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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Jeb Fires Back in Feud with Trump; The Race for President: Will Biden Run?; Alleged CIA Hackers Speak to CNN; NFC East Battle: Giants Vs. Eagles. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired October 20, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: 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.

[05:00:06] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And do not respond to any email.

ROMANS: Don't email Berman.

BERMAN: EARLY START continues right now.

(MUSIC)

BERMAN: Overnight, Jeb Bush fighting back. The interview where he takes on Donald Trump head on. The fight over September 11th intensifies.

ROMANS: Will Biden run? The vice president said to be interviewing potential staff for his presidential campaign.

BERMAN: Were the heads of the CIA and Homeland Security hacked? The group claiming they have accessed secret emails, speaking to CNN. You'll be surprised who the man is who says he did this.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, October 20th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East. Nice to see you all this morning.

Let's begin with breaking news overnight. Jeb Bush firing back in his feud with Donald Trump over whether George W. Bush kept America 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 Trump does not understand the threats that face America around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: His view of history is just wrong. The simple fact is that 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: Earlier in the day, Trump fired off his own taunts, including a tweet that read this, "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."

There's more braking political news overnight. A new poll showing a high water mark for Trump. Trump led with his highest ever share in the NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll at 25 percent. Bush all the way down there 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: Our thanks to Sara Murray.

I do think Donald Trump will be on "NEW DAY" this morning. So, not dodging questions very long.

There's always another interview sometime soon for Donald Trump.

New signs this morning that Joe Biden may be close to announcing a run for president. A source close to Biden camp tells CNN the vice president's associates are setting up interviews for campaign jobs. Biden himself kept sort of tightlipped 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: Meeting on another matter for a long time.

ROMANS: Two hours.

BERMAN: What could it be?

All right. One House member set up a flurry of explanation. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania tweeted, "I have a very good source close to Joe that tells me VP Biden will run for prez." It's 2015, folks.

Biden would enter the race third in the polls behind Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Sanders on a campaign swing through Iowa.

Our 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.

[05:05:00] 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 Serfaty, thanks for that.

John, you covered five or six elections now? This is your sixth election?

BERMAN: I lost track. I'm so old.

ROMANS: Lost track, but think about the timing here for Joe Biden. He right now, not a declared candidate, is trailing Bernie Sanders in the polls.

BERMAN: Look, an interesting -- one of the most interesting numbers in our poll that came out yesterday morning was that fewer Democratic voters are actually supportive of a Biden run today than they were a month ago. That has dropped. Did he miss his moment?

ROMANS: Did he miss his moment? What I keep hearing, though, from people who want him to run is Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton in, what, 1992. It was late in the fall when he got in the race. But that was a different case, you say.

BERMAN: It was a different case. And it was never not running. It was just he officially announced in October. Everyone knew Bill Clinton was getting in, it wasn't like he was making a big decision where no one knew the outcome.

ROMANS: So, is there precedent for starting a run so late?

BERMAN: I mean, in the modern era? No. So, he is a sitting vice president. That comes with a huge amount of power and possibility to jump in.

It's impossible to know. This year is an unpredictable year. I mean, the Trump thing has thrown all of us for a loop. None of us would have predicted any of that. So, who knows at this point?

ROMANS: Up is down. Down is up. Night is day. Day is night. What a crazy, fun election --

BERMAN: And then there's Jim Webb.

ROMANS: Number six. Yes, in hours, we're going to know whether he is dropping out of the Democratic presidential derby in favor of an independent run. He has a news conference set for 1:00 p.m. Eastern. The former Virginia senator has been hovering near the bottom of the polls. You know, he spent much of his time, you might recall, at the Democratic debate complaining about how little time he was getting at the Democratic debate. So --

BERMAN: The FBI and Secret Service looking into claims of hack 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 that the hackers got any classified information from these 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: One out of ten.

This hacker told CNN he is a pot smoking American under the age of 22 who did all this to target the government and the police. The hackers have been tweeting information they claim to have gathered from the accounts. Sources have confirmed both Brennan's and Johnson's accounts were hacked, but CNN cannot independently verify the documents that have been leaked.

All right. Breaking news 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 last night. It looks like Trudeau's liberal party will win enough seats in the general election to form a majority government easily. This denies a fourth term for Harper.

