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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Wins Nevada Caucuses; Sanders & Clinton Battle for South Carolina Votes; Kalamazoo Shooting Rampage. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired February 24, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump with another big victory, this time, Nevada, dominating the state's caucuses, winning almost every vote or demographic. The big question this morning, is the Republican front-runner now unstoppable?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders with new strategies on the CNN town hall stage. So, what changed during that event late last night? We'll break it down coming up.

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

ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. Nice to spend the morning with you, folks. It's bright and early, Wednesday, February 24th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

Breaking news this morning, Donald Trump wins big in the Nevada Republican caucuses, with 94 percent of the precincts now reporting, 94 percent. Donald Trump way out front, out front by a mile, out front by ten miles, 45.9 percent of the vote.

[05:00:07] The real question, who will come in second?

And right now, Marco Rubio has the edge: 23.8 percent of the vote, edging out Ted Cruz in third by a couple of percentage points. Pulling in the rear single digits, Ben Carson and John Kasich.

Now, Trump triumphed in nearly every county in the state. Trump was hugely popular among voters who say they're angry, they are dissatisfied with the federal government, and among those who say they want the next president to be an outsider, not someone experienced in politics.

In his victory speech, Trump was ecstatic about his win across virtually all demographic groups.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We won the evangelicals, we won with young, we won with old, we won with highly educated, we won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated. With the smartest people, with the most loyal people.

And you know what I really am happy about? Because I've been saying it for a long time. Forty-six percent with Hispanics, 46 percent. Number one with Hispanics.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

I'm really happy about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: He is happy. The win in Nevada puts Trump well ahead of the delegate count. He now has more twice as many pledged delegates as all the other candidates combined. Now, they look at the biggest cache yet, Super Tuesday next week.

BERMAN: Joining us to break down the Nevada results and the numbers looking forward, CNN political reporter Tal Kopan in our Washington bureau.

Tal, you know, again, I think people are going to wake up going wow. You know, as they went to sleep right now, the results weren't in until midnight. Maybe they heard Donald Trump was ahead. Maybe they had heard he was leading.

But this is a blowout. He's nearly at 46 percent right now.

TAL KOPAN, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, absolutely. In fact, it was such a blowout, that pretty much everyone called it at 12:00 a.m. on the dot Eastern Time. It was without a doubt, even then.

You know, the polls showed that he was up by a lot going into the caucuses, but Nevada polling is sort of notoriously difficult and off a little bit. It wasn't off. He won by a lot. And there are a lot of folks in the Republican establishment this morning wondering if there's any reality left to a notion that someone could take him down. He certainly seems to be on a roll and there's no indication anywhere that he's going to stop.

ROMANS: He won New Hampshire, he won South Carolina, he now won Nevada. He said in his speech last night, he said, look, tomorrow, people are going to try to add everybody else, up and say, look, somebody else could beet Donald Trump, but no way. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So, tonight we had 45 percent, 46 percent, and tomorrow, you'll be hearing, you know, if they could just take the other candidates and add them up, and if you could add them up, because you know the other candidates amount to 55 percent.

They keep forgetting that when people drop out, we're going to get a lot of votes. They keep forgetting. They don't say it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: I mean, you point out -- you can't really put a ceiling on Trump support.

KOPAN: Absolutely. You know, he's right. And, of course, his naysayers are right, too, in a sense, that there is a scenario where if all the other candidates drop out and if there's one candidate that can sort of consolidate their support, it is possible that that person who probably in most cases would be Marco Rubio. He's in the best position for it right now.

When you start to run the numbers and they about that scenario if Ted Cruz were to drop out of the race at some point, which there's no indication he's going any time soon, if he were, a lot of that support might go to Trump. Donald Trump is not wrong in that case. So, while it's certainly possible someone can hang in long enough until moderate states can start to vote and rack up counts, it's possible he puts it away.

BERMAN: I want to point out one other thing out here. A lot of people say Nevada is a strange voting state. It's a caucus state with very low turnout. Turnout, I think, is double what it was four years ago. So, Donald Trump is drawing more voters and still winning big.

Now, we talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. Let's talk about Ted Cruz because he's been, you know, lagging behind lately, that apparent third place finish in South Carolina. Right now, he's in third place in Nevada as well. He did take the stage last night. He said this is all about Super Tuesday next Tuesday. Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've been told folks in Nevada like their guns.

[05:05:04] As a Texan, I understand. Let me tell you something. You look at those Super Tuesday states, they like their guns too.

And if you want to protect that Second Amendment to stop a liberal justice from reading the Second Amendment out of the Bill of Rights, ask yourself who has led the fight to defend the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. Super Tuesday coming up. Ted Cruz, you know, you can see 155 delegates at stake in his home state of Texas. Rick Tyler, who used to work for the campaign a few days ago, told me Texas is a must-win for Ted Cruz, but it will be a battle for Texas, Tal.

KOPAN: Absolutely. You know, a lot of the polling coming out, it's a little bit all over the map in terms of when it was conducted and how. But most of it shows Donald Trump ahead almost everywhere.

