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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

GOP Debate: Candidates on the Attack; Sanders' New, Aggressive Strategy; North Korea Says Its Nuclear Stockpile is Ready-to-Go. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired March 04, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:13] MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Insults and attacks launching the Republican presidential debate. They reached a new low. Was anyone able to rise above the fray?

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Miguel Marquez.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: So nice to see you here this Friday.

MARQUEZ: Good to see you. Happy Friday.

ROMANS: Very busy week in politics.

Happy Friday, everybody. I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday, March 4th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

Breaking overnight: a down and dirty debate with Donald Trump at the center of it all for the entire two hours. Candidates bashed each other, sometimes in the coarsest terms.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In this campaign for the last year, Donald Trump has mocked everybody with personal attacks. He has done so to people sitting on the stage today. He has done so about people that are disabled. He's done it about every candidate in this race. So, if there's anyone who ever deserved to be attacked that way, it's been Donald Trump.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This little guy has lied so much about my record.

RUBIO: Here we go. Here we go.

TRUMP: He has lied so much.

I've won 10. He's won three or four? Last week, in fact on Tuesday, I was 500,000 votes higher than him. I was a million votes higher than Marco, 1 million votes. That's a lot of votes.

RUBIO: Two-thirds of the people who cast a vote in the Republican primary or caucus have voted against you. They do not want you to be our nominee.

CRUZ: If we nominate Donald, we're going to spend the spring -- the fall and the summer with the Republican nominee facing a fraud trial.

TRUMP: Oh, stop it.

CRUZ: With Hillary Clinton telling saying --

TRUMP: It's a minor case. It's a minor case.

CRUZ: -- why did you give my campaign and my foundation $100,000.

TRUMP: It's a minor civil case.

Lying, Ted.

CRUZ: You can breathe. I know it's hard. I know it's hard. But just --

RUBIO: When they are done with the yoga, can I answer a question?

CRUZ: You cannot.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can get the crossover votes, you see, because throughout this campaign, I've talked about issues. I have never tried to go and get into these kind of scrums that we're seeing here on the stage and people say everywhere I go, you seem to be the adult on the stage.

MODERATOR: I have a policy question for you, sir.

RUBIO: Let's see if he answers.

TRUMP: Don't worry about it, Marco. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it, Little Marco.

Look at those hands. Are they small hands? And he referred to my hands, if they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you, there's no problem. I guarantee you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Chief political correspondent Dana Bash was in the spin room and talked to the candidates after the debate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Miguel, as expected, this debate between the four remaining candidates in the beautiful theater here in Detroit was as raucous as they come, really intense especially when it comes to everybody taking aim at the frontrunner. The man in the center stage, Donald Trump.

Now, he was here. This was the spin room before everybody cleared out and I got a chance to talk to Mr. Trump, asking him about how he felt specifically about the idea that people were questioning whether or not he really is a man who keeps his word and tells it like it is. Take a listen.

TRUMP: No, I think I explained it very well. I thought it was very easy to explain. According to every poll, I won the debate by a lot. I'm in the 70s, which is a lot, when you have four people on the stage.

BASH: Now, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, they were really going after Donald Trump. But there was one man on the debate stage, the fourth, John Kasich, who refused to engage. In fact, he made it clear that was his strategy. As he has done throughout this campaign, saying that he doesn't want to get into it, he doesn't want to get into the bickering, he doesn't want to get into the name-calling and he just wants to talk about his record both as governor of Ohio and before that in Congress.

I also got a chance to talk to him after the debate.

You were clearly trying to be the adult in the room.

KASICH: Yes.

BASH: But given where you are and where the -- sort of, the delegates are after all of these contests, do you think Republicans are looking for an adult at this point?

KASICH: No, I do. I'm going to win Ohio. And when I win Ohio, it's a whole new ball game. You know, winning Ohio means I'm going to -- I'm now on home turf.

BASH: Now, for candidates like John Kasich who really thrives on this platform on the debate stage, it could be every beneficial. Even he said so.

But for the other candidates, unclear how much this debate really moved the ball. We're going to see when the next contest starts this Saturday and, of course, right here in Michigan, the reason they have this debate here, this primary is one that John Kasich is really focusing on this Tuesday -- Christine and Miguel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Dana Bash.

Let's break down this debate and sort through all the riled up rhetoric with CNN political analyst and "Bloomberg View" columnist, Josh Rogin, live in our Washington bureau, bright and early this morning.

