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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Clinton Back on Campaign Trail; CNN Exclusive: Ivanka Trump; Airport Computers Crash. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired October 15, 2015 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both campaigning late into the night. What they are saying about Tuesday's debate and why it's causing some candidates to change their strategy.
[04:30:06] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A CNN exclusive this morning: Ivanka Trump opens up about her father's campaign for president and, oh, those controversial comments on women. Wait until you hear what she says.
KOSIK: Breaking overnight: Computers crashing at airports across the country. Thousands of passengers stuck. What we are learning this morning ahead.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.
ROMANS: So nice to see you this morning, Alison.
KOSIK: Happy to be here.
ROMANS: It's Thursday morning. I'm Christine Romans. It is 30 minutes past the hour.
Let's begin with Hillary Clinton capitalizing on momentum for her debate performance. She's got a series of campaign events starting in Las Vegas. Last night, another long night, her first large rally in months. Clinton basked in debate afterglow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am thrilled that people finally got a chance to compare the Democrats to the Republicans. And I think we came out of that pretty well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: With more on the resurgent Clinton campaign, senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alison and Christine. Hillary Clinton making some post-debate campaign stops in Nevada and courting some key constituencies in the swing state, union members and Hispanic voters. She stopped by a trade union training facility and picked up an endorsement of a key trade union and she also made a stop at a local chain, La Flor de Michoacan, which specializes in Mexican ice creams and other sweet treats.
She spoke about Joe Biden as he contemplates a run for the White House as the first debate is over.
CLINTON: I'm going to continue to run my campaign and make my case for my candidacy. And everyone else, whether they are in or not in, will have to make whatever judgment is best for them.
And I will repeat what I have said to you many times -- I have the greatest respect and affection for the vice president. He and I are friends. We were former colleagues in the Senate. I just think he needs to decide what is best for him and his family.
KEILAR: Hillary Clinton's next stops will be today in San Antonio, Texas. She will go on then to New Hampshire on Friday and Alabama on Saturday as she tries to gin up some enthusiasm after her debate performance in Las Vegas -- Christine and Alison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: OK, Brianna. Thanks very much for that. And Bernie Sanders also riding momentum from the debate this morning. At the same time, his campaign is trying to pivot from a focus on building excitement with huge rallies by adding smaller events aimed at persuading voters that Sanders can win all the way to the White House.
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is with the Sanders campaign in Los Angeles. She's got the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Alison.
Well, for the moment, Bernie Sanders is really trying to capitalize on its debate performance through momentum and money. He is building off that $2 million that his campaign has been out touting that they raised since the debate performance, and here in Los Angeles, held a pair of fund-raisers with $160,000 for the campaign.
And it was here speaking out for the very first time about that performance where he specifically went out of his way to reference all this money they raised and specifically that memorable moment where he spoke about Hillary Clinton's e-mails. That got a big reaction from this crowd.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am tired of Hillary's e-mails. Let's talk about real issues.
(APPLAUSE) SERFATY: Today, Bernie Sanders will make an attempt to show his softer side. We got a look at his interview with Ellen today where, yes, he does dance. He says his favorite song is "Staying Alive" and he says he thinks he has the best hair of all candidates. This is an area where has challenged him, really showing a little bit of color, a little bit of softer image while on the campaign trail.
Now, the campaign will have a small shift in strategy in a few events coming up. We will see Bernie Sanders in addition to all of those big booming rallies that really have defined the early start of this campaign, will now see him in more small, intimate settings. And that shift starts with this weekend in a two-day swing through Iowa -- Christine and Alison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, Sunlen. Thank you for that.
Now, Donald Trump stirring controversy on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and if Russia bears the blame for the jetliner being shot down over Ukraine. Now, Dutch investigators say with confidence that pro- Russian separatists down the airliner using a Russian made rocket, killing all aboard. Trump says that's not enough evidence and it's time to move on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: On Russia, you said today that there is no way to know if Russia is behind shooting down MH-17. That's not what the intelligence so far shows. Why -- what would make you say that?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, you know what? That's a horrible thing that happened. It's disgusting and disgraceful.
