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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Super Tuesday: Fierce Battles Across the Country. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired March 01, 2016 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:15] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: It is Tuesday, Super Tuesday, finally here. Millions across the country will cast their ballots in their race for president. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton lead in the polls. But will the voters deliver big surprises today?
Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's a super morning.
I'm John Berman. It's Tuesday, March 1st, 4:00 a.m. in the East.
ROMANS: Super Berman.
BERMAN: That's right.
Starting in hours, voters across the country head to the polls. It is Super Tuesday. The stakes are very high.
As you can see here, the tensions boiling over. This was an altercation with the Secret Service agent and "TIME" magazine photographer at a Trump event in Virginia.
As for the race itself, on the Republican side, the latest CNN/ORC Poll shows Donald Trump with the highest national number yet. He leads with 49 percent. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are neck and neck way, way behind in the mid teens.
What is at stake today? A lot. Nearly half of the 1,237 delegates required for nomination at the Republican convention.
And as you saw before, the tension is -- well, that's a Black Lives Matter protest at that Virginia rally. After that is when the altercation between the photographer and Secret Service agent. Photographer saying the agent choked and threw him to the ground when he tried to leave the press pen that that the Trump campaign required for the media to stay in during events
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: You are just trying to cover the protest?
CHRIS MORRIS, TIME MAGAZINE PHOTOGRAPHER: I stepped 18 inches out of the pen and he grabbed me by the neck and started choking me and slammed me to the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Trump had a face-off with protesters himself. He told them to get out of the event.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Get them out of here, please. Get them out. Get them out.
Are you from Mexico? Are you from Mexico? Huh? Are you from Mexico?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: CNN's Sara Murray was at that rally and has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, John and Christine.
It is just hours until voters hit the polls in the most pivotal day of this campaign so far, Super Tuesday.
And in the run-up to this, Donald Trump was not on the message he hoped to be. He was explaining why it took so long to disavow white supremacist groups that endorsed him, as well as the former leader of the KKK. He had an awkward run-in with a protester at one of his events, and he even had a photojournalist who got into a physical altercation with a Secret Service agent.
But last night here in Georgia, he rallied a crowd of thousands and he sought to look ahead.
TRUMP: We are going to win with health. We are going to win with education. We are going to win at the borders. We are going to win with our military.
We are going to win, win, win. We are going to make America great again, greater than ever before. I love you. Go out and vote. I love you all. Thank you, Georgia.
MURRAY: Not only telling them to get out and vote today Super Tuesday, but also looking ahead with his schedule. He has a jampacked plan today, three different stops, including a rally in Ohio and he will be watching those election results in Florida.
Now, you may notice these are two states that don't vote until March 15th. They are also the home of two candidates currently in this race, Ohio Governor John Kasich, as well as Florida Senator Marco Rubio. So, the Trump's campaign is not taking for anything for granted. They want to compete everywhere.
Back to you, guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ROMANS: All right. Sara, thanks for that.
Trump's rivals racing from rally to rally across the South and into New England, frantic to halt Trump's momentum before he becomes unstoppable. Part of their message, the Trump's failure to immediately disavow white supremacist on CNN makes him unqualified to be president and unelectable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You say David Duke to me and I say "racist" immediately. Why wouldn't he condemn the Ku Klux Klan?
(APPLAUSE)
There is no room in the conservative movement and no room in the Republican Party for members of the Ku Klux Klan or for racists like David Duke.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, I joke there had are not many iron ruled in politics. But one that you can count on 100 percent of the time is the Klan is always bad. Nazis? Always bad. You'll just, you'll never go wrong with that rule. Either the Klan or Nazis, bad, bad, bad.
[04:05:01] And it seems somehow that Donald missed that briefing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Donald Trump says he was slow to repudiate the KKK leader because he couldn't hear CNN's Jake Tapper clearly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP (via telephone): I'm sitting in a house in Florida, with a very bad ear piece that they gave me. And you could hardly hear what he was saying. But what I heard was very various groups, and I don't mind disavowing anybody. And I disavow David Duke and I disavowed him the day before at a major news conference.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right. Marco Rubio's best chances to win today may be in Colorado and Minnesota according to "The New York Times" statistical analysis.
