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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Carson Blasts Media Questions; Russian Officials Making Airport Security Suggestions in Egypt; Six-Year-Old Victim Laid to Rest in Mississippi; Black Mizzou Football Players Protest University President; Obama and Netanyahu to Meet Today. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired November 09, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:03] ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik in for Christine Romans.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman. 30 minutes past the hour right now. This morning, there is new criticism of the media from Ben Carson. The Republican candidate is pushing back against reporting that scrutinizes stories he has told about his past, particularly his time as a young man. The key part of Carson's personal narrative is he said he was violent when he was younger until he found god which transformed his life.

Campaigning in Puerto Rico, Carson offered a point-by-point rebuttal to some of the reporting by "Politico", "The Wall Street Journal", and also CNN. A CNN investigation could not corroborate several of Carson's stories, including a description of punching a classmate in the face when he once had his hand wrapped around a lock.

KOSIK: Donald Trump having a very different kind of weekend. He hosted "Saturday Night Live", an appearance which got good ratings but not so great reviews. There he is, dancing. He also sang; that was to a Drake song. Sunday morning he was back in the swing of things, taking swings at his opponents on Sunday morning.

Let's bring in Zach Wolf. He's the managing editor of CNNpolitics.com. Let's start with Ben Carson and the kind of weekend he had. You know, it just feels like things are kind of melting down for him and it kind of shows in what he said. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The kind of investigations that were done, talking to the wrong people, not going to Wilson Junior High School where the lock incident occurred, but talking to other people saying, see? I mean, that's just stupid. And if our media is no better at investigating than that, it's sick.

The burden of proof is not going to be on me to corroborate everything that I ever talked about in my life. Because once I start down that road, every single day from now until the election, you're going to be spending your time doing that, and we have much more important things to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: So questions about his honesty front and center. What do you think? How does he come back from this? How does he appear stronger from this?

ZACH WOLF, MANAGING EDITOR, CNNPOLITICS.COM: Well, you know, he says there the burden of proof isn't on him to prove everything about his life. But his book that he wrote is now going to become, you know, you'll have reporters poring I think every single word in that. These things have a tendency to feed upon themselves. As after CNN's report and Politico's report and "The Wall Street Journal", the entire book is going to be under scrutiny.

And I think what he needs to do is change the narrative in some way. It's not clear that they will do that. CNN and others have asked them for witnesses to some of these events where he describes his violence. The campaign has not come forward with them. So short of something happening, it's hard to see this narrative changing.

BERMAN: Of course, attacking the media is often successful and fertile for many political candidates. He has done so over the last three days, saying it's a witch hunt essentially, saying that he's brought in unprecedented number of dollars fundraising off of this over the last few days. So Carson's people say this could help him rather than hurt him.

On the other hand, Donald Trump is out there. He's now asking questions about Ben Carson. Perhaps some of his other opponents will too. Donald Trump is making something of a habit of asking leading questions about the guys he is running against. Listen to what he said about Marco Rubio and questions about Marco Rubio's use of charge cards when he was in Florida and work for the state party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I hope he's going to show his credit cards and I hope it turns out to be good for him, not bad for him. I mean, we'll see what happens. But I would like to see him not hurt himself on such a matter that should be very easy to understand and very simple to understand. So we'll see what happens. If he gave the information, it will be easy, probably very easy to see whether or not anything was done wrong. And, frankly, I hope nothing was done that was wrong because that would be really terrible to be disqualified for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now I hope nothing was done that was wrong. It would be really terrible to be disqualified for that. Sort of a faux concern of Donald Trump fanning the flames for Marco Rubio. Did the same thing with Ben Carson there.

WOLF: And he's done the same with every candidate that's had a moment. He's been critical of Jeb Bush. He was critical of Rick Perry before he got out. Every single candidate has sort of -- Trump goes from candidate to candidate to candidate with his scrutiny. Rubio is the guy who's sort of been coming up after the most recent Republican debate. He had a strong performance and people have been paying attention to him. He has come up in some polls although still nowhere near Carson and Trump as a frontrunner. So, you know, Trump -- he's the next guy basically on Trump's list I guess.

BERMAN: All right, Zach Wolf, we have a debate tomorrow night on Fox Business, so the Republican race getting more and more interesting by the day. Zach Wolf, thanks so much.

New this morning, a Russian security audit is under way in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el Sheikh. The U.S. is increasingly confident it was a bomb that brought down a Russian jetliner that took off from the airport there, killing all 224 people on board.

