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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
New Poll Shows Problem for Trump; California Terror Attack: FBI Searches Lake. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired December 11, 2015 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:17] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump building on his already commanding lead in the race for president. But a new poll could show problems for the Republican frontrunner.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Were the San Bernardino shooters planning an even bigger attack? New information surfacing as investigators comb the bottom of the lake for clues.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.
ROMANS: Good morning, everyone. I'm Christine Romans. So nice to see you this morning. It is Friday, December 11th. It is 4:00 in the East.
Fear of terror boosting Donald Trump in the polls. A new CBS News/"New York Times" survey putting Donald Trump nearly 20 points ahead of his nearest rival Ted Cruz. The percentage of people calling terrorism America's most important problem, more than quadrupling, to 19 percent. Trump soaring, even though most Americans disagree with his proposals to bar Muslims from entering the U.S. Look at that poll there.
Now, that may not matter in the primaries. The same NBC News/"Wall Street Journal" poll finds the Republican electorate evenly divided on Donald Trump's Muslim exclusion plan.
Trump campaigning late into the night yesterday, boosting his tough on crime credentials as he accepted a police union's endorsement.
Let's get the latest from CNN's Sara Murray. She's with Trump in New Hampshire.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, Christine and Alison.
As the poll shows, Republican primary voters are sharply divided on whether they support or oppose Donald Trump's call to ban Muslims here in the U.S. His supporters here in New Hampshire are sticking by him, even if they don't necessarily agree with all of the details of his proposal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Statue of Liberty said, bring us your huddled masses and your poor yearning to be free. It didn't say bring in radical terrorists trying to kill us. So, until we can sort that out, I believe that we should close our borders. We were here first, we need to do some internal repairs and then we can have our country back.
MURRAY: Now, Donald Trump spoke here in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, last night, at an even that's a little bit different than the ones we normally see him at. He got the endorsement of a Policemen Benevolent Association and speaking here, he once against sought to cast himself as the toughest Republican in the field, calling for a mandatory death penalty on anyone found guilty of killing a police officer.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Anybody killing a police officer, death penalty. It's going to happen, OK? You can't go -- we can't let this go.
MURRAY: Now, Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail today. He'll be holding an event in Iowa. We are sure to get a better sense of that on how his proposal to ban Muslims is playing out in some of these other early voting states.
Back to you, Christine and Alison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: OK, Sara, thanks for that.
And there are new signs the Republican Party may even be more worried about Donald Trump. Top GOP officials discussing the possibility of a brokered Republican convention. Party leaders deciding this week to plan for a contested convention in case no candidate earns enough primary delegates to win the nomination outright.
One source telling CNN the concerned was not aimed at Trump in particular. Republican leaders and most of Trump's opponents have been criticizing him for days over his Muslim exclusion plan. But now, a new voice has joined the chorus.
Ted Cruz knocking Trump for the first time at a private fund- raiser, Cruz pointed to worries over terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. Cruz says in audio obtained by "The New York Times" that the question of judgment is a challenging question for both Trump and Ben Carson.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Both of them I like and respect, both Donald and Ben. I do not believe either one of them is going to be our nominee. I don't believe either one is going to be our president. I think both of them, their campaigns have a natural arc. And, with both of them, I think gravity is pulling them down. We have seen that. Carson is further in that descent.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROMANS: Overnight, Hillary Clinton saying she no longer finds Donald Trump very funny, appearing on NBC's late night. Clinton telling Seth Meyers that the proposal is no laughing matter as far as she's concerned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have to say, Seth, I no longer think he's funny.
SETH MEYERS, COMEDIAN: Yes. I will say I started --
(CHEERS)
CLINTON: You know, I think for weeks, you and everybody else, we are just bringing folks to hysterical laughter and all of that. But now, he has gone way over the line. What is he saying now is not only shameful and wrong, it's dangerous.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Clinton will lay out her own counterterrorism strategy next week at an event in Minnesota. Her campaign says the plan will have a special focus on fighting domestic radicalization.
[04:05:02] The next Republican debate now less than five days away, with the focus sure to be on how America's next president will keep the country safe. That's Tuesday night, right here on CNN.
KOSIK: This morning, divers are searching a lake in San Bernardino looking for evidence in the terror attack that killed 14 people. The FBI now believes the male gunman, Syed Rizwan Farook, has ties to a group of local jihadists. Four of those men arrested in 2012 were trying to join al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Officials tell CNN that Farook was in the social circle of one of the men, Sohiel Kabir, a jihadist recruiter serving 25 years in prison.
Also, there is new information about some of the guns used in the attacks. Federal sources tell "The L.A. Times" that Farook asked his neighbor Enrique Marquez to buy the two assault rifles because Farook feared he would not pass a background check. The AR-15s were bought in 2011 and 2012, around the same time Marquez says he and Farook were considering a different terror attack.
