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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Today, Pope Speaks to Congress; 150 Killed in Mecca Stampede; Trump Talks Trash Against Rivals; Obama Hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired September 24, 2015 - 04:30   ET

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

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[04:31:56] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just hours from now, Pope Francis will address lawmakers to the U.S. Capitol, the first pope ever to speak to Congress. What will he say? Will politics be involved?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump on top in a new poll. But on the attack this morning against his competitors, just about all of them, and the media.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Thirty minutes past the hour right now.

What a day for Pope Francis in his first visit to the United States today. He will be the first ever 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 met privately with the president after that in the Oval Office.

Now, his remarks included mentions that would delight and concern both liberals and conservatives. Within opening seconds of his speech at the White House, the pope brought up immigration, climate change and income inequality and religious liberty. Later, it was abortion.

Let's get the very latest on this 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)

ROMANS: All right. Rosa Flores, thank you for that.

After the pope's meeting with the president Wednesday, he spoke to 300 bishops at St. Matthew's Cathedral. He praised what he called their courage as they bring healing to victims of sexual abuse by priests. Those words drew outrage from advocates for a clergy sex abuse victims. They say the bishops have shown cowardness and callousness, not courage.

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

[04:35:02] In a Fiat, not in an armored limousine, but in a Fiat. He is the people's pope, after all. He was there to canonize the new American saint, Father Junipero Serra, who established California's mission in the late 1700s. That canonization is another source of controversy. Many Native Americans see Father Serra as a symbol of mission of the oppression of their ancestors, while the pope praised the new saint from trying to protect the Native Americans and defend their dignity.

From there, the pope made an unscheduled visit that courted another controversy. He met with a group of nuns who have been fighting a federal regulation. That rule requires the Little Sisters of the Poor to provide contraception coverage in the employee's health plan. 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 moved deeply by his encouraging words."

BERMAN: Later today, after the pope speaks to Congress, he will fly to New York where he will be welcomed to JFK Airport by Mayor de Blasio and Cardinal Timothy Dolan. This evening, he rides to St. Patrick's for an evening prayer service.

The security for the pope is serious concern for the New York Police Department. The department says there are no known threats to the pope, but a threat assessment does list several groups that have expressed support for an attack on the pope, including ISIS-inspired lone wolves, right wing extremists and also the mafia.

Here's Don Lemon asks New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton about those threats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BRATTON, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: It'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)

BERMAN: Stay with CNN all day for continuing coverage of the pope's visit. It has been really fascinating to see. CNN will cover live as the pope addresses Congress and comes here to New York City.

ROMANS: All right. We have some disturbing breaking news this morning.

Officials in Saudi Arabia say 150 people have been killed, 400 injured in a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage near Mecca. A government Twitter feed says that the country's civil defense department is dealing with this accident. It says the stampede occurred during a ritual called stoning of the devil, in which rocks are thrown at a pillar to symbolize rejection of Satan.

We're showing you right now, live pictures of the pilgrimage itself, but again, an awful lot of people there. And we have seen these in the past where so many people on such a religious pilgrimage and then stampede --

BERMAN: The Saudi Arabians work hard on crowd control. Literally, millions of people walk through and some of the areas are very narrow and sadly, this has happened in the past.

ROMANS: Four hundred injured, 150 fatalities.

BERMAN: All right. We have breaking news out of Yemen as well. At least 29 people are dead at a bomb attack at a mosque as worshippers were attending morning prayer service. Dozens of people also injured. Officials say the death toll is expected to rise. At this point, no group has come forward claiming responsibility. But there had been a number of attacks on mosques inside Yemen.

ROMANS: All right. To politics now: 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. He remarked on Chris Christie sweating during the CNN debate.

Despite, you know, or maybe because of all the trash talking frankly, Trump remains on top in the latest FOX News poll at 26 percent. Eight points behind him, Ben Carson, is in second place. Everyone else in the Republican field stuck in single digits.

The latest on the Trump's remarks, let's bring in 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.

[04:40:02] 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)

ROMANS: Thanks, Sara.

Donald Trump will join us here on CNN in just a few hours, during the 7:00 hour of "NEW DAY."

All right. Time for an early start on your money. Stocks fall in Asia, but China closed higher. Up about 1 percent in Shanghai. European shares are also moving higher here.

Today, we hear from Fed Chair Janet Yellen. She is giving a speech on inflation and monetary policy, something that everyone cares about, as they're waiting for the Fed to raise interest rates. China's president meeting with the biggest names in tech. Xi Jinping

met with Apple's Tim Cook, Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, basically a rock star event for tech executives with a Chinese president. The irony, of course, Facebook, Google, and other sites are either censored or blocked in China.

Zuckerberg posted, "On a personal note, this was the first time I've ever spoken with a world leader entirely in a foreign language. I consider that a meaningful personal milestone."

BERMAN: Chinese leaders actually often arrive in Seattle, before visiting the rest of the -- a soft landing, it seems a way like introduce yourself to the United States before traveling on to Washington or New York, where you get more complicated.

ROMANS: All right. Forty-one minutes past the hour. Volkswagen CEO stepping down. The company caught in a lie with 11 million vehicles affected and a pricey recall looming. That's next.

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[04:45:15] ROMANS: All right. The widening scandal over rigged vehicle emission tests has forced Volkswagen's chief executive to resign. He is 68-year-old Martin Winterkorn. Wednesday, he said he is stepping down in the best interest of the company. He says he knew nothing about any wrongdoing at the world's biggest carmaker.

