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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Democratic Debate: Clinton and Sanders Sharpen Attacks; Zika Virus Outbreak in Florida; U.N. Ruling: Assange "Arbitrarily Detained". Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired February 05, 2016 - 04:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:55] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A very different debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Tense moments. Hillary Clinton clearly with a new strategy in this campaign as New Hampshire inches ever closer. We'll break down this debate and discuss who came out on top.

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Nice to see you, John. I'm Christine Romans. It's a Friday, and 31 minutes past the hour.

And there's a lot to talk about. Breaking overnight: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders come out swinging hard for their first one- on-one debate, which itself created a very different feeling, especially from Hillary Clinton. Three days after barely winning Iowa, five days before facing daunting odds in New Hampshire, she clearly decided she could not wait another day to fight back.

CNN politics reporter Eric Bradner was at that debate in Durham, New Hampshire. He has the very latest for us this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: John and Christine, we are days away from the New Hampshire primary, and the gloves were off. Bernie Sanders hit Hillary Clinton accusing her of being influenced by Wall Street for taking speaking fees and for taking campaign contributions. Hillary Clinton got angry.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. Enough is enough. If you have something to say, say it directly, but you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. So, I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out in recent weeks. And let's talk about the issues.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's talk about why in the 1990s Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street providing spending billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yes, it had some influence.

BRADNER: It was a risky move for Clinton trying to extinguish the Bern here in a state where Sanders has a 2 to 1 lead, according to a new CNN poll. She is trying to pick up a few points and also stop his momentum nationally.

And during the debate, she flashed anger over Sanders calling her a moderate, saying that a progressive is someone who likes to make progress. She also offered a new response to Sanders' criticism of her 13-year-old vote to go to Iraq, saying that has little to do with fighting ISIS today.

Now, the two talked about the close results in the Iowa caucuses amid reports the Sanders camp might be preparing to challenge those results or ask for them to reexamine. But Sanders took a pass saying that a few votes here and there isn't the biggest deal in the world and they essentially tied -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Thanks so much for that, Eric.

Now, let's talk with Tom LoBianco, CNN politics reporter, about more all of this rich material from last night with these candidates, who really seem to, at least Hillary Clinton, sort of sharpen her defense and her attack here, and also trying to sharpen her own response to this criticism that she is not progressive enough. She is not the progressive candidate.

Let's listen to what the former secretary of state said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I am a progressive who gets that done. The root of that word "progressive" is progress.

But I've heard Senator Sanders' comments and it caused me to wonder. Who's left in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party? I don't think it was particularly progressive to vote against the Brady Bill five times. I don't think it was progressive to vote to give gun makers and sellers immunity. I don't think it was progressive to vote against Ted Kennedy's immigration reform.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: She has been honing -- her team has been honing that argument for the past couple of days -- bringing in new pieces of evidence, this time about the Brady Bill, about Ted Kennedy's immigration reform, showing that, you know, maybe he is not the progressive candidate he thinks he is.

TOM LOBIANCO, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: She started out with that answer just a little bit corny, talking about the root word of progressive. But it got her to where she needed to be, which is calling out Sanders and really questioning him.

[04:35:03] You know, there is a real interesting piece that Barney Frank, former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, who is a Clinton supporter, wrote recently, where he said that Sanders really benefitted from not getting that major vetting over the last six months or so.

So, she is really starting to press that case. That's a huge part of the strategy right now.

BERMAN: It almost seemed like she was trying to go down a check list in this debate. Number one, saying that Bernie Sanders is trying to smear her with these Wall Street attacks. You know, number two, say she is a progressive. Number three, talk about the Iraq war vote. She had a good line there, a vote in 2002 was not a plan to defeat ISIS, you know, indicating that she doesn't think Bernie Sanders has a plan to defeat ISIS.

And last night, there was a new line of attack on the e-mail controversy.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: Now, that's not information that Bernie Sanders has talked about. But there was new information that came out yesterday. New revelations that Colin Powell had emails on his private server that the intelligence community now deems classified, the Condoleezza Rice people who worked for her did, too. So, listen to how Hillary Clinton talks about it in the debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: We had a development in the e-mail matter today. When it came out that Secretary Powell and close aides to former Secretary Rice used private e-mail accounts and now, you have these people in the government who are doing the same thing to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice's aides. They have been doing to me, which is that I never sent or received any classified material. They are retroactively classifying it.

I agree completely with Secretary Powell who said today this is an absurdity. And so, I think the American people will know, it's an absurdity. I have absolutely no concerns about it whatsoever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: She may think it is an absurdity, maybe. It's certainly not that big of an issue in the Democratic primary. Democrats don't seem to care about it, but Hillary Clinton seems to be looking ahead with this issue.