[05:35:02] One U.S. official tells CNN it is, quote, "99.9 percent certain" that it was a bomb. Egypt is firmly denying the reports of lax security at the airport, but is now inviting Russian experts to conduct airport security checks and make suggestions for improvements.

Joining us now live from Sharm el Sheikh with the lateset, CNN's Ian Lee. Good morning, Ian.

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Alison. And the FBI now we're hearing could get involved as well in this investigation. One U.S. law enforcement official telling CNN that the FBI could help out -- help figure out what caused a loud bang which took place right before the plane crashed on this data voice recorder.

Now Egyptian officials have said that this bang could be a number of things from an explosion to an engine exploding or a battery going off. But U.S. and U.K. officials say that this just shows that -- more evidence that this was actually a bomb put on this plane.

Now behind me at Sharm el Sheikh, security is incredibly tight now. We do have that Russian team on the ground. They're going to be going over the procedures being made. We have seen some planes coming in and taking off, and passengers are going to be leaving without their luggage. They have strict restrictions on passengers leaving from this airport. They can only take small carry-on bag. Their luggage is going to be taken away on a transport plane. But Russian officials aren't only here; they're also at other Egyptian airports assessing security. But it's not up to the Egyptians really to say that security is good enough. It's going to be up to the airlines and countries of origin to determine if it is safe to fly in and out of Sharm el Sheikh.

BERMAN: It'll be interesting if tourists keeps on heading to that region. Ian Lee for us at Sharm el Sheikh, thanks so much.

KOSIK: Time for an EARLY START on Your Money. Asian markets finishing mixed overnight. Th Nikkei and the Shanghai Composite both higher. The Hang Seng lost almost 1 percent. Look at the Dow futures, they are down slightly.

A judge in California ruling, sorry, Apple employees, they don't have to be paid for the time that they spend as they have their bags searched at the end of their shifts. The class action suit on behalf of more than 12,000 employees in California, it argued that the time spent on these screenings added up to $1,500 a year that they lost in pay. But a federal judge says anti-theft screenings are not part of the employees' job responsibilities and that they can avoid the searches by not bringing a bag to work. Which in my opinion does not seem very realistic. I know I bring a whole lot of junk to work with me.

BERMAN: Absolutely, there's lunch, there's all your charge cords. I mean, like, all this stuff you need. Gym equipment.

KOSIK: Yes, I don't -- I see them just spending more time in line.

BERMAN: All right, black football players at the University of Missouri, they're taking a big stand off the field, promising not to play until the school president resigns over issues and charges of racism on campus. We will tell you what the school is now saying next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:42:45] KOSIK: Happening today, a 6-year-old boy will be laid to rest and the two law enforcement officers charged with killing him will appear in court. First grader Jeremy Mardis was shot and killed after a police chase in Louisiana. Jeremy's father, Chris Few, was injured when officers opened fire. The two officers arrested based in part on body camera video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. MICHAEL EDMONSON, HEAD OF LOUISIANA STATE POLICE: Jeremy Mardis, 6 years old. He didn't deserve to die like that. We took some of the body camera footage. Let me tell you something, I'm not going to talk about it, but I'm going to tell you this -- it is the most disturbing thing I have seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And so far police have not disclosed a motive for the shooting.

For the latest, let's turn to CNN's Nick Valencia in Marksville, Louisiana.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Alison, according to local media reports, at least one of the officers involved and charged in the murder of 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis has a troubled history. Back in 2011, 32-year-old Derrick Stafford was indicted on two counts of aggravated assault, one incident dating back to 2004, another occurring while he was still employed by the Marksville Police Department.

We have reached out to the Marksville Police Department as well as family members of Stafford. They have not gotten back to CNN. But in our research on both history of the officers, we could not find any instance in which either was convicted of a crime.

Meanwhile, in this community of 5,000, the focus is largely on 6-year- old Jeremy Mardis. Earlier, I spoke with his first grade special needs teacher at the site where he was shot and killed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We brought this cute bear and puppy dog and the wreath from the Autism Network. Because when a child in a our community, you know, needs something, we're there for them.

VALENCIA (on camera): You guys are there for them. What goes through your heart and mind when you look at this? For Jeremy?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just -- know he is watching over everybody. He always was an angel.

VALENCIA: The funeral for that 6-year-old will be held this afternoon in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Meanwhile, those two marshals, they're in custody behind me. They remain in this jail and they are expected also to have their first court appearance on Monday. John, Alison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[05:45:01] BERMAN: All right, Nick, thanks so much.

