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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Abortion Waffle Draws Outrage; Cruz Beating Trump In Wisconsin; Dutch Police Arrest Terror Suspect; Is Chipotle Opening A Burger Restaurant?; Tornado, Flooding Hits Oklahoma and Arkansas; Obama Hosting Nuclear Security Summit; John Oliver Enjoys A Drumpf Bump. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired March 31, 2016 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: New outrage this morning. Donald Trump fumbling after saying that if abortions are made illegal, women who get them should be punished. Immediate, angry responses coming from both sides of the aisle.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Christine. I'm Boris Sanchez. We are 30 minutes past the hour, and this morning Donald Trump is facing another day of putting out fires touched off when the Republican front-runner took three different positions on abortion in the space of a single day -- really in just a few 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 waffling that back, saying the issue is unclear. But then he sent out a second statement calling for the person performing the abortion to be punished, not the woman.

Now, Trump's wobbling on abortion is drawing fire from both sides of the aisle. CNN's Jim Acosta has details.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Boris, Donald Trump carved out a very hardline position on abortion, just to walk it back hours later. His comments came during an interview MSNBC earlier in the day when he said women who undergo abortions should be punished if the procedure were made illegal. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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 -- all I'm going to say --

MATTHEWS: But you're for banning it.

TRUMP: Well, wait -- are you going to say put them in jail? The answer is that 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?

TRUMP: I don't know. That I don't know. That I don't know.

MATTHEWS: But who not? You take positions on everything else.

TRUMP: I don't know. Frankly, I do take positions on everything else. It's a very complicated position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: But then Trump did a complete 180, releasing a statement saying it would be the doctors who would 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 were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman 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 undergo the procedure, he united both sides of the very hot button issue, something you hardly ever see in politics -- Boris and Christine.

ROMANS: Yes, both Republicans and Democrats had a field day responding to Trump's swiftly changing abortion stances.

I want to break this down -- their attacks, all the political action, what the means for Donald Trump. CNN political analyst, Bloomberg View columnist Josh Rogin is back with us this morning.

Josh, three positions on abortion in three hours. It almost appeared as if this is a subject he had not thought that deeply on. That's the appearance, at least, because he really had trouble finding out. What does Donald Trump believe about abortion?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right, and --

ROMANS: What do you know about that at this point?

ROGIN: Right. I mean, what you're pointing at is what a lot of professionals are talking about today which is that for months Donald Trump has been able to get away with sort of one answer to each question, and when you had 17 Republicans in the field one answer was probably enough. And now that there are only three, he's getting to that second, third, fourth follow-up and he's not prepared.

And that was more plausible six, eight months ago, but in late March people think that he should have answers, he should have policies, he should know these things inside and out, and it doesn't really seem like he's studied up.

We saw this in The New York Times foreign policy interview where he was asked about nonproliferation, and on the third or fourth pass he said that Japan should get nuclear weapons. And again, he seems to sort of make it up on the spot.

So, Donald Trump is really good on his feet but he's not that good, and as we get deeper and deeper into this campaign he's going to face more and more detailed questions and he doesn't really seem to be studying up the way he should. And that's a whole separate issue from the issue of oh, by the way, his abortion position seems to punish women who are in sort of a very precarious situation.

SANCHEZ: Right. Josh, as we expected, Trump's opponents coming out on the attack pouncing on this. Here's Hillary Clinton responding to Trump's comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: John Kasich has defunded Planned Parenthood in Ohio. Ted Cruz opposing abortion in all cases with no exceptions for rape and incest. They all want to dictate a woman's reproductive healthcare decision, so you know, the choice is really clear. The Republicans all line up together. Now, maybe they aren't quite as open about it as Donald Trump was earlier today, but they all have the same position. And if you make abortion a crime -- you make it illegal -- then you make women and doctors criminals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Clinton really using Trump's comments there to kind of round up all Republicans --

ROMANS: Right.

SANCHEZ: -- to say they're out of touch with women's' rights, but even fellow Republicans and pro-lifers like Ted Cruz came out strongly against Trump. Here's Cruz.

[05:35:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That comment was wrong and really it's 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 them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Now, his opponents are really using this against Trump. We've seen him make controversial comments before and he seems to double down every time there's a controversy and say, I'm just saying it like is. I'm just saying it like it is. Yesterday was the first time we've seen him really --

ROMANS: You're right.

SANCHEZ: -- recant and take something that he said back. Does he recognize how big of a flub this could be moving forward?