LOBIANCO: Right, absolutely. The absurdity part is interesting. If you look at the base of the argument is somewhat esoteric going after how the bureaucracy or agencies determine what information is withheld.

But what it is starting to do is provide a defense for her, a new defense. And she knows she has to address it. One of the questions is how do you deal with the worries from voters, the worries among Democrats -- I think it was Chuck Todd who asked this -- that there's this drip, drip, drip of the e-mails coming out. It's not that they don't trust her. It's that they worry about how everyone else will perceive this.

ROMANS: Let's talk about the Republican side, a new face, familiar face on the campaign trail yesterday for Jeb Bush. He brought his mother out to a rally. He was even joking like, look, mom, these are big crowds because she was drawing a lot of people. Let's take a bit of what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY: Jeb is the nicest, wisest most caring, loyal, disciplined -- that's good, not by me. But he's not a bragger. We don't allow that. But he's decent and honest. He's everything we need in a president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Maybe she would know. She is married to one and the mother of one. Does this help him? She had a Jeb sticker on her walker apparently when she came in and she had a very warm reception there.

LOBIANCO: Right. You know, it was interesting about this, this comes as he's really firmly has embraced his family and family name, the legacy. You know, his super PAC also cut an ad with George W. Bush that they're going to be airing I think starting today. I'm not entirely sure about that, down in South Carolina.

But this is part of the strategy. We talk about the Clinton firewall in South Carolina. The Bush team really thinks that South Carolina is absolutely essential to their chances. I don't think there is any expectation that he wins New Hampshire at this point. But they've got to start putting points on the board somewhere. That's part of that. George W. Bush did real well there.

So, they are bringing out the Bush family and the Bush name. And he's finally embracing it. He's really wrapping himself in it.

BERMAN: You know, it is really interesting. I was in New Hampshire in 2000 covering George W. Bush. And then George H.W. Bush and Barbara came to campaign for him there and it was seen as something as her "W", the former president said, you know, my boy in front of a crowd and everyone said he is talking about his son. That's different.

[04:40:00] But, now, clearly, Jeb Bush grabbing this because it may be one of the only paths he has left.

Tom LoBianco, great to have you here with us. Thanks so much.

LOBIANCO: Thanks, guys.

BERMAN: All right. This morning, federal officials are calling enrollment for the third year of Obamacare successful. New government figures show 12.7 million Americans signed up for 2016 coverage under the Affordable Care Act. That beat the Obama administration's stated goal of 10 million. About 3/4 who signed up did through the federal healthcare.gov exchange, the rest through state exchanges.

ROMANS: Time for an early start on your money. Asian markets mostly lower. Europe markets, stock markets are mixed. London and Paris are up a little bit. U.S. stock futures taking higher here.

It was a good day on Wall Street yesterday. Stocks closed higher for the second day in a row. The Dow gained 80 points, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ also a little bit of a gain.

Big moves in oil prices, though, keeping markets on edge. Prices jumped 6 percent in oil before closing down almost 2 percent, very wild, very volatile. That is keeping it very volatile in the stock market.

President Obama wants to upgrade the country's transportation system and he wants to pay for it with a big tax on oil. A $10 tax per barrel of imported oil. The tax comes at a time when the energy industry has been crushed by the plunge in oil prices, almost all oil companies have cut jobs, lots of jobs.

Many have filed for bankruptcy. There have been at least 50 bankruptcies. Some are defaulting on their loans. The tax would only apply to oil imported into the country. U.S. oil that is exported would be exempt. Of course, it's very unlikely the tax will go through the Republican-controlled Congress. But very interesting there, plunging oil prices.

BERMAN: But I think zero, double zero percent chance of passing.

ROMANS: Yes, double zero. Forty-one minutes past the hour.

New cases of the Zika virus confirmed in the U.S. Florida expanding its state of emergency. How health officials hoping to stop this outbreak.

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[04:45:28] BERMAN: This morning, concern is growing over the fast spreading mosquito-borne Zika virus. Health officials in Brazil report two new Zika cases that were passed through blood transfusions. The outbreak has cast a shadow on Carnival, as tourists flood in the Rio de Janeiro and other major Brazilian cities. Workers have been frantically spraying the cities with insecticide. Look at that.

We should learn more today from the CDC about the number of Zika cases in the United States. Florida has now expanded its public health emergency.

CNN's Alina Machado with more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, we know none of the cases in Florida involve pregnant women. And we also know that the 12 people infected got the virus while traveling abroad. Four of the cases are right here in Miami-Dade County. The rest are in Broward, Hillsborough, Lee and Santa Rosa counties.

