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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Meets with Republican Party Officials; Clinton: "I'm So Sick of The Sanders Campaign Lying"; Nuclear Summit: Keeping Nukes from ISIS; Belgium to Extradite Paris Terror Suspect; Deadly Highway Overpass Collapse in India. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired April 01, 2016 - 04:30   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump at the RNC headquarters for a secret meeting and days of controversy rocking his campaign.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And Hillary Clinton lashing out, accusing Bernie Sanders of lying over her campaign funds.

ROMANS: Major world leaders convene in Washington. Can they keep nuclear weapons out of terrorists' control?

[04:30:02] Good morning. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

SANCHEZ: I'm happy to be here with you, Christine.

I'm Boris Sanchez. It's Friday, April 1st. Happy April Fools' Day.

Donald Trump mounting a new defense to explain why he told MSNBC that women who get a legal abortion should be pushed, before he then clarified and then later his position. Late last night, Trump conceded on FOX News that may be he misspoke. But he blamed the question was asked and edited.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You really have to hear the whole thing. I mean, this was a long convoluted question. This was a long discussion. They just cut it out. And, frankly, it was extremely -- it was really convoluted. And if in fact abortion was outlawed, the person performing the abortion, the doctor or whoever it may be, that's really doing the act, or responsible for the act, not the woman is responsible. So, that's the way I've always felt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: MSNBC says the interview was not edited and that they played it in its entirety.

Now, with just four days to go until the Wisconsin primary, Trump is doing damage control. He met with the head of the Republican Party yesterday, calling it a meeting of unity.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Boris.

Well, Donald Trump holding a secret meeting in Washington, D.C. Thursday behind closed doors at the RNC headquarters. Sources telling CNN the meeting was largely about convention rules and delegates. After the meeting, the RNC chairman putting out a statement saying it was a productive meeting, he says, about the state of the race, and Donald Trump tweeting about the meeting, also calling it a nice meeting, saying that he looks forward to bringing the party together.

Now, while in Washington, Donald Trump convened a meeting of the newly formed national security team. This comes after a string of national security and foreign policy statements that some have called into question including his rivals like John Kasich.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It appears as they though when he does these events and people press him, he becomes unmoored. And has to spend time trying to figure out how to correct all of the mistakes he made. I have to tell you, as commander in chief and leader of the free world, you don't get do-overs. You need to be able to get it right the first time.

SERFATY: As you can see there, John Kasich really trying to capitalize the recent missteps and controversies of Trump, trying to paint Trump as not ready to be president -- Boris and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Sunlen in Milwaukee, thank you.

You know, the White House blasting Trump's latest foreign policy statements, taking aim at Trump's suggestion that a CNN town hall that Japan and South Korea should either pay the U.S. more for their defense or they should defend themselves with nuclear weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN RHODES, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: It would be catastrophic were the United States to shift its position and indicate we support somehow the proliferations of nuclear weapons to additional countries. It also flies in the face of decades of bipartisan national security doctrine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Japanese and South Korean officials deeply critical of the Trump remarks. The foreign minister of Japan, which has a pacifist constitution since World War II, said quote, "It is impossible that Japan will arm itself with nuclear weapons." With Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe adding, "Whoever will become the next president of the United States, the Japan/U.S. alliance is the cornerstone of Japan's diplomacy."

SANCHEZ: For the Democrats, a war is brewing in New York. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are attacking each tries to lay claim to the state. Thousands came to hear Sanders speak at a rally in the Bronx where he tried to appeal to New Yorkers by stressing his Brooklyn roots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am proud that I was born here in New York City. We lived in a 3 1/2 room rent controlled apartment in Brooklyn. So, I learned a little bit about what it means to grow up in a family that has no money, and I also learned a little bit about the immigrant experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Clinton also playing that hometown card, campaigning for an entire week in a state she once represented in the Senate. The New York primary is still two and a half weeks away, but the tension showing on the campaign trail with Clinton losing her cool when confronted by a climate activist.

CNN'S Jeff Zeleny has the latest from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESONDENT: Christine and Boris, it's clear that this long Democratic presidential race is starting to get to the candidates. Now, when Hillary Clinton was campaigning on Thursday in New York, she was approached by some environmental activist. They were asking about her contributions from fossil fuel companies and other executives of these companies. Listen to her reaction when she got the question.

[04:35:00] ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST: If you protect -- with climate change, will you act on your word and reject fossil fuel money in the future in your campaign?

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do not, I have money from people who work for fossil fuel companies. I am so sick, I am so sick of the Sanders' campaign lying about that. I'm sick of it!

