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Supreme Court Battle; Trump's Commanding Lead in South Carolina; U.S. Blames Russia for Syrian Airstrikes; China Puts Missiles on Disputed Island Chain; Pope to Visit Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired February 17, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:18] MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama defiant, promising to nominate someone to fill the Supreme Court vacancy and with a new criticism for the front runner in the race for president.

And good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Miguel Marquez.

Good to see you.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Nice to see you, too.

I'm Christine Romans. It is Wednesday, February 17th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East this morning.

President Obama this morning keeping this morning keeping mum about who he might nominate to replace Antonin Scalia except to say that it will someone with, quote, "an outstanding legal mind, indisputably qualified to serve on the Supreme Court."

The White House strategy for getting a nominee on the high court starting to take shape with a news conference in which the president pushed back against what he called Republican obstructionism.

Our justice correspondent Pamela Brown has the very latest for us this morning from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Christine and Miguel.

This is the first time President Obama took questions following Justice Scalia's death and he took a tough stance, saying that the Constitution is clear, both he and the Senate have the responsibility in filling the Supreme Court vacancy. He said he expects Senate Republicans to consider any nominee he puts forward no matter what, that they have a job to do until they're voted out and he made the point that whoever he chooses will be so indisputably qualified that the Republicans will essentially look bad if they refuse to even consider that person.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to find somebody who has an outstanding legal mind, somebody who cares deeply about our democracy and cares about rule of law. There's not going to be any particular position on a particular issue that determines whether or not I nominate them, but I'm going to present somebody who indisputably is qualified for the seat, and any fair-minded person, even somebody who disagreed with my politics would say, would serve with honor and integrity on the court.

BROWN: He would not give any hints about who is on his short list. He said don't jump to any conclusions about whether they're moderates. We know that the White House has already started whittling down potential nominees. And, normally, this is a process that takes about a month before this president comes out and announces who his nominee is and then the ball is in the Senate's court -- Christine and Miguel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Thanks to you.

President Obama taking Republicans running to replace him, most especially Donald Trump. The president slamming all the GOP candidates for their stances on climate change, on Muslims, and on immigration, but calling out Trump by name as the candidate least ready to be president, criticism that Trump then wore as a badge of honor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I continue to believe Mr. Trump will not be president, and the reason is because I have a lot of faith in the American people and I think they recognize that being president is a serious job. It's not hosting a talk show or a reality show.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He has done such a lousy job as president.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

You look at our budgets, you look at our spending. We can't beat ISIS. Obamacare is terrible. And for him to say that is actually a great compliment if you want to know the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: As those big cheers hint, Trump's support is only growing in South Carolina, holding huge leads in brand new CNN's poll.

Our Athena Jones has the latest from Columbia, South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christina and Miguel.

We're closing in on primary day here in South Carolina, the first state in the south to hold a primary. And we have some new numbers out from CNN and ORC showing the state of the race. Take a look here. You can see Donald Trump holding a big lead over everybody else, 16 points ahead of Ted Cruz who's in second place at 22 percent. Marco Rubio follows at 14 percent. Jeb Bush at 10 percent in fourth place. The rest in single digits.

Now, this poll shows Trump is seen as the candidate best able to handle the economy, immigration, and ISIS, and as the candidate having the best chance to win in November and seen as the most likely to change the way things work in Washington.

And when it comes to the evangelical vote, you know evangelicals make up the majority of the GOP primary electorate here in South Carolina, Trump leads Cruz by nearly 20 points among evangelical numbers.

[04:05:01] Those numbers are 42 percent for Trump to 23 percent for Cruz.

Now, I should tell you, our poll found that about half of likely voters say they've made up their minds, the rest are still deciding or are leaning towards a candidate. So, how are the campaigns trying to win over these persuadable voters?

Well, as for the Bush campaign, they're clearly relying a bit on his family name. We already saw President George W. Bush take the stage, campaigning for his brother here in South Carolina. Tomorrow, Barbara Bush will join her son once again on the campaign trail. We already saw her stumping for him in New Hampshire. She'll join him again tomorrow and stay with him through the primary.

