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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Donald Trump Unveils Immigration Reform Details; Joe Biden Contemplates 2016 Run; Debris Found from Missing Indonesian Airplane; Death Toll in China Explosions Rises to 114. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired August 17, 2015 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:12] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The race for president unfolding at the Iowa state fairgrounds. Donald Trump revealing his plan to combat illegal immigration. Hillary Clinton defending her e- mail use as secretary of state, as more than a dozen other candidates vie to make their voices heard.
Breaking news this morning. An Indonesian airliner crashed with 54 people on board. Search and rescue teams now on the way to that wreckage. We are live with new developments.
Fury from families of those still missing in China's chemical blast. They are demanding answers as the death toll rises this morning from that series of explosions. CNN right now on the way to the blast zone.
Good morning. And welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday, August 17th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East. Nice to see you all this morning. John Berman has the morning off.
Donald Trump this morning doing something that every citizen rich and poor alike is obliged to do. Jury duty. He's taking the day off the campaign trail today to show up at the court house. This as the billionaire candidate begins filling in the eagerly awaited details of his plans for immigration reform.
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has the latest from Washington.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Donald Trump is off the campaign trail today doing something all of us can relate to all too well. He's been called in for jury duty. He will report for his civic duty at a state court in Manhattan today. Trump says he thinks it will be fun and he is looking forward to it.
Now this comes as Trump is trying to put forward a little more substance as a candidate. The campaign releasing its first policy document on his plan for immigration. The issue that really ignited that initial burst of support that he saw. For the first time, revealing how Trump proposes to get Mexico to pay for building a wall along the U.S. border. That wall he's been pushing for since he got into the race, saying until they do, he would impound all remittance payments from illegal wages, increase fees on visas issued to Mexican CEOs and seized on border crossing cards.
He also more broadly proposes to end the U.S. law of birthright citizenship, saying it is the biggest magnet for illegal immigration. He calls for the number of ICE officers to be tripled along the border and for funding to be cut off for sanctuary cities.
Now there are parts of his immigration policy that are still not clear. Trump in this policy document only calls for criminal undocumented immigrants to be deported. He doesn't say anything about all illegal immigrants being deported, which he has called for in the past and repeated again on Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to make a whole new set of standards and when people come in they have to come --
CHUCK TODD, HOST, "MEET THE PRESS": You're going to split up families. You're going to deport children?
TRUMP: Chuck. Chuck, no, no. We're going to keep the families together. We have to keep the families together.
TODD: But you're going to kick them out?
TRUMP: They have to go.
TODD: What if they have no place to go?
TRUMP: We will work with them. They have to go.
Chuck, either have a country or we don't have a country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: And the DNC wasting no time in responding, saying that Trump has reignited, in their words, that GOP's longstanding obsession with mass deportation -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Sunlen Serfaty. Thank you for that, Sunlen.
Vice President Joe Biden expected to stay at home in Delaware this morning. High on his agenda, no doubt, more time to consider whether he should jump into the race for the White House.
The vice president hearing from advisers on whether there is room for him in the Democratic contest where a lot of the money and the campaign talent is already spoken for.
Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta brings us the latest on that.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine, while President Obama is enjoying his vacation here on Martha's Vineyard, Vice President Joe Biden was spending some of his time off last week determining whether he should make a run for the White House.
Now sources close to the vice president say he is nowhere near a decision which is expected to come at the end of the summer. But Biden is putting out fillers, talking to loyalists who are gaming out the challenges the vice president would face should he choose to take on Hillary Clinton.
The former secretary of state, by the way, she's already seen by top Democrats both inside and outside the White House as someone who will protect and expand on President Obama's legacy. Biden would also have to take on a tough battle against Vermont senator, Bernie Sanders, who is now hot on Clinton's heels in the polls in some key battleground states. And here's what Bernie Sanders had to say about the possibility of a Biden candidacy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have known Joe for many, many years and everybody who knows Joe likes him and respects him. The decision as to whether or not he runs is his. If he does run, I promise him an issue-oriented campaign. We'll debate major issues facing the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: But sources close to Biden are staying very tightlipped on which way the vice president is leaning. He did spend his vacation in South Carolina, an early primary state and home to one of his biggest loyalist, the former chairman of that state's Democratic Party. All of which will fuel speculation that Biden is taking a hard look at this -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks for that.
