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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
The Race for President: New Attacks Launched; Japan Flooding: Rescues Underway; Russian Military Buildup in Syria; Gas Prices Fall. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired September 10, 2015 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Would anyone vote for that? Donald Trump mocking Carly Fiorina's appearance. Ben Carson questioning Trump's Christianity. New attacks flying this morning in the race for president. It is getting personal.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning, dangerous flooding in Japan. Thousands evacuated. Buildings are swept away. Dramatic rescues happening now. We are live.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: Good to see you this morning. I'm John Berman. Thirty minutes past the hour.
ROMANS: There is breaking news out of Japan this morning. Massive flooding sweeping away houses, forcing officials to order the evacuation of at least 170,000 people. Japanese self-defense personnel have been deployed to rescue people strapped by the flooding from Typhoon Etau.
BERMAN: We're going to have much more on that emergency situation. In just a few minutes, CNN's Will Ripley is there and we will get a report from him.
Meantime, new this morning, yes, Donald Trump said that. Critical. Some might say derogatory comments about the appearance of the one woman in the Republican race, Carly Fiorina.
In a brand new "Rolling Stone" profile, Trump reacts to a TV 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?"
Breaking overnight, Fiorina responded to Megyn Kelly on FOX News.
(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)
BERMAN: All right. Trump himself is facing attacks from a new front, Dr. Ben Carson, running second to Trump in almost all the polls now. Carson has been pretty quiet on the stump, but no more. At a campaign rally in Southern California, Carson shifting his tragedy, taking a direct shot at the authenticity of Trump's faith.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By humility and the fear of the Lord are 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)
BERMAN: Interesting.
Now, Trump has been looking for a way to engage with Carson. He fired back overnight on Twitter saying, "Wow, I'm ahead of the field with evangelicals and I'm so proud of this and virtually every other group and Ben Carson just took a swipe at me."
ROMANS: One candidate still playing nice with Donald Trump is Ted Cruz and Trump. Sharing the stage, hugging it out at a rally against the Iran nuclear deal in Capitol Hill. For more on this bromance, or at least truce I'd say between Trump and Cruz, let's turn to chief political correspondent 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.
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)
BERMAN: My favorite part of that from Dana is the debate over Sun Tzu with Ted Cruz.
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.
[04:35:00] But she did mix in a sizable dose of caution about Iran's intentions.
CNN senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar with 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)
ROMANS: Brianna Keilar, thanks for that, Brianna.
Uncomfortable moments expected on Capitol Hill today for Hillary Clinton and her campaign. A former State Department aide who handled her private e-mail server has been called to testify before the House Benghazi Committee. A lawyer for Bryan Pagliano says the former I.T. aide will invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self discrimination and that forcing Pagliano to testify anyway is an attempt to intimidate him.
BERMAN: Vice President Joe Biden working to smooth things over with Israel, now that the Iran nuclear agreement is in his words a done deal. The vice president says a meeting with 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 is promising the Iran nuclear deal will be fully enforced.
ROMANS: The supreme leader of Iran says he hopes 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. That is dampening hopes the nuclear deal could lead to closer ties between the U.S. and Iran.
BERMAN: The Justice Department is adopting a tough new policy, says it will crackdown on Wall Street executives involved in financial fraud. Federal prosecutors nationwide are being ordered to longer give individual protection from civil or criminal liability unless there are extraordinary circumstances. The Justice Department has been roundly criticized for collecting large fines from depending corporations rather than prosecuting powerful corporate bosses.
ROMANS: All right. Time for an early start on your money this morning. Asian markets close lower. New data out of China heightened concerns about the country's economic health, namely falling prices there.
European markets are also down and U.S. stock futures are slightly up. Yesterday, the Dow fell 240 points yesterday. The S&P 500, the NASDAQ, also down more than 1 percent.
You know, stocks have been getting a lot of attention with the wild swings lately. The Dow has had triple digit moves in the last 13 out of 15 trading days. Some good news for job seekers, folks. There were 5.8 million job
openings in July. Brand new numbers from the Labor Department. That is a record high, the most openings since the government started tracking openings 15 years ago. It's a sign the Labor Department is improving.
It is something the Fed will keep an eye on next week when it decides whether or not to raise interest rates. Now, the double edged sword. There is a stills mismatch. A lot of job openings, but some of the degrees out of college don't necessarily prepare students and graduates for the jobs they need right now.
BERMAN: Fine arts? English majors? French?
ROMANS: Skilled manufacturing, science, technology, and engineering and math. No, poli sci is not one of those.
BERMAN: Breaking news this morning: dangerous flooding in Japan. Tens of thousands evacuated. Buildings swept away. Look at these pictures. Dramatic rescues playing out right now. We're live there next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:42:51] BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight: devastating widespread flooding in Japan. Torrential downpours forcing desperate residents to take refuge on roofs of their homes.
Look at this -- meteorologists declaring this an emergency situation. Days of floods have swept away homes and buildings in Japan's eastern provinces.
Officials have deployed Japanese built personnel to rescue stranded residents. They ordered the evacuation of 170,000 people, that's so far. There is fear water contaminated by the ruined Fukushima nuclear power plant, there's a fear that that could spread.
CNN's Will Ripley live in Tokyo for us with the latest.
Will, what's the situation?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, those rescue efforts by the Japanese military are continuing right now along the Kinugawa River. And there are concerns that as it gets dark some people may not have been able to call for help because the waters rose very quickly and this rural area outside of Tokyo, they know there is a high concentration of senior citizens, at least senior citizens have already been reported to have serious injuries and some people had just a matter of moments to be able to get to higher ground. That's why you saw people stuck on their balconies and on their rooftops, and that's why the military has been in to rescue those folks.
