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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

First GOP Debate: Who's In?; Bernie Sanders Closing in on Clinton; FBI Looking into Clinton Email System; Bush, Clinton Trade Barbs Over Women's Health; Planned Parenthood Fetal Tissue Controversy; French Military Begins Testing Plane Debris; Deflategate Transcript Released. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired August 05, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: This is part of the talent wars in tech. These big companies are offering big perks to retain good employees.

[05:00:04] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Really interesting to see.

ROMANS: I know.

BERMAN: Facebook, you get a bonus! You get a cash bonus when you have a kid!

ROMANS: These tech companies saying they retain top talent both men and women better with these kind of perks!

BERMAN: To be a new industry!

EARLY START continues right now.

(MUSIC)

ROMANS: We know which ten Republican presidential candidates will face off in the first GOP debate and, oh, not everyone is happy. New reaction this morning from those left out.

And a new poll, a new poll that could show big trouble for Hillary Clinton.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. It is Wednesday, August 5th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

And at long, long last, with we know which 10 Republicans will be on the main stage for the first presidential debate. All of them smooshed on to one stage!

And based on five recent polls, Donald Trump -- sorry, Donald Trump will be center stage. FOX News selected Trump, Scott Walker and Jeb Bush. The way it works the top pollers, they literally are in the center, and they will be flanked by seven other Republicans.

And then, this is the consolation prize. Along with turtle wax, seven candidates will face off in a 5:00 p.m. debate and probably draw fewer viewers but you know what? It could be very substantive in and of itself.

Let's get the latest on all this from CNN's Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, this is the biggest Republican field in modern history, 17 candidates. So, it's really not easy for the GOP or the networks to navigate such a crowded debate stage. Never mind candidates who have to face a front-runner reality TV star. That is why they decided to have just 10 people max on the stage, and FOX News announced which are going to make the cut.

And they determine that, by the way, based on national polling. Here they are: Donald trump, he's going to be in the middle. Next to him, former Governor Jeb Bush. On the other side, Governor Scott Walker. From there on out is former Governor Mike Huckabee, neurosurgeon and first-time political candidate Ben Carson, Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, as well as Governors Chris Christie and John Kasich.

Now, Kasich bumped former Governor Rick Perry out of this main debate, which is a big disappointment for him. He is the longest serving governor in Texas history. He really wanted to redeem himself from his embarrassing performance on the debate stage four years ago. Remember that oops moment?

But also, he's been the most aggressive in getting in Donald Trump's face. He called him a cancer on conservatism. So, that is going to be a big problem for him.

But for those who will be on the stage, prime time, the key thing, according to a lot of aides I've talked to is do no harm. One aide actually said something very wise, that you probably can't win at this stage of the game, but you sure can lose -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: And that is a really interesting point.

Now, the candidates who did not make the cut for the marquee nighttime debate, they are reacting this morning. Some lashing out at FOX News and the Republican National Committee in frustration.

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum's spokesman issuing a statement, "The idea that they have left out the runner-up for the 2012 nomination, the former four-term governor of Texas, the governor of Louisiana, the first female Fortune 50 CEO, and a three-term senator from South Carolina due to polling seven months before a single vote is cast is preposterous."

But the RNC's chief spokesman defending the fairness of the debate selection process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, RNC: If you don't use some degree of polling, then it becomes completely subjective. And the last thing I think people want, frankly, is people in Washington or people at the RNC deciding who gets in based on the fact that they have held some kind of elective office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Others Republicans are trying to put an optimistic spin of being consigned to the second-tier debate.

Rick Perry tweeted, "I look forward to being on the FOX News 5:00 p.m. debate for what will be a serious exchange of ideas and positive solutions to get America back on track."

Carly Fiorina, she put out a statement staying, "I look forward to answering questions on Thursday in Cleveland. I continue to be encouraged by the support of conservative activists and grassroots Republicans across the country."

A super PAC backing Bobby Jindal almost instantly posted an ad it plans to air in Iowa during the main event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AD NARRATOR: The debate in Cleveland is all about a celebrity. But one candidate is moving up where it counts, in Iowa -- Bobby Jindal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Lindsey Graham took a light-hearted approach, suggesting viewers pregame what he called the, quote, "Trump debacle" by grabbing a cold one and watching the happy hour debate and hiding their cell phone numbers.

BERMAN: From our Donald Trump, he is talking about the debate on Thursday, giving a little preview of what he plans to highlight.