ROGIN: Yes, I think there's two things going on. The Trump campaign sees that the numbers are starting to reflect the cumulative effect of the attacks and the gaffes, right? If you look at Wisconsin, which is only a few days away, he's down. He's down a lot and that makes a difference because he's so close to being on pace to that 1,237 magic number delegate count that he can't afford these kinds of stumbles. So now -- he used to have this big berth where he could make these mistakes and just slough it off, but that's no longer the case.

What people are looking for is really this tipping point, right? That's the point where the overall attacks, the overall feeling that Trump is not ready for prime time, and the overall objections to some of his more objectionable views overwhelm the support of the Trumpians. We haven't reached that yet, OK? We're not at that tipping point. He's still the front-runner. He's still got this huge delegate count.

But there's another game going on here and that game is to woo the political professionals in the Republican Party -- those people who will actually be at the convention, and those people care about two things. They care about electability, right, and they care about the future of the Republican Party.

So if you've got a standard-bearer who is alienating women at a magic rate and who doesn't seem to match up well against Hillary Clinton, that may not really affect the people who love Trump and were going to support Trump and were going to back him no matter what they say.

But when you get to that contested convention and you have the state delegates and these party officials from all over the country, and they're committed to Trump but then on the second or third ballot they're unobligated, they're going to look at things like this and they're going to say do we want a Republican Party that doesn't know how to talk about women in a basic way --

ROMANS: Right.

ROGIN: -- and doesn't know policy on a basic level? And that could really end up making the difference at that convention. So you've got the public game with the primaries and you've got the private game with the delegates, and this hurts him on both.

ROMANS: But, you know, the Trump core base will probably be unmoved by this, quite frankly. When you look at the Wisconsin polls he's looking at what -- 30 percent for a few months. He's got the core support there that's not moving. You look on social media, already there are people supporting. His supporters actually supporting on every one of the iterations of his position yesterday, saying he is not a focus group candidate.

He's not somebody who knows the parameters of the political discussion about abortion because he just says what he means in his heart at the moment, and they like him for that. One thing, Josh, I think is interesting you guys, is that he has taken these kinds of moments and he's managed to turn the news cycle very quickly, right?

SANCHEZ: Right.

ROMANS: He's got a new endorsement or -- I want to be curious, Josh, to see what happens today as he tries to change his conversation.

ROGIN: Right. Well, what we know is that the Trump campaign has a bunch of things up its sleeve and they've prepared these big rollouts and these endorsements, and then they wait until they really need them. So I think you're spot on. I bet they've got something planned. We'll have to see what it is.

But to your earlier point, we can look at those Wisconsin numbers. Trump was at 30 percent a week ago and he's at 30 percent now, right? So, he's maintaining the exact same level as before. Cruz, on the other hand, went from almost 20 to almost 40 --

ROMANS: Right.

ROGIN: -- so he's picking up all of the anti-Trump support that was left on the table by people who have exited the race. So, Trump maybe has reached his ceiling, right? We're also looking a primary field that's a lot smaller than what the general election field will be, so if Trump can get 30 percent of the primary field that's good enough for now.

But, in the grand scheme of things when you get to a big election with millions more voters, he needs to expand that base and he needs to depend on independents, Democrats, people who are not traditional Republicans, people who are not traditional supporters --

ROMANS: Right.

ROGIN: -- and he's losing those voters every day and I think that's the problem they're grappling with.

ROMANS: All right, Josh Rogin. Nice to see you this morning.

ROGIN: Always.

ROMANS: Have a great day.

ROGIN: You, too.

SANCHEZ: Thanks, Josh. New information on a foiled terror plot in Paris. An arsenal of weapons and explosives found inside a suspect's apartment. Europe is plagued with concerns over new attacks.

[05:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:44:00] SANCHEZ: There's new information this morning about a high-profile terror arrest in the Netherlands. A 32-year-old French citizen now identified as Anis Bari was taken into custody on Sunday in Rotterdam. He's now being linked to Reda Kriket. He's the foiled terror suspect who was apprehended last week for allegedly plotting an attack against France.

Let's go live right now to Paris and get the very latest from senior European correspondent, Jim Bittermann. Jim, good morning. What investigators have found during these two arrests -- the evidence list here is really eye-opening.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. They have found a huge cache of weapons here in the suburbs of Paris and they found the ammunition for some of those weapons in the Rotterdam apartment of Anis Bari. They link the two men because both men had served prison time, but also both men apparently went to Syria in 2014 and 2015 together and were radicalized there.