Republicans pouncing on the Hillary Clinton e-mail controversy again this morning after the Democratic frontrunner made a joke about the disappearing message service Snapchat over the weekend.
[04:05:09] Here's what Hillary Clinton said, she said, I love it to laughter at a Democratic fundraiser in Iowa. Republican campaigns saw an opportunity to blast Clinton but she dismissed suggestions she was taking the controversy too lightly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Most importantly, I never sent classified material on my e-mail and I never received any that was marked classified. So I'm going to let whatever this inquiry is go forward and will await the outcome of it. The State Department has confirmed what I just said to you.
TRUMP: It's a criminal problem. I mean, it's going to be a very serious problem for her, Jeff. It's going to be about as serious as it gets. You look at General Petraeus and he was destroyed over a much lesser event so I think she's got a very good --
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: But his e-mails were marked classified. Hers were not. TRUMP: Well, I think some of hers were. And it seemed like they took
a lot of markings off. I mean, somebody has got a big problem and it looks like it's Hillary.
ZELENY: Any worry Republicans could overplay their hand on this e- mail controversy?
TRUMP: Look. It is what it is. It was a terrible thing she did. It was actually a very foolish thing. There was no reason to do it. And she's got a big problem.
CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know in the debate last week, I made the statement that Hillary Clinton has lied. She's lied about Benghazi. She's lied about her server and she's lied about her e-mails. And there were some in the media that found that language harsh, although the majority of Americans agree with me. And the more this story goes on, the more it becomes clear that she has lied.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. Dr. Ben Carson, the number two candidate in FOX News' latest and nationwide poll, he's trying again to clarify his views on abortion. The retired neurosurgeon was asked last week to square his research on fetal tissue in the early 1990s with his current criticism of Planned Parenthood. On Sunday he was asked both at the Iowa State Fair Soapbox and on ABC News to explain when he thinks life begins.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What I believe is life starts at conception. I said there are a lot of people who think that it is at the heartbeat. And I think most people can come to the conclusion that once you have a heartbeat that you clearly have a living organism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The Iowa State Fair and its famous Soapbox offering a platform to three more GOP candidates today. Set for today, Governor Scott Walker, Senator Lindsey Graham and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton among other candidates have already come and gone from the fair and the opportunity it offers for face-to- face contact with voters.
Happening today, the super PAC allied with the Jeb Bush campaign will start spending some of the money in its deep pockets. Right to Rise USA is set to make an eight-figure ad buy in the early primary states of New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina. The ads start running in mid-September and air through December. Bush is set to campaign across South Carolina today where he'll meet with veterans and conduct a military town hall. And Mike Huckabee is heading to Israel to meet with officials and
discuss the Iran nuclear deal. Just last month, the Republican presidential candidate said the Iran deal will take Israel, quote, "to the door of the oven." Huckabee telling CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" Sunday it's important to talk about the deal with Israelis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So I think it is the most dangerous situation that we face not just for the Middle East, but for the rest of the world in a long time, this is essentially arming and equipping a terrorist state. The Iranian government is not to be trusted and for 36 years they kidnapped Americans, they've killed Americans, they hold Americans hostage right now. And we're being pushed again into a deal that gives us nothing, but gives the Iranians the capacity to ultimately end up with a nuclear weapon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Huckabee also had praise for Republican rival Donald Trump calling him a master at branding. He says it's helped Trump get 10 times the press coverage of any other candidates. Huckabee said hey, if he got that kind of attention from the press, he would be leading in the polls.
All right. The Pentagon says it plans to expand the number of U.S. drone flights overseas. Under the proposal, the Defense Department says 50 percent more flights would broaden surveillance and intelligence collection in Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, the South China Sea, and North Africa. The plan would grow the military's capacity for lethal airstrikes. If put into action, it would be the first significant boost to the U.S. drone program since 2011.
The Obama administration has told reportedly told China its law enforcement personnel don't have permission to secretly work in the U.S. According to the "New York Times" the White House has warned Beijing about its operation named "Fox Hunt." The "Times" reports Chinese law enforcement agents are covertly working throughout America to hunt down fugitives and return them to China.
