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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

ISIS Affiliate Claims Responsibility on Russian Jet Crash; St. Petersburg. Russia in Mourning; GOP Debate Meeting Ends with Modest Goals; Wreckage Similar in Size to El Faro Found; Kansas City Royals Wins World Series; Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired November 02, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:04] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: And shoppers can scan products in store with their phones to add to their wish list.

I don't mean to sound like a curmudgeon. I do like shopping out there. It's just that, you know, it gets so crowded.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Right.

KOSIK: And everybody kind of gets kind of mean.

MARQUEZ: Well, I'm sure you're going to be able to get through there for my gifts. I have several -- a list that I'll share with you.

KOSIK: All right. I'll get that.

MARQUEZ: OK. EARLY START continues right now.

KOSIK: Happening now, investigators trying to determine what brought down a plane from the skies over Egypt. The airliner coming apart in mid air en route to Russia. We have what officials are saying and what grieving families are demanding at this hour.

MARQUEZ: And the Republican candidates taking charge. Campaigns laying down the law on future debates, or at least trying to, after last week's GOP outrage at CNBC. We'll show you what the campaigns agree on and what they don't.

KOSIK: And they're celebrating in Kansas City. The Royals, world champions. A gutsy performance to finish off another come-from-behind win over the Mets. We've got all the highlights from Queens.

Good morning. And welcome to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.

MARQUEZ: Good Monday morning to you. It is November 2nd, 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast.

Crash investigators trying to determine this morning what brought down a Russian passenger jet killing all 224 people on board. The Metrojet Flight operated by Kogalymavia Airlines crashed Saturday 20 minutes into a flight from an Egyptian report to St. Petersburg. Russian officials now say the plane's fuselage disintegrated mid air, scattering debris across eight square miles in a remote part of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. The cause of the crash is still unknown. Was it technical with the 18-year-old Airbus jet? Could it have been a terror attack?

For the latest on the search for answers, let's bring in CNN's Ian Lee. He is live in Cairo.

Ian, Sharm el Sheikh, a very well known tourist destination. Security certainly good there. What are they saying so far?

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miguel, we just finished a press conference by Metrojet. Listening in on that. And what they're saying right now is that they reject the possibility of a technical fault on the plane saying that if this plane disintegrated in the air like the Russian officials said that it wouldn't have done it unless there was some sort of external or outside force. The planes just don't disintegrate like that. So really, this raises a lot more questions than it gives answers. Where you have the Egyptian officials saying that this was a mechanical issue. But we also heard this from the co-pilot's ex-wife. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATALYA TRUKHACHEVA, EX-WIFE OF CO-PILOT SERGEI TRUKACHEV (Through Translator): Our daughter had a telephone chat with him just before the flight. He complained before the flight that one could wish for better technical condition of the plane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: So Metrojet saying that the plane was in flying condition. That there wasn't any technical problems. You have the Egyptians saying that they believe it was a technical issue. The other possibility is a terrorist attack. Now this comes from ISIS in the Sinai Peninsula claiming responsibility.

We know, though, that they do not have the weapons to take down a jet cruising at over 30,000 feet. The other possibility could be a bomb on board. Really we do not know. No one knows what is responsible. We are waiting for the information from those black boxes. They are in Cairo right now. There are teams going over them, going over the voice data as well as the data from the sensors.

We're expecting more information from that. If they are in fact, in good condition. Now that is going to be crucial to this investigation. But also still, investigators on the crash site looking for clues there as well -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: That contradictory information between the Egyptians and the airline, worrying developments. Ian Lee for us in Cairo. Thank you.

KOSIK: And in Russia, a city is in mourning. In St. Petersburg, a plane landed carrying the remains of 144 victims of the Metrojet Flight 9268 crash. A second transport plane expected to depart Cairo around midday Eastern Time.

And this haunting photo that you see here spreading on social media this morning. And as you can see it shows a 10-month-old girl, Darina Gromova, in St. Petersburg just before she and her parents boarded their plane to Egypt. All three perished on that return flight. At St. Petersburg Airport, a makeshift memorial has sprung up. Piles of flowers, candles and children's toys.

And that's where we find CNN's Nic Robertson joining us now.