[04:05:01] Folks, look, if you have not participated in the political circus over the past 24 hours, you have been missing out, because I think we're watching history here.

Let's talk about last night and listen to Megyn Kelly, who many people are saying Megyn Kelly was a very strong, strong leader in this debate. I mean, I think you guys probably agree. She did very well.

She rolled some video showing a flip flopping on foreign policy of Donald Trump. She really nailed him on this. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS MODERATOR: Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is they believe you tell it like it is. But time and time again in this campaign, you have actually told the voters one thing only to reverse yourself within weeks or even sometimes days. We teed up three examples in a videotape similar to those we used with Senator Rubio and Senator Cruz in the last debate.

The first is on whether the war in Afghanistan was a mistake. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: What about Afghanistan? Do you believe that American boots should stay on the ground in Afghanistan to stabilize the situation?

TRUMP: We made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place. That thing will collapse about two seconds after they leave. Just as I said that Iraq was going to collapse after we live.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: About Afghanistan, you said we made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place.

TRUMP: We made a mistake going into Iraq. I've never said we made a mistake going into Afghanistan.

CAMEROTA: Our question was about Afghanistan. That --

TRUMP: OK, I never said that. OK. Wouldn't matter. I've never said it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY: And there are many other examples. So, how is any of this telling it like it is?

TRUMP: On Afghanistan, I did Iraq. I think you have to stay in Afghanistan for a while because of the fact that you're right next to Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons and we have to protect that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: So, people who watched who are Trump supporters said he seemed confident and strong the whole time. People who watched who are critical of Donald Trump say she really puts some chips in his armor there.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I totally agree with you that Megyn Kelly came with her facts ready. She pointed out some real inconsistencies, not just on Trump's statement on Afghanistan, but his previous claim allowing refugees to come in the U.S. He flip- flopped on H-1B visas. You know, on the facts, she's got him cold.

The problem is that it doesn't seem the facts really matter either to Donald Trump or his supporters. But what troubles me really is not the fact that he changed his view on the war on Afghanistan, which he said was he misspoke, or that he change his view on the Syrian refugees.

What really bothers me more is that the policies that he laid out last night with his new views don't really make any sense on their face. We have to defend Afghanistan to protect it from Pakistan. He said that we have to have safe zones in Syria, but he doesn't want any U.S. troops involved in Syria.

So, on one hand, you have the flip-flopping. On the other hand, you have policies, about foreign policies and national security that don't make any sense at all. You put that all together and you would think would be a compelling case that Trump is not ready to be commander in chief.

But the truth is, that his supporters just don't agree. They don't seem to care.

MARQUEZ: Bigger picture here. Yesterday, cannot in any way be considered a good day for Donald Trump. He was picked to pieces from the left and right to sort of military panzer movement from Cruz and Rubio last night. Before that, the Luca Brasi of politics. Mitt Romney came out after him hard core, just unbelievably -- like my chin was on the floor. I had to pick it up to figure out what was going on. It was unbelievable to see that.

Here is how Trump responded to that last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He was a failed candidate. He should have beaten President Obama easy. He failed miserably and it was an embarrassment to everybody, including the Republican Party. He went away -- it looked like he went away on a vacation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: The crowd was all over the place there, but I can't see that Donald Trump walked out yesterday not injured to some degree.

ROGIN: He's got -- I mean, we'll see when the polls come out in a couple of days. It will take a couple of days for this to sift through the electorate and show up in polling. Polling particularly lags behind by that amount. But what we see now is that the entire Republican establishment is finally organized, finally throwing everything at him, including the kitchen sink, spending millions and millions of dollars on attack ads, dumping out all of the oppo research about Trump U, Trump stakes, Trump ties, Trump pizza, whatever.

And this is their last ditch Hail Mary pass to stop him, right? And everybody knew that this was going to happen. And sure, it can do damage to him, and it probably will do some damage to him. The question is whether or not it is too late? He may be too far ahead with too little time to go.

And all of this effort, even rolling out Mitt Romney -- I can't sit here and tell you that people are clamoring for Romney's opinion on politics. But it's worth a shot, right? And that's what they're doing. They're trying everything.

So, yes, it might damage him. But will it damage him enough before he wins the nomination? It's tough to call.

ROMANS: Well, here's the thing. I mean, the confidence that he has projected that his followers love so much and the intimidation and insults caught the other candidates off guard. They didn't engage early enough. I mean, they had months to do something and now, you know, really what you are in the fourth quarter of the basketball game.

