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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Hits Cruz With Vulgar Term; Clinton Makes Her Closing Argument; Obama's Budget Proposal Dead On Arrival; Obama Asks For $1.8 Billion To Fight Zika Virus Spread; Refugee Crisis Crippling Turkey; Voting Begins In New Hampshire Primary. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired February 09, 2016 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: 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.
There were a total of nine voters there. And I know you want know the results. They picked John Kasich over Donald Trump in the Republican race. The Democratic race, they picked Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton. The rest of the polling places, they start opening in about 30 minutes. As for where things stand heading in to today, Donald Trump maintaining his lead in the latest CNN/WMUR poll, though you will remember that he led in all of the polls before the Iowa caucuses which he ended up losing to Ted Cruz. Cruz was the target for Donald Trump at a rally last night. Trump was criticizing Cruz for being unwilling to waterboard terrorist. A woman shouted a vulgar term for wimp from the crowd, Trump repeated it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She just said a terrible thing. You know what she said? Shout it out because I don't want to say [ BLEEP ]. 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 a [ bleep ]. That's terrible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Trump has been ridiculing other rivals as well. CNN's Jim Acosta with more on that. Jim --
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 putdowns between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush. At one point, Trump referred to Bush as a child and Bush called Trump a liar and whiner. 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 this big splashy rally here in Manchester where Donald Trump actually went after Marco Rubio and his performance at the weekend debate. Here is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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. After three times, you know, I have a very good memory. And after three times, I said, wait a minute, he said that about three minutes ago. Then I said, wait, wait, he said that two minutes ago. It's the same exact thing. So after the fifth time, I say, what the hell's going on over here?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And Trump's closing argument is essentially what it has been all along. He is hitting those lines that his audience seems to expect every time. He was vowing to build that wall along the Mexican border, escalate the war on ISIS, and scrap the Obamacare and the Iran nuclear deal. John and Christine --
BERMAN: All right, Jim Acosta with Donald Trump. Thanks so much, Jim.
On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders way out in front in the latest CNN/WMUR poll. He is at 61 percent, Hillary Clinton at 35. Sanders himself predicting a very, very good night. The Clinton campaign has a new problem trying to explain away a Politico report that both Bill and Hillary Clinton are upset with the quality of the campaign operation, might be planning changes. Insiders say that Bill Clinton thinks the campaign lacks imagination and that it's playing it too safe. Hillary Clinton denied the quote, saying, we're going to take stock. That's sort of a non-denial denial. She says, we're going to take stock, but I'm very confident in the people that I have.
CNN's Joe Johns has the latest.
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's 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's concerned that 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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.
(END VIDEO CLIP) 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 and that could be a factor even in the state where the voters take their responsibility in the first in the nation primary very seriously. John and Christine --
BERMAN: All right, Joe Johns, our thanks to you. We saw the snow plows out hard at work this morning. Hopefully they will have that snow cleared away.
Joining us to talk, not about the weather, but about the political situation, the political forecast, if you will, Kayleigh McEnany, editor in chief of the conservative website, Political Prospect, and a Trump supporter. Also with us, CNN senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein. He is also the editorial director for "The National Journal".
[05:35:12] Ron, it is the first in the nation primary today. We've been talking about two factors that are huge in New Hampshire. In a way, unique to New Hampshire, or at least rare around the country. Number one, the idea you can walk into the poll and vote for either party. And the idea that voters remain undecided until the last moment.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You meet voters that say, well I've only met them three times. How can I make a decision? Look, independents cast, according to the exit polls, 47 percent of the votes in the last Republican primary in 2012. 44 percent of the votes in the last Democratic primary in 2008. That's why New Hampshire can sometimes send false positives. You can win the primary here without necessarily winning the voters in your own party. John McCain, when he won the state (ph) dig in 2000, only ran even among Republicans against George W. Bush, and that foreshadowed the problems that he would face. I think tonight, one of the things we want to watch, particularly on the Democratic side, is what happens among Democrats? No question, Bernie Sanders is at the upper hand of the state. He's going to win independents big. But in Iowa, he lost self-identified Democrats by almost 20 points. If he doesn't do particularly well among them today, that would kind of indicate a challenge that he's going to have to get over as the race goes on.
