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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Pope Francis To Address Congress; Donald Trump: On the Attack; Obama Hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired September 24, 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: History on Capitol Hill. Pope Francis set to speak before Congress. In just hours, the pope has never done this before. What he will tell America's lawmakers.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump on top of a new poll, launching attacks on all candidates. That pretty much mean all the candidates. Some of whom are gaining ground behind him.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Thursday, September 24th. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East.

Good morning, everyone. Nice to see you.

What a day for Pope Francis and his first ever visit to the United States. Today, he becomes the first pope to address the U.S. Congress at the capitol. He has already spoken at the White House in English, to 11,000 people gathered on the South Lawn. He also met privately with the president in the Oval Office.

His remarks included mentions that would delight and concern liberals and conservatives. Within the opening moments of his White House address, the pope brought up immigration and then discussed climate change, income inequality and religious liberty, light conversation. Later, the pope was talking about abortion.

Let's get the latest on the historic trip from CNN's Rosa Flores.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Pope Francis not holding back on his first day in the United States, tackling immigration, climate change, religious freedom, even canonizing the first Hispanic-American saint at the basilica that you see behind me.

Today, he has another action-packed day. He starts off with a much- anticipated speech before Congress. They, of course, are wondering how Democrats and Republicans are going to react to what he says, especially after he has made some critical comments about capitalism, saying it is the dung of the devil.

Now, we know that Francis is not very comfortable in stuffing situation. He prefers to be with the regular man. What is he going to do? In very much Francis fashion, right after that, he meets with the homeless at Catholic Charities and he heads over to New York where he's going to speak before the United Nations, another much anticipated speech. He has been very critical of Christians, and so, we are expecting that perhaps he's going to make some comments there that could put countries in the hot seat asking them to do more to help the refugees in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

Now, of course, we don't know, of course, what Pope Francis is going to say. No one really knows. That is exactly who he is.

But we do know that he speaks off the cuff, he could have these countries experience a coming to Jesus moment -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Rosa, thanks so much.

So, after the pope's meeting with the president, he spoke to 300 bishops in St. Matthews Cathedral. He praised what he called their courage as they bring healing to victims of sexual abuse by priests. Now, those words drew outrage from advocates for the victims of sex abuse by the clergy. They said bishops have shown, quote, "cowardice and callousness, not courage."

Last night, the pope was met by adoring crowds at the basilica on the campus of Catholic University in Washington.

He was there to canonize a new American saint, the first time that anyone has been canonized in the United States. Father Junipero Serra, who established California's missions in the late 1700s. The canonization is another source, though, of controversy. Many Native Americans see Serra as a symbol of the mission system of oppression of their ancestors, but the Pope praised the new saint for trying to protect the natives and what he called defend their dignity.

From there, the pope made an unscheduled visit, clearly designed to make a statement. He met with the nuns from the Little Sisters of the Poor. Now, this group has been fighting a provision of Obamacare that requires contraceptive coverage in health plans. Vatican officials say the pope did not bring up the nun's lawsuit, but instead focused on their ministry to the elderly poor. The sisters' spokesperson said in a statement, 'The Holy Father spoke to each of us individually from the youngest postulant to our centenarian. And then he spoke to all of us about the importance of our ministry to the elderly. We were deeply moved by his encouraging words."

He may not have spoken about the lawsuit, but that visit clearly meant to send a message.

ROMANS: Yes, absolutely.

All right. Later today, after the pope's speech to Congress, he will fly to New York where he will be welcomed to JFK Airport by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Cardinal Timothy Dolan. This evening, he rides to St. Patrick's Cathedral for a prayer service in an open Popemobile. You can imagine security for the pope's visit is a top concern for the

New York Police Department. The NYPD says there are no known threats to Pope Francis, but a threat assessment lists several groups that express support for an attack on the pope, including ISIS-inspired lone wolves, right wing extremists and the mafia.

[04:05:09] CNN's Don Lemon asks New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton about those threats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BRATTON, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: There's a long list of nut jobs basically, crazy people. And the concern is some of them have the ability to carry out a threat. ISIS has shown remarkable validity to inspire people, to engage in action, lone wolf- type of action.

So, we treat all of this very seriously. We watch it. We monitor it. And all of our security is to prevent certainly prepare to respond if you would have an incident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: I can tell you, the barricades are already going up along Fifth Avenue in New York City. It will be a tough afternoon for the commute, I will say.

BERMAN: Public transportation.

ROMANS: Yes.

Please stay with CNN all day for continuing coverage of the pope's visit. We'll be live as the Holy Father addresses Congress and then heads off to New York City.

