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GOP Debate: Republicans Attack Each Other; Trump Jokes About Cruz as VP; Republicans Spotlight Economy at Debate; Powerball Winner Hoax; Three Men Arrested in Indonesia; Iraqi Born Immigrant Indicted. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired January 15, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Republicans running for president going after each other on that debate stage. We're breaking down the big moments and the reaction this morning. Welcome back to EARLY START, I'm Christine Romans.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Alison Kosik. It's 30 minutes past the hour and there were no more Mr. nice guys at last night's republican debate in South Carolina, at least, nowhere near center stage. Gone was the air of courtesy from the earlier debates that we saw. Instead, with the first votes in Iowa just over two weeks away, at least four of the candidates, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Chris Christie, well, they just kind of went for it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Back in September, my friend Donald said that he had had his lawyers look at this from every which way and there was no issue there. There was nothing to this birther issue. Now, since September the constitution hasn't changed. But the poll numbers have.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's a big question, Mark, on your head and you can't do that to the party. You really can't.

CRUZ: I've spent my entire life defending the constitution before the U.S. supreme court and I tell you I'm not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Ted Cruz, you used to say you supported doubling the number of green cards. Now you say that you're against it. You used to support a 500 percent increase in the number of guest workers. Now you say that you're against it.

CRUZ: I appreciate your dumping your oppo research folder on the debate stage --

RUBIO: It's your record.

CRUZ: -- but I will say, at least half of the things Marco said are flat out false.

RUBIO: Unfortunately, Governor Christie has endorsed many of the ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether it's common core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor --

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I stood on the stage and watched Marco, and rather indignantly, look at Governor Bush and say, someone told you that because we're running for the same office that criticizing me will get you to that office. It appears that the same someone has been whispering in old Marco's ear, too.

TRUMP: We don't need a weak person being president of the United States, OK? Because that's what we'd get if it were Jeb -- I tell you what, we don't need that.

CRUZ: I guess I can frame it another way. Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I'm just saying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: In the end, though, all eyes were on the two candidates at the top of the polls, Trump and Cruz. See political correspondent, Dana Bash, has more on that from South Carolina.

DANA BASH, CNN CORESPONDENT: Christine and Alison, it is official. The bromance between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump is over. The two went at it. It became clear watching them in the debate that they are, it's a two-man race, at least for the top right now, especially when it comes to Iowa. And on the issue of whether or not Ted Cruz is eligible to be president, one that Donald Trump brings up over and over and over again, at the end of the debate, by the end, it seemed that Trump kind of bested Cruz on the whole issue that Cruz tried to hit him with which is the New York issue, saying that he has a New York attitude. Cruz is asked what that meant, he didn't really answer, but Trump came back at him big-time talking about the 9/11 New York that he knew. The post-9/11 New York, the way New Yorkers came together. That's something that Mr. Trump Talked to me about after the debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He made a terrible statement when he insulted 20 million people. I was there during this death and destruction. The world trade center came down, two 110-story buildings and I was there. New Yorkers were the bravest people that I and many others have ever seen. I was down there the day after and I want to tell you, I have never seen a sight like it in my life. Thousands of people killed, two massive buildings down, and the way New York came back from that and rebuilt and did it with grace, with just absolute grace, you can't make a comment like that about New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now Trump left here and went straight to Iowa. He's going to do some stops there in the morning. That is a place where Trump really wants to win to try to stop Ted Cruz's momentum. The two of them are neck and neck in polls there. The question is going to be whether or not Trump can get the voters out who might not have ever caucused before. It is not something that is an easy thing to do. You don't just go and check the box in a ballot box. You have to go, you have to stand there for hours, and so the Trump campaign insists that they are going to get new caucus goers, they're going to get people out to the caucuses who have never been there before, but the bottom line is, Donald Trump has to make sure that that happens and has an organization that hasn't been seen when it comes to republicans in Iowa. Alison and Christine --

KOSIK: OK, Dana Bash, thanks for that. And you can see all of Dana's interview with Donald Trump coming up. He has more to say about Ted Cruz's birther controversy and paying for the campaign out of his own deep pockets. That's on "NEW DAY", today, 6:00 am Eastern.

