Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Fear Of Terrorism Boosts Trump In Polls; Cruz Takes His First Shot At Trump; Terror Alert Raised in Geneva. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired December 11, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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

(HEADLINES)

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Alison Kosik.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. It's so nice to see you. It's 30 minutes past the hour this Friday morning.

Fear of terrorism boosting Donald Trump in the polls this morning. A new CBS News/"New York Times" survey putting 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 though disagree. Look at this poll. Disagree with his proposal to bar Muslims from entering the United States, only 25 percent agree with that proposal.

But that may not matter in the primaries. That same NBC News/"Wall Journal" poll finds the Republican electorate is evenly divided on Trump's Muslim exclusion plan.

Trump campaigning late into the night Thursday 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 is in New Hampshire.

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.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Statue of Liberty said bring us your huddled masses and your poor, yearning should be free. It did not say bring in radical terrorists trying to kill us. 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 have our country back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Donald Trump spoke here in Portsmith, New Hampshire. He got the endorsement of the Policemen Benevolent Association. Speaking here, he sought to be the toughest Republican in the field calling for a mandatory death penalty on anyone found guilty of killing a police officer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Anybody killing a police officer, anybody killing a police officer, death penalty. It's going to happen, OK? We can't let it go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail. He will hold an event in Iowa. We will get a better sense on the proposal and how it is playing out in other early voting states. Back to you, Christine and Alison.

KOSIK: OK, Sara, thanks for that. And helping us to sort through all things Trump this morning, let's bring in CNN politics reporter, Tal Kopan, from the Washington bureau. Good Friday morning to you, Tal.

We see what Donald Trump continues to do, be the thorn in the side of the Republican establishment. You know, he is sort of appealing to what's concerning America the most in the election season.

I'm not talking about the economy. I'm talking about what Americans are thinking about. They are worried about their safety and terrorism right here in the United States. You have Trump speaking to them.

TAL KOPAN, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Absolutely. You know, I have been on the trail for some of these Donald Trump events. I have gotten a chance to speak with a lot of the people who turn out to support him. It is really interesting to talk to them about what appeals to them about Donald Trump and why they are going to vote for him.

It turns out that there are a lot of things he says that they may not agree with. Some of those don't support the out there rhetoric and they may not be on board with all of the statements on Muslims and various other groups in the country.

But they really believe that he is strong and he is decisive and he has a plan and that he has proven track record. When it comes to his base, they believe he could do to turn this country around. The general election electorate may look different.

ROMANS: When you look at the polling that show 25 percent support his Muslim exclusion plan, but when you look at Republicans, it is evenly divide. He is playing right now to the folks who will carry him through the primary process.

Let's talk about Ted Cruz. He is the one who seems to be getting a lot of attention. He is the one who is rising above the rest of the pack here and getting attention as a potential challenger to Donald Trump. Listen to what Ted Cruz said yesterday. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Both of them I like and respect both Donald and Ben. I do not believe either one of them will be our nominee. I don't believe either one will 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 VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: It sounds like he is a patient man. He is not willing to criticize Donald Trump to date.

[05:35:06]But it sounds like he think there is could be an implosion of the Trump campaign that people have been waiting for -- the establishment has been waiting for, for months.

KOPAN: What is interesting about this was given at a private closed door fundraiser. We get a chance to hear what Ted Cruz is saying. He has been very hesitant to go after Donald Trump publicly. He has hoped for Trump supporters to come to him if there are concerns about Trump's eventual electability.

He appeals to the voter that is angry with the government. What is interesting is in the private fundraiser, he wasn't that sharp against Donald Trump when you compare him to the rest of the field. He was a little sharper than we've heard him.

But you can tell that he still actually really wants to appeal to the Donald Trump voter. He is hoping if there are cracks in the facade and people think Donald Trump won't make it to the finish line or beat the Democrat that is the game he is playing.

KOSIK: In the meantime, you see Republicans plan for a plan b in case Trump sails through the primaries. The Republican establishment is considering, contesting the nomination of Trump to try to block the nomination of Donald Trump. The trick is if they block him, they have to put up a candidate who can play ball.

KOPAN: Absolutely. There have been conversations that emerged from the private dinner. A regular dinner where they discussed a brokered convention where you would not have a straight up who won, this is who we are going with. It involves wheeling and dealing to figure out who the eventual nominee is going to be.

It is both the reflection of the concern that Donald Trump could run away with this and would probably hand the general election over to the other side. That is one concern.

The other concern is if he doesn't run away with this, you have different second and third place candidates in every state. You have some who are surging now where you could have a different candidate emerge from Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

All of a sudden it is wide open. If you don't have a favorite going into the convention, it is a question of what do you do? That is why the conversations are happening.