In an interview last night with Bill O'Reilly, the frontrunners says he does not plan to go directly at Jeb Bush or his other opponents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[05:05:01] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to be right down the middle. I want to talk about policy. I want to talk about the wall. I want to talk about illegal immigration. I want to talk about bad trade deals.

I may say that I can negotiate better than any of these folks. I did write "The Art of the Deal", I built a phenomenal business, as you know. And, you know, I have certain abilities that they do not have.

I'm not looking to hurt anybody. I'm not looking to embarrass anybody. If I have to bring up deficiencies, I'll bring up deficiencies. But certainly, I'm not looking to do that.

I'd rather go straight down the middle. You don't know what's going to come at you. You don't know where these other people are going to come.

You don't know whether or not the three folks that are asking the questions -- I mean, they're going to try and trick you up, which is unfortunate, because all of that has nothing to do with being a great president, but I'm doing it because it's something you have to do.

And, again, I've never debated. My sort of -- my whole life has been a debate, but I've never debated before. These politicians, all they do is debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: It's interesting. If you criticize, the guys are going to have 30 seconds for rebuttal. If you are criticized or you're hit, then you're just giving an opponent more air time.

BERMAN: It is true but we don't know yet how FOX will handle it. If you hit somebody, they respond and hit you back and it can go back and forth forever.

My hunch is what Dana was saying and whatever they say is true, these guys largely hang back as much as they can.

ROMANS: Do no harm.

BERMAN: Do no harm.

ROMANS: All right. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders is edging closer to front-runner Hillary Clinton in the early primary state of New Hampshire. A new WMUR poll finds the Vermont senator now trailing Clinton by just six points, 42 percent to 36 percent. That is in a poll where the margin of error, by the way, is plus or minus 5.9 percentage points.

Nationally, Clinton is still well ahead of Sanders, leading in polls by more than 30 points.

Meantime, the FBI now is looking into the security used to protect Hillary Clinton's private e-mail system during her time as secretary of state. Her lawyer David Kendall confirms to CNN the FBI is checking to make sure materials were properly stored. "The Washington Post", which first reported the story, says the FBI is not targeting Hillary and that she is not accused of any wrongdoing.

The Clinton campaign sent out a statement saying, "She did not send nor receive any e-mails that were marked classified at the time. We want to ensure that appropriate procedures are followed as these emails are reviewed while not unduly delaying the release of her e- mails. We want that to happen as quickly and as transparently as possible."

BERMAN: Jeb Bush with a comment that has already come back to hunt him about women's health. He was talking about funding for Planned Parenthood at an evangelical forum. But he questioned whether the country needs $500 million for women's health. And as you can imagine, Hillary Clinton pounced.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can take dollar for dollar, although I'm not sure we need a half billion dollars for women's health issues.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Jeb Bush said he's not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues. I'm reading it because I want to quote it exactly.

Now, he's got no problem giving billions of dollars away to the super wealthy and powerful corporations, but I guess women's health just isn't a priority for him.

Now, this really isn't complicated. When you attack Planned Parenthood, you attack women's health and when you attack women's health, you attack America's health.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: This ended up as a Twitter war. Hillary Clinton told Jeb Bush. "You are absolutely and unequivocally wrong". Bush responded, "What is unequivocally wrong is giving taxpayer dollars to an organization whose practices show no regard for the lives of the unborn."

In the end, though, Jeb Bush did walk back the remark that started all the no half a billion for women's health. He said in a statement, "With regards to women's health funding broadly I misspoke, as there are countless community health centers, rural clinics and other women's health organizations that need to be fully funded.

ROMANS: A fifth undercover video has now been released by an anti-abortion group alleging Planned Parenthood is illegally profiting from the sale of fetal tissue. It is sparking outrage in the Republican ranks and now, it is also becoming a major talking point in the race for the White House.

We get more this morning from CNN's senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, call this the latest sign this controversy over use of fetal tissues and research is going to stick around for a while. Some congressional Republicans are talking about linking the fight over Planned Parenthood to a possible government shutdown battle this fall.

And the release of another controversial video is adding fuel to the fire.

It's like the other productions -- edited undercover video with a Planned Parenthood official identified as a research director in Texas apparently unaware she is being recorded, talking about extracting intact fetus cadavers and body parts from abortions for use in fetal tissue research, interspersed and talking about budgets and money.

