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President Obama and Putin Meeting Face to Face After Two Years; Donald Trump Losing His Lead?; Pope Francis Wraps Up Visit to U.S.; Pope Francis Tackles Clergy Sex Abuse; Chinese President Defends Human Rights Record at UNGA; Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired September 28, 2015 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:04] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Face-to-face for the first time in two years. From the war on ISIS to the conflict in Ukraine, a tense agenda ahead.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump losing his lead in the race for president. The brand new poll showing Trump now neck-and- neck with his closest competitor. A dramatic new development ahead.

Welcome back to EARLY START. Nice to see you. I'm Christine Romans.

KOSIK: Good morning. And I'm Alison Kosik. It's 30 minutes past the hour.

Happening today, President Obama meets with Russia President Vladimir Putin on the first day of this year's United Nations General Assembly in New York. Sure to be high on the agenda the surprise announcement that Russia, Iraq, Iran and Syria have reached a deal to share intelligence aimed at defeating ISIS. That news comes amid U.S. concerns about Russia's recently military buildup in Syria and Kremlin efforts to expand its influence in Iraq.

For the latest on this, let's bring in CNN's Matthew Chance live from Moscow.

So how concerned about this intelligence sharing plan is the U.S. at this point?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I should imagine pretty concerned, Alison, because it shows once again that Russia is seizing the diplomatic initiative when it comes to resolving the Syrian crisis and the conflict there. I mean, already Russia has been bolstering its military footprint in Syria sending warplanes, other military equipment, tanks, anti-aircraft systems, things like that according to U.S. officials.

It's got a number of reasons for doing that. It says it's got -- well, it does have military bases on the ground it wants to protect as well as economic interests. But Vladimir Putin is very much casting this diplomatic effort and this military effort as well, in terms of the fight against international terrorism. And he's calling a lot of other countries including the United States to join with Russia in that battle. Take a listen to what he had to say on CBS' "60 Minutes" over the weekend. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (Through Translator): We support the government of Syria and it's my deep belief any actions to the contrary in order to destroy the legitimate government will create a situation which you can witness now in the other countries of the region or in other regions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: So the fight against international terrorism, that's the number one priority, says Vladimir Putin. But the suspension is of course that it's about something much broader. An attempt to bolster Russia's standing and clout on the international stage -- Alison.

KOSIK: How awkward is this meeting between Vladimir Putin and President Obama, do you think? How awkward do you think this meeting will be, knowing that the White House is pretty much frozen out Putin over the better part of the year after Russia's military takeover of Crimea? So how much leverage would President Obama have in a meeting like this?

CHANCE: I mean, I think not very much in terms of what Vladimir Putin's actions are going to be. I mean, the Russian leader has demonstrated time and again but despite what the United States and other leaders from the European Union, for instance, can throw at Russia, they're going to pursue their policy objectives no matter what. There are sanctions from the U.S. and the EU on Russia over its alleged activities inside Ukraine. But that hasn't led the Kremlin to flinch in its strategy in that part of the world.

And again, it's following its own policy when it comes to Syria as well. I mean, I suppose it'd be a little embarrassing, I suppose, or awkward for President Obama because he very well understands now that Vladimir Putin, as I mentioned, is setting the diplomatic agenda when it comes to Syria, and the United States has very little option at this stage but to follow Russia's lead. And that's not something that's going to sit very comfortably with the U.S. president.

KOSIK: Well, it will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes out of this face-to-face meeting.

Matthew Chance, live from Moscow. Thanks.

ROMANS: All right. Donald Trump thinks having Russia takes the lead in getting rid of ISIS in Syria is not such a bad idea. The Republican frontrunner saying on "60 Minutes" last night that it might also work to American advantage to let ISIS and the Assad regime fight it out, and then, as Trump put it, pick up the remnants. Trump said fighting ISIS in Iraq was a different problem that might require U.S. combat troops.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you look at Syria, Russia wants to get rid of ISIS. We want to get rid of ISIS. Maybe let Russia do it. Let them get rid of ISIS. What the hell do we care?

SCOTT PELLEY, CBS NEWS: OK, that's Syria. What do you do in Iraq with ISIS?

