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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
GOP Rivals Scramble to Block Trump; Trump Will Stump Across the South Attempting to Secure Knockout in SEC Primary on Tuesday; Romney Warns of 'Bombshell' in Trump's Taxes; Obama Vows to Pick Supreme Court Candidate; GOP Leaders Say They Won't Consider Election Year Nominee; Apple CEO on Privacy Fight With FBI; 15 Guns Removed From Home of Uber Driver Jason Dalton; Deadly Storm Slams East Coast Leaving Four Dead; Truce in Syria Set for Friday. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired February 25, 2016 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:30:45] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Republicans running for president just hours from taking the CNN debate stage. Donald Trump is on top, but will any of his competitors be able to take him down?
Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans in New York. Big day in politics.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed. I'm John Berman, live in Houston.
About 31 minutes past the hour right now. This is the University of Houston where just hours from now the five remaining presidential candidates -- they face off in the CNN town hall debate. What a moment this will be. What a beautiful campus this is. You can see the calm, the still, over this campus right now. It will not be that way tonight. Not at all. Expect fireworks.
All four candidates not named Donald Trump -- they know this could be their last chance to knock Trump of his perch. It could be the only chance they have left to slow his momentum. You know, in the national polls Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio -- they've been running in second and third place behind Trump, with John Kasich and Ben Carson behind.
But it is not the national polls that matter. Donald Trump has won three state contests in a row. He has momentum and he's leading in a whole lot of polls heading into next Tuesday -- Super Tuesday, as we like to call it. All the other candidates know they have a lot of work to do and they say they could do it. They could beat Donald Trump if only they could get him one-on-one.
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SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald is formidable. People are ticked off. They're furious with Washington. They're furious with politicians in both parties that have been lying to them. And I think Donald's support is a manifestation of that. But what the polling data also shows is that head-to-head, Donald against me, we beat Donald handily. We beat him by 16 points, 56 to 40. SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our tactics are not
going to dramatically change. I think the biggest change in this campaign is going to be when the people not named Donald Trump -- the choices begin to narrow and we start to give the Republican voters a clearer choice of who they want to get behind.
BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: With fewer candidates, I think maybe there's a possibility -- I'm not sure it's going to happen -- but there's a possibility that people may actually start getting interested in the real solutions to the problems.
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By the way, for those that wonder about Donald Trump, if I go head-to-head with him in Ohio, I beat him by 18 points.
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BERMAN: All four current other candidates -- they want their chance to take a swing at Donald Trump. A former candidate also taking a swing on Donald Trump. I'm talking about Mitt Romney. More on that in just a moment. Donald Trump dealing with Mitt Romney, but also looking ahead to the general election.
CNN's Phil Mattingly was with Donald Trump in Virginia.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine. Donald Trump taking a bit of a victory lap after his sweeping victory in the Nevada caucuses and maybe looking forward a bit with attacks on Hillary Clinton.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Boy oh boy, she's become like a marshmallow. She's become -- everything he does -- oh, it's wonderful. Whatever he wants to do. It's wonderful. The president -- man, I tell you, it couldn't be -- her life could not so easy, but what she's done is so wrong and it's so unfair. And it looks like she'll be the nominee and it looks like nothing will happen, but it will be something that will be discussed, I promise you. It will be discussed often, often, often.
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MATTINGLY: Now, Donald Trump will be traveling across the deep south in the days ahead, a nod to that Super Tuesday SEC primary where 25 percent of available delegates will be up for grabs. Now, if you talk to GOP operatives across the different campaigns there's a very real concern now that Donald Trump has momentum that can't be halted.
Still, it's early. Not only is the SEC primary coming up, also winner-take-all events coming up on March 15th. You're talking about states like Ohio and Florida, places where Gov. John Kasich of Ohio or Florida Sen. Marco Rubio still think they have a shot to strike. So there is time left, but guys, there is an urgency coming about the campaign right now. One thing to keep an eye on is the CNN debate in Houston occurs
tonight. Full frontal attacks on Donald Trump -- look towards Ted Cruz, look towards Marco Rubio. The two battling it out for second place trying to make a statement tonight. Very wary donors and very wary supporters wanting that move to happen quickly. Tonight may be the night -- John and Christine.
