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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Pope Francis Meets with President Obama; The Race for President; New York Yankees Legend Yogi Berra Dies at 90. Aired 4:30- 5a ET
Aired September 23, 2015 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:30:26] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Pope Francis waking up in the United States for the very first time, set to meet one-on-one with President Obama in a few hours. We will break down his historic six- day visit.
BORIS SANCHEZ: Donald Trump and Ben Carson defending their controversial comments about Muslims. The race for president intensifying this morning.
ROMANS: And the loss of a legend. Overnight, Yankees Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra dies at 90-years-old.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
Nice to see you this morning.
SANCHEZ: Nice to see you as well.
I'm Boris Sanchez. We're at 30 minutes past the hour.
The first story today, a historic moment outside Washington as Pope Francis arrives for a six-day visit.
He was greeted in person by the president, the vice president and their families. After a raucous welcome at Joint Base Andrews, the pontiff met privately with the president. And then in a symbol of the humility that has marked his papacy, the pope climbed into the usual limousine, but instead a fiat hatchback for the drive to walk, looking pretty sharp in there.
Today, Pope Francis will be formally welcomed on his first ever visit to the U.S., with the White House ceremony and also hold another private one on one meeting with the president.
With the latest on what's ahead for the Holy Father today, senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Boris, it was one of the biggest symbolic moments of the Obama presidency, with the president and first family, plus the nation's first Catholic vice president and Dr. Jill Biden altogether greeting the pope. It made for an unprecedented welcome for the United States at Andrews Air Force Base.
Day two of the pope's visit later on this morning, it will be a sight to behold. For starters, 15,000 visitors are expected to cram on to the White House South Lawn to witness the pope's official arrival ceremony. After the president greets the pope, the two leaders will speak to the world and then hold a one-on-one meeting with only translators in the room. That is all before Pope Francis addresses Congress on Thursday. The Vice President Joe Biden will be in attendance for that.
And even though the president and pope are allies on issues ranging from climate change to income inequality to Cuba, the White House has been very secretive about what these two men will discuss during their meeting in the Oval Office. Perhaps that's because this pope can be full of surprises. I can tell you, after their last meeting in Rome last year, we asked the president whether any hot button social issues were raised, the president said the pope unexpectedly brought up immigration reform, and the White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett is telling CNN these two leaders may have more business to tackle in the coming months as the president winds up his time in office -- Boris and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Jim. A busy day for you.
Also on the pope's schedule today, the canonization of a new American saint. Father Junipero Serra established the Spanish mission in California more than 200 years ago. But his canonization is controversial. Many Native Americans and Latinos held him responsible fore the enslavement of California Indians and their forced conversion to Christianity. Others see Father Serra's canonization as an opportunity to begin healing very old wounds.
On Thursday, more opportunity for controversy as the pope addresses a joint session of Congress. The mystery there, will he bring up climate change, economic inequality and other important issues? He has been a critic of capitalism. Will he do so again?
CNN's Rosa Flores has the latest from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine and Boris, Pope Francis waking up in the United States for the very first time. This is his first trip to America.
And he's got an action packed day. He starts off at the White House with a welcome ceremony. And then he meets the bishops, and then he comes to the basilica you see behind me for the canonization ceremony of Junipero Serra. And he's the first Hispanic-American to be canonized. Now, I've been flying with the pope on the papal plane. There was a
papal plane press conference on the way from Cuba to the United States where we were asking the pope about, you know, what is he going to say on his speech before Congress, the much anticipated speech before Congress. And he said that the embargo will not be mentioned.
But he did say that what happens he might speak about bilateral and multi-lateral relations agreements and how they are a sign of progress and co-existence. As for what he is actually going to say? Well, we're going to have to wait until Thursday to find out -- Christine, Boris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Rosa, thank you.
The pope's U.S. tour, including Washington, New York and Philadelphia has triggered one of the largest security mobilizations in American history.
