Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Guns Debate Dominates Democratic Race; Obama's Final State of the Union Address; Inside the Raid that Took Down "El Chapo"; Explosion Rocks Istanbul's Main Tourist Hub. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired January 12, 2016 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:30:42] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Overnight, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders battle it out in the very first voting state as there is shrinkage on the Republican debate stage.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama hours away from his final State of the Union Address. What you can expect.
BERMAN: New video inside the violent raid that took down El Chapo and new information on how he almost got away.
ROMANS: Machine gun fire, something, huh.
BERMAN: Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour. Nice to see you all this morning.
A Democratic face-off deep into night in Iowa. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at the 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 has 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 weapons they produce or sell be used in a crime -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Brianna, thank you.
Hillary Clinton has two events today before heading to Detroit with a fund-raiser with Michael Bolton. Her daughter Chelsea stumps in New Hampshire on her first solo event this year.
Senator Sanders will be in Washington tonight for President Obama's State of the Union Address.
BERMAN: A dramatic shakeup of the debate stage overnight. Rand Paul doesn't like one bit.
Fox Business Network announced that just seven Republicans are qualified for Thursday's main debate stage in South Carolina. Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush and John Kasich.
Some names you did not hear on that list, Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina, who were on the main stage last month, relegated to the undercard with Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, that is until Rand Paul he wouldn't show up for the undercard. He announced 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)
BERMAN: That's the first time a candidate skipped a debate like this. We'll see how it plays. Meanwhile, front runner Donald Trump will be center stage on that debate. He was center stage on "The Tonight Show" overnight, talking about Hillary Clinton and really making fun of her 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)
[04:35:00] BERMAN: Now, Hillary Clinton is not the only person that Donald Trump is talking about. He is talking about Ted Cruz.
This was New Hampshire where at a rally, unprompted, Donald Trump continues to bring up where Ted Cruz was born and if he is eligible to run for president.
CNN's Sara Murray has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: 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.
A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Trump with 31 percent support from likely Republican caucusgoers, 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)
BERMAN: All right, Sara.
Iowa votes less than three weeks from today. That is where Donald Trump and Jeb Bush will be today. Ted Cruz is in New Hampshire.
Later, he will join Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul in Washington. They will be in the audience for the State of the Union Address.
ROMANS: Tonight's speech will be President Obama's seventh and final State of the Union Address. The White House says the president will not roll out a to-do list of agenda items he hopes to accomplish during his last year in office. Instead, aides say the president will try to rise above the election year acrimony and celebrate what they call a vision of one American family.
CNN's Jim Acosta has more from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: 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)
ROMANS: All right. Jim, thank you for that.
You can tune in for CNN's live coverage of the State of the Union tonight beginning at 7:00 with "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT", followed by special edition of "AC360". And then President Obama's address at 9:00 p.m. The Republican response given this year by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will immediately follow the president's speech.
BERMAN: We're coming on early tomorrow, 3:15 a.m. Don't want to miss that. That's the real post-game, 3:15 a.m. tomorrow. A very special EARLY START.
Breaking news out of Turkey: Istanbul rocked by an explosion just a few hours ago in the heart of the city. Ambulances and police are on the scene in the Sultanahmet Square. This is really Istanbul's main tourist hub, the Hippodrome, no far from the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sofia, the Topkapi Palace. Injuries have been reported. So far, no confirmed fatalities.
Istanbul suffered many deadly terror attacks in the recent months. That city very much on edge. We are watching these developments. We want an update on the casualties as soon as we can. We will bring updates throughout the morning.
ROMANS: All right. Thirty-nine minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money.
Futures are lower at this hour and global stock markets are mixed ahead of corporate earnings season. Tonight, the president has final chance and a big chance to tout the state of your money. Presidents, of course, get too much credit and too much blame for what happens in the economy their tenure. But here is the Obama economy in three charts, first, unemployment, the jobless rate spikes above 10 percent during Obama's first year in office. Since then, the jobless rate has been cut in half, more than 9 million jobs have been added.
[04:40:05] But here is the asterisk, working Americans not making as much. Median household incomes lag in the recovery and has yet to rebound. What did rebound? The stock market. Oh, how it rebounded, Berman. Since Obama took office, the S&P 500 is up 126 percent.
