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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Super Tuesday Part Two; New Details on U.S. Air Strike in Somalia; Maria Sharapova Fails Drug Test; Peyton Manning Retires. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired March 08, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00] SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now Trump and his campaign had made and three others head to the polls today. Now, Trump and his campaign has made it clear that Mississippi and Michigan are their top private state. These are both very delegate rich states. But even if Trump was talking to voters here in Mississippi, he had an eye on Florida and was taking swipes at Marco Rubio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And then we have little Marco Rubio. I saw it when we had, you know, Chris Christie endorsed me. Good guy, good -- really good guy. He endorsed me two weeks ago. And when Chris was on the stage, Chris was former -- he's the governor of New Jersey, but he was former prosecutor, then tough cookie. And I thought honestly, I thought Marco was going to faint. He was choking like a dog. He was pouring down sweat and Chris hit him ones and it was funny. He said the Obama thing. Remember the phrase. And then he did it again and he said it again and again and again and again.

And after the fifth time, I was getting ready to see the size of that hand. Look at that, I was going to grab him to show him how strong that hand is, because he made that sucker up. I was going to say, "Marco, I won't let you fall. I don't want you to get hurt Marco."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Now as soon as we get past these states that are voting here today, the Trump campaign is going to be laser focus on Florida. Have to get that is where they want to knock Marco Rubio out of the race for good. They went up on the air with a new attack ad against him. All of this in the face of Rubio's allies who are spending tens of millions trying to secure senator's victory in his home state. Back to you guys.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Sara Murray, thank you so much.

In the Democratic side, voters go to the polls in two states today, Michigan and Mississippi. Big implications for both states in this race. The Clinton campaign hoping for a show of strength in the deep south also in the industrial north.

Polls do show her leading right now in Michigan. CNN's Jeff Zeleny with more now from Clinton's final rally before the voting. JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The Michigan primary

is now upon us. And what a frenetic final day of campaigning it was. Talk of the auto bailout, talk about trade, talk about guns. But Hillary Clinton is increasingly trying to impress upon Democrats the time is now to start thinking long term. Thinking for the fall. At t closing rally in Detroit, listen to what she said to Democrats rally before her (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everything I just said, the Republicans disagree with. And so we've got our work cut out for us. That's why it's so important for all of you to turn out as many voters as you can tomorrow. Because, the sooner I could become your nominee, the more I could begin to turn our attention to the Republicans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Now that is the farthest she has gone to saying Democrats, hey, it's time to wrap this up. Of course she's not calling for Bernie Sanders to drop out. Anything like that would certainly back fire. But if she has a strong night tonight in Michigan, if she wins the delegates here as well as in Mississippi, they're going to continue to make their case that they believed it's mathematically impossible for him to overtake her.

Now the Sanders' campaign will argue that look, there are some 70 percent of the delegates still to be pick. It was big states in California, in New York, in New Jersey still to come. But if Bernie Sanders does not win here today in Michigan, that will make this argument that much harder. That's why Bernie Sanders just campaigning so aggressively in the final hours. He is ending his night tonight in Florida though. That state among others votes next Tuesday.

BERMAN: All right, thanks to Jeff Zeleny for that.

Let's talk more about this Superer Tuesday. Joining us now Wall Street Journal, White House correspondent Colleen McCain Nelson. Colleen, thank you so much for being with us this morning.

Let's start on the Republican side. Donald Trump, all of a sudden, with a lot at stake today.

COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON, WALL STREET JOURNAL: That's right. He didn't have a good weekend. He notched a few losses. Ted Cruz came out of this past weekend with the momentum after winning a few states and it certainly seems like Donald Trump didn't come out of the last debate with momentum.

And so, this is an important test for Donald Trump as to whether he's kind of reached the ceiling or whether this was just a blip this past weekend and this just happened to be good states for Ted Cruz and Donald Trump will return to winning. Fortunately, for Donald Trump, the states tonight look good for him. The polls show him winning in the larger states. And so he could come out of tonight with a momentum. But it's an interesting test for him.

