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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Sanders Surges Ahead Clinton in New Poll; Jailed Clerk Files New Appeal; Serena & Venus Williams Face-Off Tuesday at U.S. Open. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired September 07, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:00:26] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Dramatic 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?

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Alison Kosik. It's Monday, September 7th, 5:00 a.m. in the East. Thanks for joining us.

Up first, Bernie Sanders surging ahead of Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, and closing the gap in Iowa. Take a look at this -- the latest NBC/Marist poll. The Vermont senator opening a commanding nine-point lead over Clinton in the Granite State. He was 13 points behind here in July.

And in Iowa, Sanders now trails Clinton by 11 points. The former secretary of state led him by 24 points in July.

Hillary 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 has said they will spend and do and say 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)

KOSIK: OK. For more on Sanders' sudden surge, let's head to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and 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)

ROMANS: With her poll numbers sagging, Hillary Clinton is turning the heat up on Donald Trump. Listen to her ridicule the Republican frontrunner's plan to report 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. Somebody 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 then 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)

KOSIK: Meantime, you look at Donald Trump. He's holding on to the top spot on the polls on the Republican side, sporting a commanding lead in New Hampshire and a slightly less comfortable margin in Iowa. In both states, Dr. Ben Carson is making a strong move.

We get more from CNN national correspondent Sunlen Serfaty in Milford, New Hampshire.

(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.

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.

[05:05:00] 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)

ROMANS: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you for that. Here's a name you've probably haven't heard in a while. Ex-Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin weighing in on the feud between GOP rivals Donald Trump and Jeb Bush. Those two candidates got into a battle when Trump chastised Bush for speaking Spanish on the campaign trail.

Well, here's what Palin thinks of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: It's a benefit of Jeb Bush to be able to be so fluent in Spanish, because we have a large and wonderful Hispanic population that is helping to build America. On the other hand, you know, I think we can send a message to say, you want to be in America: (a), you better be here legally or you're out of here, (b), when you're here, let's speak American.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Speak American. Palin went on to say, quote, "a unifying aspect of the nation is a language that is understood by all." 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 out 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)

ROMANS: President Obama expressing gratitude for Powell's approval. "Thank you, Colin, for putting your experience and expertise behind this important initiative for our country."

KOSIK: The Pentagon revamping its strategy on the war on ISIS, acknowledging the plan to build a force of moderate Syrian rebels is failing. Now, defense officials want to drop larger number of rebels into safer zones and provide them with better intelligence and training. That's according to "The New York Times".

And for the first time, Iraq's air force is targeting ISIS positions using F-16 fighter jets purchased from the United States.

ROMANS: All right. It's about eight minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money this morning.

Beijing calls the stock bubble there over. Oh, but the market disagrees. Chinese central bank hoping to calm global fears said on Saturday the, quote, "corrective process" in the market is nearly finished. But Shanghai composite wasn't finished, closed 2.5 percent down. It's tumbled 40 percent since its high last year.

Here in the U.S. markets are closed for the Labor Day holiday. It needs to be closed. It was an ugly day on Friday. Everyone needs a 3-day weekend. The Dow fell 272 points. Now down more than 12 percent from the high. The S&P 500 down 1.5 percent. That's on the edge of correction territory now. The problem is the worries about China's economy and the looming interest rate hike. KOSIK: After the three-day weekend, I think all that pent up worrying

is going to show on that big board.

ROMANS: You know, Goldman Sachs chief guy is in Asia. He says this is what it looks like commanding control to a more market-based economy and we should be expecting this. Everything is fine, the market is overreacting. So there you go.

KOSIK: The Kentucky clerk refusing gay couples the right to marry filing a new appeal overnight. What Kim Davis is now asking a judge? That's coming up next.

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[05:12:09] ROMANS: The Kentucky clerk sitting in jail for refusing to grant marriage licenses to gay couples, she is filing an appeal this morning. Kim Davis has been behind bars since Thursday now. She defied orders from the U.S. district judge to issue those marriage licenses. She says it conflicts with her religious beliefs. Now, Davis is drawing support from presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Gavin Newsom, 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)

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

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

ROMANS: All right. Nick Valencia, thank you 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 Sunday. A foot and hands were uncovered Saturday, a 20-pound weight was found near the grisly scene.

[05:15:00] Investigators are going through missing persons cases. They're to determine if there could be any link to those remains.

KOSIK: Thousands are expected to attend a funeral for a fallen Illinois police officer. Services will take place at a local high school in Fox Lake for 30-year veteran Lieutenant Charles "Joe" Gliniewicz, known by friends as "G.I. Joe". The 52-year-old officer was gunned down last week. His killers remain at large. Gliniewicz leaves behind a wife and four sons.

