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Trump Steals Spotlight at GOP Debate; Fiorina Shines in "Happy Hour" Debate; Key Democrat Opposes Iran Nuclear Deal; Malaysia Officials: More MH370 Debris Found; Jon Stewart Signs Off From "Daily Show". Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 07, 2015 - 04:30   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Chris Christie and Rand Paul battle it out. And a contender far behind the polls earns rave reviews this morning.

[04:30:05] Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. Thirty minutes past the hour.

Donald Trump in the spotlight of the first Republican presidential debate. The billionaire stirring things up before people had time to sit down. 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.

I got to start with Donald Trump, because, you know, right now, he's on Twitter tirade, in fact, using the words "bimbo" and Megyn Kelly in the same tweet, saying basically that she bombed. She was tough on him. She asked him a tough question about his views on women or the kinds of language he used in the past on women. I want to listen to that quickly.

(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 have treated me, but I wouldn'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 didn't ask those questions 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: They didn't ask that questions of anybody else, Chris, you can argue, because the other candidates are very different from Donald Trump. They don't make big opinionated statements that can be offensive publicly. That's why he was singled out for that.

How do you think he fared?

CHRIS MOODY, CNN SENIOR DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I think the big headline out of this tonight is that the GOP's Donald Trump problem is not going away. And when you talk about also those comments he's made about women, Donald Trump is not really playing by the same rules as the other candidates.

Any of the other candidates, whether they are Democrat or Republican, had made comments like that throughout their careers, repeatedly. Not just a one-off gaffe or something like that, but repeatedly in a way Donald Trump as an entertainer in his role with reality television which often encourages that kind of rhetoric. They would be thrown off. They would never make it on the stage.

But Donald Trump doesn't play by those rules.

Now, in the way, he has responded has been interesting, but also very predictable. This is what he does. He attacks those who ask him tough questions all of the time in the media. The questions were fair. These were things in the public record that Donald Trump has said. And this was a forum in which he is asked to explain them.

And he tried to diffuse it as a joke in the beginning. But he continued to be pressed on it. As it was, he lashed out. You can always tell when somebody doesn't have a very good argument against something when they just take that ad hominem attack against the person asking those questions.

ROMANS: Right. He says if I'm attacked, I will attack back. He says he never strikes the first blow and indeed he promised that maybe he would not be so nice to Megyn Kelly in the future, and he isn't. When you look at -- we have some of those tweets, I like to call him. He's basically on the Twitter tirade for the last 20 minutes or so. Still up after a long night.

"Wow, @MeghanKelly really bomb tonight. People are going wild on Twitter. Funny to watch." That's what we have up there. But there are many, many more, and that's mild compared to some of the other ones.

Let's move on and talk about Chris Christie and Rand Paul also getting into a heated argument. And we look at the headlines this morning, "Raucous", cover of two-page newspapers. "Raucous, testy." There was a lot of fire there.

Let's listen to Chris Christie and Rand Paul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Listen, Senator, when you are sitting in a sub committee just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that.

[04:35:04] When you are responsible for protecting the lives of the American people, then what you need to do is to make sure that you use the system the way it is supposed to work.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here's the problem, Governor, you fundamentally misunderstand the Bill of Rights. Every time you did a case, you got a warrant from a judge. I'm talking about searches without warrants indiscriminately of all Americans' records, and that's what I fought to end.

I don't trust President Obama with our records. I know you gave him a big hug. If you want to give him a big hug again, go right ahead.

CHRISTIE: You know, Senator Paul, Senator, you know the hugs I remember? The hugs I gave to the families who lost their people on September 11th. Those are the hugs I remember.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Rand Paul's are facial expressions are priceless there. That was a pretty big tangle. Who came out on top there? What does that represent?

MOODY: In the long batting with Chris Christie and Rand Paul, it's hard to say who came out of that explosive moment. It really is.

But we have to point out this is not new. Those two men have been going at it for years now. Both of them have fundamentally different understandings about the role of government as far as search and seizure and war on terror. They differ.

They also not shied away of throwing barbs at each other through the media over the past couple of years. And so, this is the first time we have seen them together on the stage. It really all blew up in a way that is totally predictable.

And as we talk about Donald Trump earlier, he really set the tone of this debate. We saw Rand Paul going after Donald Trump and carrying on with Chris Christie.

But I will tell you, I think this Chris Christie versus Rand Paul tangle we saw tonight is going to continue and spill out on to future debates -- almost certainly.

ROMANS: I think for anyone who is waking up now and saw the debate, the big headlines are Marco Rubio came out on top. Marco Rubio did very well. Jeb Bush survived and Donald Trump refuses to pledge allegiance to the Republican Party, and stays true to his character throughout.

