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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Democratic Debate Tonight on CNN; Rough Reception for Trump in New Hampshire; U.S. Drops 50 Tons of Ammo to Syrian Rebels. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 13, 2015 - 04:30   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It has arrived. The first Democratic presidential debate, it is tonight right behind me at this resort hotel, only on CNN.

[04:30:06] Frontrunner Hillary Clinton center stage. Bernie Sanders leading in New Hampshire, but can't he convince a wider audience to feel the Bern?

Martin O'Malley and Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb, they are all trying to make some kind of impression to break through.

We have already had one surprise here in Las Vegas. Hillary Clinton made a cameo appearance at a union rally outside a Donald Trump hotel. This is a doubly advantageous moment for Clinton. She could bash the GOP frontrunner and appeal to organized labor.

This is a group she needs here, particularly in Nevada, but also across the country.

Senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.

Hillary Clinton arrived here in Las Vegas and almost immediately went to where? The Trump Hotel. That's where she joined union workers who are picketing outside of this hotel co- owned by Donald Trump. The Culinary Union has been trying to unionize employees there. So, Hillary Clinton joining them and really making a splash as she came into town.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, some people think Mr. Trump is entertaining. But I don't think it is entertaining when somebody insults immigrants, insults women. That is just unacceptable behavior.

And so, when we are here together in solidarity to organize, we also want to send a message to Mr. Trump. If you are going to run for president, then you should represent all the people of the United States and that includes hardworking people. (CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

And you should not stand in the way of the right to organize because that's what built the middle class of America.

KEILAR: She has been preparing for this debate in earnest. She's been working with a team of litigators who have a lot of experience with debate prep. Some of them helped President Obama in 2012, as well as a number of other candidates in other cycles.

Her goal, one of her top aides tells me, is to cut through the politics. She has been dealing with this e-mail controversy and her aides, her campaign is hoping that this will give her a chance to change the subject, to really talk substance and get attention of so people who will be watching this debate.

Bernie Sanders, her closest competitor taking a different approach. His camp says that it's a little more low key. Of course, remember, those always some expectations management going on. You often have teams that are downplaying just how prepared their candidates are. But they say that he has been reading up on the issues, that has been doing some Q&A, but not full on mock debates, like we expect Hillary Clinton has done.

His goal, one of his top aides says, is to show that he is a serious candidate and that he has mainstream ideas. He is a self described Democrat socialist and certainly, he wants to make sure that Hillary Clinton can't portray him as politically extreme -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Brianna Keilar from the debate stage itself.

Now, the Sanders team suggests that among the themes he will try to hit, taking the country back from what he calls the billionaire class and returning it to the middle class. He plans to talk about raising the minimum wage, making college more affordable, rebuilding infrastructure. He was beamed in to an event in New Hampshire and Sanders said American roads and bridges, they are falling apart.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That is why I have proposed a $1 trillion investment over a five-year period in rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. And that unto itself which create up to 13 million decent paying jobs and at the same time because we are improving our infrastructure, make our country more efficient, more productive, and in fact safer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Sanders wants to draw contrast with Secretary Clinton on the Pacific free trade deal, the Keystone pipeline and Iraq war.

Now, they do agree on all three issues now. Not always, but now. The Sanders team is also working hard to lower expectations for his performance. That is an age old tradition in politics. They note that Hillary Clinton has lots of experience with national debates, while this is Sanders first time on the stage.

So, what about the three candidates, the other candidates on the stage? Tonight's debate is really their first chance, maybe their last chance to do something, anything to get noticed.

Martin O'Malley, he is the former governor of Maryland, also mayor of Baltimore. Lincoln Chaffee and Jim Webb, they all want some type of surge in the polls, the likes of which Carly Fiorina saw after the first Republican debate.

Martin O'Malley has done all kinds of prep work, including rehearsals under bright lights to simulate television lighting. He will talk about his executive experience as mayor and governor. Jim Webb was the Democratic senator from Virginia. He was also the secretary of Navy under President Ronald Reagan.

