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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Pulls Out Of Fox News Debate; Cruz Suggest A One-On-One Debate; Officers And Oregon Refuge Occupiers Clash; California Fugitive Manhunt; Marathon Bombing Documents Being Released; Denmark To Confiscate Refugee Valuables. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired January 27, 2016 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Fox News lashing back dramatically at Trump overnight.
[05:30:00] Fox accusing campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, of leveling threats at Kelly in a call with a Fox News executive.
Fox says, "Lewandowski stated that Megyn had a 'rough couple of days after the last debate' and he 'would hate to have her go through that again.'" Fox News adds, "We can't give in to terrorizations toward any of our employees." The network promises to treat Trump fairly if he does decide to show up. But as of now, here's the lineup: Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and back on the main stage, Rand Paul.
CNN's Sara Murray has more for us this morning from Iowa.
SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Boris and Christine. Donald Trump managed to Trump himself on the campaign trail in Iowa last night. The big news was supposed to be his pair of high-profile endorsements. Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio and evangelical leader, Jerry Falwell Jr. But instead, Trump said he's skipping the Fox News debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well Fox is playing games, yes. Fox is going to make a fortune. I told Fox, you should give money to the wounded warriors. I'm not a fan of Megyn Kelly. I think she's a third rate reporter. I think she, frankly, is not good at what she does and I think they could do a lot better than Megyn Kelly and so I'm going to be making a decision with Fox, but I probably won't bother doing the debate. I see they picked me as number one. Not only number one, number one by far. But probably I won't be doing the debate. I'm going to have something else in Iowa. We'll do something where we raise money for the veterans and the wounded warriors. We're going to do something simultaneously with the debate but most likely, I'm not going to do the debate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Now, the Trump campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, took that a step further, saying that Donald Trump definitely would not attend Thursday's debate and even saying the campaign might hold a competing event in Iowa, possibly with a media partner. Now, the Republican National Committee tells us, obviously, they would like to see all of their candidates on stage but that each candidate needs do what's best for them. And it looks like Ted Cruz is trying do just that, challenging Donald Trump in a one-on-one debate, no moderators.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This race is a dead heat between Donald and me. We are effectively tied in the state of Iowa. If he's unwilling to stand on the debate stage with the other candidates, then I would like to invite Donald right now to engage in a one-on-one debate with me any time between now and the Iowa caucuses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: So with the two top candidates in Iowa potentially defecting from that Thursday debate, it's still an open question who we'll see on that stage. Back to you, Boris and Christine.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Sara, thank you. Helping us break down Trump's debate decision and all the day's political action, "Daily Beast" editor-at-large, Goldie Taylor. Goldie, good morning to you.
GOLDIE TAYLOR, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, THE DAILY BEAST: Good morning.
SANCHEZ: Yesterday, what unfolded between Donald Trump and Fox News was quite a debacle. I want to play for you what Trump said about Megyn Kelly last night. Here's that sound.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Megyn Kelly is a lightweight. This is a lightweight. This is not a reporter. This, to me, is just a lightweight. Megyn Kelly shouldn't be in the debate. I don't care about Megyn. When Megyn Kelly didn't ask me a question, she made a statement last time, I thought it was inappropriate. Everybody said I won the debate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Now, we've talked about how going after the media benefits Trump, it energizes his base. But how much of this is really him trying to avoid a potential mistake just days before Iowa? Excuse the pun but is he playing conservative here and trying to avoid something negative?
TAYLOR: Well I think he really is. I think that Megyn Kelly -- and by the way, she's a strong reporter. She's a strong anchor and she's very good at prosecuting the issues. And I think that Thursday's debate, he would have seen a Megyn Kelly who was ready to prosecute Donald Trump's public record. I don't think he wanted any part of that. But I don't think he was necessarily afraid of showing up for it. I think it's playing it safe, I think it's going in and reinvesting in your ground game in Iowa. I think it's about winning Iowa. You've got Ted Cruz out there making it a two-man race. And so, if I'm Donald Trump, I'm investing in my ground game. TV doesn't matter to him at this point.
