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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Confederate Flag Debate Rages On; Trump Won't Rule Out Independent Bid; 21 Million Americans Victimized in Hack Attack; Iran Nuclear Talks Extended Again. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired July 10, 2015 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:19] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: In just hours, the Confederate flag comes down in South Carolina, but is the debate really over about this divisive symbol?
Donald Trump giving Republican leaders a new reason to fear -- that he could be a problem in the upcoming election beyond the primaries.
And, an historic government data breach. I'm talking historically awful -- 21 million Americans with Social Security numbers stolen. We'll tell you what you need to know. That's coming up ahead.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman. It's Friday, July 10th, 4:00 a.m. in the east. Christine Romans is off today.
And happening in just a few hours, the Confederate battle flag, which has flown at the South Carolina capitol for generations, it will be lowered for the last time and then taken to a state museum. This is the culmination of a stunning turn of events that begun with the murder of nine people last month at the African-American church in Charleston. They were killed by a gunman who had posed with a Confederate flag in social media pictures.
The debate ended finally in the South Carolina house, following 13 hours of passionate pleas, like this one from Representative Jenny Horne.
CNN's Don Lemon is in Columbia with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: John, 22 days after the massacre at the AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, Governor Nikki Haley signed the bill that this flag on the state house grounds in Columbia must come down. It's going to come down within a few hours here. And there is going to be a ceremony.
When she signed that bill yesterday, what she said was that generations of Americans, generations around the world, will look at South Carolina differently.
GOV. NIKKI HALEY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: This is the story about the history of South Carolina and how the action of nine individuals laid out this long chain of events that forever showed the state of South Carolina what love and forgiveness looks like.
And I will tell you now this is about our children, because when they go back and look at the history books, while we're still grieving and the grieving is going to last for a long time, when the emotions will start to fade, the history of the actions that took place by everyone in South Carolina to get us to the moment is one we can all be proud of.
LEMON: The eyes of the world really were on South Carolina, as the governor as signed that bill, and said that this flag is going to come down.
Even the former President Bill Clinton weighed in.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: I almost cried when I saw that picture of the South Carolina legislature yesterday with Republicans and Democrats and African-Americans and white people embracing each other and making that vote and seeing the decisive speech made by a woman who is a direct descendant of Jefferson Davis. Don't tell me that we can't get across the lines of divide. We just have to keep working at it.
LEMON: So, it all happens today at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, in just a few hours. We'll be here covering it live for you.
John, back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: That's right. Ten a.m. Eastern Time, do not miss it. CNN will have that event as it happens live.
The Confederate flag became the surprising center of debate in Congress. House Speaker John Boehner pulled the funding bill at the last minute because some Republicans are pushing an amendment to allow the continued display of the flag at National Park Service cemeteries.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest slammed Republican lawmakers as out of step with the vast majority of Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Right now, the interior appropriations bill in the House is jammed up because a sizable number of House Republicans are eager to protect the status of the Confederate flag on National Park Service grounds. It's the same congressional Republicans who've declined to criticize the race- baiting rhetoric of a leading Republican presidential candidate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Earnest was making reference to Donald Trump there and his controversial remarks about immigrants where he called some of them drug dealers and rapists.
There is new anxiety among Republicans this morning regarding Donald Trump and not just his immigration comments will alienate Latino voters. On that front, Trump told Anderson Cooper he would actually draw Hispanics to the party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What I'm gong to do for the Latinos is I'm going to be able to create jobs. I'm going to take jobs from China, I'm going to take jobs -- excuse me -- from Mexico, from Japan where they are sending millions of automobiles all the time and we get nothing out of it. I'm going to take jobs back and bring them back into the country.
And the Latinos are going to be able to work and make good money. They're going to vote for me.
[04:05:00] And I'll tell you what? I will take them away from Hillary Clinton.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The new concern for Republicans this morning is not the comments about immigrants, Trump is now leaving the door open for a third party bid for president. Asked of if we would support whichever Republican emerges from the primaries, Trump told "The Washington Post" he would, quote, "have to see who the nominee is."