The end of the video includes graphic pictures of what is described as fetal tissue with the voices of the actors who posed as representatives of a company that collects tissue samples, asking questions and identifying body parts with Planned Parenthood lab technicians.

[05:10:04] Several states including Texas has launched Planned Parenthood investigations with a video, accusing the group of offering to adjust medical procedures in order to preserve tissue and parts for research groups to purchase.

There are calls for the Justice Department to investigate. Planned Parenthood asserted in a statement that the footage released today doesn't show Planned Parenthood staff engaged in any wrongdoing or agreeing to violate any legal or medical standards.

The latest polling on Planned Parenthood from Monmouth University shows about half of Americans oppose cutting funding to the organization but it runs sharply along party lines, 68 percent of Democrats oppose defunding and 66 percent of Republicans favor it -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Joe Johns, thanks for that, Joe.

Ten minutes past the money. Time for an early start on your money.

European and Asian stocks mostly higher, U.S. stock futures you can see are up as well. Yesterday, stocks ended lower. They were pulled down by Apple. Apple stock fell more than 3 percent yesterday.

It's now down 15 percent from its record high set in April. That has wiped out $113 billion in value or basically the entire value of a huge company like Netflix or McDonald's. That is how big and valuable Apple is.

So, what is going on here? There is concern Apple is losing ground in China and an important market. At the same time, the U.S. smartphone market is saturated.

The big business story to watch this morning is higher interest rates are coming in September. The Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart in an interview with "The Wall Street Journal", he says barring an unexpected deterioration in the U.S. economy is something he doesn't company, the Fed will raise rates next month.

BERMAN: It's coming.

ROMANS: It's coming. He said, quote, "The economy is ready and it is an appropriate time to make a change."

So, global markets, everyone is just sort of bracing what is coming next.

BERMAN: Everything you will hear today and the next 24 hours none of it probably is important for your wallet as that last story right there.

ROMANS: That's right. You're right.

All right. This morning, experts investigating pieces of a plane found washed ashore in the Indian Ocean. Is that plane the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370? We are live after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:05] BERMAN: An absolutely crucial day in the investigation into what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Testing begins today on that piece of debris. The flaperon that washed ashore on Reunion Island. They will test it in France. They know what comes from a Boeing 777 but they want to see if is there a definitive link to MH370. There will be investigators from France, also from Malaysia on hand. As I said, a crucial day.

Let's get to CNN's Saima Mohsin live in Toulouse, France.

Good morning, Saima.

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

A lot of hopes and fears resting on today's investigations. Those investigators will arrive sometime this afternoon we are told by the Paris prosecutor's office. Who are they? That is the United States NTSB, National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing, Malaysia Airlines, Malaysia Civil Aviation Authorities, a specific team relating to MH370, and, of course, French authorities Chinese officials and Australian safety board joining in at the very last minute.

Now, they will come to this lab. It's a high-tech lab, one of the best in the world where previous aircraft investigations have taken place. They will assemble together and they'll start to run their tests.

Now, the flaperon was delivered as you remember over the weekend in a sealed container led by a police escort. This is an incredibly delicate and sensitive investigation on so many levels. Is it MH370? One of the greatest aviation mysteries of all time. And where did it go down? How did it go down?

Those are the kind of answers that potentially they can answer once they run more tests. You know, where did the flaperon tear away from the plane? Did it come off mid air? Did it come off and hit the water? So many questions to be answered.

But the biggest and most crucial one that everyone wants to know, not least the families, is is it from MH370 -- John.

BERMAN: That is what they want to know and hopefully we will get some answers over the next several hours.

Saima Mohsin, big day there, thanks so much.

ROMANS: Later today, President Obama later today will be pushing for the passage of the Iran nuclear agreement during a speech at American University. He's expected to tell the audience the world cannot afford to miss the opportunity to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling on Jews to reject the deal. With thousands of Jewish Americans in a webcast audience, Netanyahu called the agreement, quote, "fatally flawed". He warned there will be more terrorist attacks and deaths if it is approved. Congress has until December 17th to vote on it.

BERMAN: Gripping testimony from the loved ones who lost loved ones in the Colorado massacre. Jurors struggled to hold back their tears. And they are trying to decide whether James Holmes should be put to death for killing 12 people and wounding 70 others. Victim impact statements resume later this morning.

