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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Donald Trump: Ban All Muslim Travel to the U.S.; California Terror Attack: Investigating the Shooters. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired December 08, 2015 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:16] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump wants to ban all Muslims from entering the United States. A proposal that's getting plenty, plenty backlash this morning.
New information this morning about the San Bernardino shooters. When they were radicalized and how they got their guns.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, December 8th. It's 4:00 a.m. in the East. John Berman has the morning off.
An earthquake hits the world of presidential politics after Donald Trump calls for a religious test banning all the Muslims from entering the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Trump's new position drawing cheers from those supporters and drawing fire from nearly every other corner of the political world.
The latest now from senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Donald Trump's plan to ban all Muslims from coming to the U.S. was met with wide condemnation from across the Republican establishment. Every single one of his rivals criticized his plan. Even former Vice President Dick Cheney weighed in. He said it's simply un-American.
But the supporters who were here in South Carolina listening to Donald Trump make his case, they cheered in response. Some of them said they thought it went too far, but others said it was given the shooting in San Bernardino.
Now, this has actually changed the conversation in this presidential debate. Donald Trump talked about that as he made his case for why he believes this plan is necessary. Let's take a listen.
TRUMP: We have to be tough. We have to be smart. We have to be vigilant.
Yes, we have to look at mosques and we have to respect mosques, but yes, we have to look at mosques. We have no choice. We have to see what's out there, because something is happening in there.
Man, there's anger. There's anger. And we have to know about it.
ZELENY: Now, it was that type of language we heard through and through more than an hour long campaign event. He said something is happening out there. Something is going on out there. He even went as far as there could be another World Trade Center bombing.
It is the fear and frustration that he is playing into by choice. Politically, it may be a wise move for him, but it's an open question of how this plays in the longer term. With this Republican debate now one week away, you can bet this will be front and center in the conversation -- Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Jeff, thank you for that.
You are right. Announcing his policy, Trump pointed to a poll from the French think tank, the Center for Security Policy, that claims a quarter of all U.S. Muslims believe violence against Americans is justified as part of global jihad.
Within hours, Trump was using that poll to defend his Muslim exclusion policy on FOX News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS: There are Americans serving in our military who are Muslims who are overseas on bases. Do you apply this rule to them?
TRUMP: No, they would come home. They would be able -- anybody here stays, but we have to be very vigilant. There's a lot of bad things going on.
When you look at the polling numbers that came out, there is tremendous hatred. There is tremendous animosity. These are people living in our country for Muslims living in the country, which is amazing, because I have Muslim friends, Greta, and they are wonderful people. There is a tremendous section and cross section of Muslims living in our country who have tremendous animosity.
We can't let this happen. We have a country to protect.
VAN SUSTEREN: Does this apply to your friends? Does this apply to your Muslim friends? This complete shutdown?
TRUMP: No, this applies -- this does not apply to people living in the country, except that we have to be vigilant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Now, as Jeff Zeleny mentioned, Donald Trump's Republican rivals were quick to respond slamming his plan with vivid language. Jeb Bush tweeted, Donald Trump is unhinged. His, quote, "policy proposals are not serious".
And this from Marco Rubio, "Donald Trump's habit of making offensive and outlandish statements will not bring Americans together. Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina also blasting this idea as unnecessary and in Fiorina's case, unconstitutional.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He is mobilizing anti- Muslim sentiment. He is preying on the fears of the American people. It is called rabble-rousing.
CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is what people say when they have no experience and you don't know what you are talking about. You do not need to be banning Muslims from the country.
[04:05:00] That's -- in my view, that's a ridiculous position and one that won't even be productive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. John Kasich tweeted, "We need a leader that will unite us, not divide us."
Ben Carson released a statement saying, quote, "Everyone visiting our country should register and be monitored during their stay, as is done in many countries. I do not and would not advocate being selective on one's religion."
Ted Cruz highlighted his own approach, focused on excluding Syrian refugees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That is not my policy. I've introduced legislation in the Senate that would put in place a three-year moratorium on refugees coming from countries where ISIS or al Qaeda controls a substantial amount of territory. And the reason is that's where the threat is coming from. The Obama administration and FBI told us they don't have the resources to vet those refugees, to determine whether or not they are ISIS terrorists. I think that's the approach we should take.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Trump taking fire from his own party. Trump also taking fire from Democrats.
In a personally signed tweet, Hillary Clinton calling Trump's proposal, quote, "reprehensible, prejudiced and divisive. Donald Trump, you don't get it. This makes us less safe."
