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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
The Race for President; Obama's Final State of the Union Address; Inside the Raid that Took Down "El Chapo"; Explosion Rocks Istanbul's Main Tourist Hub. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired January 12, 2016 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:22] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The race for president intensifies. Hillary Clinton in a dead heat with Bernie Sanders in key early voting states as Republicans learn there will be fewer of them on the next debate stage.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just hours from now, President Obama delivers his final State of the Union Address. What you can expect in tonight's speech.
ROMANS: Gunfire and grenades. New video of the violent, dangerous raid on Mexican drug lord El Chapo's hideout. Amazing pictures there.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: Nice to see you today. I'm John Berman. It is Tuesday, January 12th, 4:00 a.m. in the East.
A Democratic face-off deep into the night in Iowa. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at a candidate forum in the state where the polls are surprisingly close this morning. Clinton with just the tiniest of 3-point lead in the latest survey, which perhaps explains why now, she is going directly after her opponent on issues ranging from gun violence to electability.
CNN's Brianna Keilar with the latest from Iowa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both here in the Hawkeye State as the race tightens. In the polls, they are at a statistical tie, something that Bernie Sanders is thrilled about, and as you can imagine, the Clinton campaign is not. Both candidates trying to draw contrast with each other at the brown and black presidential forum where they answered questions about the unique challenges facing African-Americans and Latino Americans.
JORGE RAMOS, UNIVISION ANCHOR: As you know, Secretary Clinton has been criticizing you. Have you noticed lately she is getting more aggressive with you? SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes!
RAMOS: Why is that?
SANDERS: I don't know. It could be --
RAMOS: You tell me.
SANDERS: It could be the inevitable candidate for the Democratic nomination may not be so inevitable today.
RAMOS: Final question. Can you say categorically tonight that Senator Bernie Sanders cannot win the presidency?
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't -- anybody can win. I mean, this is a -- this is -- who would have thought Donald Trump would be leading in national polls? I mean, for those of you ever thought about running for president, take heart. I mean --
(LAUGHTER)
KEILAR: Guns have been playing very large in the Democratic race here in the final weeks. Hillary Clinton taking aim at Bernie Sanders over his more moderate record. And Bernie Sanders for his part saying that he is open to reconsidering his stance on immunity for gun makers and for gun store owners should opens they produce or sell be use in a crime -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right. Brianna, thanks so much.
Hillary Clinton has two events today before heading to Detroit for a fundraiser with Michael Bolton, pulling up the big guns -- Michael Bolton.
Meanwhile, Chelsea Clinton stumps in New Hampshire. This is her first solo campaign trip of the year. Senator Bernie Sanders, he is going to Washington tonight. He's going to be in the House for the State of the Union Address.
ROMANS: All right. A dramatic shake up of the debate stage overnight. And Rand Paul doesn't like it one bit. Fox Business Network announcing that just seven Republicans have qualified for Thursday's main stage debate in South Carolina. Donald Trump, once again center stage, you could see flank by Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush and John Kasich.
Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina, who were on the main stage last month now regulated to the undercard with Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee. That is until Rand Paul said he wouldn't show up for the undercard, will not go, announcing his decision on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We do not think that anyone should really be able to characterize our campaign as anything less than first tier. We've raised $25 million. We're going to be on the ballot in every state and we just announced that we have 1,000 precinct chairs in Iowa. So, we think it's a rotten thing to do to try to designate which candidates have a chance and don't. And so, we will not participate in anything that's not first tier.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Donald Trump appeared on "The Tonight Show", going after Hillary Clinton for trailing Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire polls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think she is having a tough time. She's got some guy who -- I mean, he should be easy to beat. How can you lose like this? He really isn't even a Democrat. Well, he said he's a socialist. I think he may be a step beyond a socialist and she is not doing well. She is about tied in Iowa. She's losing New Hampshire, which is sort of amazing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Trump not saving all of his fire for Clinton. Campaigning in New Hampshire, he once again went after his closest competitor, Ted Cruz.
CNN's Sara Murray has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and John.
