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Retail Politicking at the Iowa State Fair; U.S. Embassy Opens in Cuba; China Explosions: Death Toll Rises; Tom Brady Starts Patriots Preseason Game. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired August 14, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The race for president taking center stage in Iowa. Moving in on the Hawkeye State to make their case to voters. Details ahead.

In hours, the American flag will fly again in Havana. U.S. embassy opening up for the first time in 50 years.

The fire still burning after deadly explosions in China. New video captures the devastation. We are live.

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday, august 14th, 5:00 a.m. in the East. John Berman has the week off.

Nice to see you this morning. Let's starts with politics. Presidential candidates descend on Des Moines for the Iowa State Fair.

This is an all but required early stop on the campaign trail. A chance for face time with some of 1 million Iowans who attend and who may go on to select the state's presidential nominees at caucuses next February.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny is there with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Christine, and hello from the Iowa state fair.

For the next week and a half, it is Ground Zero in the presidential campaign. Jeb Bush is coming here to give a speech and meet with voters.

This is a key test for presidential candidates, one of those rites of passage for the summer where Republican candidates and Democratic candidates alike come and press the flesh, if you will. They give speeches, they answer questions, sometimes we have seen defining moments when voters challenge candidates on specific things.

Christine, we are looking forward to a big weekend here at the Iowa state fair. Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton will both be on the same grounds in the same proximity on Saturday. Donald Trump may bring his famous helicopter in. We'll see about that.

But, Christine, this really gives voters a chance to take a measure of candidates, to see how they interact with people, what their likability test is. If the old adage is who do you want to have a beer with is a test for presidential candidates, that's exactly what you can do here on the grounds for the Iowa fairgrounds.

So, for the next ten days, about the next week and a half, every single candidate, more than 17 or so on both sides, will be coming here to give speeches and meet these voters, Christine, six months before the Iowa caucuses. But over the next couple of days, this is a pretty defining time.

Sure wish you were here. We'd have a good corn dog and maybe even a pork chop on a stick -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Definitely the Iowa chop on a stick, Jeff. That would be my choice. Thank you for that. We'll talk to you soon.

Jeb Bush hits the Iowa state fair in just a few hours. Yesterday, on the first day of the swing through the state, he defended his brother's decision to invade Iraq in 2003. At a college in Davenport, Jeb Bush said the Obama administration inherited a fragile, but secure Iraq from George W. Bush in 2009. Fragile but secure, then allowed ISIS to emerge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MODERATOR: Had we not invaded Iraq in the first place, we wouldn't be dealing this Iraq ISIS problem?

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, who knows? This is such a complicated hypothetical. I can't answer that. I'll tell you though that taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be a good deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The candidate polling second in Iowa suddenly on the defensive. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson trying to square his past use of tissue from aborted fetuses for medical research with his current call for defunding Planned Parenthood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To not use the tissue that is in the tissue bank regardless of where it comes from would be a foolish thing. That's a very different thing from killing babies, manipulating them, taking their tissues, selling them. That's a different thing. To try to equate those two things is absolutely ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Carly Fiorina barnstorming Iowa from her new perch as a top- tier candidate. The former Hewlett-Packard CEO highlighting her strength at a town hall as someone who can shake up Washington and get things done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That means we have to challenge the status quo of Washington, something that the political class really hasn't been willing to do for a long time. And I think that's why you see so many people saying, I don't care if you have been in politics all your life. What I care about is, do you understand how to translate a good speech into real results?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Fiorina setting out controversial position at that same town hall. She said parents should not be forced to get their children vaccinated. She later added that school districts can still bar unvaccinated children, though, from attending.

ROMANS: Republicans, of course, don't have Iowa to themselves. Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton pushing her plans for making higher education more affordable at a town hall in Dubuque. Tonight, she crosses paths with three Democratic contenders, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley and Lincoln Chafee at a fundraiser in Clear Lake called the Iowa Democratic Party Wing Ding.

The Democratic contenders could soon have a formidable rival in the 2016 race. Vice President Joe Biden reportedly is spending his South Carolina beach vacation consulting a family and supporters and weighing the idea of launching a campaign.

CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine.

Right, this has been one of the big mysteries of this race. Is Joe Biden running or not? Even people close to him, when you ask them, they've been saying that they don't know because he himself is still wrestling with that decision.

[05:05:06] Well, now we know that while he has been on vacation this week with his wife on this tiny island off the coast of South Carolina, he has been doing some reaching out to people close to him on that possibility.

Other people are starting to weigh in now, too. Hillary Clinton said she will respect whatever decision he makes, although some supporters have very publicly questioned whether it might not be too late in the game, whether it's the best decision for him or not. Martin O'Malley just said he would welcome Biden's voice in the race.

And Donald Trump wasted no time in treating Biden as an opponent by slamming him. DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think I'd match up great.

I'm a job producer. I have a great record. I haven't been involved in plagiarism. I think I would match up very well against Biden.

KOSINSKI: Well, he's referring to some issues Biden had back in law school, as well as during his 1988 campaign when he was accused of using somebody's line during a speech.

But you look at some new numbers. The CNN/ORC poll. It's pretty interesting, it puts Biden at number three of likely Iowa caucus goers with 12 percent of the support. He hasn't even announced yet.

Those close to him have said they feel sorry for him. He needs to make this decision during such a tough time personally with his son Beau dying just in May. They say he's still mourning his son and his son had urged him to take this chance and run with it, what could be his third and final chance to run for president.

But it looks like that decision now could be coming quite soon -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Michelle Kosinski, thank you, Michelle.

In just hours about six hours, history and the American flag will unfold in Havana, Secretary of State John Kerry heading to the island nation to raise the Stars and Stripes over the newly reopened U.S. embassy in Havana.

But as CNN's Jake Tapper reports, once the cheering and ceremonies end, a lot of difficult work lies ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Buenos dias from Havana, Cuba, Christine.

It is a hugely enormous day in Cuban and American history. Later today, Secretary of State John Kerry will come down and he will raise the American flag at the U.S. embassy here. The first time that flag has been flown here since January, 1961 when President Dwight Eisenhower ended diplomatic relations between the countries. In fact, the three marines who lowered that flag are going to be here today for that ceremony.

It's a day full of excitement and history. It's also a day with some criticism. Some dissidents here in this country expressing real disappointment to us, talking about how the Obama administration gave up too much, didn't demand enough in terms of human rights and other concessions regarding freedom from the Cuban government. But no matter what you think about what's going to happen later today, it is a significant day. We will bring it all to you live later on -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: OK, I can't wait for that, Jake. Thank you.

To northern China now, where hundreds of chemical specialists are at the site of the explosions that left a port city in ruins. More than 1,000 firefighters still dealing with hot spots. And executives of the hazardous chemicals company that owns the warehouse where it started now in custody.

Will Ripley has been in Tianjin since the story broke. He joins us now with the latest.

Will, we are showing pictures of the explosion. I mean, amazing that this is caught in camera. But I can tell you, that really, the video doesn't actually do or show how just widespread the devastation it is. I mean, you've just kind of all -- acres and acres of burned out cars and shipping containers that are just demolished.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely right, Christine. And we were showing you the damage yesterday, even more than a mile way from the site. But what I wanted to show you today is the human toll.

And look at what's happening right now. These are volunteers who are bringing in food to this relocation center for the thousands and thousands of people who are homeless at the moment because of the fact this explosion and the force of the explosion was so intense. There are major apartment units that are unlivable. You're talking about multi-level high rise buildings, sometimes eight or ten buildings in a block, thousands of families that are coming to ten relocation centers like this and they are being well taken care of by the Chinese government.

I have to say, this appears to be a well-organized response. They are giving people food, and water and clothing.

But the lingering fear here is about what is coming out of the crash site off in the distance beyond those trees. You can actually see a visible smoke plume at times during the day. And there are grave concerns of the chemicals mixed that was in this factory, the epicenter of these explosions.

This was a place where chemicals were shipped in. They were put in the factory for up to 40 days and shipped out. They still don't know exactly what was inside.

