Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Fourth Republican Debate Tonight; How Will FBN Debate Differ from CNBC?; University of Missouri Leader's Resign; Russia and Egypt More Open to Probability of Terrorist Act; Officers Charged in Louisiana Child Shooting. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired November 10, 2015 - 05:29   ET

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

[05:30:03] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Campus revolt. Protests over racism and how the school was handling it has now forced leaders at the University of Missouri to step down. We have new developments this morning.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Egypt and Russia now investigating whether terrorists took down a crashed Russian jetliner. We're live.

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

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Thirty minutes past the hour, and in just hours a high stakes face-off in Milwaukee. Debate. Debate. The Republican presidential candidates, eight of them at least, will face off with that date when actual voters getting to vote moves closer by the day. This debate airs on FOX Business. It is supposed to be about the economy.

Two candidates have dropped off the main stage. You will notice that Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee are gone from that lineup. Instead they will be in the undercard or the appetizer debate that starts at 7:00 p.m. along with Bobby Jindal and Rick Santorum.

Our chief political correspondent Dana Bash, she is in Milwaukee with the latest -- Dana.

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: All right, Dana. Thanks for that.

Dana is going to have a long night.

After the last debate, CNBC came under scrutiny for asking what some candidates called gotcha questions. So tonight will the candidates get asked the tough questions or will the FOX Business Network moderators dial it back?

Here to discuss what to expect is CNN Politics reporter Jeremy Diamond.

Nice to see you this morning. And, you know, I think Maria Bartiromo, you know, she has said there are no questions that are off limits. I mean, there are no questions that are off limits, but the focus of this debate, they say, will be the economy the way, Jeremy, no one can do it except for them.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes -- no, I mean, they're certainly going to try and do something different I think from what happened with the CNBC debate which is widely panned not just by the candidates, but really by most folks in the media. You know, pundits who were also talking about how a lot of these questions, you know, may have detracted from trying to talk about the economy, which was supposed to be the main focus of that debate.

So I think FOX Business is certainly going to try and upstage CNBC a little bit and maybe try and focus a little bit more on the issues but again there are so many questions that have been raised in the last week that don't necessarily pertain to the economy that voters may want to hear about as well. You know, you have all of the issues about Ben Carson's personal biology and whether there are certain elements that -- you know, certain elements that are coming under closer scrutiny.

And then you have the issue of Marco Rubio's finances, his credit card that he used for both personal and political uses during his time in the Florida State House. So there are a lot of questions coming up as well that aren't necessarily pertaining to the economy that voters may want to hear about. So we'll see if the FOX Business moderators decide to ask those or if they want to just stick to the issues.

BERMAN: Yes, you know, you mentioned this is a time of actually great theater in this campaign. And when I say theater, I don't necessarily say mean it's frivolous, I think there's some legitimate questions here. You talked about Marco Rubio. There's a story in the "New York Times" today. Rubio people are saying the Jeb Bush team, the super PAC is going to spend $20 million slandering Marco Rubio. And Marco Rubio, the team is now reportedly going through video to find moments where Bush praises Rubio to fight that back.

The campaign manager for Marco Rubio said honestly it's something we'd expect from Hillary Clinton and the mainstream media. But the fact that the Republican establishment believes this is what they need to do to take down Marco is astonishing.

Do you think Jeb Bush, after what happened in that last debate where he talked about Rubio's attendance record, you think that tonight, when he needs a big performance, will do anything to go after Marco Rubio?

DIAMOND: You know, it's certainly a risky strategy. But Jeb Bush doesn't seem to be showing any sign of evading as far as his attacks, you know, against Rubio or at least calling certain things into question. You know, he's continued to say after that debate in which they, you know, had a little bit of a scuffle over Rubio's attendance record in the Senate, his voting record, you know, his attendance and votes in the Senate.

ROMANS: Right.

[05:35:05] DIAMOND: You know, so he's continuing to say that that was a legitimate question that he raised. And I think that he's going to continue to do that. I think that he really sees Rubio as a threat. You know Rubio has been rising in the polls steadily in the last few weeks. He's picked up some key endorsements including from, you know, one of the big money donors in the GOP, Paul Singer, which was really something that Bush would have probably hoped to get -- you know, he would have hoped to get that backing.

So I think that he wants to continue to hit Rubio because he sees him as a threat but it could certainly backfire. You know, they were close during their time in Florida politics that it seems a little bit unseemly I think when Bush is going after him so harshly after someone who was supposedly his mentee.

ROMANS: You got Bush there at 8 percent, Carson and Trump still dominate this field. And you know, Donald Trump, I got to tell you, last night, you know, he had a -- he was at this rally where he was just attacking Ben Carson. Let's listen to that.

(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)

ROMANS: Are we going to hear more of this tonight? Are we going to hear the price tags for their tax policies? What do you think?