[05:35:02] ROMANS: All right, so helping us to sort out the debate this morning, bright and early, let's bring in CNN politics reporter, Tom LoBianco. Tom, the debate really defined by this clash between Cruz -- Truz -- if that was a ticked it'd be the Truz ticket. I don't think it will be a ticket. Trump and Cruz, that clash between the two of them sort of defining the whole debate. And I think the birther argument still front and center here. Trump, he says, look, we're running. If I win, what happens, put him as a VP, what would happen? Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're running, we're running. He does great. I win. I choose him as my vice-presidential candidate and the democrats sue because we can't take him along for the ride. I don't like that, okay? The fact is, and if for some reason he beats the rest of the field, he beats the rest of the field -- see, they don't like that. They don't like that. No, they don't like that he beats the rest of the field because they want me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why are you raising this issue now?

TRUMP: Because now he's doing a little bit better. No, I didn't care before. It's true. No, it's true. Hey look, he never had a chance. Now he's doing better, he's got probably a 4 or 5 percent chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: It's just vintage Trump because Ted Cruz says, look, the only reason he's saying this now is because I'm doing better in the polls and Donald Trump says, yes, that's why I'm doing it now, you're doing better in the polls.

TOM LOBIANCO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a way, it's hilarious how transparent it is, right?

ROMANS: Is it working?

LOBIANCO: Absolutely. Of course it's working. It's working, he's continuing it, and he had even a bigger stage for that line of attack last night. I don't think he's going to stop. I mean there's no reason for him to stop. You know, in a sense, and Rubio brought up this point about the, Cruz brought up this point about Rubio dropping the opposition research on him, all the lines of attacks; now is the time to really use this. People are paying attention now. People are paying attention in Iowa, of course, just a few weeks out. But they're also paying attention in the other states. This is where that momentum comes from. Iowa leads to New Hampshire. New Hampshire brings you down into the southern primaries, in the south, South Carolina. What happens now is that if you've got a good attack, you've got something effective, you use it. And one of those big questions out there, whether or not it's an actual legit legal question, it's a legit political question. And that's the Ted Cruz's birth in Canada. It's an effective attack. And Trump is just hammering away at it and it's working. It's narrowing the lead that Cruz has in Iowa right now.

KOSIK: And another back and forth that certainly got attention last night was this whole thing where Cruz is insulting or trying to insult Trump by saying he's a guy with New York values. That, by the way, got started when Trump had a song "Born In the USA" at his campaign event and Cruz was apparently asked about it, well what does he think about it? Well, now we know what he thinks about it. He thinks, let's go to what was said last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: Everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro abortion or pro gay marriage, focused around money and the media --

TRUMP: New York is a great place. It's got great people. It's got loving people, wonderful people. When the world trade center came down, I saw something that no place on earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely, than New York. And I have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that Ted made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: So Trump kind of eating Cruz's lunch on that, looking very poised, presidential, passionate about his answer. He came out on top with that one, didn't he?

LOBIANCO: Sure. You know, Cruz really, he hit his target audience with that, but when Trump made that point -- and boy, what an effective counter -- you could almost see the pictures of the firemen downtown Manhattan raising the flag through the ashes. I mean, what an evocation that he came up with and at exactly the right moment. And politically, he just destroyed Cruz with that argument. But then you also have got to remember, too, what Cruz is doing here is blowing a dog whistle, as we say, in politics. He's not going after those of us on the East coast. He's going after social and religious conservatives in Iowa, in the Midwest; the people who have an understanding, like him, of what New York values are. He doesn't even necessarily need to explain himself when he makes a statement like that.