[05:10:00] But what they do know is that some of these chemicals are so dangerous and volatile, that if it rains and there's rain in the forecast today, it could create a chemical reaction that could put more pollutants into the air and potentially put people in danger who are living outside essentially in tents at the moment and breathing all of this in.

There could be criminal charges for the owners of the company, Christine. The Chinese government is promising to crackdown very heavily if there were any rules that were broken that lead to this disaster.

ROMANS: Just unbelievable, that devastation. A thousand firefighters trying to put out those hot spots.

Will Ripley, thank you for bringing that to us this morning. Excellent reporting in the past couple of mornings.

Breaking news this morning. Greek lawmakers just approved the country's third bailout after a marathon night of debate. There's still some hurdles to overcome.

Business correspondent Alison Kosik joins me now with that.

Good morning, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And the Greek debt crisis is synonymous with the word hurdles. European finance ministers still need to give a great light for the loan. They're going to be meeting later today.

Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras urged parliament to sign off on the deal. He calls it a necessary choice for the nation. The $95 billion agreement will help Greece avoid bankruptcy and secure its future in the E.U. It includes tax increases and spending cuts.

Let's get a quick check on the markets. Asian shares are mixed, but European shares and U.S. stock futures are higher at the moment. China allowed the value of its currency to rise against the U.S. dollar today by a fraction of a percentage point and ended three days of decline after a sudden devaluation.

And worries over China's economy pushing oil prices even lower. The price of crude sitting at a six-year low on growth concerns or lack thereof. And a booming supply and it is economics 101. Less demand, more supply equals lower prices. Good for consumers, though.

ROMANS: Yes, good for gas prices. Gas prices could go down to $2 maybe by Halloween.

All right. Disturbing new information in the war against ISIS. The terrorists believed to now be using chemical weapons. Details on the investigation, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:00] ROMANS: A troubling new development in the war against ISIS. Pentagon officials believe the terrorists are using chemical weapons against Kurdish fighters in Iraq. It is the first indication ISIS has obtained or can manufacture those banned agents.

We get more from CNN's national security correspondent Jim Sciutto.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, the U.S. believes it has credible information that ISIS used this chemical agent mustard gas, extremely powerful, dates back to World War I, outlawed in fact after World War I. Why do they find it credible? Basically, the symptoms of these

Kurdish soldiers attacked with it in northern Iraq, both breathing difficulty after the attack, but also signs of blistering on their skin. Mustard gas is a blistering agent.

Two explanations for how ISIS have gotten this. Either they overran old Iraqi security caches or officials say it's also possible that they figured out how to make this themselves and weaponized it. Both of those explanations frankly are alarming. It would be a real concern.

U.S. officials say, listen, in terms of the battle field calculus, this is not a major game changer, but chemical weapons are a weapon of fear, much like terrorism, much like the headings that ISIS has been carrying out. That's a factor on the battle field.

But also this, you've heard some U.S. officials mention putting U.S. soldiers closer to the frontlines either as spotters for air strikes or possibly forward deployed advisers. This, of course, would have to be added to the dangers that they might face on the battle field certainly, part of that calculation.

It is regardless of the explanation and still they have to confirm this was mustard gas. If it is confirmed, this is a very alarming development -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: It sure is. Jim Sciutto, thank you for that, Jim, this morning.

A deadly roller coaster accident in one of America's most popular theme parks. A 45-year-old school teacher identified as James Young of East Canton, Ohio, killed Thursday evening at Cedar Point, moments after getting off the rafter roller coaster. Young apparently lost his cell phone during that ride. Police say what he did next cost him his life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL FROST, SANDUSKY ASSISTANT POLICE CHIEF: Information received from friends of Mr. Young is that Mr. Young rode the Raptor roller coaster. While riding the ride, lost some of his personal belongings. After completing the ride, Mr. Young decided to retrieve these items. He jumped over a fence in a restricted area under the Raptor and was looking for his belongings. Mr. Young was struck by the Raptor train that was in operation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The Raptor roller coaster that struck Young travels at speeds up to 57 miles per hour.

