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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Obama Faults Clinton For Using Private Server; Benghazi Committee Fired Brad Podliska; Russian Planes Pound Targets In Syria; U.S. Stock Futures Are Flat. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 12, 2015 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:03] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A former staffer claiming investigators are only interested in taking down Hillary Clinton.
President Obama calling Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, weak criticizing his involvement in Syria, but will the kremlin force the U.S. to shift strategy? We are live.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It's nice to see you this morning. It's 30 minutes past the hour. The countdown is under way for the Democratic debate here on CNN tomorrow night.
Frontrunner Hillary Clinton at center stage along with Senator Bernie Sanders and three other Democrats, will there be fireworks? What might the second tier candidates do to grab the spotlight? And what are the chances an extra podium will be added for Joe Biden?
CNN's Jim Acosta has the latest.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Alison, we are here at the Wynn Hotel two days before the Democratic debate here on CNN, the first Democratic debate of this cycle. You can see the stage is just about set, five podiums up on that stage.
That middle one for former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. She is the obvious frontrunner at this point. To her right will be Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Senator Sanders has been giving Hillary Clinton a run for her money in the polls.
It will be interesting to watch those two go head-to-head. But the other candidates will try to have a breakout moment, candidates like former governor of Maryland, Martin O'Malley and former governor of Rhode Island, Lincoln Chaffee, and former senator from Virginia, Jim Webb.
They'll also be looking for those breakout moments on Tuesday night, but potential flash point between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, one of those will be on the Iraq war.
In the last 24 hours, Senator Sanders has been reminding his supporters he voted against the Iraq war in 2002 and that Hillary Clinton voted in favor of the Iraq war.
Sort of echoes of that battle royal between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton back in 2008. That was a vote that cost Hillary Clinton back in 2008 with the Democratic Party.
Meanwhile, the x factor in all this is Vice President Joe Biden. Does he join the debate on Tuesday night? Christine and Alison, I have noticed off stage here in Vegas here inside the Wynn Hotel. There is an extra podium in case Vice President Biden decides to join the debate. If he does, it will be fascinating political television. Christine and Alison, back to you.
ROMANS: It will be fascinating no matter what. Thanks for that. Jim Acosta for us in Vegas. President Obama says Hillary Clinton made a mistake by using a private e-mail server during her time as secretary of state.
But he tells the CBS News that the use of the private server did not pose a national security problem. In the "60 Minutes" interview, the president said it is important for Clinton to answer these questions to the satisfaction of the American public.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: She made a mistake. She's acknowledged it. I think the way it has been made up is in part because of politics. I think she is first to acknowledge that maybe she could have handled the original decision better and the disclosures more quickly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was your reaction when you found out about it?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: You know, this is one of those issues that I think is legitimate, but the fact that for the last three months, this is all that's been spoken about is an indication that we're in presidential political season.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Another blow this morning to the House investigation into the Benghazi attacks. Just weeks after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy credited the investigation with politically damaging Hillary Clinton, a former staffer for the House Benghazi Committee has come forward with claims that seem to reinforce McCarthy's boast.
CNN's Chris Frates has the very latest from Washington.
CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Alison. A former staffer with the House committee investigating the Benghazi attacks says the panel's probe has become a politically motivated inquiry targeting former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. It is a politically explosive charge sure to resonate on the campaign trail as Clinton runs for president.
Major Bradley Podliska, an Air Force Reserve intelligence officer says after news broke earlier this year that Clinton used a private e-mail server, the Republican controlled committee set its sights exclusively on Clinton. He said he was fired because he resisted the pressure to focus on Clinton and because he took military leave.
He says he plans to file all lawsuits over his firing and ask a court to give him back his job with back pay. Podliska, a self- described conservative Republican tells CNN's Jake Tapper in an exclusive television interview that what was a broad probe into the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi became a quote, "partisan investigation."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, "THE LEAD": What do you say to any viewers out there who think that you may have an ax to grind? That you're only talking because you were fired.
BRAD PODLISKA, FORMER HOUSE BENGHAZI INVESTIGATOR: I have a conscience. There's wrongdoing here. I think it needs to stop. I do not want the investigation to end. I want it to be refocused back to the purpose. The victims' families are owed the truth.
Hillary Clinton has a lot of explaining to do. We however did not need to shift resources to hyperfocus on Hillary Clinton. We didn't need to de-emphasize and in some cases drop the investigation on different agencies or organizations or individuals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:35:12] FRATES: On Sunday, Republican Chairman Trey Gowdy said he never instructed Podliska to focus on Clinton. Gowdy said Podliska, quote, "has demanded money from the committee and the committee refused to pay him. He has now run to the press with the salacious allegations about Secretary Clinton."
A spokesperson for the committee said in a statement that Podliska's claims are transparently false. Podliska says he was terminated for cause including for trying to put together a hit piece on administration officials including Clinton.
