Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Jeb Bush Fights Back; The Race for President: Will Biden Run?; Alleged CIA Hackers Speak to CNN. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired October 20, 2015 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:30:32] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Jeb Bush, Donald Trump. The battle rages. A new salvo overnight. When will this feud stop?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Joe Biden may already be staffing his presidential campaign. Explosive new information this information.
BERMAN: And hackers claim they have accessed e-mails belonging to the CIA director and chief of homeland security. What is going on here? The hackers speaking to CNN. The alleged hackers I should say.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It's 31 minutes past the hour.
Breaking overnight: Jeb Bush fires in his feud with Donald Trump over whether George W. Bush kept America's safe after the 9/11 attacks or bears responsibility for them. In an interview with Sean Hannity last night, Bush suggested that Trump's criticism of his brother proves he simply does not understand the threats America faces around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: His view of history is just wrong. The simple fact is when we were attacked, my brother created an environment where for 2,600 days, we were safe. No one attacked us again. And he changed the laws, he did everything necessary, united the country and he kept us safe. And just a tip of the hat to that and moving on to what the threats are today is what we ought to be focused on.
Donald Trump is not a serious candidate as it relates to foreign policy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Bush stopped short of saying he would not support Trump were he to win the Republican nomination. Earlier today, Trump fired his own taunts, including a tweet that read, "Jeb is fighting to defend a catastrophic event. I am fighting to make sure it doesn't happen again. Jeb is too soft. We need tougher and sharper." A new poll out overnight suggests, it raises the question whether Trump needs to be picking fights with Bush. Trump led with his highest ever share in the NBC/"Wall Street Journal" at 25 percent. Bush all the way down at 8 percent.
This is what Trump talked about on the trail in South Carolina.
CNN's Sara Murray was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, John and Christine.
In front of a crowd of thousands here in Anderson, South Carolina, last night, Donald Trump slammed his GOP rivals, bragged about his lead in the polls, and even accused President Obama of wanting to take away Americans' guns.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, big Second Amendment. We're all heavy on the Second Amendment, you know? You know, the president is thinking about signing an executive order where he wants to take your guns away. You hear this one. This is new.
Not going to happen. That won't happen. But that's a tough one. I think that's a tough one for him to do when you actually have a Second Amendment, that's tough, because there are plenty of executive orders being signed. You know that. And we can't let that go on.
MURRAY: But what he didn't mention was his latest controversy, after suggesting in an interview that George W. Bush was responsible for the terrorist attacks on 9/11, Donald Trump doubled down on Twitter. But he made no mention here tonight. It's a line that many voters felt was an unfair attack against the former president, although they didn't say that it would ultimately sway their decision about whether or not to vote for Trump.
Now, as for Trump, reporters tried to catch up with him after the event. The candidate dodged their questions in a rare move for a candidate who loves the camera.
Back to you, John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right. Sara Murray, thank you so much.
New signs this morning that Joe Biden may be close to announcing a run for president. A source close to the Biden camp tells CNN that the vice president's associates are setting up interviews for campaign jobs. Now, Biden himself kept sort of tight-lipped as he arrived late for a White House climate change event.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm the late Joe Biden and I just want you to know as much as I love you, I have been in a meeting with the president on another matter for last two hours. It is hard to say, "Mr. President, I've -- you're on your own. I'm leaving." Although he is on his own. He doesn't need me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: It is interesting. The statement that Biden said that caused the most controversy, he made a point of talking about Republicans saying, "They're not my enemies. They're my friends", which seemed to be a direct reference to what Hillary Clinton said in the CNN debate where she said Republicans could be seen as her greatest enemies.
Now, one House member setoff a flurry of speculation. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania tweeted, "I have a very good source close to Joe that tells me VP Biden will run for prez."
Biden would enter the race third in the polls, behind Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
[04:35:04] Sanders on a campaign swing through Iowa.
Our CNN Sunlen Serfaty spoke to the candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.