We are just weeks away from the Iowa caucuses and it's a dead heat between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.
[04:05:05] A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Trump with 31 percent support from likely Republican caucus goers, and Cruz at 29 percent. That is within the margin of error. That tight race is why we are seeing Trump go after Cruz on everything from whether he is a true evangelical, to his stance on ethanol, to his citizenship.
TRUMP: But Ted Cruz has a problem because the question is, is he a natural born citizen? I don't know. I mean, nobody knows. You can't have a nominee who will be subject to be thrown out as a nominee. You just can't do it.
So, you're going to make that decision, folks. I mean, it's one of those little decisions. I'm sure Ted is thrilled that I'm helping him out, but I am. I mean, I am. I mean, he's got to go and he's got to fix it.
MURRAY: Now, Cruz says he is a natural born citizen because his mother is a citizen. And most legal scholars agree. But even as we are seeing Trump ramp up these attacks, he can relish his wide lead in early state. A new Monmouth University poll in New Hampshire shows Trump drawing 32 percent support from Republican primary voters. That's more than double the 14 percent support that Cruz has there.
But look who else is climbing up, tying for second place in New Hampshire is Ohio Governor John Kasich. That same New Hampshire poll showed up one in three GOP voters are set on who to support. You can see it is still a very fluid race.
Back to you, John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Sara, it is. Thank you for that.
Today was the first nominating votes, less than three weeks away, Trump and Jeb Bush campaign in Iowa and Ted Cruz stumps in New Hampshire. Later, he'll join Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul in Washington for the State of the Union.
BERMAN: Tonight's speech will be President Obama's seventh and final State of the Union Address. The White House says the president will not be rolling out a to-do list of agenda items he hopes to accomplish during his last year in office. Instead, his aides say the president will try to rise above election year acrimony and celebrate what they call a vision of one American family. Good luck.
CNN's Jim Acosta has more from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESOPNDENT: John and Christine, White House officials say the president will deliver an unconventional speech during his final State of the Union address later on tonight. The president will talk about the America he hopes to see after he leaves office, but there are still a few things he wants to accomplish over the coming year. White House aides say the president will not only defend his executive actions on guns but will talk about his plan to close the terror detention prison at Guantanamo, pass criminal justice reform and take the fight to ISIS.
As a tribute to the victims of gun violence, there will be an empty seat in the first lady's box to symbolize the lives lost in mass shootings. There will be a touch of the nostalgia in the president's speech as he will look back to his historic 2008 campaign, and point to one of his first supporters, Edith Childs, who coined the chant, "Fired up, ready to go", a favorite at Obama rallies. The White House has hinted there won't be a long laundry list of proposals in this last State of the Union, an acknowledgment that time is winding down and Congress is looking to the next election -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right. Jim, of course, you can tune in to CNN's live coverage of the State of the Union tonight beginning at 7:00 with "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" followed by a special edition of "AC360", and then the main event. President Obama's address, that's at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The Republican response this year will be given by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. It will follow the president's speech by about five minutes.
We have breaking news out of Turkey this morning. Just a short time ago, Istanbul was rocked by an explosion right in the heart of the city, right in an area where many Western tourists visit. We are getting reports of casualties. The cause of the blast is not yet known. Ambulances and police are at the scene of the Sultanahmet Square. This is all known as the Hippodrome, not far from the Hagia Sofia, Topkapi Palace, Blue Mosque, right in the heart of the main tourist hub.
Istanbul has suffered a lot of deadly attacks in recent months. That city very much on edge. We are monitoring the developments. We'll bring you updates throughout the morning.
ROMANS: All right. Time for an early start on your money this morning. Right now, futures, U.S. stock futures pointing lower. World stock markets are mixed right now. Companies are beginning to report their quarterly earnings. The season as a whole expected to show profit down 5 percent.
Crude oil is down near $30 a barrel. Oil crashed 70 percent from its peak last summer. It's down about 35 percent this year.
