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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Cruz Fights To Win Wisconsin; Democrats Debate Over Debates; Two Amtrak Workers Struck And Killed; UNC And Villanova Play For National Title. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired April 04, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:03] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That chart tells you something is happening.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it tells you that someone is interested in that airline.

BERMAN: EARLY START continues right now.

(HEADLINES)

BERMAN: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday, April 4th. It is 5:00 a.m. in the east. Nice to see you back from vacation. Now just one day before voters head to the polls in Wisconsin, there is an intense battle going down to the wire between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

Both of them campaigning across the state today. The latest poll show Cruz out front leading Trump by as much as ten points. Cruz picked up new key tactical victories over the weekend.

In Colorado, he won the first six delegates to the Republican convention picked in a week long selection process. In North Dakota, the Cruz team claims they did well and packing that state's delegation to the convention, though, all North Dakota delegates are unbound.

But today is all about Wisconsin where a Cruz win could alter the momentum the Republican race. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has the very latest from Green Bay.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONENT: Good morning, Christine and John. The Cruz campaign had hit the ground hard here in Wisconsin. Dispatching Heidi Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Governor Scott Walker, all barnstorming the state this weekend.

The Cruz campaign manager declaring an all hands on deck situation in the final 24 hours before voting starts in Wisconsin tomorrow. Cruz for his part, the senator has really been projecting confidence on the stump.

He has been predicting that he will get most if not all of the state's delegates tomorrow night. On the stump here in Green Bay, he told the crowd really playing up the importance of this moment going forward saying that it is going to be a decision point that will resonate across the country beyond just here in Wisconsin.

The senator also seemed to get a little reflective on the state of the race and all that has transpired.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This has been quite the election cycle. It hadn't been boring. There were all sorts of things a year ago someone had said you are going to see and you would say no, that will never happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: There's a notable strategy shift coming from the Cruz campaign here in Wisconsin. They are out with their very first negative TV ad targeting John Kasich. This is a candidate that they have in large part attempted to marginalize throughout this campaign calling him point blank, a spoiler.

So this focus on him in these last few hours here in Wisconsin certainly suggests some concern on their level about what role he might play tomorrow night -- Christine and John.

BERMAN: All right, Sunlen Serfaty for us in Green Bay. Let's us break down the fight for delegates on both sides. We are joined by senior digital politics correspondent, Chris Moody, who is in Washington this morning.

Chris, I want to start in the Republican side of the race, this is a big moment for the Trump campaign. Donald Trump effectively could be if not derailed, at least stalled significantly on his quest for the Republican nomination.

And you can tell the stakes are very high for him right now trailing Ted Cruz. It was unusual amount of vitriol coming from Donald Trump on the stump overnight toward Ted Cruz. Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Lying Ted Cruz. He comes in bible high. I'm lying Ted Cruz. I put the bible down and then I start to lie. He said dirty rotten cheat. Remember that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You see Donald Trump right there. Those are words he has used before, but with a tone that sounded very harsh and coming at a time when a lot of people are saying Donald Trump had the worst week yet of his campaign -- Chris.

CHRIS MOODY, CNN SENIOR DIGITAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: You are right, john. Wisconsin is going to be crucial and the reason is because now we're shifting from just winning and losing primaries to the real hard delegate game.

Now looking at the map forward, we got New York coming up. Ted Cruz knows that in order to keep Donald Trump from getting the delegates. He needs to clinch the nomination. He needs to win big in Wisconsin and hold his number down as much as possible.

Now we are not just seeing that on the campaign trail. Ted Cruz has also mounted a really aggressive behind the scenes effort to work the delegates system and work the convention system.

He is playing some really high level chess here to work the pieces and try to make sure Donald Trump does not get that number. Because the belief is among the Republican establishment, if you can keep Donald Trump from clinching this nomination, he's not going to have the skills to win on the convention floor.

Ted Cruz believes he's invested the time, money and resources and people to be able to do that if he can just get there. Wisconsin is a key piece of that puzzle strategy.

[05:05:07]ROMANS: The governor of Wisconsin has endorsed Ted Cruz. Wisconsin has a well-informed electorate with higher voter turnout usually, and Republican base that is really directed by Scott Walker. It could be a tough formula for Trump to crack.

MOODY: For many reasons. A lot of Wisconsin is the heart of the Republican establishment power right now. You have the head of the RNC, who remains officially not on anyone's side. The governor endorsing Cruz. You have Paul Ryan, the House speaker.

So this could be a tough place for Donald Trump. Also Donald Trump's rhetoric as we have seen in the poll numbers, not just in Wisconsin, but nationwide, when you break it down by women or educated voters, in Wisconsin, you have to play nice in a way.

You can't use as much vitriol as Trump has. We heard a couple of minutes ago, Trump is really throwing everything including the kitchen sink at everyone right now and that could really back fire on him come Tuesday.

