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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Fourth Republican Debate Tonight; University of Missouri Leader's Resign; Bullish on the U.S. Economy; Officers Charged in Louisiana Child Shooting; Russia and Egypt More Open to Probability of Terrorist Act. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired November 10, 2015 - 04:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:09] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Countdown to debate night. Republicans take the stage in just a few hours. They're supposed to face off about the economy. But will they take aim at each other?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Campus revolt. Protests over racism and how the school was handling it. Forcing leaders at the University of Missouri to step down.
BERMAN: Egypt, Russia, both now much more open to the idea that it was terrorists who took down that Russian jetliner. We're live with new information.
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. Nice to see you all this morning. Nice to see you, John. It is exactly 30 minutes past the hour.
In just hours, Republican presidential candidates face off against each other in Milwaukee. Like their last debate, this one airing on FOX Business supposed to focus on the economy. Eight candidates will do battle on the main stage debate starting at -- main debate stage starting at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. Two candidates have dropped off the main stage. You'll notice Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee gone from this lineup. Instead, they'll be on the undercard which starts at 7:00 p.m. with Bobby Jindal and Rick Santorum.
Chief political correspondent Dana Bash is there for us already. She has the latest.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, tonight is the fourth time Republican presidential candidates are going to gather to debate. But it's going to look very different because on the main stage you're going to have only eight candidates. It sounds kind of silly to say only eight, but compared to 10 and 11, that's going to be a lot more manageable not just for the moderators but more importantly for the candidates to try to get their messages across.
They're also going to have more time to answer the questions and to rebut when somebody else talks about them. But it is going to be a very different kind of feel also because we're now several weeks, even more, into the idea of Donald Trump and Ben Carson being at the top of the heap not only nationally, but in the key early states. And so the two of them are going to be center stage.
And we are of course just at the tail end, maybe, or maybe in the middle of Ben Carson having to defend a lot of what he had written about, about his bio, about his childhood, and explain those things. And he has gotten a lot more fiery than he has been in the past. So to see if that's going to show on the stage, if anybody is going to go after him in a way that they haven't before, that is going to be a true test because, let's face it, you all know this, this is what happens when you are a frontrunner or at least tied as a frontrunner -- John and Christine.
ROMANS: Right, Dana. Thanks for that, Dana.
BERMAN: All right. Donald Trump decided not to wait for the debate to blast his opponents. At a late-night rally in Illinois, packed house right there, Trump mocked Ben Carson's efforts to prove truth -- the truth of stories he has told about his youth. Ben Carson talks a lot about how he used to be violent before he found God.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You stab somebody and the newspapers say, you didn't do it. And you said yes, I did. I did it. No, you didn't. Yes, I did. I stabbed him and it hit the belt. And they said you didn't do it. If they said I didn't do it, I'd be so happy. This is the only election in history where you are better off if you stab somebody. What are we coming to?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Trump called the election season weird, adding, quote, "People are getting away with murder. You can say anything about anybody and their poll numbers go up."
He also called for a boycott of Starbucks over the company's decision to stop using Christmas themed cups. And after the rally, Trump fired off a series of tweets at Marco Rubio. One says Marco Rubio is a lightweight who I won't hire to run one of my smaller companies. A highly overrated politicians."
ROMANS: Marco Rubio's campaign fighting back against a reported threat by a super PAC supporting Jeb Bush. The "New York Times" spoke to three sources who claimed the Bush super PAC is set to spend up to $20 million to damage Rubio's reputation. Last night Rubio's campaign manager e-mailed a fundraising appeal for funds to defend against those super PAC effort. The "Times" reports that Rubio staffers are hunting through hours of video for clips of Bush praising his former protege.
BERMAN: As for Jeb Bush, he made an appearance with a former rival. He met with former 2016 candidate and current Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker, who dropped out after a surprisingly weak run. Marco Rubio has met with Walker as well.
Bush was in Wisconsin ahead of tonight's debate at an education related event pushing for more parental choice in schools. He also managed to get in a dig in at the moderators from the last debate, comparing them unfavorably to students.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By the way, the three questions, they are better than the moderated debate questions that -- just saying. If you are free tomorrow night, maybe you can come by the arena.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:35:04] BERMAN: So Bush also made some waves responding to a question about "Baby Hitler." Asked if he would kill Hitler as an infant given the chance, Bush answered, "Hell, yes, I would." So the Baby Hitler thing is a kind of a --
ROMANS: It sounds like a philosophy 101.
BERMAN: It's a thing now. I think it was a "New York Times" magazine that put together an article, kind of a thing piece about would you kill Hitler as a baby if you could, would you if you could to prevent everything that happened afterwards so that's where all those come from.
