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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Free Sinjar Operation Against ISIS; The Race for President; Steph Curry on Fire. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired November 12, 2015 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, Dunkin' Donuts in the fray. There's the Starbucks cup. Dunkin' unveiled this, its holiday cup.
[05:00:03] It has a word "joy" featured. Guess what? This is the same as it always is, every year it's like this.
Social media blows up. People praising this design. Praising Dunkin' Donuts. Saying Dunkin' Donuts is embracing Christmas, unlike Starbucks, which is a Grinch. Starbucks says it has the red space so you can have your own Christmas designs. Holiday designs on your cup.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: They're going red. If they were completely denying the existence of the holiday, perhaps, they would have white cups.
ROMANS: Nothing says war on Christmas than the red, white and green.
BERMAN: I know. It's horrible.
EARLY START continues right now.
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BERMAN: Breaking news this morning. A major moment in the battle against is. A new offensive launched trying to take back a crucial town from the terror group. We are live near the frontlines.
ROMANS: A new fight in the race for president. Which candidates are going toe-to-toe for those conservative votes.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: Great to see you. I'm John Berman. Thursday, November 12th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.
Breaking news this morning. It is a major development in the battle against ISIS. A new military offensive launched against the terror group. Kurdish Peshmerga forces looking to recapture the town of Sinjar. You can see it right there, with the help of U.S.-led air support. This is being called Operation Free Sinjar.
The town is at the foot of the mountain. It is a key link between two halves of the ISIS caliphate. The city of Mosul in Iraq, and the lands that ISIS holds in Syria.
Our correspondent, senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is with the Peshmerga forces outside Sinjar. He joins us now live -- 7,500 militia troops moving in columns. Again, this is a major operation, Nick.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And they appear to be attacking Sinjar from three different angles. One from the north near Sinjar Mountain where you saw the terrifying pictures of Yazidis from Sinjar fleeing for their lives in brutality of ISIS.
But today, we understand the offensive started at 9:00 last night. There's been intensification of coalition air strikes. We saw it throughout the sky in the dark yesterday. But now, where we are, toward the west of the city itself, we are seeing intense fighting around.
You cannot see it in the distance behind me, but what is really many say this is the chief objective, and that's the many highway that runs through Sinjar. It goes through Mosul in Iraq to Raqqa in Syria and the caliphate and self declared capital.
So, the hope is, from Pentagon officials, you sever this road and you prevent ISIS from trading black market oil from outside world or resupplying people inside Mosul as well. But we heard intense explosions in the past 20 minutes or so. It is seemingly from further away from behind us. Is trying to move toward Sinjar and fight again for the main highway.
But we are also seeing many explosions in the distance over there that appear to be from coalition air strikes. A lot of movement here.
But the optimism we heard at dawn from Peshmerga officials, another blast in the distance over there as well just now. The optimism at dawn we heard is diffusing slightly. Increase I think concerns that the booby traps, the roadside bombs, they're seeing the mines may slow them down.
There will be a more intense fight in the hours ahead to try and reclaim that road. Whoever is in control of it now, both sides like to claim they are. But it is so vital as is potentially the symbolic victory of retaking Sinjar back from ISIS -- John.
BERMAN: Nick, what is the U.S. role? We know the United States involved in the airstrikes. There are Special Forces involved as well?
WALSH: We know anecdotally there are Special Forces involved, certainly in this region, most likely assisting the offensive. We know if we can hear them, the drones and aircraft in the skies above us dropping the air strikes.
It's quite clear there is a substantial coalition presence in making this happen. They don't involved in the messy fighting around us, sometimes chaotic movements of the Peshmerga. But certainly, I think the U.S. has a lot at stake here. It's about gaining momentum and cutting off Raqqa and Mosul, and they're months and months away as an effort -- John.
BERMAN: Must begin the process of taking back the territory that has been held by ISIS now for well over 18 months in some cases.
Nick Paton Walsh right near the frontlines in this new major offensive against ISIS -- thanks so much, Nick.
BERMAN: All right. This morning, the energetic fight for conservative votes, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are campaigning in early primary states. Cruz in New Hampshire, Rubio in South Carolina, each trying to carve out an appeal for conservative votes.
Cruz going after Rubio on trade, on agriculture subsidies, but mainly on immigration. Cruz has been highlighting Rubio's one-time support of immigration reform, helping author a bill in the Senate advocating what some called amnesty before ultimately, he backed off.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[05:05:10] SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If Republicans nominate for president a candidate who supports amnesty, we will have given up one of the major distinctions with Hillary Clinton and we will lose the general election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Rubio avoided being drawn into the discussion in Tuesday night's debate. The moderators left him off the hook on that. Now, he says he would allow undocumented immigrants who have been in the U.S. longer than 10 years to get a work permit if they learn English and pay a fine.
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is with Rubio in South Carolina with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.
Well, Marco Rubio trying to keep the momentum going after the debate, hitting two key states, Iowa and South Carolina. And here in Columbia, he opened his first office in this first in the South primary state and talked about the importance of this state in his road ahead.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We plan to be here often, maybe not in the office every day, but in the state, because we want to do very well here. We want to be successful. Because this election could be decided, at least the nomination could be decided in the state.
