Return to Transcripts main page

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 4:30-5a ET

Aired September 22, 2015 - 04:29   ET

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

[04:30:00] 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.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jim Acosta, thank you for that.

Ben Carson softening his stance against a Muslim in the White House this morning. While standing by his statement that he would oppose the election of a faithful Muslim as president of United States, Carson added one exception.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If someone has a Muslim background and they're 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)

ROMANS: Carson's statements provoked no shortage of response from his Republican 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)

ROMANS: Carson answered those criticisms on his Facebook page. This is what he wrote, "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."

Carson will get another chance at the last word on the subject today in Ohio where he's set to hold two news conferences and two rallies.

BERMAN: Let me just read you a tweet from Mitt Romney who occasional weighs in on the presidential campaign. He said, "Of course no religious test for the presidency. Every faith adds to our national character." And also just one thing about Sharia law, the notion of Sharia law.

There's no one Islamic law. There are several different interpretations of Islamic law and the word law in and of itself could be misleading. In the United States, we have a law and it's called the Constitution. And that guides you and everything else is less or under that. So keep that in mind.

All right. And then there were 15. An announcement that would have been unthinkable just one month ago. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has dropped out of the Republican race for president. He was once a leader in the field but he plummeted to literally an asterisk in the most recent poll. And a bit of a peculiar statement. He called on other candidates to drop out with him, taking a shot at Donald Trump on the way out.

(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)

BERMAN: Chief political correspondent Dana Bash with the very 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.

[04:35:11] 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 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.

BERMAN: All right. So Scott Walker made his name by clashing with the unions. Well, the head of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumpka put out one of the most scathing statement I have ever heard in politics. He wrote, "Scott Walker is still a disgrace. Just no longer national."

ROMANS: A very few words. When he announced he was running, the only thing Richard Trumpka said was Scott Walker is a national disgrace.

BERMAN: Yes.

ROMANS: So this a play on his original statement when he announced his candidacy.

All right. Hillary Clinton defending Obamacare against Republican attacks while also previewing fixes and tweaks she would make to it. Clinton took up the theme of health care during a campaign swing to the south. She slammed price gouging by pharmaceutical companies pointing to new headlines about a 5,000 percent hike in the price of an old line anti-parasitic drug. Clinton promised to crack down on such increases and kept out-of-pocket cost for prescription under Obamacare.

And I'll tell you, some of these stocks were moving yesterday. A candidate for president moving the stock market.

For more let's go to 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.

ROMANS: All right, Brianna Keilar. Thanks, Brianna.

Wall Street is betting a President Hillary Clinton would not be good for the biotech industry. Stocks tumbled yesterday after those comments we told you about, about price gouging. Specifically she called out the drug Daraprim. A 62-year-old drug used to treat a life-threatening parasitic infection. It was recently bought by Turing Pharmaceuticals and the price jumped from $13.50 a tablet to $750 a tablet. That's what the annual cost of treatment to hundreds of thousands of dollars for sum.

The company's CEO defended the hike saying many big pharmaceutical companies are worse offenders. He says Turing is not profitable and it's just trying to stay in business. Clinton will unveil a plan today to rein in prescription drug costs, she said.

[04:40:10] BERMAN: So we know Republican presidential contender Carly Fiorina can debate but what about improv singing? An appearance on "Tonight Show" she sang a song apparently, allegedly off-the-cuff about her dog Snickers. Watch, listen and learn.

(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: I think it's brave. I think it's brave.

ROMANS: It is brave.

BERMAN: To sing like that. And now I think she should do it at every campaign stop.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: And in the next debate.

Today, Carly Fiorina kicks off a three-day swing through South Carolina with a national security forum in Charleston and a town hall in Myrtle Beach.

ROMANS: All right. The Kentucky clerk once jailed for refusing gay couples marriage licenses, she breaks down in tears in a new interview. We'll tell you what she said, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:45:10] BERMAN: Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who became a national lightning rod for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, told ABC in an interview that verbal attacks have been hard to deal with but they do not define who she is.

(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)

BERMAN: Davis has said issuing licenses to gay couples would violate her conscience and go against her religion. She was jailed earlier this month, released on a judge's order that she do nothing to interfere with her deputies issuing licenses to all legally eligible couples. It means gay and straight couples.

ROMANS: Tennis great James Blake meeting face-to-face with New York City's mayor and its police commissioner. Two weeks after Blake was mistakenly 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 both 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)

ROMANS: Now Blake had called for the officer who tackled him to be fired, but said Monday he understands the officer has due process rights while the department goes through its disciplinary process.

