Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Candidates Fight for New Hampshire; Zika Virus Sexually Transmitted in the U.S.; Inside Syria: Secret U.S. Airstrip?; Explosion Blows Hole In Plane Over Somalia. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired February 03, 2016 - 04:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:36] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Countdown to showdown. The CNN town hall in New Hampshire tonight. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, fresh out of Iowa with a lot to say. Maybe even about Donald Trump. How hard will they come out swinging?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A new warning this morning about the Zika virus, transmitted in the U.S. for the first time. No mosquito needed.

BERMAN: The U.S. expanding its presence in Syria this morning. A new strategy there. We have a CNN exclusive from an airfield you may not know about.

Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour.

All right. The countdown to New Hampshire is here. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders intensifying a battle for Granite State voters this morning after their near tie. That razor-thin neck-and-neck performance in Iowa. Clinton finally managing a win by a slimmest of margins, once all the precincts were counted. That's not the way things look in New Hampshire.

Clinton trailing Sanders in New Hampshire. The senator from the neighboring state of Vermont by a wide margin, but she's not conceding New Hampshire. Both candidates planning to fight very hard there this week.

The latest now from CNN's Jeff Zeleny.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the Democratic race for the presidency is down to two candidates. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, they will both be on center stage at the CNN town hall tonight in Derry, New Hampshire. They could not be presenting different arguments here.

Bernie Sanders is going to call for political action, to join his movement, to join what he calls a revolution, to change campaign finance, to change Wall Street.

Hillary Clinton is urging people to fight for the direction of the Democratic Party, to do what is possible, to do things that are practical. Both of those arguments were on display as they flew from Iowa to New Hampshire on Tuesday, making their case, beginning to make their appeals to New Hampshire voters.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's important people understand that good ideas are one thing, but you've got to know how to implement. You've got to have a record of getting results, and I'm taking my ideas and my record to the people of New Hampshire this week.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Last night we showed that working people, lower-income people and young people are prepared to stand up and fight for fundamental changes in the way politics and economics is done in America. The political revolution continues next Tuesday here in New Hampshire!

ZELENY: Those differences in styles will be front and center when they join that CNN town hall tonight in Derry, New Hampshire -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you, Jeff.

Now, that town hall moderated by Anderson Cooper with Clinton and Sanders answering questions directly from New Hampshire voters. That's tonight, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN

BERMAN: Nine p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN. Twitter is appreciating how hard we're plugging this. One extra plug. We get paid by the plug.

A dramatically new tone, a new reality in the Republican race with several candidates on the attack at several different targets. Donald Trump has enjoyed a big lead in polls in New Hampshire, 18 points ahead of Ted Cruz, but that was all before he lost Iowa to Cruz. Now, the top two candidates are aiming their fire not just at each other but also at Marco Rubio and the media spin that his third place finish in Iowa was better than cast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everyone was saying, what do you think about the amazing third place finish of Marco? I just kind of laughed and said, gosh, you know, is media giving the tell there, when the first thing you want to talk about is the amazing third place finish? We've been joking that in media world, bronze is the new gold.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He comes in third. I come in second. Trump, no good. Rubio, unbelievable night. Unbelievable victory. The headline is, winner of the night, Marco Rubio.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: We're number three! We're number three!

Chief political correspondent Dana Bash is covering the Rubio campaign. She has the latest from New Hampshire.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the flag just came down, all of the Marco Rubio banners have come down, but this was a packed house. Hundreds of people came here to Exeter, New Hampshire, to see firsthand what all the buzz is about, not for the winner from the Iowa caucuses but from the guy who came in a surprisingly strong third place. That, of course, is Marco Rubio.

He drew a lot of people because I talked to many of them. They said that they have been listening to so many candidates.

[04:35:00] Those who have kind of been living here like John Kasich, like Chris Christie, to a lesser extent, Jeb Bush, but they wanted to see maybe if they could find somebody who could win in -- not just the nomination but in November. Listen to what one voter told me.