And Bernie Sanders tweeting that the United States is a strong nation when we stand together. We are weak when we allow racism and xenophobia to divide us.
Donald Trump will get another chance to explain his Muslim exclusion policy in the 7:00 hour of NEW DAY.
All right. There's new information this morning on the couple behind the San Bernardino massacre.
The FBI making step by step progress as it investigates this husband and wife team of killers, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik. Officials say it's still unclear who radicalized whom, but that it was not a recent development. And there are new questions about the original buyer of some of the guns they used, a former neighbor of the Farook family.
CNN's Ana Cabrera has the latest this morning from San Bernardino.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, we are learning a lot more about the shooters in this massacre. We've learned that both had been radicalized and they had been for quite some time according to the FBI. They also tell us that both had been practicing target shooting at a local gun range and they had done so just days before the shooting.
Now, authorities have confiscated five guns, including two pistols and three rifles. Three of those guns we're told were purchased directly by Syed Rizwan Farook, but two of the assault rifles were purchased by another man now identified as Enrique Marquez. Investigators have interviewed him. He's not facing any charges at this time, but authorities say they still don't know how those guns ended up in the hands of the killers.
The FBI is calling this a massive investigation and they are trying to be extremely methodical as they work to get answers. We know they've collected 320 pieces of evidence, many of those sent to the FBI crime lab. They've also interviewed some 400 people, contacts of the killers, including Farook's parents who we know were interviewed individually for several hours.
Authorities here say they're also working with intelligence and their counterparts overseas, trying to track the couple's movements that any contacts they may have had there.
What's really slowed them, though, is trying to track the digital foot print. Of course, that could be crucial in this investigation. We know the couple destroyed their cell phones. The hard drive was missing from the computer. And the FBI insisting they're not going to leave any stone unturned -- Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Ana Cabrera, thanks for that.
Meantime, the Department of Homeland Security plans to tweak its terrorism alert system under the current system. There are two threat levels, imminent and elevated. Now, the department plans to add a third level to cover less serious threats in order to provide general advisories to the public when necessary. No word when that level will take effect or what it will be called.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid filling in the president's pledge to destroy ISIS with plans to introduce legislation that would create an ISIS czar. Reid says the plan will help unify the federal government's efforts in fighting ISIS. Democrats will also push for sanctions aimed at cutting off the terror group's ability to receive funding.
Top House Republicans admit they need a short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown at midnight Friday. Right now, lawmakers are working on a spending plan and bill addressing a host of tax breaks set to expire at the end of the year. Also slowing down this process, both parties pushing to attach a variety of items to the budget like provisions covering Syrian refugees and Wall Street campaign finance reforms.
Nine minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money this morning.
An ugly morning for stocks around the world. Asian stocks closed much lower. European stocks and U.S. stock futures are down right now.
What is dragging down markets? Oil. Oil prices plunged nearly 6 percent yesterday to a seven-year low. That's because OPEC did not reduce output despite a huge supply glut.
[04:10:01] Plus, a slowdown in global demand adding to a drag on prices. We have not seen prices like this, folks, since the battle days of the big global recession.
Bad news for oil companies, great news for drivers. Gas could fall below $2 a gallon nationwide for the first time since 2009. The average right now is sitting at $2.03 compared to $2.67 a year ago.
One stock moving before the bell, Chipotle. Boston College said more than two dozen students, including members of the men's basketball people got sick after eating at Chipotle. This amid an E. coli outbreak linked to the chain that has made people sick in at least nine states. That stock tumbling in the free market.
All right. New protests in Chicago after police cleared in the deadly shooting of the black man. We've got that story, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Breaking news this morning: just a short while ago, South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius granted bail as he waits sentencing next year for murdering his girlfriend. [04:15:03] Last week, South Africa's supreme court of appeal
overturned Pistorius' conviction for culpable homicide, roughly equal to man slaughter, found him guilty of murdering model Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius' lawyers say they will appeal his murder conviction to South Africa's constitutional court.
In the wake of the murder charges filed against the Chicago he police officer who allegedly shot the black teenager 16 times, the Justice Department has opened an investigation of the entire Chicago police force. It comes as the department released video of another incident, another black man, Ronald Johnson who was shot in the back by police. Prosecutors have determined that officer acted properly. No criminal charges will be filed in that case.
We get more from CNN's Martin Savidge in Chicago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine.