Well, even though Bernie Sanders still trails behind Clinton in these new national polls, the first since the debate, it is clear he is still feeling very good. He is clearly having a moment in the pop culture spotlight and he's having a little fun with it while on the campaign trail, noting all of this attention he's been getting from that "Saturday Night Live" treatment he received, the equivalent of campaign gold to any candidate.
And I caught up with Bernie Sanders while here out in the Iowa campaign trail and I asked him if he expects to receive a bump in the polls from Larry David.
(LAUGHTER)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I'm giving serious thought. Larry David does Bernie Sanders better than Bernie Sanders does Bernie Sanders. So, maybe we'll ill invite Larry to do the next rally, I don't know. But I think we actually gained on it. We have done better since the last poll.
I think that frankly the momentum is with us. There was a poll that came out in New Hampshire today that have us pretty comfortably ahead. But, you know, I freely concede.
You know, we started off the campaign, I was at 3 percent in the polls. And a kind of people thought I was a fringe candidate. I think we made a lot of progress in the last five months and I think we've got a real shot to win this. SERFATY: And that has been and continues to be one of the biggest
challenges for Bernie Sanders, to go from being seen as a fringe candidate to being more of a mainstream candidate that can really appeal to a broader group of voters. But what is key here is going forward, this will be a challenge for the Sanders campaign in this moment to turn this attention that's focused on him into actual support -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, Sunlen. Thank you for that.
In just hours, we'll know whether Jim Webb is dropping out of the Republican derby in favor of an independent run. He has set a news conference for 1:30 p.m. Eastern. The former Virginia senator has been hovering near the bottom of the polls, and spent much of his speaking time at the Democratic debate complaining about how little speaking time he was getting.
BERMAN: The FBI and Secret Service are looking into claims of pretty shocking hacks into the personal e-mail accounts of CIA Director John Brennan, and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.
Law enforcement officials tell CNN it does not appear the hackers got any classified information from the non-government accounts. But one self proclaimed hacker told CNN's Laurie Segall the e-mails held a wealth of personal details.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You guys say you were able to hack into his personal inbox. What did you find?
HACKER (via telephone): Social Security numbers. Plans and he was talking about Iraq and Syria. There was a lot of I guess private information, really.
SEGALL: If this is true and it's true you guys have actually broken into his private e-mail account, how difficult would you say it is?
HACKER: You mean out of ten?
SEGALL: Sure, out of ten.
HACKER: One.
SEGALL: A one?
HACKER: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: This hacker told CNN he is a pot smoking American under the age of 22 who did it to target the government and police. The hackers have been tweeting information they claimed to have gathered from the accounts. Sources have confirmed both Brennan and Johnson's accounts were hacked, but CNN cannot independently verify the documents that have been leaked.
ROMANS: Big potential news this morning in the race for the next House speaker. It has to do with the current speaker. John Boehner's allies are urging him to remain on the job through the end of the year if Paul Ryan passes on the job. Ryan is the choice of many to succeed Boehner. But he has so far refused to say he is running.
If he declines, there could be a mad dash, with up to 12 candidates vying for the position. Under that scenario, it could take months to find a new speaker. And Republicans are concerned about a prolonged leadership void and possible government shutdown in December.
A debt ceiling, a little thing called the debt ceiling which is coming up quick here.
BERMAN: If only it were a little thing.
All right. Breaking overnight. A shocking blowout election in Canada. Justin Trudeau, son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau set to become the country's first new leader in 10 years. The incumbent conservative Stephen Harper conceded overnight. It does appear Trudeau's liberal party won enough seats easily to form a majority government.
This really is a fascinating election. It denies a fourth term for Harper. Canada is the biggest trading partner with the United States, huge border. This, a huge liberal wave in that country after 10 years of conservative.
ROMANS: It will be fascinating to see what it means for Keystone, and what it means for all kinds of other agreements and relationships the United States has with this huge trading partner.
BERMAN: You know, Justin Trudeau, a boxer. Lots of pictures in boxing.