[05:36:01] BERMAN: Tonight is the night where we will see a whole lot on that stage here at the University of Houston. This morning, though, there's a whole lot of talk about Donald Trump versus Mitt Romney after the last Republican nominee called on the current front- runner to be the next Republican nominee. He called on Donald Trump to release his taxes.
This morning Donald Trump, as what seems to be a new stance on that issue -- the billionaire businessman leaving open the possibility he will not release his taxes. He told Anderson Cooper he will make a determination over the next couple of months. This did come in response to -- I guess I would call it speculation from Mitt Romney that Trump could have something to hide.
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MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Frankly, I think we have good reason to believe that there's a bombshell in Donald Trump's taxes.
NEIL CAVUTO, HOST, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK: What do you mean?
ROMNEY: Well, I think there's something there. Either he's not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is, or he hasn't been paying the kind of taxes we would expect him to pay, or perhaps he hasn't been giving money to the vets or to the disabled like he's been telling us he's been doing. And, I think that's the -- the reason that I think there's a bombshell in there is because every time he's asked about his taxes he dodges and delays and says, well, we're working on it.
TRUMP: My returns are extremely complex and I'll make a determination at the right time. I'm in no rush to do it and nobody's been bringing it up except for Mitt Romney. And the reason he brings it up is that he lost in the last election, and lost very badly, so I don't know why he's bringing it up. But, tax returns are very complicated. I have many, many companies.
I have, you know, tremendously -- I have a very complex system of taxes and frankly I get audited every single year. So, you know, my -- unlike everybody else who never gets audited, I get audited every single year, which I think is unfair. But I got through large audits and that's the way it is. But, we'll make a determination over the next couple of months. It's very complicated.
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BERMAN: The new tax battle. Will it come up in tonight's debate here at the University of Houston? Let's talk about that and so much more. We want to bring in CNN politics managing editor for content. Steven
Sloan with me this morning. Steven, what about that? What about the taxes? Ted Cruz talked about it a little bit last night. Do you think this is an opportunity for the others candidates -- one they might seize on?
STEVEN SLOAN, CNN POLITICS, MANAGING EDITOR FOR CONTENT: It's something that I'm that will come up. It's a new line of attack that's developing over the past 24 hours. But for Donald Trump, he has no reason to really change his position. This is a great opportunity for him to go up against the establishment, you know. Romney kind of personifies the establishment for many Republicans, and by rejecting Romney's appeal and countering Romney, Trump just only builds that anti-establishment cred (ph).
BERMAN: It took two seconds for Donald Trump to respond on Twitter yesterday --
SLOAN: That's right.
BERMAN: -- when Mitt Romney put out -- you know, Trump said, Mitt Romney was so awkward when he came to endorse me -- or, get an endorsement from me four years ago. So, yes, I think you're right. I think Trump's eager to take and swing those punches. What's the biggest thing you're looking for tonight?
SLOAN: I think I'm looking at how Cruz and Rubio are going to behave on the stage and how they're going to go after Trump. Trump is the one that has the bullseye on this back. Everybody wants to see if they can dent his armor. And it really comes down to Cruz and Rubio as to whether they can become the alternative to Trump. They're both vying for that. They've finished very closely to each other in the past several contests and they are desperate to take the other out and become that alternative to Trump.
BERMAN: You know, it's interesting. Donald Trump has literally been front and center at every debate that he's come to -- he skipped one debate. But, he's been leading in the polls since they started having debates so he's been at the center of the stage every time. But there have been some debates where he was able to drift into the background a little bit because there were more candidates. You know, tonight there are five. There is no background. Can he withstand a full debate of pounding?
