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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Takes Center Stage At GOP Debate; Key Democrat Opposes Iran Nuclear Deal; MH370 Families Meet with Malaysian Officials. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired August 07, 2015 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:17] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump dominating, creating controversy at the first Republican presidential debate. Will he run as an independent?
Plus, Chris Christie and Rand Paul head-to-head, and a candidate in the back of the pack grabbing headlines for a stellar performance.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday. It is August 7th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the east.
Here's what you need to see, folks -- up first, a feisty Donald Trump center of attention at the first Republican presidential debate. The front-running billionaire stirring things up before everyone in the audience had time to sit down, refusing to rule out a third party candidacy if he fails to win the Republican nomination.
Listen to this exchange with FOX News moderator Bret Baier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS MODERATOR: So, Mr. Trump, to be clear -- you're standing on a Republican primary stage.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I fully understand.
BAIER: The place where the RNC will give the nominee the nod.
TRUMP: I fully understand.
BAIER: And that experts say an independent run would almost certainly handle the race over to Democrats and likely another Clinton. You can't say tonight that you can make that pledge.
TRUMP: I cannot say. I have to respect the person that if it is not me, the person that wins. If I do win and I'm leading by quite a bit, that's what I want to do.
I can totally make that pledge. If I'm the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent. And I am discussing with it everybody.
But I'm, you know, talking about a lot of leverage. We want to win. And we will win. But I want to win as the Republican. I want to run as the Republican nominee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Trump didn't stop there. He targeted the media for treating him unfairly. He blasted the federal government for being stupid on immigration, Iran, and the economy. He even took time out to call out Rosie O'Donnell.
It was a big night on the big stage on Cleveland. Let's break it down this morning with CNN senior digital correspondent Chris Moody.
Your headline, Chris?
CHRIS MOODY, CNN SENIOR DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: The headline is the debate started out with a bang and kept going the entire night with Donald Trump obviously in the beginning. Look, him not vowing to support the GOP nominee, if that nominee is not named Donald Trump, as he said in his own words, gives him leverage. It allows the Republican forces, the Republican Party, to keep paying attention to him. Keep being nice to him in a way and not ruling him out.
Right now, he is commanding 20-plus in the polls among Republican-leaning voters. And so, that's a lot of room that he has to keep campaigning. And he knows that if he says he will just support the GOP nominee, that the RNC can push him aside. So, this will keep him on their toes. This is making him nervous about what he can do.
Because as Bret Baier mentioned, if he runs as a third party nominee, given the way the dynamics of the math and the demographics of the voters right now, or what will be in 2016, that does hand it to the Democrats most likely.
ROMANS: Let's talk about Donald Trump a bit more before I move on to the other candidates here. Megyn Kelly, one of the moderators, confronting him pretty sharply about his record of name calling to women. Listen to this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS MODERATOR: You called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals. You're Twitter account --
TRUMP: Only Rosie O'Donnell.
KELLY: No, it wasn't.
TRUMP: And honestly, Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry. I have been very nice to you, although I probably could not have been based on the way you treated me, but I won't do that. But you know what?
The questions to me were not nice. I didn't think they were appropriate. I think Megyn behaved very badly.
REPORTER: The question about women. You didn't like that?
TRUMP: I thought it was an unfair question. They did not ask that of anybody else. And I thought it was an unfair question. But you know what? The answers were good obviously because everybody thinks I won.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: What do you make of that?
MOODY: This is just another example that shows that Donald Trump is not forced to play by the same rules as traditional candidates. He is blowing all that up right now.
If any other candidate said those things in jest or humor he said about women, it doesn't matter. In a lot of cases, that's it for them. Now, when he responded to those questions, he first tried to diffuse it with humor, but Megyn Kelly is right. He said that about a number of women.
And this just shows you what Donald Trump can do. And that is not play by those same rules. He can say certain things and he's still going to capture that group of voters.