And Texas is absolutely a must-win for Ted Cruz. It's a home state. He mentioned it in his concession speech last night, saying it's going to be good go back there, he's sleeping in his own bed tonight and he's been ahead of our GOP debate there tomorrow. It is a must-win for him.

You know, sometimes they give out the worst week in Washington awards. You could argue that Ted Cruz is up for that this week. He was battered by both sides by Donald Trump and Marco Rubio on this dishonesty issue and had to fire his spokesman Rick Tyler over a false video that was circulated about Marco Rubio that turned out to be completely wrong and how it casts Marco Rubio, and he finishes a third most likely in Nevada and gives this tired, deflated speech about moving on to Super Tuesday.

You know, he needs a rebound, if he's going to compete. That's for sure.

ROMANS: All right. Tal Kopan, thanks for that.

You can see, 95 percent of the precincts reporting now and you did not hear from Marco Rubio last night because he left Nevada. And he went -- he was out campaigning to some of those Super Tuesday states, getting a good night's rest so he'll be on TV this morning trying to tout what looks to be a number two position in Nevada.

The five remaining Republican candidates will meet head to head in the next GOP debate. That's tomorrow night in Houston, Texas. Wolf Blitzer will moderate the CNN GOP presidential debate, beginning at 8:30 p.m. tomorrow night, only on CNN.

BERMAN: There was another big CNN event overnight. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, they made their final pick to voters just a few days before their primary. CNN town hall event, I should say.

We saw some new strategies, some new lines and not necessarily attack, but a new campaign direction from both candidates. We'll break it down, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:11:58] ROMANS: All right. Breaking news at this hour: we are following election results from the Nevada caucuses, live tonight.

Right now, or this morning, 96 percent of the precincts are in, and Donald Trump has won, with a solid win, by a mile, by 10 miles, 45.9 percent. It's becoming clear who won second place. Marco Rubio a couple of thousand votes ahead of Ted Cruz. Ben Carson and John Kasich languishing in single digits there. We're going to follow the Nevada caucus results closely as they continue to come in and bring them to you live.

BERMAN: Just one point in this again, for all those people who are pointing towards a winnow field being a way to beat Donald Trump, Marco Rubio plus Ted Cruz, you add up all their votes, still less than Donald Trump. Big.

All right. Also breaking overnight, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, they made their case for their candidates at a CNN Democratic town hall in Columbia, South Carolina. Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, they confronted racial issues in a state where African-Americans, they will play a major role in the Democratic primary which is on Saturday.

Right now, polls show Hillary Clinton with a pretty solid lead over Bernie Sanders. One really interesting moment at this town hall came when Chris Cuomo, the moderator, asked Secretary Clinton why she's not released the transcripts of paid speeches that she gave to Wall Street banks.

CNN Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny has more on that from South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Wall Street is one of the major issues of this Democratic presidential campaign, at least when it comes to some critics of Hillary Clinton.

Now, the topic of her paid speeches to Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street firms has been one of the issues throughout the course of this campaign. It was no exception that that Democratic town hall on Tuesday night here in South Carolina, major differences between how Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton address this.

Take a listen to what Bernie Sanders said about the paid speeches he has or hasn't given during his career.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, I've not had a paid speech. It's against the law to give paid speeches. I have given some speeches and money was donated to charity way, way back. I got a few dollars. If I can find the transcripts, I'm very, very happy to do it.

But what Secretary Clinton said, I will do it if other people do it. Well, I am very happy to release all of my paid speeches to Wall Street. Here it is, Chris. There ain't none.

ZELENY: Hillary Clinton said a different standard is being used for her. She said that she would onto give up her transcripts if Republicans did the same.

Listen to how she explained.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All the more reason to move this as an issue. You know everybody is not going to bring up their transcripts. There will be --

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Why is there one standard for me and not for everybody else, Chris? I mean, you know, at some point, at some point -- you know, look, I'm on record. I have a record.

It certainly is far different from the Republicans because they think actually and have said the cause of the Great Recession was too much regulation on Wall Street, which is an absolute joke. I have been up fronted and strong on this issue for a long time, as strong I would argue as my esteemed opponent.

[05:15:01] So, you know what? If people are going to ask for things, everybody should be on a level playing field and I'm happy if that were the case. ZELENY: Now, this is just one of the issues driving this Democratic campaign. Of course, a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters are concerned about this, but overall Hillary Clinton has a commanding lead here in South Carolina.

Issues of race also were front and center during the Democratic town hall. It's hard to believe any minds might have been changed by this Democratic town hall. Bernie Sanders is going to be campaigning in Super Tuesday states. Hillary Clinton is going to stay in South Carolina looking for a strong finish on Saturday -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Thanks to Jeff for that.

Let's bring back CNN politics reporter Tal Kopan.

Tal, you know, it's really interesting. There's a battle for African- American votes, not just in South Carolina but in the Super Tuesday states. And this is a demographic that Hillary Clinton crushed Bernie Sanders with in Nevada, nearly 3-1.