More on the FBI investigation now from CNN's Kyung Lah in San Bernardino.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alison and Christine, FBI dive teams have painstakingly searching this lake bit by bit. There is a report that the two killers were spotted here at this park on the day of the massacre. The FBI not specifying whether that report was before or after the massacre, but they say they will search this lake looking for any evidence.
A law enforcement source telling CNN that what they are looking for are any missing items, items that were not in the apartment that they are curious about, specifically a hard drive that is missing, that is one item they are looking for. They spent several hours here expected to resume the search at daybreak -- Alison and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: The governor of Connecticut will sign executive order today banning the sale of guns in his state to people on government watch list. The measure needs federal approval. Governor Dan Malloy's order will require Connecticut state police to review all potential gun buyers for suspected ties with terrorism. It would also revoke gun permits from people's whose names turn up on terror watch lists.
KOSIK: Members of a Muslim advocacy group on Capitol Hill say they are living in fear after someone sent a letter containing white powder to the headquarters. The building had to be evacuated, but the substance turned out to be harmless. Officials with CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations said the letter that came with the powder read, "Die a painful death, Muslims." A CAIR office in Santa Clara, California, also had to be evacuated Thursday after receiving an envelope with white powder.
ROMANS: All right. Seven minutes, almost eight minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money, Friday edition.
Markets mostly lower around the world. The low price of oil really a concern now in global stock markets. Here in the U.S., stock futures are slightly lower. Yesterday, stocks broke a three-day losing streak. The Dow managing to climb about 82 points.
The U.S. is going after ISIS money. The ISIS money machine is fueled by oil fields, farming, mining and extortion.
First, the U.S. government has gone after banks. It has worked with the Iraqi government to shutdown about 90 banks that were operating in ISIS controlled territories. Next, sanctions against ISIS-linked financiers, this cuts off the group's access to financial channels. Finally, sealing national borders. The U.S. wants to make it more difficult for ISIS to make international transactions.
A CNN Money investigation found that ISIS raked in more than $2 billion in revenue last year.
KOSIK: Just amazing.
ROMANS: It really is.
KOSIK: Terror alert in Switzerland. Police searching for five radicalized people believed to have ties to the Paris attacks. We're live next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:12:54] KOSIK: Swiss authorities raising the terror alert after getting a tip about a potential terror attack. Police patrols ramped up in Geneva this morning. A source close to the investigation tells CNN the tip came from U.S. intelligence. Investigators are searching for ISIS operatives.
Let's bring in Alexandra Field, monitoring the latest developments. She's live from London.
Alexandra, so are these suspects linked to the attacks in Paris?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is what investigators fear. They say that the known is recruiter who recruited one of the Bataclan attackers could also be connected to these suspects. Again, this was intelligence that was received by U.S. authorities. They passed this on to their Swiss counterparts, and what they say they found was that they have been monitoring conversations among extremists where there were discussions about potential attacks in Geneva, Chicago, Toronto.
That piece of information was, of course, key to officials in Switzerland who raised the threat level there because of some other pieces of information that they had received around the same time. They learned that Salah Abdeslam's associate, you'll remember Abdeslam is the eighth suspect wanted in connection to the Paris terror attacks, the only missing suspect related to that attack.
Swiss authorities have learned that one of his associates had crossed into Swiss territory. So, they are trying to identify where that person is. That was a key piece of information, of course, along with this information that has passed along by U.S. authorities. They say these are people who had likely travelled to Syria to work with ISIS and then returned to Europe. And we know that that is the same path that many of the Paris attackers took also raising concerns, of course, for authorities in Switzerland -- Alison.
KOSIK: You know, looking at the pictures out of Geneva. They're seeing heavily armed officers.
How are things on the streets there in Geneva for people who live there?
FIELD: Probably similar in many ways to what you saw in Belgium and even in France, because you've got this international effort now really to ferret out anyone who could be connected to the network that perpetrated the attacks in Paris. We do know, of course, that there is the U.N. complex in Geneva, so that's an area where officials would obviously give some extra attention.
[04:15:04] And we are told that there is more security equipment there for the security officers who work at the complex. It is something that they will keep a close eye on.
But remember, even authorities are hunting for the five suspects, who they believe were plotting something in Switzerland, there are also others that they are still looking for in connection to the Paris attacks. There was somebody who was seen with Salah Abdeslam just two days before the attacks. There were men seen with him two months before the attacks.
So, officials have really panned out across Europe to try and track these people down. When it comes to those who may have been plotting an attack in Geneva, well, authorities say they cannot say for certain whether or not those suspects are even on Swiss territory at this point.
KOSIK: And it's good to see the intelligence sharing is happening between countries.
Alexandra Field, thanks so much.
ROMANS: Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl speaking out for the first time about his decision to walk away from his outpost in Afghanistan. Bergdahl speaking with filmmaker Mark Boal for the popular podcast "Serial". He says he was trying to reach another outpost to report a failure in leadership in his outfit. And he admits he was trying to be something of a super soldier.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SGT. BOWE BERGDAHL, U.S. ARMY: What I was seem from my first unit all the way up into Afghanistan, all I was seeing was basically leadership failure to the point that the lives of the guys standing next to me were literally, from what I could see, in danger of something seriously going wrong and somebody being killed.