[05:39:59] ROMANS: All right, Tom LoBianco, so nice to see you this morning. Have a great weekend.

LOBIANCO: Thanks, guys. Take care.

ROMANS: All right, a big focus of last night's debate; the economy, candidates painting a grim picture of why big changes are needed. Are they right? We're breaking it down next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: So you know, a big focus of last night's debate, the economy, candidates attacking each other's tax plans, painting a grim picture of the Obama economy. Joining us to discuss that part of the story, Greg Valliere. He's a political economist and the chief strategist for Horizon Investments and Greg, I just wanted to get your opinion on these candidates up there. If the U.S. economy is strong, it doesn't give them a good position from which to advocate for change, right? So, the 5 percent unemployment rate, you've 2.5 percent GDP growth, some concerns overseas, but -- how are they doing on painting a picture of a grim economy and are they right that it's so grim?

GREG VALLIERE, CHIEF STRATEGIST, HORIZON INVESTMENTS: I don't think it's that grim but it doesn't feel great, does it? I mean, the recovery has been mediocre. There's still an awful lot of people who are under-employed or not looking for jobs. So this very gloomy argument, contrasted by Obama earlier in the week, still resonates with the base. The republican base still feels things aren't doing that well.

KOSIK: How concerned, though, do you think voters are as they listen to Donald Trump talk last night on that debate stage when he talks about this 45 percent tax on imports from China, the worry being that there could be this big trade war started. First, let's go to his sound bite from last night and then we'll come back for your reaction.

[05:45:10] VALLIERE: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're killing our companies. Thousands and thousands. You look at the number of companies and number in terms of manufacturing and plants that we've lost. 50,000 because of China.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You never advocated putting a tariff on your --

TRUMP: We've lost anywhere between 4 and 7 million jobs because of China.

KOSIK: OK, so this is something that companies can relate to more than voters. How effective is it for Trump to take this on knowing the repercussions of something like this?

VALLIERE: Well he can demagogue about this and with a lot of voters, that will resonate. But as Jeb Bush pointed out, the prescriptions that Trump is offering are very dangerous. Do we really want to get in a trade war with China with all that's going on in the markets now? That's the last thing the markets want to see.

ROMANS: Let's talk about what's going on right now. I want to show what's happening in world markets right now. You've got Europe down. We had a pop yesterday for (ph) U.S., Europe is down right now. Shanghai down another 3.5 percent and on the cover of, the front page of "The Wall Street Journal", global malaise spurs U.S. growth worries, concerns mounting over whether the U.S. economy, which is solid here, the U.S. economy, whether the U.S. economy and the financial system can take everything that's happening worldwide. What do you think?

VALLIERE: Well, it's a valid concern, Christine. I think the anxiety is just going to grow. "The Wall Street Journal" piece is pretty dire, but let me make two positive points in this otherwise gloomy story. First of all, I think with more market volatility, the Federal Reserve may not raise rates as people had expected in March. They may delay this for a while. That's, I think, a good story. Secondly, we're about to get one of the great tax cuts in the history of America. That's called dollar a gallon gasoline. And I think that puts a lot of extra money in people's pockets. Real disposable income goes up. That's exactly what this economy needs right now.

KOSIK: Let's go back to the debate from last night. Chris Christie talking about President Obama's business policy and then we'll come back and talk about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIE: If you reform the corporate tax system in the country, which, as was mentioned before, it's the highest rate in the world, and we double tax, as you know. And what that's led to is over $2 trillion of American companies' moneys that are being kept offshore because they don't want to pay the second tax. And who can blame them? This president has penalized corporations in America. He's penalized, he doesn't understand that what that does is hurt hard working taxpayers. You see middle class wages go backwards $3,700 during the Obama administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: This is something, no doubt about it, that obviously not only companies can relate to but taxpayers, average Americans, can certainly relate to, especially in an economy right now, as strong as it is, that has yet to see its breakout moment since the recession.

