Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Clinton Capitalizing on Debate Performance; Donald Trump Stirring Controversy; Interview with Ivanka Trump; Jeb Bush to Release Names of Campaign Contributors; Lamar Odom Fighting For His Life; Deadly Violence in Israel; Evening the Pay Gap. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 15, 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, EARLY START ANCHOR: A CNN exclusive, Ivanka Trump opens up about her father's campaign for president and his controversial comments on women. A breaking overnight, computers crashing at airports across the country, thousands of passengers are stuck this morning. What we're learning this morning about your trip to the airport, ahead. Welcome back to Early Start. I'm Christine Romans.
ALISON KOSIK, EARLY START ANCHOR: And I'm Alison Kosik. It's 30 minutes past the hour and we begin with Hilary Clinton capitalizing on momentum from her debate performance with a series of campaign events, beginning in Las Vegas. Last night, at her first large rally in months, Clinton basked in debate after glow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am thrilled that people finally got a chance to compare the Democrats to the Republicans.
(APPLAUSE)
And I think we came out of that pretty well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: With on the research and Clinton campaign, let's go to senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar.
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 even as this first debate is over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I'm going to continue to run my campaign and make my case for my candidacy and everyone else, whether they're in or they're not in. We'll 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Hillary Clinton next stops will be today in San Antonio, Texas. She'll 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 Allison?
ROMANS: All right. Brianna, thank you for that this morning. Bernie Sanders also riding in the 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 the White House.
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is with the Sanders campaign in Los Angeles. She has the latest.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN REPORTER: Good morning, Christine and Alison. Well, for the moment, Bernie Sanders is really trying to capitalize on his debate performance to a momentum and money. He's building off that $2 million that his campaign has been out talking (ph) that they raised since the debate performance. And here in Los Angeles held a pair (ph) of fund raisers raising an additional $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 being raised and specifically that memorable moment where he spoke out about Hilary Clinton's e-mails. That got a big reaction from this crowd.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm tired of Hillary's e-mails. Let's talk about real issues.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: Today, Bernie Sanders will make an attempt to show his softer side. Take an early look at his interview with Ellen today where, yes, he does dance. He divulges that his favorite song is Staying Alive and he says he thinks he has the best pair (ph) of all the candidates. This is an area where (inaudible) really showing a little bit of color, a little bit of the softer image while on the campaign trail. Now, the campaign will have a small shift in strategy and a few events coming up. We will see Bernie Sanders in addition to all those big booming (ph) rallies that really have defined the early start of this campaign. We will now see him in a more small, intimate settings and that shift starts with this weekend in a two-day swing through Iowa. Christine and Alison?
KOSIK: All right. Sunlen, thanks for that. And Donald Trump stirring controversy on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and whether Russia is to blame for the jetliner being shut down over Ukraine. Dutch investigators now say with confidence that pro-Russia separatist downed the airline using a Russian made rocket killing all aboard. Trump says that's not enough evidence and that it's time to move on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... Russia (inaudible). There was no way to know for sure if Russia was behind shooting down MH17. That's not what the intelligence so far shows. Why? Why would make you say that?
[05:34:52] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know what? That's a horrible thing that could happen. It's disgusting. It's disgraceful. But Putin said (ph) they didn't do it. Nobody really knows who did it. Probably Putin knows who did it. Possibly it was Russia. But they are totally denying it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think some people like be worried you're defending Russia when you say there's no way ...
D. TRUMP: No, I'm not defending Russia though. 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 someday we'll find out. But right now, Russia is totally denying it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Trump's daughter, Ivanka, taking on one of the biggest controversies hanging over her dad's campaign. In an exclusive interview with CNN's Poppy Harlow, Ivanka Trump dismisses. She dismisses the attention given to her father's comments about women and their looks. She says the furor has been, in her words, quote, "orchestrated largely by the media."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: Look, my father is very blunt. He's very direct. He is not gender specific in his criticism of people and people that he doesn't particularly like our or people that he does like, the things that are wrong on a particular issue. So, 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 highest -- a high level executive within his organization if he felt that way. So he's always supportive and encouraged women. And truthfully, he's proven over decades through his employment practices, through his hiring practices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: I think we will be seeing more of her on the campaign trail. You know, she said she told Poppy she doesn't want to talk about his policies. You know, he is going to talk about his policies. She can just talk about him as a boss and as a father, but she did not want to weigh in to the whole Megyn Kelly controversy. Earlier in the day in that symposium in Washington she said it didn't really interest her, the controversy with her -- with Megan Kelly.
KOSIK: I think she doesn't want stir it up even more. I think it's stirred up enough for that.
