Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Taking Fire From All Sides; California Terror Attack: Not the Gunman's First Plot; Third Bataclan Attacker Identified. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired December 09, 2015 - 04:30   ET

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

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump taking political fire from all sides this morning, rival candidates, the White House, Democratic and Republican leaders all blasting Trump's proposal for a complete and total ban on all Muslims entering the U.S.

[04:30:07] The billionaire defending the plan on television. Also on Twitter, late into the fight, writing, "Our country is facing a major threat for radical Islamic terrorism. We better get very smart, and very tough, fast, before it is too late."

Trump also defending against accusations that he, himself, is a racist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, ABC NEWS)

BARBARA WALTERS, ABC NEWS: Are you a bigot?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not at all. Probably the least of anybody you've ever met.

WALTERS: Because?

TRUMP: Because I'm not. I'm a person that has common sense. I'm a smart person. I know how to run things. I know how to make America great again. This is about making America great again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISON: Senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny has more on the backlash against Trump's latest plans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Alison, in the face of unrelenting political backlash, Donald Trump is defiant in defending his proposal to block Muslims from coming to the United States. This overheated campaign season suddenly even hotter, with Republicans rushing to join Democrats in condemning Trump.

Now, House Speaker Paul Ryan blasted Trump, saying he's not a true conservative and he doesn't speak for the party's values.

Trump's comments are drawing intense fire from his GOP rivals, including Jeb Bush, campaigning Tuesday in New Hampshire.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we shouldn't do is to just, you know, say all Muslims aren't coming into our country. You got to find the proper balance of believing in American values and being serious and real about keeping us safe. It's not about the blowhards out there just saying stuff. That's not a program. That's not a plan. This is serious business.

ZELENY: Now, Trump said his ban on Muslims would be temporary. He called it a modern day version of FDR's actions toward the Japanese in World War II. He brushed aside the criticism during a round of interviews on Tuesday. He said his supporters are tired of political correctness.

Now, there's no question many Americans are frightened in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting or the Paris attacks. But that's exactly the sentiment Trump is trying to appeal.

A new "USA Today" poll taken after the California shooting finds Trump as leading the Republican field at 27 percent, followed by Ted Cruz at 17 and Marco Rubio at 16.

Now, despite this widespread condemnation, there is little reason to believe this will hurt Trump in Republican primary. So far, nothing he said has -- Christine and Alison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Jeff, thanks for that.

As Jeff mentioned, Trump is doing well in the national polls, but he is doing even better in New Hampshire. In New Hampshire, widening his lead there even further. Even so, the furious reaction of his Muslim exclusion proposal is that Trump hinting again he might run as an independent if Republicans don't treat him, quote, "fairly".

Chief political correspondent Dana Bash picks up that part of the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Alison, it's not just that Donald Trump is on top big time in our new poll New Hampshire Republican primary voters. It's that he's so far ahead, 32 percent. And if you kind of look at that for context, the three people behind him in this poll, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, you add up all of their support and combined, they still don't get as much as Donald Trump.

And it's not just that, it's the expectations of the party voters in New Hampshire. These are very experienced voters. They understand kind of how things work. They are predicting, six in ten are predicting that Donald Trump will be the nominee for the Republican Party.

Now, we should note that this survey was done before Trump made his new proposal, that Muslims should not be allowed into this country. But still, if you look inside the poll for support for how he would do to fight ISIS, foreign policy, be commander-in-chief, it's hard to see that despite all of the fury, all of outrage, from the house speaker to the former Vice President Dick Cheney, across the board, that it's hard to see that his numbers will change dramatically, because he does have so much support with that sector of the population.

And you certainly saw that when he gave his big speech on Monday night in South Carolina. You saw a lot of people in the crowd giving him a standing ovation for this. The question, though, is going to be whether or not at this point, there is so much outrage and the Republican Party pushing Donald Trump from his perspective, perhaps, away, whether or not he is going to be more aggressive about questioning whether or not he'd welcome into the Republican party.

Already, yesterday afternoon, he sent out a tweet, noting that more than the vast majority of his supporters in one poll say that even if he were an independent, they would stick with him and vote for him and not the Republican nominee.

[04:35:04] That is a nightmare scenario for the Republican Party. Something they have been trying very hard to avoid -- Christine and Alison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: OK. Dana, thanks very much.

