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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 4:30-5a ET
Aired February 29, 2016 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:31:01] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump with new controversy this morning. Attacked for failing to denounce a KKK leader in an interview on CNN, but he picks up a big new Senate endorsement.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders campaigning across the country one day before Super Tuesday. Sanders increasing his attacks on Hillary Clinton, but is it too late?
BERMAN: The Oscars. Honoring Hollywood's best. The big winners. The big losers. All the glitz. All the glamour. And controversy.
ROMANS: Chris Rock.
BERMAN: Yes.
ROMANS: Really bringing it in a big monologue.
BERMAN: He was on it. All right. Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. 31 minutes past the hour this Monday morning.
The biggest week of the entire election season is upon us. Just 24 hours until Super Tuesday where Republican candidates will fight over nearly half of the 1,237 delegates required to secure the nomination.
Overnight frontrunner Donald Trump picked up a huge new endorsement. Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions. A fierce of critic of illegal immigration. He is now backing Trump. He joins New Jersey Governor Chris Christie from the other end of the Republican geographic and political spectrum. He backed Trump on Friday. But this morning Trump is also facing new controversy over how he handled a question surrounding another endorsement. This one from former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke. Trump told CNN's Jake Tapper he didn't have enough -- he didn't know enough about Duke to disavow his endorsement. This despite having disavowed the endorsement on Friday and having cited Duke by name in 2012. At that time Trump explained that Duke's involvement with the Reform Party was one reason why he had decided not to run for that party's nomination.
CNN's Chris Frates is with the Trump campaign. He has the latest for us this morning 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.
BERMAN: All right. Chris Frates in Alabama.
Trump's rivals perhaps sensing that the nomination is slipping away, they are seizing on any whiff of controversy they can find and making anatomy jokes. First, Marco Rubio slammed Trump for denying on CNN that he knows who David Duke is, while Ted 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?
[04:35:02] 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.
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)
BERMAN: Questions about mob ties, questions about the KKK. This is the Republican primary. Trump blasted Rubio in a series of tweets like this one, "Little Marco Rubio is just another Washington, D.C. politician that is all talk and no action, #robotrubio."
Rubio hit back making fun of Trump's -- how do we say, complexion? And what he described -- what Rubio 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.
(CHEERS AND LAUGHTER)
RUBIO: Donald is not going to make America great. He's going to make America orange.
(CHEERS AND 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)
BERMAN: The first package joke of the campaign. Will it be the last?
All right. A new sign of the Republican panic from Washington. What might be called a dis-endorsement from Senator Ben Sasse. In a lengthy Facebook post, the Nebraska Republican writes that if Trump wins the GOP nomination, Sasse will not support or even vote for him.
This is significant. This is a Republican senator who is, by the way, the darling of a lot of elected officials in Washington across the country, saying flat-out he will not vote for Trump if he gets the nomination.
Remember, all the Republican candidates signed a pledge.
ROMANS: Right.
BERMAN: They all signed a pledge earlier in the election season to support whoever gets the nomination right now. Now that pledge will be tested.
ROMANS: Sasse says he won't. He will not.
BERMAN: Sasse he will not.
ROMANS: He will not.
BERMAN: Cruz says he will. Marco Rubio doesn't answer the question so far.
ROMANS: All right. Let's talk about the Democrats here for a moment. Hillary Clinton is campaigning across Super Tuesday states fresh off her huge 48-point victory over Bernie Sanders in South Carolina. Clinton is especially but not exclusively focusing on the southern states with their large numbers of African-American voters who backed her, 7 to 1 over Sanders in South Carolina.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny is with the Clinton campaign, has the latest from her swing through Tennessee for us.
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 in 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.
BERMAN: All right, Jeff Zeleny for us on the eve of Super Tuesday.
[04:40:02] Bernie Sanders faces an uphill battle at this point. The Vermont senator focusing on northern and western states that he thinks he can win. Minnesota, Colorado, Massachusetts. But look at this new poll from Suffolk University. It shows Bernie Sanders trailing Hillary Clinton in Massachusetts by eight points. That would be tough for Bernie Sanders.
He held a rally in Colorado last night stepping up his questions about Hillary Clinton and 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.