It's so heartbreaking to see that photo first of all, and then you think about all those people on board. They were coming back from a vacation. And no one, no one expected it to end this way. Tell us more about who was on board.

[05:05:12] NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, 25 children were on board this plane. People that we've seen coming here to this memorial through the day over the past couple of days are looking for answers. They seem shocked. We've seen children coming here laying their favorite toys. You know, as we stand here now, more people are coming to lay flowers. This is a continual procession of people coming here.

There's been an outpouring of sympathy and support because so many people here recognize that it could have been them on board that flight, that people of St. Petersburg here, they -- the families had gone off to get some -- you know, some holiday sunshine. It's beginning to get cold here for the winter. Also a concern because quite a number of parents had gone on this trip to Sharm el Sheikh, had left their young children with relatives here, that now quite a number of orphans have been created by this plane disaster.

And this is really striking an emotional chord here. So many of the people we see coming here, standing openly weeping, trying to figure out what precisely took place. And there are things that they're beginning to hear, hearing from Metrojet, the plane company, this morning, are going to be even more just quieting a question from the plane now, how did the aircraft break apart in the air? People here are going to be asking that question now, too.

KOSIK: And hopefully those black boxes can at least lend some answers to all of these questions.

Nic Robertson, thanks so much.

MARQUEZ: Republican presidential candidates trying to seize more control of the TV debate process from networks and the Republican Party itself. Meeting last night face-to-face for the first time but this morning, the campaigns have precious little agreement on key issues. A source inside the meeting tells CNN's Manu Raju, the campaigns will take over negotiations with host networks on the debate format, seeking a two-hour time limit and 30 seconds for opening and closing statements, among other things.

The RNC will continue to handle basic debate logistics. The campaigns will push for earlier information on debate moderators and whether candidates will get equal speaking time. Among the points where no agreement was reached, CNN's source says lower polling candidates want two debates perhaps split between equal numbers of randomly selected candidates and the Bush campaign wants Telemundo restored as a debate co-sponsor, while the Trump campaign says it would boycott the debate if that happens. Got that straight?

KOSIK: I think so. But just to get more clarification, let's go to talk more about this, all the latest political headlines going on.

Eric Bradner, CNN Digital reporter, you know, we talk about all of these details about how the next debates are going to be structured. To many people, voters listening to this, it is whiney and back-room deal-ey feeling, isn't it?

ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICS DIGITAL REPORTER: Right. Yes, absolutely. Yes. This is something that most voters are not going to be paying attention to. It's not really going to be on their radar. But this is most interesting for the Republican National Committee which really tried to take control over a process that four years ago was really unwieldy. The RNC entered this cycle saying, OK, we're not going to allow like the dozens of debates, we're not going to allow this to get out of control. We're going to organize this and play key role.

And now the campaigns are basically telling the RNC, no, you're not. Right? They're saying that they want to have more influence over how debates are structured, over the conversations with the networks. And so it's really a sidelining of the party organization and infrastructure. And that's actually kind of an interesting extra bit of what we're seeing this year with these outsider candidates really getting a lot of traction, right, with insider established party figures struggling to get oxygen in this election cycle.

MARQUEZ: Well, that's exactly it, Eric. You have so many candidates looking for different things as well, and the Republican Party trying to present this unified vision of the Republican Party. I mean, is it possible that we will either have very few debates or really weird debates going forward? They're so important.

BRADNER: Yes -- no, both are totally possible at this point. Right. After the CNBC debate, the campaigns and the RNC basically said OK, we want nothing to do with NBC coming up in February. Now it looks like that could get back on track, but there are so many different splits among the candidates. Little things they all disagree over. You just highlighted one great example. Telemundo with Trump saying, you know, I'm not going to participate in the debate in which they are a partner.

[05:10:02] And Jeb Bush, who obviously is trying to appeal to Latino voters who sees immigration reform as a key issue for Republicans to sort of expand their brand nationally, saying, look, we need Telemundo involved.

So -- so yes, I mean, there are all of these splits with the campaigns. Already sort of walking up to the ledge saying, OK, we're going to get together and try to work through these things ourselves. They had that meeting. They didn't agree on a ton, although there were some broader points that they did talk about and try to agree on.