BERMAN: Kayleigh, what's the Republican parallel to that? Donald Trump playing to independents, but also John Kasich playing not just to independents but to Democrats who might want to vote in the Republican primary.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, EDITOR IN CHIEF, POLITICAL PROSPECT: Sure, exactly. Kasich is left of Donald Trump in some ways, but we were talking about how Donald Trump has this populous message. He's very much left leaning when it comes to things like trade, when it comes to things like, you were mentioning, the Medicare --
BERMAN: Donald Trump last night came out from Medicare negotiating with the drug companies to lower prescription drug prices, something that Republicans have fought for 15 years. George Bush went to the (ph) Madigans. Hillary Clinton has endorsed. MCENANY: These are contests that are in as much the Republican party
and as much the conservative cause, but that just speaks to Donald Trump being an outsider. He's not the stereotypical Republican, the stereotypical conservative. He's forging a new path and among independents, they're going to play very strongly to him and then Kasich's also going to peel some of those off. Because I would argue he has the farthest leaning left record in the race, with maybe Chris Christie competing for him for that title. It's not a coveted title in the Republican party.
BERMAN: Ron, expectations game for Donald Trump tonight. The polls all have him with double digits lead heading into today. Does he need to win by double digits here?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, need is a strong word, but I think internally, for his own campaign, they have to see whether in fact they can deliver their polling. In Iowa, they underperformed their polling but that's a special case. We don't know whether Donald Trump has drifted down a little bit from mid-January. He was initially falling around 35. Now it's more like 30 here and in some of the other states. But yes, I think it is important for him and also to see what his coalition looks like. Does he reestablish that dominance among blue collar Republicans that we saw in polling going into Iowa that was somewhat dented in Iowa by Cruz's success at peeling away evangelicals who are not here. If Trump wins here and no one emerges from that center- right mainstream conservative lane, I think Trump, though, is the favorite going into South Carolina.
MCENANY: And definitely, if he can pull off a win that is just 3 or 4 points above his current low double digit lead, that would be big. We saw Romney do this. He was polling high 20s consistently and came out at 17 percent. If Trump can win in the low double digits, that is huge for him. And also send off the establishment challenger.
BROWNSTEIN: Well you know, we were talking before. You have the reverse situation, here, of the normal situation. You have the establishment splintered. The conservatives more united in two different camps. Kind of an evangelical camp for Cruz and kind of a blue collar populous camp for Trump. But it is the establishment that is having trouble finding a candidate.
MCENANY: Unlike in 2012 when you saw Bachmann and Gingrich and Kane splintering off the conservative vote and paving the way for Mitt Romney, the establishment, it's the mirror image opposite.
BERMAN: Ron Brownstein, the Democratic race right now. Hillary Clinton trailing Bernie Sanders by a lot in some polls and also now dealing with these reports of a campaign shake up that might be immanent.
BROWNSTEIN: Look, Clinton, these first two races, you can say all white states, the diversity of the Democratic party hasn't weighed in, Hillary Clinton still has a firewall in that polls came out yesterday, for example, in North Carolina and New York where they're still winning 2/3 of African-Americans and in the New York case, over 3/5 of Hispanics. So all that is real. But there's no question that these first two races are also showing some real weakness for her, really an inspiration gap that is translating into this enormous generation gap where she's losing voters under 45 including women under 45 by big margins. And I think what she has kind of wandered into is this position much like she was with Obama where she's presenting herself almost as a technician who can take a punch, move ideas through a clogged political system, but simply is offering not nearly as much lift as she needs to against a candidate who is promising to lead not only a campaign but a movement.
BERMAN: All right. This is the last time I get to talk to you. Ten seconds or less, your prediction for tonight?
MCENANY: Trump wins, Rubio a close second with Cruz on his heels and Kasich, I don't know. He could come in second but I predict him --
BERMAN: Rubio finishes second. That campaign would be thrilled. Ron Brownstein --
BROWNSTEIN: Trump wins and a clump that doesn't give clear definition and I think Sanders wins but the vote among Democrats is very close.
[05:40:06] BERMAN: Ron Brownstein, Kayleigh McEnany, thank you so much for being with us this morning. Really appreciate it.
Christine Romans, we will know. The great thing about New Hampshire is it counts quickly. It's a fast voting state, a fast counting state. We should know what's happened here by 10:00.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: What I think is so fascinating about New Hampshire too, 3.1 percent unemployment rate. One of the lowest in the nation, but still resonating in all these campaigns, this worry about a system that's rigged for rich people and that is really, really playing out. I think that will continue to play out as we move forward. 4.9 percent, the jobless rate nationwide. That's the second lowest of any election year since 1968, John. Isn't that interesting?
