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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Trump Abortion Waffle Draws Outrage; Clinton, Sanders Working Hard to Win New York; Dutch Police Arrest Terror Suspect; World Leaders Gather in Washington. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired March 31, 2016 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[04:30:26] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Outrage this morning. Donald Trump fumbling after saying that if abortions are made illegal, women who get them should be punished. New angry responses coming from both sides of the aisle.
Welcome back to EARLY START. Good morning. I'm Boris Sanchez.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Nice to see you this morning, Boris. Thanks for being here.
I'm Christine Romans. It is 30 minutes past the hour.
So, this morning, Donald Trump's campaign faces another day of putting out fires touched when the Republican frontrunner after he took three positions on abortions in the space of a single day, in a space of hours.
First, he said on MSNBC that if abortion were made illegal, women who get abortions should be punished. Then, he put out a statement walking that back, saying the issue is unclear. But then he sent out a second statement calling for the person performing the abortion be punished, not the woman.
Now, Trump's wobbling on abortion is drawing fire from both sides of the aisle, fast and furious bipartisan rage.
CNN's Jim Acosta has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Boris, Donald Trump carved out a very hard line position on abortion, just to walk it back hours later. His comments came during an interview with MSNBC earlier in a day when he said women who undergo abortion should be punished if the procedure were made illegal. Here's what he had to say.
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST: Should abortion be punished?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, people in certain parts of the Republican party and conservative Republicans would say yes, they should be punished.
MATTHEWS: How about you?
TRUMP: I would say that it's a very serious problem. And it's a problem that we have to decide on. It's very --
MATTHEWS: You're for banning it.
TRUMP: Wait. Are you going to say put them in jail? The answer is thereat there has to be some form of punishment.
MATTHEWS: For the woman?
TRUMP: Yes, there has to be some form.
MATTHEWS: Ten cents, ten years? Why not? You take positions on everything else.
TRUMP: I do take positions on everything else. It's a very complicated position.
ACOSTA: But then Trump did a complete 180, releasing a statement saying it would be doctors who will be punished, not women. Here's that statement.
It says, "If Congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld this legislation, or any state permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing the illegal act, they would be held legally responsible, not the woman. The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb. My position has not changed", Trump said. "Like Ronald Reagan, I am pro-life, with exceptions."
But the damage may already be done. Not only did Trump's rivals slam his original remarks on abortion, saying, you don't punish women who go through the procedure. He united both sides of this very hot bottom issue, something you hardly ever see in politics -- Boris and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Thanks for that, Jim.
Trump's Republican rivals had a field day, as you might imagine, denouncing the idea of punishment of a woman who had an abortion and slamming Trump for the about face on the issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That comment was wrong. It really is the latest demonstration of how little Donald has thought about any of the serious issues facing this country. I am pro-life. Being pro-life means standing and defending the unborn, but it also means defending moms, defending women, and defending the incredible gift women have to bring life into the world. And Donald's comments, they were unfortunate, they were wrong and I strongly disagree with him.
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Of course, women should not be punished. I think probably Donald Trump will figure out a way to say that he didn't say it or he was misquoted or whatever, but I don't think so. I don't think that's an appropriate response.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So, the Democratic candidates blasting Trump's comments. Bernie Sanders professing astonishment, calling Trump's position shameful. Hillary Clinton tied Trump's abortion stance to the entire Republican field.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To punish a woman for having an abortion is beyond comprehension. You know, one would say what is in Donald Trump's mind except we're tired of saying that? I don't know what world this person lives in.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The choice is really clear. The Republicans all line up together. Maybe they aren't quite as open about it as Donald Trump was earlier today. But they all have the same position. If you make abortion a crime, you make it illegal. Then you make women and doctors criminals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: There are two tough contests ahead for the Democrats, Wisconsin where Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are neck and neck in the latest polls.
[04:35:01] But today, both candidates are campaigning in New York, which Clinton, of course, represented in the Senate. Bernie Sanders was born and raised in New York City, and he's turning both states into tough battle grounds for the former first lady.
The latest now from CNN's Jeff Zeleny in New York.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Boris, the Democratic presidential race is focusing on New York today. Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders taking their campaign, dueling campaign events here in New York and the surrounding areas. Why is that? That New York primary, so many delegates, some 247 delegates to be exact are hanging in the balance in some 2 1/2 weeks time.
Now, there are other primaries before. First and foremost, Wisconsin. But even Bernie Sanders is coming off the trail to New York to start planting the flag here.