Let's -- before those ten top Republicans, Chris, took the stage last night, there was the happy hour debate featuring the seven lowest polling Republicans. It did not take long for the Trump-bashing there to begin.

Listen to former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Texas Governor Rick Perry ganging up on the Republican frontrunner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK PERRY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you look at the celebrity of Donald Trump, I think 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 attacks on Hillary Clinton then kicked in. Each of the candidates asked to describe the Democratic frontrunner in two words. Describe Hillary Clinton in two words. Here's a 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: When the happy hour debate was over, Carly Fiorina getting the lion's share of the buzz. A majority of the bloggers and social media pundits, declaring her the winner.

Listen to the former CEO going on attack of Jeb Bush for his recent comments about women's health.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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: Chris, she was disciplined, well-spoken. I -- she broke out last night.

MOODY: She did. Look, part of the debates a great opportunity for candidates who a lot of people might not have heard of or don't know to get their name ID out there.

And Carly Fiorina capitalized on that completely. She took full advantage of it with a forceful, articulate argument on several issues going after mostly Hillary Clinton and a lot of the people I spoke to tonight and I watched the debate with hundreds of conservative activists said that she really shined more than anyone else. And she deserves to be on the top debate stage.

And I spoke to her after the debate performance. And she said, look, I succeeded tonight. People now know who I am and this is going to help me get on the debate stage and get my name ID going. This campaign is going to belong. And this is a good first start for her to continue.

[04:40:01] ROMANS: All right. Chris Moody, thank you for that. Excellent analysis, and all of the access you had last night, thank you so much for that. Talk to you very, very soon.

Forty minutes past the hour.

Breaking overnight: President Obama losing support on the Iran nuclear deal from a key Democratic senator, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Breaking overnight. A blow for the Obama administration and its battle to sell the Iran nuclear deal. New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, the most influential Jewish voice in Congress announcing he will oppose the agreement. That could pave the way for other undecided Democrats to vote against.

Schumer releasing the statement, "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."

Congress is scheduled to vote on the Iran deal in mid-September.

Turning to the search for missing Flight 370. Crews are taking to the land and the air today hunting for more debris in the south Indian Ocean. This after pieces of windows and seat cushions washed ashore. Now, those materials are being analyzed to see if they are from the doomed Malaysia Airline flight.

CNN's Andrew Stevens is live from Kuala Lumpur for us this morning.

And, each of these developments, 515 days, 17, 18 months in the making, each of these developments must be so painful for the families who still just don't believe what authorities are telling them.

[04:45:00] ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Christine. Absolutely.

I mean, some of the scenes we have seen from Beijing today, for families crawling to the Malaysia embassy to demand answers. People I speak to here talk about the fact that they don't believe what Malaysia Airlines is telling them.

I have been speaking to Malaysia Airlines and putting that to them, and they do say they are absolutely 100 percent convinced first of all that the flaperon is part of the 370 without doubt. They insist there was absolutely no doubt at all, that other investigators were also heading in that direction as well, had that opinion, although they did not say why the French refused to say they have the same certainty.

They are also talking about the debris, Christine. You mentioned seat cushions washing ashore. It's not actually seat cushions. We are getting clarifications from the prime minister himself about this new debris. What he's talking about is aircraft grade aluminum and seat material. It is material that is washing ashore.

I actually saw still pictures. They showed me a confidential report from their team in Reunion Island. You can see a vivid blue piece of material on a rocky shore and also a bowl of what looked like aluminum strips.

They say this is analyzed by the team on the ground in Reunion. Their experts there, they say this is aircraft grade, not linked yet to MH370, but it is an aircraft. The Malaysian government pushing back and standing by what they said yesterday and also what the prime minister said about the link of the flaperon to 370 -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Andrew Stevens, thanks for bringing that to us. Let us know if there are any new developments. Thanks, Andrew.

All right. Jon Stewart, an emotional, final "Daily Show". We'll break the big moments, and the whole thing was a big moment. We've got that for you right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:50:34] ROMANS: All right. Comedian Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" run ended with the host in tears. The show itself was a hilarious walk down memory lane with correspondents, past and present, expanding Stewart's 16-year run, making surprise cameo, including Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert.

CNN's senior media correspondent Brian Stelter is here live with the big highlights.

A love fest.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: It really was. The audience members, some of them were in tears when they were coming out of the theater last night, and Stewart was tearing up at one point, too. He was thanking his crew. He was thanking his writers, his producers, all the people that really actually make the show what it is. He, of course, the star of the show, but he needs that team of writers to make it really shine.

I thought the speech he gave toward the end, there was sort of a final sermon saying that "B.S. is all around us. If you smell something, say something."