So, as of now, they still don't know the full scope of how many people need help in this affected area right now. The Red Cross tells us they set up 100 different evacuation centers for these residents who've been displaced to get food, water and medical care that they need. The other situation we are watching is at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, the site of that meltdown back in 2011, a site where there's lots of contaminated water being held in above ground storage containers.
Because of the heavy rainfall that has been going on for several days in part as the result of this Typhoon Etau which just moved through and caused very heavy rains and the reason why we are seeing, this flooding, there was some contaminated water that leaked into the ocean, a leak that TEPCO, the power provider says they were able to contain in several hours. But they are monitoring radiation levels which so far they say are normal, just to make sure that that contamination doesn't spread further -- John.
[04:45:00] BERMAN: So much rain in such a short time and these fears around Fukushima lingering to be sure. Will Ripley, thank you very much.
ROMANS: All right. There's new concern about a Russian military build up in Syria. The Obama administration keeping a close watch on that movement of military personnel on the ground in Syria. And Moscow confirms it is stepping up support for the Assad regime. The U.S. is warning against an escalation of the civil war in Syria.
We get more this morning 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.
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) BERMAN: All right. Very interesting. Barbara Starr, thank you so much.
Protests planned in Baltimore. A pivotal ruling expected today in the case of six police officers accused in the death of Freddie Gray. We have the details, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:51:04] BERMAN: Key court ruling expected today in Baltimore. A judge prepares to rule on a possible change of venue for six officers charged in connection with the death of Freddie Gray. The hearing comes a day after Baltimore city officials gave unanimous approval to $6.4 million -- a $6.4 million civil settlement with the Gray family. The mayor says it will avoid years of litigation. She says it has no bearing on the police officers' 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. 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)
BERMAN: The police union claims the settlement is proof that the six officers cannot get a fair trial in Baltimore.
ROMANS: Surprising details from the coroner in the death of Illinois Police Officer Joe Gliniewicz. Gliniewicz reportedly died from one devastating gunshot. The coroner is being cautious of where the gunshot came from. He says, quote, "Right now, all unnatural deaths are up for suggestion. That means homicide, suicide, accident, undetermined."
Authorities have been looking for three suspects since Gliniewicz was fatally shot last week.
BERMAN: Police report another shooting on a small, but busy stretch of Interstate 10 in Phoenix. That makes ten shootings in the past 11 days. Authorities have no suspects. They are trying to determine whether the apparently random vehicle shootings fit any kind of pattern. So far, there had been no deaths, but one injury.
You know, I spoke to an official from Phoenix last week. I said, are they sure that these are linked, he said, look, when you see this many shootings in a stretch like this, you are very, very concerned.
ROMANS: All right. After a ten-year hiatus, Arkansas is bringing back the death penalty. Governor Asa Hutchinson announced execution dates for eight death row inmates. The first two in October. The state's lethal three-drug cocktail will include the controversial drug -- how do you say it?
Midazolam, I think.
BERMAN: Yes.
ROMANS: Which was using at least three botched executions last year. It's a drug that's been in the center of the numerous court cases about whether or not it is cruel and unusual punishment, death penalty.
BERMAN: Arkansas says it will use it.
Thunderstorms in the Northeast today, ahead of a cooling trend. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri with the latest.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, good morning to you, guys.
Yes, this is one of the cooler trends as far as the weather pattern. You know, a couple months across the Northeast. And we'll take it. We have the showers coming in. It will be the wettest day in about 30 days time around New York City.
The temps, of course, have been historically warm since the 2nd of September. Central Park making it up to 97 degrees. Say goodbye to those days. We have one front coming in back behind it with a reinforcing shot of cooler air. The secondary front here, kind of packing a significant punch when it comes to what it leaves in store when it comes to the coolest temperatures again in several months time across the Northeast.
So, we go for New York's forecast of 78. Warms up and coming back down to 79 with the seasonal temperatures. By the way, I looked in the long-range forecast for New York City, the warming trend does try to come back toward the end of next week.
Look at the showers and thunderstorms expected over the Northeast today, generally in the afternoon hours. I think we will get the heaviest downpours over the area. Some areas around say eastern Massachusetts and southwestern New Jersey could get over four inches of rainfall in the next two to three days, guys.
ROMANS: All right. Thank you so much for that, Pedram.
Gas prices keep falling and now the government has a new estimate for how low they can go.
BERMAN: Wicked low.
ROMANS: Wicked low.
We get an early start on your money, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:58:42] ROMANS: Let's get an early start on your money this Thursday morning. Asian markets closed lower. New economic data out of China heightening concerns of the economic health. Falling prices worries about deflation. European markets also down.
U.S. stock futures are up slightly, after a terrible day for the Dow yesterday, fell 245 points. The S&P 500, the NASDAQ also down more than 1 percent.
You know, stocks have wild swings lately. The Dow has made triple digit moves, John, the 13 of the last 15 trading days.
One thing weighing down stocks, oil. A barrel of crude oil is just below 45 bucks right now, because of the global supply glut. There's a lot supply and demand waning in some of those big emerging markets.
Low oil prices, though, of course, is good news for consumers, $2.03 for a gallon of gas by December. A brand new forecast by the Energy Information Administration, the government saying $2.03 for you by December.
BERMAN: Drive to grandma's for Christmas.
ROMANS: Exactly. The national average for a gallon of regular, $2.37. Right now, that is more than $1 cheaper than this time a year ago.
More details emerging about the flight of the center of the investigation which costs the CEO of United Continental his job. Lots of empty seats on that so-called chairman's flight. The federal investigators looking into whether airline agreed to a non-stop flight between New Jersey and Columbia, South Carolina, to curry favor with David Samson, then-chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
