Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Sanders Says He Has Good Presidential Judgment; Clinton Defends From Attacks On Her Honesty; Hunt Is On To Find California Fugitives; Planned Parenthood Accusers Indicted; Iranian President To Meet Pope. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired January 26, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:31:09] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Democrats running for president making their final case to voters in Iowa in a CNN town hall. We'll take a look at how it all went down.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Republicans making their final pitch to Iowans. Ted Cruz with a warning about what could make Donald Trump unstoppable.

SANCHEZ: Plus, prison break. A manhunt to find three dangerous criminals who broke out of a maximum security facility. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Boris Sanchez.

ROMANS: Nice to see you this morning, Boris. I'm Christine Romans. 31 minutes past the hour. There are now just six days left until the Iowa caucuses. The Democratic candidates battled late into the night at a CNN town hall in Des Moines, drawing sharp distinctions on policy. Bernie Sanders offered perhaps his harshest criticism yet of Hillary Clinton, repeatedly casting doubt on her judgment and bringing her vote to authorize the Iraq War to center stage.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny was there. He has the story.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: With less than one week now remaining until the Iowa caucuses, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and Martin O'Malley made their cases directly to Iowa voters and took questions from many undecided voters. What stood out to me last night here in Des Moines at Drake University was subjects and questions about judgment, presidential judgment. Bernie Sanders directly answered the question, if he has judgment to be president. Of course, this follows on the heels of President Obama, slightly tipping the scales toward Hillary Clinton, raising the question if Senator Sanders has the experience and judgment. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Obama is obviously right. Being the president is an enormously difficult job. It's a job that entails dealing with a million different issues. I think I have the background. I think I have the judgment to do that. I would remind you and remind the viewers that in 2002 when George W. Bush and Dick Cheney said we should go to war in Iraq, Bernie Sanders listened very carefully and I said, no, I think that war is a dumb idea. I helped lead opposition to that war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Now on that Iraq war vote, Secretary Clinton has, of course, responded to this for more than eight years. She said that her was validated by President Obama selecting her as secretary of state. Listen to her answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: First of all, I have a much longer history than one vote, which I've said was a mistake, because of the way that that was done and how the Bush administration handled it. But I think the American public has seen me exercising judgment in a lot of other ways and in fact, when that hard primary campaign was over and I went to work for President Obama and he ended up asking me to be secretary of state, it was because he trusted my judgment and we worked side by side over those four years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Now Martin O'Malley also made the case to his supporters here. He said that he is a new generation of a leader. He urged all of his Iowa supporters to hold fast next Monday night at the Iowa caucuses. Now of course, with just six days remaining until the first votes of the 2016 campaign, the candidates are now back out campaigning across the state. They have six more days to make their final arguments to voters. Christine and Boris --

SANCHEZ: All right, Jeff, thank you.

Here to help us break down the candidates' town hall performances and the rest of the day in politics, "Daily Beast" editor-at-large, Goldie Taylor. Goldie, thank you so much for joining us. Let's start with Hillary Clinton. Right off the bat, a young voter asked her about her perceived lack of trust among young voters. Here was her response to that question about trust.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: But if you're new to politics, if it's the first time you've really paid attention, you go, oh my gosh, look at all of this. And you have to say to yourself, why are they throwing all of that? Well I'll tell you why. Because I've been on the frontlines of change and progress since I was your age. I have been fighting to give kids and women and the people who are left out and left behind a chance to make the most out of their own lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:35:07] SANCHEZ: She's using her record there to draw applause from the crowd. How else does she shed this perception that she's not trustworthy? GOLDIE TAYLOR, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, THE DAILY BEAST: I think it comes down to retail politics. She's going to have to go door-to-door, hand to hand, kiss the babies. She's going to have to spend some time in peoples' living rooms and she's going to have to overcome that in a really personal, intimate way. The fact of the matter is, she has been on the public stage for nearly four decades. And with that comes an awful lot of push back in the public discourse. And so she does have a very lengthy record to prosecute. I'm sure that the Republicans and her Democratic opponents are going to attempt to do that in meaningful ways. But she going to have to fight back with the fact of her record.

ROMANS: There was a moving moment when a woman stood up, a mother of three, a veteran -- a woman who stood up and said, is there Islamaphobia? Why is there Islamaphobia in this country and how do I make sure that I am raising my kids in the best country on earth? This is the best place to raise children. And, Hillary Clinton did not say Donald Trump's name, but this is what she said about the climate right now in this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: One of the most distressing aspects of this campaign has been the language of Republican candidates, particularly their frontrunner, that insults, demeans, denigrates different people. He has cast a wide net. He started with Mexicans, he's currently on Muslims.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: She didn't say his name, which I thought was interesting, but that looked to me more like something you were going to see in a general election if she -- if she's going to be up against Donald Trump, this is going to be her platform.

