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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Primary Voting Begins in New Hampshire; Obama Asks for $1.8B to Fight Zika Virus Spread; Denver Hosts Super Bowl Parade Today. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired February 09, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: As for where things stand in the race, heading into today, Donald Trump kept his lead in the latest CNN/WMUR poll, though you will remember, he led in all of the polls before the Iowa caucuses which he ended up losing to Ted Cruz.

[05:00:09] Maybe that's why Cruz was the target for Trump at a rally last night. Trump is criticizing Cruz for being unwilling to waterboard terrorist. When a woman shouted a vulgar term for wimp, Trump repeated it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She said a terrible thing. You know what she said?

Shout it out because I don't want to --

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

TRUMP: OK. You're not allowed to say and I never expect to hear that from you again. She said -- I never expect to hear that from you again. She said he's (EXPLETIVE DELETED). That's terrible. Terrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Trump is going after all of his rivals.

CNN's Jim Acosta with more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, along with the snow here in New Hampshire, there's been a blizzard of insults and put-downs between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush. At one point, Trump referred to Bush as a child and Bush called Trump a liar and a whiner.

But the Trump campaign is confident about what we're going to see later on this evening. The Trump campaign told me they see a big difference between Iowa and New Hampshire. Inside that campaign, they believe Iowa was more about explaining the confusing caucus process to Iowans, whereas New Hampshire's pure getting out the vote. That's why you saw the big splashy rally in Manchester where Donald Trump actually went after Marco Rubio and his performance at the weekend debate.

Here's what he had to say.

TRUMP: I'm standing at the debate. I'm watching Marco sweating like a dog on my right. Honestly, Marco was having a hard time. And he's a nice guy. He's a nice guy.

I mean, again and again and again, after three times, you know, I have a very good memory. After three times, I said he said that about three minutes ago. Then I said, wait, wait, wait. He said that two minutes ago. After the fifth time, I said what the hell's going on over here?

ACOSTA: And Trump's closing argument is essentially what it has been all along. He is hitting the lines the audience sees every time. He is vowing to build that wall along the Mexican border, escalate the war on ISIS, and scrap Obamacare and the Iran nuclear deal -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Jim Acosta for us covering Donald Trump.

What about the Democratic side? Well, Bernie Sanders way out in front in the latest CNN/WMUR poll. He is at 61 percent to Clinton's 35 percent. Bernie Sanders is predicting a very, very good night.

Now, the Clinton campaign has a new problem. Trying to explain away a "Politico" report that Hillary and Bill Clinton are upset with the quality of the campaign operation and planning changes. Insiders say Bill Clinton is complaining about a lack of imagination. The campaign is playing it too safe.

Hillary Clinton denying that report saying, quote, "We're going to take stock, but I'm confident in the people that I have."

CNN's Joe Johns with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Hillary Clinton's closing argument came here in a high school auditorium in Hudson, New Hampshire. She is down in the polls, but she was surrounded by a large crowd.

Also in attendance, former President Bill Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton. Bill Clinton has said he is concerned the campaign has lacked imagination so far. But, tonight, Hillary Clinton called on the people in the audience to imagine the world her campaign is all about.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really want you to imagine with me, imagine what we can do together. Imagine an economy that does work for everybody again.

Imagine we finally get to universal health care coverage so that every single man, woman and child has access to the quality health care that he or she needs. This is a huge, huge issue. To me, personally, it's also one of the contrasts between me and Senator Sanders.

JOHNS: One question is about how weather could affect turnout. There was a heavy snowfall on Monday. It was expected to end on Tuesday. Still there could be messy roads. That could be a factor -- even in a state where the voters take the responsibility in the first in the nation primary very seriously -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Joe Johns, our thanks to you.

Here is the latest weather report, some flurries. We just checked outside. Some flurries. Probably not enough to keep voters away.