Now, Hillary Clinton was campaigning on Wednesday, at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem. She said she's going to campaign for president here like she did for senator and won twice. CLINTON: New York is home to 20 million people. We don't all look
the same. We don't all sound the same or worship the same either, but we pull together. And when a candidate for president says we can solve America's problems by building walls, discriminating against people based on religion and turning against each other, well, New Yorkers know better.
ZELENY: But for his part, Bernie Sanders is going to try and create this online movement into actual votes and motivation. He has so much support on the ground in New York City and Brooklyn with young voters, he's going to try and turn them out.
But the rules may be stacked against him here in New York. It's a closed primary. What that means is you simply cannot walk in that day and decide to vote. You have to be a registered voter by March 25th. And if you wanted to change parties, that had to be done at the end of last year.
So, New York is one of those states with a close primary system that could benefit the establishment candidate, in this case, Hillary Clinton. But there's no question the next two and a half weeks here in New York are going to be a tough race between the two.
First, that Wisconsin primary next Tuesday, we still have our eye on that. Bernie Sanders campaigning there on Friday. Hillary Clinton says she will make one more stop there before Tuesday as well -- Christine and Boris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: It's still a tough race ahead. Jeff Zeleny, thank you.
A bit of medical news. The Food and Drug Administration relaxing the guidelines for women taking the abortion pill. The change allows patients to use the drug later in pregnancies with fewer visits to the doctor. Critics claim the White House is trying to win over female voters. But the FDA says the guidelines change was strictly based on medical science.
ROMANS: Time for an early start on your money. Not a good start to the final trading day for stocks this year. Look at Asian markets lower. European markets down. U.S. stock futures also lower here.
It was a great day, though, yesterday for Wall Street. Stocks added to Tuesday's gain. Dow added 83 points. The S&P, NASDAQ also higher. You know, the markets started the year in meltdown mode. Remember how worried everyone was, a big ferocious selloff? But now, a ferocious comeback.
Remember, the market tanked more than 10 percent by early February. Now, investors are making money again.
Is Chipotle opening a burger restaurant? The company filed a trademark request for the name Better Burger earlier this month. Chipotle is already invested in Chop House which serves Southeast Asian food and pizzarella locale. The company interested in applying the restaurant model to other food. For now, its immediate focus is reviving its burrito chain. The stock is down 30 percent over the last year after a series of food safety scandals.
SANCHEZ: The video just made really hungry for breakfast.
ROMANS: Me, too.
SANCHEZ: New information on a foiled terrorist plot in Paris. An arsenal of weapons found inside the suspect's apartment. Europe being plagued by concerns of new attacks, next.
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[04:43:04] SANCHEZ: New information this morning about a high profile terror arrest in the Netherlands. An unidentified 32-year-old French citizen was taken into custody on Sunday in Rotterdam. He's now being linked to Reda Kriket, the foiled terror suspect who was apprehended last week for allegedly plotting an attack against France.
Let's go live now to Paris to get the very latest from senior European correspondent Jim Bittermann.
Jim, good morning to you. What do we know about this French citizen that was arrested?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, apparently when the Dutch authorities moved in on his apartment, according to media reports, they found cache of bullets, 7.62 bullets for Kalashnikov rifles, and 6,000 rounds according to media reports. That was immediately linked to the suspect here and is now been charged here in Paris, Reda Kriket, who when they searched his apartment, found five Kalashnikov machine guns and bomb-making materials and all sorts of things.
The two men, apparently, according to police reports, spent some time in 2014 and 2015 in Syria. They're both known as petty criminals before that. But they apparently went through a period of radicalization and in Syria for some time together. In any case, the prosecutor here says that they were plotting. He doesn't know what the target was, but he said it was imminent that the kind of things they had, including the explosive TATP which was used in Brussels attacks and the Paris attacks, that explosive was found in the apartment as well. So, something that was in preparation, what exactly is unknown -- Boris.
SANCHEZ: Now, Jim, I have to ask after last week's attacks in Brussels. We know that there are two unidentified suspects on the run, the so-called "man in the white hat". Are there any updates on the whereabouts of the suspects?
[04:45:06] BITTERMANN: No, not at all. Police are still searching for them just about everywhere. I think one of the things that the Brussels attacks pointed to authorities is how elusive everyone can be. For instance, the case of Abdeslam, who is under in custody now in Brussels. He came back from Turkey. Authorities were alerted to the fact that he was on the way back and then take action. So, it's the kind of thing that I think has authorities a little bit
alarmed that people can slip around so easily within the Schengen Group. They are doing more to try to prevent it, but it is very difficult to track these folks down.