ROMANS: Ted Cruz, right away, seizing upon this, calling him Donald Duck and urging his supporters to ask Trump to do a mano a mano, a debate just between the two of them. And basically saying in an e- mail to his supporters, if he can't handle Megyn Kelly, how is he going to handle ISIS? If he can't stand up to Megyn Kelly, how's he going to handle ISIS? Jeb Bush retweeted something that Erick Erickson wrote as well, basically saying, you can't handle Megyn Kelly for an evening? How are you going to be able to handle Hillary Clinton? Ha ha ha.
[05:35:01] TAYLOR: I think that's an easy tact to take. I think the more strategic one is to say, if you don't show up, what about the voters? Are you not showing a monumental lack of disrespect for the audience who deserve to see their candidates prosecuting the issues on display, on national television? Aren't you doing a disservice to the constituents that you hope to server? That's the better tact. Driving the wedge between him and the supporters. Talking about what you may or may not do with reporters certainly doesn't get you any points but it is a great laugh line. If I am Ted Cruz, however, I'm raising money off of this, I'm raising momentum of of this --
ROMANS: And profile.
TAYLOR: I am raising profile off of this, I am going to make sure that if I can't beat him in Iowa, I come darn close so that I can roll into New Hampshire with --
ROMANS: They try to make it look petulant, not presidential.
TAYLOR: Absolutely.
ROMANS: The behavior of Donald Trump petulant, not presidential.
TAYLOR: Absolutely. Trying to show that he doesn't have the temperament to hold the oval office.
SANCHEZ: Aside from the tweets from Ted Cruz and the challenge to go mano a mano, do you see a space in this debate for any of the other candidates to step into that vacuum or is still going to be all about Trump?
TAYLOR: Ted Cruz is going to big-foot that debate. There is no way in the world he's going let another candidate stand in and get a word in edge-wise or crowd out his oxygen. You might see some attempts by Jeb Bush. Certainly, Marco Rubio is an awesome debater, but Ted Cruz will be a commanding force. I fully expect that from him.
ROMANS: This civil war in the Republican party is just fascinating to watch. And when you look at Fox News now becoming right there, the front line for the civil war, to be a fly on the wall with Roger Ailes and his spokespeople and his planners yesterday when they were writing this press release about Donald Trump. I mean, remarkable. If only we knew the back story to that.
TAYLOR: There's got be one heck of a back story to that. But you are seeing some real fractures in the national GOP and how this race turns out may tell us what the national Republican party looks like for really the next generation. If Donald Trump is successful in upending the establishment, of turning it back over to a right right wing of the Republican party, then you could see a schism of moderate Republicans, the few of them that are left, some mainline Republicans, really sort of striking out on their own and building out their own coalition. That's a tough place for Republicans to be. That could mean that there wouldn't be a national party for the next several cycles.
ROMANS: If the Donald Trump base doesn't care that he doesn't show up, this could have no net effect on his poll numbers, no effect on his-- "The New York Times", they have a story about, who are the Donald Trump supporters? They are white, formerly middle class, Republican voters who feel they've been left behind.
TAYLOR: Sure. They lost their manufacturing jobs, they lost their homes in the housing crisis, and the equity and wealth that went with that. They lost their 401(k)s during the last stock market crash, so you have got a very resentful populous vote who says all of this is because this country is going in the wrong direction. Donald Trump has tapped into that. And he embodies the very notion that, hey, I'm a billionaire and I work hard every day, and if you work hard every day, there's the aspirational thing, that if you live right and play by the rules you can have Donald Trump's version of the American dream and there are some people out there who latch onto that and say maybe this is the right way to go down. Trump and I don't agree on a lot of issues but I certainly understand his lure among his base.
SANCHEZ: Interesting to see that the base finds that appeal in Trump but yet they feel so disconnected from the Republican elite that is very much like Trump.
TAYLOR: Donald Trump is singing their song.