BERMAN: The parents of a 14-year-old Muslim student have pulled him out of the Dallas high school just after he was suspended for bringing a homemade clock to class. The teacher thought Ahmad Mohammed's gadget was a bomb. The boy's father says his son needs a breather for now before deciding on a new school. The family will fly to New York tomorrow for a meeting with U.N. dignitaries. And Mohamed wants to take his on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Saudi Arabia before he visits the White House to meet President Obama.

ROMANS: Forty-seven minutes past the hour. More than 1,000 homes destroyed by a devastating wildfires that's still raging north of San Francisco. More than 118 square miles of Lake County torched with a fire only 70 percent contained, nearly 7,000 homes are in harm's way. A second fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills wiping out more than 500 additional homes, bringing the total now nearly 1,600. At least five people have been killed in these fires. Right now there are 10 active wildfires in northern California.

BERMAN: Europe now divided over how to handle the flood of refugees. Officials setting a new meeting to try to solve this crisis. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:51:42] BERMAN: EU leaders are hoping to get an agreement with Turkey to stem the flow of migrants into Europe. They will be meeting in Brussels this week and the plan may include a one billion euro payment to help Turkey cope with the crisis and crack down on human smugglers.

Austria is stepping up, taking in thousands of refugees, providing health care, shelter and food before routing them toward Germany. Other EU nations, they do not seem quite so welcoming. Hungary's parliament has authorized the deployment of troops to handle a wave of incoming migrants using nonlethal force. Migrants and refugees.

Let's go live to Berlin and bring in CNN's Atika Shubert

Atika, what's the latest?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Interior ministers are meeting in Brussels at this point, but there doesn't seem to any agreement. There were more than 10 hours of meetings yesterday and still no agreement on one proposal. Basically what is happening here is that the EU agreed jointly to take in 120,000 refugees, but where do they go? Countries like Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia are saying they're filled up, they don't have enough resources to take these refugees in.

But Germany and France are saying they're taking too much of the burden and they want other countries to share. The problem is you can't really force any of these countries to take in refugees. But there could be financial penalties for those countries that don't take in refugees. And this is what they are discussing today. It's unlikely that they'll get an agreement today. However, there will be a summit meeting tomorrow where all of the EU leaders will meet hoping to get some urgent resolution on this crisis -- John.

BERMAN: Atika Shubert for us. So much going on there right now and so many people hoping for some kind of answer.

Thanks, Atika.

ROMANS: All right. Ready for your new iPhone? Well, the Pope --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: It's amazing. This is amazing.

ROMANS: That's next.

BERMAN: I love this phone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:52:28] ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. An ugly day for stocks so far. European stocks much lower. European shares pointing in that direction as well. Look at that. You know, yesterday stocks shook off a two-day slump prompted by the Federal Reserve's worries about global growth. The Dow climbing 126 points. Breaking that trend, though, biotech stocks, the whole sector sank after Hillary Clinton made comments on price gouging in drugs.

If you pre-order the iPhone 6S, Pope Francis' visit could delay your delivery. The new phone are available starting Friday but maybe not for customers in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. UPS is suspending all deliveries to parts of Manhattan on Thursday and Friday. FedEx says it will still operate but customers should expect delays.

BERMAN: This is just crazy. The Pope messing with the iPhones.

ROMANS: Who's more powerful? Your phone or -- or the Pope, you know.

BERMAN: That's a great question.

ROMANS: Apple or the Pope. 2 percent, that's been the paltry average wage growth over the past years but workers in some jobs have seen their pay go up significantly more. Let's show you where. According to Glass Door, business system

analysts have seen the biggest pay raises. The median pay 81,000 grand, up 10 percent from a year ago. Security officers and sales consultants, their raises, more than 7 percent. Also in the top five, pharmacy technicians and believe it or not, baristas. There you go. There's hope for you yet.

BERMAN: I know. Exactly. It's not going to end that badly after all.

EARLY START continues right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Pope Francis arrives in the United States today, an historic visit. He has never been here before but it is a trip with some controversy.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The race for President shaking up, Ben Carson defending his controversial comments on Muslims. Carly Fiorina debuts a softer side and sings into that microphone. Scott Walker, he drops out.

Good morning, welcome to EARLY START, I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman, Tuesday, September 22nd, 5:00 a.m. in the East. You know it's 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, very rare formality, granted to very few dignitaries. It is the sign of the great importance the president is placing on the Pope's visit and a sign of respect.

Now while the Pope is one of the world's leading religious figures there are serious political overtones to this visit 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.