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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Will Trump Run As An Independent?; California Terror Attack: Investigating the Shooters' Protesters Call for Emanuel to Step Down; Carter: ISIS is Not Contained. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired December 10, 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: From his opponents, the party leaders, to establishment figures, nearly the entire Republican Party now slamming Trump and his proposal to bar Muslims from entering the U.S. A third party run by Trump could doom Republicans' chances in November.
[04:30:03] CNN's Don Lemon putting Trump on the spot, waving the pledge not to turn as an independent that Trump had signed in September.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Here's the pledge that you signed. You saw this pledge, you know where I'm going. Are you going to break this pledge?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's highly unlikely unless they break the pledge to me, because it's a two-way street.
LEMON: What does that mean?
TRUMP: They said they would be honorable. So far, I can't tell you if they are. But the establishment is not exactly being very good to me.
But I'm leading in every poll by a lot. It looks like I'm going to win. My whole life has been about winning. I'm not like so many other people that you talk to that are essentially losers, OK?
I know how to win. I intend to win. It's the best way to beat the Democrats if I get the nomination. In the FOX poll that I'm sure you saw, I'm way ahead of Hillary. Head to head, I'm ahead of Hillary. I will beat Hillary.
The one person that Hillary doesn't want to run against and I know a lot of people inside, because I get along with Democrats, with Republicans, with liberals, with everybody, the one person that they don't want to run against is me.
LEMON: I just want this plain spoken for the viewers.
TRUMP: Go ahead. LEMON: What do you mean when you say if they break this pledge then you'll break the pledge? What do you mean by that?
TRUMP: Well, if they don't treatment me with a certain amount of decorum and respect, if they don't treat me as the frontrunner, by far the frontrunner, if the playing field is not level, then certainly, all options are open. But that's nothing I want to do.
LEMON: How will you know that? What determines that?
TRUMP: Well, I think I'll know what over a period of a number of months. We'll go through the primaries. We'll see what happens. And I make a determination. But I would imagine they would treat me properly, because I'm leading by a lot.
LEMON: So, the pledge is you keep your word if they keep their word.
TRUMP: Don, I want to run as a Republican.
LEMON: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: For more on the jitters Trump's campaign is causing in the GOP, let's bring in senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Alison, Donald Trump is on a roll so far, an unstoppable one. And that's precisely what worries many Republicans. The GOP ranks are rattled over Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country, afraid it could cause Republicans the White House and threaten their congressional majority.
Now, the international outcry also is intensifying. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he rejects Trump's plan to block Muslims. Now, Trump is set to meet with Netanyahu later this month in Jerusalem this month in Jerusalem. The prime minister is now facing pressure to cancel that meeting.
But back in the U.S., Republican leaders across the country fear Trump at the top of the ticket could doom their party.
Matt Borges is the chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. He said he worries about the fallout.
MATT BORGES, OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIRMAN: We're going to have to distance ourselves from those kind of message. It's not going to help us win a national election. It's not going to help us win the general election in November. We wouldn't win Ohio with that kind of message. And we realize that.
ZELENY: Now, he and other Republican leaders are afraid Trump could damage the party's chances of holding onto the Senate in particular, and even more, winning back the White House. But at the same time, Trump supporters have been nothing but loyal.
And that loyalty could help him win a Republican primary, the Iowa caucuses now only 53 days away -- Christine and Alison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Fifty-three days away. But who's counting? Thanks, Jeff, for that.
New information on the San Bernardino terror shootings as investigators dig deeper into the backgrounds of the couple who killed 14 people, Syed Rizwan Farook, and Tashfeen Malik. Malik's father speaking out from Saudi Arabia where he lives. Gulzar Ahmad Malik telling "The Associated Press", quote, "Only God knows why did it happen."
Meantime, the head of the FBI says both shooters were radicalized before they met and married.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Was the woman shooter in San Bernardino radicalized before she came to America?
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: It looks like she was. So far, what data we collected, the intelligence, indicates that she was before she connected with the other killer and came here.
GRAHAM: Is there any evidence this marriage was arranged by a terrorist organization or terrorist operative? Or was it just a meeting on the Internet?
COMEY: I don't know the answer to that yet.
GRAHAM: Do you agree with me that if it was arranged by a terrorist operative of an organization, that is a game changer?
COMEY: It would be a very, very important thing to know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Also, some troubling information about the man who bought some of the assault rifles used in the massacre. Enrique Marquez telling the FBI he and Farook had planned and then abandoned the idea of an earlier attack. Officials cautioning that Marquez may be lying to cover up his role buying the weapons used in last week's attacks.
