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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
The Race for President: Battle in Wisconsin; Panama Papers: Denials, Investigation & Outrage; Villanova Wins Title in Buzzer- Beating Finish; Hunt Underway for Islamic Radicals at Large. Aired 4- 4:30a ET
Aired April 05, 2016 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:19] CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN ANCHOR: A critical primary election today in Wisconsin. Voters heading to the polls in hours in a state that can become Ted Cruz's key to stopping Donald Trump.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New questions, investigations and outrage around the world. Leaked documents reveal a trove of offshore accounts, how world leaders and the super wealthy are allegedly hiding their money.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
BERMAN: Oh my God!
ALESCI: That was amazing.
The greatest finish in the NCAA tournament has ever seen. A breathtaking buzzer beating shot for the win.
Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Cristina Alesci.
BERMAN: This is a special Villanova edition of EARLY START. I'm sure you have been up all night. I'm John Berman. It is Tuesday, April 5th, it is 4:00 a.m. in the East.
In hours, voters in Wisconsin, they head to the polls. And today truly could be a turning point, a day of reckoning for Donald Trump. He is trailing Ted Cruz by as much as ten points in Wisconsin. But overnight, a defiant Trump said he will pull off a surprise victory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And everybody said that's the end of Trump. It's over for Trump. You know how many times I have been given the end? Like -- I've given the last rites. How many times? Like ten? Every week, it's the end of Trump.
They walk in, sir, I don't know what happened, but your poll numbers went through the roof.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: We'll see what happens in a few hours.
CNN politics reporter Sara Murray is with the Trump campaign in Wisconsin. She has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, John and Cristina.
Donald Trump spent his last hours before the Wisconsin primary barnstorming the state. He held three campaign events yesterday. And for Trump, it was back to basics. Coming after a rocky week, he decided to focus his energies on his GOP opponents. He hit Ted Cruz hard in this stops across the street, and he also went after John Kasich, calling him to step aside and get out of race.
TRUMP: He takes my votes away more than Cruz. I don't like it. I don't think it's right. I don't think it's appropriate. But you know what? If we have to live with him, we still beat him easily, OK, folks? I mean, OK?
MURRAY: Now, he also brought some reinforcements on the campaign trail. Here in Milwaukee, he was joined by his wife Melania Trump.
MELANIA TRUMP, WIFE OF DONALD TRUMP: As you know by now, when you attack him, he will punch back ten times harder, no matter who you are, a man or woman, he treats everyone equal. He's a fighter. And if you elect him to be your president, he will fight for you and for our country.
MURRAY: Back to you, John and Cristina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALESCI: Thanks.
Ted Cruz is also predicting victory today and he has the polls on his side. A Cruz win in Wisconsin would significantly increase the odds of a contested Republican convention which Cruz also said, of course, he would win. What's more? Cruz is giving a dire warning to any notion of bringing a last-minute contender at the open convention, someone like House Speaker Paul Ryan. Ryan claims he doesn't want the job. Cruz says any effort to crown an outsider would lead to a voter revolt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I do believe people put my name in this thing. I say, get my name out of it. If you want to be president, I say you should go run for president, and that's just the way I see it.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This fevered pipe dream in Washington that at the convention, they will parachute in some white knight who will save the Washington establishment, it is nothing less than a pipe dream. It ain't going to happen. If it did, the people would quite rightly revolt. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ALESCI: CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is in Wisconsin. She has the latest on the Cruz campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Cristina.
Well, Senator Cruz is setting expectations very high for tonight, predicting an outright win here in Wisconsin, and projecting confidence of what that potentially win would mean for the path forward, what that would mean for the broader implications on the state of the race. I caught up with the senator as he toured this cheese shop. He sampled a lot of the collections of Wisconsin's cheeses and he said point-blank that Wisconsin will be a turning point.
Here's what he had to say.
CRUZ: Donald Trump announced at a rally, he predicted a big win here in Wisconsin. Well, that may be true. But I do think the people of Wisconsin are going to decide that. And I hope the people of Wisconsin have a different result, and I think if they do, it will make a powerful statement across the country.
[04:05:02] Number one, it will continue to add to our delegates, and we are seeing state after state after state, our delegates are growing. But number two, I think it will have a powerful impact on the states that are coming up.
SERFATY: So there you see Senator Cruz already trying to craft the argument that a potential win here in Wisconsin could give him a lot of momentum, but that would not be temporary or passing. He later went on to say, so really trying to paint Donald Trump's candidacy as being one on a downward slope. Of course, we should point out that Senator Cruz has a very steep climb himself on the path to 1,237 -- John and Cristina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: All right. Sunlen Serfaty in Wisconsin for us.