TRUMP: Look, with ISIS in Iraq, you got to knock them out.

PELLEY: How do you do that?

TRUMP: You got to knock them out. You got to fight them. You got to fight them.

PELLEY: On the ground?

TRUMP: Send in -- if you need, you're going to have to do that, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And Donald Trump also discussing his tax plan on "60 Minutes." Trump is set to unveil details on this plan this morning at a news conference at 11:00 a.m. All of this as a new poll shows Trump losing some of his lead over Ben Carson. The two candidates actually now neck and neck.

CNN's Athena Jones has more on that from Washington.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Alison. Today is a day that Donald Trump says he'll unveil his new tax plan. He says it will call for middle class tax cuts and tax hikes for hedge fund managers. Trump says the plan will be, quote, "long on policy and very specific".

[04:35:06] This is coming as a new NBC-"Wall Street Journal" poll shows that Trump is still leading the GOP pack but barely. Ben Carson is right up there with him. They're just one percentage point apart, which is well within the poll's margin of error.

This poll is proof that debates matter. Look at Carly Fiorina, another outsider candidate. She's tied with Florida Senator Marco Rubio at 11 percent, in third place. You'll remember both of them were seen as standouts in the CNN debate in Simi Valley and they're being rewarded for their performance in the polls. They both made big gains, especially Fiorina. Now the rest of the GOP field including the establishment favorite, Jeb Bush, is languishing in single digits.

Meanwhile, Ben Carson is still facing questions about his comments on Muslims' fitness to serve as president. Take a listen to part of his exchange with Jake Tapper on "STATE OF THE UNION".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, "STATE OF THE UNION": You are a member of a church that there's a lot of misinformation about, the Seventh Day Adventist Church. You're an African-American. You know what it's like for people to make false assumptions about you. And you seem to be doing the same thing with Muslims.

BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In which way am I making a false assumption about them?

TAPPER: You're assuming that Muslim-Americans put their religion ahead of the country.

CARSON: I'm assuming that if you accept all the tenets of Islam that you would have a very difficult time abiding under the Constitution of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This interview is over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So even though that interview was cut short by Carson's campaign, the discussion continues. We'll see if it hurts them with Republican voters. So far it hasn't -- Christine, Alison.

ROMANS: It's so interesting. All right. Thanks for that.

Here is what we know about Trump's tax plan. He revealed in that "60 Minutes" interview. His plan would mean zero taxes for some.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: There will be a large segment of our country that will have a zero rate. A zero rate. And that's something I haven't told anybody.

PELLEY: You're talking about --

TRUMP: We're talking about people in the low income brackets that are supposed to be paying taxes. Many of them don't anyway.

PELLEY: You're talking about making part of the population exempt from income tax.

TRUMP: That is correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Trump says his plan would either increase or maintain current tax revenue. How? By raising taxes on some of the richest Americans. Hedge fund managers would have been a -- have been a Trump target recently. He wants to eliminate something called the carried interest loophole that allows them to be taxed at lower rates. Trump also plans to cut corporate taxes, he said, that will keep corporations from moving overseas. Trump also estimates it could bring back some $2.5 trillion, bring it back to America that businesses are stashing abroad to avoid taxes.

All right. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton's lead over Bernie Sanders also fast disappearing. If Joe Biden were to get in the race, Clinton leads Sanders by just seven points, 42-35 percent. Meantime, Clinton says the constant stream of questions about her use of a private e-mail server while secretary of state are a trip down memory lane. She compares the e-mail issue to the controversies that dogged the Clintons in the White House in the '90s.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is like a drip, drip, drip. And that's why I said there's only so much that I can control. But what I have tried to do in explaining this is to provide more transparency and more information than anybody that I'm aware of who's ever served in the government and I'm happy to do that because I want these questions to be answered.

I can't predict to you what the Republicans will come up with, what kind of, you know, charges or claims they might make. I have no control over that. I can only do the best I can to try to respond.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Clinton called Republicans' suggestions she used a private e- mail server to avoid Freedom of Information requests or congressional subpoenas totally ridiculous.