[04:05:01] He just powers through. That has been the case not just with this issue but with so many others, including him donates to Democrats, saying he support abortion rights and all of these others things, that if it were other candidates, they never would not make it another day in the campaign.
ROMANS: Let's talk about Jeb Bush. He's got the money behind him. He, heading into this performance, Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, he had to just not mess up. He needs to hold his ground. He had an uneven and shaky performance heading into the debate.
Listen to him talking about the war in Iraq, something that was -- something that really tripped him up in the past months. Listen to him on the debate stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Knowing what we know now with faulty intelligence and not having security be the first priority when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn't have gone in.
Here is the lesson we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject. Barack Obama became president and he abandoned. He left. And when he left, al Qaeda was done for, ISIS was created because of the void we left. That void now exists as a caliphate the size of Indiana.
To honor the people that died, we need to -- we need to stop the Iran agreement for sure because the Iranian mullahs have their blood on their hands and we need to take out ISIS with every tool at our disposal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So, how did he do?
MOODY: You know, Jeb Bush did not sparkle in the debate, but he did not do terrible. As you said, he went straight along. That's what he needs to do.
With Jeb Bush's candidacy, you said he has the money behind him, but not the polling numbers. He is not necessarily doing what other frontrunners have done in the past. He is in the top middle of the pack sharing it below Donald Trump, but sharing with Scott Walker and others behind him who possibly did better tonight. And you might see a movement in the polls in the next few weeks.
ROMANS: What about John Kasich? I mean --
MOODY: But you're right. Jeb Bush really --
ROMANS: We just talked who did better last night, you know, Jeb -- John Kasich, it was his home turf. But he seemed to be energized by, I guess, his performance and response from the audience. Listen to how he handled the question about same-sex marriage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay. Because somebody doesn't think the way I do doesn't mean I can't care about them or can't love them. So, if one of my daughters happen to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them, because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have -- we have strong faith.
We need to give everybody a chance and treat everybody with respect and let them share in this the great American dream that we have, Megyn. So, look, I'm going to love my daughters. I'm going to love them no matter what they do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: He has been out there on the campaign trail talking about policy, talking bout budgets, talking about his strengths. He got a lot of praise, though, for talking about that.
MOODY: Yes. John Kasich has been kind of the sleeper candidate. He announced a bit late, but then was still able to get the support to make it into the debate today, although at the lower end, but he was still at the 9:00 p.m. primetime debate.
Look, you are starting to see Republicans talk about same-sex marriage in a different way than four years ago. We were called, there was a debate four years ago when a gay servicemen asked a question and some people, not a lot, but some people in the audience actually booed that person. You just are not seeing anything like that today, especially with the Supreme Court case that came down just about a month ago. Republicans have been able to diffuse and move on from that issue a little bit.
ROMANS: All right. Before the top ten Republicans took the stage, Chris, there was a happy hour debate featuring the seven lowest polling Republicans. It didn't take long for the Trump bashing to begin.
Listen to former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Texas Governor Rick Perry ripping into the Republican frontrunner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK PERRY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, when you look at the celebrity of Donald Trump, that says a lot. One thing I like to remind people is back in 2007, Rudy Giuliani was leading the polls for almost a year. I'll suggest a part of that was his celebrity.
CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know. I did not get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race. Did you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn't. Maybe it's because I hadn't given money to the foundation or donated to his wife's Senate campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: When the Trump bashing ended, the Hillary hating began. Each of the candidates asked to describe the Democratic frontrunner in two words.
Here's the sampling of their responses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE PATAKI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Divisive and with no vision. No vision at all.
FIORINA: Not trustworthy. No accomplishment.
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Secretive and untrustworthy.
PERRY: Let's go with three. Good at e-mail.
GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R-LA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Socialist and government dependent.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not the change we need at a time we need it.
JIM GILMORE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Professional politician that can't be trusted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Some of those are more than two words, but you get the picture. When the happy hour debate was over, the buzz was all about Carly Fiorina.