This is a really big deal. Look, if you live in the U.S., you may not have been paying attention to this Canadian election. But this is a really big deal. A sea change in the country that's the biggest U.S. trading partner.

ROMANS: I did notice that "The Wall Street Journal", the very front page of "The Wall Street Journal", his kids are here with light sabers.

BERMAN: They are with light sabers, which shows U.S. hegemony over nations all around the world.

[05:10:03] ROMANS: Yes.

All right. Time for an early start on your money.

Asian shares closed mostly higher this morning. But, you know, European shares and U.S. stocks futures are down a little bit. Yesterday, stocks managed small gains.

One of the biggest winners, Weight Watchers. Weight Watchers shares more than doubled on news Oprah Winfrey took a 10 percent stake in that company, shares the weight loss company had been pummeled this year. Steep competition. Now, Oprah Winfrey, 10 percent stake in Weight Watchers.

United Continental Airlines tapping an acting CEO overnight. Now, the company CEO Oscar Munoz suffered a heart attack last week and is taking medical leave. This change comes only 41 days after Munoz himself took over after the quick exit of the previous CEO over favor trading allegations between the airlines and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. That's sort of the echo the bridgegate scandal.

Now, United's top lawyer Brett Hart will be in charge. United consistently ranks at the bottom for customer satisfaction and has had three acting CEOs essentially in just a little over a month.

BERMAN: Anger and fear in Israel. Residents on edge. The growing attacks on soldiers and citizens and now, the mistaken killing of a refugee. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Powerful lawmaker in Iran leveling allegations against detained "Washington Post" reporter Jason Rezaian. Rezaian was convicted of some kind of charges earlier this month.

[05:15:01] The Iranians claim he was spying in their nuclear program and feeding information to the State Department. Now, a high ranking member of Iran's parliament is also accusing Rezaian of collaborating with Iran's enemy. "The Washington Post" says these are just the latest ridiculous claims by hardliners.

ROMANS: Israeli police are launching an investigation into an ugly mob assault that left an innocent African man 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 the Arab attacker. An angry repeatedly stomped on the wounded victim while he laid bleeding the ground.

We want to go live to Jerusalem and bring in CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman.

And the story, Ben, is just heartbreaking in the last moments of this man's life.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christine, and as a result, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called upon Israelis not to take the law into their own hands and to allow the police to do their job. Now, the police have launched an investigation. What they're going to do is first conduct an autopsy on this 29-year-old Eritrean refugee to determine whether he died as a result of the gunshot fired by the security guard there or as a result of the kicking that he received from those onlookers, including in fact an Israeli soldier. And if it's found that he died as a result of the kicking and beating, they may face either manslaughter charges or murder charges.

Now on the diplomatic front, we are seeing a flurry of activity. Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. secretary-general, is coming today to Israel and to the Palestinian territories to meet with officials on both sides. Tomorrow, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will be meeting with the Israeli prime minister in Germany as well. And Secretary Kerry is also expected to meet with the leaders of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and king of Jordan, King Abdullah.

Now, one last bit of information. Within the last few hours, there's been -- we received reports from the Israeli army that a Palestinian south of Hebron tried stab an Israeli soldier during clashes in the area. The soldier was lightly wounded. The attacker, we're told, was shot dead -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Ben Wedeman for us, still very tense, tense days in Jerusalem. Thanks.

BERMAN: All right. Monday night football. Giants and Eagles, a key battle for control of the NFC East. Coy Wire with the highlights or lowlights coming up next.

ROMANS: By the year 2100, there could be more than 10 billion people living on the planet. Entrepreneur Elon Musk isn't worried about that. He says more people are necessary for civilization survival. But more people puts a strain on resources like clean water.

Rachel Crane looks at one possible solution.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA AND SPACEX: Last year was the lowest birth rate ever in Japan. Adult diapers outsell baby diapers. We did not evolve to this because we sort of evolved to just always procreate and it wasn't birth control or anything. The full brevity of this will become the issue for the next few decades.

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Because there are so many of us and few resources, there aren't always enough to go around. Water covers 71 percent of the planet, but we sometimes forget that 96.5 percent of that has salt in it.

JOHN WEBLEY, CEO, TREVI SYSTEMS: The first guy who ever use pore osmosis was a Frenchman making wine. He felt that he wanted to dilute his alcohol that he had to store. It was too strong. People couldn't drink it.

