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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

The Race for President: Sanders Leads in New Poll; European Migrant Crisis; Jailed Clerk Files New Appeal. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired September 07, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:46] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Dramatic new developments in the race for president. Bernie Sanders surging past Hillary Clinton in a New Hampshire poll. Is the former secretary of state's campaign in trouble?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Europe's refugee crisis exploding. This morning, Germany and Austria taking in thousands, but warning they can't keep this up for long. Live team coverage ahead.

KOSIK: Breaking overnight: a Kentucky clerk in jail refusing to let gay couples marry launching a new appeal.

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans this Monday, September 7th, Labor Day, 4:00 a.m. in the East.

So nice to see you.

KOSIK: We wanted to welcome the Labor Day both wearing white. How about that?

ROMANS: I guess so. Nice to see you. Great to spend the morning with you, Alison.

Up first, let's start with Bernie Sanders, surging ahead of Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire and closing the gap in Iowa. Take a look at the latest NBC/Marist poll. The Vermont senator opening a commanding nine-point lead over Clinton in the Granite State. He spent a lot of time there. He was 13 points behind her in July.

And in Iowa, Sanders now trails Clinton by 11 points. The former secretary of state led him by 24 points in July. Clinton spending the Labor Day weekend campaigning in Iowa, conceding she has a long road ahead of her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's going to be a fight. Make no mistake about it. It's going to be a hard election. The other side will spend and do and saying anything to win back the White House. I have a little experience with that. And I am absolutely confident that whatever they throw at me, I can throw it right back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: For more on Sanders' sudden surge, let's go to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, bring in CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: As we begin this Labor Day campaign season, traditionally the starting point of the fall campaign, this presidential race is more unsettled than we could have ever imagined. Let's start with the Democrats. In Iowa and New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton can feel the burn from Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders is leading by nine points according to the most recent poll out of New Hampshire and here in Iowa, where I am, she is only leading now by 11 points. That lead is cut in half of over what it was just a month or so ago.

So, the race is on on the Democratic side. Voters are beginning to look for alternatives to Hillary Clinton. And thrown into the mix, is Vice President Biden going to run or not? He met with some family members over the weekend in Delaware, part of this ongoing discussion as he decides over the next month or so whether to jump into this campaign. It's one reason that Hillary Clinton is doing house party, she's doing meeting with activists across the state of Iowa, trying to get those Democrats to sign on to her campaign.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: With her poll numbers sagging, Hillary Clinton is turning up the heat on Donald Trump. Listen how she ridicules the frontrunner's plan to deport all undocumented immigrants if he wins the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Mr. Trump on the other side talks about deporting 11 million or 12 million people. Someone needs to ask him, OK, tell us specifically how that will happen. You know what he says, well, they'll just go, they'll just go. They'll have to go over and then they'll have to stand in line and they'll have to come back.

Eleven million or 12 million people? Really?

Well, I'm going to be pressing very hard to get specifics because there aren't any specifics. This is the kind of political rhetoric that doesn't belong in our election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Meanwhile, Donald Trump is holding on to the top spot on the polls on Republican side, sporting a commanding lead in New Hampshire and a slightly less comfortable margin in Iowa. In both states, Dr. Ben Carson making a strong move.

We get more this morning from CNN national correspondent Sunlen Serfaty. She is in Milford, New Hampshire, for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Today, we'll see some of the Republican candidates march here today in a Labor Day parade. And fresh on their mind is catching up to frontrunner Donald Trump.

There's a new poll out by NBC and Marist that shows that here in New Hampshire, Donald Trump has a commanding lead, 28 percent. And that's taking up 7 percentage points from July. John Kasich at number two with 12 percent, followed by outsider candidates Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina, they both been on the rise here recently.

Now, Jeb Bush clearly on the decline in New Hampshire.

[04:05:03] He has lost half of his support since July and is now polling at 8 percent here.

Now, meanwhile in Iowa, we are seeing Donald Trump and Ben Carson on the rise. Trump with 29 percent support in Iowa, Carson at 22 percent. Bush in Iowa, losing half of his support there, now polling at only 6 percent.