ZELENY: The Clinton campaign pushed back hard on that, saying she did not accept any donations from corporations. Of course, that is not allowed by law. But she did, in fact, receive contributions from people who work for these corporations.

Now, it's one of these differences that we're seeing play out between the two campaigns here. The Sanders campaign is making a big deal of the fact they collect their contributions in small fashions, by some $27 is the average contribution. The Clinton campaign, of course, raises money the old fashioned way.

But it's one of the things that made clear the look on Secretary Clinton's face it is clear that the campaign is frustrating to her. Still, she knows she must reach out to those Sanders supporter. So, in that same rally, she said it is time at some point for Democrats to come together.

CLINTON: We've got to unite when this primary contest is over. We've got to unite and make sure we have a Democrat in the White House in January.

(CHEERS)

ZELENY: But that unity is not perhaps coming anytime soon. There is still a long way to go in the Democratic race. Now, Wisconsin votes on Tuesday. The Sanders campaign clearly hoping for a win there, then all eyes back on New York before the primary on April 19th.

The Clinton campaign, of course, is ahead by 12 points in the latest polling that's out there. But the Sanders campaign really believes they can make inroads here, trying to fight for New York for the next two weeks. It will be one of the most interesting moments in this Democratic presidential race -- Christine and Boris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, it sure well. Thanks, Jeff Zeleny, for that.

Today is day two of the nuclear summit in Washington. President Obama hosting leaders of more than 50 nations. On Thursday, he met jointly with the president of South Korea and prime minister of Japan. Then he went one-on-one with the Chinese President Xi Jinping. The president pressing China on its militarization of the South China Sea.

Today, a special session has been called to wrap up the summit and their topic is urban terrorism.

We get have more from Michelle Kosinski.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Boris and Christine.

Right, today, the U.S. and other nations at this Nuclear Security Summit are going to tackle two of the biggest threats that the world faces. First, that posed by Iran, and then, in a second special session by ISIS. You can imagine the sense of urgency surrounding this. So close after the Paris and Brussels attacks and with new information from Belgium that some of the planners may have been doing extensive surveillance on a top Belgian nuclear scientist. That some had plans to attack a nuclear facility.

It is interesting to hear the White House downplay what it sees the risk being there. They said in a country like Belgium, security is very tight around nuclear facilities. They don't see that surveillance as being necessarily a significant risk, but they say it does reinforce the fact that they believe ISIS would like to get its hands on nuclear material, just like al Qaeda did.

Some experts here, though, say they see the broader effect not being highly enriched uranium that's used to make nuclear bombs, held by about two dozen countries, and that's been reduced significantly over the last decade. Security is also much tighter than it was.

They see the real threat as being this lower grade radiological material, the kind used in cancer treatments in hospitals, in some industries, even held some academic institutions. That's in about 130 countries, more than 1,000 sites around the world, some of which have terrible security. They see that as being the likelier way that ISIS could get its hands on some material that they could use to make a dirty bomb, that would cause contamination in parts of cities, buildings might need to be torn down, and would cause more of an enormous disruption. So, that's going to be a topic of concern here today.

Also, we will hear from the president himself in a press conference early this evening -- Boris and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Michelle, thank you.

Time for an early start on your money. Dow futures pointing lower this morning. This is the first trading day of April and the first trading day of the second quarter. Oil is falling. Stock markets in Europe are down. A big drop in Asian stock markets overnight.

So, investors have closed the books on a wild first quarter. Check out the classic V-shape dive and recovery for the Dow over the first three months of the year. That drop hit more than 10 percent in February as oil prices crashed. Concerns of China and nervous about how quickly the Fed interest rates. Oil started rising and the Dow ended the quarter positive for the year.

Get this, 92 percent of investors made money in March. That's according to our partners at Openfolio. But only 32 percent have turned positive for the year so far.

And really interesting. Investors in gold in the first quarter. Gold up 16 percent in the first quarter. The best quarter for gold in 30 years. That shows the recovery in stocks, there is still nervousness around the world about markets and the economy.

[04:40:01] SANCHEZ: Right. And the second quarter is starting out like the first. Hopefully, it has a similar rebound.

ROMANS: Yes.

SANCHEZ: The manhunt for two Brussels bombers ongoing. Authorities are trying to get information out of this man, connected to the Brussels and Paris attacks. Details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: A Belgian court has ruled that Paris terror attack suspect Salah Abdeslam can be extradited to France, though the details of the prisoner transfer still needs to be worked out.

Abdeslam was the most wanted man in Europe until authorities in Brussels captured him last month, following a shootout in Molenbeek. All of this happening as investigators search for the two surviving Brussels bombers.