Majority of bloggers and social media pundit declaring her the winner. Listen to her, the former CEO, going on the attack against Jeb Bush for his recent comments about women's health.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:10:06] FIORINA: I think it's going to become an ad. I think it's going to become an ad in a Democrat campaign. Hillary Clinton jumped all over it for a reason because she saw an opportunity. And it is foolish to say that women's health isn't a priority. Of course, it's a priority.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So, Chris, is it fair to say Carly Fiorina broke out last night?
MOODY: She absolutely did, I think above all of the candidates, all of the Trump stuff that happened today. Fiorina was the name on so many people's lips in Cleveland. I watched the debate tonight with a group of hundred -- about a couple hundred conservative activists here in Ohio. They could not stop talking about Carly Fiorina.
She actually came and visited the group, and the celebration for her and the surprise, I think, she had for a lot of them. It was -- it was really something. So, I think you will start to see her move a bit. People focusing on her after this.
And this is a trend. Everywhere I have seen Fiorina speak, there are a number of people who have not heard of her. Once they do, they become very interested.
And I spoke to Fiorina after the debate tonight and she said, hey, this was a great opportunity for me -- for people to get to know me. And I think she took full advantage of it in a way other candidates who might not have name ID either weren't able to do nearly as well as she did.
ROMANS: It is so challenging for all of the candidates, because there's not a lot of time for them to breakout. They want to talk about policies.
When you look at the records of all of the people on both of those stages -- stunning. I mean, stunning resumes.
How do you think they fared in at least chipping away to the American public at what it is they stand for?
MOODY: I think Fiorina is a very articulate person, and that helps her a lot. She is very forceful in the way she speaks and she can make her points and really make them stick. I think also Marco Rubio did an excellent job tonight. I see headlines tonight saying --
ROMANS: Right.
MOODY: -- that Rubio did very well.
And despite the controversy, I don't know in Donald Trump really hurt himself tonight. He really stood his ground in a way that people support him say he speaks his mind. They think he speaks for them.
And for him not to back down, I think perhaps in the short-term is really the strong strategy for him, because it has been working up until now. I think it will continue at least for the near term.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks so much. Chris Moody, we'll talk to you in a bit. So many things to mull over about last night and many more, many more to come.
All right. Breaking overnight: new trouble with the President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran. A key Democratic ally coming out in the Senate coming out against the agreement. Details next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:15:59] ROMANS: Breaking overnight: a bitter blow for the Obama administration in its battle to sell the Iran nuclear deal. New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, the most influential Jewish voice in Congress, he's announced he will oppose the agreement. That could pave the way for other undecided Democrats to vote against it.
Schumer releasing the statement saying, quote, "Advocates on both sides have strong cases for their view. After deep study, careful though, and considerable soul searching, I have decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval."
The White House turning up the heat to get the Iran deal passed. We get more this morning from CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine, no apologies in the White House after President Obama tied anti-American mobs in Tehran to GOP opposition to the Iran nuclear deal. Lawmakers from both parties said there could be blowback from the president's comments that hardliners in Iran chanting "death to America" have joined forces with Republicans in Congress.
The president is clearly frustrated with GOP leaders. He told a group of reporters, he said if there was a key to cure cancer, that legislation would be a nail biter.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he unloaded on the president's Iran speech, calling Mr. Obama's claim that it's the nuclear agreement or war absurd. Here's what he had to say.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: The president strikes me, at least so far, as treating this like a political campaign. Demonize your opponents. Gin up the base. Get the Democrats all angry.
ACOSTA: The president leaves for a two-week vacation in Martha's Vineyard tomorrow. Asked whether the president will be spending some of that time twisting arms over the phone, the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest quipped "I doubt it". That's a sign that the White House believes it has the votes, even though it might not pretty -- Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Thanks for that, Jim Acosta at the White House.
U.S. military officials now believe Russia is behind the hack of an unclassified e-mail server used by the office of the joint chiefs. They're not absolutely certain but the style of the attacks suggests it was either Russia or China who engineered that intrusion.