VALLIERE: Well, and we talked about this a couple of minutes ago. I think one of the reasons why it doesn't feel very good, the economy just feels blah, is that real disposal income has been stagnant now for a decade. And an awful lot of people, an awful lot of Trump supporters and Bernie Sanders supporters feel like they've been left behind.

ROMANS: Can I ask you about the specifics of these candidates? I mean, do you see these candidates and see this one would be good for the economy, good for taxpayers. This one understands how it works; how Main Street and Wall Street work. This one is going to hurt America. What is your sense of this republican field?

VALLIERE: Well I don't want to take a pass on the question but I would say this: the lack of specificity in terms of what they actually would do is very troubling. They can all criticize, that's easy. But in saying specifically, this is what I'll do, I think there's still a lot of uncertainty. And it's worth noting, it's a cliche but it's a true cliche, the markets hate uncertainty. And I think one of the big concerns about Trump is the uncertainty he would bring. Trade fight with China, fighting with Janet Yellen, bashing Wall Street -- there are a lot of things about Trump that I think would make the markets a little uneasy.

KOSIK: If they haven't already.

ROMANS: Very interesting. Yes, Greg Valliere, so nice to see you this morning and again, thanks for that advice on how to navigate the market today. Looks like those global malaise were, if you said, are justified. Thanks for that. See you, Greg.

KOSIK: All right, let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Chris Cuomo joins us now. Good morning, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, my friends. The pleasantries were brief between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in the latest republican debate, the pair squaring off on the birther issue, Cruz coming back with fire like we have not seen yet. Trump returning the favor about the New York values issues. Cruz questioning what that means in terms of maybe seeming to suggest it might be negative. Boy, did Donald Trump defend the big apple, you'll see how. Also, Donald Trump himself is going to give his take on the situation to "NEW DAY". We're also going to hear from Carly Fiorina coming off another strong undercard performance.

Also, everyone wants to know who won this big Powerball jackpot. Who are the people that we all are jealous of this morning? We thought we knew. Turns out to be a hoax. You'll never guess who's behind the hoax. And no, it is not me.

[05:50:11] KOSIK: I was just going to ask.

ROMANS: I know. You are still a loser this morning. Oh, wait, I'm sorry.

CUOMO: And they all laugh. They all laugh!

ROMANS: Happy Friday, my love. Nice to see you.

CUOMO: Do you hear that? Do you hear that? Don't choke on your glee, my friend.

ROMANS: Someone cut his mic. 50 minutes past the hour. Chipotle is taking a unique approach to deal with its recent E. coli outbreak. We'll tell you why it's closing all of its stores for one day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: Security forces in Indonesia have arrested three suspected terrorists in connection with Thursday's deadly bomb blast in Jakarta, Indonesia. The attack killed two people and wounded 24 others. ISIS is taking credit for the operation, signaling a troubling expansion by the terror organization into the most heavily populated Muslim country in the world. Let's go live to Jakarta and bring in CNN's Saima Mohsin. So you look at what authorities were ready for. They kind of knew that a terror attack was imminent, but this is one they just couldn't hold back.

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, this one came one came unexpectedly, but as you say, shocking but not surprising. They did have a tip off that something like this could take place, but they were thinking this might happen around the busy Christmas and New Year time, Alison. And that's why they started conducting raids in December, 2015. That's, of course, over a month ago now. Raids, too, this morning where they've made arrests. They're not quite sure yet whether the three men arrested this morning are linked to yesterday's attack directly. Were they planning? Were they helping facilitate the attackers yesterday?

[05:55:04] And as you say, something they couldn't hold back. But luckily, police were quick to respond, to stem off and take on those terrorists that tried to rampage through the city center of Jakarta trying to target what they claim to be non-Muslims. That's what their target was and that's why I spent the day here today in the mosque here in central Jakarta where the Imam has spoken out saying that terrorism is a crime against humanity, telling Muslims and non- Muslims, really, Alison, that Islam, according to him, shouldn't be something scary. It shouldn't be used to put fear among people, as he said.