And significant new details this morning into the investigation of the San Bernardino massacre, including words that one of the shooters may have started plotting three years ago. Investigators are saying gunman Syed Rizwan Farook took out a loan for $28,500 in November, but they say half money, went to Farook's mother. And they don't believe it was used to finance the attack.

And we are learning more about the man who was the original buyer of two assault rifles used by the shooters. Officials say Enrique Marquez bought the AR-15s back in 2011 and 2012, and gave them to Farook soon after. They say they don't think Marquez was involved in the San Bernardino attacks. Investigators do believe Farook was plotting with someone back in 2012.

More on that from justice correspondent Pamela Brown.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine and Alison, we are learning investigators believe Syed Farook, along with someone else, may have been planning an earlier attack in California. This is according to two U.S. officials I've spoken with. One of these officials saying the two conspired back in 2012, and a specific target was even considered.

Neither of these official, though, could say how serious the plotting got. But the fact that they had picked out a target, of course, is alarming and shows a concrete step towards carrying out an attack. The officials are saying, that we're speaking with, that the two decided not to go through it after a round of terror-related arrests in the area. One official is saying that they simply got spooked.

But this is bolstering the belief that law enforcement has said publicly that Farook was radicalized for a period of time before the San Bernardino attacks and now, it appears before he was married to his wife Tashfeen Malik. We know that Farook and his friend apparently, they have been conspiring to do bad things, one of these officials say.

And at this point, we are learning that they are discovering the extent. Federal law enforcement discovering the extent of the 2012 plan following the San Bernardino attack. Officials have said that Farook was not a target of a terror investigation or known to law enforcement before the shooting last week. These new details coming to light showing just how active this investigation is -- Alison and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: OK, Pamela, thank you for that.

A bill that imposes new restrictions on the country's visa waiver program passed overwhelmingly in the House. It would increase information sharing between the U.S. and more than three dozen nations where passport holders are allowed to visit America without a visa. The bill also calls for the weeding out of passengers in countries where they may have been radicalized. The Senate is considering its own bill that would pre vent people traveling to Iraq and Syria from using the waiver program for five years.

KOSIK: The Obama administration is helping Iran negotiate a deal to send part of the enriched uranium stock piles to Kazakhstan. According to "The Wall Street Journal", the arrangement would speed up sanctions relief for Tehran. But Republicans are calling for new sanctions after U.S. officials confirmed the Iranians conducted a ballistic missiles launched last month in apparent violation of a U.N. resolution.

But the potential government shutdown looming at midnight Friday. Negotiations on a massive new funding bill have stalled in Congress. Speaker Paul Ryan says the House may have to pass a short-term funding bill, while talks continue through the weekend. Most of the study plan is in place, but both parties are bogged down over riders to the deal. Hot button issues like the Syrian refugee crisis and campaign finance reform.

ROMANS: All right. Thirty-nine minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money this Wednesday morning.

Asian shares mostly fell today, European shares pulling back from some earlier gains. Watching U.S. stock futures right now barely moving. What could change that, though, oil prices are rising right now. Oil has been at lows not seen in seven years this week. That has dragged stocks lower, global demand concerns. Yesterday, the Dow fell 163 points. One stock to watch today, Southwest, the airline, already known for its bargain fares and few extra fees and now, Southwest says those fares will stay low during the busy holiday time. Great news for travelers, but investors don't like it. Yesterday, shares fell 9 percent, making it the worse performer in the S&P 500. That's on fears the industry is going back to fare wars -- fare wars mean lower profits.

I tell you low energy prices have been very, very good for the airlines. That's been very, very good for their profits.

KOSIK: And great for consumers who drive.

ROMANS: That's right.

KOSIK: All right. Breaking news this morning, we now know the identity of another terrorist behind the terrorist attacks. What investigators are revealing about him, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:44:04] ROMANS: Welcome back. We have breaking news for you this morning.

French police identifying now, the third attacker at the Bataclan night club. CNN affiliate BFMTV and France 2 say 23-year-old Foued Mohamed Aggad came from a small town near Strasburg. He had traveled to Syria in 2013. BFM reports he was close to one of France's main jihadist recruiters.

Jim Bittermann joins us now from Paris.

And, hopefully, hopefully, investigators have been able to do some really good work over the before they release this man's name. What do we know about him?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in fact, it's a story developing here. In fact, we are getting a lot of different stories and different reports from the various media here. But basically, 23 years old, he went off to Syria, if reports are correct with seven or eight other friends from the same area, from Strasburg in the east of France. They got there. They went to Syria.