[04:35:00] But Putin and Russia said they didn't do it. The other side said they did. Nobody really knows who did it. Putin probably knows who did it. Possibly it was Russia, but they are totally denying it.
REPORTER: I think some people might be worried you are defending Russia when you say there's no way --
TRUMP: No, I'm not defending Russia. No. I think it's despicable. It's horrible.
But they deny it totally. And they don't even say what was it, where it came from -- nobody really knows. And I'm sure reports are going to be done. Maybe some day, we'll find out.
But right now, Russia is totally denying it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Trump's daughter Ivanka talking about one of the biggest controversies hanging over Trump's campaign. In an exclusive interview with CNN's Poppy Harlow, Ivanka Trump dismisses the tempest around her father's comments about women and their looks. She says a furor has been in his words orchestrated largely by the media.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: Look, my father is very blunt. He is very direct. He is non-gender specific in his criticism of people and people that he doesn't particularly like, or people that he does like, but thinks they're wrong on a particular issue. S, you know, I don't think that he is gender-targeted at all.
Like I said, I wouldn't be the person I am today, I wouldn't be a high level executive within his organization if he felt that way. So, he's always supported and encouraged women. And truthfully, he has proven that over decades through his employment practices, through his hiring practices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: You know, she is a potentially powerful advocate on the campaign trail. And I think we will see and hear more from her. I really do. You know, something interesting in those comments. Yesterday, she was speaking at most powerful conference, the fortune conference in Washington. And she told the women there, she said, look, why do we talk about working women and we don't talk about working men? Why do we say working mothers and not working fathers?
KOSIK: I was thinking the same thing.
ROMANS: So, she really has a lot to add to sort of the gender dynamic of the debate. I think we'll be seeing more of her.
KOSIK: And she is so well-spoken, too.
ROMANS: Yes, very bright, very successful. So, she's certainly a -- not so secret weapon for her dad on the campaign trail. No question.
On the campaign trail, Jeb Bush about to become the first Republican presidential candidate to release the names of fundraisers who are bundling contributions to his campaign. But the former Florida governor is defining bundlers as donors who raised at least $17,600. It's a much lower threshold than Hillary Clinton is using. She is defining as donors who raise a minimum of $100,000. Bush critics point out his lower threshold makes it impossible to identify the campaign's biggest bundlers.
KOSIK: Carly Fiorina trying to reignite her campaign with a three-day visit to Iowa today. She's going to be hosting a series of town halls and a chili cook-off. Her strong performance in the last debate helping her raised $6.8 million in the third quarter, outpacing rivals like Rand Paul and Marco Rubio.
ROMANS: Speaking of Rubio, he's hoping to profit off Scott Walker's departure from the race. The Florida senator meeting with more than a dozen of Walker's former top fund-raisers Wednesday, winning over those donors and could make or break Rubio's chances. He was only able to raise $6 million last quarter.
KOSIK: Ben Carson will be taking a break from campaigning for the next two weeks. He's going to be busy promoting his new book "A More Perfect Union", making stops in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa.
There are also several fundraising events on his schedule. The next time he'll appear publicly as a candidate again, October 28th, the date of the next GOP debate.
ROMANS: It appears President Obama rethinking his plan for pulling nearly all forces out of Afghanistan by the end of the year. There are currently 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The president's original plan called for whittling that number down to 1,000 by the time he leaves office.
Now, the administration is expected to keep 5,500 troops there after 2016. U.S. military advisers say that's due to a resurgent Taliban and growing threats now from ISIS and al Qaeda.
Just last month, the Taliban overran the city of Kunduz. Now, Afghan officials are concerned more cities could fall. They say insurgents are targeting urban areas in the south, including the city of Ghazni. That's about 75 miles from Kabul. Officials say a Taliban offensive came within three miles of the city limits before being pushed back by Afghan troops.