Alexandra Field is tracking the very latest developments for us live from Brussels.

Good morning.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there. Good morning, Christine.

They are, in fact, still looking for the third suspected bomber from the airport attack here in Brussels, as well as the possible second suspected attacker from the metro attack in Brussels that unfolded on the same day.

[04:45:04] And while they search for these two most wanted suspected terrorists, we know that Salah Abdeslam, the man who is most wanted in connection with the Paris attacks will be making his way back to France. Again, not entirely clear when he will leave Belgium. We do know from authorities that Salah Abdeslam left France back in November, in the hours after the Paris attacks, making his way over the border into Belgium before authorities knew who they were looking for. That's why he was able to go through one of the check points that had been set up on the border.

Fast forward some four and a half months, and that's when authorities finally found Salah Abdeslam. They said in the initial days after his apprehension that he had been cooperating with authorities here in Belgium and fighting extradition to France. But four days into his detention, you have the Brussels attacks unleashed on this city. After that, investigators say that Salah Abdeslam was no longer willing to cooperate with authorities, and that is -- and he agreed to be extradited to France.

So, again, no time line for that. But Salah Abdeslam, the man that France is wanted for so long, will be making his way back there -- Christine.

ROMANS: And a manhunt still under way throughout Europe for those other two. Thank you so much for that, Alexandra Field.

SANCHEZ: Investigators in Europe are struggling to break into 40 mobile phones seized by police during the Paris terror attacks. And they are turning up the pressure on technology firms to help them hack into the devices. The vast majority of the devices are iPhones, running newer software that Apple claims it cannot breach.

Here in the U.S., the FBI has successfully hacked into the iPhone 5c used by one of the San Bernardino terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook. They got the help of a third party to do that. The agency will now be testing that technique and other version of the device.

ROMANS: The ex-wife of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is speaking out. In her first interview since being released from a prison in Lebanon last year, Saja al-Dulaimi tells a CNN affiliate in Sweden that she wants to start a new life in Europe so the daughters she bore with the terror leader can get a proper education. She described al-Baghdadi as an ideal father and says, quote, "The way he was with children, he was a teacher. You know how teachers are. He knew how to deal with children, better than how to deal with the mother."

She actually says she had to share her husband with his other wife and she claimed that she ran away from him while she was pregnant because she was not happy.

SANCHEZ: A Virginia state trooper is shot and killed during a training exercise at a Greyhound bus station in Richmond. Police say 37-year-old trooper Chad Dermyer was taken part in the exercise with about a dozen other officers when he approached the unidentified suspect who shot him at point blank range. Two other troopers who shot and killed the gunman. Two civilians were also hurt.

ROMANS: Ferguson, Missouri, has a new police chief following a nationwide three-month search. Major Delrish Moss from the Miami Police Department has been handed that job. He was the executive assistant to the Miami chief of police. Moss told reporters change doesn't come easily but I'm ready for the challenge.

SANCHEZ: Some staggering numbers about violence. It's up to its deadliest start in almost two decades. Police statistics showing a total of 135 homicides so far in 2016. That is a staggering 71 percent jump over the same period last year. Shootings overall are up 73 percent. And on Thursday along, eight people were shot in about an hour, two of them died. If this pace continues, Chicago will see 550 homicides before the end of the year.

ROMANS: All right. Incredible footage of a tornado that tore through two states in the south. A man capturing the twister on his cell phone as it swirled through the city of New Hope, in Mississippi. Local media said it touched down and picked up and touched down again. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

SANCHEZ: Yes, this morning, the dangerous storms continue their march across the Southeast.

Let's get to meteorologist Karen Maginnis.

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Alison and Boris, we start to see the shift in the potential for severe weather, moving towards the east and south with the heaviest precipitation, 4 to 6 inches possible along southern Georgia and also panhandle of Florida. But even for Atlanta, Georgia, a couple of inches of rainfall is possible.

Where you see the yellow shaded area, that's where we have the more substantial risk for severe weather. It's not a high risk, but you could see an isolated tornado. But more than likely, damaging winds and large hail possible. Out of the hundreds of reports that we saw in the previous 24 hours, most of those were high wind and hail. Just a couple of those tornado reports. As we go into Friday, look at this. Here comes some of the severe weather potential from Spartanburg to Atlanta toward mobile and maybe a few isolated storms also for New Orleans.

Now, we're beginning to enter the severe weather risk season for tornadic activity. April, May and June when we could potentially see hundreds of tornado reports.

[04:50:04] We start to see tornado alley fire up as well. Back to you guys.