[04:35:00] Jointly run by the Secret Service and the FBI, the security operation will involve federal, state and city law enforcement officers. Their task complicated by the fact that the pope isn't shy. He wants to be able to spontaneously reach out and interact with the huge crowds that he draws and by the variety of locations he's going to be visiting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH CLANCY, DIRECTOR, U.S. SECRET SERVICE: Each venue is different and presents different challenges, an outdoor event as opposed to an indoor event. With an outdoor event such as we see here on the Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, it creates enormous challenges, but we have to adapt to that. We had.
You have to have structure. If you don't have structure, you have mayhem. And you have to have routes available so if there is an incident, we can certainly get the Holy Father out of the city.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Stay with CNN for live coverage of the pope's visit all day long. We're going to bring you events as they happen.
ROMANS: All right. China's president today touring Washington state, the very beginning here of a week long trip to the U.S., and tensions between these two big economies are as high as they have been in years. Long list of concerns among U.S. officials, industrial espionage, human rights, Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, a host of other issues.
Today, President Xi Jinping will visit Boeing's factory, just as China's commercial aircraft corporation and Boeing announced this morning a big deal. They've signed this bill, just announced this, to build a 737 completion center in China, and a group of Chinese companies will by a 300 Boeing planes. It's common before a big week long trade politician to announce a big
deal to get it really going. President Xi will also take part in tech demos at Microsoft, to visit a high school in Tacoma. On Tuesday, he gave a speech in Seattle to some 600 business leaders. Some of whom have been concerned about intellectual property theft, and also concerned also about barriers they say of doing business in China. The Chinese president pledging to work with America, says China is opened for business and pledged to stop cyber crimes.
SANCHEZ: Turning now to the latest on the battle against ISIS in Syria. The U.S. official telling CNN that American commanders are proposing to provide arms and ammunition to a coalition of up to 5,000 anti-ISIS Syrian rebels. The group loosely known as the Syrian-Arab coalition has had recent success against ISIS and at the same time, the Pentagon effort to equip and train other moderate Syrian rebels has been faltering.
Meantime, the Syrian government confirming it's now received advanced fire and recon aircraft from Russia. The Assad regime says the planes and drones are enhancing its ability to target ISIS fighters. This as a top former general goes before a Senate panel, criticizing what he calls America's failure to stabilize the situation in Syria.
General David Petraeus arguing that chaos in Syria is creating an opening for Russia to reestablish its empire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID PETRAEUS, RETIRED U.S. ARMY GENERAL: Like a nuclear disaster, the fallout from the meltdown of Syria threatens to be with us for decade, and the longer it is permitted to continue, the more severe the damage will be.
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SANCHEZ: Meantime, ISIS cranking up its propaganda machine in apparent reaction to the Syrian crisis. Nearly a dozen ISIS videos released in recent weeks denounced the refugees, calling them unbelievers, while begging them to return to the ISIS caliphate.
ROMANS: All right. Thirty-eight minutes past the hour.
Time for an EARLY START on your money.
Let's look at Asian stocks that closed down. China's manufacturing activity hit a six-year low. So, another piece of evidence in China, the slowing economy there, slowing growth there. .
European stocks, they've been opened about an hour and a half, a little bit more upbeat. The Dow futures slightly lower.
I want to zero in here on Volkswagen shares. They are falling still. Volkswagen has shed more than a third of its value this week. An emission scandal there grows. Big questions about how far up this went. And even with all these apologies from a company executives, still investors are just getting hammered there on VW shares. OK, the drug that saw that 5,000 percent price hike overnight now
coming back down. Turing Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli, he became the face of public outrage after his company raised the price of a drug called Daraprim from $13.50 a pill to $750 a pill. He was the focus of outrage. Some people calling him the most hated CEO in America. Now he's backing down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN SHKRELI, CEO, TURING PHARMACEUTICALS: We have agreed the lower the price to a point that is more affordable and is able to allow the company to make a profit, but a very small profit. And we think these changes will be welcomed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: This is a controversial CEO really in the spotlight here. His business background, he hasn't said just how much lower will be, but clearly, a lot of people will be watching to see the follow- through.
SANCHEZ: He is no stranger to controversy. He is being sued from a previous employer for apparently allegedly swindling money from him.
