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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Republicans Face Off on Second Debate; Moderator Explains How Debate Will Work; Donald Trump Debuts National Security Speech; Will Obama and Putin Meet? Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired September 16, 2015 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:14] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Getting ready for the fight in just hours, Republicans running for president will face off on the CNN debate stage. How are they preparing and what you can expect.
A very special edition of EARLY START this morning. Good morning, and welcome to all of you. I'm Christine Romans here in New York.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Berman at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. It is Wednesday, September 16th, 4:00 a.m. in the East. The big day. Countdown to showdown just 14 hours away from the CNN Republican debate right here on CNN. The main contest kicks off at 8:00 p.m. Eastern with the other candidates taking the stage at 6:00 p.m.
This is a pivotal moment in a race that is getting more tense by the second. Look at that beautiful debate stage. The very latest polls have Donald Trump on top. Ben Carson has rocketed into second place. All the other remaining candidates are in single digits, some having fallen far and fast. They need this debate to turn things around. You can bet they're ready as is Donald Trump in his own way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you feeling? What are you going to be doing all day to prepare?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I feel good about it. I feel really good about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any special preparation?
TRUMP: I've been doing this for 30 years. A lot of preparation. But I feel really good about the debate. Thank you.
BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I don't think that my strategy is going to change at all. It's going to be to tell the truth and to talk about, you know, my vision for America, which I think is something that a lot of people resonate with. You know, the polls are not particularly surprising given the fact that I'm out there amongst the people a lot. And I've been seeing the level of enthusiasm and the size of the crowds for quite some time. It hasn't really been reported on, but we've seen it. So this is not very surprising. CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I read up on current
issues to make sure I understand what's going on. And I think very carefully I guess about what I want to convey in 30 second chunks or a minute chunks because the thing about a debate that's a little bit different than campaigning out there every day is, you have a very prescribed time frame.
MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Right.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In the end this is not a game show, it's not a production, and it is, in fact, deciding the most important political office in the world and a very unique one at that, and you're deciding the commander-in-chief for the most powerful military and the leader of the most powerful country on the planet. And that's a serious endeavor. And that's how we take it. That's how we prepare for it.
SEN. RAND PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to mix it up because I like to rumble and I like to make sure people know the differences between the candidates.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right. Let's get the very latest from the candidates and the stakes and the countdown.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny joins us -- Jeff.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine. We are inside the debate hall. The podiums you can see behind me right now. their staffs are setting up right now to see what the debate hall actually looks like as the candidates are actually preparing for this debate.
The stakes could not be higher in tonight's debate. Some Republicans are trying to jumpstart their campaigns, others are trying to wait on the side lines for others to falter. Such a crowded Republican race.
The reason the stakes are so high are these, we are nearing the end of the third fundraising quarter. And at the end of this month, candidates have to report how much money they've made so donors will be watching very carefully. So will those early state voters in Iowa, in New Hampshire, in South Carolina. So the audience is important in this room behind me. You can see here a pretty intimate audience. But it's the audience at home and those key early state voters, those activists that are paying such careful attention.
The question is, Donald Trump of course will be taking so much incoming fire. Who will emerge as an alternative to him? Will he be attacked by all the candidates? Perhaps not? Jeb Bush is also a target of some of the criticism. So look for some people to question his conservative credentials as well.
So this is lining up to be a fascinating debate here in Simi Valley, California. Only the second debate but coming at a very critical time in the campaign -- John and Christine. BERMAN: Critical, indeed. The moderator tonight is CNN's Jake Taper,
the anchor of "THE LEAD" and "STATE OF THE UNION," CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash and conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. They will join in the questioning. I had a chance to talk to Jake about the format. He told the candidates will have a chance to face off directly with each other and frontrunner Donald Trump, but it will not be a free-for-all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN DEBATE MODERATOR: We have questions and we have order. I mean, we're not -- this is a debate and we do want people to bring some sort of spontaneity to it. And if they want to weigh in on a topic and I haven't called on them, you know, we'll see what happens. But generally speaking, we do have an order. Everybody is going to be called on in every block. That's the hope in any case. And we're going to have as much engagement as possible.