Doing what I did was me saying I am like Jason Bourne.
MARK BOAL: Right, the character in a book or whatever, a character.
BERGDAHL: Yes.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROMANS: Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban 20 minutes after leaving his post. He is facing desertion and misbehavior before the enemy charges. It has not been determined if he will face court martial proceedings.
KOSIK: Former Oklahoma Police Officer Daniel Holtzclaw found guilty of rape. Jurors deliberated more than 40 hours, over four days, before convicting the ex-cop on 18 of 36 counts against him. Holtzclaw weeping openly in court when the verdict was read. He was accused of assaulting or raping 13 women, all of them black, while he was on the job. Holtzclaw faces sentencing next month.
ROMANS: A Louisiana police officer who witnessed two other officers shoot an autistic boy and his father says he did not open fire because he did not fear for his life. Two city marshals are charged with murder in the shooting death last month of the boy and his father. Court documents also reveal a body cam worn by the cop shows the father Christopher Few with his hands raised when the first shots rang out.
KOSIK: Increased security will greet students at Arkansas State University this morning after a man drove on campus armed with propane and a shotgun, 47-year-old Bradley Bartelt was placed in custody after pouring gasoline on his truck near a campus building on Jonesboro. This is on Thursday. No one was injured. Authorities credit the active shooter training for deescalating the situation.
ROMANS: Breaking news this morning: a medevac helicopter crashed overnight in central California, killing all four people aboard. The Skylife air ambulance went down amid heavy rain and fog on its way to a hospital in Bakersfield. A spokesman for the ambulance company says the pilot, a nurse, a paramedic and the patient all died in that crash.
KOSIK: Could Donald Trump be banned from enter be Muslim countries? The CEO of a Middle Eastern airline with a new warning for the Republican frontrunner. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:23:09] ROMANS: Some more repercussions from overseas facing Donald Trump. The Republican frontrunner telling CNN this week that, you know, he has powerful Muslim allies who support his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. But now, one of his influential Middle East friends says Trump's brand is going to take a hit. And guess what? He won't be welcome in Muslim countries going forward.
CNN correspondent Sara Sidner is live in Istanbul with the very latest -- Sara.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there is fallout, and the fallout does continue. And it's not just from leaders of countries like the Iraqi prime minister who came out and said, you know, Trump's comments are extremist in and of itself. And it's that kind of ideology that just fuels more extremism.
And now, we are hearing from some of Trump's Muslim friends. Remember how he mentioned that he had Muslim friends that agree with his idea to temporarily ban Muslims who are foreign nationals from coming into United States. Well, this is one of his friends who considers Trump a friend, who is Muslim, and who happens to be the CEO of Qatar Airways. And here is what he said about Trump's comments -- certainly not agreeing with Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AKBAR AL BAKER, CEO, QATAR AIRWAYS: -- in Muslim countries and he will not be welcome there anymore. So, I think what he is saying is not in the best interest of the relationship between him and the Muslim world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: Now, we also heard from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who decried Trump's statements. What we are hearing a lot from people in a big way in the U.K., there was a petition to ban Trump from entering the United Kingdom. That petition, by the way, now has 500,000 signatures which may force the U.K. parliament to have to discuss and debate it.
I mean, there is a global reaction to this, although we are not hearing country -- from country to country to country, we're not hearing this on an official basis in most countries.
[04:25:05] A lot of countries look at Trump and say, look, he is a presidential candidate. They do not like the sentiment but they're not going to make an official statement because he does not officially represent the United States -- Christine.
ROMANS: It is so interesting, Sara, because Donald Trump and his daughter, who is, you know, a very high level executive in his organization have been traveling the world trying to expand the Trump brand, this luxury, gold standard brand of hotels and condos and golf courses around the world, and had been making in-roads in the Middle East.
You have to wonder what this means for all of the efforts that the company has made over the past few years, Sara.
SIDNER: It's absolutely true. A huge Dubai retailer has said, you know what, they are going to suspend the sale of Trump branded products. That was a huge in-road that they made. It's the home decor line with Trump's name on it.
There is also Trump Towers here in Istanbul. We have not heard from the owner of that building. We have heard people question his name on that building and questioning the owner, saying, is this the person you want to represent on your building in a predominately Muslim country?
So, it could have some serious business repercussions. Certainly, people can't vote here. So, it will be up to the American people whether or not he becomes president, of course -- Christine.
ROMANS: In those cases, developers are paying money to license his name because that name was the gold standard of luxury. Now, you wonder if the name is starting to mean something else to people and not necessarily luxury and top of the line.
Thank you so much for that, Sara Sidner. So interesting.
KOSIK: It is. He is losing friends. He is losing business.
ROMANS: But he is gaining in the polls. He is gaining new friends.
KOSIK: He's gaining in a new national poll.
Funny you mentioned that. There are new signs this morning that GOP leaders could be very nervous. That's coming up next.
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