have been disoriented after taking part in a breast cancer walk nearby. Obviously, we're certainly, hopeful that she's doing OK.
(CROSSTALK)
SAMBOLIN: Yes. OK. It is time now for the morning rhyme. It's our tweets of the day and there's just one -- you (INAUDIBLE).
BERMAN: You know, there's one, but it's very fitting and right on the news. It's from Evan Pinsinolt (ph). And his thoughts are really perfect. He said, "went to bed and not feeling happy. Woke up elated, thanks to Big Papi!" He says let's go Red Sox, even though he's in Michigan. I think he's an anchor in Lansing, Michigan, but he hails from the Berkshires. He has a tweet that is truly fantastic. Thank you for watching.
(LAUGHTER)
BERMAN: Thanks for pitching in. And obviously, send in more tweets, right?
SAMBOLIN: Yes, because I think you were winner today with two or three tweets and morning rhymes. Anyway, we'd love to hear from you. It's #morningrhyme and #EARLYSTART. Join us.
BERMAN: All right. So, what is coming up on "NEW DAY" besides more about Tom Brady and David Ortiz? Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, what could possibly happen besides the Big Papi and --
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. I do need to raise one thing. Evan, I believe this is the Evan that I went to college with who did your morning rhyme. He and I were in college together. He was a very good actor before he was a very good anchor.
BERMAN: That is -- he says he was an actor on his Twitter profile.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: -- seven brides for seven brothers? You guys ever do that?
BOLDUAN: Seven brides for seven brothers -- no, we didn't do that one.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oklahoma.
BOLDUAN: Now, you're actually testing my memory bank which obviously is failing.
SAMBOLIN: At this hour is --
BOLDUAN: Exactly. We were going to (INAUDIBLE). All right. Anyway, there was my little.
CUOMO: Oklahoma. Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry when they see me out it in my surrey (ph). My daughter is learning it now.
BOLDUAN: Can you sing it rather than rhyme it?
CUOMO: No, I just have to know what the words -- memorize.
(LAUGHTER)
CUOMO: I'm a man. I assume (ph) music.
BOLDUAN: Oh, my goodness!
(LAUGHTER)
BOLDUAN: Good morning, everyone.
CUOMO: All right. Here's what we're doing today. First of all, Happy Columbus Day to you. I hope you're doing something fun with the family. We are here with our "NEW DAY" family and we are going after them about the shutdown and whether or not they can get a deal done with this T-minus three days before we hit the debt ceiling limit.
Are they going to raise it? Will they do it for so -- what length of time? What's on the table? What are the considerations? It seems these are headlines. It seems a negotiation has shifted from the House to the Senate. Why? Who? We'll take you through it. We have Senator Joe Manchin on. He's going to be talking to us about the latest state of affair. So, we'll give you that.
BOLDUAN: They're exhausting every possibility of negotiation before they actually negotiate it and we're tracking it all.
Also this, this is very interesting. Something you remember that face. New developments in the search for Madeleine McCann, the British toddler who went missing back in 2007. Well, police have now released brand-new sketches of a man they want to question about the night Madeleine disappeared.
And today, we're going to get a new timeline that they've created about the events surrounding her disappearance. They say it's a completely new timeline. It really changes the game. And we're going to have that ahead.
BERMAN: All right.
(CROSSTALK)
SAMBOLIN: Thank you.
BERMAN: All right. Coming up for us next, shocking comeback for the American league championship series. All right. Shocking and awesome. I can't say -- I just look at this and I get so happy. We will have the "Bleacher Report" coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: This morning, Boston sports fans are still celebrating two amazing comebacks. The Red Sox and Patriots both looked defeated last night, right? But both were able to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat!
BERMAN: Andy Scholes, please, play it again and again and again for us in the "Bleacher Report."
ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Good morning, guys. Well, what two amazing comebacks we saw last night in the city of Boston. Now, the Patriots comeback was so improbable that the stadium, it was half empty when it happened. Here's how it all went down. Two and a half minutes left, Patriots were down by four. Brady throws this interception. Fans think the game is over, start heading for the parking lot.