SERFATY: In the poll out in South Carolina this week shows that Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are running neck and neck for third place here in South Carolina. That's behind frontrunners Donald Trump and Ben Carson.
Now, Ted Cruz recently told CNN that it is a plausible outcome. He thinks it could come down to just him and Marco Rubio. And certainly, he's been telegraphing a few lines of attack that he is ready to wage against Marco Rubio in that debate on Tuesday night.
So, certainly, this potentially sets up a big battle between the two ahead -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Sunlen.
BERMAN: All right. Joining us to talk about this, CNN politics reporter Jeremy Diamond.
Good morning, Jeremy.
We heard Sunlen talking about it this morning. Six minutes after 5:00 a.m. The narrative today seems to be the battle between Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. A battle in some ways has already started.
The dividing line is on the issue of immigration. You see Ted Cruz starting to inch closer to directly confronting Senator Rubio on his past support for immigration reform.
Let me play you a bit of sound that highlights this. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: It is not complicated that on the fight over amnesty in Congress, the "Gang of Eight" bill that was the brainchild of Chuck Schumer and President Obama would have granted amnesty to 12 million people here illegally. That I stood with the American people and led the fight to defeat it in the United States Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: It is not complicated he said where I stood. Also not complicated who did not stand there. He is speaking directly about Marco Rubio, Jeremy.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, of course. This is classic Ted Cruz where he kind highlights what he has done without talking about opponents, because he likes to talk about how he doesn't criticize them. But he is clearly drawing a contrast here.
If you know as the narrative currently pointing to, you know, that maybe we could see a fight with Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz for the nomination. The issue of immigration is probably going to be central to that debate.
You know, that's largely a factor of the fact that immigration has become so central in the Republican nomination process, largely because of Donald Trump. He has brought this issue to the floor. It would have been a big issue, of course, but he's kind of magmatized it and brought it into different kind of proportions.
ROMANS: Let's be clear -- Donald Trump wants a deportation force. He wants millions of people sent out of the country. He wants to build a wall and get Mexico to pay for it. These are things that he goes over and over and over again on the stump and when he's having interviews.
He was on with O'Reilly last night. And O'Reilly kind of went after him. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS: That was brutal what they did to those people to kick them back. I mean, the stuff they did was brutal.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well --
O'REILLY: It could never happen today.
TRUMP: I heard it both ways. I've heard good reports.
O'REILLY: No, no, you know me.
TRUMP: I've heard bad reports. We would do it in a very humane way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Talking about something called Operation Wetback.
BERMAN: That was the actual name.
ROMANS: The actual name in the Eisenhower administration where people deported back deep into Mexico. Some of those people were sent without food, without water, without money, without even anywhere to go. They were dropped in the desert. People died.
So, you got Bill O'Reilly from FOX News holding him to task for that.
DIAMOND: Yes, and not only was it inhumane largely the way it was done, but it was also catching people crossing in as they were going through the southwest into Arizona and California.
[05:10:02] You know, it was not rounding people up who live in New York or in, you know, the Midwestern cities or whatever it may be, as, you know, where undocumented immigrants live today. They don't just live right along the border.
So, certainly, Donald Trump is coming under scrutiny. Listen, I don't want to jinx it, guys, but I think we may be entering the phase of the campaign where policy and specifics starts to matter a little bit more. And Donald Trump is going to continue to face questions over his immigration plan.
You know, he has talked about deporting 11 million undocumented immigrants. That is a mammoth kind of undertaking. So, he is starting to explain how he would do it or at least he needs to, given that other candidates are starting to criticize him and question him and so is the media.
BERMAN: Well, he is happy to have this discussion. ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: He is happy to have this controversy. He did inject the Eisenhower policies in the debate in the more public debate than before. This is intentional. This is a dividing line.
Forget what the nation thinks. This is a matter of winning the Republican primary. And he thinks he can get the votes there, Jeremy.
DIAMOND: Absolutely. It is almost a litmus test in the immigration stance. That is why Jeb Bush has taken a lot of flack for not being conservative enough because of his support for a path to legal status. He supports a path to citizenship for the DREAMers, the people who were brought here as children illegally.
And that's why you have seen Marco Rubio really stepping back from his past support for comprehensive immigration reform.
ROMANS: Right.
DIAMOND: He was a member of the gang of eight. He was negotiating one of the top negotiators on this issue and he since stepped away from that.
He really now the way that he has addressed and some others addressed it, is we first need to address border security. We will deal with illegal and undocumented immigrants living in the country later on.
BERMAN: Only too eager, he was, Jeremy, not to be drawn into that debate on stage the other night.
Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for being with us. We'll talk to you again in a few minutes.
Two men apprehended and accused of posting racial threats online targeting Missouri college campus. New developments, next.
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[05:16:48] ROMANS: Police in Missouri have apprehended two people for allegedly making threats on social media against African-American students. One suspect, Hunter Park, was charged with making threats against University of Missouri students using the anonymous app, Yik Yak.
