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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

The Race for President: New Attacks Launched; Japan Flooding: Rescues Underway; E.U. Proposes Migrant Distribution Plan; Russian Military Buildup in Syria. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired September 10, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:l6] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New attacks in the race for president. Donald Trump mocking Carly Fiorina's appearance. Dr. Ben Carson now shedding his nice-guy approach. The new insults ahead.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning: dangerous flooding in Japan. Look at these pictures we are getting in. Thousands evacuated. Buildings swept away. There are dramatic rescues happening right now. We are live.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Thursday, September 10th. Nice to see you all this morning. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East.

BERMAN: And we are going to start with breaking news out of Japan this morning. Disastrous flooding sweeping away homes and officials ordering evacuations of at least 170,000 people. Japanese self- defense force personnel have been deployed to rescue people stranded by flooding from Typhoon Etau. More than a foot of rain fell very, very quickly there in some parts.

You can see the effects, you can see the helicopters flying overhead now engaged in those rescues. This is a situation that appears to be getting worse as they hit the evening hours.

We're going to go to Japan in a moment. CNN's Will Ripley is there.

ROMANS: All right. To politics now in the U.S. The gloves are off this morning as more Republican candidates begin frontal assault on Donald Trump. Breaking overnight, Carly Fiorina brushing off a harsh attack by Donald Trump.

In a brand new "Rolling Stone" profile, Trump reacts to the TV news image of Fiorina by shouting, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president? I mean, she's a woman and I'm not supposed to say bad things, but really folks, come on. Are we serious?"

Fiorina responded on Megyn Kelly's FOX News show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think those comments respond for themselves. And all the many, many thousands of voters out there that are helping me climb in the polls. Yes, they are very serious.

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS HOST: What do you take that to mean? "Look at that face, would anyone vote for that?"

FIORINA: Yes. I have no idea. You know, obvious -- you know, honestly, Megyn, I'm not going to spend a single cycle wondering what Donald Trump means. Maybe, just maybe I'm getting under his skin a little bit because I am climbing in the polls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Then, there's Ben Carson running second to trump in many recent polls. At a campaign rally in southern California, Carson abruptly shifted his strategy, taking a personal shot at Trump questioning the authenticity of his faith.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By humility and the fear of the Lord, our riches and honor in life. And that's a big part of what I am. I don't get that impression with him. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't get that impression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Trump fired back overnight in a tweet saying, "Wow. I'm ahead of the field in evangelicals and so proud of this and virtually every other groups, and Ben Carson just took a swipe at me."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You know, Trump has been waiting for Carson to say something. Trump has a hard time going after Carson directly and now, Carson gives him a reason to. It will be interesting what Trump does.

One candidate still playing nice with Donald Trump and getting the same in return, Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz and Trump shared the stage and share some hugs at the rally on the Iran nuclear deal on Capitol Hill.

Let's get more on the bromance from CNN's Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, you know that saying that you hug your friends and you hug your enemies even tighter? Well, it's unclear at this point which one Ted Cruz thinks Donald Trump is, a friend or an enemy. They are competitors for the White House, of course, but Cruz made a point of inviting Trump to a big rally outside the White House to protest the Iran nuclear deal. And it's just a latest example of Cruz's unusual approach to the billionaire front runner, show him praise and don't criticize him. I talked to both of them about their relationship. Take a listen.

You and Senator Cruz have an unusual relationship when it comes to Republican competitors. Why do you have this bromance?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, it is a little bit of a romance. I like him. He likes me. He's backing me 100 percent.

BASH: You were the one who was supposed to be the outsider. How is he not taking votes? Donald Trump, not the guy with senator in front of his name.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, I'm a big fan of Sun Tzu's dictum, that every battle is won before it's fought. It's won by choosing the terrain on which the battle will be fought, framing the argument.

BASH: But you're fighting in the same terrain?

CRUZ: Well, no, what Donald Trump -- right now, the people supporting Donald Trump are looking for someone to stand up to the Washington cartel.