CNN's Kyung Lah has the latest for us this morning from San Bernardino.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alison and Christine, investigators are focusing on the man who purchased the weapons that would be used, two of those long guns that would be used in the San Bernardino massacre, Enrique Marquez. They have been interviewing him.
[04:35:01] And U.S. officials tell CNN that Marquez says that he and Farook hatched a 2012 terror plot. They abandoned it because they got spooked. The FBI at that time had made another terror arrest. So, they gave up on this plan.
Marquez also telling U.S. officials that he and Farook had been radicalized as far back as 2011. There are new questions about the visa application process. How Tashfeen Malik, the wife, was able to enter the United States without being detected. She applied for a fiancee visa in Pakistan. Well, now, a senior State Department official is telling that Malik was not questioned about her jihadist leanings. She had already been radicalized but was able to enter the United States without raising any red flags -- Alison, Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: OK, Kyung, thanks for that.
The House voting Friday on a stop-gap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. It's only going to give lawmakers, though, an additional few days to hammer out a deal. Negotiations on the $1.1 trillion budget plan are stalled because both parties are fighting over riders to the bill. President Obama threatening not to sign the short term extension tomorrow unless there is a hard and fast agreement with only procedural matters to clean up.
ROMANS: All right. Time for an early start on your money.
Stock markets down around the world. U.S. stock futures, though, perking up here a little bit. Let's talk about yesterday. The Dow extended a losing streak falling 75 points. The S&P 500 fell almost 1 percent. That means the S&P 500 is now lower for the year.
What's weighing markets down? Low oil prices. Barrel of crude oil is about $37 a barrel, down 40 percent from the same time last year. Oil prices really down here to the lowest price in seven years. That's because OPEC is keeping output high. That's bad news for energy companies to loaded up on debt during the oil boom. Half of all energy junk bonds at risk of defaulting now. That's according to the Standard & Poor's rating services, the highest level since the end of the Great Recession. These cash-strapped companies will sell assets and layoff workers.
Some good news, though. Experts say there is very little chance this leads to the crisis like the housing crisis in 2008. It's something that really bears watching. It has been such a collapse in energy prices that is rippling throughout the whole sector.
KOSIK: And it's the collapse that could under cut the Santa Claus rally that usually happens.
ROMANS: That's right.
KOSIK: So, we shall see. New protests erupt on the streets of Chicago. The mayor's apology not
enough to calm the crowds furious over police practices in the city, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:41:42] ROMANS: Welcome back to EARLY START this morning.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel calling for a painful and honest reckoning for the city's embattled police force as hundreds of protesters take to the streets, calling on him to step down. The mayor under fire for allegedly covering up cases of excessive police force. Now, he is apologizing, but it does not sound like he plans to leave office any time soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAHM EMANUEL (D), MAYOR OF CHICAGO: I take responsibility for what happened because it happened on my watch. If we are going to fix it, I want you to understand it's my responsibility to fix it with you. If we are going to begin the healing process, the first step in that journey is my step and I'm sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: He says the buck stops here. As he is having that remarkable news conference, suddenly, the streets begin to fill in downtown Chicago. His apology doing little to calm the furor in Chicago.
Let's get more from CNN national correspondent Martin Savidge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. Good morning, Alison.
Chicago is bracing for another round of protests today. At least protest organizers are promising that. Yesterday's protests went for hours and hours through the heart of downtown streets and neighborhoods. It begun around the noon hour and that was just after Mayor Rahm Emanuel delivered the speech in which he apologized and he said there would be significant change.
It was well-received inside of the council chambers, but it wasn't well-received out on the streets by many of the protesters. They say they are well beyond this point of wanting to see some kind of thing or hollow words. They want to see the mayor resign. Now, the mayor is not necessarily likely to do that.
But what's clear is that this has gone from a confidence crisis in the police department to a full-blown political crisis for the mayor. On the streets, we have seen several hundred protesters, not necessarily working cooperation with the police department, but clearly, there was some coordination going on.
It was peaceful. It was loud. But you could see that this group was constantly on the move. They would stop at a certain intersection and move on once more as did the police, which were almost out in equal numbers. They would jump ahead and close down intersections and make sure everything remained safe.
There were some arrests, but by the end of the day, they were released -- Christine and Alison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: OK, Martin. Thanks for that.
The defense continues its case later this morning in the criminal of William Porter. One of six Baltimore police officers facing charges in the death of Freddie Gray. During four hours of testimony, Wednesday, Officer Porter told the jury he thought Gray was faking his injuries and had no idea his life was in danger until he found Gray shackled and unresponsive. Officer Porter, combative at times, telling prosecutors he was offended by their allegations of a no snitching culture in the Baltimore police department.
