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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Carson Builds Momentum As Trump Falls; Violent Student Arrest: Will the Officer Be Fired?; World Series Drama; White House Considers ISIS Strategy Change. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired October 28, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Twitter added just 3 million new users in the past quarter, issued a sluggish outlook going forward. So Twitter shares, those are down this morning in pre market trade.

EARLY START continues right now.

(MUSIC)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just hours from now, debate in Colorado. Donald Trump and the new GOP front runner, according to one poll, Ben Carson, they will face off. How will this new dynamic affect the race?

ROMANS: A decision coming today. Will the officer caught on camera here, body slamming a student, will he be fired?

BERMAN: And then World Series drama. A four-minute blackout, a 14- inning game. A bonkers game one matchup between the Royals and the Mets. There is a hint, who came out on top?

ROMANS: When you woke up, honestly, the game was still going on?

BERMAN: The game was still going on, crazy.

ROMANS: That's a sad schedule.

BERMAN: How pathetic I am and how awesome the game was, right?

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

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is Wednesday, October 28. It's 5:01 in the East.

In just hours, Republican candidates take the stage for a crucial debate the very first one with Ben Carson on top in a national poll. The neurosurgeon jumped ahead of Donald Trump, Donald Trump, in a new CBS/"New York Times" poll. He now leads by 4 points.

OK. That is within the margin of error. That was enough to put Donald Trump in uncharted territory, campaigning in Iowa on the defensive. Donald Trump on the defensive. CNN's Sara Murray was there. She has the latest for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.

Donald Trump showed up here in Sioux City, Iowa, yesterday, with some more bad news from the latest polls. A new CBS/"New York Times" poll shows Donald Trump is trailing Dr. Ben Carson by 4 percent nationwide. It comes after a string of polls show Trump is also behind here in Iowa. Now, Trump took the stage here on the Hawkeye States, pressing his supporters to work even harder and said he's not giving up on victory here.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: From the time I announced, I've been at the top of the polls, almost at the top -- you know, we're doing well. Iowa, will you get your numbers up, please?

(APPLAUSE)

Would you get these numbers up? I promise you, I will do such a good job.

MURRAY: Trump also took a couple swipes at Carson last night, basically saying he couldn't believe his competition. All this, of course, is going to come to a head on the debate stage in Boulder tonight. This is the debate where Trump's campaign really feels like the candidate is in his wheel house. It's focused on economic and policy issues and Trump can put a spotlight on his business record, something he believes will shine when he's up head to head against Ben Carson.

Back to you, John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right, Sara. Thanks so much. So, what does all this mean for the Republican race? A big debate tonight.

Here to break it all down for us, Eric Bradner, CNN politics digital reporter.

Eric, great to see you.

ROMANS: Good morning.

ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICS DIGITAL REPORTER: Good morning.

BERMAN: Way different dynamic tonight. You know, Ben Carson, all of a sudden on top. One poll, one poll, but it's a lot different tan we've seen before in terms of Donald Trump. How do you think this will change things tonight?

BRADNER: Yes, absolutely. I mean, Donald Trump is one who pegged his entire campaign to these high poll numbers, to the idea that he's in first place, and now for the first time using his own measurement, he is threatened.

So, he's attacked other candidates without any hesitation before, but now, Ben Carson who is an outsider, who doesn't have the sort of political backgrounds that Trump could alack like someone like Jeb Bush is actually beating him. So, it will be a fascinating clash of styles with Trump really needing to find a way to go after Carson to sort of draw Carson into a debate while Carson has shown no willingness whatsoever to engage with other candidates, to really bash another opponent it's just not his style. In debates, he's sort of a subdued presence.

And so, everybody will be watching Trump versus Carson, but the question is whether Carson is willing to play along.

ROMANS: Well, Carson versus everyone, too, because you got people out here who have very detailed economic plans, this will be the content of this debate will be a lot about money, a lot about taxes, a lot about the economy.

Is that a weak spot for Ben Carson who isn't really known for his, you know, big think on the economy and pocketbook economics?

BRADNER: Sure. He struggles at times when he is pressed on policy issues sort of presented with previous statements and asked to explain them, asked to translate some of his particularly religious stump speech type leanings into actual policies to get past Congress.

