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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Wins Major Endorsement; Super Tuesday Countdown; Rubio Mocks Trump's "Spray Tan"; Sanders: "That Must Have Been A Fantastic Speech"; Host Chris Rocks Courts Controversy; Vonn Crashes Saturday, Fractures Knee. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired February 29, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

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[05:30:24] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday, February 29th. Happy leap day. It is 5:00 in the east. The biggest week of this higher election season is upon us. It is here, just 24 hours until Super Tuesday. Republican candidates will fight over nearly half of the 1,237 delegates required to secure the nomination.

The delegate map is so exciting. Overnight, frontrunner, Donald Trump picked up a huge new endorsement. Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, a fierce 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. Chris Christie backed Trump on Friday.

But this morning, Trump is also facing some new controversy. Just over how he handled questions surrounding another endorsement. This endorsement from former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, David Duke.

Trump told CNN's Jake Tapper, he did not know enough about Duke to disavow his endorsement. Jake gave him several opportunities to disavow the KKK. This despite the fact that he disavow the endorsement on Friday and he has cited Duke by name in 2000.

At the time, Trump explained that Duke's involvement with the reform party was one reason why Trump had decided not to run for that party's nomination. CNN's Chris Frates is with the Trump campaign. He has latest from Alabama.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine. Donald Trump got the establishment endorsement here in Alabama on Sunday when Senator Jeff sessions threw support behind Donald Trump.

Session a hard liner on immigration was the first sitting senator to get behind the billionaire's campaign. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SENATOR 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. I believe our movement is afoot that must not fade away. It has the potential to have the American people's voices heard for change.

FRATES (voice-over): Also on Sunday, Trump refused to disavow support of the former KKK grand wizard, David Duke, saying he didn't have enough information to make a decision.

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 supremacist. So I don't know. I don't know.

Did he endorse me or what's going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacist. You are asking me a question that I'm supposed to be talking about people that I know nothing about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: 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.

This is an issue that's unlikely not 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, thank you so much. Joining us now to discuss is CNN political analyst and "Bloomberg View" columnist, Josh Rogin. Josh, good morning.

So yes, we have controversy surrounding Donald Trump, his refusal to disavow the KKK and David Duke to Jake on Sunday, though, he did it on Friday.

We also have news regarding Donald Trump picking up endorsement of Jeff Sessions overnight. A key powerful Alabama senator, the first senator to endorse Donald Trump. What is the back drop of this all right now? A day before Super Tuesday, Josh, where are we in this campaign?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think what you see is Republican establishment candidates and Republican establishment at large throwing out the kitchen sink. Everything they can think of. All of the (inaudible) files and all of the money.

What everyone has been waiting for, for months, when will all of the big donors starts spending their millions attacking Donald Trump, trying to get out his strength, trying to get his core support. It is all happening.

The problem is, of course, as you mentioned the voting is tomorrow. There is a reluctant consensus that this may be too little too late. Trump is leading in all polls except for Texas.

He could win 10 maybe 11 states. He is going to amass a ton of delegates tomorrow as we head into March weeks where we have sort of the big states, the winner take all states.

So the biggest problem for Rubio and Cruz campaigns right now is not Donald Trump. It is the clock. They simply don't have enough time. That's why you are seeing all of this sort of hand ringing right now.

[05:05:02]ROMANS: It was a remarkable weekend. I mean, we had orange tans and small hands. Candidates dump their taxes out to try to get Donald Trump to release his. It is everything but the kitchen sink this weekend.

But you know, Josh, when I run the math, when you run the delegate map over and over and over again, I mean, it looks like it is Donald Trump's world and everyone else is living in it.

ROGIN: You know, there is just no way that the math doesn't come out well in favor of Donald Trump especially when you look at those March 15th states. We are talking about Florida, where a ton of early voting has already gone on and it might actually be too late.

We're talking about Ohio where John Kasich says that he will drop out if he loses Ohio and Trump is still up on the polls. When you are talking about places like Illinois even Massachusetts, there is no pattern.

There is no southern is good for Trump. Northern is good for someone else. He is dominating everywhere. So if we are going to start to see all these attacks really pick away his support, we have not seen it so far.

We only have a little bit of time left. So it is good to see the candidates like Marco Rubio starting to actually enjoy what they're doing.