ROMANS: And Jeb Bush says, hell, yes, he would.
BERMAN: He says, hell, yes.
ROMANS: All right. There is new interim leadership at the University of Missouri this morning. This follows a surprising resignations of the university president and chancellor amid a controversy over race. Student anger over the racial climate on the Columbia, Missouri, campus began boiling after a series of recent incidents involving racial slurs and hate symbols. The student activists accuse the university administration of inaction.
A graduate student began a hunger strike demanding university president Tim Wolfe step down. Then in solidarity, the football team vowed it would not play until the hunger strike ended. That might have cost the school $1 million if they didn't show up to play BYU this weekend. But that all ended with the resignations. Student activists ecstatic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARSHALL ALLEN, MEMBER, CONCERNED STUDENT 1950: The resignation of Tim Wolfe is a glimmer of hope for historically marginalized students whose voices have been silenced by patriarchal white male institutions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: CNN's Kyung Lah has latest for us this morning from Columbia.
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John and Christine, a dramatic day here on the campus of the University of Missouri. They saw the resignation, the stunning resignation, of the university system president as well as the chancellor, announcing that he's going to be moving into a new role.
The president saying very clearly that he was accepting full responsibility of the non-response of his administration. All of this coming on the heels of a student proclaiming a hunger strike, a weeklong hunger strike, as well as the football team saying that they would not be engaging in anymore athletic activities unless the president resigned. And the president gave the students what they wanted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM WOLFE, FORMER UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI PRESIDENT: And I take full responsibility for this frustration. And I take full responsibility for the inaction that has occurred. We need to use my resignation -- please, please, use this resignation to heal, not to hate. And let's move forward together for a brighter tomorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: The tents that you see behind me that are still here on the quad, these are the tents where the students were sleeping for the last week. They are empty now. The students spending the overnight in their rooms. But they pledge that the protest is not over, that there's a lot more work to be done. The university, for its part, says that they plan on putting in some new initiatives, initiatives they say will be implemented in the next 90 days -- John, Christine.
BERMAN: Kyung Lah, thank you very much.
Federal appeals court delivered a new blow at President Obama's plan to overhaul the immigration system. A three-judge panel in New Orleans shot down an appeal by the White House to give five million people work permits and protections from deportation. The judges say a lawsuit brought by 26 states to block the president's plan would likely succeed at trial. This is another defeat for the president and he tried to circumvent Congress to overhaul immigration.
ROMANS: All right. Time for an EARLY START on your money. Will there be a bounce in stocks today? Yesterday the Dow dropped 180 points. Turns negative for the year. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 also fell 1 percent. Why? Well, strength in the U.S. jobs market makes an interest rate hike more likely.
All right. Tonight is all about the economy. You're going to hear from Republican presidential candidates about how the Obama economy isn't working. But America's top money man, the Treasury secretary, he says the economy is, quote, "quite convincingly positive."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK LEW, TREASURY SECRETARY: We've had confident consumers. We've had unemployment coming down. Strong jobs growth.
ROMANS: Auto sales.
LEW: Auto sales have been very strong. You know, we'll see some months with good numbers and some months with disappointing numbers. But the direction over the last six or nine months has really been quite convincingly positive. We could still be doing better. You know, if we didn't have headwinds from a weaker global economy that, you know, would have hoped for, we'd be seeing stronger growth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: He points out wages are rising. Unemployment down to 5 percent. Underemployment below 10 percent for the first time since before the economic crisis. The U.S. economy says performing well relative to the rest of the world.
I got to tell you, the Treasury secretary more bullish on the economy than I've heard him. The administration, John, unveiling new starter retirement accounts called myRA. They started taking applications for those. You know, they want people to be saving more so they have these new starter retirement accounts. Your money goes -- no fees. Your money goes right into treasury securities, low-yielding treasury securities.
[04:40:04] But they're trying to get people started. Too many people are not saving anything for retirement. Don't have a 401(k) like some companies do so that's the initiative that the Treasury Department is pushing but we'll have more on that later.
BERMAN: All right. Can't wait to hear that discussion.
New information revealed about the moments before police shot and killed a 6-year-old boy. We will have that report next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Investigators in Louisiana are searching for answers in the deadly shooting of a 6-year-old boy by police. Police who opened fire after chasing his father's SUV. The victim, Jeremy Mardis, laid to rest Monday as two officers charged in the shooting appear in court.
Now we are learning more about the events leading up to this tragedy. CNN's Martin Savidge has the details from Marksville.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Morning, Christine. Two deputy city marshals are now in jail charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. Bond for each of them has been set now at $1 million apiece.
[04:45:10] Ever since this tragedy occurred a week ago today, the question of so many in this small town is how could it happen? How did it end up with these marshals involved with so much gunfire from what was a chase?
