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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Declines to Disavow KKK Leader; Hillary Clinton Barnstorming Super Tuesday States; Chris Rock Courts Controversy at the Oscars; U.S. Student Detained in North Korea. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired February 29, 2016 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:14] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New controversy for Donald Trump. Attacked for failing to condemn the KKK and one of his racist supporters on CNN. But he also picked up a huge new Senate endorsement.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: With just one day to go before Super Tuesday, Bernie Sanders ratchets up his approach to Hillary Clinton.
ROMANS: The glitz, the glamour, the controversies. Social issues taking over the Oscars. The night's big winners and the topics tackled.
Good Monday morning to you. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman. It's Monday, February 29th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.
What's your favorite part of the Oscars?
ROMANS: It's leap year. I just realized it's a leap year. Favorite part of the Oscars, I really did --
BERMAN: You didn't watch any of it. I didn't watch any of it. I slept through the whole thing.
ROMANS: You didn't? I watched the whole Chris Rock monologue, which I found interesting. And I read the transcript again, too, just to make sure that I got it all, and, you know, Leo, I guess.
BERMAN: I slept through the whole thing.
ROMANS: Good for you.
BERMAN: Why? Because getting ready for this week. It is the biggest week of the entire election season. Just 24 hours until Super Tuesday where Republican candidates will fight over nearly half of the 1237 delegates required to secure the nomination.
Overnight frontrunner Donald Trump picked up a huge new endorsement. Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, the fierce critic of illegal immigration is now behind Trump. He joins New Jersey Governor Chris Christie from the other end of the Republican geographic and political spectrum who backed Trump on Friday. But this morning Trump was also facing new controversy over how he handled questions surrounding another endorsement. This one from former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke.
Trump told CNN's Jake Tapper, he didn't know enough about Duke to disavow this endorsement. This despite having disavowed the endorsement on Friday and having cited Duke by name in 200 explaining that Duke's involvement with the Reform Party was one reason why he decided not to run, Trump that is. Why he decided not to run for that party's nomination.
CNN's Chris Frates is with the Trump campaign and has the very latest from Alabama.
CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, John and Christine. Donald Trump got an establishment endorsement here in Alabama on Sunday when Senator Jeff Sessions threw his support behind Donald Trump. Sessions, long a hardliner on immigration, was the first sitting senator to get behind the billionaire's campaign. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: At this time in America's history, we need to make America great again. I am pleased to endorse Donald Trump for the president of the United States.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
SESSIONS: I believe a movement is afoot that must not fade away. It has the potential to have the American people's voices heard for a change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: Also on Sunday, Trump refused to disavow the support of former KKK grand wizard, David Duke, saying he didn't have enough information to make a decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know anything about David Duke, OK? I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists, so I don't know. I mean, I don't know -- did he endorse me, or what's going on? Because, you know, I know nothing about David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacists, and so you're asking me a question that I'm supposed to be talking about people that I know nothing about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: And after that interview, rival Ted Cruz took to Twitter to criticize Donald Trump for not disavowing David Duke's support. Trump later tweeting that he does, in fact, disavow it, but this is an issue that's unlikely to go away as both Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz continue to hit this issue going into the Super Tuesday primary which is just hours away now. Back to you guys.
ROMANS: All right, Chris. Thanks for that.
Trump's rivals perhaps sensing the nomination is slipping away are trying to seize on any new controversy they can find. Marco Rubio slammed Trump for denying on CNN that he knows who David Duke is while Cruz suggested that Trump had connections to the mafia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Should the head of the conservative movement, should the Republican nominee be someone that today, like Donald Trump, refused -- refused to criticize the Ku Klux Klan?
He was interviewed on CNN and asked to disavow the Ku Klux Klan. He refused to do it. He was asked to disavow and criticize David Duke. He said, I don't know who that is. He knows exactly who that is. He knows exactly who that is.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He is clearly hiding something. On the other hand, it could be donations to liberal groups like Planned Parenthood. At every debate it seems he praise Planned Parenthood. Maybe he's written them a bunch of checks. Or, you know, maybe there are other issues. You know, for example, there have been multiple reports about Donald's business dealings with the mob, with the mafia. Maybe his tax returns show that those business dealings are a lot extensive than it's been. We don't know.
[04:05:02] GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABS NEWS ANCHOR: Business dealings with the mafia?