[04:45:01] And almost, immediately within days, the couple of the group were killed in the fighting there. Some of the others returned to France and were put under provisionary detention by police, but Mohamed-Aggad stayed and vowed to come back and create mayhem here in France, which apparently he did. He was believed to be the third gunman, identified as the third gunman in the attacks at the performance hall where 90 people died, 90 of the 130 people who were killed on November 13th.

And the fact that they've identified them have now led police to all sorts of other investigations. According to reports this morning, his mother's apartment has now been searched overnight -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Jim.

Let me ask you a question. Yesterday, you know, as you know the United States, so much of the conversation is about Donald Trump's proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States. Potentially, that would mean anybody living in France, for example, who would want to come to the United States, now would have few restrictions and doing so Muslims from France. He said so, in doing so, he said that there are parts of Paris where politician are afraid to go.

Is that true? Are there parts of Paris police are not able to patrol?

BITTERMANN: No, it's not true. In fact, Christine, one of the things that happened after the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks, it was reported by one of our fellow networks that, in fact, there were no go area in Paris. That was roundly denied by the British authorities.

In fact, the mayor of Paris threatened to sue on Trump's comments, there have been little reaction here. Although one newspaper tracked down the deputy mayor of Paris who basically said it's outrageous. If he wants to come to Paris, they can show him all areas of the city and prove there are no no-go areas in Paris.

ROMANS: That's not to say though, Jim, that there isn't a great concern among the Parisians about these jihadists returning, French born jihadists from the battlefield in Iraq and Syria and now living in France again.

BITTERMANN: Absolutely. This is one of the worst nightmares of authorities, the kind of thing that's been discovered again this morning. We know now that a number of the attackers on November were actually French born and had French passports.

They -- we've also found out that there is a connection between a lot of these different groups in different cities. The connection is that recruiter here has been identified as Mourad Fares, and he apparently recruited a number of young French people in different cities and suburbs of cities around the country and provided transports and means for them to get to Syria and become radicalized further than they probably already were before they went.

In any case, it is exposing a kind of a wider network of terrorists that the French now are investigating more and more, and I guess probably in a way that was kind of a night mayor authorities had suggested as much as a year or two ago -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Jim Bittermann, thank you so much for that, Jim.

KOSIK: The defense takes its turn today in the trial of Baltimore police officer William Porter. Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday against Porter who's charged in connection with the death of Freddie Gray. The state's final witness, an expert in police procedure, told the jury that getting medical help for Gray was a responsibility Porter shared with other officers.

Gray suffered a fatal spinal injury while being transported in a police van. Porter is expected to testify on his own behalf. He's the first of six officers to stand trial.

ROMANS: The FBI announcing plans to expand the system for tracking fatal shootings and other violent police encounters nationwide. A senior FBI official calls the current method of collecting such data, quote, "a travesty."

The new system will catalogue any incident involving serious injury or death to civilians, including through the use of stun guns and pepper spray, even fist and feet. The agency says tracking police excessive force is now the highest priority.

KOSIK: Switching gears here, focusing on the weather. Heavy rains that have flooded parts of Portland, Oregon, now triggering a health crisis in the city. The deluge caused sewers to overflow, sending raw sewage flowing through some streets. Officials are advising people to clean themselves thoroughly as they come in contact with the water.

ROMANS: And there is no let-up to those rains for folks in Oregon. Let's get to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Alison and Christine, good morning.

Yes, the moisture coming in across the Northwest, as impressive as we get here for really this time of year. You take a look at the rainfall, easily highlight here in area where four to six inches of probability in northern California could exceed ten inches in a few spots. That's a seven-day forecast in place over that region. And the good news is, you get up to the high sierras.

This time last year, the snow pack, somewhere around 18 percent. Past forward to the first week of December in 2015, we are doubling that number up to around 36 percent. And great news, because we know about 30 percent of the drinking water for this region of California comes from snow melts, so a great reserves being built over that region.

[04:50:02] High temperatures will take about 70 in Jackson, Mississippi. Upper 50s around D.C., Nashville makes it to about 60 degrees over this region as well. And notice the high pressure that is really going to expand and force that jet stream up into portions of Canada. Temperatures could get up to 25 to 30 degrees above average inside the next couple of days.