ROMANS: Fireworks in the Colorado courtroom, accused Planned Parenthood gunman Robert Lewis Dear, formally charged with 179 criminal counts, including first degree murder. Now, the suspect declaring himself a, quote, "warrior for the babies", interrupting the one-hour hearing over and over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT LEWIS DEAR, COLORADO PLANNED PARENTHOOD SHOOTER: Could you add the babies that were supposed to be aborted that day?
[04:45:01] Could you add that to the list? Seal the truth, huh?
Kill the babies. That's what Planned Parenthood does. You never know what I saw in that clinic. Atrocities. That's what they want to seal. The babies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Among his outbursts, shouting "I'm guilty" in the middle of the hearing. Dear's public defender raising doubts about whether his client is competent to stand trial. Dear is charged with killing three people and wounding nine others.
KOSIK: FBI Director James Comey says law enforcement agencies must have tools to circumvent encryption technology in order to successfully stop terrorists. Comey testifying yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, pointed to an attack in Texas earlier this year, at an art exhibit featuring cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. He says the gunmen exchanged more than 100 encrypted messages with an overseas terrorist the morning of the shooting. And authorities still don't know what those messages said.
ROMANS: The future of affirmative action is in the hands of the Supreme Court. The justices hearing the case of Abigail Fisher seven years after she was rejected by the University of Texas-Austin. She claimed she was denied admission because she is white.
After a long tense argument Wednesday, many of observers believe the court could rule affirmative action unconstitutional.
Justice Antonin Scalia remarking that minority students with inferior credentials may be better off at less advanced schools.
KOSIK: President Obama expected to sign a sweeping overhaul of No Child Left Behind into law today. Yesterday, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan bill that gives state and local school officials more control over school performance and accountability. No Child Left Behind was a signature law of the George W. Bush administration. Critics said it unfairly punished struggling school.
ROMANS: A family of nine Syrian refugees will be allowed to settle in Texas. A judge on Wednesday declined the state's request for a temporary restraining order. Lawyers asked the judge to prevent them from resettling in Houston, while a lawsuit against federal officials went ahead. Officials in the state want to halt incoming refugees over the fear of terrorism. But the judge found Texas failed to show terrorists had sneaked into the refugee program.
KOSIK: Oh, yes, more heavy rain and snow in Washington and Oregon today. The latest from meteorologist Derek Van Dam.
Good morning.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Alison and Christine.
It sure has been a rough week across the Pacific Northwest, landslides, mudslides and heavy flooding for many locations. In fact, the governor of Washington declaring a state of emergency on Wednesday. Look at what some of the roadways have contended with lately, very dangerous travel conditions for some of those mountain overpasses.
Now, we had a brief lull in the heavy rainfall from Oregon to Washington, but that's going to change later today and into Friday. Another low pressure system set to bring rainfall to the area and even heavy rain for northern California, as well. We could experience another two to four inches of rain from Redding northward, into the southern suburbs of Seattle.
On top of that, we have large waves building across the Pacific Ocean. We time that with our coastal flooding with the waves and high tides. That means we have the potential of more flooding along the coastal region, something we're going to monitor very closely.
Out east, we've got near record setting warm the across the mid- Atlantic and New England coast. Take a look at these temperatures.
Back to you.
ROMANS: That's just remarkable. All right. Derek, thank you for that. Forty-eight minutes past the hour.
Would you like the free snacks again on your plane trips?
KOSIK: Absolutely.
ROMANS: They are coming back. We're going to get an early start on your money, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:53:02] ROMANS: Breaking news this morning: terrorists killing 50 people in an attack on a market bazaar and school near the airport in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. The Afghan defense ministry says the dead include 38 civilians, 10 soldiers and two police officers. Officials say an additional 35 people were wounded in this Taliban siege.
KOSIK: ISIS is not contained. That sobering assessment from Defense Secretary Ash Carter, testifying Wednesday on Capitol Hill. Just last month, President Obama, his boss, declared ISIS was contained. Carter urging U.S. allies to ramp up their efforts against the terror group, telling lawmakers, "We're at war."
Carter telling senators, the U.S. is going to help the Iraqi military by providing them with equipment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASHTON CARTER, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The United States is prepared to assist the Iraqi army with additional unique abilities, to help them finish the job. Including attack helicopters and accompanying advisers if circumstances dictate and if requested by Prime Minister Abadi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Let's get more now from CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Alison, Christine, in some time contentious testimony, Defense Secretary Ash Carter acknowledged that ISIS is not contained, a contrast to what President Obama said a few weeks ago.