[05:45:00] It's interesting how this all took place. They picked up Reda Kriket last week in a southwest Paris suburb. They found in his possession keys to an apartment which they then raided and they found bomb-making materials including TATP, which is the explosive that was used both in Brussels and in Paris, as well as detonators and the weapons that I talked about.

And they also found a photo of Bari, the man who was arrested in Rotterdam. So, in fact, it was one thing led to another and they were able to roll this up there. Also are two other people in custody, not identified yet, and their exact connection is not known but they are supposedly linked to these two arrests that have taken place -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Jim, a difficult task ahead for Europe, especially considering some of the suspects linked to the attacks in Brussels last week are still on the run. Jim Bittermann in Paris, thank you.

ROMANS: All right, a quick EARLY START on your money this Thursday morning. Not a good start to the last day of the first quarter. Asian markets mostly lower. So are European stocks, and U.S. stock futures are down. But a great day for Wall Street yesterday. Stocks adding to Tuesday's gain. The Dow up 83. S&P 500 and the NASDAQ also higher.

You know, the market started the year in meltdown mode and it has had a total comeback quarter. Remember, the market tanked more than 10 percent by early February. Now investors are making money again. So this is the final day of that now-positive quarter. Is Chipotle opening a burger restaurant? The company filed a trademark request for the name Better Burger earlier this month. Chipotle has already invested in ShopHouse, which serves southeast Asian food, and Pizzeria Locale. The company has been interested in applying its restaurant model to other types of food, but for now Chipotle's immediate focus has to be on revising its burrito chain. The stock is down nearly 30 percent over the past year after several food safety scandals.

SANCHEZ: I look forward to Chipotle bouncing back and potentially having a burrito for breakfast. What do you say?

ROMANS: I know. Only on the early shift can you have a burrito for breakfast. Should John Oliver be thanking Donald Trump? We've got an early start on your money -- more of your money -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:52:00] SANCHEZ: Breaking overnight, a powerful tornado rips through Tulsa, Oklahoma. At least seven people hurt as this twister roared through the city. One person is still in critical condition. Officials say roads and buildings were damaged and at least 4,000 people were without power.

ROMANS: (Video playing) In Arkansas -- look at this dramatic rescue caught on video. You can see first responders pulling this woman from rushing water in Little Rock. The area hit with severe flooding. She was one of three people, we're told, inside a car. They were all stuck in raging water and fortunately everyone is OK in that car.

SANCHEZ: Now, the severe weather that brought this is going to continue today. More than seven million people are in the highest threat area.

Here's meteorologist Pedram Javaheri with the latest.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Christine and Boris. A pretty wild Wednesday -- another one ahead of us here on Thursday. In fact, if you take a look at what we tabulated, upwards of 70 plus storm reports, five of which were tornados. Fortunately, no fatalities across this region.

But you zoom it out and I'll show you what's transpired. We know 60 tornados so far in the month of March, in fact. That is just below the climatological norm of 80, and this is the busiest that we've had -- the month of March, at least, since 2012, with the number of tornados.

But here we go again for your Thursday. The severe weather ingredients all in place. The moisture coming right out of the Gulf -- the cool Canadian air from the northwest. Warm, dry air coming in from over Texas. Put it together and I think parts of Alabama, certainly around Mississippi -- another round of rough day of weather here on Thursday with the weather really shifting off towards portions of Birmingham -- eventually out towards Atlanta around noontime before the storms begin quieting just a little bit. But again, here are the areas of severe weather. Thirty-seven million people are going to deal with this, with over seven million of them in the enhanced risk. This is on a scale of one to five. A three -- that's from Jackson out towards portions of Louisville. Certainly around Memphis -- going to be in line for some of the weather this afternoon.

And notice the rainfall that accompanies all of this. In excess of four inches widespread across this region, so flooding threats tremendous in the area. And look at those temps, guys, across the northeast. Mid-70's around Washington, 71 in New York City. It could be about 30 degrees cooler come Sunday into Monday, so enjoy.

SANCHEZ: Thirty degrees cooler. All right, Pedram, thank you.

President Obama hosting dozens of world leaders later this morning at the fourth and final nuclear security summit in Washington. This year a special session has been scheduled focusing specifically on ISIS. The challenge? How to keep nuclear weapons out of the terrorist's hands. And also on the agenda, how to counter the growing nuclear threat posed by North Korea.