Joining us to talk about the big day here in New Hampshire: Kayleigh McEnany, editor in chief of conservative website, "Political Prospect", a Trump supporter. Also joining us, CNN senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein, he is also the editorial director for "The National Journal".

Ron, by say 10:00 or 11:00 tonight, what will we know?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: We'll know a couple of things.

First of all, in the Republican Party, they have never in the modern primary never not nominated someone beyond the winners of Iowa and New Hampshire.

[05:05:07] I mean, every one of the winners have won Iowa or New Hampshire. Precedents are made to be broken, but that is real. That's, you know, 40 years of history.

On the Democratic side, twice they picked people. McGovern in '72 and a guy named Clinton in '92, who did not win Iowa and New Hampshire.

I think we'll know a couple of things beyond that. We'll we know whether Bernie Sanders strength in Iowa among young people is confirmed here in New Hampshire. We'll know whether his dominance among independents continues. We'll know whether he is more competitive among Democrats.

BERMAN: Because he lost Democrats in Iowa.

BROWNSTEIN: That is important to remember, he lost Democrats by almost 20 points in Iowa. As John McCain showed in 2000, John McCain's profile on the Republican side was similar early to Bernie Sanders here. Even in the states he was winning, he wasn't running that well among people in his own party. Eventually you have to get people to vote for you. Now, on the other side, I think the biggest question single question

is whether or not we get a signal out of New Hampshire to allow the center right mainstream conservative lane to consolidate with an alternative to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz who pretty much had their tickets punched for the finals.

BERMAN: Because, Kayleigh, when we look at it this morning, it seems that there is a better than even chance that there's lack of consolidation that we come out of here more muddled, which is to say that maybe Jeb Bush and John Kasich and Marco Rubio all survive at least five candidates for South Carolina.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, POLITICAL PROSPECT: No doubt about it. Marco Rubio is continuing no matter what happens tonight. You look at Jeb Bush, he has the resources to continue. He is on the ballot in all 40 states. He has a strong infrastructure in the Southern state, being a Bush. His name plays well. He has the incentive to go on and play this out.

Kasich, if he comes in second, he is moving on despite low polling in South Carolina. You could see three people come out of this. The field only whittled down to five candidates.

Chris Christie, however, I don't see a way forward for him. CNN poll shows him polling him under Carly Fiorina who did not participate in the debate. As you pointed out, that poll only polled two days after the debate. It was split between pre-debate, post-debate polling.

BROWNSTEIN: An the question, and, you know, that is an advantage for Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, because what we are talking about is the pool of voters most resistant to both of them, essentially, that kind of center right, white collar, middle manager type Republican. That is the group of the party that would power the victory of John McCain and Mitt Romney.

And here we are talking about going into South Carolina with them fundamentally fragmented among many choices, and thus deluding their impact.

BERMAN: As long as they are split, as long as that, you know, the middle center of the party is split, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump run out free, right?

BROWNSTEIN: Right. Look, I was at the rally last night. I felt I was watching a Trump trap, which is that either by inclination or necessity, he feels he has to feed his supporters with outrageous behavior. Like -- part what have they like is he is willing to break all of the boundaries of acceptable political discourse. He is serious about shaking things up.

The problem for the Republican Party, that raises doubts if he has the temperament to be president. And I felt last night, as this closing argument, he really had to feed them so much of that aggressive, almost outrageous behavior. It shows you the limits you face in broadening into those other group of voters.

But as we're saying, the problem is the voters is not consolidated around one alternative.

MCENANY: And there's an appetite for that in the Republican Party.

BROWNSTEIN: There is.

MCENANY: You look at the Iowa polling and 70 percent of the vote went to non-establishment candidates. I include Ted Cruz among those numbers. You know, they were both one and two in Iowa.

Ted Cruz, there is a chance he could pull off a second place victory tonight. He's only three points behind Rubio. But, hey, polling, you know, didn't have the brightest day in Iowa. But if he pulled a second place, I don't see it. But if by some majestic way he did, that would be huge. It would show this is an outsider election.