BERMAN: Breaking news out of Yemen. At least 29 people are dead in a bomb attack at a mosque there. It happened as worshippers attending a morning prayer service. Dozens of people injured. The officials say the death toll is expected to rise. At this point, no group has come forward claiming responsibility. A number of bombings at mosques there, such a tragedy. It's a harsh end in that part of the world.

A new barrage of attacks from Donald Trump at an event in South Carolina. Trump targeted most of his presidential rivals. He speculated Carly Fiorina is broke. He called Hillary Clinton shrill. And remarked on Chris Christie sweating during the CNN debate.

Now, despite of all this, or maybe because of all of it, Trump remains on top in the latest poll. This one from FOX News at 26 percent. I'm sure Trump will be talking about that later. Eight points behind him, Ben Carson. Everyone else in the Republican field in single digits, Carly Fiorina, a lot from where she was last time.

With the latest remarks from Donald Trump, let's go to South Carolina and CNN's Sara Murray.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, John and Christine.

Donald Trump rallying voters as he fielded questions in a more serious forum here in Columbia, South Carolina, last night, getting a hint at what middle class families can expect from him in his tax policies.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'll be putting a tax plan in next week, that will be a long on policy and will be a great plan with a major reduction in taxes for the middle class. You watch. That's what we have to do.

MURRAY: An aide to the Trump campaign tells me we can expect that tax policy early next week. Now, here in South Carolina, Trump seemed like he was trying to get his groove back after a shaky debate performance. And he did that by coming out swinging against nearly all of his GOP rivals.

But the newest target: Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Trump called the senator a lightweight and took issue with the senator questioning whether Trump was ready to be commander in chief.

TRUMP: Marco Rubio, who by the way has the worst attendance rate record in the United States, he's got the number one worst attendance record, and they want him to be president, right?

MURRAY: Now, there were some old feuds reignited as well. Donald Trump is saying that he is now boycotting FOX News after they, quote, "treated him very unfairly".

Back to you, John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Not boycotting CNN, though. Donald Trump will be on CNN in just a few hours, during the 7:00 hour of "NEW DAY." Do not miss that.

ROMANS: All right. Hillary Clinton insists there is now way she started the birther movement. The former secretary of state taken a shot a Donald Trump in an interview with CNN's Don Lemon, Clinton calling all rumors about the President Obama citizenship untrue, while brushing off allegations from some Republicans that she is the one responsible for starting all this back in 2008.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): No, that is so ludicrous, Don. You know, honestly, I just believe that first of all, it's totally untrue. Secondly, you know, the president and I have never had any kind of confrontation like that. You know, this is such a bad example of what's wrong with instantaneous reactions and Americans getting all worked up and people feeding prejudice and paranoia like Donald Trump.

And, obviously, all of us have to stand against it, and, you know, I have been blamed for nearly everything. That was a new one to me, but you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So, all of this stems, of course, John, from when she was running against President Obama, then-Senator Obama. The allegation was people in her camp were the ones first started talking about his childhood, where he went to school, where he was from.

BERMAN: She was asked on "60 Minutes" back in 2008. You know, she was asked, is President Obama a Muslim, and her answer was, no, I haven't seen any evidence of that.

ROMANS: Right, right.

BERMAN: So, you know, there's --

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Yes. Take a look at this brand new poll, FOX News poll. Voters were asked, regardless of how you planned to vote, who will be the next president?

[04:10:01] Hillary Clinton on top with 28 percent, Donald Trump second with 20 percent, Bernie Sanders a distant third at 5 percent.

BERMAN: The Defense Department is denying reports that dozens of U.S. trained rebels in Syria have defected to al Qaeda. Earlier this week, 71 rebels returned to Syria after completing an American training course in Turkey. But one of the rebel commanders quickly distanced himself from the Pentagon, claiming the group will be fighting as an independent faction. Now, an al Qaeda affiliate is posting photos online claiming rebels surrendered their Pentagon issued weapons and join al Qaeda.

ROMANS: Hackers who stole security files from millions, millions of Pentagon and government millions. They got away with 5.6 million fingerprint records. That's 4.5 million more records more than originally reported. It's huge, unprecedented, that news coming just before a state visit to Washington by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

As CNN has learned, U.S. officials privately believe China is responsible for the data breach, but they are not going public with those suspicions. I can tell you there are people in the intelligence forces who are very concerned about their identities being compromised because of that hack.

BERMAN: The Food and Drug Administration is taking steps to improve safety at government labs in responses to some high profile mishaps involving deadly pathogens. A top safety official is being hired with plans for new agency-wide training over specimen inventory programs. The change is coming in response to reports by outside experts who've been evaluating bio safety at federal research facilities.