A lot of people in the Rubio camp tell me anecdotally that they are pleased that the candidate is taking on Trump. That they think this will have effect, but we haven't seen that affect yet. So until then it's just a lot of sort of entertainment for everyone involve.

BERMAN: Just so people know what we're talking about here. Marco Rubio is absolutely flat out taunting Donald Trump any chance he gets. Last night at a rally, he made jokes about Donald Trump's skin and hands. That joke wasn't about his hands if you know what I mean. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He doesn't sweat because his pores are clogged from the spray tan that he uses. Donald is not going to make America great. He's going to make America orange.

He's always calling me little Marco. I'll admit. He is 6'2". That is why I don't understand why his hands are the size of someone who is 5'2". Have you seen his hands? They are like this.

You know what they say about men with small hands. You can't trust them. You can't trust them. You can't trust them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Again, I'm pretty sure that wasn't about his hands. I'm also pretty sure this doesn't sound like the Lincoln/Douglass debates going on here. As you say, the Rubio team, they think this is working.

ROGIN: Yes, I mean, listen, Donald Trump set the terms for this debate. He has been in the gutter for months. Now the rest of the candidates are meeting him there. They felt they had no choice. Nothing else has worked. They have to try this. They have no choice.

The fact that Marco Rubio seems to be enjoying it is an ancillary benefit and what his campaign say is that, look, if this is the way the campaign that Donald Trump wants to run then we have no choice but to meet him on that field.

The problem is that it is not clear that is a winning strategy, right. This is why in between jokes about Donald Trump's hands, we see Marco Rubio talking a lot about the delegate count. That is not a coincidence.

Both sides behind the scenes are mounting huge efforts to figure out what happens if we get to the Republican convention in July and Donald Trump doesn't have that threshold, the majority of delegates that he needs to get the nomination without a contested or brokered convention.

That is where the real action is. You have people on the Trump team and Rubio team and Cruz team, studying these rules. These (inaudible) rules about what would happen in that event.

There is a good reason because they know they might not be able to beat Donald Trump, but now the game is to spoil Donald Trump's chances of taking the nomination out.

ROMANS: Let's talk about the Democrats quickly because Bernie Sanders (inaudible). He is taunting in his own way Hillary Clinton about her ties, her perceived ties to Wall Street. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Secretary Clinton has received hundreds of thousands of dollars for speeches, a speech, several speeches, each for $200,000 that she gave to groups like Goldman Sachs.

Now, if you get paid $225,000 for one speech, it must have been a fantastic speech. So I think that Secretary Clinton should share that fantastic speech with the whole country.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: Is this going to work for him? I mean, I know he is moving to the northern states and western states. You know, he is trying to find the support where he can to keep his momentum where he can.

ROGIN: Listen, nobody thought the Bernie Sanders campaign would get this far. If you look at the polls, there is really only one way to read them. He is about to get swept badly tomorrow.

Massachusetts, the state next to his home state of Vermont, he is down eight points according to the latest Suffolk University poll. That's not good. That's a trend in the wrong direction for Bernie Sanders.

[05:10:07]The points he is making are getting traction. There is no doubt about it. He is having an effect on Hillary Clinton's speech on her agenda on the way she talks about what kind of president she wants to be.

All of these are very relevant and could be especially relevant as she starts to pivot away from the primary campaign and aim or fire more on the Republican candidates.

But tomorrow, it looks like it is all going Hillary Clinton's way on the Democratic side unless something shocking happens. You never know. This has been a crazy year. We might be looking at the beginning of the end of the real chances for Bernie Sanders to take this nomination.

BERMAN: Josh Rogin, thanks so much. He did pick up an endorsement from Hawaii, Tulsi Gabbard, a big endorsement for Bernie Sanders. She will be on NEW DAY in just a little bit. We'll talk with her in a second. Thanks, Josh.

ROGIN: Thank you.

ROMANS: All right, Hollywood's best recognized at the Oscars, the big winners and the host who did not shy away from controversy. He had people laughing and cringing at the same time. We have that after the break.

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[05:15:07]

BERMAN: A night of surprises and controversy. The 88th Academy awards. "Spotlight" beat out "Revenant" for best pictures. Sylvester Stallone snubbed for best supporting actor.