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

KOSIK: Breaking overnight: the Minnesota dentist who faced worldwide backlash for killing Cecil the Lion on an African safari is breaking his silence. Walter Palmer who's expected to return to his practice today, telling "The Associated Press" and "The Minneapolis Star Tribune" he has regrets, but insists the hunt was legal.

He didn't address whether he would abide by requests to return to Zimbabwe to face questioning. Palmer is not charged with a crime.

ROMANS: And he said in an interview, 25-minute interview with the local newspaper and the "A.P.", he said, "The Associated Press", he said that had he known it was a beloved lion or it was a lion that was used in a study, he would not have, quote/unquote, "taken that lion".

Still a lot of outrage. It will be interesting to see if he has all those clients back, if they all come back, or if they support him, you know? It will be interesting to see that.

KOSIK: Yes.

ROMANS: The Midwest facing the threat of severe storms this Labor Day with the East Coast feeling the heat. It feels like 90 here in New York.

KOSIK: Love it.

ROMANS: Let's get to 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: Look at Tuesday. My goodness.

KOSIK: I'll take it. Better than negative 9 degrees in New York.

ROMANS: That come soon, that soon enough.

KOSIK: All right. Are you a tennis fan? Well, get ready for the sister act at the U.S. Open. Serena Williams going for the calendar grand slam. Her sister Venus standing in her way. Coy Wire has details in the bleacher report, coming up next.

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[05:21:43] KOSIK: Two Texas high school football players have been suspended from the team and school after being captured on video tackling an official on purpose during the game. What's this about? ROMANS: I know. Coy Wire has got more in the bleacher report.

Hey, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: Good morning, Christine and Alison.

Yes, both students were defensive players on the John Jay High School team in San Antonio. Apparently, the incident occurred on Friday night after a disputed call by the official early in the game. We have the video, but we'll warn you, it's disturbing.

Check out the referees in the defensive backfield. You will see a player come out of nowhere and blind side the official, violently knocking him into the ground. Then his teammate dives into him while he's laying on the ground. Very dirty and unnecessary.

The school district says they are investigating the incident. The players will get a due process hearing. No word yet on the status of the official, whether he was injured. We will keep you updated as soon as we hear something.

Tom Brady spoke to reporters yesterday for the first time since his four-game deflategate suspension was overturned by a federal court judge. Brady said he is glad to be suiting up for the Pats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: I have a lot of personal feelings, and -- but I really don't care to share many of those. I have so much support with my family through all of this. And for the last 20 years, I have been playing football this time of year. It feels good to be able to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Serena Williams moved one step closer to capturing the elusive calendar grand slam with the win over fellow American Madison Keys on Sunday. It's the best she has played thus far at the U.S. Open. Serena will face her sister Venus Tuesday night in the quarterfinals. Serena now just three wins away from being the first to win all four grand slam events in the same area since Steffi Graf did it in 1988.

It's been a huge first week in the college football. Games have been played every night since Thursday and defending champs Ohio state and the Hokies of Virginia Tech are the icing on the cake.

Now, Ohio State is on the quest to win back to back titles. But they know they can't look past the Hokies. Christine, Alison, Tech upset Ohio state a lot of year, almost ruining their chances of making the college football altogether. They play at Virginia Tech in the primetime at 8:00 Eastern.

So, is an upset in the air again? We shall see.

ROMANS: It's nice, Coy, that football is in the air again. That's really exciting, right? WIRE: No doubt about it.

KOSIK: Thanks for that.

ROMANS: Coy Wire, thanks.

WIRE: You're welcome.

KOSIK: New trouble for Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders now leading the polls in a crucial primary state. We are breaking down the new numbers after the break.

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[05:27:48] KOSIK: Dramatic new developments in the race for president. A new poll shows Bernie Sanders surging past Hillary Clinton in a key state. Donald Trump leading the Republican pack, but here's a new candidate is not far behind.

ROMANS: Europe's migrant crisis. Leaders welcoming in thousands of refugees. But they're warning, they can't keep this up for long. Live team coverage tracking new developments ahead.

KOSIK: Breaking overnight. The Kentucky clerk in jail for refusing to allow gay couples to get married, filing a new appeal.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.

ROMANS: So nice to see you this morning.

KOSIK: Happy to be here.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It's holiday morning, Labor Day. It is 28 minutes past the hour.

Let's begin with politics on this Labor Day. Up first, Hillary Clinton's poll numbers heading south. Bernie Sanders surging ahead of the former Secretary of State in New Hampshire and closing the gap quickly 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 was 13 points behind here in July.

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: It's going to be a fight. Make no mistake about it. It's going to be a hard election. The other side has said they will spend and do and say 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, and bring in CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: 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.