It's entirely possible that this split could worsen if more debates sort of go along the lines of last week's in which a lot of the candidates were very frustrated that they didn't have opportunities to sort of make all of their points or interrupted by moderators. Didn't really feel like they had control over the opportunity to sort of deliver their messages.

KOSIK: All right. Let's switch gears to other political headlines that happened over the weekend. Paul Ryan really just getting in there already in his new position. Slamming the president on immigration. I want to first show you what he said to CNN's Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you see any future for actually getting that done? And why did you make that promise if you want to do this idea?

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Because this president tried to write the law himself. This president went beyond his separation of powers to try and write the law. Presidents don't write the laws. Congress writes laws. This president tried to go around Congress, unilaterally write the immigration law. So specifically on this issue, you cannot trust this president on this issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: OK, so it's not feeling like Kumbaya. I got the feeling that when Paul Ryan got into this position it was going to be a little better. But I'm not seeing that from this interview.

BRADNER: Well, no. And obviously Paul Ryan is going to have to represent conservatives who are quite frustrated with President Obama, had been for a long time, and are looking for someone who can effectively deliver sort of the opposing message. That's something that Paul Ryan is good at. That's why he was one of the few -- one of the small handful of qualified candidates for speaker, is that he's able to do interviews like that and sort of represent the conservative point of view.

But I think it's worth pointing out that these two, President Obama and Paul Ryan, collaborated fairly recently on negotiations over a bill to fast track a big free trade deal. That is something that passed with bipartisan support in the face of opposition for both parties just a few months ago. So that's evidence that there is not this total freeze between them. It's possible they could find some avenues to work together and to make progress. But as Paul Ryan made clear, it's not going to be on everything, it's not going to be on the most contentious issues that President Obama hasn't been unable to solve for years here in these last few months in office.

MARQUEZ: Eric Bradner, for us, you have a busy day today it sounds like and a busy 15 months. A busier 15 months. Good luck, my friend.

BRADNER: Thank you.

KOSIK: All right. Time for an EARLY START on your money. Asian stocks are lower. A new survey shows China's factory activity slowed for a third month in a row. European stocks and U.S. stock futures at the moment bouncing back from earlier losses.

A little perspective for you, though. Stocks have been on fire lately. On Friday, stocks closed their best month in four years. The Dow climbed 1500 points in October. The S&P 500 shot up more than 8 percent. And the markets seem to have brushed off fears that sent stocks tumbling just a few months ago. Talking about China's slowdown, the Fed's looming rate hike, that all kind of spooked the market.

But in reality, those threats are still there. And corporate profits, they haven't exactly wowed Wall Street. Sure, there have been highlights, but profits are still on track for their first back-to- back decline since 2009. And actually you look at a lot of consumer companies, they're raising red flags.

MARQUEZ: Mixes signals out there.

Now a shipwreck found at the bottom of the Atlantic. And officials suspect it's the cargo ship that went missing during Hurricane Joaquin. We will tell you why they think that, coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:17:10] KOSIK: Investigators are convinced they've located the wreckage of the cargo ship El Faro 15,000 feet down off the coast of the Bahamas. The ship vanished during Hurricane Joaquin. 33 crew members on board lost. The question is, can the ship be retrieved?

We get more now from CNN's Sara Ganim.

SARA GANIM, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Miguel and Alison, a new development in the search for El Faro. Officials believe they may have spotted it using sonar technology. They saw these images on Saturday, a ship about that size in the location where El Faro was last seen off the coast of the Bahamas.

It's resting about three miles down on the ocean floor upright and intact as far as they can tell. So now investigators of the NTSB and the U.S. Navy are going to deploy this underwater drone, this submarine with cameras to make sure with 100 percent certainty that it is the El Faro.

Of course family members of the 33 crew members who, for the last month, have been dealing with not just the loss of loved ones, but also a lack of answers are very hopeful that this will bring some much needed closure.

Barry Young is the relative of one of those crew members. He said he'd like to see the ship retrieved from the ocean floor. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARRY YOUNG, RELATIVE OF EL FARO CREWMEMBER: If they can pull it up, which I know is kind of not an easy situation with the depth there. We hope that something, if nothing else, something can bring us some closure. To have Sean brought back home. By whatever state it is. We would like to see him brought back home.