ROMANS: Some the political chatter this morning is we are getting ahead of ourselves. We have 53 days until Iowa. There is a primary season that could hold surprises. No question. We have seen it before. You look back at the winners of Iowa in past years. It has not been the eventual candidate.

KOPAN: Absolutely. Polling in the early states is difficult. You have small sample sizes. You see wide swings on who is in the lead based on the sample. If you looked at the polls this week, one had Ted Cruz ahead in Iowa by a significant margin.

One had Donald Trump. If you dug into the statistics of why that is, one poll registered voters. One poll is likely who turns out. That is big in the early states. Polls not capture it at this point, who will show up and vote?

KOSIK: Still a lot of time ahead of us.

ROMANS: Tal, thank you. Nice seeing you this morning. Have a great weekend.

KOPAN: Thanks for having me.

KOSIK: You will not want to miss the next Republican debate. Five days away with the focus certainly on how America's next president will keep the country safe. Of course, it will be next Tuesday night right here on CNN.

A manhunt happening now for terrorist who may have played a role in the Paris attacks. We are live in the search next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:43:06]

ROMANS: Swiss authorities raising the terror alert after getting a tip about a potential terror attack. Police patrols ramped up in Geneva this morning. The tip came from U.S. intelligence. Investigators are searching for ISIS operatives.

I want to bring in CNN's Alexandra Field monitoring the latest for us live from London. The search for ISIS influence has been all over Europe. Do we know if they think the operatives are in Switzerland now?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They cannot say definitively whether or not these operatives are within the Swiss border or moved on. What they believe is these are people who traveled to Syria and returned to Europe.

What this development means is it adds to the list of people that officials are looking into over the Paris attacks. We saw raids in France and Belgium and now the active investigation in Switzerland.

This began after U.S. officials shared information that they have been monitoring conversations with extremists who talked about attacks in Toronto and Geneva and even Chicago.

At this point, officials suspect they are part of a network which also involved a well-known ISIS recruiter who is believed to have recruited one of the attackers who blew himself up during the attacks at the Bataclan Theater in Paris.

This is why officials believe that these suspects could be so potentially dangerous. Again, Christine, they are not aware of whether or not these people remain in Switzerland or if they could have moved on.

There is more information that officials are looking at which led them to raise the alert level through Switzerland and Geneva, and that is this, an associate of Salah Abdelsalam, has reportedly crossed into Swiss territory at some point.

That is, of course, raising additional concerns for Swiss officials -- Christine.

[05:45:02]ROMANS: This is U.S. intelligence raising the initial concern for officials in Switzerland?

FIELD: Right, information that has been flagged by U.S. officials that has been shared with Swiss officials. This information has to be shared for French and Belgium authorities and also U.S. officials at this point as they try to ferret out anyone who could have been connected to the attacks.

We know that along with Salah Abdelsalam, authorities are still looking for one man who was seen with Abdelsalam two days before the attacks and two other men who were seen with him two months before the attacks -- Christine.

ROMANS: Information sharing that has to happen and apparently is happening. Alexandra Field, thank you for that, from London.

KOSIK: This morning, divers resume searching a lake in San Bernardino looking for evidence in the terror attack that killed 14 people. The FBI believes the male gunman, Syed Rizwan Farook, had ties to a group of local jihadists.

Four of those men arrested in 2012 for trying to join al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Officials are telling CNN that Farook was in the social circle of one of the men, (inaudible), a Jihadist recruiter who is now 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 right around the same time Marquez said he and Farook were considering a different terror attack. More on the FBI investigation now from CNN's Kyung Lah in San Bernardino.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alison and Christine, FBI dive teams have been 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. Law enforcement source telling CNN what they are specifically looking for are any missing items.

Items that were not in the apartment that they are very curious about specifically a hard drive that is missing, that is one item that they are looking for. They spent several hours here expected to resume the search at daybreak -- Alison and Christine.

ROMANS: Thanks for that, Kyung. Now let's see what is coming up on "NEW DAY." Chris Cuomo joins us this morning. Good morning, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Good morning, ladies. How are you both this morning? Happy Friday to you.

KOSIK: Can't be happier.

CUOMO: We will talk about the GOP. They are bracing for the idea that 50 primaries and caucuses may not settle who gets the nomination for president. You have a big field and you have Trump to deal with.

Supposedly the intelligence within the GOP are not happy about it. There have been meetings about a brokered convention. They have to go in to Cleveland and basically make a deal. Who do you think would have an advantage about deal making?

Donald Trump said he would. He said the disadvantage is this is a bit of a rigged game because all these guys know each other. Of course, that is getting ahead. We will dive into the latest poll numbers that show clear shifts in what is going on in the GOP field.

Now, one of the names that is not popping in the poll, but still resonating around the country is Carly Fiorina. We will talk to her this morning about what she sees going on with Donald Trump within the party and with some of the names that popped up. Why Ted Cruz and not her? We will talk to her about it.

