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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Pope Arrives in Washington; Carson Softens Hard Line Against Muslim President; Scott Walker Drops Out of GOP Race; Clinton Widens Lead over Democratic Rivals; EU Hoping Turkey Can Stem Flow of Migrants. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired September 22, 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: In just hours, Pope Francis comes to the United States. A historic trip that's creating plenty of controversy this morning.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A flurry of political news overnight. Ben Carson with new controversial comments on Muslims. Carly Fiorina debuts a softer singing side. And Scott Walker, he's out.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, September 22nd, 4:00 a.m. in the East.
Today is the day Pope Francis comes to the United States after finishing his visit to Cuba with a final morning mass in Santiago de Cuba. The pontiff will fly to Washington for his first visit to the U.S. The Pope will be greeted at Andrews Air Force Base by the president, the vice president and their wives. The in-person welcome is a nearly unique gesture by the president and a sign of the great importance he is placing on the Pope's visit.
At the same time, the White House is trying hard to avoid seeming to take political advantage of the Pope.
With more on that, senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the White House is going to great lengths to take the politics out of the Pope's visit to the U.S. But that may be impossible as Pope Francis and President Obama are strong allies on so many positions that Republicans strongly oppose.
As the White House led the charge for same-sex marriage, Pope Francis has softened his own stance on gay priests. On climate change the Pope says it's a global problem with great implications. He has slammed trickledown economics. The president has also counted on the Pope as a supporter for the Iran nuclear deal and his policy on Cuba.
But with the next presidential election heating up, the White House is trying to downplay the notion that the Pope's trip is all about politics.
Here's what the White House press secretary had to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: You know, there is no plan or strategy that's been put in place to try to, you know, stage an event that will advance anybody's political agenda.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Some Republicans are also steamed that the White House is inviting pro-choice and pro-gay rights advocates to the Pope's arrival ceremony at the White House. Mike Huckabee dubbed that a new low for the administration, he said. That will go down as the most anti- Christian in American history. The White House insists the Pope deserves a diverse audience -- John and Christine.
ROMANS: A lot of questions about what Pope Francis might say but here's a guess. He'll probably discuss the flaws of American capitalism. It's a theme he has stuck to since the 1990s. Pope Francis wrote a book in 1998 with an entire chapter focused on, quote, "the limits of capitalism." He argues that while it can be good for development, capitalism lacks moral and promotes greed and selfish behavior.
Over the years he has been especially critical of the way capitalism has caused destruction of the environment and increased inequality. He has even tweeted inequality is the root of all evil.
BERMAN: Overnight, a new position by Ben Carson on the idea of a Muslim in the White House. While he is standing by his statement that he would oppose the election of a Muslim as president, Carson did add an exception.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now if someone has a Muslim background and they are willing to reject those tenets and to accept the way of life that we have and clearly will swear to place our Constitution above their religion, then, of course, they will be considered infidels and heretics. But at least I would then be quite willing to support them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Now Carson's statements provoked a number of responses from his opponents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think that religion should be a criteria for being president. You know, there should be some exclusion based on one's faith or the lack of faith frankly. I know a ton of people that are peaceful Muslims that live in the United States that are -- that love this country or are patriotic Americans and serve in the military. The idea that you would think otherwise is really not grounded in reality. DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Ben was saying there are
difficulties and I think everybody knows what those difficulties are and people want to be politically correct. But there have been difficulties and a lot of people agree with Ben. I do think that Ben would also agree, though, if properly vetted, the proper people, properly vetted going through an election, I think that anybody that is able to win an election will be absolutely fine.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I personally do not believe that your religious denomination should disqualify you from serving in office. I think that's what voters decide on, on a variety of issues, including the values of someone. And I just say this, whether you're a Muslim or a Catholic or anything, if you have radical views and values, you're not going to get elected in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Now Carson answered those criticisms on his Facebook page. He wrote, quote, "Those Republicans that take issue with my position are amazing. Under Islamic law, homosexuals, men and women alike, must be killed. Women must be subservient. And people following other religions must be killed. I know that there are many peaceful Muslims who do not adhere to these beliefs. But until these tenets are fully renounced, I cannot advocate any Muslim candidate for president."