At this point, there is no indication that mosquitoes here in Florida or anywhere else in the United States are transmitting Zika. But state and local governments are working to get ahead of the virus. They want to make sure the appropriate resources are in place in case we see an outbreak. And that's why a public health emergency has been declared in the five Florida counties affected.

Here's what the Florida governor has to say about the response.

GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: We're going to get ahead of this. We're going to make sure our residents are safe, our visitors are safe. We're going to do everything we can to take care of everybody, everybody in our state. It's the right thing to do, always prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

MACHADO: Well, the state of Florida is also asking the CDC for additional testing kits. They want 1,000 Zika antibody tests. Those tests can tell if someone has had Zika in the past. They also want 4,000 more kits to test active cases. Remember, the mosquito that typically carries Zika is commonly found in Florida and there are already mosquito control plans in place throughout the state -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Alina, thank you for that.

New developments this morning in the investigation into the Flint water crisis. Michigan's attorney general tells the Detroit News he expects the independent probe to reach back 10 years. And now, state government emails reveal senior officials knew about a potential link between lead contaminated water in Flint and a spike in Legionnaires' disease long before Governor Snyder made it public last month.

On Thursday, the Michigan Senate approved $30 million to help pay the water bills of Flint residents. That's right, they're still getting water bills, even though they can't the drink. The bill is expected to pass a statehouse next week.

BERMAN: Some welcome news for residents of Porter Ranch, California, near Los Angeles. State officials say a ruptured natural gas well that has been leaking since October could be permanently sealed by the end of next week. The gas leak forced more than 4,000 families, 4,000 families had to relocate. The company's SoCal Gas is facing more than two dozen lawsuits filed by residents and public agencies.

ROMANS: A second Virginia Tech student Natalie Keepers charged as an accessory to the killing of a teenage girl is being held without bail. Thirteen-year-old Nicole Lovell was buried Thursday. Authorities say Keepers and David Eisenhower planned how to kill Nicole and dispose her body during a meal at a fast food restaurant. Prosecutors told the judge Keepers, quote, "was excited to be part of something secretive." Investigators believe Eisenhower had an inappropriate relationship with Nicole and she planned to expose it. He is now charged with abduction and murder.

BERMAN: Police in Chicago working to solve a multiple murder this morning. They say six bodies, five adults and a child were found inside a house Thursday in the city's Gage Park neighborhood. The victims discovered throughout home. Investigators say the bodies had signs of trauma and may have been stabbed. They are still trying to determine what happened.

ROMANS: Troubling accusations against quarterback Johnny Manziel. The ex-girlfriend of the NFL quarterback tells police that Manziel forced her into a car, hit her, dragged her by the hair in Dallas last weekend, while threatening to kill her and himself. Manziel denies any wrongdoing. He has not been charged. His team, the Cleveland Browns, is expected to cut ties wit him.

BERMAN: All right. I'm supposed to go to New Hampshire today and that may be tough. Significant rain, sleet and snow along the East Coast this morning.

ROMANS: What is wrong with New Hampshire?

BERMAN: I don't know, weather apparently. Let's bring in meteorologist Derek Van Dam.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John and Christine.

A fast moving snowstorm threatens to bring the possibility of a messy morning commute for some of the major cities along the eastern coastal areas. Today, D.C. to New York as well as Boston.

Let's time this out. Look out for the I-95 corridor connecting these particular cities. We will start to see that snow come to end midday for places like Washington, D.C. and New York City. It will stick around from Providence to Boston. That, in fact is where we anticipating some of our greater snowfall totals in excess of perhaps six to even eight inches of snow.

[04:50:04] Look out Portland, Maine. You have possibility of hefty snowfall totals for you. Perhaps the extreme eastern sections of Maine picking up to a foot of snow.

Now, the National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings for much of Massachusetts and Rhode Island and the eastern sections of Connecticut. That includes portions of Long Island with winter weather advisories for New York City.

Look what's coming for the first part of next week. Arctic blast of air will impact the eastern half of the U.S., including New York City.

We've got a brief warm up this weekend, but look at the temperatures from Monday and Tuesday. New York is not the only place getting cold. Look at Chicago by Monday, only high of 29. Bundle up.

Back to you, John and Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Derek, thank you so much for that, Derek.

So, I know that you will show up on the day after the Super Bowl because your team's not in it. But what's your plan for the day after the Super Bowl? Will you go to work? We're going to get an early start on your money. You'll be surprised how many people play hooky. Lots of people.

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BERMAN: All right. Breaking news this morning: United Nations human rights body has ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is being arbitrarily detained. Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, trying to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning in a rape case. Now, despite this U.N. finding, British police say they will arrest Assange if he steps outside those embassy doors.

So, what really changes here?

Let's go live to London and bring in CNN's senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir.