Racial tensions are still simmering on the Columbia, Missouri campus following the forced resignation of the president and chancellor. The other student, a freshman at Northwest Missouri State, has not been charged.
BERMAN: The racial turmoil at the University sparking protests over race and discrimination on campuses across the country now. One of them, Ithaca College in Upstate New York. Students held a solidarity walk Wednesday, calling for the school's president to resign. Some 600 people, students and faculty took part in the protest. The students were expressing anger over the response by the
administration to incidents of racism. The event was organized by the group People of Color at Ithaca College.
NBA champ Steph Curry, he is picking up where he left off. He can't miss. Andy Scholes has the details in the bleacher report coming up next.
ROMANS: Jessica Alba's Honest Company made headlines when people complained the sunscreen was not effective. Despite the bad press, Alba and her company stand by the products and recently launched a beauty line.
CNNMoney's Cristina Alesci talked with Alba about the success and criticism of the company.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA ALBA, ACTRESS: You can attach a celebrity to any company. I think, at the end of the day, it's about the quality of the product.
CRISTINA ALESCI, CNNMONEY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hollywood star Jessica Alba used to sell fantasies to men. Now, she's selling diapers to laundry detergent to tampons.
ALBA: Our thinking here was how do you do something graphic that represents the flaws.
ALESCI: Feminine care is just the latest product line from the Honest Company, the health and home brand Alba cofounded four years ago, marketing what it calls the safe and nontoxic products.
And while Honest isn't the first company to market itself as safe and pure, the company's messaging gets a lot of attention and financial backing because of its star power.
Less toxic, safe -- for some critics, it is code for expensive in the consumer packaged goods or CPG category.
ALBA: We are not a discount brand. Would we like to make it more affordable as we scale? Absolutely. But, right now, in order for us to be a business, we have to make some type of margin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are 10 percent to 20 percent more expensive than traditional CPG brands. But there's a reason for that. We use better ingredients.
ALESCI: And while Honest pulled in $150 million in revenue last year, that is tiny compared to industry leaders. Procter & Gamble and Kimberly Clark generated a combined $102 billion in sales.
(on camera): How do you define (INAUDIBLE) for the Honest brand?
ALBA: It's being in everyone's home. Whether you have kids or not, it would be great if you really relied and trusted that the Honest Company met your needs. (END VIDEOTAPE)
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BERMAN: All right. This past NBA off season, DeAndre Jordan, he agreed to sign with the Dallas Mavericks as a free agent before changing his mind. And ultimately staying with the Clippers.
Last night, the Dallas fans got their first chance to voice their displeasure.
ROMANS: Classy Andy Scholes has more in this morning's bleacher report.
Hey, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys.
You know, when it comes to athletes that are not like in the city of Dallas, right now, DeAndre Jordan at the top of the list. Fans, of course, not happy when he changed his mind on them. And last night, they let him have it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Number 60, DeAndre Jordan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: The boos raining down the game. Fans had creative signs in the stands. Jordan had 9 points and 11 rebounds. But the Mavs get the last laugh on this one. Dirk Nowitzki banked home the three late in the fourth. He had 31 in the game. Mavericks win, 118-108.
After the game, the Mavs Twitter account sent out this tweet, poking a little fun at the whole DeAndre Jordan Twitter war from over the summer, saying, "Good game, Clippers. Have a safe trip home."
[05:25:04] All right. Elsewhere in the NBA, will anyone beat the Golden State Warriors?
Steph Curry is ridiculous. He hits a running three pointing while falling down. Later in the quarter, Curry, the steal, and he will beat the buzzer from nearly half-court. He may be the best player ever. I'm not even kidding.
Curry with 28 in the game. Warriors win 100-84. They are 9-0 for the first time in more than 50 years.
Greg Hardy took to Twitter to proclaim his innocence and proclaim he is a victim of discrimination. For a brief time, yesterday, Hardy changed his Twitter profile to say innocent until proven guilty. Lack of knowledge and information is just ignorance.
The unjust, prejudicial treatment of different categories of people is discrimination. How Hardy changed his name to perfection. Hardy was convicted of domestic violence in 2014, but after a trial by jury, the case was thrown out when his accuser stopped cooperating.
OK. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is the king of saying nothing at press conferences. Well, he was asked yesterday by a reporter about mid season grades for his team. Belichick, of course, wasn't having any of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL BELICHICK, PATRIOTS HEAD COACH: Some mid season report card. Who cares? What difference does it make? Like give me an F, give me a C. I mean, I don't really -- it doesn't matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Berman, your Patriots are 8-0. What grade would you give Bill Belichick?
BERMAN: Whatever he says goes. Give him an "F", give him a C-plus, just keep on winning.
ROMANS: He wants to put his picture on the Starbucks cup for the holidays.
BERMAN: I would put that on the Starbucks cup for the holidays. That's a great idea. That's a compromise candidate right there.
ROMANS: He wants to worship and celebrate the Patriots.
BERMAN: Andy Scholes, thanks so much.
SCHOLES: Have a good one.
BERMAN: All right. We do have major breaking news. A new offensive launched against is, a major development in the battle. Troops on the move. We have a reporter right near the frontlines.
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