So, he will be prepared, but this is a candidate who does struggle to sort of take this great energy from the stump and translate it into one minute, 90 second bites.

[05:05:06] And so, yes, it will be the biggest challenge yet for Ben Carson to have the kind of spotlight he hasn't had on him before in tonight's debate. So -- and you can bet that not just Trump but another candidates who realize if you --

ROMANS: Kasich, too, I bet.

BRADNER: Right, right. R50i9. If you add these two together, you are looking at, no matter how they shake out, 50 percent of the Republican electorates, supporting either Trump or Carson, if you are someone like John Kasich who has a history of House budget chairman, you know you've got to find a way to chip into those numbers, somehow, whether it's Trump or Carson or both of them.

BERMAN: You talk about John Kasich right there. We have John Kasich byte. Kasich was on the stump yesterday, and he basically says he's fed up with the proposals tossed around by some of the Republican candidates. He basically means Trump and Ben Carson. Let's listen for a second to what John Kasich said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So I want you to know, I'm fed up. I am sick and tired of listening to this nonsense and I'm going to have to call it like it is, as long as I'm in this race.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You just heard John Kasich right there. Let's talk about some of the other people in the mainstream lane like Jeb Bush. Does Jeb Bush need to get out there tonight and essentially say he's fed up? Does he need to make a stand tonight as he's cut back on his staff, cutback in the polling?

BRADNER: Yes. I mean, we're talking about, you know, a little more than three months before voters go to the polls in Iowa for the caucuses there. So, it is getting to a crucial stage in the race. Yes, it's not just John Kasich -- I mean, Lindsey Graham yesterday sort of threw his hands up and said he has no idea what's going on him he can't believe that he's behind some of these outsider candidates like Trump and Carson.

But, yes, if you are Jeb Bush, you are sort of past the stage now where you can say, OK, we're building for the long term. We're raising money, keeping quiet. Jeb Bush is facing a threat not just from Trump and Carson, but from Marco Rubio, this fellow Floridian who is increasingly emerging as sort of establishment favorite, someone who perhaps doesn't have the baggage of Jeb Bush in part because he's only been in national politics for a few years.

And so, if you are Jeb Bush or John Kasich or someone like that, you have to find a way to prove that your political experience gives you value to someone like Marco Rubio doesn't have.

ROMANS: Well, Carly Fiorina has to get back on the radar again. You know, Carly Fiorina had an op-ed in "Wall Street Journal" yesterday, going after the other woman in the race, Hillary Clinton on the economy. You know, she's got to get back on the radar and try to you know show people she ran a company, and that she can run a country.

BERMAN: She can stay there, though, she can debate. She has to prove she can stick around after the debates, too.

BRADNER: Yes, Carly Fiorina is a fascinating sort of test case for how far a great debate performance can carry you, right? Because she is facing all these challenges, explaining her record as CEO of Hewlett Packard, it sound like she is sort of getting back to basics, going after Hillary Clinton him she sort of has been the Republican designated hitter against Hillary Clinton early on in the race. That's what sort of got her some notoriety on some people's radars in the first place.

So, that's an avenue she feels comfortable if, but, yes, she's going to find a way to make this stick, translate it into fundraising success, organizational success, and also answer to serve these Hewlett-Packard related challenges that Donald Trump is happy to make in the context of a debate.

BERMAN: Quickly, Hillary Clinton, with Stephen Colbert overnight. You may admit if you were all sleeping or watching baseball, and she was asked to sort of weigh in on the Republican race. Let's listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I say one or the other, it might influence some people and I don't want to have any influence on it. I want them to go through whatever here process is, because if I am fortunate enough to be the nominee, I want to run hard against whichever Republican is up there.

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW": But you can picture either one in the offense, right? You can picture either one of those guys?

(LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: Well, I can picture them in some office.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I teed that up poorly. She was asked who she would rather face or what she thinks of Ben Carson and Donald Trump. That was her answer there.

It's kind of interesting to see her with Colbert last night, though, Eric.

BRADNER: Yes, absolutely. So Hillary Clinton doesn't really want to weigh in on Trump versus Carson, she loves any time the Republican debate is Trump versus Carson. If you are a Democrat, you are probably more concerned with running against someone with more political experience like Marco Rubio or John Kasich, perhaps, or Jeb Bush, who is obviously a fundraising behemoth. So, Trump versus Carson, if you are a Democrat, you just sort of want to see them collect a bunch of, you know, nasty back and forth and see if they gaffe.

