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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Calls For Ban On Muslims Entering U.S.; Presidential Rivals Slam Trump Plan; Investigators Probe Tashfeen Malik's Past. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired December 08, 2015 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is 30 minutes past the hour. John Berman has the morning off.
Let's start with this earthquake that has shaken the world of presidential politics after Donald Trump calls for a religious test banning all 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 is drawing cheers from supporters and drawing fire from every other corner of the political world. I want to get the latest from our senior correspondent, Jeff Zeleny -- Jeff.
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 Republican 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 listened to Donald Trump make his case, they cheered in response.
Some of them said they thought it went too far. Others said it was appropriate given the shooting in San Bernardino. This is completely changed the conversation this Republican 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have to be tough. We have to be smart. We have to be vigilant. Yes, we have to look at mosques. We have to respect mosques. Yes, we have to look at mosques. We have no choice. We have to see what's happening because something is happening in there. Man, there's anger. There's anger. We have to know about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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 went as far as to say 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 is a bigger question how this will play in the longer term with this Republican presidential debate now exactly one week away, you can bet this will be front and center in the conversation -- Christine.
ROMANS: Yes, and a conversation changer quite frankly. You know, as Jeff mentioned, Donald Trump's Republican rivals were really quick to pounce on this slamming his plan, many of them using pretty vivid language.
Let's start with Jeb Bush. He tweeted Donald Trump is unhinged. His quote, "Policy proposals are not serious." This is from Marco Rubio, "Donald Trump's habit of making offensive and outlandish statements will not bring Americans together."
Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina are also blasting the idea as unnecessary. Carly Fiorina calls it unconstitutional.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He is mobilizing anti- Muslim sentiment. He is preying on the fierce of the American people. It is called rabble rousing.
CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): This is the kind of thing that people say when they have no experience and don't know what they are talking about. You do not need to be banning Muslims from the country. In my view, that's a ridiculous position and one that won't even be productive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: John Kasich tweeted we need a leader that will unite us, not divide us. Ben Carson released a statement saying everyone visiting our country should register and be monitored during their stay like many other countries. "I do not and would not advocate being selective on one's religion."
Ted Cruz dismissed the Trump plan and highlighted his own approach. He would focus on excluding Syrian refugees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED CRUZ (R), 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 control a substantial amount of territory. The reason is that is where the threat is coming from. The
Obama administration and the FBI have told us they don't have the resources to properly vet those refugees, to determine whether or not they are ISIS terrorists. I think that is the approach we should take.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Trump also taking fire from Democrats. No surprise there. In a personally signed tweet, Hillary Clinton is calling Trump's proposal reprehensible, prejudice, and divisive. Donald Trump, you don't get it. This makes us less safe.
Bernie Sanders tweeting that the U.S. is a strong nation when we stand together. We are weak when we allow racism and xenophobia to divide us.
I want to breakdown the reaction from the Trump proposal with CNN Politics reporter, Zachary Wolf. Good morning, Zach. In covering Donald Trump, it has been an adventure in the past few months. He really goes where no candidate has gone before. He tries to show how strong and decisive he is.
Where he sees problems in American society, he says he will fix it. I'll tell you he gets rave reviews on the campaign trail when he is speaking to his supporters.
I want you to listen to what the South Carolina Trump supporters told our Randi Kaye about this particular proposal. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[05:35:05]RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump is now saying Muslims should not be allowed to enter this country until the U.S. figures out what is going on. Do you agree with that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I do.
KAYE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want them here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a very prudent idea. I think he has done due diligence when he makes that statement. We have to protect our American citizens first, and the vetting process and program lacks integrity.
KAYE: Are you in favor of bombing terrorists' homes?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. People will continue to reproduce and they will raise children in their beliefs. Somebody just needs to go in there and take control of this. I think it's going rampant. I'm worried about America, worried about our safety. They are getting in. They need to be stopped.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So tell me how this plays politically for Donald Trump? Jeff Zeleny said that in the short-term, it's a wise move politically, longer term, not clear how that works out for him.
ZACHARY WOLF, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: I will say, we saw all the tweets that you read and Jeff talked about it. It's the first time you have seen the entire Republican field and establishment kind of turn on Trump for one of the things he said.
Throughout his campaign, he has insulted Mexicans, immigrants, women, you name it. The list goes on. This is the first time with this kind of remarkable proposal of his to do a travel ban on all Muslims.
You see all establishment Republicans turn on him. That's different than the people at his rally. The supporters will have a different opinion. The question is what will happen throughout the rest of the country or more moderate Republicans agree with him or the party?