This morning, the Republican in third place, John Kasich, the Ohio governor, is digging in his heels. You heard them both, Trump and Cruz thinking Kasich's presence in the race is hurting them. They are both calling for Kasich to drop out. But the Ohio governor is pushing back harder than ever. He says he's not going anywhere.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not getting out. Why would I get out? Particularly when Trump is worried I would get his votes which I knew I could do. We are going to be fine. They spent, I don't know, million dollars including smearing me. Ted -- Senator Ted, the smear artist, he -- you know, they are attacking me in Wisconsin. For a guy that's not doing very well, they sure are worried about me and spending a lot of money trying to knock me out, but they're not going to be successful in that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALESCI: All right. Switching to the Democratic side, after weeks of intense negotiations, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have finally agreed on a date for their next debate. They'll meet in Brooklyn on April 14th, five days ahead of the crucial delegate-rich New York primary for a debate sponsored by CNN and New York 1.
But today, the Democrats are facing off in Wisconsin where Sanders leads in the polls and it is boosting his confidence.
Senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar has more from Milwaukee -- Brianna.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Cristina.
Here in Wisconsin, Bernie Sanders is hoping that labor support and college students will help deliver a win in the Wisconsin primary. He is talking a very big game in the Badger State.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have won six of the last seven caucuses and primaries.
(CHEERS)
And not only have we won them, we have won every one by landslide victories. And tomorrow, tomorrow if there turnout here in Wisconsin, if there is a record-breaking turnout here in Wisconsin, we are going to win here as well.
(CHEERS)
KEILAR: The Clinton campaign is also managing expectation, sending out a fundraising letter to its supporters asking for donations. She is behind in most polls in Wisconsin and that Bernie Sanders has out- raised her in the last three months.
They are certainly concentrating more on New York. You see Hillary Clinton very concerned that she holds on to the majority of the 247 delegates at stake on aril 19th. She made a last-minute swing through Wisconsin this weekend, but mostly, she's spending her time in New York -- John and Cristina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALESCI: Thanks, Brianna.
The economy and jobs will likely be the top issue for primary voters in Wisconsin, something we've seen in almost primary states. The Wisconsin unemployment rate is below the national of 4.6 percent. The median home price in February was about $146,000. And median income is almost $53,000, very close to the nationwide average.
Now, Pew Research study found Wisconsin has the fastest shrinking middle class since the year 2000, some of that due to a big drop in manufacturing jobs. But the pride of Wisconsin economy is dairy and cheese production. The state provides a quarter of the nation's cheese and more than any other state. It's the second largest dairy producer just behind California.
BERMAN: And we thank them for that.
All right. It's already being called one of the greatest games ever played. And it truly was the NCAA college basketball men's final. Look at what happened. The game tied with just a few seconds left, this dish. This shot. An unreal, 77-74 victory over North Carolina, it was.
That was Kris Jenkins hitting the, you know, the three with no time left on the clock. You see the red light on. That gives the Wildcats their second title ever, their first in 31 years.
And that shot a few seconds after North Carolina, there is Coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels, the last second shot for Villanova came just a few seconds after North Carolina hit a game- tying three.
[04:10:01] This one was sick. Sick.
And Villanova rightfully, you know, just going bonkers here on the court. A lot of players -- they can be the first time in 30 years essentially not to have a number one pick. A college championship team with no number one pick, not a bunch of stars there. It was a good team.
ALESCI: You are pretty bummed that you missed that.
BERMAN: I had to sleep. At some point, you have to sleep. You wake up, I had like 100 alerts on my phone. Best game ever, I'm like --
ALESCI: Blowing up.
(LAUGHTER)
ALESCI: All right. Up next, key world leaders linked to a secret offshore bank account in a bombshell document leak. Investigations launched as protests erupt. We are live with new information, next.
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BERMAN: New fallout this morning from the explosive panama papers. These are more than 11 million leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm, exposing how some of the world's most powerful allegedly used offshore bank accounts to dodge taxes and hide their wealth. The prime minister of Iceland is one of 12 current or former political leaders implicated in the document dump so far. Now, he's pressing mounting pressure to resign.
[04:15:01] We have the latest from Nina dos Santos. She joins us live from London.
All around the world, this is causing serious tremors.
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Let me just give you an indication of the size of this, John. We're talking about a leak that is about 2.6 terabytes worth of data. That's 1,500 times the amount of information and documents that was leaked by WikiLeaks about six years ago. So, it really is gargantuan in scale.
And also, what's so interesting about these documents is that it shines the light on the notoriously, murky and torpid world of offshore tax havens and financial deals. Many of these companies in question, 214 of them on the list of these files from Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm.
It was set up specifically in some cases to hide the identities of the large powerful political figures, also other icons of the world of media, entertainment and sport, at least according to the allegations that seem to emerge. Now, what we're talking about here is something that according to many analysts I have been speaking to is likely to trump a number of investigations in a number of countries where senior political figures have been finding themselves implicated in these allegations.