ROGIN: Yes, that's exactly right. They spent all that time fighting each other. Rubio against Christie, Rubio against Jeb, Jeb against Rubio. And they wasted all of their time and money and let Trump assumed this huge lead. That was a mammoth mistake that they'll be kicking themselves over for decades to come, I assure you.

OK. So, the problem is that now they decided to engage Trump, they are engaging him on his terms. They're lowering themselves to his level. And the risk is they are now having to debate about hand size that is really on Trump's playing field, right? He loves to get down in the mud. That's where he is the most comfortable.

So, yes, it's funny and Rubio got some good quips in. You know, everyone had a good laugh. But it still didn't do what they wanted to do, which is push Trump on the policy issues, right? Every time they tried to do that, it went nowhere, and that's a big problem.

MARQUEZ: The level of discourse is shocking.

ROGIN: It is like a professional wrestling match.

ROMANS: No, I mean, I've got a fourth grader. We used to watch highlight together of the political process. I'm teaching him about politics. I can't watch -- we can't watch anymore.

MARQUEZ: This is moving into our territory.

ROGIN: It's crazy.

ROMANS: Oh my.

All right. Thanks. John, we'll talk to you in a minute. Thank you.

The next week is March Madness right here on CNN. It begins Sunday with the Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan followed by the series "RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE." Berman says this is fantastic.

MARQUEZ: This looks good.

ROMANS: Next Tuesday is the next Super Tuesday night. Wednesday brings the Democratic debate in Miami. Thursday, Republican debate in Miami. It is an entire week of political events. We're going to have it all right here on CNN.

MARQUEZ: It is heating up. Senator Marco Rubio sits down to talk about CNN in just a couple of hours. "NEW DAY" interviews Marco Rubio at 6:00 a.m. Be sure to tune in. That's a big get.

ROMANS: He had a quip last night about yoga, that just had me laughing, you know, laughing out loud. So, he is trying to show more of his personality.

MARQUEZ: It worked for him last debate.

ROMANS: It worked. So, we'll see what he has to say this morning.

All right. Bernie Sanders shifting strategy in the race for president. His new attacks against Hillary Clinton, we've got those for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:16:00] ROMANS: Welcome back.

Bernie Sanders is campaigning in Michigan today with the primary looming next Tuesday. Sanders is stepping up his attacks on Hillary Clinton, hitting her hard on trade. He is also accepted an invitation to a town hall on Monday organized by a media organization that often associated with Democrats, FOX News. Now, Hillary Clinton will not appear at the FOX town hall, citing a scheduling conflict.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more on Sanders new aggressive strategy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Miguel, we are one day away from the caucuses and primaries. Nebraska and Kansas on Saturday. Louisiana as well. Maine on Sunday.

Now, Bernie Sanders believes he can win three of those. On that, the Clinton campaign does not disagree.

This is becoming a race of delegates. Clinton had a big lead in the delegate hunt, but Senator Sanders could make up ground this weekend. It's one of the reasons he is going to college campuses in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Lawrence, Kansas, unto campuses in Michigan. He is focusing on working class voters, others who are fed up with Washington.

He visited Lincoln Nebraska and got loud cheers from an otherwise conservative state. Of course, many Democrats here are happy to have a candidate show up at all and they certainly turned out to see Bernie Sanders.

Some Democrats are wondering about the tone of his campaign. I asked him if he should tone down his rhetoric against Secretary Clinton.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In many ways, Democrats can say what they want. We are in this race to win it. I don't run negative campaign ads, but I do think it is appropriate that in a campaign, you distinguish your differences with your opponents. Otherwise, why run.

ZELENY: So, you can see Senator Sanders has no plans of changing his approach. They are working toward Sunday, the next presidential debate in Flint, Michigan. Of course, that is leading into the key states primary on Tuesday in Michigan. That state will determine how the delegate fight goes on -- Christine and Miguel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Jeff Zeleny -- shout out to Jeff. He has been traveling all over the place with those campaigns, doing a great job.

ZELENY: He has a lot longer to go. Amazing.

ROMANS: Yes, he does. He does. Thanks for that, Jeff.

Hillary Clinton was live tweeting during the Republican debate. This one, one of the most retweeted of the night. #gopdebate. Unintelligibly yelling.