ROMANS: Well, you know, to be orchestrated by the media's interest, you know, I mean she says he's blunt. He is blunt. He orchestrates the reaction to the things he says by saying the thing he says. So I don't know. Orchestrated by the media, she's going to get some argument on that front.
KOSIK: All right. Moving on, Jeb Bush is about to become the first Republican presidential candidate to release the names of fundraisers who are bundling contributions to his campaign. Bundlers are supporters who collect contributions to a candidate from dozens of friends and business associates. Now, Bush is defining bundlers are donors who raise at least $17,600, but his critics say that his threshold is so low it makes it impossible to identify the campaign's biggest bundlers. It's believed some of them collect amounts worth of a quarter million dollars.
ROMANS: All right. It appears President Clinton or President Obama rather -- sorry. I'm like two -- I'm two presidents back -- 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 expected to keep about 5,500 troops there after 2016. U.S. military advisers say that's due to a resurgent Taliban and growing threats from ISIS and Al Qaeda.
Just last month, the Taliban overran the city of Kunduz. Now, Afghan officials are concerned more key cities could fall. They say insurgents are targeting urban areas in the South including the city of Ghazni about 75 miles from Kabul. Officials say a Taliban offensive came within 3 miles of the city limits before pushing -- between pushback by Afghan troops.
KOSIK: Long lines and flight delays for millions of air travellers on Wednesday were caused by a glitch in Homeland Security's computer system. U.S. Customs and Boarder Protection says the program that cross matches passenger names with terror watch list was down for about 90 minutes. The malfunction isn't considered malicious, but it did create enormous backups and I'd imagine lots of headaches at airports in New York, Atlanta, and Boston.
ROMANS: Oh, what a mess. All right. Time for an early start in your money this morning, a good start to stocks around the world. A bounce for European stocks, U.S. stocks futures also pointing higher here after a bad day on Wall Street. Yesterday, the Dow is down 157, down by 1 percent, a disappointing start to the earnings season.
Wal-Mart, wow, look at this one, strong dollar and the higher wages it's paying its workers are hurting its profit. The stock plunged 10 percent, a three-year low on that news. Wal-Mart says profits could drop between 6 and 12 percent next year. The retail giant had been under pressure, of course, to raise employees' minimum wages. Earlier this year, it raised wages to 9 bucks an hour. It goes to 10 bucks for most workers in February.
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 to $11 an hour by the year 2018. That increase would have happened in stages, rising a dollar each year. We've seen the federal minimum wage has not changed in years, although what we have seen are these states and localities doing it now. Real legal challenge there in St. Louis.
[05:39:57] KOSIK: Never a smooth process for something like that. All right, we're 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: Lamar Odom 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 several days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, everything was fine until Tuesday morning. They last saw him at 6 o'clock in the morning when they want to do some things and he was going to sleep -- been sleeping 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. Herbal supplements for sexual performance is something police later confirmed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The reporting parties informed Nye County Sheriff's Office dispatch the male had been using cocaine. They confirmed his usage Saturday but was unsure if it had continued to the weekend. They also informed dispatch that he used up to 10 tabs of sexual performance enhancer supplements over the last three-day period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Odom is said to be still unconscious. He is on life support. His estranged wife, Khloe Kardashian, at his bedside where she is making the medical decisions sources say for him.
[05:45:07] KOSIK: All right. Let's switch gears and take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Michaela Pereira joins us now. Good morning.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Heartbreaking news about Lamar Odom first of all coming from Los Angeles. He was a big part of Lakers franchise. We're really sending prayers his way. We'll talk a little bit more about all of that today on New Day. Good morning to my two friends there. We're also looking at a big boost for Hillary Clinton's campaign just a day after the Democratic debate. Another Republican congressman says the Benghazi committee was designed to target her. How will this affect Clinton on the trail? What does it mean going into her testimony before the Benghazi panel? We'll take a look at that. Also, Donald Trump going after his rivals last night. This is new CNN/ORC Polls, put him in double digits ahead of Ben Carson. We're going to speak to a member of team Trump. We're also going to hear from his daughter, Ivanka Trump, in a CNN exclusive. You'll hear what she says about his controversial comments about women and many more topics. That's ahead on "NEW DAY".
KOSIK: Michaela, we played a little bit of that interview with Ivanka Trump and already getting a lot of feedback online about what people think about ...
PEREIRA: People on Twitter not happy about -- yes. Interesting.
KOSIK: That's right. I was kind of surprised, I'm just saying. All right. Thanks so much, Michaela.
PEREIRA: No problem.