The governing board of the University of Missouri will hold a public meeting in the face of new racial tension on campus. Dozens of football players say they will not play until university president Tim Wolfe steps down. Coaches say they support the decision of protest how the school has handled alleged racism and discrimination on campus. Let's get more from CNN's Polo Sandoval.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Alison, over the weekend, the university president acknowledging that racism is a problem on his campus. He says that he's currently working to address some of the protesters' concerns. He also released several statements, one of the latest ones reading, quote, "It is clear to all of us that change is needed and we appreciate the thoughtfulness and passion which have gone into the sharing of those concerns."

Jonathan Butler, who has met with Wolfe twice, wants the president out. He launched a hunger strike on November 2nd. And he says he won't eat until Wolfe is gone.

JONATHAN BUTLER, STUDENT ON HUNGER STRIKE: My body is literally shutting down. And with each passing moment and each passing day, it gets a little worse. But that's not what I like to focus on. What I like to focus on what you do see nationally and what you see across other campuses, what you see on my own campus, is that students are finding their voices and they're fighting back. And they are standing up for what they believe in.

SANDOVAL: Members of the football team joining the cause over the weekend, pledging to boycott games and practices until Wolfe steps down. The team's head coach Gary Pinkel also seemingly on board. He tweeted this photo with his team, saying, quote, "The Mizzou family stands as one. We are united. We are behind our players."

And this is really evidence that this is more than just a student movement here. And it's really not every day that we see the head of a major university system actually acknowledge publicly that there is a serious problem with racism on their campus. But activists say, at this point, some of these comments coming from the president is still not enough. They still want to see him gone. Meanwhile, the Mizzou Tigers are still scheduled for a game come November 14th. But it's still unclear if they will actually hit the field. John and Alison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: OK, Polo Sandoval, thanks for that. And let's go ahead and take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Michaela Pereira joins us now. What you got for us?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hey guys, happy Monday. We're obviously going to stay on top of that Mizzou story. They are holding an emergency meeting there; we'll tell you more about that coming up on "NEW DAY".

But also Ben Carson stepping up his attacks on the media including CNN for digging into claims he has made about his past. Why does Dr. Carson think that he's being treated so unfairly? We're going to speak with Carson's business manager and friend about all of that.

We're also going to hear from another GOP candidate. This morning, Chris Christie. Obviously we're also going to have more on the story of two Louisiana officers accused of killing a 6-year-old boy. Could this shooting have been avoided? We're going to talk about the case, we're going to talk about what we've learned about those officers with the superintendent of Louisiana State Police coming up live on "NEW DAY". So we've got a busy show.

BERMAN: OK, thanks, Michaela.

All right, a big take in the box office for James Bond. How much did the latest installment of the franchise bring in its opening weekend? An EARLY START on Your Money next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:53:00] BERMAN: Huge meeting at the White House today. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama, their relationship has been, in a word, chilly. They meet today for some fence mending of sorts. This follows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress to lobby against the Iran nuclear deal. The Israeli leader is also seeking more military aid from the U.S.; comes amid a new wave of violence with more terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is live in Jerusalem. Good morning, Oren.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDNET: Good morning, John. The Iran nuclear deal is done, so there won't be any more bickering, any more arguing about that, which we saw for months. And now the focus, especially for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will be what comes after the deal. Specifically the U.S. military aid package to Israel. That stands right now at about$3 billion a year, and that part of the deal runs through 2018. This is where Netanyahu will start lobbying to increase that to perhaps $4 billion or even $5 billion a year as he meets with Prime Minister Netanyahu (sic).

Now hanging over all of this, of course, and this is the other big issue that will be on the agenda, is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict amid a number of attacks. There was one more alleged attack this morning in the Northern West Bank, but the one getting all of the attention, especially right now, is one tthat happened yesterday in Betahlelite (ph), an ultra-orthodox settlement south of Jerusalem. And that's because of a video that came out, and I have to warn you, this video is disturbing.

It shows a Palestinian woman approaching a security guard outside of the settlement. And as the security guard is checking her ID, the video shows the security official say she pulled out a knife attempted to stab the security guard, who was lightly wounded. Officials say the security guard pulled a gun and shot the attacker, or the alleged attacker, sending her to the hospital. So that hangs over all of this and will certainly b the other big issue. Will Netanyahu and Israeli leaders along with Palestinian leaders come up with anything that can ease the tensions here? And what will they say about the military aid package? Those are the questions we will wait and see if we get any answers there. John.