FRED BALIS, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: It's hard to vote -- unfortunately it's hard to vote for a candidate that doesn't have a chance.

BASH: You want to pick a winner.

BALIS: I do. And I think he's got a chance.

BASH: So if Marco Rubio can convince many more voters of what that gentleman just said, that is really the key. And I was talking to Rubio sources here. They were saying that they understand so much of this is about the psychological feeling not just of voters but of supporters, of donors. And for the next seven days, that is what this is going to be all about.

Marco Rubio trying to spread his wings and to edge out the other people in his lane who are kind of potentially blocking him from getting the full support of mainstream Republicans who want to try to push back against Ted Cruz, who want to try to push back against Donald Trump.

That's the name of the game if you're Marco Rubio right now -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Dana, thanks so much.

You know, Marco Rubio actually spoke to CNN which doesn't happen every day, doesn't happen very often at all, in fact. He spoke to "NEW DAY's" Alisyn Camerota, coming up. See what he has to take about being attacked by his Republican rivals and why he likes electronic dance music.

I should tell you, everyone who likes electronic dance music will have to tune into that. That's at 6:00 Eastern Time on CNN.

ROMANS: All right. We'll look forward to that, in just a couple of hours.

President Obama, House Speaker Paul Ryan are sitting down to talk about compromises that could be on the table for the president's final year in office. The pair searching for common ground on issues, including the criminal justice system and a trade deal with Pacific Rim nations.

These are the first extended policy talks between the president and Ryan since he ascended to the speakership last year.

BERMAN: President Obama is meeting with members of the Muslim community a mosque in Baltimore tonight. The president scolded politicians, including Donald Trump, at least implicitly, during last month's State of the Union Address when he said, quote, "insulting Muslims doesn't make us safer, it's just wrong."

The president is set to participate in a roundtable discussion in his first visit to an American mosque as president. The White House says it also promotes tolerance while celebrating the contributions of Muslim Americans.

ROMANS: All right. Time for an early start on your money. A pretty ugly day yesterday. So, what's happening right now? Dow futures up slightly. Yesterday really one of those risk-off days where they sold stocks and they bought safety assets. Markets in Europe and Asia down here right now.

Watching Yahoo, too. A stunning loss for Yahoo. Pink slips coming to hundreds of employees. And the company could be up for sale.

Yahoo lost $4.4 billion in the fourth quarter of last year. It's planning to play off 15 percent of its work force. That equals about 1600 employees. Yahoo will also explore, quote, "strategic alternatives", which is usually corporate code for being open to offers to come buy us, please.

CEO Marissa Mayer says Yahoo will refocus on its core products, which are search, email, and the blogging site, Tumblr, as well as its media brands driven by Yahoo News, sports and finance. The company will also streamline its advertising platforms, close five global offices and shutter businesses that are not growing. So, watch that one here.

BERMAN: Nothing but change at Yahoo. Not always in a positive direction.

ROMANS: Exactly. Thirty-eight minutes past the hour. A new warning about the Zika virus now being transmitted in the U.S., not by mosquitoes, though. The new transmission that's got so many public health officials concerned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:42:10] ROMANS: The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, will be front and center on Capitol Hill this morning. The House Oversight Committee holding a hearing on the lead situation. Local lawmakers and environmental officials are expected to testify. Flint Mayor Karen Weaver is calling for the immediate replacement of all lead service lines running into the city's homes. She's not offering cost estimates or a way to fund that project.

BERMAN: The state of California is joining a growing list of parties now suing a local utility company after a 15-week-long gas leak. The leak has released more than 2 million tons of methane, forcing thousands of Los Angeles residents to abandon their homes. A spokesman for Southern California Gas says the company is hoping to have the leak plugged by the end of the month.

ROMANS: New details emerging about the death of Virginia teenager Nicole Lovell. Prosecutors say this 13-year-old was fatally stabbed on the day she disappeared last week. Two Virginia Tech students, David Eisenhower and Natalie Keepers, have been arrested in this case. Eisenhower is charged with abduction and murder. Police say he and Nicole were acquainted. According to neighbors, she had talked about an online boyfriend.