Now I will say that the candidates who want to take the debate and use it as an opportunity to pivot and recite their seven talking points I think will, as they did in the last debate, kind of vanish. And the ones who actually engage and debate and exchanges with -- not with me but with their fellow candidates who I will be asking them to address, I think those will be the ones that voters hear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:05:25] BERMAN: Just a few hours ago, Donald Trump finished up his final pre-debate appearance. He was on board a battleship with actual cannons to go along with the verbal blast that he's been used to. It has been built as a national security speech and he did promise, in his words, to make our military so big and strong and so great, but he quickly turned the discussion to immigration.
CNN's Sara Murray was there. She has the very latest -- Sara.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, Christine and John.
Donald Trump did his version of debate prep here aboard the USS Iowa in Los Angeles last night, delivering a speech that was billed as a national security address but was actually very light on specifics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The problem we have is that the leaders of Mexico, Japan, China and every other country that we do business with, they're smarter, more cunning, sharper than our leaders. I love free trade. The concept is great. But you need smart people. I have the smartest people in this country lined up. I know the smartest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Nonetheless, Trump still managing to pick up the endorsements of the veterans group that hosted this event for him. During his speech, he promised that he would reform the V.A. system. He said he would make the U.S. military even stronger and he promises to secure the U.S. border with Mexico.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The drugs come in, the money goes out daily. And I saw it because I was on the border. I was there. And we saw it. And everybody sees it every day. And we have the kind of people that can do something about it, but we have no leadership. None. None whatsoever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Now, at times, the optics of this event were a little awkward. As soon as the event got underway, protesters poured in a nearby parking lot. It was just hundreds of feet away. So while they were chanting "Donald Trump is a racist," everyone who came out to hear Donald Trump live could hear that right aboard the ship.
Christine and John, back to you.
BERMAN: All right, Sara Murray, thank you so much.
New overnight, Vice President Joe Biden unleashing his most direct assault on the type of language used by Donald Trump. At a reception for Hispanic Heritage Month, Biden said Donald Trump's, quote, "sick message" about Mexican immigrants plays to the worst instincts in American society.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Folks, I don't want anybody to be down right now about what's going on in the Republican Party. I mean this sincerely now. This is not -- no, this -- I'm being deadly earnest about this.
I want you to remember, notwithstanding the fact there's one guy absolutely denigrating an entire group of people, appealing to the baser side of human nature, working on this notion of xenophobia in a way that hasn't occurred in a long time since the know nothing party back at the -- at the end of the 19th century.
Folks, the American people are with us. I know it doesn't feel that way. But I'm telling you, I'm telling you, the American people agree with us. We're going to take a while to overcome this -- look, you're talking about somebody who's talking about a minority within a minority party within a minority, and the vast majority of the American people -- because here's what they still believe. The American people are decent. They're basically, basically decent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The vice president, of course, is weighing whether to jump into the race for the Democratic nomination.
All right. Just to give you a sense of how close we are, the Republican presidential debate begins right here on CNN at 6:00 p.m. Eastern. The undercard, those four people will face off. Followed by the headliner, the 11 top polling candidates, 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Christine, I got to tell you, the excitement here has been building by the minute. The stage is gorgeous.
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: Air Force One sitting right behind all the candidates as they stare at each other.
ROMANS: Yes. What the CNN construction teams were able to do to really sort of bring that whole stage eye level to Ronald Reagan's Air Force One.
John, I've got to ask you, in a Republican field that has until now been dominated by what Donald Trump wants to talk about, issues that Donald Trump sometimes offhandedly brings up to the fore, how do these candidates break through, punch through, break out, change the dynamic in this race? I know you talked to Rand Paul, Senator Rand Paul yesterday. How do they change that dynamic?
BERMAN: I think every candidate has a little bit of a different strategy. But for many of them they need to take on Donald Trump directly. That's the message they're sending. Rand Paul said to me yesterday the problem he had in the first debate was he wasn't tough enough.
[04:10:05] ROMANS: Right.
BERMAN: On Donald Trump. I think the people in that boat include Jeb Bush to be sure. I think Carly Fiorina, I think Ben Carson to a certain extent needs to engage him directly. But then there's a guy like Marco Rubio who hasn't been in the discussion a lot lately.