[04:05:16] Carson will be in Ohio today where he is scheduled to hold two rallies and two news conferences.
ROMANS: This morning, there is one fewer Republican presidential candidate scrambling for votes and big money donors. Scott Walker announcing that he has quit the race after sliding from the top of the polls in Iowa to barely an asterisk now. Walker framed his departure as a move to enhance Republican prospects for victory next year into the thinly veiled shot at Donald Trump as he exited the presidential stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R), WISCONSIN: I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current frontrunner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Chief political correspondent Dana Bash has the latest on Walker's withdrawal.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, it's hard to believe that just six months ago Scott Walker was on top of the national polls. In July, he was winning in Iowa. But his demise is a case study in the perils of running in 2016 as a lifelong politician which is what Scott Walker is. Donald Trump came along and drowned out Walker's main message which was he was the guy who could fight the conservative fights and actually can win because at the end of the day, he had not been an outsider.
He wasn't in Washington, but he was in government his whole life. And voters at this point don't appear to want that on the Republican side. But even worse for Walker were his own missteps. Even sources close to him tell me he was on too many sides of the same issue. He had trouble answering questions like, for example what would you do with Syrian refugees. He said that was a hypothetical. It came across, even his supporters are saying as wishy-washy and even pandering at a time when voters wanted fortitude from their candidates.
And at the end of the day it was also about money. Walker sources tell me he failed to shine in the first debate last month and the money to his campaign simply dried up and they couldn't get it back going again. And it was hard for him to pay the bills. In fact another source told me that Walker told his aides, how can I run a campaign against the national debt if I have campaign debt? That it wasn't his time -- John and Christine.
ROMANS: Dana Bash, thanks for that.
Of course he is the Wisconsin governor when he announced he was running. The AFL-CIO said in a very terse one-word statement, one- line statement, Scott Walker is a national disgrace. Last night, Richard Trumpka of the AFL-CIO celebrating in another very short terse statement, Scott Walker is a national disgrace. Just not national anymore.
BERMAN: Home to Wisconsin.
A new campaign focus for Hillary Clinton discussing fixes and tweaks she would make to Obamacare. In a campaign swing to the south, Clinton slammed price gouging by pharmaceutical companies pointing to new headlines about a 4,000 percent hike in the price of one drug. Clinton promised to crack down on such increases and cap out-of-pocket costs for prescriptions under Obamacare.
Let's get more from senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar in Little Rock.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine. Hillary Clinton made visits to Louisiana and Arkansas to tout changes that she wants to make to Obamacare. It's a way for her to differentiate herself from Republicans who want to repeal the law and also from President Obama.
This coming ahead of a visit to Iowa later today where she will talk in more detail about what those policy prescriptions are. But on her trip to the south, she slammed Republicans who want to get rid of the law all together.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was so proud to be a part of President Obama's administration when he signed the Affordable Care Act into law. I called him, I was -- I was going on one of those foreign trips I had to go on as secretary of state. I was so excited I called him and I said, boy, Mr. President, thank you. Thank you for getting health care passed to help everybody in America.
Think about it. You know they all say this. Repeal it. Get rid of it. Why would you repeal something that's working to help people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Hillary Clinton may be breathing a cautious sigh of relief looking at the latest CNN-ORC poll. It has her at 42 percent nationally. Bernie Sanders at 24 percent. Joe Biden at 22 percent. So she has widened her lead there. Biden, of course, is still undecided whether he's even going to get into this race. He talked to "America," a Catholic magazine, and he said he realizes the timeframe for launching a candidacy is moving quickly. And he says emotionally he may not be able to get there.
It is of course just three months since he lost his son Beau Biden. But a mixed signal that we're getting coming from his wife, Jill Biden. She has long been known as someone who is more resistant to the idea of her husband running for president. But a recent report said that she is on board and amid news of that report, a spokesman for the second lady saying on the record that she is on board with her husband running for president if he decides to do that, and stressing, of course, that he has not made up his mind yet -- John and Christine.