Christine Romans, the problems with that analysis?
ROMANS: Yes?
BERMAN: Colorado is not actually having a presidential preference poll today because of the rules.
Marco Rubio trying to downplay expectations, hoping to rack up enough second place finishes to move forward. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUBIO: The truth is that today Donald Trump leads in many polls and has won already many delegates. If it is to believed, he will do very well tomorrow as well, according to the experts and the pundits. In the end, it's up to you. It's not up to them.
(APPLAUSE)
That won't change what I'm doing. I will go to all 50 states and every territory. I will continue to speak out until I literally have no voice left. I will go anywhere to speak to anyone before I let a con artist get a hold of the Republican Party and the conservative movement.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: That was Marco Rubio.
Ted Cruz spent his time on Super Tuesday eve at home in Texas. He needs a big win in his home state. He needs to come out of Super Tuesday with that under his belt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: Super Tuesday is going to be the most important day of the entire primary. We are doing very well in Texas.
I'll tell you, we are running neck and neck in states across Super Tuesday. We have been traveling across. We were in Oklahoma. We were in Arkansas. We're in Georgia. We're in Alabama.
We are seeing very competitive races for Super Tuesday. I think the likely outcome on Wednesday morning is that Donald Trump is going to have a big chunk of delegates. We're going will have a big chunk of delegates. There's going to be a huge drop off for everybody else.
What we're seeing is conservatives consolidating and uniting behind our campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: No matter how Super Tuesday turns out, John Kasich insists he is not dropping out of this race. Kasich predicts Trump will, quote, "win everything" today. But his strategy is then to win his home state of Ohio later this month and he believes that will reset the election and kick-start his campaign. Kasich also shooting down reports that Romney asked him to drop out to unify the party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nobody's pressuring me to get out of the race. Frankly, we got some elections coming up. Marco Rubio is trailing in Florida by 17 points. You know? Why aren't they telling him to get out and get behind me? I have a better chance of winning in Ohio than he does in Florida. I mean, this is nonsense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Ben Carson also determined to remain in the field despite his lagging poll numbers. He says he owes it to his still faithful supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm listening to my donors. I'm listening to my supporters. And I have millions of them. And they are saying, please do not get out. We don't want to be left in a situation where we have to choose between the lesser of the evils. And I think they have a right to say that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A new poll has Dr. Carson leading the field of potential vice presidential picks for Donald Trump.
BERMAN: All right. Let's talk about the Democratic race. Hillary Clinton is ahead of Bernie Sanders in polls across Super Tuesday states, far ahead in some cases. That has her turning her eye to the general election battle with Donald Trump. But Bernie Sanders still campaigning hard. His aides expressing confidence about beating Clinton today in several states.
Jeff Zeleny with the latest from Virginia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, it's Super Tuesday. That means Democrats are voting in some 11 states. Hillary Clinton is making a last minute trip to Minnesota. That's one state where Bernie Sanders hoped to plant his flag.
Now, the Sanders campaign is feeling confident about five states. Minnesota, Colorado, Oklahoma, Massachusetts and his home state of Vermont. The Clinton campaign is feeling very confident in about seven or eight states. So, we some overlap there.
But what happens tonight in these contests is going to give us a big clue in how long this Democratic nominating fight goes on. Already, as Hillary Clinton campaigning on Monday, she is turning one eye on the general election and one eye toward the Republican candidates specifically.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because at some point, you can't just say whatever pops in your head if you want to be the president of the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
People around the world actually listen to what people running for president say.
ZELENY: Now, Hillary Clinton did not mention Donald Trump by name. She didn't have to. That was clear in her remarks as she campaigned here in Virginia on Monday.
[04:10:02] Now, going forward, the Clinton campaign believes the next two weeks are a critical period. They believe that they can have an insurmountable lead by March 15th. That's when Florida, Ohio, and Illinois go.
But Bernie Sanders raised nearly $40 million in the month of February. That means he has plenty fuel in the tank to keep this race going as long as he would like -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much.
