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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Republicans Face Off; Trump Debuts National Security Speech; Weather Forecast; Bleacher Report. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired September 16, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: He says it's harder than you think to just try to come up with some way to dislike something. EARLY START continues right now.

There's the cool music, the cool, political music, getting ready for the fight. In just hours, Republicans running for president will face off on the CNN debate stage. We'll tell you how they're preparing and what you can expect.

Good morning and welcome to this special -- very special edition to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans in New York.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm a very special John Berman at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. It is Wednesday, September 16th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

And we are here because there is a countdown to the showdown. Just 13 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 a race that is really getting more tense by the second.

Look at that, live picture of the debate stage. You can feel the anticipation. The very latest polls have Donald Trump on top. Ben Carson, he has rocketed into second place. All the remaining candidates are in single digits. Some having fallen far and fallen fast. They need this debate to turn things around. You can bet they are 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.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because 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 -- and a very unique one at that and you're deciding the commander-in-chief of 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.

BERMAN: Joining me now to talk about the candidates and the debate and the stakes, Mark Preston, executive editor of CNN Politics.

Mark, great to have you here with us bright and early, or late, depending on which day you think it is in this time zone. One of the big questions is what Donald Trump, which Donald Trump will we see on that stage? Our Sara Murray caught up with Trump last night and asked him if we're going to see a nicer guy. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have no idea. We'll just see how everyone else behaves.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Do you think you're going to be in their sights, in their targets?

TRUMP: That's what everybody says. We'll see what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: In their sights, in their targets. Mark, do you think we are going to see a Donald Trump pile on tonight?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: I think for many candidates we actually have to see some type of a pile on. Listen, for folks like Rand Paul, who we just heard from, from folks such as Mike Huckabee, from Scott Walker, who many thought would be the front- runner at this point in the race, they need to have some electricity. They need to do something. They need to excite their donors. And, right now, Donald Trump is sucking all the oxygen out of this race.

BERMAN: So the only way to get a headline right now is to go after Trump. Rand Paul, who was actually pretty tough on him in the first debate, told me yesterday, he said, I don't think I was tough enough.

PRESTON: Yes, I don't think so. And it's interesting, the moment in the last debate didn't occur really between Rand Paul and Donald Trump, it was Chris Christie and Rand Paul that went at it. It's interesting to hear Rand Paul, who's very quiet, to say that he's a rumbler. Well, he isn't, but we'll see if he is tonight.

BERMAN: All right, Ben Carson, center stage right now. His rise in the polls has been really remarkable. I mean up more than 20 points since the first debate. He will be standing center stage with Donald Trump. What does Ben Carson need to do?

PRESTON: You know, I don't know. I mean it's such a strange situation we have right there. you know, we just saw them back to back talking. We saw Donald Trump, high energy, loud crowds, and then you have Dr. Ben Carson, he's very calm, kind of almost puts you to sleep in some ways. His appeal is that he's an outsider. He appears to be a truth teller certainly what he's talking, but social conservatives love him. He is a social conservative.

[05:05:02] BERMAN: And the one time he smacked Donald Trump on the nose over his faith, he ended up apologizing.

PRESTON: He apologizes. So like tonight when we talk about the pile on, don't expect to see Ben Carson on top of that pile.

BERMAN: If he can avoid it. If he can avoid it.

PRESTON: Right.

BERMAN: Then there's Carley Fiorina, the other outsider in this race. She worked her way onto the main stage. Donald Trump criticized her face. Will Carly Fiorina have a response ready? You heard her a moment ago saying she, you know, she works in minute chunks. Will she have a minute clunk ready on that subject?

PRESTON: If she doesn't, then her campaign has really done her a disservice. The fact of the matter is, is that Carly Fiorina had the best debate back in August. OK, there's no doubt about that of the two debates she did. And part of that was because she was critical of Donald Trump, even though he wasn't on the stage, and then she rocketed up. Donald Trump and her both have similar background. They're both business people. And Carly Fiorina, if she is smart tonight, she will go straight to Trump and take it to him. And I think that she'll be leading the pack.

BERMAN: I wonder if we can get another beautiful picture of the debate set up right now. The debate stage is gorgeous. It's an intimate setting. And Air Force One, the Air Force One, the plane that Ronald Reagan used to fly around, is right there. It will be looming -- literally looming over this debate. I think it gives it a more serious air. I wonder if being here, having a smaller crowd, how will that affect the energy?