Here's what he said.

(BEGINVIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) gotten pretty lazy and their work is easily detected. Looking forward is kind of a pleasant way to pass the time. Like an eye spy (EXPLETIVE DELETED). So, I say to you tonight, friends, the best defense against (EXPLETIVE DELETED) is vigilance. If you smell something, say something. We'll be right back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: I think that's what Stewart wants his moral of the story to be, you know, the lesson, the takeaway from "The Daily Show" is to identify B.S., whether it's in Washington or it's on television and call it out when you see it.

ROMANS: Bruce Springsteen, the final musical act. That was awesome.

STELTER: He said that was his moment of Zen. Yes, how Springsteen there performing, playing in the end "Born to Run", putting another song as well. And you also had all the past and present correspondents there, kind of unsurprisingly, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver and the whole team.

ROMANS: Too bad they are not able to make anything of their time. They were the launch pad. They have long careers in comedy. This was the launch pad to bigger careers for both of those guys.

STELTER: That's ultimately one of Stewart's legacies, all of the other comics, all of the other stars groomed by "The Daily Show." He did say at the end, as I think we talked about earlier, he will not leave television all together. He is leaving "The Daily Show." But he's not retiring.

ROMANS: Yes.

STELTER: He didn't say what he'll be doing next. But he said he thinks of his career as a long conversation with the audience, mostly a one-way conversation. He made a joke of not hearing from the audience.

It is not ending. It's just taking a pause. I think that was a hint from Stewart that he won't be leaving television all together.

ROMANS: A break from the daily grind.

Let's switch gears, talk about the debate last night. That was the other big story. Ironic that Jon Stewart is leaving on the night of the big Republican debate.

STELTER: And I have to say, the debate was even bigger than "The Daily Show" finale. I mean, in terms of trending topic, this was number one.

ROMANS: And let's talk about Trump blasting FOX News' Megyn Kelly. He said it was a question that was out of bounds, did not ask that question to her people. She asked him about things he called women in the past. And he took offense to that and said, as he often does, he said, well, I have been very nice to you, but maybe now I'm not going to be nice to you.

And now, he's just blasting her on Twitter right now.

STELTER: He is hurling insults at her and at FOX, but mostly @MegynKelly. It doesn't seem like he's gone to bed yet after the debate. He is still tweeting up a storm about the debate moderators.

I'm not sure this is a winning strategy for Trump. Megyn Kelly is beloved by FOX News audience and she was doing her job challenging all the candidates, not just Trump. I don't see a lot of the other candidates complaining about the moderators right now. I only see Trump doing it.

Again, we'll see if that's the winning strategy. But I would think that the moderators are doing their job.

ROMANS: Yes. All right. Thanks so much for that, Brian. Big night for you.

STELTER: And big morning.

ROMANS: Big night and big morning. Nice to see you. Thanks, Brian.

STELTER: You too.

ROMANS: When it comes to job growth, we're expecting more solid numbers today. A big morning in the business world. There's a jobs report coming up.

But many Republican hopefuls are saying they could do better. The real jobs picture next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:58:18] ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an early start on your money this morning.

Republican presidential hopefuls are making big promises on jobs. There's a jobs reports today at 8:30 Eastern Time. And many of these candidates are saying that the economy is not creating enough jobs.

Jeb Bush says he will create 19 million jobs in two terms. More than triple his father and brother combined. He says under a Jeb Bush, there would be a 4 percent economic growth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. You get rid of Obamacare and replace it with something that doesn't suppress wages and kill jobs. You'd embrace the energy revolution in our country. And frankly, fixing our immigration system and turning it into an economic driver is part of this as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Under President Obama, there has been an energy boom.

Immigration also discussed last night with Ted Cruz calling out a number of candidates for supporting amnesty. In fact, half of the candidates on the stage last night have supported a path of citizenship for undocumented immigrants at some point. We'll be hearing a lot more about jobs growth, about immigration reform, all of these important issues that do matter to the economy.

Donald Trump taking center stage at the first Republican presidential debate, literally and figuratively.

A special edition of NEW DAY starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid.

BUSH: I'm my own man.

PAUL: He's used to buying politicians.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How is Hillary Clinton going to lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck?

CHRISTIE: He's not lying. He's just wrong.

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Obama is trust but vilified.

BUSH: When we invaded, it was a mistake.

GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R-WI), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Iran is not a place we should be doing business with.

PAUL: I oppose the Iranian deal and will vote against it.

HUCKABEE: We didn't even get four hostages out.

PERRY: I would whole lot rather had Carly than John Kerry.

ROMANS: Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer says he will oppose the agreement.