Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Supporter Calls Obama "A Muslim"; Democratic National Committee Blast Trump; Clinton Fires Back Against Debate Barbs; Obama Huddles With Pelosi And Reid; No Liftoff: Fed Leaves Rates Near Zero; Support For Handy Muslim Teen Goes Viral; U.S., Cuba Prepare For Papal Visit. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired September 18, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Sara Murray was there and has the latest.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, Christine and Alison. Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail last night in Rochester, New Hampshire fresh off his performance at the CNN debate.

He is fielding questions from voters in New Hampshire, something he doesn't do all that often. It got off to a pretty awkward start when one voter said the problem with America right now is Muslims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This man, I like this guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm from White Plains. Amen. We have a problem in this country. It's called Muslims. We know our current president is one. You know he's not even an American, birth certificate, man. But anyway, we have training camps growing where they want to kill us. That's my question. When can we get rid of them?

TRUMP: We are going to be looking at a lot of different things. A lot of people are saying that and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there. We will look at that and plenty of other things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: You can see Donald Trump seemed to be a little bit caught off guard by the question. He did not refute the premise. That silence may bring him criticism. We will hear from him later on today in South Carolina. Back to you.

ROMANS: Now Trump did not answer reporters at that event asking why he did not challenge the claim the president is Muslim. A spokesman says Trump did not hear that part of the supporter's statement. As you recall, Donald Trump has questioned the president's birth certificate himself.

Hillary Clinton apparently not buying any of this. Overnight, she personally tweeted, "Donald Trump not denouncing false statements about the president and hateful rhetoric about Muslims is disturbing and just plain wrong, cut it out." She said.

Trump for his part sent a statement to "The Washington Post" saying, "The media wants to make this issue about Obama. The bigger issue is that Obama is waging a war against Christians. Christians need support in this country.

I have to tell you, the DNC chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, immediately issuing a statement calling this all hateful. She said the comments that he would be quote/unquote, "Looking at getting rid of Muslims is racism for Donald Trump shows no bounds," she said.

She called on all of the GOP candidates to immediately denounce this otherwise they are tactically agreeing with him. Roll the video. You can see the cringes from the Trump supporters behind him.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: It is awkward for everybody behind him. You see some people laughing.

ROMANS: People shaking their heads saying -- if you look at the people shaking their heads or making a face or cringing and talking to each other when this guy is saying that.

Donald Trump, again, maybe he did not hear the whole comment. He doesn't give town halls where he answers the questions. Usually he is talking to the crowd, but this one certainly a moment that will dominate today.

KOSIK: It will be interesting to see if he comes out and clarifies where he stands on that.

Donald Trump is also complaining about the three-hour length of the debate appearing on talk shows the morning after the CNN debate. Trump called the length unacceptable and compared it to the epic film. "Gone With The Wind."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The thing that made me most upset and everybody else was the three hours because to be standing up for three hours answering questions in the form of a debate. I think the viewers, they would have done as well as they have done.

I think they set a record in the history of CNN. They could have done better if it was an hour shorter. It was too long. I imagine people get bored with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Interesting some of the most famous debates Lincoln-Douglass debates were three hours long with just two candidates, long debates, but certainly a lot of fodder.

In those debates, there were some attacks on Hillary Clinton. She is responding to those attacks aimed at her during that CNN Republican debate taking time from a campaign swing through New Hampshire to talk to Wolf Blitzer. Clinton warned GOP members in Congress against cutting off federal funding for Planned Parenthood. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has the latest.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alison and Christine. Hillary Clinton is in the three-day critical swing state of New Hampshire, a state that gave her the boost in 2008, but she is struggling now.

Her main opponent, Vermont senator, Bernie Sanders, ahead in four different polls in the state, one of those polls indicating that he is 23 points ahead when it comes to new voters and independent voters.

She has to answer the criticism. She has been talking about the e- mail controversy for the summer and clearly this has weighed on her campaign and race in this critical state. She is taking on the critics and criticism including those from the GOP candidates.

[05:35:00] She talked to my colleague, Wolf Blitzer, about the specifics, one of the people, the only GOP candidate, female candidate on the stage, Carly Fiorina, and this that she said. If you want to stump a Democrat, then ask them about Hillary Clinton's accomplishments as secretary of state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is just the usual back and forth political attacks. The kinds of things you say on a debate stage and don't have much else to say. If anybody's interested, know, there is a long list about what I have done and I'm very proud of it.

You can read my book "Hard Choices." Read how I negotiated a ceasefire with Israel and Hamas. You can read about how I put together the coalition that led to international sanctions against Iran.

You can read about what I did when I was first lady to get the children's health insurance program or a senator working across the aisle on issues like getting better health care for our veterans. This is just the silly season.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Hillary Clinton also taking on the Republican candidates and their call for defunding Planned Parenthood as well as some of the Republicans in Congress threatening to shutdown government over it.