[05:10:04] You know, see if you can add a bunch of tape to your collection to roll out in a general election.

BERMAN: Eric Bradner, great to have you with us. Thank you so much. In many ways, the debate tonight is really just a pre-game. The real excitement will come after "ANDERSON COOPER 360." We will wrap it up. Talk about who did well, who did poorly. What facts were not so factual.

A special "ANDERSON COOPER 360" tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

All right. Game one of the World Series last night. This was bonkers. The Royals, that I outlasted the Mets in 14 innings. A lot of tired baseball fans going to work this morning.

ROMANS: Yes, I'll say.

Andy Scholes joins us with more.

Hi, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, guys.

You know, this was the second longest World Series game ever. Took five minutes, five hours and nine minutes to complete. This game, it really did have it all, including a power outage that knocked the broadcast off the air. And bottom of the 4th inning, this game was delayed for about six minutes when FOX's broadcast truck lost power after conferring with Joe Torre, the Mets and Royals, they agreed to continue the game without instant replay. Viewers only missed one batter before Fox took the international scene.

Royals picture Edinson Volquez, he is pitching with a very heavy heart. According to ESPN, while on his way to the ballpark, Volquez found out his father passed away. He allowed three runs and six innings before leaving the game in the stadium to be with his family.

Now, bottom of the night, the Mets threw out a way from a win when Alex Gordon takes Jeurys Familia deep to tie this game. The 1st run given up all season. We go to extra inning. Bottom of the 14, this is a play that Mets fans are still shaking their heads about. David Wright, a throwing error allows Alcides Escobar to get on base.

Three batters later, Eric Hosmer would come to the plate and he would hit a sacrifice fly. That's your winning run. Royals take a wild game one by the final score of 5-4.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NED YOST, ROYALS MANAGER: It was a great night. Two things you don't want in game one of the World Series, and one of them is to go 14 innings. The other one is to lose.

ALEX GORDON, ROYALS LEFT FIELDER: We always feel like we can come back and either make eight game or win the game. So, now, I think that speaks for team chemistry. We pull together. We are fighting for one thing and that's to get the W.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Game two will be tonight at 8:00 Eastern. Mets going to throw Jacob deGrom, Royals countering with Johnny Quetto. And guys not to be a downer for the Mets, but 17 of the last 21 winners have gone on to win the World Series, including the last five. So, Mets is going to have to buck that trend if they want to come back.

ROMANS: Stats are meant to be broken, weren't they?

BERMAN: That's what they say.

Thanks, Andy. Appreciate it.

SCHOLES: All right.

ROMANS: All right. Twelve minutes past the hour.

Sheriff defending his employee, the officer caught in camera in a violent student arrest. What he said the video didn't show, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:16:02] ROMANS: In just a few hours in South Carolina, the Richland County sheriff will decide whether Officer Ben Fields can keep his job. Fields is the school resource officer caught on video throwing a high school student to the ground, pulling her from her chair.

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, the FBI and U.S. attorney in South Carolina, they have agreed to look into the events surrounding this arrest.

We are also now hearing from other students who are in that classroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIYA KENNY, STUDENT: We've heard about his reputation. We heard he is a really, I don't want to say -- yes, I don't want to say dangerous man to get involved with, you know, on that level. So when he came into the classroom, I immediately told my classmates, get your phones out, get your phones out, I think this is going to go downhill and they did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: CNN Miguel Marquez has more for us -- Miguel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, Christine, an emotional day here in Columbia, South Carolina, with people and parents of students coming to grips with this video. It's really shocking a lot of people in this area.

A board meeting was held last night and most of the parents who attended that board didn't express a lot of anger. But some did. They were as particularly angry about that relationship across the country between police officer and the African community.

They also talk about the church shooting here in South Carolina earlier in the year. That's so very fresh in people's minds. They see this video in that context now and it is really created a lot of anger, a lot of fear, that if board and the sheriff doesn't deal with this in a direct way, there are going to be consequences.

So far, we have seen none of that sort of angry protest in this episode. The sheriff here has very quick to respond, calling for an independent investigation, which the FBI is now going to do, and even say that in 24 hours, he will have a decision on Deputy Fields' fate.