The statement said, quote, "Thus, directly contrary to his brand new assertion. The employee actually was terminated in part because he himself manifested improper partiality and animus in his investigative work" -- Christine, Alison.
ROMANS: All right, Chris Frates, thanks for that. Don't miss the first Democratic debate airing right here on CNN. Coverage begins tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
The Iraqi military is claiming it killed several senior ISIS commanders in an airstrike near the border with Syria. It is not clear when Iraqi forces launched the attack. They claim they hit a convoy that included ISIS leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
But hospitals officials and local residents say Al-Baghdadi escaped injury. The Pentagon tells CNN it is monitoring the situation, but cannot corroborate the Iraqi military's claims.
Iran is flexing some military muscle. Iranian state media reporting the successful test fire of a new long-range ballistic missile. Officials say it is the first long-range missile that could be precision guided all the way to its target.
It is not clear if the missile test violates the terms of the nuclear agreement Iran struck with the United States and five other world powers.
Time for an EARLY START on your money, Asian markets higher. Shanghai up 3 percent on news of a possible stimulus by the Chinese Central Bank to help boost growth.
European markets down. U.S. futures are lower. Stocks ended high last week. Dow closed up 34 points. That's six straight days of gains, the longest winning streak since last December. The S&P 500 finished the week up 3 percent. That's the best week of the year.
Breaking overnight, the biggest merger ever in the tech industry, Reuters reports that Dell announced a merger with data storage company, EMC this morning.
The resulting company would be worth about $75 billion. It would let Dell move away from the stagnant personal computer market and into the more profitable data storage business. EMC shares up about 6 percent or 7 percent so far this morning and again numerous reports that that deal will be announced waiting for the official word.
It's 37 minutes past the hour. Did President Obama know Russia would get involved in the Syrian crisis? Will the White House now shift its strategy? We are live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:41:27]
ROMANS: Harsh words for Vladimir Putin from President Obama. In the interview on "60 Minutes," the president criticizes the Russian leader as weak for launching a military campaign in Syria.
He says the U.S. is doing all it can in the Middle East and Putin's actions came as no surprise to the White House. In fact, he says the Russian operation demonstrates a failed strategy on the part of Putin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: We have an enormous presence in the Middle East. We have bases and we have aircraft carriers and our pilots are flying through the skies and we are currently supporting Iraq as it tries to continue to build up its forces.
The problem that I think a lot of these critics never answer is what's in the interest of the United States of America and at what point do we say that here are the things we can do well to protect America.
But here are the things we also have to do in order to make sure that America leads and America is strong and stays number one. And if in fact the only measure is for us to send another 100,000 or 200,000 troops into Syria or back into Iraq or perhaps into Libya or perhaps into Yemen.
And our goal is we are now going to be not just the police, but the governors of this region, that would be bad strategy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Meanwhile, battle for hearts and minds in Iraq where Putin's actions in Syria are being widely praised. Let's get the latest from CNN's Ian Lee monitoring developments live for us from Cairo.
You heard the president in that "60 Minutes" interview. We also know that Vladimir Putin, the Russian president also in an interview talking about his take on things.
IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Christine. Vladimir Putin came out and said that there are few stated objectives in Syria. First off, stabilize the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad. They do not want to see him go.
Syrian regime has been a staunch ally of Russia since the Soviet times and they want to make sure that continues. Now they have carried out dozens upon dozens of air strikes, not just targeting ISIS.
But primarily targeting anti-regime fighter and with that, the regime forces of Assad as well as their allies, Lebanese Hezbollah have been able to capitalize on it and make ground.
Another objective of Russia is that they don't want the fighters from Russia that have gone to Syria to go back home. So they say they are there to kill them in the battlefield to make sure that doesn't happen.
Vladimir Putin, as we heard from President Obama, had some harsh words for him. Putin responded by saying that he wished he had the $500 million that the U.S. spent on trying to train rebel fighters in Syria.
They were supposed to have 3,000, but when it was all said and done, four or five actually made it to the battle field so Putin criticizing the U.S. there. He did mention there needs to be cooperation between the United States and Russia.
This weekend, we saw a little bit of that cooperation where the United States was talking to them about making sure the skies over Syria were safe for their pilots.
[05:45:01] They don't want a mishap or a plane crash. They don't want a U.S. pilot jettisoning over. The phone call narrowly focused.
ROMANS: How to communicate and what kind of communications those pilots will have to make sure there are no mishaps. Ian Lee in Cairo, thank you for watching that for us. Nice to see you.
Let's look at what is coming up on "NEW DAY." Alisyn Camerota joins us this Monday morning.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hi, Christine. Great to see you. So we are getting ready for Las Vegas. We are taking you there for the preparation for tomorrow's CNN Democratic debate.
Also we have some brand new numbers to show you of where the candidates stand going into the debate.