In fact, Minneapolis mid-40s, 29 is what's normal, Chicago, mid and upper 50s where 37 is what's considered normal, with St. Louis getting close to 70 degrees when it should be 44 for this time of year, and even Boston and New York, the temperature trend will eventually climb up to around 60 degrees by this weekend, guys.

ROMANS: All right. Pedram Javaheri, thanks for that, Pedram.

Do you love going to work every day?

KOSIK: Absolutely. Yes, the alarm goes off at 1:30 in the morning.

(CROSSTALK) ROMANS: Believe it or not, companies have a spoiler alert. Google didn't make the top five.

KOSIK: Really?

ROMANS: I know, they're always on the top list of everything.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:55:20] KOSIK: Welcome back.

Donald Trump calls for a ban on Muslim immigrants entering the U.S. triggering worldwide outrage. Even though Trump insists his plan would be temporary, Western leaders are calling it divisive and hate- filled.

In Egypt, the country's most influential religious leader accused the GOP front runner of being an Islamophobe.

Let's get the latest now from CNN's Sara Sidner live from Istanbul.

Good morning.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

You know, there has been reaction mostly from people and some business owners, a large retailer in Dubai for example has decided to stop telling Trump branded home decor products, saying it's just simply something to do because of the sentiment of the customers, it is a very large retail chain across parts of the Middle East and North Africa.

Also, we are hearing from people, but not hearing so much from the leaders of these countries. And that is partly because they do not recognize Donald Trump as an official of the United States. They see that he is simply a candidate for the president and therefore have decided not to make any comments on his comments.

But when you talk to people, they have all sorts of things to say. The word "fascist" is used quite a bit. Racist is used quite a bit. And a lot of people are looking at this as playing into the hands of ISIS. They say they, too, as Muslims, are afraid of what ISIS means and what it brings and that ISIS kills more Muslims than anyone else.

But they are concerned that someone in the United States who is running for president is saying things about one group of people that is huge and making these announcements against this group of people who in general they say, look, we, too, are victims of is, why are we being victimized by this presidential candidate as well?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a crazy man.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's racist, yes. They're saying that Muslims are racist, no, they refuse other religions. He is refusing the religion. So, he is a terrorist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you ban all Muslim, that means in his mind that religion of Muslim and Muslim people, they are all bad. And this --

REPORTER: And they're not?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course. Of course not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Now the sentiment is nuanced as well. We heard a couple of people, one saying, look, this just seems like a bunch of showmanship, and they don't really believe that he means what he says, but there is also someone who was on social media saying, hey, perhaps this is the fault of Muslims? Maybe we need to reach out to him to teach him what a real Muslim really is.

Back to you, guys.

KOSIK: All right. Sara Sidner live from Istanbul, thanks very much.

ROMANS: Let's get an early start on your money this Wednesday morning.

Asian shares mostly fell today. European shares are falling back from some earlier gains. U.S. stock futures down a bit right now.

Watching oil prices very closely. They're rising right now. But the trend here has been really, really unbelievable. Oil has been at lows not seen in seven years this week. That has dragged stocks lower on concerns about, you know, global demand issues. Yesterday, the Dow fell 163 points.

Yahoo reportedly won't sell a stake in Alibaba worth $30 billion. The announcement expected later today.

Yahoo is weighing the next steps, including possibly putting its core Internet business up for sale. But it's unclear exactly who would buy it. Market values Yahoo at $31 billion. Its stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan are worth $38 billion, leaving its core business essentially worthless.

CEO Marissa Mayer has failed to turn that company around in her three- year tenure. She would still collect $26 million, by the way, if she is fired. And even more if the core business were to be sold.

Employees love working at Airbnb. According to a brand new Glassdoor survey, Airbnb is the top place to work based on worker feedback. That's because of the people, the culture, the pay, growth opportunities.

Global consulting firm Bain came in second, missing out on the top spot because of its work/life balance. Rounding out the top five, software maker Guidewire, online marketer Hubspot and Facebook. Google fell from the top spot last year. It is now number eight.

KOSIK: I'm surprised about Google.

ROMANS: EARLY START was number one. That would be a conflict of interest.

KOSIK: Oh, yes.

EARLY START, speaking of which, continues right now.

(MUSIC)

KOSIK: Donald Trump rising in the polls, not backing down from his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S.

ROMANS: New information about one of the San Bernardino shooters. Investigators revealing this was not the first attack he had planned.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

KOSIK: And I'm Alison Kosik. It's Wednesday, December 9th. It's 5:00 a.m. in the East.