In the hearing, Carter made the point before the Senate Armed Services Committee of saying that he was asking both Arab nations and European nations to contribute more to the war against ISIS. He pointed out a couple of new things that the U.S. is doing. One, the U.S. has asked the Iraqis if they would like some help in retaking the city of Ramadi. The U.S. now offering apache helicopters and U.S. advisers on the ground. That, in fact, will put U.S. personnel much closer, if you will, to the combat to retake Ramadi. [04:55:00] But many senators making the direct point they think there
should be a good deal of focus on trying to get to Raqqa, ISIS' self declared capital inside Syria. Their view is that Raqqa is a recruiting propaganda point for ISIS. As long as they control that city, they are able to draw fighters from around the world.
Now, Raqqa is under assault from Russian aircraft, Russian missiles, Russian bombs, and the U.S. has pointed out that the Russians are making another move, moving many of their air defense radars to western Syria, essentially making that a no-fly area for U.S. aircraft unless they coordinate with the Russians ahead of time.
So, the battlefield continues to get more complicated and just one more thing. We now know that a small number of U.S. Special Forces were in northern Syria in the last few days. They have now left. They were there scouting locations from which they can conduct future operations -- Christine, Alison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: OK, Barbara Starr, thanks for that.
And the FBI arresting a Somali-American man on charges of supplying material support to ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq. The criminal complaint alleges 20-year-old Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame is one of ten men from the Twin Cities Somali-American community who begun conspiring to travel to Syria to fight with ISIS last year. Three of them have pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges. Five are scheduled to stand trial next year and one is in Syria.
ROMANS: All right. Fifty-six minutes past the hour. Let's get an early start on your money this Thursday morning.
Stock markets are lower around the world. But U.S. stock futures are slightly higher. Yesterday, another loss for the Dow, extending a losing streak, falling 75 points. The S&P 500, it fell almost 1 percent. That means the S&P 500 is now negative for the year.
What's weighing markets down? Low oil prices. Oil prices below $37 a barrel.
All right. The middle class is shrinking. That's according to a study by Pew. The culprit, slow wage growth and higher cost of living. The middle class now makes up less than half of the country's population, Pew said, compared with 61 percent in 1971. It's another sign of growing income inequality. The middle class is shrinking, few says, and there are two places to go, either to the very top end of the highest income bracket or the low end of the lowest.
Free snacks are back on United Airlines. Snacks will be available beginning next February for all passengers traveling economy within North America and Latin America. Early morning flights will serve waffles and later flights will serve snack packs of rice crackers, sesame sticks and wasabi peas.
KOSIK: It beats peanuts. ROMANS: That's right.
You know, United nixed free snacks back in 2008. The airline says it wants to improve customer service now. You know, its stock is down 14 percent this year. A lot of stocks have been doing well.
There's a real boon for low energy prices. A lot of the airlines reinvesting some of that money in the customer experience. Looks like United is, too.
KOSIK: Everybody is hoping to reinvest that into ticket prices.
ROMANS: Lower fares, right.
KOSIK: Lower fares.
All right. EARLY START continues right now.
(MUSIC)
KOSIK: Donald Trump facing backlash over his plan to stop Muslims from entering the U.S., warning the Republican Party treat him with respect or else.
ROMANS: Information unfolding. New information in the California terror attack. Inside the shooters' relationship and what we learned about the friend whose guns they used in that massacre.
Welcome back. Good morning. I'm Christine Romans.
KOSIK: And I'm Alison Kosik. Good morning. It's Thursday, December 10th. It's 5:00 a.m. in the East.
And Donald Trump resurrecting his threat to run as an independent if the Republican Party does not treat him in his view fairly. From his opponents, the parties leaders to establishment figures, nearly the entire Republican Party now slamming Trump and his proposal to bar Muslims from entering the U.S. A third party run by Trump could doom Republican chances in November.
CNN's Don Lemon putting Trump on the spot, waving the pledge not to run as an independent which Trump actually signed in September.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Here's the pledge that you signed. You saw this pledge, you know where I'm going. Are you going to break this pledge?
TRUMP: I think it's highly unlikely unless they break the pledge to me, because it's a two-way street.
LEMON: What does that mean?
TRUMP: They said they would be honorable. So far, I can't tell you if they are. But the establishment is not exactly being very good to me. But I'm leading in every poll by a lot. It looks like I'm going to
win. My whole life has been about winning. I'm not like so many other people that you talk to that are essentially losers, OK?
I know how to win. I intend to win. It's the best way to beat the Democrats if I get the nomination. In the FOX poll that I'm sure you saw, I'm way ahead of Hillary. Head to head, I'm ahead of Hillary. I will beat Hillary.
The one person that Hillary doesn't want to run against and I know a lot of people inside, because I get along with Democrats, with Republicans, with liberals, with everybody, the one person that they don't want to run against is me.