On Tuesday, a father described how he and his family return occasionally to the Aurora theater where his son was shot and killed. Tom Sullivan telling jurors they sit in row 12 and leave seat 12 vacant. That is where his son Alex was sitting when Holmes shot and killed him. That is wrenching.

ROMANS: Really sad.

Firefighters in California are having a hard time gaining ground on massive wildfire there. The Rocky Fire burning northwest of Sacramento, grew to 67,000 acres Tuesday. So far, officials say the flames 20 percent contained. The fire has destroyed dozens of homes and buildings in its path. Tens of thousands of people have been force to evacuate.

BERMAN: All right. Transcripts from Tom Brady's deflategate appeal released to the public. Got to say not so good for Roger Goodell. Tom Brady's attorney thinks it's enough to overturn the suspension.

So, exactly what the heck was going on inside that hearing and can these sides get their act together, Andy Scholes? Come up with an answer by the time you come back next with the bleacher report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:22:42] BERMAN: All right. New this morning, former Ravens running back Ray Rice is speaking out saying he understands why NFL teams are hesitant to give him another shot.

ROMANS: Andy Scholes has more in this morning's bleacher report.

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, guys.

Ray Rice says he considers himself a rehabilitated man and he is hopeful that a team will give him another chance to play in the NFL. Rice was cut by the Ravens last season after video surfaced of him striking his then fiancee in a casino elevator. And speaking with ESPN, Rice said that moment was the worst decision of his life but he hopes that it sheds light on domestic violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAY RICE, NFL FREE AGENT: To the survivors of domestic violence, I understand how real it is and I don't want to ever, you know, take that for grand because it's a real issue in our society and, you know, my video, you know, put the light out there. If you have never seen what domestic violence looks like and you look at my video, I can understand why some people will never forgive me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Rice is currently a free agent. His college coach Greg Schiano has been making calls on his behalf to get him into an NFL training camp.

All right. We are learning more this morning about Tom Brady's Deflategate hearing. The 457-page transcript from the hearing was released. In it, Brady denied under oath to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell he tampered with footballs before the AFC title game. Brady also said he never asked anyone with the Patriots to tamper with footballs.

Also during the hearing, investigator Ted Wells testified he never warned Brady he would be punished if he did not turn over his cell phone. Now, Brady and the NFL are scheduled to meet for a settlement hearing in New York a week from today.

Kaiser Carlile, the bat boy who tragically died over the weekend after being struck in the head by a bat was honored last night in Liberal, Kansas. Kaiser's sister threw out the first pitch before the game and all the players wore KC T-shirts, while hundreds of fans made signs in the 9-year-old's memory. Kaiser baseball cards were also made available to fans for a small donation. The Go Fund Me page set up to help the family has already generated more than $100,000.

All right. We are now one year away from the Summer Games in Rio. It looks like the USA is going to have another star in the pool.

[05:25:01] For the second straight day, Katie Ledecky set a world record at the World Swimming Championship in Russia. The 18- year-old swimming phenom smashed the 1,500 meter freestyle record by 2.23 seconds and she had just set the previous world record, guys, on Monday.

So she looks like she is going to just absolutely dominate when we get to Rio next year for the summer Olympics. Of course, Michael Phelps is going to be in the pool as well, hopefully, on the men's side. It should just be an exciting time in the swimming competition next year.

BERMAN: Was there anyone else in the pool with Ledecky? No one else was there! She was a full length ahead of everybody.

SCHOLES: I mean, it looks like the gold is in her grasps already, right?

BERMAN: All right. Excellent. Love it.

All right. Andy, thanks so much.

SCHOLES: All right.

ROMANS: All right. Also going for the gold also, we now know which Republican presidential candidates --

BERMAN: That is a good segue.

ROMANS: Thank you. I get paid for that.

New reaction from those who did and didn't make the cut.

BERMAN: You do? I have to talk to my agent!

ROMANS: A new poll shows trouble for Hillary Clinton. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: The stage now set. Ten place setting. A lot of forks and knives for the first Republican presidential debate. We will tell you who will be facing off and who is getting left out. We have a lot of people upset this morning voicing their frustration.

Also, some new trouble in the polls for Hillary Clinton.

ROMANS: Table for ten. Setting a table for ten.

BERMAN: Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It's 29 minutes past the hour.

Well, we now know who will be at the table, actually on the main stage for the first prime time Republican presidential debate tomorrow night. Based on five recent mainstream polls, FOX News has selected Donald Trump, Jeb Bush and Scott Walker.