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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

George H.W. Bush in Hospital After Fall; Selling the Iran Nuclear Deal; Caitlyn Jenner's Emotional Message; Greek Parliament Accepts Bailout. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired July 16, 2015 - 04:30   ET

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

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[04:30:34] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight: President George H.W. Bush hospitalized after a fall. What we're learning this morning about his condition ahead.

President Obama lashing back at critics -- critics of the Iran nuclear agreement. The White House working overtime to sell this deal around the world. Team coverage breaking it all down ahead.

And Caitlyn Jenner's powerful message as she accepts the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

Welcome back to EARLY START this Thursday morning. I'm Christine Romans. Thirty minutes past the hour. John Berman has the morning off.

Breaking overnight: a major scare for President George H.W. Bush. He is hospitalized this morning in Portland, Maine, after a fall at his home in Kennebunkport. His spokesman Jim McGrath saying, tweeted, "41 fell at home in Maine today and broke a bone on his neck. His condition, he is fine, but he'll be in a neck brace."

The spokesman also says the 91-year-old former president is not expected to have a long hospital stay. The elder Bush also suffers from Parkinson's disease.

Beginning this morning, a new day of campaigning by the White House for the Iran nuclear deal. Vice President Joe Biden meets with Democrats on a Senate Foreign Relations Committee later today. That follows Biden's sit down with House Democrats on Wednesday and a news conference by President Obama, all aimed at corralling enough support to keep the hard won agreement limiting Iran's nuclear program on track.

CNN's Jim Acosta has the latest for us this morning from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine, answering a chorus of critics, President Obama came out swinging, insisting his nuclear deal with Iran was never designed to solve every problem with Tehran. The president brushed off the celebrations of the deal as a victory in Iran and even in Syria. And he hit back at opponents in Congress, demanding that they read the agreement.

Mr. Obama also bristled at one question on why Americans currently detained in Iran were not freed as part of the deal. He said that would have complicated their release. And he touted the agreement's controversial inspection process, dismissing doubts that Iran would get away with cheating.

Here's what he had to say.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If, in fact, we're counting the amount of uranium that's being mined, then suddenly some is missing on the back end, they got some explaining to do. This is not something you hide in a closet. This is not something you put on a dolly and kind of wheel off somewhere.

ACOSTA: But the president knows he has more explaining to do, which is why he sent his vice president up to Capitol Hill to convince skeptical Democrats. Meanwhile, the deal's toughest critic, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, argues Iran will never change. To his detractors, including Netanyahu, the president asked, where's their alternative? Christine?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Jim.

That exchange Jim mentioned about Americans held in Iran, they came as one of the rare moment where the president lashed back at a reporter.

CBS White House correspondent Major Garrett, he asked the president about the four Americans, including "Washington Post" reporter Jason Rezaian, four Americans who Iran is holding.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJOR GARRETT, CBS NEWS: Can you tell the country, sir, why you are content with the fanfare around the deal to leave the conscience of this nation, the strength of this nation, unaccounted for in relation to these four Americans?

OBAMA: I have to give you credit, Major, for how you craft those questions. The notion that I'm content, as I celebrate with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails -- Major, that's nonsense. And you should know better. I met with the families of those folks. Nobody's content.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The administration also scrambling to convince leaders around the world that the Iran nuclear agreement is a good deal. This morning, Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Saudi Arabia's foreign minister. And next week, Defense Secretary Ash Carter heads to the Middle East to meet Saudi officials on their home turf. And later, he will meet with Israeli officials.

"The New York Times" reporting the White House trying to soften fierce Israeli opposition to the deal. Unnamed administration officials telling "The Times" the U.S. is now offering to increase the U.S. military aid package to Israel. One unexpected side effect of the deal, producing a slight thaw in relations with Moscow. President Obama calling President Putin to thank him for his help with the negotiations.

Joining us now with the latest on the global sales effort, senior international correspondent Atika Shubert.

[04:35:03] Hi, Atika.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine.

You mentioned "The New York Times" report. Well, we've spoken to the Israeli prime minister spokesperson, Mark Regev. And while he won't give us specific comments, he did confirm that telephone conversation took place with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama.

He also said that Israel right now is more focused on the loopholes as Israel sees it in the deal. Specifically that even with the limitations, that Iran could develop a nuclear weapon within 10 to 15 years. This is a deep red line for Israel.

It is also very concerned that with the lifting of sanctions, we could see millions of dollars being pumped into Iran. But Israel's particular concern is it will go to Iran's allies such as Hezbollah and Hamas, of course, enemies of Israel.

So, for Israel, these are the existential threats, as it were, that it is focused on. For other neighbors in the region however, it's slightly different. Saudi Arabia, for example, is very concerned about missile defense from its primary rival, Iran. But also, the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, which is diametrically opposed to from Iran.

So, there's a lot of concern in the region, and the U.S. has to sell the deal to allies to make sure they feel secure enough to accept it.

ROMANS: All right. Atika Shubert, thank you for that this morning, Atika.