There were a number of small protests and reaction in the release of the police video here in Chicago. One of them we followed which took place in the area where the shooting of Ronald Johnson actually happened back in October of 2014. There are about 75 people showed up. They marched to a nearby police station. It was all very peaceful.
Earlier in the day, authorities had already said that unlike the case that had sparked so much controversy just before Thanksgiving, that was the death of Laquan McDonald. There was not going to be any officer that was charged in this case.
Authorities say it is very different circumstances, that Ronald Johnson, they alleged, had a gun in his hand, that they had refused the orders by police to lay down that weapon and surrender. Instead, he ran into the direction of the public park and that's when two shots were fired. That's when he was killed. Essentially, authorities are saying that it was justifiable.
The family, though, of Ronald Johnson says just the opposite. They say it was not. That the video shows a murder and the attorney that represents that family goes one step farther saying the weapon that the authorities said they found, he alleges, was planted by police instead to justify the shooting.
All of this on the same day that the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it was launching an investigation into the Chicago Police Department on its policies and practices, especially concerning those regarding minorities -- Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Martin, thank you for that in Chicago this morning.
Testimony resumes this morning in the trial of Baltimore Police Officer William Porter charged in the death of Freddie Gray. On Monday, the state medical examiner who performed Gray's autopsy testified his death was a homicide, resulting from police action. It was not an accident. Gray suffered a fatal spinal injury while being transported in a police van. Also, Monday, one of the jurors had to be replaced due to a medical emergency.
People in Portland, Oregon, say they've never seen anything like the flooding that's turned streets into rivers, living some stranded in waterlogged homes, in desperate need of rescue. Nearly three inches of rain fell in the Portland area tying a one-day record. Oregon bracing for more rain this morning.
Let's get to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Christine, good morning.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the rain is going to let up at least in the immediate future, the next couple of days mainly tonight and into tomorrow. During rush hour, we can get some tremendous rainfall and on top of what has come down over the region, which by the way, is historic rainfall as far calendar day of record in Portland coming in about 2.67 inches. That is more than 1,400 percent of what the daily average for this time of year. Look at what has happened in the first week of December. More than 5 inches have come down over this region.
And you take a look offshore, the available moisture of what we call the pineapple express, the moisture originating from the Hawaiian Islands, tremendous moisture coming in the next couple of days. In fact, the next seven days, some indications by these models put well over a foot of rainfall across part of northern California, southern Oregon, into the Olympic rainforest could also see at least a foot of rainfall.
And we often talk about the northwestern U.S. when it comes to having a soggy distinction. But, in fact, it is actually the cloudiest parts of the U.S., with 200 plus days of clouds per year. Rainy days are 150 for Portland and Seattle. You see how much they get in an average year, 36 to 37 inches, but work your way to a place like Mobile, Alabama, they get almost twice as much rain and less rainy days and less cloudy days.
It tells you the intensity of the rainfall across the south far greater than across the northwest.
Let's send it back to you.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks for that.
There is new information about the woman shooter in the California terror attack. Her father's home in Pakistan raided as those who know her share their stories, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:24:11] ROMANS: All right. Good morning. Welcome back. I'm Christine Romans.
I want to bring you new details this morning about the shadowy female suspect at center of the San Bernardino terror attack. In 2013, Tashfeen Malik enrolled in a course to study the Koran at a conservative religious school for women in Pakistan. She left before finishing that course to come to America and to marry Syed Rizwan Farook, the man who helped her massacre 14 people.
Also developing this morning, police in central Pakistan raiding a home belonging to Malik's father.
I want to go on the phone now to Multan, Pakistan and bring in CNN's Saima Mohsin.
Saima, what are you learning about this killer?
SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Christine, I've just been to the school that she studied (INAUDIBLE) where she attended classes after university when (INAUDIBLE) she would come here (INAUDIBLE).
[04:25:17] Now, I have spoken to (INAUDIBLE) belonging to the institute (INAUDIBLE) and she while she was ultra conservative in Islam (INAUDIBLE) --
ROMANS: All right. Saima Mohsin, we are having trouble hearing your connection. Traveling to the hometown of the killer and also a raid on the father's home, one of the homes owned by the father. We will get you back and talk about what you are finding in Pakistan.
Twenty-six minutes past the hour.
Donald Trump proposing to ban all Muslims, ban Muslims from entering the United States, a religious test to enter America. New reaction from the campaign trail and around the world, all of it coming in this morning. We've got that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