BASH: Trump's attitude towards Cruz so far has been very Trump-esque. Cruz says nice things about Trump, so Trump says nice things back.

[04:00:01] But Trump does have a line. When I asked if he would consider telling his supporters to back Cruz if he were to ever back out, Trump responded without missing a beat, saying that won't happen because I never drop out -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Dana Bash, thanks for that, Dana.

Hillary Clinton says she will not hesitate as president to use military force against Iran if Iran tries to obtain nuclear weapons. Clinton offered strong support for the administration's nuclear deal in a speech in Washington Wednesday. But she mixed in a sizable dose of caution about Iran's intentions.

Senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.

Hillary Clinton heads to Ohio today after laying out her support for the president's Iran deal in Washington. Clinton said the U.S. should seize the chance to block Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapons and ripping up the deal as many Republican candidates have suggested is both unrealistic and dangerous.

Clinton did emphasize her skepticism about Iran's intention, saying her motto would be "distrust, but verify" and that she would not hesitate to use military force to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

She also showed some flashes of humor in the speech, something her advisers have reportedly urged her to do, as they look to turn around her sliding poll numbers.

Here is she is laughing off a coughing fit as she delivered a jab.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I apologize for my voice, suffering under massive allergy assault. Yes. Republican histamines are everywhere.

KEILAR: In Columbus this morning, Clinton is expected to talk about issues concerning women and families -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right, Brianna.

Some uncomfortable moments expected on Capitol Hill today for Hillary Clinton and her campaign. A former State Department aide who handled her private email server has been called to testify before the House Benghazi Committee. A lawyer for Bryan Pagliano says the former ITA will invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and that forcing Pagliano to testify anywhere, that say, show up anyway, is an attempt to intimidate him.

ROMANS: Vice President Biden working to smooth things over with Israel, now that the Iran nuclear agreement is in his words a done deal. Biden says the meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is already in the works, with the White House prepared to increase support to the Israelis so they can maintain a military advantage over their enemies. The vice president also promising the Iran nuclear deal will be fully enforced.

BERMAN: The supreme leader of Iran says Israel will no longer exist in 25 years. Ayatollah Khamenei is also ruling out any further negotiations with the United States beyond the nuclear issues. Some have suggested this nuclear deal could lead to a thaw in some tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

The Justice Department is adopting a tough new practicing cracking down on Wall Street executives involved in financial fraud. It says it will. Federal prosecutors nationwide are being ordered to no longer give individuals protection, individuals protection from civil or criminal liability unless there are extraordinary circumstances. The Justice Department has been criticized for collecting large fines from the corporations rather than the prosecuting powerful corporate bosses.

ROMANS: Time for an early start on your money this morning.

Asia markets closed lower. New economic data of China, heightening concerns about the country's economic health, in particular, deflation concerns. The prices paid for commodities dropping so quickly there. Take a look at Europe. You've got prices down there, stock prices down rather, U.S. stock futures slightly up though. Let's talk about stocks yesterday. What a crazy day. The Dow fell

240 points. Remember in the morning, 24 hours ago, we were sitting here how it looked like a good day ahead on Wall Street. Well, it didn't turn out that day. The S&P and NASDAQ also down more than 1 percent.

Stocks getting attention with the wild swings. Dow has made triple digit moves in the last 13 of 15 trading days. So, I guess, don't be surprised if you see another wild one on the street today.

The battle for your living room, wow, really heating up. Apple says it will redefine how we watch television. At its product event yesterday, Apple introduced a new version of Apple TV. It features voice controls and an operating system that will accept new apps.

Tim Cook says the future of television is apps. That wasn't all. Apple unveiled updated iPhones and a much larger and pricier iPad. And for the first time, Apple has a stylus.

BERMAN: Yes.

ROMANS: Something Steve Jobs actually mocked. He hated that old stylus. It is called the Apple Pencil and it can use with the new larger tablet. That tablet is the enterprise market.