[04:35:01] Lincoln Chaffee is a former governor of Rhode Island. He was a Republican for most of his career, including in the U.S. Senate before becoming an independent as governor. Now he is a Democrat. So, he's got all of the bases covered.

One possible candidate not here? Vice President Joe Biden. Will he ever be a candidate at all? He spent the weekend at his home in Delaware with his family. You can see him here in this or at least his BlackBerry motorcade. Aides say he will watch the debate but, I debate, but it will not influence his decision whether to run. Some of those close to him say he does not have a self-imposed deadline. Some also suggested he does seem likely that is he leaning toward running right now.

He does have real deadlines approaching. A filing deadline to get in the Georgia primary is at the end of the month. Other states follow directly after that.

Stay with CNN for comprehensive coverage of the first Democratic presidential debate. We'll be here all day and tune in tonight. The debate begins at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time, right here on CNN.

On the Republican side, a rough reception for Donald Trump at the No Labels convention. That's an event in New Hampshire that places a premium on cooperation and civility in government. Trump tried to convince the crowd that he knows how to compromise, but he could not help adding that it is better to compromise and win.

The Republican frontrunner, he bragged about his poll numbers and his ability to knock rivals out of the race.

Let's get more now from CNN politics reporter Sara Murray in Manchester.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, Christine and John. It wasn't Donald Trump's usual day on the campaign trail. Here in Manchester yesterday, instead of meeting with a crowd of adoring fans, he spoke to a crowd of more skeptical New Hampshire voters. Trump was appearing at the event for No Label. It's a political group that advocates for breaking through the gridlock in Washington and a bipartisan approach to solving problems.

Now, some in the crowd were skeptical that Donald Trump who is famous for hurling insults is the guy who can work across the aisle and he even faced some combative questions about how he would treat him if he was elected president.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you become president, will a woman make the same as a man and do I get to chose what I do with my body?

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're going to make the same if you do as good a job. You're going to make the same if you do as good a job, and I happen to be pro-life. OK? I'm pro-life.

MURRAY: Trump was one of a number of candidates to speak here yesterday, including John Kasich who spoke about his effort to balance the budget, as well as Lindsey Graham, who spoke about foreign policy. All of those candidates will, of course, be back on the trail after the Democratic debate.

And for Trump, he'll be keeping an eye on the Democratic debate. He says he is watching, but he's not rooting for anyone in particular.

Back to you, Christine and John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Sara, thanks so much.

Donald Trump, he also took a swing at Hillary Clinton. He told FOX News he believes Clinton should be behind bars for using a private e- mail server as secretary of state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She shouldn't be a candidate. What she's done is very serious. And everybody else who has done it has either gone to jail or had certain problems like you wouldn't believe. Like, as an example, General Petraeus.

Now, with that being said, I'd love to run against her because she is so flawed. She's got so many problems. She did such a bad job as secretary of state, I think she is very beatable. But she shouldn't even be allowed to run.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorina are also targeting Clinton's record as secretary of state. Jeb Bush tweeted, "Hillary Clinton is rewriting her history of weakness and wrong choices on Iran." Fiorina tweeted a fund raising pitch, "Are you ready to beat Hillary? Get your official ready to beat Hillary sticker with a donation of $5 or more."

Five bucks, Christine Romans, like I was telling you before. Most of the tables here are $10 minimums. I don't think you can put $5 on anything. I supposed you can do like a hard six, $5 and a hard six at the craps table.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: What's your game of choice, Berman? What is you game of choice?

BERMAN: Craps. Craps. Best odds. Best odds.

ROMANS: It is very clear the Republican strategy to hit Hillary Clinton. But the question for tonight, mean versus nice. If you are trying to stand down against Hillary Clinton. What do you think Bernie Sanders' strategy is going to be? I mean, some of the early -- the early I guess guidance from the campaign is he's not going to hit first?