SLOAN: Well, I think that's one of the interesting things we haven't seen -- a debate stage with this few candidates so far, so there could be more of a conversation -- more attack lines, if you will, coming at Trump. And I think when he's attacked he likes to attack back.
He has done that every time with Jeb Bush on the stage. Jeb Bush was, perhaps, the leading Republican going after Trump in previous debates. He's obviously no longer in the race. But when he's attacked, Trump wants to fight back and that creates some of the biggest fireworks.
BERMAN: And he suggests -- you know, one of the questions people have been asking is what about Marco Rubio? Does Marco Rubio, who has all but ignored Donald Trump in this campaign to date -- does Marco Rubio finally have to start engaging with the man who's running away with the nomination right now? And if he does, how does Trump respond to that?
SLOAN: Well, I think if you're Marco Rubio you're looking around and looking at the other people who've gone after Donald Trump -- Jeb Bush, like I just mentioned -- and they're no longer in the race. It wasn't a very fun experience for them, so I don't think that he sees a lot of incentive to do that.
BERMAN: What about Ted Cruz? Where we are right now, obviously, in the University of Houston in Texas. Texas part of Super Tuesday. The most delegates at stake here in this state on Tuesday. Ted Cruz needs to win here. He's got the endorsement of the governor. He's got the endorsement of the former governor, Rick Perry, and probably has to put in more resources than he would have liked to win his home state.
[05:41:17] SLOAN: Yes. You know, he's doing a lot of campaigning here. I'm sure he'd rather be campaigning more broadly across the southeast states. A lot of his Super Tuesday strategy is on winning places like Georgia, and Oklahoma, and Alabama. But he is campaigning here and Texas is going to be crucial to him. If he loses Texas, it's not only the place that has the most delegates at stake but it's his state. And if he loses that, that would be a devastating blow to him.
BERMAN: Five seconds left for a big, bold prediction you don't want to make. If they don't shake Donald Trump tonight in a substantial way, does this mean that he pretty much ends up as the nominee?
SLOAN: I think he is the undisputed front-runner right now going into Super Tuesday.
BERMAN: Steven Sloan, great to have you with us. Thanks so much for getting up and bearing the cold with us. Those five remaining presidential candidates -- Donald Trump plus the other four -- they meet on the stage here in Houston, Texas tonight at the University of Houston. Wolf Blitzer is moderating this debate. It all begins at 8:30 p.m. tonight only here on CNN -- Christine.
ROMANS: You know, to you, the Stars Wars analogy -- I mean, it's like Donald Trump is the death star here. Which one of these candidates is Luke Skywalker, who's going to be able to take him down, or can they?
BERMAN: It's a great analogy. I wish I could come back. You know, they have to stay on target, you might say. For Rubio, staying on target against Donald Trump has meant now going after the target. He has not taken any swings at Donald Trump.
I'm not sure he can do that for much longer because on a stage with only five people it's almost if you will be forced, whether it be in the questions, whether it be from Trump, whether it be from Ted Cruz. He's going to be forced into some kind of exchange with Donald Trump or I'm not sure that he can dodge it. It will be very interesting to see that dynamic amongst all the others.
ROMANS: Well, John, may the force be with you tonight as you stay up real late and watch that, and find out just exactly what's going to happen. The Republicanestablishment, at least, hopes that one of those Jedi fighters will be able to take him down. But Donald Trump and his supporters -- they say they are the good ones -- the good guys, not the bad guys. So interesting. John, thank you so much.
New information this morning that President Obama's pick to fill the Supreme Court vacancy could be someone Republicans will have a tough time refusing. That's next.
[05:43:42]
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[05:47:56] ROMANS: President Obama wants to make it clear, despite stonewalling by Senate Republicans, he will put up a candidate for the vacancy on the Supreme Court. The president is said to be consulting with legal experts and members of both political parties before announcing a nominee in the weeks ago. CNN has learned one of those being vetted is a Republican -- Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid -- he's also from Nevada. He knows the governor well.