TAYLOR: Absolutely. And she continues to position herself as the presumptive nominee, as the person who's going to walk away with the votes at the end of the day enough to face someone like Donald Trump or maybe Ted Cruz, in the general election. And so she's positioned herself, really, while staving off attacks from Bernie Sanders, she's really positioning herself as the nominee who's going to be willing and able to take on Donald Trump. And so this kind of push back is going to sharpen over time.

SANCHEZ: Staying on the Democratic side, let's talk about Bernie Sanders. There is this perception that he can't win a general election, partly because he labels himself as a socialist. Yesterday he talked about raising taxes. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: We will raise taxes, yes we will. But also let us be clear, Chris. Because there's a little bit of disingenuity out there. We may raise taxes, but we are also going to eliminate private health insurance premiums for individuals and for businesses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: He says there is disingenuity out there. We talked about Hillary Clinton shedding this lavel that she's not trustworthy. How does Bernie Sanders shed this label that he's some kind of radical socialist?

TAYLOR: I don't know anyone in modern times who's won an election by saying, I'm going to raise taxes. I think it's going to be tough to position himself away from that. He wants to raise the cap in terms of taxable income for social security so that he can provide this Medicare for all program which is -- Medicare is typically meant for seniors. But he means to make certain that every American is able to get some kind of coverage. By the way, that program needs to be fixed. There are problems with Medicare that simply, when you are on it, it is expensive, it's cumbersome, it's confusing. And so if you are going to expand it, it needs to be fixed.

But in order to raise that cap, and I think the cap is about $118,000 right now, it's high to high upper middle class, but it certainly isn't wealthy in this country if you're a family of four or five, you're at $120,000 a year, you're living, say, here in Brooklyn, you're barely making it. And so I just really think that you've got to -- well I wouldn't say barely, let me take that back. I would say that you're going to have some troubles with rents and other things and you're probably paycheck to paycheck. And so that's a struggle. But to raise that cap means that every day Americans are going to be paying more in taxes.

ROMANS: I know Rand Paul was live tweeting during this whole thing saying, in five seconds, he just spent $1 trillion. When you look at the Libertarian taking on the self-described socialist, it got a little bit interesting.

Let's talk about Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz, a meeting with evangelical pastors, with Christian pastors, saying, look, if Donald Trump wins in Iowa, wins in New Hampshire, this is the word he used -- he's unstoppable. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But I will say right now between Donald and me, this is neck and neck. It is an absolute dead heat. And if Donald wins Iowa, he right now has a substantial lead in New Hampshire. If he went on to win New Hampshire as well, there's a very good chance he could be unstoppable and be our nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:40:13] ROMANS: Do you agree with him?

TAYLOR: I almost never agree with Ted Cruz. On this point, I do. If Donald Trump is able to continue to build the momentum, build the ground organization necessary, run the kind of air campaign -- he's been very smart about his campaign spending. From what I understand, he's hired some of the best and brightest on the ground in Iowa, New Hampshire, to make certain that he's highly competitive there and that he's able to take advantage of these polls, these leads in the polls. If all of that comes together for him in Iowa, in New Hampshire, in South Carolina, which has a little bit more of a diverse electorate down south, and out to Nevada where 28 percent of the voting population is Hispanic, if he's able to pull it off in one, two, three, four, the road is open for him come super Tuesday, and I think the game is effectively over.

ROMANS: Interesting. All right, Goldie Taylor, so nice to see you this morning. Thanks for dropping by so bright and early for us.

TAYLOR: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

ROMANS: Thank you so much.

SANCHEZ: Happening right now, a manhunt to find three dangerous inmates who broke out of a California prison. New details on their daring escape next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:45:03] SANCHEZ: Investigators this morning scrambling to find three men who escaped from a maximum security jail in Southern California. Orange County jail officials didn't realize the three inmates were missing until 16 hours after they were last seen. Experts say, they likely had help from inside.