PRESTON: Well, certainly in past debates, you know, that we saw back in 2011 where it seemed like it was fight night. It was inside of arena many times. We saw about 1,500 to 2,000 people cheering, applauding. You're right, this is more of a stayed (ph) atmosphere. There will only be about 500 people in the audience. A lot of them are Republican establishment types. Having said that, though, I do think that the likes of Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee, they have to make a point tonight.

BERMAN: And I've been to debates here before in the smaller settings. It can be more tense.

PRESTON: Right.

BERMAN: It can be more caustic and uncomfortable even when these candidates go after each other in a smaller setting.

PRESTON: No question about. And, look, they have to walk that fine line of trying to out Reagan one another on the stage, but at the same time charting their own path.

BERMAN: Cannot wait to see it. Mark Preston, stick around. More with you in just a moment.

Just a few hours ago, Donald Trump finished up his final free debate appearance. He was on board a battleship with actual cannons by his side to go along with the verbal blasts we often see from him. This was billed as the national security speech and he did promise, in his words, to make our military so big and so 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)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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 drug 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, protestors 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, thank you so much.

New overnight, Vice President Joe Biden unleashing his most direct assault yet 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 that 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.

[05:10:02] 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.

I want to shift back to the Republican debate, where we are waiting for that moment to begin right now. Joining me again, the executive editor of CNN Politics, Mark Preston.

Mark, I want to talk about who has the most to lose on this stage tonight. Jeb Bush, the Bush people, they've set a high bar. They say he needs to come out more energetic this time.

PRESTON: Right. And they're saying he's going to, but that remains to be seen. Jeb Bush is somebody who is very calculated, very focused on what his job is. He's not a bomb thrower. He has not been a bomb thrower. We didn't see that in the last debate.

You could also argue that Donald Trump has the most to lose tonight.

BERMAN: That's a really important point.

PRESTON: Right, because, you know, we've put Donald Trump on -- on such a high mountain right now, you know, he leads, you know, the likes of Jeb Bush and Scott Walker and Marco Rubio by more than 20 points. But if totally falls flat on his face, the whole race changes.

BERMAN: The question is though, under what prism is he being judged because a lot of the ways that -- that traditional politicians are looked at, Trump has not been seen that way over the last month.

PRESTON: No, and it's interesting, you know, we had Sara at his speech last night and he talked about foreign policy in very broad terms. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. We haven't seen policy papers. We don't know how he's going to pay for it. We really don't know how he's going to be as a foreign leader if he were to be commander-in- chief.

BERMAN: Chris Christie, you know, a guy at the end of the debate stage, can he do anything to fight his way back into it at this point?

PRESTON: You know, I think that he is one of the candidates for him to have a fighting chance is to just have enough energy to get through what is now this Trump frog, if the Trump frog goes away. Chris Christie's -- you know look at -- you and I could have had this conversation two years ago. We would say he's the front runner. You know, he's a Republican --

BERMAN: He gave a speech here. He gave a big speech here in 2012 deciding not to run --

PRESTON: Right.

BERMAN: And that might have been his best moment.

PRESTON: Right. No doubt about that. And he was a Republican in a blue state.

BERMAN: Yes.

PRESTON: And he was the head of the Republican Governor's Association. And then we had bridgegate.

BERMAN: Mark Preston, great to see you. Cannot wait to watch the debate with you tonight. It will be fun.

It all begins here at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time with the under card, that's George Pataki, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal and Lindsey Graham, followed by the headline debate, the 11 top polling candidates at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. I've got to say, I'll remind you, the 6:00 p.m. debate should be fascinating. Those four candidates, they will have a lot of time to lay out their views and they all desperately want to claw their way back up in the polls. Do not miss a single second of the coverage beginning at 6:00, and all our coverage leading up to that point.

Christine.

ROMANS: Thanks, John.

I've got to tell you, I agree with -- I agree with Mark, you know, the biggest loser here could end up being Donald Trump. If you can't -- if you can't have a vision for America that's not boasts for what I will do and wait to see the details, people want details. And at some point the Republicans are going to be asking for that. Maybe tonight he'll start giving some of those details.

