Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Versus Bush over George W's Legacy; Gowdy Wants to Focus on Embassy Security; Lamar Odom's Condition Improving; Patriots Deflate Colts in Rematch; Mets Beat Cubs; Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired October 19, 2015 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:02] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: EARLY START continues right now.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The feud intensifies between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush. Fighting terrorism, 9/11. Whether George W. Bush kept America safe as president.
BERMAN: And the Benghazi committee. A big hearing this week. Hillary Clinton testifies on Thursday. The committee chairman swears this is not just about politics. He is fighting mad.
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.
And I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday, October 19th, it is 5:00 a.m. in the East. Nice to see you all here this morning.
There are new developments this morning in the escalating feud between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush. Now Trump spent the weekend pinning at least some responsibility on 9/11 -- for 9/11 rather on George W. Bush. Jeb Bush says his brother kept America safe after the attacks.
The sparring started with a "Washington Post" interview in which Trump said, quote, "You always have responsibility because you are the president." Trump claims his immigration -- tough immigration policies would stop the 9/11 hijackers from ever boarding those planes. Jeb Bush fired back on "STATE OF THE UNION," got another boost last night at an evangelical group candidate forum in Texas.
Our Athena Jones was there. She has the latest.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.
Six GOP candidates spoke at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Forum here at a mega church outside Dallas. They talked about the importance of faith and public life. They talked about their views on abortion, issues like religious liberty. It was an important opportunity for these candidates to try to appeal to Christian conservatives who are very important part of the Republican primary electorate.
And while the candidates didn't really go after each other or launch any attacks against one another, the pastor who was leading the forum, Jack Graham, weighed into the ongoing feud between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush about whether George W. Bush kept America safe. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK GRAHAM, PASTOR, PRESTONWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH: And by the way, George W. Bush did keep us safe no matter what anybody says.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: That comment from the pastor got a standing ovation. A sign that the crowd at this mega church sides with Bush on this issue and not with Trump who had this to say about it on "FOX News Sunday."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Jeb said we were safe with my brother. We were safe. Well, the World Trade Center just fell down. Now, am I trying to blame him? I'm not blaming anybody. But the World Trade Center came down. So when he said we were safe, that's not safe. We lost 3,000 people. It was one of the greatest -- for me the greatest catastrophes ever in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: Bush responded to Trump's assertion on "STATE OF THE UNION." Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My brother responded to a crisis and he did it as you would hope a president would do. He united the country, he organized our country, and he kept us safe. And there is no denying that. The great majority of Americans believe that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: Bush also said that by repeatedly bringing up 9/11, Trump is showing that he's not a serious person. He also said he has grave concerns about Trump being in charge of nuclear weapons and that Trump, who is now the GOP frontrunner, will not be the party's nominee -- John, Christine.
BERMAN: All right, Athena, thanks so much.
This morning the chairman of the House Benghazi Committee is telling other Republicans to shut up about Hillary Clinton. The comments from Trey Gowdy come with Clinton set to testify to the panel on Thursday. That is a huge day.
Gowdy, you can see him right there, the committee chairman, he is trying to argue that the committee is not designed as a political takedown of Clinton as a couple of Republican congressmen had suggested. But it is a claim that Clinton herself is now trying to take advantage of, most recently in an interview with Jake Tapper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really don't know what to expect. I think it's pretty clear that whatever they might have thought they were doing, they ended up becoming a partisan arm of the Republican National Committee with an overwhelming focus on trying to, as they admitted, drive down my poll numbers.
I have already testified about Benghazi. I testified to the best of my ability before the Senate and the House. I don't know that I have very much to add. This is, after all, the eighth investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Gowdy says he is less interested in Clinton's e-mails than in e-mails of U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens. Stevens had sought additional security for the embassy before he was killed in the Benghazi attacks.
Let's bring in CNN's Chris Frates for more.
CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, John and Christine.
Gowdy said that the e-mails will demonstrate Stevens had been asking for more security since he became ambassador. Now we've known for some time that the officials in Libya had requested more security but Gowdy says that Stevens' e-mails show a disconnect between what was happening on the ground in Libya and what was going on in Washington.