ROMANS: Yes, he's being sued by a company, I think he used -- he founded -- you know, he is a 32-year-old hedge fund manager, a kind of self-taught in pharmaceuticals and business.
[04:40:01] Really amassed a fortune, quite frankly, now is coming under a lot of scrutiny for raising the price of the drug, an important and small but important drug so quickly overnight, and then defending it. Now, he is backing down.
SANCHEZ: Some sad news to report this morning. Baseball legend Yogi Berra has passed away. Born Lawrence Peter Berra, the Hall of Fame catcher played 17 seasons for the New York Yankees, also was a manager, helping the team win ten World Series championships.
Berra was known as much for his often humorous quotes, as his on-field achievements. The two most famous probably: "it ain't over until it's over," and "it's deja vu all over again."
Yogi Berra was 90 years old, has so many great quotes.
ROMANS: I know.
SANCHEZ: If you get to a fork in the road take it. One of many.
ROMANS: One of very many.
All right. Donald Trump and Ben Carson refusing to back down from their comments about Muslims, new developments in the race for president.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: The State Department and Hillary Clinton at odds over how the investigation into her private e-mail server got started in the first place. Clinton says she was initially asked to turn over e-mails as part of a benign record-keeping procedure. But "The Washington Post" reports the State Department initiated the investigation as soon as it discovered Clinton was exclusively using a private server in her home. The former secretary of state says she cannot explain that discrepancy.
Clinton also breaking her silence on the Keystone Pipeline. She's taking a position now against the controversial project.
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[04:45:00] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it is imperative that we look at the Keystone Pipeline as what I believe it is, a distraction from the important work we have to do to combat climate change and, unfortunately, from my perspective, one that interferes with our ability to move forward to deal with all the other issues. Therefore, I oppose it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Clinton says she will be releasing a plan for a clean energy agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada in the next few days, a plan that she says will create jobs.
SANCHEZ: Donald Trump refusing to back down. The Republican front runner still taking heat for not correcting an anti-Muslim comment made by a supporter at a town hall meeting. Trump says it's not up to him to defend the president, insisting he won't be apologizing in this interview with CBS's Scott Pelley.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT PELLEY, CBS NEWS: It was a testing moment for a man running for president.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think so.
PELLEY: You never know when they're coming.
TRUMP: I don't think so.
PELLEY: But here you had a bigot.
TRUMP: That wasn't a testing. Well, you don't know that.
PELLEY: You could have slapped down.
TRUMP: You don't know that. I mean, he asked a question. You don't know that he was a bigot. But, look, look, he said --
PELLEY: A problem in this country is Muslims?
TRUMP: Well, let me ask you this, you said, there is a problem in this country, and it's Muslims, all right? I love the Muslims. I have many, many, friends, people living in this building, Muslims. They're phenomenal people. But like everything else, you have people where there are problems.
Now, we can say there are no problems with the Muslims. There's no problem. There's no terrorism. There's no crime. There is no anything. They didn't knock down the World Trade Center.
To the best of my knowledge, the people that knocked down the World Trade Center, you know where they -- they didn't fly back to Sweden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Trump also making an appearance last night on the "Late Show" with Stephen Colbert. It still sounds like he's hit the wall when it comes to questions about the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: This is the last time you ever have to address the question if you hit the ball. OK?
TRUMP: Go ahead.
COLBERT: OK. Like sauce all over my hand, this meatball so big. OK.
TRUMP: I want to hear this.
COLBERT: Barack Obama born in the United States?
TRUMP: Let me just --
COLBERT: Was he? It's a meatball.
TRUMP: I know.
COLBERT: It's hanging out there. Right there. Come on.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And you want to know, I don't talk about it anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Hmm.
Meanwhile, Trump is turning up the attacks on Marco Rubio, tweeting, quote, "Senator Marco 'amnesty' Rubio who has the worst voting record in Senate, just hit me on national security. But I said don't go into Iraq. Vision."
Trump will be campaigning today in South Carolina. He'll be speaking to the African-American Chamber of Commerce in North Charleston.