KOSIK: You know, those long lines and flight delays for millions of air travelers on Wednesday. Well, that was caused by a glitch in Homeland Security computer system. U.S. Customs and Border Protections says the program that cross matches passenger names with terror watch lists was down for about 90 minutes. Now, the malfunction is not considered malicious, but it did create enormous back ups at airports in New York, Atlanta and Boston.
ROMANS: All right. Thirty-nine minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money. A good start to stocks around the world. European stocks and U.S. stock futures look higher. It was a bad day at Wall Street. The Dow down 157 points. That's about 1 percent.
You know, it was a disappointing start to the earnings season and Wal- Mart got slammed. Wal-Mart shares having a terrible day, a strong dollar and wage increases are eating into its profit. The stock plunged 10 percent, new three -- a three-year low on this news, really a rotten day for Wal-Mart shareholders.
[04:10:05] Wal-Mart telling investors profit could fall between 6 percent and 12 percent next year. The pressure from raising its employees' wages is going to last longer than the company originally thought. Earlier this year, Wal-Mart raised wages to $9 an hour. They're going to go up to $10 an hour in February. And investors will pay for it.
Minimum wage workers in St. Louis will have to wait longer to get their pay raise. A St. Louis judge striking down an ordinance that would raise the city's minimum wage to $11 by 2018. Now, the increase would have happened in stages, rising a dollar each year. But this is the first legal hurdle we've seen for a lot of these municipalities who've been raising the minimum wage. Now, you see this judge shooting it down. So, we'll see what happens next.
KOSIK: OK, we are getting new information on how Lamar Odom ended up in the hospital. What police and one brothel owner are revealing about Khloe Kardashian's husband, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back. Good morning.
Lamar Odom is fighting for his life this morning in a Las Vegas hospital. The former NBA and reality TV star was found unconscious in a Nevada brothel. The owner says Odom had been saying there for several days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENNIS HOF, OWNER, THE LOVE RANCH: Well, everything was fine until Tuesday morning. They last saw him at 6:00 in the morning when they went to do some things and he was going to sleep, or been sleeping.
[04:45:00] And my staff took some food into him about noon, which he was sleeping then. The girls came back at 3:15, and he was unconscious, foaming from the mouth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Workers at the Love Ranch say Odom was using cocaine and taking drugs to enhance sexual performance. Something police later confirmed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARON WEHRLY, NYE COUNTY SHERIFF: The reporting parties informed the Nye County sheriff's office dispatch the male had been using cocaine. They confirmed his usage on Saturday, but was unsure if it had continued to the weekend. They also informed dispatch that he'd used up to 10 tabs of sexual performance supplements over the last three- day period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Odom still unconscious. He is on life support. His estranged wife Khloe Kardashian, she is at his bedside. She is -- sources saying that she is making the medical decisions for him at this hour.
KOSIK: Investigators processing a church in Upstate New York as a crime scene this morning. Police say a teenager was beaten to death by his parents and four other members of the World of Life Church during a so-called counseling session Sunday night. The victim's younger brother also beaten and the hospital. Authorities say the session was designed to get the teens to confess their sins.
Neighbors tell us they always had their suspicions about the place.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCHAEL MINARD, CHURCH NEIGHBOR: They don't make noise. They don't really -- you don't see them. We know there's people living in there, but you don't know what's going on in there. You don't know their names. They don't come out and talk to you or nothing.
They are really systematic about how they come and go. There's one person standing at the door of the church. There's one person standing at the gate and there's one person driving the car and it all gets locked at once.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: The victims' parents, Bruce and Debra Leonard (ph) of Clayville, New York, arrested, charged with manslaughter. Four other church members are in custody facing assault charges.
ROMANS: Occupy Baltimore. Dozens of demonstrators have just been arrested and charged with trespassing after taking over city hall Wednesday night. About 35 members of the city's Uprising Coalition were protesting the permanent appointment of interim police commissioner Kevin Davis. A handful left before arrests began. The full city council scheduled to vote on Davis' appointment Monday.
KOSIK: The FBI is now investigating the daily fantasy sports web sites Draft Kings and Fan Duel. Players and lawmakers alleging company employees are using insider information and predatory tactics with costumers. There are also accusations against Draft Kings claiming the firm is encouraging and accepting deposits from players and states where the contests are banned. The FBI isn't commenting.