(AUDIENCE 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)
BERMAN: All right. Bernie Sanders picked up a really interesting endorsement overnight from Democratic member of Congress Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii. Now she was the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. She resigned that post in order to back Bernie Sanders. She will explain this decision to quit the DNC and join Bernie Sanders, the Sanders team, she's going to appear in "NEW DAY" in the 6:00 a.m. hour.
ROMANS: All right. A night of glitz, glamour, oh and controversy. The Oscars honor Hollywood's best and wow, take on some tough social issues. Chris Rock, all I got to say. Chris Rock. After the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:45:20] BERMAN: A night of big surprises, big controversy. The 88th Academy Awards. "Spotlight" beat out "Revenant" for Best Picture. Sylvester Stallone snubbed for Best Supporting Actor. But the real controversy -- I would say the real, you know, electricity. I didn't even if it was controversy. No, the real controversy was over the Oscars' lack of diversity. But the electricity last night was how Chris Rock handled it. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS ROCK, HOST, THE 88TH ACADEMY AWARD: It's the 88th Academy Awards. The 88th Academy Awards, which means this whole no black nominees thing has happened at least 71 other times. OK? You got to figure that it happened in the '50s, in the '60s. You know, in the '60s, one of those years Sydney didn't put out a movie. I'm sure, I'm sure there were no black nominees in some of those years, say '62 or '63. And black people did not protest. Why? Because we had real things to protest at the time. You know? We had real things to protest.
You know? Too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won Best Cinematographer. You know, when you -- when your grandmother is swinging from a tree, it's really hard to care about Best Documentary Foreign Short.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: That was only some of what Chris Rock had to say. It was really pointed, really interesting. And I think worth hearing for everybody.
Stephanie Elam from CNN has more from Hollywood.
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)
ROCK: 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) ELAM: The night's big winners included Leonardo 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: And 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 real testament to journalism. Investigative journalism. A lot of journalists really excited about that win.
BERMAN: I got to say the real winner, though, was Chris Rock. I think what he did, the more I hear of it, this man, you know, held up the mirror to society.
ROMANS: Yes. BERMAN: Held up the mirror to Oscars and raised questions. And
that's what you do. I mean. that is comedy and commentary at its very best.
ROMANS: He's on the front page of every single newspaper this morning. Even the "Wall Street Journal," the business paper of record, is all about Chris Rock this morning.
BERMAN: He wins.
ROMANS: All right. 48 minutes -- 49 minutes past the hour. Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and macro Rubio making their tax data public. Both are blasting frontrunner Donald Trump for not doing the same. Ted Cruz put out the first two pages out of returns for the past four years. Well, for that span his family had a total adjusted gross income of more than $5 million. Cruz paid $1.5 million in income tax since 2011 and an effective tax rate averaged 30 percent. Marco Rubio's income varied widely over the past five years. His family made nearly $2.3 million since 2010. Paying $526,000 in income tax for an effective tax rate about 23 percent.
Both candidates slammed Trump in their press releases when posting their tax numbers. Trump says he'll release his taxes when his IRS audit is over. The IRS of course won't comment on Trump, in particular, but says releasing tax data entirely up to the individual. Trump could do it if he wanted.
BERMAN: Exactly. The audit has nothing to do with it.
An army staff sergeant assigned to the Pentagon faces arraignment later this morning for the murder of his wife and a rookie police officer.
[04:50:05] 32-year-old Ronald Hamilton of Virginia is being held without bond charged with capital murder, 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 dispute. He killed Ashley Guindon and wounded two others. It was Officer Guindon's first day on the job at the Prince William County Police Department.
ROMANS: Sad. All right. 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 is when officers fired three shots. Three shots. The incident triggered protests in Salt Lake. Investigators are now reviewing the police video to figure out how all this happened. They say they will not release it to the public.
ROMANS: All right. 51 minutes past the hour. Stock markets around the globe off to a bad start to the week. But will stocks here in the U.S. reverse that trend? I'm going to get an EARLY START on your money in just a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: All right. New questions this morning and new concern over a young man, a young American man being held in North Korea. Otto Frederick Warmbier is a University of Virginia student now being detained by North Korea.
New video -- and you can see it right now. The videotaped press conference released by Pyongyang. The 21-year-old Warmbier apologizes to all North Koreans for committing, quote, "a hostile act." He can be see sobbing asking for forgiveness, suggesting he was lured into a criminal act by the United States.