Let's turn to CNN's Sara Sidner now tracking the very latest. Sara --

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Boris, the three inmates shared a cell, according to investigators, and they say they had a very well thought out, well executed plan to escape from the Orange County jail. Now you see that barbed wire just above my head there, about four stories up? That was their final point of escape. And in an odd twist, the sheriff's department has been tweeting out photos of how they escaped. Here's how they started. The department said that they were able to cut through a half inch metal screen and then force their way into and through a plumbing tunnel. They used that plumbing tunnel to get onto an unsecured part of the jailhouse roof. And then, in order to get down from that roof, they took their sheets and fashioned rope and repelled four stories down.

That is the story about these three men who investigators say are extremely dangerous and they are warning the public to please take a look at their pictures. They're also pointing to the crimes that they are accused, saying, it could certainly make them very determined and desperate not to go back to jail. Here is what they are accused of. Hossein Nayeri is one of four men accused of kidnapping and torturing a marijuana dispensary owner. He and his codefendants are accused of kidnapping the owner and his girlfriend, then burning the owner with a blow torch and severing his genitals before dumping the couple in the desert. Now Nayeri also has a prior murder conviction.

Then there's Jonathan Tieu. He's charged with murder and attempted murder in a gang-related attack. Investigators say he is believed to be in a Vietnamese gang and so is Bac Duong who is charged with attempted murder. Investigators wanting people to take a good look at these pictures because these men, at this point, could be anywhere. They've been out for several days now. Now there is an investigation into whether they had help inside of this jail or outside. That is ongoing. But right now, investigators very determined to try to find these men and bring them back to prison. They have issued 30 search warrants so far. But so far, they say they haven't got credible leads from the public. Boris, Christine --

SANCHEZ: A brazen escape, Sara. Thank you.

A startling development this morning in the planned parenthood controversy. A grand jury of Houston, Texas, has cleared the agency of misconduct and instead, indicted its accusers. Two anti-abortion activists, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, have been charged with using forged driver's licenses to infiltrate planned parenthood so they could shoot undercover video. The activist group called the Center For Medical Progress claimed a heavily edited video proved that planned parenthood illegally profited from selling fetal tissue.

ROMANS: All right, time for an EARLY START on your money. Looks like an ugly day for markets around the world, folks. Asian stocks close lower. Look at Shanghai, down 6.4 percent. Lowest since December 2014. Now China's central bank pumped cash into its markets, but that did nothing, nothing to slow the sell off. European markets are lower. Take a look at Paris, Frankfurt, London, all down, and U.S. futures are following that lead. A 0.7 percent decline, that's going to be more than 100 points down. 150, 160 points down. Yesterday, the Dow fell 208 points. Four straight days of triple digit swings now for the Dow Jones industrial average. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ also fell more than 1.5 percent. Once again, oil is at the heart of all this volatility. The price for crude fell about 10 percent Monday, back below $30 a barrel. I got to tell you, when you have such violent swings in an important commodity like that, it can be very destabilizing.

A lot of companies reporting earnings today. We're going to hear from Apple after the bell. The stock has been hammered recently, down more than 12 percent in the last year. Also happening today, the Fed starting its two-day meeting. We will hear from the Fed tomorrow about whether the Fed leaves rates unchanged or any kind of, I want to know if there are any concerns when Janet Yellen and counterparts there, her colleagues there, about what's happening overseas and whether that could slow what has been, so far, a pretty strong U.S. economy.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Especially after that rate hike in December.

ROMANS: Yes. And when will the next one be? That's what everyone wants to know.

SANCHEZ: Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Chris Cuomo joining us now from Iowa, fresh off that Democratic town hall last night. Good morning, Chris.

[05:50:04] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hey, Boris, hey, Christine. How you doing? Everybody here says hi, here, Christine. You're a big star from Iowa. Were in Des Moines last night. We had the CNN town hall. I was the host. We had all three Democrat candidates. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, making their last major pitch to voters before the Iowa caucuses. We'll break down how each of them made their case.

And Donald Trump lashing out at his competition in a new interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. He doubles, no, he actually quadruples down on his birther attacks against Ted Cruz and has some choice words about a possible challenge from former New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg. We have that as well as a lot of breaking news so far this morning. We'll bring it all to you. Christine, Des Moines says hello. I want to make sure you understand that. So many people asked me to do it.

ROMANS: You got tired of hearing, say hi to Christine, didn't you last night? You did a great job.

CUOMO: Never. Never get tired of hearing good things about you.