Clearly, the Bush team hoping that family name will give him a boost here in South Carolina -- Christine, Miguel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Athena Jones, thank you very much.

Republican candidates speak out on CNN this week in a unique two-night event, Wednesday and Thursday at 8:00 p.m., for the first time in this campaign. All six candidates will answer questions from the voters of South Carolina in two live town halls moderated by our own Anderson Cooper.

ROMANS: All right. With a week and a half to go until the South Carolina primary, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are fighting hard for crucial minority votes. The latest CNN/ORC poll shows Clinton maintaining, look, a commanding 18-point lead in South Carolina, 56 percent to 38 percent.

Sanders spending precious stumped across South Carolina, appealing to African-American voters while Clinton spoke in Harlem proposing $125 billion for new programs fighting racial and economic inequality, and implying Sanders was a late-comer to racial issues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When we talk about what's going on in this country and the fact that virtually the entire nation suffered terribly as a result of the greed and recklessness and illegal behavior of Wall Street, which drove this economy into a terrible recession, the African-American community suffered more and has recovered in much less significant way.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to begin by facing up to the reality of systemic racism because these are not only problems of economic inequality, these are problems of racial inequality. And we've got to say that loudly and clearly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Today, Clinton will be joined in Chicago by the mother of Sandra Bland. She is, of course, the African-American woman found hanged in her jail cell after a routine traffic stop in Houston.

MARQUEZ: The U.S. reportedly had a cyberattack plan in place if the diplomatic effort to limit Iran's nuclear ambitions fell through, and led to a military conflict, that bombshell from an upcoming documentary as well as interviews with military and intelligence officials. The plan called Nitro Zeus would have disabled Iran's air defenses, communications systems and parts of its power grid. It was meant to give President Obama options to avoid all-out war, but it was put on the back-burner after the nuclear deal between Iran and six other nations was reached last summer.

Commercial airlines are getting a green light. The two countries signing a deal that will allow the daily flights to and from the island nation for first time in more than 50 years. It calls for as many as 110 daily flights to ten destinations in Cuba, with about 20 of them to Havana. U.S. airlines will now be invited to apply for operating the flights.

ROMANS: Time for an early start on your money this morning. Future, stock futures pointing just slightly lower right now following a nice rally yesterday. Oil price edging lower. Markets in Europe -- stock markets in Europe and Asia are mixed.

America's bull market in stocks may end soon, but it's not time to panic just yet. There's a 50 percent chance that U.S. stocks will dive into the bear market this year, that is according to a CNN Money survey of top investment strategists. But most believe the fall will be short-lived.

Here's what that bull market will look like. It's the third all-time. Since the recession lows in March of 2009, the S&P 500 is up an amazing 180 percent. This year, the stocks have come close to breaking that streak and entering the bear market, or it's 20 percent drop from recent highs. But experts in this survey think the S&P 500 wild end the year with a 2.5 percent gain. That's a jump of 11 percent from its current level. You know, it's been such a painful start to the year, Miguel, that when you show a chart that says 180 percent since 2009, it's kind of, you know--

MARQUEZ: When you say the word about panicking, I'm going to panic I think. I'm just going to start panicking. ROMANS: Panicking is never good.

MARQUEZ: I'll panic later.

The U.S. blaming Russia for attacking schools and hospitals in Syria. Violence escalating just days before a proposed cease-fire. We are live with new developments coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:13:33] MARQUEZ: Today, vital humanitarian aid is set to reach starving civilians trapped behind front lines in Syria's civil war. At least that is the plan. But as of yesterday, the U.N. was still negotiating from the Assad regime and just days before a proposed cessation of hostilities that's set to go into effect, violence is only increasing with air strikes on schools and hospitals and rebel- held territory that the U.S. is blaming on Russia.