The one thing that every parent, every loved one, every family members stated that Wednesday when they said they were suspending the search, they all wanted to find their loved one. Whether they were alive or not. They wanted to have them home. That was their main objective.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GANIM: Now to be clear, the NTSB saying that they have no plans at this point to remove the ship from the ocean. But they say that if they do find human remains, that efforts will be made to bring those back home.

Now also, you know, this process of positively identifying the ship could take up to 15 days. And that's in good weather conditions. If the conditions are less than ideal, it could take longer than that -- Miguel and Alison.

KOSIK: OK, Sara Ganim, thanks for that.

MARQUEZ: And it was a three-decade wait in old Kansas City. And it came to an epic conclusion.

KOSIK: Better late than never.

MARQUEZ: Yes. For the Royals, the Kansas City Royals, world champs. How did they finish off the Mets? Andy Scholes is coming up with the "Bleacher Report." There he is. That handsome devil. He'll be up coming up next.

[05:20:00]

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MARQUEZ: The Kansas City Royals. They're wearing the crown. World champs.

KOSIK: Yes.

MARQUEZ: For the first time in 30 years. Andy Scholes has more on the epic comeback in Game Five in this morning's "Bleacher Report."

Andy, hello there.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Yes, good morning, guys. You know, this Royals team. What can you say about them other than they're just relentless. Just when you think they are down and out in a game, they always find a way to make a comeback.

The Royals are the first team ever to win three games in the World Series in which they trailed in the eighth inning or late. In Game 5 was the best comeback yet. Matt Harvey was pitching at max speed and he told manager Terry Collins he was staying in this game to pitch the ninth. Well, in the ninth, Eric Hosmer with a double to left. This would make it 2-1, Harvey would then leave the game. And this next play is the one Mets are going to remember for a long time. On the groundout, Hosmer bolts for home and Lucas Duda's throw is

wide. That ties the game at 2. It would go to extra innings. And in the 12th, Christian Colon, in his first post-season at bat, singles in Jared Dyson. That gives the Royals the lead. And the floodgates had opened from there. KC wins 7-2. Catcher Salvador Perez, your World Series MVP.

And CNN's Rachel Nichols was in the champagne party in the clubhouse. And she caught up with Eric Hosmer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: When you're making that run from third, that changes everything. What are you aware of as you're just heading toward home plate?

ERIC HOSMER, ROYALS FIRST BASEMAN: I don't know. I think when I first decided to go home, I thought it was a big mistake. But I couldn't turn back at that point. You've got to just figure out a way to get there and day in and day out.

[05:25:09] You know, regular season, and even on to this post season, we just always find a way to get ourselves back in and something. Always find a way to get the job done. And you know, just really no other way the World Series could end, without us making a comeback there late in the game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: It was a wild Sunday in the NFL. The night cap featuring two undefeated teams. The Broncos and Packers. And this one wasn't close to the record. The Broncos racking up more than 500 yards of offense. On their way to a 29-10. Denver now 7-0. For the first time since 1998, that year moving on to win the Super Bowl.

I mean, the most entertaining game maybe ever, Eli Manning threw a career high six touchdowns against the Saints and lost. Drew Breese topped Eli by tying the NFL's single game record with seven touchdown passes. The 13 combined touchdown passes were the most in league history for a single game. The teams combined for a total of 101 points. That ties for the third highest single games total ever. The Saints ended up winning this one, 52-49, on the questionable penalty at the end of the game.

And guys, if you're walking around New York this morning and see a lot of grumpy faces, because the Mets lost the World Series, the Giants lost that epic game right there. And the jets also lost to the Raiders. It's just not a very good Sunday for New York sports fans.

MARQUEZ: Thanks, Andy.

KOSIK: Yes. I'm going to watch my toes because they're going to go to step on my toes first.

MARQUEZ: You watch yourself in New York now, Andy. That's it. We're on to you. SCHOLES: Yes. I'll wear sunglasses.

MARQUEZ: All right.

The remains of victims starting to arrive back in Russia following this weekend's plane crash in Egypt. Now officials have a key piece of information that could help determine what brought that plane down. We'll tell you about it coming up.

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