[04:10:03] The State Department has not addressed Operation: Fox Hunt directly but Sunday a spokesperson did make it clear that Chinese law enforcement personnel cannot work in the U.S. without the Pentagon's permission.
Time for an EARLY START on your money this Monday morning. A good start for the week for stocks around the world, folks. European and Asian shares are higher right now. Dow futures -- they're kind of flat, I'd say. The selloff is still going strong this morning. Oil surprises are falling down to six-year lows.
AT&T worked in a close partnership with the NSA for years to retrieve information. AT&T gave the agency billions of dollars -- access to billions of e-mails sent on its networks and allowed the agency to monitor communications at the United States. That's according to a report by the "New York Times" and ProPublica. Using NSA documents obtained by Edward Snowden.
Many companies were enlisted by the NSA to help collect information, but AT&T's role now seems more extensive than other companies. AT&T says it only provides information through a court order or required by law, unless a person's life is in danger.
Breaking news this morning. An Indonesian plane crashes with 54 people on board. Its wreckage spotted in the mountains this morning. Search and rescue teams are trying to get that wreckage, facing difficulty this morning.
We're live with new developments next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Breaking news this morning from Indonesia. Two aerial search planes have now spotted debris from what officials believe may be an airliner which went missing with 54 people on board. A search official tells CNN the plans to send out two ground teams to the location in the province of Papua now suspended due to weather.
Let's turn to CNN's Kathy Novak now for the very latest.
Just a sad story there. Looking for that wreckage now, Kathy.
KATHY NOVAK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And more than a day, Christine, since this plane went missing and the second day in a row that bad weather has forced the search mission to be suspended. Now we're being told that the air search mission has also had to be suspended because of that bad weather.
[04:15:07] The two ground teams have been hiking for an hour in this very difficult terrain, it's very mountainous, very wooded area where they're trying to reach this region where two different planes say they spotted debris. Small pieces of debris, though. They are looking for a large chunk of debris after villagers said they saw this plane crash into the mountains and they saw the wreckage.
What these ground search teams are trying to do is access this area to build a helipad. They need to fly a helicopter into the area to get specialized teams in with specialized equipment so that they can get in and also get out. We're told that the teams are hopeful of finding survivors but the head of the search and rescue mission there in Indonesia is telling us that the reality is there is very little likelihood of finding any survivors given the situation. So really they're trying to get this helicopter in to pull out any bodies -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Kathy Novak, thank you for that. Keep us posted. We know they want to get some better weather to resume the search. Thank you for that.
Federal investigators are trying to determine what caused two small planes to collide in mid-air on approach to San Diego. An airport in San Diego. Four people on board the two planes were killed. Officials say both planes broke into pieces. It happened Sunday morning about two miles from the Brownfield Municipal Airport in Otay Mesa, near the Mexico border.
The FAA says a technical glitch at an air traffic control center in Virginia was responsible for hundreds of flight delays and cancellations at East Coast airports over the weekend. Officials say the problem was actually fixed after several hours on Saturday, but airports at connecting hubs were still experienced delays on Sunday. The FAA says investigators are, quote, "continuing to diagnose the cause of the problem."
Wildfires still scorching the west, burning out of control in four states now. The fires are being fueled by drought conditions along with heat and high winds. More than 50 homes have been lost in Washington state alone.
In California, hundreds of firefighters are battling a blaze in the Angeles National Forest. A lightning caused fire in Oregon has burned more than 34,000 acres. And in Idaho, the Soda Fire has covered nearly 300,000 acres there.
Will the weather in the west help turn things around in this battle against those wildfires? Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the latest.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Christine, the active fires across the western United States remarkable . And you look at this, 106 of them coming into play here as far as large active fires. Six million acres of land had been scorched. That is over $2 million above what is considered normal for this time of year.
And look at the landscape, this is what played out across much of the western U.S. What a lot of the firefighters have to deal with. And when you get these fires that develop in mountainous areas, you get winds of course that develop into these canyon regions. You see this in major metropolitan cities with large buildings. Then you have embers that are kicked up and then you create new spot fires farther downstream. That's a major issue for these firefighters across this region.