What's the situation here, Nima?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are waiting, John, to hear from Mr. Assange himself. This finding though will certainly escalate the controversy surrounding the allegations of sexual assault and rape that face Julian Assange. His lawyer had been speaking out before this finding, saying that if the U.N. panel of experts didn't find in Julian Assange's favor, that he was willing to submit himself to arrest.

[04:55:07] Of course, now we know the U.N. supports his team's claims he was arbitrarily deprived of his freedom. In fact, they go further. They criticize the Swedish prosecutor's office saying that they didn't exercise due diligence.

Britain has not come out very strongly, John. They say that they will formally contest the panel of experts' findings. They say it is Julian Assange depriving himself of his own freedom. He is free at any moment to walk out down those steps behind me, but they will arrest him. They will exercise their responsibilities under that European arrest warrant that the Swedish authorities have filed.

This, though, will give some moral weight to his claim throughout that that Julian Assange is a political dissident. Others that the U.N. panel of experts has found that he was arbitrarily detained. Of course, Aung San Suu Kyi and the former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy.

Julian Assange is expected to speak later this morning and we'll bring you that as soon as we have it, John.

BERMAN: Maybe get new rhetoric, but doubtful it will get him new freedom.

Nima Elbagir for us in London, thanks so much.

ROMANS: Saudi Arabia says it is prepared to a ground operation against ISIS in Syria if the United States and its allies agree to initiate one. That announcement comes one day after the U.N. suspended a new round of international peace talks.

Meanwhile, Syrian government forces backed by Russian airstrikes are advancing on the rebel-held city of Aleppo and they appear poised to retake it.

BERMAN: Top national security advisors are pressing President Obama to expand the fight against ISIS into Libya. According to a "New York Times" report, the president is resisting, and said he wants to step up airports to help Libya formed a unity government. The Pentagon is considering air strikes and command raids on ISIS targets in Libya, but the president has already ruled out a large scale ground operation.

ROMANS: All right. Let's get an early start on your money this Friday morning. Asian markets, stock markets mostly lower. European stock markets a bit higher. U.S. stock futures are ticking up here. It all could change, though, in just a few hours.

Today is the monthly jobs report. CNN money predicts 197,000 jobs added in January. The unemployment rate steady likely expected to stay steady at 5 percent. There is a chance it could tick down.

Applications are soaring at George Washington University. The school ditched the SAT requirement last year and guess what? Applications spiked 28 percent. That's about 6,000 more students compared with the prior year.

GW says it saw more applications from African-American and Hispanic students, and also from students who would be the first in their family to go to college. Experts say SAT requirements discourage low income and minority students from applying. George Washington University is the latest school to go test optional. More than 30 schools have dropped the requirement in the past year.

All right. Planning to skip work on Monday because of Sunday's big game? You won't be alone. Get this -- 16.5 million may miss work the day after the Super Bowl. That's according to a survey by the Workforce Institute. Ten and a half million workers have already asked for the day off in advance, which is what I recommend. And among those who manage to make it to work, 7.5 million of them will show up late.

BERMAN: That is bogus. It's a 6:00 start. He does it in 6:00 start? It's 6:00 start.

ROMANS: My friend took the day off because he thought it might be the Patriots.

BERMAN: You took the day off. He's not here?

ROMANS: No, he took the day off because you thought it was the Patriots, but it isn't. So, he kept the day off anybody.

BERMAN: When the Red Sox lost the World Series in 1986, I was a freshman in high school. I could not go to school the next day. I didn't take it off. I could not go. There's a difference.

ROMANS: Are you kidding?

BERMAN: I was really sad.

ROMANS: Oh, John. It's just a game.

BERMAN: It's not just a game. I don't know what you're saying.

All right. EARLY START continues right now.

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BERMAN: Sparks fly at the Democratic debate in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton with a decidedly new angle here in this election. Just a few days to go before New Hampshire. We'll break down the biggest moments ahead.

ROMANS: All right. Good morning.

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

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It's Friday, February 5th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

There's so much to get through this morning, breaking overnight: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, they came out swinging pretty hard. This is their first one-on-one debate, which itself created a different feeling, especially from Hillary Clinton. Three days after barely winning Iowa, five days before facing daunting odds in New Hampshire, she clearly decided she could not wait another day to fight back.

CNN politics reporter Eric Bradner was at the debate in Durham, New Hampshire. He has the very latest. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRADNER: John and Christine, we are days away from the New Hampshire primary, and the gloves were off. Bernie Sanders hit Hillary Clinton accusing her of being influenced by Wall Street for taking speaking fees and for taking campaign contributions. Hillary Clinton got angry.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. Enough is enough. If you have something to say, say it directly, but you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received.