BERMAN: You are talking about this complicated high level game the Cruz campaign is playing for delegates. The campaign is working right now, by the way. He is picking up these delegates that other people don't see out there.

Republican Chairman Reince Priebus was asked about this notion of an open convention because there are people who say this is really an avenue where someone like Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney or Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio could get back in the game and end up for the nomination in a contested floor fight. Reince Priebus says not so fast. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Even if something like that were remotely possible, that candidate would actually have a floor operation and actual campaign going on with the delegates to make something like that possible.

Paul's not going to do that. So, my answer is no, but clearly there's a lot of information out there that people are spreading around to cause a lot of confusion. But I think our candidate is someone who is running.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: If he means that, if he means that our candidate is someone running, that is significant because that really does mean it's a choice between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump and maybe John Kasich.

MOODY: Possibly, John Kasich. Now of course, there's been a lot of talk about that rule that a candidate has to win eight states in order to be considered. That rule can always be change before we get to the point where they would be voting.

But in a way, Reince Priebus is right especially when it comes to the intensity of what a floor campaign would mean. Look, there will be hundreds of people that would need to be involved.

If you were coming if like Paul Ryan or Mitt Romney, that you have to be working behind the scenes as quietly as possible. John, you know that would leak so fast if anyone even started hinting at doing that.

But I think also, if it will be someone not named Trump, Cruz or Kasich and it's somebody who hasn't run. Can you imagine the outcry that there would be if someone had taken it from Trump, if he was close to 1,237, but someone that never stepped foot on the campaign trail.

You would have some problems in Cleveland I think if that were the case. You would be hearing about it from all the candidates, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and John Kasich included.

ROMANS: Let's talk about the Democrats in the debate over the debate over whether the dates for the debates are logical or realistic. They are zeroing in on the important New York primary without another debate on the schedule.

Let's listen to what they said. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders sparring on the Sunday talk shows.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm confident that there will be, but I'm not the one negotiating it. That's going on between our campaigns. I do know my campaign has been really trying to get a time that Senator Sanders' campaign would agree with.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think what we want is to look at the maximum viewing audience and any time and venue that works that has that viewing audience will be good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: April 19th, 247 delegates. You think they are going to be able to debate again before then? MOODY: Let's set the stage here a little bit. Bernie Sanders has had an incredible run in the past couple weeks winning in the northwest, not just winning, but dominating there and coming in with a lot of the momentum going into Wisconsin.

He's got a solid base of support in Madison. It looks like he could possibly win that state and then heading into the big battleground New York.

Look, there is a lot of frustration early in the Democratic race from activists and progressive activists that the debates were getting sidelined. That their first were not enough and when there were debates, it was on some kind of high, holy holiday or a weekend or sometime when no one was watching.

Bernie Sanders thinks he deserves the time right now because he's challenged Hillary Clinton. New York will be huge. You mention over 200 delegates.

They want the exposure and they're calling for the debate. I think they will find the time to do it. Of course, the campaign trail schedule is very tight right now.

[05:10:05]But I do think this a response -- this frustration is a response to all of that pushing the debates to Saturday and Sunday. They want something as high profile as the Republicans have had almost this entire time.

BERMAN: Chris Moody for us, thank you so much. When you get into debates over debates, I think voters do not care the slightest bit.

MOODY: They just want to see a debate.

ROMANS: He has a t-shirt that says no one loves --

BERMAN: I love it, but this is always.

ROMANS: All right, Chris Moody, thanks. Talk to you in a few minutes.

Donald Trump, the GOP frontrunner trashes the U.S. economy, talks down stocks, and makes bold claims about the national debt, in an interview with "The Washington Post" published this weekend.

First, Trump says he will erase the country's $19 trillion debt by the end of his second term as president, in just eight years just wipe it away, $19 trillion. The math doesn't work.

That would require the U.S. to pay off more than $2 trillion a year. The entire annual budget is just under $4 trillion for the current fiscal year. Trump says he will renegotiate trade deals, which would increase economic growth and wipe away the debt.

But most economists say those negotiations could start a trade war and cause a recession in the United States. Speaking of recessions, Trump says the country is headed for a, quote, "massive recession" and the U.S. economy is sitting on a bubble that will soon burst.

Now experts put the chances of a, you know, garden variety recession in the next year at about 20 percent. Despite recent worries about the global economy, U.S. economic growth is steady. Job creation is strong. Americans are spending money again.

His other big claim, it's a bad time to invest in the stock market. Global markets this morning unfazed by those comments. They are trading right now mostly higher.

But you know, to get rid of that $19 trillion debt in just eight years, it would be really the only way you could do that is to hand every one of us a $55,000 bill and say pay your share of the national debt and that's how you could wipe it off.