ROMANS: Time for an early start on your money this Thursday.

Let's look at Asian stocks, closing mostly lower. China stocks bucking that trend. Shanghai closing up 1 percent. It has been volatile there all year.

European shares, U.S. stock futures down a bit. Yesterday, stocks fell for the second day. Dow finished down 51 points.

Today, we'll hear from the Fed chief Janet Yellen at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Investors are looking for any clues about when an interest rate hike comes. A lot of debate about what the Fed should do.

PIMCO founder Bill Gross, now at Janus, he wants a rate hike now. Gross says near zero rates are hurting pension fund savers and economic growth. He says the Fed should have moved, he said ordinary Americans with 401(k)s are, quote, "on a revolving spit, being slowly cooked alive while central bankers focus on models and nonexistent inflation."

I'll tell you. We're going to get a lot of data today. We're going to get, on durable goods report. We're going to new, new number on mortgage rates. We're going to get first time jobless claims. There was a lot that could move sentiment today.

BERMAN: I'm getting my popcorn and soda for the durable goods report. That's going to be exciting.

ROMANS: Yes, exactly. Can't wait.

All right. Volkswagen CEO stepping down amid of that emission scandal. He is out. Eleven million vehicles affected here. A pricey recall looming, we are live.

BERMAN: I think this is outrageous.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:15:55] BERMAN: The audacious, some might say outrageous scandal at Volkswagen is growing this morning after admitting the company programmed cars to cheat on emissions tests, the company CEO resigned. Sixty-eight-year-old Martin Winterkorn announced he is stepping down in the interest of the company, though he says he knew nothing about the wrongdoing at the world's biggest automaker.

CNN's Atika Shubert is following this, I have to say, just absolutely outrageous developments live in Berlin.

Good morning, Atika.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is outrageous, and the German government has gone so far, even Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that Volkswagen needs to step up its transparency and figure out what went wrong.

Volkswagen is scrambling. Not only the CEO resigned, of course, but Volkswagen has asked the criminal prosecutor here in Germany to look into -- to launch a criminal investigation to find out who was behind this cheating of emissions tests. This is a big question. How much did the CEO and other executives at Wolfsburg in Germany headquarters actually know about the cheating.

It's pretty hard to believe that the Wolfsburg headquarters wouldn't know something was going on. Remember that the CEO, Martin Winterkorn, is known as being an absolute stickler for detail. He is an engineer himself. He's a Volkswagen veteran and he was known for going every little thing about the cars that were coming out.

So, a lot of questions about what he did and did not know at this point, John.

BERMAN: Yes, really. I mean, someone knew. When you reprogram computers inside these cars to cheat, and not just in one or two cars, but 11 million of them, someone's got to know something.

Atika Shubert for us in Berlin, thanks so much.

ROMANS: It has certainly rocked the automobile industry. And it could have an effect on the German economy. I mean, Volkswagen is a very big part of Germany's export machine.

All right. Seventeen minutes past the hour.

An emotional start to the so-called Fast and Furious trial in Arizona. A former border patrol agent described his desperate attempt to save fellow agent of Brian Terry who was killed in a fire fight that exposed the government's bungled federal gun operation known as fast and furious. Two suspects are charged in Terry's death.

The operation allowed criminals to buy weapons and the government intended to track those weapons. Some 1,400 firearms were lost. Two were found where agent Terry was killed.

BERMAN: Three Chicago schools will be closed again today because of a potential threat from Legionnaires' disease. The schools were shuttered Wednesday after tests showed abnormally high levels of Legionella bacteria in cooling towers at each of the three sites. Officials say there is no indication anyone in the effected school buildings actually caught the Legionnaires' disease.

ROMANS: Another legal defeat for Kentucky clerk Kim Davis who went to jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. A judge Wednesday rejected Davis' latest appeal to postpone his order that she licensed all couples. Davis argued that issuing licenses would cause her irreparable harm to her religious beliefs.

Meantime, she defended her actions in a FOX News interview, saying she is willing to suffer the consequences again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM DAVIS, ROWAN COUNTY, KENTUCKY CLERK: You have millions of Christians who object this whole same-sex marriage issue. Are their rights invalid? Are there are rights not worth anything? I mean, it's a valid point. It's a fight that's worth fighting for.

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS: Are you prepared to go back to jail if that's what it takes?

DAVIS: Whatever the cost.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: When asked if she would issue a same-sex marriage license to her own children, Davis said she would stick to her beliefs.