[04:10:17] ROMANS: All right, Brianna. Thank you for that, Brianna.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will expected to land in Seattle early this afternoon to start a controversial seven-day visit to the United States. You know, tensions running pretty high between these two countries. He will meet with business, technology and aerospace leaders. All while the U.S. threatens sanctions against China over allegations of computer hacking and unfair trade practices. The Chinese leader will be honored on Thursday at the White House followed by a major address to the U.N.
BERMAN: The White House is shifting its focus on the war against ISIS away from Iraq and towards Syria. The campaign in Iraq is stalled. But Kurdish forces are making gains against ISIS in Syria. The Pentagon wants on the capitalize on these gains possibly by arming a wider array of rebel groups. But complicating the situation, Russia. Russia just sent in two dozen more fighter jets to protect the Assad regime. The Russian drones now flying surveillance missions over Syria.
ROMANS: Republican presidential contender Carly Fiorina showing off her improv singing chops. In an appearance on "The Tonight Show" she sang a song off the cut about her dog Snickers. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have two dogs, Snickers and Max, they're Yorkshire Terrier, but I have to explain. See, I make up songs. My mother and I used to sing together all the time. And I sing to my granddaughters. And --
JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Is it dorky? FIORINA: Dorky?
FALLON: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
FIORINA: My dogs are not dorky.
FALLON: No, no, no. No. Is the singing dorky, because I know I sing to my dog and it is dorky. It's like we all do it.
FIORINA: (Singing) My name's Snick and I'm lazy, please don't take a walk with me, I'd rather stay right here at home instead. I want to lie back down in my nice warm bed. My name's Snick and you're going to have to carry me.
(LAUGHTER)
FALLON: Oh, you're going to have to carry Snick. That's pretty cute.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: It's not easy. It's not easy to sing. You know, on national television on "Tonight Show" like that.
ROMANS: She kicks off a three-day swing through South Carolina today with a national security forum on Charleston and a town hall in Myrtle Beach.
BERMAN: And she's going to have to sing every stop from here on out.
ROMANS: I know. I know.
BERMAN: In the campaign.
ROMANS: All right. 12 minutes past the hour. The Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples brought to tears in her first interview since getting out of jail. What she has to say, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:15:41]ROMANS: Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who became a national lightning rod for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, tells ABC in an interview that verbal attacks have been hard to deal with. But they don't define who she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIM DAVIS, KENTUCKY COUNTY CLERK: I've been called Hitler. I've been called a hypocrite. I've been called a homophobe. I've been called things and names that I didn't even say when I was in the world. Those names don't hurt me. What probably hurts me the worst is when someone tells me that my God does not love me. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Davis says that issuing licenses to gay couples would violate her conscience and go against her religion. She was jailed earlier this month and released on a judge's order that she do nothing to interfere with her deputies issuing licenses to all legally eligible couples.
BERMAN: Tennis great James Blake met face-to-face with New York City's mayor and police commissioner. This came two weeks after Blake was jumped by a plainclothes NYPD officer who tackled him to the ground believing he was part of an identity theft ring. Blake said the sit-down was productive and that both -- both men heard his plea for greater police accountability.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES BLAKE, RETIRED TENNIS PRO MISTAKENLY DETAINED BY NYPD: We're not looking for a quick lawsuit. We are not looking for anything that's going to -- that's going to be a quick and easy solution. We're looking for lasting positive impact on the city and on the police force.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Well, Blake had called for the officer who tackled him to be fired, but Monday he said he understands the officer has due process rights while the department goes through its disciplinary process.
ROMANS: All right. A devastating wildfire burned through more than 1,000 homes in a blaze that is still raging north of San Francisco. More than 118 square miles of Lake County have now been torched with the fire only 70 percent contained. Nearly 7,000 more homes are in the harm's way. A second fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills has wiped out more than 500 more homes, bringing the total to nearly 1600 homes destroyed. At least five people have already been killed. Right now there are 10 -- 10 active wildfires in northern California.
BERMAN: Southern California facing more weather problems as well. Flash flood watches are in effect for it today. Let's get to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good Tuesday morning, Christine and John. The fire situation across California gradually is improving at least for parts of California when it comes to the large fire, the Valley Fire that we talked about last week. Now 75 percent contained. Incredible to think this particular fire now, top three when it comes to the most destructive as far as structural damage. The Valley Fire comes in with over 1700 structures damaged. Much of those record- breaking fire were all occurring since the year 2000.