And this morning, problems are mounting in a new Trump hotel under construction in Washington, D.C. Protesters stood outside demanding a halt to the project or at least the removal of Trump's name from the building. In a new chef there has now reversed plans for a restaurant in the hotel.
CNN's Joe Johns has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John, Donald Trump has given a barrage of interviews. And now, there are mixed messages about whether the chairman of the Republican National Committee asked him to tone down his rhetoric. The RNC is calling this a respectful conversation between Trump and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. They have to walk a line because the Republican Party, especially since the presidential cycle of 2012, has been trying to make in-roads to Latino voters and the overarching concern is that Trump's comments are hurting as opposed to helping the GOP.
Donald Trump is saying chairman Priebus did not test ties per se, and that, in fact, the call was more congratulatory than anything. But Trump is admitting the subject of his comments on immigration did come up in that brief conversation. It's important because the RNC did a study that's been described publicly as an autopsy of the last presidential election and one of the big takeaways was that Republican candidates needed to change the way they talk about the immigration issue.
Meanwhile, the fallout continues at the new hotel Trump is putting up in Washington, D.C. There were protests against Trump at the construction site on Thursday. The real fallout at the hotel has more to do with Trump's business partners on the project who are backing out.
The latest one to do so is Geoffrey Zakarian, who is the culinary director of the Plaza Hotel in New York which Trump used to own but sold to a business group from India. Zakarian was teed up to put up a new restaurant in a new Trump hotel in D.C., but put out a statement saying Trump's statements don't align with his personal core values and that he wasn't able to move forward.
Another chef and restaurateur Jose Andres has also backed out of putting a restaurant into the hotel for basically the same reasons.
Trump, for his part, is showing no signs of backing down. He has a Saturday visit scheduled to the state of Arizona which has been ground zero in the debate over illegal immigration -- John.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right. Joe Johns for us in Washington.
As for another Republican in the field, Jeb Bush is amassing an unprecedented campaign war chest. The first six months, Bush and his allied super PAC Right to Rise USA raised more than $114 million. Now, more than $100 million of that went straight to the super PAC. Bush was able to personally raise essentially unlimited funds for that PAC most of the year because he did not declare until just a few weeks ago.
An unusual Clinton/Bush pairing to show this morning. The former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton shared the stage at the presidential leadership event in Texas.
As you might imagine, talk turned to the current presidential campaign and the possibility that sharp elbows could emerge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: I know Jeb and I'm confident Secretary Hillary will, you know, elevate the discourse. I can't attest to their surrogates. I can attest to this surrogate. I'm not going to be a surrogate, but it's --
(LAUGHTER)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: I expect it to be very vigorous in the primaries. And then, whoever wins the two primaries will have a hard debate. We ought to show respect for the debate by trying to be specific and clear as we can about the policy choices before us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: It turns out, these guys know someone pretty well running for president right now. The two were on hand to celebrate the first graduating class of the
presidential leadership scholarship program. That's a partnership between the Bush and Clinton presidential libraries.
Later this morning, Senator Bernie Sanders, who is running for president, perhaps Hillary Clinton's chief rival for the Democratic nomination, he will be a guest on "NEW DAY". That's at 8:30 Eastern Time.
New developments this morning: the data thief from the federal Office of Personnel Management, it has gone from huge to colossal. Government investigators say the hackers stole the sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers of more than 21 million people. That is nearly one in 10 American adults.
The original estimate was about 4 million. Nearly all those affected had submitted security clearance applications.
Intelligence officials say China is the leading suspect in this theft. Republican lawmakers are calling on President Obama to fire the head of the Office of Personnel Management, Katherine Archuleta.
[04:10:03] The White House says the president still has confidence that Archuleta is the right person for the job.
New this morning, FBI arrests saved American lives. That is the word from Director James Comey who says more than ten people with suspected ties to ISIS were arrested in the last month or so. Comey believes the foiled plans to carry out attacks in connection with the July Fourth holiday. He provided no details that says the suspects were inspired by the unprecedented social media campaign carried out by ISIS.