All right. China's president heading to the White House --

BERMAN: What a big week in Washington.

ROMANS: This is a big week in Washington. It could be a very tense meeting potentially with the president. What's making dinner tonight so complicated? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:23:06] ROMANS: All right. President Obama hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping for a private dinner tonight at the White House. The two men have developed a strong relationship, but their countries are at odds with military, economic and human rights issues, creating a widening divide. I got to say, the tensions between these two countries are the highest they have been in years.

The White House is hoping the president's friendship with Mr. Xi will help the two countries find a better way forward.

Let's get the latest from CNN's Andrew Stevens live from Hong Kong.

You know, Andrew, it would take me four or five minutes to tick off the things that happened in the last year that had been irritants between the United States and China. This is probably the most important relationship in the world, quite frankly, and it's been really rocky lately.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. There is more going wrong than is going right, certainly, Christine. The president has been in the U.S. and he has been getting a steady drum beat of complaints about cyber security. That seems to be the topic of the discussions so far.

He talked about it himself when he gave his keynote address, what is billed as a big policy speech. And he has been meeting with key executives and particularly from the tech industry in Seattle today before going to Washington.

You know, there were some big bits at those meetings, too. You've had the leading companies, you had companies like Apple, like Amazon, like Microsoft, all piling into a forum where Mr. Xi was. He had his own team there as well. He had representatives from Baidu, from Alibaba. These are giant internet companies in their own rights.

But the absolute topic of conversation was the complaints by the Americans lead, I should say, by the commerce secretary. So, Mr. Xi is going to be aware of what he can expect when he meets Mr. Obama. The commerce secretary talking about lack of market access, hacking, intellectual property rights, you know, piracy, all these things they say is going on in China, and they cannot get an even break in China if they can get in at all.

[04:25:03] President Xi is responding, saying, we will open things up more, we will make it more accessible for U.S. companies, although the Internet is always going to have very strong characteristics. But it seems to be a matter, Christine, more of deeds that words.

ROMANS: Yes.

STEVENS: And they almost like talking past each other at the moment.

ROMANS: Yes. And, you know, I got to say, when you look at that -- we just saw Satya Nadella, who runs Microsoft on one of those photos. When you look at some of the, you know, top tech talent who met with President Xi, it's so interesting to me that many -- for many of them, their products are hacked, banned or censored in China.

STEVENS: Let's talk about Mark Zuckerberg, for example. Facebook isn't in China. Google is not in China. And it speaks to the fact that, it shows how desperate they want to get in there. This is a massive market, 1.2 billion mobile phones, 600 million subscribers on the Internet.

This is a huge, very, very lucrative market. They feel they are being shut out. If they do get in, they are treated unfairly. And on top of that, there's this whole illegal structure about being hacked, having corporate secrets taken.

I mean, just generally, and this is a private think tank coming out with this number, Christine -- $300 billion is lost to U.S. companies in hacking through taking commercial secrets a year. That is an astonishing number.

ROMANS: Well, that's the business angle, and then there's the government angle. The big concerns among U.S. officials that China and China's military are somehow behind some of the major sensitive hacks of government information. Do you think that's going to come up at this meeting? Do you think the president personally would talk to President Xi about this? Or is that something that they're underlings talk about?

STEVENS: That is an interesting question. I can't see why it wouldn't come up. Obama has another 16 months left in office. This is a big deal. Hacking, and it is absolutely clouding the relationship between the two countries.

You are right about that. There's just been a new report out in "The Wall Street Journal" today pointing to a unit of the People's Liberation Army, the PLA, which is using Chinese hacktivists to get access to key computer networks not just for the U.S., but countries around the South China Sea. We know the China is building these structures in the South China Sea, basically expanding their territory. A lot of countries in the vicinity have been complaining hard. Those countries are now being targeted. This is according to a ThreatConnect, which is a cyber security firm.

So, it is not just the U.S., it is a much bigger than that. But it is an issue that the White House needs to address and President Xi has to face this as well, because these reports come out relentlessly.

ROMANS: Always so difficult in diplomacy with the Chinese, because they also don't want to be told what to do. They don't want Americans meddling in their internal politics and their internal politics are all about maintaining control, maintaining control and stability, social stability in the country, real complicated stuff.

Thank you so much, Andrew Stevens. We'll talk to you in about a half hour again with any new developments. Thank you, Andrew.

BERMAN: All right. Talk about a big day in Washington. President Xi arrives, Pope Francis set to speak to Congress. No pope has ever done this before. What will he say? Will he touch hot button issues? We'll discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)