Well, according to a source who is close to the information in the case, he says that originally Chris Few, the father here, was spotted in an argument with his girlfriend by these marshals. An argument that was said to be so loud and potentially violent, the marshals felt they should intervene for safety's sake. As they attempted to detain Chris Few, apparently he took off in his SUV. That's what led to the chase. They called for backup and they caught up with Chris Few about a mile and a half later on a dead end street and pinned him in.
What happened after that, though, is still apparently up to some debate. Officials aren't saying much about it. We do know there was a lot of gunfire from the marshals. Witnesses say 16 to 18 shots. Chris Few had no gun. There were no warrants for his arrest. He was critically wounded and then to the horror of law enforcement, they found his 6-year-old son next to him dead. It appears that it was a body camera of a back-up officer that ended up with the arrests of these two deputy marshals -- John and Christine.
BERMAN: A deadly shooting on the campus of Spartanburg Methodist College in South Carolina. Authorities say a campus police officer investigating a vehicle break-in shot and killed a suspect after he allegedly hit him with his car as he tried to flee. The second suspect is in custody. The school issued a campus-wide lockdown over night as a precaution.
ROMANS: Breaking overnight a person of interest in the shooting of a Texas state judge is now in custody in Houston. Authorities say the man was arrested on a fugitive warrant and has a connection to the Judge Julie Kocurek who was shot and wounded last week in the driveway of her home in Austin. She is recovering in the hospital. Police believe the judge may have been targeted because of her job. The person in custody has not yet been criminally charged.
BERMAN: Three Tuscaloosa, Alabama, police officers have been placed on leave after a video shows them using a taser and baton on students during an arrest at a University of Alabama apartment complex. The officers were responding to a noise complaint early Sunday. The police chief says more officers could be disciplined pending the outcome of this investigation. He calls the incident a black eye for the department and for the city.
ROMANS: All right. So this lawsuit is new. The accuser is not. One of the roughly 50 women who claimed Bill Cosby sexually abused them is the latest to sue the comedian for defamation. Kristina Ruehli says Cosby falsely accused her of lying when she came forward last year to say Cosby raped her back in 1965 when she was 22 years old. She claims she was drugged and that Cosby tried to force her to have oral sex.
All right, 48 minutes past the hour. What a day ahead for millions in the northeast? Let's get straight to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, good morning, guys. Take a look at this. We do have tropical storm Kate just offshore. Frontal boundary going up the Eastern Seaboard. Of course we know the pattern here really going to shape up to be a soggy one for parts of the northeast throughout this afternoon and later on this evening. And winds certainly going to be howling as well.
Southern New Jersey, 50 winds over 40 miles to 50 miles per hour. At least with some of the gusts and fortunately out towards some of the major metro city. You could see at least 25 to 30 mile-an-hour gusts into the afternoon hours. And the rain certainly going to be there. Generally speaking less than an inch for the big cities, but into interior portions of New England could see upwards of two or more inches of rainfall. And we're watching carefully, the massive trough that is really setting up across parts of the southwestern portion of the U.S. Eventually this will spark, causing severe weather across the Midwest then into the Ohio Valley.
In fact the threat, the largest threat there for damaging winds, large hail, can't rule out a few isolated tornadoes. At this time of year, you take a look at climatology speaking, parts of Texas and really much of the Deep South. There's a number of tornados as you per month, for the month of November, about 58 nationally speaking, certainly we called them second season when it comes to an active pattern picking up again and shaping up for this time of year. High temperatures, look at such, Dallas, how about 76. New York will shoot for 60 degrees this afternoon, guys.
ROMANS: All right. Pedram, thanks for that.
President Obama, apparently he's on Facebook now. Making his debut. He is calling the new President Obama page a place where he and the American people can have real conversations. In this first video post, the president takes followers on a walk through the White House backyard. Challenging them to preserve the planet for future generation. A separate Barack Obama page run by Organizing for America already has 45 million followers.
BERMAN: I didn't get a friend request this morning.
ROMANS: You didn't?
BERMAN: I did not.
ROMANS: Yes. I don't know. Do you talk to anybody on Facebook anymore? You do every morning.
BERMAN: Look, I'm on Facebook a lot.
ROMANS: He does.
BERMAN: Go ahead. Send me a note on Facebook this morning. I'll respond.
[04:50:02] ROMANS: Have a real conversation with John Berman.
BERMAN: I don't want to talk to you. I want to talk to them. That's what it is.
ROMANS: I know. When you're ignoring me, I know you're on Facebook.
BERMAN: Right.