CNN's Atika Shubert is following developments live in Berlin.

This is a scandal that has shaken the auto industry to the core. And let's be clear, there have been recall after recall in the past few years. But this is a company having secret software to program its cars so they can spew pollution except when they are being tested by authorities.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. Not only were they cheating on the emissions tests, but the cars, diesel cars tested on the roads pumping out as much as 40 times the legal limit. It is pretty flagrant and a lot of questions are being asked about just how much the higher management knew, particularly CEO Martin Winterkorn.

It's particularly puzzling because this is a CEO who is known as a stickler for detail. He is known for throwing cars off production lines because he didn't like a little thing in the paint job, for example.

So, he is an engineer. He's micro-managing and he's a Volkswagen veteran. Many people asking what did he know and when did he know it.

Now, he has resigned saying he did not know about the scandal, but he wants to get to the bottom of it. Volkswagen in their favor has said -- has asked the German prosecutor to begin a criminal investigation to find out who is responsible for constructing this elaborate plan to cheat at the emissions tests -- Christine. ROMANS: It's really remarkable here that you have leaders of

countries, finance ministers from all over Europe weighing in on whether the investigation should widen to other companies as well. Does it look like this is a Volkswagen specific problem, Atika?

SHUBERT: At the moment, that's what it appears. But, obviously, it has tremendous repercussions. The worst case scenario for the auto industry could be more akin t the doping scandal you see in sports. It is not just one manufacturing, but others.

Remember, this was just for nitrogen oxide emissions? What about carbon emissions? What about all of the environmental tests that are out there? Are there other ways that manufacturers may be gaming the system? This is what now regulators are looking at.

And just to give you a sense of the impact this has in Germany, one in seven jobs here is tied directly or indirectly to the auto industry, 20 percent of the GDP. Volkswagen is a huge chunk of that.

ROMANS: That is why Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, is calling for transparency, because it is an important of the German economy. Atika Shubert, thank you for that.

BERMAN: And, of course, there are sections of the German government that are actually tied up, have stakes in Volkswagen. Like 20 percent ownership stake in the company.

ROMANS: The largest single shareholder I think in Volkswagen is the country of Qatar, lost something like $5 billion overnight because of the investment --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: This is just beginning.

All right. A big arrival in Washington today. No, not the pope. The president of China, Xi Jinping. He arrives at Andrews and greeted by the vice president. A big dinner at the White House tonight.

What is on the agenda? We'll discuss, next.

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[04:52:28] BERMAN: What a week in Washington.

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives there today. He will have a private dinner tonight with the president. The two presidents have a complicated relationships, with the countries dealing with military, economic, human rights disagreements.

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

Big meetings here, Andrew.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Big meetings, John. And if the recent past is anything to go by, cyber security is going

to be very, very high on the agenda. That is what Xi Jinping has been hearing repeatedly during meetings in Seattle which he kicked off the trip to the U.S.

He mentioned it in his opening address. His policy address as it was called. He met leaders from U.S. leaders, particularly from the tech industries. There was a forum which is held by former U.S. treasury secretary today, 15 of the biggest tech companies in the United States were there along with the 15 of the Chinese tech companies as well.

You see some of the picture there is of some of the people involved. Bezos was there, Tim Cook was there, you name it. But really, the message from the U.S. and a lot of this is being relayed through the commerce secretary, who is also at that forum, was that China needs to do so much more, John, on protecting U.S. interests in China, particularly in the high tech industry, giving U.S. more market access, giving them a level playing field, and above all, stop hacking, stop cyber hacking, stop piracy.

Now, Xi Jinping, for his part, is saying we do hear your concerns. We will move to get things better for U.S. companies. China feels it has the upper hand here. The world needs China more than China needs the world at the moment. But he at least is saying he hears the complaints and he says China stands by and is going to try to do something about market access.

But he has said very clearly that China, at least the Chinese government, is not a hacker. It is not involved in hacking. It doesn't condone any commercial hacking. So, that is an issue that is sure to come up with President Obama.

BERMAN: Indeed. The U.S. clearly disagrees with that. It will be interesting to see how full and frank these discussions are between the two leaders. Andrew Stevens, thanks so much.

ROMANS: I have to say, Hank Paulson, the former treasury secretary, organized that meeting, all those people who attended, he's probably got the longest and deepest bench of knowledge about doing business with China. His whole career, he's been doing business with China. So, he's right there at the table.

All right. How do lower medical bills sound?

[04:55:00] Hillary Clinton says she can make it happen under a President Clinton. Her big plans for health care.

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ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an early start on your money this Thursday morning.

U.S. stock futures are higher, up just a bit after yesterday's 51- point loss for the Dow, two down days for stocks, because they are struggling, because the Federal Reserve's warnings about global growth. Today, we will hear from Fed Chief Janet Yellen. She's speaking at UMass-Amherst. What will she say about inflation, job growth, the global growth picture, and when the Fed will raise interest rates, really important for investors this morning.

Volkswagen CEO is out and its stocks is up, up more than 5 percent this morning. VW admits it cheated on emissions tests. Secret software allowed up to 11 million cars to run clean only, John, when they were being tested.

BERMAN: This goes beyond cheating. This goes so far beyond cheating.

ROMANS: It's an international scandal. CEO Martin Winterkorn said, quote, "I am doing this in interest of the company, even I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part."

The stock has been decimated by the emission scandal, a widening scandal, losing a third of its value.

BERMAN: Yes. This will not stop here. Other companies will be looked at. Other countries will be involved. Just the beginning.

EARLY START continues now.