Along those lines, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has a new leader and he is calling fro attacks in the United States. And in a just release audio message, Qasim Al-Rimi calls on Muslims to conduct global jihad. He made a specific order to, quote, "direct and gather your arrows and swords against the United States." Al-Rimi also praised al Qaeda operations in Syria and Taliban operations in Afghanistan, stressing that al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen will not stand by while the United States, he says, kills Muslims.
Happening now: a new offer by Greece in its last best hope to stay in the euro and stave off economic calamity. Details of the proposals obtained by CNN include deep spending cuts and tax increases. Those are things that the Greek leader said he would not support before. But a different tone now. All that in exchange for a three-year bailout of at least 50 billion euros.
Now, the Greek parliament and European leaders have just a few days to debate and decide the fate of Greece.
CNN's Isa Soares is in Athens this morning.
And, Isa, it's like whiplash, policy whiplash. Today, there seems to be hope that a deal is possible. ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It does feel a bit like
whiplash. Good morning to you, John.
A deal seems likely, may be possible after the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras handed in his proposals to Europe yes last night. I think a couple of hours to spare. But I think many people waking up here pretty much spitting feathers at the fact this deal includes more austerity measures, even hasher austerity measures, John, than the ones he could have agreed on before the referendum on Sunday. So, I think a lot of people will be very angry.
Now, in terms of what they are proposing, you said, they want a 53 billion euro bailout, three-year bailout, and they're about 13 billion euro of spending cuts. They have also many taxes in Greece, they've given in on that, made concessions also on pensions.
So, they made many concessions. One of them includes getting rid of the special rate to the rich to the islands. This is something of a major red line.
The other red line they have conceded on is, in fact, the pensions. A special rate for poorer pensioners. They said, we are not going to give you that, Europe. Now it seems, they are giving into that.
They're also going to cut military spending, raise retirement age, as well as reform the VAT system to -- reform the whole system and include 23 percent tax of VAT on restaurants.
So, I think a lot of people will wake up very angry. At the moment, Alexis Tsipras is meeting with members of his Syriza party. There will be a few radical left wingers who will be saying, without a doubt, they don't want this deal. But later on, it will be parliament to vote on this before it goes on to the E.U. finance ministers and E.U. summit -- John.
BERMAN: Curious to see how he supports austerity today that he really opposed just one week ago. It will be interesting.
Isa Soares for us in Athens -- thanks so much, Isa.
Time for an early start on your money. Alison Kosik is here with that.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSIENSS CORRESPONDENT: And, good morning. And, you know, with all the Greek drama and even China's stock markets crashing, it looks like the U.S. markets are going to end the week on a positive note.
BERMAN: Nice.
KOSIK: European shares, they're much higher now. So are U.S. stock futures, because as you heard, there is hope that Greece may finally reach a deal for a new bailout plan. We can only hope. This is the last chance for Greece to stay in the euro.
Asian shares are also mostly higher. Shanghai composite, gosh, it's been on quite a wild ride this week, but stocks are up 4 1/2 percent today.
So, the question is, for China, is this the end of the tailspin for stocks in China? The government has stepped in to stop the plunge. And it seems to be working at least right now. Stocks have fallen 30 percent in recent weeks, wiping out trillions of dollars.
Also rising, oil prices. U.S. crude is up about 2 percent at the moment. Commodities like oil, copper and iron have slid on worries about the health of the global economy. So, oil going up. Good for investors. Not so good for consumers who need to fill up their gas tank.
BERMAN: Yes. People who actually need to drive.
KOSIK: Exactly.
BERMAN: All right. Alison, thanks so much.