KOSIK: House Speaker John Boehner blasting right-wing Republicans in Congress as false prophets who press for doomed strategies like government shutdowns that they know they can't win. Boehner, speaking on CBS's "Face the Nation" two days after his surprise announcement that he is stepping down at the end of October, he lashed out at conservative groups and lawmakers who, quote, "whip people into a frenzy," promising things they know are never going to happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: You know, the Bible says beware of false prophets. And there are people out there, you know, spreading noise about how much can get done. I mean, this whole idea that we're going to shut down the government to get rid of Obamacare in 2013, this plan never had a chance. But over the course of the August recess in 2013 and the course of September, you know, a lot of my Republican colleagues who knew it was a fool's errand, really they were getting all this pressure from home to do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Boehner vowed to avoid the next possible shutdown, passing a funding bill before a Wednesday deadline that does not meet conservatives' demands to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood.

Kind of interesting to see him kind of come clean here as he really is coming clean.

[04:40:04] ROMANS: Yes. I know it's going to be interesting. I think December now is our next big deadline to worry about.

KOSIK: Yes.

ROMANS: All right. Forty minutes past the hour. Pope Francis meeting with sex abuse survivors at the church with a brand new message. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: Pope Francis back in Rome now following his historic trip first to Cuba then three U.S. cities in six days. The Pope capping his visit here with a huge outdoor mass in Philadelphia Sunday. Hundreds of thousands of people filled the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to see the people's Pope one final time on American soil.

CNN's Miguel Marquez spoke to some of the faithful.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alison, Christine, I think it's an understatement to say that the Pope's trip to the United States was successful. The crowd's so big here in Philadelphia, many, tens of thousands perhaps, were unable to even get to the magnetometers to see him.

These are some of the folks who are leaving. Did you like it?

(CHEERING)

I think it's fair to say this crowd loves Papa Francisco, Pope Francis.

You're from Kentucky. You live in Kentucky but you're from Spain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

MARQUEZ: What did -- you saw the Pope yesterday. What did you think?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the Pope is elevating the message of Jesus Christ to the 21st century. He's speaking with words that really get to our hearts and we respond with the message of loving us.

MARQUEZ: I find it amazing that a 78-year-old man can connect with people like that. What is it about this guy?

[04:45:02] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has charisma. He has very strong character. And he had a lot of discipline as a Jesuit. So I think that at this age he can reveal that.

MARQUEZ: Has he renewed or strengthened your faith or love for the church?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I think he has. Definitely.

MARQUEZ: Thumbs up, thumbs down on the Pope's visit?

(CHEERING)

A giant, giant thumbs up in Philadelphia. I think probably the point that many will remember, especially here in Philadelphia, as so many issues with sexual abuse, not only the abuse itself but the cover-up, is when the Pope said that God weeps for the children who were sexually abused.

KOSIK: All right. Thanks for that, Miguel. And before celebrating his final mass in Philadelphia Sunday, Pope Francis met with victims of clergy sex abuse and then addressed the issue with bishops from around the world. The Pope promised that abusers within the church will be held accountable for their actions.

CNN's Delia Gallagher has that part of the story.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Alison, it was a private meeting that lasted just over 30 minutes. The Vatican says that Pope Francis told survivors of clerical sex abuse that he was profoundly sorry for the crimes that had been committed against them and for the times that they had tried to speak out but were not believed.

The Holy Father hears you, the Pope said, and believes you. And deeply regrets that some bishops failed in their responsibility to protect children. The Pope also told the survivors that bishops and clergy would be held accountable. This is an important point for survivor groups, that that bishops who may have known about some of these cases be brought to justice by the Vatican.

The Pope, immediately following this meeting, went and met with his bishops and had some strong words about clergy sex abuse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS, CATHOLIC CHURCH LEADER (Through Translator): God weeps for the sexual abuse of children. These cannot be maintained in secret and I commit to a careful oversight to ensure that youth are protected and that all responsible will be held accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: This is the second time that Pope Francis has met with survivors of clerical sex abuse since his election in 2013 -- Christine, Alison.

ROMANS: All right. Delia, thank you for that.