BERMAN: That's what they claim. They say, you know, he won't hit back at all. He won't mention her name unless she mentions his. You know, the campaign suggestions that they could go two hours without Bernie Sanders even muttering the words Hillary Clinton.

I would not bet on that. I would not put my $5 or $10 minimum on the bet that Bernie Sanders would not mention Hillary Clinton's name. Look, one of the things that the candidates do when they try not to go after each other in the mean ways, they talk about contrast.

Contrast is a loaded word in politics. It means vote for me. Not the other guy. And depending on how sharp or sharply you want to draw those contrast, you know, it depends -- that's the attack scale right there.

[04:40:06] It's a very sharp contrast can be taken personally. They need to distinguish themselves from each other. That said, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, everyone will tell you, they actually like each other.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: And that matters in politics, too.

ROMANS: So interesting too because they both want to go after what they say is a rigged system, you know, income inequality. The little guy doesn't have a fair shot against the rich and powerful in Wall Street.

Super interesting, though, Wall Street, they say Hillary Clinton's probably the best of the candidates for them. They are not concerned about her efforts to rein in Wall Street. They are concerned about Bernie Sanders. Maybe that's how they'll try to draw -- Bernie Sanders at least try to draw distinction between the two of them.

All right. John Berman, wow, 1:30 -- people are just coming out of dinner walking by you. It is early where you are, my friend.

All right. Our coverage of CNN's Democratic presidential debate continues all morning long.

Let's get to some other news, first. The U.S. with new help for Syrian rebels fighting the Assad and Russia. We've got live new developments this morning, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back.

U.S. military cargo planes have successfully dropped 50 tons of ammunition to anti-Assad rebels in northern Syria. This is the first step in a new White House plan to support rebel forces in the region. In fact, Moscow's intervention in Syria's civil war is prompting many rival rebel groups to team up, presenting a more unified front against President Assad's troops.

[04:45:01] I want to go live to Moscow and bring in journalist Jill Dougherty, who's been following all of this for us.

So, Jill, we have the United States dropping ammunition to rebel groups. We have Russia supporting the Assad regime, at odds with those very same rebel groups. It is a dangerous situation.

JILL DOUGHERTY, JOURNALIST: It is on many sides, because, obviously, you have this kind of proxy war going on on the ground. And in the air, you have both countries, Russia, United States in a coalition carrying out air attacks. And that is why the two sides, Pentagon and defense ministry, last week, began some discussions. They had two discussions which were teleconferences trying to figure out how to communicate in the skies, how to make sure those planes do not crash into each other over skies of Syria.

It's a serious situation also because a political resolution that both sides say they want seems to be quite far away. At this point, it's a military operation, especially on the ground where you have the Russians with the air power helping the Syrian forces on the ground to push back what Russia would say is ISIS, what the United States would say could be more like opposition forces, perhaps with a few rebels or terrorists thrown in.

Confusing situation and politically it doesn't seem to be getting anywhere off the ground in terms of resolution.

ROMANS: Jill, the U.S. up to this point has not had success in being able to organize or armed these rebel groups. Any inclination, too early to tell or if they are having a better job now?

DOUGHERTY: You know, that's a very good question. That has plagued them from the beginning. Who were these groups? Were they a coherent fighting force? Could they actually be terrorists who want simply to get arms from the United States and West?

That question really is not resolved. After all, the United States did have a $500 million training program that it had to end last week because it yielded almost no results. So, the question for the United States and for the West is, how do you support those forces and can you trust them? Can they ultimately be a coherent force to fight back against Assad forces who are being reinforced by Russian air strikes?

ROMANS: All right. Jill Dougherty in Moscow watching all this. Thank you so much, Jill. Nice to see you this morning.

Now, it's time for an early start on your money. A setback for stocks around the world. Asia markets mostly lower. Weak trade data in China gets the blame. European markets, U.S. stock futures are down.