Now, another candidate who is seeing decline in Iowa is Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker who once was in the lead in Iowa over the summer.

Now, I caught up with Walker as he launched his motorcycle tour throughout New Hampshire here and asked him about his decline.

GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R-WI), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The person who won the primary four years ago is about at that same point at this point. So, we have every confidence that like I said, there are going to be ups and downs, and polling along the way. But our key is to stay true to who we are to get our message out.

SERFATY: And Labor Day is often seen as the unofficial kickoff to the campaign season. So, today can serve as a reset button for many of these candidates who need a lot of momentum.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: All right. Sunlen, thanks for that.

President Obama picking up a couple of key endorsements for the Iran nuclear deal. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the head of the Democratic National Committee, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell both coming in favor of the agreement after considerable angst.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D), FLORIDA: My number one goal in making this decision was to reach a conclusion based on what I thought would be most likely to prevent Iran from achieving their nuclear weapons goals. And in weighing everything all of the information that I've had in front of me, I concluded that the best thing to do is to vote in support of the Iran deal.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE UNDER PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: Here's why I think it's a good deal: one of the great concerns that the opposition has that we're leaving open a lane for Iranians to go back to creating a nuclear weapon in 10 or 15 years. We're forgetting the reality that they've been on a superhighway for the last 10 years to create a nuclear weapon or nuclear weapons program with no speed limit. And in the last 10 years, they've one from 136 centrifuges up to something like 19,000 centrifuges. This agreement will bring them down to 500 centrifuges. All of this will be under IAEA supervision and I think this is a good outcome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And President Obama took too Twitter expressing gratitude for Powell's approval, tweeting, "Thank you, Colin, for putting your experience and expertise behind this important initiative in our country."

ROMANS: Pentagon revamping its strategy in the war on ISIS, acknowledging the plan to build a force of moderate rebels is failing. Now, defense officials want to drop larger numbers of rebels into safer zones and provide them with better intelligence and better training. This is according to "The New York Times". And for the first time, Iraq's air force is targeting ISIS position using F-16 fighter jets purchased from the United States.

About eight minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money this morning.

Chinese markets off to the rough start to the week. Market resumed trading after that four-day holiday. Shanghai composite closed down 2.5 percent. It has tumbled 40 percent since its high this year. This after China's central bank said on Saturday the, quote, "corrective process in the market was nearly finished."

European stocks higher right now. U.S. markets, of course, are closed for the Labor Day holiday.

Let's talk about Friday, though, an ugly day on Wall Street. Friday, the Dow fell 272 points. The damage report now the Dow is down 12 percent, more than 12 percent from its record high. The S&P fell 1.5 percent, now in the edge of correction territory. The problem: worries about the Chinese economy and the timing of a looming interest rate hike.

KOSIK: The Kentucky clerk in jail for refusing gay couples the right to marry filing a new appeal overnight. What Kim Davis is now asking the judge, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:12:01] KOSIK: The Kentucky clerk waking up in jail this morning for refusing to grant marriage licenses to gay couples is filing an appeal. Kim Davis has been behind bars since Thursday after defying orders from a U.S. district judge to issue licenses and she said it conflicts with her religious belief. Now, Davis is actually drawing support from presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Gavin Newsome, in San Francisco as mayor, performed same sex weddings even though it was illegal. Did he ever get put in jail? He most certainly did not go. You have Barack Obama and Eric Holder when he was attorney general, they ignored the rulings of DOMA. Did they get put in jail for ignoring the law? They most certainly did not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: The former Arkansas governor plans to visit Davis in jail Tuesday before holding a rally for her outside of her detention center.

ROMANS: A Muslim flight attendant claims she was suspended for refusing to sell alcohol to passengers. Charee Stanley says it violates her Muslim faith. She has filed a discrimination complaint against ExpressJet, demanding her job back, insisting no one should have to choose between their career and their religion.

CNN's Nick Valencia has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Three years ago when Charee Stanley started her job at ExpressJet, she was not yet a Muslim. A year into that job, she converted to Islam and then she said she learned that she was not allowed to serve alcoholic drinks. She took that to her employer and together, they worked out a reasonable accommodation, where her flight attendant coworkers would serve the drinks for her.