ROMANS: The supporters at the rallies love it. You can see it. We talked to them afterwards. We will see what it means for the polls. So far, every time there is a big question that offended or insulted people, he has risen in the polls.
The South Carolina Republican chair said this sends a shiver up my spine. Then Dick Cheney weighs in and points out that the United States was founded on the fact that anyone of any religion could come here. Listen to what Dick Cheney said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT (via telephone): I think this notion that somehow we can just say most more Muslims, ban a whole religion goes against everything we stand for and believed in. Religious freedom is an important part of our history and where we came from. My ancestors got here because they were Puritans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: I mean, when you think about how the Republican Party still often talks about the founders and what the founders wanted, and you know, in his founding principles of America. How does the Donald Trump Muslim exclusion policy fit into that sort of core traditional world view?
WOLF: I think you see the Republicans, the establishment Republicans and other candidates saying it doesn't. Whether or not the actual voters, people taking part in opinion polls and cast votes agree. That is the big question.
With Trump so far, when he said other things, he has led the party over to him. Back over to him. I don't see that happening in this case. We will have to see what happens with the reaction out there in the country. ROMANS: I want to talk about the motivation. There's been some question about whether this kind of proposal, you know, could fly in South Carolina or maybe would he propose this in New Hampshire? Why the timing now?
Perhaps just 24 hours from the imagery of the president of the United States in the oval office saying we need tolerance and not portray an image of the United States versus Islam. And Donald Trump with a different rhetoric. What do you make of that?
WOLF: I mean, the difference is between Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Trump has built his political brand on bravado and being verbose and saying things that would get every single other politician in trouble or kicked out of the race essentially.
The political rules as we've seen since this summer do not apply to him. We will see if they start to in this case. You know, it's more of Trump. It's loud. It's in your face. It makes you scratch your head sometimes.
ROMANS: When there is a Monmouth poll showing Ted Cruz in Iowa edging past him. I know our polls show Donald Trump still ahead. I wonder if this is providing any concern or any, you know, stoking the bravado for this candidate.
WOLF: It must be. Our poll shows him still ahead in Iowa. Cruz is probably a more natural fit, the Republican demographic in Iowa. It is not surprising that Trump falls off a little bit.
[05:40:05]Every time he falls off a bit, he finds a way to reclaim the headlines and he has certainly done that in this case.
ROMANS: Zachary Wolf up early for us this morning with a lot to talk about with the candidates. Thank you for that. Talk to you soon.
It is 40 minutes past the hour. There is new information to tell you about, about the woman shooter in the California terror attack. Her father's home in Pakistan raided and those who know her are revealing a little bit more about this woman next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. We have some new details for you about the shadowy female suspect at the center of that 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.
[05:45:04]Now 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 is raiding a home belonging to Malik's father. I want to go to Pakistan and bring in CNN's Saima Mohsin. Saima, what are you learning? SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, I'm outside the school that she studied at. That ultra-conservative and ultra-orthodox school simply and purely for women. It gives religious education classes like going to a bible school.
Now we've spoken to the university that Tashfeen Malik had come to Pakistan to study at. She was there in 2007 to 2012. Then she is enrolled in that course you mentioned here.
I have been inside. The teachers inside did not want to appear on camera because of their religious sensibilities. But they told me that she was a normal girl. They didn't see anything unusual about her.
She was hard working, very helpful, very fun to be around, and incredibly positive minded. They also said that nobody at the institute could ever have imagined that she would be behind such a horrible act. That's what they described it.
They impressed upon me and they believe this is 100 percent against Islam. They simply don't want to be associated with it. They say that they cannot be held responsible for someone doing something so horrible after they left.
Now we are starting, Christine, since we have been here in Multan, to piece together information about Tashfeen Malik going to her university, coming to this religious institute.
And also speaking to one of her colleagues at university who told CNN that she was a normal girl just like any other at the university, and that even though she wore a head scarf, she wore the veil which covers the face halfway, she did not pray five times a day according to this one student.
She talked about boys and social network and chatting online. And incredibly surprising to her that someone like that back in 2007 to 2012 could turn into the person that we have seen in San Bernardino carrying out such a horrific act of violence --Christine.
ROMANS: That is the murderous riddle of the Jihadi narrative. That at what point does the normal background deviate quite literally into something murderous. This is a mother, a 29-year-old mother of a 6- month-old who enthusiastically participates in the murder in California. The FBI is trying to put together who radicalized whom in that couple. Thanks for that, Saima Mohsin.
Let's take a look at what is coming up on NEW DAY. Alisyn Camerota joins us this morning. Hi, Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Christine, we have a very show on NEW DAY. We will have more on the shockwaves around the political world following that suggestion from Donald Trump on an all-out ban to keep Muslims from entering the United States.