BERMAN: Yeah, Michigan is the state he's been leading in the polls for sometime. Mississippi, in theory, like Alabama and Louisiana, at least a little bit which he both won fairly handily. Louisiana a little bit less so.

In Michigan, it is interesting though, because if you go by the latest poll this Monmouth University poll that says that John Kasich has really been surging as of late. And Marco Rubio, to an extent in Michigan, cratering.

NELSON: Right. It's really fascinating turn of events because, for so long, everyone has said that Marco Rubio is kind of the establishment candidate and that that's the lane he could occupy if only the race would clear out for him. And all of a sudden, you see John Kasich moving up in Michigan. You see Marco Rubio falling precipitously.

[05:05:12] And so, Kasich has a good opportunity here to maybe surprise some folks in Michigan. Come in perhaps even seconds. Come out of Michigan with momentum and then head to his home state of Ohio where he has a shot at winning. And if he comes in second in Michigan, Rubio's perhaps a distant fourth and then Kasich is able to win Ohio. He has an argument to make that in fact if perhaps he is the establishment candidate that the party should be coalescing around.

BERMAN: Sure if Marco Rubio has a bad day today, it hurts Marco Rubio in his argument in Florida. And Florida is where there's a whole lot going on right now. There's millions of dollars in advertising right now going after Donald Trump. Anti-trump ads from outside groups. Donald Trump himself is putting up an anti-Marco Rubio ad in this state. And we have this latest poll you're looking at right now from Monmouth was suggest that the race in a little bit closer. It might have been a couple weeks to go. Donald Trump still ahead. So, a lot at stake in Florida, 99 delegates, winner take all, voting one week from today.

NELSON: Right, Florida is the showdown. And so, not only has Marco Rubio staked his campaign on this thing, I will win Florida and basically suggesting that if he doesn't win Florida, then perhaps his campaign won't continue.

But beyond that, I mean, everyone else in the race is trying to knock out Marco Rubio in Florida. And so, Donald Trump is focusing his attention on Marco Rubio there. And then you see Ted Cruz who really doesn't have a chance of winning Florida opening offices there, deploying staff, expressly for the purpose of trying to hurt Marco Rubio's chances in Florida. And so, this is where the battle will be fought.

BERMAN: Yeah, Marco Rubio's supporters outraged that Ted Cruz would try to beat him for president right now. The idea that Ted Cruz wants to be Marco Rubio something very, very upsetting to Marco Rubio supporters. Let's talk about the Democratic race right now. It was a fascinating debate Sunday night here on CNN. A lot of people were talking about the fact Bernie Sanders seem to interrupt Hillary Clinton or he was upset when Hillary Clinton interrupted her and he said "Let me finish," which is something I think people do in normal life sometimes when they're interrupted. But, people did make note of it on twitter and Bernie Sanders was explaining it last night. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Given the fact that during the debate, she ended up going on many occasions spoke a lot longer than the time allotment allowed. And when I was speaking, she interrupted me. I did not interrupt her, despite the fact she spoke longer than, you know, red lights went on she kept talking. I didn't interrupt her. But I think in the middle of the debate, if somebody trying to make a point and somebody else interrupts you, I think that's rude.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I'm not sure that interrupt-gate which is Hillary Clinton, you know, interrupting Donald -- Bernie Sanders will amount to much. What may amount to much today is the battle form Michigan which both campaigns are going after very, very hard.

NELSON: Right. This is the state that they have both targeted. And it's worth noting that Bernie Sanders hasn't competed very hard in a lot of states. He's kind of ceded the south and many regards to Hillary Clinton. And after losing to South Carolina, he just kind of backed off a lot of the southern states.

And so, Michigan is a state that he has pinpointed and saying that he could win Michigan and his campaign advisers have long told us that this is a state where they expect to have in their words a showdown.

And so, they have said they should be able to win here. They should be able to be competitive here. So if Hillary Clinton is able to notch a win here, particularly a double digit win, it really undercuts Bernie Sanders' argument that he should continue to fight in this campaign. And it raises questions about where he can win if in fact he's not going to win any of the southern states. And then, if he's not winning in the industrial north, where is he going to win and his math problem only gets tougher if he losses tonight.