BERMAN: Growing concerns in Ferguson, Missouri, over the cost of implementing reforms ordered by the Justice Department following the police shooting of Michael Brown. The city already faces a $2.8 million deficit, and officials estimate overhauling the police department will cost at least half a million dollars. If Ferguson does not comply with the Justice Department mandate, it risks facing a civil rights suit.

ROMANS: Bill Cosby will be back in a Pennsylvania courtroom today as his lawyers try to get criminal sexual assault charges against him dismissed. A judge must decide whether there was an unwritten agreement back in 2005 not to prosecute Cosby that precludes the current charges in a case brought by former Temple University employee Andrea Constand. Former model Chloe Goins who alleged he sexually assaulted her at Playboy Mansion in 2008. She has dropped her lawsuit.

BERMAN: Tornadoes tearing across Mississippi and Alabama. A huge storm in Pickens County, Alabama, blackened an entire sky. Look at that. Wow!

The National Weather Service says nine tornadoes struck the two states Tuesday. More possible today. The damage was extensive. Some homes were just ripped apart by the violent storms. Thankfully, especially looking at these pictures, only minor injuries have been reported.

ROMANS: Now, there will be more strong storms across the south this morning. So, let's get straight to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for more.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, good morning, guys.

Yes, the tornado threat really going to diminish today. That's the good news. But you take a look, climatologically speaking, pick February out, it is among the quietest times of the year with only December coming in less.

But, of course, you saw what happened this past December. So you have the meteorological patterns in place. You have the warm, moist air. You have the instability in the atmosphere.

You have the shear environment that we had in place and Mother Nature could really care less what time of year it is. Of course, nine reports of tornadoes spawned across the southeast. Much occurring from Mississippi into Alabama associated with this line of thunderstorms -- still pretty active as of the early morning hours.

Again, I think the tornadic aspect going to be aspects and the strong winds and rain is going to be what's concerning. And notice some of the areas -- of these areas could see upwards of two, maybe three, even higher amounts of rainfall over the next two to three days. Work your way to the north, enough cold air left in place with our exiting storm system to produce a couple of inches of snowfall around Minneapolis to Green Bay.

But again, nothing significant. Temperatures in places like Minneapolis make it up to 21. New York, almost 60. Touching 70 in places around Washington. The concern is you look towards the beginning of next week, cooling trend that brings us back down close to normal.

Beyond this, John and Christine, it looks like some impressive cold or maybe oppressive cold coming into the forecast. We'll follow it as the week progresses, guys.

BERMAN: All right. Pedram, thanks so much.

New concerns this morning about the spread of the Zika Virus. Texas health officials reporting the first transmission in the United States, and they say it was caught through sex, not a mosquito bite.

In response, the CDC is advising people to use condoms and the Red Cross wants donors to hold off giving blood for at least 28 days. A French company is attempting to develop a vaccine right now to fight the Zika virus.

CNN's Nic Robertson spoke to a scientist who is working on this vaccine.

Nic, you are in France with the details. Good morning.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, John, good morning.

I mean, the company right behind me is perhaps one of the best place organizations in the world right now. They have tens of thousands of employees. They have done and researched on dengue fever, on yellow fever, have vaccines for those. These are carried by the same mosquito that carries the Zika virus. There are similarities to Zika virus.

Some staggering details I learned inside there today. There are about 2.3 billion people -- billion people, 2.3 billion people every year that are exposed to dengue fever. Right now, Zika does not have the same coverage around the globe as dengue fever.

For example, India today, the government there says people there, they don't have the Zika virus in India, but they do have dengue. The concern is that the mosquitoes that carry dengue can carry Zika or do carry Zika as well. That Zika could spread to countries like India. That would expose a further billion people.

So, you could have up to 2.3 billion people around the world potentially exposed to the Zika virus because it is moving fast, and it is moving quickly.