ROMANS: All right. Karen, thanks for that. You know, the U.S. women national soccer team filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claiming they are discriminated against because they get paid less than members of the men's team, up to 62 percent less.

An attorney for the women says they outperform the men. They make $16 million for the U.S. Soccer Federation. The men's team lost money. The women also captured the World Cup last year. They are favorites to win gold at the upcoming Summer Olympics. Federation officials say they will address the pay gap in upcoming contract talks.

SANCHEZ: They certainly earned it.

ROMANS: Interesting. Really interesting.

All right. Fifty minutes past the hour.

The stock market facing a big test old first trading day of the second quarter. It's all about jobs. We're going to get an early start on your money, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:55:06] ROMANS: Just a tragic grim scene in Kolkata, India. Rescuer workers are frantically digging through tons of concrete. They are hoping to find survivors of the deadly highway overpass collapse. You can see it there. The death toll rising to at least 84. Eighty pulled free alive.

Authorities are admitting there's no way of knowing how many cars or pedestrians were crushed when the 328-foot section of the roadway just came crashing down.

I want to get the latest from CNN's India bureau chief Ravi Agrawal.

This was a very busy overpass. All kinds of cars and pedestrians and motorcycles underneath it. Are they managing to pull people out alive, Ravi?

RAVI AGRAWAL, CNN INDIA BUREAU CHIEF: No, it seems like for the three or four hours they have not found anyone dead or alive. And I just want to show behind me, what we're looking at is the -- one of the points at which the column gave way and the overpass just fell and crushed anything below it. You can still see at least one truck still wedged under the heavy slabs of concrete.

And for many hours now, you've had people with drills trying to dig through the rubble to dig through it, to try and reach anyone who may still be there to try to pull out cars and extricate anything else. This really is a tragedy for the city of Kolkata and many, many people are being wounded, upwards 80.

It is also an embarrassment for the city which has been building many of the overpasses for the seven or eight years. I grew up in the city. So, I have seen this develop over the last few years. Really it is also an embarrassment and symbol of the shoddy infrastructure that we're beginning to see all over India.

And this is the sort of a tragic outcome of that kind of shoddy infrastructure which people around us today are suffering from.

ROMANS: Ravi, we can only hope that this accident will allow authorities to try to figure out how to prevent that shoddy infrastructure and to help people and safeguard people. Ravi, thank you so much for that.

SANCHEZ: Video so difficult to watch.

ROMANS: Yes.

SANCHEZ: The Obama administration looking to ease sanctions on Iran by giving Tehran limited access to U.S. dollars. Right now, U.S. banks are banned from dealing in dollars with Iran. However, "The Wall Street Journal" is exploring a work around, the proposed move is linked to the nuclear deal, but some U.S. lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, expressing alarm due to tensions with Iran.

ROMANS: All right. Let's an early start on your money this Friday morning.

Stock futures pointing lower, investors starting the second quarter today. Oil prices down, stocks in Europe down, shares in Asia down. You can see the trend.

The stock market will face the first big hurdle later this morning. The government's monthly jobs report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Economists expect 199,000 jobs created in March.

New this morning, California and New York will become the first states in the country to have a $15 minimum wage. Workers at large companies in New York City will see the $15 minimum by the start of 20. Small businesses in the city will hit that mark one year later. Three counties around New York City follow in 2021. Update rural areas will get there, but they are on a more flexible schedule of increases.

Lawmakers in California passed a bill last night that would gradually increase the lowest wages to 15 bucks an hour by the year 2022. The bill gives small businesses an extra year to implement the increases. About 5.6 million Californians, that's about 32 percent of the state's workforce, currently live on the minimum wage.

In New York, it's about 2.3 million people to see a wage increase, a quarter of the state's working population.

More big companies are joining fight that against North Carolina's new law that critics say discriminates against the LGBT community. The latest list includes Starbucks, Wells Fargo, eBay, Citibank, Hilton, Uber, American Airlines. That brings the tally to 100 companies signing a letter coordinated by the Human Rights Campaign and Equality NC. It will be delivered to the governor by the group's leader today.

The law enacted last week prevents cities in North Carolina from creating nondiscrimination policies based on gender identity or sexual orientation. It also mandates that students in schools to use the bathroom based on their birth gender. And that's really the core of it. You had in Charlotte, you had a city ordinance to allow students to go to a bathroom that was the gender they relate to today. And then you had the state government turn around and legislate or pass the law that undid that.

SANCHEZ: A lot of pressure being put on the state and not just by companies, but by other cities and other states saying, bring your business here instead.

ROMANS: That's right.

SANCHEZ: EARLY START continues right now.

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ROMANS: Donald Trump and the RNC in a secret meeting.