And want to show you what's happening over the southwest as well. Excessive heat warnings in place. Temperatures well into the 110s, seven million people are dealing with the excessive heat warnings across the southwest in U.S. Phoenix gets up to 111. 104 is what is considered normal. Up in Boise, temperatures getting up to the lower mid-90s over the next couple of days so the heat certainly in place there.
And then back to the northeast. Much the same. Washington into the mid and upper 90s, while New York City had at least the cooling trend, Christine, going from 93 down to the mid-80s by the later portion of the week.
ROMANS: All right. Pedram Javaheri, thank you for that.
Eighteen minutes past the hour. A big winning weekend for the movie "Straight Outta Compton." The film about the rise and fall of the legendary rap group NWA earned $56.1 million in its debut weekend. Taking the top spot at the box office. Just how big was it? "Straight Outta Compton" nearly doubled its entire budget in a single week.
Milwaukee Brewers Minor Leaguer David Densing is the first openly gay active player on a Major League affiliated team. The 20-year-old Densing going public in an interview with a Milwaukee newspaper after first revealing it to his family and the Brewers' Minor League team in Helena, Montana. Densing says his teammates have been supportive.
Death toll rising in a massive chemical blast in China. Residents fearing contamination as families of those still missing in the explosions demand answers. CNN right now on the way to the blast zone next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:23:01] ROMANS: The death toll from the huge explosions in northern China, that death toll keeps rising. It now stands at 114. The investigation now focusing on what was being stored in the port so that any dangerous chemicals spread by the explosions can be contained and removed.
CNN's Will Ripley is in Tianjin for us this morning -- Will.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, for the first time, we're being allowed inside the blast zone. We are on an overpass. And I'll show you this is one of the main roads in Tianjin. And you can see as we scan over here all of those structures. Many of them residential buildings that were some under construction, some occupied at the time of the explosion which has created utter devastation to this area.
Look at this parking lot. Full of thousands of cars. Most of them incinerated. Many of them hot to the touch even days after the explosion. And you can see what's left of the chemical warehouse that was holding all of those shipping containers that you see piled off in the distance like toys.
There are questions being asked here. Serious questions. This site here is now at the center of a criminal investigation where days later smoke continues to rise. You can see it off in the distance. And crews are continuing to search for the dozens of people still missing. And at this point it is presumed that they did not survive.
China has had its share of industrial accidents over the years. This is certainly not the first, but Chinese authorities are saying that they're going to try to take new steps to prevent this from happening again. They're promising a criminal investigation and charges against those who are responsibility for placing these volatile chemicals so close to people's homes, causing an explosion so powerful that it was able to burn and push those large trucks underneath the highway and result in the lives of so many lost -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Will Ripley, for us, this morning. Thanks for that, Will.
[04:25:03] The president of Ecuador declaring a state of emergency over the weekend as Cotopaxi volcano activity intensifies. Look at that volcano. Hundreds of people evacuated about 30 miles from the capital as this volcano began to spew ash. The country has been watching closely since scientists noticed increased activity back in June. Geophysicists say the volcano's last major activity happened in the late 19th century.
Dramatic developments in the race for president. Candidates competing for the attention at the Iowa State Fair. Donald Trump finally putting some policy prescriptions behind his plan to combat illegal immigration. Hillary Clinton still fielding questions about her use of e-mail as secretary of state. We fill all that up for you next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton steal the show at the Iowa state fairgrounds. Trump unveiling his plan to fight illegal immigration. Clinton defending her use of e-mails as secretary of state. The dramatic new developments ahead.
Breaking news this morning, search and rescue teams struggling to reach the wreckage of an Indonesian air crash. 54 people on board. We are live with new information.
The death toll rises in a series of chemical explosions in China. More than 100 dead. Dozens missing. And this morning, the families are furious demanding answers.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is 29, almost 30 minutes past the hour. Nice to see you this Monday morning. A lot happened this weekend and a lot of politics to get to, folks.
Donald Trump this morning finally filling in details on his plans for immigration reform. After weeks of talking about immigration, lots to say but avoiding specifics. Now we have them.