LEON LOTT, RICHLAND COUNTY SHERIFF: This is something not only people at Richland County but the world wants to know what's going to happen to him. Is he going to be deployed or is he going to be terminated? I think I want everybody to make a very quick decision but also be fair and do a thorough investigation. That's what we have done. DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Can you tell us which way you are leaning?

LOTT: No. Really, I don't think that's proper for me to describe which way I'm leaning at this point. I think the video is very explicit, that's probably pretty much speaks for itself.

MARQUEZ: One other thing the sheriff said during that press conference. It came as a bit of a surprised, there has been allegations that this was racially motivated. The sheriff said, look, we've never seen that sort of behavior out of this officer. I've never seen this out of this deputy, and I just want to tell you all, he's had a long-term relationship with an African-American woman. So, if it would cut either way, said this sheriff, I don't think it would cut in the favor of a young woman that this deputy is accused of assaulting -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Miguel Marquez, thank you for that.

BERMAN: All right. The United States considering a new strategy in the battle against ISIS in Syria. The possibility being considered of some U.S. boots on the ground. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Defense Secretary Ash Carter is signaling a change in military strategy in the fight against ISIS. Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee the U.S. is considering a stepped up assault in Iraq and Syria, which could include American boots on the ground. In there we won't hold back from supporting partners in opportunistic attacks or conducting such

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASH CARTER, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We won't hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL, or conducting such missions directly, whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The White House has yet to decide on its options for ramping up the campaign against ISIS.

BERMAN: A major shift, the U.S. and its allies inviting Iran to take part for the first time if talks over Syria's future. Officials say the Iranians have yet to apply. Iran has backed the Assad regime throughout Syria's four-year civil war. The next rounds of diplomatic talks is scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Vienna. Secretary of state John Kerry and Prime Minister Lavrov will be there. Will the Iranians?

Major action on Capitol Hill today. House Republican leaders scrambling to lock down enough votes to pass a bipartisan budget agreement reached between outgoing Speaker John Boehner, congressional Democrats and the White House. House leaders believe or at least they hope there are enough votes to pass this bill as soon as today. It's a serious opposition from Republicans. Some Republicans feel the speaker gave too much.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's an actual bipartisan compromised, which hasn't been happening in Washington a lot lately.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The agreement isn't perfect by any means. But the alternative was a clean debt ceiling increase, without any additional support for our troops and without any entitlement reforms. So, this is a good deal.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's hard for me not to use profanity in describing it. It's a bill that shows careless disregard for debt. It will raise the debt with no limit. It basically is a blank check to the president and to Congress to raise as much money and spend as much money you want through March 2017.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Senator Rand Paul says he will filibuster this bill if and when it reaches the Senate.

[05:25:02] Also today, House Republicans expected to nominate Paul Ryan to be the next speaker. Ryan was not directly involved in negotiations over the budget deal. He says the secretive backroom process to reach the agreement, quote, "stinks", although he would benefit greatly if it's all done by the time he hits the gavel.

ROMANS: Yes.

All right. Time for an early stock on your money this morning.

Asian stocks closed lower. European stocks, U.S. stocks looked a little bit higher. But, you know, the Fed meets today, the Federal Reserve meets today. That could drive things here.

No interest rate hike is expected today, but we're going to get a red from the Fed on the U.S. economy and that could give us any clues if an increase is likely in December. There have been some cracks in the U.S. economy, the industrial side of the U.S. economy in the last couple of months. So, we want to know what the fed says about that.

A giant pharmacy merger, folks, Walgreens is buying Rite Aid. This is a $17.2 billion deal. It creates the country's biggest pharmacy, 13,000 stores in the U.S. At least in the early going, Rite Aid would keep its name on all of those branches initially. Then would be converted to Walgreens store overtime, more consolidation in health care as the industry adjusts to the Affordable Care Act and an aging population. The deal will still have to pass anti-trust review.

BERAMN: All right. Big day in politics, big debate tonight. Now a new leader according to one poll. How will Donald Trump deal with it now that Ben Carson is ahead? We'll break down the new development, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: In just hours, Republicans running for president take the debate stage. Ben Carson, Donald Trump, ahead of the pack.