BERMAN: 2000 was the other one, which I learned during our last hour. I was educated by Christine Romans.
ROMANS: No, I know, I just think it's really interesting that you have such a low unemployment rate but yet, jobs, jobs, jobs, still a really important factor in all of these campaigns. All right, John. I will check with you in a minute.
40 minutes past the hour. The wife of an ISIS leader charged in the death of a U.S. aid worker held hostage by the terrorists. We've got new details on that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:45:13] ROMANS: The wife of a top ISIS leader charged by the Justice Department for her role in the death of American aide worker, Kayla Mueller. Now it's not clear whether the U.S. plans to take custody of this person, Umm Sayyaf. She was captured in a U.S. raid last May. She is now in the custody of the Kurdish government in Iraq. The FBI says Sayyaf kept Mueller imprisoned for 17 months on behalf of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who raped her repeatedly over the course of her captivity.
Homeland security and FBI officials confirmed they are investigating a data breach that exposed sensitive information about nearly 30,000 of their staff members. Names, titles, contact information released online by the hackers accompanied by pro-Palestine slogans. The identities of more than half the FBI's employees now in the public domain. The hacker claims to have penetrated the DHS and FBI files through a Justice Department computer.
President Obama sends his eighth and final budget proposal to congress today and it's already dead on arrival. The plan includes a $10 a barrel tax on oil for green infrastructure and transportation projects. It includes money for cancer research and opioid abuse programs. But the Republican chairman of the house and senate budget committees, they both refused to even grant the usual hearing to the President's budget director.
President Obama asking congress for $1.8 billion in emergency funding to fight the Zika virus and the 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. That's the highest status due to the risk of transmission in the U.S. It means the agency will work around the clock on multiple levels to contain the fast spreading virus.
Michigan governor Rick 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's got 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 him.
Four anti-government protesters are still occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge. They have posted a series of youtube videos mocking FBI agents, calling them losers. One says he was told they would face additional charges because of barricades they had built. The standoff began, of course, January 2. Eight protesters, including the leader, Ammon Bundy, they were arrested late last month. One protester killed in a shootout with police. These four holdouts refuse to leave without assurances they will not be arrested.
Time for an EARLY START on your money. Fear once again gripping stock markets around the world this morning. The Chinese markets are closed for the lunar new year but look at Japan. The Nikkei plunging 5.4 percent. The yield on long term Japanese bonds dropping below 0 percent for the first time ever. Investors running out of stocks and in the safety of bonds and gold. A lot depends on the price of oil, this morning. Dow futures down. Paris, Frankfurt, London, European stocks are mixed right now.
A brutal day on Wall Street yesterday. Look at this. The Dow down 178 points. It has been down 400 at one point, so that's actually an improvement there. The NASDAQ fell 1.8 percent. It's getting closer to bear market territory. That's a drop of 20 percent from the recent high. So where do markets stand for the year now? I'm sorry to report the Dow is down 8 percent. Look at the NASDAQ, down more than 14 percent. The S&P 500 down more than 9 percent. A far cry from the gain experts were expecting at the end of last year.
Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Alisyn Camerota, Chris Cuomo joins us now from New Hampshire. Good morning.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hi, things are getting cooking here at the Waterworks Cafe. Voting is already under way in the New Hampshire primary and the campaign kicking into even higher gear, if you can imagine. Donald Trump spilling another vulgarity at a campaign event. How do voters feel about all of the rhetoric we've heard in the past 24 hours? We'll break down the race and speak live with GOP candidate Chris Christie.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Now, J.B. mentioned earlier to you, Christina, one of the virtues of New Hampshire, they're a quick counting state. That's true, but you cannot count until people decide whom and even which party they want to vote for and another special feature that we're seeing in New Hampshire is as many as four, maybe four and a half out of ten people say that they don't know who they're going to vote for yet, right until this day, not even which party, in a lot of cases. And in terms of the point you were making about, wow, it's weird that jobs are so big -- well we've been hearing up here and around the country is it's not about having a job. You're right. The unemployment rate is what it is. It's below 5 percent. It's about the kinds of jobs and the pay that they're getting. It's that under employment and it's that economic satisfaction indicator that's driving a lot of the angst, even if you don't see it in the unemployment factor. So we'll see how that tracks and how people come out and what they say today.
[05:50:09] ROMANS: Yes, opportunity. Sometimes the statistics don't show the opportunity or lack of it that people are feeling out there. Definitely resonating in all those campaigns. All right, guys. Can't wait to see you. Thanks so much.