We have some new fallout for Bill Cosby this morning. His sex and drugs confession now (INAUDILE) the L.A. police, all the way to the White House. Details next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:17:58] BERMAN: New fallout this morning from the admission by Bill Cosby under oath that he obtained drugs with the intention of giving them to women he wanted to have sex with. The Los Angeles Police Department has launched a criminal investigation, looking into sexual assault allegations against Cosby, including those for which the statute of limitations has expired.
The response has now even reached the White House.
CNN's Jean Casarez has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, as everyone waits to see if the full deposition of Bill Cosby from 2005 will be publicly released, the sexual assault survivors organization PAVE is petitioning the White House to take back a Presidential Medal of Freedom that Cosby received in 2002. The online petition has garnered more than 2,600 signatures.
White House spokesperson Josh Earnest says he doesn't know what will happen, but as a rule, the administration has been very focused on countering sexual assault.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Police Department confirms with CNN it does have an open investigation regarding Cosby, but it won't say anything more than that.
Alleged victim Chloe Goins met with the LAPD earlier this year. And her attorney Spencer Kulvin this year tells me that several weeks ago, the lead detective on Cosby's investigation within the LAPD called him, wanting more information. And also, insurance company AIG, who insures Cosby under three
policies, has filed federal suit saying they will not defend the star in the civil defamation suits brought by accuser Janice Dickinson in California or three women in Massachusetts. Their reason? Cosby's insurance contracts don't cover sexual assault, molestation, or harassment, sexual, physical or mental abuse.
CNN has reached out to Cosby's attorney, Marty Singer, for a response. If AIG's suit is successful, Cosby could have to pay out of his own pocket any monetary damages that these women would be awarded by a court or a jury. And that could be substantial -- John.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Just the beginning.
All right. Jean Casarez, thanks so much.
[04:20:01] Just days from a deadline to reach a nuclear deal with Iran or, in fact, the deadline has been blown through again and again and again -- tough issues are still standing in the way. We are live with the negotiations, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: This morning, the deadline to reach a final nuclear deal with Iran has been extended with no firm end date. Secretary of State John Kerry is warning that the United States could walk away from the negotiating table if Iran does not make the tough decisions needed for a final agreement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: And the simple fact is, that despite all of the progress that we have made and it's real, some of the tough issues remain unresolved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Real progress, but real obstacles. So, where does that leave the world in the state of these negotiations?
CNN's Nic Robertson live in Vienna with the very latest.
Nic, it's a little bit confusing about just where they stand right now.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, it really is, there was a notion they would get a deal done and before Congress before the deadline which would have been about four hours ago. The morning of the 10th today. Then, there was the fact these talks were extended Tuesday through Friday.
And then U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry last night saying, well, the Iranians need to make those tough decisions, but it's not going to stick around forever just because the clock strikes midnight, he says, it doesn't mean we're going to walk away from the table.
[04:25:01] But there is a finite amount of time and he didn't specify that amount of time. Where does that leave us?
Well, right now, it leaves us with John Kerry in a meeting with Iranian foreign minister and E.U. foreign policy chief. That began a few minutes ago.
E.U. foreign policy chief was asked last night how long this is going to go, how much more time. She said -- this was 14 hours ago, mind you -- she said it was a matter of hours before we know. Perhaps she means 24 or 48 hours, what we call a couple of days. It's really unclear at the moment.
But their positions are entrenched. I went to a briefing by a senior Iranian official. He made it very clear from their perspective. The trust deficit between them and the United States is growing, gaps are getting bigger. They think the United States is moving the goalpost, and they believe, contrary to what Secretary Kerry said, they believe, Iranians believe that it's the United States that needs to make the tough political decisions.
So, where we stand today, entrenched, a timeline unclear. Supposedly, according to one top diplomat in the talks right now as we speak, a matter of hours. We have been already 14 hours since she said that -- John.
BERMAN: It would be interesting to see. Perhaps the United States making one last effort to force Iran to move here.
Nic Robertson, thanks so much.
The Confederate flag just hours now from coming down from South Carolina's capitol grounds. Is this emotional debate over or is a new one just set to begin?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: The Confederate flag comes down in South Carolina in just a few hours.