BERMAN: You know, it was interesting. Jeff Zeleny's piece a short time ago the plating sound of Hillary Clinton talking about the fact. She's saying the sooner I can lock up the nomination, the sooner I can take on the Republicans. But she was doing it gently. You get the sense she wants to be careful not to alienate Bernie Sanders supporters.

NELSON: You're exactly right. And that was new language from her that was interesting. And actually, earlier in the day, she took a question from someone and was talking about just kind of how she would try to unite the party if she emerges as the nominee. What she would do to bring Bernie Sanders' supporters into the fold and she reflected back on 2008 when she was defeated by Barack Obama and talked about what she did to try to be kind of a gracious loser and encourage her supporters to back Barack Obama. And she talked about introducing him at convention and eventually agreeing to not only support him, but go to work for his administration.

And so, it seem like she was kind of laying out a roadmap for maybe how Bernie Sanders could in fact help her if she emerges as nominee.

[05:10:06] BERMAN: All right, quick bonus round right here. On the Republican side, it's not just Michigan and Mississippi voting, but Idaho and Hawaii, he (inaudible) know anything about Idaho. There's a primary in Idaho, the first time I think they've had a primary there is usually been a caucus. And there are caucuses in Hawaii and that doesn't enclose until 1:00 a.m. this morning Eastern time.

They don't really have any sense of what's going to happen in either of these places. I guess we know that Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz actually both campaigned each of them did in Idaho. But it's not like anyone campaigned in Hawaii.

NELSON: Right, which is mysterious, everyone should wants to campaign in Hawaii.

BERMAN: That's right.

NELSON: But it's worth noting that's often just showing up is very helpful. And Marco Rubio was the only candidate who went to Puerto Rico. And he netted a win there. So perhaps showing up in Idaho will give either Cruz or Rubio a win tonight.

BERMAN: And getting on the board would be big for either of them tonight if the polls are correct and Donald Trump is on his way to winning both Michigan and Mississippi.

Colleen McCain Nelson great to have you with us this morning. We'll talk to you again and just a little bit.

NELSON: Thank you.

BERMAN: And we are busy here this week at CNN. (Inaudible) stay here the entire week for the most comprehensive political coverage on earth. We have results from the second Super Tuesday today. Super Tuesday, that's beginning tonight at 7:00 Eastern, Wednesday.

We have a Democratic debate in Miami. Thursday, a Republican debate in Miami, the last time the Republicans to be on the stage before Super Tuesday. Last time will be on the stage ever together again.

Sunday night, we have a Democratic town hall. This one from Ohio State University, that's just two days before the Ohio primary. A lot going on this week and it's only right here on CNN.

Some other news now, former first lady Nancy Reagan will be laid to rest on Friday. The service set for 2:00 p.m. Eastern at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. Mrs. Reagan will first line to repose at the library with public visitation tomorrow in Thursday. First Lady Michelle Obama, she will attend the funeral. Nancy Reagan will be buried on the library grounds alongside her husband. She died Sunday at the age of 94.

Time now for early starting your money stock futures pointing lower upset that Christine Romans is out sick today. Oil slipping as well. Europe and Asia posting losses as we speak.

A surge though in one commodity suggests that China's economy could be later (ph) rebound. Iron ore prices are spiking. The metal jump 17 percent on Monday setting a one day record up standing 54 percent since the start of the year.

Now, I know you are asking why is iron ore a big deal sourcing (ph) is a proxy for global economic demand. The more people buy, the more on using may be ready to manufacture. There's hope that China could further stimulate its economy. Some analyst though say this rise is overblown and that prices will eventually fall back to normal levels.

The United States with the big air strike against suspected terrorists in Somalia while the United States says it had to act now. That's straight ahead.

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[05:17:02] BERMAN: New details emerging this morning about the U.S. air strike in Somalia which is believe to have killed the 150 suspected members of the al-Shabaab terror group. U.S. official say the fighters were standing at attention possibly taking part in a graduation ceremony on the verge of carrying out an attack on U.S. forces in Africa.