For the latest, we turn to senior international correspondent Matthew Chance who is live in Moscow.

Matthew, do we have any better sense on the bombings of the Doctors Without Borders facility and those schools as to what happened?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly not in terms of what information we're getting from the Russians. I mean, the Russians have deployed their strategy of denial time and again whenever they're confronted with allegations that civilians have been killed in that bombing campaign. They've categorically said that's not the case. They don't target civilians they say, and they say they triple check their targeting, their targets before they carry out their strikes.

They've used exactly that same strategy when it comes to these latest allegations about the attacks on the MSF hospital in Idlib and on the other hospital as well which was in the Turkish border in a town called Azaz where numerous people were reportedly killed.

This was not them according to the Kremlin. The Kremlin spokesman yesterday issuing a statement saying they haven't seen any evidence to indicate that this was Russian air forces.

[04:15:05] The defense ministry of Russia came out as well, saying that the air force would not even carry out raids anywhere near those facilities at the time they were struck. And we've even had the Syrian ambassador to Russia appear on state television here, blaming the United States for carrying the strikes against the two hospitals.

MARQUEZ: All right. Matthew Chance for us in Moscow, thank you very much.

ROMANS: Apple is now under court order to help law enforcement recover encrypted data from the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters, Syed Farook. A federal judge ruling on a request by prosecutors to have Apple assist in finding the passcode and access information from Farook's locked cell phone. Syed Farook and wife Tashfeen Malik, they murdered 14 people in San

Bernardino in December. Court documents reveal Apple declined, declined to assist the FBI voluntary.

MARQUEZ: Now, the Food and Drug Administration issuing new guidelines to prevent the Zika virus from contaminating the nation's blood supply. It would require blood banks in areas where Zika has been transmitted like Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands, to import blood rather than use local donation. Experts say it's likely the Zika virus could be transmitted through tainted blood. The FDA has recommended that certain at risk donors not donate blood for now.

ROMANS: Michigan Governor Rick Snyder blaming the federal government from multiple failures in responding to lead contamination in Flint's drinking water. Snyder telling reporters he hopes U.S. officials are being asked tough questions he said. The EPA took exception to Snyder's remarks, issuing a statement that said state and local officials, they failed to work with the EPA in a transparent and proactive manner, their words, to address the risk to the public health.

MARQUEZ: South Dakota lawmakers passing a controversial bathroom bill that's drawn outrage from the LGBT community. It requires public school students to use restrooms and other facilities based on their chromosomes and anatomy at birth. Supporters argue it is designed to protect privacy. Critics say it discriminates against transgender students. If the governor signs it, as expected, South Dakota would be the first state with such a law.

ROMANS: All right. Nineteen -- 17 minutes past the hour.

After that arctic blast is a return to record warmth on its way. Let's get to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Miguel and Christine, good morning, guys. Yes, the conditions are really going to warm up the next couple of days. It's not going to records, I don't think, but definitely going to be very mild compared to last weekend.

We do have light showers pushing around the Carolinas. Some snow showers out of Lake Erie and Ontario. There's going to be a quick moving disturbance across the region. The temps are going to cool off at least initially from places like Buffalo, 29 down to 26. New York's 32 drops off to 37 tomorrow, right in line with what is average for this time of year.

But this Saturday, far from average, how about this, high pressure pitches it camp out, 20 above average, around the Northeast, by Saturday into Sunday. So, here's what it looks like: Philly, how about closing in on 60. D.C. could exceed 60 degrees on Saturday, even New York makes it up to 53 degrees, a flip-flop of what happened, of course, because last Sunday's high in central park, look at this Saturday's high going 15 degrees, way above average for 42 this time of year.

ROMANS: Wow, that is quite a flip. All right. Thanks for that. All right. Congratulations to a German short-haired pointer named

C.J. He is America's new top dog. Competition was rough, but C.J. prevailed. More than 2,700 dogs around the country took part in this annual event in New York City, including seven new breeds. C.J. is a 3-year-old male. He's the third dog of the breed to take the top prize.