All right. With the Democratic contest shifting to the Midwest, CNN hosts the next debate live from Flint, Michigan, on Sunday. That's the CNN Democratic presidential debate Sunday night, at 8:00, only on CNN.

MARQUEZ: It's only going to get more interesting, isn't it?

Computer security logs from the private email server used by Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state reveal no evidence of foreign hacking, according to "The New York Times". Those security logs were turned over to the FBI by the former Clinton aide who set up the server Bryan Pagliano. There were reportedly attempts to hack the account, which have been trashed back to Russia, but Pagliano reportedly told agents there is nothing in the logs to suggest any intrusion, occurred.

ROMANS: Secretary of State John Kerry has scrubbed plans to visit Cuba ahead of President Obama's trip in coming weeks. That's because there is too much fighting or which Cuban dissidents the president will be permitted to meet. Kerry staff couldn't even finalize travel arrangements. The president said any attempt to stop him from meeting dissidents will be a deal breaker for his two-day visit.

MARQUEZ: A delegation of 25 will travel to flint, Michigan to hear about the water crisis. Children and women in flint are eligible for expanded Medicaid coverage, thanks to a federal waiver. And his afternoon, contractors are expected to remove the first lead service line in the city, kicking off a $55 million fast start project.

Meanwhile, the mother of four at the center of the crisis, Leanne Walters, filed a federal lawsuit against several corporations and three current and former government employees.

[04:20:03] It just gets messier there.

ROMANS: All right. A mysterious and deadly bacteria spreading in Wisconsin. Health officials there scrambling to determine the source. It has already killed 18 people with dozens more infected. The Centers for Disease Control sending five disease detectives to the state to work on the case. Now, many of the victims are elderly and fell ill after being admitted to hospitals or nursing homes.

Twenty minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money.

Dow futures inching lower this morning. Wall Street awaiting a big jobs report. Look at the stock markets in Europe, higher. Shares in Asia closing also with gains.

The Dow riding a three-day win streak heading into today. It is now up five of the past seven trading days, up 512 points.

Besides oil prices, the only thing standing in the way of gains is the jobs report. It is released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Here is the number to watch: CNNMoney, its forecast is 190,000 new positions -- net new positions created in February.

The jobless rate, we think the jobless rate will stay at 4.9 percent. Wages up 2.5 percent over a year ago. That would be -- you know, that's OK. If it's not stellar, but it's OK.

Wages have been moving higher since October after dormant for years. You want to see that paycheck fatten up. When you have a job market that is as good as those numbers, you have to have it.

MARQUEZ: But even the job numbers have to get bigger.

ROMANS: Yes, of course, of course.

MARQUEZ: It's a rough time.

North Korea warning they have nuclear weapons and aren't afraid to use them. We are live with that story coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:25:31] ROMANS: All right. The Pentagon is calling on North Korea to take a collective breath and refrain from provocative action. This as leader Kim Jong-un warns his country is armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons and he is not afraid to use them. In fact, ready to use them at any moment.

I want to get more from CNN's Paula Hancocks, who is live in Seoul.

Paula, how concerning is this or is this just more talk from Kim Jong-un?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, what this does is it shows us that the North Korean regime is very concerned by these United Nations sanctions announced this week. The strongest in more than two decades according to the U.S., and you can see it is having an impact.

Now, we saw some photos being released by state run media KCNA of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un of test firing or watching the test-firing of multiple launch rocket system.

It's undated. We assume it's from first day. It's not clear, though.

It is a quote from him saying that he is ready to use these nuclear weapons at anytime. They need to be at the ready. Also saying the situation has reached a very dangerous phase.

He's also got some choice words for South Korean president, South Korean officials say this is what they believe this is the first time he named the South Korean president and criticized her, as he's really upping the rhetoric against South Korea here, saying Park Geun- hye's madness will only hasten her self destruction.

Now, at the same time, this afternoon, here in Seoul, we have seen U.S. forces and also the South Korean officials signed a memorandum, signing that they are officially talking about deploying a missile defense system here in South Korea. Now, they say it is necessary because of North Korea. It's something that China and Russia do not want to see happened. But this THAAD missile defense system is now officially being talked about here because of who we have seen over the past couple of months from the North -- Christine.

ROMANS: Certainly, a troubling last couple months and last couple of hours, quite frankly.

All right. Thank you so much for that, Paula Hancocks.

MARQUEZ: Republican presidential candidates attack each other for two hours on the debate stage. Who came out as top dog? Our panel breaking down the best moments live, coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)