ROMANS: You did a great job last night. You really did. I hope you got at least an hour of sleep. Thanks, Chris. Nice to see you. 50 minutes past the hour. Iran's president touring Europe striking deals. Today, he has a surprising meeting. We'll tell you with who next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:54:58] SANCHEZ: Iran is taking its first concrete steps back into the global marketplace this morning after decades of stifling sanctions. With the doors now thrown open by the nuclear deal, Iran's president is in Europe striking business deals worth billions. President Hassan Rouhani is also rebuilding ties with European political leaders, meeting Monday with Italy's president and prime minister, and today for the first time in 17 years, an Iranian president meets with his holiness, the pope.

Joining us now live from Rome, CNN's Erin McLaughlin. Erin, good morning to you. This is really a symbol of Iran's warming to the West after last year's nuclear deal, right?

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Boris. And that meeting with Pope Francis happening now. It's a closed-door meeting. We are expecting a photo op, though, at that meeting's conclusion. This is really being seen as a big PR gain for President Rouhani at a time when he's trying to project Iran as a key player on the international scene. And Vatican watchers tell me that Pope Francis has a lot that he wants to talk about as well. He's very interested in the full implementation of the nuclear deal. He was a big proponent of that deal and wants Iran stick to that commitment.

He's also interested in the, of course, situation in Syria. He wants to see the war there end so expect that to be a big topic of conversation. Vatican watchers tell me that Pope Francis sees Iran as being a key to the resolution of that conflict. Vatican watchers also telling me that they're going to be looking very closely to see if President Rouhani presents Pope Francis with an invitation to visit Iran which would be a truly historic trip. It's a trip that the watchers tell me Pope Francis is very interested in making. He sees engagement as key to solving conflicts within the Middle East. The question is, is Pope Francis invited to Iran? Boris --

SANCHEZ: That is a big question, Erin. The first time the pope has met with an Iranian president since 1999. An important meeting. Thank you.

Now, to an alarming new warning this morning that there is a high threat ISIS will carry out more large scale attacks in Europe like the ones that killed 130 people in Paris last November. A new report from the European Union police agency Europol says, ISIS has developed the capacity for combat style terror attacks, quote, with a particular focus in Europe and especially France.

ROMANS: All right. 57 minutes past the hour. Time for an EARLY START on your money this Tuesday morning.

Looking like an ugly day, folks, for stock markets around the world. Look at Asia. Asian stocks closed lower. Shanghai down 6.4 percent. That's the lowest since December 2014. European markets, they're unnerved by this. They're lower right now. U.S. stock futures following their lead. Once again, oil is at the heart of the volatility. The price for crude fell more than 5 percent Monday, back below $30 a barrel. That crash in oil prices is a plus for drivers. The national average for a gallon of regular now $1.82, down almost 20 cents from a month ago. Gas prices have spent 26 straight days now below $2 a gallon. And, you know what? They could head even lower. Drivers saved about $550 last year because of those lower gas prices and frankly, you've got huge production in the U.S., huge production around the world, demand slowing from some of these emerging markets, from China in particular, and the supply glut just persists. So I think you see gas prices heading back closer to $1 than $2.

SANCHEZ: More expensive to store it, at this point.

ROMANS: Yes. That's absolutely right. It's causing all kinds of unforeseen problems for producers.

SANCHEZ: All right. Democrats running for president face off in a CNN town hall. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLINTON: I've been on the frontlines of change and progress since I was your age.

SANDERS: Experience is important but judgment is also important.

CLINTON: I have a much longer history than one vote.

SANDERS: I think we are touching a nerve with the American people.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm leading every national poll by a lot. And now I'm leading every single state.

CRUZ: If he went on to win New Hampshire as well, there's a very good chance he could be unstoppable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you have that Ted Cruz doesn't?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Planned Parenthood has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Said these anti-abortion extremists spent three years creating a fake company.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people who tried to expose them are the ones that now are facing criminal charges.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

[05:59:55] CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, January 26, 6:00 in the East. You see Alisyn and John there in New York and we are live in Des Moines, Iowa.

This is where we had the Democratic candidates make their final arguments directly to Iowa voters last night in CNN's town hall. Hillary Clinton trying to sell her toughness and preparedness to be commander in chief. On the flip side, Bernie Sanders questioning Clinton's judgment as he tried to sell his vision for the country. And Martin O'Malley saying his supporters should stand strong. Clinton and Sanders are locked in a dead heat in Iowa just six days before the caucuses. Was last night the push that gave the edge? That's the question. Let's get some perspective on it.

CNN senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar joins me now with the highlights. So, what did we see, what did we not see enough of?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It was, there was a lot of energy. This really was an argument that these two candidates were making. Hillary Clinton, for experience; Bernie Sanders, for judgment. Perhaps a little bit of a flashback to 2008.