CRUZ: Indeed ABC has reported that. You guys have reported that he's done deals with SNA Concrete which was owned by two of the big crime families in New York and that he's had involvement in Atlantic City. Maybe that's what his tax returns show. We don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The Republican ridicule went downhill from there. Trump blasting Rubio in a series of tweets. Here's one example, "Little Marco Rubio is just another Washington, D.C. politician that is all talk and no action, #robotrubio."
And then the Florida senator hit back making fun of Trump's unusual tan and what he described as Trump's small hands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUBIO: He doesn't sweat, he doesn't sweat because his pores are clogged from the spray tan that he uses.
(LAUGHTER)
RUBIO: Donald is not going to make America great. He's going to make America orange.
(LAUGHTER)
RUBIO: He is always calling me Little Marco. And I'll admit, the guy, he's taller than me, he's like 6'2", which is why I don't understand why his hands are the size of someone who is 5'2". Have you seen his hands? They're like these. And you know what they say about men with small hands.
(CHEERS)
RUBIO: You can't trust them. You can't trust them. You can't trust them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: And new signs of Republican panic in Washington overnight. What might be called a dis-endorsement from Senator Ben Sass. In a lengthy Facebook post, the Nebraska Republican writes that if Trump wins the GOP nomination, Sass won't support or even vote for him.
BERMAN: Yes, Ben Sass, hugely popular among some of the newer Republican members up in Congress right now. He campaigned all over Iowa against Trump. Hasn't said who he's supported yet. But now he says he is in this never Trump camp which means he says he will not vote for Trump if he is the nominee.
Very interesting to see that.
ROMANS: Wow.
BERMAN: Interesting how the party responds to that.
Well, on the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is campaigning across Super Tuesday states, fresh off her huge 40-point victory over Bernie Sanders in South Carolina. Clinton is especially, though, not exclusively focusing on southern states with the large numbers of African-American voters who backed her 7 to 1 over Sanders in South Carolina.
Jeff Zeleny is with the Clinton campaign, has the latest from her swing through Tennessee.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, it's a new moment in this Democratic presidential primary race, now with just one full day of campaigning before Super Tuesday tomorrow. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are in a different type of race. That was clear on Sunday as Hillary Clinton campaigned throughout the south, stopping at churches in Memphis for a rally in Nashville and then on to Arkansas.
Her attention shifted suddenly. She's been talking about Bernie Sanders for so many weeks now calling him a single issue candidate. Raising questions about the -- if his plans are realistic or not. But in Nashville on Sunday she had someone else in mind. She has Donald Trump in mind on Sunday. Let's take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe that America is great right now.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: What we need is to be whole. We need to be whole where all of us have a place. Where everybody feels like we're all in this together. That is what I want to do in this campaign and it is what I want to do as your president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: Now of course this Democratic primary fight is far from over in terms of delegates. This is indeed a delegate fight and some 56 percent of the delegates will be selected in the month of March. A lot of them this week, tomorrow and then again on Saturday. But the moment has changed in this race. Hillary Clinton is gradually pivoting toward the fall election. She has not won the nomination, of course, which is on a dual track right now.
Bernie Sanders, he is still fighting hard for the delegates as well. He's campaigning today in Massachusetts and in Minnesota. She is campaigning in Boston and then again in Virginia. So one more full day of campaigning before Super Tuesday. But this race suddenly has a new dynamic -- John and Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Jeff. Thank you for that. You know, on the eve of Super Tuesday, Bernie Sanders, facing that uphill battle against Clinton. The Vermont senator focusing on northern and western states. States he thinks he can win like Minnesota, Colorado, Massachusetts. But take a look at the latest Suffolk University poll. Sanders is trailing Clinton in Massachusetts now by eight points. A loss in the Bay State could be devastating to his campaign.
Sanders held a rally in Colorado last night, stepping up his attacks on Clinton for her ties to Wall Street.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Secretary Clinton has received hundreds of thousands of dollars for speeches -- a speech, several speech, each for $200,000 that she gave to groups like Goldman Sachs.
(BOOS)
SANDERS: Now if you get -- if you get paid $225,000 for one speech, it must have been a fantastic speech.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:10:03] ROMANS: Sanders picking up an endorsement from Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii. She resigned her post as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee n order to back Sanders. She'll explain her decision to quit and join the Sanders team when she joins "NEW DAY" at 6:00 a.m. this morning.
BERMAN: It will be interesting to hear.
ROMANS: Sure will.
BERMAN: All right. It was the Oscars last night. If you did not see any of it, join me because coming up next, we will tell you the big winners, the big moments, the big losers. And I got to say, based on what I'm reading, at least, the biggest part of all was Chris Rock as the host.