Gowdy says Stevens wanted more security in response to the growing violence and Washington wanted help with how to spin the increasing violence there. The e-mails hadn't been released but here's how Gowdy put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[05:05:04] REP. TREY GOWDY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: He needed help with security, John. He didn't need help with PR. He was asking for more security. And on one occasion, he even joked in an e-mail, maybe we should ask another government to pay for our security upgrades because our government isn't willing to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: Despite previous investigations into Benghazi, Gowdy says his committee was the first to get Stevens' e-mails. A fact he used to botcher the claim that the committee's work is not political.
Now when it comes to political, he had some choice words for his Republican colleagues. He was taking aim at House members who have suggested that the committee was designed to politically damage Hillary Clinton's run for president. Here is what he said to his colleagues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOWDY: I have told my own Republican colleagues and friends shut up talking about things that you don't know anything about. And unless you're on the committee, you have no idea what we've done, why we've done it and what new facts we have found. We have found new facts, John, that have absolutely nothing to do with her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: So tough words for his own Republican colleagues and for pretty good reasons. Clinton and other Democrats, they've used Gowdy's colleagues' words against him.
Kevin McCarthy, the number two Republican in the House, said the committee's work helped drive Clinton's poll numbers down. And last week, another House Republican said the committee was designed to go after Clinton. Now Clinton used those comments to discount all of the committee's work arguing that the panel really is just an arm of the Republican National Committee.
So Gowdy was really trying to return the conversation to Benghazi and away from the campaign trail ahead of Clinton's testimony this week -- John, Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Chris Frates. Thanks for that, Chris.
Bernie Sanders is in Iowa this morning. He's trying out a new strategy there. On top of those huge rallies he has been staging for months, Sanders is now doing smaller more intimate events. They're aimed at proving he will be electable in the primary and general elections. Sanders is also reveling in the special "Saturday Night Live" treatment he received this weekend with Larry David standing in as his doppelganger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY DAVID, ACTOR: I'm the only candidate up here who's not a billionaire. I don't have a super PAC. I don't even have a backpack. I own one pair of underwear. That's it. Some of these billionaires, they got three, four pairs.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am told that I don't have a sense of humor.
(LAUGHTER)
SANDERS: So I'm going to start off with a joke. You all ready for a joke? Here is the joke.
My name is Larry David and Bernie asked me to do this.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: So when people tell you I'm ultra serious and grumpy, you tell them that you heard me tell a joke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: They sound exactly alike.
BERMAN: They are Jewish kids from Brooklyn. Both born in the '40s. You know, it's no wonder they sound alike. ROMANS: They sound alike.
BERMAN: Larry David, you know, wrote for "Saturday Night Live" for one season, he got like one sketch on, and the idea that he is now I think this season going to be the biggest thing on "Saturday Night Live" with his Bernie Sanders impression, you have not seen the last of it. Let me tell you.
ROMANS: Bernie Sanders gave another joke at another event. He said he has two pairs of underwear. And he did actually buy a suit at some point when he became a United States senator because he thought he should have one.
BERMAN: He is a funny guy.
Democrats anxiously waiting to hear from Joe Biden about whether he plans to run for president. They are still waiting. The vice president spent Sunday at home in Delaware. He attended mass in the afternoon. This morning he heads back to Washington where he has a very full schedule of events. The events include a speech on climate change and a reception for the USO.
ROMANS: All right. Congress returns from a weeklong recess this morning. House Republicans hoping to identify the next speaker this week. Paul Ryan is the top choice of many, but he still has not said he's interested in that job. And a growing number of House Republicans, conservative House Republicans, plan to oppose him if he runs.
BERMAN: A top al Qaeda leader -- we learned this morning that a top al Qaeda leader has been killed in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike in Syria. Pentagon officials say Sanafi al-Nasr was the highest ranking member of the Khorasan Group. This is a collection of veteran al Qaeda members based in Syria. The U.S. says they're intent on striking the U.S. and its allies. This guy died Thursday during attack in northwest Syria. Nasr was once al Qaeda's chief financial officer. He is the fifth member of the Khorasan Group to be killed in the last four months.
The Iran nuclear deal now in effect. The official adoption day came Sunday. That means officials from Iran and other world powers have begun the long complicated process of carrying out the deal that they all agreed to. It could take up to a decade to check off the entire list. The first step of the process is for Iran and IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency to get together and figure out what Iran has going on and what they have done in the past. That could take a few months.