But here we go towards the southwest. Wet weather maker pushing in from Phoenix points eastward. Hitting with some heavy rainfall, about six million people underneath a flood watch across that region. But summer for much of the country certainly doesn't feel like it's over as high pressure tries to build. We go above average again for much of the mid-section of the country, parts of the northeast as well, with the northwest remaining below average.
Again the wet weather confined towards the southwest and some thunderstorms popping up in and around the southeast today from, say, Atlanta back toward Mobile as the storms migrate off to the east around Tallahassee. But your high temperatures not too bad. Upper and mid 70s from Pittsburgh to New York. Still in the mid-90s comes, say, from Dallas out towards to Little Rock -- guys.
ROMANS: All right. Pedram, thank you for that this morning.
Europe divided over how to handle a flood of migrants and refugees. Officials studying a new meeting to solve this crisis. We're live next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:22:57] ROMANS: Welcome back. EU leaders hoping to get an agreement with Turkey to stem the flow of migrants into Europe. They'll be meeting in Brussels this week and the plan may include a one billion euro payment to help Turkey cope with this crisis and crackdown on human smugglers. Austria stepping up, taking in thousands of refugees, providing health care, shelter and food before routing them toward Germany.
Other EU nations not so welcoming. Hungary's parliament authorizing the deployment of army troops to handle a wave of incoming migrants using nonlethal force.
I want to go live to Berlin and bring in CNN's Atika Shubert.
You know, Atika, when we hear about, you know, new meetings and new discussions about what to do about the migrant flow, it does nothing to stem the fact that there are people right now, thousands and thousands of people, who are homeless and looking for their final destination.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, exactly. Everyone here in the EU seems to agree this is an urgent crisis that needs to be resolved, and yet there is no unifying agreement that all 28 EU member nations can agree tp. Hungary, in particular, saying that the focus should be on keeping refugees and migrants out.
And you can see they're deploying the army. They're taking much more repression measures to the consternation of neighbors like Germany and human rights group who say this just simply won't work, that the refugees and migrants will simply find another way to get around a wall no matter how high it's built. And the numbers will keep coming.
So what Germany wants to see is a focus on resettlement, where can refugees be resettled. And they want to make countries like Hungary and other eastern European nations take in more refugees, which is something Hungary says it's not going to do. It doesn't want to be bullied into taking in refugees, that if anyone is going to make those decisions, it's going to be the Hungarian government itself.
So there's been a lot of discussion about who should take refugees and how many, how to register refugees. But the fact is there is no consensus. And it seems unlikely we'll get one even by the Summit of European Leaders tomorrow -- Christine.
[04:25:03] ROMANS: All right, Atika Shubert. Thank you for that, Atika.
Still a difficult situation. And this is something that European leaders have said they know this is going to be a multiyear influx of people.
BERMAN: Indeed.
All right. Pope Francis, he is coming to the United States. He arrives here today. He has never been here before. This is an historic visit. There is some controversy. All the details, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: History coming to the United States. Pope Francis arrives here for the first time ever. A trip, though, that is coming with some controversy.
ROMANS: Dramatic developments in the race for president. Ben Carson, now explains the only way he would support a Muslim for president. Carly Fiorina shows off a lighter side and Scott Walker drops out.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Nice to see you. 30 minutes past the hour right now.
A huge day in Washington. Pope Francis arrives in the United States for his first trip ever to this country. Flying in from Cuba, the Pope will be greeted in person at Joint Base Andrews by the president, the vice president and their wives. This is a very rare formality granted to virtually no dignitaries, and is a sign of the great importance the president is placing on the Pope's visit. Now while the Pope is one of the world's leading religious figures, there are serious political overtones to this visit which is creating some tension.
Let's get the very latest from senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the White House is going to great lengths to take the politics out of the Pope's visit to the U.S. But that may be impossible as Pope Francis and President Obama are strong allies on so many positions that Republicans strongly oppose. As the White House led a --
(END)