New details this morning on Donald Trump, we've always known he is rich. He said so himself. But exactly how rich was not clear until he filed campaign disclosure forms with the Federal Election Commission. The Republican candidate says he has now defied critics who said he would never disclose, as polls keep handing him more good news.

CNN's Dana Bash has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, just how rich is Donald Trump? Well, he now says he has a net worth of more than $10 billion. And he says he made more than $362 million last year alone.

And with classic Trump hubris, his campaign calls his wealth so vast that it was hard to fill out the Federal Election Commission form because if a building owned by Mr. Trump is worth $1.5 billion, the box checked is only for $50 million or more.

But it's important to note that Trump did not make the details of this financial disclosure public yet, so we can verify things like claiming that he made $213 million over the 14 seasons that he was on the reality show "The Apprentice."

Now, the other thing that Donald Trump has to talk about and has been certainly talking about it a lot is the fact that he is doing well in the polls. Just for one example, "The Washington Post"/ABC poll just showed that 57 percent of Republican voters say that they have a favorable view of him. That is a big jump, almost double from what it was in just May.

So, those are the kinds of things you are hearing from Donald Trump and you'll probably hear a lot more.

One other interesting note is that he had a meeting with one of his competitors late yesterday. Ted Cruz, who -- you think they would be competing for the conservative vote particularly on immigration. But Ted Cruz understands Trump mania I think as much as anybody else, he's been very complimentary. So, we'll see how long that bromance lasts -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Dana Bash, thanks for that, Dana.

Hillary Clinton is burning through a big chunk of her campaign cash. Her team just filed its report with the Federal Election Commission. They have raised a hefty $47 million, but only have $29 million in cash. The rest is spent. That's a 40 percent burn rate.

The Clinton campaign has received over 250,000 donations, 94 percent of them are $250 or less.

Barack Obama is about to become the first sitting president ever visit a federal prison. He'll be talking to law enforcement officials and inmates at the federal correctional center in El Reno, Oklahoma, later this morning. And he's expected to call for prison and sentencing reforms. Oklahoma imprisons more women than any state in the country, and local mayors want to talk to the president about that problem.

Thirty-nine minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money this morning.

Stocks are up around the world after Greece voted yes on tough economic reforms needed to secure a new bailout. That means an overhaul of its pension and tax systems.

Here in the U.S., stock futures are higher. One stock we are watching very closely, Netflix. It is up before the bell, thanks to huge subscriber growth. It added 3.3 million customers last quarter to a total of 65 million members.

The stock is the best performer in the S&P, up more than 100 percent this year and a 7 for 1 stock split this week took shares down from 700 to about 100. That makes it easier for the average investor, the every day investor, to get in and buy a few shares.

The annual ESPY Awards Honors the year's best achievement in sports. But the highlight of Wednesday night's ceremony may have been a former Olympic champion now known as Caitlyn Jenner, who was honored with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award and made an emotional flee for accepting people for who they are.

[04:40:09] CNN's Stephanie Elam was there.

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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, the ESPYs were at times heartbreaking, while at the same time, they were inspiring. There was a story of Danielle Green, the war hero who came back to work with other veterans, this after she lost her arm in battle. She received the Pat Tillman Award.

There was award for Lauren Hill, the young woman who wanted to play her one college basketball game. She lost her battle with cancer. Her parents were on hand to accept that award.

And then, there was also Devon Still. His daughter is battling cancer. His speech really moving the crowd as well as he toasted everyone for their support of him while he has been battling this so he can stay strong for his young daughter.

Of course, the one person everyone was waiting to see was Caitlyn Jenner, who took her turn in the spotlight to focus on the struggle and challenges that so many young transgender people face not just in the United States, but around the world.

CAITLYN JENNER, ARTHUR ASHE COURAGE AWARD WINNER: If you want to call me names, make jokes, doubt my intentions, go ahead, because the reality is I can take it. But for the thousands of kids out there, coming to terms with being true to who they are, they shouldn't have to take it.

(APPLAUSE)

ELAM: I talked to several people on the red carpet. For the most part, the people I spoke to were supportive of Caitlyn Jenner winning the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. Now, a few who just tempered what they had to say about it, not really giving an opinion either way.

But when Caitlyn Jenner was done with her speech, which at times did get a little bit emotional, she definitely got a standing ovation from the crowd and her family was on hand to watch her give the speech. And you could see that a couple of his children had tears in their eyes -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Stephanie Elam, thank you for that, Stephanie.

Inside El Chapo's escape tunnel, CNN crews trace the route the powerful Mexican drug lord used to break out of prison. We're taking you there.

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[04:45:53] ROMANS: Thousands of Mexican police and soldiers are searching right now for El Chapo. Still no sign of the elusive drug kingpin who slipped into a tunnel beneath the shower stall in his prison cell and vanished last weekend.

Twenty-one prison guards are being questioned about his escape. The intelligence chief of Mexico's federal police force has been fired. And now, we are getting an inside look at the home at the other end of the tunnel where El Chapo slipped to freedom.