ROMANS: Yes. All right. Goldie Taylor. Thanks for singing with us this morning. Nice to see you.
SANCHEZ: We are following some breaking news this morning on that armed group who took over buildings at a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon. The group's leader, Ammon Bundy and several of his followers arrested last night during a traffic stop. Shots were fired during the confrontation killing one of the ranchers, 55-year-old Robert "LaVoy" Finicum. The FBI also says another one of the occupiers has surrendered to police in Arizona, raising the total number in custody to eight. Ammon Bundy's father, Cliven, responded by telling the "L.A. Times" quote, "We believe that those federal people shouldn't even be there in that state, and be in that county and have anything do with this issue. I have some sons and other people there trying to protect our rights and liberties and freedoms, and now we've got one killed, and all I can say is, he's sacrificed for a good purpose."
[05:39:55] ROMANS: 39 minutes past the hour. Let's take a check on your money this morning.
Asian markets close mostly higher. China stocks, though, down again. European stocks, U.S. stock futures moving lower. Today we get a statement from the federal reserve. Virtually no one expecting another small interest rate hike from the Fed today. But we will get an updated assessment of the U.S. economy amid all of this global turmoil and that could give investors a clue about the Fed's roadmap for interest rates. One stock to keep an eye on today, Weight Watchers, that's thanks to Oprah. She's an investor, she's a member of the company's board of directors. She posted a video to Twitter announcing she has lost 26 pounds since starting Weight Watchers in October while still eating bread every day, apparently. Shares climbed 20 percent yesterday. When Oprah takes a stake in your company and becomes a spokesperson for it and is on the board, that's a pretty powerful endorsement.
SANCHEZ: Good things happen. New details this morning on a manhunt to find three dangerous inmates who escaped from a California jail. Why the sheriff says he's extremely troubled by how they got out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Three violent inmates who broke out of a Southern California jail last week are still at large and authorities are now taking their appeal to the public for help to the next level. A $200,000 reward is now being offered for information leading to the capture of these three men. That's four times the previous amount. And as details emerge about the elaborate escape from the Orange County jail, police are also concerned that the prisoners may have had help from the inside.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[05:45:10] JEFF HALLOCK, SPOKESPAN, ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: We have parallel investigations that are occurring and the preliminary investigation into the escape and how it occurred has caused the sheriff concerns as to some of the jail inmate count practices and how they were conducted. Though information is still preliminary at this point, the sheriff is extremely troubled by the length of time it took to determine that the three inmates, housed in a maximum security jail, were unaccounted for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Police say they have taken immediate steps to improve the inmate inspection process.
ROMANS: Never before seen documents related to the case of Boston marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, will be made public today. The judge who presided over last year's terror trial has ordered that the search warrants, photos, legal exhibits, all be unsealed. Tsarnaev remains in solitary confinement at a supermax prison in Colorado. He is appealing his conviction and death sentence in the 2013 marathon attack.
SANCHEZ: The FBI says it foiled a mass shooting plot targeting a Masonic Temple in Milwaukee. The suspect, 23-year-old Samy Mohamed Hamzeh is in custody. He's been under investigation since September. Authorities say he initially planned to attack Israeli soldiers and civilians in the West Bank but he ditched those plans to focus on an attack here in the United States. Hamzeh allegedly told undercover agents that he wanted to commit an act of domestic terror.
ROMANS: Six Cleveland police officers have now been fired in connection with a deadly car chase back in 2012. It ended with police firing 137 bullets at the car killing Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, they were inside that vehicle. The six officers include Michael Brelo, the only officer indicted in the incident. He was acquitted, last year, of manslaughter. Officials say six other Cleveland cops have been suspended without pay for a month. A 13th officer involved has retired.
SANCHEZ: We should learn more about the state response to the water crisis in Flint when Michigan governor Rick Snyder holds a news conference later this morning. Snyder is requesting federal medical aid for Flint residents under 21 with potential health problems related to the lead contamination. Meantime, a new report suggests the governor's office rejected guidance back in 2012 that told them not to switch the city's water source to the Flint River.