This is drawing condemnation from other 2016 candidates on both sides of the aisle, but his supporters are standing by him. So we will have all of the reaction. We will have a panel of Muslim- Americans on to react. We will have the fallout politically.
We will also speak to Donald Trump himself. He will join us in our 7:00 hour to explain his reasoning and this proposed closed sign on America's front door. "NEW DAY" starts in 12 minutes.
ROMANS: OK, can't wait for that. It should be interesting. The president demanding an attention to gun violence after the tragedy in San Bernardino, but another mass shooting is sending gun stocks soaring. I'll tell you why next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:53:18]
ROMANS: Breaking news this morning, just a short while ago, South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius granted bail as he awaits sentencing next year for murdering his girlfriend.
Last week, the South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal overturned his conviction for culpable homicide. It found him guilty of murdering model, Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius' lawyers say they will appeal the conviction to South Africa's constitutional court.
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 that that death was a homicide resulting from police actions and 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.
New details about the man accused of killing three people at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic. The Associated Press citing a law official who says Robert Dear asked at least one person for directions to that facility before launching his attack.
It may be the clearest indication yet that Dear was targeting Planned Parenthood. Prosecutors expect to formally charge Dear with murder and other crimes this week.
A victory for gun control advocates. The Supreme Court is refusing to hear a challenge to a Chicago suburbs ban on semiautomatic assault weapons. That keeps similar bans in place in seven other states, California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut and Hawaii. The majority of the justices agreeing with two lower courts, which rule the bans were constitutional.
People in Portland, Oregon, have never seen the streets turn into rivers and leaving some stranded in water logged homes, desperate need rescue.
[05:55:06]Nearly 3 inches of rain fell in the Portland area on Monday tying a one-day record. Oregon is bracing for more rain this morning. Let's get to meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri. (WEATHER REPORT)
ROMANS: All right, Pedram, thanks for that. Let's get an EARLY START on your money right now. An ugly morning for stocks around the world, Asian stocks closed much lower. European stocks, U.S. stock futures are down too.
What is driving down the markets here, oil. Oil prices plunged nearly 6 percent yesterday. That's a seven-year low, haven't seen these levels since the recession.
Now OPEC did not cut production. Global growth may be slowing, all of that roiling the oil market. Gas could soon fall below $2 a gallon nationally for the first time since 2009. The average right now is $2.03 a gallon.
The president's call to action on gun violence sending gun stocks soaring. Shares of Smith & Wesson and Ruger jumped more than 5 percent yesterday. Mass shootings tend to boost gun sales especially when the president talks about addressing gun violence.
People rushed to buy guns before they think they are going to be banned or restricted. On Sunday, Obama asked Congress for tougher gun laws following the attacks in San Bernardino. Gun sales also skyrocketed back in 2013 after the mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Lottery winners in Illinois finally getting a pay day, the state has been issuing an IOUs for winnings over 600 bucks since July. Imagine winning the lottery and getting an IOU. The lawmakers did not pass a budget. Now the governor signed the bill to resume payouts. Lottery officials will work through the backlog in a week.
Donald Trump wants to ban all Muslims from entering the United States. "NEW DAY" picks up this story now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: Donald J. Trump --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what people say when they have no experience.
TRUMP: Calling for a total and complete shutdown -- of Muslims entering the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want them here. Who knows what they will bring into the country?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump sounds more like a leader of a lynch mob than great nation like ours.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both subjects were radicalized and have been for quite some time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nineteen pipe bombs could have been used in a larger attack.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The couple practiced their shooting skills at a firing range just days before that massacre.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No criminal charges will be filed against Officer Hernandez.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will examine a number of issues related to the Chicago Police Department's use of force.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, December 8, 6:00 in of the east. Here's the proposition, all Muslims should be banned from entering the country. Donald Trump says that should be America's answer.
With that, he has succeeded in being a uniter in the GOP galvanizing candidates and party leaders in near universal rejection of that idea.
CAMEROTA: But Donald Trump is still far ahead of the GOP field in all of the latest polls. Will the latest comments hurt or help his lead in the race? We will speak live to Donald Trump in our next hour.
We begin with our comprehensive coverage with CNN political reporter, Sara Murray. She is live in Washington. Give us all the latest -- Sara.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Alisyn, this is a good question about whether this will impact his support. But right now we are seeing across the board negative, almost universally negative reaction from leaders of the Republican Party.
And in a rare move, the Republican chairman in all three early voting states, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, all condemning Donald Trump's remarks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We are out of control. We have no idea who is coming into our country.
MURRAY (voice-over): It maybe his most controversial proposal yet. Donald Trump calling for the U.S. --