She defended the organization saying that it provides critical care for women's health care. Later today, she will talk about making college affordable when she travels to concord and on to Maine to rally the troops -- Alison, Christine.

KOSIK: OK, Suzanne Malveaux, thanks for that. Meantime, Scott Walker is quickly adjusting his campaign strategy after a subdued performance in the Republican debate. A tally BY NPR shows the Wisconsin governor got the least screen time of any candidate on the stage.

Now Walker says he will put all his eggs in the Iowa basket, a state where he was once leading in the polls, but is now down to single digits.

ROMANS: House Republicans planning to force several votes to defund Planned Parenthood today. There is no way the measures can get through the Senate.

Some House conservatives are threatening a government shutdown at the end of the month if the budget includes funding for Planned Parenthood. Republicans of the Senate are also introducing legislation that would outlaw all abortions after 20 weeks pregnancy.

KOSIK: The White House is taking the threat of a government shutdown very seriously. President Obama is meeting Thursday with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. They insist they are backing stop gap measures to keep the government operating as long as Planned Parenthood funding is off the table.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPRESENTATIVE NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: I'm hopeful that we are all in agreement that we should not have a government shutdown. It is costly to the government and to the American people as it was during the government shutdown before. So we are optimistic. We want to be cooperative. We want to negotiate in good faith.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Here we go again. With 13 days left before a possible government shutdown, Pelosi admits she and House Speaker John Boehner have not even scheduled talks.

ROMANS: All right, the White House thinking about scrapping the program to build a large scale Syrian fighting force to combat ISIS. The $500 million plan was a core part of the Pentagon strategy to defeat ISIS.

But administration officials now acknowledge the program is failing and they are debating whether to accept a Russian proposal for talks designed to end the Syrian civil war.

Meanwhile, Russia's increase presence in Syria is causing concern at the White House and the Pentagon. The Syrian military is now using new types of air and ground weapons supplied by the Russians. And Syria's foreign minister says he is prepared to ask Vladimir Putin to send in Russian forces if necessary.

KOSIK: Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl had a severe mental defect when he left his military base in Afghanistan and was captured by the Taliban. That's the argument being used by his defense team at a military hearing in Texas.

Bergdahl faces a possible life sentence for endangering the soldiers who searched for him after he allegedly deserted. His lawyers appear poised to make the case that the military indirectly shares the blame for Bergdahl's behavior because they knew he was unfit to serve.

ROMANS: All right, 39 minutes past the hour. Time for an EARLY START on your money, the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged. Now comes more uncertainty for world markets.

European shares are lower. U.S. stock futures barely moving, a real nail biter for the fed, but in the end no change to interest rates. Global growth concerns and low inflation and weak wage growth all reasons.

But the U.S. economy is growing and there is something that Janet Yellen said in her press conference that really caught my attention. She said, "The U.S. economy has been performing well and impressing us by the pace which it is creating jobs and the strength of domestic demand."

It's still looks like the fed wants to raise rates before the end of the year. Two meetings left to do so.

KOSIK: All right, breaking overnight, new developments in the case of a Muslim high school student arrested for making a clock next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:43:38]

KOSIK: Welcome back. A Muslim teenager arrested after he brought a clock to school that was mistaken for a bomb will transfer to another school. A spokesman for the family for Ahmed Mohamed says the 14- year-old has too many painful memories of his ordeal at McArthur High School in Irving, Texas.

But as CNN's Alina Machado tells us, the experience also has some unintended benefits as well.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ahmed Mohamed is entertaining a number of invites. He's even been offered an internship with Twitter. This all started on Monday when the 14-year-old created a digital clock at home using a pencil box. Here is what he said happened when he showed the device to a teacher at his school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMED MOHAMED, STUDENT WHO BUILT CLOCK: When I showed it to her, she thought it was a threat to her. So it was really sad that she took a wrong impression of it and I got arrested for it later that day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACHADO: The police chief in Irving, Texas says because of the, quote, "suspicious nature" of the device, Mohamed was handcuffed, taken into custody and accused of having a fake bomb. The school district would not comment on what's happened citing student privacy.

But the mayor has released a statement saying she does not fault the school or the police for looking into what they saw as a potential threat.

Still, the incident has sparked outrage on social media. The #Istandwithahmed began trending worldwide with high profile names chiming in.

[05:45:05] The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg posted that the future belongs to people like Ahmed. Adding, quote, "Ahmed, if you ever want to come by Facebook, I'd love to meet you. Keep building."

Even President Obama weighed in tweeting, "Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great."

Now, police say the case is closed and that they will not be pursuing charges against the teen. We also know his family has retained legal counsel and is contemplating what steps if any they will take next.

KOSIK: Come on, teacher, use your brain.