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: He apparently was something to behold. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: It was an evening of big surprises, big controversy and tasteful hair at the 88th Academy Awards last night. "The Revenant" was the Oz-maker's film to beat going into the Oscars, but oh no, "Mad Max Fury Road" walked off with six Oscars. That's the most of all. Of course they didn't win any of the big ones. "Spotlight" beat out "Revenant" for Best Picture. That was the big surprise.
CNN's Stephanie Elam spoke to the winners and has the very latest this morning from Hollywood -- Stephanie.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, everyone was waiting to see how host Chris Rock was going to handle the controversy of Oscars so white. He wasted no time getting right into it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS ROCK, HOST, THE 88TH ACADEMY AWARD: I'm here at the Academy Awards. Otherwise known as the white people's choice awards. You realize if they nominated host, I wouldn't even get this job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:15:05] ELAM: The night's big winners included Leonard DiCaprio. It was his sixth acting nomination and he finally got that Oscar for "The Revenant."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEONARDO DICAPRIO, BEST ACTOR, "THE REVENANT": Making -- the "Revenant" was about man's relationship to the natural world. A world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history. Our production needed to move to the southern tip of this planet just to be able to find snow. Climate change is real. It is happening right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELAM: Also winning for "The Revenant," director Alejandro Inarritu. He won last year for "Birdman." It's the first time a director has won back-to-back Oscars in 66 years. I spoke to him outside of the Governor's Ball about his win.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEJANDRO INARRITU, BEST DIRECTOR, "THE REVENANT": I'm so honored and still in shock, I have to say. I don't know how I feel. This is -- I wish I had the words to describe how I feel but I don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELAM: And for the ladies, Brie Larson was the favorite to win for her role in "Room" and she did get her gold statue. And for Best Supporting Actress, Alicia Vikander took the win for "The Danish Girl." She was still shocked that she won when I spoke to her outside the Governor's Ball.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALICIA VIKANDER, BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, "THE DANISH GIRL": This looks like an Oscar. It's crazy.
ELAM: It looks like an Oscar because it is. Because of your beautiful performance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELAM: And John and Christine, rounding out a very competitive night, winning Best Picture was "Spotlight." Back to you.
ROMANS: Yes, a lot of people saying it kind of juiced journalism. That that --
BERMAN: You know --
ROMANS: That movie won --
BERMAN: I think print journalism could use a little bit of support for the work it's done. And you know, the people of the "Boston Globe" did phenomenal. The thing I like about "Spotlight" is it wasn't about the controversy per se over the church and, you know, and the sex scandal back -- back in, you know, the '80s and '90s but what it was about, was journalism. About hard work.
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: And chasing a story.
ROMANS: You look at how many newspapers have had such big budget cuts over the -- you know, since -- in the past 20 years really, you know, like especially their investigative journalism. But -- so that was a great movie.
And I thought Chris Rock -- I mean, that's so shared this morning. You're going to get it in your feeds for sure. Everyone sharing his opening monologue.
BERMAN: He hit everyone, including Jada Pinkett-Smith. I mean, including the people who are boycotting the Oscars.
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: He went after everyone and was very, very funny.
ROMANS: Some laughs. Some nervous laughs, gasps in the middle of more laughs.
All right. Time for an EARLY START on your money this morning. Stock futures are slipping. Oil prices are lower to start the week. European stock markets are down. Stock markets in Asia also lower.
Legendary investor Warren Buffett has a message for the presidential candidates on both sides. This is what he said. Stop bashing the U.S. economy. In his annual letter to shareholders, the billionaire admits slow economic growth, rising income inequality, they are holding back the U.S. somewhat. But he says economic rhetoric on the campaign trail is overblown.
Here's something he wrote, quote, "As a result of this negative drum beat, many Americans now believe that their children will not live as well as they themselves do. That view is dead wrong. The babies born in America today are the luckiest crop in history," end quote. Buffett did not mention any candidates by name. He has publicly supported Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton for president.
BERMAN: An army staff sergeant assigned to the Pentagon faces arraignment later this morning for the murder of his wife and a rookie police officer. 32-year-old Ronald Hamilton of Virginia is being held without bond charged with capital murder, assault -- assault with a firearm and murder in the first degree. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Police say he shot three officers responding to his home for a domestic violence dispute. Killing Ashley Guindon and wounding two others. It was also Officer Guindon's first day on the job at the Prince William County Police Department.