One of the states voting today that many consider a must win for Bernie Sanders is Massachusetts, which does share a border with Vermont where Sanders is a senator from. Sanders polling better in Massachusetts than some other Super Tuesday states, but he is still trailing Hillary Clinton by eight points, 50 to 42. That is the latest poll from Suffolk University.
Again, Massachusetts really is a must-win for Bernie Sanders. He was there campaigning late into the night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In 11 states, including Massachusetts, over 800 delegates are going to be elected to the Democratic convention. And we anticipate winning many of them and a majority of them right here in Massachusetts.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Stay with CNN for a complete coverage of Super Tuesday. We will keep you up-to-date all day, late into the night, into the wee hours of the morning as the results come in from across the country. You can see Wolf and Jake and Anderson in the pregame, and then we'll take over at 2:00 a.m. It will be a long wonderful election morning.
ROMANS: It's not really a day. It's a long day. No day. No night.
BERMAN: It's a thing.
ROMANS: It's Super Tuesday. It's awesome.
All right. Time for an early start on your money this morning.
February ends with a three-month losing streak for stocks. But this morning, things are looking up. Dow futures are higher. European stock markets are slightly higher right now. Nice rally in Asian markets overnight.
Here is what the three-month losing streak looks like. The S&P 500 close February with a small loss. It follows a 5 percent plunge in January. Back in December, a 1.7 percent drop for stocks.
A rebound, though, could be on the way. Stocks have been following oil prices and crude has stopped crashing. Look at oil prices here, up an amazing 30 percent in just 11 trading days. That is quite a bounce.
There are still uncertainty in the oil patch. Major producers still struggling with supply decisions. So, don't expect an aggressive run up for the stock market. But if oil keeps advancing, stocks will likely follow suit. That has been the pattern of the past month.
BERMAN: It would be super. Everything is super today.
ROMANS: Super Tuesday.
BERMAN: All right.
All right. An emotional day in court for Erin Andrews, sportscaster. Really, really interesting testimony. She breaks down on the stand. Dramatic details, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:16:16] BERMAN: Emotional testimony from sportscaster Erin Andrews about the impact of having secretly recorded nude videos of her released on the Internet. Andrews is suing the convicted stalker who took the videos and the hotel where it happened for $75 million. Very emotional as you can see on the witness stand Monday talking about the ordeal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you feel grief about this?
ERIN ANDREWS, PLAINTIFF/SPORTS REPORTER: I do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you feel shame about this?
ANDREWS: I do. I feel so ashamed. I'm so embarrassed.
I come up here and I sit and hear and I start talking about my job and how much I love sports and then this happens every day of my life. Either I get a tweet or somebody makes a comment in the paper or somebody sends me a still of the video to my Twitter or somebody screams at me and I'm right back to this. I feel so embarrassed and so ashamed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Andrews told the court she suffers from depression and anxiety and panic attacks since that video went viral.
ROMANS: All right. Seventeen minutes past the hour.
The final batch of emails from Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state has now been released. That makes more than 30,000 work e- mails and attachments that have been made public with nearly 2,100 of them containing information that is now classified, according to the State Department. The FBI and the Justice Department still investigating whether Clinton broke any laws by using a private server. They are offering no timetable for a decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Shouldn't American voters know Hillary Clinton's legal status as they get prepared to head to the polls?
LORETTA LYNCH, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, what they should know and I hope they do know, is that any case that the Department of Justice looks at is going to be handled efficiently, fairly, thoroughly without any intent of artificial deadline on it, because what's important is to follow the facts, follow the law and come to an independent conclusion as to what may or may not have happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The State Department inspector general and at least two Republican-led congressional committees are also investigating those e-mails.
BERMAN: A New York federal judge has sided with Apple, deny a Justice Department request for a court order that would force that company to help hack the iPhone of a criminal dependent in the drug case. This comes less than two weeks after a judge in California ordered Apple to assist the FBI in unlocking the phone that belonged to one of the San Bernardino terrorist. Apple is appealing the California ruling.
ROMANS: That decision also coming on the eve of congressional testimony by Apple and the FBI, concerning encryption, security and privacy. FBI Director James Comey and Apple's legal team appear before the House Judiciary Committee today. Government officials claim the order requiring Apple's help in the San Bernardino case is an isolated case.