CNN National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto has the latest.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: John, this was on of the largest U.S. strike against terrorists ever. The Pentagon says some 150 fighters from the terror group al-Shabaab killed in the strike. The target was an al-Shabaab training camp. And the timing was key here because U.S. intelligence indicated that these fighters were about to carry out an attack on African Union Forces and U.S. forces in Somalia. U.S. Commanders acting that the Pentagon in self defense both manned and unmanned aircraft carrying out the strike.

Now at the same time, (inaudible) al-Shabaab claiming responsibility for another attempted bombing of a passenger jet, that bomb enclose hidden in a laptop. You may remember, it was just a couple of weeks ago when a laptop bomb exploded on a jet in the air punching a hole in the fuselage and it is believe carrying that bomber, sucking that bomber out of that hole. So two attempted attacks on passenger jets claimed by al-Shabaab as well.

The ambitions of this group greatly concerning to U.S. counter-terror officials attacking Western targets not only inside the country Somalia, but the concern that they would do the same outside the country as well, a growing concern, and of course, also a concern here that they are sharing technology with AQAP al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. It is the group that it's been the principal concern in terms of hiding explosives inside electronic devise such as laptop before, but now it appears that al-Shabaab has that same technology. Something the U.S. is watching very closely.

BERMAN: All right, thanks to Jim Sciutto for that.

A big surprise in the tennis world. Maria Sharapova with the positive drug test at the Australian open. So how long will she be out? What will her sponsors do?

[05:19:09] Coy Wire with this morning Bleacher Report, up next.

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BERMAN: Peyton Manning made his retirement from football official in an emotional press conference.

Coy Wire now with more in this morning, the Bleacher Report. Hey Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi John. Manning ended his career with more passing yards, passing touchdowns and wins than any quarterback in NFL history.

And during his announcement yesterday, he showed all the characteristics we're used to seeing, the selflessness, humility, a bunch of humors too. But we also saw an emotional side of Manning as he said goodbye to the game he loves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEYTON MANNING, FOOTBALL PLAYER: When I look back on my NFL career, I know without a doubt that I gave everything I had to help my teams walk away with a win.

There are other players who are more talented, but there was no one could out prepare me. I fought a good fight. I finished my football race and after 18 years, it's time.

God bless all of you and God bless football.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: To the NBA, the Warriors and Magic. The Warriors looking to get back on track after that embarrassing loss to Lakers on Sunday.

Steph Curry drains in threes. Bogut knows it. Look at it. He made history once again, Curry that is becoming the first player in NBA history to make 300 three-pointers in a season. Warriors win 119-113 and they set the NBA's all time home winning streak record with 45 in a row.

Maria Sharapova announced yesterday that she failed a drug test back in January at the Australian Open for taking a substance she said she'd been taking for 10 years. [05:25:09] Meldonium was only recently added to the sports banned substance list back January 1st.

The International Tennis Federation has informed her that she's suspended until the case is finalized. At which point they will let her know what her penalty will be.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA SHARAPOVA, TENNIS PLAYER: I made a huge mistake. And I let my fans down. I've let the sport down. I don't want to end my career this way and I really hope that I will be given another chance to play this game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now, John, remember, Maria Sharapova is the highest paid female athlete in the world. Nike has already suspended their $17 million contract with her. Tag Heuer suspended contract negotiation talks with her. And Porsche has postponed an event that they had plan with her until the investigation is complete.

We'll soon know how this all is going to shake out for Sharapova.

BERMAN: There'll be some kind of suspension, but it doesn't look like it will be super long at this point.

Coy let me ask you while I have you here, the Golden State Warriors, are they going to break the Bulls record or not? I want you on the record right now.

WIRE: I'm feeling the flow and like my man John Berman said this morning on Twitter, "its MC Hammer time". They're too legit to quit, John. They're doing it.

BERMAN: And Hammer is a giant Warriors fan and for that reason alone, you want them to win. All right, Coy, thanks for being here. I really appreciate it.

WIRE: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, a big high stakes day in the presidential race. Voters in four states they head to the polls. Six will enter. How many will leave?

Talking about the candidates right now. Who will win big? Who can have a big disappointment?

With the latest from the campaign trail, next.

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