SANCHEZ: Yes, very difficult task ahead. Jim Bittermann, live from Paris, thank you.
ROMANS: The FBI agreed to help prosecutors in Arkansas hack into an iPhone and iPod that could yield critical evidence in a murder trial. The decision comes just days after the agency successfully accessed the iPhone that is used by San Bernardino terror suspect Syed Rizwan Farook, with the help of an unidentified third party. Authorities in Arkansas are hoping to find evidence on two devices owned by two of the four suspects in the murder of the Little Rock couple last July.
SANCHEZ: The Mississippi Senate giving final approval to the so- called religious freedom bill. The bill would allow businesses to refuse service not only to gay and transgender people, but also anyone who's had extramarital sex that's based on the business owner's beliefs. The gay rights advocate calls it probably the worst religious freedom bill to date.
ROMANS: Meantime, the list of companies calling for North Carolina to repeal its so-called transgender bathroom bill keeps growing. Today, the Human Rights Campaign plans to deliver a letter to Governor Pat McCrory's office signed by more than 80 CEOs and business leaders. The controversial new law requires people to use bathrooms and other facilities, matching their sex on their birth certificate. It was approved in response to a Charlotte ordinance allowing transgender people to use bathrooms according to their gender identity.
SANCHEZ: Rebekah Mason, the adviser to Alabama Governor Robert Bentley has resigned amid allegations the two had an affair. It comes a week after audio recordings of their sexually charged conversations surfaced. Bentley has denied any affair and says he has no intention of resigning. Mason was being paid from Bentley's campaign funds. She says in a statement she now plans to focus her full attention on her family.
ROMANS: In Minneapolis, protests are loud, but peaceful in response to the decision not to charge two police officers who shot and killed a 24-year-old black man, Jamar Clark back in November. Prosecutors say the officers acted in self defense after Clark got a hold of the officer's gun in a scuffle and he allegedly told them, "I'm ready to die". Demonstrators who took to the streets are angry over the decision. They say police have a history of distorting the facts.
SANCHEZ: Scientists sounding a new alarm about the effects of global warming. "The New York Times" reporting on a new study that says continued high emissions of heat trapping gasses could cause a disaster scenario to play out much sooner than predicted. Climate researchers say the West Antarctic ice sheet could disintegrate within decades. That could trigger a rise in sea levels of up to three feet, that could flood coastal cities by the end of the century. ROMANS: Wait until you see this pictures. Powerful tornado through
Tulsa, Oklahoma. At least seven people hurt. The twister roared through the city. One person in critical condition. Officials say roads and buildings were damaged. And 4,000 people at least, Boris, without power right now.
SANCHEZ: Watch this video out of Arkansas. A rescue caught on camera. You can see first responders pulling this woman from rushing water. This is in Little Rock. The area was hit with severe floods. She was one of three people that were inside a car that got stuck in raging water. Fortunately, though, everyone is OK.
ROMANS: So, this severe weather is going to continue today with more than 7 million people in the highest threat area. Let's bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for the very latest.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Boris and Christine, good morning to you both.
Yes, another day where we have the severe weather threat pretty high across the expansive area. About 37.5 million people underneath the threat zone, 7.5 million of them in Jackson and Memphis and Louisville where damaging winds and large hail almost a certainty and, of course, tornadoes, you can't rule them out either.
And notice, we had some severe weather northeast of Tulsa, spawned four reports of tornadoes across that region. One across Arkansas, 60 in total in March 2016. That is just below the climatological norm. But would you believe, it's the busiest March we've had since 2012, when it comes to the number of tornadoes.
It's certainly something worth nothing and notice as the storm system migrates off to the east. Areas around parts of Mississippi have seen flash flooding in the early morning hours, also across parts of Louisiana and Tennessee. Three inches have come down. Additional inches could come down over Alabama and Georgia throughout the morning hours.
In total, look at these numbers, 4 to 6 inches on the soil moisture that is saturated, 99 percent of normal across the south. We have the flood watch in place, about 19.5 million people under the flood watch into the early morning hours.
And the temperatures very mild and widespread, 65 in Chicago, into the 80s around Little Rock. And, in fact, we have major changes in the forecast going in from Sunday into Monday. April comes in on a frigid note. Look at New York City. Leave you with the forecast which takes from 73 down to 42 by later next week, guys.
ROMANS: Sometimes, I just don't like what he has to deliver.
SANCHEZ: Dramatic drop in the next couple of days.