Meantime, the husband of one of the San Bernardino survivors says he thinks the iPhone used by Syed Rizwan Farook is unlikely to contain any valuable information.
BERMAN: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaking during oral arguments and that has Washington buzzing. Why? Thomas made headlines for the last ten years for going without asking a single question during proceedings.
But on Monday, he asked nine questions during a case involving a law that bars someone found guilty of domestic violence from owning a gun. Thomas questioned whether the measure suspends that individual's rights under the second amendment. A lot of people speculating. Clarence didn't talk for 10 years in the court and didn't ask a single question. ROMANS: Right.
BERMAN: Antonin Scalia, his dear friend who just passed away, spoke all the time. A lot of people are wondering now, you know, is Clarence Thomas trying to fill -- literally fill that void left by Antonin Scalia?
ROMANS: And Justice Thomas has been quoted as saying in the past that he doesn't need to ask the questions because they get asked anyway. All the justices asked the right questions. He just listens.
[04:20:01] All right. Will severe storms across the country today hamper voters on Super Tuesday?
Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the latest.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John and Christine.
You know, looking into this, historically speaking, weather actually does play a role in voter turnout. Typically one-third of the turnout is lessened based on studies done in the past when it comes to rough weather taking place on voting day.
But you take a look at the perspective today. We do have severe weather, typically the voter turnout is reduced when it has to do with blizzard or ice storms in place. That's not in place for much of the area, of course, today when it comes to at least any sort of wintry weather.
But the severe aspect is and we are watching that carefully across portions of, say, Eastern Oklahoma and to Arkansas and Little Rock this morning, into Memphis later on into the morning hours and eventually by the afternoon hours in places like Nashville, when we see the storms really develop in a straight line here.
This is a squall line indicates we are going to see powerful winds and isolated tornadoes not out of the question and damaging winds going to be possible along this line as well. But about 22 million people in line for severe weather today. But again, the vast majority of the threat is to do with winds and hail and to a lesser extent, tornadoes -- guys.
ROMANS: All right. Pedram, thank you so much for that.
Donald Trump's wife speaking to CNN. What she says bothers her about her husband's campaign for president.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:25:10] ROMANS: So with Donald Trump poised to take his Republican frontrunner status to a whole new level today, Super Tuesday, his wife, Melania, sat down with CNN's Anderson Cooper.
We have not heard much from her during the campaign. She is a former fashion model who could be America's next first lady. Melania talked about her husband's often brash behavior on the campaign trail. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELANIA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S WIFE: We are both independent and let him be who he is. And he lets me be who I am. And --
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You don't try to change him?
TRUMP: I don't try to change him. He is an adult. He knows the consequences.
And so, I let him be who he is. I give him my opinions many, many times.
COOPER: You do?
TRUMP: Yes, I don't agree with everything what he says. But, you know, that is normal.
I'm my own person. I tell him what I think. I'm standing very strong on the ground, on my two feet, and I'm own person and I think that's very important in the relationship.
COOPER: Do you -- can you say something where you disagreed with him?
TRUMP: Oh, many things. Some language, of course.
COOPER: Language?
TRUMP: Yes, some language I didn't --
COOPER: Language you hear him using on the campaign trail?
TRUMP: Especially I was in New Hampshire when the woman was shouting out an inappropriate word.
COOPER: Right.
TRUMP: And I was there. And I'm thinking don't repeat it in my head. Just, for him, don't repeat it, just don't say it, because the next day, media, all they will talk about is that. But he repeated.
He's with the momentum, he goes with the flow, he goes with the people. They are having fun. Everybody were cheering. You know, he said it.
And the next day -- but he repeated the word. That was not his word.
COOPER: Right.
TRUMP: So --
COOPER: So, he heard from you about that?
TRUMP: Yes. I told him that. Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: Melania Trump says she may start taking a larger role, but her focus right now is caring for their son. And she is not thinking about making speeches just yet.
BERMAN: All right. Millions of voters across the country, including Melania Trump. No, I guess she's registered her in New York, so she's not voting today. But a lot of voters not named Melania Trump, they head to the polls today because it is Super Tuesday. And it is super.
Which candidates have the best chances to pull ahead? We'll break it down, next.