Well, Patriots get the ball back one more time and Brady drives them down the field with under ten seconds left. An amazing throw on to Kenbrell Thompkins. Touchdown, Patriots! They win 30-27, handing the Saints their first loss of the season. >
All right. The Cowboys and Redskins renewing their rivalry on "Sunday Night Football." Tony Romo coming off his amazing game against the Broncos. Third quarter, he finds Terrance Williams for the touchdown. That was Romo's only touchdown pass of the night, but it was enough. Cowboys win 31-16. RG3 struggles. They continue completed less than half of his passes. Redskins are a disappointing 1-4 this season. All right. Just two days after his two-year-old son passed away, Adrian Peterson took the field for the Viking in their game against the Panthers. Peterson said he never thought about not playing the game because football is way for him to cope with his emotions. The Vikings, they're blown out by the panthers, 35-10. After the game, Peterson spoke about the tragic loss of his son.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any time you lose a child, no matter what the circumstance or situation, it hurts, you know, I can't describe it. But, you know, supporting cast surrounding me and I'll get through it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Number one on the lineup section on BleacherReport.com, today is the amazing comeback by the Red Sox in game two of the ALCS. Down 5-1 in the eighth, pace (ph) is loaded for Big Papi in the first pitch he sees (ph). He sends in to the bull pen in right field. That's a grand slam. It ties the game at five.
Bottom of the ninth, runner on third for Jarrod Saltalamacchia and he comes through with a single. Red Sox win in a walk-off 65. It even the series at one game apiece. The ALCS now --
SAMBOLIN: What a moment.
SCHOLES: -- to Detroit for game three. And look at this celebration. Cardinals, they're going to play game three of the NLCS tonight against the Dodgers. First pitch 8:00 eastern on TBS. Cardinals lead that series two games to zero.
I can only imagine the roller coaster you were on yesterday, John. Looks like the patriots are going to lose, oh, the Patriots come back and win! The Red Sox is going to win, oh, the Red Sox come back win.
BERMAN: I got nothing left, Andy.
(CROSSTALK)
BERMAN: Great to see you. Thanks so much, Andy. Appreciate it.
SAMBOLIN: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: So much talking about Tom Brady and David Ortiz, we are completely out of time.
SAMBOLIN: The Bromance. The bromance has to continue tomorrow. Time for "NEW DAY" with Chris and Kate. Good morning.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLDUAN: Good morning, guys. We'll see you in a little bit.
CUOMO: All right. It's time to start the show and get you your top news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've had a productive conversation with Republican leader and optimistic about the prospects for a positive conclusion.
CUOMO: High stakes. In three days, the U.S. debt ceiling needs to be raised or else. The Senate is scrambling to make a deal. We will tell you where things stand.
BOLDUAN: The mystery American. A U.S. citizen found dead in a prison cell in Egypt. Was it a suicide or something more? The Egyptians suggest he may have been a spy.
CUOMO: Black Thursday. The holiday shopping season starting earlier than ever. Macy's now saying it will open Thanksgiving night. Good for you, bad for their employees. We'll tell you why.
Your "NEW DAY" starts right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is "NEW DAY" with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to "NEW DAY." It's Monday, October 14th, six o'clock in the east. Today, we commemorate today Columbus Day, the discovery of the new world and an equally perilous search. One for a deal on the debt ceiling as the clock on your screen shows the hours like grains of sand continue to filter through the glass.
Senators try to find some common ground this weekend to avoid what some economists believe would be catastrophe if the U.S. can't cover its debts. We're going inside the negotiations and inside what could happen just Thursday if there's no deal.
BOLDUAN: Plus, an investigation into the rule out of the health care overhaul that you will want to see. Our correspondent has been trying to sign up for these health care exchanges for nearly two weeks. The site has been live for nearly two weeks. Elizabeth Cohen has been trying to sign up this entire time. She's even setting her alarm at three in the morning to avoid the high traffic times. Was she finally able to log in and get an account? That is coming up.
CUOMO: First, T minus three days and counting until the debt limit deadline hits. Thursday is the big day, and of course, the government still shut down as we speak. It seems the deal making has shifted from House to Senate. So, now, the global economy be in the hands of two old school senators.