[04:55:06] It is not known how or whether Warmbier was coerced into making this video.
CNN's Will Ripley tracking all the developments for us.
Will, of course, you have spent a significant amount of time in North Korea. What do we know about this young man and this story?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know that Otto Warmbier who attends the University of Virginia, he's a business major, third years, 21 years old. He was on a private tour in North Korea. And it was their last day in the country when he says, and again, we don't know if this confession was coerced. But he says that he went to the second floor of the Yanggakdo Hotel in Pyongyang where a lot of the foreign tourists stay, I stayed there several times myself.
He went to the second floor where the employees were being housed at 2:00 in the morning and looked for a political banner that he was going to try to take down, fold up, put in his suitcase and bring home. Now in his confession, this purported confession that was provided to us by the North Korean government, he says that he did this and that he was coerced to do so by the CIA. That the CIA reached out to his hometown church and to a secret student organization at the University of Virginia.
We reached out to both the university and the church. They said they have no knowledge of any of this. But North Korea is essentially taking what a lot of people might interpret as a college prank, taking down a sign and then turning into some sort of alleged covert operation where this young could actually face hard labor as a result of this. So listen to the emotional confession that he made in front of state TV and other cameras as well.
(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. I entirely beg of you, the people of the government of the DPR Korea, for your forgiveness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY: North Korea has a history of using detained Americans as political pawns. I interviewed three detained Americans in September of 2014. They were released subsequently after the U.S. intervened several months after those interviews. We don't know what will happen yet with Warmbier's case but we do have a context here, John. North Korea is about to face huge sanctions as a result of their nuclear tests and satellite launch earlier this year. And this young American, whether he did or didn't do what he's accused of doing, this now gives the regime leverage that they so desperately want when dealing with the United States.
BERMAN: Deeply, deeply troubling video. And obviously we always know the propaganda intents or at least directions from the North Korean government.
Will Ripley, thank you so much.
Moderates or reformists in Iran made their biggest gains in their best election showing in more than a decade. The Reformist candidates appear to have won all 30 parliament seats representing the nation's capital. The victories in Tehran seem to be a rebuke of hard liners who oppose the nuclear deal with the United States. The outcome is also expected to bolster President Hassan Rouhani's push to open up trade ties with Europe and the West.
ROMANS: All right. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. A global slump in stocks around the world right now. Dow futures are down. Oil dips below 33 bucks a barrel. Stock markets in Europe are trading lower. There were also losses in Asia overnight.
The U.S. stock market -- stock market here in the U.S. has been slowly clawing back the losses from earlier this year. The Dow is now down just 4.5 percent for the year. The best performance of the three major averages. It was down more than 10 percent just a couple of weeks ago.
There are some big winners among the 30 stocks in the Dow. And if you have a 401(k) or you have exposure to blended funds, you could be benefiting from these gains. Look at this. Verizon is up more than 10 percent this year. Wal-Mart up more than 8 percent. Material company 3M also posting gains for the year. And Exxon Mobil rising nearly 5 percent despite oil's big drop.
ROMANS: All right. Seasonal pricing is coming to Disney. The company's theme parks in Florida and California will charge different rates based on the time of the year. Now this affects one day tickets only. Here is that looks like for Orlando's Magic Kingdom. For value dates, one-day pass, will cost $105 for those ages 10 and above. That's the current price. Regular season day is rising to $110. Tickets jump to $124 for peak days. That'll cover times like Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Disney says it's trying to come up with ways to help spread out visits
to its parks and demand at peak times has been steadily increasing. That means that school vacation holiday got more expensive.
BERMAN: Yes. They say they're still trying to spread out, they're also trying to make money, I imagine, right?
ROMANS: Yes. Yes.
BERMAN: OK. Just to be clear.
EARLY START continues right now.
New controversy for Donald Trump. Attacked for failing to condemn the KKK and one of his new racist supporters on CNN. But Donald Trump also picks up a huge new Senate endorsement.
ROMANS: All right. With just one day -- one day before voters in Super Tuesday states head to the polls, Bernie Sanders ratchets up his attacks against Hillary Clinton.
BERMAN: The blitz, the glamour, the controversy. And you know what, important social commentary as well.