While that's great news for drivers, it may not be good for homeowners. At least in some places nationwide, home prices are expected to rise this year. But states with economies tied to the energy sector could see a slump in demand for housing. North Dakota is at the risk of this backlash. Some home prices there are 20 percent overvalued according to one study. Other states where low oil prices could hit the housing market could hit the housing market, Wyoming, West Virginia and Alaska.
BERMAN: Dramatic new video this morning capturing the military raid on Mexican drug lord El Chapo's hideout.
[04:10:04] Also, new information on how he almost, almost, managed to slip away again.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Amazing video this morning of the bloody early morning raid that led to the capture of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Mexican authorities storming El Chapo's safe house in Sinaloa, Mexico, with guns blazing. The most wanted drug fugitive in the world captured hours later after somehow he slipped away during that government operation and all that gunfire.
We get more from CNN's Martin Savidge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Good morning, Christine. Late yesterday afternoon, a CNN crew was able to gain access to that
safe house in Los Mochis that belonged to El Chapo. Remember, this is where the raid took place.
No surprise when they got inside, they found the place in shambles. It was a miniature war that took place as a result to the raid by Mexican authorities. But it was eventually successful.
One of the things that is interesting about the video is it reveals the escape mechanism by which El Chapo was able to get out of the house. Apparently, in a closet, there was secreted small set of stairs that gets him in the sewer system and the sewer system gets him away from the home.
[04:15:00] So, all of that is really kind of revealing as to the kind of detail and planning that he had.
Then, we get to the Sean Penn interview. Still, a lot of controversy about that. The Mexican authorities said that interview was essential to the capture of El Chapo. They don't go into great detail as to why, but it's why clear that that interview in October somehow led them in the direction of several months later, a safe house in January.
But still, you have to give credit to the Mexican special forces. They made that entry. They conducted it safely. They only had one slight wounded soldier. There were five gunmen that were killed, but no one in the street, no innocent person was injured in any way -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right. Martin, thanks so much.
This morning, four suspects in custody and one remains at large in the alleged gang rape of an 18-year-old girl in New York City last week. Police say the boys between the ages of 14 and 17 assaulted the victim at a park in Brooklyn. The suspects claimed no rape occurred and whatever did happen was consensual. Over the weekend, police released surveillance video showing the suspects inside a store not far from where the attacks took place.
ROMANS: A legal setback for Jesse Matthew charged with capital murder in the disappearance and death of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham in 2014. It was revealed at a hearing Monday that a police dog detected her scent in Matthew's car and at this apartment. Hannah Graham's remains were found five weeks after she went missing. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Jesse Matthew.
BERMAN: Lawyers for Bill Cosby are asking a Pennsylvania judge to dismiss sex assault charges against the actor. They claim the D.A. violated a 10-year-old agreement not to persecute Cosby in the case brought by Andrea Constand in 2004. Charges were filed against the comedian just weeks before the 12-year statute of limitations expired. The lawyer claimed the prosecutor used testimony Cosby gave in Constand civil suit as the basis for the criminal charges. ROMANS: Tonya Couch, mother of the so-called affluenza teen, is
expected to be released this morning after posting bail in Texas. A judge lowered her bond from $1 million to $75,000. Couch is accused of helping her son flee to Mexico after he violated probation in a drunk driving crash that killed four people and badly injured others. Ethan Couch remains in custody in Mexico. He is fighting efforts to bring him back to the U.S.
BERMAN: All right. Frigid temperatures, even snow, actual real life snow, might be coming to the Northeast.
Let's get to meteorologist Allison Chinchar.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, December was so warm, but winter is here and it is packing a punch. We have this cold blast of air coming back down, stretching from the Midwest eventually into the Northeast, and a lot of snow that's coming with it. You can see from the future radar, it starts in the Midwest, carrying all the way through into parts of the Northeast, well into Wednesday and Thursday of this week. So, this isn't necessarily just a one-day type storm.
The accumulations also very impressive. Widespread, around two to four inches of snow. But we will have some areas, especially along the Great Lakes, that could pick up 6 to 8 inches of snow with some of those areas targeting a foot of snow before it is all said and done.