DIAMOND: You know, I don't know. It's interesting because, you know, in the last debate we saw a little bit of a different Donald Trump. He didn't really go after other candidates in a personal way. And he was a little bit more reserved and he was kind of focusing and pivoting to his message. Tonight, you know, we'll see. Maybe Donald Trump feels threatened enough by Ben Carson that he feels like he really has to -- you know, take one of those big punches out. And we'll see if that happens tonight.

Certainly, you know, Ben Carson is a threat to Donald Trump. You know, they're neck-and-neck in a lot of the polls right now. There was one in South Carolina yesterday that showed them neck-and-neck as well. And nationally they are also, you know, right up there at the top of the pack. So Ben Carson certainly, you know, is going to have to defend himself from some of these attacks if other people bring them up.

But so far, Donald Trump is the only one really questioning this whole Ben Carson story. You know, Chris Christie said that Ben Carson shouldn't be complaining about being vetted by the media, but Donald Trump is the only one who's kind of pointed to the absurdity of this whole situation which is of course an interesting point to the 2016 elections.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: All right. Jeremy Diamond, great to see you this morning.

Jeremy has got a great piece on CNNPolitics this morning about the president's meeting with the Israeli prime minister yesterday and make sort of inside intricate politics there so go check it out right now.

Jeremy, thank you.

DIAMOND: Thanks, guys.

BERMAN: Thousands of students protesting racism on campus. Now pushing out the leaders at the University of Missouri. Big story. We have some new developments there. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:42:19]BERMAN: 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 has begun boiling over after a series of recent incidents involving racial slurs and hate symbols. Student activists accusing university administration of inaction.

A graduate student began a hunger strike demanding university president Tim Wolfe to step down. In solidarity, the African-American members of the football team, they vowed not to play until the hunger strike ended. Other teammates ultimately joined in. This might have cost the school $1 million if they didn't show up to play BYU this weekend. But that all ended with these resignations. Student activists there 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)

BERMAN: CNN's Kyung Lah has latest 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)

TIM 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.

ROMANS: All right, Kyung Lah, thanks for that.

Time for an EARLY START on your money. Will there be a bounce in stocks? Yesterday the Dow dropped 180 points, turned negative for the year. The Nasdaq and S&P down 1 percent. Why? Well, strength in the U.S. jobs market makes an interest hike more likely.

[05:45:06] Tonight it's 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 than, you know, would have hoped for, we'd be seeing stronger growth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Underemployment below 10 percent for the first time since before the economic crisis. The U.S. economy performing well relative to the rest of the world.

John Berman, here's something for all you nerds out there. This is what the Obama economy looks likes. Nearly nine million jobs created. Here's how it compares with other two-term president at this stage of their tenure. Interesting. And not -- I mean, think about it. Population growth -- populations are different, too. So it makes the Reagan and Clinton years even look better. I mean --

BERMAN: It's a fascinating chart.

ROMANS: It's fascinating, right? It's ammunition for the Republicans to say, look, we have done things better in the past.

BERMAN: Under Reagan, look, 12.1 million.

ROMANS: Right. But also for the Democrats who can say there are structural things that are happening. We're just not creating as many jobs as we used to. There are things we have to do --

BERMAN: It's also a timing issue right there, right? When Clinton came in, it was actually -- you know, he came in just as the recession was ending. So it was really only growth. Obama came in and the job growth actually was just beginning to -- or job losses was just beginning there.

ROMANS: Yes. It was cratering.

BERMAN: Yes.

ROMANS: It wasn't a job growth, it was job loss.

BERMAN: But very, very interesting numbers right there to look at.

ROMANS: And you're going to hear -- I mean, I think that's important to look especially as we head into the big debate tonight.

BERMAN: Right.

ROMANS: I mean, those are the numbers.

BERMAN: All right. Let us take a look at what is coming up on "NEW DAY." Let us now speak to Michaela Pereira who's right. Good morning.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Curl 492 was out of place. And I had to make sure who's on the right -- it's the whole thing, Christine. I know you can understand.

BERMAN: Don't you have people for that?

PEREIRA: We have people for that. Yes. We have people for that.

All right. We have a busy show this morning. Obviously picking up where you guys left off. Looking at the situation at the University of Missouri. Top leaders are out after football players band to boycott games and students staged protest over claims of racism on campus.

We're going to take a look and see if other schools are going to see similar student activism. And will all of this, this passion, these rallies, is it going to lead to change? We're going to speak to one of the student leaders behind the movement at Mizzou. And we're also going to speak with a former Tiger, he's a wide receiver for that team. And he can tell us what it was like inside that locker room when he was there and what the campus atmosphere was like.

Also, the Republican candidates take the stage tonight for their fourth GOP debate. Will Ben Carson be a target for his rivals amid the questions surrounding his past? Or will they use his current media battles to maybe avoid answering some of the tough questions from us media types? We're going to dig in to it all.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks so much for that, Michaela. I can't wait.