50 minutes past the hour. Tens of thousands of Syrians right now begging for safety. They are at the Turkish border. They are desperate to escape their war-torn country and they're unable to get out. We're going to take you there next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Tens of thousands of Syrians are desperately fleeing to the Turkish border to escape what the U.N. is now calling extermination. Syrian government forces, backed by relentless Russian airstrikes, are driving them from their homes in Aleppo and now a U.N. report accuses the Assad regime of inhumane actions against Syrian civillians.
Let's bring in senior international correspondent Arwa Damon. She is along the Syria/Turkey border.
[05:55:08] ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. And another important aspect highlighted in that U.N. report is that more people, civilians, have been killed by the Assad regime than by ISIS or any of the other opposition groups or by any of the Russian and coalition air strikes. Tens of thousands already gathered here on the other side of this border crossing awaiting for Turkey to decide that the conditions will allow them to cross through. What does this mean? Well put simply, Turkey says that it cannot take anymore refugees. It already has more than 2.5 million and it is providing shelter, food, water for them on the other side. But those who are stuck are really just begging with the authorities to have mercy and let them through because they don't necessarily care about having a tent over their heads. What they want so desperately is that sense of security in the face of what many describing as the most intense bombardment of Syria's civil war and that is the bombardment by Russian jets that are providing significant air cover for Assad's forces clearing out not only areas in the Aleppo countryside, but also advancing on what once was Syria's largest city.
ROMANS: All right, Arwa Damon, thank you for that. Breaking news right now. Eight people confirmed dead in a head-on collision between two trains in Germany. Officials say 50 people are critically injured in the crash in the Southern German state of Bavaria. About 100 more are less seriously hurt. The cause of the crash is not yet known.
Let's get an EARLY START on your money this Tuesday morning. Another bout of fear spreading through global stock markets. Chinese markets closed for the lunar new year but look at Japan, it's Nikkei plunging 5.4 percent. European markets are mostly lower. U.S. stock futures also down here. A brutal day on Wall Street yesterday. The Dow fell as many as 400 points and then closed down 178. The NASDAQ fell almost 2 percent, edging closer to a bear market. A bear market a 20 percent drop from a previous high. Oil was driving the sell off. Once again, prices fell 3 percent, dipping below $29 a barrel. The big losers on Wall Street yesterday, the energy companies.
Take a look at this. Baker Hughes down nearly 5 percent. Transocean dropping 7 percent. That's nothing compared to Chesapeake Energy. It fell 51 percent on rumors it was filing for bankruptcy. The company issued a statement saying, no, that's not the case, but it really didn't matter. The stock closed down 33 percent for the day. What's bad for oil companies and oil company investors has been great for drivers. The national average for a gallon of regular, $1.72. That's down more than 20 cents in just a month. Some in the country are getting close to $1 a gallon. The cheapest gas at the moment right now, a 7-Eleven in Oklahoma City selling a gallon of regular for $1.11.
All right, in New Hampshire. To New Hampshire now, where the voting has already begun. The nation's first presidential primary.
NEW DAY" picks that up now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have to get rid of the Bush's of the world.
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's a long list of things that Donald Trump says that disparages people.
TRUMP: She said he's [ bleep ]. That's terrible. Terrible. SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are here in New Hampshire competing for the votes. At this point, it's a turnout game.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everybody's got a plan until you get punched in the face.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there a system by which you memorize answers? Is that how you do it?
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No. I know what I believe.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Join with us in making that political revolution.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When I'm on a stage like this, I wish we weren't married. Then I could say what I really think.
H. CLINTON: We're moving into a different phase of the campaign. It would be malpractice not to say, OK, what worked? What can we do better?
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Look at that. What a vista to start this big day. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I don't know what's going on with Michaela, there, but she's in New York.
CAMEROTA: She thought we were referring to her.
CUOMO: You are gorgeous every day, my love. Every day, every day. We are here at the focal point of American politics in New Hampshire, specifically the Waterworks Cafe in Manchester. Guess what? Polls are opening right now. Just after midnight, in fact, in the hinterlands. Three towns already casting a handful of ballots. The big population centers going to open right now are pretty soon with this, the nation's first primary. The race will likely be decided by undecided voters. As many as 40 percent of people saying they still don't know who they are going to vote for, or even which party. Many as late as when they enter the booth. So the totals right now is a three way tie at the top of the Republican field. Let's take them through it.
CAMEROTA: OK. We have Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich. They're all tied, as you can see.