ROMANS: All right. Time for an EARLY START on your money this Monday morning. European shares higher. U.S. stock futures barely moving here. Asian shares ended the day lower.
Brand new this morning, China's economy grew by 6.9 percent in the third quarter. A bit better than expected, but still the slowest growth since 2009. China's stock market has collapsed this year. All signs point to a gradual slowdown that's scaring investors around the world.
[05:10:14] America's least favorite CEO is furious with Bernie Sanders. Remember this guy, Martin Shkreli, the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals? His company hiked the price of a drug called Daraprim overnight by 5,000 percent. Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders criticized that move. Shkreli recently $2,700 to Sanders which Sanders rejected. He took that donation and gave it to a health clinic instead. Overnight Shkreli tweeted, "So angry at Bernie Sanders I could punch a wall." Look at all those caps. He told CNN Money that he made the donation hoping to meet and discuss policy with Sanders. Bernie Sanders apparently does not want to meet him or discuss policy with Martin Shkreli.
BERMAN: If you punch a wall, sometimes you need medication. You are at a pharmacy and who knows what that price could be of that medication. Just saying.
ROMANS: That's interesting.
BERMAN: You like that?
ROMANS: Interesting.
BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE).
ROMANS: All right. 11 minutes past the hour. Lamar Odom showing new signs of recovery this morning. We're learning new details about what happened before his collapse. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: All right. This morning, Lamar Odom is in a Las Vegas hospital after collapsing and was found unresponsive at a Nevada brothel. The former NBA star making slow but steady improvement after reportedly being in a coma for several days. There are reports the Kardashians are at his bedside.
Let's get more from CNN's Paul Vercammen.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, John, by all accounts, Lamar Odom still on the second floor, in the intensive care unit at this hospital in Las Vegas. But all through the weekend reports trickling in that he is speaking short words, that he is doing better. Kim Kardashian, in fact, turned to social media and she tweeted out about the power of prayer and that she says she felt happy that Lamar Odom was smiling after meeting with her and Kendall.
[05:15:00] Now the Kardashians have also been trying to control the message. And they don't want the brothel owner, Dennis Hof, speaking out. Hof is not buying it. After all, he's a pimp, a legal one, and a showman. And he told us more about how this price was set for Lamar Odom's $75,000 visit before he collapsed. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENNIS HOF, BROTHEL OWNER: And it's his decision. You know, the girls asked him, what do you want to do, Lamar? How long you want to do it for? Because these are the things that determine the price. He says, I want to pay $75,000. I'll give each one of you -- each one of you $37,500. I want you to be with me four or five days, 24 hours a day. And then later on, the next day, he asked them to sign a confidentiality agreement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERCAMMEN: Hof also adding it's extremely unusual for anyone to sign a confidentiality agreement at his Love Ranch.
As for Lamar Odom, plenty of indications that he's improving including being able to say hi to his estranged wife Khloe Kardashian.
Back to you now, John and Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Paul Vercammen for us. Thanks for that, Paul.
Police in St. Cloud, Minnesota, are investigating the fatal shooting of a police officer by a patient he was guarding inside a hotel room. Authorities say 60-year-old Deputy Steven Sandberg was overpowered by the suspect who was receiving treatment in a hospital following a domestic dispute. They say Danny Leroy Hammond somehow wrestled the officer's gun from him and fired several shots. Police used a taser on Hammond who later died.
BERMAN: Police in Florida are hunting for a killer who opened fire on the crowd at the annual Zombicon Festival in Ft. Myers. One person was killed, five wounded. Authorities say the shooting began just minutes before the event officially ended at midnight Saturday. It sent hundreds of people in zombie-themed costumes fleeing in very real terror. The shooting victim, 19-year-old Tyrell Taylor, who was attending with his girlfriend.
ROMANS: The Obama administration is taking aim at rogue drones. This morning officials will announce the creation of a task force requiring all drones to be registered with the Transportation Department. It follows a number of high-profile security incidents involving drones. Previously only commercial drones had to register their drone aircraft with the FAA.
BERMAN: Four days after a river of mud ran through them, many roads in southern California are open again this morning. Crews worked through the weekend using heavy machinery to excavate dozens of cars and trucks that were buried in so much mud that came down during flash flooding last week. Officials in Los Angeles County are reopening stretches of five roads in mountain communities about 40 miles north of the city.