BERMAN: And he would like that if nothing more than to keep Marco Rubio out. I want to talk about the Democrats here, Ron. You covered a lot of campaigns.

When you go into primary day fighting off a story like we're not going to fire all of our campaign staff, which is the story that Hillary Clinton is dealing with right now. That is not the best day for you.

BROWNSTEIN: Not a good thing. And think about this in a big picture: Hillary Clinton in two consecutive races has wondered into the same cul-de-sac, I think, where she is essentially running against someone with a big bold vision and she is the chaperon at the frat party.

I mean, she's pulling away the punches saying, you can't note no, we can't. I mean, the change is too big. She is presenting herself as the pragmatist. The incrementalist who can get things done, and just kind of saying, OK, the campaign hasn't given me, you know, the strong enough message.

You have to look in the mirror. There's a lot of similarities to the argument she has made last time. She is right that it would be extremely difficult, you know, if not impossible in the current political lineup to do what Bernie Sanders says. But that is not enough of a lift and a message to get people excited. She faces a big inspiration gap with young people.

So, yes, I mean, it is not great to be looking at stories and you looking shaking up the campaign. The bigger problem is she has to look in the mirror and think how do I give people more of a reason to vote for me than I can take a punch?

[05:10:02] BERMAN: You know, she's got Nevada on February 20 for the Democrats, South Carolina for February 27. She has a few weeks to figure this out. But I imagine they'll be doing that, you know, a lot in the Clinton headquarters.

BROWNSTEIN: One thing really quick worth nothing. Two polls came out yesterday, one in North Carolina, one in New York, still, Hillary Clinton with 68 percent and both among African-American voters. So, whatever happens here, Bernie Sanders has the hill to climb of the minority presence of the Democratic Party. BERMAN: Ron Brownstein and Kayleigh McEnany, great to have you here

with us this morning in New Hampshire, where they are already voting or they already cast some votes at least, Dixville Notch, Hart's Location, I love the name Hart's Location. Also, a place called Millsfield.

Christine Romans, it's s all happening. It's all happening right here.

ROMANS: It's all happening.

Let me ask you, how is the news of Michael Bloomberg mulling a potential bid? How is that resonating in the last moments here?

BERMAN: I would say roughly zero percent, if you want the truth. I think everyone is focused on the candidates here. Michael Bloomberg made his intentions clear weeks ago. I mean, he leaked clearly that he was doing it.

Now, the only difference is, he said it out loud to an actual newspaper. But he was already polling. We've all known he has to make a decision by March 1st. He is not on the ballot here right now. It is a curiosity, but doesn't take attention away.

ROMANS: All right. Well said. Thank you for that, John Berman.

You know, voters in New Hampshire enjoy one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, 3.1 percent. The falling national average of 4.9 percent. That rate below 5 percent for the first time since 2008. There is a feeling the economy is not good enough. It is resonating on the campaign trail.

One reason why: a smaller share of the adult population is working, only 62.7 percent. That's the latest since the 1970s. One reason why, baby bombers are retiring, thousands of them everyday.

The second reason, a large number of people looking for jobs and cannot find one, almost double the number in normal times.

And the third reason, wages are not going up. The take home pay is about the same today as it was 20 years ago.

So, interesting fun election fact. The lowest national unemployment rate of an election year anytime since 1968, except for 2000 in a tech boom, yet, that is not being felt on the campaign trail. The campaigns talking about opportunity wages and jobs.

Twelve minutes past the hour. President Obama taking new action to prevent the spread of the Zika virus in the U.S. Why the White House is so concerned. I've got that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:16:28] ROMANS: President Obama asking Congress for $1.8 billion in emergency funding to fight the Zika virus and mosquitoes that carry it. The request coming as the Centers for Disease Control steps up its response moving the emergency operations center to level one status. That's the highest due to the risk of transmission in the U.S. it means the agency will work around the clock to contain the virus.