ROMANS: Really? Interesting.
All right. Time for an early start on your money this morning. Asia shares closed mostly higher. European shares opened for an hour and a half now and they look lower.
A progress report for you, recent gains leave the Dow just 3.3 percent lower for the year.
[04:40:00] The Dow has notched three weeks of gains in a row, the longest weekly winning streak since last year after suffering the correction over the summer.
Hillary Clinton is urging U.S. regulators to investigate drug price gouging. She sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, asking for a probe of Turing Pharmaceuticals' 5,000 percent price hike of the drug Daraprim. This is the latest battle between politicians and the Turing CEO Martin Shkreli. Clinton pointed out Turing still has not lowered that drug's price as promised. All right. Over 40 minutes past the hour. Anger and fear in Israel. Residents on edge amidst growing attacks and a mistaken identity killing. Tragic there. What the government is going to do to prevent that, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Israeli police are launching an investigation into an ugly mob assault that left an innocent African man brutally beaten to death. It all started when an Israeli soldier was murdered. Then, Israeli security forces shot the 29-year-old refugee Sunday night, mistaking him for an Arab attacker. An angry mob then repeatedly stomped on this man, lying there wounded, bleeding on the ground.
I want to go live to Jerusalem and bring in CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman.
And Israeli authorities are trying to prevent these random lone wolf attacks, but you've got this mob mentality. In this case, how do they ramp up security, but prevent something like this from happening as well?
[04:45:02] BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But that's the dilemma they face, and we've heard in the past, Israeli officials calling upon every Israeli who has a license for a weapon to carry that weapon with them if an attack takes place, and they could possibly prevent it. But we did hear the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling on people not to take the law in their hands, into their hands and to allow law enforcement personnel to operate.
Now, also, we understand the police are launching an investigation into this incident where a 29-year-old Eritrean migrant was killed. They are trying to determine if he died as a result of the gunshot or whether it's the result of the beating he was subjected to afterwards by this angry mob. But it really is reflective of the level of anger, of passion, of fear that's gripped this land.
Just to give you more news, we understand from the Israeli military that this morning in Hebron, or just outside of Hebron in the southern West Bank, there's been an incident that according to the military, a Palestinian tried to stab an Israeli soldier during clashes outside that city. We understand that the attacker has been shot, but the Israeli army doesn't know whether he's wounded or, in fact, dead.
Otherwise, there is a flurry of diplomatic activity. We understand from sources that the U.N., that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is coming to Israel and Palestinian territories today to meet with officials to try to bring some sort of lessening of the tensions. Also, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be traveling to Germany tomorrow where he'll meet U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry later in the week. Mr. Kerry will be meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and King Abdullah of Jordan, trying to bring this crisis to an end -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Certainly, just a tragedy there. Thank you so much for that. Ben Wedeman for us. BERMAN: All right. An upstate New York teenager beaten in an attack
that killed his older brother is expected to testify this week against the suspects, including his sister. Seventeen-year-old Christopher Leonard has been released from the hospital. Police say he and his 19-year-old brother Lucas were beaten by their parents, sister and other members of the Word of Life Christian Church. Authorities believed it was prompted by the boys' desire to leave the secretive church. All six suspects have pleaded not guilty.
ROMANS: Lamar Odom making good progress this morning. Sources say he is getting closer to leaving Las Vegas and being transferred to a hospital in Los Angeles for more treatment. The 35-year-old former NBA star was found unresponsive last week after several days at a Nevada brothel. Odom has now said to be breathing on his own and, according to his former college coach, has been talking to his estranged wife Khloe Kardashian, telling her "I love you".
Little is known why Odom collapsed at the brothel. Workers there say he had been using cocaine and taking in herbal sexual performance supplement.
Forty-eight minutes past the hour.
Oscar Pistorius out of prison and back in the mansion, serving out one year behind bars.