ROMANS: To Ben Carson now, trying to calm an uproar over his comments about Muslims. Carson initially said he did not believe a Muslim should be in the White House. After being slammed frankly by Democrats and fellow Republicans, he seems to be softening that position.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't care what a person's religious beliefs are or what their religious heritage is. If they embrace American culture, if they embrace our Constitution and are willing to place that above their religious beliefs, I have no problem with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: He says he insists that's not a change in position. In a Facebook post, he claims he could support a Muslim candidate if that candidate renounces Sharia law.
SANCHEZ: Europe with a new plan to deal with thousands of refugees and migrants flooding the border, but will it be enough? We have a live report after the brake.
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[04:52:02] SANCHEZ: European Union leaders finally meeting on the refugee crisis, agreeing to resettle 120,000 migrants. As you can imagine, not all countries are onboard.
International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson live in Brussels, Belgium, this morning.
Good morning, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, good morning, Boris.
I mean, what you have here the Hungarians, Romanians, the Czech Republic, the Slovaks all voted against this move by the European Union. They were essentially overruled. It was forced through.
This is unusual. European Union usually tries to do things by consensus. But they feel the pressure of time on them here, the credibility of the European Union to make a quick decision that patted themselves on the back, that they managed to agree to this 120,000 in a space of three weeks. Remember, it had taken them four months to agree to 40,000, to bring in 40,000 refugees a little earlier this year.
But the reality is, there's 120,000. It doesn't go close to addressing the scale of the problem. We've heard this morning from the interior minister in Croatia who said in the last 24 hours alone, yesterday, Croatia took in another 8,750 refugees. That's the scale and the scope of the problem. Half a million almost so far this year, the pace picking up, quarter of a million in July and August. What European Union has agreed here really is a measure that's not going to solve the issue and increases the divisions that exist in the European Union at the moment, Boris. SANCHEZ: Nic, thank you.
ROMANS: All right. Fifty-three minutes past the hour.
The iconic birthday song in a heated legal battle. What this means for your next birthday party, coming up.
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[04:57:35] ROMANS: Hi there. I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an early start on your money this morning.
Asian stocks closed down after China's manufacturing activity hit a six-year low. European stocks have been trading in Europe for a couple hours now. You can see, they're moving up quite a bit here. Watch the auto sector, though, Volkswagen shares recovering a bit from early big losses, VW has shed more than a third of its value this week from this growing emissions scandal, a scandal that is really just rocking the stock and the company.
U.S. stock futures bouncing. Yesterday, the Dow fell 180 points, thanks to ongoing global growth concerns. Here's a terrifying statistic for you this morning -- 30 million Americans tapped into tear retirement savings for mortgages this year. That's according to a brand-new study from Bankrate. Even more alarming, 21 million Americans are not saving for retirement at all.
Here's the silver ling in those terrifying stats: millennials were the left likely to dip into their funds and most likely to say their financial position has improved over last year.
All right. The next time you sing "happy birthday", that "happy birthday" song, you won't have to worry about a legal battle. A federal judge ruled that Warner/Chappell Music's claim to the 120- year-old song is not legal. That frees it from copyright. The company has earned more than $2 million a year in fees for that song. That's over now, thanks to a lawsuit from documentary filmmakers facing a $1,500 bill for using the song.
It's probably pretty certain, though, the company will appeal that ruling.
SANCHEZ: They are making quite a bit of money on a song that everybody sings.
ROMANS: I know. You would think the "happy birthday" was a part of, you know, just the public sphere, right?
SANCHEZ: EARLY START continues right now.
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ROMANS: Pope Francis waking up in the United States for the very first time, meeting one-on-one with President Obama in a few hours. This is just the beginning of a historic six-day visit. SANCHEZ: The race for president intensifying this morning. Donald
Trump and Ben Carson defending controversial comments about Muslims -- as Hillary Clinton faces new questions about her State Department e- mail investigation.
ROMANS: And the loss of a legend. Overnight, Yankees Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra dies at 90-years-old.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
Nice to see you.
SANCHEZ: Same to you.
I'm Boris Sanchez. It's Wednesday, September 23rd, 5:00 a.m. on the East Coast.
And we start today with a historic moment outside Washington as Pope Francis arrives for a six-day visit.