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SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: I don't pick the justices, but I know if he were picked I would support the man. He's a good person, he has a great record, and he has been a tremendously good governor.
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ROMANS: GOP leaders in the Senate have said they will not consider any election year nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaking out on the company's privacy fight with the FBI. Cook telling "ABC NEWS" that Apple has helped investigators but stopped short of creating a so-called backdoor with the potential to unlock any iPhone, not just the one that belonged to one of the San Bernardino terrorists. Cook calls it a matter of public safety.
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TIM COOK, CEO, APPLE: This case is not about one phone. This case is about the future. What is at stake here is can the government compel Apple to write software that we believe would make hundreds of millions of customers vulnerable around the world, including the U.S.
DAVID MUIR, ABC NEWS: And you'd have to write that system in order to unlock that phone?
COOK: Yes. The only way we know would be to write a piece of software that we view as sort of the software equivalent of cancer. We think it's bad news to write. We would never write it. We have never written it. And that is what is at stake here.
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ROMANS: New details are emerging about the Uber driver charged with killing six people in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Police say they removed a total of 15 firearms from the home of Jason Brian Dalton -- 11 long guns, four handguns. A close friend describes Dalton as a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment and says he was concerned recent mass shootings could lead to gun control.
The deadly storm system that slammed the south is now battering the east coast, killing at least four people in Virginia, including a 2- year-old boy.
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Look at the destruction in Waverly. This is about 50 miles south of Richmond. A tornado tossing a mobile home through the air and into a church, killing a family of three. Lives and possessions ripped apart in an instant for thousands in the area.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was seeing my garage was gone, my camper was gone, my mother's garage was gone, and I was just catching this in the corner of my eye when I was running to her house to make sure she was OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And her roof's gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her roof is gone, and I stepped up in what was left of her house and I said, mom, are you OK. She said, oh my God son, I'm OK.
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ROMANS: Major storm damage also reported in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. An apparent tornado toppling buildings, tearing off rooftops. If you're flying today check with your carrier. The storm system has caused thousands of cancellations, with more than 300 flights already preemptively canceled this morning.
Now, let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY". Chris Cuomo joins me this morning. Hey, Chris.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": I'm cold. I'm cold, Christine.
ROMANS: Get a jacket -- sweater -- borrow Berman's sweater.
CUOMO: This is Berman's jacket.
ROMANS: Is it?
CUOMO: It is cold in Houston. It's like under 50 degrees here right now, so --
ROMANS: You can barely move your mouth. [05:51:39] CUOMO: -- it's very interesting. I was also eating an apple. You know what the metaphor is? This place can be easily underrated and that is the metaphor for tonight, as well. Very often, it seems like hype. Oh, everything's big, everything's high stakes, everything's pivotal. You're right. Sometimes it's hype. This is not hype. Why? Decisions must be made tonight on that debate stage. Will Marco Rubio make a decision to go at Donald Trump? You can easily, easily analyze that either way. We'll do that for you this morning.
What will Ted Cruz do? Oh, he'll go after Rubio. They're very tight. Will he? We're going to make the case for why and why not on his front, as well. So, we're going to give you preview and analysis of everything that could happen tonight, and also the machinations of what we're seeing on the Democratic side. There was fallout from the town hall the other night. There are new strategies that are at play.
And then we have a big headline this morning on two fronts. One, what Mitt Romney suggested about Donald Trump's taxes -- that there's going to be something in there that will be really big. Ironic coming from Mitt Romney. We remember what happened with him and his taxes. Nothing illegal, but hurtful to him politically.
The other headline is what is going on around this country in the aftermath of the weather events that you were just talking about, Christine. People are hurting again. The country needs to pay attention.
ROMANS: Definitely. All right, Chris Cuomo, warm up. Share Berman's stadium blanket and get ready for your show. Thank you so much. Nice to see you.
CUOMO: It smells like cheese.
ROMANS: Oh, apples and cheese. That's your breakfast. All right. Oil prices have been taking stocks on a big ride over the past week, but it pays to stay in the market if you can handle the risks. I'm going to tell you why next.