There are other mosquitoes, the head of their global research told me, other mosquitoes could potentially carry the Zika virus which would extend it potentially in the United States out of Florida, out of Texas, all the way up the eastern seaboard as far north as New York.

So, real concerns in the lab here that they get their virus, they get their vaccine for this virus, rather. They get it to the market as fast as possible. I asked this, their lead researcher here, how long that would take. This is what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. NICHOLAS JACKSON, GLOBAL HEAD OF RESEARCH, SANOFI PASTEUR: A typical vaccine can take ten or more years. But there is a great sense of urgency with an organization, the WHO has declared an emergency. So we need to move as quickly as possible.

So, we've got technology in house. We have capabilities and infrastructure that's been established around our dengue vaccine and other viruses. So, we really hope to significantly reduce that time line and cut years off a typical amount of time that it takes to develop a vaccine.

ROBERTSON: So, we're talking several years rather than perhaps a decade?

JACKSON: That's correct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So, that's their best assessment. It could be several years to get a vaccine, and their assessment potentially as this virus spreads in about 30 countries right now, it could potentially spread to about 100 countries around the world, putting several billion people potentially at risk, John.

BERMAN: Even with long-term gains, the short-term risks are still so high. Nic Robertson for us in Lyon, thanks so much, Nic.

ROBERTSON: All right. Forty-nine minutes past the hour. It's not very often you feel bad for big oil companies, right? Take a look at the crash in oil prices, how it's hitting corporate America. The losses for one big-name company staggering. We'll tell you about it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:52:30] BERMAN: This morning, the United States is looking for new ways to step up the military campaign against is. Recently published satellite images show a small farming are airstrip being lengthened in the Kurdish controlled territory in northern Syria. The Pentagon only says that U.S. forces in Syria are consistently looking for ways to increase efficiency.

Clarissa Ward is the first journalist to visit that airfield amid this deepening relationship between the U.S. and its Kurdish allies. She joins us now from Irbil, Iraq, with this CNN exclusive.

This airstrip, Clarissa, what's the situation there?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, John. That's right, as the U.S. ratchets up its military presence inside Syria with at least 50 Special Forces troops on the ground, it is exploring military options in the fight against ISIS beyond just airstrikes.

Now, we managed to find that small agricultural airstrip in a remote corner of northern Syria. And we could see it is being developed into an airfield for U.S. forces.

There were tractors on the ground. There were workers. They appeared to be extending the runway. That would allow larger planes to land on the tarmac there. There was a large berm of freshly dug-up earth that was clearly trying to conceal the work that was going on, but we could see that runway quite clearly.

And if you look at satellite photos over the past few weeks and months, it is obvious that there have been significant developments there. Now, strategically, the U.S. has a lot to gain by setting up some type of a base or airfield on the ground inside northern Syria. They could use it as a hub to transport logistics, to Special Forces on the frontlines. They could use it to transport weapons and ammunition to allies on the ground.

They could use it, of course, to transport personnel, Special Forces personnel who may be going in on covert operations or they could use it even for an extraction plan if an operation was to go wrong. And even though this is inside Syria and just 100 miles away from ISIS positions, it is well secured inside Kurdish territory.

Now, the Kurds on the ground in the area, for them it's an open secret, this airfield. Everybody knows about it even though everybody pretends it doesn't exist. But the Pentagon still officially says that it denies having taken over any airstrip at all.

But certainly when we were there, John, the minute we got out our camera and started filming, it did not take security forces long at all to come down, tell us to stop filming.

[04:55:07] They told us it was a military zone, and we were very swiftly escorted from the premises -- John.

BERMAN: Were these Kurdish security forces, or did you see an actual U.S. presence there?

WARD: We didn't see a U.S. presence there. And as many people, as we have asked, nobody is talking about where these U.S. Special Forces troops are based and how many of them are there. But the U.S. is now working extremely closely with its allies on the ground in northern Syria. Kurdish YPG fighters who have somewhere in the ballpark of 25,000 to 30,000 fighters, and they are the ones who have really been taking ground from is on the frontlines on the battlefield -- John.