The president wanted to raise the minimum wage. The president wanted to get two years free community college. Lots of things he wanted to do and has not -- immigration reform. Things he has not been able to accomplish. But for investors, no question, it has been unbelievable last seven years.
BERMAN: If you buy in 2007 and 2008, things were looking up right now.
ROMANS: All right. Dramatic video capturing the military raid on Mexican drug lord El Chapo's hideout. We've got that for you next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: New video of the bloody early morning raid that led to the capture of Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
This looks intense. Mexican authorities stormed the safe house in Sinaloa, Mexico. Guns blazing. The most wanted drug fugitive in the world was captured hours later after somehow slipping away during the raid.
Let's get more from CNN's Martin Savidge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[04:45:01] MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL 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.
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)
ROMANS: All right. Martin, thanks for that.
New information for you on this breaking news. That blast in Istanbul, Turkey. The governor of the province announcing ten confirmed dead, 15 wounded. No official cause for the explosion in the heart of the central square. That is Istanbul's main tourist hub. A slew of deadly terror attacks in recent months has that city on edge.
But, again, 10 dead. At least 15 injured in the explosion that rocked the main tourist hub in Istanbul.
This morning, four suspects are in custody while one remains at large in the allege 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, a playground in Brooklyn playground. The suspects say no rape occurred and whatever did happen was consensual. Over the weekend, police released the video of the suspects in the store not far from where the attack took place.
BERMAN: 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 on Monday that a police dog detected her scent in Matthew's car and at his apartment. Hannah Graham's remains were found five weeks after she went missing. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Jesse Matthew.
ROMANS: 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.
BERMAN: 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.
ROMANS: All right. Frigid temperatures and even snow.
BERMAN: What's that?
ROMANS: That's right. In some places in the Northeast. It is not going to be spring forever in the northeast.
Let's get to meteorologist Allison Chinchar.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, some areas are actually going to be warmer today in Alaska than they will be in the lower 48. We've got this cold blast of arctic air coming into the Midwest and eventually pushing over towards the Northeast in the coming days. We have a lot of lake-effect snow that's coming down.
Most of the state of Ohio is under a winter weather advisory for today and numerous other states as well. We're expecting most areas to pick up a widespread, about 2 to 4 inches of snow. Starting today, the system carries into Wednesday, and even Thursday of this week. And some of those areas right along the Great Lakes could pick up as much as 10 to 12 inches of snow.
Again, incredible amounts. They are used to it up there, but not all at once. Here is a look at some of the cold temperatures, because this is also the other story. High temperature in Minneapolis today, 3 degrees. That's 20 degrees below normal. They're also be 20 degrees below normal in Chicago with the high of 11.
New York, you'll be a little bit above normal. Same thing for D.C., but that changes tomorrow.
ROMANS: All right. Allison, thank you for that.
BERMAN: All right. The Alabama's Crimson Tide, once again the kings of college football. Roll, tide, roll. They held off number one Clemson. They won 45-40.
[04:50:01] This was a big game with a big score and big plays. The teams went back and forth until the fourth quarter. The game was tied at 24-24.
And this happened. An onside kick. Who does that? Almost like a pooch kick. Amazing. They got a quick touchdown after that. We are looking at this right her here.
The Crimson Tide would never look back. After that, they got a 95- yard kickoff return for a score. This is the fourth national title for Alabama in the last seven years. It's the fifth overall for head coach Nick Saban. He won one at LSU.
Heisman trophy winner Derrick Henry rushed for 157 yards. He scored three touchdowns. This is an incredible display by both teams frankly. But how about that call? The onside kick 24-all in the fourth quarter? You've never seen anything like that, Christine Romans.
ROMANS: I have never seen anything like that. Things like that leave me speechless.
BERMAN: Nothing left to say.
ROMANS: All right. Fifty minutes past the hour. This man maybe he could be Hillary Clinton's running mate, but for now he is President Obama's housing chief. Why he thinks 2016 will be a strong year for home buyers when we get an early start on your money, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: New this morning, surveillance pictures of Paris attack fugitive Salah Abdeslam on the run. These pictures show him at the gas station the day after the November 13th attacks that killed 130 people. And also on the photo, the other man, 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. ROMANS: 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.
[04:55:03] Iraq's interior ministry says 13 people were killed, including a child, when the attackers took civilians hostage and set off their explosives.