ROMANS: It is like covering the stock market. You know, sometimes, you like it, sometimes you don't. I don't like that forecast. Thanks, Pedram. Should John Oliver be thanking Donald Trump? We get an early start on
your money next.
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[04:55:02] SANCHEZ: President Obama hosting dozens of world leaders later this morning at the fourth and final nuclear security summit in Washington. This year's special session has been scheduled focusing in ISIS. The challenge: how to keep nuclear weapons out of the terrorists' hands. Also on the agenda, how to counter the growing nuclear threat posed by North Korea.
We get more from CNN's Matt Rivers live from Beijing this morning.
Matt, good morning to you.
Obviously, at the top of the agenda is ISIS. There's no indication that they have accessed to nuclear material, but we have seen them use crude chemical weapons before. So, how will world leaders planning to stop them from getting the chemicals needed to create a nuclear weapon?
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that is the big question facing the dozens of world leaders that will be descending upon this summit, to have those discussions, Boris.
President Obama set to hold a special session, especially talking about securing nuclear material to make sure it does not end up in the hands of terrorist groups like ISIS. He's going to be talking about how to increase urban center security, and big cities, how will they can increase security in those kinds of cities. And also, how to make sure that a group like ISIS cannot obtain chemical and nuclear weapons.
That potential came into a little bit sharper focus last month when during the course of an investigation into the November terrorist attacks in Paris. Investigators discovered video footage of the top Belgian nuclear official in the apartment of one of the suspected militants. So, certainly, a lot to talk about there.
Also, you mentioned North Korea. Certainly, something that's going to be talked about when President Obama meets with three separate leaders about that issue. He's set to meet with the Japan prime minister, the South Korean president, and also have a one-on-one with the Chinese president, that's President Xi Jinping. Most experts agree that it is China more than any country that has a unique ability to influence Pyongyang and the Kim Jong-un regime.
So, plenty of difficult subjects for these world leaders to talk about this latest summit, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Nuclear proliferation obviously a big concern.
Matt Rivers reporting from Beijing, thank you.
ROMANS: Syrian President Bashar al Assad declaring he is willing to form a new unity government that includes members of the opposition. Assad telling a Russian news agency a draft of a new constitution could be ready within weeks. The U.S. says any plan for new Syrian government with Assad remaining in power is a non-starter.
SANCHEZ: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling on member nations to resettle nearly half a million Syrian refugees. But he is not getting many takers. Only the United States, Italy, and Sweden have pledged to take part. The U.N. is hoping to resettle some 480,000 refugees by 2018. International aid groups have blasted the response by governments, calling it a shocking lack of political and moral leadership.
ROMANS: Fifty-seven minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money. Asian markets mixed. Europe markets have turned down a bit right now. Yesterday's stocks added to Tuesday's gain. The Dow added 83 points, S&P 500 and NASDAQ both closing higher.
You know, the market started the year in meltdown mode. But if you bought that meltdown, you have seen a comeback.
So, what is behind the turn around? Janet Yellen hinted that an April rate hike is certainly off the table. Oil prices are rising again. Fears of a recession in China are overblown. One thing that could slow down this rally, though -- the all important monthly jobs report comes out tomorrow, looking for strong jobs growth there.
Americans are spending more, but earning less. That's according to a new study by the Pew Charitable Trust. The average household shelled out more than $36,000 in spending last year, in 2014 rather. That's up more than 25 percent since 1996.
But median household income today is almost exactly the same as it was in 1996. Income never recovered from the Great Recession. It's less than what it was in 2008, median family income. It's one of the reasons why primary voters are so angry. American voters have felt left behind by an economy they believe benefits the super rich and status quo politicians. It's one of the biggest story lines in this election.
Even John Oliver is benefitting from a Donald Trump ratings bump. Look at this, Oliver's one-month-old Trump takedown has become the most popular episode in the history of HBO. The Donald Drumpf segment is in reference to what one biographer says was the Trump family's original last night. The video has more than 23 million views on YouTube, almost double Oliver's second most viewed video. This is the most viewed piece of HBO content in history. This British comedian's takedown of Donald Trump.
SANCHEZ: It is going viral. I was at a Trump rally about two weeks ago, and there were protesters outside. Many of them had signs that said "Takedown Donald Drumpf". It's catching on.
ROMANS: It's catching on.
SANCHEZ: EARLY START continues right now.
(MUSIC)
SANCHEZ: Donald Trump's newest controversy, saying that if abortion becomes illegal, women who get them should be punished.