That seemed to be working for a couple of months until one of her coworkers filed a complaint with ExpressJet saying Stanley was not fulfilling her responsibilities as a flight attendant. That caused ExpressJet to revisit that reasonable accommodation. They ended up revoking it and then they suspended Stanley without pay.

Now, Stanley's attorney is saying that her client has had her U.S. constitutional rights violated and is also the victim of discrimination. Now, ExpressJet, they were unwilling to comment specifically on Stanley's case, but they did release a statement to CNN that read in part, "At Express Jet, we embrace and respect the values of all of our team members. We're an equal opportunity employer with a long history of diversity in our workforce."

Now, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has this complaint and they had filed an investigation at which point ExpressJet will be given a chance to respond.

Meanwhile, we asked the attorney for Stanley if perhaps her client would be willing to compromise and take another job. She told CNN it's not up to her client to accommodate the airline. It should be the other way around.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: All right. Nick Valencia, thanks for that.

Breaking overnight. More body parts of a child turning up in a Chicago park. Officials discovering a toddler's head in a lagoon at Garfield Park on Saturday. A foot and hands were uncovered Saturday, a 20-pound weight was also found near the grisly scene. Investigators are going through missing person cases to determine if there could be any link to the remains.

ROMANS: All right. Thousands expected to attend a funeral today for a fallen Illinois police officer.

[04:15:01] Services will take place at a local high school in Fox Lake for 30-year-old veteran Lieutenant Charles "Joe" Gliniewicz known by friends as "G.I. Joe". The 52-year-old officer was gunned down last week and unbelievably his killers are still at large. Gliniewicz leaves behind a wife and four sons.

KOSIK: An unidentified man is in police custody in Las Vegas this morning accused of opening fire on two police officers who were parked at a stop light Sunday afternoon. Officials say the suspect armed with a semiautomatic handgun fired multiple rounds into the marked SUV. One of the officers was struck in the hand. His partner chased the gunman and caught him in a parking lot.

ROMANS: All right. Breaking overnight: the Minnesota dentist who faced worldwide backlash for killing Cecil the Lion on a African safari, he is finally breaking his silence. Walter Palmer says he is expected to return to his practice today, telling "The Associated Press" in a 25-minute interview and "The Minneapolis Star Tribune" that he has regrets, but insists the hunt was legal.

And he didn't address if he would abide by requests to return to Zimbabwe to face questioning. Palmer is not charged with a crime. He also in the press interview expressed agitation at the backlash against him. So, not necessarily contrition and I'm sorry, but saying if he had regrets, if he knew the lion had a name and was part of a study, he said obviously he wouldn't have taken the animal, but that he just didn't know at the time. Interesting.

KOSIK: Interesting.

Well, it's Labor Day and actually the Midwest is facing a threat of severe storms, with the East Coast still feeling the heat. Let's get the forecast from meteorologist Allison Chinchar.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Indeed, we are keeping an eye on the areas of Midwest for the severe weather outbreak today. We do have some threats of large hail, damaging winds and also the threat for isolated tornadoes, mainly stretching from Cedar Rapids, all the way down towards Dodge City, Kansas.

Now, the forecast rainfall in a lot of these areas could see as much as 4 to 6 inches around Kansas City.

Now, the heat will move back toward the Northeast and we are talking near record-high temperatures in a lot of places, including Hartford, Albany, even into Concord as well.

One thing we have to keep an eye out for is the U.S. Open. Remember, a couple of days ago, we had one player that actually collapsed due to heat. We may be dealing with a similar situation this week. In fact, 89 for the high today on Monday.

But keep in mind, the record at LaGuardia is 90. We'll be very close to that. The record for Tuesday is 91, likely going to break that record high.

So, again, ladies, we're going to have to keep a close eye on this in terms of the heat and humidity and how it affects the players.

ROMANS: All right. Allison, thank you for that.

Chaos on the borders in Europe. Thousands of refugees trying to get in, leaving their war-torn countries only to face new difficulties. This morning, we've got live team coverage as this crisis unfolds, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:21:30] ROMANS: A wave of refugees pouring into Austria and Germany by the thousands this weekend. An estimated 13,000 men, women and children greeted warmly at train stations by volunteers and ordinary citizens. A growing number of Iraqis joining the tens of thousands of Syrians who are fleeing violence and poverty in their respective countries.