Here's CNN's Nick Valencia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, it was incredible access that we were granted. For days now, we have been trying to gain entry into that home where El Chapo is said to have emerged. We finally were granted that access, escorted in by Mexican military as well as the attorney general's office here in Mexico, initially ushered into a room that was by all means their work shed. We saw power tools plugged in to outlets and cinder blocks around us. It seemed the moment that they were done building the tunnel, they gave the signal to El Chapo and he was off on his way.

We dropped down ten feet on the initial ladder into a small space, walked another few feet and then approached a second ladder into a deeper portion of that tunnel, about 20 feet down. And when we got down there, just that magnificent feat of engineering. It seem like as crude as it was, it seemed like a professional job, building that tunnel. There were Coke bottles laying on the ground, left behind. Oxygen tanks, as well as ventilation PVC pipe right along top of that tunnel and an electrical line to provide electricity in there.

We also got to see that motorcycle. That modified motorcycle which ran on tracks which we believe El Chapo used to escape from one end to the tunnel to the other. It was cramped in there and very hard to breathe.

There was also this overwhelming smell of gas inside. I couldn't stand tall up in there. Authorities have no idea where he is. If they do, they're not saying publicly -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ROMANS: All right. Thanks for that, Nick.

President Obama says he cannot revoke Bill Cosby's Medal of Freedom because there is no mechanism for doing so. At his news conference, the president said he could not comment on a case where criminal or civil charges could be brought and proceed to comment with a definition of rape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: If you give a woman or a man for that matter, without his or her knowledge, a drug and then have sex with that person without consent, that's rape. And I think this country, any civilized country should have no tolerance for rape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Cosby received the Medal of Freedom in 2002 from George W. Bush.

Now, it takes a lot for the NASA scientists to be blown away. The first pictures of Pluto did the trick. NASA releasing this first batch of breathtaking images from its flyby of Pluto. Now, they reveal ice mountains as tall as the Rockies, and a stunning lack of craters on the planet's surface. This really surprised NASA scientists. They say it suggests that the planet could be still be geologically active. There could be underground volcanoes. There's activity making the surface not pocked by craters.

NASA's New Horizon's space probe traveled 3 billion miles over nine years to get these incredible snapshots. They were also blown away by the moon with the canyons and craters -- canyons and mountains really -- I mean, they're really -- they are excited by this stuff. They will have 16 more months of new images and data that will be coming from the flyby from Pluto.

All right. Forty-nine minutes past the hour. Violence in the streets as Greek lawmakers decide whether to stay in the euro. We are live with what's comes next, ahead.

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[04:53:37] ROMANS: A desperate time for the people of Greece. Protesters clashing violently with police in Athens as the Greek parliament votes to accept a eurozone bailout package with painful new austerity measures that promise more hardship ahead.

Reporter Elinda Labropoulou live from Athens for us this morning.

There's really complicated politics in this story and really painful math economics in this story.

ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST: You're absolutely right. I mean, it's pretty much an explosive situation in Greece. What we saw in Athens last night outside of parliament right behind me. Now, the streets have cleared and everything is back to normal or so

it seems at least, because inside parliament, the battle is still on. The prime minister, Mr. Tsipras, has to still fight his own battle with his own parliamentarians, about a quarter of him did not support him in the difficult vote.

What we expect is we'll probably see a reshuffle of the current government and prime minister will have to go ahead with these reforms that he promised Greece's creditors in order to be able to receive the bailout money.

At the same time, the situation with the banks is particularly critical. The banks have been under capital controls for over two weeks now. Liquidity is very -- cash is running low at the moment. And all eyes are turning to what's going to happen with the economy.

[04:55:02] Eurogroup finance ministers are holding talks to see whether they can give Greece a bridge loan agreement. The first report we have is that the preparations for that are underway so Greece can make a big loan repayment by Monday to the European Central Bank. It's a crucial repayment because otherwise, Greece would be defaulting to the banks.

So, really, from now on, it's going to take fine-tuning both in the number of parliaments before we have final agreement so Greece can sort of take a deep breath and banks reopen.

ROMANS: For banks hopefully to reopen -- unbelievable to think in a modern economy, banks still not open.

Elinda, thank you so much for that.

Fifty-five minutes past the hour. Uber in big trouble in California. Why the ride-sharing giant could soon be shutdown, next.

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ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an early start on your money this morning.

Was Amazon's Prime Day bigger than Black Friday? Well, Amazon says yes, by at least one measure. Customers placed orders faster once they entered the site.

But some Amazon shoppers, oh, they disagreed, and vented their frustration on social media with #unhappyprimetime and #amazonfail. They said there were no good deals, they also sold out quickly, the things they wanted were not on sale.

Meanwhile, Walmart also had huge sale yesterday, trying to watch catch up in online retail.

Shares of Amazon are up 50 percent this year, near an all-time high. Walmart shares are down 15 percent this year.

A California judge wants Uber to pay $7.3 million and be suspended from operating in the state. The problem? The judge says Uber is not reporting required data about its rides. That is against state laws put in place to make sure passengers are treated fairly regardless of who they are or where they live.