So, he took a pig's bladder and hung that in the room and osmosis would cause the water to flow through the pig's bladder. So, 1979, my technology was founded.

Seven billion people is just barely OK. Nine billion people, we're not going to make it. There's not enough food and enough water to sustain a population of 9 billion.

CRANE (on camera): Desalinating water is quite controversial because typically it's incredibly intensive. That's something you guys are taking on here, correct?

SOPHE WALEWIJK, PROJECT MANAGER, TREVI SYSTEM: Yes, but we (INAUDIBLE) osmosis, in saying instead of pushing the water with this amount of energy, let's draw it to the membrane, which is why we call a draw solution.

WEBLEY: Now, we don't get rid of all of the electricity. We get rid of, say, 3/4 of it. Ultimately, your water can be 30 to 40 percent cheaper and if we can show that, then I think the big guys get interested. Then when the big guys get interested, then this thing will start taking off.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:23:01] BERMAN: In case you missed it, before and after last night's full length "Star Wars" trailer, there was an actual NFL game.

ROMANS: Coy Wire has more on this morning's bleacher report.

Hey, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Good morning, Christine and John. I'm a Jedi want-to-be. A "Star Wars" geek, so I can understand all the love and excitement for this new "Star Wars" trailer. And we're going to give you a sneak peek in the bleacher report this morning.

But, first, let's catch up on last night's game. Eagles hosting the Giants. First quarter, both offenses playing sloppy like Joes. Sam Bradford uses the force on this touchdown pass to Riley Cooper. Coop, I am your quarterback.

Eli Manning and the Giants, man, that offense was Jabba the Hutt ugly. Manning threw two interceptions including this pick six and only to second.

New York and Philly combine for seven turnovers. Eagles win, 27-7. Both teams now tied at NFC East at 3-3.

To the American League Championship series. Blue Jays down two games, but Toronto fans hoping their empire strikes back against the Royals. First inning, Kevin Pillar in centerfield takes off like the millennium falcon in overdrive, goes bounty hunter, tracking that down that ball before crashing into the wall. He says we got this. Stay on target. Stay on target. Stay on target.

Then in the third, (INAUDIBLE) with the no digitty, no doubter. Say bye-bye. Johnny Quetto (ph), that's out of here. A three-run shot.

Blue Jays go on to win, 11-8, feeling good, feeling great. Toronto cuts KC's lead two games to one. Game four is later at 4:00 Eastern.

Then the Cubs trying not to get blown up like Alderaan by the Mets, that's at 8:00 Eastern on TBS. Mets lead two games to none in that series.

Then, as we promised, a small sample of the full length trailer for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" which debuted at halftime on the Monday night football game. Roll it.

("STAR WARS" TRAILER)

[05:25:11] WIRE: Now, guys, I'm not going to lie to goosebumps. Advanced tickets went on sale during the game as it aired and crashed online ticket sites. This is coming out December 18th. Cannot wait.

I have to ask a series question, though. Halloween's just around the corner, guys. I'm thinking of going Princess Leia rocking the Double Man Bun. What do you think?

ROMANS: I want to go as Han Solo actually.

BERMAN: So, you could do a thing.

ROMANS: Maybe we could go to a party together.

BERMAN: That is awesome. You would be such a handsome couple.

WIRE: Guys, may the force be with you. ROMANS: You're going to wear -- why would you choose Jabba the Hutt

slave. You should go with that one. I like that look on you.

BERMAN: All right. Coy Wire, thanks for bringing it this morning, my friend.

WIRE: You are welcome.

ROMANS: All right. Jeb Bush firing back at Donald Trump in an interview. The feud intensifying overnight. Details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Insults flying in the race for president. Jeb Bush firing back at Donald Trump in a new interview overnight.

BERMAN: Joe Biden. Is he already staffing a presidential campaign? We have new information overnight, coming up.

ROMANS: Hackers claim they have accessed e-mails belonging to the CIA and Homeland Security heads. They're speaking. Those hackers speaking to CNN.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. About 30 minutes past the hour right now.

And breaking overnight: Jeb Bush fires back in his feud with Donald Trump over whether George W. Bush kept America safe or bears responsibility for the September 11th attacks.