Federal safety investigators say the Seattle duck boat involved in a fatal crash on a bridge last week failed to get an axle repair that was recommended in 2013. Officials say it is not clear if the vehicle's owner, Ride the Ducks, was aware of that warning. A fifth student from a charter bus that collided with the duck boat died on Sunday. More than a dozen other people injured in that accident are still hospitalized.

KOSIK: New details emerging about Freddie Gray's arrest and transport in a Baltimore police van. The "Baltimore Sun" reporting at least one officer told investigators Gray asked for medical help, but didn't get it because they thought he might be faking his injuries. Gray died from a spinal injury sustained in custody. The report also says some police statements provide differing accounts of what happened. A judge ordered separate trials for six officers charged in Freddie Gray's death.

ROMANS: According to the Transportation Security Administration, the TSA, a record number of firearms turned up in recent airport searches. Agents found 67 guns found in passengers' carry-on luggage during one week in September alone. Officials say 56 of them were loaded, 26 had a round in the chamber. The new head of the TSA has said his top priority is closing security gaps at airport checkpoints.

KOSIK: China's president set to speak before the United Nations. Plenty of controversial topics on the agenda. We are live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:52:22] KOSIK: Welcome back. Major world leaders taking the stage at the U.N. General Assembly including President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi's government facing criticism for human rights violations including a major crackdown on activists and human rights lawyers.

Let's go to CNN's Saima Mohsin live in Beijing.

So how is President Xi expected to be received at the United Nations today?

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, the answers, Alison, there will be a giant sign for the Free the 20 campaign which is being run by Ambassador Samantha Power. That is for 20 women around the world that have been imprisoned largely activists, human rights activists, women's rights as well. Three of them from China. So he might not like to see that as he enters.

Now he is expected to focus, though, on climate change. His big success during his meetings with President Obama, of course, a success for President Obama, too, towards the Paris conference. Cap and trade system being implemented there. China of course the world's largest polluter. So anything on climate change from China will be a hugely positive note to talk about at the UNGA. He's also expected to talk about a peace initiative and touch upon China's expansion in the South China Sea.

Now, you know, that that has been incredibly controversial particularly with the United States. And U.S. of course pushing Japan for the security bill as well to see Japan move into the military arena trying to bring in some kind of equal militarily in this region.

As you mentioned, though, human rights issues not likely to be touched upon, but a huge concern for many around the world. Not least here in Beijing. I met with lawyer turned activist. She's been an activist for 10 years now who was imprisoned. And she said she was tortured by police. Many like her. There has been a huge crackdown this summer. It's not likely to be touching on that, though -- Alison.

KOSIK: OK. CNN's Saima Mohsin live from Beijing. Thanks for that.

ROMANS: All right. China's president is in the United States hanging out in Silicon Valley, visiting the White House, updating his Facebook. How Xi Jinping is breaking his own social media rules next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:58:37] ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this Monday morning. European shares are lower, starting the week lower right now. So are U.S. stock futures. Uncertainty reigns namely, what is the Federal Reserve's plan for interest rates? Can we expect a hike in December? Those questions about a government shutdown, the debt ceiling and just general gridlock in Washington. That uncertainly has pushed stocks lower. The Dow is now down 8.5 percent this year.

Volkswagen shares falling this morning. The company's legal problems are piling up since the EPA revealed Volkswagen cheated on emissions tests last week. 89 federal lawsuits have been files in the U.S. Most of those are by car owners. They say the value of their cars has been crashed. The suits seek class action status and could cost VW hundreds of millions of dollars. Another lawsuit has been filed for U.S. shareholders since the stock has lost more than 30 percent. 30 percent of its value.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has broken his own rule by signing up for Facebook. On his verified Facebook page, you can see status updates, you can see videos from his first official state visit to the U.S. There Xi is strolling with President Obama at the White House, even meeting Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. None of the 1.3 billion people back home can see it. That is because Facebook is one of the sites -- one of many sites blocked in China. So having a Facebook page, that is of course censored back home.

KOSIK: The irony.

ROMANS: Yes.

KOSIK: EARLY START continues right now.

(END)