Russia seems to be reaching the conclusion as U.S. intelligence agents. The crash of Metrojet Flight 9268 likely caused by a bomb. The Foreign Minister Dmitri Medvedev acknowledging the probability of a terrorist act after receiving intelligence reports from the U.K. The Russians suspended air traffic with Egypt last week.

Want to get more from Ian Lee live in Sharma el Sheikh, Egypt.

Ian, it looks as if the intelligence is really coalescing around the idea of a bomb planted inside that plane.

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. And we're hearing it from high-ranking officials from many governments now. You have the Russia, the British as well as the Americans. And we're hearing this intelligence was coming from Israel. And just to give you an idea, Israel's intelligence in the Sinai, it has been -- it's on Israel's border. Israel has been listening into conversations. We know it is a very important, strategic part of their border.

There have been several attacks from the Sinai into Israel. So they keep a close eye on that, although Israeli intelligence has said that or hasn't said whether this information did come from them. But there is this belief, though, now that it was a bomb, although the Egyptians are still saying that it could be anything. We're hearing from local media that parts of the plane will be transported to Cairo for further investigation. But at this point, the Egyptians are saying be patient. This will take time.

ROMANS: All right. Ian Lee for us in Sharma el Sheikh. Thanks for that, Ian.

Forty-nine minutes past the hour now. A new way, a new way to save for retirement. My interview with the Treasury secretary next.

[05:49:53]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Investigators in Louisiana are searching for answers in the deadly shooting of 6-year-old boy by police. They opened fire after chasing his father's SUV. The victim Jeremy Mardis was laid to rest Monday as two officers charged in the shooting appeared in court.

CNN's Martin Savidge has details from Marskville.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 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.

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?

[05:55:04] 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.

ROMANS: All right. Tough story. Martin Savidge. Thanks for that, Martin.

Fifty-six minutes past the hour. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. Starbucks expanding its free tuition perks for its workers. It's now

offering free tuition for the families of military vets who work at Starbucks. Any current or former military member working there can send their spouse or child to Arizona State University's online program. Starbucks already picks up the tab for its employees to go to college. They can study wherever they want. They're not required to stay with the company after earning their degree.

BERMAN: But no snowflakes on the Starbucks cup.

ROMANS: But no snowflakes on the Starbucks cup, although I looked at the Starbucks cup from last year, it looks very similar still to me.

Anyway, let's talk about SeaWorld. The big news from SeaWorld. Closing the curtain on its killer whale show at is San Diego Park. That attraction has been the center of animal cruelty claims. Shows will stop at the end of this year and SeaWorld will launch a new attraction next year that will have a, quote, "strong conservation message." Killer whale shows will continue at SeaWorld's other parks. An earnings update last week left investors worried. Shares plunged more than 10 percent last week.

All right. There is a new way to save for retirement. And it's geared, designed specifically for Americans who don't get a 401(k) or pension at work. I sat down with the Treasury secretary to tell me why he wants people to start saving and saving early if they can.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEW: If you start at 20, it's very different than if you start at 50.

ROMANS: Right.

LEW: 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 this myRA account, that's what it's called. You can go to the Web site, myRa, it's invested in super safe treasury funds. You can't lose the money. It's better than a typical savings account. But it's, you know, obviously you're not going to get the return you would get on a stock account. But it's not risky at all. And the idea, the government says -- you know, the president promised this in his State of the Union, I think, in 2014. The idea is if you don't have a way to save through your job, that you should be able to have a way to save with the government.

BERMAN: Ten bucks a week makes some sense.

All right. Campus revolt. The University of Missouri president and chancellor step down. Big controversy, new developments there. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARSHALL ALLEN, MEMBER, CONCERNED STUDENT 1950: The resignation of Tim Wolfe is a glimmer of hope.

TIM WOLFE, FORMER UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI PRESIDENT: Please use this resignation to heal. Not to hate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the moment I made my announcement, people thought I was a dead man walking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I expected an actual debate about the economy, jobs, trade, taxes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All eyes are on Ben Carson. All eyes are on Donald Trump.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a strange election, isn't it? Man.

ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS, CARSON BUSINESS MANAGER: I think it's a very good thing that Dr. Carson is being tested.

TRUMP: This is the only election in history where you're better off if you stab somebody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They just ran.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taser. Taser. Taser.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This officer had to make his decision in less than three seconds.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: This show has to start because I have to find out what was going on in that last picture you just saw.

Good morning. Welcome to NEW DAY. It's Tuesday. November 10th. 6:00 in the East.

The power of protests on full display at the University of Missouri. The president and chancellor of the university stepping down after a student-led revolt over a string of alleged racist incidents on campus and what they call the university's inadequate response.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So the football team which had refused to play until the president resigned is set to resume practice today. Will this overhaul solve what many call systemic racism on campus?

CNN's Stephanie Elam is live from the University of Missouri in Columbia. What's the latest, Stephanie?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. This is not the first time that students on a campus or student athletes have taken on the issue of racism at their school but the chips here began to fall very quickly.