And the cold, this is the other big story coming out of it. Take a look at Minneapolis, three degrees on Tuesday topping out at 29 by the time we get to Thursday. Chicago, the coldest day also going to be today. But New York, we're going to bottom out on Wednesday. Same thing for cities like Boston and also into Washington, D.C. before we finally start to rebound.
ROMANS: All right.
BERMAN: All right, Allison. Snow coming.
The Alabama Crimson Tide, once again the kings of college football. Yes, in fact, they rolled. They held off number one Clemson. They won 45-40 in a game that was fitting of a playoff national championship. The teams, they went back and forth until the fourth quarter. The game tied at 24. Alabama recovered onside kick and got a quick touchdown.
What you're looking at right now is the knockout blow. A 95-yard kickoff return.
I mean, who does that? Who does that in the fourth quarter with the game tied? Nick Saban does. This is the fourth national title for Alabama in the last seven years, the fifth overall for Saban. Heisman winner Derrick Henry rushed for a 157 yards and scored three touchdowns. He's pretty good.
ROMANS: All right. Joe Biden, the vice president, opening up to CNN about the loss of his son and how President Obama offered to help his family when times were toughest. We've got that, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:23:32] ROMANS: New this morning, surveillance pictures of the Paris attack fugitive Salah Abdeslam on the run. The pictures show him at a French gas station the day after the November 13th attacks that killed 130 people. Also in the photo, Hamza Attou, suspected of driving Abdeslam to Brussels. That same day before Abdeslam had been connected to the attacks, he, Attou, and a third man were pulled over by police, but not detained. Attou was later arrested by Belgian police.
BERMAN: ISIS is claiming responsibility for a bloody attack in a busy mall in Baghdad. Militants wearing suicide vests detonated a car bomb outside the mall before storming the building on Monday. Iraq's interior ministry says 13 people were killed, including a child, when the attackers took civilians hostage and set off explosives.
ROMANS: New this morning, a rare glimpse into the deep personal relationship with Vice President Joe Biden and President Obama. The vice president sat down with CNN's Gloria Borger. He opened up about his son Beau. Biden says when Beau had to step down as Delaware's attorney general, the family faced financial concerns. The president offered to step in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was having lunch with the president and he is the only guy other than my family I confided in all along in everything that was going on with Beau because I felt a responsibility so that he knew where I was, my thinking. And I said, you know, my concern is if Beau resigns, he has no -- there's no -- there's nothing to fall back on, his salary.
[04:25:09] And I said, but I worked that out, I said. But Jill and I will sell the house and be in good shape. He got up and said, "Don't sell the house. Promise me you won't sell the house." He's going to be mad at me for saying this. He said, "I'll give you the money. Whatever you need, I'll give you the money. Don't, Joe, promise me, promise me." I said, "I don't think we're going to have to anyway." He said, "Promise me."
And then I'll never forget the eulogy he delivered for Beau. And when Beau had his stroke and it turned out it was the beginning of the glioblastoma. He came running down the hallway and said, "Joe, Joe, is he OK?" His love of family and my family, and my love of his family, you know, his two children and my granddaughters are best friends. His number two daughter, my number three daughter, they vacation together. They plan teams together, they sleep at each other's homes all the time. It's really -- it's personal. It's family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: I knew they were friends. I didn't know they were that tight that their children and grandchildren were so close too. BERMAN: You know, it just shows the importance of friendships at whatever level you have. They are obviously, the vice president, president had developed a close bond over the years. I think Joe Biden at this point is quite grateful for that. He also, by the way, has some stuff to say in an interview which is controversial. It has to do with the campaign right now. He had really unsolicited words of praise for Bernie Sanders.
ROMANS: About income inequity and wage issues, saying that he had been working on that for a very, very long time and that Hillary Clinton was rather new to --
BERMAN: Indeed, indeed.
ROMANS: -- the income inequality.
BERMAN: It begs the question that a lot of people are asking this morning, specifically Bernie Sanders campaign. Is Hillary Clinton in trouble? The Vermont senator going after the Democratic frontrunner as polls in key early voting states with razor thin margins.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