Bernie Sanders, now, really I think making a concerted effort for outreach. I was talking to supporters of is yesterday. They pointed out that he backed Jesse Jackson twice in the 1980s. He got arrested protesting for equality and civil rights in the 1960s and he talked about that arrest last night. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: My answer would be to the kids. They would say, think hard. What do you believe? What kind of community, what kind of country do you want us to be? And are you prepared to fight for that? Are you prepared to take on very powerful special interests in order to achieve the vision that you have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, obviously, Bernie Sanders knows that he makes -- has to make up some ground with minority voters soon.

KOPAN: Yes, absolutely. You saw him working that in to several of his answers. Like you mentioned, he brought up that arrest.

And, of course, the photo from him from the '60s getting arrested just surfaced in the past week and so, it's sort of been in the news and he very skillfully sort of slipped that in to an answer. He also took a question about the Supreme Court nomination to replace the late Justice Scalia, and he turned it into a conversation about GOP obstructionism and what he blames as racism for some of the birther controversy around President Obama.

So, he was really trying to speak to African-American voters last night and it would be unfair to say he hasn't been speaking to them to a certain extent on the campaign trail this whole time. But we're definitely seeing a concerted effort from him in the past

few weeks to try to close that gap with Hillary Clinton and last night, he sort of slipped it in wherever he could in a way to reach out to them.

ROMANS: And Hillary Clinton has a gap to close with Bernie Sanders and that is with young people, and young women in particular. There was a young law school student who talked to -- asked a question of Hillary Clinton and asked her, you know, why does she think, Hillary Clinton -- why does Hillary Clinton think young people are not energized by the Clinton campaign.

Listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you think has been causing this common generational gap that I see so many places between your supporters and Senator Sanders supporters?

CLINTON: Well, I'm not sure to be honest. I really don't know. But I want you to know that whether you end up supporting me or not, I will support you, and I will support the young people in this country, because that has been -- that has been my life's work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Something that strikes me about that particular exchange and sort of this idea among young women the idea that the first female president isn't resonating with them. For that young woman, Tal, probably most of her life she only remembers a female secretary of state, for example. There's already been such a trail blaze for women, that the way Gen-x women feel is different than millennial women feel.

KOPAN: Yes. You know, you saw her speaking to the young woman, trying to really connect with her on a personal level, asking her about her student loan debt for example. You can see the frustration in her answer. She's really not sure why she isn't connecting with the younger generation.

Of course, Bernie Sanders is actually a few years older than her. It's not like he's captured that electricity because of his age. It's because of his campaign message and strategy and she really hasn't been able to tap into that excitement.

You mention sort of feminism and her potentially being the first woman president, which she mentioned subtly but can't run on. When asked about it, she says, of course, true feminism is a woman being able to make up her mind about who to vote for on the merits and not necessarily because there's a woman running.

So, you know, it's hard for her to make a pitch. You have to support her because she would be ground breaking, because, of course, the truth is people should be able to make up their minds and that's the message she's sticking to. So, she's in a bit of a tough spot with that particular argument.

ROMANS: Interesting.

BERMAN: All right. Tal Kopan, great to have you with us. We'll talk with you again I bet in just a little bit.

ROMANS: All right. Donald Trump with a huge victory in the Nevada caucuses.

[05:20:01] And now, Marco Rubio apparently beating out Ted Cruz for number two. We're tracking it all live all morning low.

But, first, stunning new information about the Uber driver accused of committing a deadly shooting spree between picking up fares. What we're learning about his mental health and about his gun ownership.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Breaking news: Donald Trump sweeping to a victory in the Nevada caucuses. Right now with 96 percent of the precincts reporting, Donald Trump the clear winner. Another decisive victory for Donald Trump, the only contest in Nevada is for second place.

[05:25:02] Right now, Marco Rubio has pulled ahead of Ted Cruz by a couple thousand votes. Ben Carson and John Kasich way back with single-digit support.

We'll continue to follow this as they come in.

BERMAN: Some other news this morning: police in Kalamazoo, Michigan, said the suspect in a deadly shooting rampage had no history of mental illness. The 45-year-old shooter is charged with killing six people at random during the weekend shooting spree. Two others were seriously wounded, including a 14-year-old girl.

Authorities say the gunman did not have a gun license. One victim was shot while protecting her children from the shooting. A witness told CNN what she saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAMMY GEORGE, WITNESSED SHOOTING: At first I actually thought she had tripped because she was right near the curb.

REPORTER: She fell right there.

GEORGE: Yes. So I thought she had tripped. And then she kept asking about her babies and saying, why did he shoot me? That's when I realized it was not fireworks. It was actual shooting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Police still have no motive here. They say the suspect is being held in segregation in the Kalamazoo County jail.

ROMANS: All right. Donald Trump, to politics now, Donald Trump with a huge victory in the Nevada caucuses. Marco Rubio now pushing ahead of Ted Cruz in the battle for second place. We are live as votes come in, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)