BERMAN: Clarissa, really remarkable pictures. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.

ROMANS: Breaking news out of East Africa: Somali authorities confirming an explosion that blew a hole in the side of a commercial plane shortly after takeoff. It killed at least one passenger, the victim's body found on the ground near Mogadishu. The pilot was amazingly able to safely land this aircraft. So far this morning no confirmation of the cause of that blast or whether terrorism may be involved.

Want to get very latest from CNN's Robyn Kriel live from Nairobi. And, Robyn, when you look at the pictures of this aircraft, it's almost amazing there was only one fatality. Was it because it hadn't gotten to cruising altitude, the cabin hadn't been entirely pressurized? Why was this plane able to land safely?

ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hugely lucky. And it turns out, Christine, that that plane was about an hour delayed. So if it had taken off at 10:30 a.m. local time, which it was due to take off, and instead it took off at 12:30 a.m., if it had and if there was something timed to go off to that plane, then that flight would have likely have been one hour into cruising altitude, 30,000 feet.

What we're told by experts is that if it had been at that altitude and the explosion had occurred in that exact place near the fuel tanks on the wing, that it would have been catastrophic for that flight and the 70-odd people on board.

Here's what we know. It was an Airbus 321, Christine. It was heading from Mogadishu to Djibouti. A source tells us -- a source close to the investigation tells us that they have tested that blast site, and that residue that they have collected has tested positive for explosives. We're not sure what explosive that was.

Two passengers injured and one passenger sucked out of the plane. His body was found close to Mogadishu. Somali authorities thousand have control of that body, and they will be looking at that body today as the day wears on. What we're not sure about, Christine, is what could be behind this explosion.

As I said, it was one hour late to take off. So if it was some kind of timed device, and again, we do not know this, then if it had been gone off when the plane was already in the air and at cruising altitude, it would have been catastrophic. Al Shabaab is an al Qaeda- linked group that has terror attacks almost daily in Mogadishu.

As of yet, no one has come forward to claim responsibility if indeed this was some kind of terror attack -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Robyn Kriel, keep us posted. If you get anymore details about just what was the cause of that explosion. Thank you, Robyn.

Fifty-eight minutes past the hour. Let's get an early start on your money.

Rotten day yesterday for stock investors. A 295-point loss in the Dow. Right now stock markets in Europe and lower stocks in Tokyo, 3 percent lower overnight. U.S. futures up slightly.

The crash in oil prices has been hell on profits for the big oil companies. Profit in Exxon Mobil plummeted 58 percent in the fourth quarter. Look at that. Those are the annual profits, $16.2 billion in annual profit last year.

Half of what it made the year before. ExxonMobil is one of three American companies that have a higher credit rating than the federal government. Along with Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson. Now Standard & Poor's is threatening to kick them out of that elite group.

What's bad, terrible, horrible, horrific for oil companies is great for your wallet. The national average for a gallon of regular, $1.78. That's down 20 cents in just the past month. It's now more than $1 below peak prices last year.

Check out Missouri and Oklahoma, the lowest averages in the country, now below $1.50. Arkansas, Kansas are not far behind.

What were you paying in Iowa when you were there?

BERMAN: A buck 80. I think I saw $1.60. It's crazy.

ROMANS: Dean saw $1.49 at the Costco in Jersey.

BERMAN: I can't imagine. I can't imagine. I would drive to New Jersey just to fill up.

ROMANS: Then you've got to pay $12 to get back through the tunnel.

It's really good for your bottom line, but it's been very hard on your 401(k) because those energy companies are getting hit so badly.

BERMAN: All right. EARLY START continues right now.

ROMANS: The race for president intensifies in New Hampshire, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders leading big in the polls. But will the Iowa caucuses and a CNN town hall tonight, will that change everything?

BERMAN: An alarming discovery in the battle against the Zika virus transmitted in the United States now.