Also the terror threats emerging at home and abroad, we will talk about the need to really share intelligence and what has to change after San Bernardino. That is what we have, my friends.

KOSIK: A lot going on. Thanks, Chris.

ROMANS: Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer gives birth twin girls and reignites the maternity leave debate because she is going to be working again very soon. We will have an EARLY START on your money next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:53:30]

KOSIK: Former Oklahoma City Police Officer Daniel Holtzclaw found guilty of rape. Jurors deliberated more than 40 hours over four days before convicting the ex-cop. Holtzclaw weeping openly in court when the verdict was read. He was found guilty of raping 13 women, all of them black, while he was on the job. Holtzclaw faces sentencing next month.

ROMANS: The Louisiana police officer who witnessed two other officers shoot a boy with autism and his father. He says he did not open fire because he did not fear for his life. Two are charged with the shooting death of the boy last month. The father, Christopher Few, was critically wounded. Court documents show the body cam of the police officer witnessing it says the father had his hands raised when the first shots rang out.

KOSIK: Increased security A man drove on campus armed with propane and a shotgun. 47-year-old Bradley Bartlet was placed in custody after pouring gas on his truck near a campus building in Jonesboro on Thursday. No one was injured. Authorities credit their active shooter range for deescalating the situation.

ROMANS: Breaking news this morning, a medevac chopper crashed overnight in Central California killing all four people aboard. The Sky Life Air Ambulance went down on the way to the hospital in Bakersfield. The spokesperson for the ambulance company says the pilot, nurse, the paramedic, and the patient all died in the crash.

[05:55:01]KOSIK: The Pacific Northwest hammered by severe weather, Oregon Governor Kate Brown declaring a state of emergency in 13 counties. Look at that. Areas hit with flooding and landslides. You see the whole street gone. It was the same story in Washington State. You can see the crews cleaning up. Landslide caused that mess.

Meantime, a tornado also touching down in the region, trees down and homes sustaining damages. Fortunately, no serious injuries reported.

ROMANS: So will Washington and Oregon get a break from all that? Let's get to meteorologist, Derek Van Dam.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROMANS: Let's get an EARLY START on your money. Markets lower around the world. U.S. stock futures are also down. Low oil prices are still weighing down stock markets. OPEC says it pumped more oil last month than any month in the last three years.

That pushed oil prices even lower. A barrel of crude oil is below $37 right now. Investors looking also ahead to next week's fed meeting when the Central Bank could raise rates for the first time in nearly a decade.

Sweet Leaf Tea recalling 1.5 million bottles of iced tea. The culprit is fragments of glass. The voluntary recall includes six flavors of tea in glass bottles distributed between February and December this year. The company says there have been no injuries related to that recall.

It is twin girls for Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer. The girls are healthy. They were born early Thursday morning. During her last pregnancy, critics slammed Mayer for setting a bad precedent for working moms.

She worked from home during her maternity leave, but back to the office two weeks after giving birth. Mayer says she plans on doing the same this time.

KOSIK: Donald Trump on top of the polls causing new concern for GOP leaders. "NEW DAY" starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: Anybody killing a police officer, death penalty.

CRUZ: I like and respect both Donald and Ben. I do not believe either one will be our nominee.

ROMANS: Top GOP officials discussing the possibility of a brokered Republican convention.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The guy is not a serious man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fear of domestic terrorism is at all-time high.

KOSIK: The FBI now believes Syed Rizwan Farook had ties to a group of local jihadists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will leave no stone unturned.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Geneva, Switzerland on high alert.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No citizen is a second class citizen in the city of Chicago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No longer are people talking about compromise. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has got to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Friday, December 11th, 6:00 in the east. I have Poppy Harlow with me this morning. If there is any question on who is the most dedicated anchor on NEW DAY, you can see Alisyn and Michaela are off today.

Donald Trump towering over his rivals and finally taking fire from a close challenger, Senator Ted Cruz. Trump enjoying a 19-point cushion in the latest national poll. Cruz now privately questioning Trump's judgment to be president, but of course, nothing is private in politics. POPPY HARLOW, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: It is all on tape. You will hear that.

Also is a bigger political storm brewing between the GOP and its undisputed frontrunner, Donald Trump? Party leaders are meeting to discuss the real possibility of something we have not seen in decades, a brokered convention. Will this drag into the summer?

Let's begin our coverage with CNN's Athena Jones who joins us from Washington. Athena, Chris and I were looking at the numbers. It has not been since 1976 that they had gone into a convention with without a clear nominee. Will this be the year?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's the big question, Poppy. I mean, Trump's spot at the top of the polls should make him a top target of other GOP contenders, but so far, no one has managed to land any punches on him. The question --