[05:53:22]
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[05:57:45] ROMANS: A temporary truce in Syria is set to start Saturday and it's still not clear how it will be implemented or what happens next if it does not take hold. The U.S. and Russia are trying to hammer out the final details by Friday. It's a complicated agreement, and inside the Pentagon there's a lot of mistrust when it comes to Moscow's motives.
Senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh tracking the very latest for us. He joins me live this morning from Beirut. Good morning, Nick.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, under 24 hours now until everybody has to say yes, we're up for this deal, it will go ahead and the guns will fall silent between Friday and Saturday's midnight. The hope that the aid drops that have begun in the last days will continue. That's the very least they hope to get out of this. There are still some serious questions, though.
Some of the Syrian armed opposition groups have not said they'll sign onto this. The political opposition wing has, instead. The Syrian regime said, yes, we'll sign onto this too, but some of the generals have said well, some of the towns in which there are rebels, some of those rebels are al-Qaeda, which means -- and it's true under the deal -- they can technically target al-Qaeda rebels.
So, a lot that could still go wrong here. A lot riding on this. A lot of this about the showmanship of Washington and Moscow again, like the Cold War, coming together and trying to fix a world problem. But the key issue here is if ISIS and the face of al-Qaeda in Syria -- the Nusra front -- are not part of this deal -- which it's clear on paper they're not -- does that give enough latitude?
The West criticizes and suspects Russia may use that to try and attack Syrian opposition groups who are against the regime. That's where it could fall apart -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Meantime, five years of civil war. People want aid so desperately. Nick, thank you so much for that.
Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. Dow futures down slightly. Oil is down. The prices seem to have stabilized a bit. We're seeing decent gains in European stock markets, but a drop in Shanghai overnight, down more than six percent. Oil prices driving the stock market right now and the swings can be scary.
Let me show you the last five trading days for the Dow. Two slim losses to end last week, then a big rally followed by a big drop. And more gains yesterday after all that. Put that all together -- the net change for the Dow is just plus 32 points, basically right back where we started. Stocks essentially in recovery mode. Some analysts say the worst is over, although the market is very closely tied to volatile oil prices.
So, a really important point here. If you sell and get out on a big down day, you miss the run-up on other side and possibly some discounted deals on stock prices. As a reminder, in all of this volatility stay the course, have a long-term strategy, and don't be jumping in and out of the stock market. You will never be able to outsmart the market.
We are just hours now from the CNN Republican presidential debate. "NEW DAY" picks up our coverage of that right now.
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UNIDENTIFIED MAL: It just demolished everything. A couple of houses that are gone. The church is gone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was scary. My truck went up in the air. I said whoa, this is it. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I could do was hold on tight.
CRUZ: Initially, the debates look like the phone book.
TRUMP: People have not done very well against me.
RUBIO: We certainly need to elect someone who's prepared to be president.
TRUMP: You know, they're all copying me. He's getting very nervous. He's a nervous wreck.
CRUZ: The time for the clowns, and the acrobats, and the dancing bears has passed.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's a lot at stake in this election. All you have to do is listen to the other side.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What this campaign is about is telling you the truth.
CLINTON: So we've got to tackle systemic racism.
SANDERS: We will not tolerate racism and bigotry.
CLINTON: I'm going to do everythingI can to end this, once and for all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.
CUOMO: Good morning, and welcome to your new day. It's Thursday, February 25th, 6:00 in the east. Now, we are in Houston where it is cold. But tonight it will be hot at the CNN Republican debate, the final chance for the men chasing Trump to make a play to break out ahead of Super Tuesday. But there is something much more important than politics going on, so let's get to Alisyn in New York with breaking news. Good morning, my friend.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Chris. We do have some breaking news. More deadly tornadoes carving a path of destruction along the east coast. At least 16 tornadoes reported overnight from Florida to Pennsylvania, leaving dozens of homes damaged or destroyed.