ROMANS: A Dayton, Ohio, pastor shot and killed Sunday as the choir sang during the end of a church service. 70-year-old pastor William Schooler pronounced dead at the scene. His brother 68-year-old Daniel Schooler taken into custody. He faces murder charges and is expected to make his first court appearance later this morning.
BERMAN: Community leaders in Salt Lake City holding a vigil tonight for a teenager clinging to life after being shot by police over the weekend. Authorities say the 17-year-old and another man were attacking someone using metal sticks. When officers wearing body cameras moved in, one man complied with the officer's request to drop the stick, one did not. That's when the officers fired three shots. The incident triggered protests in Salt Lake. Investigators are reviewing the police video to figure out how all this happened.
ROMANS: All right. We are hearing now from the American college student being held in North Korea. What he had to say. We've got that report live next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:23:14] ROMANS: The world is getting its first look this morning at Otto Frederick Warmbier. The University of Virginia student being detained in North Korea. In a videotaped press conference released by Pyongyang, the 21-year-old Warmbier apologizes to all North Koreans for committing, quote, "a hostile act." And he can be seen sobbing for forgiveness, suggesting he was lured into his criminal act by the United States. It is not known whether Warmbier was coerced.
CNN's Will Ripley is tracking the latest developments live from Beijing.
And you know, Will, as you know very well, the North Koreans are quite good at propaganda, at stage craft. They must have a reason for pulling this American out in front of the cameras. What do we know?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And what Warmbier was saying in front of the cameras, Christine, fits perfectly with the North Korean propaganda narrative right now that the United States, specifically the CIA, coerced him to commit this alleged hostile act inside North Korea.
The hostile act, by the way, essentially amounts to what would be considered a college prank in the U.S. He was staying at the Yanggakdo Hotel where a lot of foreign tourists stay. It was the last day of his tour of the country. And he went to the second floor where the North Korean employees are housed. And there were often a lot of political banners hanging on the wall. And he says he tried to take one down off the wall with the intent of folding it up, putting it in his suitcase and bringing it back home. But when he realized that the banner was too big, he left the sign hanging in the hallway.
This is according to his confession, which again we don't know if it was made under duress. But as he was getting on the plane at the airport in Pyongyang, the authorities grabbed him, they have detained him now for two months. And it was a very dramatic and emotional confession in Pyongyang. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OTTO FREDERICK WARMBIER, AMERICAN STUDENT DETAINED IN NORTH KOREA: The United States administration never manipulate people like myself in the future to commit crimes against foreign countries.
[04:25:11] I entirely beg of you, the people of the government of the DPR Korea, for your forgiveness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY: At one point, he actually put his hands together and looked up at the ceiling and asked God for forgiveness, saying that he was simply an innocent scapegoat. We were given a written statement and it appeared throughout most of this that he was actually reading from this statement that was specifically prepared. If this was some sort of a prank, obviously, Christine, you and I
know, North Korea probably the worst place in the world to try to pull off something like this because now the potential penalties for this 21-year-old University of Virginia student include prison time and hard labor.
ROMANS: He was there on a school trip? Was it a school tour? Was it a church tour? What was he doing in North Korea?
RIPLEY: It was a tour group so there are a lot of these tour companies based right here in Beijing and other places that bring foreigners into North Korea. They do it quite often. It's becoming a growing business for Pyongyang and also a method of propaganda for them because people post pictures saying, what we've seen isn't so bad from what the media tells us. But of course they're only allowed to see certain parts of the country as we are when we visit -- when we visit North Korea as well.
So he was on one of these private trips. Of course the U.S. State Department warns against American citizens traveling to the country for this specific reason. That their laws, they can choose to enforce their laws very severely on somebody if they -- if they do any sort of misstep in the country and now you have a U.S. citizen that the regime may try to use as a political pawn at a time when they're about to face even more sanctions as a result of the nuclear test, the purported H-bomb test and the satellite launch just earlier this year -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Will Ripley, covering that for us. Thank you for your perspective.
You know, Will has been in the country several times.
BERMAN: Yes.
ROMANS: It's always a remarkable, remarkable journey. And this -- this 21-year-old college student, no clarity about what's going to happen to him.
BERMAN: Our hearts go out to --
ROMANS: Our thanks to will.
BERMAN: All right. Voters in Super Tuesday states, they have 24 hours to make up their minds. They go to the polls tomorrow. The biggest day in this election season yet. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton they lead in a lot of these polls, but there is new controversy. Could that shake up the race? Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