ROMANS: All right. A new way to save for retirement. My interview with the Treasury secretary next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Russia seems to be reaching the same conclusion as U.S. intelligence agents. The crash of Metrojet Flight 9268 was likely caused by a bomb. The Russian prime minister Dmitri Medvedev acknowledge the probability of a terrorist attack after receiving intelligence reports from the United Kingdom. The Russians suspended air traffic with Egypt last week.
[04:55:02] This morning British and U.S. authorities are focusing on a little known organization that calls itself the Sinai Province of the Islamic State. The group is now considered the prime suspect behind this deadly crash.
Let's get more now from Ian Lee, standing by live in Sharma el Sheikh.
Good morning, Ian.
IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning. And as this investigation continues, it seems like more and more high-ranking officials and various governments are coming to the same conclusion that this was a bomb that took down the plane. The only ones who aren't coming to this conclusion so far is the Egyptian officials. They are saying that it's still a wide range of possibilities. The investigation still ongoing on the ground.
But we're also hearing today that KLM, the Dutch airliner, is sending a security team to Cairo to help with check-ins there. Right now all checked-in bags have to go on a separate flight. They hope to change that, to get those bags on the flight, but they just don't believe Egyptian officials can carry that out. So they're sending their team along with bomb-sniffing dogs to the airport to help that out.
In the meantime, Egyptian officials very reluctant to say what has caused this crash. They say it could have been an engine exploding, a battery exploding. Really they're focusing on the loud bang that took place in the final moments of that flight. But they are urging patience that this investigation could take awhile longer.
BERMAN: All right. Ian Lee for us at the airport in Sharma el Sheikh, thanks so much.
This morning, a huge doping scandal rocking the sports world. According to a report by the World Anti-Doping Agency the Russians are engaged in a vast systematic state-sponsored doping program. Now WADA is the global agency in charge of keeping sports free of performance- enhancing drug that is now questioning the results of the 2012 Olympics in London, calling for Russia's track and field team to be banned from next year's games in Brazil.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK POUND, FORMER DIRECTOR, WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY: It's worse than we thought. It has the effect unlike any forms of corruption and actually affecting the results on the field of play and the athletes are -- both in Russia and abroad are suffering as a result of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Investigators say there is no reason to believe that track and field is the only sports where the Russians are doping. This report says the head of Moscow's anti-doping lab admits destroying more than 1400 test samples to thwart this investigation.
ROMANS: All right. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. Starbucks expanding its the free tuition perks for its workers. It's now offering free tuition for families of military back to work there. Any current or a former member of the military working at Starbucks can send their your spouse or child to Arizona State University's online degree program. Starbucks already picks up the tab for its employees to go to college. They can study whatever they want. They are required to stay with the company after earning --
BERMAN: But no -- but no Christmas cups, which is a much bigger deal.
ROMANS: It's a red cup. It's a red cup. It is festive. It is red. It just doesn't take -- all right. There is a new way to save for retirement and this is specifically for Americans who don't get a 401(k) or a pension at work.
I sat down with the Treasury secretary. He told me why he wants people to start saving early.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEW: If you start at 20, it's very different than if you start at 50. Getting an early start and building, you know, you think about the amounts of money. It's a couple of cups of coffee a week to get started. $5 a week away. And you can build from there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Almost half of all workers do not get a 401(k) or a pension at work. The money in these new accounts, these new accounts called the myraaccount. It's invested in super safe Treasury fund. You can't lose any money. It's better than a typical savings account, but less than what you would get in a riskier investment. No fees on this. They're really trying to get -- it's a starter savings account. The president in his State of the Union in 2014 promised that all workers will have access to savings and this is that response.
BERMAN: You know, it's interesting. It changes the equation for the country as well if the elderly savings rate goes up.
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: Because it reduces the need, the burden on Social Security and you can start thinking about perhaps doing some reforms there as well so it makes sense for the country and for individuals as well.
ROMANS: Eventually you want to be invested not just in treasures, so they're not yielding very much but you want to be investing more broadly but this is the starter account. myRA.
BERMAN: Better than nothing. Better than nothing.
ROMANS: That's right. BERMAN: All right. EARLY START continues right now.
ROMANS: Republicans running for president just hours from facing off over the economy. The debate stage set as candidates launch new attacks on each other.
BERMAN: Campus revolt. The University of Missouri president and chancellor step down. This coming after the growing protests over how the college handled racism on campus.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, November 10th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East. Nice to see everybody.
In just hours, Republican presidential candidates will face-off against each other in Milwaukee. Like their last debate this one airing on FOX Business. This is supposed to focus on the economy. Eight candidates will do battle on the main debate stage starting at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. Two candidates have dropped off the main stage. You'll notice Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee gone from this lineup. Instead they'll be on the undercard that starts at 7:00 p.m.