ROMANS: Right.
BERMAN: But maybe Marco Rubio, the senator from Florida, he just wants to wait this out and let the dust settle for a bit. So maybe Marco Rubio will be talking more about himself and his own message rather than focusing on Donald Trump.
ROMANS: All right. We cannot wait. And we know that you've got a lot more for us this morning so thank you for that, John.
Let's switch gears here and take a little bit of time for an EARLY START on your money. Asian shares closed higher. Shanghai up almost 5 percent. European shares also higher. U.S. stock futures barely moving so far.
The Fed's two-day meeting starts today. Wall Street is split on whether the Central Bank will raise interest rates for the first time in almost a decade. Raising rates is the final sign of the U.S. economy's return to normal but normal is going to pinch a lot of people in the wallet. We're talking about credit cards, car loans, home equity, lines of credit, private student loans, all will be more expensive if the Fed raises interest rates. So will it happen this week? The economy is showing steady signs of
improvement. But recent turmoil in stocks and worries about China's growth could complicate the Fed's timeline. Just yesterday a new report finds businesses are reducing their hiring investment plans thanks to the global turmoil.
Eleven minutes past the hour. The rising death toll and the devastating flash flood. At least 16 people killed. Several more still missing. And there is more rain on the way. We will update you on this very important story.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Sixteen people have now been killed by flash flooding in Utah. Twelve of the victims, women and children, swept away in their cars in the town of Hildale. Four hikers also died when floodwaters rushed through Zion National Park. Three other hikers are missing. With rivers rising and more storms in the forecast officials are warning there could be more flooding in the days ahead.
[04:15:04] Firefighters are struggling to gain the upper hand on a northern California wildfire that has already burned 105 square miles and nearly 600 homes. The Valley Fire still threatening more than 9,000 homes, 2400 firefighters battling this blaze. They got a break from the weather on Tuesday. The winds calming down. They were able to get the fire 30 percent contained allowing some homeowners to witness first hand their worst fears.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK HAMILTON, RESIDENT: I was at the earthquake in San Francisco, at Candlestick, when it -- when it happened. The big earthquake. It was nothing compared to this. It was so chaotic, the firemen -- it seemed like they didn't even know what was going on. I was hearing fire captains go, save that water, and the tree was still burning.
TAMMY MOORE, RESIDENT: So much worse than I thought. I mean, even though I expected it to be bad, I didn't expect to see everything gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The White House now lending a hand, sending $250 million to California to help fight those wildfires.
Heavy rain in the forecast for parts of California. Will that help? Let's turn meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good Wednesday morning, Christine.
Yes, I think the rain is certainly going to help. And, you know, it's not going to be a washout. It's not going to be a significant amount of rainfall. But I think both fire zones across northern California will see at least a quarter to a half an inch of rainfall. And anything as far as rains right now will bring the temperatures down, increase the humidity. That is good news when it comes to the fire lines there for the firefighters.
But the other story, of course, the big story out of southwestern Utah, where we have this historic flooding. In fact, rainfall observations believed to be on a rarity there, somewhere between one and a 200-year event when you take a look at how much rain came down in a one hour period. About two inches per hour for that region. Of course, the flash flooding -- the quintessential flash flooding scenario, when you take a look at this sort of scenario play out.
You see the water levels rise very quickly, up to about four feet. It drops within one hour back to about a foot. And within 15 minutes, you have another second wave of waters come up to over six feet. And this sort of a scenario certainly catches people off guard and makes it a deadly story, in what has occurred -- what has occurred across this region of Utah.
OK, but we'll leave you here with high temperatures across the country, across the eastern side of the country. Summer variety for just about everyone. Upper '80s and mid '80s for Minneapolis and around 90 degrees from New York out towards D.C. -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Pedram Javaheri. Thank you for that, Pedram.
The man charged in the death of UVA student Hannah Graham now charged in the death of another woman several years earlier. Jesse Matthews now facing murder and other charges in the death of Morgan Harrington. She went missing in October 2009. Her body was found three months later. Harrington's parents were struck by similarities as soon as Graham went missing. Now they say they want to see Matthew face justice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIL HARRINGTON, MORGAN HARRINGTON'S MOTHER: We are pleased that there will be consequences. You know, when there is an act as heinous as abducting and murdering someone, there should be consequences. I want him to see me. I want him to see my face and I want him to know that I know what he did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Harrington was also a student at UVA when she vanished.