Defense officials say the breach exposes a new vulnerability in government system that hasn't been seen before. Four thousand Pentagon workers have been without e-mails for more than 10 days now while the network is scrubbed and rebuilt, 4,000 Pentagon workers.
President Obama urging Congress to restore key elements of the Voting Rights Act. He says there are too many states that discourage, quote, "certain folks from voting". And he blames state statutes and court rulings that have eroded enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. Just this week, a federal appeals panel voted -- ruled a voter ID law in Texas was unconstitutional for discriminating against blacks and Hispanics.
Many of the former governors who are running on their economic records are touting their achievements. So, we are doing fact checking.
Jeb Bush reminding people how he slashed government spending in Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion. We were -- we had -- we balanced every budget. The net effect was during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created. We left the state better off because I applied conservative principles in the purple state the right way and people rose up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Fact check: he did cut taxes. He reduced the state's work force by 13 thundershowers people. Here's the catch: Bush issued bonds for building roads and schools instead of paying up front. That means the state's long-term debt went from $16.8 billion up to $23 billion as his term ended.
Next, Chris Christie bragged about balancing New Jersey's budget.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIE: We cut business taxes $2.3 billion and we cut regulation by 1/3 of what my predecessor put in place. What's happened since? A hundred ninety-two thousand new private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: He did -- fact check -- he did balance the budget as required to by law, and he did cut taxes. Job growth however was not as robust as he claims, only 166,000 jobs created. And the state's finances overall are a wreck.
Christie is not making the required contributions to the state's pension fund, despite a court order.
[04:20:03] And the state's debt rating has been downgraded again and again. It has higher than the national average unemployment as well.
All right. Families of those onboard of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 accusing officials of hiding the truth. We are live with new developments overnight, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Emotions running high as families of those who died on Fight MH370 met with top Malaysian officials. They are blasting those leaders for jumping the gun by declaring parts that washed up on Reunion Island last week, definitely belonged to the missing jetliner and they're still holding out hope their loved ones are still alive.
CNN's Will Ripley live from Beijing, where most of the passengers were from.
And, Will, you can understand just by how tragic this has been for the families. They want answers, but they don't trust the people who are giving them the answers.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really heartbreaking, Christine. We saw a display today that we have seen repeatedly in China over the course of these last 17 months.
Family members went to the Malaysia Airlines office and they demanded a meeting with Malaysian authorities. They thought there was going to be a meeting, but the authorities never showed up. They bound themselves together, they got on the ground and they said, we're not going to leave until you give us the truth. Until you give us answers.
But then they were shooed away by police. So, they had to leave. And they went over to the Malaysian embassy. They did the same thing. They crawled on the ground and they begged and begged for answers.
[04:25:01] They begged for the media to give a voice. One woman said, all she wants is for her daughter, who was on the plane, to come home. And, yes, they don't believe when the prime minister said when he went on television and said there was conclusive confirmation that that piece of the wreckage is from the missing place because less than an hour later, the French prosecutor said they still don't know 100 percent.
Some family members are now saying they want to go to Reunion Island. They want to see where the debris was found for themselves. Others are saying they still believe the passengers are alive. That perhaps they never got on the missing plane and they maybe hiding out somewhere.
This has been going on for more than 515 days, and they continue to live in the agonizing state of limbo that will go on until they have proof, until they find human remains, or until they find a plane. And, Christine, as you know, we are no closer to that happening today than we were yesterday or six months or 515 days ago.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks so much for that, Will Ripley, in Beijing for us this morning.
Twenty-six minutes past the hour.
Donald Trump, center of attention, at the Republican debate. The new controversy is creating and who else was able to really stand out last night. We'll tell you, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Donald Trump dominating the first Republican presidential debate, refusing to back down from a possible third party run and on attack against his competitors and the debate moderator. He's even on the attack right now -- a tirade going on on Twitter as he insults right and left the people who are moderating that debate.
Chris Christie and Rand Paul battle it out. And a contender far behind the polls earns rave reviews this morning.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. Thirty minutes past the hour.