BERMAN: It's 12 minutes after the hour. Two killed and dozens injured in a new Amtrak derailment. There is new information on the investigation this morning.

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[05:16:16]

BERMAN: This morning, the NTSB is investigating a weekend train derailment, a deadly derailment, south of Philadelphia. That was one of three serious accidents involving Amtrak this weekend.

Rail officials say the train was carrying more than 300 passengers when it left the tracks moments after hitting a backhoe and two Amtrak workers. Both of those workers were killed. Nearly three passengers were hospitalized.

We want to get more now from CNN's Sara Ganim in Chester, Pennsylvania.

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, a source close to the investigation telling CNN that those two construction workers, one in a backhoe and one near a backhoe was struck by this train number 89.

They were both Amtrak workers, which raises the question of how they did not know they were on an active track when the accident happened and how the train didn't know this was an active construction scene when this happened.

The NTSB now on scene working with Amtrak to investigate this accident. You can see behind me. That is train number 89. It was on the Palmetto route from New York to Savannah, Georgia, 341 passengers on board, 35 of those passengers injured when this collision happened.

None of them with life threatening injuries. All of them were either taken to the hospital or gotten to their destination by Amtrak today. But you can see the force of that impact just by looking at that front engine car.

You can also see that it actually derailed from the track. Now on Sunday Amtrak was able to bring back a limited service on this northeast corridor, which is good news for people in their Monday morning commute.

Because 750,000 people ride the northeast corridor every day between Boston and Washington, D.C., but on Sunday morning around 8:00 a.m., this was a frightening experience for many of those passengers.

One of them telling CNN he could tell something was wrong before the crash happened. Outside the window, they could see a cloud of dust. It felt like they were riding gravel. Another passenger, 15-year-old Linton Holmes talked about his frightening experience. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The train was rumbling. We got off track, I guess, and then it was a bunch of dust. It was dust everywhere. Then the train conductors were running to the front. There were people bloody because there was an explosion. We got off track and an explosion. Then it was a fire then the windows bursted out and some people were cut up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GANIM: Now the investigation is clearly ongoing. The good news is the NTSB has already recovered the data recorder as well as the forward and inward looking cameras. Hopefully those will yield some answers -- John and Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Sara, thank you for that.

Dangerous deadly wind storms in the Midwest and northeast. A tree smashed a car killing two people in Abington, Massachusetts. Those victims trapped in the car.

This was the scene in Ohio. A huge tree toppling over on a house. In New York, much the same there, downed trees everywhere, debris all over the streets. At least 370,000 people from Wisconsin to Maine had significant power outages.

BERMAN: All right, a World Series rematch to kick off the 2016 baseball season just hours before the big game with the Red Sox at 4 p.m. today. The Royals and Mets tangled in Kansas City. Could the Mets get a little revenge? Coy Wire with this morning's "Bleacher Report" next.

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[05:24:13]

BERMAN: All right. March Madness. It is now April, those 68 teams that were playing before are now down to two.

ROMANS: All right, Coy Wire has more on tonight's national championship game in this morning's "Bleacher Report." Hey, there.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and John. Vegas has North Carolina at two-point favorite over Villanova. But one family is going to be winning no matter what. UNC's Nate Brit and Villanova's Chris Jenkins are brothers. We heard all about the teams.

Here is a cool story line. Brit's parents became Jenkins' legal guardians almost a decade ago. The players first met when they were 10 years old. They have been competing ever since.

Tonight there is a national title on the line. The brothers say the losers will never hear the end of it. The parents are going to remain neutral. The game starts at 9:19 Eastern on our sister channel TBS.

[05:25:07]The women's hoops in college. Now the UConn women's team have been like the road runner. Everybody else is like Wiley Coyote, straight domination. Huskies have won 74 straight games. They are one win away from their fourth consecutive national title.

They face Syracuse in the championship game tomorrow night. Star player, Vienna Stewart (ph) and head coach, Gino Oriana (ph) were just named AP player and coach of the year respectively. Oriana would pass UCLA's men's coach, John Wooden, most titles ever in NCAA history with a UConn win.

Baseball, we are so glad you are back. The Kansas City Royals raised their first World Series banner since 1985. Unfortunately, the team they beat, 4-1, the Mets, had to watch them to do it.

The Mets had the time run on third in the 9th inning, but Royals (inaudible) Wade Davis says wait a minute. He strikes out David Wright and (inaudible) back to back to end the game. Royals win 4-3.

John Berman, your Red Sox start their season in Cleveland this afternoon. That is at 4:10 Eastern. Your Cubbies, Christine, 10:05. You will probably stay up late.

ROMANS: Too late for me. Give me the highlights in the morning please.

BERMAN: All right, Coy, thanks so much.

Donald Trump on the attack overnight. New statements, but this time directed at John Kasich. Why is he going after the guy running in third? That's next.

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