BERMAN: Expensive, super expensive tablet.

ROMANS: Yes.

Reviews are mixed though. I would say overall reviews are mixed. Apple investors were not impressed. Apple stock closed down almost 2 percent yesterday.

BERMAN: And people want new and big from Apple. This is not a big of those new big reveals.

ROMANS: I am interested to see how everyone is competing for control of your living room.

[04:10:02] It's not about -- you know, five years ago, it was mobile, you know, before that. But now it is all about -- I haven't seen your living room.

BERMAN: Yes, it's messy. No, it's a big deal.

ROMANS: It is.

BERMAN: Breaking news this morning: widespread deadly flooding in Japan. Look at these pictures. Tens of thousands of people evacuated. Buildings being swept away. There are dramatic rescues happening right now. We'll go there live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news. ROMANS: Our breaking news this morning, torrential downpours in Japan

forcing desperate residents to take refuge on the roofs of their homes. Meteorologists declaring this an emergency situation, days of furious flooding, sweeping away houses and buildings in Japan's eastern provinces. Officials have deployed Japanese military personnel to rescue people who are stranded and have ordered the evacuation of 170,000 people so far.

There is fear this morning that water contaminated by radiation from the ruined Fukushima power plant could spread.

CNN's Will Ripley is in Tokyo for us with the very latest.

Will, bring us up to speed. The pictures are dramatic. It looks terrifying.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Two very serious situations unfolding right now, Christine. One is along the Kinugawa River, at the most hard hit area, in Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures. Joso City where there are tens of thousands of people, many of whom have been stranded as a result of this rapidly rising flood waters. We've seen people that had to climb up unto their rooftops, people in their balconies, even people on light polls trying to wave at the military helicopters brought in to rescue them.

There are 100 different centers that are being set up, evacuation centers for people to go, people who have been left homeless as a result of the flood waters. The result of heavy rains from the Typhoon Etau which came through Tokyo and several hundred kilometers to the north.

This is the accumulation of weeks of heavy rain during one of the Japan's rainiest times of year.

[04:15:02] At the same time, all of that water has caused issues at the Fukushima nuclear plant, where we're told because of this large rain event, some water, some contaminated water actually overcame the went out into the ocean. Several hundred tons according to a spokesman to a power company TEPCO that operates Fukushima.

However, they say they have contained that situation and they're not detecting above normal radiation levels in the ocean, but that's certainly something that they're going to be watching very closely, Christine.

ROMANS: Absolutely. Not detecting increased radiation out on the ocean, but watching it carefully. And certainly for those 170,000 people who have been ordered evacuated, just a terrifying moment. Thank you for that, Will.

BERMAN: Those rescues do continue.

All right. Europe this morning with new plans to address the worst refugee crisis since World War II. The head of the European Union, Jean-Claude Juncker, is proposing a plan to distribute 160,000 refugees throughout the member nations. In Hungary, tensions are rising along the border with Serbia, frustrated refugees clashing with police. They claim they are being treated like animals as they make their way into Western Europe.

Let's get the very latest with senior correspondent Arwa Damon live on that border.

Good morning, Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And the weather most certainly not helping, adding to the already miserable conditions. People here gathered around a small fire as they wait for those buses to arrive. But if one really wants to look for that silver lining in all of this, because of the rains, these buses that people have been waiting for have been arriving relatively quickly. The number of refugees here that we have been seeing over the last few days have significantly diminished this morning because as we were hearing the buses coming with much more frequency and the Hungarians getting a bit more organized and faster in the process of trying to get people moving out.

And, of course, these rains, cold temperatures, underscoring how important it is for all of these various countries that these people are transiting through to really get the processes going. Now, this is an area where UNHCR was supposed to be building a more permanent shelter. That is obviously needed at this stage, because, of course, as time goes on, these rains will continue and temperatures will continue to drop.