Plus another installment of real voters and real choices panel, so how did the New Hampshire folks feel about the candidate today and do they want Vice President Biden to jump into the race?
Also, of course, we are watching the violence in the Middle East, deadly bombings in Turkey over the weekend. Should the U.S. be doing more to ease developing crises happening in the Middle East? We will talk about that in 14 minutes.
ROMANS: All right, I'll see very soon. That's right. Alisyn mentioned the deadly violence in Jerusalem this morning. We have will take you there where the tensions are rising between Israelis and Palestinians. What the prime minister is now doing to stop these attacks. We go there live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:50:05]
ROMANS: A new round of stabbings, shootings and bombings over the weekend escalating tensions with Israelis and Palestinians. Eleven people killed in clashes with Israeli military forces including a person who tried to stab a police officer just this morning.
A 13-year-old Palestinian died Sunday after shot by a rubber coated bullet in the west bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling 1,600 police reinforcements in Jerusalem to contain the violence.
We want to get straight to Jerusalem now and bring in CNN's Erin McLaughlin. Erin, those reinforcement, are they making a dent into these skirmishes?
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not at the moment, Christine, more bloodshed this morning in Jerusalem with what police are characterizing as an attempted stabbing in the old city.
They say that a Palestinian man was seen walking near the Lions Gate entrance. They thought he looked suspicious. They asked him to take his hands out of his pockets.
When he did, he tried to stab a police officer in black jacket. Police responded by shooting the Palestinian man dead. The police officer in the incident was not wounded.
Now friends identified the Palestinian man as 18-year-old Moustaf Al Fatib, the son of a prominent Palestinian family. It's the third stabbing incident in the area of the old city in as many days.
Part of a wave of violence to grip the region with Palestinian and Israeli leaders blaming each other for inciting violence at the holy site known to Jews as the temple mount.
In the midst of the heightened security, it is unclear what more can be done to stop the bloodshed. Some here are calling this the new norm.
ROMANS: That's really unfortunate. All right, Erin McLaughlin, we know you will continue to follow the developments for us. Thank you, Erin, from Jerusalem.
The U.N. says the Taliban are experiencing a big resurgence in Afghanistan. According to U.N. officials, the group now controls more of the country than at any point since 2001, the year America invaded Afghanistan and drove the Taliban out.
Four of the U.N.'s 13 offices in Afghanistan have now been evacuated because of the Taliban threat. The U.S. disagrees with the U.N. assessment and claims Afghan security forces are holding their own against the insurgents.
All right, 53 minutes past the hour. How does unlimited vacation sound? We will get an EARLY START on your money next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Good morning. Welcome back. I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this Monday morning, Asian markets are higher. Shanghai closing up 3 percent on news of possible stimulus by the Chinese Central Bank to help boost economic growth.
European markets down. U.S. futures barely moving right now. Stocks ended on a high note. Dow closing up 34 points. Six straight days of gains, the longest winning streak since last December. S&P 500 finished the week up 3 percent, that's the best week of the year.
A gallon of regular gas is almost $1 cheaper than this time a year ago. It is good news for most people except seniors citizens, why? Low gas prices mean millions of Americans will not get a boost in Social Security benefits.
The amount paid out is adjusted each year to take account of the inflation rate. There will not be a benefits increase at all. That happened twice in 40 years.
LinkedIn is offering an open-ended vacation policy for employees. Starting next month, the networking site will have a discretionary time off policy.
It will set no minimum or maximum time. LinkedIn wants to focus on results not hours worked. The third to offer the policy. Virgin and General Electric adopted one over the past year.
Potential merger today, confirmation of reports where Dell computer will take over EMC, watch that. That should be big news in tech land today.
Just one day until the Democratic presidential candidates' face-off in the CNN debate. "NEW DAY" starts now.
CAMEROTA: That shot there in Vegas. Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, October 12th, 6:00 in the east. It is 3:00 where John Berman is. He joins us from Las Vegas. That is where we begin with the final countdown tomorrow hosted by CNN and Facebook.
On the eve of the debate, there are two new CNN/ORC polls. They show Hillary Clinton widening her lead substantially. Michaela, this is some of the biggest leads in the polls.
The former secretary of state has a 16 point cushion over Bernie Sanders. We should mention this is in Nevada. If Joe Biden does not run, her lead widens to 22 points. What is interesting, Michaela, this is different than the polls in New Hampshire.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: A vastly different picture. In South Carolina, Clinton tops Biden by 25 points and Sanders by 31 points. Without Biden, Clinton's margin over Sanders expands to over 50 points.
Let's head to Las Vegas early this morning, which is the middle of the night for John. Ahead of the Democratic debate, preps are ongoing there.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: It's 3:00 a.m. in Las Vegas. Things are just getting started right now. Here on the strip, the CNN debate is the biggest show in town. So take that, Britney Spears. The candidates making their final preparations for this high stakes showdown as are we.