A Delta State University geography professor who killed himself after shooting his girlfriend and a fellow professor to death left behind a note for police. Gunman Shannon Lamb saying he was very sorry for killing 41-year-old Amy Prentice, writing, he wished he could take it back. Police in Mississippi say Lamb then drove 300 miles and shot Delta State history professor Ethan Schmidt to death. Now police have not disclosed a motive for those murders.
New details in the shooting death of Illinois police lieutenant Joe Gliniewicz. Sources telling CNN DNA belonging to someone other than the 30-year veteran officer was found on his gun at the crime scene. Authorities say the nearly three-week-old case is being handled as a homicide, although they say every theory is still on the table, including the possibility of suicide.
Congressional Republicans fighting among themselves over a plan to strip funding from Planned Parenthood. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell calling it an exercise in futility to attempt it this month. But some of his colleagues insists they have to try even threatening to shut down the government. President Obama has promised to veto any defunding measure ahead and has enough votes in the Senate to filibuster an attempt.
With the White House -- will the White House work with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Syria? President Obama facing a very big decision here. We are live after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:23:10] ROMANS: Twenty-three minutes past the hour. Welcome back to a special edition of EARLY START this morning. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad blaming the Syrian refugee crisis on the U.S., Europe and Turkey. Assad telling Russian media the West is supplying arms to ISIS and supporting terrorism in his country. This as Russia steps up the deployment of weapons and equipment to the Assad regime. Russia assisting Assad.
At the same the White House considers ending its Cold War with Vladmir Putin. President Obama and the Russian leader haven't met face-to- face in more than a year. But later this month, both men will be in New York for the U.N. General Assembly meeting and the administration is trying to decide whether to set up a meeting or freeze the Kremlin leader out.
We want to bring in CNN's senior international correspondent Matthew Chance live from Moscow.
And Matthew, Vladimir Putin's entre into the situation in Syria certainly at odds with the hopes and the direction of the U.S. administration. It doesn't look like there is a warming of a very cold relationship between the U.S. and Russia any time soon.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean, clearly the United States and Russia do not see eye-to-eye over the -- on what should be done in Syria. In fact, there's been another phone call from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign minister. It's the third time the U.S. secretary of state has called Russia in 10 days expressing his concern about the Kremlin's position on Syria, its increased military activities there, its staunch backing of President Assad.
Moscow's position is this, look, we should build an international coalition against ISIS and the United States and the Syrian government should be part of that. The United States responds by saying, look, we've already got an international coalition. It's got more than 60 countries involved in it. But President Assad of Syria cannot be a credible part of that coalition. And that exposes the essential difference in opinion over Syria, between Washington and Moscow. [04:25:11] The Russians want to keep Assad in power. Washington just
can't face that prospect. You can see it is a massive U-turn. And so that's what the argument, essentially the standoff is about the two countries.
ROMANS: Fascinating. All right. Matthew Chance for us in Moscow this morning. Thank you, Matthew. We know you will be watching all those developments for us.
The CNN Republican presidential candidate debate, you know, it's just hours away now. How these candidates are preparing, what you can expect, live after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Queue the cool music. The CNN debate stage is set. In just hours, Republicans running for president will face off against each other in just hours. Who will come out on top? What can you expect? What do they have to do to punch through?
Our conversation, our special edition of EARLY START begins right now. Welcome back. I'm Christine Romans in New York.
ROMANS: So good to see you. I am John Berman live at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. It is 30 minutes past the hour. 4:30 in the East. Ungodly early here in California.
Countdown to showdown. Under 14 hours away from the CNN Republican debate right here on CNN. The main contest kicks off at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time with the other candidates taking the stage at 6:00 p.m. This is a pivotal moment in this race, a race getting more tense by the second. That is a live look at the beautiful CNN debate stage.
The very latest polls have Donald Trump on top. Ben Carson has rocketed into second. All the remaining candidates are in single digits, some having fallen far and fast.