Connecticut's Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty in the state. The justices ruling it would be unconstitutional to execute any of the 11 death row inmates. The decision comes three years after Connecticut abolished death penalty while leaving existing death sentences intact. The justices listed inherent racial bias in death sentences as one of the factors leading to their decision.

St. Louis County authorities extending the state of emergency in Ferguson, Missouri through today. This as the teen shot and critically injured by police in the exchange of gunfire Sunday is recovering. Reportedly, he is in stable condition. Eighteen-year-old Tyrone Harris Jr. is accused at firing at police during the mostly peaceful protests, commemorating one year since the death of Michael Brown.

According to court records, detectives pursued and fired at Harris after they saw him shooting a gun during a firefight between two groups and after he shot at their unmarked car. Police say Harris was already out on bail on other charges.

The head of the EPA announcing the agency is now halting all field work in mines. Gina McCarthy says the EPA is determined to never let what happened in Colorado take place again. A week ago, crews accidentally dumped waste water in the Animas River while working in an abandoned goldmine. The water stained orange by the toxic sludge full of chemicals and heavy metals, but officials say containment levels are going down. McCarthy said she expects congressional discussion on how to safely address other closed mines.

Forecasters now saying the phenomenon known as El Nino could be the strongest on record since 1950. El Nino, an occasional warming of the Pacific waters around the equator, can change weather patterns around the globe. In the U.S., it usually means heavier than normal rain in California and much of the south and east. California could use some rain. It also suppresses hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean.

One day after appearing in federal court, Tom Brady makes an appearance on the football field. The New England quarterback back in action while he waits a decision in deflategate saga.

Andy Scholes has the details in the bleacher report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:23:29] ROMANS: Busy week for Tom Brady. He was in the courtroom on Wednesday dealing with deflategate. Then, he was on the field last night with the Patriots.

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

Hey, Andy.

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

I have you to say, you know, it is nice to have football back. Six preseason games last night. All eyes on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Brady getting a big ovation from the home crowd as he took the field before the game. He played two series completing just one pass before giving way to Jimmy Garoppolo. Garoppolo is going to have to fill in for Brady -- well, he has some

work to do. He threw an interception and sacked seven times. Brady's lawyers are due back in court next week to continue settlement talks with the NFL.

Johnny Manziel's sophomore season off to a good start. Manziel scoring on a 12-yard touchdown run against the Redskins. And notice like he said no more money sign after scoring the touchdown. Manziel definitely looking more mature after spending ten weeks in rehab this off season for undisclosed reasons.

All right. The number one golfer in the world, Rory McIlroy returning to action yesterday at the PGA championship in Wisconsin. He had been out after hurting his ankle while playing soccer with some buddies. Check him in the water on the fifth. Nice shot, finds that green there. Rory is five shots back of the lead.

And for the third straight major Dustin Johnson has a share of the lead after round one. He is 6 under par going into round two. You can watch all of round two starting at 2:00 p.m. on our sister network TNT.

[05:25:04] And just finally, just an awesome moments at Indians and Yankees game last night. Indians' Mike Aviles twin daughters Adriana and Maya threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game to their dad. Adriana was diagnosed with leukemia in May and currently getting treatment at Cleveland Clinic.

And Indians have rallied around Aviles family this season. You know, they said they wouldn't trade Aviles while Adriana is battling leukemia. And the Indians owner, GM, and several others shaved their heads. Adriana is doing well right now and we, of course, wish her well in her fight.

ROMANS: We wish them well, the whole family. Thanks for that. What a great story. Thank you.

All right. Twenty-five minutes past the hour. The race for president taking place at the Iowa state fair. Candidates in Iowa making their case to voters. Details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Pork chops and candidates. The race for president moves to the Iowa state fair. How is soap box could help them votes, ahead.

In just hours, history and the American flag will unfold over Havana. The U.S. embassy in Cuba will reopen. The marines who took down the flag more than 50 years ago will raise it this morning. The sign for the embassy being put up as we speak.

Death toll rising as the fire keeps burning from the series of deadly explosions. We are live.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday morning. It is 30 minutes past the hour. John Berman has the week off.

Let's start with politics, shall we?