ROMANS: What a story. All right, let's take a look at what is coming up on "NEW DAY." Michaela Pereira joins us this morning. Hi, Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Happy Friday. I don't want to yell it yet. Get your hands out of my shot. We should point out the police chief of Irving, Texas will join us. He will talk about that situation with Ahmed.

Also the GOP candidates back on the campaign trail after the CNN debate. Donald Trump embroiled in a new controversy, have you seen this, for failing to correct the supporter who vocally expressed his anti-Muslim views and called President Obama a Muslim. Is this a sign of the Trump's frontrunner status taking a heat? We're going to explore that.

Also the House is preparing to vote on measures to defund Planned Parenthood. We will speak with Congresswoman Diane Black. We will ask her if the fight could lead to a government shutdown. Now you can say it. Happy Friday.

ROMANS: Cuomo has to keep his hands to himself. How many times do you have to tell him?

KOSIK: The pope heading to Cuba hoping to strengthen the country's relationship with the U.S., but will it work, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:50:00]

KOSIK: The Vatican says it hopes the visit by Pope Francis to Cuba and the United States will help end the five-decade old U.S. embargo on Cuba and encourage human rights and freedom on the island. On cue, media reports say the White House is drafting regulations to further weaken the embargo. Those changes could be announced today. CNN's Delia Gallagher is following the pope's trip to Cuba and the U.S. joining us live from Rome. So do you think that relations between the U.S. and Cuba can be improved even more because of the pope's trip?

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The pope is coming in on the heels of his important role he played between opening and reopening the relations with U.S. and Cuba. Obviously the Vatican's hope is that will be furthered. Two points on that.

They would like the economic embargo to eventually be lifted. Equally in Cuba, they want to see the furthering of democratic rights for the people there with regard to freedom of expression and freedom of religion.

He will then go from Cuba to the United States for the very important first U.S. trip where he will address the joint session of the U.S. Congress. The first time a pope will address a joint session of Congress.

Then on to the U.N. for another important speech and topics in those speeches likely to be immigration, poverty, economic injustice, the pope has an eye to the poor and, of course, the environment, a big theme for Pope Francis. Something we will hear a lot about at the U.N.

He'll wrap up the trip in Philadelphia for a meeting of families. Catholic families meeting at the world meeting of families to discuss some of the challenges that today's families face -- Alison.

KOSIK: All right, the pope's visit is certainly generating a lot of excitement and controversy. Delia Gallagher live from Rome, thanks for that.

ROMANS: All right, is being a nurse a talent? Johnson & Johnson thinks so. Backlash against "The View's" host controversial comments about nursing next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:56:40]

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an EARLY START on your money, Friday edition. The Federal Reserve did nothing and that means more uncertainty for markets. European shares are down so are U.S. stock futures.

Fed Chief Janet Yellen said the fed wants to take more time before raising interest rates from zero. She is impressed by job growth. She is impressed by the U.S. economy, but she mentioned global concerns ten times which is holding her back. We will expect more volatility as investors' questions the fed's plan.

General Motors will pay $900 million for federal criminal charges related to its ignition switch problems. The flaw has been tied to at least 124 deaths. GM admitted the employees were aware of the problem nearly a decade before it started recalls.

That was the basis for these criminal charges. No individual executives were charged in the case. The Justice Department says it won't rule that out at some point in the future.

Johnson & Johnson pulling ads from "The View" unhappy with comments made on the talk show about nurses. The host mocked a Miss America contestant who wore scrubs and talked about being a nurse.

The contestant did not shockingly win after reading her e-mails online in her scrubs. "The View" hosts have since apologized.

KOSIK: It's nice to see the nurse getting all that support online.

Donald Trump facing new criticism this morning. "NEW DAY" starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Problem in the country. It's called Muslim -- we know our current president is one. You know he's not even American.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump did not correct the question. What does Mr. Trump believe? Does he believe the president is a Muslim?

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will not give my foreign policy based on watching the shows.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You will see Jeb Bush get steadily better with each debate.

BUSH: You need a president with a steady hand.

CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name an accomplishment of Mrs. Clinton.

CLINTON: The usual back and forth political attacks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She knows that she has to be more transparent.

CLINTON: This is just a silly season.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: It is serious time. Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Friday, September 18th, 6:00 in the east. The race has changed. The positive buzz in the GOP shifting to Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump seems to have a target on his back under fire for failing to challenge a man who called the president a Muslim and called for the U.S. to get rid of Muslims.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, now weighing in on Trump and his Republican rivals. Also another government shutdown looming in Washington. Let's begin our coverage with senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns. Good morning, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. He is often going too far, but now Donald Trump is taking heat for what he did not say after failing to challenge a comment from the member of the audience in New Hampshire about President Obama's religion and nationality. Now Democrats are going after him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: A lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there.

JOE (voice-over): A new controversy for Donald Trump this morning, just a day after CNN's GOP debate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Problem in this country, it's called Muslims. We know our current president is one.