But let's relish for a moment the good day on Wall Street yesterday. The Dow added just shy of 50 points for seven straight days of gains. That's the longest winning streaks since last year. The NASDAQ and S&P also up slightly.

Breaking overnight. Another huge merger, the biggest beer merger in history. Anheuser-Busch InBev buying rival SABMiller. The deal worth an outstanding $104 billion. SABMiller had rejected four earlier bids. Regulators, of course, have to approve this deal.

If it goes through, Bud Miller would be a super brewery with half of the world's top 40 beers. Two days in a row. Two very big deals on Wall Street.

We are just hours from CNN's Democratic presidential debate. An inside look at what to expect live from Vegas. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:52:28] BERMAN: We are live on the Las Vegas strip outside the Wynn Las Vegas, site of the very first Democratic debate right here on CNN. Now under 16 hours away, you can see the countdown clock, 15 hours and 37 minutes.

Man, it's like it's right now. What are the rules of engagement for this debate as they face-off for the first time? CNN's Tom Foreman has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John. Hey, Christine.

Five candidates are expected to be on stage when the debate begins. And they will be arrayed according to their strength in the polls. So, Hillary Clinton with the biggest numbers will be in the middle and their poll standing will also determine the order of their opening and closing statements.

No candidate can bring a phone or a tablet or notes or any props on stage. They will each be given a pad of paper and a pen and they'll have some water if they need it.

What are they going to face? An all CNN panel this time around. The moderator will be our own

Anderson Cooper. He will be joined on stage by Dana Bash and Juan Carlos Lopez and Don Lemon will be watching Facebook and Instagram for questions there, which he will present to the candidates.

Each candidate will have one minute to answer a direct question. If one gets brought up in somebody's answer, they'll have 30 seconds to respond to that. And lights will tell them if they are running overtime.

Now, I should note that Anderson has the discretion to let any part of the conversation go on a little bit longer if he feels it is needed for whatever reason. You can bet, some of these candidates out there on the edges, they're going to want every moment they can get to try to make an impression and rise in the polls and maybe closer to center next time around -- Christine, John.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Our thanks to Tom Foreman for that.

And, you know, Christine, it really is one of the fascinating questions. Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee and Martin O'Malley, how far will go to make an impression, and how is Hillary Clinton or even Bernie Sanders for that matter prepare for that? How do you prepare to face a candidate who has nothing to lose on the debate stage? It will be really interesting to see.

ROMANS: Nothing to lose, John, and potentially everything to offer if she were to win the presidency, would you want a job with a President Clinton? That's so interesting to me how they can be adversaries on the debate stage, but they still have to keep an eye to the future for themselves.

BERMAN: Especially a guy like Martin O'Malley. More establishment, mainstream candidate who may want to stay in the game for a lot longer. Yes. I man, I don't think you want to tick off the Clintons. That in Democratic politics, there hasn't been a high currency in that over the last couple of decades.

[04:55:03] ROMANS: All right. John Berman, thank you so much for that. We'll be back to you in just a moment with the big story for tonight.

Meantime, if you -- if you try using the Apple news app in China, you may run into a problem. An early start on your money, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. Welcome back. Let's get an early start on your money. I'm Christine Romans.

A setback for stocks around the world. Asian markets mostly lower. Weak trade data in China gets the blame. European markets, U.S. stock futures also lower. But, you know, let's relish the longest winning streak since last

year. The Dow closed higher for the seventh day in the row yesterday. A corporate earnings report start rolling in. We will hear from Intel and JPMorgan Chase today.

Also, the biggest beer merger in history happening overnight. Anheuser-Busch InBev buying SABMiller. That deal worth $104 billion if it goes through. Bud Miller would be a super brewery with half of the world's top 40 beers.

All right. Try using Apple's news app in China, you've got have a problem. When people try to open the app, an error message pops up, story unavailable. News is not supported in your current region.