ROMANS: All right. Temperatures are falling fast across the east. There were flurries in my backyard. I swear, flurries.
BERMAN: We should have breaking news.
ROMANS: Meteorologist --
BERMAN: Let's go live to Christine Romans' backyard.
ROMANS: No. Let's go live to Pedram Javaheri.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, good Monday morning to you guys.
(WEATHER REPORT)
BERMAN: All right, Pedram, thank you so much.
Big news overnight. No, not that. Why are we showing that replay? That's dumb. That was dumb right there. OK. There was one good play for the Colts. 1,000 good plays for the Patriots. The Patriots won. We're going to show you the real story.
Coy Wire has the "Bleacher Report" right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:22:49] BERMAN: All right. What an important game. This was the first time the Patriots and Colts faced off each -- against each other since the deflategate thing began all those months ago.
ROMANS: Yes, that was a thing, wasn't it? Coy Wire has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report."
Hey, Coy.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to both of you. A lot has happened over the past nine months. Fines, suspensions, appeals, changes in pre-game protocol, but one thing remains same. Tom Brady and the Patriots for whom John Berman has been an incorrigible compurgator are pretty darn good. Colts fans were pumped for this one. Indy actually led 21-20 at the half. But play action on the opening possession, you might want to cover that guy.
That's Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski. Quick check there, pressure in that one. All right. Here we go later in the third quarter. Colts let the air out of their own building with what social media is calling the worst designed play in NFL history. They line up for the fake punt. Then a wide receiver and defensive back, neither of whom get paid to snap nor receive a snap. It doesn't end well. The Patriots stay perfect, 34-27.
Cold and blustery in New York for Mets-Cub game two with the Mets, they started off hot. First inning, Daniel Murphy takes Jake Arrieta yard. A two-run shot. Murphy has done nice. He's gone yard not once, twice, or thrice, but four straight playoff games and counting. The Mets scored three runs in that first inning, eventually winning 4- 1. Granting a 2-0 series lead. They are now halfway to punching their ticket for the World Series game 3. Tomorrow night, the Cubs' friend confines of Wrigley Field. Now the Blue Jays Royals, they go at it in ALCS action later tonight in Toronto. First pitch will be at 8:07 Eastern.
Now, guys, sad news that we have to report on but hopefully bring some awareness to this. Family, friends and team mates were mourning the death of a Texas high school football player. 16-year-old Cameron Matthews, he collapsed during a game Friday night. The school district's superintendent said the Alto High junior came off the field complaining that he didn't feel right. Now Matthews was air lifted to a local hospital. Tests showed that he had minimal brain activity. He was pronounced dead on Saturday afternoon.
This is the sixth death of a high school football player this season. Matthews' parents and sister described him as a great kid, an athlete, strong in his faith, a friend to many. There's a go fund me page set up to help the family's financial burden. You can go to Go Fund Me and type in Cameron Matthews' name if you'd like to help, guys.
[05:25:09] ROMANS: All right.
BERMAN: Really sad. That picture of everyone standing around that field holding hands there.
ROMANS: Yes.
WIRE: Yes.
BERMAN: All right, Coy.
ROMANS: All right, Coy. 25 minutes past the hour. The feud between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush taken to a new level. The presidential candidates now fighting over 9/11 and whether it could have been prevented. Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Trump versus Bush. No, not the one running for president. The one who was president. Why is Donald Trump taking on George W. Bush over September 11th? And what is Jeb wants to do about it.
ROMANS: Are Benghazi investigators out to get Hillary Clinton? Now the leader on that investigation defending his work.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Great to see you this morning, about 29 minutes past the hour. And the question this morning is, has Donald Trump touched the third rail in Republican politics. Talking about September 11th and whether then President George W. Bush bears some responsibility for the attack. And you know, it's not just politics, this is personal because there is another Bush on the ballot this year, and Jeb is now fiercely defending his brother.
Trump told the "Washington Post", quote, "You always have responsibility because you're the president. The billionaire suggested the attacks might not have happened had he been president because his tough immigration policies would have stopped the hijackers from ever boarding the planes. That's what Trump says. Jeb Bush, he fired back on CNN and overnight received an unexpected interesting boost at an evangelical forum in Texas.
CNN's Athena Jones was there. She has the latest.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine. Six GOP candidates --
(END)