Homeland Security and FBI are investigating a data breach that exposed sensitive information about nearly 30,000 staff members. We're talking names, titles and contact information released online by hackers, accompanied by pro-Palestinian slogans. This is half of the FBI employees in the public domain. The hacker claims to have penetrated the DHS and FBI files through a Justice Department computer.

President Obama sends the final budget to Congress today and it is already dead on arrival. The plan includes a $10 a barrel tax on oil for infrastructure and transportation projects. It includes money for cancer research and opioid abuse programs. But the Republican chairmen of the House and Senate budget committee, they are refusing to even grant the usual hearings to the president's budget director.

Michigan Governor Snyder declining an invitation to appear before a Democratic House Committee investigating the Flint water crisis. Snyder insists he cannot testify at Wednesday's hearing because he has a budget presentation to make to his state legislature. The Republican governor says that presentation will include significant resources to help the people of Flint. The Democratic steering and policy committee does not have the power to subpoena Governor Snyder.

Four anti-government protesters are still occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge. They posted a series of YouTube videos mocking FBI agents, calling them losers. One said they will face additional charges because of barricades they built. This standoff began January 2nd. Eight protesters, including leader Ammon Bundy were arrested last month. One of the protesters was killed in a shootout with police. The four holdouts refused to leave without assurances they will not be arrested.

Mile high pride on display in Denver as the city honors the Super Bowl winning Broncos today with a championship parade and celebration. Andy Scholes has more in the bleacher report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:23:14] ROMANS: Court documents reveal disturbing details about the alleged domestic violence incident involving Johnny Manziel.

Andy Scholes has more in this morning's bleacher report. Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORREPONDENT: Christine, Johnny Manziel's ex-girlfriend claims he hit her so hard it actually ruptured her left ear drum. That statements are part an affidavit filed for an order of protection against the Browns quarterback.

In the papers, Colleen Crowley claims Manziel grabbed her by the hair and threw here in the car and they hit her with his open hand for jumping out. She reportedly told the parking valet she feared for her life. According to TMZ sports, Manziel denies the allegations. The Dallas

police department announced they were opening a criminal investigation against Manziel. The Browns released a statement saying Manziel's status would be addressed quote when permitted by league rules.

All right. The Denver Broncos received a heroes welcome, as they arrived back in the Mile High City yesterday. Later today, thousands of fans will line the street for the Super Bowl parade. There may not be a lot of kids there. Denver public schools are in session and skipping class for the parade, well, that is not an excused absence.

Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning already has parade experience under his belt. He celebrated the championship with a post Super Bowl tradition, a trip to Disneyland. The celebration comes amid speculation if Manning will retire. But Peyton says he is not making any decisions yet. By the end of today's parade, maybe he will get up and say he is calling it a career. We'll have to wait and see.

ROMANS: You don't think he could take a few months and think about it or is everybody going to ask him nonstop?

[05:25:00] SCHOLES: He's going to get asked that question every day until he makes the announcement. I think it would be cool at the end of the parade, he says, thanks, guys, it's been nice. And he just walks off like that, that would be cool to me.

ROMANS: Pretty cool. All right. We will see.

All right. Thanks so much, Andy. Nice to see you.

Happening now, oh, yes, New Hampshire voters heading to the polls. It is the nation's first presidential primary. We will take you there live and tell you about the candidates' last minute pitches.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The voting has begun in New Hampshire, folks. The nation's first presidential primary. Candidates make their last minute, last second pitches across the state. They sharpen attacks against each other. Who will come out on top?

It is here. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans in New York.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman live in Manchester, New Hampshire. About 30 minutes past the hour.

It is here, as Romans just said. In fact, it already started while you were sleeping. They voted in three tiny towns in the northern end of the state. Dixville Notch, probably the best known. A total of nine voters there. I know you want know the results.