ROMANS: All right. Forty-seven minutes past the hour. New attacks in Israel, the U.S. getting involved as the violence escalates there. We are live, next.
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KOSIK: The White House is stepping in to try to stop a wave of deadly violence between Palestinians and Israelis. Secretary of State John Kerry will be traveling to the region, although no date has been set just yet. He plans to visit separately with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Abbas.
Meantime, thousands of Israeli soldiers and border police are fanning out across the country in response to escalating attacks against Israeli citizens. And in Jerusalem, troops are building checkpoints to close off Arab neighborhoods.
Let's go live to Erin McLaughlin. She's live in Jerusalem.
Erin, can you give us a sense of how, you know, people who live there are dealing with this, trying to go about their daily lives, knowing that these attacks are targeting Israeli citizens? ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alison, well,
people here are on edge. There's a general sense of apprehension and illustration of that is a false alarm that happened this morning onboard a train to Haifa.
According to Israeli police, a group of Israeli soldiers were onboard this train when someone thought they saw something suspicious and they screamed terrorist on this train. An Israeli police officer nearby opened fire. The train eventually stopped. Everyone got off. They searched the train and they found nothing.
But I was watching a social media video that followed this event. You could hear people's voices. People were panicking. And that's the general sense of the atmosphere that you are getting here now following what was a bloody day yesterday, two separate stabbing attacks, one outside the Damascus gate of the old city and one at a bus stop. In both cases, the attackers, Palestinian men were shot and killed by Israeli forces. Three Israeli civilians, though, were wounded in those attacks.
So, people here are scared. It is not just Israeli that are scared. Palestinians are scared too. They are concerned about what could happen if they reach for their cell phone and that's misinterpreted by an Israeli police officer. They are worried about what could happen next. They're concerned about these checkpoints.
So, that's the general feel of what people are dealing with. And the problem is, is that, so far, authorities haven't come up with an answer as to how to stop these so-called lone wolf attacks that keep happening.
KOSIK: Yes, part of the problem there with those lone wolf attacks is you can't have any sort of investigation ahead of time to track anybody if they are not in groups who could be looking to do something untoward. So, what steps are authorities taking then to try to get ahead of this?
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes. Well, what we have seen so far is a number of security measures. They've greatly increased the number of police out on the streets here in Jerusalem as well in cities across Israel. Very unusual steps that they have taken which is introducing 300 soldiers to patrol alongside police officers in Israeli cities. And we have seen them increase the number of security guards at these public transportation networks.
But, you know, as I said, so far, ineffective, unable to stop the so- called lone wolf attacks, attacks that are very difficult to predict and to prevent. Israeli authorities are also making the point that the incitement that they say is coming from the Palestinian site of things needs to stop.
[04:55:02] Videos that have been posted online that they say are fueling people to go out on the streets and take their own initiative. Have to said, though, that Palestinian leaders for their part are blaming Israeli officials for inciting the violence as well.
KOSIK: All right. Erin McLaughlin, live from Jerusalem, thanks so much for that.
ROMANS: All right. Fifty-five minutes past the hour. How would you feel not having to leave a tip the next time you eat out?
KOSIK: Oh, no. They deserve a tip. Come on.
ROMANS: An early start on your money, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back. Let's get an early start on your money this morning.
Asian stocks are higher. Shanghai up 2 percent. European stocks, U.S. stocks futures bouncing here after a bad day on Wall Street yesterday. Look at that, the Dow down 157 points yesterday. That's about 1 percent, disappointing start to the earnings season.
Wal-Mart really the outlier yesterday. Look at that chart. It says a strong dollar and wage increases are eating into its profits. The stocks plunged to a three-year low on that news. Today, we'll hear from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup before the bell.
One of the most prominent restaurateurs in the country taking on the minimum wage issue. Danny Meyer getting rid of tipping at this New York restaurants. He wants to even the pay gap between workers in the front of the house and in the kitchen.