KOSIK: New attacks in Israel, the U.S. now getting involved as violence is escalating. We're live, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:50:06] 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 and he plans to visit with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. Meantime, thousands of Israeli soldiers are planning out across the country in response to escalating attacks against Israeli citizens. In Jerusalem, troops are building checkpoints the close off Arab neighborhoods.
Let's go live to Jerusalem and bringing CNN's Erin McLaughlin. So is there any indication yet, Erin, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, is looking to come out and publicly condemn these presumably low wolf attacks to try to create some calm here?
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alison. He has yet to condemn the attacks. But in the past, he has made these calls for de-escalation because the fact of the matter is both Palestinians and Israelis are afraid. People here are on edge. And an example of that is an incident that happened this morning onboard a train to Haifa. According to Israeli police, there was a group of Israeli soldiers who thought they saw something suspicious. They called out terrorist on the train and Israeli police officer also on board opened fire.
And now, everyone get off the train, the train searched and they found nothing. It just really though highlight just the level of anxiety that people are feeling because the violence continues. Yesterday, there were two separate attacks, one outside the Damascus gate entrance to the old city and the other at a bus stop. Those are stabbing attacks. In both cases, Palestinian attackers were killed by Israeli forces and three were civilians were wounded. This despite really heavy security, increased police officers here in Jerusalem as well as in Israeli cities, soldiers patrolling alongside police as well, more security guards at public transportation stations, and yet, the violence persists. It's unclear what any leader can do to stop this violence.
KOSIK: And that is one of the big issues there. Erin McLaughlin, thanks so much, live from Jerusalem.
ROMANS: All right. The end of dinner ritual, trying to figure out the tip -- leaving a tip for the waiter or waitress. How would you feel on not having to leave a tip for next time you eat out, a new trend, early start on your money this morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:56:30] ROMANS: Hi. Welcome back. Let's get an early start in your money today. Asian stocks are higher. Shanghai closing up 2 percent, European stocks, U.S. stocks features also up, but it was a bad day on Wall Street, folks, yesterday. The Dow plunged 157 points. That's about 1 percent. Why? A disappointing start to earnings season and Wal-Mart really the standard bearer there. It says the strong dollar and wage increases are eating into its profits, the stock outstanding 10 percent decline, a three-year low on the news. You haven't seen a percentage move like this in Wal-Mart since 1988. I tell you we hear from Goldman Sachs. We hear from Citigroup before the bell so there could be a lot going on today.
One of the most prominent restaurateurs in the country taken on the minimum wage issue, Danny Meyer getting rid of tipping at his New York restaurants. He wants to even the pay gap between workers in the front of the house and in the kitchen. Starting next month, The Modern and The Museum of Modern Art will get rid of tips. The change will happen at the rest of restaurants next year. Meyers says some menu prices will rise but the effect won't be significant, he says, on your overall bill. But very interesting, there are other restaurateurs who were saying too that the whole idea of paying someone for their job based on a gratuity at the end of the service is just outdated.
KOSIK: You know (ph) this is on the employer to pay the employee.
ROMANS: A fair wage.
KOSIK: All right. President Obama is set to announce new plans for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. "NEW DAY" starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was designed to go after people, an individual, Hilary Clinton.
KOSIK (?): A bombshell admission from another Republican congressman. ROMANS: Was the Benghazi committee created to take down Hilary Clinton?
CLINTON: This committee is basically an arm of the Republican national committee.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump holding a double-digit lead.
D. TRUMP: Hilary and Bernie Sanders, they just could get things away fast enough.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What we saw with the Democrats was a serious debate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People finally got a chance to compare the Democrats to the Republicans.
I. TRUMP: Look. My father is very blunt. He is very direct.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What would President Trump do for women in this country?
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michael Pereira.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good to see you.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good to be home. Good morning. Welcome to your New Day this Thursday, October 15th, 6 o'clock in the East and we do begin with breaking news. This is just in to CNN. President Obama will announce this morning that U.S. troops are remaining in Afghanistan longer than planned. Now, for weeks, we've been reporting on the significant events of the Taliban is making on the ground. The situation there is fragile. At best, the life and death concern will be, what is the mission now for U.S.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Now, of course, in 2014, the president promised to get U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. So what does this turnaround mean for that drawdown? Let's get right to CNN's Joe Johns. He is live at the White House with all of the breaking details. What did you learn, Joe?
JOE JOHNS, CNN NEWS REPORTER: Well, Alisyn, this is admission that a terror threat in Afghanistan remains and is likely not to be diminished that much by the time President Obama leaves office in 2017. He had planned to reduce the force there to as much as just 1,000 military personnel. But apparently, that is not going to happen. The plan we're expecting to hear from the White House later today is that the force in Afghanistan around 9,800 military personnel expected to stay there through 2016 ...