We get more now from CNN's Matt Rivers, live from Beijing this morning. Matt, good morning to you. A long list of very serious concerns for these world leaders.

[05:55:00] MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Boris, and let's start with North Korea. It has been a very busy month for Kim Jong-un's regime. They're talking about many different things that the regime has done, including the testing of some kind of nuclear device.

And so that will certainly be at the top of the agenda here during this summit where President Obama is expected to meet with several leaders from the region here, including the Japanese prime minister, the president of South Korea, and a one-on-one meeting with Chinese president, Xi Jinping. Many experts say that it is China, more than any other country, that can help influence the future direction of the Kim Jong-un regime.

And then also, talking about something you mentioned Boris -- is ISIS. The president will hold a special session to specifically talk about securing nuclear material around the world and how that relates to the terrorist organization. Certainly, the threat here is that a terrorist organization, like ISIS, might get its hands on that material and be able to create some kind of chemical or radiological weapon.

That prospect brought into a little bit sharper focus when last month investigators, while looking into the November terrorist attacks in Paris, found footage of a Belgian nuclear official in the apartment of one of the militants, a suspect in the Paris attacks. So, certainly a lot for the over-50 foreign leaders that will be coming together in Washington. A lot to talk about, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, that revelation about the Belgian scientist certainly unsettling. Matt Rivers in Beijing, thank you.

ROMANS: All right, time for an EARLY START on your money. It's the last trading for stocks for the quarter and not off to a good start. Asian markets are mostly lower. European stock markets fell. U.S. stock futures are following their lead. It was pretty good for Wall Street, though, yesterday. Stocks added to Tuesday's gain. The Dow up 83 points. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ, also higher.

The market started the year in meltdown mode, now making a comeback -- a quarter that has been marked by a big comeback. The Fed chief, Janet Yellen, hinted that an April interest rate hike is most certainly off the table. Oil prices are rising again and fears of a Chinese recession appear to be overblown.

One thing to watch here. The all-important monthly jobs report. That comes out tomorrow. Looking for some strong jobs growth again this month. Now, Americans are spending more money but they're earning less. That's according to a new study by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The average household shelled out more than $36,000 in 2014. That is up more than 25 percent since 1996.

They're spending more but median household income is almost the same today as it was in 1996, so they're making the very same. Income never recovered from the great recession. It's less than what it was, even back in 2008.

This is one of the reasons why primary voters are so angry about the economy. We've seen it again and again. They feel left behind by an economy, they believe, benefits the super-rich and status quo politicians. We've got more on that disconnect between the American voter and the economy in my new column on cnnmoney.com. Check it out there today.

All right, even John Oliver is benefiting from a Donald Trump ratings bump. Oliver's 1-month-old Trump takedown has become the most popular episode in the history of HBO. That Donald Drumpf segment is in reference to what one biographer says was the Trump family's original last name.

That video has been viewed more than 23 million times on YouTube, almost double Oliver's second most viewed video. And you know what's interesting about it, too? You think people want all this short content. It's 20 minutes long.

SANCHEZ: They're sticking to it.

ROMANS: Twenty-three million people have sat there for 20 minutes to watch something really interesting.

SANCHEZ: And it's going viral. New controversy for Donald Trump. "NEW DAY" begins right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: Do you believe in punishment for abortion?

TRUMP: There has to be some form of punishment.

MATTHEWS: To the woman?

TRUMP: Yes.

CLINTON: That is absolutely unacceptable.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Of course, women shouldn't be punished.

CRUZ: You have the latest demonstration of how little Donald has thought about any of the serious issues.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To punish a woman for having an abortion is beyond comprehension.

ROMANS: World leaders gathering at the fourth and final nuclear security summit. Keeping nuclear material out of terrorist's hands topping the agenda.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The nuclear threat is growing at the very same time that these nuclear summits are ending.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My cousin would never thought a cop would kill him. We have to get justice.

MICHAEL FREEMAN, COUNTY ATTORNEY, HENNEPIN COUNTY, MN: Criminal charges are not warranted for the fatal shooting of Jamar Clark.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will not rest until we see justice for Jamar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to your new day. It is Thursday, March 31st, 6:00 in the east. Don Lemon is in for Chris Cuomo this morning. It's great to have you. Michaela is on assignment but she will be joining us later in the hour.

Up first, Donald Trump's stance on abortion. The Republican front- runner taking three different positions on abortion within the span of three hours, first suggesting that women who get them should face "some sort of punishment."