MARQUEZ: That is a gorgeous dog.

ROMANS: Sure is.

MARQUEZ: I want it.

Breaking overnight, China flexing its military muscle, moving missiles into a disputed island in the South China Sea. We're breaking down what all of that could mean, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:23:13] ROMANS: Breaking overnight, heightened tensions in the South China Sea. China has deployed surface-to-air missiles on an island chain in disputed territorial waters.

CNN senior international correspondent Ivan Watson is following developments for us. He is live in Hong Kong.

And, Ivan, not 12 hours ago, the president of the United States was urging restraint in this very neighborhood. And now, we have report from U.S. officials that this is an advanced missile deployment there.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And some people are interpreting this as a Chinese provocation.

Let's get to the map here. U.S. and Taiwanese defense officials say that China put these surface-to-air missiles on this woody island here in the South China Sea. It's in an archipelago that's claimed not only by China but also by Vietnam and by Taiwan.

Now, why does this matter? China has had a presence here for like more than 50 years. It has an airstrip here. Why it matters is, take a bigger look at the South China Sea here. This is a body of water that an estimated 30 percent of the world's shipping passes through. It's also an area that China claims largely for itself all the way down to here.

Now, President Obama at his meeting with Southeast Asian leaders, he said that all countries big and small must follow international law. He insisted that he would help basically small countries defend their stakes in the South China Sea and it would do so by continuing to send U.S. warplanes and Navy ships into this area to challenge the China's claim to the South China Sea in the so-called freedom of navigation operations.

Now, the big area of concern is a different archipelago here, the Spratly Islands. They're so much closer to the Philippines which claims them than China way up here. [04:25:04] Now, if we zoom in, we can see why this is a uniquely 21st

century dispute. This is one of the reefs there in 2005 known as Fiery Cross. Now, look what happened ten years after China started building on it. They built an entire island in the sea complete with air strips.

So, one of the concerns here is that China could militarize islands like this. China has responded saying, no, it's just putting some military installations in these places for self defense. It's national right, and mostly this work is being done for emergency rescue purposes and to help with meteorology information gathering -- Christine.

ROMANS: Which is what we've heard that so many times, Ivan, from Chinese officials. The foreign ministry saying this morning that western media should focus more on the lighthouses they're building that are going to help all of the traffic through there and less on the military installations.

All right, Ivan. Thank you so much for that.

MARQUEZ: The final stop on Pope Francis's trip to Mexico may be the most dramatic. The pontiff travels to the notorious border town of Ciudad Juarez. He'll pray for migrants who died trying to cross into the United States and celebrate mass today just a stone's throw away from the U.S. border.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there, Miguel and Christine.

There is no shortage of anticipation and also plenty of security here on the streets of Ciudad Juarez. It's a place that was once considered one of the most dangerous places in the world at the height of bloody cartel turf war. Well, now, it gets ready to welcome a pope as soon as Francis wheels down about noon Eastern Time, he'll go directly to a state prison that reflect the various changes that we've seen here on the streets of Juarez. He'll pray there with about 800 inmates before he eventually heads to meet with several local leaders.

And then ultimately the moment that we expect to be extremely symbolic is when Pope Francis head to celebrate to mass only 60 yards from the U.S./Mexico border. Many here seem to agree that most symbolic moment will actually come as he will pray at a temporary memorial to migrants that's overlooking the U.S./Mexico border. Obviously, that's deeply symbolic itself before Pope Francis then gets back on the plane and heads back to the Vatican, the people, not only here in Juarez but really throughout Mexico, hoping that he leaves behind this message of peace, this message of hope in a place that already has seen plenty of violence for so many innocent lives.

Miguel and Christine, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MARQUEZ: Thank you, Polo.

President Obama promising to nominate someone to fill the Supreme Court vacancy as he takes on the Republican leading in the race for president. We'll have that coming up just next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)