But I got to say, the really important thing last night was the electricity, the commentary from Chris Rock over the issue of diversity at the Oscars. You have to watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CHRIS ROCK, ACADEMY AWARDS HOST: It's t 88th Academy Awards. It's 88th Academy Awards, which means this whole no black nominees thing has happened at least 71 other times, OK? You got to figure that this happened in the '50s and '60s.

You know, in the '60s, one of those years, Sidney didn't put out a movie. I'm sure there were no black nominees in those years. 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. When your grandmother's swinging from a tree, it is hard to care about best documentary foreign short.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: We like to hear more about it. We have CNN's Stephanie Elam. She was there. She has more on Chris Rock and the big night.

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 VIDEOTAPE)

ROCK: I'm here at the Academy Awards otherwise known as the white people's choice awards. You realize if they nominated hosts, I would not get this job.

ELAM: The night's big winners included Leonardo Dicaprio. It was his fifth acting nomination and he finally got the Oscar for "The Revenant."

LEONARDO DICAPRIO, ACTOR: 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.

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 Governors Ball about his win.

ALEJANDRO INARRITU, DIRECTOR, "THE REVENANT": I'm so honored and still in shock. I wish I have the words to describe how I feel, but I don't.

ELAM: As 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 Governors Ball.

ALICIA VIKANDER, ACTRESS: This looks like an Oscar.

ELAM: It looks like an Oscar because it is because of your beautiful performance. (END VIDEOTAPE)

ELAM: And John and Christine, rounding out a very competitive night winning best picture was "Spotlight." Back to you.

BERMAN: Journalism on "Spotlight."

ROMANS: They were laughing and squirming in their seats.

BERMAN: But he laid it all out there and he hit everyone. He hit everyone.

ROMANS: He mocked the people who were actually boycotting the event too. I know you will see it on your feeds this morning.

Time for an EARLY START on your money. Stock futures are slipping this morning. Oil prices are down. The losses in Europe getting worse.

Stock markets in Asia finished lower overnight so tough start for the week, folks. Legendary investor, Warren Buffett, has a message for the presidential candidates, stop bashing the U.S. economy.

In his annual letter to shareholders, the billionaire admits slow economic growth and rising income inequality is holding the U.S. back. He is concerned about that.

But he says the rhetoric on the campaign trail is overblown. This is what he writes, quote, "As a result of the 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 being born in America today are the luckiest crop in history," end quote. Buffet did not mention any candidates by name. He has publicly supported Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton for president.

BERMAN: All right, a big YouTube moment on the PGA tour. One of the players hitting a shot at the Honda classic, that's right, in his skivvies. Was that required or just optional? Coy Wire has the "Bleacher Report" next.

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[05:24:11]

BERMAN: A fractured knee? No problem. Not for super human Olympic champion, Lindsay Vonn.

BERMAN: That's right. Coy Wire has more on this morning's "Bleacher Report." Hi, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and John. Vonn suffered a hairline fracture to her left knee after crashing on Saturday. But her perseverance allowed her to extend her lead in the overall World Cup title hunt. She hits a spot of soft snow there and the 31-year-old was taken down the mountain on a rescue sled. Vonn posted an Instagram video Sunday morning which showed her getting her knee drained.

She said she would get give it a try on Sunday and she did. She posted the fastest time in the opening section of Sunday's competition, the Super G. She struggled a bit on the slalom, but she ended up finishing 13th overall. Tremendous, gutsy performance.

[05:25:00]Jimmie Johnson is no doubt this generation's NASCAR driver phenomenon of the year. This is guy is incredible, 76 career victory yesterday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. That ties him with Dale Earnhart Sr. for the seventh spot on the all-times win list.

Here is John Berman, I know you are waiting for this one, buddy, the Honda classic where Gary Woodland decides the best way to keep his white pants clean is take them off. He goes from the water to the sand trap.

Gary Woodland with that shot. And Adam Scott with the first win since May of 2014. He is currently third in the overall FedEx Cup. Guys, it is liberating working with your pants off. Good thing the camera is waist up this morning.

BERMAN: That's right. Polka dots always in style. Thank you, Coy.

BERMAN: All right, voters in Super Tuesday states heading to the polls tomorrow. This is an exciting week. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton leading in the polls. Could the controversy shake up the race? We have that next.

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