BERMAN: And a critical milestone in the Iran nuclear deal. The Iranians report they had removed the core of plutonium producing nuclear reactor in the city of Arak, a key steep in the lifting of international sanctions. The fight over the Iran deal meanwhile is hitting up in Washington. The House takes up a measure that would bar the president from easing sanctions. The White House has vowed to veto that bill.
ROMANS: All right. High praise for Bernie Sanders from Joe Biden. The vice president sitting down for a wide ranging interview with CNN's Gloria Borger. He says Sanders is doing a heck of a job on the campaign trail, giving Democrats an authentic voice on income inequality. When it comes up to the caucuses and New Hampshire primary, Biden says ignore the poll numbers because the race is too close to call and always has been.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESDIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I thought for the last six months they were neck and neck in both places. I never bought the idea that there was somehow that -- remember he was up by 15 points in New Hampshire and he was down by 15 points. That's not the way this process works as you and I both know. I'm much older than you, but you covered a lot of this. And so, I'm not surprised that it is viewed as neck and neck. I'm also will be surprised if the pundits turn out to be right. They're hardly ever are in Iowa and New Hampshire. So, I'm not --
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Why is she struggling? You say, I mean, we consider she was an overwhelming favorite.
BIDEN: Well, I think that's part of the reason.
BORGER: He's a Democratic socialist.
BIDEN: Yes, but if you -- I mean, you know, if Bernie Sanders never said he was a Democratic socialist, based on what he is saying, people wouldn't be calling him a Democratic socialist. That is how he characterizes himself in European terms with Democratic socialist parties in Europe. But --
BORGER: Why is she having trouble?
BIDEN: Well, I think that Bernie is speaking to a yearning that is deep and real and he has credibility on it. And that is the absolute enormous concentration of wealth in a small group of people and the middle class now being able to be shown left out. There used to be a basic bargain. If you contributed to the
profitability of the enterprise, you've got to share in that profit. Productivity is up. Wages are stagnant.
BORGER: But Hillary is talking about that as well.
BIDEN: But it's relatively new for Hillary to talk about that. Hillary's focus is on other things up until now. That is Bernie's -- no one questions Bernie's authenticity on those issues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Interesting.
All right. Let's get a start on your money. Right now, stock futures have turned higher. It follows up in European markets, stocks in Asia finished mixed. Oil prices tumbling.
New this morning, multimillionaires, Hillary Clinton wants to separate from more of your money. Her newest proposal is a fair share surcharge on top earners. Here's how it worked -- Americans making $5 million a year would pay additional 4 percent tax on that income, all other taxpayers would be unaffected.
The Clinton camp says it's an expansion on the central idea of the Buffett Rule named after a legendary investor Warren Buffet, who blamed the tax code for the fact that he pays a lower rate than his secretary. She's actually a plan to go after some of the inequality we're just talking about.
One possible running mate for Hillary Clinton if she secures the nomination, President Obama's Housing Secretary Julian Castro. He was on "The Late Show" with Stephen Colbert last night. But he sat down with me first.
BERMAN: That's right. Only after Romans, Colbert comes after Romans.
ROMANS: I was his warm-up show. This is what he told me about the housing market for the year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIAN CASTRO, SECRETARY OF HOUSING & URBAN DEVELOPMENT: I believe it will be better than last year with more opportunity out there that we should be confident going forward that all of the indicators point to continued growth.
ROMANS: And higher mortgage rates. If mortgage rates rise, if the Fed keeps raising rates, you're not too concerned they will rise quickly?
CASTRO: No, I believe that in this first half of the year, that we're going to see relatively stable rates. Of course, the Fed did raise interest rates, but that has not significantly impacted what somebody is paying on a mortgage. I think that's going to be the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: He sees millennial home buyers this year -- young, college educated, urban areas, people buy more houses and condos. The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage in the U.S. is still below 4 percent. That's according to Freddie Mac.
BERMAN: That is still low.
ROMANS: I asked if he has been contacted about being her running mate. He said it's premature. He's not -- they have not reached out to him.
BERMAN: It's premature, not that it won't happen and I won't say yes, just that it's early.
ROMANS: Too early.
BERMAN: Meanwhile, EARLY START continues right now.
(MUSIC)
BERMAN: The Democratic battle goes late into the night in Iowa. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, with the polls surprisingly close there.