BERMAN: His family has released a statement this morning. Hear what they have to say, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:52:00] BERMAN: New this morning, Oscar Pistorius is out of prison after serving less than a year of his five-year sentence. He was moved to house arrest in South Africa. The Olympic blade runner was found guilty last year of culpable homicide in the shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Prosecutors are appealing that verdict. They claimed Pistorius should have been convicted of outright murder.
CNN international correspondent David McKenzie live in Pretoria in South Africa.
David, controversial this release, or I should say move to house arrest.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, that's right.
It is controversial and I suppose you follow this case. But it is within, John, the confines of South African law that after around five years sentencing, you can be released at about 1/6 of that sentence. That's what we have seen here. Oscar Pistorius has been removed from the prison cell. He's staying in a plush three-story mansion with his uncle now. So, not necessarily a punitive scenario, but he will be under strict conditions -- John.
BERMAN: What about Reeva Steenkamp's family? What is their reaction today? MCKENZIE: Well, they've reached out to us through their lawyer and
they say nothing can bring Reeva Steenkamp back, that they expected that Oscar Pistorius will be released. Interestingly, they say they would potentially be willing to meet with Oscar Pistorius face-to- face, that they could have some meeting, some kind of attempt at getting towards closure in this horrible case.
They say that Pistorius himself will have to initiate that meeting. And, in fact, restorative justice is very much part of the South African justice system. Pistorius was even paying the Steenkamps some kind of restitution during the course of that trial. But for now, he is very much under wraps, behind this wall, swapping a barbed wire fence for a security fence to keep us the media out. And certainly, we won't be seeing him I don't think anytime soon -- John.
BERMAN: I would not expect that.
David McKenzie for us in Pretoria, thanks so much, David.
ROMANS: All right. Fifty-four minutes past the hour.
Chip-based credit cards are supposed to be safer, right? Hackers are still finding a way to take advantage. How to avoid the latest scam designed to steal your identities, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:58:14] ROMANS: All right. Good morning, folks. Let's get an early start on your money this morning.
U.S. stock futures are down a bit. You know, there's a lot that could change that, though. We got earnings coming out this morning from Travelers, Verizon, a lot of others before the bell. You know, the Dow has climbed steadily recently. Three weeks of gains in a row, the longest winning streak since last year. You know, the Dow suffered its correction over the summer, but recent gains leave it just down 3.3 percent for the year.
The credit card industry making a change to chip-based technology. You've probably have noticed how you're putting the card in rather than swiping. But guess what? Scammers are already figuring out how to take advantage.
If you have not received your new card, watch out for this phishing scam. Hackers are sending e-mails pretending to be credit card companies, requesting personal information or offering a link to get your new chip-based card. The Federal Trade Commission warns do not trust links sent in e-mails, only interpersonal information your credit card company's Web site after typing the URL yourself. And if you are not sure, call the number on the back of your credit card, only on the number on the back of your credit card to get more information.
You are shaking your head. You'd be surprised how often --
BERMAN: That is why I stop responding to e-mails at all, right? You know, I don't care who's writing me, I don't respond because I think it's a phishing scam.
ROMANS: I thought you just didn't like people.
BERMAN: No.
ROMANS: There's that, too.
BERMAN: That's my excuse.
ROMANS: People are writing bigger checks, rent checks this year, especially those who live in Florida and California. I want to show these rent numbers. According to Rent Range, the steepest rent hikes were at Fort Myers, Florida, the average hike is 24 percent in the past year. Next is Sacramento at 18 percent. Also in the top five, Sarasota, Florida, San Francisco, and Charleston, South Carolina.
BERMAN: But Florida and California, both, they were in the dumps.
ROMANS: Oh, yes, yes.
BERMAN: -- during the recession, so they have a long way to come up.
ROMANS: Interest rates are very, very low right now, too. So, in some communities, it does make sense to figure out if it should be time to buy as long as the home affordability is in line.
BERMAN: And do not respond to any email.
ROMANS: Don't email Berman.
BERMAN: EARLY START continues right now.