Pope Francis calling on Catholic parishes and religious communities to open their doors to refugees. Right now, the E.U. remains deeply divided over how to handle the flood of people who are fleeing destruction and war, trying to find a better life for their families.

CNN is covering this crisis like no other network on television, starting with senior international correspondent Arwa Damon at the Serbia/Hungary border.

And, Arwa -- I mean, we are talking about the people here who -- they can't survive of countries they are leaving and they're -- face uncertainty in Europe right now.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They most certainly do.

And take a look at what was initially a holding field for people that are coming across. About a week ago, they were spending, say, anywhere between five to nine hours here. Now, the bulk of those who you are seeing, we were just talking to them earlier, they have had to overnight -- some of them have spent as much as two to three days. I can tell you, at night, the temperatures here are freezing.

And as you can see, there is no proper shelter. A handful of them have imagined to get tents. But that's it. A lot of them have little children. One woman was saying they had to build a fire and they ended up according to her burning some of the clothing they carried just to keep the fire going because the kids were going to freeze.

You see everyone lined up right now. This is something that just happened over the last few minutes. Everyone here hoping that it means that the buses that they all have been waiting for are finally going to arrive.

You also see a very heavy police force here and that is because they have been growing increasingly frustrated and they have at times tried to walk down the road to the transit camp that they are meant to be going to, but that we are hearing is full and the Hungarians are struggling to process the sheer numbers that are coming through. They can't handle it. It is increasing by the day.

And so far, the Hungarian government despite this horrific scene, is still continuing to refuse the assistance of organizations like UNHCR. There is very little aid out here. In fact, there is one station run by volunteers providing water, biscuits and baby food. But no proper real warm meals for those who have come so far and they are already so exhausted by the time they get here. They survived crossing the seas and through Greece, through Macedonia, they have walked through Serbia.

And, in fact, if we look over here, we see groups continuing to arrive. They are following the train tracks. They are just arriving right now from Serbia. This is a constant flow that is not ending.

At this stage, all of the measures we are seeing on parts of the Austrians and Germans, the problem is that all of those measures, they are just temporary. And because there's no long term solution, we are continuing to see scenes like this unfold.

ROMANS: They have -- Arwa, thank you for bringing that story. They have just got to figure out in Europe how to make it easier and figure out how they're going to handle that refugee crisis and they have to do it quickly.

[04:25:02] Thanks, Arwa Damon.

KOSIK: And from the Serbia-Hungary border to Austria, thousands of desperate refugees arriving in Austria over the weekend by train, even on foot, 11,000 in all, according to government officials. But the policy to let them in could be short lived.

CNN's coverage of the migrant crisis continuing with senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen live in Vienna.

So, we are seeing these refugees go through Vienna and then supposedly onto Germany, but I'm thinking that resources are thin for these countries.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they certainly are, however, the Germans have said that they are willing to take in as much as 800,000 refugees. It's hard to say whether or not that's going to be enough.

Interestingly, Alison, what organizations are saying, they say Europe could deal with a major influx of refugees. However, what they have to do is distribute these refugees to all European countries and that --

(AUDIO GAP)

KOSIK: OK, we are having some audio do -- we get him back?

OK, we are having some technical difficulties. We will try to get Frederik Pleitgen back.

ROMANS: He has done such amazing reporting from Munich.

(CROSSTALK)

KOSIK: He absolutely has, along with Arwa.

ROMANS: What is interesting, that seems, you know, the hub where people are coming in and some of those refugees this weekend were astonished. After all they've been through, they got a heroes welcome at the train station. People chanting that they were going to support them and help them, and I think just a remarkable picture of how different countries, different countries are responding differently.

KOSIK: Some are opening their arms.

ROMANS: That's right.

KOSIK: Some are having more trouble doing that.

ROMANS: All right. To politics in the U.S. now, new trouble for Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders felling the Bern, leading in the polls in a crucial primary state. We are breaking down the new numbers after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)