And this is not just what people are facing here. Scenes similar if not much more worse than what you are witnessing are unfolding throughout the entire route that these people are taking as they cross through Europe. They often times find themselves without shelter. They do sleep out in the open on the streets and on the pavements and in the forest.

And so, as those European leaders are getting together trying to figure out how they're going to divvy up their responsibilities when it comes to taking in these refugees who are mostly from the war zones of Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, and yes, among them, economic migrants as well. Perhaps another very pressing issue right now is how to build up the much-needed assistance at these various critical transit points along their way.

BERMAN: Arwa Damon in the rain, the weather now a factor.

Arwa, thank you so much.

Related right now, new concern this morning about a Russian military buildup in Syria, so many of the refugees are from Syria.

The Obama administration is keeping a close watch on a movement of military personnel on the ground there. While Moscow is stepping up for the Assad regime. The U.S. is warning against an escalation of the civil war there.

Let's get more now from CNN's Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, the U.S. trying to figure out just how far Russia may go to try to protect its interests in Syria. Secretary of State John Kerry making the second phone call in a week to his counterpart Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, asking what is going on and by all accounts not getting complete answers.

Officials I have spoken to say they see evidence that the Russians have unloaded military ships at Syrian ports, offloading vehicles, troops, airfield equipment for temporary quarters. They believe the Russians are laying the groundwork for military operations in Syria.

Now, the U.S. is objecting to this obviously in the strongest terms because they believe the Russian plan may be to do all of this to try to bolster Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

[04:20:01] He is in rough shape. The fighting has been very fierce and the theory is that the Russians want to strike the rebels that Assad is battling so Assad can stay in power.

The U.S. problem with all of that is obviously the U.S. feels the violence needs to come to an end. Assad needs to go and if Assad stays in power as an agent or proxy of Moscow, this will only prolong the violence. So, right now, U.S. satellites are watching Russian ports and airfields very closely for any signs of what maybe coming next. The big concern is if the Russians start moving those fighter jets into Syria -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Barbara Starr, thank you for that, Barbara.

Protests planned this morning in Baltimore. A judge set to make a pivotal ruling for six police officers accused in Freddie Gray's death. Those details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Police in Baltimore bracing for protests as a judge prepares to rule today on a change of video for six officers charged in Freddie Gray's arrest and death. The hearing comes a day after Baltimore City officials gave unanimous approval to a $6.4 million civil settlement with the Gray family.

The mayor says it will avoid years of litigation. It has no bearing on the police officer's criminal trials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE (D), BALTIMORE, MD: The civil claims is completely unrelated to the criminal case that the six officers currently faced. [04:25:02] The city's decision to settle the civil case should not be interpreted as passing any judgment on guilt or innocence of the officers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Still the police union claims the settlement is proof that the six officers cannot get a fair trial in Baltimore.

BERMAN: New this morning, former tennis star James Blake says he was manhandled by police officers in what New York police department admits was a case of mistaken identity. This happened as Blake outside his hotel for a care to take him to the U.S. Open. He says as many a five plain clothes officers rushed him and tackled him and put him on the ground, put him in handcuffs. Police say Blake was mistaken for a suspect in an identity theft ring.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES BLAKE, FORMER TENNIS STAR: It shouldn't have happened. And I just it's something that we'll deal with, with the police and we'll find out what they have to say internally. And, you know, hopefully, there is video of it and people can see what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: One officer has been placed on modified assignment after the incident. Blake cut his elbow, bruised his leg in a rough takedown. You know, Blake has been asked if he thinks race was a factor here, the fact that he's African-American. He says, you know, I don't know, maybe it was, I don't know.

ROMANS: He had his tennis credentials around his neck. It was after reviewing surveillance video that police put one office police -- officials put one officer on modified duty.

BERMAN: And he says he has the resources to pursue this. Other people suffer similar fates do not.

ROMANS: New attacks and insults in the race for the president. And, boy, folks, it's getting personal. How the candidates are now going after each other, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Would anyone vote for that? Donald Trump mocking Carly Fiorina's appearance.