John, thanks for that.

OK, time for an early start on your money. Asian shares closed higher. The Shanghai up almost 5 percent today. European shares are also up. U.S. stock futures barely moving so far. The Fed's two-day meeting starts today. A big event, folks. Wall Street is split on whether the central bank will raise interest rates for the first time in a decade. Raising rates, the final sign of the 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 become more expensive.

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, if not this week, maybe it will be later this year. Just yesterday a new report from the business round table, which represents companies with $7.2 trillion in annual revenue, 16 million employees. This is sort of the brain trust for big American companies. That survey found companies are reducing hiring and investment because of the global turmoil.

All right, the death toll is rising in a devastating flash flood. At least 16 killed, seven more still missing, and there's more rain on the way. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:17:30] 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 flood waters rushed through Zion National Park. Three other hikers still missing this morning. With rivers rising and more storms in the forecast, officials warning there could be more flooding in the days ahead.

Firefighters struggling to gain the upper hand on a northern California wildfire that has already burned 105 square miles, nearly 600 homes burned. The Valley Fire is still threatening more than 9,000 homes. For 24,000 firefighters battling this blaze, they got a break from this weather on Tuesday. With 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 fireman, 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 Obama administration sending $250 million to California to help fight the wildfires.

Heavy rain in the forecast for parts of California. Will that help? Let's turn to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good Wednesday morning, Christine.

Yes, I think the rain's 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.

[05:20:09] ROMANS: All right, Pedram, thank you for that. A hot day this afternoon in the northeast, no question. All right, the USC Trojans have a new player on their football team.

His name is Jake Olson. And he's just been added to the squad despite the fact that he's blind. Andy Scholes with his remarkable story in "The Bleacher Report," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The pennant races are heating up in Major League Baseball. Less than three weeks left in the regular season. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report."

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, "THE BLEACHER REPORT": Hey, good morning, Christine.

The hunt for October is getting pretty intense. Right now the tightest division battle is between the two Texas teams in the A.L. West. The Astros have just a half game lead over the Rangers coming into last night's game. Bottom of the fourth. Texas down one. Adrian Beltre hits this one down the line and the big man, Prince Fielder, is going to rumble all the way around from first to score to tie the game at five. It would stay tied at five until the bottom of the ninth. Mitch Moreland, the sacrifice fly. Rangers win it 6-5. They now lead the division for the first time this season.

All right, this is a straights story. Jake Olson, a blind long snapper, has joined the USC football team. Olson, who lost both his eyes due to cancer when he was a kid, officially practiced with the team yesterday. Olson is a life-long Trojans fan and has been a frequent visitor to practices and games for years. Coach Steve Sarkisian said he fully expects Olson to play in a game at some point this season.

[05:25:05] All right, the International Olympic Committee made it official this morning. Los Angeles, along with four European cities, are on the short list to host the 2024 summer Olympics. Budapest, Hamburg, Paris and Rome all have bids along with L.A. Los Angeles has hosted the Olympics twice in 1932 and 1984. The committee will select a host city in September 2017.

All right, finally, this is hilarious. Royals and Indians playing in Cleveland last night. The Royals' Alex Rios hits a home run and the celebration fireworks are going to go off. The only problem is, it's an Indian's home game. You don't set the fireworks off if the away team hits a home run. Check out the Indians worker who set them off. He gets booed. The poor guy is totally embarrassed, Christine. He's going to put his hat on his head and just hide his face in shame. I feel so bad for this guy. He was so disappointed in himself that he set off the fireworks at the wrong time.

ROMANS: Oh, that's just hospitality. That's it. Just being hospitable.

SCHOLES: And the Indians didn't even score a run in the game. So, hey, the fans got extra fireworks out of it. They should have been clearing.

ROMANS: I love the hat on his head. That's so cute. All right, thanks, Andy, for that.

SCHOLES: All right.

ROMANS: Twenty-six minutes past the hour. What are you doing tonight, folks? The CNN Republican presidential debate is just hours away. How the candidates are preparing and what you can expect live after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:29:58] ROMANS: The CNN debate stage is set. In just hours, Republicans running for president will face off against each other. Who will come out on top? What can you expect? How will they break through? Our special complete live coverage begins right now.

Welcome back to EARLY START.