BERMAN: Indeed. This is meeting will have a little bit of a taped statement at the beginning, but no Q&A. I think they want to control the message coming out of it.

[05:55:04] Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem, thanks so much.

KOSIK: A deadly accident in the Washington, D.C., suburb. Four people were killed, 14 others injured when a van caught fire after colliding with a pickup truck in Hyattsville, Maryland. Police say a child was among the fatalities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I stayed with one of the girls and just held her hand. I think her leg may have been broken and she was crying and we tried to keep her awake, keep her still.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had a burn on her face.

REPORTER: What did you do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I started saying John 3:16 to her. And that calmed her down from crying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Of the 14 people hurt, eight are in critical condition, including four children. BERMAN: A high school sexting scandal is rocking a Colorado town.

Police say students at Canon High School exchanged hundreds of naked photos of themselves. At least three phones were seized. A felony investigation has now been launched. Authorities are trying to determine whether any minors were involved. The school football team was forced to forfeit a game since many of those implicated in the scandal are players.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRET MEULI, PRINCIPAL, CANON CITY HIGH SCHOOL: This cuts to the core of who we are and what we're about. And that's the part that kind of hurt us, is, you know, we never ever would have thought anything like this would be going on to this magnitude.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Police say they are in the process of identifying suspects from the photos and obtaining search warrants. Students have been suspended, but school officials are not identifying these students.

KOSIK: Let's get an EARLY START on Your Money. Asian markets mixed overnight. The Nikkei and the Shanghai Composite both up under 2 percent. The Hang Seng losing almost 1 percent. The Dow is down slightly in pre-market trading.

After a record setting debut across the pond, the new James Bond film "Spectre" opening strong here in the U.S. ,taking in $73 million just this weekend. It is the second biggest domestic opening ever for a Bond film, trailing only the last one, "Skyfall", which made $88 million in its debut weekend.

All right, Starbucks stirring it up, I mean the controversy, with their plain red Christmas cups this holiday season. How dare they. The company deciding to remove the reindeer, take off the ornaments off the cup for a simple two-toned cup for the holidays. Starbucks says it wants to usher in the season with a pure design that creats a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity. But one critic has launched a social media campaign accusing Starbucks of hating Jesus. Oh the outrage, are you kidding me?

BERMAN: Look, I think, personally, Starbucks should focus on its coffee first and foremost.

KOSIK: And I think people should maybe get outraged about something that's a little more important than what the cup looks like.

BERMAN: Well, you know, this is a subject that people, you know, always comes up for argument this time of year. I'm sure we have not heard the last of it. And I'm sure it will occupy many hours on cable coming up between now and December 25th.

All right, Ben Carson, he is on the attack this morning, not against other candidates, but us. The media. He calls the coverage of him stupid. Why? "NEW DAY" picks up the story right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: Ben Carson taking on the media for focusing too much on his past.

CARSON: The burden of proof is not going to be on me.

TRUMP: He has pathological disease. It is a serious statement. As I understand it, you can't really cure it.

CARSON: There is no question I'm under scrutiny because, you know, there are a lot of people that are very threatened.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One of us is a candidate of the establishment. The other candidate is prepared to take on the establishment. I am not voting for Hillary Clinton. Let me be clear, I'm supporting Bernie Sanders.

EDMONSON: Jeremy Mardis, he did not deserve to die like that.

BERMAN: A 6-year-old boy shot and killed by two marshals.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was just an innocent little boy.

EDMONSON: It was the most disturbing thing I've seen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to NEW DAY. It's Monday, November 9th, 6:00 in the East.

So Ben Carson is coming after the media. In his most aggressive stance of the election, he says he has nothing to prove and he's not going to provide any additional information about the gaps in his personal narrative. The question is: should the questions stop?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Leave it to Donald Trump to stir the pot. Fresh off his "Saturday Night Live" hosting gig, Trump says he's, quote, "alarmed" by Carson's stories of a violent childhood. And he insists that all of this media scrutiny could spell the beginning of the end for his chief Republican rival.

Let's bring in CNN national correspondent Suzanne Malveaux. She is live from Washington with all the latest. Good morning, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDNET: Hey, good morning, Alisyn. Well, it's pretty clear the GOP candidates, they want to get some things out before tomorrow's Republcian debate in Milwaukee. For Dr. Carson, it is about going from defense to offense regarding stories about his past. For Rubio, it's providing more information about his finances. And for Trump, it's about getting in digs at both of them, hoping that their troubles will stick.