ROMANS: Schools in Sebring, Ohio, will finally reopen this morning. They were closed past two days while the state EPA conducted additional water testing there. Officials say lead contamination in tap water went unchecked for months in a cluster of villages including this village of Sebring while measurable levels of lead have been found in the town's public schools. Most are below the limits allowed by the federal government.
SANCHEZ: Sadly, the death toll keeps rising from that historic blizzard that pounded parts of the East this weekend. Officials say at least 48 people died in car accidents, from carbon monoxide poisoning, and heart attacks while shoveling snow. The victims lived in 12 states stretching from South Carolina all the way to New York. Meantime, cities are still working to clean up from the monster storm. Officials say things are slowly getting back to normal in hard-hit places like the nation's capitol. Federal offices are finally expected to reopen following a three-hour delay.
ROMANS: All right. Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Alisyn Camerota joins us now to look at that. Hey, Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hey, guys. Great to see you, good morning. So of course, we're following that breaking news out of Oregon. One of those militia members occupying a Federal reserve killed in a confrontation with the FBI and state police. Several of the other armed protesters were arrested. So what does this mean now for the occupation? We're live with the breaking details. And things are getting interesting on the campaign trail. Donald Trump dropping out of tomorrow's GOP debate just days before the Iowa caucuses. Could this backfire or, like his other controversial moves, will it give him a boost? We have the top political minds and those even from his campaign breaking all of this down for you guys.
ROMANS: You can't script it. It's just wild.
SANCHEZ: Keeps getting wilder. CAMEROTA: It gets curiouser and curiouser.
[05:49:19] ROMANS: I know. And a lot will change by the time you guys are done, too. That's what's so interesting about it. Thanks so much, Alisyn. All right, interest rates have started going up but when can you expect the next rate hike? Predictions from a financial guru on one of the most important factors for your money, that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Here are the five things you need to know for your early start. Donald Trump is pulling out of Thursday's Fox News debate after accusing moderator Megyn Kelly of bias against him. The network lashing back, accusing Trumps campaign of threats against Kelley, threats it calls terrorizations.
SANCHEZ: Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley have signed up for a brand new debate. It's set for February 4, right before the New Hampshire Primary. Bernie Sanders is so far holding out, though, because the debate is not sanctioned by the Democratic party.
ROMANS: This morning, Bernie Sanders sits down with President Obama for the first time since he began surging in New Hampshire and Iowa polls. The White House says the meeting will be private and informal.
SANCHEZ: And there was a deadly confrontation between law enforcement and protesters who've been occupying that wildlife refuge in Oregon. The group's leader, Ammon Bundy, is under arrest and another rancher was killed in a shoot-out.
ROMANS: The manhunt intensifies for three violent inmates who escaped from a Southern California jail. The reward for information leading to their capture now $200,000.
SANCHEZ: There's another sign of the escalating backlash against refugees in Europe this morning. The Danish parliament voting overwhelmingly in favor of a controversial bill that gives authorities the power to seize refugees' cash and valuables to help cover the cost of caring for them.
International diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, is following the story from London for us. He joins us now. Nic, good morning to you. Denmark known as a very liberal country typically -- this bill doesn't exactly fall in line with that but some in the government are arguing that the benefits the refugees get outweigh what's being taken from them.
[05:55:08] NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Boris, good morning. I mean, I think you've laid it out very clearly. This is not the kind of action that anyone in Europe would expect from a country like Denmark, liberal attitudes to be clamping down on refugees and migrants in this way, but it's symptomatic of a broader problem here in Europe. Europe took in over a million migrants last year, countries like Denmark and neighboring Sweden, per capita, took in huge numbers. They're literally struggling to physically absorb and integrate. We're going to hear a lot more about integration. Last year it was about immigration. This year we'll hear a lot more about integration. They're struggling to integrate them. Not just physically. Some of them are sort of staying in warehouses, there wasn't enough accommodation for them, but also socially. There's a social backlash to some of this. People feel that there are now too many migrants in their towns. Governments now have a political problem with their populations, and they are, in some cases, putting in border controls where border controls didn't exist before inside Europe. This is the Schengen free trade, borderless zone of Europe. You can get on a train in France and travel to other parts of Europe without showing your passport. That potentially could all change. It will have big business implications for Europe and potentially threaten the European Union, as we've all noted here, now, for, several decades. Boris --
SANCHEZ: All right. Nic Robertson reporting on the refugee crisis in Europe. Thank you so much.