So, so far, what we know is that the U.K., Mexico, Australia and other countries, including France, are going to be launching their own investigations. Ramon Fonseca, which is the co- founder of this law firm, said, "We have done nothing wrong. It isn't illegal to set up these companies," but it is illegal to not declare what you own inside these bank accounts offshore, and that is incumbent upon their clients, they say.
BERMAN: You know, Nina, the thing is, it's not a surprise to people I think that rich, powerful people go to great ends to pay less in taxes than other people might otherwise, that people try to hide some money. What is an extraordinary about these documents, the number of them, the size of the file, as you've said, and also, you know, it names names.
DOS SANTOS: Yes. Apologies, John. I can only hear half of what you are saying.
But if you are saying this is surprising the fact we are seeing is such a big leak, but not surprising the fact that we known people have had offshore tax havens for some time. As I said before, there are legitimate reasons for some people to actually have these offshore accounts.
For instance for companies that do business in tax jurisdiction, it doesn't make sense for them to pay taxes in one place and then have to get a rebate in another place. It makes sense for them to operate in tax neutral environments. And the same goes for rich families where they have different family members inherited different assets across different tax jurisdictions.
But as I was saying before, the really key thing is that you are not using that account to try to protect the proceeds of crime, that you're not using the money in that account to mask money that has come from international sanctions, that have been subject to international sanctions. In fact, there had been many allegations that political figures that have been netted in the list may have been doing that as well. And that you also, it is incumbent upon the person who owns the account to declare that they are linked to that account, wherever they are.
So, that again has been the response. Either way, as I was saying before, it is huge. It is many times the size of WikiLeaks. And it does have big implications worldwide.
BERMAN: And a whole bunch of new questions.
Nina dos Santos, thanks so much.
ALESCI: Back here in the U.S., the Supreme Court has rejected a challenge by conservatives in Texas in a closely watched voting rights case. The justices voted to uphold the method used to draw legislative districts in all 50 states. This involves counting every resident and not just eligible voters.
The decision is viewed as a victory for the Obama administration which successfully argued that a win for the plaintiffs would have shifted power from urban areas to rural neighborhoods across the country.
BERMAN: New this morning, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has agreed to meet for breakfast with President Obama, Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. But Senator Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, still insists he will not hold a nomination hearing and said -- the senator says he plans to explain to Judge Garland why the Senate will not considering hearings until the next president takes office. It's a really interesting breakfast.
ALESCI: Indeed.
Later this morning, lawmakers in Alabama are expected to introduce a resolution to impeach the state's embattled governor. Governor Robert Bentley is asking for God's forgiveness but refusing to resign in a wake of a sex scandal involving his senior political adviser Rebecca Mason. Mason stepped down last week and she and the governor deny having an affair despite getting caught on tape engaging in steamy conversations.
BERMAN: New information on the terror network behind the Paris and Brussels attacks. What the investigators are now revealing, up next.
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[04:24:16] ALESCI: The number of U.S. special operation troops fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq could increase in coming weeks. That's according to two defense officials. A third tells CNN that discussions are expected to start as early as today at the White House. The goal: to lay the groundwork for local forces to retake both Raqqah and Mosul, partly in order to deny ISIS a base of operations for planning external attacks. BERMAN: Chilling new word this morning that a number of radical
Islamists linked to the Paris and Brussels terror attacks, they're still in the loose. This is raising security concerns throughout Europe. A wide search is under way in Europe for nearly two dozen fugitives wanted in attacks, or already tried in absentia for jihadist links.
I want to go to Brussels and bring in CNN's Alexandra Field for the very latest.
[04:25:01] Good morning, Alexandra.
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, John.
Authorities are trying to get their arms around how large this network could be. To break it down, we know that here in Brussels, they are still continuing to search for two suspected bombers who are part of the Brussels attacks. That would be the third suspected airport bomber and second person potentially involved in the bombing at the metro station.
Beyond that, in the days following the Brussels attacks, there were memos that were shared by security agencies identifying at least eight other people who authorities are now searching to find who are believed to have links to the cells that carried out both the Brussels attacks and the Paris attacks. And when you widen it out even further, when you look at the network that authorities are trying to hunt down at this point, we know that there are more than a dozen suspected jihadists who officials are now looking for across Europe. These were people who were tried in cases, in absentia in Belgium last year, but they remain at large.
What is not clear is how many of these suspects authorities could be looking for and whether or not they are directly linked to the Paris attacks or the Brussels attacks, but certainly, they pose security concerns for officials throughout Europe who are concerned about their ability to plot or carry out other attacks, John.
BERMAN: Alexandra Field for us in Brussels this morning, some disturbing questions indeed. Thanks, Alexandra.
ALESCI: Presidential frontrunners, beware. A key primary election today could blunt the momentum for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. We are breaking down what to expect out of Wisconsin, next.
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