He also pointed out that this so-called jihad by ISIS is wrong. He said that through Islamic history, the wars conducted by Muslims were defensive rather than offensive. It is wrong to attack innocent people, he said. And that is something that I really throughout the day, Indonesian Muslims are being really quick to react to this attack saying, not in our name. This does not represent us as Muslims. Some people are even calling these attackers infidels, telling me that they don't believe that they are true Muslims. So a very strong response amid fears, of course, that ISIS is starting to gain a foothold not just in Indonesia, across Southeast Asia. Alison --

KOSIK: Important to point out, Indonesian Muslims saying, this is not us; this does not represent us. Saima Mohsin, thanks so much. A Sacramento man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for lying about his links to terrorism. Iraqi born Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab is accused of making false statements when he told authorities he went to Turkey in 2013 to visit his grandmother. Prosecutors say he went to Syria after Turkey to join a militant group. Al-Jayab is one of two Iraqi born immigrants arrested last week in California and Texas.

ROMANS: All right, 57 minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your Money, Friday edition. Stock futures falling this morning. Markets

in Europe are dropping. Asia lower. Oil diving back below 30 bucks a barrel. Concerns this morning growing that the U.S. economy or the financial system not immune to trouble overseas and oil's recent crash. That's the mood this morning. Watch General Electric shares today. GE is selling its appliance units to China's Haier. That deal worth $5.4 billion. It initially tried to sell the unit to Electrolux but that deal fell apart.

If you're a big fan of Chipotle, or a shareholder of Chipotle, mark February 8 on your calendar. Chipotle reportedly closing all of its restaurants that day. The burrito chain will shut its doors and hold a meeting for every employee to discuss food safety concerns. After several outbreaks involving E. coli and norovirus last year, Chipotle is in recovery mode, or at least trying to. Look at that stock. That stock has plummeted 31 percent over the past 6 month, lost a third of its value.

KOSIK: You know, you walk into some of those restaurants now, it's like a ghost town, once where there were lines out the door.

ROMANS: It's true. Sales have fallen, the whole bit.

KOSIK: Republicans going after each other on the debate stage. Who came out on top? "NEW DAY" starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Who the hell knows if you can even serve in office?

CRUZ: Since September, the constitution hasn't changed. But the poll numbers have.

TRUMP: Go out, get a declaratory judgment.

RUBIO: I hate to interrupt this episode of court TV.

BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm very happy to get a question this early on.

CHRISTIE: You cannot give Hillary Clinton a third term of Barack Obama's leadership. I will not do that if I'm the nominee.

ROMANS: How do you think it went tonight?

TRUMP: Well I think great. Everyone said I won. Certainly I don't see him as my biggest competition. How do you pick a nominee that, in a year from now, doesn't have the right to run?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Who will share the record $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a lot of money, that's right.

CAMEROTA: Their identities remain a mystery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Friday, January 15, 6:00 in the East. Put your dukes up. Trump versus Cruz did not disappoint. A very heated first republican debate of the year. The birther issue loomed large, the Texas Senator coming strong. Trump coming right back reminding what New York values means in this country in the shadow of 9/11, their rivalry leaving little room for other candidates to make an impression.

CAMEROTA: So coming up, Donald Trump talks to NEW DAY about how he fared last night and his battle to win Iowa. But who were the big winners and losers in the debate? Let's begin our coverage with John Berman here to bring us the key moment of the debate. We love your post debate analysis. What have you got?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it wasn't about the key moments as it was about the key players. It was Donald Trump and Ted

Cruz taking up so much oxygen. Jerry Seib of "The Wall Street Journal" wrote this morning, the problem with the other people on the stage is they were the other people on the stage. So much focus, and Donald Trump and Ted Cruz delivered in a way they have not before.