ROMANS: 56 minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money this morning. Asian markets closed mostly higher, China stocks lower. European stocks, U.S. stock futures are down. Sinking oil and Apple shares souring the mood on Wall Street this morning. Looking for any clues on what the Fed will do with interest rates, of course, the Fed meeting today. Allianz chief economic advisor, Mohamed El- Erian weighting in. He thinks the Fed will move slowly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMED EL-ERIAN, CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISOR, ALLIANZ: The global economy is too weak and the risk of triggering financial volatility that destabilizes the economy is too high, so I think they go very slowly and I think they're going to get us used to the concept this is a very, very shallow journey. It's going to be full of stop-go. This is not your typical hiking cycle and it's going to stop much lower than where it has stopped in the past.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: That means pretty low interest rates for some time, here. El-Erian expects only one or two interest rate hikes all year. Uber drivers, welcome to the job market. The so-called gig economy has ballooned in recent years thanks to companies like Uber and Taskrabbit. It now employs roughly 30 million full and part-time independent workers, but many of those workers are not counted in the official jobs tally. The labor department will officially include them starting May 2017, although counting them may be a challenge. Anyway, today, the big story, oil prices falling, Apple, watch Apple. It's a widely held stock. It had a record-breaking quarter, but people are feeling that that uber-growth of that company can't continue. The stock is down in the free market.
SANCHEZ: Way to bounce back. Find something new to do with the iPhone. Maybe come up with some new innovations. We're following breaking news this morning. An Oregon militia man killed in a dramatic shoot-out with the FBI. "NEW DAY" starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An Oregon militia man shot dead after a traffic stop escalates into shoot-out with the FBI.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a wonderful man. He has a wonderful wife and family.
TRUMP: I said bye-bye, OK? Let them have their debate and let's see how they do with the ratings.
CRUZ: I would like to invite Donald right now to engage in a one-on- one debate with me anytime between now and the Iowa caucuses.
HEIDI CRUZ, TED CRUZ'S WIFE: I want to tell the American people who Ted is. We can give the voters in this country the chance to meet us directly, to meet Ted directly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you, Ted Cruz's wife of 15 years, want to say to Donald Trump?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, January 27th, 6:00 in the East. Mich is off, J.B. is here, Alisyn is here, and I'm half-way here. Donald Trump defying the rules again. This time in spectacular fashion. Republican front- runner announcing he will skip tomorrow night's GOP debate, the last one before Monday's Iowa caucuses. Why? A feud with Fox News about debate moderator pundit Megyn Kelly. We have more on that in a moment, but we do have breaking news as well.
CAMEROTA: We do. There's a deadly confrontation between the FBI, Oregon state police, and that militia group occupying that federal wildlife reserve. The group spokesman was killed in a shoot-out with authorities and several others, including the group's leader, Ammon Bundy, arrested. CNN justice reporter Evan Perez joins us now with all of the breaking details. Evan, how did this go down?
[06:00:19] EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, some authorities say one man was killed and another was injured in the dramatic shootout between members of an Oregon protest group and the FBI and state police. The confrontation took place during a traffic stop on a highway away from the federal wildlife refuge in Burns, Oregon. The FBI says that it arrested eight men in all, including Ammon Bundy, the leader of this group that took over the wildlife refuge nearly a month ago. The group said that they were protesting the federal government's handling of a dispute with ranchers in the area. The man that was killed is LaVoy Finicum. He's an outspoken member of the group who had vowed not to be taken alive.
